Chapter Text
The morning sun gleamed over the grass and scattered trees, making it glisten within the very late morning. A team of four varying in size and height strided along the vegetation, traveling together.
"Uuuugh," a disgruntled, rough feminine voice muttered. "I can't believe we lost it." She flailed a whip with three spiked purple spheres at its end in frustration, with the wind brushing through her long, white hair out away from her purple skin in the process. The torn hem of her white tank top fluttered through the breeze as she walked.
"Well, it is small." A tall, white lean figure halted as a bright blue light illuminated from the smooth gemstone on her forehead. A pale baby blue holographic image projected from the cabochon, picturing a small, eyeless snake-like creature. "It could very well be anywhere." Her hands held themselves a distance apart, emphasizing its small appearance. She stood with her pink flats together, facing outward as a bright teal sash around her waist waved.
"The only way we'll be able to find it is if we split up." Halting besides her comrade, a figure with a pink star on her fuchsia torso took a dark, mostly-fingerless glove and adjusted her visor that coated her eyes. As the lenses produced a thick glare much brighter than her cubical black hair, a young and stocky boy softly bumped into the long thick legs of his leader. The two limbs were colored differently, with the her waist's coloring split in the middle to represent the change. The right side of her lower body was a dark, royal blue while the opposite was a deep purple.
As the peach-colored child backed up to understand what was the new plan, he glanced upwards at the two taller members of his team. His thick, black brows partially furrowed in curiosity and confusion.
"Amethyst, Pearl." Turning to the short, purple female and the tall, composed other, the tallest pointed behind the duo. "Go back in the woods and search for it there."
"I hope you won't be too loud and scare it off." Pearl's holographic image that projected from her gemstone faded as she snuck a sly smirk towards her shorter partner.
Amethyst rolled her eyes playfully. "Bet I'll get it first." She teasingly nudged Pearl in the knee with a free hand, partially offsetting her balance.
The leader placed her hands on her hips, expression unreadable and unchanging under her visor. "I will go by myself."
"What about me, Garnet?"
Garnet looked downward towards the source of the young voice. It would have come from the young boy- dark and poofy hair, salmon shirt with a golden star, matching sandals and dark blue jeans- who curiously looked up to her. A glimmer of wonder sparkled through his eyes.
A smile came to her lips. "You can go alone if you'd like."
Upon the words gracing his ears, the child grinned as he poorly hid his excitement. I know I do a lot of stuff by myself now, but, it still feels so cool to do a mission by myself...!!
"Garnet, are you sure?" A gentle, hushed whisper rose from Pearl as she tiptoed close to her mentioned teammate. "Don't you think he can go with you?"
A groan erupted from Amethyst as she approached the kid. "Pearl, He'll be fine." Roughly patting his shoulder and making him cough by surprise, she added, "Steven's tough, I'm sure he can handle some tiny monster. He can call one of us if he needs help, right?"
After regaining balance, Steven smiled at the reassurance she gave. Yeah, especially with all of what's happened recently... this shouldn't be too hard!
Fumbling with the short skirt that sprouted from under her sash, Pearl guilty glanced away. "Oh, I suppose that's true." Looking back to him, a fond smile sprouted. "He's done so much as of late, so it shouldn't be too bad."
Garnet would nod. "Alright, team. Lets split."
As if on cue, the three magical ladies split and dashed into opposite directions. All within mere seconds, the trio that surrounded Steven was gone, almost as if they were never there.
"...I should probably go find a place to look in, too." He'd mumble to himself as he started wandering forward aimlessly, as his glance focused on the ground. If I were a snake gem monster, where would I be...? Raising his head and taking in his surroundings, he'd breathe in slowly. Not too far in the distance was the forest Pearl and Amethyst had traversed into. A little bit to the left would be mountains, with the land curving upward to give the structures shape nearby. The mountains were coated in grass, much like the earth Steven stood on. It could've slithered over there! Humming to himself, his pace picked up towards the prominence.
Following a dirt pathway that lead upwards, he'd come to a level sporting a cave that went deep into the mountain. Rocks and stones, various shades of brown and tan were sprinkled outside its entrance, provoking Steven to step inside and explore. His sandals clacked as he entered, the sound partially echoing against the rocky, dim walls.
"Gahh, I should have brought a flashlight." Digging into his back pocket, he would pull out a cellphone. Unlocking the device and pressing a few buttons would enable its flashlight mode, illuminating a spotlight from the front. Steven would point the light around as he'd occasionally crouch down, move larger rocks and stones in his search.
Pushing himself up to his knees and traversing deeper, he'd wipe his forehead. Well, I didn't think I'd have to go in a cave today, so I guess it's fine. Pointing the camera up at the ceiling and observing the stalactites, he'd softly gasp at the sight. Even though they were simple rock formations, it was awfully pretty to look at sometimes!--
The gasp immediately shifted into a hitch for air his foot lodged itself under a stray vine on the ground. As Steven fell forward, his yell rang out as his hand's grip on the cellphone turned into tossing the device upward above. He plummeted into the hole that laid itself out in front of the stray plant life that cursed him.
"No no no no no...!!" His hands instinctively reached out to the many more vines that decorated the descent, grabbing tightly at the ivy. It would roughly brush against the palms of his tight hands, giving a burning sensation in his skin and causing him to retract his grip. Eyes darting to the ground below that started to get closer with every second, Steven would pause his rapid breathing and instead take a deep breath in, attempting to relax. Think happy things and feel happy things, so you don't fall so fast!!
Steven's arms spread outward as red shirt fluttered and partially lifted, his descent now slowed to the pace of a rose petal. His sandals would grace the ground, gently greeting the patch of grass that covered a small area of the black, rocky floor beneath him. Arms fell to his sides as his eyes closed, relaxed.
And then a small thud was heard next to him, causing his eyes to split open in a panic.
"Oh my gosh, my phone!!" Turning and falling to his knees, he hurriedly picked up his phone underneath the golden flowers that decorated the grass. Thankfully, it landed on its back with the cover, meaning the device was still functional. Relief flooded his body as he glanced up to where he fell from.
"That... was a long fall." Pocketing the phone into the front pocket, Steven got to his feet and crouched, before leaping upwards and using his floating ability to push him back up--
Bang!
A shock wave of unfamiliar, magical power shuddered through his body, head-first. Steven shivered as he fell back down, although from half of the distance. Roughly landing onto the grass with his rear and sending a trail of pain up his spine and legs, he winced and collapsed onto the bed of flowers.
Hnnnngh... oww.
Steven would take the next ten minutes to breathe before reluctantly pushing himself up and forward into the dark cavern. Although the pain had faded away, the experience had not.
The ten minutes of staring upwards hurting had him realize a few points. The wall he had hit seemed to be invisible, because he could not see it. Or, perhaps, it was visible only when you got near enough. And then it would hurt you. Either way, something was trapping him down here, and a gut feeling told him punching the invisible wall wouldn't do anything.
Steven would pass through what seemed to be a mute, ancient doorway, into a room with another small patch of grass under a spotlight from the surface.
As he would step forward towards the grass, a golden flower with a friendly face had sprouted, making Steven jump back a bit.
"Howdy!"
Assuming a defensive stance at first, Steven's guard would lower upon reminder that the voice that spoke to him came from a harmless flower. "... Um, hi." He remained tense, just in case.
"Golly, you seem awfully startled from someone like little ol' me!" A pitiful smile etched his simple, white center as his golden petals decorated his head. "I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower!"
Steven's hands came together as he began to twiddle his thumbs. "Eheh, sorry. I'm Steven. Where I come from, flowers don't... normally talk." As he scratched the back of his somehow-existing neck, a part of him wondered if his weird plant powers could make something like that. Wonder if my mom made him, or I accidentally did.
"Ohh, that's a shame. You see, things work differently here in the Underground!"
"...The Underground?" He'd glance around as if he was unaware of his surroundings. "That's where I am?"
"You fell through a hole in the mountain, didn't you?"
"Yeah... I tried to jump back up, but, there was this weird invisible thing in the way, I think."
Flowey was confused by Steven's casual mention of jumping back out. What human could possibly jump that high, after all? "...Wait, you tried to jump out?" A skeptical glance crossed onto his pupils.
"O-oh, yeah!" Realizing how strange the suggestion of hopping out of a long hole sounded, he fumbled to explain himself. "I have magic floating powers! From, uh, my mom's side."
"...Right." the plant, not wanting to play along, rolled his eyes. "Anyways, if you want to go any further, you'll have to know how the Underground works!"
"Okay...!" Steven's shoulders relaxed. "How does it work?"
Flowey summoned little white pellets above himself. "Well, in the Underground, monsters will have... little white... friendliness pellets!"
"Friendliness pellets?" Something about that doesn't seem right. The child held in his doubts for the chance the new face was actually just trying to help. "You mean, those things?"
"Yeah! You gotta run into them!"
"Umm, okay." The flower would aim and shoot the magical white flower seeds at the human boy, who stood nervously with his arms open to accept the pellets. Steven yanked backwards upon coming in contact with them, his arms covering his body. "Gh, ow...!" He'd glare, although more with worry than anger. "Hey, what was that for!?"
A deep, raspy laughter emitted from the flower. "You IDIOT. Who thinks you run into BULLETS, let alone fall for that at ALL? Who would waste an opportunity like this!?" No traces of his higher, friendly tone were found as a terrifying grin shifted onto the flower's center. More bullets popped into existence, surrounding Steven like a cage as they slowly cornered in on him. "In this world, it's KILL or BE KILLED."
A flash erupted from the human as a pink, bright force field sprouted around him like a rose. It would form into a bubble, with Flowey's attacks bouncing off of the magic protection.
"...What?"
From inside, Steven held himself with a frightened look on his face. He'd take a deep breath, with the bubble unwrapping itself until it was gone. Taking a more firm stance and fists at his side clenched, his glance was fixed onto Flowey.
"Why did you try to hurt me?"
The flower only stared in bewilderment, unable to form a response.
Steven raised his voice, anger sneaking its way into his tone and his brows furrowed. "Why did you try to hurt me?"
Echoes of footsteps faded in from ahead, deeper into the caverns. Flowey's expression turned to panic, as he would burrow underground and leave no trace behind.
"H-- hey, come back here!" Almost tackling where Flowey was, his hands roughly pushed against the soil as Steven landed on his knees. He patted the ground with a thought in the back of his head that perhaps Flowey was just hiding.
A calm, motherly voice spoke just above the human boy. "Oh, are you alright?"
Pushing himself to his feet, Steven would look upward at the source of the voice. A soft, goat-like monster with short horns and a purple robe etched with a strange design stood before him, her white furry hands clasped together in worry.
She would speak again, elaborating on her concern. "I believe I heard a creature torturing a poor, innocent youth such as you."
"Um... yeah, I'm okay." Shaking away any leftover feelings of being upset, he tilted his head in curiosity. "Who are you?"
"I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins." A warm smile graced her face, complementing her dark brown eyes. "Who might you be?"
"I'm... I'm Steven." Shyness began to overtake him, as he failed to hold any eye contact with Toriel. Why am I feeling so nervous...??? He folded his hands politely in front of him as he glanced at the floor.
A gentle laugh escaped from the woman, partially amused by his nervousness. "Come, I will take you through the catacombs." Toriel would motion to follow as she headed forward, passing a gateway that was like before, although purple.
Humming in agreement, Steven's sandals clacked as he would pace himself to follow quickly behind her. He wasn't exactly sure why anxiety had started to overtake him, as he didn't really feel anxious about anything. Though, something about how she acts... feels a little familiar.