..

Chapter 10 Thunder and Lightning

Warnings?: So, this one mostly takes place in Flowey's mind, and will feature nightmarish happenings, acts of violence, death and scary stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense, so be prepared if you're sensitive to stuff like that- some parts are harsh.

Notes: So, there's a few big reasons why I stopped updating around the holidays, one was because- well it was the holidays, and two, it was because of the tone of this chapter in particular, it didn't feel right to post something so dark around Christmas time, you'll see what I mean. Anyways, happy new years! Enjoy your spooky chapter!

Summary: After learning the truth of his feelings, Flowey feels trapped and unsure what to do now, things start to get bad and during one particular night he has a vivid nightmare of a world where he finally crumbles.

Inspiration Songs: 'Fallen Down' the remixed version by James Roach AND 'Thunderclouds' by LSD AND 'I Love You' by Woodkid feat. Angel Haze

'You're sayin' those words like you hate me now, our house is burning when you're raisin' hell.
Here in the ashes your soul cries out, but don't be afraid of these thunderclouds'

.

'Whatever I feel for you, you only seem to care about you
Is there any chance you could see me too? Cause I love you
Is there anything I could do, just to get some attention from you?
In the waves I've lost every trace of you, where are you?

Everything I feel for you, swallowed salted tears for you
Is there any chance you can feel this too?
Now my heart's a bid for you, you put all your quid onto, I just want you to make me apart of you'

...

...

A few weeks passed by.

Flowey continuously struggled to keep normal, attempting to pretend that he didn't know he was in love with his best friend, because it had seemed to hurt less before he had known.

Except now that he knew, he couldn't stop thinking about it, bombarded by conflicting emotions, like the happiness and shocking surprise of being able to feel love like this, the deep sadness of the fact that Frisk could never love him back, or the rising frustration at the pain that coursed through him whenever he began to feel the start of those mushy feelings- he was starting to think of it his soul as like a shock collar, because every time he began to think about Frisk too affectionately- ZAAAAP!

In short, he was exhaustively and utterly miserable, he knew full and well he needed all the help in the world, but at the same time he desperately didn't want the others to know, because if they knew…well, he was absolutely sure it would just make things worse; they would worry and coddle him just as they had at the wedding, and the love and care that they showed would just make him feel even more miserable.

And then they would pull a Frisk and practically beg to know why he was miserable, and that would only worsen everything because he was never letting the truth come out.

It had been so long that he'd felt this…ultimately alone and helpless, finding the irony that again, Sans 'knew' the real truth… and again, there was no way on Earth he'd go to him for help, in fact, he was completely sure that Sans wouldn't be able to help him with this kind of problem anyway, he bet all he would do was just make puns he thought were relatable and give him more cake, what in the world did the Trashbag know about romance anyway?

He wasn't sure what he was going to tell this to his therapist either, he had imagined it would go something like this:

Flowey: So I realized I'm in love with my best friend, whom is also a human, but I'm pretty sure they would put me in the garbage and spit on me if they ever found out, also take make matters worse- it literally hurts to love, not just figuratively, so I pretty much have depression again now.

Loox: Hmmmm, sounds like you need to rethink your life choices or rethink your life in general, here, have some antidepressants you weird creepy little snipe.

Okay, no, he knew they wouldn't say that, but he felt like it was going to boil down to something like it anyway, especially the antidepressant part.

He tried practicing his magic more like Alphys had suggested, but Frisk had been right, all of his moves and abilities were all plant based, spiky vine whips and 'friendliness' bullets was all he could muster, he just couldn't seem to be capable of anything else, and once he realized that, he knew there was no way he could possibly ever train or push himself any further, so, what was the point of trying?

It was like everything was becoming harder and harder to do, he couldn't stand it, it made him so badly want to hate his disgusting malformed soul, but, he couldn't find it within himself to, just having a soul in general was more than he could have ever asked for, but still this whole excruciating situation was really testing his limits, especially his patience.

What was the point in trying to do anything anymore when everything single little thing he did felt like a dead end that always ended in pain and tears?

Until, finally, after almost four weeks of dealing with all this anguish in silence, the build up of pain finally made an impression in his nightmares. . .

.

…

…. . .

… .. . . . .

….…. ... . . . . . . . .

In the dream, Papyrus was visiting Toriel's house, and had decided to help with Flowey with his magic training… but it had gone all wrong… Flowey had grown frustrated to the point of anger, and had slipped up- hitting Papyrus on . . . accident with a few friendliness bullet, knocking his HP low, his loud cry of pain causing Toriel to rush out of the house.

She rushed to help the tall skeleton up "oh my! What happened?"

"IT WAS NOTHING, JUST A MINOR ACCIDENT, THE BEST PEOPLE ALWAYS MAKE THEM,"

Flowey frowned in disbelief, why did everyone always think it was a good idea to cover for him? Couldn't anyone ever see how terrible he really was on the inside? That he was just as ugly as his soul was?

"No it wasn't, I did it, I hurt him," Flowey spoke up, he could barely contain the anger that was growing inside of him, Papyrus didn't seem to understand that it hadn't completely been an accident…

"Is that true Papyrus?" Toriel asked.

"WELL… SINCE FLOWEY INSISTS ON BEING THE BIGGER MONSTER ABOUT THIS, THEN YES, HE ACCIDENTALLY HIT ME, BUT NO HARD FEELINGS! I KNOW HE DIDN'T MEAN IT,"

Flowey scowled, usually he didn't mind Papyrus's antics, he was one of his best friends and he admired him for his relentless positive attitude, he'd always found that relentlessness to be a great quality to have, still, best friends or not, lately it was getting to a point where Flowey couldn't take any more of the pain, or the sympathetic glances and pep talks, unable to understand why he couldn't just be happy.

With each and every day that came and passed, he only grew more frustrated.

A thought came to him…no, it was a voice in his head, it was almost unrecognizable, until, he realized that it was his own, but older, dark, and intimidating, the voice he had spoken with once before . . .

'Wouldn't it just be easier if they were miserable? Just like you?'

No! He couldn't just- 'but you can…,' if he made them miserable, it would destroy everything and every chance he had worked so hard to get- 'but it would be so much better and so easy…,'

Flowey began to panic, it really wasn't making any sense, if he hurt the people he loved- he would just feel guilty and it would STILL hurt, probably even more than it had before, he refused to listen anymore.

Toriel walked close to Flowey as he began trembling, "dear? Are you okay?"

He couldn't bare her sympathy, so he lied "I'm fine mom, I was just…frustrated was all," but when he looked up at her, he didn't see his mother anymore… what was in front of him was a grotesque version of what…probably was his mother, he desperately hoped not.

He backed up, finally…

…he had actually finally lost it…

"LIAR," the beast spat in a horrible deep accusing tone, and Flowey flinched, trembling harder, unable to move

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD LIE TO ME, LIE TO EVERYONE,"

"W-what are you talking about?" he spoke, his voice tiny, tinier than he could ever imagine.

"THAT YOU'RE JUST AS DISGUSTING AS EVER, YOU LIE TO EVERYONE, BUT WE KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT US, AND ABOUT FR-,"

"Shut up!" Flowey screamed, then behind the beast was a gigantic, twisted version of Papyrus, his eye sockets seemed impossibly more hollowed and dark than ever before, his mouth gaped open as if were stuck and unable to close, yet he spoke clearly.

"YOU KNOW THEY'RE NEVER GOING TO LOVE YOU BACK, RIGHT? UNLESS YOU HELD THEM CAPTIVE, BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY THEY'D EVER LOVE SOMEONE WHO LITERALLY KILLED THEM OVER AND OVER,"

As much sense as not-Papyrus was making right now, Flowey couldn't take anymore, he felt sick, what did he eat earlier? He couldn't seem to remember. . .

The two beasts walked ever slowly closer.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Flowey screamed, and instinctively raising giant spiked vines up, ready to strike.

"YOU'RE HORRIBLE TO THE CORE, JUDGMENTAL, RUDE, DISGUSTING, YOU'RE NOT EVEN A REAL MONSTER ANYMORE, WHY WOULD FRISK FALL FOR YOU?" Not-Papyrus droned on.

"I'M NOT EVEN TRYING TO MAKE THEM WANT ME, LEAVE ME ALONE!" he yelled back, not sure why he was trying to reason with these illusions.

"WE CAN NEVER REALLY LEAVE YOU ALONE, YOU LOVE US, AND WE LOVE YOU, REMEMBER SWEEEETHEEEART? REMEMBER THE PAIN? YOUR GOING TO WANT TO TRY TO MAKE THEM FALL FOR YOU, I KNOW YOU, MY CHILD, YOU'RE A COMPLETIONIST," Not-Toriel said, smiling horrifyingly down at her son.

"Be quiet!" Flowey yelled, crying now.

Then, Not-Toriel knelt down, her crooked smile now morose and pitying, tears forming in her empty eyes, "ISN'T IT SAD? TO KNOW YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO HOLD THEM? OR MAKE THEM FEEL SAFE? OR MAKE THEM FEEL WANTED? I AM SO SORRY THAT YOU WILL NEVER FEEL NORMAL, I MOURN YOU, MY SON,"

That was all it took for Flowey to finally lose it, and he screamed, lifted his vines up high, and with one sharply thorned swoop, he cut right through the two beasts, and then sliced again when he realized it hadn't completely killed them, then one more to silence a pained groan from Not-Toriel.

As he breathed heavily from the attacks, he noticed something was off-

The two beasts had returned back into Papyrus and Toriel.

Flowey went wide eyed with shock at what he had just done, an intense cold shiver running through his body, he had just murdered his mother and one of his closest best friends…all because of a dumb hallucination, and there was no way to reset.

Before he could even start crying, something crackled inside Flowey, and…for a moment, all he could feel was a searing white light of blinding pain, invoking a strangled scream from deep inside of him.

And then… it began to dim- very slowly, breathing heavily, he brought out his soul, and to his horror, he found that was in the midst of crumbling, the supposed dripping action was now actually DRIPPING off and on to the grass.

He shuttered from grief, he had just lost his mother and one of his best friends, now he was going to lose his soul, and he wasn't sure what would happen once it finally shattered…

Would he die?

Or would he return to how he was before?

He didn't want to face either of those fates, he panicked, he felt like he was losing his mind, and… no, he knew he was losing his mind, he didn't feel all that surprised, this always seemed like it would have come in a matter of time, there was no way he had the patience to continuously deal with all that pain for the rest of his life.

Perhaps it was time he finally got what he deserved…if he killed everyone, maybe then… they'd all see just how horrible and disgusting he actually was all along and throw him away into a prison where he should have been put in the very beginning.

They really should have got rid of him when they had the chance. . .

There was also something else he desperately wanted to do, something he absolutely needed to do, before his soul finally went to pieces, he wasn't sure how long he had, but he had a creeping feeling it was better to get it over with as quickly as possible.

He safely put his soul back and stared at the two piles of dust that had settled onto the grass.

He was racked with unimaginable grief, but for some reason, no tears came.

'You're wasting your time…'

He sneered, both hating and agreeing with the voice, still, he turned away.

He tunneled until he was at the next door neighbor's house, they were a human family, he was going need some extra power, it was necessary for what he had planned.

It was easier to do than he thought it would be, but he was only able to get four souls… he would have gotten a fifth one, but at the moment it currently belonged to a crying baby, he stared at it as it wiggled and bawled in it's crib, the tiny human's little face angry and pink… almost as if it knew what he had done to it's family.

The voice in his head came back… 'KILL IT SHUT UP.'

All he could think about was Frisk, guilt squeezed at his soul, it was horrible that he had just killed four people, but he knew Frisk would never forgive him if he killed a baby, he wasn't so sure he'd be able to forgive himself either.

'WHY ARE YOU LETTING THIS USELESS THING GO? YOU ALREADY KILLED IT'S PARENTS AND SIBLINGS, THERE'S NOTHING LEFT FOR IT'

"Shut up," he whispered hoarsely.

Then, suddenly, as if the world's volume had just been put on full blast, the baby's crying got louder, blaring into his brain, everything around him turning different shades of violent red, he closed his eyes tightly and shook his head quickly, trying to rattle it all away.

'I SAID KILL IT!'

"AND I SAID SHUT UP!" Flowey screamed back- and, just like that, silence filled the room, he opened his eyes to find everything had gone back to normal, he looked to the baby- it was looking at him silently, frightened tears in it's small bright eyes.

"…I'm…I'm sorry," he whispered.

. . . He swallowed with a dry mouth and turned to quickly leave, it was an easy feat now, as he was five times bigger than he was before, using his now much stronger vines and roots to crawl around like an octopus, he was so much more powerful now and he was going to get even more powerful, but… something about absorbing souls this time around didn't seem as satisfying as it had been before when he was soulless, but… whatever, he continued on, quietly killing until he had seven souls.

Once he was finished, he went back to his home, or what was probably going to be no longer his home very soon.

Frisk wasn't home yet, but he would wait, he would always wait.. .

Living above ground in a safe neighborhood he could have gotten even more souls easily, but absolute power wasn't what he craved this time, he just needed the extra juice and Determination to be able to shape shift.

Now he was back in the form he should have been in, making sure he wasn't too young or too old this time, but the fourteen year old goat monster he wanted to be, or once could have been.

"i can't believe it," said a familiar baritone voice, one that Flowey had been fearing to hear, but… wait…he didn't have reason to be scared anymore… did he?

He turned around to find Sans standing there, wiping a tear from his eye socket, "you really did it, huh? i told you would go daisy if you didn't get help,"

Flowey grit his sharp teeth in automatic anger, "you find the people you love dead, and all you can do IS MAKE PUNS TO THEIR MURDERER?"

Sans shook his head, "it's all i got left now kid…unless, you intend to kill frisk too?"

Flowey smiled, but it was an odd, uncomfortable smile, it didn't feel right, he really did feel sick.

"No, I could never," but then he frowned, "mom…Toriel and Papyrus- killing them was an accident…I hallucinated, but after I realized what I did, my soul started to crack, so… I got more souls, I would show you, but I'm having a little trouble keeping things together at the moment, they might escape,"

The lights in San's eyes disappeared, "you've just ruined everything for the other monsters; do you realize that? the humans will never trust us when they find out about this; we'll probably be forced back in to the underground, or worse, they may even enslave us this time,"

Flowey cocked his fluffy head to the side, his strange smile back, "do you think I actually CARE? My life is already ruined, why should I worry about the others now?"

Sans sighed wearily, "what about frisk? what do you have planned for them- no, wait, on second thought, i don't really give a damn anymore, i think it's time you finally died once and for all flowey, and i'm going to make sure you stay dead,"

Flowey flinched, and not because of the threat "ARE YOU BLIND? LOOK AT ME! THAT'S NOT MY NAME ANYMORE! YOU OBTUSE HEAP OF TRASH!" he roared and attacked, missing Sans by just inches.

San's eye glowed an icy neon blue and suddenly Flowey was thrown into the window, he landed outside, he got up immediately, seemingly unaffected by the few shards of glass that pierced him.

He found Sans already standing in front of him, "you may try to look like the monster you use to be, but you'll never be asriel dreemurr, at least, not what after you've done today,"

Anger blazed within Flowey, and he attacked Sans once more, missing again, and again, he really hated this guy's ability to manipulate time.

He then dodged an oncoming line of a bone attack, then another, then another.

"You can't beat me like you used to! Why don't you just give up, I can do this all day, trust me!" Flowey laughed.

"i thought you said you were having trouble keeping things together?" Sans replied, sweat visible on his skull.

"I am, but you're nothing to me, and the idea of beating you? Well, you can say it's 'filling me with Determination',"

Sans rolled his eyes, and on they continued, fighting and fighting.

Then suddenly, just as Flowey was about to attack, the two monsters froze in spot when suddenly they heard the front door open- and then close.

"Guys, I'm home!"

At their call, Flowey looked down at Sans and grinned a horrible nasty grin, San's eyes looked frantically at the house in horror.

"frisk no," Sans gasped, Flowey took this moment of distraction to grab San's bony throat, and with a simple flick of his wrist and the work of a quick violent attack- Sans was dead.

Flowey watched as Sans turned into dust in his very paw, he dropped whatever was left to the ground, nonchalantly wiping his paw on his pants, turning around and kicking the pile away with his heel, good riddance.

"Holy- what happened to the window?! GUYS?!" he heard Frisk say, tone panicked, Flowey waited patiently for them to come outside, silently wishing he had mirror, he wanted to look good for them.

When they finally stepped out, he was unsurprised as they watched their face go from worry, to fear, to terror in a matter of seconds as they looked over the backyard and the three dust piles, then… at him.

For the first time ever, Frisk didn't approach him, instead they slowly backed up- not taking their eyes off of him and retreated back into the house, he even heard the door click with a lock.

He shook his head and tsked, if Frisk didn't want to come to him, he would just come to them for a change, he felt he owed them that much.

He walked over and glided through the broken window, "Frisk I-," he was interrupted from a hit in the face from a heavy pan, it hurt just a little.

"WHY?!" they screamed at him, tears in their eyes.

He backed up, there was something about Frisk being this upset at him made him feel small, and somehow scared even after everything that had just happened, pain clamped on hard, he remembered his plan, still though… he felt incredibly nervous about it, but he would do it, he had to, he needed Frisk so much.

"Like I told Sans, it was an accident… but it was too horrible, and you were right about my soul Frisk, it…it hasn't shattered, but it's cracking, I can feel it, I would show you… I want to show you, but the souls might leave, I need them,"

Frisk held their pan close, they looked conflicted, blinking back tears, they backed away, biting their bottom lip in fear "y-you killed humans too?" their voice was weak.

Flowey looked away, he had mixed feelings about the killings, "just a few of the neighbors, seven actually…and…I…I didn't kill that baby, I couldn't...," he almost felt as if he could cry, but no tears came.

Frisk on the other hand, was currently flooding tears, clearly having trouble seeing, aiming all wrong as they begun to swing at Flowey again, this time hitting him on his stomach with the flat side of the pan, it felt like a small shove to him.

"HOW COULD YOU?!" they screamed, and hit him again, again, he didn't stop them "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO THEM? THEY WERE YOUR FAMILY! AND THOSE HUMANS WERE INNOCENTS!!!"

Flowey looked away, as much as he felt he deserved the punishment, he couldn't take it anymore, he was wasting precious time, and finally, he grabbed the pan from Frisk and tossed it far behind him, leaving his best friend weaponless, they didn't need it anyway, he wasn't going to hurt them.

"I'm sorry, after Toriel and Papyrus were gone…I knew it was too late, I just thought it was finally time for everyone to see who I truly am, after this I promise I'll let the souls go free and then I'm going to let them take me to where I belong, locked up, I hope they throw away the key,"

Frisk was speechless for a moment, then they backed away, "wh- what do you mean by 'after this'?…No…you're going to…t-to… kill me… aren't you?" they whispered, but Flowey grabbed a hold of their arm and smiled weakly, shaking his head.

"I couldn't if I tried, you… really have no idea do you?" he asked, a shaky grin on his face, he was ready now.

Frisk started to breathe hard, "I can't believe this is real,"

Flowey couldn't help but laugh, as much as he disliked puns, he couldn't help himself, he really was going crazy "you have to excuse me for this one, but…Frisk, I'm As-riel as it gets,"

Frisk didn't laugh; they only looked hopeless, staring vacantly at his chest, probably thinking about the poor souls trapped inside.

Flowey lifted their head up gently by the chin to make them look at him, he frowned wearily.
"I'm sorry…I… know I messed up everything…at…at least you still have Asgore to live with, unless, well…there's something I have to say first,"

Frisk looked deeply insulted and confused "there's nothing you can say that can make this better, not this time Asriel, I'm done,"

Flowey only nodded, "I know, but I have to get it off my chest before my soul breaks, I don't know what will happen after it does, I'm saving my last few seconds for you,"

A new batch of tears erupted from Frisk's eyes; Flowey moved his paw to gently wipe them away, he winced as the pain surged through him.

"I'm…," he took a breath "I'm in love with you… I found out at the wedding, that's why I was crying,"

Frisk's mouth dropped in shock, staring at him in something between disbelief, shock and perhaps… disgust, they seemed to freeze in place.

Flowey smiled grimly, nodding to himself, "I knew it…you don't feel the same way,"

Frisk backed away a little, pure panic growing in their eyes as they tried to keep their composure.
"I loved you like a friend, but… I'm not sure I can anymore, you know…the last time I saved was when I was when I had strep throat, do you remember that? You- you were really brave- and-,"

Flowey shook his head and held on to Frisk's arm tighter and pulled them close to him, "what would be the point to reset after all of this? Nothing will be the same ever again- besides, you promised me you'd never use the Power,"

"AND YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD NEVER KILL AGAIN!" Frisk cried out.

Flowey let out an uncomfortable fake laugh, but then grimaced at them "I guess you put too much faith in me, but that's okay Frisk, I still love you, you're the best friend I always wanted, and that was enough for me," he said softly, running his claws through their hair, causing them to flinch away, he pretended to not be bothered by this.

"You know great it feels to say that? I was so scared to tell you, I just knew you would reject me, but I don't really care anymore, because you know what? I'm going to MAKE you love me,"

Something thundered inside of him, a mixture of pain and the feeling of going numb as his soul cracked more, breaking slowly in to pieces. . .

He acted quickly as he pulled a stunned, speechless Frisk close to him, so, so, close, holding them, something that he never would have thought to do in his flower form, something that he couldn't do as a flower.

Another crack of thunder, he ignored it, grabbing the back of Frisk's head softly while the other wrapped around their waist, remembering and copying how he had seen his parents do when they got ready to dance, a long time ago… too long ago.

crack… crack…

crack… . .

He smiled, this had been his plan, to tell Frisk how he really felt, to hold them and then finally. . .

He leaned in, and pressed his lips to theirs, kissing them, pain erupted in his chest, exploding throughout his entire body, he gladly welcomed it because he knew what it meant, he was so happy, so, so, unbelievably happy.

Then, louder than it had been before- the thunder was heard again, and as if Frisk heard- they ripped away from him, but when he saw the look on their face, anger, disgust, fear, and it was okay, he had… come to terms with the rejection a long time ago, just falling for someone like Frisk and being able to steal a kiss from them had been more than enough for him.

His happiness blinded him.

And for a single solitary moment, he honestly believed everything was going be okay.

…Until… the pain suddenly vanished, and all that was left was an old familiar blank numbness. . .

He looked to Frisk, wide eyed in horror… and felt…

nothing… . . . . .

... . . . . .

. . . .

Just emptiness.

"It's gone…," he whispered, he felt like crying, but no tears came still.

Then, the room turned red, just like before, but this time…any background noise seemed to fizzle off, leaving the room eerily quiet, he couldn't even hear either of them breathe.

And then, without any sort of warning, Frisk… disappeared, no trace of anything left behind.

But before he had a chance to scream or even fully react, something on the other side of the room caught his attention, something that made him want to desperately run away… but…

He couldn't move.

And he felt nothing, nothing, but only fear.

Because on the other side of the room, was a looming impenetrable, black, vacant void of nothingness…but that wasn't what he was afraid of at the moment, no, what was currently sending a cold sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach was… the… twitching and unearthly movement that appeared to be trying to find its way out from the void.

-Until, it did, he watched in stunned horror as a tall distorted bipedal shadow figure stepped out, and with slow, wide steps, it crept toward him, unnaturally taking on more defined shapes, until it settled on something unquestionably human, but to his increasing horror, it had transformed into. . .

Chara…an older Chara, a Chara that had lived, but instead of a teenager, they were an adult, taller, bolder, and towering above Flowey menacingly, their red eyes dark and horrible and staring down at him accusingly.

Then, they smiled that old cruel smile he would always remember… and spoke with an eerily familiar voice, not just their own… but also with his voice . . . their voices bleeding together into something ominous and intimidating.

'It's better this way, you never needed a soul anyway...,'

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

.. . . . . . .

.. . . .

. . . .

.

Flowey woke up with a hard gasp, breathing so fast that he felt light headed, quickly reaching over with a shaky vine to turn on his lamp- but panicked blindly when nothing happened, the room remaining dark and frightening.

He jumped when a streak of light flash through the blinds of his window, he calmed a little once he recognized it as lightning, then he finally noticed the pitter patter of rain outside, realizing that the power was out.

Just… . . . fantastic.

Panic and fear still coursing through him, he attempted to focus, squeezing his eyes shut as he reached for his soul, giving a quick shaky relieved exhale when he latched on to it, but he wouldn't calm down until he looked at.

He brought it out and dared to open his eyes, a slow weak smile coming across his face when he saw that it was okay, without a scratch and crack free, he continued to look over it for a while, just to make sure, and then nearly jumped out of his petals when a crack of thunder rattled the house.

He trembled, pulling his soul closer to him, as if trying to hold it to keep it safe, he took one last long look at it before putting it back.

He grabbed his phone and dropped into his flower pot, hiding.

He quickly turned on the screen, the light making him feel a little bit better; there was no way he was going back to bed after that horrible nightmare, usually most left him unfazed and he would have liked to say he was 'immune' to nightmares by now, but this one had been one of the worst ones he had in a really long time.

It hadn't been 'scary' in a normal sense, he was somewhat use to the creepy Halloween faces and reddening rooms, that was usually the norm of his nightmares, even seeing Chara was normal.

No, what had gotten to him the most and overwhelmed him- were his own actions, how he behaved, it was frightening to experience going insane the way he had, but his behavior made sense, he had lost his soul again. . .

He thought about waking up Frisk so he could talk to them about it- it had seemed…very similar to how they had described their nightmare, apparently his unconscious mind had wanted to try out the scenario as well… except for a few changes, but… he blushed, nope, nuh-uh, there was no way he had the guts to talk to Frisk right now, especially about the nightmare, not when he had done all that….stuff.

He shook his head; maybe he could talk to Toriel? Leave out the embarrassing stuff, but… no, it would be comforting, but he had to grow up, he had to learn how to take care of these kinds of things himself.

He finally looked at the time, 4 AM, yeeeaah, he didn't want to wake them up anyway.

So, he flipped absentmindedly through the pictures on his phone instead, thinking about the nightmare, the longer he did, the more 'plot holes' he poked into everything, trying make the whole thing seem stupid, but the more he thought about the horrifying possibility of his soul not being strong enough to handle his emotions and stay intact, the more terrified he grew.

He remembered the blank, numb, nothingness of being truly completely soulless, the nightmare seemed to refresh the memory of the feeling, and he shivered, realizing just how afraid he was of losing his soul, of losing everyone he cared about.

And then. . . Determination came over him, and he refused the blinding terror that was trying to consume him; it was time to use logic and reason.

The problem of the pain aside, there just had to be something he could do to keep the stress off his soul, and fast, he didn't care if it wasn't possible; Flowey didn't want to risk the chance of becoming the monster he used to be, or almost even worse, dead.

He grit his teeth, Nightmare Chara had been wrong, he DID need his soul, and he was going to do anything he could to not lose it again.

...

...

It's good to be back, updates will go back to normal again!