No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

49 ~ Asriel is Dead

It takes you a little while to figure out what to say. How do you tell your mother that the Soulless murder flower is actually her son? More importantly, how do you say it nicely? How do you say it kindly, without breaking her Soul?

Toriel seems to see your hesitancy. "Frisk," she says gently, "it's okay. Please, just tell me."

You nod again, and take a deep breath. With just a glance at Flowey, who still seems to be in shock, you begin. "You remember how I said- I said that Flowey absorbed the six humans Souls and all the monster Souls, and when he fought me, he used so much power that he broke the Barrier?"

Toriel nods. That's what you told them, the story you fabricated to tell what happened.

"Well, um... when he did that, with the power equal to seven human Souls... he turned into Asriel. Like, the real Asriel Dreemurr, with horns and floppy ears and a fancy robe and everything. And he-... After I fought him, he broke the Barrier, and gave all the Souls back... and turned back into Flowey."

Toriel looks from you to Flowey, then back to you. "But... how?"

"... As close as I can figure out, when Asriel died, his dust spread out in the throne room, and in the ground... and when the golden flowers grew there, they absorbed his essence. And then, Alphys did the Determination experiments with the flower and..." You gesture to Flowey. He seems to be recovering from his shock, but he's not saying anything.

"Why... Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Asriel asked me not to. Just before he turned back into Flowey, he told me not to tell you because... because he didn't want to hurt you."

Toriel looks back at Flowey. She's on the verge of tears.

"Don't." Flowey's word comes as a sharp stab in the silence.

"Wh-what?"

"Don't look at me like that. I know what you're thinking; you're thinking oh, all this time, my son Asriel has been right here, and now I know, I have my son back, but you don't."

Toriel takes a shaky breath. "A-Asriel-"

"STOP IT!" Flowey screeches. "Didn't you hear me?! I'M. NOT. ASRIEL! I have his memories, but I'm not him! I don't have a Soul! I'm not Asriel, I'm FLOWEY!" He looks away, still scowling. "Gaster is right. Asriel is dead. He's never coming back, and I'm just a soulless memory."

There's silence for a long time. Toriel is looking at her hands. Then, slowly, she says, "I... I need to think about this for a while. You two can go."

You nod in understanding. It's not much information, but it's still a lot to take in. So you stand up and pick up Flowey.

Maybe, you think, you should go check on Gaster and Sans and Papyrus. You glance at Flowey. He's scowling, his expression not only saying that he hates everything, but that he's legitimately angry at everything in the world.

Maybe you shouldn't take him with you.

So you drop him off in your room, setting his pot on your nightstand. "I'll be back in a little while, alright?"

Flowey doesn't respond.

"Flowey?"

"Just go already, geez! Leave me alone!"

You sigh a little. "Okay. See you later."

You head downstairs, and poke your head into the kitchen. Toriel is still sitting at the kitchen table. "I'm gonna go check on Gaster, Sans, and Papyrus, 'kay?"

She just nods.

So you step outside, and pull out your phone. After a moment, you decide to call Papyrus, because Gaster is probably still really mad, and Sans is probably doing his best to calm Gaster down, and would be less sympathetic to an interruption than Papyrus.

After a moment, Papyrus answers his phone. "Hello?"

"Papyrus?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?"

"We're at the l-"

There's a loud noise on the other end, like a roar and a crash and an explosion all at once.

"What was that?!" You ask as soon as the sound abates.

"U-um," comes the reply, "that was Dad. He's- he's blowing things up."

The sound repeats itself, with slightly more bang this time.

"Uhh-- okay, I'm on my way."

"Okay! Just-" another explosion in the background, "-be careful!"

You agree and hang up. Then you're racing to the lab.

The lab construction is almost finished. All that's left is the roof, and it'll be done. It's a big building, even bigger now that Gaster had it rebuilt and a residency added onto the side for the skeleton family to live in.

You come inside, and step into the elevator, hitting the button for the basement floor (Gaster's personal lab is the only basement level now, since most of the lab extends upwards rather than down. You asked him why he needed a personal lab when he had the whole five-story building to himself, and he said he plans to hire more scientists. This was quickly followed by a comment from Sans about firing those scientists.)

You haven't seen the basement since it was just a hole in the ground, and you have to admit, it's pretty impressive. The hallway the elevator door opens into is long and spaciously lit, the floor dark linoleum and the walls, bricks with a stripe of tile at about shoulder height. There are five doors, two on either side of the hallway, and one at the end. The two on the left are steel, or some similar metal, the one closest to the elevator looking like a sealed vault door or a bunker hatch. The doors on the right are made of some heavy, dark wood. And the door at the end looks like the door to the principal's office at school, wood with a frosted glass window at the top, and a metal plaque clearly stating the office beyond as belonging to Dr. WD Gaster. (You still have to figure out what WD stands for.)

It's easy to tell where everyone is- the noise coming from the second door on the left is a dead giveaway. So you walk up to the door, take a deep breath, and push it open.

§

A/N

For anyone in the USA, happy Independence Day!! For anyone else, uh...

Happy Tuesday, I guess.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments ad votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!