Chapter: 2 Theories
-Sorry this took so long I've been busy but i still hope you enjoy-
As the citizens of the Underground filed out Sans grabbed Alphys' hand and began to teleport. The blue magic swirled around them. While the locations were switching she saw multiple Sans.
Some were alone and others were accompanied with various monsters. Each one she saw was unique. They varied in size, age, appearance, and magic. She could make out a child version of him with a flame monster smiling with stars replacing his white pupils. Another was with an orange bundle in his arms with tears in his eyes. There was several teen versions of him with a much taller shadow figure.
Some of them were happy while others were sad. Some of them were bruised and cracked. Some had sharp teeth and weapons. She was pulled back to her Sans when he nudged her closer to him. Only then did she realize that she was holding out her hand to the edge and about to fall out of the blue magic sphere that was encasing her.
She squeaked and huddled back in. As the blue magic cleared they were left in the near pitch dark room that was Alphys' lab. A sudden wave of nausea hit Alphys. This always happened when she teleported with Sans. Being a skeleton it didn't affect him as he had no organs. She however, did.
The teleportation method Sans uses allows him to cut a hole into the void. While inside the void he and anyone he brought along must be encased in a ball of his magic. While he teleports all time in the universe/time period he just left stops.
Since the void is not bound to one timeline or universe he is allowed to see the existence of alternate realities as they teleport at the same time. He is only able to see those who teleported at the same moment as him and some faint memories of his past selves however, allowing him to only see about 0.000000000000000000000000000000000012% of all the realities that exist.
If one ventures outside of the magic sphere they would be thrown around erratically causing one of two outcomes.
The first outcome is that they would be shot into another magic sphere and displaced in an alternate universe, incorrect time period, or different timeline with no way out causing the other reality to be corrupted or destroyed.
The other option is that they would be thrown around until it finally stops. The bad thing with this outcome is that they would be lost in the void. Where there is no up, down, left, right, or sense of time. The void is also infinite so there is a 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance that they would find another living creature. As time doesn't go forward in that part of the void they would never see anything but darkness ever again. Their Sans would realize too late that they were gone. They would be stuck in a pitch black silence never to age or die. They would go insane as they lost all sense of memory, hope, and senses. No one could save them or hear their loss of sanity. They would become a shell of what they once were. They would no longer exist to those in their reality.
It is because of those outcomes that the Sanses warn their travel buddies to never go outside the magic sphere. And why they try to make sure that never happens. Most of the time it works without a hitch.
But, with all the realities that exist there are going to be some accidents. That being said, there are consequences if your body is not used to teleporting. Side effects include in very extreme cases the liquefying of organs, the loss of massive amounts of blood, and sensations of burning alive. In mild cases such as Alphys they are nausea, migraines, night terrors, and drainage of magic.
"You okay there?" Sans asked making Alphys snap back into her reality.
"Yeah". She answered to the best of her ability.
"You know, you had me scared that I would lose you for a minute there. It's dangerous to get that close to the edge". He said with a hint of concern underneath a layer of a comedic tone.
"Sorry. I don't know what came over me". She answers a little embarrassed.
"It's fine it happens to all of us". After he says this an awkward silence consumes the room. Then Sans coughs into his sleeve.
"Soooo…" he whistles out of his teeth as he shifts on his heels.
"Any ideas on how this is happening?" He asks. Alphys hadn't had any time to really contemplate how this was happening. Therefore, like Sans she had no idea. It was like then that she realized something.
She was in the same boat as Sans. When she has been troubled with anything recently Sans had always been there to help her. He was smart and knew what you could do in that time and how far everything could stretch within the timelines. But, as he said this is not within any timeline that has been known.
Alphys knew as much as Sans. She was on her own in figuring this out.
"I haven't had a chance to think about it".
"Then let's figure it out. That being said what do we know that could cause this". He asks like a teacher asking his students to review a subject.
"We know that the human had several buttons during a battle".
"Those buttons were named…" He says like he's coaxing out a confession from a kid that has done something wrong.
"Fight, Items, Act, and Mercy". She says bobbing her as if to confirm it herself.
"Were there anymore?"
"Well, we know that there is a Load button available. What we don't know if it is available at all times or just at death. The same can be said for the Reset button."
"Is that all of them?"
"Well…" Alphys trails off.
"Well what?"
"I once theorized about another button". She recounts.
"What was it?"
"I called it the Quit button".
"Quit? Like something you do in a game?" He asks quizzically.
"In theory… yes. See because of the timelines I have played every single game that has fallen into the Underground. I noticed something interesting. When playing the games I noticed a form of all the things you could do.
By pressing one button you could Fight and kill your opponent.
Another click of a different button allows you to run away. In other words, Mercy someone.
Throughout all the games you Act and check everything.
In doing this you collect and use Items. But, the thing that really set it off was that when you die in some of the games you have to go back to your save point.
You have to Load and no one remembers what you had done after that point.
And throughout the entire game you always have the option to erase all your progress and start over. You always have the option to Reset.
But in the game when you wanted to leave you could Quit. That was the only button unaccounted for. Does that sound familiar?"
"Yeah. It's exactly what the human has been doing. But, that has to be just a coincidence. There's no way we're just a game. Right?" He asks as his bones rattle from his shaking.
"Well, in theory we are just part of a game. Have you ever watched a human in a video use a term such as 'We're just a toy for them to play with?' Or 'This is just one screwed up game?' We are living in game. But, our game addresses with a new topic that makes it interesting. We were created to know of the Resets because that is what the game addresses.
The main focus of our game is the fact that what you do is remembered by those aware of the Resets. That those outside it react differently each time you Reload or Reset. This makes our game much more fun.
See, there are humans on the surface called Achievement Hunters. These humans are Determined to find every secret in the game and unlock every achievement in the game. Since our game is relatively new each time you would play it, if we were dealing with an Achievement Hunter our timeline would be reset more than most of the others as to allow the human to find every secret. If my theory is correct we were dealing with such a human all this time". She rambles out her answer.
"Okay IF you're theory is true and we are just a game how come you never brought it up". He says trying to get his bearings again.
"I didn't think it was important. At the time I disregarded my theory on one fact alone. It was the fact that the human had never Quit. But, looking back it could be possible that every time they pressed the Quit button all time stops in their timeline. Kind of like when you teleport but, nothing goes anywhere. I told myself that even if my theory was correct trying to confront the human about it would only lead to more loads and resets. So I kept it to myself".
"Okay then why are we only now aware of when the human quits?" He asks softly.
"I have no idea".
A moment of silence fills the room. Sans eye sockets suddenly widen.
"Wait if you are playing a game you have to be able to open it on whatever device you're playing it on right?" He asks with an idea in mind.
"Yeah..?" Alphys asks curious as to what he was getting at.
"Well what if the devices the humans plays on crashes like how some of our computers do or how the core sometimes malfunction. If we were really a game each of us would be saved in a file saved on that computer." He says remembering all the times his brothers' computer would crash.
"And if the computer crashed the files would not be able to open. They would need to fix the computer". She says remembering how often the core needed to be fix because of such things.
"Which would delete all of the files from the computer". He says.
"Never allowing the human to access the saved files again. Our files are not going to be deleted but just be made inaccessible".
"So…" He says
"That means…" she says
"The resets have stopped forever".
-Again sorry for the wait and feel free to review-