Chapter 3

Asriel clenched his fists tightly before demanding "What are doing here?"

"I thought I made it clear I would be watching you. I saw your little battle with Papyrus and saw how you almost died to him. Honestly I was so disappointed, you are aware that any other monster would have killed you and taken that soul you continue to carry. You won't make it far if you continue with this foolish mercy nonsense." the Flower Child answered with a small hum.

"You're wrong, mercy isn't nonsense and are you telling me that you would gladly slaughter a kind soul like Papyrus?" the young monster replied, angry that the strange girl didn't care for life.

But as soon as he uttered those words, much to his surprise, the Flower Child froze. He stared in confusion as her body shuddered a bit, almost as if she was trying to fight back tears. Asriel grew worried when the child before him remained silent until partially to his relief the girl's familiar psychotic laugh rang through the air as her hand clutched tightly around the stem of her flower.

"I thought I made it clear that it's killed or be killed in this world. It doesn't matter how many nice things you do, in the end reality is cruel and beats you down every chance it gets. I guess if you had a similar experience, you would share my mindset, but unfortunately fate doesn't seem to want that." the Flower Child said before slowly standing up.

Asriel did his best to hide away the small amount of fear he felt as he stepped away from the girl as she walked past him.
The Flower Child was fixing to leave the shed until she stopped in her tracks and turned her head toward the young monster with her psychotic and unnerving grin replaced with a small sad smile.
This confused Asriel deeply since he never once showed any kind of emotions such as sadness and remorse. It made him wonder if she was even capable of controlling her emotions or if she was in control the whole time and his words was truly the first thing she found sad in her life.

"By the way, prepare your taste buds." the girl muttered quietly before leaving the shed, leaving behind a still confused Asriel.

The Flower Child released a breath she wasn't even aware she was holding once she stepped outside into the freezing cold air of Snowdin. But before she could even take a step, she saw the surroundings of the snow covered town freeze and grow dark. Upon seeing this, a dark laugh emitted from her throat before she turned around to see none other than Sans standing before her with his hands stuffed in his pockets and right pupil was gone but his left glowed blue with magic.

"look, I'm only going to say this once, i want you to leave the kid alone." the skeleton said with his voice laced with anger.

"We both know you wouldn't do that, Sans. After all you know about the other timelines, we both know how these events were birthed." the young girl replied.

"i'll do what I have to, it doesn't matter who you use to be. you're not that person anymore." Sans threatened.

The Flower Child let another laugh escape her mouth except this time it was mixed with a choked sob. Her head lifted up and her eyes glanced up to the sky has her hand tightened around the flower she held, almost to the point of crushing it.

"I know, Sans, my mind is too fractured to be that person, a fate that I have to accept." she replied.

Then without another word, the Flower Child disappeared in a flash of red light.
Once the child was gone, Sans sighed as he ran his boney fingers over his skull, forcing his blue pupil to disappear and change back to normal. The skeleton remained silent as he stuffed his hands back in his pockets put on his uncaring and lazy persona once more. He didn't know why it the situation with the Flower Child bothered him so much when it came to other timelines he had simply had given up, not seeing the point in striving for a goal when everything would rewind back to the beginning in the end.

"It's been the same thing for every timeline. So why is it that I care now?" he thought to himself.

Sans was awakened from his thoughts when he heard a door open up. Much to his surprise he saw Asriel cautiously poking his head out of the shed door, looking around for any signs of the Flower Child. He couldn't help but snicker at the sight, happy to see at least the young monster got to experience joy in his life since he was very aware of his fate in the other timelines. All of the sudden, the two were both startled by Papyrus slamming the front door open with a plate of spaghetti in his hand.

"HUMAN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE BROUGHT YOU MY SPECIAL MADE SPAGHETTI! TRULY ONLY A SKILLED CHEF SUCH AS MYSELF COULD MAKE SUCH A MARVELOUS DISH!" the skeleton proclaimed.

But when he turned toward Asriel, his mouth dropped wide open because he no longer saw a human, he now instead saw a young monster.

"WHAT, YOU WERE A MONSTER THIS WHOLE TIME?" he exclaimed.

Asriel blinked in confusion for a few seconds until he remembered how the Flower Child told him monsters could see him for what he truly was when he opened up his heart to them. With this realization he lowered his head and fully opened the shed door, completely revealing his true form. He made up a lie by claiming how he heard Sans mention how he had never seen another human so he used illusion magic to make himself look like a human in order to cheer him up. Much to the young monster's happiness, Papyrus believed his story.

"YOU DID ALL THAT FOR ME?! YOU TRULY ARE THE GREATEST FRIEND, I, PAPYRUS COULD ASK FOR... WELL NEXT TO THE BRILLANT UNDYBE OF COURSE." Papyrus replied, taking a pause for a few seconds and smiling nervously upon recalling his idol.

"you got to admit kid, you're pretty good actor." Sans commented with a grin.

"BUT STILL FOR BEING SUCH A KIND FRIEND, YOU DO DESERVE TO TASTE MY FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI!" the tall skeleton exclamation before dropping the plate into Asriel's hands.

The young monster stared at the plate, recalling the Flower Girl's advice before she left. Figuring that she was only pulling another one of her tricks, Asriel grabbed ahold of the fork and scooped up a bunch of the spaghetti and stuffed it in his mouth. But when he did this, he immediately regretted not taking the young girl's advice because the moment the paste hit his tongue, his tastebuds were overwhelmed with an extremely bitter taste that prompting the his face to scrunch up.

"THAT FACE, TRULY IT IS THE FACE OH SOMEONE WHO SEES THE BRILLANCE IN MY COOKING AND ADORES THE DIVINE TASTES! NYEH, IT'S TOO OVERWHELMING!" Papyrus yelled in happiness before running around the town of Snowdin while laughing in joy.

Seeing the skeleton was gone, Asriel gagged as he shoved the plate into Sans' hands with his tongue stuck out, trying desperately to get rid of the bitter taste.
Seeing the plate was in his hands, Sans decided to sample a small amount of his brother's spaghetti.

"heh, actually this isn't too bad. definitely an improvement over his last attempts." the skeleton commented.

Once he finally got rid of the taste off of his mouth, Asriel spoke up "Well since know you both know I'm really a monster. I suppose I can tell you the truth that my name is actually Asriel, in other words I'm the long lost prince."

Upon hearing this, Sans rolled his pupils before replying "kid, i always knew who you were from the moment i saw you. i basically did a thing called playing dumb, i knew you were the prince straight from the beginning even if you looked like a human at the time."

Asriel's eyes widened in both shock and surprise at this discovered revelation; he couldn't believe that the skeleton managed to recognize him despite Chara's Soul causing him to appear as a human. He knew no other monster figured out his identity so easily, leaving him to wonder how the skeleton before him managed to easily figure it out. But when he thought about the skeleton's mysteriously knowledge more and more, a shock thought entered his mind.

"If you know about my true identity, then you already know about the Flower Child." Asriel stated.

Sans' pupils disappeared and his hands clenched tightly upon hearing this. He didn't want to really talk about the girl who obsessively lays with flowers all because of the simple fact he was stuck with the knowledge on how she had came to be. A knowledge that he hated and wished to forget but unfortunately he was trapped with the memory that no one but he and the Flower Child knew.

He remained silent for a few moments before finally replying "yeah, i know about her. i advise staying away from her at all costs her mind isn't stable at all."

"I kind of figured with how she kept claiming that it's killed or be killed in this world." the young monster said before taking a few moments of silence before asking "Sans, how did she become the way she did?"

The skeleton released a loud sigh before answering "let's just say, she thought she could change fate and in the end she ended up paying the ultimate price. i'm leaving it at that. besides you don't really have time standing around and talking to me when you still need to go to your dad and show him your alive."

Asriel's head lowered a bit in sadness, remembering how he made it his goal to show his father he was alive and convince him to stop slaughtering humans and collecting their souls so he may shatter the barrier that separates them from humanity. With a sigh, the young monster began his long trek once more, not bothering to look back at the skeleton behind him. But because of this, he failed to see the frown that formed on Sans face for a few brief seconds before he hid it away behind a smile. Asriel kept trudging though the snow, watching as it got less and less deeper the further along the road he traveled.

It wasn't long until finally the snowy path was gone, leading into the watery lands known as Waterfall. The young monster's red eyes glanced up at the entrance to the dark caves, his heart growing nervous about his eventual encounter with his father. But because of this, he failed to see a dark shadow begin looming over him. With warning, Asriel found himself slammed to the ground, prompting him to cry out in pain. He was flipped onto his back to discover a knight in large armor with yellow glowing eyes and holding a blue glowing spear in their hand while using their other to pin him to the ground by his neck.

"So a seventh human finally shows themselves, your soul will do nicely to break the barrier." a rough sounding female voice emerged from the knight.

Asriel choked and gasped as he frantically clawed at his throat, trying to get the knight to release the death grip she had on him. But unfortunately his struggles earned him with a spear pointed very dangerously close to his chest, right above where Chara's soul rest.

"Now to claim your soul and monster kind will finally be free!" the knight proclaimed.

But before she could stab her spear into Asriel's chest, out from the tall grass emerged a young male monster that looked like a yellow lizard except he had no arms and he wore a yellow and orange striped jumped out of the tall grass with an excited grin plastered on his face.

"Oh this is so awesome, I get to see the Undyne battle a human!" the monster kid exclaimed happily.

"Kid, what did I tell you about following me! Ugh, am I going to have to call your parents again?!" Undyne shouted angrily, intentionally releasing her grip on her victim.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Asriel quickly scampered out from underneath the knight before quickly getting back on his feet and took off running. His heart raced in fear when he heard the knight yell in rage before creating a bunch of glowing spears and rapidly firing at him. The young monster weave back and forth doing all in his power to avoid being hit by one of the spears. Fortunately he managed to run far off enough that he spotted a small crevice in the cave wall. Without any seconds thoughts, Asriel quickly squeezed into the crevice and held his breath, trying his best to calm down when he heard the sound of metal boots smashing against the ground.

Undyne snarled as she looked all around the area, armed with her spear, trying to find any sign of the human that fled from her. Unfortunately for her, she failed to spot Asriel hiding in the crevice and with a yell of anger she stormed off.

"You may escaped this time, human, but mark my words, I will track you down again." she thought to herself as she traversed deeper into the caves.

Once the knight was gone, Asriel sighed in relief before slowly slipping out of the crevice he hid in. He wasn't expecting to encounter a monster that was so dead set on killing him after he had nice encounters with his mother and Papyrus.

But before he could take a single step, his body froze when he heard a voice echo in his mind "Let me take control, Asriel. I promise I'll make sure she won't stand in our way."

The young monster squeezed his red eyes shut tightly as he did his best to block out the voice in his mind. He didn't even had to guess to know that the voice was Chara's soul speaking to him, just like she had been able to do ever since he first absorbed her soul. He could sense her angry and aggravation with his choice to ignore her as he continued making his way deeper into the caves of Waterfall. He didn't care how much she tried to convince him, he remembered how one he absorbed her soul, she tried to lock away his consciousness and claim his body as her own, even managed to partially succeeding since he was unable to prevent her from carrying her dead body across the barrier.

"I can't believe you're still holding that over my head. Ugh, sometimes you can be such an idiot, Asriel." Chara's soul bitterly remarked.

"Why would I trust a person who betrayed my trust. It makes it even worse that I can't even remember what happened after we crossed the barrier! And now because of you, no monster knows who I am unless I manage to open my heart to them!" he hissed back in anger.

"Uh, you're forgetting how that Flower Child pointed out that they would also see your true form upon death. If you ask me, I think killing them is much better than that silly mercy nonsense your trying to do." the soul stated.

Asriel snarled in anger, once again trying to block out the soul's voice. He knew in the past he would be horrified at the thought of shunning the one person that was like a sibling to him but he also knew that was before Chara betrayed him by using his kindness and love for her against him.

"Fine ignore me, and to think I was going to help you with your little amnesia problem concerning the surface." Chara huffed.

When the young monster heard this he immediately stopped in his tracks; he couldn't believe that the soul of his adoptive sibling was able to recall the events he could not. as much as he didn't want to trust Chara, he did want answers such as how he managed to survive against the humans and why he had been missing from the Underground for so long. With a bit of nervousness and hesistation in his voice, the young monster proceeded to ask the soul what the had recalled about the surface.
If Chara still was alive, a sly and taunting smirk would had formed on her face, happy that Asriel had taken her bait.

"Of oh course, Asriel, I'll tell you all that I remember what happened on surface after we both crossed the barrier. It still such a shame only I can remember such a life changing event, well that is if I still had a life. Anyways back to the point, I'll tell you everything that happened if you do one little favor for me." she taunted.

Despite the bad feeling that began to wash over his entire body, the young monster asked "What do you want me to do?"

"Well it's quite simple, give me control of your body with absolutely no resistance and I will restore that piece of memory you so desperately desire." she answered.

Asriel closed his eyes deep in thought, while he didn't trust Chara, especially after how she stated how she wanted to kill everything in her path, he still did want to know what happened on the surface so he could finally peace together what had happened to him during all those years ago.

"Well, Asriel, I'm waiting. What is your answer?" Chara asked in an annoyed tone.

The young monster took in a deep sigh before replying "I..."