AN: Just a quick heads up. For me, my Frisk and Chara are female. That is how I write them. So just letting you know so you don't get all confused the first time you hit a pronoun that isn't neutral. Also, please be aware that I do not write tragedies. That is all.

"Go Frisk… I want you to remember me like this… not as… you know…"

I frowned pensively as the fluffy goat child in a green and yellow striped shirt continued.

"Besides, someone's got to look after the flowers now everyone's leaving, right?"

My frown grew slightly more.

"So please… just go. Enjoy your life on the surface with everyone. And… forget about me, ok?"

I shook my head, and spoke.

"No."

Asriel looked surprised, "N-no? Frisk… please…"

I shook my head again. "I'm not leaving my best friend here."

Asriel's face twisted slightly, a small grin flashing on their face for just a moment, and I could almost pretend I could see Flowey for a moment.

Before he could say anything I took off the golden heart necklace I was wearing.

I held it out to him. Asriel looked from it to me in confusion.

"Frisk, what?" Asriel started and looked closer at the necklace. "Wait, isn't that…"

I motioned the necklace towards him and he slowly reached out and took it.

I smiled. "I'm returning what belongs to you. Everyone got a happy ending, and everyone's going to get a happy ending. Including you. Put it on, please."

Asriel didn't look like he understood, but he obliged, looking down while he fiddled with the clasp against the back of his neck. I was glad for that as I took out the other item I would need for this.

I took a deep breath.

Shnk

Asriel looked up, startled, then his face turned to horror.

"FRISK!"

I started to fall.

Asriel caught me before I hit the ground.

"FRISK!" I felt his hand on mine, trying to tug the knife out of my chest.

I hissed. "Leave… it…"

"Frisk! No! Hang in there! You have to stay Determined! You can't die!"

"Won't… You'll save… me. I… trust… you."

"But I don't know how! What do I do Frisk!?"

"Sans… Alphys… take me… They'll know-" –what to do. Go. Hurry!

Asriel didn't understand. But he knew what he had to do in that moment somehow.

Gingerly picking up Frisk's startlingly light form, Asriel hurried out of the old ruins as fast as he could without jostling Frisk, who kept a firm hold on the knife in her chest.

He rushed past many Monsters, some of them letting out startled noises when they saw who he carried.

It seemed far too long for him before Asriel finally made it past Hotland and up the elevator to where the others were waiting.

They turned to greet him, probably expecting Frisk, whole, hale and healthy.

Asriel ignored their choked gasps as he went straight to Sans. He stopped and held her out.

"PLEASE! Please! You have to help her! She said to take her to you, that you would know what to do!"

"Set her down. Dang it kid, what did you do?"

Frisk didn't respond.

"Oh dear, oh dear," Alphys fretted as she came over immediately, pulling a stethoscope out of her coat and beginning to check over Frisk, bringing out more devices and supplies and poking Frisk with them.

Asriel's view of Frisk was suddenly blocked by blue. He looked up into the black hollow sockets that passed for Sans' eyes and gulped.

"What. Happened?"

"I- She stabbed herself! She gave me this necklace and then when I wasn't looking, she stabbed herself! She said she would save me, and then that I would save her by taking her to you."

Tell him about the necklace.

"I- The necklace belonged to my sister… I-"

Mention the videos in the lab.

"-there were… videos? In a… lab…" Asriel slowly grasped his head in confusion.

"Kid? You ok?"

Asriel glanced up, Sans' dark look now one of concern.

"I… there's a voice in my head… It sounds like…"

Chara?

Hey bro.

What's going on?

There's a lot to unpack there. I'll explain what I know, but for now, just know that Frisk did what she did to transfer what's left of me to you. Tell Sans specifically what I'm about to say, word for word.

"…I've got a message from the- er, Legendary Fartmaster? Seriously?"

Sans slight twitch went unnoticed.

"Right, anyway, to save Frisk, you need to know that her SOUL was damaged before she fell into the Underground. It… was enough to let my sister latch on to her on accident… and saved her life. Frisk's now given my sister back to me so I can be wh-whole…"

Asriel choked back a small sob but forced himself to continue.

"Without her, Frisk's Determination isn't quite what it was… She's going to need an infusion of it to save her. Please! You have to save her!"

Asriel looked up at that last, finished relaying the message as he focused on the important part for now. He'd try and deal with the rest later.

Sans, for his part, stared at Asriel completely silent. Then the moment passed and he nodded. He then turned back to Frisk and Alphys, pushing Papyrus gently back from his hovering.

"Alphys."

At Sans' call, Alphys looked up from wrapping the knife in her chest to stabilize it.

"We need to get her to the Lab. We need to leave. Now."

Alphys bit her lip, then nodded. "R-Right! But- How?-"

Sans laid both his hands on the two. "We'll take a shortcut."

Then with a blink, all three were gone.

Everyone was suddenly in an uproar. But it quickly fell behind as Asriel sprinted to get to the Lab in Hotland. So imagine his surprise when he found both Papyrus and Undyne catching up and keeping pace with him.

They rushed to the elevator and jabbed it open. By the time the door opened, everyone else had caught up and they all jammed into the elevator.

It was an awkward ride down. Especially when a gentle hand rested on Asriel's shoulder.

Asriel looked back toward's the hand's owner and shrank into himself slightly.

No words were spoken, but the question in Toriel's eyes glimmering with unshed tears didn't need to be said, as Asgore looked on, the same question in his eyes as well.

Asriel gave a small sad smile and rested his hand on his mother's for just a moment. A tremulous smile broke out on Toriel's face in response, and Asriel rather supposed that if they weren't already packed into the elevator like sardines, he would find himself still unable to move anyway from the hug his mother's face promised to be giving him in that moment.

The moment was broken by the elevator dinging and they all spilled out. Asriel quickly refocused and took off once again, this time both the King and former Queen doing a surprisingly good job of keeping up.

Down yet another elevator and through the rest of Hotland, which caused Undyne to lag slightly only for Asgore to help her along, they finally made it to the Lab. Without pausing to question it, Asriel didn't stop and immediately beelined for a side door which lead to yet another elevator, until finally they spilled into a foyer where Sans was waiting for them.

He waited for them to collect themselves, and Papyrus kept surprisingly quiet upon seeing the lab coat on Sans' person. The short skeleton gestured for them to follow and he set off, leading the group down a hall and past a foyer full of beds till they reached a back room where Frisk was hooked to a heart monitor.

Alphys looked up from where she was monitoring the equipment and smiled. "She's stable."

Everyone seemed to sag in relief.

Sans laid his bony hand on Asriel's shoulder. "You did good kid. One quick infusion, and she's recovering."

Asriel nodded, feeling a bit weak.

"Well now, with that bit of excitement done with, is there any chance we can get an explanation about all of this?" Asgore asked. Everyone focused on Asriel, who was silent for a moment, then sighed.

"There's… something you probably need to see Dad."

With his sister's prompting, Asriel lead the group out of the room and down the hall, to a room with several tapes and a video player. Asriel gestured to the player, and Asgore examined the tapes before selecting the first one and putting it in.

After the last tape finished, no one moved. Asriel studiously stared at a single spot on the floor, the voice of his sister in his head uncharacteristically silent.

"…What happened after that, son?" Asgore asked.

Asriel winced involuntarily.

"I… after Chara gave me her SOUL, I took-"

Don't.

Asriel sighed, but inwardly nodded. "…Chara had control as she carried her old body across the barrier. The humans saw us carrying a dead human child and attacked. Chara tried to fight back, but… I wouldn't let her… Despite everything we agreed to do, I got cold feet. The humans hurt us badly that by the time I got back… I collapsed on Dad's flowers and turned to dust… Next thing I know… I'm waking up as a Flower and I can't… I couldn't feel anything… I didn't have a SOUL and… and after a while I… I stopped trying to care and did some… really awful things… to all of you…"

"Hang on! Flowey? You were Flowey!?" Papyrus gasped, excited, then he stopped and frowned, "But I don't remember you doing anything bad to anyone! I would certainly remember that!"

"That's because DETERMINATION does funny things to time down here, bro."

Everyone turned to see Sans leaning against the back wall as if he'd been there the entire time. Asriel flinched when he noticed that despite him talking to Papyrus, Sans' empty gaze was fixed directly on him.

"Thanks to the stuff, it lets human SOULs linger after they're dead. It can even bring someone back from the brink of death. Even let a Monster defy death itself for a time. And it can bring the ashes scattered upon a flower after a Monster falls to life, becoming the new vessel of the fallen Monster. But flowers were never meant to host SOULs. Human or Monster."

Everyone's attention turned to Asriel, who nodded.

"It can even, in enough doses, allow a Monster, or even a Human SOUL, transcend time itself." Sans finished.

After a moment, Asgore finally coughed, "And what does that mean exactly?"

Asriel sighed. "It means that as a being without a SOUL born of pure DETERMINATION, I couldn't actually die. I couldn't feel anything. And I couldn't stand living that kind of life. So I tried to end myself. And I died. But the next moment, I was opening my eyes again in this lab, everything having rewound itself. I was trapped. I tried so many ways to escape, but… then I stopped caring about that too. I just… did anything and everything… or nothing. Nothing truly mattered anymore, and… I guess I eventually stopped trying to tell myself that everything… everyone that was supposed to matter to me... I…"

Asriel was startled to realize he was crying. In a way, it actually felt good to cry because he could cry.

In the next moment, Toriel, his mother, had him wrapped in a hug, and this, if anything, made him cry harder.

"I tried to escape… I tried anything and everything… eventually the only thing I came to believe actually mattered was whether you were alive or not… kill or be killed…" Asriel's grip on his mother's dress unconsciously tightened. "I- I did terrible things… to everyone… I- I'm so sorry!"

At this point Asriel couldn't speak anymore. Asgore joined his wife in hugging his child, who kept repeating he was sorry amidst sobbing into his mother's dress.

No one noticed when Sans was no longer in the room.

Back with Frisk, the short skeleton stood with Alphys and placed his hand in the girl's hair.

"You did good kid."

And when Frisk's lip twitched up into a small smile, the two couldn't help but grin in return.

The End