Final Run Ch. 1

"Alphys." After a short pause, the knocking came again. "Alphys, I can hear Japanese. I know you're in there."

Alphys sighed and paused her anime. She REALLY didn't want to speak to him right now. She pressed a button on her console, unlocking the door. "Come in, Sans."

The door slid open, and the smaller skeleton stepped onto the threshold. "Alphys, we need to talk."

She looked at him nervously. "A-about what?"

"There's going to be a human coming through here, soon."

"A human?" Alphys stood up. "How could you possibly know that?"

"I've seen it happen before. But that's not the point. Thing is, this human is very... unpredictable. I've seen timelines where they befriend everyone, and ones where they kill everyone."

"What do you..."

"Alphys. I have no idea what this human is going to do. And I don't want to see everyone die again."

"Sans..."

"I don't care what you do with this knowledge. But I wanted you to know. I suggest keeping an eye on them with your cameras." Sans stepped outside again. "And don't tell Undyne. She'd see it as a challenge. And even she eventually wound up falling to the human." He turned and walked behind a column of stones, and was gone.

~oh look a perspective jump~

"Howdy!"

Frisk stared blankly down at the smiling flower.

Flowey smiled sadly at the child. "C'mon, Chara. After all that, you go and Reset? I'm disappointed."

I'm not Chara, Frisk thought, but didn't say anything aloud.

"I'll be waiting for you." Flowey pulled into the ground and was gone.

Frisk walked over the patch of grass he had sprouted from, grinding their heel into the place he had disappeared.

"Oh, hello, small one. You've fallen down, haven't you?"

Frisk looked up into the smiling eyes of Toriel. They allowed themselves to smile in return. No matter what, Toriel always remained constant. Every single run Frisk had done, Toriel had the same routine. Nothing ever changed with her.

"Come, I will guide you through the Ruins," Toriel was saying. She turned and entered through the doorway to the Ruins.

Frisk glanced over their shoulder one last time. They couldn't see Chara from here. It would be the first time they traveled without Chara chiming in with their witty comments. Frisk hesitated for a moment more before following Toriel through the darkness.

~hey another jump cool~

Chara waited until they were sure Frisk was gone, then slowly emerged from the small cavern they were buried in. "Flowey," Chara called softly, flitting over the single grassy patch. They wrinkled their nose at the imprint Frisk's boot had made. "Flowey, if you can hear me, get up here." They had never cared much about that ridiculous shadow of Asriel, but they had some questions they needed answered. It was possible, with such a low LV, that Flowey wouldn't be able to see them at all, but it was worth a try.

Despite this, there was a soft noise of earth moving, and Flowey poked his petaled head out of the ground. "Chara?" he asked, craning his stem to look around at the darkness.

"I'm right here," Chara replied, floating a little closer to him.

"Where?" Flowey asked, frustrated.

Chara thought for a moment, then moved back into the darkness. "Here," they called, hoping the darkness would make them more visible.

Flowey's eyes locked onto them, and he split into an uncertain grin. "Hi, Chara."

"Flowey..." Suddenly, Chara remembered. He had seen Chara's lust to kill him, on that long walk to Asgore's castle. They had to think up something quickly if they wanted any answers at all. "I'm so sorry."

Flowey stared at Chara in shock. "Eh?"

"I must have scared you so badly back there," Chara said, trying to look remorseful. "That was a rotten trick, trying to frighten you like that."

Flowey looked relieved. "It's all right, Chara. You were just trying to make things like old times. Remember?" He morphed his face to look like the one he had worn when he was still alive. "'Do your creepy face, Chara!'"

Chara's face split into a hideous grin, teeth bared, eyes staring intently at Flowey, as if searching for his nonexistent soul.

Flowey startled and pulled back into the ground, then peeked out again sheepishly. "Haha, still funny..."

Chara got into a sitting position, thought they still hovered a few inches above the ground. "Flowey, you once had control over the timeline."

Flowey swayed on his stem uncertainly. "Before the other kid came, yes..."

"Well, Frisk mentioned something interesting..." Chara leaned forward intently. "That there is some way of erasing the world completely, and recreating it from scratch. They destroyed it so completely that not even my memories persisted. Nor yours." Chara clenched their fists. "And they even reclaimed their soul that I had taken."

Flowey's eyes widened in surprise. "My memories...?"

"Yes. They erased it far more completely than I ever could. I was wondering if you knew anything about this." Chara leaned even further forward, breath catching in their throat with excitement.

Flowey stayed perfectly still. "... No. I don't." His petals curled back. "I'm sorry."

Chara felt their gut plummet. They shook their head in disgust. Why did they think this stupid weed would know anything about something so important?

"B-but I've heard one of the other children mention something, that might be it!" Flowey said quickly, desperate to be helpful.

"Oh?" Chara asked, looking bored.

"Yes! The one with the light blue soul. The world was acting peculiar with that one, it kept stopping and staring on its own. They tried resetting, but it kept skipping around. The light blue soul eventually got frustrated and said something like... 'Do I seriously have to reinstall again?' But it started working eventually, and they never spoke of it again."

Chara stared at Flowey intently. "'Reinstall,' huh?" Chara broke into a wide grin. "Thank you, Flowey."

Flowey beamed back at Chara, straightened to his full height with pride. "You're welcome!" He leaned forward eagerly, a smile akin to his original nature on his face. "Now we can go after the child and ask them about it, yeah? Just you and me together, like... before all this?"

"I have an even better idea, Flowey," Chara responded with a malicious grin. "And you can help me."

"Anything for you, Chara," Flowey said with adoration.

"Good. Now, follow me. We have a lot of work to do..."