A/N: Hello everyone! I have decided to refurbish "When a Skeleton Dusts a Flower"...

...And this is the result.

I hope you'll enjoy it.

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to
succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have."
(Abraham Lincoln)

BOUNDLESS INTEGRITY

Everywhere I went...there was nothing else.
Nothing else but silence. The Underground felt...empty.

I would be lying if I'd say my bones weren't rattled, but it was a sad, familiar sight that I've grown accustomed to. The sight of dust all over the place, dust that gently glimmered even in the waves of Waterfall's river. That sight alone, along with the feeling of time stopping dead in its' tracks, was enough to make me depressed.

And to know that flower was behind all this...it certainly didn't make my job easier.

You surely know who I am, and what I must do each time the clock stops ticking.

Each moment I spend remembering the timelines where everything was peaceful, it fills my SOUL with the last hope that I cling onto - the hope of saving what was left to be picked up from the endless trail of dust.

As I headed out in the Judgement Hall, hands in my pockets and remembering my brobones, I could hear faint movements at the other end, as if vines were trying to suffocate the floor. He has come down so far to eliminate me, hoping that this way, he will bring a lost soul in this deserted Underground.

Yes, I could remember his faint words towards me, "I just want to bring back one person who really knows what this power means." words that I've never understood until now. Until I saw the flower absorbing all six souls and coming in front of me, with confidence boosting out of those hideous vines that I could hear at the other end.

"so," I said, chuckling for a while, "you came back in here, didn't you? wow, you really are like liana around."

"Plant puns? Seriously?" the flower's voice hissed at me.

"what?" I laughed, as my pinpricks were staring at the flower. "can't i defuse the tension?"

"Ugh, each time I come down to fight you, you get even more annoying." Flowey said, as he came closer in the light.

His face was contorted in that usual, childish frown.
It was like he hated me for taking away his chance at destroying this timeline again, but I have to admit, the way he looked at me reminded me of everyone who died at his vines, and my eyesockets started to glow.

"Wow, you're eager to start this, aren't cha?" the flower said to me, winking in a goofy manner. "Don't worry, your death will be quicker than your brother's!" he added, his voice dropping to a bass that didn't even make me flinch.

"you think you can scare the soul out of me?" I grinned, as I felt magic coursing through my bones. "no chance, but here's an i scream."

"Shut up, Smiley Trashbag!" he looked at me with an irritated glare before calling out the six souls and starting to transform right in front of my eyesockets.

His vines became twice the size they were, various parts of those vines started to form a hideous looking mouth from which ooze was dripping, along with two large eyes, and on top of this bizzare looking form of his, stood a TV with a smiling face - but even I knew that the smiling face was hiding something hideous.

I gave him credit for that, the fact that we both smile hides something.

For me, it hides away all the times that I've been forced to fight against this genocidal maniac whose LV is 19, and is right off the bat insane as he killed everyone countless times - except he never managed to get past me. While for him...I like to think it hides his insanity, his despair that I'm standing here, with all that I have, against his ugly face.

"woah. and just when i thought you can't get uglier." I said as I called out an array of bones to shoot towards the monstrous flower.

He then looked at me with bloodshot eyes, and started laughing as he sent volleys of "friendliness pellets", aiming to hurt me - but he forgot that I'm good at dodging and at magic - and I deflected a few of those pellets with some bones that I called out to defend myself, but each time I used my wall of bones, the pellets started to gain much more speed, forcing me to push back and eventually warp my way out of them as much as I could.

"Stay still, you trashbag! I will take off your head, as I did with your brother! His screams were delicious!" Flowey yelled at me as he tried to send bombs after me, which exploded on impact with the Hall's floor, leaving huge cracks and destroying a few of those beautiful columns in the process.

When he mentioned Papyrus, I could feel hatred rising within me - imagining through what my brother must've gone through, the terror as he realized the flower was not going to let him live - and clenched my fist, rightly believing that his attempt at fleeing was useless. It surely ended with him turned to dust.

This mad plant had no other intention than becoming powerful, able to toy around with our lives as he saw fit.

I warped out of way as he summoned more bombs that made a few columns crumble and eventually crash to the floor with a loud thud - I felt lucky that I didn't get bonecrushed under one of those - and then I engulfed his SOUL in my signature blue magic, tossing him with some difficulty into the remaining columns. They were barely standing the force of gravity, and eventually collapsed over him, breaking the ugly TV and crushing a few of his vines.

"wow, you're in a tight space down there." I chuckled as I summoned a Gaster Blaster behind me, feeling that the flower would play some tricks on me.

"Sh-shut up..." he managed to spit as he tried to move the stone fragments that were holding a few of his vines. "You've just seen a fraction of my power."

I can't deny, seeing the poor fella trying to beat me made me laugh on the inside. After all, I lost count as to how many times we fought.
And the many times he tried to corrupt a human into commiting genocide. Let's not forget that...

I even remember the day when I promised the old lady I won't let any harm come to the humans that might've passed through Snowdin. And each time the flower corrupted them into commiting Genocide, I broke that promise to her - yet this time, I wasn't going to let this happen again.

Trust me, I hate breaking promises, as much as I hate making them.

"ok." I shrugged as I ordered the Gaster Blaster to shoot at the flower who was still fighting to get himself free from that pillar, and then I could hear his SOUL break. "get dunked on, you narcissistic piece of junk!" I said, pointing to the lifeless monstrosity on the Hall's floor.

If he comes back, I thought, it will be much worse for him...
But hey, it's more fun for me...

My breath started hitching as I allowed a few tears to fall from my eyesockets, as I saw Papyrus eerily appearing before me and congratulating me on my success - I am slowly slipping into insanity - and then I could hear the old lady thanking me for keeping the human safe...

I'd be lying if I'd say that I don't miss them.
And let's not forget that the flowery wuss is going to come back.
After all...he's not my friend.

A Reset Later...

Time stopped once more - I could feel a shiver down my spine.

The Genocide was repeating itself, and again, dust would fly with the wind, taint the ground.

And I wasn't going to give up on standing tall against Flowey.

I looked in astonishment as the desperate flower came back in the Judgement Hall, a lot more furious than before. I did nothing but dig my hands in the jacket's pocket and laugh, as I couldn't believe how desperate he could be to achieve something.

Again, this is something we have in common. That we don't give up on our goals.
Except...I want to save everything that remains standing. I want to cling onto my last hope.

When all that he wants...is complete destruction of what's left.

"What's so funny? You just killed me and you're laughing?" Flowey said, folding his vines. "You know, you're really getting on my nerves here."

"oh good. i thought you couldn't feel anything." I smiled as I started summoning bones from the ground, forcing him to dig away from the vicious attack I just pulled on him.

"I can't believe how stupid you can be, Smiley Trashbag..." the flower said, smiling. "I'm still a lot more powerful than you are!"

"we'll see about that." I left out a small chuckle. "it's judgement time!"

* A mysterious force watches in the background...
* DaRkEr, yEt DaRkEr...
* ThE baTtLe iS gEtTiNg tOuGhEr aNd tOuGhEr.
* DoEsN't hE gEt iT aT aLl?
* ThAt hE mUsT giVe uP?