The inky darkness had formed at his mere whim, an expression of the emptiness that he'd felt for so long where his soul was meant to be. It had been a good backdrop for the spectacular light show that he'd performed. But at that moment, everything was still. The absence of anything was stifling, leading his mind to wander back to the things that haunted him. The memories had freshly hit before, but now it was just their echoes. It didn't matter if he was forgiven, what he had done was unforgivable. Asriel felt it right that being in his old form would bring him all this misery. He should never be allowed happiness.

He couldn't remain this way either, it was another wrong that had led him to this. He had stolen the souls of so many to use for his own selfish goals. He had to make this right by giving them all back. And then, he would go back to being that…thing. He couldn't stand the thought of it, going back to not being able to feel any of the love or guilt that now made him want to do the right thing. But he didn't have a choice. Still, he felt hope bursting against his chest, and knew that there was something he had to do while he had such power. The thing he had died in vain for could finally be achieved. "I can't keep these souls inside of me. The least I can do is return them."

'What do you mean by that?' a voice inside his head asked. It sounded rough and cold.

Asriel's eyes widened, where has this voice come from? It wasn't his inner voice, nor was it a voice he remembered hearing before… Wait, it had to be one of the souls! How could he be so careless as to let them wake up now? What if they panicked, what if they hated him, what if they rebelled and got away? It wasn't like he was planning on keeping them, but he needed to do a couple things first or else…things could turn out very badly for everyone.

'Howdy, you must be a little scared right now and I'm sorry about that,' he thought clearly, hoping it was enough to respond, 'but I'm not going to hurt you. As soon as I break the barrier I'm going to return the souls of everybody. So you'll be free of me soon.'

'But we have no-where to return to! We're all dead! Unless you mean return us to the soul canisters.' The soul spat, this response was…unexpected.

'He wouldn't!' another soul squeaked in fear, 'Would he? A-anywhere but there…'

A shudder went up Asriel's spine, he couldn't tell if it was prompted by the soul, or by his own flashbacks as he remembered how empty he felt as a body with no soul. He wondered whether it was just as bad, or even worse, to be a soul with no body.

'I…I'm sorry, I didn't know how awful that was for you all. But no, you're not going back there. I was never going to put you back there. I was just going to release you and…' Asriel trailed off as he heard someone fidgeting.

Looking up, he saw the other child, standing there looking just a tad confused; when their eyes met the child smiled at him.

"Sorry about that Frisk…a couple of the souls woke up and seemed rather anxious, s-scared even, about what would happen when I released them," Asriel explained.

Asriel heard Frisk mumbling under their breath, "That didn't happen before…"

Before? What does Frisk mean by that? This is the first timeline where they've seen me in this form. In fact, there's only a handful of timelines where they reached the end of their journey at all, most were reset before then. I should remember all of them, right? So then, why don't I? And…if I don't and Frisk does, what does that mean? Why wouldn't they tell me?

The rough voice cut into his thoughts,'Because they're probably hiding something awful from you.'

No, why was he thinking like this…it reminded him too much of a certain plant, and this particular soul wasn't helping by adding to the paranoia, 'Mind telling me what it is, if you're so sure of that?'

'No idea, I don't remember either. But it's probably something they feel really bad for, something they feel you're better off not knowing,' they replied.

"Asriel?" Frisk asked, bringing them back out of their own mind.

"Yes?" maybe Frisk was about to tell him…without Asriel even needing to ask.

"Can you ask the souls if they'd rather go back to their bodies or…well…move on to…the next life?" Frisk seemed less sure of themself than usual.

"O-ok," he replied, a bit disappointed.

'What-'

'You don't need to ask us silly, we heard what Frisk said,' it was a different soul from the two before, with a melodic feminine voice which held a teasing tone at the moment.

They're interrupted by the squeaky soul, sounding more calm now, but still quiet, 'But isn't it nice when someone actually asks you something? Instead of just hearing it second-hand about you? I think it's quite nice of him.'

'Thanks, I'm glad you appreciate it, but they do have a point…I guess I forgot you guys can hear everything I do.' Asriel thought, trying not to be awkward.

'I guess I can't blame you since this is new for all of us.' He could sense the melodic soul's unease, 'But, uh, wouldn't putting us back in our bodies be a bad idea? I don't remember a whole lot right now, but I'm pretty sure I, at least, have been...dead for a while now.'

'Oh, oh, uh, y-yeah,' suddenly he felt rather embarrassed and inadequate. He knew the bodies had taken damage when they died, and knew that human bodies tended to turn to dust over time compared to monster bodies that did so right away. He also knew that some efforts had been taken to preserve them, but those efforts involved toxic substances that were likely to kill them again if they remained. He pushed away his memories of finding the bodies as Flowey, knowing that the souls would likely be able to at least catch a glimpse of them should they play in his mind. His innate healing magic was now amplified by the power of the souls, along with powers over the structure of the very world itself and all the souls in it. So he was hopeful he could heal up the bodies and draw any toxins out of them. But apparently he hadn't made those thoughts clear enough since they had woken up, 'I think I'm powerful enough to fully heal your bodies to their former condition. If I could, would you want that?'

It was silent for a moment, and Asriel was afraid he might've upset them, perhaps they'd caught onto his less clear thoughts he hadn't meant to be heard, he wasn't really sure. But after a pause the soul answered, 'It's worth a try. I want to see things again, do things again, and experience things again! I know it might not be possible…but still, it'd be nice. It's been so long of not doing anything, not being able to collect my own thoughts…' as they trail off, Asriel feels a spike of fear within.

'I…I don't want to die!' he realizes that much of the fear came from the quiet yet scared soul, but some of it came from others as well, 'I don't want to be alone again! I don't want it all to be over. I can feel so many people around me right now and it's…nice, a bit weird, but nice. And it's not so weird since I've woken up and others have as well, I'm able to actually talk to people again! I don't want to lose you all after I just found you! I-I…guess I shouldn't be feeling so strongly about strangers…but I h-haven't talked to anyone in so…so…long…I-I-" they broke off into…sobs? How does one cry inside of someone else? But their emotions influenced Asriel, along with the emotions of the other souls who felt similar to this one. Tears began to well in his own eyesockets. I'm about to cry again! I'm such a crybaby.

'It's alright now, shhh, you're gonna be alright. That's not gonna happen, sugar. We're here, alright? And we ain't going away. We're going to get our bodies back. And even if we don't, I'm not going to leave you, you won't ever be alone again.' This new voice rang with a familiarity that made him ache inside. It felt like his mother and father in one, except…higher pitched. Like his own, except feminine.

'Yeah! Even if we don't come back to life, we'll get to see what's beyond it! It'll be an epic adventure! And we'll go on it together. Though, I'd rather explore some more in this life before I go… Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the great beyond, it's nothing to be afraid of, it's just…we'll have plenty of time for that later!' The encouragement of another new soul reminds Asriel of a certain skeleton, so he tries his best to distance himself as more feelings of guilt start to well up inside.

'T-thanks for trying to cheer me up, guys. It means a lot. Do you really think we'll be able to…stay together, no matter what?'

'I know it! I feel it deep down inside my…' realizing what they were saying, the usually loud, enthusiastic voice hesitated a moment before continuing sheepishly, 'well, inside me, I guess!'

'Oh my gosh,' the melodic sounding soul says between laughs, 'you're such a dork!'

'What are you laughing at?! I'm not a dork!' huffed the soul in response, causing the other one to laugh even more. At least this interaction appeared to make everyone more amused than scared for the moment.

Asriel tried his best to block off his lingering feelings of guilt, instead choosing to focus on the mission at hand, 'I'm sorry to interrupt, but I still need an answer from the two I haven't heard from.' He thought it quite odd that the soul that first woke up hadn't said anything, they seemed to have so much to say before. For a moment, they felt their presence, almost like they were looking at Asriel…glaring perhaps? No…not quite that. Did that mean that even though he hadn't formed that thought further, the souls could still hear? Or perhaps sense the gist of it?

'Well, I've always thought that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to! You just have to keep going, even when it's hard. We're about to break the barrier! I wanted to help with that- wait am I sure? Yes I remember something about that, anyway, that's not important! Surely, if we can do something that impossible, we can also come back! I know we can.' The final soul he had yet to hear from thought so quickly that Asriel had trouble picking up on every word.

'Right,' Asriel smiles at the optimism, but there's still a soul who hasn't made their preference known yet. It seems…maybe they don't want to, or haven't decided? Still, Frisk is waiting.

"All but one of the souls want to come back. And that's just because one of them hasn't said anything yet," Asriel informed them.

"I…see," Frisk looked down, was that worry in their gaze?

"I'm going to try and bring them back to life when I break the barrier. With power equivalent to seven human souls, I hope I can," Asriel told Frisk, "do you think it'll work?"

"I…I…don't know," they shifted uncomfortably, "But, maybe…we can test it out and see? Before you release them all at once, I mean." Some of the human souls felt anxious or uneasy, and others felt relieved at this suggestion. The conflicting emotions were enough to make Asriel feel woozy.

"Test it out? But how will I break the barrier then?"

"You can still save and load," Frisk reminded him, sounding confident and cheerful, but he knew they were clasping their hands behind their back, like they did when nervous, "As long as you don't release the souls all at once, you should have more than enough determination to do so and when you load your save, the soul should still be with you."

"Oh, right…how could I forget?" he laughs nervously. He thought all that was behind them now. Even when he turned back into Flowey, he would not have those powers again. And he was glad for it…who knew what could happen otherwise?

'Everything's going to work out alright. And I ain't in the least bit angry with you,' one of the souls said, but that only got his mind to race more. How much do they really know? The other souls remained silent, he could feel subtle encouragement and reassurances offered through their feelings. But he felt other emotions not so pleasant stirring too, they weren't clear, and he didn't linger on them enough to sort out what they were. It was fine. He deserved to be judged and hated. He couldn't blame them for feeling that way, not at all, there was only himself to blame.

"Hey, you're not him. You're doing the right thing now, OK?" Frisk put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah…I guess so," he said, forcing a smile. He was going to help these kids, and not do so in a reckless way. He was sure the test would be successful, and then he'd fade back into being a soulless flower. But at least he wouldn't have power over time and space anymore, and that way he'd never hurt anyone…ever again.