Chapter Text
The first half hour of digging is accompanied by spurts of giggles and snarky remarks to Flowey. The giggles aren't funny in the slightest, but they’re a product of everything that has happened in the last 24 hours. Between goat-moms and sentient flowers, talking skeletons, transportation, souls, and the awesome but terrifying world of the Underground, you are completely overwhelmed. (In retrospect, your reaction is very delayed.)
The second thirty minutes are spent quietly, listening to Frisk talk about Chara, and how she has accompanied them ever since falling into the Underground.
“It's because Asriel absorbed her soul. With his magic and Chara’s determination, they were able to continue together without physical forms.“ They pause in their digging and look up at you. “You know, I don't think it would have worked if Asriel weren't a Boss Monster, or if Chara was less determined.” They muse. You shake your head, half in bewilderment and half amused.
“I don't know how you figured that out, Frisk, but it kind of makes sense. So how is Asriel a Boss Monster?”
“It runs in families.”
The third half hour is when the conversation turns to Flowey.
“So... Flowey has Asriel’s conscious, but not his conscience. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” You ask, trying to make sure that you actually understand this new craziness. Frisk nods in response.
“I don't need a conscience. It gets in the way of all the fun .“ Flowey snarks.
You continue, ignoring the flower. “So... Alphys could have injected anything living -a tree for example- with DT, and as long as a monster died next to the tree, their consciousness would be absorbed by it, but they wouldn’t have a moral compass to go with it.”
“Yup. Flowey lost everything a soul would provide, particularly the love and compassion monsters are made from.”
“Ha! Why would I need love when I could gain LOVE !” Flowey cackles.
“What about the magic?”
“So much DT in such a small form has consequences. He lost Asriel's magic, but gained some of his own.”
“Huh. That's... well-” you stop when your shovel abruptly runs into some sort of barrier. “Um... Frisk?” You say, bending down and gently brushing dirt away from the spot. “I think we've dug as far as we need to.”
Frisk rushes to quickly begin brushing dirt away with you, and the two of you completely uncover the girl in a matter of moments. You can only assume she is Chara, and you're not sure whether to be happy or freaked out.
Her body is completely unharmed, the magical barrier preserving it from decay and harmful outside sources. She almost appears to be sleeping. Flowey speaks up.
“She doesn't want this, Frisk. She died because she wanted to. Let her stay gone.” Frisk shakes their head at him and signs quickly: ‘We've talked about it. Everyone deserves a second chance. I'm giving her one, and I'm giving you one.’
“I won't let you-” He starts. Frisk interrupts quickly. ‘ You don't have to. It's Asriel's decision, deal with it.’ And with that, Frisk turns back to Chara's with even more determination on their face then before.
When Frisk pulls their soul out, you gasp. First, it seems incredibly strange to see something so special. Sure, you had only first heard about the manifestation of a soul the previous night, but you already understand its importance.
What shocks you even more is when the soul separates into two, a slightly darker one pulling away. Frisk carefully cups the darker soul in their hands and pushes it downwards to Chara’s chest. When the soul is completely inside of the girl's body, it instantly begins to breathe again. It's rather odd, honestly, to see someone so still suddenly begin to move again.
Frisk leans forward to tap the girl’s cheek. “Chara?” They ask quietly.
“Jus’a min.” Chara groans, eyes squinching up. She slowly yawns, and tiredly opens her eyes. Frisk leans in closer to her face, eyes wide. Chara grins. “‘S been two-hundred and thirty years, Frisk. Did you expect me to be jumping around right away?” Frisk shrugs, face breaking out into a grin as they help the girl to sit up. You attempt to help too, but Frisk warns you not to with their eyes. Chara looks over to you anyway.
“Hey.” You smile softly. “Did you sleep well?” Chara narrows her eyes at you as if deciding what to respond. She elects to ignore you, opting instead to turn back to Frisk. She signs something to them you can't quite make out, and Frisk shakes their head.
“Not yet. Asriel's next, he said he would. Do you want to help?” Chara nods swiftly, and Frisk instructs you to grab Flowey. He doesn't protest as you pick up his pot, only stares wide-eyed at Chara. She takes him from you, grinning.
“C’mon, Azzy. It's like you've never seen someone come back to life before.” She says, stroking his petals. Flowey makes a noise somewhere between a snort and a whine, but doesn't talk. Frisk pulls their soul out again, but this time a little white soul separates from their red one, and is pushed by the two children towards the flower. You can see Flowey edge away from the soul for a moment, before letting it absorb into his petals.
This time, a bright white light shoots from the flower, enveloping the room in blinding brightness. When you can see again, there is a goat about the size of Frisk and Chara sitting on their laps. He and Chara have matching clothes, you note, striped green and yellow sweaters with what looks like jeans. The goat -whom you can only assume is Asriel- bleats in surprise as he looks at his paws.
“I- I'm me! I'm not a flower anymore and... And my LV is gone.” Asriel says, sounding shocked and relieved. Chara laughs as she and Frisk throw their arms around him. You sit back quietly, not wanting to interrupt the moment.
“Mine’s gone too, Azzy.” You hear Chara say, voice muffled by Asriel’s fur. “Comes with the whole ‘new start’ thing.” The three laugh a little, before Chara chokes on a sob, and suddenly she and Asriel are crying, and thanking Frisk, and giggling again as they say it at the same time.
You don't know what to do. It's almost as if touching them would make them disappear, like a dream. Even if that wasn't possible, it would ruin the moment. Something in you says that this moment is very important, and not something to be ruined or even spoken of.
It's not until two minutes later that you are acknowledged. There's a couple of moments of silence before Asriel speaks up once again. “Hey. We all get to be siblings now. Again.” At this, Frisk head snaps up to look at you, and they're grinning broadly.
“Speaking of siblings.” They begin, gesturing to you. “This is my older sister, Y/n. Y/n this is Chara and Asriel, former prince and princess of the Underground, and former soul-roomies.” You grin, and somewhat shyly give a half-wave.
“Hi guys.” They both wave in return, and Asriel gets up to give you a hug. You chuckle slightly, squeezing him tightly. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Frisk nudge Chara, who shrugs.
“So, ah, should we head home? You guys look kinda tired.” You start, smiling up at Chara and still halfway hugging Asriel. All three of the kids nod, and Frisk helps Chara to stand. You stand as well, and Asriel takes the other side of Chara.
The four of you begin to walk, Chara sags heavily on Asriel and Frisk, dragging her feet. “I can carry you, if you need me too.” You offer, but Chara shakes her head in defiance. The three of you barely make it through two rooms before her head drops to get chest. You look at Frisk questioningly, and they nod, confirming that Chara's fallen asleep on her feet. Asriel and Frisk help you situate the girl so she's riding you piggyback, and you all continue onward.
None of you remember the small flowerpot sitting on the cave floor, and none of you remember to replant the golden flowers.
---
About halfway to Sans and Papyrus’s old house your chest begins to hurt, from both the walking, and carrying Chara. You decide you ought to check it out later, when there's time. It might be too much to hope that you’re only bruised.
Asriel speaks up quietly, asking you questions about this and that. “What's your favorite food?”
“Stuffed cinnamon French toast.” You answer, grinning down at him. He and Frisk are holding hands as the three of you pass through the door to Snowdin. “What about you?”
“Butterscotch Cinnamon pie.” He says, smiling at the thought. Frisk tugs their hand from Asriel's grasp to sign ‘We're having some for dessert tonight.’ before grabbing his paw again.
“Awesome.” Asriel grins. “What are stars like?”
“Kinda like your star room in Waterfall, but farther away. We've made pictures out of them in a ‘connect-the-dots’ kind of way.” Asriel nods wide-eyed at your explanation.
“Do you make wishes on them?”
“Actually, yes. We have a little rhyme. ‘Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, Have this wish I wish tonight.’”
“Wow. Have you ever gotten a wish granted?” He asks. You're about to shake your head no, tell him that your wishes are impossible, but you stop yourself.
“Just yesterday, actually. I wished a wish a thousand times, and it was granted yesterday.” You smile softly, looking ahead to where Sans’ puzzle supposedly lay when Frisk first went through this area.
Two dozen questions later, Frisk is knocking on Sans’ bedroom door. He doesn't open it, instead teleporting directly behind them.
“ya ready to go, kid?” He asks, ever-present grin plastered to his face. Frisk nods and signs to him, pointing down to where you stand with Chara still on your back and Asriel at your side. Asriel waves at him.
“Hello, Mr. Sans.”
“heh. hey, Dreemurr.” Sans nods before turning to Frisk. “can't say I'm surprised. ‘s the only thing you haven't done. does this mean you're done with the whole ‘reset’ thing?” He asks. You wonder what he means by that.
“Can't.” Frisk answers solemnly. “It was the three of us, together, that made it possible.” Sans just nods, and walks -actually walks- with Frisk down to you and Asriel.
“guess it's time to get you kids home then.” He grins. Frisk takes Asriel and Sans’ hands, and you grab his other hand when he extends it. In the blink of an eye, you're out of the mountain, facing the sunset. Asriel gasps beside you.
“Frisk, is that?” Frisk nods.
“It's the sun, Azzy. The actual real-life sun. “ Asriel gasps again and you all stand there for a couple moments before Sans zaps you all to directly in front of his house. Chara groggily wakes up as you all begin to cross the street to Toriel's house.
“Where are we?” She asks, rubbing her eyes.
“Outside, Chara. For the first time! Look, you can see the sunset over there!” Asriel excitedly points in the direction of the sunset.
“Cool, Azzy. Um, will you put me down now?” She asks as you step onto Toriel's front porch. You nod quickly, carefully bending down so she can get off easily. You and Frisk help to steady her as she wobbles, and she ends up pulling away from you and clinging to Frisk. She seems to be doing a much better job of staying upright now. With the kids to either side of you and Sans behind, you step forward to knock on the door.
Asriel is bouncing on his feet, barely containing himself. You're pretty sure that if it was different circumstances, he would have already charged into the house.
Toriel begins talking almost before she opens the door. “My children, I was beginning to get worried-” she stops abruptly, noticing the two extra kids for the first time. Asriel is still bouncing, but he doesn't step forward yet, waiting for his mom to make the first move. “Asgore.” Toriel says softly. Then, more loudly she calls, “Asgore, you need to come here, now.”
You hear him before you see him, his large feet shuffling from the kitchen to the front room. “Yes, Toriel?” In response, she opens the doorway wider and allows him to step in next to her. As soon as he sets eyes on his long-lost children, his expression instantly matches Toriel's.
“Chara, Asriel?” He whispers, looking between the two. “How... Come here.” He sinks to one knee and opens his arms wide. Chara -with Frisk's help- steps into his embrace. Asriel goes to his mother instead, unable to stop himself.
Toriel and Asgore number l murmur quietly in their children's ears, and the children switch parents after a couple minutes. Frisk steps back to hold your hand, watching the scene with you.
After a few minutes, Toriel looks up at you again, with tears in her eyes.
“Frisk, Y/n... You brought our children back to us. Thank you.” Asgore stands and nods to both of us.
“Yes. Thank you. I-we are forever indebted to you.” You and Frisk simultaneously speak, shaking your heads.
“With all due respect, Mr. Dreemurr, it was just the right thing to do.”
“I wanted to save everyone , dad. That includes Chara and Asriel.”
Toriel laughs. “I can see where Frisk gets their selflessness. Come, children. We should eat. Then we will figure out bed arrangements.” With that, everyone enters the house.
You hang back to shut the front door, but hesitate to enter the dining room. Around the table sits the Dreemurr’s, Frisk, Sans, and Papyrus. Already, they're talking animatedly -meaning Frisk is introducing Papyrus and Sans is making puns at every opportunity- and it feels like intruding to enter. (It doesn't help that three of the monsters still put you on edge.)
You decide to quietly go down the hallway and back to your room. However, you are only five steps away when you hear Toriel behind you.
“Y/n, dear, are you alright?” You turn to her and nod slightly.
“I-I didn't want to get in the way.” You say, looking at the ground. You're slightly startled when Toriel brings you into a hug.
“My child, you are part of the family now. I promise, you won't be in the way.” She says softly. The words almost make you cry, but you take a deep breath and nod up at Toriel.
“Okay. Where do I sit?”
You end up sitting next to Frisk. You don't talk, but listening to the conversation is enough. Dinner is ravioli.
“THIS IS A FASCINATING FORM OF SPAGHETTI, QUEEN TORIEL.”
“heh, yeah. it might even be the spagreatest .”
“SANS! NO PUNS AT THE DINNER TABLE!”
“I agree with Sans, m’dear. Your food is great as always.” Frisk, Chara, and Asriel all nod in agreement, but don't pause in their eating to speak.
Asriel finishes first, and is bouncing in his seat again.
“Asriel, what is it?” Toriel chuckles.
“Do you have Butterscotch Cinnamon pie, Mom? Can we have some for dessert? Please? ” He asks, grinning eagerly. Chara’s eyes widen, and she quickly nods in agreement. Frisk giggles at their eagerness, signs ‘I can get it!’, and rushes to get the pie.
The pie is quite possibly the best thing you've ever eaten.
“Y’know, Asriel,” you start in between bites, “I think I see why this is your favorite. It's unpielievably good.” Sans snorts at your pun, Toriel and the kids giggle, and Asgore and Papyrus groan but still smile.
You're glad to be in such good compuny.