Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   “They’re gone.” Says Patience, six crowded around the body in the void, children of varying ages; the youngest, the age of nine-- the oldest, age sixteen. The children exchange glances as they go silent before multiple eyes go back to the body of a sweater-clad human, “What do we do now?” The cyan-SOULed child then asked.

   “We tried so hard to keep them safe until they fell.” Kindness piped up, biting their lip as they stood, “It seems he didn’t want monsters to be free-- I…”

   “Don’t continue,” Integrity spoke then, a hand raising to place itself gently on the other child’s shoulder, “I know it’s awful, but…”

   “This is why we have a back-up, it’s what Red asked us to do, right?” Perseverance said, the other five seemed to look to them; and they adjust their glasses, hanging from their neck, “I know some of you are… sensitive, to the idea, but-- it’s our last resort.”

   “Last RESORT?!” A voice boomed-- and everyone turned to the source of the voice-- Justice, “The back-up is literally only six! I’ll never understand why Red chose her, but--”

   “--But nothing.” Bravery spoke up then, and Justice turns to him; looking beyond irritated, “I understand you’re frustrated, Just… but take it from me-- this is the only chance we got.” There’s a tense silence that befalls the children as Bravery clicked his tongue, prodding the dead body in front of them with his shoe-- brown hair moving on the head as it shifted, and then slumped back-- no dice.

   “Is there really no other way?” Kindness spoke up, clasping their hands together as the kids go quiet once more, Patience shook her head, frowning as she looked down.

   “We can only hope Frisk rests easy.” She stated bluntly, “But for now… we should make sure she gets up the mountain.”

   It was the least they could do.

   ---

   She couldn’t breathe.

   Little fingers clasp and grip at the grass and flowers under her, back arching mildly as she shifted on the bed; it hurt, it hurt far too much to be just a minor scratch-- sure, the flowerbed softened the fall, but it was still a long way down-- and it was something she wasn’t used to.

   She slumps, finally taking a moment to gasp for air; a hand moves from the flowers to her chest, clutching the denim fabric of her dungaree-skirt, she heaved, before her shoulders relax and her eyes crack open to squint at the long cavern above. Her other hand lets go of the flowers and raises to cover her eyes against the rays of sunlight that shot through the ceiling.

   She was… outside, right? Wasn’t she just outside? How did she get in-- where was she? Her bottom lip seemed to quiver as she laid there, silently watching the rocks and pillars.

   ...Pillars? She blinked hard, and sits up, struggling to do so-- but she noticed that there were old, crumbled pillars around the area she had fallen into-- and she bit her lip, looking a bit anxious. She looked around the room, and her eyes widened; a surprised expression coming to her face as she takes note of the backpack near her.

   So that fell, too? She pushes herself onto her knees and reaches out to grab it-- swiping a hand around one of the straps before pulling it closer, she opens the flap on her bag, peeking inside at the contents and then giving a content sigh-- good, good, everything was still there.

   She looks down, and her hand brushes through the flowers.

   * Golden flowers. They seemed to have broken your fall.

   “Hwuh?” Ashy-brown head of hair whips around to try and find where that came from-- that was strange, was she hearing things?-- did she hit her head on the way down, even? Her mouth presses into a thin line, and she closed the bag, pulling it onto her shoulders as she then gets up; she stumbles as she did.

   She glanced around once more, rubbing her nose with a sleeve before looking to the exit.

   Is it just one way..?

   She sighed, swallowing down a lump in her throat before stepping forward-- c’mon, girl, you’re s’posed to be a grown-up, like the big kids say!

   Boots clambered across the floor as she headed for the door, a small hand reaching out to touch it-- stone, really old stone, she thinks-- her eyes stare at the texture for a moment, finger tracing over bumps and cracks before she tore herself away from the arch, she shouldn’t get distracted now, not when she had no idea what’s happening.

   So she moves; heading into the next room with bated breath, she was kind of nervous-- she had no idea what it had in store for her-- and she wondered just what she would be seeing.

   It… was what she was least expecting. A small thing; smaller than she, even. The girl blinked at the specimen in front of her-- a flower, golden and smiling… with a face. It made her feel uncomfortable for some reason.

   “Howdy!” It greeted then, bopping from one side to the other as it looked her up and down, “I’m Flowey-- Flowey the flower!” The child paused, listening-- and she then gave a little smile, “You… you’re new to the Underground, aren’tcha?” Flowey inquired, which makes the little girl nod in response.

   “You must be so confused right now,” the flower continues then, “I oughta show you how things work ‘round here, yeah?” There’s a moment of pause as she stood there, fidgeting nervously as she thought about her answer.

   “Mmhm.” She nodded again, tilting her head with a little smile.

   “Just lil ol’ me will have to do!” The flower stated, and the child’s vision darkens-- to which she returns to a monochrome point of view with the only splashes of colour being orange and red. Flowey seemed to inspect something in front of her for a moment. “...See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being.” The girl raises a hand, prodding her SOUL almost curiously-- red, it was red.

   “Your SOUL starts off weak, but I’m sure it can grow strong with LV.” The flower pointed out, and the quizzical look from the child causes Flowey to continue, “What’s LV? LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don’t you? I’ll share some with you, so don’t worry!” At the question, the girl’s eyebrows furrowed then, hands clasping together.

   “Down here, LOVE is shared through… little, white… ‘friendliness pellets’!” Flowey chirped then, the girl involuntarily wincing when small pellets appear, “Run around! Catch as many as you can!” She hears the flower speak, and then she panics.

   Don’t trust him.

   She stumbles away from the projectiles, and Flowey blinked, a bit confused, maybe a bit annoyed if she thought about it.

   “...Hey, buddy, you missed ‘em.” He spoke then, “Let’s try again, okay?” He then pulled back into his cheery expression, and the projectiles fire again; to which the girl practically jumps away from them, eyes wide.

   Now Flowey looked frustrated-- and the child wasn’t sure she liked that.

   “Is this a joke?” He asked, “Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS--” A pause, he seemed to stare to his left before correcting himself, “...friendliness pellets.” They fire again, and now the girl knew-- he was trying to do something bad. They were bullets-- she heard him loud and clear.

   Almost terrified, she ducks away once more, and it’s silent for a few moments, pale hands cover her mouth as she glances towards the flower-- and she squeaked when she saw his face.

   It had morphed; turned into something sinister and scary-- something that she didn’t like at all-- he jerked around a little, and then slouched just a tad towards her; it cast a bit of a shadow over his eyes, and the girl didn’t know if that made him scarier.

   “You know what’s going on here, don’t you..?” He asked lowly, her shoulders tensed; the child had curled in on herself a little further, frightened, “You just wanted to see me suffer.” He hissed, those bullets flickered to form a circle around the poor girl; leading to no escape.

   “DIE.” The bullets come closer, and she screwed her eyes shut as she listened to the flower’s maddening cackle… but then nothing happened. She hears Flowey make a vague noise of confusion before she hears the flicker of fire-- and the enemy being thrown.

   Then she hears it-- her-- speak.

   “What a miserable creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…”

   She opened her eyes to see the monster standing before her, and for once in her life…

   For once in her life, staring into the eyes of someone who looked kind, and gentle--

   --She felt safe.

Chapter Text

   Fuzzy paws take her small hands as the woman before her pulls the child to her feet; the girl cranes her neck to look up at her-- the goat’s kind smile and gentle eyes bringing a form of comfort-- and the girl tilted her head as the other spoke.

   “Do not be afraid, my child.” She responded, “I am Toriel-- caretaker of the Ruins.” At that, the girl looked around-- these were the Ruins? Why were they called the Ruins? “I pass through this place to see if anyone had fallen down-- you are the first human to have come in a long time.” Toriel informed her gently, “Come, I shall guide you through the catacombs.”

   The girl could only keep a grip on her hand as they walked to the next room; to which, the child gave a gasp of awe. It was beautiful-- red leaves dangling from the ceiling and marble stairs leading up another level-- the girl couldn’t help but stare at it all. Her eyes fell to the pile of leaves between the two marble staircases, and she breaks away from the goat to look at the shining star on it, her fingers twitch and she hops in place, before raising her hands to gently grip the yellow star.

   It was… it was warm, gently and almost ticklish as she held it in her hands, red eyes grow half-lidded as she stood there, watching the four-pointed object shine in her little hands.

   * The shadows of the RUINS loom above, filling you with Determination. HP fully restored.

   * Game SAVEd.

   “?????” She blinked, looking around, her gaze goes to Toriel, watching her almost worriedly as she stood, the girl discards the star to make her way back over and grab her hand, looking up at her and smiling.

   And so they continue. She listens to the older woman-- chattering on about how the Ruins are full of strange puzzles, and how it might be dangerous-- though, to the girl, the only danger she believed was here happened to be from those actively pursuing her ( like the flower ).

   But regardless, she follows the woman further into the catacombs-- until they stopped momentarily-- standing before a small dummy.

   “As a human living in the Underground,” Toriel began, guiding the child towards the dummy, “monsters may try to attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation-- however, worry not! The process is simple; when you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight.”

   A fight? She’s never been in an actual fight before! Her eyebrows furrow, but the girl continues to listen.

   “Whilst you are in a fight-- strike of a friendly conversation.” Toriel informed her, “Stall for time, my child-- I will come to resolve the conflict.” The girl simple looked at the woman as though she was insane; a friendly conversation? Against someone who wanted to kill her? That’s bizarre.

   “Practice talking to the dummy.” Toriel encouraged then, gently pushing her to the stagnant enemy, the girl looked the dummy up and down, frowning.

   * You encountered the dummy.

   The menu from before appears; albeit with a different interface, there were options before her, glowing a bright yellow, the child can only look at them all, before carefully inspecting them; FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. She could feel Toriel watching; so FIGHT was a no-go, maybe it’d be better not to touch that in general ( with her weak little noodle arms, she’d have a hard time fighting anyways ).

   ACT, ITEM or MERCY… her hand presses the ACT button, and then the only useful option after it.

   * ACT > Talk.

   * You talk to the dummy.

   “Um… hello, you look nice.” She whispered, a little nervous despite the words pouring from her mouth. Though… no response came of it.

   * …

   * It doesn’t seem much for conversation.

   Her eyebrows furrow a tad at the narration in the back of her mind; though she didn’t really bat an eye at the voice. However, her eyes then turned to Toriel, who looked pleased.

   * Toriel seems happy with you.

   * YOU WON! You earned 0 XP and 0 gold.

   She pats her skirt as she turned to the woman fully, the goat looked down at her, giving a kindly smile, the old lady claps her paws together.

   “Ah, very good! You’re very good.” She gushed, the child gave a small smile, tilting her head as she grabbed her hand then, they continued on, the child looked around at the next room-- a bit surprised that it was empty, she hears Toriel mumbled something about a puzzle-- but does not pay it any mind as she’s lead along.

   Something makes her stop, though, her head turns, and red eyes focus on a curious white amphibian-like monster approaching before it suddenly turns monochrome.

   * Froggit attacks you!

   “Ah--” Her hand pulls away from the woman’s, the child looked at the monster, eyes wide with a little bit of alarm and intrigue; she hadn’t been expecting a battle so soon, but sometimes… this cannot be helped, can it?

   Stall for time. She looks into the ACT menu, before giggling at the nicer option that was given.

   * ACT > Compliment.

   “You’re very cute.” She spoke, stepping a little closer, “You’re so small-- like a doll, I could hug you.”

   The Froggit stared back, and the child can only cover her mouth and laugh as it looked a bit flustered.

   * Froggit didn’t understand what you said, but was flattered anyways.

   She giggled a little more, but looked up when she saw Toriel staring daggers at the poor frog-like monster, who quickly dashed off; the same winning text appears, and the child could only give a small sigh and a smile as she turned to follow the woman once more.

   They stop a few steps later… at spikes, the girl could only stare dumbfounded at the trap before looking back up to Toriel, clearly surprised at it. The goat, however, only smiled down at her, almost embarrassed.

   “This is the puzzle, but…” She holds a paw out to the other, “Here, take my hand.”

   Red eyes stared at it for a moment, before the girl looked up, smiling, and then placing her little hand in hers.

   And so they walked, Toriel guiding her carefully along the spiked puzzle; a short walk, for sure, and they had eventually gotten across.

   “Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now.” She spoke, guiding the girl to the next room, it was silent for a moment, until she spoke again, “You have done excellently thus far, my child.” She praised then, petting the girl’s hair, “However… I have a difficult request to ask of you.”

   “What is it?” The child piped up, blinking curiously up at her with a smile.

   “...I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself,” Toriel stated, “forgive me for this.”

   “Forgive you for--” the child could only watch as the goat rapidly ran down the hall, “--ah.”

   She sighed, giving a little smile and trekking down the hallway; it wasn’t bad, she had to walk up the mountain by herself ( she couldn’t remember it, weirdly enough ), so this was a piece of cake, once she reached the end, she was greeted once more by the goat.

   “Greetings, my child.” She chimed warmly, “Do not worry-- I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time.” The girl could tell she was; it was the only pillar in the hallway, “Thank you for trusting me, however, there was an important reason for this exercise-- to test your independence.”

   The girl could see why; she was only six ( though others had mentioned that her mentality was further than it should… she had her reasons ).

   “I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while.” Toriel continued, “Please, remain here, it is dangerous to explore by yourself.” After seeing the young child nod, she smiled then, and brightened, “I have an idea.” She uttered then, bringing something out and handing it to her, “I will give you a cell phone.”

   “...” The child was dumbfounded. The phone was so old-- was… was it a Nokia? How did Toriel have a Nokia? The girl wondered if it made for a better weapon considering it’s brick-like appearance.

   “If you have a need for anything, just call.” Toriel stated, “Be good, alright?” She steps back, and then leaves fully, the girl could only sigh before plopping herself down near the pillar. Looks like she’ll have to wait.

   Though she could swear she felt eyes on her from the other end of the hall, red eyes shift; catching sight of something white and yellow before it disappeared into the ground.

   “...Probably jus’ me.” She murmured then, rubbing her eyes.

   “Time to play the waiting game.”

Chapter Text

   She’d been there for two hours now. Hands fiddling with the phone almost idly as she tried not to doze off-- it was annoying, sure, but she couldn’t help it! She was only six years of age, what crime would she be committing if she were to accidentally have a nap in the room she was told to stay in?

   “■■■■■■, baby, you must always watch your back.”

   She jolts awake, swallowing thickly as she planted her hands on the purpley-pink floor, red eyes flick up to the ceiling in what could be alarm, but she doesn’t show it, instead simply pressing her lips into a thin line as she sits.

   “...She’s… takin’ a long time.” The girl observed almost boredly, looking around, it wouldn’t hurt to explore, right? There might be monsters around-- but she was smart enough to evade and spare, after all. Toriel taught her that much, at least.

   She finds it in herself to stand, dusting off her shirt before tottering into the next room-- red eyes focus on leaves of the same hue, and the girl gave a little smile as she stood. The buzz within her pocket suddenly drew her attention; and she fished into the space to bring out the phone.

   Toriel, she assumed, she put the device to her ear and answered the call.

   “Hello? This is Toriel.” A soft, gentle voice comes through-- though staticky and noisy, the girl gave a small smile, mumbling a greeting. “You have not left the room, have you?”

   The child proceeds to metaphorically sweat buckets whilst Toriel continues.

   “There are a few puzzles ahead that I’ve yet to explain, it would be dangerous to try and solve them yourself.” The woman advised, “Be good, alright?” There was a click, and the child pulled the phone away, heaving a sigh of mild relief.

   “...I can do it.” She murmured to no one in particular, wandering over to the SAVE point in the leaves and making sure to save progress-- it was the least she could do-- she moved then, peeking into the room on her left with an inquisitive expression.

   A bowl of candy. She blinked, and walked over to it, squinting to read the words for a moment… take one.

   Don’t mind if she does. She swipes a Monster Candy for herself before running out of the room and down. She passes by a monster she didn’t recognise, small and meek; it screamed a little when she whizzed past it, and she could only shout an apology as she went--

   --Until the floor beneath her gave out. She falls face-first into red leaves, and pulls herself up, looking quite offended at the audacity the floor had with doing that. She combs through her hair for a moment to get rid of any stray leaves, before standing and looking around-- ah, alright, it was meant to happen, judging by the doors on either side of her-- so she moved to the one she was facing, before climbing up the ladder within to emerge on the other side of the cracked floor.

   “Huh,” she scratched her head then, placing her other hand on her hip, “that’s… a weird puzzle.” It was something she wasn’t used to; even after seeing the previous puzzles ( they were clever, she would admit that much ).

   She kept walking, hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt as she makes her way through to the next room, red eyes focusing on the puzzle before her.

   “Rock?” She mumbled, circling the stone in the room, and then looking at the switch adjacent to it-- not to mention, the spikes that hinder her way through, the girl huffed, eyebrows furrowing as she stands behind it then-- she sees what she needs to do.

   Little hands lay flat on the bumpy surface, and she pushes, shoving the lump of stone onto the switch before taking quick steps across, entering the next room; more tiles, perfect. She wasn’t sure just what she had to do here, but she decided it was best to test the waters with where she should go ( she simply sat at the edge and pushed her hand against the floor to see which one gives through-- it would take an idiot to step through blindly, after all ).

   With enough care, enough patience-- the child figures out her way through, she steps through to the next room, eyebrows raising at the puzzle-- more rocks, she assumed, and so she rolled up her sleeves and got to work pushing.

   Until… one stopped her.

   “WHOA there, pardner!” A voice boomed in her ears-- the girl recoiled, eyes widening, “Who said you can push me around?!” She heaved, collecting herself for a moment.

   “S-- sorry,” she sputtered, “I need-- need to get across, could you--?”

   “HMM? So you’re ASKIN’ me to move over?” It takes a moment to deliberate then, “Okay, just for you, pumpkin.” And so it moves--

   --only a little. This was a tragedy. The look on her face seemed to give that away.

   “HMM? You want me to move some more? Alrighty, how’s this?” It moves up, the poor child looks so defeated.

   “HMM? That was the wrong direction?” The rock asked, and the girl nodded frantically, “Okay, I think I got it.”

   Finally, finally it moves to the switch, the child thanks whatever deity is up above for this blessing because this rock is so dense she hated it, before moving to the bridge--

   --and jumping away when the spikes came back up, the girl groaned. She’s so tired, giving the rock a look.

   “HMM?” She hears then, “You wanted me to STAY there? You’re giving me a real workout!” The rock complains, but the child relaxes once the spikes go back down and hurries to the next room before she has to talk to the stone again.

   She sees a SAVE Point once again; eyes lighting up as she goes to touch it.

   * (Knowing the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese…)

   “--?” She looked up.

   * (It fills you with determination.)

   She flexed her fingers, feeling rejuvenated, but she couldn’t help but wonder just who the voice is that was speaking to her-- it was the same back then, too… now that she thought about it, there was a point back before she left the long hallway; would they have spoken then if she touched it?

   The girl shakes her head then, she didn’t know, but it’s not worth worrying over, and so she heads to the next room.

   “...Ah…” She began, looking down at the roadblock in front of her.

   “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…”

   She blinked.

   “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz(are they gone yet)zzzz….”

   A ghost, pale as snow, laid before her-- and she heard it, the voice, whispering in her ear.

   * (This ghost keeps saying ‘z’ out loud repeatedly, pretending to be asleep.)

   Now that she listened, she noted that the voice sounded just a little older than her, and sweet, like chocolate.

   * (Move it with force?)

   “...S-- sorry!” She apologised then, raising her hands to touch the ghost so she can move them aside, “I need to come thro--”

   The scene turns monotone.

    * Here comes Napstablook.

Chapter Text

   She wheezes; red eyes trained on the menu now in front of her as she stepped back a little; right, okay, so she initiated a FIGHT. So what should she do? Toriel was off doing errands, and it wasn’t like she could stall for long enough when it came to them-- she wasn’t sure how long those errands would take!

   She rubbed her face, covering her eyes for a moment before collecting herself a little bit-- okay, she needed to focus, she had to do something that would make things better ( she did notice that the other seemed gloomy, so maybe… ).

   Her hands find the ACT menu, bringing forth a few options to her choosing; one was the normal check, the other three… interesting, only one seemed nice ( the child didn’t think she’d have it in her to threat or flirt ), she reaches a hand out to the cheer option, and flashed the other a bright smile.

   Only to duck away when she gets tears in response-- um, okay! Guess she should probably try again-- OW.

   A splash of magic slaps her right in the face, shaving off two points of her overall HP.

   “D.T.” = 18 HP.

   She rubbed the wound almost rapidly as she hit the cheer option again-- giving another smile yet again; something nice, something patient. The ghost gives a weak chuckle, and the hit box changes, revealing text that was harmless to the touch.

   NOT REALLY FEELING UP TO IT RIGHT NOW, SORRY.

   Well, more power for her! And the other looked just a little bit better, her turn finally comes back, and she hits the cheer option once more, smiling to the ghost, and whispering a joke to them, they seemed to mumble something under their breath.

   “let me try….”

   The tears go up, the girl marvels at this clear violation of gravity as the liquid forms into a tophat, the ghost chuckles once more at her, before speaking.

   “i call it ‘dapperblook’. do you like it…?”

   She immediately gives her answer; rapid nodding and a beam as the ghost curls in on theirself almost bashfully, murmuring a soft ‘oh….’ as the scene switches back to its colourful tone, the girl snickered, tilting her head back as she watched the ghost wriggle a little.

   “i usually come to the RUINS because there’s nobody around….” The ghost explained then, looking at her, “but today, i met somebody nice…”

   The child clapped, giving a little nod.

   “I-- I’m glad I could help you! But…”

   “oh, i’m rambling again. i’ll get out of your way…”

   With that, the ghost fades away, the girl gave a sheepish smile as she heads onwards, taking note of a fork in the road-- she heads right, first, peeking into a room with no exit, and spiderwebs galore, she hopped a little closer, taking interest in what the little bugs have to offer.

   “...A Spider Donut?” She murmured as she read the sign, something at the back of her mind squirms ( she sees bright colours and a happy smile looking down at her, and in her hand was a chocolate-covered circle with an empty middle ), her hands link together as she stood there, before she looked to the smaller web.

   She places seven of the gold pieces she had collected from the ground on the web, and was given the familiar shape in response, she gave the spiders a little giggle, and a wave.

   “Thank you.” She replied, pocketing the item and running back to go the other way; noticing Froggits congregating as she stepped past them, she vaguely hears something about an X button and an F4 button, but for the sake of how much she can take here, she ignores it.

   There’s a single lone Froggit towards the end of the room, however, and it looks to her, smiling.

   “Ribbit, ribbit. ( I’ve heard you’re quite merciful, human.)” It spoke, “( Surely you know by now that a monster wears a yellow name when spared. What do you think of that? )”

   It was a strange question to ask, but the girl gave a smile back, hands linking together as she opened her mouth to answer.

   “It’s very helpful.” She tells it, “B-- because I like sparin’ others.”

   “( It is very helpful. Remember, sparing is just saying you won’t fight. )” The Froggit speaks, “( Maybe one day, you’ll have to do it even if their name isn’t yellow. )” The knowing smile that comes to its face makes her wonder if it’s hinting towards something, but she nodded to that, murmuring a soft thank-you in response, before beginning to walk.

   The buzzing of her phone suddenly makes her jump; hands fumbling to grab it and answer the call, the girl beamed.

   “Mom,” she murmured as the call initiated, “hi.”

   “Hello!” The voice on the other end comes through, “I have just realised that it has been a while since I’ve cleaned up, I was not expecting to have company so soon.” The girl listened, still grinning ear-to-ear as Toriel continued, “There are… probably a lot of things lying about here and there. You can pick them up, but do not carry more than you need; someday, you might see something you really like. You may want to leave room in your pockets for that.”

   At that, the child checked her storage; the backpack on her shoulder. It had enough room for maybe… six more items, she thinks, she hears the call end, and she took a moment to breathe before heading onwards.

   The room had more of those stupid collapse tiles; and the groan that eminated from the girl let her discomfort be known. Even so, she moved to the sign, reading it.

   Only one switch. Right, okay.

   The six-year-old looked towards the tiles, then, six tiles, so a one-in-six chance she could get the switch on the first try. Of course, she didn’t want to deal with the tiles any longer than she should, but…

   The inner explorer says she wants to see what’s under them all. She scratched her head, before moving to simply do what she did in the maze room; push the tiles through with her hands, and peek at what was underneath.

   And so she did, pushing two tiles and seeing nothing of importance; only what seemed to be monsters under the floor below-- she wasn’t going to deal with that, nope-- so she moves to her third one.

   She shoves the tile with her hands, watching it clatter onto the red leaves beneath-- and she sees it, something red and faded, lost to time-- and she hops down onto the pile, drawing closer and picking it up.

   * You picked up the Faded Ribbon.

   There it was again; that voice, the girl tightened her grip around the fabric in response, watching it-- there was something… weird, about it, now that she looked. Small specks of cyan floating around it.

   She rubbed her chin in thought as she held the fabric, and then tightened her grip once more; noting that the specks got brighter.

   So she clenched her fist, and cyan filled her vision momentarily.

   ...Before it all fades out. The girl rubbed her eyes with her free hand then, looking up-- and almost screaming when she locks eyes with the colour of the specks.

   “Shh! Don’t scream!” A girl’s voice whispers to her, the person before her looked about thirteen, hands clasping together as she gave the smaller child a smile, “Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you.”

   “Who… who are you?” The little one finds it in herself to ask, the older girl giggled, a hand going to cover her mouth; almost elegant, like a noble, the child thought.

   “I’m a friend.” She answered quietly, “Call me…”

   “...Patience.”