Asphodel, a flower that means "my regrets will follow you to your grave"

Waterfall was a lot larger than you originally thought it was. In reality you're sure every little microbiome was much larger than you'd seen. After all, you had been sent on the shortest path possible to get to the Core and Capital. In hindsight it was silly you never thought much about how big each section of the Underground was.

The field you'd run into was more of a trampled shore to a large open bog. The mass of water stretched far past the horizon, twisted trees turning out to just be braided clumps of vines that started from the unseen ceiling of the cavern and stretched down to the depths of the mire. Water sausages grew like weeds and the massive tattered lily pads in the water held clumps of wet dust and dirt. There was a smell of rot in the air.

Red stayed quiet, taking to completely ignoring your existence. He hopped to each small stepping stone of land in between the stretches of dry ground. You were much slower when it came to crossing, but managed well enough. He leads the two of you. Partly you're sure because he wanted to be angry and march ahead so he didn't have to look at you. You let him lead, for now. It's not like there was really any other way to go. Not until you heard the whispers.

At this point you had already explained to Red that you were finding pieces of a scattered soul to paste it back together for it's owner. You told him you couldn't return to your own reality before you found them all. You tried to explain the important parts, the answers he was actually looking for like why, when he could leave, and how you got around. You also left out the parts that you knew would be more confusing. You didn't mention Gaster or why you out of everyone was sent to find them. Red didn't ask.

He... took it better than you honestly thought he would. Maybe he didn't believe you. That would be the easy answer. That, or maybe he was like Sans from your timeline and knew more than he let on, more than he'd tell you. More, meaning a cellar where he had a reality bending machine that he just "decided" to start building, not remembering who made the blueprints for it. More, meaning he had the smarts and the understanding to understand said blueprints and use them correctly to successfully bend reality.

Maybe… You didn't know Sans as well as you had originally thought.

Red kicks a rock out of his way, grumbling when it hits the water and splashes him. You stare at the water as you walk.

Why had he saved you? You know if you asked he'd tell you it was because you were his way out. You're sure that had to do with it but it didn't feel like that was the entire answer.

Or maybe you were projecting. Hoping for more. Hoping there was a shred of humanity locked away in the killer skeleton. You're sure if you knew, for certain, that your nerves would relax just a small amount.

"I wonder if Cinnamon is okay." You suddenly pipe up, glancing over your shoulder. Since the Temmie's cornered you and Red in the field, you wonder if they had run into Papyrus before Red had handled them.

"Stop it."

"Huh?" You step back just as Red spins around, glaring.

"Stop callin' him Cinnamon. It's fuckin' gross. Ya know his name is Papyrus." His single red eye glows brighter, the light seeping from it like a burning flame taking a violet coloration. The constant hum of magic in the air grows louder.

"Of course I know his name is Papyrus." You say, taking your hands out of your coat pockets. "He didn't talk like other Papyrus's though." You comment, more to yourself. Red pauses again and you know he'd heard you. He starts walking again.

"Ignorin' the plural ya used." Red sends you a scathing look. "I'm assumin' it's 'cause he's too tired to be lacin' his words with magic all the time." He shrugs and your face knits further into confusion.

"Lace his words with magic?" You repeat. "You don't do that."

"'Cause you're not worth it." He laughs at your glare. "All the higher up boss monsters do it ta put the weaker guys in their place. If ya couldn't tell, wherever the fuck we are doesn't seem ta have a lotta magic left in it."

"I've met a lot of Papyrus's that always seem to be yelling, but in a quieter way? I guess I always thought the magic I felt from them was just their soul." You rub at your arms, feeling the cold chill of the bog blow over you. "Most of the Sanses' didn't do it either, excluding one of them. So you're saying Cinnamon is feeling too tired to add magic to his words?" Red comes to an abrupt halt and you run into his back. You wince at how solid he is.

"See," He turns again and juts a finger your way. "That's ta problem, innit? You know he's a Papyrus, even without the magic, 'cause ya got so-o many references." He's seething again, but you feel lost.

"What does that mean?"

"Ya know what it means." He snaps. "Ya know me 'n boss, you know about this place's "me n' boss", and I sure as hell know I wasn't ta first Sans ya met."

"You're not." You state matter-of-factly. "And you're already not the last. I already told you about the world hopping or whatever." Red groans and turns his back to you and tries to walk off. It annoys you more than him getting mad so you jog after him and cut him off. "Why're you so mad that I'm calling this world's Papyrus, Cinnamon?"

"'Cause that's not his name, his name's Papyrus!"

"Yeah, I know that. You're the one that called him a freak." You throw your arms out. You feel his magic throb.

"He's his own goddamn monster! Not some random copy-"

"I wasn't going to call him Papyrus when he reacted like that- to not remembering his own name! Plus, I can't just stumble into a new world and act like I know everyone here as if any of these places, monsters, are like those in my home." He laughs ruthfully at you and you feel your temper flare. You poke Red's chest, getting in his face. "Believe me, I know you're not a copy. You're far from my Sans."

Before you can blink you're thrown backwards. You grunt when your head bounces off the ground. For a moment, your vision goes black, a numbness fills your head and a blinding, throbbing pain splits the back of your skull.

"I'm startin' to to see less 'n less reason ta keep ya alive, dollface." Red stands over you, red magic eye flaring, red-violet flickering bones of magic summoned and pointed jagged end down towards you.

"You already know what'll happen if you kill me." You spit, feeling the cold wet bog grass soak into your back.

"Continue with y'ur annoyin' ass, or find a way out myself." He shrugs, grin growing wider. "Not much of a decision, eh?" The sharp bones pull back.

Your soul tumbles out of your chest as you roll, just barely avoiding the projectiles. They pierce the wet ground before the magic creating them dissipates. You scramble to your feet, slipping a bit.

"You can't escape this world without me!" You dodge another set of sharpened bones, your soul pulsing with your rapid heartbeat.

"Don't care." He hisses, smiling like a manic as he flings his arm out, summoning more.

You brace yourself, knowing that this fight was not going to go in your favor.

The bones fly towards you, your soul raises up to meet them.

Then they stop.

"What-" Red growls. "What fuckin' now?" The red-violet magic holding the bones grows darker until it nearly looks black. They rotate and then shoot down into the ground, just in front of you, as if building a sort of fence.

Sending Red a curious look he sneers at you, letting you know he really had no control over what had just happened.

A loud, brassy laugh makes both of you freeze up.

Red spins around, trying to catch sight of the new player. He looks ready to take all of his anger out on whoever decided to interrupt. At this point, after having met the Temmies', you're ready to step back and let him handle whoever this could be.

"Fuckin' come out already!" Red screamed. He growls even louder, waves of powerful, angry magic rolling off of him.

"Now, that's no way ta greet a new pal." The water suddenly splashes up onto shore. It makes you jump. When you look you don't see whatever, or whoever, caused it.

All you feel is an arm wrapping around you from behind.

You thrash, yelling as you shoot forward, throwing the arm off you. Whoever had grabbed you laughs loudly, brokenly. You turn around and back peddle away from the monster.

If you had thought Red was big compared to your Sans, this twisted version was massive. He was hulking in size, much larger, just like Cinnamon had been compared to your Papyrus. This Sans was… wrong. His smile was sharp at the edges and just too wide to be natural. That, and half his skull was caved in. The fractures splintered off from the jagged hole, hooking into his left socket and making the illusion that the socket was somehow wider. Just like Red, only one of his sockets had an eye. However, while Red's glowed with magic like a 2-D light, which you're sure was an intimidation tactic, this skeleton's eye was… real. It was floating in the socket, the top of the sphere catching the light from the hole at the top of his head.

"My brother was supposed ta lead ya two ta town, but uh…" The darker Sans's eye dilated as it focused on Red behind you, moving while he stayed completely still. "He's not like himself nowadays." He shrugs. "S'fine. It's why I'm here." He lifts his left arm and it's then that you see what he's holding.

The large, red stained axe was twisted and chipped. The blade curved down just a bit too sharply, jaggedly, as if it was less for woodcutting and more for latching around trunks and pulling them down. It was a weird thought and image, but with the size of the blade and how easily he set it on his shoulder with only one hand, it felt no further from the truth.

"Why take us to town?" You ask, finally finding your voice. The way his eye snapped back to you made your skin crawl. It was like his body was dead, still, frozen, and the only thing alive about him was the bloody red eye in his socket.

"Wanted ta show ya 'round." He answers smoothly, voice sounding the most familiar to you, but his sharp smile lacks all well meaning. "Paps has a tendency to uh, play with his food."

"Play with his-" Red throws his hand out, pointing between the two of you. "Did you just fuckin' call us food?" Cracked Sans laughs loudly at Red's anger, which only pisses him off more.

"Dunno. Did I?" He shrugs again, bouncing the axe on his shoulder near playfully.

It's then that you notice the way the water bubbles next to you. It looked almost like it was boiling. You glance at the two Sans's hoping one of them notices, but both were too busy trying to intimidate the other.

"It wasn't hard to find ya." Cracked Sans says. "Y'ur just broadcastin' y'ur source of magic," He then points the axe at you. "And makin' her sweat is makin' her smell real tasty. Can smell her from town."

The water starts to form waves, bubbling and frothing as if something was rising through the depths. You step back, bumping into Red, who instinctively shoves you away.

"See?" Sans hooks his finger into his socket. "Broadcastin'."

The water splashes you as whatever is under it surfaces. Red pulls you back as a large spiked tentacle slams against the ground right where you'd been seconds ago.

A large figure rises, shadow casting over you and red, water pouring off it. You're sure you vaguely remember this monster. A glimpse of yellow wet skin, big eyes, and a somewhat annoying but persistent voice. The name escapes you but you don't know if even this monster remembered it. It's black hollow eyes stare through you. Not because it could see you, but because something had gauged them out a long time ago, the sockets looking clawed at and bloody. More muscular tentacles rise from the dirty water and you feel your soul slip back out in front of you.

The beast roars. Your ears ring and your soul trembles.

You look to Red and the sweat dripping down his head gives away his nervousness.

"Hum!" You hear the creaking of bones and the splashing of water behind you.

"Careful Paps." Sans watches Cinnamon clumsily make his way over. Instead of looking down to Sans he smiles at you and points.

"Mar-ssh, meet… Hum!" Sans's smile twitches and his red eye rolls to find you.

"Cinnamon!" You call back and give a wave. "I'm glad you're safe!" Cinnamon gives a rattling laugh before putting both hands on Sans's shoulders and shaking him.

Red slaps down your waving hand.

"Maybe you should fuckin' focus." He points back to the monster, bones appearing to shield you both from the first slam of the tentacles. It's powerful enough that Red's bones crack and you back up as the tentacle smashes through them.

As you dodge the next swipe you hear Cinnamon and his brother.

"Hum! Meet Hum! Nice!"

"Why the hell she callin' you Cinnamon?" He asks, but Cinnamon keeps mumbling on, seeming all too happy to see you again to really give Sans any attention.

Red ignores the two skeletons a little too easily. Instead he focuses on the seething monster in front of you. He raises his hand, summoning a larger bone than any of the others you'd seen him create before. It was broken and jagged, but looked like someone had taken a large knife to it to sharpen it's end to a point. The look that flickers across his face makes you reach out for him.

"Red don't dust it!" The skeleton hesitates, sockets narrowing dangerously towards you. He looked ready to chew your head off. However, he pauses just long enough for the monster to make its first attack and interrupt his concentration.

The ground seems to shake every time the octopus monster slams his tentacles down. You're able to weave around them for the most part. Every time you move around them you feel the cold radiate off the wet skin.

When you slide around one close call, you don't see the second one sweeping towards you. One moment you're just catching the wind of the tentacle mere inches from crushing your face in, and then you're staring at another wall of bones. Red yells something from behind you, probably telling you off for getting distracted. You catch your breath before backpedaling to regroup.

There had to be a way to take this monster down that didn't involve letting Red take a bone spear to its cranium. You're sure if this dodge-fest ran any longer Red would give up on playing nice on your behalf - as if it was actually on your behalf. For such a big monster, it moved surprisingly fast. You wonder if Red wasn't going after it again because of you or because he wasn't given enough openings to concentrate.

"Marsssssh." Cinnamon calls, loud enough that it steals your attention.

"Marsh? " You repeat. Cracked Sans sends you a look and it makes you freeze up, but Cinnamon just smiles wider and nods to himself happily. Could he not remember Sans's name? Couldn't be, since he recognized it when you had called Red by his name. Maybe… He couldn't recognize Sans. A nickname, just like 'Cinnamon'.

"Hell-p." Cinnamon says, pulling at the axe wielding Sans's sleeve. "Marssh, help." Marsh looks confusedly at Cinnamon before slinging that one eyed look back to you and Red. His smile twitched before he finally shrugged off his brother's hold.

"'Kay bro, we'll help the brats." 'Marsh' says. You glance back to Red, seeing his face start twisting with anger. Right over his skull you also see another tentacle.

"I don't need y'ur fuckin' help-" You dive into Red, throwing him out of the way of a wayward tentacle. He curses but you don't let go, rolling the two of you again to miss the second attack. He pushes at your shoulder to get you off, eye sparking as you feel bones materialize around you.

Cinnamon roughly pulls you to your feet, out from behind the bone shield, patting your shoulders roughly as if to dust you off. You try you best not to flinch, knowing the kind intent was there.

Suddenly you hear the monster in the bog scream and feel a cold spray of water against your back. Turning, you see Marsh's axe lodged into the ground, having severed one of the tentacles holding the beast up on shore. With a sickening twist in your gut you realize the spray of water on your back had actually been the spray of black blood.

You turn fully around, watching Marsh grab his axe and then flick it, slinging the blood off to spray the ground. The monster sinks down into the water. The black blood pools at the surface like oil.

"I could've fuckin' handled it." Red spits, dusting himself off. Marsh casts his eye towards Red and just stares at the smaller skeleton. The longer Red holds his look, the more he stiffens up and the more sweat drips down his temple.

"Sure." Marsh finally says before pulling his eye away. Red practically deflates. He growls at you when he realizes you were watching.

You squeak when Cinnamon picks you up. He folds you in his arms as if you were an animal, hugging you almost too tightly.

"Keep her!" Cinnamon gurgles, looking down to Marsh as he roughly pets your head. Marsh's toothy frown twitches into an amused smirk. He looks to Red.

"Sure. Let's keep her."

"Like hell you're takin' my ticket outta here." Red snaps back immediately. He reaches for Cinnamon's arm.

In the blink of an eye, Marsh's axe is suddenly implanted in the dirt between Red and Cinna. If Red had a nose, the tip would be bleeding. Marsh's smile stretches too wide as he looks at Red, daring him to take another step towards his brother. You purse your lips, knowing this wasn't going to end well.

"Cinna, can you set me down?" Cinnamon cocks his head down at you before slowly releasing. You slide down to the ground before slowly inching around Marsh to get back to Red's side. You ignore the triumphant sneer Red sends Marsh. "I'm sorry I can't stay." You say, ignoring both Sanses' to focus on Cinnamon's frown face. "But I promised Red."

"...Lee-ve?" Cinna asks, choking halfway through on black goo that bubbles out past his teeth.

"I need to go home." You say, trying not to over explain. "I have to take Red home, too." Cinnamon holds your stare. He then limply raises his hand and grabs just the edge of your jacket sleeve.

"Stay." He says. You feel your chest physically restrict. "Please." You have to look away from his eyelights, unable to hold them for too long with the feeling in your chest growing even more painful.

"I'm sorry but I really can't. I have to go home." You purse your lips. "I have to see my sibling again." At that Cinna straightens a bit, retracting his hand. He seems to understand, then. Marsh, seeing that Cinna has given up, flips his axe back onto his shoulder and turns away.

"Let's go bro." Marsh says, starting off. Red takes that as his queue to start heading off in the opposite direction.

"Let's hit the road pipsqueak." He says, tugging at your jacket before dropping it to head off. You want to follow but you can't help but be stuck in place under Cinnamon's stare. It was such a sad look.

"Mmm… See, again?" He asks, and again you feel a throb in your chest.

"I…" You trail off, not having the heart to lie, nor hurt his feelings. "Maybe." You answer instead. Honestly you're not sure if you'll ever get out of this universe jumping phenomenon. Maybe you'll jump back to this reality, you don't know. EIther way it made Cinnamon smile again and that was enough.

You hear the sound of the water splashing before you feel it shower you.

Then suddenly Cinnamon grabs you, switching the places where you two stood.

You blink, confused. You open your mouth to ask what he's doing, but then your eyes meet something poking out of his chest that hadn't been there earlier.

It was the sharp, jagged end of a tentacle. You stare at it, your brain not quite understanding what you were seeing. You look up to meet Cinna's eye lights.

Cinnamon smiles crookedly at you, face glowing.

Then he dusts.

The tentacle, now free, slowly slinks back to the owner. The monster had once again risen from the depths.

Your eyes trail down.

You stare at the pile of dust, your brain trying to understand what you'd just witnessed.

"Cinna-" Your voice cracks and the ball stuck in your throat melts into the fat tears spilling down your face. "Papyrus." You whimper out instead, legs giving out.

"Paps…" Marsh says, barely audible. You don't think it's even his voice. You're sure you hear the call for his brother from his soul.

You reach for the dust. You don't know why, it doesn't make sense, none of this makes sense. You scoop and pull it close to you, as if packing it together would make him come back. Cinnamon had just been there, had just been smiling, helping, asking you to stay. He'd just been there. He'd just been here.

You pull handfuls up close to you and your tears drop down to add to the pile.

The dust whispers to you, telling you it's okay, that it's not your fault.

But you knew it was. You don't know why he had stood in front of you. This world was full of bloodlusting monsters and yet this one had chosen to be kind.

He chose kindness.

…Why?

You feel your soul give a violent throb as it's light flares out through the cracks of red. The green light flickers like a roaring fire and it bathes the world around you. Whatever fighting had been going on while you stared at the ashes abruptly stopped. You stood up, the dust falling through your shaking fingers.

You feel the emotions of the monsters around you. You feel their worry, sadness, fear. You feel their hunger and the gnawing pain of being abandoned.

You turn to the monster in the water, their hollowed eyes burning into you even though they couldn't actually see you. With dust coating your hands you pass a stiffened Red and Marsh and make your way to the shore line. Reaching out, you gently rest your hand on the chipped scales of the monster.

Their soul was shriveled, dying, dried out like the seaweed you had just been trekking through. It throbbed with an unquenchable hunger that they knew they would never taste again. They had lost hope a long, long time ago. They had lost themselves, too.

"Go home." You whisper gently. "Before it's too late." The monster shivers under your touch and then, slowly, sinks under the murky water once again.

You had chosen kindness.

But why did it hurt so much?

"You let it go." Marsh says once your soul seats itself back inside your chest. You don't look at him, feeling a wave of hot shame running up your neck and over your cheeks. You don't feel like you have the right to look at Cinnamon's brother. You hear the sound of his teeth click and then the turn of his heel as he starts back through the bog.

"What the hell was that?" Red asks, stepping up to your side. When you look up to him, his look twitches and he looks away.

You hear the dust whisper again. This time when you glance back to Cinnamon's remains, you see a floating shard. Unlike the others you've found, it looked like it was wrapped in a green thread. You wonder if it was ever originally inside of Cinna, or if it'd been pulled to you because of the surge of magic you'd let out.

You didn't care.

"Let's go." You say, trudging back over to the dust scattered across the ground. You kneel down, trying to avoid touching it again. Your eyes linger on the dust as you reach for the bobbing shard. Red grabs your hood at the same time your fingertips connect.

Like always there's a blinding light. You stare into it for a bit longer than you should before you finally remember to shut them. You blame the light for the new wave of tears.

Yet as the shard dissipates just like the others, and the light dims until there's nothing, you aren't immediately whisked away to a new world. It felt like something had a hold of you. It wasn't painful, like when Chara had tried to reset in the first timeline. No this felt… Different.

"Hello."

You jump. Red curses, pulling you back by the hood, nearly choking you as you fall back on your behind.

You do choke when you see the person in front of you.

It was Frisk. The pain clouding your head and chest immediately lighten at the sight of your baby sibling. You go to reach for them but suddenly you stop. You blink a few times, knocking the rose tinted glasses from your eyes, to really see who's in front of you.

The black and white child, covered in a hazy tv-static, looking no older than the day you first entered the Underground, smiles sweetly.

It would've been a whole lot sweeter if there weren't two fist sized black oozing holes where the children's eyes should've been.

"You aren't supposed to be here." They say and you feel your hairs stand on end. A line of black thick liquid rolls down the child's smiling cheek.

This wasn't your Frisk. Your Frisk wasn't nine anymore. They were nineteen and taller than you. They also weren't gray scale, glitching into reality with oozing black sockets.

You deflate.

The child waves and something about it is familiar. Other than the fact they looked like Frisk when they were nine. Something about the child's smiles and their eyes…

You now, for a moment, while staring into the endless void of their eyes, you're reminded of Gaster.