:):

Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful reviews!

...

I hope this dream isn't too scary... D:

xxx

Dreams Can't Hurt You

xxx

Bare feet padded quietly on hardwood as Fearia walked down the darkened hallway that led to the Throne Room. She had finally returned to Fauna and now it was time to face the Chief. In her pocket, she knew she had something to show him, something that would prove her bravery. He promised he would change his mind if she returned successful, and she had.

"Filthy abomination." A cruel voice spat from nearby.

Flinching, Fearia looked behind her in worry but there was nobody there. Was that Mrs. Haiyan?

"Why did you have to come back?" The voice of Mrs. Malika asked sternly. "Was your sister that important?"

"Of course she is!" Fearia defended hotly as she once again looked around. The hallways were empty and a deathly quiet seemed to hang heavily in the air. It was almost suffocating how the silence seemed to fill every nook and cranny of the large dwelling. Feeling ever so slightly unnerved now, the little girl hurried her pace.

"You should have just died out there." Liling said quietly from down a darkened hallway. "You would have done us all a favor."

"Your efforts were in vain, but try not to weep." Malix whispered from directly behind her.

"If you do, I'll smother you in your sleep." Nalu threatened coldly.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Fearia held her hands to her ears in an attempt to keep the voices out. Against her will, tears began leaking from her eyes. Why could she never control them? Why was she always so weak?! More tears fell as she berated herself.

"Are you crying?" Malix asked with carefully hidden concern.

"Ha!" Nalu squealed with malicious laughter. "You should be dying!"

"Shut Up!" Fearia shouted as she tried to run away. "Shut up shut up shut up! Leave me Alo-!"

Colliding with a solid form, the air was knocked out of the small child as she bounced off and hit the floor. Gasping, the startled child looked up to see what she had hit. An armored guard glared down at her from where he stood. Stepping aside, he opened the door silently.

From where she sat, Fearia peered into the room beyond the door. A red carpet stretched out before her, leading the way to the occupied throne. On it, she beheld Chief Marx and her blood ran cold.

"Enter." The Chief ordered. That was all he needed to say. His word was absolute.

Scrambling to her feet, Fearia numbly walked into the Throne Room. Once she was before him, the small child dropped to both knees and lowered her head in fear. "I've returned, f-father." She said, trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"Lift your head, whelp, and present to me what was promised in our deal." Chief Marx demanded as he leaned forward on his mighty war ax.

Standing up, Fearia dug into her pocket with haste. A cold feeling of dread washed over her as her fingers failed to find anything. Withdrawing her empty hands, the little girl began to tremble as her gaze was drawn back to the Chief.

"Nothing?" Marx narrowed a steel blue eye, though he didn't appear surprised in the least. "And after I so generously gave you lenience for your impudent behavior. You truly are worthless."

"No! I did have something! I swear!" Fearia panicked as she again dug around in her pockets in a futile attempt to produce something. Anything! "I- I must have dropped it!"

"Enough of your excuses." Marx snapped from right in front of her. "You know the penalties for failure."

Fearia paled as she looked up at the imposing giant of a man. When had he gotten so close to her? How hadn't she heard him approach? Stumbling backwards, the scared child tried to distance herself as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, she just wasn't fast enough. As a large hand grabbed her around the throat, Fearia felt her feet leave the ground.

Squeezing her eyes shut in fright, the little girl tried in vain to pull the hand away from her neck. Scratching at the limb, her fingers snagged in the vines as she felt the grip tighten, cutting off her air flow.

Something wasn't right. Wheezing, Fearia forced an amber eye open as her small hands pulled desperately at the vines as they slowly wound around her body, ensnaring her. A ghoulish face was there to greet her, its twisted smile widening into a sharp toothy grin.

"Didja think everything would just work out for you? That everything would just magically fall into place?" Flowey laughed with glee, his voice eerily amplified by dozens of echo flowers that now surrounded them. "You really are an idiot!"

Fearia felt the chilly gloom of the Underground settle around her as she was brought face to face with the scary flower. Had he always been this big? Right now, she just couldn't remember!

"Not everyone gets a happy ending y'know..." Flowey said quietly as he leaned even closer to the petrified child. "Some of us were juuust meant to die." He grinned wickedly as the vines constricted.

She couldn't breathe. The vines were too tight! She didn't even have enough air to beg for her life. All Fearia could do was stare in horror as the flower's grin twisted sadistically as if finding some kind of morbid pleasure in watching her suffocate.

A golden heart appeared in front of the small child. It shuddered as its light flickered erratically, fighting to keep its radiance from dimming. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Fearia's eyes widened at the first signs of a crack. The sharp noise echoed throughout the cave as a deep fracture divided her soul. A moment later, the unthinkable happened.

Her golden soul shattered into countless pieces.

...

A loud gasp broke the silence of the dimly lit room as Fearia flailed from underneath the bed sheets. Fighting to be free of the entrapment, the small child coughed and wheezed as she tried to drag air into her lungs. Scared out of her mind, she didn't know where she was or if she was in some kind of danger. All she knew was that she was terrified.

Feeling a small kick to one of his femur bones, Papyrus was startled awake. Sitting up in his bed, the skeleton nearly freaked when he saw something squirming from beneath his bed sheets. What in the world was that?! It was only when he heard a small whimper, did his mind finally process what was happening.

Reaching over, Papyrus pulled the covers away from the struggling human. She had her eyes tightly closed as she held her hands to her chest in apparent pain. "Fearia!" He gasped as he gently collected the tiny human into his arms. What was happening? Was she injured in some way? "Tell Me What's Wrong! Are You Hurt? Is It Your Chest?"

Feeling herself being cradled in bony arms, Fearia finally opened her eyes. Scrunching up her face when she saw her friend's worried expression, the little girl sniffled before reaching out and clinging to his cervical spine. "Pappy..." She sobbed pathetically. "I had a really really scary dream..."

"There, there, Miss Fearia." Papyrus consoled as he gave a quiet sigh of relief that she was unharmed. "It was just a bad dream. You're safe now, I'm here with you."

Fearia didn't bother to reply to that as she clung to the skeleton, hiding her face as best she could against his collarbone. If that had just been a bad dream then why had her soul been screaming in agony when she awoke? Even now, she could still feel the dull throb. That hadn't been a normal nightmare. It was far too painful.

...

Reappearing outside his house, Sans observed the telltale signs of morning, as the early risers of Snowdin got a head start while everyone else still slept. Looks like he had pulled another all-nighter again. This was becoming a bad habit. Hopefully, Papyrus wouldn't notice that the circles under his eye sockets were a bit darker than normal.

Fully expecting to hear the usual early bird chatter between his brother and the kid, Sans was a little perplexed when he entered a silent house. Huh... Were they still asleep?

Teleporting himself to the second floor, Sans cracked his brother's door and peeked inside. Papyrus was awake, quietly reading a book with one hand while the other cradled a sleeping human. Slightly worried, Sans pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Noticing his brother, Papyrus closed his book and greeted him with a subdued smile. "Good morning, brother. Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"eh, not as much as i'd like." Sans replied with a tired shrug as he walked over to the bed. Looking down at the sleeping human, he noticed the dried tear tracks left behind on her cheeks. Guess none of them got very much sleep last night.

In an unconscious effort to comfort the sleeping child, Sans reached down and gently placed a bony hand onto her head. "what happened?" He asked, though he already had a pretty good guess.

"She had an awful nightmare a few hours ago." Papyrus explained as he too looked down at the sleeping human. "Understandably, she didn't want to tell me about it. However, after she had calmed down, she did tell me a little."

"was it about waterfall?" Sans asked, his grin lessening considerably.

"No." Papyrus shook his skull. "She had a dream that a flower was trying to kill her."

"a flower?" Eyebrow bone arched slightly, Sans failed to keep the tiny bit of humor from his voice.

"It's not funny, Sans!" Papyrus hissed, shooting his brother a warning glare. "She was really scared."

"you're right, you're right. sorry, bro." The lazy skeleton apologized easily, holding his bony hands up in surrender. "no matter what it was about, nightmares aren't funny."

"She said it was the same flower that was tormenting her in Waterfall."

"wait... what?" Grin going flat, Sans metaphorically consumed this information. This was news to him. Truthfully, he had written it off as a fictitious flower conjured up by the kid's vivid imagination, not something that could pose a real threat. "did she say anything else about this?"

"Not much." Papyrus conceded. "Just that it was using the Echo Flowers to leave her mean messages."

"huh..." Now it made more sense. Someone had been using the echo flowers to play a cruel trick on the kid. Her mind must have mistakenly associated the flowers with the messages. It wasn't really that uncommon to use the echo flowers to leave hurtful words for others, but why would anyone target the kid? Who in the Underground even knew her well enough to want to torment her in that fashion?

Whoever it was, Sans would really like to have a nice friendly chat with them.

Alone.

xxx

I wonder how that conversation would go...

...

The next chapter's going to be bittersweet.

xxx

Thanks for reading!

If you are enjoying this story, why not take the time to leave me a friendly review?

Sheii Bae~