I reset everything. All the work I did is undone.

But now Chara is dead. And I erased their memory. They can't hurt anyone anymore.

It's over.

I start over from scratch and rebuild the Underground. Soon, everything is back as it was, more or less.

When it's done, I take Chara's body and bury it in a wall in Hotland, above the lava, where no one will ever find it. I don't want to remember. It's best if their body is out of sight.

I divide up the souls. I only have 14 monster souls, and that's not enough to fill the Underground. I split them up as many times as I can and give each one a little blob to live in. I don't know what bodies to give them, so I'll let them create their own.

Nine of the souls come from Temmies. The other five are from a Froggit, a Whimsun, the Gyftrot, Woshua, and unfortunately Jerry. To make things a little more interesting, I mix up the souls. Some of the new monsters will get a tiny bit of Woshua, a little bit of Jerry, and a lot of Temmie. Others will have a bit of Whimsun, Gyftrot, and Froggit.

I just hope all the Temmie souls won't make the new monsters too stupid.

I keep about two and a half souls for myself. I split the rest into 12 pieces each, with a bit of every monster's soul in each one. There are 138 little blobs who will grow up into monsters.

I get a few books and start to read to the little blobs, to give them inspiration.

The blobs start to come to life. First they add legs or tentacles, then ears, then skin, then scales or fur, and finally eyes. It's creepy.

I show them pictures of other monsters to give them more ideas.

They're growing! Most of them have white fur, but as they get bigger, all of them find a new look. No two are quite alike.

They start to talk, and in the babble I hear real words. I read to them every day to make sure they learn quickly.

Asriel…

Asriel, did you forget about me?

…

I never forgot about you.

Several months have gone by. The Underground is filled with life and the monsters are happy and well-fed. They like me. And they like the life they have.

But I keep seeing Mom in my dreams. And she is not happy with me.

"I raised you to be kind, Asriel. I did not raise you to hurt people."

She is there in my dreams when I fight Chara. Trying to get between us and stop us.

She is there when I shoot Chara dead in Hotland. Staring at me in disbelief.

She is there when I tear off Chara's legs and arms and bring them back to life. Begging me to leave them alone.

She is there when I am thinking of bad things to do to Chara, to make them do what I want. Telling me to stop and see what I've become.

"I did not raise you to hurt other people." She says. "You were a good boy. You were so sweet. You were… what happened to you, Asriel? What did I do wrong? Why are you doing this?"

I don't think there is an excuse for what I've done.

I killed her so many times in other timelines, trying to make myself feel something back when I had no soul. I did it in the worst ways I could imagine. I filled the Ruins with the sound of her screaming. Just because I wanted to feel something.

And now I can feel it.

I killed Mom 72 times.

Was that really me? Did I do that to her?

Dad is in my dreams, too. Watching me. But he doesn't speak to me. He doesn't ask me to stop.

He just cries. He cries for what his son has become, and he cannot stop.

I want to tell him that I'm okay, that I'm better now. But I can't.

I wish I could break out of the Underground. I want to see him again.

I want to see everyone again. I miss them so much.

I want to tell Dad that I've made things right. I want him to know his son is a good person.

I want to tell Mom I've made peace in the Underground. I want to show her the monsters I created, because I raised them the way she raised me.

I want to ask Sans about the time machine.

I want to show Papyrus the puzzles I've designed.

I want to show Alphys the theater I made in her honor. I want to show everyone the things I've made for them. I want them to know they inspired me.

And I want to see Frisk.

Not just because I'm proud of the world I've made. Not just because I want them to know that I appreciate what they did for the monsters. Not just because they might be able to help me, to make me feel better when nothing else can.

I want to see them because I spent my childhood in the arms of a beautiful sociopath, and I want a chance to grow up with a real friend.

Maybe I can still make it. I've already learned a lot about souls. I know how to use more of their power than I used. That's why I can do so many things, even with only two and a half souls.

If I push the souls to the limit, maybe I can get strong enough to break the barrier.

I spend a lot of time at the Core and Alphys' lab, building some new machines to do my research. I come up with a plan.

When I'm ready, I bring in Rabish, a turnip monster. He hops around the room while I tweak the settings on the SOUL processor.

"Are you ready?" I ask.

"Yep yep!"

He leaps into my hands and I place him inside, putting him to sleep with a spell.

I turn it on. Rabish melts into pudding.

The experiments kill the monsters, so I have to reset every time. I learn a lot. Now I can build a new machine.

The new machine is really complicated. I had to take apart Sans' time machine to figure out how to make some of the parts. But it just might solve my problem.

I've found high-energy waves that appear in determination sometimes. They have a lot of power, but they only last for seconds before going away.

If all goes well, I'll be able to re-create them.

The project is almost done. I've fused human determination with monster souls and made them create those high-energy waves. I have an adapter now that makes those waves trigger each other, causing a chain reaction. There's a kill switch to keep the reaction from going out of control.

I start it up. A high-energy loop, buzzing with power and giving off tiny amounts of determination.

I hook it up to a converter. It works: it turns human determination into monster souls. I do some tests on the new souls.

They're real! The machine works! It doesn't matter that I only have 14 souls now.

Now I can create new souls, from determination.

I reset everything so I can correct my mistakes. I start up the machine again.

Hour by hour the machine turns my determination into souls. I absorb every one.

After ten days, I convert most of my determination into souls. I still have control of the timeline, but now I also have a lot more souls inside me.

I feel so much stronger. So much more alive.

I could use this to fill the Underground with even more monsters. This world could be even more beautiful than before. But something else is more important.

I need to reunite the humans and monsters. I need to break open the barrier.

I'm not Flowey anymore. I don't have to be caged anymore.

It's time to set everyone free.

I go to the barrier. Finally, I can break it open.

I didn't actually destroy the barrier the last time I opened the way to the surface. That's not how the barrier works. You don't break it with force. When enough souls gather in front of it, the barrier opens on its own. It's like knocking on a door.

The barrier hums with energy. It finally breaks open.

Welcoming me as a friend.