Disclaimer: This title sums up this entire chapter. Also, the largest chapter in the story, and the most eventful.

DannyPhantom619: Glad you're enjoying the story!

FrostyAngelWings: Yay Dadster! Save the day! Save Sansy's Hope!

AGirl: Glad you like the cliff hanger! The idea for a future Undertale story won't come out for a while, seeing how I'm swamped with school, but you can look forward to it when it does make an appearance.

MemorySteel: Yeah, he has survivor's guilt. Hope feels some too, as she knows that she and the other players are responsible for their pain. Hope Gaster has some answers for them.

pandaxoom: No code cold. Just void flu.

White Wolf Writers: I worked as fast as I could. University got the best of me.

I own Hope!

"Speaking"

Thinking

Edited: Apr. 27/19

Gaster. She was looking at W.D. Gaster. Oh my… it's-I'm not seeing things, am I? Mr Wingdings himself, in all his scientific glory.

The monster certainly looked different than the brief glimpse she got in the game, but seemed to mimic what Sans had drawn back in his lab. His cloak was less… gooey than what the fandom had made him out to be, as she had seen some interpretations of him as not having a true physical body. His black cloak fell to his knees, revealing dark gray pants under them, and a light gray turtle neck was visible at the top where it covered his neck. His cracked lines on his skull went from one going upwards on the right eye, to one going downwards on the left. They weren't shattered though, with signs of it being the cause of injuries and having several branching fractures. They were just… there. His brown dress shoes moved closer, and he knelt down in front of the shaking teen, his hand still on her shoulder.

"Are you alright, my dear? You're shaking." Hope nodded mutely, looking at his hand. A perfectly circular hole was cut through the middle. How-why was that? Why did he have holes in his hands? "Good. I am sure you have many questions, but now's not the time to ask them." Gently removing the appendage from her shoulder, he took her skin covered hand pulled her to her feet. "Come. We haven't much time."

He set off across the void, and Hope walked along behind him. She had no choice, really. He didn't seem to be ready to let her go. Gaster seemed to know where he was going, which was more than she could say for herself. She always thought that Gaster would sound and behave really intense, with a nerve wracking voice. Besides the jumbled letters that occasionally slipped in. He sounded almost like an older version of Sans. Not as deep, but close to it.

His white pupils occasionally moved to watch her, checking to see if she was alright. Was she? She had no clue how time flowed through the void. Had she been here for minutes? Hours? Sighing, she dragged her feet, and Gaster came to a stop. "You are wondering what is happening to Sans, aren't you?"

"Y-yeah. How'd you know?" Hope asked. Gaster chuckled, and finally let her go.

"You see these lines that flow through here?" He bent down, and traced a skeletal finger over the purple glowing lines. As they walked, he had taken a path that followed one of them. They all went in the same direction, but he chose to walk right next to one. "These run all throughout the void, feeding code from your dimension to mine. However, if you know the right code…" Gaster gave a playful smirk, as he looked back up at her. "You can see just about anything."

"You've seen the timelines," Hope realized. "You've been watching them; you've been… watching Sans." Of course. Sans and Papyrus had lost their father years ago; when exactly, she never found out. But for Sans to have to grow up, and take care of Papyrus with the knowledge his younger brother wouldn't remember Gaster… it must have killed the monster before her. "If you've been watching the code, then how do you know about me? Does that mean you can see where I came from?"

"To an extent," he admitted. "The code only shows each player who is currently affecting their world. Every once in a while, a certain anomaly manages to catch a glimpse of the void, but it's only for a few seconds."

"Fun value 66," Hope mumbled. If only specific people could affect the timelines, then of course only an even smaller amount would see Gaster for real. "Is that how you ended up finding me? Because I accessed the code?"

"Precisely." She was clever, this human. She paid attention to details and thought things through. It was no wonder why his eldest son was so intrigued with her. "When a player comes through the code, it allows me to read and see all that they've done. Every run they've played either on their own game, or in real life. But when you came through… you were different." Gaster smiled as if it were an old memory, which by now, it was. "You only played to achieve the pacifist ending. You didn't want to play any more than once. You knew what we monsters had gone through, just as every human before you, but you went further than them."

"But Gaster," she spoke up. "There must have been others before me, right? I'm not that special." There must be dozens, if not hundreds, of humans who wanted the same thing. So… why her?

"That may be true, but only a select couple come through. And an even smaller amount find the opening to the void," he explained. Sighing, he smiled sadly. "Before you appeared, Sans had been searching for me for decades. He might not be that old, but the amount of resets… pile up. He always hated himself for how easily I was lost to him and Papyrus. You surely must have noticed how tired he is. From staying up all hours of the night, trying to rebuild my greatest masterpiece, only for a player to cause everything to be reset." It was… horrible, every time he watched it happen. Every time Sans had woken up back in his room, with Papyrus calling for him outside his door, the older brother would break down in tears. He would be so close, and have it slip through his phalanges at the last second.

"But you?" Gaster fully turned to face her, and rested his hands on her shoulders. "You were the exact thing he needed!" A mad glint shone in his sockets, and Hope leaned back nervously. The fandom had either two interpretations of Gaster. One: he was obsessed with breaking down the barrier and returning to his world by any means necessary. Two: he was a complete and utter goof. Right now? It was… more of a medium of the two. Definitely smart, and could be serious and mysterious. But right now… she wasn't sure what to make of him.

"I-I what?" She squeaked. Gaster grinned madly, and let go of her.

"My son needed something, someone, to distract him from his search. He needed something that would change his mission of using the machine in trying to find me." Gaster sighed, and shook his head as he released his grip on her shoulders. "It's never going to work. But when I saw how much you wanted to fix his problem, despite not knowing the whole story, I knew that I had to alter the code."

"Alter the… code! IT WAS YOU!" She jumped back, pointing at him excitedly. "You were the one who connected Sans and me together through my computer! You were the one who sent me that crazy wingdings message!"

"There we go," Gaster smiled, almost amused by her overreaction. "I am disappointed it took you so long to figure this out. I would have assumed that a fan such as you would have put the pieces together already."

"E-explain! Now!" Hope demanded, still waving her arm around frantically. Fan!? Screw that, you make it sound like I still see this as a game! "H-how on earth did I get the code!? Why didn't you just respond to Sans in the first place!? What-?"

Gaster placed a hand on her mouth, laughing softly at her rapid fire questions. "Are you done?" Hope glared at the elder skeleton, before sighing and nodding. "Good." Removing his hand, he put his hands back into the pockets of his jacket. "As for the two questions you asked, those are somewhat complicated to answer. The code is something that can be directed, and can ping back whatever it contacts with. Sans knew what he was doing in rebuilding my machine from scratch, and but there was a reason as to why I never intercepted his signal."

"Why's that?" Hope sat on the ground, watching him curiously. Gaster smiled, and also got down in front of her.

"Because it wasn't until you began playing that he finally finished it. Do you have any idea how much it hurt, to see your own child waste away over a desperate mission to try and rescue me? I knew I had to do something to save him, to give him hope again after all that he's been through." He sighed, and shook his head pitifully. "When I found you, child, I saw a person who could possibly change him, and had gone through an experience almost similar to his own." We… were similar, weren't we? "How I directed the code was rather simple. Spending so many times in the void lets one… pick up a few abilities," Gaster chuckled. Hope inched back, still wondering about how mentally stable the skeleton was. "Once I made sure that the feed that you would see through your computer was connected to his signal, it all carried out from there."

"I decoded the wingdings, thought it was an Easter egg, and responded to Sans," Hope finished. "After that, it was all about gaining his trust in the world again and making him feel better." She frowned sadly as she realized something. "At first, he despised the anomalies once I explained his dimension verses my own. He hated me for knowing what he didn't. Before we bonded, all he wanted me for was for answers and trying to find out how to bring you home." Her face brightened slowly, and smiled. "But then we began discussing our interests. What we thought about our situation, and that we were almost dependent on each other. He… Sans needs me, Gaster."

"I know, my dear. But returning to him and the others might be more difficult than you imagined." Gaster gestured around him. "You should be wondering how you ended up here, yes? I'm afraid it is because of the unconventional method Sans used to bring you to his dimension."

"What do you mean?" She asked, leaning forward. "I'm not stuck here, am I?"

"I'm afraid it's much worse than that, Hope. You see, the window that separate yours and his worlds is like a one-way mirror. You can get through one way, but entering on the other side is near impossible." That explained why she felt no problem going through the void until she hit the wall. "Sans had to force you through the window. Doing so damaged your organic structure when it reassembled because only part of your body first made it through."

"I… remember," Hope mumbled. "It felt like I was trying to awaken, but I felt something hold me back. Sans must have increased the signal to yank me through." She recalled how it stopped for a moment, and then she felt as if her insides were on fire. "So… the corrupted data is… inside me?"

The silence and look from Gaster was all she needed.

"Oh, Sans." She rested a hand over her chest, feeling her soul thrum weakly under her fingers. How is he ever going to figure this one out? "Please, think of something."

"c'mon, kid. you gotta wake up."

Sans sighed, and slid a hand over his brow. When he had discovered her, he immediately rushed to Toriel. With her help, they brought her back up to her room, and the goat woman quickly called Undyne and Alphys. Especially Alphys. It was only her and Sans who knew the most about the void and the vague idea about anomalies.

Unfortunately, it proved useless. Without the knowledge Hope knew, Alphys couldn't help. All the scientist could suggest was to try and send her back through the void and return her home. Sans was quick to shoot that down. No way would he send her back unconscious. With how low her health was right now, there was a very strong chance she wouldn't… she wouldn't… survive the trip.

Now, all the big boned skeleton could do was sit beside her and keep her company. She couldn't eat or do anything, so Sans chose to just talk.

"the kid and paps have been worried sick," he continued. "papyrus is being more optimistic than me about you, telling me that you'll wake up anytime now. but… i know better. you'll wake up once your health is restored, when you're not close to…"

Death. His sockets blackened at the word, and he grimaced. Frisk had been at low health many times during their runs, pacifist or otherwise. But this was different. Very different. The void was attacking her cells, and ripping them apart. She was losing HP internally. Sans knew a fair amount of how HP worked. How much one could take in a fight; how much they were willing to give, and what they had to fight for. He himself only had 1 HP. It used to be higher, but all of the failed attempts at the machine, and watching Frisk unwillingly kill all of his friends and the only family member he had left… it took its toll on him.

It was day four of her stay too. If he didn't send her home sometime before the end of the next day, her mom would begin asking around. The police would get involved, and they wouldn't find anything of her. She would disappear permanently from her world, and fade away in this one.

Sans wouldn't lie that he hoped that if she did awake, she would still be able to return here to see him. He wasn't as fond of the video chats and messages. He liked seeing her in person. She was a… blessing, he guessed, that helped him in more ways than he imagined. Now though? Now she was suffering because of him.

A blessing. Grillby thought so too, when he watched him and her interact. Whatever bond he had developed with Hope, was quite possibly on some level with Frisk and his own brother. She was almost like the little sister he never had. More clever and sarcastic than Papyrus, but maintained the innocence and childlike air around her. She knew things that they didn't though, and he could say stuff he was never able to tell another person. Monster, or human.

"wonder what you're doin' right now." Sans brushed the hair out of her face, sighing. "it's hard to figure out an idea without your assistance, kid. you'd probably have some idea that i just haven't seen yet."

Hope mumbled almost mutely in her coma, and her head lightly moved to face him. that's new. That was a good sign. She was not out entirely. okay, bone boy, let's check her out again. With a flick of his wrist, the soft green heart floated out of her chest. Bobbing up and down over her, he scanned it over. 8 HP. Lower than it was when she collapsed, but thankfully it didn't drop any further since then.

Another advantage was he wasn't a shaking stuttering wreck like when he found her too. So that's a plus, he guessed.

"Sans? Is everything alright?" Toriel walked in through the door, holding a plate of butterscotch-cinnamon pie. She looked from Hope to him, and hummed, displeased. "There's been no progress?"

Sans took the plate from her, and shook his skull negatively. "nope. little movements here and there, but that's it." He depressingly took a bite, and sat it down on Hope's nightstand. "tori, what if… you think she'll wake up, right?"

"She will, Sans. Hope is too determined to give up." Toriel knew how he felt. Hope… she was just like Chara. Lying helpless in their bed, teetering on the edge of life and death. Sans hadn't known Hope for very long, but the two had become as close as Asriel and Chara had been. A monster and a human, both from different worlds, practically joined at the hip. "I'll leave you two alone, Sans." She patted his shoulder, and turned to walk back out of the room. Before closing the door behind her, Toriel gave the human and skeleton one last sad look. Good luck, my child. With that, the two were alone once again.

"oh, boy." Tilting his head back, he repeated in his head what Toriel had said. Hope was determined. Almost as much as the kid was. But there was a reason she was kindness. The cartoon styled heart glowed as if it agreed with that, and moved back into her chest. Hope had only ever been mad once or twice since they met, and she always apologized right afterwards. Still, all of that was due to the hurt she had piled onto herself over the years. She had possibly started off as kindness, but she had forced herself to act out that trait more and more. She always worried about his feelings, and wanted him to feel safe and happy. The teen was his lifeline in this final reset. Without her… who knows what would happen.

Would they… be forced into another timeline?

No. N-no. Never again. Hope would never allow it, and neither would he.

But right now, forget the resets. Forget… forget about dad. Right now, it was Hope's turn. She was his top priority.

"kid, if you've got an idea, i'd sure love to hear it," Sans told her. He held his hand to his chest, and brought his own white soul. The yellow and blue ribbons still lit up the heart in a kaleidoscope, casting a glow on his face. "i really am a bad friend, huh?"

Her soul. He couldn't see anything wrong with it. On the outside, she looked perfectly healthy, minus the clammy skin. There was something going wrong with her soul because of the void. The wall she said she had hit was more than likely the direct cause, but… why? And how? What factor did he forget to add into the equation. wait a second, Sans thought. is… this what kept gaster from coming back? A wall. He knew that there was something that separated the void in between them. A blockade held her back, and forcing her through it must have damaged her. maybe it's not her molecules like i initially thought. maybe it is her soul. Left eye flickering, he scanned her again, but focused not just on her HP.

Checking her small bio, his pupils shrunk at the description. "HOPE. 5 ATK. 10 DEF. Your best friend. Cannot survive with a corrupted soul." corrupted soul? Quickly, with the hand not holding his own soul, he brought the green heart back out again, and leaned in closely to look it over. It was small, but there it was. A chunk of her soul, in the top right corner, was black. Black, with vein-like purple lines that faded into the green.

How had he not noticed that before!?

"aw, crud." The virus that attached itself to her would only continue to drain her HP. There was no conventional method he could think of to stop it, except… no. No, that's ridiculous. He couldn't do that to a soul of all things!

… right?

If he did, then he needed something to replace what was taken. The green glow increased for a moment, and Sans smiled bitterly. It was as if she was trying to reassure him. If he wanted to do this, he needed a human to willingly give up part of their own soul, their own existence, for someone they never met before. But in order to do that… they had to be the same attribute. He needed kindness.

But the monster couldn't just go running around all over Ebott asking people to help him. "it was a good plan while it was still being thought about," he grumbled. Hope's soul faded its glow, sensing his distress, and without any force, bobbed a little closer to him. "huh?" Were they really that close, that even with her mind trapped, she could tell he was in pain? "heh. thanks, kiddo." Holding out his hand, he allowed her soul to move onto it. He studied the two hearts, watching as the glowing souls pulsed in unity. His blue and yellow traits, swirled together, happily trying to blend into… green.

blue and yellow… make green. His eyes quickly switched from his soul to Hope's and he watched as his began to beat faster. it's… it's crazy, but… this might work. He pushed her soul back into her chest, and followed through with his own before teleporting down to his lab. Sans didn't have the time to walk. He needed to hurry.

"Gaster?" Hope asked, looking up at the 'sky'. "What happens if I don't return to my body? Sans' world… will it end up being reset again by another player?" Her focus was cut in half, stressing over both matters. Sans, who was beside her failing form in his world… and her mother. She said she would return, and she meant that. But how could she do that, when she wasn't in either world to begin with?

"It is exactly what you gravely assume, child. You may see yourself as no longer a player, but you're still an anomaly capable of altering their dimension. Without your presence in either world, your hold would vanish. Sans, Papyrus, everyone would be sent back to the Underground again. And as for you… your mind would remain trapped in the void, just like myself." Gaster hummed in thought, clearly trying to distract himself, before looking down at the purple lines beside him. "Hmm… interesting."

"What is?" Hope asked quickly, looking down too. How was he even seeing things? Was it like he said, and residing in this weird dimension let him develop skills? "The code?"

"It appears as if my son has a plan to bring you back," Gaster said, sockets wide in surprise. "And it's not conventional either."

"What the-what's he planning?" Gaster placed a hand on the lines, and a dark purple glow swirled around the skeletal appendage. Sans was blue, so… she guessed the red might be Papyrus. But Papyrus was orange. So… it was hard to determine where they got the color from.

"Give me your hand." She slid her pale hand into his, and he pressed her palm on the code. Instantly, Hope felt as if she was looking through a funnel, with her vision zooming to a point at the very end. She could still see Gaster, but it was like a split tunnel vision. A partially blurry, light purple hued vision. In the back of her mind, she watched the short skeleton run around his lab, gathering a pair of medical scissors, a roll of thick bandages, and a towel. All the while, the entire scene was muted, leaving his mutterings to the imagination.

"Sans," she breathed. His hand let go of hers, and she blinked away tears as her sight returned to normal, having to focus to get a clear enough image. "Gaster, what's he doing?"

"oh, this is gonna be the stupidest and craziest thing i've ever done." He teleported back to Hope's room, and dropped the towel and bandages at the foot of the bed. Bringing her soul back out again, Sans gripped the scissors shakily. If he messed up… he'd lose her forever. steady, sans. nice and slow. Making certain that his hand wasn't moving anymore than it was, he took a deep breath… and pinched her soul with the scissors.

Immediately, Hope's body convulsed, throwing herself up and down on the bed. He had to act quickly now. There was no time for being slow there. As fast as he could, Sans continued snipping at the heart, which was hard to do without touching it with his hands. With precise movements, he cut away the corrupted part, making certain that he didn't accidentally cut her soul any further than what was needed.

Cutting away the last strand of the heart, the corrupted piece crumbled to dust in front of him, without any body to maintain a hold of. The black and speckled purple dust fell on the covers, and Sans turned his attention to bringing his own soul out. "this is gonna hurt." Wincing, he slid the scissors under the yellow and blue ribbons, and clenched his hand, chopping through the light as the blades came together. Grimacing in pain, he watched the colors begin to fade, and quickly moved the scissors and snipped off a piece of justice and patience. Eye violently flashing blue, he used his free hand to grip his soul. Once he was certain the pain had died down enough, and that he forced enough magic into his palm, he let go.

The traits had fused back together, but a scar was noticeable where the traits were severed. It made sense. Of course using the magic generated from the damaged soul itself wouldn't let it heal perfectly. He could live with that. now, phase two. Pushing his soul back into his chest, he took Hope's soul in one hand, and the small pieces of his own soul. The ribbons swirled around his hand, trying to find something to reattach to. one. two. three! He clamped his hands together, focusing all of his magic into the green heart.

When they first met, he instinctively hated her. He didn't trust her, or anything she said. But when she showed how much she felt guilty about what the other players have done to him and the kid… he gave her a chance. That chance allowed him to find someone who could help him find Gaster, stop the resets forever, and bring him hope. Hope that… that had faded, and been beaten senselessly over the years, with every reset and fear of never living a normal life again. Socket blaring with magic, he felt the cyan flames almost creep over the top of his skull. almost… there! With a shout bordering on a scream, he pushed his hands down on her chest, and her body jolted at the contact, as if it was being electrocuted. Pulling back, he swiped at the sweat on his head, panting. i… need to… check. Struggling, he used what small amount of magic he had left after exhausting himself to scan her, and smiled tiredly.

HP… was 10, and rising steadily.

He did it. His justice and patience made her kindness. Then… how does this affect him? Sans frowned, and checked himself. "oh my god."

His HP… wasn't 1. It-it was always 1. For as long as he could remember, ever since the first few resets and the first genocide timeline, it was 1. How could it-it actually rose? "n-no way. i'm at 8?" How though? He never changed his soul except trimming off part of his own to fuse with Hope's. What could possibly… hope.

She raised his HP. All of the joy, and fun, and… love, she gave him, had risen it. She did something that Papyrus hadn't been able to do in years. "heh. hehe. ha ha ha ha ha!" Hope smiled softly, and he felt through his soul that the girl's had warmed up at his happiness. "kid, you really are something special."

"Gaster?" Hope and him were standing up, and she watched as the skeleton seemed to almost fade from her vision. "What's happening to me?" Gaster smiled, and brought a hand to her cheek.

"It appears as if my son's risk has paid off. You are returning back to your body." His smiled seemed more strained now, and he sighed. "You're returning back to him. Something that… I haven't been able to accomplish in decades." He brought his arms around the teen, and pulled her into a gentle hug. "Can you do me a favor, Hope?" She nodded into his jacket. "Tell Sans it's no use worrying over me. Tell him I'll always be watching over him. He should be able to fulfill his life without the constant stress of me." Gaster felt tears prick at his eyes, and he laughed shakily. "He's yours to worry over now. Not mine."

"I… I promise, Gaster," she whispered, feeling herself slowly fade away from the elder skeleton. "I promise." I'm coming home, Sans.

Done!

This chapter took a while to plan out. Needed a way for Sans to help her return to her body. But I think this turned out nicely.

Until next time!

Angel