Cear IK: Hi! Thankyou for clicking on this story! I was writing an essay by hand one day and this... kinda interrupted with twelve consecutive front-and-back pages of story. It kinda decided on chapters, writing style, perspective- the whole shebang. And trust me, these things do change. Third chapter, named "Project Notes"? Yeah, that's written from Gaster's first-person perspective, as if he was writing notes for how the MC was doing. Don't ask me why- I know just as much as you why this happened, and I wrote it! Anyway, Thankyou very much for clicking! I hope you get to read everything- I hope I finish everything! I know what is going to happen, just not how it's going to happen... And I posted this here because I need motivation to finish it. That's why constructive criticism is wanted- to motivate me to be a better writer! The blurb before Chapter One? That's there because this is written from the overall perspective of the MC's past- which is why I know what is going to happen. Also why this is called "Prologue".
Anyway, I've nattered enough. Thankyou for clicking, hope you enjoy, please leave any sort of response (even if it's simply to say "this sucks!"). Undertale belongs to Toby Fox- thank him for giving us this wonderful world! Also, thanks to a whole host of wonderful fanfic writers who gave me the inspiration and gumption to actually write and post this!

Darkness. Darkness as far as the eye can see, the mind could sense. A bit melodramatic, yes, but true nonetheless. Darkness, missing the colors that should be there to lighten it. Violet, Yellow, Green, Orange, Blue, Red… Cyan. Colors that should have lit the heart… but left it so ominously blackened in their absence.

Chapter One:

Empty. That was the word. Nothing but emptiness inside. She just wished that there was emptiness around her to match.

We can take care of that easily, Partner.

She ignored the voice. There was nothing she could do to it otherwise.

What's the matter, Partner? Got 'knife-ing' to say?

Anger blossomed in the emptiness, but it was dulled with hopeless despair. The voice giggled, happier having drawn a response from her. The world's pacifistic soul continued ignoring her genocidal counterpart, standing at a memorial marker that should not have existed, feeling herself lose a piece of herself that should not be missing for the 999th time. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't cope- all she could do was shake. A comforting hand was placed on her shoulder, a startled intake and an even more abrupt bear hug the owner's response to finder her shaking so.

"SHH, THERE THERE. YOU'RE OK"

He didn't understand. She wasn't okay, she was never okay anymore. The void in her heart was shaking her apart. All she wanted was her piece back. She was so empty she couldn't even cry anymore. The bones she was pressed into were… wrong. Not…

"PLEASE BE OKAY….?"

The worry in his voice pulled her back. He was so important to… She couldn't hurt him. She took a deep breath, the air shuddering into starved lungs. Funny, she hadn't been aware she had stopped breathing. The void inside her hurt, it took up to much space. She breathed around it.

Just deal a little longer… Focus

"Morgaine…?"

She focused.

"I'm… I'm alright now, Paps." Her voice was dull, flat, even to her ears. She was such a liar. She hadn't been alright for a long time. She pulled away. Turned. Forced herself to actually look at the grave marker, study it while ignoring all of the emotions it evoked. She could feel the worried stare boring into her from her companions. She ignored it, like she ignored the snickering from the genocidal one stuck in her head. This grave marker looked older than all the others. It was, she discovered when she studied it closer, reading only the dates on the inscription, by far the oldest out of the 999 others.

"Morgaine… Breathe."

Oh. That was why she was starting to feel lightheaded. She forgot to breathe again. She breathed. She continued studying the marker.

"IS… IS SHE ALRIGHT?"

"I… I don't know. I don't really think so."

"WILL SHE BE ALRIGHT, GASTER?"

"Only time will tell, Papyrus. Only time will tell."

Yes, time will tell. Who knows that better than you… Partner?

She ignored the voice, but it was right about one thing. Time would tell. If she reset enough… For a time, the markers had been getting newer. She had been getting closer to getting her piece back. But now…

"It's older…"

"WHAT?"

"What's older, Morgaine?"

"I've… I've been resetting a lot, as you know, Gaster."

"Yes. You resetting a couple of hundred times in succession is what allowed me to come back. Since you seem to have broken time a little."

"Sorry Gaster. This was my 999th reset since I started counting."

"...And what made you start counting?"

The scientist looks intrigued, and a little worried. So he should. She broke time after resetting approximately 500 times consecutively. She raises an arm and points to the marker they had found her at.

"When that replaced…" She took a breath. "When the marker started appearing in the timelines."

The scientist's eyes widen.

"So you knew…"

He doesn't say the name. She flinches, but just nods, trembling.

"Is that why…"

Another trembling nod.

"Oh. Oh dear. My poor child."

She's not a child, hasn't been for a long time, but she's gotten used to her chronological age, so she no longer minds.

"Can… Can you wait a little while this time, before resetting? I'd like to do a little research, but you haven't given me time."

She's frozen. She can't breathe. Can't move. All she feels is the pain singing with taut viciousness through the void that has become her soul. At least when she resets, there's faint, broken hope to bulwarked by granite determination to balance out the pain. But that hope had just failed her for the 999th time. She had to reset again, she couldn't live with this-

White bony hands took hers. A white, cracked face looked into hers.

"I'd like to help."