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Chapter Text

The mystery of Alphys' disappeared flower was finally solved - given life by determination, it left by itself to the King's garden.

If Mettaton's journalism was to be trusted, it claimed to be the long-dead prince Asriel. Though bizarre, it did convince the King, and Alphys did have her experiment flower go missing. The flower she took was from the king's garden, where the prince died, too.

Sans grabbed his phone. There were no texts from Alphys. He thought about whether she was panicking or didn't learn about the news yet. He couldn't figure out which one was more likely.

He looked back at the TV. Mettaton was talking about a speech that was about to begin in New Home. Maybe he should check it out.

The world went dark, and after just a moment, Sans was standing among the audience.

King Asgore spoke, mostly about the war he declared and how Asriel's return was a chance for peace. It made sense he'd focus on that, most monsters probably didn't care much about the Dreemurrs' family drama. The flower didn't look happy about being used for politics, though, which was fair.

The speech ended. Sans' phone started ringing. He took it out and was about to pick it up, but Alphys hung up before he did.

That was concerning. Sans decided he should check up on her.

He appeared in the lab to the sight of an abandoned chair and an open door to the basement. What was she doing there? And what was that… howling?

Did the fallen-down monsters really wake up? There were a lot of dog ones.

Sans walked up to the door and entered the elevator. Soon enough he was in the central room.

"Alphys?" He tried to call her, unsuccessfully. The howling came from one of the rooms ahead though, so Sans moved forward.

Maybe he shouldn't have. "Alphys…?"

What…

What the actual hell was that…?

"Alphys, what's going on? Are you OK?" He asked the only questions he could think of but got no answers.

He slowly took a few steps forward. "What… happened?"

"... what am I supposed to do?" Alphys finally spoke. At least there was that. Though, Sans had no idea what the answer to that question was.

Maybe there was a way to fix things? "Did you do anything different with that flower?" It was doing well, right?

"... What? Why are you asking about it all of a sudden?"

"Uh…" Sans took a second to think of how to explain that death is not actually permanent and people can come back to life, but remembered that Alphys already learned that. "It came back to life too and seems to be fine."

"So…" Alphys smiled. "There's hope for them."

"Yup. Just have to figure out what you did differently with him." Sans smiled back.

"Him…?" Alphys looked up at him. "Is there a bigger story here?"

"Would you believe me if I said that you revived the Prince of the Underground himself?"

Alphys just stared at Sans like he was insane, which was a reasonable conclusion to draw. "In any other circumstances, no. Today… I'll assume you wouldn't be pranking me at a time like this."

"Glad to hear you have so much faith in me." Sans joked. "Anyway, since you'll be, uh, busy, I'll try to find him."

"... Thank you." Alphys said quietly as he was leaving.

So, a really long war was over, just like that. Funnily enough, the day it ended was also the day Asriel learned it began in the first place. How long was he gone for? He wasn't sure.

His dad was so happy. Despite being the king, he wasn't made for conflict.

Asriel wondered if this war was the reason Mom wasn't in the castle anymore - Dad didn't want to tell Asriel why she was gone.

He decided to stop thinking about it and look around the semi-familiar place… and learn how to move without normal limbs. Vines and roots would have to do.

The biggest difference was the garden he woke up in. There was a variety of flowers in it before, but now only Chara's favorites covered the floor entirely.

Their house was, strangely enough, exactly the same, to the point it was rather uncanny. Unlike what felt to Asriel like just a day before, it was melancholic and… empty, in a way. The many vases of golden flowers seemed like the only living thing in the chilly corridors (was the cold new or did he just not feel it when he had fur?)

He passed through the most extravagant corridor of the castle. The golden floors, walls, and pillars reflected the little sunlight that passed through the Barrier, colored by the stained glass windows. It was as pretty as always.

He moved on and went toward the one room he had yet to see - the basement. It was nothing special, which was why he left it for last.

His interest peaked when Dad blocked the path and anxiously invited Asriel for tea. What was he hiding?

Sans wasn't sure if leaving Alphys alone in the lab was the right thing to do. To be honest, he was mostly looking for an excuse to leave.

In his defense, he WAS helping. There was a non-zero chance that finding the flower would lead to fixing this mess.

That was why Sans was currently at the castle's entrance. Theoretically, he could've appeared already inside, but he wasn't sure if he wasn't sure if it was appropriate (probably not).

He used his ability to skip the King's house (It felt weird to be in someone's home uninvited. Why was the castle designed like that, anyway?) and passed through the golden corridor.

The flower was in the garden, drinking tea with the king. Before Sans could decide whether to interrupt them or come back later, King Asgore noticed him and invited him to join.

"…Do we know each other? You seem familiar." the King asked.

"I, uh, know a lotta people." Sans answered quickly. "Your current Royal Scientist, Alphys, is one of them."

"Current…" the king repeated quietly. Ugh, he figured it out, didn't he?

Thankfully, he changed the subject (and the flower didn't seem to hear).

Asriel DID hear that, contrary to what the short (not much taller than a FLOWER. A flower!) skeleton seemed to hope for.

Asriel could figure him out later. For now, he listened to what he had to say.

"So, a few days ago, one of the golden flowers in her lab disappeared." The skeleton began. "We've been trying to figure out what happened to it…"

"And you think that's me?" Asriel asked when he noticed the man staring at him.

"Yup. Seems like a good idea to learn how you came back to life."

Indeed, it sounded good, but Asriel couldn't agree to help. He planned on finding his mom to learn about what happened when he was gone. He'd be busy, and wasn't sure if Dad would approve of the idea.

"What do you think about this idea, Asriel?" Dad asked him, smiling.

"... I'll think about it. I'm still figuring everything out, haha." He lied in response. It felt bad, but he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to talk with Mom.

 Dad looked back at the skeleton. "If Asriel decides to work with the Royal Scientist, I will write a message to her."

"I'll tell her to look out for it." He replied and got up from his chair. "See you around, Prince."

"... Yeah."

Chapter Text

As Sans was about to leave, the flower moved up to him. "What is it?"

"I wanted to ask… Do you know what happened to the Queen?" He asked.

"Huh? The queen… Aren't you better off asking your dad 'bout her?" Sans said, realizing immediately after that he was probably being asked instead for a reason. "Though, I've heard that she left to the Ruins."

"Thanks." The prince disappeared into the ground (after hitting his head on the floor on his first attempt).

Asriel moved through the soil, realizing just how varied it is in different regions. When he finally reached the edge of the Snowdin Forest, he dug himself out on the other side of the Ruins' entrance.

There was light at its end, shining from Mom's home. Only now Asriel started thinking how he'd explain everything to her.

In the meantime, he explored the place. The layout was exactly the same as in New Home, but what would be Dad's room was being renovated.

He entered what was long ago his room. Unlike the New Home version, it changed throughout the years. There was now a box of shoes in different sizes. His toys were disorganized, clearly used… But by who?

Asriel had so many questions. He had to ask them to Mom - she lived here, so she had to know.

She was sitting in her armchair, rereading her favorite book about snails. Asriel took a deep breath and stood in front of her.

"Howdy!" Introduction done, but how was he supposed to continue?

Mom slowly put down her book, staring at him in disbelief.

"Asriel…"

Wait, she knew? How? Well, he WAS on the news, but weren't the Ruins isolated from the rest of the kingdom?

His confusion must have been visible on his face because Mom answered his questions… Somewhat. "Ah! That was rather unexpected, was it not? I have heard of you coming back as a flower… I am so, so glad to see you again."

"... Me too."

"It surely is an occasion to be celebrated, is it not?" Mom got up from the armchair. "A snail pie would be perfect. Do you not think so, too?"

Sans walked up to a wall and used it instead of a desk (since Alphys' was a mess) to write a to-do list. He drew a horizontal line through the middle and wrote their names at the top.

"First thing, we need to feed them. There's a lot of dog food in stores around Snowdin, so I'll get that." He said as he wrote "dog food" under his name.

"The rest of them seem content with just the chips…" Alphys noted. "I can get some when I go get more ramen."

"You'll also clean your desk, this is not a comfortable way to write." Sans complained.

Alphys tried to object, but his no-pupil glare intimidated her successfully. "Y-You'd think I'd get used to that by now."

"Ah!" Just as he turned back to the list, a notification spooked her. She took out her phone. "Sorry, it's… FROM ASGORE!"

Sans turned toward her again. "The prince is coming? When?"

"No… no…" Alphys kept staring at the phone. "He's… missing."

Asriel was not a golden flower anymore. Not only his petals, but his stem and leaves were white.

"Haha… Oh dear, it seems that you are a flour flower now!" Mom laughed, not taking it seriously. How could she, he was SUFFERING. SUFFERING!

As reverenge, he shook the flour off. It covered most of Mom's robe (and probably fur, but it was already white, so he could neither confirm nor deny.)

She put the pie into the oven. With a wave of a hand, there was a flame below. Asriel couldn't help but think about how he would never get to learn fire magic.

It didn't matter. In about 2 hours he'd get to eat snail pie! Last time he did was… he wasn't sure.

Definitely before Chara, though. They were disgusted by the idea for some incomprehensible reason. (As much as he loved them, they had horrible taste sometimes.)

Chapter Text

"A lot has changed." Asriel said in between bites of pie.

"It sure did, my child." Mom looked at him fondly. "I missed you."

"Sorry, I'd visit earlier, but I didn't know where to find you. So… What happened while I was gone?"

"Umm…" Mom looked away.

"Mom, I KNOW something went wrong." Asriel pressed. "First of all, you're living here. Second, Dad is hiding things from me ALL the time… THIRD…"

"Asriel…" Mom tried to say something but trailed off.

"THIRD, you CLEARLY gave MY room to some kids and couldn't be BOTHERED to TELL ME?! Literally ANY random passerby would tell me MORE than BOTH of you combined!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT?! I'll do that RIGHT NOW!" Asriel yelled before Mom had a chance to stop him.

Sans appeared in his house. He put the second bag of dog food in his room (the first one was already at Alphys' lab.) He went to the living room and sat on the couch.

Papyrus was in the kitchen, constantly turning his attention from the fridge to the stove. Sans instinctually looked around the room in search of the fire extinguisher.

"OH, SANS!" Papyrus finally noticed his brother. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"Helping out an old friend of mine." Sans didn't think telling more was a good idea. "What about you?"

"I WAS TRAINING WITH THE CAPTAIN AGAIN!" Papyrus answered excitedly. "WHAT'S THAT LOOK… OH. DON'T WORRY, SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING CRAZY TODAY."

The "today" didn't help his case. It was a well-known fact that Captain Undyne was… enthusiastic about her job, putting it lightly. Sans just hoped his brother wouldn't end up like the infamous training dummy in front of the Captain's house.

Instead of arguing about it, Sans turned on the TV. "The Prince is missing" was written in big, bold letters at the bottom of the screen.

Damn it. Sans should've thought more about telling the guy where the Queen was. He supposed that someone else would answer the question at some point, though.

Those kids were human.

They were humans, and Dad killed them.

The Loox which Asriel asked wasn't too moved by that. Neither was the Vegetoid next to it or the Froggit standing by a door (though Asriel wasn't sure about the latter.)

They didn't care. They didn't know that humans could be kind. They didn't know that humans could be caring. They didn't know that humans could be like Chara.

But Dad did. Dad knew Chara. Dad taught Chara how to garden for years. Dad DARED to keep the sweater Chara spent so, SO many hours making for him because they LOVED him.

And Mom… She was MUCH better, but couldn't say no to children, just like when Asriel had that role years ago. She LET THEM leave, and Asgore did what seemed to be his thing now.

At least SHE wasn't a traitor. Asgore acted as if he wasn't a horrible person. As if he wasn't a MURDERER.

Asriel didn't want to see him EVER again. Going back to Mom didn't sound well either, though.

He supposed he could explore the rest of the Underground. The other places must've changed even more, since they're inhabited by younger (and more) monsters.

He did just that. He decided to skip Snowdin (it was so cold without fur), at least for now. He dug himself out in Waterfall.

It was calm as always. The crystals on the walls reflected colorful light and the rain played its ancient melody.

The piano Chara loved so much was still there and connected to the door. The two of them spent days getting it to work. Good times.

One thing changed: the room was now used by a dog to hide a spherical object. It ran away with it before Asriel could see it up close, though.

The music box in the statue still worked as intended, to Asriel's surprise. The water didn't break it and it was still positioned in a way that made the handle of an umbrella turn it on.

He didn't want to go searching for one, so he used his vines instead. It seemed there were benefits to being a flower after all.

The song was quite nostalgic. It was the first one he taught Chara how to play, and it soon became their favorite. He'd give away everything he had left to hear them hum quietly to the sound of their piano, thinking he couldn't hear it.

When he thought about it, he realized that he didn't HAVE much to give away anymore. Reborn decades after his time, in a world that changed so much it was almost unfamiliar. The few friends he might have had most likely died of old age and his family was shattered in every possible way…

He turned the music box off and moved further toward Hotland. The ground was hot, as expected. Dad was NOT good at naming, and this was just one of many examples.

Without much thought, Asriel moved toward the source of the heat - the burning lava (or did it count as magma, since it wasn't on the surface?). He could feel the sheer dryness on his petals. It felt almost peaceful. He wondered if Chara felt that way too.

Hmm… If he were to move just a bit closer, could he join them? Meet them, even? See them smile and cry at his sight, get to call THEM a "crybaby" (affectionately, of course)!

He decided to check. Follow them to the end and beyond.

Would there be a beyond?

Does reality give second chances?

As he was falling, he couldn't help but doubt. Chara's pessimism must have rubbed off on him.

There was one thing he DIDN'T doubt. Chara… didn't want him to die back then. Themselves? Sure. Humans? Fine. Good, even. Their FAMILY? Absolutely NOT.

Asriel couldn't meet them like this. Not by throwing away what they wanted the most. Not by being a disappointment.

He couldn't die.

And now, he didn't want to, either.

Amidst the darkness, a light appeared. A vine grabbed it, and for a moment, the world turned white.

Chapter Text

When the world suddenly went dark, with just a single, barely visible light in the distance, Sans was concerned. On further consideration, calling the feeling concern was a massive understatement.

The light grew stronger. It resembled those "black holes" Sans sometimes read about in various astrological books from the Surface, though unlike them, it **emitted** light.

Its edge approached Sans too quickly for him to react. He supposed there wasn't much he could do anyway.

Even though he closed his eyes and covered them with his arms, it was still blinding. Finally, the edge reached him and went right through effortlessly.

It felt... soft. Sans didn't know what he did expect, but certainly not this. Almost like a pillow.

He then realized it was, indeed, a pillow. His pillow, on his bed, in his room. This was very normal, but felt bizarre.

He decided that he should get up. After doing so, he reached for his phone.

It was the middle of the night. It followed that there were no messages, and even Alphys was not an exception this time. She was probably tired from the whole deal with... *them*. They'd need a better name if this was going to last.

Sans considered going back to sleep, but strangely, he didn't feel tired. It seemed his mind still thought it was the middle of the day. He couldn't blame it, the dream was very realistic, unlike any other he had before.

There was no point thinking about it so much. Since he had time, he could bring the second dog food bag to Alphys. He turned toward his drawer chest.

It wasn't there. Did that dog take it? It seemed like the most likely answer, but how would it take such a giant bag and be unnoticed by Papyrus?

Maybe Sans actually left it somewhere else, or maybe Papyrus moved it. It sounded like a good idea to check.

Sans opened the door and looked around the corridor. He didn't find anything and was found by Papyrus instead.

His younger brother was doing something on the first floor. "SANS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING SO LATE?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Are you gonna tell me how often you work at 3AM this time, or...?"

"... Um... not all that often." Papyrus said, not convincingly.

"... Eh, sure, whatever. It's not like I can pick you up and put you in your super cool bed by force anymore. By the way, have you seen that poodle?"

"UGH, WHAT DID IT DO? NO, I HAVEN'T SEEN FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW. I THOUGHT THAT'S A GOOD SIGN, BUT IT SEEMS IT CAN BE SNEAKY NOW..."

"It took some stuff I was supposed to get for a friend. I'll look around, it could still be close." Sans said as he opened the front door, then left.

So the world does give second chances after all. Actually, no, it was Asriel's third chance already.

The weirdest thing about this chance was not that it was a third one, but the fact that he was intact, seemingly sleeping in Asgore's garden instead of being surrounded by healers, gardeners, or cameras.

How did he get away from what should've been certain death THIS time?

The best thing he could do was leave Asgore's place to look around again. He dove into the ground and dug until Hotland.

The place where he fell was normal. Too normal, considering what he just did. Well, maybe not "just" - he wasn't sure how much time passed. He should check.

Well, the Royal Scientist's lab was nearby. "Alphys" already wanted to meet him, so why not? There would probably be a calendar or something there, right?

The little white dog was nowhere to be found. When Sans was about to take out his phone to check just how much time he wasted, he got a call.

By the time he had it in his hands, Alphys hung up. Sans didn't like that it was slowly becoming a habit.

The first call was missing from his phone's call history. Unlike the missing bag, Sans had no reasonable explanation for that. He decided to visit Alphys before considering the unreasonable ones.

He appeared in the lab to the sight of an abandoned chair and an open door to the basement. One of *them* was howling, presumably the dog one.

Sans walked up to the door and entered the elevator. Soon enough he was in the central room.

"Alphys?" He tried to call her, unsuccessfully. The howling came from one of the rooms ahead (the same one as last time) though, so Sans moved forward.

She was sitting on the floor, right in front of *them*. Sans walked up to the two of them. "Hey, Alphys, what's going on?"

"AH!" She turned around. "What are you doing he- Oh, right, I called you."

A realization hit Sans as Alphys was explaining. He already knew all this. She **should** know that he does. The unreasonable explanation was becoming more and more likely...

"You must have noticed by now..."

"WHA-" Sans turned around.

It was one of *them*. Their whole "head" was just a giant mouth with teeth outside of it. It was the best at speech out of all of *them*, maybe even a bit too good, it was awfully loud.

"The repetition. The light."

"S-Sans, are YOU okay? Do you know what it thinks you "noticed"?" Alphys grabbed his sleeve. Did the fear make her forget the horror?

"The flower will tell you if you reach out."

Chapter Text

After digging his way from New Home to Hotland, Asriel entered the Lab. It was strangely empty...

Except for one slightly open door. Asriel could barely hear someone's voice coming from what seemed to be a basement. Without much thought, he opened it fully and went down.

After leaving the elevator and following the voices for a few minutes, Asriel finally reached the people he heard from above.

One of them was a yellow, reptile-like monster wearing a white lab coat. She must have been the current Royal Scientist.

The other was... the short skeleton who visited him and Asgore before. Asriel didn't really expect him to be here, but that DID make sense.

He was talking with yet another person, who was...

What... "What... is that...?"

Alphys quickly turned around. She looked at him, horrified. Whether it was because she didn't want him to see THAT, or because she was just as horrified of it as he was, Asriel didn't know. Maybe both.

The skeleton was staring at him as well. He seemed... less disturbed (though still disturbed), thinking.

Something was breathing heavily right behind Asriel.

He cautiously turned around to see a giant mouth.

"You're finally here."

Asriel quickly turned around again, trying to think of a way to escape.

Fortunately, he didn't have to. With a swift movement of the skeleton's arm, he was pulled away from it. The man's previously glowing eye then turned pitch black, glaring at the creature. Asriel was very glad that the glare was on his side...

It quickly left, though seemingly not scared. Must have finally figured out it's NOT welcome.

"You okay, kid?" The skeleton asked, now in front of Asriel.

"It's, uh, it's FINE..." The boy lied, mostly to himself. "I'll ask again: what was THAT?!"

With a lot of of stuttering, the Royal Scientist explained. She got something she called "determination" from the human SOULs Asgore collected and injected it into dying monsters, which brought them back to life... like this.

"A-and... I... did it to a flower, too." She added. "The first Golden Flower to grow in the King's garden... It... has to be you, r-right?"

That... made sense. It brought THEM back, so it could revive HIM...

She then started panicking about everything she could think of, from him knowing her secrets, through accidentally "creating life", to even getting him a place to live... Seemingly forgetting that he's royalty and lives with King Asgore in a castle. Well, not ANYMORE, but she shouldn't know that.

"Hey, Alphys, it'll be fine. Uh, he can live at my place...? Yeah, Papyrus could use some company." The man tried to calm her down. He then turned to Asriel. "You up for living with me and my brother?"

"Sure." Whatever made things less awkward. And to be fair, he WAS homeless right now and didn't intend on going back to Asgore or Mom for now. "I don't really have a place to go."

After a bit more planning and organizing, they were finally about to leave. The man touched one of Asriel's petals, and... Everything went dark.

After a moment, Asriel could see again. They were... in a completely different room.

"SANS!!!" Papyrus jumped, almost dropping a plate.

A very familiar smell was coming from the kitchen. It made Sans immediately understand.

He ran toward the fire extinguisher. "You were cooking, weren't you?!"

He grabbed it and turned to the stove, which was soon enough entirely covered in white foam.

After a moment, he heard a voice coming from the living room. "This happens often, doesn't it?"

Damn it, this was a horrible first impression...

Instead of answering the question, Sans started introducing their guest to Papyrus. "This is... a friend-of-a-friend. He'll be staying in my room for the time being."

"A ROOMMATE?! WOWIE! I CAN'T WAIT TO SHOW YOU AROUND MY ROOM! AND THE HOUSE IN GENERAL. AND SNOWDIN AS A WHOLE." Papyrus sounded very excited.

Most people would struggle to tell it apart from his usual manner of speech, and the prince was very visibly one of them. Sans, however, did it with absolutely no difficulty. He didn't even realize that others did until he heard almost every frequent visitor of their house complain about it...

"... I SHOULD PROBABLY ASK WHERE YOU'RE FROM BEFORE THE LAST ONE."

The question made the flower look up, with eyes wide open. "Y-yeah, it's... Hotland. H-hehe..."

That might have been the most awkwardly spoken sentence Sans has ever heard. It was CERTAINLY top 10, anyway.

"W-well, since there's so much to see, we could s-start, right?" The prince looked at Sans, seemingly begging to be saved from the conversation.

Sans obliged. "We can, uh, skip the kitchen... The rest of the first floor is the living room. Not much to say..." He took a few steps towards the staircase. His brother and new housemate followed.

Papyrus soon took over the tour guide role. "BEHOLD! THE COOLEST ROOM IN THIS HOUSE, NYEH HEH HEH!"

The fact that the car bed, which Sans spent hours working on, was almost completely omitted did NOT hurt. Not. At. All.

Maybe a little. Sans was well-aware that it was highly appreciated, though.

The prince and Papyrus spent most of their time looking at the table of action figures. They seemed to fascinate the flower a lot.

They eventually ran out of figures to look at and moved further down the corridor, Papyrus briefly commenting on the bone painting. The door to Sans' own room was still glowing... He must have forgotten to turn that off.

It seemed to confuse the prince, which was fair. Sans could not be bothered to explain though, so he swiftly opened the door and turned on the lights before digging himself into an even deeper hole of inevitable questioning.

He stopped the trash tornado kicked away its contents before either of his companions entered the room. He turned towards his mattress and straightened the blanket with a bit of blue magic. "Uh, not much to see here. That means plenty of space for a roommate though, right?"

"Yeah. I suppose so..."

Papyrus did not say a thing. The look he gave Sans while he was trying to hide all the trash and socks under the mattress was more than enough information.

"SO, THIS IS IT... I SHOULD GO CLEAN UP IN THE KITCHEN. HAVE FUN!" He gave Sans one last glare before shutting the door.

"He'll be busy for an hour or so." Sans turned towards the prince. "Meanwhile, we're gonna have to talk about a LOT."

He touched the flower and appeared with him in the workshop.