"Come on, Chara! Let's go! We'll be late for dinner!"

"..."

"Chara? What's wrong? What are you doing all the way out here by yourself?"

"It's nothing, Asriel."

Melancholy continued to fill me as my vision returned. Golden light filled my eyes, confirming that I was back in the throne room. I sighed. Part of the problem with resetting was that I always had to figure out what I was going to do next. It was so easy to say things like, "I'll be the hero everyone wants," and an entirely different story trying to come up with a plan for how to actually accomplish said goal.

The nice thing about being in the peaceful garden of the throne room was that it made for a great location to stop and think. Certainly a better place than the dark lab filled with the dust of my father. I shuddered. It served as a reminder of what I was trying to avoid this time around.

I was going to do it this time. I would solve everyone's problems. I just had to come up with a proper plan. When I had tried to be friends with people before, I had started with Undyne and had showed up at her house unannounced and without any idea what I was going to say. That went on my list of bad ideas. I also wasn't sure how keen I was on the idea of trying to become friends with everyone. Solve all their problems, maybe, but befriending them? That wasn't likely, especially with how difficult it was for me to care about anyone else with my being soulless and all.

I winced at that thought. There was still a nagging curiosity in the back of my head that wanted to see what would happen if I slaughtered the whole lot of them. I forcefully shoved that side of me back to the dark corner where it belonged. I wouldn't kill people. Not this time. Not ever.

I could always hang out with Papyrus again, but that would have to wait until after he and Undyne were done trashing that poor kitchen. Besides, I wasn't entirely sure how to get the idiotic skeleton some friends yet. I didn't know the cure for stupid. Plus I wanted to avoid his brother. Maybe I would come back to that issue at a later point in time.

Running a list of all the monsters I currently knew through my head landed me with a lot of dead-ends. Asgore needed his family back, but I'd already failed at that particular problem, so I'd have to post-pone that one. Toriel had the exact same problem. She could always fix it by coming back, but she was far too stubborn to do that.

Doctor Alphys... was Alphys. She really needed to tell people the truth about what she'd done, but that might get her killed. Again. But not by me this time. So I could see why she was being on the cowardly side, but until she started telling people what happened, she would just be content to lock herself up in her lab for the rest of eternity. I could probably figure out what to do with her if I got to know her a little better, maybe watch her for a while, but I couldn't shake the memory of what it was like to kill her. For that reason alone, I didn't want to go straight to her lab and make amends just yet.

I really wanted to get on Undyne's good side, but the fact of the matter was that I didn't know her well enough yet to figure out what she needed. I didn't fancy the idea of stalking her underneath the ground until a plan suddenly popped into my head, either, but that might be what I had to do. Whatever I decided, it would have to wait until she wasn't with Papyrus. I needed to catch her sometime when she was outside of her house so that way I wouldn't be barging in on her like I had before.

And that pretty much summed up all the monsters I actually knew. I mean, Papyrus had introduced me to people around Snowdin, but knowing their names is different from knowing them. Besides, everyone had already forgotten who I was due to the reset. And then there were those guards that had brought me to the castle that one time, but... Eh... There was also that stupid river person, but that monster was a literal mystery in every way. What I really needed to do was to go out and talk to people, introduce myself to them, get to know them, that kind of thing.

The best place to do that would probably be that Hotel apartment building thing I had seen before. That place was loaded with monsters bustling around and I could always claim to be from Waterfall or Snowdin if anyone asked. I pulled myself underground and began making my way towards my new plan of attack, but I stopped briefly when I reached New Home.

Asgore was there. He was putting away his watering can, having just finished going through the house watering the many pots of golden flowers. I wasn't sure why I stopped to watch him. I had better things to do. But there was something about seeing a man you had just killed walking about, peacefully minding his own business as though nothing had happened. And for him, it really hadn't happened. As far as he knew, today was just another normal, nice day.

I shook myself from my reverie and moved on to my destination. There really wasn't any point in spending more time with that useless man. He'd be there when I got back, doing the same sort of pointless chores around the house like he always did. Well. Like he did when I wasn't going around attacking people.

When I finally got to the Hotel, I suddenly found myself at a loss for how to proceed. My plan kind of ended with "go to the hotel and meet people." It didn't include how to go about making that happen. Should I just pop up and introduce myself to random people? Yeah, like that wasn't incredibly awkward. Meeting new people and getting to know them used to be easy before I was a flower, but I wasn't sure how much of that was because I was the prince so most people knew who I was anyway. Now I was a soulless nobody who had to force myself to talk to people most of the time.

I found a monster who was hanging out in a corner sipping something from a large Styrofoam cup that looked like it had been doused in glitter. The monster was one of those weird polygon monsters made from what appeared to be large multi-colored geometric shapes fused together. I surfaced a few feet away from him and cleared my throat softly to get his attention.

"Excuse me," I squeaked, "I'm new around here. Um. What is this place?" My unsure, high-pitched voice sounded pathetic in my ears. Ugh. The monster looked down at me with star-shaped eyes, taking a long drink from their cup.

"Oh! Hello there, Mr. Flower! I didn't see you there! So you're new, huh? I'm surprised you haven't heard of the great MTT resort before! It's the best place in the Capital! Where have you been living? Under a rock?" I gave him a flat expression.

"We all live under a rock," I intoned.

"Oh, yes, quite right. What a tragedy. I flat out forgot. This place is so great that it makes all your problems seem to go away!" I raised an eyebrow. Sure. "It used to be an apartment building, but since Mettaton showed up, he's transformed this place into the paradise hall you see before you!" More like nightmare hall. "If you wish to make a reservation, you'll want to talk to that lady over there." He gestured over to a counter where a giant hand monster tapped her fingers impatiently on the surface in front of her.

I sighed. Right. Well. That didn't really help me at all. I didn't want to make a reservation. This place had been so much better when it was just an apartment building. I moved away from the unhelpful monster, only realizing after I was below the surface that I had forgotten to thank the guy for the information, or even acknowledge him at all before I left. Whoops.

Although remaining underground wasn't the most comfortable position to be in, I liked being able to watch people without them knowing I was there. I considered taking the place of one of the potted plants in the corner and watching people from there, but it was really hard to hear conversations from across the room. However, the more time I spent following monsters around, the more I realized that this was a huge waste in time. The only thing interesting that monsters continually talked about was some new TV star named Mettaton. Judging by the multiple posters plastered on the walls, Mettaton was apparently the weird robot box thing displayed there.

There was one monster who was trying to mop the floor but was continually leaving behind a trail of ooze everywhere he went. He was amusing to watch as he mopped himself in little circles. I shook my head at the horrible stupidity.

I was getting ready to leave the hotel and give up on the entire monster race when the front door slammed open. All the employees in the area instantly snapped to attention as the robot movie star Mettaton rolled in. For being so famous, he was certainly very ugly and clunky. I gave him a befuddled look, though no one could see me while I was still underground. If what people were saying held true, then this guy had the ability to change things around here. As much as I hated the idea, I would probably need to get to know the guy if I wanted to make any decent impact on this place.

"Hello, darlings!" he sang, waving his arms dramatically in the air. "Today I have envisioned a fantabulous new look for the southern wall of this glorious lobby." All eyes turned towards the entrance to the hotel. The wall was mostly blank, but compared to the decorations littering all the other walls, the fact that there was nothing on it was a sweet relief. Apparently Mettaton did not agree.

"Oh yes," the metal box continued, "the perfect thing to complete this wall? Why. What better thing to suit the front entrance than my glamorous self? Yes. I demand it. I want an artist in here immediately to paint a magnificent mural of me up there. It must be done! I shall provide this room with the most beautiful thing imaginable!" He posed in front of the doorway, as if trying to spread his self-centered delusions to the rest of the monsters.

To my great surprise, it seemed to actually work. A few of the employees immediately whipped out cell phones and started frantically making calls. I caught a glimpse of one cat girl swooning near the door. Wow. Had monsters always been this stupid and gullible? Why couldn't I get people to follow me like this giant rectangle could? Time to learn all his secrets.

I popped up beside him casually. "Howdy!" I said in a bright, cheery tone. "You're Mettaton, right?" The robot didn't even look at me before turning away.

"All fans should meet with my manager before getting my autograph," he muttered dismissively. I scowled before planting myself directly in his path.

"Hey, buddy. I'm talking to you. I don't want your stupid autograph or any kind of crap like that. I have a proposition for you." He stopped dead in his tracks, looking miffed. I heard surprised whispers come from some of the other folks in the lobby.

"A proposition, you say?" He planted a fist on the side of his metal box where his waist should be, looming over me dangerously. "Let me guess. You want to be my co-star, don't you?" I took a deep breath, glad that he was finally focused on me. Then, abruptly, his attitude changed and he held up his hands in imitation of a gasp, the lights of his face twinkling between colors.

"Oh! My goodness! Of course! You're a talking flower! How could I have missed such an obvious fact? I have never seen something so unique! Yes! You are precisely what the fans need!" He posed dramatically, resting one hand on his breast while the other flourished in the air. "Now introducing... Mettaton and his newest side-kick, Floria the Fantastic Flower!"

What. What in the world was he on about?

He spun to my side, resting an arm around me, pulling me to him. "Imagine it, darling! It would be the perfect addition to my otherwise splendid performance! You and me! There would be adventure! Romance! Drama! Everything a good story needs! I positively need you for my show!"

"Uhhh..." I muttered, unsure of how to respond. We were drawing a crowd and it was making me nervous.

"Not," he said with a sudden tone shift, shoving heavily on the back of my head so my face nearly kissed the floor. I caught myself in time and blinked, looking up at the robot. He leaned in close, but spoke loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"Listen, darling, I'm a one-man show. I am and always will be the only star the Underground needs. Whatever proposition you have, I don't need it. Now I run a very tight schedule and you are in my way. Run along, please." He turned to leave with a terse wave. "Do speak with my manager if you need anything. I'm sure they'll file your comments away along with the hundreds of others I get from nobodies like you all the time." I glared at the back of his head. What a jerk! Why in the world did anyone like this guy?!

I watched him wheel into the kitchen area and heard him exclaim in horror, followed by what sounded like someone whimpering. Clearly, I was not the only monster to suffer at his hands. I ground my teeth, unnerved that a guy like that could hold so much sway over all the other monsters in the Underground.

Some of the people in the room laughed to themselves, talking in low whispers about how some moron had tried to speak to Mettaton. Pretty soon, they all returned to what they had been doing. Obviously they were used to such things happening around the movie star. I glowered at them.

It would probably be a service to everyone if I eliminated the narcissistic rectangle. With his demanding attitude and impossibly stupid visions for the world, he was a one-way ticket to disaster. I was a little bit surprised that I had never really heard of him before, considering all the damage he seemed to be doing. And now that I did know about him, I wanted him gone. Unfortunately, I had already sworn not to kill anyone this time around. I grit my teeth in frustration. He was very suddenly at the top of my list and I was extremely tempted to go back on my promise. No one knew about that promise but me, right? Would it really hurt that bad to kill one person?

I shook my head. No. I couldn't kill him. Not yet. Maybe another time. But not now. I had already decided that at the beginning of this reset. Although, technically what I had said was that I would solve everyone's problems this time around, and killing the robot would certainly solve a lot of those... I shoved the thought away. No killing. Not this time, anyway.

This reset was certainly proving to be the most difficult for me. I had no good plan and had a whole lot of dead-ends and limitations. I hated it. But for whatever reason, the challenge of it all fueled my determination, pushing me forward. I was going to succeed at this. No matter what. I would fulfill every monster's hopes and dreams, and I would do so without harming a single soul.

"Whatever it is that's bothering you, you can go ahead and tell me about it. I'm your best friend, remember?"

"I don't think you'd understand, Asriel. You're too innocent and nice."

Enough time had passed that I wanted to check and see if Undyne and Papyrus were done with their 'cooking lesson' yet. And even if they weren't, watching them was bound to be more amusing than trying to learn anything about the idiots up at the Capital. I decided to give the River Person a miss today. Who knew what that unpredictable monster would do this time. So instead, I went the long way to Waterfall.

I was just in time to catch sight of Papyrus strolling away from Undyne's house. He was practically beaming while he carried away a large plate of spaghetti. Thankfully, Undyne had followed him outside and was shouting farewells to him. I waited until Papyrus leaped across a lengthy gap of water and was long out of earshot before surfacing next to Undyne.

"Hiya!" I chirped. She blinked, looking around for the source of the noise. Finally she caught sight of me by her feet and looked down to meet my gaze.

"Uh... Hi there, little guy! What can I do for you?" For the first time ever since I knew the fish lady, she actually seemed happy to see me. A wide smile split her face, displaying her sharply pointed teeth. It was a pleasant surprise.

"Hi. Um. I'm new around here, and I don't really know many people, so I was hoping to introduce myself!" I hesitated a second. "You're Undyne, right?"

She smirked and eased into a casual stance, resting one hand on her hip. "Yup! The one and only! Welcome to Waterfall!" I found that I was also relaxing. Now that she wasn't a blaze of anger, she was actually pretty easy to talk to.

"Cool! I've heard a lot about you! Do you think you could show me around a little?"

"Heh. Sure! You've come to the right person! Nobody knows their way around Waterfall like I do!" She moved past me towards the rest of Waterfall and gestured with one arm. "Right this way!"

I grinned to myself and dove into the ground so I could follow her, resurfacing anytime she stopped to explain anything. This way I would hopefully accomplish two things at once: getting to know Undyne and getting to know Waterfall. It was perfect.

Undyne was showing me the snail farm her neighbors ran when she paused, glancing down at me. "Say, what's your name, anyway?"

"Uh..." I was back to this conundrum again. As much as I hated it, I still hadn't managed to come up with anything better than the name Sans had given me all those time-lines ago. I was getting kind of used to the name anyway. Oh well. "I'm Flowey," I said with a grimace. "Flowey the flower."

"Ha! Sounds like something Papyrus would come up with!" She laughed to herself before catching herself. "Er, not like that's a bad thing. Flowey's a perfect name for a flower. Anyway, let me introduce you to Napstablook. He's the one who runs this farm now that his parents and cousin are gone." She reached down and grabbed a hold of me by the stem, yanking me from the ground. I cried out in surprise, flailing in the air. Undyne glanced down at me, realizing what she'd done.

"Oh. Uh. Whoops. Sorry. Guess I should have warned you first. Thought you might like a lift." I glared at her. "How do you move, anyway? You don't have any feet."

"I can move underground," I stated with a flat look. "It's magic."

"Ah. Well then. How about I carry you? That way I can see you and so I don't lose you." I sighed before consenting. I really hated being carried around, but if it made her happy, then whatever. I could deal with it. I just hoped that she didn't accidentally crush me or something like that. I had to remind myself that she had proven to be stronger than Asgore.

She moved on, knocking on the door of one of the houses on the farm. "Napstablook! Are you home? Hello!" After a moment, a white, incorporeal figure phased through the door. I blinked in surprise. It was a ghost! Those were rare.

"Oh... Um... Hi Undyne... Did you need me for something?" He spoke very softly, looking like he was ready to shy back and retreat to the safety of his home any second.

"Yeah, I wanted you to meet someone! This here's Flowey!"

"Hi there," I said with a small wave of a leaf.

The ghost looked at me with a surprised expression. "Oh... Hello... I'm sorry... I didn't see you there... Oh... You must feel bad... Oh..." He shrunk down a little.

"No, no! It's OK! I'm small, so I'm used to it!" I frantically tried to reassure the ghost. What was his problem? Geez.

"Oh... I didn't know there were Flower Monsters... I guess it makes sense considering how many types of monsters there are... Um... Oh no... I hope I didn't say anything offensive... I've just never heard of anything like you before..."

I gave him a wry smile, trying to not lose my patience. "I'm one of a kind," I stated. Undyne gave me a shocked look.

"Really?! Dude, that totally rocks!" I winced. If only she knew how much it really, really didn't.

"Anyway, it's nice to meet you, um..." I hesitated at his name, trying to remember how to pronounce it. "Nabs-a-book," I attempted.

"Close enough!" Undyne exclaimed with a smirk. The ghost shuffled uncomfortably for a moment.

"Well," he said softly, "You're welcome to come in... if you want to... But if not... that's ok, too..." I gave an awkward grin. I didn't particularly want to spend too much time with this guy, but I also had to keep in mind that I was supposed to be befriending these people. I was a little indecisive about whether I actually wanted to accept his offer or not. It seemed like a huge waste of time to me, but so far everything I had accomplished thus far this reset had proven to be a huge waste of time.

Thankfully, Undyne came to the rescue and made a decision for me. "Nah," she said off-handedly. "Sorry, Blook. Not this time. I told Flowey here that I'd give him the Waterfall Grand Tour. You wanna come?" She tried to give Napstablook a reassuring look.

"Oh... Um... No, that's ok... I'd just get in your way... I don't want to be a nuisance... You guys have fun... I'll be here if you need me... Or if... you don't..." He shyly retreated through the door. Well that was awkward. Undyne gave me a huge grin.

"Anyway, that's Nabstablook! He's a pretty cool guy once you get to know him. Punk could use a little more self-confidence if you ask me, but hey. To each his own." She turned and marched away from the little farm. The rest of the journey through Waterfall was fairly uneventful. There wasn't a whole lot in the place. Just a bunch of fields of echo flowers, swampy marshes, and tight, dark corridors. Undyne kept up a nice, friendly chatter about which places were her favorite spots and what she liked to do.

As far as getting to know the fish monster went, I found that she wasn't quite as high-strung as I had originally assumed her to be. I must have simply caught her at bad times before, times when she was angry. She did seem to like beating things up, though. The more I listened to her stories, the more I was fairly certain that she picked fights just for the fun of it and not actually because she had any hateful vengeance or anything like that.

Despite Undyne's tour of the place, I was still pretty lost about where anything was in Waterfall. There were too many twists and turns at random intervals and most of it was too dark to see, anyway. One thing could be said for the flooded caverns, though, they certainly were beautiful in their own way. With the luminescent crystals reflecting on the misty water, it created a surreal sort of look. Something that I never really noticed while traveling underground.

At last, we finally made it to the room with a giant neon sign indicating that we were entering Hotland. "And we have reached the end!" Undyne proclaimed, coming to a stop. She grinned down at me. "Did that help you a little? Think you can make your way around Waterfall now?" I gave her my biggest smile in return.

"Nope!" I said honestly. Not that I really wanted to. Waterfall wasn't my favorite place to be. It was too dark and moody. Undyne laughed.

"Well, you better get used to it, punk! I ain't showing it to you again!" She hefted me a little. She looked like she wanted to try punching me in the arm, but stopped herself when she remembered that I was a flower and couldn't take such punishment. I gave a little sigh of relief.

"So, I guess this is where we part ways, huh?" I asked, a little hesitantly. I still couldn't move so long as she was holding me, and I was really quite ready to be put down and left alone with my thoughts for a while.

Undyne suddenly straightened, looking like an idea had struck her in the face. "Hang on a second!" she cried, "I should introduce you to Dr. Alphys! We're most of the way there, anyway. Yeah! Dr. Alphys has some really cool stuff around her lab! If you want, we can watch some of the human history stuff she has!"

"Uhhhh..." Oh crap.

"You want to meet new people, right? Come on!"

"Wait! No, no!" I tried to frantically protest, wriggling in her grasp. I really did not want to see Dr. Alphys just yet. Undyne gave me a puzzled expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I, uh..." Time to bluff. "I don't like Hotland." Abruptly, she burst out laughing.

"Me neither! Hotland sucks! But don't you worry! It's a quick trip to her lab from here, and if I run, we'll be through it in no time! You can time me if you want!" She stretched her legs in anticipation. "Ready?" she asked.

"No!" I complained. It was too late. Undyne totally disregarded my wail of distress as she took off running down the corridor. I was helpless to do anything and the world became a blur as I was jostled back and forth from the motion of her running. I vaguely made out the sudden lighting shift as we entered Hotland, and the wave of heat smacked into us when we ran through.

Finally, Undyne stopped and my vision slowly stopped spinning, aligning into the sight of Alphys's lab climbing into the sky. "Ta-da!" Undyne whooped.

"I think I'm going to be sick," I muttered, feeling woozy. Undyne only laughed at my misfortune.

"Well, if you do throw up, try to do it over the edge. Vomit looks really sweet when it hits the lava and goes up in flames!" She knocked on the door of Alphys's lab, ignoring the scowl I gave her. "Alphys!" she called, a huge smile on her face.

No response came from the door. My head was still reeling, so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to Undyne as she nearly busted the door down with her knocking. Eventually, she whipped out her cell phone, muttering under her breath about calling the other monster. My headache was starting to dissipate as Undyne tried calling Alphys for a third time in a row, and suddenly a thought struck me.

More probable than not, Alphys was hiding somewhere, presumably in the other lab under her house where she did most of her higher-end experiments. If I got Undyne to see what Alphys had done down there, maybe Alphys would finally fess up to her crimes. That was on my list for things to do for Alphys anyway. Perhaps now was as good a time as any to follow through on that.

"Hey, Undyne," I piped up. The fish woman looked up from her phone, blinking at me. "If you want to, I can get into her lab. My magic lets me go through solid floors. I could go under the door and let you in."

"What?!" Undyne seemed more than a little perplexed and disturbed by this concept. "We can't just bust in unannounced like that! What kind of a person do you take me for?"

I sighed. "Look, you're worried about her, right?"

Undyne glanced away, biting her lower lip. "Yeah, but... Look, I'm sure she's fine. She's probably at the Capital or something. Though, she normally doesn't leave her lab except to go to the garbage dump, and we were just over there and I didn't see her." I pondered how to phrase my next sentence.

"What if she had an accident or something? Or she's feeling really down and needs a friend? Wouldn't you want to be by her side to help her?" Undyne grit her teeth, taking a slow, deep breath.

"Alright, fine. But if she asks, I'm blaming you!" I grinned. Finally. Undyne set me down on the ground and I immediately went under the door. All the lights were on inside the lab, but Alphys was nowhere to be seen. I stared up at the panel to open the door, perplexed as to how to reach it for a moment. Then, on a whim, I unearthed one of my roots and magicked it into a vine and it strangely complied. I had no idea I could do that. With the extended reach, I managed to hit the button and the door slid open to allow Undyne in.

She entered hesitantly, obviously uncomfortable with breaking in and entering her friend's house. Undyne scowled for a moment. "Look, she's not even here. She's probably out doing something. Which is good for her! She needs to get out more often anyway!" I hesitated.

"I'm not so sure about that, the lights were all on when I came in," I said. "Look, see? There's an elevator behind this door over here. I saw it when I was underneath the floor."

"What? Alphys said that's her bathroom." I raised an eyebrow.

"What's a bathroom?"

"I dunno. A room where you go to take a bath? Alphys told me it's something that humans have in all their houses. I never bothered to ask further." She scratched her head for a moment. "You say there's an elevator, huh? Hrm." She still seemed incredibly bothered about trespassing. I flashed her a reassuring smile.

"Well, I'm curious," I lied. "And who knows, maybe she really needs us. Come on, let's go find out where it leads!" Undyne chuckled.

"Alright, fine. Honestly, I'm curious, too. And Alphys is a great person. I doubt she'd ever have any dark horrible secrets no one should know." I smirked. You wanna bet?

Undyne lifted me into the air again, walking over to the panel and opening the door. Sure enough, it opened into an elevator. She huffed to herself, obviously a little surprised to see that I had been telling the truth, before walking inside. She punched a button labeled "true lab" and the room shifted, making its way down below.

When the door opened, we walked out into the hallway of the older lab. Undyne peered around curiously. The lights were on, which helped affirm in my mind that this was where Alphys was hiding. The lab was a bit of a maze, traversing through unmarked halls with several side rooms lining them at seemingly random intervals. Thankfully, the lights were only on in certain hallways, denoting where Alphys had been. "Hello?" Undyne called. "Alphys? You in here?"

Movement caught my eye and I glanced towards a window set in one of the doors. A disfigured face leered back at me. I squeaked a little, not expecting to see anyone else down here. What the heck?! Undyne turned to see what had made me jump, stopping dead in her tracks. The face in the door looked surprised, then retreated into the dark room beyond. Undyne stared after it, mouth agape.

"Alphys? Please tell me you have nothing to do with this place..." Undyne was clearly unnerved, which was odd coming from someone who was probably one of the scariest monsters in the Underground. She nervously made her way forward, passing by rows of doors. I spotted a few more faces behind some of them. They looked... melted.

I grimaced. Was this what Alphys had meant by the monsters melting? I had imagined them turning into puddles of ooze. She didn't tell me they were still alive! I shuddered. I was a little surprised I hadn't seen any of these things the last time I was down here with Alphys. She must have avoided them on purpose. I didn't blame her.

We eventually came across a room where the lights were turned on and the door was wide open. Undyne poked her head in before slipping inside. The room was much bigger than some of the rooms we had passed, and the whole place was filled with beds. At the far end of the room, Dr. Alphys was pouring a bag of dog food into a dog bowl. Her back was turned to us. There was another melted monster conglomerate eagerly waiting for her to finish. It seemed to be vaguely dog-shaped which would explain the need for dog food.

Undyne stared in absolute horror, petrified with disbelief at what she was seeing. "A-alphys?" she asked nervously. Alphys jumped, knocking aside the bowl she was pouring stuff into and food scattered everywhere across the floor. The dog thing jumped in glee, chasing after a bit of kibble that had rolled under one of the beds. The doctor whirled around to face us, guilt written all over her face.

"U-U-U-Undyne?!" She stuttered, seeing who it was that had discovered her lab. Alphys looked terrified. She unconsciously scooped at some of the dog food with one foot, pulling it into a small pile at her feet.

"Alphys..." Undyne whispered. Then her mouth jerked up into a befuddled sneer. "What the hell is this?!" she demanded. Alphys cowered.

"I-I-I I'm sorry! Please don't judge me! I was going t-to t-tell you, b-but... Ahhh... I was just doing some- uhhh- e-experiments for the k-king and this sort of happened to all the monsters I was w-working with, and I didn't know how to tell anyone and I'm so sorry I didn't know this was going to happen please don't hurt me!" Her words were getting more and more fast-paced as she panicked, ducking beneath her paws in anticipation of a physical blow.

Undyne just stood in place, her eyebrows lifted in concern. Slowly, she approached the yellow lizard, hand outstretched. "It's ok, Alphys. Shhhhh. It's ok. Just tell me what happened. Tell me slowly, all right? I'm your friend and I'm not going to hurt you. You can tell me the truth. You don't have to hide anything from me." Alphys looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"I'm such a h-horrible person!" she wailed. "H-h-how could I ever tell anyone else about what I'd done to these people! I was just trying to do what Asgore wanted me to! I w-was just trying to figure out if we could harness m-monster souls and break the barrier that way! I never wanted to hurt anyone! But look at them! A-a-and now you know. I n-never wanted any of this."

She covered her eyes with her claws, sitting on the floor with disregard to the dog food pooled around her. The dog amalgamate spotted her sitting and bounded over, wagging its tail that flecked goop off the end. Alphys put her arms around the creature in an attempt to find comfort in something, sinking into its shapeless mass. The dog thing drooled all over her. She continued to apologize, but her words were muffled beyond recognition since she had her face buried in the dog's form.

"Alphys, it's ok." Undyne rested a hand on her friend's head, trying to rouse her from her mourning. "Come on! So you made a mistake! So what?! Doesn't mean you have to hide forever. Now get up from the floor! I don't care if you somehow managed to turn some monsters into goo. If I know you, I bet you can find a way to fix it! But you won't get anywhere unless you get up and try!"

Alphys pulled away from the dog enough that she could speak properly. "I HAVE tried," she moaned. "B-b-but I'm just a f-f-failure! Nothing I do ever works! Ever!" She rested her head against the dog, staring at the floor in defeat. "What's the point in trying if all I end up doing is wrecking everything? I shouldn't be Royal Scientist. I'm not smart or cool. Everything you think you know about me is a lie. I-I've lied to you about so many things. L-l-like... seagrass isn't important. I just use it to make ice cream. A-a-and anime isn't real, I just told you it was human history so you wouldn't think I was watching stupid kid cartoons."

Undyne's face abruptly twisted up in horror and shock again. "It's... Not...?" She caught herself, normalizing her expression again. "I mean. Uhhhhh. None of that matters, Alphys! What matters is that you're passionate! You're analytical! And that's what really counts in the end! You have to keep trying, because no matter what, I believe that you can do anything you set your mind out to do!" She yanked the smaller monster to her feet, ignoring Alphys's cry of dismay.

"U-undyne, I-" she stopped herself, suddenly noticing me for the first time, gripped in Undyne's fist. "U-um. Did you bring me a flower or something? What-" I scowled at her.

"Oh! This is Flowey! That's actually why I went looking for you. I wanted you to meet him, but when you weren't upstairs, I got kinda worried. Erm. Not that I have anything to be worried about! Uh..." She trailed off, suddenly looking embarrassed. Alphys didn't seem to notice, eyes locked on me.

"I-it's alive? I mean. Uh. B-but that's one of Asgore's... Oh no."

"Howdy, Alphys. Nice to meet you," I said dryly.

"Y-y-you wouldn't happen to be... the flower I was doing experiments on, are you?"

"What?!" Undyne asked, looking surprised. I grimaced.

"Yup. The flower you filled with determination. That's me." Undyne's head swiveled as she looked between me and the lizard, obviously confused. Alphys leapt into motion, reaching for me. I pulled away as much as I could, but I could only retreat so far in Undyne's hand. Alphys noted my movement and withdrew her claw. She looked concerned.

"I-i-it worked?" she asked softly. "You mean... you're alive? I wanted to know what something that wasn't living would do when given the will to live, but I wasn't expecting..." She gestured to me, waving her hand up and down. "This," she finished.

Undyne snapped out of her confusion, processing all of the new information. "Dude!" she exclaimed. "You mean that you made Flowey?! Oh man! It's like Mettaton all over again! That is so awesome!" She held me up to her face and examined me closely. I grumbled at the scrutiny.

"U-um. Nice to, er, meet you, Flowey?" Alphys was looking nervous again, but that was a usual look for her. "You arent... Uh... Feeling like you're going to melt, are you?"

I glanced down at the dog amalgamate that was wagging its tail anxiously, hoping for affection. "You mean like him?" I asked. "I sure hope not. Anyway, now I met you, and Undyne knows the truth about you. Guess, I should, um, get going. I'm sure Undyne has lots of questions for you." I really wished Undyne would put me down. I didn't want to be the center of this conversation any longer.

Much to my dismay, Undyne suddenly held me aloft. "Look, see? Not everything you've done is a failure! You brought a flower to life! How cool is that?!" She shook me for emphasis. I let out a disgruntled moan at the sudden abuse.

"S-so it would seem?" Alphys said, clasping her hands and wringing them nervously.

"You can put me down now," I whined. Undyne grinned at me.

"Whoops," she said. She did not, however, put me down. Instead, she handed me over to Alphys. "Here, since he's your creation, you can look over him and stuff." I gnashed my teeth, but otherwise suffered in silence. I really had no good reason for not allowing myself to be examined by the doctor, other than the fact that I had already gone through said examination at least three times now, but I wasn't about to tell them that.

Alphys gave me a good look-over. "You seem to be fine," she mused. "You're, um, not as physical as I would expect, being a flower and all." I raised an eyebrow at her. "I-I mean, you're not just a flower! It looks like you've somehow gotten some monster-like traits as well. I wonder where those came from..." She pondered this for a moment. "I should really test you with some of the equipment I have down here, just to be sure."

"Can I help?" Undyne asked excitedly. Alphys smiled at her.

"S-sure! Just, uh, try not to break anything."

The rest of the time spent in the lab was fairly similar to when I had gotten examined by Alphys before, only Undyne would occasionally distract the doctor from her work while playing with some of the tools strewn about the lab. The more the two of them worked together, though, the more relaxed Alphys became. She actually seemed fairly happy to have the fish monster down with her and was more open in rattling out her theories for how souls worked and why she had been experimenting with them in the first place. Once she had gotten over her initial fear of Undyne learning the truth about what happened, Alphys seemed relieved to finally have someone to talk to about everything that had occurred down here.

I wasn't a big fan of being experimented on, but I couldn't help but feel a spike of triumph rush through me. Finally! I had done it! Somehow, I had finally solved Alphys's problems. And strangely, it seemed as though I had helped out Undyne as well. As I observed them, it became increasingly obvious that the two of them liked each other. It was a very odd match. And considering how opposite they were from each other, I was willing to bet that any relationship that might stem between the two of them would likely fail miserably. But that just meant that they were more entertaining to watch.

Honestly, I would have thought that a relationship between Undyne and Papyrus would have been more likely, not to mention more successful, but I couldn't control how other people felt for each other. And a little part of me almost hoped that Alphys and Undyne would prove me wrong.

Mostly, though, I found myself becoming bored as Alphys crunched numbers and theorized what they meant. Undyne listened intently, but obviously did not understand a word the lizard spoke. I sat up on the table, watching while Alphys rambled on about something or another for a while. Finally, I grew impatient.

"Can I go now?" I interrupted. Alphys jumped a little, suddenly realizing that she had been rambling again. She glanced between me and her notes for a moment.

"Uh. Well... I guess if you want to... I mean. I would like to watch your progress, but... Um... If you're uncomfortable, then that's no good. A-and I'm done running most of my tests on you, and you seem to be doing fine. So. Um. Sure. Ok."

Finally! Freedom! I gave her and Undyne a huge grin, pushing myself off the table to land on the floor. Once there, I plunged below the surface and ran away, happy to be gone. That was two monsters off my checklist of people to help. Finally, I was getting somewhere.

"Too nice?! What's that supposed to mean?! C'mon, Chara. I can take it. Tell me what's going on."

"... Asriel... Humans are not good people. They're evil, Asriel. They tear down everything they come across, using the world for their own personal gain... I hate them. That's why I left, you know."

I found myself back in the little village of Snowdin. After being examined by the doctor again, I wanted to blend into the background for a while. I also wanted something to do, so I made my way to the library in the center of the town. My mother had always been adamant that I become well-versed in literature and reading. I was curious to see what kind of books they had here.

I quickly discovered that the library was an absolute mess. Some moron had sorted the books by size and color rather than by topic or author, so it was nearly impossible to scan the books and look for something that caught my eye. They hadn't bothered to differentiate between fiction and non-fiction either. Heck, there were even children's books tucked away among quantum physics books. Sure, the shelves looked nice, but their organization system needed some serious work.

With a frown, I determined that the best way to go through this place was to start from one end and read my way down to the last book. Maybe I'd find something interesting. Or maybe I'd be bored out of my mind. Who knew. But I had all the time in the world, and I needed something to keep my mind off of the insanity of the other monsters around me.

After asking for assistance for getting the book down, I sat in a corner and started reading, resting the book down in front of me on the floor. A few monsters commented that they had never seen me before, so I introduced myself politely before I was left in peace. I lost track of time while reading, but I finally finished the book.

It was actually pretty informative, talking about a brief history of monsters. I was a little surprised to find my own name written there, as well as the story of my death. The author obviously had no clue what had really transpired, and only theorized on the topic before moving on to the events following. It was the part that covered the time gap between my death and rebirth that I was most interested in, and they did a good job talking about the six humans that had passed through the Underground before meeting their deaths at the hands of Asgore.

I asked the librarian to hand me the next book and had started in on it when Papyrus walked in the door. He greeted the monsters in the room before striking up a conversation with some of the ladies seated around the table. At first, I simply tried to tune out the conversation, but Papyrus's loud voice was nearly impossible to ignore. He was talking about some of his puzzle ideas that he had constructed out in the forest to stop any potential humans coming through the area. It seemed he changed the puzzles so each one was different every single day.

His audience was giving him polite smiles which only barely concealed their complete disinterest in what he had to say. I frowned to myself. Honestly, I had to admire Papyrus's work ethic. He may be a complete idiot, but that didn't mean he didn't work hard, and he seemed to really care about the things he did. I found myself becoming more and more annoyed with the monsters who were brushing the skeleton aside just because he didn't think the same way they did.

Papyrus seemed to notice me looking at him. "Oho!" he said with a huge grin. "A newcomer! I can see that you can't help but admire me! Which I don't blame you for. Truly, I am very great." He posed for a moment, looking smug. Then he jogged over to me and held out a gloved hand. "I'm Papyrus! What's your name, little flower guy?"

I took a deep breath reminding myself that as long as I kept resetting, I would have to endure every monster re-introducing themselves to me. "I'm Flowey," I said cheerily. I was getting better at saying my new name without a sarcastic drawl.

"Flowey, huh?! What a perfect name for a flower!" Then he paused, scratching his head. "That's weird," he mused. "For some reason you almost seem familiar. Like I've met you before. But that's impossible! I've never even seen a talking flower before! I'm sure I would have remembered something like that! Nyeh heh!"

I chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Weird."

"Anyway, what brings you to this here Librarby?" I blinked at him.

"You mean library," I corrected, not sure if he was being serious with that weird pronunciation.

"Nope! Look at the sign outside! It clearly says that this is called the Librarby!" The librarian leaned on the counter, giving a heavy sigh.

"For the last time, Papyrus, the sign is spelled wrong!"

Papyrus only laughed. No doubt he knew that the sign was wrong and was only pointing it out to annoy the librarian. At least I hoped that was what he was doing. The skeleton was stupid enough that it was really hard to tell. I was just a little shocked that someone had misspelled the sign on the library of all places. It never ceased to amaze me just how brainless these monsters proved to be.

"I'm just visiting the area," I told Papyrus. I didn't expect to stay for very long. I had mostly come because of the library.

"Wowie!" Papyrus exclaimed. "It's not often we get visitors! It's... actually practically unheard of. But that just means that your visit is sure to be great! Feel free to visit us anytime!" I shot him a grin. Oh, I'd visit again. He just wouldn't remember that I'd already been here.

He pivoted to face the shelves of books. "Whoopsie Doopsie! I almost forgot what I came in here for!" He pulled a book down from one of the shelves, somehow knowing precisely where the book he wanted was. He stalked out of the room without saying anything more. That was rather abrupt. I returned to the book I was reading, content to not have to do anything.

The rest of my time was spent in much the same way. Mostly, it was pretty uneventful. I didn't even bother counting the days as they went by. Most monsters learned to recognize me and tolerate me, tuning out my existence now that I was a part of their every-day lives. One by one, I made my way through the books in the library. I visited Alphys and Undyne occasionally, but I quickly grew bored of listening to them. Alphys still had no idea what I was, and Undyne was perfectly happy tearing up Alphys's lab while playing with the halfway melted amalgamates.

Undyne managed to convince Alphys to tell the families of the other monsters what had happened. The monsters were saddened, but surprisingly understanding, especially when Alphys released the amalgamates back to their families. I had expected something more exciting to happen then, but the monsters accepted their disfigured relatives home with open arms.

I continued to get to know Papyrus better since he frequented the library surprisingly often. I spotted his annoying brother once or twice, but Sans didn't remember me, so I didn't mind running into him every now and again. Papyrus was perfectly happy to become my friend again, so I endured through his idiotic rambling for his sake. That seemed to be the best thing I could do for the skeleton. It also seemed to make his brother happy, which was fine by me.

Life continued forward, I finally read the last book in the library, and everyone seemed to be content. I should have felt happy, knowing that I was helping the other monsters in small subtle ways. Thanks to me, Papyrus had a friend. Thanks to me, Alphys had overcome her fears of telling the truth and was back to doing regular science research. I had solved so many problems and yet I remained unsatisfied.

In general, I found myself growing progressively more and more bored of everything. I was beginning to hate it. Nothing interesting happened. Nothing changed. It was infuriatingly drab. I spent a good month or so with the monsters, enduring through the mediocrity of everyday life. I woke up each morning trying to come up with a list of things to do, only to find that my list was growing pathetically short. How had I ever lived like this before? The simplicity was driving me mad.

As my interest in life waned, so did my determination. It was really hard to motivate myself to move forward when there didn't really seem to be anywhere to go. I didn't have any real goals other than to make monsters happy, but that was a vague enough goal that there was no way to know if I was even making any progress.

It took weeks before I finally decided that I could not continue like this. There was no stopping spot, no happy ending. Life just kept going forever and ever, on and on, and all the while I was rotting away without anything to keep me determined to press forward. Yes, I had somehow managed to make a few people happy. But what was the point of that? They didn't even realize that anything had happened.

In the hopes of finding something more interesting to do, I poured all of my determination into restarting the timeline. I needed to do something different. Anything different. Anything!