This time they weren't at home at all but in a hotel, if you could call it that, they don't even give you a mint on the pillow or anything. He would know, he had his first job there and it was his constant nagging about expenses that put a stop to the complementary sweets.

"MTT™ resort! What are we doing here?"

Dazzling MTT™ brand Gyftmas lights, blaring MTT™ Gyftmas carols, the aroma of MTT™ glitter turkey. Tourists and fans wandering around, decked out in MTT™ merchandise sold by salespeople wearing pained and phoney smiles, smelling of smoke. Golden statues of the robot himself™ eternally posed on both wheels and fabulous legs™.

God, it was obnoxious.

"Recognise anyone?" She asked.

Sure enough, an older Chara and Frisk could be seen across the counter. Young adults now, working their first job. They had changed a fair bit in their teen years, finally growing apart in looks. Frisk had cut his hair short and Chara had grown hers longer. She had started to wear makeup, and her already rosy cheeks were now a starling shade of red. Frisk had repeatedly told her how unnatural and hideous it looked, but she had stubbornly refused to change it and kept the look until her eventual death.

Young Frisk waved goodbye to a customer and promptly got dope slapped. "What was that?" Chara hissed. "You practically gave that away for free! We're a business, not a charity!"

He whimpered out a pitiful excuse. "Not our problem. You're going to get us fired if you keep this up!"

Frisk pointed out that only he would get fired, Chara would keep her job. "I would quit then, no point in sticking around this dumpster if you aren't here."

"AWW, THAT'S SO SWEET!" Pappy piped up, having just finished with his own customer.

"Shut it!"

"SHUTTING UP!" He agreed.

"already? but i just got here." The two of them jumped a mile but Pappy just looked mildly annoyed.

"NO SANS, WE CLOSE AT FIVE, SO WE STILL HAVE AN HOUR." He clarified, wilfully ignoring the joke. "AND I HAVE TOLD YOU THAT YOU HAVE TO BE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTER BEFORE I CAN SERVE YOU." He picked Sans up and lifted him over the counter and gently set him on the other side.

"do you serve skeletons here?" He asked, pretty chill about the transportation.

Papyrus narrowed his eyes, wary about the pun that was almost certainly about to be said. Young Frisk, ever oblivious, obligingly said the line: "we serve anyone."

"great," he said, catching Pappy's arm. "i'll take this one."

Pappy was torn about wether he should act flattered or annoyed. Eventually flattery won out. Little Frisk smiled at the heartwarming scene while Chara rolled her eyes. Toriel wore an identical smile and while old Frisk's neural expression didn't shift, his eyes were a little shinier than before.

"so," sans said, dropping Pappy's arm and letting the moment pass, "whatcha got?"

"WE HAVE A SPECIAL SALE ON GYFTMAS DECORATIONS." He told his brother.

Sans nodded thoughtfully, picking up a pink, sparkly MTT™ brand wreath. "how much is this?"

Frisk told him it was 5g. Sans looked at Papyrus, "how much for me?"

"5G." A confused Pappy repeated.

"i'm your brother."

"TEN g." Chara snatched the wreath™ out of his hands and put it back on the shelf. Sans laughed and made a few nepotism jokes.

The conversation continued in a normal vein, until Chara reminded them they weren't supposed to talk to Sans unless he bought something. He then haggled Chara back down to 5g to buy the wreath™.

"It's odd." Old Frisk remarked. "Seeing them like that."

"Has it really changed so much?"

"Yes. Sans and Chara are dead, for a start."

She sighed, "you have grown so cheerful, my child."

He shrugged, "its true."

"SO," Pappy asked, as Frisk waved goodbye to another customer, "IF YOU GUYS AREN'T DOING ANYTHING, WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME TO MY GYFTMAS PARTY? IT'S NEXT WEEK SO IT DOSEN'T INTERFERE WITH FAMILY CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS."

Chara's face iced over. "No."

Frisk politely explained that they didn't celebrate Gyftmas.

"HANUKKAH THEN?"

"We don't celebrate anything." Chara snapped, slamming the till shut.

"WELL, EVEN IF YOU DON'T, MAYBE-"

"I said no!" She snarled.

Frisk winced, "it's a bit of a bad time for us..."

Sans placed a hand on Pappy's arm, but didn't take his eyes off the two humans. "hey, if they don't wanna come, they don't wanna come." His eye lights flickered out. "i'm sure they'll make it to the next one."

They came back on and he turned to Papyrus, "oh wow, look at that, time to go already." And herded him out the door.

"OH, UM," Pappy turned and waved, "BYE-BYE! SEE YOU TOMORROW!"

"in a place like this it's more like buy-buy our stuff™"

"SANS!"

Frisk sighed and slumped onto the counter, absentmindedly fiddling with their sleeves. Chara gave an identical sigh and assumed moody teen position: leaning backwards with arms folded. "Are you mad at me for saying no?"

Frisk shrugged.

"That's not an answer."

They sighed again, "...you didn't need to be so mean to Pappy."

"He wouldn't take a hint."

"He was just trying to be friendly."

"Well he's pretty crap at it then."

Frisk pushed away from the counter, "don't say that!"

"It's true."

"It's not!"

"Good god, can we skip this?" Older Frisk groaned. "This is so cringeworthy."

"No." Toriel gave a mischievous smile.

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Tisk," Chara pulled out a lollypop. "You're too soft."

Frisk slumped back over the counter, "Pappy wouldn't hurt me."

"Not everyone's Pappy."

There was a long stretch of silence. Well, not silence. MTT™ covers of Gyftmas carols™ were still playing on the speakers, but that didn't count. The store was mostly empty, everyone was home for the holidays, spending time with family and friends and all that mushy stuff. Frisk and Chara, on the other hand, would rather be anywhere else but home. That was why they had agreed to cover most of today's shifts.

"If you really want to go, just tell Pappy tomorrow. He'll be ecstatic you changed your mind." She twirled the stick between her fingers. It had taken a fair bit of convincing on Frisk part, cherry picking facts and "did you know sugar is more addictive than heroin?" But now Chara believed, or at least pretend to believe, that candy was as cool as drugs. On paper at least. So now she smoked lollipops instead of cigarettes. Brush-your-teeth reminders went up by 40% but hey, they weren't grounded.

Frisk shook his head, "no, I don't want to go. I just wish you weren't so mean about it. You hurt his feelings."

"One of us has to have a spine."

"I do too have a spine."

Chara laughed, "sure, whatever you say Frisky bits."

~o~

"You're jumping around a lot." Frisk glanced at Toriel and was surprised to see her so grim looking.

"He's getting impatient."

"Who?"

"Don't worry about it." She smiled and attempted to pat his head, he smacked her hand away. Her strained smile dropped entirely. "Keep watching."

The smell of concrete dust and plaster was pervasive, accompanied by overtones of paint fumes. A sure sign of a building under construction, or at least renovations.

"Kinda small isn't it." Chara commented.

Frisk, who was now a young adult, rolled his eyes, "sorry it does not live up to your majesties standards, but we are on a budget. Someday, when we're rich but not famous, I'll get you the mansion you so desire."

She snorted. "I'm not asking for a mansion, I'm asking for some elbow space!" She held out her arms so a palm touched each wall.

"Well, you'll just have to make do." He strode over to his desk at the back of the room (which was five paces from where he was standing, and six paces from the door) and set down the stack of paperwork he was holding.

"I'm just saying." She leaned against her own desk (about the size of a one seater school desk, in a public school that was really trying to stretch out the budget). "I've seen closets bigger than this. Please tell me there's secretly another few rooms that you're going to surprise me with."

He raised an eyebrow, "yes, that's exactly what's going to happen. Also, the Easter jackalope is real, Pelvis Estly is alive and lives on the moon and the illuminati is always watching." He sat down, "Of corse not, don't be daft. Do you see any extra doors? You went over the floor plan with me. You saw the budget. Heck you've even been here before! And what reason would I have for-"

"Alright, I get it!" She threw up her hands (one of them smacked into the wall,) "Geez. It's not a sin to hope you know."

"Sorry." He sighed, "I guess the stress is getting to me."

Chara shrugged. "It's fine. Lord knows how many times I snapped at you for wanting silly things."

He hummed, leafing through the papers.

"I was so excited for this." Older Frisk said, "I know I don't look it, but that's because I was really stressed too. It needed to be perfect. Well, not perfect, but close enough."

"You succeeded." Toriel folded her hands in front of her. "Your business is booming now."

"I guess. Looking back, I can see I made quite a few mistakes." He glanced at his sister. "Keeping Chara on was one of them. Don't get me wrong, she was a good employee and I don't think I was ever as good at striking terror in the hearts of interns as she was but..." he pulled at the hem of his nightshirt. "I wonder if she would have been happier away from the company. In military or something. I could see her driving a tank. Or a police car or, I don't know an airplane maybe. I believe that, secretly, she hated the office. Damn good at her job though."

Younger Frisk sighed. "Do you think..."

"What? That it's kinda small? Yes, yes it is."

"No! I mean, yes it is a little small but that's not what I'm talking about."

She pointed at him, "so you admit it."

"Would you stop?!" He threw his hands up, "I was just wondering if...!"

"What?"

He paused for a moment, hands thrown out, eyes tight and scrunched, then relaxed, sliding into his chair. "Never mind. It was a dumb thought anyway."

Concerned, Chara walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, you have to tell me now."

"Nah," he said, "I was just doing what you were doing. Wanting things that will never happen."

Snow.

"What were you thinking?" Toriel asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? That was years ago!" It had been, even then. It seems that habits are hard to break. Even now he still sometimes catches himself wondering what Asriel would have thought.

~o~

It was his current office, much larger than the previous one. Back when it was still clean and new, before he had stoped cutting corners and started sniping out entire sections.

When his indoor heating still worked.

The door jangled, outside was dark and snowy. Santa weather, if you were the kind of person to believe such nonsense. In stepped Chara, wearing a lovey new dress, ruby red and tight fitting, cut in the latest fashion.

"I do hope it was worth it." Past Frisk said. An adult now, the only difference between them now was that this one had more hair.

"Excuse me?" She walked over to her new desk, high heels clacking.

"You're not excused." He said, "what are doing, walking in an hour late?"

"It's not like I would have gotten any work done anyway. There's no one to do business with, it's a holiday. Let me enjoy it."

"You have grown lax."

"You have grown into an uptight killjoy." She crossed her arms.

"And lazy."

She raised an eyebrow, "is this about the dress?"

"You went way over budget!" He threw up his hands.

"A) it was not 'way over budget', it was only twenty dollars. B) We don't need a budget anymore! The business is doing great and we have plenty saved up. I'm allowed to splurge a little, it's not going to kill you."

"It could. The money we have saved up is for emergencies! Not dresses!"

"One time! I just wanted to treat myself once. Is that so wrong?"

"Yes."

"No! We have enough saved up for three emergencies each with so much spare we could throw a party in Vegas. You work me like a dog for years and I'm not even allowed to enjoy my reward? I don't want to live in poverty and I don't need to."

Frisk took a deep breath. "You greatly exaggerate both our wealth and working conditions. Can't you trust me when I say we don't have enough? I just need more time-"

"You always need more time!" She stood up, eyes flaring, "It's never enough for you! You could have towers of gold- nay, mountains of gold, all the the money and gold in the world and you would still be unhappy!"

"Oh, because you don't have any personality flaws, huh? If you were in charge we would be out on the streets by now-"

"At least we'd be happy." She grumbled.

"We are happy."

"Money doesn't make you happy, frisky bits." She gave him a knowing look and picked up her cigar. (Out from under their parents grasp she had stopped playing along years ago.)

"Does too." He muttered, mostly to himself, sinking into his seat.

"Anyway, I'm leaving. I'll be back by supper."

"What?" He sat up, "you only just got here."

"No point in staying, there's no work to do-"

"There is always work to do."

"-and I'm not hanging around when your in such a foul mood." She continued on as if he hadn't spoken.

"I'm the one in the foul mood?" He asked, incredulously.

"Yep."

"At least I'm doing my job!" He yelled after her as the door slammed shut. "This is coming out of your pay check!"

He slumped back, massaging his temples. "Bloody Gyftmas."

The world went white.

"Wow. That was pointless. That wasn't even a big argument, we had plenty like it and they never changed anything."

She smiled, "only two left. Do be patient."

~o~

"Goat mom's dead." Chara said, staring at the open envelope on the table that had been sitting there for some time now.

"I know."

"Car accident. Some idiot drunk."

"I know."

"We've been invited to the funeral."

"I am aware."

Chara waited for a few seconds before extinguishing her cigarette and turning to Frisk. "Are we going?"

He stared at the dying fireplace. "...No."

"She raised us." It was more of a fact than an argument. She said it more out of the habit of playing devil's advocate (or angle's advocate in this case) than any real desire to attend.

"I don't want to."

"Why not?" Both Chara and Toriel asked at the same time.

He pulled the blanket around him closer. "I hate funerals."

"All the people there." Old Frisk continued, practically spitting the words out. "The crying and the moping. Acting all sad and weepy. Acting like they knew them. They weren't there!"

Carefully, Toriel placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He laughed bitterly. "Don't be sad for me. Be sad for yourself. All those children you cared for, and not one of them showed up."

"What about..."

"I checked, later. Isabell was out of country on tour. Her manager wouldn't let her leave. Brian was hospitalised at the time, after starting his first bar fight in years. Justin was killed years ago in a shoot out."

"Yes, I know."

For a moment he saw his own pain reflected in her eyes. His hand twitched, instinctively wanting to comfort her. The moment passed, and he continued on. "Due to the post's incompetence Paula wasn't informed until a month after. Paige came in late and missed the services, she paid her respects later."

"What about Kay?"

"Still missing."

She gave the tiniest nodded, biting her lip anxiously. "Was he ever...?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Ah..."

"If it helps any, he's probably dead."

She gave a laugh that was half sniffle, half snort. "It does not, but thank you for trying."

"You know who was there?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"Asgore."

She froze, then looked up, fire in her eyes. "Don't talk to me about that man."

His face twisted into a bitter mockery of a smile. "Ironic isn't it? Out of all the people you loved, only the one you hated showed up."

She stepped back. "Don't turn this on me, I'm only trying to help you."

"Because you think you know better than everyone else."

"I don't-"

"Because we are too ignorant to make it on our own, is that it?" He seethed.

"I'm so sorry." The strange voice rattled around his head. "Your sister..."

He turned around. He hadn't even noticed the scene change.

"She has passed on. I'm so sorry." The nervous doctor repeated to last years Frisk.

"She was asking for you." Toriel whispered, her voice dangerously low. "They called until you unplugged the phone."

"I..."

"You wouldn't take time of work to visit her. Not even on her deathbed."

"Someone had to keep the business running!" He defended himself. The words rang hollow, even to his own ears. "I was already giving her paid time off so she could go to the hospital, what more did you want?"

"Ironic isn't it. That he was the only person to come to her funeral. The father who hadn't seen her in years, not the brother who saw her everyday."

"Get out." Growled both Frisks.

"Because he cared more about money than his own sister."

"SHUT UP!" He struck her, a long cut across her torso.

She fell to her knees, shocked and wide eyed. "You- ...you really hate me? That much? Ha... ha... No. It is my fault. I failed you as a mother. I'm so sorry."

"Mom... I..." He didn't mean it do that. The words stuck in his throat. He dropped to his knees in front of her, hands hovering awkwardly in the air. To what? Close the gash? The damage had been done.

"My child." Her hands curled around his own. "Please. You can do better than this. I know... I know it has been difficult. You have lost so much. But that just means you have to hold tighter to the people you have left. Just... Be good, alright?" She pressed her forehead to his. "I love you."

Dust. Dust everywhere, filling his eyes, nose and mouth. The air was sick with dust and death and it was his fault and he couldn't breathe-!

He clawed his way out of the the strangle hold of his bedsheets.

It was just a dream. Just a dream. He was trembling and slick with sweat.

Drip. Drip.

What? No, he wasn't crying. He had something in his eyes. He didn't cry. He hadn't cried since... since his brother died. He hadn't cried when his mom died, and he hadn't cried when Chara died.

He was DETERMINED not to give in now.

.- ... .- - / .- / -.-. .-. -.- -... .- -... -.-

Merry Christmas