Chapter Text
Flowey was oh, so close to murder. He could appreciate a good joke, but this was not one of them. It had been in disrepair before, but this was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. Decorations and graffiti littered the statue and he felt sick. One hour of rest! One!
The Seraph had lost much of its magnificence covered in slurs and second hand tinsel. Then again, if anyone dared to do this to the Seraph, could the people have forgotten just how important the Seraph was?
Out of respect, he ducked himself into the ground, and screamed himself raw. The Seraph, guardian of joy did not need something like this anger, this sheer disrespect! He would destroy them, rip them apart into shreds! Their lives would be lost in the seams of time! No one would would ever remember...them...
He popped his head up out the ground, heaving breaths rattling, screams dancing on the tip of his tongue, all will power dedicated to hiding them. Emotions were not a thing that Flowey experienced, but they thrashed him around like a ragdoll in the hands of a belligerent child. He choked on his own breath as he stared into the poor imitation of those gentle eyes, now covered in hateful words. It was this part, that Flowey decided he loathed the most.
“This is what you wanted to save? This is the filth that you threw yourself into a void for? Look what they have done! I’ll...I’ll...”
“You’ll what, little flower?” A pubescent voice chortled, followed by the laughter of at least three other soon-to-be dust piles.
Flowey laughed himself. High pitched, unnatural, and terrifying. Vines sealed off the cavern. The boys, a rabbit, lizard and seahorse monster all cringed, but the other rabbit just laughed.
“Spooky scary flower. Oooh...run for your lives...he’s pissed we painted a rock!”
The cavern boomed with the shrill voice. “I will kill you! He saved all of your miserable, pathetic lives, gives you joy and this is how you repay him! I will rebuild the statue in his honour using your dust!”
Each vine reached for a boy, ready to dash them to death when...something happened. Colours filled the air, separating Flowey from his future victims.
“I SUSPECT YOU ARE OVERREACTING FRIEND.”
No, it can’t be! It couldn’t be!
“DIMI, MICHA, LOLO AND RUSSELL, WOULD YOU BE ALRIGHT WITH LEAVING THE ROOM? I HATE TO EXCLUDE, BUT I SENSE IT WOULD BE BEST IF YOU FOUR VACATED THE PREMISES.” A disembodied, red gloved finger pointed at each brat.
“Dude! There’s some kind of ghost in here! Like, not a good ghost but...like some human essence!” The seahorse, Russell chirped quietly. “I don’t think muscles will deal with that thing.”
“MUSCLES ARE ENTIRELY UNNECCESARY. I DO NOT THINK ANY OF YOU SHOULD BE FIGHTING!” The shock rendering Flowey unable to speak disappeared for a moment, replaced by indignity.
“Do you not see what they did? Surely some-”
“DEATH WILL NOT BE EXCUSED IN MY SPACE.” His voice was stern and Flowey flinched, but it didn’t last long. “I WILL ADDRESS YOU IN A MOMENT, FRIEND, BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE BEST IF THESE FOUR WERE NOT THERE TO WITNESS IT.”
“YOU FOUR ARE FORGIVEN, AND I WELCOME ALL, BUT FOR YOUR OWN SAKES, YOU MUST EXIT.”
The belligerent rabbit child stormed up to where the gloved finger was and looked up as if to challenge the owner. “Make me!”
The boys screamed as their oh so brave leader was grabbed gently by an invisible force and escorted out of the room. It didn’t take long for the others to follow, their bravery shattered.
It was quiet for a few moments, with the exception of Flowey slowly shrinking back into a normal, inconspicuous flower.
“IS THIS WHY YOU ALWAYS CHOSE TO HANG OUT WITH OLDER PEOPLE?” The voice was filled with humour, but Flowey was still angry. How did Papyrus not get the gravity of the situation?
“Do you not see what those little brats did to you? They defiled you! Do you know what they did to you?”
“THEY DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO ME...BUT ITS REALLY MEAN OF THEM TO RUIN YOUR ARTWORK LIKE THAT.”
Today was a fury day, Flowey could just tell, and he wasn’t sure where it was directed. He was open for it going anywhere, if he was honest with himself.
“This statue is you! This is your memory, how people remember you! This is what people look on in awe! The hero! The myth! The-”
“WHILE I AM CERTAINLY FLATTERED, AND I HAVE ALWAYS LIKED THAT STATUE. AFTER ALL, IT BEING LIKE ME IS THE BEST THING IT CAN BE...” The Seraph allowed himself a chuckle.
A vine quickly shot up and struck the cavern wall, akin to someone slapping the wall. “Could you please take this seriously? This isn’t just my ‘art’, this is what someone did in your memory! They disgraced you! Do you not see what they wrote all over you?”
“WELL, THAT WAS CERTAINLY HARD TO MISS. IT IS IN VERY BIG PRINT, AND SANS USED TO SAY ALL THE TIME THAT I NEEDED GLASSES.”
“Papyrus stop! Please stop...”
“...FLOWEY, THIS IS HURTING YOU, ISN’T IT?”
“Why are you so...selfless? You give up your identity to protect people from d-despair, with that monument as the only thing to remind people you even existed, and those people you rescued...they’ve destroyed it!” Flowey screamed, gesturing wildly with his leaf.
It was silent for a moment, and for an agonizing time, Flowey thought that Papyrus had left him once again. Something sniffled, and he realized with no limit to his disgust that it was him. Crying? In front of where the Seraph had been? How pathetic.
“IT’S JUST A STONE. IT CANNOT BREATHE, IT CANNOT FEEL, IT CANNOT BE HURT. IT CANNOT...” Despite the gentleness, the tenderness of Papyrus’s voice, Flowey found his own pain growing, his breathing more erratic and whatever heart in his body beginning to shatter.
“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I know it isn’t you, I just want it to be you! I talk to it! I talk to that stone because who else do I have? Chara is dead and you are locked in a void!” Flowey paused, and his voice grew high pitched, hysterical and soft. “I am so alone...I am so alone...”
Arms wrapped around him as swift as the wind, and for a moment, it was like physical contact, hugging this ghost. He was pressed into the chest of the kneeling skeleton, too short at the moment for anything higher. Wings wrapped the two like a shield from the outside world, and through tearing eyes, Flowey was given a full glimpse into those eyes he hadn’t seen in years, welcoming and kind as always.
He couldn’t speak, only able to communicate with saline, emotions he didn’t know he could feel still and desperate gasps of this shared presence. Papyrus didn’t need words to understand, and pet the back of Flowey’s head.
“YOU DO NOT NEED THE STONE TO BE WITH ME, FOR I SHALL ALWAYS BE RIGHT BESIDE YOU EVEN WHEN YOU CANNOT SEE ME, MY DEAR CHILD AND FRIEND. EVEN IF IT SEEMS LIKE I AM NOT HERE, I AM.”
“Do you h-h-have to go again?”
“YES I AM AFRAID I MUST. IT TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF MY POWER TO STAY IN THE MORTAL REALM.”
“But-”
A small bark filled the air to the dismay of Flowey and the amusement of the Seraph. “SURELY HE WILL BE ABLE TO GIVE WHAT YOU NEED. IS NOT THE DOG THE SOUL’S BEST FRIEND?”
“Don’t you dislike dogs?”
“ONLY BAD BEHAVED ONES. BESIDES, I LEFT MY SPECIAL ATTACK IN THE REALM.” Flowey took a moment to lock that cheeky, almost normal Papyrus smile to memory. “NOW, FLOWEY, I AM AFRAID I MUST LEAVE. I HAVE ALMOST STRETCHED MY POWERS TO THE LIMIT, AND MUST HEAD BACK. DO NOT FEAR THOUGH FOR I WILL VISIT ONCE AGAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.”
“No! Wait!” It was too late. The Seraph was gone. Flowey just kind of hung in the ground, unsure where to go. The Annoying Dog turned to him, and with a whimper, parked himself right in front of the flower as if to sleep. With plausible deniabilty to what he was doing, he rested his head against the dog, craving the physical contact. Just for the moment. Just until he returned to him.