Deltatale

Chapter 3 - Ruins

Kris and Susie met Toriel in a long room. There were three more switches on the wall, two of them marked with yellow paint. At the end of the room were spikes, blocking any entry to the next area.

Toriel spoke, "These are one of the puzzles. I marked some of those switches, go ahead and flip them!" The lightners glanced at one another before walking over to the switches. Kris flipped one, and Susie, the other. The spikes retracted into the floor. Toriel smiled and continued, "Very good! We may keep going."

"These seem easy. Are there any harder puzzles, or...?" Susie asked as she walked beside Toriel and Kris to the next room. 

The goat-like monster shook her head, "Not really, other than one that's just a little further ahead. I'll stay with you two to help you through it. I've memorized the specific path over time. The floor is thinner in some places, so you'll fall right through if you don't take the right steps."

"So everything else is easy otherwise?" spoke Kris. Toriel nodded.

The following room merely had a dummy in the center of the room. It looked a little dusty and beat up, like a favorite pair of Converse.

Toriel walked in front of it and spoke, "This is a training dummy, it-" Susie abruptly slapped it across its 'face' and a little bit of stuffing fell out. The monster shot her a glare and Kris barely held back laughter. Toriel gave them the same look. "I would prefer if you had TALKED to it instead."

"... Talk to it???" Susie smirked.

"If you're too cowardly to do it, then I will," Kris power-walked over to the dummy. Susie and Toriel watched with anticipation. "...howdy." It didn't respond, leaving the room tense—no other noise than Susie laughing helplessly.

Toriel spoke, "Now, we can't keep going until you talk to it."

"W-what? Me?" Susie's laughter stopped.

Kris added, "Oh, how the turns have tabled..." Susie awkwardly sauntered to the dummy and hesitantly said, "...C-come here often?" Again, no reply came from the dummy.

"Good job," Toriel smiled again, and Kris looked at their friend smugly.

They continued, "You should've said what you said last time. What was it, 'you are now unbanned from free ham sandwich day'?"

"Should've bit your face off when I had the chance."

"You... what?" Toriel looked back, shocked.

Susie anxiously responded, "Nothing, just, um, an inside joke we have," Kris muttered something and laughed, but Susie couldn't be bothered to ask what they said. "Let's just keep going."

Toriel nods, "Right, I have leftover pie back at my home," The mention of pie caught the human's attention. "It might be a little cold, but I don't mind heating it up. You two aren't allergic to cinnamon or butterscotch, right?"

The teens shook their heads.

"Good, otherwise I'd make a new pie, hahah,"

The three of them walked down a few hallways, with nothing eventful for a bit. Susie fidgeted with her hair, looking around the area. Kris said, "Why aren't there many people here?"

"These are, well, the ruins," Toriel answered, "Everyone left for other places, but I stayed here for many reasons, one of them being to make sure any humans that fell weren't, um..."

She hesitated.

"Instantly killed, I suppose. Monsters aren't so fond of them around here. And they'd probably not be as fond of your monster friend just for associating with you."

"Oh." Kris looked ahead, a little shocked by the answer.

The next room was filled with a pool of water, other than a few spikes above the water.

"Hold my hand and follow my steps, ok?" Toriel said. The lightners nodded once again. Toriel took Susie's claws in her own, and Kris took the latter's. They all walked in a line across the spikes, which retracted into the floor wherever they stepped. After a few moments, they made it across. Everyone's hands fell to their sides again.

"So... why do monsters not like humans??" Susie inquired.

Toriel answered again, "The war, of course. ...I'm assuming you don't know much about it?" Susie and Kris both shook their heads. As they all walked through the rooms filled with various puzzles and whatnot, Toriel explained, "Several years ago, there was a war between monsters and humans. The latter side won, and, well, we were banished underground. There was a barrier blocking anyone from leaving. Not without a human soul. But it requires 7 to be broken."

She paused momentarily, sighing with annoyance before continuing, "Of course, the stubborn King, Asgore, thinks it's worth waiting countless years for humans to fall to take their souls. He could have absorbed one, gone to the surface, and got the rest of the souls to break the barrier. But I don't exactly like the idea of how violent he is, either."

She stopped walking as she arrived at the next room, "Follow my steps, again, this is that room I was talking about earlier."

As they walked through, there was a 'crunch' noise below their feet, like leaves. The three continued walking again, while Susie thought about the pie that Toriel mentioned earlier.

...

Toriel moved a rock to a button, and Susie and Kris moved the other two to help. Toriel smiled and nodded as a way of thanking them. "...By the way, I don't think I ever got your names. You are...?"

"Kris," the human spoke.

"n' I'm Susie."

Toriel questioned, "...hmm... Susie, you are a monster, right?" she nodded. "I didn't think there were any monsters on the surface."

Susie exclaimed, "What?? What do you mean??"

Kris gasped and ran over to a table with cheese in the next area.

"I- Kris, I don't think you should-" Toriel stuttered, "It's not exactly fresh."

The human attempted to pick up the cheese. The table came with it, stuck to the block of cheddar. They tried to shake it off, but it didn't budge. Susie snickered at the 'situation.' Kris just sighed dissapointedly and put the cheese back down.

Toriel giggled, "Let's keep going, there's just two or so puzzles left."

...

Kris gestured to a green switch on the floor, "Is this one right?" 

The goat monster nodded as she added, "Yes, this should be the last one." Kris pressed it, and the spikes blocking the door retracted into the ground. "It should be just around the corner..." And there it was, at the end of the area, was the door to supposedly Toriel's house. It was connected to the wall behind it. 

"Is this it?" Susie asked. 

Toriel nodded, again. She responded, "Come in, I'll give you two some pie." She walked into the house, with Susie and Kris in tow.

They felt its cozy and welcoming ambiance as soon as they set foot in the place- despite the long staircase descending into the inky shadow of the basement. A long hallway was to their right, and two other rooms were to their left.

"Sit down at the table, I'll go get the pie," Toriel said, wandering into the kitchen.

Kris and Susie pulled out seats at the table.

"So," Susie began, "You have noticed how much she looks like your mom, right??"

"Yeah." Kris thought for a moment, "I think I know why,"

"Why?"

"I'm pretty sure that-" 

Toriel interrupted by walking into the room holding two plates with cinnamon and butterscotch pie. 

Kris looked over to her, then back at Susie and said, "...I'll tell you later." Susie nodded. Toriel set the plates on the table before returning to the kitchen and coming back with her own slice of pie.

"So," Toriel began, "Welcome to your new home, Kris and Susie."