The injured monster ran as fast as he could, clutching the dead child tightly in his arms. Several loud bangs signaled a flurry of bullets which barely cleared his ears, making them ring painfully.

"Who or WHAT ever you are. Drop the body now or we will take you down by force!"

The monster kept running, there was another hail of bullets. These were not like monster bullets, these were faster, louder and-

-a bullet hit him square in the back, he recoiled in pain. Physical!

Stop holding me back!

No.

You are going to get us killed.

I won't fight them.

Stop being such a wuss!

No.

This isn't the time to get on your high horse, this is kill or BE killed! They aren't going to show us any mercy, so why should we show any to THEM?

I told you, I changed my mind. I'm not hurting anyone... I can't... I refuse!

You're an idiot.

Another bullet hit it's mark, this time it pierced his chest, passing straight through his soul.

"ARRchh!"

His knees faltered and his grip on the child slipped, he nearly dropped them.

We can't take much more of this...

Gritting his teeth, the monster picked himself up and lunged the last few steps through the barrier and back into the Underground.

The castle was eerily quite, a sainted silence broken when the throne room doors were slammed wide open. The king and queen could only watch in horror as the young prince burst through in a sparkling trail of dust and collapsed into the dirt, his dead sibling still in his arms.

A strange language drifted through the void but faded, decaying away until it was completely lost from memory. He became aware of the blackness. Slowly, lucidity brought confusion... slower still, recollection. Scattered memories that flickered briefly in and out of his mind. Names, faces, voices... his own death... what?

Asriel felt like he'd just woken from a very long and deep sleep, his head was swimming. Groggily, he opened his eyes and squinted, unprepared for the sudden assault on his vision. It took a few seconds for his head to clear and his sight to start to adjust... that was when he noticed something wasn't right.

Why did he feel so small? He tried to stand up but nothing happened. He tried to move his legs, then his arms but the same thing, nothing. Asriel couldn't feel any of his limbs. As panic began to rise, he gathered up what courage he had, to turn his head and look down.

Something gold swayed on the edge of his vision and a sickening wave of dizziness washed over him. In place of his body, all he found was a simple, green plant stem.

"Mom! Dad! Somebody help me!" His called out, but the voice he heard was high pitched and oddly dual-toned. Not his own.

This isn't me, this isn't me...

The body, the voice, the smallness... everything was wrong! Asriel's mind was quickly descending into chaos. His world was crumbling around him and... and he was all alone. He pleaded internally for someone... anyone to come and take this nightmare away. To tell him that this was all just a bad dream, that he would wake up in his bedroom and his best friend would be sleeping in the bed beside his, they could tell him a story and they would both laugh about how silly he was being right now.

But nobody came.

"Chara!... please-" He cried out on instinct, but the words had barely crossed his lips before he remembered the truth and his blood ran cold. Chara was dead. His very last memories were of holding their body before he...

I died, i'm dead...I should be dead... so why am I a flower?

"Mom... dad... anyone, please..." This too much. Moisture was building up in his eyes. Asriel hadn't paid much attention to where he'd woken up, but now all he could see was a blur. The shock was sending tremors through his body and he didn't even bother fighting them. Before too long the tears were rolling down his petals and splashing against the soil below...

In this swirling haze he thought back to that terrible night... his last night. Chara's final act of sacrifice had been heartbreaking, he felt like he could have died then and there if it hadn't been for the warm embrace of their soul inside him, pushing him onward and whispering reassuring words of encouragement. After they crossed the barrier, finding the human village had gone without incident. The air had been crisp and cool, stars shone above like the glittering gemstones of Waterfall; he had to pause by the flowers, just to admire them. That moment, that brief lick of freedom, just for them, before they were to free everyone... and then... then things started going wrong. That scream. It was becoming too painful so Asriel forced himself to stop thinking about it.

But Charas words refused to leave. They repeated themselves over and over in his head like a broken record...

You want to free everyone don't you?

Why not? He deserves it.

You are going to get us killed.

You're an idiot.

No! I did the right thing! I'm not an idiot Chara... I...

Little brother... you do remember our agreement, don't you?

"Hello? Is somebody here? Do not be afraid, I am here if you need someone to talk to... or just an ear to listen."

Asriel was unsure for how long he'd been crying, but like the breaking of a spell the familiar voice snapped him back to reality.

"Dad!" He turned to face the voice. "It's m-me, Asriel! Dad I- I don't know what happened to m-me! Please help! I'm s-so... scared!"

"Son?!" King Asgore stood dumbstruck. "Is it really you? H-"

"It's my fault! I-It's all my s-stupid fault! W-we went to the surface to collect six more souls s-so we could free everyone but..." Asriel gasped between sobs "I-I couldn't do it, I couldn't go through with the plan! I-I didn't want to hurt anybody... I couldn't! And... and now i'm a flower!"

Asgore rushed to his son's side and wrapped his arms around him, tears streaming down his face. Asriel, still trembling, was uncomfortable with how small he felt in the king's embrace.

"There, there. Everything is going to be alright." Asgore sobbed, a big smile on his face. "You came back to us, that is all that matters."

Asriel suddenly really wished that his father would let go. Something didn't feel right.

"Dad."

"Yes son?"

"I want to see mom."

Asgore stiffened, more tears welled up in his eyes "Some day you will, but not today. Sorry son."

He took a long moment to compose himself again. He pushed himself to his feet and wiped the remaining tears from his face all while he looked down at Asriel as though he'd been granted a thousand wishes in a single moment.

"Asriel... I need to go speak to Dr. Alphys, but I will be back as soon as I can. I love you, I will never let anything bad happen to you again. I promise." With one final hug, Asgore was gone.

Asriel stared after him. His shock had worn off, if only to be replaced by confusion. He should have felt happy to see his father again, to not to be alone anymore. He should have been comforted, but he wasn't. He shook his head, his mind was in no state to ponder it at the moment. Instead, Asriel decided to finally figure out where he was, something which he could now do, having cried himself dry...

He was planted in the middle of the throne room, his father had once tended to many kinds of plants here. Now the only flowers growing were large and golden, the same kind that grew in Chara's village. There was another big change too, now only one throne sat in the garden, the other had been covered by a sheet and put to the side.

The sight brought back an old memory. Asriel closed his eyes, letting his mind escape to a happier time. Shortly after Chara had fallen and the kingdom was filled with hope, the garden had been in full bloom, it was the most beautiful he'd ever seen it. His parents were sat upon their thrones enjoying the summer warmth and he'd ran to them with his newest art project in his hands.

"Mom, dad, I made something for you! ... Do you like it?"

His slightly younger self held up a distorted piece of paper for his parents to see. They were beaming down at him, and he was smiling back.

"Howdy son! let me see... this is very good, did it take you long to make?"

"About an hour... and a few minutes for the glue to dry."

"Are you sure you waited long enough? Some of the macaroni is coming unstuck."

"Really?!"

He turned the paper around, it was a picture of an angel among a field of stars made from pasta and glitter. Several pieces of the pasta were sliding down the page.

"Oh no!"

"Don't worry little one, we can fix it. Gory dear, you will be able to manage without me for a little while, right?" Her voice was playful.

"I think I can handle myself just fine for a few minutes, thank you." his dad retorted with faux indignation.

"Come Asriel, I know a way to make the glue set quickly, then we can impress your friends with your star-tling artistic skills!"

"Mom!"

...

He chocked back the bittersweet nostalgia. It was nice to take comfort in the familiar, to pretend that things are still as they were.

But he knew that he could never go back, as much as he wished he could. It was almost funny in a strange sort of way that he couldn't explain. Oh, he thought bitterly, how things change...