Chapter 4: Flower Child, Bloodthirsty Child

His job was to catch a human for the king. As Papyrus watched Frisk move on towards Waterfall with great resolution, he felt strangely satisfied for losing. No, no, he didn't lose like that! They had reached a compromise to become friends instead of enemies. He released a wild card into the underground, so anything could happen! And with her heart, she was sure to win over many monsters and make more friends. Eventually, she'd make it to the king and recommend that he be part of the Royal Guard since he'd helped her so much. This was going to be the best thing ever!

"Hey, since she has to go through Waterfall, she's going through Undyne's territory," Sans said.

"Well there isn't any other way to get to the capitol," Papyrus pointed out.

"Undyne doesn't give up easily. Frisk could be in for a hard time trying to make friends with her."

That hadn't occurred to him. "Ah, yes… that could be. But she's reasonable, I'm sure it'll work out." His phone rang, so he got it from his pocket. It was Undyne. "Hello Undyne! We were just talking about you."

"Whatever," she said. "Do you have an updated report on that human in Snowdin?"

"Yes m'am! She headed into Waterfall right now." He heard a sigh from Sans, but ignored it.

"WHAT?!" It hurt all of his ear bones being yelled at through his skull like that. "Papyrus! You were supposed to capture the human, not let her go through! Did you even fight her?"

"Of course I did," Papyrus said. "I fought her as best I could, even trained her so she could do it." This time, Undyne sighed. "Look, she's really great, just take some time to talk to her and you'll realize..."

"We've got to kill her for the king's plan to work," Undyne angrily said to Papyrus's shock.

"I, I thought we were just capturing the humans?" he said, his voice trembling.

"She's invaded and is probably an agent sent to destroy us from within the barrier. She's got to be stopped so that we can go free. Bah, I'm going after her myself." There was a click of finality over the phone.

"But, it's Frisk," Papyrus said, really worried now. "Oh no, we've got to do something to convince Undyne to leave her be Sans?" He glanced around but his brother wasn't there anymore. "Pah, what a time for you to be slacking off," Papyrus grumbled. "There's got to be something I can do."

Never end never end never end


Why does no one have a decent knife? Chara sighed.

"Beats me," Chara answered, brushing dust off her shirt. "And that dork called a notebook a weapon."

Chara?

This place was even more stupid than the snowy village with Christmas decorations. They put sparkling stones in the walls and called them stars to wish upon. Ror lighting, they used glowing crystals and mushrooms. That made it harder to find the monsters. On the other hand, it made things fun when they could sneak up on a small trembling group. They could somehow feel their intent, making them deliciously scared. Then she would strike and they'd be dust.

"Yo! Do you know where everybody went?" A little yellow dinosaur hopped into the room, coming right up to them.

"Not exactly," Chara said. If they did know, they'd hunt them down for hiding like the cowards they were. An interesting death would have to be come up with.

Oblivious to any potential danger, the dino kid stopped by them. "Huh, weird. Usually there's there's lots of monsters walking around here, and you can find Temmies too."

Ugh, Temmies. They're disgustingly cuckoo.

Don't hurt the Temmies.

"Who was that?" Chara murmured, glancing around although it seemed like a voice in her head, just like the hitchhiking spirit of Chara.

Just my silly little brother. He's a coward too, but it's fun to make him watch this. There's something about this dumb dino kid that reminds me of him.

"I came here looking for Undyne!" the dino kid said. "Are you here to see her too? Come on, I know all the paths through Waterfall! We'll find her."

Chara didn't want a wimp along as a liability. But trust me, it's fun to make them think you're their only friend in the world and then show them what power you have. True, that could be interesting. "Sure kid, which path gets us out of here?"

Never end never end never end


Frisk stopped to take the snowman's eye off her bag. "Can you see this?" she asked, turning around slowly with the eye in her hands. "It's so pretty."

Walking down this path was like walking under the full moon. It had the darkness of night, but an ethereal blue glow that made it easy to see. The path was clearly marked with plenty of signs saying which path went where; she followed signs to reach the capitol where the barrier was. Overhead, it was like a sky full of stars. According to a sign, they were magical crystals that had been left in place to remind monsters of the world above.

There were also amazing pale blue flowers lining the path, with blossoms bigger than her head. In turning about for the snowman, she accidentally brushed against one, causing it to speak. "Can you see this?" it repeated in her voice. "It's so pretty."

Frisk smiled wide at that. The underworld was so amazing. Although according to the signs, the monsters wanted to return to the surface world. It was strange seeing these stories of the other side of the world, ones that saw humans as bad as some humans saw monsters. There was no mention of the tower of bones guy. Why couldn't people get along? She'd have to talk with her Mom and Dad about that when she got home. She did have phone numbers for Toriel and Papyrus, so they could all talk and start working things out.

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"Can you see this?" the echo flower said in a voice like a little girl. "It's so pretty."

Little girl? No, it had to be some trick. She'd dealt with a human before once, over in Snowdin. It had been a teenaged boy who spoke with his fists and had killed a dozen monsters around Snowdin and Waterfall. That had been a hero's battle, a tough one that had been a close call. But, a battle against a little girl? That wasn't heroic. It still had to be done. There'd be some trick.

She'd observe and find that trick.

She had to hurry before more monsters died.

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Patter patter patter. Their feet made ripples in the thin sheet of water on the raised path. Patter patter patter. The pink umbrella over their heads kept them dry and made a pleasing noise with the raindrops. Patter patter patter. While it was lightly cool here, there was a smell of moisture, reeds, and flowers, kind of spring like. Patter patter patter.

"So what's this big mission you're on?" Kid asked Frisk.

A pretty blue stone swung below her backpack and the sweet spider doll was still under her arm. "It's not a mission, I just want to go home. But I have to go all the way to the capitol first."

He smiled to encourage his friend. "Well once you get into Hotland, you're almost there! I don't go that far without my parents, but they've got neat elevators there that will take you right to the capitol. Though if you've got time, you ought to see the magma flows! It's really cool, well not cool because it's hot enough to melt rocks far below. You know what I mean."

Frisk smiled. "Yeah. There's lots of amazing places in the underground. Once I get home and get permission, maybe I'll come back."

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This was what night was like on the surface, huh? It was dark, but it made things glow and sparkle like you wouldn't see in brighter areas of the underground. The ceiling really wasn't far away, as he didn't have to stretch his vines up far to touch it. But when he pulled back, looked up, and cleared his mind, it was like he was looking at something immensely far away. There had been a poem, the sky stretched to infinity. If the night sky was like this, he could believe it.

Something isn't right, I should be feeling something at this sight.

I should be feeling something.

Maybe an ancient memory of monsterkind, remembering the deep emptiness overhead that I only have to look into my self for?

People were approaching. He should try again. Moving aside so that he was in the presence of glowing mushrooms, he waited to see who would come. It was a pair of lesser monsters, one that had a water tank body to waddle along and a mop to clean the floor. Woshua. The other floated along, the brown head of a horse on a bronzed muscled body. Aaron.

SAVE STATE THREE

"Howdy!" Flowey called out.

"Howdy!" an echo flower near him said.

Aaron snickered. "Look at this, the flowers are talking to each other. Isn't that cute? ;)"

People liked cute. "Well it always agrees with me," he said, trying to sound sweet.

"KKKKKKYYYUUUUUUTTTTEEEEEEEEE!" And some white furred creature with black hair pounced out of the darkness to nearly squash Flowey into the floor. Aaron just laughed. The Temmie's face filled Flowey's sight. "Kyutie flowey!"

"Um, be careful," Woshua said. "That flower might make a mess if you squash it."

"I will not be squashed!" Flowey said, sending his vines up through the Temmie and turning her to dust. There was just a split second when her eyes were filled with fear on realizing his danger. When the other two monsters stared, he tore them apart too.

Stupid Temmie. He could have done this right.

LOAD STATE THREE

Now, sound cheerful, don't let them feel that I just murdered them. "Howdy!" Flowey said, bopping in place.

"Howdy!" the echo flower behind him said as well. "Howdy!"

As before, Aaron snickered. "Look at this, the flowers are talking to each other. Isn't it cute? ;)"

He couldn't see the Temmie, but knew she was nearby. "I was looking for someone more interesting to talk to, actually," Flowey said.

"I'm not much of a talker, see? ;)" The Aaron tensed his arm muscles and rapped the knuckles of his fists together.

"I've got messes to clean, sorry," the Woshua said, busily scrubbing at a patch of ground whose only sin was being slightly lighter than the rest around it.

Ignoring the Woshua for now, Flowey looked up at the horse man. "How… how do you do that winkie thing in your speech? It's not a sound, but I know you did it."

"It's magic," he teased, then added the winkie. Unfortunately, Flowey wasn't able to get the secret out of him before the Temmie spaz glomped him again.

LOAD STATE THREE

Nor here.

LOAD STATE THREE

Nor here.

LOAD STATE THREE

Finally, after trying about fifty different ways of handling the conversation, he got it. Flowey had to try it. "So, like this? ;)"

The Aaron grinned and flexed in encouragement. "You got it, cutie. ;)"

"KYYUUUUUU…!"

"NO!" Flowey cried, burrowing back in the ground and making the Temmie splat face first into the ground.

That was pretty funny, but it'd be funnier if she died doing that.

He did a good thing in getting the Aaron friendly enough to teach him how to make a winkie sound, but why did he like it better that the Temmie got hurt?

Never end never end never end


"Your name is what?" Frisk asked, opening her eyes and seeing golden petals. Water rushed joyfully around her, but only gentle mist billowing in the air touched her. When she took a breath, the rich pollen tickled her nose and made her sneeze. Some of the flowers swayed, but she didn't see Flowey among them.

Then the voice of a boy not much older than her came from… somewhere. Don't remember.

Frisk sat up, but there seemed to be no one near her. She even checked the flowers, but none of them spoke up. "Where are you then?"

With you. When you fell and breathed the pollen… I'm sorry, I don't know why I called you. I knew it had to be done, but I don't remember why. I, I was cold, lonely. Only a nightmare was with me and I don't remember the nightmare either.

For a brief moment, she thought she saw someone in the mist, a child that looked a lot like Tori. But he was gone once she blinked. And there was another strange thought in her mind, like someone gentle whispering to her. Kindness awakens one, cruelty awakens the other. Don't be afraid, Frisk. Be kind to him.

"Well you can stay with me if it makes you feel better," Frisk said, getting to her feet and trying to dust as much of the yellow pollen off as she could.

Never end never end never end


Weird, there's somebody I can't directly find, but I remember.

"You make all this music yourself?" Frisk asked, impressed at this ghost's talent.

"Um..." Napstablook didn't seem very sure of himself in talking, but she could see sparkles of happiness that she was trying to hold a conversation with him. "Um. Not really. See, um, I'm a DJ. That stands for disc jockey. Err, I take a tune that somebody else made, like, um, here," he played a cheery song that was about evergreen trees, "then, um, I take these music programs to add bits or change them up. Like, um, this." He add some extra beats to the tune and a spooky echo to the vocals.

"That sounds like fun!" She jumped and spun around to dance, making the ghost barely laugh. But his heart sparkled greatly.

This is fun. I haven't danced in a long time.

"What other songs you got?" she asked, hoping for more to dance along to. Maybe even sing if she knew the words.

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"We Tem Brigade!" one of the strange creatures declared. One beside it nodded so enthusiastically that its saucepan helmet fell off with a splat onto the marsh ground. "We beat stinky human to save village!"

"Are you kidding me?" Chara said, looking at the four floating creatures that had human-like hair, but cat parts, dog parts, and who-knows-what parts. They wore various bits of kitchenware (and a toilet brush weapon for one) as battle gear.

Nope, that's Temmies for you.

"We dead serus," another Temmie said. "Cause murder is not cute! Go Tem Brigade go!" Three of them sent bizarre stretching paw magic after her while the fourth opted for something very unusual for monsters in simply hurling itself at her.

Cussing, Chara was only able to attack the one Temmie that was coming at her. But even as annoyed as she was at the thing, it took several attempts to actually kill the Temmie. The other three were still sticking back, getting angry at the fall of their peer. That was one trouble with knives and fists: she had to run right up to the monsters, dodging their attacks on the way, in order to take them out.

Then again, that was part of the reason she always liked knives. They had a certain feeling of being personal. You had to get right in someone's personal space to attack them with a knife, where you could best experience their horror, pain, and fear. It just wasn't until she came down here that she could break out of her shell of trying to be normal and instead be who she was.

I think we can agree that we don't want to waste a Load on Temmies, so here, try an old spell. I never really got the chance to use it in earnest, because of some loser little brother who chickened out at the last moment.

Sorry… I don't remember, but sorry.

While the two of them argued, Chara followed the thoughts that Chara had given her to cast attack magic. She couldn't see what was happening, but she saw it like in a dream, a fragment of power in the air taking the form of a thousand knives that hurled themselves into the three Temmies. Her aim was wild, but there were so many that two exploded into dust and the third fell onto the path and was easily taken down while its eyes were full of fear.

"It's not quite as personal, but it is satisfying," she said. "Though I'm gonna have to practice it to be any good at it."

Don't…!

Head further down the path towards the south and Temmie Village should be right nearby. I hope they haven't run, this should be a fun practice.

Chara laughed.

Never end never end never end


The oldest human to come into the underground had still been a teenager, almost an adult if he remembered their standards right. The boy had come with a strange new weapon, a gun, which was devastating. It was somewhat confusing how that one had come to his end. While everyone around here knew that the gunslinger had been killed by a mysterious monster here in Waterfall, he owned a few documents that claimed the gunslinger had made it clear to the castle and nearly won against Asgore. The gunslinger seemed to have caused the king a debilitating injury, but that was not the case in everyone's memory. Of course, the king had been reclusive for decades so it was hard to confirm this.

The youngest human to come into the underground so far had been a nine-year-old girl who brought a frying pan and cooking apron to defend herself with. And she'd gotten far too, getting into Hotland before members of the royal guard took her down. She had mostly run from fights, but had bashed a few monsters to death as well. As for her, her story was clear. Only the fist fighter who'd fallen in Snowdin or Waterfall had an uncertain fate, either killed by Undyne when she was a fresh recruit to the Royal Guard or gravely injuring Undyne and getting killed by another member of the guard. Although the first fate seemed to be true because the latter ended up discouraging Undyne from continuing to fight.

However, the human who entered his shop that day was even younger than the frying pan girl. She just had a backpack, a flashlight, and a spider doll with her. The teenagers and even the nine-year-old seemed capable of being on their own, but this little sprout? She should really be home with her family. Then again, there was no way for her to stumble into the underground anywhere near here; she must have some skill, or a guardian angel.

He didn't want to be involved in the soul scheme anymore. "Hey kiddo, need something?"

"Are you Gerson?" she asked. "I'm Frisk, and Napstablook said that you might have some food for sale that I can actually eat."

The old turtle nodded. "Sure enough, I've got some crab apples and tortoiseshell bread. Don't worry, the bread's not made with actual tortoiseshell. Even have some sea tea if you're thirsty."

"I thought crabapples weren't good to eat," she said, but she seemed curious as she came up and put her hands on the counter.

"Well they look like crabs but taste like apples," Gerson said, bringing out the basket of them. The fruits had the bright red of a cooked crab on their skin, plus a shape like their shells.

Once she took one and smelled it, she nodded. "I'll try it, and some sea tea please. Um, how much?"

He should bump the price up because she was a human. But he could hear her stomach growling and she did say Napstablook sent her here. Anyone who got friendly with that Blook had to be a good person in Gerson's book. "Twenty-three gold, does that work for you?"

Frisk nodded and took off her backpack to carefully count out the money. However, she frowned at one piece. "Um, is this a quarter or a nickel?"

"What's that you're asking?"

"Well this one is a penny," she pointed out a one gold piece, "So it's one money, right? What about them?"

Definitely not old enough to be on her own. "That's right. And that's a five piece, that's a ten, and, hmm," he got another coin out of his register for demonstration purposes, "and that's twenty-five."

"Okay," she said solemnly, then took another minute to make sure she got exactly twenty-three. "That right?"

"Yes, good work," Gerson said, making her smile. He smiled back without thinking. Just based on that, she seemed to have a good soul. "Since you got it in one try, how about I throw in a free slice of tortoiseshell bread with butter as well?"

"Are you sure, mister?" she asked. When he nodded, she added, "Thank you. Um, can I ask you some things?"

"Sure, it's a slow day at the shop," he said, going over to where he kept some bread for himself to get them each a slice. Meanwhile, she settled herself on a bench by the wall with her bottle of sea tea and the crab apple. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well see, I'm trying to get to the barrier to get home," Frisk explained. "But Captain Undyne keeps chasing me across the wooden paths and throwing magic spears at me. And then I've got some ghost of a kid monster following me around and he's all scared and confused, doesn't even remember his own name. I read the signs on the way here, though, and they say that only human souls can become ghosts after they die. Monster souls don't linger and Napstablook says he and the weird dummy are Blook monsters, not ghosts."

Undyne would be an obstacle to this child, but Gerson was soon distracted by her talk of a monster's ghost. When he looked at Frisk as he passed over a plate of bread and butter, he could see hints that her soul wasn't alone in her body. "The signs tell what we know. Why do you think your ghost is a kid monster?"

"Cause I've seen him a few times and he looks like Ms Toriel," she said. "But small like me, with white fur and long droopy ears. He sounds like a kid too, and says that some nightmare was with him. But I don't know a lot, he was quiet up until today. I'd like to help him out, cause Gran says that ghosts only linger if they have things they couldn't finish in life that they need to get done."

"Oh, that reminds me of sad times," Gerson said, feeling some of that heartache again. "Not many details, but I remember the emotions. Sorry, lass, but I'm an antique myself and my memory's unreliable. But that time," he sighed and briefly considered what to tell her. "You mention the name Toriel; do you know her?"

She nodded. "Yeah, she found me when I first fell down here and she was very kind to me. I was only with her a week, but I miss her and I've got her phone number to talk if I need to. I was thinking about asking her, but even when I just mentioned who I saw at first made her said. I don't want to make her sad, but, um," she stopped, not sure how to say something.

"Toriel did have a child long ago," Gerson said, setting his bread and butter down to watch her carefully. "His name was Asriel."

"As...riel?" Frisk's expression changed from curious concern to wary weariness; the color of her soul shifted from a determined red to the white of monsters. While her lips moved, Gerson wasn't able to hear any words from her. Then her soul shifted back to red and she looked thoughtful. "That seems right."

If that was Asriel's soul she had somehow, then there was something very important he should tell her.

Crack

It wasn't until he had closed up shop to get some sleep that Gerson remembered the important thing that Frisk should know. They'd gotten off on a tangent and then to discussing how she might deal with Undyne; he'd forgotten entirely to tell her the importance of Asriel. Maybe he should find a way to tell her. But how?

On yawning, he decided that Frisk had a bright mind and a warm heart. If she didn't figure it out, someone else would and would be better able to tell her about it. She was a good girl; she would surely make it home safe.

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"You really have a blessed life, you know that?" Chara said that out of nowhere; Asriel had only been talking about things that their parents had told him.

"What do you mean by that?" the younger boy asked, trying to keep up with his adopted brother in the marshes of Waterfall.

"Lots of things. Like your parents don't care if we go out on days long walks like this and when we get tired, people welcome us in to sleep. Although I don't know about staying in Temmie Village again." He rolled his eyes.

Asriel smiled. "But they were fun, right? They get so excited by silly things."

"Makes me wonder how they'd react to certain things." He got a creepy smile at that, although Asriel had seen enough of that expression to find it funny even if it made him feel weird. Then Chara grabbed Asriel tightly from behind, pressing hard just below his neck. "Gotcha."

"H-hey!" he said, having some trouble speaking.

"I'm just playing with ya. My dad used to do this to me." Then Chara moved his head closer. "I bet people get real jealous of you. I bet they think it's not fair that you're so blessed when you're just a kid who's done nothing to get those blessings."

"People are nice to me, you too," Asriel said, trying to be tough even if this was a bit scary. Chara was just playing.

"Do you know what they say when you're not around? You can't read another's mind." Then he poked his neck. "But don't worry. I've got a plan that I'm working on that will make you great. I've got a plan to bring down that barrier to the surface."

"Really?" Asriel asked in awe, trying to look back at Chara. He was amazing to come up with that on his own. "How?"

"I don't want to explain here where echoes linger," he whispered. "And there's some things I need to read about, which is why we're going to Snowdin. However, I'm only letting you in on my little secret. You're special to me, but I'm trusting you a lot to keep quiet. If you don't," he pushed a bit harder on Asriel's neck with one finger, "you'll be in big trouble. But if this works, everybody is gonna see just how amazing you can be."

"I'll keep it a secret, don't worry," he said. "But wouldn't it show people how great you are if you come up with a working plan?"

Chara chuckled. "Oh, you know me, I don't like that kind of attention. It will be worth it to see you become the best king ever."

"Dad's the king, not me," Asriel said, smiling at the joke.

"You never know."

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