PART TWO

5. But somebody came

The following morning, after successfully returning Asriel to his flowerpot, Toriel sat down in the kitchen with a cup of tea and stared at her cell phone.

Toriel made very mediocre tea, sufficient to perk her up in the morning, but nowhere near as tasty as what Asgore used to prepare for her when they were married. Over the decades (of programmed memories), she'd grown used to it, but today the taste seemed just a bit more offensive to her mouth than usual. Perhaps she'd been so distracted that she'd gotten careless, or perhaps thinking of the first phone call that she had to make this morning had made her more aware of her shortcomings than usual. Only when half the cup was empty did she muster up enough willpower to grab her phone.

Asgore answered on the third ring, in the wary tone of voice that she had come to recognize. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Asgore." Toriel shifted awkwardly in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. "I hope that I did not wake you."

"Ah, n-no, of course not! I was just about to make breakfast…" His fumbling words disheartened her, but she let him finish regardless. "Did you, ah…need something from me?"

She steadied herself with a breath. "I told you that I would discuss what exactly had made the children so upset at a later time."

"Oh! Yes, I remember. I suppose that this is the later time?"

"Yes. There are certain things that it has become necessary for you to know."

Toriel summarized yesterday's events for him as best she could, treading the fine line between making sure he understood everything and not revealing all of the very personal details of what had happened between her and Asriel. Having to admit her shortcomings to someone, especially her ex-husband, made her skin heat with shame, and she found herself tugging on the high collar of robe more than once. Fortunately, Asgore was more interested in their son than in her.

"H-he is really himself?" This time, his voice trembled not with anxiety, but with a potent mixture of joy and disbelief. "Our boy is alive…?!"

"Very much so. I know for certain now that he is Asriel, although he is a flower still." Though hopefully not for much longer, she thought but didn't say. She didn't want to get anyone's hopes up about the iffier part of her plans for this morning.

It didn't take nearly as much to convince Asgore of the truth. "Thank the programmers…! I'll bring the children and come at once! Er, I mean…assuming that it is okay for me to visit you?"

"You are welcome here, Asgore," said Toriel, slightly surprising herself with the honesty of her statement.

"Ah…th-thank you. I'll arrive soon, then…!"

"I will prepare breakfast. See you shortly."

Well, at least that conversation wasn't as tense as it could have been. Slightly reassured, she selected another number from her phone's archaic list of contacts, waiting for the second call to go through.

"Greetings, my friend…I apologize for waking you. …Yes, as a matter of fact, he is here with me now. …Thank you for your assistance. But I am afraid that I have a rather large favor to ask…I would prefer to discuss it in person. Will you meet us for breakfast in, say, a half-hour's time? …Thank you. Thank you very much. No, do not say that it is 'no problem' quite yet. It may be a more difficult situation than you think…"

"Asriel!"

Asriel jolted awake, blinking his sleep-weighted eyes. For a moment he was intensely disoriented; then, gradually, he realized that he was back in the flowerpot where he'd initially fallen asleep last night. In his mother's house, surrounded by a sweet, doughy smell of…blackberry pancakes?

He couldn't actually see much of the house, though, because Chara was right in front of him, their face shoved forward until it was nearly touching his.

"Where have you been?!" they demanded. "We've been searching the whole game for you for like three days!"

Then Frisk loomed into the side of his vision, nodding in agreement and signing emphatically: 'We were so worried!'

"I…" At first, addled with just-woken-up bleariness, he could barely wrap his mind around what was happening. But then the frenzy of sight and sound regained its meaning, and the memories of the last day he'd seen his siblings collided with him like a crashing Tsundereplane. His stem went rigid. "I-I…!"

Chara took a deep breath as if to start shouting again. He tried to get in a word before they could – and as a result, he cried out, "I'm sorry for what I said to you!" at the same moment that they blurted, "I'm sorry I pushed you to go to Mom!"

"No, you were right!" exclaimed Chara, shaking their head. "My plans really do make everybody miserable…"

"That's not true! You were just trying to help me!" he protested. "And trying to hide from our parents was no good for me, anyway…even though it took a little while for Mom to believe me, she did eventually!"

"But you were even more miserable before she did! All because I pressed you into it…!"

"But I acted so horribly towards you! I shouldn't have taken it out on you, Chara….!"

They inhaled again, but this time instead of speaking, they flung their arms around his narrow body and squeezed him against their shoulder. "Just…don't run off like that again!"

Frisk's head popped up over Chara's shoulder, barely within his line of vision, and Asriel swallowed. He'd really shaken them up, hadn't he? And all because he was too busy sulking to remember that he still had family members who loved him…a couple of small tears budded in his eyes.

Chara pulled back from him slightly, frowning. "Hey…you don't have to cry."

"S-sorry." He sniffled, doing his best to blink the tears away. "I always was a crybaby, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, you were." They beamed at him. "And I missed that, and everything else about you, like crazy."

With that, they leaned forward and nuzzled their forehead against his, a gesture of affection that had become common to their entire family. When he smiled and nuzzled them back, they giggled softly. "Your petals are tickling my face!"

"Heh, oops…" No sooner had Chara pulled back than Frisk shoved their face near his, indicating that they wanted to try. So he nuzzled them as well, and they giggled, too.

"Children?" And that was Toriel's voice, calling to them from out in the hall. "Breakfast is ready…!"

Chara snatched up Asriel's flowerpot and trotted out with him in tow, Frisk hurrying just behind them. He wobbled a little in the loose soil; he really wasn't used to being carried like this…

But that was nearly forgotten when he was placed on the dining table to find not just a tall stack of pancakes awaiting them, but also his father. As glad as he was to have his entire family in one place, Asriel couldn't help reeling back a little. He'd forgotten that Asgore looked so huge if you looked at him from a flower's perspective.

"Here he is, Daddy!" announced Chara, presenting their brother as though he were an art project that they were particularly proud of.

Asriel's mind churned with a momentary fear that this would be a repeat of what had happened three days ago, but before he could even think of something today, his father was wrapping him in the tentative, awkward embrace that resulted from someone so large trying to hug a flower. "Asriel, my son…I've missed you so much…!" Asgore murmured tremulously, his voice wrought with emotion.

"I...I-I missed you too, Dad…" And it was true. Asriel was surprised at how much better it felt to miss people than it was to not care about them at all – but having them all here with him was even better. He let his head rest contentedly against Asgore's shoulder.

"Now we are all together at last," remarked Toriel, leaning across the table to start doling out the food.

Frisk nodded enthusiastically and signed, 'For the first time!'

"That is true," Toriel agreed. "We should make a habit of this!"

Asgore shifted, and Asriel suddenly realized that he crushed into a rather uncomfortable positon. "Um, Dad? You're kinda…squishing me a little…"

"Oh!" Asgore pulled back immediately with a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that, Asriel…"

"It's okay. No big deal."

Despite his petals now being slightly rumpled, Asriel felt happier than he had in a long, long time. Both of his siblings were here, and both of his parents, and they all knew who he really was. Frisk and Chara had clearly forgiven Toriel; they didn't seem to mind when she stroked their hair affectionately, and they both returned her smiles towards them. His mother was holding up forkfuls of blackberry pancakes for him to eat, which he was devouring eagerly, having forgotten just how good her home cooking was. Everything just seemed so normal, despite the fact that things had never been this way before…well, maybe this would be their new normal.

And then a new voice said, "Knock knock."

Asriel turned towards the living room doorway and almost choked on a mouthful of food. Standing just a few feet away was Sans, looking a bit more tired than usual, with his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. He didn't look especially menacing at the moment, but Asriel wasn't about to trust that nonchalant smile when it came from someone who, according to his programmed memories, had caused him more than his fair share of resets.

Chara stiffened slightly, shifting into their Unknown Adult Defense Mode. Frisk, on the other hand, immediately rushed from their chair to give Sans a hug. He gave their hair a little ruffle.

"Thank you for coming, my friend," said Toriel, rising to greet him. "Especially on such short notice."

"Hey, if there's breakfast involved, I definitely don't mind." He eyed the table over the top of Frisk's head. "Uh, as long as you have room for me, that is."

"We can make room," said Asgore, shifting Chara from their chair to his knee. They didn't seem to mind.

Asriel frowned a little. Why would his mother have invited Sans over for breakfast? Especially at this time of morning – she must have known that the skeleton usually slept until noon or later. But she gave no hint that there was anything strange about their visitor, only serving him a large plate of pancakes as if he were just another member of the family.

"Hey, flowerboy," he said after a few ungraceful bites, nodding towards Asriel. "How are you doing?"

Asriel attempted a smile. "Better than before."

"That's good." Sans's grin widened slightly; then he returned his attention to his meal.

After that, the conversation died down a bit until the plates were more or less empty (mostly it just consisted of Frisk excitedly signing to Sans about how happy they were to have their family back together, while he smiled and nodded at them). Then, as Toriel went around collecting the dishes, she cleared her throat deliberately. "My children, why do you not go out and play for a while? We adults have a few things that we need to discuss…"

Asriel exchanged puzzled glances with both of his siblings. "Like what?" demanded Chara.

"Nothing that you need to worry about. Now, go on. This will only take a few minutes…"

Frisk shrugged, and Asriel would have done the same thing if he'd had shoulders. He couldn't really see much reason for him to snoop around in everyone's business anymore; he was finally happy with what he had.

This time it was Frisk who picked him up and carried him out, while Chara followed along behind him – so he didn't notice when his first sibling slowed their pace as they reached the end of the hall. As Frisk carried him into the bedroom, he didn't see Chara slip backwards through the doorway, glancing over their shoulder before returning to the living room; no one watched them at all as they found a sequestered spot near the entryway, where they could listen without being seen as long as the adults didn't come much closer.

They were the only child to hear the conversation…

"So what's going on, Toriel?"

Plates clanked and clattered together, then quieted. "Sans…I am about to ask something of you that I have no idea if you can do, so please forgive me if it is not feasible."

"Try me."

"You are in charge of the code vault for this game, are you not?"

"Of course."

"And yesterday, you told me that Asriel's code consists of several bodies connected to a single personality. Is that not so?"

Asgore's confused baritone interjecting: "Wait, what was that about Asriel?"

And Sans: "Oh, I think I know where this is going…"

Footsteps gradually fading as they retreated towards the kitchen. The faint sound of running water. Then the steps returning, and Toriel's voice once more, quieter this time…

"He does not want to be a flower anymore. Last night…he had a nightmare, and as I was calming him down, that is what he said. 'Mama, I do not want to be a flower anymore.' What could I say to that? I promised him that I would do what I could, but…I do not even know if it is possible…"

A long, heavy silence.

"Look, Tori. I want to help, I really do. The kid deserves a break. But the codes…they can be pretty tricky business. Everything's connected. If I touch something in Asriel's code, then I could potentially be screwing up the entire game, and then everyone would be at risk. I just don't feel comfortable messing with the program like that."

Another, longer silence. Asgore coughed tensely.

"I'm really sorry."

"But…are you sure that there is nothing you can do? I-I made a promise…and…"

The tap of a bony finger against the table. "…okay, tell you what. I'll take a look, I can at least do that much. Who knows, maybe it won't be too risky after all. No promises, but I'll do it for you, Tori."

"Oh, thank you, my friend! That is more than enough for me…!"

But Chara hadn't heard that last part. During the second break in the conversation, they had been unable to bear listening any longer, and had hurried back down the corridor to tell their siblings what they had discovered…