She couldn’t remember exactly how many days it had been.
She only knew the sun rose and set, over and over again.
The first thing she did every morning when she woke up was to pat her pockets, checking if there was still any food.
The pockets grew emptier day by day.
From having one dry flatbread, to half a flatbread, to a few crumbs, to nothing at all.
The last piece of chocolate was finished three days ago.
She ate it bit by bit, wanting it to stay in her mouth a little longer.
But no matter how slow she was, it eventually ran out.
After swallowing the last bite, her stomach was still empty.
After that, she never found anything edible again…
Everywhere she walked was just yellow dirt and rocks.
Occasionally, she could see withered trees, but the trunks were long dead; even the bark had fallen off, exposing the grayish-white wood inside.
No fruit, no wild vegetables, not even bugs.
This world was like it had been licked clean by something, taking away everything edible.
Chara kept walking.
Is it because she still holds onto hope??
She didn’t know what to do if she stopped.
Stopping meant starving, and walking meant starving too.
Might as well walk.
At least she could move forward a little bit.
Flowey hadn’t talked much these past few days either.
He didn’t need to eat, but he watched her get thinner day by day, her face sinking in more and more, her footsteps getting slower and slower.
He didn’t know what to say.
That feeling…
…
That night, Chara walked to a withered tree and stopped.
She couldn’t walk anymore.
Her legs were shaking, her knees buckling, looking like they would give out and make her kneel at any moment.
She took the backpack off her shoulders, placed it next to the tree trunk, and then leaned against the trunk, slowly sliding down to sit on the ground.
Her [HP] was dropping.
The numbers decreased bit by bit.
She hadn’t eaten for several days.
[Load] couldn’t save her from starvation.
Health Revert only restored her body’s condition to what it was before, but hunger was cumulative.
It was carried over from the moment she saved.
She looked up at the stars above.
They were so beautiful…
When she was little, she often heard adults say that after people died, they would turn into stars in the sky.
And now, she was about to become a star herself.
Hanging in the sky, twinkling.
They were no different from the stars she had seen a long time ago.
Maybe they were just like this originally.
No matter what happened on the ground, they shone when they were supposed to shine, and appeared when they were supposed to appear.
Flowey’s petals were somewhat wilted.
His color wasn’t as bright as before, but his eyes were still bright.
She parted her lips.
“Flowey, after I fall asleep…
you take my SOUL.”
Chara didn’t look at Flowey.
Her eyes were still looking at the stars in the sky.
“And then…
live on.”
Flowey didn’t answer.
He looked at Chara.
If you looked closely, you could see something in his eyes.
Reluctance, and a bit of sadness.
He wanted to say something, but…
didn’t know what to say.
Chara leaned against the tree trunk, her breathing growing shallower.
Her [HP] dropped below 300 and was still falling.
Her body was getting cold, and her fingertips were starting to go numb.
“Here, this is for you.” Chara reached up and touched the flower crown on her head.
“Yellow ones.”
Flowey looked at the flower crown.
It was about to fall apart.
The yellow petals were curled up, the edges turning black, and some had already fallen off by half.
Only the dried stems were still connected.
His vines reached out and wrapped around one of the stems.
I guess I won’t be hungry once I fall asleep…
It was like this last time too.
She closed her eyes.
Flowey had to press against her wrist just to feel that tiny bit of rise and fall.
Her [HP] dropped to double digits, then stopped.
It didn’t hit zero, but it didn’t recover either.
Flowey didn’t take her SOUL.
He broke his promise.
He climbed up from the back of her hand, to her shoulder, and then from her shoulder to the top of her head.
He used his vines to secure himself in her hair.
His flower head rested against the top of her head, his petals slightly parted, as if listening to something.
Then…
he closed his eyes.
One human and one flower, leaning against a dead tree.
The stars in the sky shone down on them.
The wind blew past them, never stopping.
…
● Let me tell you all a bedtime story.
● Once upon a time, there were two races on this planet: monsters and humans.
The two races had long been hostile to each other, opposing and in a cold war that lasted for a very, very long time.
No one remembered when the war started.
● One day, a massive swarm of bugs arrived at this beautiful planet.
They fell from the sky like black rain, covering the earth.
They devoured all organic life and matter, regardless of race, sweeping everything clean.
Monster or human, there was no difference in the face of this disaster.
● And you seem not to know?
● You think they all moved away?
You think you took a wrong turn?
You think this world is just temporarily empty and people will reappear after a while?
You think those bloodstains, scratch marks, and shattered buildings are just accidents?
● No.
You are just deceiving yourself.
● They ignored everything, turning this planet into hell.
After that, only two third categories were left.
Or maybe one human and one third category??
● You, and Flowey.
● The village you kept looking for, the living people you always wanted to find, and the places you thought still had hope.
But you clearly hated humans the most before, didn’t you?
● But there is nothing left.
Those empty houses, those overturned furniture, those dried bloodstains, those sliced tall buildings, those streets piled with debris.
They are all traces left by this disaster.
● Everywhere you walked, there were only ruins left.
● And you didn’t know.
● You didn’t know there were no living people left on this continent.
You didn’t know what that gray cloud was.
But Flowey knew it wasn’t a good thing.
You didn’t know that when you were starving to death, this withered tree was the only thing to lean on for dozens of miles around.
● You knew nothing.
● But you kept walking.
You still broke off a piece of chocolate for Flowey when eating it.
You even told him to take your SOUL when you were about to die.
● Why?
Because DETERMINATION keeps you alive?
Is that it?
● In the end, looking at the stars in the sky, fantasizing that maybe one day you could go and see them.
Too bad, where are there so many fantasies?
That’s just a dream of sleeping against a tree.
● One human and one flower, the last two lives.
Will they turn into the revival of this planet in the infinite future?
● That is probably impossible.
● Because a blue meteor passed by this planet, trailing a ribbon of light.
● It streaked from one side of the sky to the other.
The ribbon of light dragged a long tail behind it, like a thin river spanning the night sky.
It stopped on the black curtain of the sky, leaving a blue trace.
● As it passed by, that planet was as quiet as a sleeping baby.
No one knew it had come, and no one knew what it took away…
● But what is certain is that those two lives were gone.
● In the end, the light trace slowly faded, finally melting into the night, unseen any longer.
● This is the bedtime story I’m telling you all…
● Even after this, you still maintain your DETERMINATION.