The rest of the world blurred around him, and Dave found himself back in front of the entrance.

His eyes barely widened, but that really was Strider equivalent to hella fucking shocked. Because really, what in the name of fuck?!

*You tap Dave's shoulder to get his attention.

Dave whirled around to find Frisk waving happily. Chara was smirking.

CP: Sorry Dave, did I scare you?

TG: hell yeah you did

TG: what the fuck

TG: oh wait

TG: right

TG: time travel

CP: Yup!

CP: Pretty handy, right?

TG: just

TG: dont scare me like that again jesus christ

CP: It's a good thing Chara and I aren't Catholic, huh?

TG: yeah but

TG: im serious

TG: no kid should ever go through what you have

TG: especially you

PC: I'll have you know that Frisk and I lived for a long time in a weird sense.

TG: but you never got a chance to grow up

TG: did you

Frisk and Chara did not remark on that fact. It was better left alone.

CP: No…we always reset before we even got out of fourth grade…

TG: see

CP: Have you finished school, Dave?

TG: well i was 13 when things went down

TG: and im pretty sure i missed three years of it due to being on a meteor

PC: Is it a good idea to ask why exactly you were on a meteor, which, by the way, is apparently a *perfectly* safe idea to go sailing on for, I'm sorry, did you say three years?

TG: im here and im alive

TG: arent i

CP: Why don't we just have Dave retell this scarily interesting tale of a game that I think destroyed his world?

CP: Did I get that right?

TG: yeah

TG: and

TG: sure

Frisk tugged Dave to the entrance of Toriel's humble abode once more.

"Man, how do you not get tired of doing the same shit over and over again? I'm already getting pissed over having to repeat this mind fuckery again. And it's only been once."Dave tapped his foot, he and Chara watching Frisk talk with Toriel about snail pie.

"I don't know. It just feels so exhilarating watching all these events unfold, and trying to make a different outcome each and every time. Don't you feel the same?" Chara glanced at Dave who sighed.

"You don't know how frustrating time travel really is, do you?" Chara tilted their head like any child would, if with more sarcasm and intellect. Which was probably true in her case.

"Please enlighten me."

Maybe.

"Nothing but trouble. Like I said before, you have to keep each timeline stable, or else they'll veer off to become a doomed one. Sometimes doomed timelines and dead ones have their shitty way of biting you in the ass. I'm not even kidding."

"How?" Dave tilted his glasses down slowly, giving the barest view of his eyes. (He was dead serious right now.) To say Chara was surprised was a bit off. Instead, they were intrigued by the same shade of red irises they shared with the blonde. Huh. Who would've thought?

"They just do. And if you keep creating these timelines without knowing what exactly will actually bite you in the ass, well. Good luck, is all I can say." Dave shrugged.

"Hmm…Well, we've had out fair share in that department, I assure you."

"That's good."

Chara looked at him questioningly. "Not going to ask about it?" Dave shrugged again.

"You looked uncomfortable talking about it. Like, you may try not to show it, but I can recognize from a mile away that from the way you narrow your eyes and you posture tensing a bit from the relaxed position, you really don't wanna recount those memories. Its like a taboo, a forbidden action. Like, the ten commandments sort of dealie, you feelin' me?"

Dave internally cursed himself for sounding a lot like Rose. Siblings indeed.

Then again the psycho analysis shit was taught by his bro, and by Dirk. Shit was crammed into his head like a fucking mini-van full of students on a fieldtrip. Only less smelly and sweaty.

Chara looked a tad winded from the long-ass unnecessary ("man, it ain't unnecessary!" *Sure, Dave. "Goddamn it!") explanation.

"I see. Well, I don't mind talking about it per say, its just a conversation I'd rather have in private."

They watched silently as Frisk helped Toriel cook dinner this time, starting a flour battle with her. Toriel was giggling with glee as Frisk signed various jokes to keep her distracted.

"Okay. One private chat, here we go."

A/N: I'm alive! Thankfully!

So yeah here's the new chapter, this time about 800 words! (Specifically 795, but who's counting?)

We're still not caught up with the AO3 version, which is already nearing the Skeleton Brother Duo Arc. It's like, on the line boundary itself.

But anyways, not to worry! I'm still updating here, its just slower since is a bitch and anyone continuously uploading here without encountering problems - or at the very least, used to it, has my full on respect.

So just hang on to your seats, yeah? It's still, let's say, about 5-6 chapters (If I paced this the same way I did before) before you munchkins reach the gate. Again. Woohoo.

Also, if I hadn't mentioned it before, I've completely fucked up the events in Snowdin (the puzzle sequences) so its going to go a bit different for the sake of originality and convenience. That is all.

[Last reminder that a blog for this story exists in Tumblr. Just search stuckunderground then stick a 'dot tumblr dot com' to that shit and BAM! You're there.]