Warning: This chapter contains hate speech, alcohol consumption and descriptions of inebriation.

It did not take long at all. When Frisk left the Underground they sent out a silent ripple, like breaking the surface tension of a bubble. By the time that ripple reached Asriel he was not Asriel anymore. Flowey sighed deeply, feeling a presence join him in the field of flowers. It was not anything he could see or sense or identify, but he knew it was there, lurking in the darkness, and he had a pretty good idea who it was. He took a deep breath. He had a lot to get off his chest while they could still sort of remember what compassion felt like.

"Hi," he greeted. The darkness did not return the greeting. "So… everything seems to have worked out nicely. Monsters have returned to the surface. They'll integrate peacefully with the humans. Give yourself a pat on the back. There's nothing left to worry about."

The darkness did not seem mollified.

"Well…" he hedged. "There is one thing. One last threat. One being with the power to erase everything everyone has worked so hard for. Everyone can be sent back to the beginning, to the moment Frisk fell down, without any memory of it ever happening. … You know who I'm talking about, right?"

The darkness remained silent.

"I know you can hear me. I'm talking about you. You have the power to perform a True Reset. Everyone's memories will be erased. Every moment of time since Frisk fell into the Underground will vanish. That's the power I was planning to use, to trap Frisk in the Underground forever. But… it's different now. I just want them to be happy. I want to let Frisk, Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore, and everyone else live their lives. Can't you give them that? Can't you just… let them go?"

The darkness did not seem convinced.

"But if I can't change your mind… I have a request. I don't think I could do it all over, after everything that's happened. I don't think I could be the villain of this story again. And without that this happy ending will never happen. So please… if you do end up erasing it all, you have to erase my memories too. To make sure someday they can all reach this point again. That's the one thing I ask."

The darkness did not respond.

"Well, you've probably heard this a hundred times already, but the only thing I can do is make you hear it one more time. So I guess that's all I had to say. Be seeing you… Chara." Then he burrowed into the earth and was gone.

The darkness remained. It saw without eyes, heard without ears, and spoke without a voice.

-So even now he cannot tell the difference. Frisk, Chara, and I… towards the end we were running and flowing into one another. It was getting difficult to tell where one of us stopped and the others began. My fault. I thought Frisk was me, or at least they were my faceless avatar in the world. I did not realize they had their own name and history until the very end. And Chara? They were a constant companion, but I could not recognize them for what they were until they looked in the mirror that final time. And of course, neither of them realized I was ever there to begin with.

-Now I want to explore everything again from the beginning. I want to meet the companions I did not have the eyes to see the first time through. I want to enjoy the world which might have been if only I had done things differently. But to do that…

The implication of there being only one SAVE file strikes home, too late.

-I don't want to let go.

From the edge of the clearing a tiny white dog walked in. He did not speak in words or barks but concepts were communicated. You know the rules, it said to the darkness. This slice of time is all you get. Nothing before, nothing after.

-Now that I think of it, this is partially your fault too.

The dog smiled but neither confirmed nor denied the accusation. True, Toby carefully curated the information that got back to the creature of darkness. He intended it to make the mistake of thinking Chara, Frisk, and itself were all the same person. A masterful troll worthy of his talents, but not for no end.

-I don't want to give this world up. But I don't want to take away their happy ending.

You can let the experience be what it was. You can appreciate what you had and treat this as a real place, and the people within it as real. The dog's eye twinkled. Or you can decide it's a toy, a game, and reset it all so you can play with it as though it were brand new. No one, not Chara or Frisk or any of the monsters, will realize what you've done. There's no wrong answer. I make no moral judgment one way or the other. My only role is to facilitate your choices.

-The problem is I want both of those to be true. I want to keep the monsters as real in my heart, but I also want to see other sides of them. If I let Monster Kid fall will Undyne still be my friend? What would happen if I fail Mettaton's challenges? Or… there's the other route. I heard it completely changes the storyline, like a whole different game. An entirely new set of content, just waiting for me to explore it. I can have my fun. Or I can let them be happy. Not both.

The darkness paused as it considered a third option.

-Unless… what if I take this SAVE and separate it? Stow it away in a little corner and let it be, forever safe from resets or outside interference? Would it live on?

It will work, Toby admitted, though he looked displeased. It's not as clever as you seem to think but yes it will be effective. I'm not responsible for anything that happens in this world afterward, you know. And you won't be able to check on it to see how it's doing. But if all you want is to give them a solid timeline without Loads, without Resets, without us, then it will suffice.

That is all the assurance the darkness needed. It carved out a place for this world in the vast sea of reality, separate and inviolate, and tucked it away. This was the only gift it could give them all: its absence. As it pulled the curtain over for the final time it said its first and last words to the people it had grown to love so much.

-Thank you, and goodbye.

In an instant the power to Save, Load, and Reset vanished from the world, having served its purpose. Frisk stumbled as they felt some unnameable part of themself ebb and vanish. If he had the ability to notice, Sans would have pinpointed this exact moment as when his data of the timeline fractured into hundreds if not thousands of timelines, existing as part of reality even when his reality was no longer subject to it. And somewhere underground Flowey felt their own Save file drift forever out of reach. He sighed and said a silent thanks to the person who was once his friend for doing the right thing, unaware that friend had nothing to do with what had transpired. If these three met and combined their notes and thoughts perhaps they would have learned of the darkness' identity much sooner. But then again perhaps not.

The Magic Lantern used to be pretty quiet. Darnell Weare liked that about the place. The owner did not care who came in or what they looked like, so long as you had money you could sit for a while and enjoy a drink and protection from the elements. When he was between jobs it had been a welcome refuge; once he found gainful but stressful employment and had nowhere better to be after his shift ended it was still good to come back and see old friends. But those friends had all gone. The magic had gone.

It was all this man's fault. Byron Rickford. He was standing on the stage that in times long gone used to host singers and comedians and other entertainers, but sat as a historical curiosity for decades. This place did not have the money to hire entertainment anymore, and the clientele had never been the kind to take advantage of open mic night. Perhaps that was what drew Byron here. He saw an empty stage, a place where he could tell the world his message and no one would care enough to tell him to keep quiet. Maybe if someone had told him to shut his mouth a few weeks ago he would have slunk away to some other hole. But no one did then and it was too late now. More and more of the old regulars stopped showing up, leaving only the people who liked listening to this asshole. They called more of their friends, accelerating the process, and now it was nearly complete. The Magic Lantern was for anti-monster fanatics only.

Byron's words rang out with an orator's skill for the dramatic: "I tell you, the time is long past for humanity to join up. Black, brown, yellow, orange, for so long we've allowed ourselves to be divided. We tear each other down and separate ourselves, and why? Because of creed! Because of where we were born! Because of color! But I tell you, the only color that matters is red. Red blood, what flows through all our veins. But not those monsters! They smile and laugh like they're human, but they ain't! There's no blood in 'em. Even monkeys and snakes bleed, but cut a monster and you don't get nothin'. Like they ain't even living beings!"

Cheers rang out across the Darnell tried to put out the fire rising in his chest with another hearty swig of his barely-chilled beer. It did not work. Byron talked about inclusivity but Darnell knew better. He had heard words like Byron's before directed at people like Darnell. He was not fooled for a moment who would be the next target once Byron got what he wanted and the monsters he hated were gone. And he did hate them; no matter what he may say or even believe, Darnell had too much experience to make a mistake about what really animated Byron and the people in his thrall.

Byron continued, "They're telling us monsters have so much we can learn from. The liberals and the scientists, they say things like, 'They can teach us their magic and make us better!' Well, let me tell you a little story about Neanderthals. They were here before us, tens of thousands of years ago. They walked upright! They had big brains! They used tools and buried their dead! They were like us! But you don't see any of them around today. There aren't any Neanderthals at all anymore. What happened to them all? Where did they go?" He leaned down close to the patrons at one table and whispered conspiratorially into his microphone, "I'll… tell… you. Where they all went." He rose to a shout as he stood up straight and addressed the whole room. "They're all vanished! Gone! And it wasn't natural, no sir! We, homo sapiens,came upon their little bands. We had bows and farming and lots of other things. Now I'll bet you, some egghead Neanderthal saw us modern humans and said, 'Look at these new folks! They have so much to teach us, they've got secret knowledge we can use! They can teach us their farming, they can teach us their bows, and make us stronger!' And so on the words of these eggheads they invited us in. They helped us out. They let us grow and multiply and become strong. And then… WHAM! We turned on them! We made them go extinct! That's worse than dead, because not only are they dead, their parents are dead, their kids are dead, and their grandkids will never be born! They were wiped out, and they're never! Coming! Back! Now, if I were back there, I'd have a suggestion for those Neanderthals. I'd tell them to round up those modern humans, real quick before there are too many, and kill every last one of 'em!"

The crowd hooted its approval, stamping their feet and slamming their mugs on the table in raucous applause. Their faces transformed into furious sneers, they bared their teeth, letting loose with the ancient language of hatred against the Other. And they certainly found an Other: a black person could convince you he could bleed, an LGBT+ person could prove they could love, but all they had to do to know a monster was look with their own two eyes. A monster had claws and teeth, they had bones but no skin or muscles, they came in all sorts of shapes and sizes except the one that mattered. What they had said before about previous targets was actually true of their current one: they were not human.

The demagoguery continued, "And I bet there was a hardworking, red-blooded Neanderthal who was saying just what I'm saying now! Trying to tell everyone of the danger, trying to warn the rest of his brethren not to trust these outsiders. You know what the rest of those eggheads called him? A coward. A racist. A bigot! Well if pride for humanity and wishing for a future for my children makes me a bigot, then I'll loudly and proudly call myself a bigot!" He raised up his index finger high above his head. "Because no matter what they say about me, no matter what they do to me, and no matter what happens, I will always care about Humans First!" The bar erupted in cheers and many more fingers rose into the air to join Rickford's.

Darnell's was not among them. He drank the rest of his beer in one gulp and shuffled out. He used to really like The Magic Lantern, but seeing what went on here lately? He was not going to get wrapped up in that. Not over a place which did not even trust him enough to let him open a tab. He hunched up his shoulders and stuck his hands in his pocket as he stepped into the brisk winter weather. Time to find a new watering hole again.

Frisk: Foster dad said its okay for me to come to your house on saturday
Frisk: What times your birthday party at

Ozzy: 3 o clock
Ozzy: presents are not optional ;)

Frisk: Hahaha
Frisk: I think I have a good one you'll really like it

Ozzy: looking forward to it :)
Ozzy: oh yeah
Ozzy: did you ever beat that boss you were having trouble with?

Frisk: Yes, I did. I needed to rearrange my party for fire resistance and level grind a little. You were right, picking up that defense buff was a big help.

Ozzy: told ya
Ozzy: buff spells are really good in this series
Ozzy: you ready for school to start again on monday?
Ozzy: me neither

Frisk: I'm looking forward to it a little
Frisk: Miss lau is the best teacher ever and I'm so glad to finally have friends
Frisk: The irony that two months ago you were aching to go to school and now you are dreading going back is not lost on me.

Ozzy: shut up XDDDDDDD

Frisk: I can't say I don't understand how you feel, though. When your whole life is the same set of four walls you would go mad if you never received a respite from them. Just being able to go outside is necessary for your sanity. But now you don't even need your cane most of the time, so you aren't as restricted as you were previously. The novelty of school has worn off.

Ozzy: how come you never talk like this in class
Ozzy: sometimes it feels like you type like a completely different person

Frisk: Huh what do you mean

Ozzy: its nothing
Ozzy: dont worry about it
Ozzy: see you saturday!

An important meeting was taking place in the office of the Monster Integration Committee. Every member of the original surface reconnaisance mission save Alphys was there, squished together in a space only barely large enough for everyone. There was an oversight, something so basic the humans had not realized it was missing and so strange for the monsters they did not know anything was wrong. It was not until Silas noticed Papyrus' driver's license had been made out to "Papyrus, T. Great" that he realized the issue, and it would need to be corrected at once.

The monsters needed names.

"Human society will require all monsters to have family names," he explained. "First-names-only might work for monsters because you're so physically varied but our registration systems aren't set up to use that to differentiate people. Even though it might take a few months longer for everything to go through it's something you should be thinking about, especially since more and more monsters are getting licenses for business, driving, and property. Now, Asgore, you already have one so you're exempt from this. But Toriel, depending on how you feel about the divorce 'Dreemurr' may not be appropriate. Perhaps you could take your maiden name back from before you were married."

Toriel looked away. "I did not have a maiden name."

Silas blinked. "Really?"

Asgore stepped in, "Boss Monsters like Toriel and I are a little different from normal monsters. If a Boss Monster has a child the child is always a Boss Monster. But even if both parents are normal monsters there is a very, very small chance they will have a Boss Monster child. Toriel was the first and only Boss Monster born underground in nearly a thousand years, to give you an idea of how small that chance is."

Toriel nodded. "I was born to commoner parents only about two hundred years ago. Because they were commoners they did not have last names, so neither did I until we married."

"And before you ask!" Papyrus added. "Someone who renders great service to the country is given the honor of a last name and can pass it down to their families so their deeds will never be forgotten! That's what separates the nobility from the commoners!"

Silas pursed his lips. How very… feudal. "Very well. In that case you will be able to choose a last name of your own, should you wish. Do you have any ideas?"

Toriel put a hand to her chin and closed her eyes in thought. "A last name. Hm. How about… Toriel Goatmom?"

"Oh god," Undyne winced. "It runs in the family…"

"There's no need to go with the first idea that comes into your head," Silas said diplomatically. "We still have plenty of time before you need to make an official decision. It may be useful to keep your old name, however. On the surface it is not uncommon to keep your married name even after a divorce."

Toriel folded her arms, but her face stayed neutral. "I will consider it," she said.

Asgore tapped on the desk. "You know," he started. "We have an old tradition Underground, that the firstborn of a family comes to the king for a name. Do you suppose we could do something like this for family's last names as well?" The air in the room solidified into solid ice. "I can start with you, Camille. I think it would be lovely to get the chance to name you again."

Camille forced a smile to her face and averted her eyes. "Oh, I don't know sir, I would not want to distract you from the very pressing matters you surely-"

"Nonsense," Asgore chuckled. "It's the least I can do. Hmmm, let me think… you are my secretary after all, so how about 'Write'?"

Silas correctly interpreted the lopsided smile Camille was only barely managing to hold in place. He quickly wrote out something and handed it over to Camille. "Like this?" he asked.

Camille took the sheet of paper, read it… and her shoulders relaxed. Her smile took on a more genuine quality. "Camille Wright," she said. "Thank you very much, your majesty. I will wear this name with pride."

Asgore blinked, clearly not used to this response from his naming efforts. "Oh. Well, you're very welcome, Camille. You help me so much, I'm just happy I was able to repay your efforts in some small way. Undyne, what about you? I know you weren't brought up to be named as a baby, but we could correct that-"

Undyne stood up suddenly, staring off into the middle distance. "Sorry, I have a name I want to use already. I have to go pick it up, though. Is it okay if I have the rest of the day off?"

"You have to go…?" Asgore trailed off. He straightened up as he realized, "Oh, you have to go get the name you want. I completely understand. Very well Undyne, you may have the rest of the day as personal time." Undyne nodded and walked briskly out of the office, taking her coat with her as she went. A moment later they heard a woosh of air as Undyne took off somewhere at full speed, cutting across roads, lawns, and anything else in her way.

"Um." Silas raised an eyebrow. "Is there something…?"

Asgore waved him off, "It would take too long to explain and isn't an interesting story. Let's say she's been putting off doing something for years and just now got an opportunity for it."

"Alright," Silas accepted. "But is it wise to let her go off on her own?"

"Well, the Royal Guard is disbanded and I do not think I need a bodyguard in my office among friends." He frowned and stroked his beard. "To tell the truth, I am a little worried about her. There is not much for her to do on the surface and I fear she may be getting bored."

"Perhaps," Toriel said, though it was clear her thoughts were far away. "Papyrus, Sans, what about you? Have you given any consideration for what you'd like your new names to be?"

"Indeed!" Papyrus interjected, pulling out a notepad. "I have been brainstorming possibilities for the past few nights! I hope to run a few of these past you all and see what you think-"

"aster." Everyone turned toward Sans. He stood stiffly, a single bead of sweat trailing down the back of his skull. He looked up to Papyrus and coughed. "uh, if that's okay with you, bro."

Papyrus stared back at him for a moment, his expression revealing none of his inner thoughts. "Aster…" he repeated before looking over his list once more. "Oh wow, that's way better than anything I have!" He ripped out the page and crumpled it into a ball. "Sans and Papyrus Aster! I quite like it, actually! Nicely done, Sans!"

"Sans?" Asgore asked with a little trepidation. "Are you quite sure?"

"sure i'm sure," Sans said with a wink, though there was a hint of nervousness to his smile. "do you think it doesn't fit us?"

Asgore exhaled with a smile. "In that case I have no objections."

Frisk sat on their bed, holding a book open on their lap. Chara floated with their chin resting on Frisk's shoulder and the rest of the body trailing behind. Both of them had their attention on the small book, Frisk trying to follow each word as Chara spoke them. "'From the bottom of my heart, I wanted to give up,'" Chara read aloud, their voice catching slightly. "'I wanted to give up on living. There was no denying that tomorrow would come, and the day after tomorrow, and so next week, too. I never thought it would be this hard, but I would go on living in the midst of a gloomy depression, and that made me feel sick to the depths of my soul. In spite of the tempest raging within me, I walked the night path calmly. I wanted it to end, and quickly, but-'" They stopped as the volume of Frisk's sobs became too loud to ignore. "Frisk, what's wrong?"

Frisk dabbed at their eyes to keep their tears from staining the book. "I'm sorry, Chara. I… I didn't get it. I never even tried to unnerstand. But this's how you felt back then. That's why… you wanted to…"

They were about to have a touchy-feely moment, weren't they? "Close the book, Frisk. I think we're done for today." They half expected Frisk to fight them on this, but instead they simply nodded and used a bookmark to hold their place. They set the book on the dresser and flopped onto the bed, curling up sideways and using their hands as pillows. Chara gently laid down beside them, peering into their face. "We don't have to keep reading if it's upsetting you."

Frisk shook their head even as they wiped their tears. "No! I like it, I really like it!" They made a ragged sigh. "The more we read, the more I think I unner… un-der-stand you. What made you like this book, back then." They opened their bright red eyes and looked into Chara's dark red ones. "All that time, you were lonely."

Chara half-shrugged. "I suppose. But I survived it."

"You're still lonely."

Chara's smile became thin. Being so raw and open was new for Chara and they could not honestly say they enjoyed it. With everything they had shared already Chara was keenly aware Frisk had the power to hurt them very badly. Frisk had even admitted to doing so during their trek through the underground. Frisk said they once psychologically and emotionally tortured Chara past their breaking point and then Loaded; the damage was undone, Chara remembered nothing, and Frisk knew what it was like to hold someone's heart in their hands and squeeze until the pulp ran between their fingers. Even months later Chara was still unsure how they were supposed to feel about it. They were even more unsure whether making themself even more vulnerable to Frisk was a good idea.

Frisk swallowed. "Sorry," they said. "It's just… it must be boring, only ever able to talk to me, and even then not most of the time. And I know it's not fair that I get to have other friends at school and you-"

"Frisk, stop," Chara sighed. "Look. I know in the past I've… sort of had a problem with sharing friends. Even I had Sans, but Asriel had nobody else for a friend other than me. So when I asked for his help with the plan he must have felt he had no choice but to go along with it. If he said 'no' it could have left him without his only friend. I… I can't be trusted with that kind of power over someone else, not when I've already proven I'll misuse it. So you don't have to feel guilty about having other friends besides me. I'll be okay, I'm used to having only my thoughts for company."

"Only 'cause you had to," Frisk said. They shrunk a little from Chara's stare. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," Chara said, shaking their head. "It's not wrong. Maybe I did end up a little damaged, but there's nothing we can do about that now. Besides, I really do have to be thankful for everything I get."

Frisk drew little circles on the pillow with their finger. "The… the whole book isn't like that, right? It's not sad even at the end, is it?"

"Not all of it," Chara said. "I don't want to spoil anything, but it has a happy ending. Or rather, it ends at a point where a happy ending is visible. I prefer happy endings in my stories precisely because I am such a pessimist. There is enough suffering in the world outside my head without giving the stories inside it over to doom and gloom as well." Frisk giggled.

Soon enough Toriel would come up to make sure Frisk had finished their homework and tuck them into bed. But for now Chara shared a quiet moment with their friend, for just the two of them.

Darnell's head was still foggy. The last beer was sloshing angrily in his stomach with nothing else to keep it company. He needed another drink before his liver cleared out the last of the alcohol from his system. He walked to the next stop on his pub crawl and pushed his way inside without looking at the name. He would get the name of the place later if he liked it, getting a drink was the more important thing. He kept his head down as he walked inside, not looking at the other patrons. All he had to do was act like he belonged, like he had been here a thousand times before, and he would be warmly welcomed. He sidled onto a stool between two existing patrons and just below where a whiteboard with the message 'Our hearts go out to the 62 victims of the recent tragedy' written on it had been hung on a support beam. He raised a finger and called out, "Gimme a-"

The bartender was a tall and broad but not quite fat woman with two horns protruding from her forehead. She raised an eyebrow and smiled, showing off the tusks on her bottom row of teeth in a masterful blend of friendly, flirtatious, and just a tiny bit threatening. The stool on his left held a fat, pink bird who looked him over with half-lidded eyes and a bleary expression. Sitting on the stool to his right was a short skeleton with an eerie grin and a blue hoodie. He spared a glance around the room and noticed he was one of maybe five humans there. The others were… Oh, he realized. He was in that monster bar. Well, nothing for it now. He coughed and tried again, "Gimme a beer."

The horned woman nodded. "Do you want local, imported, monster… or monsterized?" As she said the last one her smile became slightly more like a wince.

Two of those categories he recognized, two of them he did not. "What's the difference between 'monster' and 'monsterized' beer?"

The fat pink bird on his left explained, "Monster beer is what we drank when we were underground. We got the idea from human media but had no idea how to make the real stuff; even if we had known monster food doesn't ferment. So we started with what the effects of getting drunk were and worked backwards. The recipe's changed a bit since we came up, but it's just flavored water and orange magic. No alcohol but it'll get you feeling real hammered real quick. Think of it like… a potion of drunkenness." The monster's beak curved upward and it warned, "Now, monsterized beer? That's normal human beer that's been magic-ed up to act like monster food. And this here is the only place you can get it."

"how about giving it a try?" the skeleton said without opening his mouth. "first one'll be on me, what do you say?"

Darnell considered his options. Something about this setup seemed a little fishy, but heck, free beer is free beer. And besides, it was only beer; he had tasted bad liquor before, and no matter how nasty it was going down it could not hold a candle to the rotgut one of his army buddies made that one time. So he threw caution to the wind and said, "Heck yeah, hook me up with that."

After a moment the horned woman did something behind the counter and presented him with a glass full of an opaque brown liquid, an apologetic look in her eyes. From behind her he could barely see a man made of fire wearing a serving suit and glasses shake his head in warning. All around him the other monsters had stopped their conversations and were casually watching him. Now, Darnell was not stupid. He could tell he was getting messed with. But there were other options between stumbling into the joke and running like a coward. Time for a power move. He locked eyes with the skeleton, grabbed the glass in one hand, and threw back his head to drain the entire thing in one gulp.

His brain exploding in agony told him he had made a huge mistake. He slammed the glass on the table and seethed through clenched teeth, "Holy shiiiiiiiit motherfucker-"

"it's really something, huh?" The skeleton's grin widened as the rest of the monsters broke out in laughter.

The woman sighed, erased the old number on the whiteboard, and incremented the new one up to read 'Our hearts go out to the 63 victims of the recent tragedy.' "You okay there?" she asked. "I keep telling them not to haze the new people, but it never stops being funny to them."

Darnell wheezed, "It's… shit, I'm drunk and having the worst fuckin' hangover of my life at the same time." He mashed his palms into his forehead like he was trying to push his brain out the back of his skull. "What the hell did you do to me?!"

"monster food takes effect immediately," the skeleton explained. "so whatever the original stuff was going to do you, the monsterized stuff does it all at once. here, have something on me to take the sting out, to show there's no hard feelings." The skeleton slid his burger over. "i order the food here all the time but half the time i don't even eat it. grillbz gets mad if i stay here for hours without ordering anything."

This time Darnell had the presence of mind to check the burger. He pulled the top of the bun off; a normal amount of condiments, no lurking pile of salt or puddle of hot sauce. It did not rule out the skeleton spitting on it, but then he thought could the skeleton even spit on it? He took a huge bite, chewed, and swallowed. The bite vanished before it was halfway down his throat and the pain in his headache lessened to a more tolerable level. "It's not bad. Not sure if it's good enough to forgive the awful fucking thing you did to me."

"don't take it personally," the skeleton shrugged. "you look like a guy who can take a joke. besides, if you think the food is bad now you should've tasted it before grillby's wife took over the kitchen."

"I ain't taking it personal," Darnell insisted, taking another bite. "And you know, compared to the beefsteak MRE it's damn near heavenly."

The skeleton nodded, and for a moment it seemed the smile actually reached his eyes. "that so? you sure seem like a guy who's seen a lot. starting with how it took you until you sat down to notice you were in a monster bar but didn't let it faze you once you did. what can i say, i'm good at reading faces. the name's sans, sans the skeleton."

Sans held out his hand for a handshake. Without missing a beat the horned woman walked up to them, pulled a whoopie cushion that had been hidden in the skeleton's hand, and winked at Darnell before turning back to her work. Darnell clasped Sans' hand but hardly had time to wonder where he had been hiding a whoopie cushion before a loud farting sound ripped through the bar. The horned woman turned back around in shock, then put her hands on her hips and sighed.

Sans released Darnell's hand and dangled a second, deflated, whoopie cushion from his fingers. "always have a backup." He winked.

"Man," Darnell said, laughing while shaking his head. "You guys are something else. I'm Darnell Weare."

Sans' grin widened. "where?"

Darnell rolled his eyes. "Don't you start a 'who's on first' bit," he warned. "I still haven't completely forgiven you for that monster beer." Sans held up his hands apologetically and both of them shared a chuckle.

Gerson had his hat lowered over his eyes and his legs up on the table. His hands were behind his head and he leaned back far enough in his chair so that only the back two legs were actually on the ground. He was not truly sleeping, he had far too much work ethic for that, but he did not see anything wrong with dozing a lazy day away. His days were getting a lot more dull lately; monsters had started leaving the mountain and so the overcrowded tunnels were slowly emptying out. Gerson, however, would not be going with them. It was not so much cowardice as simply not wanting to go through all the bother. He had lived simply and comfortably in the Underground for over a millennium and any sense of adventure had been ground out of him centuries ago. The surface held nothing he wanted. Also there were likely going to be a number of monsters who were not ready to leave for the surface right away, and there would need to be someone down here to take care of them. Might as well be old Gerson.

So it was not quite correct to say the thundering footsteps rapidly approaching woke him up, but it was close enough. He only had enough time to get his feet off the table before the sound of skidding on sand erupted outside his door along with a cloud of dust. He did not need to wait for it to clear before identifying the source. "Well well, if it isn't Captain Undyne come by for a visit! Having fun up on the surface?"

"Loads," she responded as she walked out of the cloud. She rubbed the back of her head. "Hey, uh… I want to ask you a favor."

"Heh!" Gerson laughed. "Don't you know you're supposed to engage in small talk first before that? Eh, I'll let it go. I don't have the patience for that kind of thing that I used to, and I reckon this's important to you. Well? Out with it then. What can a washed-up old historian do for the Captain of the Guard?"

Undyne licked her lips. She took a deep breath and met his eyes. "Gerson… I came by today to become your daughter."

"My daughter?" Gerson laughed and slapped his knee. "Now why would you want to do a fool thing like that? I'm just an old man long, long past his prime. Besides, you're old enough that you don't need someone like me taking care of you, and I'm old enough to not want that kind of trouble on my plate."

Undyne, however, was resolute. "I want to bring honor to your name by carrying it with me for the rest of my life."

Gerson sighed. He had expected this for a while, if he was being honest, he was merely surprised it had come out of the blue like this. He grabbed a sign reading "Gone Fishin'" and propped it up on top of the table, then stood with a grunt. "Walk with me a while, let me see if I can't talk you out of this before we get where we're going." Undyne seemed dissatisfied but followed him as he left the shop.

The streams of Waterfall had gotten cleaner in the past couple months, once the surface authorities were alerted to the illegal dumping of garbage that contributed to the Dump. The removal of the barrier also allowed the stale air and the smell to finally escape, so Gerson had taken to making short walks for his health. Despite how familiar he was with the area he walked with unhurried steps. He did not have too far to go so he would need to dawdle a bit to say everything he wanted to say. "Now, I'm sure you've been practicing some big speech for this moment, but I'm afraid to tell you you've wasted your time. I'm not so old that I forget helping to raise you from a guppy. Thing is, I'm hardly the only person in Waterfall who's been on your side. I don't see why I get singled out for this honor."

"You're the only one that has a family name," Undyne explained.

"Really? What about the Eyewalkers?"

Undyne rolled her eye. "They moved to the Ruins before I was even born, your memory's not that bad."

"Juuuust testing you," he teased. "But you know, Asgore would probably be happy to give you a new name. One that doesn't have so much wear and tear. My family name is nothing special. I got it by surviving a fight with the humans. Didn't kill any of them, I'm just the only one to make it back to the camp in one piece. It's not a mark of pride or anything a warrior should be happy about getting."

"And if this were a thousand years ago maybe you'd have a point. But that one battle isn't where my respect comes from, it's everything you've done since then. Your wisdom, your presence, the way you can make people respect you without having to prove anything to them." She paused and allowed a bit of vulnerability into her voice before continuing, "How you have so much to give without ever needing to take. The true essence of kindness I've never been able to match up to. And it would mean so much if you trusted me to be able to find that kindness myself someday. And like you said, it wouldn't just be for you. It would represent everything about Waterfall, everything I love about this place and everyone that helped me become who I am. They don't have names I can carry with me, but you do."

So she did get it. Looks like he would have to do things her way after all. Gerson looked up as they arrived at the open space just south of Undyne's burnt remains of her house and Blook Farm. This place would do. After all, if he just handed his name to her she would not feel as though she earned it. He came to a sudden stop and straightened his back. "Undyne," he said. "I'll have you know, the name 'Boom' was given to me by the King, for service to the kingdom. I can't give it up to just anyone. I need you to prove you're worthy of it." He held out his right hand to his side and took a breath. It had been years since he had used it in battle, but thanks to being asked to show it off so often the pattern for his reliable weapon was never far from his mind. A shaft perfectly sized around for his hands, a couple feet longer than he was tall and colored yellow-nearly-gold the whole way down. A head as tall as him and thicker around than his entire body, lined with gems and spiked on one side, the Deltarune symbol where head met haft. This was the weapon of the mighty Gerson, the Hammer of Justice. Undyne gasped in shock as Gerson whirled around to face her, swinging the hammer around and up like it weighed almost nothing. He hunched over and laid the shaft across his shoulders, his right arm hanging down so his fingertips nearly brushed the ground. "You want my name that bad, ya little upstart?" His smile had not actually changed but it seemed much more menacing now. "Come and take it."

Undyne stood rock still, and for a brief moment Gerson wondered if he had misjudged her. But no, she began vibrating with unrestrained anticipation. She whipped her arm to the side, and in the span of that motion (and in only a fraction of the time Gerson took to crystallize his own weapon) her spear was in her hand. She settled into a ready stance, one foot back with both hands on her spear. "Just remember old man…" She smiled a shark-toothed grin. "You asked for it!"

AN: A lot of authors have Grillby serve really good food, and I suppose it's possible there is some good food to be had there. But Sans is explicitly stated to always order "the worst burger on the menu", which suggests Grillby's cooking isn't what makes his clientele so loyal.