The Epilogue Unreloaded

…

Explanation: This is what the epilogue "Happy Family" would have been like if the story had never been reloaded after CONTINUE. I know reloading the chapter was a bold choice and although I adore my original epilogue, perhaps some people would prefer this version.

…

"I think it needs to be just a little bit higher," Toriel instructed from her viewpoint in the garden.

"Like this?" Sans asked. He was levitating a string of outdoor lights, trying to hang them for decoration.

"Yes, that's perfect!" Toriel approved and Sans gave a wave of his hand so the electrical cord draped itself across the area between one of the trees and the edge of the roof.

"That is going to be so pretty when it's dark," Toriel smiled. She had just finished setting up two big tables in the backyard. "There," she said, looking round. "That should seat thirteen with ease."

Sans grinned at her; he could tell how much she was looking forward to this dinner party.

"It has been so long since we were all together!" Toriel sighed, smiling back at him.

Sans nodded. They had all been busy lately. It wasn't that they didn't see their friends and family anymore; far from it, they saw them all the time. But getting everyone together was becoming more and more of a challenge.

Gaster had moved to a big city four years ago. The energy company had wanted him near their main research lab and since Gaster really enjoyed working for them, he had agreed to go. He still came by every week though, sometimes even staying the weekend. Gaster always tried especially hard to clear his schedule in the weekends that Papyrus stayed the night as well. Papyrus and Mettaton had been living together for a while now, but he still had his room here as well. But he really didn't enjoy being on his own, so when Mettaton was busy filming, he spent more time with the family than at their shared apartment. If he hadn't done this, Sans and the kids would have felt very neglected indeed, but as it was, it was a very good arrangement.

"Is that everything?" Toriel asked. "Once it's time to start cooking, I won't have the time anymore to fix anything out here."

"Seems fine to me," Sans said. "Besides, Mettaton can help me out here while you and Pap cook, if something else needs to be done."

A familiar whirring sound reached their ears, making Sans look up.

"Is that the kids?" Toriel asked, turning around.

"Sounds like it," Sans nodded and he walked past the house to the front yard. Toriel followed him.

Two mopeds came zooming up to the house and onto the driveway.

"Are they here yet?" Asriel called out, jumping off his moped while it was still moving.

"Not yet," Toriel said, trying not to scold. She still didn't really approve of the mopeds. By now she had mostly resigned herself to her kids having them, but they knew that if they ever drove without a helmet, she would take them away in a heartbeat.

Frisk was right behind Asriel. Manny sat on the back of their moped though, so Frisk had to come to a standstill more slowly.

"Pap and Mettaton are on their way," Sans told them. "How was school?"

"Pretty good," Frisk said. "We have a career fair tomorrow."

"Oh good," Toriel said cheerfully, while they took off their helmets.

"Try not to hog the journalism booth then, will ya?" Sans joked and Frisk grinned.

"We had to write down at least three interests," they said. "I wrote down journalism, photography, and politics."

"And I put down art school, law enforcement, and physical education," Manny said. "But we can visit all the booths. They just wanted us to think about it."

Asriel felt the involuntary curious glances in his direction and said with a shrug "I wrote down agriculture, medicine, and child care."

"That should cover about everything," Sans chuckled.

"There is no need to have your minds all made up yet," Toriel said warmly. "You all have more than enough time to figure it out."

There was a loud engine noise at the beginning of the street and Manny tilted his head.

"Papyrus or Undyne?" he prompted the others to guess.

"Has to be Pap," Asriel said.

"Undyne and Alphys only ever come by bike since they took up cycling," Frisk reminded Manny.

Sure enough, a moment later Papyrus and Mettaton pulled up in Papyrus' car. Mettaton had changed cars numerous times, but Papyrus still had his beloved Fiat Spider and, because he took very good care of it, it was still in pristine condition.

"Hello!" Mettaton sang and Papyrus held up a grocery bag and announced:

"I've got the extra ingredients, Toriel!"

"Wonderful," Toriel said. "I say we start right away!"

"To the kitchen!" Papyrus cried and he hurried into the house with Toriel, giving Frisk, Asriel, and Manny all a pat on the head in passing.

"Come on, Manny, Az," Frisk said, wrapping an arm around Manny. "I wanna look up that video Rory mentioned."

Mettaton walked up to Sans and watched the kids go inside, Manny nuzzling Frisk's neck as they drew their arm closer around his waist.

"Look at them," Mettaton gushed. "They're so adorable it hurts."

"They've been together for almost a year, man," Sans snorted.

"Well, I still haven't gotten over how adorable they are," Mettaton replied.

They went inside in time to hear the door of Frisk's room slam. Loud music turned on almost instantly. Equally loud cooking noises were coming from the kitchen. Papyrus' cooking had improved vastly over the years, but his exuberance hadn't diminished one bit.

"Wanna watch some TV until our better halves need us again?" Sans suggested.

Mettaton nodded happily. He and Sans had, after many trials, settled on an activity they could do together and enjoy equally: watching reality television together. Or, more accurately, Mettaton watched reality TV and Sans watched Mettaton get worked up over reality TV. Sans got a laugh out of it and Mettaton had someone to watch his awful shows with other than Papyrus, who always became upset when seeing Mettaton get outrageously angry at what was happening on screen. Since Sans always just laughed instead of trying to comfort him, Mettaton could be as dramatic as he wanted and he let Sans make all the bad puns he could think of as long as they were at the expense of the characters he couldn't stand. It was a pretty perfect arrangement.

While they were watching, Sans' phone buzzed. He looked at it. It was a text from Gaster simply saying: "?"

Sans texted back a thumbs up and announced: "Gaster's coming."

"Shush!" Mettaton scolded, eyes glued to the screen. "They're about to reveal the traitor."

So Sans shut up and watched Mettaton howl with indignation while he waited for Gaster to arrive. The door to the basement stairs opened and Gaster appeared, carrying a basket.

"Hello," he said cheerfully.

Ever since he had moved to the city, he would check with Sans as to whether everything was all clear and then shadow to the basement. It was usually the darkest there, so it was the easiest place for him to manifest.

"Hey," Sans grinned and Mettaton interrupted his tantrum mid-scream to cheerfully say:

"Hello, Gaster! Papy is in the kitchen with Toriel."

"So I hear," Gaster smiled and he walked to the kitchen to give Papyrus a hug and to give the basket, which contained several bottles of good wine, to Toriel.

"I don't see why alcohol is deemed such an appropriate gift for employees and business relations," he said. "They cannot possibly think the drinking of it will improve one's work."

"Because they want to justify their endless wine-ing at you!" Sans couldn't resist calling from the living room.

"Well, whatever the reason," Toriel giggled. "It will certainly improve our dinner party!"

When Gaster came back into the living room, Frisk had just opened the door to their room and stuck out their head to call down:

"Was that Papyrus' welcome home cry?"

"Yes it was," Sans called back with a chuckle. "Gaster's here."

"Grand-Dadster!" Frisk cheered and they came galloping down the stairs, followed first by Asriel and then Manny.

"Hello, Frisk," Gaster laughed and he hugged them. Frisk was a lot taller than Sans now, but Gaster still towered over them.

Frisk let go and Gaster hugged Asriel and greeted Manny with almost equal affection. Manny had become almost a third child long before he and Frisk started dating, as they had all known him so long.

"How are you?" Gaster asked. "Any news since last week?" But before any of the kids could answer, Mettaton said reproachfully:

"I can't hear my own drama, darlings, please, my show is almost finished."

Asriel rolled his eyes and Frisk snorted and pointed towards the kitchen. They all squeezed into the kitchen, where Toriel and Papyrus were putting the last finishing touches on the dinner.

"Goodness," Toriel said. "What a crowd all of the sudden."

"I am sure they are just here to see two master chefs at work," Papyrus grinned.

"Certainly is a bonus," Manny remarked.

"So," Gaster repeated. "Any news?"

"Well," Frisk said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Our English teacher read the last column I wrote for the school paper and she convinced me to send it to some magazine that does a promo section for young writers."

"We've been telling them to enter into writing contests for ages," Asriel reminded everyone and Manny nodded. "They never want to."

"This wasn't a contest!" Frisk protested. "I don't have to win things."

"We just want everyone to know how good you are," Manny said, nudging Frisk with his nose.

"So you sent it in," Gaster prompted. "And?"

"And they posted it!" Frisk said happily. "And they sent back that they thought my social commentary was extraordinary!"

"Congratulations," Gaster said warmly.

"Yeah, that was a pretty fun night," Sans chuckled. "I don't think you stopped jumping around for a half hour straight."

"Neither did Papyrus," Frisk retorted.

"Well," Papyrus said, putting a lid on one of the pots. "What kind of brunkle would I be if I had let you run around alone?"

"We are all very proud," Toriel smiled. "Though not in the least surprised of course."

"This looks cosy," Mettaton said, appearing in the kitchen doorway.

"Is your show over?" Manny asked. "Who won?"

"It's reality TV, darling, nobody wins," Mettaton replied and he went to wrap his arms around Papyrus, severely restricting his movement and, by extension, his cooking.

"Really," Toriel said, as she bumped into Asriel as she turned around to chop some vegetables for the salad. "This is impossible." She stood still for a moment and said: "This kitchen is officially too full."

"We'll go wait in the living room," Asriel chuckled, hugging his mother from behind. He was almost as tall as she was now. Soon he would probably be taller. "Come on, Frisk. And I'll fix that button for you, Manny."

"Cool," Manny grinned and he and Frisk followed Asriel out of the kitchen.

Between Papyrus' knitting and Toriel's sewing, Asriel had taken up the habit of altering and improving pieces of clothing. He had gotten pretty good at it and some of his latest creations had been for Manny. Asriel had come up with some really creative ways to turn not having arms into an advantage.

All three of them sat down on the couch and Asriel took a needle and thread out of Toriel's sewing box to fasten a nearly torn off button on Manny's shirt.

"You know…" Frisk noted, watching their brother work. "You could totally go do that after school. Be a fashion designer, I mean."

"Yeah, man," Manny grinned. "I'd buy all your stuff for a start."

"I dunno," Asriel said doubtfully. "It's my hobby. What if I go do it for real and it becomes just another job?"

"Yeah," Manny nodded. "I get that." That was why he wasn't quite sure about going to art school.

"Well, as long as you keep doing it," Frisk said. "You can always be a fashion designer-doctor if you want to."

Asriel chuckled and cut the thread. "There," he said. "All fixed."

"Thanks, Az," Manny said happily. He loved this shirt.

"Ring! Ring!" an impressively loud, but very young voice suddenly called from outside, followed by an spirited chorus of bicycle bells being rung.

"Out of the way!" Frisk and Asriel cried in unison, pretending to dive for cover with their arms over their head as Papyrus and Mettaton both burst from the kitchen to open the front door.

"There they are!" Alphys' voice came from the front garden when they opened the door, immediately interrupted by Undyne crying: "Get 'em!"

Papyrus and Mettaton both nearly fell over as two small monster children charged into the hallway and jumped at them in a noisy blur of greenish scales and eager little claws.

"Who are these beautiful children?" Mettaton gasped, hugging his small attacker. "Can they really be our nephews?"

"They must be!" Papyrus cried, hugging an identical little boy. "Surely there can't be four such amazing children!"

"It is us! It is us!" Kaoru and Hikaru chanted, hugging their favourite uncles tighter.

"That's right," Undyne grinned, coming in with Alphys. "Get your strangling urges out on people who don't have to breathe in the first place!"

"Hey, guys!" Frisk grinned widely and Kaoru and Hikaru let go of Papyrus and Mettaton to greet the rest of the household.

Mettaton and Papyrus might claim first place, but everyone adored the twins. It had been quite a shock to Alphys and Undyne when it had turned out there were two kids in the egg they were trying to hatch instead of one. Alphys had been equal parts overjoyed and alarmed, but Undyne had been downright triumphant about it from the moment they found out. Getting two babies when you were only trying for one seemed like the ultimate parenting win to her.

"How lovely of you to come so early!" Toriel said while Frisk and Asriel hugged what for the sake of convenience they called their little cousins. Manny got a hug as well, because as far as the twins were concerned he was a cousin too.

"Yeah," Sans said, winking at Kaoru and Hikaru as they ran from one set of arms to another. "Having you guys around always makes everything more twinteresting."

The boys laughed and Undyne rolled her eye at a grinning Alphys. Their kids were almost four years old now and Sans still hadn't run out of twin based puns.

"Come along, Papyrus," Toriel said, after she had given the twins their fair share of kisses. "We need to finish dinner!"

"Why don't we go see what Aunt Toriel and Uncle Sans have set up in the backyard?" Alphys suggested. "Before Hikaru starts climbing the bookcase again," she whispered at Undyne.

Their boys were both energetic, enthusiastic children, but Hikaru was quite obviously the loudest and most destructive. When something was being torn down, it was usually Hikaru doing the tearing while Kaoru stood to the side, giggling and egging his brother on.

"Yeah, come on, guys," Manny said. "I'll race you!"

Whooping and hollering, he ran outside with the twins, followed by Alphys and Undyne and a still gushing Mettaton.

"Dad, have you seen my camera?" Frisk asked, turning to Sans. They really wanted a couple of good pictures to remember tonight by. "I thought I left it on the living room table, but Mom moved it."

"Haven't a clue, kiddo," Sans said. "Ask your mom." Neither Sans nor Frisk was exactly sure when they had switched from 'dunkle' for 'dad', they just had.

"Mom?" Frisk began to call out, but Asriel already tapped them on their shoulder and handed them camera.

It was a good one, with a proper lens. A present for Frisk's seventeenth birthday.

"Here you go," he said. He smirked. "How many times do I have to find this thing lying around before I get to keep it?"

"Get your own!" Frisk balked, snatching it from him. They lifted it to their face and took a picture of Asriel pulling a face. "Thanks, Az," they grinned.

Frisk and Asriel ran outside to take pictures and Sans and Gaster stayed behind in the living room to catch up on the other's projects.

"Have they given you the ok to start building yet?" Sans asked.

"Not yet," Gaster grimaced. "There still seems to be some opposition and they have ordered even more radiation tests."

Sans chuckled and shook his skull.

"I have tried to explain that my panel receptors absorb the magical background radiation and are certainly not capable of creating it, but some people do not seem to want to listen."

"They do love their tests," Sans shrugged. "I guess they'll find out eventually and then you can start producing magical electricity on full scale."

Gaster nodded happily. From the moment the energy company had given him the opportunity to from his own research team, he had gathered a talented group of monsters and humans to work on new ways of generating energy. They had compared monster and human methods and had attempted to combine them in different ways. Their eventual success came in the form of solar panels adapted to absorb the ever present 'background magic' instead of absorbing sunlight. Their small scale projects had all worked wonderfully and Gaster believed that, if executed properly on a large scale, magical electricity could be sustainably powering entire cities. It would be a triumph for science and, perhaps more importantly, it would be the first big collaborative invention between humans and monsters. There had been other small successes in several fields of study, but this would be something that would made the world take notice.

"My students ask about it almost every day, you know," Sans grinned. "They want to see the project succeed so badly you wouldn't believe."

"So they are your students now?" Gaster laughed softly.

"Eh," Sans shrugged. "Kinda hard to keep denying it if they keep calling me professor."

After a lot of coaxing, the university had at length succeeded into getting Sans to accept a more official position at the university. Technically, he was now an associate professor and, although Sans frustrated and baffled colleagues and students alike, the university had finally found people he could work with: the PhD students in experimental physics. They were stubborn, motivated, often quite brilliant, and so used to having no box to think in or outside of that Sans' theories didn't distress them half as much as they did other people. There were five of them now, all working on closely related projects and all determined to integrate monster science into the current human model. Sans liked them. They were bright kids and they all had a sense of humour. You kind of had to have one when the generally accepted answer to most questions in your field of study was: "Heck if I know."

"We are done!" Toriel said happily, emerging from the kitchen. "Papyrus is tidying the kitchen a little and after that all we have to do is keep an eye on the timer and turn the oven off in time."

"Well, it certainly smells wonderful," Gaster complimented.

"Our feast is prepared," Papyrus said triumphantly, taking off his apron and washing up gloves as he came out of the kitchen. "What next?"

"Why don't we go sit outside and have a drink while we wait for Asgore and Katla to arrive?" Toriel suggested. "It sounds like outside is the place to be."

"Sure does," Sans chuckled. There certainly was a lot of happy noise coming from the backyard.

They went outside and joined Mettaton and Alphys, who were sitting down and chatting while Undyne and the kids did all sort of acrobatics on the grass for Frisk to take pictures of. At the moment Frisk was dutifully documenting the epic battle that was taking place between the twins and Manny and Undyne. It was a pity photos didn't include sound effects, because they were all putting on quite a show.

Asriel came up to Toriel as she sat down and said "Katla just texted me. She and Dad will be here soon. The meeting at child services ran long."

"Oh good, but do tell them not to hurry," Toriel said cheerfully. "There really is no need."

"Will do," Asriel nodded and he took out his phone as he walked back to where Frisk was laughingly taking pictures of Manny. He had tripped while being chased by the twins and no matter how big and strong he had gotten, he still managed to do a face plant every now and again.

Asriel sat down and texted Katla to say what Toriel had said and to ask how the meeting had gone.

Katla and Asgore had never seemed in a hurry to move in together, but after Gaster had left it hadn't taken them long to make the leap. Asriel got along with Katla so well by that time that he hadn't minded at all. On the contrary, he had been really glad to have her around more. When they had lived together for a year, Asgore and Katla had sat Asriel down and asked him how he would like it if they became a foster family. Asriel had thought it was an awesome idea and, after looking in to the different options, Asgore and Katla had registered themselves as an emergency support family. Whenever there was a child that needed a temporary place to stay immediately without delay, for whatever reason, they would take in that child in until they could go back home or to a permanent foster home. Of course there were some difficulties at first, but everything went so well with the first few children that soon there were no more scruples from child services. Asgore and Katla were steady and kind and Asriel became an instant older brother to every nervous child that walked through the door. His phone was full of names of kids that he called his brothers and sisters. The entire nature of their stay in their family was temporary, but that didn't stop Asriel, Asgore, and Katla from giving every child they fostered the comforting feeling that they would always be welcome there.

"We won! We won!" Kaoru and Hikaru danced around Undyne, chanting triumphantly as she pretended to lie defeated in the grass. Undyne closed her eye dramatically and said:

"You won! You've slain me. I'm dead."

"No!" Hikaru cried, pushing laughingly at his mother, and Kaoru immediately ran to fetch Alphys.

"Mama," he whispered loudly. "You have to come kiss Mom better again."

"I don't know," Alphys smiled. "My seat is p-pretty comfortable."

"Come on, Mama!" Kaoru insisted, pulling at her claw.

"Alright, alright," Alphys laughed and she trotted over to her wife, being pulled along by Kaoru.

"Woe is me," Undyne said, eye still closed. "I was slain by my own children. I shall never rise again."

"But Mama can kiss you better, Mom," Hikaru insisted. "She always does."

"I don't think so," Undyne said seriously. "I'm really pretty dead this time."

"Hm, I think you're only mostly dead," Alphys joked and she quoted: "There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive…" She planted a big kiss on Undyne's lips and Undyne made a show of sitting upright with a gasp as soon as she pulled away.

"It's a miracle!" she cried and she grabbed her wife and sons and squeezed them together into a big hug.

"Gotcha!" Frisk cried, taking a picture at exactly the right moment.

"Very useful," Toriel remarked laughingly to Gaster. "Having your own personal family photographer." Her scrapbooks had gotten exponentially better since Frisk had taken up photography.

Eventually Kaoru got tired and came to sit on Papyrus' lap and after a while even Hikaru wanted to sit down. By the time Asgore and Katla arrived, everyone was already gathered around the table and Frisk and Asriel were passing around plates and cutlery.

"Hello everyone!" Asgore said cheerfully.

"Hello," Katla smiled. "What a lovely setup!"

"Right on time," Toriel said, glancing at her watch. "Shall we start dinner immediately?"

"Yes please," Asgore said, hugging Asriel with one arm and Frisk with his other. "I'm starving."

"Nothing to work up your appetite like paperwork and talks with government officials," Katla joked.

"In that case, you will be glad to hear we have prepared a veritable feast!" Papyrus said and he followed Toriel to the kitchen, calling on the kids to lend a hand.

Within minutes, the two tables were absolutely laden with food and it all smelled delicious. Frisk watched how Undyne and Gaster filled everyone's glasses from their respective ends of the table. Idly they stretched out a hand towards the bouquet of wildflowers that stood in a mason jar in the middle of the table. Some of the flowers were a little squashed and wilted from being transported. Frisk flexed their fingers and a red glow spread across the flowers which immediately started to look better. As their colour became more and more vibrant, it became doubtful if they actually looked like they had looked before, but they certainly looked more like how wildflowers ought to look.

"Frisk…" Toriel said in a warning tone of voice and Frisk quickly retracted their hand.

Sans laughed however and said "What's the matter, Tori, don't you want this dinner to be magical?" And he gave a wave of his hand, spinning the candlesticks around with his telekinesis.

Asriel took the hint and lit them with his fire magic, shooting his mother a wide grin. Toriel smiled and shook her head. Using magic in the open was still not accepted and she was still a tad nervous about it, but Sans and the kids were right: times were changing. It probably wouldn't be long before magic would be actively taught in schools.

Manny grinned at Frisk. He loved that Frisk and he had similar types of magic. This wasn't strictly true, as their magic came from very different sources, but the way the magic manifested itself was similar. Manny healed things that were hurt with Kindness, Frisk preserved things that were good with Determination. They were not the same thing, but they were both very good.

"I think a toast is certainly in order!" Asgore said cheerfully, looking around the table.

"Absolutely," Toriel said. "Papyrus, would you do the honours?"

"Oh!" Papyrus cried. "Yes, of course!" He took up his glass and said: "A toast! Because we're all so happy and because I love you all very much!"

A wave of smiles went round the table. Both because that wasn't really a toast and because it was the best toast they had ever heard. They all raised their glasses, even Kaoru and Hikaru, and toasted to love and happiness.

"Now," Toriel said, with a smile so wide it lit up her eyes. "Tuck in, everyone! There is more than enough, so eat your fill!"

Everybody enthusiastically filled their plates and as they ate, they talked about how long it had been since they had all had dinner together and how they should do it more often.

"We should do a set date once a month or something," Undyne said.

"That is a good idea," Katla nodded.

"But unless we do it in the weekends, it might be rather difficult," Gaster said and Asgore nodded in silent agreement.

"But weekends are busy too," Undyne sighed.

"Hey, it's not our fault you had to start the most popular self-defence centre in town!" Mettaton teased.

"You're n-not one to talk," Alphys laughed. "We've hardly seen you this month."

"I know, I'm terrible," Mettaton sighed. "The life of a star…"

"As long as you all come to our birthday party!" Asriel said.

"Yeah!" Frisk chimed in. "You can have all the cool careers you want, but everyone has to be at our birthday party."

"I don't know," Sans grinned. "It's a Mettaton party, so it's probably going to be pretty garish."

"It's going to be lovely," Mettaton protested with affected indignation. "It's going to be the most wonderful, touching, heart-warming, extravagant eighteenth birthday party ever!"

Asriel and Frisk beamed at each other. They had been looking forward to this party since that New Year's celebration eight years ago.

"Of course we will all be at the birthday party," Papyrus said.

"Of course," Katla laughed. "We would no sooner miss your big celebration than Papyrus and Mettaton's wedding!"

"You shouldn't have said that," Alphys laughed as both Mettaton and Papyrus' faces suddenly glowed with excitement and anticipation.

"Oh, darling, it's going to be so big," Mettaton gushed. "People are going to be talking about it for years."

"That's fitting," Sans chuckled. "Since it's all that you two have been doing for years: talking about it."

"Well, that's the Moldsmal calling the Moldbygg gelatinous!" Mettaton said indignantly. "When are you and Tori finally getting married, hm?"

"We are," Sans grinned.

"What?" Mettaton spluttered.

"Yeah," Sans said nonchalantly. "Tied the knot a couple years ago, did we forget to mention it?"

"You... I… WHAT?" Mettaton stammered. "Papyrus! Did you know about this?"

"Know about what?" Papyrus asked, looking up from his conversation with Gaster.

"About Sans and Toriel being MARRIED!" Mettaton exploded.

"Oh," Papyrus said. "No, they're not married. They just went to a desk with a nice lady that asked them some questions and they signed a paper."

"You had a registry office wedding without telling us!" Undyne cried. "When?!"

Frisk, Asriel, and Manny snorted and chuckled while the others freaked out at Sans and Toriel. Asriel and Frisk had known because Sans and Toriel had discussed it with them before going through with it and of course Frisk had told Manny in their excitement. Papyrus and Gaster had known too, they had been the witnesses. Except Gaster had decided it was not his place to tell others and Papyrus had apparently never realised it had been a wedding in the first place. Toriel and Sans were not at all impressed at the outrage of the others; it only made them laugh. They hadn't gotten married for anyone but themselves and they didn't regret it one bit.

"I don't see why you need to make such a fuss," Toriel giggled. "It's just two boring teachers getting married."

"Well," Sans winked. "I suppose they expected us to teach them all a lesson about how a wedding is done."

He still didn't think of himself as a teacher, but for the sake of wordplay he'd allow it. Toriel really was a teacher by now. She still worked at the Council for Monster-Human Cohabitation as well though. There she mostly trained other monster (and the occasional human) teachers how to teach Monster History (an optional subject in some high schools) and Magic Theory (an optional subject that was rapidly becoming mandatory in the top grade of primary school and throughout high school).

"You b-better have taken pictures," Alphys grumbled, helping Hikaru to cut up his meat.

"A few," Toriel smiled.

"Didn't need many, I get to look at her every day," Sans grinned, winking at his wife.

Slowly the conversation turned from everyone's fervent indignation at this romantic secrecy to other things. The main course was followed by several wonderful desserts and everybody ate until they simply couldn't take another bite.

Even after they were done eating, nobody talked of leaving. They all sat around the table talking, while Hikaru and Kaoru slid off their chairs and crawled around their feet chasing Sir Pouncival, who was a big and rather lazy cat now. He hardly ever chased or hunted anymore, but for the twins he made an exception.

Eventually Katla and Toriel got up to make everyone coffee. It was a warm summer evening and the kids decided they would rather have lemonade than hot chocolate.

"I'll come," Frisk offered and they went with them to mix the lemonade.

"This evening is flying by," Toriel said.

"I'll say," Katla sighed.

"It's so nice to be all together," Frisk said.

"Yes, it is," Toriel replied and she gave their hair an affectionate ruffle.

When they came back with the drinks, Frisk gave Asriel his glass and then promptly sat down on Manny's lap. They had brought one big glass of lemonade with two straws in it for them.

"Thank you, dear," Asgore said, taking his coffee from Katla and offering her the sugar as she sat down beside him.

Papyrus' coffee was mostly milk and Mettaton's was mostly sugar. They looked happy sitting side by side sipping their atrocious concoctions. Next to them sat Alphys and Undyne, each with a child on their lap. Hikaru was nestled against Alphys and Kaoru curled safely in Undyne's arms. It really was getting late and they were all tuckered out.

"Here you go, Gaster," Toriel said. "And here you go, Sans."

"Thank you," Gaster said and Sans grinned:

"Are you sure you don't need a cof-fee for this delivery?"

"No payment needed," Toriel laughed. "But I do accept donations!"

Sans chuckled and leaned his skull against her shoulder for a moment.

"Look," Asriel smiled, leaning his chin on his paw. "Sun's setting."

Everybody looked as the golden glow of the setting sun spread across the sky, touching the few visible clouds with pink and shreds of purple.

"No matter how many times I've seen it, it never gets less amazing," Toriel sighed.

"Amazing," Gaster agreed.

"Heh," Undyne smiled, looking at Alphys and her kids. "These tykes don't know any better."

"Isn't that cool?" Frisk said happily. "There will be no more monsters that have never seen the sun."

"Awesome," Manny nodded.

And as the sun slowly set and the lights decorating the garden finally began to prove their worth, everybody quietly agreed that to see the sunset together after an evening such as this was pretty close to perfection.

Softly their voices filled the night air, talking about long ago and yesterday, asking what would happen tomorrow and theorising what might come true in the future. It was a lovely night, they were a wonderful family, and they were all very happy.

…

So that's what would have happened if CONTINUE never had been reloaded. I still prefer the other epilogue, but it really was a very close call when I was writing the finale so it seemed fair to upload this as well. What do you think, which one do you prefer? I'd really like to know :)