Asriel stirred. His head groggy, he took a moment to regain his composure. What time was it? He looked at his hands. His… hands? He could feel the ground beneath his feet, the beating of his heart, his slow but steady breathing... he could feel! He wasn't Flowey anymore! He took a deep breath and sat back down on the cold earth, an unnaturally wide grin covered his face from ear to ear...

Then he remembered; he was taking Frisk to the others. His smile faded as hurriedly looked around for the child. "Don't worry Frisk, I'm-" When he saw Frisk, something looked… off about him. He was paler than normal, and he seemed unnaturally still. Asriel went to touch him, shocked and horrified to find that he was cold. He listened for a heartbeat, only to find there was none. He searched for some sign of life, something, anything, but there was nothing. He had failed again. Another life gone, because of him. He hunched over the lifeless form, and began to sob. Light was leaking through a small hole, filling the room with a scarlet glow.

After so long without, Asriel was shocked at the strength of the sadness. He couldn't move, he could barely breathe, it hurt so badly. It was half an hour before he subsided enough to sit back up, feeling drained. He wiped the white fur around his eyes, now stained with tears. He couldn't stay here forever. Frisk deserves a proper burial at least, as thanks for everything he did. There would be more time for this sadness later. Picking up the body, Asriel continued on.

As he passed through the house, full of fond memories, Asriel wanted nothing more than to sit down and rest. Instead he continued on, passing through the dark and gloomy basement, his paws touching the chilled floor. He emerged out into the whirling Snowdin winds, suddenly not so grateful for his ability to feel. Having spent countless hours in this place as Flowey, he thought he was ready for the cold, but it instead seemed to slip right through his baggy sweater, chilling his very bones. He persevered and pushed forward towards the town.

Around halfway to Snowdin, Asriel froze in place. Out of the darkness, he saw a familiar form emerge, and she was the person he wanted to see both the most and the least right now. Toriel, his mother. He figured she was worried about Frisk, and came looking for him. Fighting the immediate instinct to jump into his mother's arms, he clutched the corpse, looking down. He couldn't bear to see her face like this.

Toriel was just as conflicted as he was. She looked from Frisk's grey stillness to the spectre of her lost son. She couldn't decide whether to embrace Asriel in an enormous hug, or to hunch over crying, so instead she stood there with a blank expression on her face. For a moment, the only sound was the wind howling in the distance.

Asriel broke the silence.

"H-Howdy! It's me."

No longer able to hold it in, Toriel collapsed to her knees, hands covering her face. Asriel slowly walked up to her and rubbed his hand against her back. At his prompting, they wordlessly moved into the town, taking refuge from the biting winds in the old bar. Toriel's weeping only grew louder as Asriel sat her down at a booth. Placing Frisk at another table, he silently embraced his mother with a guilty expression. In between her bouts of sobbing, he managed to utter "I'm sorry. This is my fault." Toriel turned to look at her son with a look of disbelief, a few stray tears still rolling down her face. "If it wasn't for me then he wouldn't have…" he trailed off. "I… I… I should have stayed a Flower!" he shouted as his head dropped, nuzzling itself into Toriel's lap.

He felt a warm embrace from above. "Don't ever say that again, my child." Toriel said, sniffling. "Frisk gave up so much for you, how do you think he would feel if you didn't use that gift of his?"

Asriel peeked up from under Toriel's robe, stealing a glance a Frisk. Suddenly, he burst out, "I'm sorry! I'm so selfish…!" reinserting his muzzle into his mother's clothes as he began to cry. It was a terrible, loud cry that sounded like a cross between a shout and a sob, interrupted occasionally with a bout of sniffing. Toriel could only comfort him as tears and snot ran down his pained face.

It was getting late by the time Asriel had finally tired of crying, and after scrounging for some food behind the counter, they decided to set off again. As they neared the throne room, Asriel got more and more nervous. "I really don't wanna see my dad all emotional…" he said, clutching Toriel's hand.

"Don't worry, I warned him with a text. Let's just hope he isn't too bad." she said with an exhausted smile.

"And we're gonna, um, bury Frisk, right?"

"...Yes, we are." she said with a solemn look on her face, as if suddenly remembering.

"I'm back." she announced as she walked into the room. "And I've got someone for you to meet. Come on, Asriel." She whispered as she pulled him out from behind her.

"Uhh... " he awkwardly began. "Howdy! I'm Asrie-Ack!" was all he could get out before the king scooped him up, squeezing him so hard he thought he'd be crushed. "D-Dad, can't… breathe…" he managed to sputter, his face turning blue.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, realizing what he was doing. "Sorry! I just... It's so good to see you again." he said with a smile. "...It's amazing, you look just like you did back then." A tear started to form in his eye.

"Don't you get all emotional with me too!" Asriel groaned. "I've had to deal with enough of that already."

"Oh, sorry." he apologized, briefly wiping his face. "By the way, where's Frisk?" He looked around excitedly. Asriel's face fell.

Toriel started to answer, but trailed off, "Well… Frisk is…" She briefly went away, coming back with the child's dead body in her arms.

Asgore stood there in shock, the color draining from his face. "Oh… I see…"

For a while, everyone stood there in silence, mourning the passing of their dear friend. Even Papyrus, whose unique personality managed to always lift everyone's spirits, had nothing to say.

Alphys eventually blurted out, "I shouldn't have let him go." All eyes turned on her. "I… I knew w-what he was doing, but I didn't know he'd… At the very least I should've gone with him. Or-Or-"

"Alphys, it's okay." Asgore said with a warm smile, the rest following suit "You can't change the past. And somehow, I think we all knew that Frisk… Well, he was very determined to see things through."

"W-Were you the one who found a way to save me?" Asriel asked the former royal scientist.

"Y-Y-Yes? It wasn't much, really." she said, trying to downplay it, her face turning red.

"Well, umm... Thank you. I really appreciate it." he said shyly looking down.

"No problem…" she said, still blushing.

Asgore interjected, "Now, we should have a proper funeral for Frisk."

Though he said "proper," the service was actually quite makeshift. Crafting a homemade tombstone and pulling out an old dusty coffin from the basement, they dug a small ditch in the flower bed of the throne room. As they put Frisk's body inside and lowered it down, everyone said one final goodbye. They all thanked him for his hard work, kindness, and determination, before lowering the dirt to fill up the hole. As the moon began to rise above Mt. Ebott, they all stepped out into the night, feeling the cool breeze on their faces, and looking over the endless opportunities that Frisk had opened up for them.

On the tombstone, there was only a single sentence. It read, "Thank you for everything."

Thanks to MotifAnon and Doogle for proofreading, and thank you for reading my story.