No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

48 ~ A Big Reveal

It's a bad day for everyone when Flowey decides he's in a bad mood.

Of course, he can't actually be in a bad mood. He has no Soul, no emotion to go sour to make him in a bad mood in the first place. He can get frustrated, yes, when things keep going wrong for him. But those days where he's just grumpy?

You're pretty sure he literally just wakes up in the morning and decides "I like today less than most days. I'm gonna be in a bad mood today."

... Or, at least, something similar to that.

Regardless, this Saturday begins with Flowey screaming twice as loud as usual, a whole two hours ahead of normal weekend time.

That means he wakes you up at 5:46 AM. On a Saturday.

"WAKE UP WAKE UP YOU LITTLE IDIOT GET UP!" He screeches in your ear. "IT'S ANOTHER FREAKING AWFUL DAY, AND IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET UP AND SUFFER YOUR WAY THROUGH IT ALL THE WAY TO THE END SO YOU CAN CRAWL BACK INTO BED LIKE THE DESPICABLE LITTLE PIECE OF TRASH YOU ARE AND GO BACK TO SLEEP TO START OVER AGAIN IN THE SAME NEVERENDING CYCLE OF MISERY AND DEPRESSION!"

With a glance at your alarm clock to see the way-too early time, you groan and shove your head under your pillow in an attempt to block out the noise. It's futile, of course, and you know it. No mere pillow could stop Flowey's voice.

"Flowey," you complain, "it's Saturday. Let me sleep."

He starts screaming in a mimic of your actual alarm clock, letting out intermittent sharp cries that are already giving you a headache.

"Flowey!" You complain louder.

"I'M BORED, FRISK! I DON'T HAVE A SOUL AND I'M BORED. GET UP!"

"Flowey..."

"DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THIS IS, NOT HAVING A SOUL?! I CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING! AND I'M STUCK WITH YOU, WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE, SO IF YOU'RE GONNA FORCE ME TO STICK AROUND WITH YOU, YOU'D BETTER BE AWAKE! GET UP!!"

With a muttered word in another language that Gaster told you not to repeat, you give up and sit up in bed. "Fine! Fine! I'm up! Just stop screaming!"

Flowey proceeds to scream for another five minutes, just because.

When you finally get downstairs to the kitchen, you see that Toriel, Papyrus, Gaster, and even Sans are all awake and there.

Gaster gives Flowey a look of absolute animosity. "Thanks for the wake up call, weed." His voice makes it clear that he would rather have thrown Flowey into a bonfire than be woken up like that.

"I have to suffer alone every day." Flowey spits back. "You can handle getting up a little early, oh-mister-high-and-mighty-Royal-Scientist."

If looks could kill, then the look that Gaster gives Flowey would probably level the whole of Ebbot Town, and maybe even Mt. Ebbot itself, too. "You don't know anything about being alone."

"Uh, hello, Soulless flower incapable of emotion, surrounded by sentimental idiots who expect his sympathy, thanks. Can't get much worse than that."

You wouldn't know it's possible for Gaster's expression to get darker, except that you're there, and you see it happen. "Try this- take a Soul so numb it can't emote at all, and a demon trying constantly to kill you. Then, go live in a world not where you're to the side, but where you're not there at all. Where no one knows you, remembers you, where you don't exist. Where you can't reach out into the world and change something you don't like, can't interact with what you do, a world where you are merely an observer, able only to watch as your family moves on without you, without ever noticing you, without you ever even existing. Try that, and then tell me you're suffering right now."

Flowey responds with an equally venomous look. "My family has moved on without me! They live on every day, and they've completely forgotten about me! They replaced me!"

Your pulse quickens. You're getting nervous, that slight adrenaline boost right before a fight coursing through you. Everyone looks nervous- all the bystanders, at least.

Gaster and Flowey just look furious.

"Replaced you?" Gaster scoffs. "You mean you replaced yourself, filling a spot that was meant to be left empty. You're trying to fill a dead monster's shoes, and failing because you can't regain a fallen Soul."

"Excuse me?" Flowey's voice is getting that creepy, angry tone in it, the one he uses to try to intimidate people. "I am very much alive, thank you!"

"You're alive, sure!" Gaster's eyesockets have gone completely black, and he stands up, slamming his hands palm-down on the table. "But Prince Asriel is dead!"

You suck in a sharp breath, and you notice both Toriel and Flowey cringe at the name. Sans and Papyrus look nervous and confused, both ready to reach out to Gaster.

But Gaster continued. "Asriel is dead, and you're nothing but a Soulless husk, clinging to life with borrowed Determination! You're a petty insult to my prince's memory, and every breath you take is a corrupt imitation of something that wasn't meant to come back! The fallen are gone, and Prince Asriel is dead!"

Gaster's got everyone at a loss for words. Flowey seems... shocked. He's blinking, his mouth twitching, but his eyes are wide and he's not making any sound.

It's Toriel who breaks the tension, a strange fury alighting in her eyes. "What do you mean by this, Gaster, bringing up the name of my son?"

You can't help but shudder internally. There's a reason you didn't tell Toriel and Asgore about Flowey being Asriel, but Gaster seems to be oblivious to that. Or he just doesn't care; you can't tell.

Gaster looks from Flowey to Toriel. You can tell it's a struggle for him, that diverting his fury is like trying to change the course of a river, and then keeping that from flooding out on Toriel is like trying to stop a tsunami. He manages, though, and you suddenly realize the enormous amount of self-control he has.

"That weed," Gaster jabs a finger at Flowey, "is infused with Asriel's essence. He has all of the prince's memories and thoughts, but he twists them and calls them his own, despite the fact that Asriel is gone. He claims himself to be the prince, but the prince is dead."

Toriel looks at you. Her face has none of the usual motherly warmth to it, now it's all queenly authority. "Frisk. Do you understand what he's saying?"

Hesitantly, nervously, you nod.

Toriel turns a little to look at Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster. "I think you all need to leave. Now." She makes it clear that it's not a suggestion; it's a command.

Gaster looks like he wants to protest, but something seems to occur to him, and he relents. Then he turns and strides out. Sans and Papyrus glance at each other, then quickly follow.

Then Toriel turns to you. The power in her eyes is still there, but now it's shadowed by a deep sadness. She sighs. "Please, Frisk. Explain to an old woman what this has to do with her child."

You hesitate. How can you tell this to her?

Then you sigh. From the beginning, you suppose. She deserves to know.

So you start to talk.

§

A/N

Honestly, I'm not super satisfied with this chapter. It just seems a little... flat to me, if that makes sense.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!