A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews, I appreciate them so much!

Papyrus felt lightheaded from excitement. "Frisk!? I simply–I cannot believe it's you! But you look so much older! I'm so glad you—"

But it didn't look like Frisk could hear him. Everyone was yelling over the top of one another, and Toriel seemed to be sobbing. The child — no, a child no longer! The adult human seemed as utterly confused as everyone else. But why? Shouldn't they be excited, too? They had so much to share! It seemed like forever since they left… Oh, he'd missed them so! He could barely contain it—he must hug them!

But Toriel got to the doorway first, attempting to scoop up the human who was almost as big as her now. The human squeaked in Toriel's tight embrace.

"Oh! My child! I'm sorry," Toriel released the human and took their face in her hands to brush away a stray brown lock. "You've grown up so much…"

"I can't believe it," Alphys sniffed heavily. "Why didn't you come back sooner?"

"We've missed you," Asgore smiled.

The human blinked. "You really remember me?"

"R-remember you?" Toriel's voice cracked and she burst into tears again.

"Like we'd forget!" Undyne laughed. "It's only been three years, dopey."

"Three—three y-years?" The human stammered.

Papyrus snorted. "They still have the same bizarre sense of humour, I see! Now, let's form a hugging line behind me—it's more efficient that way." He skipped over, arms outstretched…

And Sans, who had been clutching the table as thought it was the only stable thing in the world, instantly snapped out of his stupor.

"Papyrus, step back." His voice was icily commanding.

Papyrus paused. "There's no need to be rude, brother," he chuckled, rather embarrassed. "We all want a hug, but like I said, a line is an efficient—" Suddenly, Papyrus was thrown backwards by an unseen force, sending him crashing into the back wall.

"Wh—Sans! That was completely unnecessary!"

But his brother strode straight past him, making a beeline for the human.

"You couldn't just leave, could you?" His voice was trembling, but it had the same cold fury. The human shrank back, stumbling backwards over the threshold. "You had to come back, you cruel, bloodsucking, murderous—,"

"Sans!" Undyne barely caught his arm in time before it met the human's face. "What's gotten into you?!"

Sans stood motionless, panting as he glared down at the human who just three years ago he spent all day playing in the snow, laughing and making puns with. It didn't make any sense!

"This isn't Frisk," he snapped. When no one spoke up, he went on shakily, "This is the first child. This," he stabbed a skeletal finger towards the human's shrunken frame, "is the thing that took everything, everything we had and—and turned it all to dust. This—"

"Woah, woah," Undyne interrupted. "The first child? That's impossible. You've been drinking, Sans."

"It's… it's all going to happen again," He muttered, apparently to himself. Then he turned to the rest of them again, his eyes wild and determined. "Get out of here. I'll obliterate it."

"Wha—'obliterate'?" The human stood tall. "This is ridiculous! You—I…" but the human's confidence was short-lived. "I need to sit down. I'm… confused."

Despite Sans' protests, Toriel and the others ushered the human to the dining table.

"So… you're not Frisk?" asked Undyne.

"No. I have no idea who that is. I'm Chara."

"Chara?" Papyrus frowned. "You look just like Frisk—our old friend."

"Did Frisk fall down Mount Ebott too?"

The monsters exchanged hesitant glances.

"Tell us what you know about us, and we'll go from there," Toriel said.

The human took a deep breath. "Well... a while ago I started having dreams. A-a long time ago, I mean. I couldn't get them out of my head. I know how this'll sound, but... I knew they were real. I couldn't..." they gave Sans a nervous glance, "I couldn't die without knowing for sure."

Undyne shifted uncomfortably. "That's nice, but… I'm not sure we remember you."

The human looked crestfallen. "Oh."

"Well, m-maybe if we had something to trigger the memories?" Toriel suggested. "For instance, is there anything… particularly eventful that occurred that we might remember?"

Sans snorted. "How about a murderous rampage?"

"I think I'd remember mass murder," the human muttered.

"And I think we'd remember being murdered." Undyne put in. Beside her, Alphys turned her snort into a muffled cough.

"This isn't a joke," Sans seethed.

"No," Papyrus agreed. "This is a serious situation indeed. I have not yet offered our guest anything to eat! My apologies, dear Chara," he bowed deeply, "Would you care for some infamously delicious Spaghetti Bolognese à la The Great Papyrus?!"

Chara grinned. "I'd kill for some."