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. Error!Sans belongs to Lover or Piggies (just call her the Crayon Queen). This story is copyrighted to me.

1. This story is rated T for language, suggestive jokes/themes, and violence.

Ep. 12 - Fills You With Determination

(Bones is our narrator! Wait. What?)

Where was I? I looked around. I was still on the field. I tried to move and... nothing.

Fuck.

This was different from other possessions. I couldn't even feel it inside of me and it didn't take long out figure out why. When possessed by another Gaster, it always linked to my soul and used that connection to hold onto me. Which is why my feelings for Frisk would turn into a complete fascination with her on the possessing Gaster's part. But this? It was doing everything in it's power not to touch my soul. As if doing so was a poor idea.

I looked up at Frisk and her posture changed, 'mission mask' falling into place. Her LV sky rocketed as she pulled her gun. Three shots had both my feet stuck to the ground and one arm complete immobilized.

The thing hissed, breaking through the foam core encasing my legs with tentacles, before dashing toward her. Her Determination peaked and even without it touching my soul, I could feel it: an overwhelming hunger. She slid to the side, out of the way of the tentacles reaching for her, turning to shoot again, locking my legs in place with the foam core. A tentacle broke through the foam as swiftly as another wrapped around her arms, lifting Frisk off her feet and pulling her toward me. No!

The jolt of a save load hit me and Frisk was standing away from me again, firing to lock down my legs. The thing roared as it broke through the foam, coming at her with multiple tentacles. She slid to the side again, but this time brought up the knife Inky had created for her, lopping tentacles clean off. It hissed and moved backwards, attempting to run with my legs, but losing real function.

It seemed weaker, and the next rush it made for her was sloppy. Instead of using tentacles, it made a bet that she wouldn't physically hurt me, and threw a punch. It paid off. She dropped her knife, but couldn't bring the gun up in time to lock down my arm. Tentacles encircled her completely and pulled her forward.

The jolt of another save load hit me again and my legs were locked down even faster this time. The tentacle attack came next, but was weaker, the movement slower. As soon as the knife cut the tentacles away, she dropped it for the gun and locked down my arm. It broke through the foam with another roar and threw parts of itself across the ground, causing her to slip. It barreled down at her while she was momentarily defenseless.

Another save load crashed into me, legs locked down again. This time it stilled, realization setting in that the Determination it sought to consume was behind the jumps in time. Jumps that were making it weaker and weaker. Every time she loaded her save, it was stealing the pieces of the souls it had away, sending them back to their rightful owners. Even though it was doing its damnedest not to touch my soul, I could feel its rising fear. The knowledge that those with the most Determination were also the most deadly.

It lifted a hand, summoning my Gaster Blasters in a ring around her, their mouths and eyes glowing. Oh no. No no no! Come on, boys! It's not me! You gotta be able to see that!

My arm lifted, pointing at her.

I railed against the thing, trying anything to stop the blast. And nothing.

Caleb floated away from the ring to hover next to Frisk, followed by the rest. She blinked at them as a few cuddled against her, but Caleb's eyes were on me, still flaming. His jaw opened and a hot white flash came at us.

Good boy!

The thing dodged out of the way, but was too weak to dodge the others as the blasts kept coming. I could feel the void opening as he made his escape. And as the world blinked out, I saw Frisk on her knees, fists pounding the ground as she screamed.

Oh God, Sunflower. I'm so sorry.

I floated there, in the nothing, feeling the thing around me pant and quiver, too weak to do much. It floated near a timeline, waiting for the walls around it to open a little in order to dive in. So that's how it'd been getting onto timelines. It waited for an opening and exploited it. As the timeline closed around us, it crashed into the ground. As we lay there, it went dormant, resting. I attempted to move and was able to lift my hand a little. I touched my pocket. My phone was still there, but I didn't have enough control to pull it out.

A rustle in the dark, green bushes caught my attention, and I looked to my right. A young woman, maybe mid twenties, sporting long, brown hair braided with flowers and wearing a dress my Sunflower would have mugged her for, stepped out of the brush surrounding me. A mechanical limb was attached to the metal encased stump of her left leg.

"A skeleton monster!" She knelt next to me, warm brown eyes looking me over. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Could I talk? Only one way to find out. "You have a Sans? A skeleton monster like me around?" Well, what do you know? I could talk.

She frowned. "Sans? You mean the legendary skeleton monster who protected the fallen children?" She shook her head, braid swinging. "He died a long time ago. Just a bit after the last of the fallen humans passed away."

"Do you have a phone?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"I'm going to start reciting a random list of numbers. It won't sound like a phone number, but it is." The thing stirred and I stiffened. "Listen, I'm possessed by something incredibly dangerous. It's sleeping right now, but it's going to wake up soon. Start typing the numbers in and when I say run, just go. As fast as you can and don't look back. Tell the voice on the other end of the line that Bones landed on your home world. Got it?"

She nodded, eyes filled with Determination. Was she related to this world's Frisk or Chara? Or was she simply the person with the most determination now that they were gone?

I rattled off Fase's number, letting it pour out in a hum while she input the numbers in her phone. The thing was really stirring now, being so close to a being with the determination it craved. This was going to be close. "Seven. Eight. Nine. Two. RUN!"

The girl dashed away, phone to her ear. Thankfully, the thing was slow to move. Staggering as it stood, it stalked in the direction the girl had left in, but she'd left no trace of were she'd gone. Rather impressive, all things considered. We seemed to be in the middle of no where. Feeling no sources of determination near enough to feast on, it opened a rift and slipped back into the void. Interesting. It had to wait for a way to get into a timeline, but could leave whenever it wanted.

It passed out again. I attempted to move my hand and this time had more control. Hopefully, I could use that exhausted state to my advantage. I pulled out my phone, gripping it tightly to prevent losing it in the endless nothing. I paused for a moment, staring at the wallpaper photo of Frisk and the kids, swimming in the lake by the cabin.

Sighing deeply, I texted Frisk.

'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.'

'Hypothesis: loading saves draws the souls it's eaten away from it.'

'I'll send more information when I can.'

I paused for a moment, feeling it stir and risked another message.

'I love you.'

I shoved the phone back in my pocket and relaxed, feeling it wake. It lifted my hands weakly, and a magical seal glowed a soft gold in the darkness between them. I studied the markings, and frowned. This was the kind of magic that D used, heavily symbolic. The seal burst, falling like golden dust before disappearing in the endless darkness. And then I felt it like a rush. The Determination of multiple people peeking all at once.

Shit. This was how he activated the nightmares earlier. But how? The spell didn't seem powerful enough to evoke that kind of reaction. Was it keying into something in the void itself? Something I couldn't see? This was the void. I was deeply connected to it on the most intrinsic of levels. Was it even possible that there's something out here I'm unaware of?

No. I'm over looking the obvious answer.

When it was still W.D. Gaster, he had visited every timeline that existed at that point. That little seal could easily have contained symbols for every timeline that had existed at that point meaning it was using the original variation timelines to amplify the spell's potency. Fascinating! I shook myself out of the line of thought before that part of me that was still wholly my predecessor distracted me further. Now wasn't the time.

It zeroed in on a timeline and waited for the opening. Slipping through the code, it landed on a dock overlooking the ocean under a starlit night and a bright full moon. A young man in long brown slacks, a white button down under suspenders, stumbled along the boardwalk just ahead. A tall goat monster in a black, pin striped suit walked along with him.

"Are you sure you're all right, Frisk? You were screaming in your sleep!"

"I just need to walk it off, Azzy. No big deal."

It shot toward the two and I pulled back, trying to hinder it. I might as well have done nothing for as useful as that was. It slammed into Asriel, knocking him to the ground before swirling up and around Frisk.

The young man blinked, eyes suddenly turning red. "How dare you hurt my brother!" He flicked his wrist, and a knife hidden in a sheath on his wrist popped into his hand. His strike was fast, his Determination already kicked up by the dream. Apparently the thing hadn't learned it's lesson from taking the brunt of my Sunflower's released LOVE. It skidded back as the knife made contact. Apparently being fused to me had left it susceptible to normal attacks. By the hiss it let out, it hadn't anticipated that. The kid was swift, turning with another strike, severing a tentacle that reached for him. He tossed the knife in order to grip it for a stab and leapt forward.

Asriel grabbed him around the waist, pulling him back. "Frisk, NO!" Knocking the knife from the young man's hand, he threw Frisk over his shoulder and made a run for it.

It dashed after them, moving to keep up, desperate for the Determination. Asriel ran past a dark alley and out of it stepped Cross and our Surfer Papyrus. They grabbed either arm, sending it backward and me with it. I'm pretty sure that if I had control of my body, my skull smacking off the cobblestone would have seriously hurt. Instead, the impact felt far off. Cross' gun was in his hand, and I was locked to the ground with a few well placed shots of foam core.

The thing hissed, but stopped fighting. Oh that wasn't a good sign. Cross reached down to lift it off the ground and a tentacle slid out, wrapping around his left arm. He gasped as it stole some of the Determination still bleeding off of him from the beacon. Suddenly powered up, it burst out of the foam and opened a rift to escape into the void. Papyrus reached over, cutting the tentacle off to free Cross. It left the piece of itself behind as it escaped into the void.

Having some power back, it rested again, sleeping. Was this how it spent the majority of its time? No. Things were different now. All of the timelines had protections around them that they hadn't had back when this thing roamed freely. I tried to reach for my phone and nothing happened. I fell asleep. And woke again when we bumped into a timeline and one I knew well. Waiting for the code to open, it slipped inside.

A massive airship floated by overhead as it slithered down a cobblestone street, the sun rising. It lifted one arm and it's power radiated out. Screams swept through the area only to be followed by moans of delight. People walked out of the buildings on both sides of the street, arms out toward it, faces filled with awe.

A pale human girl with short dark hair attempted to stop several fae as they came out of a grand hall, arms out. She was human, but wore the fae armor of the Order of the Oak over her dress. What I first thought were tattoos on her bare arms were instead, strange living flowers that moved under her skin. She turned to see what everyone was heading for and caught sight of it. Turning even paler, she pulled a gun from her belt, loading it with an unusual ammunition, before firing directly into the sky. A massive firework burst of bright yellow and purple went off overhead forming the Delta Rune.

I knew that signal. It was one that Steam had developed for his Frisk and Chara.

The girl twisted the gun, dropping the standard barrel to replace it with a glowing white crystal barrel. She fired on it, encasing our shared body in ice. While the thing took a moment break through the ice, she used the time to run to the front of the crowd, using the gun to create a wall of ice to block everyone on the street. As the wall completed, the crystal overloaded, and shattered. The girl screamed as she hit the cobblestone, hands and arms ripped up by the shrapnel. She laid there for a moment, gasping in pain, before forcing herself to her feet. As she stood, the torn flesh knitted itself together. the flowers looking suddenly bright and in full bloom on her arms.

A tentacle shot out and grabbed the girl around the waist, lifting her high. Her soul appeared in front of her chest, glowing a bright orange. She struggled for a moment before something caught her eye and she smiled. Even without looking, I knew what she saw. I could hear the fast approaching Gaster Blaster motorcycles. She pulled an oddly shaped knife from her belt and cut the tentacle. She landed on the ground with a crouch and dove to one side.

The thing turned in time to be thrown into the air by Prince Chara's spear as he rounded on the cycle. The other cycle was ridden by a young man with white hair and nearly white skin, his eyes glowing a bright blue. He came up with a second spear, knocking the thing back down to the ground. It lay there for a full minute, completely stunned.

"Took you long enough!" the girl called as she ran for Chara.

Chara dismounted the cycle. "Complain later. Ceph! Lock it down!"

"I got it!" The pale man yelled, his eyes glowing a bright aqua blue, white hair floating up from the power coming off his magic as a white lattice formed over it. Suddenly distracted, the spell over the people on the other side of the ice wall fell apart.

The girl bent over a little at the waist, hands on her knees, to look at us. "What is this? It looks like a skeleton monster filled with a ton of goop." One of the Blaster cycles went up to her and she rubbed it's snout absently. "What do we do with it?"

Chara frowned. He was older than I remembered, but then, I hadn't been around for a visit in a while. By the look of his linen shirt, brown pants, and the dirt rings around his eyes from where his goggles had been, he'd been at work in the Shipworks this morning. His white haired friend appeared to be similarly dressed. "We call for help. I don't know what that thing with the tentacles is, but the skeleton monster stuck in there is a friend." He reached into a pocket, pulling out a strange video radio that passed for a communication device in Steam's world, and dialed. "Fase? Something's taken over Bones and we've got him held down here, but we can't hold it forever."

Fase's voice of creepy doom seemed... off. Was she that upset about my predicament? "Acknowledged. Agents are enroute."

"He's breaking through my net!" the young man, Ceph was it?, yelled.

Chara turned to the girl. "Mary! Get everyone on the other side of the ice wall out of the area!"

She nodded once and ran, vaulting the wall. I could make out her giving instructions while the young man struggled against the power of the thing. Chara grabbed him, breaking the spell off. The man slumped against him as he whistled for the cycles. He helped the man onto a cycle and sent it off as the thing rose. It spilled out of my skeleton and rose high, looming over Chara, who proceeded to not look the least bit impressed.

"Really? Is that all you've got to offer? Height? You're just a slosh of goop. I've met Shoggoths with more bodily integrity."

A tentacle slashed at Chara and he knocked it away like it was nothing.

"If you're going to give me a fight, at least be entertaining."

Instantly infuriated, the thing dove at him and Chara moved so it would slam itself off the ice wall, causing it to crack.

Chara stepped up to one of the cycles, gripping the handle. "Catch me if you can," he mocked. The cycle he had his hand on took off, and he mounted the seat as it moved down the street.

The thing practically flew after him, sensing his determination. I snorted to myself. This Chara was a certifiable genius and the fact that his twin brother Frisk, wasn't with him right this moment spelled a certain kind of doom. They worked in tandem, even when they weren't aware of it. Chara led the thing down several empty streets before coming out on the river route and making a mad dash for the shipyards where W. D. Gaster's Shipworks was located. Airships in dock bobbed up and down overhead. But rather than escape into the shipyards, he flew past the iron gates, speaking on his radio to someone.

He looked back at the thing long enough to make a rude gesture. It's anger festered and it sped after him. I would have smiled had I control of my body. This Chara was very good at infuriating someone to a point beyond reason. This thing wasn't letting up. Chara rounded a corner on the cycle, heading right for a long concrete fishing dock and the river. As the Blaster Cycle leapt from the dock, it transformed under him into a small aircraft. The thing leapt up after him, only for us to be trapped in a net and pulled down to the dock.

Before hitting the concrete of the dock, I saw a shock of bleach blonde hair with pink tips. I was wondering where Frisk was. Prince Frisk and a young man with bright red hair and a sharp face pulled the thing into a massive crystalline structure, the kind made to contain the power core of the engines the Shipworks used in their airships. It pounded on its prison in abject fear, unable to get through the casing. Well now. That was a good thing. Just what was this thing made out of?

It stilled, looking around frantically for a means of escape. It noticed that the lock was sturdy, but it wasn't a magical one. It concentrated its efforts on the door, right at the lock, breaking it apart with continual slams against it. The lock cracked and the door of the casing swung open. And then it opened a rift into the void, dropping us back into nothing.

A thought hit me like a ton of bricks. That was how it shattered the original prison. It had opened a rift into the void and the prison, being made of the void, was rended to pieces. Had the lock survived? If the lock survived, that means we still had a means by which to make a new prison. We just needed a properly prepared casing.

Instead of diving for a new timeline it seemed to fall asleep. I could feel it getting weaker and weaker. Some one was loading their save repeatedly. Cross? Probably. I reached into my pocket, swiping to unlock my phone and texted Frisk.

'It can rend the void.'

'That was how it shattered the prison.'

'It needs to sleep.'

'It couldn't escape the actual power containment crystal 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 shoved my phone back in my pocket and relaxed. For being unable to even feel my body when it was awake, I was deeply exhausted. Maybe, while it's connected to me, I can poke around in it. Talk about an incredibly ill advised action. Well, here I go anyway. Using my soul's power, I felt around a bit, looking for some piece of something. It definitely had a mind and I didn't want to poke that too hard. For the most part, it'd been ignoring me, so I was pretty sure it wasn't aware I was still conscious. After reaching around for a while, I found the tiniest sliver of a soul.

Only a sliver? He isn't the other half of Crow?

I reached out and gently touched that piece. Everything was hazy for a moment and I saw myself. Rather, I saw myself as Wing Dings, sitting on the couch in my lab in the lowest basement level of the Core. I was sipping Golden Flower tea while reading over a paper. Another Gaster sat next to me, an unusual violet glow to him, waiting for me to finish. I stared at the other Gaster, and felt like I should know this man and know him well.

The 'memory me' handed him the paper. I sipped the tea. "You said that a human child in your world managed to do it to their own soul?"

He nodded. "Humans are fascinating in that their souls are dominated by an existing virtue, the strongest of which is Determination. The ones with souls of Determination are able to do things even monsters with years of magical study are unable to do."

"You would need a vessel in which to place the other half of yourself. The human child you document split half of their soul away in order to give your Asgore a new lease on life after an assassination attempt. And not only was there a vessel for the soul, the human was filled with Determination, which kept both pieces intact. You would need a source of Determination in order to do this." I sipped my tea. "The idea that a monster soul may actually be split in such a way is worthy of investigation. Your hypothesis is sound, but you lack key components with which to test it."

"But I do have them."

The memory me put down the tea cup. "You mean to use yourself as a test subject."

His eyes glowed brightly. "I do! Think of it. By making two copies of myself, I'll be able to do twice the amount of work."

"But what of the Determination? The vessel?"

I couldn't hear the next part, the memory pulling away. Checking for a moment to be sure the thing was still asleep, I moved in, touching again. And was shoved back. Not by that sliver of soul, but by my own. Some long thread of tension in my head snapped and the headache that pounded at me was deafeningly loud. Behind it came a flood of memory.

Half a monster soul shattering into multiple pieces.

A monster fused with a human's determination and melting from the inability to keep a singular form attacked everyone around it, stealing their souls, drinking their determination in order to remain whole.

Several of such monsters attacking multiple timelines, leaving terror in their wake.

The break out of war between humans and monsters. The humans unable, or unwilling, to accept that the thing that killed so many of them was 'other.'

Gasters from all over the cosmos hunting down and imprisoning the things in the void.

Myself, holding all that was left of my friend's soul, and using it to make a lock to hold the most powerful of the creatures in its prison.

Going home to find monsters trapped underground. A condition spread across the cosmos.

I lay there in the darkness, panting as my soul throbbed. Oh hell, the monster soul in Crow was the original lock piece. Shooting Star had found it while taking one of her 'swims.'

The thing was awake and regarding me. Or at least, regarding my soul. "Have you remembered? You must have by the state of your soul."

I felt a long hum as the thing righted itself in the void and dived for a timeline, using the energy radiating from my soul to enter it. When I had a moment to register my surroundings, I pounded uselessly against the possession. I was home. I could hear Brandon's voice just down the hallway.

No. No. NO! Don't you dare go near my children!

"Calm yourself. I'm not here for them." It pushed the door to the right open, sliding into Frisk Ossein's apartment.

"Bones!" Shooting Star dropped her tea cup, the porcelain smashing on the kitchen floor. She reached for a gun and paused, realizing she had nothing on her. The thing stalked up to her, tentacles reaching out. Pausing, her expression changed. She took a deep breath and let a tentacle touch her before pushing it away. "Let my friend go."

It reached out again and she pushed it away gently, but firmly.

"Let Bones go."

It shook its strange head. The voice that came out was labored, like a loud whisper. "I cannot. If I let him go, you'll imprison me. I will not go back to that endless slumber." A tentacle reached out again and she pushed it away again, but the continual motion had backed her into a corner.

"Why can't we kill you? Why must you be imprisoned?"

"If I were to perish, my never ending nightmare would spread across the cosmos, leaving all it touched in my power." Tentacles twined up and around her legs, just barely touching so she wouldn't notice it happening.

Her eyes went wide in horror. "It would make more of you."

"Yes," the voice hissed.

"The other prisons. Were they people you infected?"

"They are... slivers of me." The tentacles tightened swiftly, two more grabbing her wrists and holding her arms tight. He slithered up close to her, looking down as she pulled against the binds. "No need to struggle. I only wish to know why you enthrall me so."

Her face twisted in anger. "How dare you use a friend's body to assault me! Crow!"

The exemplar appeared, but instead of a bulky ninja, a well dressed, and very familiar, skeleton monster with a set of familiar cracks in his skull appeared. The thing froze, staring at him, before it's tentacles slipped away from Ossein and she stumbled, leaning against the wall for support. The thing stared at Crow as he frowned at it in disdain. I could feel it pulling away from my body, looking to take Crow instead.

Crow's frown deepened. "Let go of my friend."

"In exchange for you? Gladly!"

"No!" Ossein barked, moving between them, arms held out.

It loomed over her. "Are you offering yourself?"

"Do not touch her."

It looked back to Crow. "If she will not let me have you and you will not let me have her, we are at an impasse." A rift in the world opened behind it and we were tumbling into darkness.

Ossein reached for me. "Bones!" She caught hold of my wrist and was pulled into the void, Crow following after her.

A tentacle wrapped around her arm pulling her toward it and wrapping her up. "Why?! Why do you fascinate me so?!"

Crow grabbed a hold of the tentacle. "Isn't it obvious?" It pulled, tearing the tentacle apart. "It's me."

The thing hissed loudly as a piece of itself was torn away. Ossein was still reaching for me, even as Crow pulled her back down into the timeline. It struggled against losing another piece of it's body until it lay exhausted. This time it stayed awake. Instead, I was exhausted, barely staying conscious.

"If he is the reason she fascinates me. Then truly holding onto you would be a better option, wouldn't it?"

It reached for my soul and my phone rang. It froze, listening to the sound.

I knew that one day Fase's refusal to let my phone simply vibrate when she called would bite me in the ass. And today was that day. Fuck.

It pulled my phone from my pocket, staring at the lock screen photo of Frisk dressed as Lulu from Final Fantasy X, a picture from last Halloween. He blinked at the device for a moment, unsure what to make of it before crushing it, destroying my only life line. God damn it!

Out of nowhere, a net of blue strings wrapped around us before closing completely.

Fase hadn't been calling me. She'd been signalling Error.

The balled net swung around, sending us flying the direction of a timeline. As the thing engulfed my soul, I hoped that meant containment was ready. I almost smiled at the familiar feel of a true possession, something I had some power to fight. And it didn't realize that it'd traded it's fascination with Ossein to fascination for my Sunflower. We impacted the ground in the middle of a field of golden grass. It struggled with the net, the nature of Error's strings causing pieces of it to glitch and work improperly. I could see a small team waiting for it to disentangle itself, not wanting to risk a glitch from touching the strings. When it finally pulled itself out, it lurched to one side, unsteady. I was still trapped within it, but instead of using my body as a puppet, it simply held my body inside itself.

King Chara and Cross went for it at the same time. It wasn't ready to have two people attacking it so suddenly and fell backwards, hitting the ground with something like a splash. A tentacle shot out toward Cross and he grabbed it, cutting it off and throwing the piece toward Mage Frisk. She caught it in some spell, her eyes glowing a bright gold. The thing recovered quickly, wrapping up both Cross and His Majesty before flinging them aside. Cross rolled across the grass to his feet, and watched as it stood to it's full height.

It looked around for a moment, realized it was trapped, and decided against remaining. It reached up with one dripping hand to rend the void and froze before howling loudly. It couldn't escape. Only a few people had the kind of power to stop something that can rend void. It spun around, found Blue, and went right for him with a high keen. Blue shrugged, hands in his pockets, and teleported just as it got to him, leaving the thing to slam into the red bone barrier Red erected in Blue's place. Frisk and 01 took over, using foam core to lock us down while it was stunned.

Ah, there she was. My soul thrummed just seeing her and it caught the thing's attention. It stilled for a moment under all the hardened foam and 01 approached cautiously, only to jump back when multiple tentacles jabbed out of the foam like spikes. The foam core cracked apart and exploded outward. The team members covered their faces with their arms and waited for the debris to pass before chancing another look. It reared up and Ossein whistled at it, attempting to get it's attention. It looked at her and smiled for a moment, before slamming her into the ground with a stray tentacle.

It cackled loudly, feeling that it was finally free. Ossein pulled a long knife from her boot and sliced the tentacle off. Rolling backwards to find her feet, she flung the tentacle piece to Mage Frisk. It didn't attack Mage Frisk or attempt to retrieve it's piece. Could it not see her? I made a point of ignoring her so it wouldn't be clued in to her presence.

Crow appeared, not as the Gaster we saw earlier, but as the hulking ninja we'd always known, and slammed the thing in the face, knocking it down. Not giving it a chance to recover, he dropped a heel right on it's smile. "How dare you attack her?!"

Time to start showing this thing a bad time.

It grabbed Crow's leg and flipped him backward so that he crashed to the grassy ground. It turned back to Ossein and I exerted my will, holding completely still. It took two shots of foam core directly to the chest, courtesy of my Sunflower, locking its arms. It looked over at her and sighed happily. And then shuddered violently. I grabbed control for a moment, pulling at it until it hit the ground.

Frisks eyes narrowed. "It's fully possessing Bones now." She fired twice more, locking down it's legs. "Come on, Bones! Throw it off!"

It broke through the foam and swirled up impossibly tall, to advance on her. "Why? Why am I now so fascinated by you instead?!"

"Are you that oblivious? That's my husband you're possessing." She took aim. "And possession always translates to fascination. You didn't get rid of your problem. You just exchanged object of affection." She fired directly into its face, encasing the head with its slash of a smile. It reached up, trying to pull the foam away from it's face and I fought it's motion, making it impossible for it to pull the foam away. Dropping the gun, she pulled out the sword Inky had made her and sliced off a goopy arm. King Chara followed up with the same, taking off a chunk of the thing's base as it struggled with the foam core.

Mage Frisk took those pieces and, combining them with the others, threw them in a large crystalline container. The new prison. Ossein, Crow, and Cross grabbed the thing as best they could, dragging it toward the new prison. It twisted against them, still fighting with the foam stuck to its face while I kept him from prying it off. Crow lifted it completely off the ground and slammed it into the prison, Red holding it down while a spell matrix within the prison itself glowed brightly and took hold. The thing fell into a deep slumber and it's exhaustion collided with mine. I just wanted to sleep.

I felt someone taking my hand. "Come on, Bones! Wake up and get out of there!"

Frisk. She needed me to get up. She sounded worried. Yeah. Sleep could wait. I sat up from within the goop with some difficulty, holding tightly to Frisk's hand. The thing held just as tightly to my soul. Red and Blue both reached in, pulling the goo of the thing away from me. They managed to get me up and I let go of Frisk to fall on all fours, panting with the effort to throw it off. Even asleep, it wouldn't let go, still grasping at my soul. I wrenched myself away. There was one final tear and I heard a sound like glass cracking.

Oh no. I hit the ground feeling like I was going to shatter into a million pieces.

Frisk dived at me, quickly grabbing my cracked soul in her hands, and pouring every bit of of her determination into containing it. "Don't leave me!"

"Oh no!" Ossein squeaked. "What do we do?"

Mage Frisk knelt next to Frisk. "She'll pass out at this rate." She placed her hands around Frisk's, carefully cupping them, eyes closing for a moment. She frowned deeply. "I can't heal this. His soul is not simply cracked. His life force is being sucked out through it." She moved her hands to Frisk's back, her fingers glowed as they rested against the black jacket.

"What are you doing?" Cross asked.

"Adding my Determination to hers."

Red kicked Blue's foot. "*do something, boss man."

Blue nodded, hands in his pockets. He disappeared for several long minutes. I reached up weakly, touching Frisk's face, one boney finger trailing down her cheek. Her eyes were half closed, only vaguely aware of anything other than keeping my soul, and therefore my body, in one piece. Cross and Ossein knelt next to Mage Frisk, putting their hands on Frisk's back, offering their Determination as well. When Blue returned, it was with Sophia and a very skeletal Brandon.

"DAD!" Both of them hit the ground on their hands and knees next to me.

"Mom? What's happening?" Sophia's hand touched her mother's shoulder, but Frisk didn't answer.

Blue sat next to them. "*when you were both conceived, your mom and dad both gave you pieces of themselves. and that piece that your dad gave you? you can use that to help him and he needs it right now."

Brandon blinked boney eye sockets. "How?"

"*put your hands on dad's ribs and think real hard about how you want his soul to be in one piece. i'll handle the rest, okay?"

The kids nodded, each resting their hands on my rib cage, eyes squeezed shut in concentration. Blue put a hand on either kids' heads and a bright, alternating blue and yellow light erupted in his left eye socket. The kids' eyes opened, glowing the same bright blue as my magic. That blue glow encircled my soul, filling it with the distinct warmth of love, family, and the slightest twinge of the two times Frisk's connection to me had produced real fruit. The cracks were filling and instead of feeling like I was going to shatter, I felt light, airy.

"*there we go. he's going to be just fine."

Mage Frisk reached around Frisk, gently pulling her hands away. "It's all right. You can relax."

Frisk let out the breath she was holding and collapsed against Mage Frisk's chest. My soul dropped back into my rib cage and disappeared, nestling back within me. Sophia and Brandon blinked rapidly, the blue glow disappearing from their eyes. They both looked down at me and squealed, tackling me with a hug as I attempted to sort of sit up. Frisk gave me a tired smile and I winked at her from over the kids' heads.

01 closed the prison, fixing the lock in place. With a deep sigh of relief, he called for a retrieval team to take it away to Site Alpha. He walked up behind Ossein as she stood, a little unsteady from pouring her DT into my wife. Putting his arms around her waist, he rested his chin on her shoulder. "Cheese fries at Grillbys?"

She sighed. "Oh God, yes. I really need to eat right now."

"I bet."

Red stepped over to Cross. "*come on, piss ant. let's get the love birds and their chicks back home."

"Got it. Hey Brandon and Sophia. Let's give your mom and dad some space."

The kids both pouted at Cross and he waived them over, picking them both up. Blue put a hand on his shoulder and they disappeared. Mage Frisk helped my wife get up just enough for her to fall on my chest, exhausted. I put my arms around her, holding her tightly while I studied her face. Her expression was different, like something had changed in her and had changed for the better. I craned my neck a bit to nuzzle the top of her head.

"You all right, Babe?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

I smiled. "We should get home before we both pass out."

Frisk nodded, but didn't move until Red reached down to help her stand. "*come on, sugar puss." He held out a hand to me and I took it, letting him pull us into the void and take us home. We landed in the hallway outside our apartment. Princess Frisk hugged Sophia fiercely in the hall, Paps watching them with a worried smile.

He looked at us. "MY BROTHER?"

"Hey, Paps."

He let out a long breath shoulders drooping and lifted me up into a tight hug.

I chuckled. "You didn't miss me too much, right?"

He set me down to rest his skull against mine, bringing up one hand to rest on the back of my neck. "WELCOME HOME."

I patted his back with both hands. "It's good to be home."

Paps pulled back to help Frisk and I walk back to our apartment. "GET CLEANED UP WHILE I MAKE YOU BOTH SOMETHING TO EAT."

"Thanks, Paps."

"DO NOT MENTION IT."

"*you kids going to be okay on your feet?" Red asked.

Frisk nodded. "I've got enough left in me to shower and eat before I pass out."

"You hope," C quipped.

Frisk and I helped each other to the bathroom while my brother went into the kitchen. As soon as the door shut, Frisk pulled me against her, tongue taking a lick at my mandible. I bent my head to hers, claiming her mouth. Her hands pulled at my jacket and I let it hit the floor before bringing my hands up to cup her face.

C's voice came over us. "I really don't want to interrupt you two, but Frisk really, REALLY, doesn't have the energy for this."

"C..."

"I'm using my determination to keep you on your feet right now. Get a shower, eat, and get to bed. Both of you."

"Yes, Sir," I quipped.

After eating and being assured that Paps could handle the kids, I curled up with Frisk in bed. I woke in the morning wondering why my phone alarm hadn't gone off. Oh yeah. Right. Phone's gone. I'll have to say something to Fase about replacing it. I sighed. And realized that someone else was in bed with us. I reached back, hooking an arm around Sophia and putting her between Frisk and I. And right next to Brandon, who'd managed to crawl in between us at some point. Frisk still looked pretty out.

"Hey, C? You up?"

C's hologram projected on Frisk's shoulder. "Yeah." He sat down.

"What's up with Frisk? Somethings different. Not bad different. Good different. But still different."

"You know how I always talk about other Frisk's being in her head and that one of them is her 'Viper self?'"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Cross talked the Viper back into the cabin and she's just another part of Frisk in here. Not hidden away or kept at a distance. Just here."

I laid back, thinking about that for a bit. "So what's on the schedule for today?"

C snorted. "Party. Duh. Do we ever not have a party after sorting out a big problem? Asriel's already organizing the caterers for a pretty sweet spread at lunch. Other than that, nothing."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"For?"

"Keeping her sane."

C smiled. "Cross did the heavy lifting this time." He disappeared.

I shrugged, smiling a little as I got up. I wandered into the living room just in time to answer a knock at the door. Ossein stood there in her pajamas, Crow standing behind her in the form of his former self.

"Morning, kiddo. How were the cheese fries?"

An expression of absolute bliss came over her face. "Oh my God, Bones. They were the best thing ever! I hadn't realized how much I wanted them until I had that first bite." She stepped to the side. "Crow wanted to see you."

Crow sighed, smile apologetic. "I am so very sorry that my foolish experiment continued to haunt everyone long after it should have been taken care of. I never meant to put anyone in danger, least of all you."

I waved him off. "No need to apologize. I'm not the man you once knew."

"No. You are most certainly a much better one." He disappeared, leaving me blinking.

Ossein shrugged and then hugged me tightly. "I'm glad you're back safe."

I rubbed her head. "I'm glad to be back too, Shooting Star."

xxx

Author's note: And that's it for season four!

Now that this is done, I will be focusing hardcore on a collaboration with RoyalTale creator MarieStrider to put the story behind RoyalTale into words. As soon as we finish that story, it will go online a piece at a time with associated art. I've already finished the first two chapters and OMG, reading them makes me cry and I WROTE THEM! XD

After that... I don't know? What do you guys want to read? More Core Issues and/or something non-Core Issues related? Would you like some high fantasy with Necromancer Sans? Some historical fiction with the Ancient Egyptian Sans? More ColonyTale or Steampunk Adventures? Or would you like something for any specific character? I'm sure some of you like to know what was on that 'empty' scroll the griffins gave Church back in season three. Speaking of that episode, would you like to see more of the Army!Frisks doing stuff together? Or is there something non-Undertale you would like to read? Let me know in the comments and send me some PMs.

But other than that: let me know if you liked what you've read with a comment/review and/or kudos!