"Chara, you've never told me your story before. What happened? Why did you come to the underground?"
"... I was running away. I was so tired of dealing with all those people. Humans are selfish, horrible creatures, so I ran away."
I eased my eyes open, taking in the familiar golden flowers of the throne room. It had been a while since I had been here. I had nearly forgotten what it felt like, sitting in the sunlit room alone with my thoughts. But this time, all I felt was sadness. I had worked so hard last time, been so determined to give everyone the happiness they did not deserve, and I had accomplished it. Yet I was back here again.
Boredom. I had basically died of boredom. Well. That most certainly wouldn't happen again. I pondered my next course of action. With a new reset, everything was a clean slate. I could do anything I wanted, see what would happen. I started to grin. The world was my plaything. And I was more than ready to play.
As I thought about what I could do differently this time around, I affirmed something clearly in my mind. I could not create another happy ending. I could not live a normal, boring life. To do so was death, because without my determination pulling me forward, I would die. So what could I do differently?
Out of the dark recesses of my mind, a morbid thought surfaced. I could kill everyone. I knew what it was like to have everyone happy. It wasn't enough. What would happen if I did kill people? After all, the most interesting time-line I had lived thus far was the one where I had killed Alphys and Asgore. Maybe the deaths of every monster was truly what I needed. It would certainly prove to be much more interesting.
A part of me rejected the thought instantly, revolted that I would even consider that option. But what else could I do? Sit through yet another month of tiring nothingness? No. No, I was done being nice. Been there, done that. It was time to try something else. After all, it wasn't like I was permanently killing them. They would come back. No one would really be dead. So did that really make me a murderer?
I laughed to myself. This wasn't about me being angry. It wasn't about the sins of others or justice or any kind of crap like that. It was about satiating my boredom so I could keep my determination. It was wrong and I knew it, yet for some reason, that fueled my curiosity. The reason it would be interesting was because I knew that it would create such drastic results, something that wouldn't happen no matter what else I tried. And it would be a completely unknown thing for me. It would prove to be interesting indeed.
The strange part was that I didn't feel like I had gone crazy. Normally, when a monster lost all feelings and stooped so low that they began to slaughter one another, their minds were so far gone that they were impossible to reason with. But here I was, making the conscious decision to kill all of the monsters, including the ones I had befriended, and I was doing so with a level head and perfect logic. I wasn't sure which disturbed me more, the fact that I was going through with this or the fact that I found that I was perfectly ok with it.
It didn't really matter anyway.
I grinned down at the flowers around me. I would let them live for now. That was what had drawn Asgore's attention to me when I had killed Alphys before. I had basically sealed my fate when I had obliterated this poor garden. So long as no one thought to check up on Alphys or her security cameras, I would probably be just fine. That meant that Alphys would have to be my first victim again. So long as she was in her lab with those cameras, I had the potential of bringing the wrath of the entire Underground on me at once. If I eliminated her now, I could get away with knocking out the others and go virtually unnoticed for a time.
It was evil, dark, and horrible, but I found that I did not care. The world was my plaything. The people were my toys. And in the end, I would just reset and no one would remember a thing.
With that in mind, I plowed through the earth, intent on destroying Alphys again. The only person I really had to worry about potentially finding Alphys was Undyne, but the sea monster had been extremely reluctant to enter into Alphys's home uninvited. It was doubtful that I would need to worry too much about it, especially if I managed to lead Alphys down to the true lab first.
Dr. Alphys was back at her computer watching her cartoons. I think she called it anime? Whatever it was, the woman was obsessed with the stuff. I looked over her shoulder for a moment, but determined that it had a lot of ooey-gooey crap and all the people looked funny. I had seen humans, and they most certainly did not look like that. I looked around, trying to come up with a way to lure Alphys into the secret lab underneath.
Upstairs, I located a notebook and some neon pens. I pulled them down with my vines, then grabbed a dark red pen out of the lot, the least happy-cheery color there. It was extremely difficult to write wielding the writing utensil with my roots, but I didn't really have any other way of writing. I missed having hands. Because of my limited writing capacity, all I managed to scrawl in large letters was, "I know what you did." It seemed cryptic enough. Content with my work, I tore the page from its binding and pulled it with me to the front door of the lab.
Slipping the note under the door, I summoned my magic and rapped on the door with a large wave of energy pellets. It was the closest I could get to knocking, and though it wasn't particularly loud, the sound was certainly distinctive. Hopefully it was enough to catch Alphys's attention. I dove under the ground and watched Alphys push back from her desk, pausing the video she was watching with one claw.
"H-hello?" she asked. Her eyebrows were knotted in confusion. After a while of silence, she shrugged her shoulders and resumed her cartoon. I growled in frustration, returning to my spot outside the door and slamming it with more magic. Get over here, you slimy lizard! That finally got her attention enough that she got out of her chair and hesitantly tip-toed to the door.
When she spotted the note, she gasped. "N-no. Oh no. H-how could they know? Oh no. That's impossible, isn't it?" She was getting more and more panicked, bringing both claws up to tug on the back of her head. Her eyes darted around nervously as if searching for the source of the note. Or maybe a good place to hide. "I. I. I can't deal with this! What do I do?! I'm doomed!" She started laughing nervously. "Th-they're going to kill me for sure! I-I've ruined so many lives! This is it! I'm done! Asgore is sure to hate me, a-a-and I'll never be able to face Undyne again!"
She frantically ripped the note from the floor, crumpling it up and throwing it roughly into the trash, then began pacing the room. She was chattering to herself, coming up with all the other possible explanations for what the note was about, but she obviously did not believe any of the far-out scenarios she had come up with. Then she froze, taking deep, short breaths.
"That's it. There's n-no way I can ever show my face again. I screwed up. A-a-and there's nothing I can do. I'm ruined." The doctor looked defeated. She slumped visibly, then shuffled over to the door that led to the elevator, hitting the button despondently. She gave the room one final look-over before slipping inside. I wasted no time, plunging into the ground and following her down the elevator shaft. I was actually surprised at how effective that had been.
In the true lab, I watched as the doctor walked over to one of the amalgamates that was waiting for her. "Hey guys," she muttered. "L-looks like I've been found out." She patted the blobby thing on the head before slumping to the ground beside it. Then she started crying, apologizing to the creature over and over. It was pitiful.
I surfaced a few feet away from her, suddenly hesitant to kill her. She really did feel bad about what she had done. For some reason, that surprised me. "Hiya, Doc," I said softly. She looked up from her crying, rubbing at her eyes.
"Wh-what? Who's there?" Her eyes focused on me and she blinked. "A flower? Oh no. I-I've gone crazy, haven't I..." I chuckled.
"No, Alphys. I'm here, and I'm really talking to you. I'm the flower you filled with determination. Remember?"
Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to come up with a proper response. Then, she slouched further, staring at the floor. "Yet another thing I've messed up, huh?" She sighed and I could see more tears sliding down her face. "What do you want?"
I grinned. "I came here to kill you of course!" I expected her to jump up in surprise, to try to run away. Instead, she sat there, staring at the ground. I frowned. "Did'ja hear me? Have you gone brain dead? I just said I'm going to kill you."
She pulled her knees up to her chin, and she started crying harder. "J-just g-get it over with please," she stuttered. "I w-w-would have probably d-done it anyway, sooner or later. It's what I deserve... after all this..." I stared at her in shock. Well then! That made my job so much easier, didn't it? A grin split my face.
"You really are pathetic, aren'tcha?" I summoned forth a ring of the pellets. The amalgamate in the room shied back, unsure of what I was doing. "Die." I hit her at full force. She didn't even look at me or cry out in pain this time. She merely sat there, accepting her fate.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. Her form shimmered, then shattered into dust, spreading across the floor. I cackled. One monster down. Everyone else to go. The amalgamate shivered, then retreated down the hallway. I chased it with bullets, but the energy just soaked right into the blob's form without seeming to damage it at all. Oh well. These whelps could rot down here forever for all I cared.
I moved on to find my next victim.
"But Chara, you're not evil, and you're a human. You can't just assume that all humans are like that."
"... You're wrong, Asriel. I'm just like them. Everything I've done, I've done it for my sake and mine alone. All humans are like this. It's part of who I am. That's why I'm out here all alone. I'm scared, Asriel. Scared of who I am. Who I might become. What I might do."
Dust and soot drifted down from the sky. The poor volcano monster that had been parading around Alphys's lab hadn't even seen me when I hit him. I grinned. Strangely enough, the more monsters I killed, the stronger I felt. Two more monsters in Hotland went down similarly, beaten down while they had their backs turned. It was almost too easy. There was a certain thrill that came from killing. It was kind of like the feeling I got when Chara and I had purposely snuck out at night to pull pranks on some of the other monsters. It was the feeling of rebelling against the rules and getting away with it. This feeling could very easily become addicting.
I found the royal guards who had picked me up in Hotland that one time. I couldn't remember their names. It didn't matter anyway. I surfaced in front of the pair, making sure that they saw me before I killed them. "Whoa, dude! There's, like, totally a flower with a face here, bro!" The one with the bunny ears was going down first. Served him right for not learning how to speak properly.
I summoned a ring of magic and collapsed it in on him. Surprisingly, it only took one hit for him to go down. I grinned. I had expected a bit more of a fight from these guys. Was I getting stronger? The other guard unsheathed his sword in a hurry, looking surprised. "What? 01? N-no! Why?!" It was the most I had heard him speak since I met him. With a maniacal laugh, I attacked him as well, turning him into dust. That was far too easy! Weren't these guys supposed to be royal guards? They were pathetic!
Monster after pitiable monster exploded into white dust as I swept through Hotland. Innocent people and guards alike went down. The thrill of it rushed through me, and I made my way to my next target. It was time for that stupid robot to die. I imagined the explosion he would make and smiled. Oh yes. That would certainly be a great show.
I found him in the resort, on stage performing for something or another. I growled to myself, frustrated that I couldn't kill him right away. I still wanted to remain mostly incognito. So far the monsters had proven to be simple to defeat, but I also knew that I could easily get outnumbered in a fight. I had to get rid of the cameras filming Mettaton, or else my face would be broadcast live to every monster who happened to be watching.
There were at least three cameramen, plus the audience that I somehow had to deal with. I started in with one of the cameramen in the back. I might have gotten away with it unnoticed, too, except that the stupid monster screamed as he died. Suddenly all eyes turned to me, Mettaton lowering his microphone, unsure of what just happened. I dove beneath the ground to avoid being seen, but there was no hiding the dust that wafted away from where the cameraman had been standing or the dead remains of the fizzling camera.
Everyone stood in shock, processing what had just happened. All they knew was that they had heard a scream and someone was dead. I grinned, moving behind one of the other cameramen to the side of the stage. He grunted as my pellets plowed into him, then shuddered before dissolving into dust. I blew up the cameras, too, just for good measure. Someone from the audience let out a scream and the whole place erupted into chaos.
Mettaton stood on the stage in a baffled daze, unsure of what to do. A little smoke elemental in the crowd rushed to him, shouting something along the lines of "Mettaton will save us!" Abruptly, Mettaton took that cue, posing to try to regain the attention of the audience.
"Fear not, darlings!" he shouted. "I have been armed with anti-human combat features, and I shall dispose of this threat post-haste!" I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. By then I had gotten to the third cameraman and I took him out along with his filming equipment. One of the other monsters spotted me this time, screeching at the top of their lungs and drawing attention to my bullets as they slammed into the final cameraman.
"Someone's killing the cameramen!" I heard the cry from somewhere in the crowd. I grinned. Obviously they meant killed, past tense. And I wasn't planning on stopping there. Many of the monsters were pushing towards the exits, but a surprising number simply stood or sat there, uncertain if this was supposed to be a part of the show or not. I was fine with that. It really wouldn't be good to let any of these monsters escape with their lives to spread the news of a killer on the loose.
I had to do something about those doors. Hm. There were a few potted plants sitting on either side of the exits, and I took control of them with my magic, making them grow into massive hedges that barred the escape routes. A few monsters began clawing at the plants, some summoning magic of their own to get out. I grit my teeth. There was no way I could take on all these monsters at once. Not without depleting my magic reserves. Already, I had used too much too quickly and I was starting to feel drained.
I had to do something big and wipe out as many monsters I could at once. At first I thought about setting the place on fire, but there were too many fire elementals in the room for that to be effective. Perhaps if I could somehow figure out a way to collapse the room... I didn't know enough about how architecture worked to properly locate a weakness that would bring the entire place down. An earthquake might have done the trick, but I didn't have nearly enough magic to cause anything like that to happen.
While I was contemplating a plan of action, I continued my scare tactic. I still had the element of surprise so long as I surfaced behind monsters and wiped them out that way. I located the monster manning the sound board and trashed him and his equipment, leaving the area just before the electronics exploded.
Mettaton began inching up the stage, away from the audience. He seemed at a complete loss for what to do. "Well. Every star for himself," he said abruptly, though it was hard to hear him over the noise of the screams. He then turned and fled backstage. I glared. Oh, no you don't. I pursued him. After all, he was the target here.
A long hallway I hadn't even known about stretched behind the stage, lined with dressing rooms, prop rooms, and a shop for building backdrops and the like. I barely caught sight of Mettaton as he whipped around the corner at the far end of the hall. Just as a precaution, I barred the door leading from the stage to this hall behind me with vines. I didn't want any more monsters escaping.
I finally caught up to Mettaton in the main lobby of the hotel. He turned around, checking to see if anyone was following him. I grinned. Little did he know that I had been on his tail the whole time, he just couldn't see me under the floor. A few stragglers were in the hotel, unaware of the crisis, but the place was mostly deserted. No doubt the people who were normally bustling about had been in the theater watching their favorite star. With the room mostly empty, it was the perfect spot to eliminate the stupid robot star.
I surfaced in front of him, giving him a huge smile. "Howdy!" I said happily. "You're Mettaton, right? The big movie star?" He glanced down at me, clearly shaken but not wanting to show how panicked he was.
"Why yes, Darling," he said off-handedly. "I really don't have time for autographs at the moment. Please move along." He backed away, nearly tripping over the fountain at the center of the room.
"Golly, Mettaton. You wouldn't deny your beloved fan a bit of your time after I've come so far just to see you, would you?" I gave him a look of mocked innocence. He stammered a bit, glancing back the way he had come to see if anyone was coming. No one was, of course. After a moment, he recovered, assuming that he had managed to leave the danger far behind him. If only he knew how wrong he was.
"Oh my, I do suppose I have time for one autograph. And perhaps a selfie or two. How do I look, darling? Glamorous as usual? Yes, yes, now let's get this over with." I grinned, unable to contain the thrill that shot through me.
"Yes," I muttered grimly. "Let's."
I summoned forth a ring of pellets and hit him with all I had. To my shock and horror, they bounced off his thick metal shell and dissipated. He stared at me with unblinking lights, not sure what had just happened.
"Did you... just... attack me?" he asked, hesitantly. I only stared at him open-mouthed. I had not been expecting that to fail. Suddenly he recoiled, laughing his rectangle head off. "Oh man!" he howled. "Oh dear me, I appear to be under attack by a flower! Hahahahaha!" He straightened, regaining his composure. "Ohhhh my glorious goodness. Sorry to disappoint you, darling, but your pathetic attacks aren't going to harm me."
By this point, the other monsters in the room had stopped to stare at the pair of us, curious to see the spectacle. I growled at the delusional box. Why hadn't that worked? I guess he had been telling the truth about being built with combat in mind. That was annoying. Why in the world did Alphys do that?! He had to have some sort of weakness, didn't he? Mettaton lifted a single finger to point at me and a jolt of electricity flashed from his finger to my body. Lightning filled my every particle of being.
I ducked below ground the instant the flow ceased, panting in agony. My whole body tingled and spasmed, and I could distantly recall screaming. Well, that freaking hurt. I looked up at him through the ground, planning my next action. If I remembered right, Mettaton had a giant switch on his back that practically screamed "flip me." I had seen it when I had first met him and he had turned his back on me dismissively. Time to figure out what that switch did.
The moment I was above ground behind him, I shot a vine at the switch, jamming it to the other position. With that accomplished, I moved to the safety of the earth again, just in case he exploded or something like that. He stopped dead in his tracks, processing what had happened.
"Oh!," he exclaimed. "Oh my!" Light streamed from his body to the point where I had to look away. I almost thought he really was going to explode. When the light faded, I looked back to see that his metallic form had changed into a more humanoid figure. I wasn't convinced that the hot-pink colors and high-heels were the most masculine things in the world, and I found that the more I looked at him, the more I preferred his old boxy self.
He stretched, posing dramatically. "I suppose you wanted a sneak preview of my new body," he giggled. "Sadly, it is not yet finished. This is just the prototype, hon. But since you've gone through all this trouble, I might as well give you a beautiful show. It will be a performance to die for!" He laughed. Some of the monsters oohed and aahed, clapping at the performance. All it did for me was make me hate him even more.
I had to figure out a way to attack him without getting hit by another one of those lightning attacks. That stunk getting hit by those. While I was busy contemplating, Mettaton stopped posing long enough to notice that I wasn't anywhere in sight.
"Hm?" he hummed, looking confused. "Oh come now, don't tell me you ran away. I really am quite imposing, but you managed to push me this far, so you may as well stay for the full program, my dear. Where did you go?" He placed both hands on his hips and pouted.
An idea struck me. He mentioned that the form wasn't finished yet, which meant that it was probably weaker than the box form. He still looked like he was made from the same material, but there was a section of him that had the appearance of a heart that looked more like magic rather than pure metal. With target in mind, I pulled above the surface and struck true.
The glass around the heart shattered at the impact and my bullets pierced his soul. He gasped at the sudden impact and electricity started to spark around the heart. "Th-that's cheating!" he screamed. I fired again, throwing as much magic into the weak point as I could. With a deafening sound, Mettaton exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere. I dove below ground to avoid the impact and some of the other monsters similarly ducked for cover. They were next.
I started laughing. I had done it! The stupid robot was gone! He had been tougher than I had thought, but once I had gotten him out of his rectangle phase, he had been ridiculously easy. The expressions on the other monsters' faces were ones of horror. Little did they know that I had probably done them the biggest favor imaginable by killing this guy, but they wouldn't live long enough to know that fact.
One by one, I started taking out the bystanders. They started to scream when dust went flying, and a few made it out the doors. I scowled. So much for getting by unobserved. Oh well. My main work here was done. Now I just had to pick off the rest of the fodder. I plowed through the hotel, leaving dust in my wake.
"Do you know what that feels like? Hating yourself? It's the worst feeling imaginable."
"I... I'm sorry. Chara, you shouldn't hate yourself. You haven't done anything wrong! You're not like them! You're different! I don't hate you, Chara, and you shouldn't either."
"...Thanks, Asriel. But there are some things that you can never change, no matter how hard you try."
Dust. There was so much dust. It lined the streets, the corridors, everything. I could feel the grit of it between my teeth and on my leaves. There was no getting rid of it, no erasing what I'd done. I chuckled, amused by how much damage I had already caused. Less than a day had passed and I had already managed to annihilate a surprisingly huge chuck of the monster population. The monsters I encountered now were scared and flighty, knowing that there was a killer out there, wondering if they were next. And of course, they were. Everyone was.
I had run out of victims in Hotland. No matter how much I scoured the place, looking between cracks and corners, not a soul remained in the desolation. Only dust. It was time to move on to my next destination. Unfortunately, that meant that I would most likely face Undyne soon. I was pretty sure that she wouldn't be so easy to beat. I would have to use some form of subterfuge against her if I wanted to make it out of there alive.
With that in mind, I returned to Alphys's lab and began rummaging through her stuff. Eventually I found it: Alphys's cell phone. Of all the monsters, Dr. Alphys had been the best one to connect to Undyne, and since I had already removed the doctor from the equation, this would be all too easy. I had always been good at voice imitations.
I poked at the phone until I finally managed to get it to pull up Undyne's number. Undyne picked up the phone after only a few rings, sounding anxious. "Alphy, are you alright?! I heard a rumor that there's something going on in Hotland, so please tell me you're ok!"
It took all of my will power not to laugh hysterically. I spoke into the microphone, doing my best to change my voice to sound like the late doctor. "I-I-I'm ok."
"Are you sure? Your voice sounds a little funny."
"Y-yeah. I'm just, uh... Sc-scared. That's all. Do you think you could come over?"
"What's up? Are you sure you're doing alright?" I scowled. Just get over here, you twit.
"N-no. I... I'm scared. I would feel so much better if you were here."
"Well, alright. I'll be over as soon as I can!" She hung up the phone. Finally. Step one of the trap was set. I knew that there was no way in heck I could take out Undyne head-on. She was far too powerful for that. Honestly, I had gotten lucky with Mettaton. Instead, I was hoping to be able to push the fish monster into the lava in Hotland. There weren't very good safety rails placed around the area, and one solid push would be the end of the freak show.
I spotted Undyne jogging up the trail on her way to the lab a short while later. She stopped briefly to chug some water from a cooler set up in the middle of the path, then hurried to stand before the entrance to the lab. She knocked on the door. "H-hang on a second!" I called from within, doing my best to mimic the lizard's voice. Undyne looked perturbed, but stood by, waiting for the door to open.
Unfortunately, the platform in front of the lab was far enough away from any pools of lava that I couldn't just shove her in. Not that I was entirely convinced that I had enough power to shove the sturdy monster over. She was pretty freaking tough. So far my pellets had proven efficient at killing things, but I wasn't stupid enough to over-estimate my abilities against the head of the royal guard. I scowled as I stared at her under the surface, uncertain as to how to proceed.
The delay was long enough that Undyne grew impatient. "Alphys? Are you alright in there? Come on, open the door! It's freaking hot out here!" I paused in my assessment of her. Maybe if I waited long enough, she would catch heat stroke... The heat wasn't as strong so long as I remained under the ground, but above, it was sweltering. No doubt Undyne would get dehydrated really fast.
Waiting for her to dry up was horribly drab, though. Plus I doubted she would stick around long enough. Undyne was bouncing between her feet, looking more and more worried with every passing second. She pounded on the door. "Alphys! I don't care what you look like! I'm sure you look just as cute as you usually do! Just open the door already!" Her teeth were grit in irritation. I chuckled, filled with determination that I was going to kill her.
I popped up a short ways away from the fish monster. "Howdy!" I called. Undyne turned to stare at me with a bewildered expression. I returned the look with a huge grin. "Hm, you seem to be in a bit of a predicament, don'tcha? Guess fish don't take too well to heat." Her eye narrowed in suspicion. "Too bad your friend isn't here to open the door for ya."
She growled low in her throat. "What's that supposed to mean, you little punk?!" she demanded. "Alphys will open the door any second now." I laughed.
"Oh, I really don't think the doctor will. She's feeling a little, shall we say, dusty." Undyne summoned a spear, gripping it hard.
"You're him, aren't you? The one who's been killing everyone." I only smiled innocently at her.
"Who, me? I'm just a tiny flower minding my own business." Her expression was steadily growing dangerous.
"If you laid a single leaf on Alphys, I will make sure the rest of your life is a living hell!" Her muscles were tensed, ready to throw the spear at my face. My smile was not a nice one.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll find that I did far more than touch her." My expression grew ever darker as I spoke. "You should have heard how she begged me to kill her." The anticipated spear flew at me and I dove into the ground to avoid it, laughing as I went. I surfaced further down the path, Undyne in hot pursuit. The chase was on!
I continued my pattern of surfacing, dodging her spear, then moving a little further away, leading her closer to the deadly lava pools. Finally, the rock walls dropped away on either side so there wasn't anything between us and the roiling magma below. Undyne stabbed the water cooler on the side of the path, letting the contents drench her. Smart woman. Unfortunately for her, that meant that there was no more water left. Steam drifted away as the water evaporated from her skin.
"Ngaaaahhh! Quit running away!" she screamed. I surfaced close to her, bringing our chase to a halt. She didn't even pause before swishing her spear through me with a glowing green light. Some sort of spell? I didn't feel anything different. I was mostly just glad that hadn't hurt. I summoned my own magic and tossed it at her before moving away. She beat the pellets aside with her spear and leapt back, looking concerned. Her spear flipped uneasily.
"Green attacks don't work on you, huh?" she muttered. I grinned.
"Guess not! Lucky me!" Undyne scowled at me and threw a volley of spears at my head. I ducked away from them, then surfaced behind her to launch another attack. One of the beads of light brushed past her defense, but she didn't even flinch when it rammed into her shoulder. She was still too centrally located to properly shove off the edge, and I was correct in assuming that my energy pellets didn't have enough oomph to push her properly anyway. Oh well.
The fight almost felt like a dance as we spun around each other, firing attacks this way and that in the hopes that one of them would hit. Undyne was skilled in battle, though, and was getting better at predicting my movements. She launched more spears, faster and faster as she became more desperate. My attacks, however, were virtually useless, and she was getting better at blocking the little suckers. I panted as my own energy waned, feeling like my delicate leaves would burst aflame at any given moment. Undyne wasn't the only one who needed water.
It was only a matter of time before one of Undyne's spears met their target. I had a split second after coming to the surface when I got a face full of magic. My vision flashed to white as pain split through my head. I blinked away the agony, shaking my head side to side. When I opened my eyes, I was back in Alphys's lab with Undyne pacing in front of the door. I grinned.
Unwilling to go through the exact same sequence of events, I plowed straight to the water cooler, tipping it over so it landed in the lava with a sharp hiss. Maybe that would help the battle lean more my way this time. I returned to Undyne, ready to taunt her once more.
"You know," I said casually, "it's funny how ready you are to leap to Alphys's side to assist her. She wouldn't do the same for you. She'd just hide in her lab and pretend like nothing ever happened!" Undyne whirled at the sound of my voice, her single eye clenched in a deep glare.
"What's it matter to you, punk?! I would die for her! I would die for anyone!" I grinned at her.
"Anyone, huh? Would you die for me?" She scowled, remaining silent. "Hm... Didn't think so. That's a shame. It'd be real convenient for me if you were out of my way."
Undyne summoned a spear again. "Are you the one that's been killing people in Hotland?" she asked threateningly.
"Ooh. Good guess. How'd you ever figure that one out." I layered my voice with as much sarcasm as I could muster. Undyne swung her spear in a wide arc, readying it to throw. Strangely, she had a menacing grin on her face.
"Perfect. I was hoping to run into you. Now I can put an end to this once and for all!" I gave her a bored expression, easily dodging the spear that came my way. Once again, I lead her through Hotland, bringing her to the spot where the water cooler had once stood. She seemed surprised to find that it was missing. I smirked at her.
"No water for you, miss fishy. Too bad, so sad." I fired more bullets at her and dodged past her own thrown projectiles. Her attacks were becoming way too predictable, and her pace had slowed down since she wasn't whipped up into a frenzy this time. She did try her green magic thing on me again, only to curse under her breath when it failed. I managed to score more hits on her as I predicted her movements and altered my aim accordingly. Sweat poured from her body, only to steam off her as it evaporated. She was definitely in a lot worse shape this time around. I laughed, feeling the thrill of the battle.
I was taken completely off-guard when the area below me started to glow and a spear erupted from the ground, nearly plunging through my body. As it was, I was only barely able to dodge it and the attack took out one of my leaves and half of my petals. My left side burned from the pain. No fair! She'd never done that before!
I tried to haphazardly continue the battle, but the agony brought me down. I found that my movement was crippled, and my vision was starting to blur. There was no way I could keep dodging in this condition and it was almost a relief when she stabbed me in the face, activating another reset. I took a deep breath, opening my eyes to see Alphys's lab again. This was proving to be annoying.
Once again, I began by tipping over the water cooler. That had really been an advantage last time. And hopefully I wouldn't be dumb enough to get hit by one of her attacks. I surfaced behind Undyne, glaring at her unprotected back. I just wanted to kill her. Was that too much to ask for?
"Hey, ugly!" I shouted. She turned, looking puzzled. "Yeah, you! You suck!" Undyne scowled at me, looking more than a little offended.
"Excuse me?!" she snarled. I stuck out my tongue at her.
"Nyah nyah! Undyne's a total wussy!" She balled her hands into fists.
"Do you have any reason for coming here and insulting me? Or do you just really want your butt kicked? Because, punk, you are cruisin' for a bruisin' right now."
"Ooh! I'm soooo scared!" I cooed, rolling my eyes. She reached for me, trying to pluck me from the ground. I pulled back out of her reach. I continued to taunt her, drawing her away from the door. "Lookit me, I'm Undyne! I'm in love with a slimy lizard and I like to watch kids cartoons!" Another swing, followed by choking sounds coming from between her bared teeth. "My best friend is a loser skeleton who doesn't know his right hand from his left! We like to try to cook together even though our cooking tastes like crap!" She looked really pissed off. The tactic seemed to be working, though, as she slowly advanced on me while I continued to move down the path.
"Alright, you little punk! You asked for it! You're gonna get the biggest whoopin' of your life!" I only laughed, dancing away from her. We were almost to the platform above the lava now. I kept up my string of insults.
"You think you're such a hero, don't you? Going around beating up whoever you dang please! Good golly, it's sickening just watching you! You really think you're the one who's going to solve every monster's hopes and dreams? Pfft. Give me a break!"
She pointed a finger at me threateningly, "Hey! You're one to talk! You're nothing but a stinking flower with a big mouth! Ngaaaah! Quit running around! Face me and fight, and I'll show you who's the hero, you little brat!" I grinned, stopping in the center of the platform.
"Alrighty!" I beamed. I summoned a ring of pellets surrounding her, collapsing them in. Her eye went wide, but she managed to dive to the ground as the attack zoomed above her head. In an instant, she was back on her feet and racing straight towards me. I remained above ground, staring her down. At the last second, I pulled a vine up and wrapped it around her ankle, tripping her. She fell hard, a few inches away from my face.
Before I had time to properly boast, she whipped her arm up, nearly nabbing me. By the time I moved back, she had managed to pick herself up from the ground. With a wave of her hand, a series of lights appeared around me and I had to quickly relocate before I got speared again.
"You little punk," she growled. "First you insult me, then you humiliate me. How'd you know all that stuff about me, anyway? I've never seen you before in my life." I smiled up at her pityingly.
"Oh, Undyne. I've known you longer than you can ever imagine. It's amazing how easy you are to manipulate." She looked puzzled. She hadn't even noticed how close to the edge she was. "It's been fun, really. But I think it's time to end this." I whipped up a vine behind her, yanking her over the side of the cliff. She tried to regain her balance, but her foot met air and she plummeted down into the flaming abyss.
"Goodbye," I whispered as she screamed. I heard her hit the lava and smiled to myself. With my greatest threat gone, I could move on to eliminate the rest of these useless monsters. Hearing the sounds of Undyne meeting an untimely demise filled me with determination.
"You know... It's a bit ironic. I came to the Underground to escape the evils of this world. But what do you do when you find out that you're just as bad? Where do you run to then? Where do you go when the one you're trying to escape from is yourself?"
Waterfall proved to be simple to wipe clean. There weren't many inhabitants in the flooded maze, so I pushed on to Snowdin rather quickly. The only person in Waterfall that I spared was Undyne's neighbor, the ghost that I could never pronounce his name. I had no idea how to kill a ghost. Or even if you could. I didn't even try. The old turtle, Gerson, put up a bit of a fight, but he had grown feeble over the years and could no longer fight the way he used to. And then I got lost trying to find Temmie Village, but once I found it, the stupid idiots there were pretty easy to eliminate.
By the time I reached Snowdin, word had spread of me. The streets looked deserted, but I could see faces peering out of windows, scanning for any sign of danger. Not that they could see me anyway while I was underground. I chuckled to myself. Who would have ever thought that a little flower like me could be the cause of so much destruction and fear?
Strangely, only one citizen remained outdoors, standing boldly in the street waiting for me. Papyrus. Of course. The skeleton stood dramatically, arms at his hips and scarf blowing in the wind. I grimaced. Of all the monsters in the area, Papyrus was possibly the only one I felt a bit bad about killing. He was the closest thing I had to a friend since becoming a flower. I swallowed my pity. He was just a naive idiot. I had killed so many others, surely one more death wouldn't hurt anything. I did want to see what he had to say, though. Maybe he would fight me. That could be fun.
I popped up in front of him. "Howdy, Papyrus!" I said cheerily, as though this was any other day. Papyrus glanced down at me with a huge grin on his face.
"Ah-ha! He appears! The mysterious flower we've been hearing so much about! Come to turn yourself in to the Great Papyrus?!" I smiled up at him. Oh, you poor fool. "Worry not! For you see, I, the great Papyrus, have elected to grant you pity and compassion! It seems to me that your life is going down a dangerous path, but I, Papyrus, see great potential within you! Everyone can be a great person if they try! And me, I hardly have to try at all! Nyeh heh heh!"
"Oh, Papyrus... You really don't understand any of this, do you?" I chuckled to myself. "I've already tried the whole being friends with everyone thing. It didn't work." He folded his arms.
"Clearly, you were not trying hard enough! Being friends with everyone is easy! Nyeh heh heh!" I shook my head.
"You say that, but how many friends do you have, Papyrus? I mean, really... Think about it."
"What?! I have lots of friends! Practically everyone has heard of the Great Papyrus!"
I started laughing, a small chuckle that elevated to the brink of maniacal. When my laughter died down, Papyrus continued his speech.
"See?! You can't deny it! Even you knew my name without me having to tell it to you! Little flower! I think you are in need of guidance! Someone needs to keep you on the straight and narrow! But worry not! I, the Great Papyrus, will gladly be your friend and tutor! I will turn your life right around!"
"You really are an idiot," I said with a giant smirk. I summoned a ring of bullets around him. "Die." They collapsed on their target. Papyrus's body shuddered, then dissipated into dust, leaving only his head. He was now at eye level with me, and strangely was still talking to me.
"W-well! That's not what I expected. But. I still believe in you! You can do better! Even if you don't think so!" I gave him a pitying smile. He was so foolish, even in death. His head wavered and shattered. Thus ended the Great Papyrus. I was filled with determination.
Just then, a hooded figure stepped out from behind one of the buildings. "I was wondering if you were going to do that," Sans said casually. "I was rather hoping you wouldn't. Y'know. Kinda thought Papyrus had the right idea for once: sparing the anomaly, making friends, the whole shebang." He stopped, standing about ten paces in front of me.
"Wow, Sans. You seem rather calm, considering I just killed your brother." I grinned. "Come to join him?" Sans's eyes were dim. He looked extra spooky with his eye sockets left blank.
"Nah. Normally I hate getting involved in things like this. A guy like me likes to take things easy, you know? But seeing how many people you've killed... I really can't afford to let you go unchecked. Guess I gotta step up and do my job for once."
I laughed at him. "And what do you think you can do? So far, no one's been able to stop me!" He remained motionless, standing with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"I got a question for you. Seems to me you've gotta have some sort of special power, making it this far. Now, I understand acting in self-defense, but... If you do have some special power, isn't it your responsibility to do the right thing?" His eyes were closed and he looked a bit sad.
"Are you kidding?! I am the prince of this world! This is nothing but a game to me! All of you are just pawns for me to move around and kill as I please!" He chuckled.
"Alright. I got a better question for you." He looked up, making eye contact with me, though his sockets were still an empty void. "You wanna have a bad time? Cuz if you keep going the way you've been going, you're really not gonna like what happens next."
My laugh was shrill. I really couldn't believe this idiot! As if I would just stop and be nice and everything would go back to normal after all I'd already done. "I'll take that as a no, then. Welp. Can't say I didn't try."
Before I could even react, he abruptly summoned a giant creepy skull thing. Light emitted from the thing's mouth before pain engulfed me. I shuddered all over, glancing up. I was still in Snowdin, but Sans was casually rounding the corner again. Had I just died? What the heck was that?!
"Hm," Sans intoned. "You're looking a bit confused there, buddy. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you look like you just went through hell." He stopped again, ten paces away. "Which, considering you just killed my brother, really doesn't surprise me. Wanna go again?" I scowled at him. What was he on about? He didn't remember killing me. He couldn't. Could he?
He chuckled to himself. "First time dying to me, eh? No worries. There will be plenty more where that came from." He summoned that skull thing again and I barely managed to pull beneath the ground before a beam of light blasted where I had just stood. So that was what he had used against me, huh? I surfaced again, glaring him down. Why had his speech changed?
Sans's eye flashed blue and he lifted one hand from his pocket, raising it to the sky. A bunch of bones erupted around me, a few piercing some of my petals. "Huh," he mumbled. "Guess you don't have a soul. Makes sense, considering how heartless you are." He brought his hand down and a wave of bones flew at me. I dove out of the way, only to come face-to-face with another skull thing.
Light and pain filled my body and I shook my head side to side, reeling from it. I looked up to see Sans walking around the corner again. "You've got to be kidding me!" I shouted. He paused.
"Wow. What's the matter? You look frustrated about something." He rolled his shoulders. "Guess that means I'm good at doing my job, huh?" He summoned his initial skull, which I dodged with ease. Once more, his eye flashed blue and he waved his hand. He paused when nothing happened. "Hm. You seem to be a little lacking in the soul department. Makes sense, I guess."
So he didn't remember. Strangely, that filled me with a wave of relief. Then the ground became a field of bones and one nailed me straight through my stem, lifting me in the air. I gasped, dangling from where it penetrated my stomach. I felt my life leech away and I glared at the skeleton as my vision faded to white. When I came to again, Sans had just stepped out from behind his building.
I didn't wait for him to get close this time. Without saying a word, I launched a wave of bullets at him. He didn't even flinch while he summoned a bone to absorb the damage. "Feeling a bit hasty, eh? Guess I should just get right to the point, then." A skull appeared and fired a beam in my direction. I moved out of the way, then summoned more bullets to assail him with. He casually jumped aside and they slammed into the wall behind him.
Once more, he tried his blue attack thing. I took the opportunity to summon a ring around him, knowing that he wasn't expecting his attack not to work. When the ring collapsed, Sans was abruptly standing a few feet away, untouched. How in the world had he dodged that?!
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you've died to me a few times already," he said with a shrug, that stupid grin still plastered on his face.
"And how would you know anything about that, you bonehead?" I demanded. He winked at me in response.
"Guess you could say I've had a bit of experience with time travelers. Never seen one without a soul before, though. How'd you manage that?" I grimaced at him.
"Time travelers, plural?! You've got to be joking!"
"Well, I am a comedian," he stated with an off-handed shrug. "But I ain't jokin' about that. Nah. The only joke here is you, ya dirty brother killer." I ducked below ground just as a sea of bones formed where I had stood. That was close.
I resurfaced behind him, hoping to catch the skeleton off-guard. Without turning to look at me, he summoned another skull blaster aimed straight towards my face. It seemed I couldn't hide from this guy. I wasn't sure how he did it, but he apparently knew precisely where I was at any given moment. He had me on the run, constantly firing attacks at me before I made it fully above the surface.
In a moment of fear, the thought struck me. I didn't think I could beat this guy. With everyone else, I hadn't been afraid at all. Even with Undyne, I knew that I would eventually find a way to beat her, and I had. But with this stupid skeleton apparently able to sense where I was, in addition to the fact that he knew that I could manipulate time, I wasn't quite sure how I was supposed to get past him. Surely he had a weakness, didn't he? Everyone had a weakness.
I stopped trying to resurface and attack him, choosing to instead hang out under the ground and contemplate a strategy. The moment I stopped moving, Sans leaned against the side of the house he happened to be standing by, closing his eyes.
"Y'know, you could always quit. That'd make my job a lot easier. Just reset, bring everyone back, and we can all go home and forget this ever happened. Sound good?" I growled in frustration. I had come so far! I wasn't about to reset. I hadn't managed to kill everyone yet. He sighed.
"Look, I know what you're probably thinking. You haven't finished what you started, so you want to keep going. Because you feel that you have to. But let me tell you a little secret..." He opened his eyes, looking directly at me as if there wasn't a layer of earth between us. "You don't. I get it. Really, I do. But sometimes, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. And killing everyone? There's no point to it."
I popped up in front of him, angry. "What do you know?! It's not like you know what I've been through! Besides. If you're so smart, you should understand that nothing I'm doing is permanent. It's not like I'm causing any real harm. As you said, when I'm done, I'm just going to reset the timeline and no one will ever know that any of this happened. So why stop me?"
He chuckled. "Good question. I've thought of that. It's a great excuse for being lazy and not doing anything."He stared down at the ground. "What's the point in doing anything anymore? It's not like anything I do ever changes the outcome. Why bother trying?" He sounded defeated.
"But, y'know... If I keep thinking like that, one of these days, things won't be reset. And maybe I'll regret not doing anything to stop it. You killed my brother just now. What if one of these times, he doesn't come back?" His eyes met mine.
"My bro always says that everyone can be a good person if they just try. I wish I could be as trusting as him, but... Eh. Been hurt once too many times for that. But something you said just now caught my attention. You said that there's no harm in it, no one remembers, but that's not entirely true. You remember. Aren't you worried what that might do to you? I can sense that there's something good in you. A part of you that wants to do the right thing. What happens to you when this is all over?"
I snarled at him. "I'm already broken beyond repair! You think I care about my soul? I've got news for you, pal! I don't have one anymore! I tried doing the right thing, multiple times, and every time I do, I die! There is no outcome where I live happily ever after in the end. There is no such thing. No matter what, I'm doomed to spend the rest of eternity as a stupid flower! And you want to know why?! Because I spared the lives of a handful of humans!"
Sans seemed taken aback, his eyes going dark again while he contemplated this. I grinned to myself. His defense was down. I attacked him as swiftly as I could. He dodged, clearly expecting something like that to happen.
"Well, have it your way, then." In an instant, five blasters formed around me and I barely had enough time to think before I was incinerated again.
I shook myself, feeling the phantom pain dance away. "Gahhhh!" I groaned while Sans sauntered up.
"Wow," he said casually. "You look really pissed off about something."
"Shut your trap!" I yelled. He stopped, breathing a heavy sigh.
"No doubt I've already tried to persuade you to stop. I don't suppose you're going to rethink that, will ya?" I growled at him, cursing the stupid skeleton in my head. He shrugged. "Ah well."
The fight ensued, but I could only dodge for so long. Pretty soon, I wound up dead again. The moment I reset, I plunged into the ground and ran away. Screw this guy. I had better things to kill. At the very least, I wanted to kill Toriel. I bee-lined for the ruins, passing Sans. He stopped, staring after me as I ran. I smiled, glad to see that he didn't seem to be pursuing. I surfaced a ways away, glancing back. I stuck my tongue out in the direction of town. Then I turned to come face-to-face with the skeleton again.
"Heya. Don't think you can get away that easily." Pain flooded through me and I was back in the village again. I snarled at the skeleton.
Time after time, I fought, and time after time, I died. I was getting better at dodging his attacks, but they were extremely hard to predict. He kept switching them up on me, changing the pattern and direction at random. And more often than not, I kept getting hit, and I wasn't strong enough to take the damage. I tried fighting back. I tried running away. And all the while, he would always catch up to me and I would die. I lost track of how many deaths I suffered. It was too many.
And every time, he reminded me that all I had to do was reset the timeline. Reset and never kill again. That was his only request. And even though it filled me with rage, I was starting to run out of options. I really couldn't kill him. He dodged past all of my attacks, and he never got tired because I never lasted long enough for him to do so.
At long last, I made my decision. I would play by his rules. I would reset. However, that didn't mean I was giving up. I would restart the timeline, yes... But that was where Sans's plan stopped. He couldn't control me, and he wouldn't remember any of this anyway. I grinned, pooling together my determination. I was determined to destroy everything, no matter what this stupid skeleton had to say about it!