Three weeks had gone by, and everything was rather strange. Or, perhaps quiet was the way to describe it. Humanity's Only Hope was practically silent in terms of their activity, and Frisk was really worried about that. Also, Asriel had been quiet and more withdrawn. When he did come out of his room, he looked at everyone with huge, sad eyes like he would be gone and never see them again.

     It was early one morning in March, and the weather was dreadful. It had been raining for almost all week, and everyone who was stuck inside was going insane. Chara had been occupying her time by helping with the babies, all three of them. Frisk, on the other hand, had, like usual, gotten sick. It really annoyed her, how she always got sick when the seasons changed, but Chara found it amusing, every time, laughing lightly before taking care of her.

At the moment, she was laying in her bed, Cory in his crib next to her. Frisk didn't know exactly where Chara was, the last she had seen her Frisk was delirious and stuck in a fever dream involving llamas, a lot of fire, and, strangely, chocolate that walked and talked. When she finally woke up, Chara was watching her, shadows flicking in her eyes.

"It's Asriel." She said, sitting on the bed,"He won't come out of his room, and he won't answer his phone."

"Ugh. Well, get him out of his room. Break down the door if you have to. He can't be alone, especially not right now."

"I don't know, Frisk. He's just been so sad..."

"Well what did you expect? He's practically dying in there."

     "No! Don't say that he's d-dying. Just don't."

     "Sorry."

     Chara kissed her cheek,"It's okay. I'm gonna go see if I can get him to at least talk to me."

     "No, let me. Don't protest, Chara, I know that I'm sick. But I can't just lay here all day. You take care of Cory."

     Chara shook her head, the ghost of a smile tracing her face,"So stubborn. Fine. But if he talks, come get me."

     "Will do." She smiled and stood up.

     "Asriel." She knocked on his door,"Hello? Alright, Azzi, I know your not feeling your best..." She winced, that was quite the understatement,"But you need to talk to us. We just want to help."

     She spent a few more minutes knocking on his door and trying to convince him to come out. He never answered. Finally, Frisk tried the door handle, expecting it to be locked. But it was open, and she walked in.

     The first thing she noticed was the rain blowing in the window. It was open, and Frisk hurried over to close it. Then she noticed what the room was lacking. Asriel was missing. Then she saw, resting on his pillow, a stark white sheet of paper. Her hand shaking, she picked it up.

Dear whoever finds this,

Please don't be scared. I promise that I will be fine. I tried, I tried so hard to hold out, but I can't anymore. It's not for me, it's for you. I can tell that what's happening to me is hurting all of you. So, I left. I couldn't bear hurting you, even if you claim that you're not hurting.

Chara and Frisk, I will forever be in debt to you. You brought me back from the edge of insanity and I never will be able to thank you enough.

Please don't look for me. By the time you find this, I hope to be far away. I don't know where I will go, but I won't return. Please don't blame yourselves, this was my decision. I love you. I love you so, so much.

Asriel.

Frisk read over the letter several times, hardly able to believe what she was reading. Asriel had ran away? He wouldn't!

"Chara!" She called, her voice shaking,"Come see."

---

Everyone was at the house now. They had been called over to form a frantic search party that eventually came back discouraged and soaking wet.

Sans had been teleporting to Asriel's favorite places,"He's nowhere in the woods."

"He doesn't want to be found." Chara murmured, remembering how, as a child in the Underground, she had done something that annoyed him so much he hid from her for two days straight,"So there's no way to find him."

Frisk felt panic jolt through her. Asriel couldn't survive alone! He was a freaking cinnamon roll!

Chara came up to her and hugged her,"Hey, calm down. It'll be okay." She whispered. Frisk hadn't realized how badly she was shaking. She grabbed at Chara's sweater and buried her face in her shoulder and cried. Chara just stood there, not making any noise and rubbing her back. They stood like that for a while before separating.

     Chara looked around,"Hey... Have you seen Cory?"

     "I thought mom had him."

     They looked around, but no one was holding him. Everyone, still in their panicked state, freaked out even more.

     Then, Sans' cry rang out,"Shit!"

     Cory was at the top of the stairs, almost rolling down. He was quickly caught in a blue light and brought down, which made him giggle.

     Frisk caught him and hugged him,"Thanks Sans."

     He nodded, and Frisk looked down at her baby. His eyes were closed, but he was still making all kinds of noises. He blinked open his eyes, and Frisk was startled by what she saw. His rosy eyes were lined in a forest green, sharply contrasting against the pale red.

     Frisk watched with a mixture of curiosity and fear as his eyes slowly faded from red to green, darkening until there was only a faint, tiny ring of red on the outer edge of his eye.

     "What. The. Hell." She whispered, a space between each word.

     "What is it?" Chara asked.

     Frisk just pointed at his eyes and Chara gasped, making a confused noise. Then Frisk noticed a green glow rising from his chest. A few moments later, there was a blinding white light that swept across the whole room, causing several quick questions. When Frisk could see again, she looked back down at him.

     Hovering above his chest was a rich green heart.

Oh golly I'm so sorry guys I really got stuck writing this chapter. So, Azzi's gone, and Cory has a soul. Do you think Azzi will ever be seen again? What about the soul, what does it mean?