Fonttale

Chapter Four: Born To Suffer

"Oh dear..."

"That is un-fortunate. Heh heh..."

The two exchanged worried looks, one false and the other sincere.

The human looked to be another child; male possibly due to the striped blue sweater, but as always it was impossible for Papyrus to be sure.

Where are all these little beasties coming from? Why are only children climbing and falling down Mt. Ebott?

Questions that bothered Papyrus quite a bit, but would have to be answered later.

Light had begun to shine down upon the Special Place, signaling the coming of dawn and thus Her Highness.

"This is a problem," said Flowey, looking at the child.

"What is?" asked Papyrus.

"The stick that broke all the other human's fall, broke." Flowey pointed to the stick the small child was clutching in their small fist.

He and Flowey had over the years, relied heavily on this one miniature miracle that had most likely saved the other children from dying from the fall.

Without the stick, the children would die before Her Highness reached them, and their soul would vanish. Its disappearance meant that the odds of gaining another soul were greatly decreased.

Flowey needed that soul.

Without it, Flowey could never feel anything but negative emotions that fed the Determination that kept him alive...not without consequences that is.

Hatred, sadness, anger, pain, frustration, and fear were the emotions that sparked a person's Determination to solve the problems creating them. You couldn't live without it.

Flowey couldn't make Determination like everyone else could. He only had a set amount and when it ran out Flowey was doomed. He usually was miserable though. He had to be. Happiness would destroy his Determination. The problem was, although Flowey claimed not to feel anything but negativity, his actions said different.

You don't laugh unless you're having some kind of fun, and Flowey laughed a lot.

Papyrus feared that every time Flowey made a funny sarcastic remark or had fun hurting someone, he shortened his life and his Determination permanently decreased a little. It was his Determination that allowed him to "load his save file". Without it, Flowey would wilt, die, and never come back. Misery was his sunlight, his oxygen, his water, the evil soil that kept him alive.

Or maybe Papyrus didn't know what he was talking about.

Regardless, he was sure that Flowey was no naturally born creature. No god would create such a wretched being. No, this was the work of science. Freaking. Science.

"You should be more grateful Papyrus, without science you wouldn't even BE here."

Shaking the memory of his father away, he started to head out of the Ruins.

"Take good care of our guest Flowey, won't you? It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to them," said Papyrus, grinning deviously.

Flowey put a leaf up to his head in salute. "You can count on me Pappy!"

No he couldn't.

But Papyrus was fine with that.

They both had a deadline to meet, but Flowey's was so much shorter. There was once a time where he was able to live for months at a time.

Now he had three weeks between resets.

Papyrus was going to lose his friend if something wasn't done quickly.

Although he was worried about Flowey being happy, he had thought that the fear created automatically by his font would keep Flowey's Determination stable. Balance it out. He had thought they had all the time in the world and could focus on gathering seven souls to break the barrier first.

Breaking the barrier as quickly as possible was more important than everyone thought it was after all.

Papyrus's goal wasn't just to set everyone free, it was to keep them from extinction. With this tiny human, seven children would be reported missing after heading to Mt. Ebott. Too many missing humans, too many squandered opportunities to grab as many souls as possible, would result in Mt. Ebott becoming a problem. There would be enough complaints to spur the humans into taking action.

They would thoroughly seal up the Underground, and it wouldn't end with monsters just being trapped in the dark forever; EVERY opening would be sealed off. Not just the hole above the Special Place, but the rivers too. Every opening into the mountain would be sealed, and a dam would stop water flow in the Underground; if the Core didn't explode from overheating and cause a volcanic eruption, monsters would dehydrate and die of thirst.

I can't let that happen to Sans.

I WON'T.

But Flowey needs my help too...

The threat was so terrible and Flowey never told him about his decreasing lifespan until only recently. Apparently he had tried to figure out what was causing it himself and finally given up.

He supposed it was hard for anyone in Flowey's position to trust someone. Of course, it wasn't Flowey's fault in the slightest.

It was science.

Freaking.

Science.

Papyrus sighed, looking back at the Ruins sadly.

Flowey never asked for this.

He never asked to be made into a pessimistic abomination, nor did he deserve the hell in which he lived.

It wasn't his fault he was who he was, and he didn't deserve to be punished for simply living.

Another thing he and his little friend had in common.