Once again backwards words are supposed to be in wingsdings.

There was nothing behind the door. Literally nothing. An infinite black space. It was like looking into a starless universe. But how was that possible? Lara wanted to ask Flowey if he saw that too and if she wasn't imagining this. But he was nowhere to be seen.

"Flowey?"

"I'm right here." The flower was floating in the middle of the nowhere.

"What? How…?"

"Illusion", he answered. "This void is just an illusion. I can clearly feel the walls, floor and ceiling. Come in, nothing will happen to you."

Unsure, Lara took a step forward. And actually stepped onto solid ground! She also stepped on the invisible ground with her second foot. She kind of expected to fall but nothing happened. She was standing on solid ground, but her eyes were telling her otherwise! She felt dizzy for a moment because her brain was overwhelmed with the various sensory impressions. But after a while Lara could get used to it. She took a few steps towards Flowey.

"Just when I think things couldn´t get weirder, it…"

The girl with the white soul suddenly became very quit, as her eyes spotted something among the blackness. They widened in slight fear.

Flowey followed her gaze. It took him a few seconds before he could see it. Several yards away from them stood a figure, its back turned to them. It was in the form of a man. The body was completely covered by a dark coat. The figure had a strong hump so that the head could barely be seen. Before either Flowey or Lara could react, the figure turned and showed them it´s face. Or what was left of it.

Where there should have been a face, there was a melted white mass that flowed down the body and reached to the floor. The whole thing was most reminiscent of a frozen waterfall of mud. Then, all of a sudden, a smiley face appeared on the thing's head. The mouth opened downward. Opened and opened until the bottom of the mouth hit the ground. The eyes became elongated sockets, glowing with a ghostly light. A 'word' came out of the creature's bizarre mouth: "detcader."

It growled like some sort of zombie. Hungry of devouering the flesh of the living.

"R-run?" Flowey asked.

"Y-y-yes." Lara answered whimpering. But before they could turn and flee, the door closed, barricaded by misshapen, twisted bones. The thing let out a gurgling sound that could have been a laugh or a painful cough.

The creature slowly moved towards its new victims. It didn't walk as it didn't have legs. It moved like a giant snail, leaving behind a trail of slime, similar to the one that led Lara and Flowey here.

The thing stuck its deformed hands out of its coat pockets and lifted them. Two giant skeletal snakes appeared. The bony beasts flew towards Lara and Flowey.

Flowey tried to destroy them with his friendless pellets, but the projectiles ricocheted off the bones. The creature made that gurgling sound again. It was definitely a laugh. A sick, insane laugh.

„…eh eh eh…"

The snakes split up. One flew to the flower and the other towards the human. Flowey grabbed his attacker with several vines and tried to hold it down. But that was easier said than done. The skeletal snake fought back. It bit, wriggled, and threw it´s tail around.

The other snake tried to bite at Lara. She screamed and barely managed to dodge. But the beast kept lashing at Lara, pushing her further and further back. She finally tried to run away from her opponent, but it quickly took up the pursuit. The bony reptile became faster and faster and bridged the distance between itself and its prey. Lara looked at the door. It was still locked, but maybe…

A desperate plan took shape in Lara's mind. She raced towards the door. The snake followed her, hissing. Just before Lara ran against the door, she made a sharp turn to the right. The skeleton snake tried that too, but under the impact of its own speed, it slammed full into the door and the bone barricade. Lara hoped that this would clear the way, but her hopes remained unfulfilled. The door was solid steel and the bones seemed to be made of an equally strong material. They withstood the impact. Unlike the neck of the skeleton snake. With a loud CRACK, it fell to the ground and dissolved. Lara let out a relieved breath. That had´t been her plan, but at least there was one less enemy. But at that moment the other snake broke loose. Instead of attacking Flowey, it went for Lara.

She managed to throw herself on the ground, so that the attacker flew over her. The beast tried to grab the white souled girl, but she rolled to the side. Her attacker's jaws hit the ground with a crunch. The snake hissed and turned to her. Had the empty eye sockets been able to show emotion, they would have contained anger. Panting, she tried to get up, but the snake lunged attacked her again. This time not with its teeth, but with the tail. It hit Lara in the stomach. The air brutally left her body and she curled up in pain. Slowly, the bone Serpent bent over her. Lara tried to flee, but the pain made her struggle. The snake opened its jaw.

And then a thick tendril wrapped itself around the beast's neck. Flowey jerked it back violently. The snake tried to get free, but this time the flower wouldn´t try to hold it down. Instead, Flowey slammed the skeletal reptile to the ground several times, until it dissolved. The thing with the melted face looked at the two for a long time. Then it changed. The 'mouth' widened, expanding in an absurd way. Huge sharp teeth appeared on its side that would have frightened even a T-Rex. The creature let out a nightmarish roar. Then it sped towards Lara its previous slowness nothing but a fluke to give its victims a flase sense of security.

"emoc nioj eht nuf."

The thing bit at Lara. She dodged. The teeth snapped into the air. The creature growled. It bit again. This time Lara was able to dodge again, but the mouth closed only a few centimeters in front of her. She could smell the thing's breath. It smelled of chemicals. She felt nauseous and staggered several steps backwards. The monstrosity opened its mouth wide. Like a nightmarish tongue, a third skeletal snake shot out. It wrapped itself around Lara's legs and pulled her into the dark gorge. Lara tried to resist, to pull away with her arms, to hold on to something. But she was powerless.

"Lara!" Flowey cried out. He shoot friendless pellets and vines at the creature, but they went trough it without damaging it. The flower grabbed his friend with vines. Or tried to. Bone shards manifested themselves in the air and cut trough them. A damp darkness enveloped Lara as the maw closed around her. The last thing she saw was Floweys terriefied and desperate expression. Then everything went black.

Lara was alone in the dark. There was only her… and the whispering. Different voices speaking with and over each other. They became louder, slowly developing into a chaos of noise.

Still, here and there, Lara heard coherent sentences be spoken:

"Please stop. I want to go back home. I want to be with my parents and my brother. Nothing more. I don't want to think about the surface ever again", spoke the voice of a young girl.

Malicious laughter rang out, followed by screams.

Lara pressed her hands on her ears, she did´t want to hear this. But the voices still continued:

A menacing male voice said: "Did you try to erase the files from the processor today? Do you have any idea how hard it was to find any kind of place outside of our timeline at all?"

A terrified, much younger voice answered: "It scares me. This place is something that doesn't exist. Neither in time nor space."

"So what. I do not care. I's a big step forward and you're trying to undo it because it scares you? I knew I shouldn´t have given you more freedom."

"B-but…"

"No buts. Go back in your room or else…"

Lara struggled. She wanted to break free from this.

She struggled.

…

But it was fruitless.

…

She fought with all of her determination.

…

But it achieved nothing.

…

Desperately she called out for help.

…

But nobody came.

The sounds came from everywhere. Just when they became to overwhelming, to loud for Lara's ears and brain, the scenery changed. Lara stood in an empty wasteland. And in front of her was… Frisk!

Lara wanted to approach her, but then she stopped.

Wait, this doesn´t make sense. It can´t be Frisk! This… thing, it must be using some kind of illusion, like it did when projecting that image of a void on me and Flowey. It´s not real!

And yet it looked real. Painfully so. The fake Frisk looked bitterly at her sister. She didn't say anything, but Lara could read the message in her eyes: You let me down. You didn´t do anything. You let them take me away.

Lara tried to stay calm. "N-no. I… I tought they would give both of us a home. I-I´m sorry that things went wrong. But Flowey told me of what you achieved." Remembering her friend,and his reassurince that her sister was okay, gave the young girl the strenght to see this trough. It filled her soul with warmth…

"I will find you. I will see you again."

Her soul appeared, glowing brightly in this dark place.

In response to this, two shadowy figures grabbed Frisk and dragged her into a chasm. This time Lara's sister screamed in a panic, her formerly bitter expression gone: "Please help me sister! Don't let them separate us again. If you really love me, then help me!"

Lara gathered all her willpower and stayed where she was. That wasn't real! Frisk was on the surface, safe. And if Lara got through this, she would see her sister again! Lara clung to her hope with all her might. Her soul shined a warm light. It made the fake Frisk and the shadows crumble to dust. Disgusting in-between things, made of tentacles and spines, shot out of the abyss. They clung to Lara's arms and dragged her towards the dark depths.

"emoc nioj eht nuf."

No! She wouldn't give up! She fought it. Once Lara fell into the abyss, the memories would overwhelm and destroy her. But she wasn't going to let despair control her. Lara refused. She fought back with all her might. With all her hope.

The glow of Lara´s soul became stronger. It´s shine caused something old and powerful to stir.

A tremendous light erupted from the white soul, pushing the thing's darkness and malice back. And it just kept getting bigger and bigger…

…

Outside, the creature froze. It didn't move. Not the slightest twitch ran through it. Flowey paused, confused. The thing had just swallowed Lara and bombarded him with skeletal snakes. But then the figure stopped moving and the attacks disappeared. Flowey didn't know what to make of it. But then the creature began to change. It´s body swelled, expanded. It glowed from within. The thing kept swelling, like a balloon that got to much air. The creature grew to twice its original size.

And then it exploded in a massive flash of light. Flowey turned away, blinded as chunks of slime flew through the air.

In the middle it was Lara, who looked around in surprise. "Uh, was that me?" she asked.

"Oh my god Laura! You're okay!" Flowey squeezed his friend with his vines, relieved that she was okay.

"Flowey! Air. I need air."

"Oh yes. Sorry." The flower let her go. "Er, but what exactly happened when you were in that... thing?"

"I honestly do not know. It was all so surreal." Lara described what she had experienced.

"Well, whatever you did, it not only destroyed that monstrosity, it shattered its illusion."

Indeed, the two were no longer in a black nothing. Instead, they were now in a large room with an elevator in the back wall.

An elevator… a shortcut that could bring them straight to New Home.

Or so Lara hoped. But before she could take a step toward it, there was a noise. Lara turned towards it. From one of the puddles of slime lying around, a face formed. And another one. And another. And another one. The same happened with two other puddles. The three new creatures raced towards the friends. Floweys eyes widened.

"Are you kidding me? It wasn't an unknown amalgamate at all! It was those damn freaks, the Memoryheads, that had fused together! Hurry Lara! Run to the elevator and use it. I hold them of."

„But…"

„Don´t worry. I know how to handle them in these forms. Just go! I will follow you to New Home, I promise."

The white souled girl lokked at the flower with uncertainty. It wasn´t like she didn´t believe he couldn´t take care of himself. Heck, she saw how he handeld himslef in the fight against Goner Kid. But she was scared something similiar to what she just experineced inside the fused creature would happen to him as well (and she didn´t want to admit that a part of her was still scared of being left alone).

But looking in Floweys eyes, Lara was met with nothing but determination. Her friend was sure to come back to her.

And so the girl with the white soul nodded and ran. The Memoryheads were quick and wanted to block her escape route. But Flowey managed to hold them of, to buy his friend enough time to get into the elevator. Inside were several buttons. Lara just pushed the one with the highest number. The elevator doors closed and moved up. The whole time, Lara was waiting for the floor to open up and white slime to ooze out of it.

But nothing happened.

Then, after a while, the elevator stopped. The doors opened. Lara quickly got out. She stepped into a small and unremarkable alley. The elevator closed behind her. Part of the wall lowered and hid it.

So that is why no one discovered the elevator of this secret laboratory. Hopefully that would stop the Memoryheads from following me. If these things can even use an elevator. Lara sat down on the floor and closed her eyes. She didn't think about anything, she was just relieved that she had made it.

Flowey please be okay.

Lara remebered the twisted illusions the Memoryheads showed her.

…and Frisk, you too. I hope we can see each other soon.