As soon as Lara stepped through the front door, she was immediately greeted by a pleasant warmth. She was in a cube-shaped room, the back wall was completely taken up by bookshelves. There was a wooden counter on the left and a small table on the right. In front of her was Flowey.

"Howdy," he greeted Lara. "How are you?"

"Could be better. But at least it's nice and warm in here."

"Yeah I noticed how bad it is out there. Luckily you found your way here despite the storm."

"Well, actually..." Before Lara could finish the sentence, Emma and Klyde came in. Before Emma could greet Flowey, Klyde said: "I wonder why the heat only works here. Wait a minute… Flowey!?"

"Klyde!? What the hell are you doing here?" And turning to the girls, the flower asked, "What the hell is he doing here? You didn't take him with you, did you? We really can't use this macho idiot with the two left hands!"

Emma replied: "It wasn't really on purpose. He just came with us. We also needed him to get through the snowstorm."

"Who are you calling macho!?" Klyde roared. "I wouldn't talk so much if I were you, you little misshapen weed. You're saying that I have two left hands? These 'two left' hands will crush you! I've been training a lot since we last met. Not only that, but I have now magic as well!"

"Oh, is that so? Why don't we check that? In a little fight!"

" A fight? With pleasure! But let's move it outside so that nobody gets hurt in here," Klyde said with a sideways glance at Lara.

"Outside I'm at a huge disadvantage because of the cold and the snow. We fight at Grilbby's."

"Deal."

The two brawlers disappeared. Groaning, Emma covered her face with her hands. A confused Lara turned to her and asked: "What just happened?"

"What can I say. Old rivalry. Klyde once challenged Flowey to a fight and lost. Since then, he has become obsessed with defeating Flowey in battle. And Flowey is really fed up with it and wants it to end. But instead of just losing voluntarily, he always has to play hard because of pride or something. You know how it is with boys. One only gives in when the other gives in. If you'll excuse me, I'll watch them both so that the whole thing doesn't escalate."

And with this Lara was left alone in the library. She looked around with an unsure expression. Her gaze went trough one of the windows, the blizzard was still raging outside. For better or worse, Lara would have to wait in here until the storm was over. Maybe she could read a little. She went to the bookshelves only to find that they were empty. Apparently the monsters had taken all their literature with them to the surface. The only thing Lara could find was a sheet of written paper. It appeared to be a student's account of monster funerals:

Monster funerals, technical speaking, are cool as heck. When Monsters get old and kick the bucket, they turn into dust. At funerals we take that dust and spread it on that person´s favorite thing. Then their essence will live on in that thing.

Uhhh, am I at the page minimum yet? I don´t know what else to write.

She had to smile about the last two sentences. Lara always hated writing essays with a certain number of words. So she was pretty empathetic towards the student writing this. But human girl had to admit that they could have kept themselves a little more professional. No wonder this essay was left behind.

She put it back and walked toward the wooden table. There was a newspaper on it. The pages of the newspaper were full of cool comics and riddles! They didn't interest Lara in the slightest.

However, after some searching, she found out they where a new addition to monster newspaper because of the fact that rarely anything interesting happened in the Underground. Lara wondered if some older newspaper articles possessed more interesting stuff and if some of them were archived here.

After some searching, Lara was rewarded with some older newspapers stored behind the counter. She started reading and learned more about the history under Mt. Ebott.

Lara read about the careers of various Monsters who have joined the royal guard or even risen to the post of captain. Or about the CORE, a huge machine that produced magical electricity from geothermal energy. The girl with the white soul excitedly devoured the stories about the monster culture, fascinated by how different and yet similar humans and Monsters were. But Lara's excitement was dampened when she reached the last newspaper.

On the front page was written: HORRIBLE TRAGEDY! THE TWO ROYAL CHILDREN DEATH!

The whole newspaper was written all about that tale alone. Like not even a single monster wanted to read about something else when the incident happened. With a heavy feeling around her heart Lara started to read.

The human Chara has been living underground with us Monsters for a long time. The royal family raised her as if she were their own child. Asriel and Chara became the best of friends and were like siblings. The two filled the entire underground with hope. Hope for a brighter future where humans and Monsters could live together in peace.

But one day Chara got very sick. She was dying. She had one last wish. Seeing the flowers of their home village. But there was nothing we could do to help her. And the next day… Chara died. Without being able to fulfill her last wish.

Filled with sorrow, Asriel absorbed the human soul. He became a powerful being. With his new powers, Asriel was able to cross the barrier and get to the surface. He walked through the light of the sinking sun, carrying Chara's body in his arms, back to her village. He reached it and went to the center of it. There he found a bed of golden flowers. He gently laid the body of his sister on it. But then screams shattered the peaceful atmosphere. The villagers appeared, saw Asriel holding the human body. They thought he killed the kid. The people attacked him with everything they had. Fear guided the people's blows. Fear of not being able to defeat this unknown, and seemingly dangerous, being. That it would end up killing them all like it did with the child. And this fear was justified. Asriel had the power to destroy them all. But… he didn't fight back. He took blow after blow. And yet he didn't resist. Clutching Chara's body, Asriel backed away. He smiled because he had fulfilled his best friend's wish after all.

He returned home mortally wounded. Asriel managed to reach the garden. Then he collapsed... and died. All his dust spread over the flower bed. The kingdom fell into deep despair. The king and queen lost their two beloved children in just one night. Again everything was taken from us by the humans. King Asgore was seized with a burning rage. He decided it was time to end our suffering. Any human who fell down here would die. With enough human souls, the barrier could be destroyed. Monsters would finally be free again. Asgore gave us such hope to cling to. And yet… all the poor people who had to die because of it. And above all, poor Asriel and poor Chara. A happy life was taken from you. We will not forget you two.

Lara put the newspaper back. She was… she didn't know what to think. She felt a deep sadness inside. She felt very sorry for Chara and Asriel. What would have happened if neither of them had died? How old would they be? Old enough to rule the kingdom? Would´ve none of the human souls died? Could´ve Emma and Klyde and the other children been happy, closed of from the surface but alive and well?

Before Lara could ponder about it any further, Flowey appeared. He seemed quite battered: his face was swollen and his upper petals and plant stem had several kinks.

"Flowey! What happened to you?"

"Ugh, don't ask. The battle with Klyde turned out to be more intense than expected. Don´t worry about me. My body is already healing. I just wanted to tell you that the blizzard is over. Um, are you okay? You look kind of sad."

Lara showed him the newspaper article. As soon as Flowey's eyes fell on the title, his face took on a shocked and at the same time deeply saddened expression. As he read, the flower began to tremble. His mouth moved as if he was trying to say something, but no sound came out. And… were there tears forming in his eyes? When Flowey finished reading, he murmured under his breath, "I'm sorry."

"Did you know them both? Were you close to them?" Lara asked. Flowey was silent for a while before finally saying: "Yeah, you could put it that way. I was very close to both of them. Especially Asriel. He was... he is... I don´t want to talk about it. The connection between me and Asriel, well that's a bit private."

He had said exactly the same thing when I asked him why he was down here, Lara thought to herself. And he also makes the same closed of impression. Do the two topics have anything to do with each other? Had Asriel and Flowey been close friends? And had Flowey never forgiven himself for Asriel's death? Is that why he stayed down here? Because out of self-loath, does he think he doesn't deserve to go to the surface?

Lara sensed that Flowey had something to hide. And she was sure that the two things had something to do with it. But she couldn't figure out how the whole thing was connected. She wanted to question Flowey, but he had made it clear he didn't want to talk about it. And Lara didn't want to pester him about it because he respected her being quit about her past.

But most of all, Lara felt bad for bringing up unpleasant memories. The flower had been helpful up until now in guiding her through the Underground and here she was, pushing Trauma right in his face.

Lara knelt down in front of him. "I'm sorry," she said. Flowey tried to smile but failed.

"What are you sorry for? The thing about Asriel and Chara isn't your fault and it's been a long time anyway."

"I'm sorry for your loss. And that I showed you the newspaper article. Bringing back painful memories."

Flowey smiled, and this time it worked a little better. "Lara... that's okay. You don't have to be sorry. It…" Flowey trailed off as Lara hugged him. She was careful not to further demolish its stems. She smelled Flowey's floral aroma as she did so. It would have smelled nice if Lara wouldn't have felt so bad.

"I'm still sorry. I know what it's like to lose someone important. If there's anything I can do for you, tell me. Okay? You have been a great help to me and I don't want to be a burden, I want to help you too."

Something faint resonated inside Flowey. He extended two vines and returned the hug.

"Thank you Lara, but you're not a burden. The thing about showing me the newspaper article was a bit of a surprise, but nothing serious. After all, you had no malicious intentions. What happened happened. Let's keep going while it's quiet outside. But if you ever want to talk about something, let me know."

'Cause I'm beginning to think your reasons for climbing Mt. Ebott weren't pretty, Flowey added in his mind. He had noticed that Lara was afraid of being left alone and that she was apparently familiar with the loss of loved ones.

The human girl broke away from the hug and looked serious and thoughtful, which made Flowey think she was about to actually say something to him. But then she just smiled.

"Okay, let's move on."

"...sure thing."