Chapter Seven: Old Wounds

"Ah-"

"Sh-shit-"

"C-c'mon-"

"H-harder, Trashbag!"

"Wh-what? I am-"

"Ah- holy fuck- could you- ah- get any fucking- ngh-"

"I don't see how you're complaining- this was your idea-"

"Trashh- shit! Ah- just- Fuck- stop- just stop! ngh-"

Sans abruptly let go of Flowey's vines, and leaned up against a tree as he huffed for air. "I-" he huffed "told you," huff, "that, that," huff, "wasn't going to," huff, "work."

"Shut up," Flowey growled horsley.

Sans shook his head as he chuckled breathlessly. Flowey had been so desperate to not get his vines trimmed that he had insisted that he just try to untangle, and untie them from his bones, but, apparently, he decided that was way worse than the alternative.

"So," Sans voiced, taking in a gulp of air, and clearing his throat, "How are we, uh, supposed to trim 'em?"

"Tr-trim them?" The flower practically screeched, "We'll trim them when I'm allowed to 'trim' your fucking limbs, Trash Bag!"

There was a short, tense silence before Sans said, "Okay, okay, there's no need to get your vines up in a knot."

"Why you," He growled.

"Hm, I guess that we're literally bound for life, now. I wonder if I can make a pun out of that," The skeleton mused.

"You just made one, you idiot! Isn't that enough!?"

"Nah, you can never have enough."

Flowey grumbled incoherently before slytherin back inside Sans' eye socket, laying his head down on the inside of the skeletons jaw. Sans leaned up against the tree lazily for a few moments longer before he stood back up and decided to continue his search for Edge.

Flowey's POV:

Flowey curled up grumpily on the floor of Sans' skull as he watched the world through the skeleton's sockets. Sans began to walk again and Flowey was, once again, lulled by the soft movements; except, this was a different type of lulling. It wasn't like the soft sleep that fell over him earlier. He didn't feel like he could sleep. After everything that had just happened, he didn't think that he'd be able to sleep again in fear that Sans might try to trim him in his sleep. This time, it was more of just a comforting feeling; something very tranquil.

Flowey allowed his thoughts to pace softly inside his mind, and they happened to bump into Sans. It was only natural. He was the closest person to him at the moment, after all. Stumbling upon this subject, he couldn't help but to think about the skeleton's sanity. After the barrier had broken, and Frisk had convinced him to leave with them, a lot of things seemed to change. For one, his mind somehow… clicked. After not being able to feel love for so long, it was so shocking for the emotion to suddenly flood back. After he transformed back into his flower form (after being Asriel), he could suddenly feel again, and to say the least… it was strange…

But, that wasn't the only thing that had changed after leaving the underground. After escaping, Sans took a huge leap into a pool of emotions too, but… in a different way than he had. Sans had been dealing with depression for so long, that it had become numbing. Needless to say, he wasn't feeling very much of anything, so Frisk suggested that he see a therapist. Predictably, he politely declined with a "Kid, I'm fine. I don't need a therapist." and a "Don't worry about me.".

Of course, just as predictable as Sans' response, Frisk eventually convinced him to do it, just like she could convince him to do anything else. At first, there was no noticeable difference in Sans' behavior, but after a while, he started to express real emotions. It was much better than those fake ones that he liked to toss around. It could get really surprising, really. He would experience every emotion so intensely after that, and it even seemed to surprise Sans himself.

He would get crazy happy, insanely sad, gastly angry, extremely sad, and then, out of the blue, really depressed again. It would happen again and relapse… Through it all, Sans and Frisk seemed pretty determined to fix his problem, so he wasn't expecting it to end anytime soon.

Flowey shook his head and sighed. He had a nagging feeling that the only reason that Frisk made him tag along just to make sure that Sans didn't let his "New Emotions" (or NE, which is what him and Frisk called it) get the best of him and… as much as he hated to admit it, that's exactly what he had done when he kept the skeleton from killing Edge.

The flower squirmed uncomfortably at the thought, causing his aching vines to sting in protest. Ouch. That damn trashbag couldn't follow instructions, even if a life was on the line. He specifically told him to "Untie" and "Untangle" his vines. Not yank and strangle them. Like, golly gee! Why dontcha just saw them off with a dull saw! He might as well have.

Sans POV:

Sans circled through the woods one final time before he huffed with defeat, deciding that it would be best if he gave up on the search for now. He thought back to Red, and felt his magic scratch at the inside of his throat. Red… Was gone now… He couldn't change that. It wasn't his fault; there's nothing that he could do… But that didn't keep his mind from reminiscing. He COULD have done something. Red COULD still be alive right now. If only he had stepped in. He just sat there and watched… He just watched when he could have done something… Just like… he always did…

Sans wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve as he took in a large, shaken breath. He couldn't help what he didn't do. He couldn't help the past anymore… But that wasn't what his mind wanted to tell him; those words weren't what his mind wanted to live by because he COULD HAVE done something while the time was there. He very well could have prevented Red's death, and it was crushing him.

The skeleton stifled his sniffles as he rubbed his eyes again. He needed to block these feeling out. He needed to shut these thoughts up. Now wasn't the time. He just needed to get to the meeting point. He just needed Ink to teleport him home. He wasn't even that far. He could get there. He could make it.

But he couldn't. His soul began to tug with uneven patterns, and his legs became stiff. He tried his best to breathe. He tried to just drop his thoughts and focus on nothing but calming his breath, but they only continued.

His death is your fault. You could have stopped it. He's gone; forever. He's never coming back. You're so lazy. You're so worthless. You're so helpless. You can't even make it to the fucking meeting point! What's wrong with you!? Why can't you just be normal? Why can't you just be helpful? Why can't you just pull your shit together for once? Why, why, why!? Why are you like this!?

Flowey's POV:

Flowey spectated uninterestedly from inside of Sans' skull as the skeleton continued his search for the Underfell version of his brother. He was just wondering when they were going to head back home when the skeleton's magic summoned tears that welled up on the edges of his sockets. What the…? Flowey blinked several times as he laid motionless and confused on the floor on Sans' jaw. It took him a moment to actually comprehend that something was wrong, and he started picking between sitting back and letting him work it out on his own, and slithering out and trying to help…

He wasn't one to be helpful, but…

Sans began to back up until he pushed himself against a tree, allowing himself to slide down until he was sitting in the snow. The skeleton's breath started to come in sharp gulps, and it looked like his tears were pouring rapidly from his sockets… What had caused this…?

Just as flowey decided that he wanted to pop his head out, Sans covered his eyes with his hands. Flowey groaned, pushing through them. When he was outside of Sans' skull, he could see the full effect of whatever was bothering the skeleton so much. He was shaking, crying, and mumbling mostly inaudible apologies.

It was… miserable. Flowey hated seeing Sans like this. Despite the skeleton's annoying tendencies, he had grown fond of him. Right now, Sans had apparently dissolved under the pressure of his own thoughts again. Though it didn't happen much, Flowey had seen it happen enough times that he was pretty sure as of what he should do to help him… Hopefully… If not, they'd be here for a while.