I never ran so fast in my life. I don't recall ever running in my life actually. For once, I wished I had my bro's power and speed. Despite everything, I didn't stop running.

"It's... all a nightmare... I'll just... wake up...," I told myself through my exhaustion and inhaling.

But Sans... Isn't it your best nightmare...?

Finally, I located Alphys' lab. I brought myself back to the actual world and I stood at her door. I rang the newly installed doorbell and banged on the door, I tapped my foot impatiently. Thankfully there was also an intercom system. I pressed the button and yelled for someone to answer the door. Undyne busted open the door and growled at me.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!? SOMEONE HAD BETTER BE DYING OR ELSE- Er..." Undyne's voice trailed away when she finally realized what was happening. She got more serious and was now dragging me inside. "Okay! What happened?!" she demanded.

"It happened too fast... I'm too rattled to really talk about it. Where's Alphys?!" I demanded back.

Undyne nodded. "Just make sure she's still alive!! I'll be back in ten seconds!"

I tried to find a pulse. Was she breathing? I tried to find anything that meant that she was. This was worse than last time. Flowey's improving his game. I'll have to improve mine as well. Undyne was soon racing back with Alphys.

"DON'T ASK WHY! JUST COME ON! ANIME LATER!!" Undyne yelled as she barged into the room and pointed to (y/n). Alphys gasped quickly and kind of shoved me off to the side. She ran around her with a bunch of gizmos and scanners and stuff I didn't know the names of. Undyne was calling everybody and explaining what was happening. Alphys finally flopped to the ground and sighed with relief and my hopes sprang up.

"S-she's alive?!" I demanded.

"Y-Yeah. Just not exactly in stable condition. I might be able to do something. It may take a few hours. Stay here!" Alphys commanded without stuttering for once.

About twenty minutes later, Toriel, Asgore, Papyrus, and Mettaton came. Papyrus, Mettaton, and Toriel tried to force their ways to (y/n), but Undyne fought them off. I looked at them from afar. They must all be wondering what happened. That can wait. I couldn't possibly tell them. They'd think that I didn't do anything. They wouldn't believe the true story and would think I was just too lazy to care until the last second. I didn't want to tell a lie. I couldn't tell the truth. There was one thing I could do. I walked out. Nobody even knew I was gone.

It was lonely as I made my way back to Snowdin. At least, Grillby's was probably open. That'd be the only place left I could go besides my house. He'd talk to me. He'd listen. So, out of lack of options that made sense, I decided to go there.

"So (y/n) is with Dr. Alphys because something tried to drown her and you couldn't do anything to save her?" Grillby asked once I had finally explained everything to him.

"Yeah..."

Grillby thought without saying a word. He shook his fiery head at me. "What a wonderful friend you are. I don't think that's very considerate of you to just abandon them in their time of need simply because you couldn't handle the fact that they might not make it through. Maybe it'll be because of you that they survive," he explained.

He made a valid point. He just didn't know. I'm not strong enough. I can't. I shook my head at Grillby. "You don't get how I work, do you? I think I told you how I'm a bit of a quitter on everything. This is no different. It's not the first time and it won't be the last. If I do anything to even try, then..."

Now Grillby was getting really annoyed with me. His flames turned a deeper red and there was some white and blue flames intertwining with them. He scares me sometimes when like that because he almost never gets riled up by anything. He slammed his hands of flame down onto the counter and I flinched. "You. Will. Go. Back."

Nevermind everything I thought earlier. Now, all I was thinking was how much I didn't want to get into a fight with Grillby. From the way he was looking at me, I knew I couldn't afford not to care anymore. Without another word, I snapped my fingers and went running straight back. Grillby, why did you have to care so much about this? It shouldn't matter... I said that it shouldn't. Truth was, it mattered more than anything else. (y/n), what have you done to me...? To make me feel like this? To make me love you?!

I finally came back to Hotland. Papyrus ran outside and ran straight into me. Actually, because I'm so short, he tripped over me. He was left doing a faceplant in the ground. I would have laughed if it didn't hurt. He huffed seriously and stood up without even thinking of the fall he just took and plucked me from the ground like it was nothing. This must be serious for it to be that important. My soul would fracture if I hear what I've been dreading this whole time.

"Papyrus! What's so important that you don't say anything?!"

Papyrus stopped. "GEE! I DON'T KNOW! HOW ABOUT... (Y/N)'S MISSING!!! AGAIN!!" Papyrus yelled at me.

Not again. I teleported into the room and looked frantically around. Toriel was sobbing, Alphys was freaking out, Asgore was making a phone call to the Royal Guards, Undyne was howling random Japanese that I'm glad my bro didn't know the meanings of, and Mettaton was acting like he cared when he really didn't. I saw a dead leaf on the floor. Where would a dead leaf come from in a lab?

Vines.

I already knew where to look. I turned to leave and Pap plucked me from the ground again. "REALLY?! YOU'RE GOING TO DISAPPEAR AGAIN NOW?!"

"I know where she is."

"REALLY?! THEN I'M GOING-"

"No!!" I snapped as I shoved him away from me and fell onto the ground. Everyone was staring at me. I sighed. "I know where she is only I'm the one who should go. I'm the one who got her into this, so I can get her out. Besides, it's too dangerous for the rest of you."

"Too dangerous?! That's my child that the person stole! They'll be paying for their sins on this day! They'll rue the day that they decided to commit such a crime!" Toriel snapped.

Asgore instantly hung up and spoke in his deep voice. He was a lot calmer than Toriel. "What do you mean 'too dangerous'? Where is she?" he asked.

"Remember the yellow flower...?"

The room was silent. Toriel was still sobbing only the face of the flower still hung in her mind. She huffed at me.

"I don't care if it's too dangerous! That flower will wish that he never crossed me or my child!" she said boldly.

"Yeah! You tell him Toriel!!" Undyne yelled as she raised a spear to the air as if she were ready for battle. This seemed to only make them more determined to follow me into the possible depths of danger.

"BROTHER... YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE... WHAT IF THE SAME THING THAT HAPPENED LAST TIME HAPPENS...?" asked Papyrus.

Alphys flinched at those words. She shook and tried to change the subject. "I-I d-don't really wanna t-talk about that...," she stated as her eye bobbed from one end of the room to the other. Her palms began to sweat as she remembered what almost happened.

I did remember what happened. I stumble in from the ruins barely able to even hold (y/n) and yet... I finally made it back to Snowdin and I collapsed. If Alphys wasn't so close by, what would have become of me wouldn't have been very pleasant. The only reason I go back is because I've got too many reasons to do it all over again. "No. This is not your fight. Now, if you don't mind..." That was when I teleported again. Within a minute, I was at the ruins. There was something different this time. A dark force was hanging in the air. I knew what that meant. I just wished that, for once, I was wrong.

I ran to the clearing. Flowey was looking towards the bed of flowers and looked amazed and hopeful. A huge change from the lab to this. Felt like too quick of a transition. I guess I jumped the gun and ripped Flowey from the ground and tried to rip his petals off. Well, I took him by surprise.

"AHHH-! Wha-? Wait a second. Well...! If it isn't the smiley trash bag! For once, your timing isn't completely horrible! The show's just getting started! Look over there at your girlfriend!" Flowey taunted as he pointed with his vine arms towards her.

I looked over and saw her lying on top of the bed of flowers like last time only her soul was next to another soul. A black soul.

"See that? That's her soul! The very culmination of her being! However, her soul is really weak! That's because the other soul is fighting her soul to gain control! Control of what? Why, her body, of course! You wanna stop them? Go ahead! You'll just shatter the soul faster!" Flowey taunted.

"No. I can't let this happen. I've let you attack her too many times now," I told the flower as I threw him back to the ground.

"Oof!" Flowey said when he hit the ground. He dug his roots back into the soil and continued with the taunting as he tried to forget what I just did. "Oh really? What are you planning to do?! There's nothing you can do to save her soul!" Flowey cackled.

I knew I couldn't save her body. I knew she wouldn't want for me to do this. The consequences were probably going to be dire. If this failed, I'm not sure what would happen to the both of us. Maybe those dreams were completely right. It was either me, her, both, or neither. I approached the two souls. The black soul smashed into the tiny red soul that was fractured in several places, struggling to be kept together. Flowey looked at me with a grin. I could hear her screaming. Then crying. Then thrashing. It had to stop. I snatched the soul and grasped it in my hand. It was fragile and I had no idea what I was doing. I wrapped one of my hands around it and I moved my soul to my other hand. They were both resonating with each other. Flowey now had this insane look of disbelief.

"Wait. What are you doing?! Give me that!" he snapped.

I refused to listen. This was the only way. I couldn't tell what would happen. I slowly drew them closer and they began to glow. One a faint red and the other a bright white. Flowey began to panic.

"STOP IT!! Quit taunting me! Just give me the souls! You don't have any idea of what you're doing!!" Flowey screamed. His attention was then drawn to the black soul as it took over the body that was once (y/n)'s. This was it. No turning back now.

"I'll save you... Somehow..."

With those words, I absorbed the soul.