FloweyTale

by Shells124

Asriel died. He knew he had. Much to his surprise, however, he revived. His body was changed forever, his family was broken, and his soul was nonexistant, but he was alive. And for some reason, he was determined to stay that way. This prequel to Undertale covers the life of Flowey the Flower through his many resets as he both saves the world and kills it.

11. The Other Half: Breaking Barriers

Quick Author Note: (Warning, shameless plug.) Hey, if you like fanart, I painted a pretty picture of Undyne vs Asgore, the fight from the third chapter! Check it out! :D shells124. deviantart art/Undyne-vs-Asgore-614130592 (spaces added to prevent site from eating link.)

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"Why did you choose flowers?"

"Hm? What do you mean, Asriel?"

"You told Mom and Dad that your final request was to see the golden flowers from your village."

"Oh. I guess I was thinking about what I missed from the surface world. If I had to pick anything, it would be that."

"He's back!" Papyrus called when I popped up through his kitchen floor. I glanced around, noting that enough time had passed that all of the party goers had left. I grinned at Papyrus. Really, the only reason I had returned was because I honestly had no idea where else to go. I had done some thinking, though, and I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do next. I had rather hoped that Undyne would still be here, but she had apparently left already.

"Yeah, sorry about leaving like that, Papyrus. I wasn't feeling that great. I'm doing better now, though." I figured I should offer the skeleton at least some sort of explanation. I didn't really need to explain myself, but I still needed to hold up the pretense of actually liking the moron if I wanted to avoid suspicion.

Papyrus grinned, looking overjoyed. "Well, I am most pleased that you are feeling better now." He turned back to his work of picking up dishes and other trash left around the house by party-goers and Sans. The older skeleton wandered down the stairs and flopped on the couch, reclining in such a way that he covered most of the garbage there, preventing his younger brother from properly cleaning it. Papyrus placed his hands on his hips and glared at Sans before picking a different spot to clean.

Sans caught my eye and I quickly looked away, biting back my frustration. As much as I hated that guy, I needed to get on his good side, too. There really wasn't any good reason for me to hate him other than a general dislike of his personality. Undyne had made a good point when I had killed Mettaton. Just because I didn't like someone didn't give me grounds to kill them. Unfortunately.

"Do you need any help with anything, Papyrus?" I asked reluctantly. He laughed and shook his head, hefting a rising pile of garbage.

"Oh, no, I could not do that to my esteemed guest! Besides, I have all the help I need with trashy here!" I looked up in shock. I knew Papyrus had a low opinion of his brother, but I hadn't pinned him for someone who would openly call Sans names like that. Papyrus kicked the trash can at the entrance to the kitchen lightly to point out what he was referring to before dumping the contents of his arms into it. His smile didn't dim in the least. "I named my garbage can!" I snickered. Typical Papyrus.

I gave Sans a sideways glance again, but the stubby skeleton appeared to be falling asleep. Papyrus finished cleaning the rest of the room and marched over to the couch and loomed over his brother, looking miffed. "Honestly!" he said in irritation. "Couldn't you nap anywhere else?!"

Sans opened one eye lazily. "Nope." His eye closed again.

Papyrus immediately hoisted his brother over his shoulder. Sans wasn't the least bit perturbed by this and continued to nap with that stupid grin on his face, even as Papyrus carted him up the stairs and into his room. I sighed and shook my head. This was a waste of time, but I couldn't just ditch Papyrus again. Yet another reason why I hated caring for people. There were always certain expectations required of you in order to be considered a friend.

When the taller skeleton returned, he set about cleaning the couch, swiftly ridding it of crumbs and used napkins. Afterwards, he turned to me, folding his arms in front of him. "Sorry about that," he said apologetically. I shrugged, not really looking at him. "Now what can I do for you, my flowery friend?" He paused for only a brief second, not really giving me enough time to respond. "Oh! You were feeling down! No doubt you have come to me to share your deepest darkest thoughts! Worry not, flower! I, the master of friendship Papyrus, am the perfect person to express your feelings to!"

I snorted to myself. Sure. Why not? What could it hurt? I let out a long sigh. "It's a long story," I said softly. Papyrus responded by sitting down on the couch and leaning forward intently, a big grin plastered to his face. I chuckled to myself before starting in.

"Once upon a time, the king and queen had a son named Asriel. When a human first fell into the underground, it was Asriel who found her. The two of them became best friends and the king and queen adopted the human child as their own." It felt weird referring to myself in the third person, but I needed to let it all out. Papyrus wouldn't be able to help me at all, but for some reason I wanted to go through with this.

"One day, Asriel and the human, Chara, came up with a plan together. They had found a way to break the barrier and free all of monster kind. While it takes seven human souls to break the barrier, you only need one to cross it. Chara was willing to give up her life so that way Asriel could cross the barrier and take six more human souls back to the Underground and break the barrier forever." Papyrus's eyes had knotted up in concern and he leaned heavily on both hands, hiding the lower half of his face.

"Unfortunately, the plan didn't work. When Asriel reached the surface, he was too much of a coward and couldn't bring himself to take the human souls. Instead, the humans attacked him, and he stumbled home and died." I closed my eyes, feeling a tear slide down my face. "My name is Asriel Dreemurr. After I died, the Royal Scientist accidentally resurrected me as a flower using something called determination." I turned away and took a deep breath. "So there you have it. That's my dark past in a nutshell."

There was a long period of silence. I couldn't bring myself to look at Papyrus to see what his reaction was. No doubt he was having troubles processing everything. After a while, the skeleton finally piped up. "Wowie, that is quite the story you've got there! I had no idea I was in the presence of royalty!"

I continued to stare at the ground. I wasn't sure what I had hoped to accomplish by telling Papyrus. Part of me wanted his help. After my recent brush with death, I had realigned my original goal back in my head. I forced myself to look Papyrus in the eye.

"I'm going to fix my mistakes. I want to break the barrier and free monsters once and for all," I stated, letting all of my conviction layer my voice. Papyrus grinned back, sitting up straight.

"I see, I see!" he said. "A worthy goal indeed! Nyeh heh heh! No wonder you were so good with tactics! No doubt you are a born leader like your father!" I tried very hard to not snort at that comment. "Well, you have come to the right person! I, the Great Papyrus, newest member of the Royal Guard, shall assist you!" I gave the skeleton a sly smile.

He then stood up and started up the stairs. "Sans!" he called. "Sans, you have got to hear this! You won't believe what this flower just told me!" My heart sank.

"I heard it," Sans said from above me. I bit my lip and turned my gaze to look at him, dread filling me to the core. Sans was leaning against the railing with his eyes closed, still looking half asleep. He opened one eye and met my gaze. "It certainly explains a lot."

What was that supposed to mean? I gave him a sour expression and looked away. Reluctantly, I sighed, swallowing my hatred and pride. "So what do you say? Will you help me?" I gave him my best hopeful smile. That penetrating stare of his was incredibly nerve wracking.

After a painfully long moment of silence, Sans leaned back and stretched. "Who me? Sorry, buddy, I'm not the most helpful person around. Go ask Undyne or something. I'm not cut out for that kinda stuff." I scowled at him.

"Don't lie to me! You're one of the most powerful monsters in the Underground! You have the bad habit of showing up exactly when I don't need you, and the one time I actually ask you for help, you're going to weasel out of it?! I don't think so!" Sans blinked, taken aback by my outburst.

Thankfully, it was Papyrus who spoke next. "Nyeh heh heh! Asriel there has a point, dearest brother! Why, you are almost as great as me when you aren't being such a lazy bones! It would do you some good to work towards a great cause such as this!"

The expression on Sans's face was priceless. It was the first time I had ever seen him drop his nonchalant attitude and he actually visibly sank under the gaze of his younger brother. "Alright, alright," he muttered, holding up both hands. "Just don't expect too much from me. Yeesh."

Papyrus nodded firmly to himself. "Well that's settled then!" He then turned back to me, descending the stairs. "First things, first, we should tell the king about this immediately! I am positive he would be more than happy to show you to the barrier!" I frowned and glanced away.

"Been there, done that. My father won't listen to me." Papyrus looked confused and Sans leaned against the railing again. I grumbled in frustration, annoyed that I had to explain all of this stuff. I really shouldn't have told the skeletons anything. "The king is a soft-hearted sissy. He doesn't want to go through with his plan of breaking the barrier and killing all humans. And any time I try to bring it up, he refuses to let me do it, too, for some stupid reason. I have been completely, utterly unsuccessful getting him to do anything for me!"

My thought process was cut short by the sound of a trombone bewailing my efforts. I glared up at Sans as he lowered the trombone with a grin. "Sans!" Papyrus shouted, "Stop plaguing his story with incidental music! This is serious!" The older skeleton merely chuckled, not sorry in the least.

Papyrus turned back to me. "But surely if you told him who you were..." I shook my head irritably, cutting off his thought process.

"I tried that, too. All that did was make him change his mind about the war on humans completely and he disbanded the Royal Guard, refusing to do anything."

"Oh no! Not the Royal Guard!" Papyrus cried, slapping both hands to his face. Then he stopped, noting something odd with my story. "Wait. But I'm in the Royal Guard. Asgore himself was there earlier today. Does this mean that everything I am is a lie?!" I raised an eyebrow at him, then glanced upwards at Sans. Sans only stared back with that same frozen calm.

I gave an exasperated grunt and looked back at Papyrus. "I can go back in time," I snapped. "I've been doing this for a long time now. Believe me, I've tried everything I can think of. Nothing ever works!" Papyrus looked down scratching his jaw bone in contemplation.

"So what makes you think we're gonna do much better?" Sans asked seriously. I closed my eyes, trying to get a handle on my anger.

"I don't," I stated bluntly. "I'm not even sure why I bothered telling you any of this." I turned away, feeling disappointed again.

"Asriel," Papyrus spoke softly, catching my attention with how uncharacteristically quiet it was. "I believe you can do it." Tears stung my eyes. I couldn't look at him anymore. Then his voice elevated back to normal levels and he returned to his usual ways. "After all, you've got me and Sans with you this time! Nyeh heh heh! We shall be unstoppable! We'll get that barrier down in no time!"

Sans gave a short laugh, glancing at his brother. "True. Paps is the coolest guy around. You don't even need me." He turned as if to retreat to his room.

"Sans! Get back here! You are not going to slack off this time!" Papyrus stomped his foot in irritation and the shorter skeleton chuckled and changed his direction to join us downstairs. I would not have minded excluding Sans, but whatever. He might just prove to be useful.

"So what's first then?" Sans asked as he reached the bottom step.

I looked between him and Papyrus and grinned. "We should tell Undyne. The last time I did that, she beat up Asgore." The brothers exchanged glances, the taller one shrugging.

"Yup. That sounds like Undyne," Sans said with a knowing nod.

"Oh! Oh! Did she pick him up and throw him out of the castle? I love it when she does that!"

I frowned, remembering how the battle had ended with Asgore slinking away and me being no closer to those souls or to freedom. I had reset immediately afterwards. "Not exactly," I muttered. "On second thought, kicking Asgore's butt hasn't exactly been effective either. We need to get him to show us where those souls are hidden somehow."

"Have you asked Dr. Alphys?" Sans asked casually. Papyrus seemed confused by Sans's comment, but Sans didn't appear to notice.

I gave him a sideways smirk. "The braindead doctor? Believe me, she's completely useless."

Sans gave me a level look, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I wouldn't say that. After all, didn't she bring you back from the dead?" I snorted.

"Yeah, on accident."

Sans shrugged. "Hey, it's worth a try."

Papyrus shot his arm in the air, clenching it into a dramatic fist. "Yeah! The Great Dr. Alphys is a brilliant mastermind! I am sure she will be able to assist us!"

I scowled. "Fine, but I'm telling you, she's useless. She's probably hiding in her lab watching cartoons or something. Either that or she's in the true lab downstairs with her freak of nature melted monster things she made."

The skeletons exchanged glances again, obviously confused by that last bit. Whatever. They would see soon enough. "To Hotland then!" Papyrus yelled. He scooped me up into his arms, heading for the door. He turned to look at Sans before leaving. "You coming?" he asked.

Sans gave us a sly grin. "I'll meet you guys there. I know a shortcut." I gave the skeleton an incredulous look, but the saying seemed to satisfy Papyrus and he headed out the door and started our journey towards Alphys's lab.

"Haha! Sometimes you can be so weird! This place is filled with beautiful things that I've never seen before! I mean, look up at the sky!"

"Oh. You mean the stars? Yeah, I guess. I dunno. You can't touch them. I guess I've always liked things that I can hold. They feel more real to me."

Sure enough, Sans met us at the door of Alphys's lab. Thankfully, Papyrus had slowed down and hadn't forced me to endure another jolting ride all the way to Hotland. He had still moved rather swiftly, though, and having Sans beat us there annoyed me. The jerk was waiting for us, back pressed up against the door with his eyes closed. Papyrus, however, didn't seem the least bit surprised that Sans had gotten here before us. I scowled and grumbled to myself in my head, but bit my tongue and didn't vocalize my irritation.

Papyrus seemed to be getting nervous as we approached. I glanced up at him curiously. The skeleton tended to baffle me sometimes with his odd behaviors. Some things just went right through his empty head and it didn't bother him one bit, but he was incredibly picky about other things. Like how he was content to make a club house out of a nasty cardboard box and yet insisted that his actual house was spotless and neatly organized.

Sans opened one eye, and watched as we approached. "Hey, bro, 'sup?" he asked with only the faintest tone of concern in his voice.

"Wowie," Papyrus said uneasily, "I've never actually met the Royal Scientist before. In person I mean. And, well, I've heard so much about her from Undyne..." He trailed off. I stared at him, baffled by his rare moment of uncertainty. "I'll have to be sure to make a good impression!" he finished boldly, shaking off his anxiety.

Sans pushed away from the door, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "No worries, bro. She ain't home." Papyrus instantly deflated.

"Oh," he mumbled. "We shall have to take our endeavors elsewhere then!" I scowled and was about to say something, but Sans beat me to it.

"I never said that," he stated, looking up at the two of us with that creepy grin of his. He elbowed a panel behind him and the door slid open with ease. I wrinkled my nose. I could have sworn Alphys kept that thing locked from the inside. Apparently, Sans did not have the same concerns about breaking and entering as Undyne had. He turned and walked through the open door, whistling as he went.

Papyrus wasn't nearly as unconcerned as his brother was. "Sans!" he cried, following after the shorter skeleton and waving his arms in frustration. "It is impolite to walk into someone's house while they are gone! You should learn a privacy!"

Sans continued forward, offering the briefest of smirks behind him as he poked at some of the notes scattered on the top of Alphys's desk. I sighed in frustration and decided to offer my two cents. "We won't find anything up here. She keeps all of the stuff on souls in the true lab down below. That's probably where she is anyway." The shorter skeleton looked up from the papers and gave me a calculated look. Papyrus scratched his head, not really sure what to make of the situation. "The elevator's behind that door," I stated, gesturing in the vague direction of her not-so-cleverly-hidden secret entrance.

Papyrus sluggishly inched towards the door, obviously uncomfortable with the situation but unable to resist his curiosity. It was still too slow for me and my patience wore thin. I found that working with Sans was extremely unsettling, and it was making my temper harder to handle. I just wanted to get in there, prove how useless the doctor was, then get out.

I hopped down from Papyrus's shoulder and immediately dove into the ground and moved to the door. I wasted no time in hitting the button with a vine so it slid open to reveal the elevator behind it. With a sly smirk, I turned back to the skeleton brothers. Papyrus took it as a cue and leapt towards the elevator, suddenly beaming. "Nyeh heh heh! It's like an adventure! We, the daring detectives, moving into the unknown in search of clues!" I rolled my eyes as Papyrus picked me up again and stepped through the doorway, followed by Sans.

The shorter skeleton immediately slumped backwards against one of the walls as we made our descent, appearing to be falling asleep. I scowled at him, wishing I hadn't brought him along. He was nothing but useless baggage as far as I could tell, unless he wanted to kill me of course. Jerk.

Once the elevator reached the bottom floor, Papyrus strolled out into the dark hallway beyond. Apparently, the doctor hadn't bothered keeping the lights on this time. I faintly wondered if she really was down here, but I couldn't think of anywhere else she would be. Both of the skeleton brothers were blissfully silent as we walked through the darkness.

Sans stepped over to one of the computer consoles set in the walls and poked at a key so the monitor flashed to life. He clicked a few buttons, bringing up some text that he quickly scanned through. Papyrus wandered over, but was glancing around the room rather than looking at the screen. I took the opportunity to look over the shorter skeleton's shoulder. It appeared to be notes of some sort, though Sans scrolled to the next entry before I had time to properly read it. From what I could gather, though, they seemed to be describing Alphys's experiments with determination.

Papyrus broke the silence, probably because it was starting to bother him. "Pretty spooky down here, no? Seems like a strange place for Dr. Alphys to spend her time. Though it's perfect for you, brother! You always seem to like these kinds of things!" Sans let out the smallest of grunts to acknowledge his brother had spoken, but was preoccupied in reading through Alphys's notes.

I would have liked to read more myself, but Papyrus walked on ahead, taking me with him. "Now if I were a light switch, where would I hide?" the skeleton muttered to himself. He scanned the wall and had reached the far end of the hallway before calling out an "Aha!" and flicking on the lights. I blinked against the blaring florescents and waited for my eyes to adjust.

When the spots receded from my vision, I could make out one of the amalgamate things standing between us and Sans. I frowned, wondering where it had come from. "Um..." I mumbled, calling Papyrus's attention to it.

Sans looked up from his monitor, noticing the thing first. "Huh." he said, looking it up and down.

Papyrus turned to see what I was looking at, then stopped, staring in shock at the thing. "Wowie!" he cried. The amalgamate appeared to be made of multiple monsters ranging from a slime to a seahorse all meshed together into one misshapen mass. For some strange reason, the thing gave off the distinct smell of lemons, and I guessed that the slime must have been a lemon jello slime before the stupid doctor got ahold of it.

"Welcome to my special hell," it said in a mostly female multi-voiced growl. Thankfully, it was facing Sans and lunged for him. I grinned, pleased at my fortune. Sans, however, immediately whipped out a hotdog from his jacket and held it in front of him. My smile faded as the amalgamate skidded to a stop, secreting some sort of liquid from its orifice. Why in the world did Sans have a hotdog stuffed in his coat pocket?

"Here, you're hungry, right?" Sans said calmly as though the thing hadn't just tried to attack him. The amalgamate wobbled in a fleshy sickly way before grasping the hotdog and collapsing into a sludge pile that oozed away across the floor. Sans chuckled before joining us down the hallway. I only stared at him, completely baffled.

"Thank you," the melted monster mass said as it left. Those things were definitely unnerving. The fact that Sans hadn't even flinched and had been totally prepared for the thing was even more concerning. I really did not like that guy.

"Brilliant!" Papyrus said enthusiastically beside me. "I am quite ravenous myself! You wouldn't happen to have brought enough to share with the rest of the class, now would you?"

Sans pulled out a second hotdog. "Sorry, bro. Last one." He then proceeded to pop the entire thing into his own mouth and eat it. I glowered. Papyrus looked equally irritated, but shook his head and resumed the journey to the next room.

The whole place felt especially creepy with all the lights off. I had thought it had been bad when I had taken Undyne down here before. My nerves were already on edge and my patience quickly wore thin. "Ugh. Where is that stupid doctor?" I asked in irritation. Sans glanced up at me but said nothing. Papyrus, however, stopped and rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"Hm. A mystery indeed! Nyeh heh heh! But thankfully, you have me and Sans along! You needn't worry! I, the great puzzle master, Papyrus, shall solve this conundrum!"

"We could split up," Sans suggested with a shrug.

"An excellent idea!" Papyrus declared. I grunted in affirmation. I didn't really want to stick with these morons anyway.

"Alright, sounds like a plan," I stated, hopping off of Papyrus's shoulder. I would be more than happy to get away from Sans. Papyrus nodded firmly before taking off down one direction of the corridor, laughing as he went. Sans watched him go, gave me a brief look, then turned and walked back the way we had come. I decided not to question it. If he wanted to chicken out, I'd be perfectly happy with that. I dove under the tiled floor and began exploring the place.

Once I was underground, I could see that all of the lights were off in all of the rooms. I was beginning to seriously have my doubts as to whether the doctor really was down here or not. I passed a few more of the melted monster things, but none of them could reach me while I was underneath the ground. All of them just looked sad, shuffling around as though they weren't really sure what to do with their lives anymore. I couldn't say I blamed them. If I were in such a miserable state, I wouldn't know what to do either.

I didn't see any lights, but I was drawn to a room that was slightly larger than most of the others. When I got there, it turned out to be the place Undyne and I had run into Alphys before, a huge chamber filled with what looked like hospital beds. The place was deserted again, which further confirmed my thought that the doctor wasn't around. That just meant that this whole thing was one giant waste of time. I really wanted to find something useful down here if only to justify spending such a large chunk of time running around this creepy place.

I wandered into the next room. The place was filled with mirrors, so there wasn't a lot that was useful, but my eye was quickly drawn to the sight of color. It was hard to make out anything in the darkness, but I was just barely able to make out the yellow flowers set on the counter. I located a light switch and turned it on, bathing the room in harsh artificial light.

Sure enough, the counter was covered in vases filled with golden flowers, the same kind as me. I frowned. Out of curiosity, I made my way to the top of the counter so I could see them better. None of them came as high as I did, but those golden petals were definitely the same as the ones that ringed my face. My gaze flicked to the mirror and I froze when I spotted my reflection.

I had never clearly gotten a look at myself in this body before. I had sort of pictured that I looked exactly like the flowers in the vases, but I didn't. Not only was I much larger, but my face... I approached the floor-length mirror.

White. Amorphous. Melted. I had more form than the shambling masses in the rest of the lab, but there was no denying that my face looked like it was made of putty slapped together to make an expression. I was an amalgamate, just like the hideous things outside.

I found myself starting to cry. I pictured how I used to look, imagining a smiling muzzle staring back at me. To my surprise, the reflection complied. I jumped back, startled. Had I really seen that?

Curiosity nagged at me. I imagined my face, the amorphous blob, fusing together into the image of my old goat self. In a second, it took shape. I blinked. Huh. I hadn't known I could do that. I grinned. That really would have been useful to know a long time ago. I proceeded to make other faces in the mirror. That was apparently the benefit to having an elastic face, I could make whatever expression I wanted. I changed to look like Asgore, then Toriel, the faces so well ingrained in my mind that they were the easiest to conjure up.

I spent probably too much time making faces in the mirror. I grinned larger than my little cheeks should have been able to bear. I sneered, I bore fangs I didn't have moments before, I stuck my tongue out as far as it would go. It was strangely fun. As I continued goofing off, an idea struck me, and I pictured the look I wanted. Chara. She could always make this super creepy face that I always thought was so cool. I mimicked it, but stopped when I saw it in the mirror. Thinking of Chara suddenly made me feel cold and empty inside.

In an instant, all of my amusement was gone, replaced with horrible sorrow. I let my face slide back into what was apparently this form's normal appearance, two blank eyes and a simple mouth. All the joy at messing with this form was lost in the memory of events that had led to me having this stupid body. I turned away from the mirror, feeling sick. I couldn't stay in this room any longer.

I left in a daze, not really paying attention to where I was going. I wandered the halls, aimless, just another misshapen denizen of this lab created in a failed experiment. My thoughts were interrupted when I spotted light up ahead. I bee-lined towards it, hoping to give myself something to preoccupy my mind. I slowed as I got closer and could make out Sans standing in the middle of the lit room. He had obviously turned on the light, and my eye was immediately drawn to the reason why.

Set in front of the skeleton was a giant machine. I had never seen the thing before. I suppose that shouldn't have surprised me since I usually avoided this place, but seeing the great machine surprised me. The machine was huge, but the biggest oddity was its shape. It was like the skull of a giant goat. It looked somehow familiar, and watching Sans quickly reminded me of what.

As if reading my mind, Sans brought a hand up and summoned one of his laser cannon things that he had killed me with so many times before. He glanced between it and the machine, the two almost identical. He waved his own magic away, letting it dissolve into glowing blue dust, then walked closer to the machine. He muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't make out anything he said. This was certainly curious. I tried to read Sans's expression, but though his eyes had gone dark, I couldn't discern what he was thinking.

I surfaced at the entrance of the room, glancing between the skeleton and the machine. "Golly, that thing's practically a spitting image of your magic, huh?" Sans turned to look at me, but he seemed lost in thought.

"Nah," he said in his normal nonchalant tone. "This thing's way creepier." I gave him a level look, taking in his equally creepy grin.

"Ok. Why does it look like your magic?" I asked flatly.

"Good question," he said, closing both his eyes as if in thought. "I was wondering that a bit myself." His eyes slowly slid open and I could tell that he was indeed puzzling something through. I was pretty sure he knew more than he was letting on, though.

"Alright, wise guy, so what does it do?" He turned back to it, concern etching his face.

"Dunno. The computer system says it's a determination extraction machine. Probably what Alphys used to experiment on the human souls." He shrugged, offering no more explanation. Determination extraction machine, huh? I had pictured her using something more like a syringe, not a giant creepy death skull. I also got the distinct impression that Sans wasn't telling me everything and that annoyed me more than anything else.

"Well, whatever," I said, feeling miffed. "The doc isn't here, so this has been nothing but a giant waste of time. Thanks for that. Any other bright ideas, genius?"

"Hey now, easy on the sarcasm. I wouldn't call this a waste of time. I've learned a great deal down here."

I scowled. "Great. Care to share your big discoveries?" He waved a hand dismissively.

"I doubt you'd find it very useful," he said simply. I was about to protest when he pulled out a stack of papers covered in lines and some strange nonsensical symbols. Blueprints of some sort? The skeleton stuffed them back in his coat pocket before I could get a clear look at them. "Just stuff for my own personal project." He turned and started walking back down the hallway. "Dr. Alphys is probably at the garbage dump. I got what I wanted, so I'm outta here."

It took all of my self-mastery to not attack the trash bag and try to kill him again. Words could not describe how much I hated him and my whole body shook with rage. That manipulative little jerk. He knew he wanted something out of the lab, so he used me to get down here, making me traipse through this empty spooky place just so he could meet his own agenda. Heck, he dragged his own brother into this potentially dangerous situation. After spending a few minutes containing my anger, I followed after him, taking only a single glance behind me at the looming form of the machine.

"Hey, now that I can see the real stars, I can finally make a wish."

"..."

"I wish that you and I could be together forever."

"Augh!" Papyrus cried, stripping away slime from himself. "My hotpants will be forever ruined!" I didn't even have the emotional capacity to chuckle at his misfortune. Sans had somehow vanished in the corridor ahead of me and I had been forced to find Papyrus and navigate us out of the true lab by myself.

Apparently, the taller skeleton had run into the dog amalgamate I had seen Alphys taking care of once before. The thing hadn't been intending to harm Papyrus, but it had spotted bones and had instinctively mauled him to use him as a chew toy. Papyrus appeared to be just fine, but he was covered from head to toe in drool.

"That's not a big loss," I said, not even caring if I insulted the skeleton anymore. Papyrus rubbed the back of his head, further spreading slime across his bones.

"Well, I, the Great Papyrus, will not stand for it! I shall head for my house post-haste! The quest for finding Dr. Alphys will have to resume after I change into clothes more fitting for our adventure!" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Or I could go talk to her without you," I noted. "You don't have to come with me for everything, you know."

"Quite right, you are! Nyeh heh heh! Indeed, parting ways would be highly beneficial for all of us! That way we can accomplish twice as much! You are always full of such excellent ideas, little Asriel!" I winced, still not used to people knowing my real name. For whatever reason, I found that it was starting to bother me. This form could hardly be called Asriel anymore.

I nodded to him, giving him a false smile. "Alright. See you in a bit." I dove down into the soil and headed off to the garbage dump. I thought it was a strange place for Alphys to be, but I did vaguely recall seeing her there once before. How Sans knew where she was remained a mystery, but I really did not want to think about that smelly trash heap. It rankled my nerves that he had used me so selfishly. I hated being manipulated.

When I got to the garbage dump, all I could see were stacks and stacks of junk piled high to the cave ceiling. I spotted Undyne first, her slender form towering beside a blob of garbage. She looked pleased, and as I approached her, I could hear her chatting amiably about the game we had played for Papyrus's initiation into the Royal Guard. I was a bit surprised to note that a lot of her conversation included me, and it felt odd knowing that other people were talking about me now. I didn't particularly care for it.

Alphys's head popped out of the mess closest to Undyne and I vaguely realized that what I had taken to be more junk was actually the doctor's body leaned over the stack. "W-wow," she stammered, her cheeks aglow, "you always do the coolest things, Undyne. I w-wish I could be... Erm... Well, look at what I found!" She quickly directed Undyne's attention to a small, battered plushie she abruptly pulled out. I couldn't tell if the thing was supposed to be humanoid or not. Humans made the weirdest looking things sometimes.

Once again, I was reminded of just how useless the doctor was. What was I supposed to do, pop out of the ground and ask her if she knew where the king kept his precious human souls? Hi there, don't mind me, I just really want some souls. I seriously doubted that she knew where they were anyway. I also didn't feel like explaining myself yet again. It was bad enough that the skeleton brothers knew who I was. Did I really want to go through yet another pity party to explain myself to people who couldn't help me anyway? No, not really.

As I sat contemplating this below the rushing water, Undyne gave her friend a soft smile. "Awww, it's so cute," she said. "Just like you." It was almost enough to make me throw up, despite the fact that I didn't have a stomach. Cute was most certainly not a term I would apply to either of the two. The complement made Alphys blush even deeper and she began stammering for a bit about the television show the stuffed animal originated from or some other stupid nonsense like that.

It took a great deal of self-mastery not to give up on this whole endeavor. For some reason, the thought of admitting to Papyrus that I hadn't actually talked to the doctor was the only thing that kept me from turning around and returning to Snowdin. I grit my teeth and surfaced close to Undyne.

"Howdy!" I said in as cheery a tone as I could manage.

"Oh, hey there, punk!" Undyne said, giving me a huge grin. "You feeling any better?" I glanced to the side, biting my lip.

"A bit," I said, not wanting to elaborate on the subject.

Undyne turned to Alphys who was gazing at me with a surprised expression on her face. "Hey, this is the flower I was telling you about!" Concern riddled the doctor's expression suddenly and she pushed herself away from the pile of garbage, plushie held forgotten to her side.

"Huh." she mumbled.

I opened my mouth and closed it again, trying to find the right words to say. "Nice to see you again, doc." I finally stated. Alphys was staring at me, probably beginning to make the connection between a talking flower and her little experiments she had been trying to form.

"Whoa, whoa, you two've already met?" Undyne asked suddenly, realizing what I had implied. I chuckled to myself.

"In a manner of speaking," I said, not breaking eye contact with Alphys. "The doc here created me."

That made Undyne blink hard and Alphys lifted a hand up to chew on her claws unconsciously. I grinned, picturing my amorphous face making the happiest, most innocent expression I could manage.

"You mean it actually worked?!" Alphys blurted.

"You mean Alphys made you like what she did with Mettaton?! That is so cool! Alphys, your experiments are the best!"

Explaining myself all over again was really getting on my nerves. "Yeah, yeah, well, it's not like she meant to. Moving on. I got a question for you, doc." I gave her a level expression, trying to get straight to the point. "You created me in an attempt to break the barrier, right?"

Undyne's eyes went wide and she gave her friend an incredulous expression. Alphys bit her lip before nodding. "Y-yes. Well, I made you to hold the s-souls so we could use both monster souls and human souls. B-but, uh... The, um, hm..."

"The experiments on the monsters didn't work. Yeah, yeah, I know. But did you know you don't even need to use the monster souls?" Alphys blinked and exchanged glances with Undyne again. I grinned, glad I was getting somewhere finally. I kind of wished Undyne wasn't there, but there wasn't any way to avoid that.

"All it takes to cross the barrier is one monster soul and one human soul. If I were to cross the barrier, then I could go to the human world and collect the final soul needed to come back and break the barrier." Something about what I had just said suddenly stood out to me as a potential flaw with my plan. It took one monster soul, and I didn't have one of those. It probably wouldn't be a problem. If I could get all of the souls, that would be enough to do the job.

Strangely, it was Undyne who reacted first. "Wait, seriously?" she asked. "You mean we could go free right now!" Alphys chewed on her thumb in deep thought, contemplating this new information.

"Wow. Y-yeah. I mean, your theory is unproved, b-but I think you may be right."

I shook my head. "It's been proven before," I stated. "You remember when I- er- Asriel absorbed Chara's soul? The human that first fell down?" I bit my lower lip, not wanting to explain yet again that I was Asriel back from the dead. Alphys's eyes went wide as she remembered hearing about the event.

"Huh. Y-yeah. I do. Huh." She made eye contact again. "Th-this is phenomenal! We'll have to tell King Asgore!" I scowled in irritation. It seemed that every last one of these morons thought that everything would be solved by telling King Asgore the information he already knew.

"You did it!" Undyne cheered, picking Alphys up into a big hug and swinging her around in a wide circle. My scowl grew ever deeper.

"Wow, way to give her all the credit," I remarked sourly. "Anyway, we can't tell Asgore." Undyne ceased her rejoicing and looked at me in confusion, still holding Alphys squished against her chest. Then her eye narrowed.

"And why is that?" Undyne asked suspiciously.

My temper broke. "Because he's a freaking moron!" I shouted. "That idiot won't follow through with his plan! He doesn't want to! He's way too big a softie. He doesn't want to go to the surface and kill all the humans up there."

Surprisingly, it was Alphys who interrupted my rant. "But that doesn't m-make any sense!" I glowered at her. "Th-the king had me doing experiments on souls so we could break the barrier. I-if he didn't want to do it, why would he go so far to collect the human souls he already has?" For some reason, my little burst of anger had apparently made her angry, too, and she met my expression glare for glare.

Undyne set Alphys back down on the ground and rubbed her chin. "Hang on, Alphy, I think the flower may be right." The doctor looked up in surprise, not expecting Undyne to take the other side on this argument. "I've known Asgore better than anyone. The guy's got too big a heart for his own good." Undyne looked away, her facial expression somewhat sad. "He told me one time that he regretted killing the humans. I think that's a load of bull considering the hell they've put us through, but..."

She met my eyes, determination suddenly shining through like a physical aura. "Alright, punk! So what's the plan?"

"Uhhhh." I really wished I knew. Thankfully, my brain filled in information for me. "Well, we just need to get those souls. The question I had for you, doc, was whether or not you knew where King Asgore keeps them." There. I said it.

Alphys stood staring at the ground for a long moment, claw tucked beneath her chin. Finally, she spoke. "W-well, no, I don't know where they are." I narrowed my eyes but found that I wasn't surprised. Part of me was almost pleased. See, Mr. garbage bag? Alphys is completely useless. "But I have an idea of how I can get them for you," she finished.

I blinked. I hadn't been expecting that. I cocked my head. The doctor looked up, meeting my gaze with a strangely devious expression on her face as she peered over her glasses. "Meet me in my lab. I'll get those souls for you." She nodded in determination an scuttled away, splashing water out behind her. I opened my mouth to say something, but she was long gone.

I scowled in frustration. I really didn't want to wait around for forever when I could be doing something instead. I seriously doubted she had a way to get those souls anyway. That just made me all the more curious as to how she thought she was going to go about doing it. I was about to head after her when Undyne stopped me.

"Hang on a sec," she said, her voice dark. "I need to talk to you." I gave the direction Alphys had gone a despairing look knowing that I would lose her if I stayed back, but I couldn't very well just leave Undyne here either. With a sigh, I turned to raise an eyebrow at the fish lady. Her expression had twisted into one of calculated distrust. Great, what had I done now?

"Something's been bugging me about all of this." She wasn't looking at me and was instead staring intently at the ground. "You said that your entire mission was to break the barrier. And I get that. But..." Her head jolted up, her remaining yellow eye aflame. "Why in the world didn't you tell me about this before?!"

I hadn't been expecting that. I found that I didn't know what to say, so I just stared dumbly back at her for a moment, giving her the opportunity to continue. "You knew that there was a better way to break the barrier, but when you had the chance to talk to me earlier, all you could talk about was Papyrus! What's your deal?! Why the hell did you wait until now to tell me about this?!"

For some reason, I abruptly found Undyne's outburst amusing. There really was no reason to, but I grinned all the same. "And what would you have been able to do even if I told you earlier?" I asked innocently. She grit her teeth and was about to retort, but I interrupted her. "I've been trying to solve this issue on my own for a while now and nothing's worked. It was a last-minute resort to try to find Alphys and talk to her about it. If I had told you earlier, you would have stormed up to Asgore and demanded that he give you the souls. All that would do is make him angry and he would fight to protect them." I shook my head, trying to dispel the images of that exact event happening in the past.

Undyne glared down at the ground, wanting to argue but knowing that I spoke the truth. Then she snorted out a chuckle and her expression eased into a smirk. Obviously, she was picturing herself beating up Asgore as well. I breathed a sigh of relief now that the tension was gone. I hoped that explanation would be sufficient for her. I really didn't want to explain the fact that I could go back in time to her.

Finally, she met my eyes with a softer expression. "Alright, you got me there. But don't think this is over, punk! I still don't quite trust you! There's just this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that keeps telling me that you're the enemy here, and that really bugs the crap out of me!"

I frowned, but decided that her distrust of me was just part of her nature. No one ever remembered the resets. "Well, hopefully we can get the barrier open," I said in an attempt to change the subject. I grinned widely. "Then we can decide whether I'm the enemy here or not." Before she could say anything more, I dove beneath the ground and started after Alphys in the hopes of catching up to her.

"Haha! Asriel, I really don't think you have to worry about that anymore! You absorbed my soul! Of course I'm going to be with you forever! Nothing could ever separate us."

Despite my best efforts, I couldn't find Alphys anywhere. I had no idea where that stubby lizard had disappeared off to. Not knowing what she planned to do didn't help either. I went to the capital in the hopes of finding her there, but neither she nor Asgore were in any of the places I would have expected them to be. In frustration, I decided to follow orders and wait for Alphys back at her lab.

The lights were all off when I got there, and I quickly grew bored and decided to explore the true lab again. I was especially interested in the determination extraction machine, so I bee-lined there. It was the only thing I really didn't know anything about and I hated not knowing things. The machine was supposed to work with souls, so maybe I could discover something useful.

It took me a bit of time to find the room again. It was tucked away in a back hall and I hadn't really been paying attention to where I was when I had first found the thing. When I did find it, it seemed much spookier than it had before. I didn't remember turning the lights off when I had left, but the room was pitch black other than the soft illumination of blinking lights coming from the computers and machinery in the room. I hesitantly approached, wary of the chasm that separated the machine from the walkway. I couldn't see the bottom of the pit and I vaguely wondered why it was there in the first place. Just to keep curious flowers away from it I guess.

I wandered over to the computer monitor set into the wall closest to the machine and surfaced. I latched a vine into the ceiling and raised myself up so I could get a better look at the thing. It read "DETERMINATION EXTRACTION MACHINE" in huge letters. I scowled. So helpful.

I was about to poke at the screen when the distinct sound of footsteps echoed in the room. I jumped and turned towards the sound, but could see nothing in the darkness. I would have thought that it was one of those stupid monster blob things, but the footstep sounded too solid to be one of them.

A loud clanging sound came from the opposite side of the room from where the footsteps had been and I jerked my body around to stare in that direction. It was probably just the general creepy feel of this place, but I found that I was frightened. The logical part of me chided my useless emotions. There was nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all. The fact that everything was plunged in darkness and only faintly lit was doing nothing for my nerves. It was worse than the darkening lantern room.

I grit my teeth and turned back to the computer screen, determined not to let this spooky place get to me. The moment I had my back to the empty room, though, the footsteps came back, louder and closer than before. In frustration, I dropped to the floor, not wanting to be caught in a vulnerable position suspended halfway in the air. I turned around and squinted, gradually making out a figure stepping out of the darkness and into the glowing light of the computer screen.

I sighed in relief when the figure turned out to be Sans, his eye-lights off. He looked extra creepy in the half-light, but at least I knew that he wasn't about to kill me. Scare the crap out of me, maybe, but not kill me. Yet. "What are you still doing here?" I snapped. "I thought you left!"

He chortled deep in his throat, closing his eyes. "Funny, I could ask you the same thing," he said. I scowled.

"Alphys told me to wait in her lab while she got the souls for me. So here I am. What's your excuse, Chuckles?" Both of his hands were stuffed in his pockets and he had stopped at the very edge of the light, too far away to properly strangle. It was incredibly suspicious that he was hanging around here in this creepy place with all the lights off.

His eyes slowly eased open, the eye-lights in his sockets shining softly. "Sorry, bud," he said simply, "I'm 'fraid you won't be seeing Alphys down here any time soon." I was more than a little miffed that he had pointedly ignored my question, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"Oh? And why's that?" I asked, still annoyed.

He sighed, closing his eyes again. He didn't respond for a while and let the silence eat away at my fraying patience. "I've been doing a bit of research," he said finally. He was still not answering my questions and I barely refrained myself from growling in frustration. "I thought about your story and did a bit of digging. Seems to me you're telling the truth. However..." He leaned forward, letting the light cast strange shadows over his huge grin. "You're a bit lacking in the soul department, aint'cha?"

I ground my teeth. What in the world did that have anything to do with anything? Suddenly his eyes blanked out and his left socket flashed yellow and blue. I instinctively jerked back, though I internally scolded myself for the stupid reaction. He was on my side this time. Wasn't he?

"Thought so," he mumbled mostly to himself. Then he raised his voice to direct his next question at me. "How many times have I killed you in the past?"

Shock filled me. How did he figure that out? Shock turned to shame and I found that I couldn't look at him anymore. My gaze instantly dropped to the ground and I stared at the blank wall on my right. Why was I so embarrassed? That was such a stupid emotion. I stood my ground, but I was getting a very bad feeling about this. He started laughing again, but there was no humor in his hollow voice.

"Don't worry. I ain't gonna kill ya," he said, taking a few steps towards me. If the gesture was supposed to be comforting at all, I didn't feel it. "Just wanted to confirm my suspicions." He reached where I stood and I found that every muscle of my body was tensed to run. "So tell me, Asriel. What'ya plan on doing when the barrier's broken?"

I didn't respond. I found that I didn't have the words to respond. I didn't know. Part of me was frightened by that notion, but I had blocked that thought out. I didn't like his line of questioning. I hated him. I hated everything about him.

"Get away from me!" I shouted in a bout of rage. I summoned energy pellets and fired them at him more as a warning shot than anything else since I knew that he would just dodge the dumb things even if I did try to aim. I heard him chuckle in the darkness and when I glanced at him, he was standing back a few feet.

"Geez, kid, take it easy. It's a simple enough question. Look, what you did in the past, different timelines, it doesn't matter anymore. I'm not one to judge. And quite honestly, what I've seen of you, you've done nothin' but good so far. Just look at Papyrus. My bro's a full member of the Royal Guard now, thanks to you."

"Why are you talking to me?" I interrupted. I didn't want to hear him babble anymore. He was getting on my nerves. He fell silent for a blissful moment, but then he started laughing again.

"That's a bit rude. Why should I not talk to you? I'm rootin' for ya, kid."

I sensed a pun in there somewhere and that annoyed me to no end. "Then why did you say I'm not going to see Alphys any time soon?" He dropped dead silent and the humor vanished from him, leaving nothing but an empty shell of bones.

"Ah, there's the kicker, eh?" he said at last. I finally tore my eyes away from the wall and gave him a distrustful glare. What was he up to? He was staring into space looking strangely sad.

"Look, buddy," he said quietly, "breaking the barrier's a pretty great thing you're doin'. Congrats to you finding a way. However, giving those souls to you and turning you into an all powerful being sounds like a bad idea. Guess I'm a fickle person, but I don't really trust you."

I narrowed my eyes at him, anger filling me again. He was trying to stop me. Getting in my way. Again. I hadn't even done anything wrong this time. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, walking towards me with deliberate steps. I tensed and prepared myself to fight.

He stopped about a pace in front of me. Gradually, his eyes slid open. His brow was knotted into a look of concern, almost pity or compassion. I hated seeing him look down on me like that. I didn't need any useless pity, especially not from this guy.

"If your only goal really was to open the barrier, you'd have no problems letting someone else do it, right? You understand, don'tcha?" I found that I was shaking. I was trembling with sheer rage and hatred of this man. He didn't understand. He never understood. Why was he standing between me and my goal yet again?!

"You're the one who doesn't understand!" I yelled. "I have worked too hard for this! Harder than anyone else! I've died countless times! My best friend died because of it! I'm stuck as a stupid flower because of it! The one who's going to break that barrier once and for all is me! Me!"

I panted for a moment, glaring at him in the darkness. He seemed taken aback, surprised by my outburst. Then the tears came. I cursed myself for my cry-baby self. My vision blurred and stung with the tears and I shook them away angrily. I didn't want to deal with this man anymore. I dove beneath the tiled floor and fled to the upper part of Alphys's lab.

Part of me had hoped that Alphys would have returned by now, but she had not. The place was just as empty and dark as the true lab had been down below. I huddled beside Alphys's cube-shaped bed and tried to make the tears stop. Why was I so useless? Why could nothing ever go as planned? As I sat there, rage and determination filled me.

Who cared about that stupid skeleton? I would get those souls and break the barrier whether I had his support or not. I took several deep breaths and my tears dried. All I had to do was find Alphys. If she really had gotten those souls, that was all I needed to do. Find Alphys and break the barrier before Sans could stop me. With this ingrained in my head, I began to scour the Underground.

"We are bound together by fate."

I was on my way to the Capital when I spotted that stupid monster kid running through Hotlands. What the heck was he doing all the way out here? Curiosity got the better of me and I surfaced in front of him. Besides, maybe he had a good idea of where Alphys had gone.

"Yo!" the kid shouted when he spotted me. "You're heading to the barrier, too?" I raised an eyebrow at him. The barrier? Why was he going to the barrier? He reached me and began jumping from one foot to the other, unable to contain his excitement. "Isn't it so great?! Undyne is the best!"

"Isn't what so great?" I asked.

"Yo! You didn't hear?! Undyne and Alphys found a way to get through the barrier! Undyne absorbed all the human souls and she's going to go to the human world! Oh man, those humans are sure in for some trouble! Undyne's gonna go up there and kick all their butts!"

I nearly choked. No way. No!

There wasn't any time to waste. Without explaining myself or saying goodbye, I dove beneath the ground and went straight for the barrier as fast as I could.

"Not even death could keep us apart."

The Underground became a blur as I rushed through it. I needed to get there in time to- … What? Stop Undyne from absorbing the souls? If what that stupid kid said was true, it was far too late for that. But I needed to know. I needed to see it for myself.

On my way there, I noted a number of guards milling about. I would have completely ignored them, but I noted as I passed that one was saying something along the lines of needing to find "That flower" and stop it from getting to the capital. I grit my teeth and hurried on. It seemed the whole Underground had turned against me.

At last I made it to the chamber beyond the throne room that led to the barrier. I could hear the eerie hum from the barrier this close. Without taking heed to what lay in the chamber, I surfaced the moment I got there. The sight that filled my eyes was horrifying.

Undyne had transformed into a horrendous thing. Absorbing souls had the tendency to transform monsters into something far greater. I myself had transformed when I had absorbed Chara's soul, though I wasn't entirely sure what I had looked like then. I was sure that it was nothing compared to the beastly Undyne.

Dangerous looking red-orange ribbed fins fanned out from her limbs, large enough that they brushed the floor and walls of the cavern. Her body had grown almost serpentine in appearance: long, sleek, and muscular, not to mention huge. Her scales were shimmering with patches of pure magical energy that rippled in the light, her hair becoming a full mane drifting down the length of her body along with her fins. Somehow, she maintained enough of her appearance to still be considered Undyne, but the changes were phenomenal.

I felt something deep within myself break and I stood there dumbly. Lost. I had been betrayed. "Why?" I whispered. Undyne turned her head in my direction and sneered at me, flicking her fins dangerously. Her fangs had become even more prominent, jutting forth from her mouth in great wicked curved blades.

"Heya, punk! About time you showed up!" Her voice seemed almost layered, like multiple people were speaking at once.

My body and brain were numb. I felt like I was in a dream, watching this nightmare come to pass. Then the anger came, like someone had infused me with a serum of pure rage. "How dare you!" I shouted. Undyne narrowed her eye.

"So you're Asriel Dreemur, huh?" I jumped a little at my old name, surprised to hear it coming from Undyne. "Yeah, that's right. Sans gave us the whole run-down. Told us your little story of woe. But he also told me something interesting." She gracefully turned to face me full on, her fins gliding around like a cloak. "You don't have a soul. What's more, you've been traveling through time, messing with us like puppets. Seems to me you've been treating this whole thing like a game. And that really bugs the hell out of me."

I found that her words did nothing but fuel my own incomprehensible anger. I was betrayed on so many levels. It wasn't just Sans anymore. Undyne. Alphys. I had done nothing but help them and they betrayed me. Undyne whipped back around having said her piece and started towards the barrier.

"So I'm going to break the barrier. You shouldn't have anything to be upset about. This is what you wanted, isn't it?" I was trembling. I felt like there was something inside of me that was trying to burst through this empty shell of a body. I wanted to lash out at her, lash out at the whole Underground. But instead I was stuck in this meager frame and I knew there was nothing I could do about it. The souls were already gone. Everything was gone.

"No! NO!" I shouted. I hurried in front of her and surfaced again, wielding all of my strength in a wave of power. Undyne narrowed her eye and batted it aside with her bare hand like she was swatting away a fly. I couldn't let her do this. I just couldn't!

She started laughing. "Do you really think you can stop me, punk! You're nothing but a pathetic flower! You don't even have proper magic power like a real monster! You're nothing but a soulless husk!" She held her hands to the side, fins flicking out behind, and a great spear formed in her hands, the tip hooked wickedly. "Not even Asgore could stop me," Undyne mumbled.

I was crying. It was a dim awareness as though I was noting that someone else had started to cry. It didn't feel real. All I felt was betrayal. Rage. Determination. I wasn't sure what I hoped to accomplish. Fighting Undyne was a hopeless endeavor. But I had to try. I had to do something.

I pulled my roots from the ground, unraveling as many as I could into long tendrils of vines covered in thorns. I had never tried anything like this before, but it was all or nothing. I shot two of them forward, intent on wrapping around a limb. They were cleanly severed before they reached their mark and pain flooded through me. I ignored it. Nothing hurt worse than my own emotions.

"What about Papyrus?!" I shouted. "What about everything I've done for you?!" I unleashed the words with another bout of energy, surpassing the measly form of pellets.

I barely saw Undyne tense before she was on top of me, spear point skewered into one of my petals next to my face, cutting it in two. I didn't have the state of mind to scream. I only stared wild-eyed at the monster looming above me.

"What kind of a fool do you take me for?" she sneered, leaning down close enough that I could smell her breath. "You never cared about Papyrus or any of us! You were only looking out for yourself!" She whipped her spear back, leaping backwards in the process and sent me flying with the tip. I crashed against the back of the cavern wall and I could feel the breath rush out of me from the impact. With a groan, I slid to the ground upside-down.

I untangled my roots and tried to pull myself upright, though agony accompanied every movement. Even with my flood of anger, the pain cut through to my consciousness. I found that I no longer had the strength to dive below the surface and try to get to safety. Undyne only leered at me with cold resolve in her eyes.

"Stay down if you know what's good for you," she commanded. Breathing heavily, I lifted my head to glare at her defiantly, my teeth grit in hatred. Unfortunately, that was all I could manage. She hadn't done enough damage to kill me, but I was weakened to the point where I could no longer use any magic. I knew I was defeated, but that just made me want to fight back all the more.

"Sans put you up to this, didn't he?!" I yelled. She scoffed.

"As if I'd let that guy order me around. The only thing Sans did was fill me in on what was going on." She glared. "Filled in all the gaps you left with your filthy lies."

I found that I was too out of breath to properly retort. In disdain, Undyne turned her back to me. I pulled a vine out from underneath me and shot it towards Undyne's exposed back. In a blur, she swung a fin behind her which absorbed the blast and she tossed a spear that she hadn't even needed to spend time summoning. The spear rammed into my stem and pinned me to the ground. She then flipped around as though nothing had happened and traipsed straight towards the glowing shield that had us all trapped in the Underground.

The moment Undyne phased through the barrier, I whipped my head back and let out a wordless yell that rang through the cavern. I was helpless and betrayed. No one in this Underground deserved my help. There was no such thing as friendship. In this world, there's only kill or be killed.

I felt so frustrated and angry. For just a moment, I had held some hope that I might actually accomplish my goal. And yet still everything had come crashing down around me. This whole timeline had been rendered useless. I stared defiantly at the way Undyne had gone, my vision slowly easing to black as my consciousness ebbed. With the last of my energy, I pooled together my determination and reset.