Chapter Text
Two races rule over Earth: Humans and Monsters.
One day, war broke out between the two races.
After a long battle, the humans were victorious.
But before the humans could seal the monsters away, something extraordinary happened.
An angel of light descended from the heavens and instantly destroyed the human forces.
The monsters' savior disappeared as quickly as it came.
Ever since that fateful day, an uneasy peace remains between both sides.
***
It is said that it is impossible for anyone, much less a human, to come to the Monster Kingdom on accident. The hill on which the kingdom was founded sits isolated, an island in the middle of a grassy sea, with human land being almost out of sight if it weren't for the smoke emitting from the factories and the skyscrapers that look like straws from the distance.
And yet as the last of the day's light vanishes, a human child, all alone, walks toward the forest that circles the kingdom's forts.
Frisk holds a stick in one hand and wraps their arms around their shoulders. The pajamas Frisk wears are unsuitable for the increasingly cold weather. Of course, Frisk knows this, and so they keep moving forward, despite their aching feet.
The sight of the castle's towers peeking above the trees fills them with determination.
Frisk has reached the outer edge of the forest. They take a moment to look up at the bare trees that lean sideways and seem to howl at the twilight; the bitter wind reminds them to continue before it gets too dark to be able to see what's right in front of them.
Almost immediately upon entering the woods, Frisk wades ankle-deep through damp red and brown leaves, but the crinkling sound that comes with each step is a comfort enough to suffer through this mild annoyance.
The lights in the castle's windows provide a guide for Frisk, who begins waving the stick in front of them back and forth against every tree they pass.
There are no stars out tonight - the forest grows thicker, darker; Frisk can't even see the color of the leaves anymore. They slow down their pace to a cautious tiptoe. At least the castle's towers are getting closer.
On and on the child walks until they grow tired of their slow pace and break out into a run, even though their feet feel like someone is tying bricks onto the bottoms of their shoes.
But, just as the forest is at its blackest, a sight for sore eyes, the kind that makes Frisk's eyes even sorer but is very much appreciated, appears: a harsh, beautiful, golden light at the end of the darkness, and somewhere beyond that, a bouncy tune plays.
Frisk bounds towards the warm glow, nearly falling down several times. Finally, they stop at the source of the light to catch their breath.
It shines through a hole in the stone wall that has guarded the Monster Kingdom for many centuries. Whatever made the hole, it was kind enough to make it big enough for Frisk to slide comfortably through – how convenient!
Frisk thinks about this: they came all this way not knowing what to expect, and now here's a hole that's just the right size.
It's almost as if something led them here…
Ah well, probably just luck. Frisk muses that since this wall is so old, there must be other holes around, they just happened to find this particular one.
The child enters the light…
...
Frisk wasn't sure what the other side of the wall would entail, but they never could have imagined this…
Graves.
Hundreds of them, maybe even more. Rings upon rings of marble-colored markers sprouting from the barren earth. At the center of these rings, twin statues overlook the dead: Painted in dull gold, the identical sculptures of intricately detailed flowers stand side by side. There are no signs or engravings of any kind that give the statues names.
The next thing Frisk knew, they were somehow standing in the shadow of one of these twins.
The music stops playing. The warmth from the dozens of light posts dotting the graveyard goes cold. The only things that exist are Frisk and this single statue.
"Howdy!"
Frisk is shaken back to reality. They whip their head around trying to find the speaker, but there seems to be nobody-
"Down here, silly!" Frisk looks down at their feet. The voice was just a 2-foot tall talking flower. Frisk never heard of plant monsters before, but isn't surprised.
The flower inspects the child with beady eyes and smiles. "Wow, you've traveled a long way, haven't you?" His tone is a mixture of sickeningly sweet and needle-sharp, but Frisk nods anyway.
"I betcha real tired and hungry, right?" As if on cue, Frisk's stomach growls, and the flower takes that as an answer. "Of course you are!" he shouts. "After all, it's a really long walk from wherever you came from. How long did it take ya? A full day? Two days? Where are you from, anyway? How come you're here?!"
The flower is leaning forward too closely now, so Frisk takes a few steps back.
For a brief moment the smile on the flower's face sags before he brings it back up less wide than before. He seems to realize that perhaps he's overplaying it, so he lowers his voice as well. "Let's start over," he says; for Frisk, however, a gut instinct tells them to leave.
As Frisk tries to sneak away, the flower calls out at a frantic speed,
"Wait! My name's Flowey the Flower, ya hear? Now ya know who I am!" Flowey winks at Frisk. "Since you're so hungry, how about I do something about that? Here, I've got just the thing for ya!"
A bunch of little, white seed-shaped objects appear and float around the flower's head. He tells Frisk, "There's no need to be afraid, these pellets are edible, you've just gotta come get them!"
Frisk continues to shuffle at a snail's pace so as to not be too conspicuous; unfortunately, there's really no way of not looking conspicuous. The seeds rotate faster. "Come on," says Flowey in that saccharine voice again. "They taste like friendship."
He can see that the human's not about to stop for anything. Flowey makes a motion with his stem that suggests shrugging. "Oh well. I offered you my friendship…" a grin so hideously wide that his head must expand to fit it appears,
"You'll just have to accept my LOVE instead."
An inhuman yet delighted cackle pierces the night – Frisk turns away and hears the whistle of the seed-bullets catapulting toward their back.
Frisk dives behind the statue they had just been standing under; a puddle of mud splashes all over their chest as they fall on their side.
The bullets attack the flower statue and chip away at its front, raining gold pebbles onto Frisk's back. Flowey's laughter crescendos into a shriek as his magic leaves a depression in the sculpture.
"Idiot! Look what you made me DO!"
Frisk doesn't look back as they get back up and make a run for the other side of the graveyard. The gate's not too far away, surely they can outrun a little flower?
Flowey shoots out of the ground in front of Frisk about five seconds later with such speed that Frisk falls backward. The terrible grin remains, but his eyes are burning like coals.
"You," he growls. "You deserve a slow death for what you pulled back there." Frisk tries to crawl away when a ring of bullets materialize from every direction around their head.
Frisk closes their eyes, but the manic laughter follows them into the darkness,
"What, you're not even gonna call for help? You're a smart kid. Too bad your luck's just run out..."
…
Nothing happens.
Frisk opens their eyes. Flowey is looking off towards the gate. His face has shrunk down to its normal size, his wrathful glee replaced with irritation.
"Ugh." He shakes his head. "I thought he would've left by now." Flowey glances back at Frisk. "I spoke too soon. You really are lucky. Lucky that I don't have enough time to hide your body." He smiles again, but this time it poorly disguises disappointment.
"Well, I've got places to be, anyway. But tell anyone about me and soon enough you'll go to sleep and never wake up again." With a cheery-sounding "See ya around!" Flowey burrows into the ground, and the seed-bullets fade into nothingness.
Frisk is left alone. Their heart is pounding, their body is shaking, but at least it means they're still alive.
A short time passes, and just as Frisk begins to rise, they hear something by the gate: the voice that saved their life. Frisk stares at the stranger across the graveyard.
“I MAY NOT HAVE EARS BUT THAT HAS NO EFFECT ON MY HEARING ABILITY!” he was shouting at the graves. “I ORDER YOU TO MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN AT ONCE!” And then his gaze meets with Frisk’s.
“OH-HO! WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?”