"So let me get this straight..." Flowey frowned up at Suzy who was busy attempting and failing to keep the hem of her cloak above the shallow water.

The two stood in a room just beyond the Waterfall wishing room, behind a patch of seagrass. It was secluded and hard to find... but a little too damp for either of their liking.

After Suzy's phone-call, Flowey had attempted to put his all into what little time remained of his training session with Papyrus, but the thoughts kept distracting him. After it was over he was half temped to reload to an earlier SAVE to try again... but he'd decided that would be pointless. Besides, there was no need to rush. He had all the time in the world...

Now he was attempting to get his head around what Suzy had just told him. "You want me to stand around in the Wishing room... pretending to be an echo flower? Why?"

"Aww, I thought you of all people would understand!" She giggled and tilted her head slightly to the side. "You never once used an echo flower to leave a silly message? Or at least thought about it? Hee hee."

He had, actually. Sometimes, especially when he was in a bad mood, Chara suggested coming down to Waterfall. They would leave messages in the flowers and watch and giggle as they played back to passing monsters. Chara really loved those flowers, they said the surface didn't have flowers like that...

"I'll take the silence to mean that you have." Suzy snapped him away from his thoughts. "So... what was it? It's okay, you can trust me. One prankster to another."

"Urm..." He wanted to fight the memories back down, but decided that would also be pointless; If he didn't give her an answer, she would just keep pushing him until he did. "We used to pretend the flowers were alive and make them call out for help and say things like 'i'm stuck to the ground and I can't feel my legs!'... but that caused a few misunderstandings..."

"We?" Uh oh. Next time he should really be more careful with his choice of words. "So..." Suzy continued. "Not only have you been here BEFORE... but you've also been here with another partner in crime?" He's such an Idiot. IDIOT."... Hehe, I KNEW IT! You are a terrible lair!"

Wait... so all that time in New Home she SUSPECTED that he was manipulating her... and she didn't SAY anything?! "If you thought I was lying, then why the heck did you trust me?!"

Suzy shrugged. "I didn't at first, but then I figured if I had your power I would probably be going around, fixing my mistakes and trying to make my friends happy... even if that meant I had to stretch the truth every now and then." It was hard to make out her expression, but her voice shifted lower. "Believe me, i'm no stranger to that."

Flowey frowned, this was an unwelcome tangent. He decided to get them back on topic. "You seem to have overlooked something in your grand plan; I don't look anything like an echo flower. From a distance maybe, but no one's going to be fooled up-close."

"Oh, did you think I didn't think of that? Hehe." She pulled out a small plastic pot from under her cloak, the label on it read 'Glow in the Dark Cyan'. "Don't worry, it's just face paint. It washes right off!" Flowey wasn't sure how to feel about this. "Oh, and I brought along these, too." She pulled out a pair of battered old plastic walkie-talkies. "Courtesy of the dump, I think they will come in very handy!" She handed one to Flowey who grasped it in a vine, he'd not seen one of these in ages. "This way I can tell you who's coming so you can keep your eyes closed, I think they would give the game away a little too quickly."

He looked up at her, at a loss for further argument. "Do you think of everything?"

"I try to! Hehehe."

So she thinks she's in total control, does she? "And what if I say no?"

She crouched down to his level, the hem of her cloak seemingly forgotten. "Then I would have to question where your spirit of curiosity went. Really... what's the worst that could happen?"

Flowey thought about it. On the one hand Suzy was getting annoying, he never liked being coerced into things, least of all pranks... but on the other he could not deny his own curiosity. What would be the point in saying no without participating at least once? If it was the principle, he could easily reload and wipe all memory of it from her head. It wasn't like it was an either/or situation anymore, he had the power to do both. Huh, time travel really changed the way you make decisions...

He was no-ones puppet, but the thought of participating for his own reasons filled him with determination. "Alright, i'll do it."

In the wishing room Flowey took a spot slightly behind and to the side of one of the echo flowers, and Suzy got to work smearing the luminous paint over his petals. The sensation was cold, tingly and completely new. It felt nothing like that other time he'd got himself covered in paint... heh. The colour didn't match up exactly with the echo flowers, but it was close enough; the glow slightly hurt his eyes, so he was grateful to keep them closed. Finally, he positioned the walkie-talkie behind his head, making sure to to keep it well hidden. Everything was ready.

"I'll be waiting just outside." Suzy said. He nodded as her splashing footsteps moved away then shivered, remembering how long he'd been standing in stale water. There was a crackle of static from behind. "From now on, walkie-talkie communication only. Over."

He constricted the vine, the clicking of plastic and short burst of static signaled that he'd found the talk button. "Gotcha. Over."

Many minutes passed, it was hard to tell how many, 10 maybe 20? Flowey was getting bored and starting to regret agreeing when the walkie-talkie crackled on once more. "Seahorse monster comin' your way. Good luck, and keep the channel open!"

Flowey gave an imperceptible nod and held down the talk button. His time to shine. Sounds of sloshing water announced the monster's arrival into the wishing room, the ripples pushed against his stem and almost knocked him off balance.

The monster spoke in a singsong voice. "Echo Flowers on the ground."

Which the nearby flowers repeated. ~ "Echo Flowers on the ground." ~

Ah, a showboater, here to perform to his captive audience. This one should be fun to take down a peg or two.

"Who is the strongest..."

~ "Who is the strongest..." ~

"... Handsomest..."

~ "... Handsomest..." ~

"... Most charismatic monster around?"

~ "... Most charismatic monster around?" ~

The monster paused before projecting dramatically. "Aaron!"

And a whole cluster of flowers responded.

~ "Aaron!" ~

~ "Aaron!" ~

~ "Aaron!" ~

Hee hee hee

"Mettaton."

That was the correct answer according to Papyrus, though Flowey would never understand the appeal.

There was a loud splash. "Who's there?!"

~"Who's there."~ Echoed a flower.

Aaron's voice wobbled. "Wosh... is that you? Come out and stop playing this silly trick on me."

~ "Wosh... is that you? Come out and stop playing this silly trick on me." ~ Spoke another.

He started muttering something under his breath but Flowey couldn't hear it. eventually Aaron took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"There is no one here."

~"There is no one here."~

"No one here."

~"No one here."~

"No one here but us flowers."

~"No one here but us flowers."~

Hee hee hee

"Yes no one here but- what?"

"I said." Said Flowey, struggling to hold back a smile. "There is no one here but us flowers." The sloshing sounds got louder and water pushed even harder against his stem. He could practically feel Aaron's breath on him. "But golly, you sure do like to talk up the bravado about yourself, don't cha? Maybe some of the other flowers would like to hear it instead." He opened his eyes and met the confused and twitching gaze of the seahorse. He couldn't restrain his smile any longer. "BOO!"

Before another word could be uttered Aaron bolted, plowing through the water and out the exit. His final look of pure shock and terror had etched in Flowey's mind and he couldn't stop laughing. Suzy turned on her end of the link to do the same. They stifled themselves again when muffled conversation echoed in from the nearby corridor.

"What is it this time? Did Shyren leave her backing track playing again?"

"ONE OF THE FLOWERS TALKED TO ME!"

"Of course it did, they're echo flowers!"

"NO! This one was different! IT HAD A FACE!"

"... A face?"

"Wosh... do you think it might be haunted?"

"... Why are you winking so much?"

"THESE ARE WINKS OF FEAR!"

"... Right. Okay then, show me this haunted flower."

"It's right through there!"

"Yuck, this room is filthy... Aaron? Where did you? ... Fine, I'll handle this on my own, then."

Flowey closed his eyes tightly and listened for the soft splashes indicating the new monster entering the room.

It wandered around muttering and speaking something into each flower. There were a lot of clinking noises, Flowey wondered what it must look like but before he could sneak a peak it'd come around to him.

Woshua stood in silence, a rhythmic mechanical cranking and scent of detergent being the only indicators to give its presence away. He could feel its gaze boring into him.

Eventually it spoke. "Wosh u face!"

A downpour of magical liquid hit Flowey's face with unexpected and painful force. He blinked his eyes open and gasped as the little green and blue water-bucket monster nodded its head smugly in front of him.

"Pranks are not clean fun. Wosh u act..." Flowey squinted as rivulets of paint-saturated water ran over him, exposing the natural colour underneath. Woshua's smug grin slipped. "What are you?"

He wondered if the prank was over now... but the setup was too perfect. He could get in some last minute fun before they finished up. "Howdy, i'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!" He pulled a vine out from under the sodden mud and extended it to Woshua invitingly. "It's nice to meet you."

The little monster flinched back in disgust. "Filthy."

Hee hee hee

"Aww, don't be like that." Flowey stuck out his tongue and winked playfully. "I'm only trying to be friendly! Your other friend left in such a hurry that I never even got to say hello." He exaggerated a pout. Woshua didn't respond, he watched the vine as though it were a venomous snake about to strike at any moment. Flowey had to hold himself back from laughing as he continued. "Oh where are my manners, you don't have hands, do you? But that's okay, I don't have any hands, either! So we'll just have to shake something else..." He reached out for Woshua's hand-crank 'tail'.

Several drops of muddy water dripped onto the monster as it shakily backed away in wide-eyed horror. "YUCK. NO. TOO DIRTY!... GO AWAY!"

Flowey started giggling, he couldn't stop giggling. Eventually Woshua found its footing and scurried away to the same exit Aaron had taken. He laughed, but this time Suzy didn't join him.

Static crackled from the walkie-talkie which had thankfully avoided a soaking. "Don't you think that might have been a little mean?"

Flowey quickly snapped his mouth shut, suddenly confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's just, what you said sounded a bit..."

It hadn't even occurred to him that he might have gone too far. Usually he'd feel bad by that point. "Sorry. I guess I got a little carried away."

There was the crackled sound of a sigh from the other side. "It's fine, it happens... though, I think it's time to call it a day. We should get that paint washed off."

Though most of the paint had already come away, Suzy insisted on cleaning up properly, and not with any of that stagnant swamp water. Flowey found the sentiment odd, but decided to let her have her way; So far it seemed to result in interesting situations happening. He suggested they ask Unydne but the small channel of luminous water separating the quiet area from the main cavern was too wide for Suzy to cross, so they took the trail past Shyren's pool instead.

Into the everlasting rain.

Sheltered from the downpour beneath Suzy's rough cloak, they walked past the weathered old statue, and past the bucket of- no. Suzy stopped by the bucked of umbrellas and took one out.

"What's that for?" Flowey asked, watching her shadowed face with an eyebrow raised. "You don't need an umbrella."

Suzy didn't answer right away, she turned around and headed back to the statue, placing the umbrella down by its weathered feet. "Now the statue doesn't have to get wet anymore."

Flowey looked at it, then back at her, then shook his head. He didn't really understand, but maybe that was just because he'd not had any sentimental value for the statue in life.

There was a soft clinking sound from within the weathered base, then a gentle tune started to play. A hidden music box, the music was so sweet and... innocent? That was such an odd description to apply to music, but somehow, it was what came to mind.

Like a sad nostalgia. "Let's keep going. Please."

They walked into the rain, Flowey stared down at the puddles while unwanted memories flitted in and out of his mind. The sound of the music box becoming quieter and quieter until they stopped moving. "Wow."

He lifted his head, then his jaw dropped. Before them stretched a vast open cavern, dark and glittering with crystalline stars. Situated on the other side of the vista was the castle, his old home. So magical and majestic, as though frozen forever in a timeless dream. How could he have forgotten this place? He'd been here many times before, the path had changed somewhat, but the layout was always the same.

Suzy lowered herself and sat down cross-legged on her cloak. Flowey snaked out and planted his roots into the dirt beside her. The rain poured down over his petals, but he didn't mind. Maybe If the rain cleared away enough paint, she would stop insisting on going to Undyne's house. Not that he had anything against Undyne, he just didn't see the point.

This spot had always been special. Back when Asriel's future responsibilities still loomed ahead of him, stepping back and seeing the underground like this felt like a weight temporarily lifting from his shoulders. Heh... in some ways, Flowey supposed that he should take comfort from the fact that no one expected anything from him anymore... but with the lifting of one burden came the acquisition of others.

He'd never come here alone. Only ever with his best friend beside him. The one person in the whole world who he could trust, who would listen and would never, EVER let him give in.

But now he had Suzy, and she was staring across the expanse in silence. "Suzy." He said in a quiet voice, as though speaking loudly would cause the stars to fall from the ceiling. "Why do you sneak out?"

She didn't make a move to look at him. "Because I don't like the Capitol when it's busy, and because it's fun."

"Are those the only reasons?"

He could understand wanting to get away from that crowded city but this was a new excuse, there was nowhere to go from New Home but into Hotland. As for fun, he could understand it if it were only from time to time, but he got the impression she didn't just sneak out once a fortnight. No one did that just for the fun of it.

"My mom is a bit... restrictive, so being at home isn't very fun. " She caste him a sideways glance. "Why do you ask?"

He stared at his reflection in the puddles on the ground. "You remind me of someone."

"That other partner of yours?"

"Please stop calling them that." He bit back his frustration. The memories weren't going to go away... might as well talk. "Their name was Chara. They were more than a friend to me, but... they're gone now."

"Oh." She said softly. "I'm sorry."

"No. I'm sorry." He hissed between clenched teeth. He wasn't angry at her, but he may have sounded that way, it was getting hard to tell. "I..." There wasn't any point in lying right now was there? He could erase her memories... he would probably need to, eventually. "It was my fault." His voice was so small as to be almost imperceptible, and no sooner had the words passed his lips than he regretted them.

So desperate to confide in someone... anyone... that he'd gone and substituted Suzy for his own best friend. Idiot, such an idiot! There have been too many mistakes. He'd let this play out then reload.

Suzy leaned in closer to him. "How could it be your fault?"

"I refused to fight back." He said flatly.

"You.. wait, that doesn't make any sense." She pulled back her head and gasped. "Are you saying that someone KILLED them? Who would do such a terrible thing?! I've never heard of any monster doing something so... so."

Flowey sighed and watched her haggardly. "I don't want to go over the whole story. Besides, it happened a long time ago now..." He turned to look down the path they'd just taken, the music box was still playing its gentle tune.

For several seconds the melody of the music box and pattering of raindrops made up the only sounds in the vast cavern. Finally, Suzy spoke up. "I guess in a way that makes us alike." She said softly, shifting to gaze across the vista once more. "We both lost someone important to us..." There was another long pause before she spoke again."Flowey." She said. "As you confided in me, I guess it's only fair that I do the same for you." Flowey didn't say anything, but caste her a sidelong glance that she probably didn't see. "When I said that I never knew my dad, that wasn't strictly true... even though, technically, it is." Well, this was starting to sound interesting. "Sometimes, when I close my eyes I can see him, just for a moment then he's gone. Mom says i'm remembering him from when I was a baby but that just doesn't feel right... the memories feel too fresh, like from days or weeks ago... and it's not just me! I catch her talking to him sometimes, but she can't even tell me what he looks like, she just makes stuff up... I can tell when she's lying." She shook her head and laughed humorlessly. "Weird, huh?"

Flowey wasn't sure what to make of that, but it was nice to be distracted from his own memories. "That is pretty weird." Suzy's father used to work at the Core right? That big mysterious structure with no known inventor which just appeared out of nowhere. "How did he disappear?"

"I don't know. My mom lied about that, too." She sighed, then turned around and lifted her hood slightly, revealing a strained smile. "I'm not going to remember any of this, am I?"

Flowey went rigid, he looked into her face but had nothing to say.

"There you are Suzy!"

They both spun around, a blue monster with a clam-shaped head was jogging down the path towards them. The top half of her shell clicked against the bottom with each step, making her voice muffled.

"Pearl!" Suzy jumped to her feet and ran to the monster, embracing her in a hug. "This is my friend Flowey." She gestured towards him.

He attempted to put on a smile. "Howdy."

Pearl regarded him; she did not appear confused or hesitate like other monsters, she simply smiled warmly as she went on. "It's nice to meet you Flowey, it seems fate has brought you two together. Did you both have fun playing today?"

"Yeah!" Suzy bounced excitedly in the monster's arms.

Pearl put on a mock stern expression. "You haven't been getting into trouble... have you?"

"Hee hee, nope." Suzy hugged her even tighter. "Thank you for covering for me."

"It was no problem sweetheart, you deserve to get out of the city every now and again, but now you have to come back." Suzy nodded broadly. "Say goodbye to your friend."

She walked back to Flowey and knelt down so that her face was close to his, that same strained smile plastered over her shadowy face. "I wouldn't blame you, you know, if you chose to turn everything back. We both said things that we regretted..." She glanced away. "Pearl once told me that it's these mistakes that make us stronger in the end... I don't know if she's right, but hey, it's not my call! It doesn't matter to me whatever you do..." Her words trailed off, after a moment she got up and started walking away, turning her head back to call one last thing over her shoulder. "Thank's for listening to me by the way. May our paths cross again, my Flower Prince!"