No Input - Prologue: Title Screen

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Darkness. It's quiet, and still, and they can't move. They lay upon something cold and hard, and that is all they know for a long time.

Then, movement. Light, but they cannot see it. Sounds, but they go unheard. They can sense a presence, something comforting and familiar. The world changes.

Darkness, again. Soft, but utterly muffling. It surrounds them, chokes them, starts to break them apart. But it doesn't hurt.

Nothing does.

Silence reigns again, for a long time. They lose track of time, awareness drifting in the void. They feel small tugs, from time to time. Impressions of colors, fading in and out.

A tiny feeling of cyan, quiet and wary.

Orange that explodes, there and gone in an instant.

A dark blue that lingers for a short while before fading into the distance.

The sensation of purple stays for much longer, searching around. But this, too, eventually finds an end.

A soft feeling of green, something that washes over and through them in a way that is familiar and not; something that should come with white and horns and quiet laughter.

Yellow, and this pulls the strongest yet. Almost, the feeling of light and blood and breath so very close, but their grasp comes away empty.

In the distance, there is a scream. And they almost, almost forget.

Then, red. It resonates, surges through their being, and something else flickers with it. Distant, but then close...but though they reach, they can't touch it. It's there but not, and the flickers from beyond keep them from their rest.

It goes on forever.

~

Their legs burn, and their throat is dry. Gasping for breath, the child chokes back on a sob. Vision blurs with tears, and they clutch a stick as if it's the last lifeline they have.

Perhaps it is.

They had heard the story, in whispers between two of the older children in the overcrowded house. They had woken from a nightmare, curled up and strangling a cry in their throat, but no one noticed. The two boys were too entranced in the story of the haunted mountain, the high chain fences that claimed to hold back only animals but surely concealed something far more disastrous.

The child remembered that story the next morning, when a boy pulled their hair and called them ugly.

The child thought of the others who had vanished when a teacher turned a blind eye to the jeering taunts hurled at them on the playground.

The child wondered if that was where they belonged, when their dinner was knocked to the floor and they were forced to go to bed hungry.

Freak. Idiot. Disgusting.

The child decided.

The hole in the fence was ridiculously easy to find. Many others had gone up the mountain for different reasons, and their safe returns never spoken of. But the child didn't know this. All they knew was that they were alone, and cold, and so very tired. Tired of walking, tired of crying...

Tired of living.

Sniffling and wiping their eyes, they continue on. They don't know what they are looking for. Maybe a beast to devour them, or some strange spirit that will swallow them whole and erase their entire being from existence.

What they find instead is a cave. And in that cave, a hole. It is deep, and dark, and a rock thrown down hits no bottom that they can hear.

Is this it?

The child turns and looks back out to the entrance of the cave. They can see the glow of the city lights in the distance, buildings and cars and people, so many people...and none of them noticed the child slipping away. Who would? They mean nothing. They are nothing.

Smiling, they step backwards.

~

Red, again.

It's even closer this time. Strong, but fragile, ready to shatter to pieces at a moment's notice. It's bright, bright, brighter than anything that has ever been before. Everything within them thrums in tune with the flickering heart, and as pieces fracture away their own self surges forward to fill the gaps.

Light. Life. It's powerful, blinding. A barrier is falling away, but they barely notice; echos of yellow curl around hidden shades of green: you will live, you have to live, there is no other option, you are not meant to die--

A star forms, radiant, and together they grasp it.

~

What happens when something without a soul...gains the will to live?

~

They open their eyes.

Their head aches, and something deep inside feels overfull. They can't quite place it, but it makes their head buzz and every movement feel different. Above them is the fading light of the evening, but between is something else, something that shifts and fades and makes everything beyond seem impossibly distant.

Are they dead?

The child sits up, and looks around. The patch of yellow flowers around them rustle for a moment before going still, and the air reverberates with the feeling of something powerful. The air still eddies and flows from its passing, and they stand slowly to look around. The stone walls are rough, carved by time and nature rather than the hand of mankind, but columns of a dark purple stone circle the patch of faintly moist dirt.

There is a path ahead.

The child walks along it slowly, looking around in mingled fear and curiosity. Just what is this place? Through an archway, there is darkness...but light, as well. An in that small circle of light, a flower.

It smiles.

"Howdy!" It's (his?) smile widens. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

The child takes a step back, shocked. That...it spoke?! It's moving! How?!

The little flower gives them a measuring look. "Hmm...you're new to the Underground, aren't'cha?"

Something stirs. The child is not sure what.

"Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!" The flower sighs and shakes his...face? Head? This is very confusing. "I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

A tug, a pull, and that overfull feeling rattles within the child's mind. A warmth in their chest flows to the surface, and in front of them...a small, floating red...

"You see that heart? That is your SOUL! The very culmination of your being."

They're in shock. Souls are in movies all the time, rising from fallen heroes and villains alike. They have even seen it, in a graveyard that they passed by on the way to and from school three homes ago. Blue and purple and orange, all sorts of colors...but never red.

Why is it outside of them? How?

The flower is saying something, but they can't hear. The child sees white ovals (bullets) hovering in the air, and suddenly they're launched right at them--

Pain. They tear through the child, piercing shoulder and side and limb with horrible precision, and the horrid little plant laughs.

"You idiot. In this world, it's kill or BE killed. Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this?!"

More of the bullets--a ring, a dome surrounding them. No escape.

"DIE."

The child panics, whirls around as the net closes tighter and tighter. There's nowhere to go. They can't...!

"H...HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE!!"

But nobody--

The bullets are gone. The child's wounds have vanished.

The flower stares in confused shock, then shrieks and disappears into the ground as a ball of fire scorches the grass he has just moments ago been poking out of.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth!"

The words are not directed at the child, but the voice is kind. (Queen.) The child lifts their head, and freezes. A beast (monster) approaches, it's face long and body furred, clothed in what looks like some form of robes.

It smiles, and they shrink away.

"Ah, do not be afraid my child. I am Toriel," (Mother.) "caretaker of the Ruins. I pass though this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down." Her smile becomes wistful, and the child feels a trust and love that is not their own. "You are the first human to come down here in a long time. Come, I will guide you through the catacombs."

Something that is not them pulls their soul back into their body, and Toriel gestures for the child to follow before turning to leave through the far door. But the child does not move, not yet. There are too many thoughts in their head, things that are not theirs but they somehow know as if they always had. It's confusing and scary and they can't think and who are you?!

The child and the feeling freeze. It's long enough to realize where each ends, at least a little.

Who are you?

I am Chara.

Why are you here?

I don't know. I should be dead.

Am...I dead?

NO! No, you're not!

Okay! Okay.

...

...

You should follow her.

I'm scared.

You shouldn't be.

But I am!

That's dumb. What's your name?

The child freezes, and they don't know how to respond. There is a name that is theirs, but they don't belong to it. It's an old name, and though it is the one their mama gave them it doesn't fit anymore. It's not right, but no one likes the new one they chose.

Tell me.

Madison.

No, the other one.

You'll laugh.

I can't laugh. I'm a ghost.

...

Come on.

...Frisk.

...

...

I like it.

...you do?

Yeah.

Frisk smiles, and their arms wrap around their middle. Chara's presence pushes by the slightest amount, giving them a little mental nudge.

Follow Toriel. You can trust her, promise.

...okay. If you're sure.

Of course I am! I know everything about the Underground.

Really?

I said I do, didn't I?! I'll keep you from being tricked again like with that weird flower. Promise.