Underearth/Book 3/Chapter 1

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A sudden gasp for air erupted throughout the hollow caves as Frisk once again found himself awakening upon a bed of golden flowers. Soon after he'd opened his eyes, his vision became obscured by water as tears began flowing.

"Artemis... Amelia... I'm so sorry..." Frisk began saying to himself, bringing his hands up to his eyes. "I–I can't even imagine what William must have started putting you through..."

As he dwelled on those horrific events, his mind wandered to what happened after, within the Timeless Void. A whisper. A solution. A way to protect those he loved.

LOV. Something he had supposedly gained before, before he'd stopped William the first time.

Frisk wiped his eyes and sat up. The feeling against his face when he'd wiped it against his forearm, however, stole his focus. Looking down at his arms, Frisk noticed that he was still wearing the leather gauntlets he'd pulled out of the box in Snowdin Forest. Frisk also noticed that his shirt was no longer the purple-white shirt he'd received from Muffet but was instead the blue shirt he had before. Despite still wearing the gauntlets, Frisk couldn't find the green jacket he was wearing anywhere.

While looking down at his apparel, Frisk noticed a glint in the flowers next to his leg. Reaching down to pick up the gleaming object, he found that it was the dagger he'd found in Asriel's room, but unlike when he'd originally found it, dull of appearance and edge, it was now completely void of blood, or any blemish for that matter, and was now in perfect condition, as though it was just made.

Frisk gaped at the now shiny and extremely reflective blade, rotating it slowly as to take in every angle of the pristine dagger. While rotating the blade, Frisk suddenly caught sight of a wicked bright red eye staring down at him. The sudden appearance of this caused Frisk to shout out and drop the knife, then look behind him where he thought he'd seen it.

Nothing.

When the dagger hit the ground, Frisk looked back at it, snatching it up and looking back into the blade, searching for what he'd seen before.

Still nothing.

"Golly, I thought I heard something!" a joyous voice suddenly appeared in front of Frisk, causing him to nearly drop the dagger again.

Frisk looked over at the source of the voice. It was Flowey, the psychotic golden flower that had tried to kill him a few times before in previous Worlds. Flowey was also, unknowingly or knowingly, the long-dead prince of the Kingdom of the Monsters; Asriel Dreemurr.

"Careful," Flowey warned. "you don't want to drop that knife, now do you?"

Frisk glowered at the flower, gripping the knife hard as he stood up. Flowey seemed to ignore the nasty look.

"I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower!" Flowey said.

Before Flowey could continue speaking, however, Frisk began walking past him.

"Eh, HEY!" Flowey shouted. "It's not nice to ignore someone, you know.

Frisk continued to ignore the flower.

Flowey growled in annoyance. "Fine then." he said.

Just then, a few small white orbs formed above him and shot at Frisk's back. As they got closer, Frisk flipped around and, using the knife, sliced the orbs in half. He then scowled at Flowey, his eyes giving off a deep red glow.

Flowey, upon seeing this, recoiled in untold horror. Frisk then started walking towards Flowey, knife at the ready. Seeing this, Flowey retreated underground. After he'd retreated, Frisk lowered the knife.

"Who's there!?" a feminine voice called out from behind him.

Frisk, recognizing the voice, tucked the knife into his pants and turned around. It was Toriel.

"Hello..." she said as she got closer. "Are you all right?"

Frisk simply stared up at her.

"You must be so lost and confused..." she said. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through here every day to see if anyone has fallen down here. You are the first Human to come here in a long time. I will do my best to protect you during your time here." Toriel gestured Frisk to follow her. "Come! I shall guide you through the Citadel."

Toriel then went through the archway she'd just come through.

Before Frisk followed, he looked back at the bed of golden flowers he'd woken up on.

"What... what was that just now...?" he asked himself. "I... acted so..."

"Strange?" a whisper hissed.

Frisk shot around, looking for the source of the voice.

"There was nothing strange about it." the whisper continued, unconcerned of Frisk's searching. "What happened was simply the result of the first step in gaining the power you seek."

Frisk froze in place. "The power I seek..." he said.

"Yes. The power to protect those you love, do you remember?"

Frisk bowed his head. "LOV..." he said solemnly.

"You do remember. Excellent."

Frisk brought his head back up. "What do you mean by 'first step'?" he asked.

A chilling laughter filled the hall.

"The first step in gaining the power LOV gives is a desire to grow LOV in the first place; and your desire for that power is strong." the whisper said. "Know this as well, though a desire is the first step, you must have more than just a desire, you must take actions that will cause LOV to grow."

"Murder..." Frisk muttered.

"Yes. Consider it a test of your resolve."

"A test of my resolve?"

"But of course. The greater your LOV, the greater your resolve must be to continue. If your resolve is weak, you are weak, and you will be consumed by this world."

Frisk stopped to take everything he'd been told in.

"Toriel returneth. Consider this your first test. Kill her."

"Wha—" Frisk began saying.

"Keep in mind that only you can hear me. Now go, gain your power. I'll be watching."

Just as the whisper ended, Toriel turned the corner again.

"My child, are you coming?" she asked.

Frisk simply nodded.

Toriel then turned back around and walked toward the entrance to the Citadel, followed by Frisk.

As soon as Toriel had turned around, the whisper briefly returned.

"Do it now!" it said. "Dust her!"

As Frisk followed, he brought his hand over to the dagger, grasping the handle. It would be easy to just stab her in the back right now. Frisk started pulling the dagger, but something within him stopped him. A love, a remembrance of a motherly bond, an existing resolve to never bring her to harm. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't draw the knife any further.

By now, Toriel had lit the Torchweb, and they had both entered the Citadel proper. When Toriel began turning back around to face him, Frisk stopped trying to draw the dagger and let go of it.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent one. Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Citadel." she said before walking over four buttons in the floor and pulling the lever on the far wall, causing a section to open. "The Citadel is full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and door-keys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them." Toriel then proceeded into the next room.

The two continued through the next room as normal; Frisk was tasked with pulling two marked levers, and the two started moving forward again.

"Cease action against Toriel for now." Frisk felt a whisper tickling his ears. There is a part of you resisting your desire to kill her. In order for you to kill Toriel, you must first disempower this part of you. The next room contains the Aethero known as Heraton. Slice her cotton form to shreds."

Before Frisk could question the whisper, both Frisk and Toriel had arrived in front of the dummy Toriel has urged Frisk to talk to in the past.

"Practice by talking to this dummy." Toriel said at the end of her instructions, gesturing to the dummy.

Frisk simply looked at the dummy, its empty button eye staring back. Frisk thought back to the mad dummy's reactions in the previous two Worlds. This was her cousin. He then thought back to what the whisper had said in their instructions; he'd been given a name. Heraton.

Frisk hardened himself. He had to gain this power, the power to protect those he loved, or everyone he loved would suffer forever.

Without thinking about it much further, Frisk grasped hard to the knife then quickly slashed the dummy's, Heraton's, head off. The cotton head flew high into the air, catching Toriel's eyes as it sailed upward. As the head reached the climax of its ascent, Frisk tucked the knife back into his pants.

When the cotton-filled head hit the floor, Toriel looked up at Frisk.

"Ahh," she said, shocked by the sudden destruction. "the dummies are not for fighting! They are for talking! we do not want to hurt anybody, do we...?" Toriel then turned around and walked into the next room, followed by Frisk.

When they'd both entered the following room, Toriel spoke again.

"There is another puzzle in this room." she said. "I wonder if you can solve it."

Toriel then walked into the hallway just off the right side of the room, followed by Frisk.

Soon after entering the hallway, Frisk lost sight of Toriel. As he approached a turn in the hall, the frog-Monster, Froggit, fell from the ceiling towards Frisk. Frisk, having encountered this creature twice before, backed away before it landed.

As soon as the Monster had landed, Frisk pulled the knife and sank it between Froggit's eyes. From there, Frisk pulled the knife through Froggit's body, slicing right through it like a hot knife through butter. Upon being sliced, Froggit turned to dust.

As it turned to dust, Frisk felt a warm feeling within his chest, along with a sudden gnawing feeling as well.

"Excellent work." Frisk heard whispered to him. "Your resolve is much stronger than I had first anticipated. Though it is not yet strong enough to overpower the part of you that is stopping you from slaying Toriel. Grow your LOV further, we shall drown out that weak part of you."

"My child, are you alright?" Frisk then heard come from down the hall.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine." he called back before running to catch up.

When he'd reached where she was standing, Toriel looked back at him. In front of her was a field of spikes.

"This is the puzzle, but..." she started saying. Toriel then looked back at Frisk and held her hand out to him. "Here, take my hand for a moment."

Frisk looked at her hand for some time before grabbing it with his own.

Once he'd taken her hand, Toriel started pulling him along, leading him through the spike maze that was now around them. When they'd reached the end, Toriel let go of him.

"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous right now." she said before moving on to the next room.

Frisk looked back at the spike maze.

*Not as dangerous as me, right?* he thought before following after.

When in the next room, which was really just an extremely long hallway, Toriel began speaking again.

"You have done excellently thus far, my child. However, I have a difficult request to ask of you." Toriel paused for a moment before continuing. "I would like you to make it to the end of the room by yourself. Forgive me for this."

When she'd finished speaking, Toriel raced down the hall, far out of sight from Frisk.

Frisk, unlike Toriel, simply walked carefreely down the hallway. Upon reaching the end, Toriel emerged from behind a pillar situated near the exit.

"Greetings, my child." she said. "Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely hiding behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise." She then paused for a second. "... to test your independence. I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here, it's dangerous to explore by yourself." She then paused again. "I have an idea; I will give you a cell phone. If you ever need anything, just call. Be good, alright?"

And with that, Toriel left Frisk behind.

Frisk decided to take this opportunity to try and contact the whisper once again.

"You still watching?" Frisk said out into the empty hall.

"I am always watching." the whisper replied.

"Why did you tell me the name of the ghost possessing the dummy?" Frisk asked.

"Test of your will. In your little quest for power, you will need to kill Monsters that you know intimately. If you are to waver even once, you will fail, and you will be consumed as such. A creature you know the name of is more taxing mentally to kill to begin with, so it is best to eliminate this weakness first. Then, when the time comes, you will be mentally stable enough to kill the Monsters named Sans, Papyrus, Asgore, Toriel, Undyne, and Alphys. Feel free to add any I missed."

Frisk collapsed to the ground.

"How... how could I talk myself into doing this." Frisk said.

"Oh?" the whisper said in a surprised tone. "Do you not care about them? Your friends, that is? Are you honestly okay with Humans like William doing unspeakable things to those you claim to care about?"

"NO! OF COURSE NOT!!!" Frisk shouted. "PEOPLE LIKE WILLIAM DESERVE TO DIE!!!!!"

"Then it is time for another test of your resolve." the whisper said. "Two Monsters are about to enter this room. Slaughter them."

Frisk looked up and over at the doorway Toriel had gone through some time before. A few seconds later, two Monsters emerged around the corner. Neither of them had noticed him yet. Frisk, however, could only stare at them.

"Hmph, so that is how it is." the whisper said. "You do not care that people like William can *rape* your friends, like Artemis and Amelia, without fear of repercussions. Typical. You are weak. You talk a lot yet are afraid of doing the actions necessary."

Frisk froze at the whisper's words.

"Art... Am..." he started saying. Frisk then clenched his teeth, stood up, and drew the dagger. From there, he started running at the pair of Monsters. When in range, Frisk sank the dagger deep into the chest of the moth-like Monster, Whimson, pulled it back out, and smote off the head of the frog-like Monster, Froggit. In a single moment, both their bodies turned to dust.

"Ah, I am glad to see you have once again found your resolve. Good." the whisper congratulated.

"I will do... what must be done." Frisk said.

"Then let us continue." the whisper replied.

Frisk looked down at the knife. Dust clinged tightly to the blade. Ignoring it, Frisk moved on.

After a few seconds of walking, the phone Frisk had received from Toriel began ringing. In turn, Frisk pulled out the device and answered it.

"Hello? My child?" Toriel said frantically as soon as Frisk had answered.

"Yes, what is it?" he replied.

"Thank goodness, I was beginning to worry. I called twice before, but there was no answer."

"Twice before? What do you mean, I didn't hear anything."

"Hmm, how strange. No matter. I was simply calling to ask, you have not left the room, have you?"

Frisk looked behind him at the doorway he'd just come through. "Nah, I'm still here."

"Good. There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try to solve them by yourself. Be good, alright?"

The phone then hung up. Frisk shoved the phone back in his pocket and continued forward.

As Frisk walked through the purple halls of the Citadel, a thought suddenly came to him.

"How will I know where all the Monsters hide, and how will I know I've killed them all?" Frisk said, hoping the whisper heard and would answer.

Frisk's hopes were soon fulfilled when the cold, hissing whisper appeared once again.

"LOV will guide you." the whisper explained. "Even now, it feels the presence of twenty more SOULs within this part of the Citadel, and two-hundred-thousand more in the city itself. Unfortunately, going down into the city to take all their lives right now is like begging for death, especially with the Asterian that leads them. We shall return here when you are greater in strength."

"I see." he said.

Frisk then took a moment to think about the unknown terms the whisper had used. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him.

"A few minutes ago, before I killed the dummy, you said 'Aethero', and just now you said 'Asterian'. What are these?" he asked.

"Things to kill." the whisper replied.

"Yeah, well, besides that."

"It is not important. All you need to focus on is taking the lives of all within this part of the Citadel."

"Fine." Frisk sighed as he continued deeper in.

As Frisk continued through the Citadel, he could feel a pull within his chest seemingly guiding him. Whenever he got close to another Monster, the feeling would turn warm. Doing as he was instructed; he would kill them. Eventually, after having killed eighteen more Monsters, the hunger within his chest began to lead him to the front of Toriel's home.

"You have done well. Very well." the whisper congratulated.

Frisk felt cold, yet warm, inside. He didn't think it was possible, but he was feeling... thrilled. Thrilled at the hunt of Monsters.

*Nothing much more than animals, are they?* Frisk soon found himself thinking.

"The LOV growing inside of you is... helping you see the greater picture." the whisper noted. "Even now, it has grown great enough to stifle the part of you reluctant to slay Toriel. And so, the time has come, the time for your next test of resolve. Kill Toriel. The exact methods of execution I leave up to you."

Frisk didn't say anything; he simply let a demented smile stretch across his face. He could already feel power coursing through him, yet somehow, though he couldn't explain how, he knew that it was only the beginning. This was indeed the power to protect them. With these thoughts in mind, Frisk advanced to Toriel's home.