Toby Fox owns Undertale and all associated characters. Rotisa belongs to Petalthorn.


"Shh…" Muffet soothed as Rotisa cried. The strange mix of a spider and fire Monster wailed, flailing her limbs. The spider monster was grateful that at this age, an elemental couldn't change their temperature, or this would have been all the more difficult. "It's okay, my dearie."

The spider monster hummed softly, gently rocking her as she sat down in her living room chair. "You're just a little hungry," she murmured, adjusting her hold on the little flame child. "Don't you worry, your Daddy will find something for you soon."

Muffet raised her head, hearing the door open. "Grillby?" she called.

"It's me," the elemental assured, smiling. "And Muffet, darling…"

"Yes?"

Grillby chuckled as two little red ghosts poked their heads over his shoulders. "I brought guests. Hope you don't mind."

Muffet's eyes widened as she gasped. The elemental swiftly came over, taking his daughter from his wife's arms. The moment he had Rotisa, Muffet jumped up with a little cry. "Alma! Chara!"

The red ghosts flew over the elemental's shoulders, calling out as they rushed to the spider who instantly snatched them into an embrace, tears escaping her as she started to cry. "Oh my gods," she managed, trembling over the words. "You're back...you're safe...you're not allowed to ever do that again!"

There were murmurs of apologies, but, thankfully, Grillby had warned the two that Muffet was going to keep ranting. "I was so worried! You're grounded! Forever! You're never leaving my sight again."

Grillby chuckled as he gently nuzzled his daughter. "You have to sleep sometime, Dear."

"Watch me," was her stubborn reply, which brought a snort of amusement out of Grillby. He took a seat on the couch as Cupcake came sliding in, yelping as he did so. Then, he started to bounce around at Muffet's feet, excited to see the two ghosts again.

The little ghosts waved to him, not quite ready to relinquish Muffet to go give him affection. "Now," Grillby murmured. "Would you like to see her?" On the way back, Grillby informed them of Rotisa, explaining it carefully so that they understood that Rotisa had not been a replacement, and that Muffet was going to surprise them, but then things didn't go quite as planned.

Muffet smiled, and moved over to the couch, sitting down as Cupcake scrambled onto the last of the empty space, panting happily as he did so. Slowly, the two slipped into her lap, leaning over to look at the creature in Grillby's hold. She seemed to be made of red, orange, and yellow flames, but it was easy to spot some things that were obviously from Muffet.

Rotisa had four arms instead of two, as well as three purple eyes amongst her flames. The child fussed a little, making what sounded like little chirps of complaint. Chara and Alma leaned closer, and their movement caught the child's attention. Rotisa's flames stilled, and then she stared, transfixed by them.

The parents stifled their laughter as the ghosts leaned a little closer. Chara hesitantly reached out, and then patted the girl's head, while Alma slowly reached over, letting their own hand hover there. Rotisa gave an unhappy grunt, and then reached up with one of her arms. She missed once, twice...and then finally, her little hand grasped at two of Alma's fingers.

Having claimed the ghost's digits, Rotisa smiled, little white flaming fangs showing, before she let out a gurgling giggle. Grillby practically beamed. "I believe she likes you two…" The two dimmed, flustered, and Chara floated away to rest on top of Cupcake. Muffet attempted to hide her amusement over the stubborn little ghost; though it was all in vain.

"Oh, come here, you little Cherry," Muffet giggled, snatching Chara back, and nuzzling her, before leaning against Grillby's shoulder, as Cupcake stole a bit of her lap to lay on. She closed her eyes in content, enjoying her family that had been put back together after months of separation.

Grillby's flames crackled softly as he relaxed, and for a little while, it was just the family together. Eventually though, it came to an end as someone knocked. "That would be the others," he murmured. He glanced to Muffet. "Want me to chase them off for now?" he partially joked.

"Hmm...they probably have something important to say," she reasoned with a glimmer of amusement.

"Alas…" Grillby turned, raising his voice just slightly. "It's open," he called.

A moment later, they found Dogamy, Frisk, Gerson, Mettaton, and Napstablook coming into the living room, all of them smiling at the sight. Dogamy chuckled. "Glad to see all of this again. So, how long are they grounded?"

"Forever," Muffet replied.

Gerson snorted. "Sounds about right. Anyways, we got a story to tell, apparently."

Everyone took a seat, with Mettaton speaking up. "With a little twist, it would seem…"

Napstablook nodded. "Yeah...we found out something really interesting…"

With that, they explained what happened down in the warehouse that Reaper's Harvest had been hiding souls in. However, Mettaton was keeping one part of it a secret. "Napstablook and I sensed however, that one of the souls belonged on the other side of the Rift…"

"So Frisk went to return it," the ghost said.

The child nodded. "I...ran into the others," they mumbled. "Their Toriel invited us to return, if we would like...but I leave that to you to decide…"

Dogamy raised a hand. "I wouldn't mind seeing how they're doing."

Gerson nodded. "I'm alright with it if everyone else is."

The robot folded his arms. "And I would like to see if they got rid of all those Beast Monsters…"

"...and I'm not drained this time," Napstablook reasoned.

"I'm not sure we should…" Muffet murmured. "After all, with what happened last time…"

"It did end up rather dangerous for everyone," Grillby finished.

Mettaton smirked. "Did I mention that soul was their Chara?"

Muffet gasped. "What!?" she quietly exclaimed, then she shook her husband's shoulder. "Grillby-we have to go now and make sure she's alright!"

Grillby slowly turned to look at her...and then laughed softly. "Mettaton played you well, darling."

"I don't care!"

The elemental rose. "But what shall we do with our little ones?"

Muffet paused. "Um…"

Mettaton leaned back, enjoying the scene that was playing out. "You might think it safer to leave them behind, but…"

Gerson smirked. "Then you can't keep an eye on them."

"But if you stay," Dogamy murmured. "You won't see for yourself."

Muffet folded her arms, glaring at them. "You're all horrible men. Taking advantage of my feelings like that."

"So," Gerson chuckled. "What's it going to be?"

Muffet hugged the ghosts close, a hand going to her daughter. "...they're mine. They're coming with me."

"Ours…" Grillby protested quietly.

"Sorry," Dogamy murmured. "I shouldn't have let her and my wife near each other…"

Gerson tried to avoid laughing, but Muffet still heard the stifled sound.

Grillby rose. "Very well. I don't want to leave any of the children in someone else's care right now, as it is, but I want to see for myself that everything is alright over there…"

Mettaton nodded. "And the Rift has been steady this entire time. It should be safe to traverse with the three of them."

Muffet rose. "Then I'm going to get some supplies ready. Rotisa is a little bit of a handful or two…"

"Or four," Grillby mumbled.

Dogamy smiled. "Mine if I hold the little lady for a bit so that you can help Muffet?"

Grillby was silent, and then came over. "Just...be careful. She can't burn you yet, but…"

"I'll be fine," Dogamy assured, gently taking her, and leaning close, sniffing at her as she raised a hand to grab at his muzzle, trying to pull on him. However, she was too young to cause any actual discomfort.

Gerson watched Grillby leave, and then looked at the canine while raising a brow. "You have five pups of your own, and you jump at the chance to hold another kid?"

Dogamy chuckled. "Well, look at it this way," he said, a humored tone coming to his voice. "The best part about Rotisa is that I get to give her back," he joked.

Gerson laughed, and then stood. "Come on, Neck-Warmer. Let's go get ready."

Frisk nodded, following after him, wondering if this would really be the best choice. To go back through that Rift.


"A-alright, so let's see if I've got this right…"

Chara floated just above the worktable in Alphys's basement lab, close enough that she gave the illusion that she was sitting on it. She had managed to reform into an image of herself, rather than just the floating heart. Alphys stood next to her, her gaze fixed on one of her scanners that she held in her hand, while Kid attempted to peer over her shoulder.

Asgore stood on the other side of the table with Frisk, both of them giving Chara comforting smiles. Toriel had allowed them to come on the condition that they informed her the moment they knew anything, and Muffet had stayed behind to keep her company. Speaking to the former queen had been the original reason the spider had come down here, after all.

"Kid? Could you give me some space?" Alphys asked, not turning to look at the armless Monster. Kid started, then stepped back, dipping his head and mumbling an apology. Alphys looked up at Chara.

"After you exploded… you said you felt an intense pressure? A-as if something was drawing you towards it?"

Chara nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah. I… wasn't really aware of much at that point… I kinda assumed I was just passing on." She shrugged. "Apparently not."

Alphys gave a little hum and tapped at the device in her hands for a moment before speaking.

"W-well, given these readings… a-and what I saw before... your magic levels would have been really low at the time. It's possible that you were weak enough that the Rift… sucked you in, drawing you through to the other side."

"Is that possible?" Asgore asked, his brows knitting in confusion. Alphys shrugged in response.

"T-this isn't really m-my field, remember? Sans would know better, but he's not here right now. But given that she somehow ended up on the other side… that seems the most likely theory to me. Regardless, all this tells us something very important about you."

"What is it?" Kid asked, looking to his girlfriend curiously.

"W-well, it takes some effort for Ghost Monsters to fuse with a body, to fully become one with it. But once it's done, they lose their incorporeal status. If the body was destroyed, they would be too. You showed all the signs of being fused with your body, but when it was destroyed… you weren't."

"So… what does that mean?" Chara questioned.

"It means that your soul doesn't require a body to form may get destroyed, but you can survive despite that, which means that…" Alphys looked up to Chara, meeting her gaze with her own.

"You can only be killed by magic."

"Yes!" Kid exclaimed, leaping into the air in delight. "Yo, that's great!"

"I guess that explains why I stuck around the first time…" Chara muttered. "I wish I'd known about that sooner."

"Well, it would have made things much easier over the past few months." Asgore said, stepping close and putting a hand on the table near Chara's own. "But you are back now. I would happily suffer through that again, if it that was what it took to return you to us."

"I wouldn't!" Frisk called, folding his arms in front of his chest. "While you were out on vacation, guess who had to be the Ambassador? And everybody was yelling at me because of the Beast Monsters, and-"

"Frisk?" Chara said quietly.

"Yes?"

"You're whining again."

"T-there is um… one other thing." The others turned their attention back to Alphys who was looking at Chara in concern. "I'm picking up some... Uh... interesting readings on here. I think I might know what they mean, but um, first... Chara, can you tell me what happened to you while you were gone?"

Chara was silent for a few moments, her head lowered so her eyes weren't visible. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and distant.

"I… vaguely remember someone picking me up… and carrying me somewhere. I was put in a soul jar, like the ones you used, Dad." She looked over to her father, barely managing to suppress a shudder.

"Dad, are soul jars supposed to… hurt?"

Asgore blinked in surprise.

"Of course not! All they do is sustain the soul so that it does not fade or pass on. Did… did yours-"

Chara clutched at her head.

"It was agony, Dad," she whimpered. "From the moment I went in there, it was like I was being crushed, squeezed and torn apart at the same time. I tried everything to get out, but no matter how hard I-" She stopped, unable to continue, and her shoulders started to shake.

Asgore, Frisk and Kid all stepped closer to her, lending her their support.

"Yo, Chara..." Kid spoke quietly. "You're safe now. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore."

Chara looked to him in surprise at the seriousness in his voice, and Asgore nodded in conformation.

"It is as he says, child. You are safe, and protected now."

Alphys stepped away for a moment, and pulled out a small notebook from a coat pocket. She flipped through it for a few moments, staring at the pages before looking up and adjusting her glasses.

"W-well, that does explain a lot of what I'm seeing here. Chara… it-it looks like…" she hesitated for a moment, shifting nervously. "Like you've suffered from the effects of soul scarring."

"What's that?" Frisk asked. "I've never heard of anything like that before."

"That's because it's, um, it's a very rare phenomenon." Alphys glanced back at the notebook in her claws, then returned her attention to the family. "I've… never actually seen it before but… the last Royal Scientist left notes about it. I've uh, been going through some of his old notes recently, he um… did a lot of good work."

The reptile suddenly realized she had begun to ramble and began fidgeting nervously.

"A-anyways! Um… it's very difficult, but technically possible, for a soul to be harmed without it taking any damage. That's how you get soul scarring."

"What does that mean?" Asgore asked, his voice low.

"Your soul is your essence... the very culmination of your being. Chara… when this happened to you, you didn't have a body, or anything to protect you. It would have been damaging you at your very core."

"But, you can fix it… right?" Kid asked. "You know how to make it go away…"

Alphys shook her head.

"Not until we know what the damage is… and even then, I don't know." she looked down, putting the little notebook back in her pocket and fiddling with her hands. "I can't say what the effects will be… the notes say it could be anything from a huge power reduction to erratic behavior. It could even have changed core parts of your personality."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Asgore questioned.

"Keep an eye on her. She's going to be very vulnerable for a while anyways… and she's very weak right now. And if you notice anything… strange about her, let me know. I'll see what I can do, but…" She gave a helpless shrug.

"Will it be easier for her once she has a body again?"

Alphys was silent for a few moments, thinking over the Boss Monster's question.

"I'm not sure… it'll certainly help with her vulnerability at the very least. Right now though, I don't think she's strong enough to fully possess a body but… I'll start working on another one for her. By the time it's finished, she should be able to use it… I think, anyways."

"Thanks Alphys." Chara spoke up, her voice soft.

"N-no need to thank me!" Alphys waved her hands before her, almost frantically. "I-I know I just gave you a bunch of bad news… building you a new body is the least I can do. Besides… I'm just glad you're back."

"Seconded," Frisk called, and both Kid and Asgore nodded their own agreement. Chara managed a smile.

"Um, before you go though, I do want to ask you about what happened when you let Kid absorb your soul-"

There was a cracking sound from behind Alphys and she jumped forward in fright, nearly smashing into the table that Chara was just hovering on. She whirled around, her eyes widening as she saw the Rift re-open in a multi-colored vortex.

Immediately upon seeing it, Chara reverted herself into a floating heart again and hid behind Kid, who widened his stance into a protective one, his gaze hardening on the Rift. Asgore stepped forward so he was by Kid's side, lightly pushing Frisk and Alphys back so they were just behind him. He did not call upon his weapon, but he stood ready… just in case whoever was coming through that Rift meant them harm.

White furred feet took a step out into the lab, and sure enough, the little Frisk of the other side stepped out, adjusting their cloak as Gerson came right behind them. Frisk waved, before tucking their hand away, pressing close to the turtle, who smiled slightly. "We need to work on these welcoming committees."

"Though it stands to reason, I suppose. They've been through a lot because of this thing," Mettaton said as he stepped forward, looking to Alphys instantly, before relaxing as Napstablook floated in, perching themselves on the robot's shoulder quietly.

Dogamy followed, and then glanced back to the rift as Grillby came forth, his flames flickering, and in his arms, he held Muffet, who cradled his daughter, while two little ghosts perched on his shoulders, looking around in awe as they clung to him, refusing to leave. There was very little to tell them apart, aside from their brightness, and how one had very unkept hair.

The more brightly lit one looked around, and then locked their gaze on Asgore. They stared, and then ducked down behind the elemental so that only their eyes were peering over him. The dimmer one brushed back their messy hair, looking to the other ghost, before quietly following suit, not understanding the other's actions, but deciding to follow along regardless.

Immediately upon seeing them, Kid and Asgore both relaxed, smiles spreading across both their faces.

"Sorry about that…" Asgore rumbled, rolling his shoulders as he spoke. "We did not think you would have accepted our invitation so quickly… not that we're complaining, of course," he finished hurriedly.

"I see there's a couple of new faces this time, too." The Human Frisk grinned, looking at the two ghosts. "Care to introduce…" his voice trailed off as he saw Rotisa. "Oh my god… is that…"

Grillby's flames crackled merrily. "I think we just found who we're introducing first, Dear."

Muffet smiled warmly as he gently adjusted his hold on her. "This is our daughter, Rotisa."

"Oh my gosh she's so cute!" the teen squealed, barely able to keep himself from bouncing in excitement.

"Congratulations you two… it is good to see you are also blessed with new life on your own side." Asgore's smile widened impossibly as he spoke.

"You guys must be really proud…" Alphys murmured, her eyes also fixed on the child.

Muffet blushed slightly as she held her child closer, and Grillby's flames darkened briefly. The little ghosts poked their heads back into sight, watching the exchange. Gerson, on the other hand, was trying to hold back his laughter, and barely managing.

"She was certainly a much-needed blessing with everything that was going on," Mettaton said, smiling as Muffet covered her face with two of her spare hands.

Dogamy chuckled. "Come now, stop teasing the new parents."

Asgore let out a little laugh, then diverted his attention to the ghosts, hoping to deflect from the other's embarrassment.

"And these two are…?"

Grillby's flames returned to normal, if perhaps dimming just slightly as he looked to the ghosts. "The one on my right is Alma. They're shy, but if you give them a little bit, they'll stop hiding." The dim one poked their form up a little more, and held up a hand wiggling their fingers, before ducking away again.

"The other would be our Chara," Grillby explained as the other ghost poked their head up over his shoulder, staring quietly.

Asgore's smile became softer, and he looked tenderly at the other Chara, while Frisk returned Alma's wave.

"Hello little ones… I heard about what happened. It is good to see you are both safe."

Kid was staring wide-eyed at the other Chara. For some reason, it had never occurred to him that he might run into his girlfriend's counterpart.

The two were soon hiding fully behind Grillby again, only occasionally poking out just slightly as they used the fire elemental to hide away. Napstablook smiled, and floated over to the fellow ghosts. "Oh, it's okay...it's a lot to take in after we just got you back, isn't it…?" the ghost murmured.

The little children's glows brightened and dimmed, and Napstablook nodded. "Oh, it's okay. We'll take our time. They're really nice, I promise." The ghost turned. "Sorry, they're more shy than usual, but I'm sure Chara will be flying around to see everything soon enough." They might not stray far for a while, but Chara was too stubborn to stay behind Grillby forever.

"O-oh, you just got them back too?" Alphys questioned, her eyes narrowing in concentration. "Umm, did you find them at the same place where…" She flicked her tail in the direction of her world's Chara, still hidden behind Kid. "Our Chara was?"

Napstablook's form surprisingly darkened for a moment. "Yeah...it...it turned out that the organization was going to use their souls-red souls are rare after all, so they were waiting for things to calm down before using them."

"Thankfully we found them before anything further could happen," Dogamy managed, fangs showing clearly as he spoke.

"Some allies are cleaning up the rest of the place," Grillby assured as he and Muffet glanced to the other hidden Chara.

"Not that you left a lot to clean up," Mettaton murmured dryly.

"Good," Kid snarled, and his friends looked at him in surprise at the harshness in his voice. "I hope you made them suffer."

The floating heart behind him pulsed quietly in concern, floating a little closer to Kid in an attempt to assure him of her presence..

"Kid…" the Human Frisk muttered quietly.

The Monsters from the other side looked at each other, before Dogamy glanced back to Kid. "It's being taken care of. Trust me, Humans and Monsters alike want to see justice done to this group."

"U-umm! Anyways!" Alphys called, while Kid visibly tried to calm himself down."It's uh… a little crowded in here, do you want to go upstairs, or…?"

"I wouldn't mind that," Muffet replied quietly. "Someone's starting to get a little fussy," she said as Rotisa squirmed about, trying to slip an arm free of the blanket so that she could start exploring. Alma slowly came forward, until they were floating over the little baby, catching the little one's attention with their strange form.

The younger Frisk nodded, and tugged Gerson forward, wanting him to sit down again soon. He might have recovered quite a bit, but they didn't trust anything.

"Alright, I'll just call ahead, so we don't take Undyne by surprise…"