Why hello! This may seem familiar, but if you didn't know, I wrote WingahTale a long time ago. It's kinda turned into this, so enjoy! Summaries are hard!.

I do not own Undertale or Doubletale.

Shimmering petals in the bright white light.

That's what I happened to wake up to, that "Oh-So-Infamous" morning.

My name is Carter Hounds.

That's the first thing I remembered. "Carter Hounds", a mechanic in my hometown, and…

…

Well, at least my brain hasn't been scrambled. That seems to happen in these types of stories.

The second thing I remembered is just how much pain hurts. My entire body was aching with the pain that comes with falling down a fifty-foot hole.

… And I was in a hole… Why?

"Am I dead?" I asked myself out loud.

*You think you're not dead. A text box above my head read.

"Well, if I'm not, then I'm crazy." I replied back, before sitting up, despite my body screaming out in pain as I did so.

Thinking about it, this was more than a cave than a hole. It was giving me some sorta… Wild sense of deja vu.

Weird.

I felt myself over for injury, before finding a small, black knife in my pocket.

Pocket Knife:

Snik. +5 ATK.

"... well, isn't that reassuring?"

*No. No it is not.

I gazed up to the hole in the ceiling. The radiating light was the only thing filling the cavern.

*You wonder where you are.

Chapter 1: Hold Fast Her Determination

"Is this your game? Or mine?"

I'm not entirely sure how long I sat there, staring up at the bright light. I suppose I should've been panicking, or crying, or any number of things that people do when they're in a strange place that they didn't know. Instead, I felt… Content. Calm.

… It's been awhile since I felt that way.

*You feel the sudden urge to get off your ass.

I rolled my eyes, standing up. It felt like every bone in my body was trying to resist, but I pushed forward. I stumbled through the purple gate that led to a small mound in the ground. Recognizing but not processing, I walked past it without much thought.

Then I walked through a second purple gate, and my eyes were met with the sight of large, stone steps leading to a doorway in the wall, high above my head. The entire room was made of purple bricks, lending to this almost video-game-y feel.

My eyes drifted down to a pile of striking red leaves, and, just above it…

A familiarly shining, golden star. My body was pulled to it, and I found my hand stretching out to meet it. The feeling to keep moving, to keep pushing forward, grew in my chest.

Ding!

*My DETERMINATION flows through you. You saved the game.

"... 'My' DETERMINATION?"

*...

I looked up the set of steps, and noticed some unnaturally dusty footprints leading to the steps just beside me.

Somehow, I felt like this journey was only just beginning.

Wood creaked under my feet as I entered Toriel's empty house. The walls, although stone from the outside, were lined with a wood finish, giving the whole house a calm, home-y feel. A nice piano tune floated in from what felt like thin air, and if it weren't for the distinct emptiness of the rest of The Ruins, I might've actually been at ease.

I did a quick sweep of the house. No giant goats, no demon children.

I stuffed as much as the butterscotch pie into my inventory as I could, ignoring the only piece of armor I had on.

Cracked Locket:

. . .

My text box's silence about the topic had me curious, but not concerned. I didn't really want to think about the story behind it, either.

Ignoring the heavy feeling in my heart, I trudged forward, down in the basement.

It started to get colder and colder, and I carefully zipped up my hoodie, as to make as little noise as possible. It was an old one, black with gray sleeves, red pockets with a red hood.

*Deep worry seeps into your SOUL.

I saw the pile of dust on the ground, mixed in with the snow that was blowing in through the door.

"I'd call it a little more than worry, Texty." I said, beating down the outright fear in my heart.

"God I hate snow." I said, stomping through the shallow snow in my low-cut sneakers. The snow seeped into my socks, making it literally Hell to walk through Snowdin.

Why couldn't I have been wearing boots whenever I got sucked into this Hellish game?

I heard a hellish scream off in the distance. I swallowed my lunch.

Or, dinner? What was the last thing I ate?

*You believe that's the least of your problems.

I nodded. "We need to come up with a plan to beat the kid."

*Agreed.

"Any suggestions, Texty? Or are you just gonna be cryptic?"

*I think I'm done with being cryptic.

I blinked in surprise.

*Haven't you seen this scenario before? In something you've read?

I frowned. Yeah, the situation did seem familiar. Almost like I've been here before, and yet…

"In any case, I should be able to beat the kid in a brawl, right? I mean, I've taken self-defense classes, and they're, what, ten? Eleven?"

*I'm gonna call CPS on you.

I snickered at Texty. "Loook, they're a murderer, I think I'm-"

"God dammit, why is this thing so tough to KILL?"

I froze in place. I wasn't paying attention to how fast I was going. Ducking into the trees, I watched as The Human wailed repeatedly on Jerry.

"... Somehow, I don't feel bad." I whispered to Texty.

*The unstoppable force versus the immovable object.

I think it was supposed to be funny, but it only pulled at some sort of familiar memory in my head.

Frisk growled, leaping at Jerry and pinning him to the ground with their foot. They lifted their toy knife into the air, stabbing the monster repeatedly in the head.

"Aw, man…" The monster faded to silver, drifting onto Frisk's clothes. They were a lot taller than what I would've estimated. I would've had to of been stupid to think they were younger than sixteen or seventeen.

*Your LOVE has increased!

*This is pretty accurate to your headcanon…

I blushed, hiding deeper in the bushes. "Shut it…"

Frisk moved on, grabbing the tough glove and pulling it over their hand on their way out of the pathway.

*Don't stop now. Check to see if there's a phone number.

"I… Oh. Right."

Instead of going straight on the path, I decided to take the left. There was a fishing pole, with a phone number attached!

"Oh, cool!" I said, bending down and reading it.

"555-432-5672."

*LOOK OUT!

I whipped around, stumbling backward, almost into the river.

*Red eyes.

I've seen that red before. I see that red, every single day, when I look in the mirror. It's duller, less prominent, but I remember it.

Beyond that, the vibrancy of the eyes reminded me of someone I'd known before.

"..." Frisk blinked with their beautiful, crimson eyes. My eyes were locked with theirs, in a staring contest of DETERMINATION. I couldn't breath. I couldn't move.

"You aren't supposed to be here."

Their hand covered in the tough glove curled into a fist.

*Carter, please, now's not-

For a moment, Frisk's image flickered. I couldn't tell if it was in my head or if it really happened, but just for a moment, I could see a girl, just shorter than me. Her short-cut hair and her burning red eyes. My heart pounded in my chest in a slim hope that they were her.

"Hm." Their lips curved into a slight smile. "What kind of look is that? You look like you've seen a ghost. It's not inaccurate, but…"

Their lips were moving, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Instead, it was a girl, sternly scolding me for getting grease on my best shirt.

They paused. "... Are you ignoring me…?" They scowled, but I couldn't see. I couldn't think. "Are you stupid?"

"Ugh. This is why I hate humans." Frisk said coldly. "No way to make this encounter interesting. Just staring like I just murdered your mother."

They slowly reeled their fist back, grinning evilly.

"You're all so predictable!"

Like I said. Pain hurts.

Suddenly, I was on the ground, blood seeping from my broken nose. I was almost over the edge of the river. They had completely floored me with a single punch. Fortunately, it also brought me back to the real world.

*Carter. FOCUS.

Frisk stomped through the snow, creeping towards me with a grin that made my heart thump in fear. They grabbed my shirt, pulling me to their face with a snarl.

"Now that I think about it…" They spoke, pulling back their fist. "I don't think I've ever gotten to kill a human before."

"Yeah, well…" I said, spawning my knife from my inventory, "Today's your lucky day."

They blinked, obviously surprised by my sudden willingness to speak, and I pulled my feet to my chest, putting more weight on their hand and pulling them downward. I planted my feet on Frisk's chest, kicking them over my head and forcing them to desperately grab the ledge so they didn't fall into the water.

I gripped my knife in my hand, attempting to stab into their hand to force them to let go. Unfortunately, they were able to forcefully grab my wrist one hand, flipping me around and flinging me into the freezing water.

"DON'T YOU DARE COME BACK!"

Shatter.

Burning. Fire.

Screams.

Something falls on me. I can't move. I can't breath. There's smoke everywhere.

Something flashes in my vision. A crazed boy, white hair, with a crowbar in his hand.

"It's been taken care of." He says to no one. He smashes a crowbar through a window, and leaps out.

A girl. Long, black hair. She dashes just past me, before stopping when she notices me.

She thinks for a second, before using something to slash above whatever was laying on me. Suddenly the weight is gone.

She looks at me. Icy blue eyes.

I hate them.

They took everything from me.

Flash.

*You died! Congrats.

"I don't particularly like freezing to death, Texty." I spoke, laying back and staring up at the blackness that was the top of the Underground. Now that I thought about it, the snow didn't seem so cold anymore.

*You might want to get moving.

"Dude, I'm not exactly gung-ho about jumping back into the arms about a knife-wielding maniac. I need a plan."

I sighed. What could beat them, though? Obviously I had the power to SAVE and RESET, so theoretically I may just be able to RESET the timeline and jump them when they're much weaker.

… But I showed up mid-way through a Genocide Run, not when it started. By the time I woke up again, Frisk would be midway through The Ruins already. Fighting them wasn't exactly an option, either. The more LOVE they collected, the stronger they became…

*The knowledge of what's going to happen… It fills me with DETERMINATION.

I blinked. Why would that…

"Oh. Ohhh…"

I grinned, getting to my feet.

"I may have an idea."

I carefully navigated my way through the dense forest of Snowdin. If I was gonna pull this off, I was going to need to be careful. After dashing past the initial meeting with Papyrus and Sans and the rock joke and all that, I came out the other side of the woods, covered in twigs and leaves. I had to pull out the twigs from my jacket and the leaves in my hair, but, past that, it wasn't too bad.

I kept trudging forward, keeping ahead of Frisk and the Skeleton Brothers, going around the puzzles that I didn't have the time to go through. My best bet to get anywhere with getting stronger would probably be in the True Lab, and if I was going to get anywhere, I was going to need to get there ahead of Frisk.

Suddenly there was a presence behind me. I don't know how I could tell, but the best way I could describe was as if the air around me had collapsed in on a singular point just behind me.

I whipped around, spawning my pocket knife from my inventory and aiming it at the unknown source…

"woah!" The short skeleton gasped out, putting his hands out in a "woah hold up" gesture. "No need to point a knife at me, kid."

I took a breath in, putting the knife away. "Uh, sorry," I said lamely, "I thought you were The Human for a second."

Sans fake-chuckled, slowly putting his hands in his pockets, his eyelights looking me up and down. Suddenly I felt very exposed.

"You seem new 'round these parts." Sans hinted, winking with one eye. "Any particular reason for that?"

I translated that as, "Hey, you've never been here for a RESET, how'd you get here?" to which I answered,

"Uh, no, not really. I just, uh," I stuttered, "Fell down a hole."

Actually, the last thing I remembered before getting here was laying face down in my bed for the third week in a row.

Sans shrugged. "Well, whatever, you seem capable enough to find your way around." He began walking away, beginning to lift his hand in a half-hearted wave. He was walking away.

Something clicked in my head. Maybe he could help me get around faster! If anybody could do it, it was him. I just needed to stop him from walking away.

Naturally, I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. He paused completely, not moving in the slightest. Almost unnaturally so.

Was he… Unused to being touched?

I quickly withdrew my hand. "Sorry, I just…"

He turned towards me. Slowly. His eyelights seemed dimmer than normal.

"I need your help."

Sans' lazy grin seemed harsher than normal, before heavy footsteps seemed to approach us. It seemed like Papyrus had finished what he was doing. Sans looked at me for a moment, and for the second time in only a few moments, I felt completely exposed.

"... Okay. Fine. But we have to go somewhere a little more private." He grabbed my shoulder, and the world dropped from below my feet.

Taking a "shortcut" is a feeling that's really hard to describe. It's not like you're in one place one moment and another the next, no. It's more like the world moves around you at a blazingly fast paced, while simultaneously dissolving into an unrecognizable substance, just before rematerializing back into something actually distinguishable. I could actually recognize the place now.

"Are.. We at Grillby's bar?" I said, dumbfounded and a little numb from the new feeling. The bar was calm, inviting, but rather… Empty. Booths lined the right side of the building, and a single table covered in playing cards sat, unoccupied.

Sans raised an eyebrow at me for a moment, assessing how I knew who Grillby was and how I knew that he owned a bar.

"So…" Sans said, light surrounding us. Or, more accurately, everything else was covered in darkness past a slight radius just beyond us two. Somehow, here, I felt simultaneously more protected and more exposed. "... You plannin' on handling The Human, right?"

*Tell the truth. I can always bring us back if things go sideways.

That's what I was going to do. I told my Text Box.

"If I can, yeah." I said solemnly, as Sans and I took a seat at the bar. "Little shit's got a mean streak, though. Threw me into a river."

Sans chuckled at my literal death, perhaps unknowingly, before moving on. "So you're saying you're not strong enough."

"Basically."

Sans looked at me curiously. "How're you planning on handling that, huh? It seems that if you were to look at the facts, you have no way to get stronger on your own." He shrugged, his eyelights gliding over to me, piercing into my SOUL, perhaps literally.

"I don't…"

*Something pulls at you. An idea you've read about before.

"... well, I have one idea." I mumbled.. "Granted, it's a VERY bad one."

"Like what?"

"... Well, magic is typically really strong, right?" I started, and I could see recognition in his eyelights.

"Yeah…?" He asked hesitantly. He seemed to pick up what I was putting down.

"Well, what if we were to, say," I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Take the dust of the monsters, who, mind you, are made of magic…"

"And infuse me with it?"

He paused for a moment. "... Nah. Wouldn't work."

I frowned. "Why not?"

Sans shrugged again. "There's not enough dead monsters lying around for you to just take them all and give yourself superpowers, bud. Unless you're suggesting you wait until after the human kills everyone else in the Underground, which, lemme tell ya," He paused, turning his neck towards me with empty eye sockets, "Is a terrible idea, considering everyone would die."

Sans swung on his stool, taking a step off and walking away, color returning to the world. "Anyway, I think we're done here."

"Wait!" I yelled, trying to stop him, but he was already almost out the door. I dashed after him. "It might just work, if we just-!"

Suddenly, a scream rang out from the Eastern side of Snowdin. Fear filled my SOUL. Sans' sockets went empty. The scream was loud, a little high-pitched, and echoed throughout the whole of the cavern.

Papyrus.