Celadon did not awaken within a sleeping mind.
Nor did she snap into awareness—in media res, as it were—inside of another conscious mind.
This was because Celadon had instead materialized.
On a transporter pad.
Facing down more than a dozen Medusans.
"Success!" cried one of them, and the rest broke into cheers.
Celadon paused, a moment, to see what would follow, but nothing did.
Nothing was being demanded of her.
No one was accusing her of anything.
Everything was civil.
And Celadon found herself blinking back tears of sheer, unadulterated relief.
While she was still trying to gather her wits and determine whether she recognized any of them, Celadon found herself sandwiched between two much taller people in an embrace.
Celadon glanced up to her left and saw Sai.
Ash was on her right.
And then, as recognition took hold, their bodies collapsed together and Celadon stood by herself.
But no longer alone.
She closed her eyes, and Celadon turned her awareness to her own mindscape, which resembled a featureless white plane, as it always had.
Her components stood before her, both of them grinning like loons.
"Hello," said Sai.
"Hi, Celadon!" said Ash.
"Hey, guys," said Celadon. "What happened?"
Sai's face fell, and Ash's expression became troubled.
"You don't remember?" Ash asked.
Celadon shook her head. "I lost my connection with you two after the gods 'outsourced' you."
"Ah," said Sai. "Well, I got sent back in time, but the Crystal Gems didn't remember me, or like me very much. I killed time for maybe three millennia? Then the Naruto guys found me and brought me here."
Ash looked to Sai, incredulously. "For me it was closer to three months," said Ash. "But, yeah, I got sent to my alternate-self's timeline, then had to deal with the fallout of alternate-Sai scaring the crap out of everyone. Which I did by ignoring nearly all of them."
Celadon sighed. "I'm apparently a Possession Sue. Without you two, I have no anchor. After the Trek timeline reset, I got bounced from host to host until they pulled me back."
Ash and Sai blinked in surprise.
Celadon's expression took on an edge. "… so if you get any bright ideas about sacrificing yourself again for my sake… know that you won't actually be saving me from anything."
Her components blanched.
"We're sorry," said Sai.
"So sorry," added Ash.
Celadon scoffed. "I might be more sympathetic…," she began, "…if I thought that either of you would have been sorry at all, had you two been the only ones to suffer."
"We don't do it again," said Ash.
"I believe you," said Celadon. Then, she began to move back towards her components.
When she reached them, she drew them, once more, into a hug.
And they were still in the mindscape. It shouldn't have done anything.
But, somehow, there was a flash of light, and Celadon found herself in the dark.
"What?" said Sai. "…what just happened?"
"No idea," said Ash's voice. "Wait, is Celadon still here?"
"Yeah," said Celadon. "Hang on, this should still be my mindscape."
She focused on clarifying things. She had developed her own mindscape while trying to speak with her components, back during the first Undertale Debacle. It felt as thought her mindscape had been unmade, and now she had to re-build it.
Well, that was simple enough.
Celadon formed a floor and illuminated their surroundings. After some thought, she added the number '2' in mosaic tiles on the floor.
"So," said Celadon. "The Trek-verse wants us back."
"Am I the only one feeling ridiculously grateful about that?" asked Sai.
"'Bring me a horse and I am yours forever,'" Ash agreed, and then sighed.
"Honestly," Ash continued, "at this point they could ask me to host, and I don't think I'd tell them, 'no.' I don't like what this implies about my morality, or the flexibility thereof."
"I mean, isn't this just the same snap-decision bias you've always had?" said Sai. "Only now it's positive instead of negative?"
Ash shook her head. "I should be better than this."
"Should you?" said Celadon. "Should you, really? No one would argue that the body should be moral in its processes. It's not immoral to get tired or hungry before you've met your obligations. Why should the mind be different?
"So you're predisposed to trust people who treat you well and to distrust people who treat you poorly," Celadon continued, "So what? Your mind's template came from your DNA, and everything else came from environment and experience. Why should the mind be inherently moral?"
"If not the body or the mind," said Sai, "then what?"
"The soul? The will?" said Celadon. "The part of you that drives all the machinery, let's call it."
"…you're saying that the 'machinery' breaking down isn't immoral?" said Sai, starting to catch on. "The blueprints and upgrades and wear and tear aren't immoral, but the pilot, the diving force, that's the center of morality."
Celadon nodded. "And, speaking of metaphysics, can we still leave the mindscape?" she asked.
Sai and Ash exchanged a glance, and tried to unfuse.
It worked. Sort of.
There was the sense of breaking that always accompanied diffusion.
But all that happened was they were all three back in Celadon's original mindscape. There was no '2' on the floor.
Sai swore, Ash hummed, and they tried again.
This time, they were all back on the transporter pad.
"Well," said Celadon, as she looked back to the Medusans. "That was a trip and a half."
"We've already given these to your components..." said one of the Medusans, after a few pleasantries had been exchanged, "...but here."
Celadon accepted the padd. "What is it?" she asked.
"Asylum papers," said Ash, "And Citizenship documentation, apparently."
Celadon blinked. "Citizenship?"
"It's not really a commodity, here," Sai said, with a shrug. "Or, I guess it is, but this place is a post-scarcity economy, so most of the normal rules get thrown out the window."
"So," said Celadon, "What are the three of us supposed to do from now on?"
"Within reason, whatever you'd like," said the Medusan. "Your children have asked us to inform you that their doors are always open. Both the T'Kumbra and Manhattan have extended open offers for hospitality, as has the planet of Betazed."
"I… don't know," said Celadon. "What do you two want?" she asked her components.
"I wanna write," said Ash, "But to do that, I need inspiration, so whatever you two feel like doing is fine."
"I haven't seen the two of you for thousands of years," said Sai. "I want to stay with one or preferably both of you. Beyond that, I don't care."
And so, the two of them turned back to Celadon.
"I… still don't know," Celadon admitted. "I never thought farther than, 'I want my old body back.' Now, I guess, maybe, I'd like to keep it?"
She turned to the Medusan. "Is there any way to keep this body once I reset?"
The Medusan blinked. "Did you lose your body after the last reset?"
Celadon nodded. It wasn't truly important, but it did make her feel better that they hadn't known. "I appeared in the mind of another and remained stuck there until my own death, my 'host's' death, or the timeline rolling over," she explained.
"…we'll look into it," said the Medusan. "If nothing else, we can immediately summon you back here the instant our own timeline turns back. We'll see if a more permanent solution can be devised."
"I appreciate it," said Celadon. "Truly. Is there anything we can help you with?"
The Medusan hesitated.
"More than anything else, I'd like to feel useful, for once," Celadon coaxed, with an encouraging smile.
The Medusan nodded in understanding. "Well, it would be more to our benefit than yours, but your visit to our reality last iteration has generated significant interest in the so-called 'Mary Sue' phenomenon. Rudimentary research has revealed that there are fifty-one such entities native to this branch of reality."
The Medusan paused. "Excluding yourselves, of course, since you three hail from the branch corresponding to our own 'mirror reality,' originally."
They waved a hand before continuing. "At any rate, since we deposed the so-called 'gods' of our own reality, this means that the 'Sues'' influence is now going unchecked. Consequentially, all of them have been summoned to the Klingon homeworld, Q'uonoS, for an 'orientation' program, detailing the responsibilities and expectations of those visiting other dimensions and timelines."
Celadon nodded. "That's probably a good idea."
"If you were to willingly join the orientation program, it might counteract some of the destructive influences the others have tried to exert."
"Interesting," said Sai, "And how long is the program slated to last?"
"There are contingency plans in place for up to five years," said the Medusan. "But most of us hope to get things wrapped up within the year. We had originally summoned all fifty-one, but five have since graduated."
"Huh," said Ash, "So it's not so much like you're trying to get everyone to pass algebra, but more like you're trying to evolve pokemon."
"…what?" said the Medusan.
"We'll do it," Celadon clarified.
Her components radiated agreement, and Celadon suddenly wondered how it was that she knew what they were thinking.
She then realized that the connection between them had been restored when they'd fused.
Nice.
AN: Chapter got split again, so now estimated chapter count is 39. Next Chapter lampoons the Fanfic University trope started by Camilla Sandman.