Undertale Fallen Determination: Book 2

Chapter 7: Reaching the Ruin's End

It didn't take more than half-a-minute before we met another monster.

A Loox, I thought. A short monster with a pair of horns, a single large eye, and a sharp-toothed mouth.

Frisk hid behind me. I couldn't blame her. This was one of the more intimidating types of monsters... though not by much.

Frisk, I signed, you reading me?

Yes, Frisk replied back.

I know he looks scary. But because of that, others pick on them, and they tend to become bullies in spite. Let's not let that happen to this one.

Frisk nodded.

Okay. Oh, and do you want to know something amusing. These monsters have the same last name. I leaned towards her. That name... I pointed to my eyes, and then held my hands flat and made shuffling motions, is if walking, while I whispered, "Eyewalker".

Frisk snickered, but the Looxs seemed to take offense to this. "Hey, please don't pick on me!" he pleaded angrily.

He sent out a bunch of clear orbs at us, with smaller ones trailing behind them. I held Frisk close, as I helped us swerve between the magic projectiles.

"Hey, hey, hey," I called out, "I don't want to pick on you."

Frisk nodded. Her hands were shaky, but she mentioned to sign, yeah, you're such... a nice monster. A really nice monster...!

I translated that for the Loox, without the pauses.

"...Really. Finally, someone gets it!" the monster replied.

I gave a nod to him, and motioned to let him pass us. As he left, I gave a sigh. Man, I miss the days when they thought I was a monster myself.

Frisk jumped up and down a few times (I guess to clear her head), then she ran over to a sign that was in the room. I followed her lead, examining the new room we had entered. It cornered off to the right, like an upsidedown L, and there were three pillars in the room. One of them had a colored switch on the side, and I got the feeling all of them did. The exit was open.

I looked over at the sign Frisk was reading. "The far door is not an exit. It simply marks a rotation in perspective."

Okay, so it was a hint to another puzzle. Looking ahead, I could the hallway leading the next room was slanted upwards.

"Okay..." I took a quick look around the room, checking behind the pillars to confirm that, yes, there were colored switches on the other pillars.

The two of us then moved onto the next room, and... it looked like the previous room. It continued on, off to the right, to what I would've imagined, at this point, to be a loop. And this time, the exit was closed, with more spikes.

I rounded the corner and found another sign. "If you can read this, press the blue switch."

"Hey, Frisk, can you find a blue switch?" I called to her, calmly, hoping not to scare her.

Frisk nodded, and ran back to the room's entrance, behind one of the pillars. I heard a click, and then the spikes went down.

"Good job!"

Frisk skipped, a huge smile on your face.

The next two rooms were pretty much the same thing as the last, sign telling us what switch to find, we hit it, and then move on. Nothing to hard. Eventually, we looped back to a room above the one we were in before. It seemed the main path lead off to the left, though the hallway also continued forward. And there were several vines on the floor.

I was going to head to the left, but at this point, I figured that Frisk was going to run off down the other path. As I expected, she began walking towards the other end of the hall. I just rolled my eyes and followed.

The hallway led us into a small side room with a doorway leading outside. Frisk didn't even wait for me, as she left through the doorway.

I followed her... and regretted it immediately.

We had walked out onto a balcony, overlooking the vast ruined city that was, well... the Ruins. And we were high up. ...Very high up.

Not good for someone who was afraid of heights!

I quickly backed up, trying to not think about the crazy fall before me. ...And it wasn't working. I was freaking out.

I didn't know how long it was, as my mind flashed with all nasty ways I could've died... when something pulled me away.

Looking down, I saw little Frisk looking back up at me.

"Frisk..."

You were just standing there, she signed back. You weren't listening to me! I got scared!

"Sorry..." I sighed, "Frisk, please, remember that I'm afraid of heights. And that balcony... You knew about that, right... From the previous timeline."

Frisk's gaze dropped.

"You forgot... it's okay. Just... if you see me like that again, just help me out, just like you did now. Alright."

Frisk looked back up, and nodded.

"So, why did we come over here, anyways?" I asked.

Frisk pulled away, looking away again.

"Frisk."

She gingerly took something out of her bag. It was a toy knife, a purple plastic blade with a black handle. A mere simple plastic toy... but to monsters, any weapon used with an intention to kill can be fatal.

"Frisk, why? We promised, no killing."

Frisk wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Come on, give me that." I took the fake weapon from her. "Please, I know you're scared, but no more weapons, okay..."

Frisk didn't move for a short while (probably her way of being silent), but soon, she looked up and signed, I'm sorry.

"Frisk..." I knelt down, and signed back, we can do better. I promised you, I'd make sure that you wouldn't have to hurt anyone. Not anymore.

Okay.

So no fighting. Leave that to me, and you just watch. Make sure you show them peace.

Frisk nodded.

Okay, now let's go. I got up, and grabbed Frisk's hand, while I put the knife in my pocket (so Frisk couldn't get it again), leading her back towards the main path.

Once we turned back on the path, we crossed some more red leaves. Frisk took a second to stomp on all of them, of course. Kid's gotta have her fun a guess. I just let her do that, give her the chance to relieve some of the tension from before.

Going through one more doorway, we found ourselves in front of a large tree, it's bark black, and without leaves (though it was surrounded by more red leaves). Before we could check it out further...

"Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would," a familiar voice behind the tree said. She walked out from behind the tree, and...

It was Toriel, who came around, and brought out her phone, is if to call us... before she actually saw us.

"So, we can explain..." I told her, nervously.

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Author's Note: I was happy to get this chapter up with new cover arts for both "books"). This is shorter than most chapters I write, but hey, I happy to be at the end of the Ruins. Just a two (maybe three) more chapters before we move on the next area, and man I am excited!