the little golden flower chuckled. "Now is that any way to greet someone? Especially a kindred spirit?" Flowey mocked Lady.
"Kindred spirit? we may be made of similar stuff, but I am nothing like you! You-you're a killer! you killed them all, you twisted little geranium! I will never be anything like you!" Lady said, shaking in anger and rage as the memories of Flowery coming into the ruins and killing everyone before somehow resetting time came flooding back to her. Glowing green tears had fallen freely down her face when she had come into the kitchen and found Toriel making Snail pie, as if everything was fine, as if the stupid flower hadn't turned her to dust!
"What's wrong? you look like you've seen a ghost! Surely you don't know something that I do not?" Toriel had asked while she kneaded the pie crust.
"I-it's nothing. something just scared me that's all. It's good to see you." Lady said and hugged her friend, glad that she was alive by some twisted miracle. She could never tell Toriel the horror of that other time. But now the murderous little plant was back, and she couldn't let it happen, not again! Never again!
"I wouldn't be too sure about that. You've already hurt her, and I'd say that was a good first step. Come on sissy, it's your destiny! Ditch the losers already, and help me show everyone the most miserable time of their soon-to-be-over lives! we could have such fun! After all, it's like I told you last time: Down here, it's kill or be killed!" Flowey said with a wicked smile and a sinister smile.
"No! I will never kill! I understand that I have to fight, but that's only to defend myself and-" Lady began, but she stopped herself before she said Frisk's name.
Unfortunately, the little flower was smarter than Lady would've preferred and quickly caught on to Lady's attempt to not tell him about the newcomer in the ruins. "And who? has a new friend come down to join the party? Interesting! this is going to be so much fun!" Flowey said, smiling.
"Don't even think about it! he is under my protection, and I will not ever allow you to hurt him! now get your floral rear away from here, before I freeze your leafy hide so hard, people will see you and think it's the start of another ice age!" Lady said, and indeed, the temperature around her was already at frigid levels as she prepared to fire the mother of all cryo-blasts at Flowey.
Flowey smiled again, his fangs showing clearly. "I always did admire your spirit. But Spirit can't beat Determination, and I'm Determined to win. See you around sissy! I've got a party to plan! and don't worry, you're invited. in fact, you'll be going with to the guest of honor!" Flowey said, and before Lady could say or do anything, Flowey burrowed under the ground off to parts unknown.
Lady got to her house in the ruins and collapsed on the makeshift couch she had assembled. She cursed herself for being so reckless under her breath as her shoulder hit the fabric and gave her a dull stinging sensation. It was still not completely healed, but hopefully it would be all better by morning. What had she gotten herself into? that was the question that hounded Lady as she tried to catch up on some reading. All she wanted to do was re-read "the adventures of the Neko Cruncheyroll #52: Kissey Kitty vs Neko Cruncheyroll Samuri: Dawn of chibiness." for the zillionth time since she had first discovered it in the ruins, but her brain seemed to have other ideas, and it forced her to go over the details of what had occurred in the past hour. Lady finally decided to give in, and made a list of her "heroic" exploits.
1. she had gotten into a fight with one of her only underground friends, almost hurt her seriously, and gotten herself politely kicked out of the ruins.
2. She had agreed to protect and possibly care for a child, who admittedly seemed nice, but if Lady was being honest with herself, was a total stranger who could turn out to be a halfa killing psycho for all she knew of him (Lady had noticed the toy knife which he had tried to conceal from plain sight when she saw him earlier, and she didn't like the looks of it).
3. she had almost waged war on a psycho murderous dandelion that had killed her friends {and possibly even her?} before.
4. She had rudely ignored Blookie when he had come in and set off her ghost sense a few minutes ago.
Wait, what was that last one? Lady looked up from her book to see Blookie resting on a chair across from her. "Oh hey Blookie. Sorry I didn't notice you earlier." Lady said, mentally flinching at her rudeness.
Blookie sighed. "It's okay, not many people ever notice me at all. I guess I'm lucky that you even do sometimes." he said sadly.
"Oh don't be that way Bloo, we're friends after all. I should watch out for you better, and this time I didn't, so it's my bad. Anyways, what brings you here? you usually don't visit me this late." Lady said, curious why Napstablook was still wandering the ruins this late, but then it dawned on her. "You came to say goodbye huh? I guess you must've found out I'm leaving the ruins." she said.
"I kinda knew you would leave someday. Everyone leaves the ruins. Even me. However, you're one of the few who've left for the right reasons." Blookie said, but something about the last part caught Lady's attention.
"What do you mean? I seem to be making all the wrong choices lately, so how could me leaving here possibly be good?" Lady asked, a bit of irritation creeping into her tone much to Lady's supprise.
"Your arm. it's burned. How did you get it like that?" Blookie asked, and Lady decided to humor him. She knew form experience that questions like this usually lead to some hidden point her fellow ghost wanted to make.
"I... I got into a fight with Tori. She wanted to keep Frisk stuck in the ruins here forever, but I knew that he wouldn't want that and I didn't want him to sneak out on his own one night and break Tori's heart and possibly hurt himself in the process, so I had to prove to her that I could protect him and we battled for a while before she agreed to let him be free. It was stupid of me, and I nearly hurt her." Lady admitted, her head hung in shame.
"But was the human's freedom really worth fighting Tori for?" Blookie asked.
"Well, yeah. Tori's still my friend and all, but humans believe that freedom is sacred, and some value it above even their own lives. As a hero, if it was needed, I'd give up my life to defend the freedoms of my peers, and many have already died for the freedom of others. So even though Tori had the best of intentions, I couldn't allow myself to let her take away Frisk's freedom, no matter the consequences to our friendship." Lady admitted.
"Are you sure? What about the child himself? even if his freedom was worth fighting for, was he really worth protecting?" Blookie asked.
"Well, okay, yeah. I know that he is a stranger, but I couldn't just let him go out there alone! that would be irresponsible! I couldn't live with myself if I had stayed here and a Monster or even Undyne had gotten him and brought Tori's Ex his soul. Plus, I have a lot of experience fighting monsters and evil ghosts, so I guess protecting him wouldn't be much different." Lady said. and then she looked hard at Blookie, who by now, had a thin, small trace of a smile on his translucent face. She realized what he had been doing all along. "What the?! You sly ghost! you've been using reverse psychology and making me defend my choices to try and cheer me up! that is several kinds of devious!" She exclaimed in playful outrage.
"Oh don't give me any credit.I learned from the best." Blookie said, referring to when they had first met. Lady had found Blookie laying on the floor in a pile of leaves, so she had asked why he was there, and he told her he was depressed because his family was gone, and Lady had used reverse psychology to cheer him up and make him realize that his cousin's new job as the underground's favorite star wasn't him avoiding Blookie, which seemed to make the ghost slightly feel better, even though he had only wound up half believing her.
Lady smiled at the memory. "Touche. But for someone who seems to be down so often, you seem to lift others out of their funks a lot." She said teasingly, and added as an afterthought "So, wanna help me pack?" To Lady's lack of surprise, Blookie turned invisible and she soon sensed that he was no longer nearby. "Eh, fair enough. I guess I'll just have to see you around later in my travels." Lady muttered under her breath to the long-gone ghost. She spent the next few hours gathering supplies for her and Frisk's journey. when she was satisfied she had everything, she went to the couch and began to doze off. Her last thoughts were of how she'd miss the ruins in her own way. It had become somewhat of another home away from home for her, and she would especially miss her couch. But it would all be worth it someday, when she was safe back in her home town...