Chapter Text
Chapter 24
The End, The Surface, 201X
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Ashara returned to the First Timeline as quickly as she could…but even with only a few moments of uncontested Overwrite, Gaster had already twisted the landscape to better suit them. The sky had turned black, flashing intermittently with spent Magic. The ground had become jagged and irregular, like the stalagmites in a cavern. Mom, Cross, and the Delta Core battled with the X-Tale Timeline across this chaotic plane…but it seemed to be a losing battle. Hundreds of Souls, Monster and Human, were covered in either the X-Mark or Error’s cables. Thankfully, mercifully, Error didn’t seem intent on destroying them, and actively preventing those under XGaster’s control from being harmed, even as they pelted the defenders with their Spells. Dream guarded a Sans and a Frisk as best they could, the latter being the key to the Source Code of this world.
Snarling, she opened a portal over to XChara and XFrisk, who were each atop one of Dream’s Blasters and looked truly haggard. XFrisk had a spear tip lodged in their forearm, and XChara’s clothing was scorched.
“Ink has been defeated.” She told them, earning a wince and a cruel smile, respectively, considering XGaster, who battled with Uncle Yūrei high above them, “We need to get in close whenever he tries to Overwrite again…but for now, let’s free those Souls.”
“Bad idea.” Dream told her, eyes sunken, “I’m straining to even hold together these few blasters. If XGaster Erases the ground, like he did in Yūrei’s Timeline…”
She gritted her teeth, nodded, “Very well. But we’ll need to do something to break the stalemate.”
A tangle of roots and vines burst out of the soil beside her, and despite herself she jumped.
“…!”
“Howdy.” The Flowey said…but the inflection sounded more like Dad’s. Indeed…their eyes were black, and distorted, and they seemed to flicker in and out, and she startled, “…Dad?”
“I figured out how to communicate with other versions of myself.” They explained, smirking, “Possession was never an impossibility. They were frightened, and I offered them a way to help. Good thing XGaster only used Overwrite on beings with Souls in this Timeline!”
Then, they considered the battlefield, “Well…this sure looks bad. You can prevent him from using his power, right?”
“If we are careful.”
“Then I’ll go help with his minions. Be ready.”
The ground around them churned angrily, as Dad-Flowey rushed into the fray.
Managing a giggle at the absurdity of it all, Ashara shook her head, and focused on XGaster.
“Let us finish this, then…”
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She took another hit, rending the plates along her upper arm, and used the moment of intangibility to slip through their defenses and thrust with a small, jagged knife. XAsriel, no novice duelist, parried and riposted, but she’d already angled around them, stabbing into their flank with her off-hand weapon.
Imbalanced, she pushed backward and shoulder-bumped them off their feet, but XToriel swept her away with a gout of flames before she could finish them off. Snarling, she fell back-to-back with her Human version, and Knives laughed at the absurdity; there was nothing else she could manage at that moment.
Rotating counter-clockwise, they interchangeably blocked attacks from XMuffet and XUndyne, pushing off of each other for extra leverage. Extending one of her blades into its massive version, she batted away spears, and traded blows; thigh, for cheek. Scowling, as the blow had gone right through her helmet, Knives advanced on them as they limped backward, but XAsgore was there, having evaded Fell’s constructs and jabbed at her with a burning trident.
“It’s like they share one mind!” she yelled, cursing foully, and Fell peeled them off her with a wall of flame, “I think that’s not too far off, actually. We need to separate them!”
“On it.” Core said, appearing and disappearing with XAsgore, then reappearing and nabbing her, her Human version, and XUndyne, bringing them to an isolated spot.
“Quickly, while they have to scramble for coordinates!” they told her hastily, and Knives bellowed her battle cry, sacrificing another hit in order to bury her sword into XUndyne. The other Chara beheaded them, then turned to her as she collapsed.
“You alright?”
“More or less…” she replied, panting, “I think I’m out of the Fight, though.”
She considered her ruined armor, shook her head, “Core…bring me to Dream.”
“He can only use healing arrows on the same person so much at a time.” They said, studying her, “And your Soul is nearly fractured.”
“Fine. Then pull me out. Just don’t you dare lose!”
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This was pretty bad…
He held off both his parents, evading rather than try to diffuse their ceaseless Fire Magic. His leather overcoat was smoldering, and most of his fur was singed. Deet was still Fighting XMettaton, and Knives and Chara had disappeared somewhere. Swap, unable to influence the minds of the XTale beings, had diverted to trying to stir up the Souls under XGaster’s control with Wingding, dodging Magic all the while.
XAsriel rushed him from the side, and he cursed wildly, pulling himself up on his Hellfire Serpent, but Cross teleported in and blasted them from behind for him. Instead of burying two swords into his chest, they sailed harmlessly by.
But the distraction let XToriel past his walls of flame, and he got blown off his perch, landing in a roll.
Still, he got pretty battered, thumping against a pillar of rock and getting the wind knocked out of him. He stumbled to his feet, only for XAsgore, appearing out of freaking nowhere, to pin him to the pillar, the fork of the trident gouging either side of his neck.
“C’mon, dad…” he managed weakly, watching as their other hand became shrouded in flame, “Do you really wanna’ kill me?”
Their blank, pale eyes wavered for a moment, and he dared hope he’d gotten to them, but their expression closed over, and he waited for the inevitable.
“That’s not very nice.” A Flowey said, having tangled up XAsgore’s arm, “Guess I’ll have to ground you this time.” A dentata appeared above their head and slammed down with tremendous force, driving XAsgore to their knees and freeing him. Sputtering, Fell, well…fell back against the pillar, watching dazedly as more attacks rained down on XAsgore, Cross fending off XAsriel and Chara Fighting XToriel.
But the rest faded out, and he collapsed, spent.
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He lunged, struck, and retreated, only to strike again, offering his enemy no room to maneuver or think. He was the strongest, and the key to stopping this madness.
Yūrei drew in XGaster’s vitality with an empowered Lifehunt, drawing DT from the Souls they had created and absorbed. They flickered in and out, covered in static, and seemingly felt no closer to draining. Likewise, sustained on this regular influx of DT, he felt no closer to falling, in spite of the thousands of Souls, hands, and blasters hammering away at him.
It was a stalemate. One in which he had to break.
“Fate chose you well…” XGaster said, uncharacteristically introspective, “But you will not stop me.”
Suddenly a pair of hands trailing bladed lengths slashed into his chest, and he recoiled, grunting. The Overwrite screen popped up, and the three were there, countering it.
But XGaster smiled, and he knew it was a trap, “Stay ba-”
Ashara, XFrisk, and XChara were buffeted by a tremendous force, and run through by hundreds of hand constructs.
“No!” he cried, lifting his kanabo and slamming down with a helm-splitting strike. XGaster took the hit, skull breaking in two.
No!
XGaster’s hand lifted of its own accord, towards the Overwrite Screen, no doubt intent on ending this.
No!
They pressed down, and pale purple light began to bloom.
No!
Ashara, XFrisk, and XChara appeared suddenly, their struck versions disappearing, as Wingding’s illusion broke. All the Souls under XGasters control, too, disappeared and reappeared, lacking the X-Mark.
“How on earth had they managed such a powerful and expansive illusion?!” was all he could think, as XGaster fully healed their own body, then launched an attack that would no doubt undo him, and the others Overwrote the Souls out of XGaster’s body.
The rest was a blur of heat, light, pain, and finally darkness…
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Uncle Yūrei tumbled through the air, but she could afford no attention to them. XGaster, reduced to his original state, turned to them, roaring defiance, “You dare to Overwrite me?! My own power?! My greatest work?!”
Sadly not; if they had been able to, this would have been over by now. But one being with Overwrite cannot so easily alter another. But thankfully, the things giving him a god’s Stats hadn’t been his own Soul…
Ashara cast an annihilating orb into XGaster’s chest, as XFrisk and XChara each landed a hit. The blows sent them propelling to ground level as well, but she turned to the others, “You have what you need; restore the Souls. Then we can finish this!”
Offering no time for them to argue, she opened a portal to the ground below, and found it in chaos.
Mom and Dad were Fighting off what remained of the XTale Timeline with Cross, and Error had charged in to battle with XGaster.
She decided to help Error, appearing through a portal at XGaster’s flank and peppering them with crystals.
“Cross!” she cried out, and they nodded, appearing to her side just as XGaster tried to Overwrite again.
“What?!” he gasped, horrified, as Cross linked to and empowered her screen to offset his, “How…?!”
“He’s your creation…you tell me!” she cried, slamming a pair of tendrils into his face, snapping his head back and spraying bone fragments. Error tangled one of his arms in cables, and sliced it apart, laughing maniacally. Cross stabbed into his torso with bones.
They were all buffeted again, and dozens of hand constructs formed, stabbing at them with blades. She narrowly avoided one, then another, and Cross teleported her out when she failed to account for a third, breathlessly avoiding it.
One hit…it only took one hit from those…
A blaster formed in their wake, but Error teleported away with both of them, cursing, “ca bzzt n’t keep all bzzt of you-u-u stupid an-n- bzzt- bzzt omalies alive! kee bzzt p up!!”
XGaster retreated, one arm and their face in ruins, covering in static, “This cannot be…”
They recalled their remaining followers; XMettaton, XAsriel, XToriel, and XMuffet. Mom and Dad appeared beside her, and she scowled, “Ready to concede defeat?”
“This will not be!” XGaster snarled, “I will not allow my work to be undone by you wretched anomalies!”
Dad, as Flowey, smiled at that, “It’s a fool’s errand, Gaster. You strive for perfection…not realizing it to be an impossibility.”
“…”
“You’ll try and try…but it’ll never be quite the way you want it…” they continued, “…and in the effort, you’ll just bring everything you create to ruin. There’s nothing wrong with making your world better…but not if it means ruining everyone else’s worlds, or twisting them against their original intents. Do you really think those people beside you would be Fighting if you hadn’t forced them to?”
They scowled at him, but said nothing.
“…”
Then, “You cannot avert my course. I will realize my vision…and freeing the Souls I’ve trapped here won’t make a difference.”
They were looking at her, smiling wickedly, and she raised an eyebrow, “Oh? You were talking to me?”
“…”
“Apologies. You mistook my intent.” She replied, offering them an evil smile of her own, “I was not referring to the Souls of this Timeline…”
Their expression soured, as XFrisk and XChara arrived, channeling into the other papers.
“No…”
They reached out a hand, and both her and Cross channeled together to interrupt their Overwrite, just as XFrisk and XChara cast theirs, “No!”
Each of the papers broke apart, splintering into fragments of light. Cross, XFrisk, and XChara were unaffected, but those still under XGaster’s control vanished, and reappeared beside the ones that had been slain, Papyrus included. Ashara breathed out, clutching at her chest, as she felt her Overwrite weaken at the modified Perseverance Soul’s absence, but not disperse entirely.
They all looked about, confused for a moment, then XPapyrus noticed Cross, “…BROTHER…?”
“Paps!” they cried, running up and embracing them, “Bro! You’re alright!”
“I SWEAR I JUST HAD THE STRANGEST DREAM…WAIT…”
Reality crashed down on them, “AH YES, NOW I REMEMBER…”
They brandished a bone staff at XGaster, “…WHERE WERE WE?”
XGaster recoiled, tried to flee, but Error caught them up in his cables, “i re bzzt ally wanna’ see bzzt this…so don’t bzzt b-b-ack out n bzzt ow…”
XAlphys appeared, appearing smugly pleased with herself, “So you were successful, then. Good…I’d only given you about a sixteen-percent probability…guess I was right to take a gamble for once…”
Then, to her creator, “You made a grave mistake, Lord XGaster. Accept what comes next with as much dignity as someone like you can muster.”
“Oh yeah!” XUndyne roared, calling up a flurry of spears, “It’s time for a good old-fashioned beat-down! Fuhuhuhuhu!!”
XGaster scrambled to free himself from Error’s cables, but could do nothing as Magical attacks pelted him. A burning trident thrust into his gut. A bone staff brained him, snapping his head to the side, his entire body following but being pulled back into place by cables. Spears took him all across the chest. A pair of swords pushed in at either flank, plunging deep. Flames, lightning, and small explosives rocked him backward. Bone fragments went everywhere, turning to spiraling currents of dust.
XGaster fell to his knees, and XFrisk and XChara were there. They each looked…conflicted…
He noticed them after a moment, coughing up dust, “My…children…?”
With tears in their eyes, each stabbed a knife into his chest, and he groaned, doubling over.
And then it was Cross’ turn, and XGaster’s expression, while pained, became defiant, “Let’s see how well you all can restore your world…without me…”
Cross shrugged, “we’ll manage.”
Then, they fired a blaster into him, and his body disintegrated into dust, scattering across the ground. She gathered up his Soul, considered it a moment, then broke it apart, ensuring none would use the completed form of Overwrite again. None argued with her decision, though a few looked more at peace with it than others.
For a few moments, there was only the sound of pained breathing, as Core gathered up the fallen. Dream arrived with the Frisk and Sans of this Timeline, who both took all this in as best they could.
She went to them, “I um…I’m not sure how to explain any of this…but I promise your world will be fine.”
The Sans tilted their head a little, gesturing about, “everyone’s dead…and…frisk said they lost their reset point…”
Mom held up their hand, shamefully, “My bad.”
Sans’ eye flared, “So how the hell are you gonna’ fix this?!”
She held up her hands in entreaty, “There is a power beyond even Reset, and we will use it to restore everything. We can begin with that once everyone’s caught their breath.”
She considered the XTale Timeline, the Dreemurrs embracing each other tiredly, as were XUndyne and XAlphys, XSans and XPapyrus, and XChara and XFrisk, respectively, “Then we can restore all the other worlds that XGaster ruined. Hey, Alphys!”
They turned to her, puzzled, then, “Yes, yes. I have all the quarantined Timelines. I brought them with me after I left their side, lest XGaster destroy them in a fit of pique.”
“Good.” She said, then, to Error, “Now that the greater threat is destroyed…are we to be enemies, again?”
“mig bzzt ht have easily be-e-e- bzzt en the bzzt case…” they ventured, but gestured all around them, “but i d bzzt on’t like my odds bzzt. and you did help save the clas-s- bzzt sic timeline from getting ruined…i’m fine with go bzzt ing back to our original bzzt agreement; no more creation, no mo-o- bzzt- bzzt re destruction…”
Nodding, for she was pleased enough with this outcome, she went to Cross, XChara, and XFrisk.
“Now…this is going to be tricky.” She told them, “But I will tell you what I intend to do with Overwrite next…”
Epilogue
????, The Void, ????
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With everyone returned to their native Timelines with one last use of Overwrite, Mom and Dad excluded, the effects of Overwrite on all worlds removed, restoring any damaged or destroyed world information, and most of everyone’s memories pertaining to other Timelines and Universes Erased, there was only one thing left to do. With her brother’s help, she would re-write the cosmology to create a lasting balance. But first…
First, she needed to reach his level…
Ayshe and Gaster watched her carefully as she held up the tablet, taken from the Gastholme Timeline. Given its connection to her own half, it was the most secure connection between her and the forces she would attempt to draw upon.
The Magic felt cloying, caustic, like she was covered in a syrupy acid. The negative emotions she felt surged inside her. Her pain. Her loneliness. The very worst moments of her time in this place.
They would become the fulcrum of her existence. For a moment her anger turned toward her brother, who, due to his nature, would never experience these feelings to the extent that she would, just as she would never enjoy positive feelings to the extent he did. She would be the darkness to his light.
But a darkness that was not evil.
Ashara gritted her teeth, accepted what was to come, saturating herself in these feelings until she became a dense, black emptiness, and she saw what had been hiding within and beyond the tablet, waiting for her to claim it. Her birthright. Her destiny.
She reached in through the tablet, and clutched the object within. It looked almost like a snail shell with a spiraling pattern, swirls of yellow intermingling with a dark, dark purple.
A Soul. Void’s Soul.
Holding this wretched, terrible thing, she trembled. But then she felt a hand on either shoulder; one small, one large.
“We’re right here.” Mom said, her voice gentle and sad.
“And we always will be.” Dad added, sounding more resolved, if only a little. He understood. She was his daughter indeed, who had followed in his footsteps. Who would, in a matter of moments, surpass him in every manner.
Finding her resolve, Ashara drew the Soul closer, and absorbed it in the same way she had the transformed Perseverance Soul. As before, it began as a heat that spread throughout her body; a surging energy that felt like it would burst out. Transfixed, she didn’t cry out, but succumbed to the feeling until she felt her ties to her body wane. Unlike before, it was not her that was absorbing the Soul, but rather the opposite; the Soul was absorbing her…
Her consciousness spread through a vastness beyond words, and she perceived the full sum, rather than fragments of the whole. She knew all. She was all.
The regret went away. The fear went away. She understood now that it was inevitable. It had been from the moment of her birth.
She opened the eyes of a body that was merely the extension of her will, looking down at hands wrought of a dense purple flame. With the merest application of intent, they became as they were before, and she clenched experimentally, satisfied.
“I suppose I should go meet Brother in the in-between.” She said idly, looking back to her parents, “But first, I think it’s time to make some changes to this place.”
She called up the broken Overwrite screen, smiled, and filled it with herself, empowering it back into functionality while she remained within herself. It would be easier than trying to create in a new manner, instead relying on a familiar tool…
She pressed Overwrite, and Ayshe was freed from the bindings, sustained by her power. They would have fallen, but Gaster caught them, holding her ancestor aloft as they sputtered, long-atrophied limbs twitching.
“Breathe, milady…”
“…”
Eventually, they recovered, then looked to her with blurry eyes, “Thank you. I’d forgotten what it was like...”
Then, to Gaster, “Help me up…I will stand on my own two feet.”
Letting them recover, Ashara turned her attention to the realm itself, “I imagine Chariel will restore the Omega Timeline, to contain and protect beings from destroyed Timelines. But there will no doubt be beings without a home that cannot travel to the Anti-Void, trapped in my half of existence. Perhaps they could find their way here instead.”
She called up the screen again, and created at the heart of The Void a castle perfectly resembling the one in New Home, then New Home itself, spread wide below its battlements. She considered the banners, emblazoned with the Delta Rune, frowned, and edited them to instead display a new emblem; a downward-facing silvery sword with a curving blade, with a dark-stemmed flower growing from the hilt into an inverted, pale purple heart.
Better.
Then, dissatisfied with the empty darkness all around her new home, or rather, her New Home, she created hovering crystals not unlike the ones in Waterfall, but that emitted light the same pale purple as the Overwrite Trait rather than the original blue.
Not quite finished, she moved about the crystals from her memories of astronomy charts to resemble actual constellations in the night sky on The Surface back home.
She took a few moments to study her work, eventually finding it satisfactory.
“Impressive.” Dad said to her, “It’ll be the perfect reflection of The Omega Timeline; a haven for lost beings without a place to call their own. What will you call it?”
She thought about it for a moment, then, “…VoidKingdom.”
Mom chortled, “She’s a Dreemurr, alright. Terrible at naming things.”
She rolled her eyes, “I’ll be off, then. Try not to get into trouble with any of Void’s residents while I’m gone.”
Dad flexed his fingers, claw tips trailing corrupted Magic, “I don’t think that will be an issue.”
She didn’t teleport, as she wasn’t truly exiting herself. Instead, she went to the very boundaries of her existence, where Void met the rest of The Multiverse. On the other side was Chariel, waiting for her. She did away with pretenses, appearing as she truly was. He accepted the change without so much as batting an eyelash.
“Brother.”
“Sister.”
He frowned thoughtfully as he studied her, “We grow up so fast, don’t we? Well…let’s get this started.”
He reached out a hand that touched the membrane separating them, which she mimicked, unable to feel him on the other side but connecting their power all the same.
“It’ll be easier if we state our intent before doing something this big.” He told her, “We’ll start by determining the Universes that each of us will pull to our realms. Then, with this added influence, we will surround the Universes in such a way as to prevent travel between them. I’ll start with Haventale.”
“Alright.” She replied, not at all surprised by his first choice, “I’ll take Underworld.”
“Figured as much…that’s the nastiest one around. Littletale.”
“Horrortale.”
“Outertale.”
“Entropytale.”
“Underswap.”
“Underfell.”
And so, it went on. Starting from the most extreme Universes that gravitated towards Void or Anti-Void, Dark or Light, gradually reaching those that strayed somewhere in the middle, they effectively split the Multiverse between their respective halves. She took Aunt Knives’ Timeline, while he took Uncle Deet’s. He had both Uncle Yūrei’s and Uncle Wingding’s, which was fine, since upon possession of every Fell-variant Timeline, she had both Uncle Fell and Uncle Swap’s Timelines. She ended up taking his Universe, that of Hellflowers, while he took the Glitchtale Universe, from which her own derived from.
When it was done and they knew exactly what would go where, she called up her modified Overwrite Screen, which flared purple and red thanks to their contact. She pressed it against the membrane, so that the both of them could activate it.
“This will be the last time we see each other.” She noted idly, looking to him through the barrier, and he nodded, “But we’ll never be far apart.”
“…”
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Ash.” He said, smiling, “Queen of The Void. We’d best get to it, then.”
“Indeed.”
They pressed the button together, and all things that were within their existence were forever altered…
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Everything played out like before; Chara served as the ambassador between the races, with him and Papyrus as their bodyguards. But unlike before, Frisk was there as well, adding to their number, and Gaster…
Well, Gaster just plain wasn’t, and that suited him just fine.
Things settled down after a while, everyone living peacefully on The Surface. He seemed to be the only one who remembered the other worlds…for the best, probably. It’d be his little secret.
Cross smiled, legs reclined as he sat back into his chair, in his old room right next to the Humans’.
This was more than he deserved, considering what he’d done…but if they were willing to let his Timeline carry on…he wasn’t going to complain.
“here’s to you, g…” he said, toasting nothing and nobody in particular with the Star Fruit drink he’d gotten at the MTT, “we got a perfect world out of this after all.”
“WHAT WAS THAT, SANS?” Paps asked him from the shower in the other room, and he chortled, “nothing, bro. make sure to get behind your ears!”
“I WILL!!! SURELY YOU…”
“…”
“VERY FUNNY…” they said, peering out from the bathroom through the cracked-open door, “I THOUGHT THAT JOKES WERE MY THING, THOUGH!”
“my bad. must just be in a good mood, i guess. you can get back to it.”
They turned back in a huff, and he smiled a little, closing his eyes contentedly, “yup…perfect…”
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He sat down at the roots of the Tree of Feelings in his own Timeline, situated right at the center of Void and Anti-Void.
The tree, their tree, was mostly dead now. Without its fruits, and without both its guardians to tend to it for so long, it was only a husk. But, just recently, he’d noticed a little green sprout-ling near the base of the tree.
New life. Hope.
Dream smiled, tenderly brushing it with his fingertip, before turning his head and considering the oily shadows pouring from a dense tangle of roots.
His brother…where they would remain, forever. Imprisoned beneath the corpse of the tree they had been sworn to protect.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you…” he said, holding himself and curling into a ball, “But this is for the best. You’ll sleep…and you won’t hurt anyone else.”
Ink and Error had been likewise imprisoned, locked away when Ashara and Chariel cast their mighty Spell. Each in their own little pocket; Ink in the Anti-Void, Error in the Void, able to see but not interact with the realms beyond their own. Another means to maintain balance.
Creation, destruction, light, dark, positivity, negativity, all in their proper place.
He lamented not being able to help anyone anymore, but accepted that this was for the best. There was nothing left to do now but wait out eternity.
“At least…” he added eventually, reaching out a hand and patting at the tangle of roots, “I won’t be alone. Pleasant dreams, brother…”
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It’s early in the afternoon yet, and the sun is still shining. I’m standing outside my parents’ home, looking into the distance.
I was due to return to the university yesterday, but I had told them I had a family emergency. They let me off with a warning, since I’d never done this before.
Nobody knows why I returned…except for Sans, of course. Everything that Asriel or Chara had done…had been Erased. A mysterious angel had destroyed the Barrier, created peace between Humans and Monsters…and…
And had sired a daughter and lived peacefully here for some time, before vanishing with their child forever.
I clench my fists, holding in tears. It isn’t fair. They’d Saved us again…and nobody would know…except the two of us.
Sans appears beside me. I know what to look for in regards to his shortcuts, so I’m no longer surprised.
“hey, kid.”
“Hey, Sans.”
For a time, we say nothing, looking up at the mountain.
“tori and them are wondering what’s up…not sure what tibia telling ’em, honestly. it’s a real bone-afied puzzle.”
“Mmph.”
“how you holding up?”
“I…”
I sigh, hands wandering again, “I don’t know. I just miss them.”
“…”
“yeah.” Sans replied, “me too, a little. won’t be the same without them.”
“It’s not the first time for you, is it?”
He looks at me sidelong, so I clarify, “The first time someone’s disappeared from the Timeline.”
It’s a statement, not a question, so I don’t really get an answer.
“…you get used to it.”
I nod sadly, “…Do you think we will ever see them again?”
“no.”
I look at him, pained, but he only offers me a patient smile, “but that’s okay, ’cuz they’re going to be okay. and maybe…just maybe…so will we.”
I’ve grown too much for him to put a hand on my shoulder, so he just stays there, and I’m grateful for the company. I’ve lost my big brother, a somewhat uneasy friend, and my niece. I just…need some time…
The world can wait a little longer…
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He could tell when she returned to the castle, though, in fact, she was everywhere now. His time here…and the familiarity he developed, allowed him to perceive his daughter as she truly was. It frightened him…and yet…
It made him so proud that she had endured this without losing herself. And that she’d just succeeded in doing what he’d never been able to; bringing order to The Multiverse.
Having left Chara to help organize, he tapped a claw against the door to what he knew to be her room. Even with the surface differences, it was still the castle he’d grown up in, after all.
“Enter.”
He stepped into something reminiscent of her room back at their house out in the world…which had never existed now, he realized distantly. Her toys were in a chest at the foot of the bed, some hand-me downs from his days, some newer. There was a bookshelf and a little desk for schoolwork, a dresser, a lamp. She was standing by the bed, taking everything in.
“All done, then?” he asked, rather needlessly, and she looked back to him, nodding, “Yes. With this new arrangement it will be impossible for anyone to meddle in the natural course of Universes. Eventually the slight variations will cancel each other out, combining into singular Universes, until only a few of each drastic variant remain. This will quell the disorder and prevent new anomalies from being created.”
She turned to face him, uneasy, “It’s the best that we could do. Some things simply cannot be helped…at least not without creating bigger problems.”
He nodded, accepting that, kneeling down, “How…are you doing? You look tired.”
“I no longer need sleep.”
“Core all over again, huh?” he replied, smirking a little, “Fair enough. There have already been a few curious visitors. I turned away the bad ones…but we’ve got the beginnings of a little community going now; you, me, your mother, Ayshe, Gaster, his followers. Even nabbed an Altertale version of me and their followers, and...”
He paused, “...A Sans I’d promised I would help, and their Frisk. I guess they gave up on their plan. For the best, I think...”
“I knew what I was doing when I called it Voidkingdom.”
“That you did. That you did.”
“…”
“You don’t have to tell me…” he added after a time, more gently, “But if you ever need to…I’ll be here.”
She nodded, reaching forward with a hand, which he enclosed with his own, “I know.”
Then, “…Your body seems much better off. You’re already regenerating much of the damage you sustained.”
“Yup. Void God, I guess. You need a gatekeeper, so it’s perfect, really. I’ll keep everyone in line, and your mother will keep me in line.”
“Hehe…”
Then, almost embarrassed, “I know I don’t need sleep anymore…but…”
A book vanished from the shelf and appeared in her other hand, “…will you…read to me? Like you did before?”
He recognized it; A gift From the Great Papyrus on her fifth birthday, “Peek-a-boo with Fluffy Bunny”.
He nodded, earning a genuine smile, then scooped her up and brought her to the bed, tucking her in like he’d done hundreds and hundreds of times before, “Of course. Let’s see here…”
________________________________________
The End.