A lightning flash of cold pain struck Toriel in the heart. She clutched at her chest as tears pooled in her eyes. She didn't know why, but for some reason, she could feel that someone close to her heart were in mortal danger.
To her side, Asgore was similarly affected. It wasn't an unfamiliar pain. They had both witnessed it once before, when their son had turned to dust in their very garden.
Quivering, and unable to control their unexplainable grief, they leaned into each other. Their hands were bound, but still they found support in one another.
Up on his dais, the human observed the scene before him first with a face of wonder, that then changed to one of sad acceptance.
"I see... looks like I won't get to meet this "hero of monsters"... a pity"
His words were the chip that finally broke the dam, and Toriel burst into sobbing.
"I've always envied you monster that. Your seemingly innate compassion that goes beyond the mundane" The human said as he trotted about his dais.
"It's one of the reasons I regret having do this; it's... beautiful, almost. Despite what you may think, I don't consider love and compassion as weaknesses. There are few motives and reasons to fight stronger than those"
The 2 monster monarchs were bawling, yet trough their tears they managed to hang onto his words.
"I know what it's like to lose family. What's it like to stand helplessly, unable to do anything as you watch the life slowly bleed out of those you once swore you'd protect"
He turned to the 2 monsters with a sympathetic face.
"That's why I'll allow you to say goodbye one last time once his SOUL gets delivered to me. You'll get to give your final farewells...
...again" he silently added.
When Asriel came to, it wasn't where he'd expected. In fact, he hadn't thought he'd wake up at all; he'd felt the bullet enter and exit him, he saw the flustered human grin in triumph, and he felt the cold embrace of death claim him. All around him was darkness, yet he felt whole, present. He patted himself over, the fur on his face and fabric of his robes was all there, as was the gaping bullet wound right above his heart. Strangely enough, he felt no pain from the dust-leaking hole.
"Howdy!" A sickeningly familiar voice called out.
Asriel gritted his teeth in frustration, he really didn't need this now.
He turned around, finding, just as suspected, the evil old flower.
"Flowey... I thought I got rid of you" He scowled.
"Well, can't keep a good weed down"
Asriel didn't answer, instead just glared at the flower in anger.
The flower sighed.
"Look, Azzy, buddy. How about we call a ceasefire, eh? I won't try to take control of your body again, I promise... Unless you want me to...?
Asriel growled, promping the flower to back off a few inches.
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Look, all I'm saying is we're stuck with each other, you don't like me and I can't really do anything to you, other than a slow infection of your SOUL, and frankly, that's gonna take too long"
Asriel raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Those... dark thoughts I've had. That was you?"
"Guilty as charged, but as I said, I'm dropping that for now...instead, why don't we work together?
"Not in a million years!"
"Aww, c'mon! Lemme show you what I mean"
"No, I don't-"
The darkness above them suddenly exploded into life. Images shimmering Like a giant TV screen. He saw himself standing on the edge of a cliff. The sky above him was blood-red, flecked with black, thundering clouds. In one hand, he held high a banner bearing the Delta Rune, in the other a Chaos saber. Both items, as well as his robes, seemed oddly off-color. With horror, he realized why; they were stained with blood, human blood.
The view zoomed out. Behind him stood hundreds of thousands of monsters clad for war, cheering at him. In front of him, below the cliff's edge, was a bloodbath. Dead and dying humans littered the field, alongside magically exploded tanks and magic-fire scorched airplanes.
A loud thunderclap sounded and the skies darkened even more. As one, small differently colored hearts streamed out of the humans. The bloodied Asriel reached out a paw and the hearts jetted over to him. He gestured behind him, and out of the assembled monster, a few figures emerged.
Undyne, clad in her gore-splattered armor alongside similarly bloodied members of the royal guard. She wore her helm, making it impossible to read her face.
sans, looking exactly as he always did, yet his trademark skeletal grin did seem a few inches lower than usual. Papyrus's scarf fluttered from his neck, but his brother was nowhere to be seen.
Alphys, piloting what appeared to be a mecha based on Mettatons design. Her eyes were completely locked on the bloodied Asriel, fingers trembling in apparent fear.
Even Monster Kid stood forth, bearing an onion-shaped helmet and armor. Crude, cyber-magic arms had been grafted to his sides, bristling with blades, guns and assorted killing tools. Frighteningly, he still held child-like wonder in his eyes when he looked as the bloodied Asriel
And... his parents. His mother clad in armor he had never seen before, and his father in the same plate-mail he usually wore. They both smiled, but it weren't the usual warm ones, they looked forced. His father grabbed his trident tightly, as if he expected combat to erupt at any moment.
Up on the cliffs edge, the bloodied Asriel threw his arms wide, encompassing the floating plethora of SOULS and the battlefield in front of them. His off-shoulder cloak fluttered fiercely in the wind as he spoke.
"REJOICE, MY SUBJECTS! WITH THIS FINAL, DEVASTATING VICTORY WE HAVE CLEANSED THE SURFACE OF EVERY MISERABLE HUMAN AND THEIR EVEN MORE PATHETHIC SYMPATHISERS!"
Cheers erupted from the gathered monster army, but even watching and hearing from a mind-vision, Asriel could tell many of them were half-hearted.
"WE HAVE DEFEATED OUR GREATEST ENEMY, YES, BUT WE CANNOT REST YET. EVEN NOW, DISLOYAL MONSTERS PLOT AND SCHEME AGAINST THEIR RIGHTFUL RULER! TRAITORIOUS ELEMENTS THAT WOULD SEE ME OFF THE THRONE!
BUT THOSE ARE MATTERS FOR TOMMOROW! TODAY, WE CELEBRATE! EARTH IS MONSTERKINDS TO RULE! AND MONSTERKIND... IS MINE TO COMMAND!"
Yet again, cheers erupted and yet again they rung false.
The bloodied Asriel turned around and gestured to the SOULS. The most powerful ones assembled around him, the others hung still above the battlefield.
He held out a bloodied paw, and clenched it into a fist. Immediately, the static souls shook, distant, ethereal-like screams rung out from them as they begun to crack and fracture. Then, with another thunderclap-like roar, they burst, spreading small fragments all over the battlefield.
The bloodied Asriel turned around to face the monster army. The SOULS that he hadn't destroyed hung lazily above him. They swished back and forth, straining, as if trying to escape out of an invisible net.
"SOME OF YOU HAVE IMPRESSED ME; YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH UNIMAGINABLE POWER! MANY OF YOU HAVE DISSAPOINTED ME; YOU WIL BE PUNISHED WITH A FATE WORSE THEN DEATH! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!"
Mumblings broke out amongst the gathered monster soldiers. At the front, a crocodile monster fell to her knees, crying, hands on her eyes as she sobbed.
The bloodied Asriel held his Chaos saber high
"FOR MONSTERKIND!"
Immediately, every monster raised their weapons.
"FOR GOD-KING ASRIEL! MAY HE REIGN ETERNAL!" They all shouted in unison, straining to be heard over the others. The fear was evident on their faces.
For the first time, Asriel got a good look at his bloodied alter-ego. He wore the same robes as he currently did, yet it had clearly been reinforced with leather-padding and steel. More noticeable was the glow around him. He literally radiated magical power, even more so than when he had absorbed the 7 human SOULS back in the underground.
But the biggest difference was in his features. His horns had grown. Longer than his fathers, they curled multiple times and had spikes jutting out of them. His eyes were also alight with a hellish-red glow, and the evil grin on his muzzle revealed rows of razor-sharp fangs.
Flowey observed the amazed goat with cold glee. He had purposefully omitted any killings from the showing of this possible future, having long ago learned that murder was a bit of a deal breaker.
"So, whaddya say?" He asked.
Asriel continued to stare at the scene above him.
"Just an idea I had. I've always known Frisks SOUL gave you a lot more "oomph" than your regular monster ones, but when I, uhh, rode shotgun in your body, I came to realize just how powerful you are!"
The goat finally tore his eyes off the mind-vision, instead fixating on Flowey.
"With that power, you could unite all of monsterkind under your rule, forcefully if need be! You could sweep the human armies aside like a broom sweeps dust, and you could grow stronger from their SOULS! Sharing the spoils with others! We could rule the surface! We could-"
"No"
"I knew you'd agree! Oh this'll be so fu- wait, what!?"
"No" Asriel coldly repeated.
Flowey stared dumbfounded for a moment.
"Uhh, b-but, Asriel... don't you want a better life for all monsters? To give them a bright future as rulers of the surface? Just think of-"
"Come on Flowey, I'm not stupid, I know that's not why you're showing me this"
"Hehe, well no, but consider it as a mutually beneficial arrangement; you get to make a better life for everyone, and I get a front-row seat to the whole spectacle!" Flowey said gleefully, rubbing his vines together in excitement.
"And what about the humans then?" Asriel asked.
"What about 'em? You don't owe them anything. They've done nothing more than hurt and look down upon you ever since you all came to the surface, so why not-"
"Destroy them all, is that it?"
"Yes! You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs! And honestly, it wouldn't be any different than what they once did to you! It would be justice, so why not have a little fun while doing it?"
Asriel merely shook his head in response
"Oh c'mon! I know you don't like violence and all that, but can't you see the this would be for the betterment of all monsters!"
"And you think they'd like that?"
"Uhh... yes...?"
"Then you don't know anything about us. You haven't learned"
Asriel looked away, into the deep darkness surrounding them.
"Monsters require love, hope and compassion to live; how do you think we would fare if our happiness was built upon the bones of 7 billion dead humans?"
He looked back at the flower.
"And besides, none of the humans who drove us underground still live – why should their descendants suffer for their actions? I know they haven't been as... welcoming as I would have hoped, but there's many good people amongst them, they don't deserve such a fate. We can't just kill them"
He sighed deeply
"Our SOULS wouldn't be able to handle that... but I guess you can't understand that, I didn't when I was..." He glanced away, eyes reflecting the sadness of past memories.
Almost a whole minute of silence passed before Flowey broke it.
"Even after everything? Even after sealing your people underground, even after denying you equal rights on the surface and even after getting shot by those 2 schmucks you tried to save, you still think humans deserve mercy and compassion?"
Asriel nodded.
"Yeah... Humans might be a little more... extreme than us monsters, but they haven't done anything we monsters couldn't do...
… or have done" he quietly added.
Flowey chuckled
"You're talking about me, right?"
"Nope... not just you"
Flowey looked taken aback by the answer, clearly not the response he had expected. Once again, silence descended.
This time it was broken by a sigh from Asriel.
"None of that matters now, though. I'm... We're dead, aren't we?"
Asriel sat down, defeated.
"You know, I don't remember much of... my first time. It was like a... dark, cold sleep, but it was kinda peaceful at least"
He looked around the dark void surrounding them, tears welling up in his eyes.
"I guess this is my punishment then, for believing I could have a second chance. No rest, no light, no one to talk to..."
Asriel felt a pang of guilt. He knew Flowey was with him, but in all honesty, he wasn't very good company. It wouldn't be so bad if Frisk was there, but they were nowhere to be seen.
Despair overwhelmed him. This was truly his worst nightmare made reality. At least he had been soulless the last time, he hadn't had it in him to feel sorrow. But not this time.
"We aren't dead, idiot" Flowey suddenly said matter-of-factly.
"Wh-what?" Asriel said, voice groggy. He wiped his face with one of his ears.
"Look, I know a thing or 2 about being dead, and believe me, this is not it"
"Then... what...? Where are we?"
"Inside your head; asleep I'd wager" Flowey said, looking bored.
Asriel dared to feel relief. He knew this could very well be a ploy to get his hopes up and then dash them, but he desperately, truly wanted to not end up all alone in this void.
Suddenly, the darkness all around began to shimmer and take on color. Cracks began to form and light streamed trough them.
"Speak of the devil" Flowey quirped "Looks like the Sleeping Beauty is waking up"
Asriel got to his feet, it was all he could do not to jump and shout in joy.
"Do make the best of it. I am in your SOUL now, and I WILL find a way to make it mine! HAHAHA! Sooner or later, your body will answer to me! HAHAHA!"
As the flower's mad cackle faded, Asriel suddenly lost hold of himself. His vision went dark.
Then, suddenly, draped in comfortable blankets, beneath a searingly bright lamp and under the gaze of what looked like an ancient human woman, Asriel woke up.