Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You put on your formal blazer, make it two steps out the door, and decide it is way too cold for just that and throw on a leather jacket emblazoned with “Skele-Sib” on the back. Papyrus would be happy to know you wore the jacket he gave you to an official event even if you'd have to take it off before the meeting proper started. Years ago when you took up the position you knew your largest strength was the fact you proved that even the most terrifying of monsters were really just sweethearts, but lately you've been doing your best to understand more about the politics of your position which included plenty of late nights pouring over books Dad had lent you.

Last night had been one of those late nights as you double and triple checked that you remembered which politician represented which country and half of you wanted to play a recording you made with notes but you pushed that to the back of your mind in favor of putting on the radio and turning to a channel that was playing the latest song Mettaton and Napstablook had put out. You roll down the windows and let yourself enjoy the moment as you continue to drive, humming along to the song. You grin from ear to ear and don't realize the black ice that you're about to go over and only have a brief moment of worry before blacking out as the car flipped.

***

Everything hurts when you come to and you aren't entirely sure why. A few seconds latter and you start getting foggy memories of the crash and you attempt to push yourself up, blinking a few times in hopes of focusing in on your phone to call an ambulance. Something feels off though, you know it should feel off considering your car just flipped but that isn't it. Your head hurts and your body aches but it doesn't feel entirely like your body. Your limbs feel a bit off, your shoulders oddly placed, your knees scrape the floor and you are sure they are too small.

Then your vision finally starts to be more than a dark blur and you realize you aren't on the side of the road. No, your fall has been softened by flowers that looked entirely too familiar and you look upward only to confirm to your horror that the sky above you is limited to the smallest sliver viable from a hole. Maybe you were dreaming or had a concussion or something, that made sense, right? Any minute now you'd come to for real and you'd probably be in a hospital with two worried boss monsters at your bedside. You scrunch up your face convinced you'll wake up any moment and don't give Flowey any attention as he talks to you and don't as much as flinch as the bullets come at you knowing that you'll totally wake up once you get a good jolt in the dream.

That ends up being a mistake as the bullets hit and you scream out in pain.

Chapter Text

When you were a child you were terrified when Flowey showed his true motives. You had nightmares in the days that followed in the Underground that only ever went away when you finally saved your friends and Asriel and left. As a young adult you weren't afraid and frankly knew that if you could take down Flowey as the horror that was you facing him the first time or the heartbreak of fighting his true form you could take out this little thing without trouble.

No, you were terrified because you should have been going to a meeting right now. Maybe you should have been in the hospital, by no means you should have gone back on accident, the only times you ever went back where when you-unless you were killed. That thought brought you back to your current situation and your rapidly depleting health and you yelled out for help. Thankfully that was always easy to come by down here.

Toriel came your aid a second later and pushed Flowey aside with her fire magic. She only managed to get out, “What a terrible creature-”, however before you found yourself running to your mother and hugging her with all of your strength. You want to call her Mom and tell her about your horrible day and tell her she was right about you needing new tires. Sure she wouldn't know what you were talking about but at least she was there. After a while you finally let her go and she introduces herself and your gut sinks with the thought of all the time spent with her is gone. That makes you go right back to hugging her and she ends up half carrying half cheering you on as she takes you further into the ruins.

You had to get your act together, you could cry and try to figure out how to salvage everything and get home later, right now you just had an eager to please Toriel showing you how to talk your way out of conflict and solve puzzless. You end up taking the phone and wonder to yourself if there is any way to get the Froggit to actually understand your complement, you solve more puzzles and tell Toriel you like butterscotch and when you make it to her home you honestly have no desire to leave just yet and favor spending the night in the room that looks nearly identical to the one that you and Toriel built in New-New Home.

If it was a normal day you'd probably be getting ready to go back to your room after the meeting. Maybe Toriel and Sans stayed up to talk to you, but more likely than not Sans would be fast asleep and Toriel would give you a kiss on the forehead before going to bed herself. Then you'd probably go online and check out what you missed on UnderNet and finish up any homework that had been left undone. Or maybe the meeting would have ran so late you would have just slept at Asgore's house instead. You loved both your parents and they both had rooms for you so it wouldn't be an issue as long as you called home to let Toriel know you were safe.

You wonder what they must have thought about the crash, how horrified they must have been hoping you'd get better. Honestly you hoped you had died quickly so everything restarted before they had to grieve. You didn't want to be the third child they lost. You wonder why your SOUL didn't just go to a previous save. You make them daily out of habit and you know you made a save the night before the crash. You didn't even think you could accidentally pull off a reset, that sort of thing normally took a great amount of focus to pull off even when you wanted to.

It was always easier not to question your powers saving and resetting, you knew that Flowey had them before you and you had a feeling the Fallen had the power at some point but it was really never something you particularly wanted to ask about. Something in the back of your head had always told you if people knew you were functionally immortal they'd just find more unique ways to kill you for good. Sans knew a bit about it but you were much more likely to ask him about puns. Too bad you never did ask when you had the time.

...but then again you could have time with this Sans.

Chapter Text

Home wasn't all that bad on the surface. Honestly as far as places in the Underground went it was always your favorite with the sent of fresh pie in the air and the warmth of a carefully tended fire. Looking back on your first journey you can't remember why you wanted to leave it so fast even though right now you knew full well why you wanted to leave it. This place had none of the joy that New-New Home was overflowing with. The monsters you came across were timid at the best of times and you wanted to make them happy but you knew that wasn't happening until you'd managed to somehow salvage your own time line where they all could experience the hope of sunrise in person. As happy as Toriel acted around you and as much as you knew she truly did love you she was trapped all the same. It was a trap she made for herself within the Ruins but that didn't change the fact even she admitted the ruins were small once you got to know them.

So you asked her if you could leave once again and she got on the defensive, you followed her down the stairs, and you prepared to deal with a monster fight for the first time in years. “You want to leave so badly?” She asks and every bit of your being screams yes and you prepare when she tells you to prove yourself. In your time line you loved to joke your claim to fame was being the dodge ball champion at school. You'd forgotten what it was like when the balls you were dodging were fire from your mother instead of other classmates, but at least you weren't completely out of practice when it came to this.

“I promise I will take good care of you here.” You knew, that's why you had to leave. She'd take better care of you on the surface. You did your best to tune out the rest of her pleads so you didn't cave and just stay with her. It would be a happy life and there was zero chance of getting hurt in it, but what sort of a life was that? When Toriel finally accepted you leaving and gave you one last hug you hugged back with all your strength and promise you won't come back. Once this was all solved you'd never go back again, never touch a save or a reset and go back to the good life you both loved. Sure that wasn't what she meant but you promised all the same before leaving the ruins once again.

The forest was smaller than you remembered it being. Sure you were smaller than you remember being as well but there was something about the looming trees that seemed substantially less impressive than they once had been. The path you had to walk was empty which left you alone with your thoughts to debate how to handle Sans. Would it be a good idea to wait until you finished your business in Snowdin first? Should you come right out and tell him you needed help with the time line? That would probably be pure insanity but honesty may just work. Then again you might have to prove you weren't joking around and meant business. There was probably some way to pull that off using more resets but that's what you were trying to fix to start with, you weren't going to save your problems like that.

By the time you hit the fallen branch you know will cause Sans to start following you you decide the only way to do this would be a joke. Not just any joke though, a joke you know he'd have heard before at this point.

“Human.” You do your best not to smile just hearing that voice and you turn around grasping the bony hand provided and when t he whoopee cushion went off you couldn't help but laugh. “Wait a sec...have you heard it before?”

“Sorry,” you reply still chucking, “I've got one for you. Knock knock.”

“who's there?” He smiles and you take a second before deciding on one of his jokes.

“Dishes,” You say already trying to piece together how to ask for his help.

“dishes a bad joke”, he finishes without your input, “so you know all of my jokes?”

You frown at how blunt he is about it, “Sort of. Can we talk about this at your place?”

Sans keeps on frowning for a solid minute before he replies and you're starting to worry that you should have spent another day or two in the Ruins coming up with an actual plan rather than just hoping he'd take it well.

“You're my best friend,” you add hoping the little part of his essence that must have been in your time line knows that.

He is silent a few more moments before he nods solemnly, “fine, we'll talk about this there. will you help me cheer up my brother first?”

“Always Sans,” you assure him and for the first time since you've gotten here things feel like they are looking up.

Chapter Text

“Thanks for the spaghetti Papyrus.”

“ANYTHING FOR MY NEW FRIEND!” Papyrus shouted as you silently hoped you didn't have food poisoning.

“See ya around!” You laugh a little and leave the house before going back on the road towards Waterfall. Regardless of how much you were worried about your time line and were worried about how the meal Papyrus cooked might make you sick later that day nothing or no one could stop the fact Papyrus was a ray of sunshine whenever you got to deal with him.

Well at least you were smiling until you came across Sans' outpost, then you supposed it was time to get back to business. Thankfully despite the fact you knew you were going to deal with more serious conversations than you had in the past with him he still suggested eating at Grillby's. After you both had your fries and Sans had drank his ketchup you sighed and looked at the floor before daring to continue. “So I guess I have a lot to explain?”

Sans patted your back and you felt a bit less nervous as he replied, “i can't exactly help you if you don't”

“We made it out.” You shook your head sadly, “The barrier was broken, we all made it out, and we started a town. I was ambassador and things were bumpy at first but we managed to get along well enough.” You still can't look Sans in the eyes as you continue, “And the funny thing is sure, monsters were gone hundreds of years, but the surface just felt like it was whole for the first time in my life since you guys were back. You even, well never mind. I hadn't used my power in years”, your voice cracked and you tried not to sob, “No reason to, we were all happy.”

“what power kid?” You continued to look at the floor rather than look at the skeleton addressing you but you could feel his stare on your back.

“I can save and reset and stuff. Why do you think we made it to the surface?” You sigh yet again, “Well I guess if I didn't have it you all would have made it to the surface since you could have just used my soul then but...”

“you're rambling kid”, Sans said patting your back again.

“Well when I get killed I don't, I can go back a bit and do things over again.” You dare a glance at Sans who seems extremely interested in what you had to say. “Back when I was in the Underground Undyne must have killed me a dozen times before I got past her, Mettaton was so hard too. Heck, I almost gave up after Asgore killed me so many times but I stayed determined.” You smile for a second thinking of your trip through the Underground before remembering why you were telling Sans all of this.

“Ten years, I hadn't used the stupid power in ten years and I think I thought it was gone, like it was just something I could use in the Underground 'cause magic.” You fold your arms on the table and place your head on them, “But no, ten years. Enough time to have a life and watch friends get married and see everyone happy, then nothing.” By that point you weren't even sure Sans could here your mumbling through your arms and you didn't quite care, “There was ice, I crashed my car, and I was dead but my stupid soul wouldn't give up.” You felt the tears pouring down your face and didn't bother to catch them, “And I guess my powers do only work here because it took me back to the Underground. So I'm alive but you're all miserable again.”

***

You don't even remember falling asleep but clearly you did since you were just now waking up on the couch in the brother's house.

“Sans? Papyrus?” You could hear talking outside and went out the door to find yourself in the middle of Undyne and Papyrus talking. In the split second it took you to register you never spent that long in Snowdin before was all it took for Undyne to stab you through the chest.

You'd have to make sure to move faster next time around, hopefully you would if you could tell Sans what was going on without crying the second time around.

Chapter Text

Previously you'd only ever reset once in hopes of getting a true happy ending. Somehow you assumed that events were much more firmly in place than they actually were since you did everything nearly identically until you befriended Undyne. It turned out that time was much more fluid than you'd previously assumed.

Three attempts you'd stayed too long talking to Sans and were “greeted” by Undyne. After that you flat out told Sans that you didn't have time to explain and he promised he'd at least get the general idea next time. You weren't completely sure how the paper he took notes on survived a save but it made you feel a bit better about your odds of getting home. Turns out the next try you didn't spend long enough in Snowdin as a result though, skipping out on the time you'd spend in Grillby's meant you never ran into Monster Kid.

You were more than a little frazzled trying to get everything in order at this point, and when you admitted that to Sans he grinned and replied, “now you get it.” You hadn't expected that. “you see kid, time lines are an inexact science at the best of times and when you just start to think you understand them there are always...”, he drifted off and you could see a glint of blue in his left eye, “setbacks” he finished with hesitance.

“the fact you can do what you can do is amazing, why not just make this time line your home?” He rubbed your head.

You'd thought of that more than a few times already by this point in your journey. It would have been so easy to reset, do a normal run, and then just live. That being said, you thought out loud, “It isn't about me. I took away everyone's happy endings and I want to give them back, not some replacement goldfish either.” You shook you head defiantly, “I want everyone to be happy with the ending we all earned together.” As an afterthought you added, “Plus doesn't it bug you any random accident can reset this whole mess?”

“of course it does kid.” He looks away from you but you can still see the hint of light coming from his eye, “why do you think I don't try?” So that was how it was, your very essence was keeping everyone from lasting happiness. Maybe if you just gave up when you hit Asgore and let him use your soul to break the barrier your mess of an ability would be over and everyone could live again.

Your feelings must have shown on your face because Sans was quick to add, “hey, no one blames an echo flower when they spill a secret conversation. you do this, it isn't your fault.” Sans got up with some sort of purpose you didn't quite understand and led you into his room where he got a key and into a lab of some sort. There were papers filled with writing you couldn't understand and on the top there was a single page written in normal English that you assumed was the paper Sans kept when you had to reload past saves.

He handed you the paper and you scanned it quickly seeing blurts from previous conversations with Sans and after you didn't see what he could possible have wanted you to he took the paper and turned it over. On the back of the page there were a few scrawls of text in red, the first one said “cause of anomaly” which didn't exactly make you feel better about your powers, but the second sloppily written note was what you needed, “to be trusted”

Chapter Text

“like i said before kid”, Sans said returning the paper to the table, “dealing with time is an inexact science at the best of time.” He frowned, “i've been dealing with this stuff before you were born and all i've managed is keeping this room stable.”

“That's awesome!” You look at photos on the table filled with both people you know and those you don't. “Look”, you pull out a photo of Toriel and Sans dancing at their wedding, “This one is from my timeline.” You start pacing excitedly, “So if that exists from my timeline and I exist from my timeline other stuff must too, right? Somehow we've just gotta use that to get us all back to-” you say faster and faster before getting cut off.

“it doesn't work like that”, Sans sighed. “these are mostly memories, sure you can look at them but once you start messing around with them, trying to pin them back to a timeline they start to change and deform.”

You put the photo back down somewhat dejected. “But there is something and like you said it is amazing I can do what I do. Maybe I can do something with all of this!”

Sans eye started glowing yet again and you took a few steps back in caution, “scientists have been studying these sorts of things for ages! we've failed enough and eventually you've gotta accept what breaks life gives you and learn to not care about the rest.”

“Two minutes ago you were cheering me up.” You cross your arms and huff in a display much more appropriate for yourself at this point in the time line rather than someone who was actually years older, but you didn't really care. “So how about you make up your mind if you're going to help me or not so I can try and move on with my life.”

Sans eye returned to normal before he said, “come on frisk, you've got to pick your battles.” He went to pat you again and you stepped further back bumping lightly against the table. “we'll have some good times, you'll make sure you put chains on your tires in winter and everything will be back to normal.”

“Then what?” You'd live with the looming fear of a reset. You'd only give half of yourself towards your relationships knowing they'd be pulled away soon enough. “I'm not you, I'm not helpless in this mess. I am this mess!”

“I'm going to figure out a way to fix this if it takes a million saves”, you turn to leave, “So if you don't want to help fine, but if you want to help meet me after I pay for Temmie's college.”

***

If there was one thing you'd learned across countless saves and three resets it was that life always would find a way to surprise. You'd resigned yourself to figuring out this mess by yourself but there Sans was in front of the Temmie shop. “Sans!” You hug the skeleton, “So you're going to help me?”

“trust me kid, i am.” He hugs you back and you can't help but wait for the but. “maybe if you didn't care so damn much about making everyone happy i'd try and figure something out, but i promise you whatever could fix this would hurt you.” He pulled back from the hug and ruffled your hair, “and you deserve to be happy too, so how about you just keep going forward with this timeline.

He managed a smile before finishing with, “we both know what's going on so if things get too tough we can just talk it out right? you're good at that.”

“Sure Sans.” You reply pulling him into another hug, “See ya in Hotland?” Sans seems happy with that response and leaves and you can't help but feel guilty at just how easy the lie came to you.  

Chapter Text

Now your mind was made up everything was easier. You'd spent enough time doubting your actions and running around without a plan that the determination that now filled you did you well. You flirted, you talked, you minded space, and you flexed. You continued to the throne room and Sans judged you, adding that he was proud of you for finally moving on. You felt guilty for lying to him after that, but the guilt quickly left your mind as it came time to deal with Asgore.

You died seven times. Honestly dying seven times was better than the first time you faced the king and died too many to count, but it was still seven times you died you would have rather not. You made a mental note to thank Sans later for making sure you wouldn't do anything stupid in the fight, because the third time you died you very nearly lost your determination regardless of knowing what you could do.

Still, seven times later you found yourself sparing your father and he told you how you could be a family. You wish you could assure him yes, you would be like one, but your words come out a little too late and bullets have already circled his neck and fired.

Dealing with the monstrosity of Flowey's powered up form was oddly relaxing for you this time around. You weren't the one saving or reloading. The weight that had been on your shoulders for this entire run had lifted and you could just dodge and call on the other souls for help. When you finally won you returned to the surface and promptly returned to the Underground to finish the last few legs of your journey.

You burnt a house, you delivered a letter, and you spent a date in the dump. You also make sure you hang out with Sans a little more and you talk to him about how you can't wait to work towards giving everyone the happy endings you know they can have on the surface. “Its going to be weird helping you date my mom”

“heh”, he took a swig of ketchup, “you don't think i can do it on my own?”

“In my time line it took you a year of flirting to even ask her out” you reply in a deadpan. “So you don't need help if you're willing to bore me to death. Now if you don't mind I have a few things to do before I save the monster world.”

“alright kid, stay safe.”

You know what's left before you can reach the happy ending and backtrack to the True Lab. You buy a few chips and prepare to face the horrors you know are inside telling yourself there is also your saving grace.

***

Way back when you'd originally fallen you'd never realized exactly how small you were. The friends you were making and the people you were saving always made you feel big, even when you couldn't reach Papyrus' sink or when you needed to sit on a phone book when it came to meetings on the surface.

Looking at the broken machine made you realize just how small you actually were. You lay on the ground and look up at it hoping for some sign of what to do to make it work. It extracted determination after all. Determination was what kept you going, so all you needed to do was make it go a bit less. You'd get the machine going, get rid of your determination, and then go into fighting Asriel knowing he'd do all the saving you'd need to finish this time. Then you could live your life like any normal person. Well any normal person who was an ambassador for a different species who was adopted by a king and queen anyways. You save before you start messing with various wires and wonder how many times it will take to make this plan work.

***

Third attempt and the machine burst on fire.

***

Twelfth attempt and you electrocuted yourself to death.

***

Twenty-seventh attempt and somehow you managed to invert all the colors around you.

***

Fifty-fifth try managed to make the machine light up briefly before nothing.

***

Seventy-third try and the machine burst to life with a whir of machinery and lights. This was it, you centered yourself where it looked like the blast might hit and tossed your stick in hopes of hitting a button that you figure will turn it on.

You'd died more times than you could count over your timelines, but you'd never experienced something like this. You were melting, your eyelids felt like they were on fire, and you could feel your soul being tugged away from your body. Just when you felt like you couldn't take a second more of the torture you could no longer feel it, but you couldn't feel anything else either.

“Hello?” You called out desperately but no one came.

Then you could feel something, or hear it, or see it. Honestly you couldn't quite tell what you were using but there was definitely something there that wasn't before.

“H̄ē̔l̈́̽ͤ́̃̈́̅l̓͆̈̈́́o͋ ̉ͥ̒̆̆̚c͗̈́ͯ͐͆̉ͯḣ̽̿̍̍̃̊i͋̀lͧͫ̓d͐ͮ̍̌͐́̿” It said? Signed? Became? “Ȋ̷ ̀̓ͬ̋ẃ̂͐̐̀͛ͬ͘i̍̉̋͋̿̏ͪ̕s̏h̸ͮ ͒ͩ͡y̏ͬ̋͢o̊͊͗̓̃̚uͩ̈́̇̓̓ ̛̊͒̂͊w͑̉é̵̉̚r̨ͬeͦͭ̐͞n͗͘'̓̄t̔͌̆͠ ̀ͣ̽̽ͯh͛ͦ͛̀e̿r̍e͝ “

Chapter Text

A million questions race through your mind. Where are we? What are you? What happened? Eventually you settled on starting with a kinder version of what that thing was, “Who are you?”

“Many things.” Well wasn't he being vague.

You scrunched your face in annoyance and said, “Fine, I'll start. I'm Frisk Dreemurr.”

“Now that isn't all you are, is it?” He replied making you even more angry.

“I'm Frisk Dreemurr,” you huffed as you got more angry only to notice there wasn't really air where ever you were and it wasn't hurting you, “I'm a human, and I'm an ambassador. Are you happy now?”

There was a twinkle in the being's eyes. “I didn't mean to upset you. Think about this, you aren't a Dreemurr yet, nor are you an ambassador.” He patted your head kindly, “But calling yourself a lost soul would undersell yourself, wouldn't it?”

“Well yeah”, you reply unsure if it was the correct response or why you truly cared if it was the correct or incorrect response.

“And some things don't last, do they? You are a student but one day you won't be, you are a child, sometimes you managed to be a teenager, but that would have changed in time as well.” Upon realizing this conversation wasn't going anywhere fast you sat down on the not-quite floor. “And that is why I say I am many things. In some time lines I am a father, in others a brother, in others yet neither. I have been a scientist, I have been a noble, and I have been a nobody.”

You found yourself getting more and more used to be bizarre being's communication and found a bit of your normal diplomacy returning. “Well yeah”, you said in an attempt at kindness, “But you must like some of them more, or think of one as what you really are. Like I said, I'm Frisk Dreemurr, and you said I'm not yet but that isn't something that goes away for me.” After a momentary pause you added, “At least can I get your name?”

“WD Gaster.” He replied kindly. “And I've been watching you closely. You're an interesting one Mx Dreemurr. Our world is so dependent on you. Sometimes you save it, sometimes you destroy it, sometimes you leave and cause the seat of power to change, but over countless time lines you have never left the Underground the same as you left it.”

“I've never destroyed the Underground!” Sure eventually most monsters left it back when you broke the barrier but that wasn't destroying, that was just a migration.

“Child, you're still focused on your own timeline, branch out a little if you will.” Gaster clapped his hands lightly and static began to appear in the holes in his hands. The static was soon enough replaced by rapidly flashing images that part of you knew were going to fast to comprehend, but that also resonated with a part of you that you were unaware of ever having. “That's what this place is. It is a void and through it I see every time line that has been, will be, and can be. I've lived all those time lines as well and if you stay here within time you'll find you will as well.”

“Living a time line where I destroy the Underground doesn't sound like fun,” you complain.

“You'll also live the time line from which you came. You learn to take things as they come, you can't influence time lines,” he paused for a second, “Indeed there are time lines I regret, so many of them. Eventually you find you have to accept the bad you've done along with the good, and that's where you have to find your solace.”

“How long have you been stuck like this?” You ask.

“Time..time doesn't matter anymore to me.” He replied.

“So too long then.” All these years you'd thought you had saved everyone and you even visited Flowey time and again to make sure the poor soulless thing wasn't doing too poorly but apparently you'd missed sometime. “How do I fix that for you?”

Gaster's eyes flashed with surprise at that question and he took a few steps back, “You can't child. I didn't leave a trace. You always influence the Underground so I doubt you could understand but I was there one day and gone the next.”

“But”, you continued unsure of yourself, “Everyone has someone that cares.”

“The few traces I left vanished long ago,” Gaster joined you sitting and placed an arm around your shoulder, “See, there were people I worked with. Suddenly I was gone so they were gone as well and the world moved on. There was one exception,” he kindly booped your nose, “Sans. He kept trying even as the others vanished until one day I asked him to stop.”

“Is that why he has that room?” You find yourself leaning into Gaster and his mass shifting slightly to accommodate, much more comfortable now you knew that Sans trusted this man.

“I made it for him, it was made to anchor his memories. He anchors other things as well inside of it, but it was my last gift to him given with thousands of years of effort to make sure that I at least made a little difference.” Gaster sighed loudly. “The memories weren't perfect but they were there. He remembers enough in nearly every time line to know someone important to him was lost due to researching these things-”

“And that's why he wouldn't help me.” You finish, “Because he didn't want me to become this. But why didn't he just tell me?”

“Like I said child, people who remember me vanish.”

“Ah,” you say sadly, “So how long until they forget me?”

“It takes time,” Gaster stood and offered you a hand to help pull yourself up, “Hopefully enough to make good of my studies.”

Chapter Text

Your eyes widened, “You can fix it?”

“I make no promises,” he warned. “But I am hopeful. You make such an impact it would be hard for a time line to totally expunge you, especially this quickly.” He started to pace excitedly, “And you have been here a short enough time you will still have some traces of the time line from which you came.” He paused for a second, “However time is extremely fickle, I cannot make it perfect nor can I promise things will be identical for you.”

“It doesn’t matter, my family needs me,” you join in pacing as well, “Because lets face it, who else is going to help them. If some other kid took my place they'd just be killed and the barrier would go down with the war Asgore declared still in place and,” you shout, “I need to go back!”

“You're a brave one.” Gaster gave a smile that didn't extend to his eyes, “I honestly can't say you'd make it back entirely to where you came. While your existence will erase while you are here please take a second to realize that.” Once again he put an arm over your shoulder protectively, “Your essence would survive here. You would live all the horrors and face all the pains, but you would also have all the joys that any version of you has faced.” He seemed to get lost in his own thoughts for a second before coming to. “This is a half life, I've struggled with it more than I care to admit, but that is half a life more than you might get otherwise.”

“You know,” you reply kindly, “You may act like all the time lines make you everything, but I don't think so.” Upon seeing a befuddled look on his face you continued, “Because you are totally a parent, my you sound like my mother when I tried to leave the Ruins.”

That made him smile. “It is going to take a while for me to work out the equation needed to get you home.”

You nod in understanding, “It makes sense, you are breaking reality for me.”

“To do what you need I'll have to tether you to the time line you're in,” he explained, “So once you are back this version of yourself will only live that life. You won't be able to reset if you want to.”

“I'll get to live a good life,” you say firmly, “That's why I was playing with the machine anyways.”

Gaster fiddled with thin air for a while creating and removing symbols at will. As you watched him work you couldn't help but realize that this was the first and last time you two would meet and certainly it was the first and last time you would be anything close to friends. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I know it looks complex but I understand the equation fine,” he replied not lifting eyes from his work.

“No, I mean alone.” You hug Gaster, “If there are a million time lines with a million Frisks I'm sure I could be happy with their lives.” You were sure you wouldn't be, but since when had you made decisions just for yourself? “I'm friends with Sans and Papyrus. I could be your friend too.”

Gaster hugged you in return before replying, “I'll be watching you Frisk, all of you. Like you said there are a million Frisks, and now when I watch them I'll have a million reminders of a friend.” He straightened himself and swapped a few more symbols around before looking satisfied with his work. “Good luck.”

“Thanks for everything,” You say using all of your effort to not pull Gaster into another hug.

Then Gaster clapped and the equation flew through the holes in his hands and once again you felt like you were melting and burning and who knew what else until finally it stopped.

You were greeted by Alphys screaming your name and lightly patting your face in hopes of waking you up. After a minute or so you could feel yourself gaining enough energy to move and you silently opened you eyes, prompting her to stop talking for a moment. “I knew I should have put a bigger out of order sign on that. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you say with a slight grin, “It just knocked me out. Want any chisps? I was going to buy a few bags before dealing with Asgore.” That calmed her down a good bit and you pulled out a bag to hand to her, “I've got it from here Alphys, thanks for the help.”

You cracked your fingers and prepared to enter the elevator for the last time.“I'm ready.”

Chapter Text

There were upsides and downsides to reliving your life in a very similar time line to your own. You missed the surprise of surprise parties but you didn't miss the time it took to get used to being an ambassador as you easily settled into your role once again. You missed learning things in school for the first time but didn't miss studying for tests either.

You weren't about to try and go back to the void, it would kill you or wipe you out of existence. Nor could you talk about Gaster with anyone other than Sans lest you unintentionally cause a friend to vanish. You could still do a lot with those limitations though. The first thing the two of you did wasn't even an experiment. When Papyrus made “Skele-Bro” and “Skele-Sib” jackets for the two of you you decided to make a “Skele-Dad” jacket to leave in the secret room. Neither of you expected the jacket to have vanished to be replaced by a small piece of paper written in that strange language that Sans assured you was a thank you note.

That piqued your interest to say the least. Sans left a cell phone that vanished, but neither of you had thought that one out much since it was returned within a few days. Then you tried a special phone with texting in his language. It didn't work. You started a journal and left it and that actually did work. You and Sans could leave the journal and in a few days have a response from Gaster, and while it wasn't instantaneous it was more than Sans had before.

You loved seeing Sans face after talking with the father he'd never expected to communicate with again, and today he seemed particularly happy. “What's up Sans?”

“dad sent us the recipes to all the best pies in the multiverse,” the skeleton replied waving a rather large stack of papers.

You smile in return, “Lets go show Mom!”

Yeah, life was pretty darn good, and it was only getting better.