"Before we start, Aofil, I want to reiterate that whatever you decide, you will always have a place here," Asgore says while moving his large arm across the table, indicating to everyone sitting next to him. They all nod in agreement. "I understand, we all understand, that it is your choice, and no matter which you choose, we will support you making it."

"You have done so much for us, Aofil," Toriel adds with a gentle smile, again making sure that the rest of the table agrees with her. "You'll always be welcome here, whenever you choose, and for how long you choose. You've done so much to us that you can't even fathom."

Can't fathom? Can't understand?

Maybe that's the problem.

"You don't have to do this with all of us present," Toriel makes clear with a gentle nod. "We can leave if you'd rather talk to us one by one. We want to help you, Aofil, and we'll do it your way."

Aofil looks down on their arm. "Before I begin, I want to know what you feel about this?" they ask. "Do you know how Asriel came back? What happened in my basement?"

Toriel and Asgore share a look, and Asgore nods quietly. "We know that it was you," he says with a conflicted voice. "You, and Asriel. We could feel it as we descended the stairs. I trust that you know what happened to your twin and Asriel."

Aofil knows. First hand experience. Should they mention it? They can't remember it, and their soul is now whole again. It's because of the attack Asriel and Chara did that broke it in the first place though. Maybe if their soul was whole they could've handled what followed better.

But if their soul wasn't broken, then they wouldn't have been able to bring back Asriel.

That doesn't sound like a positive to Aofil at the moment. They still can't handle it all despite having as whole a soul as possible now… So?

Maybe that's something they should've talked more to Chara about? They're sure as hell not gonna say anything to Asriel. Aofil can't imagine anything good coming out of him, they don't even know what they want him to answer. No, Chara was the best option. Too late for that now though… Question still remains if they should ask Toriel and Asgore about the attack. Or would that just add more to the already overflowing pile of problems?

Maybe later, if the chance comes up again.

Asgore asks with a small gesture of his hand if he can continue. He's been waiting for Aofil to come back from their thoughts. Aofil nods, and Asgore moves his hand over to the monster sitting next to him, "Toriel and I, we felt a strange aura that we thought we would never feel, something we never should've felt in the first place. It was so familiar, and that scared us. Scared us far more than the glimpse of familiarity it meant. Feeling just a speck of Asriel, after all those years. Same with your connection to..."

Asgore's voice falters. He puts his balled fist up to his mouth, and exhales deeply into it. Toriel looks away to the side, glancing upwards towards the Delta Rune banner hanging on the wall.

"Chara," Aofil fills in after giving the boss monsters some time to collect themselves.

"Yes," Asgore speaks gently into his fist. "Chara. Our child. With Asriel, again. Laying eyes upon you and Asriel in your basement, Aofil. I..." Asgore rubs his forehead tiredly. "I don't know what I could believe anymore. I wanted to have hope, but what did it mean for what I did when it didn't amend to anyt-"

Toriel interrupts Asgore by putting her hand onto his. She looks him in the eyes softly, acting as a pillar for him to catch himself before he slips into his own mind.

"We're here for Aofil," she reminds just as softly. "For now, we're here for Aofil."

"I know." Asgore's hand tenses underneath Toriel's. "I know. Forgive me, I'll make an effort to catch myself from here on out."

"You might have to extend that to catch me too, Asgore," Toriel replies as she retracts her hand back to herself. "Just as I did know."

"I will."

Another silence hangs heavy in the air. Aofil leans back a bit as they try and shake off the feeling they remember from being fused with Asriel. The sense of not having control, yet still feeling that every action was theirs. The absent feeling they have about the monster from the memory box, but up close and personal, in the most literal of sense. They shudder at the thought. Visibly so.

"I'm not gonna remind you of the details of Asriel's return, Aofil. You know that plenty yourself. Sans and Frisk have informed us about it, so it's fine if you don't want to relive that."

Aofil's eyes shoot, none too subtly, over to Sans. He meets the look, and nods reassuringly. A first for him, but Aofil's inclined to believe, since it is a first. They're less inclined to hear exactly what he cooked up, but if Frisk was involved, then maybe it's not that bad? Maybe?

Can't be as bad as the truth, and Aofil's already experienced that. Feeling every minute part of their body transform. Slipping away as another presence took hold of their actions. Sharing a soul. Not the first time for Asriel, but a first for Aofil.

And that first is a million times too many.

Aofil can't help but wonder. "How did it feel? When Asriel and I fused. My soul, compared to Chara's?"

Toriel blinks away some tears while summoning a warm and comforting smile. "Very much the same, Aofil. After meeting so many new humans, I can't believe that neither of us made the connection." Toriel indicates between her and Asgore. "I guess we were too busy to notice with you being there for us."

"And how does it feel now?" Aofil asks while nodding once towards their arm. "Do you feel Asriel inside me?"

"No, we don't," Asgore looks over to Toriel to make doubly sure. She shakes her head at the notion. "A human's aura is so much more powerful than a monster's, so whatever part of him is inside you, we can't feel."

"How do you feel about him being inside my soul?"

"That..."

"We can't really tell right now," Toriel adds to Asgore stunned silence. "If you're worried that we suspect that you've somehow stolen, or done wrong in acquiring it, then worry not, Aofil. We would never suspect you to do such a thing. It's more about us coming to terms with knowing, rather than questioning how it happened. It's been a lesson for us here on the Surface, but take trust in that we'll not see you as evil because of it. As I said before, we can't feel him with you, Aofil, so I don't suspect it taking long for it to fade away for us."

Aofil nods once again to their arm, "And this?"

"That..."

"Might take a little while longer," Asgore says as he takes over, but not to the disdain of Toriel. "I trust that you'd like to have the option to not wear long sleeved clothing all the time, right?" He turns his head towards Alphys. "Is there any way you can reverse this effect, Alphys?" Asgore asks carefully.

"I d-don't know," comes a nasily reply from the yellow lizard. "I'm n-not really sure how it grew in the first place."

Asgore bows his head gently. "Then we'll make a double effort to not associate with Asriel."

"I c-can try," Alphys remembers to offer while tapping her claws. "M-maybe it's j-just a question of shaving it off?"

"Already tried that," Aofil informs.

"O-oh, then I'm afraid that I have to make more tests."

"It's up to you, Aofil," Asgore repeats. "We will help you in whichever you feel like choosing."

Aofil throws a thumb over their shoulder, towards the stairs. "And how do you reckon that he feels about it?"

"Do you want me to call him down?" wonders Toriel.

"No." Aofil retracts their thumb. "Not now."

Later, maybe. Aofil has more pressing matters to ask about.

"How long have you known about Chara and me being twins?" Aofil asks while rolling their robe back over their forearm. "Did you know before I showed you our parents' graves?"

"We had our suspicions before, but we didn't dare to ask," Toriel explains. "You may have looked like Chara, but you didn't act like them. You could just as well have been another human that just happened to look similarly to Chara. We didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with the first human we met, so we didn't inquire with you. If we were correct in our assumption it would've only made our relationship strained and exhaustive."

Strained and exhaustive earlier, that is. Seems like she's had time to think it over. Aofil hazards a guess about Asgore as well. Asriel hasn't, that much Aofil knows. Or at least, not enough time. Again, something for a later time. It's starting to feel a bit better clearing the air with the monsters. Things they had to worry about slipping up are now slipping off their back, relieving an enormous weight. Although, Aofil feels, and knows, that it's not long until things will start to hurt. That they'll feel the pain the weights have caused.

They hope they're ready.

"With both Frisk and Chara having a red soul, yours feeling the same to us as Chara's could've been because you shared the same color, and only the color." Toriel moves her hand up over her chest. "But when we realized, we were more relieved than confused. More happy to know, than betrayed that we didn't know sooner. In a sense, it should've been obvious to us, at the time, but we're glad that it wasn't."

Toriel is forced to stop as an emotional cough sneaks up on her. It bounces a couple of tears away from her eyes, and she looks away while trying her eyes.

"We spent a good while at your parents' grave, Aofil. Thanking. Thanking for the wonderful children that they've blessed us with. For you, Aofil, and Chara, you've brought so much hope to us monsters." Asgore's wide smile fades into a conflicted frown alarmingly fast. "But the time we spent thanking paled compared to the time we spent asking your parents for forgiveness. Because in the end, no matter how much Chara did for us, how much we treated them as our own, they weren't our own. They were your twin, your parents' child, and we basked in their company while you looked for them. While you were lesser for their disappearance, we were joyous in our finding. We had the happiness that was made for you, and that wasn't fair of us. At the time, it felt like the right thing to do, but the times are changing. I know what it means to make a decision that felt right at the time."

Toriel turns her head back towards Aofil. Her eyes are irritated and thick chasms in her fur are running down her cheeks. "The pastor joined us a short while after you left, Aofil. A wonderful man, he is. He shared with us prayers that you humans give to your deceased. It was a humbling moment. As we prayed, a wind passed us, rustling the aspen tree behind the gravestones. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the pastor smile, and when he ended the prayer, he told me that he believed that your parents heard us, and that they were thankful for hearing what happened to their child. That they knew what became of Chara."

That's good and all, but...

"So why did you keep telling yourself that I was Chara then?" Aofil retorts. "Did you apologize just so that you could continue with me?" They can feel something tugging at their cheeks and at their lips. An itch that's moving out towards their hand.

"No, Aofil. We didn't. What you did for us was you. Chara did a lot for us as well, but the two of you have done your own separately."

"Why then did you talk me up to Asriel? Why did you paint me as a hero that I'm not!"

"Because to us, you are-"

Aofil's hand comes crashing down on the table. The cups and plates knocked in the air bounce once before falling over. "No! I am not a hero! Never was! Never wanted to be!" Aofil pauses as their breathing turns sharp as a knife. "I never wanted this. I don't want to be the hope! I just-"

They press their fist up to their mouth, biting at their index finger. Aofil averts their eyes, and sigh deeply into their hand. "I don't want to be a hero. It hurts. It's heavy. There are so many things I've done, that I wish I'd never done. I'm a mess, and it's because I did what I thought was good. What I thought was the right thing."

The sight of the Delta Rune burns their eyes, and they shut them closed hard. "If this is what the right thing is making me feel, then how could it have been the right thing for me? If me helping means that I have to put my life on the line every single time, then it's hurting me to help. If it means that my shoulders will break when I reach my hand out to help someone up, then..."

Aofil shakes their head. It's all they can do. Just shake their head at it all. How else can they really deal with it? They've tried everything else! "If I do right by others, I do wrong by myself, but when I try and make right by myself, I still do wrong. I help you guys, I get attacked. I figure out secrets that I never should've known, I get transformed. When I try and distance myself, it just turns into trying to run away from an avalanche with my feet tied together. I figure out a way to cope, but that turns out to make worse for me rather than make right for me. So what can I do? What should I do? What is it that I have to do?"

The table shakes with their voice. Their pain. Now that it's out though, Aofil can almost see it. It's hovering like a barely visible cloud. There! Just before them in the air. Twisted, sour, bitter, angry, and so big. Enormous! It's so vast and overwhelming, that Aofil feels vertigo just looking at it. All their anger at the monsters! At themselves…

All their stupid decisions that lead them to feel this way. They should've just left to begin with! They left too late! Before the monsters could've had time to hurt them, Aofil should've left.

But they didn't.

Because behind that cloud, behind all that anger, sorrow, and dread, are the monsters. Both figuratively, and, as Aofil's eyes refocus, literally. In the flesh...In the magic, that is.

Behind that cloud are the monsters that helped Aofil, almost as much as they helped the monsters. The monsters were there for Aofil when they were at their lowest. They lifted Aofil up, and gave Aofil a family. They were alone, but with the monsters, that all changed. The warmth that was sucked out of their life when their parents and sibling died, it all came back with the monsters.

Comforting, nostalgic, and most importantly, real. Alive! The monsters helped Aofil up on their feet again, but Aofil fell. They fell into an even lower hole than before, one that they made themselves. They dug their own hole, their own Underground, their own prison, and they fell. Just like their twin, they fell deep into a dark place. Unlike Chara, Aofil did it all to themselves.

The monsters are stretching out their hands now, they want to help Aofil up. Back up to the Surface, where the sun shines, away from all this pain.

What if it happens again though? What if the monsters will just lift Aofil higher up again? What if Aofil chooses to roll off again? The hole will be deeper yet again, it's always deeper yet again.

But if they don't reach up to take the monsters' hands, then they'll be stuck down here. Forever! No light, only darkness. No family, only themselves. Alone, with no one to call for help. If they even want to call for help.

The monsters' done wrong! Aofil's done wrong! What's right? What's the path to choose? It's too much! Their cloud is asphyxiating them! They need to get out of here!

Aofil's chair fall over as they bolt out of it. Towards the door! Get away from it all! Get away from the monsters! Get away from all that's hurting them!

Aofil's hand halts on the door handle. The setting sun paints an orange picture through the glass pane in the door.

What about them? They can't run away from themselves. They tried to, but it only made things worse. Their arm, their curse, their friends.

Their family.

But what will happen if they stay!

"It hurts," Aofil coughs out in the midst of a deep and painful sob, as they squeeze the door handle until their hand turns white from the pressure. "I don't know what to do. I need help. I can't trust myself to make the right choice! There's so much I've done wrong to myself. How can I trust someone else if I can't trust myself? If I'm a hero, then what it means to be a hero is to do wrong every step of the way!"

"You've not done wrong though, Aofil."

"I have! I have to me! And to you!"

"You haven't!" Toriel shouts after catching herself just before she tries to stand up from her chair. She sits back down as she sees Aofil's hand slip off the door handle. "Please believe when I say that you haven't, Aofil. You've given us too much to ever have hurt us! You say that you've hurt yourself in being with us." Her voice is on the brink of panic. "Is that why you've been gone? Is it because you feel that you've hurt you? Aofil?"

"I want to come back..."

"Then come back," Toriel implores with all her heart as she finally stands up. "Come back to us."

Aofil meets her eyes. Soft, gentle, comforting. They know she speaks from her heart, they know she means every word. Yet, they can't feel it. "I can't," Aofil laments with a shaky sigh. "Not yet."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

No answer.

"Because..."

No answer.

"Because!"

No answer!

"I don't know! I just want it all to stop! I want to be happy again! I want to go a day without these thoughts! They're always-"

A pair of large, fuzzy, warm, comforting, nostalgic, gentle, soothing, and careful arms wrap around Aofil.

"Let it out."

A second pair, just as careful and gentle as the first, wrap around Aofil where there's space.

"Let it out."

Blue and yellow arms follow.

"Let it out."

And a pair of long skeleton arms.

"LET IT OUT!"

Another pair of skeleton arms tries to nuzzle in from the table.

"let me in."

The pile of hugs scoff in unison, but one voice keeps going. The scoff turns into a cough.

Into a single sob.

Into a weep.

A wail.

And the tears pour like the Waterfall.

"I want to come back..."

"aof."

"You."

"ARE."

"Back."