Darkness.

No, not darkness. At least, not what it had been before. Something had changed from the limbo I was trapped in - something new. It wasn't the void like I knew it. In the void, I couldn't feel anything. Not my limbs, not my head, just nothingness.

Whatever this was, it was a welcome relief from the eternity I had spent wandering. Instead of nothingness… I felt something… tickling my arms and back. Wait… my arms? My body? Without thinking, light suddenly flooded everywhere in my gaze. It took me a few seconds to process that it wasn't just light - it was eyes - my eyes - that had fluttered open.

Reflexively, I squinted at the bright stream of light flowing down on top of me. For a moment, I sat there, laying on the ground still, the ticklish sensation below me and a bright light above me. I tried to flex anything - to check if it wasn't just eyes that I had. For one fearful moment, nothing happened. Relief flooded through me, however, when I could feel the smallest sensations of my body, and sat up into place.

Still, where I was didn't register. How… how had I gotten here? One second I was asleep - as asleep as a restless soul could be that is, and the next I'm in my body. On a… bed of flowers? As if pulled by puppet strings out of my hand, I stood up, to take a look around me.

I had been lying on a bed of pretty, yellow flowers. Above, there was some kind of skylight. That was where the light had been coming from. It looked… familiar, somewhat. For a moment, I looked at it pondering.

Then it struck me from where I knew it. This - that was - it was the hole I had dropped through to get to the underground, so long ago. If this was ever a moment for my jaw to drop, it seemed it would have.

But instead of what I expected, my whole body started walking of it's own accord. Surprise flooded through me as I tried to stop it - whatever strange pull was gearing me to go forward. How was any of this possible? I died. Asriel also died.

If I could, I would have stopped in my tracks as I thought about the last two statements. I had… he was dead. Our plan had failed. So, so, badly. I had died, he had died, and… and…

The ruins! I was heading to the ruins! I finally brought myself back to what my body was currently doing. A small hill on the ground was the only obstacle blocking us from entering the ruins. It looked almost the same as it did when I was alive - how long had I been gone exactly? The void seemed endless in time. Someone I knew had to be alive… right?

I should feel happy that I was alive. That I was in a body, and was heading back to the underground. And I should feel sad knowing that Asriel was dead - probably deader than myself at the moment.

But I felt nothing. Nothing at all. It was all so strange, and I had no time to reflect on any of this before I felt out whole body stop in surprise. I slowly turned my gaze from reflection on myself to the world around me. It was strange - seeing stuff happen to me from this point of view. I was used to my thoughts and nothing else.

But here, all I had were my thoughts, and no control. The eyes I was using was directed on the same hill we had been looking at a minute ago - but now there was a… flower sticking out of it. With a smiley face. Huh.

"Howdy!"

I felt myself freeze as I heard the voice echo the same words Asriel often said. Finally, my body reacted the same way that I wanted to, surprise etched in every of my movements.

"I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

Well that's pretty obvious. I had meant to speak the words, but my lips refused to move when I thought the words. I couldn't even talk now? Great. Instead, the words I had thought seem to echo in my mind, filling up the space.

"Hmm… you're new to the Underground, aren'tcha?"

No! I'm a resident here! I thought - as that was the only thing I could do at the moment. While I could control small things, it seemed I was totally unable to do what I wanted.

"Golly, you must be so confused! Someone ought to teach you how things work around here. Guess little old me will have to do." The flower's movements were almost exaggerated as he talked, blinking innocently. A bit… too innocently. He sure talked like Asriel - but this flower… he felt… fake. Like he plucked Asriel's speech from my mind. It made me shudder. I knew how the Underground worked - I didn't need to listen to this guy. I willed myself to walk around, but still, it was like someone else was in control of my body.

Suddenly, I felt a pull. A pull on a SOUL. A SOUL. My physical representation of it appeared it front of me. I felt myself stiffen as I stared at it. It couldn't be. My SOUL was still intact? After all this time? How was that even possible? Asriel… he had absorbed it. He had died. I had been released into the void. The last physical thing I had felt was when Asriel turned to dust. Did my SOUL survive it? Was that why I had consciousness in the void? Was that why I was still alive now?

I was snapped out of my inner thoughts as Flowey spoke again. LV? EXP? I stared at the flower, willing my jaw to drop once more - which to my displeasure it did not. He was seriously trying to make me believe LV stood for actual love? Yeah, right. I let my thoughts out once more, into my mind. Cause level of violence is really what love is about.

Just as I finished my inner thoughts, my body stiffened, as if it just realized what Flowey was talking about, while I had noticed it second beforehand. A late response is better than no response, I guessed. Even if I hadn't willed my body to do it that time.

Suddenly, though, I realized what the Flowey was now saying. Sharing love with us? As if he would ever do that! I scoffed at the concept. Yeah, this troublesome guy would share something with us. To say I wasn't surprised when the white bullets appeared would be an understatement at this point. 'White friendliness pellets'. Yeah, right.

And now, they were heading towards my SOUL. And nothing. My SOUL… it wasn't moving! My body had relaxed, as if they were willing to catch these pellets and be killed. NO! DODGE THEM! I screamed out, but only managed to get my voice echoing in my head, just like before.

For a moment, nothing happened. The white bullets were still speeding toward my SOUL, and once again, I was about to die. Helpless to do a thing about it. But at the last moment, something happened. Something that I couldn't put my tongue on. In my mind… I felt understanding. Somebody else's understanding. And at the last moment, my SOUL moved ever so slightly as to dodge the oncoming bullets.

Immediately, relief flooded through me. It had dodged. I was safe. I didn't even have time to realize that I was actually feeling something, before this flower started talking again.

"Hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try again, okay?"

Yeah, right! I wanted to shout, wanting to throw it into this stupid flower's face that he hadn't tricked me, but still, my voice only echoed in my mind. This was ridiculous! I couldn't talk, I barely had control over my body, and this DAMN FLOWER WAS TRYING TO KILL ME!

I didn't waste a second this time. Gathering what force that I could, as as soon as he began floating the bullets toward me, I once again dodged, throwing my SOUL all the way to the right to dodge this time. Once again, something weird happened. Surprise floated through me. Why was I feeling surprised? I knew what I had to do, and I wasn't going to play Flowey's games.

"Is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!"

Not happening. I thought smugly, even if he couldn't hear the satisfaction that I was feeling right now. Without my help, my SOUL dodged the bullets on the own, now eliciting real surprise from me. I hadn't even had the chance to think about dodging, and my SOUL had dodged the oncoming slaughter. That… wasn't supposed to happen. But either way, I wasn't dying. Great start.

I couldn't even ponder why my SOUL had moved of it's own accord, when the Flowey's face… changed. Moments ago, he had smiling. And his face had only scrunched up slightly when I missed the bullets before popping back to that bland happy face. Now… it was twisted. Beyond belief. Like the facade it was hiding was finally over with.

"You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer." All mannerisms that I had pictured with Asriel were dropped. Flowey was finally showing his true colors. And honestly, the scary look on his face creeped me out a bit. Who knew a yellow flower could be that horrible? Even the ones in my village were just flowers - not the result of the humans there.

"DIE."

Oh, gods, no. I could only stare helplessly as suddenly, those white bullets were multiplied by who knows what number, completely surrounding my soul on all sides, in a circle. This wasn't fair! This wasn't how you were supposed to fight! What kind of LOVE did this creature have? I could imagine humans having it - but monsters? Sure, some of them loved to fight for some reason, but there had always been a way to escape. Apparently, this flower wanted us dead now and here.

Moving my SOUL would do nothing, I knew - there was no way out when it was completely surrounded. Still, I watched my SOUL try to move around, before it seemed to realize it had nowhere to go.

Despair started to flow from somewhere else. It wasn't mine… but as soon as I felt the raw emotion, I began to feel it myself. Together, my own despair and the foreign emotion mixed together, combining in a heap of despair.

I'm going to die again… this is it. I came back to life to live for a whole five minutes. I thought bitterly, fighting the urge to laugh at how stupid it really was.

I only just noticed the bullets disappeared, through the tears that had started to gather at my eyes. Not only that, but I stiffened as suddenly, a fireball came out of nowhere and knocked the flower away.

I gasped, as my eyes trailed to where the flower had disappeared to. A fireball? I only knew three creatures who had the ability to do that. Asriel… But it couldn't be him. He was dead.

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a pure and innocent soul…"

I froze, feeling my heart stop. Mom. It was mom. I watched her come closer, feeling my heart beating fast. It was her. It was really her.

"Ah, do not be afraid, my child."

Mom! I wanted to cry and reach out to her. This was the first time I was seeing her for so long. I felt frozen in time though, once again trapped, unable to do anything.

"I'm Toriel, caretaker of the ruins." What? I stared at her, in disbelief. Don't you recognize me? Why are you introducing yourself?

"I'm…" My mouth moves, spilling out words that are not my own. I scream to empty air. CHARA! YOUR DAUGHTER! "... My name is Frisk." I mumble, not of my own will.

Who is controlling my body? The despair that I was still feeling only increases, as I think something. Something that couldn't be true. Slowly, mustering whatever willpower I still had, I forced myself to look down.

I was wearing a blue and purple striped shirt that was not my own. Darker skin color. It… It wasn't me.

I wasn't in my own body.

I wasn't in control.

I was trapped, alone, in a body that was not my own, with my mother right in front of me and no way to reach her.

Knowing that despite my knowledge that I wouldn't be heard, I let my despair out anyway, and began to sob, silent to the outside world.