((A/N: A big thank you to JashertheDarkened for your review, and again another thanks to my lovely beta))
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Falmercia apologized, "I was uncharacteristically busy."
Flowey gulped at the sight of Undyne, he hadn't seen her in this form before, and he could definitely sense the strength of a human soul coming off her in waves.
Falmercia chuckled, "Don't worry kid," Flowey growled at the lack of respect, "she's what I was busy with, she's under contract, so she's not going to lay a fin -giggle- on you… unless I say so, that is."
Flowey narrowed his eyes at Falmercia, still trying to figure out. Despite all his time from back when he had the power of RESET, he had never seen her before, so he could only go off what he had been told.
"And how did you manage that? Undyne has a strong will, DETERMINATION, even…" Flowey asked, maybe if he could get her to gloat he could gage her intelligence.
Falmercia's smile alone was enough for him to tell that she knew exactly what he was doing, but she answered anyway, "DETERMINATION means nothing, you see, we demons have a sixth sense of what other's desires are. It was quite easy to contract Undyne here, her greatest desire is to bring the underground's hopes and dreams into reality, all I needed to do was offer her the final human soul needed to break the barrier and as I knew she would, she offered to do anything for it."
Flowey noted her ability at reading others and predicting their choices, it was something that he, himself had only managed to learn through experience during the timelines, but Falmercia claimed to have a natural ability, and therefore, the advantage.
"After that, it was as simple as accepting her offer, forcing her to absorb the soul, and ordering her to be my soldier, easy-peasy."
Very obvious underlying message there; 'Don't underestimate me'. Flowey frowned, realising that of his usual skill set of intimidation and deception, either Falmercia outmatched him, or deemed his skill useless, but still…
"And where did you get this soul?" He wanted to know if she could pass the barrier.
"I believe you're familiar with Frisk, I'm the reason she's a skeleton now." Probably not then… Wait, Frisk's soul? Then that means…
"Then who has the most DETERMINATION in the underground?" Things were getting dangerous.
Falmercia's smile made him shiver, "That would be me, but obviously, not from dear Frisk's soul since Undyne has it." She said, gesturing to Undyne, Falmercia's smile dropped, "Which is rather unusual for a sloth demon, heh, we're usually too lazy to have any kind of DETERMINATION…"
That last bit grabbed Flowey's attention, and he filed it away for later, and instead focused on the important detail being that Falmercia had control of the timelines now, a most troubling thought.
"Moving on," Falmercia interrupted his concerned thoughts, "As for why I summoned you here, it is quite simple, I want to offer you, a contract."
Flowey was insulted, "And what makes you think that I am STUPID enough to make a deal with you just after your story about how you fooled Undyne!"
Falmercia's calm smile never faltered, "No tricks here, I promise, and demons can't lie, you know. What you're gonna get me is worth enough. All you gotta do is retrieve the six human souls-"
"Are you an IDIOT!" Flowey balked, "There's no way I'm going to give you that much power!"
Falmercia's smile widened and she tilted her head, and she replied in a sweet voice, "You forget dear, I know your greatest desires. I could get you your own soul, your old body back too, I mean, I know how much it troubles you to be stuck the way you are."
Flowey faltered, and instantly, he so desperately wanted to accept the deal. He knew that was what she was playing for, and there were probably unmentioned conditions, not to mention the still existing danger of all that power entering the demon's hands, but it was enough.
He could feel words of acceptance crawling up his throat, but he forced his mouth to stay shut. He had to keep his promise to his best friend. Nothing was worth more than that to him.
Falmercia's eyes widened from sensing his sudden rejection.
"It was a good offer, and under usual circumstances, but my best friend here made me promise not to make any deals with you, so no deal."
Falmercia's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing. The whole vibe surrounding her changed suddenly, and Flowey could swear that she was shaking in rage. Falmercia's eyes finally found what they were looking for and Chara made themself visible.
"You better be glad that you're incorporeal brat, because this is the second time you have stood in my way." Flowey sent a nervous glance to his friend, soulless or not, there was no way that he was allowing her to get hurt.
"Undyne, kill him, I want the brat to see their brother die!" Falmercia ordered, and suddenly blue spears were raining down on them, so many that Flowey couldn't count.
Still stuck in the ground, Flowey braced himself for impact knowing that there was no way that he'd be fast enough to dodge.
Seconds past and impact never came, and when he looked up he saw a skeletal Frisk summoning wall after wall of bones to block Undyne's attacks.
"good job, babybones, i didn't even need to teach ya. though i guess i shouldn't be too surprised, it is in your bones after all." Flowey heard Sans complement Frisk before hearing the loud indistinguishable sound of a Gaster Blaster attack.
The comedian? A skele-Frisk? What was going on? Why were they here?
Flowey shook his head, now was not the time for questions. He could see that Frisk was already getting tired, and Sans, the idiot, was sending his attacks at Undyne.
Flowey sighed, smiling, these fools needed his guidance so badly it wasn't even funny. Flowey watched Frisk's bone shield carefully, and in the split second between it breaking down and her summoning a new one, he shot a wave of friendliness pellets, not at Undyne like a fool, but at Falmercia, who had just been standing back lazily enjoying the show.
Falmercia, as he predicted, was caught off guard and dealt damage. Flowey winced as he saw the damage bar, seeing he hadn't dealt much damage at all.
The next time the bone shield broke Falmercia had summoned her quarterstaff and carelessly deflected his friendliness pellets, an irritated look on her face.
This obviously wasn't working, if Flowey couldn't think up a new plan, they were all toast. Problem is, they he was completely out of options. As stupid as it was to attack Undyne with her power levels so high, despite it dealing little to no damage, it made Undyne halt in her attacks long enough for Frisk to summon another bone-shield.
There was another gap and Flowey hopelessly shot more friendliness pellets at Falmercia. He considered running away and leaving Frisk and Sans to deal with these two by themselves, but turned that idea down, Chara said that they wanted them alive.
Another gap, more friendliness pellets shot to be deflected, but Flowey noticed the gaps between Frisk's shields were getting larger, and taking a look at her, he could see she was utterly exhausted. Anytime now and they would be done for.
"Uuugh, this isn't worth the effort!" Flowey heard Falmercia complain, "Undyne! Change of orders, cover my escape then retreat after me."'
The rain of spears died down, thirty seconds of nothing passed where Frisk stood stubbornly, keeping up her damaged shield with disbelief on her face. Exhaustion however claimed her and she dropped the shield and fell back into a sitting position.
"babybones!" Sans was somehow at Frisk's side in a split second, "are you alright?"
Frisk nodded and the two began to talk about something, but Flowey didn't listen, instead staring in awe at the empty clearing, the floor littered with discarded spears and dent marks, Falmercia and Undyne no longer anywhere to be seen.
What had just happened? How are they all still alive?
