"H-hey! Nobody hurt each other!"

"…"

"Oh! Are you another friend? I am Toriel. Hello!"

"Uh, h-h-hi!"

"HEY! NOBODY FIGHT ANYONE! IF ANYONE FIGHTS ANYONE…! THEN I'LL BE FORCED! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!"

"Hello"

"OH, HELLO YOUR MAJESTY! PSST, HEY, HUMAN. DID ASGORE SHAVE? AND… CLONE HIMSELF?"

"hey guys… what's up?"

"That voice…! Hello, I think we may... know each other?"

"oh hey… i recognize your voice, too."

"I am Toriel. So nice to meet you."

"the name's sans. and, uh, same."

"Oh, wait, then… this must be your brother, Papyrus! Greetings, Papyrus! It is so nice to finally meet you! Your brother has told me so much about you!"

"WOWIE! I CAN'T BELIEVE ASGORE'S CLONE KNOWS WHO I AM!"

And, thusly, it continued. Frisk watched with what can only be described as euphoria as they saw their friends meet and befriend each other once again. They had seen this scene so many times, and yet… they never really got used to it. They found themselves repeatedly RESETting just so they could watch it happen again. And, of course, for one other reason.

But, they knew what came next. They knew the pain that they would have to endure at the hands of ASRIEL DREEMUR. But each time, they tried something different. Something that, somehow, could keep Asriel in existence. But they always failed. They could never protect him from turning back into Flowey. But they would try again. They would keep trying.

Frisk was filled with DETERMINATION. They put their head down and muttered a quiet apology to their friends, one that they knew they would notice, but not pay attention to. It was an apology for forcing them to go through what they were about to have to go through again and again.

"I'm sorry."

"what was that, kid?"

Before Sans had time to question Frisk's silence, he and the rest of his group were suddenly wrapped in rapidly extending electrified green vines.

"You idiots. While you guys were having your little pow-wow… I took the human SOULS! And now, not only are THOSE under my power… but all of your FRIENDS' SOULS are gonna be mine, too! He, he, he! And you know what the best part is… It's all, your fa-"

"Shut up and get to the point, Flowey."

The murderously-inclined plant was quite surprised by this sudden interruption of his monologue.

"W-what?"

"Just take the SOULS and get started. I need to talk to ASRIEL."

"Uuhh… how did you… I don't understand…"

"You are talking to someone who can RESET freely with absolutely no negative consequences. Please, Flowey. Just turn into ASRIEL. We need to talk."

"I… um…"

"Just take the SOULS and get it over with so my friends don't have to suffer any longer, ok? I swear, don't give up on your plans now."

"You… you… w-win? B-but… that's impossible. You're bluffing! I'll become a GOD and show you what power is!"

"That's a wonderful idea. Now, get it done with!"

"Fine. YOUR SOULS ARE MINE!"

Suddenly, a blast of white light filled the entire Underground as Flowey absorbed the SOULS of every monster there. Except for Nabstablook, but, by his own admission, he didn't really matter anyway. And in a moment, Flowey was gone. In his place was the Prince of Monsters, ASRIEL DREEMUR.

"Howdy! You said you wanted to get to the point, right? Well… in that case, let's get introductions out of the way. You can call me… ASRIEL DREEMUR."

Suddenly, another flash of light exploded in Frisk's eyes. In an instant, rather than the small, unimposing goat child that had been there before, the peak of monster evolution stood. ASRIEL was a god.

"Great. I'm Frisk. And trust me, ASRIEL… if you don't want to be a flower again… then I'm your best friend."

"How do you know what it is that you know? How could you possibly know my name, know how much I hated being a flower? How, Frisk?"

"ASRIEL, I know this probably sounds crazy, but I've been through this a thousand times. You try to kill me… but you can't. I have too much DETERMINATION. My SOUL refuses to die, even when you try to erase me from existence. You use first a fraction of your power, and then you use all of it. But you can never win. At first, you want to destroy everything. To get back at the world that was so cruel to you. But you eventually give up. You just want to RESET. To do it all over again. But even that fails. I SAVE my friends' SOULS, and then I SAVE yours. You turn back to your form as a child, you destroy the Barrier, and then you walk away. And, eventually, you become Flowey once again. You don't understand how many millions of times I've tried to talk down Flowey, to try to get him to listen, to try to get him to feel. But he just can't. We get our happy ending, and you live down here forever. You never see the sunlight. You never live in happiness. You just rot down here as a flower that wants to destroy everything. And I don't want that to happen, ASRIEL. I want to find a way to SAVE you. But I can't do that if you don't help me. Please, ASRIEL. Please."

ASRIEL closed his eyes. He was thinking. Emotions rushed over him. He couldn't decide whether to trust Frisk or, perhaps, just do what they said. But he couldn't do that. He knew he didn't want to ever be a flower again. He wanted to be free, to be himself.

But he wasn't going to give up on everything he believed in on the off chance that what this human said was the truth.

"NO DEAL!"

ASRIEL hurled a massive fireball at Frisk, who didn't even dodge. The attack struck, and Frisk was hurled downward with massive force. As the human's body hit the ground, a sickening "crunch" could be heard as his bones shattered. ASRIEL floated down to what was now nothing more than a charred corpse, sitting in a pile of blood, flame still licking away at its clothes and hair.

"So it wasn't true. He was bluffing the whole ti-"

Frisk's SOUL had floated out of the body, cracks running down it. The damage to it grew and grew, until it split directly in half. Then, suddenly, the pieces seemed to magnify back together.

It floated back into Frisk's body, and a blinding flash of light could be seen.

"W-what just happened? What was that!?"

"You tried to destroy my SOUL, ASRIEL."

Frisk clenched their fists.

"but it refused."

"Well, I'd like to see you come back from this!"

ASRIEL grabbed Frisk and threw them into the air, where he caused dozens of massive stars to fall from the sky, each one hitting harder than a thousand nuclear bombs. Again, Frisk didn't even bother dodging. The first star's impact struck, and Frisk was whipped around like a ragdoll. By the time the second hit them, they were blown into dozens of pieces. Again, the SOUL shattered, regrew, and all of Frisk's body parts simply pulled into one again.

Frisk held on to their hopes.

ASRIEL prepared SHOCKER BREAKER, and blasted Frisk with thousands of lighting bolts. Again, they didn't so much as flinch at the impact. But, somehow, by some miracle, Frisk survived.

"H-how! I can understand you coming back to life, but how could you possibly survive that!"

Frisk thought about why they were there. They dared to dream.

"Why you! I'll… I'll…"

ASRIEL suddenly summoned in two massive blades, and sliced at Frisk repeatedly. Each impact severed a limb, lacerated part of Frisk's torso.

When the move had finally ended, Frisk had been reduced to less than 1 HP. But they had their dreams. And through DETERMINATION, the dream came true!

ASRIEL'S mouth was agape as he watched Frisk simply heal, and in a few seconds, the human didn't have a scratch on them.

"I-impossible! I am ASRIEL DREEMUR!"

"And I am Frisk. I'm ten years old. I'm a normal human kid. And I have DETERMINATION"

"Well… let's see what your DETERMINATION is against THIS!"

ASRIEL charged the CHAOS BLASTER and fired. The massive beam struck Frisk, burning them down to a skeleton. After the move had finished, ASRIEL called down a massive star from the heavens, which exploded on top of Frisk, completely atomizing them.

But it refused.

In just a moment, Frisk had returned from the dead yet again.

"Can't you see, ASRIEL? Don't you understand? The first time I did this, I was full of DETERMINATION. DETERMINATION to SAVE my friends, DETERMINATION to survive, DETERMINATION to get the happy ending. But now, ASRIEL… I have something more to be determined about. I have DETERMINATION to save you, ASRIEL."

"I-I… I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!"

ASRIEL began shifting, and the timeline suddenly collapsed. He was not playing around. The universe was gone. Time was gone. Space was gone. The only timeline left was the splinter of one that Frisk was currently standing on.

"I know what you're about to do, ASRIEL. Destroying the timelines won't stop me. There's nothing you can do."

"I… can… try."

ASRIEL suddenly fully transformed into a massive, terrifying beast, a head that literally devoured the timeline one titanic chomp at a time. And, when he was done, there were only two things left in existence. ASRIEL DREEMUR, God of Hyperdeath, and Frisk. Truth be told, they were both just kids in a squabble. And Frisk wanted to solve it.

"Please, ASRIEL. Please, please, just accept my MERCY."

ASRIEL didn't answer. Frisk wanted to say something else, but in the end, they didn't have to.

Suddenly, everything went back. Everything went in reverse. The timelines were back, the universe was back, the Underground was back. And there he was. ASRIEL DREEMUR, just a child again. Frisk walked up to him. And they hugged.

They would find a way.

Deep inside the fabric of the universe, Chara smiled. Not a smile of murder, but one of happiness. They had finally gotten their best friend back.

If this wasn't the happy ending everyone wanted, it would take a hell of a lot of prodding to get there.

Everyone present was filled with DETERMINATION.