My Name Is

by Puppy von Wolfenstein

'Run. Live' is what filled her with determination at first, but then a voice inside her head slowly changed her. Everything was dark, but during her final battle with Sans, she remembers bits and pieces of her past setting her free of her 'sister's' control. Unable to believe she killed Sans, she unknowingly resets. Will she undo the horrible acts she committed or succumb to Chara?

11. Undertale the Musical

*********°*********•*********°*********

Italics are for memories or stresses on words (sarcasm). Bold is for internal dialogue, or emphasized words (said more loudly). Also, bold words for Sans are puns.

Each segment can be view as a sort of show, in continuation of the last chapter's theme.

Songs are used later on. Each segment will credit the song. Sorry I couldn't write a musical :/

*********°*********•*********°*********

Chapter 11: Undertale the Musical

*********°*********•*********°*********

The Great Detective Papyrus in…

PINK!

*********°*********•*********°*********

Papyrus fiddled with his red gloves, looking at the empty seat where Sans would be sitting. Lately, Sans has been acting funny. There have been… weird dreams of things that seem so realistic. His friend, the flower, turning into an evil flower and attacking everyone. Frisk… with red eyes and dust in her hands.

The blue fish woman looked at his usually upbeat friend, her smile disappearing as she saw the worry furrowing in his eye sockets. It was the same look of worry Arial would wear, which meant it was serious. "Hey Paps, what's wrong? Is someone bullying you? I'll BEAT THEM UP!" she roared, standing up from her seat but quickly, the skeleton sat her back down. "NO UNDYNE, NOTHING OF A SORT! PLEASE… YOU'RE ATTRACTING ATTENTION," Laughed Papyrus, his head once more snapping towards the empty seat. "Oh… that little shrimp is causing a fuss, huh? I'LL BEAT HIM UP!" she once more growled, but Papyrus once more shook his head. "NO UNDYNE, YOU CAN'T IMAGINE THE TYPE OF FIGHT YOU'LL GET INTO," urged Papyrus, his gloved hand covering his mouth when he saw Undyne turn to look at him with confusion. "That little peep squeak being much of a fight? No way, when I gave you and Sans the field test, I failed him with the biggest F I could write on that paper. I only gave him the job of Sentry Assistant because you wouldn't leave me alone about it. And even THEN, he had the audacity to snore while I lectured him about trying his best!"

The two friends continued to chatter as Grillby came in, carrying the two plates and placing them in their respective place. "Sans called. Said he was going to work in Hotland. The food is on him." He spoke, turning his back when Undyne's shrilled growl stopped him. "That little PUNK! HE DITCHED US!"

Before Papyrus could ask Grillby any questions, the flamesman scurried over to the fire exit, flames imploding as the door opened and closed. He turned to his friend, laughing nervously as he tried to calm down Undyne. "You know what? Let's go after him! I wanna know what he's doing in Hotland, don't you? I mean, how can he hold so many jobs, and last I checked, the hot dog stand was taken down in Hotland so that Sans could work at his other locations. Don't you think it's odd?" she asked, eating fries in between words.

Something inside Papyrus told him that his brother was indeed hiding something, and that whatever that something was… it had to do with the weird dreams he had been having. That… horrible nightmare he had the other night had completely shaken him up but he had to be strong. It was only a nightmare right? His flower friend would never… Frisk would never…

Flashes of the incident long overwritten flashed inside of Papyrus' mind. Undyne's dust floating down unto the earth.

"Paps?" Undyne asked, her hand on his shoulder with a slight look of concern. The skeleton looked at her, returning to the reality that was. "…ITS NOTHING. LET'S GO AFTER SANS, WE MIGHT RUN INTO FRISK."

As the two returned to eating their breakfast, a figure loomed over them in front of the counter, his droopy eyes looking at the food which he could not consume. "…bummer." He breathed, letting out a long sigh. "I forget Grillby doesn't serve ghost food… hey, I, uh… overheard you say you might find Frisk."

Undyne rolled her eyes for a moment. It was her annoying neighbor. Always blasting music in the middle of the night when he gets 'creative'. Nowadays, it wasn't as bad as when his cousin was around. Man. Well, he always seems to look down on his luck, so, it wouldn't hurt to try to be nice to him right now. "Yeah ghost boy, what, you wanna go with us?" she asked, her voice rough and causing the ghost to float back against the wall. The skeleton picked up on it, laughing nervously. "INDEED, WE'RE GOING TO TRACK MY BROTHER AND THE HUMAN. THERE IS A MYSTERY I MUST SOLVE! WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US ON OUR QUEST? I AM THE GOOD COP, UNDYNE IS THE BAD COP, AND YOU CAN BE THE COMEDIC RELIEF."

A blue blush crept unto the ghost's cheeks, mostly out of fear. "C-c-comedy relief? Gosh… I don't think I can be funny." He sighed, looking disdained, but the charismatic smile on the skeleton gave him a boost of confidence. "But I can try. I'll probably be more awkward than funny," he mumbled, watching as the skeleton ate the rest of his food while his neighbor picked the food that was stuck to her fish teeth using her long nails. "Ya ready Paps? LETS GO!" She roared, standing from her seat and marching out of the bar full of swagger while the skeleton, cheerful as ever, marched full of zeal. Napstablook was startled by their sheer amount of energy, his body passing through the counter where the empty plates and stack of gold had been left behind. "…I can't march, guys… I'll just… float." He spoke, his voice shrinking as he followed the two of them. It was odd, but… he enjoyed this. He floated an extra foot off the ground, to match their spirits.

The awkward moment had arrived. Blooky could feel it. He had made things awkward, and he had only been there for a few minutes. The skeleton shifted his gaze between the two neighbors, knowing that this was the 'eccentric' neighbor Undyne would complain about, but… he seemed nice. "I'M SURE YOU ALREADY KNOW, BUT I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SOON TO BE JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD, AND MASTER CHEF IN THE ART OF SPAGHETTI."

The ghost looked at the hand held out, and he could feel himself choke up with anxiety. What should he do now? He had no hands! Should he make fake hands? Would that be awkward? Was the skeleton doing this on purpose? Was he picking on him?

Undyne stared at the scene, her eyes large and her lips thin. Man, this ghost was bad at being social sometimes. Was Papyrus really going to hold his hand out for him this long? It had been at least a minute.

Finally, the ghost manifested his magic to shake the skeleton's hand, his blue flustered face looking away. "…sorry. Uh… The name is Napstablook. I uh… make music and uh… float." He replied, noticing the big grin that had appeared on Papyrus. "MUSIC? WOWIE, IS THAT HOW YOU MET FRISK? SHE LOVES MUSIC! ACTUALLY, CAN YOU FIX THIS TAPE? I FOUND IT ON HER DRAWER LAST NIGHT AND I WAS GOING TO ASK SANS TO FIX IT, BUT I'M SURE YOU CAN FIX IT BETTER THAN HIM."

Blooky's magic held the small cassette, inspecting it and noticing the wear and tear. The film was broken. "…I can try, but some of the audio might be lost. I think I have a human cassette player, I-I-I'll try my best!" his voice hitched, nervous and in awe at the sheer faith this skeleton put in him, even though they have just met. Well, formally met. They'd seen each other from time to time, but from a distance.

Undyne looked down the river, noticing the river boat coming from far away. "Napstablook… got a nickname?" she asked, her arms crossed. She noticed a nervousness coming from him instantly—was he scared of her?

"Uh, w-w-well… Well… people call me Napsta, and… and… my cousin used to call me Blooky." He shyly whispered, a smile sprawling on his face as the word 'blooky' rolled off his tongue. He used to hate that nickname. Now he wished he could hear it once more. Papyrus' eyes glimmer in hope that Undyne would get along with her neighbor after today, his pupils turning into stars momentarily as Undyne cleared her throat. "Well Napsta, I'm Undyne the Undying! I'M THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! It's a good thing you haven't made a commotion at night, otherwise I'd ARREST YOU!" She roared, passionate as ever. "But I don't live there, so you and your cousin can make all the noise you want, bwuahaha!" Her laughter bellowed, wiping a tear and realizing that RP had arrived and both Papyrus and Napsta had boarded the boat without her. Oh.

…was it something she said?

Sitting in the corner of the boat, she watched as Napsta and RP did… a thing. It was singing as it usually was, and Napsta seemed to be swaying from side to side, humming a beat and moving his ghostly head up and down. "Aww, yeah, that's a good beat… uh… mind if I use it in my music?" he asked, a blue fluster appearing when he caught a gaze of RP's cosmic eyes. Were they… a ghost as well? A ghost inhabiting a robe? He'd never seen such pretty eyes, then again, he'd never taken the boat.

RP floated to the helm of the wooden boat, the wooden dog unmoving as it moved to the top of the head. "La la, la la. It's not my song, it's not my beat, it's the music beneath our feet. A song so sad, yet full of hope, bringing monsters closer to home… but, what is home?" replied RP, its back to them the entire trip. Needless to say, Napsta was quiet along with Papyrus who seemed to be staring in to the water as though trying to remember that which eluded him. Eiish. Undyne hoped they would find Frisk, she usually got people pumped.

Once off the boat, Undyne marched herself towards the lab, ignoring her two soldiers. Frisk had passed by Alphy's lab, according the people that were watching the cooking shower earlier today, and uh… maybe Alphys knew where she was…? That's right! Alphys had important information! Only for that reason they were passing through her lab.

Undyne passed through the door frame with ease, but Papyrus stopped at the entrance of the lab, staring inside with a blank expression. "Eh? Something wrong Paps? Don't worry, we're NOT trespassing, my friend lives here, I'm friends with Dr. Alphys, so it's fine," laughed Undyne, scratching the back of her neck as she blushed, stressing on the word friend. Napsta floated beside the skeleton, noticing that the spheres in his eyes seemed to be twitching, until finally he brought out a reaction. "T-THAT'S GREAT, UNDYNE! I THOUGHT WE WERE TRESPASSING ON THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIST MR. DREEMURR EMPLOYED, I-I-I DIDN'T WANT TO INTRUDE, I-IT'S AGAINST THE LAW TO TRESPASS," he chuckled nervously, stepping foot inside the old labs where he'd pass through all the time. The last time he passed this frame, Sans had been holding his hand and they had left with their luggage in their other hand. "AND DADDY?" echoed Papyrus' old infantile voice.

"UNDYNE?!" squeaked a high pitched scream coming from a peach colored dinosaur. Well… they looked like a dinosaur, or some sort of scaled creature. Was this the famous Dr. Alphys Papyrus had heard so much about? Well they seemed quite… sociable, unlike his father. And the lab seemed so… uh, modern? Youthful? …messy? Certainly his father would have a fit if he saw that open ramen cup at the edge of the desk, it was a hazard to the machines! A slight chuckle escaped Papyrus as he walked to the large monitor, remembering how tall his father was, just a bit taller than he was now, holding him in on his shoulders as Papyrus stared at all the different monitors located throughout the underground. Now, this giant monitor was solely focused on Frisk who seemed to be making progress towards the CORE. The girl's face was full of red dust from Hotland's earth, and smudge marks seemed to be prevalent on her smiling face. Huh. She's smiling. It was bizarre how her face would freeze to a blank expression, but whenever she smiled like this… ah, it warmed his nonexistent skelly heart.

"She's uh… really different, huh?" asked Napsta as he floated beside Papyrus while Undyne and Alphys said their bashful hellos. Papyrus gave a small nod, an orange fluster arising much like the blue hue that appeared on the ghost beside him. They both didn't need to say she was beautiful, even in the low resolution screen. What was it about this little child that brought them all together? Napsta spoke. "She's so patient with me. E-even when my sandwich went right through her and disappeared, she pretended to like it and was super nice to me. She spent the day with me meditating, and she checks on me occasionally with Monster Kid."

Papyrus slowly turned to the ghost, his eye sockets furrowing as he looked down before they once more bounced up into the monitor. "THE HUMAN LOVED MY COOKING AND WE COOK TOGETHER. SHE BELIEVES IN ME LIKE…"

The words trailed off, an uneasy silence overwhelming the two strangers. Napsta could fill in the blank with his own answer. The human believes in him, much like his cousin before they… before they left, abandoned him to advance their career. Napsta sighed, looking at the skeleton whose mouth began to turn into a prideful grin, tears brimming on the corners as his eyes gleamed and his blush overtook him. Papyrus stared at the shiny reflection on the monitor, the world around him easing into the world around him decades before.

The tall ghoul loomed over the small skelly, his smooth, unscarred face looking concerned but a wave of pride soon overtook it as he lightly petted his son. "No bones? Ah, that's quite alright kiddo, I still believe you'll do 'em eventually. You're going to be the best darn skelly warrior, even your mother will envy your greatness! You'll be the great Papyrus, I'm certainly positive on the eventual outcome, and I'm the best darn diddly scientist, I'll have you know." His reassuring fatherly voice spoke, adjusting his black trench coat with his usual presumptuous gestures, winking at his son who grinned, holding his arms out. "You know, had someone told my father I'd be a family man with the daughter of my mother's experiment, he would have surely denied such an outrageous claim! My mother would have surely corrected the problem permanently," he gave a hearty laugh that trailed off as Papyrus stared at him confused. He was a very young skelly, he would surely forget about his previous statement after his afternoon nap. Picking up the tired child who yawned and rubbed his eye sockets, Gaster gripped his son hard against his chest. "…I would have never let Segoe or Courier touch a single bone on you… on any of you. I had to do it, for your sake. I wish you could have met Grandpa Semi, Papy." Whispered Gaster into his ear hole as a gentle hand patted the tender back of the worn out child. On the desk by the monitor was a framed picture of himself and Sans who grinned next to a science experiment with black metal grease on his cheek while in the background a dirty goat child and nonchalant human tried to get out of the image. The droopy eyes of the young skeleton looked over the frame as his father walked over to the desk, his free hand grabbing the object and staring at it. Looking up, Papyrus yawned, noticing his eyes turning cold and a sneer overtaking his usual calm expression. "You're going to be just like us… you're going to be a monster." Gaster's soft and raspy whisper breathed out, putting the frame down and hiding the picture. His cold gaze immediately turned to warmth and his smile beamed as the small skeleton cocked his head to the side in curiosity. "Ah, but you… you're going to go far, my precious Papy," he cooed, his grip tightening the embrace.

Alphys gasped. "You're going to go far, Undyne! Frisk's already waaaaay ahead!" she shouted, her eyes bulging and her arms waving in the air as though to exaggerate the distance Frisk had already covered. The ghost turned back to the skeleton who seemed to have lost himself inside a train of thought and gave him a small smile when the skeleton returned to his usual charming grin. That grin intensified as he turned around and ran to a spot on the ground near the entrance. "AHA! MY SECOND CLUE! A PINK FIBER! HOW SUSPICIOUS INDEED! THIS FIBER IS AS PINK AS THE PINK ON THE SLIPPERS OF MY BROTHER'S… SLIPPERS! YES SIR, YES SIR INDEED I BELIEVE I'M UNTO SOMETHING! SOMETHING… MIGHT-EH SUSPICHUES," Papyrus implored, his last bit sounding as though he had some sort of accent added on, grabbing the small thin piece of pink and putting it in his pocket. The skeleton turned to Napsta, staring at him until Napsta realized he was supposed to say something, or… do something. "Uh… uh, what a-what uh… what a good find sherlock-er, detectiv—AH! O-O-Officer uh… I don't know what I'm supposed to do," gasped Napsta, fading into the background.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Nous Reviens Au Noir

The Bait

/*/*/Song used: Back to Black – Amy Winehouse/*/*/

*********°*********•*********°*********

While the events began to unfold, a lighthearted chuckle escaped the angel's lips. "What a funny ghost, no, Gaster?" she asked, turning to the looming shadow that continued to brood. "Tch. Another of mother's creations, I assure you. Why do you always meddle with me, Florence of the human realm?" asked the shadow, his electronic voice dark as usual. The angelic figure shrugged, watching the scene continue to unfold, the screaming fishwoman just as energetic as the son of this brooding figure. "You're getting used to my presence. You used to just talk in that weird noise pattern, trying to seem so scary. We're not that different Mr. Gaster, we're both forgotten souls just trying to look out for what's best for our kids," she offered with a smile, watching as the figure looked away. "I… can't argue with that logic, woman. Human, or, ex-human as you already are, I will tell you about my parents since you have so fondly spoken of yours on previous occasions. They were monsters, worse than I ever was."

The angelic woman got nearer to the darkness that surrounded Gaster, her light shining unto the impregnable darkness. "My father was a mistake. His creator, my grandfather, created him as an ancient translator, meant to translate life's secrets into secrets the DaFonts could understand and wield. Grandpapa Semi was a gentle man of science, and he wanted to find a way to bring humans and monsters together in harmony. He wanted to stop the monster corruption that engulfed some of us after human contact. Monsters were made of kindness, sweet, but human contact began to corrupt us into beings of power lust, greed, gluttony, wrath… the list went on. It was a noble wish. Courier was meant to be the courier of our salvation. He was an advanced translator, made with a ghoul appearance, a technology so advanced—an artificial intelligence. In due time, he became self-aware. He resented his creator for having limited him and trying to set him on the noble path. That's uh… where my mother pops in. Segoe."

Florencia shivered as a sudden gust of cold air surrounded her, the darkness around her engulfing her and Gaster. It was empty, and pitch black, only Gaster's upper torso and face could be seen thanks to her natural light around her body. "She was just as brilliant as Semi, and they were rivals. Ghoul Society had dictated that they were meant to be the perfect power couple of DaFont history, but Semi had refused her many times. They were cousins, you see, ghouls didn't care about family bonds or anything of a sort. They only cared about strengthening the bloodline, or magic line in our case. When Courier began to show resentment towards Semi, she used that to her advantage. With her knowledge of flesh and magic, and his infinite knowledge of secrets not meant for mortals and immortals, they created a vessel, and Courier became a… a flesh Ghoul. An actual ghoul… made of mortal flesh and blood from the remains of the strongest humans in the world at the time. Her eyes were set, he was now the most powerful ghoul, and as a result of her unnatural fetishes, I was conceived—inside an artificial womb of course, she would never carry around anything that wasn't of value. I still don't know how they did it, but I was made. Courier bestowed upon me his knowledge, they thought I'd retain it all!" he laughed with a sour tone, watching as the angel flew closer to him, scared of the eternal darkness. "Courier wasn't as brilliant as you might have thought him to be. He was haughty, and quite dumb actually. Just because he knew the world's secrets, it didn't mean he knew science, math, physics. No, the brilliance behind his work was Segoe who loved the attention of the ghoul masses on her. You know the best part of their little game? Courier was the exact thing ghoul society deemed filthy and unwanted, but they didn't know. Me, on the other hand, Segoe made sure I was 100% ghoul, even going as far as to make sure I was the purest of ghoul breeds. My skin, so smooth and wrinkle free. I was just another experiment to her. To Courier, I was just another ghoul, an inferior whose ancient knowledge faded as time progressed. Those two were made for each other… and Sans carries our taint."

Florencia jolted from her spot as the darkness enveloped her, her hands quickly grabbing Gaster's arm and gripping it as the freezing temperatures overwhelmed her. She was safe, she knew, but this darkness felt so unnatural. This must be why Gaster is so gloomy and in a bad mood all the time. He died in this unnatural darkness, didn't he?

She opened her eyes, breathing in as the darkness subsided and the ghoul seemed to look away, taking his arm back. "I was reminded for some odd reason, about a time when I had tried to teach Papyrus how to manifest his bone powers. This is why I am telling you this, woman. Sans had made a science project from old blueprints he found lying around. His innovative mind created a mind blowing contraption, meant to harness power from the force of falling water in order to power up a small vehicle which was capable of traveling long distances on a single charge. The battery on this vehicle the entirety of the front of the darn thing, this huge clunky rectangle which served as the motor, battery and the everything in a nutshell. How the heck he invented that out of an old blueprint on creating tidal power beats me, but I knew in that moment… I knew Sans was had inherited our taint. It was just like Segoe to be lazy, making up excuses that our energy should be diverted elsewhere. Sans had said this could save monstrosity a lot of time and energy, focusing on more important matters; he's very smart in math, science, physics and mechanics. Courier was dumb but knowledge of forbidden ideas and secrets was his thing. What Sans had created was one of them. Some machine humans would one day create, if I vaguely remembered."

The angel breathed out. "A car, you mean? A thing that carries people inside and you drive it around…?" she asked, curious to know if this was what he meant. The ghoul's eyes lit up. "So, humans have advanced. Well, yes, this was precisely what he had invented. I immediately rewarded him with praise, least he resent me if I were to backlash. I threw that car into the lava and cursed the gift he had inherited from our cursed family members.

Florencia cringed, her soft hands gripping his hands and feeling that empty hole where his palms would be. "You can't hate your son, Gaster. It's impossible for a parent to hate their child, and I know you don't entirely hate Sans. I can see it in your eyes when you look over him," she urged, but his arms quickly swiped her hands away. His chest heaved, his frown intensifying. "You're right, I can't entirely hate the boy. Even if he's tainted, he's still a part of Arial, a very small part of her. A part so small, it was insignificant when I modified him in my blinded rage. I wanted it to hurt. My maniacal smile and pleasure filling me with determination to change him into a wicked weapon that would protect the underground from humans, protect Papyrus from them, even if it meant making him hate me. His hate for me, it fueled me, it invigorated my hate for my parents, our hate!"

The angel winced at the shrilled shout, backing away from Gaster and shivering as she did, her hands on her arms and her legs tight against each other as she tried to keep herself warm in his freezing darkness. Her breaths felt foggy, and her lips trembled in fear of this lost soul. She had never been exposed to this infinite darkness for so long, it… it was something else. Negative feelings seemed to just jump out of her, her throat clogged up in raw emotions. Sadness, hate, anger, guilt, anxiety… everything jumbled together. Her power flickered against the darkness, fighting whatever unnatural darkness surrounded Gaster, battling these feelings with hope. "G-Gaster, control yourself! This is NOT what Senora Arial wanted!" she implored, her body quaking as the figure disappeared and reappeared next to her, his arm long and resting next to her head while her body backed up flat against a black wall. Closing in the distance, her heart beat hard, her eyes staring at this scared face, his smile growing bigger but falling apart like liquid. His long cuts crumbled as though they were old scars and foreign to his body, his other arm swopping in on the other side of her head. Their eyes were locked in, and his face only got closer, her hot breath and his cold swagger colliding and only inches away from each other.

"Your warmth, it emulates a human's core against my icy air, woman. It's absolutely disturbing."

The empty space was silent, save for the sound of Florencia's heart against her chest. She was no longer just another lost soul anymore, she was now a petite woman in front of a very frightening monster and she had just triggered him. She could hold her own, but in his darkness, in this… maddening darkness, she felt herself weaker and vulnerable. His eyes grew smaller as he tilted his head, his sub-zero touch sending chills down her spine. His long fingers sliding down her cheek as she shut her eyes, sweat forming around her forehead. She could feel a sheet of ice where his fingers had touched her ghostly body—her cheeks, her neck, the upper part of her lightly exposed breast, her arm, her waist.

"I don't understand women's logic." His voice finally pierced the unnerving silence, his long arms setting her free of her cage as he floated a few feet away. "The females tend to either be sentimental or as cold as an AI. There can't be an in between, not when you hit the stage of your life that determines who you are. Chara was a fine example of such a theory. That bitch was given the finest things in life down in the underground, but I knew it wouldn't last. Something would trigger her change back into what she used to be. What her family had been. The sentimental ones like you… yeah, the ones like you are so passive, you become passive aggressive if bad things happen, grudges that don't fade as easily as it would for others. Do not think I haven't heard your inane singing; it pierces my ears just hearing you sing that song with such trepid voice. You sing of going back to black, but do you truly understand what black means?"

He turned his head to where he had left that trembling woman only to find her next to him, her hand up high and slamming it against his left cheek, sending his head as far right as it could without snapping the neck. Her eyes brimmed with angry tears, her left side of her face covered in ice where his touch left its trail. A slick smirk grew on his face which had stopped looking like an amalgamate, turning back to its original smooth face with precision cuts.

"You have no idea, you sick…" she hissed, but her words trailed off as his hand gripped her left wrist. "Show me your darkness, Florence! Prove my theory! Just like you, Frisk is going to succumb to your lies and resent you!"

Her chest moved erratically, her eyes staring into his as she tried to think on her words, but he knew he had her where he wanted her. "You're not a saint, woman. Your sacrifices for your child—don't think I don't know. Every time she dies, I see how you change. You enjoy dying with her, you want it. It's some kind of, religious self-torture, that's what you've instilled yourself with. The first few times it happened and you saw the surface with her, you began singing that terrible song. You think you know what black is, woman, but this is the first time you've been this long in my eternal void, isn't it? Tell me woman, what if Frisk decides to put her faith in Chara when she finds out all the lies you've weaved?"

A ring of ice began to form around her wrist, her skin turning a pale hue of blue. He grew taller, and her feet dangled several feet from what she thought was the black ground, her head tilted back as she stared up with tear stains where her tears had rolled before disappearing. They stood in that position for a long time, her eyes flickering every once in a while as though she were battling herself internally for an answer. The dark phantom was still, analyzing his prey and enjoying the dwindling heat coming from her arm.

How long had she been thinking since he last spoke? The same patient and blank expression stared back at her as he held her by her wrist. Her wrist had been the only thing blue, but now her entire arm was blue. How long had she been thinking? It felt like a minute, but… "…we have all the time of eternity, but you're testing my patience."

"…what was the question?" she asked innocently, feeling in a daze for some reason. A deep rumbling laugh erupted from him as he stared off to the side. "What if Frisk decides to put her faith in Chara when she finds out all the lies you've weaved?"

Once more, the angel appeared distressed. He simply swung his arm to the side while letting go of her wrist which had stopped being a comforting heated limb. "If I recall your ungodly singing, you said you only said goodbye with words. This person went back to her, and you go back to black. It's certainly a dark song, no doubt, but quite unusual for such a… model citizen."

"I'm not Arial." She puffed out, her head down as her right arm pushed against the ground while her left arm remained motionless. The natural light around her body was dimming, while her blue arm barely made any sort of light. Her tears shinned underneath her, her teeth biting down her lower lip. Now she understood why he brought up his parents. It was bait.

"I thought you might have been different like Arial. I thought Arial was different, like Frisk. Pure. Innocent. But that child lost her innocence, didn't she? Repressed memories, aided by trauma, but mostly psychological—you're hiding a darker secret from her. Even with that evidence in front of me, I thought Arial would be different, heh, you're just humans. Even the slightest corruption can defile the purest of sentiments. What is your venom, woman? What defiled your angelic heart?"

Moments passed without an exchange of words. Gaster turned to the woman, puzzled when he saw her in the same position he'd find human Arial when she was sad. Fetal position, sitting down, her head resting on her knees. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I do mirror Arial. I hate Pablo, just like she hates you."

She lifted her head and saw the sour expression on him, her lips curling into a small smile. "That's what you wanted to hear, no? We can't hate you, we can only come close. For our children, we'd sacrifice everything, but you, you only take and destroy. How dare you try to build your son to your image?!" She shouted, her head unto her knees as she looked away, her thick accent returning. "Mi hija Flor es como tu hijo, Papyrus. Ella es puresa." (My daughter Flor is like your son, Papyrus. She is pure/purity).

Gaster scoffed. She continued to speak. "You could have changed after my death. You could have given up that life of yours and built a new one that reflected our love. Instead, you went back, you buried yourself in your line of work. You became obsessed, you went back to her."

Gaster cocked his eyebrow, squatting down to her level. "You speak of your devil; I have no mistress."

Just as quickly, Florencia looked up, her eyes puffy. "You have someone, Gaster. It's a woman too. The same type of woman to boot." Intrigued, Gaster once more got her by the same wrist, crushing the thick ice that had engulfed the area around her wrist. Once more standing tall and watching the woman dangle with her eyes to his level, he smirked with the usual cockiness he used to have. "Who?"

"…Segoe."

The name rolled off her tongue with such ease. The darkness around her intensified just as quickly, goosebumps all throughout her ethereal body. Her head had looked down immediately, expecting a backlash, but soon she found her eyes wandering the body of this beast, slowly rolling up his arms, leading to his shoulders and neck. His face seemed blank. Their eyes met once more, and he seemed confused, or enlightened somehow. A newfound discovery had just been made. Confusion, yet fully knowing they knew something new—that was the same exact expression Pablo had when Frisk had unintentionally shot him above ground. "…I did indeed… dabble in the experimentations she had left behind. I continued where she last left me off." He admitted, the darkness beginning to lift. "Woman, tell me! Do you think you'll ever forgive him? I implore you to answer my question least I tear this insignificant limb off your ghostly body."

A slight chuckle escaped her lips, her eyes shining bright once more. "…when my soul is fully absorbed inside my daughter's soul. When I cease to exist, and begin again, only then will I forgive him. You can treat me however you want, but with my children… you don't mess with them."

His hand let go, and she fell, her body weakened by the void she had been kept prisoner in. "…any other soul would be screaming in agony after such a long exposure to my void. You're a frightening ball of light, woman." He mumbled, his large appearance dwindling down into a slim form, perhaps his appearance before dying. A long black coat, black glossy shoes. "Be honored that I can call you my equal. Only one person was my equal and another my superior. Before you depart to regain your strength, enlighten me with one last answer to a question." He spoke with his back to her.

The angel sat, her eyes looking at the blue arm and the ice ring around her wrist that would not break. "You 'died a hundred times.' I'm sure your deaths were consistent to what Frisk went through, but what of Arial? Frisk's long journey draws near; I must know in case I must face her once more in some twisted timeline."

The air lifted, and Florencia could breathe in freely. Standing on her feet, she turned the other way, her back to him as she began to make her way, her terribly ill singing voice causing his ears to hurt. Well… perhaps she wasn't as bad of a singer, but certainly something was causing him to cringe.

"You, went back to what you knew

So far removed from all that we went through,

And I tread a troubled track,

My odds are stacked…

I go back to black."

He turned to see the angelic figure, but instead, he only watched her figure turn into a ball of light, so dimly lit, disappear. She would not take any more bait after this, he was sure, but her insight was definitely worthwhile. Her ethereal body was also something interesting, mimicking the body heat of a human, almost as if she wanted to live again. It was… exhilarating to feel heat once more. The feeling of drums inside a body, quickening when in fear, slowing when saddened—he almost couldn't resist himself. When had been the last time he felt such an odd human reaction? Decades, far too many years, not since Arial was last a human.

A twitch on the corner of his lips led them into a smile. "You truly have seen black, otherwise whatever was left of you would have been utterly broken. 'Nous reviens au noir', sounds much more pleasing and elegant, hm?"

*********°*********•*********°*********

The Great Detective Papyrus in…

EAVESDROPPING… WITHOUT EARS?

*********°*********•*********°*********

"A-Are you sure, Undyne? I mean, I just talked to Frisk… she's fine." Squeaked Alphys, quaking with nervousness. "YOU HAVE? BRILLIANT IDEA, DR. ALPHYS! I'LL CALL FRISK RIGHT AWAY!" exclaimed Papyrus, taking out his cell phone, but finding that it was vibrating already.
"AH, HELLO? THIS IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS SPEAKING,"

Her frail voice on the other line seemed confused. "THE ELEVATORS? …AH, THE ELEVATOR SAYS R2? BUT WHAT DOES THE R STAND FOR?"

Papyrus turned back to the monitor, looking at where Frisk was. "UM…. RIGATONI? THE TUBE SHAPED PASTA. IN A PINCH, IT CAN BE USED AS A STRAW."

The ghost who had disappeared had reappeared beside the skeleton. "…we should take the elevator and catch up to her. I'd be like… super quick."

"NO!" Alphys immediately protested, sweat pouring down her head. Undyne seemed puzzled by her sudden behavior, and it only made her all the more nervous. "…o-o-okay, fine, that's an excellent suggestion. B-B-But what about the guards?"

Papyrus and Napsta were already by the entrance to the lab when Undyne shrugged. "It's their lunch break!" And with that, the blue fishwoman went after them. Alphys walked to her chair, plopping down and taking her ramen cup which was had gone cold during their time in her lab. It wasn't too long, only about fifteen minutes' worth of stalling… ahh, she wished she could have stalled them some more. What if they find out what her plan is? What if they get caught up in Mettaton's acting? W-What if Undyne gets all pumped up?!

Her head fell down on the desk, the ramen cup tumbling down. "…this is just great."

True to their shifts, the two guards had left their post in order to enjoy their lunch break, leaving the way to the elevators free. Undyne followed closely behind the tall Skeleton, noticing that he seemed quite familiar with the area, clicking a button on the elevator. R2. "…what does R2 mean?" she asked, noticing that Papyrus seemed to try to stifle a laugh. "RIGHT 2, OR SECOND FLOOR TO THE RIGHT."

Undyne seemed at a loss of words, surprised to know that Papyrus actually knew the answer. It made sense, but… Papyrus making sense didn't make sense. "…did you lie to Frisk…?" she asked, noticing that his eye socket had widened. "LIE? HEAVENS NO, I'D NEVER LIE, UNDYNE! I JUST REMEMBERED… I ASSOCIATED RIGATONI WITH THE RIGHT, AND LENTILS WITH LEFT. MOTHER LIKED COOKING WITH LENTILS FOR SOME REASON..."

He seemed so calm, so It was true. Huh. What a weird way to associate left and right. "…YOU DON'T THINK FRISK WILL ABANDON US HERE IN THE UNDERGROUND, DO YOU, UNDYNE?" He asked as the elevator door opened. "That baby? No way. She needs us, otherwise they world's just gonna eat her up," joked Undyne but her smile slowly disappeared once she realized that she was half serious about it.

The ghost looked ahead and saw her, next to the snow covered sentry. "Guys… she's up ahead."

Papyrus turned and panicked, motioning Undyne to squat down as they hid behind the nearest rock. "AN ILLEGAL HOT DOG STAND! HE'S USING THE SNOWDIN SENTRY, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! NO WONDER THERE WERE CONDIMENTS INSIDE OF IT… BUT IS THIS THE MYSTERY I WAS SEARCHING FOR? IT CAN'T BE… IT'S TOO EASY…"

Undyne cocked her eyebrow, looking at the skeleton. "Isn't it obvious? We told him to cut down on his jobs, and he decided to hide it behind our backs. I don't know why he works so hard though, what does he do with the gold? He's probably the richest monster in the underground by now—he should upgrade his wardrobe at least." She snickered, but Papyrus continued to watch over him and Frisk. He was hiding something deeper, something more… mysterious, but he didn't know what it was, not yet.

Sans gave her his lazy smile as he began to climb the counter. "i dunno why you wanna balance 'dogs on yer head, but i totally support your decision."

Frisk grinned, watching as Sans added another hot dog to the stack. It felt right. It felt… familiar. She held her breath for as long as she could, and took long and steady inhales when she ran out of air, all just so that she could balance all these hotdogs on her head.

To the side, her self-proclaimed sister stood with her arms crossed and a smirk painted on her face. "I used to be able to hold 25 hot dogs on my head and walk around without dropping them. I could walk and jump, but you know what, I bet you can't walk with more hot dogs to the next area."

Frisk breathed in, looking at Sans who climbed up on his sentry, carefully putting the hot dogs on her head. Wow. Was this the kid's new record? He didn't remember putting so many hot dogs on their head before. A big grin overtook his face, laughing as he continued to put hot dogs on her stack. He glanced down and noticed that her eyes seemed to be trying to watch him, a big smile on her face which tried to contain her glee. As the stack got higher, there came a time when Sans could no longer reach. He could if he used his magic… but no. It's better if he doesn't, it might trigger something on the kid.

"i'll be frank with you," Sans' voice drifted down to her ears. "as much as i like putting hot dogs on your head… thirty is an excessive number. twenty-nine, now that's fine, but thirty… does it look like my arm can reach that high?"

He climbed down the sentry, dusting off a bit of the snow that had clung to his shorts, and he laid his head on his hand while his elbow rested on the sentry counter, watching as Frisk held out her hands, trying to contain her laughter as she tried to take a step to the side. The hot dogs swayed, but she managed to keep the stack together for the first step. She sighed in relief, taking her second step, however, one of the hot dogs began to fall, and along with it, all the ones on top of it. It was raining hot dogs, and she fell down on the ground laughing as they bounced off her back. She turned back towards Sans, a rosey hue on her cheeks as she sighed. "I'm gonna miss Sans when I leave. Maybe… Maybe I should stay." She whispered, thinking of him as a guardian, much like Papyrus.

The skeleton shrugged, trying to seem casual. "don't worry kiddo, the 'dogs are on the sentry-house. say, shouldn't you continue your quest to reach the surface? i'm sure your real daddy misses his bun-dle of joy," he winked, smiling but feeling a bit paranoid all of a sudden. Why did he have the feeling he was being watched?

Behind the rock, Papyrus clenched his hands while Undyne did the same. "That NO GOOD sack of bones is doing nothing to keep her here!" her whisper low, but showing her anger. The ghost lay flat on the ground, staring straight forward. "…we can't force her to stay here. She's still a human. The last human who tried living here died, she got really sick. Maybe humans need the sunlight, like certain flowers. She seems like a delicate flower." Napsta spoke, his voice sounding a bit depressed, but trying to seem upbeat about it. Papyrus turned to the ghost, tilting his head while Undyne was utterly confused. "What'sa sun?" she asked.

"Oh… I forget, not everyone is a ghost." Napsta sighed, looking away nervously. "The sun used to be this huge yellow ball of light in the surface. It was super warm and a natural source of energy and light during the day. Most of the flowers on the surface depend on the sun for food, otherwise they wilt and die."

A quick gasp escaped Undyne who put her hand on her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. Now she remembered. Arial would speak about a 'sun' sometimes. Man… Napsta must be old. "THAT… MIGHT BE POSSIBLE. PERHAPS SANS KNOWS THIS AND THAT'S WHY HE'S… W-WE BOTH LOVE THE HUMAN, I… I TOLD THEM I'D HELP THEM REACH THE SURFACE. WE MUST INTERROGATE MY BROTHER. BAND OF AWESOME DETECTIVES, OUT!" Papyrus exclaimed, standing up and posing triumphantly. Undyne jumped up and Napsta floated up. Together, they walked towards where the illegal hot dog stand would have been, but now… it was empty?

Papyrus stood there baffled, looking around and only seeing the remnant puddle of water left behind by the snow. "THAT BRAT DISAPPEARED!" screamed Undyne at the top of her lungs, shooting a spear where the puddle of water was at. He must have escaped while they were conversing…

"…what do we do now?" asked Undyne with her arms crossed, huffing and blowing a strand of red hair that had fallen down beside her cheek. Papyrus hummed, stroking his chin.

"…why don't we follow Frisk? I dunno why we're trying to catch up to this Sans person, but maybe he'll show up later. Frisk says she randomly runs into him while she's adventuring." Napsta suggested, looking away nervously. "HMM… INDEED, AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF INFORMATION! VERY GOOD DETECTIVE NAPSTA! IN THAT CASE, I SHALL GO UNDERCOVER, NYEH HEH HEH!"

Taking out his cool glasses, Papyrus took off his battle suit, revealing a 'COOL DUDE' shirt underneath. Undyne cocked her eyebrow. "Uh… 'kay. What about us?" she asked, noticing that the ghost seemed very nervous. "YOU CAN GO UNDERCOVER TOO! HERE, I HAVE AN EXTRA SET OF MUSTACHES! I KNEW I MIGHT NEED IT TODAY! …WOWIE! YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY CONFOUNDING, UNDYNE! WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO, NAPSTA?" he asked, turning to the ghost whose mid-section had grumbled. Undyne adjusted her long mustache, laughing under her breath.

The ghost looked down. "Uh… I guess I'll go home and fix the mixtape while I make some food. I-I-I'd invite you guys, but ghost food goes right through you."

Papyrus grinned. "NYEH HEH HEH! IN THAT CASE, MAKE GHOST SPAGHETTI! IT WILL LURE OUT SANS OR FRISK, I'M SURE!"

Undyne rolled her eyes, shrugging as Napsta began to float his way to the elevator. …Couldn't he just disappear and reappear in his house? She will never understand that ghost it seems.

"WELL THEN UNDYNE, WE SHALL SHADOW FRISK UNTIL SANS SHOWS UP! I'M SURE WE'LL GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS MYSTERY, GOSH-TOOTIN'!" Papyrus exclaimed, taking out his cell phone and navigating the monster web. Mettaton wasn't making as many updates as they usually do. Did this have anything to do with whatever mystery he was trying to figure out?

Just then, his phone began to vibrate once more. "EHEM… 'ALLO?" he answered, hearing her voice once more. Ah Frisk… she sure did enjoy calling him every time she explores a new area. "PAPYRUS? WHO IS THAT? THIS IS… COOLSKELETON95. SORRY, CAN'T TALK. I'M BUSY BEING POPULAR ON-LINE!"

Undyne let her long red hair down, trying to change her appearance as much as she could, hiding her eyepatch with her hair. "Is that the kid? Papyrus, she knows it's you,"

Papyrus let out a laugh, listening to Frisk's sudden worry. "NYEH HEH HEH! ONLY KIDDING! YOU HAVE BEEN HAD! IT WAS PAPYRUS PLAYING A SIMPLE GENTLEMAN'S RUSE!"

Undyne laughed as well, taking out her cell phone and noticing that Alphys has been up to her usual status updates. "G-Girlfriend?" she gasped, rolling down the page and letting out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was a simple figurine. Papyrus turned to Undyne, noticing the sudden sweat that had invaded her forehead. "HM? IS THAT DR. ALPHYS? SHE'S ON THE 'NET TOO? I'LL ADD HER AS MY FRIEND! WE CAN ALL BE FRIENDS NOW!" He smiled, turning to his cell phone and clicking the buttons. Undyne took long breaths, trying to calm herself and get rid of her blush which she was sure was still exposed on her cheeks. "Uh, yeah sure. Huh? Oh, that was fast, Paps. Is… Is that you?! BWUAHAHA!" She roared, dropping her cell phone as her hands clenched her stomach, laughing at the picture which he had posted.

Papyrus posed. "OF COURSE! I TOOK THIS PICTURE YESTERDAY! I CAN'T POST A PICTURE OF ME RIGHT NOW, WE'RE UNDERCOVER, REMEMBER?! WE SHOULD GET GOING!"

*********°*********•*********°*********

Back in house, Napstablook let out a long sigh. "That was intense… I'm so drained." He lazily spoke, floating to his desktop. "Huh… Is that Frisk?" he asked, looking at a profile which had her blank face. It was named Frisk the Human. Was this legit?

He moved the mouse and clicked 'Add as Friend'.

"What if it isn't Frisk? Uh… I better delete the request." He figured, deleting the request and getting off the website. He wasn't going to log in for some time, that was scary. What if that person had accepted the request before he deleted it? How awkward would that be?

Cringing, Napsta instead took out the broken mixtape. "Se-le-na. What a weird mixtape name, it's usually 'My jamz' or something… I should get to work."

In between fixing the mixtape and humming to himself, he began to prepare ghost noddles, which was as close as he could get to spaghetti because he lacked the meatballs and sauce. He hoped they wouldn't mind buttered noodles… he loved butter noodles. . . then again, they can't taste ghost food, so why was he so worried…

Letting out another sigh, Napsta let himself fall down on the center of his room. "Man… why is the afterlife so weird and hard. It was easy running the snail farm with my other cousins, why can't we go back to that." he muttered, rolling over unto his face as he screamed in exasperation. "Why'd you have to leave Metta? Ever since you left, you… forgot about us." he sighed once more, rolling over once more. He could sigh away his entire afterlife it seemed.

Suddenly, a ball of light dashed in front of him and landed not far from him. Curious, Napsta got up and floated near it, until suddenly this ball transformed into a figure. A ghostly figure.

"Can you help me?" she asked with a delicate voice. Tantalizing, Napsta nodded. "Uh… sure, I guess."

"It's simple really. Can you play your loud music?" she asked, sitting up. Her left arm was pale and dark, a large spiky bracelet on her wrist. It seemed so heavy too.

Napsta floated to his computer, playing it as loud as he could. "Louder, please. Make the house shake!" she chuckled, but she looked quite distressed. Napsta looked around his room, grabbing cables and setting up his house system which had been quite dusty considering the last time he used it, it was with Metta.

The house trembled under the bass, dust from the ceiling coming down like confetti during a party. The figure closed its eyes and a light that seemed to resonate within her seemed to tremble, as though trying to come in sync with his music. It was… weird. Weirder than him. She was transparent, so… she was a ghost, sorta like him.

"Uh… who are you?" He asked with his timid voice, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hear him. Surprisingly enough, she did hear him. "I'm Florencia, or Florence, it doesn't matter. It's the same name, different language. Thank you for trusting me." She beamed, the lines underneath her eyes growing smaller. "Uh… are you like me?" he asked, watching as the wear in her body seemed to be disappearing before his eyes, almost as if she was rejuvenating herself.

The female ghost shook her head. "Not quite. I'm a human spirit, sorta like you, but my magic is different from monster magic. Are you… were you a patient before the war? I heard a story about ghost people…" she asked, noticing how curious he seemed. "Yeah, I really wanted to be like one of them. Well… sorta. Kinda. Okay, well, originally I just wanted to be in tune with music, and Metta wanted to make others happy. We were just living in the mountains with the goat people, you know, us humans being humans. Then… something happened. I don't remember, Metta doesn't either. I guess there was an illness and a bunch of my cousins got sick. I don't remember much really. I just remember we were reclusive; we didn't interact a lot with people. Are you one of my cousins?" he asked.

Florencia shook her head. "No, but we can be ghost cousins. I can help you, teach you a few tricks that can help you with your future shows," she smiled, but Napsta seemed confused. "Huh?"

She looked up at the trembling ceiling, the music still blasting throughout the house. Her right hand waved at the lights in the ceiling which had been broken (Metta played with the controllers) and suddenly, they turned on and off. "…that's so cool," Napsta gasped, but he turned to the ghost lady who suddenly inhaled, her right hand touching her left arm while her eyes were closed shut. "A-Are you okay? Wait here." Quickly, Napsta looked around his room and found his first aid kit, grabbing a long gauze and oil. Florencia looked up, blinking when she saw Napsta infuse the gauze with this mysterious oil. Before asking what he was doing, he used his magic to wrap the linen around the solid blue arm, the only limb that didn't seem transparent.

"It's my favorite oil, I use it when I'm super bummed out. I've never seen a ghost get damaged… it's usually something internal. Maybe the oil can soothe you."

It was super weird having a half ghost in his room while the house shook, then again, it wasn't as weird as it should have been. "You sure know your remedies," she giggled, sitting still as she harnessed the energy of the now calm melody. He had changed the music to one that seemed to play in harmony.

"W-w-well, most the time what's wrong with us is just our attitudes and emotions. Heal that, then healing the body is easier." He spoke, returning to the tinkering of the mixtape.

"Well, that's deep…" Florencia mused, looking over at the ghost and watching him work. "You just need to get out of your shell, you'll make a lot of wonderful friends," she added, closing her eyes as she remained silent and still the rest of the day.

The awkward ghost would glance at her every once in a while, a bit disturbed in that she reminded him of Frisk. That nasty whatever-it-was on her arm seemed to be slowly healing, her color returning underneath the gauze, but that weird ice thing remained. It was so weird.

As time passed by, Napsta turned to the net, browsing around when he saw Frisk locked in battle with two guards in a video. "Oh no… maybe I should go back…"

With that, he left his home with the noddles, the mixtape, and his home playing loud, relaxing music. The uninvited house guest seemed as though she were asleep, smiling as she grasped the scented gauze.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Frisk could feel so many eyes on her, but she didn't know who was watching her, or what was going on. She breathed in, running as fast as she could, dodging their attacks as she tried to reach Guard Number 2. He moved slower now that his armor seemed to be getting hotter, and she hoped this would make him let her go… or something. Maybe if he goes, so does Guard Number 1?

Sans sat on the high beams, looking down and watching as Papyrus and Undyne watched over Frisk. Paps was trying to hold Undyne back, perhaps he was trying to let Frisk defuse the situation with her natural charm, but, Frisk seemed to be having a hard time. All she kept doing was polishing one of the guard's armor. His free hand scratched his back, pulling his shorts a bit up while his other hand continued to record live for all the monster 'net to see.

"Uh, hey guys, what'd I miss?" asked Napsta, appearing behind Undyne and Papyrus, a plate of noodles floating beside him. Undyne's beat face turned to him, her nostrils exhaling a puff of smoke, almost as if she was sizzling with anger. "WHER—"began to shout Undyne, when Papyrus' mitten covered her mouth from behind. "NYEH HEH HEH…? SORRY, SHE'S A BIT HYPED UP AT THE MOMENT. YOU HAVEN'T MISSED MUCH, JUST A GOOD OL' PUZZLE THAT FRISK WAS HAVING A HARD TIME FIGURING OUT. WE'VE BEEN STAKING HER, BUT NO SIGN OF SANS ANYWHERE."

Napsta laughed nervously, a small sweat forming on the side of his eye. "uh… okay. We're not helping her?"

Frisk stumbled back, her wrist wiping the sweat from her forehead as she breathed hard. She was down to 7 HP, but she was sooo close! That armor was nearly shining! Her head snapped to the right where she thought she heard Undyne, but she quickly rolled to the left, dodging some more attacks. She couldn't afford a few more hits… and that guard seemed just about ready to leave.

With one sharp inhale, she got up to her feet and danced her way around the attacks, nearly fumbling and getting hit, her feet tired of running around in the heated earth. Using her sleeve, she swiped at the last inch of the armor, grinning when she saw the Guard stand stiff. She did it!

She jumped back and continued to walk back, huffing as she watched.

The guard threw his sword down, his hands grasping the latches on his armor. "…can't… take it." he breathed out, his fingers fumbling with the latches until they gave in. "…armor… too… HOT!" Quickly, his hands grasped the side of the armor and threw it aside, flexing his scaly muscles. The sweat rolled down his skin, glistening and radiating like the molten lava that surrounded Hotland. He moaned in delight, his hand gliding over his pecs. "…much better."

Frisk looked back, wondering if her friends were watching. She could feel the tense atmosphere, and had heard a few gasps, one of them coming from the other guard. She turned to the armored guard, noticing that he was acting really nervous. Gosh. Sweat was just pouring out of his helmet now, and his feet were kicking the ground, and he rubbed his arm so bashfully—wait…she used to do that around Juan because she liked him. Did he…?

Frisk smiled, skipping over to the first guard while the second one picked up his sword. She held her hands up, smiling as she motioned him down to her level. When the guard seemed defensive and as if he would attack, she grinned and wagged her finger on her left hand and pointed with her other finger on her right hand. "I know your secret! You secretly like—" she began to say aloud when the guard flipped out and squatted down to her level, his hand over her mouth. "SHHH! Are you trying to kill me? I'll DIE of embarrassment if he finds out!" he spoke in a hushed voice, looking at Guard Number 2 who rolled his shoulders and continued to enjoy the air on his sweaty torso. His voice was shaky, and nervous… Frisk fully understood. "It's okay," she whispered, drawing her head beside his. "I used to really, really like this boy named Juan. I was supposed to confess my feelings for him at birthday party, but… but my birthday party never happened. I missed that chance, but you shouldn't. You should be honest with him and tell him how you feel. You never know when you'll miss your chance, so you should do it now. Maybe he feels the same,"

Guard Number Two threw his sword in the air, catching it with a smirk underneath his helmet, hoping that his best friend was watching him, but… instead, he seemed to have caught the human in his grasp… so close… to him. A pang of fear struck the center of his torso, right where his heart was at. Was this human seducing his… his best friend?! He had heard rumors that this human was super charming!

"You really think so?" asked Guard Number 1, backing away from the human as he now stood tall and feeling bold. The human looked at him with beaming eyes that looked ready to cry, but still trying to hold its smile. She… didn't seem to be lying. Maybe she was telling him the truth, and she was just trying to help him. He turned to his friend, breathing in and standing in front of the human as his friend walked towards them with his sword drawn. "I… I…" he stammered, biting his lip underneath the helmet. On the other side, Guard Number 2 sighed, watching as the human backed away towards the left side. Without delay, he attacked, back to his normal attacks but noticed that his friend was hesitant, and that his attacks were way off. He almost seemed to be trying to miss on purpose.

Frisk fell down, wincing as her shoulder ached from that last attack. Her feet were so tired, and they hurt so much… it was getting really hard to dodge these attacks. She breathed in, raising her head.

"Dude…" Guard Number 1 spoke absentmindedly, not knowing what to say after that. Guard Number 2 looked at him, confused. "I can't… I can't take this anymore! Not like this! Like… 02! I like… I like, LIKE you, bro! The way you fight… The way you talk…I love doing team attacks with you. I love standing here with you, bouncing and waving our weapons in sync…02… I like… I like, want to stay like this forever…"

Frisk grinned. She pursed her lips together, blowing wind as hard as she could in hopes a breeze would happen at this perfect moment. It was so romantic! A few seconds later, that breeze rolled in, so smooth and refreshing in between the two guards.

From behind a tall boulder, Undyne teared up as she held unto her mouth, trying to contain her happiness for them. Beside her, Papyrus grinned like an idiot, blushing as his fists shook in anticipation. That was his human!

Looking down, Sans laughed internally, remembering that he was recording. His blue eye burned as he continued to create that breeze, smiling as he thoughtto himself "atta girl."

Guard Number 2 was bewildered, trying to contain his happiness. Opposite of him, Guard Number 1 began to panic from the silence enveloping the two. "Uh… I mean, uh… Psyche! Gotcha bro! Haha!" he continued to laugh nervously, his hands trembling with anxiety as his head fell. It was over. He had ruined their friendship.

"…01."

Guard Number 1 raised his head, tears streaming underneath the helmet. "Y-yeah bro?" he stammered, his voice shaky as he tried to sound okay. He looked back at him in silence, almost as if he were thinking his words over. That's it. He was going to die alone, probably right now, when he tells him he doesn't like him, and-

"…do you want to…"

His eyes stared at Guard Number 2, his heart just ready to give out. He wouldn't be able to take this anymore.

"…get some ice cream…"

The trembling in his hands stopped, and his heartbeat came to a halt, not because he was about to die from lack of love, but because his ears couldn't comprehend what words just flowed out of his helmet.

"…after this?"

He gulped, his brain trying hard to play off his over excitement. "Sure, dude! Haha!"

They turned to Frisk who began to get up, but her small wrist gave out and she collapsed. Her head looked up, watching as the two guards came up to her. They looked so happy together. She cracked a smile, her HP down to 3. "Please… I don't want to fight you two." She pleaded, looking up towards their helmets as she breathed hard.

The two guards looked at each other. "…she helped me bro." said the first guard, looking at 02, then turning to Frisk whose head had collapsed unconscious. The naked guard picked her up, looking down at her like a little puppy, so fragile at the moment.

Sans' blue eye flickered, grinding his teeth when he saw the tall and muscular (not to mention, naked) guard hold his tiny human. That is NOT how you hold a human. You need a shirt on, bud.

"FRISK!" Screamed a tall skeleton with a fake mustache, running towards them with frantic arms waving. Behind him was someone who looked like their boss and—oh snap!

They froze in their place, the skeleton grasping the child into his arms as he held her dearly, tears streaming down his cheek bones. …wasn't it that lame skeleton that kept bothering-

"YOU BONEHEADS!" roared Undyne with her fake mustache, her blue spear waving threateningly in front of them. "…it was about time!" she shouted, fighting back a tear as she laughed, looking over at the human who let out a soft snore. "SHE'S OKAY. SHE'S JUST REALLY TIRED 'SALL." Papyrus managed to say without a sob to interrupt him. He tried to hold back his grip over her body, afraid he would crush her to death with her already low HP.

Napsta floated over, watching as he floated the buttered noodles towards Papyrus. "She can't eat it… but it should heal her at least. She might meditate a while though…"

Papyrus stared at the bowl of noodles, then looked at Undyne who shrugged. "Well, she might attract a wild Sans in her condition…" she muttered, crossing her arms. High above them, Sans snickered, shaking his head. "no can do," he whispered, looking at his web browser. That video was getting so many hits! Rolling in the dough it seems. It was bound to be featured in MTT's news show, he was sure.

As Sans made his getaway using the high beams, Papyrus gently put down the human. He took of one of his mittens, revealing long fingers which although they were shaped like bones, appeared… somewhat humanly. Thick, kinda meaty instead of thin. His palm and the back of his palm seemed bigger than what a skeleton's would… wholesome. This is what Napsta had noticed as he let his noodle bowl float its way down unto the human. His hands seemed like… dried up human hands. Yeah, those were the words. Is that why he kept his hands gloved up? I mean, they sorta looked like skeleton hands but... Napsta could think about this forever but they had a mission.

"ALRIGHT YOU TWO! This here human is OFF LIMITS! She's cool in my books, GOT IT?! ALSO! Have ice cream on me. YOU'RE WELCOME!" shouted Undyne, unable to balance her emotions at the moment, tossing them a small bag of gold, watching them scurry in possible fear and excitement. She turned to her two fellow detectives, taking off her mustache and sighing. "Frisk should wake up anytime, we should let her sleep it off. She usually sleeps these encounters off. We should go grab a quick bite then continuing staking out until that little brat shows up. I'm convinced he's hiding something bigger."

Papyrus nodded, his hand moving the loose strands of hair on Frisk as he laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. Napsta breathed in. He couldn't help but to notice the close resemblance between Frisk and the ghost lady when they were both smiling in their sleep.

"ALRIGHTY! WE'VE GATHERED A FEW CLUES, BUT OUR PERP IS STILL ON THE LOOSE! WE'LL TAKE A BREAK, AND THEN RETURN TO OUR SEARCH! COOL DETECTIVES, OUT!"

Sans laughed under his breath, watching as the trio walked off, leaving behind a sleeping human. When the coast was clear, he jumped down and landed close to her, walking over and kneeling down. "geeze, paps missed one. heh, no wonder yer mom is looking over ya in her after life, you're a big troublemaker, don't ya know? …that's alright. you'll be fine as long as i'm here, time after time." He smiled, his sleek fingers moving the last strand of hair aside and placing his own gentle kiss on her forehead.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Double Vision

Time after Time x7

/*/*/Song used: Time after Time – Cyndi Lauper. /*/*/

*********°*********•*********°*********

"Time after timeeee" sang out Flor, holding out her arms as she twirled around in her tutu. She jumped in place, looking at her mama and brother, grinning as the two of them sang in unison. "If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting~,"

"Time after timeeee~!" Flor once again belted out, twirling around until her momentum stopped her, her head spinning as familiar arms grabbed her and picked her up. "Ayy, maybe you should take up singing, no?" he winked, holding his little sister tightly. In the background, Cyndi Lauper's Time after Time continued to loop as Florencia dusted off the ceiling fan. "Mira este… Habla Español! No estamos en el norte, chihuahua contigo…" (Look at him… Speak Spanish! We're not up north, (slang) omg you) she snapped, noticing that her son only laughed and continued to dance with his little sister to the song. Well… at least she was learning to speak the language thanks to music.

Fernando slowly danced his way towards the laptop connected to the sound system, holding his sister with one hand as he tried to change the song…

"EY! No toques esa computadora! I'ma tryin' to espeak inglish," Florencia snapped once more, laughing afterwards. "Ayy mama! If you can understand what I'm saying perfectly, you can survive living up north, eh?" he winked, cracking a smile when his mother began to laugh, coming down from the chair and sitting down. He picked up Juju's habit of winking, it seemed. "Ay… I… I don't… I don't… I don't know if muh ingles is very good." She managed to say, dusting her pants and she shook her head. "I don't want to move. I want to stay, stay here!" Florencia once more mustered up, her thick accent causing Fernando to light up with laughter. "Ay mama… We'll have a penthouse, live in a big city! Lots of lights! Broadway! I'll take you to see all the big plays, I swear!"

Flor looked at her brother, her head snapping to her mother who quickly shook her head. "I don't want you to follow dad. You need to be good." She said, knowing her English wasn't perfect. The son sighed, kissing his sister on the cheek. Well… he did miss spending time with her. Ever since he picked up the family trade, he realized just how distant he was from everyone. Uncle Juju did warn him, but that guy was pretty quick about what he does. Always in time to spend time with his little sister and his son. Perhaps mother was right, then again, Grandmother…

He let out a long sigh, his eyes locking with little Flor who smiled and used her hands to force him into a smile. She laughed that contagious laugh, and soon enough, he joined her. "OK, OK. Let me close my two deals, then no 'mo! I swear to god!" he pledged, raising his hand with a smile.

Florencia turned to her son, her cheeks red as she shook her head. "Take that back! No… No swear to god, you hear?!" she tried to lecture, her tongue twisting and trying to find the correct words, but her son knew just what she meant. "Don't worry mom, but I promise. These are my last two deals."

Just then, the door to the room opened, and there stood a short elderly woman, tapping her cane as her head snapped in the direction of the clock. "Van tarde." (You're late/you're going to be late) she muttered, watching as Fernando grinned and placed his little sister on his shoulders. "Vamos 'ma!" (let's go mom) he beamed, Time after Time continuing to sing in loop.

"Time after time~" Flor sang, moving her head to the beat. Florencia let out a motherly sigh, getting up when Marcela tapped her cane once more. "Florencia, quiero que me lleves con mi amiga." (Florence, I want you to take me with my friend.) she demanded, her voice just as cold as her eyes. Fernando's back stiffened, knowing all too well the bitter relationship between his mother and grandmother.

"Time after time~" Flor once again chimed.

Florencia looked down, trying to force a smile unto her face. "S-si, ahorita la llevo, necessito llevar a Flor-" (Y-yes, I'll take you right now, I need to take Flor-) she began to say, but Fernando shook his head, winking. "Bah, it's fine 'ma. I'll take and pick up Flor, no problem."

Flor moved her upper body to the beat, closing her eyes and she grinned. "Time after time~" She waved goodbye to her mother and grandmother, looking back and continuing to listen to the song.

"Sometimes you picture me –

I'm walking too far ahead

You're calling to me, I can't hear

What you've said -

Then you say - go slow -

I fall behind -

The second hand unwinds."

Her brother continued to walk as the door closed behind them. Flor smiled, but her smile faded when she heard her mother say something. "Be careful, Fernando!" She looked like she was suddenly walking to the door, but then it was shut close, like someone did it on purpose.

Ah… their mother didn't give them their blessing. "Fernando, la bendicion!" (Fernando… the blessing!) Flor said with urgency, but the brother laughed. "Bah! We don't need it, nah, we good." He winked, continuing to walk while he adjusted his shoulders so that Flor was comfortable.

Walking down the halls of their mansion, Flor looked at the portraits of all the men that had lead their family. They all looked so mean, and serious—was Fernando going to end up like them? She breathed in, shielding her eyes as the tall glass panes let in the sunlight as he went down the stairs to the main hall.

"Why's ya quiet, little flower?" he asked, his hands grasping her as he lifted her off his shoulders. She turned to the large portrait of a young woman who looked down at them with sneer painted on her, her icy eyes sending shivers every time she saw her. "Eh? That's grandma, she used to be pretty," he laughed, looking at her traditional clothing and her up do. Very conservative makeup had been applied when she had this done. "She really shaped up our family business… she was the very best at what we do." Her brother spoke absentmindedly, while Flor looked at him in confusion. He wore formal looking clothes too, just like papa and Uncle Juju. "…what… do we do?" Flor asked innocently enough for her brother to flinch.

"Oh… we just… talk to other families, make business deals. Send… goods to other parts of the world, and uh… make sure we're the best!" Fernando managed to say with a nervous crack in his voice. Flor nodded, as if understanding what he meant. "Oh… I want to be just like Uncle Juju and papa! Super chido!" she laughed, striking a pose but instead of smiling, her brother seemed to frown.

"Hey… you should listen to mom, eh? You don't want to be like us," her brother sternly said, kneeling down and locking his eyes with hers as though to make her understand. The last thing he wanted was to smear whatever happiness she had in her. He had been in her place before; he knew how tempting it was to be just like her father. The power, the money…

Flor blinked, wondering why he seemed so serious. She just wanted to be just like them, do the same things they did. A loud bang echoed in the mansion, along with the clock's usual tone. Fifteen till…

"Ay, caramba! Come on, we're gonna be late." Fernando bit his lip, picking up his sister and running out the front door, slamming the doors behind him as he ran to his car.

On the car ride, Flor listened to the rock songs softly play in the background while she continued to sing the song stuck in her head. "Time after time~" Her brother's eyebrow went up, looking to the side to find her moving her head to what was the beat of the song. "You like mom's music, huh? Man, that music is old! Really good tho' I really like the rock n'roll from that time. You got, uh, The Eagles, and uh… Journey! You really like Journey, you know, uh… 'Don't stop, belieeevin'?'"

Flor beamed, nodding. "It feeeels like 'da firrrsst timeee~" she belted out, and her brother laughed, shaking his head. "Nah gurl, that's Foreigner! Geeze, I'm gonna have a lot of time to teach you about music when I'm done workin'. You know what? I'm gonna be your manager, we're gonna tour the world, and you're gonna sing and dance, ya hear?"

She laughed, looking outside the window and watching the leaves fly, almost still as the car zoomed past it. She turned to her brother when he received a phone call, his smile disappearing when he saw the caller ID. A familiar song played from his cell phone, a rock song he really liked. 'No disguise, for that double vision' it rang. He looked to the side and found his sister staring at him with those big eyes of hers, and he laughed nervously, answering the phone as he looked away.

"Ey, que pasa?" (Hey, what's up?) he spoke, his voice dark and husky. He sounded completely different. His right hand gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, the car going faster for a moment until he loosened his grip, his head turning to his sister when he realized she looked a bit scared. "Mira, ese… 'ta bien. Yo, uh… estoy muy occupado ahorita, que tal…. Las ocho? ...Tch. Fine." (Look… it's fine. I uh… am very busy right now, how about… at eight? ...Tch. Fine.)

Flor perked up, noticing how fast he quickly changed his mood. "Time after time" he sang, looking over to his sister who beamed. His right hand took his phone and looked through the music album while his left hand continued to steer, selecting that song so that her sister could continue to smile and sing.

He laughed, going along with her silly game. "If you're lost you can look - and you will find me," He sang out of tone, looking over to his sister who grinned. "Time after time~"

"If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting," he went along, hearing her voice sing, "Time after time~!"

The car ride went on like that, until they arrived to their destination. Excited, she took off her seat belt and jumped off, running after a group of kids her age. "Flor!" He called out, closing his door and locked the car. "Slow down!" he added, shaking his head. She was so full of energy sometimes, he wondered if he was just getting out of shape. He huffed, trying to catch up, noticing he got a few strange looks from strangers who recognized him. He cleared his throat, putting on his shades and trying to walk coolly after his sister who had stopped with a group of her peers. She seemed to be blushing, looking away as she scratched her arm and hit the top of her right foot on the ground. Recognizing the small group, he realized they were all her little friends from school. "Holaa!" (Hello!) said one of the girls in pig tails, wearing a karate uniform along a few others. Fernando smiled, waving hello until the little girl's mother ran towards them. "Ave maria purisima… Perdon!" (Holy mother of god… sorry!) she apologized, taking her daughter by the shoulders and scurrying away.

Flor's smile disappeared, and she looked confused, looking up to her brother who fully understood what was happening. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the fear instilled in all the people that recognized him, the hushed whispers that went on and warned those that didn't know who he was. He sighed. He was his father's son, alright.

"Eh? Ya se van?" (Eh? You're leaving already?) asked Flor, watching as her friends began to walk away, some held by their parents. Her eyes turned to one boy in particular, his smile growing bigger as he waved goodbye. His copper hair moved to the slight breeze that blew, his green eyes glittering in her eyes and the cotton karate uniform hugging his body. She stood idly, waving goodbye as they all left for their class in the second floor, biting her lip and wondering why everyone was acting so weird.

Her brother looked down on her, holding out his hand. "Come on, you're late!" he simply said with that playful tone of his, trying to bring a smile on his face that she would smile too.

Flor cracked a smile, her small hand taking his as she skipped towards the classroom where her first class would take place. The light lights blinded her, and she closed her eyes, slowly opening them…

*********°*********•*********°*********

This is…

MTT NEWS!

With your host, the lovely Mettaton!

*********°*********•*********°*********

The rectangle looked down at its cards in its hards. "WHAT A TOUCHING MOMENT FOR THESE TWO GUARDS! LET'S GET AN INSTANT REPLAY, SHALL WE?"

As the video rolled in again, Mettaton's internal body began to make a low beeping sound. Ah… the human approached. It was about time!

"AND NOW MY LOVELIES! IT'S TIME FOR TONIGHT'S VERY SPECIAL NEWS BROADCAST!"

The lights turned off.

Mettaton adjusted his tie, breathing in although… he had no lungs. He had been thinking lately, thinking hard about the human. Sure, it was human, but… this human held the key to the surface, his lifelong dream! He wanted to keep this human safe, but in doing so… what if he's missing an opportunity here? He could take the human soul for himself… reach new heights! Save humanity in exchange of a single human life!

The lights turned on.

On cue, Alphys was on the line. Mettaton wanted to roll his eyes so badly, but no… he was on air! "OHHHHHH YESSS! GOOD EVENING BEAUTIES AND GENTLE BEAUTIES! THIS IS METTATON REPORTING LIVE, FROM MTT NEWS! AN INTERESTING SITUATION HAS ARISEN FROM EASTERN HOTLAND! FORTUNATELY, OUR CORRESPONDENT IS OUT THERE, REPORTING LIVE!"

There, on the screen, Frisk stared at the camera with large eyes, wondering what was going on. It made Mettaton second guess his plan, but no… he had to do it. He was going to step up his game.

"BRAVE CORRESPONDENT! PLEASE FIND SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY TO REPORT! OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!"

The young child looked into the camera with large, wide eyes that could melt any heart. Mettaton looked straight, thank goodness he was a robot, otherwise his eyes and facial expressions would give him away. No, he was going to go along with Alphys' plan, for now. If he was to take this child's SOUL, then he would do it when they were alone, and when she would shine as the young starlet she was.

...Yes. Her last performance, her last bow, her farewell concert. It was perfect! She would shine and burn brightly before giving him the chance to save humanity! But something within Mettaton told him this was wrong, that it went against everything he was. Sure, he wasn't a spiritual ghost like his cousin Blooky, but they did come from the same... family per say. Do no harm, treat people how you wish to be treated, good things happen to those who do good deeds...

...Was he doing a good deed now?

Mettaton watched as Frisk continued to peruse the objects on the floor, his blank robot body hiding the conflicting ideas within him. Sure, he wasn't the best example of his cousins, but... he still meant well. He loved making people smile! He wanted to tour the world, bring happiness with shows and acting! Blooky liked making people smile through music, and sure, before they were ghosts he healed people... perhaps? Something like that. That phase was so hazy! But who cares! They were ghost monsters and they had a new life, and new purpose and...

...hmm?

"WHAT A SENSATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A STORY! I CAN SEE THE HEADLINE NOW: 'A DOG EXISTS SOMEWHERE.' FRANKLY, I'M BLOWN AWAY!"

The human looked at the adorable plushy which seemed so realistic. She smiled and pointed at the dog, nodding as she laughed. This was her story!

The robot chuckled internally. "ATTENTION VIEWERS! OUR CORRESPONDENT HAS FOUND... A DOG!"

Frisk looked around the area, hearing 'awws' come out of nowhere. Was she actually on the show? Like... now? Was this a set too?

"THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS! ITS THE FEEL-GOOD STORY OF THE YEAR! LOOK AT ITS LITTLE EARS, TINY PAWS, FLUFFY TAIL..."

Frisk grinned, but her expression changed when there was a silence. Oh no. Not again.

"WAIT A SECOND! THAT'S NOT A TAIL! THAT'S..."

Frisk jumped in place, looking at the dog's tail and noticing a hair that didn't seem like a hair.

"...A FUSE! THAT'S RIGHT... THAT DOG... IS A BOMB!"

Frisk jumped back, and suddenly looked up at the high beams, thinking she had seen a quick flash of light. Nothing. It was probably the camera that set off her sudden paranoia. Or maybe Mettaton was nearby?

"BUT DON'T PANIC! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE REST OF THE ROOM YET!"

Frisk turned to where a wall had been, shattering into rectangles and revealing Mettaton. Oh no. It was happening again, wasn't it? She felt vulnerable, but... Chara wasn't around. Normally Frisk would be able to feel her around, but... she was completely gone. She had to face Mettaton's... thing all by herself. Wait, she had Alphys, right?

"OH MY! IT SEEMS THAT EVERYTHING IN THIS AREA IS A BOMB! THAT PRESENT'S A BOMB! THAT BASKETBALL IS A BOMB! EVEN MY WORDS ARE... !"

Frisk watched as suddenly, the words became solid and fell down with a loud explosion. She shook in her bones, afraid now. Bombs?! How was she going to survive this? She didn't even want to think of starting over after...

She gulped.

"BRAVE CORRESPONDENT... IF YOU DON'T DEFUSE ALL THE BOMBS... THIS BOMB WILL BLOW YOU TO SMITHEREENS IN TWO MINUTES! THEN YOU WONT BE REPORTING 'LIVE' ANY LONGER! HOW TERRIBLE! HOW DISTURBING! OUR NINE VIEWERS ARE GOING TO ENJOY WATCHING THIS! GOOD LUCK, DARLING!"

Frisk looked at the big bomb, wondering how the HECK she was going to pull this off. She watched movies with her Uncle Juju and Fernando about turning off bombs, but it was really intense! The blue wire or the red wire? or black? What about the other bombs? She really didn't want to start over if she messed up...

Ring!

Frisk quickly reacted, jumping up and thinking a bomb had exploded already. Her hand fumbled with the phone but answering it before the second ring.

"D-don't worry!" Alphys' reassuring voice echoed in the second line. "I installed a bomb defusing program on your phone!"

Frisk slowly brought the phone away from her ear, looking at the phone and following her instructions. It seemed easy enough... "N-now, go get 'em!"

Frisk took off, her hands trembling as she defused her first bomb, missing the target several times but managing to disable it. This was pretty easy... She continued to do this, running around as fast as she could, her feet's stinging pain fading with the adrenaline that rushed through her small body. She didn't want to blow up!

10 seconds on the clock.

The agile glass of water was still, just like Alphys told her. 9 seconds. She knelt down her hand trembling as she tried to time her button pressing. Missed. 6 seconds. She bit her lip, waiting once more and feeling her heart on her throat. Missed again. 3 seconds. She couldn't wait anymore, it was do or die.

She closed her eyes, pressing the button and waiting for a huge explosion to knock her over or send her flying, but instead, there was silence. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Mettaton fly towards her.

"WELL DONE DARLING! YOU'VE DEACTIVATED ALL THE BOMBS! IF YOU DIDN'T DEACTIVATE THEM, THE BIG BOMB WOULD HAVE EXPLODED IN TWO MINUTES! NOW IT WONT EXPLODE IN TWO MINUTES! INSTEAD, IT'LL EXPLODE IN TWO SECONDS! GOOD BYE DARLING!"

Frisk let out a gasp, her hand clenching her cell phone as she stumbled back unto her bottom. It was over. She closed her eyes, waiting for her demise, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes again, and saw Mettaton floating there, just... there. Huh. This is... weird.

Her phone rang. "That's b-because!"

On the other side of the phone line, Alphys stood up, feeling in the moment. Her hands threw away the monologue, feeling like she could say her lines without help. "While you were monologuing... I... !"

A dark streak of red filled her face, her eyes widening when she realized her mistake. "I f... fix... Um... I c-change..."

On the other line, Frisk stood confused by her lack of words. Mettaton floated with that usual robotic state, his voice sounding bland. "OH NO. YOU DEACTIVATED THE BOMB WITH YOUR HACKING SKILLS. "

Alphys picked up on Mettaton's save. "Yeah! That's what I did!"

Mettaton tried to dramatize his demise, but... the scene had been completely destroyed by Alphys. She couldn't even read her lines correctly it seemed, and it was costing him viewers. Today, the amount of viewers was so low... his ratings plummeted ever since he began this charade of hunting the human. Of course no one would like to see their protagonist be hunted down by their other favorite protagonist! This was antagonizing him! Alphys was ruining his image! "CURSES! I'VE BEEN FOILED AGAIN! CURSE YOU, HUMAN! CURSE YOU, DR. ALPHYS FOR HELPING SO MUCH! BUT I DON'T CURSE MY WONDERFUL EIGHT VIEWERS FOR TUNING IN! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLING!"

The camera cut the scene, and he floated away, defeated by the low ratings today.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Playtime with Chara!

Grass tea, my love

*********°*********•*********°*********

Bombs? BOMBS? Alphys had done it now. Sans' blue eye flickered high up in the beams. The anger that fueled his power had caused his eye to light up like a beam. Shit. Mettaton or Frisk was bound to notice it! In a split second decision, he tried to move but his foot lost its balance as he fell down. He was caught. His eyes had been shut closed, waiting for the ground to hit him but it never did. That's when he realized he was falling for a while now. Darkness again.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in the elevator, and beside him was a small Grillby who looked confused. "...we're back again?" he asked, looking up to see the human whose head was lowered, turning away from them with her arms crossed.

"...you promised me tea time, I demand you satisfy your promise, you bag of bones." she muttered, stepping out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened.

Grillby stepped out, looking at his small hands in awe. "Wait! What about our parents? In... whatever this is... we snuck out, right? Don't you think they'll be looking for us by now?" he asked, his infantile voice cracking unlike his regular smooth voice.

Chara turned to them, her lips pursed together tightly. "...yeah, I guess so. Whatever. Let's go before he finds us here."

She walked in front of them, her bruised hand dark and its fingers twitching every once in a while. "...before who finds us?" squeaked Grillby behind Sans, wondering who she was referring to. Sans answered his question. "my ol' man of course. hey, demon... is this another timeline?" he asked, his arms behind his head as he walked casually. To his side, Grillby seemed quite alarmed by his word usage, but Chara didn't seem affected by it.

"I guess you can say it's another timeline now. This version never existed until I played with the fabrics of space and time. It... wasn't perfect, but it is what it is. This world continues to exist even after we leave, but I think it might freeze. I don't know. I really didn't think it through, I just wanted to watch it burn."

Sans didn't feel to flinch at all, although by lack of white dots it did seem as though it did strike a certain nerve. "so... this is real to a certain extent."

"You're not the only one that's smart," she muttered once more, her scarlet eyes analyzing the damage to her hand. This might be hard to explain to her goat parents...

The three walked in silence, the old CORE paths unfamiliar, at times they seemed to be getting closer to the castle nonetheless. It had been hours of walking; the same boulder they had marked recently was now in front of them.

"gee, great going. we really are lost, aren't we?" Sans asked, although he wasn't about to blame her. They had taken a shortcut to get to the labs (which was several jumps down levels of earth) and now going back up the correct path was a chore.

Grillby was barely awake, his flames flickering as he shook his head. "I wanna sleep already!" he complained like a child, a yawn escaping his mouth as he fell back.

Chara looked quite irritated, such as she used to be, her rosey cheeks a vibrant red and her eyebrows arched down in anger. "I HATE DIRECTIONS!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down with her hands turned to fists. She turned to Sans, ready to ask for his help but she found him standing there with his head hanging down, a long oval drool dripping down his mouth, a light snore coming from him. Her hands hovered over his shoulders, but she stopped herself, her eyes staring at how peaceful he seemed when he was asleep. Her twisted sneer turned into a half smile, blinking as a quick memory of him sleeping on his sentry post flashed before her eyes. He looked just as peaceful. She quickly looked down at the flame on the ground, realizing he too was asleep-nothing embarrassing about him while he slept. She looked around the empty streets and realized they would be there all night until someone found them in the morning. She slowly sat down, her eyes rolling up the skeleton who miraculously continued to stand while sleeping. She sat there, looking over him until...

"...f...frisk..."

Her half smile slowly turned into a frown. Of course. His peaceful expression slowly seemed to change into worry, and Chara scoffed. Of course he would be, he thought himself her guardian or protector of some sorts. That was unacceptable.

Hours passed since their departure from the castle.

Chara's eyes were closed, her back slouching down as she slept. Her eyes had been closed shut, but now an annoying light was in front of her eyes. She twitched in her sleep, trying to sleep but a sudden warmth enveloped her, her bruised hand feeling the warmest.

"Chara, what happened?" asked a female voice, her brightness overwhelming her. Her voice was low, almost like a whisper, and her figure was so white. When her vision came to, she realized it was Steamy who held her and looked over her with such worry. Grillby and Sans were still asleep, and Steamy was grasping her damaged hand.

"W-what?" asked Chara, her body numb from her sudden movement from sleep. The woman only held her closer, her warm neck against hers as she embraced her. "How did you know?" She asked breathlessly, inches away from Chara as though she were trying to keep the two boys asleep.

"I don't...?" Chara responded, still trying to fully realize what was going on.

The misty woman chuckled. "You broke into the lab, and you punched the machines until you bled. I had to clean that up before Gaster found out about it. I just want to know, how you found out and if..."

Chara watched as Steamy turned to the two boys, concerned in the way her expression had been formed in that flaming body of hers.

"...we..." Chara began, but realized, nothing really would change even if she had an alliance with Steamy. "...you need to stop lying, Rose. I'm dead, Asriel's dead, and Gaster is dead. We come from the future, and all I want is for Sans to see the world I lived in, which includes you. He adored you. You two... dated after I died. "

The warmth of her body left hers as she backed away, her white eye shapes widening as her hand covered her mouth. A muffled gasp.

Chara got up, dusting herself as she looked down at what she had once thought her 'rival' of sorts. "I trusted you, hell, I trusted EVERYONE here."

Sans flinched in his sleep, his eye sockets beginning to move while Grillby simply rolled over.

Steamy shook her head. "How do you know my real name? It's classified information that not even Gaster knows," she asked, turning to the boys and realizing that Sans was waking up.

Chara's arms were crossed. "You told me. You told me everything, Rose. You were a simple flame monster who was easily sick. You sold your soul to Segoe in exchange of a better immune system and a life of luxury. You got old, wanted a kid, and had Flyn-"

"Stop." Steamy demanded as she got up, looking over at Grillby.

"-got in an accident, so Segoe experimented on you again-"

"Stop it." she said once more, taking a step towards Chara.

"-went back to being a kid, Flyn got seriously sick-"

"STOP IT!" She shouted, a white mist enveloping Chara's body and stopping on her neck. They stared at each other, both of them standing still while Sans scratched the back of his neck.

"uhh... steamy, could you let go of chara?" asked Sans, looking back towards the small red flame that continued to sleep.

Chara let out a raspy laugh, looking at Steamy who continued to look quite alarmed. "If it weren't for him, you'd finish the job, wouldn't you? You'd kill all the monsters and non-monsters, just like me."

Just as soon as Steamy fell back and released her magic, Sans darted to her while Chara grabbed her neck which had slight burn marks, almost as if her mist had been rope. Well... considering Steamy was a monster with experience, Chara would have quite a hard time defeating her, assassin versus another assassin.

"h-hey! look at me! don't listen to that crazy girl! you're still in time. We come from another timeline-" he began to explain, but just as soon as 'timeline' escaped him, Steamy perked up.

"Then, it worked?! Courier's theory worked?" she asked, glancing at Chara who continued to massage her throat.

"...sorta. actually... i need your help to win against her in my timeline. will you help me?" he asked, extending his hand to her, the whites in his eyes glowing as he watched her take his hand.

Chara breathed in and out, her hands on her neck as she continued to examine herself for any injuries. "Give it a rest, comedian! I told you, this is my victory lap. But if finding out the history of your people gives you closure, whatever." her haughty voice said as she crossed her arms. "Take us back to the castle, Rose." Chara demanded.

Sans looked at Steamy with a confused face. "...rose? i thought it was misty?"

Steamy glanced at Chara with an angry glare, but as soon as she breathed out, her expression relaxed. She picked up Grillby and carried him in her arms tightly. "Since you already know... Dr. Segoe made sure 'Rose' was dead. She changed me, and gave me a new identity, hence the name Misty. Flame monsters aren't able to control smoke and mist, that's another monster's power. Among that, she made sure I was the best at what I did... which is why she couldn't afford to lose me, I was the only flame monster that survived her attempts to create... me."

The walk back to the castle was done in silence and angry glares between Chara and Steamy. Sans didn't know if he should pry about Steamy's life, considering that everything he knew was pretty much a summery written by his father. What else was there to know about? Was Grillby her... ?

"SANS!" Shouted Ariel as she ran towards the children, two giant goats on her heels and a tall shadow further behind. Before Sans could muster up a reaction, his skeletal mother had wrapped her arms around him in the tightest embrace. "YOU ARE GROUNDED FROM ALL SCIENCE RELATED THINGS!" she shouted in between sobs, trying to sound strict, but in between her crying, it sounded nothing like what Gaster would sound like when he was angry. Far from it, Sans was glad to be in his mother's embrace again, her familiar scent intoxicating. The feeling of the hairs on her wig against his head and shoulders-everything was perfect.

"Chara, where have you been, child?" asked Mrs. Dreemurr as she knelt down and looked at the girl who could only look back at her with a blank expression. "...what happened to your hand? Chara, talk to me..." she pleaded, her soft furry hand taking the bruised hand as delicately as it could. Finally, Chara's blank expression turned into wincing and pain, looking away in silence.

Steamy watched Chara, her grip on Grillby tightening. In the shadows, she could see what appeared to be Dr. Gaster watching, his eyes gleaming. Did he know? She needed to do something. "S-she fell, Mrs. Dreemurr. They were in the CORE, horse playing around when she fell, and, I guess she must've used her hand to break the fall." Steamy spoke, watching as Chara glanced at her with shock in her eyes.

"...is that so, Steamy?" asked Gaster's voice as he walked forward, his smooth face revealing no worry or expression. His long black coat flowed as he walked, and his white scarf was light puffed out against his black and grey attire.

The mist around steamy intensified as goosebumps rose on her flaming arms in the form of soft fire crackles. "Y-yes sir. They went to the labs then tried to return home, that's when I found them. There's nothing to worry about."

The king knelt down beside his wife and his big hand gently grabbed Chara's shoulder. "It's okay, my dearest Chara. You're not in trouble, I promise. You'll just get a stern warning this time, please... don't worry us like that again." his gentle voice spoke while tears clouded Chara's vision. Her upper teeth bit down on her lower lip, her head nodding as she continued to look away. Her goat mother's healing magic enwrapped her bruised hand, all while she continued to act aloof. Why was she feeling so weak? She wasn't a little girl anymore, so why did it feel like she was?

"Come on, let's return to the castle. Little Papyrus might wake up and find no one," chuckled Asgore, turning to Gaster and his smile disappearing when he saw the way he looked uninterested. He had already turned back, beginning to walk to the castle when Asgore had suggested it. Something... wasn't right.

Ariel carried Sans in her arms, a satisfied grin on her face as she carried her eldest son. "GEEGEE, WAIT UP HON!" she called out, trying to catch up to Gaster who stopped and turned around with a slighty irritated look on my eyes. "Do you have to call me that aloud, sweetness? O-Okay, don't give that look Ariel, it's fine. At least it's better than fluffybuns,"

"HEY!"

Grillby's eyes fluttered open, listening to a petty squabble about pet names. In front of him, a tall goat lady walked hand-in-hand with Chara who appeared to be sniffling. Her bright ruby eyes caught his gaze and the pink on her cheeks grew red as she looked away momentarily. A white mist circulated around the shoulders where his head rested, framing his vision so that Chara seemed like a hazy dream. "...cute..." he mumbled, his lidded eyes fluttering as he tried to remain awake. Those shining red eyes made a sharp turn as they set on the fire monster with a look of surprise. Her healed hand brushed the lumps of hair that had framed her face, the brightness to her cheeks subsiding as a soft smile began to grow.

*********°*********•*********°*********

"Huh? What..?" muttered Grillby as he woke up once more, yawning as the sound of a piano playing awoke him.

"Good morning sleepy head. I made you your favorite, 'The Grillby Deluxe'!" chuckled Steamy who stopped playing and turned around. Her eyes showed signs of lack of sleep.

Looking around the room, it seemed they were in the tea room, all alone. A sizzling sausage enticed his empty belly, along with steaming waffles and a side of hash browns and scrambled eggs. It was all neatly set up on a platter with a glass of cranberry juice and a purple flower for decor. She went all out.

"Uh... t-thank you miss-" began Grillby when his hand shot up against his mouth. Shoot. Before he could try to correct himself, the misty lady smiled and got up. "It's okay. Chara and I had a long talk, and... and it's good to know you turned out alright. You're a good, law abiding citizen of... of the underground. That makes me so happy, I'm so proud of you,"

Before Grillby could process what was happening, the lady collapsed unto her knees, laughing as her hands wiped away the sizzling steam that evaporated from her eyes. The young flamesboy couldn't move from his seat, watching as this stranger cried tears of joy for him. This didn't feel right at all. In front of him was the most delicious set of food that felt familiar but had never eaten before, and a young lady who burst into tears of happiness—What is he to do?

Moments passed, and the girl got up only to sit across the small coffee table. Her head rested on her hands as she leaned on her elbows, watching him with the whitest, purest flames he had ever seen. Were flames capable of such a color? While he pondered on the thought, he silently began to take the first bite of his hash browns, his hand wielding a fork while the other carried the table knife.

"Wow, you—he wasn't kidding. You use your silver ware... You hated it." she whispered, continuing to watch as he ate in silence. He didn't eat like a slob, or fast, he just... ate like some kind of patient rich guy. Yeah, like those type of people she'd... w-well, he did like being refined and such before... was she staring too much? Feeling self-conscious, Steamy would look away every now and then.

As Grillby finished the last of his cranberry juice, he noticed that Steamy seemed anxious. "Do you—I mean... you trust Sans, right?" she asked, putting her locked hands down unto the coffee table. "I won't lie to you, I thought this was all a drunkard's rambling and imagination at first... but it's real. Th-the time jumps, the Chara, e-even you. W-when I returned home, th-that stove! By golly, I didn't believe it! 'Steamy' engraved and there since I can remember."

A slight chuckle escaped her as she looked down unto her hands. "Such a big vocabulary you use, I'm happy. I... didn't want to believe them. Chara and Sans, I mean. Chara was so pissed—err, mad! Mad! Jeeze... I don't want to give you a bad first impression. I'm just... this is a lot. I didn't want to believe any of it. I mean me, an ancient geezer dating such a young boy—my bosses' son no less. I would never... gee, I swore to never let myself get into such a hairy mess again. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for... this is my fault. Partly my fault. I know you somewhat know about Dr. Aster—Gaster, whatever. I helped him, in exchange for helping you. You got so sick, I was so scared I'd lose you. Without you, everything turns to nothing, my goals, my motivations. You taught me to love, to care, to feel in that empty world. All that I needed... all that Chara needs is someone to put life back into that stone heart."

Grillby stared at this young lady before her, her hands grabbing his and squeezing them tightly as she told her sketchy story. "What about our parents? Why would you compare yourself to Chara, she had one heck of crazy life, from what Sans told me." he asked, noticing how she quickly looked away and let go of his hands.

"...we have somewhat similar stories, I assure you. Your mother... you don't have a father. You were a... I mean..." A sigh escaped her. "I'm not your mom, but I'm somewhat your sister, magic wise. Then again, a part of me flows in you too, so I guess, I kinda am your mom in a way," she chuckled nervously as she continued to look away. "Dr. Segoe worked all kinds of miracles and horrors. I was her left hand, silencing any human or monster who opposed her. I worked alone, never had friends. My family had died out long before I specialized in what I did. One day, she came up to me, and asked me if I wanted a protégé, just like her. Someone I could teach, and rely on when I had special tasks. She only asked because my magic was only compatible with someone who had similar magical origins. My youngest baby brother who I had never met died still an infant and his ashes were well preserved in an urn unlike the rest of my family. She did her thing, and there he was again... a small infant inside a tall glass with machinery attached. You had inherited my mist, although it was relatively really weak. Too weak, but you were still useful, I convinced her. I fell in love with the way your tiny fingers curled and tried to grasp a thin line of mist. I convinced myself that you were going to help me burn the world to a crisp, and we were a team. We were unstoppable, we truly were. I began to age, but hot damn I was still the best. I had the plan ready, everything was going good until..."

A silence wrapped around the two, the air getting stuffy. Grillby stared dumbfounded, nodding slightly as though to tell her to continue. The white eyes had flashed red and an intense blue as she retold her story. She did indeed remind him of Chara. She was passionate, intense when she spoke of destroying their world, but mellow when she referred to him. That last sentence that trailed off gave him goosebumps and his breath shuddered. He remembered no such life. Was he a monster like her? Like Chara? A reformed monster? Why on earth couldn't he remember?

"Until my last order. The band of assassins and spies had to be terminated. You were useful, we were a team, but Segoe despised foul ups. She thought you were a mistake, an experiment gone wrong, an error who outlived its usefulness. I could not let that happen. I stalled. While you were busy, I single handedly took out the entire group. I killed them, and I enjoyed every second of the rush. Their muffled screams, their looks of horror etched on their faces as they turned to dust. I was the best, but... when it came down to you, the last one... I couldn't. I had to protect you. I set it up. I set up my death and your key to surviving Segoe. I told you everything, and you simply smiled and held me, calling me your sister.

When the day came, I had no fear or regrets. You hated the idea, but it had to be done. I faked your death using the ashes of another, and timed my ambush by humans. I fought back hordes of them until the last few came up with the idea to put out my fire. A mage was with them, a novice. Afraid of her own power. Desperate to save her brother who threw himself at me. Frost hit me hard, my power core bursting with adrenaline and when it was just me and her left standing; I felt bad. She had accidently frozen her brother's leg, and I shattered it. He was agonizing for minutes on end, until he drew his last breath. Died from loss of blood, or shock I figured. Why was I still alive, still fighting? I left enough bodies, I could just give up now and die, but... the fire in that woman's eyes to continue living long enough to avenge her brother filled me with determination. They were so sad, asking to die, I just... matched her enthusiasm.

I woke up from a medicine induced coma later. Barely survived, 20 HP and slowly decreasing from the frost spell that covered my body. Segoe would go on about the statistics of finding me later dead, and how lucky I had been to still be alive. The woman survived, but uh, was put down by Segoe. She told me she had an extreme will to live, a rare SOUL that instantly shattered when Segoe tried to obtain it. Abused by the extreme burns, by all means, any other human would have died incinerated. Nonetheless, she accepted my ruse, and accepted that I completed my task and that you were dead. That was all that mattered. You simply hid among the tree peop—err, ghosts, and you set up a nice little shack where you made food, delightful little snacks, and played music with the local shaman. You had a new life, and you enjoyed it. It wasn't until you saw what became of me that your delightful smile vanished, and I saw in your eyes how you hated your former life. How you tried to convince me to become a normal monster, with love and kindness, and all the things I hid from you."

The cloud of mist around them was light, but it carried a heaviness to it. Her hands shook with worry, her head turned away as though bracing herself for any sort of outburst. Instead, Grillby simply took in her hands and nodded comprehensively. "What happens next? Because from what I can tell, you've turned into a lovely person, by just looking at you and hearing you for the first time as the sister I never knew I had."

Steamy smile curled up as she tried to hide her sudden blush. "Well, I was reborn again. A walking, talking toddler who acted like a grown woman. Segoe had no need for me, not yet. I couldn't fight in the war in my condition. I had tons of money, so I simply disappeared from the grid, with occasional phone calls with Segoe. She didn't know where I was, and it was better that way. I was with you. That old ghoul never suspected a thing, and the local shaman did everything he could to keep us a secret from her. He was a sweet ghost. It was around the end of the war, when your illness began to form. The shaman tried everything, but medical science was the answer, the only answer. I went back to the labs, and that's where I met Aster. Originally I was going to seek out the help of Dr. Semi Castellar, but something about this kid intrigued me. He was a quiet goofball, with a lot of photos and holograms of this human who suddenly turned into a prune and eventually a skeleton. His parents hated her, tried to create another version of him so that he could 'mate' with it and create some sort of dynasty of evil geniuses. While Segoe worked on 'Binary' or whatever her name was, Courier worked on something huge. Time traveling. His project and her project had one thing in common, which was, that this 'Binary' girl was supposed to link up with the time machine, and that she had access to this... super weird dimension of numbers. It was crazy! When I asked Aster about it, he just spoke casually about 'Vinnie', how she wasn't due for another year or two, and that her database was too difficult even for Courier to comprehend. He also told me how he wanted to sabotage the project so that he could be with this odd romantic interest. A few months of friendship building, and I had a very potent ally. I remember I was quite frank and direct. I asked him if he was willing to steal from his mother's top secret medical cabinet in exchange for anything I could do with my experience as an ex-assassin and skills in subterfuge. We had a few trial runs, to determinate just handicapped I had become from my sudden rejuvenation. Turns out I was still as deadly. We caused a few explosions here and there, and he was convinced I could be the answer to his problems. We partnered up. His plan was insane, but I was going to make sure there wasn't much monster casualties. I was supposed to be the trump card, the safety net and I... I underestimated their power."

The doorknob to the room clicked open, and Sans came in, popping his head inside first before Chara pushed him inside. "uh, sorry to interrupt," he apologized, blushing while Chara closed the door shut and crossed her arms. "I'm not. I'd rather be here than to eavesdrop. Tch. Don't look at me like that, Rose and I go way back. She was... my friend, someone I could trust. Lots of baggage like me, we could relate."

Grillby let out a smile as he shook his head. "I can see that now. You both share in beautiful smiles when you're relaxed and think no one is looking."

The human blushed, sitting beside him and giving him a punch on his arm. "Shut up." she mumbled, turning away while Sans sat on the other side of Grillby.

Steamy looked at the three children, all of them very different. Chara tried to look disinterested and tough while shielding the intense blush on her cheeks, while Grillby's suave wording reminded her of how he used to be. Sans sat on the edge, a lazy smile and position giving him the look of someone relaxed, but the tension around his eye sockets and the way his left leg quivered up and down in anxiety said another story. They were a reflection of how she knew them before all this... timeline mess. A reflection of who they were and how they turned out. Hopefully... whatever information and help she could provide could change whatever ailed their timeline.

"Okay, where did I leave off? Ahh, yes! I remember now! I'm not that old yet," she chuckled, closing her eyes as she cleared her throat. "Everything was going as planned. The bombs, my magic... I had begun to evacuate the citizens. They were fleeing. I stood at the main entrance of the borders, ready to annihilate all the enemy humans. It was an army of them, several platoons just ready to kill all the monsters inside our gates. I don't know what happened inside the labs. I had killed several key ghouls who would put up a resistance, put down experiments too horrendous and sad while I let go those that could make a new life. I had stolen and acquired nearly every experimental note, log, prototypes, anything and everything Aster and I thought would be needed to start over. I had done that over the course of weeks, and whatever would be missed immediately, I did that same day. Everything was perfect, but... something went terribly wrong. The humans who owed me strong favors, they were rooted out. I wasn't afraid of this happening, but... that was only the beginning of my mistake. I vastly underestimated the human forces. They were hungry, blood thirsty, just like I used to be. I remember Aster pulled the switch, and the gates opened. I blasted all my fire magic at them, my silent mist killing several hundred instantly, four entire platoons. It wasn't a huge army, no it was... a specialized army. A real worthy opponent. There were only five platoons. The first four were... diversions. Farm folk, nothing special. I thought I had killed them all. I laughed, but then she stepped out from the flames with those hungry eyes and a maniacal laugh. She was the commander, and she had this... this atmosphere to her. I could instantly tell we were a match. She sensed it too. We chatted for a few minutes, exchanging pleasantries and had quite the meaningful conversation. Quite civil. That was... right until she said, 'This was a pleasant conversation, Wild Eastern Rose. I remember your name, but you've forgotten me. You're like me. You don't remember useless worms, but this maggot has gotten stronger. Built an army of maggots that will devour your ashes. Lady Mara bids you farewell. See you in hell.' …God, that woman's goodbye speech is just... inscribed in my mind. Right on cue, the last platoon swarmed the gates, and try as I might, their defensive magic was top notch. Most of them were well versed in ice magic, I didn't stand a chance. I thought quickly, and I escaped, faked my death again. I doubt they believed it, but I disappeared. I went back to the labs, tried to reach Aster who had not joined me with his grandfather. It was a good thing though, had he appeared, he would have most likely died in that ambush, of course... what happened in the labs wasn't good either. Courier died, but... so did Dr. Castellar. Died protecting Aster. I told him we needed to make a getaway quick, that a maniac was going to destroy everyone. We got everything we could, gathered the ashes, and tried to go to the dome. There was a giant dome, where we would have sports and entertainment, everyone had fled there. It was secure.

We thought it was secure. That dome was our getaway, a jet propelled dome that could take us to the capital, but Mara had beaten us to it. They did not burn down anything, no, they were preserving our technology. We hid as we watched her go up to the doors and attempt to hack her way into the dome. The outer doors opened. If we confronted them, we were dead. If we did nothing, everyone inside was dead and those humans would hijack our only way out of there. Not only that, but I'm sure they would try to use our technology against us. We did the most practical and logically right thing. He went back to the labs and caused machines to overload, and I... I used the explosions to spread the fire. I had wrapped him in my mist so that I could try to avoid killing him, and I... just set off the biggest arson ever. The labs were first to go, the buildings surrounding it, slowly creeping towards the dome. I didn't want to kill innocents, but Aster had urged me to do it if the humans did not budge. More than half the army had fled back to their human lands, the small few still there clinging to the dome as Mara opened the second doors. One more... and it was over. She probably had the strongest mages and wizards with her. The fires were strong, and I grew stronger, bolder. She cracked the third door. I stepped out from the shadows, behind her platoon. They all cowered as flames surrounded the dome and my appearance grew bigger to match the power it gave me. She shouted 'FALL BACK!' and everyone but two wizards scurried behind me, waiting to ambush me at her command, but far enough to survive an attack with my magic. They were careful. Her hand levitated on the button that opened the door, and when she pressed that button and the doors began to open, I saw the look of terror in their eyes. Mothers and fathers holding their little ones, crying as this woman grinned with the evilest smile I had ever seen with my own two eyes, but it was familiar. It was the same smile I would have. I breathed in, and when I saw that the two wizards were about to attack the inside, I fought. Aster and I had walked that dome before, I knew the combustible parts, where they were. It lit up like a set of lights, the outside of the dome I mean. Mara's hand flew up, then swiped the air, and just like that, the ambush party had fled. One of the wizards was protecting them inside a protective balloon, while the other had begun to cast magical spells at the defenseless monsters inside. I couldn't contain my anger and frustration, so I went after those three humans. That was another mistake. If it weren't for the explosions and fire, I'm sure I'd be dead. We fought, and... I was losing. Monsters were dying, terrible, painful deaths. I did them a favor. My..."

She trailed off, her hands rising as she stared at her hands. Mist engulfed her, curling around her arms and fingers. Chara perked up, her eyes ablaze. "Your cool mist powers killed everyone, super quick, in a second!"

Sans glared at Chara, shaking his head as he crossed his arms while Grillby continued to look at Steamy whose fingers curled and her head fell in remorse. "I had no choice. Dust had burst inside that giant dome, and Mara knew what I was about to do. She had to. I knew about the reactor down beneath the dome. I knew it was a potent explosion capable of incinerating the entire city, giving me ungodly amount of power. I set it off. Everything turned white, then red. Metal turned to liquid, magical dust flew everywhere and I could fly, and I flew over the entire eastern side, burning everything to a crisp first and foremost. While the explosions made it look like it was deliberate. Aster was alive, but barely hanging on. The smoke was getting to him, but he was waiting for me in ashes of the labs, where the ruins weren't ablaze and the smoke was bearable. I saw an incoming ducky, a giant species of duck that served as a sort of carrier, and I knew Aster was saved. I hid, and I watched that duck go over whatever wasn't ablaze, roaming the ashes and magical dust that had spread out everywhere. Magical dust is impossible to burn. It wasn't until the duck left with Aster that I continued my job and left the eastern monster empire in ash and dust. I did save several farming families that lived outside the city, and with whatever was left of my magical enchantment, I used it to get them to safety. The dome explosion left me glowing with magical power for days.

From there, well... it's down in history. Grillby, the ghost tribe, and I went underground. Gaster fiddled with Segoe's experiments, he attended to you, my Flynn, and you slept so peacefully in that bed. I watched as years passed by and you changed, younger, and younger, until you were just a baby. You were so tiny. I was so scared, and Gaster was working hard in secret, trying to figure out why your illness wouldn't disappear. As it turns out... My powers were the culprit. This mist, is a modified version of the smoke that some monsters produce naturally. It was enhanced, a double edged sword. It was the reason why countless monsters died in Segoe's attempts to recreate me. No one was meant to live with it, but I survived. As it turned out, my illness that had endangered my life back when I was a little girl, was what saved me. It somehow mutated the strain of whatever this mist is. You had a small part of me, but it wasn't enough. I underwent trials with you as you slept, and finally, after long trying, it worked. You were cured, but your misty powers are dormant now. You're a regular flamesman now. When you woke up, you were a baby, acted like a baby. One of the side effects of the rejuvenation medicine was permanent memory loss, but I'm sure you wanted that. You wanted to forget the life I introduced you to. It was better this way. And to cement your new life, I just... you liked the nickname Grillby. You were the grill master in your little snack hut."

Steamy looked at the three children who looked at her in awe, a smile on her face as Grillby looked at her with a pleasant expression. He wasn't mad, or resentful or... anything bad. He was happy, and his little hands on hers felt great. She had redeemed herself. She got up grabbed the platter. "I haven't forgotten. I will make you all the greatest tea-brunch-buffet," she winked, walking to the door which had opened using her mist, walking out and closing the door behind her.

Chara crossed her arms. "...I'm still mad at her." she whispered, feeling embarrassed about how she had fumbled up her words earlier and said 'tea-brunch-buffet'. Grillby looked on both sides, feeling a certain tension between Chara and Sans. "Well, I'll start. I'd like uh... a cup of jasmine tea and shortbread, if you would, my dearest, Miss Chara?"

A bright blush emanated from Chara who had suddenly jolted and turned to Grillby with astounded eyes. Sans stared at Grillby with a sort of 'are you freakin' kidding me' expression painted on his skull. Grillby shrugged. "I for one, enjoy tea parties. My biggest competitor is a spider who runs a bakery of sorts-she has quite a taste might I say. She came in once to my bar and we enjoyed a bit of her baking and some of my greasy foods together. Nothing romantic, I assure you, it was a simple truce. That and I developed a love for tea somewhere. Boil that water to a certain sweet spot, and you've got yourself the best darn tea. But enough staring at me, can we get this tea party going?"

Sans laughed as he nodded, getting up from his seat. "gee grillbz, that kids' voice doesn't suit you." Grillby expression relaxed into an 'are you serious?' expression, looking over his kiddie shirt and shorts. Certainly not his formal attire.

Chara stretched her long arms, moving her once damaged hand. "Sans, go get the ingredients and stuff. I'll set up the table. A traditional tea table needs... a good cloth! And good plates, and decor...! We meet up back here in half an hour, sharp! GO!"

Sans winced as Chara shouted go, while Grillby smiled with her enthusiasm. "You heard her, Sans. I'll just sit back and digest everything I learned today, alright?"

Sans nodded solemnly, turning and leaving the room. A lone Grillby sat there on the sofa, looking at the piano and the bookcases on the wall. A large chandelier hung in the middle of the room, unlit, and Grillby looked at the door. It was closed. His mist powers were dormant, huh?

"I'd hate to put you in the negative, but now I understand a few things about it. A lethal mist... that can shroud people and either keep them safe or harm them..."

His eyes narrowed as his hand reached for the chandelier. A weak flame curled around his finger, circling around it until the flame gave out and turned to smoke. A faintly black smoke slowly began to circle around, slowly inching forward until it gave out about a meter away. With a smirk engraved on his face, the flamesboy used his hands as 'guns' and he got tiny balls of fire that lit the chandelier. He got up and moved the dark back curtains so that the room was dimly lit by the light outside, but toned just right inside by the chandelier. He went back into the sofa and sat down, waiting a few minutes before going to Asriel's room to get a few costume props. He was sure they had their cowboy getup from their last slumber party with Asriel...

*********°*********•*********°*********

The noise coming from inside the room made Asriel's tummy swirl with anxiety. The nightmare persisted last night, and Chara wasn't there. She wasn't there for him to cuddle with, instead she was cuddling with Steamy who held her in a tight embrace and whispered in her ear. Sans was sleeping in the arms of his mother. His parents were also sleeping in a warm embrace, and even scary Mr. Gaster was sleeping beside a small bundle. He didn't wanna sleep with Grillby either so...

He breathed in, holding the air as he turned the knob and went inside. "A t-tea p-p-party?" stuttered Asriel as he closed the door behind him, slowly walking to the small coffee table that was set up in middle of the room, right underneath the chandelier. There was an extra cushion which was green colored, and Chara's back stiffened as she pointed to the cushion. "Please Mr. Asriel, sit down and enjoy a marvelous cup of... ugh, I mean, seriously Sans? You had one job."

Sans grinned as he laughed, watching as Asriel seemed nervous. Grillby cleared his throat. "Miss Chara, let's not break character, shall we? I worked hard to create this, uh... marvelous tea and pie."

The young goat sat down, looking at the neatly set up silverware and plates. On the sofa was the fine china and silverware, while on the coffee table was the lesser versions, full of water dipped in grass and dirt on a plate.

Asriel smiled nervously, watching as Chara poured his tea cup with clumps of grass and water. "Would you like some delicious mudpie?" asked Chara, fluttering her eyes with a smile. Instantly, Asriel froze and he managed to shake his head. "Oh, come now! Don't be coy, I insist." She forced a smile and cut up a portion of mud, pouring it on his plate. "I mean, this is right up your alley, isn't it Mr. Asriel?" asked Chara, trying to sound refine as she sipped on her cup of grasstea. She tried to hide her disgust, to no avail.

The goat looked down, his cheeks burning as he tried to hide his face. Oh god. Maybe this wasn't a good idea? Was she still mad at him? Perhaps Steamy was wrong, maybe Chara was still super-duper mad at him...

"Hey, Mr. Asriel, let's get down to business. You've been invited to this very important meeting to discuss trade. An invitation of friendship, in exchange of a delicious brunch when that clock strikes noon." Chara spoke in her haughty tone, her eyes shining as his met hers. A smile spread on her face, and he immediately lit up. A brunch at noon? Oh right! Steamy was making a bunch of food, and he was helping her...

"Y-yes Miss Chara, Miss! I uh, the Great and Powerful Asriel Dreemurr, Prince of Chaos and God of Hyperdeath, have set up an important shipment, but uh, only if, um, uhh, only if..." Asriel's words trailed off, his eyes moving to Sans who looked to be asleep and Grillby stuck out his tongue as the cup of tea left his mouth. Grillby was dressed in his banker costume from their last slumber party. He wore a white blouse with brown slacks and an overall with a pocket watch. To his side, Sans wore a cowboy costume complete with the cowboy hat which was sitting to his side. He wore a long cowboy coat and black slacks with a sky blue blouse.

Chara crossed her arms, a gentle chuckle catching his attention. She looked beautiful under the lighting of the chandelier, her red eyes burning into him and her lips colored red. Now that he noticed, she was wearing a dress his mother had made for her. She had always hated it, never wore after wearing it for their mother to please her. Something about the dress seemed different. Maybe it was the huge thing around the neck, it made her look like a... like a vampire duchess, or something like that! Like in those wild human stories of ancient monsters. Her dress was red and yellow, with black seams and lace. The delta rune hid somewhere in the skirt, and the puffy shoulders against her pale skin really made her face stand out. And her short hair, it looked styled, and a yellow flower hung from her ear. Huh. Maybe that's why he hadn't noticed her drastic change in attire.

"...Earth to Mr. Asriel? Mr. Grillby? Could you both stop staring at me like I'm some doll?" she snapped, her fingers on both hands snapping in the general direction of both boys who had dozed off. Sans opened an eye socket, noticing the huge blush on the two boys. Geeze. Ask him, she looked like Count Deathula, cripes. "...yeah, an evil possessive doll." Sans mumbled, closing his eye socket once more. He could hear her sudden inhale and exhale. She was mad, surely.

"Why I never!" Chara dramatically said, grabbing a tissue and swinging it around her face.

Grillby was the first to speak. "Why, I apologize for both Mr. Asriel and I. We were hypnotized by your surreal beauty. I for one am willing to let my world famous artist play after the trade is done at noon. We shall have the best piano music and a wonderful voice to go with it while we feast, I assure you, or I'm not Grill Master Grillby." he winked, noticing that Asriel's red face had somehow gotten a darker shade of red. Chara waved the tissue on her face like a fan as she tried to look casual, but the flattery by Grillby was certainly getting to her. Gee, Grillby spoke so... eloquent sometimes.

"I uh, apolo-apolo-apologeese too! Y-y-you were-are! Y-you are super pretty and stuff, and uh, um, uhh I-I-I would love more tea!" Squealed Asriel, drinking his cup in one big gulp and setting down the cup hard against the tea plate. The goat's hand trembled and his breath was shaky was he watched the calm, but flustered Chara pour him more grass tea as careful and as attentive as it were real tea. She had never poured his play tea like that. In fact, she had never dressed up, or set up such a fancy tea party... Was it because of Grillby?! No way. Why? Why was she acting so... differently? At the back of his mind, the nightmares tugged at him, but he simply shook his head. Bad dreams. Bad dreams, go away. Flowers... yellow flower...

"What's the matter, Mr. Asriel?" asked Chara, noticing how he suddenly relaxed when his eyes met hers. "N-nothing! Thank you, Miss Chara!" he bowed his head, sipping his drink. She smiled and her finger circled his snout before poking it and sitting back on her cushion. He took another sip full of grass, chewing on it. It was good grass too.

*********°*********•*********°*********

The clock struck noon, and Sans got up from his cushion. He grabbed the hat that was beside him and he put it on, his long coat reaching the backs of his ankles. "its high noon, countess chara, or should i say, deathula! here to suck the blood of an innocent goat mister too hypnotized by your vampire powers! come hunter grillby!"

Chara looked unfazed, blinking as she looked at Grillby who looked surprised. "Uh, what? I mean... Oh, no, I'm sorry my dear friend and hunter, Sans! I fell for her power of seduction, how unfortunate! That means you uh, have to have some sort of epic duel at high noon, oh no, oh gasp, oh goodness... warn me next time," he faked dramatically, muttering under his breath the last part of his statement. Asriel smiled, looking at Chara who simply stood up without using her hands or arms. So elegant. "You wish to duel me, a vampire? I guess that means I can bite you. If I bite you, you're mine." she grinned, watching as the smile disappeared from Sans' expression. "now, hold on a minute. i'm a skeleton, i'm immune." he retorted, but Chara shook her head. "You're undead, you have teeth. You eat and drink, it totally works on you too. I'm a human, I know better," she winked with wicked smile that sent shivers down his spine. Ay, what did he get himself into.

Grillby turned to the door, noticing a shadow underneath, which was probably Steamy with the food. Waiting for the duel to be over, to be sure.

Chara stood tall, watching as Sans circled her. "you're wearing a dress. this will be easy." he taunted, but her smile threatened him. "Of course it will be. Now, where do you prefer I bite you? Maybe..."

Asriel fell from his cushion and Sans looked around him, his ribcage stinging from her sudden sucker punch. He could feel her fingers against the collar bone, and her hot breath on his neck. "...here?" she asked, her mouth wide open and about to bite down on his neck bones but he finally snapped out of it and got away. He stared at her with bewildered eyes. "gee, w-what are you trying to do, bite me to death?! i'm kidding around!" he questioned with a bit of outrage, but she sprinted towards him again.

Grillby looked at the Asriel's look of surprise. "Oh, Chara made a rule about not breaking character. So everything we say and do, its canon in our version of 'Black Market Tea Party'. Everything went well until Sans went crazy trying to make it 'interesting' I guess. Knowing her, I wouldn't want to improvise against her."

Their chase lasted for several minutes, and Sans had Chara right where he wanted her. She was trapped in the corner of the room and he held a small garden shovel which was the stake. "Say goodbye, countess deathula!" Sans grinned, knowing it would end this charade. It was over. Tea party with Chara was over.

Just as he was about to fake strike Chara, a small ball of flame hit his coat. He turned and looked at Grillby who grinned. "Not my dearest Countess Chara! I am sorry friend, I will not kill you, but I will if you try to kill her."

Asriel sat up and nodded. "T-That's right! The great and powerful Prince of Chaos and God of Hyperdeath will come to her aid too!"

Sans looked at the monsters, not knowing why on earth Grillby was suddenly so buddy-buddy with the witch, but it sorta sickened him. Gee, did he forget that she almost killed everyone?

With that, the door opened and Steamy came inside with a small cart of delicious treats. "The goods have arrived! Congratulations on your absolute victory, Miss Chara." Steamy smiled, turning to walk away when Grillby went up to her and whispered a few words to her.

Asriel got up from his seat, watching as Chara hurried over and put away all the dirty dishes. She was so careful, so dedicated with this. She gently set all the fine china, careful to not move certain things far in or out. She wanted it to be perfect. He watched her, how she placed each plate, each fork, each knife, everything calculated by an invisible line she created in her mind. It was as if she had been trained to do this so masterfully.

"You're finally going to enjoy a real tea party, aren't you?" asked Steamy, tilting her head as she noticed the smile that crept unto Chara's face. Sans seemed puzzled by her words. Really? She had one of these things with Asriel all the time. Looking over to the fluffy boy, he noticed he looked astounded by the way she worked. Huh. Perhaps not this kind of tea party.

When she finished, she stared at the table and beauty of it. The way the silver shined underneath the light, the gleam on the knives and forks, even the butter seemed so fragile and perfect. Butter in the shape of roses... Rose went far and beyond what she asked for. It was so pretty, so perfect, it was... everything she hoped for. The soft bread, the smell of fresh marmalade, the different kinds of juices in substitution of wine...

"...I forgive you, Rose." She whispered, looking up and noticing that she walked over to the piano. Chara sat down on her cushion, her hand grasping her golden locket. So... this was what it felt like to sit down on a nice table of food. Her hand reached for her yellow flower, lightly touching it before she straightened out her back and cleared her throat. "Gentle monsters, please sit down. Although Mr. Sansy tried to kill me by rudely interrupting our gathering, I'm pleased to announce we are back on schedule. Please, Miss Steamy, play music for us while we dine."

Sans rolled his eyes, her haughty voice just so annoying. The background music was nice though. He felt so... alone on that table. So far off, while the three other kids talked and laughed amongst themselves. What the heck was wrong with him? What the heck was wrong with Grillby? And Steamy? A serial murderer was sitting down conversing like some sort of civil human and...

Grillby's hand gently landed on Sans' shoulders. "Lighten up ol' chap. It's a tea party." He smiled before returning to whatever they were talking about. Sans just looked at him, wondering how he could smile and laugh after everything today and yesterday. This wasn't normal. This wasn't something he could just shrug off. Steamy was dead. Asriel was dead. Chara should be dead. This world exists in another dimension, and they were screwing with it because Chara wanted to. Was he the only one that understood that? Sans couldn't stand to watch Chara acting as if she deserved any of this. After eating and drinking his share of food to fill him, Sans silently got up and left the room.

Beside him, Grillby glanced at him, shaking his head. Sans had a weird way of expressing himself. Enjoy yourself, don't enjoy yourself, wow, Sans. Bless his sister for putting up with him when they dated.

Chara didn't seem to pay much mind to his leaving, rather, she continued to glow with attention and smiles. To her right side, Asriel's droppy eyes fixated on her and he seemed to have finally relaxed and let himself go with the flow. Every now and then, a gentle rolling of his laughter erupted in his goat laugh, which Grillby thought he might have been self-conscious about, but Chara only laughed when he did. Perhaps he picked on it and started doing it more often.

Perhaps this really was the first time Chara let herself go as a kid. Certainly no memory of her softening up or acting like an actual girl came to mind, just cuddling with Asriel when it seemed mutually beneficial. Perhaps she was no Steamy, a bit rougher around the edges and tough to get along with, but he could certainly see a small glimmer of hope in that she could change. Steamy seemed to hope so. Speaking of which, did she even get any sleep last night? Man, he really missed out last night, but he was dreadfully sleepy.

A little over two hours later, Chara got up from her seat. She seemed content. "Gentle monsters, I would like to thank you for attending my tea party. Although the guy who suggested left early, it was still, quite the party. Now if you will excuse me, I will change and end my character as Miss Chara."

True to her word, she walked out of the room with her head up high and her movement graceful as the character she had portrayed. When the door closed, Asriel slumped down and let his back fall back onto the floor. "That was the weirdest, most awesome tea party. Hey, do you think we have leftover grasstea?" he asked, getting up and scurrying over to the remnants of the prior play party. Steamy who had gotten up from the piano had walked over to the window, and her sudden gasp caught Grillby's attention. "Hm? What's wrong?" he asked with a yawn, feeling quite stuffed from the food. She turned and looked at Grillby with a certain fear in her eyes. "Gaster brought Rex. He went to the labs, he didn't trust me." she spoke with a great haste in her tone as she got away from the window. "I erased the video footage, cleaned up any traces that I could, but he didn't believe me. He must've gone through the videos and seen that I erased it, he knows something is up. That ghoul is his parent's son, once you get on the wrong side he gets on your case. I know what he's capable of." she spoke, glancing at Asriel who chewed on the grass of the tea, looking quite oblivious as to whatever was going on.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Sometime later, Asriel found himself next to Chara tending to their flowers while the other boys played with Rex. She seemed to be oddly fixated on the venomous flower, her head turning to him. "If our roles were reversed, would you offer your SOUL to save the underground?" she asked in a low voice as she cut the flower at the base with a pair of scissors. The goat quickly nodded, his hands tending to the green herbs growing around the yellow pack of flowers. His snout smelt the herbs thoroughly, his calloused hands gently separating the different plants. "Chara, um... would you abandon me if I turned into a flower?" he asked casually enough, continuing to tend to the herbs. The girl turned to him with a look of horror, her hands quickly grabbing his head and turning it to her. "Where did you get that idea?" she asked, her scarlet eyes piercing through his blue. The Goat turned red, looking around nervously. "I've been having nightmares, Chara! I turn into a flower and no body helps me... not even you."

Chara let go and backed off, turning back to her flowers as she continued to cut her patch. "I don't know Asriel, that depends on whether you backstab me before or after," her shaky breathed spoke, feeling his eyes burn unto her back light a weight of what her sins were. What was this feeling? No, this was just a victory lap, there was no regrets, no petty feelings.

When the feeling lifted off her back, she realized Asriel had gone to play with Rex as well. When she finished making her bouquet of deadly flowers, she turned back and watched the boys play around with that naive dog. Trying to wrestle with it, it seemed. She had a feeling that Sans was just bidding his time in this place until she ran into a SAVE spot so he could return with his mission to save Frisk. Surely he had spent his time with his mother or father before he went batshit scary. Even so, during her stay here she realized how different Grillby seemed to be, and she even made up with Rose. Well, Rose was dead, so that meant she just needed to make Grillby's death quick and easy. Or perhaps he had it in him to serve as some sort of evil henchman. Hm. An evil flower though? That seemed a bit excessive, and Asriel wasn't that much of a help either, not when he keeps pretending to be some sort of super mega evil flower of death. No, she could see past that facade.

A sudden rush of cold wind had her shiver, and her head looked up with horror as she stared at the empty eyes of Dr. Gaster. "You would do well to keep your mouth shut and follow me." he spoke with a certain authority. She shook her head, beginning to get up when suddenly the black coat he wore seemed to glitch. Oh hell no. Before she could scream and run away, a black ooze grabbed her ankles, dragging her down into the earth. She could feel the black mist roll around her body, paralyzing her with either some sort of power or fear. She watched as he stepped in front of her casually making it look like she vanished into thin air behind him. How long would it take for them to realize she was gone?

Her vision had gone black, and when she opened her eyes, she was back at the labs, in front of the elevator. The doors to the elevator glitched, and soon a black blob began to take form into Gaster. "Do you think I wouldn't have figured out this world? Sure, I was stumped at first, but now I understand. This is another timeline, another world where I still exist. I woke up with my dearest Ariel beside me, do you know how long I wished this to come true, demon?" he asked with maddened eyes, his smile twitching. "I know the elevator is some kind of power house, a portal of some sorts. You're the key to activating it, aren't you? Like Frisk, a SAVE point, isn't it?" he asked as he tilted his head, his coat expanding in whatever black clouds he wielded.

Chara quickly backed her body towards the elevator, her eyes wide. "W-what are you going to do? I control this place!" she threatened, noticing that his coat had begun to glitch between sinister and a regular coat. He couldn't control his powers.

Gaster slowly walked towards her, his hand on his jaw, soon covering half of his face as his head fell and he laughed. "Your mistake was letting anything around Sans transfer over to this timeline. I was beside him. I don't exist, your time jump couldn't figure out what I was. Spent a bit of time at the labs, put a little DT inside of me, just enough to realize that if I were to inject myself with more DT, the more my body returns to what it used to be in the void. I can still reserve this, I can still be who I was, but after I'm done with you."

Chara's back against the elevator continued to push back, her hands slapping the elevator buttons as she fell back and crawled back to the end of the elevator. What was she to do against him? She could go back, think on a strategy and defeat him somehow, or...

Gaster walked into the elevator with a calmness to his face. "I'm going to destroy your body. If you don't exist, there's no way we can leave this world." his husky voice spoke, his eyes darkening as a wicked smile began to paint itself on his smooth face.

Chara could feel herself get lighter, a bright flash of light engulfing her.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Up next. . .

Late Night with Grillby and Sans

Special Guest Star: The talented, the human, Frisk!

Surprise guests! Musical numbers!

Brought to you by: Grillby's

Grillby's: Greasy food, with class ;)

/*/*/Jazzy tune mentioned by Frisk is, After Hours by Ronny Jordan. Song that blends and continues from there is Its Raining Somewhere Else by Toby Fox. Time after Time- Cyndi Lauper is referenced once more. Dreaming of You- Selena is also sung. Drop Pop Candy and Tokyo Teddy Bear mentioned and credited later on./*/*/

*********°*********•*********°*********

Sans opened his eyes, landing with a loud 'thud' on the dark ground. It was a pretty hard fall, and the skeleton remained knocked out for several hours. When he came to, his vision was fuzzy and the side of his skull had a very slight crack to it. "w-what? it's over? finally, but... that means chara saved somewhere. well, it can't be that bad." he spoke to himself as he dusted his shorts and blue jacket. He looked around and realized the set was dark, and Frisk was nowhere to be seen. For all he knew, he just fell down a few seconds ago. Was he too late? Impossible, the timeline would have gone back... wait. But what if he was in another timeline while this timeline went back to an old save? How did that work?

Without losing another second, the skeleton began to jog down the path, following in where Frisk would have gone if she survived whatever Alphys had set up. The puzzles were done, monsters had seen her, so everything was good. Damn, how long had he been away? He continued ahead, scouting the areas and seeing a few monsters who had begun to tell him they hadn't seen the human, so she didn't pass through there. Hmm. Was it possible she took the elevators?

He silently walked to the elevators, his hands in the pockets of his jacket when his cell phone began to ring. Two missed calls, from Grillbz.

"Sans? Finally, what happened? You just disappeared, no one knew where you were. Are you alright?" asked Grillby on the other line. Sans winced as his hand gently felt the slight crack on his temple. "uh, i think so. i guess you can say i just fell asleep." he replied, walking into the elevator. "where's frisk? what happened while i was asleep?" he asked, waiting before pressing any buttons. "Hm? Oh, you don't know? Frisk beat Mettaton, then came back home with Papyrus who was looking for you. The poor thing has blisters all over her feet, she's actually in my bar right now."

Without another word, Sans smiled and warped himself to the back of Grillby's bar, hanging up on Grillby. He casually walked to the front door, breathing in before opening the door. Why was Papyrus looking for him?

When he came inside, the normally bustling bar was empty, and only Papyrus, Grillby, Undyne and Frisk were there. He smiled nervously, feeling the staggering stares. He walked a few steps before suddenly Undyne threw a spear in front of the door, making it seem as though he had no escape. "huh, uh, this seems fishy." he chuckled, trying to seem cool, but Undyne growled. "Where WERE YOU?! Frisk was trying to FIND you! Papyrus had to carry her away when her feet started bleeding, you bonehead!"

Grillby stood in back, trying to appear as though he was polishing his glassware. Even so, he joined in. "You know; you could at least talk to them. They worry too." he spoke softly, looking up and winking before returning to his glassware.

Frisk sat on the counter, swinging her feet as she looked up to see him, looking as though she were in trouble. Papyrus stood tall with his arms on his hips. "WE KNOW ABOUT YOUR ILLEGAL HOT DOG STAND! WHAT IS IT THAT YOU DO AT NIGHT, HMM? FRISK WAS PRETTY DETERMINED TO FIND OUT, AND IT ISN'T SELLING HOT DOGS! SHE INVESTIGATED, SO I PROMOTED HER TO JUNIOR DETECTIVE."

Sans stared at Papyrus, wondering what it was they wanted to hear. He couldn't tell them about everything, no, Papyrus would... who knows, but he couldn't tell them.

Undyne narrowed her eyes, stomping towards Sans and hitting his head with the back of her knuckles before walking out of the bar, taking her spear with her.

The little girl winced when she saw Undyne hit Sans, even though it wasn't too hard. "I'm sorry." she whispered, looking down and staring at her bandaged feet. Her ballerina shoes were ruined, they had holes and blood from her popped blisters all over the bottom.

"AWW HUMAN, DO NOT WORRY! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS NOT MAD AT YOU, A-AND I'LL WASH THOSE TINY SHOES QUICK SO YOU CAN ADVENTURE TOMORROW. P-PLEASE DON'T CRY?" he asked, bending down so that he could lift her chin. She smiled and nodded, but she still seemed uneasy.

Sans walked towards them, noticing the shoes that hung from the counter next to Frisk. Wow, she really did outdo herself. "hey paps, why don't you go start on the shoes? grillbz and i will cheer her up, no problem. i'll uh... even tell her why i've been missing." he winked, noticing how her spirits lifted instantly.

Papyrus looked at Sans. "WILL YOU TELL ME TOO?" he asked, noticing how Sans' face twitched for a second. That was a negative, it seems, knowing him. "uh, yeah paps. go, home, we'll catch up later."

After Papyrus left the bar, Sans sat in his usual chair, his right hand brushing against the small thin crack. Frisk looked at him, her small hand gently over his as she inspected the crack with a look of concern. "hm? this? i fell asleep after workin' so many shifts. i heard the ladies like scars," he winked with a slight chuckle but Frisk only pouted. "its fine, it'll disappear if i heal it soon, or i could just let it sit there and keep it, i'unno." shrugged Sans, his eyes watching as Grillby bent down and got two mason jar mugs.

"You know Frisk, the underground has been raving about you. You're a celebrity now, how do you feel about that?" asked Grillby, filling one of the jars with ketchup labeled 'mild special' and the other soda and bit of cherry syrup to give it a hint of color. Before Frisk could answer, Sans' back bolted up and he grinned. "wait, wait a darn moment! that's it! we'll interview her, you know, like the celebrity she is. here, let me go set up my phone."

Frisk's head fell to the side, confused by what was happening. "Are serious? Wait, are you the one leaking videos of Frisk on the monster net?" asked Grillby, turning back to a mini fridge and taking out two burgers with fries. He always had spares in case Sans showed up.

Sans looked at the front portion of the bar, trying to figure out where his smart phone could go. Behind him, a ghost appeared. "I'm back Papyrus... uh.." it spoke, looking around and looking at Frisk with a confused expression. "Blooky!" she exclaimed, holding out her arms.

"perfect, you can be the camera person! here, its recording already, just... go with it, take good shots. alright, hey guys and girl monsters out there, my name is sans, sans the skeleton. my good friend grillbz was so kind enough to sponsor his bar for tonight's super mega ultra, once in a life time, interview with the sansational human, frisk!"

Frisk looked around the bar, hearing a 'ba dum, tss', along with a jazzy song. Sans turned back with a puzzled look. "uh... grillbz, what happened to our usual song?" he asked, walking back to the counter and sitting on his seat. The flame monster's hands hovered over the burger, the meat slowly sponging up and sizzling. "That ol' song? Sure, we made it together, but it's your song, you use it all the time. If we're really going to be in front of a public audience, I want my bar seem classier than that. Grillby's, Greasy food, with class." he chuckled with a wink, the two plates hot and sizzling with flavor.

Napsta stared at the three who had begun to laugh simultaneously. This seemed fun. The flaming man scratched the back of his neck as he addressed the camera. "Hello there and welcome to... Late Night with Grillby and Sans! I'm your host, Grillby, and," he spoke, turning to sans gave a lazy smile and wave. "sans the skeleton."

Frisk clapped, her head looking around the bar as she heard a drum roll and the hissing of a drum's cymbals. It really did seem like a show!

Grillby dimmed the lights to the front of the bar, so low it was as if they were turned off, then brightened the area around them so that the lighting was better. "Miss Frisk the Human everyone! Give it up for the kid who sings, dances and captivates the hearts of monsters everywhere!" he introduced her, his hands motioning the camera to turn to her. "Frisk, how does it feel to be a celebrity?" he added, leaning unto the counter.

A blush began to appear on her cheeks, her brown eyes turning to Napsta and the phone in his hands that recorded everything. "Um... normal. I mean, I still meet monsters who want to fight at first, but, I always try to befriend them. It's what my momma wanted." she replied, her hands playing with the frills of her old tutu. "...I had another dream, they kept calling me flower. My brother Fernando said he would be my manager, but, he's not here isn't he..."

Slowly, the background music began to blend into another version of Sans' song that Grillby had heard before. Frisk looked towards a nearby candle, watching the small flame dance while she continued to speak. "But it's okay. I have you guys. Today, I almost felt like giving up. I really want to stay here with you all, but I have to find my papa."

Grillby looked over towards Sans, noticing the way his eyes seemed so conflicted. They all wanted her to stay here, but, this was her fate, right? After joining in on this crazy journey with Sans, Grillby had realized that there wasn't much he could do, but support little Frisk and hope that she would be able to stop Chara somehow, perhaps with her good heart. Or perhaps Sans would find another way, through science although to be quite frank, Grillby hated the idea of meddling with science considering how harmful it's been thus far. Explosions? Time travel? Secret experiments?

Realizing that the room's only source of noise was the soft background music, Grillby pressed on. "I'm sure monsters wonder about you. Tell us more about you, your background, your hobbies, and interests," he asked with a smile, watching as she laughed.

"W-well... I come from the surface! Um... I fell down, and, I just, kinda forget a few things about me, but I remember sometimes through dreams. Today I had a dream, and I remember I lived in this super big house! It looked really old, and my mama was cleaning the spiderwebs and dust off the walls and fan. I don't know why, but she was doing that, and we were listening to this super catchy song and I was dancing with my big bro, and we were all singing the song in english." She finally paused, her eyes big and her smile contagious. Grillby could see that she was excited to tell her story, so excited she spoke without pausing unless she ran out air. "My big bro's name is Fernando, and he's cool just like my Uncle Juju! I really wanted to be just like them when I grew up, hehe! Super cool with glasses and uniforms, while singing and dancing all over the world! And my biggest fan would be Juandisimo!" She spoke, her eyes shimmering almost as though they were stars, her smile wide until it dropped and she looked confused. "Juandisimo? Who is he? Hm... maybe it's the cute boy with green eyes," she said to herself, blushing as she let out a girlish laugh. She covered her cheeks, looking away from the camera, her body moving from side to side as she let out a soft squeal.

"ah, a lover, eh? juicy info." joked Sans before taking a big bite out of his burger, grease falling down as the swirl of delicious flavor drifted into the air. Grillby's hand briefly planted itself on his forehead as he shook his head. Even in public air, he continued to spill puns. "Well don't just leave us hanging, tell us more about your dream." Grillby asked, once more leaning unto the counter.

"O-okay. So, we were in big house, and... and this creepy old lady came in-Opps! I mean my grandmother, my abuelita came in. They were talking, and I just kept singing. I didn't really understand what they were talking about. About me, about deals and-OH! So my big bro worked as the same thing my Uncle Juju and Papa did, which was, well, I dunno, but something about making deals with other families and shipping goods, but my mama didn't like it because we had to move later up north where they spoke nothing but English because of whatever they did. I really don't understand. But my big bro told me he was going to finish up two jobs and then he was going to be my manager. Then he took me to my dancing classes, and when we got there, I saw what I think were my friends, and there was this super, super, super cute boy in karate clothes, and he kept smiling and looking at me and I got so nervous." She once more paused, her giddy behavior coming to a stop as she thought about her next few words. "Then my big bro caught up. Everyone acted so weird, they were scared of him. Everyone just, walked away from us. Well, that boy didn't have his parents with him so he walked off because he had class, but he smiled at me before he left. And... that was my dream. I just remember singing this song..."

Napsta looked away from he camera view and watched in person as Frisk began to sway her body, humming a song before laughing and adding words to it.

"If you're lost you can look and you will find me

Time after time

If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting

Time after time.

...Time after time

Time after time

Time after time

Time after time

Time after..."

Her voice trailed off into a whisper, looking up and noticing the shock in Sans' eye sockets. Inside of his skull, he failed to grasp the idea that his words etched into her mind and somehow resurfaced a memory she had long forgotten about. He didn't even know 'Time after Time' was some sort of human song she had associated with her life, although to be precise, he could summarize her time in the underground with such a phrase. Every time the timeline resets, they go through the same dance, the same routine, with only her actions changing everything. He was always waiting for her at the end of the Judgement Hall, which was never actually a Judgement Hall, but just a regular hall which came to be dubbed the Judgement Hall after all these resets.

The ghost could see something was wrong with Sans, so instead he took out the cassette he had fixed, along with the cassette player he brought just like he had told Papyrus earlier today. That's why he had showed up to begin with. "Hey Frisk, I have a surprise for you, I think. Papyrus asked me to fix it for you, I hope you like it. It's a cassette."

Frisk watched as a cassette player slowly floated towards her, held by a ghostly glow and landing on the counter between her and Sans. She looked at her skeletal friend and realized he seemed even more confused. This really wasn't planned then...

She took a deep breath and pressed the 'Play' button. Her eyebrows furrowed as her smile grew, realizing this voice sounded so familiar. "This... this is mama. I m-m-mean, she loved this lady. I don't remember who this lady is, but, her voice is so familiar. This is the cassette I had, right? I know its silly, but... I forgot why it was so important, but I just knew it was." Frisk explained, her eyes blinking as little painful stings bothered her. Quick flashbacks came to her mind.

A woman dressed in a long, flowered skirt and frilly blouse that exposed her shoulders. Flat dancing shoes hitting the floor, her skirt going up and down, ankles exposed and flying through the air. Moving hips, swaying shoulders and long ponytail full of dark brown hair, just moving across the empty space around her.

Grillby didn't know whether Frisk was entering a catatonic state or something, but Sans didn't look too hot either. The song had ended a second ago, and now a new one had started, with what sounded like a beautiful piano intro. Too beautiful, it almost made Grillby back away because of how it reminded him of the lost sister he had met earlier today. The voice in the cassette began to sing once more, just as beautiful, and he could see that it brought Sans out of his state, and Frisk had finally moved. "Mama... this was their song," she whispered, tears once again brimming as she covered her mouth. "My mama and papa fell in love, and this was their song. She told me her papa was against it, but that she ran away with him. I remember..." she whispered, leaning towards the cassette player which continued to play.

Sans listened to the girly song, realizing that this was Florencia they were talking about, as well as Frisks' dad. Something bad happened, and this song seemed so... weird. It didn't fit the description of the situation at hand. He looked at the kid, realizing she was mouthing out the lyrics to the song as if she knew it by heart, her eyes clouded with tears that would not budge. A song that talked about dreaming of someone-Ironic knowing that Frisk was going through just that. He glanced over at Napstablook who seemed to be jamming to the music, his ghostly face looking up when Frisk had begun to verbally sing the lyrics with a certain accent to it, slowly as if her memory of the lyrics were a bit fuzzy.

"I just wanna hold you close

But so far all I have are dreams of you

So I wait for the day

And the courage to say how much I love you

Yes I do!"

As Frisk paused for the next few lines, a quick flashback dazed her. Her smile disappeared and her head hurt a bit. The sound of lightning seemed so fresh in her mind, and the feel of rain pouring over her body felt real. She was crying on the unpaved road, the rocky soil pressed hard against her legs and knees. The smell of fresh rain on the grass filled her nostrils in that moment, and the quick, bright light illuminated a shadow that had stood several feet away from her. A tall man, breathing hard and dressed in a black suit looking over her with dominant eyes and frustration. Perhaps... slight anger and hatred, piercing right through her in that vulnerable moment.

Frisk blinked and looked at Sans, wiping away the tears she had managed to keep inside her eyes. She didn't understand, she wanted to understand what her life used to be. Why did it feel so painful? Why did it make her so emotional? Who were her parents? Why could she remember her brother and uncle, but not her father or mother? She remembered what her mother liked, was like, but her face just... disappeared, and Frisk was sure that she'd forget most of her dream by tomorrow morning, remembering only the memories of what her family members were like, but forgetting their faces.

Another tall shadow loomed over them, walking closer until his red scarf seemed visible. "I GO FOR A MOMENT AND YOU START FILMING A SHOW WITHOUT ME? RUUUDE."

Napsta turned the camera to the skeleton, smiling when he realized it was only Papyrus who had returned. He posed for the camera. "HELLO VIEWERS, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BUT I'M SURE YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT! I AM THE MASTER CHEF IN MAKING SPAGHETTI, AND I WILL JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD, ERR, EVENTUALLY, BUT I WILL JOIN! I'M GLAD YOU FIXED THE CASSETTE NAPSTA! BUT I THINK WE SHOULD LET THE HUMAN LISTEN TO THIS PRIVATELY, IT IS A VERY SPECIAL ITEM TO HER."

Frisk smiled, motioning Papyrus to join beside her. She pressed the 'Stop' button, realizing that Papyrus had a point. This cassette brought out memories of her parents, perhaps? Perhaps that man in the rain, was her papa? He looked scary... was that her papa? The more she tried to remember what he looked like again, the more her head hurt, so she stopped.

"so paps, tell us about frisk. we hear that you're close to the human, that you perhaps even dated her," Sans winked towards the camera, his big grin growing bigger when he saw the look of irritation on Papyrus. "S-S-SANS!" He shouted, an orange blush appearing on the white cheekbones of his. Frisk blushed, her hands covering her cheeks as she once again got giddy. Her feet began to swing, and her shoulders moved from side to side, a classic Frisk sign that she was being bashful.

Papyrus looked at the camera then glanced at Frisk who continued to give off a goofy smile. "F-FINE, BUT YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE, MISTER! YES, THE HUMAN AND I WENT ON A DATE BUT WE BOTH DECIDED ON A STRICTLY PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP."

"but what the viewers want to know, did'ja smooch da girl?"

"S-S-SMOOCH?!" Yelped Papyrus, his orange blush intensifying and turning into a deep red color. To his side, Frisk let out a low squeal as her body moved from side to side faster than her usual bashfulness. "No we didn't smooch! I mean, we regularly kiss goodnight-O-on the head! Papy's like my brother now, he's super-duper sweet and goofy." Frisk explained, letting out a sigh. "He reminds me of this human on the surface too, t-that's why I flirted with Papy at first. Fernando said I'm a big flirt," she added with a laugh, moving a lock of hair to the side.

Napsta could feel the rush of wind behind him, so he turned out, not knowing who else would show up. Undyne stood there with her spear out. "You're filming without me?! You little TURD!" Before anyone could react, the spear flew in the air, Undyne's epic battle music blaring out.

Grillby grabbed Frisk and ducked, stumbling back as the tip of the spear pierced through the counter and stopped a foot away from his face. Frisk had screamed, crawling away from the spear.

"Oh my god... I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..." Undyne erupted in sweat, jogging to the counter. Sans' eye sockets were pitch black with a wide grin. "you uh, missed me by an inch there, buddy. you had me trembling in spear."

Slowly, the music began to distort into another tune. Grillby scrambled to his feet, picking up Frisk and setting her on the counter while staring at Sans. "Cool down, buddy, we're on live telly." Sans' beady white returned, and the distorted music ceased. His battle music almost played, he couldn't alarm Frisk with it.

Papyrus grasped Frisk, patting down a small ember that had caught unto Frisk's sweater. Poor sweater. It had a bit of scorch on the backside. Undyne gulped, looking at Grillby who stared back at her with a certain passive-aggressive smile. "Don't fret, I'll put it in your tab, Undyne." His voice a forced pleasantry.

Undyne cringed, making her spear disappear and sitting down beside Papyrus who had motioned her over. "...undyne, everyone! captain of the royal guard, showing everyone why she's a force to be reckoned with! so undyne, care to tell us about your cooking skills?"

Frisk reached for her mason jar, bringing the drink to her lips and tasting the soda and light cherry flavor before it disappeared on her tongue. She could feel the bottom of her feet tingling, slowly healing whatever damage she had incurred. She could see Sans' smile softening and turning genuine from her peripheral vision. She had refused all food and drink out of stubbornness, and perhaps Sans knew, but how? She wiggled her toes.

"My cooking skills? They're average. Cooking comes from the heart! You have to be PASSIONATE! You have to FEEL the fire and the flavors will BURST in your food!" Undyne answered, feeling herself getting a bit excited so she adjusted herself on the seat. "that sounds like good advice, a bit fishy that you call your cooking skills average though. from a scale of one to ten, how good of a teacher are ya?" asked Sans, noticing that Papyrus grinned. "SHE'S A TEN! MY SPAGHETTI HAS IMPROVED SINCE I BEGAN TAKING CLASSES!"

Undyne laughed, shaking her head. She knew everyone tried Papyrus' spaghetti. "Frisk is the better teacher. She's more patient then me to tell the truth. NOT that I teach Papyrus how to cook of course." she stated, looking at Papyrus who got flustered. "THAT'S RIGHT! UNDYNE INDEED DOES NOT EDUCATE ME IN THE COOKING WAYS OF SPAGHETTI. SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE SPAGHETTI CORRECTLY, IN FACT, THAT'S WHY HER HOUSE IS ON FIRE." Papyrus tried to cover up innocently enough.

Grillby chuckled. "Good grief, calm down Undyne. People were beginning to ask why your house was fire. Speaking of which, how is it that it's still on fire?" asked Grillby in a calm manner. Undyne's red cheeks slowly turned back to blue as she crossed her arms. How embarrassing. Papyrus just spilled the beans on everything. "I don't know, it's a magical house. My parents lived there, and I just took over. I really don't know how to put out that raging fire, every time I open the door the fire nearly burns me to a crisp. I just gave up on it." she shrugged.

Frisk finished up her soda, placing the mason jar on the counter and jumping off. She winced but her feet felt numb thanks to the drink. "Sans, are you going to tell me?" she asked innocently enough, a yawn following. Behind her, a worried Papyrus looked at Sans while Undyne huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Yeah Sans, tell us."

The short skeleton stared at them, his fake grin plastered on his face but he could see that Frisk saw through his charade. "okay, i guess i'll tell ya. it was a surprise for frisk, since she likes to sing and dance so much. give me a minute and i'll show you."

He jumped off his seat, walking over to the jukebox which had reappeared in its usual place. His back was towards them and the camera, and a few sparks seemed to fly along with the sounds of electricity and metal. Frisk slowly approached, but stopped. "wait a diddly darn moment, its almost done, sheesh kid."

When the skeleton moved away, the jukebox seemed to have a monitor attached by a cord and placed on the top. "it's a karaoke machine now. you can sing and dance at grillby's, free of charge." he winked, bracing himself as Frisk threw herself at him, her arms wrapping around his ribcage and her head against his shoulder and collar bone.

"Seriously? That's what you've been doing? All this time?" asked Undyne, jumping off her seat. Papyrus' long legs easily reached the floor, his face etched with disbelief. "you try fixing an ancient piece of human technology. i've been hanging out with grillby all night for a while now, we thought it might cheer her up, before, you know, she faces he-who-must-not-be-named-at-this-time."

Undyne tilted her head, thinking for a moment before realizing he meant King Asgore. Oh. "He won't hurt her... right?" asked Undyne, feeling confident at first but when she saw the way Sans returned the hug, doubt began to cloud her opinion.

Grillby looked at the camera, his arms motioning over towards the jukebox. "Ladies and Gentle monsters, Frisk and Company! Here to debut on her first interview!"

Frisk let go, brushing her lips against Sans' cheek before turning to the jukebox which a few bits and pieces which layers of dust. She got on her tippie toes and looked at the selection, noticing a few song tracks that had no albums. Some of them were pink covers with the silver word, 'Steamy'. It looked so girly. "No way..." whispered Frisk, staring at familiar songs. "I know this one! Jukebox Hero, it's by Foreigner! My brother loved that band! W-wait, this picture looks cool!"

Papyrus slowly walked to the child, picking her up so that she could properly see the selection. Its album looked like cartoons. "This one! Let's sing this one! All of us," grinned Frisk, her feet touching the ground and taking the microphone. "DROP POP CANDY? ARE WE DANCING TOO? NYEEH! OKAY!"

/*/*/If you haven't seen the Drop Pop Candy English Cover by Shutupadachi... its cute./*/*/

Sans watched as Frisk had begun to twirl like a ballerina, his boney finger pressing down on the 'Play' button. He stared at the monitor, his ribcage throbbing with anxiety. Please work.

Sound erupted, words popping on the screen. With a sigh of relief, Sans smiled and turned around, his hands inside the pockets of his jacket. Papyrus had begun to march in place while Frisk jumped from foot to foot, her hand handing the microphone to Sans.

Sans' eye sockets widened, watching as the girl began to push him towards the center of the karaoke machine. Her cheeks were red, probably too shy to sing. With a short sigh, he began to sing, watching as Napsta floated to the corner of the corner where he could record their faces. Frisk danced around him and Papyrus, laughing and encoring Papyrus to sing along. To Sans' surprise, Gaster's AutoType chip worked like magic, even color coding the words as a duet.

Undyne watched from the counter, chuckling as she watched the two brothers horseplay around, but something bothered her. For a moment, Frisk had stopped dancing and had staggered. When she looked up, her eyes looked different, almost glowed red. Huh. Maybe its a human thing.

As the song began to finish, Sans looked over towards Frisk and had to restrain his expression when he realized Chara red glow was in her eyes. The nerve... And yet, Chara continued to dance around like Frisk would, laughing and fluttering her eyes. "You fall down seven more times, I'll be there seven, eight, nine." She sang before turning around and dancing towards the camera.

Papyrus grinned, picking Sans up as the song finished. "THAT WAS AMAZING! WE SHOULD CONSIDER PROFESSIONAL SINGING, BROTHER!" he joked, but noticed that Sans looked a bit aggravated. He seemed to be looking at Frisk who had twirled and ran to jukebox. "This one." she whispered, her hands reaching for pockets and taking out a gold coin.

Sans turned to Grillby, not knowing what he could do. If he freaked out, the entire underground would know. He didn't know where Frisk had last SAVED, for all he knew, he might return to that hell hole of another timeline with Chara. Maybe that was it, maybe she was trying to push his buttons, that's what.

/*/*/ The song I refer to is Tokyo Teddy Bear (English Cover) by JubyPhonic /*/*/

Frisk's voice erupted, along with an electric guitar, Chara controlling her body so that she looked at the camera.

"To my loving mom and dad, I'm sorry and I'm to blame;

Knees weak and crumbling, thumb pressed and bitten away.

To my brother, sister, and the rest, I'll see you around.

My sole is blackening, I'm breaking all of it down!

Yeah!"

Papyrus backed away with Sans in his arms, realizing that she was really projecting some sort of rockstar aura. She wasn't even looking at the screen! WOWIE! Now THAT was a professional! Even her pronunciation got really good! It uh... almost sounded like a different Frisk. And this music, it sounded so... edgy, a bit darker than what he thought Frisk liked.

Sans jumped out of Papyrus arms, taking a step towards the human when she did a 180 degree turn, her hand reaching towards him. "I cried 'Why can't I just be loved?' to no one," she sang, Frisk's face looking fierce and frustrated before she turned once more to the camera. "Maybe grinding my old scissors I could slice the look my off my face." She dramatically swiped her free hand on her face, twirling and rolling her shoulders.

"Send me a sign, some god on high, show me the words I need to know.

So say I'm fine and clear my mind

'Cause why not? I. DON'T. KNOW.

Facing a new day with a new pain, rocking up and down the night.

Ripping at seams, I beg and plead, just sew me up again."

Undyne's hands turned to fists, running towards Frisk with her hands turned to fists. "YEAAAH! PASSION!" she joined in, shaking her head to the beat of the drums. "...Well then..." Grillby breathed out, leaning forward as he watched with interest while Sans boiled over with anger.

Chara glanced at Undyne, smirking as she froze and looked at the camera which Napsta had been moving around to get different angles and to fit the edgy music. "To the world I say goodbye, and sir I'm wishing you well. Pushing out my chest to see me drool through tiresome hell."

Undyne suddenly picked her up as though showing her off like some sort of cute puppy, going along with her dramatization. As the song continued to play and Frisk's uncanny voice sang, Sans and Grillby whispered to each other.

"No doubt about it, Chara holds quite the negative feelings. How does she know the words by heart?" Grillby whispered, continuing to watch while Sans looked at him. "quit it, grillbz. stop encoring her. she's a demon, she'll never change. she's not frisk, she doesn't have any good in 'er." Sans insisted, turning when the guitar changed to a mellow tune.

"There's nothing to find, no, nothing to find, I severed everything I had

Sinking alive through waves of twine, dragging me down alone

I'm nowhere to find, no, nowhere to find, threw me aside and left again

Running away from now a place I'll never call a home!"

Grillby perked up, in his peripheral vision noticing that Sans had winced and flinched.

Napsta watched as Frisk sang the mellow part, noticing in her eyes an actual conflict of emotions and her expression turning to genuine pain. Her usual brown eyes were red? And kinda glowed, but that glow was now blurred by a cloud of tears. In a split second, Frisk's free hand grasped her forehead and hair, her nails digging into her hair.

"Am I alive? Aah SHUT UP! More lies falling out this living mask

Give me the endgame, skip the foreplay before I explode.

Can I ever change? Can I stay the same?

Fade away? But save who I am inside!

Ripping at seams, I pull the string to finally meet the end."

Napsta stopped moving the camera, his large eyes staring at the human with concern as she slouched, her hand covering her face and turning around as she let go of the microphone. Undyne, who had been blown away by the raw energy she spilled on the karaoke floor, went after Frisk and picked her up before she fell nearly fell down. "Frisk, you okay shrimp?" she asked, holding her in her arms. Sans had run up to Undyne, staring at her face with such an intensity, it sort of scared Undyne. Grillby meanwhile had walked around the counter, looking at the camera. "That, uh, Give it up for Frisk the Human! Debuting on our first and last episode of, Late Night with Grillby and Sans."

Sans let out a sigh of relief, his hands pinching her cheeks as her brown eyes stared back at him. "Oww..." she whispered, blinking as Undyne turned them around towards the camera. She yawned and waved at the camera.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Nous Reviens Au Noir

And Switch

*********°*********•*********°*********

The friendly ghost floated beside the fishwoman and the short skeleton, examining the human's face. "Your eyes changed back." he stated, handing the phone to Sans who began to upload the video. "y-yeah, its uh, a human trait, very rare. it uh, means she needs to sleep! you don't wanna sleep with the fish, right?" he winked, backing away as Undyne tried to headbutt him. "I'm... sleepy..." she yawned again, holding out her arms towards Papyrus who had approached. Without saying a word, the tall skelly picked her up and carried her in his arms, looking at Undyne. "ITS VERY LATE! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR OUR MORNING PRACTICE AT THIS RATE!"

Undyne peeked over Sans' phone, her eyes widening when she saw what time it was. "You need to sleep, shrimp. If you want those footies to be as good as new, we need to get you to bed NOW!" She roared, running towards the door and opening it for Papyrus who had also begun to run, but instead of taking the door, he went head first out the window, his arm shielding Frisk from any harm.

"...my window..." whispered Grillby, the fire in his hair growing big in a small explosion of fury. Sans turned towards his friend, scared for moment before taking out gold coins out of his pockets. "here, take it all, i'll even fix it for ye." he laughed nervously, but before he could do anything, he looked over to the ghost who continued to float in the room.

"...oh. Uh, yeah, I'll just... disappear now. Thanks for having me." he said in an apologetic tone, turning to mist and disappearing. Finally alone with his friend, Sans' blue eye appeared and he turned to the broken glass. Grillby watched as each shard came back to its original place. "you uh, got tape?"

In the corner of the room, the tall forgotten phantom face palmed himself as he let out a sigh. "Do you enjoy making yourself look like an idiot?" he asked himself, slowly floating to his son. "I suppose I used to act like that too. Ugh, I was the worst, and yet," he sighed once more, taking a deep breath.

To his surprise, a ball of light shot through the broken window which neither Sans nor Grillby could see. "And yet you would give it all up to go back to those days, right?" it said with Florencia's familiar voice, but the ball continuing to keep its sphere form.

A gentle rolling laugh escaped Gaster as he relaxed, his darkness turning back into a thin coat and his form slim and ghoulish. "You took the bait once, am I to believe you are to take it once more?" he asked as he walked to Sans who had begun to tape the window. Her voice answered, "No. I just want to know, if you would have used Arial." she asked, the light beginning to revolve around Gaster.

Puzzled by her words, Gaster shook his head. "No, I would never-" he began to say, but Florencia just as quick cut him off. "So you didn't want to capture her human SOUL at first? You weren't trying to become powerful enough to destroy your own kin?"

Anger began to seep into his expression. "No! I loved her!" he shouted, but the sphere only continued to circle him. "Before or after learning about SOUL absorption. You left me thinking, Gaster. You really left me thinking. Maybe I was a trophy wife to Pablo, that's why he got closer to me. Who's to say you didn't get close to Arial just because,"

Out of frustration, Gaster swiped at the sphere, but instead of going through it burned his hand. It was like fire, a ball of fire and he had just passed his hand through it. The lust for warmth before was unnerving, but now, this explosion of heat on his hand felt miserable. It was too warm now. Too hot.

Yet somehow... it burned for other reasons.

Silence had enveloped the two ghosts, leaving Florencia to the conclusion that she was right. Instead of arguing his logic, Gaster looked away with a horrified expression.

Back in reality, Sans had finished taping the glass together. "ya know grillbz, i don't think i've ever gotten this attached to someone since, well, your sis. i wanna keep frisk safe from chara and anyone who would try to harm 'er, but, time after time, at the end of each timeline, i blocked her path. i'd judge her. the first two times, i'd let her go, but then she slowly changed. the first time i fought her, she was sloppy. some more resets, and chara began to kick in, i'm sure. she'd taunt, she'd laugh, her movement would get faster. frisk never got past the barrier after the second time. i've been playing chara's game since then, grillby. i've killed frisk."

Walking to the cooler side of the bar, Grillby held himself as he let out a puff of hot air. "You didn't know, Sans," he stated as firmly as he could, but the short skeleton only shook his head. "that's irrelevant. i mean, think about it, grillby. what if you had accidently burned someone to a crisp, would you forget that so easily?"

Stunned by his question, Grillby stood there in silence. "yeah, i didn't think so. now, to put this into perspective: what if you went back in time and killed steamy because you knew she was ordered to kill you, only to later find out she was your relative? what if you did this hundreds of times, over and over again? i guess its like that, ever since i realized frisk was the victim, i just became so protective, but the one who hurt her the most was me."

As the two monsters walked back to the counter, Gaster had finally spoken up. "Sure, I was introduced to Arial for all the wrong reasons, but that doesn't mean I would have... she grew on me, okay?"

Walking over towards the two friends, Gaster watched as Sans drank his mason jar of ketchup, balancing the jar on his skull as a joke. "I was a really awkward person growing up. I didn't really have friends until she introduced me to Asgore. Well, I mean, I knew Asgore, I just never took the time to befriend him. I met her through Segoe when I was just as angsty teen and she was a kid around Frisk's age; Segoe was analyzing her family. When I learned that her parents had a special bond that manifest itself as a being of higher power, I guess I did become more interested. She was a human with a ghoul dad, maybe she was a more potent human than the others, I figured. I couldn't meet with her through traditional means, so we exchanged postcards for years on end. Her silliness manifested itself unto me, and I began to try out being more like her. I imitated what he wrote to me, just the silliest things. Rolling down hills, sticking straws up my nose, burping the alphabet, oh god the horror." he laughed to himself, covering his face as he reminisced. "But as silly as the actions were, they made me feel alive for once. I wasn't a ghoul, or the son of the most prominent scientists, I was just... me. All her postcards and letters made me laugh and try out new things that Segoe hated. One day, she invited me to a school gathering of some sort. The royal prince was to be there in attendance and I used that as an excuse for Segoe. I flew over to her side of the world, and..." Gaster smiled, a tint of purple on his cheeks.

"Well, when I got there, she was backstage and preparing for her magic act in the school talent show. Asgore had recognized me and welcomed me with open arms. I sat in the front row with him, watching as monsters came in and out of those curtains, each with some sort of talent. I was fascinated with this idea of a school, a place where monsters would gather to learn together, and grow together. They had a social system of a sort, I really didn't believe school was more than just learning, but it also entailed a social system in itself. From what Arial had written me, she had transferred to an all monster school with her best friend Tory, and it just happened to be that Tory was Asgore's illegitimate girlfriend. She was the last one on stage, and she just dazzled the audience with magic tricks that baffled the audience, myself included. Tory was her assistant, and together they portrayed a fight scene that looked so realistic, I thought Toriel would light the school on fire." he chuckled to himself.

"After the show, Asgore and I became better acquainted. In an effort to spend more time with Arial in person, I went along with Asgore's over friendliness and took trips to the capital over the weekend. Before I knew it, Asgore started calling me one of his best friends, and Segoe was so thrilled she disregarded all my disappearances from the lab. We'd go on little adventures, and the more time I spent with Arial, the more I realized she wouldn't tell me everything about her life in her post cards. She'd hide her conflicts with other humans. Eventually Tory explained to me her rocky relationship with other humans, and how they would torment her. I guess, I sort of began to see her differently. My interest in her changed from absorbing her SOUL to just being with her. Grandpa Semi eventually caught on and Segoe found out when she hacked her way into my room. I remember this one time, I brought her to the labs and Grandpa Semi made a little welcome party for her. He brought out this gigantic cake he made himself and we all nearly choked on the flavor. He had mistaken the sugar for salt, you see. Next thing I know, she jumped head first into that thing and we had a cake fight. It was all good until Segoe ruined it. Grandpa Semi took her away while I argued with her and that eventually led to the creation of a super computer named Vinnie. I didn't like being told who I could or couldn't be with, so with more reason I began to spend more time with her. One thing led to another, next thing I know I'm completely and utterly in love with that insufferable woman," he laughed, sitting down on one of the bar seats, looking at Sans.

The little ball of light soon began to circle around Sans before falling down on the counter beside his hand. Gaster watched with little interest at first, but when he saw that Sans held out his hand and looked at Florencia's sphere form, he became alarmed.

"Hm? What's that, Sans?" asked Grillby, shaking glass hard before slowly spilling the shaken cocktail on the mug, a low green fire falling along with the drink. "i dunno... florence, is that you?" he asked, his head rested on top of his other arm. "Florence?" asked Grillby, taking a sip of the hot cocktail which was still lit.

"Chara is scared witless. Something happened while I was recharging? What happened? She spoke with Frisk and asked her to play with you all. I take it that something happened between you two?" asked the little throbbing ball of light.

Grillby spurted out his flaming cocktail while Sans wiped away the spilled drink on his skull. "grillbz, chill you almost burned me." His narrow eye sockets looked over at the flamesman who cleaned up the spill while Sans patted down the small flames on his shirt. He then turned to the little ball of light, staring at it for a while before answering. "a bit of a long story, florence, but yeah. a few things happened, nothing too important. well, i guess... i mean, i saw my momster and dadster."

Gaster looked at his son, leaning his head as he awaited the continuation. "i missed him. the old him, before he went crazy, but uh, i guess his craziness was bound to be freed someday. momster's death just increased his level of crazy. i guess it was nice, but, it wasn't right. we're going to fix this timeline, one way or another. i'm not about to invade another timeline and screw them up."

Grillby smelled the cocktail before taking a sip, cocking the line above his eyes when Sans slammed his fist into the counter. The sphere moved around. "Whatever happens, I believe in you." Before disappearing, the little ball landed on his forehead before vanishing.

Gaster looked around, feeling the darkness seep back in and darkening the room around him. Alone again. His hand reached for his pocket, taking out a small packet of cigars. He absentmindedly put the cigar between his lips and it magically lit up. For what it was worth, at least the visual display of smoking relieved him a bit, even if it was all just like him, a ghost. His attention turned to Grillby who had taken out several bottles and a small case. "After all those experiences, I think we deserve this. I'll take you home after this." said the flamesman, pouring some more of the mild special ketchup unto a mason jar. Sans grinned, gripping his jar and raising it high. "to being old," he toasted, watching as Grillby opened the case and took two cigars. "To friendship." Grillby added, clinking his drink against Sans'. Soon thereafter, the two shared the cigars which filled Gaster with nostalgia. The simple pleasures of life... he couldn't even enjoy the perks of the after death like Florencia. The famous Dr. Gaster reduced to a silent exile that would drive anyone mad.

The smoke from the cigars filled the dimly lit counter, and the two friends silently drowned whatever ailed them while the phantom beside them pretended to smoke alongside them. It almost felt as though he were right there with them, if it weren't for that impenetrable darkness that seemed to darken the room.

The phantom's left hand stretched, moving the burn scars he had left there as a certain reminder. He could have just as easily renewed the appearance of his hand, but by just looking down at his hand he could relieve the thrill of feeling his hand burn.

This darkness had an exit, somewhere. Some variable, some area perhaps, something that could connect him to the real world. He couldn't rely on the mistake Chara had created, no, there had to be another way, and he was going to find it.

"Alright Sans, let's get you to your house." Grillby broke the silence, walking over to the short skeleton who had grabbed onto the counter for balance. As soon as Grillby had touched his shoulder, his blue eye flashed and the two disappeared with a breeze that blew out the lights of the bar. Left alone, Gaster got up from the seat and began to walk to the front door as though he were still a person. He raised the collar on his long black coat and snuggled inside of it, hoping to feel warmth but finding none. He was going to find a way back.

But for now, it was back to black.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Coming up next. . .

MTT: Behind the Scenes

Double Crossed

*********°*********•*********°*********

Waking up with a start, Alphys fell down her chair and her ramen noodles spilled all around her face and upper body. "W-what is it, Mettaton?" she asked with an irritated tone, looking up and looking at the rectangular robot roll around her clean floor.

"WHAT IS IT?! You still have the audacity to ask me that, Alphys?! You had ONE job! Not only have my ratings plummeted, but now there's a brand new show starring Frisk and its ratings are OFF THE ROOF!" complained Mettaton.

"...A new show? What Show?" asked Alphys as she sat up. Rolling over to the front of the giant monitor, Mettaton began to surf the monster web and soon enough a video popped up on her screen. "Grillby's? Oh... it's the mysterious user who's been uploading a lot of Frisk footage."

"That mysterious user is stealing all my views! And no thanks to YOUR brilliant plan, my popularity is OVER." cried the robot, turning to Alphys who had stood up. "H-hey! You want that new body; you need to help me be friends with Frisk! No friendship, no body." Alphys demanded, crossing her arms.

The robot stared for a while before beginning to roll towards the door. "FINE! But I'll have you know, you're being awfully mean to me! Our friendship is OVER."

Alphys furrowed her eyebrows, putting her hands on her hips. "FINE!" Alphys screamed back, her chest rising and falling with anger up until the door to the lab closed behind Mettaton. Once he was gone, Alphys fell back down unto the wet floor. "Oh Mettaton... you're being mean too." she whispered, but shook her head. Mettaton had stopped hanging out with her once his popularity grew, so why should she feel guilty?

Why was she feeling guilty?

Rolling on the earth, Mettaton grumbled to himself as he took the elevators. It was the early hours of the morning, so no one was around which was a relief. The thought of monsters looking at him and disliking him for what Alphys was making him do was the worst feeling in the world. What was he to do?

Lost in his thoughts, he bumped into a lady who looked at him with several eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry darling!" Mettaton apologized. Letting out a cute laugh, the spider nodded. "It's okay! I was just about to start working at my bakery."

Mettaton looked at the table. "Spider Bake Sale...?" he questioned, turning to the young spider. She smiled and nodded. "Yes Mr. Robot! Money donated will help us finance a way to reunite the spider clans."

Mettaton looked at her. "Mr. Robot? Don't you know who I am?" He asked innocently enough. She shook her head. "I don't believe we've met."

Ah, probably a young lady who works too hard. Perhaps she didn't watch television? ...which probably means they don't catch up on the news. Thinking for a minute, held out his hand. "I'm a friend, Miss Spider-Lady. I'm moved by your story, and I will donate you a considerable amount in exchange of a favor." Mettaton spoke, shaking her hand.

"Really! That's great! What can I do?" she asked with enthusiastic eyes.

"There's a human in the underground, but I'm afraid they mean you harm. Humans on the surface, you see, they hate spiders. They stomp on them and tear their legs off-just horrible things. Since you look like quite a strong spiderette, I please ask that you help the underground by capturing their SOUL. In exchange of their SOUL, I will make a big donation. The SOUL will be used for the greater good, I assure you."

Muffet gasped, taking a step back and cringing. Her other arms wrapped around her body as he listened to Mettaton's offer. "Greater good? It'll reach King Asgore, I assume. If it's for the greater good, I'll do it, of course! But what if the human is nice? I don't think I'll be able to do it if they're nice." Muffet countered.

Mettaton nodded. "Of course. When they come by, offer them a baked good. If they refuse, it's because they're stingy! A true noble human would buy a baked good for 9999 gold," Mettaton exaggerated, looking at the twinkling eyes. "Of course! What a great suggestion! Thank you...?" she thanked, shaking his hand.

"Hm? Ah, I'm just a friend."

*********°*********•*********°*********

The Next Day...

*********°*********•*********°*********

Sitting down on carpet, the rectangular robot was still with its hands positioned in his mediation stance. The fingers on his hands were lapsed on each other while the thumbs connected, creating a circle as he continued to rest in his low power state, a few long cords attached and transfering some electrical juice to keep his internal battery fully charged.

On cue, an alarm clock began to ring and the robot stirred, moving his hands apart and reaching for the clock on the small stable on his right side. There was a paper report of what his ratings had been for the past few days, and it was horrendous. That steep decline, all just because he had begun to attack the human on live TV.

With a sigh, Mettaton removed the cords and had begun to make his way out of his current abode within Alphy's lab. Rolling by, he put his hands where his hips should be, cringing internally at this... curve less body. At first, all he ever wanted was to make people happy, to see a smile on everyone's face. Quiz shows, singing, drama, all of that worked to make monsters happy. The happier they got, the more fulfilled Mettaton felt, until slowly the feeling of wishing to fulfill his own happiness crept into his soul.

As Mettaton rolled down the white halls towards the elevator, a simple thought came to mind. A body. A body with which he'd be able to fully express himself, herself, itself. Express his glamour, his happiness through dance and smiles. Perhaps wear a dress? Or a suit? Oh the dilemma on such a thought! But then, if he wore a dress, could it be confusing? Would monsters... not like it? Despise it?

As the doors to the elevator opened, his train of thought was disrupted by the sight of Alphys who walked with a cup of ramen in her hands. Rolling away in silence, Mettaton kept a haughty air around him. How dare she use his dream against him?

Rolling over to his mailbox, his confidence dropped when there was a single letter awaiting him. Usually, he got twenty or so letters per day minimum. Grabbing the single letter, he went about his day.

It was late in the afternoon now, perhaps an hour away from being evening. He had skipped filming today, a sort of day off, and had spent it mediating so that he could focus on positive energy. The only problem was... everything he was doing was far from positive.

Could he really reap a young child's SOUL? Even if it was for the greater good, even if it meant saving thousands, if not millions of human souls in the process...

Could he really kill an innocent child and live with the thought? Heavens to betsy, no, he would not be able to live with himself. But could he live with the thought of having the power to save millions, and not doing so?

Turning on his rocket, he ascended into the air and began to peruse the area. Surely, the human must have returned. Hopefully the famous baker, Muffet, was able to subdue that little child. But what if his plan failed? What if Frisk was able to charm her way through Muffet? Well, there was only one way to do it, and that was to take the SOUL himself as he had originally planned. On stage, live, one last grand performance.

As he reached his musical stage, he realized that the little human was stumbling around, taking layers upon layers of web off herself. "I thought too soon... oh dear, back to playing cat and mouse." he thought to himself, racing to the little backstage where he proceeded to put on his dress. A quick glance at the mirror heightened his nervousness, knowing fully well the underground was used to his skits where he posed as a female as a joke but...

"I'M JUST TOO FABULOUS! DON'T SWEAT IT, METTATON! IT'S FINE; IT IS! AND THIS DRESS IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, I MUST NOT LET SUCH AN UGLY THOUGHT RUIN THIS SPECTACULAR MOMENT." Mettaton said to himself, bolstering his confidence as he assumed his position and awaited Frisk.

Taking a peek, Mettaton realized the poor child was absolutely covered in sticky webs and she would take a while. Taking the letter from out his compartment, he realized the letters on the cover looked familiar. "Ah! It's a regular fan!" squealed Mettaton inside his robotic head, carefully opening the letter.

"DEAR METTATON,

HELLO, ITS P AGAIN. HOW ARE YOU? I HOPE YOU'RE ALRIGHT. THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS, YOU'VE BEEN ATTEMPTING TO KILL THE HUMAN, AND I'M QUITE CONCERNED. AS YOUR #1 FAN, I PLEASE BEG OF YOU TO HAVE MERCY WITH HER. SHE'S A REALLY NICE AND KIND HUMAN, AS I'M SURE YOU ARE TOO. DON'T GET ME WRONG, I STILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOU AND YOUR SHOWS, BUT IF YOU COULD PLEASE RECONSIDER.

I HOPE YOU DON'T TAKE MY WORDS THE WRONG WAY. I'M STILL YOUR #1 FAN.

P."

Slowly, Mettaton put the paper back into the envelope. A fan, was still a fan. "My number one fan, huh? Would you still be my fan after I collect her SOUL, I wonder?"

*********°*********•*********°*********

MTT Prime Time Special, on now!

Undertale: The Musical

Written and directed by Toby Fox

Starring: Mettaton and Frisk

*********°*********•*********°*********

Frisk let out a long sigh, smiling as the last of the web was thrown aside. Her hands ran through her hair, making sure nothing sticky was left behind, but all the web was finally gone! What a relief!

Taking a few steps forward, her badly worn ballerina shoes softly tapped on the floor. Her head turned to her left side, noticing a beautiful scenic view of a town. Up high was a moon and stars dangling by a rope, and Frisk could only grin. "Woah... it's just like..."

A quick flash of a memory popped into her mind, a stage with a midnight scene painted. The moon and the Stars dangling by rope held down by two children, and the curtains opening to a bright light.

Her forehead rested inside the palm of her hands, wincing as she recovered from the sudden pain. She looked up beside the stars, and realized that it looked a lot like this was a scene. An actual scene!

"OH? THAT HUMAN..."

The little girl's head snapped towards the top of the building, her eyes widening much like her smile. A low rumbling squeal began to vibrate deep within her, her hands coming up her chest as she tried to contain her sudden happiness.

"COULD IT BE?" Mettaton asked, poking his head out and noticing the excitement in Frisk. She liked this. She liked his idea. Would she like the rest of his idea, he wondered? Knowing that his pause had been long enough, he revealed the rest of his body, standing with his hands clapsed together as he looked down upon that youthful expression. "...MY ONE TRUE LOVE?"

Frisk let out a gentle laugh as she wrinkled her nose. Her hands wiped her face and moved all the loose strands of hair to the side or over her ear. The background music began to roll in, a gentle song which was not a piano. It sounded... heavenly. It was beautiful, a most fitting melody. It was a perfect melody to dance to... yes! Yes, it was! With the sudden flashback she had earlier, her feet suddenly knew certain steps she had not known before.

Her feet stood on her tippy toes, her arms extending out as she twirled slowly using the tips of her feet while Mettaton slowly rolled down the stairs with his hands holding the skirt of his dress. As her body turned, the robot watched, mesmerized by her movement, but keeping track of his body so that his small 'play' would not be ruined.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the little girl's legs were bending and her arms created a circle with her eyes closed. But when those eyes fluttered open, her arms were once more extended out, her left hand reaching out for Mettaton with sparkling pupils.

Careful not to lose control of himself, Mettaton began to sing.

"Oh my love

Please run away,"

Her little feet hopped away and landed on their tips, that body of hers circling around before hopping away when he sang it.

"Monster King

Forbids your stay,"

He sang with emotion, the back of his left hand on his forehead, or what would be his forehead. He glanced and saw the way Frisk continued to move with that tutu, slower and portraying a sad expression. Where did she learn to dance and act like that?

"Humans must

Live far apart

Even if

It breaks my heart."

A pang of pain suddenly shook his metal body, his hands covering his face but deep inside he was fighting back the sentimental tears that he could not shed. Why were his lyrics suddenly so important to him? Why did the words that he had chosen suddenly sting so much? Surely, yes, they were meant to captivate and move the audience, but he himself could not be moved. He could break character and ruin the show! And that was just what was happening.

Another sudden pain overwhelmed his body. Rejection. That's what would happen if he lost character, if he let his emotions dictate this scene.

Frisk had smoothly gotten closer to Mettaton, her legs straight and her feet moving quickly as she slowly tippie toed her way to him. Just then, flower petals began to blow towards them, slowly twirling down. Cue!

"They'll put you

In the dungeon,"

As he sang, the little girl's legs began to move and she jumped away, her left leg rising up and falling down her hands moving as she twirled faster and faster, soon enough moving once more using her little feet that seemed to try to outdo themselves and her arms to help her express what she was dancing. Why was he captivated by her performance? Why did he feel like he could dance just like her? Why was he limited to a wheel?

"It'll suck

And then you'll die a lot

Really Sad

You're gonna Die"

The breeze and the flower petals only made her dance all the more hypnotizing. Up high in the beams, he could see the camera and the monitor with the ratings. Falling, again. They were interested in the show, up until he had to change the lyrics to appease Alphys' crazy plot.

"Cry cry cry

So sad its happening."

Slowly, Frisk came to a stop, her large eyes watching as his hands reached towards her and petting her head. Her flushed cheeks were a pink and her breaths were steady from all the dancing that had just occurred.

He needed strength to put out this cute little muffin.

"SO SAD. SO SAD THAT YOU'RE GOING TO THE DUNGEON."

Backing away, he could see the confusion in her eyes. She was too innocent and naive to know what was happening now, wasn't she?

With a heavy heart, Mettaton raised his arms with the button on his left hand. "WELL TOODLES!"

*********°*********•*********°*********

Stay tuned for...

Playtime with Chara!

*Memories

*********°*********•*********°*********

The trapdoor opened beneath Frisk and Sans could himself falling as well, looking around franticly. "chara..." he growled under his breath, as everything slowly began to fade to black. Beside him, the ghostly body of a teenage Chara floated and she reached for him, grabbing his shoulders with panic in her eyes. "Listen to me bonehead! Gaster knows! He's going to kill me, we're-"

Pitch black.

Opening his eyes, he saw Rex on top of him, his slobbering tongue licking his eye sockets. "r-rex!" he shouted with a laugh, his arms wrapping around his body as his fingers grasped the furs. "We're back? I'm actually looking forward to talking to Steamy." Beamed Grillby.

Just then, the smile on Sans disappeared for a moment. Chara was in trouble, but, if this was another timeline... What if, they stayed here? What if Chara died and ceased to exist in this world? Perhaps this timeline could...

"SANS? THERE YOU ARE! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING, SILLYBONES?" asked Arial with a smile, her head tilting and the hairs of the wig gently falling down unto her shoulders. Grillby looked at skeletal woman. "We're wrestling with Rex miss Arial. Would you like to join us?" asked Grillby with his childish voice. Arial looked at him funny and Grillby realized his folly once more. "OH YOU'RE SUCH AN EDUCATED LITTLE BOY! STEAMY IS DOING A GREEEAAAT JOB! I WISH MY LITTLE SANS WOULD SPEAK SO ELOQUENTLY, JUST LIKE MY GEEGEE, BUT I GUESS SANS IS JUST A LITTLE TAD LAZY, BUT THAT'S ALRIGHT. THAT'S JUST WHO HE IS, AND HE'S PERFECT THIS WAY. HE'S MY LITTLE LAZY MARSHMALLOW."

A bright blue blush was quickly painted across his cheeks. "mooooom," Sans whined as Rex got off of him and he sat up.

Sitting down on the grass, Arial stretched her long legs and leaned back on her arms. "YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR GRANDFATHER... I NEVER REALLY TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS, HUH? I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT AND THEY CAME TO MIND."

Grillby sat down and crossed his legs, his arms on his legs as he positioned his head unto his hands. Sans scooted over to Arial, letting his head fall down unto her arm.

"MY FATHER ROMAN WAS A LAZY BONES TOO. INSTEAD OF WORKING AT THE LABS, HE'D RUN OFF AND PRACTICE HIS FIGHTING SKILLS. ALL DAY AND NIGHT, JUST HONING HIS SKILL DEPRIVED HIS ENERGY, SO HE'D FALL ASLEEP ON THE JOB. BEFORE MY MOM, THIS WAS ALL HE DID. AFTER MEETING MY MOM, HE BECAME MORE RESPONSIBLE AND HE WOULD SECRETLY WATCH OVER HER AND MAKE SURE NO HARM CAME TO HER. DURING THOSE TIMES, A VERY FEW MONSTERS AND QUITE A LOT OF HUMANS DIDN'T LIKE HUMANS WHO ASSOCIATED WITH MONSTERS. WHEN HE DECIDED TO SETTLE DOWN, HE MADE PROTECTING HER HIS ONE AND ONLY JOB. BUT EVEN AFTER SETTLING DOWN, HE WAS SO LAZY AT THE HOUSE."

Grillby laughed, looking at Sans who looked at him a bit confused. "Sans is very lazy." Grillby stated, noticing a small tinge of blue on his white cheeks. "you have no proof, grillbz." Sans retorted.

Arial looked up, taking in the air although she no longer had any lungs. "HE TAUGHT ME TO ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE, WHICH WAS REALLY HARD TO LEARN WHEN YOU'RE SUPER HYPER ALL THE TIME. HE TOLD ME THAT WE ONLY GET ONE LIFE, AND WE HAVE TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT. IF WE JUST RUSH THROUGH LIFE TO GET WHAT WE WANT, WHEN WE GET IT, IT WON'T BE THE SAME. I THOUGHT THAT ONE DAY I'D SEE HIM AND MY MOM AGAIN, BUT ITS BETTER THIS WAY. NOTHING CAN EVER BEAT THE ORIGINAL, EVEN IF BY SOME CHANCE WE GO BACK TO A WORLD WHERE EVERYTHING IS BACK TO HOW WE KNEW IT."

Sans' back stiffened, his eye sockets wide as he stared at his mother who continued to look up at the sky. "momster, why are you-?" he began to ask, but was silenced by her sincere smile. "THERE WAS THIS CRAZY PLAN THE SCIENTISTS HAD BEFORE THE WAR. FOR SOME STRANGE REASON MY MOTHER AND FATHER WARNED ME ABOUT IT IN MY DREAMS. YOU'RE YOUR FATHER'S SON SO I NEED YOU TO PROMISE ME YOU'LL NEVER TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT. BESIDES, SOMETHING ABOUT MESSING WITH THE UNKNOWN IS REALLY SCARY, I DON'T WANT YOU OR MY GEEGEE TO GET HURT."

Grillby looked at Sans who seemed to be in a deep thought. What was there to think about? Looking back to the garden, Grillby noticed that Chara was nowhere to be seen, and that Asriel had gone back to the castle. Did Chara perhaps go with Asriel?

"...you don't know what you're asking me to promise momster..." Sans mumbled under his breath, looking away and feeling the staggering stares of his mother. "SANS?" she asked innocently enough.

Standing up from where he had been, he managed to look his mother in the eyes. "...what if you died, and dad went crazy? what if half the monster population vanishes, along with dad? what if an innocent human was being manipulated by a demon to kill everyone in the underground? would i still be in the wrong for wanting to timeskip?"

Grillby did a double take, his heart beating fast as Ariel looked at him with a puzzled look which eventually distorted into a frown. "...you're serious, aren't you...?" she asked, sitting up with her legs crossed, patting the ground in front of her so that Sans would sit down.

So Gaster acting weird lately had to do with the research his parents left behind. It had to. He hadn't listened to her and destroyed the data, he kept it and was going to try to use it.

As Sans sat down, Grillby got up from his place. "I will excuse myself now, please... go easy on him. He's gone through too much."

*********°*********•*********°*********

The tall walls of the castle loomed over Grillby as his little feet took long strides. It had been a good few hours and he had scouted the entire castle without finding Chara or Asriel. That... was weird.

"Hmm? What are you doing all alone little monster?" asked King Asgore as he turned on the corner and noticed the little flamesboy. "Ah! M-mister King Asgore, I uh... would you happen to know where Chara is?" asked Grillby, noticing that he seemed confused. "Why, I hope she's with Steamy. Steamy and Asriel said they were all going to the labs to catch up on a few lessons, did she not tell you?" asked King Asgore.

"O-oh! That's right, I forgot! Thank you, Mr. Dreemurr, sir." Grillby managed to say, bowing his head as he began to run the opposite way. Something was very wrong.

Before Asgore could question the child, he was far gone. In his hands, he held two cups of tea and continued to make his way to the family room. When he got there, the sweet smell of butterscotch cinnamon pie filled the atmosphere, and his beloved wife sat in on the sofa chair beside the lit hearth. "I got two fresh tea cups of golden flower." he announced, putting them down on the table and turning to Toriel who smiled. "Ever since Chara began to plant that flower, you've drank nothing but its tea!" she laughed, putting down the book and walking to the table.

With a nod, Asgore sat down and adjusted the cape behind him. "Those flowers grew and expanded so quickly with the help of Asriel. It's good to see him outside his room for a change, although last night's adventure left me concerned. Did Chara explain why her hand...?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing and his smile falling flat as Toriel placed a neatly cut piece of pie in front of him. Just like him, her smile vanished and her eyes casted down as she shook her head. "...no. Perhaps she had another nightmareand she thought it'd be a good idea to go for a walk again. You do remember how much of a handful she was the first month, no?" she asked, sitting down opposite of Asgore and extending her hands out so that they clasped his.

Letting out a quick chuckle, Asgore nodded and tilted his head to the side. "How could I forget? Asriel would wake us at night and we'd find her limping around aimlessly or at a scenic area. Asriel had a knack for finding her."

Toriel let go of Asgore's left hand and took a sip of her tea. "Now they just run around all over the underground. I get worried sometimes, but they always come home right at lunch and supper without fail. I think she's had a wonderful effect on Asriel. He's more sociable and I think they look so cute together," Toriel confessed with a quick giggle.

Asgore let out a hearty laugh, taking a sip of his tea as well. "Asriel has certainly begun to grow a bit. I'm just concerned about how he'll accept Chara's mortality in the future. If things between the two do work out, I can't imagine the hurt he'll go through. It's cute Tory, but let's be practical. Asriel is better off keeping Chara as a friend. By the time he's a teenager, she might..."

Toriel's left hand squeezed his right hand, her eyes darting down unto her cup of tea. "I don't want to lose my child. She's our little Chara. She calls us her parents, she hugs us and she's just a darling." She spoke in a soft voice, her watery eyes looking up to see Asgore in a slight panic.

"Tory, don't cry! I'm sorry, it's okay. Everything will work out, you'll see. Here, this will make you feel much better."

Toriel fought back the tears and smiled as Asgore picked up a spoonful of pie and slowly brought it to her lips. "Oh, fluffybuns..." she whispered with a coy smile, a slight blush appearing chomped down on the spoon. With their gazes locked unto each other, Asgore gave her his goofy love-struck smile and blew her a kiss.

She began to chew on the pie as she got up from her chair and leaned over the table, catching Asgore off guard. "Thank you sweetpie." She chuckled, nuzzling his nose before landing a gentle kiss on his forehead.

The flustered King Fluffybun could only grin.

Looking at the time, Toriel gasped. "We're late! We need to go buy more snails if you want snail pie tomorrow."

Without exchanging words, the two goats quickly grasped each other's hand and walked out the room.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Chara opened her eyes, a wave of nausea filling her throat and her gag reflex making her eyes water. Her eyes quickly looked around, and she realized she was being held down by a slab and chains. This was new.

She turned her head and realized that Gaster was typing away on the computer. "What are you doing?" she asked, trying to wiggle herself free from the restraints with no avail. Her gaze turned to the machine in the middle of the front, the machine that filled her with rage and hate.

"Just a little research before I put your SOUL to use. Vinnie still makes no sense, but you seemed to grasp the language she uses, so I should be able to do the same."

As the ghoul continued to type away and pause in between typing and reading, Chara could only stare at the machine whose red dots stared back at her. "...n-no... I'm not going back in there. I'm NOT going back in there, GASTER!" she screamed, trying to kick but only her knees seemed to move. The restrain on her neck choked her as her throat expanded for air. She could feel a burning feeling on her temple, probably where he knocked her out in the elevator.

Gaster had finally turned to look at her with his indifferent expression. "I don't recall asking for permission. Perhaps this tape will temper down that mouth of yours?" he asked calmly, his hand grabbing a nearby roll of tape.

Breathing through her nose, Chara watched as he approached her. In front of the SOUL machine was the SOUL coffin already attached with cords to the SOUL machine. He was going to do it again. "NO! LET ME GO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, squirming around as much as she could, her eyes growing wide as she shook her head. The strong tape silenced her screams, and now only her muffled cries echoed throughout the silent room. She watched with horror as multiple hands began to appear, each releasing a limb and holding it firmly. She could feel the veins on her neck popping out from how much force she put into her screams. Her muscles writhed in pain as she tried her hardest to pull herself away from the floating hand's grasp, but it was to no avail. Sweat rolled down her forehead from over exertion and her nose breathed vehemently, her cheeks puffed and her entire face red from the amount of energy she put into trying to free herself.

The floating hands slowly but surely floated her towards the coffin and set her down forcefully. Dazed, she stared at Gaster who looked down on her with a creeping smile beginning to appear. "This time, stay dead, will'ya?"

Her eyes could only get wider and she continued to scream as loud as she could, her eyes trying to catch the last rays of light before the coffin was shut on her.

Walking casually to his holographic keyboard, Gaster initiated the SOUL transfer, startled by the muffled screams that seemed to emanate from the coffin. He turned his head, looking back at the coffin and noticing the red light around the rim of the coffin door. Chara was dead the last time he initiated this procedure. Perhaps this procedure was horrifyingly painful.

With a shrug, he returned to his work, staring at the 0's and 1's on the screen. Fifteen minutes until the SOUL was fully extracted. With a sigh, he bent down and opened the drawers, his hands going through Knick knacks until he came to a box of cigarettes. Grabbing the lighter, he quickly fumbled with the box and took one out.

Exhaling, he let his head fall back as the smoke circles dispersed in the air. He could feel the warmth inside of him, inside his lungs. This was what he needed last night.

Relaxed, he closed his eyes and continued to smoke, unaware that on the security cameras someone approached.

The door to the room exploded, and the door flew forward and hit the coffin. Alarmed, Gaster turned to the intruder, summoning his hands. Before he knew what was going on, he found himself wrapped and lifted by white mist. He could feel that light air begin to harden around his neck, and he looked down at the culprit looked up to him with a defiant snarl. His hands had slammed her down on the floor. Before he could feel comfortable with this stalemate, her body slowly began to turn into a white mist which his hands could not grasp.

"Grab me again, and I will choke you." she growled as her body began to materialize. She was kneeling down beside the coffin where the muffled screams had begun to slowly gotten duller. He watched her have trouble, and he turned to the monitor where eleven minutes remained.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Steamy's fists slammed on the coffin, trying to get a response from Chara but her screams could no longer be heard. "How do you open this thing?!" she shrieked, looking at Gaster who only shrugged. With frustration as her fuel, her hands grabbed the edges of the top of the coffin and she slowly dug her fingers inside the edges until she ripped it apart.

There, inside of the coffin was Chara with eyes wide open, her mouth wide open and gasping in the air. Floating above her chest was the bright red SOUL which looked damaged and corrupt with fine black veins expanding from its core. It was nothing like the red SOUL that Chara used to have, before any of this.

Chara could see a flash of bright light, and the air around her suddenly rushed into her lungs. She blinked several times, feeling her SOUL slowly float back into her body and her hands being grasped by the cloudy feeling that was Steamy.

"Please be okay." Chara could hear Steamy whisper over and over again, her head dangling from Steamy's shoulder as her body was being embraced by the monster. With all the energy Chara could muster up, she managed to speak. "There are no gods, stop praying."

Gaster fell down as soon as Steamy released her magic out of her loss of focus. Without a second thought, he made a beeline to his computer, his eyes scanning the data he managed to cough up with what little SOUL power he could harvest. "...room 269?" he whispered, looking at a block of letters in his native language 'wingdings' before going back to 0's and 1's.

Steamy's hands grasped Chara's face which had begun to show a bit of color. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry, I should have gotten here sooner. Please forgive me." she sobbed as she embraced the human child once more. She looked up and realized that Gaster was at his hologram computer, and she quickly let go of Chara and stood up. "Get away from that computer, Gaster!" She shouted, a spiral of mist running up her body and around her arms.

The Ghoul did not turn around, but only continued to run his eyes through the walls of text as quickly as he could. Without prior notice, steamy pushed a blanket of mist over the computer hardware which then combusted into a fiery explosion. When the Hologram disappeared, Gaster turned around with anger in his eyes and several of his hands going around the top of his head. Purple beams began to shoot towards Steamy, but she only turned into that damned mystified form. "You destroyed Vinnie! You have NO idea what you have just done!" He shouted as all of his hands tried to aim for Steamy.

Chara crawled away, breathing heavily as she watched Gaster begin to glitch. This was an unnatural power he didn't have in this timeline, not yet at least. "Steamy, he's glitching! Keep making him do that!" she shouted, quickly crawling away from the coffin as a hand's beam shot at it. Metal pieces hit her back and she fell down. She turned around, looking at two hands floating high above her, aimed right at her. She closed her eyes, waiting for something to hit her but instead she felt a rush of air pass her.

"Are you alright?" asked a familiar voice. She could feel the familiar warmth, and when her eyes met his hand, she could only clasp it, wincing in pain as her body ached. Grillby's hand was very warmth, but the tall shadow that covered them puzzled her. When she turned around, her eyes widened as she looked at the tall skeleton in her blue dress holding a shield the size of her height with her right arm while in her left hand she held a long bone sword.

"sup." croaked Sans who had been standing a few feet away, watching as Arial stood against his father's attack.

On the other side, Gaster took a step back with a bewildered expression but nonetheless continued the assault. "Stand down, Arial! That demon destroyed our 'ever after'!" he shouted, his eyes keeping tabs on Steamy who continued to elude his hands, but didn't manage to land a hit on them either. He could feel the DT flow through his veins, and on his hands he could see the holes he had in the other timeline appear randomly as a glitch. His eyes slowly slithered over to Arial and he could feel a wave of nausea when he saw the look of horror in her expression. He could feel his face change.

"G-G-GEEGEE! STOP IT! YOUR FACE IS MELTING!" exclaimed Arial as she took a step forward against the purple beams that hit her bone shield hard. Steamy stopped her evading for a moment and looked over to Gaster whose smooth face had slowly begun to liquefy. His head looked like it had been shattered on the right side, connecting to his right eye socket while on his left eye he had a cut or another broken piece. His palms were hollow, and his lips had slowly melted. His pristine clothes were dripping into whatever he was becoming.

Without a warning, the power in his extra hands grew even more powerful and had each taken a different color. A hand hovered above him, glowing green as it somehow tried to keep his body intact.

Sans gasped, shaking his head as he got closer to his mother. "we gotta go. i know that gaster, he's bad news. but if he's here... grab on to me, quick!"

Chara's eyes lit up as she stared at Sans. "Teleport us out of here NOW!" Arial gritted her teeth as her sword disappeared and her left hand grabbed Sans' shoulder. Next thing she knew, she was in the Castle Courtyard and Sans looked knocked out.

Steamy smirked, moving around the empty space that everyone had left behind. They all just... disappeared. It was weird, but Steamy wasn't about to question it. "I'm not letting you get away from here that easy. We're fighting until you disappear from his timeline, got it?" Steamy stated, hurdling white firey fireballs towards his hands.

Gaster could feel the healing hand work its magic, but his body's reaction to the DT would leave permanent damages to this body it seemed. "Fine, but you're disappearing with me, got it? I got enough data to realize my plans in my timeline, but this... this is for Vinnie." His electronic voice had returned.

Slightly confused by his words, Steamy went all out against the phantom.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Sans opened his eyes to the touch of a warm tongue on his cheeks. Rex. He turned to his right side, where everyone seemed to be huddling, talking amongst whispers and his mother looked ill.

When Arial had seen that her son had come to, she had embraced him. "ARE YOU OKAY? THAT WAS AMAZING. ...WE HAVE TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO GET YOU HOME."

He looked towards Grillby who been on his tippie toes so that he could see a small bundle carried by Asriel. Chara was a few away sitting down and hugging her legs, rolling back and forth. He could see bruises on her pale skin and dried trails of tears-what had happened to her? He had originally wished his father had taken care of her, but he didn't. It almost looked like she was held captive and Chara was never easy to cry. She could withstand high levels of pain, just what happened?

"But we are home, miss Arial." Asriel said, his blue eyes sparkling. Little Papyrus continued to sleep soundly in his arms while Asriel gently rocked him.

Chara finally looked up. "...why did you show up? You were going to let it happen, why didn't you?" she asked, her red piercing eyes locked unto Sans' eye sockets.

Arial could notice a heavy air between the human and her son; She couldn't just interrupt their thing. They were both from another timeline, somehow, it made Arial feel like a total stranger. She walked around to Asriel and took her youngest son into her arms, looking at how innocently he slept through all this turmoil. "WE'RE HOME, ASRIEL, BUT THEY'RE NOT. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING OVER LITTLE PAPYRUS WHILE STEAMY WENT ON AN ERRAND." Arial thanked with a smile.

Sans sat up and began to scratch the back of Rex's neck. "grillbz told us something was wrong, besides... if anyone gets to beat you up, it's me. steamy made it easy to get into the labs with what leaving explosions and doors thrown around. i'm surprised she knew how to disable the alarms."

Asriel had slowly walked up to Chara, fiddling with his thumbs nervously as he looked over Chara. "... are you okay?" he asked, startled when she turned around to look at him. His left hand had been offered as a means to help her up, but instead her hand clasped his and she pulled him down unto her. "I'm fine, you furball. Let's go to our secret spot." she said with a slight smile as Asriel white fur caressed her delicate and aching skin.

Sans got up from the grass, his hand petting Rex as he glanced at Grillby with concern in his eye sockets. "what about steamy and gaster? is she safe with him? what's to going to happen to this world when we leave?"

Chara could feel Asriel's arms around her harden at the thought. "Steamy will buy us time. The worst that could happen is that Steamy turns to dust, Gaster finds us, we disappear, and everyone remembers what happens, but no one will truly know what happened to us. Something tells me Gaster isn't going to hunt us down though. He needed to power up his supercomputer for information. Whatever it was he was looking for, he can't access it anymore. He intends to go back." Chara responded, her head resting on Asriel's collarbone and hearing the beat of his steady heart against her ear.

Asriel looked so confused, turning his head to Arial, then to Sans. His long ears gently hit the top of Chara's head like soft pillows. "Come on, let's go." Chara smiled at him, standing up on her weakened knees that trembled under her weight. Asriel helped her up, holding her side as her left arm hooked unto his neck. She seemed much lighter now.

Arial walked toward Chara but stopped when she noticed that the girl seemed to cling unto the goat and no one else. Her straight strands of hair hid her face as best as it could, but Arial could see the trembling of her lower lip. The golden glint of her heart locket shined beside the exact replica on around the goat's neck. 'Best Friends Forever'.

Sans was going to offer teleporting there, but he could feel the energy in his body already low. In the back of his mind, he could only think about Steamy. She was already there, fighting with Gaster when they showed up. Why would she fight him over Chara? Why was she so special?

*********°*********•*********°*********

Hours had passed, and now they were in the darkened caves in the underground. Sans knew where they were.

Asriel had come to a stop in front of a wall where Chara had slowly slid down unto the wet floor. Drops of water fell down like rain and she stared at the wall. "This is where they cast off our statue. Sad, ain't it? It wore down all your features, so it looks like a generic statue of someone sitting in the rain." Chara explained to a confused goat. Asriel knelt down, looking at Chara with those sparkling blue eyes of his. "Chara, what are you talking about?" he asked as droplets of water fell from his fur, sliding down his features. Her hand had slowly touched his now blushing cheek as she looked deeply into those blue eyes. "Do you remember that stupid song we wrote on the piano? Your song?" she asked, and sure enough, in the background the twinkling of the piano keys vibrated along the walls of the cave, slowly turning into music box notes.

Arial turned to look at Sans who shrugged. Grillby was between the three of them, trying hard to keep himself out of the water's way underneath the safety of the three umbrellas. Although the two skeletons couldn't understand, Grillby could grasp that this meant a lot to Chara. If his memory served him correctly, this was the same music that erupted from the statue when Frisk had given it an umbrella.

Chara struggled to her feet, her knees buckling as she grasped unto Asriel's fur. Her muscles ached with pain from the SOUL transfer, and she knew a bit of her life had been sucked out of her. "I can't walk anymore, Asriel." She whispered, closing her eyes as her arms wrapped around his neck. Without a word, Asriel picked her up with ease.

Carrying Chara in his arms, he slowly but surely walked towards the open space. Behind him, the three monsters followed underneath the safety of their umbrellas, watching in silence as he leads them to where Chara had suggested. Sans looked up to his momster who looked quite tired with lines underneath her eye sockets. They had just destroyed her life. He could see the tenderness with which she held Papyrus, the only one who hadn't changed in this timeline. She knew that Sans had been experimented on, she knew about Gaster and what he did, what he might do. Even knowing that, when she had seen the damage on Gaster back in the lab, he knew it killed her inside, killed her with rage and worry for him. Sans didn't think he'd ever see his mother look so fierce with what, being the tender and goofy mother she was. "...NYEH!"

Sans was startled by his little brother's sudden cry, but a smile only appeared on Arial as she held tighter. Up ahead, Asriel had come to a stop in front of a scenic view of the castle. He had sat down with Chara on his legs while he held her up in her weakened state. "We're here Chara... are you alright? Maybe we should get mommy," he whispered with saddened eyes.

The human only leaned against his body, her eyes twinkling as she stared at the view. Her hand reached for his and she grasped it as a gentle smile slowly began to etch on her face. "Shh. It'll be alright. It'll be just like we planned, but different. I'm going to die, and you'll be safe." she whispered her eyes casting down on the darkness. She leaned harder against him as she closed her eyes, trying to forget that godawful machine she had been placed in.

"Chara, I don't want to go through with it. Let's just stay here, forever. I-If you die, I... I'll be with you forever, I promise." Asriel whimpered as his arm around her tightened.

Shaking her head, Chara could only remember the lies and betrayal after her death. How easily Asgore had taken it upon himself to seek vengeance for his son. How Toriel had fled and adopted every child she came across. How Steamy had so easily accepted Gaster's explanations about her SOUL. How she came to forget about Chara's crush on Sans when she called herself like a sister. How everyone easily forgot about her. How easily they forgot about them. And Asriel... how Asriel could choose humans who hated him over her. When she cried for help, no one was there. When she was buried, no one was there. While she was trapped in that machine, no one was there. She could watch everyone, moving on without her, but no one was there for her.

Tara was right.

Her breath became more shallow and raspy, and she could feel her SOUL weakening. Her DETERMINATION was slowly diminishing. She couldn't fuel her anger and lust for revenge while in his arms, not like this. Far from it. She felt... loved. With this stupid music box song in the background and the warmth of Asriel's fur against her, all her ill feelings seemed to fade. Instead, she could only hold back the tears and grasp unto a concerned Asriel. Her hands grasped the furs on the side of his cheeks, bringing his head down unto hers so that she could nuzzle his snout. She could feel his warm breaths against her, the tip of her nose gently brushing against his before leaning back and poking his nose with her finger tip. "...best friends... forever."

A few feet away, Arial sat with the two boys and Papyrus in her arms. Behind them were the umbrellas, slowly rolling as a very light wind pass by the cave. "SANS... PROMISE ME YOU WON'T BE LIKE YOUR FATHER?" Arial asked, noticing the lazy smile disappear from his face. Instead, a serious look seemed to be embedded on his skull. "i promise." The tall skeleton smiled, turning to Grillby who felt out of place. "AND YOU, PROMISE ME YOU'LL TAKE CARE OF MY SANS. I KNOW HE WORKS TOO HARD, EVEN WITH THAT LAZY ATTITUDE."

Grillby perked up, nodding. "Will do, mam'. I will try my hardest."

The three of them smiled in silence, until the goat's whimpers startled them.

"C-C-Chara? Wake up, Chara? Please wake up!"

Holding her in his arms, he shook her but her body had gone limp. Asriel held his breath, shaking her body gently in hopes that it was a bad joke and that she'd open her eyes, but instead her pale, sleeping face stayed still. He leaned over her, his golden locket intertwining with hers as continued to shake her gently. "Don't leave me, Chara! Please!" he cried, but instead her head fell back with that same expression.

Without noticing, a red SOUL slowly came out of her chest, floating in between their bodies and glowing dimly. Its core was pitch black with thin veins reaching out to the outtermost of the SOUL, but a white layer seemed to top its outter layer. When Asriel had noticed it, he leaned away and had gently laid Chara on the floor, staring at her damaged SOUL. He could see a few black veins slowly regressing back to its black core, while other veins stayed put. He turned to the three monsters who had been staring the whole time, his eyes wide with shock.

"YOUR LOCKET IS GLOWING." Arial managed to say, poiting to Asriel's golden locket which ahd begun to glow, along with Chara's. Sans quickly hugged his mother. "we're going home. It's a SAVE point." he whispered, holding tightly while his little brother looked at him with surprise in between Sans and Arial.

Asriel shook his head. "I DON'T WANT TO BE A FLOWER!" he cried out, tears streaming down as the light in both lockets engulfed the room.

When the flash was gone, Ariel looked around the empty room where two lockets remained and she, stood alone with Papyrus in her arms. The trip back to the castle was a lonely one with only Papyrus crying out every so often.

She was greeted by chaos in the CORE and a weeping Toriel. Explosions down in the labs. Gaster was gone. Steamy was in urgent care. Bombarded by questions and grief, Arial could only nod. After finally being left alone with her best friend Toriel, only then, could Arial break down in tears and explain what had happened to everyone. Their world wouldn't be the same, huh?

*********°*********•*********°*********

Double Vision

Gets the Best of Me

/*/*/ Double Vision- Foreigner /*/*/

*********°*********•*********°*********

Frisk's eyes opened momentarily as a figure slumped down beside her on her bed. It wasn't tall, so it couldn't be Papyrus. Her hand gently reached for the blob and felt a familiar fabric which was Sans' jacket. "...Sans?" she asked with a yawn, tired from today's battle with Muffet. She had come home right after her musical number with Mettaton, totally tired and worn out from her previous fight. She had taken two baths in order to get rid of the web stuck on her hair! She was exhausted! And Sans was no where to be found.

But... now he was here. Sleeping. Beside her. Before she could question his whereabouts, his loud snores silenced her. With her weary eyes drooping down, her head fell back into her pillow and she fell asleep once more.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Twirling around, Flor continued her ballerina exercises while her brother sat in the back with his phone out and his shades lowered down. Flor knew that when it was her turn to shine, his eyes were on her, watching her with a brotherly pride. But when he wasn't watching her... he was stuck to that phone with such a menacing look!

When class was over, her brother approached her with a smile. "Magnifico! Superb! You dance great, little sis," he beamed, turning to look at the teacher whose smile had suddenly disappeared. "Ave maria... t-t-tu hermano?" (Sweet Mary... y-y-your brother?) She asked Flor with a nervous smile as she took two steps away from Fernando.

With a nod, Flor grinned. "Es Fernando!"

Fernando extended his hand, smiling. "Buenas Tardes, Miss. Gracias por enseñar a mi hermana as ser una buena ballerina." (Good afternoon, Miss. Thanks for teaching my sister to be a good ballerina.)

Flor grinned, looking up to her teacher who hesitated to shake his hand, but did nonetheless. Without any other words exchanged, her teacher fled away. Flor didn't understand why everyone was scared of her brother.

Outside the classroom, Flor quickly caught up to the same group of students from before, minus a few kids whose parents had quickly taken them away when she approached. "Hola Juan," (Hello Juan) she said with fluttering eyes, her hands toying with the bun of hair on her head.

The copper headed boy gave her a sly smile, his eyes sliding up behind her where her older brother slowly approached. "Is he your brother?" He asked with a perfect English accent. Beside him, two girls and a boy looked at him with confused eyes. Flor's heart quickened. None of their friends knew English except the two of them.

"Yes!" She squealed, jumping in place and presenting her brother. "This is my brother Fernando. H-He's... visit? Visit from North?" She asked, her tongue twisting and unable to know if she had said it correctly.

Fernando looked down at the boy who was slightly taller than Flor. His green eyes sparkled with mischief as they locked eyes—immediately Fernando didn't like this boy. "Ah! Welcome back, step brother. Your sister speaks a lot about you." Juan smiled as he held out his hand.

Flor squealed, looking at the two girls who looked at her with jealousy. The most handsome boy was all hers, and he liked her back! She couldn't wait until her birthday party! Juan had promised her the best birthday gift ever!

Fernando hand stopped just before shaking the small boys, his gut aching as though this was a bad idea. Something wasn't right about this boy. How did he know perfect English? More importantly... why was he so level headed when everyone seemed to know who he was?

Shaking his hand, Juan smirked and winked towards Flor who blushed wildly. "Alright, that's enough Romeo! That's my sister, you respect her, eh, ese?!" Fernando growled, taking one step closer and noticing that the other children had backed away, all except for the green eyed boy.

Flor gasped, shaking her head. "F-Fernando! That's Juan... he's really cool, don't worry! L-Lets go to my waltzing class, okay?" She asked, her small hands tugging on Fernando's jacket.

Reluctantly, Fernando began to walk away with Flor leading him, his eyes watching as that Juan kid smiled and waved in his karate uniform before walking away with his group of friends.

Waltz class was an easy breeze, but Fernando couldn't stop thinking about that green eyed kid. Something was really wrong. He had been on his phone all throughout the class, researching what he could about Flor's little friends, but that Juan kid was elusive. No information about him.

Flor had gone into the locker room to change. Dialing a number real quick, he awaited for Uncle Juju to pick up. "Hm? Que pasa, mijo?" (Hm? What's wrong, m'child?) answered Uncle Juju on the other line.

"Uncle Juju? Ey, have you heard about this Juan guy? He's a friend of Flor's. I tried searching him up, but nothing comes up. I got a bad feeling about him, bro." Fernando stared in a low voice, looking around and making sure no one was eavesdropping on him.

On the other line, the uncle's voice got deeper. "Really? I never really gave it'ah thought'ta look up a kid. What'd the punk do?"

Fernando sighed, rolling his eyes. "It's a brother instinct, I got a really bad feeling, okay? Actually, can you find out who Don Gustavo's youngest grandson? I think they got the same eyes."

The other line went silent. Fernando listened intently, not knowing he had disturbed the peace. "M'hijo, be careful. I have a feeling that family is going to cross us. Don't do business with them, and if that kid really is a relative of theirs, you better keep yourself and Flor away from him." Uncle Juju warned him.

Fernando bit his lip. "...I'll keep Flor safe. Talk to you later."

Clearing his throat, he watched as a freshened up Flor skipped towards him. "Let's go home!" She grinned, grasping unto her backpack. But instead of received his usual grins, Flor noticed that Fernando looked pre-occupied with something in his mind.
"Hm? Y-Yeah, right after I finish an extra job that came up." He replied.

Flor frowned a bit, noticing that her brother seemed to walk stiffer. "But you promised to finish the last two and then no more." She replied with a disappointed voice.

Her brother only continued to walk, paying no mind to her. He had completely ignored her. Crossing her arms, Flor walked a bit irritated.

Inside the car, Flor played around with his phone under the strict conditions that she would only play with the music player. She had been listening to his 80's Playlist the entire time, not noticing that her brother had stopped the car and had left her while he walked to an alley. She sighed, looking out the window but seeing only shadows of a lot of people. Just what was her brother doing?

"Never do more than I, I really need
My mind is racing, but my body's in the lead
Tonight's the night, I'm gonna push it to the limit
I'll live all of my years in a single minute!"

Flor breathed in, opening the door and stepping outside. She pressed 'Pause' on the player as she slowly walked up to the gathering of men. There were several men in black, along with someone dressed in fancy white clothes. He looked a bit older than Fernando, with blonde hair and a goatee. His eyes were a shade of green, a really pretty green like Juan's.

Several of the men in black looked a bit familiar, probably henchmen that worked for her family. When Fernando noticed her, his face had gotten pale. "Go back!" He shouted, turning his head to look at her momentarily.

Flor's eyes glimmered with tears, her body shaking as she instead took several footsteps closer.

The man in white laughed with a deep rumbling voice. "She's a troublemaker, no? The hidden gem of the Gomez Family. It'd be a shame if she got hurt."

Taking several steps back, Fernando pushed Flor behind his body. "Threats like that are going to land your family in hot water, Gabriel. I'd watch your tongue..." Fernando snarled with a surge of over protectiveness for his little sister. Flor on the other hand, trembled behind her brother, noticing the evil looks on the man in white and the men in black that were beside him. Her hand squeezed the phone, accidentally pushing 'Play'.

"Fill my eyes with that double vision
No disguise for that double vision
Ooh, when it gets through to me, it's always new to me
My double vision always seems to get the best of me, the best of me, yeah"

Fernando's hand rested on his belt where his hidden gun resided. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like his ringtone coming from behind, and in that moment of distraction, Gabriel pulled out his gun and began to fire. In a blur, men began to shoot at each other while Fernando pulled out his gun and aimed at Gabriel.

Flor screamed.

Everything had happened so fast.

Flor was on the floor and beside her was Fernando with in his chest but continuing to fire at the man in white. He was laying on the floor, trying to sit up and keep his little sister behind him. Suddenly, a splash of blood. Flor's eyes were wide, her lips trembling as she slowly looked down and began to hyperventilate from seeing the color red splashed onto her clothes and her neck. Beside her, a convulsing body twitched, blood cascading down upon her and Fernando as a result from a vein being hit.

Flor screamed again.

"Ooh, double vision, I need double vision
It takes me out of my head, takin' me out of my head
I get my double vision
Oh, seeing double double
Oh, I have double vision, yeah, I'm getting double vision"

Fernando moved his body to the left, his shoulder swinging back as pain filled the bone where his shoulder and arm connected. A real bullet had finally hit him and not his bulletproof vest. "CALL UNCLE JUJU!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, his left arm grabbing more ammo. If he got up, he was done for. Their bodyguards were taking heat, but he needed to get Flor to safety.

He could hear the dial tone ringing alongside the music. "S-shit! Turn off the music, Flor!" He shouted, trying to crawl back but his little sister was staring at the dead body beside them with horror in her eyes. "Damnit Flor!" He gritted his teeth, beginning to stand up now that their bodyguards were forming a sort of wall of cover. Picking her up with his right arm and a pistol in his hand, he tried to carry her but a bullet pierced his leg, causing him to fall.

Flor landed a foot away, her hands trembling as she stared at the phone and pistol only a few inches apart from each other. She looked at her brother who was in pain, sitting up and looking towards the fight with frightened eyes. Blood from the dead body covered his face and dripped down his eyebrows as his eyes tried to focus on the black blobs that had sudden begun to fall down.

Another bullet hit his chest, but did not penetrate. Another. Another.

Another hit his leg.

Cringing in pain, Fernando crawled back, trying his best to focus and regain himself but his body was in pain. He had never been shot.

Behind him, Flor reached for the phone and pistol, listening to Uncle Juju's voice coming from the phone. Her chest heaved and her hands shook while she cried. "Mama!" She cried, her head hurting from the smell of gunpowder and blood.

She watched as the man in white picked up her brother by his collar with a single hand, then repeatedly punched him until she couldn't recognize his face when his limp body fell down on her legs.

Flor screamed at the top of her lungs.

Her hand with the pistol shook as she looked at this evil man dressed in white blood stained clothes, his hands littered with rings and blood and breathing hard from the beatdown he had given his brother.

"Take 'er." He breathed out, his head tilting towards her.

Her breath hitched, her both of her hands holding the pistol as she tried to steady it and aim it at the man in white. She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The man in white laughed, taking a few steps forward, kicking aside Fernando's legs.

Closing her eyes, her fingers pulled the trigger.

A loud 'thud' hit the ground beside Fernando, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the man in white dead with a hole right in between his eyes.

She did that.

Her eyes were wide, staring at the man before she looked at the other men in black who had stared at their boss in shock.

Finally, one of them pulled out his gun, running towards her.

Quickly, she aimed it at him and shot away, aiming at everyone that came towards her.

Two men had fallen down in pain before someone had hit her head with the blunt end of a gun.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Frisk screamed, sitting up on her bed. She looked around the darkroom, her hands shaking as her eyes fluttered, her mind racing with what she had just dreamt.

She did that.

She took shallow breaths, her hands grabbing her head and she shook it. "No, no, no, no, no!" She whispered to herself, her hands grasping her hairs and almost pulling them off.

"hey, hey, hey! calm down kiddo, it was just a nightmare. shh, don't worry... i'm here. just lay your head down, and think about... dogs. think about fluffy white annoying dogs, and spaghetti..." Sans whispered as his hand slowly pushed Frisk back unto the bed. She stared at him with wide eyes that looked beyond frightened. "I killed someone." She whispered with broken eyes, but instead of repulsion, Sans only kissed her forehead and held her until she fell back to sleep. She had awoken later to drink a cup of tea made by Sans before falling asleep again with Sans and Papyrus in her bed, comforting her.

The next day, Frisk was back to normal, and her memory had been forgotten.

*********°*********•*********°*********

Puppybarks!

*********°*********•*********°*********

Hey guys, super sorry about the super-mega-long delay. Life, what can I say. I've gotten busy. I don't think I'll be able to make the monthly posts, but I'll try. They might be posted on Sundays though. I'll try to make it every month or so, but the story is almost coming a close. I might hold off on those sequels, since my life is getting busy. Which is a shame since I left a lot of holes for the sequels lol.

Anyways, I was planning on having an actual musical part in this chapter, but with being busy and the pressure of getting something posted, well, it's hard to come up with catchy lyrics.

I'm thinking I have one more chapter before I start on the endings. I guess I should start with the neutral one.

Also, sorry about the last chapter, I looked over it and I saw a lot of it got chopped off because apparently underscores connected to dot exe doesn't fly on fanfiction, so I'll have to edit that chapter later.

Hopefully this chapter wasn't too long (but I bet it was) and well... I dunno. I started this fanfic because of some crazy idea in my head after going to a convention, I can't believe it got views o.O; Let alone, that it got so big in my head. We'll see what the future holds. Sorry again if the chapters are dark. Although this fanfic seems to revolve around Frisk, it actually revolves more around Chara and how she's sucked into this symbiosis of sorts with a girl who's the complete opposite of her. Here's to writing that fluffy *love ending xD

Puppy

P.S. Lightly proof read. Sorry, if its got mistakes.