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And hunger is killing her.
Killing her so much that bile pours from her mouth, her stomach rejecting itself, digesting itself.
You watch her. You see this scene every day as you get up from bed and head into the living room. Right there, in her chair, Toriel sits with her eyes closed, counting the seconds, as if praying to a nonexistent god, waiting for it all to end.
You’re no longer a little girl, but a grown, fully-formed young woman who ended up here by pure chance. The chance wasn’t in falling down here but in surviving. After all, you think to yourself, maybe you should have chosen the option with the soap and the rope.
Toriel became like family to you in a short time. At first, you were terribly afraid of her, just as you were of everything in this frightening, terrifying world. It’s strange that she even took you in at all. Either in her madness she mistook you for a fallen child, or she accepted the situation and kept you as her future meal. But days, weeks went by, and you remained alive.
Watching her suffering, you couldn’t help but assist her. From that day on, you always supported each other.
But this time, things feel different. Hunger seems to have completely overtaken her mind, robbing her of her identity. After all, she’s been here longer than you, which means she suffers ten times more.
The thought of ending her suffering crossed your mind.
To all your suggestions of going outside, she always refused, not even trying to explain why. Odd.
It’s so strange to see an immortal creature suffering before you. As you understood it, monsters only die from physical damage. Neither hunger nor other mental afflictions can kill them.
So, they are either condemned to eternal suffering or their life ends in only one way.
The same way that you ended up here by accident.
The sound of vomiting and a wild animal’s roar pulled you out of your thoughts. Seems you forgot why you came here.
You went back to your room.
Dust entered your nose, followed by a sneeze. Remains of the monster floated in the air, but you felt nothing. No pity, no sorrow for what you had done. But you could have sworn you saw a glimmer in her eyes when your knife sliced through her, and her soul was fully absorbed by you.
As if she had been waiting for this.
As if she was thanking you.
Well, after all, you’d wanted to do it for a long time. Now, perhaps, you’ll find yourself new sustenance or simply die somewhere in the bushes from the monsters Toriel warned you about. Her threats about that place always seemed like a fairy tale to you because, aside from this dungeon, you think, nothing could be more terrifying.
Now, there’s nothing left that can scare you.
With a stoic expression, you look into his bright red eye socket, which carefully scans you from head to toe.
Perfect.
As soon as you stepped outside, the cold air hit your face. But you didn’t care; your clothes weren’t thin enough for you to feel cold. It was as if you had always been prepared for this — to be here.
Along the way, surprisingly, you encountered only bones. Strange, you thought. Either they were leftovers from a meal or remains of creatures, though that was unlikely, as monsters turn to dust when they die. So, there must be food around here. If, of course, it hasn’t all been taken.
You wonder if you can ever get out, return to your world, to your home — the one you despise so much. Return to a job that makes your head ache every morning. Return to your cat, whom you left at home to die without food and water. Or maybe you left the window open, and she found her freedom on the street, unlike you. Or perhaps she, like you, is stuck here in a prison, slowly dying.
Lost in thought, you didn’t immediately notice the second set of footsteps trailing behind you. The first encounter. Is this your death? Or your way out?
You stopped.
But the footsteps kept going.
Then, suddenly, they stopped.
You turned your head.
Behind you stood a creature. It was about twenty centimeters shorter than you. But height wasn’t its defining feature. Was it a skeleton? You couldn’t tell — a hood was pulled over its head. Looking down at the bony hands clutching a dull axe, you realized it definitely wasn’t a humanoid monster. Your gaze paused on the weapon — it looked like it hadn’t been sharpened in ages. The dried blood on the axe had turned a brownish color. The creature reeked of iron — either from its recent victim or because it was so saturated in blood that you could smell it from several meters away. Its clothing was covered in blood and dirt, with holes and torn edges.
You lifted your gaze to its face. From beneath the hood, a bright red dot — a pupil — glowed, examining you intently from head to toe.
“who?” a deep voice echoed. Was it a question?
Without thinking, you say your name. You might as well introduce yourself to the reaper.
“I’m a human,” you add.
“you came through that door? Did the old hag finally die? Must be a while since she’s caught a whiff of food,” he laughed at his own joke, then fell silent. “It’s about time.”
“Will you kill me?”
“seriously, just like that?”
“I’m not afraid of death.”
A snort came from in front of you. It seemed your answer amused him.
“you know, it’s not worth it to kill you. Besides, dragging your corpse through the whole town isn’t really ideal. Who knows, other creatures might pounce on my food,” he said in a cheerful tone.
“you look brave. a pretty girl. good prey. my brother will like it.”
Black, tar-like streaks dripped from his mouth, resembling saliva. Another one driven mad by hunger. Though, this was to be expected. A sudden chill ran down your spine.
You weren’t afraid of death, no. Not at all. But you were afraid of pain. Afraid that before you died, you’d have to endure the seven circles of hell. And you didn’t want that. Either die peacefully and quickly, or run and find salvation. But you knew there was no salvation.
Now, you felt uneasy.
Now, you prayed for one thing — that he would leave you alone. You felt fear.
Fear.
An emotion you thought you’d never feel again. You had adapted so quickly to this world that you stopped caring. Should you start running? You weren’t sure. Not only did you not know where this monster had come from, but you also didn’t know what he was capable of. Maybe if you tried to escape, it would only make things worse. And you didn’t want that. Right now, you needed only one thing — to listen to him. To listen and do as he said. That’s what your soul told you.
“Will you kill me?” you repeat.
“maybe I will. maybe I won’t. or maybe I’ll play with you first.”
Now it was no longer a joke.
“do you like to play tag?” he asked.
You shake your head. Tag had always been your least favorite game since childhood. Not only were you out of breath quickly, but you were always the first to get “tagged.” All your life, you had been the lamb in a pack of wolves.
“or maybe hide-and-seek?”
You loved hide-and-seek. You were good at hiding, and you knew it. As a child, you always played hide-and-seek with your grandmother, who taught you a few tricks. But now, the problem was different. You were in a forest. On the one hand, that could be a plus — lots of space. But there was one issue: you didn’t know the area. But the monster standing opposite you seemed to be the master of this land. And the snow around... You could try burying yourself in it, but the risk of dying from hypothermia was too high, a painful death you definitely didn’t want.
You’re about to ask about other options, but as you see his red eye watching you intently, you realize you have no choice.
You nod.
A pleased rumble came from him.
“excellent. I’ll give you a minute. promise I won’t peek.”
With those words, he turned around. A snap of his fingers signaled the start of the timer.
And you ran.
You ran wherever your eyes could see.
Running straight, turning into the forest, darting between fallen trees, you moved in one direction for the rest of the time. You hoped you hadn’t made too much noise during the escape; otherwise, he’d easily track where you went. You hadn’t forgotten about the footprints in the snow, so you tried to make a few turns and choose patches with less snow to avoid leaving marks.
In the distance, you spotted a house — more like a small hut. Carefully approaching it, you checked if anyone was inside. All was empty.
Near the hut, you noticed guard posts for dogs. Perhaps dog-like monsters had lived here, but that was just a guess. Crawling inside the hut, you realized it wasn’t the best place to hide. There was hardly anywhere to take cover. In the forest, you knew from the beginning you wouldn’t be able to hide from him. So just finding this hut felt like a stroke of luck. Inside, there was a chest of drawers, an old bed with a dirty, worn-out mattress, and a few small tables. The floor had warped boards sticking out, and wooden planks leaned against the wall as if someone intended to build an extension but never finished.
An idea came to you. Maybe you couldn’t hide, but you could block the doorway and window.
Taking one of the massive wooden planks, you tested its weight and dragged it to the door. To your surprise, it fit perfectly, sealing the entrance.
Surprising. Maybe these boards were meant to block the entry from unwanted guests? While you were busy, you hadn’t noticed how much time had passed. Had a minute already passed? How long had it been? How much time had you spent? The window and door were securely barricaded. Now you could only hope that the massive monster wouldn’t try to break in. But the skeleton you met didn’t seem strong, so you weren’t too worried.
“found you.”
A sudden voice right next to your ear made you jump.
What?
How did this happen? You didn’t see him approach, yet suddenly he’s right here, next to you. You lift your head from the floor, meeting his gaze.
This time, the hood is gone, and you can finally see him fully: a skull, deep black eye sockets like two dark voids, and a large crack in his skull.
“N-no…” You try to say something, but you don’t have time. He grabs your forearm sharply.
It hurts.
“want to play again?”
“You didn’t tell me what would happen if you found me,” you say sarcastically in response to his offer.
“oh, of course,” he laughs. “but I thought you were a clever girl. you could have figured it out yourself.”
He grins, and his smile grows even wider.
“or… maybe you have other ideas about your defeat? you know, I haven’t been… close to anyone for a while—emotionally and physically, if you know what I mean.”
His grin becomes darker, more menacing.
Great.
You’re going to be raped half to death and then killed. Honestly, you wouldn’t mind if he killed you first and then did whatever he wanted with your corpse. You’d even be glad.
“Give me one more chance.”
One short answer, and that’s it. The skeleton turns around again, raises his hand, and snaps his fingers. The timer starts.
This time, you’ve resigned yourself.
Let him find you again, but at least you’ll have one more minute of peace before something far worse begins.
You run forward along the slippery path. You haven’t even caught your breath from the last chase, so it’s harder now. Ahead, you notice a few buildings. And more. Is this a town? Could there be living monsters here? Intelligent beings? Who are you trying to fool? Of course not.
You keep running and running until you stop at an old, decayed house. It looks big but abandoned. Maybe there’s still hope? You try the door—it opens without effort. The house does seem deserted. You enter, greeted by the same gray, grimy living room.
You turn to close the door and freeze. Someone beat you to it, locking the door.
A wide grin and a glowing red eye meet you at the doorway again.
Trying to take a step back, he instantly pounces on you, holds you by the neck and pushes you towards the old sofa.
He throws you, and all the air is knocked out of your lungs, climbing on top, still not removing his hands from your fragile neck. Oxygen is already starting to run out; you reach your hands to his wrists, begging him to stop.
Although death by strangulation is a good option. But he immediately removes his hands from your throat and guides them to your waist.
He squeezes it. But not the way your ex-boyfriends squeezed. He digs his claws in, pushing them further under the skin, reaching under the meat, turning the grey-green sofa red.
You scream. And very loud.
You pray to him, but because of your panic you don’t understand what. Either you want him to stop, or you just scream “kill me, please kill me.” But he doesn't care.
“Oh God,” you roar, clutching his arms, shoulders, palms.
Everything has stopped, the hands are no longer squeezing your body. Instead, they go down, hooking your pants and underwear together, yanking them off of you. The cold makes you twitch in discomfort.
Enough.
He doesn't touch your top part.
All he is interested in is your open vagina. You wanted to ask yourself how this process would happen, but immediately all the questions evaporated as soon as you saw him take his bloody ax, pointing it towards you.
Or rather, its wooden handle.
And the handle was large, long and wide. You can see with the naked eye how dirty it is. So it’s not far from reaching AIDS. Is he really going to—
Before you have time to process your thoughts in your head, you feel that a huge foreign object is tearing right through you below.
The skeleton pushes the handle of his fucking weapon right inside you. Dry, without preparation.
Of course, what can you expect from a monster. Everyone on the street must have heard your scream. You've never screamed so loud before. He only answered all your pleas with a wide smile, pushing the ax deeper into you. Moving back and forth only made the situation worse. You feel how everything inside is torn.
How everything burns, burns, stings. And he pushes harder and harder.
Your eyes roll back not from pleasure, but from how much you want to faint so you don't have to feel it anymore. You feel something warm flowing below.
Blood.
All these tremors have long since torn apart your insides, causing internal bleeding.
You feel sick.
Everything is getting blurry in your eyes, and he just won’t stop. Just a little more and you’ll die. But you didn’t want this. You didn’t want to die like this.
You didn’t want to die like this. If you had known it would come to this, you wouldn’t have gone up that damn mountain. It’s all your fault.
The jolts won’t stop. How much time has passed? A minute? Two? Five? No idea. It feels like an eternity has gone by. It’s so hard. So terrible. The movements have stopped, and he has grabbed you by the neck again. One hand has rested on your chest.
A warm, strange, and unfamiliar sensation spread through your body. What did he just do?
A bright glow appears before you. A heart. A bright, purple heart floats in his hands. Throughout all this time, the smirk has never left his face. Another glow appears, but this time from his side—a white, inverted heart. Everything is spinning.
In a moment, you remember his talk about soul connection. Is this what souls are? Was this your soul—
Again, thoughts interrupt the climactic sensations.
This is something you’ve clearly never experienced before. It’s not unpleasant, but it doesn’t bring pleasure either. It’s something deep within your soul, in your body. As if it merges with something indescribable. It’s so strange. You want it to stop.
You don’t like this.
But he doesn’t care.
He brings the two souls together, merging them. So close that you can feel every inch of him, even though he isn’t touching you. Everything becomes increasingly insistent. Due to the ringing in your ears, you don’t even realize that the creature before you seems to be enjoying this. The sounds he makes are vastly different from yours. While you scream and call for help, he derives incredible pleasure from it. And he hasn’t forgotten about the tree inside you, continuing to move it with his free hand. Despite how much blood you’ve already lost, you still haven’t lost consciousness. Why is this happening?
— interesting body. what’s even more curious is what it tastes like.
At that moment, the first thought that came to mind was that he would eat you alive. But he just laughed when he saw the fear on your face. How predictable that it brings him immense pleasure. Damn bastard.
A few minutes passed before you felt a surge inside your body. You look at the soul and see the monster gripping it tightly, breathing heavily.
So this is how monsters finish? If it weren’t for this situation, it would actually be quite interesting.
His bony hands finally slowly slid off your neck. Not that they were squeezing it tightly, but oxygen started to flow in much more freely.
He yanked the axe out of you, causing blood to flow like a stream, just like your tears. Everything is blurry in your vision, your head is spinning and aching, and there’s an indescribable ringing in your ears. It feels like any moment now, the capillaries in your eyes will burst.
You lift your gaze and see him pulling the hood back over his head.
— good body, warm. edible.
Laughter echoes through the room.
Even with your blurred vision, you see the monster raise the axe above his head.
— a nice toy.
And with a swift motion, he brings it down toward your neck.