VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 41

"You sure it's here?"

"Yeah man. It's here, I'm not playing."

Two boys, teens from the look of them, wandered out of the woods off the trail, coming upon a meadow where several large yellow flowers sat. The two stopped, gazing through the dark garden, before they got ready, one pulling out a small box of matches as the other held up a gas can he'd brought.

"We know you're there!" the first boy yelled to the flowers. "You think you're real funny, huh? Well who's laughing now?" As he taunted the plants, the second boy began wandering through the field, dumping gasoline as he went.

Their intention was clear: the pair was planning on burning these flowers to ash. "Wait! I see him!" the second boy stopped pouring the gasoline for a second, pointing at one particular flower near the center of the patch, looking much more worn than the others . . . in addition to having a face shadowed under the light of the moon, which was twisted into a sinister grin, eyes hollow and dark.

"Ain't so tough now, are you? Freak!" the first boy laughed, lighting a match against his matchbox. The instant the flame was lit, a vine tore its way out of the earth, wrapping around his ankle. The boy with the match let out a girly shriek as he was lifted into the air, hanging upside down ten feet above the ground.

"DROP THE MATCH!" the second boy shouted, but it was much too late, as the match had already gone out, the remainder having been spilled onto the ground during the confusion.

"Cut the vine!" the first boy shouted back as the flower slunk through the garden. The second boy pulled a switchblade out of his pocket, racing toward the vine- but was stopped when another vine rose up to trip him. His blade went flying as he smashed into a faceful of gasoline-doused flowers. Flowey popped up again, just behind the second boy, who began crawling desperately away, eyes wide and terrified, but didn't get far as several vines began to twirl around him, wrapping about, seizing him and forcing him down, one vine twisting threateningly around his throat.

"We'll go! We'll go! Just don't kill us!"

"You two really are idiots," Flowey hissed, the vines tightening around the two boys, making breathing difficult for both of them- just when their faces began to turn red, and it looked like Flowey planned on crushing them into a fine paste, the vine loosened up ever so slightly. With one quick motion, the vines threw both boys across the field, rolling across the flowery terrain for several yards before finally coming to a stop.

"Don't come back!" Flowey's voice pierced through the night.

The boys took off running back into the forest, screaming their heads off yelling about killer daisies. Satisfied, Flowey smirked. This wasn't the first time a situation like this had happened, and it wouldn't be the last. That's what he got for consistently terrorizing random settlements he came across.

He suddenly felt paranoid, as though he was being watched. Glowering, the flower swiveled about to gaze upon a hooded figure standing nearby, staring at him. "What do you want?" Flowey hissed.

"there's a situation i need to discuss with you," a deep voice replied, the figure raising bony hands to remove the hood covering a skull. Dark, empty eyes stared at the flower.

"What's with the face, trashbag?" Flowey hissed.

"it's serious," Sans said, almost growling. "save points have been appearing around voxis."

Flowey's eyes widened. "the kid can't use them," Sans continued. "so. what do you know?"

Flowey stared at Sans for a long moment, before frowning. "Oh, you stupid . . . stupid . . . IDIOT," he growled at the skeleton. "I told you it was an issue, didn't I? I said Frisk's loss of power was a problem. But did you listen? No! Like always, you acted on selfish impulses."

"save the lecture," Sans replied, raising a hand to silence the flower, who only spat in reply. "it's not you, is it?"

"Does it look like it'd be me? I'm nowhere near Voxis these days. That hell hole isn't too kind to fauna," Flowey replied shrilly.

". . . that's what i was afraid of," Sans released a drawn-out sigh. "i've never met anyone else who can control the timeline other than you two."

Flowey laughed at the skeleton. "What's the matter, trashbag? Scared that someone's gonna reset? Afraid you'll wake up back Underground?"

"shut up," Sans grunted, eyes darkening further.

"You were finally happy to be free of the timelines, but they'll always haunt you, won't they?" Flowey taunted, trying to get a rise out of Sans, who looked ready to do something a little more physical, before he let out a defeated sigh. This surprised Flowey, who'd never known Sans to appear this . . . drained.

"will you help me?" he asked, surprising the flower even further.

"You're . . . asking me for help?"

"will you or won't you?"

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Flowey's face twisted.

"simple. help me find out who's in control of the timeline," Sans slipped his hands into his coat pockets. "and don't play dumb, either. you know how to gather information. you in or out?"

"I don't see why I should," Flowey huffed, clearly trying to be difficult.

". . . i know you're scared of going back too," Sans replied. "you don't want to be in the underground again, especially if someone a lot less kind than the kid is pulling the strings. so quit bein' a pain in the ass and get on board already."

"Fine," Flowey snarled, narrowing his eyes. "Just stay out of my way and we'll be fine."

"whatever. keep in touch."

"If you think I'm gonna—" Flowey began, but Sans had already disappeared, leaving Flowey in the middle of a field talking to nothing and feeling stupid. "Hate it when he does that." He grumbled, before perking up.

A new player had entered the game. Someone new who had control of the timeline. Since there hadn't been any resets yet, it was safe to assume this person wasn't aware of their power yet, or maybe they just hadn't used it.

Deep down, though . . . Flowey knew what he wanted. If given the chance, he'd take this new person's SOUL for himself, and restore his control. With additional Determination, he doubted even the smiley trashbag could put him down. Never again.

"That's a wonderful idea . . ." he smirked to himself, slinking back beneath the surface.