Chapter Text
Orange lands on her stomach, Green not far behind. The wind's knocked out of her, and she breathes in a few deep, somewhat panicked breaths. The landing was otherwise soft though, and when she opens her eyes, she's met with the sight of golden little flowers. Somehow, they barely seem crumpled, not even after what must've been seven kids landing on them.
“Orange, Green!” a familiar voice yells. Orange lights up, standing shakily, only to rush at Flowery, practically headbutting him. Serves him right, as far as she's concerned. She wraps her arms around his middle.
She hears the sound of Green standing behind them, and she's happy they're fine, really. Green is awesome. But right now she's busy with her big brother, who pats her on the head.
“I told you to wait up there. I found Blue and Yellow,” he says, and motions in what must be their direction. Orange takes a look, stepping away from the hug just a little. They're a bit further ahead, but seem no worse for wear. Yellow waves, and continues a hushed conversation with Blue. “I haven't found Seth and Aqua yet. They probably ran up ahead.”
“I couldn't wait! What if you couldn't make it back up, and you had to go and it was just me and Green and we had to go say we lost everyone?”
Flowery glances up, “Well, you're right about one thing. I don't think any of us could make that climb.”
Orange wants to argue, because she's tough. But her eyes trail the wall. It curves in a weird way. She pouts.
“Well, maybe you could,” Flowery says, “but I doubt the rest of us could, right? And you already came down here to get us. So we may as well stick together.”
Orange breaks out into a smile, because he's right. She doubts chibi little Seth could climb that with their spindly arms, and the teachers said to stick together.
“Alright,” Flowery says, clapping his hands, before resting one of them on Orange's head. “Everyone okay? Uninjured and all?” he asks.
“We're quite alright,” Blue says, taking hold of Yellow's hand. Orange sticks her tongue out a bit. Yuck.
Green gives Flowery a thumbs up, and he smiles, looking down at Orange again.
“My muscles broke my fall,” Orange says very matter-of-factly, because it's true.
Flowery nods. “I should have known,” he says, and he's right. He really should have.
“So, here's the plant! We need to look for Seth and Aqua, then find a way back up before anyone notices we're missing.”
“Are we gonna gets into trubble?” Yellow asks, the hand not holding Blue's tugging at his hat.
“It was an honest mistake, right?” Flowery asks. “Besides, we were all just trying to help Aqua. Don't worry too much about whether or not we'll be punished.”
Yellow quiets, looking to the ground.
The group begins their trek in relative quiet. Orange is holding Flowery's hand, and Green holds her other one. She feels a little babied, maybe, but Flowery says it's so he doesn't get scared, which makes sense, because she's way stronger than him.
The next area is much the same as the first, though there aren't any more flowers around. It feels weirdly empty. Orange kicks at the patch of grass as they walk across it.
She won't admit it out loud, but she's starting to worry a little bit about Seth and Aqua. Just ‘cuz, even though Aqua is almost as strong as her, probably, she still wants to be there to make sure.
Before anyone can say anything, there's yelling from the next room. Familiar yelling. The tension of the group dissipates in a heartbeat.
“I wanna play, play! C'mon, Seth! Let's explore!”
“We've explored enough, Aqua! We need to wait for help.”
Orange smiles and begins to rush forward. It's a little harder with the weight of two older kids, but they don't hesitate to follow. She sees Blue and Yellow too. It's good, she thinks. Everyone's on the same page.
“Aqua! Seth!” Flowery yells before either of them are even in sight.
By the time they're in the next room, she sees them, still, but not quiet. Never quiet.
“Yay, yay! You all slid waaay down, too! Now we can all play!” Aqua says, skipping around the group.
“No!” Seth says. They raise a foot to stomp, but seem to stop themselves, lowering it softly instead. “Why'd you all follow us?”
“Someone had to,” Flowery says, “it's my job to make sure you're all safe.”
Seth shakes their head. “You should've gotten a teacher or a camp counselor or something. Not come down here all on your own!”
Flowery looks around. “We're not on our own.”
Orange thinks this is a really good point. There's strength in numbers, or whatever people say, right?
“But we're not…” Seth trails off, and Flowery smiles at them in that gentle sort of way he does sometimes, like when Orange scrapes her knees in their backyard and he reminds her that she's the toughest around.
“Seth, listen, don't even worry about it! We're all here now, and if it is too long, people will come looking. But for now, we need to get somewhere they can actually rescue us from.”
Seth sighs, but eventually they nod.
“Great! Okay, I want everyone to hold hands so we don't get lost. Maybe it's too many people for all of us, so Seth, Aqua, can you hold hands with Blue and Yellow?”
“But I wanna run off! I wanna!” Aqua says as Seth grabs hold of her hand and walks her over to Blue and Yellow, who for their parts don't seem too upset to have their yuckyness interrupted. Seth and Aqua stand in the middle of them.
“This is a new game,” Flowery tells Aqua, “a game where whoever does the best at sticking together wins. Do you wanna play?”
Aqua loves games, even more than Orange does, and while Orange usually likes winning, she hopes everyone ties this time.
Aqua taps her foot, seeming to think it over. After a few seconds, she nods. “Uuu, okay, let's play, play! I'll win!”
“I'm sure you'll do your best,” Flowery says.
Once everyone is all set, Flowery seems to look around the room, and Orange follows his lead. It's weird. She hadn't really registered it before, with all the excitement of finding everyone, but she thought a cave would be more… cavey. But instead there's purple bricks and pillars and even some stairs.
“This shouldn't be possible…” Seth mutters.
“Perhaps this has been set up in the event that someone tumbles down here,” Blue says, though he sounds unsure himself.
“All this?” Seth asks. They motion around the room, lifting up Yellow and Aqua's hands in the process.
Seth freezes in their motion, staring towards the middle of the room. Orange follows their gaze, and her eyes land on… Okay, so she has no idea what it is. It's glowing and it's yellow. It looks like a star, but she's smart enough to know that stars definitely don't belong down here.
Still, it seems like everyone else has noticed too. A strange quiet falls over them. Slowly, everyone approaches it.
Before anyone can stop her, Aqua kicks at it, her hands occupied. Seth lets out a loud gasp, more of a shriek, really.
Aqua turns to look at them, tilting her head. “Uuu, what, what?
“You shouldn't touch something when you don't know what it is!” they tell her.
“I was trying to figure out what it is! And my foot went riiight through it, so it's a nothing, I think!” she says, nodding her head in certainty.
“It's nothin'?” Yellow asks, sounding a little convinced.
“Uh-huh! Nothing, nothing!”
Slowly, Flowery reaches out to touch it.
The word “SAVE” flashes in Orange's mind, and she jumps at the same time everyone else does.
“Uuu, it didn't do that when I touched it! Not fair!” Aqua says.
“What in the world could that have possibly been…?” Blue asks.
Before anyone can respond, though, footsteps sound through the hall, somewhat hurried and loud. At once, Flowery stands in the front, hurrying Orange behind him while still gripping her hand. It's dumb, she thinks. She can take whoever this is!
She doesn't admit she maybe couldn't even when a tall goat woman stands in front of them, eyes wide as saucers. The woman stares down at them like she's seen a ghost.
“Seven…?” she mutters to herself. “All at once?”
She makes no move to attack or anything, and Orange feels Green relax next to her.
“Hi, hi!” Aqua says, before anyone can stop her. She lets go of Seth and Blue's hands, but before she can run to the mystery woman, Seth reacts quickly, grabbing her by the wrist. Aqua lets out a whine.
The woman looks down at Aqua with a very weird smile. “Hello, little one,” she says gently, before turning her attention to the room at large. She looks at all of them, and despite Flowery’s attempts to hide Orange behind him, she’s brave, so she looks up at the woman and isn’t scared at all.
“My name is Toriel, caretaker of the RUINs. A human hasn’t fallen down here in… so, so long. I was beginning to believe that none would ever fall down again,” she says.
“What're you?” Orange asks, tired of everyone else's (other than Aqua, who is still chattering away) shocked silence.
Toriel blinks, pausing. “I'm a monster, sweetheart,” she says. “I understand you haven't seen one in real life.”
“Only stories,” Seth says, “legends.”
Seth's eyes are big and wide, something between shocked and completely thrilled. Orange looks around. No one looks scared, exactly, but no one goes up to Toriel outright. She knows Aqua wants to try, though. Seth holding onto her arm is what's stopping her.
“Why don't you follow me, young ones? I can lead you through here, and to my home,” Toriel says.
“We're not supposed to go with strangers,” Orange says, because it's true. Sometimes Mama tells her that, but usually it's Flowery, when the two of them walk home from school.
Flowery pats her on the head a bit, and she can't help but lean into the silent praise. She listens, sometimes!
Toriel smiles, something soft. “I understand that, but down here other monsters may attack you. I can tell them not to.”
“For what reason?” Blue asks before Orange can mention that she could totally beat them up. “We haven't done a thing.”
“Frankly, I agree that it is nothing short of ridiculous,” Toriel says. Her smile is all weird again. “And perhaps many would not. Admittedly, no human has fallen down here in so long, so I have not seen one be attacked. But I would prefer not to take any chances.”
Orange glances over at Flowery, and can see everyone else doing the same. He smiles, tapping a foot against the ground.
“Then I suppose we should go with you, hm?” he asks. Orange's mouth falls open, just a little.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Toriel says, a bit breathlessly. “I will see you in the next room, alright? If you need time to discuss this amongst yourselves, I will not fault you. Feel free to shout if you need me.” At that, Toriel makes her way through the doorway.
Immediately, Orange looks up at Flowery. “You said–” before she can continue, Flowery speaks.
“I know what I said, Orange. But I also said you should find a trusted adult if you ever get lost, right?”
“How can we know if she's trustworthy?” Seth asks.
“I like her, she looks fluffy!” Aqua says.
“We can't, exactly. But you're all my responsibility. If she acts weird, we make like a tree and leaf, got it?”
Green holds up a piece of paper. Orange leans way over to read it, and it just says “Where?” She didn't even notice they were writing.
“We'll figure it out, promise,” Flowery says.