Chapter 1

She awoke to golden flowers in her face and the warm glow of evening sun. Her mind was fuzzy. It took her awhile to remember where she was or how she got there.

She sat up and pushed her untameable hair out of her face and looked around. She'd landed in a patch of buttercups at the bottom of a chasm. Looking up, she saw the entrance almost a hundred feet above. There was no way she could climb that; the walls were too smooth, and the vines that hung over the edge only came so low. Besides, her body was too sore to even attempt it.

Approaching footsteps turned her attention to the possibility that she could be in danger. The constant overdrive of her instinct of self-preservation made her a very paranoid individual. She scanned for any possible routes of escape, but she found none save for the tunnel that the footsteps were coming from. There were no possible weapons save for some pebbles and a few flowers-

She paused and smacked her hand against her thigh, hoping to feel something in her pocket. With a sigh of desperate relief, she quickly pulled out her jack knife and opened up the blade.

“He-Hello?!” she called, almost trembling in fear. “D-Don’t come near me! I got a knife!”

“Hello? Are you alright, young one?” came a reply. The voice was feminine and older. Whoever it belonged to spoke with a more ‘proper’ inflection, like those prissy rich people she’d seen. “I promise that I won’t hurt you.”

She thought on it for a moment. This old lady probably wouldn’t beat her, and she doubted she could put up much of a fight if the old lady did. “...Alright, old lady. Ya try anything, and I’ll cut ya throat.” She tried to keep that tremble of fear out of her voice, but she failed horribly.

The old lady walked out of the tunnel towards her, her hands raised defensively. As she came into the light, she could see something off about her. She was big as hell, for one thing, and just as furry. Floppy ears rested gently over her shoulders, and dainty little horns stuck out of the top of her head. Upon seeing the human’s look of shock, she stopped in her approach. “Young one, I mean you no harm…”

“What are ya…? A-Are ya one of those monsters? From the stories?”

“Yes… my name is Toriel. I live here in the Ruins…I can take you to my home to heal you...” Toriel knelt down and gently offered a large, fuzzy paw out to the human in front of her. “What is your name?”

“P… Piper… My name is Piper…” She glanced at the monster’s paw warily. “How far is yer home…?”

“Only a mile or so. I shall carry you if you are too weak to walk.”

Piper’s eyes narrowed a bit before she hesitantly took Toriel’s hand. “Fine. But don’t drop me.”

“Not in a million years,” the motherly monster chuckled. She gently scooped the human into her arms and started back into the tunnel. “Why on earth did you come down here, anyway? Humans your age rarely come up here.”

“...I was lookin’ for someone…” Piper murmured softly, her tone making it clear she didn’t want to continue such a conversation.