Core Issues: Season Three
by Nicolle

Disclaimer: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. Pokemon belongs to Game Freak. Portal belongs to Valve. G!Sans (who is taking a break from being our narrator) and G!Paps belong to Borurou. Fase is from Technotale. Underfell is a community project. Shipworks belongs to me. This story is copyright to me.

Special Disclaimer: While I do not use the specifics of the actual Portale, Omegasm7890 gets the credit for coming up with the idea. The Horrortale I am using here belongs to s-h-o-r-t-y and horror-bear.

1. This thing went through so many drafts I wasn't sure it would make it to episode three but need to be pushed back. But the characters wouldn't shut up in my head and I was able to push through.

2. Rated T for language, sexual themes/jokes, and violence.

Ep. 3 - Final Exam
(Fell Chara is our narrator.)

Frisk slept against Asriel's chest while he read a book. We sat under an oak tree in the Seraph Foundation's well kept gardens, enjoying a few moments when we didn't have to be on guard. Az's hand gently petted Frisk's purple hair, while I rested against the tree with my hands behind my head. The day was bright, the clouds were big and puffy, and before I could drift off to sleep my 'Fell-Sense' tingled.

I caught sight of Frisk, the one with the big exemplar named Crow, heading right for us. I smiled as I sat up. "Here comes trouble."

She stuck her tongue out at me as she sat next to me, refusing to give up that last piece of immaturity despite being twenty years old. "Check it out! I nicked Frisk's Pokeballs!" She held out three red and white balls, each marked with a little sticker.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "And I'm pretty sure I remember her saying that her Pokemon are dangerous."

"Just the one!" She elbowed me. "Don't you want to see real Pokemon?"

I leaned back against the tree, arms behind my head. "I saw Bone's Houndoom, so I'm good."

Frisk reached out to shove me and one of the balls rolled away from her, landing on the button. A bright light erupted and a huge snake with long fangs appeared. I jumped to my feet, putting her behind me.

The Seviper, Apophis, hissed and reared up in front of me.

"Poison types are weak to psychic and ground attacks," my Frisk said, sleepily.

"Got it." I grabbed a chunk of dirt from the garden and flung it in the Seviper's eyes.

It hissed and shook it's head, trying to clear the dust. I grabbed the Pokeball with the ankh sticker on it from Frisk's hand. I hit the button and tossed it. A Lucario appeared in a burst of light in front of me.

"Anubis! I'm sorry I'm not your trainer, but I could really use a hand against Apophis here."

Anubis nodded and fell into stance. "Lucario!"

Apophis launched at Anubis, fangs out.

"Anubis! Dig!"

The Lucario dived, digging into the ground quickly. Apophis landed face first in the dirt and came up looking around rapidly. Anubis came up underneath him, hitting hard and fast. The Seviper hit the ground, completely knocked out.

"Yes!"

Anubis turned with a pleased smile on it's snout. "Lucario!"

We high fived. "Thanks for the help."

Apophis shook it's head and rose, slithering up to me. It ducked it's head.

"He's looking for pets."

I turned and saw Bone's Frisk standing there in one of her lacy, layered dresses. Baby Sophia, all dark haired and blue eyed, stood next to her, sucking away at a juice pouch. Though 'baby' wasn't a fair assessment. She would turn four soon. She spied my Frisk and ran for her, cuddling up between her and Az while babbling excitedly.

Sophia's one year old brother, Brandon, clung to his mother's chest, despite the sling she wore nestling him tightly. He had the same coloring as his sister, dark hair and blue eyes. Ravie had been seriously dismayed that neither of his younger siblings were skeletons like him. On the other hand, I had seen Bones with skin on during a mission, and damn if his children didn't look exactly like him.

I turned back to Apophis and rubbed his head.

"It figures that the Pokemon that doesn't like anyone would like you," Asriel said as he played peek a boo with Sophia.

"Bite me, Az."

He smiled and 'chomped' at me, lips drawn back from his sharp teeth.

Frisk huffed and threw a punch at my shoulder, dark hair swinging. "You jerk! You've seen lots of Pokemon, haven't you?!"

I ducked her fist. "Yeah. And I've trained with these so I know what they can do."

She glared and slammed into me with her shoulder, knocking us both to the ground.

"Ow."

She gasped and sat up quick. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

I rubbed my arm as I sat up. "For someone so quick to the punch, you're also quick to the remorse."

Frisk frowned. "Sorry."

"I'm all right." I stood and offered her my hand.

Bone's Frisk picked two large blue fruits from the tree my Frisk and Az sat under. She fed them to her Pokemon before returning them to their balls. "Blue is looking for the two of you."

"Really?" Frisk popped up in front of her face, excited. Lacking a Sans of her own, she'd latched pretty firmly on the 'classic' version. The same way I had somehow become her surrogate Chara.

"*yep."

She swung around, hugging him.

"*hey there, kiddo! " He picked her up to twirl her around. When the skele-man set her down, she plopped down on her butt giggling. He looked at me. "*i've got a couple jobs for you two."

"Us two?" I pointed at Frisk. "As in her and I?" I shrugged. "All right. I'll take the bait. Why the team up?"

He smiled and looked to the side. Meaning that he was going to tell me A while meaning B. "*you two get along well enough and i've got two different timelines with some interesting problems. i'm sure you two can handle it."

Frisk reached up for my hands. "I'm game. Let me grab my bag from the equipment room."

I pulled her up. "You okay with handling the equations?"

She nodded. "Fase gives them to me with half the numbers in place so it's not hard."

I noticed my Frisk looking at me when I turned to Blue. She waved sleepily and I gave her a wink. It'd taken a long time for us to get to the point where we were comfortable being timelines apart. The first time I'd taken a mission away from her, it'd taken all we had in us to be able to stand it.

"So what are we in for?"

He shrugged. "*standard anomalies. when you finish the first, give fase a call for the next."

I resisted the urge to groan. "All right." I headed for the building, Frisk on my heels.

"What's up with the lack of info?" she asked as we headed down the hall.

"It's a test."

She blinked. "For?"

"Full agent status."

"No way." She looked confused. "Really? I mean, I haven't even finished college yet. And I'll still have years more of school after that."

I opened the door to the equipment room for her. "It's not about education. It's about skill and a certain savviness."

"So why aren't your Frisk and Asriel being tested?"

"They aren't looking to be full agents, just auxiliary."

"Does it have something to do with Frisk's twenty-second birthday?" Frisk pulled her bag from the shelf and tossed me mine. "I've heard you guys talk about that. It's really a big deal, huh?"

I sighed. "It's when she officially becomes an adult among monsters in our timeline."

She went silent. Suspiciously so. And I wondered if that meant she understood the implications.

"Queen Toriel worried about that for me, but didn't explain it." She shouldered her bag. "And mom..." She smiled suddenly, happy to so easily call the Frisk who raised her 'mother.' "Talked for a long time about coming of age in a Fell world." She looked at me. "It's really complicated for your Frisk, isn't it?"

"Yes and no. Everyone in the Underground made their public declarations as she made her journey. It's the formal ones that are at issue. Can you keep something under your hair?"

She lifted a dark lock to look at it and dropped it. "Totally."

"Asriel's proposing at the official celebration that names all three of us adults."

Frisk smiled. "That'll stick a potato in a couple tail pipes!" She frowned. "What about you? I'm sure more than a few monsters will want to make formal declarations to you."

I frowned. "I'll deal with it as I need too."

She sighed, patting my shoulder. "Ready?"

I nodded.

Frisk pulled out her phone and dialed Fase. The voice of creepy doom filled our ears as I put an arm around her waist. We fell into the void, floating for just a bit, before landing in a room with blue gray paneled walls a a blue gray tiled floor.

And immediately dove to avoid fire from a white robot on black legs with one red laser eye. The sound of a plasma shot going off made me flinch and an orange ringed hole opened on the floor between us.

"*quick! in the hole!"

I couldn't see where the voice was coming from, the angle of the shot put them behind me and I couldn't risk looking away from the robot trying to mow us down. Frisk rolled across the floor and fell through the hole. I followed quickly and came out a blue ringed hole on a platform only to landed on my shoulder. Frisk helped me to my feet and I immediately saw the problem. A dapperly dressed Victorian skeleton in a top hat and brown suit, with a myriad of shining brass tools attached to his belt.

Steam stood in front of us with a portal gun in his boney hands.

Frisk hugged him. "Steam! How did you end up here?"

He hugged her back. "*i'm not exactly sure. i was working on a new portal device with the doctor and when we activated it, i ended up here."

"So why not just teleport out?" I asked, rolling my shoulder.

"*i don't carry one of the void badges on me, so i don't have a piece of the void with which to travel."

"Well, I'm here now so you have your piece of the void to get you home," Frisk said. She held out her hand.

I put an arm around her as Steam took her hand. Nothing.

Steam frowned. *well. it seems like we can come in but we can't leave."

"Impossible," I countered. "Leaving must be contingent on something."

"perhaps we need to leave the building."

Frisk nodded and looked around. "This is totally a Portal test chamber, even if the portal gun wasn't a complete give away." She frowned. "Have you seen another Sans or Papyrus?"

Steam shook his head.

"So Portal with Frisk as Chell then?"

I nodded. "Maybe. He might have switched places with this world's Sans. Let's exit the test chamber and see if we can leave from there." I looked around and located the exit... right in front of the turret. "We need to take out the turret."

"any ideas?"

Frisk pointed to the ceiling. "Portal up there and one underneath the turret. It will be smashed by the fall."

"*okay." Steam shot the ceiling directly above the turret and directly below. He laughed, watching it fall in an endless loop. Until the red eye managed to turn, spot us on the balcony, and fired.

I pulled Frisk and Steam to the side before pulling the portal gun from his hand. "Ha ha." I shot to change the entry portal and the turret crashed to the floor, breaking apart.

Steam smiled and shrugged. "*well if you wanna do all the work, i won't stop ya."

I placed a portal on the wall next to the exit and one on the wall next to us. We stepped through and went through the incandescent particle field over the exit.

Frisk leaned back against the elevator railing as the door shut behind us and took us to the next floor. "So does this mean we have to deal with GLaDOS?"

The elevator stopped and we exited into a new chamber. A digital version of my own voice came over the PA system. "Two of you are not my current test subject. You both will now be ejected from the testing area."

The floor opened underneath my feet and I fell into a dirty, broken test chamber. I crouched when I landed to transfer some of the momentum. Steam landed next to me with a groan. I looked up and caught a brief glimpse of Frisk before the trap door closed.

Steam tapped my shoulder. "*there's an exit over there." I nodded and followed him over the debris. "*any idea of where we might be in relation to frisk?"

"The floor below. This place exists on duct work and the machinery in it. So if we can find a way behind the walls, we can get up to her faster." I smirked. "Knowing her, she's probably already on GLaDOS-me's last nerve."

Steam smiled. "*then we should hurry."

"So where is the exit you spied?"

He pointed to an open doorway on a balcony over our heads and then laughed at my expression. I aimed and pulled the trigger. The shot went past Steam's head and opened a portal on the wall a story above him.

"*you missed."

I smiled. "No, I didn't." I place the next shot under his feet. Steam fell through the portal and came flying out the other, sailing across the room to slam into the far wall and slide down slowly to the balcony.

"*oooohh..."

I chuckled as I jumped through the portal and landed on the balcony.

"*you really are a little prick."

"Well, I do have to live up to my name." I offered him a hand up and he took it. We headed through the open door way and found another broken test chamber. The wall to my right was a shambles, the machinery inside half falling out and a complete wreck. I grabbed Steam's collar and pulled him after me, dashing for the break in the wall. Climbing inside, I found writing and messy drawings all over the walls. I paused to have a closer look, when the wall was suddenly ripped away from the other side.

Standing over me as a massive ninja outfitted in black from head to toe. Crow hefted the piece of wall and tossed it casually behind himself. Frisk stuck her head in the hole, dark hair half in her face. "Hoi!"

"Yo."

"The Enrichment Center is required to remind you that dismantling any part of the test chamber will result in immediate transport to the Aperture Science Emergency Intelligence Incinerator!"

"Hey me! Screw you!" I nodded for Frisk to follow me between the walls and Crow disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

"What are you doing?"

None of us answered, heading in between the walls, following the writing that covered them.

"You haven't escaped, you know. You're not even going the right way."

Frisk put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

We came to a junction between test chambers and arrows shaped like bones directed us to the left. We came to an office filled with actual sunlight coming in through the windows and green plants having overgrown their pots all over the room. We walked over to the windows of broken glass and looked down on a broken and long abandoned facility. I fired a portal into the outside wall at ground level and another into the wall next to us. The three of us walked out of the building.

I rested the portal gun on my shoulder and put an arm around Frisk. "Lets try heading back to your place, Steam."

He nodded. "*indeed. i am interested to meet the frisk who lives in this world." He took Frisk's outstretched hand and we leaped into the void, landing solidly in the Shipworks. Frisk stepped away from me to look up at all the flying ships in the bay.

"Sans!" Steam's Frisk nearly bowled him over in the rush to hug him. "Where were you? Are you okay? You have to see the Frisk that replaced you when we activated the portal!" He pulled Steam over to Dr. Gaster's office. Inside was an adult Frisk with long brown hair in a pony tail, layered tanks, orange pants, and long fall boots, eating a piece of cake.

I chuckled. "I guess the cake wasn't a lie this time."

Frisk snorted next to me, arm resting on my shoulder as she laughed.

Portal Frisk smiled. "It's actually pie that's a lie for me."

"That.. actually makes a lot of sense."

"So now what? Do we drop her back home?" Frisk asked.

Portal Frisk stood. "I am ready to go back." She held out a hand toward me. "I will need my portal gun."

"Oh! Yeah." I handed it to her. "We did make the A.I. me pretty pissed off. Sorry about that."

She shrugged. "No biggie. CHaRA is a blow hard."

"So do you not have a Sans?"

"I do. But he's not well. Did you get in between the walls?"

I nodded.

"That's his writing. He hasn't been well since CHaRA killed off everyone else in the facility with neurotoxin."

Dr. Gaster stood, smoothing out his suit. "Since it was my device that caused this mess, I think it's only proper that I take you home myself." He pulled out a green and black void badge and fixed it to his dress shirt under his checked black and gray vest. He offered his arm.

"*be careful, doctor. we couldn't teleport away inside the building," Steam supplied.

Portal Frisk smiled. "I can get him to an exit." She took his arm with a smile and they disappeared.

Steam sighed. "*i really did want to talk to her about her timeline."

I patted him on the back. "It's not like you can't get there."

Gaster and Portal Frisk reappeared, Frisk laughing hysterically.

"It seems I forgot to ask for the equation..."

I held out my phone with the equation displayed and they disappeared again.

Frisk put her head on my shoulder. "He gets worse all the time!"

I laughed. "Ready for number two?"

She stood up straight. "Totally."

I put my arm around her as she called Fase. The voice of creepy doom filled our ears and we fell into the void. It felt like we were falling forever through the dark. I gripped Frisk tighter but she was completely relaxed, brown eyes reflecting the dark around her serenely. She was in her one true element, hanging in it just as long as she could. I relaxed and floated with her, resting in an endlessness dotted with the occasional bright spark of a timeline.

"So... uh... What's the deal with you, your Frisk, and your brother? Are you three like..." She trailed off at my glare and then waved her hands at me in surrender. "I'm sorry! Oh gosh! Don't kill me!"

I rolled my eyes. "We aren't a threesome."

Emboldened, she leaned in. "So what is it? You and Frisk touch each other, like, all the time."

I put my hand on her face and gently pushed her back. "That's because, for a very long time, we shared the same body. We aren't over the separation. I don't know if we ever will be. And no, Frisk and I do not have romantic feelings for each other."

I sighed, gripping her hand a little tighter. "She's my partner. Her power awakened me from death and she took on a harsh burden for herself so that I would have a body of my own. Being her shadow is the purpose of my reincarnation. And I will stay with her forever."

She smiled sadly. "So what about you doing normal things like marriage and kids?"

I thought of the Lab and the horror my father had willingly sent me too. "Those things were never within my reach."

Frisk grabbed the bottom edge of my coat sleeve and shook it back and forth. "They are now."

I blinked and looked at her. "Are you hitting on me?"

"Oh no! Not my type!" She entwined her arm with mine. "I like hanging with you because, well, just like me, you aren't supposed to exist." She laid her head on my shoulder. "And yet, our existences make so many people happy."

She looked me in the eye. "You know, I kept waiting to be kicked out of the Foundation when I turned eighteen. But no one asked me to leave. When I talked to King Asriel about it, he was honestly confused and wanted to know why anyone would ever send me away from my home."

I thought about Red packing me lunch before I headed out for the day, always including a piece of chocolate. And Papyrus pacing the living room while he waited for me to return from a mission. I thought about Undyne gently caring for my wounds while I recovered from one of her training sessions. I thought about my brother's hugs and Frisk's bright smile, the one she saved only for me.

She let go of the float and we fell backwards into a timeline. Reality opened around us, embracing us as we put our feet down in snow.

Frisk and I looked around the dark forest. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. I'd been to several really terrible Fell worlds and a couple Horror timelines but this? This place set off every bell and whistle in my head. Crow was suddenly with us, eyes watching our backs.

A whimper up ahead caught our attention. We ran for the sound and found a young Frisk, not more than twelve years old, stuck in a bear trap, shivering. The clothing he still wore was shredded and the warmest clothing in the best condition lay in a pile next to him. The lantern he carried was whole, but the light had gone out.

"You help him and I'll watch our backs."

Frisk nodded. "Got it." She knelt next to the boy. "It's okay. We can help." She gestured to her exemplar. "This is Crow. He's going to open the trap."

Crow pulled the trap apart easily, snapping the hinge. The boy's leg was a mess and I gave Frisk full points for not flinching when she saw the damage. I'd wondered if she'd see worse in one of her classes. She pulled on a pair of gloves before carefully inspecting the wound, feeling around it.

She looked up at me and signed, 'The leg is broken. He's lucky his foot is still attached.' She touched his face. "Hypothermia. Crap." She tossed his piled clothing to me. "Would you dry those out, please?"

"Yeah." A bit of fire magic had the clothing dry and warm. Crow took my place at watch while I got the kid dressed. Frisk disinfected the wound and splinted the leg, aligning the bones carefully before bandaging. She pulled a thermos of spider cider from her bag and held it to his lips, feeding it to him drop by drop. Thirty minutes later, he cuddled against her, holding onto her jacket for dear life.

"So... now what?"

I frowned and picked up the lantern, relighting it with a little fire magic. "Good question. We're outside of Snowdin, but past the first sentry check point. Where is Sans and why isn't he here to help?"

"Here, get on my back." Frisk knelt and the kid climbed on her back. She handed her bag to me and I shouldered it to the side. "This is definitely a horror time line. Maybe he isn't helpful at all." She looked both ways on the path.

"Any idea why he pulled his clothing off?"

She nodded. "People suffering from hypothermia become easily confused and often strip their clothing thinking they'll be warmer with less on."

"That's actually kind of terrifying."

"Yeah." She hefted the boy, who gripped her tighter. "Do we take him back to the Ruins or do we go for Snowdin?"

I looked toward Snowdin. "Let's get him to Snowdin. We should run into Sans and Papyrus along the way and have a better idea of what's going on."

We headed down the path, Crow watching our backs. The wind picked up and snow began to fall. We picked up the pace and hid in the first of the two Dog Marriage sentry posts. We huddled together, waiting out the storm.

A strange whistle carried over the wind, followed by a sing song voice. "Come, little one... I smell your blood..."

The boy huddled against Frisk. I summoned a sword and the boy suddenly grabbed my arm, shaking his head. He quickly extinguished the lamp. A dog sentry looked inside the station, staring directly at us with white, lidless eyes, before moving along to the next station. When it came back, it paused, sniffing the air.

"I smell you..."

It trudged away as the storm died down. Frisk and I looked at each other as the boy re-lit the lantern with a match from his pocket.

She shrugged and stood. "Let's hurry."

We hurried deeper into the cavern, heading for Snowdin only to stop at the path being covered completely by traps. Not puzzles. Traps. Traps meant to maim and kill. Faun, the deer monster, was caught in one and the white eyed dog was eating him while he was still alive. Frisk dropped the boy and turned to vomit off the side of the path. Crow stepped in to protect the kid while I summoned my sword.

The white eyed dog heard the snow crunch under my feet, but couldn't see me as I walked toward him. He moved toward the sound just enough that I could move to the side and take his head off in one clean stroke. The body hit the ground while the head rolled behind a tree and out of sight. The body didn't turn to dust. It lay there and twitched. I looked to Faun. I did not have enough Monster Food to cure his wounds. Nothing less than butterscotch pie would save him.

"kill... me..."

My shoulders fell. "I'm sorry." I swung true and Faun was no more.

I waited for the coldness to come over me, the rise in level.

Nothing.

'Chara...'

A dark chasm opened somewhere inside me. I fell to my knees, holding my head, willing that chasm shut. A pair of hands rested on my shoulders.

"It's okay."

Another hand, much smaller, touched my back, and the chasm shut. I opened my eyes and looked up at Frisk. She smiled softly as she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped my face.

"Man, this stuff is sticky."

I looked at the black fluid on the white fabric and shuddered.

Frisk folded the hanky up and tucked it away in a pocket. "What happened? By the look on your face, I'd say it's happened before."

I sat back on heels. "During a mission, Frisk called my name and..." I sighed. "I don't know. I don't remember."

"Frisk didn't tell you?"

I shook my head.

"It's because you're Chara, isn't it?"

The boy behind me gasped and backed away. "Chara!"

A whisper rose on the wind. 'Chara... Chara... arise! arise!'

The boy grabbed his head. "No! No! Go away!"

I took his hands in mine. "Hey. The demon cannot take you if you don't give him a path into your heart. He can scare you and that can make you feel weak. But being scared is normal." I smiled. "Sometimes it's even fun." I stood, holding his hand. "Come on. We're almost to Snowdin."

"Teddy."

"Teddy?" Frisk and I asked at the same time.

He pointed down the path and standing in the trees was Sans. A massive, seven foot tall skeleton with thick bones and sharp teeth. With his boney hands in the pockets of his black hoodie, he strode up to us.

"*where ya been, kid? been lookin' all over for ya." He nudged Faun's corpse with his foot. "*looks like you found us some dinner. though this guy's had all the good parts eaten already." He picked up the dog monster's headless body by one lung and flung it over his shoulder. "*this'll do nicely."

Sans looked at Frisk and I, regarding us for a moment before shrugging. "*so what's a couple of seraph agents doin' here?"

"Don't know yet," I replied.

Sans turned his back on us and the kid ran up to take his free hand. "*well, come on then. hot dog is on the menu tonight."

"I am not eating that," Frisk muttered.

I agreed.

"*so where'd the kid pick you two up?"

"We found him in a bear trap," Frisk growled.

Sans shrugged. "*happens."

I put a hand on her shoulder to calm her and keep her from saying something that would get us both in trouble.

"*when we get to snowdin, people are gonna try to kill ya for food. humans are pretty delicious after all. be ready for that."

Just as we stepped into town, a rabbit monster with sharp teeth jumped me and I dispatched it quickly. The other monsters backed off and watched us cautiously. Again, my level remained steady. "What's going on?"

"*what are you yappin' about?"

"Why hasn't my level gone up?"

"*because in this place, LoVE don't mean nothin.' you live. you die." He opened the door to the house. "*doesn't mean you won't grow colder and more distant in a different way."

"Hey Sans!" a monster yelled from the door of Grillby's. "Collecting more human pets?"

"*fuck you."

"The kid's got nothing on 'em, so it's no loss if you keep 'em around. But those two look like good eats!"

I summoned two red swords and sent them at the monster. The blades embedded themselves deep in the wood of the door on either side of the monster's head. "Oh shit! They know magic! Never mind!"

Sans chuckled and let us in the house. "*hey paps! i got us some dinner."

Papyrus was so tall, spindly he had to duck to come out of the kitchen. "TWO FULL GROWN HUMANS! FOR ONCE YOU ARE DOING YOUR JOB!" He cackled. "GET THE CROSSES READY!"

"*nah paps. the dog is dinner. those two are from seraph."

"SERAPH..." He leaned in to look at Frisk and I. "WHY WOULD SERAPH COME HERE? WE HAVE NO ANOMALIES."

"Fase sent us, so here we are."

"I DO NOT LIKE THIS. TWO PERFECTLY GOOD HUMANS AND WE AREN'T CRUCIFYING THEM?! THIS DAY COULD NOT BE ANY WORSE!" He plopped down onto the sofa and turned on the TV.

Instead of one of Mettaton's many, many shows, a Temmie stared out from the screen.

"*things just got worse."

"It's a Temmie," Frisk said. "How are they bad?"

"*they are the most powerful and terrifying thing in the underground. they're usually too busy runnin' their village to give a shit about anything else so the rest of us stay safe." He glanced at my raised eyebrow. "*relatively speaking."

"Temmie need human! Temmie need human Frisk!" The Temmie on the screen vibrated excitedly. "Bring to Temmie."

"*fuck. paps, hide the kid. i'm heading to the temmie village."

"No!" The boy grabbed a hold of Sans' hoodie. "Don't go, Teddy!"

"We'll go," Frisk said. "We'll find out why they suddenly want Frisk and take care of it. You two take care of Frisk."

There was a banging on the door. "Hand over the human, Sans!"

Sans put the kid on his shoulder before grabbing Frisk and I. Papyrus put a hand on his brother. "*why don't i make this easier for all of us?" He took a short cut and we were all standing outside the Blook family farm. "*you two get this fixed quick."

We nodded and headed into the darkness, touching the glowing mushrooms to illuminate the way. We turned a corner and found it. The Temmie Village looked the same as every other one I had ever seen. The difference was the Tems. Black and red bodies with pale white faces that looked pasted on. They didn't bother us as we walked to the shop.

Inside the shop, the Temmie behind the counter was looking into a studio camera, delivering her message. I walked over and turned the camera off.

"Hoi!"

"Why do you want the kid?" Frisk asked.

"Need more Tem Flakes!"

"Tem Flakes?" I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the obvious answer to the next question. "What are Tem Flakes?"

"These!" She held out paws full of ripped up construction paper.

Frisk winced as she asked the next question. "And how do you make them?"

"Send paper through shredder."

"And...?"

The Tem's pale face looked like it was starting to fall off. "Send human through shredder to soak flakes with human blood!" The pale face fell off completely revealing a black countenance with a red, red smile. "You humans too! You make good Tem Flakes!"

It stood, growing impossibly tall for the small room. We ran out into the village to give ourselves room and found the pale faces had fallen off of all the Temmies. Frisk summoned Crow and he appeared, forming a circle in which each of us had the back of the the other two.

"We need a plan, Chara."

I counted. "We've got nine Temmies and Sans' word that these things are the big bads. I'm not sure I can come up with a plan for this that doesn't involve us getting ripped to shreds." I looked around.

"Let me help."

I felt the chasm opening inside me. Dark and red. "No..."

"You are me. I am you. Help me erase this worthless world!"

I closed my eyes and thought of Red and that piece of chocolate. Papyrus and his pacing. Undyne and the bandages. Asriel and his hugs. Frisk and her smile. The smile she reserved for me. Just for me.

I felt Frisk put her hand on my back. I could feel the endlessness of the void in her and this world's Chara shuddered. "You are right. You are him and he is you. And for that reason, you should fear."

The chasm closed.

The Temmie's vibrated excitedly. "Humans! Humans!"

"He is not motivated by hate. His motivation is love. And love is a power far more frightening than your petty revenge."

The spirit shuddered against Frisk's words, pulling away completely.

Frisk leaned in, her lips next to my ear, and whispered like she was reciting an incantation, "Chara."

Something, somewhere inside me, snapped. I could feel the wetness on my face, the black fluid as it dripped from my eyes. It filled my mouth and leaked from the corners of my lips. I could feel it on my back, slicking my sweater and sticking my coat to me. When I summoned my sword, what appeared was not my red blade. It was a dark green fountain pen and wept the same black ichor that dripped from me.

I stepped forward. "I am demon that comes when people call my name."

A flash blinded me. When I could see again, the Tems all had their pale faces back in place. The shop keeper was behind the desk in the shop.

Sans and his Frisk ran to us, Papyrus striding behind them. "*i don't know what you kids did. but the tems are all back to normal."

"Yeah." I touched my face, but the black ichor was gone, like it'd never been there. I took a deep breath. "Time to head home."

Frisk looked at me and shook her head. "I'm not sure how I feel about leaving Frisk here."

The boy squeezed her hand. "I'll be safe with Teddy and Tippy. Promise."

I rubbed the boy's head, ruffling his hair. "Like you, he's filled with Determination. I think he'll be fine. But I am leaving my supply of Monster Food with him."

Frisk nodded and dumped all of our healing food into a bag for the boy. He took it with a grateful smile. We made our goodbyes and went back into the void.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I, uh, summoned you." She laid back in the darkness of the void, floating. "When I saw the black stuff on you earlier, it made me remember something. Something from the Frisk I'm copied from. Her Chara doesn't possess her. Her exemplar is Chara. In a moment of real distress, she doesn't summon the exemplar. She summons Chara. When you told me about your Frisk calling for you, I thought, maybe, I could do the same. And, wow, was I right!"

I laid back, holding her hand, and floating with her. "So what happened?"

"You were leaking the black stuff all over. But when you swung the pen, it wasn't like you were cutting things. It was like you were writing and drawing and all that black was ink. You weren't destroying. You were editing and repairing."

"I don't remember any of that."

Frisk squeezed my hand. "We can ask Blue about it." She righted herself in the void, pulling me up with her, and our feet touched solid ground outside the equipment room. We stowed our bags and found Blue waiting for us.

The skeleton smiled. "*well done, kids. you really knocked this one out of the park!"

"Did you know what would happen to me in the horror world?"

He shrugged. "*i had an 'inkling' that it might."

I groaned. "I could really use some answers here."

"*all right. all right." He shoved his boney hands in his pockets. "*you're a fell chara and fell chara's are, by nature, gentle people. they don't come off that way and that's understandable. fell frisk's don't meet their chara's until after all the bad stuff happens and you offer your help based on those experiences. i know that you often begged frisk to fight believing it was the only way until she proved it otherwise."

He inclined his head toward the cafeteria and we followed him down the hall. "*but you're still a chara. you're still affected by the original. but you have a choice in how you use that power. and when that part of you broke open, you didn't want to harm anyone. you only wanted to mend. that's a talent the foundation can really use." He pulled the cafeteria door open.

"Surprise!"

"Congratulations!"

"Well done!"

Frisk and I both ducked a little sheepishly at the crowd before we were pulled into the party, dodging balloons and confetti.

"I'm not sure I can eat right now," Frisk whispered.

"There's a cake over there and I'm pretty sure it isn't a lie."

She laughed as we were shoved in front of said cake. "Congratulations Agents Latha and Lucida!" was written across it.

I grabbed the knife and made the first cut before handing the knife to Frisk. I looked around and spotted my Frisk, my brother sitting with her. After getting a hug from Az, I sat down behind Frisk, putting my arms around her and resting my forehead on her shoulder.

"We'll be together forever, won't we?"

She wrapped her hands over mine. "Always."