"Oof."

Oh shit. I turn around and walk towards the center of the room, hoping fervently-

I stop in my tracks.

No. Nonononono. Not again. I'd rather the stupid flower.....

Lying in a crumpled heap on the flowers is a kid. A human.

Aw crap.

They twitch. "Ow..."

I sigh, but I go kneel next to them.

"Oi. Hey."

Maybe they're dead? I think hopefully. No, then I would've seen their SOUL. A chill creeps down my spine. And Flowey would've, too....

"Hey, kid? Now would be a great time to wake up." I go to shake their shoulder but stop at the last moment. I snap my fingers next to their head instead. "Come on, come on." I hiss under my breath. "Please?"

They stir and I breathe a sigh of relief. I sit cross legged and wait for them to come to, knowing this takes time.

They roll over so that they are facing me. They rub their head but still have their eyes closed "Ow. What happened...why does my head hurt?"

Unlike monsters, I recognize that their voice is one of a guy's. A bit high pitched, but he's probably around 10 or 11, so that's to be expected. I'm not one to judge; I've been 11 years old for longer than I can remember.

He opens his eyes and sees me about three inches away from him. "What the-" He sits up on the bed of flowers.

" 'Sup." I say with a little wave.

Huh. Well, hello mirror. He looks just like me, with  medium length hair and a striped shirt. Granted, his is blue with pink stripes, and he doesn't have red eyes, and he has a far darker complexion than I do, but, you know what I mean. 

"Who are you...." He seems really out of it.

Well that won't last long.

"Heya," I say with a tired smile. "Me? I'm your new best friend."

"Wha-"

"What's your name?" I ask him.

"I'm Frisk." He says.

"Frisk, huh? That's a nice name." I tell him. I get up. "Well, Frisk. If I were you, I'd get up and start walking."

"Uh....Okay," He tries to get up, and stumble.  He looks around. "My stick...." He spots it next to him. "There you are." He uses the stick to support himself, since it's almost his height.

"Good." I say, "Are you ready?"

He nods, and I start to walk forward, with him following.

The kid doesn't seem to notice the flowers don't move when I step through them, or that I don't make a sound as I walk.

We walk out of the room and up a corridor-

"Shit." I stop in my tracks for the second time in five minutes.

Oh no. I was hoping that I'd have time to tell Frisk about the way things work down here before his first encounter....

I don't know what the hell the flower is, but it can't be a monster or a human. The things I've seen it do....And every time the world seemed to just....reset. I've lived- er, existed through thousands of resets. I don't know what else to call them. No one else seems to have any memory of them. Except me and Flowey.

And why does that first encounter have to be Flowey!? I stare at the golden flower in front of me with growing dread.

"Why'd you stop?" Frisk peers out from behind me.

Flowey looks at him weird, being unable to see me, but doesn't seem to question it. "Howdy!" He says brightly, "I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower! And I'm your new best friend!"

I look at Frisk and say, "Careful. Flowey's not what he seems."

Frisk doesn't pay attention.

"Hmmm. You're new to the UNDERGROUND, aren'tcha?

Frisk nods.

Uuuuuugh.

"Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work down here."

"Yeah Flowey. THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING!!" I say irritably even though i know he can't hear me.

"I guess little old me will have to do."

"Nononono, Frisk, run." I say, growing frantic now. 

He doesn't listen.

"Ready? Here we go!"

I faintly see a red heart appear on his chest. Determination. This is looking better and better. Maybe this one will be the last....Unless Flowey gets to him first.

I smile fakely, my face still creased with worry. "FRISK WE NEED TO GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!!" I yell  for emphasis.

And he still  ignores me. Ack!! THIS IS WHY I HATE HUMANS!!

"See that heart? That is your SOUL. the very culmination of your being!" Flowey says, as if giving a lecture.

"What heart...." Frisk asks, confused. For some reason none of the humans can ever see their SOULs.

"Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow stronger if you gain a lot of LV."

Oh no. Don't tell him about LOVE, Flowey. Please....

"What's LV stand for?"

I groan. "God damn it Flowey."

"Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don't you?"

"Sure." Frisk says. He looks curious.

"Don't worry, I'll share some with you! Down here, LOVE is shared through... little white 'friendliness pellets.'"

Frisk frowns as Flowey summons a bunch of bullets behind him. He looks over and seems to remember I'm there. Frisk steps a little closer to me. Smart kid.

"Are you ready?" Flowey asks.

"Are you ready?" I ask Frisk while leaning toward him to whisper in his ear. "Dodge them. Don't trust him." He looks at me with surprise mixed with a healthy dose of wariness.

Good. He's coming to his senses.

"Why should I trust you?" He whispers back. Now that he's recovered a bit from the fall, I get the impression of the strong and silent type. He's smart, too. Not sure about book smart, but definitely street smart, and that's what really counts here.

I smile. Good job, kid. "That's the spirit. I'll explain it to you later, but I promise I'm telling the truth."

He looks doubtful, and Flowey looks impatient. "Look," I say with a rush, eyeing Flowey, "All you really need to know right now, is that I'm human- or was- and I'm on your side." I look into his eyes. "I'm here to help you and I promise you an explanation after this."

"So the flower isn't human, but what are-" I silence him.

"Just dodge the bullets, idiot." I say firmly.

"Bullets?"

Flowey interrupts, "move around! Get as many as you can!"

He lets out a volley of bullets.

"Woah!" Frisk yells as he dodges them all.

Flowey looks exasperated. "Hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try again, okay?"

Frisk tries to dodge again, but one clips his arm.

"OW," he yelps and falls to his knees.

"Shit-" We both say at the same time. He holds his arm close to him, like a bird with a broken wing.  Blood flows out of the wound. Flowey looks freaking evil, now.

I kneel next to him. "Get up Frisk." I urge him. "It's not your time to die."

I take a nervous look at his HP.

HP is at 1/20.

Well shoot.

"Die?" His eyes widen, "What the hell did I get myself into?"

"One helluva ride." I say, "Get up, Frisk."

He complies. I stand close to him, glowering at Flowey. I know he can't see me, but Frisk can. As long as Frisk sees I'm not scared, then  he won't be. This is how it works.

"Y o u   i d i o t ." Flowey snarls, a very unpleasant sound coming from what's basically a buttercup. "I n   t h i s   w o r l d,   i t' s   k i l l   o r   B E   k i l l e d."

He laughs. "W h y   w o u l d   a n y o n e   p a s s   u p   a n   o p p o r t u n i t y   l i k e   t h i s!?"

"Chin up, soldier." I tell Frisk as Flowey growls, "Die."

A ring of bullets surrounds us. He's still standing tall as the ring gets closer to us. He moves a little closer to me.

"Careful there, kid." I murmer, but don't move away, "I'm not real."

He reaches for my hand as the bullets almost hit. He looks down in surprise when he feels his hand close on nothing. "What-"

"Shut up and look." I say, and the bullets hit, but Frisk takes no damage. Instead he's healed.

What? How...?

Frisk and Flowey seem to be thinking the same thing. "How- Oh shit!" Frisk ducks as a fireball hits Flowey point-blank.

Could it be...? My hopes rise.

YES!

Toriel walks to stand in front of Frisk. He unconsciously steps back and at me with alarm.

"It's okay, that's Toriel. She's a friendly." I say to him with a huge grin of relief on my face.

Thanks, Mom.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth...Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am TORIEL, caretaker of the RUINS. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs."

"This way." She walks off.

Frisk turns to me. "So she's okay?"

"Yep." I say, "come on." I trail after her.

He follows me.

Before we walk up the stairs to enter the ruins, Frisk pauses next to a pile of leaves, where a bright yellow thing is floating there. I don't quite notice, not really caring at the moment. He looks at the ruins.

"*The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination."

I say this without thinking, so it takes me a couple seconds to figure out why Frisk is staring at me so strangely. "Okay," he says with an air of acceptance.

We follow Toriel. "Oh ." She turns around. "I almost forgot. What is your name, my child?"

"Oh, shoot. I forgot to tell you; my name's Chara." I say to Frisk.

"Chara?" He echoes.

"Oh, your name is Chara?" There's a shadow of pain behind Toriel's smile that I'm not sure that Frisk caught, "That's a nice name."

Frisk doesn't correct her. I look at him funny, only to find him looking at me with the same expression.

"Does Toriel know you or something?" he asks.

Huh. He picks up a lot more than one would think.

Toriel looks at him, "What did you say?"

"Uh," he looks startled,"I wasn't talking to you, I was-" He stops at my look.

I start to scold him. "don't talk so loudly when you talk to me. People'll start thinking you're crazy." I look down at the floor. "and yeah, I guess she did."

Frisk stops in his tracks. "Wait-." He tries to poke me, but phases through my arm.

"Oi!" I glare at him. "That is extremely rude, y'know."

"What are you?" He asks, looking shocked.

"No clue." I say nonchalantly, "But I'm pretty sure I'm dead, so I guess I'm a ghost."

"What?!"

"Yeah. And you are the only one who can see or hear me."

"So, what, am I just gonna have a ghost following me around for the rest of my life?"

I shrug. "No idea."

"So what if-"

I interrupt him. "Look, kid. You're stuck with me, whether you like it or not. I'm not leaving you here alone. You....you're the seventh. And I won't let them take you, too." I shrug, "Just think of me as a guardian angel of sorts." I shoot him a grin. "Or more like your imaginary friend. I've been called that before."

"The seventh what?!" Frisk says, frustrated.

Toriel looks at him weird again. "Is there something wrong, my child?"

"Shhhhh." I say again.

"Okay, look. I promised you an explanation, and you'll get one. But please, let's just focus on getting you through the ruins, yeah?" I say. "I'll help you along the way."

He gets a stubborn look on his face, and looks like he's going to argue with me, but then a Froggit hops close.

*Froggit attacks you!

The Froggit jumps towards Frisk. Understandably, Frisk freaks out.

"What do I do?!" He yelps, shrinking away from it.

"Okay, Frisk. You're in the land of the monsters now-"

"Monsters!?"

His panicked eyes meet my calm ones. "Frisk, not all monsters are bad."

I look away. "In fact most of them are better than humans. Flowey...is different. I'm not sure if he's a monster at all. The stuff he's done..." I trail off, unable to voice the horrors my eyes have seen.

"So, what do I do?" Frisk asks.

"You *ACT." I say simply.

"Alright....can you give me some suggestions?"

*Check           *Compliment
*Threaten

I list of a bunch of random things off the top of my head.

"Um.....okay. What does *Check  do?"

"*FROGGIT -  ATK  4    DEF  5."
"*Life is difficult for this enemy."

I state these fact like I'm reciting something from memory, because I am.

He cocks his head to the side,"Why is life hard....?"

Toriel comes into view, glaring at the Froggit. They slink away.

"Oh....Okay." Frisk says.

"Let's keep going." I jerk my head in Toriel's direction.

***

I wake up to footsteps.

"what?" I say groggily, propping myself on my elbow. I take my earbuds out.

"Toriel wants us to go home- she says it's starting to  snow again." Sans says, "And she says to not let you sleep the day away, or else you wont fall asleep tonight."

"Okay." I say,  trying to shake myself from my dream.

***

*** 'Sup. I was up at an ungodly hour on a Sunday to finish up some AP Bio homework, so i figured i might as well publish a chapter while I'm at it.This is a pretty long chapter, and I'm not sure if I'll do ones like this and longer that much, I guess we'll see. Fair warning- My spelling gets worse when I'm tired, so if you see a mistake, go ahead and comment on it and i'll try and correct it. On a slightly less tired note, do any of you guys like editing, or need an editor? 'cause i'm pretty damn good at that. If you do, go ahead and let me know. ***