Chapter Text

It's over. You've won. No more save files, no more restarts, no more fighting. You look out at the horizon, where the sun is hanging low in the sky. You don't know if it is a sunset or a sunrise.

Yet… Something feels wrong. You look over at Toriel and Asgore, who have their eyes locked on the horizon. They're smiling, but there is something bittersweet in their eyes. Someone is still missing. Someone very important should be here, with you and your new adoptive family…

Family. You have a family. It hits you suddenly, that you no longer have to be alone. You barely even remember what your human family was like… They disappeared long before you entered the underground.

The wind picks up a little, and one by one your friends depart. Sans, Papyrus, Alphys and Undyne… Now it is just you, Toriel, and Asgore. You hold Toriel's hand, and frown. There's a gap between you and Asgore. Someone is missing.

You let go of Toriel's hand, and turn to her. "I'm going back," you say, suddenly filled with DETERMINATION.

Toriel frowns, and looks back and forth between you and Asgore. "B-But we just got here! There's a whole new life ahead of us. All of us!"

You shake your head. "Not all of us… not yet. I'm going back, and I'm going to bring Asriel to the surface."

You hear Asgore gasp, but Toriel slowly nods, understanding. "Go, my child. Be safe." She leans down to kiss your cheek, before turning to Asgore. "Well?"

Asgore clears his throat. "Um, yes. Uh… Take this, just in case…" He hands you his cape, which is warm and soft in your hands.

You briefly ponder why he gave you his cape, but perhaps he is just worried about you being cold. After storing it in your inventory, you take a deep breath.You are filled with DETERMINATION. You will find Asriel. You will bring him to the surface. You will reunite him with his parents… And you will be with him as well.

With a final look back at Toriel and Asgore, who are silhouetted in the sun (definitely a setting sun, as it's almost completely disappeared behind the horizon), you turn and head back, back into the underground.

It is only after you are deep enough that you can no longer hear the wind blowing on the surface that you realize: you haven't the faintest idea of how to find and save Asriel.

The first time you saw him was at the small patch of golden flowers, outside of the ruins. Perhaps you should start there? You make your way back through the underground, your heart heavy with the memories of the last run you did. New Home seems so barren now, without Asgore and the guards and everyone… You wonder if all of the monsters will leave the underground and move to the surface. Will they all have to pass through New Home?

Exiting into the CORE, you come across Whimsalot and Final Froggit, who both seem a little lost. "Are you both leaving?" you ask.

Final Froggit nods. "Robbit, Robbit!"

Whimsalot smiles softly. "I've made my peace. I'm ready to move beyond the Underground. Thank you, human."

You feel compassion and love flow out of both Final Froggit and Whimsalot, their appreciation for what you have done for all of them. As they turn to leave, Final Froggit hopping up and down with nervous excitement, you notice that you suddenly have a new stat. Sl. Oddly, the 'L' is lowercase, unlike all of your other stats. It is currently at 0. Not sure what exactly this stat does, you put the compassion you received from Final Froggit and Whimsalot there. It raises it to 0.07. Huh. Not a big jump, but a jump nonetheless.

You skirt your way around the MTT™ Resort, which seems to be permanently closed. Bratty and Catty are rifling through the dumpster in the ally beside the main entrance. You stop to talk to them.

"Oh. My. GOD. I can't believe you did it!" says Catty, when she spots you.

"I know, right!?! You're so totally awesome!" Bratty grins and slaps Catty's back. "Hey, I wonder what kind of Garbage they have on the surface? Do you think they'll charge for it?"

You grin. "I doubt it, but you'll have to go find out yourself," you mumble. Catty and Bratty make you feel a little awkward, with how excited they get over simple trash.

Bratty kneels down beside you, placing a claw on your shoulder. You try not to flinch; she was just crawling through a dumpster. "You've given us hope for a new life on the surface. Thank you." You feel the tingling of compassion from Bratty and Catty as they turn and head away. You place their compassion in your Sl slot, bumping it up to 0.18.

As you work your way back through Hotland and Waterfall, you have similar interactions with the various monsters that you've met and befriended. By the time you pass through Blook Acres, your Sl is at 0.96, storing all of the compassion the monsters give you.

The closer to the ruins you get, the fewer monsters you come across. At the Temmie village, there are just a few Temmies left, one of whom seems to have mistaken a moving box for a hat and is stumbling around blindly.

"hOI!" shouts the Temmie, who has bumped into a wall and seems to think that it's another monster. "i'm tEMMIE!!" You crouch down and remove the box from the Temmie's head, then feed it some spare Temmie Flakes you had in your inventory. "FOOB!!!" it shouts, then grins up at you. "human TOO KINd!!"

"KINd human!" shout a few other Temmies. "tank you! temmies go live aBOVE NOW!" Their compassion bumps your Sl up to 1.01, and you feel a strange warmth in your chest.

The Temmie who's box you're holding grabs the box and promptly places it on his (well, you assume it's a boy, you're not entirely sure) head. "human much nicer tan talky flower…" Frowning, you ask the Temmie where the 'talky flower' was. "OH YUS! temmie saw in Shnowbin! Look like SLEEPS." The Temmie blindly stumbles into the river.

After checking to make sure the Temmie can swim (it can), you continue on your way. Snowdin Town, when you arrive, is barren and empty. You figure that everyone must have left for the surface already. The snow crunches beneath your feet, although the strange warmth in your chest keeps the bitter cold at bay.

The door to the Snowed Inn stands slightly ajar, and you pop in to take a quick two-minute nap on the lone mattress left behind. Your HP now topped up, you continue on.

You stop in front of Grillby's and peek in. It's empty and dark, although it looks like there may be some foodstuffs behind the counter, maybe overlooked when Grillby packed up and left. Your stomach grumbles loudly, and you're about to push the door open and find a snack when you hear a soft murmuring. A murmuring that sounds distinctly like FLOWEY.

A chill runs down your spine. You had assumed that Asriel would still be in his goat-monster form… but what if he reverted to being Flowey again? Would Flowey fight you? Despite your HP being full, you're exhausted from walking all the way through the underground, and you desperately hope that you don't have to go through yet another boss fight. You don't want to fight anymore. You haven't wanted to fight in a long time.

You follow the murmuring into the northern part of the town, where Snow Wolf used to live. You chuckle softly, remembering that he wanted to be called "Jimmy Hotpants".

"Ccchrrrmm???" You follow the sound of Flowey to a small lump of snow, where you can see a few yellow petals sticking out. You brush aside the snow cautiously, uncovering a barely-conscious Flowey. "C-Chara…?" Flowey tries to lift a leaf toward your face, but the effort is too much. He falls back and passes out almost immediately.

You quickly equip Asgore's cape and carefully wrap Flowey in the warm, soft fabric. He doesn't look too good. His petals are droopy, and his leaves are wilted and turning brown. His roots dangle pathetically as you lift him into your arms. "C'mon, silly flower…" you mutter, as you hurry back to Grillby's.

Once inside of the dark restaurant, you light some candles and quickly sort through the kitchen supplies left behind. There's no dirt you can plant Flowey in, of course, but you find a large stack of coffee grinds near where presumably a coffee machine once sat. You remember that Toriel once mentioned that she would fertilize her flowers with coffee grounds and veggie peels, so you figure it'll work well enough. You grab a cracked mug and fill it with the coffee grounds, then, very carefully, plant Flowey in it. You then use one of the candles to melt some snow, and, once it's not freezing cold, pour the water around Flowey.

Nothing happens at first, so you find some dry cereal in a cupboard and munch on that as you wait for Flowey to wake up.