Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They were falling.

It was a terrible thing. The certainty of more pain. They'd fallen so much lately. But there was a flicker of relief as the ground rushed up toward them. This was an escape or the end. Either way, it would be over in a moment.

They lay where they'd fallen, fresh wounds throbbing on a body already decorated in bruises and bandages. Their fist flexed mechanically around the stick they'd grabbed by instinct during the fall.

It took a count of ten, and then another, before they could push themselves up from the sweet-smelling bed of flowers. Gradually, their eyes focused on the world.

Up was impossible. Back was blank stone. Forward was the only choice.

With heavy use of wall and stick, they gained their feet. A desperate flutter of determination danced in their soul. The need to live. No matter the cost.

Flowers swished around them as they stepped from the patch. And from the darkness beyond came an answering rustle of petals.

*****

"BEHOLD! MY BATTLE BODY IS COMPLETE!" Papyrus planted himself before the sofa where Gaster and Sans sat, one scribbling on med reports, the other half asleep with a book. Papyrus spun in place, showing off the result of weeks of work.

"it's awesome, bro," Sans declared, resting his head on the arm of the sofa.

Gaster raised his eyebrows. "I see you've been going through my closet without asking again."

"OH, RIGHT. CAN I BORROW THESE GLOVES? AND BELT? AND PANTS... AND CUT THEM UP?"

Gaster scratched out a notation. "Who is it you're supposed to be?"

"BE?" Papyrus looked down at himself. "I'M ME. WHO ELSE WOULD I BE?"

"The purpose of a costume party is to be someone besides yourself."

"IT IS?"

Sans glanced at Gaster with a slight narrowing of his eye sockets. "yeah... but if you're as cool as papyrus, why would you want to be anyone else?"

Gaster shrugged.

"WHERE ARE YOUR COSTUMES? WE HAVE TO LEAVE FOR THE PARTY RIGHT AWAY!"

"chill. there's plenty of time."

"NO THERE ISN'T! WE CAN'T BE THE LAST ONES THERE. AND YOU HAVEN'T STARTED MAKING YOUR COSTUME AT ALL!"

Sans yawned. "it'll be done. relax."

"WHAT ABOUT YOU?" Papyrus turned to Gaster. "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO WEAR?"

"Nothing."

"YOU'RE GOING TO BE NAKED?"

"I'm not attending."

"WHAT? BUT THE INVITATION WAS FOR EVERYONE!"

"That doesn't mean I'm required to go."

"BUT EVERYONE IN TOWN WILL BE THERE! THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO MAKE HUNDREDS OF FRIENDS!"

Sans slid off the sofa and ambled up the stairs. "you're never gonna get him to go."

"BUT YOU HAVE TO!" Papyrus wailed. "WE HAVE TO GO TOGETHER!"

"Why?"

"BECAUSE..." Papyrus faltered. "BECAUSE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A FAMILY TOGETHER PARTY!"

"I have work to do."

"YOU ALWAYS HAVE WORK! WHY DON'T YOU EVER WANT TO HAVE FUN?"

Gaster sorted the reports into a folder and stood up. He contemplated Papyrus' upturned face, filtering through several appropriate comments. "No," he said at last. He walked up the stairs and into his room.

Papyrus slumped onto the couch with a sigh. Why was Gaster like this? Why was it so hard to make him smile? Why didn't he ever want to do anything not sciency? Occasionally he could be persuaded to join them for a movie, or a sparring session with Papyrus, but that was the extent of it. And he'd usually fall to over-analyzing those activities.

A door opened upstairs and Papyrus looked up hopefully.

Sans shot out of Gaster's room, launched himself off the second floor, bounced off the sofa, and raced out the door with Gaster's lab coat and glasses under his arm. "time to go!" he called.

"SANS!" Gaster bellowed. The shout was followed by a thump and a cry of pain as the fumbling scientist missed the door and slammed into the wall.

Papyrus wavered for a second, then hastily followed his brother out of the house.

*****

...You're new to the UNDERGROUND, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here. I guess little old me will have to do. Ready?

*****

"I AM THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIST IN THE UNDERGROUND," Sans declared to party-goers in unsteady Wingdings from his perch on Grillby's bar. "I AM BUSY. VERY BUSY. LOOK AT ALL MY SCIENCENESS! TREMBLE BEFORE MY GREATNESS!"

"I do not sound like that," the scientist grumbled as he pushed through the crowd.

Sans turned, unruffled to be caught impersonating. "what's your costume? lookin' pretty normal to me."

Gaster scowled. "I want my things back."

"you should be thankin' me," Sans replied. "you've been missing your spare glasses for weeks. and look how fast you found 'em tonight." He offered Gaster a drink.

His father merely glared. "Take off that coat immediately."

Sans continued extending the drink. "c'mon, just lighten up and stay for an hour. pap'll love it. then you can have your stuff back."

"And if I refuse?"

Sans shrugged. He didn't have a backup plan, and Gaster probably knew it.

The scientist sighed and snatched the drink from Sans. "There had better not be any stains on that coat," he rumbled and stalked into the crowd.

"DAD, YOU CAME!" Sans heard Papyrus shriek from somewhere amidst the party-goers.

Sans leaned back with a self-satisfied grin.

*****

...I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs.

*****

"SANS? ARE YOU ASLEEP?" Papyrus crawled into bed, nudging his brother out of the way to make room for himself.

"...yes..." Sans mumbled.

"DID YOU SEE THE RABBITS AT THE PARTY?"

"lots of 'em. they seemed real hoppy to be there."

"I MEAN THE ONES THAT WERE KISSING. DID YOU SEE THAT?" Papyrus arranged the blankets carefully over them.

"...mmm..."

"AND DID YOU KNOW THOSE DOGS GOT MARRIED... SANS, WHEN ARE WE GETTING MARRIED?"

Sans opened one eye. "i don't think it works that way."

Papyrus lay down. "I DON'T MEAN YOU AND ME. I MEAN... WE SHOULD BE DOING DATING THINGS."

"what kind of things?"

"I DON'T KNOW! THE THINGS MONSTERS DO WHEN THEY LIKE SOMEONE AND WANT TO... SPEND MORE TIME WITH THEM. WE SHOULD FIND MONSTERS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH AND BECOME... DATING-FRIENDS."

"what do we need with dates?"

"IT'S IMPORTANT! IT'S WHAT MONSTERS DO. AND I WANT TO DO MORE MONSTER THINGS."

"kay... then we'll find you dates... maybe at the store..." Sans burrowed his head against his brother. His skull clunked against something hard. He blinked. "are you still wearing your costume?"

"IT'S MY BATTLE BODY!" Papyrus replied. "IT MAKES ME FEEL INVINCIBLE."

"you don't need a costume for that."

"I KNOW... I KNOW I'M GREAT. BUT, UM... AT THE PARTY TONIGHT? IT WAS EASIER TO... TALK TO OTHER MONSTERS. IN THIS. IT MADE ME FEEL... POWERFUL."

Sans wrapped an arm around him. "armor-up however you need, bro."

"OH, SANS..."

*****

...If a monster does not want to fight you, please... use some MERCY.

*****

"Sans? Uh, hi." Alphys blinked as she answered the knocking on the lab door.

"hey. heard you needed more dog food."

"Oh, th-thank you. They go through it so fast." Together they dragged the bag into the elevator. "Dr. Gaster's still downstairs, I think."

"yeah, he called. said he wanted to run more tests."

"More?"

Sans shrugged. "what can i say? i'm broken."

The elevator dinged open and they tugged the bag into the hall.

"Oh, d-don't say that. You haven't had any b-blackouts in a while."

"nope. just all my other crap."

Sans thrust his hands into his pockets and slouched down the hall with Alphys waddling after him.

As they neared the office, the avian amalgamate charged out the door, snapping at a thrown bone.

"Oh, no!" Alphys rushed forward. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know they'd gotten out."

Gaster didn't look up from the computer. "Don't worry about it. They leave me alone if they're fed."

The bird hopped back into the room, the bone in its mouth. It settled beside Endogeny, who was sucking blissfully on a bone already.

Sans sauntered over to pat the amalgamates on their heads. "hey legions. how're all the personalities feeling today?"

Reaper Bird broke off pecking and uttered a string of garbled sentences in wavering inflections. Sans listened seriously, nodding as if he understood.

"Alphys, when did you last turn on the TML machine?" Gaster asked, his eyes still focused on the computer screen.

"The what?"

Gaster jabbed a finger at the terminal currently plugged into the computer. "That."

"Th-that thing?" Alphys eyed it from several angles. "Um... never?"

"somethin' wrong?" Sans asked as he rose and shook ectoplasm off his hands.

"...I'm not sure. Someone's been accessing it... possibly..."

"P-possibly?"

Gaster continued to frown. "These file dates are... I don't know what's going on."

"Can I...?"

Gaster rose, letting Alphys take the chair.

"what were you doin' with that machine? thought you decided it was dangerous." Sans leaned on the desk, watching Alphys' fingers fly across the keys.

"Papyrus has been going on about dreams so much lately. I wanted to cross-reference how long he's been seeing some of this... and then something seemed wrong with the files."

Sans eyed Gaster suspiciously. "Seems like you're diggin' pretty deep for a couple dreams... unless he's not the only one havin' 'em?"

Gaster watched over Alphys' shoulder. "...Just a feeling..."

"like this isn't the first time we've done this?"

Gaster nodded, his expression set.

Neither spoke again until...

"Th-there, I've... what is this?" Alphys blinked at the screen.

"Machine access times," Gaster murmured, leaning close.

"B-b-but..."

There were close to a hundred timestamps scrolling across the screen.

Sans turned his head sideways. "last time was... this morning."

Alphys' eyes widened fretfully. "I swear I didn't turn it on."

Sans glanced at the amalgamates. "they couldn't play with it, could they?"

"Oh... oh, no. They're barely able to get their minds together long enough to walk. A-and I lock them up when I'm not d-down here."

Sans flinched.

"It can't have been them." Gaster pushed Alphys out of the way and took over the computer with rapidly typing fingers. "These had to have been us... looped back over ourselves."

"W-what... what do you mean?"

Gaster looked up, his eyes glowing with scientific intrigue. "Something's rewriting time!"

*****

...This is it. A room of your own. I hope you like it.

*****

"...This could be proof that alternate realities can be accessed. With strong enough determination, it might be possible to alter the flow of events, possibly exploring multiple outcomes until latching onto the most expedient result. We just need to establish who or what is causing..." Gaster trailed off in his gleeful monologue, gradually realizing he'd been talking nonstop for some twenty minutes, and Sans hadn't interrupted him with a single snarky comment as they walked homeward. "Something wrong?"

"you're keepin' monsters locked up in the basement again."

Gaster frowned, both at the accusation and the sudden change of topic. "I'm not. Alphys is."

"yeah... nice how that worked out for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sans glared up at him, his eyes blank and narrowed. "seems like you got yourself a whole new set of subjects without havin' to deal with the guilt of it. you outsourced all that onto alphys."

Gaster's bones began to click with warning annoyance. "I'm not the one who made them or keeps them there."

"not like you're rushing to send 'em back to their families."

"Why would they want them?"

"come by grillby's some night and listen to them cry before you take that choice away from them."

"Choice?"

"yeah. you know that thing you like sayin' you don't have."

"How is any of this my fault?"

"you gave her the research."

"For reading. I didn't suggest she inject living monsters with DT."

"did you know what would happen if she did?" Sans interpreted Gaster's silence as something toward the affirmative. "didn't think to warn her, hu?"

"She's an intelligent, well-read scientist..."

"who was in way over her head and freaking out cause you bailed on her."

"How would you know?"

"i read her journal."

"Sans..."

"what? if she didn't want me to read it, she should have come up with a better password than M3wKissyM3w."

Gaster rolled his eyes. "And you're accusing me of questionable morals."

"right, cause violating privacy's the same as torturous experiments."

Gaster glared at him. "What is it you want from me?"

Sans stared at the ground. "i don't want anything from you."

"No?"

"if i did, it'd mean i expect something of you. and i don't."

Gaster quivered. "What have I done wrong? Recently, I mean." After a span of silence, he began to tick off on his fingers. "I haven't said a word about you hacking my firewalls, or Papyrus mangling my clothes. Or that dog you two keep feeding. I even went to that stupid costume party..."

"because i forced you!" Sans looked up at him with dark and glaring eyes. "would it kill you to act once in a while like we're more than just some unending penance you're saddled with? it's not like we have to be here. we figured out a long time ago that you need us way more than we need you."

Gaster looked away. "I'm not Asgore," he said softly. "If you wanted a father, you should have gone back to him."

"we don't need you to be him," Sans replied quietly. "just be nice to know if you actually care about us, or just about the use you get out of us."

The rest of the walk was silent.

*****

...You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself... Prove to me you are strong enough to survive.

*****

"...SO THE THEME STARTS WITH A REALLY FAST TEMPO, AND THEN IT GOES... ♪C-G-C, E, C, B-C, D♪... SANS, ARE YOU LISTENING?"

"hmm?"

Papyrus looked down in concern at the skeleton trudging through the snow beside him. "YOU'RE NOT SLEEP-WALKING, ARE YOU?"

"if i could do that, i'd never have to wake up."

"UGH! COULD YOU BE ANY LAZIER?"

"that sounds like effort. but i'll sleep on it and tell you later."

Papyrus groaned.

They were silent for a time, then Papyrus spoke hesitantly. "SANS... IS DAD DOING BAD THINGS AGAIN?"

Sans jumped. "what makes you say that?"

"YOU WERE REALLY MAD AT HIM YESTERDAY."

"we didn't say anything."

"I KNOW! THAT'S HOW I KNOW WHEN YOU'RE REALLY MAD. WHEN YOU'RE NOT REALLY MAD, YOU FIGHT."

"...uh-huh..."

"AND HE'S BEEN GOING TO THE LAB A LOT. AND YOU'VE BEEN GOING TO THE LAB A LOT. AND YOU WON'T TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON."

"alphys asked us not to. we told you that."

"BUT IT'S STILL KEEPING SECRETS!"

Sans studied the ground. "alphys made a mistake. he's tryin' to help her fix it."

"OH... WELL, THAT'S A GOOD THING... SO WHY ARE YOU MAD AT HIM?"

Sans walked quietly for a time, trying to formulate his tumbled thoughts. "what if... you run into somethin' where no matter what, someone's going to be hurt?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"so... if there's some monsters that are sad now, right? and you could make them not sad... but someone else who's okay right now would be hurt because of that. and you can't guarantee the people who are sad now wouldn't be angry or hurt later."

"IS THIS LIKE ONE OF DAD'S THOUGHT EXPERIMENT THINGS? LIKE THE THING WITH THE TROLLEY?"

"i guess so?"

"THAT'S OKAY THEN. I FIGURED IT OUT."

"figured it out how?"

"I SOLVED IT."

"did you?" Sans tactfully didn't question the declaration. Gaster and Papyrus had had more than one argument which began with Gaster posing a moral quandary of picking between two evils, and Papyrus insisting there was a solution in which no one was harmed. Gaster insisting there was no 'solving' a moral thought problem only left Papyrus more determined to find the solutions in which no one died.

Papyrus nodded proudly. "BONES," he announced confidently.

"bones?"

"BONES. YOU BREAK THE TRACK. THEN NOBODY GETS HURT."

"cept you, pap. you're on the trolley. if it crashes, you get hurt."

"BUT THAT'S OKAY BECAUSE THAT'S MY CHOICE. THE PEOPLE ON THE TRACK CAN'T CHOOSE IF THEY WANT TO GET HURT OR NOT. SO I SHOULD ONLY MAKE THE CHOICE THAT WOULD HURT ME."

Sans studied the ground. "it would hurt me too, bro."

"BUT WOULDN'T YOU FEEL BETTER KNOWING I PICKED WHAT HAPPENED TO ME RATHER THAN IF SOMEBODY JUST RAN ME OVER WITH A TROLLEY?"

"you're gone either way. what's it matter why?"

"IT MATTERS TO ME!"

Sans sighed. "i guess everybody should make their own choices... i dunno. seems like every way i look, someone's gonna have a bad time."

"THERE'S A WAY THAT NOBODY DOES. I KNOW IT."

Sans grinned. "only if everybody's as great as you."

Papyrus strutted proudly. "I AM A VERY IMPRESSIVE IDEAL."

"not all of us can live up to that."

"I CAN HELP EVERYONE BE BETTER! IF EVERYONE IS AS GREAT AS ME, NO ONE WILL BE SAD EVER. EVERYONE WILL KNOW THE RIGHT THING ALWAYS."

"you're the best, bro." Sans grinned at him with genuine admiration. "you're gonna save the world with that kind of attitude."

"OF COURSE! I CAN HELP EVERYONE! IF WE FIND A HUMAN, I'LL TEACH THEM TO BE THEIR BEST TOO! AND I'M GOING TO START WITH YOU!"

Sans yelped as he was hauled off his feet and carried with sudden rapid strides down the path.

"YOU ARE GOING TO BE LESS LAZY! YOU'LL BE MUCH HAPPIER IF YOU ARE ACTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE! LIKE ME! YOU ARE GOING TO BE ON TIME FOR WORK, AND YOU ARE GOING TO RE-CALIBRATE ALL YOUR PUZZLES TODAY!" Papyrus paused and looked suspiciously at the smaller skeleton. "YOU DID GET YOUR PUZZLE ACTIVE, RIGHT? LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD?"

"sure pap. i brought it with me."

"YOU DID?"

"yup. it's in my pocket. wanna see it?" Sans squirmed with a show of helplessness.

Papyrus dropped him immediately. "YOU FINALLY MADE A PUZZLE? GOOD FOR YOU! WHERE IS IT?"

"you wanna see?"

"YES! YES, I MUST SEE YOUR PUZZLE! AND THEN WE WILL WORK ON ALL THE PUZZLES IN SNOWDIN!"

Sans grinned sweetly. "gotta catch me first." He stepped sideways.

"DON'T YOU D-"

Papyrus' words were cut off as darkness tugged Sans into its embrace. He scrambled swiftly through the swirl of nothing and numbers, stumbling free into the forest.

He shook off a dusting of snow. "and by the time you find me, maybe you'll have done all the puzzles yourself," he muttered with a smug grin. He straightened up and glanced around with a sudden flicker of confusion.

In his haste he'd overshot his sentry post by quite a lot. It took a moment just to be certain where in the forest he was. Closer to the ruins than his post, he realized with a sigh. Walking back was going to take a while.

Teleporting was an option, of course. But it hurt his head to use his shortcuts too often. And... sometimes the shortcuts frightened him. Lately... or maybe always... it had felt like there was something in the darkness with him. Something grasping feebly at his soul. Something familiar...

Sans shook himself. "stupid dreams," he muttered. He shouldn't let his weird déjà vu nightmares affect his waking.

He set off at a steady plod, weaving around snowdrifts and trees. He might as well call this a patrol walk. Then he'd feel perfectly justified napping when he reached his post. Sure, he'd been planning to do that anyway, but this way he could tell Papyrus he'd done something productive.

He saw the path through the trees and followed it at a diagonal intercept. Best to stay under cover a little longer. He wasn't sure how far behind him Papyrus was, and it wouldn't do to be caught until he'd settled in for a good nap.

Someone was on the path, but the figure was much too small to be his brother. Odd... in profile, they almost looked like...

*****

How could there be snow?

It matched the chill in their soul. What she'd said. What the flower had said. It burned in icy trepidation.

Back was impossible. Forward was the only choice.

Snow crunched beneath their feet, sounding louder with every step. The air hummed with tension. Another long walk down an ominous path. But this time there was no certainty of someone waiting at the end.

A crash. A broken branch. A movement in the shadows. They broke into a run.

A barrier ahead. They slowed to an unsteady crawl. Was the small bridge safe? Was there room enough to slip between the bars?

Before they could decide, they heard the shuffle of slow and steady footsteps approaching. They tensed, their grip on the object in their hand going knuckle-white.

The hollow voice which rattled against their neck was that of death itself.

"H u m a n. T u r n  A r o u n d."

Chapter Text

...don't you know how to greet a new pal?

*****

"OhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGod!"

Alphys trembled and stared transfixed at the monitor. A human! A real, live, right-here, human! How?! Well, of course she knew how. They fell. That was how it had happened before. But she'd never seen one in real life.

Well, not real life. On the monitor. But it looked so real. No, it was real. Not like her animes. Although, wouldn't it be wonderful if it did look like an anime?!

She leaned forward, re-imagining the human with enormous fawn eyes and a school uniform. Or something steam-punk. Yes... Goggles on their forehead and an enormous knife strapped to their back. Maybe some monster sidekick... Could she be that monster sidekick?! She probably had the perfect outfit hidden somewhere in the lab.

"Oh, no-no-no! Sans! Don't kill them!" she shrieked at the monitor. Didn't the human see the figure stalking behind them? "Turn around! Turn around! Don't let him..." She gasped as Sans grabbed their hand, then sagged at the sound of a whoopee cushion. Oh, Sans...

Excellent dramatic tension, though. Almost like real TV. But it needed a better antagonist. Sans wouldn't cut it. He was liable to fall asleep in the middle of a dramatic monologue. No, the human would need someone much more intense to thwart their journey...

...Like Undyne.

Alphys was reaching for her phone before she even realized what she was doing. No! She couldn't tell Undyne about this! For starters, Undyne would want to kill the human and take their soul to Asgore. That was how this was supposed to work, after all. The human wasn't here for her enjoyment...

...But this had already become her favorite program.

"Hide, Human!" she cried as her cameras picked up Papyrus' approach. Maybe Sans wouldn't kill them outright, but if Papyrus alerted Undyne...

What if the human killed them?! She shouldn't just sit here! Humans were the enemy! No matter how amazing they were on television. They were dangerous. And how would she face Dr. Gaster if she just sat here while a human killed both his kids?

Except if she told Gaster, he'd... No, she had to tell him. And Undyne. Humans had to be killed and taken to the castle. That was the process. There were good reasons for that...

...But it was sooo cute...

This wasn't fair! She finally saw a human and it was going to be killed.

No, correction. She already knew a human. She saw one regularly.

...And Gaster didn't like that one either.

Certainly, it had been an absolute shock the first time she'd found herself dragged through time and space by unknown forces. And to face the equally surprised looking human. She'd babbled uncontrollably for their entire first interaction. But she'd settled down when it began happening with regularity.

The human had been so nice. So interested. They'd wanted to know all about Mettaton, Gaster, Asgore, Undyne, her work, her hobbies, and more. They'd listened to her complain about Mew Mew 2 and given her dozens of new programs to watch. They'd given her candy and encouraged her to open up about her troubles. It had felt so nice...

...So why had Gaster looked so terrified when he'd found out about her friend?

It wasn't just humans in general. She'd known he didn't like them, but he'd always been amiable to watching her programs and listening to her gush about how amazing humans were. His distrust of the species didn't make him discount their culture and scientific discoveries. In the latter, he was just as interested as Alphys.

But this human he hated... no, feared... with intensity. He'd wanted her to abandon the lab when he'd found out. He'd ranted that he thought he'd gotten rid of them for good. That they needed to leave her alone. That this wasn't safe for her or anyone. He'd wanted to know what she'd told them. Had they asked about his kids? The king? And above all else had they hurt her? He'd asked that so many times Alphys began to wonder if she did remember being harmed. But, no. The human had been kind to her. Why would Gaster be so convinced of otherwise?

She'd resisted his insistence that she go away from here. The amalgamates were her mistake. If she left them... like she'd thought about that one time...

No, don't think about that. She had Undyne now. And the human. And Gaster.

But if they found out what she'd done...?

She'd kept her mistake a secret from everyone except Gaster. That he hadn't rejected and reported her was nothing short of a miracle. Sure, there had been that time everyone had discovered he'd made secret kids in the lab... but that hadn't been for nefarious purposes or anything, had it? Come to think of it... he'd never really explained why he'd made the kids. He'd never seemed like the family type...

...But she'd LOVED writing Fics about him and Asgore and the boys. So many possibilities for family hijinks. And the best were the ones where Gaster and Asgore had an argument, and called her to mediate, and they'd talk out their troubles... in a bathhouse somewhere... and they'd be so grateful to her...

A banging on the door jolted Alphys back to the moment. She leaped from the monitor and hastily opened the door, remembering even as she was hitting the touchpad that she shouldn't open the lab unless she knew who it was. Fear clutched at her. What if she'd just let Asgore in? Or the dogs? Or...?

"I have NO IDEA what to do, Darling!" Mettaton whirled past her in a rush of waving arms. "I'm the number one sensation in the underground, and My Ratings Are Dropping!!!"

"W-what?" Alphys stammered.

"Ugh! Something about that fountain I installed in the lobby of my hotel." Mettaton made a dismissive gesture. "The manager says six monsters have slipped, and some of them are threatening to sue. Honestly. Can you believe it? Of course they slipped! The sight of me would make anyone swoon. And a lawsuit?! If they want to meet me in person, there are better ways."

He paced as he ranted. "And the critic! They say I'm type-casting myself. 'Always the dashing hero', 'No range', 'No new moves'. Ugh!" He turned on Alphys. "Tell me you have my new body done. I need pizazz! I need something to make everyone stand up and take notice of ME!"

"Uh..." Alphys was speechless. She hadn't seen Mettaton in months. When she called, her messages went straight to voicemail. Her texts were rarely returned. Mettaton had even pulled out of their human fan club. Which made Alphys the only member.

Speaking of humans...

She stared at the robot with sudden new interest. Mettaton had stage presence galore... and a metal body that could stand up to the human if they turned violent. He was perfect.

She licked her lips. "H-how about a... a co-star?"

"You, Darling? Sweetheart, you know I adore your whole..." Mettaton gestured at the rumpled lab coat, "...thing. But it's not stardom material."

Alphys blushed. "I... uh... didn't mean me... I meant... them." She pointed at the monitor.

Mettaton wheeled over and studied the figure trudging through the snow. "That color is absolutely garish. Too much white. Honestly. Someone needs to do everyone a favor and paint Snowdin a nice pink. What is it I'm looking at?"

"Them." Alphys pointed eagerly. "It's a human. Can you believe it? A real human! Here! And..." She began to tremble with excitement. "We could... we could put them on your show."

"Ah." Mettaton lit up with excited colors. "A worthy adversary. My fans would love to see me butcher a human live on the air."

"B-b-but!" Alphys wrung her hands. "N-no! W-w-we w-won't kill them!"

"Why ever not? That is the plan, isn't it? Collect human souls and cross into their world?"

"Y-yes. B-but humans are... like in our club? Humans are interesting! We can't kill them. We could... we could use them. Show everyone how amazing they are. They just need an..." Alphys gulped. "...adversary."

"Adversary." Mettaton drew himself up to his full height. "You can't expect me to play the villain role! I'm the hero. I'm the idol of the underground. And you want me to throw that away to give the human popularity? Darling, you're asking too much."

Alphys hesitated. She knew what to say. She knew the one thing which would get her everything she wanted. But... Mettaton would never have a reason to speak to her again if she did.

But... maybe one moment of glory. Maybe getting to be part of the action... feeling just a fraction of the adoration Mettaton enjoyed... maybe that would be enough.

She took a deep breath. "If... if you do this... and let me have a part... and let me help m-make the program, I'll... I'll finish your true form. I... I can have i-it done by the time the human g-gets here. Y-you can unveil it w-while you battle the human."

There was a long stretch of silence.

Steel cable arms wrapped around Alphys.

"Oh, Darling," the robot cooed. "I never knew you had a mercenary streak." He rubbed his head against Alphys' cheek. "You and I are going to make magic the underground will never forget." He seized her arm and dragged her toward the door. "Come on! Let's go to my studio. I can't wait to hear all your ideas!"

Alphys glanced helplessly back as her cellphone vibrated on the desk. She licked her lips and followed Mettaton from the lab.

*****

...IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES. I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!!!

*****

"...I can't keep covering for you like this," Gaster hissed into his phone. "Call me as soon as you can." He snapped his phone closed and turned to the core foreman with a forced smile.

This was becoming much too much of a habit. Between the amalgamates and that human, Alphys was nearly impossible to extract from the lab anymore. Staff meetings at the core had been nightmares before, but without her, and usually without Asgore, it was just Gaster and the foreman snarling at each other.

Today was no different.

"I built your safety rails. What more do you want?" Gaster demanded as the meeting descended from its intended topic into the foreman's usual complaints.

"Rails are nothing when we can't even find the trouble spots with the way this place moves around without warning!"

"It's a complex puzzle grid. It's tradition. And you'll be grateful for the design if a human ever gets in here!"

"What are the chances of that happening? There hasn't been a human in the underground in years, and none of them ever got out of Hotland."

That was back when the king was stable, Gaster thought.

The rodent stood on the table, bristling to twice his body size. "Besides, who cares about hypothetical humans when we have dangers now!"

"Dangers?" Gaster scoffed and folded his arms. "The core's not dangerous. Unless you're idiotic enough to fall in. And we've established that has never happened. Even before you diverted so much funding for your 'safety precautions'." It was hard to do air quotes around signing, but Gaster managed.

"Yes, dangers! We've got tar leaking all over the place."

"Tar?" Gaster frowned. "The core doesn't use combustibles. It's self-sustaining, clean energy. That's the point."

"You sure? Then explain why everyone keeps reporting something dripping around here."

"That's called water." Gaster took on his lecturing voice and managed to convey the same scorn with his fingers. "When steam cools..."

"Oh, don't play big-shot physicist with me." The rodent scowled. "I have a degree too, you know. They don't let just anybody work in this place."

Gaster rolled his eye. "Yes, you've mentioned your Bachelor's Degree many times. I believe the fry chef at the MTT Burger Emporium has one of those as well."

The foreman very nearly launched himself at Gaster's wrist. He restrained himself by grabbing the edge of Gaster's coffee mug and giving him a warning glare. "Yeah, you just keep on making fun of the little guy. How are you big shots going to feel when it's you in trouble down there?"

"If you're so dissatisfied with your job," Gaster replied. "Maybe you should do something else. Have you considered testing cosmetics?"

"That's it!"

One of the other technicians was kind enough to pry the foreman off Gaster's neck. Gaster walked away wishing his coffee mug hadn't been a casualty of the meeting. He'd liked that one.

He made an inspection of the core, finding nothing wrong. Of course. What was there to find? The core was a miracle of science. His greatest creation... one of his greatest creations. It wasn't safe, of course. Magma was magma, especially magically charged magma. But there was no sign anything had ever gone wrong here...

...So why did it scare him?

He stood on the catwalk overlooking the pooling energy below. It was one of his favorite spots to sneak off for a cigarette. Or had been. Toriel had made him quit when he'd moved in with her, and he'd managed to make quitting stick this time. Asgore might have scolded him for smoking, but Toriel was downright scary when she decided she knew best. And of course she'd recruited the boys, so he received no peace in Snowdin either. If Papyrus wasn't badgering him, Sans was stealing his cigarettes outright. Gaster suspected Sans was using them to cover his tab at Grillby's. Speaking of someone with a smoking problem...

He sighed and leaned on the rail.

Why did this feel familiar? And not just because he'd stood up here and contemplated the trials of life on many occasions. He could practically feel someone creeping up behind him. A voice prompting him to just end his troubles.

Was it his eternally guilty self-conscious? It would make sense, of course. But that was not what it sounded like. There had been another voice. A voice that knew his sins. A voice telling him to jump...

He wrenched away from such thoughts and hurried down the catwalk. This was ridiculous. The core was safe. No one had ever fallen in. And there were safety precautions in place. Railings. Buddy systems. Sign-in sheets.

They'd know if someone fell in.

*****

...YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!

*****

"...never knew dogs could pet other dogs! It's amazing. We should do that. Pet-pet-pet everyone. It feels so good."

Gaster brushed past the guard dogs on their way to the bar as he headed from the ferry. His eyes were mostly on the ground, paying little attention to his surroundings or the conversation drifting past him.

"Where is this weird puppy now?"

"I think Papyrus took them home."

Gaster froze. He glanced back, but the dogs were already heading into Grillby's. He quickened his steps toward home.

He'd told Papyrus they couldn't have a pet when he'd brought home that last dog. The bright-eyed puppy had had far too much of a knowing glint in its eye. Even Papyrus had been willing to boot it out the door after it started stealing his cooking. But he left his dishes unattended too often, and Sans didn't hesitate to feed it under the table, so the dog kept coming back.

Gaster heard the banging coming from the garage as he approached. "Papyrus, if you locked a dog in there again..." he grumbled and unlocked the door.

For a second, the figure on the other side of the door was swathed in shadows. Gaster saw little but a form covered in skin, a head covered in hair, and a stick gripped in their fingered hand.

There was a blur of past and present. He was on the battlefield, pressed against the rocks, separated from Asgore and Toriel. The humans advanced on him with blood in their eyes...

...The human shoved against his frozen form. He tumbled backwards into the snow as the small figure leaped over him and took off with all speed toward the edge of town.

"HUMAN, NO! YOU'RE CAPTURED! YOU HAVE TO STAY IN THE CAPTURE ZONE!"

Gaster heard a second set of feet taking off in pursuit, then Sans was staring down at him.

"if you're lying in the snow, does that mean you're drifting off to sleep?" Sans asked.

"I just had the worst dream," Gaster panted.

"was it that papyrus found a human, captured it, put it in the garage, and you just let it out?"

Gaster's soul sunk to new lows. "Oh, god."

*****

...EVEN THOUGH IT'S VERY IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO ESCAPE. AMAZING!!! I FEEL A SINCERE... WAAAAAIT A SECOND!! I STILL HAVE TO CAPTURE YOU!!!

*****

"...AND THEN WE BATTLED, BUT THE HUMAN DIDN'T DO IT RIGHT AT ALL! THEY DIDN'T USE ANY BULLET PATTERNS. SO I CAPTURED THEM AND PUT THEM IN THE CAPTURE ZONE. BUT THEY GOT OUT SO WE BATTLED AGAIN, AND I CAPTURED THEM AGAIN! BUT THAT'S GETTING BORING SO WE'RE GOING TO GO ON A DATE NOW."

Gaster stared at Papyrus. Actually, he mostly stared at the figure poking around the living room. Papyrus had installed the human in front of the TV, but the static patterns of the 'stay tuned' message hadn't held their interest for long. Nor had Sans' quantum physics book. Now it was rummaging through the couch while Papyrus proudly explained his afternoon's adventures to his father.

It can't stay here. You have to kill it. I'll kill it. SOMEBODY KILL IT! The words reverberated in his skull. For once Gaster was speechless. This was not a scenario he'd ever planned for.

The human who'd assaulted him in the lab had held all the power. He'd been utterly helpless to fight back. This time... this time he stood a chance. They weren't in the human's world. He had his powers here. And his science. If he couldn't destroy them outright, he could lure them to a location where he had the advantage. He might not win this fight... but he could fight. He could defend his own...

...If his own wasn't protecting the human.

"ARE YOU READY TO GO UPSTAIRS AND... DO WHATEVER PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?" Papyrus asked the human, apparently interpreting his father's silence as consent for the situation.

When the door closed behind them, Gaster whirled on Sans, who'd been idly playing his trombone all the while. "Why didn't you stop this?!" he demanded.

Sans' eyebrows jumped. "didn't see you jumpin' in."

"I meant before he got it to the house. You knew he was messing around with a human. Why didn't you kill it?"

"me?" Sans gave him an innocent look. "me and my 'condition'?"

"Oh, don't play coy. I've seen you spar. You don't play by the rules. You're fully capable of taking on a human and winning."

Sans blinked. "that is literally the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

Gaster was working himself into a state, and it was hard to keep his voice down to a hush. "Just answer the question! You know humans are dangerous. Why would you let Papyrus play with one?"

"cause he really wanted to." Sans shrugged. "i kept an eye socket on 'em. the human didn't hurt him any while he was showin' off his puzzles."

"And if they'd hurt someone else?"

"would have been their choice, wouldn't it? the human didn't try to fight anybody. fight's just came to them."

"And why weren't you one of those fights? Why didn't you stop them back in the woods?"

Sans sighed. "mom wouldn't have liked it. and... i didn't think you'd want me to either."

"ME?! Why wouldn't I want you to stop a human?"

Sans gave him that look he reserved for when he thought Gaster was being a complete idiot. "you made us to save asgore. why the hell would you want me gift wrap a seventh soul for him?" He stalked off.

Gaster was left staring into empty space.

There were uncomfortable moments when he thought his son just might be smarter than him.

*****

...I'VE ACTUALLY NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. BUT DON'T WORRY!!! YOU CAN'T SPELL "PREPARED" WITHOUT SEVERAL LETTERS FROM MY NAME!!!

*****

There was a human asleep on the couch.

There was a human asleep on the couch.

How had it come to this? The human had been allowed to depart from the boys' room, having completed whatever Papyrus thought a 'date' was. And then Papyrus had insisted on cooking dinner for them.

Gaster had remained silent, though his glare clearly made the human uneasy. He'd tried to get Papyrus alone so he could explain that the human needed to be murdered, and murdered immediately, but he couldn't get a word in edgewise as Papyrus gushed about his new friend.

"WE'RE IN THE FRIEND ZONE," Papyrus explained. "WE THOUGHT ABOUT BEING MORE, BUT I ONLY FEEL PLATONICALLY ABOUT THEM. I MAY HAVE BROKEN THEIR HEART. BUT I'LL HELP THEM GET OVER ME. I'M REALLY GREAT AT THAT."

And before Gaster could find opportunity to relate logical reasons that Papyrus needed to break their literal heart as well as their metaphorical one, Papyrus had decided it was much too late for adventuring. The human had to stay the night. And now they were asleep on the couch.

How many hours had Gaster been lying in bed debating what to do? Long enough to make conclusions absolutely clear. The human had to die. No discussion. It had to die. And he had to hide its soul where Asgore couldn't find it. Asgore couldn't know the human had ever been here. Papyrus would have to be silenced. If he'd already blabbed, his words would have to be discounted. Asgore had to be protected. The human had to be eliminated now before it had a chance to harm the king.

He crept down the stairs.

There they were. Sound asleep. So foolishly trusting. Didn't they know monsters had long memories? Didn't they know what their kind had done during the war?

He leaned over them.

The human whimpered softly in their sleep and clutched at the edge of the blanket.

...Papyrus had twitched a lot in his sleep when he'd been young too.

And that stuffed rabbit Papyrus had loaned the human. Gaster had given the boys that back in the lab. He didn't remember them ever sleeping with it. But they'd curled around each other like that. They still did.

God, it was so small. Were human children always this little? It was smaller than Sans was now. And about as vulnerable as he looked whenever he had a blackout.

...This would be easier if they were awake. Maybe he could take them outside. Tell Papyrus it had escaped.

But killing it on the streets of Snowdin was sure to draw attention. And what would he do with the body?

No, it would have the advantage if it was awake. Just do it fast right now. No hesitating. Stay determined. A few fast blows to the head. If he was quick, Papyrus would never...

...no.

God, when had he become so weak? Had he always been this pathetic? He'd never protect his sons if he didn't...

He turned away.

It was then that he saw the pair of glowing blue eyes watching him from the kitchen doorway.

Father and son stared at one another. Then, Gaster trudged back upstairs for a long and sleepless night.

Chapter Text

"...Never trust a flower."

*****

"JUST KEEP GOING EAST AND YOU'LL BE AT THE BARRIER IN NO TIME!" Papyrus assured the human as he escorted them out of the house. "AND IF YOU GET LOST, YOU HAVE MY CELL NUMBER SO I CAN HELP YOU!"

Gaster prowled behind them, tense for the moment Papyrus would leave them alone. As soon as the human headed for Waterfall...

"hey, i'm gettin' off to a late start this morning," Sans spoke up suddenly. "which means it's time for my break." He turned to the human. "how's about you and me get somethin' at grillby's before you go?"

"Food poisoning is not the same as a blaster to the face," Gaster muttered to Sans.

"you wanted to chat with pap, you get to chat with pap," Sans hissed back. He sauntered off with the human trailing.

Papyrus beamed at Gaster. "ISN'T THIS GREAT? MY PLAN WORKED! THE HUMAN IS MY FRIEND NOW. THEY WON'T HURT ASGORE-DAD."

"Why do you assume that?"

"I TOLD THEM NOT TO! I SAID ASGORE WAS MY FRIEND AND FRIENDS DON'T HURT EACH OTHER."

"That's all well and good, but Asgore doesn't know them. And neither does Captain Undyne."

"SURE SHE DOES! I CALLED HER THIS MORNING TO SAY A HUMAN WAS COMING THROUGH WATERFALL, SO SHE'D BETTER WATCH OUT FOR THEM. SO THAT'S FINE."

"You don't suppose she'll think that's implication she should stop it?"

"WHY WOULD SHE? IF I DIDN'T DO THAT, SHE'LL KNOW NOT TO DO THAT."

Gaster rubbed his nasal bridge. "The royal guard exists to capture humans."

"AND HELP MONSTERS IN TROUBLE! AND BUILD PUZZLES! AND WATER FLOWERS!"

"You know that last one is Toriel's euphemism for checking for humans."

"YEAH... MY FLOWER FRIEND DOESN'T LIKE IT WHEN I WATER HIM WITHOUT ASKING."

"This is not the time to talk about your imaginary friend," Gaster snapped. "I am trying to talk to you about the human."

"I KNEW YOU'D LIKE THEM ONCE YOU GOT TO KNOW THEM!"

"I don't like them. I have no intention of getting to know them. They're dangerous and need to be eliminated."

Papyrus stepped back. "BUT... WHY?"

"It's a human. What other reason do you need?"

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE BAD! JUST BECAUSE SOME OTHER HUMANS DID BAD THINGS DOESN'T MEAN THIS ONE WILL. ESPECIALLY WITH ME TEACHING THEM TO BE GOOD."

"You just turned them loose to wander Waterfall unattended."

"NO I DIDN'T! I GAVE THEM MY CELL NUMBER. THEY CAN CALL ME IF THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! AND UNDYNE WILL HELP WATCH FOR THEM."

"She's going to murder it the moment she sees it."

"I'LL EXPLAIN IT TO HER. SHE'LL HELP GET THE HUMAN HOME."

"Home?"

"YEAH! ASGORE-DAD WILL LET THEM GO WHEN THEY EXPLAIN THEY WANT TO GO HOME."

"Asgore's going to take their soul and use it to slaughter humanity."

"HE WOULDN'T! HE'S GOOD! HE'LL LET THEM GO IF I ASK."

"He can't."

"HE WILL IF..."

"I mean he can't. A human can't go through the barrier alone."

"BUT... YOU SAID A MONSTER WITH A HUMAN SOUL COULD CROSS THE BARRIER."

"Yes, a monster with a monster soul AND a human soul. It takes two to pass through the barrier." Gaster stepped closer. "A strong monster soul. Like Asgore. If the human wants to go home, they'd have to kill him."

Papyrus shrank back. "BUT THEY WOULDN'T DO THAT."

"Wouldn't they? Humans don't understand mercy. And they're determined. If the human decides they're leaving, no matter the cost, what then? What if they don't have any choice but to kill? And you know Asgore will try to kill them."

"BUT... THAT'S BAD."

"He needs their soul. Do you want us to stay trapped down here forever? If he doesn't kill this one, he'll kill another. If he doesn't, someone else will." Gaster eyed the stunned skeleton. "Those are the only choices," he insisted. "Either someone kills the human and we go free, or the human murders Asgore and escapes. Which one do you want?"

"NEITHER!" Papyrus insisted. "IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! I WON'T LET IT!"

"How?" Gaster rolled his eyes at Papyrus' silence. "Pacifism is nice in theory, but it's liable to get someone killed in practice." He glanced at his phone and swore. "I need to get to work."

Papyrus grabbed his father's sleeve. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HURT THEM, ARE YOU?"

Gaster hesitated. "You made this mess, you clean it up. But if they get to New Home, I won't let them get to Asgore. Figure out what to do before then."

He stalked toward the ferry, leaving Papyrus clutching his scarf and trembling.

*****

"...Yo! Are you sneaking out to see her, too? Awesome... She's the coolest, right?!"

*****

The caverns of New Home were full of crevices and crawl spaces. Sans had made extensive exploration of them back when they'd lived with Asgore. He'd shown some of them to Papyrus, though the bigger skeleton wasn't fond of them. The tight spaces were uncomfortable and dirty. Besides, the main thoroughfares were where you were SUPPOSED to travel. Not creeping around in the narrow places.

But today Papyrus was using the secret way past the castle. He needed advice, and he could think of only one source.

Papyrus only had one secret. He'd always told his brother everything, and his fathers almost everything. Except that one big thing he'd hidden from Asgore. And look how that had turned out. Secrets were BAD IDEAS. But this was his secret alone. This was something he knew would upset Gaster. And probably Sans. And it might make Asgore do a violence.

Long ago, he'd made a friend. And maybe that friend hadn't been so nice to his father. But they were still a friend. Papyrus didn't walk away from friends.

He slithered out of the crawlspace near the throne room and peered cautiously inside. Just golden flowers. Papyrus tip-toed across the garden and into the tunnels beyond.

Sans knew Papyrus had done this once. He'd been the one to guess. And even he hadn't guessed until days after. Until he'd shown Papyrus how it was done correctly. Then he'd frowned at his brother. "pap... that time you ran away and found the human... how did you open the door?"

He hadn't. The bedroom door had been easy - it wasn't latched. But the house door had had no touchpad. After staring at the knob for a mystified stretch, Papyrus had gone looking for another way out. The staircase had seemed hopeful. Maybe it was another way out.

Had Gaster and Asgore been thinking like a child who'd never seen the world beyond the lab, they might have thought to check the house. But the note gave Papyrus' intended destination, so they'd reacted accordingly, unaware that Papyrus was curiously poking the heads of golden flowers even as they rushed for the lab.

He'd wandered, at last feeling a strange pulsing.

That was when he'd first seen the barrier.

"Howdy, Papyrus! Whatcha doing?"

Papyrus jumped and whirled.

One of the golden flowers had detached itself from its fellows and pursued Papyrus. It extended its stem well out of the ground, looking eye-to-eye with the skeleton as it crowded his airspace.

Papyrus jumped back. Normally his personal bubble was nonexistent, and he would have happily hugged his friend. But awareness he was probably not supposed to be doing what he intended made him edgy. "OH! UH... HI... FLOWPY?"

The flower's eyes widened to sorrowful orbs. "Did you forget my name again?"

"I... DON'T KNOW IF YOU TOLD ME..."

"Oh, silly. Of course I did." The flower crowded closer, winding his stems around Papyrus' arms. "We're such good friends after all."

"WE ARE?"

"Golly, yes. You're my best friend. Aren't I your best friend?"

Papyrus stuttered. "WELL... I MEAN..."

"Papyrus! Don't tell me you have better friends than me!"

The skeleton wrung his hands. Even his battle body wasn't making him feel brave enough to break this news. "IT'S JUST... SANS... I MEAN..."

The flower batted his eyelashes. "Don't be silly. Of course he's your best friend, too."

Papyrus felt a rush of gratitude, even if that hadn't been what he'd meant to say.

"THE TALKING FLOWER SAYS HE'S MY BEST FRIEND!" he'd told Sans.

"that's undyne," Sans had replied.

"THE FLOWER IS UNDYNE?

"no... undyne's real. makes her a way better friend than your imaginary one."

"HE'S NOT IMAGINARY!"

But Sans was right. Papyrus was grateful for any friend he could get... but sometimes he wondered about the flower. Oh, he listened when Papyrus prattled about how great Sans and Gaster were... but sometimes he had such a glazed look in his eyes. And he disappeared whenever Sans or Gaster approached. Undyne didn't do that. Even his new human friend had stayed to meet his family. And the things the flower said... sometimes Papyrus felt like they'd already had the same conversation multiple times. Sometimes he felt like the flower was searching for him to react a certain way, and disappointed when Papyrus failed to deliver. And... sometimes the flower made funny lunges at him.

But he couldn't turn his back on his friends. And the flower was definitely a friend. He'd said so.

Papyrus squared himself to explain. He was in his battle body! He was a hero! He could be friends with everyone! "SANS IS MY FRIEND. AND YOU'RE MY FRIEND. AND SO IS UNDYNE, DAD, ASGORE-DAD, MOM, DR. ALPHYS..."

"I get it." The flower made one of those odd lurches. "You've got lots of friends." He looked momentarily annoyed, then put on that intense smile. "So, what are you doing out here alone?"

Papyrus' eyes flitted nervously away. "N-NOTHING."

"Papyrus," the flower scolded. "You're not lying to little ol' Flowey, are you?"

"N-NO..."

Vines wrapped around his back and shoulders. "Oh, Papyrus. You're so silly. You can tell me anything."

"I-I KNOW." Papyrus tried to take a step back, uncomfortably aware he was anchored to one spot. Why did this seem familiar? Had he dreamed this? "I KNOW I CAN TELL YOU ANYTHING, BECAUSE YOU ARE MY VERY GOOD FRIEND." His eyes shifted elsewhere. "THERE IS NOTHING WHICH NEEDS TELLING, BECAUSE I AM DEFINITELY NOT DOING ANYTHING IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW, OR ANYTHING I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO BE DOING."

"Papyrus..." The grip tightened, even as the flower's smile widened. "If it's not important, it'll be easy for you to tell me."

"I HAVE NOTHING TO TELL, BECAUSE I AM DOING NOTHING WHICH WOULD UPSET ANYONE!"

The flower's eyes narrowed. He checked himself and loosened his grip. "Fine," he sighed dramatically, sliding to the ground. "I get it. I'm not an important friend. Maybe we're not friends at all."

"WHAT? NO! OF COURSE WE'RE FRIENDS!" Papyrus dropped beside the flower.

"No... I understand." The flower lolled mournfully. "I bet if your brother was here, you'd tell him."

"I DIDN'T! I NEVER TOLD SANS! IT'S MY SECRET AND I'VE NEVER TOLD ANYONE!"

The flower turned, his grin eager. "And you'll tell me? Why, Papyrus, thank you!"

"WHAT?!" Papyrus stumbled back. "I DIDN'T MEAN..." Now what could he do? If he didn't tell, the flower would be sad. He leaned close to the petals. "WILL YOU PROMISE NOT TO TELL ANYONE?"

The flower's grin widened. "I promise on my soul I'll never tell anyone anything you say."

"OH, GOOD." Papyrus sat back. "DID YOU KNOW THERE'S A HUMAN HERE?"

"Really?" The flower's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

Papyrus nodded. "IT'S A VERY NICE HUMAN. BUT DID YOU KNOW ASGORE-DAD USED TO DO BAD THINGS TO HUMANS?"

"He did? Really? But he seems so nice!"

"I KNOW! I TOLD HIM NOT TO DO VIOLENCES! I WAS GOING TO KEEP THE HUMAN UNTIL IT WAS FRIENDS WITH HIM... BUT... UM... I DECIDED TO LET IT GO."

"You did?" The flower coiled around him once more. "That's so brave of you. Your dad must have been so proud."

"HE WAS... WHEN HE STOPPED YELLING. I MEAN... I BET HE'S SECRET-PROUD. HE JUST... FORGETS HOW TO SHOW IT SOMETIMES. ANYWAY... I'M NOT SURE HOW TO HELP THE HUMAN. I MEAN, OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT TO DO. BECAUSE I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND NEVER IN DOUBT. BUT I THOUGHT I'D CHECK WITH SOMEONE TO SEE IF THEY THOUGHT THE SAME AS ME."

The flower's expression turned bemused. "But there's no one around here except D... Asgore."

"OH, NO! I DON'T WANT TO TELL HIM YET. I HAVE TO TALK TO A... A SECRET FRIEND. AND..." Papyrus rose shakily and stepped out of the coils. "I HAVE TO GO BY MYSELF." He took a step toward the passage.

The flower looked past him, his face contorting in bewilderment. "You've never talked about a secret friend before... and there's nothing that way except..."

Papyrus took off running.

He'd apologize later. The flower would understand. Friends always understood. Eventually.

He felt the thrum of magic and energy as he reached the doorway. He took a quick breath and stepped into the room.

The barrier pulsed in darks and lights, flickers of the surface world briefly visible through its throbbing power. There was no way to view the barrier without a second's pause at the sheer power and strength of it. But today, as he had years before, he felt the tingle of familiarity answering from his soul.

He stepped forward, pressing himself as close to the beating magic as it would allow. It felt so foreign - this magic not of monster power. Not soul magic. Not power of empathy and love. Outside magic. Generated, used magic. There was little difference between human magic and science, Papyrus thought. It felt very similar.

He clutched his scarf for comfort, and stepped sideways.

"Papyrus? Do you have a way..."

Too late, he felt something coil around his boot. Too late to protest. Too late to do anything but keep going.

He'd discovered how that night so long before. When curiosity had brought him here and he'd felt a similar hum to the human's computer. He'd reached out to wherever they were. As the barrier would not let him pass, he'd walked with it, sought a way around. Or through. And buoyed by magic of human design, he'd found himself exactly where he wanted to be.

A lurching of void and nothingness - not quite the same as Sans' shortcuts. And he was standing in the strange human place once again.

Fortunately, they were present. It was nice they spent as much time on the computer as his father did.

The human startled at the sight of him. They reached out for a welcoming pat, then hesitated, their attention caught by the hitchhiker Papyrus had inadvertently brought along.

"The hell?!" the flower sputtered. He scrambled his way to the top of Papyrus' head. "Where am I? What is this place? What are...? A human?!"

The flower puffed up, his stems suddenly bristling with thorns. "I'll take your-"

One punch sent the flower sprawling across the desktop.

*****

"...Yo! You wanna see Undyne, right...? Climb on my shoulders. Yo. You go on ahead. Don't worry about me. I always find a way to get through!"

*****

"SANS?! Where are you?!"

Sans yawned into his phone. He'd barely awoken when it rang. But Undyne's bellow brought him slowly to reality.

"where?" He looked around blearily. "umm... waterfall."

"WHERE IN WATERFALL?!!!"

He yawned again. "star cavern... swamp... somewhere around there." He quested his hand toward his telescope. Right... he'd been trying to spot the human. And then his eyes had gotten tired. After a night of standing guard...

"You're supposed to be at your post!!!"

"is that still a thing?"

"SANS!!"

"fine, yeah... i'm going." He lay on his back, his feet shuffling idly in the air. "i'm walking there right now."

"You'd better."

Sans sat up, frowning slowly. "somethin' wrong, boss?" Undyne rarely cared about Sans doing his job. Neither of his posts were considered essential.

"Maybe." Undyne's tone dropped to concern. "Have you heard from Papyrus?"

"no. why?"

"He's not answering his phone. He always answers."

"maybe he's in a dead spot."

"Maybe... but he called this morning. He said there was a human. But it's Papyrus.... so I don't know if this is another of his imaginary things."

"have you seen a human?"

"No... I mean... I saw a couple monster kids. And one looked... sort of like a human. But I thought they had bigger eyes. And school uniforms. And giant swords. And mech suits."

Sans rubbed his eye sockets. "maybe they're in disguise."

"Or they're clouding my perception with their mind-control!"

Sans blinked. "i don't think..."

"That must be it!! They won't fool me!"

Sans sighed. Undyne was going off on one of her hero rants. He set down the phone.

"...everyone's hopes are on me! I won't let them down! We won't wallow in darkness and fear any longer. I'll capture them! And when we reach the surface..."

Sans fell back asleep.

*****

"...That's the Delta Rune, the emblem of our kingdom. The Kingdom... of Monsters. Wahaha! Great name, huh?"

*****

"Alphys? Are you down here?" Gaster called as he stepped off the elevator into the basement lab. Strange she wasn't upstairs. And not answering her phone. But service wasn't entirely reliable.

He unlocked the amalgamates' room. The vibrating monsters moaned and charged him, gnawing hungrily at his clothes.

"Fine, Alphys... leave me to take care of your mistakes," Gaster grumbled as he refilled bowls and water dishes. He headed for his office. Lemon Bread slithered along beside him, chomping on a bone.

Alphys thought the amalgamates were escaping, but truthfully Gaster released them anytime he found himself alone in the basement. He'd never been comfortable in the lab, not after the human hurt him. Time had dulled his nerves after years of nothing going wrong, but when Alphys had told him the human was back...

So, he used the amalgamates for company. It was probably a useless gesture. The human had proven more than capable of abducting select targets. They wouldn't mistake an amalgamate for him. But he still couldn't feel at ease unless there were other voices nearby. Even if it was just bubbling, garbled voices.

The TML machine sent a prickle of energy through the air as he turned it on.

Lemon Bread hummed an answering note and turned her head sideways to study the machine through her elevated eyes.

"It's meant to scan for weak points in the time-space continuum and filter possible outcomes into likely positive scenarios," Gaster explained absently.

The amalgamate hissed and flexed her muscles.

"No, it's not dangerous. Not at this low power level." Gaster brought up the program as several more amalgamates wandered in the room.

Endogeny nudged his hand until he manifested several bones and passed them around. The others settled across the floor, glancing occasionally at him with an inquiring string of nonsense syllables. Lemon Bread continued to watch Gaster's actions.

"We know something's manipulating our timeline," Gaster murmured. "That's easily established. But are they doing it deliberately? They might not even be aware... What's the outcome they're after?" He typed steadily, exploring the data. "This wasn't meant for this purpose, but there has to be a way..."

On his other side, a beak suddenly shoved its way past him and pecked the keys rapidly.

"Hey!" Gaster started to reach for the amalgamate's soul, but paused. The souls were too damaged for manhandling. "Stop that!" he snapped instead and gave the bird a shove.

Reaper Bird halted and clicked their beak at him. "This relentless future..." they declared clearly, then their voice dissolved into garbled nonsense.

"What are you... What did you do?" Gaster's mouth dropped open as he stared at the monitor.

The amalgamate shouldered the dazed skeleton out of the way and completed their hunt-and-peck typing. They hopped backwards a step and made a satisfied chirp.

"...Resets..." Gaster whispered. "My god."

"Finally, someone gets it," the bird grumbled. They settled back on the floor with their bone.

Gaster's fingers typed slowly, his face awash with a mystified expression.

Data poured across the screen. "Timelines jumping..." Gaster whispered in horror. "Stopping and starting without warning. Until suddenly..." The data stream came to a screeching halt. "...everything ends." He shuddered. "How long have we..." He scrolled to the beginning. "It can't be the human... There was an anomaly in the time stream before them. But... they're making it worse. If the barriers between timelines weaken too much... My god, how many times have we repeated this? How do we stop this?"

Endogeny growled in the machine's direction.

Gaster gripped his head, shaking hard. This was beyond any danger he'd ever perceived. A human with this unchecked power...

His phone buzzed.

"Alphys? Good, I was getting wor... Yes, I know there's a human. We need... What do you mean don't hurt them?! ... Television? Alphys, what are you..."

*****

"...Papyrus has NEVER missed a meeting. And no matter what time you call him on the phone... Night, day, afternoon, morning... He ALWAYS answers within the first two rings..."

*****

"Come back here, you little punk!"

Sans awoke as a blur of blue and pink shot past his sentry post. He'd barely opened his eyes when Undyne was bawling in his face. "SANS! Get off your lazy tail bone and help me!"

"huh?"

"Arg!" The fish-warrior was gone as fast as she'd arrived.

Sans rubbed his eye sockets and stared after Undyne's retreating form. Her shape wavered in the heat from the magma river below. Or was it the heat? Because Undyne seemed to be leaning...

Sans lunged to his feet and charged across the bridge. He pushed the staggering warrior from behind. Undyne pitched forward, dropping prone onto the landing. The fall knocked her out cold, but at least she was on solid ground.

Sans panted and stared at the fallen captain. "you're a fish out of water, boss," he remarked. "how am i gonna..."

The lab was too far to drag her. If he could get her upright, he could probably teleport her, but he wasn't sure how that would work with a hundred pounds of armor.

The human trotted toward them. Sans tensed, but the child merely dumped a glass of water over Undyne's face.

The captain awoke with a sputter. She grabbed for her spear, waving it vaguely in the human's direction. "...Enemy... have to..."

"whoa, there." Sans caught her arm. "the kid just saved you."

"...No... everyone's counting on... And Papyrus..."

"give me a hand, kid. we gotta get her back to wetter wilds."

They pulled Undyne to her feet and dragged her toward the river where a boat was fortunately waiting.

Undyne was better functioning after they'd stripped her armor and dunked her in the river. By the time they reached her doorstep, she was only half crushing Sans with her weight.

"there you go. one fin in front of the other."

"Stop coddling me."

"coddled? seems like you're poached."

"No jokes Sans! We have to capture the human!"

"it's captured. see? right with us." Sans propelled her through the doorway.

Undyne dropped into a kitchen chair. "They hurt Papyrus."

"he's fine. they didn't hurt him, okay?"

"Then where is he?!"

"probably off with his imaginary friend or something. don't worry about it. just drink some water." He turned to the human. "kid, did you know how to make tea?"

"Don't touch my stove!" Undyne manifested a spear and threatened the human into a corner before slumping over the table.

"take it easy," Sans soothed. "just rest."

"But Papyrus..."

"i'll find papyrus. just relax. talk to the nice human." Sans leaned close to the child. "keep an eye on her, okay, kid? don't let her do anything crazy." He hurried away.

Behind him, Undyne glared at the human, then sighed. "Wanna make friendship bracelets or something?"

Chapter Text

"yes, but how do you burn down a house playing the piano?" Sans asked as he walked away from the ferry beside the soot-covered captain and her new human 'bestie'.

"With amazing skill! We played the piano with such passion! Such intensity! Such warmth!"

"you forgot the stove was on, didn't you?"

"You wouldn't think they had it in them," Undyne continued. "They're such a wimp fighting. But I fixed that. See?" Undyne clapped the human on the back.

The child, already struggling to drag a massive sword, staggered and barely missed smashing their face into the ground.

"We're going to start strength-training right away!" Undyne declared. "What kind of human doesn't bring an arsenal along on an epic quest?! So, I set them up. And we'll get them some new human clothes from Alphys. She's got loads of... what does she call it... cosplay? You like leather, right kid?"

They turned toward the lab.

"Alphys will let me crash at her place while I find a new house," Undyne explained cheerfully. "We'll get the kid on their way and then look for Papyrus. Why are you going to the lab? Do you think Papyrus is here?"

"not likely." Sans didn't mention he'd given up hunting after a cursory glance at Papyrus' usual hang-outs. Pap would turn up sooner or later, babbling about the great adventure he'd had. Sans' soul throbbed with certainty that Papyrus was unharmed. No need to worry. Not when running interference to ensure Gaster didn't do something stupid was higher priority.

They reached the lab, and Undyne raised her fist to pound on the door.

"here." Sans ducked beneath her arm and hit the touchpad.

"Oh, THAT'S how that works!" Undyne crowed. "Come on, twerp! You're going to love Alphys!"

They trooped inside.

The lab was dim. Sans hit the light switch.

At the computer console, Alphys whirled. "You're here?!" She gasped at the human. "Oh my god. I wasn't expecting you so soon!" She blanched at the rest of her company. "U-Undyne?! Uh..." She blushed crimson. "...H... Hi."

Undyne had colored as well. "Hey, Alphys. Uh... Check out my new human friend. They want to get back to the surface. Can you help?"

"Me? Uh... yeah, I c-can do that. There's... uh... just one thing. See..." Alphys' eyes rolled nervously toward a freshly painted spot on the wall. "...So... One time... I b-built a..."

There was a sudden pounding from the other side of the wall.

"Oh, no," Alphys paled. "Not yet."

The wall exploded and Mettaton emerged in all his robotic glory. "Welcome, beauties!" he crowed. "To today's Quiz Show!"

"Quiz what?!" Undyne sputtered.

"It's simple, really." Mettaton beamed. "Either answer correctly, or you die!"

"What kind of game is that?" Undyne demanded. "What is wrong with you?!"

"I... uh... installed s-some... uh... anti-human combat features..." Alphys stuttered, glancing at a notecard for her line.

"in what free time?" Sans muttered.

Alphys shot him a pleading look.

Sans' pupils rolled skyward. "oh, no!" he cried in mock melodrama. "however can we defeat the human-killing robot?"

"Nobody threatens my new bestie and gets away with it!" Undyne bellowed. She pushed the human toward Mettaton. "C'mon, twerp! This is your chance to show what a human can do! Hit him with your best shot!"

The child obediently dragged the sword toward Mettaton. As they neared the robot, they managed to heft the sword over their head and fell forward, the blade swinging in Mettaton's general direction.

"This wasn't in the script!" Mettaton shrieked and dodged. "Alphys! You never said anything about improv!"

The follow-through of the sword dragged the human down with it. They landed flat on their face.

"That's better!" Mettaton crowed as confetti rained down upon the dazed figure. "You finally hit your mark. Even if you missed the best lighting. Amateur. Now, on with the show!"

"What is this?" demanded a voice from behind Mettaton. Everyone turned as Gaster stalked out of the elevator.

Alphys covered her eyes and moaned. "Can this get worse?"

"Another contestant!" Mettaton declared. One arm snaked out and grabbed Gaster by the coat collar. His other arm seized Undyne. Both were dragged into the spotlight.

"Get your hands off - ooph!" Gaster’s protests were silenced as a confetti cannon went off in his face.

"this just became my favorite program," Sans grinned, settling himself on Alphys desk with a bag of popcorn he'd rooted out of a drawer.

"We've got the best, folks!" Mettaton declared to a hovering camera. "Captain Undyne, of the royal guard. A real, 'catch of the day' if you get my drift." He elbowed Alphys, who had pulled her lab coat over her head. "And our new human adventurer." He twirled the child to face the camera. "And soon to be our ticket to the surface, am I right? And finally..." He turned to Gaster. "...Who are you again?"

Gaster sputtered furiously.

"he's alphys' lab assistant!" Sans called helpfully.

"Sans, so help me, I swear..." Gaster trailed off as he realized there was a camera pointed at his face.

"Just kidding, folks. Who could forget Dr. W. D. Gaster... the secondary royal scientist."

Gaster let out a low growl, which was mostly drowned out by the chipper theme music playing through the lab's sound system.

"So, contestants, the rules are simple. I ask a question. If you answer correctly, you win more questions! If you fail..." Mettaton pulled a chainsaw from behind his back. "...You lose your soul."

"Touch one hair on my bestie's head, and I'll pry you apart with a can opener," Undyne snarled.

"Violence? Excellent! The audience will eat that up!" Mettaton beamed. "Let's begin. Contestant Number One!" He whirled on Gaster. "In the dating simulation video game, 'Mew Mew Kissy Cutie', what is Mew Mew's favorite food?"

Gaster crossed his arms. "I am not participating in... actually, I know that one."

*****

"...Next question. Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on? A. Undyne. B. Asgore. C. The human. D..."

*****

"Alphys?"

Inside the closet, Alphys balled her tail over her eyes. No-no-no! She didn't want to see anyone now. Especially Undyne.

"Everyone's gone," Undyne said cautiously. "Mettaton stopped the program after you ran off. He said he'd set up for the cooking show. The kid's in Hotland... I can't believe they didn't want the sword anymore. Sans said he'd keep an eye on them until you're ready for... whatever you're doing. Oh! And he installed those apps you left for their phone. And Gaster said something about not ruining your fun... whatever that means."

There was a long pause. "I cleaned up the confetti," Undyne continued with more hesitation than her usual bravado. "And the wall debris. Can I do something else for you? Make some instant noodles? I promise I won't set your microwave on fire again."

Alphys continued to huddle and tremble.

Another long pause. "Was... what Mettaton said... about you and me? Was that true? Do you... like me?"

Alphys moaned.

"Cause... I've wanted to tell you... I even wrote a note one time, but... Arg!"

There were noises which sounded suspiciously like a spear slamming into a wall.

"...I'll clean that up. Sorry. I didn't mean to... This is harder than punching bad guys!"

A deep breath. "I like you, okay?" Undyne sounded as if she was issuing a challenge. "I like how geeked out you get about human stuff. You're so passionate. And your inventions! And the way you laugh. Every time I'm with you, I feel so happy. Like, different happy. Not wanting to punch something happy. So... do you feel the same?"

A long stretch of silence, then the door slid open.

Alphys stood nervously in the doorway, wringing her hands. Her tongue stuttered helplessly. In a sudden rush, she threw herself on Undyne, trying to reach high enough to kiss the captain.

"Whoa!" Undyne swung Alphys into her arms. "Slow down! We have plenty of time for that."

"I'm sorry," Alphys sobbed. "I... I know I'm not as a-amazing as you. I'm just nerdy and so... me... and you're so... you. But... I like you! I really, REALLY like you."

Undyne held her and made soothing noises.

"I'm sorry," Alphys whimpered and extracted herself from the embrace. "I didn't mean to act all c-crazy... and... I d-don't know if I'm really ready for... that..." She covered her eyes.

"Do you want to look for Papyrus with me?" Undyne asked cautiously. "It could be like a... practice date? No pressure or anything. We just talk and stuff."

Alphys' eyes filled with longing, then she shook her head. "I... I can't right now. I promised M-Metttaton I'd help with the s-show. And... there's s-some other things I h... have to figure out first. Maybe... now's not the r-right time."

"Oh." Undyne stepped back. "Just... uh... tell me when you're ready. My place burned down, so I'll probably stay at Papyrus'. Look for me in Snowdin." She kissed the top of Alphys' head. "When you're ready."

Alphys stood clutching her face long after Undyne departed.

At last she pulled out her phone. "Mettaton? Maybe we shouldn't... You already started the cooking show?!... No don’t use their soul!... Find a substitution!!!"

*****

"...In the CORE is an elevator directly to ASGORE's castle. And from there... You can go home."

*****

"mom? are you here?" Sans materialized in the entryway of Toriel's home. "mom?" Silence answered him.

He opened the front door with a sigh. His head was starting to ring from too many jumps.

"pap, you better be... ooh, donut." Sans snatched a pastry from a passing spider.

The spider held up a sign. '7Gs, buddy.'

"put it on my tab." Sans slipped into the darkness as the spider waved several fists at him.

The food helped his head. Sans stepped into a familiar hall and followed the pathway down the well-worn trail.

As he neared the end of the caverns, he saw a figure seated at the edge of the flower patch. "mom?" Sans called.

Toriel whirled. "Oh, thank god," she breathed and crushed him in a hug. "I've been so worried."

"what's wrong? are you okay?"

"Yes. I just..." Toriel trailed off.

"did that kid hurt you?"

Toriel startled, and Sans slid free of her embrace. "You've seen them?" she demanded. "Are they alright?"

"yeah... yeah, they're in hotland. mettaton's got them on tv."

"Who?"

"he's this singing... robot. pap told you about him. speaking of... has my bro been by?"

"Not since you last visited. Why?"

"he's not answering his phone." Sans rubbed the back of his neck. "if he's not here, i'm out of ideas."

"Oh, dear," Toriel covered her mouth. "Do you think something happened to him?"

Sans shook his head. "you know pap. he's off on one of his adventures." He frowned. "are you okay?"

Toriel shook her head. "I've just been worrying is all."

"Because of the kid?"

Toriel slumped to the ground. "They wanted to leave," she sighed. "They come... they leave... they die. Every time. I try to make them stay. Make them happy. It's always the same."

Sans leaned against her side. "we came back."

"I know." She hugged him. "But... sometimes I feel like I've lost you over and over again. Silly, isn't it?"

"not really." Sans' eyes went dark.

"This child stayed a few days. But then... they asked about the underground. They were so inquisitive. Finding out so many things on their own. I knew they'd find the exit."

"so, you showed it to them?"

"No. I was going to seal it off."

"what? why?"

Toriel put a hand over her eyes. "Because they might have been innocent... but they were human. I've seen their kind do so much damage. I've let them go. Every one of them. I thought any destruction they caused was what He deserved. If He hadn't put a price on their heads, maybe they'd never feel compelled to fight back. Whatever they did, it was His fault."

She looked down at Sans. "But... when the child asked me how to leave, all I could think about was your family. So, I said I'd seal off the ruins. I'd keep them here. I'd fight them. I had to protect you."

"what went wrong?"

"They wouldn't fight. I was prepared to fight them. I burned them. Hurt them. And they just stood there... I couldn't do it." She clutched her arms across her chest. "So... I let the go. Prayed they wouldn't harm anyone."

"why didn't you go with them?"

"You know I can't leave."

"you don't leave in case kids fall. one fell. why are you still here?"

Toriel walked to the flower patch. She touched a gently bobbing golden petal. "Do you know why the flowers grow here?" she asked softly. "My children brought the seeds when they came back from the surface. Their parting gift to us, he used to say. So we could have a little of what they loved." She bowed her head. "I couldn't leave them with Him... knowing what He'd do to their soul. It may still be down there."

"down?"

"In the grave... It's what humans do with their dead. I tried to honor their custom." She sighed. "I don't know if the soul can survive this long. But I can't risk it. It's the only one He doesn't have."

"was the only one." Sans stood up. "there's a live kid out there now. and they don't have a clue what's happening. they don't even know they can't get out of here without killing asgore. is that what you want them to do?"

A shudder ran through the queen. "It's His choice that started this."

"...but we've all got choices. how come yours isn't to go out there and protect them?"

"Because my children died out there!" Toriel whirled, her eyes flooded with tears. "I've tried! I've watched them walk away every time and thought I should..." She covered her eyes and sobbed. "...I can never take that step."

Sans put his arms around her.

They stood like that for a long time before Toriel crouched down and took him by the shoulders. "Protect them for me? Watch over them? Please?"

Sans hesitated, then stepped out of her grip. "my family's bigger than just you. if someone's gonna hurt them, that comes first." He took another step back, his eyes flashing a dangerous blue. "sorry, mom. i'll keep an eye socket on 'em. i'll try and keep 'em out of trouble as long as they don't hurt anybody. but if i gotta pick, family comes first."

*****

"...Curses! It seems I've been foiled again! Curse you, human! Curse you Dr. Alphys, for helping so much! But I don't curse my eight wonderful viewers for tuning in!!!"

*****

Ring-ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Asgore. Is this a bad time?"

"It's never a bad time to talk to my favorite captain. How are you, Undyne?"

"Great! Well, my house burned down. And I had heat stroke. Also, I might have a girlfriend... But, she just changed her status to 'it's complicated', so I'm confused... And I can't find Papyrus. Have you seen him?"

"Not recently. Did something happen?"

"I don't know! Sans says everything's fine... but he slept through an avalanche one time. And with a human running around, I just thought..."

"A human?!"

"Yeah... did nobody tell you? Here's the thing, though. Humans aren't... they're not like I thought. This one's a wuss at fighting. They're just walking around being goody-goody nice to everyone. I thought it was an act, but I think they're really like that. So... I was thinking... I'm sure a really awful human will fall eventually. I can take that one's soul. Maybe we can... let this one go?"

"Undyne..."

"I know everyone's counting on this, but I think this is the wrong kind of human. Those ones you killed before, they were bad guys, right? Can we wait for one of those?"

"Humans don't fall often."

"I know. But we can be patient. Everybody seems to really like this one. They've made a bunch of friends. Even my guards like them."

"...Thank you for telling me."

"You'll let them go, right?"

"...I'll take care of things."

"Awesome! That's so great! You're gonna love this kid! Maybe you can teach 'em to fight. I didn't have much luck."

"Maybe I will..."

"Anyway, if Papyrus isn't there, I need to keep looking."

"I’m sure he's fine."

"Yeah! Everything's gonna be fine. Bye, Asgore!"

Click.

Only the flowers in the king's garden heard the sobbing.

*****

"...Don't look so blue, my deary~ ...I think purple is a better look on you! Ahuhu~"

*****

"Hi Papyrus' dad," Undyne greeted Gaster as he stepped through the front door and shook the snow off his boots. "Sans said it was okay if I crash here."

Gaster glanced at the captain seated on the couch. "I would think you'd be more comfortable at Alphys'."

Undyne grimaced. "I'm not sure she wants to see me right now." She glanced at her phone with a flicker of uncertainty.

"just give her some time, 'dyne," Sans assured her as he fiddled with the television dials.

"I know, I know." Undyne drummed her fingers on the couch. "I hate waiting." She sprang to her feet. "I'm gonna get something to eat. You wanna come?"

Gaster held up a cautioning hand when Sans started to rise. "Until you start paying off your tab, I think your reception's going to be a little... incendiary."

Sans slumped. "hothead," he grumbled. He turned to Undyne. "go on without me."

"Are you sure?"

"yeah. the dogs will be there by now. you'll have a wagging good time."

"Alright." Undyne headed for the door. "If Papyrus comes back, call me." She departed.

Gaster turned to Sans. "Is the human dead yet?"

"muffet's putting them up for the night."

"Really?"

Sans shrugged. "they contributed generously to her bake safe."

"If we're lucky, she'll feed them to her pet and we'll be done with this mess." Gaster took Undyne's vacated spot on the couch. "Papyrus is still gone?"

Sans nodded and turned off the TV. "he'll probably sleep wherever he is."

"You've looked for him?"

Sans gave his father a surprised glance. "are you actually worried?"

Gaster laced his fingers beneath his chin. "Is there a chance the human took him?"

Sans looked sour. "i told you they haven't hurt anyone."

"Not that human. The other one. From before."

"oh." Sans considered, then shook his head. "why would they? they've left us alone for ages."

"They've been taking Alphys."

"yeah, but they don't hurt her. they never hurt anyone except you."

"Maybe they don't know what she's done." Gaster rubbed his eye sockets. "But they seemed to know everything." His expression turned distant. "What did they ask you about? Back then?"

"nothing much. just about how we were. and about you. kept sayin' we didn't deserve what was happening to us... which makes more sense in hindsight. oh, they always wanted to check the backs of our hands."

Gaster jumped violently.

Sans watched him. "do i want to know?"

"You really don't."

"kay." Sans climbed onto the couch and leaned against the armrest. "why are they on your mind?"

Gaster studied his damaged hands. "...They used to ask me about things that... didn't happen. Or could have happened. Things I'd half considered as possibilities... but hadn't even started planning. But... they acted like they knew I'd done those things. Or would."

Sans scrutinized him. "would you have gone through with it? more than just shootin' lasers at pap?"

Gaster shook his head slowly. "I don't know," he confessed. "I delayed so long. But I really thought it was the only way." His attention returned to Sans. "Here's my point. What if I had? What if I'd done everything, and they witnessed it, and somehow... altered things?"

"altered?"

"Went back. Started the clock over. And then... interfered."

"to what end?"

"I don't know. This?"

"if they could, why wait so long? they coulda stopped you while we were still in the test tubes. and why stop when they did? they coulda hopped back to before you blocked them and tried killin' you again."

"But the possibility is there. Something's been altering time, and I need to know what!"

"wait, what?"

Gaster opened his bag, pulling out readouts from the lab. Sans studied the data as Gaster briefly explained.

"this doesn't make sense."

"I know it seems impossible..."

"no... the timing." Sans ran a finger down the dates. "this distortion doesn't start until way after we left the lab, right? the timeline doesn't become a gordian knot until... i dunno. did something important happen here?" He tapped what seemed to be the starting point of the confusion.

"That's not a significant date to me. We were living with Toriel at that time. I don't recall working on any projects which would attract a time anomaly."

Sans looked sideways at him. "not everything's about you." He returned to studying the readouts. "kay, so... time's in a yarn ball even mom couldn't unravel into a scarf. and it's getting weirder."

"Why do you say that?"

"well, here it looks like the timeline's been stopping all over the place... but it's only been starting again from this one spot." He tapped the beginning of the data. "but look at the other end." He ran his finger down to the more recent data points. "time's stopping and starting at a bunch of different points."

"No..." Gaster held the sheets closer to his eye. "I think it stops... then restarts shortly before. And it's progressing further each time. Someone's trying to get a pattern correct."

"so... what are they trying to do?"

Gaster's head dropped into his hands. "I wish I knew."

Chapter Text

This had to end now.

Alphys had had her fun. But if the human went any further, they'd walk straight into the core. And maybe Gaster had put up with a human overnight in his house, and rambling the underground, but it was NOT going near his mechanical baby!

A sleepless night of stewing over time fluctuations had led to him passing out somewhere in the early morning hours. He'd been awoken by the core foreman calling for clearance to drop the core to half power since no one would be around to monitor it due to Dr. Alphys calling for an evacuation. Unable to reach Alphys, Gaster had rushed to the core, and assured himself the machine was working perfectly. That was when he realized where Alphys was leading her human playmate.

Monsters were gathered around a television in the restaurant lounge, eyes fixed on Mettaton crooning a love ballad. Gaster left the core behind and strode toward the hotel entrance. Of course the human would get past Mettaton. That was the point of this whole charade. Whatever Alphys and her human-obsessed ghost-friend were planning, it clearly wasn't going to involve halting the progress of this walking nuclear explosion as it drew ever-nearer to the capital.

At least Alphys had minimized damage while she played her games. Gaster knew the puzzle and elevator configurations through Hotland well enough to see she'd strategically directed the human through low-density areas. The human had avoided confrontation with most Hotland residents and only been waylaid by one set of guards... and Sans. Why couldn't that boy stay home?!

Clearly she'd had a similar plan in mind in evacuating the core. But if that atrocity damaged the mechanics, there would be no one on hand to do anything about it. They had to be stopped before they caused destruction which couldn't be undone.

Gaster stationed himself at the hotel door, trying not to click out his agitation. Why couldn't anyone see what a threat this creature was? Monsters were gushing over the human. Or the special effects on Mettaton's show. Popular opinion hadn't decided if the human was real or not, but monsters were glued to the drama.

At least monsters were so vague on what a human looked like that Gaster could probably spirit them away without attracting much attention. Monster television wasn't known for its picture quality and the human had been rather blurry.

He waited, watching the crowd thin as they hurried to grab a bite to eat or rush home before the next program started. Less monsters... good. The human would have to come this way. He just had to wait.

And wait.

And...

Patience had never been Gaster's strong suite. Keyed up already, the minutes ticked slowly. He drummed his fingers. He paced. What was taking so long?

He stormed into the lobby in search of a TV. The human couldn't still be playing Mettaton's game. The crowd wouldn’t have left. What was going on?

His progress was halted by the sight of a familiar figure slouched against the wall beside the core entryway. Gaster's soul sank to new lows as he approached his son. "You didn't," he said flatly.

Sans grinned smugly. "i did."

"How?"

"took a shortcut through the restaurant. i saw you lurking around outside. figured the kid needed a little nudge in the right direction."

Gaster looked toward the core entryway, then back at Sans. "You realize I know that floorplan better than anyone and can track them down in minutes?"

Sans studied his fingers as if he had nails in need of trimming. "i don't think you will."

"Oh? Why not?"

"because alphys switched up the day's layout map right after the evacuation. and then mettaton changed it after she did. and... i may have added a couple extra surprises."

"Sans..."

"hope you remember the code for the colored tile puzzle... obsidian tiles are safe to stand on, gunmetal tiles are slippery..."

"Dammit, Sans! The human's headed straight for Asgore!"

"no... they're headin' for mettaton. he and alphys have some big finale planned. you wouldn't want to ruin that, would you?"

"And after?"

"huh?"

"After Alphys is done playing her little game, what then? What's between them and Asgore?"

Sans shrugged. "asgore's tough and the kid hasn't hurt anyone. what's the big deal?"

"It's a human!"

"they got way less lv than asgore. even if they'd been killin', he'd still have them beat."

Gaster stared at him. "Is this some kind of punishment?"

"what?"

"Why are you doing this to him?"

"i'm not doin' anything. the kid just wants to go home."

"Which they can't without a Boss Monster soul!"

"i know. and once they figure that out, they're not going anywhere. they're not a killer."

"But Asgore is!"

"the kid'll choose mercy. they have every time."

"They can't."

"just cause you don't trust..."

"I mean, they can't. Asgore won't let them."

"huh?"

"That's what Boss Monsters do. They eliminate choices."

"wait... what?"

"It's one of their powers. If they want a fight, they can force a fight. Asgore won't give the human any choice besides fighting him."

"but why?"

"Because he wants to die!"

Sans stared at him.

"What do you think I've been trying to protect him from?!" Gaster ranted. "He doesn't care about the surface. He doesn't care if we never get out! He wants to end himself one way or another, but he has enough dignity left not to do it himself. If the human won't fight him, he'll kill them. And if they're the ones causing the time skips, he'll keep killing them over and over until they give up and murder him. And if they stay dead, he'll take those seven souls and go out in a blaze of glory against whatever's waiting for us on the surface!" Gaster panted heavily.

Sans' eyes turned unfocused and horrified.

"Congratulations," Gaster snarled. "You just assisted with a suicide."

*****

"Okay! You should... You should... I don't know! This doesn't look like my map at all..."

*****

This wasn’t going according to plan at all!

Papyrus sat in a sad heap, looking miserably between the human and the flower. Clearly these two were off to a poor start to achieve optimal friendship levels.

The human had tried to be friendly with Papyrus, although Papyrus found himself reluctant to allow petting when they kept punching the flower every time he moved. He also wasn't sure about their questions. They'd always said strange things. But asking if he'd ever melted together with his brother, or if he'd ever pictured his father with a halo and floral wreath was a new level of weird.

He'd tried to explain that the flower was his very good friend, and they could all be friends. If the human could please stop punching.

The flower wasn't helping matters. His first action had been a series of violent lunges at the human, which had only ended when he was woozy from too many blows.

Papyrus had encouraged him to be politer. Perhaps they could treat this like a date? Papyrus explained he had recently read a book on the subject and it had lots of tips for successful interaction. Not trying to kill one another was probably ideal for the dating process.

The flower had said some very nasty things to him, which would have been hurtful if they weren't such good friends. This had upset the human, and more punching had been threatened. Papyrus had managed to talk them down from that.

That had pretty much been the extent of their day and night together.

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH, BUT I DON'T NEED ANY CANDY," Papyrus pushed away the treat the human offered. "MAYBE MY FLOWER FRIEND WOULD LIKE IT."

"Put your hand near my face and I'll bite your fingers off," the flower hissed.

"NOW, NOW. WE DON'T TALK TO FRIENDS LIKE THAT." Papyrus waggled his finger. "DO I NEED TO GIVE MY DISSERTATION ON FRIENDSHIP AGAIN?"

Both parties declared a negative.

Papyrus beamed. "SEE? YOU AGREE ON SOMETHING! AND YOU BOTH LISTENED THE FIRST TIME! WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS! WE'VE FOUND COMMON GROUND. NEXT, LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT WE LIKED BEST ABOUT MY LECTURE SERIES."

Flower and human muttered vaguely.

Papyrus frowned. "UM... WE COULD TRY 'I FEEL' STATEMENTS. IT'S SUPPOSED TO HELP YOU SEE THE OTHER'S POINT OF VIEW."

"I feel like strangling you when you put me through these idiotic games," the flower muttered.

"OKAY... THAT'S SORT OF HOW IT WORKS..."

"And you!" The flower puffed up and glared at the human. "Is this your idea of a game? Dragging anyone you'd like away for whatever purpose pleases you?" His eyes slid toward Papyrus. "So why him?" he murmured. "Why's he special?"

The human tossed an object on the ground beside the flower. The flower glanced down, then recoiled as if struck with weed killer. "Why do you have that?!" he shrieked.

Papyrus picked up the object. It was a handmade plush toy of a goat kid. He smiled at the human. "DID YOU MAKE IT? YOU ARE VERY TALENTED! BUT..." He tucked the plush in his belt. "WE HAVE BEEN HERE A LONG TIME. VISITING WAS NICE, BUT MAYBE WE CAN FIND A BAND-AID FOR MY FRIEND? AND THEN GO HOME?"

"They're never going to let us go." The flower's eyes were narrowed and fixed on the human. "They've got all the power. It's fun, isn't it? Kings of your own world. You and I are the same, aren't we? Playing with puppets until we break the strings, then rolling back the clock and doing it all over again."

He slipped closer to the human. "Is that how it started back on the surface? Killing us was a sick amusement? But then your kind shunted us underground. Now you have to come looking for us. And we haven't made it easy. We've won every time someone's come down. But you... you figured out how to bring us to you." His grin turned wide and malicious. "Or, do you think you're the hero of the story? That you can stop my plans? Save that other human. Stop monsters from slaughtering your kind. How noble. But I can see it in your eyes. We're not the first. How much dust is already in this place? So go on." He lifted his petals to expose his slender stalk. "I might even remember you did it. Won't that be fun? Someone remembering what you are? Or will that make it harder to keep telling yourself the lie? That you're the good guy? Or..." He reached out his vines. "Maybe you could let me have your soul. And I'll show you what real world-changing power looks like."

The human drew back.

The flower's grin widened, if that was possible. "Not as sure about yourself as you act, hmm?" Without taking his eyes from the human, he slid backwards until he reached Papyrus. Still without looking, he wound his way up the skeleton's frame, settling around his head and shoulders.

"UM..." Papyrus fidgeted and pawed at a vine. "...YOU'RE SQUEEZING KIND OF HARD."

"I know." The flower's voice had a challenging laugh to it. "What's the plan, human? Do you want to save him or not? Either way works for me. It might be interesting to find out if I'd die for real here or not. But you can't move fast enough to stop me..."

Papyrus yanked harder on the vine tightening around his neck. This wasn't right at all! Friends definitely didn't act this way... but this wasn't the first time, was it? Why did he think that? Why was he feeling such overwhelming terror?

The human clicked a button.

As darkness clouded his sight and mind, the last thing Papyrus heard was the flower's laughter.

"Be seeing you... Soon."

*****

"...We've got a finale that will drive you wild!! Real drama!! Real action!! Real bloodshed!!"

*****

"No-no-no! This can't be happening," Alphys moaned as she rocked against the locked door. From the other side she could hear a combination of peppy music, explosions, and violently stomping feet. Were they fighting? Was Mettaton killing the human? Was the human killing Mettaton?! What was she going to do?!

"Alphys! You okay?"

Alphys rocketed to her feet at the touch on her shoulder. She grabbed her phone, smashing a button which would turn it into a taser.

"Whoa!" Undyne sprang out of the way as a bolt of energy shot toward her.

"OhMyGod!" Alphys shrieked. "I'm so sorry! I didn't..."

"That is so cool!" the captain crowed. "Hit me with it! I wanna see what it can do! Don't hold back!"

"Um..." Alphys slipped her phone into her pocket. "M-maybe later." She stared wide-eyed at Undyne. "H-how... how did you get here? Y-you can't go through Hotland."

"Oh, see, I'd looked everywhere in Waterfall and Snowdin for Papyrus." Undyne slid down the wall. "So, I was talking with Ice Wolf, and he said there's a branch of the river that runs from Snowdin all the way to the core. So I hopped on an ice block and rode here."

"What? Weren't you freezing?" Alphys sank to the ground beside her.

"Oh, sure. I couldn't feel my feet at all. It was awesome! I could have kicked somebody and wouldn't have felt anything!"

"Y-you came all this way for P-Papyrus?"

"Sure! But not just for him. I'd do it for anybody." Undyne colored slightly. "Anybody important to me."

"...Oh."

"Alphys?" Undyne leaned toward her. "Are you... okay?"

"M-me? Of course! Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Well... you're sitting alone listening to a door. You didn't hear me the first three times I called. And your phone is smoking."

Alphys yelped and dealt with scorched electronics first. "It's a battery problem," she explained hastily. "I-it's not strong enough for all its features. Th-th-that's a p-problem with a lot of what I... build." She started to shake.

"Alphys?" Undyne put a hand on the scientist's ankle. "Listen... what we talked about before? You're my friend. And if you're not ready for us to be... more... that's okay. I mean... I want us to be more. But I don't want to pressure you or anything. And whether you do or not, I'm here, okay? If something's wrong, I wanna help."

Alphys trembled for a moment, then collapsed crying against Undyne. "I messed up!" She wailed. "A lot! Everyone's going to hate me! I just wanted to do something good, and it all went wrong!"

"You've done a lot of good things," Undyne soothed and hugged her. "Look at all the stuff you've built."

"But it's lies." Alphys whimpered. "Mettaton's not really a robot."

"Yeah, I know."

Alphys jumped. "What? How?"

"He and his cousins are my neighbors. I recognized his voice. But if he doesn't want anyone to know he's really a ghost gone corporeal, I think it's nice of you to keep his secret."

"And... fighting the out-of-control robot? Did you know we made it up?"

"I mean... I didn't catch on until after the quiz show. But then I realized you and Mettaton are big human nerds so there was no way you were gonna kill the twerp. You guys seemed like you were having fun when I saw you on TV... Did something go wrong?"

Alphys looked at the door and back. "I don't know," she squeaked. "Mettaton said he changed the program, and then he locked me out. I think he's really going to try and kill them."

Undyne scoffed. "The kid's tough. They'll be fine."

"B-b-but what if they kill Mettaton? And what about Asgore? If something happens, it'll be all my fault! I helped them get this far! And just because I wanted someone to think I was cool." Alphys burrowed into a heap beneath her coat. "And everyone's going to hate me when they realize all the other stuff I've messed up!"

There was a long pause. Then Undyne put a hand on her shoulder. "I won't hate you. No matter what you've done. You're trying to be an amazing person. Maybe it doesn't always work out. I know I can't just punch your problems and fix them. But I can be here. And if there's something I can do, I want to help."

"Really?" Alphys blinked up at her. "You really think I could be better?"

"Sure!" Undyne grinned her massive smile. "Look, don't tell anyone, but sometimes I'm not always so sure about myself."

"What? But you're amazing!"

"Yeah... everyone tells me that." Undyne sighed. "Everyone expects me to know what to do and handle everything. It's... a lot. I didn't know how to manage. But then, Papyrus showed up. And we'd cook and play the piano... and I found out I could tell him anything. He's always supportive. And encouraging. And kind. It helped." She pulled Alphys upright and straightened her coat. "So I'll be your Papyrus. And help you be better. Maybe it'll help you too."

"It... it does." Alphys gazed in awe at the captain. "Knowing s-somebody will..." She trailed off and looked at the door. "Do you hear anything?"

They listened.

Undyne shook her head. "I think they're done."

Alphys leaped to her feet. "I have to get in there! But it's locked."

Undyne manifested a spear. "Now THAT is something I can help with!”

*****

"...Oh my god. Mettaton! Mettaton, are you..."

*****

He found Asgore in the garden.

The king was against the wall, his knees drawn up and his head bowed. He clutched a pink sweater in his hands. He didn't move as Gaster sank to the ground beside him.

Gaster sat with bowed head for a span of minutes. "I'm sorry," he whispered at last. He didn't lift his head to see if Asgore watched his signing hands. "I shouldn't have... god... so much. I thought... it was better if you just forgot about me... I was only ever going to hurt you. Again... and again." He rubbed his eyes. "...But I shouldn't have... just left you like this. I... I didn't know how..." He trailed off, looking helplessly at the king who hadn't read a word of what he'd signed. "Your majesty?"

Asgore's head fell onto Gaster's shoulder. "I just want her back," he sobbed. "I didn't mean to hurt her... and I did it over and over... I don't know what to do... I just want her back!"

For once Gaster didn't hesitate. He put his arms around the sobbing monarch, and held him in silent comfort. For once his guilt didn't overwhelm his soul. For once it wasn't about him. For once he wasn't wondering where else he could be, or what he should do, or how poor of comfort he was. For once... for this one time... he was here in the moment he needed to be.

"dad?"

The voice was soft and hesitant, but it cut through the moment. Gaster looked up.

Sans stood quietly, his grin faded to its smallest, his eyes holding no sarcasm or disgust. He looked uncomfortably between the pair. "mettaton's out of batteries," he said. "there's nothing between the human and here." He hesitated another moment, then spoke. "what do you want me to do?"

The tone was pure and genuine. The expression was sincere and anxious. For perhaps the first time, Sans looked ready to listen and follow any direction Gaster gave.

Kill it, Gaster's mind screamed. But the words froze in his soul. To see his son standing there, his son who'd never killed. Despite everything. Despite everything Sans had seen - both in waking and dreams. Despite everything done to him. Despite a neglected childhood and a father incapable of love, there was still something innocent about both boys. Something which had kept them from stepping up to lethal actions.

And Gaster couldn't ask his son to become a killer.

"Stall them. Just... slow them down for a little while. I'll..." He looked down at the king. "Take care of things here."

Sans nodded. He left as silently as he'd come.

*****

"...So you finally made it. The end of your journey is at hand."

*****

"Wait here, sire." Gaster dropped the king he'd mostly dragged with a heavy dose of blue magic to the barrier. It was as far as they could go away from the inevitable.

"I'll... take care of things." He turned to go.

"Gaster, wait." Asgore acknowledged him at last. He struggled to reach his feet.

Gaster hurried forward and helped boost him upright.

Asgore's hand was heavy on his shoulder. His other hand still clutched the sweater to his soul. "Don't... I know what you're thinking... don't."

Tears rushed to Gaster's eye sockets. "Your majesty..."

Asgore brushed the tears away. "This is... I started this. I have to finish it."

"But if they..."

"I deserve it." The king's head hung heavily. "After what I've done... maybe this is justice."

"No... You can't leave m... your people."

"...Maybe I won't." Asgore tried for a smile and failed utterly. "Maybe tomorrow you and I will be standing on the surface. And then..."

Gaster closed his hands around Asgore's massive paw. "It's not worth the price. None of us believe that. Don't... please, don't."

The king managed a look of slightly more certainty. "I chose this road, Gaster. Whatever happens... I don't want anyone else lost on my account. This..." He closed his eyes and tried to steady himself. "...Maybe this was inevitable."

"Please," Gaster panted. "It doesn't have to be you. Just let me..."

Asgore pushed the pink sweater into the skeleton's hands. "Just... tell her I'm sorry." He leaned his forehead against Gaster's. "It was good to see you one last time." He pushed Gaster toward the doorway.

In the hallway beyond, Gaster stood shaking, the damp sweater clutched tight. No... no, this couldn't... this couldn't be the end. Not when he...

He reached the garden just as the human came through the door. They were a forlorn little figure. Their clothes were tattered from falls among the waterfalls and scorched from Hotland. Their hand was closed around a heart-shaped locket which lay over their soul. They froze at the sight of the scientist.

Just one shot, he thought. Grab their soul. Sling them into the wall a few times. Don't hold back. Just... it would be so easy. He'd done it before.

...And what then? Seven souls. He couldn't hide them from Asgore. The king would hear. He'd come running. And then...

...Either way, he was about to lose his king.

Gaster slumped. He stepped forward.

The human stiffened and clutched their stick tighter.

Gaster pushed past them and stalked out of the room.

*****

"...Human... It was nice to meet you."

*****

Sans found Gaster sitting at Asgore’s kitchen table. "you couldn't go through with it, huh?"

Gaster rubbed his eye sockets. "I should have. I should have blasted them into a smear on the palace steps."

Sans slid into the chair beside him. "why didn't you?"

The scientist shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe I just... realized I've been so certain I could prevent Asgore from losing himself... I never really acknowledged he didn't want to be saved. Maybe I just have to let go and let him... do what he feels he has to."

"oh." Sans squirmed uneasily. "uh, so... i went a different route after we had that talk."

Gaster turned his head very slowly. "What did you do?"

Sans reached into the pocket of Gaster's lab coat and fished out his phone. He brought up the security feed app Gaster hadn't touched in years. He passed Gaster the phone.

Gaster watched the feed play for several seconds. "Well." He rubbed his eye sockets. "No one will ever doubt you're my son."

*****

"...After everything I have done to hurt you… You would rather stay down here and suffer... Than live happily on the surface?"

*****

Asgore beamed down at the child clinging to his hand as they left the barrier behind. Was this what hope felt like? Or was it just another clutch at a broken dream? It didn't matter. There was a child beside him, their hand warm and real in his massive paw. His soul ached from the beating he'd endured, but it didn't matter. The human had resisted the fight. He'd been the one to force their hand. And in the end, when they'd had a choice once more, they'd chosen mercy.

He saw the future in tentative steps toward the light. Go back to the house and heal. Make up a bed for the child. Then inform everyone this child would not be harmed. They would be a friend to monsterkind. Proof once again his dream could become real. They'd find another way through the surface. Maybe Gaster could still find a way without anyone dying...

...Maybe Toriel would come home.

He paused, pulling free of the trusting hand. "One moment, Child. I left the souls sitting out. Wait here. I'll be right back."

He hastened back to the barrier. Despite the pain, his steps were light. Just make those terrible reminders disappear, and then on to the future.

...The souls were gone.

Asgore blinked at the ground. Souls and canisters vanished from sight. Had he put them away and forgotten? He tried to summon them. Nothing happened. No... no they weren't locked back below the throne room. They were... vanished.

"Child?" he called, returning to the hall. "You didn't see something happen to the... Child?"

The human was gone.

Chapter Text

"Did you have a plan?"

Gaster and Sans stared at the monitor in Gaster's office. The human had finished their fourth or fifth examination of the bare cell. They were now rummaging through their phone's options. They'd already tried calling everyone in their address book, but the signal was blocked. They'd released a spray of useless yellow bullets at the energy barrier, and activated a jetpack by which they'd examined the ceiling. Out of logical options, they were trying out any item they had in their inventory. The silver key hadn't proved of any more use than the ballet slippers.

Resourceful, Gaster thought.

Sans rubbed the back of his neck. "not really, no."

There was no condemnation in Gaster's voice. "Why did you do it?"

"i dunno. i guess... pap stood up to them. and undyne. even alphys. even if hers was staged. i started thinkin' 'what if they really got hurt?' and i'd just been watchin' and pretendin' like i couldn't do anything."

"Strange time to decide to step up."

"i know. but asgore wasn't gonna kill them. and they weren't gonna kill him. so we were just gonna go on this way. and eventually? maybe they get bored. or someone makes 'em mad. or someone decides they're gonna get that last soul no matter what. and..." Sans stared at the ground. "just seemed like taking them off the board was better for everyone."

Gaster slumped. "You're not wrong. But Asgore's going to have both our heads when he finds out."

"the human beat him up pretty good before he let them go for mercy. we've probably got a few hours before he rests up and remembers to blame you."

"Thanks for that," Gaster muttered.

Sans looked up at him. "so... what now?"

"You're asking me?"

"you're the big shot scientist. and you probably got a thousand terrible ideas for things you wanted to do if you ever got a human down here to play with."

Gaster winced. Yes, of course he'd dreamed of this. "How far are you willing to go?"

Sans wavered. "what do you mean?"

Gaster gestured at the monitor. "You asked me what I'd imagined. And you should very much be aware how far I can imagine. Is this really the road you want to go down?"

"do we have a choice?"

"Depends what your end game is." Gaster watched him. "What do you want? Really?"

Sans leaned on the desk, silent and serious. "papyrus safe. that's all i ever want."

"Then why are you here instead of looking for him?"

"cause he's fine. we'd know otherwise." Sans looked up at Gaster. "that's true, isn't it? but how do i know that?"

Gaster shook his head. "I know you're right. I know we've known before when..."

"when he died. he has died. you feel it too?"

Gaster bowed his head. "We all have." Inside his mind, he saw terrible writhing darkness. Nightmares which no longer vanished with waking. The shadows whispered of a past which hadn't happened, and a future feeling more inevitable with every passing second.

"how's it possible?"

"It's what we saw in the TML data. Time's been rewritten. Who knows how many times." Gaster turned away from the monitor. He hunted through his pockets for cigarettes which weren't there. "We're living in a hamster wheel. Running the same pattern over and over."

"but we remember. we're startin' to remember. why us?"

"You and Papyrus... probably because of your souls. Or the emitter session. Or when..." Gaster rubbed his hand over his soul methodically.

"...yeah, that." Sans looked away. "so, we're all messed up. and it means we know something's a mess around here. and it's killing us."

Gaster leaned forward and studied the monitor. "So, the first order of business is to establish what's causing the time distortion."

"it can't be the human. we've been feeling like this way before they showed up."

"No... but they might hold the solution to halting it."

"what do you mean?"

"This is theoretical, but we know humans possess an excess of determination. It's how they endure despite the odds."

"right."

"And you're also aware that I discovered the key to harvesting determination - DT - from the human souls."

"yeah. that's why there's a melting dog down here."

"And you."

Sans looked up with a frown. "we're amalgamates?"

"That's a crude way of putting it. Your souls were meant to harness much more than just a will to survive. But that's not important this time. What I meant was, I, and later Alphys, harvested from the previous six souls. Although suitably strong, none of them had extreme quantities of determination. Enough for harvesting, yes. But not enough for testing a theory."

"which was?"

"That with enough determination, an entity could cheat death."

Sans blinked. "like zombies?"

"No." Gaster gave him a brief scowl. "A soul filled with enough determination could, theoretically, pull itself back to a moment in time before its death and try again."

"that sounds like magic. you said humans don’t have magic."

"Yes... that's puzzled me as well. And their history books don't indicate this ability appearing on the surface at any point dating from after the war. I've theorized this ability is only in effect when a human soul is able to draw magic from proximity to monsters. Perhaps through killing and absorbing some of their essence."

"or making emotional connections? like with healing magic?"

Gaster frowned. "You sound like your brother."

"doesn't mean he's wrong to believe in love more than lv."

Gaster made a dismissive gesture. "Whatever the reason, humans who fall down here have exhibited unique traits. Now, we have a seventh soul. And we have evidence that this soul has an overabundance of determination. Enough to alter time. So, if we can harvest it, along with the power of the other six souls, we might take back control of the timeline."

"we could just ask the human to quit resetting."

"The one you locked in a cell?"

"...right. um... why aren't they resetting to before that?"

"Maybe they already have. Maybe they keep ending up here, and they're looking for an alternative."

"great. so they know you want to strap them down under a scary machine."

Gaster winced. "Or, this could be the first time we've gotten this far."

Sans grimaced. "and we have no way of knowing."

"Correct." Gaster glanced to the monitor.

The human was sitting on the ledge, swinging their legs and looking bored.

"We should hurry before they get tired of waiting," Gaster murmured. "I suggest we assume this is the first time we've attempted these actions. If only because this doesn't seem to be triggering any déjà vu."

"you mean, besides you locking kids in cells and plannin' what you're gonna do to them?"

"Can we make this not about me?"

"i thought everything was about you."

"Sans..."

"fine. if you’re gonna pull all the dt out of 'em, what do you need?"

"The equipment's here. But we'd need the other souls. And Asgore's hardly in the mood to loan those out."

"i can get 'em."

Gaster glanced quickly at him. "How?"

"i just can," Sans replied evasively.

Gaster gave him a long look, then gave up. "Fine. You get those. I'll..." He turned his eyes back to the monitor, his hands contracting into fists.

Sans wavered. "is this the right call?"

"We're trapped. Both behind the barrier and in time. We're not in control. What other choice do we have?"

"it's just... the kid's alright. they were nice to my bro... didn't hurt anybody..." Sans shook his head."“maybe we could talk to them first?"

"Get the souls," Gaster said quietly. "We'll have all the pieces in one place for whatever we decide."

"right... back in a few, dad."

"You picked an odd time to start calling me that."

Sans shrugged. "you finally stopped flinching when pap says it." He left the room.

Gaster frowned thoughtfully. After all this time... had he finally...

...No, he'd never be the father they needed.

But at least right now he could spare Sans the sight of what he intended.

He headed for the cell.

The human looked up nervously at his arrival.

Gaster cast out his magic before he opened the cell. He yanked the child from the floor and drew them toward him. "I'll take that," he rumbled, snatching the cellphone from their hand. "And that." He crushed the stick they waved at him. Dragging the child along by the soul, he wove through the lab.

The extraction machine was still functioning and ready. It was a matter of moments to strap the child beneath it despite their frightened struggles.

As he activated the controls, the child lay passive, their eyes wide and pleading.

"It's nothing personal," he found himself muttering. "It’s just..." He looked away.

"Let me tell you a story..."

*****

"...A long time ago, a human fell into the Ruins..."

*****

This wasn't going according to plan at all... but the outcome wasn't too bad.

Flowey coiled in one of his many hidey-holes. Six soul canisters and one skeleton hung amidst his vines.

He shook his head and marveled at his sudden luck. After reset after reset, the souls had just been sitting ripe for the theft when that human had finally let him go.

Six souls. More than enough to cross the barrier. If he could track down that last human, he'd have more than enough to end everything. To break from this repetition and pain.

To start over properly.

Yet he hesitated to break the jars and absorb the might of six human consciences. He'd been through this once. Did he really want to endure that again?

It had been terrifying - that moment long ago when he'd joined with a second soul. Two minds, one body. The intensity of the joining had nearly swamped both of them into madness. It had been one thing when they'd had a unified goal, but the instant they'd begun to balk against the other's feelings, the chaos within had been nearly unbearable. He barely remembered what happened after he'd begun to resist the slaughter. Everything had been whirling and confusion. Then, his parents' arms around them one last time. That comfort they'd both cleaved to with their last burst of terror and confusion.

And then... darkness.

Terror and confusion. That's what he'd awoken to. In the garden. His legs rooted to the ground. Nothing made sense. He'd cried out...

...And his father had come.

'Everything will be alright,' that's what his father had said. They'd be a family. Maybe he was different now. But they had each other. And his father loved him.

Love. That's what Asgore kept saying. But why couldn't he feel it? Why couldn't he believe? What was wrong with him?

He had to find the rest of his family. Patch things back together. Then he'd feel whole.

But she... she'd found a new family. She didn't need him. He'd been forgotten. And in his heartbreak, he'd killed.

How she'd sobbed when she found them. How many times had she asked him why? How many times had she said she would have welcomed him? But how could he...

That's what had caused it the first time. Her pain. His regret. The need to make it right...

And he'd awoken in the garden.

A second chance? To prove he could love. And be loved.

So he'd gone to her. He'd played nice. He'd smiled at his new brothers, assured them he was happy to have them as part of the family.

It had been an accident the second time. Nobody had told him how fragile Sans was.

So he'd made it right. Back to the garden. Try it again. Make it work this time.

But murder was already on the table...

It was so easy. To stop seeing them as real. He knew their reactions. And if he made a mistake, if he hinted too hard, or played too rough, he had the power to try again. He controlled their responses. It was just a matter of learning exactly what to say.

And try as he might, he couldn't love them.

It was the skeletons' faults, clearly. If he couldn't love, he simply had to get them out of the way and put his real family back together.

It was easy when he found how to pull the right strings. Orchestrate an argument between Toriel and Gaster. There was plenty of material there. Draw Father to the ruins. Whisper just the right prompts to bring them together. One, two, three. A happy family again.

Except, he still didn't feel love.

Maybe it was their fault. Too much bad blood between them. His parents were defective. He'd try someone else's.

He scoured the underground, trying to build himself the perfect family. Find a happy group, eliminate the children, and put himself in their place.

Some genuinely loved him.

And he never felt it back.

So what? If he couldn't have love, no one could.

If they'd been puppets before, they were more so when he began his rampages. Strangers first, but gradually his slaughters turned personal. His father was a weakling fool. His mother was too trusting. They weren't his parents anyway. If they'd really been his parents, they wouldn't have replaced him.

He took out his fury on the skeletons most of all. They were the cause. They'd stolen his parents. They deserved everything he did to them.

At some point the rage cooled to calculation. Why was he doing this? Why live in a loop when the world hovered outside?

Escape required an extensive education.

What did he need to leave the underground? Who had the tools? Who had the alternatives? Who'd done the research?

He played with his puppets, finding what to say to tease out more and more knowledge. Seven souls to bring down the barrier... He was one shy. Did he need to bring down the barrier? One would suffice to get him out.

...But if he could gain seven... that magic number of limitless power... would that finally fill him? Would that give him what he most wanted?

There was a tiny part of him which was still Asriel. Which was still the frightened child screaming for his family. Who wanted the power to go all the way back. To take the buttercups from their hand and say, 'no'. That was how it would really be perfect. To have Them again.

But with every reset, that voice grew fainter. And darker voices took its place.

He'd suffered. He'd known loss. The world would know loss. Humanity had ruined his family. He’d ruin their existence. Monsterkind? Maybe they'd live if they worshiped him as their god. Or maybe they deserved to die.

He'd played the game. Learned what to say. Who to eliminate, who to spare. Advance along...

...And he reached a wall every time.

Because Asgore would not give him the souls.

No matter how he played up to his father. No matter who he threatened. No matter where he sought... there was one barrier he couldn't cross.

Why was the weak-willed fool so fixed upon this point? Why would he lay down his own life to preserve the souls? Why did he embrace the flower unconditionally, right up until he mentioned the souls, and then... Why was there hesitation in the king's eyes?

And then there were the shadows...

It started somewhere early on. Back when he'd discovered how filled with guilt Gaster was. And how easy it was to make him take that last step...

Everything had changed when Gaster stepped into the Core.

The world had spun, darkness and distortion whirling in his mind. He'd fought against the confusion. Something was rewriting his world. How? He was the prince of this reality. He controlled every step. How could history be rewritten without his permission?

He'd wrestled time backward, but he'd never entirely regained control. There had always been something. Some lingering shadow of that timeline which almost was.

And then, like an idiot, he'd wanted to know what he'd felt that day.

So he'd let that timeline play out.

He'd given the skeleton the final nudge.

The Core absorbed its creator.

And reality course-corrected for the impossible.

Once he'd gotten over his panic, he'd accepted it as a possible outcome. Interesting, but not important. Now that he understood, he was back in control.

But... was he?

It took a few resets before he became aware of the shadow. Became aware that something remained. Something besides him swirled through the shifting realities. Something which didn't bother adhering to the laws of time and space.

Something which shouldn't exist.

Despite telling himself boredom was why he'd stopped manipulating and let the timeline play out, somewhere deep down he felt a lingering fear. He couldn't shake the certainty he was no longer alone.

And he might not be completely in control.

But once he broke free, that would all be over. Flowey allowed himself to grin his triumph at the sight of the souls. Not quite enough for his endgame. But so much more progress than he'd ever made before.

Papyrus struggled, and Flowey added a few more layers of vines to his captive. He'd learned from trial and error that, when skeleton hunting, never start with Papyrus. Sans' death could look like an accident. Gaster's could be written off as self-inflicted. But Papyrus was a fulcrum. If his soul shattered, the other two would go on the offense, and Flowey had lost enough timelines to that inconvenience.

But alive, he might have a perfect lure to draw his targets out of hiding.

He dipped a vine into Papyrus' pocket and extracted his phone. Now just to send out the perfect mayday...

*****

"...The king and queen treated the human child as their own. The underground was full of hope..."

*****

Undyne hefted Mettaton's body onto the worktable with a crash that made Alphys cringe. "So, how do we fix him?" she demanded. "Hammer his arms and legs back on? Shock him a bunch of times?"

"Uh... it's a little more... delicate than that." Alphys bent her blushing head low and hurried to find her tools.

Undyne settled on a chair, chatting gleefully about how amazing the kid had been to take down Mettaton without permanent damage. "They'll get things all squared with Asgore," she said confidently. "So once Mettaton's working again, we can find Papyrus, right?"

"S-sure." Alphys' blush darkened. "I'd... I'd like that. We... ah... I have some cameras set up. We can l-look at those. And, uh... maybe get some nice cream?"

"Sounds great!"

Soon after, Mettaton was functioning, complaining indignantly about being upstaged. "But," he sighed dramatically. "The fans enjoyed it. That's what's important. I only do this for them."

"Y-your body should be working now. Just... ah... don't use that much p-power at once without w-warning me. I'll... figure out a better battery."

Mettaton pulled her into a tight hug. "Oh, Darling. What would I be without you? I promise I'll return the favor someday soon." He leaned his head against her ear. "I'll sing at your wedding," he whispered. "Don't let her get away. She's a find."

He spun Alphys out of his arms. She stumbled straight into Undyne's hasty grasp.

"Oops," Mettaton purred with a wink. "Well, I must be off. There's someone I haven't spoken to in a long time who needs a little more Mettaton in their life." He waved grandly and sashayed from the lab.

Alphys looked up at Undyne. "Um... Sorry."

Undyne set her on her feet with a grin. "That's what I'm here for. So! Now that he's gone, we should..." Her phone buzzed.

So did Alphys'.

"It's an all-undernet alert," Alphys said.

"Papyrus!" Undyne cried at the sight of the sender's handle. "He's okay!"

They read, then looked in alarm at each other.

"Sounds serious! I'll call the guards to meet us there. Come on!" She grabbed Alphys' hand and dragged her from the lab.

Alphys opened her mouth to protest, then found herself too caught up in how nice Undyne's hand felt in hers to think about anything else.

*****

"...The sick human had only one request. To see the flowers from their village.."

*****

"Human? Where have you gone?" Asgore hurried down the streets of New Home.

"My Child? Are you there? Are you alright?"

That voice!

The king broke into a very undignified run. He blundered around the corner, crying out at the sight before him. “Tori! Tori you're-"

Any welcome he wanted to deliver was broken by the wall of flames and a ferocious backhand which threw him to the ground.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" Toriel demanded. "If you hurt them..."

Asgore shielded his face with a limp paw. "Tori, I didn't! I swear-"

"Don't 'Tori' me, you old coward. Where's my child?"

"I don't know!" Asgore felt pathetically happy in spite of her rage. She was here! "I was bringing them to the house, and they just disappeared."

The former queen's eyes narrowed. "Bringing them to the house for what purpose?"

"To keep them!" Asgore climbed cautiously to his feet, hands lifted in surrender. "They wouldn't fight. I thought..." He choked on a sob. "We could be a family again."

There was no kindness in Toriel's eyes. "You lost the right to a family long ago."

The king bowed his head. He couldn't deny it. "I know... I was so angry... the things I said." His shoulder trembled with barely suppressed sobs. "I'm so sorry. It was all my fault."

"Yes, it was," Toriel rumbled. She pushed past him. "Now, where has the child gone?"

"I don't know!" Asgore put a hand to his temple. "What's going on? Papyrus is missing. Now the human."

"Papyrus is still gone?" Toriel sounded alarmed.

"You know him?"

"They moved in with me after you kicked them out."

"I didn't! We had an argument, and Gaster...” Asgore jumped. "Gaster!"

"What about him?"

"He was here! He would have seen where they went..." His soul went cold. "If he didn't take them."

"Our boy? He wouldn't..." Toriel's face suddenly turned distressed. "He couldn't..."

"You know about... the boys? Did he tell you...?"

"But he couldn't really. Not to them... Not to the child..." Toriel looked about frantically. "Where could they have...?"

"The lab." Asgore looked abruptly grim. "We have to hurry."

They'd gone very few paces before they heard faint shouting.

"MOM! DAD! HELP ME!"

"Papyrus?" they cried in one voice. Without another thought, they rushed toward the sound.

*****

"...The kingdom fell into despair. The king and the queen had lost two children in one night..."

*****

"...That's how it happened," Gaster finished. He sat with head bowed, not looking at the child. "The humans took everything from us. Again. Asgore swore vengeance... and we've been living the results of that pledge ever since."

He felt a touch on his hand and looked down.

The child had wriggled one arm loose and had laid their fleshy palm on his.

He pulled away. "Don't... don't you dare."

A whimper made him turn around to find the amalgamates watching from the doorway.

Endogeny trotted across the room. They laid their head on the bound child.

The human reached up and fearlessly patted their head.

The canid shuddered and flopped down next to them, thrumming pleasantly.

The child began to hum a soft melody.

Lemon Bread slithered across the room and coiled on their other side. They snaked out their massive jaws and neatly bit through the restraints.

"Oh don't you side with them," Gaster growled. He rose, yanking the child's arm away from Endogeny.

The child cried out in pain.

Gaster looked down, abruptly aware of the layers of old and new bruises across the child's arms. He pulled back their sleeve, finding signs of abuse peppering the small body. "What happened to you?"

And the child told him their story.

*****

Despite everything... it's still you.

*****

"dad? where are... are you okay?" Sans halted in the doorway, his head cocked in bewilderment at the sight.

Gaster sat on the floor, his head in his hands. The child sat beside him, leaning back against Endogeny. The other amalgamates lay in a half ring around them, attention upon child and scientist.

Sans slid down the wall beside his father. "you suck at follow-through, you know that, right?"

Gaster looked up slowly. "How do you suffer at someone's hand... and choose not to hate?"

"i dunno. that's papyrus' department." Sans studied the child. "you've had a bad time before getting here, kid?" He frowned. "then why were you tryin' to go back?"

"They weren't," Gaster said quietly. "They were looking for a way out for us."

"oh... we kinda messed that up, huh?"

"Human," Gaster said with a tired sigh. "I think it's best we send you on your way." He looked at the amalgamates. "And you lot too."

Sans grinned. "what? got tired of keepin' stuff locked up down here?"

Gaster made a face. "They're smarter than I've given them credit for being. I'll tell Asgore it was my experiment. He... won't be surprised." He rose, wearily looking down at the child. "I don't know if you really can find a way out of here, but we won't try to stop you anymore."

"what? don't i get an opinion?"

"Do you have one?"

"not really. i can't find the souls. been all over the city. they're not anywhere, near as i can tell. so... good thing you changed your mind."

Gaster rolled his eyes.

Sans jumped as his phone rang. He glanced at the ID. "about time." He clicked a button. "pap? where-"

"HELP!" a shrill voice screamed. "DAD! SANS! HELP!"

"what's wrong?" Sans demanded. "where are you?"

"THE BARRIER! COME QUICK!"

The line went dead.

"bro! bro!" Sans yowled.

Gaster caught his arm. "We'll be there as fast as-"

"now!" Sans seized the human by the wrist. The amalgamates had bunched close around the trio, brushing tight against them. His eyes narrowed and fierce, Sans yanked the whole party into darkness.

Chapter Text

Darkness

Darkness squeezing and clutching beyond anything he’d ever experienced.

Emptiness tearing him apart from the inside out.

Nothing.

Nothing except a voice.

“There you are. And I thought you might not ever visit me.”

Pulling. Pulling away from the nothingness.

Escape!

“Don’t be silly. I’ll be seeing you. Soon.”

*****

They tumbled into a sea of golden flowers.

Sans collapsed to hands and knees. “whew. never tried that with a group.”

“What the hell was that?!” Gaster demanded, whirling around to stare blankly at the king’s garden, the human child, and the amalgamates before focusing with alarm and confusion on his son.

“oh right,” Sans panted. “i can teleport.”

“And WHEN were you planning to enlighten me of this fact?”

Sans managed a grin as he struggled to stand. “sort of waiting for a good moment to shock you.”

Gaster pulled Sans to his feet. “Is this why you have blackouts?”

Sans’ face registered thoughtful surprise. “you know…”

The scientist strode toward the barrier with an angry glare back at him. “When this is all sorted out, I’m dragging you back to the lab, strapping you down, and finding out exactly what’s wrong with you.”

“and our lives come full circle,” Sans muttered, falling into step beside him.

They’d barely taken a step when –

“GASTER!”

The group whirled, Gaster instinctively cowering as Toriel bore down on them, a wide-eyed and blustering Asgore in her wake.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH… Oh, hello, my child.” Toriel dropped to one knee midstride to embrace the human child as they ran to her.

“guess i’m not the favorite,” Sans muttered.

“Human!” Asgore gasped. “We were so worried when you vanished.” He reached toward the child, only to have Toriel slap his hand away. “Child,” he asked awkwardly, “is there a chance you know what happened to the souls?”

“What souls?” Toriel asked, her head whipping around.

“you can’t find ‘em either?” Sans asked.

“Either? Why are you… What are those?” Asgore’s gaze had suddenly fallen upon the amalgamates, his attention caught by Endogeny resting their gyrating head on top of Gaster’s skull.

The scientist grimaced as goo dribbled down his spine. “These… will take a little explaining.”

“explain later,” Sans snapped. “where’s papyrus?”

“We heard him calling from this direction,” Toriel said, looking up from nuzzling the child. “We hoped he was with you.”

“no. he called us to-”

“Papyrus! Papyrus, are you… Hi Asgore! Is that your ex?”

The group turned once more as a crowd surged into the room.

Undyne was in the lead, her hand securely clasped in Alphys. The royal guards bunched in a disorganized mob behind her, and with them a large portion of the population of Snowdin.

Alphys eyes locked on the amalgamates. She paled. “How did they get out?” she squeaked.

“I…” Gaster started to say.

He was cut off as every dog in the crowd surged forward with joyous barking.

There was a whirling of fur, goo, and excessive sniffing as the pack trampled across the king’s garden, whining and yelping. Few words came clear to the watching crowd. Except, ‘family’, ‘parents’, and ‘love’ repeated over and over.

“This is quite a party you’re throwing for ME. Alphys, darling, you shouldn’t have.”

“oh…. this is a lot of monsters… maybe I should go….”

“Nonsense, darling. You’re with me. We’ll take center stage.”

Another group crowded into the room. Mettaton led the way, a mechanical arm thrown around (mostly through) a reluctant ghost. A training dummy hopped along on its single foot beside them, gnashing its plush teeth and glaring with button eyes.

Behind them followed many inhabitants of Waterfall, and quite a few members of Mettaton’s fan club.

“Mettaton?” Alphys gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“You sent out an all-Undernet alert about your friend’s friend,” the robot replied as if it was obvious. “Of course I came to assist. And I simply HAD to bring an entourage.”

“Great!” Undyne said loudly over the doleful singing of an amalgamate which had wrapped itself around Shyren. “Everyone can search. Let’s spread out and find Papyrus!”

“he said he was at the barrier!” Sans insisted anxiously.

“Then let’s go!” the captain of the guards demanded. She strode off, guards and civilians falling into step beside her.

“This is monsterkind at its best,” Toriel said to the human child as she swung them onto her shoulders and out of the surge of eager bodies. “Always prepared to help a friend.”

The child hugged her around the neck, humming an ancient melody softly as they grinned and waved at the monsters.

“My child,” Toriel said regretfully. “There is no way for you to return home without causing harm. And… I can’t sit idly by and allow that. I hope you will be happy making a home with us.” She glanced at Asgore, who’d sidled hopefully up beside her. “The underground isn’t all disappointments,” she muttered and surged away from him.

Sans and Gaster had fought their way to the head of the crowd, Gaster keeping one hand clamped around the hood of Sans’ jacket.

“i’m not going to get flattened,” Sans grumbled and tried to pull away.

Gaster refused to let go. “I’m not losing…” He broke off with a shudder, an anxious yellow flaring in his eye sockets.

Sans glanced up at him and said nothing more.

Several hallways and the barrier room loomed ahead. The pulsing magic of the barrier made many a monster falter with murmurs of awe, but the skeletons hastened forward.

The room was not quite empty. A single, crumpled figure lay near the barrier, the pulsing pale light washing out the brilliance of an old red scarf.

“bro!” Sans threw himself forward.

Gaster’s response was a wordless cry as he dropped beside the prone form.

As one, father and son planted their hands upon the still form. Two mediocre healers at the best of times… but today green light utterly flooded the room.

Papyrus’ eye sockets flared an answering green as his body convulsed with its sudden return to consciousness.

Gaster grabbed him around the middle, holding him close to ease the frantic twitching.

“bro! bro! it’s us! can you see us? are you okay? what happened?” Sans clutched desperately at Papyrus’ hands, looking prepared to crawl into his brother’s very marrow if that was what it took to bring him back to reality.

Papyrus snapped abruptly back into clarity. “RUN!” he bellowed. “RUN VERY FAR AND VERY FAST AND VERY-VERY IMMEDIATELY!”

“What?” Gaster asked stupidly.

And the ground erupted around them.

Green flooded the room. Not healing green. Not the color of health and happiness.

Green like drowning waves. Like being lost in a wood of identical trees. Of razor thorns and smothering perfume.

And vines. Crushing, encompassing vines.

And before the skeletons could even register the squeezing pain, they heard the shrieks from the monsters who’d followed them to their destruction.

“You idiots!” crowed a voice none but Papyrus could definitively remember hearing, yet a voice which filled every one of them with a sense of impending agony and darkness. “I can’t believe you’re all so stupid!”

Vines whirled through the rooms, separating out their prisoners and slamming the struggling monsters against the walls until they hung dazed and pliant in the plant’s grip.

Only the human child stood alone in the center of the room. Toriel had thrown herself over the child at the first shriek of danger, and Asgore had flung himself over both of them, doubly - though uselessly - protecting the child from the onslaught.

The child clenched their fists, glaring at the yellow flower which rose out of the ground to leer at them. The child was unarmed – though what a stick or cell phone might have done against the monstrosity, none could say. Still, they stared up at the attacker with defiance in their eyes.

“pap,” Sans mumbled weakly, “about your imaginary friend…”

“I WAS WRONG,” Papyrus admitted mournfully. “I DON’T THINK HE WAS MY FRIEND AFTER ALL.”

“This game between us will never end,” the flower declared, leaning closer to the human as he spoke in a voice filled with cruel glee. “I’ll hold victory in front of you… just within your reach… and then tear it away before-”

“because you can’t win!” Sans’ voice rang out in defiance as he squirmed furiously against the vines.

The flower whirled. “Of course I can!”

“you never have! you’ve been playin’ with us forever, and what’s it gotten you?” He jerked his head towards Gaster. “we’ve seen the timelines. you’re just losin’ over and over. you can’t let the human go because you’re a coward! because you don’t know what happens after this anymore than we do.”

The flower rose on a massive stalk to loom over the skeletons. “You’ve called me a coward before,” he sneered. “You’ve called me that, and then I crush your skull.”

Sans’ eyelights were gone, his sockets filled with an empty black void as cold as the defiant grin on his skull. “and then you drag us back and start all over. can’t live with the consequences, can you? but it stays with you. all those kills. the numbers keep piling up until they drown your soul and killin’ is all you can do.”

“What soul?” the flower sneered back. A new tentacle rose from the ground, carrying with it a canister in which six human souls battered frantically against the glass. “I’ve a few to spare.”

It drew them close, a light of longing and hunger coming to its empty eyes. “You’re right about drowning,” it murmured. “It’s hard to even remember what it was like to… feel.”

“YOU CAN FEEL WITHOUT HURTING EVERYONE!” Papyrus protested. “YOU CAN STILL MAKE GOOD CHOICES!”

“Oh, shut it,” the flower snapped, casting a half dozen layers of vines around Papyrus’ jaw. “I could recite your lectures by now. Do you know how hard it is not to snap your neck every time you talk like that?”

“but you’re not going to,” Sans growled, straining madly to reach his brother, or at least bring up an arm and cast out what little magic he had. “you’re keeping us all alive. why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The flower shook the canister, eliciting an ethereal scream from the souls. “Six isn’t quite enough to break free of this place. But with all your souls combined…”

The human shoved between the flower and the skeletons, shaking a fist in helpless defiance.

“I could take yours,” the flower agreed with a smirk. “But then… who would I play with?” Its attention turned back to the captives. “This lot isn’t any fun anymore.”

It was then that Gaster began to scream.

Which, might not have seemed like much. Plenty of monsters were shouting and struggling all throughout the caverns. But when Gaster’s mind fled in a purple-eyed blind panic, the screams which echoed from his skull were of a terrified and hysterically pitched variety which made the flower wince, the human clasp their hands over their ears, and the rest of the monsters cry out in pain and renewed panic.

“Stop that!” the flower snarled, giving Gaster a bone-rattling shake.

“Please be careful with him!” Toriel objected, tearing her attention away from the human child at last. “Please! Let me help him!”

“DAD! THIS IS NOT PANIC TIME!” Papyrus cried out in a brief pause as his father began to hyperventilate between hysterical yells. “THIS IS BE A SMART SCIENTIST PLANNING TIME!”

“when have we ever been able to count on him under pressure?” Sans grumbled, looking bitterly away.

“I said stop!” The flower dashed Gaster against the cavern wall, effectively cutting off the noise. “You get worse about that every time.”

“EVERY TIME?”

The flower loomed over Papyrus. “Don’t think this is the first time I’ve played this game. Luring everyone here… Seeing if all monsterkind together is enough to break free… And he’s always a problem.” He spared a bitter glare at the prone form, now lying untangled from the vines on the ground beside human who crouched protectively beside him. “You wouldn’t think he’d be the type to make the sacrificial play, but every time…” His glare returned to the remaining skeletons. “Love makes monsters do stupid things. That’s why I’m grateful to be done with it.”

“DAD LOVES US?” Papyrus whimpered in a small and stunned voice.

“Of course, he does, children,” Asgore replied. “What parent wouldn’t love and do anything for their children?”

“One who chooses to forget and replace their own with new ones,” the flower snarled. “One who forgets about the past like it was nothing.” His eyes turned on Toriel with an expression of loathing.

Toriel blinked back at him, her brow furrowing with confusion. “Do you know me, child?” she asked softly.

The face twisted with increasing rage. “Of course you can’t even recognize me now. How could you? After walking away as if I never existed.”

Papyrus abruptly broke free of the strangling vines by the simple solution of walking UP. The flower, entirely concerned with combatting the gravity tugging each monster downward, had never expected an escape by one who sometimes forgot that gravity was a fundamental law.

Leaving off his defiance of physics almost immediately, Papyrus dropped to the ground and ran for his father with a cry of alarm. The vines snatched at him, one catching on his belt and ripping it away while another snagged his scarf which he immediately left behind as he ducked their constricting grip. Reaching Gaster’s side, he threw himself down, a light show of green spark flooding the air as his hand closed over the scientist’s leg.

“Don’t think that’ll help-” the flower snarled as it snatched Papyrus off the ground.

“Asriel,” Toriel murmured, her soft voice carrying like a tempest wind through the cavern.

The flower whipped around.

The queen’s eyes were fixed on a handmade doll tangled in Papyrus’ belt and lying discarded on the ground. Pain and longing flooded her tear-filled eyes. With a mother’s instinct, she raised her eyes to the flower. “Asriel,” she repeated in a voice whispering with hope. “Is it really…”

“No!” the flower screamed. Its vines contracted, every monster crying out in pain at the brutal squeeze.

The canister shattered, six souls momentarily glowing with an eager rush towards liberty, only to be snapped and swallowed into the flower’s widening mouth.

“NO!” it screamed again. “That’s not who I am anymore! You forgot me! You left me! You…”

“Never, Asriel,” Toriel replied gently. “I love all my children. However they came to me. For however long I was allowed to be their mother. I could never forget or replace you.”

“That’s what you say. That’s what you always say. But it’s not true! If it was, I would have been enough. You wouldn’t have needed them.” It stabbed a thorn towards Sans and Papyrus. “Or them.” It gestured at the human child.

The child had gotten the now-conscious Gaster back on his feet, although the skeleton looked too dazed to even be certain of where they were. He leaned heavily on the child, something which could hardly have been imagined if he’d been in his right mind. His single eye socket fixed unsteadily on the flower, his eyelights flickering through a myriad of colors, seeming to be processing… something.

“Asriel? My boy?” Asgore croaked, finally registering what Toriel had already realized. “You’ve come back to us?” He worked one arm free, reaching towards the golden flower.

For a moment, the flower wavered, the lights of six human souls pulsing with emotions within its stalk. It leaned toward Asgore, a need filling its expression and wiping away the callousness of an emotionless killer. But then…

“No! It’s too late! There’s nothing here for me!”

Every monster trapped in the vine’s embrace was wrenched forward, their souls tearing loose from their essence. Their voices screamed as one as the pale-gray hearts cascaded into the flower’s expanding maw.

“With all your souls combined, I’ll be the prince of this world at last. No determined human can stop me anymore. I’ll reset all of you. Again. And again! You’ll never escape me! All your love and friendship. It doesn’t mean anything compared to real power! That’s the only thing that matters.”

Monsters collapsed limp around the cavern, their bodies turned to lifeless husks as their souls were ripped away.

“Just one more,” the flower rumbled, its eyes turning upon the human. A mist of bullets rose up from its petals to form a ring around the weary figure. “With your determination, this will all be mine.”

The bullets struck.

And a wall of bones slammed into existence around human and skeleton.

“No,” Gaster panted, throwing everything he had into the defensive wall. “Not again. Not… anymore.”

“Ugh,” the flower scoffed. “Why can’t you just stay dead?” It slammed another cascade of attacks into the wall, smirking as bones crumbled beneath the onslaught, several barbs striking into the scientist even as he planted himself between the child and their attacker.

Sweat beaded down the scientist’s skull as the bones redoubled their numbers even as his hands shook to cast the attack. He kept his eyes on the flower, not daring to look at the crumpled shapes of the children his desperation had willed into life.

The flower merely laughed. And grew. And stretched…

And the world went white.

And then black.

And then… nothing.

*****

You can’t give up now!

*****

Emptiness.

A world absorbed and ended.

The pieces all swept from the board and the board shattered leaving destruction and shrieking silence behind.

Emptiness with weight. With claws. Emptiness that sought to tear away whatever lingering fragments of memory and reality remained to absorb them into tormented nothingness.

Two souls pulsed together in the void which had once contained a multitude.

One a feeble and drained grey, scarred from a lifetime of concessions and reactions.

One a brilliantly beating red, still a flood of determination despite the odds against it.

Determination… and also the rapid beating of distress. Of uncertainty. Of facing the abyss and finding no bottom.

And then… something came from the void.

A child.

That’s how it appeared at first. The infant image of its parents lovingly embraced in yellow and green.

And then the appearance contorted. Grew.

Became a god.

“Are you there?” the creature asked as it approached. “It’s me. Your best friend.”

Soul lights gleamed from within. Souls of six lost humans whirling helplessly in tandem with those of countless monsters.

The entirety of the underground. United. Eradicated. Absorbed.

Nothing left.

Except… except were the lost souls still crying into the emptiness?

Still seeking who they’d been as individuals?

As beings of life and love?

And as the god attacked what remained of the desperately determined red soul in pursuit of the final piece needed for its ascension, the battered grey soul reached out for the missing pieces of itself even as the void formed talons and sank despair into what remained.

Still, it reached into the depths of the god’s soul and called to them. Not with the hope of saving itself. Not with the dream of escape which had led it down such a dark path.

One last touch. One offering of what it had never given before.

Love.

Love enough to surrender what was left of itself if the act gave them the determination to awaken.

Even as it splintered, torn asunder by the grasping void, even as a thousand voices of the past, a thousand possibilities in which it had found itself broken and discard here cried out to be remembered, even as dissolved into nothing, it used its last to scream what little it could offer.

“Don’t you dare give up now! After everything you’ve been through. After everything I did to you. Don’t forget yourselves. Don’t stop fighting! Stay determined! Sans! Papyrus! Don’t forget who you are!”

He barely knew what he said, what he tried to convey in those last seconds. But before the darkness dragged him under, he saw the sudden gleam of blue and orange eyelights in the nothingness.

*****

Stay determined.

*****

They clung together.

Two souls which were one and separated.

Two souls from one fount made as hope for monsterkind.

Two souls meant to be annihilated to save a world.

But now…

Now those souls were awake.

They wrenched themselves free of the imprisoning void. Slipped through unreality, defying the laws of the magical and physical world as if no laws applied to ones who’d stared into the void of unmaking before and clawed their way out.

They swarmed around the struggling child, throwing up defensive walls as the determined little soul pulled itself together, refused to be beaten, grasped a lingering dream to heal themselves.

“you can do it. i’m rooting for you, kid.”

“JUST DO WHAT I WOULD DO! BELIEVE IN YOU!”

The god fell back in bewilderment, clutching at the hole in its being left behind by the escape.

And the child reached within to call to the other lost souls.

In the midst of nothing, they found stability. Memory. Identity. Hope.

Unity.

And with the crowd of the lost and found behind them, the human reached into the void to call to one last person who needed to be saved…

*****

This is all just a bad dream.

*****

The queen was first to pick herself up, concern for a child outweighing any pain or confusion as she gathered the crumpled form into her arms. Then the king, drawing near his love who spared him a glare over her shoulder which left him meekly retreating to check on his subjects.

The cavern and garden were strewn with bodies. The groggy monsters huddled together in confused knots. Dogs worriedly nuzzled and licked one another. Aquatic monsters gasped unpleasantly to find themselves feeling more dry and clammy than they preferred. Avians fluffed out their feathers for frantic mutual grooming until their nerves were soothed.

And everywhere… broken vines and tattered leaves.

Trampled bits of golden flowers.

Asgore crouched to pick up a petal, clutching at his soul as he felt a familiar ache of loss.

But that had been long ago.

Even if the memory of the children he’d loved and lost would never fade.

But at least the anger had faded long ago.

Only regret wept in its place.

As the bulk of the monsters limped back towards their homes, Asgore returned to the cavern.

And caught his breath.

The barrier was gone.

The other monsters hadn’t noticed, concerned as they were with those still suffering the effects of… whatever had happened.

The half-conscious human child whimpered in Toriel’s arms.

And two others… a pair of skeletons… still collapsed in an entwined heap on the cavern floor.

Asgore frowned in confusion. Hadn’t the skeletons been wiped out long before?

*****

Please, wake up!

*****

“Hey you! Can you hear me?”

Orange eyelights flicked on and gazed blankly up at a spear-wielding fish.

“There! You’re alive! I didn’t know how to check for a pulse. Although I don’t know how to check for MY pulse. I’d check if your gills were flapping, but you don’t have any. How do you breathe? Do you need to breathe? How do you feel?”

“? … … .”

The other skeleton shook his head, coming back to consciousness with the blinking of a single blue-glowing eye. “…?”

“Umm… I can’t understand you. Can you, Undyne?” Alphys mumbled, peering curiously down at the groggy pair.

“Nope! But I only understand fighting and music, so that’s pretty normal.” Undyne cocked her head. “You’re wearing armor. Do you speak fighting? Not that it’s really a language. More… stabbing things full of holes!” She grinned, but her usual look of cheerful mania faded to worry. “Where did you come from?”

The skeletons looked around in bewilderment.

“?” the smaller asked.

“… … .”

“?”

“! . ?”

“……” The little skeleton put a tentative hand over his brother’s heart…

…and felt the conviction.

The world re-centered itself.

Yes! Brother. Papyrus. They lived in Snowdin. A house with lights like their eyes.

Just the two of them.

“you’re my brother,” he mumbled in a dazed tone.

“AND YOU’RE MY BROTHER! FOREVER AND ALWAYS!”

Sans flung his arms around Papyrus. “i thought i’d lost you. you disappeared!”

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME! I’M THE GREAT PAPYRUS.”

“i wasn’t… i knew you were okay… until you weren’t.”

Papyrus shuddered and clutched him closer. “I CAME BACK. I’LL ALWAYS COME BACK. FAMILY NEVER LEAVES EACH OTHER. NEVER. FAMILY NEVER FORGETS.”

“no…” Sans drew back, rubbing an uneasy hand over his soul. “i’d never forget my family.” His eyesockets narrowed uncertainly. “would i?”

“YOU COULDN’T! NEITHER OF US COULD EVER…” Papyrus trailed off, looking around with a frown.

“Papyrus!” Undyne shrieked, sweeping him off his feet and into a bear hug. “I’ve been looking for you for days!!! Where were you???”

“UNDYNE, HI!” Papyrus managed as he was spun around. “I WAS… WITH A FRIEND? WHO WASN’T A FRIEND? BUT MAYBE THEY COULD HAVE BEEN A FRIEND? WHERE DID THEY…?”

Undyne dropped him and dragged Sans upright. “And you! I told you something was wrong! Some royal guard you turned out to be!”

“what do mean? pap was missing, now he’s not. found him!”

“No help from you!” Undyne dropped him beside his brother. “Ugh! You’re both impossible. Hey! Asogre’s ex!” She strode across the cavern. “Is the twerp alright?”

“A-are you okay?” Alphys asked, edging closer to Sans.

The skeletons leaned against one another in a desperation for contact comfort as their eyes scanned blankly around the cavern.

“i don’t know,” Sans confessed, his hand straying to clutch over his soul. “it feels like…” His eyes turned anxiously to Papyrus. “…something’s missing?”

Papyrus returned his anxious gaze, then forcibly snapped back into a state of determined absolute conviction. “NOTHING CAN BE MISSING! HERE WE ALL ARE! MOM AND DAD IN THE SAME PLACE! AND THE NICE HUMAN! AND UNDYNE AND ALPHYS AND EVERYONE! EVERYONE IS HERE, AREN’T THEY?” His certainty faltered. “AREN’T THEY?”

A shudder ran through the smaller skeleton. “yeah… of course. we’re all where we’re supposed to be. one big happy family…”

“Papyrus!” Undyne shouted as she charged back to them. “Did you see? The barrier’s gone! We’re free! Come on!” She seized him with one hand and Alphys with the other. “Let’s go! There’s giant robots and cat girls out there!”

Her enthusiasm was infectious. Toriel followed, the human child clutching her hand as if they never intended to let it go. Asgore took up a protective stride behind them.

Sans brought up the rear, pausing once more to look behind. His eyes were blank, searching the world beyond for the numbers and patterns only he seemed able to see. They danced before his eyes, a swirl of configurations and possibilities and…

…nothing. Nothing unusual.

The world was exactly as it was meant to be.

How it had always been.

His eyelights flicked back into life as he turned them in the direction his brother had gone.

Into a new world.

A new life.

Into a light that chased the darkness and uncertainty away.

Chapter Text

“Just let me die…”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Dr. Gaster. We both know it’s a little late for that, don’t we?”

*****

He knew only pain.

A thousand lifetimes of pain.

There was no reality except this. Except his sins.

A thousand voices screamed in with nothingness. Fragments of him? Or other hims? A thousand other selves suffering for the wrongs they’d caused.

That was all he was.

A culmination of mistakes and pain.

You should have died with your family.

He saw a thousand splintered realities. The things he’d done. The things he could have done. The things that would happen now that he wasn’t there.

Time ran in cursive curls – dancing and whirling back on itself.

He saw the war as he’d known it, and the war as he’d not known it. How it had been. How it could have been.

How little difference he’d made.

He caught glimpses of the underground – sometimes empty, sometimes teaming with life. He saw the king and queen walking with their children by the hand… and then a buckling of time to a frail flower crushing the life from everyone he knew.

The core rose… but not by his hand. He’d never been. He never was.

Alphys, the sole royal scientist.

It suited her.

Except now he saw her huddled alone in her fears. Why hadn’t he ever known? Why hadn’t he been there for her?

Asgore collapsed and weeping that his wife was gone. No one to comfort him.

I’m here! I want to be with you. I promised to stay with you!

You didn’t keep your word.

Failure.

All failure and dust.

The things he’d done to them… the things he could have done.

Was that him crushing his… his sons… again and again against the wall? Him binding them down for another session of pain? Necessity forced his hand? Or just… just something terrible inside him.

“You really are completely useless… You must know by now that you’re the expendable one.”

“You’re even stupider than I thought.”

No!

His words. He could hear himself saying them. See the frail souls crushed beneath his cruelty.

Had he done that? He nearly remembered being… that.

No… he’d chosen otherwise. Hadn’t he?

It didn’t matter in the end. He saw them in glimpses through the darkness and pain.

They didn’t need him.

They’d never needed him.

“Everything you’ve worked on, everything you’ve created – none of it needs you.”

Time continued on without him.

He saw their lives. Out of order and in whirls of possibilities. Their moments of joy and sorrow. He tried to put it in order, tried to make a story from the fragmented glimpses.

And he tried to reach them.

Sometimes… sometimes he thought he battered against a place where a soul ought to be. Where a piece of him ought to resonate.

No… there was no soul. He was gone. The pieces of him were gone.

And yet… sometimes… sometimes in their darkness he thought… could they hear his cries? Did they pause to search for him? Did he brush close enough for a memory to surface?

Except… there were no memories. He’d never been.

Pain made thinking unbearable.

Every second of timelessness was perpetual agony.

A puppet. A plaything. At the mercy of… something which knew no mercy. Who could use him for whatever it pleased.

He lost himself.

Except… there was one thing he still had to do.

One piece of autonomy remaining.

One task… one purpose to keep him from drowning into nothingness.

He had to protect his son.

The soul that flashed through nothing on its way from one place to another. That brushed the void with confidence and carelessness.

And the void would have loved to have another plaything.

It was the only purpose left to him. Preserve this single life for a thousand lifetimes.

Time buckled and danced.

Pain continued on, tearing him further into nonexistence.

It would make him not real. He’d been forgotten in reality. It would make him forgotten in unreality.

No… not so long as the soul remained.

He reached out – sometimes clutching it enough for the soul to recoil – sometimes too hard. He pushed himself between the void and the soul, held back the darkness long enough for the soul to escape time and again. But the action caused pain. The soul brushing against something that didn’t exist. He sucked the power out of it. He didn’t mean to. He didn’t want to. He just… hungered for any touch.

And there was the soul.

Blackouts… so this was what had caused them all those times.

The thing he’d tried to fix… just another of his mistakes.

Sometimes there was more than one. But that was easier. Two souls hugged together – unified against the darkness. He didn’t have to repel them so ardently.

But it felt so good to sense both of them…

Lifetimes passed around him. An hour or a thousand years. Time swirled back on itself in cursive whirls.

Destiny had its claws in him.

This had always been his fate.

His desserts.

His end.

*****

He hadn’t felt anything for so long that it took a minute to realize the pain was… diminished. That his body was solid around him. That enough pieces of himself seemed to exist in this one place to make him real.

There was a soft and familiar hum around him. Beyond that the world was… not his own. Another place. A place he’d been before.

His mind didn’t quite register memories until he raised his head enough to see the human looking back at him.

His head dropped back to the ground. From one prison to another.

Silence.

Were they waiting for him to stand so they could hit him? He couldn’t find the strength.

The human shifted, clicked something on their computer.

He raised his head and looked out at them. Buttons were appearing in the air.

Choices.

ACT. FIGHT. MERCY.

RESET.

He saw where their hand hovered and cried out. “Don’t!”

The human paused.

He drew enough of himself together to speak. “Don’t do that to them! Don’t make them go through it again!”

The human still hesitated. They clicked another button.

Charts appeared. Timelines. Possible outcomes – cause and effect all laid out in meticulous graphs.

He shook. “How many times have you… what kind of sick…”

He stared at them, his mind settling into certainty. “It’s all a game to you… creating possible outcomes. You’re… what are you trying to accomplish? What do you get out of it?”

Another click of a button. More graphs appearing.

His eyes swept over them, reading aborted timeline after timeline. His actions… their pain. Lessened. Scenarios playing longer as they sought…

…It was always about saving them… from what he was going to… had done. A happy ending for two damaged children.

How had they found him and his mistakes? Why had it become their obsession? Of all the hurt in the world… why was this what they had tried to make right? Time after time.

“You’re not part of our reality…” he murmured. “…I wondered. Even if… even if we retook the surface, you wouldn’t be there, would you? You’re… somewhere else.”

He trembled and pulled himself to his feet, swaying and ill. “You took me out of the void… why? So you could reset?”

They clicked another file. An audioclip sounded.

“I KNOW HE DOESN’T ALWAYS SEEM NICE, BUT HE IS. REALLY. YOU JUST HAVE TO LOOK REALLY-REALLY HARD SOMETIMES. AND HE NEEDS US. IT’S NICE TO FEEL NEEDED. AND WE NEED HIM. BROTHER DOESN’T THINK SO SOMETIMES, BUT IT’S TRUE. AND HE KNOWS IT. EVEN IF THEY BOTH WON’T ADMIT IT SOMETIMES. WE’RE FAMILY. WE BELONG TOGETHER.”

He closed his eyes, drinking in the voice. The resolve and certainty. The kindness he’d never deserved.

When he opened his eyes, the files were gone, the single RESET button remaining. And the human was reaching for it.

“Please,” he whispered. “Don’t.”

They paused once more to study him.

He clutched his arms across his chest, swaying in pain. “Put me back in the void. Or kill me. Or keep me here. Whatever you want. I can’t stop you. But, please… just let them have their lives. It’s not going to be perfect. You can’t make it perfect. You can try a thousand times and there will always be something. But… it’s their lives. Just… let them have that… let them have their ending… don’t take away their choices. Please… you have me. Let them be free.”

He lowered his head. It was getting hard to stand. But he wanted to meet his end with at least this much dignity.

He heard the click of a button, and his soul was wrenched through darkness.

*****

He was falling.

It was wonderful – this feeling of his body altogether in one place. Knowing it would hurt when he landed but knowing it would be all of him at once, not a thousand scattered bits of unreality.

He lay where he’d fallen, his mind still somewhere outside of his body, unable to process the world. When he did crack his eyes open, it was to shut them again with a cry of pain.

Why was everything so bright?

Warily and weakly, he opened them again.

There was light above him. Not the crystals glittering in the cavern ceiling. Not the sterile glow of electric lights. Real, natural light.

The sun.

He couldn’t see the actual sun. The sky was slate grey, clouds forming steadily.

A storm was coming.

The ground beneath him was damp earth, bits of grass and leaves poking up to cling to his bones and clothes.

Smells like soil and memories.

He made it to his knees and looked around.

He was at the edge of a wooded lot. There was a road not far ahead.

Smells like asphalt and exhaust.

Had it been an hour in the void? A day? A decade?

It didn’t matter. They were out there. His children. His family.

Did they remember him? It didn’t matter.

He’d find them. If they remembered him, if they wanted him, he’d be part of their lives again. If they didn’t, he’d be patient. He’d keep his distance if that’s what they preferred. He’d give them whatever they needed.

It’s what a… a father did.

At the very least he’d need to warn them about the void.

His hand brushed something soft. He looked down.

The human had left him an umbrella.

With its aid, he dragged himself to his feet and clicked it open. He raised his personal shelter around him and stepped from beneath the trees.

No direction. No plan. No calculations. Just a road ahead and hope in his soul.

As the rain began to fall, Dr. W. D. Gaster stepped onto the road and hoped it would lead him home.