Toriel woke up by her mothering instincts. She listened as a high pitched, child-like scream rang throughout the whole house. It came from Flowey's room. Toriel quickly got up and ran to the source of the scream. "Flowey, a-are you alright?" She asked, pressing her ear to the door. She heard sniffling, as if a child were crying. "F-Flowey?" She called.
"M-Mom! Don't come in here!" A high pitched voice squealed from inside.
"A-Asriel?!" Toriel blurted out in shock. A high pitched whimper came from inside the room. "Asriel, please let me in," Toriel asked, gently.
"I d-don't want you to see me like this!" The voice called out. Toriel tested the lock and found that it was open. She took a deep breath and walked into the room. There, on Flowey's bed, sat a small goat child, sniffling. When Toriel stepped into the room, the child whimpered and buried his face into a pillow, crying.
"Asriel, my child, please do not cry," Toriel said, climbing up onto his bed. She hugged him, smiling. It had been so long since she had held her child, and she had missed him terribly. "Asriel, it's alright. You're safe and you're finally home," she said, in a soothing voice.
"B-But I did all those things as a flower! I hurt so many people, and I even hurt you, Mom!" Asriel sobbed, squirming to free himself from his mother's grasp.
"Azzy, please listen to me. When the barrier was finally destroyed, I grabbed a flower pot, and came back for you. Do you know why I did?" Toriel asked him. Asriel sniffled and shook his head. "When we were finally free, I made a promise to myself. I promised that I would always love you, no matter what you were, or did. Whether you were a flower, the "absolute god of hyper death," or my sweet little boy. And after all this time, I still love you." Toriel said, smiling. Asriel whimpered, looking into her eyes.
"M-Mommy!" He cried, hugging her tightly. He buried his face into her shoulder and sobbed. Toriel hugged him, tears of joy running down her face. As minutes passed, it seemed like an eternity as they held each other, crying. Soon, they both drifted off to sleep.
Alphys awoke a few hours later. She sat up and yawned, stretching.
"Hey Alphy," Mettaton said, walking into the room.
"H-Hey," Alphys replied, getting out of bed.
"Ready to get back to work, darling?" Mettaton asked, smiling. Alphys nodded. She started to walk to the lab when her legs gave out and she fell. When she tried to get up, she found that her legs wouldn't support her. She fell back down and looked up at Mettaton. "C-Can't you walk, darling?" Mettaton asked, picking Alphys up. Alphys shook her head, panic running through her mind. If she regressed quicker than she had hoped for, she was sure that Mettaton would find out. She was snapped out of her thoughts when her stomach rumbled loudly. "Hungry, darling?" Mettaton asked her.
"B-But I have to wowk on a cuwe!" Alphys squeaked, wanting to get away from Mettaton before she lost her mind.
"It's not good to work on an empty stomach, Alphys," Mettaton said, taking her to the kitchen. Alphys whimpered quietly. She didn't want to lie to him, but she had no choice. Mettaton set Alphys down in a chair at the kitchen table. He opened the fridge and grabbed a slice of pie. He set the plate in front of Alphys and handed her a fork. Alphys looked at the pie and whimpered. She knew she wouldn't be able to feed herself, but she didn't want to say anything. "Do you need help, Alphy?" Mettaton asked, taking the fork. Alphys didn't say anything. She just kept her mouth shut, whimpering. "I'll take that as a yes," he said, before scooping up a bite of pie. Alphys kept her mouth shut. "Come on Alphy, open up," Mettaton said, wondering why she was keeping her mouth shut. Alphys just whimpered and shook her head. Not saying a word. Her mind was regressing very quickly. Mettaton sighed and put his hand over Alphys's nose. He knew that she would have to open her mouth to breathe at some point. After a few seconds, Alphys opened her mouth, gasping for air. Mettaton briefly saw that she had no teeth, before she closed her mouth again. Mettaton got a confused look. Why did she loose her teeth if her mind was cured? All of the others seemed to be fine, except Alphys looked like she was getting younger. Just then, Mettaton realized. When he went down to the lab to get a bottle of the regression serum, he had noticed that she was working with the exact same serum that she had given him. Alphys saw the realization on his face and whimpered. "A-Alphys… w-what did you do?" Mettaton asked. Alphys covered her face with her tail, whimpering. Muffet over heard all of this and walked into the kitchen.
"I think I can help explain," she said, pulling out her phone. She pulled up a video of Alphys in the lab, just after she had given Mettaton the regression serum. Mettaton watched the video in shock. After it finished playing, he reached into Alphys's pocket, looking for the note.
"How did you record this without her knowing?" Mettaton asked, pulling the note out of Alphys's pocket.
"I'm a spider, deary. I can climb on walls without making a sound," Muffet replied, putting her phone back in her pocket. Just then Alphys burst into tears, not being able to hold back her fear any longer. Mettaton unfolded the note and read it. It read:
"Mettaton. Please don't be angry with me. Quite honestly, I have been stressed out for years, having to deal with all my problems. When my Determination went wrong, I would stay up for weeks at a time, working. I tried so hard to fix my mistake, all the while, I had received letters and phone calls from all of the monsters. They wondered where their families were. And now, having to deal with this. Fixing Frisk and the others. Before you got here, I started staying up for days, trying to find a cure. I noticed the same thing happening to me all over again. Then when my cure backfired, I had to drag you into this. Honestly, I can't apologize enough for all that I've done wrong. But I wish to take a small break from it. That's why I made myself younger. I designed this serum to last for two weeks. Although, you are welcome to cure me any time you'd like. The good news is, I also designed the serum with a special feature. Every night, at midnight, I will gain my mind back for ten minutes. If you'd like to speak to me, I'll probably be down in my lab at that time. Again, I'm very sorry for this… I just need a break from all the stress…"
Mettaton thought for a bit, weighing his options. After about two minutes, he picked up Alphys, who was sobbing, and hugged her tightly. "Alphy, if this is just a break, then I understand. You don't have to apologize," he said. Alphys sniffled, resting her head on Mettaton's shoulder. "I'll let you take a break, okay darling?" Mettaton said, rubbing her back. Alphys nodded, falling asleep. Relief running through her mind. She put her thumb in her mouth, and soon fell asleep.
"Sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner, deary," Muffet said, looking at Mettaton.
"It's fine, darling. I didn't think she was working herself so hard," Mettaton said, before sitting down with Alphys on the couch in the living room. He sighed. Alphys had gotten him so far. She helped to make his dreams come true, and he had been such a jerk to her. As much as he didn't like caring for babies, he felt that he kind of owed this to her. He pulled the empty regression bottle out of his pocket and looked at it. "Well," he said to himself. "At least we won't have to deal with Flowey's attitude anymore…" he said.