Chapter Text
He watches the four conversing quietly together as they walk down a back street of New Home. How fitting , he thinks, that Chara would be taken down by monsters somehow more Determined than them.
A small part of him wants him to be the one to have stopped them, but he would never stoop so low to stop this genocide. And he promised himself, all those years ago, when he was a small monster who had just seen his first human, to never hurt his best friend, didn’t he?
Asriel - no, it’s Flowey, it’s Flowey, he’s not that part of himself anymore, why does he make that mistake ?! - continues to observe the little group. He can sense them, he can sense Chara calling out to him. He knows he’s got to save them, his best friend shouldn’t be in a cage like that! Maybe they could RESET, maybe this time they could do everything right.
He whispers to the soil, feels his vines tunneling through the ground. He can hear snippets of the conversation, and he leans closer.
A voice Flowey recognizes as Mettaton’s says “So, what’s our next move?”
“W-well, Asgore... um, hasn’t been seen for some time.” replies Alphys, the sound of her nervous shuffling even audible through his vine-listening. Sans - ew, smiley trashbag - inhales sharply. “yikes. but the king wouldn’t abandon us when we need a leader the most, right?” Undyne huffs. “ ‘Course he wouldn’t! Asgore would never do that!”
The little part of him that’s Asriel (because he isn’t as naive kind as that anymore, even though he wishes he was) agrees strongly with this statement, and he feels like he’s suddenly about to burst into tears and go crying to his parents.
But they’re dead, aren’t they? Just like him! So Flowey pushes down that part of himself, stuffs it into a ring of pellets and forces it to a back corner of his mind.
He turns his attention back to the conversation. A crisp wind blows through, ruffling his petals and sending shivers down his stem. Alphys is explaining something about her cameras to the others, and he suppresses a yawn. Not something he cares about.
He’s already gotten to find out the important things, hasn’t he? He casts a glance around and ventures a little closer. The SOUL container’s right there, Chara is right there! His vines get closer, and closer, and they’re just within his grasp-
“hey. did you guys hear something?”
Flowey freezes up. Damn that perceptive skeleton!
“No, are you sure it wasn’t just a rustling in the bushes, darling?”
“eh, you make a point.”
They continue on their walk, and Flowey sighs in relief. The SOUL container (well, it’s really just a jar with cords on it like a backpack), strapped to Alphys’s back is completely unnoticed, and his vines snake around the lid, quietly removing it. Mentally congratulating himself, he reaches for the SOUL inside.
The second his vines wrap around the pulsing red SOUL, Chara’s voice fills his head. “Greetings.” Their voice is tired, more strained than he remembers it. He supposes it must be because they’re currently bodiless. He hurriedly replaces the lid of the jar and dives into the ground, tunneling away from the troublesome little group of so-called heroes.
When he’s sure he’s safe, he whispers “Chara? Are you there?”
“You seem quite familiar.”
“Chara, it’s me! Your best friend!”
“...Azzy?”
“Chara!”
The SOUL pulses brighter, and Flowey can feel some of the Determination seeping out, filling him with renewed energy. “Chara,” he breathes, “I’ve missed you.”
“Asriel, why’re you a flower?”
“It’s a long story. But I’ve missed you, Chara, I’ve missed you so much!”
Despite the fact that he shouldn’t be able to feel emotions, a surge of warmth wells up within him.
Chara laughs a little. “Asriel, are you trying to hug me? Because I’m incorporeal.”
“No, I’m actually not trying to hug you.”
“Huh, surprising.”
They fall silent. Flowey watches the slow pulsing of the red SOUL, like a heartbeat. The atmosphere turns a little chilly. When Chara speaks again, it’s with a colder tone of voice.
“Asriel, remember the plan?”
“Yeah.”
“Absorb my SOUL. Do it.”
Flowey nods, because he knows he can trust them, he can trust his best friend, and pushes the red heart into his stem.
Memories wash over him, Chara’s side of their conversations, their life on the surface, their time as a bodiless being left to narrate the fallen child’s journey. More and more flood in, his heart and mind bursting with feelings both strong and conflicting.
*You’re filled with DETERMINATION.
Asriel gasps, a smile growing over his face.
“Chara! You’re with me now!”
Then he frowns. His emotions seem to have returned, his original memories escaping the little box in the back of his mind. But he can’t feel anything, anything at all for the countless RESETs and murders he committed. “Chara?” he whispers, noting his voice’s shift back to his original one. “What’s wrong with me?”
Nothing, Asriel. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with you. they reply smoothly, their flat tone evident in their voice.
Asriel nods, knowing he can always trust them.
“What’re we gonna do now?”
We need to get on the good side of Undyne and her friends.
“Wha- why?”
Because, Asriel, don’t question it! they hiss, their voice morphing into something unlike theirs, much more like the fallen child’s was. But he understands why. Chara’s just used to being with the other human. It’s not like they’re in there somewhere, right? Chara’s got to be in control.
Chara takes a deep breath. Sorry, Az. I didn’t mean to scare you.
“No, no, it’s fine, Chara, I get it!” he chirps. “But really, could you please explain?”
They’re quiet. Alright. They explain the plan to him, step by step, and he expects himself to feel horrified, scream that they don’t deserve this, but he feels nothing.
Nothing at all. Only a feeling of assent, a feeling of growing joy at Chara’s genius plan.
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Asriel exclaims. “But why would they ever trust us?”
Simple. We distract them enough so they stay away from the Lab, is all.
“Ohhhhh! Chara, you’re way too smart!”
They pause, then Asriel thinks they might have smiled if they had a body. “Thanks, Az.” they reply, warmth replacing the chill in their voice and reassuring him that all is okay.
-
He shakes the bottle of clear liquid experimentally. “So I just load this into a friendliness pellet and shoot it at him?”
Yes, they say impatiently, hurry up and do it now.
“Alright, alright!”
Asriel pours it into a hollow pellet, and from his perch on a ledge high above the evacuees’ campground takes aim.
His target is chattering idly away to the others, completely unaware of what’s soon to come.
He cackles quietly to himself, hearing Chara join in, and fires off.
Down there, Undyne shrugs and says “It’s not like there’s going to be any kinds of threats now that the human’s dead, right?” Sans opens his mouth to respond, when a choked gasp comes from beside him.
Mettaton collapses into Sans’s waiting arms, and Undyne looks around frantically, yells “Alphys! Get over here, something happened to Mettaton!”
Asriel and Chara congratulate each other, and he tunnels away, unbridled glee in his expression.