Fallen Hero (Rewritten)

The Underground

Every day is a new day.

His father lived by that saying. And it was a true enough statement - except it also wasn't. Asriel thinks this because, to him, every day feels the same. He wakes up in his room, eats his breakfast, goes on a walk, plays with flowers, kicks the leaves, and goes to bed. The only thing that changes is his drawings, which he thinks of as a journal.

Yesterday he drew a green leaf. All of the leaves in the Underground were red except for the ones on the vines. Up until yesterday, he'd never seen one of the green leaves on the ground. Asriel thought one of the leaves from a vine fell (despite them never having done so before) only to turn the corner and find Goldy Vegetoid. Goldy was missing half a leaf. Asriel put the leaf in a nearby pile for him to find and left. The Vegetoids were rather pushy people, and Asriel didn't wanna deal with another lecture about eating his greens. But hey, something new happened that day! And so he drew a green leaf.

And today, sitting at the table and eating breakfast with his mother and father, he thought about what new thing he would find today. Asriel Dreemur is a prince, with all that that entails. His father, Asgore Dreemur, isn't very pushy about his royal responsibilities just yet; he's only five, after all. But his mother, Toriel Dreemur, says that when he turns nine, he'll begin his studies and he'll practice what it means to be a prince. Asriel thinks that sounds boring, which is why he's glad to be five. When he is five, he can go on "adventures" around the kingdom, wandering the catacombs and checking on his subjects.

Once he was finished eating, he washed his dishes and put them away. "Mom, Dad! I'm going on a walk," Asriel told them. "Alright sweetie, don't forget your lunch money," his mother reminded. He checked his pocket and, "Yep, got it, Mom! Thanks!" he affirmed. As he made his way to the door, his father ruffled his head fuzz. "Be good now, son," he said. Asriel nodded and straightened his hair before opening the front door and walking out into the courtyard.

The walls were made of deep purple fluorite and illuminated by bits of amethyst here and there. The floor had been smoothed down and carved into paths when the monsters began settling down. Then people got creative and started carving the walls to look like purple bricks and transfigured the carved-out pieces into actual fluorite bricks and tiles to make houses with. "Recycle-reuse" and all that. But it worked out in the end, and now they have a pretty purple borough full of vines and red leaves that Asriel would wander through every day.

As he walked through the caverns, appreciating the handiwork put into the pillars of purple stone, he listened to the sound of leaves crunching as he walked on them - the crinkly sound tickling his eardrums. He kicked off the leaves that got stuck in his fur and went on his way. Spotting a cluster of amethysts hiding in a crack, he touched one and it glowed a little. Maybe someone would find them and make a lamp? He hoped so. This place needs more lights.

Continuing on his way, he spoke with one of the Whimsum kids about their day and was given a lovely veggie tart by Mrs. Vegetoid (how lucky). After visiting the spider bake sale (how long has this shop been "in sale"?) and buying a glass of cider, he ate his lunch next to a little mouse who was eating a plate of cheese. After going back to return the plate to Mrs. Vegetoid, he went back to his wandering. Nothing unusual happened from there.

He walked all the way down to the unlit caverns just below the barrier and was about to walk back when he heard a loud thud coming from the darkness. Curious, he walked through the stone arch and into the shadows. He peered further into the darkness, following the small rays of light shining through the cracks in the ceiling. He stepped into the sunspot and noticed a small arched outline further ahead. "I think it came from over here..." he muttered to himself as he ventured further into the depths.

He turned a corner and followed the cavernous hallway to a circle of stone pillars. In the center lay a child no bigger than himself. They had skin only a few shades brighter than an olive and fluffy hair whose color matched the deep fauna green of the vines that hung low from the ceiling above. When Asriel got closer, he came to a realization. "Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you...?" he said aloud. But the only way to have gotten that hurt from falling down is if they fell from a high place. Asriel looked up and then looked back down. They had to have fallen from above... from the surface... this was a human!