Four weeks had passed since Asriel was lost for the second time. It seemed as though everything had been quieter around the house lately. The plants in the garden began to wither since Toriel stopped tending to them. Frisk stopped writing, as well as drawing. Most days she spent lying in bed, perhaps not even asleep, but just to be alone and think to herself, about what, not even she knew. Toriel would repeatedly try to get Frisk active by inviting her to run errands or just take a walk, but she refused, and often kept her bedroom door shut. It was obvious Toriel was also struggling. There were some things she doesn't do anymore-tending to the garden, baking pies, keeping plants around the house-anything not to remind her of the son she'd lost again. Every so often she'd try baking again, but nothing turned out right, she'd always get something wrong or give up halfway through. A few times she'd ask Frisk to help, but she again refused.
Late evening, Toriel knocked on Frisk's open bedroom door.
"Frisk, honey? May I come in?" she began softly. Again Toriel was unaware if Frisk was asleep. She lie facing away from the door, above the covers of her neatly made bed, and her knees tucked into her arms. She saw Frisk slightly adjust herself, and she walked closer to check on her. Frisk tried to hide how she turned her head further away from Toriel as she got closer, using the small poof sound of Toriel's feet as a gauge for how close she was.
Toriel sat beside Frisk on her bed, the bed sinking on Toriel's side as it adjusted to her weight. Placing a hand on Frisk, feeling her tense up, Toriel began gently rubbing her shoulder.
"Frisk..." she started softly, "it's not your fault. It's not anyone's. There was just... nothing we could do." she trailed off.
There was a long yet expected silence. Toriel thought Frisk would at least sit up or say something, but neither happened.
Toriel took her hand off of Frisk, and instead fell backwards to lie down with her, her hands folded on her stomach.
"But... you know..." she said, feeling Frisk perk up. "...didn't we have fun? I... personally... always secretly wished... just for a single day, if I could spend time with my son again." Toriel continued, feeling as though Frisk was paying closer attention. "What I got was more than I expected and I'm... needless to say I'm very grateful and truly blessed I got to spend as much more time with him as I did. It just felt... so special having both of you in my keeping, and being with Asgore again and... it was all..." Toriel paused and caught herself in deep thought. Lightly, she said, "...fun. Almost like, for a short time, we were a family, we were whole again." Feeling the need to clarify, she began, "That's not to say we don't feel whole now, it's just... I mean to say everything felt... normal, again."
After a few minutes of silence, sighing deeply, it seemed Toriel couldn't get Frisk to speak. She stood up, began to walk out of the room, but then came back momentarily and gave Frisk a small kiss on her cheek.
"I appreciate you listening, Frisk. I know you are." Toriel said, slowly starting to walk out of the room again. On her way out, Toriel turned her head, "If you need anything, my door will be open. Please try to go to bed soon, won't you?" she finished, the poof of her feet echoing and fading down the hallway.
The next morning was met with a light drizzle. Before, Frisk had spent most of her time staring out her window at it, but then decided she wanted to be out in it. Grabbing her jacket off the wall, she headed to the kitchen where Toriel was awake making breakfast.
"Mom, I'm going out." she said.
"Aren't you going to eat first?" Toriel replied without looking.
"Nah, I don't think I'll be long."
"Alright, zip up so you don't catch a cold."
Frisk gave something of a faint smile and zipped up before heading outside. It felt nice to have the soft cool air against her face, just as much as it did to be walking outside in the rain by herself.
Frisk visited a few of her friends along the way, Papyrus, Undyne and Sans in Snowdin to be exact. They'd just come back from a long trip to the surface, with plenty of food and knick-knacks, most of which Frisk was familiar with. Frisk reassured them they didn't miss much while they were gone. Papyrus offered some chips to her for the road, to which she politely refused. After saying goodbyes, she returned back outside and continued walking. She hadn't been gone long, so she thought maybe she could head to Hotland and see how Alphys was doing.
It wasn't until she got near the spot of the incident in Waterfall that she thought about going back. Or maybe she should've taken the boat in Snowdin just to avoid passing through this spot all together. Maybe she shouldn't torment herself like that, maybe she should head back to Snowdin, or maybe even head home at that point as the trip back plus the boat trip to Hotland would take too much time.
Deciding to walk away, she heard strange sounds echo off the walls of the cave that made her stop. She listened closely, was someone following her? She couldn't help but notice it got clearer as she headed towards the spot she wanted to avoid. Ultimately curious, she walked slowly towards the location, trying to figure out what that sound was. In the room just before the statue room, she stopped as not to frighten the person making the noise in to silence.
"That sounds like..." she thought to herself, "...crying?"
Hiding just around the corner of the statue room, Frisk listened closer. Between sobs, she could hear the voice much clearer.
"No... no not again... not this again... somebody has to come this time..." the sobs continued. "MOM! DAD! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!" the voice shouted, continuing to sob after seconds of silence.
Turning the corner, Frisk saw a small flower at the foot of the statue. Frisk's lips quivered, unsure whether to smile or not. She ran quickly towards the flower, but slowed down as she approached it. The flower turned towards her, its eyes shut hard, and tears streaming down its face.
"Is... is someone there? Can you help me?" the flower gasped repeatedly. Using its leaves to wipe its eyes, it looked up at Frisk who came in much clearer now. "FRISK!" he shouted, a big smile appearing on his face.
"As... Flowey? You're okay! What happened? How did you get here?"
"I don't know, I just... I just remember being in a dark room and feeling really weird and... I remember running and running and running but then... then I don't know I just woke up here... scared, alone..." Flowey began sobbing again. "I thought I was all alone again... Frisk please I don't want to be all alone again!"
"Flowey no, don't cry, I'm here! Everything is okay!" Frisk chuckled. "Everything is... okay." She trailed off, using her forefinger to carefully wipe Flowey's tears away.
Staring at each other as Flowey calmed down, Frisk came to and realized what she had to do.
"Okay, Flowey listen, I'm going to need to leave for-"
"NO! PLEASE DON'T GO!" Flowey screamed, the tears about to come back.
"Nonono it's not that! I'll be right back, I promise! I'm going to get you out of here, I'm going to take you home! Okay?" Frisk smiled to comfort Flowey.
"Promise?" Flowey sniffed.
"Promise. It will be quick, trust me, you're not going to be alone again." Frisk said before standing up and running off back home.
"Come back soon okay!?" she heard Flowey say behind her.
Bursting through the front door, Frisk looked around hastily for Toriel. Toriel, Asgore, and Alphys were sitting at the table, holding cups of tea.
"Oh, Frisk you're home! Just in time, we-"
"MOM, GET YOUR GARDENING TOOLS AND A POT, FLOWEY'S ALIVE IN WATERFALL!" Frisk shrieked.
"WHAT!?" said everyone collectively.
"No time to explain just do it let's go!"
Toriel did as instructed and the group ran quickly to Waterfall. Beside Frisk ran Toriel who carried a pot and trowel at the ready. Quickly approaching Waterfall, Frisk heard Flowey gasp at the echo of everyone's collective footsteps.
"Frisk! You're back!" Flowey smiled, on the verge of tears.
Kneeling down, Frisk gave Flowey a few pats on the head. "It's not just me, I brought family!"
"Mom! Dad!"
"Son!" Toriel and Asgore said together.
Everyone gathered around Flowey, smiling and talking about how much they missed him, Asgore of course preaching about being "one big happy family" again. Toriel carefully dug Flowey out of the soil in front of the statue and placed him in the pot she was carrying, adding additional soil to fit the pot evenly.
"Alright, let's get you home." Frisk smiled at Flowey.
"Thank you, thank you so much, Frisk!"
Later that night, Frisk and Flowey had been talking to each other for hours. In a word, grateful, that he could come back to the family.
"Hey, Frisk." Alphys said, inviting herself into her room and getting its occupants' attention. "I'm really glad everything worked out for you. I had no idea that..." Alphys cleared her throat, stopping herself as she realized Flowey should remain unaware of what happened weeks ago. "...I had no idea that things would turn out this well!"
"Thank you for everything you've done to help, Alphys." Frisk nodded and smiled.
Smiling back, Alphys began, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, then! Goodnight."
"Goodnight!" Flowey and Frisk waved.
As Alphys left the room, Toriel entered.
"Alright you two, you'd best get to bed yourselves! It's been quite a day, I think you've earned it."
"Heh... definitely." Frisk stretched.
"Is it okay if I stay in Frisk's room tonight?" Flowey asked.
"Of course! Just don't spend the whole night talking and keeping each other awake, okay?"
They both nodded. "Goodnight!"
"Goodnight, my children." Toriel said softly, walking over to kiss them both on the forehead. Toriel flicked the light off, and shut the bedroom door quietly. Frisk, who was already in her pajamas, crawled underneath the covers and let out a deep sigh.
"Goodnight Flowey."
"Goodnight Frisk."
An hour had passed, and Frisk was annoyed at how awake she still was. Regardless, she tried to keep her eyes closed and let her mind drift.
"Frisk?" Flowey whispered. "Are you asleep?"
She sighed. "No, not really."
"Hey um... listen..." Flowey started, him and Frisk turning towards each other. "I... I have some things to tell you."
Frisk tilted her head. "What is it?"
Flowy sighed, and swallowed hard as he began, "I... overheard you all the first time, yelling in the other room about how I was basically not real, and would need the medicine for the rest of my life".
Frisk's jaw dropped, "You... heard..."
"And... I ran away on purpose. I didn't think where, I just... felt a desperate need to get away." Flowey began, "When I woke up in Alphys' lab I... I was in terrible shock. You see, I've been having... really terrible nightmares after I came back as Asriel. Nightmares about... missing my dose, and just having my entire life revolve around that 'medicine', it was just... I don't know, it was just... too much. I almost felt weaker every time I took it, physically and emotionally. I woke up from the worst nightmare I've ever had in Alphys' lab. A sad, lonely addict who can't do anything because his medicine keeps him at home, or makes people scared of him. Just... every time I got close to not making it, just seeing the look and worry on everyone's face... I didn't want everyone to look at me like that, to see me that way. A ticking timebomb." he finished, looking out the window at the garden. "I think... I think it's just better this way. It was fun to have a body for what little time I did but... I don't think the upkeep, the pressure, how I made other people feel by being dependant on a product, was worth it."
Nothing but the sound of crickets filled the room. Frisk was in absolute shock that Flowey remembered anything about being Asriel, let alone how he felt deep inside about being alive again.
"Well... that's okay, Flowey. I understand now." Frisk said gently. "How do you remember all that?"
"I told you about how I've discovered every outcome of this world, haven't I?"
Frisk scratched her head. "...No?"
"Ha... right... this isn't that outcome. Just... I just do, and let's leave it at that, okay? But... let's just say this one is new to me."
"Okay. I'm glad you decided to tell me."
"Yeah..." he paused. "Hey could you... keep this between us, please?"
Frisk nodded, "Of course."
Flowey smiled and gave a small chuckle. "Thank you, Frisk..."
"...you'll always be my best friend."
THE END
