Chapter Text
Pain. That was the first thing that registered in Blue’s mind as he faded into consciousness. Hot, searing pain that ran throughout his entire body. Tears burned in his eyes as he rocked back and forth, writhing on the ground in agony. It was only when his hand brushed against something warm did he realize that he wasn’t alone.
He shot up, only to wince and hold his head. His eyes scanned the bed of yellow flowers he found himself lying in, counting the mass of unconscious children sprawling across the ground. There had to be about five, no, six other people. Maybe even more. Perhaps it was the concussion, but he couldn’t tell what limbs connected to what.
What should he do? Should he run? Should he help? Or should he pretend he, too, is unconscious until someone else wakes up? No, he couldn’t do that! He had to help; they could be hurt…and his mother had raised him better than to leave someone needing assistance alone.
Stumbling to his feet, he approached the group and shook the nearest body part with both hands, desperately trying to get a response. “Psst!” When he spoke, his voice cracked so bad that he winced. His throat felt dryer than a desert, like he hasn’t drank anything in weeks. “Can you hear me? Please, wake up! Come on, wake up!”
It took a solid minute of repeated shaking, poking, prodding, and verbal pleas until the others began to stir. Slowly, one by one, heads began to rise. Blue knelt down, helping a little girl sit up. “Are you all alright?”
“Where are we?” A boy wearing all yellow asked. “Who are y’all?”
“Aqua?” Someone wearing a purple striped shirt was feeling around rapidly on the flowers, fingers outspread. “Aqua, where are you?”
The girl in Blue’s arms shifted, standing up and wandering over to the child on the floor. “’m here. What are you doing?” She asked, rocking back and forth on her heels.
“I can’t find my glasses!” The child hissed, sounding slightly panicked now. “I can’t see without my glasses! Can you see them anywhere?” More of the children began to stand up, whispering to each other.
Someone cleared their throat from behind. A tall teenager stood behind the group, with short blond hair holding a jacket over his left shoulder. Despite being in a strange place, with people he didn’t know, he had a smile on his face. In his free hand was a pair of purple glasses. “Looking for these?”
“Those are Seth’s glasses!” The girl, Aqua, skipped towards the teenager with a big grin. “Can I have them? Pretty please?”
“Of course.” The boy passed the glasses over and Aqua skipped off to the one feeling the ground, Seth. "Is everyone alright?" He asked, eyes scanning the group. Blue hung in the back, taking in his surroundings. They seemed to be in some sort of cave, with the patch of flowers they had landed on being the only flora around. There was an opening up ahead, shrouded in the dark. “I suggest that, for now, we all stick together. We are in an unknown place and there could be all sorts of threats lurking around. So, if we are going to be working together, I think introductions are in order. I'll go first, break the ice and what not!” He pointed to himself, his smile growing ear to ear. “My name is Flowery! It’s a pleasure to meet you all!”
“Flowery!” Someone pushed past Blue, although it felt more like a light shove then anything. A girl who’s head barely leveled Blue’s tutu ran towards Flowery, followed by another teenager, this one a girl with pink hair.
“Ah, Orange! Pink! I’m glad you two are alright!” Flowery smiled brightly. He turned towards the rest of the group and put a hand on the younger girl’s head. “This is Orange, my younger sister!” Orange was short, with bright orange hair tied back with a thick bandana. She had a bandage on her right cheek, with a left black eye. She was wearing a white muscle shirt, blue jeans, and tattered, old shoes. On her hands, tied to her wrists with red string, was oversized boxer gloves. She puffed out her chest, trying to seem bigger than she actually was.
“And this is Pink!” Flowery said, pointing to the girl next to him that was only a few inches shorter than he was. She had pink hair pulled into two buns and wore plenty of cat-based merchandise…although it was all pink and frilly. This included a fake cat ear headband, a clip-on fake cat tail, paw-print shaped pockets located on each side of her sweater, and finally, fingerless gloves that resembled paw pads. Pink didn’t actually say anything, she just stared with a blank expression on her face. “These two are my sisters! Now, who would like to introduce themselves next?”
“Oh, oh! Me, me, me!” Aqua jumped up, looking excited as she waved her sleeves around. “I’m Aqua and this is my sibling, Seth! It’s nice to meet so many potential new friends! We can play games together, like the knife-throwing game! It’ll be so much fun!”
“Uh, no. We are not throwing anything.” Seth scoffed. Seth wore a large, baggy purple turtle-neck sweater with a darker purple line running across it. They wore a pair of glasses that were, thankfully, not harmed from the fall down to…wherever they were. Aqua, meanwhile, wore a simple, long blue dress that hung down to her ankles and had her hair pulled back with a red ribbon. Her hair covered her eyes, and her sleeves covered her hands, but she didn’t seem to mind at all. “Please, ignore Aqua. She tends to get a little…overexcited.”
“I’m just playing! What’s wrong with playing? If you don’t play, you end up a boredy-pants, like Seth!” Aqua bounced from one foot to the other, her arms outstretched to keep her balance. “Come on! Let’s play!”
“We can play after the rest of us introduces themselves,” Flowery said, getting down on her level. “we can play ‘spot the color’ while trying to gather our bearings. Does that sound alright with you?”
Aqua gasped like Flowery just suggested the best idea of all time. “Okay, okay! I’ve never played ‘spot the color’ before! This is gonna be so fun!”
Flowery smiled and turned to the three who had yet to introduce themselves. A person wearing all green, one dressed in a cowboy outfit, and finally, Blue!
Blue cleared his throat, taking a step forward and straightening his tutu. “Greetings to all of you, my name is Blue. I..don’t know how I got here, and I am assuming none of you do either. So, I hope that we can all get along…and that we can all get home safely.” Once Blue was done, he glanced up, expecting to see everyone’s attention already on the next person in line, but instead, all eyes were glued right onto Blue. He froze in place, gripping the fabric of his tutu extra tightly. Did he say something wrong?
The one wearing a cowboy outfit stepped up, tipping his hat. “Blue, waz it?” He asked, voice thick with a Southern accent. “I don’t wanna alarm you, but it looks like ya got a mighty bad scratch on your face.”
“I…do?” Blue reached up, touching his chin, then his cheeks, nose, and lips. His fingers came back clean every time. It was only when they grazed his forehead did a sharp electric pain course through his body, causing him to gasp and quickly pull his hand back. His hand now had a small puddle of crimson nestled in his palm, sticky and smelling strongly of copper. “Ah…” Maybe that was why he woke up with such a pulsing headache. He thought it was a concussion, but it looks like he was wrong.
The person in green, who had yet to introduce themselves, was quick to approach. They lifted their sleeve and pressed it against the wound. Blue, at first, flinched back, but seeing how they were just trying to help…he went still. “Thank you…uh…”
The person reached into their pocket and pulled out a small, tattered notebook. Flipping it open with one hand, Green held the first page up for him to read. There were sentences already written down, the ink bone-dry. ‘Hello! My name is Green! I use they/them pronouns and I am mute! I use this notebook to communicate! I hope we can be great friends!’ It looked to have been written a long, long time ago. Well, an introduction card would be helpful in a public setting, after all.
“What a handy notebook you got there.” The cowboy said, peering over to read the paper. “This helpful person here is named Green! That just leaves me, yeah? It’s nice to meet ya’ll, I’m Yellow!” He tipped his hat to the main group, before turning back to face Blue. “That scratch seems pretty painful. We should get going…maybe we’ll find someone to help ya out.”
“Wait, we’re going? Together?” Seth piped up, cleaning their glasses with their sleeves. “Why? I mean…most of us don’t know each other. Why would we go together? You can all be like…kidnappers or something!”
“Kidnappers that are all around the same age?” Flowery asked, raising an eyebrow. “All of you seem pretty young…Pink and I are probably the oldest here. But do you really think we can grab all of you by ourselves?”
“Well…I…y-you could have had help! Or some kind of tool! It’s not a bad thing to stay cautious around strangers!” Seth stuttered. They opened their mouth to continue speaking, only to yell out when Aqua suddenly skipped towards Flowery.
Aqua grinned, rocking on her feet. She stopped mere inches away from the teenager, bringing a hand up to her mouth. “Are you a kidnapper, stranger?”
Flowery smiled, kneeling down to her height. “Of course not. I don’t know anything about this situation, the same as everyone else, I’m assuming.” He reached a hand out and ruffled her hair. “But it’s okay. If we stick together, we can keep each other safe and find our way back to our homes.”
“AQUA! GET BACK HERE!” Seth protested, although their words seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Aqua’s smile grew even larger. “Okay! We can become friends, then we don’t need to be strangers no more! We can play games and eat yummy food and maybe find cute animals!” She chirped happily.
Blue was trying to listen to the squabble. He really was. But his mind was starting to spin, and his head felt like it was being split open. Green and Yellow seemed to be the only two to notice, with Green adding more pressure and Yellow rubbed gentle, almost hesitant, circles on his back. “I don’t mean to interrupt y’all…but we should really start to get going.” Yellow said, clearing his throat. “Blue here is really hurt…and it’ll be nighttime here soon. If we don’t move, we’ll be stuck wandering around in the dark until morning!”
“You’re right.” Flowery said, quickly straightening up. “How rude of me…our safety should be our first priority. Come, there’s an opening up this way.”
He turned on his heels and walked off into the darkness, quickly followed by Pink and Orange. Aqua happily hopped after them, with Seth close behind, yelling at her to stay by their side. This left only Green, Blue, and Yellow.
“Can ya walk?” Yellow asked, voice dropping to a softer tone. “I’m sure we can find somewhere for you to rest soon.”
Slowly, Yellow and Green began to walk, moving slow for Blue. Yellow kept an arm on his arm, keeping his balance and being ready to catch him at any moment. Green didn’t move their sleeve, even with all the blood soaking into the fabric, they just pressed it harder. Their expression was one of concern, eyebrows knitted and mouth tilted into a deep frown.
“I’ll be fine. I just…need a bandage or something.” Blue tried to wave the concern away, stepping off the pile of yellow flowers they had all landed on. His foot hit something hard, followed by clinking of something rolling across the floor. Looking down, Blue finally noticed the culprit of his wound. A rock, about the size of his hand, covered in fresh blood. He must have landed on it during the fall…or maybe, he hit his head against it when he was waking up.
“I don’t know…ya might need some stitches, ya hear?” Yellow said with a frown. “The cut looks pretty deep. If we can find some yarn and a needle…I can fix it up for ya!”
“You know how to do stitches?” Blue asked. Talking to Yellow helped him focus on something other than the pain. It was somewhat of a relief…it kept his mind off of everything.
“Uh-huh. My momma and poppa work on a farm. Pops taught me the basics of first aid, including small stitches! He said…” Yellow lifted one finger in the air, as if he was instructing someone. “‘You never know when you’ll be stuck in a tornado with a metal rebar in your leg! Stitches can be the difference between life and death!’”
“You lived on a farm? Was it nice?” Blue questioned. Even Green was listening, although they were focused on keeping Blue from getting blood all over himself.
“Yeah, it was! Maybe once we all get outta here, I can bring you to my farm! I’m sure ya’ll like it!” He beamed at the thought.
Blue smiled back, nodding his head. “Let’s focus on getting out of here, first. Okay?”
Yellow opened his mouth to respond, but Flowery’s voice interrupted him. “You three! Come on, there’s something over here!”
The three in question greatly picked up the pace, moving in synch. The darkness melted away as the rest of the group came into view. A large beam of light was shining down on a patch of grass before them, where a large flower sat. The flower looked to be like a simple daisy. A white base, yellow petals, green stem and leaves…but unlike flowers on the surface, this flower had a…face?
“What the hell..?” Pink muttered. Everyone surrounded the flower, some keeping their distance while Aqua hopped up right to it without a care in the world.
“Aqua!!” Seth hissed. “Get back over here!! It can be dangerous!”
“It’s just a pretty flower!” Aqua said, jumping from one foot to the other. “I like flowers!”
“Not JUST a flower!” The plant’s voice was high-pitched, swaying from side to side as if copying Aqua. “I’ve never seen so many humans in one spot before! You all must be new to the Underground, right? Right? My name is Flowey! Flowey the Flower!”
“Flowery?” Orange frowned, tilting her head to the side. The flower stared at her for a moment.
“No. Flowey.” He said slowly.
“Flowery! Flowey! You two have similar names!” Aqua squeaked, bouncing between the two happily.
Flowey sighed but was quick to put his smile back on his face, forcing it to be larger than before. “Someone must show you the ropes around here!”
A pulse echoed throughout the ground, and heart-shaped objects suddenly emerged from everyone’s chest. Most of the colors matched the owner’s names, but Flowery’s heart was colored a deep, almost void-like black.
“Whoa!” Seth took a step back, and their heart seemed to follow. “What is this?”
“That’s your SOUL! The embodiment of you!” The flower chirped. “Your health, your life force, your determination! It starts off weak, but if you gain LVL, your SOUL will become stronger! What’s LVL you ask? Why, LOVE of course!”
Orange, Aqua, Pink, Yellow, and Green seemed to be listening intently. Blue, Seth, and Flowery didn’t seem to be fully convinced just yet.
“In this world, LOVE is shared through friendliness pellets! You want some LOVE, don’t you? Don’t worry, I’ll share some with you!” Small white pellets appeared around Flowey, slowly drifting down towards the collection of SOULs. “Move around! Catch as many as you can!”
“I don’t know about this, guys. This seems-“ Seth started, adjusting their glasses.
“Uuuuh, okay!” Aqua didn’t listen to what else Seth was going to say. She hopped towards the small, white dots, letting her SOUL touch one of them.
Immediately, she froze in place and coughed up blood. It trickled down her chin, dripping over the front of her dress and onto the grass below. “Uuh…Seth…?” She glanced up, skin growing pale, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed into a heap.
“AQUA!” Seth screamed. Flowery tried to hold them back by grabbing their arm, but Seth wretched free, running forward and dropping to the ground, pulling Aqua close to their chest. “Aqua?! Aqua!! Wake up! AQUA!”
“SETH, GET BACK! THERE’S MORE COMING!” Flowery screamed. More white dots appeared from behind Flowey, his expression now morphing into a grotesque, murderous grin.
“Aqua’s hurt! She’s…she’s not waking up! Someone, help me! Help her! Stop standing there!! Co-“ One of the pallets sunk into Seth’s SOUL, cutting off their sentence. Like what happened with Aqua, Seth spat up a mouthful of blood, body going stiff, before collapsing as well.
“Oh, my Angel.” Pink whispered, looking horrified. Flowery’s hands curled into fists, his cheeriful expression now strained, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.
“Get behind me, everyone. I’ll protect you.” He let his jacket fall to the ground, hands curling into tight fists. His knees bent slightly, arms raised. “You made a mistake trying to hurt my friends!”
Flowey rolled his eyes. “Your friends? Don’t you I didn’t hear you all yapping back there. You don’t even know each other! So, because you are trying to be a hero…” A circle of white pallets suddenly surrounded the entire group, blocking off any means of escape. Flowey began to laugh, a loud, demonic laugh. “…you can DIE WITH THE REST OF THEM!”
The circle began to close, getting closer and closer to the SOULs, forcing the group together. Back-to-back, panic rose quickly. “Maybe I can duck under it?” Orange squeaked. “I’ll run over and beat that stupid flower to a pulp! Maybe I can stop it in time!” She held up her boxer gloves, trying hard to seem tough, yet her whole body trembled like a leaf.
“Not enough time! Everyone brace yourselves! HERE IT COMES!” Pink screamed. The pellets quickly picked up their pace, now moving bullet-speed at the group. Flowery jumped in front of the group, and Yellow stood at the back.
“I’ll gladly drop before I let anything bad happen to any of ya’ll!” Yellow shouted in determination. “Hold on tight!”
Despite the two’s efforts, they only managed to take one pellet each before they collapsed, just like the two before. Hopelessly, the group dropped like flies, one by one. First Flowery, then Yellow, followed by Pink, Orange, Green, and finally, Blue. Pain coursed through his body; more pain than he had ever felt in his entire life. The type of pain that made your vision warp, where every bone in your body felt like it had been crushed into fine powder.
Mouth full of blood, chest aching as if he had been shot, Blue felt his body give out on him. He collapsed, struggling to breathe, black fuzz slowly engulfing his vision.
Flowey cackled as if he had just witnessed something beyond amusing. “You fools! You IDIOTS! Don’t you know?! In this world, it’s KILLED OR BE KILLED! Now DIE, DIE, DIE!”
More pallets floated towards the group, slowly, as if toying with them. Blue let out a weak wheeze. He couldn’t move, let alone warn the others.
Just as it seemed like all hope was lost, a fire ball emerged from the darkness, blasting Flowey away and causing the pallets to vanish. The flower disappeared out of view with a squeak, leaving behind a slight burning spell in the air.
“Oh, no! Oh, you poor things…” A soft, feminine voice rose from the shadows. Yet Blue couldn’t raise his head to see who was speaking. It was getting harder to stay awake.
Two gentle, fluffy hands scooped Blue up with ease. It was definitely not a human…unless it was a very hairy one. “Rest now, dear child. You’ll all be just fine…rest…”
Blue couldn’t protest, even if he wanted to. Unable to answer, Blue fell into a deep unconscious sleep. He could only hope that this wasn’t the end, and that the others were okay.
He never should have climbed the mountain.