I wake up to the sound of rapid knocking at my door as I take my time to stretch, I could hear muffled excitement behind the door and figured that it's most likely Asriel that had waken me. I open the door still feeling groggy as any normal person should be and gave Asriel my best smile I can give in the morning.
"Hey Asriel, what are doing up so early?" I yawned.
"What are you spitting about?" His enthusiasm was cut. "It's nine o'clock and you missed breakfast."
"Oh, dang it." I could smell the faint air of pancakes that were no longer present. "I guess I better stick to cereal today."
"Hang on, I got something for you." He pauses.
Asriel takes his hand from behind his back and handed me a new looking leather notebook. He hands it to me as I felt the subtle bumps from the leather, flipping through the pages quickly, and getting a whiff of fresh pages.
"I got it for my birthday but I never found a use for it so I think it's best if you would have it." He averted my gaze and fiddled with his hat and feeling embarrassed.
"Thank you Asriel! How very nice of you to give me this journal." I bent down and gave him a hug as he giggled and hugged me back.
"Now you can write down all the slang talk, so you won't have to crab what I'm saying."
I was at loss of words, "—Crabs?"
Asriel didn't hesitate to explain, "That means 'figure out',"
He did the curtesy of repeating his last sentence with the meaning, making much more sense than it did the first time.
I examine the notebook, there was a small thin pocket inside the spine of the notebook that had a perfectly unused fountain pen, I take it out and write down my first slang definition and one other Asriel taught me:
-Crabs: Figure out
-Spitting: talking
"Can you tell me the slang terms that I missed from yesterday?"
I completely forgot about breakfast, now intrigued with this entirely new way of speaking.
"Sure thing (y/n)!"
I kept my pen ready as I began writing down every single term that came out of Asriel's mouth.
I can't remember the last time I actually learned so many new words that weren't obscene and sexual. There are probably slang terms for obscene words but there's a fat chance that a boy like Asriel would know any. He probably picked up his slang from passing monsters in the city—that is if he's ever left this place, but with a high strung mom like Toriel, it's highly unlikely that he ever goes into town at all.
"Where did you learn all these slang terms? Do you pick them up from other monsters that are in Snowdin?"
"—(y/n)?"
It took me a little too long to respond once I realized that Asriel was trying to get my attention.
"Yes, what is it?" I was feeling fatigue from missing breakfast.
He shuffled through his pocket and pulled out a familiar object that resembled a lot like my phone.
"What is this?" He points.
I couldn't help myself to hold back my smile remembering that I was stuck in time period about a hundred years back. I can't imagine what is going through Asriel's mind from the sight of my phone.
"This is a—phone." I hesitated.
He looked at me then back at the strange rectangular device in his fuzzy hands.
"Quit pulling my leg, this thing? Phonus balonus!"
"What?"
Asriel knew I was confused by the last word he just said.
"Phonus balonus means nonsense; like this," he points. "This can't be a phone! It's too small and...and flat!"
"Ah, but you see, it is a phone,"
I take it from his hands and pressed the power button, his reaction was priceless. I didn't have any signal so proving that it actually was a phone was out of the question, but I did show him a few game apps I had. His mind was completely boggled by the fact that my phone not only could call people and play games, but could also send messages, be a flashlight, a calculator—it later dawned on me that I hardly use my phone to actually call people.
"...so your phone has this library that's not really a library but it knows everything like a library?"
"I wouldn't say that is knows everything, it's kind of hard to explain. We don't really call it a library on the surface, we call it The Internet and it has these things called websites which are kind of like books."
"This is the bee's knees! Can you show me this internet dingus...That means "Thing" just so you know."
I appreciated Asriel explaining his vocabulary without me having to ask but I sighed knowing that I wouldn't be able to show him anything about the internet since I still had no signal.
"Sorry Asriel, I won't be able to show you how the internet works. I don't have a signal."
"What do you mean by "signal"?"
"You know how your phones have an operator that directs you to who your calling, it's similar to that."
Asriel wasn't as disappointed that I can't show him how my phone calls but he was still intrigued by the fact that my phone does so much more than call. I told him more about the surface and how mostly everyone has a phone just like I do, I wish I could show him what the surface is like. I suddenly had an idea.
"Hey Asriel, let me show you something,"
He handed my phone back as I scrolled through pictures I've taken over the years. I tried to find the best pictures of my friends and family to show him but I mostly tried to find the best scenery pictures of the surface to show Asriel.
"Here you go," I gave him my phone back and his eyes brightened.
"What is this!? These pictures are colorful, is that a city?"
"They're pictures that I have taken when I was still up on the surface, some of them are pictures of my friends and family."
He swiped the screen to look at more, his eyes lighting up every time he looked at a different picture.
"Can I take a picture?" Asriel is bursting with excitement at this point.
"Yes, hold still for me."
Asriel heard the sound of the camera taking his picture, it was like seeing a kid on Christmas day opening up their presents. He snatched up the phone to see his picture and couldn't believe what he was looking at.
"This is amazing! I never thought I'd see a picture of myself in color before!"
I showed him how to zoom in on pictures so he could see more details of his white fur. I later on showed him how my phone also takes videos or how Asriel calls them "moving pictures", turns out that's what everyone calls them down here. I laughed when Asriel complained about how his voice sounded weird on the "moving picture", I told him that's also what everyone else thinks about their voice on the surface when they hear it on video.
"Hey (y/n), what's this little symbol here?"
I look and see that he's pointing at the battery power and my eyes widened in realization that my phone doesn't have much left. I almost forgot the fact that all phones these days need to be charged, otherwise they'll shut down and be a useless flat piece of junk.
"(Y/n)?" Asriel pried for and answer.
I sighed knowing that I have to break the news to Asriel that the fun is going to end real soon.
"That's the battery power, my phone can only last for a certain amount of time without being plugged in, kind of like how your phones have to be constantly connected to electricity except for mine."
"Can't you just "plug it in" like you said?"
Asriel was slightly confused by my explanation but understood enough that my phone was going to stop working at some point.
"I can't just plug it in, I need a special cord that I currently don't have with me right now."
Asriel sighed and understood that he wouldn't be able to play with my phone anymore and tried to hold back his tears but failed to as he began to sniffle.
"Don't cry Asriel, just remember that you had a great time with me."
"It's not just that," He sobs. "Your world looks so much fun and safer compared to ours, it's too dangerous with all these gangsters and mafia groups around!"
I hug Asriel close to me.
"Don't worry Asriel, I'll find a way to get us all out of here so you can see what the surface is like."
"You promise?"
"I promise." I smiled.
Asriel hugged me closer to him and not long after, he fell asleep in my arms still clutching my phone with his fuzzy mitts as its battery died completely. I carried him to his bedroom and tucked him into his bed. I carefully closed his door and walked down the hallway and headed to the kitchen where I found Toriel cleaning dishes.
"Hello (y/n), it sounded like you and Asriel were having lots of fun."
"Yeah he was really excited to know lots about the surface and how different it is compared to here."
"Yes, you make it sound so wonderful, I hope one day all monsters can be free from this cursed mountain—but the sad truth is, is that most of us want to stay."
"What do you mean? Why would most monsters want to stay down here?"
"Well, they all used to have some kind of hope but a particular incident changed that. Some scientists tried making a machine of some sort that used the power of a human soul to break us out here, but unfortunately, the machine failed and destroyed the last human soul we had left. I tried talking to the one scientist that survived the whole the explosion and asked him to try to find another way to free us all but he was little 'touched' in the head. He's at the looney bin now."
"I'm guessing that's when everyone started to give up on leaving and that's when the gangs started coming around?"
Toriel was wiping tears at this point.
"Yes that's when everything got out of control, My husband was getting caught up in the whole money and power thing at the time and that's when I left him. He has his own mafia group called Infernum, it's the biggest mafia group in Hotland and one of the most dangerous ones in the Underground."
I remembered Asriel crying about how dangerous the Underground can be sometimes but now looking back on it, I think he misses his dad and the fact that his dad has done some horrible stuff is breaking poor Asriel's heart even more.
Toriel takes out a handkerchief and wipes some tears away before speaking, "When you where playing with Asriel, I realized the complication of me letting you work at my bakery; if anyone found out that another human has fallen into the Underground, they will not only come after you..."
I knew what Toriel was implying.
"If I let you stay, you will putting me and Asriel in danger. As much as it pains me to say this," Her tears began to flow. "I cannot let you stay with me for the sake of my child's safety."
Toriel hardly choked out the words and broke down, I hug her and tell her that it's not her fault and that she's doing the right thing. I didn't like the idea of leaving such a safe place, but I couldn't bare idea of Asriel being put in danger because of me.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to throw you out onto the streets without a single piece of gold to your name. I've rearranged a place for you to stay at a flat in Snowdin, the address is—"
"Hey! Why are you making (y/n) hit the road? She's only been here for a day!"
Toriel and I spun around and saw Asriel wide awake, clenching his fists and giving Toriel quite the pouty face.
"Sweety listen, there are some things that I can't explain to you at such a young age such as why (y/n) can't stay with us."
Asriel wasn't convinced one bit.
"If you can't tell me why (y/n) can't stay, than at least let us play in the ruins before she has to go."
Toriel let out that weary sigh again and shook her head in disapproval of her son's behavior.
"No Asriel. (Y/n) needs to rest a bit before she leaves and I can't just send her out at the time when the city starts getting dangerous."
Asriel started pulling the pity act and it was working a little too well for my comfort, but Toriel gave in.
"It's okay Toriel, I might as well—"
"I'll talk to you in a hour about the details of where you'll be staying, go have fun with Asriel before I change my mind."
Asriel burst with excitement as he dragged me out to the ruins.
"Thanks ma, you're the best!"
And with that I was hurried away by Asriel as words started shooting out his mouth at a thousand miles an hour of what he wanted to do with our last day.
We didn't walk far until Asriel stopped talking and his excitement had died down which was starting to worry me since he was the one that had the idea of coming out into the ruins in the first place. The silence came to a sudden halt and gave me chills by how serious a kid can get.
"I know why ma is making you leave. I heard the whole thing about how valuable human souls are and how you would be putting me in danger if you stayed with us."
I knelt down to Asriel's height and tired to explain the best I could.
"I'm sorry I can't stay with you Asriel, I think it's best if I don't stay. Who knows what those gangsters and mobsters would do; they might kidnap you or something around the lines of that just so they can have my soul."
"Yeah but, what's so bee's knees about your soul or any human soul? Humans can't even do magic like us monsters!"
Asriel shows a demonstration of his magic and makes a small flame in each hand.
"See here? You can't do this with your hands, the only "magical" thing a human can do is remove their soul out of their body and so far every kid I've met that's fallen here didn't even know they could do that!"
I felt embarrassed by Asriel's last statement about humans not even knowing they have the ability to remove their own soul from their body. Because I also had no idea I could do that. The first time I ever saw my soul was when Toriel used her own magic to show me my soul.
I stayed quiet as I looked away from Asriel who was know getting the picture.
"Wait—don't tell me you didn't know that you could remove your soul!?"
I never felt so much shame from a kid until now.
"Can you show me?" I say with uneasiness.
"Sure, that's duck soup."
"...Duck...?"
"That means 'easy'."
I took a mental note to write down the new slang term while Asriel began explaining how to remove my soul from my body.
"Removing your soul can be a bit tricky on the first try, just put both of your hands on the center of your chest and imagine you're picking up something off of it."
I closed my eyes and concentrated as hard as I could as I tried to imagine lifting something off of my chest.
"Once you're positive that you've "grabbed" something, slowly pull your hands away from your chest."
I was clenching my eyes tight, still trying to hold something that wasn't there. I was getting frustrated as I continuously failed and heaved out a sigh of annoyance. Asriel noticed me struggling.
"I never got it the first try too, it took me almost a week to—"
Asriel interrupted himself with a gasp as I slowly open my eyes only to see that my soul was floating in my hands.
"You're the cat's pajamas! You got it on the first day!"
I was too absorbed by the feeling of accomplishing something that most humans have never done before to hear Asriel's compliment .
"Now I have to teach you how to put it back, this part's simple, all you have to do is push it back into your ches—"
I immediately felt a stinging pain in my soul that traveled through my entire body that caused me to yell out.
"(Y/n) look out! There's a Froggit fighting you!"
I stand up and turn to see a strange over-sized frog creature shooting what look like bullets in the shape of flies.
"Dodge! You got to dodge them (y/n)!"
The bullets were too fast, I barely missed the second but the third one was a charm in the most unfortunate way. I scream as I felt the bullet tear through my right leg as I fall to my knees, gripping my wound that started gushing blood. My heart was throbbing and so was my soul, I look over at Asriel who was on the verge of tears.
"Run! Go get help!" I wince.
My cry for help was enough to get Asriel running faster than he's ever ran in his life, he was almost out of sight as I turn and look back at the now grinning Froggit. It lets out a croak that sounds so much like a laugh. My body's shaking had seized and so did my fear that was now replaced with something more powerful. It was rage, no. Bloodlust.
I bolt up right and charged towards the Froggit, forgetting the fact that I had been shot in the leg. I felt my hands wrap around the Froggit's neck as it's eyes widen by my quick pace. I grit my teeth as I squeeze harder, the Froggit's now widened eyes now dimming and rolling to the back of it's head. Seconds later a profound snap is heard and the Froggit goes limp in my hands, I let go of it's mangled corpse and watch it fall into a pile of blood and dust. My breathing was heavy but slow as I let out a sigh of satisfaction.
I pick up a pile of the Froggit's dust and watch it slip through my fingers carefully as I heard a single word in a clear, hateful voice,
Weak.