An Underswap AU: A Tale of Seven Book 1

Entry # 1: BRAVERY

"BRAVERY: The second Human child who fell into the Underground. Although charmingly courageous, he can be insufferably bullheaded at times."

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"I'm pretty sure I fell down a hole, so why is the ground so soft?"

That was the first thing that came into his mind when he woke up.

He remembered escaping into the woods covering Mount Ebott, a raging hurricane hanging overhead like an executioner's axe. With no moon nor stars to guide him, darkness blinded his vision. The violent downpour didn't help either. He frequently ran onto boulders and trees and a bunch of thorny bushes. Many times he slipped on the muddy earth, which might've resulted into a bruise or two.

Yet he paid no heed to the pain. Desperate times call for drastic measures. The moment the boy found an opening, he quickly dashed past armed men and into the forest, hurricane be damned.

After what seemed like hours of running, stumbling, bumping on random plants, the ground beneath his feet suddenly disappeared. . . and down below he went.

Not hearing their voices anymore is the only good thing that happened that night.

It took a while for his mind to register that he is probably tucked in a bed, a really soft and comfortable bed. Not to mention that his clothes didn't feel soaked at all. Someone must've swapped his ragged shirt and itchy pants for comfy sweater and jeans while he's unconscious.

Had a Good Samaritan found his body? Or is he dead and in heaven already? Is he in a hospital? A humble clinic? A kind stranger's house?

Wherever he is, at least this doesn't feel like one of those freezing prison cells he lived in for the past five years.

Out of curiosity, he opened his eyes; a decision he regretted three seconds later. A migraine pounded his head mercilessly, followed by a feverish blast of boiling hot and antarctic cold. Agony rippled through his limbs and abdomen, mummified by layers of meticulously wrapped bandages.

He shuddered and gripped the cottony blanket, knuckles white and shaking.

He felt pathetic and he must've looked pathetic.

A furry hand perched on his forehead, proceeding to stroke his tousled orange hair affectionately afterwards. "It will be alright soon, my child. Just a couple of week's rest and you will be as good as new."

Orange irises met sincere sapphire ones.

Oh God, the fever is driving him mad. A blonde haired goat in purple robes is taking care of him. Not that he is scary, in fact he gave off an endearing fatherly vibe. He looked very fluffy too. . . The boy decided to play along with his weird fever hallucination. Maybe his sanity will return once he recovers.

"W-Who. . . are you. . . ?" He winced at the raspy sound of his voice.

"My name is Asgore, young one." His smile did a poor job in hiding the concern plastered all over his face. "Normally, I would ask you for your name, but it seems that you are hardly coherent at this moment."

". . . Gerard. . ."

"Hmm?" Asgore frowned in confusion.

The boy looked at him straight in the eye and said. "M-My name. . . is Gerard."

"Brave Spear. That's a nice name." Was the last thing the human child heard before the pain knocked him out.

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Turns out, he isn't hallucinating. He was perfectly sensible when he saw the blonde haired goat. Under normal circumstances, he would've grabbed the nearest object he can use as a weapon (a stick or a rock or his fist or something) and point it at Asgore defensively like a cornered animal.

But the monster is nowhere near vicious or belligerent. In fact, Asgore is the kind of person Gerard wished he could have been raised by. Everything about him spoke wisdom and kindness. He is there in every step of his snail-paced recovery, patiently and gently helping him stand on his own two feet once more.

Asgore cared for him so much more than his own parents ever did despite being a total stranger, a total human stranger at that.

Gerard found himself wanting to stay. After all, he had nothing and no one to return to on the Surface.

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"Why did you lock yourself up in here?" Gerard asked one day, sitting on a sunlit bed of golden flowers as he watched Asgore trim a nearby bush. It had been four months since his unexpected arrival in the Ruins. His wounds don't hurt as much as they did before and he is fine walking all by himself now. Bandages still snaked around his body though.

The goat monster looked hesitant, however he did respond to the child's inquiry. "The Queen of Monsters, Toriel, had declared war against humanity, installing a policy to kill all humans who fell into the Underground." He admitted, snipping a wayward leaf protruding on top of the bush. "I don't want to abide such a cruel law, so I stayed here."

A moment of silence, short enough not to cause any discomfort but long enough for the boy to digest this new information.

"Isn't there anyone with the courage to speak otherwise?" Gerard questioned.

"Sadly, no one. That is why the monsters who disagree with the policy had decided to live in the Ruins, far away from the capital, like me." Asgore moved on to the next bush in line. "I don't want to dictate the path you should take, however I suggest that you should just stay in here, where Toriel will never find you."

The former king had anticipated words of defiance, considering the child's trait, so the reply he received from the orange haired human took him by surprise.

"Don't worry." Gerard flashed a devil-may-care grin. "I'm not planning on leaving anyway.