Rain's Writing Archive

awakened

Originally posted to Ao3 on 12/8/2024. Last updated on 12/8/2024.

A/N: this is a rewrite of Brought Back, a fic i started writing when i was 14 and quickly lost interest in. this fic starts off with the same premise, but will diverge over time

Chapter 1

Your head hurts.

That's the first thought that comes to your mind when you regain consciousness.

The rest of your body hurts, too. There are scratches on your legs where your shorts don't cover, and your sweater didn't spare your arms from scratches, either. Your palms are scraped raw from when you tried to grab a vine to catch yourself.

Under your fingers, you feel you're laying on something soft. It must have broken your fall.

It's probably the only reason you aren't dead right now.

You crack your eyes open, squinting against the light high above you. A cavern stretches out farther than you can see, the glare from the light only obstructing your vision further.

You breathe in deeply, wincing when your ribs ache with the motion.

You can't lay here forever.

Pushing yourself into a sitting position is harder than it should be. Your muscles protest every movement, and your whole body is wracked with a bone-deep ache.

Once you're sitting, it's easier to get a look at your surroundings. You're in a cave, the only light source being from the hole you'd fallen through several dozen meters up. The walls of the cave are obscured by darkness, the light not quite reaching that far. The soft thing you landed on turns out to be a bed of golden flowers, not dissimilar to the ones you'd passed on the way up the mountain.

Shakily, you push yourself to your feet. Your legs nearly give out under you, but you manage to stay standing.

As you take your first step toward the extravagant doorway on the far side of the cave, only just visible in the limited light, there's a noise behind you, coming from the flower bed.

You turn to see what it is, and you see the flowers get pushed up slightly, like there's something burrowing beneath them.

You walk back over to get a better look, despite your aching limbs. You wonder if it's a gopher or a mole, and you disturbed it by landing in the flowers.

But when it breaks the surface, it isn't an a gopher, or a mole, or any other animal.

It's a hand.

You'd seen enough zombie movies to know that wasn't a good sign.

The hand scrambles for purchase, digging already dirty nails into the dirt.

Your mind screams for you to run, but your body fails to comply. You trip over your own feet when you try to turn around, and you end up lying prone on the stone ground.

Another hand emerges, similarly clawing at the dirt. Both arms strain for a moment, and more of the flower bed is pushed up from beneath. The head and body of a child, only slightly younger than you, emerge. They cough up mouthfuls of dirt and gasp and wheeze like they haven't taken a breath in years.

You're shaking. This is the part where the zombie eats your brains, right? You didn't want to die here, meeting such a gruesome end!

The zombie-child finishes hacking up their lungs, and they turn to you. All of your joints lock up in fear as their deep red eyes meet yours.

You are so dead.

"Would it have killed you to help me out?" The zombie-child asks. Were zombies supposed to be able to talk? You can't remember; all coherent thoughts had fled your mind the moment they opened their mouth. "Digging your way out of your grave isn't easy, y'know."

You open your mouth as if to say something, but snap it shut before you make a sound.

The zombie-child lifts themself out of their grave with their hands, pulling their legs out of where they'd been buried. The flower bed caves in on the hole they leave behind.

They rise to their feet, and you finally get a good look at them. Might as well take in what will probably be the death of you.

The zombie-child wears a sweater and shorts much like your own, though caked in so much dirt it obscures the colors. They also wear leggings and ankle boots similarly covered in dirt. The only part of their outfit that goes unobscured is a golden, heart-shaped locket dangling from their neck. They're shorter than you, you think. It's hard to tell from your position on the floor. Their hair, also caked in dirt—and were those worms—was a tangled mess of a chin-length bob, and their bangs hung just above their upper eyelids.

They raise an eyebrow at you.

"Are you going to get up, or what?"

You swallow down the lump growing in your throat and stumble to your feet. If the zombie-child is giving you a chance to fight back before they eat your brains, well, you're gonna take it. You snatch up a stick from the groud before you rise to your full height.

You are taller than them, you note.

They nod at you, but instead of rushing to attack, they calmly walk past you and toward the doorway you'd been heading for earlier.

You're… not so sure they're like the zombies you've seen in movies anymore.

You must've made a noise, because the child looks back at you with a raised eyebrow.

"You can follow me, you know. I know my way around here, unlike you, so you can either follow or you can fend for yourself." They turn and continue their trek through the cavern. "Your choice."

You choose to follow them.

The doorway opens up to another dimly lit cavern, and a single golden flower sits in the center of the cave.

You halt in your tracks when the flower turns to reveal a face.

The child also stops, staring at the flower impassively.

"Howdy!" says the flower, "I'm Flowey! Flowey… the flower…"

The flower—Flowey, apparently—locks eyes with the child. His eyes widen in… shock? Fear? Whatever it is, it seems he can't tear his gaze away.

"What?" the child demands.

Flowey doesn't look away, but he disappears underground in an instant, and a tension you didn't realize was there lifts off your shoulders.

The child shakes their head. "Whatever. Let's go, human."

Your mouth seems to open of its own volition, and you tell the child your name.

"So you can talk," the child turns to look at you with raised brows. "In that case; greetings, I am Chara."

Chara turns back around and continues on to another doorway across the cavern. The walls beyond are purple and well lit. You follow them, a little more closely than before.

When you cross the threshold, your eyes take in the new, bright surroundings. Two staircases curve upwards toward a doorway at the top of the room, withered red leaves are scattered across the floor, and in the nook between the staircases a light glimmers, seemingly produced from nothing.

You stop to stare at it, and Chara does too.

On instinct you approach the light, reach out, and…

The aches and pains you'd previously put out of your mind wash away like they were never there. A feeling of safety, or perhaps determination, fills your very soul.

You pull your hand away from the light. Chara looks at you like you've grown an extra head.

"I'm not sure I even want to know what you just did," they say with a sigh. They take the first few steps up the stairs. "Come on, or I'll leave you behind."

You take the steps two at a time to catch up.

The room at the top of the stairs holds a puzzle, but Chara solves it without even reading the hint on the wall. You guess they do know the way, not that you didn't believe them before. The next room has switches on the wall, two of them labeled. Chara flicks the labeled ones and the spikes blocking the door disengage.

You continue to follow them through the next few rooms. You come across a bridge covered in spikes, and you hesitate. Chara must hear your footsteps stop, because they turn to look at you.

"I know the route," they assure, "Step where I step and you'll be fine."

Your hesitation must show on your face, because Chara groans, takes your wrist in their hand, and pulls you along with them. The spikes retract where you step, leaving your feet unscathed. Before you know it, you're across the bridge, and Chara drops your wrist.

The next room takes a long time to cross, but when you reach the end, it opens up to another room with the logic-defying light. You reach into it again, and your resolve steels.

Chara shakes their head at you, and continues on to the next room. You start to follow, but something blocks your path.

There's a white, frog-like creature on the ground in front of you. It ribbits, and suddenly there are flies dive-bombing you. The flies hurt where they hit your body, more than you think they should. You weren't ready for the attack, so you don't have the time or ability to dodge. You feel your life draining.

The frog-thing jumps at you, knocking you to the ground. The back of your skull connects with the ground with a sickening crack.

Everything goes dark, and you die.

And suddenly, you're awake.

Light pierces your retinas. Your legs give out under you and your knees hit the floor. You keel over, squeezing your eyes shut and holding your face in your hands. Your heart hammers in your chest and your breath quickens.

What was that? You died. You swear you died!

But you're back.

You pull your head out of your hands, and your eyes meet the unnatural light.

Your pulse slows. Your breaths even.

There's shouting.

"What the hell was that, human?!" They scream at you, "You've got some messed up control of the timeline or something?! It would've been nice if you told me that sooner!"

You stagger back to your feet. You tell them you didn't know until just now.

They stop shouting.

Chara scoffs. They head for the next room, not bothering to check if you're following.

When the frog-monster attacks you this time, you're prepared. You dodge the flies, and when it jumps at you, you hit it as hard as you can with your stick.

It turns to dust when it hits the floor. You feel something settle in your chest.

It's not a good feeling.