The Choice (Undertale Fanfiction: Edited Version)

Chapter 3

I took my hand off of the "save star" and my soul disappeared from in front of me as well. I climbed the stairs and followed Toriel into the next room.

Compared to the last one, this room was tiny. It was also empty, apart from six buttons on the floor arranged in a checkered pattern and a small gold switch on the wall.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent one!" Toriel said, smiling.

She looked so pleased, I didn't want to spoil it by telling her that all I wanted to do was get back to the surface as soon as possible. Instead, I just smiled and nodded.

"Allow me to educate you in the operation of the ruins,"

I watched as Toriel walked on top of 4 of the outside buttons in the shape of a box. The buttons were pressed down as she walked and as soon as she was done, a door on the other side of the room opened.

"The ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys."

Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys? What's that supposed to mean?

"One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them."

Toriel smiled at me, expectantly. It took a few minutes before I realized she was serious. I awkwardly stared at the puzzle. Once I felt I had gotten used to it enough, I looked back at Toriel. She smiled again and walked through the next door. I followed close behind.

Together, the two of us continued our journey through the ruins. It was a slow process, especially because Toriel kept trying to make me solve puzzles on my own, ("You will need to know this in the future,") but stopping me halfway through and giving a very detailed description of how the puzzle was supposed to be done. A couple times, one or two monsters would bump into me, accidentally starting a "battle". This is what Toriel called it when my soul appeared in front of me and I was forced into conflict with the monster. I managed to talk my way out of these conflicts without any major injuries. This too Toriel had explained.

"A monster cannot always contain their magical abilities when near a human. Oftentimes, what you perceive as "attacks" are merely just a monster's instinct. They may appear when a monster is feeling a particular emotion, such as fear or anger. However, they also might appear if the monster has intent on hurting you. Make sure to be careful!"

I wasn't worried, though. All of the monsters in the ruins had been easy to talk out of conflict. Toriel had called this action "sparing".

Eventually, after a really long time, Toriel stopped. We had just entered a really long hallway with nothing in it apart from a small white pillar near the opposite end. Toriel took a deep breath and faced me.

"You have done excellently thus far, my child." She said, "However... I have a difficult request to ask of you."

I stepped forward a little, wondering what she was going to make me do. So far it had been a little bit stifling with her solving any and every problem I had come across. I was ready to prove I could do things on my own.

"I want you to walk to the other end of the room by yourself."

Oh.

"Forgive me for this." Toriel said before running to the other end of the room. She moved surprisingly fast, and there was no way I could keep up.

I sighed as I walked through the room. I needed to get back to the surface. Going though this was getting me nowhere!

At least now I had time to think. I noticed that as time went on, my headache had gotten less and less. Now, I almost couldn't feel it anymore. That was the bright side of things. On the other side, I was feeling incredibly nervous. Toriel was a kind and caring monster, but almost too kind and caring. I was starting to worry that if she got too attached to me, she might not let me return to the surface.

Finally, I got to the other side of the hall. Toriel walked out from behind the white pillar.

"Fear not, my child. I never left you. I was behind that pillar the whole time."

Of course you were, I thought dully.

"However, there was an important reason for this exercise. To test your independence. I must attend to some business and you must wait for a while. Please stay here. It's dangerous to explore on your own."

I nodded to her, knowing that there was no chance I was just going to stay put.

"I have an idea! I will give you a cell phone." She handed me the phone. They have cell service here? I examined it for a moment before slipping it into my pocket. "If you have need for anything, just call! Be good, alright?"

I nodded again, and with that, she left.

As soon as Toriel was out of sight, I began to walk onwards. I knew that it wasn't very trustworthy of me to do that, but I was too curious to wait. Most of the ruins were just the same. I went along without too much of a problem, sparing monsters, solving puzzles, I even had enough time to buy a spider donut after fighting a ghost called Napstablook. Overall, I was pretty proud of myself for making it through without needing help.

Finally, I managed to get to Toriel's house. Before I could approach it, she came rushing out nervously.

"Oh dear. That took longer than I thought it would." She pulled a phone out of her pocket and dialed. A ringing sound came from my pocket, startling us both.

"My child! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

I had a few cuts and scratches, but overall I was fine. I shook my head.

"I should not have left you for so long. It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this... Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, small one!"
She rushed off toward the house. I grinned and hurried after her.