Core Issues: Season Four
by Nicolle
Disclaimer: Undertale is the creation of Toby Fox. Gaster!Sans, our lovely narrator, is the the creation of Borurou. This story is copyrighted to me.
Special Disclaimer: Scartale!Frisk and Chara belong to ilanitalia!
1. This story is rated T for language, suggestive jokes/themes, and violence.
2. Important French terms: Ane (Ass), Chou (Cabbage), Canaille (Blackguard/Scoundrel)
3. Quick reminder here: Cross does not refer to his Sans as D. He just calls him Sans.
Ep. 11 - Having the Life You Always Wanted...
(Cross is our narrator!)
Church screamed as her fists pounded the ground. "NO! NO! NO!"
Red and I knelt next to her, holding her while she wept, hands covering her face. Her husband's Gaster Blaster's cuddled up against us, each trying to get close to their mistress, to comfort her.
01 turned to Fell Frisk. "Are you tracking it?"
"It's landed on one of the future timelines. Fase says she just got a call from one of the inhabitants saying a skeleton monster with what appeared to be a large amount of goop all over it landed there." She paused. "It's left that timeline."
Church's phone vibrated in her pocket. She didn't move to check it, remaining curled in on herself. It vibrated again and I pulled it from her pocket, hoping it was just a text from my Sans about the kids. I nearly dropped the phone.
"It's a text from Bones."
Church grabbed at the phone, nearly dropping it in her rush, fumbling with it. She shook terribly and I steadied her hands with mine, holding her still. I read the texts out loud.
'Don't text back. I'm not sure it knows I have the phone.'
'It was weaker every time you loaded the save from the anomalous star.'
The phone vibrated twice more.
'Hypothesis: loading saves draws the souls it's eaten away from it.'
'I'll send more information when I can.'
There was a pause and one last text came through.
'I love you.'
Church sobbed, her head dropping.
Fell Frisk suddenly waved her arm. "It's landed on a mob timeline!"
Church struggled to her feet, bleary eyed and unsteady, pulling Red and I up with her. "I'll go."
"No, you won't." I looked to Red. "Take her home. Let us know if anymore texts come through."
"Cross-"
"Frisk."
She flinched at the use of her name, but my tone came through. Red pulled her into the void, the GB's following after them.
I turned to 01. "I'll go."
Our human Papyrus,his bone mask in place, stepped up next to me. I wondered briefly if his brother was surfing right now, or doing something less than savory in the service of his Queen. "Coordinates please."
Fell Frisk droned off the equation and, very quickly, we stood in a dark alleyway filled with rotting barrels off a long, wooden boardwalk. A well dressed, teen Asriel in a dark pinstripe suit ran passed Papyrus and I with his Frisk over his shoulder. Frisk's eyes glowed an ominous red and he pounded on the goat monster's back, demanding to be put down, desperate to fight. We stepped out, grabbing either of Bones' arms and clothes-lining the thing. I pulled my gun and fired several times, locking the thing down to the boardwalk with foam core. It ceased moving and the hairs on the back of my neck pricked up. I took the chance anyway.
Reaching down to lift the thing up, a tentacle shot out, wrapping around my left arm and digging in with several, tiny, needle like teeth. It started sucking away my Determination. Papyrus pulled a knife from his belt and cut off the tentacle as the thing escaped into the void, leaving that piece of itself behind and attached to me. I hissed as the pain from the thing, still writhing on my arm, sent the needle teeth deeper into my flesh, but I refused to let it do more than annoy me.
Papyrus pulled his phone out. "We have an intact piece of the thing. It's attached itself to Cross' arm." He fell silent, listening, and then nodded. "We'll be there in a minute."
He put a hand on my shoulder, gripping tightly, and the world swirled completely black around us. When the world fell back into place, he'd landed us in the hall just outside of Asriel's lab. Fell Frisk was already there with Ossein to look at the piece of the thing from the void prison still attached to my arm. I rushed in, laying my arm down on the prepped table. Asriel carefully detached the tentacle from my arm, carefully pulling the needle teeth away. As it was removed, Fell Frisk and Ossein, both in light green surgical masks and pale latex gloves, took it to another table and began working to dissect and take samples. Asriel inspected the wound it left behind with a frown.
"Worried about something?" I asked.
"Several things. But when it comes just to you right now, nerve damage is what I'm worried about." He gently cleaned the blood from my arm to get a better look at the tiny holes.
"Isn't that what monster food is for?"
Asriel sighed. "It can't fix everything and you know that on this timeline, it simply speeds the healing process."
"Where's Church?"
"I've pulled my sister off duty. I'm hoping that she went back to her apartment to clean up, but I'm betting that she's doing nothing of the sort." He set to work on cleaning out each tiny hole before gluing the holes shut. "What happened to Bones?"
"The thing took him over. It just filled up the inside of his rib cage and started using his body to attack Church. After a attempting to eat her determination, it simply escaped into the void with Bones. He was able to text us earlier."
"Speaking of which, any news?" Papyrus asked.
Ossein looked up at us for a moment and then back down at what she was doing. "Nothing new."
I sighed as Asriel wrapped my arm in a bandage and handed me a Cinnamon Bunny.
She looked up at me again. "Bones' text said that continually loading your save will make it weaker."
I blinked at her. "Will you guys be okay with me saving and loading?"
Fell Frisk nodded. "Since you lack a timeline, your save really only involves you and your brothers. We'll be fine here."
I rushed for Church's office across the hall. It'd changed a bit in recent years, the dull grayish-white walls replaced with a nice, calm blue. Pictures of Sophia and Brandon graced the walls in carved wooden frames painted white and distressed. Even the desk had changed, being changed over to a design that was comfortable as opposed to utilitarian. I pulled out my key to the wooden cabinet behind the desk, unlocking the door. I touched the glowing, yellow save star hidden inside. Taking a moment to still myself, I found my Determination and saved. And then continuously loaded that save until I felt as hopped up on Determination as I had after making the beacon. Pushing the door to the cabinet shut and waiting for the lock to click, I leaned against the wall for a moment, shaking with the overload.
"You all right?"
I looked up at Papyrus and nodded. "Yeah. I just need a minute for the excess to bleed off."
He nodded and headed down the hall. My name on a form caught my eye, and I looked down at Church's desk. The report paperwork for the encounter waited for me. Her report was half filled out and looked to be broken off mid sentence. I sighed. Even after Red had brought her home, she'd gone back to work. So where was she now?
I looked up at the lab door and the activity inside. Alphys ran by with a bunch of samples, taking them to the lab in the new building most likely. By chance we finally had a piece of the thing to look at. Maybe it'd give us some clues as to how to capture it. It'd be a while until we had some answers as to anything that'd happened today. I wasn't ready to go home just yet. Granted, this was my home but... I knew what I meant. I pulled out the chair and sat down to file the report, grabbing a pen from the purple Seraph Foundation mug that sat on her desk. Bones was texting us. That meant he was somewhat okay. He'd looked like a skeleton monster with an amalgamate kind of mashed inside of and around him.
"Is Frisk out today?"
I froze, pen hovering over the paper. I knew that voice. It was the most beautiful voice in the world. Oh. Oh no.
I knew that Michelle existed in this timeline. She was a very good friend of Church's, which made sense, all things considered. While my contact had not made his family aware of why I was there and so my Michelle had no idea of who I really was, Church's version knew and was heavily involved in the deception that lead to the capture of a dangerous terrorist. I'd gone out of my way to avoid meeting this world's Michelle. And I was thankful that Church would warn me before a visit so I could be anywhere other than the Foundation.
I refused to look up. "She's out sick. I'd suggest against visiting her."
"That bad, huh?"
I nodded, keeping my head to the paperwork. The gentlest of fingers lifted my chin, forcing me to look up into a face I most desperately wanted to avoid and to see at the same time. Oh God. She was even more radiant than I remembered. The skin of her heart shaped face glowed a warm gold. Peridot green eyes glittered with her smile. A smile framed by long chocolate brown hair that fell in curls around her face.
Michelle smiled. "You are another Frisk! I knew that there were other versions of her but I didn't think that included men. You look like you could be her brother!" She frowned lightly. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to bother you."
Oh God, no. Don't... Don't stop smiling. "You aren't bothering me. There's just a lot to do."
She smiled again. "So is your last name Church too?"
I shook my head. "Cross. Frisk Ethan Cross." Stop introducing yourself, you idiot.
Michelle giggled. That long, chocolate brown hair fell forward from her shoulders in long curls. "Cross? Oh that's great! Church and Cross!" She sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk, back straight, legs crossed, hands resting on her knees in a way that pressed her breasts together. The golden skin of her hands were covered in henna designs, something my Michelle hadn't done, being one of the few people allergic the plant based dye. This woman wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Oh hell. "Frisk doesn't talk about you. I have a feeling that she should."
I sighed. Just level now and it'll be done. Scare her off and save my sanity. "I asked her not too. You existed where I come from and..." I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I stole your heart under false pretenses and later, when the mission was done, I stole your life."
I waited for her to back away. To run. To do anything really. Anything other than regard me with the most thoughtful expression I'd ever seen on anyone's face. "Do you regret it?"
"Not a single moment of my life has gone by that I haven't."
She leaned in, pushing a stray lock of my hair away from my face. "How about, when I come to visit Frisk next, we talk about that?"
Say no. Say no. Say no. "All right."
She smiled and went out the door, the smell of her coconut perfume wafting after her. I stared at the paper in front of me, wondering what the hell I'd just done.
"*welp. you couldn't avoid that one forever."
"Fuck you."
Red chuckled, hands in the pockets of his hoodie, leaning back on his heels in that way he did when he was especially amused.
I huffed in annoyance. "Where's Church?"
"*pacing the garage. first thing sugar plum did when we got here was attempt to start working. asriel kicked her out of the office and told her she was off duty until we tried to capture that thing again. her level is still kicked up and c is keeping her off the training floor for everyone's safety."
I frowned. "If she needs to blow off the extra Determination, C can put her on with me."
"*as much as i'd love to see that fight, no. not a good idea. you know she doesn't take failure well."
I dropped the pen. "She didn't fail."
"*nope. but you aren't gonna convince her of that. not right now anyway."
"And the kids?"
"*i talked to so-so and brandon for a bit. your older brothers have them right now."
Ossein knocked on the door jamb before sticking her head in the office, the surgical mask pulled down to her chin.
"*whatcha got, shootin' star?"
"The piece of tentacle is very similar to an amalgamate. It's essentially held together by Determination alone. We surmised that this was the case, but now we have proof positive. Chara..." She smiled a little, shaking her head. "01 says they know why it didn't go to sleep when it hit the prison. The mechanism for it was linked directly to the original lock. Frisk is in the lab now cooking up a way to use the tentacle piece to make a sleep spell specifically tailored to it."
"That's good news."
She nodded, unhooking the surgical mask before pulling the band from her hair and shaking out her braid.
"Any idea where the thing is now?" I asked.
"*floating somewhere in the void." Red looked to the windows across the hall and the fading light of day spilling in from them. Had we really been gone that long? When was the last time I'd eaten? "*you two should get some food and settle in for the night."
I nodded and stood, paperwork forgotten. It could wait. Stopping at the door, I put a hand on Ossein's shoulder. "You all right?"
She nodded.
"Good job getting it in the prison."
She smiled, a bit of the twinkle back in her eyes "Too bad it didn't work."
"Maybe we can make a second time of it. How's Crow?"
She thought about it. "Just kind of resting. I think he's remembering more about himself since reading Bones' journals. He's found his voice and talks a bit."
"Does he have anything interesting to say?"
"Not really." She shrugged. "He occasionally tries to talk through his memories, but I'm pretty sure they're too fragmented at current."
I nodded and looked to Red. "I'll make sure Church eats and gets to bed."
Heading out the door and down the hall to Bones' garage, the evening light began to pull away, hiding behind the near tree line. Stopping at the door to the garage, the red neon he'd hooked up in the room glowed from under the door. I turned the nob and it stopped, locked.
I knocked. "It's me."
It took a minute before the door opened. Church was still in her dark blue uniform, but it was rumpled. She'd disarmed herself, but hadn't changed clothes. The driver side door of the Bones' blue Chevelle with the white stripes to match the cracks in his skull, was open, the foam padding under the leather seats depressed. She'd been laying there, but by the redness of her eyes, and the streaks in her make up, she hadn't been sleeping. I pulled her into the hall before reaching in the door to turn off the lights. Pulling the door shut tight, I checked the lock real quick before walking her to the equipment room and helping her change out of her uniform and into the lavender dress she'd left there earlier.
Digging around a bit, I found some wet wipes, and wiped the cosmetics from her face, feeling a bit like I was taking off the layer that separated us in appearance. As Michelle had noted, we did look alike. Satisfied that she looked a little more like normal, if otherwise expressionless, I pulled her from the room, careful to lock the door, and took her up to my apartment. Sophia and Brandon were sitting at the large, wooden dining table with their Uncle Papyrus and my brothers, eating a dinner of barigoule. Princess sat next to Sophia, holding her hand gently while they ate. Both kids ran to their mother when they saw her and Church knelt to hug them as Bones' brother stood.
"Will dad be all right?" Brandon all but whispered. He'd gone complete skeleton monster in his nervousness, boney hands touching his mother's face.
Church frowned. "I don't know."
Sophia touched her mother's hair, tugging at it. "You look different."
"I know. I'm sorry." She hugged them again before joining us at the table, her brother in law motioning her to sit with him.
Bones' Papyrus was considerably taller than mine, and his boney hand, gently petting Church's hair, seemed too large next to her head. After dinner, Church took the kids back to her apartment for washing up. I watched from the door as they sat on the couch, cuddled together, not making it anywhere close to the bathroom. Asriel came up behind me, looking over my shoulder with a frown.
"Would you like me to read you a story?" I asked.
Brandon nodded and I chose a book from the shelf next to the door. I didn't even make it half way through the first chapter of Fleischman's 'The Whipping Boy' before all three had passed into an uneasy sleep. I put the children in their bunks while Asriel put his sister in her bed. Bidding him good night, I went back to my apartment and sat next to my Papyrus on the couch. Looking to key down a bit, I grabbed my sketch book to work a little before bed.
And drew a picture of Michelle.
Oh hell.
Papyrus regarded the drawing thoughtfully. "THINKING ABOUT THE PAST?"
"This world's Michelle stopped by to see Church today. I told her that Church was out sick."
"YOU SPOKE WITH HER?"
I sighed. "Couldn't avoid it."
"PERHAPS IT WILL BE A ONE TIME OCCURRENCE."
"I agreed to see her again."
Sans' eye sockets squeezed shut, jaw clenched for a moment, before he burst out laughing. "*That's just brilliant!"
"Ane."
"ARE YOU SURE THAT'S A GOOD IDEA?"
"I don't know." I put the sketchbook down. "I'm trying not to think too much about how she wasn't wearing a wedding ring." I stood and put a hand on Paps shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much. There are too many other things to be concerned about right now." I looked at the wall that separated our apartment from Church's. "I'll see you both in the morning."
After a shower, I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling as moonlight filtered in through my window, still too keyed up to sleep. And if I can't sleep...
I tapped my phone, pinging a long dead teen. "C? Is Church awake?"
"Yeah."
I sat up and pulled on my slippers. "I'll be over in a minute."
C sighed. "She's not exactly all together in here."
"And that's why I'm coming over." I stopped for a moment to be sure that I looked decent enough to be wandering the halls at night. Loch Ness Monster t-shirt and sweat pants. I shrugged. It would do. I tip toed out of my room and down the short hall to the living room, not wanting to wake my brothers. I needn't have worried so much. They both slept like logs, even in the days they were constantly worrying about me. Carefully pulling the door shut behind me, I headed down the hall a little to the next apartment and found the door ajar. The living and dining area were dark, but the light from the kitchen spread across the dining room table.
"Hey, Church."
No response. I wasn't sensing danger, so I looked in the kitchen. She sat at her little kitchen table, wearing one of Bones' sweaters and staring out the window at the moonlit garden. A cup of tea steamed at her elbow.
"You should be in bed." I took her hands in mine and pulled her to her feet, but she still remained unresponsive. Time to shock her a little, wake her up a bit. "Michelle came by yesterday to see you."
Church blinked at me for a moment, but her expression lacked... everything. "I'm sorry. I didn't know she visiting."
I shook my head. "It's all right. I'm just letting you know."
I watched her for a moment, keenly aware of how alike we were in form and thought. How I knew that face, and that particular expression. She'd lost in a profound way and couldn't pull herself out of that dark ocean in her head. She was deep in a thought process drilled into us while we were just barely adults, one meant to keep us functioning when nothing really made sense. I put my arms around her, pulling her close and pushing her head down to rest against my shoulder. She stood there stiffly, as if she'd forgotten what a hug was.
"You did not fail. The parameters of the mission changed and you adapted swiftly and effectively, using everything at your disposal." I rubbed her back despite the stiffness in her posture. "You need to let go, Frisk. The Viper can't just sit in the basement and take over when needed. You have the life you've always wanted. The life the Viper in both of us desperately prayed for during the war. Let that part of you have that life. Let that part be retrained. If I could do it, you definitely can."
She trembled a bit, but still remained stiff.
"Your children saw that face. I know you never wanted them too."
She wrapped her arms around me, face buried against my shoulder to muffle her sobs. I held her, letting the dam break over me, holding her while she shook. It took a while, but eventually the trembling calmed. Church stepped back to wipe at her eyes and I took the moment to take both of her hands in mine and swing them back and forth in an easy rhythmic motion. She sighed as she watched the movement, eyes following the motion back and forth.
"You aren't the therapist."
I shrugged. "Nope. But I know the technique well enough by now."
The corner of her mouth twitched, bleary eyes still following the motion of our hands. I knew what the inside of her head looked like. It wasn't all that different from mine. A cabin in woods, sitting at the top of a hill, some of the tree line cut away to provide a view of a vast ocean. The cabin in my head had three bedrooms, just like the original, were as Church's cabin had an extra room, one made specifically for C.
"Go to the cabin in your head."
"Cross."
"Go to the cabin in your head."
She sighed, resistant even in compliance, and closed her eyes. I kept up the motion of our arms.
"Tell the Viper it's too cold to be outside and to get back in the cabin."
"No."
I frowned. "Frisk, tell the Viper it's too cold to be outside and to get back in the cabin. That part of you can't help you like this. She doesn't know what to do and was never prepared for this life. She's drowning in that ocean. You have to pull her out."
She shook her head, long braid swinging.
"Why not?"
Her eyes opened, blue and wet. "I need her."
"I'm not asking you to lock her away. She isn't a monster that needs to be relegated to a dark basement. I'm asking you to bring her out of the cold. You are not ice and neither is that part of you." I stopped swinging her arms and put my hands on her shoulders. "We work best when all our parts are working together. You've walked around since the war compartmentalizing every piece of yourself, and managed because you had C to help you piece it together.
"But that won't serve you anymore. Bones kept walking into the Core so he could be one person for you. Be one person for him."
Church closed her eyes and bowed her head.
I hugged her close. "We'll get Bones back. I promise."
She sniffed. "You can't promise that."
"Yes, I can. I know exactly what we're capable of." I took her hands again, swinging them back and forth in the same rhythm as before. Here we go again. "Tell the Viper it's too cold to be outside and to get back in the cabin."
Church sighed deeply, eyes tracking our hands.
I watched the time on the black cat clock with the swinging tail over the sink. After two minutes, I prodded. "Is she having trouble getting out of the water?"
"Yes."
Yeah. I thought so. I'd had trouble with this part too. Funny that. There was a point where I tried to tell myself that she wasn't like me, some mechanism in my head understanding that she was. That if I'd successfully captured her, it'd be her end. And mine. "Send another you out to get her. Suit her up in boots, heavy gloves, and a heavy coat, and walk her down to the dock over the water." I waited, watching the clock, using it to help keep my swing in time. "Are the waves choppy?"
"Yes."
"There's a rope on the dock. Wind it around one of the pillars to secure it and lower the other end into the water. No matter how short the rope looks above water, it will always be the length you need under the surface."
Her eyes continued to follow the motion of our hands, but her eye lids were beginning to droop.
"Does she have a hold on the rope?"
Church nodded.
"Help pull her up."
Her breathing had slowed down considerably. She was tired, but pushing through that last bit. I wondered what C was doing. Knowing him, he was probably on the dock, pulling up the rope with the civilian part of her.
"Is she up?"
Church nodded, eyes closing.
"Get her up the path and into the cabin."
She let out a long held breath and I smiled. I slowed the motion of her arms to a stop and put an arm around her waist to help keep her up right. I walked her back to her bedroom of very feminine comfort, helping her back into bed. I tucked her in under the light of the moon just out the window. When I was sure she was asleep, I gently closed the door to her room and headed out the door, waving to Blue from where he sat on her couch reading a book by the glow of his eyes.
I awoke to banging on my bedroom door the next morning. The sky was just starting to turn bright as Church came in without waiting. She was in a different navy blue uniform, this one not being wrinkled, hair still wet from a shower. I sat up in time to take her phone and look at a series of texts.
'It can rend the void.'
'That was how it shattered the prison.'
'It needs to sleep.'
'It couldn't escape the actual power containment structure the Shipworks' uses for their airships.'
'It only got out by pounding on the lock.'
'If you can prep one of those things so that it falls asleep as soon as it's inside, we'll be able to trap it.'
'I love you.'
I blinked at the messages for a moment before it sank in. Holy shit. We had a new prison! One ready made! I looked up at her, barely able to contain my smile. "Have you spoken to Steam?"
"He's already here."
I handed her the phone back as I stood. "Give me a minute to throw on my uniform and then we'll go save the world."
She nodded and stepped out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her. Okay. If I was going to make the point to her I was pushing last night, I'd better go all in. At least she looked like she'd slept pretty well. I pulled out the Viper uniform and put it on. Note to self: never tell Sans or Papyrus how comfortable it feels to wear it.
C suddenly appeared on my shoulder. "I don't know what you did exactly, but thank you."
I raised an eyebrow at the hologram. "How's it going in there?"
"Weird. It's warm in her head. The ocean is just normal waves. The basement... The basement is gone! When the Viper came back in the cabin, the locks I'd put on the door fell off, and the door disappeared. The cabinets that made up the 'office' down there are relocated to one of the bedrooms, and Viper Frisk just roams around like the rest of the 'Frisks' in here."
I nodded. "Good."
C disappeared. I came out the door, pulling the longer bits of my hair in the back into a stubby pony tail. She looked me up and down before nodding. I put an arm around Church's shoulders and walked her down the short hall to the living room where Sans was already starting lessons with Sophia, Brandon, and Princess. Princess held Sophia's hand while they listened, her ghostly Chara resting on Brandon in a comforting way. They gave Church a wave and she blew them a kiss.
They smiled, giggling a little at the silliness.
That was more like normal. We headed out the door and down the stairs. Steam's Frisk and Chara were standing in the hall talking quietly with two others who were very obviously from their timeline. And they got tall fast. The twins wore the same style of brown slacks and white button downs I'd last saw them in, but it appeared that their Imperial sister had chosen their vests by the quality of the fabric. Both wore their work goggles perched on their heads and I wondered if they'd just come the Shipworks.
A young man with red hair and a sharp face, wearing a button down, brown slacks, and a vest very similar to what the twins wore, stood protectively next to a young woman, with short brown hair and flowers tattooed into her arms. Scratch that. Those weren't tattoos. Tattoos did not move under the skin like they were alive. She wore an unusual, layered dress of greens under the most unusual armor with a seven point star decorating it. Wasn't that something the Fae in Steam's world wore? She didn't appear to be Fae at all and I was pretty sure that was the symbol of one of the fae houses.
Chara caught sight of us and smiled. "Hey Frisk. Cross."
The smile Church gave them was close to normal. She was upset, worried for Bones, but she wasn't expressionless anymore. "Hey, boys. How's it going?"
Frisk immediately broke off to run to Church, hugging her tightly. "That doesn't matter! Are you all right?"
Church sighed. "No. But I will be."
"I've never seen him just hug a strange woman before," the red head whispered to the woman. "Has he done that in the past?"
The woman smiled patiently. "I'm pretty sure she isn't a stranger to them. We just don't know her."
"But you've known them most of their lives!"
"I'm not privy to everything they do. I'm Az's servant, not theirs.'"
The red head huffed. "Chou."
"Canaille."
I snorted. "Oh... that's rough!"
The woman smiled.
The man shrugged. "It could be worse. She could actually mean it."
"Oh, you know that I do."
He sighed and kissed her cheek, earning a blush.
"Are you two done?" Chara asked.
"Sure," they both replied.
Chara shook his head. "That's Frisk Church. The skeleton we saw stuck in the goop creature? That's her husband."
The woman covered her mouth with a hand, shocked.
He went on like what he'd just said wasn't shocking in the least. "To be honest, Frisk probably would have hugged her even if he didn't know her. Frisks are like that around each other. Completely fascinated."
Frisk raised an eyebrow at his twin brother. "You're like that around other Chara's."
Chara shrugged like that didn't bother him.
"Okay, I've met other versions of you before, but not a female one," the red haired man commented.
Frisk smiled at him, big and bright. "Of course there are female versions of me! Remember the woman with the pink and green hair that puts my hair to shame? She's a Frisk."
"Introductions?" I asked.
Chara gestured to his companions starting with the young woman. "Ladies first, this is Mary. She's one of Az's ladies in waiting."
Mary offered one flower covered hand to shake. "How do you do?"
I took her fingers gently and turned her hand up to kiss her knuckles, earning a smile. "A pleasure. I've not met anyone from a Fae house before."
She looked slightly uncomfortable. "I was adopted into House Nuada under unusual circumstances. I'm not actually fae."
Frisk gestured to the red head with the sharp face. "This is Stephen. He's one of our Gentlemen of the Bed Chamber."
Stephen shook my hand. "Pleased to meet you."
"And if their completely inappropriate behavior was any indication, they are engaged," Chara quipped, nose up with his arms crossed over his chest.
Church nodded to them both. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Frisk Gaster and this is Frisk Cross. Your sister didn't come along?"
Frisk shook his head. "Az won't leave unless it's on business for the empire. Even Anne stayed behind. And poor Ceph is still probably asleep."
"Anne? Ceph?"
"Anne is my fiancee and Cephas is our second Gentleman of the Bedchamber."
Church rubbed his head, fingers sliding through soft, yellow and pink hair. "Congratulations."
He smiled brightly at her. "Thanks!"
"Is your Sans prepping the chamber?"
Chara nodded. "Yeah. It won't take long. Fell Frisk and Mage Frisk have been all over it with a spell matrix that would impress my Dr. Gaster."
"Let's have a look then."
We headed down the hall and turned past the training room to what looked to be the door to a conference room. Inside was a room Asriel had specially prepared for whenever Site Epsilon needed serious magical work done. It was the same size as the training room, but was only equipped with a singular cabinet filled with various things. In the middle of the room, Fell Frisk and Mage Frisk both worked over a massive crystal structure. It was as large as my Papyrus was tall and looked similar to the crystal casing of the strange robot we fought on Steam's timeline all those years ago. The interior glowed with multiple golden sigils similar to the magic that my Sans used. Fell Chara leaned back against the wall, watching with some interest.
Stephen's jaw dropped. "That's him! The Chara who helped all the San-es take care of the battalion during the Hunt Coup."
Fell Chara looked over. "Hey, guys. Long time, no see."
"Yeah. What is it about you not visiting?" Chara asked, pretending to be miffed.
Fell Chara smiled and pointed at his Frisk. "Because when I'm not busy keeping that one out of trouble..." He pointed up, indicating Ossein. Who I didn't see around so she was probably still in her apartment which was probably right above us if my spatial perception was right. "I'm busy chasing after the other one." He went back to relaxing against the wall. "Bones' brother is in his workshop."
Chara elbowed his blond and pink haired brother. "Come on."
Frisk put an arm around his twin. "Looking to make good on an outstanding debt?"
"Yes. Though I don't think any of us see it that way."
King Chara stood with 01, discussing something. Church and I joined them.
"What's the good word?" I asked.
01 sighed. "The good news is that the new prison and its lock are ready. We even have a way to capture the thing and drag it to us since it won't fall for the beacon again. The bad news is that we still don't know how to get Bones out of it. I'm going to talk to Star and Crow about it in a bit."
Something felt... wrong. Like the world had very slightly, but very suddenly, shifted to one side.
Fell Frisk sat up suddenly from the crystal prison. "It's here in the building! On the second floor!"
Several of us dashed up the stairs and split off in multiple directions. I ran straight for my apartment and the kids. Everyone looked up from the math lesson at the dining table, confused at the sudden intrusion. Church turned on her heel, running down the hall for Ossein's apartment. Fell Chara and 01 had already beaten us there. Ossein stood in her living room, staring at her feet. A large piece of the thing was wrapped around her. A tall Gaster was very carefully removing the long tentacle. Had all that time remembering given Crow the form he preferred back? The tentacle piece jerked and writhed, attempting to stay attached, but lacked the needle teeth mine had to stay on.
Fell Frisk grabbed a hold of it, letting it wrap around her arm instead. "Let's see if this thing passes out in the new prison chamber."
01 put an arm around Ossein, pulling her along with him as everyone filed out of the apartment. Crow suddenly stepped in front of Church and I, blocking us as the others moved toward the stairs.
He stood with his hands clasped in front of him and frowning in a deeply apologetic way. "If I can, I will force that piece of myself into the prison. If I cannot, I will pull it in with me, and you are to lock us both inside." His eye sockets squeezed shut. "Please do not inform Frisk of this. She will understand it happening in the moment, but if she knows before, she may try to stop me."
Church took his boney hand and patted it. "You found your voice. Why tell us?"
He sighed. "I wish someone to know in case you must stop her and the two of your are both well placed to help. I cannot tell the head of the Foundation or her partner. To do so would damage her trust in them. Her partner is her pillar and the love the other has sparked in her is very precious. I will not take that from her."
"What about Bones?" I asked.
He smiled a bit proudly, the way all Gasters did when speaking of Red's little sister. "I believe that the Frisk of the Fell world has a solution for that."
Church patted his shoulder with a nod. "We can handle that. Come on. We need to see if the spell matrix works."
Crow nodded, disappearing. Church and I headed back down the stairs just in time to see Mage Frisk, eyes a glittering gold, stuffing the tentacle piece into the prison. As soon as it crossed the threshold, it fell limp.
"Yes!" Fell Frisk hopped in place, instantly happy. She looked to 01. "We're ready!"
"Great. Now we just have to figure out how to get Bones out of the thing," 01 said.
Fell Frisk snorted, insulted. "Please. Do you really think I haven't thought of that? The prison does not need to be shut for the sleep spell to work and it's keyed into the thing specifically. Once it's in there, we can just pull Bones out before shutting it and locking it."
He blinked at her before shaking his head with a smile. "All right then." 01 looked around. "This time we are going with a smaller team. Fase has Error on call. Don't ask how she worked that one out, because I don't know. When we are ready, Error will grab the thing and throw it directly onto a predetermined timeline. We'll be waiting with the prison. Our goal is to get it in the prison, after which, we get Bones out before locking the prison. After successful containment, the prison will be moved to Site Alpha. I already have a lovely place for it."
"Is it your office?" King Chara asked.
"No. But I will admit to having thought of putting it there." 01 shook his head. "The team is as follows: Blue, Red, Church, Cross, Star." He jerked a thumb at King Chara. "That asshole. His lovely wife. And myself. Get prepped and meet back here in twenty. We'll transport from this area to a dead timeline. Once operations begin, it will be Blue's job to keep the thing on timeline while the rest of us force it into the prison. Since bonding with Bones, it has become susceptible to normal weaponry and we've been able to cut pieces off of it. The plan will be to continually separating pieces of it off to weaken it. Any piece cut away will be isolated and contained by Mage Frisk until we have enough that she can throw the pieces in. That should substantially weaken it enough to get it in the prison. Any questions?"
There was a general shaking of heads.
"All right. I'll see the team in twenty."
As I made my way to the door, Fell Chara jerked on my sleeve. "You've got my partner's back, right?"
I nodded once. "Have I ever failed in that regard?"
He shook his head. "No."
I put a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine."
"It's not her I'm worried about. It's Crow."
Oh hell. "That he might try something?"
Chara nodded.
"I'll keep a watch for that."
"Thank you. Good luck."
I sighed and followed Church and Ossein who were already half way down the hall. There was an ease to Church that hadn't been there before, not even before the incident. She moved with the Viper's skill but also with the relaxed attitude of the woman who sat with her knitting while listening to a podcast in the evening. The next part would be crucial. Not just saving Bones, but putting together the pieces in her head.
I really didn't pick the best time to do this, but crisis had a way of speeding things along.
After prepping, we headed back to the room. Arranging ourselves around the prison for teleport, the world went black, and when all the pieces of reality fit back together, we were standing in the middle of a large, grassy plain. In the distance, you could make out some green trees and bushes standing over golden, yellow grasses. The dry dirt under our feet held the hooved impressions of a mass animal migration having been through here recently, but was now gone from sight.
Mage Frisk quickly drew a large circle in the dirt around the prison with a stick before etching out multiple sigils. "This circle should will hide the prison and me from the thing's vision. It will not impact your ability to see. Frisk Ossein? I'd like you to take up position right here." She pointed to the circle's edge. "It's fascination with you will give you an advantage for getting it into the prison."
Ossein nodded and stood in the area indicated.
"Are we ready?" 01 asked. We all assented and he pulled out his phone. "Fase? We're ready." He hung up and shoved his phone in a pocket under his armor. "Here goes nothing."
