Chapter Text
Toriel would never allow him into the house, but she didn’t have to know he was there. He knew all the shortcuts and all the hiding spots in the Underground. If he wanted to be someplace, he’d be there. Nothing could stop him.
Well, that wasn’t always true. There was one person who had a knack for creating blind spots, just beyond his reach. One person who, somehow, could always see him coming.
But he wasn’t here right now. He may have been too close to here for Flowey’s comfort. But he wasn’t here. And he wasn’t going to be let here, either. No matter how much he could charm Toriel with his stupid, terrible jokes.
Either way, right now, his attention was focused on someone far more interesting. If they weren’t, he wouldn’t have bothered following them into this house.
A human was sleeping in the bed that used to belong to him, once upon a time. He had to remind himself that by now, he gotten over this idea. That he wasn’t bitter anymore. It just proved what he already knew.
He tried to fight off his thoughts by focusing on their sleeping form. Even in the dimness on the room, he could see that their skin looked soft and smooth, and was darker than the skin of just about any other human he’d ever seen before — not that he’d seen many humans before, of course. They were still wearing the striped sweater they fell with, even though it was probably all sweaty and filthy right now, and would probably smell really bad if he came any closer. He didn’t know how Toriel tolerated that. They had a delicate-looking face, framed by soft-looking, brown locks-
Flowey then realised why he felt almost mesmerised by their appearance: they looked like Chara.
He felt his face scrunch up. No. This human was nothing like Chara. They weren’t brave or smart or strong like Chara was. Quite the contrary: they kept refusing to fight when they had the chance. There was nothing he wanted more than to see that goodie-two-shoes act fall apart like the charade it is, but so far, he found himself disappointed.
Not to mention, they were not as pretty as Chara, either. With Chara, he could stare at them for hours on end. Every time they touched him, when he felt their smooth, warm human skin brush against his fur, he felt all tingly. Whenever they smiled at him, he felt his cheeks burning.
But this human’s cheeks weren’t as round or as rosy as Chara’s. Their eyes were not as big. Their hair was naturally far messier, even when it wasn’t splayed out across the pillow. This human could never hold a candle to Chara. They didn’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Chara! The very act of comparing this human to Chara was akin to spitting on Chara’s memory, just another one of the many ways in which he wronged them.
Flowey took a moment to still his breathing, trying to calm himself down.
The fact that they were sleeping meant that they were vulnerable. He could kill them now, and they wouldn’t be able to defend themself. Toriel wouldn’t protect them, either: why would she? Her house was a safe place, nothing could threaten her precious child here.
But... they would just load a SAVE if they died here, wouldn’t they? It would be a waste of time.
Flowey snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the human stir, and whipped into the ground when he saw them sit up.
He popped out of the ground under the bed, just in time to see the human’s feet touch the ground.
He kept watching as the human kneeled down and picked up the pie.
What a parasite, willing to take what was given to them without offering anything in return. Using Toriel’s house as a convenient place to rest and Toriel herself to provide them with resources, while not willing to give Toriel what she wanted.
They really were no better than he was.
He could barely hold himself from squealing with giddiness.
Here comes the good part. The part where they leave the Ruins. The part where Toriel would have to answer for her failings as a mother and as a person. The part where this human’s oh-so pure and noble act would fall apart.
He couldn’t wait.
The human walked with their head held up high and a small smile on their face as they approached Toriel.
Clearly, this human must have been just as empty as he was. How else would they be able to approach such an uncomfortable situation with such confidence?
Toriel’s face brightened up as the human approached her. How ignorant.
“Oh, hello! Did you want to hear about the book I am reading?” Pulling the book to the side, Toriel patted on her lap with one paw for a moment before realising what she was doing, “It is called ’72 Uses for Snails.’ How about it?”
The human beamed, “Yeah!” They climbed on the chair and sat on her lap. Flowey noticed how Toriel’s eyes widened and her posture stiffened for a brief moment, before she relaxed again. She laid an arm around the human and adjusted them so that they could lean against her chest. Then, she began reading.
The very thought of listening filled Flowey with boredom. He read this book already, and that was before he even became a flower. As a flower, having absolutely nothing better to do, he actually memorised it.
Instead, he focused his sights on the human.
The human’s head sank into Toriel’s chest. Although their eyes were fixed onto the book, they seemed even more relaxed than they were while they slept.
That’s not to say that they were completely passive. Occasionally, the human would turn to Toriel and ask questions about what they just read, their eyes shining with curiosity. Flowey couldn’t stand it. This was boring. This was boring even before everything became boring. Why would a human ever find this interesting?
More worrying, though, was the fact that the human barely seemed to want to move, let alone confront Toriel for their freedom. How long was he going to have to wait to get to the good part?!
Not to mention, this whole time, Toriel’s hand was rubbing the human’s head. Just like she used to do with him when he was little.
He bitterly recalled the fireball she threw at him only a few hours ago. If anyone here was a miserable creature, it was her.
He felt his face grow hot and his mouth grow bitter and dry. His lower eyelid felt heavier. He rubbed his face against the ground.
When Toriel had finally finished reading, she closed the book.
“Well, my child, did you like it?”
The human grinned and nodded.
“Splendid! I have plenty more just like it.” Toriel patted the human’s shoulder. “You are a curious child, are you not? I have prepared a curriculum for you, starting tomorrow. I hope it would quench your curiosity.”
The child’s smile softened, becoming more relaxed than joyful.
“I can’t wait.”
Wait, what?
He ran the human’s voice through his head over and over, combing their face for any clues they might have spoken sarcastically.
But he couldn’t find any clues. The human was completely sincere. They weren’t going to leave any time soon.
Flowey’s face felt even hotter that before. The bile rose in his throat. His eyes were beginning to grow wet again.
Fine then. He didn’t care if this human was some baby who wanted to cling to mommy’s apron. He didn’t care if Toriel wanted to play happy family with some human she probably doesn’t even really care about.
He didn’t care at all. This was stupid. She was stupid. They were stupid.
He didn’t care!
He sank into the ground.
The place where Chara was buried was one of the few places in the Underground where the sun shone. From aside in the shadows, you could see the golden rays from above, reflecting in specks of dust which drifted downwards. When the sun was right above, the flowerbed on Chara’s grave glowed so brightly it was as though it, too, was shining. But even when the sun was not visible, this place had no rival in the entire Underground, as during the course of the day the skies changed colour between the various hues of blue. And when the skies were completely dark, you could see little white pinpricks dusting the black, called ‘stars’. It was probably only due to Toriel’s efforts that this place wasn’t constantly populated by monsters trying to catch a glimpse of what they can never have again.
It was easily Flowey’s favourite place in the entire Underground.
Back before he was Flowey, he used to listen, enraptured, as the adults around him reminisced on that which was stolen from them. According to them, on the surface, there were areas in which there were no walls or ceilings. Areas where you could see the sky’s edges, which were called ‘horizons’. Areas where you could see the sun’s entire journey from horizon to horizon. According to them, the best parts of experiencing days on the surface were whenever the sun met the horizons, when it bathed everything around it with a plethora of brilliant shades of orange, yellow, and pink.
Back then, he loved this place for all its beauty and wonder, because he had not yet lost his ability to appreciate those. Now, however, as a side effect of losing his SOUL, he was no longer touched by them. But honestly, maybe he was an idiot to like these things to begin with. What is the point of beauty, anyways? What is so great about standing around, just staring at something? It’s boring, and pointless, and it makes you look stupid. Wonder, too, is overrated: it always fades as soon as it comes. And there is no point trying to search new sources of wonder, either; this feeling weakens every time you feel it. He knew that better than anyone.
Pleasure is short lived, but suffering weighs on you eternal. There is no purpose to life, nor meaning. All of these things are just stupid lies that adults tell kids so that they would not realise what a sorry lot they have been dealt when they were brought into this world.
Life is nothing but an endless slog of searching for stuff to do, and then doing them until exhaustion.
However, despite losing its previous perks, Chara’s grave was still Flowey’s favourite place in the Underground. The sunshine felt nice on him, and hanging about this place was the closest he was ever going to get to Chara again.
In past timelines, he used to spend hours on end diving in their grave, trying to see if there was anything left of them. Trying everything he could to bring them back.
He never gave up on them. Even in this timeline, he tried calling for them, he really did.
But his efforts were all in vain. They were gone. And he only had himself to blame for that. He had no right to even mourn them.
To his credit, even if he was disturbing their grave, he never left it disturbed. He would always reload to restore it to its former state. Leaving the flowerbed just as spotless as they would have liked it to be.
However, the same could not be said of everyone who had been to this grave. For now there was a large patch of trampled flowers in the flowerbed.
He felt his face burn again.
Stupid new human.
Why did they do that? Why would anyone do that? Choose to climb up this mountain and then just stay here? Give up everything the surface has to offer in favour of this godforsaken cave? Don’t they know that the monsters down here are willing to kill to be given that which they gave up? Don’t they know that Chara-
He couldn’t finish that thought.
This human was nothing but a privileged, stupid brat!
It was all going to get even more unbearable for him now, too. He lost his freedom, his power to do with the Underground as he wished, all because of them.
And to think that at first, he thought that their fall here would make things more interesting.
Stupid.
They probably did it specifically to spite him. They probably stayed with Toriel for that reason, too. Acting so pure and innocent and happy. Rubbing it in his face that he’d never-
He barely even realised when his eyes started watering again. He only noticed it when his cheeks became wet. He rubbed his face in the ground.
Stupid human. Even when they weren’t here, they kept making him get all worked up.
“Heya.“
A voice broke his train of thought. He turned around to glare at the human standing in the shadows, smiling.
“What,” he growled, “do you want?”
The human shrugged. “I couldn’t finish all the pie Toriel made. I thought you might want some.” True to their words, they were holding a plate in their hands.
They really were rubbing it in his face, now.
“I don’t. It’s probably covered in your saliva, anyways.”
“Don’t worry, this is a clean slice. I never ate from it. I brought you your own eating utensils, too!” The human beamed and sat on their knees in front of Flowey, setting the plate in their lap, and placing a dessert fork on the plate, right next to the pie, handle pointing towards him.
Flowey glared at them with everything he could muster. “You’re mocking me, aren’t you.”
The human paused for a moment. Then, their eyes widened. They frowned.
“Oh, right. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking-”
“Yeah, thinking isn’t your strong suit.”
He took a moment to appreciate his own clever comeback. It almost cheered him up.
The human, however, seemed unfazed. They picked up the fork, cut a small piece of the pie and lifted it up, holding it out to him.
“Here.”
He recoiled, extending his stem away from them. “No.”
The human chuckled. “Should I make airplane noises?”
“Shut up! What are you, my mom?”
“Well, you sure seem like you need one.”
Flowey furrowed his brows. “Are you making fun of me?!”
“No! Well, maybe a little. Sorry.” The look in their eyes softened for a brief moment, then, they grinned “Won’t you take this pie as an apology?”
“Ha! As if I would ever accept your- Hey!” the human thrust the fork at him, he recoiled even further back. “You could have stabbed me!”
“Oh.” The human set the fork down, and looked at him apologetically. “Sorry, again. I probably should have brought a spoon, instead.”
“Who the hell eats pie with a spoon?!”
The human scratched their head. “Is it some kind of etiquette faux-pas? I mean, how else are you supposed to scoop up the gooey bits...” they trailed off, their eyes fixed on him. Their confused face melted into a frown.
The both of them sat there for a long, awkward moment before the human found it within themself to speak again.
“Right. I’m sorry for trying to force you to eat, and for, umm... being insensitive in general.” The human sighed. “This... hadn’t gone well, has it...”
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Why are you doing this? Trying to befriend me. Pretending to care.”
“You seemed lonely.”
He couldn’t believe it. The human was pitying him?!
“You idiot,” he growled, “you think you’re helping me? You’re a pest.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” The human tilted their head.
“You stole my ability to SAVE and LOAD.” He smirked. “That’s right! I used to have this power before you did. But I lost it. All because of YOU!”
The human did not seem to be as shocked or as horrified as he hoped they’d be. “Sorry, I guess. I don’t really think I can help it, though. Hey, just to make it up to you, I don’t mind saving or loading for you, if you have a good reas-”
“But I don’t want you to save or load for me! I just want you to do something interesting with it rather than play house with that old hag all the time!”
“Something interesting such as..?”
“Leaving the Ruins, and braving the rest of the Underground. Fighting for your freedom.” His mouth grew into a wide, jagged smile, and his eyes into black pools with tiny white irises “Killing everyone that stands in your path.”
“Oh. Sorry. Not really planning to do any of that.”
“And that’s the problem! This is boring! You’re boring! And you’re forcing your boringness on me because you robbed me of my freedom! You keep talking about wanting to help me, and yet you wouldn’t do anything interesting for me!”
The human fell silent, their eyes lost.
This is it. The part where the human finally loses their ‘perfect’ goody two-shoes demeanour to frustration. The part where they snap and tell him what a spoilt, entitled brat he is and declare their hatred for him. The part where they stomp off, taking their pie with them, and more importantly, leaving him alone.
“Huh. I guess I can understand that.” Their eyes softened, they smiled at him again. “It is pretty frustrating to look forwards to something and be disappointed. To lose something valuable and get nothing in return. I can’t fault you for being angry.”
He couldn’t believe it. Were they serious?! Their sympathetic act only made his face burn more.
It was probably just that, an act. Their sympathetic response was engineered solely to rub their stupid sense of moral superiority in his face.
He could use it to his advantage, though.
“So, are you going to leave the Ruins now?”
“Nope.”
“Arghhh!” He slammed his stigma on the ground. “You’re insufferable.”
“Haha, I guess so.”
He huffed, feeling his face burning more than ever before.
“Seriously, what is wrong with you?! You climb up this mountain no one has ever returned from, and then you just stay here? Why would you do that?!”
“Well, it just that...“ The human’s eyes strayed to the side, their smile faded. “Life on the surface has gotten... hectic. After a while, I just started longing for something simpler, more peaceful, y’know? The quiet life.” They dropped their gaze to the floor.
Flowey snorted. “Yeah, more like the boring life.” He glared at their face, trying to meet their eyes. “You selfish, spoiled brat. Giving up on the surface like that. Don’t you realise that monsters have been willing to kill in order to get what you have thrown away?! Don’t you realise that Cha-“ He managed to stop himself just in time. His lower eyelids felt heavy again and his mouth hot and bitter. He lowered his eyes to the ground.
The human remained silent and unresponsive. Flowey huffed again.
He said his piece. Now the human can either justify themself or leave.
After a long moment, he saw the human’s hands place the plate on the ground right in front of him. Glancing up, he saw them smiling again, albeit narrower than before.
“Right, I’m going to leave this pie to you. Feel free to eat it. Or don’t. It’s up to you.” The human tacked the fork in their pocket and stood up. “It’s getting late.“ They motioned at the light from the surface, which took on an orange glow now. “And I don’t want to leave Tori-“ They stopped talking as soon as they saw the look on his face. “I... uh... I should go home.”
Flowey let out a half-hearted snort. He lowered his head and looked away from them.
“See you later, Flowey.”
He heard the human’s footsteps growing quieter and quieter.
He lifted his head up and looked around the room once he couldn’t hear them anymore. Then, once sure the coast was clear, he stuffed his face full of pie.
It was pretty good.
It’s been a while since he had any.