Holy crap... For those of you who have been following this story, I'm sorry there's been such a delay. I started getting involved with DeviantArt and then school work exploded out of nowhere and I just haven't had much time to work on this :/ I know that's no excuse but still :P However, as a means of apology, I have made an effort to make this chapter long without adding in any filler text. So hopefully I'm forgiven, and enjoy :D

Chapter Six:

There's Still Hope

"Sans! I'm telling the truth! He's changed!"

Sans was having none of it. He was already making haste back to his home, clutching the soul close to him. He didn't even turn around, but Frisk could sense the disgusted look that was on his face. She decided that perhaps Sans having some time to himself to cool down would be best, so she slowed up a little bit to walk with Flowey.

"He really doesn't like me, does he?" He asked solemnly. Frisk shook her head apologetically.

"I'm afraid not." She said with a heavy look. "But don't worry, we'll get there eventually." Frisk looked down to smile at him, but he was moving along with his head drooped, petals hiding the majority of his face from view. Guessing that he couldn't make eye contact for a while, Frisk instead chose to take a look around her. The best part of the crowd from earlier had dispersed, save for a few lone monsters who stood where they were, furiously tapping away on their mobile phones. Frisk suspected that she would see quite a few statuses about recent events very soon. Monster Kid was still nowhere to be seen, although that was understandable seeing as he had been trying to kill her not twenty minutes ago. She hoped that he would forgive her for leaving him on the bridge like that, preferably sooner rather than later, as she really enjoyed hanging around with him when she could.

But perhaps what she found most distressing about this whole situation was still Flowey. Long ago, he had been a real monster, and not just some flower. He had had arms, legs, ears, and had gone by the beautiful name of "Asriel". Well, Frisk thought it was beautiful anyway. During her time in the ruins, Toriel had show her some old photographs of times that had long past. One of them that had caught her eye the most was a family photo, which had four people in it. Toriel and Asgore stood proudly at the back, beaming. Asgore was in his signature apparel, wearing his purple robes and a golden crown atop his head. Toriel, however, looked completely different, and Frisk remembered having to do a double-take to make sure it was really her. In the photo, Toriel wore a robe similar to Asgore's, but the edges were embroidered with golden lacing, and her shoulders were adorned with little sparkling gems of different shapes and sizes. She too wore a crown on her head, except this one was thinner than Asgore's. In front of them, two children were sprawled out on the floor, gazing at the camera. One monster, one human. On the right, Toriel had introduced him as Asriel, her son. She told Frisk about how the children used to spend hours playing around in the flower garden, and how she wished for times to be like those again. Frisk was a little startled when she saw a drop of water hit the frame of the photo, and looked up to see Toriel to see her shedding a few tears. Frisk responded by giving her a warm hug, and the two left the room, leaving the photo on her bed. The other child in the photo had had it's face scratched off, but Frisk didn't want to ask who that was, and later, she didn't need to.

She was so caught up in remembering her time with Toriel that Frisk didn't notice she was about to slam straight into the bone bros' front door until she felt a small vine tugging on the hem of her shorts. She shook her head briskly before turning to the flower and smiling thankfully.

"Phew, thanks." She said gratefully.

She thought she heard Flowey mumble something along the lines of "don't mention it" before he lifted up his head to look at her.

"Well, you had best be getting inside then, don't want old Sansey to be getting worried about you." He said with a wink, but Frisk could tell the thought of having to answer to Sans still terrified him. With that, Frisk made up her mind. Just before Flowey could crawl away, Frisk jumped over him and stood in his way. Flowey looked at her questioningly, but before he could ask, Frisk gave him his answer.

"If you think you're spending another night out here, you've got another thing coming mister." She put her hands on her hips and leaned to one side, raising an eyebrow at him. Flowey just scowled.

"Christ, you sound just like my…" He trailed off as his eyes widened, and so did Frisk's. But Flowey quickly continued as soon as he had stopped. "Anyway, even if I did want to step inside, you may have noticed I can't, what with me having roots and all." He gave Frisk a very condescending look, wondering how she could have been so blind. Frisk was a little taken aback, more so at herself than Flowey. Honestly, she hadn't thought about this, but her face quickly brightened when and idea came to her.

"Wait right here." She beamed.

"What? What are you-" But Frisk had already turned around, unlocked the door, and shot inside. Flowey was left there for a few moments, and he slid to one side in order to get a better view of the inside of the house. His eyes skimmed over the furnature, noticing the warm atmosphere that seemed to irradiate off of a simple couch and other various furniture. It was then that Flowey realised there was a pained feeling coming from the center of his chest, and he realised that he was feeling homesick. He missed the feeling of being able to come home and be showered with love. He figured there was still a fraction of soul power left in him, slowly draining away. Just as well, he hated being on the cusp of being able to care, and the sooner it left him, the better. Flowey just stood there, scowling to himself. Just as he was admiring the particularly detailed painting of a bone on the wall, Frisk reappeared in the doorway, holding a blanket with a suspicious looking shape under it. He couldn't stand the way she was smiling at him. Ugh.

"Here we go!" She said enthusiastically. Flowey eyed the shape cautiously.

"What, is that?" He spat, wondering how long the human would keep him waiting. At this rate, just about anywhere else seemed more attractive than spending the night here. With that, Frisk pulled off the blanket, revealing what she had been holding the whole time. Flowey's eyes shot open, but his face quickly degenerated into a look of disgust, which he aimed fully at Frisk.

"Go to Hell."

…

"Ah Sans, you're back!"

As Sans walked through the front door, Toriel's warm and welcoming voice floated through his house from the kitchen, accompanied by that delightful smell of her infamous pie. She leaned back and poked her head around the frame of the doorway, and smiled. "What happened out there?" Sans didn't know what it was, but all of his worries and negative thoughts just seemed to melt away whenever he heard Toriel. His expression instantly brightened.

"*eh, nothing major. kid was a little out of order, but we worked it out." He decided not to tell Toriel the full story. He had had enough drama for one day. He turned to look at Toriel, who seemed satisfied. She gave him a smile and turned back to her pie. Sans gratefully returned it and proceeded to walk up the stairs. At that moment, Sans heard a loud crashing behind him and turned quickly to see Frisk almost rip the door off of its hinges. Sans opened his mouth to speak, but Frisk had already shot past him, a gleeful look on her face. Within seconds, she was in and out of Papyrus' room, already heading back towards the front door. He wanted to question it, he really did, but there were other things to worry about, like if he could make it to his bed before collapsing.

Sans heaved his body up the last few steps and walked along the top floor of his house. As soon as he reached the door to his bedroom, he flung it open, strolled inside, and kicked it shut with his foot. His eye flashed blue, and a cyan spark came from the door's lock, which clicked into place. Sans then reached into his pocket and pulled out a little glass container which housed the little yellow soul. Not wanting to deal with anymore stressful topics today, he placed the soul on the edge of his drawer. He then slumped over to his bed and flopped, face-first, onto it, going out like a light within seconds.

Downstairs, in the kitchen, Toriel had donned the oven mitts and was in the process of pulling her freshly-made pie out of the oven. However, this wasn't her ordinary butterscotch-cinnamon pie, oh no. This time, it was a cinnamon-butterscotch pie. Toriel chuckled to herself. Sans would be proud. As she placed the pie on the counter, she heard the front door open for the second time, and was delighted to see Frisk again.

"My child! You have returned!" She moved to Frisk to embrace her, but stopped herself, as she didn't want Frisk to drop what she was carrying. As she noticed what it was that Frisk was carrying, she smiled quite uneasily at it. "Oh, um.. Hello again…" A very humiliated-looking Flowey was being held by Frisk in a little ceramic flowerpot, adorned with cute little red hearts. He glanced up at Toriel, his already-shattered pride not allowing him to look her dead in the eye.

"Hi." Was all he said. A moment of extremely awkward silence remained for what felt like ages between the three of them, before Frisk managed to pipe up.

"Pie looks delicious Mom! I'll be down in a minute!" With that, she gripped the flower pot tightly and high-tailed it up the stairs and straight into her room, slamming the door rather loudly behind her. Toriel was left in the kitchen with her mouth hanging slightly open, before shaking her head and wondering to herself how such a strange child managed to wind up in her care. She gave it no more thought as she turned back to sprinkle the final coatings of sugar on the pie.

As Frisk took a step into her room, she kicked the door shut with her heel, only realising too late that there were no sources of light anywhere, and in an instant the two were swallowed up by the darkness. Frisk couldn't help but let out a little squeal, and somewhere in front of her, she heard a dark chuckle in response. Annoyed that Flowey wasn't getting any friendlier anytime soon, she sat him down on the floor in front of her and moved over to the wall, where she began feeling around for the light switch. After a few seconds, her fingers thankfully brushed against it, and without hesitation she flipped on the lights. In an instant, a warm light flooded the room, revealing her cosy little haven in all its glory. However, her attention was soon drawn to where Flowey was situated, as he was bent over with his eyes clenched shut. Frisk could just about make out a low groaning sound, and realised she hadn't given Flowey any sort of warning before turning on the lights. She suddenly felt bad about herself, and walked over to Flowey to pick him up.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry As'!" She said sincerely as she picked up the small flower, who was rubbing his eyes with a leaf. Once he was finished, he looked up at Frisk with strained eyes.

"Yeah, yeah…" Was all he said. Figuring Flowey was just as tired as she was, Frisk picked him up once more and set him down on the side of her dresser. Remembering that a pie was calling her name, she headed for the door and turned to Flowey.

"I'm just going downstairs, but I'll be back in a minute." She smiled and turned to leave, but not before looking back with a quizzical expression. "Um… Do you need to eat?" Flowey just stared at her. "I mean… Is it necessary for you?" Wearing a dumbfounded expression, Flowey just shook his head disappointingly.

"Look buddy, I'm a flower. What do you think?" He asked with a sarcastic tone. Frisk debated arguing with him, saying that she was only trying to be nice, but she thought better of it. Instead, she decided to give out a sigh and head out of her room, closing the door behind her. Listening to her footsteps die down and Toriel's voice warmly greet Frisk didn't help his attitude, so he just sat in his pot (not that he had a choice) and gazed around the room.

However, not two seconds after he was starting to feel relaxed, he suddenly felt himself being lifted up by an unseen force, causing him to attempt to yell out in surprise. Attempt, as he quickly found that a tingling feeling surrounding his mouth was forcing it shut, rendering him unable to make a sound. He succeeded only in letting out a muffled sound, barely louder than a whisper. As Flowey frantically looked around the room, his gaze was drawn to two pieces of pink fluffy fabric just barely visible from the shadows. Flowey didn't need to give it a second thought. He didn't say anything, but he narrowed his eyes at a particularly dark corner of Frisk's room. He was greeted by a flash of a glowing blue eye, before the figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing exactly who Flowey had been expecting. The figure didn't say anything. He just walked up to the suspended flower and held out his hand, letting Flowey to drop into it. As Flowey gazed into the two black voids, he couldn't help but notice the beads of sweat that were rolling down his face. After what seemed like ages of pained silence, it was broken.

"*think it's high time we had a chat."

…

A few minutes later, a certain human child was making her way back up the stairs, a plate with a slice of pie in each hand. For all she had been through, she was wearing a very cheerful expression. Truth is, after Flowey had saved both her and her friends' lives, she decided she should at least try to express her gratitude. And was she had what she needed, that was exactly what she was going to do. Once she got to her door, she didn't go inside. Instead, she set down one of the plates with full intention of coming back for it later. She couldn't help but lick her lips at the mere thought of it. Grasping the other plate in her hands, she made her way down the corridor to Sans' room. At first, she noticed the ominous orange aura wasn't spilling out from under his door, which instantly seemed odd to her. Sans was always performing magic in there, so to see no trace of it whatsoever was already ringing alarm bells in Frisk's head. Nonetheless, she gave a few raps on the door.

"Saaaaans!" She called to him. "Your pie's here!" She stood outside and waited. Nothing happened. She gave the door a few knocks again. Nothing happened. "I swear Sans, if you're asleep again…" She called through the door with a mildly threatening tone. Still nothing. With a huff, she decided to do something about it. "Alright, brace yourself, I'm coming in!" She waited a few more seconds, just to confirm if he had any objections, before turning the door handle and opening the door. As soon as Frisk was inside, she just stared. Sans was nowhere to be seen, and he wasn't anywhere in the house either. Not even his miniature tornado was active, all the papers and bones just lay scattered across the floor. As strange as this was, Frisk knew that the skeleton could take care of himself, wherever he was. Besides, Frisk thought to herself, it made her job a whole lot easier. She closed the door behind her and, checking around to see if someone could see her even though she was in a tiny room, pulled a bracelet out of her short's pocket. When Toriel announced that she wouldn't retreat back to the ruins, and would instead live with the skeletons, she gave a special bracelet to Frisk as a means of an apology. Toriel had told her that it would help her find that which she wants most. So now was a good of a time as any to try it out, Frisk reasoned. Without waiting any longer, she balled her hand into a fist around the bracelet and clenched her eyes shut. Keeping her eyes shut, Frisk began speaking very slowly to herself.

"I know what I want. I know what I want. I know what I want." She repeated this a few times, all the while keeping the image of the small yellow soul clear in her mind. Soon enough, Frisk felt her hand gently vibrate, and she open her eyes. In her hand, the bracelet was now rumbling ever so slightly, and there was a small red dot that also glowed on the back of the bracelet. But as Frisk rotated the bracelet to get a better look, at it, she found that the red dot moved along it and situated itself at the back once more. Realising how it worked, she looked over at where the dot was pointing, which happened to be Sans' bed. Sure enough, as Frisk moved over to the bed, the vibrating intensified. She got on her hands and knees and looked under the bed. Frisk didn't bother moving anything around or searching harder as she knew that the glow of the soul would stand out rather clearly against the gloom of under Sans' bed. Instead, she thought about where she would hide it if she were Sans, and her first thought was under the pillow.

Getting up, Frisk's hands moved under Sans' pillow and started feeling around. Almost instantly, her fingers knocked against what felt like a glass jar, and the buzzing of the bracelet stopped. Knowing she had found it, she wrapped her hand around it and pulled it out from under the pillow. She felt a surge of pride flow through her as a familiar warm glow bathed her face, so much so she almost had to shield her eyes from the light. Her small victory was cut short however, as she realised she was still in as good as a restricted area. Straightening up, she thrust the jar into her pocket along with her bracelet, and hurried out of the room before she was caught. Of course, Sans was bound to notice, but hopefully she could do what she needed to before he did.

Back outside her own door, Frisk hastily picked up her own slice of pie and slipped inside, eager to make it seem like nothing was out of the ordinary. As soon as the door was shut, she walked straight over to Flowey, picked him up (despite his protests) and set him on her bed next to her. Flowey didn't know what was happening, but he was thoroughly discomforted by Frisk's larger-than-life smile.

"C'mon then, what is it now?" Not two seconds in, and Flowey was already tiring of conversation. Frisk however, took no notice. Instead, she placed her hand in her pocket, ready to present her solution to Flowey's predicament.

"Well." She began. "I haven't had the chance to thank you for, you know, saving all of our lives." Flowey realised she was gearing up for some soppy speech, and was instantly disgusted. He rolled his eyes.

"Look kid, I saved your lives, yeah. But did you ever think that was because I needed you and your friends to get out of here?" Frisk flinched a little, but Flowey still noticed, and pushed more. "What? You thought I would miss you if you were gone?" His face morphed into one with fangs and hollow eyes, with tiny white spots for eyes. "You think I've turned over a new leaf, don'tcha?" His voice gave way to a demonic laugh, emphasising just how little her really cared. Frisk mentally cursed herself for letting a single tear escape and roll down her cheek, dripping onto the carpet below. "Aw, did little ol' Flowey explaining the reality upset little Frisky-wisky?" He mocked, followed by more laughter. Deciding that she wasn't going to be able to get another word in, Frisk pulled the jar out of her pocket and flicked open the lid. The sight of this caused Flowey to stop in his tracks, his face contorting back into its original form. "Hey… W-what're you…?"

Extremely casually, Frisk wordlessly took the soul out of the jar and pushed it into Flowey's stem. Instantaneously, the soul dissolved into a ball of light and spread out all over Flowey, seeping deep into him. Once the last traces of soul vanished, Flowey looked to Frisk with a murderous glare, outraged.

"What the hell was that? You think you've got some kinda right over other monsters? Huh?!" Flowey raged at Frisk, who was still sat on the bed, watching him with a calm expression. "You think your tricks are gonna affect me?! I know how to deal with this kinda stuff! I've had decades of being alone to get a handle on this kinda crap!" Frisk didn't know what Flowey was saying anymore, and she had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't either. "That's right! Decades, so you… try being alone for so long… with no one to help… and see how… you…" That was all Flowey managed to say before he burst into tears. Real tears, from real emotions. And whilst Frisk felt bad for making Flowey feel this was, she was happy that he could feel anything once more.

Taking Frisk by surprise, Flowey brought up two small vines and wrapped them around Frisk. For a moment, she was scared that she had angered him too much, but then Flowey pulled himself closer to Frisk and sobbed quietly into her jumper. Letting him get it out of his system, Frisk chose not to say anything, but instead lie down on the bed and hug Flowey back. As tiredness surrounded Frisk, she soon dozed off, but not before hearing a muffled "thank you" from the flower next to her.

Needless to say, thank you again to all of you for your support and taking the time to read my story, it means a lot :) See you in the next chapter!