Warnings: Swearing, mild descriptions of violence, general confusion

One of the men shoved him forward as he tried to regain his footing one last time. With his left side as injured as it was by that point, Papyrus stood no chance in staying on the short ledge they had dropped him on. This time he fell the remaining length of the inner mountain, desperately trying to maneuver himself onto his right side before hitting the ground. While his efforts spared him any more pain on his increasingly injured side, the impact with the ground inflicted more than enough pain to cause him to cry out through his gag. The final drop had been much longer than any of the others before that. Delirious though he was through the pain, he couldn't help but wonder just how Frisk had survived falling the entire length of the mountain.

The humans finished climbing down sooner than he would have liked, one of them grabbing the humerus of his left arm to drag him up. While he did manage to stifle the scream that built up from this action, he couldn't stop the one he let loose after stepping down on his left foot wrong. Fully unable to keep himself standing through the pain, he collapsed onto the man still gripping his arm.

"Get the fuck up," was all the man said, the voice telling Papyrus that it was indeed the same human who had dragged him all the way up Mt. Ebott with the rest of the group.

It turned out that this was another situation where his best simply wasn't enough, as there was no way he would be able to stand with his left leg the way it was. With how things had been going that day, it didn't surprise him at all when the man finally let go of his arm, kicking him in the face as he dropped to the ground.

"Dan, just drag the thing if you have to. I already told you I'm not putting up with this shit," came the angry voice of their leader.

Dread filled Papyrus at the sound of the man's command. They had already dragged him all the way up Mt. Ebott. The experience itself had been worse than any of those drops he had taken to get back down to the Underground, and the very thought of having to be dragged through his homeland nearly caused him another panic attack.

He heard the man near him reaching down to grab him once more. Instinctively, he tensed up, close to tears at that point, but the man never touched him.

"What the hell?" he heard the human question, before hearing him stand up and begin to struggle. "What the fuck is this shit?" he nearly yelled, panic quickly filling his voice.

"Dan, what the hell did that thing do?" one of the men demanded. Papyrus could hear him and one of the other two running over. He sincerely hoped that whatever was going on, the humans would be able to figure out that he was definitely not the one causing it.

"I don't know, man—!" The human's cry was interrupted as something dragged him to the ground. Or at least that's what Papyrus assumed, only hearing continued shuffling and slithering accompanied by a loud thunk.

The man's two companions reached the spot where he and his monster captive were, shouting for their fellow human and demanding that Papyrus stop what he was (not) doing. For a moment he thought that one of them would strike him again, as he heard someone stomp just beside him, but nothing happened. It took him a moment through all of the yelling and cursing, but he soon figured out that the two men who had run over had also been taken down by whatever was attacking them.

"You son of a bitch!" one of them yelled, and he was certain the man was directing it at him. "You better let us go now, or I'll kill you myself!"

It was at that moment that Papyrus truly hoped that those men would never be freed, because the anger had driven the man's voice to near incoherency. The fact that he couldn't even tell which man it was frightened him more than anything, and he could only wonder how long the humans would remain contained. Fear drove him to struggle his way into a sitting position, though he knew there was no way he'd be able to stand or run away, not as injured, blindfolded, and bound as he was.

"I think you're threatening the wrong monster, buddy," sounded a new voice, barely audible through the three men's shouting. Still, it appeared to catch their attention, as they quieted down after hearing it.

"What the fuck?" the man to Papyrus' left whispered.

"Oh, do I have your attentions now? Golly, how great!"

Now that Papyrus could actually hear the voice properly, he knew that he recognized the speaker, but it couldn't be who he thought it was. Everyone he knew had left the Underground after the Barrier had been destroyed, hadn't they?

"I suppose I should introduce myself, huh?"

"How about you fuck off, you weed?" the enraged voice of the group's leader sounded. His quip was shortly followed by a loud shout as said "weed" apparently attacked him. Papyrus had no idea what his friend was doing, but it didn't sound good.

"Anyways," the cheerful voice giggled, "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"
At the introduction, the man to Papyrus' left began whispering disbelief to himself once more. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that the human was close to hyperventilating or having some sort of breakdown.

Ignoring the man's panicked muttering, Flowey continued on with his little speech. "You guys might not know this, but that skeleton there is a real good buddy of mine! He's the nicest guy I know, and when I see you guys tossing him around like that, it just tears my weak little soul up inside!" he cried out in a singsong voice.

As he finished, Papyrus felt something slithering around the arms tied behind his back, undoing the bindings and letting them free. He felt more of the things sliding up the base of his skull, removing his scarf that the men had used as both a blindfold and gag. His vision finally returned to him, he squinted through the sunlight filtering down the mountain's opening high above them all. The man who had dragged him up the entire mountain was the one beside him breathing heavily and panicking. Beside the man was the group's leader, looking more furious than Papyrus had ever seen him during the entire time of his kidnapping. The third man was the one to his right, remaining oddly quiet. All three of them were bound to the ground by thick vines from Flowey. Turning to look behind him revealed the flower in question, fully visible to the three men bound to the ground.

Glancing down brought his attention to the left side of his body, bones cracked and bruised from head to toe. He hugged his scarf to himself using his (mostly) good arm, dropping his gaze to the ruined flowers on his right. Though he had only caught a glimpse of himself, it was enough to make him feel ill.

"Well," the flower began, his tone shifting drastically, "I don't think I really appreciate you idiots coming down here, tossing around my stupid, goody-good buddy around. It's really irritating, and I'd appreciate it if you'd all just die."

That jolted something in Papyrus' systems. He spun around to face Flowey again, hearing the men begin to scream as the vines tightened around them all.

It was then that the fourth man finally chose to reveal himself from the cavern leading out of the small grove. Papyrus only had enough time to look back and see the burly man raising his pistol before it was knocked out of his hands by a vine. Just as his companions were before him, he was bound down.

"Oh, what's this? Another disgusting human?" Flowey spat out, having the vines around the fourth man tighten until he was screaming in pain along with his companions.

The screams made Papyrus feel more ill than seeing his own wounds ever would. It didn't matter that the humans had kidnapped and hurt him, he didn't enjoy seeing others in pain like this. Once more he felt himself near tears as he looked back at his friend.

"F-Flowey…" he coughed out, his voice rough from the screaming he had been doing since being captured. He would plead with Flowey if he had to, it didn't matter how much it hurt to speak over the men's pained shouting.

To his surprise, the dark grin upon Flowey's face immediately softened upon hearing Papyrus' voice, the flower's expression shifting from frightening to just looking lost. The men stopped screaming, to Papyrus' relief, as the vines loosened up to how they had been before. The flower brought his gaze up to Papyrus, giving out a nervous giggle before his look turned serious, his attention brought back to the four men.

"Sorry, did I scare you guys?" His cheerful demeanor was back, though it now sounded a little too forced. It must have sounded the same to him as well, as he dropped it before continuing on in a bored, despondent tone. "I don't know why you idiots are here, and honestly, I don't even care. Just get out of here and leave the skeleton with me." He gestured with a vine to the only cavern leaving out of the area. "You can leave the Ruins that way if you want to be down here so bad."

It wasn't long before Papyrus noticed that the vines binding the man to his right were moving, grabbing any weapons off of him and pulling them away towards Flowey. The two men to his left and the one near the cavern were given similar treatment, all guns and knives being taken. A few vines carefully coiled around Papyrus, urging him towards the flower behind him. He helped to the best of his ability, scooting back until he was sitting next to Flowey. Meanwhile, the vines around the four men shoved them away, closer to the cavern leading out towards the Ruins.

"If any of you try to do something stupid, I'll kill you on the spot, got it?" Flowey muttered, still in a bored tone.

With that, he released the men from their holds, allowing them to get up. The man who had been panicking the entire time nearly ran from the area, the fourth man who had initially remained hidden following after hesitantly. The leader meanwhile turned to glare at both Flowey and Papyrus. He was about to open his mouth, no doubt to cuss both monsters out and threaten them, but a particularly large vine smacked him in the face before he could say anything. Another vine shoved him back towards the cavern none too gently.

"Fuck you!" the group's leader ground out, angrily following his other two men once he noticed the many other vines Flowey had poised to attack him. The last man, whom had remained silent throughout a majority of the scenario, followed his leader diligently, as if in a daze.

Flowey kept his vines positioned near the cavern for a few dwindling moments before letting them all slide back into the ground. The men could no longer be heard shouting or complaining down the cavern by the time the flower dropped his guard.

He sighed, looking up at Papyrus. "Were there only four?" he asked.

Papyrus nodded, still rattled from everything that had happened recently. "Y-Yeah." His voice was still rough, though speaking was much easier on his throat now that he didn't have to shout over the screaming of all those humans.

"I can tell whenever someone's on the ground down here, but I can't feel anyone above the Surface or on the mountain. That's the only reason I asked," he muttered, looking away.

"Oh." Papyrus didn't know what else to say to that comment.

It was quiet for a few more moments before Flowey spoke again. "If they try to come back, I'll know, so it's not like they'll be able to get revenge or something stupid like that," he spat out, glaring at the cavern. He brought his gaze up to Papyrus, looking over the wounds running up and down the left side of his body. "What were they trying to do anyways?"

He looked away, for once unable to meet his friend's eyes. Those men had kidnapped and hurt him for reasons he simply couldn't understand. What was he supposed to say? How was he even supposed to react to seeing Flowey again in the first place, after everything he knew the flower had done?

"They…" he paused, hugging his scarf to himself once again. "They're looking for something down here. They thought I would know where it is."

An annoyed scoff, followed by a disbelieving "what?" drew his full attention back towards the flower. Flowey was no longer looking over his injured body, but instead was staring back at the cavern, an incredulous look upon his face.

"Humans are even stupider than I thought!" he almost laughed. "What do they think could possibly be down here that you would know about?"

Papyrus would have felt offended if he hadn't already been so worn out from the whole experience. Or perhaps not. He knew now that everything Flowey had ever told him had been true. Looking back at everything, he never knew a single thing about what went on in the Underground.

"I was the first monster the humans saw on the Surface, so I think they thought I was important and knew about a lot of really important stuff." He sighed, staring pointedly at the ground. "They should have gone to Sans if they wanted someone who actually knew anything."

There was that ever present depression he had been falling into lately. His kidnapping had been a momentary distraction from everything he had been feeling since moving to the Surface, but there it was now, back in full force. Having Flowey there to remind him of his inadequacies certainly was not helping. After his statement, he fully expected his friend to belittle him; tell him that yes, the humans should have gone after someone who wasn't just some idiot. He waited, but Flowey remained quiet.

Curious, he side-eyed the flower, only to see that his friend was staring at him. Not understanding what Flowey was doing, he returned his gaze to the floor.

"There's nothing left down here, you know," Flowey eventually muttered. "I mean, there's the Core, but it overheated and shut down a long time ago. It's completely useless to them. I don't know how they came up with the idea that everyone was actually stupid enough to leave something 'important' down here."

"I don't know. I bet Sans and Dr. Alphys know something."

His friend scoffed again. "Well, your brother maybe. It's not like he ever tells anyone anything."

"No, not really," Papyrus shrugged.

The two fell into yet another uncomfortable silence. Papyrus wasn't certain how long it lasted, but it ended shortly once he felt a handful of vines carefully sliding along the bones on the left side of his body.

"F-Flowey? What are you doing?" he questioned, nervous of what the flower might be planning.

"You can barely move. Don't you want me to heal you?" Flowey responded, giving him a bored look.

While he still considered Flowey to be a good friend, he still didn't know if he could trust him like he used to. After all, he was the plant who had stolen everyone's souls and tried to kill them all. Sans himself told him that the flower had done even more than that in the past.

"But, why?"

Flowey's bored expression turned conflicted, leaving him with a lost appearance not dissimilar to earlier.

"Do you want me to heal you or not?" he repeated.

Papyrus sighed and relaxed, letting the vines do their job. Within moments he felt the healing magic coursing through him, mending the cracks and bruises along his bones. It wasn't long until Flowey had finished, and Papyrus felt himself returned back to his physical peak. The vines retreated as he began testing the left side of his body. He could finally move both his arm and leg without any significant amounts of pain, and found that he could now comfortably draw his legs up and wrap his arms around his knees.

"Thanks, Flowey," he murmured, still not looking in his friend's direction.

"Yeah, whatever," was his reply. "Where are your clothes anyways? You kind of need more than boots and a scarf for mountain climbing," he practically sneered.

He was glad that he had finally been healed, as he could now curl in on himself and hide. "The humans said skeletons don't need to wear clothing, so they took it all off."

"Wow, what sickos," the flower muttered quietly, possibly just to himself. He cleared his throat lightly, Papyrus assuming that he was uncomfortable with the situation. "They didn't, you know, do anything to you, did they?"

Papyrus honestly didn't know what Flowey meant by that, though he tried to hide it. "They hit me and dragged me around and stuff, but that's it."

It was then that he looked over and found Flowey trying to hide his own face from view. "Oh, well, that's good I guess," he gave a nervous giggle, as he now seemed prone to doing.

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, the two fell into another uncomfortable silence. This time it was Papyrus who broke it, the question he had been wondering about nagging him for answers.

"Flowey, why are you still here?"

"Huh? You're kidding, right?" the flower sputtered, whipping his head around to stare incredulously at the skeleton next to him.

"No. I don't understand why you didn't come to the Surface with the rest of us."

Flowey appeared too flabbergasted to even come up with a proper insult for that. "After everything I did, you think I deserve to come up to the Surface with everyone else?"

At this question, Papyrus shrugged, playing with the hem of the scarf he still held. "No one deserves to be stuck down here alone, not even you. I know you can be a better person. If you came up to the Surface, Frisk and I could help you."

There was that nervous giggle again. "You're so stupid." And there was the delayed, obligatory insult. "Papyrus, I can't be a better person. If I went up to the Surface, I'd just end up hurting everyone again and you know it."

"But you didn't hurt me."

"Do you know what I've done to you? I've done worse things to you than anyone else. Repeatedly!"

"No, I mean now!" Papyrus clarified, confused by the flower's statement, but choosing to ignore it for the moment. "You could have hurt me with all of those humans, but you didn't!" He uncurled from his current position, fully facing the flower. "You could have killed those humans too, but you stopped! You saved me and let the humans go. You even healed me! Don't tell me you can't be better!"

Flowey tried to look angry, though his expression quickly fell into a look that was quickly becoming familiar for him; the one that more-or-less screamed that the flower felt lost and confused. "I just did it because I was bored, okay? I do bad things when I'm bored—" he stopped himself. "I mean, I…"

"If that's the truth, then you would have killed us all! Or let those humans keep hurting me!" Papyrus felt a smile forming on his face, he couldn't help it. "You called me your friend, too!"

Flowey hid his face again. "Stop being so stupid!" he yelled halfheartedly. "Why do both you and Frisk have to be like this? So forgiving? I don't get it," his tone quieted down.

He jolted as a boney hand hesitantly patted him on the head.

"It's easy! I already told you everyone can be a better person; they just have to try!" He brought his hand back as Flowey shied away.

"Even those humans who brought you down here?" Flowey sneered.

The flower's statement didn't even bring him pause. "Well, apparently you've done worse things to me, and I still think you can be better, so why not those humans?"

"Golly, you're really asking to get yourself killed," his friend muttered to himself once again. "How'd they even capture you in the first place?" he asked in a clear attempt to change the subject. "Did they tell you they wanted to bring you on a fun adventure?" he mocked.

"No," he mumbled, bringing his knees back up to lean over them. "They broke into my house and knocked me out. I was afraid to fight them because I didn't want to hurt them or anything."

"Of course," was Flowey's only response. Papyrus could see the plant rolling his eyes. Then the flower glanced up towards the cavern, something catching his interest. "The humans left the Ruins," he informed the skeleton. "They'll probably get lost in Snowdin Forest, so you might be able to get past them and get back to the Surface without getting captured again."

The flower looked Papyrus over once more. "You should stop at my mo—" He stopped to correct himself. "Er, Toriel's old place once you get to the end of the Ruins. I know she used to knit a lot of clothing. She might've left some behind when everyone moved to the Surface."

At that, Papyrus sat in contemplation. "Will you meet me there?" he asked.

"Why?" Flowey grumbled, clearly getting annoyed with Papyrus' insistence.

"Well, just in case those humans come back around! You could tell me where they are so I can avoid them in Snowdin!" he responded, perhaps a little too quickly.

Flowey pondered the idea, sending an irritated look the skeleton's way. "You wouldn't have to worry about such things if you would just fight back. The humans can't touch you if you use your blue magic on them properly," he scoffed. "But of course you're too stupid to realize that hurting them is better than being captured and beaten!"

The smile Papyrus had been wearing slipped away as he drew his gaze towards the nearby cavern. "Please? You only have to meet me at Toriel's house, that's it. I won't ask you to meet me anywhere else, I promise."

"Really?" Flowey muttered before sighing. "Why do you even care? You know I tried to kill everyone, and yet you're still begging me to come see you off?"

His smile returned somewhat at his friend's confusion. "I already told you. You can be a better person. And…and I want to see my really cool friend one last time before I take off!"

For a moment he didn't think Flowey would answer him, until he heard a quiet "Fine," from beside him. He felt his face light up instantly; his plan was working! He whipped around before Flowey could react properly, throwing his hands behind the flower and hugging him as best he could.

"Yes! Thank you so much, Flowey! I'm so excited!" he practically screamed in the flower's face.

"Okay! Golly, stop yelling before I change my mind!" he retorted in irritation. "And let me go while you're at it!"

Papyrus let his friend go and sprung up to his feet, wobbling slightly due to adjusting to his recovered injuries.

"I can't wait! I'll see you at Toriel's, okay? Bye!" he waved excitedly, rushing off through the cavern the four men had gone through previously.

Flowey sat for some time after the skeleton had gone, shaking his head in utter confusion. "You're such an idiot," he laughed to himself. As much as he tried to fight it, a smile wormed its way onto his face. He really did hate having a part of his soul back; it caused him to feel too many useless emotions.

A/N: I almost accidentally uploaded a chapter from my Kirby fanfiction here. That probably would have made things even more confusing than I'm sure they already are. This is actually the chapter I'm the most worried about uploading for this fic. It has so much violence and swearing in it, which isn't really my style. Let me know if you ever think I should up the rating, though things will be a lot more tame from here on out.