"She's going to eat you."

Frisk didn't turn around. This wasn't the first time Flowey had popped out of the ground to tell lies about Mom. They kept digging in the dirt—careful not to uproot any of the non-talking flowers—until they found another worm for their bucket.

"What kind of mom sends a kid out to dig for worms, anyway? Isn't she supposed to be, I don't know, fattening you up with pie and singing you lullabies?"

"Mom only sings lullabies before bed. And I'm already fat, so if she wanted to eat me, she would have." Oh, another worm. This one was long and extra wiggly. Frisk almost felt bad for trapping it in the bucket, but it would bring in at least three gold pieces when they traded it to the spiders. Frisk tried not to think too much about what would happen to it after that.

"Eh, I guess you are kind of chubby. Huh. Maybe she wants you to get some muscle first."

"Then she wouldn't be giving me pie." Frisk brushed their hands off on their shorts, leaving dark brown stains. Oops. Hopefully Mom wouldn't be too upset about that.

"Ugh. Whatever. You're annoying, you know that?"

Frisk shrugged. Flowey got annoyed a lot. It didn't stop him from coming to talk to them most times they were alone.

"You want a worm?" They held one out from their bucket. "You can trade it for something. The spiders are selling croissants today."

Flowey snorted. "I don't need your pity. I can catch my own worms."

Flowey didn't have hands. Or arms. But Frisk wasn't rude enough to point that out.

"Mom's gonna teach me how to cook snails when I get home. You can come if you want."

With that, Frisk stood and left the flower patch. Flowey probably wouldn't come. He never came when Frisk invited them, despite claiming that Frisk was the most interesting thing down here.

Frisk thought Toriel was the most interesting person here. It was too bad all the froggits and whimsuns were intimidated by her. They'd never get to learn the best bug-hunting spots, or how it felt to touch fire that didn't burn, or that boss monster hugs were the best in the world.

(Frisk didn't have many other hugs to compare it to, but they were still sure they were right.)

"Snails. I thought humans hated snails…" Flowey's mutter echoed from behind them.

Frisk stiffened. "You know other humans?"

That thought… didn't fill them with determination. Frisk didn't know why. They were human. Everyone they used to know was human.

(No one they used to know had come for them.)

Flowey's petals stood up straight. It was a pretty funny sight, but they didn't feel like laughing.

"Where'd you get that idea?"

Frisk shrugged again. Maybe they had read too much into things.

But suddenly, Flowey burrowed in front of them, then popped out of the ground with that creepy grin.

"I do know a human, actually. Or I did… until Toriel…" He mimicked Mom's face.

They hated when he did that. They squeezed their eyes shut, knowing whatever came next would be scary.

"Cooked them with snails and ate them!"

Frisk waited a beat to open their eyes. Then they walked past without a word.

"Oh, come on! I nailed the voice on that one! Aren't you even a little scared?"

Flowey would get bored and stop if Frisk didn't answer. They navigated the puzzles and switches to head towards Home.

"Ugh. Fine! Stay here with your… 'Mom.' You'll get bored of her eventually. Just like I did."

They would just ignore him. Even if his words were like bullets in their back.

Frisk wasn't like Flowey. They liked to explore, sure, and the Ruins were small… but that didn't mean they'd get bored.

They had a Mom who loved them. And that was more than they could've ever hoped for.