"Hello, Flowey. My name is Theresa, Theresa Santiago-Montez. And," she brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face, "I can't let you do that."

The flower, no, Flowey, winced. "It's… easier, this way. You shouldn't have to meet them personally. They'd make what remains of your life a literal hell." They looked up, eyes sad but determined. Theresa wasn't exactly sure what happened, but in front of her now floated a heart which was a dazzling pearly white color, catching the remnants of other colors and shifting. At the moment, it had a light purple sheen to it.

Flowey's eyebrows raised a little at this. "That's… New," they seemed mystified for a second, but the pain on their face quickly returned as they brought themselves back to reality. "But, I still need to do this. It's one of the few things I can still do right in this world, I know it. Please, just trust me. Make this easier on yourself." Suddenly, a few stark white pill-like objects were there, revolving around the flower, who wouldn't meet her eyes now.

"You're weak… It should only take one hit…" they said, but it was more to themselves than Theresa.

Theresa stepped back slightly, and noticed the heart stayed in the same position as it had originally appeared, just over her wrist on her left forearm. That was where… She didn't have time to ponder that significance before she let out a startled yip and jumped aside, as the five white marks had been flung at her; she doubted they were friendly. The flower looked even sadder, but still determined as ever. She could've sworn that for a moment the image of the flower flickered to something else, something with sad eyes, but it was gone before she could focus on it.

"Please…" the flower said quietly, looking distraught, "You don't know Chara; you don't want to. They might kill you, eventually, but they'll torture you first. Please, listen to me. This is better."

The girl's eyes were wide with disbelief, but the problem at hand was more important than whoever this "Chara" character was. "Flowey… Or, Asriel, that's your name, too, right? Please, I don't… I don't want to…" But she couldn't think of anything meaningful to say; her mind was drawing a blank, the only thing she could process was that she definitely did not want to die. She had finally reached a point in her life where she decided she wanted to keep what she had, not throw it away, and she wasn't ready to give up on that yet.

"I know you can't understand why I'm doing this…" the flower looked at her with empty eyes, "But that's better than dealing with Chara enough to understand. They… I'm one of the last ones here. There's one who's been holding them back for a while, now, but I don't know how much longer even he can last. Chara only gets more determined as they're defeated. Once they get past him… I need to try something. But I know, no matter what I do… I won't make it. They've gone too far to be stopped now."

The flower looked up, smiling faintly at the clear confusion in the human's eyes. "You don't understand any of this, do you? I could rant all day, trying to explain… It's not worth it. Who knows when the next reset will come, anyways? You might not remember any of this…"

Now there were ten pellets floating around the flower, and they were each flung at her repetitively, making her scurry and duck side to side, sheltering the heart that rested against her forearm, beating in time with the one in her body.

She sucked in breath heavily, wincing as her bare feet dug into the ground even more, preparing to move quickly. "What's," she gasped for air, eyes darting to the flower and around them quickly, "What's a… Reset? And why hasn't anyone killed whoever this is yet?"

Flowey laughed bitterly, showing their lack of hope. "You can't kill Chara. Or, you can... That skeleton has proved that repeatedly. But they don't stay dead. It's too much to explain it all you. You won't need to know about them; it would never apply to you. I'll make sure of it."

The flower looked at her blankly, tilting its head. "You're fairly good at stalling, aren't you?" It seemed to ponder this for a moment, "I'm not the bad guy here, Theresa. Not anymore. It was nice knowing you, I guess. I'm… I really am sorry you came down here."

One by one, too quick to watch, pellets surrounded her completely in a ring. The flower didn't have the grace to look her in the eyes as they sent all of the pellets rushing towards her. They all struck her at once, colliding with her chest, back, and arms. The heart on her forearm was hardly struck itself, but as the pellets dug into her skin and cut across her face, the heart weakened. She could just… Feel it. Pellet after pellet cut into her skin. Blood. Pain. She was lightheaded. She vaguely felt herself falling forward onto her knees, hands planning to catch her, but her elbows gave out from under her weight and she landed on the rough ground. She faintly saw the heart on her forearm pulsating fainter and fainter with every beat.

No… I'm not… Not ready… I'm not ready to die… Not after… No… I… Deserve to… Live…

. . .

With a sharp intake of breath, Theresa woke up, hands clutching at the ground beneath her. What happened? She recognized she was facedown, head tilted to the side. Her head felt like it was packed with cotton balls, and she felt groggy. Soft dirt and gravel alike pressed against her cheek, and her hair was nearly all out of her loose bun, instead covering her face. She breathed out slowly, making some of the hair flutter. Weak, she used her forearms to push herself off of the ground. She noticed the heart wasn't there. Wait. The heart.

Suddenly, the girl was completely awake, hurriedly pushing herself to her knees, looking down at her forearm. Doing so made her gracelessly fall to the side, landing with a thump. But, it was gone. The heart, with its shell colored surface and pulse alike to her own, was gone. In its place was what had been there since a few years back, but the heart itself had completed disappeared. Had… Had that been real? The attack she had been dealt? The talking flower? Slowly, Theresa shook her head. Of course it wasn't re-

"What are you?" a familiar voice whispered. The human regretfully turned her head to the right, the side she had been ignoring in her frantic search for the heart on her arm, meeting a face that she had seen less than a minute ago. The flower had an appalled look on its face, but curiosity shined in its eyes. Maybe it even looked slightly hopeful. She couldn't really tell; she was more focused on wondering what had happened, and possibly what drug she was on.

She weakly smiled. The fog in her head was persistent so far, and she felt a little loopy, still interested in her forearm. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question..?" she smiled slightly, but the fear in her eyes must've been clear, because a definite look of solemn determination came across the flower's face.

It took a shuddering breath. "We have a lot to talk about, don't we?"

. . .

Meanwhile, further into the world, in a hall with beautifully decorated tile and windows, a skeleton leaned against a column, smiling, eyes blank. He heard a faint flash and closed his eyes, tempted to laugh. The kid was back again. He couldn't refer to them as human at this point; it was clear they were far from it. There was a pause, a moment of complete silence, before footsteps rang out against the tile. He wordlessly moved from his position against the pillar, turning to face the child who hardly earned the name; Chara, or Frisk. He wasn't sure which was which any more, honestly.

He didn't grace them with any words, he just smiled at them. The kid looked pissed, knife stable in their grip. The tip of the blade of barely visible from under the end of their long sleeve, but it was noticeably coated with dust. On their face, they were wearing a smile that rivaled his own, and their eyes… He could've sworn they glowed red.

He raised his hand, ready to begin the attack. He had the memories from before; death, after death, after death of the kid, but he hadn't died once yet. He knew he was wearing Chara's patience thin, and the thought made him laugh even more. There was nothing else he could do at this point. Just keep stalling the kid. Maybe eventually they'd get bored and reset..? Yeah, he didn't believe it either. He'd seen firsthand what kind of sick, messed up mindset this kid had. There was no way they would give up, despite what his brother had hoped… No, despite what his brother had believed with all of his heart. And the kid had killed him anyway. They had killed everyone.

Chara smiled even wider, looking at him through their long hair, their grip on their knife tightening as they prepared to move and jump to avoid his attacks.

"It's a beautiful day outside… But, ya know what, kid? I'm fairly confident you get the idea by now," he winked. The onslaught began.

Minutes later, Sans's attacks were running out. Chara was smiling even more, a sick smile twisted with glee. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He knew the kid was learning his attacks, memorizing what they had to do to beat him, to stay alive, but he found it was getting harder and harder to care. What was there left to care for, anyways?

Chara/Frisk giggled, making the temperature in the room seem to drop twenty degrees. They knew they were winning, and they knew Sans knew it. They were soon laughing hysterically, but their knife remained steady, and they continued to dodge with ease, making a game out of it.

When something akin to an electric shock went through the room, neither of them were expecting it. Chara's eyes widened in curiosity, looking at Sans carefully. That was a new power. But, Sans was looking at the child the same way, though hiding it well behind a smile and blank eyes. They both froze where they were, entering a staring contest, daring the other to own up to what they had both just felt. They stood that way for a few seconds before both froze unwillingly. They didn't notice it at first, but when Chara tried to absentmindedly move their knife, they couldn't, and when they couldn't shift their eyes to see what had happened, panic flooded their veins. This wasn't supposed to happen. Sans felt the same thing, and noticed the child's panic. If he could've moved, he probably would've smiled wider. Something finally caught the damned kid off guard, even if he wasn't sure what it was.

Hardly any time passed before Sans was teleported to where he had been standing right before Chara entered for what felt like the millionth time. The only thing was, he had nothing to do with it. A flash came again, the instant footsteps rushing forward, not as confident as before. Sans stepped out, winking as he did so.

"Well, kid, I have to say, you look startled. Almost like you saw a monster, or somethin'."

Chara couldn't keep their cool; they ran forward, slashing at Sans, making the first move in their battle. He quickly stepped aside, and did so repetitively until the kid stood there, shaky and out of breath.

"What-" slash "-was-" slash "-that?!" the child growled, continuing to attack. Out of faint, grim curiosity, the skeleton let them keep attacking without repercussion, only continuously dodging them. Let them wear themselves out, it'd make it easier to beat them one more time. "What did you do?! You-" slash "-can't-" slash "-do-" slash "-that!"

"Make monster related jokes? Uh, yeah I can, kid," he continued.

The small killer raced forward, relentlessly slashing, until Sans finally flicked his wrist up, making the kid hit the ceiling before bones, glowing blue, attempted to pierce them. Unsurprisingly, they dodged. However, as they opened their mouth and ran forward to continue attacking relentlessly, they were too distracted to notice when tall bones broke the surface of the hall floor, hitting the child square in the heart and holding them there until they died. As the world reset him to where he was standing before, his mind was still turning. What had happened?