There was nothing. The world was empty, except for two figures that were somehow clearly visible in an endless expanse of blackness.

There was a howling noise that rang in their ears, but in that moment, all that mattered was the just two of them. A second later, the one wearing a green and yellow striped shirt spoke quietly.

"In a little while... I'll turn back into a flower." His voice was strained, small, and he sounded scared.

"I'll stop being able to feel love again." He was so afraid, to fall back to what he was before, a vessel incapable of feeling or even understanding emotions.

The goat-like child looked up, almost pleadingly, at the human with brown hair and the distinctive blue and purple striped shirt. Their eyes were shadowed; it was impossible to tell what they were thinking about.

"It's better if you just forget about me..." Somehow, he managed to force those words out. Even as he said it, he did not want to be forgotten. He did not want to be all alone again, taking full brunt of the reality forced onto him.

Even if it was just for a moment, the child just wanted warmth before returning to the frigid darkness.

But nobody came.

The memory of what came next was fuzzy and flickering to and fro from the regions of remembrance and erasure that was supposedly permanent. Cutting through it all was that feeling of coldness that latched on like a leech, until the perception of warmth became lost like he was.

They met again, in the timeline of nightmares, except that the goat-like child was a flower, quivering at the approaching human, or whatever they were at that point.

"See? I-I can be helpful," he said shakily.

His words were ignored as they advanced, in an almost zombie-like fashion, the parts of the blade that were not caked with dust gleaming wickedly.

"I-I can be useful!" He was begging now, whimpering pitfully as they came even closer, their face shadowed.

Suddenly, they stopped. The flower looked up fearfully at them, bleeding profusely from wounds from their right hand, but their expression was devoid of all caring.

"Please don't kill me."

They raised their knife slowly, mockingly, vengefully, as a cruel, sadistic smile formed at their lips.

"I don't want to die!" he cried out, fear erupting from inside violently - supposedly impossible for a soulless being like him, but he felt every inch of it. As his life was cut down, that was all he felt.

Flowey remembered. The horror, the fear, the despair... everything that was instilled into him. Yet, he did not try and stop the cycle because of the exact same fear. He kept avoiding it until he finally realised something.

The flower had the power to make it stop. He had the power to make them suffer like he did, and he would do it again and again, even as they reset, until he had the chance to destroy them permanently.

So far, it was working. Flowey could sense the fluctuations, their determination creeping into oblivion as time continued. Soon, he would take control of the timeline. Soon, the source of all his suffering would end, and he would live. He would live forever.

"Enjoy your 12 hours, Frisk!" he screamed, laughing maniacally. "Watch as everything you try to fix fall apart, as you fall into the same pit of despair and helplessness you have given me! Then..."

Flowey then stared at the restrained robot, one of the chess pieces used in his orchestrated plan, grinning widely.

"I will kill you."

~~~~

The situation was undoubtedly a mess, but at the very least, the shouting and screaming had died down. It allowed Undyne to call for the surrounding Royal Guards to assemble around her.

"I need a report of what is happening, and what measures you have taken," she said authoritatively, scanning the guards who responded to her initial call. Less than I expected... but...

"The capital is in a state of distress," one of the Royal Guards spoke breathlessly. "We managed to calm some of the people by coaxing them to their homes, but the rest are not taking it well."

Undyne nodded in acknowledgement, though she was frowning. "Anything else?"

Another Royal Guard, a fox-like monster, spoke up. "I heard there was a fight at Section R1, but I didn't get a chance to investigate. Shall I do it now, Captain?"

"Wait." Honestly, she was at a loss. If there really was a fight going on, an investigation was necessary. However, she noted how little Royal Guards would be left - as the Captain, she felt that she had to be present as well - and became unsure of the course of action to take.

Unconsciously, she glanced at Frisk, who was standing on her right silently. They gave her a look before returning to fiddle with their fingers uncomfortably.

Was that a look of confidence? Undyne wondered.

"Captain?" The Royal Guard was still waiting for her orders.

"Right, sorry. I was just thinking," she replied. "Go ahead. I will accompany you. The rest of you will stay here and control the situation to the best of your abilities."

"Yes, ma'am!" they said in unison.

"06," she addressed the bipedal fox-like monster, "lead the way."

Saluting, he perked up his ears and strode forward. "By the way, Captain, who is that beside you?"

Undyne nearly froze up. As far as she knew, only Flowey, Papyrus, Sans and herself knew who Frisk was. If anyone else found out that the person next to her was the one Flowey wanted and a human... things would not be good.

"A friend," she responded as naturally as she could. "Let's focus at the task at hand."

RG06 nodded, and luckily, the matter was quickly dropped. Undyne let out a mental sigh of relief.

"Section R1" was the Royal Guard's code for the first residential area, which, to their good fortune, was nearby. As they neared, it was quite evident that what 06 overheard was true.

Undyne rushed forward, bursting into the scene. At the sight of it, she was appalled, disgusted to some degree. An armoured monster was tussling with an ordinary - but somehow familiar - looking rabbit-like monster, their faces twisted in anger. Meanwhile, most of the onlookers stayed as far as possible from them, while the other Royal Guard, a mantis-like monster, was desperately trying to quell the fight.

"Stop this at once!" she commanded.

Instantly, everyone stopped what they were doing. Without giving anyone a chance to explain, she stormed up to the Royal Guard involved in the fight, separating her from the civilian.

"C-captain..." 06 began, but he was ignored.

"What do you think you are doing?" Undyne practically shouted in the cat-like monster's face, the stress from everything happening making her words snappier than usual.

Calm down.

Just calm down.

"Undyne." It was Frisk's voice who brought her back to reality - again. "Look at his eyes."

They were referring to the rabbit-like monster that was the other party in the fight. Turning slowly, Undyne took a look, flinching at what she saw.

His eyes were a haunting shade of unnatural purple, though it was not as dark as the Night Flowers.

"W-what's wrong with them?" he asked irritably, yet his voice betrayed a hint of panic.

It was only then Undyne remembered why the rabbit-like monster felt familiar to her. He was one of the monsters who started a riot in the capital the other day, where she sent him back home in response to his actions.

Her soul felt like it had turned to ice. She knew. She knew that the Scourge was a probable cause of the riot - albeit after that meeting - but she was so obsessed with finding Flowey that she had forgotten. If she had remembered, she might have been able to prevent the fight from happening by detaining him or something.

"Please, explain what exactly happened." 06 stepped in to defuse the situation, which she was grateful for.

From there, 03, the Royal Guard who tried to stop the fight, explained that she was patrolling with 04, the cat-like monster when Flowey's message came on screen. The rabbit-like monster seemed to have heard about it as the next moment they knew, he was saying that the Royal Guards were a group of failures. 04 became strangely defensive and they ended up in a fight.

"We will ask around to verify what you have said, but for now," Undyne turned to 04, the embers of anger still burning in her eye, "04, you are hereby suspended from your duty as a Royal Guard for hurting a civilian without justified reason until further notice. 06, take over."

"Yes ma'am."

With that, Undyne whipped around, avoiding 04's expression of dismay and marched off. Frisk ran to catch up with her.

"Undyne... it's possible that 04 is affected as well," they said.

"I know." She did not slacken her pace.

"The Royal Guards aren't immune to it. No one is."

Undyne stopped.

"Do you... understand what I'm saying?"

04 might not be the only one, and if so... it means that the Royal Guard will become shorthanded.

"Yes." Undyne had enough on her hands, but a new problem just had to come up.

What should I do?

She kept asking herself that. Over and over until it became a habit. Every time she did, it felt like it was suffocating her, wrapping her soul with the strings of uncertainy and soon, helplessness.

"Frisk... what should I do?" she whispered.

Immediately, she felt silly. The powerful and confident Undyne, asking for help from a human child. Her old self would have laughed at the mere thought of it.

"Trust yourself," Frisk spoke up abruptly. "Everyone looks up to you... so maybe you should just do that."

Undyne never really knew why those words struck her, but they did. It was so simple, yet she had forgotten. Everyone's hopes... everyone's dreams were placed on her shoulders. She vowed, a long time ago, to shoulder it all for the monsters, even if the burden threatened to crush her very spirit to pieces.

Suddenly, it became clear.

Undyne lifted her head. "I know what to do."

------------------------------------------------------------

My headcanon is that the numbers for the Royal Guards who are not stationed in Snowdin are not their real names. Rather, it's for convenience or something like that. (I imagine 06's real name to be Konsuke, though I've always been hesitant to make OCs because I get the impression that they are not liked)

Also, when I was writing the first part of the chapter, I felt really sad for some reason. It is sad, but I suppose putting it in Asriel's perspective makes it even sadder.

There are actually a lot more things I want to say, but it's getting long, so I'll stop rambling here.

Anyways, if you enjoyed, votes and comments are always appreciated.