Uriel was gathering up their stuff, which was comprised of a change of clothes, a toothbrush, a couple of toys, one from Asgore, the other from Toriel, a Heart Locket, their cellphone, and now, Asriel, who was still in his pot. Uriel put all of that into the backpack they arrived in the Underground with, making sure that Asriel's pot was snug within so he wasn't jostled around and leaving the pocket open so he could look out.
"Is that really all you have?" Asriel asked.
"It's an improvement from when I arrived," Uriel answered. "At least Asgore commissioned a second set of clothes for me."
"Golly, I-I had no idea," he said. "When I first saw you, I thought maybe you were a bit of a spoiled brat with how you walked so confidently. I would have bet with certainty that you lived your whole life getting what you want and that you had more things than any kid could ever want."
Uriel let out a mirthless laugh. "You'd lose that bet. I was lucky to even get a present for anything and keeping it was never in the cards."
Asriel wanted to ask why Uriel was unable to keep anything but he guessed that Uriel would avoid answering it. So he kept quiet as Uriel shouldered the backpack with him in it. Uriel walked out of their room and into the foyer where Asgore was waiting.
"Ready?" Asgore asked.
"Got everything packed up," Uriel said.
"And I'm ready," Asriel said, poking his head up so his dad could see him.
Asgore chuckled. "It's cute that Uriel can carry you like that," he said as he pat Asriel's head, making his son frown. Asgore turned to face Uriel. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to go between us, you know."
"I want mom to get used to the idea that you can be trusted to take care of a kid," Uriel explained. "Seeing that it's been a week, returning to her now is a good idea."
"I know," Asgore admitted. "It will get lonely without you and Asriel here."
"It's okay, dad," Uriel said, taking his hand. "I'll come visit when I can as I'm gonna need some advice on taking care of Asriel as a flower, and I'll be staying with you again in a week."
Asgore smiled before hugging Uriel. Uriel tensed up slightly, but relaxed and hugged the big Boss Monster back. Asriel joined as best he could, resting his clawed hands on his dad's head.
"I'll miss you, Uriel," Asgore said. "You too, Asriel." He stood up, and escorted Uriel out of New Home. "Call when you get to Tori's place, will you?"
"We will," Uriel said. "First we got to go to Alphys' lab for a check-up."
"Tell the good doctor 'hi' for me and to give me a status update on breaking the Barrier," Asgore requested.
"Will do," Uriel said, waving as they left. "Bye, dad!"
"Bye, dad!" Asriel added. After they were out of earshot, Asriel turned around to face Uriel. "That felt good."
"What, exactly, felt good?" Uriel asked.
"Calling him 'dad'," he answered. "It feels so good to have a Soul again. I can actually say things like that and mean them."
"I'm glad you listened to reason then," Uriel chuckled. They could still sense Asriel's emotions. Though Asriel was still feeling mostly good, there was still an underlying feeling of sadness. "Next step in this is finding a way to fix your body so you can be a Monster again."
"Speaking of 'steps', is there another reason you're willing to go back and forth between my folks?" Asriel asked.
"I want Toriel to get used to the idea that it might be better for me, and now you, if she was willing to live with Asgore," they answered. "I'm willing to let her take her time in coming to that realization on her own, though."
"It could take a while," Asriel reminded. "She was really mad at dad for his choice."
"And he regrets it," Uriel rebutted. "Anyone can see that, except her for some reason. Hopefully my willingness to stay with Asgore will help her see that."
"This won't be easy, and it could take weeks, months, maybe even years before she's willing to do that. And after that, what then?" Asriel asked.
"Once they're under the same roof, there won't be any need for me to do anything. I imagine that they'll be able to get back together on their own at that point," Uriel explained. "Right now though, dad's too indecisive to try and make the push on his own and mom's too upset at him to see thing's clearly."
"Well, I hope it works," Asriel said.
Uriel made their way to Alphys' lab, entering through the doors. Alphys was working on something, though Uriel couldn't understand the math of it. "Hey," they said quietly and Alphys jumped three feet in the air.
"Didn't hear you coming," she said as she placed a hand over her pounding heart.
"What'cha working on, doc?" Asriel asked, pointing to the chalkboard.
Alphys jumped again before calming down. "Still not used to that," she muttered. "Trying to find a way to break the Barrier. So far, everything is tails up."
"Well, I'm here for my check-up," Uriel said.
"Okay, I could use a break," Alphys said. "Let's go down to my lab." She led Uriel over to the elevator, then pressed the button that led down. As they descended, Alphys decided to talk to Uriel to pass the time. "So, how was living with Asgore?"
"Not bad," they answered. "Food's not nearly as good as Toriel's but he makes great tea."
"Yeah, our king's not the best at cooking," Alphys admitted.
"But he's great at gardening!" Uriel said excitedly. "He keeps giving me tips on how to care for plants which I need as Asriel is still a flower."
"Though I don't like some of the stuff he does," Asriel said, making Alphys jump again.
"Sorry. Keep forgetting you can talk," Alphys apologized.
"Just don't freak out every couple seconds and it'll be fine," he said.
The elevator dinged, indicating they had reached the lab. The doors opened and Alphys lead them to her examination room. Uriel pulled out Asriel and set him down on a table.
"Okay, Uriel, hop up on here," Alphys patted one of the examination tables. Uriel did as she asked, sitting on the edge. "Okay, I'm going to draw some blood then do a physical while the computer analyzes your blood."
"So, what are you doing?" Asriel asked.
"Checking Uriel's physical condition," Alphys replied. "I need to make sure that the human side is not rejecting the monster side, or vice versa. I also need to be sure that their Soul is adjusted to their body."
"Huh?" Asriel questioned.
"Guess I never told you," Uriel realized. "My Soul was transplanted to this body after my original one was… hurt." Uriel had paused before that last word.
"Transplant? Like an organ?" Asriel asked.
"Same concept," Alphys answered, needle in one hand. "Arm out." Uriel did as asked, extending their right arm. Alphys had to look through the fur until she found a vein. She drew a few milliliters of blood. Once she pulled the needle back out, Uriel placed their finger on the injection site. After Alphys removed the tube of red liquid, she pulled out a bandage and placed it on Uriel's arm. "And that's that."
"So we're done?" Asriel asked.
"Not yet," Alphys answered as she picked up the vial. "While I have my devices analyze this I'm going to be giving Uriel a full physical to make sure everything's alright." She walked off to another room, leaving Uriel and Asriel alone.
"Is all this really necessary?" Asriel asked.
"Considering there has never been anything like me before, I'd say yes, it is."
"And this isn't your original body? I thought that Alphys had, maybe, altered it, somehow," Asriel said.
"Nope. I was beyond saving. The only way to save me was to move my Soul into this empty shell we had created beforehand," Uriel answered.
Asriel wrung his hands together. Part of him wanted to tell Uriel what he had done, but he was scared that if he did, Uriel might give up on him and he didn't want that now. He wanted to say something, but when he faced Uriel, he saw they were crying. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?" Uriel asked.
"You're crying," Asriel said, pointing to their eyes.
"I'm not…" Uriel stopped when they rubbed their cheeks and found tears on their paws. "But… I'm not sad." Uriel rubbed the tears away, thinking that dust might have gotten into their eyes. Even though they didn't feel irritated. A second later, the tears came back. "What's going on?"
Uriel stood up and looked around, spotting a hallway. They picked up Asriel and walked down it, wondering what was there. Alphys returned a moment later to see Uriel and Asriel were gone.
"Uh… kids? Where'd you go?" she asked nervously. She saw the hall Uriel went down and realized where they had gone. "Oh no."
Uriel entered a room with a lot of mist. Asriel was shivering. "It's cold in here. Why is it cold in here?"
Uriel spotted a glass cylinder that was fogged up. They walked up to it, noticing a lot of equipment was hooked up to it. They rubbed their paw on the glass to clear it up and when it was clearer, they could see their old face in it. They rubbed more of the condensation away, and sure enough it was Uriel's old body in there.
"Whoa," Asriel muttered. "You weren't kidding. That's you."
"Was me," Uriel corrected. "Alphys decided to preserve the body for study." Uriel looked into what was once their face, which was frozen in an emotionless state. Nothing about it seemed alive. Uriel had to remind themself that that was them at one point and it could have been them had Alphys not come up with her crazy plan.
"Uriel? You in here?" Alphys came walking in. She stopped when she saw Uriel and Asriel looking at Uriel's human body. "Oh. Sorry. I, uh, didn't want you to see this."
Uriel forced themself to look away. "It's fine. You know, a part of me still can't believe that I'm… well, dead."
"But you're not. You're alive," Alphys reminded.
"My Soul is still here and in this living body, but… the old me is dead," Uriel stated. "I still have trouble believing that I died. I didn't just go to sleep Alphys, I was gone. And you brought me back in this body." Uriel took a breath. "It's… hard to process."
Asriel laid a hand on Uriel's shoulder. "At least you're not alone. I'm supposed to be dead, too. But by circumstances beyond my control, I'm here." Alphys looked a little guilty when she heard that. "And, you know, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here for you."
"Thanks," Uriel said. "Though our places are a little different. I did agree to this after all. You were brought back against your will and in a body so different from your own."
"Hey, your body's different, too," Asriel reminded. "I imagine it must have been really weird getting used to your new body."
"Not that hard. It was close enough, and besides, you came back as a flower while I came back as a Boss Monster. Well, mostly Boss Monster. The rest of me is still human. And we didn't mean to make it that way. This body was just a shell that Alphys had created through… cloning." They trailed off as a thought occurred to them.
"What is it?" Asriel asked.
"Alphys, have you tried cloning since then?" Uriel asked.
"Not for real," she answered. "Just simulations. And it seems that clones created through those means lack Souls. I'm not sure why, but the body just doesn't have any Soul of its own nor any mind."
"Could you do it again?" Uriel asked.
"Well, yes, but why? Why would you want another empty body?" Alphys asked.
"Not for me." Uriel held up Asriel. "For him."
"Wait, what?" Asriel asked.
"If you can make a clone of Asriel, but keep it empty of a Soul or mind of its own, we can transfer Asriel's Soul into it. Do for him what you did for me," Uriel explained to Alphys.
"I don't think that would work. After all, the reason it worked with you was because you were human. Your Soul can last for a long time after death. As a Monster, Asriel's Soul would disappear immediately upon death."
"Not true," Uriel said. "Azzy's a Boss Monster. Their Souls persist for a few moments after death. It's not a long time but it could be enough time to transfer his Soul to a new body. Plus, his Soul has more Determination in it than your average Monster does. It will extend how long the Soul lasts for outside the body."
Alphys thought it over in her head. "Hmm… when you put it like that, I suppose it's possible. But… Monster bodies can't handle Determination. The result is… not good."
"Then throw some of my DNA into the mix," Uriel suggested. "Not a lot, just enough that the body has a more physical form so it can handle the Determination."
"Well, I guess I can try," Alphys decided. "Y-yeah, it couldn't hurt. I can check to see if I have any of Asriel's DNA on file so I can make a body identical to his old one."
"What do you think, Asriel?" Uriel asked the flower.
"I… I'm not sure," he admitted. "I mean I do want to have my old body back, but…"
"But what?" Uriel asked.
Asriel tapped his red claws together. He wanted to voice his concern that he might not deserve it, but he didn't want to say that with Alphys in earshot. He felt like he didn't deserve this second chance that Uriel was giving him, not after all he did as Flowey, not after all the lives he broke and tormented countless times before Frisk arrived. Even with how he tortured Frisk in a way and yet Uriel was doing their hardest to give him a second chance, which he felt he didn't deserve and if he told Uriel what he did to them… Asriel didn't want to lose the one person who he could call a friend.
"Let's see if we can do it first," Uriel suggested.
"This way," Alphys beckoned. "I have a database with the DNA of every Monster in the Underground on it." She led Uriel to the same room their new body was made in. Uriel set Asriel down on a table. Alphys called up the files and started scanning through the list of Monsters to try and locate Asriel, though she had a feeling he wasn't on it.
As Alphys looked, Uriel started crying again for no reason they could see. They could feel the fur on their face getting matted from their tears. They rubbed their eyes but the tears came back faster this time. What is going on? they thought. They didn't feel sad, and yet tears were falling from their eyes. Suddenly they felt a pain in their Soul. Not the physical kind, but more of an emotional kind. It was like they were in pain, but not at the same time.
They took a few steps towards the door and the pain got stronger. When they backed away from the door, it lessened. Curious, they decided to follow this strange sensation. They were so quiet when they left that neither Alphys nor Asriel noticed.
"Hm… I'm not seeing it," Alphys hummed.
"So, what does that mean for me?" Asriel asked.
"Well, it means I can't clone you if I don't have a sample," Alphys explained. "But I'll take a page from Uriel's book and not give up. I'll see if I can find an alternative. What do you suggest, Uriel?" She turned to where they had been, as did Asriel, only to now see they were gone. "Uh… Uriel?"
"Are you kidding me?" Asriel slapped his forehead. "Where did they go?"
"Oh, man. It's not safe for them down here," Alphys panicked. "We need to find them before they get hurt."
"So, pick me up and let's go looking," Asriel said. Alphys picked him up and ran out the room, hoping to find Uriel before they stumbled across something she didn't want them to see.
Meanwhile, Uriel was still trying to find the source of this pain. They could feel they were getting closer, as the pain got stronger. They also noticed that the tears were increasing and now they could feel sadness, but it wasn't their own. They also felt lonely and trapped and several other things at once. What was going on?
They entered a new room, this one they recognized from their multiple True Pacifist runs. It had a lot of beds and in one corner was a dog food bowl. They walked further into the room and something in their Soul told them that they had found the source of these feelings. The looked around trying to find whatever was causing it.
"S… now….… y….."
Uriel turned around, and only then did the pieces fall into place in their mind. Of course. What else could be causing these feelings, for there was only so many others down here. Uriel looked at the melting bird-like Monster with Vegetoids for eyes.
"Welcome to my special hell…" "Welcome to my special hell…" "Welcome to my special hell…"
Turn again, and they saw another Monster that was really three different ones melted together, and in it they could see a resemblance to Aaron, Shyren, and a Moldbygg.
Another turn and they saw a melted together Final Froggit, Whimsalot, and Astimagtism.
One final turn and they saw what they could identify as several dogs melted together with a single, black orifice in its head.
Uriel knew who each of them were. Snowdrake's mother, Lemon Bread, Reaper Bird, and Endogeny. They were surrounding Uriel but were making no moves to attack. The Amalgamates around Uriel looked at them with curiosity, as if they didn't know what to make of them. Uriel blinked and more tears fell from their eyes.
"S….a….d…?" Snowdrake's mother asked, pointing to Uriel's eyes.
"I… I don't know," they admitted. They felt sadness but it couldn't be their own. They were used to the Amalgamates.
Reaper Bird said something but their voices kept overlapping. Uriel tried wiping the tears away, but they just came back.
Lemon Bread got closer to them. "Strange monster," they said, multiple voices speaking together. "Not like any other."
"I guess I wouldn't be," Uriel chuckled. Uriel tried wiping the tears away again but they kept coming back.
Endogeny came up and rubbed their head on Uriel's side, an echoing pant coming from it. Uriel gently stroked it, white-ish goo stuck to their fingers. Uriel's vision blurred from the tears. They didn't understand what was wrong. They felt sad, but not at the same time. And no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't stop crying.
Endogeny whined and nuzzled Uriel. Uriel realized that it was worried for them, because Uriel was constantly crying for no reason. Uriel tried their best to reassure them that they were alright but no matter how hard they tried the tears wouldn't stop.
Alphys came running in with Asriel. "Uriel, wait! I…" She stopped when she saw Uriel was already surrounded by the Amalgamates. Uriel tried to wipe away their tears but Alphys saw them too late and completely misinterpreted the reason. She fell to her knees, tears falling from her own eyes, fearing that Uriel hates her now. After all, why wouldn't they? They could tell what she had done and it was her fault those monsters were like that.
"A-Alphys, don't drop me!" Asriel said hastily.
Alphys set him down. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I'm sorry." She buried her face in her hands. "I… I didn't want you to see this. Not like this. I… I wanted to tell you, the right way… but…"
Uriel walked over, gently resting their hand on Alphys' shoulder. "It's okay, Alphys," they said softly. "I knew about this already."
"Y-You did?" Alphys asked. "A-and you're… not upset?"
Uriel shook their head. "At first, but not anymore."
"S-so, why are you crying?"
Uriel wiped the tears away, which seemed to get worse. "I don't know. It won't stop."
Alphys stood up, worried. "So, you're not sad? You don't hate me?"
"No," Uriel said. "But… I don't know why this won't stop." They tried wiping the tears away but they came back. And their Soul continued to ache. "I can feel sadness and pain, but I'm not upset or hurt in any way so I don't know why I'm feeling this."
Asriel looked between Alphys and Uriel, mulling the puzzle over in his mind. Then he looked over at the Amalgamates and his thoughts wandered slightly. He could still remember the first time he had come across them. He and them all had similar origins, as they were injected with Determination, same as him, which brought him back but caused them to melt together into those… things. He imagined it must be painful, constantly melting, unable to die, stuck down here, cut off from their families. It hurt just to think about it…
"Wait…" he said out loud. "Maybe they're the reason you're crying."
Alphys and Uriel looked over at him. "What do you mean?" Uriel asked.
"You're feeling sad, but it's not your own," Asriel explained. "You're in pain, but not hurt. I think you're feeling what they are." He pointed at the Amalgamates. "After all, their condition must be painful, and I bet they're really sad. You're feeling their feelings."
"Oh! Like empathy!" Alphys suddenly said. "In this one series, well, in many, some characters are able to sense the emotions of other people. It tends to drive them crazy because they aren't really feeling their own feelings and they sometimes need to close themselves off to stop feeling others."
"Wait. You think I'm sensing their emotions?" Uriel asked.
"I think you are," Asriel concluded. "It makes sense."
"But… this has never happened to me before," Uriel said, wiping their tears away again.
"M-maybe it's a result of your Soul turning pink?" Alphys suggested. "I know human Souls can change color but I've never heard of a pink Soul."
"Me neither," Asriel said. "Of course, we've never seen a human – even a former one – use magic as well as Uriel has either. Who knows what that Soul is capable of?"
Uriel was intrigued. Their Soul had unknown capabilities. They also thought back to the past few days, when their Soul first turned this color. They hadn't known it at the time, but looking back, perhaps their pink Soul was the reason they were able to reach Asriel. If they could feel the emotions of others, it wasn't a stretch to imagine they were capable of manipulating them as well, perhaps even to the extent where they were able to make a Soulless being capable of feeling.
"I guess it's possible," Uriel said. Endogeny butted in just then, rubbing against Uriel and smearing more white goo on their shirt. Uriel focused solely on Endogeny's feelings and realized that they just wanted a pet. So, they stroked its head and it started to pant and drool more white goo from the hole in its head. When Uriel started petting just under their chin, one of its back legs started thumping the ground, and its soggy tail wagged. "You're a good dog," they said gently to it, which made the echoing pants deeper and more frequent.
Alphys was amazed. Uriel and Asriel seemed okay with the Amalgamates. They didn't seem bothered by their appearance at all. "You're really not bothered by them? At all? Why? I-I would think it'd take a while to get used to… that. It took me a while."
Uriel turned to face Alphys, debating for a while what to say. Truth was, it did, in another timeline. And it took doing it over and over again before they got comfortable. "Well, it did," they said aloud. "I've just gotten used to it."
"How? And how did you already know of them? You've never been down here," Alphys inquired.
Asriel looked at Uriel, fixing them with his gaze. Uriel guessed he was wondering what Uriel was going to say in response.
"It's not rele…" Uriel trailed off. Asriel was the only one who actually knew of Uriel's Reset ability, and Sans was aware to an extent, but Uriel had never told anyone else about it. At least not in this timeline. They could also remember what they said to Asriel only yesterday about keeping secrets. "Guess it's easier to give advice that to follow it yourself."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alphys asked.
"It means I've told Asriel that keeping secrets from everyone is not a good idea and yet I've kept this one big secret from all of you, because I'm scared of how you'll react." Uriel lightly pushed Endogeny away. "But… moving forward, it's probably best if you all knew what I can do. So, Alphys… how much do you know of timelines… and the power of Determination?"
Uriel spent the next several hours telling Alphys about their control over the timeline, about the Save and Reset functions, and how, with their Determination, they were able to access it. And slowly, they confessed to her about some of their deeds in the other timelines, including the ones where they hurt people.
Asriel was in Uriel's lap for most of it, giving encouragement and helping to clarify things, as he had the same power before Uriel wound up in the Underground. The Amalgamates had wandered off during this, going to various places in the True Lab.
"…and that's that," Uriel finished. "It's how I knew about the Amalgamates. I came through here in a previous timeline and encountered them all."
Alphys was tapping her clawed digits together. "So… the Determination within human Souls allows them to persist after death, but not in a way we thought? When you die you just go back to a 'Save Point', and can continue on like nothing happened?"
"And, if they choose, Reset the timeline back to a specific point where they first got the power," Asriel added.
Alphys seemed to be running this through her head. "So, you alone have this ability and it allows you to change things however you want in a timeline?"
"Yeah. And every time I go back, either by dying, Resetting, or 'quitting', everyone seems to forget what I did."
"Wow," Alphys muttered. "And it sounds like you can do this as many times as you want. Heck, for all I know I could have had this conversation with you once already, freaked out and you tried it a different way so that wouldn't happen."
"Not exactly," Uriel said. "While a Reset does erase everything I've done, at times it doesn't seem to erase everyone's memory completely. For example, in Snowdin, when I met Papyrus for the first time, they asked Sans if I was a human. When I Reset, however, he acted like he already knew and even said as much, even though, technically, he's never seen one before. Also, in the Ruins I would get a call from Toriel asking what my preference was. Then, when I Reset for whatever reason I get the same call, but she already knows my preference, despite not technically knowing who I was yet.
"In fact, many Monsters have that strange sense of déjà vu. It's like they know me from a dream even though they should have never met me before. In Undyne's case she feels like we've been friends before if I had befriended her. And when I fought… Asgore… and if he killed me and I tell him that, he just nods like he knows he's already killed me even though that shouldn't be possible, even if I Saved before I met him."
Alphys took a moment to think that over. "Wow. So… it's essentially time travel and you can change things whenever you Reset."
"Close, but not quite," Uriel corrected. "Sometimes when I Reset things change on their own without my input. For instance, in Snowdin, I get a phone call from either you or Sans and there's no way to predict which one does the call. When it's you, you try to order a pizza. When it's Sans, he says my refrigerator's running and tells me to go catch it. Also, some Monsters appear in different places, like those grey ones, but only rarely, and only when I go backwards. Some Monsters appear and others don't, and it's random which is which."
Alphys stood up and took a moment to mull all that over. "Well, I certainly don't envy you," she said.
"Huh?"
"Having a power like that… it's like you have the fate of an entire civilization tied to you and every choice you make determines that fate. I'm not sure I could handle having that kind of power."
"I had it and it drove me crazy," Asriel said. "Before Uriel's fall I tried to do everything I could. I abused that power. Being good, being bad, but without a Soul, I couldn't feel anything for anyone. I'm kinda glad I don't have it anymore. Uriel is probably the best person to have it."
Alphys looked down guiltily. "You had it because of me, didn't you? I injected you with Determination and it's what gave you that power."
"Alphys, you couldn't have known what would happen," Uriel assured. "It's not your fault, and regardless, you brought Asriel back to life. That's a good thing."
"I… I guess so," Alphys muttered.
Endogeny came back over and rubbed against Uriel, who pet it on the head, some of the goo rubbing off on Uriel's fingers.
"I, uh, guess with enough times you got used to them, didn't you?" Alphys asked.
"It took a while, especially as they were trying to kill me," Uriel answered.
"S-so, um, I have to ask. In any timeline, did you find a way to fix them?" Alphys asked.
"Nope," they said. "Granted, I didn't let any timeline play out this long before I Reset. But as far as I know, they're stuck like this."
"Oh." Alphys looked down in shame.
Uriel looked at Endogeny. They were still crying, the tears never stopping for long. All the Amalgamates were in pain and lonely beyond measure. They missed their families.
"But… there is something else you can do," Uriel said. "You could return them to their families."
"WHAT?" Alphys screamed. "Looking like that?"
"They'll be understanding," Uriel assured. "I wasn't present for the reunions but I did see the aftermath. They were happy to have their families back together."
"I… I don't know," Alphys said. "I-I've kept them here for so long and I've never told their families what happened. W-what will they say when they see them? H-how will they react?"
Uriel got up and laid a reassuring hand on Alphys' shoulder. "You can't keep it secret forever, Alphys. And don't worry, I'll go with you."
Alphys thought it over. She wasn't so sure of this. What would everyone think if they saw what she did? Would they forgive her? Would they hate her? And… Undyne. What would she think? She didn't want to hurt her relationship with her.
"D-do you promise they'll go alright?" Alphys asked.
Uriel gave a nod. "It'll be fine. They need to get out, anyway."
Alphys sighed. "Okay. I'll try."
Alphys called each of the families telling them that their relatives would be coming home. For Reaper Bird, their families came and picked them up. As they left, they talked about how they were going to accommodate their families from now on.
For Lemon Bread, Uriel took them to Shyren who was surprised to see her sister like that, but was happy to have her back even though she was stuck to Aaron's brother.
After that, Uriel and Alphys took Endogeny and Snowdrake's mother to Snowdin. Their first stop was Grillby's where the Snowdin Royal Guard was waiting outside.
As they trudged through the snow, they spotted the restaurant and Uriel knew it was time. They stood next to Alphys who was unsure about this.
"It'll be fine," Uriel assured her.
"If you say so," Alphys said nervously. "Okay, I just need a moment."
Endogeny though didn't wait. They rushed forward when they saw their families. They stopped a few feet away in full sight of the Snowdin Royal Guard. Doggo, Dogamy, Dogaressa, Lesser Dog and Greater Dog stared at the creature before them for a moment.
Endogeny panted and wagged their tail and the Canine Unit rushed over in excitement. They greeted their lost family members with enthusiasm, giving them pets and rubs, which the Amalgamate loved. Uriel could hear them discussing how they were going to have to combine their family reunions now.
Alphys let out a breath when she realized they were happy and not mad.
"S….now….y…?" Snowdrake's mother asked.
"Yes. We'll go see him now," Alphys assured.
They walked to the house the family lived at and Snowdrake and his dad were both standing outside, having a mild argument.
"Snowdrake!" Uriel shouted, waving their arm and getting his attention along with the attention of his father. They turned and saw their missing family member there.
"S….o…n….." she got out.
"Mom!" Snowdrake said happily, running up and hugging her. "You're back! I missed you!" He broke from the hug and kept talking to her as if she wasn't melting. "Mom, guess what! The prince likes my jokes! I'm gonna be a famous comedian one day!"
"So… proud… of… you…" she said, hugging him back as best she could.
Snowdrake's dad came up to talk to Alphys. "Look, ah see why it took so long for you to bring her back," he said. Alphys look a little guilty. "But, given circumstances, I'm glad you're being honest. And… it's nice to have our familah back together."
Alphys cheered up at that. Snowdrake led his mom back inside the house, his dad following.
"How do you feel?" Uriel asked Alphys. Not that they needed to, they could feel that Alphys was happy.
"Really good," she answered. "Thanks for helping out. I'm glad it's no longer a secret and it went better than I thought."
Asriel poked his head up from Uriel's backpack. "We should probably get to Toriel's," he suggested. "She's probably going to be worried."
"Right. That took longer than I thought it would," Uriel agreed. "Well, we gotta go home, Alphys."
"I'll be looking over the results of the blood tonight," Alphys said.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Uriel realized. "Did we ever find out if Asriel's DNA is available?"
"It's not," Alphys said. "But I'll keep looking. There's a solution, just gotta find it."
"I think I might have an idea as well," Uriel said. "I'll let you know if I find anything."
"Okay. Gotta get back to my lab. Oh, and I won't tell anyone about your 'secret'," Alphys confided.
"Thanks. I'd appreciate it." Uriel and Alphys parted, the lizard going back to her lab while Uriel walked to the Ruins.
"Well, today was certainly interesting," Asriel said.
"Yeah," Uriel agreed. "Not every day you find out you're an empath."
"Hey, I also wanna say… thanks, for trying to fix me," Asriel said.
"We're family now. Family supports each other," Uriel said. "And I'll never give up trying to fix you."
Eventually, they reached the door to the Ruins. Uriel pulled out the yellow key and used it to unlock the doors. They walked to Toriel's house and they could already smell a pie.
"Mom! We're home," Uriel said once they were up the stairs.
Toriel came running over. "Uriel, Asriel." She picked them up in a hug, glad they were here. "Oh, I have missed you both."
"Missed you too, mom," Uriel said.
"Well, come now," she set Uriel down, and took them by the hand. "I have baked a fresh Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie. We can eat it together."
"Sounds great!" Uriel and Asriel said together.
"Welcome home, my children."
End of Chapter 11