Chapter 30: The Holy Blood God

When Flowey's body came back together, it was actually his body. His flower body, true, but even that was better than a formless spirit that was more useless than a balloon. Stretching his roots down into the soil, he felt a lot better. Although, it was cold and snowy, being that he'd arrived in Snowdin for some reason. The streets were bustling and the monsters were full of excitement.

"Did I get punted out?" Flowey muttered, making sure that his Chara doll was with him. "Figures. There was so much unhelpful stuff there. But if I do go back in time, I'll know to talk to Mom and Dad and make sure that Chara doesn't want to kill herself. Then everything will be much better. I will fix history, I just have to get my vines on another chronograph.

"Oh hey, are you talking little flower?" someone asked. A shadow fell over him as Papyrus crouched down by him. For some reason, he was wearing a glittery blue snowflake sweater and matching fuzzy hat. "Or is there someone just as tiny down there?"

"I'm the one talking, Papyrus, sheesh," Flowey said.

A look of wonder came over the tall skeleton's face. "Oh wow, it does talk! And it knows my name! You're a rare flower to be yellow in the snow. What's your name?"

Didn't he know? Or, was this a time when Chara had not died and thus he had not become a flower? "Well, then, howdy! My name is Flowey, Flowey the Flower. I know some mysterious things, you see."

"That's amazing! I should introduce you to Sans, we could have fun together!" He reached down but didn't pluck him. Instead, he offered to carry him.

"Hang on, I'll come up but let's not go see him quite yet," Flowey said, taking out his roots and gripping onto his fingerbones. "I don't want to cause a huge fuss, and, uh, get accidentally trampled, you know?"

"You're right, that would be bad," Papyrus said, standing up with him still in hand.

"Actually, I know mysterious things, but then I don't know about more normal things," he said, in order to excuse any weird things he might say on accident. "So, then, what's going on here? Everyone seems happy."

"It's because this is a great day!" Papyrus said, excited as he often got. "It's the king's birthday and everybody is celebrating for him! He's the barrier between us and humanity, keeping us safe while finding a way to get us outside. Of course, that means he can't do a lot because he has to stay where he is. But he's going to be making a televised appearance soon; I can't wait to hear from him directly!"

"The king is the barrier?" Flowey asked, finding the idea odd.

He nodded. "Yup! Nobody can get past him!"

Then someone further in town called, "Hey, the broadcast is coming on soon!"

"Oh boy, let's get going!" Papyrus said, running back into town while still carrying him.

Flowey had to grip tighter to feel close to secure. "Hey, hey! Put me down! Flowers aren't supposed to fly through the air."

"Oops, sorry." He did pause to set him back down. "But hey, you can probably sneak in closer to the big screen cause you're so small! Don't miss it!" Papyrus then hurried off to make sure he got a good spot.

"Well that's true," Flowey said, burrowing back underground and following the sounds of everyone's feet to find the spot. When he popped back above the snow, he found that a huge projector screen had been set up in the middle of Snowdin for this event. Off to the side, Alphys was tinkering with some machinery to make it work. Flowey popped back up closer to her. "Howdy there!"

Alphys looked down, puzzled when she noticed him. "Oh, a talking flower? Hello there. Please be careful, this is full of electricity and it would be bad for a plant like you." She seemed almost normal.

"What're you doing?" he asked, trying to figure out more about where he'd ended up.

"Setting up this projector to allow the people here to gather for the king's address," Alphys said. "He wanted to do this and I worked my claws off trying to make a system that could manage it and be simple to operate. More things could go wrong at this location, so I chose to be here. Though, I wish I could be at the castle with him. It'd be nice to work with him in person more often." She smiled happily, not a care in the world.

Well she couldn't have messed up as badly as her real self had. "What, you have a crush on him?"

She immediately blushed at that. "Wh-he-hey! No I don't! It's just, he's really nice and he's sacrificed so much for everyone else in the kingdom. Anybody would be happy for a chance to do things for him and take some of the burden off him."

Flowey wasn't convinced. "Huh, but what about Undyne?"

"What about who?" she asked, confused.

That confused him. "Oh, you know, only the head of the Royal Guard?"

"No, that's not right," Alphys said, more confident like she knew he was wrong. "There's a rabbit and dragon duo who co-lead the Royal Guard these days, and neither of them are named Undyne. I don't know anybody by that name."

"Oh, well never mind," he said, trying not to look dumb. "I must've mistaken you for someone else."

"Sorry, flower, you're a curious monster but I've got to finish up here," Alphys said.

"Hey, there's the talking flower!" Papyrus said, coming over.

"Um, are you two friends?" Alphys asked. "Could you take him elsewhere?"

"Sure thing, and I've got to introduce him to Sans!" Papyrus offered his hand again.

"Right, that," Alphys said skeptically, rolling her eyes.

Why? For that question, Flowey consented to be picked up again. "All right, if I have to. Where is he?"

"Wait a bit," Papyrus said, stepping away from where Alphys was working and standing at the sides of a few rows of benches. Kids and older monsters were given first choice on sitting there. Once clear, he brought out a skeleton plushie. "Here he is!"

Gripping his own doll tight, Flowey looked over the plushie. It did have some resemblance to Sans but was much too cute to actually be him. "Oh yeah? Hi Sans."

Papyrus was delighted that he acknowledged the plushie. "He's glad to meet you! And I'm glad you didn't say he's just a plushie. Cause he's not, he's my brother. Dad said he could only afford to have one child, but I always knew better. I always knew I had a big brother. Since I'm sure he watches me in spirit, I keep him close at hand with this doll. Someday, he'll find a way to appear at my side and we'll be together as the brothers we're meant to be."

"Well he does tend to appear when you least expect him," Flowey said.

"Wow, you really do know mysterious things. Do you know how I'll find him?"

"Have you tried Grillby's?" he asked.

Before Papyrus could answer, Alphys called on them to quiet down as she'd gotten the projector working just in time for the broadcast to start. Mettaton in his boxy form appeared on screen. "Hello hello lovely viewers!" he called out. "I'm only here briefly to introduce to you, the king of all monsters, Asriel Dreemurr! Happy birthday, your majesty!" Confetti burst out as Mettaton rolled aside.

"Asriel?" Flowey mumbled. He'd become king by this time?

And the monster who appeared was nothing like what he expected. He had some resemblance to Baphomet, having large leathery wings and more curling horns than Asgore had. But this timeline's Asriel was mostly a pure white, his horns and wing structures golden. He radiated power even through this broadcast. The whole town of Snowdin called birthday wishes and cheered in excitement.

After a minute, Asriel held a hand out and quieted those watching. "Thank you all for your warm wishes just now," he said, sounding more like an angel should sound than the one angel that Flowey had met. "We may not see each other often, but I feel the warmth of each and every one of you every day. It gives me the strength to continue to be your shield. Hopefully, one day we will get to see the sun and enjoy it. For now, keep strong and keep hoping. It may be my birthday today, but I wish so much that I could give you joy and freedom right now. I promise, some day I will."

"He could have anything he wants, but he's always so selfless," Papyrus said in awe. "I want to be as great as him some day." Others watching were equally touched.

Flowey was thinking that his other self was just saying what would make others admire him, but then Asriel obviously hesitated at something. "Actually, there is something I could ask for. There's a golden flower that speaks that recently appeared in the underground. I wish to speak to him. It's nothing you all need to search for as my subjects. The flower is watching right now and can decide if he wants to come or not on his own. Thank you."

"Wow, he must be talking about you Flowey!" Papyrus said, loud enough that others around them looked their way. Alphys was already doing that. "That's such an honor!"

"Uh, yeah, all right," he said, feeling squeamish at all this attention. "Hey, put me down, I can make my way to the castle on my own."

"All right, have a safe trip," Papyrus said, setting him back in the snow again so he could burrow away.

Several minutes later, he was really missing the sudden scene changes that made things so convenient for watching a story play out quickly. Why was this time different? Whatever, as long as Chara was here, it wouldn't matter. He'd even be fine sticking around as a flower. He just wanted to be with her again. He popped up in the throne room where the garden was.

The garden itself looked very different. There were less flowers and more herbs growing here, giving it the smell of a kitchen rather than a perfume-filled garden. At the door closest to the barrier, a burly dragon in black armor was standing guard. He clenched his spear when Flowey appeared, wary of his presence.

"It's all right," an angelic voice said from down the hall. "Let him by."

The dragon guard spoke slowly and skeptically. "This… evil flower?"

The king logically pointed out, "If he causes any trouble, I can handle it far better than anyone else in our kingdom. Let him by."

"Fine," the dragon said, relaxing his guard. "Behave yourself."

"Ffft, I could've passed without your permission," Flowey said, burrowing back underground and heading towards the archway.

A sensation that he'd only felt once before made his body tingle: this was a power of holy light that would burn away anything evil. He had second thoughts about this meeting as it could end badly and he might not be bailed out again. If he died within the time rifts, would he return? Or would he entirely cease to be? But this was a unique chance to talk to a crazy powerful version of himself. Perhaps he could be talked into helping to take Frisk's chronograph from him and completely ruining that jerk.

Trying not to wince, Flowey popped into the hall leading to the outside. True to what he'd been told, the ancient barrier was completely gone. The sun could be clearly seen spilling across the cavern floor. And here was Asriel as well, creating his own barrier around the mountain to keep the humans from entering. Wispy lines of energy that hadn't been visible on TV were wrapped around his body, stretching out to maintain his defense.

"You are me somehow, aren't you?" Asriel asked. "There's a sense of disorientation when I look at you."

"Is it the nature of you holy types to just start asking personal questions?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm you, a very messed up version of you. But I'm not using that name anymore. Call me Flowey."

"I must know what you're here for, Flowey, that's why I ask these things," Asriel said.

He flicked a free leaf at that. "Well you could have just asked that. I've been jumping in and out of time rifts trying to find Chara again." He nearly shut up on that subject, but Asriel was sitting there calmly, a sympathetic look to his eyes when he mentioned her. So he ended up adding on, "Everything else has messed up beyond my control and the game's completely different from what I once knew. So I decided that I would find her again and I did not care how I did so. I even went to where dead humans go after their funerals, but it was too late and the angel there was a jerk."

"I don't like to say this, but I'm afraid that you'll not find her here," Asriel said, closing his eyes sadly. But he managed to keep his words calm. "She died nearly a century ago, shortly after she turned fourteen."

"Seriously?!" He nearly dropped his Chara doll, but made sure to catch her before she slipped out of the leaf. "That sucks. But, that would have been well after that plan we made to gather six other human souls and break the barrier."

Asriel looked back down at him. "Ah, you really must be me if you know of that. No one knew the full extent of that plan outside of me and her."

"So what happened, did you break the barrier then?" Flowey asked.

He shook his head. "No, I got scared of losing her. I told Mom and Dad about it before she planned on poisoning herself with the flowers. She got so mad that she punched me and nearly killed me. However, I managed to convince them that she wasn't thinking right and they agreed. She got put in a more secure room away from me and we eventually talked her out of the idea. She was in a lot of turmoil because her human parents treated her poorly and she thought poorly of herself as a result."

"Well I learned that way too late," he said.

Thankfully, Asriel declined to comment on that. "Once she got over being mad at me, she was upset for a long time; it was a rough time on all of us. Our parents tried everything they knew to cheer her up, but no one was sure how to handle her. But just as Chara started smiling again, she became ill. It was only a weakness that made her stumble and bruise easily at first. She slept longer and always complained about being hungry. At the same time, she stopped eating and said that the magical foods we made her didn't make her feel full at all. Dad tried to grow some physical foods in the garden, but it was too little too late. She hung on for a long time and suffered for it, but finally died of starvation."

"Are you serious?" Flowey asked, although he had a feeling that he was telling the truth. Maybe it was the holy magic confirming it.

Asriel nodded. "When a human child begins the process of growing into an adult, they need to be on a diet of physical foods. We didn't realize that and Chara paid the price for our ignorance. And Mom and Dad," he stopped a moment and rubbed at his eyes. "They got hit hard by that realization. They lost all hope and joy and..." he waved his hand, "they faded away out of sorrow. So all the power in their souls went straight to me. I went from a child just gaining magical powers to an adult with the full power and responsibility of a royal monster in just a day. It was a huge shock to lose my whole family in such a relatively small amount of time, even though I knew they weren't doing well. But I had to put my sorrows aside in order to be the king and help others recover from the tragedy as well. They've all been wonderful to me; I only want their happiness, so I feel like I can endure anything for them."

He talked a lot. Still, Flowey found himself listening with interest. This was how he could have turned out. Asriel was powerful. Then again, being stuck to one spot willingly all for the benefit of others? He wasn't sure he could take that. "There would need to be a good reason to do this," Flowey said. "But how did you get this powerful? You're way beyond every other monster."

"I did take in Chara's soul to try being with her," Asriel said. "But her voice was faint and soon was lost to me even if I had power from her and our parents. Then another human child was found in Snowdin. I didn't want to see her go through what Chara did, so I escorted her back home myself. I got spotted somehow and the humans decided to eliminate us after all this time. I don't know why; I would've talked with them peacefully from the start. When a group came in intent on killing my people, I had to fight back. I ended up taking over their souls as well. When I got the chance, I broke down the barrier and tried to talk with them."

"That must've ended poorly," Flowey said.

He nodded. "They saw how powerful I was and declared that no monster was safe to be around. Just me, they didn't even try to check out the rest. So I remade the barrier, to protect us this time. The humans have been quiet for a while; I'm hoping they are having second thoughts, but I'm not holding my breath for it."

"That's probably a smart thing," he said. "I guess if you'll tell me that much, I can tell you what happened to me. But first, do you know of a monster named Undyne? She should be around."

"Oh yes, her," Asriel said, looking aside.

"So she was here," he said.

"It's my fault on that matter," he said. "I didn't know what to do with her. She was just a young mergirl when I started getting reports from the judges about her wild spirit and reckless aggression. Since I wasn't sure how to handle her, I let the judges try to calm her down. Eventually, she set out to challenge me and prove that she was the strongest monster around. But my guards can get zealous and she ended up killed before she could see me. I wanted to give her a chance, but with me holding the barrier together, nobody wants to take chances on losing me."

"Guess not," Flowey said. "All right, I'll tell you my side of things. I believed in Chara; I still do, no matter what's going on. So we went through with everything. It was rough, but when we fused, her voice was very strong. She wanted to take her body back to the surface and find some kind of special flower around the city. There was something about that it had mythical mystical powers. But when we finally found a garden of them, we got spotted and they thought I'd killed her. They shot at us with spells and guns, but I chickened out and just flew off with her, without hurting any of them."

"That's a good choice," Asriel said.

"No it wasn't!" he said, shaking some. "Hmph, humans have been trying to kill you and you think we should've been merciful?"

"It's better not to continue a cycle of violence," he said.

"Whatever, kill or be killed," Flowey said dismissively. "Cause that's what happened to me! I barely held our body together and Chara was yelling at me the whole way back, rightfully so."

Asriel raised an eyebrow at that. "As nice as she was to me, she did have an explosive temper and a skewed view on humanity as a whole, even herself."

"But she's smart and her ideas are brilliant," Flowey said. "When we finally got back home, I only made it as far as the throne room before I dropped her body and collapsed there. Mom, Dad, and a few others found us and I know I was trying to tell them what went on. I must've managed somehow because there's stories about it that are pretty accurate. Dad lost his temper one day after that and said that he'd kill every human who came down here in order to bring war to the surface. But that made Mom mad at him, so she ran off and locked herself into the Ruins. That's just what I learned later because I was dead in the garden."

"Then how are you here now as a flower?" Asriel asked. He seemed bothered to hear about how Asgore and Toriel had reacted to their failed plan's results.

"Well the seeds of those magical flowers are really sticky, so they ended up in the garden," he explained. "My essence ended up with those flowers. The next part's kind of long and boring cause it doesn't involve me much, but six other humans did end up in the underground. All kids, and they all got killed and their souls were stored away to be absorbed at the same time. Then no more showed up for decades, forcing them to get creative to make up for that seventh soul that was needed to become a true god like you."

"I bet Dad didn't really want to do it," Asriel said.

"He is a big chicken wuss," Flowey said. "But there was this dorky scientist girl named Alphys who was allowed to research the power of souls in order to break the barrier. She ended up making a huge mess out of it, it was a glorious horror show. However, she knew that a monster couldn't absorb another monster's soul no matter how you twisted things. They couldn't get a human to manipulate the monster's soul power, that's stupid."

"And she decided on a flower?" he asked.

"Yup, that's me," he said, flicking his free leaf. "She was trying to be all meaningful and stuff and managed to take out the one golden flower that most of my essence had gotten absorbed by. Then she extracted pure determination from the human souls, copied it, and injected it into this flower as well as some comatose near-dead monsters. That woke me back up, but I was soulless as a result."

"No you're not," he said.

Flowey frowned. "Yes I am! Dammit, I wish people would stop saying that. I woke up not able to feel love at all. Not from anybody else, and certainly not from myself. You can't imagine how horrible that makes life, able to see emotions in others that you don't feel yourself, or being insanely detached from everyone no matter how you try to be friends. I only make friends now if they entertain me or are useful to me."

"That sounds like you're a sociopath, not a soulless being," Asriel said. "Someone who has lost their soul still carries it, but it's often locked up and chained to whomever possesses it currently. Once they die or give up, the soul's possessor can do whatever they want with them."

"And how do you know that?" he asked. Though, it was something interesting to know. Frisk was still going because it was near impossible for him to give up or die as long as he had his chronograph. Baphomet was the one paying attention to them, so perhaps some deal could be struck.

He tilted his head towards the door to outside. "The humans summoned an angel to deal with us. I talked them into teaching me instead."

"Lucky you," he muttered. Then he spoke up again, "Whatever. To cut the rest of it short because it's too crazy to go into, I've decided that the only thing that matters now is getting back with Chara. Only her soul went back to the Earth Mother already, so I'm forced into taking this path through time rifts in order to find a history where she lives. And I did find one where she lived a long life, but never came to Mt Ebott. That one doesn't count."

"That may be impossible," he said with pity.

Flowey snarled. "I'll make it possible! I don't care if I have to make the same four or six years run over and over again because that's what's been going on in my timeline with all the people who can manipulate time there. I'll have to go back a hundred years, but I don't care, I will make this work and we'll finally be happy forever."

"I don't think that'll go over well with your other time manipulators," Asriel said.

"I know, that's obvious. They're trying so hard to get past a kink in time when the whole world has ended at a certain year. But none of it will matter because Chara won't be there and I'll end up disappearing entirely because I have no soul!"

This time, Asriel didn't try to argue with it. He put his fingers together near his mouth and thought about it. "Hmm, you really want to bring her back."

"Of course, wouldn't you if you had the chance?"

He looked guilty for a second, but didn't reply. "And you want to recover your ability to love?"

That caused Flowey to hesitate. "Well... yeah. Hey, don't take me for some sappy idiot, okay? It's just, it really is a miserable existence when the only thing you have going for you is determination. There's... there's always this burning fire inside that never wants to die, never wants to give up. And it pushes you to keep on going even when the odds are getting ridiculously stupid.

"Like, one of the other time manipulators is a human with a truly absurd amount of determination. I think he's even absurd compared to the rest of humanity. He fell into corruption so hard and fast that he sold his own soul to keep going. But then he decided to give up power and violence. Now he's spent centuries of the same ten years steadily shedding that corruption and trying to get past the dead end kink. Which is like three or four years ahead relative to when I left that timeline. And even if he manages to shed all his corruption somehow, none of it will matter when the demon who owns his soul comes around to collect. No one else would even try, but he seems unstoppable because of his determination."

"That is absurdly determined," Asriel said. "I wonder... well, I can consider that later. As for you, I've thought of something that might just help with your goals."

"Really?" he asked, surprised. Maybe there was some point to this aimless wandering. "But why would you do that for me? Aren't we supposed to be immediate enemies because you're holy and I'm evil?"

"We've been talking just fine," he said. He even smiled. "My mentor might disapprove, but you are me. I'd like to help you somehow."

"But what kind of price are you gonna ask for that?" Flowey asked, still suspect of the offer.

"Nothing. Sometimes my subjects come to visit, but they're so in awe of me that I get uncomfortable with the company. So to have a rude little flower come in to talk to me like a normal person, it's enough for me to have spent this time with you."

"You're weird, even if you are me," he said. "So what's your idea?"

"You have a doll of Chara there, right? May I see it?"

"No!" he said sharply, clinging to it. "I've got nothing else of her, I'm not letting her go."

"I think this will work," Asriel said. "Don't worry, you can keep a hold of her if you want. I just need to touch her for a moment."

"Well I guess, but don't take her," Flowey said, uncurling that leaf some so that the doll was visible.

"This might make you uncomfortable," he said as he reached down. And that light he held got more intense, enough that Flowey shut his eyes tight even though it wasn't visible light that was bothering him. This must be something like the cold darkening that people would complain about around him. When he drew back, there seemed to be some kind of spark to the doll now. "There, that part worked."

"What did you do to her?" Flowey said, opening his eyes and looking at the doll. Nothing seemed to have changed.

"Like you had determination put into you, I put a bit of love into her," Asriel explained. "It shouldn't be enough to awaken the doll as you have. But you see, love is best when it's shared and if I gave it straight to you, it'd cause problems with the corruption you bear. The doll will keep that bit of love safe. If you take good care of the doll, then the act of caring should cause the love to seep into you. The bit will grow as you keep caring for the doll, until you can start caring about others again. It may take a long time, but if a human can push himself out of a highly corrupt state based on determination, surely you can as well."

"That sounds silly," he said. "But I'm taking good care of the doll already, so nothing to lose by trying."

"Good, I hope it works for you," Asriel said. Then his cell phone rang; he checked the number on it. "Sorry, this is on the emergency line."

"Yeah, go ahead," Flowey said, still checking over Chara's doll. Her hair was like real hair now; was that Asriel's doing or had it been one of the other changes? No matter. He brushed it straight, didn't think it looked like her, then messed it up a little so it looked more like she did after running around the castle with him.

He did pay attention when Asriel said, "They're going that far? That's... no, I can do something about it. Everyone in the underground sent me such warm wishes today, I can use that now. Keep it quiet for now, Dr. Gaster. If it does reach here, there's not much we can do. And about him? Yes, it's like you were saying. We'll talk about him later. Right, later." He disconnected the call and got to his feet. The wispy strands of magic increased as he did. "It will work."

"What will?"

"Saving everyone." He headed out the door to the outside, the strands being stretched like elastic.

Wondering what was up, Flowey closed his leaf over the doll again and burrowed to meet with him at the door. The sky was clear blue and bright, not a cloud up there. And the landscape below was full of green from trees and grass. Flowey was more interested in what his other self was doing. Looking up into the sky as if searching for something in particular, he stood there silently. On finding what he was looking for, he gave a nod and tensed his body. The power of light grew blinding again, making Flowey duck away to try blocking it out. Then Asriel released that energy towards the spot he was focused on, like a bolt of lightning that for some reason left behind the smell of flowers rather than the sound of thunder.

"What was that?" Flowey asked.

He shook his head. "It's sad. The humans decided to use nuclear missiles to destroy Mt. Ebott. Thankfully, I was able to transform them into flowers. It should start showering petals for the rest of the day. I wonder what they'll do now."

"Yeah, that's really crazy," he agreed. Then he noticed the city in the distance; it wasn't that distant. "Hey, but, if they're desperate enough to send missiles at you, how much damage would come? And how much would it spread?"

"Hmm? There were half a dozen that we detected, so it could wipe out life for miles around us. I'm not sure how far, but they'd take out more than just us and the mountain." Asriel looked down at him.

Flowey nodded over towards the city. "So, they'd hit that place too? You'd think that they'd evacuate the city to minimize the loss of other humans in this attack. So it should be empty now."

Asriel looked over there. "You're right, that place is uncomfortably close for a nuclear strike. Hang on." He took out his phone again. "Yeah... thanks, I did. But there's something about this attack that made me think. You know the city that neighbors us? It would be in the range of destruction of missiles capable of taking all of us down, so it should be empty. Yes, it is a good opportunity, but I want a scouting team to head into the city and make sure of its condition. We should send them out through the exit at the Old Viewpoint. Yes, look up some people for that. I'll get back to you in a few minutes." He hung up again.

"Of course, the humans could get angrier about you taking over their territory," Flowey said.

"I could remake the barrier over there until they start negotiating with us," Asriel said. "Besides, if they're calling it a war and they abandon their own holdings, it's up for grabs by us."

"No arguments from me." Unfortunately, whatever was manipulating the time rifts decided that now was a good time to grab him back. "I'll be going, good luck!" Flowey said before he started falling again.

He ended up back in the toy store from the capitol, on the shelf where he had picked up Chara's doll. "What kind of time line did I end up in now?" Flowey said. The store was quiet, although the lights were on. Still, he was alone. "Well, I'll hang around unless something changes."