"Chara? Are you there? I did what you asked. Did it work?"
The light receded and I slowly regained my vision. The throne room was back to normal. Soft light shimmered over the field of flowers. All signs of the battle I had just witnessed in this room had vanished. I beamed at the sight. I really was getting the hang of using my time traveling ability.
So what was I going to try to do differently this time? I didn't really want to tell anyone who I was anymore. If I had to endure another diagnosis from Dr. Alphys or another crushing hug from Asgore, I would probably scream. There was a strange sense of freedom that came from being anonymous. No one had to know who I was. I could start fresh. I could be anyone I wanted to be. Do whatever I wanted to do. And even better, there were no lasting consequences. If I didn't like how things turned out, all I had to do was reset.
The concept was liberating. Strangely, despite all of my failures with Asgore, I found that I was in a good mood. This reset was going to be a good one, I could already tell.
"There, Undyne, I cleaned up the mess you made! Simple, huh?" No one was in the room, but it made me feel better making the snarky comment to the Undyne I had left behind. It still felt a little surreal to me that I had managed to convince her to beat up Asgore. And so easily, too! I wondered what else I could get the crazy fish monster to do. Maybe I could get her to beat up Alphys for me. I giggled at the concept.
I still had the problem of not knowing how to obtain the human souls from Asgore, but going back to the beginning of the timeline gave me a whole new perspective. Undyne wasn't the only monster I could manipulate. And besides, my whole purpose was to be the savior of monsters, but I didn't even really know any of the monsters I was saving. Time most certainly didn't seem to be an issue. And if things went wrong, oh well, I could always start all over. The world and the timeline was my plaything. My toys. I was free. I could do anything I wanted. I could set aside the issue of gathering those souls for a little while at least.
Strangely, an unbidden memory surfaced to my mind, the memory of the conversation I had had with that jerky skeleton. "You seem like you could be a pretty good guy, if you tried to be. It really wouldn't hurt to be nice to people now and again." His words echoed faintly in my head, dampening my otherwise perfect mood. I guess I could give it a try. If anything, the better I got to know people, the easier I could work with them. Maybe I could find an alternate solution to getting everyone to the surface. I could do it. I could play it nice. Solve everyone's problems. Why not?
I could start with Undyne. She seemed to be pretty scary, but on the same token, she had been reluctant to kill Asgore and had even spared him at the end of the battle. And knowing how strong she was, getting on her good side seemed like a fairly smart idea.
I plowed through the ground, heading for Waterfall. I didn't really want to travel all that way by myself, so I changed my course a little to head to the river. I could probably hitch a ride with the river person and make my way to Undyne's house that way. It would require enduring more of the pointless singing, but the trip would be faster.
The river person seemed to be waiting for me, docked on the shore of Hotland. "Tra la la. I am the river man. Or am I the river woman? It doesn't make a difference. I love to ride in my boat. Care to join me?" I smirked at the hooded figure while uprooting myself so I could climb aboard. Having every monster introduce themselves to me again was a little irritating, but that's the magic of time travel. "Where are we going today?"
"Waterfall," I stated firmly. Almost immediately, the boat shoved away from the edge of the river and began floating away.
"Then we're off," the cloaked monster sang. They proceeded to sing along with the flowing water, more of the same nonsensical gibbering. I relaxed a little, humming along with the tune and thinking about what I would say to Undyne once I got there.
"Tra la la. A battle that never was meant to be. Tra la la. The broken man against the girl from the sea. Tra la la. Everyone seems to be missing a sock. Tra la la. Find them and maybe a secret unlock."
The boat scraped on rock and the whole thing ground to a halt. I opened my eyes to find that we were in waterfall. Excellent. I hopped off the boat, followed by a soft, "Come again soon, tra la la," from the river person. I shot them a grin before moving on to Undyne's house.
Thankfully Undyne was home this time so I didn't have to go looking for her again. As I approached, I could hear voices shouting inside. A large crash came from somewhere within. I moved below the door and remained safely underground as I tried to figure out what was going on.
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Undyne hooted as a strangely clad skeleton threw a tomato into the air before doing a back flip and kicking the poor fruit across the room. The tomato splatted across the far wall which had a target painted on it for the occasion. Most of the guts oozed down the wall and slumped off into a bowl placed below. A broken vase lay in shambles beside a grand piano a few feet away from the target.
"Nothing but the best from the Great Papyrus!" the skeleton crowed, doing a little victory dance. "That tomato has been Papyrus'd!"
"Er, I don't think that's a word, Papyrus."
"Well it should be!"
Whoever this skeleton was, he seemed to be about as enthusiastic as Undyne, if not more so. Judging from the guy's poor fashion sense, he was also a little crazy. I was just glad to see that he was not the same skeleton I had encountered in Snowdin earlier. He stood nearly as tall as Undyne, and she was pretty tall and lanky for a fish. I didn't really want my head to get accidentally bashed in, so I decided to hang out underground and watch them for a moment.
"I know! I'll coin the phrase! When something get's totally owned by someone as cool as me, it will be known as getting Papyrus'd!"
"So that would refer to basically nothing," Undyne smirked. The skeleton responded by launching a tomato at her face. Since Undyne was not expecting that, it nailed her directly in the nose.
"Ha! That'll be 5 gold coins!"
"What?! What for! You hit me in the face!"
"Precisely! You got Papyrus'd! And since I coined the phrase..." He held out his hand expectantly. "5 gold, please."
Undyne glared in spite of the giant grin plastered on her face and slapped her companion on the back hard enough to shove him to the ground. "You greedy bonehead! That's not how that works at all!"
"Really?!" The skeleton seemed legitimately surprised, though he was completely unfazed by the blow he had just received. "But my brother's been doing that to me for years!" Undyne snorted.
"Ugh. That guy... Now I'm curious. What phrases has he coined?"
"Oh, all kinds of things! ' Time to wake up ' is one. ' Clean your room ' is another." He looked around hastily. "It's a good thing he's nowhere around to hear me say those or I'd owe him 50 gold." Undyne howled with laughter, slapping the counter next to her. Papyrus picked himself up off the floor and dusted off his gym shorts that were labeled "hotpants" in permanent-ink marker.
"Hang on, Papyrus! I wouldn't owe you anything anyway! I never actually said your phrase!" Undyne hefted a tomato before throwing it full-force into the target. It left a nice-sized hole in the wall.
"No," he huffed, "but it was implied and it was directed at you. That totally counts!" He tossed another tomato into the air, summoned a large bone in his hands, then swung at the tomato. The tomato was reduced to paste that flung in a shower over the floor. Similar stains covered the walls and table. "Home run!"
Well, Undyne seemed to be in a good mood, and the skeleton looked pretty harmless. It was probably safe to come out and say hello. I popped my head up by the door, which was still in plain view but not anywhere close to them or the target they were throwing at.
"Howdy!" I made sure to look as happy and cheerful as I could manage. After all, I was trying to become their friends. Both Undyne and her skeleton friend stared at me for a moment as if they weren't quite sure what they were looking at. The skeleton was the first one to speak up.
"Wowie! A talking flower! Undyne, I didn't know you had a pet flower!"
"I... Don't..." Her face was particularly contorted, looking a bit like she had just caught whiff of some horrible smell.
"You don't? Then why is there one in your house?"
"Uhhhh..." Gradually her expression was becoming more and more menacing as she looked down at me. The tomato she had been holding was turning into a pile of goo in her fist. Uh-oh. Time to think of something to say.
"I heard some yelling and stuff breaking so I came by to see what was going on and if everyone was alright!" I grinned nervously, hoping that Undyne wouldn't decide to lob her projectile at me.
Undyne's eye narrowed. "Well, we're alright in here. Papyrus and I were just having our weekly very private one-on-one cooking lesson. Now I did not invite you in, so you may now leave, whoever you are." Cooking... Lesson...?
"Wait, wait! Um, I'm kinda new to the area and am trying to meet new people! Um. So..."
"Ooh! Ooh! I love meeting new people!" The skeleton clapped his hands together, and I swore I could see sparkles in his eyes, despite the fact that he only had eye-sockets. He rushed over to me and held out a gloved hand. "I'm Papyrus! What's your name?!"
"Uh..." Up until that very moment, it hadn't actually occurred to me that I hadn't bothered to come up with a fake name for myself. I couldn't introduce myself as Asriel. I really didn't want to open that particular can of worms. Unfortunately, I had inherited my father's inability to come up with names, so my brain went totally blank trying to think of a proper name for myself.
"Oh, I see," Papyrus said, resting a fist on his hip. "You are too enamored by how handsome and cool I am to be able to remember your own name! Worry not, my little flower friend! I shall give you all the time you need to collect your thoughts once more! Nyeh heh heh!"
I resisted the urge to scowl at him. I had to come up with something. Anything! A name popped into my mind and without stopping to think about it, I blurted it out. "I'm Flowey." Even as the name left my mouth, I began to internally groan. Flowey the freaking flower. Stupid skeleton!
Undyne looked as though she was trying very hard not to laugh. Thankfully, before she could say anything, Papyrus gave me a huge grin. "Flowey, huh?! What a fitting name for a flower! Although, I don't think I've ever met a flower before..." He stared off in space with a contemplative expression. He shook his head with a shrug and continued. "Anyway, so with you being new and all, I shall take it upon myself to introduce you to all the cool people I know!" He gestured wildly behind him to where Undyne had discovered that the tomato in her hand was no more. "This is Undyne! She's my boss!"
"Hi." she said, looking up at me and waving with the hand that wasn't stained red.
"Let's see, have you met Undyne's neighbor? What's his name... Swoopygoo? Tweedledee?"
"Napstablook," Undyne filled in for him.
"Yeah, I honestly don't know many people around here. I always just hang out with Undyne when I come to Waterfall." Papyrus scratched his head, looking uncertain of himself for the first time since I had met him. "But if we go to Snowdin, I know lots of people there! Come on! I'll introduce you to all of my friends!" He stepped past me to the door and opened it, leaving the room without checking to see if anyone was actually going to follow him. I glanced warily at Undyne to see what she was going to do. She let out a sigh, pulling a towel out of one of the cupboards.
"You two go on ahead. I'm going to stay behind and clean up this mess." She began meticulously wiping tomato juice off the counter. Gritting my teeth, I dove under the surface and went after Papyrus. I had really wanted to make friends with Undyne, but I didn't really have a good enough excuse to not follow the crazy skeleton. Guess I would just have to make friends with him instead.
"I'm here, Asriel. We did it! You absorbed my soul! Everything is going according to plan!"
Beady white lights set in empty sockets stared at me. It took all of my willpower not to glower back. Of course I would run into this guy again. Go figure.
"This is my brother, Sans!" Papyrus bubbled. I guess it only made sense that the two skeletons I knew of were related. When we had gotten to Snowdin, the first place Papyrus had taken me to was his house. I hadn't been entirely sure why until I saw the stubbier skeleton hanging out in the kitchen.
"Hey, bro. What's with the flower?" Sans had to look up at me since I was riding on Papyrus's shoulder. I hadn't noticed just how short the other skeleton was since he had still towered over me when I was on the ground. For some reason, knowing how tiny he was made me smile. I took that excuse to replace the glare I had originally wanted to make with a big grin.
"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!" It was a bit strange introducing myself to the same man who had given me this stupid name, but that tended to happen when you traveled through time. A faint glimmer passed through the skeleton's eyes, though his grinning expression remained practically unchanged.
"Wow, dude. That's, uh, got to be the dumbest name I've ever heard." He winked at me.
"Sans!" Papyrus shouted, placing both hands on his hips. "That is not how you make friends!" I grit my teeth in irritation. This guy...
"Hm. Yeah, you're right, bro. Besides, it's not like he was the one who came up with it." What? How did he...? "Just means his parents are really horrible at coming up with names." He made eye contact with me again and gave another solid wink. My mouth hung slightly agape. He couldn't have remembered, could he? Nah. He must just be that much of a jerk.
"Well, I think it's an excellent name!" Papyrus interjected. "It's what I would name a flower! Nyeh heh heh!"
Sans shrugged, returning to what he was doing in the kitchen. "Whatever floats your bones, bro." Papyrus paused and scratched his head.
"What are you doing, Sans? Aren't you supposed to be at work?"
"I am working," the smaller skeleton stated with an off-hand gesture. He was wielding a wooden spoon, and a number of ingredients and mixing bowls riddled the counter. Whatever he was doing, he was making a huge mess in the process. Flour practically coated the kitchen floor. "What about you? Aren't you supposed to be at your cooking lesson with Undyne?"
"Oh, I was! But you see, we were interrupted when this little flower came in. Flowey here says he's new to the area and wanted to make friends!" Sans stopped in his tracks. I almost missed the distrust that flashed across his features before he replaced it with an expression that could only be described as smug. He resumed his baking.
Papyrus stared proudly off into the distance, not paying attention to his brother. "Wowie! I feel so honored that he came all that way just to ask for my help!" Sure, Papyrus. That's exactly why I went to Undyne's house... Papyrus eyed the pie tin that Sans was lining with dough. "Are you making a quiche?" he asked suddenly.
"Nah. Are you kidding, dude? I'm not ready for that kind of responsibility."
"You're not ready for any kind of responsibility!"
"Precisely."
Papyrus turned his head to look at me, giving me a wry smile. "Anyway, that's my brother. We'll leave him to do his thing. There are lots of other people I should introduce you to!" Papyrus gave his brother a quick grin before turning to leave. Sans lifted his hand and waved without turning around.
"Nice meeting you, Flowey. Have fun, you two." I gave the smaller skeleton's back my best glare until the front door cut off my view of him. My opinion of the jerk remained virtually unchanged. If anything, I somehow hated him even more.
"I apologize for my lazy brother," Papyrus said. "You're lucky you found me first! Sans would have made a really weird first impression, I'm sure!" I thought back to when I had first encountered Sans in the diner. Weird first impression. Yeah, that was one way to put it.
My new skeleton friend proceeded to take me to various places around Snowdin. He introduced me to some of the various bunnies and dogs around town, but I got the distinct impression that although he knew of them and they knew of him, Papyrus wasn't really particularly close with anyone. So far the only people he seemed chummy with was Sans and Undyne. Judging from the wary glances the other monsters gave Papyrus, I was pretty sure that they all avoided him because they thought he was stupid or crazy. Honestly, I didn't blame them. He was a little of both.
For someone as bright and cheery as Papyrus was, he was surprisingly lonely. He kept up a continual dialogue with me, chatting about this and that. He had a very innocent view-point of the world. Poor naive fool. I was vaguely amused by just how stupid the skeleton was. He was constantly talking about how great he was, but the more I listened to him, the more it felt like he was using that as a tactic to reassure himself rather than a true narcissistic attitude.
He actually reminded me a little of myself. Or rather, who I had used to be. I always hung out with Chara, but other than that, I wasn't really close to anyone. And I had certainly been naive. So naive that I had been willing to let myself die rather than kill another soul.
Listening to Papyrus made me consider how easily I could manipulate him. I barely told the guy anything, and Papyrus was willing to think that I was one of the best people in existence. Golly, I could probably order him to get me a sandwich and he'd do it. He'd probably serve me as though I were King Asgore himself.
I endured through his idiotic prattling, nodding here, agreeing there. Eventually, we made a full circle around the area. I didn't remember most of the various monsters' names that we encountered, but at least I had a better idea of some of the folk and what they did.
"So, that's, um... All the people I know," Papyrus admitted when we found ourselves standing in front of Papyrus's house again. "Other than Dr. Alphys and, er, Mettaton, but I don't actually know them personally. You'll have to ask Undyne about them if you want to meet them."
"That's alright, Papyrus. You've been a great help." The lie was simple enough.
"Nyeh heh heh! You should expect nothing less from the Great Papyrus! I am always more than helpful! One could say that I am the most helpful skeleton of all!" He lifted me from his shoulder and gently placed me on the ground. "Now if you ever need anything, you know where to find me," he stated firmly. I nodded.
"See you around, Papyrus."
"Be sure to come back and visit me anytime!" With that, Papyrus retreated into the house. Looking around, I could see that most other monsters had also gone home. It was probably getting late. Time was hard to tell in the Underground, but everyone still needed to sleep. I was about to retreat back into the dirt when a voice from behind stopped me.
"Hey, thanks for humoring my brother. Not many people actually stop and talk to him, much less spend a whole day with him." I turned around to see Sans leaning up against a tree. "He won't admit it, but I can tell he really appreciates having you keep him company." His face was in shadow, but from what I could see of the pinpricks of his eyes, he seemed to be sincere.
I wasn't really sure what to say, so I just bobbed my head to acknowledge that I had heard. "Of course," I mumbled. Sans closed his eyes, looking like he was contemplating something. Finally he pushed himself away from the tree and walked past me, heading into his house.
"Welp," he said, "I'd better go in. Papyrus gets cranky without his bedtime story." He looked back at me long enough to give me a final wink before disappearing inside. I narrowed my eyes at the closed door behind him. I got the feeling that I was going to have to be wary of him. He gave me a bad vibe. I shrugged it off and left to go find somewhere warmer for the night.
"I'm so happy, Chara! I was so scared there. I thought for sure I had lost you. Never do that to me again! I don't think I could stand it if you were gone."
"I would never leave you, Asriel. That's what best friends are for. We stick together. No matter what."
Faint whispers reverberated back and forth through the cavern. Some people found the fields of echo flowers to be creepy, but I found the noise to be somewhat relaxing. Chara and I had liked to come down to Waterfall just to play with the chatty flowers. It was Chara who had first started using the flowers as a prank on other monsters and I had latched onto the idea rather quickly. I had always been good at voice imitations, which made it easier to prank people with.
Ultimately, though, I just liked to sit and listen to the flowers sometimes. They always just repeated the same phrase again and again, but they merged into a babble that sounded much like being in a crowded room with hushed conversation. It was a happy sound. The sound of hundreds of families enjoying each others' company.
I missed that feeling. The feeling of caring for those around me. Even with Papyrus, I had only been able to bear listening to him because I knew that I could probably use him to my advantage in the future. I didn't actually care about his feelings like a true friend should. And though I could brush it off and pretend that it didn't bother me, it did. I wanted to have someone that I could care about again. I wanted to have a friend again. I wanted to have a family again. Yet I could not seem to be able to love.
Thinking about this was a reminder of why I was doing what I was doing. I had to know if I could find a place somewhere. I could keep going until I broke the barrier, but there was a voice of fear in the back of my mind that wondered what would happen to me if I ever did accomplish that goal. Once my purpose was gone, what was left? My determination was only enough to keep me going so long as I had a reason to move forward.
In my mind, I solidified a new goal. The goal to find someone that I could care about and love. And despite my distaste for the shrubby skeleton, Sans was right. In order to make friends and start to care about people, I would have to stop thinking about myself and start serving the monsters around me. It was easier said than done, though. Without a soul, I could not shake the feeling that all the people around me were just toys waiting for me to play with them.
I waggled my head in irritation. The echo flowers continued to murmur all around me, so I distracted myself by trying to pick out what they were saying. "I wish I could see the real stars someday." "I wish my sister would stop picking on me." "I wish I didn't have to pretend to be happy anymore." "I wish I could see Undyne in action." "I wish I could find a hot guy." "I wish..."
Wishes. It seemed that all of these flowers had picked up the wishes of countless monsters. Glowing crystals shimmered in the roof of the cave in such a way that they almost looked like stars. I had heard that monsters used to make wishes on the stars above the surface and believed that making those wishes would somehow help them come true. Now that the only sky above our heads was made of stone, it made sense that the tradition could only be continued in a room filled with twinkling gems.
What did I wish for? I wished for a lot of things. I wished that Chara had never died. I wished that I hadn't been such a wimpy coward. I wished that my family was still together. I wished I weren't a stupid flower. Unfortunately, I had learned the hard way that things never turn out the way you wish for. I could gaze at the false stars above and hope with all my might, but that wasn't going to make them turn into real stars.
Hope. What a useless emotion. It was a bitter irony that hope was literally the only thing keeping me alive. My mouth twisted into a joyless smile. I was standing in a cave filled with everyone's hopes and dreams. And I, like Undyne, planned on making all of them come true.
Papyrus was an easy one. All he needed was friends. And some intelligence. Undyne... I wasn't sure what Undyne needed just yet. She was a blob of pent-up fury waiting to burst. Asgore was also easy, he needed his family back, but I wasn't really sure how to fix that particular problem. It hurt just thinking about it since that hit a little too close to home.
I watched as a couple of dogs walked by, hand-in-hand. One of them spotted me and waved, recognizing me from when Papyrus had introduced me to the whole town. I nodded in their general direction, putting on a fake smile. There was once a time when Asgore and Toriel had been together like that. I was pretty sure they had even won some ooey-gooey nose nuzzler championship or something like that. Although it felt like I was no longer a part of that family, it pained me knowing that my mom and dad weren't together anymore. Especially since I knew first-hand how perfect they were for each other.
Maybe if I could talk to Toriel, I could convince her to go back. Toriel didn't realize just how close Asgore was to giving up on the human souls thing. When I had spoken to her before, she had made it sound like Asgore had totally thrown away his compassion. I knew better. Honestly, if I could soften the king's frozen heart, Toriel most certainly could. She had given up on Asgore way too quickly. It made me a little angry inside, knowing that Toriel had ultimately been the cause of the ruined relationship. She may feel justified in her actions, but her going into hiding was just cowardly. A way of avoiding her responsibility to take care of her husband.
If I could make anything right again, fix anyone's problems, it should be theirs. I wouldn't have to tell them about who I was, I would just have to talk to them. Convince them. As much as they annoyed me, they were still my family. And putting my mother back on the throne would solve a lot of the other trivial problems around the kingdom. Asgore didn't know how to be king, but Toriel certainly knew how to be queen.
And who knew. Maybe Toriel would be able to get Asgore to release those souls to me. Then I could break the barrier. I grinned, formulating new plans in my head. With a new bout of determination, I dove underground, leaving behind the whispers of the echo flowers.
"What are you doing, Chara? Put that down! You're creeping me out."
"Sorry, Asriel. There's something I want to do."
"Well, alright... It is your body after all."
I slowed down to a crawl as I approached the Ruins. I wasn't expecting to see any monsters all the way out here, so seeing someone slumped against the giant door caught my attention. Easing my way closer, I could see that it was Sans. What the heck was he doing here? He seemed to be talking to the air, though he was too far away for me to make out anything he was saying.
He abruptly began laughing, a deep, hearty laugh. I didn't take him for being insane, so he must be talking to someone. As I inched closer, I could see white paws under the door from my underground perspective. Mom? He knew Mom? Their words became more distinct the closer I got.
"Ok, ok. My turn," Sans said to the door. "Knock knock."
"Who is there?" came my mother's voice.
"Dwain." What...
"Dwain who?" The...
"Dwain the bathtub! I'm dwowning!"
Toriel roared with laughter. I sat suspended beneath the earth with my jaw wide open. Seriously? I knew that Toriel had a poor taste in jokes, but really?! Good golly, that was awful!
Even as I stood motionless, my mother started in on another joke. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. There was absolutely nothing funny about this, but here the two of them were exchanging jokes and laughter like two best buds swapping baseball cards. I was stunned for a solid five minutes, listening to joke after terrible joke. I took back my previous assessment of the skeleton. He was crazy. One-hundred percent crazy. And he was taking my mother down with him!
In a fit of anger, I poked my head above ground. "What the heck are you doing?!" I demanded of the skeleton. He blinked, caught off guard by my sudden appearance. It didn't take him long to recover once he focused on me and saw who it was.
"I'm doing what any comedian would do when presented with a huge door and an audience." He winked. "Telling knock knock jokes!"
"Hm? Is someone else there with you?" my mother asked through the door. Sans looked over his shoulder to direct his next comment at Toriel.
"Just a talking flower. His name's Flowey. Papyrus brought him by the other day. Seems like a pretty cool guy." He turned back to me, leaning forward a little. "What's up?"
"What's up?! I could ask you the same thing! What in the world are you doing all the way out here?" Sans's eyes narrowed a little, but with the grin permanently plastered on his face, it was really hard to read his expression.
"I'm working," he said. He gestured to where I could faintly make out a sentry stand in the distance. For someone who was supposedly working, he was awfully far from his post. What was his job, anyway? "How 'bout you? Seems quite the journey for a flower to travel all by himself."
"I..." I had no good response to that.
Sans shrugged, relaxing against the door. "Hey, I aint judging. None of my business." I grit my teeth. Having him blow me off like that rubbed me the wrong way.
"I'm here because I wanted to talk to Toriel." When in doubt, tell the truth. Sans blinked again, looking incredibly confused.
"Talk to who?"
A distinct rustling came from behind the door, but Toriel didn't say a word. I gave Sans a smirk. "You mean you don't even know the name of the lady you've been talking to?" He shrugged again.
"I'm not one to pry." I glowered at him. Yes you are, you dirty liar. It had taken a great effort to get him to leave me alone about my name when I had originally met him. That's how I got stuck with the name Flowey in the first place. Jerk. Sans shifted to halfway face the door again. "Hey, you know this guy? He asked for you by name."
The door remained silent. I winced. I had no way to explain to Toriel how I knew who she was. Not without revealing my true identity, and I really didn't want to go through that again.
"I... do not believe I know of any flowers with the ability to speak," Toriel finally said quietly.
Sans glanced at me suspiciously. "Huh. Weird."
"Um, she, uh, hasn't actually met me yet," I said hastily. "Could I talk to her alone?" Although Sans's expression didn't change, his gaze made me uneasy. "Please," I added just for good measure. He stared at me in silence for a long moment. Finally, he dropped his eyes, letting them slide shut with a heavy sigh.
"Y'know, it's kinda rude interrupting other peoples' conversations. But you did help out my bro, so I'll let it slide." He opened his eyes, leaving his sockets hooded. "This time." Man that smile could be creepy when he wanted it to be. He stood up, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and making his way into the trees nearby. I watched him step behind a tree where he seemed to vanish. A shiver went down my stem. Definitely creepy.
I wasted no time burrowing under the door and resurfacing next to Toriel. "Howdy!" I said. Toriel's brow was deeply furrowed as she stared down at me.
"Greetings, flower." Her expression eased to a softer one. "May I ask how you know my name?" I looked down at the ground awkwardly.
"Er... Let's just say I've known you for a long time and leave it at that." She frowned.
"And how did you know to find me here?"
"Same reason?" I really wished that she would stop asking me these questions.
She closed her eyes, looking contemplative. "I should have known this day would come," she muttered under her breath. Her eyes flashed open. "Did Asgore send you?" I shook my head vehemently. I had my own reasons for being here.
"No," I stated firmly, "but I would like to talk to you about him." She sighed deeply. Abruptly, she walked past me, heading through the passageway leading to the rest of the ruins.
"I do not wish to speak of that man," Toriel said in an equally firm voice over her shoulder. "But since you have come all this way, I might as well hear you out. But not here. Come. Let us discuss these matters in a more comfortable location."
I followed her down the corridor and up into the house where Toriel seated herself in her favorite chair. I popped up just a few feet in front of her and she leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees. "Now what is it you wish to say to me?" she asked stiffly.
"I, um..." All of my theoretical conversations I had worked together in my mind had not started like this at all, so I found that most of my ideas for how to phrase this had fled. "I know you're mad at King Asgore, and I know your reasons why. But I... Uh..." The eloquence of words was escaping me. There really wasn't a nice way to put this, was there? I winced at my own inability to say what I wanted in a way that Toriel might understand. My best fall-back was being blunt about the situation.
"Alright, Asgore's a complete idiot," I said with a smirk. "But I think you should go back anyway. Mostly because of the fact that he's an idiot. The guy is hopeless as King. Really, you did everyone a disfavor when you left us under that fool's reign." Now that I had started my rant, there was no stopping it. "And not only does the kingdom need you, he needs you, too. Have you seen what he's like without you? He spends every day wandering around, waiting for someone to tell him what to do. He's like a lost puppy! It makes me sick!"
"I know you left because you were mad at him for declaring war on the humans, but I think you'd find that he only did that out of anger. The idiot doesn't actually want to go through with it. He knows he could just take one of those souls and go to the surface to collect all the rest needed to break the barrier, but he doesn't. You wanna know why?! Because he doesn't want to! He is far too innocent and naive. The only reason he swore to kill the humans was because he thought it would give everyone hope again. And you could have changed his mind. But instead, you left!" I glared hard at Toriel, the beginning of tears stinging my eyes.
"You left us! At a time where you should have been there for us, you ran away! You forsook your duties to the kingdom! To everyone! We had already lost both Chara and... and Asriel. And then you had to go and leave, too! If you really cared about us... Any of us! You would have stayed! You would have tried to fix everything! You- You Coward!" I suddenly found myself sobbing violently, shaken with rage. I hadn't even realized how angry I was at my mother until now. The moment I had started opening up, it was like all of my pent-up emotions had burst out.
"You blame Asgore for the reason you left, but you do so to cover up your own guilt! You couldn't save Chara. You couldn't save anyone! You didn't leave because you were mad at Asgore. You left because you were ashamed of yourself and didn't want to face up to it! So you ran away! You ran away and hid in these abandoned ruins, hoping that the world would just forget about you. You're as guilty as him for the six humans who are now dead!"
I took deep breaths trying to calm myself down. Tears dripped from my eyes as I glared at the floor. I couldn't see Toriel's reaction. I didn't want to. This had not gone according to plan at all.
"Are you finished?" Toriel asked softly after a long moment of silence. I didn't answer, emotions seizing up my throat so I couldn't speak. I sat in the same position, breathing heavily as I tried to force myself to stop crying. This was just embarrassing. "I am sorry I have been the cause of such pain, my child. I assure you that I did not intend to hurt anyone. You say that it is my fault. Perhaps you are right. But the past is behind us now. Asgore made his decision. Just as I made mine. There is no changing that now."
I finally looked up to see her face, blinking away tears. A sinking feeling made a knot within me. I could tell that I had failed to convince her. It was all because I let my stupid emotions get in the way! Was there anything I could say to change her mind? Anything at all?
"I am sorry," she said, eyes closed. "But it is too late. I can not return to that place. Please try to understand. Besides, I have been gone for so long that no one would remember a silly old lady like me anymore. If I returned, it would only cause confusion. The only thing I can do now is wait and hope that I can prevent the next human child from meeting the same fate as all the others." She stared off into space, looking legitimately saddened.
"Mom..." The word escaped my lips. She didn't seem to notice, lost in her own thoughts. "Please," I begged her. "We need you." I found myself growing angry again. Why? Why was she being so stubborn?! So stupid! She could do so much more good back at the castle, but instead she chose to remain here forever. "Listen to me!"
Toriel's eyes slid to meet mine. Her face was hard as stone, immovable in her conviction. "I have listened to your plea," she affirmed, "and I have told you my decision. I must ask that you return from whence you came. Think no more of me. I am afraid that I am not able to do as you expect. You would be better off leaving behind the things of the past and doing what you can with what the future has to offer." She smiled in a way that was supposed to be reassuring, but I could see past it to the deep sorrow within her heart.
I scowled at her, unnerved by how similar her words were to my father's. "You're as bad as Asgore!" I shouted in a rage. Her eyes went wide in surprise. I was so fed up with dealing with those two. Both Asgore and Toriel were impossible to reason with. They were so stubborn and set in their idiotic ways. It made me sick!
Without looking back, I fled to the ground. I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts, so I made my way through the ruins. At last, I reached the spot where the cave opened up to the surface far above. I stood in the sunlight, surrounded by golden flowers. They made me think of Chara and of the time I had found her here all those years ago. Why couldn't anything go the way I wanted it to? Why couldn't anything go right?! Why?!
I screamed and cried to the air. I begged Chara to return to me. I called for anyone to help me. But nobody came.
"I promised that I would trust you, Chara. No matter what."
A strange thought came to me. I worked so hard trying to make everyone happy. And it never came to any good. I was always rewarded with evil. I let those humans live. They killed me. I tried to break the barrier. Asgore rebuffed me. I tried to be everyone's friends. They ignored me.
Why hadn't I trusted Chara all those years ago? Why hadn't I just killed all those humans? Everyone would have been better off. None of this nightmare would have ever happened. My family would still be together, Chara would be with me forever, monsters would have been freed from the underground, none of this nightmare would have ever happened.
I was so tired of playing it nice. So tired of trying to be the hero. No one would listen to me anyway. All these people were just a bunch of stupid idiots. Asgore, Toriel, Alphys, Undyne, Sans, Papyrus. Every monster. They were all so stupid. Why should I bother being nice to them? Why should I bother trying to solve their problems? They were the ones who got themselves in this mess anyway.
I hated them. I hated them all. I didn't care anymore.
In a flood of anger, I reset.