Quick Author note: I apologize for the long delay in getting this chapter posted. I just started college. Unfortunately, I won't be able to keep up with my previous chapter a week schedule. Sorry.
"I'm tired of arguing with you. If you don't understand, that's fine. There's a reason I'm out here."
"I just wish I could help you. That's all."
I was growing sick of yellow flowers. Each time I awoke in the throne room marked yet another failure. It meant that things had gotten so bad that I had been forced to restart time. When I had first discovered my ability to reset, I had taken so much joy in the freedom it granted me. Now it felt like a loss. I lost friends, I lost progress, I lost patience. I hated it. I also hated that stupid skeleton, but his message had been quite clear. Don't mess with him.
Part of the problem with restarting was that I was running low on ideas for things to do. It took a lot of determination just to reach this point, but in order to fuel my determination, I needed a definite goal. So far, I had none. So instead, I sat in the throne room staring at the ceiling trying to come up with a plan. I lay there for hours, contemplating what I could do with my life.
My previous goals included things like breaking the barrier, solving everyone's problems, killing everyone, and other mighty aspirations. Now I could only think of smaller things I wanted to try to do. I wanted to see what would happen if I killed only Mettaton. He was influential enough that killing him might result in some definite changes around the capital. When I killed him before, I had also slaughtered everyone else around him, so I hadn't been able to isolate the effect of killing the star. So that might be interesting to see.
The problem with having such a small goal was that it meant that it would be easier to run out of things to do. I could kill Mettaton, but then what would I do? Sit there and watch? That wasn't any fun. I also couldn't resist the urge to mess with Papyrus. Sans had threatened me if I ever hurt Papyrus, but he never said anything about manipulating him. And if I stayed out of sight of the older skeleton, he wouldn't even know I existed. I mostly wanted to do that to spite Sans, though.
I sighed deeply. I couldn't just sit here forever or else I'd turn into dust. Without my determination, I would die. The few things on my 'to do' list would have to suffice for the moment. It wasn't that great of a plan, but it was a plan nonetheless. Since I had nothing better to do, I headed to the MTT resort where I knew Mettaton would be hanging out, probably performing on stage or something like that.
Finding him was simple since he was in the same location he had been the last time I had come to kill him. Time had elapsed differently, but I hadn't been paying attention to what the show was even about when I had run through this before, so I couldn't tell if I was faster or slower getting to him this time around. Not that it really mattered. Either way, he was going to die.
I wasn't feeling particularly patient today. I wanted to get this done and over with, and the thought of hanging around watching the show while I waited for it to end just rankled my nerves. The stage was set in such a way that there were plenty of blind spots off stage, so I could probably get away with killing the robot without being caught on camera myself. Besides, his death would make for a better show than whatever garbage the dumb robot was putting on.
Staying below the floor of the stage, I shot one of my root vines up behind Mettaton to flip the giant switch on his back. "Oh my," he said, interrupting whatever line he had been saying before. He turned slowly to see who was behind him, but he had given me enough time to whip the vine below ground again, so all he saw was empty stage. "Well, beauties, it seems that some passionate fan has flipped my switch!"
His body began glowing, emitting a dramatic fog to hide his transformation. I rolled my eyes and looked away from the flashy spectacle. "Prepare yourselves for the premier of my new, glorious body!" he shouted while the light and fog increased. I heard a few gasps come from the audience as they leaned forward in anticipation. At last, Mettaton's body had finished shedding its boxy outer shell and the light faded to reveal his new form. He posed, blowing a kiss to the audience.
"Lucky for you, I've been wanting to show this off. So just for you darlings, you can see the sneak preview of my glamorous self." The crowd erupted in cheers. I could almost barf, it made me so sick. All of these people were such idiots.
While Mettaton was still posing, I surfaced behind one of the stage curtains, far out of view of any camera. The idiotic robot was far too busy catering to his adoring audience to notice me on the side. I summoned a ring of pellets and shot them through the weak spot on Mettaton's middle. However, this time the attack didn't even break the glass. Mettaton still recoiled and grasped his stomach from the pain, but for whatever reason, my bullets failed to kill him.
I grit my teeth, diving below the stage to avoid getting caught. Why hadn't that worked? Mettaton straightened and looked around for the source of the attack. The audience fell silent as they watched their favorite star grimace in pain. I cocked my head, baffled by my failed attack. The only conclusion I could think of was that I hadn't killed any other monsters this time around. I had thought I felt stronger after every kill, but I hadn't realized that it would actually make a difference.
"Who's there?!" Mettaton demanded, scanning the area where the bullets had come from. "A villain has made himself known. Show yourself, you dastardly menace!" Oh, right, like anyone would come out of hiding just because the person they were hiding from asked for it. How stupid could this guy get? Since his attention was still on the side of the stage I had just left, I was able to pop up in the shadows of the other side. Rather than provide a direction for him this time, I summoned the energy pellets in a circle around him.
The bullets collapsed on Mettaton, but he was anticipating the attack and leaped into the air to avoid it. He landed with a flourish, posing for the audience. They cheered. To them, this was probably just another part of the show. No one knew that their favorite star was in very real danger this time.
"Oh my, your attack appears to have missed," Mettaton cooed. "This really isn't a proper place to be fighting, darling. But if you insist, then we should make this a fantastic performance! Show us what you've got, you little miscreant." He brought a leg up and extended one hand, twitching the fingers in a 'bring it' motion.
This was proving to be significantly more annoying than I had originally anticipated. I purposefully summoned a ring of energy coming from left stage. Mettaton caught sight of the attack and turned, readying himself to dodge. While he was distracted, I summoned another attack coming from stage right. That attack hit, but the backside of his weak point was protected with more of the hardened metal, so it bounced off harmlessly. I scowled. I needed some other way of killing him.
Unfortunately, I was getting tired. Now that I was trying to attack with a lower power-level, I was starting to realize just how weak I had become when I had reset. I couldn't keep going with this tactic. Besides, attacking from behind was apparently completely ineffective. There was no way I could attack the front of him and not be seen at the same time. I stopped and stared at him from underground, contemplating a course of action.
It didn't take long for Mettaton to notice that I had ceased my attack. He straightened and placed his hands on his hips. "Come now, you can't attack me and then disappear. Every good show needs a great villain!" For some reason, that statement made me chuckle. Was I the villain here? To everyone else, I was. If they understood how much damage this idiot was doing, they might change their minds, but that wasn't likely to happen. Mettaton had the entire Underground brainwashed with his stupidity.
That was an idea, though. I needed a villain. I couldn't let myself be seen, so I needed to provide something for Mettaton and the audience to look at. I began scanning the backstage, trying to find anything I could use. I hated leaving Mettaton alone for long, but I needed to change up my strategy. Mettaton shrugged when I didn't take any more action, then began trying to play off the event to the audience, resuming his previous show.
All of the props backstage were absolutely useless. They were mostly backdrops or other scenery pieces. I extended my search to the back hallway, but the more I looked, the more frustrated I became. I couldn't scour every last room trying to find something I could throw together, and the likelihood of me succeeding in getting a working prop was minimal to none.
I was about to give up on the whole thing when I noticed music coming from down the hall. What caught my attention was the fact that it was Mettaton's voice. As I got closer to it, I started to make out some of the lyrics. Were they... insulting someone? I couldn't quite tell, but they were not very nice lyrics. Whatever it was, the sound was cranked. I finally located the source of the music all the way in the kitchen area on the far side of the main lobby.
The only inhabitant of the kitchen was a sulky cat/bear monster. His entire countenance seemed to droop with every jibe from the song as he swept the floor dejectedly. On one counter was a large boombox which had the volume set to max and was playing the same song on loop. Now that I could see this guy and the kitchen, I could tell that the song was definitely directed at him and how bad he was at his job.
I vaguely wondered why he let the boombox play at full volume when it so obviously made him feel terrible. I wasn't particularly interested in that, though, and I turned to start heading back when I noticed that the monster was muttering something under his breath. I inched a little closer and realized that he was complaining about Mettaton, mumbling several obscenities at the boxy robot. Suddenly, an idea struck me.
With a well placed vine, I shoved the boombox off of the counter and it crashed to the floor, breaking into a number of pieces. The music gave a terrible wail as the CD skipped, then resumed as if nothing happened. The noise was enough to startle the monster and he turned wide eyes on the broken remains lying on the ground. I surfaced, then blasted the boombox to bits to make the stupid song stop.
"Whoa! Whoa there, little buddy! You can't do that! Are you trying to get me in trouble?!" The monster dropped his broom and rushed over to stare mournfully at the electronic shambles. "There goes this week's pay." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, I would have left it running if I had known it meant so much to you," I stated dryly. He instantly dead-panned, letting all anxiety drop from his face.
"Yes. I loved that song. I wanted to listen to it all day long. Not!" His face twisted into a maniacal smile vaguely reminiscent of one of my own. "I'm surprised I didn't smash the thing myself," he chuckled. I wasn't expecting him to give such a snarky response. Usually I was the only one who did that.
Suddenly, his panic came back and he glanced around nervously. "The thing is, little buddy, if my boss sees what's happened here..." His voice trailed off, letting the silence and facial expression say more than words ever could. His eyes flicked down at the floor and his beaten-down expression overwhelmed any spirit he had in him.
"Mettaton's a pretty terrible guy, huh?" I said with a big smile. "Golly, I bet you're just itching to get your hands on him, aren't you?" He snorted.
"If only I could, little buddy." His strained grin came back. "You don't know the half of what that guy does to me. He treats me like I'm his personal slave! This morning he got after me for not wearing something more 'suited' for the day. Like I'm supposed to know what that means. I swear, I think half the time he makes up rules just to see how much he can make my life suck." In a flash, the rebellion was gone, replaced with defeat. "But it's not like I can do anything about it down here at the bottom of the food chain."
I laughed shrilly. "What if I told you that you could?" I leaned forward, giving him a menacing grin. "If you really hate Mettaton so much, why don't you just kill him?"
His expression went flat again. "Right. Because I can totally take out a combat enhanced robot by myself. Do I look like a fighter to you?!" I only chuckled.
"True. You'd probably die if you tried to do it on your own. But you wouldn't be on your own. You'd have me." The monster's face remained emotionless.
"Hate to break it to you, little buddy, but you're a flower," he stated as if that explained anything. I glared at him.
"I know how to kill Mettaton. I'd do it myself, but I don't want anybody to see me."
"So you're using me as bait." He stretched, moaning slightly. "I'd love to help you, little buddy, but I don't have a death wish. I'd rather keep my life. After all, it's the only thing I have left." I raised an eyebrow, unable to resist a witty comeback.
"You have a life? Really? I couldn't tell." He sank visibly, then covered it by bending down and scooping up the remains of the boombox and throwing the mess into a trash bin. He abruptly grinned, sniffing out a short laugh.
"Nowhere to go but up, huh, little buddy?" My smile returned. This guy was pretty pathetic, but I could definitely use him. With a bit of manipulation, he would be perfect for the job.
"Think of it as a performance. He's on stage right now, so the audience will just think it's part of the show. All you have to do is give everyone something to look at while I hide behind you. You won't even have to be the one who kills him. Once I get close enough, I can hit Mettaton's weak spot. And then, boom! No more Mettaton."
He looked nervous, biting his lower lip and glancing around hastily. "But. Um. That would never work. Mettaton never lets anybody else on stage. How do I know I can even trust you? You're just a little weirdo flower I just met."
I growled, losing my patience. "Do you really want to sweep floors and flip burgers for the rest of eternity? Who would ever pass up an opportunity like this?" Something about that struck him, and he jolted out of his void of anxiety. He stood in stunned silence for an agonizingly long time. Suddenly, he started laughing.
"Fine. I'll do it. I've already wasted my life anyway." I grinned. For once I had actually managed to convince someone to see things my way.
The monster insisted on stopping by one of the costume rooms in the back hall and picking out a suitable outfit, one that covered his face and had a billowing black cloak. It was a bit over-the-top, but it would be perfect for what I needed it for. My main concern was the amount of time it took for him to throw it on and stare at himself in the mirror.
After an eternity of dramatic cape swooshing, my new villain was ready. He entered the backstage, looking like he was born to step out on stage. Mettaton noticed him almost immediately since he was still on edge. I grinned at the scene, preparing for the grand entrance. The stage was set.
Then suddenly the monster I was using as a distraction stopped in his tracks, his eyes going wide. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" he abruptly shouted. All eyes turned to him, confused at the newcomer.
"What is the meaning of this interruption?" Mettaton snapped, placing a hand on his hip. The other monster suddenly looked anxious again, looking like he was bout to turn and make a run for it. I prepared some vines to wrap around his ankles just in case he tried. He stammered for a bit, then found his voice again.
"You go around plastering your face on literally every surface you can manage, but that's not even what you really look like?!" He seemed completely dumbfounded by Mettaton's transformation. I grimaced, waiting for an opportunity to attack the narcissist robot.
Mettaton paused, his eyes going wide. "Burgerpants? Is that you?" he asked. The cat-like monster let out a nervous laugh.
"What? No, of course not!" he lied. He glanced down at the ground where he knew I would most likely be. "Any time now would be great, little buddy," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth, directing the comment at me.
Mettaton recovered from his momentary shock, pointing a finger dramatically. "Regardless, you are interfering with my glorious production! I demand that you leave at once!" Having Mettaton order him about gave the smaller monster some backbone and he stood up straight against Mettaton.
"You know what? No! I have been cast down for too long! I used to look up to you! I wanted to be just like you! But you smashed those hopes and dreams into little bitsies, treating me like garbage! I am so sick of it!" He shoved one arm to the side dramatically, letting his cloak swirl around in a neat flourish. It was perfect.
"You have treated me like trash for the last time! It's about time someone put you in your place!" To my great surprise, magic shot from his hand forming streaks of claws. The energy slashed through Mettaton's heart, shattering glass and electronics. I blinked as Mettaton gasped before falling to his knees. Electricity danced across his whole body. The robot stammered, glitches marring his voice.
"I-it was a joke!" he managed to say. "It was just for fun! You're my favorite employee, darling!" He grit his teeth, glancing at the ground. "Have you really hated me so? After all I did to take you in under my wing?" He brought a hand up and gripped his chest, over-emphasizing his wounded appearance.
Burgerpants suddenly looked shocked, realizing what he had done. I scowled, tired of this charade. I surfaced backstage and summoned a ring of pellets, collapsing them in on Mettaton. That triggered a chain reaction and the robot exploded into hundreds of pieces. The audience gasped, ducking out of the way of the shrapnel that came their way. The whole room was stunned. Mettaton had just died before their eyes.
Immediately, one member of the crowd pointed at the monster I had used as a distraction. "You!" they shouted. "You murderer!" Noise suddenly erupted throughout the room and Burgerpants took a couple of steps backwards, looking very uncomfortable.
"No, wait! It wasn't me! A little flower made me do it!" He kneaded his hands, then turned and fled from the crime scene. I only laughed, diving under the floor of the stage. That had worked out surprisingly well. I checked that off my to do list and moved on.
"You know, Monsters are so weird. Sometimes I can't understand how you can be nice all the time. Even when you're angry, it's practically unheard of for monsters to hurt each other."
"I dunno. It just seems like common sense to me. No one wants to be hurt, so why should we hurt others? Everyone is so much happier when we all get along."
I spotted Papyrus walking up the trail to Snowdin on his way from Waterfall. Walking was a relative term since he moved as fast as I could normally run. He practically skipped while carrying a plate full of his latest attempt at cooking, lofting it high for the world to see. I had to push myself to get ahead of him, popping up a few feet in front of him.
"Howdy, Papyrus!" I shouted, hoping to get his attention before he barreled over me. Thankfully, he skidded to a stop long before that would be a problem.
"Wowie! It's a talking flower! And it knows my name! This is the greatest day of my life!" I gave him a sideways smirk, amused by his usual antics.
"Oh, everyone knows your name, Papyrus. Why, you're the most popular person of all! After all the hard work you've done to make it into the Royal Guard? Boy, you've gone above and beyond to achieve your dreams! Everyone's rooting you on to become the greatest!" The string of lies issued forth from my mouth easily enough. I found that there were two ways to manipulate people, one was to insult them, and the other was to encourage them. I already knew that insults and threats were ineffective against Papyrus, so I would go with the other tactic, even if they were all lies.
Strangely, though, I found that something about that statement bothered me. I wasn't lying about Papyrus working so hard to get into the Royal Guard, and yet he still wasn't in it. He was good friends with Undyne, wasn't he? I shoved the thought aside, focusing back on Papyrus.
Papyrus posed, boosted by all the compliments. "It's hard to root for me to be the greatest when I already am! For I am the Great Papyrus! Nyeh heh heh heh heh! At last, someone recognizes how worthy I am of the title!"
"Oh it's not just me. Lots of people love and admire you!"
"As well they should! Now what can I do for you, my little flowery friend?"
I grinned, giving him my best innocent smile possible. "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower! And I am your number one fan!" That statement was actually probably true since Papyrus didn't have any fans. "As for what you can do for me..." You could kill your brother. That would be great. "Just being in your presence is an honor!"
"Wowie!" Papyrus cried. "This really is the best day of my life!" He rattled his bones doing a little jig in place. Then he composed himself, bringing his spaghetti front and forward. "Since you're such a big fan, I'll bet you would really like a taste of my home-cooked pasta! So just this once, I shall allow you, my great fan, the chance to try the magnificence of my freshly made spaghetti!"
I grit my teeth, trying my best to not let my face falter. "Err, um..." Papyrus stared intently at me for a long moment. When I didn't respond, he smirked at me.
"I see you are hesitating. No doubt you are so awe-struck by this opportunity that you are unsure of how to respond. Worry not, flower! I, the great Papyrus, have plenty more where this came from! Nyeh heh heh!"
My false smile slipped. I couldn't compliment the spaghetti and be forced to eat the mess. It just wasn't going to happen. "I'd rather eat a sock," I intoned. I couldn't help it.
"Wowie! You must have some pretty tasty socks!" Papyrus said without missing a beat. "You should give one to my brother. He's starting a sock collection!" He sighed, letting his countenance drop a little. "Ah, my brother. How saddening. What would he ever do without such a cool guy like me taking care of him?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Knowing how messy he is? He'd probably totally trash your guys' house." Papyrus shook his head knowingly. It did seem odd how much the brothers cared for each other considering the fact that everything Sans did seemed to annoy Papyrus. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.
"Luckily," Papyrus bubbled, "he does not have to live without me! Nyeh heh heh! He's stuck with me forever!" I cocked my head thoughtfully.
"You know, you shouldn't have to take care of him all the time." Papyrus scratched his jaw with a look of contemplation on his face.
"No, I suppose not. But I could not leave him to fend for himself! He is my brother!" I scoffed.
"Not that he does anything for you. Why do you keep him around? He's nothing but dead weight. Does he even do anything?" Papyrus laughed.
"Oh, Sans does lots of things! Just. Um. Don't ask me what." I narrowed my eyes. He was not going to avoid my question that easily.
"See? You can't even come up with anything he actually does. Even when he's working, he's usually just slacking off, and I bet all the money he earns goes straight to Grillby's, doesn't it? He doesn't pick up after himself, he doesn't pay his way... Honestly! Why do you put up with him?"
Papyrus abruptly fell eerily silent. For that split second, his contemplative expression reminded me of his brother. Then the moment passed and Papyrus was back to his normal self. "It's like I said before! If I don't take care of him, who will? He is my brother after all! Nyeh heh heh!" He straightened and placed the hand that wasn't holding the spaghetti on his hip, gazing off into the darkness. "Besides, Sans does work hard. Even if he needs a good push in the right direction sometimes. And that's what he has me for! No one is better at motivating him than I am! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!"
I scowled. For just that brief period, I thought I had struck a chord with him, but he remained stubborn as usual. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that nothing I said would push Papyrus to hurt anyone, much less his own brother. Even though Papyrus was obviously annoyed by Sans, the cheery skeleton was too nice and naive. The tactic I had used to turn Burgerpants against Mettaton would not work with the skeleton brothers.
Papyrus noticed my sour expression and gave me a huge smile. "You'll see. Once you get to know Sans, he's not so bad. Here, he should be working at his station up ahead! I'll introduce you two!" He reached down and scooped me up into his arms and resumed his relentless pace towards Snowdin. I let out a wail of dismay, but Papyrus didn't seem to care.
"No, no! I've already met your brother! I'm perfectly fine not saying hi. In fact, seeing him is the opposite of what I want to do right now!" I cried, struggling against Papyrus's hold. It was no wonder Papyrus and Sans had been so unthreatened by me before. I was like a child in the skeleton's arms. All that did was make me even more anguished.
Thankfully, Papyrus stopped and glanced down at me. "Oh, I see now... The two of you are in cahoots! I bet you said all those terrible things about him just to make me feel better about myself! Did Sans send you? Nyeh heh heh! My brother does the strangest things sometimes!" I couldn't help but give Papyrus a baffled expression. What in the world was he on about?
"Trust me on this, I would never willingly work for your brother," I said as nicely as I could.
Papyrus grinned at me and gave me a wink. "Oh, of course not! Never! Wink wink!" I barely kept myself from groaning. Didn't this guy ever take a hint? The skeleton shrugged before putting me on his shoulder. "Alrighty," he said, "Just for you, I shall give Sans's station a miss. Where would you like to go instead?"
I gave him a blank stare, unsure of what to say. "Um..." I hadn't thought this far in advance. It was one thing to want to mess with Papyrus and a completely different thing to come up with how. I had wanted to manipulate him into killing someone like I had with Burgerpants, but I doubted that I really could.
"I'll go wherever you want to go, Papyrus," I said hesitantly. In reality, I wanted to go hide in a hole and think for a while, but I knew that doing that would likely result in a quick reset. Papyrus was entertaining enough that maybe if I hung around him for long enough, I might be able to come up with a way to manipulate him. Maybe even turn him against his brother.
Papyrus chuckled at my remark. "And why wouldn't you? Everywhere Papyrus goes is the best place to be!" With that, he resumed his journey forward, carrying me along with him.
"What about yourself? Shouldn't you care for your own needs before you worry about any one else's?"
"We do! It's just that... Well, I feel happy when other people are happy. So when I help out others, I am helping myself in a way."
"I guess that kind of makes sense."
"Augh!" Papyrus cried, standing in the doorway of his house. I peeked around Papyrus's shoulder to take in the full beauty of the disaster that stood before us. "What did he do to my kitchen?!" He sounded satisfyingly horrified. I grinned, knowing full well what Sans had done to the kitchen. Flour coated nearly every surface and a dozen or more dirty dishes riddled the counters, He hadn't even bothered putting anything in the sink, probably because the sink was too tall for the shorter skeleton to reach anyways.
In a whirlwind, Papyrus set out to sweep the counters clean and began scrubbing away at the mixing bowls. "See?" I remarked. "He'd totally trash your guys's house." Papyrus only grunted in irritation.
"I swear, sometimes it's like he does this on purpose just to make my life miserable! As if I, the Great Papyrus, don't already have enough things to worry about!" He peered in the oven where the pie was still baking. "What was he even making?! It's like a quiche, but not!"
The pleasant aroma of pie hit my nose and I frowned. It seemed as though Sans had been exchanging recipes with my mother. "It smells like butterscotch-cinnamon pie," I intoned. How had that jerk managed to recreate Toriel's recipe? I was pretty sure that even Asgore didn't know how to make the thing.
"Well, whatever it is, it has totally ruined my kitchen! Away it goes!" With no regard for potentially burning himself, Papyrus pulled the pie out of the oven. The very second the pie left the heat, the alarm on top of the stove blared, showing acute timing to precisely when Papyrus would remove the pie from the oven. That couldn't possibly be an accident. Papyrus took the pie into the living room and set it on the table beside the couch to get it out of the way before returning to the kitchen to complete his cleaning.
"Oh, when I see him next, I am going to give him a piece of my mind!" He glanced at me, then hastily clarified his statement. "N-not literally. I don't even have a mind!" I smirked at him. A more accurate statement had never before been said by the idiotic skeleton.
Papyrus returned to the arduous task of scrubbing down the kitchen, and I sat on his shoulder at a complete loss for what to do. I wanted to somehow get my revenge on Sans, but I had to do so in a way that didn't put me or Papyrus in danger. I had hoped to manipulate Papyrus into hating his brother, but although the skeleton was certainly irritated, he wasn't even close to the brink of hatred. I tried a few more times to point out how terrible Sans was, but Papyrus always blew it off with a "that's just how he is," sort of a remark, and then would explain that that was exactly why he couldn't leave his brother alone.
For reasons beyond my comprehension, Papyrus apparently stuck around Sans because Sans was so irresponsible and lazy. It was a relationship that completely baffled me. Papyrus seemed to think that it was his obligated duty to look after his older brother and keep him out of trouble. I couldn't understand why anyone would hang around someone that annoyed them. It probably had something to do with love, but I had never delved so deeply into the concept.
The memory of some of Sans's words struck me. "I wouldn't expect anyone like you to understand anything about love." I scowled as renewed hatred roiled up inside me. Love was stupid. Any time I had ever cared for someone, I had gotten hurt. Why should anyone care for other people? Didn't they understand that all it did was cause them pain? Papyrus put up with so much crap from Sans, all for the sake of love. Didn't he see that if he ditched his brother, he would never have to worry about that lazy piece of garbage ever again?
Vaguely, I thought of someone that I still felt love for. Chara. I would never doubt Chara. And yet it was because Chara had trusted in me that she was gone. It was my fault. No, love was an idiotic thing. I had once wondered what Chara meant when she had said that she regretted caring for anyone. I now understood. I would never make the mistake of caring for someone ever again.
When Papyrus was done with his cleaning, he stood proudly before the sparkling kitchen. "There, good as new," he proclaimed. "Sorry about all of that. I'll bet you wanted to do something more entertaining than watch me clean. Although my cleaning skills are ne'er unmatched and truly something worthy to behold! Nyeh heh heh!" I shrugged. It wasn't like I had anything better to do. For whatever reason, it was suddenly all I could do to keep myself from bursting into tears.
The skeleton suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable now that he didn't have a specific task at hand. "Now, um..." he ventured awkwardly, "Perhaps I should show you my favorite television show. That's something that friends do together, right? Watch the tube?" I blinked at him. I was about to decline, not wanting to spend hours staring at a pointless show, but then it occurred to me that the main shows were broadcast from Mettaton's studio. This would be the perfect opportunity to see what sort of chaos my earlier adventures had produced.
I gave Papyrus a sly grin, masking the turmoil of emotions that still flooded through me. "Sure, Papyrus. I would love to see what's on TV." He instantly leaped into action, jamming the on button for the television and sweeping me down beside him on the couch. The cushions sagged under the skeleton's weight, forcefully sliding me right next to him. I dug my roots into the couch and purposefully pulled away from him.
"Hey," Papyrus whined, "where's my favorite rectangle?" I looked up to find that the station was turned to a news report being given by a manticore lady. It didn't take me long to figure out that the topic was covering my previous exploits, probably because it was nearly unheard of for any crime to take place in the Underground.
"-transformed randomly on stage, claiming it to be a 'sneak preview' of his new body still under construction by Dr. Alphys." A still image of Mettaton's ugly form flashed up on screen. "The doctor seems to be unresponsive and has yet to leave her lab. We hope to receive more input from her soon."
I glanced at Papyrus, wondering how much of this he understood. He looked thoroughly perplexed, leaning intently forward. Had he referred to Mettaton as his favorite rectangle? Oh, good golly.
"The miscreant responsible for the murder disappeared before any members of the Royal Guard arrived on scene," the news caster continued. The background flipped to show some of the camera views of the stage, now covered in caution tape and shrapnel. Guards bustled about the area, obviously questioning some of the monsters there. "Witnesses claim that he was one of the employees working at MTT resorts, though those reports have yet to be confirmed."
"Hey, that's Undyne!" Papyrus beamed, pointing ecstatically to where the fish lady was directing the investigation. "This must be serious if they called her to go all the way to Hotland. I was wondering what that phone call was about." He watched the screen intently while the description of the monster I had manipulated was given, and a brief clip of him facing down Mettaton on stage played in one corner of the screen. I was pleased to note that I was well out of sight in the camera shot.
"The bullet patterns of the attacks show that there was possibly a second person involved in the crime, though reportedly, no one remembers seeing another monster entering or leaving the area at the appointed time. The attacks of the masked felon took the form of yellow crescents, but before he appeared, Mettaton was attacked by white capsules. These same capsule bullets are confirmed to also be the cause of death according to both video footage and eye witness reports." Strangely enough, watching this was sending a strange feeling of glee through me. I had committed murder and had gotten away with it.
Although, since Mettaton was technically a robot, I wasn't sure if it would count as murder. Wouldn't that be the same as deleting a software or smashing a computer? Mettaton wasn't really alive to begin with, was he? I shrugged away the mental question.
By this point in the news report, Papyrus had brought both of his gloved hands to press against his mouth, hiding his perpetual grin. He looked worried. I had to try very hard to not burst out laughing at how utterly pathetic he looked.
"It seems that someone did that robot in," I remarked casually. Papyrus shook his head stiffly, sitting up straight.
"Nuh-uh! I'll bet you it's part of the show! Clearly, he left it at a cliffhanger to make us on edge until he will make a triumphant appearance in the next episode! Nyeh heh heh! There's no way anyone would actually kill him!"
I only smiled sadly at Papyrus's ignorance. "Then why did they send Undyne down there?" I asked pointedly.
"To make it more believable, obviously! They nearly had me there, but no one pulls a fast one on the Great Papyrus! Yeah! I am way too smart to be fooled by this obvious trickery!" Unable to contain it any longer, I busted out in a terrible fit of laughter. It was a long, mocking sort of laugh brought on by the thrill of knowing that I had completely hoodwinked the idiotic skeleton. "You agree with me then! Clearly, you are laughing at those who would dare try to trick me, the Great Papyrus!" I shook my head in amusement, letting my laughter slowly die down.
I decided to let Papyrus continue to believe whatever the heck he wanted to believe. It was far more entertaining to watch. Papyrus flicked the television off, convinced that the entire news report was falsified media. It was obvious to me that I hadn't been noticed other than the vague reference to my unique bullet pattern, so I wasn't particularly worried about being caught. I didn't need to see the rest of the newscast to know that. Just as long as I didn't use that attack again this reset, I would be fine.
While Papyrus was up, he whipped out his cell phone, wandering into the kitchen and making a call. I raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of what he was doing. "Sans!" he exclaimed into the receiver, "Did you see the news on TV?" A brief pause. "Sans! This is no time for your silly puns! Anyways, I was just calling to see what you thought of it." Another pause. I was really curious to know what the trash bag was saying on the other end of the line, but I would have to overcome the obstacle of clamoring down the couch without hurting myself before I could get close enough to eaves drop.
"Well, I think it's a big hoax!" Papyrus stated, nodding firmly to himself even though his brother couldn't see him. "Some added drama to make us think Mettaton's really dead. What?" He began to pace, his expression unreadable. I leaned over the edge, holding myself up with a vine. "Oh, you know me! I'm always safe! Safety is practically my middle name! Nyeh heh heh!"
My grip slipped and I fell face-first to the floor, landing with a grunt. Papyrus jumped at the sound, whirling around to see what had happened. "Whoopsie Doopsie!" he cried, running to my aid. "I have to go. I'll see you when you get back from work. And don't slack off!" He hung up the phone and pocketed it before lifting me back on his shoulder. "Sorry about that! What would you like to do now, number one fan?"
I was tempted to abruptly slaughter Papyrus out of sheer irony at his safety statement, but knowing that I would likely be killed repeatedly if I tried such a thing prevented me from taking that course of action. The problem with dancing with death was that death had the bad habit of stepping on your toes. Instead, I just shrugged at Papyrus. No ideas were coming to mind. I almost told the skeleton that I had to go, but then what? Where would I go? What would I do?
Papyrus stood up straight, contemplating me while rubbing his chin. I suffered under his scrutiny, waiting for him to respond. It was a bit unnerving having him stare at me when I was only a few inches from his face. At last, he shot his arm high in the air. "Eureka! I've got it!" he exclaimed. "I know precisely what you need!" I gave him a funny look. Now what?
Without explaining anything, he bolted out the door. I hastily wrapped vines around his collar bone before the abrupt motion flung me off of him. The world became a blur of snow and whipping wind tearing against my face. I gave a wail of despair, hoping that the sound would reach Papyrus's ears and end this nightmare. Unfortunately, Papyrus didn't stop, lunging through Snowdin to some unknown destination.
"It makes me wonder, though. If you help others only to serve yourself, how does that make you any less selfish than those that only care about themselves?"
"What do you mean?"
"Hm... Nothing, Asriel. I'm just thinking aloud."
After a wild ride of nauseating running, Papyrus skidded to a halt. "Behold!" I sat up and leaned heavily against his neck, trying hard not to vomit. When I glanced around to take in my surroundings, we were somewhere in the middle of the Snowdin forest. In front of us was a large cardboard box that was only somewhat constructed to make some sort of stand.
I didn't dare open my mouth lest the contents of my stomach decided to issue forth instead of words, so I just cocked my head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Papyrus started chuckling, looking proud of himself. "Impressed? This is the one and only Royal Guard station for the soon-to-be famous Royal Guardsman. Me! I, the Great Papyrus, master architect, designed and built this beauty all by myself!"
His words stood in stark contrast to the flimsy cardboard flopped in the snow. I didn't have the energy to bother mocking him anymore. The fool did it all by himself. How was a cardboard box supposed to help me? The run here had sure done the exact opposite of that. This was nothing more than another one of Papyrus's useless shenanigans. I sighed and rested my head against Papyrus's neck, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
Papyrus started laughing again, walking towards the box. He stepped inside, carefully trying not to bump any of the walls lest they fall over. His head did smack the top of the box, showering cold snow onto both of us. I was a little bit surprised that there was a wooden pallet on the floor rather than cardboard or snow. He sat down on the pallet and pulled me off of his shoulder, setting me on the ground in front of him.
"Nyeh heh heh! Do you know what this is?" I tried my best to smile at him, but only halfway succeeded.
"A cardboard box?" I ventured flatly.
"Right! But oh so wrong! Although this appears to be a hastily thrown together sentry stand, this is no ordinary cardboard box! It holds a much darker secret! Care to guess what it is?" I chuckled, not caring to know the mind of a lunatic. "It's my club house!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "What better place to spend your time than a good old fashioned box fort?! Nyeh heh heh! You are luckier than you presume, little flower. It is not often that I invite anyone into my top secret club house! Not even Undyne has been in here! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!"
"She probably doesn't want to come in here," I stated. I should have known that Papyrus wasn't smart enough to come up with anything actually fun to do. With a sigh, I reclined back, looking around the cramped box. It was actually perfectly sized for me, but with Papyrus sitting in here, too, the whole place just felt claustrophobic. "So what's this club of yours for?" I asked. I had nothing better to do, so I might as well hear out whatever stupidity Papyrus had to say.
"Well, you see, I've never had any real purpose for this club house. Until today, of course! I, the Great Papyrus, have finally decided what to call this fort! This is none other than the clubhouse for the great Flowey fan club!"
I sat up with a start. What? I stared at the skeleton with a baffled expression, but his huge grin and sparkling eye sockets radiated with sincerity and joy at his proclamation. Then, gradually, the irony of the situation hit me and laughter bubbled up through my system. I arced my head back and cackled. What a naive, silly idiot!
"Oh, Papyrus! Only you could come up with such a ridiculous notion. I don't have any fans."
"Wrong!" he stated. "I am your fan! Nyeh heh heh! And I suppose, by default, that makes me your number one fan!" I shook my head in bewilderment. Suddenly he stopped, his look of deep thought coming over him again. "Though I do wonder. If I am your number one fan, and you are my number one fan... One and one make two... So wouldn't that mean our combined efforts make us number two fans? Hm..."
I snorted in response. "Sure, Papyrus. We are number two fans of each other. Because that totally makes all the sense in the world."
"Of course it does! Everything I say makes sense!" He started laughing again, looking smug. "And so, it is with great honor that I, the soon-to-be famous royal guardsman, dub thee, Flowey, an official member of my super duper ultra secret club!" I gave another snort.
Suddenly something occurred to me. It was something that had been nagging at me in the back of my mind for a while now. Papyrus always made it a point to bring up the fact that he wasn't a member of the Royal guard yet, but I couldn't actually fathom why. "Hey, Papyrus?" I asked. He leaned forward in anticipation of my question. "Why hasn't Undyne let you into the Royal Guard yet? You've been working so hard, training with her every day, and you're just as good as any of the other schmucks in the Royal Guard, if not better. It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense why she hasn't let you in."
I thought of those useless guards in Hotland that I had taken down in one blow, and I was fairly certain that most of the guards in Snowdin were those stupid dogs. Plus, I was pretty sure one of them was even blind. And considering the fact that Undyne was such good friends with Papyrus, it seemed odd that she was the one holding him back from fulfilling his lifelong dream.
This time, it was Papyrus who snorted. His back went stiff and he looked more than a little bit annoyed. "That's what I've been saying this entire time!" he complained. "Why does someone like me have to do so much just to get some recognition!" I cocked my head, thinking.
"Have you tried talking to Undyne about it?"
"Oh, I talk to Undyne all the time! Every day in fact!" He laughed to himself, but I could tell that what I said bothered him. "She told me that she won't let me into the Royal Guard unless I can capture a human." My mouth opened disbelief.
"She said what?! That's ridiculous! No one else has to go through such an impossible task to make it into the Royal Guard!" Papyrus abruptly laughed again.
"You thought so, too, huh? But I have realized something. Obviously she sees how great I am, and knowing my true potential, has assigned me with a mission that no one else in the Royal Guard can be trusted with! And she hasn't let me in yet because she doesn't want any of the others to grow jealous from how great I am! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!"
I scowled. "Either that or she doesn't want you to join ever." He shook his head.
"Oh, no! That wouldn't be like Undyne at all! She's always complaining that she wishes she had more people in the royal guard. Besides, she's seen how great I am! Why, with her training, I'm practically invincible!" I knew that wasn't true in the least, but I refrained from pointing that out.
Papyrus did have a point, though. It wasn't like Undyne to deny anyone from joining the royal guard so long as they were willing to fight and could hold their own. I had killed Papyrus easily enough before, but he hadn't been trying to fight back or resist at all, which left him vulnerable. And I knew first-hand how freakishly strong he could be when he tried. Something fishy was going on here.
Honestly, I didn't really care about Papyrus. It didn't matter to me whether or not he was in the Royal Guard. The thing that bothered me was the fact that there was something weird going on and I didn't understand the reason why. For most things, I could figure out the reasoning behind monsters' actions, albeit some of those reasons were sheer stupidity. But why would Undyne not help out her best friend? It didn't make sense.
The skeleton moved the conversation onward to cover the agenda for the new Flowey fan club, but I found that I wasn't listening. I sat there, pondering what Undyne's reasons could be. I played through scenarios in my head, and nothing was adding up quite right. Part of me wanted to push the thought aside under the pretense of not actually caring about it, but not knowing someone's intentions bothered me. Especially Undyne who was about as subtle as a club to the head.
I couldn't shake the thought anymore. Besides, going to chat with Undyne would give me something better to do than hang around this stupid cardboard box with Papyrus. I met the idiotic skeleton's gaze, interrupting what he had been in the middle of saying.
"Hey, Papyrus, I have to go." He blinked, though his smile didn't dim.
"Ok," he said after a moment of silence.
"Goodby-"
"Don't!" He cut me off abruptly, sounding harsher than I had ever heard him. "There are never goodbyes! Only see you laters!" I gave Papyrus a level look. Man, this guy was weird.
"Alright, have it your way." I grinned at Papyrus, covering my annoyance. "See you later, Papyrus." He only smiled back in response as I dove below the surface and started heading back to MTT resort.
"I guess humans and monsters aren't as different as I thought. They're both just as selfish."
Undyne was easy enough to find since she was at the heart of the crime scene, still investigating the murder of Mettaton. Unfortunately, that also meant that I couldn't talk to her alone. She was pacing, surrounded by guards and other monsters I didn't know. I popped up by her feet, just to the side of her path. She looked distracted, so I couldn't risk her not seeing me and stepping on me.
"Hey, Undyne!" I called. She didn't even pause in her tracks, sparing the smallest of glances down at me.
"I'm busy," she snapped. I knotted my brows together in mock concern.
"Oh, I'm so sorry you can't think and talk to me at the same time. And here I was going to give you some great insight on what happened here." That seemed to get her attention. She froze in place, though she didn't turn to look at me.
She muttered something under her breath, gazing at the wall with a dawning expression on her face. I barely made out her words. "A little flower made me do it..." I raised an eyebrow, not sure what gibberish she was spouting. Abruptly she whirled on me. "Alright, I'm listening," she proclaimed, tensing up as though ready to summon her magic on me. Strangely, she was grinning, though it wasn't a pleasant expression. I decided to match her smile for smile.
"Before I tell you anything, though, I got a question for you." Her eye flickered in annoyance, but she crossed her arms and let me continue. "How come you haven't let Papyrus into the Royal Guard?" She blinked, taken off-guard by the question.
"What? What does Papyrus have anything to do with..." She caught my sour expression and sneered back at me. "I'll let in who I want to let in, ok? You got a problem with that, punk?" I let my expression fall flat, letting her know that the answer was insufficient. She sighed heavily.
"Ugh. Fine. If you really want to know, it's because... well... I don't want to see him get hurt." I raised an eyebrow at her. That didn't make any sense. Thankfully, she kept going with her explanation. "Papyrus means well, but he's too nice and naive to ever go into battle. He'd probably get ripped into little smiling shreds. I..." She looked away. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he ever got hurt because of me."
Well that was a load of crap. Seriously? That was her reasons? That was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. "Are you kidding me?" She rounded on me with a snarl on her lips, fangs bared.
"What, you want a better explanation, punk? That's all you're getting!" I shook my head swiftly in frustration.
"It doesn't make any sense! You don't want him to get hurt, but by holding him back from achieving his dreams, you've already hurt him! Any idiot can see that he tries so hard because he's under the impression that you don't think he's good enough, and that cuts him deeper than any physical wound ever could! You want to be the savior of monster kind and help everyone, but you won't even help your friend!"
Now she looked even more angry. Good. "What's it matter to you? I'm doing what I think is best for Papyrus, and I've been friends with him a lot longer than you. Who the hell are you, anyway?!"
I smirked at her. "I'm Papyrus's number one fan," I said, trying very hard to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. My statement caught her off guard again.
"You're his what?" She looked truly baffled this time, and for good reason. Papyrus didn't have any fans and she knew it.
"Papyrus works really hard. He's way better than about half the idiots you call guards." I glimpsed one of the armored monsters nearby stiffen, taking offense, but I paid him no mind. "Not only that, you've been training him every day for how long now? Besides, you gave him the task of capturing a human, which means that you've basically put him in just as much danger as any other guard, if not more so. You know he's going to put himself in harm's way the moment a human does show up around here. You can't keep him out of battle just because he's not officially a member of the Royal Guard."
She looked hurt, clenching her teeth tightly but saying nothing. It was strangely satisfying, cutting someone down with the truth rather than bullets. I kept going. "Wouldn't it be better if you let him in so then you could assign him to take care of tasks that would keep him happy, but ones that weren't dangerous? Because right now, he's got no direction, which means he's more likely to wind up hurt." I thought of the time I had killed him, how he had confronted me in Snowdin, seeking me out even. On his own, Papyrus was stupid enough to wander directly into the midst of danger.
"If you really cared about Papyrus, you would let him into the Royal Guard. Keeping him out forever is just cruel."
"Fine!" she snapped. "You've made your point. Now I'm going to make mine." She reached down, gripping me firmly around the stem and yanking me into the air. My eyes went wide and I attempted to pull away from her to no avail. In an instant, she had summoned a spear and was holding it to my face. "Why did you kill Mettaton?"
How in the world did she? "What?" I cried, trying hard to feign innocence. "I didn't kill him! It was Burgerpants!"
"We found Burgerpants," she said coldly. "The poor kid came to us, sniveling and crying, saying that he didn't do it. I wasn't sure what to make of his stories of a flower who was behind it all. That is, until you showed up. Now talk!"
Oh crap. Her spear pressed heavily against my cheek, and I could feel it pierce my face. Pain leaked from the wound and I started to sweat. I had no idea how to escape this. Suddenly, fear flowed out of me, and I went calm. She couldn't kill me. No. Not with my determination.
I grinned up at her and started to laugh. "Alright. You got me. You want to know why I killed Mettaton? Because he's a stinking jerk!" Undyne's face remained expressionless. "I was doing all you worthless monsters a favor! You know, in a few months, you'd probably be thanking me for taking that guy down. I know Burgerpants sure wanted him dead. He was just too weak to finish the job!"
"Not liking someone doesn't justify murder," she hissed. "Yeah, Mettaton was a jerk. I wasn't a big fan of that guy either. Doesn't mean I'm about to go kill him." I rolled my eyes.
"Alright, you want to know the real reason I killed him? Because I was bored." I sneered at her, mimicking her expression. "What would happen if I killed someone as influential as Mettaton? What chaos can I sow?" I laughed harshly. "You monsters are all so boring. I have to keep myself entertained somehow."
She snarled at me. "You're insane!"
I only smiled back. I didn't care what she thought. I didn't feel insane. I was just heartless, a soulless husk forced to exist in this stupid timeline forever. Undyne looked like she was about to say more, but I didn't really want to hear it. As far as I was concerned, I was done with this timeline. It wasn't like I had accomplished anything anyway. Besides, I didn't fancy getting speared in the face again. With a smug expression, I reset.