A Picture of Once Was . . .

NOTES:

Flowey's Memories is focused on a ripped timeline. I place the ripped timelines completely in italics to help differentiate it from the present.

Faith IS Frisky. The ripped timeline happened before the FRISK Mission in Project UNDERTALE (Where Sans met the Conduit FRISK).

I have really been thinking about writing a fanfiction that would be from the ripped timeline where Frisky was Faith. It would of course end tragically though. Don't be surprised if you actually see it in the future from me. (After this chapter, there won't be much of Flowey's Memories that physically go back into the moment anymore.)

Flowey groaned as he watched through the stained-glass window. 'Frisky' in a ball and chain. Really? That idiot is such a moron! Gaahhh! There they were, same place. Same position. Different ceremony, with a twist that was just halfway stupid. "He's so stuuuuuupid!" 

Then help him out.  

"What?!" Flowey curled himself under his own stems as he saw her. "Ch-chara?" 

"See? See why you should have gone through with it?" Chara stood next to him, right outside the window. "Look. See? The FRISKS. My Itty Bitty. None of them would exist in this world where it was better to die than to live. If we had wiped humanity out back then, they would have never been born and suffered this way. If you had done it right, it would have all ended. Conduits, re-resets, and Balancers. I mean, the horrible thing about Balancers is the human side." 

Flowey didn't respond. 

"What's wrong? Think I'm gonna kill ya? Should I? For bringing this all on us?" Chara just laughed at him. "I wouldn't do that. I've got something in mind later for you. So, how sick and twisted is this? I'm waiting to hear him say it. Did he say it yet? Did he say he was going to be her brother?" 

"No," Flowey said weakly. "Chara, what um, are you doing-?" 

"I'm not alive, idiot." Chara laughed. "I'm attached to the new barrier. That things got a lot of power and it's using a lot of my DETERMINATION too. Awesome, huh?" She lifted her arms. "I even gave myself a fake form like my old self. It's nice. It doesn't do anything, but I feel better. Hear that? I feel. Do you feel yet? Do you feel any caring?" 

Flowey made a cringed face. 

"Yeah, I thought so." Chara disappeared but her voice was still around. "Don't worry. I've got one more test for her. This isn't over yet, and this time? It'll end better. It'll end a thousand times better. If she passes it." 

"I don't care how it ends," Flowey hissed after a minute of her voice being done. "I don't care. It's more awkward than caring." Still . . . a part of him hoped she was right. Better than last time would be good. 

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

Flowey's Memories . . .

"Hey," Sans patted Tahoe's back. "Papyrus could use some help with refreshments too. A lot of the Royal Family is here. This part human thing is a really big deal." 

Tahoe turned around and just stared at him. "You're a really big idiot. But, it doesn't matter. It's all pointless." 

"Uuh. Kay?" Sans scratched his skull. "Could you try and be happy on my wedding day?" 

"Maybe on the next one. Where's the brewski's?" 

"What?" Sans groaned. "Hey, Tahoe, you better be good today. Faith is nervous enough already." 

"She probably is. What else is new. What else is ever new?" Tahoe turned away. "If I were you, I wouldn't let Princess Chara get so close to her. But you know, whatever. Probably doesn't really matter. Just a suggestion." 

"That Skeleton sometimes." Sans shoved his hands into the pockets on his white tux. He looked over on the other side where Princess Chara bounded in. 

Flowey looked over at Tahoe, staring back at him through the stained windows.  

"Homesick?" Tahoe teased him. "Guess they didn't care about making any room for you in this dumb version, did they?" 

"They didn't make room for her either and you dang well know it," Flowey growled at him.  

"Whatever. Humans do what they want, and we just deal with it." Tahoe leaned against the stained windows. "You could do something you know." 

"I can't take on a conduit. Nobody can take on a conduit," Flowey complained. "Just let CHARA do what she needs to. It'll be over and done with." 

"Nothing's ever over and done with," Tahoe complained. "It just loops, over and over." 

"Not this time. My sources say . . . this timeline option won't last much longer." Flowey looked back toward him. "Something wicked this way comes. Have you heard that before? Chara. The real Chara. She used to say that." 

"Shut up. It's coming." 

Princess Chara greeted Sans with a curtsy. "Hello Mister Groom. I hugged your wife earlier. I was wondering if I could see your baby now?" 

"Uh, you can't yet," Sans answered here. "It's still in my Faith's tummy. That's why she was so round, kid." 

"Oh. Where is your new will be wife lady?" Princess Chara smiled. 

"Uh? Not far. Didn't you just say you hugged her?" Sans bent down towards her. "You okay, kid? You look kind of funny. Like, not quite right." 

"I am absolutely fine, Mister Skeleton Groom. In fact, I'm better than ever. Say, how many hit points do you have?" 

"That's not regular talk for a kid." Sans eye sockets went completely black. "What are you?" 

"CHARA. I am here to kill your would be wife." She smiled.  

"What?!" Sans pulled her into an encounter. "You're nuts, kid! You better not come near her!" 

CHARA: ACT: Talk. "So it is true, you don't have to use the board. Gaster gave his family loopholes for it, didn't he? Pretty cool. Anyhow, just take your turn so I can kill you." 

The Royal family came in and saw the fight, screaming at Sans not to hurt their child. Sans took some time deciding which way to approach. 

SANS THE SKELETON: ACT: TALK: "Just take back what you said and I'll end this." 

CHARA: FIGHT 

Tahoe sighed as he watched the Royal Family, the Skeletons, Papyrus, and anyone else in the way get slaughtered. "Just the same thing again, Flowey. Told you. Hm?" 

"Not quite." CHARA walked over to him.  

"Go ahead already." 

"Well, if you're tired of it, then let's move on. Concentrate on a location ahead of you." CHARA smiled at him. "See that button?" 

"Reboot?" 

"Yep. Clear the memories. Clear the resets. Clear the saves. Clear the continues. Clear it all up. Just hit the button," CHARA encouraged him. "Just hit that biiiiig button." 

"Why?" 

"Humans and Monsters don't interact like that. They just don't. 95452 was so low on the totem pole, no one noticed she was even missing at first. She was just a simple incognito surveyor that bumped her head because of that idiot. By the time we figured it out, she pulled the same thing that kid 'Princess Chara', did and was already established down here. So, we left her mostly be. Minimal contact, simple story. It was easier that way, until she did the unthinkable." She made a face. "I mean really! With A Monster!" 

"You don't say. 'Cause I don't really care about any of this. What's the point?" 

"Well, resetting gets difficult with a new human soul in the program, and a new Monster-human soul was made. The more we reset with that kind of new soul, things got bad. We barely had enough juice for mindwiping to make them all forget the princess died so we could get a conduit in here." 

"Yeah. I think there's a little flower that's pissed you forgot about his existence in your little game of make believe down here." 

"Shut up!" Flowey yelled at him.  

"Look. We just need you to give a hard reboot," CHARA said. 

"Oh yeah? What happens if I don't?" 

"Well, we keep going and looping, error after error after error until things get so bad you can't even get a whole hour before you reset. Over and over, errors for the rest of eternity." 

"What happens if I do?" 

"Something different. Isn't that all that matters? Escaping it all?" CHARA smiled at him.  

Tahoe leaned against the wall again, tapping his bony fingers against it. 

"Don't, don't!" Flowey warned him. "Don't do it, you idiot, she's lying! It means that they've almost broke their grip on the Underground! We're almost free from resets!" 

"Would I remember anything?" 

"Not a thing." 

"Then, new times. New days." 

"Be realistic you moron, that's not how it works!" 

"The reboot would kill my cousin Sans' kid?" 

"No, no. We're taking the bride out of here. That's all. It'll be like she never came." 

"The illusion would be over? This fakeness?" 

"No, no, no!!!" Flowey screamed at him from the stained window. "You IDIOT!" His face turned evil and vicious. "It won't end, it won't! All that will end is you! Now is the chance to let it break!" 

"It won't break, it'll just turn over and over and over and over and over and over," CHARA chuckled. "Come on, Tahoe. You have two choices. Listen to a flower that has always been an evil little devil, or go with your own thoughts. You want it to end? Right?" 

"But . . . Sans spent years with her. Sans and Papyrus. They all took care of her for so long. Shoot, the house was even redesigned for her. You going to redesign the house too?" 

"No, don't give them pointers!" Flowey complained.  

"Are you sure they'd be alright? Faith and Chance?" 

"Well. We'll shove Faith somewhere else, that's for sure. She's not touching the Underground again. The abomination . . . I cannot confirm what we'll do with it." 

"Yeah, 'cause that's making me reach for that button. That's my nephew. You've messed up Gaster's brain enough as it is. He's thinking about parallel timelines now because of what you keep doing with his experiments. Although, his idea is tracking all the stuff you do." Tahoe shook his head. "This would hurt everyone." 

"Yes, yes, go with that!" Flowey cheered him on. "You'll hurt your family. You don't want to hurt family. Trust me. Please. Okay, I know, I'm not always trustworthy! Damn it, trust me this time! Leave the button alone. Everything will be fiiiiiiine. Pleeeeease?" 

"Okay, here's the deal." CHARA pushed her hands behind her. "An official declaration that we will not get rid of the abomination. We will probably study it considering the uniqueness of it's existence. I'm sure Balancers would never let us get rid of it anyhow. It is part Classic Monster." 

"And Faith? She's about to pop. How would you cover that up?" 

"Oh. Trust me. That's easy. Almost every woman messes up on at least one mission when they become a soldier." 

"You know, I don't think I want to know what that means." 

"Probably not. So?" 

"It's not right. You know it's not right. Come on, don't do it, Tahoe! You freaking idiot, stop thinking about it!" Flowey was beating his petals on the stained window. 

"It'll all end for you. I promise. Do this, and we'll pick someone new." 

"Liars, you just use me!" Flowey shouted. "Even when I'm not your precious little Guardian, you can't touch my mind! I don't fit your funky programming! You just know, you just know when it's coming so you have an excuse not to give the power to me! Give the POWER to me! GiVe It To Me!!!!" This time, his petals and stem broke through the glass. 

"That flower really wants your power," CHARA spoke looking straight at him. "Come on." 

"You're overusing that conduit," Tahoe warned her. "Your emotion has been way too high." 

"I don't care, it's just a conduit. If it dies, we'll just come right back with another similar kid to control. So, make your decision." 

"No, you idiot! No, no, no!" Flowey tried to wrap around him, to keep him from being an idiot, but it didn't work. He got flung off.

He picked up his petaled face off a pre-wedding photo taken. "If only I was more than a lousy flower." He picked up the photo and went back to the ground. He knew what would happen. 

He moved down, down, down into the ground. Down past where resets started to interrupt. There wasn't much room in it. Just enough room for a few things over the resets and reboots here and there, including his MP's. Yeah, there was a barrier below the Underground, but he found a tiny area, right before it, where the reset didn't affect it. 

It wasn't very big. Just a little glitch spot. He tossed the picture on the top of it all. Sans was dressed in his white tux and tied black bowtie, with the goofiest grin on his face while he was giving his brother bunny ears behind his skull. Papyrus was bending down so he was down in the short little picture. On the other side was Faith, grinning, yet nervous at the same time as she touched her belly. 

Just another slice of what would never be. 

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

"Well, everything is still in order," King Asgore announced. "So, where were we? Sans the Skeleton, what would you like to be?" 

"Um. Uncle is fine, to the kid." Sans looked toward Frisky. Even though she was holding Chance, she was still standing as erect as a soldier with the ball and chain attached to her. "I guess brother to the mom." 

"They have established names, so you need to use their names," King Asgore said. "Frisky and Chance, correct?" 

"That is incorrect, Sir," Frisky spoke up. "My name is 95452. My full designation is 95452, Ship 229, DETERMINATION. Frisky is only an off-slang of what was my mission name, Frisk. The name Chance is a given name by Sans to my son, but it is not his official designation either. He is 95451, Ship 229, CONDUIT. Also known as Frisk." 

King Asgore looked toward Undyne, and then back to Sans and Papyrus who were trying to look humble about that. "Those aren't very good names. Do you wish to rename them?" 

"Yeah," Sans piped up. "Chance and Frisky." 

"But Frisky was part of her mission name. Are you sure you don't want something a little more unique? Especially if you want to get out of this 'deprogramming' I would say, using Alphys term?" 

"Mission name?" Papyrus looked toward her. "I suppose I never thought of it that way. What do you think, Sans?" 

"Hmmm . . ." A name. "Can we do what Alphys did, and make something official later?" They didn't have time for it, but the King had a point. As used to the name as he was, Frisky was still a mission name. 

"Oh, did I miss all the festivities?" Mettaton asked as he whirled himself into the room on his wheel. "Oh, hello OOo OOo King Asgore! I wanted to see if you had any new information to add for everyone about the skies and humans to all my viewers!" 

"Uh, no," King Asgore said. "I told them everything I could." 

"Oh, so sorry everyone! But, let's see. Oh, a marriage! Oh, a um, oh not a happy marriage by the look of those shackles!" 

"Uh, Mettaton?" Alphys said softly. "Maybe not here right now?" 

"Aww, another hostile marriage? Oh, how horrible!" Mettaton came right in front of Frisky, forcing her to back up. "Why so hostile? Isn't it okay to just try and love? I mean, he is trying to take care of you. Isn't that enough?" 

Sans looked toward Papyrus who just shrugged his shoulders and then gestured to the suit Sans was still wearing. 

As Frisky got pushed up further against the wall though, she noticed something strange. Mettaton's front came down and . . . Frisk?!  

"And after all, I'm sure the smooches will be incredible!" Friskay, the KINDNESS that helped her through everything, and definitely the most hostile of the group said through a speaker. "Especially with such a hot stud like a short punny skeleton. Our viewers say that short dorky skeletons aren't quite as low as a swamp creature!" 

Before she knew what was happening, Frisk felt her hands being grabbed, and . . . 

Snow. Lots of snow. 

"Didn't think we'd just leave you hanging, did you, Frisky?" Friskay took the head of Mettaton off. "Alphys made a lot of spare parts. Took time to get it all done, but you know Friskarino tends to get it figured out." 

Friskarino and Farrisk both came out of the machine too. 

FRISK. FRISK saved her! Frisky tried to half hug them since she couldn't give out full hugs since Frisk was so sick. 

"Like we could let you ever marry Sans the Skeleton?" Friskay shoved her finger in her throat. "Gag me!" 

"You really should have tried to run out the window and meet us at our rendezvouz point next to the umbrellas," Farrisk said. "I figured that would be what you would do, but Friskay reminded me you might not be the type to do that alone." 

"I knew some of you survived. Weak protection, but still protection down here." Frisky gestured toward their MP3's. "How'd you get those?" 

"How? Let me guess, your almost new hubby didn't bother telling you why the new barrier is so good at keeping out humans?" Friskay asked as she touched Frisky's coat. "Oh, gross. You've got to get some new wardrobe, stat." 

"Yeah, and meds." Farrisk touched Chance's head. "He's not looking so good. Come on, Frisky. We've got medicine on board. We are on an allied Balancer ship right now. Believe it or not, even HONESTY survived. Although, she's even worse off than before. Now she's not half as aggressive, but she is still not doing real well. Don't worry though. They are going to heal him for good, and then we are out of here. On to a new mission! Or, uh, in your case. Back home." 

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