"Just a little further, now."

Flowey turned to face the human, but they were nowhere to be seen. He sighed; several times he had to retrace his movements because of this child, and what was once annoying now just felt tiring.

A brief search later, he found the human leaning over a balcony. He pulled them back with a vine hooked onto their collar, but they squirmed and pointed out at the view expectantly. "Look!"

"I've seen those ruins many times before. It's really not much to look at, since everyone disappeared." He couldn't even remember the first time he looked out at the city of Home. It must have felt nice.

"No, look!" The child wasn't giving up, pulling free and leaning over the balcony once more. If he forced them to leave it might lead to bad blood down the line, so soon Flowey found himself settled atop the brick wall, overlooking the vacant ruins.

How many resets had it been since he last looked at Home? Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember. He had certainly visited, but he had only paid attention to its residents.

Had he ever looked at Home after a genocide run? The abandoned streets were suffocatingly silent. Fragile, meticulously tended architecture stood empty, and warm light glowed in a few windows where monsters had until recently been living.

A morbid photograph of a dead civilization.

Flowey drank in the sight. It felt new. He didn't know if it was truly new or he had just forgotten it, but he felt something and that was enough for him. Only when the child got bored and begun to move away did he follow, and the two were again on their way.

The child's pace slowed as they saw the huge, dead tree on Toriel's lawn. Flowey went inside as he waited for them to catch up, and as he looked around the carefully cleaned foyer he realized something.

Aside from the small pile that had been his mother, the house was spotless. Even if he scattered her dust all over it wouldn't look natural, and if the human walked in on him he had no excuse. Quickly gathering the dust, he shoved it into the fireplace where it would mingle with the soot, then returned to the foyer just in time to see the human enter.

"There you are, friend!" he chimed, smiling blandly and swaying on his stem. "Welcome to my house!"

The child began to explore, none the wiser, and Flowey relaxed as he was left alone. He knew his "visitor" would be busy for a while, but he could keep an eye on them as long as they were in the house and that made it easier to consider what to do next.

In theory, he had a plan. He would take this child to Asgore, who would in turn reveal where he had hidden the other six human souls. He would have to; a human soul may be strong, but it would not last long outside of a container. If Asgore wanted to capture the human's soul without absorbing it - and he was too big a soft-hearted wimp to absorb it - then he would have to fight them where the soul containment unit was.

While Asgore was busy with the human, Flowey would steal the other six souls. With those, he would have his reset powers back. Then he would kill the child himself, gaining their seventh soul, and …

Well.

First things first. New Home was far away, and he had to account for any obstacles or interruptions that would crop up during their journey.

It took longer than he had thought; mapping out the optimal route, planning for any and every encounter along the way, engraving words and expressions into his mind, finding excuses and explanations for any questions he could be asked. But even when he was done, the human had not returned.

A brief search found them in the children's room Toriel had always kept prepared, sleeping. Flowey sighed, left them to rest, and started adjusting his plans for a human's needs.

image

"Flowey?"

"Oh, good morning!" Flowey cheerfully bobbed his head. "Did you have a nice nap?"

The human nodded. "Flowey … How do I get home?"

The flower paused, feigning surprise. He had expected something of the sorts. "Do you really want to go home? It might be dangerous."

Another nod. Flowey pretended to contemplate the matter. "Well… But… Okay! I've decided!" He straightened up, smiling wide. "I'll help you get home! But you have to stay close to me, alright?"

Given the child's agreement, Flowey begun to lead the way - down the basement stairs, and away from Home.

image

image

The shelter was warm and stuffy. Snowdin's entire rabbit population had consegrated into a pile of white fluff and gossip, the bar patrons were exchanging worried stories and jokes in an attempt to calm their nerves, and a jelly was distracting his two children from reality as best he could. Everyone was worried and stressed, despite Grillby's best attempts.

image

Somewhat away from the others, nestled atop a bar stool, sat a reptilian monster with no arms. He wasn't a Snowdin resident, but he had visited Snowdin often enough that people recognized him. "That monster kid" was what they called him. MK or Kid for short. He didn't mind the nickname much, and had even welcomed it, but…

He wasn't supposed to be here.

He should have followed his parents. Yet, he had wanted to see Undyne defeat that horrible thing that had hurt so many people and so he had snuck away, confident in his hero's ability to end any threat.

The thought made his stomach churn. Undyne was dead, and he saw it happen. It all felt like a bad dream and he didn't know how to wake up.

"Hey?" a tiny voice piped up beside him. He turned to see a baby rabbit leaned against the stool. "You don't look happy."

He smiled. It felt more like a grimace. "Well… Everything kinda stinks right now."

"Mom says to be extra nice to sad people." The bunny held out a hand. "Do you wanna play?"

Playing sounded nice. But before he could answer, something caught MK's attention. One of the bar patrons had just passed near the two, speaking into a phone in a hushed tone. The kind of voice only used when you really didn't want others to hear what you were talking about. He leaned closer, trying to listen in, but the conversation was too quiet to discern any words.

"Hey? Do you wanna play or not?" the bunny asked, nudging MK's leg. He glanced to her for just an instant.

"Hush! I'm trying to hear what he's talking about!"

He returned to listening, but it was no use. The bunny tilted her head to the side, then looked at the patron with her long ears perked, focusing just as hard for a good dozen seconds.

"He said there's a human," she whispered, wide-eyed.

A human! MK's heart skipped a beat. If the creature that had killed Undyne absorbed a human soul, then nothing would be able to stop it. It could break into the evacuation shelters, killing everyone, and even king Asgore wouldn't be able to do anything …

Unless someone else took the human soul first.

He jumped down from his stool, disregarding the baby bunny as he rushed out of the shelter. Undyne was gone, she couldn't defend them anymore, but someone had to do something and he wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt. If he did, it'd mean her sacrifice was in vain!

He got to the edge of Snowdin before tripping and faceplanting into the snow. Scrambling back up to a stand, he gathered his composure and repeated to himself what he had to do. He had to be a hero. He had to–

Someone was standing in the distance. Suddenly he felt a lot less heroic, but he couldn't back down. So, taking a deep breath, MK steeled himself for his first fateful encounter with a human.