The human gasped for breath, opening their eyes. That hadn't been a pleasant experience.

What happened? How did I come back?

The child vaguely remembered the battle that had just taken place, Asriel had used the determination of their soul to try to rewrite the timeline. But having the determination sucked out of you wasn't exactly pain-free, so they had blacked out midway through the fight.

"I'm so, so sorry!"

The child heard the tearful apology of a child to their right, and turned to see Togore holding his brother. The child blinked, this couldn't be real...

They slowly walked over, not understanding why Asriel was a sweet, harmless goat child again. Asriel wouldn't even look at Togore, instead opting to bury his face in his bigger brother's shoulder. "I've hurt everyone again... I just wanted to make things better..." Asriel managed to say. "Why would you want to help me?"

Togore looked down at his brother and smiled. "Like I said, whether I know you or not, you're family. I don't believe in giving up on any member of your family, no matter what they've done..." he sighed and closed his eyes. "...I haven't... been the best example of dealing with what people have done to me, and it almost caused me to hurt someone who was closer to me than I imagined."

Asriel finally got the courage to look up. "I... I didn't have a soul, and that..." he wiped his eyes as Togore set him down to talk. "...that made it impossible to love other people. I couldn't care about what happened to them, so I started using them for... amusement." Asriel looked away from Togore, and when he looked to the side and saw the human, he quickly looked away again.

"And you..." Asriel gulped and nervously looked at the child. "...what is your name?" Asriel asked that question as if he didn't truly expect the human to answer.

"Frisk." The child said, giving a reassuring smile.

Asriel managed to smile. "That's a nice name." The human walked closer. "I could say the same about the name Asriel..." Frisk said, trying to make him feel better.

"Listen, brother..." Togore took a knee, and Asriel finally was able to look at Togore in the eyes. "...I'm not one to call anyone out on being angry... I mean, you saw what I almost did to Asgore-" "No thanks to me." Asriel interrupted. "I made you think he killed Chara, my human sibling."

Frisk spoke up as soon as Asriel had finished. "But you've turned away from that. Asriel, we know that you had a good heart. I mean, they have a story of how you chose peace over fighting." They smiled as Asriel looked at them. "Just because you lived a life apart from that doesn't mean that you can't ever go back to that."

"Frisk is right!" Togore said, grinning at his brother. "You're yourself again, brother! We can take you back to our parents, live in the castle, and..." He looked at Frisk and smiled. "...and we can all finally be a family."

Asriel sniffled again, another tear sliding down his face. He wiped it, and laughed nervously. "I always was a crybaby..." he sighed and looked at the human. "...but I can't stay. I don't have a soul of my own, so..." Togore frowned. "You're saying you're going to turn back into a-" "...yeah." Asriel looked down again.

Togore looked at Frisk in desperation. "We'll do something... we'll find some way..."

Asriel shook his head. "I've returned the human souls to their rightful place. There is no other way." He stood up and smiled softly at his brother. "Well..." he gave a small wave. "...Bye, guys." He turned and started walking away into the darkness. But Asriel was only able to walk so far before running back and hugging the human and his brother.

"Take care of our family, okay?" He asked, looking up at his brother. This is, like, the softest hug ever... Frisk thought.

"I promise. I'll find the best way to take care of us." Togore swore. Asriel nodded, and slowly pulled away, walking into the darkness.

When Asriel disappeared from sight, the darkness around the child receded, turning back into the vandalized throne room. Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, Alphys, Gaster, Toriel, and Asgore all reappeared.

"Hm? Is it over?" Asgore asked, then frowned as he looked around the room. "Where... where's Asriel?"

Togore sighed sadly. "He said... He said that he can't live with us. But..." he walked to Asgore and Toriel. "...I'm going to try to be the best son for you two that I can, okay?"

Toriel smiled. "You've always tried for me, and I'm sure you'll try for your father." Asgore looked saddened by the absence of Asriel, but smiled when Togore started speaking. "My son... your mother's fate is up to her, but I beseech of you to come to the castle, and live here." He waved his hand around the room. "You saw how nice this place was before our... um... disagreement, but you'd get to live in this place." He looked over at Undyne. "And your fighting capability, Togore, has prompted me to make you the co-captain of the royal guard."

Togore gave a nervous look at Undyne, who actually seemed happy about that. "Yeah! That's a great idea, Asgore! The Sentinel showed some AWESOME leadership back when we were with Asriel!" She grinned at him. "You're going to be an EPIC royal guard! They'll tell stories about us beating the crap out of bad guys for CENTURIES!"

Frisk smiled. It's good to finally see them getting along...

Togore nodded and looked at Papyrus. "My first order as co-captain of the royal guard, is to make Papyrus an official junior royal guard!"

Papyrus gasped in joy, his eyes lighting up. "WOWIE! I'M A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD! AT LAST, MY DREAM HAS COME TRUE!"

Undyne leaned over and whispered in Togore's ear, "Are you sure that's the best idea?"

"We'll just have him guard the beach for now." He said. "We'll start training him once we get everything that's happened in order." Frisk chuckled, realizing that basically made Papyrus a glorified lifeguard.

Sans walked over to the child. "It's good to see you again, kiddo." He stretched his arms and yawned. "I hope everything works out for you guys."

Gaster cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I have important news for the king: We finished modifying the determination extractor before we got here."

Asgore smiled. "Goody! What does it do now?" Gaster sighed. "It allows us to transfer one's soul to the essence of a monster-"

"What did you say?!" Togore said earnestly, turning the doctor towards him. "Just soul transfer. The essence that receives the soul will retain their memories and personality, almost as if they'd never died."

Asgore nodded. "And what would we use this for, Dr. Gaster?"

Gaster stared blankly, not sure how to answer. "Alphys!" He snapped his fingers. "We must go back to work."

Alphys nodded, but turned to the human. "H-hey... I owe you a lot, Frisk." She said. "I u-u-used to be so s-scared of everything, but because I m-m-met you, I learned that I'm really c-c-capable!" She smiled. "I mean, I-I-I stood up to a m-monster with seven h-h-human souls! Do y-you have any idea o-o-of how hopeless our s-situation was?" Frisk shrugged. They didn't want to know.

Alphys waved goodbye, walking back to the lab with Gaster."Welp... I'm out." Sans said, walking towards the back room. "I'm heading to the Sandbar, you guys can join if you want."

Papyrus sighed. "I DON'T KNOW HOW HE GETS ANYWHERE. HE ALWAYS GOES IN THE WRONG DIRECTION." Papyrus and Undyne looked at their fellow guardsman, whose head was bowed in concentration.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT, SENTINEL?" Papyrus asked.

Togore looked back at his parents. "I..." he walked over and hugged his mother. "...I have to go do something, mom." Toriel smiled. "Go do it, my child." Togore nodded and then looked at Asgore. "I... I'm sorry for what I did to you... dad."

Asgore beamed. "Do not worry, my son." Togore nodded and hugged Asgore as well. "Stay determined, son." Togore smiled and started walking away. "Don't worry... your child will come back." He said, then turned around.

"Wait... Asgore and Toriel... did you name Asriel After your names combined? Like a ship name?" He shook his head. "Why would... wait... Toriel and Asgore... oh, no..."

The child laughed when they realized that Togore had also been named after his parents' ship name. The Sentinel shook his head, walking past Frisk. "Hey..." he looked at them. "...you'll... can you do me a favor? Tell Ama that I miss her, and..." his voice got quieter. "...and I... have... significant feelings... towards her..."

They nodded, laughing at Togore's awkwardness. "Yeah, why?" Frisk asked. Togore looked hesitantly at the child, then patted their shoulder.

"Goodbye..." he said, walking out the exit.

Some time passed, and Frisk was getting worried. They had no idea where Togore had gone. Asgore was chatting with Undyne and Papyrus, and Toriel was standing next to Frisk.

"Well..." she smiled. "...I suppose you're probably going to leave us, am I correct?" Frisk shook their head. "No. I want to stay here with you."

Toriel smiled. "If you had said that before, none of this would have happened." But... I suppose it's good that you waited so long to make up your mind." She rubbed the child's hair. "I suppose I'll find somewhere in the castle to live, so I can stay close to my children-"

Asgore turned around. "You know, Tori... maybe we could-"

"NO, Asgore." Toriel said bluntly, and Asgore went back to talking with his two royal guards.

Toriel sighed. "I wonder what's taking Togore so long..." Frisk abruptly left the throne room. Something was wrong...

They raced towards the hat shop, opening the door.

"Ama!" They shouted, making Ama jump. "Was Togore here?"

"No." Ama said, shaking her head. "I wish that awkward stud was here..." she laughed. "...why do you ask?"

Frisk hesitated for a moment, then remembered what Togore had asked them. "He... He wanted to say that he misses you, and... well, he didn't exactly say it this way, but... He loves you." Ama smiled and looked up, blushing. "Well... I... I suppose you could say that I feel the same way..." Frisk nodded and left the store.

Any monsters that were out and about were asked if they had seen the Sentinel by Frisk. A few of them hadn't, but most of them said they had seen him heading into the volcano. Frisk thanked them, and went to Alphys's lab.

Alphys smiled when they walked in. "H-hi, Frisk!" She said. "Why a-a-are you back here?" "Where's Togore?" Frisk asked. Alphys shrugged. "I-I-I don't know e-exactly where, b-b-but he asked to go to G-Gaster's lab. I told him that Gaster wasn't back, b-but-"

Frisk asked Alphys for access to his lab, and Alphys let the child inside.

There was someone in the center of the room, staring ahead blankly. Frisk tilted their head.

"Asriel?"

Asriel turned around, his eyes red with tears. "He...he's gone..." Asriel told them. Frisk looked around the room, seeing the determination extractor. There was a pile of dust in front of it...

A wave of realization came over Frisk, and they slowly walked towards Asriel.

Asriel wiped his eyes. "Why would he do that?" He looked at Frisk helplessly. "Why would he give me his soul? I..." he turned his head to the extractor. "...He didn't even know me."

Frisk knew the answer. "Because you never lived the full life that you could've, and he swore to take care of you." Asriel sniffled. "So... what now?"

Frisk sat next to Asriel. "We go back to mom and dad." Asriel smiled. "That's a nice thought, but-" "Don't think about what you did." Frisk interrupted. "That's behind you."

Asriel looked around the lab. "I guess I was wrong about this being a 'better ending'..." Asriel mourned. Frisk looked over at Asriel. "You're back. That's just about the best ending we could all ask for."

Asriel sighed, and sat in silence with the human in the lab for a while.

The door opened, and Gaster looked in surprise at the children.

"Prince Asriel!" He said, making the children turn around. "You're alive again! I have so much to tell you about the mechanics of timelines-" "That's our cue to go." Frisk said, making Asriel laugh.

The two walked down the path to the castle, and they both finally realized what they had searched for on the surface this whole time.

Family.