✱ Intermission I

Flowey was practically flat against the palms of her paws at this point, removed from soil for too long and having expended all of his energy. He started to wilt inward with the creeping cold sensation of withering. It was a sensation he had rarely experienced in all his time as a golden flower, it wasn't like he had ever really pushed himself to this point regularly. He had pushed himself to the point of death several times over, but to him this was different.

This was one of those things that made him grossly uncomfortable, it was related to his nature as a plant which he did best not to consider.
A limitation of nature, not wrong or gross but the simple fact was at his core he was now a plant.

To wither is a slow, cold, excruciating feeling. It started in his roots and slowly made its way back in, a sensation like being slowly dipped into cold water.
He'd prefer immediate death any day compared to this.

The entire trip back he had kept his eyes shut tight, doing his best not to spend energy he couldn't. To meet his end now would be rather fitting after the day he's had with the young monster carrying him. He made sure she was alright and in his mind, it wouldn't be so bad.

Better than shamefully letting anyone see me like this and know who I really am.

It was a bit warmer for a while, Flowey could hear the distant clanging of Sariel's feet against something metal before softening as she stepped on something else, with that it also grew colder. He could feel a draft passing the two, especially through the girl's digits.

Despite not looking he could hear perfectly and with all that experience he could tell exactly where they were.

New Home.

The flora did his best to focus on breathing while resting in her paws. They were warm and her grip was gentle but he could feel they were worn from the adventure. Her fur was matted and splayed, with bits of dirt and sediment tangled within them, he could also tell she had a number of broken nails. As his vines rubbed against her arm, he could even feel a few scrapes and cuts, the sensation of loose dust from her.

Despite this, she carried on, like she was in good shape.

He began to awaken to the sound of a whistling tune he hadn't heard before, just as he started to enjoy it Sariel stopped her little performance to speak.
Seemingly taking notice of his subtle movements.

"You know… that was kind of fun."

Oh, shut the hell up.

He couldn't manage to speak the words out, but he certainly would have given her a small but endearing piece of his mind at this moment.
He slowly peaked at her with one eye. She looked down at him blinking a few times curiously.

The boss monster's mouth contorted into a small smile, her cheeks were already wet with a few tears, overwhelmed by the days events.

"I knew you could hear me, you weren't responding most of the way up. But I knew you were okay!" she exclaimed.

"You cannot be serious about the fun part…" he weakly replied, still intent on protesting her idea of 'fun'.

"No, you're right, it was only a little fun."

A few seconds of silence after that, and the two shared in a little laugh. Even though it hurt, this monster truly tickled him to his core.

What a pair we are.

With both eyes opened now, Flowey took a good look at Sariel. Looked just like how her palms felt, he thought.
Sariel's face was covered in dirt, gravel and scratches, her ears took the heaviest beating it seemed. Her robe appeared totally ruined, torn asunder.

Flowey knew for a fact that she probably didn't feel much better than he did but she managed to bring him this far without so much as a complaint, continuing to carry herself forward, he couldn't recall the whole thing obvious but she carried him through Hotland, through the Core and now back 'Home'.

Without so much as a complaint.

For a moment Flowey closed his eyes again and recalled that this is what it must have been like to be carried, much as he had done with his human sibling, not that they knew what it felt like as they were the one doing most of the heavy work.

Opening his eyes again he could see that the two were nearing the former throne room again, perfect timing, he thought.

"Heh… Hey… " he asked, trying to get the girl's attention,
"Please, drop me in some soil? please…" He couldn't help but groan, the feeling of speaking loudly sending a ripple through his withered being.

Oh, the agony of being a flower.

She stopped immediately and complied with his request doing so hastily.

Getting on both her knees, she brought down her paws to place them on a patch of dirt that was free from most of the golden flowers.
She tilted her paws downward allowing Flowey to slide off of them and onto the ground.

He was a nasty wilted little thing looking very pale and sickly, less like a flower and more like ginger root.

Once off of her paws and onto the ground he submerged himself slowly into the dirt, from Sariel's perspective it must have seemed like he was absorbed by the earth itself he imagined.

Once gone, she rose up with worry. Sariel continued to stare at the ground waiting for something, anything, a sign perhaps that he was going to be okay.

"Flowey?" she called out a few times over, "Flowey are you still in there?" her tone growing more worried.

The only response seemed to be a distant echo from the halls beyond back at her.

As Flowey quickly took root in the earth once more, hurriedly burying his vines and making himself comfortable. Once felt better and was decently presentable, he heaved a heavy sigh and re-emerged from the ground proudly. Stretching upward taller than he had when first meeting the monster. All healed, all better.

"Yes! I'm here! I'm still…" There was no sight of her.

"Sariel...?"

He took a look around the throne room for her, not noticing where she went before finally tilting himself to look upward.

Sariel, in her ruined clothes sat atop the highest edge of the former King's throne, her legs dangling down, she kicks her feet back and forth childishly.
Upon seeing Flowey, she lit up with a smile and a few happy laughs, pressing her paws to her cheeks.

"There you are! What are you doing up there?"

"I knew I would probably have to wait so I got comfortable."

Flowey smiled back at her for a moment, happy that the two had made it out just fine.

But after a few seconds, he got to thinking about the days events, his smile faded and quickly was transformed to a dower frown.

"I'm sorry." he squeaked out.

She looks shocked at his sudden display of sadness, "F-for what?" she shakes her head assuredly, "You did absolutely nothing wrong. I was the one who got us into that mess and you-"

"No no, I'm not talking about that, I mean I'm sorry you had to meet me. I'm really sorry." she traded a sad look with him but her's was likely confusion, she was unsure what to make of his apology.

Flowey could sense it, and took her silence as a confirmation continue, "Especially… like this. I stayed here in the Underground because I wanted to hide myself from others; I knew I'd only end up making them miserable again, I... can't move on..."

The thoughts ran through his head of what life was like before, before everyone was free, before the Human fell.
Possessing the power to help and do anything and he wasted it on killing, or... worse.

Turning his gaze downward he started to tear up a little, looking at his own rooted stem. What tethered him to the earth.
He was disgusted by this gross form he had to take.

"and yet, someone still found me... you found me and you offered me friendship."

Flowey had only met her a day ago, and already put her in harms way. He felt disgust within himself at just how reckless he could be.
The boss monster just gazed at him, letting out a heavy sigh.

Seemed she didn't take to his words lightly, but was blank on how to respond. Speaking up, she asked "Maybe it's fate?"

"Fate…" he repeated, "you seriously think so?" he looked upon her with wonder, tears continuing to well up in his inky black eyes, "I don't really believe in that stuff." He let out a stressed laugh that sounded more like a terrible wheeze.

"I mean… I guess? That's my take away." She called out to him, her head finding a resting spot on her palms.

"We're kind of like siblings if you think about it. In that way, it makes sense to me. I found my family."

If you could call a flower 'family', sure, I guess...

Flowey didn't really take to her comment well, not certain whether she believed that truly or was simply trying to cheer him up. Both were pretty stupid to him.

"But there's something you should know, I didn't tell you earlier..." she stopped herself short for a moment from finishing that thought, pressing together her paws nervously.
Her sudden pause causing him to finally look at her with some confusion. He didn't want to hear more cheery nonsense, he had heard it all time and again from others.

Sairel's snout stuck straight up, looking up toward the ceiling of the throne room. Flowey looked up upon it with her wondering with bated breath for her to stop being distracted and finish her thought.

The ceiling was a large ornate glass roof letting surface light beam in, just as the other glass panes had. But this one was far more clear than the others. For a time it was the closest any of the Monsters could come to actually being on the surface. The glass dome's interior depicts a Boss Monster meeting a human in combat, various names in fanciful ribbons decorate the stained glass display, they were of warriors and others fallen in the conflict, the Boss Monsters who fell during the war who were venerated forever as heros and saints.

Even when he was his old self, while he found it visually appealing Flowey didn't care much for this sort of thing.

Shaking himself by his stem he broke the trance.

"AHEM!" he called out, "What were you going to tell me?"

Sariel quickly shook her head and looked down at him " Oh Sorry! I've passed through this room many times but I've never looked up at that. It's so pretty."

Flowey glared at her with a dry laugh, "You're acting like a child. Now tell me."

She brought a finger to her lip, "I am not their natural child, I am something else, I am…" she seemed to have some trouble getting the words out.

"It was the Royal Scientist who made me."

Flowey took this information in, he had already gathered from their earlier frantic conversation on the matter that the two were more alike then what they seemed.
A certain little scientist set herself to work tinkering around with things she should have on the orders of Asgore, and what came of it? Abominable creations.

"

Not that surprising, you admitted earlier you had seen that terrible lab. I'm sure you know by now what went on there."
He shuddered at the thought of it all, it filled him with disgust."They were conducting experiments on the effects of something called Determination, she discovered the secrets of SOULs. Monster SOULs, Human SOULs, and the like…"

Sariel swallowed, and slowly untangled her paws from each other, she was really dragging her feet at what she had to say.

"It was there from her lab during experimentation that I was made... I'm not even really their real child. I'm not... real, not a real monster."
The thought alone seemed distressing to her, she was going over it like a broken record and it made Flowey recoil slightly with worry.

She reminded him of himself when he first took it all in.

She hopped off the top of the throne, landing with a stumble and standing just before Flowey.

"Well. There's nothing wrong with that, I mean just LOOK at how I turned out. I'm not really a monster myself... I can pass as one but I'm not one. I'm just some stupid flower now." The feelings were mutual, even if he had none, "I'd rather be dead, if I'm honest."

She knelt down to him on both her knees just before him, not caring if her clothes get anymore sullied "I'm so happy you're not. I'm happy I can share this with someone."
The words stabbed right into him, he found himself unable to look at her, with a grimace he looked away.

He knew that the monster before him could sense his pain, "Do you believe me?" she asked softly.

"I do." he whimpered out, feeling himself ready to crumble over at any moment.

"The Doctor's Flower experiments started a little before they made me, and continued long after I was gone, they couldn't have made me without learning from those first and…"

Flowey furrowed his brow uncertain of where she was going, he was tired and his patience wearing thin, "...and?"

"There's no easy way to say it." She whined slightly, placing her paws on either side of him

"Within the garden here, among golden flowers where you became dust... there were the remains of something beautiful, the remains of those SOULs so strong and powerful, it was like they were trying to pull together."

He froze at this revelation, never before had he read or seen anything within the Doctor's notes to suggest this at all.
He was simply dust, spread out among the flowers, this flower more lucky than the others. Figuring what remained of his eternal being gone forever.

If she found a SOUL why didn't she give it to me?

Was she saying what he thought she was saying? He couldn't help but let out an unconsciously whimper but stayed perfectly silent otherwise.

"I think it's you and your sibling, it has to be. The Doctor couldn't have made me without that Determination stuff and I couldn't have held any Determination without a Human SOUL…"

She points one of her mangled fingers into her chest, thinking she's being sweet but he finds their words chilling "You're both a part of me."

Flowey can't even pretend to hold back, his whimpers erupt into full blown sobs. He folds over, unable to support himself by his stem and crumples to the ground. Flowey wobbles. It's all too surreal in fact, part of his psyche still feels numb to all this new information.

"No, don't be sad! Please... Isn't this wonderful?" she placed her paws under his petals to hold him. The poor flower dared not protest and simply gave in, embracing her palms fully with his face.

"Your human friend, you, you're within me. At least parts of you are. I'm only alive because of you." she made a game try at attempting to comfort him, by rubbing the back of his stem as she had done before, this time with her thumb.

"This isn't right!" he shouted, "I don't deserve them! Still, even now. even after I FAILED them so miserably!"

Sariel awkwardly tried to corral the Flower with both of her hands to pull him closer but clearly was uncertain of how to do so.
"Oh shush you. You did what you thought was right. There is no shame in that Flowey, I'm sure your friend knew it."

"No..." Flowey began to sob harder than before, he was confused by all this information. Not sure what to make of it.
Time and again, he had visited the lab, squeezed Alphys dry of information, tried his best to return himself to normal without doing too much harm.
Nothing prepared him for this.

Maybe they weren't so bad after all? How could I have betrayed them so.

Sariel did her best to embrace him as he continued with his wails, she could see he was full of a pain not easily understood but always at the surface.
She understood him finally.

"That's it little buddy," she whispered, persisting with comforting him, even though he hated it but he couldn't fight it.

"Let it all out."

Flowey ceased his sobbing for a moment to get out a few more words, holding back a wave of coughing to do so "Oh, oh... don't even get me started... th-the things I've done… You'd hate me for it, and it'd be well-deserved. H-ha… Why do you think I was so upset? When you were talking about ME. As though he was pure... so free of sin..."

He shook his head violently thinking it over, he was a lowly wretched little weed who deserved a fate befitting him.

"That's the beauty of love... You can look past the mistakes of others, even if you never will completely understand why." she giggled, slowly letting go of the flower and allowing him to sit up on his own stem and come to. "I'm not sure why you feel so bad, but you should know I will always forgive you. I understand what it's like."

Flowey knew she had no one of understanding but maybe he could explain in the future.
Her words stung like a burn, she sounded exactly like his mother in this moment.

"Besides, you're alone anymore."

"Are… you sure…" he asked, "Are you sure you even want me around?"
The fallen prince snivels harder whilst shaking himself slightly. It's all he can do to dry the hot tears from his face without hands of his own.

"Of course I do, you're more than a friend, you're like family... a brother." she remarked, "and all we've got is each other right?"

The little Flowey nods in agreement, this entire day has been exhausting both physically and mentally. With a little yawn, the little flower settles down in the garden with their new sibling, gently leaning his head against her knee.

She looks upon him, and it seems in that moment there was a splash of magenta in her eyes. "We're together forever."