"Hm. That's conceivable. It's also probably the only way we can get back to your timeline. However... we should probably recruit this timeline's Sans first. If we don't, we'll still be in danger of being ERASED by the Error."

Gaster looked around.

(Ok, Edgyland it is, then.)

"Oh, my. This timeline. I'm afraid we're going to have to use a bit more diplomacy than we've been using. I don't think this particular Sans is going to stand for much bullsh-"

Gaster looked at Blueberry, and almost felt bad.

"BS."

Meanwhile, After! Sans was a bit shaken up. The fact that the Error was so easily able to turn Grape's own blasters against him hit him hard in the feels. He supposed that had something to do with the fact that the Error was a Sans himself, but it still hurt him. The gasterblasters had always been some of his favorite things in the world.

Blueberry laughed.

"Don't worry! My brother curses plenty. I'm fine."

"Alright, sure."

"Oh, by the way! Grape, where did you get that little SOUL?"

"The soul? Uhmmm...I..."

He blushed slightly.

"I don't like to admit this, b-but...I st-stole i-it."

"really"

"Yeah? From where?"

"H-heh… well, I g-got it f-from-"

"wait"

Grey had almost shuddered at the thought of Papyrus swearing a lot. In his memories, Papyrus was forever a kid. But he supposed that in timelines where he... didn't... die... he grew up. The blue flame in his eye lowered slightly in intensity, before he turned toward Grape.

"wait don't tell me anything give me a sec i'm gonna try to remember."

Six thousand years was a long time, but Grey finally picked up on it.

"that's right wait you got it from"

He was struggling to speak. He wanted to do it right, but he was incredibly out of practice.

" alphys give me a second. i. got. it. yes!"

Seemingly exhausted from the effort of putting punctuation into his speech, Grey fell on his backside.

"you got it from alphys"

Grape seemed suprised.

"Y-yeah. I s-s-stole it from her. I-i-it se-seemed to re-really like me a-a-and I c-c-couldn't bare to p-p-p-put i-it back in the jar."

Grape stepped over to Grey and sat next to him.

"A-are you… ok, b-by the way?"

"heh yeah"

Grey shook his head.

"it just takes a lot of mental effort to talk right for some reason"

He shook his head again.

"so he he he yeah i'm"

"i'm"

"i'm"

"fine."

Grey smiled, proud of himself.

"i gotta say alphie did have some"

He paused and restarted. He didn't want to lose his progress.

"i gotta say, alphie did have some... interesting supplies. none that seemed to like me but definitely some that were very useful fighting the human."

Gaster spoke up.

"Ah. As yet another Sans I once observed said, DETERMINATION is one hell of a drug. But we must continue."

Grape got to his feet, looking around. The world that surrounded them was dark and dreary, not a very inviting place.

"W-w-well… it's d-dark to s-say the least."

"Yeah. I'm not sure I like this place. It's giving me… a bad vibe."

"i feel ya…"

Grey suddenly had an idea.

"i'll be right back"

"Well don't go without- telling us where to find you. Damn it. Alright, we're in Snowdin, so it shouldn't be far to Sans' sentry station. Let's split up, and if you see it, call."

"F-fine."

"Sounds good!"

Gaster, Blue, and Grape headed off in different directions. Gaster called out once more.

"As I indicated before, this timeline is not a kind one. Whereas our monster SOULs are comprised of compassion and kindness, the SOULS of those here are the absolute opposite, full of hatred and spite! You have to be careful!"

Gaster quickly found himself wondering aimlessly in the woods, while Blue ended up all the way back at the entrance to the RUINS. Grape was off doing his own thing, whatever that was, so in the end it was Grape who bumbled into an abandoned sentry station.

He was about to cry out when he clamped his hand over his mouth, silencing himself.

He ran off and got Gaster and Blue to come with them, and they arrived at the station.

"So… Gaster… you're saying everyone hates each other?"

"T-that doesn't sound g-good."

"Indeed. Everyone here is, in some sense of the word, evil."

"Uh… even…"

"Especially Sans."

Hearing his name, Fell! Sans, who had been lying behind his sentry station ignoring the mother|censoring original material because rated T|s who were talking, popped up.

"hey! who the hell are you people?"

Gaster strolled up to Edge.

"Greetings. This is Sans. This here is Sans. Oh, and it's unfortunate, you just missed Sans. Oh! And where are my manners? I'm Gaster. Nice to meet you, Sans."

Edge was screaming internally. Gaster couldn't quite put a finger on exactly why he was egging on the Underfell resident like this, but he couldn't stop.

"ok, fine, i can see that, but where the %#*# did you come from?"

"Well, we are each from our own idividual timelines. I assume Alphys wasn't kind enough to give you the information on the timelines, so I'll summarize. They're different."

"i'm getting the feeling i'm not going to like you."

"Well. I'm all in. Go ahead."

"what are you talking about?"

"Come at me. I'm ready to die any day that you want."

Gaster stepped at Edge almost threateningly, holding his hands at his sides, as if at arm's length from his body, in a "fight me bro" pose.

"jeez, bud, i'm not lookin' for a fight… now."

"Well, that solves it. This ain't the UnderFell that Gaster #007 was talking about. If it was, I'd be being gasterblasted right now. What that means is you aren't all bad, and what that means is that we can use you. I'm gonna get right to the point. In about a day, everything ends. This hole timeline, straight down the toilet. Along with you and everyone else. "

Edge tossed a bottle of mustard at Grape, who'd gotten a bit too close, looking sympathetically at the fabulously edgy Sans.

"why don't you morons just get the hell out of here?"

"Sure, we'll leave. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to end up in the VOID, but, in most cases, that's not what happens when you get ERASED. Let me think... nope. I doubt this timeline's Undyne would have the guts to fight back either, so yeah. You're boned."

"$&%* you."

"I wish. Unfortunately, my most important limb didn't survive the transmutation. A pity."

"wait, wha-… goddamn it, no!"

Grape sidestepped the mustard, taking a few steps back. In the process, he caught sight of Grey, who was motioning to him from behind a tree. He rushed to his side, happy to get away from Gaster, who was acting even stranger than normal, and Edge, who apparently had his gasterblasters on a hair-trigger.

"Hey, fifty shades of grey, what are you d-d-d-dooooooooooooin."

Grey, standing there with a self-satisfied smirk, held a vial in his hands. The vial glowed a deep red, slowly bubbling. Two letters were clearly inscribed on it.

DT.