Adelia forced herself awake, remembering her theories about the other humans that the flower had mentioned yesterday. She got her coat and shoes on, going down to the basement and through the giant door. She didn’t waste any time, immediately running through the snow, towards Snowdin, reaching it as the ‘sky’ above got lighter, never stopping until she reached Waterfall, taking a quick rest beside the blue flower and sentry station before continuing on, solving puzzles and mostly ignoring monsters she encountered, simply focusing on getting closer to the truth. She knew that the Asgore, the King of Monsters, resided in the city, beyond Waterfall and Hotland, the place past that that she’d never been to. She made her way through the unfamiliar, wet, blue land, getting to the end of a bridge not leading anywhere. She looked around for any way past, but saw none. ‘Well… Guess I have to jump.’ She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stepped over the edge, feeling herself plunging into shallowish water after a minute of falling. Her vision went black and she thought she could hear a voice, although she didn’t know who’s it was.

    “Oh my! You’ve fallen down, haven’t you? Here, I’ll help you. What’s your name? Ç˙å®å? That’s a nice name!”
    “ M y  n  a  m  e    i  s  - 
   
    Adelia’s eyes opened to see water and garbage surrounding her. She remembered what she was doing before, when she jumped from the bridge on her way to the Monster King, and got up, patting herself down and making sure that she was okay. Nothing felt broken, nothing felt too badly injured that it would prevent her from moving forward. She double-checked just to make sure, then wrung out her coat, put it back on, and started walking along the path, passing a training dummy like the one Toriel had showed her, smiling and gently patting it on the head before continuing. She didn’t know why she did it, she just felt like she should. She stepped out of the water and took a right, passing a statue with rain pouring down on it. The small figures below it seemed dry, protected for the raindrops by the bigger one. She thought about this for a moment before continuing on, taking an umbrella to protect herself from the rain ahead, picking up her pace and running again. She soon reached another bucket of umbrellas beyond the room where the rain ended and put it up, jumping up the ledge and pulling herself up, rolling away from the edge so she wouldn’t fall back down, resuming her run through the Underground. She ran through a river with the blue Echo Flowers, as she had decided to call them, but didn’t pause to listen to whatever conversation they had recorded. She came onto dry land at a turn, which was interrupted by little pools. She didn’t care, though, as long as she got to the King. Soon she came to a path lit by glowing grass, having to click the little mushroom buttons in order to see more of it. She ran into a muscular… Mer-monster… named Aaron, who was a bit of a creep, but she ignored him and went past, tripping over a Moldsmal and quickly apologizing before getting back up and continuing. This went on for a while until she got to a cave below a cliff, not hesitating to run through, all the way to Hotland. The blasting heat was almost unbearable with her coat on, so she took it off and left it at the little sentry station with a quickly-written note saying ‘Gone to see ol’ King Fluffybuns, tell Toriel I’ll be safe  -Adelia the human’. Without her coat on she was able to deal with the heat better, but she had to slow down and rest for a bit because of her long run. ‘Don’t even know how I managed to run that long…’  She took a few minutes to regain her strength before getting back up and walking along the path, seeing a water dispenser but thinking that it’d be hot since, well, Hotland. She saw a strange lab in the branching path, deciding to go inside since it was more to explore. Looking around, she realized that there was a giant monitor with… Her face? It seemed to be tracking her every move, probably through a security camera installed in the lab. She wouldn’t be surprised if a monster came out of the shadows and started attacking her, she was kinda trespassing after all, but it was because it was either the elevator and getting to the capital quickly or taking her time and getting to know the Hotland area and the monsters that lived here in case she ever came back (which there was probably only a slim chance of). Plus, she was curious. She was halfway through exploring the lab when a yellow dinosaur monster in a lab coat came out and saw her.
“Oh my god.” They started mildly freaking out. “I-I didn’t think you’d be here so soon, everything’s messy, I haven’t showered, I’m barely dressed, a-and…” They - she by the sound of their voice - stopped freaking out for a second to introduce herself. “Um… H-hey! I’m Alphys, I’m the Royal Scientist for Asgore!” Adelia smiled.
“Oh, perfect, that means you can take me to see him then!”
“W-what? Why do you want to see him?”
“I have some questions about the humans that fell down here before me.”
“U-um…” Alphys got nervous again. “U-uh… I-I can’t guarantee that you’ll, um… Get there… A-and, um… M-make it, uh… Back…”
“What do you mean?”
“Th-the King… King Asgore, he, um… S-sorta, uh… D-declared war on the humans?? B-because of something that, um, h-happened years ago… Uh, th-the first human who fell down here, th-their name was, um, Chara, I-I think, th-they got sick a-and died, th-then the King’s son, Asriel, uh… A-absorbed their SOUL a-and went up to the surface… H-he came back covered in injuries, b-but he died before a-anyone could h-help him… A-Asgore was so mad about his children, th-that he said that a-any human wh-who fell down here would be, um… Killed… B-but, I-I won’t hurt you, n-no, I-I want to help you!” Alphys giggled sheepishly, hoping Adelia wouldn’t reject her offer for help.
“Yeah, okay.”
“R-really?”
“Sure, why not? I need as much help as I can get if I’m gonna reach the King.”
“Y-you still want to go there, e-even after h-hearing what happened?”
“Yeah, maybe I can get him to take back that order. You said it’s been years, right? He has to have regretted it by now.”
“Y-yeah, I-I guess… You’re right! B-besides, s-since you’re the sixth SOUL we need, I-I’m sure Asgore will keep you alive until the seventh human falls down here!”
“Wait, how many human souls do you guys need?”
“S-seven… Th-the Barrier can only be broken b-by the power of seven SOULs… A-and none of the monsters down here even come close to the power of a human SOUL, e-except for, maybe, th-the special variety called Boss Monsters, th-they’re usually stronger than average monsters, th-they’re one-of-a-kind, usually, a-and their SOULs have the strength to persist after death, even if only for a few seconds… B-but even them, combined with the entire Underground… W-we can just barely equal the power of a single human SOUL… M-much less seven…” Adelia thought for a moment.
“Hang on, you said I’m the sixth human to fall down here, right?”
“Y-yeah…”
“So that means, you now have six human souls, right?”
“I-I guess so…”
“Then, with the power of those six, plus the power of the entire Underground… That should equal seven!”
“O-oh my god, you’re right!” They both got excited.
“This means the Barrier can be broken!”
“Th-this means we can all go free!”