Bonetown Showdown
Chapter 30: Bonetown Showdown (See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Papyrus, once again, was right.
He couldn't just give up.
He couldn't afford not to care anymore.
"… So what's the plan?" Sans tried to ask calmly, even though his hands were trembling badly. "Storm the castle?"
This wasn't just stupid. It was unbelievably stupid. There was no way that it would work out.
"If we have to," Papyrus said grimly. "One way or another, we are not just going to sit by and let this happen. Capiche ?"
"Did… did you just capiche me?" Sans blinked in shock. "That's… that's my thing."
"There is not a chance in hell that I'm letting him get away with this! Maybe if we run we can catch up to them," Papyrus readjusted his scarf as he swiftly finished and donned his battle body, his eye sockets almost burning with intensity. "We're getting them back, and that's that. If the king disagrees with that, he can kiss my bony butt, now let's move, Sans!"
"P-Paps," he started uncertainly. How was he supposed to tell him? How was he expected to even understand just how pointless it all was? "Just… just listen to me for a sec-"
"Time is wasting, Sans," Papyrus clapped his hands on his shoulders. "On second thought, you had better stay here. It might not be safe for you. I'm going to talk to the king and get Frisk back!"
And with that he was bolting out the door, leaving a somewhat stunned Sans sitting at the kitchen table uncertain of quite what to do or even what he was doing. The front door hadn't even been closed, and a few stray snowflakes made their way inside. Sans rifled numbly through his jacket pockets for a moment before drawing out a dog biscuit. He lit it slowly and took a long, slow drag before blowing a smoke ring out through his nostril bone.
"… What am I doing," he stood slowly, shaking his head. "What in the actual fuck am I doing with my life."
The lights flickered momentarily as he vanished with a little burst of static that scorched the air, leaving the house empty once more.
Sans fell from the shortcut a little short of breath, and took a moment as he clasped his knees. He was getting too old for this. He wiped his brow and let out an unsteady breath, staring down yet again at the golden checkered hall that plagued his nightmares so frequently. Except this time, he wasn't waiting patiently leaning against one of the pillars. Frisk wasn't here. There was no dust littering the floor, no blood splatters and ruptured earth from broken bones.
That didn't mean he didn't still see it, though.
Sans closed his eye sockets momentarily and took a slow breath before forcing himself to walk, dragging his slippers across the tiles. He could do this. All he was doing was confronting the strongest monster in the entire Underground and was possibly walking right into his death.
But Frisk needed him.
Frisk needed him to be there for them.
For them… maybe death wasn't so bad.
Sans picked up the pace a little, clenching his fists in his pockets. The warm tingling in his chest was back and he finally allowed it to burn, the fire in his belly raging hotter than ever. Frisk needed him. There wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he wasn't going to be there for them. He could sense them, he could feel them not far away, and he didn't even stop as he trudged like a man on death row over the royal flowerbed. He felt one of his slippers get caught in the flowers, but when he checked there was nothing there. His head felt heavy and his mind was numb, but that was fine. He didn't particularly want to be especially lucid for what was coming next.
"Human."
The sound of Asgore's low baritone almost shook the stone walls as Sans descended closer and closer down the hall that lead to the barrier, that place that he had been so very many times. The barrier that kept them all locked down in this dark prison. And if Asgore had brought the human there, then there was only one thing that he meant to do. There was no longer any doubt in Sans's mind as to what he had to do.
"You know what it is that we must do," Asgore was kneeling a little in front of the shaking child. The collected souls were jutting up from the ground in their containers, one last empty container awaiting the child. He wasn't surprised to see that Undyne was no longer with him. Maybe she just couldn't watch as someone she'd betrayed was about to be killed. He dimly reminded himself to have words with her if he survived this. "I… I am sorry. It was… nice to meet you."
Asgore's hand flickered in a flash of red light as his familiar trident was summoned from thin air, his arms raised high to strike-
Asgore went crashing to the ground as his soul flashed blue, his trident skittering away across the stone floor. Frisk jolted at the sight, head whipping around to face him, their eyes full of terror.
"Beautiful day outside," Sans said calmly as he stepped toward the king out of the shadows, who was kneeling and struggling against gravity to pull himself up. Sans could feel the intense strain of keeping Asgore pinned to the ground, and it was a testament to the king's raw, snapping power that he was already shrugging it off. "Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming."
"Sans!" Asgore boomed, finally drawing himself up to his full height, his royal raiment flapping in the warm wind tossed about by the barrier. "What is the meaning of this?"
"What do you think ?" Sans's fists clenched tightly in his pocket as he stood next to Frisk. He felt so small compared to the king. He suddenly felt his own frailty, his own mortality staring him in the face. All it would take was a single hit. His soul was pounding furiously in his chest, but he pressed on regardless. It was impossible to keep the king down, he was stronger than Sans and he knew it. "You really think I'm just gonna sit back while you murder my kid?"
Asgore looked away, the shame clear on his face. He didn't look as angry as Sans expected. He anticipated shouting, screaming, demanding, threats… anything but that. He just looked so… old. So weary. So tired.
It hurt, in a familiar sort of way. Asgore was his friend. He had done unspeakable things for the king, and without question. But this… this was too far. He had to understand.
"It doesn't have ta end like this, your highness," Sans said quietly, placing a hand gently on Frisk's shoulder, who was glancing nervously back and forth between them. "C'mon, man. Let's… just talk about this. We-we could make somma that gross tea you like so much. Please, Asgore. Just… just don't take my babybones from me."
Asgore opened and closed his mouth several times, looking… uncertain. He finally snapped his jaw shut, sighing deeply, his hands falling limp at his sides.
"This… cannot change, Sans," Asgore said softly, looking away. "We are at war with humanity-"
"Against kids?" Sans insisted. "You really think a ten year old knows anything about warfare?"
"Their age does not change anything," he frowned, staring him down. "That human is the key to our freedom. To our salvation ."
And, for only a moment, he sounded like him .
"… It doesn't have to be this way," Sans tried desperately, uncertain if he could even summon enough magical power to stop the king at his full strength. He wasn't certain that he wanted to know. He was sweating terribly, and he could feel the lights in his eye sockets fading as he reached deeper and deeper for magic, power beginning to crackle dangerously along his phalanges. "Please, just listen to me, Asgore. After everything that I've done for you, don't I at least deserve that much?"
It was like watching ice melt under a flame. His stony expression faded away as he sighed heavily, his shoulders slowly drooping as he began to cave in under his gleaming armor.
"This… this does not have to happen… just yet," Asgore let out a long, unsteady breath through his caprine nostrils, bowing his head. "Perhaps… yes. I can… I can give you time. For you, my friend, I will… allow you time."
Sans felt like his legs were made of jelly as he released the magic and his breath at the same time, and he pulled the relieved Frisk into a tight hug. They wrapped their arms with bated breath around his neck, and he could feel just how badly they were trembling.
They really were prepared to die. They had stood before Asgore himself and faced down death, and did it with a smile. God, they were so much braver than him. They looked like a living fire in the light of the glowing souls lined up in their containers. Sans wished that he could stop remembering that they were all once living humans, people that were there because of him. He could just focus on Frisk. Try to forget. God how he wanted to forget.
"… Sans?" Frisk asked softly so that only he could hear.
"I'm here, babybones," Sans murmured quietly, stroking their hair and holding them close. He could feel the fiery heat of their soul beside him, so warm, so kind, so alive. That was the way that he wanted them to stay. Alive. Safe. Happy.
Asgore tried to say something to them. Sans wasn't certain of what it was. He never really found out.
The king's lips moved, but no words came out. Possibly because of the thick vine wrapped tightly around his neck. He was jerked upwards toward the ceiling like a rubber band and came to a halt with a sudden, wicked snap ! He fell still almost immediately, going completely limp.
"Fuck - get behind me!" Sans instructed Frisk promptly, summoning magic as quickly as he could. Frisk obeyed but didn't release his arm, trying to tell him something, but he couldn't quite make it out over the pounding in his head.
"Howdy!"
Sans balked down at the wretched creature that had caused them so much suffering. The creature that had played with their lives like they were so many toys. The thing that haunted him for so long.
"Whassup, petals?" Sans threw out an arm as soon as he saw the flower, reaching for it's soul.
He couldn't find it.
It was like grabbing water. Flowey just giggled loudly as vines wrapped and warped as thick as tree trunks from the walls, the ground, the ceiling and covered the room, blocking the exit and even covering up the entire barrier. He'd never seen that particular trick before. Sans threw out whirling, slicing conjured bones, but for every vine that he cut through three more would take its place. Since when had the flower gotten this strong ? It had only been-
The souls were gone.
"Thanks for weakening that old fool for me," Flowey burrowed into the earth and swiftly resurfaced, dodging yet another spinning bone attack with a smirk. "Golly, I might have never gotten this far if it weren't for you ."
"Fuck off, fertilizer muncher!" Sans yanked his fist down, drawing a Gaster Blaster from the void. He felt the rumbling of the living skeletal machine as energy hummed for a bare moment, scorching the air and incinerating the plant at long last. Sans crowed in victory, turning to face Frisk-
Frisk was hanging by their legs with a vine wrapped tightly around their mouth and neck, one arm free and slapping uselessly at the emerald appendages. Their muffled shouts were overwhelmed by the ripping sound of vines slamming into the earth around him as he barely managed to slip away. Sans cast out his arm to send another bone attack to cut them down, but his arm never even made it from his side. More vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around him, dragging him down and slamming him hard into the earth. His breath was knocked from his chest and he coughed dirt from his mouth, his head spinning wildly. He tasted dust in his mouth, it had been a while since he'd had that awful memory resurface. The flower popped up out of the ground gleefully inches from his face; how? How had it managed that when he'd literally just blasted it into oblivion?
"Golly," Flowey poked the restrained skeleton in the side of the head with a vine, grinning at him. Like he'd never even been scorched to bits at all. "You can't imagine how long I've waited for this moment, trashbag. Hee hee. How unbearably tortuous it's been to finally get to this point."
"Let - go… !" Sans struggled, reaching for his magic-
He felt a sudden electrical burst as he jolted and shuddered in pain, gasping for breath as he felt like he was being drained like a living battery.
"Hmm. Not that watching you fight for your life isn't entertaining and all," Flowey raised himself up on his stem, which was steadily growing thicker as his face contorted into a demonic leer. "But I think it's time that I teach you all the real meaning of this world."
He cackled deviously as Sans was slammed into the ground again, reaching out uselessly for the flailing child held suspended in midair. He needed to break out, needed to help Frisk, needed to stay alive ; he spit out a half mouthful of dust, he could feel his ribs cracking as he was wracked with pain.
"Monsters," Flowey's face took on an imitation of a goat monster. "Humans," it warped into a crude fascimile of Frisk's face before shifting into a slowly spinning amalgam of features. "Everyone. In this world, it's KILL - OR - BE - KILLED!"
"Reset!" Sans screamed with what little breath he had, unable to pull himself free no matter how desperately he fought. "Frisk, RESET! NOW !"
Nothing happened.
At first.
There was a brilliant flash of light and he was almost blinded, his eye sockets squeezing shut reflexively. For a long moment it was completely dark. He couldn't see Frisk. He couldn't see Flowey. He couldn't even see his own body or the ground which he was still pinned to. He felt half alive, more stunned than anything that he wasn't dead yet.
And then, it came.
It was like watching a nightmare come to life. A horrid, abominable mishmash of fleshy tree trunk sized vines, shuddering tubing warping around attached to eyes, too many eyes, too many gigantic mouths, too many teeth… ! Just looking at the thing was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. He could smell a horrible overwhelming scent of pollen and earthy scents that burned his nostril bones.
"W-what?" Sans couldn't manage to blink the image out of his eyes as light from what appeared to be a television screen flickered to life, illuminating the monstrosity. "What in the fresh fuck ?!"
"Tee hee hee… !" Flowey's familiar giggle emanated from the screen. His face burst out of it with a smirk, and he grinned down at them smugly. "Golly. So this is what having a human soul feels like."
The human souls turned the flower into this… thing ? Sans was suddenly glad that he had never touched one of them. He couldn't use magic to reach out and grab them, but at this point he wouldn't even want one of those horrifying things near him. He could only imagine what kind of abomination he might have been transformed into. He tried and struggled to reach for the magic again, and nothing happened. It was like the vines constricting him were leeching the very life out of him. He felt so tired, so weak, so helpless .
"F-Flowey!" Frisk managed to yank the vine from their mouth, choking and gasping for breath to pull the vine from around their neck. Thick, bleeding bruises were blossoming across them and the screaming inside his head just grew louder. "Flowey, please… !"
"Flowey, please!" he mocked them gleefully, shaking them a little in his grip. "Now I'm the one with the power, and god it feels so good," Flowey giggled again, and all of the vines smothering the room seemed to jiggle with him. "And it's all thanks to you . I just need one more soul… before I become a true god . And, golly, guess who's got that last soul?"
Frisk fought uselessly at the vines keeping them dangling from the ceiling, kicking and biting and thrashing to no avail. Sans gave them credit, they were determined as all hell.
"But don't you worry," he snickered again, violently jerking them sideways and causing them to scream in pain. "I'm going to take my time with this. I've been waiting for so, so long ."
Had the world reset? Sans coughed and tried to clutch his head, but found that he was still restricted to the ground by a mass of thorny vines. He could feel them jabbing into him from every angle, and nothing he did could get him free-
The world reset.
They were still by the covered barrier, and he could swear that he heard ticking somewhere. Sans shouted and kicked to try to free himself, unable to do anything but watch as Flowey dangled Frisk in front of him.
"F-Frisk?" Sans choked, gawking at their bloody body. How many resets had just happened? His whole body ached and burned, but he couldn't shake it off. They didn't move. They didn't breathe. They weren't moving and oh god please let them be okay!
"Well, would you look at that," Flowey said as if he were discussing the weather. "Humans sure do break easily, huh? Awfully useless, these things."
"Fuck you!" Sans screamed, his throat feeling hoarse from how much he was shouting. "Let them go, you bastard!"
"Well, if you insist," Flowey drawled and giggled again. He hauled Frisk higher into the air, and he could see them twitching in his grip. Then he hurtled them violently into the ground, sending them crashing and tumbling over the floor. Sans kicked and fought and suddenly found himself released from the viny grip, and he stumbled and crawled his way to the broken, battered child. He needed to get to them, Frisk needed him why weren't they moving, there should have been a reset by now if they were this damaged… Their arms were twisted and bent at a horrible angle, their legs splayed awkwardly, and there was a gaping hole in their side. Sans sobbed desperately and pushed at the viscera, struggling to push it back inside them. It was happening again. It was his fault. Once again, their blood was on his hands.
He cried silently as he tried to put them back together, the unmoving child in his arms feeling colder than they had ever felt. He couldn't sense their soul, he didn't care how badly he hurt, he just wanted them to be okay and nothing was going right and oh god their blood was everywhere, there was so much of it all over-
Sans jolted violently as he was jerked back through reality, too many memories crashing together. His head felt like it was splitting and he couldn't fight his way out of the vines. Frisk was dangerously hanging from their ankles by the ceiling, kicking and crying as they were swung back and forth.
"We're going to have so much fun," Flowey giggled. "I'm the one in control of the timelines now, just the way it should be."
"Please!" Frisk screamed, and Sans felt so numb, so hollow, he couldn't escape. "Please, Flowey, s-stop!"
"Stop?" he laughed cruelly. "What, now that we've come this far ? It's too late for that, idiot. We're going to play together forever . At least, until I get bored . But let's not break our toys just yet, hmm?"
"Let them go!" Sans coughed and pushed at the thorny vines restraining him to the earth, unable to even raise his head or look away from the sight. He could still see the blood, still feel the gore in his hands as he struggled to put them back together and it was all wrong, everything was wrong! "Y-you fuck, you twisted f-fuck!"
"Speaking of toys," Flowey turned his bright screen toward him, and he saw that the face on it was shifting rapidly in black and white, tossing and turning and screaming silently. Like something inside him was shrieking and this was the visual result. "I'm going to finally have a lot of fun breaking you ."
Sans felt a tightness as he was yanked through the air, too tight to think, too tight to breathe… !
How many resets had it been?
Dozens?
Hundreds?
He couldn't tell anymore. Maybe it didn't matter. Maybe it never did.
"Come on," Flowey yelled at him, his voice echoing a little as he bounced Sans through the air. "I'm getting bored here. You don't want me to have to go and hunt down your brother for fun, do you?"
Sans couldn't even bring himself to swear at the abomination any longer. He'd shouted himself hoarse. Or was that in a previous reset? The vines jamming into his throat made him too sore to scream anymore. All he could see were the images from past resets flashing through his mind. He felt so numb. So empty.
So tired.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty…. Frisk. Protect Frisk.
Right. Frisk was here. Where was here, anyway? How long had he been 'here'? He could see the child hanging limply in the vines. How many times had he been forced to watch them die? How many times had he been restrained and forced to watch as they were…? They looked at him pleadingly, silently begging. Did they not even know how useless he was? He couldn't protect them. He couldn't save them. He couldn't even save himself. There was no point in fighting anymore. No point in anything.
"Oh, for Pete's sake," Flowey rolled his eyes, flipping Sans upside down. He whipped his massive screen through the air, swinging it to face the human. "Hey, Frisk. Did you know that humans have a holiday called Thanksgiving?"
Frisk didn't respond, only silently mouthing something to Sans. There was that ticking again, annoying as ever.
"Let's see what a wishbone looks like, huh? Flowey giggled, and Sans felt his legs slowly being spread, pulled taut and painfully being yanked, too much, too far. Sans screamed in pain as he was suddenly jerked, the agony spreading through his legs, thighs, his spine-
"What's your name, little guy?"
"Pa pa pa pa pap?"
"That's a weird name. Can't really speak much, huh?"
"Pa pa pa."
"Don't worry, little fella. I'll teach you. You're gonna be okay here. Just… stick close to me. I'll keep you safe, okay?"
Reset.
Reset.
Reset.
Reset .
Sans felt like his mind was leaking out of his eye sockets, or maybe that was just the hot tears leaving streaks down his cheeks. He couldn't see clearly anymore. The pain was too intense. Too much. He couldn't think. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe properly. There was no escape. He hated this, he hated it, squirming, nasty things filling him and thrashing and taking -
"Sans~y, " Flowey wriggled around and drew him closer through the air. "Come on. What am I going to have to do to get a reaction out of you two, huh?"
Sans blinked woozily, unable to quite focus. That was right. Frisk was here. Trapped in this special hell with him. He could barely make out their figure hanging upside down. He couldn't move. Couldn't reach them. Couldn't hold them and tell them that it would be okay no matter how much of a lie it was. Couldn't save them.
Couldn't save himself. Couldn't save anyone. He flailed anyway.
Weakly, but he tried. He needed to reach out to them. Frisk. His little Frisk, they were hurting just as much as he was. He reached and stretched as far as the vines would allow, the twisting spiked appendage wrapping through his forearm and shattering it. Was someone screaming? Oh. Right. That was him. Funny how the nonstop nightmare sort of numbed him to the experience after a while. It felt like it was years. Awful, foul, dirty things twisting and pushing and stabbing, he couldn't think. Couldn't focus. Too many resets. Too much pain. Humiliation. Desperation.
It's your fault.
"How about this?" Flowey pulled Frisk over in front of him so that he could see. The vines around his neck tightened and forced him to stare straight ahead, unable to look away. "I'm going to see how far I can push vines into them until they start poking out their mouth . Let's have some fun, huh friends?"
Reset.
Reset.
… Reset?
Sans felt like he was watching a film. A horrible film that he couldn't look away from, no matter how tightly he squeezed his eye sockets closed. He no longer had control over his own limbs. He could feel himself fighting back weakly, not even enough to properly push. He couldn't get the images out of his head. Couldn't look away from what he was doing. What that wretched thing was making him do. He hated himself for even thinking it but he quietly hoped that Frisk was dead. They didn't deserve to suffer through this. Death would be better. There was no point at all. And the screaming. God, the awful, awful screaming would never leave his head, bouncing around even though they had fallen utterly silent so long ago.
"I'll kill you," he sputtered, sobbing dryly. "I'll k-kill you, you sonofabitch, I'll kill you… !"
Sans felt his neck snap as he was slammed into the ground-
How long had he been here?
How long had it been?
Did it matter at all? He couldn't tell. Couldn't focus. Couldn't think.
"Come on, Sans," Flowey said in an exasperated tone, screen leaning over him. He could feel the disgusting breath from the gigantic gaping sideways mouth on him, he couldn't breathe… and why was that damned clock still ticking? "What's it going to take, huh? Did you really break already? I can think of more ways to get you to react, my little toy. And trust me, you're not going to like any of them," he giggled again. "We've got literally forever. I'm going to kill you again, and again, and again. And worse. Scream for me some more, huh? Frisk won't scream now. Useless human. Come on, I'm getting bored ! Scream for help, why don't you?"
"H-help," he wheezed, almost in a laugh. Like help would ever come.
"Louder!" Flowey shook him. "That's not how you scream for help; this is how you scream for help!"
He was helpless to do anything but watch as vines constricted around Frisk tightly and they screamed in pain as thorns jabbed into their flesh. He kicked futilely and thrashed and fought, shouting himself hoarse, yelling words he didn't even think about.
"PAPYRUS!"
"… That's who you call for?" Flowey scoffed and mocked him with a little shake, grinning. "Ooh, look at the big bad skeleton, crying for his useless brother-"
Sans blinked.
The ticking.
Just barely, but he could hear it.
Ticking.
He was going insane.
He still heard it.
Ticking.
No.
Not ticking. It was almost like bone .
It was like the sound of… chipping?
It was utterly silent for a moment.
And then, Sans and everything else was rocked by a massive explosion.
Shredded vines blasted through the air, disintegrating before they hit the ground, withered and brown. A gigantic hole had been blown through the wall of vines, light pouring in through the barrier and illuminating the dark. And there, in the midst of the chaos and carnage with flapping scarf and a conjured femur held like a sword in one hand, stood Papyrus.
"Say, 'bud',' Papyrus stepped into the dark room without a moment's hesitation. "I'm gonna have to ask you to 'leaf' them alone."
"Papyrus?!" Flowey gawked at him, mouth hanging open. "How did wait . I'm sorry, just, wait. Did… did you just…?"
"I just," Papyrus said simply, hurtling his bone at a ferocious speed through the air. Vines flew up in front of his screened face, but it wasn't where Papyrus was even aiming, although several stray bones bolted into the vines and jutted out at wild angles. Too many to count. Sans felt himself fall through the air as the vines constricting him were sliced down. His head felt heavy like it was full of water and he couldn't stand, but Papyrus was there with a gentle touch to help him to his knees. He had to be dreaming or something. Another hallucination. Another whipped bone attack sent Frisk falling through the air and Papyrus caught them deftly in his free hand, the shaking child sobbing silently in his arms.
"… So," Papyrus started as Flowey pulled the vines from his face, drawing up one of his massive viny arms into the air to ready an attack. "Just a few things. You hurt my friends. You hurt my family . You really, really shouldn't have done that."
Papyrus nodded to Sans, and he got the picture. He knew he woulnd't be able to fight. Not at this point. Sans summoned the last dregs of magic that he could manage, and instead of using it in an attack, he sent it coursing down his arm and into Papyrus's gloved hand. Papyrus shuddered with a gasp for a moment before immediately nodding again and casting out his arm toward the abomination.
"Flowey," Papyrus said slowly. "I'm a pretty firm believer that everyone can be a good person. But you ? I don't think that I really believe in you anymore."
"Do you even know who you're talking to?" Flowey scoffed as the exit was sealed over by fresh vines. Papyrus's arm was glowing with a sharp blue light that cast dancing shadows over everything, somehow even making the thing that Flowey had turned into seem even more menacing. "Oh, I cannot wait to make you suffer-!"
"What have you done with the king?"
"That old fool?" Flowey cackled as more vines replaced the ones that had been cut down. Massive tree trunk sized things that burst out of the ground, whirling and whipping. "What even is a king, compared to a god ?"
"What is a god to a nonbeliever ?" Papyrus said without missing a beat. He threw out his arm and Flowey sent up a half dozen vines to block the attack-
Except that Papyrus didn't throw bones.
Six blue souls were suddenly ejected violently from Flowey, bursting out of the fleshy vines and tubes as he screamed in agony, green viscera flowing from the wounds. The souls were pulled directly to Papyrus and they floated wildly around him for a moment. Both skeletons watched stunned, even Papyrus looked put off by what he had just yanked out of the freakish creature. Frisk gawked at the sight as they gently fell into a slowly spinning circle around them, light pouring brightly from them and almost making the child glow before them. It was like Frisk was a human magnet for the glowing things, awestruck and wide eyed.
Flowey screamed in rage, the face on the screen contorting violently from face to different face.
"You think this changes anything?" he laughed manically, emerald goo leaking from a crack in the screen. "I'll just reset and… and…"
The face on the screen suddenly began to sweat.
"Go on," Papyrus conjured another bone and twirled it through his fingers. "As you were saying?
"This is impossible !" Flowey bellowed, the whole room shaking. "That's not fair! I've killed you hundreds of times!"
"Yes, that may be true," Papyrus swung upward without taking his eyes off the screen, slashing right through one of the massive vines. Like it was nothing. The remainder of it came crashing to the ground behind them as Papyrus hurtled his bone weapon directly into yet another set of vines, sending them crashing to the ground. "But have we ever fought ?"
"I killed you-!"
"Nyeh heh heh. That would be a no, then," Papyrus said calmly, using his magic to summon a shield of bones surrounding Sans and Frisk as a hail of white magical bullets rained down on them, all deflected. "You see, I usually believe that everyone deserves a fair fight, but I learned from someone that I love very much that sometimes… it's best to not fight fair at all."
One of Flowey's enormous arm like vines flew up into the air and screwed downward at a spiral toward Papyrus, ready to crush him-
Instead, Papyrus deftly grabbed Sans by the shoulder and pulled him and Frisk to the left, keeping them firmly out of danger.
"Would you hold still ?!" Flowey screamed in rage, screen thrashing left and right as Papyrus dodged one slam after another. The skeleton nimbly leapt up onto the massive vine, orange fire burning in his right eye. "I'm trying to murder you here - I'll kill you, I'll kill everyone you love!"
Sans fought and struggled to remain conscious, darkness creeping in at the corners of his vision. He was so tired, any moment another reset was coming and he knew it, but Frisk kept pulling him further away from his brother. Flowey slammed one of his other vines at Papyrus, but the skeleton only leaped with grace and slipped further up the vine and watched as green gore splattered across the floor from the strike.
"You can't do this!" Flowey whined viciously, scowling at him. "I am the GOD o f this world! Who do you think you are?!"
"I," Papyrus stormed up the vine toward the screen, clutched fists crackling with overflowing magic, his face alight with pure, unadulterated rage with a billow of orange flame crackling in his eye socket. "Am the Great - fucking - PAPYRUS !"
And with that, Papyrus reeled back his fist and punched Flowey in the face.
The screen exploded in a collision of glass and bone and fleshy matter and magic, splattering over as he fell through the air and taking the skeleton with him. Vines collapsed all around them and turned to dust and ash, falling like dark snowflakes. The previously thrashing, smashing vines fell still and went limp with heavy thuds to the floor, it was hard to see his brother through the chaos but Sans kept a tight grip on Frisk like they were an anchor in a hurricane. There was a violent flash of light and Sans covered his eye sockets to keep from being blinded, shielding Frisk's face with his other arm in case of any more fletchettes of glass.
And for all the world, it was like time stood still.
When he opened his eye sockets, the vines surrounding them were all turning to dust, some of them withering slowly and drooping to the ground as decay overtook them. Sans saw Papyrus kneeling gently over the little sobbing flower, one arm tucked to his side. The flower was wilting horribly and half of his petals were torn off, his face leaking green goo. Papyrus cupped the flower in one hand, looking down at him sadly.
"Th-that w-was… so… cool," Flowey giggled madly as the last few of his petals turned to ash. "Oh my god, Papyrus. I knew you had it in you."
"I'm… I'm so sorry, little friend," Papyrus said softly, cupping the dying creature in one hand. "I'm so sorry. I… I couldn't save you from yourself."
"You… always were…" Flowey wheezed as he faded away. "My… ffavorite… toy."
Flowey turned to rusty brown tear streaked dust in Papyrus's hand, and soon all that was left was dancing ashes through the air.
Papyrus's LOVE has increased.