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The heroes are on their way, he could feel them, fighting hard for their goal against all adversities. But his friends won't hold back either.
Yellow and Blue did their best, he knows this. Still, Kris' sword is quick, and Susie's soul is free, so when they made their way to the top of the castle with only a little struggle and barely some scratches here and there, Flowery had nothing more to do than sigh and cue the others to prepare for a plan B to stop them, and a plan C in case that one failed as well. If the heroes are fighting with all their will, so are his friends. If they are so determined to seal their fountain, then he is twice as determined to give his all in order to protect it. He knows fair well not all three of them are filled with the same determination, that not all of them are giving their full potential as it may seem from the outside.
Flowery is about to turn around from where he's been floating up above watching the trio when a bright light catches his eye, accompanied by a loud sound. And when he looks down again, he sees Susie and Kris looking surprised to Ralsei, bright orange paws lifted to the air, the lost ninja star he caught going on their direction before turning around reduced to nothing but embers by their feet.
"Show me cool stuff like that earlier, k?" Susie fist bumps his shoulder, amazed and familiar.
"Haha, of course, Susie!" He smiles but he doesn't look too excited about the idea.
Interesting.
Once the heroes finally reach the last step to the fountain, they come face to face and fight against him, Flowery, who, even after crowning Asgore as the king of this place, calling him the ruler of this Dark World wouldn't be far fetched. It's sad, truly, having to resort into violence against people he genuinely came to like. But what saddened him the most was the fact that they still had the nerve to lose. HE had the nerve to lose. Behind his angry scowl, Flowery had caught a glimpse of uneasiness as he acted and defended and healed under Kris' command, and yet, with all the power that's been revealed underneath, he still had the nerve to let his team fall.
The other flowers had been giving their all and he still had the nerve to fall.
Did they really deserve to win?
Instead of fighting him again, the gang decides to take a little break at Green's coffee, take some more beverages and a few more food items before going back and face him again. That's a good thing, he needed to rest as well.
Checking on the fountain for one last time before leaving it unguarded, he sees Asgore's figure menancing in front of the dark pillar, waiting for its maker to return. The lightner raises his head at Flowery's peeking head and the man waves silently, but his friendly act fell like a dry leaf under his glare. Kris should be thankfull, actually, that the flower hasn't spilled the beans to their father. At times, not even he, his best friend, was sure if Asgore would hold back had he know the maker's true identity.
With nothing more to do here, he heads back to keep an eye on the trio.
He finds Kris and Susie sitting there at the coffee exactly where he perceived they would be, hanging out with Aqua and Seth as if they weren't just fighting just a moment ago. His special connection with this Dark World granting him the ability to feel their light presence at every moment. But, that's strange, his favourite little furball is nowhere to be seen in here. It's not uncommon for them to be appart from time to time, they already had, but why would Ralsei wander alone before the final battle. Stretching his neck to the wind, he tried to feel for a deep dark presence instead.
It didn't take him long to find him by the hotspring, kneeling at the edge of the tiles with his front paws sinking underwater, washing them. His face tensed in shock like someone who has just seen a ghost, and after a while watching, Flowery found the repetitive movements way too obsesive.
"Hey, Raly!" He greeted like nothing in an attempt to break that obsesion, this time opting to approach him the classic way of floating up to him. The only welcome he received, however, was the twitch of an eyebrow, not even bothering to turn around.
"You seem worried."
"Not now, Flowery." he mutered, focus still on his paws "I'm not in the mood."
"Oh, but Raly..." Dropping himself over his head like a damsel in distress, he posed dramatically "You never are in the mood for me!"
Annoyed, Ralsei simply shook him off, hands still underwater.
"What do you want." The prince spat, finelly lifting his head to his direction.
"Why, I just wanted to check what my lil buddy's doing over here all alone!"
"Its none of your bussiness" His attention went back to his washing, not wanting for the flower to pry any deeper into the subject. Flowery hummed.
"Mhm. Does this have anything to do with those little fireworks back there?"
Just as those words left his mouth, the smaller darkner quickly turned around, terrified.
"Y-you SAW?!"
Flowery got down to one knee to his eye level, nonchalant.
"Yep. Impressive work if you ask me. You really should do that more often, don't you think?"
Anxiously, Ralsei's eyes left the flower's in search for an answer.
"I-I.... No, this isn't good. This power... I-I shouldn't have used it!"
"But you used it to save a friend," he shrugged "that's a good thing, right?"
"It-it doesn't matter!" He cut him, something out of character from the fluffy goat, then lowered his voice as if he got shy for doing so "I cannot let it go like this again."
"I don't know" Flowery patted a heavy hand on Ralsei's shoulder, getting on his nerves "I think that fire magic suits you. Hey, you should be grateful you can do that, and aren't stuck with magic as useless as a flower's."
Those last words seemed to have clicked something in him. A paw got out of the water to harshly grab his arm and push his hand away from his shoulder, dropplets speckling the tiles beneath. His reddish eyes dug into his golden ones with burning anger. Flowery liked that, people that don't love themselves don't usually allow themselves to get angry like that.
"You pretend you know so much, but you don't know anything."
"Hey, you are the expert here!" Flowery teased, acting innocent. Ralsei gritted his teeth at the interrumtion.
"You are just saying things you know nothing about. Oh, so you want my power so badly? Do you have any idea of who am I? Of what I can do?" Furious tears wettened his bared teeth, his threats getting louder with each word, eyes nailed on the human-wanna be in front of him.
Flowery just stared back down at him, listening, his smile wiped away.
They held eye contact until a grey string rised up between them, and Ralsei woke up from his rage bubble to find black smoke coming out from the paw still holding the flower's arm.
"Ah! Im sorry!" He yelped, letting go in a flinch. Stumbling away, he looked down shocked and confused and terrified at his own pawpads, shinning orange on his white fur "I- no. No no no they- they are wet! They were underwater! They weren't supposed to- they shouldn't be-"
"Hey, Raly-" Flowery began to move forward his still extended arm, but instead, Ralsei quickly pulled up his sleeve to find a burnt brown mark covering his forearm, the skin there crispy and wrinkly, clearly damaged. He grabbed his hand on both of his paws and took it closer to his muzzle, shutting his teary eyes to pray. As green sparkles replacing the orange glow came and faded with each pray, he whispered endless apologies, his warm breath caressing the flower's knuckles.
Each time the green sparkles shined on his arm, his skin turned progressively better, the pain of the injury going away. Yet, Ralsei's cries became more and more desperated.
"Sorry, I'm sorry"
"Dont-" Flowery tried to calm him down once his bruise was fully and completely healed, but the moment the fluffy darkner heard his voice, he let go off his hand to curl over himself and continue the hand washing motion. With no splashing water to blurr the view, Flowery could see his claws slashing scross his pawpads, punishing, trying to tear them away. Despite the pain he must be feeling, his apologies never ceased. Flowery needed him to stop before he seriously hurted himself.
"Oh, angel, Im so sorry..."
"As I said," Flowery scooted closer, grabbing Ralsei's chin and pulling him up to his face, away from his paws "you should let go off that magic of yours more often, princess."
He expected the petname to shock him out of his anxious trance, to show him he was fine and he shouldn't be so worried for that. Truth to be told, all seven flowers had accepted their death the day they bloomed, and have taken each day Asgore has given them a gift. So being hurt like that didn't bother him so much.
Instead, to his surprise, Ralsei just leaned in even closer flooding eyes looking up at his, almost like he was pleading. His paws reached up for a moment as if to hold his hand again, but he ended up dropping them down to the floor, finding himself undeserving of his contact.
"Are you even aware of what I'm capable of?" Unlike earlier, that whisper didn't come out as a threat but as a confession, released to the world in search to be ammended.
"You are afraid if you let go, you won't be able to hold back anymore"
At the harsh true slapping over his face like a brick, Ralsei just sighed and sat back down on his seat, hovering over the water. His expression, hidden behind his glases, scarf and fur, became unreadable.
"Hey, cheer up! I'ts not like you would ever let that happen, so why would you be so worried?"
But Ralsei didn't react, completely shut down from his enviorement.
"I mean, I've been teasing you all day and all I got is a cute lil paw mark on my sleeve."
Ralsei's head bowed lower at the reminder.
Understanding the seriousness of the situation, Flowery sat down by his side. He couldn't help but worry for a fellow darkner in despair, you see. He is a flower, after all.
"Come here, buddy." his arm draped over his shoulders, gently pulling him to his chest into a half hug. Ralsei obeyed, not in an act of accepting to snuggle with him, but because he had given up, all fight in his body vanishing at the awareness of what it could lead to. And Flowery found that getting what he wanted only left him with a bitter taste in his tongue.
They stayed like this for a while. Flowery thumbing his shoulder. Ralsei, unmoving. In the silence after their fight, under the soft plop of the occasional drop falling into the water, he could almost hear the prince's mind roaring with unpleasant thoughts. Until Flowery made a small shift of his legs just to accomodate himself -really, he wasn't going anywhere- and that small shift prompted for Ralsei to lean a bit further into the embrace, seeking for his affection to last a bit longer before it went away. It was almost unnoticeable, but it made the golden flower smile.
"You have a kind loving heart, Ralsei. I know you do." After what felt like way too long, the correctly mentioned darkner looked up at him again with tired, distant eyes "So don't go losing sleep over some magic trick, k? A pretty lady like you shouldn't be wasting her face worrying about things like that."
Ralsei's eyes came back to life as a deep blush crept to her cheeks, the petname working this time. Then, he pulled away, nervously staring at his reflection with a stuborn frown. And the redder she got, the angrier he frowned, clearly flustered at how secretly pleased she got over some silly compliment.
Flowery got up to his feet, considering his goal to cheer his new buddy up a success. There was fight in him again.
"Your friends must be waiting for you, so. I'll see ya on the battlefield"