Frisk woke up on the ground outside, where all the chaos was taking place. It was a miracle no one had attacked them yet…but then again, Frisk already looked dead.

"Mmn…wha…what?" Frisk stood up, feeling…empty. They wobbled where they stood and glanced around the area, feeling absolutely nothing at all.

"Frisk!" Asriel called, running to his human friend. "Frisk…are you okay?! There was this weird triangle guy…a-and now there's this scary ghost-like thing that people have been saying is Chara…Never mind that, we have to get to the shelter!" Asriel took Frisk's hand and dragged them along, rushing towards the ruins—or at least—what was left of it.

It took the two of them a rather long time to reach the ruins. Asriel had to pull Frisk to hiding spots whenever one of Bill's monsters passed by, and the human didn't walk very fast. Asriel was out of breath by the time they reached the 'shelter' he and Toriel had earlier discovered.

Only half of the ruins had been knocked down, and Toriel's house remained intact. By Sans's instruction, they had been hiding every underground monster that could be found. But even so, the ruins had lost the liveliness it possessed before: The flowers and plants had wilted, the walls were a faded purple, and cracks had made their way into the floors. Frisk noticed this as Asriel brought them closer to Toriel's house, but said nothing. They had said nothing at all throughout the whole trip.

"Frisk, what's wrong?! You've hardly moved at all…" The goat child stopped walking and put his hands on Frisk's shoulders.

"Have to go…save everybody…have to do something. But why do I feel so…so…hollow?" Frisk swayed back and forth, they had a bit of determination left, enough to keep them standing. But most of this feeling was left in their soul.

And then Asriel remembered that he still had Frisk's soul. "Your...! Frisk, I'm sorry, I-I have it, that's how I'm like…this…right now." He was referring to his real form, not the flower one. "I'll give it back, hold on!" Asriel summoned Frisk's red soul out from his chest, and began to float it back to the human. "I'll go back to being a f-flower…but you're the hero everyone needs right now. Make me proud, okay?"

"Asriel…" Even with the soul between them, Frisk could feel their compassion flooding back already. They put their hands on top of the soul, stopping Asriel from pushing it any further. "It doesn't need to be like this…" Frisk then took hold of the soul, tearing it into two equal pieces, half and a half. They absorbed one half and pushed the other back to their friend.

"Frisk…I…how…?" Truthfully, having a half-soul didn't feel any different from a full one, maybe because the other half was so close by. Feeling the same, Frisk smiled.

"If I can piece my soul back together with determination alone, then I can break off a part to share with a friend, can't I?" They both knew which timeline Frisk was referring to.

Asriel couldn't stop himself from hugging the generous human, and he couldn't help the tears that came flowing forth either. "T-Thank you…so much…I…I really don't deserve this, not a-after all the horrible things I did…" Frisk held his friend closely, patting him on the back and hoping to provide some comfort.

"You didn't have a soul, you tried and you tried, but you just couldn't feel a thing." Frisk sighed, "That's how I felt, just a minute ago. I knew something was wrong, I knew my friends needed help. But I was…empty, I could hardly function; I could hardly care about anything. If you weren't there, I might've been wiped out by the first creature that came along. So…thank you."

Asriel was the first to back out of the hug. "Frisk…I have so many things to say, and so many questions to ask. But right now…" Asriel peaked back outside, where the entire Underground was in the process of being destroyed. "Your friends…our friends…they need you."

"But I can't do it alone" Frisk replied quickly, their words quiet and steady.

"I…I wouldn't be much help." Asriel muttered in response. "Your soul…it's so strong. Today, I've felt more fearless then I ever have before. It's not dying that I'm afraid of…I just…I just can't go back. I can't. Mom already found me, and right now she's looking for Dad. Those are the only people who need to see me…"

"Asriel, we're two halves of a whole soul. Both of our halves have enough determination to survive, but maybe not enough to stop…whatever is causing all this. Not on our own." Frisk quickly glanced outside and then looked back at Asriel, they didn't want to see more than needed. "Look, Chara…isn't a part of me anymore. I can feel it, but that demon's power helped me keep going. Now, our determination, our soul, our compassion…we can do this. Together. Like a team, like…siblings."

Asriel slowly began to smile, "Then…Then, I guess-"

"-I'm sorry, my children." Toriel's calm, patient voice came floating in from behind them. "But I cannot allow you to put yourself in harm's way again; I have already lost you both, once…I simply won't let you go again, just look at what happened after that!" Of course, Toriel didn't want either of them to actually look. They were only children, and children should never be exposed to such horrific sights.

"Mom." Asriel said firmly, tugging on Frisk's sleeve as he summoned up his half of the soul. "We…we have each other, we'll be fine." The human copied the goat child's actions.

"What on Earth…?" Toriel approached slowly, squinting at the soul pieces. "No, never mind that…we have to wait for Asgore. As much as I hate to say it, the Underground needs their murderous King right now."

"Mom." Asriel repeated, "If it weren't for this soul piece…if Frisk wasn't so kind…I'd be a flower again by now. Our soul can't be shattered; we can't be killed. I know you don't remember…I know you have no clue what I'm talking about right now…but, please…our friends need us. And with this type of soul, we're the only ones who can stop this madness."

"Asriel…I-" Frisk cut Toriel off, "I've done this before, defeated crazy-powerful monster gods, you can't remember, a lot of us can't…but we do…that's why…we need to end this together.."

"I cannot believe I'm saying this…but…something is telling me you speak the truth. I am trusting you both to look after one another, alright?" Both children nodded firmly, and gave Toriel a hug. "Good luck, my children…" Looking like she was about to cry, the goat mother rushed back into the depths of the ruins before she could change her mind.

Steeling themselves for battle, Asriel and Frisk slowly crept to the exit of the ruins (which, at this point, was just a big hole in the wall.) The human child suddenly blinked and took a few steps back.

"Frisk?" Asriel asked, quickly beginning to panic. "Is…are you okay?!"

Frisk recalled the sensation of something evil and dark being pulled from their body, followed by the ground around them rumbling, a certain skeleton being lifted into the air. Frisk didn't know how they saw this in a state of unconsciousness, but it felt so real. Too real.

"I just…some memories are flooding back now." Frisk shook their head and pointed to the sky, where a piece of ground could be seen floating, and it appeared to be surrounded by a force field of some kind. "Sans is up there, we need to help him, whatever the source of all this is…it's up there."

Asriel nodded, and offered a hand to Frisk, they took it, and together the two of them began to approach the floating platform.

Meanwhile…

Undyne was still trying to bring Papyrus back from his state of shock, the fiery wall had died down by now…but the images Papyrus had seen remained fresh in his mind.

"Papyrus, can you hear me!?" Undyne called, yet again.

"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry…" was all he could say.

All Papyrus could visualize was the memory of his brother finding him dead in that snowy area, the air thick with icy wind.

"PAPYRUS! YOUR BROTHER IS IN DANGER, WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Undyne had enough with trying to gently coax him out of his meltdown.

Those words called Papyrus out of his mental nightmare; the memory vanished, he blinked, and looked up at Undyne. "Y-Yes…WHAT ARE WE STANDING AROUND HERE FOR!? LET'S GO!" He jumped back up to his feet, and Undyne followed right behind him, not wanting to question his sudden change in behavior.

"Don't let me be too late…please don't let it be too late…!" Papyrus whispered to himself as he ran, not yet noticing the raised piece of land.

That was then, and now…

"Hu…huh?" Sans felt his soul reform, all his energy coming back to him, and when he opened his eyes, he discovered that something—no—someone was protecting him from further harm.

A small figure in a striped shirt stood in front of Sans, guarding him with their own soul, or at least…what was left of it.

"W-What? You haven't beaten this guy yet?" Frisk smiled, "C'mon, this werido's got nothing on you!"

"K-kid…your…" Sans stood back up, looking at the thin white line Frisk had created, the "shield" that was now blocking out Bill's voice and attacks.

The yellow demon was still as powerful as ever, hovering dangerously above them, but every attack—every word—was quickly repelled by what the human had conjured up.

"I-I can't hold this up for much longer, when I let go, triangle guy will probably attack you again. But you won't be alone this time." The ground started to vibrate with all the energy Frisk was putting into the shield, but kept smiling. Sans was now smiling too, glad to see his friend alive and well.

"We've got this, Frisk." Sans spoke confidently , "Let's give this weirdo a bad time." He began to summon up his magic again.

"Ready?" The child asked, Sans nodded, and Frisk brought their arms back to their sides and dropped the shield.

Now, the real battle was beginning.