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ruetheend · 7 years

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BitterBlossoms - Chapter 2: Ruins, an unkind smile.

The story so far: Frisk makes a deal with Chara years after her genocide run to spawn again. However, it appears that things aren’t quite the way they were in her previous runs. Flowey seems to be a nice person, Toriel seems younger, and Asgore is hanging around?!

Click to read the second chapter below.

Frisk stared at the petal for a moment, perplexed. Frisk whispered to the petal, but it did not repeat anything. Frisk tenderly pulled at the flower on her head, but it seemed glued on. She felt around the base of it, but it was... a part of her. She looked at at Flowey with a bewildered look.

"What... what did you do to me?" Frisk asked out loud, to any of the ones who could be listening. She could feel a thudding in her chest.

"W-what do you mean? I didn't do anything!" The blue flower protested. He crossed his leaves. "I-I told you not to go out there, but you did it anyway!"

The thudding in her chest grew louder, though Flowey didn't seem able to hear it. Frisk wrapped her fingers around the flower and gave it a tug, but it was painful enough to stop her. "Ouch!"

"Is... is it attached to you now?" Flowey asked.

Frisk looked down at the ground, deep in thought. Flowey popped up closer to Frisk, within her view. "Frisk... I really didn't do anything. I... I don't know what happened out there, but it wasn't me."

"I know..." Frisk sighed. It was a cloaked figure.

Tori's head popped out the door. "My dears, you have been standing there for a quite some time. You would enjoy some dinner, would you not?" Frisk blinked and nodded.

At the same dinner, Frisk ate Tori's cold soup, but was prepared this time. She gave a small thumbs up, though she felt like throwing up all over the table.

"Oh, haha, my dear... you do not need to pretend you enjoy this soup. Gori did not answer his phone, so I was forced to improvise..." Tori gave her husband a cold glare. Asgore stared at his bowl again, continuing to eat its contents.

"Tori, I do not believe this tastes so bad," Asgore picked up the bowl and drank it whole. His lips quivered as he swallowed, then he placed the bowl back down onto the table. "It... it is quite delicious."

"Ah yes, I can see that," Tori winked at her husband, and gave him a sly grin. "I can see that you are souper excited." Asgore gave a chuckle while Flowey seemed to roll his eyes. "I suppose my cooking is quite phonomenal, but when you are not here to cook with me, I cannot help but wonder why I even brother." With that Asgore let out a deep, sincere laugh.

"My wife, what a comedian!" Asgore looked from Tori to Frisk and Flowey, then back to Tori. "Well, please don't be salty with me, love. I fried my best."

Tori squinted at her husband with a frown, shrugged, and began to eat in silence.

"Tori... Tori, get it? I fried my best? It is funny because..." Asgore leaned in to explain his joke to his wife, but Flowey interrupted him.

"Listen, pops. That pun was pretty funny, it just wasn't souperb." Flowey gave Tori a big, white smile. She giggled at his pun and reached out a hand to him. He seemed to recoil, which caused her to withdraw her pink gloved paw.

"Forgive me, Flowey," Tori smiled quietly. "I forget... sometimes you remind me of someone, I suppose."

"Heh, yeah..." Flowey looked aside with a nervous grin. "That's alright. I'm just glad we could enjoy dinner with a new friend!" Flowey looked to Frisk, who had been observing the whole time, chuckling a bit at everyone's puns. They were her biggest weakness. "Frisk, I'm really glad you're here."

Frisk looked at Flowey and mentally attacked him for putting her on the spot. "O-oh, yeah... Thank you for the dinner, Tori and Asgore."

"Of course, my dear," Tori shook her head as if the dinner was a given. "It would not behoof someone of my station to let a guest go hungry."

"Someone of your station?" Frisk was curious. Toriel and Asgore are the Queen and King of the Underground... were they ruling from the ruins now? She hadn't given it much thought. "Are you like... the queen?"

Tori gave a quiet laugh as she shook her head. "Good heavens, my dear! No, I am not a queen of any kind... Certainly not." Tori looked furious for half a second, before looking at Frisk with a gentle smile. "No, I am... or rather, I was the captain of the royal guard."

"Really?" Frisk nearly jumped out of her seat. "You were the captain?"

"Oh, yes, Frisk." Tori looked proud of herself as she said her next words, "I worked for the honorable king, and was even trained by... by... my goodness, I forget his name, but I am very highly trained. I worked hard to protect not only my people, but the humans who would fall into our realm of monsters."

"Wow..." Frisk's amazed face betrayed her, though her amazement was for another reason. Their youthful appearance, Toriel's being a captain... what did it mean? This was not a normal reset. She had half believed she had gone further into the past for a brief time, but this confirmed that wasn't the case. "And Asgore... what did you do?"

Asgore seemed caught off guard, "Er, I-I... I used to be the royal gardener. Not quite as glamorous as my wife, but I maintained the appearance of the castle, yes."

"So..." This next question would prove quite awkward, but she had to find out. "Why are you here? I mean-" Frisk gestured around herself. "This doesn't look like a castle, and Tori, you said you used to be the captain... I guess that means you aren't anymore?"

Tori and Asgore exchanged a few looks. Tori was the one who spoke for them, "Ah, yes. You are correct, my dear. Gori and I... we were forced to flee from our home and our positions with the royal family. It is... quite difficult to speak about. However, I can tell you this." Tori gave Frisk a firm nod and a determined look. "You will stay here with us, and you will be protected from them. If you ever tried to leave... my dear... you would be killed. They would see to it."

The way Tori spoke made Frisk feel like a small child again. She spoke with an air of authority that Frisk had a hard time denying. Not only that, but her statement was a demand rather than a request. Frisk couldn't help but wonder what a Toriel who had been a captain might fight like. Would the fight be as easy as it had been that last time? The outfit Tori wore reminded her somewhat of a mage-like character from a video game she played as a child. What sorts of tricks and skills would this Tori have? Frisk felt excited at the thought. Perhaps this time, Tori would put up a real fight.

After dinner, the pair of monsters didn't immediately expect bedtime. Instead, Asgore entered the kitchen and Tori showed Frisk her room, kindly adding, "This is your new room! I hope you enjoy living here with us. If you need me, I shall be in the kitchen with Asgore." Tori hurried away with that final statement, leaving Frisk alone holding Flowey in his flowerpot. Tori didn't seem to noticeably keep her distance as much, and her smile seemed less small than it had been. The first thing Frisk did was save outside. Dinner had gone well, and she did not want to try to repeat that result.

Frisk decided to inspect her room further. Frisk re-entered the home, and took a step inside her room. "What are you doing now?" Flowey asked. Frisk replied that she wanted to explore. She placed his flowerpot on the drawer. Before her death in Snowdin, she did not pay much attention to the room. After all, it looked much the same as it had before. However, as she inspected the room, she noticed there was no dusty picture frame. Instead, it looked like a child's drawing was in that frame. Three stick figures that looked like bunnies standing in a field of blue flowers with diamond-shaped, blue stars. As Frisk inspected the frame, Flowey looked a bit uncomfortable in his flower pot and had been uncharacteristically quiet. She gave him a look.

"W-what is it?" Flowey looked away from her gaze.

"You just seem... uncomfortable?" Frisk offered.

"Well, I guess I just don't know what is going on. I thought it was odd that you were using my save points..." Flowey scratched a petal with a leaf, thoughtful. "I haven't seen a human... in a long time, I guess you could say? So I wasn't sure what to expect. Do all humans have the power to save and load?"

"Um, no, I didn't have this power before I came here."

"Heh heh..." Flowey shook his head. "The way you talk and act... It kind of seems like you must've had the power before you landed down here."

Flowey was fishing for information. Frisk wasn't sure what to say, so replied honestly, "It's a bit complicated?" The flower seemed to accept that answer, though his expression became somewhat hurt.

Frisk resumed her exploration of the room. It seemed that the room was as clean as it ever was. The mattress was somewhat lumpy, but otherwise, the sheets smelled crisp and clean. She laid on the bed for a moment and let her thoughts drift around. A major thought that came to mind was the question of where she was. The Dreemurrs were not royalty here, and if so, what else has changed? Who were the king and queen now? She also wondered if she would meet the skeleton brothers in Snowdin again. The thought reminded her of the attack that killed her near the bridge. She sighed heavily. Whoever was outside the doors was hostile... so it couldn't be that short, tubby skeleton.

The human's face flushed red in thought as she remembered him. It had been so long since she last saw him, and, well, that had not been a particularly good farewell. She felt a pit grow in her stomach as she thought about him and her genocide of the monsters previously. She imagined him remembering her dusty hands, her unwarranted cruelty, and thought perhaps it was Sans who had killed her so suddenly on the bridge.

Frisk realized that this was not necessarily the same Underground she had fallen into before. Asgore was in the ruins with Toriel, and neither of them were royalty. What if this place wasn't her Underground? What if she couldn't undo what has already been done? Her face scrunched up at the thought.

"Are you okay? You look like you are about to barf or something..." Flowey interrupted her thoughts with his voice. "You are making a really gross face." Frisk opened her eyes and looked over at Flowey.

"I'm fine," She lied. She calmed herself down with the fleeting thought that Sans didn't remember any resets before, so she had nothing to worry about with this run. She would get the happy ending, and everything would be okay. Maybe somehow her genociding had messed up the timelines? Either way, everything would turn out okay in the end as long as she stayed determined. "I was just thinking about what to do."

"You mean, are you thinking about leaving again?" He nervously frowned and looked taken a bit aback. "D-didn't you bite the dust back there? W-why would you want to go back? Tori isn't lying."

"I'll think of something..." Frisk took a deep breath and sat up. She did a quick scan of the room, but found nothing else had really changed. She found the picture frame incredibly interesting this time around since she knew it was a drawing of the whole Dreemurr family. The toys, however, still did not interest Frisk.

Frisk ventured into the living room with Flowey in tow where she could already smell the heavenly scent of pie. There was a broom sweeping the floor in the living room on it's own. Frisk raised an eyebrow at it, but moved into the kitchen without another word. In the kitchen, she walked into a hushed conversation that suddenly stopped. Both Dreemurrs looked like they had been caught with their paws in the cookie jar. "I must attend to the flowers outside..." Asgore quickly withdrew himself from the conversation and exited. Tori simply shook her head.

"Forgive my husband, my dear," Tori turned her focus to her signature pie on the kitchen counter. She touched the pan it sat in with a single finger and gave a big smile. "Ah, I believe the pie has cooled off now. Would you care for a slice? My husband has also made tea..."

Frisk nodded. Tori cut her a piece and poured her a cup of tea in Asgore's stead. They both than entered the living room. Tori sat on her recliner with a cup of tea of her own. Frisk sat on the floor by Tori's feet, but closest to the fire place. She always loved feeling the warmth on her. Flowey sat in his flower pot between them.

"So Frisk, tell me... how did you end up down here?" Tori asked as she tapped her cup of tea once, than took a sip. "I am always curious to hear why some humans end up in our domain."

"Oh, well, I tripped? I tumbled down into the ruins." This was not necessarily a lie, of course. Frisk just chose to omit that she could reset time. Tori simply nodded as she took another sip of her tea. Frisk tried to take a sip as well, but nearly burned her tongue off. Flowey gave Frisk an incredulous look, but said nothing.

"In any case, I hope you will find happiness here with us, Frisk," Tori looked down into her tea. "I know we do not have much, but, I know we can make it work."

"Maybe..." Frisk held her tea up to her mouth and blew, hoping to cool it down. How could Tori drink this so hot? As she did so, she thought about how she lived with Toriel for months at a time in her initial foray underground. Though in her last few runs she could make the journey in less than a day, her initial journey had been stretched out. She would live with Toriel for months before eventually leaving the ruins. While her first ventures into the rest of the Underground were to find a way back to the surface, Frisk eventually would leave Toriel sooner to try and see if she could help free everyone. A guilty seed planted in her soul as she considered never leaving the ruins. If she never left the ruins, then the incident on the surface would never happen... the reason for her getting into this mess in the first place.

Frisk was standing on the street, waiting for her friend. Though she was legally an adult, it turns out that being an ambassador was a bit much for someone her age. Instead, Frisk helped out wherever she could. Sometimes it meant explaining expressions to Asgore. Other times it was as complex as being the human spokesperson for the monsters. It was a lot of responsibility she shouldered because she felt like she had to, after all, she had once killed Asgore out of curiosity and frustration. How could she say no to him now?

As she waited for the friend, a group of young men approached her. Frisk found this troubling, but did her best to stay calm. Not all young, human men were rude, mean, and sometimes borderline sadistic. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. How could she have become so afraid of other people? Images flashed in her mind of news reports of monsters, missing monsters, and sometimes dust. She was jostled by the young men, who were loud. They were obnoxious, and the sounds of their voices unfriendly.

The problem with being a spokesperson for monsters was that eventually people could recognize your face. Mettaton believed there was no such thing as bad publicity, but Frisk had found out that wasn't quite true. She gripped the strap of her messenger bag and kept a steady look forward as the humans seemed to crowd her, yelling at her, and assuming things about her. She looked hard and long at a fixed point, a red stop sign. That was something monsters were still getting used to. They knew that humans had red stop signs, but blue worked much better, in their opinion.

The young men weren't letting up. Their words were invading Frisk's attempts to block it out. She turned and started to walk the way they had come from, hoping that they would let up and let her go, but they didn't. It was at that moment, she heard his voice.

"Frisk?" Tori's voice pulled Frisk out of her memory. "You look troubled, my dear. Is something the matter?"

"Oh, oh no... I was just thinking." Frisk let out a deep breath and took a sip. The tea was not as hot this time. Tori smiled and leaned over.

"My dear, you do not need to be afraid," Tori reached her gloved hand to Frisk's head. "I will be here to protect you-"

Tori's hand made contact with Frisk's head, as if to give Frisk a loving pat, but her hand froze for a brief moment before withdrawing. "Ah, f-forgive me. It is rude to touch strangers."

Tori looked away, and Frisk suddenly found Tori's expression hard to read. Frisk, suddenly uncomfortable, quickly finished the pie and got up to place the pie in the sink. When she came back, Tori was gone.

Outside, Frisk found Asgore watering the plants beneath the windows of his little house. Tori was nowhere to be seen. She left Flowey inside at the fireplace. He seemed to bask in its warmth, and didn't look like he wanted to be disturbed.

Asgore had the same, cute watering pail as before. It was shaped like a cartoon elephant, which looked vaguely familiar to Frisk though she couldn't place where she had seen it before. The goat man seemed to hum a tune to himself. She cautiously approached him, still somewhat worried he would attack her. Asgore, noting her presence and the look on her face, nodded slowly at her as he stopped watering the plants.

"Howdy, Frisk. Please, forgive me for attacking you earlier. I... I would not normally have done so." Asgore apologized solemnly. The tenor of his voice made Frisk believe him instantly. Asgore had a way of doing some really bad stuff, but still being pitiable. "I saw you and I thought that perhaps... with your SOUL... I was a fool. It is not right to attack an innocent youth such as yourself."

"It's okay," Frisk gave Asgore a sad, small smile. "Honestly, I've been attacked by everyone, it seems, at least once or twice now."

"Ah. Monsters have had... a rough history with your kind, human," Asgore explained, "After the war with humankind, great magicians sealed us below. But... I suppose you know that already."

Frisk nodded, and with that Asgore resumed watering his garden. Frisk stood there thoughtfully for a moment, and turned to leave, but Asgore stopped her with the sound of her voice.

"Human... While I apologize for my earlier behavior... You cannot stay here as my wife has proposed you do. Please do not tell her I said this, but... We do not have the room for you here. I hope you understand..."

Frisk walked away.

The human made her way toward the stairs. She was a fool to believe she could deny her destiny. Somehow, Frisk would set everyone free again. They would all go to the surface, and from there, Frisk would wash her hands of them. She tried so hard for them. She went back to that abyss, over and over, after she would reach the end. All in hopes that everyone could be saved without anyone needing to die. Frisk's face was stony and her eyes looked hopelessly determined. Frisk descended the stairs, but no one came to stop her. She walked through the halls toward the doors, and no one stopped her. Frisk was nearly offended until she saw Tori stand where she usually would before their fight.

Tori faced the door, and had her hands out. Her pink gloves stood out against the color of the ruins wall and door. She seemed to be chanting something, but abruptly stopped. "Frisk, go back upstairs." It was not a request.

"No, Tori... I am going to leave." Frisk stood her ground. She had to do this.

Tori turned her head, and Frisk could see Tori's eye. Tori looked at Frisk with disappointment. "You may have misunderstood me earlier, my dear. I told you... you will be staying here with us. You are not permitted to leave. Take another step... and I will be forced to handle you."

Without thinking, Frisk took that step forward. She saw Tori turn her head back to the door. A deep sigh escaped Tori's lips. The atmosphere of the room seemed to shift from an uncomfortable silence to one of incredible tension. Tori tilted her head up, and dropped her hands to her sides.

"Frisk, you are dangerous." Tori stated it as a simple fact. Frisk could not argue. "I am not sure how, but... I saw a vision when I touched your crown. I saw a version of you with an unkind smile. I saw a version of you with dusty clothing. Not only that, but... I can see the stain upon your SOUL. You have killed before... and judging by that step you took... you will kill again. So I will give you a final warning, human... Go back upstairs. Live with Gori, Flowey, and I... We will treat you kindly, and I will protect you... in short..." Tori turned around, her expression stern and her eyes determined. "You will rehabilitate... or die."

Frisk's heart started to beat. Toriel never spoke to Frisk like this before. A curiosity in her awoke to this development, and again, Frisk took a step forward. Tori's stern look became a steep frown.

"Then you have left me with no choice." In a single sweeping motion, Tori thrust out her arm. With the action, a gust of wind blew past Frisk. In Tori's thrown hand she carried an oak staff curved in a runic symbol at the head. With her free hand, Tori ran her fingers near her crown, a big brimmed witch's hat forming from thin air. The brim was pinched between her fingers. Frisk's SOUL was pulled from her body, excitement filling her blood. Tori's eyes were obscured by the hat. She said, "Well then... have at you."

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