Frisk took a few tentative steps forward. They did it once, so they could do it again. A shadow peered at them from across the corridor as Frisk approached.

"your face…" Sans muttered.

"i'm pretty good at reading faces, but i've got no idea what's happening," the comedian admitted. "it looks kinda like you just died once, but you've also got the same dull annoyance as you do after dying a dozen or more times."

Silence lingered in the air for a moment. "did something else kill ya? heh, you deserved it, freak."

Instantly, the skeleton attacked. Even if the timing was unexpected, Frisk was prepared.

The rest of the battle was no harder than last time. They'd seen every one of his attacks before. It took even less time before the skeleton died.

Before Frisk moved on, they went back to their save point and updated their save file. Afterwards, they continued with less trepidation than last time.

As Frisk walked in to the throne room again, the same weighted music played. Frisk didn't bother with Asgore's words. The king didn't even have time to turn around.

"Curious, I've never-"

The king was instantly cut off by a slash. He was on one knee as friendliness pellets surrounded him and closed in, killing the king. His soul was shattered the same way.

The weed popped up in front of Frisk, shaking a bit.

"So, uh, Chara? You killed me…" he trailed off. His face twisted in confusion.

Frisk's hand twitched, so Flowey quickly sputtered out more dialogue. "B-But now you've come back! There's no one else here. That smiley trashbag's gone. The king certainly wasn't why you came back." The flower's expression twitched into a smile at his joke.

"So, did you come back for me?" Flowey asked with a shaky smile. "Did you regret it? Did you come back so we could be together?!" Flowey's mouth hung out in a desperate grin, as if he was convincing himself.

When it was clear Flowey was done, Frisk slashed at him, producing a satisfying, crunchy sound. The flora screamed, before it was cut off by another slash and another until there was nothing left of their best friend.

Frisk looked up at the throne, only to see that the stranger already had their gun aimed at them.

A loud bang erupted through the room. Frisk hadn't had their guard up yet. They had died again.

The cowboy lifted their gun in front of their face and blew on the smoking barrel.

So… this new boss had knowledge of Frisk's control over the timeline, at least to some extent. It begged to question whether they were like Sans and gleamed that this wasn't their first encounter from context clues, such as Flowey's dialogue, or if they could remember them entirely, like Flowey could.

Frisk was grateful that they had updated their save file after killing Sans. If Frisk didn't, they'd spend more time fighting him than in the throne room.

Frisk walked into the throne room. Once again, Asgore's back was to Frisk. They walked right up and gave him a hearty slice with their knife. Asgore fell to his knees before Flowey finished off the reigning monarch.

Flowey turned to their partner and gulped, smiling. "Howdy again. It's me, your best pal, Flowey."

Flowey's mouth hung open for a moment before he closed it and sighed. His smile dropped into a genuine expression of confusion.

"Why did you bring me back? It doesn't look like you did it for my sake…"

The gears in Flowey's mind turned. Then, he donned a look of shocked realization and fear. "I- It's revenge, isn't it?! I- I killed you ov-v-ver and ov-ver again with the- the six souls. Now s- since I can r- remember it, you're t- taking the s- same s- sick pleasure killing me ov-ver and over and over again. Y- You-"

Frisk swung their knife at Flowey, cutting him off with his own scream. Frisk held their knife up for another swing-

Bang!

Frisk wasn't prepared. They died in an instant.

"Huh?" Flowey mumbled.

Frisk clenched their fists. Again, they weren't prepared. Then again, this mysterious cowboy didn't even let them finish their prior battle.

Frisk's patience was worn thin. They immediately charged in, seeing Asgore turned towards Flowey, who was perfectly visible, shocked, and stuttering. Frisk took a step forward- and was suddenly shot. They died. Again.

"WHAT?!" Flowey screamed.