Chapter Text
Ford’s bones ached. He groaned as he lifted himself up to take a look at his surroundings. Above him was daylight, and below him was a flowerbed. The interdimensional tear that led him to this universe must have been somewhere in the air, because he certainly fell. And hard. Luckily, the flowers seemed to have broken his fall.
He stood up, dusting himself off, and headed forward. Just ahead and to his left, there stood an entryway. It was grey with a strange symbol Ford didn’t recognise, and pillars at either side. Walking through he was startled by a high-pitched voice. In a faint light, there was a yellow flower with a smiling face.
“Howdy!” it said. “I’m Flowey. Flowey the Flower!” Ford glared distrustfully at Flowey, but let it speak. “Hmm… you’re new to the Underground, aren’tcha?” So that was what this place was called, Ford thought. “Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!”
Suddenly, Ford’s surroundings changed. A red heart-shaped object appeared in front of Ford. “See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!” Flowey explained. “Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV.”
Ford raised an eyebrow. “And LV is…?”
Flowey grinned. “Why, LOVE, of course!” Ford rolled his eyes. Were names for everything here terrible? “You want some LOVE, don’t you? Don’t worry, I’ll share some with you!” Flowey winked. “Down here, LOVE is shared through…” White seeds appeared around Flowey, as if by magic. “Little white… ‘friendliness pellets’.” It grinned at Ford as the ‘friendliness pellets’ spun around it. “Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!”
The explanation could perhaps convince a child, but Ford had been lied to enough times to know everything Flowey said was a lie. Ford moved away instinctively and dodged the pellets. His soul moved with him. Flowey’s expression contorted in annoyance.
“You know what’s going on here, don’t you? I knew that wouldn’t work.” Flowey summoned a circle of the white pellets and they surrounded Ford’s soul. “Die.” The pellets got closer, closer, closer still, until right before the pellets could touch Ford’s soul, a ball of fire appeared and hit Flowey, sending it who-knows-where.
A white and furry goat-like being with a motherly presence made her way forward, looking down at Ford. She was at least a foot taller than him, and wore a purple robe with the same symbol that Ford saw on the entryway. The source of the fireball began to speak, her voice calming and gentle. “What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent…” The goat looked down. “You don’t seem to be very young. How old are you, my child?”
It was a good question. Ford thought, clueless as to how many years he had been traversing dimensions for. He shook his head. “...Forty-something,” he estimated uncertainly. He had been gone for between fifteen and twenty years, that was for sure. He had no time for introductions, and something in him screamed to just rush past the goat woman, but he stood firmly in place, awaiting what she had to say next.
“I see,” she said. “Well, my name is Toriel. I am the caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Do you know your name?” She waited for Ford’s response.
“Stanford Pines, but please, just call me Ford.” He looked up and made eye contact with Toriel. Her eyes were very, very brown.
Toriel smiled warmly. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ford. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs.” Looking at the kindly old woman, Ford felt trust towards another being in the multiverse for the first time in what felt like forever, but he didn’t let his guard down completely. “This way,” Toriel said, moving forward towards another room. The entryway was in the same style as the other one, this time in a purple colour.
In the next room, the walls and floors were the same shade of purple. Red leaves were scattered in places on the floor, and just ahead a yellow light floated directly in front of Ford. The shadows of the Ruins loomed above, filling him with determination. Reaching out and touching the floating light, he felt as if his wounds had been healed. He wondered if there would be more of these lights elsewhere, perhaps he could study them on his own. He followed Toriel up some stairs and through another entryway, this one with green vines at either side of it on the walls.
He had to admit, the Ruins were very beautiful.
“Welcome to your new home, human,” Toriel said. Ford didn’t exactly like the sound of that, but he wasn’t in the mood to comment on her choice of words. The room was similar to the last, but smaller and the door ahead was shut. “Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins.” She stepped on four stone buttons, then flipped a yellow lever on the wall. The doors parted with a clang. “The Ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room,” she explained. “Please adjust yourself to the sight of them.”
Ford explored the room he was in, roaming around. There was a stone tablet on the wall with words engraved onto it, but nothing else was particularly notable apart from the puzzle he had watched Toriel solve just some moments prior. Ford then followed Toriel through to the next room, having made himself acquainted with the last room.
“To make progress here,” Toriel began, “you will need to trigger several switches.” Ford could already see what he had to do and began making his way to the switches. “Do not worry, I have labelled the ones that you need to—ah.” Toriel watched as Ford made his way across the bridge (to his surprise, there was fresh water, perhaps he could fill up his canteen here if it was safe to drink) and flipped one labelled switch, crossed the other bridge, then flipped the second switch, which disabled the spikes separating the room they were in from the next with a loud noise that made Ford flinch slightly.
“...Splendid!” Toriel followed him to the end of the room once she was out of her slight shock. “I am proud of you, human. Let us move to the next room.” She made her way through where the spikes had just been, and Ford quickly followed suit.
In the next room, there was nothing but a dummy. “As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation,” Toriel explained. “However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation.” Ford found himself confused at Toriel’s explanation.
“Why would I…?” Ford rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, that just seems… counterproductive. Not to mention unsafe. Can I not just shoot at the threat?”
Toriel laughed, then realised Ford was being serious. “Well, no. Not exactly. You could. However, that doesn’t mean you should. Not everything needs to be solved with violence, human.” Toriel inhaled. “I think you should consider trying to talk it out with the monster before resorting to violence immediately. Let us try with this dummy, alright? Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict.” She led Ford to the dummy. Ford stood in front of it.
His SOUL became visible once again. Instead of fighting with the dummy, he entertained Toriel’s suggestion and tried to start a conversation. “So,” Ford said. He cleared his throat. “Nice, um… nice weather we’re having.” The dummy stood still, as they do. Seems like it isn’t much for conversation.
The encounter ended just as soon as it had begun. Toriel smiled proudly, seeming happy with Ford. “See? That was not so hard, was it? Great job, human. You are very good.” She walked through the door, heading to the next room. “There is another puzzle in this room… I wonder if you can solve it?”
Ford moved around the room, when suddenly a frog-like creature hopped at him. Once again, Ford saw his SOUL before him. This must be another FIGHT. He instinctively wanted to reach for his gun and take it from its holster, but the monster looked as though it was relatively harmless. In comparison to Ford himself, that was. Instead, Ford chose to threaten the frog monster. “Come any closer and I’ll shoot,” he said, reaching into his jacket. The frog didn’t seem to understand, but looked scared anyway.
Toriel gave the frog a dirty look and it hopped away before it could attack him and they began walking forward once more. They came to a bridge, but this time, the floor was covered in spikes. Ford looked at it curiously. It must be the puzzle. Toriel hummed thoughtfully. “This is the puzzle, but…” She extended a hand to Ford. “Here, take my hand for a moment,” she said. Ford reluctantly placed his hand in Toriel’s and they began to walk together.
Ah, Ford thought. So there was a specific path that must be taken to avoid the spikes.
Toriel let go of Ford’s hand once they made it across the bridge. “Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now,” she finally said. She didn’t know, couldn’t know, that Ford had done things far more dangerous than solving puzzles, but he decided not to make a comment. They made their way to the next room. “You have done excellently thus far, Ford,” Toriel remarked. “However, I have a difficult request to ask of you.” She paused for a moment. “I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself.” Ford stared dumbfounded for a moment. Was she serious? “Forgive me for this.” Toriel turned and walked away.
Ford stood still for another moment. Surely she was joking, right? He was a grown man, he could certainly walk across a room without her assistance. Unless she had left traps throughout the room, like arrows that would shoot if he took a wrong step, but nothing stood out on the floor or the walls. He concluded it might not be that. However, Toriel had found Ford in a fairly vulnerable state. When he arrived he was quite injured, could it be a test of his independence? That seemed like a more likely scenario.
Ford shook away his thoughts. It didn’t matter. It was an easy request, and if it would give Toriel some peace of mind then so be it. He began walking across the room, still cautious of any traps. Nothing had been set off when Toriel walked across on her own, but who’s to say what could trigger them? When he finally made it to the end of the room unscathed, he concluded it was the latter scenario. Toriel came out from behind a pillar at the very end of the room.
“Greetings, Ford. Do not worry, I did not leave you,” she said. “I was merely behind this pillar the whole time.” Ford found himself smiling amusedly up at Toriel even though he thought she was being silly. “Thank you for trusting me.” The word ‘trust’ stirred up a bitter feeling in his stomach as he recalled all the other times he had trusted other people. Bill… no, he had to make it out of this dimension first. He couldn’t worry about Bill yet, Bill wasn’t here.
“However, there was an important reason for this exercise.” Toriel paused. “To test your independence.” So he was right. “I must attend to some business, so I will not be here for a while. Please remain here. It is dangerous to explore by yourself,” she said. Toriel thought for a moment. “I have an idea. I will give you a cell phone,” Toriel proposed. “If you have a need for anything, just call. Be safe, alright?” She walked away after handing Ford a phone, leaving him to his own devices.
Of course, Toriel’s request for him to stay put fell on deaf ears. As soon as he felt Toriel was far enough away that he could leave and explore further out without being caught, he made his way to the next room.
Almost immediately, he heard the cell phone in his pocket ring. He picked it up after jumping at the sudden noise. “Hello?” he said into the phone.
Toriel’s voice came back through the speaker. “Hello, Ford. This is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you? There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try solve them yourself.”
Ford thought for a moment before responding to Toriel. “I think I would be quite alright,” he replied. “Either way, I have not left the room.” It was just a white lie. Toriel seemed like an overprotective kind of person. If she knew Ford had left, she would probably be incredibly worried.
“I see,” Toriel answered. “Well, I will not be too long. Be safe, alright?” The call ended with a click and Ford lowered the cell phone back into his pocket.
He made his way forward, another one of those floating lights catching his eye, this one in a pile of those red leaves. He took it as an opportunity to investigate. Upon touching, the light made a sound. Recalling back to earlier, he remembered it healed his wounds. Perhaps it had some sort of healing properties? Other than that, he wasn’t sure what else to think. He would have to conduct further investigation when he had more free time, but instead he headed north where there was an entryway leading to a small room. In it was a bowl of… candy? Ford took a couple from the bowl, pocketing them, then left and went south, but not before encountering another monster.
It seemed to be a moth. Ford took it upon himself to spare the poor creature, since it didn’t look as though it wanted to fight him anyway.
Ford walked for some time before he heard his cell phone ring once again. He picked it up, this time less startled by the ringing noise (though he still jumped slightly). “For no reason in particular…” Toriel began. “Which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?” Toriel asked.
Ford thought for a moment. The question caught him off-guard slightly, but he answered nonetheless. “I would have to say cinnamon,” he declared.
“Oh, I see. Thank you very much!” Toriel hung up with a click. Ford put the phone back in his pocket, but it rang again almost as soon as he started walking. “Hello, this is Toriel. You do not dislike butterscotch, do you? I know what your preference is, but… would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?” she asked.
“No,” Ford answered. “Butterscotch is alright.” He had eaten his fair share of disgusting foods in his time in the multiverse in the name of survival. The mere thought of butterscotch was making him work up an appetite and he felt his stomach rumble. How long had it been since his last meal? He had no idea, but he shook away the thought anyway. He had things to do before he could think about food.
“Right, right. I understand,” said Toriel. “Thank you for being patient, by the way.” Once again, the call ended with a click. Ford pocketed the cell phone again, and he hoped it would be for the last time in a while. But just as he solved the puzzle in that room, it rang again. He picked up reluctantly. “Hello? You do not have any allergies, do you?”
“I do not,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Hm? No reason, no reason at all.” She hung up the phone again.
Ford traversed the next few rooms in a similar pattern. Encounter a monster, spare the monster, solve a puzzle. After a particularly frustrating encounter with a talking rock, he found another floating light. He touched the light and with that familiar sound he felt himself filled with determination. In the next room, a ghost laid on a pile of leaves. It seemed as though it was pretending to be asleep, repeatedly saying ‘z’ out loud.
After standing above it for some time, Ford decided to move it with force.
The ghost seemed tearful. Ford went over his options in his head. He couldn’t kill them; they were a ghost, after all. So, when he looked at their sad expression again, he felt as though the best option was to attempt to cheer them up. He gave them his best patient smile, awaiting their response.
“heh…” they chuckled. Ford wasn’t sure what was so funny, but waited for them to do something anyway.
He concluded their tears were able to damage his SOUL, so he evaded them to the best of his ability. Ford noticed that the ghost seemed just a little bit happier after his attempt at cheering them up. Perhaps this was the way to go? This time, he told them a joke. “My ex-wife still misses me, but her aim is getting better…?” He awkwardly grinned down at the ghost, hoping they would laugh at his terrible attempt at a joke. They chuckled again. His attempts seemed to have improved the ghost’s mood.
The ghost decided to show Ford something. “let me try…” They used their tears to make a top hat for themself. “i call it ‘dapper blook', do you like it…”
The ghost eagerly awaited Ford’s response, and he smiled at them again. “I do like it,” he said. “Very dapper.”
“oh gee…” The FIGHT came to an end. “i usually come to the ruins because there’s nobody around… but today i met somebody nice…” They had a happy look on their face. “oh, i’m rambling again… i’ll get out of your way,” they said, then disappeared. Ford walked across the pile of leaves where the ghost once laid, and continued on his journey through the Ruins.
After much of the same routine, Ford found himself before a large tree with a pile of red leaves beneath it. In the distance, he heard Toriel’s voice. “Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would…” Toriel appeared before him. She seemed to have not expected his arrival. She rushed over to him. “How did you get here, human? Are you hurt?”
As a whole, Ford was unscathed; it was easy to dodge attacks, since he’d had over a decade of practice from all the dangerous situations he found himself in in the multiverse. “I am alright, Toriel. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Toriel took a deep breath. “That is good. Err… well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, I have prepared a surprise for you.” Toriel walked into a cute, tidy house. Seeing it, it filled Ford with determination. He touched the yellow light, even though he was not sure if he needed to. As he entered the home, he was immediately hit with a strong scent of… was that pie? “Do you smell that? Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie,” Toriel announced. “I thought we might celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here, so I will hold off on snail pie for tonight.”
Ford shuffled his feet awkwardly. “That’s… very generous of you,” he said. He would have to tell the kindly goat woman that there was absolutely no way he would be staying in this dimension, let alone living with her, sometime. Perhaps he should just rip off the band-aid as soon as possible. “I appreciate your kindness, but…” Ford looked up at Toriel’s motherly face and suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps he would wait until tomorrow to tell her…
“What is it, Ford?” She looked down at him patiently.
“Nothing, I’m just tired.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away. He felt pathetic for his inability to tell the woman the truth, but he truly was tired, too tired to tell Toriel that as kind as she was and as much as he wanted to stay, he had to leave for the sake of the universe. “That’s all.”
Toriel nodded. “Well, I’m not sure it’s perfect, but I do have a spare bedroom I was going to offer you. Please follow me,” she said, walking off towards another corridor and opening the door to the first room. “This is it, but it is a children’s bedroom. I presume the bed may be a tad bit small for you, but…” She trailed off. “Do you think you can make do with what you have? I’m sorry there isn’t a better option.”
Ford marvelled at the sight of the room. It was monochromatic, totally red, and it didn’t bother Ford in the slightest that it was a children’s room. It had been so long since he had last slept in a real bed in a real bedroom that he had no objections whatsoever. “Toriel, this is… thank you very much. I’m so grateful,” he said. Toriel gently ruffled Ford’s hair. “This is alright, thank you again.”
Toriel smiled kindly. “I’m glad you’re okay with this, I was worried you would be upset. Please, make yourself at home.” Toriel left Ford on his own once again. He walked around the room a little bit, exploring his surroundings. There was a toybox, a closet, a bed, a lamp, and a drawing on the wall. He wondered if Toriel had any children, and he wondered why they weren’t present. Maybe they had grown up and moved out? Ford sat on the bed, almost sinking into the mattress immediately.
As to not be rude, he removed his boots and stood up to place them in the corner of the room. He went back to the bed and sat on it once again, before adjusting himself and laying down. He had to curl himself into a foetal position to fit in the bed, but it didn’t bother him much. He had slept in tree branches before, this was Heaven in comparison.
He shut his eyes, and fell into what was perhaps the most refreshing sleep he’d had since Dimension 52.