#i'm so sorry this took so long to update i am mentally ill lol

[petrichor-reminiscence]

Milk And Honey Drip From My Lips

Chapter 3: hOi!!!! :3 :D !!

Pairing: underswap!Papyrus x reader

Warnings: cursing, blood and pain, evil floof in a shirt

Word Count: 5.12k

There was darkness. Only Darkness. A darkness that felt all-seeing and all-encompassing. A darkness that was different from sleep, and not death; not quite. It was the dark of a mind, the dark of a soul in search of something.

It might not be what the soul yearned for, but you certainly found some sort of something.

Long ago, two races ruled over Earth:

These words emerged out of the darkness, stark white in contrast to the void surrounding you entirely. You weren't there physically, but you were somehow still there, mentally present and able to see all before you. The image of the planet you lived on, Earth, came into your vision.

HUMANS...

The image of a human with short brown hair that covered their eyes came into view. They held a spear, and their garments were worn with age and dirt. There wasn't much else to say about them; they just appeared to be an average human warrior of the past.

... and MONSTERS.

Beside the human appeared what was apparently a monster. They were covered in fluffy white fur, and looked to be some sort of hybrid between a... goat and a rabbit? Who's to say, anyways; you didn't know the species of monsters out there. Their ears were large and draped next to their face, and they had small horns on the top of their head. They wore a lot of purple, and there was some sort of royal crest on their tunic.

One day, war broke out between the two races.

The images shifted. Fire, war, violence, bloodshed. Everything was dark, everyone was screaming, humans and monsters alike were falling at the hands of the other. Swords, spears, magic, weapons; each side was fighting tooth and nail to reign supreme over the other.

Amongst the chaos, a particular monster caught your eye. She was large and covered in fur; a white and fluffy monster like before, but quite a bit bigger. She had long floppy ear-like things as well, matted with blood and dirt. She wore beautiful golden armor with that crest you had noticed before, along with a long purple cape tucked under some shiny pauldrons, and she carried a massive red trident with her. Her eyes matched her trident, glowing with a passion, and fire danced around her large fluffy feet. The crown atop her head made it clear that she must have been a queen; the queen of the monsters to be specific.

After a long battle, the humans were victorious.

Many monsters lay dead on the mountainside. There were human bodies too, but it was clear where the stronger power lay. You could see the pain in the queen's scarlet eyes... they had failed. Her and her people were beaten by the vicious humans.

They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.

Within the mountainside, there was a large opening above a cliff edge. The monsters all trudged slowly into this opening, led by the queen, sadly going down into the underground where they would likely live out the rest of their lives. There were human mages, seven of them, that came behind the monsters to seal the underground behind them. The gaping entrance was covered by a massive barrier of white light, which was soon disguised with shadows and vegetation.

The monsters were gone. The humans rejoiced.

Many years later...

The images of the barrier faded away, and you were soon face-to-face with your sibling, Chara. Their brown bob framed their smile perfectly, as always, and their red eyes glimmered as they smiled. They were wearing their favourite outfit; brown khaki shorts, black shoes, and their green sweater with the yellow stripe.

And, appearing beside Chara, was none other than yourself. Your h/c hair whipped around in an unseen breeze, and your e/c eyes looked kind of dull like usual. You were wearing one of your favourite outfits as well, the f/c complimenting your style and personality. You and Chara were holding hands.

MT. Ebott

20XX

You and Chara got off the bus at the bottom of the mountain, and began your hike. Everything seemed to pass by in a blur; your hike, exploring the cave, falling into the pit. You watched yourself and your sibling fall through the darkness.

Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.

– –

A gasp was ripped from your throat once you woke, and your eyes snapped open. Your breathing was ragged and raspy, heart-rate skyrocketing with panic. You saw the small pinprick of light above you, which must've been the hole you and Chara fell into.

I'm alive. Holy shit I'm alive.

With your newfound consciousness also came a very large amount of pain. Your entire body ached, and you felt the dull throb of blood flowing through your nearly-numb limbs. Your chest was hurting from not only the fall, of course, but from your heavy breathing. You attempted to take deeper and slower breaths, slowing down your heart and easing yourself into calmness. Well, as much calmness as you could achieve. You did just fall from an insane height, after all.

Speaking of the fall...

CHARA!

You quickly whipped your head to the side, and saw your sibling laying on the ground beside you. With newfound determination, you tucked your elbows up beneath you, and slowly began pushing yourself into a sitting position. Your muscles strained, but now that you weren't breathing as hard and panicking so much, the ache wasn't as strong. Now sitting, you felt an odd lump beneath one of your asscheeks, but you paid that no mind - Chara was more important. You looked down upon their unconscious body with worry but noticed their chest was rising and falling, and you sighed in relief. Good, they're breathing.

Now sitting up and looking down where you used to lay, you noticed that you and your sibling had fallen atop a little patch of vibrant yellow flowers. They were quite large, and you couldn't exactly decipher what kind of flower it was. After all, it's not like studying flowers was a time-consuming hobby of yours. But now, part of you kind of wished it was.

How could flowers save you from a fall from such a height?

You stretched as you pondered the thought, straightening your back and reaching your arms above your head. You winced upon extending the appendages, your muscles aching in protest, but you knew it was good for you; either this or not be able to move your body at all here soon once the pain fully set in. As you did this, your mind went back to that lump beneath your ass. It felt... crumbly, almost. Crunchy? Oh well, you'd be able to describe it better when you found out the cause.

You lifted one side of your butt in order to reach beneath you, but felt nothing. That's strange... OH SHIT! It suddenly hit you just what had been in your pocket this entire time. You reached into your back pocket, and pulled out the sad squashed rectangle that you called your phone. The glass had completely shattered, and it looked more like a lumpy chunk of rock than anything else.

"Fuuuck," you groaned, dropping the destroyed device beside you and placing your head in your hands. Before you could complain any further, though, you heard some shuffling and slight whining from beside you. Your eyes widened as you quickly whipped your head to the side, watching Chara as they began to move.

"Nnhgh, wha... wha happen?" they asked groggily with a hoarse voice, reaching up to rub their eyes before opening them.

"Chara! I'm so glad you're okay!" you exclaimed, and they hissed, scrunching their eyes closed as they lazily waved one of their arms at you.

"Shhhhushhh," they whined, "'s too louddddd." You couldn't help the grin that found its way to your face as you shook your head with a light chuckle.

"Sorry, kiddo, I'm just glad to see you're alive," you said, this time much softer than before, and they absentmindedly nodded along before suddenly stopping. They reopened their eyes, shooting up into a sitting position with an expression of shock.

"Alive?! We could've died?!" they gasped, seemingly forgetting all about their problem with volume literal seconds before this. You nodded.

"Yeah, do you not remember?" you questioned, tilting your head to the side curiously as you looked at your sibling in concern. Then, your gaze went up, and you pointed high above to the tiny pinprick of light in this cavern's ceiling. "We fell down a hole in that cave we went into, dude; fell all the way down here." Chara's crimson eyes followed yours, and they widened even more upon noticing how far away that opening was. They then looked back at you.

"We survived a fall from that high?!" they asked, and you chuckled in disbelief while putting your head back in your hands.

"Trust me, Chara, I find it hard to believe too," you replied, rubbing your temples. Sure you survived the fall here, but where the hell was here anyways? Where were you?

"Do you think this is where they ended up?" Chara asked, voice going from shock to excitement. You cocked a brow.

"Uh... where who ended up?" you questioned, looking at them in confusion. You were met with eyes glistening and full of wonder.

"The monsters, duh!" they responded eagerly, getting up to their feet while they said this. Monsters?

Visions flashed in your mind of a dark void-like space, images of war and bloodshed, of the mountain, of monsters... but it was gone just as quick as it came. You felt a sharp pain in your head, wincing with a slight hiss. "M-Monsters?" you repeated, slowly rising to your feet as well. Your legs hurt, but not too bad, so at least you could walk. That was good.

"Well, duh, don't you remember the stories?" Chara asked.

"Oh, those stories," you said, finally remembering the tales around the town of a fight between humans and monsters long ago; a tale about the 'brave' humans pushing back those 'evil and vile' monsters, sealing them beneath the mountain to remain beneath the earth for an eternity. You had always felt that it was quite unfair, that the humans in these stories were assholes for doing that, but your opinion of how it went was neither here nor there.

"Yeah, the stories! Do you think that we'll find the monsters?"

You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose. "Look, kiddo, as hopeful as I'd like to be, they're just stories." Chara frowned, crossing their arms with a huff.

"Don't be such a buzzkill," they complained. "Come on, where's your sense of adventure?"

"Hmm, let's see," you began, turning around and starting to walk in the only direction that wasn't just a cavern wall of dirt and stone. "Probably at the bottom of some hole in the fucking mountain." Chara giggled as they jogged to catch up with you before slowing to a stroll once they were at your side.

"Okay, hah hah," they said, nudging your ribs with their elbow. You ignored the sting of pain that came with it in favour of slapping their arm away while the two of you shared a laugh. You couldn't help but admire their optimism that burned brighter than any fire you'd ever seen. They could make light of even the darkest of situations, and you truly loved that about them.

The two of you continued to walk out of the large circular cavernous area, hand-in-hand, and found yourselves in a stone passage. Walking through the darkness, the only sound to be heard was your footsteps echoing in this odd underground corridor. It was far too quiet, eerily so, and you didn't like that in the slightest.

The passage came to an end at another larger cavernous area full of dirt and grass, and there was more light pouring in at its entrance. However, in this clearing was something that unnerved you. Sitting in the most well-lit patch of grass was some sort of figure that you could barely make out in the distance. Chara sighed in relief upon seeing light again, and was about to make a break for it, but you quickly grabbed their wrist to stop them.

"There's something up ahead," you muttered before they could protest, and they just looked at you in confusion before looking up ahead for themselves. It took them a moment, but eventually they saw it too, and froze. You squeezed their hand tighter in reassurance.

"What do you think it is?" they asked quietly, and your head was spinning with thoughts - most of them full of worry.

"I... I don't know," you replied honestly, taking a step forward and straining your vision in attempts to see it better. From its shape and shadowy outline, it didn't look like any sort of creature you'd find out here in the wilderness. Or maybe...

Your heart dropped, and you quickly pushed Chara behind you. They looked at you, panicked, and you placed a finger to your lips signaling for them to be quiet. "Listen, I think that might be a bear cub," you explained, gesturing to the creature with a jab of your thumb. "Which means there's probably a big 'ol mom nearby ready to absolutely wreck our shit." They nodded, showing they were listening, and you continued. "So, here's the plan: we're just gonna walk, as casually as we can manage, and go right past it. If it follows, just keep walking, it'll get bored eventually, and as long as we're not messing with it the mom should hopefully be oh so kind enough to let us keep our heads. Yeah?"

Chara swallowed nervously, but nodded, showing their understanding. You took a deep breath, squeezing their hand tight once more, and began to walk forward out of the stone passage. The closer you got to the entrance of the larger area, you began to realize... whatever the fuck it could be, that thing was not a bear.

"I don't think that's..." Chara said, trailing off, and practically reading your thoughts. You nodded, breath shaky and heart racing as you held them close. "Well, what do you think it is?" they asked, "Now that we know it's not a bear, at least." Your stomach dropped as you realized the most likely answer.

But... it couldn't be... could it?

The two of you got closer and closer, until you were right at the threshold of the large grassy cavernous area. The creature was a lot closer now, and luckily it seemed to have its attention elsewhere as it didn't notice the two of you. It had white fur, ears like a cat - looked a lot like a large cat, too - and weird round lumps on the side of their head like where a ram's curly horns would be. And, strangest of all, it... it was wearing a blue t-shirt with a yellow stripe across the middle.

"Holy shit," you whispered beneath your breath, eyes widening. Monsters... the monsters sealed beneath the mountain. You got more images flashing through your mind of the mountain, the monsters, the barrier, the cave; the very same cave you two had entered.

"What?" Chara asked in concern, "what's going on?" What're they talking about? Didn't they see it? You looked over, your e/c eyes meeting their red ones, and realized that they had actually been focusing on you the entire time. You swallowed thickly, taking a deep shaky breath before being able to answer.

"Well, Chara, I think... I think we just found one of your monsters." You gestured towards the creature in the middle of the clearing, and they gasped excitedly, but quickly covered their mouth with their hands as their eyes grew wide. They were too loud, and they knew it.

Suddenly, upon hearing the gasp, the creature turned its head in your direction. You locked eyes with it, its beady black little eyes staring straight through you. You shivered, and Chara slowly crept behind you. The creature smiled widely - and quite cutely - and let out an excited gasp of its own. It began bouncing up and down in excitement, almost...vibrating, it seemed?

"Aww, it's kinda cute," Chara remarked, and despite your worry, you couldn't help but agree.

"HOI!" the creature shouted loudly, startling you and Chara so much that the both of you yelped as you staggered backwards.

"Holy shit it talks, holy shit oh my god," you said, and Chara smiled excitedly.

"It talks!" they repeated, and dashed out from behind you before you could even register what was going on.

"Wha- hey! Chara!" you exclaimed, giving chase and following them to the center of the clearing where they stood before the fluffy white creature.

"Hoi!" it repeated, this time a little less loud since it didn't need to shout all the way across the clearing for you to hear it. It waved a cute little fluffy paw, and your heart melted just a little.

"Hello!" Chara responded happily, giving a small wave of their own as they sat down criss-cross in the grass before the fuzzy creature.

"Hoi! Oi'm Temmie! Temmie the Tem!" the creature - Temmie - responded. Temmie? What the fuck?

You cleared your throat awkwardly as you sat down beside Chara on your knees, giving Temmie a little wave too. "Well, uh, hey there Temmie," you replied, very shocked and also very confused.

"Hi Temmie! I'm Chara," Chara responded happily, clearly very eager to be conversing with this... fluffy... uh... you weren't sure what to think of it as; calling it a 'thing' felt far too rude, but you weren't quite sure if it was one of those monsters from the stories either.

"Chara! New fwiend Chara!" Temmie replied eagerly, and Chara giggled happily. You couldn't help the smile that found its way to your face. Temmie was quite cute, that was for sure, and who knows? Maybe you could trust it- or, them. Yeah, them, that felt a bit less rude to you.

Then, knocking you out of your thoughts, Chara gave you a nudge with their elbow. You realized that they and Temmie were looking at you expectantly, and you chuckled awkwardly. "O-Oh, uh, I'm Y/n," you responded sheepishly, not so proud that you embarrassed yourself by spacing out in front of this... floof. A floof in a shirt. God, you still couldn't get over that.

"Chara! Y/n! New fwiends! Awa!!" Temmie exclaimed happily, vibrating. This time, you were close enough to confirm, they were indeed vibrating. What the fuck. Suddenly, they stopped, and tilted their head while their smile changed slightly. It was eerie, almost. "Yu two awn't fwom here, are yu?" they asked sweetly, and you and Chara both exchanged looks of concern.

"U-Uh... no, no we're not," you answered for the both of you after a moment of hesitation, scooting a little closer to Chara as your body tensed.You weren't so sure if this 'Temmie' could be trusted yet.

"Well den, since Temmie is such gud fwiend, she will help yu!" Oh, SHE, got it, got it, you thought, but how on earth is she going to be able to help us? Give us directions? A ladder tall enough to climb out of that hole?

"How?" Chara asked, once again voicing your thoughts aloud. Temmie's smile widened, but it didn't seem as friendly as last time. This one felt just a bit more... sinister. Your stomach began twisting and turning as your mind raced, but she spoke up, taking you out of your thoughts.

"Yu must be SO confwused! Uwa! Temmie will help!"

Well, yeah, anyone would be confuUUUUSED WHAT THE-?!

Suddenly, your chest felt tight, your body felt numb, and quite cold - it almost felt as if you'd been submerged into an ice-bath. You could only assume the cause of that was the glowing thing wrenched from your abdomen that was now floating directly in front of you.

What. The fuck.

You stared at it in shock, eyes wide, watching the glowing pulsating heart-shaped s/c thing in front of you with an awe you had never quite felt before. It seemed as if everything around you was significantly darker, the glowing light of this heart being all-encompassing and consuming all of your attention. The beautiful s/c light emitting from this floating thing scared you, almost; you felt as if anything were to touch it, your entire being would shatter. You couldn't think of why, but you knew you felt incredibly connected to this glowing heart.

You looked over at Chara to see the same shock and awe on their face as well. Before them, a red heart floated above the ground and in front of their chest. You looked back to yours, and Temmie continued.

"Dis is yu SOUL, da vewy culmination of yu bein'!" she explained.

My... soul?

The s/c glow reflected off your eyes as you gazed at this floating heart in a trance-like state. This is my soul... As weird and fucked-up as these past few minutes have been, you couldn't help but believe Temmie. Her words, they just felt... right. This was your soul, and you knew that now. It just made sense to you. It explained why your body felt cold, and why you felt so strangely attached to it. Despite the chill in your bones you could feel the warmth radiating from the s/c soul before you. You reached out to touch it, tempted to see what would happen, how it would react, but were startled away from doing so when Temmie began to speak again.

"Yu SOUL stawts off weak, BUT can gro STWONG if yu get lots and lots of da L.V.!"

Your hand dropped to your side. "L.V?" you muttered to yourself, confused. What was this, some video game?

"Now, what does L.V. stand for? LOVE, of couwse! LOVE!"

Love?

"Yu both want lots and lots of LOVE, yahyah?!" As Temmie said this, your soul began to shake and tremble. The idea of something bad happening made your heart start racing, and you tried as hard as you could to mentally will your soul back into your body - if that was how this even worked. However, you noticed some sort of resistance; a blockage, if you will. Something was keeping your soul there, and it was almost certain this force was Temmie.

You and Chara exchanged concerned glances again. What the fuck was going on?! What on earth did she mean by 'love'?! What the hell was she planning to do?! "Well, don worries! Uwa! Temmie share wif yu!" With that, she winked, and a small white flash twinkled by her winking eye, almost like a star in those anime scenes.

Crossing your vision before you were white blocky letters, letters that spelled out 'LV: 1'. Your eyes widened as you yelped in shock, scrambling back a bit from the fright; your floating s/c soul followed you, remaining only a few inches from your chest. What the fuck was happening?! First your soul is a glowing heart that can leave your fucking body, and now you're gaining L.V. like some weird video game! What the fuck?!

You felt a tap on your shoulder, and looked over to see Chara staring at you with fearful and confused eyes, searching for answers. You simply shook your head, stumped and just as shocked with the situation as they were. Then, you noticed their red soul beginning to move. Following your eyes, they stared at it, and the both of you watched as it merged with Chara's body once more. Then, you looked to your s/c soul, and saw it creeping closer and closer to you. You felt its warmth approaching, and nearly sighed with relief and enjoyment when it re-entered your body. You felt the warmth spreading through your veins, the strength returning to your limbs, the will to live surging back through your bones like a tidal wave - it was damn near euphoric.

The soul, instead of disappearing entirely, left a vibrant s/c glow in its heart shape on your chest, the light seeping through your clothes and illuminating the area around you. Certainly not as much as it had when it was outside of your body, but still enough to make a noticeable difference. Why didn't it disappear completely like how it was before Temmie pulled it out? Confused, you continued staring down at your chest, until Chara shook your arm, startling you from your thoughts and turning your focus back onto Temmie.

"Down here, LOVE is spwead thru widdle white... "Fwiendliness Pewwets"~" Her voice turned sinister at the end of her sentence, and a chill shot through your spine. No, no, this was wrong, something's going on and it's not going to be a good thing. Suddenly, right before your eyes, floating white pellets appeared out of nowhere, dancing in front of you and Chara. Chara cocked a brow, very confused, and you just stared at the pellets, untrusting.

"Go ahead! Touch em! Gwab as many as yu can!! Uwa!" Temmie encouraged, smiling wide and happy, as if she hadn't just sounded like a literal demon moments prior. Chara looked at the pellets with scrutinizing eyes, studying them for a moment, before reaching out to touch one.

"Wait, Chara don't-!"

"OW!" Chara yelled in pain, a loud zap echoing throughout the cavern as the 'friendliness pellet' disappeared. They immediately recoiled in shock, holding their sore hand to their chest, looking at Temmie with wide fearful eyes.

"Chara!" You exclaimed, pushing yourself closer to them and grabbing their hand, pulling it towards yourself to inspect any damage. Their fingertips were red and warm, and it looked as if they were scraped against concrete or some other rough surface.

You turned to look at Temmie, expression full of anger and disgust, and your brows furrowed when you noticed her chuckling. She just hurt your sibling, and she was laughing? Your mouth was agape, and just as you were about to ask her what kind of sick joke this was, she beats you to the punch.

"Yu IDIOTS!" Her voice held that strange demonic chill like before, lower and more gravelly, and her grin turned maniacal. She was vibrating again, as if her little evil body was bursting at the seams with excitement at the thought of bringing you two pain. "In this world, it's KILL or BE KILLED!"

Well, so much for 'cutesy stranger floof wearing a shirt'. Now that Temmie showed her true colors, it was apparent her intentions were more 'cutesy villain wanting to kill you' coded - still wearing the shirt, though.

Your eyes narrowed as you stared Temmie down with an icy glare that was fit to kill. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" you asked, pulling Chara into your protective embrace. "We didn't even do anything! "Why-!"

"Why not?!" Temmie screeched through her crazed laughter, interrupting you. "Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?!" Her evil laughs continued, and you squeezed Chara tight, looking down at them with concern. We need to get out of here, was all you could think, and once your body had finally caught up with your mind, you stood and tugged your sibling to their feet. You kept a firm grip on one of their hands, and turned to run, ignoring Temmie's loud devilish cackles as you did so. You heard the sounds of those pellets appearing again, this time many many more, surrounding the area in a large circle, and that's when you decided you were out of there.

But, you couldn't even make it more than twenty feet or so before you ran face-first into some sort of barrier you couldn't see - luckily you were the one in front instead of Chara. You felt a horrible stinging pain, heard a crunch, and suddenly something warm and wet was trickling down past your lips. "Y/n!" Chara exclaimed as you recoiled back, shouting over Temmie's laughter that was steadily increasing in volume.

You cupped your bleeding and broken nose with one hand while the other still held Chara's, your head spinning as you struggled to grapple for focus on something - anything - other than the pain and fear. You released one of Chara's hands, and lifted your head, blinking hard in attempts to push away your now blurry vision. You reached forward, towards where you had been so abruptly stopped, and your hand was stopped by the same unseen barrier. It created a small ripple effect around where your palm made contact.

However, before you had more time to think about what the fuck this barrier was and who made it and why it was keeping you there, you had to think fast. The pellets began closing in, and you backed away with Chara, watching them pass through the barrier that kept you in like it was nothing. You turned to face Temmie, angry, watching with rage and hatred while she laughed and laughed and laughed.

"DIE!"

Chara yelped, burying their face into your - still glowing - chest, shaking with fear. Your heart was racing, along with your thoughts. Was this really where you were going to die? Not from the fall, but at the hands- er, at the paws of some twisted and fucked-up creature? You closed your eyes, tucking your head atop of Chara's and holding them as tight as you could, blood dripping onto the top of their head and soaking into their brown hair; seeing as death was imminent, however, they didn't really seem to mind. The pellets spun closer and closer, until you could hear the hum and feel the heat coming off of them, when suddenly...

Temmie gasped, and the pellets disappeared. You peeked an eye open, seeing her eyes wide with fear, looking off to the side somewhere. Suddenly, a ball of fire came flying from the distance, hitting her and sending her flying.

"WAHHHH!"

With a sharp intake of breath, you scampered back, still clinging to Chara and breathing like you just ran several miles. The heat that came off of the fireball was intense, painful almost, but luckily neither of you had gotten burned. The two of you shared looks of relief, grateful to still be alive with each other, before fully realizing and taking in what you had just seen.

That was a fucking fireball that you had just witnessed, a fireball that came out of nowhere.

Well, actually...

The heavy footsteps that graced your ears indicated that 'nowhere' wasn't quite the case.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth..."