A/N: Something was seriously wrong with you.

I hope you all suffer -I-I mean enjoy. Yeah.

You didn't release your mother's hand as the two of you walked through the forest and exited. Your mind felt like it was still spinning and your head was throbbing. You glanced down at your arm and expected the pain to come back at any moment, but it didn't. You weren't even sure if you had physically felt the pain or if it had all been in your head. You looked up at Toriel and could see the stress in her eyes. She had tried earlier to speak with you calmingly, but both of you gave up the fronts of trying to comfort each other after a while. You were scared, but you were more stable. And her trying to comfort you only felt a little patronizing.

You tucked yourself close to Toriel as you two entered town. The sun was high in the sky and the temperature was warm with a cooling breeze blowing. You shivered and felt the aches of the scratches that were on your body from the fall. You worried some about infection. You were still quite covered in mud and dirt. Flower petals still stuck to your hair from the fall. Flowey's attacks still hurt you, but Toriel's healing had taken away most of the aches from the magical attack.

You gazed forlornly at the Ruins and the spikes as Toriel led you through the trap. You wondered if anybody had died from this particular puzzle. The spikes had enough gaps in between them that you could possibly get by without injuring yourself, but your clothing would catch. You imagined that you could see blood on the spikes and quickly turned your head away to find yourself back in Ebott.

Your heart leapt in terror. It had happened again. You had zoned out again and hadn't even realized it. You swallowed thickly and glanced at your mom, but she hadn't seemed to have noticed. How long had this been happening to you and you had just never noticed?

You had expected to go straight back to your mom's house, but instead Toriel surprised you by leading you to Asgore's house. The door, as usual, was unlocked and the sign in place inviting anybody in. Toriel knocked and smiled down at you reassuringly. You smiled tentatively back. Inside you could hear many voices laughing. The thought of being around so many people made you nervous. Your nerves already felt rather frayed and if you weren't mistaken you could hear some rather important people talking with your father.

"Come in!" You heard Asgore call and Toriel opened the door. Inside you indeed saw some of your father's more internationally important friends. You had heard that some of them were in the nearby vicinity, but you hadn't even considered that they may visit. You were pleased to note that they appeared happy. Asgore was smiling and was clearly delighted to see both you and Toriel, but his smile fell some at the sight of you.

"Oh dear. What has happened to you, young one?" He asked. He stood from his large armchair to approach you.

Don't let him close. He'll kill you! You stared in horror at the king's downtrodden expression. His armor glowed in the strange light of the barrier. The triton in his hands was menacing. You had died so many times by his hands already. Were you really going to have to take the old king's life in order to survive? You gripped the knife in your hand tightly. The knife squeezed back.

FIGHT. You had to fight. But you didn't want to fight. There must be another way.

"I don't want to fight." You told him. Asgore froze with wide eyes.

"What−?" He started.

"Asgore," Toriel interrupted before he could finish. You looked at your mom, startled by her presence. You realized that you were still holding Toriel's hand, but it was still difficult to maintain your grasp on now. You were scared. You wanted to see Sans. He should know what's wrong with you, right?

Toriel didn't have to say any more. You could tell that some kind of understanding –an unspoken language between two people who have known each other for a long time− passed between them and Asgore turned to his company. "I am sorry, but we will have to cut this short. I have cakes you all may take with you!"

Toriel pulled you gently aside away from prying eyes and kneeled down to be more level with you. You felt so small again. "Why not go wash up, Frisk? Asgore will watch over you."

Your grip immediately tightened around hers in terror. What would happen to you if you were alone? Would you leave this timeline completely? Was Toriel going to die? Were you going to die? Asgore might try to kill you again. You didn't have a weapon to defend yourself.

The kitchen. It will probably have knives. Right, the kitchen. You knew that Asgore and Toriel both kept actual knives. Maybe this time you may actually be able to find them. If not, there were always the gardening tools. But you preferred the knives.

You wanted to tell Toriel not to leave you. You didn't want to be left alone. But you were used to being alone. It was just your mother leaving you once again. She would be back eventually. You could take care of yourself. Maybe you should bring Mr. Harrington into the bathroom with you again. You would have to make sure to make dinner. Your mother would probably have dinner with one of her boyfriends.

You nodded in understanding and were surprised when you received a kiss on your forehead. You blinked and between one moment and the next your mother turned into Toriel. Your eyes stung with the urge to cry. She stood up. "I will be back soon, my child. Worry not." You nodded again and watched as she left. You turned away and went to the bathroom to enter it.

You looked down at your hands and could see them trembling. This was worse than your nightmares, you realized. At least with the nightmares you could avoid them by being awake. Now they were plaguing your waking hours too. You gripped your arms and shivered more. You wanted Sans's jacket. Maybe that could help you. Maybe the scent would help? Your hands clenched around drying mud as it chipped off in your hands. You needed a shower.

You stripped and stepped into the shower. You were too nervous to take a bath right now. You needed flowing water on you. You turned the water up until it was too hot. You felt more awake with the heat on your skin. You felt more alive and aware. The hot water grounded you. The underground, as far as you had experienced, didn't have hot water. You closed your eyes and focused on the water running across your skin. You moved mechanically to wash yourself. Your skin stung where the water hit your open wounds.

What will you do now Chara?

Now that you are back?

You spun around and looked for the source of that voice. Every hair on your body stood on end. Had you...imagined that? It had sounded like...

You hesitated to peek around the shower curtain. But you needed to know. You were compelled to know. You opened the curtain a little bit and peeked out. The bathroom was empty. There were no signs that anybody had even entered. You pressed the side of your head against the cool tile. Your imagination was going crazy. You just...you just needed to calm down. Ignore everything.

When the world hates you, then try to ignore it. Smile. Everything will work out for us in the end. You felt a small smile pull at your lips, comforted by the words. You wondered where you had heard them before. Maybe it was something that Sans had told you on one of the nights you had spent with him. It sounded like something he would say.

You returned to your bathing. You felt distinctly more stable and better as you got clean. You ran your hands over your body and really took your time to look at it. It was becoming so much different in recent months, but you were still you. You were still Frisk and you would never stop being Frisk.

So why did it feel like you were many different people at once now? The feeling was familiar to the one you had back in the underground. Back when your actions hadn't felt completely yours. Was it possible that because the timelines seemed to be crossing the boundaries of memories into visions in your mind that Chara could return? Chara was never you, but Chara had controlled you in too many timelines. It was possible that...

No. No, Chara can't take you over again. You...you weren't afraid of the monsters. You wouldn't ever attack them or anybody. No, Chara can't take you over.

You stepped out of the shower and grabbed your towel to dry off. Your dad kept large fluffy towels in the bathroom that you could wear like a blanket if you wanted to. They were fairly heavy, but they were almost always warm and it felt good to dry with them. You wrapped yourself up in your towel and grabbed your soiled clothes to head for the door.

Voices outside made you pause. You were a little hesitant to leave the bathroom rather naked with company still out there. Had Asgore not gotten rid of the visitors yet? It wouldn't be very professional if your sort-of co-workers saw you so undressed. It had been hard enough to get them to take you seriously when you were still a child.

But you recognized Papyrus's loud voice and Alphys's softer voice. They had to have been not far from the bathroom. Maybe waiting for you?

"NO, I KNOW." Papyrus was saying. He was talking in his soft-yelling voice. "THEY HAVE BEEN...OFF."

"A-and now Toriel has called Sans here? Maybe we should...maybe we shouldn't be here." Alphys asked nervously.

"I WANT TO HELP FRISK TOO!" Papyrus denied. "IF ANYBODY CAN COMFORT FRISK, IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NOBODY'S COMFORTING SKILLS SURPASS MY OWN!"

"I hope Undyne gets here soon..." Alphys muttered. You decided eavesdropping wasn't a good thing and opened the door. Your friends immediately dropped their conversation at the sight of you. Alphys looked tired and stressed out. You wondered why and hoped she was getting enough sleep. Papyrus appeared delighted to see you.

"THERE YOU ARE! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? HER MAJESTY TOLD US YOU WERE...UNWELL?" The way he said "unwell" sounded like a very unsubtle attempt to tell you it was related to your secret. You weren't sure if he was referring to Gaster or your past, though.

You looked away and gripped your clothes tighter.

"A-ah, um, why don't you...get dressed? We'll...we'll wait here!" Alphys suggested.

A drop of cool water dripped down your neck to your back. You made the hand motion for 'mom' with a questioning tilt of your head.

"SHE'S WITH HIS MAJESTY AND MY BROTHER IN THE LIVING ROOM." Papyrus informed you. You nodded in understanding and then moved down the hallway to get dressed. You gazed around the room and wondered why there was only one bed before you remembered that you didn't have a sibling. Your chest hurt at the thought of Asriel and you shook your head. No, now wasn't the time to think about such things. The image of him earlier still haunted you.

You went to your wardrobe and pulled out some clothes. Despite starting to feel cold, you pulled on a striped tank top and some shorts. You tossed your dirty clothes onto the floor to be washed as soon as possible. You then grabbed your towel to go hang up.

Once you had exited the bathroom, you found only Papyrus waiting for you. He smiled brightly at the sight of you, but he seemed kind of worried. "HUMAN!" He called cheerfully, his fake armor shining despite the lack of sun. The light reflecting off of the snow seemed almost blinding, but the mist of the waterfall helped to dull it. You felt like you were in a cloud.

Sans had warned you that you would probably have to face his brother. Papyrus was so eager to fight, but you were worried about hurting him. You liked Papyrus and found him funny. And you could tell that he enjoyed playing with you. You didn't think he had a lot of friends despite being so friendly. But you still had to fight him.

Maybe you could...avoid killing him like you did Toriel? She had looked proud that you were strong enough to protect yourself, but your heart was still heavy from killing her. You had thought that you could just knock her out...but now she was gone. A few of the monsters on the way to this point had spared you and you had managed to escape, but you were sure now that you would have to actually fight Papyrus.

You tightened your fist inside of your glove as Papyrus approached you. You had already tried to spare him. Now he was coming to attack you. You were scared, but you got ready to dodge. You would just need to get in one, maybe two attacks and he would be dead. You could regret it later when you had left this place and were away from the strange creatures that wanted you dead. Papyrus's hands reached for you−

And felt your mind snap back to the present. You gasped slightly as Papyrus's hands landed on your shoulders. You instinctively jerked away before realizing that he wasn't attacking you. His eye sockets were wide with worry.

"YOU ZONED OUT, FRISK!" Papyrus told you. "I UNDERSTAND THAT MY FACE CAN BE QUITE DAZZLING, BUT I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU STARE LIKE THAT BEFORE! IT WAS RATHER...SCARY. AND FAMILIAR...?" He seemed wary of his last statement. You wondered how much he remembered.

You were a bit shaken by that. You didn't want to hurt Papyrus. Papyrus had never killed you. You didn't need to defend yourself. You were okay. Your empty hands clenched around nothingness. You gave a shaky smile of reassurance and signed an apology.

"DO NOT WORRY! I WILL FORGIVE YOU!" Papyrus turned around. "EVERYONE IS WAITING IN THE LIVING ROOM. EVEN UNDYNE IS HERE!" You had seen Alphys's excited message on her blog this morning about Undyne coming back to town for a couple of days, but you hadn't known that it was today. You were unsure how you felt about seeing her.

The living room, like Papyrus said, was full of your friends. At first sight all of them looked rather serious as they talked in lower voices. When they spotted you, the conversation stopped. Toriel immediately stood up and approached you, cupping your cheek as she kneeled in front of you. You noticed that your father was on the far side of the room. His eyes looked worried and pained.

"How are you feeling, Frisk?" Your mom asked. Your eyes drifted back to her face from your dad's and you granted her a tired smile. You opened your mouth to respond to her, but you weren't sure what to say. You closed your mouth. In response she pulled you into a hug.

"Aw, don't worry!" Undyne grinned at you as your mother released you from her hold. "I'm certain the little punk'll be just fine! Hey kid, you been training too much without me?!" She joked.

The wind was howling around the two of you. You could hear the metal clanking, following you as you ran for your life. The scent of water and lakes filled your lungs with every desperate breath. You had been warned about Undyne, and now she was furious. You remembered her at one time being your friend, but now she was nowhere near that. She had known you had killed Papyrus right away. Sans was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't been at his post. You supposed that you'd deserved that.

You ran as fast as your legs could carry you. You could hear and see the glowing magical spears thrusting up from the ground behind you. It was all you could do to avoid them. Spears flew through the air barely missing you. You panted and tried not to let your fear brew tears in your eyes. You needed to see if you were fleeing.

You needed help. You wished that Toriel was here. You wanted somebody –anybody!− to help you. You felt a sharp pain in your back that split through to your chest and you only had a moment to register the blood erupting from your body and the spear protruding from your chest before you fell forward, vision darkening−

You cried out and fell backwards away from Undyne. You couldn't move, paralyzed in your fear and not understanding why you were where you were now. Shouldn't you still be in Waterfall at your last SAVE? Why were you in a house? Why were you−?

"Whoa!" Undyne put her hands up in a placating manner, baffled at your reaction. Your body was shaking and you flinched away at the hands that touched you. You looked up at Toriel and grabbed her arm. Toriel would protect you. She'd promised to do so. She'd promised to protect you.

You didn't realize that you were mumbling the mantra aloud until you heard Toriel whispering placations to soothe you. "I am here, Frisk. Do not worry. I am here, my child."

"FRISK, WHAT'S WRONG?" Papyrus asked, his fingers playing with each other in his nervousness. He looked like he wanted to move towards you, but Undyne and Asgore held him back. All three were watching you warily and restlessly. You buried your face into your mother's (new, clean) shirt and took a couple steadying breaths. Her arms encompassed your smaller form easily. She rubbed your back as you waited for reality to reassert itself. Your eyes found the ring still on your finger and you focused on the factual memories that came with it.

How does it feel?

Your timelines are converging.

INTERESTING.

You covered your ears. Your mind was filled with static. You couldn't think. You needed to remember what was real. What was this timeline? Everyone was alive. They weren't trying to kill you. You were panicking over past timelines again. They were becoming worse. You weren't okay.

You pulled back from Toriel feeling a bit calmer. More under control. You let your eyes drift up from your ring to Undyne. You signed an apology to her as well. She gave you a tentative smile, clearly unsure about how she should react.

"hey." You turned around to find Sans and Alphys behind you. Alphys was keeping a bit of a distance from you, but she was worrying her fingers. Sans's smile was reassuring. "you...uh...how you feeling, buddy?"

You glanced at your mother first and then your father before looking at the rest of your friends. Everyone was watching you. These monsters cared about you. You knew this. But right now you felt as if they would attack you any moment. Friends...shouldn't feel that way about each other. Every instinct told you to leave the room. You resisted the impulse.

"Not...good." You admitted quietly.

"yeah, you look a bit dazed and confused." Sans considered something for a moment before he slid his jacket off and offered it to you. You took it and slid it on, zipping it up. Your shower-warm skin made you feel a bit too hot in the jacket, but you felt significantly calmer. It wasn't armor, but it certainly felt more like protection than what you had been wearing previously. You closed your eyes and tried to subtly inhale the scent of the fur in the lining. You relaxed as the familiar and comforting scent filled you. You opened your eyes again.

"Sans..." You glanced around at your friends again, "We...we need to talk about Gaster." You heard Alphys gasp softly and saw her cover her mouth a bit. Undyne's fists clenched. Papyrus and Sans, however, shared a look. Sans closed his eyes.

"yeah. this has been...coming a while." He agreed. You were surprised he agreed so easily. You knew for a fact that Gaster was still a sore subject for him so you had been reluctant to ask him to tell your parents, but he had agreed so quickly. You wondered if it was because of your recent daydreams, or if it was because of guilt. Sans had confessed to you on more than one quiet sleepless night in his bed that the latter bothering him.

"Are you sure about this?" Undyne asked, crossing her arms. She seemed unnerved. You knew that she didn't like anything having to do with Gaster. "Does it have to do with...well, that crazy reaction to us?" She looked you dead in the eye.

You didn't respond, unsure.

"N-no. Frisk is right." Alphys disagreed. She glanced between Asgore and Toriel, both of who were looking like they were becoming more and more displeased with the conversation, and tugged at her lab coat. "We need to, um, tell them."

"Who is Gaster?" Toriel asked, her voice stern. You winced. Your mother had apparently found the cause of her child's distress and had latched onto it. She glared at Sans, and Sans smiled back. You could see the stress lines under his eyes despite his cool façade.

"I feel...as if I may know that name." Asgore said, rubbing his beard.

"gaster is the one who gave the kid their scar." Sans nodded to your arm.

"You said that you did that." The king replied. You felt like the steel hidden in his calm voice could kill a person.

"Sans...you did not lie to me...did you?" Toriel asked quietly somewhere between hurt and angry.

Sans's jaw clenched a little. "not exactly." His smile turned a bit bitter. "it's my fault it happened...but i didn't give them that scar."

"It wasn't your fault." You blurted out. You hated that he blamed himself for everything related to Gaster. It wasn't his fault that Gaster had attacked you, and it wasn't his fault that Gaster had been erased. You didn't want him telling your parents such things.

"FRISK IS RIGHT!" Papyrus agreed. "GASTER HURT FRISK BECAUSE HE WANTED TO!"

I should have fought him. You thought bitterly.

Sans seemed to brush off both of your comments, though. "point is, gaster attacked frisk. and the kid..." He eyed you, "...isn't out of the ballpark yet."

"What do you mean?" Toriel asked.

"gaster..." Sans rolled the words around, clearly trying to think of a way to word it, "no longer exists. but. he's after frisk. and his attacks...can erase people...and maybe things...from this reality."

"I do not understand." Asgore took a seat in his large chair, frowning.

"When Frisk was attacked by D-Dr. Gaster..." Alphys hesitated to say his name, "it started to...erase them. L-l-like how Dr. Gaster was. Erased, that is."

"his attack," Sans shoved his hands into his pockets switching into what you had dubbed "serious mode", "damaged the cells of their body. the matter that their body is composed of began to...be erased is the best term we can use. it would've spread and..." he drifted off before continuing, "but i stopped it. as you can see, though, it left a mark."

Your parents looked at your arm. You subtly tried to hide the wound.

"but..." Sans started again, "i guess whatever i did...didn't work completely." There was an angry undertone to his voice.

"Sans?" Toriel asked, alarmed.

"Are you saying that Frisk can still be erased?" Asgore demanded, eyes wide at the horror.

"N-Not exactly!" Alphys butt in again. She shook her head and hands. "Physically Frisk appears...fine! But their mind..." She didn't appear to know how to answer it.

"What's wrong with their mind?!" Undyne pressed.

"that's what we'd like to know." Sans looked at you. All eyes turned to you again. You swallowed thickly. This isn't how you'd wanted things to go. Sans was supposed to tell them about Gaster, not force you to talk about what was happening with you. You were supposed to tell him in secret. Only three people total in this room knew about your past, and four of them had no idea. How were you possibly going to explain?

"My...I think..." You didn't want to talk. You didn't want to be in here anymore. The eyes on you felt threatening. You didn't like being watched so much. Why must you be so scrutinized? But you pushed on. "I think...my mind is...scrambled."

"Scrambled?" Alphys asked gently.

"Like...like my..." You motioned to your arm. "But..." You motioned instead to your head. "It's...mixing up my...memories." You saw the lights in Sans's eyes dim a little. Your throat was getting thick. "A-and because of that...I think I'm...h-hallucinating?" Your voice broke. The panic was starting swell again. You hadn't even considered putting what was happening to you into words. It felt more solid now –more real. And it was terrifying hearing it voiced aloud.

Gaster was still hurting you. But instead of being erased, you were going insane. You felt strange all of the time and nothing seemed real anymore. You felt like the tentative tether that kept you to this timeline had been frayed and you were only hanging on by a thread. What would happen when it finally snapped? Would you start to fade out? Would you forget which reality you actually existed in? The horror of living only in your memories began to overwhelm you and your body began to shake. Tears filled your eyes.

"aw, frisk." Sans sighed in understanding. "com'ere, pal." He stepped towards you and held out his arms.

In the light of the judgement hall he looked so tired. His expression was shuttered but his arms were open. Sans was sparing you. You just needed to accept the spare. You only needed to drop your weapon and fall into his arms. Accept his hug for what it was and stop all of this killing. You could be forgiven. There was still redemption for you.

But you weren't an idiot. You had fallen for that trick before and I won't fall for it again!

You swung at Sans furiously. He dodged back instinctively and the vision broke. You were back in your dad's living room. The lights in Sans's eyes were pinpricks with his shock. You could see fear etched into the bone of his skull –something that you would've never been able to recognize had you not known him for so long. Sans stared at you. You stared at Sans as the weight of what you had just done pressed in on you.

You had just attacked Sans. Sans who, more than anybody else, was just as terrified of you as you were of him. Sans, the one who also had PTSD and reoccurring nightmares of past timelines that haunted him. Sans, your best friend with only one HP.

And you had attacked him with full intent of murdering him.

It was too much. You took a step backwards, shallow breaths entering and exiting your lips. It was too much. You needed to get away. You had almost attacked Papyrus. You actually had attacked Sans. And you could feel the LOVE in your body. It was too much. Why did you have so much? You hadn't killed anybody. You hadn't killed anybody!

You turned and ran. You only briefly heard your friends call your name, Sans's voice somehow calling louder in your ears. You didn't stop. Your bare feet pounded against the ground. You knew you could out run them if you tried hard enough. You just needed to get away before you hurt anybody else.

You could hear a deep laughter echoing in your head. You didn't know whose it was.

"kid, wait!" Beside you Sans appeared and disappeared. He moved quickly through the shortcuts, used to every one of the shortcuts in Ebott. He tried to speak to you with each shortcut he went through, trying to keep up with you. "frisk, no, wait! listen! stop!"

You refused and pushed yourself harder. You couldn't outrun his shortcuts, but you knew a place where he wasn't familiar enough with the shortcuts. You turned towards the mountain. Sans saw what you were doing and you felt blue magic try to latch onto your soul, but you moved out of range. You heard him curse loudly. You could hear Undyne and Papyrus both yelling your name from far too close to where you were. Undyne wasn't in armor and you knew that you couldn't run faster than either her or Papyrus when they were really trying.

"frisk!" Sans called again. You ran into the trees.

It was so easy climbing up Mt. Ebott. It was strange how such a dangerous mountain just seemed to call for people to climb it. Maybe it was the easy slope? Maybe it was the beautiful terrain. The surrounding forest of such a cursed mountain was surprisingly gorgeous. The wind felt good on your face. You felt free, but you needed to be careful. You wondered what had made people disappear. Did they fall? Did they just get lost here on the mountain? Did animals eat them? Did monsters eat them?

Why were you even running? You should just walk. Take your time to enjoy what may possibly be your last moments. You'll finally be freeing your loved ones of your unwanted presence. It seemed that all you did was cause problems. Your parents would fight so much. You were unwanted. Well, you didn't want humanity either. Who needed humanity?

You ran for what seemed like hours. Your chest hurt and there was a bad stitch in your side. But still you kept your legs and arms pumping like it was the only thing you knew. The trees began to become sparser. The foliage became denser. You needed to keep going deeper. There was a trail nearby. You moved to follow it. It felt familiar under your bare feet. You didn't even register the pain in your damaged feet. Plants whipped at your body, cutting into your skin. Yes, the trail was the best bet.

A cave opened up in front of you, immense and yawning. Vines extended inward inviting curious people to take a look. You moved closer and saw a hole larger than anything. You were almost afraid to look down, but you were curious. You knew this hole. Was this...where all of those children had disappeared? You glanced behind you at the setting sun. A warm summer breeze filtered in, brushing against your skin. Your hair waved around you. You turned back to the hole and approached it when your foot snagged and you tumbled forward. Too late you realized you were too close to the hole.

You cried out as you fell down. Only your voice echoed back in the cave.

A/N: Hopefully this isn't too melodramatic. And it's fairly in character.