Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Akira grunted, dug her fingers into the alcove of rough stone and pulled her body forwards. Ebott, the Hungry Mountain, was an absolute blast to trek, more so the massive cave system that felt more like a personal dungeon system. That didn’t make the last stretch any more of a bitch, though. The steep incline towards the entrance felt more like an actual wall than a heavy slope. The strap of her massive side bag dug into her sore shoulder, and her expression tightened slightly as she kept climbing.

The wind was cool and soft, breezing through the trees like a fairytale or a dream, and Akira could smell the brisk scent of rain on the air. She could hear the soft rustling of grass blades rubbing together, and the tree leaves waving in the wind. The stone beneath her skin was cool, the heat of the sun still warming the rough rock. It was a perfect day for deep-cave camping.

... Or , Akira glanced upwards at the full moon before returning focus to her hand and footholds. A good night. The cold was working wonders wiping away her sweat, the thinner atmosphere making her take shorter breaths. Scratches littered her palms, little indents and scars where the raw stone scraped uncalloused skin, a story of her previous adventures up the mountain.

Akira couldn’t remember when she first started climbing the Hungry Mountain; maybe it was after the third Home, where her adoptive parents who swore to never abandon her left for brighter futures. Maybe it was after the first, when her hopes for a family that loved her were dashed with glass bottles and cigarette smoke. Whenever it was, Akira remembered the running. She remembered scraping her knees on gravel and cutting her palms on the barbed-wire fence, but the pain didn’t penetrate her panic. Fight and flight lit up like a beacon, she dragged her heavy body up the mountain until she was to the top of the slope and rolled to her side into the short bit of grass just before the treeline. Sobs wracked her body until she couldn't breathe, curling so tightly into a ball stars shone beneath her eyelids.

She woke to the bright moon shining down at her, grass almost cradling her and nature surrounding her in a comforting embrace. It was midnight, and the moon was full, and through the tightening of her chest she felt as though she could finally breathe. Ever since then, the clearing became a sort of safe space. When she couldn’t breathe, when the lies became too much, when she got tired of people, she went up the Hungry Mountain and sat in her little garden to pray.

...Well, not really. She wasn’t the religious sort. But the Ranger, an old man who used to call the Hungry Mountain home, (and who she secretly called ‘dad’) was a Christian. He used to talk about how he couldn’t handle churches, which were always too full of people for him to feel comfortable with. He felt more comfortable in a park, out in nature, than in a temple. More happy around plants than around people. “Closer to God,” He said. Akira could relate. Humans were lying and hurting and never saying ‘sorry’, and even if she didn’t have the same opinions on religion, anything that made the old Ranger happy made her happy.

Akira hissed through her teeth, quickly picking up and rolling onto the grass on her side. She pressed a palm to her sternum, the low ache quickly dissipating into the background as she focused on different things. The old Ranger was dead now, buried behind his house after she found his still body out back. He had been protecting a pregnant deer from the pack of wolves that showed up every so often, and the both of them were lying in the red snow. The doe was okay, maybe a broken leg from the fall, but Ranger…

She shook her head, sitting up and pressing the bag into a more comfortable position. Think about something else. The entrance was in front of her, a big dark opening into the Hungry Mountain. In her more whimsical thoughts, she referred to it as the ‘Gaping Maw’ and the cave systems as ‘The Empty Stomach’. Nothing ever went there other than her, not even bats or little critters like you would expect. It was void of life.

Except for her. Just how she liked it. She stepped forwards confidently, stopping a moment to let the wind caress her face. She could feel sweat pool down the divots in her spine, sticking the fabric to her back, and felt more heated than usual. But, well, it had been a long time since she’d climbed the mountain, and she had actually thought she could make it this time. More than a few months at a house. Enough time to stop calling it a house and call it a home.

Akira sighed and pressed flappy sleeves to her face, swiping away sweat. The parents at the house were nice, an older couple that seemed to understand her better. They were calm and quiet and uncontrolling, and seemed to understand ‘depression isn’t as much a hurdle as it is a state of being’ better than most people. But after the last time they made some callous remark, or stopped her from going to her morning classes, Akira just couldn’t take it anymore.

She grabbed her clothes, swung her go bag onto her shoulder, packed up and left.

She took a breath, closed her eyes and willed the depressing thoughts away. She was gone, out of that place, at least until they climbed up and found her again. The lack of old man Ranger would slow them down, but not stop them from finding her. Something bitter and dark and oh so familiar welled up in her chest, and she curled a palm over her sternum. I know. She whispered to it in her head mournfully before turning forcefully away from the thoughts.

She walked forwards, pressing a palm to the cave wall to keep her balance as the cool dark washed over her. She closed her eyes at the blissful feeling, water and musk and dust and moss reaching up to greet her with a cool rush of air. Gods, but she loved the Lonely Mountain. She dipped her fingers, tracing the long scratch where, when she was younger, she lost her balance and the metal zipper of the bag scraped the wall with her weight. If she scraped her foot just so, the low ringing noise the tiny stalag… mite? Tite? Made would match the one she made when she decided, foolishly, to kick the floor in anger after a particularly nasty fight. If she squinted just right, she could almost make out the carvings on the wall, strange scripts she still couldn’t translate.

Heh… She chuckled, fingertips lingering on a rather sharp edge before she clenched her fists and forcefully turned away. This was beginning to sound like a dirge, or the dramatically sad uplift before the character hit the ground. But she was here, and she was alive, and she did not fight depression just to lose to her own damn self when she needed her own support the most. Instead she tugged the bag off of her shoulders, lifting her arm so that gravity would carry the bag to the side.

The only noise was the sound of the zipper being pulled echoing through the cave and the distant sound of crickets. She tugged her sleeping bag out first, rolled it out, and then grabbed the little electronic lantern. A flick of her wrist and it opened, surrounding Akira with a warm light blue glow. She toed off her shoes, sinking gratefully into the sleeping bag and tucking her head on top of the bag. It was rare she got quiet times like this, tucked in a safe place so far away from civilization.

It was nice, being in the cool and quiet. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. The outside world lit up with a thunderous crack, the echoes of thousands of tiny droplets hitting the earth as the storm broke. She took in short breaths through her nose, fighting to get that first taste of rainfall in the back of her throat. Her body collapsed, boneless, when it finally reached her. The night was cool, the rain was steady, and she could taste the waterfall on her tongue. It tasted like home, like nights exploring with Ranger and days mapping out the forest. It tasted, felt, smelled, like home.

It was a beautiful night to fall asleep to.

Another loud crack echoed through the cave, and Akira snuggled down into her sleeping bag before freezing in confusion. That was thunder, right? So, where was the bright flash of light that followed? She leaned forwards, almost sitting up. Another crack, and she blinked open her eyes. No light… again? She squinted, cursing her shoddy eyesight and lack of glasses, hoping for the mystery to come into focus.

Her eyes widened in shock and she froze as another loud crack echoed through the cavern.

There was a hole in the floor, a massive hole where there was not supposed to be . Right next to her. In the middle of the cave. It was close enough that leaning to the side would suck her in.

An array of cracks sprayed around her frozen body, and she watched as with another crack the amount widened. Her fist clenched around her sleeping bag. Something in the back of her mind was screaming move move move movemovemove move move c’mon go go go go go as her eyes followed the new crack to the massive hole. Gravity failed her as she lurched to the side, stone collapsing and taking her with.

The last thing she saw was the inky blackness coming up to meet her before something passed through her and she blacked out.

Have you ever wondered 

What it would be like

To live in a world

Where you don’t exist?

The deep, calming voice chuckled, and she could feel fingers running through her hair. Static like nails on a chalkboard or shattered glass vibrated through the air, but instead of being caustic it was calming. She felt safe here, with the strange male figure, with her head on his lap.

He was familiar, her old friend. Had she… seen him before? Of course she had. He was her faithful companion in this empty void, of course. She pressed a hand to his own, content to sit and comfort him with her physical presence.

The concept…

...t e r r i f i e s me. 

His hand tightened on her own, and she lifted her head to stare him in the eye. He was tense, focusing on something in the distance. Her mouth opened and words spilled out, a beautiful rhythm of bells and crystals and little metallic noises exiting in a song of some sort, one that she would never be able to translate.

we awaken soon, my love. She pressed white colored palms to the sides of his head, cradling bone cheeks in comfort . soon, she will remember.

And forget. He reminded her, pressing palms to her shoulders and pulling her into his lap.

She didn’t answer, instead moving her hands to cradle the middle of her chest between them. They pressed their foreheads together to watch as something coalesced, pearlescent stars into a shape.  

she listens, dearest mirror mine. A tiny heart shape floated between them, spinning gently. White, but awash with so many colors, like a bubble mid-flight. can you hear her?

He paused, scooping the tiny floating heart in holed hands. She tucked her free hands around his waist, happy to sit and comfort as he saw.

So hopeful…

Her dreams…

He lifted his head to meet her e ye s, so me t hing endless and desperate aching between them.

Do you truly believe she can do it? He demanded in a wave of harsh noise. She simply smiled, holding his hand in her own and between them, the heart.

she will. She promised, something between a vow and an oath settling over them like a TRUTH.

Between them, for a split second, the pearlescent heart lit up gold.

The male figure sighed before pulling his own heart out of his chest. It was white and black, a single glass star shard against a background of static. She did the same, light arching off of her rainbow heart like a rave.

Well. He lifted a palm that seemed to suck all of the darkness towards it towards the spinning SOUL.

She does not have to hold

This gift/dream/hope

Alone. He drew symbols over it in a script she couldn’t identify, inky blackness coming to surround it like a blanket, something cold dripping over her being like a cool cloth on a hellishly hot day. Tiny stars shone through, like a singular contained galaxy. The female figure pressed her lips to his head in thanks, and then kissed the heart.

you would not hold this gift naturally, my child. She explained as a wave of spikes sheared through her skin like nails. She had no mouth, but the tiny soul almost seemed to scream. but my gift was meant for heroes, not conquerors, and to heal and fix, not to fight.

She sent the tiny void-veiled soul away with a flick of her hand, adjusting herself closer to her mate while still training her eyes on the glimpse of white starlight.

go, hollow dreamer. Her eyes, all the colors and more that did and didn’t exist, met Akira and pinned her with the heavy gaze. When did they seperate? Awaken, find thine empty knight. Follow the broken queen. The shards of broken could-have-beens will lead you. And when we meet again…

Her eyes flashed, a thousand futures in the balance. Akira shivered. What the hell kind of interdimensional bullshit did she get herself into?

d o  n o t  h e s i t a t e.

Akira launched herself upright, a hand to her sternum as her heart fought to beat out of her chest.

Chapter Text

That dream… She panted, eyes unseeing as she thought back to it. Gods, but it felt like sitting in an open wound, being in that dark void. And those two… entities.

She flinched, glancing around quickly. The texture under her fingers was soft, and she was surrounded by a sea of yellow. She glanced down, rubbing the softness between her fingers. Flowers… She remembered falling, the cracks in the floor unable to support her weight. She remembered passing through the empty darkness, something thick like mucus rolling through her body. She remembered…

A flash of dry fingers through hair. Dark, darker… yet somehow unquiet.

She shook her head, pushing that to the back of her mind. Nightmare. That was all. She slowed her breathing, pushing through the tug of slight oxygen deprivation until her heartbeat was calm enough for her to stand without shaking.

She shifted forwards on her heels and stretched an arm forwards to lift herself up, but aborted the motion immediately with a flinch. She fell back on her tailbone, wincing. Her other arm came up to rub gently at what she affectionately called the ‘chicken wing’ of the human body, and the sudden starburst of pain drew a hiss from between her teeth. Without looking, she couldn’t be sure, but an unfamiliar injured feeling spread from her back, from the ‘chicken wings’ to the upper ribs. She drew together strength automatically, prodding deeper while avoiding the most painful areas. She needed to know how hurt she was before she moved on, so she knew the best way to heal. Her finger pressed against a sharp edge and she couldn’t hold in the tiny “ow” that escaped through clenched teeth as a sting settled beneath the skin of her back.

Fuck. She glanced around for something to brace, squinting as hard as she could as she turned her head around, careful to leave her shoulder and arm limp and lifeless. Broken bone. She had never had one of those before; even falling from a tree hadn’t broken anything, just made her sore as hell and full of scratches from the landing. She still recognized the feel of it, though, from what Ranger had described and what others had experienced. She traced a line of rough bumps on her ribcage and thanked the gods her ribs were okay.

Something soft brushed her cheeks and she blinked down at the fluff coiling around her shoulders. She pulled at it with her uninjured arm, blankly curious. Akira owned nothing like this- no matter how she wished, she couldn’t afford anything nearly like this unless it was worn in, stained heavily, and the dye was washed out. She was lucky if one of her Homes cared enough to get her presents, and even if they did it was usually jewelry. Never anything like this. This looked expensive .

It was exactly her style- dark, darker, and darker. Black with light grey fluffy insides, and- she twisted her neck a little further, trying to see her shoulder without moving it- a darker, more pure black patch with a simple four pointed star design in white. She squinted and the shape cleared a bit. Two white four pointed stars atop each other, actually. It almost looked like a chaos star.

She looked down again, and almost choked as something touched her neck. She peeled the fabric away and glanced down, and yep, she was in a turtleneck. A gray turtleneck with black vertical stripes. Something dug into the hollow between her collarbones and she traced it, feeling smooth metal in some sort of ‘V’ shape, covered in hollows. Thankfully she was familiar with the shape, and swiftly identified it. A bird skull, one of the bigger ones. Akira’s eyes went down to her legs next, and she shifted them underneath her to feel the insides. It looked like jeans, almost, but felt like the inside of a sweatshirt.

...Neato . Akira pushed all of her weight onto her uninjured arm and lifted herself up, careful to keep her arm limp and still. She very distinctly did not think about the implications of her being in different clothes, even though she could see the light of her lantern up above, and she knew she hadn’t been moved from the spot she fell onto. She also didn’t think of how odd that a hole would be in the floor when she’d been in that cave before, she’d slept where that hole was, before, and what the actual fuck ?

She very distinctly did not think about these things while she shuffled around the flowers looking for her bag. It was a deep green, and she carefully nudged around the flowers looking for that spot of color. Her clothes were nowhere to be found, but hopefully her bag was still somewhere in existence. She pet the fluff with her fingers, parting petals carefully in order to get by without hurting the plants. She didn’t recognize these, they looked somewhat like sunflowers, but more vibrant. She squinted at a dark spot, and smiled internally. That one even looked like he had a fa-

“Howdy!”

-ce. “HOLY SHIT!” She jumped away from the talking flower, only just remembering to keep her arm steady and still. What the fuck. She stared down at the fucking talking flower blankly, mind officially blue-screened. Somewhere in the back of her head, her knowledge of the universe was screaming and gibbering in confusion behind the massive dam of ‘nope’.

“Ha ha!” The flower fucking winked , a star flowing out from his motions like Kirby did in Smash as a taunt. “Wow, friend! That’s a long fall you took there. You nearly squashed me, y’know!” It felt like a taunt.

“Sorry.” Akira apologized automatically, mind still stuck on the talking fucking flower even as her confident mask picked up the slack.

“That’s okay!” The flower leaned closer, and Akira shoved her hand in her jacket pocket and fought the urge to lean back. The black dots making up its face changed, and for the billionth time Akira cursed not wearing glasses. She got the feeling this was important, and it discomforted her to not be able to see someone’s face while they were talking.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” The flower asked, settling back. Akira tilted her head in acknowledgement, fight or flight instincts going haywire as she willed herself to stay in place. Something about the flower was dangerous, and scary, and wrong , but she knew this was important, somehow, and so she waited.

The flower perked up, and the feeling of danger washing over her grew more intense. Her muscles relaxed slightly, and she prepared for action. Her mind cleared as she pushed away makes no fucking sense and physically impossible and focused on this thing is going to hurt me, maybe even kill me. I don’t have time to be confused.

She called it her quicktime state. It saved her from quite a few unneeded bruises and beatings from ungrateful Homes, when she could push past the hurt from a biting insult and dodge out of the way of a fist. And now, hopefully, it would give her enough time to escape being killed by a flower.

“Don’t worry!” The flower winked again, and Akira felt strongly to the contrary as something crawled up her spine. “Your ol’ buddy Flowey can help you!” By everything sweet in existence, the childish voice mixed with the innocent look were giving her bad vibes. Things that looked so innocent rarely were, after all.

Flowey smiled, but something about it was so wrong , like he’d seen a picture of someone smiling and tried to copy it. There was a curious tugging sensation in her sternum, and Akira blinked down at the blue? white? purple? heart shape floating over the center of her being. It was beautiful, whatever it was. The endless eddies and waves of her favorite colors washed over each other like an ocean, and much like watching water it was mesmerizing.

She forced her gaze back to Flowey, the palpable feeling of danger making her skin crawl. The Heart-thing was important, she knew without any context, and she could look at it later. It was in danger, she was in danger, and she needed to wait.

Paradoxically, instead of growing more tense Akira grew more calm as adrenalin spread from her heart to her limbs, breath glowing soft as she focused on being ready. She flexed the fingers of her uninjured hand, subtly shifting her weight from leg to leg as the constant firecracker/fireworks explosion screaming to move move move move move going off in the back of her mind came more into focus. The only time she thanked the gods for her ADD and its inability to want to stay still.

“That’s your SOUL!” Flowey made that smile again, and Akira fought a palpable wave of disgust. Around her was something like from one of the old pokemon games, except in grayscale, with Flowey on one end and Akira on the other. Akira’s Heart, the culmination of her entire being, was on full display, while Flowey’s was not.

Why is that? Something pushed to the back of her mind asked idly.

He doesn’t have one. She answered herself, and for the fraction of a second she squinted her eyes as the light shining above from her lantern glinted off of her Heart and flashed a fiery gold.

Well that’s another ‘what the fuck’ to add to the pile . She thought blankly, keeping her focus on the flower, who was summoning… seeds? The fuck?

(Is this my internet history coming back to haunt me?! )

Flowey winked. “Wow, you’re really weak!” Her mind shot back something between ‘says the flower’ and a sarcastic ‘thanks you fucking weed’. “I can fix that, though! Down here, strength is shared through little… ‘friendliness pellets.’" He winked again, and good gods Akira hated that expression. He released them, and they all zoomed towards her.

“Go on!” He encouraged. “Catch them all!”

She shifted to the side, dodging them neatly as she fought the urge to flee into the black. She didn’t know which way was out in this weird grayscale pokemon gym, after all.

The flower’s smile was a bit more forced. “You missed!” He giggled, forgetting or forgoing the sweet tone. The seeds spun back into existence, and Akira yet again moved out of their way.

The smile suddenly wasn’t; a black sort of demonic snarl instead decorated the Flower’s face. Akira took a step back.

“ Y O U  K N O W  W H A T ‘ S  G O I N G O N,  D O N ‘ T Y O U?” He almost roared in that high-pitched tone, and Akira froze like a mouse in front of a lion. She stayed stubbornly silent, something harsh and whisper-thin bracing her against he doesn’t deserve your words . “ YOU JUST WANT TO SEE ME SUFFER! ”

And then there were bullets- bullets surrounding the little purple heart that was everything she was, that was her, and Akira suddenly knew very clearly she was about to die. Her eyes flicked back to her Heart, and through every fibre of her being something sang Revolution! Revolution!

She refused.

Her mind went hundreds of directions at once- the nightmare her mortal mind couldn’t bring itself to remember, the runes drawn on the fabric of her very self, the two beings and the veil that covered her from the eyes of harm. She pulled on it, using the same feeling of her Heart being tugged from her chest, and something answered.

Something familiar and calm washed over her like ice water when she was on fire, and she felt but didn’t feel, not with skin or nerves but with something intrinsically deeper and more sensitive, something bubbling out of her like thick chocolate or cool, squishy slime. Her eyes were cloudy, focused on the feeling, but she idly watched as a stretch of black, dark

stretched over her Heart, covering her tiny infinity with a strip of a larger infinity. It had the consistency of something between a liquid and a solid, and thick, and looked like something the Venom symbiote would look like if it shined like oil in sunlight and swallowed a gallon of glitter. It covered her Heart thinly, leaving enough of an impression of the soul sticking out that against the backdrop of black it looked like the galaxy.

Something in the back of her mind- and she got the impression of the bare wisp of a shadow, the dark flash of a hawk’s wings over a field mouse, the cool feeling of shadow over skin, over burns, and the cool feeling of water sliding into unresponsive lungs.- shifted, the empty space ringing in that language that still made her clench every muscle in her body in revolt. Her shoulder- hell, the back of her entire upper left side stung with the force of a thousand bees, and she forced herself to relax even as she laid there on the flowers, spread on her back with her Heart back in her chest where it belonged.

“Oh my!”

Chapter Text

“Oh my!”

Akira flinched heavily, but didn’t move. Her nerves were stinging in rebellion from her refusing to sprint the fuck away from the flower, and her heart throbbed with adrenalin she didn’t have. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, and it was only through force of will she didn’t tense up in pain  and make it worse.

She was wounded, and wary, and really really wanted the world to start making sense, please.

She cracked open an eye to watch the white blur come closer.

“Are you wounded, child?” The voice was soft, wispy. Kind of like the fluff of raw wool. She- if that voice wasn’t female Akira would eat her new jacket- was far enough away that Akira couldn’t divine her features, but the raw nerves screaming run and danger at her like the background music to a horror game settled slightly. Now it was just her paranoia making her keep an eye on the white colored figure.

“Yes.” Her voice was rough, and she cleared her throat, opening her other eye and watching the blur carefully. “Yeah.” There we go. That was at least barely legible.

The figure pressed a hand to her face and reached out a hand towards Akira’s downed body, visibly stopping herself from coming forward to help. Akira’s paranoia eased at the familiar motion, having felt the same when someone she didn’t know was wounded and she could help.

She pulled herself up on her knees, her unwounded hand keeping her other arm from moving. Akira twisted, keeping the white figure in her sights as she carefully got herself up without using either of her arms. Finally they faced each other, Akira sort of hovering awkwardly in place and the stranger stilled in shock. The figure stretched out a hand almost without thinking, and then squared her shoulders.

“May I heal you, child?” Stern and steel, and Akira thought it over for a moment before nodding. Her shoulder was killing her, and the female figure so far seemed to be friendly.

“Yes, please.” Akira said aloud when the figure visibly hesitated, stepping forwards and closer to them. The figure was slowly coming into focus, and Akira stared into kind eyes of some kind of bootleg sesame street cow. And she just. Didn’t think about that.

(In the back of her mind, the bits of her that worked on silly things like reason and logic were gibbering in confusion and distress.)

“I’m going to place my hand on your shoulder.” The goat lady stated, stretching a fluffy hand to place over her shoulder. Akira nodded in assent, and winced slightly, bracing for pain. The fluffy palm touched her shoulder, but there was no pain. She opened her eyes to look and widened them at the soft green glowing vines underneath and over her skin, flowing and spinning like the last healing scene in Tangled. It weaved through her skin and wound like stitches, knitting the bone back together in a feeling that was curiously without pain. Akira could feel the bone slide back together, and fought back a shiver.

Almost before she could blink, it was gone. Akira rolled her shoulder slowly, curiously, and let out a relieved sigh when there was no pain. She looked back to the goat-lady with a tiny smile- more of a quirk of her lips than anything- and the woman smiled back happily.

“Thank you.” Akira said, because Ranger raised her with manners.

“You’re welcome, young one.” The goat lady replied with a gentle tone, hands pressed together almost in a prayer position. “What a horrible creature, torturing such an innocent youth.” She turned her head, and Akira got the impression she gave the spot the flower disappeared a scolding look.

“Might I ask what brings you to the Underground?” The smile was kind, and Akira felt herself relax even as she filed away the proper noun. Underground.

“Ah.” Akira smiled a little awkwardly. “I was camping, and didn’t look where I placed my sleeping bag.” There. The truth without showing the whole story, ie; I hiked up the mountain to avoid getting sent back to my dubious ‘parents’- really more the people who own the house I live in- and maybe to calm down, and I fell down a hole that had never been there before .

Or maybe a sarcastic, “ Which time? The first time I came up the mountain was to commit suicide. ” Too dark, she thinks.

“Ah.” The kind goat lady smiled gently. “Oh! Forgive me. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins.” She gestured to the surroundings, and without the massive grayscale Pokemon battle sucking up all of the light Akira could see the surrounding area. “I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down.”

Ruins was an apt name; most of the surrounding stone area was in crumbles. It looked somewhat similar to old pictures of the crumbling stonework of Rome, but the architecture was somehow distinctly different. She couldn’t really describe it. Akira had never seen purple stone before, though, and the designs were foreign but strangely familiar.

“Akira.” Akira finally answered after giving her surroundings a glance, something drawing a shiver up her spine. She turned back to Toriel, who was waiting patiently for her to finish looking around. “My name’s Akira.” Another shiver curled up her spine, and she shook a little.

“Welcome, Akira. You are the first human to fall in a long time.” Toriel looked incredibly sad for a moment, but as Akira squinted to make out her expression it vanished. Toriel smiled gently and offered a hand out to the half-blind human.

“Come. These Ruins are littered with traps and puzzles, and it would not do for you to be caught in one.” Akira slipped her hand in with the fluffy palm, and Toriel led her forwards. Akira took the time to study her surroundings, tracing scripts and runes she’d never seen before with her eyes. Strange symbols covered the walls, surrounding a sort of story that was completely unfamiliar to Akira. It looked like something out of a fantasy game, smooth lines and curls with almost no sharp movements. She squinted, and the blurry figures sharpened into form.

A human- eyes covered by a shadow of hair, holding a spear. Another goat creature, but without features, and wearing a strange, unfamiliar symbol. Side by side, with one highlighted by a background of light and the other shadowed in darkness. Another picture, this one with the two on opposite sides. A fight, or a battle, with the larger goat creature in an obviously threatening pose. Half of everything was covered in shadows, only the silhouettes of humans and strange mythical beasts on each side showing what was going on.

The next picture- of a mountain and a human, the assorted grab-bag of furries and mythological creatures staring up in horror as the human does… something, with six cartoonish hearts. Honestly it’s not clear. The script here was jagged, as though the writer was angry or some other strong emotion. Akira turned back to Toriel and followed her through the bright purple door.

That was…. She thought to herself, trying to piece together the significance. Something. She decided. It was something. Humans did something and now the assorted anthropomorphic furry people were down in the ground. A fight broke out, obviously, but without context or even better, translation, she had no idea what the reasoning was .

Or if there was any reasoning. The dark, world-weary part of Akira pointed out, and she grimaced internally. Yeah. She could attest that humans, in general, were assholes . Locking up an entirely different race due to them just being different was well within their abilities. Hell, it was almost expected.

Something flashed in the corner of her vision and she turned back into the world fast enough to slip through a purple door and not run into said door. In front of her was one of the puzzles Toriel was warning her about. While it looked kind of easy, with only a couple of pressure plates and a lever, Akira was grateful for a guide.

Toriel stepped forwards and turned back to Akira, gesturing grandly to the beginner’s level puzzle room around them. She was having a grand time, like a Live Action Role Playing DM finally getting to show the players the dungeon they made.

“Welcome to the RUINS, young Akira.” She stepped up to the row of pressure plates, turning her head slightly to meet Akira’s eyes. “Allow me to educate you in the operation of the RUINS.” She used one hand to pull up her long purple robe and stepped carefully across the row of pressure plates in the middle, following the path to the lever on the wall. The door opened and she turned back to give Akira a wide smile.

“These are puzzles. The RUINS is full of them. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys, one must solve them to move from room to room.” Her grey eyes softened with something as she gazed between them into the middle distance, smile fond. “It was quite the bother in the beginning, but now quite familiar.” She turned that same fond smile on Akira, and she fought the urge to shiver as something dropped between their conversation like a physical barrier.

“Come,” Toriel urged, breaking the barrier and silence with one word as she urged Akira forwards. She slipped through the open door, and Akira followed. When she opened the door, Toriel was waiting in the middle of the room to further instruct her, arms wide. Akira got the feeling she had stumbled onto an old RPG dungeon, and then fought down the urge to burst into hysterical giggles. If this is an RPG dungeon, then she’s the Tutorial. She countered, and then just. stopped.

Holy shit. Tu-Toriel.

“To make progress here,” Akira tuned back in to the real world, smothering a burst of inappropriate laughter into a tiny, hidden smile. “You will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labeled the ones you need to flip.” Toriel looked embarrassed, with a dusting of pink over her cheeks. Akira stepped forwards to inspect the switches, and indeed they were labeled, in the strange script that she couldn’t read.

She hesitated, before shoving back her anxiety and turning to the massive anthropomorphic bovine (?). “Sorry,” She gave a sorry look up at the curious goat lady. “But I can’t read this.” She gestured to the script again, and Toriel looked over with a confused frown.

“Ah,” Toriel smiled knowingly. “You are not the first to need… glasses,” She pronounced the word slowly, as if unfamiliar. Akira shook her head in the negative, swift to correct the misconception.

“I do need glasses,” She admitted, “but that’s not the problem.” She traced the… lettters? Words? With a finger, squatting down and looking up at her guide. “I can’t read this. It’s not in a language I know.” Toriel frowned, confused.

“That is strange,” Toriel mused. “The other children could read my labels perfectly.” Toriel shook her head and smiled warmly at Akira. “No matter.” She stepped forwards and flipped the switches herself. The door opened and Akira followed Toriel into the next room.

“As a human in the UNDERGROUND, monsters may 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. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation!” Akira’s face fell in incredulity. What. “I will come to resolve the conflict.” Akira’s face hardened. What.

“Practice talking to the dummy.” Toriel stepped back, gesturing grandly to the light brown blob that was apparently a fighting dummy.

Akira hesitated, the massive tide of confusion and panic pushing against her for a moment before she threw it to the back of her head. Focus. She chided herself. There would be time later to go through the immense wave of What-in-the-fuck , preferably when she is not in danger of strange, unfamiliar beings.

She stepped forwards and faced the Dummy, massive grayscale battle arena forming around them. With the similarities, can you forgive her for comparing her surroundings to a pokemon battle?

Her core, the centre of her being, slid out from beneath her ribcage, shining dimly between them as she tensed, ready to be attacked. What did Toriel say? She fought to remember. Ah, she remembered. Strike up a friendly conversation! Akira sneered internally, mocking. Don’t worry, I’ll save you! Ugh.

Without any other options, she opened her mouth, something that in any other situation would have been her end.

“You’re very pretty.” No strange seeds or other unfamiliar attacks creeped up to hurt her, and she slightly relaxed. “Those stitches look very well done.” Not that she could see them very well, but stitching of any kind was kind of impressive. Her fingers twitched with an echo of pricking them accidentally a great many times.

The dummy… blushed? And the arena faded, color returning to the surrounding area as Toriel clapped off to the side.

“Well done!” She called, and Akira could hear the proud smile in her voice. “Very well done.”

So that’s a way to end a battle. Akira made a note to herself, behind all the screaming. She had finally reached a point in which she was not shocked, or scared, or confused anymore, she was just done.

Fabric doesn’t have blood vessels! She complained in the back of her head, before pushing the thought back behind a curtain of nonexistance. Because magic, obviously.

Toriel turned out of the room, and Akira followed, waving to the blushing dummy as she slid through the opening left for her.

The room was long, and she could see two little rivers sliding across it. A bridge stood over both of them, some kind of sharp silver metallic thing standing guard in the middle like a knight of old.

"There's another puzzle in this room." Toriel smiled a secretive smile. "I wonder if you can solve it?"

Akira glanced around again, seeing some strange thing on the wall and walking over to it. It's a lever? Labelled, like the last one was, in a script she couldn't decipher. She pulled it down, and a soft 'click' echoed through the walls. She turned to see the silver blurs gone, just a simple square marking where they were.

Toriel stepped forwards without fear, crossing the bridges and stopping on the other side to wait for her. She followed, stepping carefully so as to not fall into the rushing water. Toriel smiled once she was across, already turning to walk into the next room.

Slow down, please! She thought but didn't say. Puzzles, cave markings, there was an entire fucking civilization down here and Akira was losing her mind .

She almost walked into Toriel's back, but stopped just in time.

"This is the puzzle, but…" The entire floor was covered in those silver things, and they were finally close enough she could identify them. Spikes . "Young one, would you mind taking my hand for a moment?" Toriel turned to look her in the eye, bending down slightly so they were on the same level.

Akira nodded, offering an open palm to the massive fluffy goat lady. Words escaped her, at the moment. The previous comparison to an RPG dungeon went a little sinister, there.

Toriel took her hand carefully, smiling reassuringly at Akira as she turned back to the blocked path. Toriel walked slowly across the bridge, spikes receding with her weight as she zig-zagged across the spiked bridge in a pattern that was apparently familiar.

Akira fisted her other arm against her chest, opening and closing it uselessly as she studied the trap they were in and memorized the route they were taking. If she ever wanted to go back to where she fell, she'd need the information.

( Why did she want to go back?)

At the other end of the bridge Toriel sighed, studying the wall.

"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous, for now." She muttered, releasing Akira's hand. Toriel turned back to her, smiling again as she clapped her hands together.

"Well done, young one! You have completed all of the puzzles!" Toriel's smile was dazzling, and Akira fought the urge to blush, scratching the back of her neck bashfully.

"I apologize, but I am a busy monster, with many errands to run. Will you be fine waiting here for me?" She gestured to the massive empty room, "Oh, I know!" She clapped again and stuck her hands in the pockets of her tabard. "Here's a cell phone. If you need anything, just call, alright?"

Akira accepted the cell phone mutely, slipping it into her jacket and nodding to the rest of Toriel's words. In the back of her mind, all she could hear was a dull roar. Toriel nodded with another clap and smile combo and left, soft blue/lavender tabard cape floating serenely behind her.

For a minute Akira just stood there, mind blank and ears straining for a scrap of noise passed the constant water fall and the ringing in her ears.

Finally, after a small eternity, she moved. Propping her back up against the wall, she said down to her hands and knees, her legs moving automatically into criss cross applesauce.

"Holy fuck ." Her whispered words seemed loud in the quiet room, and she pressed her palms to the side of her face in mental agony.

Chapter Text

Akira could not tell you how long she was on the floor. Reality started to slip away from her as soon as she knew she was alone. But when she finally picked herself up off the- surprisingly clean- floor, her entire body ached down to the bones. She rubbed her face with a hitching sigh, scratching at the tear tracks glued there.

Okay. She had time, she could organize this. So there is an entire civilization here. Wherever 'here' was. She saw the cave opening back there, but she also saw a flower (?!) attack her with seeds that don't follow gravity's laws. She might be in the centre of the earth, or Timbuktu, or Hell, for all she knows.

The civilization is old . She is not an archeologist, but cave carvings following storyboard logic with a written language , means something lives here, has lived here for a long time. She's not an archeologist, but she's also not an idiot; traps that work like that take time to make. The traps are all defensive in nature, too: don't come here or we'll stab you. Which implies there is something here to protect.

The story itself was weird, too. Not in the bad way, or the funny way, but in the 'i didn't expect that' kind of way. Or maybe more of a 'I didn't expect that but I really, really should have' kind of way. Humans, once upon a time, fought this civilization. This is not surprising; humans can fight over anything , including but not limited to skin color, bone structure, genetics, life experiences, and fucking opinions . And that's just with each other; from the cave carvings (and other examples) the sesame street mythology meet up (note; what do they call themselves?) is a lot more varied than that. Just from the top of her head, she saw the cow people (Minotaur?), a dog person(werewolf??), and a fucking Mike Wazowski looking person. (???????)

So; humans and (??something??) fought. Unsurprising, move on. What the fuck were they doing in the next panel? All the bootleg sesame street people looked really panicked, looking up at the people with the hovering, colored hearts.

Speaking of colored hearts, what the actual fuck was she doing with one? She's never seen that before, ever, but it felt undeniably like Hers. It felt familiar, like a song she never listened to but heard on the bus a couple times. In fact, it felt almost exactly like that. Something on the edge of her mind that was always there, like her heartbeat or her pulse, that she never really felt until something (flower-fucker) brought it into focus.

Which means it can't just be something Flower-fucker summoned out of the void. That kind of background-noise thing can't be faked. That also begs the question; she didn't notice this until it was brought into focus, could this be something that other people have, too? She wasn't so deluded to believe she's the only one with the weird Heart things. She had to get it from someone, somewhere, after all.

Which means those colored cartoonish hearts on the wall were Hearts, the cores of those people brought out to do battle. That sentence feels right; she's keeping it.

Alright. So, this is the bit she didn't really want to think about. There is a massive hole in the ceiling. There are probably more. These people can get out any time they want. Except if they can't.

Akira has pulled some weird shit with her Heart. Okay only the one weird thing, but still. A bunch of people (seven?), who are probably all trained, doing something, and then the bootleg sesame street people are all trapped underground? Akira can do the math. She scours her understanding of mythology, and Harry Potter, and decides Wards. A barrier to keep the monsters out.

That sentence feels on the right track, but wrong. The Ward isn't to keep monsters out , then. But how else could it keep all of them down here?

...unless it's meant to keep them in.

Akira shivers, a wave of disgust sliding across her nerves like sewer slime. As someone who prizes freedom above even her own life , tying only with love and affection, even the vaguest thought of being trapped somewhere, never able to leave ever , Akira wanted to throw up and claw out of her own skin. Maybe leave those fuckers who trapped them down here a few well-deserved scars.

Okay. Recap. There's a civilization down here- probably with their own culture, separate from human culture, fuck shit damn but she hasn't screwed up yet so fuck it - full of a fantasy writer's wet dream, being 'magic' (tentatively labeled until told otherwise) and sentient people straight out of ancient myth. (note; Greek mythology has a lot of similarities to what has been seen so far. Is there a connection?) The civilization was sealed down here by humans (they must hate humans, but Goat Lady was nice, note; investigate) and have their own lives. They are well-entrenched enough (well-fed enough) to have traps against intruders and art.

Akira has a Heart. It's the core of herself, everything she is, first brought out in the heat of battle. She did… something , and now it's safely hidden, surrounded in a dark place without stars. (Hueco Mundo? Something like that.) People other than her also have Hearts. People can do some funky shit with Hearts, including magic , and before her people used the magic to Ward an entire people under the ground.

Okay. Magic exists, Myths exist, and she has the proof right in front of her.

Something pulses through Akira, and two thoughts line up against each other. One; Hearts can do some funky shit, as evidenced by the Ward around this place. Two; These people are trapped . If they were sealed right around Greek/Roman times, like she suspected, how many generations of people grew up and died without seeing the sky? Without seeing the sun? Holy shit, how many people have been born and died here never having seen the stars?

Akira grins, thoughts settling as she settles into the groove. Her Heart pulsed in response to her conviction, spreading the feeling along her bones. She knows what she has to do. Akira is going to break the barrier.