Alphys struggled to concentrate as the battle raged on in the distance. Sans was trying to use his Gaster Blasters to provide cover for Undyne as she, still empowered by the Yellow Soul she absorbed, pressed her assault on Flowey. Even though Flowey lost Frisk's Soul, there was still very little damage being done.

"Why isn't this working?" Alphys cried in frustration. "I know I have her Soul powering me. I know I have this power! Why can't I use it?"

Alphys clutched at her head, barely conscious of her own desperate ramblings. "It's just like everything else I do- a failure! I failed to break the Barrier, I failed those monsters I killed, and I failed to-"

Alphys blinked.

That's it.

THAT'S IT!

Frisk was going through this same despair after all she had done. Of course her Determination wasn't up to snuff!

She knew what she had to do.

"F-Frisk?" she asked herself. "Are you there? Well, of course you're there, you're, uh, inside me." Alphys chuckled nervously. "I really need to talk to you. I know you can hear me."

No answer. Just her own silent thoughts against the noise of the chaos erupting nearby.

"Please, Frisk! I want to help you!"

Still no answer.

Alphys crumpled to her knees.

"Frisk, I know you can hear me," Alphys said softly. "I know what it feels like to be in your shoes."

She didn't hear an answer, but she felt a strangely foreign and yet familiar feeling of skepticism.

"No, really. I made some… some horrible mistakes. I got monsters… not killed, but… something even worse, I think."

Alphys pauses to collect herself. Even if she was basically talking to herself, willing the words out of her mouth was more difficult than she anticipated.

But she pressed on. "The DT Extractor did some horrible things in my hands. But maybe now it can do some good. Kind of like you. I know you've made a worse mistake than me, but you have the power to be better!"

Why are you trying so hard to save me? came a child's voice from Alphys's subconscious, to her surprise. After everything I've done to you?

Alphys maintained her composure. She couldn't afford to choke now. "Because we believe in you, Frisk. Sans believes in you. Papyrus believes in you. I believe in you!"

Now she was crying a little. She wasn't sure how much of it was herself and how much was Frisk. She closed her eyes.

"It's too late for me to fix my mistakes. I've dug myself too deep. But it's not too late for you. So please, Frisk. Help me figure this power out."

There was a palpable silence, so overwhelming even the battle seemed distant.

Alphys finally opened her eyes.

She was in her lab.

The Partial Load had worked.

She took an enormous sigh of relief. Thank you, Frisk. I knew I could count on you. And with that final thought, she grabbed her tool chest and got to work on the DT Extractor. As she did so, she felt the power from the Human Soul growing stronger.

Alphys was filled with determination.

Undyne lost track of how long she and Sans had been fighting. She never was one to give up, and the Yellow Soul was giving her an insane amount of stamina. She was still raring to go.

Unfortunately, so was Flowey, and she could tell Sans was out of it. His Gaster Blasters weren't as intense, and his dodging, though still top-notch, started to seem sluggish.

It was only a matter of time before fatigue got the better of him.

"What's wrong?" the smiling, laughing abomination crowed mockingly. "Getting tired? Why don't you call for help? Tag out?"

Flowey laughed. "No one can hear you two. No one can help you. Not your pathetic king, and certainly not that incompetent loser you call a brother!"

Sans flinched. That was all it took for him to slip up and mess up his dodge, sending him falling onto the nonexistent floor.

"Don't move."

Flowey materialized several balls of Fire and hurled them all at Sans. The skeleton cursed at himself for his carelessness, and braced for the inevitable.

But it didn't come.

Undyne jumped in front of Sans, taking the blow. "GRRAAAAHHH!" she cried in pain. A normal fire wouldn't have phased her in this form, but it was five Souls against one. She was barely holding on now.

"You idiot," Flowey sneered, less irritated the killing blow has been blocked and more amused at her prolonging the inevitable. "So noble. I can see why you made Captain. You really deserve it, always wanting to protect everyone. A lot of good that does you now."

He formed another ring of spinning Friendliness Pellets around the exhausted skeleton and the injured fish lady.

"It's been fun. Now DIE."

He laughed maniacally as the ring closed in around them. Closer.. closer…

Until, one by one, they ran out of steam, stopped spinning, and dropped to the ground harmlessly.

"Wha-" Flowey started, flabbergasted. How could his attack have failed?

And more importantly, why did it feel like he was leaking?

Flowey's computer face turned around, and his annoyed confusion turned to sheer terror.

"No… not that! OF ALL THINGS, WHY THAT?!"

He was now face to face with the skull-like apparatus of the DT Extractor. It was much more compact, no longer a permanent fixture if the lab. The horrid device had been reworked to travel on wheels, almost like a tank, or one of those medieval catapults, and at the back, sitting in a makeshift cockpit, hand at a control panel, was Alphys.

The machine was turned on, absorbing the Determination from his Human Souls and transferring it into Alphys. Or rather, the Soul within her.

"What did you do?!"

Alphys smirked. "I modified the Extractor to be a mounted weapon on wheels. I thought it would take longer, but it turns out that when you've got a Human Soul inside of you, you tend to get things done quicker."

"Y-you think you can win?" cried Flowey. "I'll just load, and…"

And nothing happened.

"Sorry, Flowey, but you've lost too much power to do that." Alphys glared at him, somehow managing to look intimidating, perhaps due to her transformation. "It's time to finally end this!"

Alphys pulled a lever on the control panel, and the rate at which it drained the energy from Flower increased dramatically.

"NO!" Flowey yelled as the power of his Human Souls finally started to die out. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! NO! NOOOOOOO!"

There was a blinding white flash. And then silence.

The next thing everyone knew, they were lying in a garden of golden flowers.

They were wide awake and their injuries had healed, as though the whole fight never happened.

Undyne still had her golden transformation, but Alphys had reverted to normal. Sans didn't change, as he hadn't absorbed anything in the first place.

"Where are we right now?" Alphys asked no one in particular.

Undyne took in her surroundings. Around the bed of flowers, there were stone walls, a light shining down onto the flowers, what appeared to be a stained glass window in the back…

…and a throne.

"We're… we're in the King's garden!" Undyne realized. That's when she noticed one more occupant of the room.

At the very center of the garden was a flower, larger than the rest, with a face. It was dropped over, wilting.

Undyne's one eye narrowed. "You."

She summoned one of her spears and prepared to thrust it at the offending plant, and was about to throw it when-

"No. Don't."

Everyone turned in surprise towards the source of that quiet, gentle, yet firm voice.

There, as alive as you are right now, was Frisk, in her striped sweater and cargo shorts. She was standing taller, with more certainty. Her eyes were neutral, with no visible signs of anger or even sadness.

"He won't hurt anyone else, ever again. No one else has to die today."

Undyne glared at her, then back at the flower. The three of them stood there silently for the longest time.

Then, from behind the door at the back of the room, came another sound.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

It was deep, powerful, and yet inviting and friendly. The flower flinched, and dove under the ground.

The door opened, and in walked King Asgore, with his imposing figure, large, regal robe, and snow-white fur with a yellow beard.

"I was by the Barrier, when I saw that someone had taken the Human Souls. I was trying to figure out what happened when I heard a commotion coming from the throne room. Is everything okay?"

The assembled group- Undyne, Alphys, Sans, and Frisk- were dumbstruck. Did he seriously miss that entire thing?! He didn't even seem to notice Undyne's transformation.

"It's a long story, Your Majesty," Undyne responded. "A lot happened, and I may have absorbed one of the Souls. But I'll explain everything later. For now…" she shoved Frisk towards the king, catching her off guard. "You get to talk to Asgore. Lucky you. Better make it count."

Undyne's tone did not lose any of her earlier hostility. Frisk looked up at her and, against all logic, she smiled.

"Don't worry. This won't take long. And when I'm done…" Frisk turned to look at Alphys, and winked to reassure her. "We can do what should have been done a long time ago."

Frisk turned back towards Asgore, took a few steps, and bowed.

"Uh…" Asgore started, "you really don't have to bow."

"Of course," Frisk said as she straightened back up. "My name is Frisk, and I'm the Human who killed everyone in Snowdin." She looked in Asgore's eyes as she said this. No reaction.

"I just wanted to say a few things. First, I'm sorry. I know that isn't worth that much, and I don't expect you to forgive me, but I just wanted to get that out there."

Frisk took a deep breath. "Second, I was going to ask you to give Humans a chance when you get to the surface," she continued, smiling sadly, "but something tells me that would sound a bit hollow after what I've done."

She took a step closer and lowered her voice so the others couldn't hear her as clearly. "But truth be told, I don't think you really want to get revenge on the humans as badly as you say. You could've crossed the Barrier before, when you only had one soul and started killing us, but you decided to stick with your people and give them hope instead."

Asgore's expression seemed to waver a bit. Frisk continued. "Maybe that's why, anyway. Maybe it was just cowardice. I don't really know. But right now that doesn't really matter. But I think, deep down, you're not a killer."

Without waiting for a reply, she backed up a bit and began talking normally. "I don't know what exactly happened to the other Souls. So you'll have to start with just two again. But…" she closed her eyes. "I think you'll be just fine."

She turned back around to face the others, opening her eyes. "Everyone!"

Frisk smiled and held up a hand, almost like a wave goodbye. "See you all later."

And then she woke up three days earlier on another bed of flowers.

It's over. This whole exercise, born from my inability to leave well enough alone, has finally reached its conclusion. I'm sorry I updated so sporadically this past half a year or so, but hopefully it was all worth it.

This was the first multi-chapter fanfic I ever finished writing. Hopefully my writing improves on it, but I think this turned out all right.

Thank you all for sticking with me, and for those of you who are only reading this after it's finished, thanks for reading.