Eventually, he did back to her. He didn't look afraid but that could mean any number of things. He could feel safe at this stage of the game. He could have convinced himself he had overreacted before. He could have just had time to hide his panic.
"What are you doing, Chara?"
"I wanted to talk to you," she said simply.
"And you thought constantly resetting the timeline was the best way to accomplish that?"
"Yes."
"Well, here I am," Flowey said. "What ever did you want to talk about?"
"I'm going to keep resetting the timeline until we finish this conversation," she warned.
He laughed. "Must be quite the conversation if you have to threaten me before we even have it! Sounds promising!"
"What would you have done if you'd known I was coming?" she asked.
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Not me in particular, just if you knew that you were going to lose the reset ability. If you knew you were on your very last reset and what you chose then would stick. How would you have arranged things?"
His eyes lit up. "Are you losing your power?"
"Not likely," she said. "But I can't do this forever."
"I never took you for a quitter," Flowey said, sounding almost disappointed in her. It wasn't quite fear but it was something.
"Who's quitting? I could probably do this for hundreds or thousands of years. I could do this until I went mad. God knows most people would think me mad already. And who's to say they're wrong? But forever is…forever is infinite. Sooner or later the sun will explode. Not that that would matter if I take us back. But one day I'm going to have to stop and I'm going to have to choose how I leave this world."
"So it's advice you want?" Flowey asked. "You can't possibly have reset that much; I'd know. I'd say try something new but after a while there's nothing new because if it was new and it occurred to you you already did it. That's the good thing about having you here, Chara. You're nice and new and I can't reset you to death. Each time you reset is something new for me. After you stop resetting and let the timeline progress, I imagine any outcome would be new. Unless you stay trapped down here with nothing but dust, I suppose. I wouldn't want to be alone with that."
"Do you know why I'm doing this?"
He laughed dryly. "I can imagine."
"I don't-I don't hate the people here. That may be surprising but I don't," she said slowly.
"What's to hate?" Flowey said, quite agreeably. "Just because you kill them doesn't mean it's hate."
"Do you hate them?"
He considered the question. "Sometimes. But it doesn't even matter, does it? If I'm going to do what I'm going to do, why bother with feelings?"
"Do you think I'm some sort of monster?"
He laughed again, no happier than before. "What a question to ask! Do I think you're a monster? You're in the kingdom of monsters, Chara. What is a monster? You're human, as much as you hate that fact. The humans use the word monster to talk about someone terrible but, well, they would, wouldn't they? You're a human who has done terrible things but you're asking the wrong flower if you're looking for condemnation there."
"Your father didn't recognize me as a human."
He flinched. "Ah. That."
"I told you I'd just reset," she warned, sensing his desire to leave. "Don't think I can't out-stubborn you. I'm the one with the reset power."
"I'd rather not waste my time," Flowey said. "What is there to say about that? He never was much of a judge of character."
"You thought I was going to kill you," Chara said bluntly.
Another flinch. "Weren't you?"
"I didn't, did I?"
"It's just one timeline. And I watched you have to work your way up to killing Papyrus. That stupid king hasn't once survived an encounter with you and you've yet to end his life yourself."
That was annoying. "His penchant for suicide is hardly my fault."
"Isn't it, though?" he countered.
That…may not be inaccurate. But she wasn't interested in useless guilt.
"Asriel."
"I'm not Asriel," he said flatly.
She smiled at that. She didn't know what else to do. "You can't have it both ways. You can't claim me as your best friend and talk about our pasts and how your parents failed you and then say you're not the person who is my best friend who did all those things and who is Toriel and Asgore's son."
"I can do anything I want to do," he said stiffly.
"You told me you were him. When you thought I was going to kill you," she clarified. "You looked just like you did then."
"I was trying to save my own life," Flowey said. "I told you that I'm not looking to find out what happens to a soulless creature upon death."
"And that I can't blame you for," she replied.
"Did it work?" he asked. "Obviously you didn't kill me, you just ran, but did it work, claiming to be him?"
"Of course it did," she admitted quietly. "I wasn't thinking of before but I honestly don't see how I could have looked at you then and gone through with it."
He nodded, absorbing that. "You should be careful before handing out such powerful weapons, Chara."
She smiled again. She was probably doing this all wrong but he had always been the only one who even came close to understanding her. "It's not a weapon, it's just true."
He gave her that unnerving grin of his that took up most of his face. "You should know better than that."
"And you should have known better than to think I would ever kill you."
"I should have known better than to think you would ever kill all the monsters who loved you," he countered. "You don't seem to be shedding any tears over the king and you've cut her down often enough."
"She's never blamed me," she said quietly. "No matter how many times I kill her, she always just begs me to be careful of Asgore and tells me to be good. She calls me her child. As far as she knows, she only just met me and may or may not have a feeling she's seen me before. If she were a lesser person I'd think she was trying to punish me for her death with emotional manipulation. It's like with Papyrus. It's easier if they hate you, if they blame you."
"I wouldn't know anything about that," Flowey claimed.
"And it's not the same anyway."
"Why? Because I'll remember?" he challenged. "Because I don't have to. In fact, I don't even know for sure you haven't killed me countless times and just done a true reset so I'd forget."
She drew back, strangely hurt. "Would I really be here talking to you about this if I had?"
"Chara, I don't know what you would and wouldn't do anymore," Flowey said honestly. "I can understand the appeal of consequence-free slaughter, I really can. But I never thought you would really die and I never thought you'd really try to start a war."
Something on her face must be wrong again because he started to shake again. Still, she had to say it. "And I wasn't wrong, was I? You didn't even do anything, you were just returning my body, and they killed you. Killed us. Humans will never understand. They won't even try to."
"Not just humans," Flowey said. "I know you're right. I know. It took me long enough to figure that out."
"Is that why you think I'm going to kill you?"
"I said you would kill whatever got in your way," Flowey said. "I've seen no reason to believe otherwise. Even when you don't waste time hunting down every little scurrying creature that runs away from you, you always kill the ones who try to kill you."
"After all the hell that Undyne put me through, she's lucky I don't reload just to keep killing her more often," Chara growled. "That thing with the spear as she chased me through Waterfall? When she kept me from fleeing if I wanted to? She signed her own damn death sentence. Every time."
"And all they did to inconvenience you was fight you."
"Yes, all they did was try to kill me, sometimes lecturing me on how selfish I am for not lying down and dying for their convenience," Chara said bitterly. "I want to kill her again."
"You'll have your chance, I'm sure," he said dryly. "They tried to kill you. They usually failed. And when they didn't it was barely a bother to reach for your SAVE. Whereas I…"
"You?" She knew but she wanted to hear how he'd put it. Maybe it would help her understand.
"I knew what you intended to do. I told you I'd never doubt you. I told you I helped you. I gathered up the flowers, I watched you die in the worst agony I've ever seen. And I've experimented quite a bit with death, you know. And I took you to the surface, like I promised. And I…"
She waited.
He took a deep breath and tried again. "I didn't let you do it. We came up there, you died, because we needed the six souls. And I wouldn't let you do it. You wouldn't have died at all if I hadn't agreed, if we weren't going to save them. And I wouldn't let you do it. I was weak and foolish. And then they attacked me. They didn't even try to see what was going on. They just saw something they didn't understand and they murdered me. You were so right about them, Chara. Of course you were, you were the only one who knew them. And I still wouldn't do it. And I couldn't even keep my promise to leave you there. And I came back and I died and you died again and all of it was for nothing. My parents lost us both and everyone fell into despair and we're still trapped."
He seemed to be waiting for a reaction.
"Yes," she said.
He wilted. "I got you killed, Chara. I watched you die. I knew how horrible your death was. Then I failed you. Then I made your sacrifice worthless. No one has ever gotten in your way more than I have. And you kill those who get in your way. And I can promise I won't all I like. I can even mean it. But I meant it then, too, and I wasn't even a betrayer or a killer then. I even had a soul, then."
"You did betray me, when you ran to your father," Chara said. "I knew you had. It was obvious, even if he didn't understand. Killing him…well if we want to talk about inconveniencing how was I ever supposed to get to the surface when you destroyed his soul? I killed everyone else."
Flowey drew back. "Oh."
"Not that it matters. Resetting is so simple and I'm in no hurry to figure this out. I had more pressing concerns anyway."
"So what are you saying? You expect me to betray and you aren't going to kill me?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe you," Flowey said.
She sighed. "I can't force you to."
"Even if you don't plan on killing me now, what's to say you won't plan on killing me later? These things get easier the more you do it."
"Killing the others is practically like killing automatons at this point, for all the variation. I would have to truly reset every time if I wanted that experience with you. Which I don't. And if you stayed out of the way until it was time to tell me the story of how I destroyed you, I don't think I would ever have the heart."
"What?" Flowey looked stunned. "How you…how you destroyed me?"
"Well, yes," Chara said. "Have you really not considered it that way?"
His silence was answer enough.
"You're so focused on how you failed me that you forget that you were happy, Asriel."
"I'm not-"
"You were," she interrupted. "You and your parents. They won that stupid nose nuzzling competition a few years before I arrived. They were always embarrassing us with their affection. They wanted to be free, yes, but they understood why they weren't. Then I came. Then I made you all watch me die. And I thought 'This will hurt them but it will be worth it if I can save them.'"
"But you couldn't. Because of me," Flowey argued.
"But it was my plan. And I practically forced you to help me, don't pretend that I didn't," she said. "And I took you up to the surface even though I knew what humans were like. And I wouldn't even tell you why I hated them, I wouldn't even let you know what to expect. And I knew what a soft touch you were. It's only surprising how surprising I found what happened. I should have known you'd never do it."
"So now you're blaming yourself for my betrayal?" he asked skeptically.
"It's not even that, not really," Chara said. "People die. But I watched you die from the inside. I was there when your parents found you, when they realized what was happening. And it was all for nothing. They lost me, they lost you, and none of it mattered. And now there's…this," she waved vaguely at him, "and it wouldn't have happened without my plan. So how can I add to that? How can I finish the job and kill you again? Kill you when we don't even know what will happen?"
Flowey was quiet for a long time. "It's kill or be killed."
She smiled. "I've done quite a bit of both."
"Is it guilt, then? You didn't force me to do anything and I'm the one who failed in the end."
Guilt was a waste of time. "I just don't want to see you suffer more. I just refuse to be the one who makes you do it."
He laughed harshly. "And you think having you spare me again and again and again, watching you have perfectly friendly interactions with people, watching you hug my mother while she calls you her child doesn't do that? I couldn't even if I wanted to."
"Asriel-"
"Will you stop calling me that?"
"Why can't you stand to hear that name?" she asked. "It's just a name."
"If it was just a name you'd call me Flowey," he bit back.
"I'm sorry to say you inherited your father's naming abilities," Chara said. "Do you remember that joke we used to have about how your mother must have named you because combining your parents' names might not be original but your father probably would have just called you Son?"
"Of course I remember," he said harshly. "What does it matter? I'm not Asriel."
"You may not have a soul and your body may be different but you have all the same memories and I think I'd know my own best friend. A friendship you keep laying claim to, too, might I remind you."
"So I'm a soulless talking flower with Asriel's memories," Flowey said.
"You've referred to your parents as your parents."
"Old habits die hard."
"Why won't you just be Asriel?" she asked again.
He gave her a looking just dripping with condescension. "Because I can't be. I'm not who I used to be."
"The person you used to be being Asriel?" she asked innocently.
He looked annoyed. "Yes, of course Asriel. But I'm not the same. There's nothing about me that's like him and don't pretend that that's not true."
"It's not true," she said. She didn't have to pretend. Much had changed, of course it had, but that was to be expected after what had happened. If he had lived through the human attack and still had his soul he probably would have still ended up a lot more like her than she had wanted.
"You're impossible."
"You think I haven't changed?" she demanded. "Would the me of before have ever been the kind of person to make you think you had to fear? Would I have ever killed all the monsters, even if I could always fix it? Or what about your parents? Would your mother have turned her back on everything and content herself condemning your father from a distance instead of trying to actually stop him? Would your father have had six dead children under his belt and looking to collect the seventh?"
"No one's changed as drastically as I have, Chara. Not even you," Flowey said stubbornly.
"So what? It's still you."
"And what if it is?" he demanded. "What do you think is going to happen? It's not like any of us can rewind time back that far. We can't stop ourselves from carrying out our plan or at least make sense we do it right. You can't make me believe I'm Asriel and I'll regrow a soul and stop being a flower. Even if you do care about me, you can't fix this. You can't even make me properly care about you."
Chara was fairly certain she had never given someone such an unimpressed look in her life.
"I don't! Not really. It's more nostalgia and idle wishing!" he insisted. "I hoped that my father could fix me and he couldn't. I thought my mother must be able to and she couldn't. You were the only chance I had and you can't, either."
"You never were a good liar."
"I'm not lying!" he spat out. "I can't feel positive emotions. I can't care about people!"
"You can't feel positive emotions, perhaps," she allowed. Though, really, how was she supposed to just accept that after seeing the way he looked at her from the moment he realized who she was right up until it occurred to him that he might be in danger, too? "But several people were grandfathered in there and if you couldn't feel anything for them – for us – it wouldn't hurt so much."
"Who said anything about it hurting?" he challenged.
"You've killed your father several times just in front of me," she said. "I can't imagine you haven't experimented with killing your mother, too. You didn't seem to care when I did, either. But tell me, after that first time when you revealed yourself to try and fix things, have you ever told them?"
Flowey looked away. "There wasn't any point. I'd already seen how they would react to me in this form and I have no interest in their worthless pity."
"That's only scenario, though," she pointed out. "You told me you did everything. And I've found plenty of delicious little differences in how I can kill the same person. When they see it coming, when they don't, when I let them think the fight is over…Have you really never thought to tell them the truth before killing them, just to see what it would be like?"
"I might've," he said suddenly, viciously, "but you took away my toy before I was done playing with it. I have no interest in getting in your way while you merrily slaughter them."
"Your wish to stay out of my way certainly hasn't stopped you from repeatedly killing your father. And you didn't tell him who you were when you ran from me."
"I had other things on my mind," Flowey said. "And he's useless when you break his heart. You know he is. Simply failing to kill you is enough to push him to suicide."
She made a noncommittal noise.
"What are you even trying to do, Chara?" he demanded. "Convince me you won't kill me? You can't speak for forever. And what then, anyway? Nothing's going to change for me."
"You don't know that."
He laughed, loud and long and so full of defeat it hurt her very soul to hear. "Yes. I do."
There appeared to be nothing to say after that.
She stared at him for a minute more, wanting desperately to argue but not knowing what to say.
So she reset.
And he didn't show up that time.
But that was alright. She wouldn't know what to say if he did.