And Follow Through
Frisk took their time heading back to the barrier. Asgore said that he was okay with them staying until their natural death or until the monster population reached a critical point. He probably wouldn't begrudge them any amount of time they took to meet him at the barrier. All he wanted was an answer from them when they got there.
Talking with Asgore brought some new information to light. They weren't the final soul in a collection, rather the unfortunate soul to be last in line. The monsters that they had met, Asgore included, were generally good people. They couldn't say that they liked Flowey or Sans or Undyne, but Mettaton was cool! Napstablook was really nice to them. Toriel treated them like they were her kid, at least until she made them leave. And Asgore shared tea and a snack with them. Frisk couldn't help but feel some empathy for the monsters.
The monsters were trapped against their will underground and couldn't escape. They weren't even able to ask for help. They had to wait until a human fell down and beg them for help, which they might not receive. It almost felt parallel to their own situation.
Frisk was stuck in their situation at home, at school. Bullies and adults who wouldn't listen to them kept pushing them down and ignoring them. When they asked their teacher for information, and then their mom to listen, she wouldn't. Asking her to listen did nothing, and they stayed stuck. Until they ran away.
And now, they were going to run away from the Underground too. As much as they could relate in some way to the monsters and their situation, Frisk knew that just asking for help didn't work. You could scream and beg and plead and bargain as much as you wanted, but the world doesn't listen. In this world, it's not kill or be killed like Flowey said, not literally, at least. In this world, you had to look out for yourself, or be lost.
So to look out for themselves, Frisk resolved, once again, to cross the barrier and go home. They had an old knife, a toy knife, and a frying pan in their pockets, as far as weapons went. They decided that the pan would be the best option. They didn't want to kill Asgore, but they could live with injuring him if they managed to hit him at all. Frisk tested the weight of the pan in their hand. It was heavy and unbalanced. At least swinging it around wouldn't take any skill. If they chose the knife, there was a chance that they'd accidentally hurt themselves instead.
"Wear the locket," the voice whispered, "It'll throw him off, at least for a few rounds."
How did the voice know that? Did it know the Asgore?
"You could say that."
Not going to expand on that?
The voice stayed silent. It must not be that important. Even so, they took the locket out of their pocket and strung it around their neck.
Rooms passed by more quickly than they wished. Soon enough, they were back in the throne room. Behind the throne is the hallway to the barrier. As much as they didn't want to, Frisk knew that they had to fight. They had to get home. They had to see their parents again and make sure that their parents heard them when they reveal their name.
It wouldn't matter if their parents didn't understand. Frisk would say their name and stand up for themselves if they had to. No more crying for help that wouldn't come. No more begging for understanding and kindness when it didn't exist. They would fight until Asgore gave them what they needed to pass.
Frisk stepped into the room where the barrier met the ground. Asgore stood in front of it, pulses of light flowing towards the anchor point. Asgore turned to meet them.
"Have you decided?" he asked.
Frisk nodded. "I have. I feel for your predicament, but I cannot stay. I don't want to kill you, but I will fight my way out if I have to." They brought the pan up in front of their body, bracing themselves.
"I see," Asgore said as he looked to the floor, "I understand. I do not want to hurt you either, but I must do what is right for my kingdom."
Asgore's stance widened and he raised a hand to the ceiling. The two of them were surrounded in a ring of fire, much hotter than the flames Toriel had wielded against them. A trident appeared in his open hand and swung it down towards them. The world lost colour and the fight had begun.
When Asgore looked at them, he paused for a moment, allowing Frisk to take a swing with the frying pan. To their surprise, it connected. For the first time, they was a bar floating over Asgore like a health bar in a video game. It was reduced a little after their strike.
They felt some relief, knowing how much damage Asgore could take. They could stop just before killing him. Thank goodness.
Asgore summoned waves of small fireballs. Frisk dodged left and right, forward and back, moving their soul out of the paths of the flames. A few stray flames made small holes in their shirt, but nothing worse than they would get from playing too rough at the park.
While dodging, they inched their way closer to Asgore to strike again. He didn't even try to avoid the hit, he just took it and grimaced. His eyes flashed blue and orange before he swung his trident at them again. They noticed that the trident changed colours in the same pattern as his eyes, but it was too late. They were stuck across the soul. Their vision turned white for a second as the pain hit them.
This was worse than Undyne. They couldn't take another hit like that. They would make sure to back off as soon as possible after hitting him.
It took some time, but Frisk slowly wore Asgore down. They would slowly creep towards Asgore when he was throwing fire at them, then strike and back off before the trident could skewer them. Slowly but surely, Asgore's health bar crept towards zero.
Suddenly, with about one quarter of his health bar remaining, Frisk's strike emptied it of all but a sliver of health. Asgore crouched in pain and stopped the fight.
"The war has gone on long enough. Human, Frisk, it is not too late to choose to stay." Asgore said. This was his last chance to beg, after all. "I promise, I will look after you. You won't want for anything down here, if you stay until we can free ourselves. Please."
"To quote your own words, I cannot." Frisk said. This world didn't cater to beggars.
"Then take my soul and leave this cursed place. You have won, so it is your right. I do not begrudge your victory. I only hope that someone can step in as ruler to keep the hopes and dreams of my people alive." Asgore bowed his head and released the walls of fire. "Please, make it quick. Strike me down and go home."
Frisk raised the pan above their head. They had never killed anyone before. They had barely ever tried to hurt anyone before, but this showed that they were certainly capable. It wasn't like they had to aim for a vital point either, they just had to hit him like they were intending to bruise. Maybe that would make it easier to take his life. Pretend that he would only end up with a bruise.
As they hesitated, a ring of seeds appeared around Asgore, and suddenly struck the centre of his being. Asgore disintegrated. A pile of fine powder was on the ground where Asgore once stood, and a small upside-down white heart hovered in the air. Frisk stared for a few seconds, and the heart shattered. Was that Asgore's soul? Had they just missed their chance?
Flower popped out of the ground in front of Asgore's dust. His face morphed into a wicked grin.
"You IDIOT! I told you, in this world, it's kill or be killed. Now you're stuck here. The king's soul is gone! And I thank you for the opportunity. From the very bottom of my non-existent heart." Flowey laughed.
Six thick vines rose from the ground, each one grasping a glowing heart. There was one for each colour of the rainbow except red. What was Flowey doing?
"I could never get past the king, but you went and distracted him for me! I was able to take the human souls!" Flowey gloated.
Didn't Asgore say that he let the humans go? Did Asgore lie to them when he said that? No, he couldn't have. They saw the coffins. The empty one glowed with their soul colour when they got close. The other six were painted over. If Asgore had the souls, then those coffins would have glowed.
So where did these coloured "human" souls come from?
"When I woke up as a flower, I talked to the king, told him what happened. He was so emotional, and I realized that I couldn't feel anything at all." Was Flowey really going to use this time to give his backstory? "I couldn't feel anything about anyone! Eventually, I made my way to the ruins and found her. I thought that she, if anyone, could make me feel something. But she failed. I became despondent, I didn't care. I decided to follow your path. I decided that life wasn't worth living anymore."
Frisk didn't think that they'd be able to relate to a flower, of all things, but the lack of feeling was too familiar to them.
"I succeeded. As I was dying, I felt something primal inside of me. It was a new magic, one that I didn't have before. Can you guess what it was? Determination. That human brand of magic flowed through me. Before I knew it, I was back in the garden before I had even seen the king. Imagine what I could do with such a power! I could go back and do anything I wanted!" Flowey grinned. He seemed pleased with himself.
Frisk was scared. He's saying that he can go back in time when he dies? That's kind of messed up and also overpowered. It was too much like what the voice did for them when they were facing Undyne. It was little wonder that the flower went psycho if death no longer had meaning to him. If killing himself meant that he could start over, why wouldn't he do it? Over and over until he got whatever he wanted.
"I helped everyone, I killed everyone, I read every book, I burned every book, I did everything I could possibly do. I heard everything that everyone could possibly say. Life was boring and unpredictable until you came along. I could never predict you." Flowey laughed again, "Isn't it exciting! Now we can keep playing this game, forever. Or so I thought. When you showed up, I couldn't reset time anymore. And why is that? I bet it's because of your Determination!"
What? That didn't line up with what Asgore told them. Why would one human's magic stop another's from working? Plus, they shouldn't have the same powers. They knew that the voice, whatever they were, could do something that involved preserving. It preserved their "state" when they were facing Undyne and restored it when they died to her.
Flowey was claiming that he had similar powers, but that shouldn't be possible. Maybe if he had the voice's soul, but he didn't. He said he had no soul, and the voice was stuck to them, not to him. So what was going on?
"Somehow, your Determination is greater than mine. How did you get back to the Ruins from here? Wait… I know. She must have taken you when she left. But then what made you wake up? I know you're there, I saw you when the fish caught you. You were using the same powers as me! There's only one way that that could be!"
Flowey grinned again and raised the soul up above himself. "It doesn't matter now. Let's finish what we started. Let's free everyone, let's see what humanity is really like, and then let's go back and start our game over again. For once, I'll win our game!"
Frisk heard a voice calling them from behind.
"My child-"
The person was cut off as Flowey brought all six of the "human" souls to the centre of his being and absorbed them. The world went completely black. The only thing that Frisk could see was their soul. They couldn't even see their body anymore. It was just their soul in this black space.
They looked around. In all directions, there was nothing.
An ominous rumble startled them. Appearing from nowhere, an overgrown plant with the six souls powering a screen for its face slowly lowered itself towards them. From the screen, they heard Flowey's distinct laughter.
"I'll kill you, over and over again, and then I'll start again! As long as you're playing with me, I'll never be bored again! I know you'll do it too! You're the only one that understands me!" Flowey claimed.
Was he really Flowey anymore? Is this what monsters were talking about when they said that one who absorbed the human souls would become a god? What was Flowey the god of?
Flowey started throwing attacks at them without restraint. Flies flew at them, vines struck them, miniature nuclear bombs were thrown at them. For the first time since falling into the Underground, this fight was in full colour.
"I see you agree! Your eyes are even glowing! You do understand!"
Frisk had no idea what Flowey was talking about. They couldn't see their own body and they knew that their eyes didn't glow. Human eyes don't do that. Maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to see.
A vine struck them through their soul. The pain was blinding and they felt their soul shatter. Immediately, they were restored. Flowey wasn't kidding when he said that he'd kill them. The only reason they were still alive was because he wanted someone to play with.
But Frisk didn't want to play this game. They did their best to dodge his nonstop attacks. Occasionally, they'd take a swing with and invisible arm. Flowey's health bar was ticking down, one point at a time. Unfortunately, he seemed to have thousands of health points. And he could restore himself whenever he wanted. This fight was surely impossible.
"You can't possibly win this time! But don't let me have all the fun. I'll let the human souls each drag you into their own version of hell. Your despair, your screams, they make me feel so alive again! With these souls inside me, I can feel again!" Flowey exclaimed.
He pulled the cyan soul forward. Large spinning knives surrounded them and threatened to cut their soul in two if they stayed still for too long. Dodging took all of their concentration. Ahead, somewhere in the distance, a faint pale blue light shone.
"HEY! COME HELP ME!" Frisk screamed towards the light. As expected, no one came to help them. The knives began to spin faster and faster. Dodging became nearly impossible. Just before one of the knives cleaved them in half, all of the knives burst into bright green bandages. The bandages floated towards them and removed the pain in their soul. Did calling for help actually work?
Flowey pulled them back into a fight with him again before sending them into the next soul's "hell." This time it was the orange soul. Rings of boxing gloves would float around and sporadically shoot out towards them. Getting hit was painful, but they could take it. It didn't feel any worse than getting winded.
A faint orange light glowed in the distance. Frisk decided that it couldn't hurt to try shouting for help again. "HELP ME!" they screamed into the distance. As before, the gloves started moving faster, hitting them harder and more often. Just as they were about to faint from the beating, the gloves turned bright green. They managed to move their soul to collect some of them. Once again, they felt rejuvenated.
They figured if they could keep this up, Flowey might get tired of this game. With any luck, he'd stop fighting them and just reset everything like he said he would. If these hells weren't working, then he'd have to stop doing this and try something else.
Frisk was pulled into four other hells designed by the "human" souls. The blue soul had ballet shoes that tried to crush them. The purple soul had giant papers with words that would leave the pages and fly at them. The green soul tossed huge drops of oil from a frying pan. The yellow soul tried to shoot them with a gun.
Somehow, they survived it all. Flowey continued to rain his own hell on them. They were bombarded from all sides by vines and flies and bombs and friendliness pellets and probably even more things that they weren't registering. All they could do was dodge, die, and be brought back.
This was the true hell.
In the middle of all of this, the only thing they could do was cry out. "Stop all this, Flowey! You win! Isn't that what you want? Just stop torturing me!"
Flowey just laughed, "I know I'm winning. That's why I can't stop! And with all these souls inside me, I can even enjoy my victory. Your pathetic cries only make me want to do more!"
That's right. The "human" souls. "HELP ME! ANYONE, HELP ME!"
"There's no one here to help you! You're all alone! This is my world, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Flowey exclaimed.
Flowey's attacks sped up. They became faster, more vicious, more powerful. In the middle of it all, a random bright green bandage appeared amidst the flurry of friendliness pellets. Frisk moved their soul towards it as quickly as they could. As they absorbed the bandage, they swung their invisible arm with the frying pan at Flowey. This time, he took some real damage.
Whatever these "human" souls were, they were helping. Whenever Frisk saw any of the bright green objects, they absorbed them and swung their arm. All the thumbs-up gloves, music notes, positive words, clovers, and donuts gave them a chance to try to bring Flowey down. They stayed determined and chipped away at his health bar bit by bit. If Flowey noticed, he didn't comment.
After dodging endless attacks and being killed by countless more, Flowey's health bar finally ticked down to zero.
Flowey screamed. "This is impossible! The human souls shouldn't be rebelling against me!"
Everything paused for a moment before Flowey's health bar was brought back to full. The screen showed the troll face from those memes that Frisk had seen online.
"I am the god of this world. Did you really think that you could defeat me?" Flowey asked, "If I can reload your death, what's stopping me from reloading my own? Do you get it yet? YOU. CAN'T. WIN!"
The souls all started glowing brighter. They separated themselves from their capsules around Flowey's' screen and started rotating around him.
"W-wait. What are you doing?" Flowey stuttered. He looked concerned, "You can't go against me! I'm your god! You're under my power! NO!"
Flowey frowned in concentration. "Why is my save not working? What's going on? Why can't I reload?"
The souls glowed brighter and spun faster. The glow blinded Frisk and Flowey screamed.
Moments later, they felt a hand on their shoulder. They were back in front of the barrier and Flowey was laying on the ground, motionless.
Frisk looked towards the owner of the hand. It was Toriel. Why the hell was she here after she had abandoned them a week ago? Was it really only a week ago?
"My child, I am glad you are safe." Toriel said as she picked them up and pulled them into a hug. Frisk took the moment to enjoy how safe they felt in her arms. She had hurt them, but for some reason, they still wanted her to hold them and love them.
"You didn't… kill Asgore did you? I thought I saw some wicked flower attack him while you two were sparing each other." Toriel asked.
Frisk shook their head. That was the truth. Flowey had killed Asgore when they were too weak-willed to finish him off themselves.
"I know I must have hurt you my child, when I closed off the Ruins. But I am so glad to see you safe. For every fallen child, I have done the same thing. I have raised them, begged them to stay, but they all leave eventually. So I give them a week to find Asgore before I come to bring them back. So far, you are the first I have been able to save. I do no know what Asgore has done with the rest." Toriel explained.
"Now that I have found you, I can bring you back home. I can take care of you until the monsters can provide the necessary magic to supplement a second soul. We can break the barrier together. You just need to be patient. Will you please come home, and stay with me?"
That was a lot to take in. Toriel still wanted them? That was a terrible way to show it. How could she kick them out and then come back an beg them to live with her for some unknown amount of time after a week of ignoring their calls. How dare she!
Instead of yelling or crying, Frisk just backed away. If they were right, they still had one other option. As much as they loved Toriel, the way she treated them was toxic. They wanted desperately to be loved, but it couldn't be from her.
Frisk shook their head and gave a small smile when they looked her in the eyes. "I have somewhere to be."
Toriel gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "I'm sorry I could not be better for you. My home is always open to you if you decide to return. Though, I suppose you have new friends to stay with instead. Good luck, my child." Toriel turned and left.
Now it was just Frisk, Flowey, and Asgore's dust left in front of the barrier. The "human" souls were conspicuously absent. Frisk stepped over the pile of dust and approached Flowey. They grabbed him by the stem so he couldn't escape.
"Are you going to spare me? It won't change anything, you know. I haven't learned anything from this." Flowey admitted.
Frisk stayed silent. They wanted to hear what excuse he was going to give.
"Killing is the only way to end this. Kill me and leave! I dare you! I know you'll be back. Whatever drove you to come here in the first place will send you right back. We're the same, you know. Nothing will ever satisfy us." Flowey taunted, "So you'll kill me, you'll leave, and eventually you'll come back. Then we can start again. We will play again, over and over forever. In the end, it's always been just you and me."
Frisk tightened their grip on his stem. Slowly, they took the old knife out of their pocket. It still looked pretty sharp. Maybe it was overkill to use the knife when plucking him from the ground would do the job just fine.
Maybe, but they wanted him to hurt just once. They wanted him to feel the blade slicing his very being in two as he fell to them. He said he had determination too? That should be plenty for them to take his body and cross the barrier.
Flowey saw the knife and gave one last taunt. "I knew it. I look forward to seeing you again."
Frisk severed the stem just below their fist. Flowey died laughing. Flower in hand, they stepped into the barrier and walked towards their future. Flowey's body disintegrated and they walked into the bright light ahead.
They made it back to the surface. Alone.