IN MEMORIAM TENEBRIS
A long time ago, a human fell into the ruins. Injured by its fall, the human called out for help. Asriel, the king's son, heard the human's call.
He brought the human back to the castle.
Over time, Asriel and the human became like siblings. The King and Queen treated the human child as their own.
-Ω-
A reminiscence of days long past dives up from the depth of oblivion:
In a garden, on the green grass, surrounded by golden flowers is lying a human girl, her hair brown and in a bob. She's wearing a green shirt with yellow stripes. Next to her sits a white furred monster boy with a goat-like head wearing a matching striped shirt and also a broad smile on his face.
The human child is holding up a white puppy with both hands, her arms stretched out.
"I don't get it, Asriel", the human child says, pouting at the puppy in her hands. "Why does he want us to take care of it?"
"C'mon, Chara", Asriel replies, still smiling. "Why won't you like him? Don't you find him cute at all?"
Like for conformation, the puppy lets out a cute little squeal. Chara wrinkles her nose at it.
"That's not it", she drawls. "But it's so tiny and soft, how is it supposed to be any useful?"
"He's not supposed to be 'useful', Chara! Dad wants him to be a friend for us! Plus, he'll grow, and I'm sure he'll be super strong one day!"
Chara sighs. She looks sceptically at the puppy which in return is trying to lick her fingers. Chara sighs again. Asriel, however, doesn't cut her any slack:
"You could at least think of a name for him!" the monster child pouts.
"Oh fine", Chara growls. "If you'll stop bugging me then." She closes her eyes, as if trying to focus. Then finally she smiles, even if it's only a little one.
"Asriel says you're going to be strong one day", she tells the puppy with sparkling eyes. "That right?"
The puppy seems to understand because he tries to proof his strength to her by barking. Alas, it actually sounds more like squeezing a rubber duck: Eep! Eep!
That sound finally suffices to make Chara laugh:
Fine, fine, fine, I surrender", she chuckles. "So, if you promise to grow really super strong, then I'm gonna call you 'Fenris'. Y'know, Fenris is the name of the wolf who kills the gods and causes the end of the world!"
"Oh, Chara, no!" Asriel exclaims, throwing his hands. "That's awful! Why would you want him to do something so awful? Then I'd rather want him to stay super weak instead!"
He ponders for a moment, then an even broader smile forces his way onto his face and he rubs his neck sheepishly.
"The name's pretty neat, though", he reluctantly admits.
-Ω-
The underground was so full of hope.
But then...
One day...
-Ω-
"What's... what's wrong with me?", Chara's desperate voice whispers in the dark. The only reason why she utters her despair though is because she thinks herself completely unwatched. Never ever would she allow anyone to see her like that.
"He could have died... And it's all my fault... Asgore... Dad...could have died..."
A crying fit takes the girl's ability to talk. Her spinning thoughts buzz around like annoying flies. She laughed, didn't she? Laughed when King Asgore, the greatest, kindest man in the world, the man who had adopted her, had squirmed with pain after she had literally poisoned him with those stupid golden flowers. And all just because she was dumb enough to mix up cups of butter with buttercups.
She should have apologized, but she hasn't. It doesn't matter how sorry she feels and how frightened she is, the girl thinks. She hasn't been able to apologize to him, nor will she ever be...
I am so sorry as a person can be, she best had said. I didn't want to hurt you. I'd never want to hurt you. Can you ever forgive me?
But she hasn't said it. She laughed. Why, god, why does she always have to be so mean when she is scared?
And then how Toriel, no, how Mom looked at her: That honest expression of utter dismay. What kind of person would laugh at someone suffering? Toriel didn't spell out that question but it was there, in her eyes. And the mere thought Toriel would hate her now, and she would have every reason to do so, she couldn't stand it. She mustn't lose her… Not another mother… What kind of person would laugh at someone suffering? What kind of person, indeed…?
"No person", she suddenly cries out. "I'm no human at all!"
'Unwanted' the other humans have called her and 'wayward child'. 'Rotten', even.
"They're right… I'm rotten to the core… I even hurt the ones I love… I don't deserve to life…"
The golden flowers, she suddenly remembers. The monsters once told her that the buttercups had been brought to the Underground by humans. Has that been on intention? To poison the monsters? To get rid of them even after they had them all sealed away?! If it wasn't for the humans, nothing of this would've happened!
Within a moment, a new thought drives the despair out of her voice. It now is an eerie calm, almost emotionless whisper.
"They call me rotten... They call me a wayward... But it's THEIR fault when I am... It's not just me, all humanity is rotten... All we do is hurt others… We all deserve to… We all deserve to…"
Although the child leaves the last word unspoken, the gravity of this decision she couldn't spell seems like the hammer fall of upcoming doom...
-Ω-
One day the human became very ill. The sick human had only one request: To see the flowers from her village one last time.
But there was nothing we could do.
-Ω-
"Chara...? Please... Wake up... I don't like this plan anymore."
-Ω-
And then, the next day...
-Ω-
Chara is lying on a bed, tucked in with a white blanket, a soft pillow under her head. Her childlike face looks a hundred years older, it bears the marks of the ungodly ordeal, all the cramps she has tossed and turned herself with during the last hours. But now she lies all still and her eyes are closed; in sad yet solemn anticipation of what is now inevitable to follow someone has wound a garland of golden flowers around her temples.
Next to her death-bed sits her adoptive brother Asriel, unable to say anything or even to fight back his tears. The white puppy at their side doesn't really seem to understand what's going on, but his ears and tail are hanging low. He's sad because everyone around him is sad. The two of them watch helplessly as Chara's laborious breath is turning more and more flat.
Her eyelids flutter as she's struggling to open her eyes one more time. She notices the flowers around her head and a shaky smile appears on her chapped lips. But as soon as she tries to rise, a sore fit of coughing wipes the smile from her face again and forcefully throws her back on the bed. Blood fills her mouth, but bravely albeit with notable labour she gulps the nasty liquid down again. Laying out every last grain of strength, Chara manages to rise her head a few inches again and her eyes slowly wander about the room until her gaze eventually meets Asriel's. Tears shoot into the boy's eyes and he tries to avert his look from his dying sibling, but Chara easily traps his look with her dark, determined eyes.
Weakly her lips form words, inaudible for human or monster's ears.
"Don't forget…" Is that what she is trying to say?
Chara closes her eyes again and her head falls back onto the pillow. Her body rears up as one last painful jerk flashes through her, then it's all over.
At last, after all the suffering, a finally peaceful expression spreads on her face as she breathes her last. A warm, red shimmer, the very manifestation of Chara's soul, fills the room as it emerges from her lifeless body…
Chara has passed away…
-Ω-
…the human died.
Asriel, wracked with grief, absorbed the human's soul. He transformed into a being with incredible power.
With the human soul, Asriel crossed through the barrier. He carried the human's body into the sunset.
Back to the village of the humans.
-Ω-
Breathing heavily, Asriel makes his way through the thick forest. He carries a sad, heavy weight in his arms, actually too sad and heavy for a child like him, but he doesn't feel it. Mechanically he sets one foot in front of the other though tears flow down his cheeks wetting his white fur and dripping onto his sibling's lifeless body in his arms.
But he keeps going, because Chara has not yet left him: He can feel her soul resonating next to his own. It has given him the power to overcome the barrier, and now it gives him the strength to carry on. His small body is almost incapable of containing this huge power, it feels like he's literally about to burst with power, as if he'd be able to move mountains. However, all this strength cannot fix a broken heart.
'Hang in!', it seems to whisper in his mind. 'Hang in!', it seems to encourage him. 'Hang in!', it's almost like a heartbeat, as if two hearts are beating in his chest at once. Only that one of these hearts is much stronger, than the other...
'Hang in! Only a few steps more, Asriel, we're almost there!'
And yes, Asriel will hang in. If he'd trip Chara's determination would raise him again. If he'd tarry they would push him forward. As he stumbles further, with each more step he is beginning to realize that he really has little choice anymore, let alone that he is in control of the situation. He really loves his sister and he wants to fulfil her last wish, after all the suffering she has put herself through he really wants to, but Asriel can't help but find that there's something wrong with this plan, though he can't lay his finger on it.
However, it doesn't matter if he begins to doubt the plan and Chara's intention, in a pinch Chara's soul will probably just take over his body entirely.
Her, Chara's, final plan would be carried out, she would see to that at all cost...
-Ω-
Asriel reached the centre of the village. There he found a bed of golden flowers.
He carried the human onto it.
Suddenly, screams rang out; the villagers saw Asriel holding the human's body. They thought that he had killed the child.
The humans attacked him with everything they had.
He was struck with blow after blow.
Asriel had the power to destroy them all.
But...
Asriel did not fight back.
Clutching the human... Asriel smiled, and walked away.
Wounded, Asriel stumbled home.
He entered the castle and collapsed.
-Ω-
"Chara… Please… Forgive me…"
-Ω-
His dust spread across the garden.
The kingdom fell into despair.
The king and queen had lost two children in one night. The humans had once again taken everything from us…
-Ω-
The voice, it sounded as deep as the surrounding shadows, paused for a moment. Its owner stayed out of the golden cone of daylight that fell into the cavern through a hole in the mountainside. It was visible as just a shifting figure in the darkness.
Amidst the lighted part of the cave was a strange being, very much cornered by the creature in the shadows, and suspiciously trying to follow all of its moves with its eyes. It was a flower, resembling the golden flower growing all around, but this one actually had a face between its petals. A face wearing an expression of not actual fear but definitely of uneasiness. Along with the monster's words had comes startling images, echoes from the past. And these echoes had in return stirred up something deeply within the flower. They had brought back actual memories; long buried memories the flower hadn't known he still possessed. What kind of monster was it that could at will call forth the past, for crying out loud, that could force one to remember?
"Why are you telling me this? Why are you showing me this?", the flower snapped. "What the heck do you want from me?"
It would never admit that story, let alone the painful images the voice had conjured, meant anything to him! He was Flowey the Flower, relentless, heartless, a psychopath. These useless emotions, joy, love, grief, he couldn't even feel them anymore, so why would this heck affect him so deeply?
"As sad as it might sound", the voice replied, frankly ignoring Flowey's demands. "The story should have ended with the death of the prince."
Suddenly there were two sparks of light in the dark as the figures eyes flared up red.
"But it didn't", Flowey cackled. Despite his uneasiness, he really was proud of the following part. Oh, he had played this world and its timelines good, hadn't he?
"No, indeed", the figure agreed. Its voice suddenly turned sharp like a blade. "And who would know better than you, Flowey the Flower? Or should I rather say… Prince Asriel Dreemurr?"
Flowey froze. Almost literally, if he had actual blood the shock would probably have caused his chaotic magic to turn it into ice at instant. His opposite should definitely not know about Asriel. No one should. Not in this timeline at least!
"Asriel Dreemurr is dead!" Flowey yelled at the other. "Dead, you hear me? He was a pathetic, weak idiot! I'm nothing like him! Do you think I'd fall for that stupid 'shame-on-you-performance'? I've pulled this world's registers like playing on an organ. A masterpiece, a symphony of terror! I don't care about nothin'!"
"You're mistaken…" The voice let out a deep growl, at once silencing Flowey's ranting. "Soulless husk of Asriel... You are not going to shirk the responsibility for your deeds. Not this time."
There was that red flare again as the other monster was once more resting his eyes on Flowey. How could a glare from eyes so blazing be so cold and merciless on the same turn?
"All the sorrow. All the despair. All the death you have caused." The monster growled, the glaring eyes high above Flowey. "You will face it. Now."
That last words had been accompanied by a strange noise, very much like the distant rustling of water. Very much, but not quite…
Whatever little confidence Flowey had had, it at once vanished when he realized that the darkness veiled not just ONE attacker. There were many of them, too many. Yes, it was fair to say the whole darkness all around Flowey itself started shifting and moving like it had suddenly come alive. Misshapen figures came off the cavern walls and crawled and crept towards the cringing flower, circling around like a phlegmatic vortex of tar. Hands reached out of the black mass, deformed, crippled claws, desperately grasping for something beyond their reach. Shadowed faces of monsters and humans emerged, cadaverous, their expressions frozen in despair, grief and horrid pain. There were repeated versions of Asriel's father Asgore, of that other annoying human, Frisk, of the two skeletons and of so many more that Flowey had forgotten about, even a few varieties of himself, but all of them dead, with empty, staring eyes.
No rustling water, it was the whispering of their voices Flowey had heard, for they all were crying, weeping and begging, begging for mercy. With sudden horror, Flowey realized what he should have known right from the start: The shadows were all reaching out for him!
They all were persons he had made suffer. Shadows of all the persons he had killed in countless timelines and as well of all the times he himself had died. That fiend had summoned them like it had summoned the other memories before. And now they had come back from the grave to haunt him!
Their voices crescendoed more and more until the sound of a rustling creek turned into the roaring of a raging current. Just this moment one of the shadows broke away from the others: It was a phantom of Frisk with half of the face covered in a black reminiscence of blood and with only one open eye, large and pale like the full moon, the arms wide open like for a hug.
And finally Flowey's horror erupted in a high-pitched, ear-piercing scream as all the atrocities he had committed fell upon him like a riptide.
"NoOoOoO!" Flowey screamed, his face twisted in dismay far more than should have been physically possibly. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"
A hurricane of white petals, each and every one of them as sharp as a razor, pierced through the darkness as the flower launched his desperate magical counterattack, impaling the shadows like bullets from a machine gun, ripping them apart and tearing them to shreds.
And then... There was silence. The weeping shadows were all gone, had disappeared into nothing. And with the echoes, the surrounding darkness was also gone, now the sun lighted up every last corner of the cavern. Flowey breathed heavily, his face slowly reverting to normal. Although he was far more powerful than was conjectural judging by his flowery appearance, this all-out attack had completely drained his reserves.
Was it over? Had he won?
"Impressive."
No, of course not. No luck for Flowey anymore, if there actually existed something like karma in the universe, then Flowey's was expectably as bad as it could get. Whatever was after him was far more powerful than to go down by just one blow. And despite the remark it didn't sound impressed at all. But now, since the monster couldn't conceal itself in darkness anymore, Flowey was for the first time able see his attacker clearly:
It was a hideous wolf-like monster towering over six feet high above the ground as the wolf was standing on his hind legs. He had ragged fur, almost pitch-black in colour save for a single pure white spot on his chest, and his eyes were burning red. Flowey's razor-sharp petals had pierced his body all over, but now he brushed them of with his paws like it was nothing. He didn't even have the decency to bleed!
"So it shall be", the wolf just said. "And thus your lack of remorse seals your fate."
Had he bared his teeth or grinned at Flowey wickedly, he couldn't have appeared any more menacing. It was the solemn dignity of his stance, his unmoved expression, but most of all his unrelenting eyes, because in these eyes Flowey saw mirrored his own unfeelingness. From a fiend like this he couldn't expect any mercy - the wolf was like prosecutor, judge and executioner in one person. And there was no doubt what his verdict was going to be...
"What now, Big, Bad Wolf?" the flower hissed, badly overacting dread with hostility and a big mouth. "Your cheap tricks don't intimidate me, you fuzzy pushover! You want me to show remorse? Well, screw you, I am a god-damn god! Why should I ever show remorse, you… you..."
But the new insult kept stuck in Flowey's throat. He had already shot his bolt. If the wolf was still alive and kicking by now, and he very clearly was, then the flower had no idea what he could set against him. Despite all his might, his power wasn't by far what it used to be anymore. In the current timeline Flowey was only a mere shadow of himself, thanks to that annoying human child… At this point it was sheer defiance that Flowey kept fighting back. And the worst part of it was that they both knew it.
"Who the heck do you think you are, anyway?" he weakly revolted.
"Who I am?", the wolf intonated. "I am the wolf that kills the gods."
Why did this sound familiar? And why would he care in a situation when his enemy was just about to mop the floor with him? If the wolf was living up to his promise Flowey was practically dead meat, or spoken more fittingly, dry hay.
The wolf almost casually raised his left arm over his head. The power of his magic was so incredible, that the daylight above his paw was refracted and absorbed like in the event horizon of a black hole. Right at this moment, in some weird displacement activity of his brain, a truly deeply buried part of Flowey's conscience came forward, a part that somewhat still belonged to that pathetic Asriel Dreemurr. And it brought up a question regarding Asriel's painful memories the wolf had shown him:
'Wait, what happened to the puppy?', it asked. A silly question, and inappropriate to boot. And yet…
-Ω-
As Flowey realizes the truth, he hasn't time to feel anything but slight surprise before the wolf's magic blast hits the ground and a colour-inverted explosion consumes it all: The grass, the rocks, the golden flowers. Everything…
"Rest in peace... Your Majesty..."
-Ω-