Near G and M 3.

"Ooh, I think a steak and lobster would be perfect for the night," Papyrus said. "I mean, if we are going to the G and M, we might as well live it up. Oh, and a lovely pop with ice. Then for desert, ooh, a Mississippi mud pie! What about you, Sans?"

"Classic Grillby burger," Sans said, "and a classic fry with a regular chocolate shake."

"The classic menu is even more expensive than the steak and lobster," Papyrus complained.

Sans shrugged. "Hey, if we are going to the fancy schmancy, then why not-?" He stopped. More like he was stopped. "Hey. Papyrus, hang on." Sans looked around him. What the heck? He tried to take another step forward. "Kaaaaay?"

Papyrus stopped. "What's wrong?"

"It's like I'm stuck, like I'm chained to something." Sans moved backwards and felt fine. He moved back forward again, and once again, felt chained. "I can't move forward."

Papyrus tried to help him with his magic, tugging on him. "Why can't you move?"

Sans felt his phone ring. Alphys. He stopped trying to break free long enough to answer. "Sup?"

"Sans? I called Toriel and Asgore, and they said if anyone. Well, I mean. Not that I'm blaming you. But. Are you doing something to Frisk? She keeps . . . well, her body can't move from the wall?"

"Ohh." Uh oh. Sans knew there was a reason no skeletons liked to do what he did. Human and monster. Risky. "What happens when I do this?" Sans moved backwards more and lifted his foot.

"She gained some freedom, but her foot is still pulled backwards," Alphys said on the phone. "What's going on?"

Sans looked ahead of him. G and M was the location of the old Mettaton's place years ago. "I'm not quite sure, Alphys, give me a sec." Sans looked toward Papyrus. "Hey. How far does our magic extend?"

"Ours? I don't know," Papyrus said. He conjured a bone and threw it in a clear path, holding onto it as far as he could. "About the new part of Alphys laboratory?"

"Uh." Oops. Sans moved back toward the phone. "Where are you right now, Alphys?"

"In my bedroom."

"Lab-wise, where is it? You got a big lab, Alphys, throw me a bone on this one." Because Sans was beginning to think he couldn't.

"Um. It's closer to G and M 3? I can see it out my window."

"Were you walking with Frisk for awhile?"

"Yes."

"Okay, yeah." Yeah. He got it. "If it wasn't for me, she'd be dead. Let's all just remember that?"

"Sans?" Alphys sounded concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Uh. I'll be right over to the lab soon, leave the door close to G and M open for me." Sans hung up and looked at Papyrus. "The human is attached to me magically."

"What?" Papyrus blinked. "We don't tie to other things, Sans."

"Kind of did." Sans scratched his skull. "My magic's flowing through her veins."

"Oh. Well, that shouldn't be a problem," Papyrus said. "Once you distance yourself far enough, the magic leaves what it was doing and comes back." He tried to tug on Sans again. "Usually. What's different?"

"Cause it was my own marrow," Sans reminded him. "That's, um . . ."

"Wait."

"Yeah . . ."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah." Sans tried to conjure a bone with his magic. No luck. "Marrow in Frisk makes her my bone."

"Is this as bad as I think it is, Sans?" Papyrus asked.

"I don't know. Look, I hardly knew about it. I had to do something." Sans groaned. "Pap, go home and get the book on skeleton magic in the bookcase." Sans waited for him to come back. He read the part he needed briefly. "Yikesarooney."

"What did you do?" Papyrus read the section. "Sharing marrow ties a monster's life force into another's and is not recommended for this reason. In the rare case of human and monster crossover, the human will behave . . . like the monster's magic."

Sans was rubbing his eye sockets over and over. "My magic considers Frisk conjured."

"Oh. My. She is attached to your magic?!" Papyrus tried to pull San's body again. No go.

"Okay, stop, that's pulling her into a wall," Sans warned him. "Let me see that book again." He read deeper into all the precautions. "Human veins will hold it for six months. Kay. As long as I don't do it again, it sounds like it'll end in six months."

"You are tied. To a human. For six months?" Papyrus looked at the back of Sans and backward, then at the book again. "Warning: It is not recommended to turn humans into your weapons, as the gravitational pull will shorten little by little, until touching before the release. Will be touching . . ." Papyrus smiled as he got it. "Oh, I get it. You'll become like a." He stopped smiling. "You're in a Chinese finger trap, Sans."

Sans looked through the book, reading the entire section completely over. "Yeah, I knew there was a bad idea in this somewhere." He looked back toward the light of the lab that was on up high in the new area. There was a great amount of distance still, but little by little? "We gotta go see Frisk. I can't lay my finger on it, but maybe if I skip to the touching part it'll loosen this trap and let go like a real one."

Frisk was soon able to pull away from the wall. "Okay. That was weird." What was she saying? The whole day was weird. "Alphys? How many monsters will know my language?"

"Well, Toriel. Sans. Papyrus. Me. Undyne. Uh. Mettaton might, he exposed himself a lot to the outside world," Alphys said counting on her digits. "I don't know if anyone else would. Maybe. We're quick studiers, and you speak a major language, which made it easier." Alphys came closer. "Do you . . . do you remember more now?"

Frisk stared at her. "I've dreamed of it over and over. Dreamland is invading my reality." She saw Alphys expression. "Yes. I remember a good portion of what I think happened. I was eight though, and under severe . . . stress," she settled on. "There's no telling if it's all accurate, or if I was told accurately in my head about what was going on."

"That's some good news, Frisk."

Frisk didn't move as she heard Sans voice. The friend that was never a friend. The one that was there only because of a promise made to Toriel. That's what she remembered. But was it true?

Sans and Papyrus came in the room.

"We are here to try something," Papyrus said, apologizing to Alphys. "After this, we should be out of your way. Sans?"

Sans approached her steadily. "So? I saved your life today. Twice, actually," he said. "First? What do you remember of me now?"

Frisk wasn't falling for anything from him. "Papyrus was in charge of the puzzles and you hung around him. You were lazy, addicted to puns, but somehow a keeper of promises, even though you hated them."

His little light guiders in his eyes stared at her. "Yeah, you remember. Great. So? I've had something on my chest I wanted to say for fourteen years." He looked toward Alphys and Papyrus. "Could you give me a sec alone with her?"

Frisk watched Papyrus and Alphys leave. She watched the skeleton in front of her. He felt different. Something felt very different. His bony hand gestured between them. "After you rescued us, I didn't really ever say what I should have. Which was Thanks, Frisk," he said. "Thanks for giving us a chance."

Fourteen years for just that? "Your welcome then."

"Nah, nah. You don't get it," Sans said again. "We were trapped in a hell. No sunlight. No skies. A deep, dark, abyss that everyone felt miserable in. We made enough progress to survive, but that's it. Day in and day out, I couldn't do anything except keep out 'humans' who never came. There was never a threat. There wasn't even a real meaning behind anything we all did. We went through motions."

He stepped closer. "Alphys got much better. Not the bravest around, but she speaks up now. Speaks her mind when she's gotta say something. Gets out of that lab better too. Undyne learned how to express herself a little easier without a spear all the time." He took another step closer. "My bro? You letting him lead you out, talking to him through the phone, it really gave him a sense of accomplishment that he needed. Mettaton realized there was more to life than just ratings, and he stays loyal to the programming of Underground."

Another step closer. "Toriel, she came back out to the castle. She isn't with King Asgore, but she doesn't run away from her responsibility anymore. Asgore's learned how to work with her too, giving her some say."

He took one more step closer. "It's true. We don't have the exact same freedom we all wish we had, but look around? Everything was able to change. And whenever we crave the outside, we can go outside. Before, none of it was possible without you. So, you know? I'm sorry I never explained that right."

Oh. Frisk understood now. There was no reason to fear him, or wonder about his allegiance anymore. When she first met him, he was a little kooky. Punny. He felt . . . safer. Then the Grillby burger he treated her too. The black eye telescope joke. The fried snow. The hotdog stacking. It was fine, and it felt like she had someone watching her back. Then, came Mettaton's. When he admitted to letting her live simply because someone loved her and he was keeping a promise to them. That someone was Toriel.

Everything he had done before then, and after, was casted with a shadow of doubt. He wasn't a friend, he was a monster that let her keep living because of a promise. The jokey, funny, easy going friend she thought she had only left her alive, and kept watch, because of a promise. Not because he cared about a poor child who fell at all.

Saving me twice and this apology. The only thing that held Sans back now was the regret of that simple action of thanks. "I didn't mean to come down and be a hero," Frisk answered. "I simply did what I felt was right. The only thing I really wanted was to just get out." She felt his eye sockets on her again. "Thanks for saving my life. Twice, I guess."

He stuck his bony hands in his pockets. "Great. Cause now I gotta tell you, you've just become my bone."

What? Frisk watched him continue to approach her.

"Wanted to get that out of the way so you didn't think I was trying to kill ya." His hand grabbed hers. "That blood on your dress was from a fatal wound. I had to use my own bone marrow to fix it, but now we are linked," he said as he grabbed her other hand. "The reason you were being pulled against the wall was because I was walking away further. The wall stopped me though too. We are in an unbeatable game of Tug of War."

Tug of War? "I can't break free of you because of marrow?"

"It flows through your veins for six months," Sans said. "Only hope is pressing close together. See, according to my book." He pulled his slipper right next to her human shoe. "Over time, we are going to get pulled closer and closer, and then released. Like a fingertrap. So, if we try this now, maybe it will bust." He pulled his other slipper next to her other human shoe.

Frisk started to glow blue. "Okay, that's not normal."

"That's a good sign." Sans flattened his arms against hers. "Come on, Frisk, I saved you twice and bore my soul in words, how about a little help here? Bend down some."

Frisk bent her head down and pressed it next to his skull. He tried pressing his bony legs along hers. The blue glow sped up and Frisk felt herself starting to shake involuntarily.

"Okay, that's not good!" Sans tried to let go, but it was like he was stuck now. Frisk's veins were glowing . . . and he could see red coming out of her skin from them. At least fifty spots were cut. "Shit!"

Too early. Untested. Damn it! As her wound started to bleed again as well, he reput his bony hand on it. They would just have to deal with the six month chain. This time though, she wasn't silent, she was screaming. It was hurting her. "Sorry, human, but you want to live, dontcha?!" He watched as Papyrus and Alphys came into the room. This time the whole room was pulsing in a blue light.

"Sans, I don't know about this!" Papyrus yelled. "What happens if you do this twice? This is already different!" He was holding the book and going through the pages, looking for the answer with Alphys. It was tough though, the blue magic was spinning rushing wind around the room. "Sans, Brother! If you succeed this time . . ." The wind picked up so much, Papyrus' voice became unintelligible over it.

Sans continued to hold on, not knowing what to do. She was pulsing so much, even his eye sockets couldn't handle the intense blue. Warmth was beating off her like a heartbeat, then a cool beat, then a warm beat. "Just hang on!" It had to be nearly over.

Then, an intense burst of blue later, Sans felt her fall on him. Except, she was about as big as him, with turquoise blue hair that matched her eyes. "Yikes. Pap?" Sans looked toward his brother as he held the smaller than usual human down. "What did it say about a second time?"

Papyrus came over and handed him the book. "It says Warning. Don't do it a second time."

"Anything else?" Sans took the book from him and looked at it. He placed Frisk down on the ground and moved back away toward Papyrus.

"Well. She lived?" Papyrus said, not knowing what to say. "Guess we should figure out what this did. Let's go see if we can eat now, and then we can find some old monster tomes that explain this tomorrow. They must exist out there somewhere."

"Yeah, good idea. Human's had a hell of a day." Sans looked toward Alphys. "Got shot at. Trapped Underground. Hair turned colors. Better let her just rest. We'll talk more tomorrow."

"Or, if we can't make it to G and M 3 again," Papyrus added.

"Or yeah, that."

Alphys went toward the side of the bed and picked Frisk up. "You are easier to handle now, aren't you?" She moved her toward the bed. "What an awful day for you, Frisk. It'll get better. I promise." She looked out the window and watched Sans and Papyrus head to G and M 3. "Everything will be okay. We'll get contracts sorted out, somehow, now that you're here? Maybe signing certain things will help. Until then, you are more than welcome to the Underground." She went over to the light switch and shut off the light before crawling in her separate bed.

Frisk woke up in the middle of the night, feeling extremely funky. She got up and headed toward the window, looking out of it. Why do I keep ending up in here when tragedy strikes? She wiped a tear away. She was doing just fine in her life until somebody had to find her and drag her down. It wasn't fair. I'm just an ordinary girl. Why does this kind of thing have to happen with me? Going to college. My life was on track. Now, I don't even know if my Uncle, Aunt, or cousin is alive. In fact, not one soul even mentioned her Uncle Gaster. Aunt Ida. Cousin Maxie. Uncle Gaster.

She watched as blue sugar seemed to drop from her fingernails. What was happening now? It's not fair! I just want to know if they are okay. Why can't I know if they are okay? I just wish-

Frisk's Aunt's Home . . .

"-I could know." Frisk finished her thought out loud as the lab disappeared. What? She was in her Aunt and Uncle's home?

"Frisk?"

"Uncle Gaster?" Frisk turned around and launched herself straight into his waiting arms. "Uncle Gaster! Where's Aunt Ida? Where's Maxie?"

Her Uncle Gaster bent down toward her. "Ida is in the hospital, but she's going to be okay. Maxie is just fine. Come this way."

Frisk followed her Uncle Gaster into his basement. "What are we doing? Uncle Gaster?"

"Everything will be fine. Fine, just fine," her Uncle Gaster said. "Go ahead and sit up in this chair. Go on now."

Frisk did what she was told. "Where's Maxie? Can I see her?"

"Not yet, not yet. I knew Sans would end up doing this if things got bad," her Uncle Gaster said. "I just need to correct this mistake, and then you can go back to the Underground."

"How do you know Sans?" Frisk tried to get up, but a presence made her continue to sit. She struggled. "What's going on?"

"Don't worry. Don't worry," Her Uncle Gaster assured her. "I appreciate all the help you gave the monsters. Now, only one more thing is needed." Her Uncle Gaster's appearance changed from a human to a skeleton. A cracked skeleton.

Frisk started to yell as she felt something sucking at her. My soul? Something is sucking at my soul?! "Let me go!"

"I'm sorry, Frisk, but this must be."

"Gaster?!"

Sans' voice? Frisk tried to struggle harder. Help wasn't far away.

"Not this time, Sans." Gaster held his hand out toward Frisk. "You don't understand the importance of this!"

""Importance of what?!" Sans pushed his power back on Frisk. Gaster was trying to take her soul. "What are you even doing alive? What are you doing out here? Why are you bothering this human?"

"Why do you have to question?" Gaster growled. "Go back. It's one human, just leave her to me."

"Can't do that." Sans didn't let go of his force on Frisk, but held his other bony hand out to Gaster.

"Do you have any idea what it's like? What it's like?" He snarled at Sans. "I exist in so many timelines at once. I couldn't stay anywhere, nowhere! Constantly moving, small flashes, it was hell! Never ending, no way to die, and no way to live. Until her."

"I don't know what happened," Sans confessed to him. "You're a brilliant dude though, and you know that you shouldn't be trying to absorb a human's soul. What good is that supposed to do ya?"

"I'm not just absorbing a simple soul, Sans. Honestly. Stop. Turn around, and forget you saw me." Gaster pointed at Frisk. "I am solving the problem. Go."

"Uncle Gaster!" Frisk yelled. "Please let me go! Please!"

"No. I really don't have much concern to help you. You were good, and that is good," Gaster said to her. "But not good enough."

"So, your wife didn't die, right?" Sans asked him.

"A whole battalion lit both her and her daughter up," Gaster said. "Thanks for your concern. Please, Sans. Go. Live that beautiful future you've attained."

"A part of me wants to," Sans confessed. "I mean I saved a human twice today, not counting the second bone marrow incident. If that counts, three. That's way over a tolerable limit."

"She's not worth it. Let it go. Get out of here."

"Ya see? Maybe I could have. Except that you are trying to suck out her soul, which is a big no-no, and oh yeah? If you are involved in something, it's never that good." Sans stood his ground as he came closer. "I'm sorry for what happened. I'm sorry no one remembers you but Papyrus and I. Taking a human soul though, especially that human, it's not something I can just let happen."

"Well, you're going to have to!" Gaster held up his hand and started to blow Sans backward. Sans tried hard to stand his ground against his power.

"Gaster, stop!" Sans yelled at him as his jean jacket rippled through the rushing of power. "I'm only here by Asgore's power you know! You do this, there won't be a rock to hide under from him!"

"If you don't let this go, your entire life will change," Gaster warned him. "Everything. You see."

Frisk yelled as her soul was getting sucked out more. It shined brightly in front of her, beating red and . . . blue?

"Blue." Sans didn't understand. "She doesn't know anything about monsters, how is she like that?" Sans watched Gaster try to keep tearing it out, but he held his magic against him. "Gaster! She's infused with who?!"

"The only one who could stop all the torture." Gaster started to lessen his hold on her. "You."

"I just did marrow," Sans said. "Just marrow. Just marrow!" He yelled. He looked toward the human. The smaller human that he couldn't figure out.

"Marrow was the last thing I needed," Gaster said calmly to him. "I was able to gain samples of your soul and Magic DNA. We ran a lab together, it wasn't that hard. Or don't you remember?"

Sans breathed softly. "No right, you had no right."

"Exactly. So just let me have her infused soul," Gaster begged. "I need back out. I want a place again!"

"How are you here right now?" Sans asked. "Why can't you be happy with what you have?"

"Short-term!" Gaster yelled. "After Princess Chara left Frisk's soul, a tiny piece of my soul that was left in that dimension found a way to attach to it. Her soul is too powerful to take though, so I couldn't have her body. As she went home, I learned about the outside world, and I attached to a new body. A weaker body. It's still only a weak human body." He gestured back to Frisk. "Her strong soul is what I need, but I needed something else to it."

"Skeleton DNA," Sans said knowingly. "You're the one who squealed the information. You're the reason she got shot, and I had to give her marrow." He tapped his slippers. "You always were on the creepy side."

"Unhand her!" Undyne yelled as she came charging in.

"He's too powerful, he'll have to stop himself," Sans said to Undyne. "This is Gaster."

"The . . . mythical one?" Undyne asked.

"Mythical. Mythical!" Gaster laughed insanely. "See?! I don't even exist." He looked at the hole in his hand, which was cracking more. "Even with a body, I never exist."

"Who married Frisk?" Undyne pointed toward her soul. She growled at Gaster. "Was it you? Did you hurt our human?"

"It wasn't like that." Sans knew he was getting closer. Gaster was already starting to split. "Why me?"

"The human," Gaster admitted. "A hundred timelines. Fusion between her and the Princess Chara. She was too scared from what happened above, and in every other timeline, she gave into that fear. I watched, over and over, in 99 different ways for her fear to make itself known by fighting and killing. Only in the hundredth did she make it through as a pacifist." He gestured to Sans. "Her body is weak, a hit point of 1 but her soul is so STRONG with Determination. But, you? Your soul is a hit point of 1 but your magic body is so STRONG. She's a perfect compliment now."

"Almost perfect, but not quiiii-iiiiite!"

Sans watched as flowery vines started to wrap around the exposed soul.

Flowey revealed his flower petals right above her chair. "You can't have that." His petaly face turned evil looking. "Do you know what a perfect compliment soul is equal too?" He growled at Gaster with his darkest face yet. "Eight Human Souls. It's the strongest thing in the universe!"

Undyne held her spear and Sans watched. This was bad news.

Bad news.

"Back off you little flower," Gaster warned him as he started to break more. He tried to reach for the soul, but Flowey was keeping it more back.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Flowey cackled. "So, Sans! What do you think of your wife? Are you going to honor and obey this little human who killed and hunted the monster race in 99 other timelines?"

"You're knowledgeable too?" Gaster asked him.

"More knowledgeable than you can imagine," Flowey said darkly. "It ends now. Smiley Idiot, I'm waiting for an aaaaanswer?!"

Ninety nine others? Wife? I shouldn't run from responsibility, but this isn't my responsibility! He didn't even know that human that well. He saved her because of what she did, and because she wasn't too bad. But? I haven't laid eyes on this human for fourteen years. Back then, she was eight!

"Think I got my answer," Flowey said to him. "So, Frisk is open for more than one."

Frisk winced and scrunched her fingers together as thorns started to pierce around her soul.

"No you fool, what are you doing?!" Gaster shrieked. "She'll be incompatible to me!"

"But perfect for me," Flowey said. "A strong SOUL, a strong BODY MAGIC, and now an even more incredible amount of DETERMINATION infused with her! Do some of that extraneous math, boys! What do you have?"

Light started to flood the room and Sans, Undyne, and Gaster all watched as Flowey changed his shape.

Into Asriel. Frisk's soul was no longer seen. "Sorry, Gaster."

"Prince Asriel." He was all grown up, no longer a little kid. Sans looked toward Undyne. What could they do?

"Ah, don't fret. He's just gonna break-see, there ya go." Asriel gestured toward Gaster who started to disintegrate. "He'll be fine. Well, I mean he's dead, but he'll be happier than busted up through time. In the meantime?" Asriel smiled at Frisk. "More than enough soul power to share with her loving husband. Wakey, wakey, honey?"

"That's illegal ingestion!" Sans yelled at him, barely stopping himself from charging.

"You didn't want her," Asriel reminded him. "I gave myself to her soul too, so it was legal." His paw brushed her face as she groaned. "Howdy, Frisk? Merry Sunshine?" He lifted her up into his arms.

"If you think you can wreak havoc upon the world this time, you're mistaken!" Undyne yelled as she held out her spear. "I will take you down with my life!"

"Havoc?" Asriel shook his head. "No. No Havoc."

Sans felt a strange anger fester inside of him. No, calm down. It's like someone taking your weapon and using it against you. It's nothing more than that. "Pretty sure you caused havoc last time?"

"Pretty sure I broke the barrier for everyone last time," Asriel corrected him. "Then, I was transformed again. I still held the memories though, and I still held enough DETERMINATION to do what I needed to. Don't worry! I'm not going to wreak havoc or you'd already be dead." He held Frisk closer. "I just needed my body back, and with the sweetest human across a hundred timelines, I got it back. Thanks, dear." He nuzzled her nose with his.

"Don't do that!" Sans grabbed his skull. Weapon. Someone is just touching your weapon. Let it go.

"Curb it." Asriel gave him a deep warning. "Let's go home, shall we?"