"What?!" exclaimed Flowey. He had just gotten back to the lab when Chara explained to him what had happened. Alphys was not there as she had gone back into the True Lab.
"Yeah, it's weird. I wouldn't have been surprised to find two owners of the soul, mine and Frisk's, but who is the third one? I don't understand."
"Hmm, it's certainly interesting to say the least."
"So, what were you out doing while Alphys was examining me?" asked Chara. Flowey looked down for a moment before responding.
"Well, Smiley Trashbag had this machine in his basement, but I was never able to look at it. Since he's, you know, dead, I tried again. I was able to enter, but the thing is busted. And there's no indication as to what it does! Piece of junk if you ask me," explained Flowey.
"Interesting. Say, what if we went out for a walk?"
"What are you talking about?! Someone could see you!" protested Flowey.
"Relax, no one is going to see me. Everyone's down in the True Lab, and they all think I'm dead," replied Chara. Flowey finally let out a sigh of exasperation.
"You always were stubborn, weren't you, Chara?" They let out a little chuckle at his remark.
"Yep, and you were always a crybaby, Azzy," they retorted.
"Hey, no fair!" However, both of them were smiling as Chara picked up Flowey and put him on their shoulder. They walked downstairs and out into the heat of Hotland. "So, where exactly did you want to go?" asked Flowey.
"Nowhere in particular, I just needed out of the lab. Maybe we can visit the Ruins?"
"I don't know, that seems like a long walk," said Flowey.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," replied Chara. As soon as they walked out of the lab, they took a left to the river. Just as they expected, the River Person was there waiting for them.
"Tra la la," it said, "Care to take a ride in my boat?"
"Yes," replied Chara. They climbed onto the boat.
"Where are we going?"
"Snowdin." They wished the river took them straight to the Ruins, but it stopped just outside of Snowdin.
"Then we're off," announced the River Person. Chara had two reasons for wanting to come on this trip. For starters, it would get them to the Ruins relatively quickly. Second, the River Person was said to provide helpful advice when you rode with them, and Chara was hoping to get some answers, however vague they may be. After riding in silence for a while the River Person finally said, "Tra la la, the angel has arrived..."
"Wait, what?" said Chara. What did they mean "the angel has arrived?" Everyone knew of the prophecy that said an angel hat had seen the surface would come and empty the Underground. They also knew the dark theory that it was an angel of death, intending to eradicate the monsters. Was the River Person implying Chara was the angel, or someone else entirely? Maybe they were referring to the third entity within their soul. Chara wanted to ask all of these questions but ran out of time as they approached Snowdin.
"Tra la la, have a good day," said the River Person. Chara thanked them as they stepped off of the boat.
"That person gives me the creeps..." muttered Flowey, "Did you hear what he said about 'the angel has arrived?"
"Yeah, I did..." replied Chara, "What do you think it means?"
"I don't know. Why did you want to go back to the Ruins anyway?"
"There's, um, something I want to look at really quick," said Chara. The two of them were silent as they walked into the dust filled air of Snowdin. "It really is abandoned..." they thought to themself. Chara turned to the east and started walking before Flowey interrupted them.
"Um, the Ruins are that way," he said, indicating they should head west.
"I know, but, for some reason I'm being drawn in this direction. We'll check it out then head to the Ruins like we planned," replied Chara.
"Well, if you say so. Just, be quick about it. I've got a bad feeling about this." They walked past the house of the skeletons, causing Flowey to flinch for just a moment. Eventually, they reached a long road that led to the entrance of Waterfall. "Chara, we need to go back, now," warned Flowey.
"Not yet," insisted Chara. Something about this area was intriguing them. They kept walking forward until they reached a pile of dust. Sitting upon it was a red scarf. As soon as Chara saw it, their breath began to run short, and they began to black out.
"Chara...CHARA!" shouted Flowey. Chara didn't respond. "Hold on, I'm going to go get help," he finally said. He ducked into the ground as Chara slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
Author's notes: Well, that was a fun one. It took me a while to write this one because I decided to change the second half at the last second. Originally Chara and Flowey were going to go to the Ruins to find Toriel's dust pile, but I decided at the last minute to have them find Papyrus's dust instead. Hopefully it will make more sense in the next chapter. We'll just have to see.