Chapter Text
Since time immemorial the dark forest claimed all those who entered. No one who ever passed through its dark foliage ever escaped its all consuming darkness. And so one day a child, either foolish or brave, chose to descend into the darkness to find the heart of its evil. To bring an end to the injustice it inflicted upon all those who entered its cursed grounds.
At journey’s end two soul’s fought before the barrier that since time long forgotten had trapped monster’s in the underground. One soul belonged to the most powerful of the monster’s, King Asgore. Along with his powerful fire magic, protective metal armor adorned with a long cape and long red trident he towered over the young human boy dressed in typical western cowboy attire with leather boots and a big cowboy hat wielding a simple six shot revolver.
The human child, Clover, who’s height barely even came up to the King’s hip bore a yellow soul as bright as the new day sun. His soul was embedded with the virtue of justice, and Clover like all others who shared his soul’s virtue was embedded with the desire to right the wrongs inflicted upon the innocents by the wicked of the world. And this “King”, no, this brute certainly more than fit the description.
In the endless corridor where reality itself seemed to loop endlessly on itself thanks to the powerful magic ancient humans used to seal the monster’s away were seven glass cylinders. Five had different colored heart shaped human’s soul’s floating within them with another two empty soul canister’s opened and waiting to collect Clover’s soul as Asgore encircled Clover with a ring of fire magic.
He didn’t say a word or even look at the child as the ring of flames closed in on him. And yet, as was the case with many things in his journey Clover felt a strange sense of deja vu with this attack as he raced towards the flames and, without a second’s hesitation, used his momentum to roll through the powerful magic attack as he had done so earlier with Ceroba when she had tried killing him using a similar attack. Escaping the ring of fire unharmed as he fired another volley of friendliness pellets from his revolver at the King of all Monsters.
The pellet’s didn’t even scratch him nor do any damage against Asgore’s hp as they simply bounced off his armor and impacted the ground around them. Undeterred, Clover began focusing his soul’s power into a powerful concentrated blast as the King lunged at him with his trident.
The long blood red trident cut into his shoulder. Nearly severing his arm entirely just as Clover fired his concentrated soul blast at the King. The concentrated yellow energy again bounced off of the king’s armor and flew straight towards the cylinder containing the soul that glowed dark blue.
The impact blew the soul container open with a sudden explosion of shattering of glass and soul magic. And at that moment the recently freed blue soul began glowing brightly.
Asgore meanwhile used his trident to plant Clover into the ground. His trident easily piercing straight through his left shoulder as he stomped on Clover’s right hand with his foot. Screaming as his shoulder was severed the boy lost his grip on his gun and found himself staring up at the monster staring down at him.
“I am sorry child.” Asgore said as he raised his trident high over his head. A trail of tears began flowing from Clover’s bright gold colored eyes as his body simply froze. He was going to die. He had failed his mission and was now going to be trapped along with the others.
“Just… close your eyes.” Asgore gave Clover an apologetic look. “It will… only hurt for a moment-” At that moment Asgore’s soul turned from its usual white color to a dark blue. And before either of them could even think about what was happening the king of all monster’s flew up into the air before he quickly reacted and landed on his feet a few meters back.
“W-What?!” Clover coughed blood as he clenched his severed arm. His blood was practically pouring out of his wound. He couldn’t stand and he found his vision growing darker and darker as his consciousness began fading away.
“Oh I see.” Asgore sighed. “The blast he fired freed you.” he said as he turned his attention back to Clover. The blue soul raced towards the barely conscious child and quickly enveloped him in a dark blue light as Clover opened his eyes.
‘Get up!’ a voice echoed through Clover’s mind. ‘Quickly!’ Gritting his teeth Clover used his remaining arm to push himself back up just as Asgore raised his trident over his shoulder. And tossed it at him.
There was no time to dodge the attack. No time to duck or roll. In an instant the long pointed ends of Asgore’s weapon pierced straight through Clover’s upper torso and remaining shoulder. Slamming into him with such force he went flying back straight into the wall of the castle. Impaling him into the castle walls itself as the boy simply hung there.
‘NO! NO! NO! NO!’ The voice screamed into Clover's dying consciousness as the blue soul raced towards his hanging body. Coughing and hacking up his last breath Clover couldn’t move or think as he was once again enveloped in the dark blue glow the fallen human soul emanated around him. Its magic valiantly pulling his consciousness away from the grip of death, but quickly losing that tug of war as Clover’s head fell and his eyes shut.
“I am sorry human. I wish there was another way.” Asgore lamented as he approached the two souls. The blue soul, filled with the virtue of Integrity never ceased its healing magic on Clover’s yellow soul as the king grabbed them both.
“But your fate was sealed the moment you entered my kingdom.” The king said as a lone golden flower continued watching him from a distance. Groaning in annoyance the plant sighed as Asgore carried Clover’s soul to its container. Clover had done better this time against Asgore but he wasn’t powerful enough to defeat him. During this run at least.
“Hmm. Clover’s competent… enough.” Flowey mused. “He’s my best shot at getting those soul’s but he keeps dying.” the flower sighed. “Still though, he’s been getting better. He managed to actually attack Asgore this time. With enough LOVE, he’d be strong enough to kill him.” Oh now there was a wonderful idea Flowey thought to himself as Asgore chased after the blue soul which was currently trying to break open Clover’s container.
The blue soul was… unique compared to the other’s. She wasn’t killed by Asgore but was delivered to him after she had killed many monsters in Snowdin. Of the souls she was the most resilient and “fighty” of the lot as her soul always seemed to be fighting against whatever was holding it. Flowey had even learned in true lab that her soul container was specially made for them as they kept breaking their restraints.
“Come now you must get back in your container child.” Asgore said as he failed to grab the blue soul. “If you’re not properly held your soul will-” using Asgore’s own trident the blue soul used their magic to lift Asgore’s weapon into the air and break Clover’s container open with it. Wasting not a second the blue soul enveloped Clover’s soul with a dark blue glow as a girl’s voice echoed through what remained of Clover’s consciousness.
‘Can you hear me?’ the blue soul asked as the world around Clover finally took shape.
After being impaled everything had gotten dark, and cold. He didn’t have eyes, or a mouth yet he could see and perceive everything around himself. Frightened he tried to flail around his limbs, only to find he didn’t have a body anymore.
‘W-What happened?!’ Clover’s voice echoed yet no sound past his lips. And it was then he also realized he didn’t have lips. Or a body for that matter.
‘We don’t have much time.’ the blue soul told him as the king reached out for them both.
‘No. NO! Stay back!’ Clover shouted yet none other than the blue soul could hear him.
‘Remember.’ she urged him. ‘When that flower resets.’ she said as the king grabbed both of their soul’s.
‘You need to remember everything.’ As those words echoed through Cover’s very soul Flowey opened his file.
“ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO RESET?” The SAVE Screen asked him as it always did. And like always, as he had done countless times before he selected “YES”
RESETTING… 10%
RESETTING… 30%
RESETTING… 70%
RESET INITIALIZING
Doing the right thing is never easy. That was the lesson Clover’s father had taught him. In a world beset by strife, food rations, and power outages, doing the right thing was essential to not only help the people around you, but also help make the world just a little more just. Doing the right thing was the personal responsibility of every single person in the world.
That was why his mission fell to him alone. Five children had gone missing while traversing up Mt. Ebott and no one had the resources or time to go and find them with all the hardships affecting the world at large. And then there were of course, the myths and legends about that mountain.
There was nothing particularly notable or dangerous about Mt Ebott itself. It was simply the tallest mountain in the region and held no dangerous wildlife or excessively harsh conditions aside from the thin atmosphere the higher up you climbed. But what truly made Mt Ebott itself unique and what also made people fear climbing it for millenia was an old tale about a war between humanity and the monster’s that roamed the world alongside them.
According to the story the world was originally home to two different races. Human’s with their powerful soul’s that could survive past death before eventually passing on. And monster’s who’s physical bodies and souls were made of magic or something. As the story goes monster’s desired the power of human soul’s as with enough of them they would gain great power and conquer the world and destroy all of humanity. To protect themselves and their future descendants the ancient humans went to war with monster’s and managed to seal them underneath Mt Ebott with a powerful magical spell. But it was said that if the monster’s ever got seven human souls, the one who absorbed them would shatter the barrier, become a god and destroy the world.
All fairytales Clover rationalized as he continued walking through the foliage. Monster’s only existed in story books where they would terrorize innocents and be evil until a just hero defeats them in the end. But back to focusing on his mission brought Clover to spot a faint worn out piece of pink cloth trapped in the prickly thorn’s of a bush.
“Hmm.” Clover hummed to himself as he pulled out the missing person’s poster he brought with him. On it were the names of five children who had been reported missing. Emily Kadish, Gabriel Kadish(they were noted to be siblings), Noah Beckingham, Cody Onda, and most recently was Zaley Ali who’s mother turned out to be his neighbor.
From what he had gathered Zaley and her mother had a… difficult relationship with Zaley being very stubborn and resistant wherever her mother tried to make her do anything. Their divide came to a head with her mother’s decision to not attend her daughter’s ballet recital where Zaley disappeared once the performance was over.
Her disappearance broke her mother’s heart and her situation was made even worse by her husband’s passing not long after. Though what occurred happened years ago, before Clover was even born, it was obvious to everyone Zaley’s mother was still grieving the disappearance of her child. As the other families of the other children would as well. If they were still around as Emily and Gabriel had disappeared over two hundred years ago.
Something had happened to them. And was his responsibility to bring justice and peace to Zaley’s mother.
The fabric was obviously old and the color had nearly disappeared but it didn’t take a genius to tell it was a part of Zaley’s tutu. Perhaps it had been torn off during her accent or ripped off in a struggle. Either way Clover knew he was heading in the right direction.
The path was uneven and littered with differently sized rocks that were hidden by the tall grass. The bird’s chirped much more softly than usual and there were no small animals like squirrels or even flies. The air had begun to grow thin and it was becoming much harder to breathe as Clover continued his accent.
In the distance he saw the city he had spent his whole life up until this point in. Looking back made him realize just how small his family's apartment really was and… how much he strangely missed it. It felt like… it had been a long time since he’d last seen his parents. Mom was likely still locked away in her room and his father was still at the factory. Not that he was complaining. Getting out of the house was easy for him, and the last thing either of them needed was to worry about him. Well, his father at least.
‘Remember.’ a girl’s voice echoed through his skull as he quickly spun around. Finding only empty wilderness and a few bird’s watching him silently. One bird, a very large black one with bright yellow eyes flew over him and up past a little cave further down the path he was following.
“Never thought(breathes deeply) breathing would ever be(breathes deeply again) hard.” Clover had never gone hiking before, much less ascending a mountain everyone believed was cursed. But he had come too far to stop now. There was justice that needed to be done. A cool burst of wind brushed past him and threatened to blow away his hat. Holding it tightly with one hand Clover headed into the cave and felt… a sense of familiarity with it. It was odd but he quickly brushed the feeling aside. The wind reverberated off the high walls of the cave and several bat’s hung upside down. Looking down on him with blood red eyes as he held his toy gun in his left hand.
He wanted a gun for his birthday so he could be a real cowboy like in the movies and cartoons he watched but his father got him a fake one instead. While initially disappointed the toy gun itself did actually fire anything that he could load into it. Add onto the fact that a human soul can empower physical objects with their own willpower and he was far from defenseless. Though of course, having a real weapon along with ammo that's not made of rubber would’ve helped him greatly.
The bat’s simply watched him. Unmoving and unblinking as he continued deeper into the cave. Not a single sound other than his footsteps graced his ears but thankfully there was still a lightsource ahead somehow.
Getting closer brought Clover to a large open area of the cave with a large opening in the mountain above that allowed sunlight to illuminate his surroundings. And before him was a massive hole in the ground that upon closer inspection revealed a large bed of golden flower’s at the bottom.
“Okay.” Clover took a deep breath. “Just like Sheriff Sam, I got to brace myself. Focus.” he told himself as his bright yellow soul emerged from his chest.
“Doing the right thing is never easy.” he repeated to himself. “Doing the right thing is never easy.” And with that Clover jumped down into the flowerbed far beneath him. The impact hurting him surprisingly less than what he was expecting as he quickly picked himself up.
“Ow.” he groaned as he walked forward. The large flower bed had a singular corridor for him to traverse. Walking down the path he felt the oddest sensation of deja vu as it felt like he had already walked this way and yet… obviously he had never been down here before.
‘Ca…h.ar..me?’ a voice faintly whispered as Clover quickly drew his gun and spun around. But all he saw were the flowers he had landed on. After a moment of looking around he holstered his weapon and continued onto the next room.
The next room was large and barren. Not a soul or animal could be seen and yet somehow illuminated but lantern’s on the walls of the room. Someone had been here recently by the looks of it. And it was in that moment of distraction that a large creature approached Clover.
*Ribbit* The sound was much deeper and louder than any frog Clover had ever seen before. The large creature came up to his stomach on all four of its webbed arms and legs. Two gigantic eyes stared right at him as his soul suddenly emerged from his chest.
“Hey?! Wait w-” Clover uttered as a sudden pain stabbed through his chest. Stealing his voice away as well as his breath as he felt himself fall to his knees.
“Your fate was sealed the moment you entered my kingdom.” HIS voice echoed through his mind as Clover quickly began shaking his head.
“No!” his breathing quickly turned frantic. Taking quick sharp breaths and quickly shaking his head as he futilely tried to grab the trident that had somehow lodged itself in his chest with his right hand as his left went for his gun. “YOU’LL PAY!” Clover screamed as he fired his weapon at the stunned froggit. Damaging the creature and knocking it back slightly as it hopped towards him. Anger in its eyes until that anger was quickly displaced by fear as another very tall creature approached the two.
The creature stood on two legs and wore a red scarf along with purple colored robes around herself. A pair of short white horns sprouted from the top of her head, matching the white fur that encompassed her body. Her face was like a cross between the usual features of a human mixed with that of a goat with long ears. The stern look the taller creature gave the froggit sent the froggit running away. Giving the creature a moment to flee the tall creature turned her attention onto the panic stricken child before her.
“Hello there, are you alright?” The voice the creature had was strangely soothing and… familiar. All at once Clover felt himself calming down as the creature bent itself onto one knee and released a small burst of white light from its palm. The light quickly encompassed him and immediately the pain in his feet and the lingering fear in his heart was gone.
“There. Does that feel better?” she asked.
“Who are you?” Clover asked. “And what was that giant frog?”
“I’m Toriel, caretaker of the ruins. And that was a froggit. One of the monster’s who also lives here.” she explained.
“MONSTERS?!” Clover gasped in shock as he quickly backed away from the large goat lady. Monster’s were real? Then if that was the case then the story about Mt Ebott was true as well as the part where the monster’s wanted human-
“Please do not be alarmed.” Toriel said calmly. “I will ensure your safety while you are here. I promise-” Toriel’s eyes widened as Clover quickly aimed his toy gun at her. Just as he felt his brain being squeezed inside of his skull.
And all at once the world around changed. He was in a blindingly white room with five souls all trapped in jars. And… some large armored monster had killed him. But he was here and alive. Was he losing his mind or going insane?
“You’re going to take my soul!” Clover accused as he shook his head as the world around him was shifted back into the room with Toriel. “You’re just trying to trick me so you can kill me and use me to destroy all of humanity.” Sorrow filled Toriel’s eyes as well as… a look of pain that she had been hiding.
“That is what Asgore wants, yes.” Toriel said with clear disdain for the king. “If he finds you he’ll take your soul like he did with the other’s. I…” the goat lady looked down upon the child threatening her with regret.
“I knew there was an entrance to the Underground from the surface here. So I took residence here to try to protect anyone who had fallen down. But everytime…” the goat lady took a deep breath, composing herself.
“They come, they leave, they die.” she said as Clover lowered his pistol. Somehow she felt familiar and his heart told him Toriel was trustworthy. He didn’t need to be afraid or fight her. But even still, he had a mission. She had information about the other’s and he needed that.
‘So they are all dead.’ Clover’s hand clenched his toy with such strength that it threatened to break in two. His heart, his soul, no his entire being screamed at him to enact justice. Asgore had killed them and so his evil must be stopped. It was his mission, his responsibility to stop him.
“I’m sorry for almost shooting you.” Clover said, rubbing his head’s sore temples. “I don’t know what came over me.” Toriel gave the boy a reassuring smile.
“It is quite alright my child. You were clearly just afraid judging by how loudly you shouted earlier. I was worried I was too late to protect you. But I’m glad you're safe.” Clover stepped forward, closing the gap between the two as he held out his left hand.
“My name’s Clover.” he said as Toriel smiled and took his small hand into her large one. Her hand was surprisingly soft and warm yet she was clearly very physically strong. An effect of the magic in her soul maybe?
“Clover. That’s a wonderful name.” she said. “Come Clover, I’ll guide you through the Ruins.” together the large goat monster lady and the little cowboy left the dark room behind them. Journeying into the next room revealed an older looking but still lively area. Bright orange leaves littered the ground as they continued through the path and up a stairway. The pathway they followed reminded Clover of photos of old dirt roads he’d seen in his favorite western’s though obviously there weren’t any tumbleweeds or bright sun baking them in heat.
“Why is this place called Ruins?” Clover asked. “Are we the only one’s here?”
“Oh no. More than a few monster’s call this place home as I do.” Toriel explained. “As for why it’s called the ruins… well.” Toriel frowned.
“After human’s sealed monsterkind underground we made our way here and constructed a new home for ourselves. But after many years we began expanding and grew out of the Ruin’s and went to create more settlement’s elsewhere. The Ruin’s were abandoned overtime and many of its entrances fell into disrepair and became sealed away from the rest of the underground.” Clover nodded as he thought over her words. The underground sounded like a much bigger place than he was expecting. It was crazy to think an entire people made a civilization underneath a mountain. But that fact didn’t matter to his mission.
"Why didn’t you attack me like that froggit?” Clover asked “Not that I wanted a fight or anything. I… well thought um…” he tapped his fingers together as Torel gave him an understanding look.
“You don’t need to worry my child.” Toriel said. “The other’s before you had… a similar reaction to me. From what they told me human’s are taught that we simply desire their souls for power, correct?” Clover nodded.
“To shatter the barrier keeping us imprisoned we need seven human souls. Asgore declared war on humanity after…” she paused as she took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry, my child. That is… a story I don’t like retelling. But as for why I don’t help Asgore. It is because I don’t wish to inflict such suffering on anyone.” Toriel definitely was a kind person, err monster Clover acknowledged. But still he had a mission. Quickly running up to her side he handed her the missing children poster he had been carrying.
“I came down here to find them.” he explained as Toriel’s expression became one of sadness. “I want to let people know what happened and put their families minds at ease. Do you know where they are?” as he asked that it dawned on Clover that if Toriel was being honest in that she met all the children on that list, she would’ve been over two hundred years old at least.
“These… These are the children that have fallen down here.” Toriel took a deep breath as she gave Clover back the poster. “I…”
“Do you know where they are?” Clover asked again.
“.... Let’s… go to my home first.” she insisted as the two hurried along. “You’ll be safe there and I’ll explain while I make a pie for you.” The mere mention of free food caused Clover’s stomach to immediately rumble. Toriel chuckled as Clover embarrassingly thanked her for the offer.
“So you’ve met all the other children that fell?” he asked as Toriel nodded as Clover’s eyes widened. “Then you're over two hundred years old! Do… monster’s not get older?” In some circumstances the topic of old age would’ve earned a remark or the old “let's not talk about that” statement but with Clover being so young and genuinely curious, Toriel explained her “age situation”.
“Monster’s are born and grow old as human’s do.” she clarified. “But some monster’s such as myself are referred to as boss monsters. Our soul’s magic is stronger than most, and not only that, our souls allow us to live indefinitely unless…” she trailed off.
“Are you okay?” Clover asked as Toriel nodded.
“I’m fine.” she assured the boy. “I just need a moment.” They both continued on for a few moments in awkward silence before finally passing through a hallway and walking into a room with 6 strange stepping stones on the ground.
“The Underground is full of puzzles. Ancient fusion’s between diversions and doorkeys. They must be solved before proceeding from room to room.” Toriel explained. “Allow me to demonstrate.”
She proceeded to step on four of the six stones. Not stepping on the two stones in the middle and proceeding to pull a yellow switch that opened up the next room.
“So the puzzles are trial and error?” Clover asked.
“Yes. But you will sometimes get hints as to what the solution is.” she gestured to the writing inscribed on the wall next to her.
“Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, Foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road.” she said as Clover nodded in understanding.
“I think I understand now,” he told her, which caused her to smile. “I need to think things through before trying.”
“Yes. Now follow me. There are more puzzles ahead.” she said as they went into the next room.
“In this room there are several switches you need to flip.” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ve labeled the ones you need to flip.” As they both moved ahead Clover noticed a pair of small wooden bridges in the room with them along with water flowing underneath them.
‘Guess monster’s need water too. But where is the water coming from?’ Clover thought to himself as he approached the yellow labeled switch. It had three yellow arrows pointed directly at it with the inscription beside it telling him to flip the switch.
So he did and Toriel brought him to the next set of switches. One was clearly labeled while the other had no such markings around it. Clover flipped the labeled switch and… nothing happened? Confused, he looked towards Toriel who in turn looked just as confused as he did.
“... It should’ve opened the way by now. I’m sure I labeled the correct switch.” she thought to herself for a moment. “Try the other one.” Without any hesitation Clover walked over to the other switch beside him and flipped it. Upon which the ground beneath him began to break. Before either Torial or Clover could react the ground beneath the young cowboy gave way as he fell into the darkness beneath them.
“CLOVER!” Toriel shouted as she rushed over to the hole he fell though. For Clover plummeting into absolute darkness should’ve been alarming yet… he wasn’t scared in the slightest. It felt as though… he had done this before.
But as impossible as that was, the voice from earlier echoed through his mind once again.
‘Remember.’ the voice told him. ‘You need to remember.’ The voice sounded familiar. Clearly a girl and she sounded as though she was right next to him. Falling deeper and deeper into darkness Clover cried out for help as he hit something and his mind slipped into unconsciousness.