Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eyes open or closed, either way, what I see is always the same.”

Despite the vast emptiness surrounding her, the girl’s voice moves no farther than her ears. She continues to mumble under her breath, playing a game with herself. Are her eyes open, or are they closed? The darkness is all the same, but she wins every time. There’s just something about staring out into the abyss that brings some sense of restless comfort. As though she is looking at something, at someone.

She allows her ear to lead her slightly to the right. A soft lulling pull reminds her that she could go back. She could have more to see than a multitude of shades of black, that she could exercise her mind with more than tricks and sounds and hints of movement where there is none. But it hurts too much. She can’t go back, no matter how bitter-sweet the melody is.

“This line of thought is getting too depressing, don’t you think?”

She sits there for a moment, shuts her eyes once more, and listens, ‘Yes” she thinks after a moment, ‘It has been too long to dwell on things you can’t even clearly remember.

With that, she sets off in the opposite direction of the pull, not as though direction matters in a place such as this, but the point is that she wills it to be a direction farther from where she’s been. There’s no beating light to guide her way as there was for the others, no, she only has herself.

“I only have myself. Myself. Yes, myself. No one else.”

Maybe she will see herself in the vacuum, drifting along as before, or perhaps with purpose as she is now. She doubts it, though. It’s only happened once before.

“And hopefully never again. Never again.”

She shakes her head as she continues on her way. That was a time of inexperience and foolishness. She’s not nearly as foolish now.

‘You’ve grown a lot since then,’ the thought reminisces, ‘you’ve seen so much and understand, don’t you?’

She can no longer feel the pull, or maybe it has just subsided for now. She always thinks it’s gone until it rears its devastatingly lovely head. How wonderful would it be to follow, but how painful to find herself back at the beginning?

“It doesn’t matter now. No, it doesn’t matter. I’ve come too far, and I won’t make that mistake again. Not again.” Like clockwork, she stops and feels the nothingness weighing on her, breathing heavily on her skin. She could easily break away from it. She’s done it before, but why would she now? What would be the point? She’ll just be delaying the inevitable cycle.

Sit, wait, exist, feel the lull, the pull, run away, sit, wait, exist, feel the lull, the pull, run away.

‘You could always keep moving, you know. You could always push on, persevere.’

She pauses at this nuance. How long has it been since a thought like that was thunk? She supposes that if there is no point in waiting again, in bending to the will of the cycle, then there’s no point in following this new will—this will to persevere.

“It’s not like I’ll find anything new anyway, and I won’t get any farther.” she accedes. At least she can keep her body moving. However, the lure of physical exertion and staying fit wore off long ago once she realized that her body, and thus her strength and physique, were stagnant in this timeless place.

‘Just keep moving and stop thinking about meaningless things. Just keep moving. It’s not like you have anything better to do.’

And so she continues on, the thin twinging pull becoming increasingly sharp as she ventured out like a line caught on a fish, trying to pull it to shore. It’s so strange, this sensation. She hasn’t felt anything besides the melodic lull, and the formless weight of the darkness that this pain, stinging, pricking discomfort was something she had lost familiarity with. It excited her.

“Something new? Something different?” She willed herself to go faster, to go farther. The pain increased. Something latched firmly and deeply into her very being. Her bones creaked, and she could feel every ounce of blood pumping through her body.

“Something new! Something different! What is this?” A broad grin stretched across her features, her facial muscles stiff from lack of use. She launched herself through the dark vacancy, giggling in pure delight and fascination as she drove herself into a spin. The Pull grew even more substantial. No matter how she turned or moved, it always grabbed hold of her in the same way. Through a deep aching part of her being, something she had lost connection with in the stagnant expanse. If she didn’t know any better, she would say her sight was growing dim, she felt light-headed, and something gurgled up from her chest.

‘Maybe this is enough. You don’t have to go this far so fast. You can slow down now.’

But she disregarded the thought.

“What is this? How can this be? Why haven’t I found this before?” She cried, repeating herself to hear something other than the ringing in her ears. A ringing, a new sound. A new sensation after so long of constant, overbearing, pressuring nothingness.

Her heart pumped erratically. Her bones creaked against the two forces Pulling them back yet Willing them forward. Her very skin felt like it was burning, or was it freezing? Her eyes began to leak. These are tears, aren’t they? She laughed without abandon as she shot through the darkness until….

It stopped.

It snapped

The Pull was gone.

Suddenly she stopped her rapid acceleration, her heart slamming into her sternum and her through leaping out of her mouth, pushing her tongue between her teeth. As she stayed there, she listened, she waited, but nothing grew within her. No Pull, no thoughts, she was really, truly alone.

Her smile fell as she listened to the beat of her heart. No penetrating thought came, no lull or melody. Not even the comfort of opening her eyes to the abyss versus the intense self-awareness of having them closed remained. It really was all the same now, but now it was worse. Now she didn’t have that line leading her back to the beginning. She had severed that choice to chase something new. Something different.

“Why did I do this? Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY? WHY? WHY!” She wept bitterly into the expanse, but it took no pity on her. But in that moment of hopelessness, as she began to let go of what made her, what kept her. As she began to let the horrible, terrible darkness creep in and make itself home in her very being, she saw it.

She saw it through the blurry, hazy fog of her overexerted mine and flowing eyes.

A light.

.

That was a close one. That child, a human child no less, had caught sight of him. Somehow they had found the perfect moment in time to reveal a small passageway to this space he’s deemed his own. How curious that this child found their way to him, but he quickly slipped away before he could affect them with his…condition.

With a breathless sigh, he began to drag his time-torn form through the great expanse he trapped himself in. Glancing to the side, he summoned a small looking glass, but instead of his melted reflection peering back at him with disgust and regret, he saw the two people who gave him HOPE to keep going.

They were at their home, and his youngest was preparing for a special meeting with the human child. It filled him with unadulterated joy to see his child find friendship in the most unlikely places.

His drooping face fell even more.

‘Very unlikely indeed.’ He thought, willing the visual to focus on the human in question. The looking glass shrunk significantly, now small enough to fit in the carefully crafted hole in his hand. Creating that temporary space in reality, in any reality, took a lot of energy out of him. He wouldn’t get to see a lot for a while, and if he weren’t careful, he soon wouldn’t be able to peek into his sons’ world at all.

The human child was making their way through Waterfall, interacting with various monsters as they went.

‘They seem to be doing well this time. Hopefully, they will keep up this pacifist mentality. If they do, they may just break through and free them. As long as they don’t…’ he stopped his train of thought as a flash of memory appeared in the forefront of his mind.

His precious child dusting and mixing with the snow.

His oldest boy, who’s already gone through so much, finding his brother’s remains right outside their home.

‘Please. Don’t let it happen again.’ he pleaded, his sagging eyes dropping close as he turned away from the looking glass, allowing it to dissipate into the Void. That’s enough for now; there’s no reason to rush things. No matter how much he wants to, he can’t be there for every moment. He has to conserve energy to maintain his form, what he has left of it.

He slowly slumps over himself as he tries to focus on pulling himself together. So many pieces scattered throughout this place devoid of time and space. He doesn’t regret discovering it. He doesn’t regret utilizing its power to help his people.

He curls up even tighter as he focuses on a piece that has drifted farther than it should.

He doesn’t regret building the CORE. He doesn’t regret the work he put in to get to where he was before the accident, but...

He uses what little magic in his broken soul to herd himself together.

Maybe he should have listened to his oldest, he understood the importance of rest, or breaks, refreshing the mind. Perhaps he should have taken the time to get to really know his youngest boy instead of making up for it by observing from the Void. It’s not as though he was on a time crunch, and he sees that now. His people have been trapped for so long, maybe if he had taken his time, then those poor lost souls would have survived. Perhaps he could have lifted the burden of raising a child from his oldest son’s shoulders. Maybe…maybe he could have been a father to them.

Maybe he wouldn’t be alone.

“Hello?”

He froze. Was that? That wasn’t his voice. That wasn’t the voice of any of the monsters he had dragged with him when he fell. Who?

“Are…are you real?”

Such a soft voice full of wonder, astonishment, and perhaps…hope? He slowly unfurled himself and turned toward what he could only hope wasn’t an auditory hallucination induced by loneliness and the last of his sanity leaving him.

But no, standing, or more floating, there was a human—a human who stuck out like a sore thumb against the consuming darkness surrounding them.

The excitement and confusion of meeting another living being in the Void were pushed back by the sheer bewildering astonishment of what in the world this human was wearing.

The wide, poofing hem of her dress flowed despite there being no wind nor movement of the human. The piece of apparel that made up the upper part of her dress clung to her biceps before flowing out in two pieces of fabric behind her. Instead of the body merging seamlessly with the waist of the skirt, the front and back fell as a narrow apron tucked between the pleated folds of the fabric. The fabric started bright, Waterfall blue, before fading into a deeper, darker color similar to the murky water of the Garbage Dump back in the Underground. Horizontally striped stockings of the same colors could barely be seen by the length of her apparel, and the tip of the ridiculously long hood she wore brushed around the dark shoes covering her feet.

And yet, despite the sheer absurdity of her outfit, no, that’s rude. The…lack of practicality in her choice of clothes, despite it all, she looked..ethereal like a bright beacon of light in this pitch black void. A beacon, though clearly affected by the elements, as seen by the dark pigmentation creeping over her form, still shone brightly through it all.

How in the world had he not noticed her before now? Even if she were theoretical miles away, he would have easily been able to pinpoint such bright attire in an expanse of black.

“Are you alright? How did you get her?” Her soft questioning snapped him back to the present, to actually looking at her and not her attire. Her face showed so much, it was clear that she wasn’t one to hide her emotions. He observed relief, joy, excitement, and fear, feelings similar to his own, just without the hint of caution he could feel bubbling up within him.

Her eyes raked over his form, and he couldn’t help but feel the white how shame and embarrassment sweep over him as he realized that, compared to her, he was a puddle of filth torn and maimed by his time in the void.

“Oh, you poor sweet thing. They have not been kind to you. Here,” she presented him with a scar-littered hand, “let me help you.”

This was the first human he had interacted with himself for a very long time. He had seen what they could do. What they still do. He had seen a human knight cleave a monster in two with the swing of his axe powered by sheer determination. He had felt the effects of a human mage’s magic when filled with the intent to hurt, to kill. He had witnessed what even a child was capable of when filled with enough drive.

But seeing this human before him, shining so brightly and filled with…with something other than the void. It only took him a moment’s hesitation to take her hand, and the moment he did he could feel himself be stitched together. Pieces of him that he wasn’t aware were even still in the void came rushing back and clicked into place like one of his son’s prized puzzles. Parts of him that had slipped through the cracks were now in his realm of awareness, he could feel them trying to make their way to him but they were stuck. It didn’t matter, he felt more whole than he had since he first got ripped through and into the Void.

He was standing now, on legs, instead of resting in pieces of himself pilled up to make something. He was standing, and he could feel his limbs separate from the center of his body. He reached up experimentally and touched his face, moving it and feeling it. Looking down he could see that his hands were no longer floating by themselves, they have attached to him again!

A dry, choking sob escaped his throat as he looked down to inspect himself. He tried to draw back from the human to fully appreciate having an almost fully fleshed out corporeal form, but her grip held tight and gently tugged me back.

“Hold on there dear,” she chided with a smile too small for the emotion radiating from her eyes, from her soul, “you’re not all here yet. It’s going to take some time to stitch you back together.”

I nodded solemnly, it made sense, I have been in this place for so long, the absence of time and space has shattered my body and broken my soul to the point of no return, and yet here I was returning. I stared at our entwined hands and dwelt on what this implied, how powerful was this human? What did she want from me? Why was she helping me? How was she here? Fully here?

“You’re not much of a talker, are you? Well that’s okay,” she pulled me a little closer, staring intently at my face, “it just feels so good to talk to someone.”

I could understand the feeling, simply hearing someone addressing me, actually talking to ME, and not simply hearing them through a looking glass was almost more than I could bear.

She told me her name, taking my other hand in her grip, “May I ask what I can call you?”

Staring deep into her eyes, I caught a glimpse of her soul, she wasn’t even trying to conceal it. I felt her intent and her motivation for her actions and I couldn’t help but pity her. To be trapped in such a place at such a young age, I could imagine my boys being trapped here and an instinctual sense of protectiveness for this young human began to grow.

“You may call me Gaster.”

Chapter Text

Sans woke up in a cold sweat, excess magic dripping down his skull. For a moment, he panicked, and a deep, welling sadness and hopelessness set in as he looked around his room.

He was back again, back at the beginning. He shouldn’t have let himself be convinced that it would be different this time. He shouldn’t have taken them on their word. It wouldn’t be the first time the kid betrayed his trust.

As his thoughts began to spiral, a gentle chime cut through the vortex of negativity that plagued him. Snapping his head up, just now realizing he had let it drop to his hands, Sans turned toward his bedside table.

‘Wait, since when have I had a table next to my bed?’ his brow bones scrunched slightly in confusion. It took a moment for him to focus on the details of his room and realize that a lot was different. For one, his bed wasn’t just a lumpy, slightly moldy mattress tossed into the corner of his room. It was instead a relatively comfortable one on top of a boxspring and lifted bedframe. He still had his self-sustaining trash-nado at the foot of the bed, the perfect spot for tossing and kicking trash and used socks without getting up.

Clearing his head and willing his eye lights to focus more, he realized that he had a lot more furniture in his room, nice furniture that he definitely wouldn’t have been able to find at the dump.

‘this isn’t right. What’s going on?’

Pinching his nasal bridge in frustration, Sans focused on the air around him. Specifically the concentration of magic around him. If he were back in the Underground, it would be tingling at his exposed bones. Like the air was charged with buzzing energy.

Sans knew that sometimes, especially after an awful dream, he could have trouble remembering where and when he was. A side effect of the constant resets and time loops, he couldn’t trust his eyes, and he couldn’t trust his mind, so he let himself lean on his more instinctual senses. If he were really back under that mountain, he would feel it, but if he was on the surface, he should feel...

Sans visibly relaxed as the warm, soothing brush of the surface’s spread of magic registered on his bones.

When the barrier broke, it released the dangerously concentrated levels of magic created by the generations of trapped monsters into the world. The surface already had remnants of magic from mages long passed, but with this sudden influx in magical energy, the earth shook with the introduction of such potent magical power. It alerted everyone of the presence of monsters emerging from Mt. Ebott. Still, it had also guarded his people against the drastic military action ordered during the first few days of their ascent to the surface. The air around Ebott buzzed with magic too dense for a regular human to handle without passing out in a few minutes. It held back to tensions of war and allowed Frisk to act as their ambassador and smooth things over with the surface’s “world leaders.”

As spiking tensions smoothed to understanding and diplomacy, so did the unbalanced and unstable magic levels. With no one’s prompting but its own, the buzzing, electrifying air of magic the monsters were used to dissipate into a gentle sheet of warmth.

Sans lets out a sigh of relief as that familiar warm registers in his mind. He honestly needed to get a hold of his emotions. His HOPE almost dropped again.

Over the past year of assimilating into the surface and Frisk promising and reminding him that they had no plans on resetting again, Sans had started feeling hopeful. He had been complacent for too long, he had let his little brother take on too much for too long, he had given up, but no longer.

Getting up and out of bed, Sans slipped on some comfortable sweat pants, a plain t-shirt, and his favorite blue hoodie. Sure he could have gotten something better from one of the monster-friendly stores, but Paps had found this hoodie for him years ago. It held too much sentimental value just to replace.

Despite actually trying nowadays, some habits were hard to break, and others Sans straight up refused to get rid of. Dressing comfortably was one of them. If he had to dress as professionally as the other professors and scientists, he would most definitely go insane.

After double-checking that he has everything he needs for the day, Sans takes a shortcut downstairs to the kitchen, yet another habit he isn’t sure he’s willing to let go of. Paps says he should at least try to get places the old fashion way once in a while and that “Walking Down The Stairs In Your Own Home Can’t Be Asking Too Much.” But, honestly, Sans did it more so to get a rise out of his brother than out of actual laziness.

Taking a deep breath as he appeared in the kitchen Sans allowed himself to truly relax and unwind after the stressful and high-energy wakeup he just had. If it had been a few months ago, he would have succumbed to this energy drain and slept in for the rest of the day. But waking up now, at a reasonable time and being able to smell the freshly cooked bacon and possibly french toast or pancakes that his brother was cooking, being able to hear his little bro fiddling with the cooking utensils, simply being in the moment as the golden rays of sunlight filtered through the window was enough motivation for Sans to try.

It was a beautiful day outside, the birds were already awake and tweeting, bees were buzzing by spring flowers, and he had to trust that the kid wouldn’t take this away from them.

‘to be honest,’ he thought as he took a seat at the kitchen table, his bro smiling brightly at him before placing a plate full of cinnamon and egg-covered toast and bacon in front of him, ‘I’m not even sure if the kid can reset anymore. Or at least not back to the beginning. It’s been too long.’

“It’s Good To See You Up And About, Brother!” Papyrus exclaimed as he plopped down in the seat across from Sans, his plate filled to the brim with twice as much toast and bacon.

“mornin bro, that’s a lot o’ food ya got there. not sure how ya can stomach it.” Sans greeted with an easy smile, slowly eating away at his fresh breakfast. Paps had been improving the whole cooking business since coming top side. Now that he had access to cookbooks with legible instructions, fresh ingredients, and kitchen appliances that weren’t as prone to exploding, he had been getting much better! Sure some pieces of the french toast were a little burnt, and others were a little too soggy to be called toast, but Paps had taken time out of his day to cook Sans breakfast, and that’s all that mattered.

Speaking of his little bro, Paps narrowed his sockets at Sans's hint of humor before dismissing it and puffing his chest up, chin up, whipping a piece of toast up with his fork causing undercooked bits of egg and cinnamon mix to fling onto the kitchen table.

“But Of Course, Brother!” he exclaimed proudly, his free hand dramatically pressing against his puffed-out chest, “After All, Someone As Great As I Needs As Much Energy As Possible To Start The Day With! Especially Today!” He then proceeded to shovel a large helping of both burnt and slightly soggy french toast into his mouth.

Sans’ smile stretched wider as he picked up a slice of burnt toast, “I’ll toast to that, bro. though you always have more than enough energy in the mornings. omlettin’ whatever you have planned today is gonna burst their yolks.”

“SANS! Those Were Terrible, And First Thing In The Morning Too! We’re Not Even Having Eggs!” Papyrus wailed, thumping the table with his fists, causing everything on it to bounce and clatter with each beat of contact and for Sans to shake as well.

“would you say they’re…bacon you crazy?”

“Sans I Swear To God.”

“hehehe, alright, alright, too early. I’ll just let them sizzle for a bit before breakin’ them out later.”

“Still With The Egg Puns? We’re Having Toast For Goodness Sake! At Least The Bacon One Made Sense. Anyway, Why Are You Up So Early? Not That I’m Complaining, Of Course, I’m Always Happy To Spend More Time With You, But You Don’t Have Work Today If I Remember Correctly.” Papyrus quickly changed the subject so as not to suffer through any more of his brother’s nonsensical, early morning puns.

Sans, already knowing this to be the case, decided to give his brother some slack. For now.

“yeah, yer right on the money, bro. but Alphys called me in, something about a personal project she’s been havin’ problems with and wanted some help. woulda left her to it, but she offered me lunch, and you know how I am. hows-a-bout you, bro? today’s yer first day ‘lone, right? get to try out yer own routine or other?”

“Ah! I See. It Is Always Good To Help Those In Need, Especially Your Friends! Let Me Know How Alphys’ Project Goes, She Has Been Very Busy Lately.” Papyrus’ plate is half empty, and he pauses to wolf down the other half before continuing, “And You Would Be Correct, Brother Of Mine! Today Marks The End Of My Training And The Beginning Of Me Training Others! I Am Very Excited To Help Fellow Monsters And Humans Alike Get Into Their Most Preferred Shape!”

“dat’s great, Paps, orange ya glad you took the kid’s advice?” Sans punned right as Papyrus took a sip of his orange juice.

Papyrus, in turn, spewed his juice all over the table. Thankfully, Sans had already finished his breakfast and could use his empty plate as a shield against the fountain of sticky fruit beverage coming his way.

“Sans! Did You REALLY Have To Say It While I Was Mid-Sip? Also, Yes, I Am Very Glad I Took Human Frisk’s Advice. I Am Feeling Most Content With This Line Of Work In Comparison To What I Did Previously” Papyrus quickly and efficiently mopped up the orange spill with a well-placed kitchen rag. “Human Bodies Are So Interesting. Not One Is Exactly Like Another, And They Each Are Better At Certain Activities Than Others. It’s Like A New Puzzle WIth Each Student I Get! Figuring Out What Best Fits Their Body While Also Finding What Best Helps Them Reach Their Goal Is Very Fulfilling!”

Sans could feel a proud grin spread across his face as he grabbed his and his brother’s dishes and took them to the sink. His bro had a rough year on the surface. As exciting as it was to finally breathe fresh air, see the sky, and meet new people (though that last one was more for Paps than himself), finding a new purpose and drive in one’s life was the hardest thing. Even harder than finding housing and temporary jobs.

Despite monsters’ gold-lined pockets, they couldn’t cash it in all at once lest they risk dropping the value of gold to near nothing and ending up broke. It was a slow and arduous process, but with the rise of the sun in the morning and the stars at night, monsters found it just a little easier to live this way than how they did Underground.

Monsters with a higher standing and more prominent jobs like Alphys and Undyne found their calling quicker than others. The guard was still needed, what with anti-monster rallies and protests still going on, but they were slowly being integrated into the human police force. Alphys and some other scientists were tasked with teaching their human counterparts the ‘wonders of monster tech’ and are not trying to integrate said technology into everyday items.

Of course, Mettaton had no problem finding the love and adoration of the humans and, within a year of being up here, was already putting into work a new movie and hotel near Ebott. However, monsters who didn’t have that standing or reputation found it a little harder to continue their lives on the surface. For example, Grillby was working to open up his bar again, though he was currently working out of a food truck that couldn’t move more than a few miles a day.

But he was content with his progress, for now, at least he was ahead of Muffet, who was still being taught that changing the price on customers, money laundering, and money-making schemes were a nono, and she would have to dial it down before she could even think of opening her bakery again.

Then there was Papyrus, who still wasn’t cut out for the royal guard. Not because he wasn’t capable, but because, as Undyne said, he was too soft, too kind. So instead, he found a position that seemed to be made for him, the Monster Mascot! The love and adoration of hundreds were his! He was covered in a shower of kisses every morning, though they were virtual and through social media. He had friends wherever he went. He was recognized by people he didn’t even know, asking for pictures, autographs, and other things too! But despite all of this, he didn’t feel fulfilled. He didn’t feel like he was making a difference or genuinely helping. So he had talked to his dear friend Frisk the Monster Ambassador about how he was feeling, and they suggested a career change! It took some time to find the right fit, but his new job seemed like it was finally the one!

“I’m happy fer ya Paps, just lemme know how it goes when I get back. I should probs head over to check on Alphys before she ties her tail in a knot with worry.”

“Yes, That Would Be Most Unfortunate! And You Had Better Be Prepared To Be Enthralled With The Tales Of My Sucess When We Both Return Brother!” Papyrus exclaimed as he snapped a sweatband around the top of his skull.

“sure thing, bro” Sans chuckled, grabbing his campus and lab ID and slipping on his signature pink slippers. As he said, old habits die hard.

Grabbing his work satchel, Sans prepared to take a shortcut to the lab when Papyrus spoke up once more, “Oh! And Sans?”

“yeah, bro?”

Papyrus peaked his head through the kitchen opening, staring at Sans for a moment with an unreadable expression, “I love you, brother, have a good day.”

“heh, “ Sans closed his sockets and looked down at his slippers. Things honestly were changing for the better, even if it’s a little bit at a time. “love you too, bro. I’ll eggspect to hear about yer day later.” For one last gag Sans tossed something he’s been holding onto all morning at his bro before stepping out the door and into the void, but not so soon as to not hear his brother let out an exasperated “Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

It was totally worth it to hard boil some eggs the night before.

“So in your world, ‘monsters’ and humans once lived side by side until a war divided the two species and ended with monsters being sealed under a mountain?”

“Yes, and yet again, there is no telling whether or not we are not from the same ‘world’ as you say.”

“Oh, let’s agree to disagree.”

Gaster has no clue how long it has been since he became acquainted with this mysterious human, but time has certainly felt like it is flowing faster with her around. Not that there is any time to be spent in the Void, to begin with, but it is nice to have something to do other than observe from afar. To exercise one’s mind with deep, involving conversation, stories, and verbal games is most welcome after an eternity of nothing.

This fancifully dressed human, who has yet to introduce herself, has undoubtedly been entertaining what with her boundless energy and excitement. Her sheer gratitude for speaking to another living being and pure contentment with simply being in his presence has led Gaster to believe that she may have been stuck here even longer than him. Despite the fact that other than the odd discoloration of her clothing, she shows no physical sign of being affected by the Void. Or perhaps it was simply that her method of entering the Void was different than his. Yes, it most definitely must have been. His entrance was quite violent, but that would mean that being in the void isn’t what pulled his body apart but how he entered it. Unfortunately, this train of thought would have to be left until he had something to jot it down with.

Since first taking his hand and somehow pulling him back together, the human had yet to let go. At least she didn’t hold on as tightly, but she always ensured that she was touching him somehow. It took some time and no amount of scolding to teach her about where is not okay to touch and how to control the strength behind her grip, but she’s learning.

Gaster honestly wonders if she’s holding onto him to help him or because she’s afraid that if she lets go, he’ll dissipate into the Void, which is just as likely to happen as it is to not, and he doesn’t want to take that chance as much as she does, so Gaster chooses to put up with it.

He did feel more stable, though, more fully there. The pieces this human had brought together were melding into more of a solid mass of a man than loose puzzle pieces trying to find their place in his silhouette. Yet there were still pieces he could feel on the edge of his consciousness that just couldn’t seem to get any closer. It’s as though they were confused and didn’t know where to go or if they should come any closer. It was quite the destressing conundrum for the Doctor.

With this line of thought, Dr. Gaster found himself asking the smiling, saying human, “My dear, how long do you presume it will take for me to stand on my own? Not that I don’t enjoy your company, but it’s been quite a while, don’t you think?”

The human hummed in thought, kicking her legs two and fro and rhythmically squeezing my hand. She then stopped, completely still, the stillest Gaster had seen her since she popped into his line of sight. Her hand clenched around his own, and with the head scientist’s body being semi-solid, he felt the inkling of pain from her grip.

Her eyes were clenched shut, brows furrowed, and lips pursed. The expressions flesh could create would never stop astounding him. A skull was only so malleable, and Gaster’s was more of a ceramic mask now than it once was.

Suddenly the human’s eyes snapped open, and she tugged him forward as she launched herself back. If the skeleton’s arm weren’t so loosely connected to his torso, one could say she nearly popped it out of its socket.

“You know what I think?” She asked though it sounded more like a statement. “I think that those last couple pieces of you don’t realize they’re part of you.”

“I’m…sorry. I don’t think I follow. How would my own body not know it’s…my body?” Gaster’s confusion was the only logical response for someone who lacked the knowledge of someone who had been ripped from their world and thrown into a new one. Or at least for someone who didn’t realize that’s what had happened to them.

“No, they know they’re part of your body. They just don’t know which you they’re supposed to connect to. Kind of like how jigsaw puzzles use the same cut for different puzzles. You could essentially take pieces from one puzzle and connect them to another puzzle with a completely different picture!” She exclaimed, quickly pulling the poor man through the Void.

Where to, he had no clue. No matter how hard he tried, he could never seem to leave this part of the Void. How he knew this, he wasn’t sure. He’s stewed over this feeling for ages and has yet to find a solution. And for a scientist, that almost meant insanity.

“Are you suggesting that there are other…me’s out in the Void? Other… I suppose, versions of myself floating through this plane?” The very thought was baffling. It was highly illogical, a mad man’s theory, and yet, in a place such as this could very well be a likely possibility. In fact, how could he write it off when Gaster himself knew little to nothing about the Void despite being stuck in it for so long?

This realization struck him deeply. If there were other versions of himself, then, in theory, there were other versions of his sons, other Undergrounds, other machines, other realities! And if that was true, then his long, drawn-out debate with this human about whether or not she indeed came from a different world than his had a clear victor.

“Again, it’s not the VOID, silly, but we’ll discuss that later. But essentially, yes. Like metal being stuck between two magnets, your last pieces don’t know where to go. They’re likely leaning more toward you since you’re in direct contact with me, but if your puzzle pieces are clicking together, then so are those of your doubles.” The human was taking them faster through the Void now, or at least it seemed that way. With no wind to whip at their faces, it was hard to tell their velocity.

She certainly seemed to know where she was going, and Gaster couldn't find it in himself to question her. In fact, now that he was focusing on his soul once more, he realized that they were growing closer to the piece of himself that he was most aware of.

And with all of that acceleration and tugging they suddenly game to a halt.

“Here we are!” the human chirped.

What stood before them was indescribable. It was as though the very void itself was bending and twisting despite the absence of light. It was moving. An intense, foreboding sensation sunk into Gaster’s soul as his eye lights settled on the…mass. It was a mass. Something was moving, something blocking their way. He couldn’t tell if it was alive, a trick of his eyes and mind, or if it was what he could assume was the very end of the universe. Of this pocket dimension of Void.

All he knew was that the longer he stared at it, the longer it appeared to dig into his mind. Setting its roots deep into his thoughts. But before it could really catch root and use his subconscious as nutrition to grow its ever-expanding existence, a hand covered his sockets, and suddenly the ugly, wicked connection was severed. Despite not requiring oxygen, Gaster couldn’t help but gasp for breath. It felt like he was suffocating, like he couldn't think. He couldn’t move. It was horrible.

“You’re okay. Just keep your sockets shut, and you’ll be fine. Let me take care of this.” the human’s voice was gentle and soft as she brushed her hand away from my sockets and across the front of my skull. It felt freeing and comforting to know that she was there, that I wasn’t alone in facing this dreadful, vile thing.

The human turned away from her new, sweet, dear, precious friend and back toward the mass. She floated toward it, allowing her grip to loose around the doctor’s hand until only the tips of their fingers were curled together. She didn’t want him getting too close. This mass would love nothing but to take hold of his beautiful, intelligent mind full to the brim with knowledge.

Swiftly, the human plunged her free hand into the mass and willed for the pieces of her friend to come promptly to her. She could feel them resist, trying to wriggle away from her like slippery fish between her fingers. But she had the right hooks in her tackle box and could seize hold of her friend's last pieces. She wouldn’t mind just staying the way they were, her slowly feeding his fading body as he stitched himself back together. It may have been a lengthy process, but it’s not like they could go anywhere else. She had forgotten how to go back to the beginning, and with Gaster around, why would she want to? Why would she want to remember that place at all? But if her darling friend wanted to be whole lickety-split, then who was she to stop him? His body was not her own, and she had to respect that.

Finally, with a sharp tug, the human girl pulled her arm out from the mass, with it, a black and white blob similar to the other pieces that had rushed to make up her friend’s body. But something wasn’t quite right. Her theory had been correct that this piece was confused about who it should go to, but she was wrong to assume that it was leaning closer toward her Gaster.

‘You muck everything up, don’t you?’

“alright, Alphys, what’s this ‘personal project’ that’s got you in such a panic?”

Sans had made it to the lab centered at the University of Ebott, and Alphys was swiftly leading him through the halls to her personal work area.

“U-um, well, you see, “she paused as she fumbled her lab ID to open the door, casting cautious, almost regretful glances at Sans that certainly wasn’t making him feel any better about this ‘favor’. “I-I may have been-been tinkering wi-with a little..a little something a-and it’s just… Well, yo-you’ll see.”

She finally got the lock to read her ID and the think metal doors swung open to reveal.

“no.”

“B-but if you just.”

“no, Alphys, I’m serious. what is this even doing here?”

W-well, it’s so-such an interesting, an interesting device! I-I know you wa-wanted to get rid-id of it but…well. I couldn’t hel-help myself.”

Sans could feel beads of cold magical sweat slip down the side of his skull and uncomfortable slide between the vertebrae of his neck. He nervously scratched the itch is caused as he stared dead at that dreaded machine.

His sockets were blank as he stared at it, the very thing that took so many years of his life. So much toil and strife, sleepless nights, and dreadful dreams about this machine. Working on it constantly for a reason he couldn’t even remember. When he had come to the surface one of the critical things he decided had to change was this. To get rid of it. He had tasked his friend Alphys to help dispose of it properly so that not an inch of it survived. Yet here it was, intact. Heck, it was more than intact. It was improved upon!

Sans slowly turned to face his friend, though he was questioning if he could call her that. Sure he hadn’t told her the nature of the machine or really anything about how important it was. But he was sure that he had made it clear how imperative it was to get rid of it, and yet she did the very opposite.

“Alphys.”

The short yellow scaled monster paused, picking at her talons and twisting her feet to and fro to glance at him. Then, her shoulders hunching even more, ducking her head as she saw the eerily blank look on his face.

“L-look, I know wh-what this looks like. Bu-but I haven’t turned it o-on!” she tried to reason, “W-we don’t even know-know what it does! I know y-you said to ge-et rid of it, but…w-well, I was so-o curious.”

A thick silence hung in the air as Sans stared intensely at the shaking reptilian monster. Then, finally, after a few moments of deliberation, he turned his attention back to the machine.

“if what you say is true… t h e n w h y i s i t p l u g g e d i n ?”

Steams of sweat trickled down Alphys’ face, “W-well yo-you see-ee. We-I! I h-have fix-fixed it-t u-up a-and just-just wa-wanted to kn-know if o-our-MY! M-my add-additions w-were compa-patable. W-WAIT! What are you do-doing?!?”

Alphys rushed over to Sans, who had purposefully stalked over to the large plug connecting the plug to the building’s power. It may not have been turned on, but the chance of an electrical surge or anything of the sort messing with this machine was too great of a risk to cover with that thin veil of safety.

Sans already had his phalanges tightly grasped around the sides of the plug when Alphys grabbed onto the sides of his jacket. Now despite his magical nature adding mass to his light frame, Sans was still a skeleton, and he couldn’t hold a candle to a more physical and fleshy-based monster, even if they weren’t that strong.

Alphys pulled and lifted Sans off the ground, if only a little, it was enough to disrupt his footing and made it harder for him to find enough purchase to pull the plug.

“Alphys! what are you doing? let go! don’t you know how dangerous this thing is?”

“N-No! I won’t! And I d-don’t. Y-you di-din’t explain any-anything! Y-you never do! Wh-what’s so ba-bad about this machine?” Alphys gripped tighter. She felt horrible for stopping her friend in such a way and knew it wasn’t in her character to stand against his decision. But through the encouragement of Undyne and the Human Frisk along with being on the surface surrounded by like-minded peers, Alphys found it within herself to at least stand up for this. Even before they appeared on the surface, Sans never really told her anything about essential matters. He used to work with the previous royal scientists, yet he refused to help or give her any advice. And yet he would tell her to do these important things, never explain why or what they were for, and then leave her to it. She accepted it and never spoke up, but she would speak up about this! The one thing that had a connection to the last royal scientist that wasn’t about bringing back those who had fallen down. She wanted this and would try her best to stand up for herself just this once.

Sans gritted his teeth as he twist and turned as much as he could to shake Alphys off. He needed to unplug this thing! It was too dangerous. What was Alphys thinking powering it? She didn’t even know what it did! He didn’t even know what it did. He continued to struggle for a while, and despite Alphys being careful not to hurt him, what with his low HP, he was getting tired.

‘I really don’t want to do this but…sorry Alph.’

PING

Alphys suddenly wasn’t holding on to Sans anymore. No, instead, she found herself being pushed away from him. Away from him and into the machine. With a thud and a slight crack, Alphys slid down the hard metal exterior of the device as Sans finally pulled the plug, feeling something jolt through his body and almost reach his soul before falling to the ground.

Both panted as the physical exertion of their tussle went to them, and the adrenaline and panic wore off. Sans, realizing what he had done, turned toward Alphys and quickly crawled over to her.

“h-hey Alph, Immaaaa, I’m sorry about that but…you have to understand. this thing…this thing is dangerous. I…I shouldn’t have used my magic on ya like that. are…are you alright?” he rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, cringing slightly as he noticed the tears pooling in her eyes.

“Y-yeah.” she sniffled, “I’m alright, I just…”

She let out a tired sigh and turned toward Sans, “You can’t just e-expect me to d-do what you saw without question. S-sure this time it was p-probably a b-bad idea and wr-wrong of me not to listen, but you have to explain these kinds of th-things, Sans. If I’ve l-learned anything from m-my training with Undyne, it’s th-that communication is crucial.”

Sans felt regret fill his non-existant gut.

“yeah, yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry Alph, I shouldn’t have dumped this on ya. I should have told ya, really told ya how important this was. and yer right, I need to work on that. I’m just glad no one was hurt…. yer not hurt, right?”

Alphys let out an awkward chuckle, “No, I’m n-not hurt. My pr-pride’s a little bruised th-though. B-but besides that, noth-nothing to worry about.”

“that’s good, fer a second there I was worried you mighta broke yer funny bone. that wouldn’t be very humorous.”

Alphys let out a sharp snort as Sans helped her to her feet, brushing off stray dust and lint from her lab coat.

“Tha-that was pre-pretty bad. Even for y-you Sans.”

“really? because I thought that it was eggcellent.” Sans replied, pulling out yet another hard-boiled egg from his pocket and handing it to Alphys.

In turn, she let out a snorting giggle, “Wh-where did you get this?”

“oh, this? I just happen to have a dozen of them lying around. one could even say I have a carton of them.” He said gleefully, happy that the dreary atmosphere was slowly dissipating as he pulled out a carton of hardboiled eggs from his inventory. He really had made too many of these things.

“A-alright, th-that’s too much.” Alphys gasped as she tried to stop her snorting laughter.

“alright, alright. I’ll calm it down a notch. I’m just glad that nothing went wrong.”

And yet, as if to prove him wrong, in that very moment, the sound of a long forgotten rusting hardrive booting up stilled them in their tracks. Neither took a breath as they turned toward the machine.

There, upon the sole monitor of that blasted machine were lines and lines of indistinguishable code zipping by faster than they could read. A scraping, ear bleeding, churning noise increased in a crescendo of dread as the machine began to power on and shake.

“h-how is this possible? it isn’t even plugged in….”

But despite the impossibility of the situation the machine continued to shake violently and shudder, the noise becoming so dreadful the two had to cover up their ears and shield themselves from the noise with a barrier of magic. Then, the lights began to flicker, and an assortment of tools, equipment, and appliances still plugged in started to rev, beep, and blink in a cacophony of noise and light. The ground felt like it was quaking beneath their feet as the light on the monitor grew brighter and louder until it was blinding, and all they could feel and think of was that awful, horrendous machine.

And then the power went out.

And all that was left was a message on the monitor they couldn’t comprehend. Either because of the floating, colorful spots in their vision or because it was in a different language.

That message then did something that shouldn’t have been possible. But who are they to judge what is impossible at this point? Who is anyone? The words began to come off the screen, turning and chasing one another in the formation of a circle. They began to spin around and around, faster and faster, and as they did, they generated what Sans could only describe as a block hole. But as the hole grew larger and the black deeper and darker, it became clear to him what it was.

Dread clawed at his soul as he stared at it.

It was a portal.

A portal to the VOID.

Chapter Text

Sans woke up with a start, his fangs grinding together, the chill from his gold tooth grounding him to reality. The phantom pains of falling to dust after that slash across his chest pulsed throughout his body.

A growl ripped through his ribcage, his bones rattling in rage.

That damn kid! He knew they couldn’t be trusted. Sans couldn’t believe he let himself be tricked like that! He felt deep shame mix with the rage brewing behind his sternum, all that kid had to do was act sweet and kind, showing mercy and acting their part. They even befriended his bro and brought everyone to the surface!

Sans could still feel the warm glow of the first lights of the sun for the first time on his bones. The feeling only fueled his rage.

‘Ya shoulda known betta, ya numbskull,’ not even the lackluster pun helped soothe Sans’ fury as he tossed the balled-up sheet he had grasped onto in the night at the closest wall. ‘No mattah how nice they ah it’s still a kill or be killed world ou’ there. When will ya learn?’

He would learn today, Sans decided, throwing on a relatively clean set of black basketball shorts with a yellow stripe down the side, a red turtle neck filled with moth holes and covered in mustard stains, and his favorite black jacket with its fur-lined hood the white fluff died an almost grey from the dust of his victims.

Screw the time loops! Screw the space-time continuum or whatevah! If the universe decided he was the only one who truly remembers the shit they went through whenever the kid decided to play God and reset their world, then he was going to do something about it!

And soon too, the rage fueling Sans’ sudden burst of motivation and energy wasn’t going to last long. In fact, the only reason he was so bent out of shape and abruptly decided to go against the role he had once succumbed to was because the human child Frisk had chosen the same. The child had already gone through an entire genocide run before deciding to try out for a true pacifist. They had already faced Sans and everyone in the underground. They had seen them all at their strongest and their weakest. They had taken advantage of Papyrus’ pity, Undyne’s shielding arrogance, and Alphys’ heartbroken rampage, of everything. Then that had flipped the coin, seen them at their best, befriended them, and even apologized to Sans for everything. They had taken the time to gain his trust and friendship after everything they did and took them to the surface.

Sans stomped down the stairs of his home, for once not caring if he disturbed his brother during his ‘morning strategy session.’ The pure, white-hot wraith and betrayal burning his soul were all he could think of. So much so that he forgot he could simply take a shortcut to his desired destination.

Frisk only played with them as if they were puppets on their little stage. Nothing they did or felt mattered to the little demon. Sans realized that when he saw their depraved little smile as they stared into the sunset before setting them all back in their positions for another dance.

‘But not this time. I ain’t yer puppet anymo’ bub. An neither is mah bro.’

Speaking of, Papyrus burst out of his bedroom door right when Sans was about to march out the entrance to their home.

“WHAT IS THIS RACKET??? WHAT HAVE I SAID ABOUT MAKING NOISE WHILE I’M STRATEGIZING, YOU BUFFOON?” Papyrus stomped down the stairs to get a clear view of his brother, his grip on the railing causing it to crack and creak as he leaned over it.

Sans paused, restraining his boiling emotions enough to turn and face his bro. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see some snooping neighbors. “S-sorry, Boss. I just…gotta go take care of somethin.” and with that, he left, glaring harshly at the prying eyes until they turned away.

That’s right, he most certainly had to take care of something. A wicked smile turned up his grinding teeth as he thought about his plan. After the kid had reset after that perfect run, Sans was more than just betrayed, but he felt as though he couldn’t do much more than fall back into the pattern he’s been living for as long as he could remember. Maybe if he kept it up, he could disconnect his mind from his body and wait until the kid decided to finally let them be free. But once Frisk left those large stone doors holding a sharpened knife and wearing a thumping golden soul locket around their neck, Sans knew he would have no rest.

How did they get those items? They should be tucked away in NewHome. It didn’t make sense, not that he had any time to investigate. The moment he had approached them for his scheduled joy buzzer prank, the kid had turned and dusted him on the spot. They had no regard for the rules and set motions of the timeline. They had killed him without hesitation and moved on like he meant nothing.

It shouldn’t have been possible, Sans knew this, but the kid has somehow pulled it off. And if they could pull it off, so could he.

‘Give ‘em a taste o’ their own medicine.’ he snickered, his hands clenching in his pockets. He wouldn’t let the kid get past that cold iron gate. Wouldn’t let them meet his brother or anyone else.

“SANS! YOU LAZY, BLUNDERING EMBARRASSMENT! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING? COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW AND FACE YOUR PUNISHMENT!” Papyrus roared as he trudged through the freshly fallen snow and dust that covered the streets.

Sans cringed as he moved faster through the streets of Snowdin. He knew he would have a lecture when he got back…if he got back. But he has to do this. It’s the only way he knows how to keep them all safe. The kid broke the rules, which shouldn’t be possible, but they did. There’s no telling what else they’ll be able to do if he doesn’t stop them.

With that final thought, Sans pushed onward, ignoring the screaming of his brother and the hushed, scheming whispers that surrounded them. He could see the dark, iron bars of the gate his bro had expertly installed before the bridge that connected the entrance to the Ruins and the rest of the Underground. The doors weren’t opened yet, and the steel chain holding the gate shut was still intact. A giddy feeling crawled up Sans’ spine as he practically sprinted through the knee-high snow toward the gate.

‘Ya betta get ready kid, cuz yer gonna have a bad time..indefinitely.’

“SANS! WHAT IS GOING ON? STOP RUNNING AWAY. DAMN YOU! COME HERE THIS INSTANT! I’M SERIOUS SANS! THIS IS NO TIME FOR JOKES.”

Papyrus had caught up to him, not that he expected any less. Even with his self-control hanging by a thread, Sans couldn’t help but admire his younger brother. He was just too cool. But that didn’t stop him from running at the gate. He was going to regret expending this much energy, but he had a goal in mind, and for once in his life, he was going to reach it. He was going to complete it.

His brother’s hand tightly grasped his shoulder, but that wasn’t enough to slow his momentum. On the contrary, his brother’s speed only pushed him forward. The problem was, it had set him off his footing and sent them both tumbling down the rest of the way to the gate, but when Sans got a glimpse at the gate, it wasn’t there anymore. Instead, standing in its place was something he never wanted to see again.

A gateway to the void.

Sans instantly felt his seething bloodthirsty craze freeze in a matter of moments as he tried to stop his and his brother’s rolling, tumbling approach to what he thought was nothing but a death sentence.

“W-wait, bro! Hold on! We gotta-”

But it was too late. The skeleton brother tumbled right into the portal and into the void, the tear in space-time zippering close behind them.

“Well, this is quite the pickle, isn’t it?”

The human girl and Dr. Gaster had moved away from the massive writhing form in the Void and back to their designated pocket since we last checked in on them. In addition to their merry troupe was a very rough and tough version of Gaster.

He had put up quite the struggle when the young woman had dragged him through the mass, and rightfully so. It must have felt painful enough to have a piece of another version of himself parasitically attach to his barely corporeal form let alone to have that piece hooked onto and used to drag him through an unholy being on the edge of the Void. It must have been excruciating.

Not to mention that when the pain finally ceased, he came face to face with a softer, less fashionably dressed version of himself and a bright blue pixie of a human. He had initially tried to attack the lesser Gaster, assuming that it was yet another trick of his mind and the telltale signs of madness finally setting in. However, he thought that if he could destroy this illusion, he could fight the madness until he finally found a way out of the black abyss.

Thankfully for the softer Gaster, who was not at all expecting this sharper, leather-clad version of himself to squelch out of the horrible mass, let alone attack him, the surprisingly strong human was able to rip the new Gaster away. Simultaneously ripping off her Gaster’s piece before slapping it onto his body.

However, by making contact with this scarred Gaster, he could siphon enough of the poofy-dressed woman’s power to pull himself into a more humanesque form.

It was clear that this Gaster was taller than the Gaster the woman had grown accustomed to. He was also much more colorful which was a blessing to the eyes. He wore a bright, blood red high-necked, knitted turtle neck under a pointy, form-fitting leather coat with oversized, sharp lapels and a long flowing cape-like hem. The scar running up from one of his eyes also looked much more painful than the softer Gaster’s as it branched off in jagged splinters near the top of his skull.

He hadn’t stopped barring his sharp, jagged sneer at them since he had reformed but he was too distracted by his fleshed-out body to retaliate again.

“My dear, I do believe that calling this a ‘pickle’ is the greatest understatement I’ve heard to date.” The first Gaster stared wearily at his double, refusing to take his eye off him. He held the human close, gripping her hand tightly but not knowing whether he should shield her or tuck himself behind her. As much as he wanted to protect his only companion in this lonely expanse, he wasn’t sure if she even needed protection with the abilities she had displayed and the knowledge she had divulged.

“Well it can’t be that bad, sure he’s a little spooked but now we have more company!” The human cheered as she swung their entwined hands without a care in the world.

“What.”

The sharp and vicious snap from the sharply dressed Gaster brought their attention fully back on him.

“What…did you do?” He seemed out of breath, though there was no need to breathe in this place.

“Oh! Right, you probably want to know that, but before explanations, let me just..” the wide-eyed girl floated calmly toward her new companion, her slight smile not reaching her eyes.

“Stay back, you filth!” the colorful Gaster tried to reel back from her touch and slap her hands away, but she was better versed at physically traveling through the vacuum.

With gentle hands and swift, precise movements, the human girl somehow slid her hand into the sharp Gaster’s chest and pulled a brightly colored tumor from it. It thumped and pulsed in her hand yet refused to separate itself from its host even when she had guided it to the surface of his form.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF ASGORE IS THAT!” the unfortunate host of the bright orange and blue blob screeched, trying even harder to detach himself from the girl’s grip. But the thumping mass only stretched and extended about a foot before snapping back together and pulling its host close to the human as a result.

The sight was so disturbing that the softer Gaster had finally decided to hide behind the human girl, even if it meant curling himself up in a ball to fit behind her frame.

“Hmm, it seems like this is more of a problem than I thought.” she dismissed, pinching and pulling on the living matter slightly, her brows pinching together, but that smile never leaving her face.

Gaster would have compared it to the permanent smile his oldest son wore to keep himself in his role, something just slapped on with no feeling, but it was filled with something. He couldn’t tell exactly what it was, perhaps something akin to the scientific curiosity and deep desire to learn more about something of interest that he once felt all those years ago. But he couldn’t be sure.

“WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU DIRTY HUMAN? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME? GET RID OF IT THIS INSTANT OR SO HELP ME… I’ll make sure your death is slow and arduous.” the wicked Gaster’s voice dipped into a sinister low pitch as he threatened the human, finally wrenching his arm out of her grasp. The brightly colored growth slightly hanging from his humerus.

Instead, the girl turned her head to look at the cowering ex-royal scientist behind her, “You see, this is why we should have waited for your pieces to come together naturally. Now we have a true puzzle on our hands!”

Dismissing the red Gaster only angered him more as he sputtered and screeched for an answer, his hand hovering under the drooping mass. Half tempted to cradle it and half repulsed to even think of touching it.

“A puzzle, you say? What do you mean by that, my dear? And...wouldn’t it be best to take care of our…guest? First?” the thought of a puzzle excited the doctor, but he had to keep his wits about him and take care of the issue at hand. Spending time with this woman had honestly dampened his sense of responsibility.

“Oh, right. I guess we should.”

With that, she turned back toward the temper tantrum-throwing Gaster. He was stomping his feet best he could, his arms rim rod straight at his sides, fists clenched as all logic and reason were pushed aside for unbridled rage, confusion, and fear. However, he would never admit to the last two.

The girl lifted her hand, and the man’s movement was instantly stopped as if he was wrapped up in a straight jacket.

“How?” he chocked before coming face to face with the easily smiling girl. Her eyes open wide, and observing, staring deep into his one fully open socket.

“You, my friend, “ she lifted a hand, he would never admit that he flinched slightly as she did so and booped him where his nasal cavity would be, “are from a different universe.”

She drew back slightly and thumbed her gaster’s palm soothingly, “While trying to repair my friend’s body quickly, you ended up being dragged into our ‘Void,” as you say, as his body piece was trying to fit itself into your body. But, unfortunately, there is no telling if you’ll ever return to your ‘Void,’ let alone your universe. And seeing that there is a piece of yet another version of you two, I can guess that we’ll be stuck here with some growing company for who knows how long!”

She splayed her arms out wide, tugging her Gster along as she did so, as she finished her explanation.

“Umm, my dear, what do you mean ‘another version of me?” her Gaster had a worrying pit growing in his soul. It was startling enough for this violent, dangerous version of himself to pop out of the blue, or black, he supposes, but the chance for even more to show up?

“Yes! There is no telling how many of your pieces are suffered around the multiverse! That’s why I wanted to wait it out the old fashion way and let them fix themselves. They always do, you know, but by inserting ourselves into the process of things, we vetoed our right to stay out of it. So now we have to be the ones to fix it, or else you and all other versions of yourself that are stuck in this mess will be permanently stuck forever!” Her smile had yet to slip.

“And just how many of us should we be expecting, and why should I believe you on any of this human?” It seems that during the ever smiling, slightly vibrating now human’s explanation, the red Gaster had calmed down enough to absorb and recognize his position in this pandemonium of multiversal absurdity.

“Oh, it could be anywhere from one more to an infinite amount! But, of course, it depends on how long the first Gaster has been here,” she replied easily, her intensely wide eyes slowly relaxing as she adjusted to the presence of another living being.

"That doesn’t help you halfwit! There are clearly two ‘Gasters’ currently here. And by what you just said, there could be an infinite more out there! With each word that comes out of your mouth, the less credibility you have. Not that you had any, to begin with!” The restrained Gaster cackled in delight at his insults, throwing his head back as it was the only part of him he was able to move.

Despite liking this version of himself less and less, soft Gaster couldn’t help but agree. What did his companion mean by ‘the first Gaster?’ how would one determine which version of himself entered the Void ‘first’? Time didn’t exist here, so it should be impossible to discern.

“There’s no need to worry about that, it’s not like we’re on a time limit. And having more company would be fantastic! Not that I don't enjoy our conversations, my friend, but you understand.” The human smiled apologetically toward soft Gaster, the emotion fully recognizable on her face.

“Anyway!” She spoke, clapping her hands together. Let’s take a break to get to know each other before we pull another of you in! You know, infighting is what tears down the strongest of teams and reduces them to nothing but a pitiful show of depression and hopelessness where there was once confidence and victory!” Despite her initial chipper tone, as she continued on, her voice dropped to an airy sound, and her focus drifted off into the distance until she stopped and disconnected from her surroundings.

Red Gaster was clearly disturbed by this display, but soft Gaster was used to these episodes. She would sometimes slip into a time long gone, remembering or perhaps trying to forget the ghosts of her past. He was more surprised that she had finally let go of him. He didn’t feel himself slipping at all, though that was probably on account of that missing piece that had attached itself to their new guest. Speaking of…

“I do believe that we are owed a long, productive chat.” he mused, slowly approaching his double. Even as he sneered and growled like a caged animal, soft Gaster had the courage now to approach because that’s what he was, caged. And as long as he was, Gaster was going to get some answers.

“-AAAAA–SSS!!!” “p—yr—-sss!”

A snap, a crackle of energy, a rush of sound. It had pulled her back to consciousness.

‘What was that? What was that sound?’

She found herself drifting away from her companions for a moment as she followed the echoing traces of energy flowing from…somewhere.

‘I heard something. Someone spoke. But it didn’t sound like…’ the thought escaped her.

‘Wait…what was I just….’

"My dear! Don’t drift off too far. We have much to discuss.” The solid voice of Dr. Gaster grounded her to the present.

She turned back to find that she had drifted farther than she had thought, barely able to make out the details of her friend’s face. Hurrying back toward the pair, she missed the thin streak of white zipping away in the distance.

Chapter Text

Is it too much to ask to have a normal life?

Sans carefully massaged his nasal ridge and temples as the loud argument or, ‘civilized debate’ as his bro put it, went on in the background.

They had finally reached the surface and were slowly regaining some sense of normalcy after the high tensions and war threats. Was it too much to ask for a smooth, sleepy life? He was even trying to be more active and motivated! Is this where that got him? In a university lab van with a pair of doppelgangers on the run?

Well not really on the run, no one was pursuing them…yet. But word had already got out, at least in the lab, that something serious had gone down in Alphys’ private workspace. It would only be a matter of time before the existence of other universes is leaked. Probably by Alphys herself, she understood the severity of the situation, of course, and how this revelation may tip the scales of human and monster relations that had just recently settled, but a scientific discovery this big was hard to keep secret. Sans understood the feeling, but right now he was not willing to risk the cozy life he and his brother were building.

“HOW DARE YOU INSINUATE THAT ANY ‘VERSION’ OF ME COULD BE AS SOFT AND PITIFUL AS YOU!”

But that would have to wait until after he dealt with this mess.

Sans brother and his brother’s doppelganger were sitting in the two edge seats of the middle row of the large family van arguing over the explanation of what had transpired. Sans was sitting in the shotgun seat as Alphys nervously drove them all to the skeleton brother’s home. Sans couldn’t help but feel some level of pity for his own double who was sweating magical bullets, stuck between the two loud, boisterous skeletons.

“WELL, IF YOU DON’T WANT TO THINK OF IT THAT WAY, THEN JUST THINK OF ME AS ANOTHER BROTHER! OR SOME OTHER RELATIVE. NYEHEHE!”

“AS IF I WOULD TOLERATE BEING RELATED TO A PATHETIC CREAMPUFF LIKE YOU! I WOULD RATHER FLING MYSELF OFF OF THE BRIDGES IN HOTLAND!”

Sans let his head fall into his hands. What was he going to do? They couldn’t take these doubles anywhere else besides the skeleton brother’s home, maybe he could room them with Tori or someone else once they let them know what was up.

Sans let out a low groan, that wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to. But it had to be done. Alphys already knew and she was terrible at keeping secrets, besides the one about the Amalgamates, but she had learned not to let things eat away at her like that again. She would likey tell her mate Undyne who would tell Toriel, who would immediately question why Sans hadn’t told her himself.

Sans shivered, dealing with a concerned scolding was far better than dealing with an angry scolding. But that was for later, right now he would have to figure out what to do with this other set of brothers. It would be a tight fit at their house and he wasn’t able to get a new home so quickly and easily. The housing market was not merciful to monsters, especially once they picked up on how loaded they actually are.

If he had the option, Sans wouldn’t be dealing with their doubles in this fashion, he would have stayed in the lab and figured out a way to ship them back to wherever they came from. But when the angrier, edgier pair popped out of the void, the Void had sucked up parts of the machine. There was no telling if it could operate again, but Alphys already put an order in for new parts. But in the meantime, they had subsequently freaked out, calmed down, calmed the doubles down, called Papyrus and explained what happened, snuck their doubles out of the lab and into a heavily tinted lab van, and were now driving miles above the speed limit to the skeleton brother’s house.

“WELL, FOR THE RECORD, I WOULD BE JUST THRILLED TO BE RELATED TO YOU! IN ANY WAY!”

The sharper version of his brother closed his mouth with an audible click, a bright red dusting his cheekbones. He then swiftly crossed his arms and turned his head away releasing a huff, “BUT OF COURSE YOU WOULD WANT TO BE RELATED TO SOMEONE AS MAGNIFICENT AS ME! THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS! NYAHAHAHA!”

Sans let some tension release from his shoulders as he glanced back at the scene, it seemed like his own double had released some tension from his jaw once his brother had settled into deep, critical thought. An amused huff quietly escaped his perma smile as Sans glanced at his own brother who was cheerfully smiling at the darker-dressed duo. His bro was the coolest.

“W-we’re here.”

Sans carefully opened the passenger side door and stepped out onto the pristine grass. His brother had taken the time to take care of this half of the front yard so that it stayed green year round. Sans half, though severely overgrown, was still teeming with life. Papyrus got on his case about it sometimes but gave him some slack seeing as Sans had worked his coccyx off transporting their home and everything in it to the surface. It was a daunting task and left him magically exhausted for months, but he had done it.

” welp, here we are. Home sweet home.” Sans moved to look at the new additions to their home who had gotten out on the other side of the van. What he saw startled him.

The sharp, angry, and dangerous iteration of himself and his brother who had done nothing but threaten, attack, and yell at them since they had arrived, were weeping. Sharp papyrus stood erect, his spine straighter than a plank of wood. His gloved fists balled at his sides, glistening red tears silently spilling from his eye lights as he aimed them at the setting sun.

Sharp Sans was no better, he had fallen to his knees, the wind brushing the tall grass against his shoulders. He took in a shuddering breath, his crimson eye lights blown wide as he took in the array of colors painting the sky, slightly clouded by the stream of tears running down his face.

Sans's own brother was standing a ways behind them, worrying his gloves and glancing between the duo and Sans, stuck between comforting them and leaving them be. Sans relaxed a little more, slightly shaking his head. Maybe taking care of these two wouldn’t be so bad after all.

…

Burgundy tears tainted the vision of the setting sun. The sun. That big, beautiful fiery ball of gas in the sky. Sans never thought he would live long enough to see it again. He had become so sure when he was marching down to face the kid that he would be stuck in a limbo of the worst kind, but one so fitting to the world he lived in. He would either kill the kid or get killed by them forever. But here he was, in a world where the need to kill didn’t seem to be a thing. If the stats of his ‘nilla wafer double and his creampuff brother were anything to go by.

Sans tore his gaze from the majestic sunset and aimed it at his bro. He could tell that Papyrus was weeping for a very different reason. He didn’t remember seeing the sun from the last good run, and he didn’t remember that his reaction then is the same as it is now. Letting out all of the built-up bitterness and pressure that had been stacked on top of him all those years. Every time he saw that expression on his brother’s face Sans couldn’t help but feel a pile of guilt settle on his shoulders. Every single time.

Movement from his periphery caught Sans's attention, the ‘nilla wafer, his brother, and the stuttering lizard were quietly making their way into the replica of his own house back in Snowdin. He caught his double’s eye but all he did was give him a slight smile and shrug.

Guess they were letting them have their moment. He would gladly take what he could get before they had to get to business demanding answers. And so Sans went back to taking in the sunset, plopping down on his behind in the grass, the ends of which now tickled his jawline.

Sans let his sockets fall to a close as he took a deep breath of fresh air and felt the breeze on his skull. He didn’t care how he got here or what caused this mishap, all he knew was that there was no way in hell was he going back.

…

“so here’s the deal, as ya can see we don’t have enough space for all o’ us to live comfortably. you two can stay here for now until we find a more permanent solution, but it’s gonna be a tight fit.” Sans layed out the basics as best he could.

His darker doubles, you had stayed outside until the sun fully set, were now seated in some chairs Paps had pulled out for them as he and Sans got comfortable on the couch. Alphys had excused herself for the time being seeing as a university vehicle sitting outside their house wasn’t the best way of laying low and avoiding suspicion.

“YES! I CAN TELL WITH EASE THAT YOUR HOME IS QUITE INADEQUATE AND FRANKLY INFERIOR TO OUR OWN HOME! WHERE IS YOUR SECURITY SYSTEM? THE MURALS OF YOUR VICTORIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS, Though I Suppose You Marshmallows Wouldn’t Have Any, AND WHAT IS WITH THIS CARPET?” Sharp Papyrus stomped his heeled boot on the offending carpet, its contrasting purple and blue zig-zag stripes sticking out against his critical eye.

“must not ‘ave yer sense of style Boss.” sharp Sans snickered, glancing around as well, staring for a particularly long time at the painting of a bone hanging on the wall before chuckling to himself.

Sans could only imagine the joke his double had come up with but pushed down the rising urge to start a pun-off for the more serious task at hand.

“decor choices aside, we have ta figure out a plan. Alphys and I will explain as much as we can ‘bout your situation as soon as we’re sure we’re all safe.” before he could continue, Papyrus interjected with a swift wave of his hand as he leaned forward to garner everyone’s attention.

“UMM, HOLD ON A MOMENT BROTHER! BEFORE WE GET INTO WHAT YOU MEAN BY, ‘MAKING SURE WE’RE ALL SAFE’, I THINK IT BEST WE FIGURE OUT WHAT WE SHOULD CALL EACHOTHER.” everyone seated quirked their brows at that, “I UNDERSTAND THAT WE HAVE ESTABLISHED WE’RE ALL ALTERNATE VERSIONS OF EACHOTHER, WHATEVER THAT ENTAILS, AND THAT WOULD MEAN WE’RE ALL CALLED SAND AND PAPYRUS, BUT WON’T THAT GET TOO CONFUSING EVENTUALLY?”

As always, his brother is just so cool. With everything that had happened the issue of having the same names hadn't even come to mind.

“WELL, WHAT ARE YOU INSINUATING LESSER ME? THAT WE GO BY SOME SORT OF CODE NAMES?” Sharp Papyrus leaned onto his crossed legs, one of his hands stroking his jaw in a fashion Sans had only seen done by those cheesy villains in the cartoons he’d watched with his bro when they were babybones.

“heh, i’s not a bad idea Boss. But who’s coming up wif these names?” Sharp Sans side-eyed soft Sans, “frankly, I don’ trust anythin’ ya squishies’ll come up wif. Prolly call us somefin like, Edge, or Sharp.” Shar-Sans chuckled as soft Sans averted his eye lights.

“I REFUSE! THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS WILL NOT ALLOW HIS REPUTATION TO FALL UNDER SUCH AN UNORIGINAL AND RUDIMENTARY NAME!” Shar-Papyrus snapped his legs together from their crossed position and stomped them loudly on the ground.

“W-WELL, WE CAN COME UP WITH SOMETHING ELSE IF YOU’D LIKE, OR YOU CAN COME UP WITH YOUR OWN NICKNAMES!”

“CODE NAMES!”

“Y-YES, OF COURSE, CODE NAMES!”

The darker-dressed Papyrus leaned back in his chair, returning to his ministrations, brooding over this difficult decision. His new name would have to be dark and fearsome, something that would strike his enemies with paralyzing fear and awe.

“heh, why do we haf ta be the ones ta change our names?”

Everyone in the room turned to look at the red turtleneck-clad skeleton before following his gaze toward his blue jacket wearing double.

This is why Sans didn’t like to take charge, the pressure and expectations of others were exhausting. Crystal blue sweat tickled his skull and all he wanted to do was retreat to his bedroom and sleep this nightmare away.

“well this is my universe, only makes sense that we get to keep our names?” His reason came out more as a question, causing his double to scoff.

“yeah? an’ what makes ya the boss in charge o’ namin’ us like we’re some clones, huh?”

Sans grimaced, “again, it’s my universe you all tumbled into…”

“yeah yeah, it’s yer universe. it’s yer universe. is tha/ gonna be yer reason fer everythin’ ya do? well, I ain’t buyin’ it. if we’re gonna get stuck with some dumbass names, then I say we give youse two some too!” A conniving, sharp-toothed grin spread across the darker Sans’ skull as he caught the disgruntled look on his double’s face.

‘yeah, see how ya feel ‘bout it.’

“WELL, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A WONDERFUL IDEA! NOT ONLY WILL IT HELP DISTINGUISH WHO IS WHO, BUT IT IS ONLY FAIR THAT WE ALL GET NICKNAMES! WHAT A WONDERFUL IDEA OTHER BROTHER!” Papyrus praised the now-shocked alternate Sans, cheerfully clapping his hands at the solution he had come up with.

Said shocked Sans could only sputter out a quiet, “I ain’t yer bro.” as his face turned a bright cherry red. Genuine praise and congrats were extremely rare to come by in his universe, let alone from someone who resembled his own younger brother.

“WELL IF THAT IS TO BE THE CASE THEN I SHALL DEEM MYSELF THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE FELL! AND YOU!” HE POINTED A GLOVED FINGER AT HIS DOUBLE, “FROM THIS DAY FORTH SHALL BE DEEMED AS CREAMPUFF! FOR YOU ARE AS WEAK AND NUTRITIONALLY INFERIOR AS ONE! NYAHAHAH!”

Despite the obvious jab, Creampuff took the name in stride, “WOWIE! A NICKNAME FROM A COOLY DRESSED ME! OF COURSE, ANYONE AS GREAT, BUT NOT QUITE AS GREAT AS, MYSELF WOULD COME UP WITH SUCH A WONDERFUL NAME! THOUGH CREAMPUFF IS A BIT LONG, SO PERHAPS WE CAN SHORTEN IT TO JUST ‘CREAM’.”

That light dusting of red crept its way back onto Fell’s cheeks as he turned his head away, crossing his arms over his dark set of armor, “BUT OF COURSE I WOULD COME UP WITH ONLY THE BEST OF CODE NAMES! AFTER ALL, I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPY-AHEM, FELL!” He finished his declaration with a flourish, his tattered scarf blowing in an invisible wind.

“heheh, course ya are Boss. in that case, just call me Red.”

“YOU UNORIGINAL MONGREL! IS THAT THE BEST YOU COULD COME UP WITH? CHOOSE A BETTER NAME THIS INSTANT!”

“ya know me, boss, that’s too much work, but patella the truth that’s the best yer getting outta me. ‘sides, I doub’ Vanilla ;ere will come up wif anything bettah.”

“NYHAAAAAAA!”

“tabia honest with ya, yer right on the money. I think I’ll take that name ya got for me. Vanilla suits me just fine.”

Equally loud cries of woe sounded from the tallest skeletons of the group as their older brothers fired puns back and forth. Grinning at their bros' torment. The punning worked wonders on the excess tension, but it would soon be for naught as Vanilla set them back on track.

“hehehe, alright, alright. now back to business. if yer all gonna be staying with us instead of rooming with Tori or any o’ the others…” he paused and glanced between the two.

“LIKE I WOULD EVER STOOP SO LOW AS TO ROOM WITH THIS SOFT UNIVERSE’S VERSION OF THAT FISH STICK!”

“an’ no offense, but I ain’t roomin wif any of those ol’ goats.” Red chipped in, a memory of the Asgore he knew in the forefront of his mind.

Vanilla nodded sagely, he wasn’t sure what their versions of his friends were like but judging by how these two acted he couldn’t think of anything good. “in that case, we’re gonna need a bigger house.”

“I Refuse To Be Called Such A Disgraceful Name Human.”

“Awww, come on! Edgelord isn’t so bad, at least it isn’t Skeletor.”

“What In The Blazes Is A Skeletor?”

“You know what? I don’t remember.”

After what felt like years of explaining, arguments, and reassessments of their situation, the group of two Gasters and a human in the Void had finally forged some form of peace between them. At the very least they were able to now argue and debate about less pressing topics such as what to call one another.

“Urgh! If you can’t come up with anything better then why don’t you just take the name? At least the G man has accepted his nickname, why can’t you accept yours?” the human huffed, crossing her arms and allowing herself to gradually turn. Her posture and clothing stayed in place, but her body slowly began to turn like the hands of a clock, her feet sweeping off from what they had deemed the ‘ground’ and slowly turning her until she was upside down.

“I Have Already Chosen The Best Alias, Yet You Refuse To Call Me It. AND WOULD YOU STOP THAT!” Edgelord snapped, grabbing the woman by her shoulders and turning her back around.

“Supreme Orchestrator isn’t a nickname, it’s a title. A sucky title. I mean I would be fine if you called yourself the Conductor, like for an orchestra. Oh wait…but that could also sound like a train conductor or an electrical conductor. Actually, that makes me like it more!” She giggled to herself, imagining the imposing figure of Edgelord as an orchestra conductor, a train conductor, and as a large metal pole for conducting electricity.

“Bah! There Is No Reasoning With You.” Edgelord turned toward the original Gaster with an indignant gaze, “You, Professor, Why Don’t You Try To Speak Some Sense Into Her?”

Professor twitched, for all her power and generosity, his human companion was not the best at names. In fact, she was almost as bad as Asgore, if not worse. Honestly, calling him Professor? He would rather be called Doctor or something of the sort, but she had said that would be unfair since his darker double was also a doctor.

And so he simply gave Edgelord a plastic smile, if Professor had to suffer such nicknames then so would he, “I believe that Edgelord is a perfect name for you.”

“WHY YOU!” Edgelord’s rising rage and probably lengthy speele was interrupted as the human rammed into his side, an arm thrown across his shoulders

“You see? Prof agrees with me! It’s the perfect name, for now at least. It’s not like it’s gonna last forever. Once you two get back to your universes you can go back to your own names.”

The two Gasters paused at this. In their time of deliberation and explanation, they had not had time to think about the next step of their ‘healing process’. The human had said that by interfering with the natural healing process that was apparently happening, they now had no choice but to continue with the method they had started. The strange but powerful human woman would have to locate and transport the other pieces of Professor’s body to their location while also finding the owners of the parasitic growths that were mixed between the other iterations of himself.

In a place such as the Void, where space and time don’t exist, it was hard to determine how much time had passed since their human companion had pulled Edgelord from that horrible mass. There was also no telling if their passage of time here was synced up with that of this Void’s corresponding universe. Either way, now that their energies and list of topics have dwindled, the two scientists now wondered how much longer they would have to wait to become whole again.

Professor cleared his throat, “Speaking of, my dear, has it not been some time since you last found a piece of me? Should we perhaps try again?”

The human’s smile slowly fell as she locked her eyes on her friend’s. She slowly unlatched herself from Edgelor’d side a drifted over to Professor’s side.

“Prof, you do know that time doesn’t exist here, at least not in the traditional sense. You must have patience when it comes to this kind of thing. If we act too soon, it could put a strain on us all. If I pulled another entity to our location too soon, it could draw unwanted attention to us.”

“And What, Human, Could Possible Be Aware Of Us Being Here? And Why Would It Matter?” Edgelord stared questionably at the woman as he brushed off the shoulder she had been leaning on.

‘You know you shouldn’t mention it, you shouldn’t even think about it. Why did you bring it up?’ the thought held her tongue.

“What? No, never mind that.” She shook her head to clear the thought, “The point is, there needs to be a healing period before we do it again. It’s like surgery, you have to give the body enough time to heal or else you risk ruining the work put into the first surgery. You can traumatize the body beyond its capacities, and it will never heal properly.”

“Don’t Talk To ME About Healing and Patience! I Have Had Enough Of Both While Being Stuck In This Stars Forsaken Place! My Body Was Ripped To Shreds And DIspursed Across The Void. It Is More Whole Now Than It Has Ever Been. What Could Possible Be Worse Than How I Was Before?” Edgelord clenched his fists and looked down at his body. He was more than some disgusting blob of existence, he had a form now. And he would be damned if he had to wait another eternity to be whole.

“As much as it pains me to say, I agree with Edge, my dear. From a scientific standpoint, we have already seen the worse possible ending and have experienced it for an undisclosed amount of time. Would it really be so bad to take the next step?” Professor placed a gentle hand on his companion’s shoulder, hoping to convey his sincerity and maybe even a little of his desperation.

The human let out a defeated sigh. These scientists' impatience would be their downfall one day, but who was she to stop them from pursuing happiness and contentment with their own bodies? She understood what it was like to feel out of place in her own body, and what it was like for her choices to not be her own. She couldn’t remember why she felt this sympathy for her friend’s situation, but she knew to follow her gut. Besides, she had already warned them about the consequences of their hastiness.

“Alright, if you really want to try again, then I’ll do it. But we’re going to have to take more of a leap than a step.” She brushed off the Professor’s hand and floated over to Edgelord, taking hold of the brightly colored orange and blue growth that hung from his elbow.

“If the owner of this piece doesn’t hold a part of the Professor, then I’m going to have to pull another Gaster who does to keep up the connection. If I don’t do that, we’re either back to square one on the waiting game, or the connection will be broken and you’ll never be whole again.”

Professor gulped at this, the severity of this decision making itself known, but he wouldn’t back down, “That’s alright, my dear, do what you must.”

The human gave a curt nod before leading them off to find the mass.

“Umm, my dear, aren’t you heading in the wrong direction?”

A confused smile found itself on the woman’s face, “ ‘Wrong direction’? Professor, you should know by now that ‘direction’ has no meaning in this place.” and with that, she continued to guide them through the dark.

Yet despite her assurances, Professor couldn't help but feel as though they were heading away from the faint pressure the mass possessed, the pressure that was always at the corner of his mind, reminding him of the monstrous presence that was never too far away.

“Alright, are you two sure you’re ready?”

She felt the two Gasters nod into her shoulder. They needed to make physical contact with her so she could pinpoint the location of the next alternate(s). Even so, they couldn't stand facing the horrible, writhing mass in the Void, taking to tucking ther faces into the shoulders of their human companion. She somehow acted as a deterrent or shield against the agonizing pressure the mass’s presence emitted.

“Okay, here we go.”

She plunged her hands into the mass and an unholy gurgling screech erupted from the mass. It was then that Professor knew for sure this wasn't the same mass as before. But he could feel that it was doing its job. A sharp tug from deep within his soul informed him that another piece of him was drawing toward him at rapid speeds, but there was something else as well.

The horrible noise continued on until the human finally ripped her arms out of the mass, and with it two skeletons much like themselves wearing suspiciously similar clothing.

The one pulled by the human’s left hand obviously belonged to the mass dangling from Edgelord’s elbow. His very eye lights were a stunning orange and blue that matched his seeming hand-knit orange turtleneck sweater and the contrasting blue sweater vest fit over it.

The version of them on the right wore something strikingly similar, simply much less comfortable and homely. He wore a deep maroon, almost black dress shirt tucked into his pressed black pants with a shining golden vest on top.

Before they could overcome their confusion and delirium the human quickly moved the group away from the mass as it thrashed violently. Professor could even say it was…aiming…for them.

He couldn’t put much thought into it though as his human companion quickly ripped a wiggling piece from the finely dressed Gaster and slapped it into him before doing the same for Edgelord and the brightly colored Gaster.

After the deed was done she let out a deep sigh of relief, sweat pouring down her face. She really shouldn’t have pulled them both out at the same time, but it was always easier and less painful to rip off the bandaid instead of deliberately extending the sting. Though in this case, it would make more sense to compare it to ripping out an arrow stuck in one’s arm than a bandaid. Either way, now that the two were here it would take longer for the tears in the ‘Void” to heal.

The girl allowed herself to drift a little further away from her companions, pulling two more Gasters to their location had taken a lot out of her and she was exhausted. If Edgelord and Professor really wanted to speed things along so much then they could deal with integrating and explaining things to their alternates.

She took a deep breath, but like always nothing filled her lungs, they simply expanded as her muscles instructed them.

The empty feeling pilled onto the exhaustion she was currently feeling. She understood why her friends wanted their bodies back, she really did. She knew she had no say in whether they chose to wait or not, and she knew she was their only way of becoming whole again and possibly leaving for their home universes. But what about her?

She sniffled slightly, the sting of unshed tears driving her emotions forward.

What about her? She’s been here for who knows how long! Certainly longer than any of the Gasters, she knew this for a fact. When would she feel whole again? When would she get to leave this place? She didn’t even have a home to return to….

Wait, what was that?

Her gaze focused as she saw it again, a light, an energy, someone was here. She focused further and she saw them, a flash of white zipping across her vision. Coming in through the void from one portal and exiting through another.

The disbelief overcame her sorrow, someone had just entered and exited this space as though it was nothing! And not in the way that the Gasters had explained when they brought up their ‘shortcuts’ This wasn’t a blip within their “Void” to get from one place to another within the same plane of existence. This was someone cutting through space-time and traveling universes.

If someone was capable of doing this then that meant there was a way out.

A maniacal grin split her face, “I’ll finally be able to leave.”

Chapter Text

Sans stood before the entrance to Waterfall just like he has time and time again. His excited facade strained against the weight of his memories. How many times had he stood here? Offering mercy and friendship to a human who would never accept it? He had stopped counting after his twentieth death.

Nothing ever changes. Why does he even bother? Even when the child had allowed them happiness Alphys still wouldn’t let him join the Royal Guard, and the friend he thought he made in the human turned out to be a lie. His younger brother still kept things from him thinking that Sans was too oblivious or naive. As if he wouldn’t be able to see that the younger brother he raised was hiding things from him. Big things. Nothing ever changed. What was the point?

Sans bones rattled slightly as he held back his tears, his smile straining across his skull.

No. He couldn’t think like this, this train of thought wasn’t fit for the Magnificent Sans!

Steeled resolve settled around his soul. If things wouldn’t change on their own, if his optimism and friendliness couldn’t sway the human, and if Alphys wouldn’t listen to him no matter what then he would simply take this matter directly to the Queen!

With that Sans marched his way to the boatwoman’s dock, though he usually wouldn’t condone such laziness as hitching a ride to New Captial, he knew that this would be the quickest way to the Queen, even with his hours of speed training. If the human took the same amount of time as they had the last few runs then they should be arriving in Sunnedout in about ten minutes. Even if they make it to where Sans usually is faster than expected, he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Would it really be so bad if they didn’t encounter him?

Besides, he had been complacent for far too long, so long in fact that he might as well be a hypocrite for scolding Papy for the same reason.

As he kicked off the loose pine needles and dirt from his boots and directed the boatwoman to his destination, Sans couldn’t help but feel like he had been an awful big brother. He had deceived himself into thinking that this human would ever be his friend when it had become exceedingly clear that they didn’t want to. He had allowed his loneliness and desperation for companionship to cloud his judgment and morals.

It pained him to imagine what his little brother had to go through when he found Sans dust mixing with the earth. What did he do then? Did Papy warn the other monsters and help them evacuate? Did he lock himself in their home and stay safe? …Did he seek revenge?

Sans felt a fount of self-hatred bubble up within him, what kind of brother was he so subject his little bro to something like that time and time again? He couldn’t even blame his inaction on his mild amnesia or whatever caused him to forget about the human’s transgressions when they come through those double doors again and again. He should have done something ages ago.

With such emotions that no one would believe the excitable and excentric older skeleton brother would feel roiling around in his soul, Sans made his way through the capital and to the Queen. The guards smiled and waved as he passed. Even though he wasn’t an official member of the royal guard he was a familiar face to them as he would visit the Queen for pie and a round of clever japes. Despite this she still didn’t let him get too close, keeping a professional air throughout their interactions. Sans always found it odd but brushed it off, she was the Queen after all.

Making his way through the shining corridor that loomed over citizens before the Queen’s audience room, Sans couldn’t help the foreboding inkling tickling the back of his skull. He had never diverged this far from the cycle before, it felt unnatural like his very action were changing the course of his life and the lives of everyone in the underground. But that was probably just his nerves talking.

Taking a deep breath at the doors to the Queen’s audience room, Sans steeled himself in his resolve once more. Things would be different this time, he would make sure of it. Papy wouldn’t have to go through this again.

He released his breath, slapped a smile on his face, and was about to knock on the door to announce his presence when…

“So I hear that there is a human in Sunnedout.” The Queen’s voice was cold and sharp like a knife. It cut Sans down and held him in his place. Did she already know he was here? How did she know what he had come to see her about?

“y-yeah. They’re makin’ their way here. probably…..p-probably ran into…by bro by now.”

Sans felt dread fill his skull, snuffing out his usually bright and sparking eye lights. Was that….Papy?

The Queen let out an acknowledging hum, “Tell Captain Alphys to direct the guard in evacuating the capital and inform the heads of each zone of the same.” There was the sound of dishes clinking and a shift in weight, “I expect you to be ready at your post when they arrive, Judge.”

Judge. The fearsome and infamous position of the Queen’s inner circle for having the ability to CHECK anyone and see the sins they carry with them. The Judge has full authority to exact justice on anyone who isn’t able to support their case or someone with ill intentions….like the human. Was Papy….was Papy really the Judge? Is that why he was tired all the time? Is that why he hid things from Sans?

Why the Queen never let Sans get too close.

Rage ate away at the shock and anxiety he once felt. She knew, she knew that Sans loved his little brother more than anything, that he would do anything for him. Of course, she did, Papy was all that Sans talked about when he came to visit, he’s the reason why he wanted to join the Royal Guard in the first place. He wanted to set a good example, and become the kind of brother Papy could look up to and be encouraged by. She knew this, and yet she took him and made Papy take on such weight.

Sans fists clenched in his gloves. How long had his baby brother been carrying this burden? How long had he put up with his nagging about his laziness when he was exhausted because he followed the Queen’s orders? How long had Sans allowed this to happen?

His fury built higher and higher until it toppled his sense of reason.

I T ‘ S A L L H E R F A U L T

The liar and Papy were still talking, but Sans couldn’t hear them over the ringing in his skull and blazing heat in his sockets. He didn’t even hear his brother shouting his name as he stormed the room and pinned the Queen to the ground with a barrage of bones, knocking her weapon out of her hands.

He barely registered his little brother’s desperate hands gripping, tugging, pulling, tearing at his armor and bandana, trying to get him off the dirty liar. He only caught a glimpse of the emotions flickering through the liar’s eyes as the first bone attack knocked down a quarter of her health. Shock, indignation, fear, and then…understanding and pity.

Don’t look at him like that. How dare she look at him as if she understands his anger when she’s the one who caused it. When she’s the one who betrayed his trust and friendship. When she’s the one who sank her claws into his baby brother. How dare she!

Sans had never felt such overwhelming, all-consuming murderous intent before. He would have been shocked at himself for feeling this way if he could think clearly, but he honestly couldn’t. As the next wave of bones pierced the liar’s armor, taking her HP down to concerning levels, Sans couldn’t help but feel as if she deserved worse than this for what she’s done, but at the same time, he felt that intense self hatred drain his ATK and make her suffering longer.

He was a horrible person for doing this, for taking out his anger on his Queen. She may have been the main antagonist in this conflict but that doesn’t mean that Sans didn’t play his part. He didn’t ask enough questions, he didn’t see what was going on, and he didn’t even try. He is a horrible friend and an even worse brother.

Hot, magically energized globs of tears gushed out of his sockets as that hatred and sorrow drained his energy. He let his brother finally pull him away from the Queen, holding him tightly and securely to his chest. When was the last time Sans hugged his little brother? When was the last time he tucked him in? It all seems so long ago now.

As magical and emotional exhaustion milked the last drop of his energy, Sans let himself fall into his brother as they fell into a pitch black night.

All things considered, life was going pretty well for the skeleton brothers. Sure they were a little tight on money and coexistence with their violent doubles was a lot sometimes, but they were doing well for themselves.

It had been nearly a year since Fell and Red had come through the portal and have been staying with Creampuff and Vanilla since. It was cramped living for the first six months as Fell and Red acclimated to a society that didn’t require constant fighting and death threats to survive. They had made little progress, but any progress is good progress.

The tight quarters forced the pairs of brothers to quickly adapt to each other’s habits, and for the younger pair, the lengthy pun wars that ensued. But all good things have to come to an end, and so after ensuring that his doubles weren’t going to attack a random passerby for looking at them funny Vanilla and the Monster Queen and King deemed it safe for them to go out and make a life for themselves.

Of course, they would still have to live with Puff and Vanilla so they would have quick access to the machine when it’s operational again, but with the additional income form the jobs they had picked up recently the four skeletons were able to purchase a roomier home.

Speaking of the machine, Vanilla had barely been able to get in the same room as it let alone work on it. Ever since Red and his brother were sucked into this universe via a portal to the void and parts of the machine were subsequently sucked in through said portal, the University, and the surrounding scientific community had been all over the machine like bees on honey. Of course, since it was technically Alphys’ invention and discovery she had some say on who could see it and when visiting hours were, but that didn’t stop the try-hard scientists and conspiracy theorists from making a fuss and trying to break in or touch the machine. It hadn’t shown any signs of activating once more or anything similar to what had occurred all those months ago, but one couldn’t be too cautious about reality-bending technology.

Yet that was currently in the back of Vanilla’s mind, Alphys would contact him if she needed his help and he was dealing with enough right now. What with the buying new furniture and decorations for their new home, setting up his old home to be rented out to humans curious about monster communities or monster-loving fanatics, and the near constant arguments on who should get what room.

Vanilla had just finished another talk with their real estate agent and their bank in regards to their mortgage and what they would have to pay. It was a lot but if they all made sure to budget their spending and if the danger-prone brothers could keep their current work positions then they’ll be able to make it. Besides, once he had his old home set up for renters then that passive income would really help with other expenses.

“SANS! YOU WILL NOT BE TAKING THAT ROOM! NOT ONLY MUST I BE POSITIONED CLOSEST TO THE KITCHEN FOR EASE OF ACCESS, BUT YOU NEED MORE SUNLIGHT! I HAVE READ THAT ROOMS WITH INCREASED NATURAL LIGHT ENCOURAGE WAKEFULNESS AND ACTIVITY! SO STOP BEING A LAZY MONGREL AND DO AS I SAY!”

Vanilla let out a sigh as he entered the living room to see Red lounging on the recliner, his skull tucked snuggly into his jacket and eye lights pointed in the general direction of his brother. Fell was still decked out in his work uniform, he had scored himself a job at a local restaurant prepping ingredients. It was nothing fancy and it was a chain restaurant, but it was still experience.

“but tha’s why that room’s da best Boss. closah ta the kitchen means closah ta the snacks.” Red grinned uneasily, he was still getting used to showing this closeness with his brother and talking back while others were around. The fact that those others were technically himself and his bro made things a little easier, but it was still hard.

“YOU GLUTTONOUS DISGRACE! YOU TAKE THAT OTHER ROOM THIS INSTANT OR ELSE I’LL THROW WHAT MEAGER BELONGINGS YOU HAVE IN THERE AND THEN YOU!” Fell stomped his foot, hands twitching toward one of the stacked boxes that cluttered the living room despite them having moved in a few days ago.

Creampuff had been itching to move them, but as they belonged to his ‘cousins’ he restrained himself. Redirecting his cleaning drive toward the backyard and his own room.

“a-alrigh, alrigh’ Boss. I’ll take ca’e of it. don’ worry ‘bout it.” Red relented his eye lights flickering over to where Vanilla was standing. He slid himself off the recliner and tenderly grabbed the box that Fell had taken into his grip. The corner was crumpled and ripped slightly as he let go of it, allowing Red to finally take hold of it with a huff.

Fell looked over to what Red was eyeing and straightened up immediately upon spying Vanilla. “SO I SEE YOU HAVE RETURNED. WHAT WAS SO IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO BE GONE FOR MOST OF THE DAY? MAYBE IT WAS ACTUAL WORK ON GETTING US BACK TO OUR ‘UNIVERSE’?”

Vanilla grimaced slightly at the reminder, “nah, was actually talkin’ with humans ‘bout tha house. laid out the foundations and made sure we’re all on the square-foot.”

“AAAARGH! THOSE WERE TERRIBLE! IF YOU’RE GOING TO SETTLE FOR SUCH A MEDIOCRE SENSE OF HUMOR AT LEAST COME UP WITH SOMETHING BETTER. THOSE WERE ABYSMAL.”

“ ‘m sure I can come up with a few…” and so for the next ten minutes, Vanilla proceeded to torture Fell with an onslaught of house-related puns with a few about various appliance and furniture-related jokes thrown in the mix. Fell did well withstanding the brutal assault, but even his malevolent patience wore out eventually. But just as he was about to combust in a shrieking defeat Vanilla toned it down enough to get something important out.

“hehehe, by the way, the kid’s comin’ over. Tori too wanna see how we’re settlin’ in.” at the news Fell rangled in annoyance enough to respond.

“I SEE, THEN I’LL MAKE SURE TO MAKE MY BROTHER AND I SCARCE. PERHAPS I CAN FORCE HIM TO SHOW ME WHERE HE’S SUPPOSEDLY WORKING…YES. YES, THAT SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCELLENT IDEA!” Fell exclaimed, turning on his heel to head down the hallway of bedrooms, “SANS! GET READY, WE’RE GOING OUT!”

Some muffled yelling could be heard in response as their conversation faded down the hallway. Fell and Red had met Frisk a few months back once Vanilla finally got around to telling Toriel what had happened and their meeting hadn’t gone so well. In fact, it had gone as badly as it could have. It was all well and good at first, Fell was a little thrown off at meeting a ‘soft and squishy’ King Asgore, and Red was spitting puns in a way that almost seemed condescending in a way. As though he was joking around because he didn’t take them seriously at all, it was uncomfortable to experience. And things only took a turn for the worse once Red laid eyes on Frisk. He practically jumped the kid the second he saw them, righteous fury fueling his actions as he allowed his LV to take over.

He didn’t get far though, Toriel immediately stepped in and stopped him like a brick wall and held him back long enough for Fell to grab hold of him. Red was like a feral animal, thrashing and screaming in his brother's grip. Threatening and growling at the kid as they kid behind their mother’s protection. Vanilla had apologized profusely for the incident, promised that the kid would never have to meet or be around the two again and that Red would be properly punished. (He was under strict house arrest for the next month and Fell had written out a daily schedule for him to make sure he wouldn’t make a break for the kid again.)

Toriel, understandably, didn’t want her child to visit the skeleton brothers until she knew for a fact that they would be safe, and even then she insisted on staying for the next few visits. Today would be the third time Frisk came by themselves, but the first time to the new house. The move was actually the motivation for the visit.

Vanilla plopped himself down the recliner Red was previously occupying. He had done his share of box moving and unpacking the past few days, though he had been sure to spread it out enough for his brother to nag him as he usually does. But with his bro at work and the darker brother heading out in lieu of Frisk’s oncoming visit, he thought it was the best time to catch some z’s. After all, what’s the worse that can happen?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

“oof!” a familiar kid-sized weigh threw itself onto Vanilla’s sleeping form, starling him awake with a slightly aching ribcage. A ripple of giggles spilled out from the tike as they clambered off of him, allowing Vanilla to sit up and take in the sight of his guest.

“ya really know how ta rattle mah bones kid. had me jumpin outta mah skin. good thing I don’t got a heart or it woulda stopped in its tracks.” he shot off a few more puns, leaving the Human Ambassador giggling on the floor. The sight warmed Sans's soul, this run was really turning out to be a good one. He’s glad the kid was giving it a chance.

“but enough about me, how’s it hangin’ kiddo? you’ve been goin’ to Tori’s school right? make any new friends?” Vanilla readjusted the recliner to its upright position, settling in for a good conversation with his pal.

‘It’s been good! A lot more humans are enrolling and there haven’t been many incidents between them and the monster students! I’ve even started a club to bring them closer together!’ Frisk signed after they picked themselves off the floor and sat down on the couch next to Vanilla.

“oh yeah? what kinda club is it?”

A mischievous smile graced their face, ‘It’s an anime club! We practice drawing and have manga and comic competitions on Mondays, play games and make manga recommendations on Wednesdays, and have an epic anime-watching night on Fridays! We all submit our choices at the beginning of the week and vote on them for which one gets shown on Friday!’

The relaxing topic eased Vanilla further into the recliner, “oh yeah? sounds like somethin’ Alphys would love to check out.”

‘That’s what I thought too! I was even planning on bringing her and Undyne over as a surprise one of these days and having a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie marathon with everyone. But she’s been so busy lately and Undyne has been working hard on getting that promotion at her job.’ Frisk sighed at that, a soft smile pulling on their lips. ‘I’m glad that everyone is doing so well, even with all the crazy multiverse stuff happening, everything is going great! It’s just that not being able to spend time with everyone as often is taking some getting used to.’

“awww, don’ worry ‘bout that kiddo. once everythin cools down at the lab, we’ll all get together for a big shindig er somethin’. there’s no need to wo-” Vanilla’s ringtone interrupted his comforting words.

Glancing at the number dialing he couldn't help but groan, “sorry kiddo, gotta take this real quick. I’s bout the house.”

Frisk nodded in understanding and Vanilla let out a quiet ‘thanks’ before getting up and answering the phone. “.....huh? Wait what do you mean? ……..we already paid the amount you said and we contacted the bank…….ya can’t just change the amount we already signed the paperwork!........” Vanilla let out a weary sigh, rubbing his nasal bridge as he listened to the pompous voice on the other line prattle on. “o-okay, okay look. we'll take it up with the bank later, jus’ lemme get the papers straightened out okay? okay, alright bye.”

Vanilla tossed his phone onto the recliner and let out a whale call as he belly flopped across Frisk’s lap on the couch. “sorry ‘bout that kid, dumb house people trynna dig for more money than this place is worth,” he explained, his voice muffled by the couch cushions.

Frisk’s eyebrows furrowed in concern for their friend, ‘Is everything okay? Has this been happening a lot?’

“nah, don’ worry bout it. they just think they can pull the blanket over mah eyes since Imma monster. too bad for them, but mah eyes fell out years ago!” Vanilla joked, turning his head slightly so his voice could be heard better. His attempt to lighten the mood only had Frisk’s brows furrowing more.

‘Are you sure what they’re doing is legal? You know they’ve put laws in place to make sure monsters don’t get taken advantage of like that. If they’re making you pay more because you’re a monster…’

“don’ worry bout it kid, this is for the adults to worry ‘bout. ya got enough on your plate with school an’ bein’ a bit important government person. Just focus on bein a kid while ya can, I’ll handle this.” A different ringtone emitted from the crack between the recliner’s cushions.

Vanilla let out another whale of a groan as he rolled off of Frisk and onto the floor, “welp, looks like you’ll be able to tell Alph bout that anime club o’ yours sooner than ya thought.”

Vanilla shuffled over the recliner and dug out his phone, Frisk hopping to his side excitedly, “hey Alphys, what’s up?” from the other line an anxious voice was nearly drowned by the sound of static and howling winds. “S-s-sans! You ne-need to get here n-now! T-the ma-machine acti-tivated!”

“shit.”

Chapter Text

‘shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!’ that was the mantra that thumped in Vanilla’s skull as his bro blew the past three red lights on a high-speed race to the labs.

What was he going to do? They just got the new house that only fit the four of them, what were they going to do with more skeletons? Would the new arrivals even be skeletons? Would they even be alternates of himself and his brother? What if it was only one and the brother got lost in the Void? What if it was more than two? What if it wasn’t something akin to what he had experienced at all? Would Tori be willing to house the new arrivals? No, he couldn’t ask that of her. And none of it would matter if they didn’t get to the arrivals first.

Alphys had been in a panicked rush of keeping scientists and government officials at bay when she had called so she wasn’t able to give Vanilla many details. He would have to deal with the intricacies of the situation when he got there.

Creampuff dropped him off at the entrance of the labs and quickly made his way around back, he would have to act as their getaway driver if things proved dire. Vanilla made haste and made his way inside only to find a crowd of people shoving against the lab doors like a school of tuna caught in a fishing net. There was pushing and shoving, yelling and shouting, and the security was barely able to do anything besides get squished into the large double doors.

‘shit.’

It was times like these when Vanilla counted his lucky stars. His shortcuts really came in handy when he didn’t want to deal with awkward situations or situations that needed him to be somewhere in a matter of minutes. Of course, he could have taken a shortcut to the labs but he wasn’t really thinking straight enough for that in his panic. With that far a distance and such wired nerves, he would have popped out somewhere completely different. Or maybe in the middle of this throng of people.

Either way, Vanilla’s lack of foresight wouldn’t change what was happening now. As he quickly took his shortcut into the lab, thoroughly spooking Alphys out of her scales, Vanilla couldn't help but wonder what had caused the machine’s activation this time.

Nothing had been done to tamper with or adjust anything on or in the machine, it wasn’t plugged in and no one had so much as touched it for fear of something like this occurring. It was as if the machine was a door they had unlocked, but now whoever was on the other side of that door could open it whenever they pleased.

“sorry Alphys, what’s the situation?” magical sweat dripped down Vanilla’s cranium and slipped between phalanges and carpal bones. The uncomfortable feeling didn’t help ease his nerves and neither did wiping the sweat off his hands.

“W-Well it’s a lot-t like wh-what happened bef-fore. All s-surrounding electrical-l equipt-tment went o-on the frits, a-and a po-portal appeared a-and spat o-out u-umm…them.” Alphys wrung her hands throughout her debrief before nervously pointing at four other figures in the room.

Vanilla was shocked for a moment. How had he not noticed them? But that shock subsided as he took in the four skeletal additions to his universe.

There was a tall orange hoodie-wearing skeleton that looked a lot like his brother clutching who Vanilla guessed was his brother tightly to his chest. The orange brother was mumbling under his breath, curling protectively around the unconscious, armor clad version of Vanilla with unshed tears pooling in his sockets. He would have to check on them first and make sure they weren’t hurt or FALLING.

Beside them was an even taller version of his brother sporting a long black trenchcoat with fur lining that oddly resembled Red’s own coat. He was hunched over and standing behind his brother, a dark glaring expression on his face as he stared down the other pair of skeletons on the ground. This Papyrus’s (Vanilla was guessing he was a Papyrus) brother stood tall and rigid, feet together at a 45° angle and hands folded behind his spine. He kept his eyes firmly on Alphys but made direct eye contact with Vanilla once he noticed his gaze. There were deep scarring cracks running over his left eye socket and its light was out, but that didn’t stop the feeling of dread and mild fear from seeping into Vanilla’s bones from this Sans’ stare.

But now wasn’t the time the be intimidated and hesitate, Vanilla had to get these guys out of here. Soon the human government officials would be at their door demanding to know what was going on.

“alright, Alphys I need you to get Paps ready. he should be around back in the delivery zone, make sure we’ve got a clear path to him alright? I’ll take care of this.” Vanilla quickly yet carefully stode over to the troubled duo. Alphys stuttered out some form of agreement before rushing out the back entrance.

Vanilla lowered himself near the hoodie-clad skeleton, slightly aware of the dissecting gaze of the other pair behind him.

“hey bud, you’re alright, you’re safe. no one’s gonna hurt ya.” Vanilla lowered his voice to a soft timbre, hands hovering near but never touching the brothers. This Papys didn’t seem to have heard him let alone register his existence.

“u-umm, pal? can you hear me? what happened to you and your bro?” again, no response. He decided to make a quick CHECK of the two. Hopefully, he could get an idea of how to help them.

*Sans Serif ATK: 5 (20) DEF: 0 (20)

*HP: 100/100 (680) LV: 2 EXP: 0

*Papy deserves a better brother.

*Papyrus Serif ATK: 1 DEF: 1

*HP: 1/1 LV: 2 EXP: 5

*What changed?

Alright, that wasn’t as good as it could be but they weren’t in critical condition. The Sans’ max HP being reduced by so much was concerning but he would be fine for now.

All he had to do now was snap this Papyrus out of it so he could get them all out of the lab before…

BANG BANG BANG

“shit”

“Doctor Alphys? This is Ripley Lagrasse, I’m the Director of the Scientific division of the Human and Monsters Relations Beaurou. I need you to let me and my team in immediately.” A sharp, authoritative voice cut through the rumbling chatter beyond the doors. Their time was almost up.

Vanilla turned back to the trembling duo, more sweat pouring down his bones, his eye lights wavering pinpricks in his sockets. “come on bucko, I need ya to get a hold o’ yerself!”

He finally laid his hands firmly on the mumbling skeleton’s shoulders but was swiftly pushed back by a wall of bones.

“damnit.” He was lucky that walls didn’t have anything but fearful intent in them or else his job would have become a lot harder. Vanilla turned toward the looming pair of brothers who were still staring down at him. The Papyrus’s expression turned more grim as he stared down the door where more thumping knocks emanated. The Sans did nothing but calmly stare at Vanilla in return.

“hey, ya think ya can spare a little help here?”

“And why should I ‘spare’ anything? I see no reason to listen to bumbling buffoon such as yourself.” the Sans’ response was swift and his words razor sharp, he seemed perfectly undisturbed by the circumstances of this situation.

Vanilla grit his teeth, “look bub, I can explain everything later but right now we gotta get outta here. the people knocking down the door, “ he pointed at the door that strained at its hinges with the growing intensity of the impacts from the other side, “are human officials who will pack you all away in a heartbeat cuz ya came from that machine.”

“I doubt I would have any trouble taking care of them. If they’re anything like you dealing with such amateurs will be a breeze.” this Sans glanced off to the side, even taking out his hand to check on his glove-covered phalanges as if this conversation was beneath him.

Vanilla turned his gaze to the lumbering giant behind this version of himself who wore an iteration of the Royal insignia on his pressed and pristine uniform.

“Ah ah ah, who do you think you’re looking at? Your conversation is with me, not him.” The scarred Sans’ insertion brought Vanilla’s attention back to him. His easygoing stance is now on guard and a bit closer than Vanilla remembers him being.

“look, I need your help. so if you could just-”

“Oh! Well, why didn't you just say so? If you need my assistance you need but to ask.” Yes, he was definitely closer, but Vanilla couldn’t recall him taking a step.

“great, so if you could just grab-”

“Oh, but I never said my support would come for free.” a wicked grin spread across his features.

“what? we don’t have time for-”

“Doctor Alphys! You have approximately thirty seconds to open this door or else we’ll use brute force to break it down!”

Vanilla was really getting tired of being interrupted, “fine! fine. what do ya want?” Splitting his attention now between using his magic to secure the door for longer than those thirty seconds and negotiating terms was probably not the best idea, but nobody else was going to help.

“Simple really, we want to stand under our own authority.”

“what?”

“You really are dull. I don’t want to have to answer to you nor anyone else while we’re here. We shall have the freedom to do as we please and go as we please. It’s as simple as that.”

“are you - what? no! i-it don’t work like that. I gotta make sure you’re safe and won’t make trouble and that you assimilate to the surface and this universe. I can’t just-”

“Oh, but you can! Of course, you have no reason to worry about that last part. Someone as magnificent and malevolent as me shall adjust to this half-baked universe with ease. And I shall be sure to keep my mutt in line as well.” the rigid Sans loosened up slightly as he preened, a spark of light flickered in his scarred socket for a moment before he fixed his mask.

“mutt? who?”

The doors shuttered as a large amount of force crashed down against his magic, cutting Vanilla off. Their time was up.

“ya know what? fine. fine! whatevah, we can hash it out latter just help me out here!.”

A victorious smirk split across the Sans shark-like teeth, “Gladly.” and with a minute movement of his skull the silent giant swiftly picked up the other pair of brothers with the faint burnt umber coloration of his magic.

Vanilla was able to lead the pack of skeletons out the back door and into Creampuff’s awaiting vehicle before rushing back into the lab with Alphys just as the doors finally succumbed to the beating of the battering ram from the other side. A force of humans rushed in and quickly surrounded them and the machine, but by then Creampuff and the other skeletons had made their getaway.

A suit-clad human strutted his way through the armed humans, “Doctor Alphys, Professor Serif, I apologize for the excessive force.“ an empty smile graced them, “We have much to discuss.”

An awkward silence hung over the car. It had been long enough now that the fear of being followed had dwindled and now all that was left in the air was the incoherent mumblings of the orange hoodie-wearing Papyrus and a sense of tense judgment from the conscious brothers. This situation was tough for Creampuff, he had gotten used to the roughness of his other-self and other-brother and felt as though they had grown quite close! But these other selves were not in good shape and didn’t seem to be in the mood for friend-making. But that wouldn’t stop him from trying! No challenge is too great for the Great Papyrus after all!

“Ahem. I Hope You Don’t Mind Being Stuck With Us For A While. We Just Purchased A Bigger Home To Fit My Brother And Me Along With Fell And Red. It May Be A Little Cramped But I Know We’ll Come Up With A Plan That Best Fits Everyone! In The Meantime, We Can Get To Know One Another And Help You A Settle In! It Will Is Like An Extended Sleepover!” the enthusiasm was thick in Creampuff’s voice despite it’s decreased volume. He had to be the Greatest host for his others selves while they stayed with him and got used to being in such a new place after all!

“Hmm, Yes I’m Sure We’ll Get Along Swimmingly. Might I Ask, Who Are These ‘Fell and Red’ You Mentioned?” the shorter skeleton dressed in a military uniform that Creampuff couldn’t help but admire spoke clearly and calmly. His voice fills the car despite its low and almost quiet volume.

“Oh! That Would Be The Two Who Came Before You All. Sans, Oh! I Mean Vanilla, We Came Up With Nicknames So Not Get Confused, Anyway, He And Alphys Were Messing WIth That Machine From Before And Accidently Pulled Fell And Red From Their Universe Much Like WHat Happened To You.”

“Really? An ‘Accident’ And How, Pray Tell, Did They Accomplish That?” despite the clear skepticism in the short skeleton’s voice Creampuff simply nodded with a weary smile.

“Indeed! I Hardly Believed It Myself When Sa-Vanilla First Called Me. But Apparently, He And Alphys Got Into A Bit Of An Argument Over The Machine, And While My Brother Was Able To Unplug It The Dastardly Nave Was Still Able To Turn On! It’s All Quite Confusing And I Don’t Fully Understand It. But I’ll Be Sure To Have Vanilla And Red Explain It Thoroughly To You Once They Get Back Home. But Enough About That For Now! How Are Those Other Two Doing Back There?” Creampuff easily explained what he knew about what brought them all to his universe while still trying to keep the atmosphere light and amicable. As he brought up the other pair of brothers he took a peek at them through the rearview mirror.

They had been able to separate the two briefly as to situate them in their seats and buckle them up. Safety first after all! But that seemed to matter little as the skeleton who looked a lot like himself in his brother’s style had grabbed hold of the armor-clad skeleton and pulled him to his chest, stretching the seatbelt past what should be considered safe. The uniform-clad skeletons’ brother was tucked against the side of the car, trying to keep as far away from the other two as possible with his sockets glued to the window.

“They Shall Be Fine As Long As We Keep An Eye On Them. So Tell Me, What Is Life Like For Monsters Here? I Suspect We Are Currently On The Surface If Those Human Authorities Made Any Indication. Unless Humans Have Access To The Underground In This Universe and Have Expanded It?” This Sans couldn’t believe that his brother’s double was giving out such valuable information without so much as a fight! Didn’t he know that intel was key to taking control of any given situation?

“Well, Things Have Gotten Much Better For Us! Relations Used To Be Tense When We First Came Up From The Underground. If Fact, The Humans Wanted To Wage War Against Us! It Was So Silly Really, They Couldn’t Get Close Because Of The Concentration Of Magic. But We’ve Settled That A While Ago And Now We’re Finally On Friend Making Terms! Jobs Are Easier To Come By And Previous Business Owners Are Working Hard To Regain Their Customers and Find New Human Customers As Well! I, Myself Have Found The Most Wonderfull Career As A Personal Trainer! It Is A Very FulFilling To Be A Respectable Member Of This Society We Are Building. And To Pay Taxes! Of Course, Taxes Can Also Be A Bit Of A Menace When It Comes To Converting Gold, But That’s All Being Fixed Up By My Dear Friend Frisk!” As Creampuff rambled on about their friendship with the Monster Ambassador Sans continued to listen carefully while staring at him dumbfounded.

He was really just pouring out the information, wasn’t he? Sans rubbed his jaw, perhaps he would have to look into what kind of universe he and his brother landed in. Speaking of his brother, Sans took a peek at his younger brother. To the untrained eye, his little brother would appear to be brooding and bored of this conversation, but Sans knew his brother better than anyone.

From the quick glances and the way he minutely clenched and unclenched his jaw and the faintest wiggle of one of his golden teeth from constant prodding Sans knew that his brother was interested in what ‘Creampuff’ had to say and had questions of his own. Of course, he wouldn’t bring them up on his own and Sans wasn’t going to push him to, they couldn’t risk getting close to these unknown variables. Couldn’t risk getting ‘friendly’ or breaking. But perhaps acting chummy with this soft and cheerful skeleton would prove a useful endeavor, perhaps Sans could use him and manipulate him to be on their side and secure their place in this household.

“Oh That Reminds Me!” the direct attention and eye contact brought Sans out of his scheming thoughts, “We Will Have TO Come Up WIth Nicknames For You As Well! And We Should Do So Before My Brother Gets Involved. He’ll Distribute The Most Uncreative and Uninsirational Nicknames Ever!”

Sans cringed at the thought of being deemed anything similar to ‘Vanilla’ or ‘Red’. He refused to be color coded for these simpleton’s convenience. “Yes, That Would Be Best. Hmm.”

A name. This would be the name he’d be addressed by for the entirety of his stay in this universe. It would have to strike fear and respect into the hearts of anyone who comes into his presence. Something befitting the reputation and standing of the Malevolent Sans.

“You May Refer To Me As The Malevolent Nox. Yes, Yes THat Had A Nice Ring To It!” Sans straightened proudly at his decision. A name as dark and impenetrable as the night! A name perfect for one such as himself!

“Oh! It Really Does! Malevolent Nox. I Love It!” Creampuff turned his attention to the only other Papyrus in the car who could give him an answer, “And What About You Friend?”

Said Papyrus jumped at the word, did he just call him friend? But before he could answer Nox butt in as he always does, “Just Call The Mutt Rus. It Will Make Things A Lot Easier. He Can Be Quite Indecisive At Times.” Rus gave a minute nod, his bro wasn’t wrong after all.

“I See. Well, It’s Nice To Officially Meet You Nox And Rus! We’ll Be Sure To Give The Other Two Cool NIcknames Once They….Feel Better! Now To Bring Us Closer As Friends And Housemates Let Us Share What Our Hobbies Are! I’ll Go First. I Enjoy…” Creampuff kept an open-ended discussion on what pastas were the best and what his favorite recipes were as Nox herded the conversation to topics that more interested him without giving up much information about himself and his brother.

Vanilla sighed deeply as he finally got back home. That Ripley fellow was a real piece of work, he had prattled on and on in a self-righteous, pompous speel about how his department would oh so graciously take over the containment of the machine. Vanilla had been able to talk them into letting him and Alphys continue to work on it but they would be under strict supervision. It had taken hours to interrupt his way to that point, seeing as Ripley never seemed to shut up, and hours more to work out the finer details without getting verbally run over by the blabbermouthed official. By the time they were done the sun was peeking over the horizon with a new day and Ripley had drained all of Vanilla’s energy, and his day wasn’t even over yet.

“BROTHER! IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU HOME!” Creampuff cheerfully greeted his brother through the kitchen. He was wearing his black apron with a skull wearing a chef hat with a crossed spatula and knife beneath it, and his own chef’s hat atop his head. “YOU MADE IT JUST IN TIME! OUR NEW FRIEND IS TEACHING ME A NEW FRIENDSHIP RECIPE!”

“They Are Not Friendship Anything! These Are The Finest Entrees In The History Of Cooking! Nothing Can Beat The Supreme Burrito.” Nox called back from within the kitchen.

Vanilla was a little surprised to see that the darker of the set of brothers had so easily wormed their way into the home’s routine while the other pair was still out of commission. Speaking of which.

“that’s great bro, ‘m glad you’re learnin’ new things. guess I butter prepare for a grate meal, huh brother?” Vanilla joked, creating a chill atmosphere for what he would ask next.

“NYAAAAH! DON’T RUIN THIS BONDING COOKING SESSION WITH YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS! IT’S BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU AND RED BADER ME WITH YOUR JOKES. I REFUSE FOR YOU TO INFECT ANOTHER ONE OF OUR NEW FRIENDS WITH YOUR HUMOR!” Creampuff screeched, stomping his feet and swinging the spatula in his grip, flinging pits of sauce at his feet.

“alrigh’ alrigh’ bro. uuuuh, speakin’ of which. where are the other two uh, friends we picked up?”

Creampuff calmed down a bit at this question, his teeth still set in a skeletal pout, “WHY THEY’RE RESTING OF COURSE! I SET THEM UP IN MY AWESOME ROOM, Thou I Believe That The Orange Me Retreated To Red’s Room Not Too Long Ago.”

It sounded like the orange hoodie double finally got ahold of himself. “thanks, Paps. Imma check up on ‘em real quick. Lemme know when food’s done ‘kay?”

“OF COURSE DEAR BROTHER! GOOD LUCK! I’LL BE UP IN A BIT!” Creampuff called as he retreated back into the kitchen.

Vanilla let out a sigh and his shoulders slumped. It was time for another hard talk. Hopefully, afterward, Paps wouldn’t mind him taking a nap. But just as Vanilla was about to ascend the stairs to check on the other set of brothers there was a knock at the door.

“BROTHER? IF YOU’RE STILL THERE CAN YOU PLEASE GET THAT? WE’RE A LITTLE OCCUPIED WITH CREATING BURRRRRITOS!”

Another sigh left Vanilla, he didn’t know if this interruption was a blessing or a curse as it took his attention away from the most likely emotionally draining conversation that was waiting for him. As he waddled over and opened the door to the greasy, unshaven face he’s come to loath the answer dawned on him. A curse, definitely a curse.

“heya Alex. whata ya doin’ here? I already got everything settled with the bank and the papers have been signed and double-triple checked. and I’m pretty sure you don’ do house calls.” Vanilla girth out through his teeth.

Standing before him was a relatively handsome man dressed in his best three-piece suit. His dirt brown hair was greased back and sweat constantly framed his face and glistened down his neck. A smile that never reached his eyes permeated on his face as his eyes bore down into Vanilla’s sockets. This was the man whom Vanilla had been conversing with over house payments and getting everything finally settled ever since they moved to buy the house.

Vanilla had chosen to work with this man, Alex Underwood, because of the positive reviews and recommendations the man had supporting his career. He was made out to be open-minded, cheerful, and honest. But those reviews were made by human clients. Vanilla would better describe him as pushy, mildly creepy, and dismissive if anything.

Alex swiftly flicked his gaze into the home, if Vanilla was any taller he would block his view but Alex had a good two feet over him. A look of confusion washes over his face as he spots Rus and Red having a stare-off in the living room and gets a glance at Nox as he crosses the doorway to the kitchen. That confusion only lasts a moment, however, before a malicious grin takes over his features.

“Yes, of course, but I’m sure the bank isn’t aware that there are more people staying here than is mentioned in the contract, yes? I’m sure you wouldn’t want to pay the fine for lying about the number of residents in the home now, would you? It’s quite the hefty fee. Of course, I wouldn’t need to bring it up if we made a little deal, hmm?” Alex near purred as he bent down at the waist to get in Vanilla’s face.

Whether it was the exhaustion from having to talk and reason with one horrible human already or whether it was the lack of sleep, Vanilla was not willing to deal with Alex’s scheming for one more second.

“look bub, we already talked with the bank and signed the paperwork. you should honestly be outta the picture already! you did yer job so why are ya still here? who stays in this house now is my business so how ‘bout you stay out of it and get off my property?” Vanilla went to slam the door in his face but Alex caught it before it could, forcing it open enough for him to look down at Vanilla. His expression was dark as the shadows cast on it.

“You’re not going to like what happens if you don't comply monster, “ he spat, that same empty grin stretching his face, “just do as I say and no trouble will come about. But be careful how you speak to me, or else you may find yourself out of house and home with no one willing to sell to you.”

His fingers clenched around the doorframe and the door itself as he tried to force it open even more, but Vanilla quickly used his magic to hold it where it was. “yer not gonna threaten me bub, I know my rights.” And with that Vanilla quickly pulled Alex away from the door with a tug from his soul and slammed the door shut. Locking it swiftly.

“You’re going to regret that monster. You’ll regret that!” Alex yelped from the other side of the door where he lay splayed out on the ground.

Whatever energy Vanilla may have had for his conversation with the other pair of brothers was gone and he barely made it to the couch before he passed out cold. Snoring peacefully over the armrest, his head resting at an awkward angle with one arm dangling over the edge of the couch, his coccyx in the air, and his legs dangling off the armrest.

Nox watched on critically from the doorway to the kitchen. He had heard all of and partly witnessed the interaction between his squishy double and that ill-natured human. A plan hatched in his mind and a smirk spread across his features. Vanilla clearly didn’t have the energy to deal with the human along with everything else. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage. Nox turned back to Creampuff when he called for him. This called for some extensive research.

Chapter Text

A wave of nausea and a sense of vulnerability lulls Sans from his slumber. Underneath him, he feels the comfort of a mattress though it is much softer and less lumpy than he was used to. Papy must have carried him back home when he fell unconscious. Sans groaned and rolled over onto his side at the thought. Memories of what had occurred filled his mind with disgust for his actions and guilt over his inaction. He had almost killed the Queen! And he had been a terrible brother up to this point. He didn’t even know that his little brother was the infamous Judge of the Underground!

Sans curled up in a ball under the soft, clean-smelling covers. The scent sent another wave of despair over him. He must have upset Papy so much that he actually cleaned the sheets and blanket before tucking him in to comfort him! He knew that Sans loved the smell of the fresh human detergent that would rarely fall into the Junk Yard and even less frequently survive the trip.

A soft knock rapped on the door and Snas curled in on himself even tighter, squeezing his sockets shut. He didn’t want to face his brother, he didn't want to have to acknowledge what he’s done and look into his brother’s eyes. He wasn’t ready. But even so, he knew he would have to face the music sooner or later and if he wanted it to be sooner than never Sans would have to take the first step.

…but maybe he could wait a little longer.

“I-I’m sorry Papy but…I’m not ready to talk yet,” he mumbled, his voice yards away from the energetic volume it usually was.

“Well, Then You’ll Be Glad To Know That I’m Not The Papyrus You Were Expecting Friend! I was hoping to check on how you were doing. May I come in?” an unfamiliar voice responded from beyond the door.

The confusion caused Sans’s eyes to open as he took in his surroundings. This wasn’t his room. It was strikingly similar but so intimately different. It looked as if someone took a good long look at his room with his homemade boat-shaped bed frame and hand-carved figurine collection and tried to replicate it from memory. It was off-putting and was not helping the negative emotions that plagued his soul.

Whoever was on the other side of the door took his silence for acceptance and they slowly and cautiously entered. At first Sans thought his brother was pulling an elaborate prank to try to lighten the mood but with one look into this skeleton’s sockets, Sans knew that this monster wasn’t his brother.

“Hello, My Friend! I Know This Must Seem Quite Alarming, But Fear Not! The Great Papy-I Mean The Great Creampuff Shall Wash Your Worries Away. Ahem, Allow Me To Explain.” and explain he did to the best of his abilities.

Sans sat silently as he absorbed this new information. He was starting to see the appeal in Papy’s habit of sleeping his problems away. It was looking like an appealing offer after the world-view-shattering info dump he just witnessed.

Sans hung his head in his hands, clenching his sockets shut as he sat curled up on this very comfortable bed. At least he wouldn’t have to face the Queen, or his version of the Queen while he was stuck in this reality. He let out a heavy sigh as his previous worries snuck back to the forefront of his mind, but being in a different reality wouldn’t postpone the conversation he would have to have with his brother.

The tall casually dressed skeleton shifted from foot to foot in his peripheral vision, tugging at the sleeves of his varsity-style jacket. “I See That This Information Troubles You Friend. Perhaps Joining Your Brother Will Put You At Ease?”

“NO!” his brother’s double jumped slightly at his sudden shout.

“No. I don’t want to see him right now.” Sans mumbled, tucking his face into his knees. It was more like he couldn’t bring himself to face his brother. Of course, he wanted to see him, but what kind of expression would be on his face?

An unreadable look crossed the double’s face as he gently took a seat at the foot of the bed, being sure to give Sans his space, “I See. Are You Sure That Talking To Him Wouldn’t Make You Feel Better? I Understand That Being Pulled From Your Home So Suddenly Can Cause Great Amounts Of Stress. Talking About It With Someone You Trust Can Be Very Beneficial!”

Sans took a glance at this stranger. His posture was very open and relaxed, warm and inviting. Sans looked away, “It’s Not About That I Just…I Don’t Want To See Him.”

A confused frown pulled at Creampuff’s teeth, “Could It Possibly Be That You Got Into An Argument Before Arriving Here?”

Sans flinched. This man was right on the money.

Creampuff let out a soft sigh upon seeing Sans’ reaction. He turned away to study his cool skeleton flag, “You’re pushing yourself away like Sa-Vanilla does when he doesn’t want to face something, but you’re also wanting to fix it but don’t know how. So you’re putting yourself in a hole until you can figure something out. Like I do.” he let out a chuckle, “Even though we are all different people we still deal with stress similarly and have the same tells. I suppose that’s what happens when you pull a bunch of brothers and their alternate selves into the same universe.” He laughs again, a little fuller this time as he turns to Sans, “It Sounds Like The Start Of One Of My Brother’s Terrible Jokes!”

Sans let out a sharp exhale of a laugh at the comment, whoever this double’s brother was sounded a lot like his own brother. He rubbed his cheekbone on his radius, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have more people with just as terrible a sense of humor. It would drive him up the wall!

“Anyway, friend, my point is that I can see that something is troubling you. If you do not feel like confronting your brother about the matter now perhaps you would like to talk it out with me? I Am A Fantastic Listener After All! What do you say?” Creampuff lowered himself closer to the mattress to make himself seem smaller as he tentatively reached out toward this new Sans with his palm up, expecting.

Flashes of the Queen’s face filled his vision, echoes of his brother’s cries ringing in his ears, and the haunting, phantom embrace of that burning, horrible murderous intent that scorched his soul clung to him like chains. He could feel them rattle together as he sprung to his feet. A specter of himself playing before his eyes, grossly exaggerating his action and intentions, words he never said spilling out of his mouth. He was disgusting. He didn’t deserve to be a brother or a soldier. He was the lowest of filth. He was the very kind of person his brother would have struck down as Judge.

The door suddenly flung open, slamming into the wall and nearly breaking off its hinges. “WHAT’S GOING ON IN HERE? AS THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE FELL I DEMAND TO KNOW THIS INSTANT!”

A tall, dark, and looming figure filled the doorway. It was the Queen! It must have been! Who else could command a room with their presence alone? She must have come for him to drag him to face the Judge for his crimes! She was going to have his own brother pick apart his innermost thoughts and deeds. She was going to have his baby brother strike him down! He couldn’t allow it! He had to protect Papyrus!

Sans lunged in attack with a bone in hand that he didn't remember summoning. In fact, when did he stand up? When did that kind stranger spring away to press his back against the wall? When did this wall of bones stop him from moving? Wait…

Fell glared down at the armor-clad stout skeleton. If you could call that mangle of metal armor. When he had first seen Creampuff carry this equally soft skeleton in he had assumed that he wouldn’t be a problem to handle. That in his current state he would be weak and easy to deal with. Clearly, he had underestimated his opponent, a rare occasion indeed.

He took a good long look into this skeleton’s sockets and he trapped him in a wall of bones, Creampuff hovering like a worried hen at the edge of the wall. This monster’s eyes were clouded and hardened, clearly the look of a worthy adversary, but also a cloud that he had seen in his brother’s eyes too many times. He knew what he had to do.

Swiftly moving to Creampuff’s bed Fell swept the comforter out from its tucked state, flinging the pillow across the room. Ignoring Creampuff’s annoyed cry Fell promptly swaddled the small skeleton, bone attack, and all before plopping back on the bed in an upright position.

After making sure he wouldn’t fall Fell reached into the breast pocket of his off-shoulder jacket and pulled out a wide-toothed plastic comb with small plastic balls attached to the end of each tooth. He then prodded Creampuff with it and gestured toward the cocooned skeleton. Fell had done enough already and he still had a reputation to uphold in this household. He wouldn’t allow such coddling to dampen his obvious intimidation and repute.

Creampuff took the comb in confusion before suddenly realizing what to do. Imitating what he had seen his brother do on occasion he carefully scraped the comb across his new friend’s skull.

The soothing scrape of plastic across bone filled the room and Sans’ vision finally cleared. He was no longer in the throne room facing down the Queen. He was no longer fearing his fate in the Hall of Judgement where he would be subject to his baby brother, the baby bones he raised now Judge. Instead, he was safely wrapped in a cloud-like swaddle, a calming scratch of a comb being brushed against his skull. Just like Papy did when they were babybones. Papy liked the sound and when he realized it helped ease Sans’ stress from work he would do it whenever he seemed low on energy. It brought him back to the moment and helped him focus on the now.

A tender weight rest on his shoulder, looking up he saw the worried gaze of the kind stranger he still hadn’t asked the name of, “Are you feeling better my friend? I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do much to help you. Fell is better versed in such episodes, but I am learning every chance I get!”

Sans relaxed even further at this monster’s kind smile. He was glad he hadn’t lost a potential friend with his outburst.

“YES, YES. I’M THE GREATEST AND MOST TERRIBLE MONSTER HERE, I KNOW. BUT PRAISE WON’T DISTRACT ME FROM WHY I CAME IN HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!” He snapped his attention to Sans, putting one hand on his hip and pointing at Sans with a flick of the wrist, “You! You Are A Guest In This Residence And As Such, You Shall Tell Us Immediately What Brough You And Your Brother To The State We Found You In! And Don’t Even Try To Change The Subject Or Lie! I Am Trained In Detecting Deception.”

Sans clicked his teeth together as he took in the skeleton before him. He may not have been the Queen but his presence still commanded respect and fear. Despite the preoccupying thoughts on whether or not he should confide in these possible new friends Sans couldn’t help but think that this monster was very cool. And despite his distant and brooding facade he had still chosen to help Sans when he wasn’t feeling his best.

With a deep breath of finality, Sans divulged his thoughts and experiences, “I….I found out that my little bro has been keeping some really important things from me. Things that shouldn’t be kept secret between family. I could have helped! I could have…I could have done something. But I didn’t. I was blind and I only made things worse. I thought that I was helping by pushing him to be active and I was worried when I would find him asleep in the strangest of places but….I didn’t see the signs. What kind of brother am I to not have seen the signs?” he grew silent for a moment as he stewed over his thoughts.

“I can understand where you’re coming from, friend. It sounds as though your brother and mine share similar habits, but just because you found the source doesn’t mean it’s your fault or that you’re the cause-”

“BUT IT IS MY FAULT!” Sans grieved, “IT IS MY FAULT! AND THERE’S NO WAY YOU COULD UNDERSTAND. HE’S MY YOUNGER BROTHER! I RAISED HIM AND WATCHED OVER HIM FOR YEARS. I TRIED TO BE A GOOD ROLE MODEL AND SET AN EXAMPLE FOR HIM BUT I BECAME TOO OBSESSED WITH THAT DREAM TO SEE WHAT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! I LET MYSELF BE PLAYED A FOOL AND MY LITTLE BROTHER PAID THE PRICE!” Sans took a deep breath as his voice cracked at the end. His voice was raw with emotion from the shouting. “Heh. I was trying so hard to work for the Queen. To become a member of the Royal Guard or even the Captain one day that I didn’t realize my brother was put in position as the Judge.”

A grim silence hung over the room as crystal blue magic tears dripped from Sans’ sockets. A flash of understanding crossed Creampuff’s face. Not only in realizing the direness of his friend’s situation but also due to some points finally coming together. Fell too felt this flicker of understanding as his expression darkened. He would have to discuss it with his brother later on.

“The Judge,” Creampuff muttered under his breath but he pushed his own emotions aside and instead chose to pull this new Sans into a loose yet warm embrace. Sans stiffened under his arms, this hug felt so much like the rare ones Papy would give him yet it was so very contrary to what he knew. Still, he allowed it.

“My friend,” Creampuff soothed, “Despite what you have learned do you still trust your brother?”

“Of course,” Sans confirmed without hesitation. Despite everything, he knew that Papy didn’t have much of a choice. Whether he actually chose to be Judge or whether the Queen forced him to be Papy was still a child. He was still young and impressionable and Sans knew from how Papy was when he was home that his job and the power that came with it were a burden he would rather not bear.

“Do you blame him for what happened?”

“No! Not at all. If anything it was my-”

“It wasn’t your fault my friend. However, you found out, and whatever followed wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know and that hurts you because you feel responsible for your little brother. That alone is honorable and selfless. Do you think your brother blames you? Is he that kind of person?” At this point, Creampuff pulled away to look Sans sternly in the sockets.

Sans opened his mouth for a moment, about to let his emotions speak for him but he quickly shut it as he actually thought about his answer. “...No. No Papy isn’t that kind of person.”

Creampuff took in Sans resolve for a moment, grasping his shoulders before smiling and giving him a firm nod, “Then you should talk with him about what happened.”

“B-but you don’t understand! I…I hurt…” Sans choked on his words as he remembered the Queen’s expression as he bore down on her with a barrage of bones.

“Did You Want To Hurt This Person? Did You Enjoy It?” the sound of Fell’s voice cut through his thoughts.

Turning to him Sans responded, “N-no. No, I didn’t enjoy it and…I didn’t want to hurt her. I just…I…”

“You Felt As Though You Had To To Protect What You Cared About.”

Sans nodded. Fell was correct once again.

Fell let out a hum and turned to Creampuff with his arms crossed, “Your Trash Packets Of Meat Are Burning.” in the silence of the upstairs they could faintly hear a sharp, “Blast Your Infernal Beeping!” and the sound of the smoke detector beeping and the sound of something being whacked against the walls.

“Oh, Dear!” Creampuff quickly rushed to the doorway before stopping and spinning to face Sans, “I’m Sorry For This Interruption My Friend. I’m Always Here If You Need To Talk And I Truly Think You Should Speak With Your Brother. If He’s Anything Like My Own He Will Understand, Especially If He’s The Younger. Fell Can Lead You To Him When You’re Ready. Now Off I Go!” and with that, he disappeared down the hallway frantically calling for Nox to stop trying to hit the smoke detector with a broom.

Sans watched after him and whipped away his tears. Creampuff was right he needs to talk to his brother. Sans knew Papy wouldn’t blame him but he still couldn’t let go of the feeling of disgust and self-hatred that sat on his sternum.

As he made a move to stand Fell spoke up once more, “You’re Not Disgusting.” Sans flinched once more, was this skeleton a mind reader? It certainly seemed like it as Fell’s eye lights flicked to him for a moment before rolling away with a huff, “I’ve Felt The Heavy Pressure Of Murderous Intent Directed At Me And By Me Many Times Before. I Know Enough About Doubt And Hating Yourself To Know That You Not Know It Too.”

Fell’s fangs grind together as he turns his head away. He was frankly pushing his empathy reserves right now. He had planned to distance himself from these other skeleton’s but spending almost a year with those soft and squishy brothers has made him soft. But he’s beginning to accept, after many sparing sessions with Creampuff, that being soft didn’t necessarily mean he was weak.

He took a deep breath, held firm, and made direct eye contact with this short, relatable monster, “You Are Not A Disgrace. Your Actions May Have Been Fueled By Anger And That Made You Make Mistakes. You Hurt Someone. Whether Or Not It Was An Act Of Defense Or Aggression Doesn’t Matter. You Did What You Did To Protect Your Brother And No One Blames You For That So Stop Blaming Yourself. Self Hatred Doesn’t Make You Any Stronger And It Undoubtedly Doesn’t Solve Your Problems Nor Stops You From Making Similar MIstakes In The Future. You Wanted To Be A Part Of The Royal Guard? Then As A Captain Of Said Guard, I Order You To Get It Together! That Kind Of Mindset Won’t Make You Stronger And It Won’t Win You Battles. If You’re Going To Change For The Better Then Get Yourself A Better Disposition! Now Go Talk With Your Creamsicle Colored Brother Already!” and there goes the last of his empathy. Despite learning about being kind to others Fell can’t let himself be seen as some mushy marshmallow like the Creampuff. He still has a reputation to uphold!

Sans stared at Fell for a moment in disbelief. This fellow certainly had a way with words! And it was working! It may have only been a little bit but it helped give him a little bit of HOPE back.

“Then Lead The Way!”

Papy had stuffed himself into the closet of the room he found himself in upon regaining self-awareness. A pair of skeletons had tried to coax him out of the closet that smelt strongly of mustard and cologne but they looked too eerily similar to his older bro that he couldn’t bring himself to make a peep. They had given up a while ago and chose to give him some space. He wasn’t sure if he appreciated it or wanted them to come back.

He didn’t want to be alone but he couldn't stand the big brother tone those other skeletons had. It made him think too much about what his own brother would say when he woke up. He was going to be so mad and disappointed Papy just knew it! He had kept a lot of secrets from him in the past. About the resets, about their dad, about the human. But he had tried to tell him about those things! But with each reset, Sans forgot and Papy had given up trying to tell him the truth. But him being Judge. That’s something he had never brought himself to tell his older brother. And now he had found out in the worst way possible. And Papy didn’t have time to explain himself before they were pulled through the Void and into an alternate universe. The very implications of that were too much to bear and Papy had to shove down the squealing nerd inside of him to make way for self-fulfilling prophecies.

Papy sighed as he leaned his head against the door of the closet. He just wanted his bro.

Knock knock

Papy lifted his head from the door. Was someone knocking on the closet door? It was one of the kind with the shutters that he was able to peek through. The figure on the other side was tall like him but wore a jacket similar to one of the other shorter skeletons who had dropped by.

Knock knock

The figure knocked again and in his exhausted mind Papy could only think of one response, “who’s there?”

“boo” came the answer.

Papy had heard this one before, “boo hoo?”

“wow, I know the joke is bad but not worth crying over.”

“what do ya want?” Papy questioned, leaning further away from the door.

“hey, can’t blame a skeleton for tryin’ ta lighten the mood.” the figure joked the muted smell of smoke and something indistinguishable seeping through the door.

Papy chose not to reply. Whoever this guy was more than likely only wanted information out of him or wanted to get him to talk. He knew the tactics he knew why they kept coming up here. He didn’t want to have any part in it. He had enough to dwell on.

There was a period of silence where the only sound was that of each other’s existence.

…

Finally, the figure took a breath, “I told my big bro everything.”

Papy’s sockets widened minutely as he creaked his skull toward the door, brows furrowed. He remained silent.

“it was the day we got pulled through the portal. my bro was gonna go out and recalibrate his traps like every time that demon resets and I…I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take finding his dust mixing with the sand. I couldn’t take not bein’ able to save my friends. so I told ‘im everything. about the resets. about my real job as Judge. everything.”

The figure leaned more weight on the door causing the wood to creak, “ya wanna know what he did?”

“what?” Papy couldn’t help but ask.

“he cried.” there was a pause and a brief chuckle, “not like a blubering cry with a bunch o’ tears a snot. my bro’s too cool for that. but he cried in his own way and he hugged me. he said he was sorry that I had to carry that weight and that he kept adding more. of course in my universe, the ‘weight’ he added was barely anythin’ at all. he’s just too overprotective. but anyway. we talked it out. he understood and almost rose hell with Queen Toriel but I stopped him. she woulda killed him if he barged in there no matter how high up in the ranks he is. so we just talked and hugged it out and that was it.”

“why are you telling me this?” Papy questioned. This wasn’t what he was expecting.

The figure took time to think about it, “we’re not the same. what with you bein a melted creamsicle and me being a trained mutt, but our situations are similar. I came from a world where it was kill or be killed. if a little crying and hugging and the threat of manslaughter were all that came out of my epic truth-revealing discussion with my bro then how much worse could yours be? heck! my bro even let me in on some pent-up feelings he was holding in. I know we grew up differently and had different environments and support circles but hey, my universe is like the worst-case scenario of yours so you already know what’s the worst that could happen.”

More silence ensues as Papy brews over the information he’s been given. The worst possible scenario huh? Strangely enough, that truly does help. It cut away the ‘what ifs of what he would have to discuss with his bro. If that was the worst that could happen then maybe…

Papy slowly pushes the door open and the figure scoots away enough for him to open it easily. On the other side is a skeleton that resembled himself. Well…if he had two golden canines on his upper set of teeth and a scar running from the left one that lead up to two cracks over his socket.

“well would ya look at that? I had a feelin’ Red had skeletons in his closet but I didn’t know he had literal ones.” this doppelganger's violet eyelights shown bright with mirth as he casually joked at Papy. Alternate selves were such an odd concept.

“Red?” Papy wondered with an airy laugh.

“yeah, you probably met him. short angry guy with less gold teeth than me but a killer jacket. “ the purple-themed skeleton preened as he tugged on the sides of his unzipped coat. “we distinguish ourselves with nicknames. makes things easier since we’re all Sans and Papyrus.”

Papy let out a more genuine laugh, “then what would that make me? Orange?” he indicates his proposal with a tug at his bright orange hoodie.

The double barks out a laugh, “nah, you’re more of a Creamsicle if I took a guess. though we do have a Creampuff too. you’re all just too soft and sweet we can’t come up with much else. I go by Rus by the way.” Rus stook out his hand.

Papy grinned, “well I’m too drained to come up with much better and Creamsicle’s a little long so how about we shorten it to ‘Sicle?” he reached out to shake Rus’ hand.

Rus promptly got squirted with water from a fake flower hidden in Papy’s sleeve and Papy felt the squish of putty press into his metacarpals. They both quickly recoiled from one another in a fit of giggles.

“‘Sicle? shat kinda name is that? it’s a bit of a stretch if you ask me.” Rus wheezed as he whipped his face on Red’s sheets. He probably wouldn’t mind nor notice.

“welp, guess I’ll have to go with Stretch then.” Stretch shrugged as he whipped his hand on the carpet. Hopefully, no one would notice.

Rus snorted, “what kinda logic is that? Whatever. not like’s it’s my name. good to meet ya Stretch.”

“likewise bud.”

Their go-lucky atmosphere was quickly disbanded with the slam of the bedroom door. Standing there was the imposing figure of Fell but Stretch had little time to feel intimidated before Fell stepped aside to reveal Stretch’s brother.

“welp.” Rus stated, slapping a hand on Stretch’s shoulder as a means of helping himself up. “good luck.” and with that, he bliped away.

“Papy…” his brother’s broken voice drew Stretch’s eyes to finally meet his brothers. A message that only the two brothers could hear connected them. Tears sprung up in Sans’ sockets and Stretch pursed his teeth together taking in a shuddering breath. Fell took this as his cue to leave and he quietly closed the door. These two had a lot to talk about. As did he with his brother.

Fell marched down the stairs to the living room with this new set of information in his mind. If that blue warrior’s brother was the Judge and he didn’t know and they were alternate versions of everyone else here then it wound’t be so bold to assume that Fell’s brother was the Judge of their universe. And if that was so then they indeed needed to talk.

As Fell reached the landing he caught sight of his brother immediately. He was slobbing about in the recliner not even trying to make conversation or do anything productive.

“SANS!” his demand for recognition brought the attention of all present Sans toward him. Accursed and confounded alternate selves, “MY SANS!” he clarified.

“y-yeah Boss? What’s up?” Red quickly kicked the recliner back into its upright position and stood at attention.

Fell shot his arm out with a crack as he pointed at his brother’s face, “I HAVE LEARNED OF YOUR WRETCHED DECEPTION AND FOR IT YOU MUST BE SUFFICIENTLY PUNISHED!” and without giving Red enough breath to voice a defense Fell picked him up forthright and flung him over his shoulders like a bag of potatoes then proceeded to march back up the stairs to his room.

Creampuff, being privy to why Fell had put up airs about punishing his brother when really he was going to talk about him regarding what they had learned, peeked out of the kitchen at his brother with intentions of doing the same.

He began his approach toward his brother who was lounging in a more appropriate position on the couch than he was previously. Creampuff raised his hand to grab his brother’s attention but stopped himself as he took in his brother’s appearance. Like really took it in. He could see greying shadow’s under his sockets and the unhealthy tint to his bones. He could see a layer of dust caked on his form, not the kind that meant he was FALLING, but the kind that naturally fell off of monster as dead skin cells did for humans. He could see the tense demeanor he kept despite being in a relaxed state and the tight strain of his ever-present smile.

Vanilla was tired and Creampuff could see that. He knew that his brother was trying to be more active nowadays and he knew now that Vanilla no longer had to act as Judge. It probably was the reason why Vanilla had more energy than he used to in the first place.

Vanilla may have been keeping such crucial information from him for years but Creampuff knows that he can trust his brother to make the right choices and he knows that if he asks Vanilla will tell him. It may take a little prodding but he will tell him.

So with the burden of this knowledge on his shoulders, Papyrus found the freedom to step into his brother’s field of view, catching his attention. And as Vanilla asked what was up and if he needed anything Papyrus looked him dead in the sockets and said, “I Love You, Brother.”

His voice was soft and warm with acceptance and understanding. He wouldn’t say anything now, but he would change his actions to support his brother who had done the very same for him all these years. He reaches down to pull his brother into a hug, and though Vanilla recognizes that there is a deeper meaning to this he can’t find it in himself to mind as he returns the affection wholeheartedly.

Meanwhile, among the suffocating darkness, there is a shivering figure covered in pulsating globs of mass. With each breath, he takes his form shudders as though it is on the brink of falling apart but with each exhale it strains not to collapse in on itself. This pattern repeats in slow, steady breaths as the being slumbers.

Though he has been asleep for so long his tormenting slumber is about to end. A chunk of machinery and wires floats through the darkness until it bumps into him. A dozen other pieces of metal and glass in a variety of shapes and sizes follow and jolt him awake with their impact.

With a creaking, torturous strain he turns the mound that forms his head toward where these metallic obstacles came from to see a trail of bits and pieces of a long forgotten machine leading out into the Void. The form reached out and pulled a piece toward him, only for it to be absorbed into his body.

His figure shook and the masses pulsed faster before everything settled he felt a little full. The husks of light in his skull dragged along the trail. It looks like he has company.

Chapter Text

“I refuse to be named by such a low-caliber individual such as yourself. And the fact that you allowed yourself to be named Edgelord doesn’t make you much better.”

Professor sighed for the umpteenth time as the new arrivals continued to squabble over their proper classification. He would have called over the human woman to settle the debate but she seemed to be out of it ever since she brought forth their new arrivals. Professor assumed that she was merely tired due to pulling two beings from the Void instead of one, but now he’s not so sure.

Professor looked out to the distance where she hovered. She was still staring at the same spot as she was since….well time was hard to tell so since she had pulled the other two through.

Turning back to the argument Professor rolled his eye lights and exhaled through his nasal cavity. They really weren’t letting up. The brightly colored version, who Professor had almost started calling taffy as the color palette reminded him of his childhood favorite treat, had outright stated that they may refer to him as ‘Swap’. He was currently smiling while ‘standing’ off to the side of the raging debate between Edgelord and the other double.

“Argh! I’ve had enough of this. Where is that human girl? I grow tired of this conversation and she has yet to finish what she started!” Edgelord complained, picking and poking at the brightly colored blob that clearly belonged to Swap.

“She’s right over there, “ Professor spoke up, gesturing toward where the human had been floating during their conversation, “She has yet to move since she brought our guests here.”

“Well go get her then!” Edgelord demanded

“And why can’t you do that yourself?”

“Because someone has to keep an eye on these two. Who knows what they’ll do once we turn our backs.”

“Speak for yourself Edgelord”

“Edgelord is a perfectly good name and I will not have you insult it with your sarcastic remarks!”

And so began another yelling match between the two sharp counterparts with Swap watching on silently with a smile spread across his face. Professor shook his head in weariness. It was clear that they weren’t going to stop anytime soon and Swap was seemingly too invested to do anything, and Professor had the feeling he wouldn’t comply with any request he made of him anyway.

Professor slowly made his way toward the humans dressed in blue. As he drew closer he noticed that the black coloring that had stained parts of her dress seemed to be spreading with tendrils of pigment but that observation was quickly put aside when the sound of rapid muttering reached him.

He began to creep cautiously toward her, staying to her side to get a glimpse of her face. Her lips were blurred at the speed of her speech but Professor couldn’t understand a word of it. Not only due to its pace but because it was in a language he had never heard before. The human’s eyes were unfocused, almost glazed over, as she spoke in sounds and murmurs that Professor was sure humans shouldn’t be able to produce.

“My dear?” he whispered, carefully placing his hand on her shoulder.

The contact seemed to snap her out of her trance but it wasn’t enough to take her out of her daze. Her head stuttered in its turn to face him and her eyes didn’t focus on him, it was like she was looking through him.

“My dear, you still need to rearrange our parts remember?” her eyes zeroed in on him finally.

“...right.” was all that slipped from her lips as her eyes unfocused again and she pried herself from her position.

As she slowly made her way back toward the group, having to readjust as she floated off course, Professor glanced back to what she had been so focused on. Nothing seemed to be out of place. There was nothing in sight besides the blank nothingness of the Void. Even when he squinted his eyes there was no-wait. Professor leaned his head forward and squint his sockets, even more, were those…machine parts?

“Professor! Get back here immediately. How do you expect the human to fix us if she doesn’t have all of the required persons present?”

Professor snapped his head toward the voice, Edgelord’s sharp tone having startled him out of his concentrated state. He quickly glanced back to where he was looking to catch sight of the machine parts yet he found nothing. It must have been wishful thinking.

As he returned Edgelord and his double had gone right back to arguing over a name as the girl plucked the colorful mass from Edgelord and slapped it onto Swap.

“As I was saying if you’re going to call me anything other than my given name or rightful title then call me something just as befitting! Perhaps Lord. Or Boss, or-”

“Velvet.”

The unnamed Gaster sneered down at the human girl as she absentmindedly grabbed a pulsing mass from his abdomen and flung it at Professor. “What was that you cur?”

“Your vest. It’s velvet.” she murmured as she moved on to grab the dark red mass from Swap’s shoulder.

“At least you’ve proved to me knowledgable in something human. But I refuse to be named after a measly fabric. And furthermore…WHY AREN’T YOU TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY?” the classy skeleton screeched as he glared at the girl.

“I don’t know. I think Velvet suits you quite nicely.” Edgelord snickered, baring his fangs in a wicked grin.

Before Velvet could burst any more eardrums with his high-pitched shriek their companion’s gentle but foreboding, “Wait a moment” drew in their attention.

“What is it, my dear?” Professor asked as he looked down at her. She was standing directly in front of him with her hand laying on his arm. A grim expression weighed on her face as her gaze bore into his very soul. If he didn’t know better Professor would have assumed she was CHECKING him. But he knew for a fact that humans were incapable of such a thing, along with anyone other than Judge, when outside of an encounter.

“You’re still missing something.” her grip tightened around his arm, almost bringing a sting of pain.

“Well then you must need to bring forth more of us to fix that, correct?” he didn’t see the problem. She had told them that she may need to pull an undeterminable amount of versions to their pocket of the Void and swap their parts around until they’re all fulfilled. Why was it so strange for him to still be missing pieces?

As if sensing his thoughts the girl replied, “No. There are no more.”

“What?”

“Everyone else is complete and there are no more versions that hold what you need.” she sounded out. Her frown became deeper as worry lines creased her skin. “Why can’t I…”

It was clear that their human confidant was distressed and not in her right mind. Professor felt a spring of guilt twinge in his soul. Perhaps they should have listened and had patience instead of pushing her so soon. No matter how grand her knowledge of their circumstances and her ability to heal them she was still only human, not some all-powerful being that never grew tired nor felt pain. For all, he knew the girl could have even felt the horrible invasive presence of the mass they encountered before but was able to brush it off due to exposure. Which in itself was hard to believe seeing as she had to plunge her arms into it to retrieve his alternates, but he was getting off track.

aking her tight fist in his hand Professor drew her gaze to his glowing eyelights, “My dear, perhaps you should rest a while. Regain your strength.”

Professor may not have as much connection and familiarity with the human as she did with him but he had respect for her. Enough respect for making sure that she could rest without the others bothering her. So while she floated off into the Void while making sure she didn’t go too far, Professor rangled together Edgelord and Velvet who were making fun of each other’s new names, and Swap he would let out a snort every once in a while but would more often than not have a far off look in his eyes while he observed the now wrestling duo. Watching the two spin around through the zero-gravity plane hissing empty insults at each other Professor began to build an idea as to what, or should he say who Swap was thinking about as he watched the two act like long-lost brothers.

‘Not long now’ Professor thought, ‘I’ll see my boys soon.’

…

The trail of machinery was getting thin. Instead of large hunks of metal and wires, he was lucky to get the occasional scrap or shard of glass, but they all lead to the same place and the fact that the pieces were getting small and he hadn’t run into a larger piece in a while was actually a comfort. Time and space made little sense in this place and during his long and painful years here he had learned that one could easily go in circles for eternity not only in space but through time as well.

His eyesight and sense of smell may have greatly diminished from their prime while in this odorless, bleak place but even the softest of sounds found him once we were within range. So when the bits of debris waned to nothing it was the sound of other living beings that drew him forward. He dragged his mass through the Void as quickly as his pain tolerance allowed him, growing more desperate for the company once he was sure that these voices weren’t just another hallucination of his broken mind.

As he drew closer to the growing volume of voices he was able to make out the colorful shapes of these beings’ figures. Bright and beautiful colors he never thought he would bear witness to again. Colors he couldn’t even remember the names of but all so glorious to his eyes. He was so overcome with relief and amazement that he didn’t even notice the looks of horror that spread across the figures’ faces, not that his worn eyes would be able to distinguish their finer features.

His overwhelming joy blocked out their panicked intent as he loomed over the brightest colored figure. These colors reminded him of his home from before he fell into this Void. He doesn’t remember the names of the location but he does remember that one place was wet and cavernous and the other scorching hot and treacherous.

The figures were huddling together and moving away from him. They must be trying to show off their beautiful colors to him! Though he would love nothing more than to blanket his vision with their hues being able to see all of them at once is more pleasing to the eye. He stays where he is, not moving an inch as they showcase their splendor to him. What a blessing these beings are, even though he couldn’t understand the noises they made, having lost the comprehension of language long ago, simply being in the presence of something new satiated him.

His own body, pulsing with growths that sent rippling waves of pain throughout his form, slumped and drooped into a pile as he finally let himself relax. His sockets drooping as he stared at the group of figures before him, simply content.

In this relaxed state was how the human found him. His body was akin to her Gaster’s when she had first found him except he was twice as large and covered in dozens of golfball-sized growths all throbbing tandem. Compassion found her at that moment as she looked into his eyes, he was in pain but he was content with himself and what he had found. How long had he been here? She wouldn’t doubt it if she learned he was subject to this expanse longer than she.

“Human…” Edgelord hissed, “What is this?”

“This,” she breathed, “is who we were missing.”

“You mean…” Professor gasped, it couldn’t be.

“It’s no wonder I couldn’t find you.” she soothed, brushing off Professor’s unspoken question as she brushed her knuckles gently across the blob of a monster’s mangled facade. The mountain of a monster leaned into the touch that radiated sympathy. “You’ve been dead for a very long time, haven’t you?”

“Dead?” Velvet squealed, reeling back from the blob. It was already shocking and revolting to discover that this monstrosity was an alternate version of himself but to know it was possible to die in this hellhole and still be stuck here was his worst fear realized.

Professor looked into this version’s eyes, or at least he tried to. Unlike the rest of them, this alternate didn’t have deep, black sockets with small shining eye lights to act as pupils. This version didn’t have pupils, he didn’t have dark sockets. His eyes were glazed over with a bright white and they were almost indistinguishable from the rest of his pale face. Yet as Professor stared into those lifeless eyes he saw more of himself in this monster than he saw in any of his other alternate selves.

Realization struck him, “He’s not from an alternate universe, is he?”

The human shook her head and she oh so carefully and with all the gentleness of a mother gathers all of the growths to a single point on the monster’s body. They took a little prodding to meld together but under the light pressure of her hands, their insistent pulsing slowed to a dull throb as they gathered to a mass about the size of a melon.

“He’s from an alternate timeline.” Swap spoke up for the first time since stating his name, drawing closer to this alternate.

The mangled Gaster churred as Swap grew closer, it was clear that his bright orange and blues were his favorite.

“My wife was the one who delved into researching alternate universes, but I had a fondness for alternate timelines. How every action we make can create a new branching path with alternate versions of us. They could be vastly different or only have minute changes, it was endlessly fascinating.”

“You’re right,” the human murmured, continuing to soothe the newcomer’s pain, “He’s from an alternate timeline from Professor’s universe. Specifically, whatever choices were made to create his timeline lead to its’ destruction thus his current state.”

The poor, clueless sap simply sunk further into the human’s ministrations. The kind touch and reduction of his pain caused his churring to escalate into a rolling rumble. He had no idea what these figures were going on about but as long as he go to stay in their presence and feel something other than pain then he didn’t care.

“You said that he was what we’re missing, does that mean he has the last part of me?” Professor questioned, eyeing the twitching mass the human had moved to his double’s shoulder.

The human pursed her lips as her pity grew, “More like he is the last part of you.” She turned toward Professor with a deadly serious expression, her steely eyes connecting with his own and not allowing him to look away, “You have two options. One, we take this mass from him and you become complete. But in doing so he and his timeline will cease to exist and may affect the primary timeline due to their sudden disappearance. Two, you take all of him. Become one being. You will remain in control but you will retain all of his memories and emotions. His timeline and everyone in it will have a chance of stepping out of their doomed fate by living on through you, but you will bear the brunt of his pain. This isn’t something any of us have a say in. This man is the closest thing to you to any of the others. He very easily could have been you and vice versa. This is your decision.”

The severity of the choice weighed on his shoulders. This version of himself would not survive no matter what he chose to do, and if he chose to do nothing they would all suffer here together. Professor turned away as he reflected on his options. On the one hand, he could end this Gaster’s suffering and what he could assume was the suffering of an entire universe's worth of people, but in doing so he would endanger his sons’ timeline and may disable it. On the other, he would take on not only his own guilt and emotional baggage that came with his choices in life but this version of himself’s own trauma to boot.

Professor wasn’t a selfless man, everything he did was for the pursuit of knowledge and what he thought was right. It was the reason why he had chosen his career over quality time with his sons.

His sons, Professor squeezed his sockets shut as he tried to visualize them, they had gone through so much by themselves. He had already determined that if given the chance he would change for them, be a real father for them. Apparently, the chance to do that started here.

With his resolve shielding him from invasive thoughts Professor turned toward the human, “I’m going with option two.”

The human looked into his sockets took in his intent, and nodded her head in approval. “Prepare yourself.”

This was his only warning as she took his hand along with his doomed double’s and his world went white.

Alarms were blaring, lights were flashing and flickering, and all surrounding electrical devices were going haywire. Vanilla was doing his best to keep Ripley and his men from touching anything while Alphys frantically typed away at the observation room’s main control hub. Vanilla would admit, that with the human government’s funding they were able to make a lot of progress in ways of detecting when the next spacial disturbance would take place, but that didn't help with stopping them.

“What’s going on? Is she even doing anything useful? Just let my men take care of it!” Ripley was clearly freaking out in his neutral-faced manner, trying to push past Vanilla and get access to the control board.

“don’t worry ‘bout it, Alphys’ got it handled. “ Vanilla shrugged, quickly stepping in front of Ripley every time he made a move to get around him.

“S-Sans! I think the machine is-”

Suddenly all sound was sucked up like a vacuum as another portal opened, eating up more than half of the machine and in return spat out a large pile of bones and clothing. The new pair of brothers were much larger than the other pairs though it was hard to tell for sure as they were piled on top of each other and clearly unconscious, their height and appearance weren’t much of an issue. The fact that they had arrived at all was.

“It pulled something through!” Ripley cried, shoving past Vanilla and crashing his face into the thick glass separating them from the machine.

Vanilla cursed as Ripley’s team rushed in after him. Ripley didn’t know that the machine was able to do this nor that it had already pulled a number of monsters through in the past. Vanilla was hoping to keep it that way, but Ripley had been sticking his nose into even the most mundane of tasks Vanilla and Alphys did while in the lab. This was going to be a shit-show.

“Men! Get in there and apprehend and contain the specimens!” a maniacal grin split Ripley’s face in twain, no doubt he was thinking about the military gain that could be milked from this machine. If they could pull people through the machine relatively unharmed then think of the other things they could take from alternate universes. A universe that was more technologically advanced. With advanced weaponry and defenses. This discovery would make him a hero! He would be written in the history books for all to remember.

“W-wait! I-it’s st-still highly dang-dangerous and un-unstable! N-no one should b-be in there!” but Alphys’ warning wasn't heeded as the armed team of humans and Ripley marched through the reinforced steel door and into the room with the machine to cease the new arrivals. Vanilla cursed under his breath as he rushed in as well. This wasn’t going well at all, and the portal had yet to close! There was no telling what would happen if any of those humans, with their powerful souls, fell into the dimensional rift created by the machine. It could be the end of existence as they knew it!

The screams were deafening and the light created by the merging of two bodies was blinding, but she couldn't look away. Professor thrashed and scream as his body became dust then solid, dust then solid, revealing his soul to the thoughts and feelings of his mutilated double. Tears streamed down their faces as their dust became one and their souls fitted together like a puzzle.

The pain was too much, to remember was too much, and to be aware was TOO MUCH!

But as soon as it had started, it was over and with the final segments being sewn into place a gateway opened. From it flew debris and bits of machinery, still sparking and cracking with energy.

The light invaded her senses and as soon as she had finished her promised task the girl bolted for what she knew inside her soul was the exit. Her companions cried after her as she abandoned her closest friend to recover, but she didn’t hear them.

‘Where are you going? You’re leaving them all behind!’ but the thought didn’t slow her. There was a swirling torrent fueling her action, something she had lost long ago bubbled up within her, flooding her sense of rationality.

Clawing through the pieces of machinery strikes of electricity ran through her as the live wires cracked against her limbs, but she didn’t stop.

Freedom.

She could almost taste it.

“Stop! What are you doing?”

“Come back you swine!”

“I knew it would betray us.”

The Gasters were doing their best to follow her, Swap dragging the convulsing Professor along but they weren’t as impervious to the shocks of electricity as she was.

Freedom

She was almost there.

‘Are you really going to leave them to the same fate you suffered?’ the thought tried to guilt her but she was deafened by the swirling in her soul.

Freedom.

The rift was shrinking, it must have gotten what it came for.

Freedom

Just a little farther, a little faster!

‘You’re no better than those you left you.’ the thought taunted and it almost made her hesitate but she was too close to stop now.

Freedom.

She reached out her hand.

Everything was oddly silent despite the pulsing red light of the alarm lighting up the room. Ripley’s team had moved the two large, gangly skeleton brothers to lean up against the glass of the observation room and had since turned their attention toward the gate.

“Doctor Alphys, shouldn’t this have vanished by now?” Ripley questioned, leaning dangerously close to the gate and staring into it. He couldn’t see anything but darkness, like staring into a black hole.

“Y-yes, from pr-previous instances i-it should have sh-shrunk by n-now. Th-this is th-the first o-occurrence of i-it sta-staying o-open for s-so long.” Alphy’s voice sounded through the speakers as she spoke into the mic from the safety of the observation room.

Something didn’t feel right. Vanilla stayed close to the unconscious skeleton brothers as he kept a close eye on Ripley. Hopefully, he would prove to be smart enough not to touch the literal tear in space-time. This was the calmest things have been since a gate has opened and it didn’t sit well with Vanilla.

It was more akin to the calm that came as the ocean receded to make way for a tsunami. Something big was coming but he didn’t know what and as the gate began to shrink as it usually did Vanilla began to wonder if his worries were just his sleepless paranoia finally getting to him.

He really had to jinx himself with a thought like that.

Just as the gate had shrunk down to the size of a tunnel wide enough for a grown human to crawl through an eruption of energy burst forth from the gate knocking everyone off their feet. Ripley knocked his head hard against the ground while his team quickly clambered to their feet and aimed their firearms at the gate as if they would do any good.

This proved to be the case as the gate began to spin like a particle accelerator and similar to a black hole began to consume everything within its vicinity. Starting with Ripley.

He didn’t even have the chance to order his men, call for help or even scream as his very existence was ripped at the seams and thrown into the Void. His men were shouting and chaos engulfed his team. A handful started firing only for their bullets to loose their momentum and get shredded by the gate before being pulled into nothingness.

Vanilla made the quick call to teleport himself and the other skeleton brothers into the observation room and Alplhys initiated a sector-wide shutdown. More and more of the lab was being devoured by the gate despite its dwindling size. In fact, the force of the suction seemed to only increase as the gate grew smaller.

Ripley’s team who was once beating at the door for some slim chance of escape was quickly captured by the ravenous Void. The gate was now the size of a heart and ten times as greedy. It had already ingested the machine and was halfway through breaking down the lab into its gullet.

Vanilla quickly pulled Alphys and the brothers away as the wall and glass separating them from the raging, starving Void broke apart and splintered. It was only moments from their shield breaking down were they too pulled toward the gaping jaws of the beast.

Vanilla tried to teleport, tried to run, but all exits were pulled in by the gravity of the gate. If he tried to use the Void to teleport out of its embrace he would only end up sending himself and everyone in his care into its stomach.

And just as he lost hope, just as he felt his body lift from the ground, just as he felt his dust strip from his soul it all stopped.

He, Alphys, and the probably concussed skeletons crashed to the ground along with all of the refuse and remains of the lab that had survived. Vanilla quickly lifted his head to the gate.

It was still there, the size of a human heart, but from protruded the pales fingers he had seen. He would have mistaken them for bone if not for the sheen of life bouncing off the skin.

The hand grasped around the edge of the gate as though it was something tangible as if it was simply a metal ring that one could grab and move to one’s will. Vanilla’s soul stuttered as yet another ghostly pale hand grasped the adjacent side of the gate before they pulled it apart.

The gate stretched like a rubber band and Vanilla couldn't believe what he was seeing.

A golden-heeled shoe stepped down on the bottom edge of the gate and pushed downward, now creating a triangular shape out of the deadly vacuum and revealing the dark silhouette of whoever was on the other side.

Whoever it was pulled and stretched at the gate whose suction had completely turned on the one trying to come through from the other side. It was clear that this figure was fighting against the very vacuum that had annihilated an entire team of humans and the surrounding area, but they were succeeding.

As the figure finally pulled the gate open with immeasurable strength they pulled their body through.

The crazed look in their eye froze Vanilla’s soul. Their full-toothed grin pulled at their cheeks.

“I’m free.”

Chapter Text

The air was buzzing with energy but it felt crisp and clear as it entered her lungs. The lights were blinding and her eyes pulsed with pain as her pupils contracted for the first time in what felt like decades. She was temporarily blind and her lungs burned from the fresh, electrified air but she didn’t care. She was free.

Her body trembled against the force of that prison trying to suck her back in and hold her there and her muscles strained against the gateway but she didn’t care. All that circulated in her mind was the purest sense of freedom she had felt since-

She willed her body forward. The edges of the gateway immediately slipped closer together as one arm reached out, breaking loose from the pull of the past. As she pulled her legs, the last supports keeping the portal open, through and into the world the gate quickly snapped back to the size it had been before she appeared but before it disappeared into her fingertips Vanilla caught sight of a hauntingly familiar face that sent chills down his spine.

The human slowly descended to the ground as she basked in the rays of sunlight that shinned into the remains of the lab, the warmth on sickly skin. It was clear that it hadn’t been exposed to the sun in quite some time and she was taking in as much as she could in these brief moments.

Brief being the key word seeing as the moment her feet touched the ground a tremor rakes through her body from toe to top. All of the hair on her body raises as she crumples to the ground, nausea churning up her throat and out her mouth in colorless stomach acid and spit. She continues to dry heave as her foundations crumble.

She can’t tell which way is up as she slumps to her forearms, her head lulling to the side before she slips into the puddle of her vomit. She could feel her bones creak against the force that pulled her to the ground and hear her heart pumping in her as blood rushed to her head.

Her breath cut short and her lungs strained and her muscles spasmed. The broken tile felt smooth and sharp under her hands, the soothing warmth of the sun was suddenly burning, and even when she closed her eyes the light burned her retinas. It was all too much to bear even though she needed only to endure it for a few moments before she blacked out, laying in the middle of the lab’s shattered tile flooring.

Vanilla and Alphys stared on in confused disturbance. Did all of that just happen or was this a hallucination created by his dying mind as a means of easing the pain of his form dusting before his soul shattered?

Seemingly having the same thought both Vanilla and Alphys reached over to one another and poked what they could reach without taking their eyes off the twitching body of the collapsed human. Nope, they definitely felt that so this must be real.

Vanilla slumped to the ground and let himself lay flat on his back as he stared up at the fluffy clouds that slowly inched across the beautiful blue expanse of the surface’s sky. He heard Alphys do the same, flopping to the ground, and assumed the same position as him.

Allowing themselves to be in the moment, to breathe and revel in their own existence and pulsing magic. Vanilla felt a hysterical laugh bubble up and burst out of him at the terrifying risks of the situation they just evaded. His ribcage heaved and he rolled over on his side, pulling his knees up and wrapping himself securely in his arms. Tears streamed down his face as he continued to release ugly sob-filled laughs that would frequently be interrupted with a fit of coughs.

Alphys simply laid there, practicing the old family tradition that Mettaton had graciously taught her, and let her fears and worries drift off into the meaningless expanse of life. The hum of the universe shut out Vanilla’s hysterical sob-laughter as she drifted off into a state of calm self-depreciation as she allowed her body to feel like absolute trash and be completely fine with it.

They were alive, they were alive in the ruins of Alphys’ personal lab. The team of humans that had taken over said lab had been sucked into a black hole of a portal that lead to who knows where. They didn’t know if those humans were still alive and frankly Vanilla couldn’t find it in him to care at the moment because he was alive. There was a pair of horribly injured and bloody brothers still in an unconscious pile somewhere else in the room and a ridiculously powerful human collapsed in her bile, all of whom he would have to eventually deal with but none of that mattered. He was alive!

His laughter dulled to light giggles and gasps for breath and his tears were spent. The reality of the situation began to set in and fatigue weighed on his bones. Vanilla pushed himself up and braced himself for what he was about to see.

More than half of the lab was gone. Live wires sparked from the cracked cement walls and ceiling lights hung precariously from their fixtures. Pipes flooded the ground and created large mud puddles that splashed up onto the white tile of the remaining lab. The new pair of brothers were even more tangled together than before, just a pile of limbs that Vanilla didn’t have the energy to decipher. Finally, the human girl continued to twitch and spasm in a pool of stomach acid that appeared strangely iridescent from where Vanilla sat. Her face scrunched up in pain and her hair was a mess but she was clearly alive and Vanilla didn’t know whether it was better or worse than she was.

Turning to check on Alphys Vanilla was relieved to see that she was coping in the way that he had caught her doing many times before back in the Hotland lab. As much as he didn’t want to interrupt her, they had some work to do before they could feel like shit respectfully.

“hey Alph. you alright?” Vanilla visibly flinched at the sound of his voice. It was hoarse and sounded worse than that of a Froggit’s croak after spending a few days in Snowdin without so much as a scarf.

Alphys slowly opened her eyes, the faint melody of her soul fading as she regained awareness of her surroundings. “Yeah…yeah, I’m alright.”

“cool. cool.” they stared silently at the shaking human for a moment.

“We need to take her with us too, don’t we?”

They both knew the answer, they couldn’t just leave her there convulsing on the ground as her lungs fought for a single breath. Not only because she had inadvertently saved their lives but her power to bend the Void like that was something that shouldn’t be left to its own devices, and they didn’t know what kind of person this girl was and how she would use such power.

Without speaking a word Vanilla turned to gather the mountain of limbs with his magic, the pair groaning and growling at the sensation before quickly falling silent. Alphys grabbed a spool of fabric that had miraculously survived and cocooned the human, wiping the spittle from her lips with a disgusted grimace on her face.

Vanilla gave her a questioning look as Alphys lifted the girl with some difficulty. She only responded with a shake of her head. Thanks to the encouragement of Undyne and Creampuff and the part of machinery she had to carry regularly Alphys had grown strong enough to carry this human who was near twice her size to Vanilla’s car parked right outside the lab.

With the new arrivals securely packed into the small beetle-shaped vehicle, Alphys bid Vanilla farewell, for the time being, promising that she would update him on what was guaranteed to be a lot of backlash from the human government and scientific community for the travesty that transpired.

The drive back was quiet and Vanilla didn’t even think to put on some music to fill his thoughts, instead choosing to leave them empty. The drive back came and went in a flash of instinctive turns, stops, and jolts when he almost changed lanes into another driver.

It wasn’t until his brother found him parked in the driveway and knocked on the window to grab his attention did Vanilla realize he was home.

Creampuff worried his hands as he helped his brother numbly trip out of the car and into the house. He made sure his brother was settled in the recliner with a fluffy blanket and the seat pushed back. Vanilla clonked out the moment his skull hit the plushness of his headrest.

With a content smile and firm nod, Creampuff took it upon himself to call for his dear friend, who had most recently chosen his nickname, to help settle in their new friends and housemates.

“So Another Pair Got Pulled Through The Portal?” Chisel, as the blue scarfed, armor-wearing version of his brother had so aptly named himself.

“That Does Seem To Be The Case, My Friend. Sa-Vanilla Is Quite Worn Out So I Believe That Their Arrival Was As Draining As Yours And The Other’s Was, If Not More.” Creampuff exclaimed as he popped open the passenger doors.

The view of a pair of mangled skeleton brothers clinging to one another like they were their last comfort on earth met Creampuff and Chisel’s sockets a wave of remorse rocked their positive mood.

“Perhaps we should ask one of the others to help with them and see if we can let them rest in the same room. I’m afraid that my bed is not big enough to fit the two of them. “Creampuff whispered, carefully unbuckling the duo.

“I’ll go get Fell and Rus!” and with that Chisel zoomed back into the house to grab the strongest members of the household, or at least those who were currently home.

A gasp for breath caught Creampuff’s attention. It had come from the ‘shotgun’ seat as his dear human friend Frisk would say. Cream’s eyes popped out of his sockets at the sight before him. A human! A very sick human by the looks of it. She was squirming in her fabric cocoon and had managed to free one of her arms enough to tug futilely at the seatbelt that held her to the chair. Her expression was twisted in pain and discomfort and her chest heaved as she gasped for breath.

Upon the realization that this human was having trouble breathing, Creampuff kicked it into high gear and swept the girl into his arms, loosening her fabric restraints enough for her to stretch out her arms and take a deep breath of air. He paid little mind to the rancid smell that wafted off of her and the sticky, tacky texture of her clothes. She would surely need a good cleaning but what was important now was making sure she was okay.

“Who In The Hell Is That?” Fell’s demanding voice cut through the air when he caught sight of Cream cradling an adult human like an infant. She barely fit in his arms all splayed out like that!

“I’m not sure brother-me! You would have to ask Vanilla but I’m afraid he’s out cold at the moment!” Creampuff whispered, not wanting to disturb the human now that she had finally stopped squirming.

“Well, Whoever It Is They Smell Revolting. I Deman You Clean The Human At Once!” Fell heaved as he dragged the largest of the new pair of skeletons out of the back of the car, Rus supporting the weight of the smaller of the two who refused to stop clinging to his brother’s side.

“Well I would but I have to prepare a room for her!”

“Well, I’m Sure As Hell Not Doing It! I Can Smell The Human From Here!”

“I and M’lord can’t do it either, too busy for baby sittin’”

Well, this was quite the conundrum. Vanilla was out cold, and Red and Stretch were out looking for work, which left…

“I’ll do it.” Chisel offered, holding up his arm for Creampuff to pass the human to him.

"Are you sure friend?” Cream tightened his grip on the girl.

Though Chisel had a meaningful discussion with his brother it was clear that he was still dealing with a lot of emotions and it was taking time for him to return to his upbeat and energetic self. The event had scarred him and Chisel found it hard to unconditionally trust and believe in others like he used to, especially members of the royal family and humans in general. His taking on the task of caring for this strange human whom he had never met before was a big step.

Chisel knew this, Creampuff knew this, but nonetheless, after seeing the resolve in Chisel’s sockets Creampuff relented and handed him the human.

It was almost comical watching the stout skeleton carry a human nearly twice his size up the steps to the house bridal style. Trying his best to support her head and not let any of her limbs get too close to the ground. It was more difficult than he thought as she would occasionally have a muscle spasm that would upset her balance or she would end up jabbing him between the rips which almost sent them down the stairs. But with a lot of effort on his part and needless teasing and jabs made by Rus as he and Fell carried the other pair of skeletons into one of the rooms, Chisel finally made it to the bathroom.

With as much care as he could when awkwardly handling a much larger person, Chisel placed the human into the bathtub and let himself have a breather. There was a reason why he had chosen to take up this task. He had been wallowing in self-pity and despair for too long and Fell’s words were really getting to him. He was tired of doing nothing, stewing in his thoughts wouldn’t help him move forward, only action would. He wanted to contribute and help again, and those choices would start with this one.

With the reminder of his purpose and motivation fresh in his mind, Chisel turned to inspect his temporary charge. She was obviously uncomfortable in the confines of the tub with her legs tucked and bent at an unpleasant angle, her arms curled up on her chest and her neck bent down to tuck her chin between her collar bones.

A soft knock resounded on the door and Chisel knew from the sound who was on the other side.

“Hello, there my friend! I just wanted to offer a fresh pair of clothes for our guest and a few towels to reserve her dignity and dry off with.” Creampuff’s tender smile shinned through the crack of the door as he quickly handed Chisel said items.

Bending over at the waist, resting his skull against the doorframe and pulling the door closed against the other side of his skull Creampuff gazed down at the human who lay in a fitful slumber.

“Who do you think she is? Could she be some version of us from a very strange universe? Or a version of human friend Frisk? Or maybe someone new!” his sockets twinkled with delight at the thought of making a new human friend who had no idea of his history as the Moster Mascot.

“I’m not sure. She doesn’t look like….like Chara either so….I don’t know.” Chisel replied spitting out the name ‘Chara’ like it was venom in his mouth.

They stayed in their positions for a little while longer, simply taking in each other's presence and that of their guest. Despite not being a part of the events that had led this human and the other two skeletons to their door the suspense and building curiosity that they had to keep down for the sake of their resting company was beginning to drain them.

“Well,” Creampuff spoke up at last, “I’ll leave you to it. I must prepare a place for her but let me know if you need anything at all dear Chisel!” and with that, he softly closed the door and took his exit. The sound of his light yet steady footsteps leading down the hall.

Chisel turned back to the human woman laying in the tub. Might as well make this quick. Though with the number of layers that made up this human’s attire he may be here longer than he thought.

Chisel began by taking off the woman’s golden shoes which he wondered if they were made out of real gold. They were certainly heavy enough and shone beautifully under the light. Next were her stripped leggings which Chisel questioned fashion-wise but he wasn’t in any position to judge. He looked away as he lightly trailed his phalanges up her legs to find the waist of the leggings, making sure to touch her as little as possible and not lift her dress more than necessary.

With those removed next came the hard part, the dress. The waist was so poofy and long it practically filled the tub so Chisel moved his attention to her hood. He couldn’t tell whether it was attached to the top piece of the dress or whether it was its own article. When he tried to remove it all he managed to do was pull the hood over the girl’s head, pushing her hair into her face and catching some in her mouth.

Grimacing at the mistake Chisel softly brushed the hair out of the way and changed tactics, this time trying to take the top piece off all together but it too was connected to the skirt of the dress. He carefully leaned her forward to look for a zipper or buttons on the back and he found none. Perplexed he looked on her sides and found no openings or means of loosening the dress for means of disrobing.

Dread filled him as he realize he would have to lift up the skirt of the dress to take the entire thing off, but as he moved to do so it was as though the skirt stuck to her skin like glue. No matter what he tried or where he pulled at the skirt wouldn’t budge an inch, in fact, with each tug, it appeared to deflate in its poofiness and stick closer to her legs until they resembled bell bottom pants.

This whole occurrence was very strange and a little concerning. Could this human’s clothes be alive or sentient? Or were they perhaps ingrained with some sort of technology that made them impossible for anyone other than the wearer to remove them? What kind of world would she have had to live in for that to be the case?

That wasn’t the main issue here though. Chisel shook his head and refocused on the task at hand. Despite their mystic properties, the dress was still filthy and so was the girl who wore it. The shower head in this bathroom wasn’t detachable so Chisel would have to fill the tub to make it easier to clean her, so fill it he did.

After a quick check of the temperature and moving the slowly repoofing dress aside to plug the drain Chisel was set for a while as the tub filled up. He absentmindedly grabbed the shampoo, conditioner and body wash as he let his mind wander.

Who was this human? Where had she come from? Did she have any connection with the tall, gangle skeleton and his short, injured brother who was also pulled through the Void? Could she be a mage? It would explain her clothes’ strange properties.

A hand suddenly gripped his humerus tightly and snapped him out of his thoughts. She was staring through him with large, hazy, and frightened eyes. Her other hand groped at the wall to find some form of purchase as the one gripping his humerus tightened to the point he fear she would cause it to splinter.

“Please” she whimpered, her voice full of hopelessness and terror.

“Please-please don’t. Don’t….let…” her words slurred together as she tried to hold her head up.

It was futile as it continued to slump to the side or forward. Chisel quickly reached out for her head, as it slumped back like a newborn baby’s, and caught it before it cracked against the bathroom wall.

Now with her head cradled in his hand, she allowed her full weight to slump into the tub but her grip on him never loosened.

“What? What is it? Are you alright? Do you need help?” Chisel urged, bending his grappled arm as best he could to touch her own.

“Please! I-I’ll be…..Don’t…”

“Don't? Don’t what?”

Tears bubbled up in her eyes, “Please don’t let go. Don’t let me fall… I don’t wanna. I’ll be…”

A tide pool of intent washed over him from her soul. Her emotions and sense of desperation pooled out and over her like a young monster child learning how to contain their intent to conversations and encounters. Her fear and desperation for someone to save her were fresh and raw and Chisel was overwhelmed.

Despite this, he couldn’t help but feel like she wasn’t just saying these things from a place of pain. She was saying these things to him. She wanted him to help her.

“I won’t. I won’t let you go.” and he meant it. Though it was coming from a place of his desperation to be himself again, Chisel meant every word. He wouldn’t let her go. He would stay with her for as long as she needed. As long as she wanted.

And that was a promise.

Chapter Text

        The air felt different than it did before. Not as fresh and clear but still new and it burned as it circulated through her lungs. She was laying on something…soft? Is that how one would describe it? The surface she lay on was plush and comfortable, it cradled her body while this invisible force pulled her into the depths of the cushiony surface.

She was encompassed in warmth and light was shining onto her face causing the back of her eyelids to appear a fleshy red as she squeezed them tight. While her waking mind slowly came back to her the warmth became uncomfortable and the light blinding. She grumbled and tossed and turned only to realize something was restricting her movements.

Her movements quickly became erratic and frantic as the offending object only twisted around her more securely.

‘No no no No NO! Get off me! I won’t - not again….’ “LET GO!”

She tried to blink her eyes open but immediately clenched them shut to the harsh brilliance that offended them. Letting out a blubbering cry the human woman fought tooth and nail to free herself but the soft, tender tendrils only wound tighter. Like a boa constrictor, they wound around her limbs, around her neck, and cut off her breathing.

‘You can’t hold me! You can’t! You can’t leave me here!’

“NO!”

With that final shout in resistance louder than before, she gave one final heave to remove the offending thing off of her body only to unceremoniously flip herself off of the comfy surface and onto one not so forgiving.

The sound of the woman’s cries and the loud thump that shook the floor alerted Chisel to the scene. He burst in through the door frantically, believing that the woman was experiencing some form of pain or perhaps was having an episode similar to the one in the tub hours previously.

Instead, he found her flat on her stomach, pushing up with her core and curving her back to lift her arms and legs off the ground. She would wave them around and flap them with sounds of effort, then would let her whole body go limp and take some deep, gasping breaths, before attempting the motions again. She was having the hardest time lifting her head and Chisel could almost make out the bulging veins in her neck as she made her attempts.

It was almost as if she was trying to relearn her motor skills the way a human infant would when first learning how to crawl and support its head.

Chisel watched on with uncertainty and clear confusion, squinting his sockets, furrowing his browbones, and leaning his head forward slightly while mouthing ‘what?’ as he watched this full-grown woman flail about.

She finally seemed to realize that she wouldn’t be getting up as she wanted to and with a few smacks at the hardwood floors, as if confirming that they wouldn’t move, she began to push herself back and forth until she gained enough momentum to roll herself onto her back. With this new position, the girl finally noticed Chisel’s presence within the doorframe. A wide, toothy grin spread across her face as she took in his features. The intensity of her gaze brought an unfamiliar heat to his cheekbones.

“Hello!” she greeted, craning her neck to see him fully.

“Um…hello to you too.”

The human tilted her head back and forth, dragging it across the floor as she tried to view Chisel upright without actually sitting up, “You’re quite the striking fellow, aren’t you? How do you make your eyes do that?”

At her question Chisel subconsciously brought his hand up to touch just under his eye. She must have meant his signature star-shaped eyelights. He supposes the excitement of properly meeting this friend-shaped human brought about the change.

Yet before he could respond the girl had changed course and began to rock back and forth along her spine until she pulled herself into a sitting position, now facing away from Chisel. The twin ends of her hood splayed across the floor.

“You know,” she began, childishly scooting herself around to face him before resing criss-cross-apple-sauce-hands-in-you-lap, “I honestly forgot that this force, what’s it called? Something to do with a guy named Nutmeg? Newbron? Fig-something.”

“Newton?” Chisel offered.

“Yeah! That guy!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers and wagging a pointed finger at him and slapping the floor again with the other, “He made this force that holds everything together and made a bunch of rules about it or something. I don’t really remember. Hmmm….what was that force called?”

A light chuckle slipped out of Chisel, he couldn’t help it. This situation was just so bizarre and unexpected with this smiling, energetic human who couldn’t keep her eyes locked on any one object without them flicking to another, who apparently was powerful enough to hold open a portal to the Void and step through it from who knows where couldn’t remember what gravity was.

“Do you mean gravity? And I’m pretty sure Newton only discovered it.” finally stepping through the doorway Chisel softly closed the door behind him as he stood before his guest.

“Right! Gravity. Graaaaavity. GravITY!. gravity.” the girl tested the word on her tongue, pulling faces with each pull of a vowel and over enunciation of a part of the word, causing another bubbling giggle to pour out from Chisel’s chest.

“Anyway, you wouldn’t mind helping a girl up would ya?” with a hand outstretched and her legs now uncrossed Chisel didn’t even have to think twice before grabbing her surprisingly heavily calloused hand and using more strength than he thought he would need to pull her to her feet.

Or as close as ‘onto her feet’ as he could get what with her being partially limp when he pulled on her. She practically collapsed onto him when he had fully pulled her up. Which was a bit of a suffocating situation for him as he found his skull pressed dangerously close to her breasts as the top half draped over him. He had to brace under her weight and widen his stance as she grasped his shoulders tightly while trying her best to push herself up.

From his position under her torso, his skull now bend down from the tiring exertion required to push her off of him while she was also pushing down on him to get up, Chisel knew, almost intimately at this point, that her struggle was not for lack of strength. The flexing muscles of her upper body, her abs, which he totally didn’t get a peek of as they flexed under the fabric of her dress, and her powerful, secure, crushing grip that totally wasn’t making him feel like she could fold him in half like a piece of paper, made it very clear that she could stand on her own.

‘She could do more than stand on her own.’ his mind suggested. His face burned at the thought and the shame it brought him was enough to finally push her to her feet.

“Whew! I finally got it! You know standing is a lot harder when you haven’t done it for forever!” the girl wisely quipped.

Chisel could only nod as he hunched over with the woman’s grip still firm on his shoulders, but not nearly as tight, as he willed his face to cool. His guest may seem quite strong and…capable and would most likely make for a great sparing partner but he hadn't asked for her name yet! Not only that, but she would obviously have to get readjusted to basic motor skills before it would be deemed acceptable to offer a spot on his training regimen.

Taking a deep breath to calm his soul Chisel finally stood up straight to introduce himself only to come face to chest with the woman before him. His jaw felt like it was going to detach from his skull as he looked up. He knows he’s not the tallest skeleton in the house by far, in fact, he’s the second shortest, though he still thinks that Nox’s heels are cheating, this woman was almost as tall as Papy if not taller!

“Wow! This is a lot harder than I remember.” beamed the girl, her gaze flicking to the new objects she could now see from her enhanced vantage point. The soft squeeze she gave his shoulders made him weak in the knees, or maybe that’s just the exertion from holding her up.

“You know, you’re a lot stronger than I expected! Who knew a skeleton could have such strength! I mean you’re basically skin and bones…minus the skin of course!” laughter shone in her eyes but she didn’t let it pass her lips. She gave his shoulders a firm pat before letting them slip away, the sudden lack of weight almost making CHisel stumble in place.

“Was that a joke?” the words came out almost instinctively, it tends to happen when you grow up raising a notorious pun master.

The intensity of her gaze held him captive and his breath left him. She was focused, but not on him. She was looking through him to something she had known before, but what was it? Why did that playful disapproval plague her heart? Her facial features twitched, and her eyes squinted for a brief moment. She blinked and the memory was gone. The smile that had slipped from her face found its way back into place but it fits in a crooked stance compared to before.

“Ha! No. No. I’m not much of a jokester. My mind is built for other things I guess!” Her attention diverted again as she took her first wobbly step toward the window.

Chisel moved to her side and watched attentively as she walked, or more like hobbled, to the window. His arms raised a hair, ready to leap in and catch her, though he was not sure if he actually could, in case she fell.

“I-I see. Sorry, it’s just that my brother is a terrible ‘pun master’. All he does is lay around and make bad jokes all day!” but that wasn’t true nowadays.

Papy had been uncharacteristically responsible, though, Chisel supposes it wasn’t as uncharacteristic as it seemed. He didn’t know his brother as well as he thought he did after all. Chisel shook the nasty, twisting knot out of his head before it could fall into his chest. He had talked with Papy and they were fine. Or at least they were going to be. They were fine.

“A-anyway! My name is San…I mean Chisel! You can call me Chisel!” he almost slipped up, these nicknames were harder than he thought, especially when he wanted this new potential friend to call him by his name.

The woman gives Chisel her name.

Now with the human safely leaning on the lip of the window Chisel allowed himself to breathe normally and think of some questions to ask her. The others had mentioned that if he was around when their guest finally came that he should get to know her! As if he didn’t plan on doing so regardless. How else would you get to know a new friend?

“Ahem-SO NEW HUMAN FRIEND! HOW DID YOU GET HERE? OR SHOULD I SAY, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU BEFORE YOU GOT HERE?” pulling together his confidence and the growing excitement of officially making this mysterious human his friend, Chisel allowed his voice to rise and fill the room.

Pulling back from her position of being pressed against the window pane the human looked at him once more with that intense stare, this time it was directed at him and Chisel had to restrain himself from rattling in his boots.

“Friend?” she questioned, brows furrowing and eyes squinting with a discerning glint.

The subtle but cutting change in her gaze had Chisel fidgeting with his gloves and frantically explaining himself, “W-WELL! I WAS HOPING, NOW THAT WE’VE INTRODUCED OURSELVES AND SINCE WE’RE PROBABLY GOING TO BE SPENDING TIME TOGETHER WHILE WE FIGURE OUT HOW YOU GOT HERE, THAT WE COULD BE FRIENDS! MAYBE? I-if you want?”

She continued to stare into his sockets for what felt like hours and even though Chisel knew for a fact that humans couldn’t CHECK monsters outside of an ENCOUNTER he couldn’t help but feel like she was gazing into his very soul.

“Why not?” she decided, giving him a twitch of a smile before turning back to press her face against the window, eyes flicking from the clouds to the backyard and the exercise equipment scattered across it, to the sides of the house and birds sitting on the roof.

Chisel let out a breath of relief for the umpteenth time in the last hour or so but before he could get back to his original line of questions a shaking crash reverberated through the house and had his friend’s head snapping toward the door.

His hands flew up in a pacifying manner as if to calm a wild animal, “DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT! IT’S PROBABLY JUST THE OTHERS GETTING TOO ROWDY AGAIN!” Chisel soothed with a wide grin.

Provoking shouts followed by more crashes echoed through the hallways and put a strain on that grin.

“I’M SURE VANILLA WILL SORT IT OUT!”

“VANILLAAAAAAAA!”

The shattering of glass and more crashes had Chisel dropping his smile and rushing to the door. He grabbed the handle and was about to open it when he remembered his friend.

“Umm…” he paused, turning toward her only to find her standing right behind him. She moved so silently, as though she were walking on air, he hadn’t noticed her approach, “W-would you mind staying here for a moment? I…I just need to check on them.”

He quickly cracked open the door and squeezed through, not taking his eyes off of the human for a moment, “I’ll be back soon! I promise! THEN WE CAN HAVE PROPER FRIENDSHIP-BUILDING DISCUSSIONS!”

With that Chisel swept down the halls, practically slid down the stairs, and rushed to the growing sounds of chaos and conflict.

Left to her own devices, the young woman didn’t think twice about her ‘friend’s assurances and took made her way out into the upstairs hallway, after spending a minute figuring out how to open the door. Fine motor skills were easier to relearn while fighting the force known as gravity. At least she was able to keep them in muscle memory during her time in the ‘Void’. Standing and walking? Not so much.

Once in the hallway, she took another few minutes to deeply appreciate the texture of the walls, the carpet, and the polished table that housed a rock with googly eyes and sprinkles. She would have spent much longer taking in everything interesting and completely mundane thing in her environment if not for the continued screaming, now with the voice of her ‘friend’ in the mix.

The cacophony of chaos drew her to the stairs. The trip down loomed before her, the realistically slopping decline plunged before her eyes into a life-risking drop. Nausea brewed in the back of her throat but she swallowed it down and closed her eyes. Perspective would be another thing she would have to get used to, but it’s not so bad if she doesn't have to look at it.

With that idea in mind the woman took a stew out, only to realize at the last second that yet again, gravity exists, and she couldn’t just float down to the next step, as she tumbled down the stairs.

“Shit!” she cursed, her body slamming into the sharply curving corner wall as her rolling descent was redirected, “It. Just. Keeps. Happening!” She choked, each word accented with the thump of her form coming into contact with the next step below her. Ultimately she reached the bottom, but the bruising trip down felt like it had lasted at least the length of a running gag.

Her body pulsed and trembled at the bottom of the staircase and she decided that it was completely fine to just lay there for a moment. Just o accept her place in this universe and the fact that, for whatever reason, several things she was able to do before were not applicable here. Whether because of this universe’s evidently stupid laws of physics, or becuase it simply sought payment for her uninvited intrusion she didn’t know and at this moment didn’t care.

More crashing and what suspiciously sounded like a door getting hacked in two finally brought the girl back to her senses. Right, there was a reason why she had chosen to make the trek down here. Hauling herself up, with much more success than the first time, she made her way toward the shouts which, now that she was closer, sounded a lot more like pleads and threats.

Her steps were sure and silent and no one heard her as she stepped into the living room and no one noticed as she took in the scene before her.

Never before had she seen so many skeletons in one place, let alone living ones. Sure she had seen her share of death and corpses, but they usually still had flesh and skin on them…..

The tallest of the bunch, a crooked fellow with splintering bones that would have crippled a less man, was curled tightly in on himself and cowering behind a much shorter but equally as splintering skeleton with a gaping hole in his skull. This skeleton was practically foaming at the mouth, swinging a blood-stained cleaver at whoever drew near to him or the poor scared pile of bones behind him.

A skeleton of similar height and attire was trying to ease the flailing aggressor alongside the woman’s ‘friend’ and another skeleton who looked awful like the cowering pup. Two taller skeletons wearing an orange hoodie and a pristine chef’s uniform respectively were taking a more offensive stance. An unconscious short skeleton sweating ruby red bullets was being tended to by someone who could have been his fraternal twin. At the very least, they shared the same fashion sense. And in the very back, observing the entire situation with a cup of coffee in his hand was a very fashionably dressed skeleton in a very fitting coat.

Now she would have been perfectly content with seeing how this scenario played out but that cleaver looked dreadfully sharp and it was getting a little too close to her ‘friend’ while he was distracted with stopping the oranged hoodie-wearing skeleton form sending a…glowing blue bone? At their assailant.

The two skeletons appeared to notice only a moment too late the apparent danger they had placed themselves in the line of and Stretch was a step away from zipping his brother away from the incoming cleaver when they were suddenly not near the attack at all.

Looking up Stretch was shocked to find the mysterious human Vanilla had taken in shielding him and his brother. She had appeared without warning, without a sound, and without so much as a wisp of her soul revealing itself. She moved them out of the line of fire without leaving even the faintest trace of her touch.

The abrupt arrival of a new player on the field send the offender into a defensive position, twirling his cleaver in his claws as he determined his next course of action. He was clearly outnumbered and this new opponent was quick, but quick prey always wore out fast. Without another moment of thought, the monster with one blazing eye leaps at his new prey.

Without having to turn around the woman easily dodged and redirected the flow of his attack away from the sheltered skeletons with a push of her hand. It did little to deter the blazing hunger of her aggressor as he just as quickly twisted on his feet and swiped at her with his other hand. She lept out of the way and leaned back limbo style to dodge the cleaver swipe that came immediately after.

Unfortunately, what with her renewing experiences with gravity, she couldn’t find her balance and ungracefully flopped to the ground. Taking advantage of this, the skeletal attacker raised his cleaver with both hands to bring it down and end the fight, but even though the woman didn't have much finesse with balance she did have a good understanding of rolling.

And roll she did, out of the way as she momentarily mourned the damage to such pretty hardwood flooring. It felt nice against her back and she couldn’t help but look at the lodged cleaver with pity mid-fight.

As the glaring skeleton yanked his weapons out from the floor a weak sob called for the woman’s attention. Behind her, the shivering, concerningly thin skeleton was weeping. Big, fat, amber, salty tears ran down his face and a cold, constricting feeling grabbed at her throat and took hold of her heart.

“LOOK OUT DAMN IT!”

With her attention diverted, most of her upper body and her head turned away from the murderous skeleton to take in the pitiful display of the monster behind her, the woman was completely open to attack. Cleaver raised high and everyone else was too out of it or far away to do anything, the one ruby eye of the skeleton shrank as he swung down to hit his mark.

The impact sent a mini shockwave across the living room, sweeping the gnarled, knotted hair out of the woman’s face as she stood strong, stopping the deadly attack with an outstretched arm and an unyielding hold on his wrist.

The thrashing monster growled as he tried to tug his arm free, refusing to drop his weapon, only to find that he could do nothing against this human’s iron grip. He could see his brother shaking from behind the human. He had to do something. He had to keep him safe. He had to finish this. Drawing his arm back to summon a very unstable blaster the crazed monster froze as a rough, worn hand caressed his cheek.

Staring into his friend’s eyes Chisel could see a centered understanding, her wide and unhinged grin, and wild look softened into one of compassion and sympathy.

“You’re missing something. Aren’t you?”

The monster's only shinning eyelight flickered for a moment, his hand twitching to it the scratch that suddenly grew just behind his socket. What did she mean? What did she know? How could she know? Know what? What is he missing?

“Don’t worry,” she soothed, fierce understanding supported her unwavering tone, “These guys are here to help you. They’ll fill you up with what you need.” Her thumb pressed gently under his broken socket and with that soothing, warm touch the mind-numbing itch eased into nothingness. With eyelight blown wide the skeletons’ grip went limp and the cleaver clattered to the ground.

At this, a proud smile plucked at the woman’s soft one. She gently papped his cheek before turning back toward her friend who stood there gaping at her strength.

“So Chisel! How about you show me around huh?”

In response, Chisel nodded numbly and walked off in the direction of the backyard with the human in tow. All eyes followed her until she was out of sight and although many different impressions were made from this… introduction of sorts one common thought united them all.

‘What the hell just happened?’

Chapter Text

        Vanilla couldn’t even begin to comprehend what he just witnessed. He’s pretty sure the combined stress and shock were going to have him keeling over any day now. At least he could have the silver lining of knowing he wouldn’t be receiving any other surprise guests any time soon. The machine was completely destroyed along with any and all records that had been kept in the lab. This didn’t do much to ease the workload he was currently stuck with, however.

Vanilla continued to stare blankly through the nightmare version of himself who simply stood stock still where the human left him, his singly blood red eyelight practically filling his socket. Vanilla should have known from this version’s appearance alone that doing anything more than moving him would have brought severe consequences, but he needed to know what kind of danger he was dealing with.

It was just a quick CHECK but the moment Vanilla’s magic brushed the dust-covered body of the unconscious monster he snapped awake with all the rage of a starved animal. If Vanilla didn’t have Red by his side to take the brunt of the blow he would have been dusted on the spot. The commotion and dense intent had the Papyrus double,  who shared so many parallels with his own bro that it tore into Vanilla’s soul, alert and rattling in fear with his new surroundings and new faces.

They were all lucky that the human had stepped in when she did, but her intervention didn’t put Vanilla at ease in the slightest. It was evident from her movements that she was still having trouble walking but in the short time since she had woken up to when she faced off against his starved double she had regained enough motor skills to dodge…maybe not dodge well but still.

“So, Vanilla.” he could help but groan at the sound of Nox’s voice, “If we could continue our discussions before we were so rudely interrupted?”

“whas there to even discuss?” Vanilla sighed, massaging his browbones in disdain, “ya already got full reign o’ the house. I can’t give ya more than that.”

Nox let out a huff of a laugh, “I assure you, I don’t need your permission to do as I please. This discussion is to enhance our mutual circumstances in this house.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Well as doubtful as it may be it’s the truth. I don’t enjoy being crammed in this hovel with the likes of you as much as you do if not more. And I know you need help with that scamming human you call a realtor.” Nox stated snidely, picking lint from his steam-pressed jacket.

“that’s none of yer business bub.” Vanilla snapped. Nox’s laid-back and nonchalant attitude about something Vanilla had been stressing over for weeks was getting on his already fried nerves.

“Oh but it is.” Nox smirked, his words dripping from his mouth like sweet venom. He had begun to slowly circle Vanilla like a predator toying with prey, “In fact, I do believe it is all of our business. But,” he stopped, side-eyeing Vanilla with a wicked spark in his sockets, “I can easily make this problem disappear and even set us up with better accommodations.”

“ya can’t kill the human, Nox.” Vanilla deadpanned, dragging his palm down his face.

“Oh come now! I’m not a barbarian, that’s the crimson duo’s forte. No, what I plan to do is perfectly legal, I just need a few things from you.” he waited a few moments as Vanilla’s resolve began to slip, “And mind you, I didn’t have to ask or go through these pleasantries. Mutt easily could have taken the paperwork I needed but with the addition of a new variable I decided it best to bring my plan to your attention.”

“ya mean da human from da Void, don’t you? what do ya want with her?” Vanilla was honestly slipping into this slick, tempting trap Nox had laid. He was just so tired of dealing with the house and the blackmail and the biased justice system. But the human girl was dangerous and unquestionably powerful. He had to be careful with letting Nox be around her.

“Just a few minutes to question her, that’s all. Nothing too severe. Probably the same questions you plan to ask her with the addition of some of my own.”

The weight of the combined crises finally got to Vanilla and his resolve shattered. He hadn’t known Nox for long but he did know that he was a crafty and devious monster. Someone you didn’t want to be on the wrong side of. There was no telling what Nox even wanted with the human or whether he was actually just going to question her. But with his muddled mind and weary soul Vanilla was losing his drive to care.

“fine,” he conceded as he turned away from Nox’s smug face, “ya can question her first jus’ take da ‘Crimson Duo’ with ya when ya do. I gotta take care o these two first.”

His hazy sockets drifted over to the nightmarish version of himself and his brother. The latter of whom was fussing over the former, teeth grinding together in a screechingly painful way with bits of dust breaking off and floating down to land on his brother’s jacket. This Papyrus would frequently wipe fervently at his chin only to stop with a wince and rub more gently to get rid of any built-up dust. Vanilla cringed at the sight. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful it must have been and as horrible as it sounded he was somewhat glad it was this Papyrus and not his own who was burdened with this…deformity.

“Of course, and if I may. It would be wise to keep the human’s words in mind. These versions are missing something, and it’s not just their sanity.” Nox tossed out his words like they meant nothing and proceeded out the door to the backyard.

Picking up on what Nox had tossed, Vanilla looked closer at the new pair of brothers. Their chipping cracked grey bones. The dust clinging to their forms and most likely caked onto their souls, weighing down their movements. They were certainly missing something, and they had obviously been through some form of hell. Vanilla gathered what little focused magic he could to make a quick check of the two. Something he should have done much earlier if he was being honest.

His sockets widened at what he saw. Oh. So that’s what they need.

Meanwhile, in the backyard, the resident human was yet again flat on her back, the skirt of her dress flayed out, the tails of her hood creating a halo-like spiral above her head. She lay there baking in the sun with her eyes closed, smoothly running her hands just above the grass. sometimes stopping to bunch it between her fingers and give a soft tug, but not enough to rip or tear the little grass blades, clovers, and weeds.

Chisel observed her from the sidelines, enjoying the warmth of the sun himself while never taking his sockets off of her. He was so focused on his task of guarding…observing, he means, that he had hardly felt his brother appear beside him. It wasn’t until Nox, Mutt, Fell, and Red came out did he snap out of it.

“Chisel” Nox greeted with a curt nod.

Chisel gave a hesitant nod back. He didn’t know what to make of Nox. He was so much like himself yet completely different. At first, he had thought that Nox was like a version of himself that embodied his worst traits, and Chisel began to despise him for it. He still felt that way, but it had greatly diminished after a few interactions…and some spying on Chisel’s part. That wasn’t to say that Nox wasn’t a menace or manipulative, because he is, he just doesn’t abuse his power and his authority over others like Chisel thought he would.

Waling closer to the sprawled-out human, Nox made the prick choice of blocking out the sun, causing his shadow to fall over the human’s body and for the human to open her eyes in confusion.

“Good afternoon human, I believe that we need to talk.” Nox’s eyelights twinkled in his skull, his sharp-toothed grin leering down at the human.

“Alright.” she agreed with no resistance as she raised her arm expectantly, extending her hand to him.

Nox quirked a brow bone at the action and the woman shook her hand with insistence. Chisel moved forward to grab a hold of her hand but before he could Nox made a subtle nod of his head and in an instant Mutt was there lifting the human to her feet.

“Thanks, bone boy. Wow! There’s quite a few of you huh?” the woman’s wide and dissecting eyes bore into each skeleton’s skull in turn.

“Ha, yes I suppose there are. But changing pace, I have a few questions for you and expect you to answer them honestly.” Nox demanded with a humorless laugh.

“Sure. I don’t see why not.” the human replied easily. Not even the slightest bit disgruntled by Nox’s attitude or tone.

“Ahem, yes, well. Where did you come from?” Nox asked, getting straight to the point.

The woman hummed thoughtfully as she swayed on her feet. As she did Red and Fell took the time to observe her and see if they could sense anything to be wary of. Vanilla had said that she held open the gate with nothing but her bare hands and had somehow levitated before crumpling to the ground. As far as they knew humans didn’t levitate.

Fell stalked closer, favoring the shade of a nearby tree to peer at her. He wound around her side until he stood directly behind her, taking in her aura. She didn’t feel like a mage. There wasn’t a concentrated, buzzing shield around her like that human child had. If she did it was either condensed into an impenetrable magical barrier around her, or it was too small and insignificant for him to sense.

Red was having just as little luck in trying to get a good read on her. He had tried to CHECK her when Vanilla first brought her to the house, but for some reason, he couldn't read her stats. Not because they were blurred out or in a different language or anything of the sort, it was more like they were instantly wiped from his mind the moment he looked away, as if they were a fleeting thought taken with the wind. And when he was looking at them he couldn’t fully comprehend what he was looking at, he knew he could read what they said but the words were blurred in his mind and they were rendered meaningless.

This additional unknown variable of a highly dangerous, though not aggressive, the human was really starting to piss him off. And so was her swaying. She had even taken it a step further to swing her arms back and forth at her sides with each sway of her body. And now she wasn’t just humming in thought but some random tune? Was she even taking this seriously?

“answer da question punk.” at his words her head snapped over to him so fast he could have sworn he heard her neck crack in objection to the movement.

She looked at him as if she just recognized that he was there despite having mentioned off-hand that he was there before. It was like she was actually seeing him and not some random skeleton in a throng of ‘undead’. As she continued to stare him down Red instinctively moved closer to his bro, inadvertently drawing her gaze over to him as well.

When Red stood by his brother’s side the woman’s eyes flicked up to his bro’s face and once she laid eyes on him her pinprick pupils seemed to double in size.

“You have fangs! That’s so cool! I knew someone who fangs, but it was more like a jagged jack-o-lantern smile. But you have actual fangs!” the human gasped. A bright smile grew on her face as she stepped forward and took hold of Fell’s upper canines

With an unholy screech Fell reared back as far as he could, which wasn’t very far. The human’s grip was so tight he was afraid he would lose his teeth if he put up too much resistance to her grasp.

What was this filthy human doing? How dare she!

Said filthy human simply pulled Fell closer to her by his teeth to get a better look at their pristine condition. “How do you get them so white? What kind of toothpaste do you use? I always wanted to get my teeth like this.” she mumbled to herself.

As fell continued to make choking noises the human rubbed his fangs with her thumbs, captivated by their texture and smoothness. Red was fussing with his hands raised, not knowing what to do. Why wasn’t Boss killing this chump? Why was he just taking this kind of treatment? What the heck was going on?

“H-hey! let go a’ mah brothah!” he really shouldn’t have said anything.

With the human’s blown-wide eyes now focused on him Red couldn’t help himself from gulping down his next words. All that came out was a pitiful, craking growl as she took a step toward him with eyes fixed on his golden tooth.

Coming to his rescue with a call of the human’s name was Chisel, “You really shouldn’t do that.”

Tilting her head in confusion the human slouched slightly to be closer to her companion, “Why? I’m not hurting them.”

“They don’t like it. You’re making them uncomfortable. You should stop.” Chisel bluntly stated with a stern look on his face. He raised a finger and wagged it at the human as though he were scolding a baby-bones. The human’s eyes followed his finger before focusing on him once more.

“Oh. Okay. I’ll stop,” she decided, standing to her full height, “But why didn’t they just say so?”

“Wel…”

“We’re getting off topic.” Nox interrupted, “Ow!” the girl reacted, albeit a little late, as Nox plucked a strand of hair from her head, “Where are you from?” he restated, twirling the strand between his phalanges.

Rubbing the spot where the hair once was connected to her head the human mumbled a response, “It’s not like I was trying to get off track. I just….” her brown furrowed as the hand once rubbing her head now clutched it tightly, bunching up her already knotted hair, “I’m from…I…I don’t remember.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T REMEMBER? YOU HAD TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE BEFORE YOU WERE IN THE VOID!” Fell huffed, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. He and his brother had relocated themselves about a yard or two away from the human after Fell harshly wiped his teeth on his brother’s sleeve.

“Firstly, it’s not the Void or whatever you call it. Secondly, I mean that I can’t remember. It’s been so long since….since I’ve been anywhere…with anyone.” a hidden sorrow peaked out through her words but was just as quickly dismissed by a distracting thought.

Moving toward the tree the woman began to run her hands over the trunk, using her pointer finger to trace the groves in the bark, making sure to jump over any ants she came across.

Nox grew more irritated by this woman’s actions. Was she doing this on purpose? Was she trying to get a rise out of him?

“what do you mean it’s not the Void? what else could it be?” Mutt spoke up for the first time since he arrived. An anxious pinch in his brown and a downward tug at his mouth were the only signs of his distraught thoughts.

“I mean it’s not the Void. The Void is something else entirely. I’ve already explained this.” the woman waved him away, too focused on watching a line of ants travel up and down the tree with bits of leaf in their tiny appendages.

“you haven’t explained anythin-”

“Nox!” Vanilla’s voice called out from the porch. “your time’s up.”

“what? but-”

“Mutt! Nox stopped his brother before another word could slip from his teeth. Rus obediently slid behind his older brother but the pinch in his brows didn’t diminish.

“You’re free to go voidling. I have what I came for.” Nox dismissed, the woman’s hair tucked safely into his breast pocket.

As he made his way up into the house Chisel slipped into step with him on the way up after ensuring that his charge was following, “Voidling? Really?”

“What?” Nox smirked, “She said she doesn’t remember where she came from before the Void. In other words for all she knows she originated from it. So voidling.”

Chisel didn’t cage his expressions and the irritated grimace on his face did nothing more than make Nox laugh. “Oh come now! You must admit it’s fitting. At least for now.”

His grimace deepened, “Fine. I’ll change it when we learn more about her.” Nox conceded, rolling his eyelights at his double. They may not have been that close as of now, but when you share the same face it’s easy to tell what the other is thinking.

As Nox and Mutt retreated to their and the crimson brother’s shared room to work on Nox’s side of his and Vanilla’s deal, Vanilla guided the human girl to the living room and assisted Chisel in getting her to sit down without flopping down or knocking her head against the wall.

It worked pretty well, especially when she was so focused on the ant she had kidnapped from the tree as it crawled around, lost, on her finger. Now with everyone situated, with the human and Chisel on the couch and Vanilla in a chair seated across from them, Vanilla was ready for some answers.

With Chisel’s help, Vanilla got what one would call the human’s undivided attention, which was about 75% of it. It took moving the ant and giving an empty promise that she could have it back later and turning off the ceiling fan to get her to listen though.

“alright, so. tell me bud, how did ya get here?” Vanilla began, his fingers intertwined and resting in front of his nasal cavity, his shaded eyesockets boring into the human before him.

“I saw a way out and took it,” she replied easily.

“what do ya mean by that though? an’ how did ya hol’ open the gate?”

“When you’ve been in a pitch-black abyss for as long as I have, even the slightest bit of light will catch your eye. Your ‘gate’ was like a beacon for me to follow. A goal I had to reach. My exit and escape. My door to freedom. I just had to reach out and touch it.” with each added word the woman’s gaze was drawn farther and farther away until she was looking through Vanilla, and through the wall behind him.

“o-okay, maybe not the right question there bud, “Vanilla backpedaled after a prolonged bit of awkward silence, “umm..how were ya floatin earlier? an’ why did ya react like ya did when ya touched down?”

The woman’s attention was already starting to divert her eyes flicking from the lamp to the television to the front door, her head slightly drifting to follow the pull of her gaze, “Um…”

“kid?” Vanilla pressed.

With a gentle touch on the shoulder from Chisel, the woman jolted back into the conversation, “Huh? Oh! Right. Well. I guess I wasn’t used to gravity. Still ain’t. And I used to fly around all the time! It’s honestly weird that I can’t anymore?” her response tampered out with a question as she began to tug and pull at her dress and fidget with the ends of her twin hoods.

“ya can’t anymore? how did ya fly initially? are ya a mage?” The scientist within Vanilla was waking up like a kid on Christmas morning. As terrifying as it was to first lay eyes on this woman she was also an enigma and just so fascinated. Too bad she couldn't hold a conversation longer than a few minutes.

Case and point, the woman had now completely withdrawn from the conversation. With one hand massaging her right ear and the other rubbing into the fabric of the armrest, it was clear that she wouldn’t be answering any more questions for the time being.

“Sorry Vanilla. She was like this before when we were in the sun for too long.” Chisel sighed

“but you were only out there for almost ten minutes by yourselves?” Vanilla pressed, tilting his skull with a quirked brow bone.

“It was still too much for her. The grass, the light, the heat of the sun. It’s like she’s taking it all in at 200%. It’s overwhelming for her, “Chisel explained as he tried to pull the woman to her feet. After about three failed attempts Chisel finally threw a pleading look to his brother, who had been hovering in the doorway since the questioning started.

With some perfectly placed starry eyes and a limp wave with the human’s hand Stretch was dramatically dragging himself over to help with an over-the-top sigh.

“Anyway!” Chisel chirped as he and his brother picked the human up with one of her arms around each of their shoulders, which was very awkward for Stretch as he ended up taking on most of her weight until she got her to her feet, “You can ask more questions tomorrow!”

“alright,” Vanilla let out a defeated sigh, he should probably check in on Paps anyway. He had kinda left him to fend for himself in the kitchen with those other two new arrivals. “just make sure she takes a shower when she can!”

Vanilla’s phone rang from the side table and the weight that had been lifted with scientific inquiries came crashing back onto his shoulders. Hopefully, Nox would truly help.

Speaking of the calculating skeleton, Nox had stowed himself away in his corner of the room after sending Mutt off on an ‘errand’. With the lights off and more than a dozen tabs open on the communal laptop NOx was in his element.

State and Federal laws, the latest amendments with the arrival of Monsters, the Magic and Mystic Creature Protection Act, Monster rights, the local judicial system, judges, courts, and their history with Monster cases. A Monster’s right to property in their jurisdiction, he was learning it all and it was very clear that the filth that was bugging the ‘original’ didn't have a clue what or who he was messing with. Nox had more than enough dirt on this man to make sure he would be paying back all of the money he had extorted from them tenfold.

On a different note, Nox had just found something very interesting when looking up their new human friend with the surface internet.

“Ten-year-old Jessie Williams presumed dead after going missing eleven years ago after her parent’s domestic abuse case.” Nox read, searching through a very intriguing article he had found in the Ebott Metropolitan Police Department’s database of old cases. “Parents Janice and Marcus Williams were found guilty of physical abuse of the child, kidnapping, evading arrest, and murder in the first degree. Marcus and Janice Williams have been sentenced to life in prison after confessing to the abuse inflicted on their daughter and kidnapping her from the hospital after they had already been taken in and separated from her. They denied their last charge but have still been sentenced to life in the state's penitentiary. Jessie William’s body has not been found.”

Below was a picture of a young girl with a strikingly similar appearance to the human who had crawled out from the Void, though Nox was pretty sure that Jessie Williams was not, in fact, her name. Of course, he couldn’t be bothered to actually remember but their similarities may have been enough to use this old case to their advantage.

The Williams family was widely known, not only for the atrocities committed by that disgusting couple but also because they were filthy rich. The inheritance, which was probably the motive for the parent’s actions though not at all justifiable, was in Jessie’s name from her grandparents who had adored her and loved her dearly. The small fortune was currently being held by the state until Jessie’s young nephew was of age to claim it but he would never get the chance.

A twisted smile played on Nox’s skull. As terrible as this story was those ruthless and horrible’s humans’ actions were really playing in his favor. He just had to wait for that Mutt to come back with the DNA work and he could set his plan into motion.

Yes. It was all coming together.

Chapter Text

        She was floating and it was cold. Such a familiar feeling but compared to the weight of the air on her skin and the warmth of the sun and other living beings it was jarring and terrifying. She refused to open her eyes in fear of seeing the same sight she had seen for who knows how many years.

“I KNEW THAT FILTHY VERMIN WOULD BETRAY US! THEY’RE ALL THE SAME!”

A voice. A voice she knows.

“Please Edgelord, I’m sure she didn’t mean to.” another voice groaned, trying to no avail to soothe the other.

“She did say that she’s been here longer than all of us.” A peppy voice pointed out, but the cheer dropped to doubt with the next thing they said, “I just…can’t believe she left when Professor was like that.”

There’s a beat of silence that scratches at her heart. She may still refuse to open her eyes, but now it’s because she knows what she’ll see. She knows who she’ll see.

“Has he said anything to any of you yet?” a deep, gruff voice questions, at last, breaking the sorrowful silence.

“He hasn’t even moved since she left.”

‘You know the least you can do is look at what you’ve done.” a thought permeates her mind, ‘You did this to them. You became the very thing you once detested.’

The accusations are enough to deliver an ounce of guilt into her soul. She squeezes her eyes and holds her breath. It’s not like she meant to leave them. She just…didn’t think to take them with her. They’re smart! They would find a way out! Especially when they have each other.

Isn’t that what you thought about yourself at the beginning?’ the thought process but despite its strike not a single long forgotten memory slipe to the forefront of her mind. But even if her mind couldn’t remember, her heart did. Her pulse stalled and her stomach reached as deep, penetrating despair pierced through her and sent a recognizable cracking through her body. The cracks spread as and the despair dug deeper, consuming her blood, her heart, her breath until she had no choice but to see as her eyelids shattered and her limbs crumpled to dust.

Before she was those who she had clung to and told herself were her friends. Her lonely, company-depraved mind seeking kinship had taken them and used them to fill up the despair. But she had so easily tossed them away when given the chance.

‘You’re just like…’ the thought stopped short, choking on their names.

There they were. Professor was floating limply among a cloud of debris and machinery. Swap and Velvet were rifling through the parts, trying to find anything of value while Edgelord only hampered their progress by hurling random pieces farther into the inky darkness.

With each piece discarded Velevet’s cool and calm expression slowly began to crease, another gone, and twitch, there goes another, until finally, “WOULD YOU STOP THAT YOU, CHILD! I GET YOU'RE UPSET, WE ALL ARE BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU GET TO THROW A TANTRUM AND RUIN EVERYTHING! AT LEAST WE’RE TRYING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT OUR SITUATION! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? NO-”

“I AM DOING SOMETHING YOU NIMROD! I’M TAKING OUT MY ANGER OR USELESS GARBAGE THAT HAS NO WAY OF GETTING US TO OUR RESPECTIVE UNIVERSES OR TO THAT DIRTY TRAITOR INSTEAD OF TAKING IT OUT ON YOU!” Edgelord snapped back, cutting off Velvet with a rumbling growl.

Swap looked on with a tight, pursed-lip smile, even his mood was tanking after everything that happened, and this constant arguing and yelling weren’t helping. As the two banshees continued to screech and wail, Swap turned his attention to Professor or whoever he was now.

Since combining with his ‘doomed’ self, Professor has not only doubled in size but so have the cracks running down his face. He doesn’t seem to find it uncomfortable, however. In fact, he doesn’t seem to feel anything. His eyes were vacant and his body lax, his head tilted just enough to face the last place that human woman had been. A spiral of metal and refuse descended like a swirling, hellish staircase from where they came.

“They’re at it again.” Swap murmured. He didn’t like speaking too much, especially around monsters with minds so similar to his beloved wife’s. It felt unnatural and wrong. But maybe talking to…Professor would help.

“You know, I don’t think she meant to leave us here.” Not even a twitch.

“I’m sure any of us would have done the same.” Not even the simulation of a breath. Swap assessed Professor for a moment longer before sighing and letting his eyes droop. “I wonder what she would say to us about this. Do you think she would apologize?”

‘Of course, I would.’ she whispered to her heart, but it was just a means of reassuring herself. ‘You all don’t deserve this.’

She willed herself to move, but without her limbs, she could only stay where she was, even turning her head to view them was hard. But as if sensing her desires the very scene before her shifted so that she was directly in front of Professor, her first…companion. Her first friend. But did he ever see her as a friend?

Her unblinking eyes bore into his own, and even though she knew he couldn’t see her, it felt like he knew she was there.

She couldn't move her face, the regret pulled at her lips and put a knot in her throat. She struggled to form the words, to even open her mouth to say them. Did he know? Could he sense her turmoil? Her guilt? She could have sworn she saw him twitch but it must have been a trick played by the tears in her eyes.

“I…I’m so-r-rry.” Her voice cracked and broke off as the words finally formed in her mouth and fell into the deep. And just as she began to fade away once more, she could have sworn, through the streaming tears, that Professor’s eyelights blinked back to life.

Chapter Text

        “are ya sure that this’s normal for humans? she hasn’ woke up yet. it’s been twelve hours.”

“twelve more and it would be a coma.”

“sounds festive.”

“THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR JOKES!”

“there’s always a time for jokes.”

“Did someone put a dead rat in my mouth?”

All chatter ceased once the human spoke. Chisel was immediately at her side, fussing with her caked-shut eyes and knotted hair. His brother lay lounging in a chair at the foot of the bed and Mutt stood stiffly at the doorway appearing to be leaning against the frame but the tenseness of his body had him hovering just a hair above it.

“good to see you’re awake. was bout to start making bets on how long you’d be out.”

“Papy!” the subject of Chisel’s scolding tone  just gave a careless shrug before snuggling further into the crooked office chair.

“Why’s my tongue taste gross?” the human asked blearily, smacking her lips together and sticking her tongue out with a ‘bleh’.

“beats me. haven’t got one. shouldn’t you know? being a human and all?”

“PAPY!”

“whaaaat? shouldn’t she?”

Chisel gave only a huff in response and turned back to his self-proclaimed charge. He smiled softly as she finally cracked her eyes open, having freed them from their crusty shackles of sleep.

Upon meeting his gaze the sleepy human paused at the tenderness found there. It felt familiar, like someone used to look at her like that. Flashes of past versions of herself flashed past her mind’s eye. They seemed happy. But just as quickly as the memories surfaced they were smushed down just as swiftly.

“You must have been tired after such a busy day!” Chisel chirped, having lowered his natural volume to a normal speaking level, causing his brother’s eyelights to flicker in perplexion.

While helping the woman sit up Chisel continued, “Did you have any good dreams?”

“Dreams…” She took pause at the word. She doesn’t think what happened was just a dream.

But before she could wonder any longer or even formulate a response a soft rapping sounded on the door, leading Mutt to give a small jump in surprise. He swiftly stepped aside as it opened, not one removing his gaze from the ‘voidling’.

Popping his head through the partially open door Creampuff lit up the room with his smile  “GREETINGS OTHER BROTHERS AND ME’S! I HOPE I’M NOT INTERRUPTING, THOUGH I’M SURE MY MERE PRESENCE HAS ALREADY BRIGHTENED YOUR DAY! NYEHEHE! I’M HERE TO LET YOU KNOW THAT MS. QUEEN TORIEL HAS DROPPED BY WITH SOME ESSENTIALS FOR US AND THE HUMAN-OH!” Creampuff’s jovial mood stuttered for a moment as he noticed that said human was awake and now had more attention on him than she had been able to give previous to their coma-like nap.

“I...I SEE YOU HAVE AWOKEN DEAR GUEST! HOW-HOW WONDERFUL INDEED! UMM…THE-THE QUEEN…MS. TORIEL HAS BROUGHT YOU SOME HYGIENE PRODUCTS AND, WELL THAT’S ABOUT IT! AHEM, IF YOU’LL EXCUSE ME!” and with that, he was gone, his retreated figure followed by confused eyelights.

“that was….” Stretch began, still staring at the ajar door. Creampuff had appeared so…conflicted. As though he wanted to leap at the chance of making a new friend but at the same time was cautious about getting too close. It wasn’t like him.

“weird” Mutt finished for him, sockets narrowing at the now wakeful woman as she rolled her head side to side as a means of dodging Chisel’s handkerchief. Her nose crinkled and her lips pouted slightly as he tried to swipe at her face once more with the hanky.

His brother’s actions brought about a nudge of nostalgia that Stretch didn’t appreciate being brought about by this human. With a little more force than necessary Stretch stood from the rickety office chair, pushing it back with a spin.

“alrigh’ Shrub, you heard the sugarloaf, let’s get going.”

“PAPY.”

“whaaaaat?” Stretch yawned, bringing his arms out in a wide shrug with his skull tilted to the side as a means to avert his gaze. Of course, his bro wasn’t going to like the name but hey, he didn’t really like the human.

Stretch gave said human a side glance as she dragged herself out of bed, his and his bro’s bed. “have ya seen her hair?”

At this Chisel stole a quick glance at her hair, which didn’t go unnoticed by Stretch whose teasing smirk quirked at sight. Chisel opened his mouth to defend before closing it and turning away. Her hair was pretty bad.

“seems fitting tah me.” Mutt agreed a more malicious and ill-meaning smirk on his own face. At the sight of it, Stretch let his expression drop to its usual neutral deadpan. Did he actually look like that when he quirked his teeth at that angle?

Chisel simply huffed as he dragged the little shrub head out of the room, her nearly tripping over her feet in the process.

Once they reached the stairs Chisel composed himself enough to help her down them. She only tripped three times and didn’t tumble once! To Chisel this was an achievement, a great success! To the human, it was simply better than sliding on her face about five feet past the landing of the stairs.

“oh good. you brought her down.” Vanilla greeted them from the couch. Red gloured and sneer at them from his seat across from him until he realized the human didn’t care. At her impassive glace, he turned red with irritation as he turned back to his and Vanilla’s task, mumbling what was most likely profanities under his breath.

The task at hand was organizing the numerous resources Toriel had dropped off for them just a half hour ago. They ranged from freshly knitted sweaters for Red and Edge, which changed Red’s burning face from one of irritation to one of embarrassment, to steaming butterscotch and cinnamon pie, to an assortment of hygiene products for a human. Not restricted by age as there were beauty products ranging from makeup and skincare to diapers and formula. It was clear that Vanilla had still yet to fully explain what had happened to her besides not housing a stray human on top of their doubles.

The thought of a (possibly) abandoned child human made her mama nerves go a little haywire and she may have gone a little overboard. All with good intentions of course, but Vanilla was lucky to get her to leave when he did, and without having to show her the sleeping human in question.

“here ya go, already separated her stuff from the rest.” Vanilla pressed a plastic bag full of age-appropriate hygiene products toward Chisel. The human gave a small twitch in response but couldn’t place the reason for her sudden stinge of bitterness.

“THANKS, VANILLA!” CHisel grinned and began rifling through the bag, not noticing his companion rubbing the sides of her jaw to loosen it as her eyes bore into the bag he held.

“OH HERE YOU GO EBONY!” this name gave pause to the woman, now with both hands roughly rubbing into the hinge of her jaw.

“Ebony?” she questioned, the straining of her facial features stilled before relaxing.

“OH! YES! THAT!” Chisel stalled for a moment as he lowered the toothbrush and toothpaste he was once holding above his skull like a prize. A shining baby blue blush stretched across his cheekbones as he tried to bring the next few choking words to completion. With each incomplete sentence, the blush darkened until it was a brilliant glowing lapis shade.

“W-WELL. YOU SEE! WITH WHAT PAPY WAS SAYING. YOUR HAIR. MADE ME THINK OF NATURE AND TREES AND YOU REMIND ME OF…” Chisel took this moment to glance over the woman’s arms and stomach, the areas where her dress fit a little more snuggle and ever so slightly accentuated the definition of the no doubt powerful and strong muscles his friend had. His next words died off with a stuttering stall that tilted in pitch to a squeaking wine as he recalled feeling the weight and intensity of those muscles not too long ago. Is it hot in here? It feels hot in here. He needs a drink.

“alrigh’, alrigh’ that’s enough of that! I can’ stand this no more. was funny a’ first but now i’s just sickening.” Red barked as he stomped over to the pair.

He roughly shoved Chisel aside, who continued to steam and spout like a tea kettle, and snatched the dental hygiene products from his hands before shoving them into the human’s chest.

“yer breath reeks. I can smell i’ from ‘ere” he growled, standing as far away as he could while still holding the toothbrush and toothpaste against her chest.

“no bones about it.” Vanilla piped up from the couch.

“Oh. That’s right.” the woman hummed, accepting the little tooth cleaner in her hands, “Thank you.”

Red only scoffed and cast his gaze to the side smoothing his thumb over his gold tooth for a moment. This human was a real freak. A piece of work. And it didn’t help that he had to crane his damn neck to look at her.

“don mention it. bathroom’s down tha hall. now get outta ‘ere ‘fore I scrub yer mouth out wiff soap! y’re stinking up tha joint!” and with that Red did his best to spin her around and shove her in the general direction of the bathroom. To be honest he only succeeded in moving her at all without the use of his magic because the human found no reason to oppose his directions, no matter how harsh they were.

Finding herself standing in a pristine bathroom facing herself in the mirror with a toothbrush clutch in one hand and toothpaste in the other the poor human began to ponder on when exactly was the last time she had to take care of herself like this. Not to say that she deprived herself of such basic necessities as cleanliness, but her time in the ‘Void’ (she still sighs at the thought of such a misconception) had scrambled her mind and memories. She had no need to brush her hair or teeth or do anything to clean herself really because there was nothing to dirty her. No dirt, dust, or wind generates a need to tidy up. No time or air to create anything like the retched morning breath she was currently suffering.

As she took in her features she began to wonder how else this world, or any world, reality in general would change her. She felt more alive than she was back in that abyss, but did her appearance change with her emotional health? Would she continue to change? For some reason, the notion frightened her but at the same time sent an exhilarating buzz up her spine that prickled at the hairs at the base of her head.

Moving her gaze to the little toothbrush she began to wonder when specifically was the last time she brushed her teeth. She knows that she was once very particular about her dental health. Going to such extremes as contacting social media influencers about their preferred methods, creating a spreadsheet of the most common factors, and then comparing them with multiple professionals’ opinions to create the superior dental hygiene routine. But as of now, she can’t recall why she went to such lengths. Did she do it of her own free will? Did something happen in her past that made her strive for the healthiest, strongest, whitest teeth? Did someone make her feel like her smile had to be perfect?

Her grip tightened on the toothpaste, causing the lid to pop off and goopy, mint paste to sludge down her hand and plop onto the sink.

Her smile? Why her smile? Why did that come up? Why did that send a wave of disgust coursing through her? Why couldn’t she remember?

“ya know the paste is suppos’ ta go on the brush right? not on the counter. what, ya plannin on givin the sink a clean there? don’ think mah bro would approve.”

The human blinked, her grip easing on the half-empty tube of toothpaste, causing a few more globs to drop to the counter. Turning her head she realized that Vanilla and Mutt were staring at her oddly from the hallway. Flicking her gaze down she finally became aware of the mess she made.

“Oh. Sorry.” she then proceeded to scoop some of the toothpaste on the sink up onto her toothbrush and popped it in her mouth, letting it sit there as she went back to staring at her reflection.

“uh…did ya even wet ya brush?” Vanilla asked, cautiously stepping forward to grab some toilet paper. He wasn't lying when he said his bro wouldn’t approve of the toothpaste mess. It was one of his biggest pet peeves after all.

“Right.” She proceeded to pop the brush out of her mouth and wet it before grabbing even more toothpaste from the counter and laying it back on her molars with no further movement.

“uh huh. heh. when-ah. when was the last time you brushed those chompers?”

“When was the last time?”

“what?” Mutt spoke up, a look of disgust taking over his features.

“What?” she parroted as she finally started to move the brush methodically back and forth, brushing the same group of teeth.

“you haven’t been brushing your teeth?” The thought revolted Mutt to no end. Though he was once the same and forgot to brush his own teeth back in the Underground, his bro made sure he remembered, especially when his dog treats started staining them with their smoke.

“I didn’t need to.” She replied with calm simplicity, moving on to a different group of teeth, this time with small circles on each tooth.

This perked Vanilla’s interest. She was talking about the Void. Which means she remembers the Void. Which might mean she remembers where she came from after.

“well can ya remember when the last time you did need to was? maybe even where?” Mutt titled his head at this. Subtly was clearly out the window but he guesses that the human wouldn’t really care and bluntness has so far proven to be the best means of communicating with her.

“The last time…” she trailed off, trying to recall. It was a good question but would require her to remember where she was before she cut ties with the push-and-pull cycle she was once trapped in. She would have to confront what caused her to enter that cycle, to begin with.

A little dip in the waters shouldn’t hurt though. She was just thinking about this very question not too long ago anyway. The last time she had to brush her teeth, such a simple question. It should be easy to remember. It must have been after some meal but at what time? Did she still use the method she had worked so hard to build and polish or did she throw it out the window? Where was she when she last brushed her teeth? Well, she must have been at hom-

“I was….” a sudden pressure pushed her head down and clamped her teeth together. If not for the brush in her mouth she surely would have bitten off her tongue.

Vanilla chuckled nervously and took a step back as the human groaned and doubled over, gripping her head as her elbow squished into the pile of toothpaste. Mutt took a step closer, keeping a close eye on the human, preparing to book it out of there with Vanilla if need be.

“I-wAs. H-home.” she choked out, the thumping in her head beating down harder with each word.

“a-and uh. where’s home kiddo?” Vanilla softly asked, breaking out a friendlier designation to ease the tension.

“H-home. Is.”

Where was home? Did she want to remember home? The home that may have made her feel like she had to go to such extents to have perfect teeth. A perfect smile? Is that a home? Did she have a home after that place? Did she want to remember that? Was it any better? If so…then how did she end up alone? In the darkness. Forgotten.

‘You don’t need to remember. You forgot for a reason. If they forgot you then they don’t deserve to be remembered.” This thought soothed her pulsing mind, the bulging veins at her temples slowly reseeded and her twisted expression eased into one of neutrality.

That’s right. She doesn’t need to remember. Why should she? It’s in the past anyway, and she’s now in the present. She can make new routines and ways of doing things.

Straightening up she proceeds to scoop more toothpaste, off her elbow this time, without breaking eye contact with her reflection. She may not know what she looked like in that cold, lonely vacuum, or if she’s changed in any way. But that’s okay. She’ll learn to be who she is now.

‘There’s no reason to think of the past. We’ve taken care of it.’ the thought settled and her head was calm.

“My home is here now.” She said as she stuck the toothbrush back in her mouth, ignoring the broken bristles that mixed with the foaming paste. “The past no longer matters.”

But Vanilla and Mutt weren’t too sure about that. There was a lot about this human they didn’t understand but for the safety of their family, they were going to find out.

Chapter Text

Vanilla grumbled under his breath as he trudged down the hall to the room Nox shared with the other spikey and violence-prone brothers. Nox had informed him that he was ready to ‘repay his end of the deal’ but Vanilla couldn’t shake the feeling that this deal would be warped to be solely in Nox’s favor. He would have to stay sharp for this conversation, but that was a daunting task for someone running on four hours of sleep and a few monster candies. At least the stress had only temporarily taken down his HOPE instead of permanently as it had done in the past. He had gone through the worse, so he could get through this.

Stopping at the door leading to the shared bedroom, Vanilla took a brief moment to observe the new scratch marks and paint that had only been peeling a little before but had been picked at insistently enough for the raw wood of the door to be revealed. He took a deep breath and knocked, only getting to two taps in before it swung open to reveal an ecstatic Nox. His grin looked more like he was bearing his fangs and the twinkle in his eye sent prickles along Vanilla’s neck as he tensed up. Nox looked like a predator who had finally caught its prey, or more accurately, a madman ready to unleash his latest conniving scheme.

“I have fantastic news.” he declared, and without any further warning Nox ushered his counterpart in and slammed the door closed.

The room was a mess and it was clear that the two pairs of brothers had made a clear distinction as to whose half of the room was whose. Even going as far as cleaving the bed in half and moving the two pieces to opposite sides of the room. The mattress leaking stuffing and springs jutting out at precarious angles.

However, none of this was quite as important as what Nox had pulled up on one of the few things not cleaved in half, the communal computer. He quickly shoved Vanilla into the heavily damaged wheely chair, that looked like it was about to be split in two before being saved by what little logic resided in this battlefield of a bedroom.

Pulled up on the screen was all of the research and planning Nox had prepared. All neatly complied into a clean slideshow.

“Now, we both know that we can’t reasonably continue to thrive let alone support everyone in this household with that leech still attached to us.” An image of the greasy realtor popped up on the screen, and some creative scribbles including devil horns and scribbled angry eyebrows, courtesy of Mutt, made it hard to clearly see the man’s face.

“And as per our agreement for you ‘allowing’ me to question our mysterious guest, I have found a way to take care of our shared issue.” Nox continues, not even blinking at the graffiti all over his once clean and pristine slideshow.

He flips to the next slide which houses an image of Jessie Williams beside a somewhat blurry picture of the human woman residing with them, and clips of the news articles pertaining to her disappearance and her parents' incarceration. Vanilla feels his intrigue spike as much as his guard is raised. Thanks to the colorful scribbles pointing out the differences between the two women Vanilla could see that this ‘Jessie Williams’ most likely meant that the human they currently had in their midst was an alternate. But at the same time, something in the back of Vanilla’s mind told him this theory didn’t sound right, didn’t feel right, and that he shouldn’t take it as the whole truth of the matter.

“After taking a …sample from our guest I have discovered that her DNA nearly matches that of Jessie Williams. Of course, human technology hasn’t advanced as far to distinguish the minuscule differences, and even if they did we could always write it off as the side effects of overexposure to concentrated levels of magic.” Nox waves a hand dismissively as he flips to the next slide, a close-up of Mr. and Mrs. Williams and their charges. These images are defaced with depictions of crossed-out eyes and little cartoon faces puking at them and giving them the bird.

“Jessie’s parents were charged with a number of abominable charges, including the murder of their child, “ Vanilla flinches at this but Nox presses on, “However, a body was never discovered and the couple refuted the claim. Nevertheless, they were charged and sentenced to a punishment befitting such a crime.”

“what does this have ta do with us?” Vanilla mumbled, all this talk of murder and the possible death of a child was making him extremely uncomfortable.

“If you wouldn’t interrupt I would be able to get to that part quicker.” Nox snapped, his eyes narrowing and Vanilla flexed his hands up from where they rest on the chair’s arms rests as a sign of mock surrender.

Dramatically making a sound similar to clearing one’s throat, Nox turns back to the slideshow and continues, “However, a body was never discovered and this case has been closed for decades.” the next slide appears and Nox continues, “Even if we were to bring our case of discrimination to court, we wouldn’t be taken seriously. Especially in the judicial system of where we are currently located, I honestly doubt our case would even reach the judge’s ears.”

Vanilla slumps at that, “But!” Nox intervenes, seeing his audience losing hope, “If it were revealed that we have a certain human in our custody, one who has been presumed dead for years but has miraculously been discovered by a family of saintly skeletons and cared for up until now. And that this family of skeletons and their human ward were being extorted for everything they have and being forced to stay in a shabby, cramped hovel such as this…well.”

With a scrunched-up face at the insult to the home he chose, Vanilla leaned further back into the rolly chair, causing it to creak and crack slightly against the force. He did not like what Nox was implying.

“so you wan’ us ta make da human out ta be someone she’s not? even if they look similar an’ their DNA is almost da same, there’s no guarantee tha’ we’re gonna get anythin’ beneficial outta it. we’re jus’ puttin’ a target on our backs!”

At this Nox lets out an understanding sigh, “With that, you would be partly correct. Even if we were to present the human to the courts, perhaps claiming that she had fallen into the underground and we had taken care of her before bringing her back to the surface, it is possible that they would disregard her or even twist her mere existence to charge us with some nonsensical crime. Without help, this would be too much for us…”

Nox pauses and squeezes his sockets shut for a moment, his ribs rattling with a shaky imitation of a breath before he flips to the next slide, a compilation of images of Queen Toriel volunteering with human and monster children and meeting with government officials litters the screen. Oddly enough, these pictures are the only ones that have not been interfered with by graffiti or defacing.

“no.”

“Listen we-”

“no. I’m not draggin Tori into this more than I already have.” Vanilla makes a move to stand but that motion is instantly shut down as Nox forces him back down with his hands on his shoulders.

“Oh, would you get off your high horse for just one second? She…Her Majesty is most likely the only person who can help us with this matter. And you’ve already dragged too many people into this mess for you to make things worse by being selfishly heroic. Such inaction won’t make anything better and it won’t save anyone either.” the two glared into each other’s sockets for an extended period of time, Vanilla with his eyelights extinguished and Nox with his sharp and piercing. At last, Vanilla resigns and his eyelights flicker back in a hazy light.

Seeing this Nox slowly pulls back and continues with a steady voice, “Just explain to her what is going on. The very fact that you’re being screwed over by a human will get her on your side instantly. The fact that our guest can help, that she needs help will convince Her Majesty to do what we need.”

“and what is that?”

That wicked grin spread across Nox’s skull once more, “I’m so glad you asked.”

“Now she looks more like a blob of moss than a shrub.”

“PAPY!”

“whaaaa? I’m jus’ sayin. come on bro, you gotta admit it’s kinda sad. she’s jus been sitting there for, what, twenty minutes? why don’ you help her?”

“Well I Would!...But…She Wants To Do It On Her Own.”

“really? she’s never said no to you before.”

“I’m Aware Brother. She Just…She Said She Needs To Learn Who She Is Now? I’m Not Quite Sure What That Is Supposed To Mean But I Think She Wants To Be Able To Do These Things Herself.”

They both turn their gaze back to the human, “not much good that’s doin.”

“PAPY!”

Ignoring the brotherly squabbling happening at the doorway to the bathroom, the human continue to crouch over the edge of the bathtub with her head submerged under the running faucet, allowing her hair to cling to her face and clump around her head. She would periodically try to run her fingers through her hair before they inevitably got snagged on the nasty knots that had formed, then she would go back to sitting motionless for a few minutes before trying again.

The rushing of the water filled her ears and made it hard for her to focus her thoughts, but in a way, it helped. It was like a challenge for her mind. To push past the distraction of the sound of the rushing water, the feeling of it beating at the back of her head and pulling at her hair. It was enough of a distraction for her to have to concentrate hard on what she wanted to think about without the thoughts washing away in the current. But it wasn’t so overwhelming that she became submerged. After all, the sensation was only on her head and it was the only one she was really experiencing. There wasn’t the heat of the sun or the rush of the wind or the sound of the leaves of trees rustling. It was just water washing over her.

Of course, all good things come to an end and just as she was about to make her first honest attempt at working out a small knot in her hair her fingers were met with a cold, sludgy substance that, once meeting with the water created a slosh of bubbles that began to fill the bottom of the tub.

Her hands twitched and her body stiffened at this new sensation.

“hurry up and fix that mop of yers. yer wastin the water an rackin up the water bill.” Red’s coarse voice was muffled behind the rushing water as he dumped more shampoo over the woman’s head. Yet her hands didn’t move besides the occasional twitch, even once he had finished dumping more of the soap on her head.

He continued to glare down at her before huffing with annoyance, “Scrub it in ya dumbass.”

After much hesitation the woman finally loosened up and began to scratch at her scalp and, massaging the shampoo into her hair bit by bit. She soon picked up the motion more as more bubbles formed and were washed away and she began to punch up her hair and slowly scrub at it. Once the foaming bubbles had completely washed down the drain Red popped open the next bottle and dumped it on her head just like the first. But this time she was prepared and immediately started mixing the conditioner into her locks, working the knots out one by one until they were all gone.

Seeing this, Chisel quickly steps in, bumping Red to the side as he turns off the water for her, unaware of the woman’s hand that had already begun to reach up toward the faucet’s knob. He reaches out to help her sit up, so she doesn't bump her head on said faucet but is warded back as the woman whips her head up, flinger her hair out of her face and flinging water everywhere.

“Thank you.” she says, turning to look up at Red, “I had a feeling I was forgetting something.”

Red scoffed as he chucked a dry towel at her face. She makes no move to catch it and allows the fabric to fall over her head. Chisel, who had grabbed a towel as well and was aiming to dry the human’s hair himself clicks his teeth together and steps back.

“hurry up ‘n dry off. ye got a checkup later today.” Red growls as he eyes Chisel and his disappointed and irritated stance. As he does he doesn’t notice how the human tenses up and stops her movements to dry her hair.

“...A checkup?” He murmurs, almost too quiet to make out.

She groans and curls into a tight, quivering ball as a squeezing pain takes over her skull.

“It’s just going to be a checkup to make sure you’re following your routines properly darling”

“Don’t worry about the doctors, they’re here to help you.”

“You won't feel a thing, you’ll be out like a light and when you wake up it’ll be over. It’s just a little checkup”

“Onyx?”

She flinches away from Chisel’s hand that hovers over her shoulder, the pain easing and the memories are quickly swept away. But some bits get stuck in the cracks of her mind. She steadily returns to drying her hair, and without making eye contact asks, “What kind of checkup?”

Red, who had moved away and watched warily as the human entered her episode stepped farther back before replying, “a soul checkup. gotta make sure yer stable and stuff.”

The woman visibly relaxes and turns her face to look at Red again, she smiles and says, “Thank you for telling me that.”

There’s a weight to her words that Red can’t quite place nor understand but he just nods and moves out into the hallway. But before he can make his way to the comfort of that wonderful recliner Stretch snaps him back with a tight grip on his arm.

“Shrub’s gettin' a soul check? by who? and why so soon? it took us weeks for someone to come down and check us.” Red sneered and ripped his arm from Stretch’s grip.

“careful bub, I ain’t the one yous should be barkin' at. Vanilla called in the lizard. from what I heard she got somethin' ta tell him anyway so she’s comin’ over today. now outta tha way.” checking Stretch’s shoulder, or really his hip what with the difference in height, Red departs the scene, leaving Stretch to spiral and for Chisel to fuss over the human who was becoming increasingly less inclined to let him baby her.