Chapter Text
Florian Akiyama was a bright young man, and everyone knew he could do anything he set his mind to. He was smart, and personable, and he was talented at anything he tried, and everyone he met seemed to like him.
Anyone that met him would tell you that Florian was the sun, and that you’d either be pulled into his orbit or you’d be sent careening away, with the memory of that brightness burned into you. (Or you’d plummet straight into the core and get burned up. No one can survive a supernova, after all.)
But all the counselors at Sunset Mountains Summer Camp saw was an eighteen year old that was going to camp for the first and only time. Maybe he could be a future counselor, but with his potential? The likelihood that he would be sticking around instead of going off to some fancy college was low. And they had more important things to worry about when he started trying to get them to take him into the woods- or worse, up towards Ebott, the closest peak of the Sunset Mountain Range. There had been an earthquake three weeks ago, and the road to the camp had been blocked off in a landslide. The counselors had around fifty kids to keep occupied, and a road clearing effort to coordinate, because no better equipment could be brought out there to help them with how far into the woods they were.
So Florian’s pleas were ignored. They didn’t have the manpower to go searching for the children that were missing, and look after the campers, and clear the road. Once the road was cleared people could get out there and start searching for real.
Florian couldn’t accept that answer, though. Six people had gone missing at that point, and a camp-wide lockdown hadn’t done anything to stop that number from growing after the third.
And worst of all, his little sister was the most recent one.
Her peers saw Clem as an easy target. They didn’t think she would actually sneak out when they dared her to go up to the dump and back to prove she wasn’t chicken. At least, that’s what they said when he sat down with them and asked, as calmly as he could keep himself, what they had said to her. He had known they were giving her trouble. She had insisted that she could take care of it. He didn’t want to be overbearing.
He should have done something.
He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
The counselors were too busy to go looking for the missing kids. Help wasn’t coming. So Florian dumped most of his backpack out on his bunk, filled it back up with a couple changes of clothes for him and Clem, and headed to the camp store. He used all of his spare change that was meant to get snacks over the course of camp and filled the empty space that remained in his bag with jerky and bottles of water.
The camp was on lockdown. But Florian was just old enough that at first glance it almost seemed like he could be one of the counselors. And he looked like he belonged anywhere he went- so no one asked any questions when he walked right out of the campgrounds. After all, the counselors were too busy doing what they needed to do to pay attention to just how desperate he was getting.
Any other camper around his age would be more familiar with the wilderness around the camp than he was. Most started going when they were eleven and went until they aged out. But he had been out a few times before things got locked down, and he knew how to figure things out. The mountain was kind of the most notable thing around.
The chance of a missing person being found went down the longer they were missing. The chances of finding all of the missing campers was low. But Florian was not going to let his sister become part of that statistic.
The sun inched across the sky as he walked on. He knew where the dump was, at least- they had all been told to steer clear of it during the first week of camp, because it had a bunch of old junk that probably could give them tetanus. Of course, it being a forbidden land made it more tantalizing to the teenage campers.
It became even more appealing when the kids weren’t supposed to go anywhere without supervision. And that was why Clem…
He hadn’t wanted to hover. It was bad enough that they were in the same cabin. Well- he preferred it that way, he preferred knowing Clem was doing alright, but he knew she would’ve liked a bit more independence than that. She didn’t want the cabin counselor and her brother telling her what to do. So he tried to back off, as much as he could.
Now that he had to push through foliage and navigate a mostly-unfamiliar barely-pathed woody mountain, he was regretting it. If he had been sticking a little closer he could’ve kept her from running off, and the missing kids wouldn’t be his problem. He wouldn’t have gone looking for them even if he wanted to, because Clem would have gone after him to try to protect him. Because she was brave, and loyal, and looked at him like he’d hung the stars in the sky.
But now… he just hoped he had enough snacks for all the kids because they might be too tired to walk back to camp right away. They might need medical help. Which… he didn’t know how they would get, considering that the camp was cut off… But he had learned first aid years ago, and was always adding to his skillset. He would be able to at least stabilize an emergency situation. He would have to, after all.
Had he made sure he had first aid supplies in between the spare clothes and snacks and water? He usually kept a kit in the front pocket. He wouldn’t have dumped that out along with the camp hobby stuff in the main pockets. Right?
Florian stopped where he was and sat down in the dirt, taking his backpack off and pulling it into his lap so he could get at the front pocket.
Bandages, gauze, antiseptic wipes, anti-itch cream, painkillers, a couple little instant cold and instant heat packs, and some pads and tampons. He could be more well stocked, but he could stop someone from bleeding out, and that was probably the most important thing. If someone had broken a limb he would probably have to just carry them to get them to someone that could help. But that was okay. Triage, prioritization, was something he knew how to do at least a little bit well. He put his backpack back on and stood back up to continue.
He was getting pretty high up the side of the mountain at this point, as far as he could tell. He was still a long walk from the dump, but he had made good progress. But he was also getting into very unfamiliar territory. So when he found a clearing, he started walking around to check it out. And there, tucked almost out of sight within foliage, as if it didn’t want to be seen, was a galaxy print backpack. Florian went over to it, and looked it over.
No name on it. Though, the older someone got the less likely they’d need to label their things for others to keep track of. He peeked inside. There was sunscreen and insect repellent, a hand fan, a bottle of water, and most damningly proof for the fact that this seemed to have been left on accident, a phone that seemed to be dead. All of the contents of the bag were warmed from being in the sun for who knew how long.
Florian zipped that bag back up, and hooked his arm through the straps. Maybe he could return it to the right owner. It wasn’t too heavy, after all. He could carry more. He started looking around more intently. If the bag had been left unintentionally, there had to be a reason its owner hadn’t taken it with them…
Bingo!
It was almost hidden. The ground around it looked extremely unstable. But there was a gaping hole.
Had Clem only made it this far? Had she not made it to the dump at all?
Clearly at least one of the missing campers had ended up here. The ground was unsteady and the hole was easy to miss. This was the perfect set up for an accident.
He didn’t know how he would get anyone back up. For all he knew, they were all dead at the bottom of the hole.
But they might be alive at the bottom of the hole. (Clem was resilient. She wasn’t the type to just not make it back. Accidents could happen, sure, but six missing kids and no one could find them? None of them had made their way back?)
(If any of them were still in the woods they were more likely to be found than any that had fallen. Triage was the prioritization of the most dire but fixable problems. Someone lost in the forest might die because help didn’t get to them in time. Someone at the bottom of a hole would die, help wouldn’t get to them.)
He only had to deliberate for a moment. But if he didn’t survive this, the other campers were most likely already dead anyways.
Florian jumped.
It was a long fall. By the time he made it halfway down, Florian wasn’t expecting to get back up. But he landed on something soft, the ground cradled him close. He thought he heard a faint whispering, or maybe the wind, but he was alone and too far down for that to be a problem.
No matter how soft the cushioning was, he was still winded from the fall. So it took him a bit to process, to recognize, that he was held up in the gentle embrace of flowers. And wasn’t it strange, to be held like that? He couldn’t linger, of course he couldn’t. But as he struggled to sit up, and gather himself, the petals brushed lightly against him, kept him up. How strange indeed to be cherished enough to save.
He had to keep moving. He got to his feet. Even though he stumbled into his first step, it was still a first step taken. And then he took another, and another. He had to move on. Clem was still missing, and other kids from camp too.
Ahead of him, a large golden flower sprouted from the ground. He took a step towards it, then another.
It opened its eyes and started smiling.
“Howdy!” It spoke. “I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower!” It tilted its. Head? Upper segment? Face? “Hmmmm…. You’re new to the underground, aren’tcha?”
Florian gave a hesitant nod. “Have you seen any other…” he glanced down at himself, then back to the flower. “Anyone else wearing the same sort of shirt as I am?” He gestured to his camp shirt, with the logo of the sun setting behind the mountains.
“Other humans? No… you must be so confused!” Flowey replied. “Someone should teach you how things work down here. Do you think little ol’ me will do?”
Florian had just barely nodded when he felt a tug in his chest. A red heart appeared.
“See that? That’s your soul!” Flowey chimed in, before Florian’s thoughts could race too fast. “That’s the very culmination of your being. It’s weak now, but it can get stronger if you gain a lot of LOVE! You want some LOVE, don’tcha?”
Florian offered the flower a smile. “Thanks, new buddy, but I’m really more worried about finding my sister. I’ll leaf getting stronger through LOVE to someone else, I’ve got all the love I need already.”
Flowey narrowed his eyes at Florian. Florian’s smile didn’t waver.
“Did you just use a plant pun?”
“Yyep.” He popped the p.
“… I still want to show you the ropes when it comes to how things work down here!” Flowey continued, winking at Florian and moving on. He flourished one of his leaves, and white seed shaped things about the length of Florian’s thumb formed in an arc around Florian, centered on his “soul”.
“If you want to gain LOVE, you’ll want to engage in a battle! Then, a monster will use their magic to make friendliness pellets! If you absorb them with your soul, you’ll slowly gain LOVE and grow stronger!”
Florian narrowed his eyes as the pellets got closer. He could almost feel them thrumming.
He flinched away and out of their path.
Flowey’s wide smile shifted slightly into almost a grimace. “Hey, buddy, you missed them. Let’s try again, yeah?”
The pellets came faster, this time, and Florian couldn’t get out of the way in time. The moment the pellets touched his soul a shock jolted through him. His vision was blurry, he could barely stand. And Flowey was grinning cruelly up at him.
“You idiot! In this world it’s kill or be killed! I bet some monster has already taken the soul of whoever you’re looking for! After all, how could anyone pass up an opportunity like that? Now…” bullets surrounded Florian. Circling him, and arcing above his head. There was no way out. “Die.”
Florian couldn’t do anything. All he could do was brace for an impact that never came. And then the sting from the pellets was gone, the pain fading into nothing.
When he opened his eyes a tall fur-covered humanoid(?) in a dress was threatening the flower with fire in her hand. Flowey retreated, ducking into the ground, and the large person (??) turned towards him.
“Are you alright my child? What a terrible creature, torturing you…” Her voice was gentle and she offered a soft smile. “Do not be afraid. I am not going to hurt you. My name is Toriel. I’m the caretaker of the Ruins.”
Florian smiled back at her. “Hello ma’am. My name is Florian. You wouldn’t have happened to have seen another…” and again he gestured to his camp shirt. “Anyone else like me, wearing this sort of shirt?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.”
Florian stood up straighter, eyes locking on to Toriel intently. “Who? Where are they?”
“She’s a little girl, younger than you. I never caught her name, but I left her to play at my home while I looked after the Ruins.” For a moment Florian allowed the hope to bloom. Then Toriel continued, “She’s wearing a shirt like yours, but it’s more of a light blue.”
He didn’t let the frustration show. He wasn’t mad at Toriel, after all, it wasn’t her fault. And he wanted to make sure everyone was okay.
“That’s good to hear! I’ll admit I don’t know her personally but several children have gone missing, and I…” his smile wavered, for just a moment, before he steadied it. “I wanted to find them. So I came here.”
Toriel’s gentle expression twisted in an instant, and Florian knew he had said the wrong thing. Not that he knew what the right thing was.
“That… was extremely dangerous, my child. Do the humans not know that no one leaves the mountain once they fall?”
“Well!” He starts to move, walking past her to get to the ‘Ruins’. “I guess I’ll just have to be the first then, and get everyone else out with me.”
“Hold on!”
He turned, and Toriel seemed sheepish for a moment.
“I apologize, my child. But… might I show you the way? Down here is far different from the world you know.”
Florian nodded, ignoring the way his skin prickles at the constant way she calls him a child, calls him hers. “Right, of course. Lead the way Ma’am.”
He followed her as the cave they were in opened up and they crossed into a purple walled area that definitely fit its name of the Ruins, with how bits of the walls had clearly crumbled long ago.