"Attack or run away." Ordered Toriel. She waved both her hands, creating fireballs that launched around the area. Nemo crossed his arms and closed his eyes before sitting down on the ground with his legs crossed as flames continued to fly, the occasional one striking him, not that it did much. "What are you proving this way?" She asked. It continued in a loop between them. Toriel would shout, throw fire, try to get Nemo to act, but he refused, he just sat there and took everything she threw at him. Going off of the sickened look on Frisk's face, Chara was starting to be grateful that they didn't have a sense of smell, or a stomach.

"I know this guy has always been a bit wack, but this is downright insane!" They exclaimed as the one sided fight continued.

"Is it?" Asked Frisk.

"What do you mean?" Asked Chara as they looked down at the younger human.

"Look." Said Frisk as they pointed at Nemo. Chara followed where they were pointing, to see Nemo sitting there, not moving an inch as fireballs continued to fly at and around him. It took a moment, but Chara connected the dots.

"The attacks aren't hitting him as much." They said. Frisk nodded.

"I know you want to go home, but..." Said Toriel, catching the duo's attention. "But please… go upstairs now… I will take good care of you both. I know we do not have much, but… we can have a good life here."

"I refuse." Said Nemo with a neutral expression.

"Why are you making this so difficult? Please, go upstairs." Said Toriel. Nemo slowly sighed before standing up. His human allies watched him as he walked over to Toriel until he was less than a foot in front of her. The two of them stared at each other in silence. Nemo closed his eyes and leaned his head forward, resting it against her shoulder. Toriel stared for a moment before letting out a weak laugh. "Ha ha… pathetic, is it not? I cannot even save two children."

"You failed so many others besides the two of us." Nemo lacked the emotional strength to utter those words out loud as Frisk ran over and hugged Toriel.

"No, I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down here. The Ruins truly are small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this. My expectations… my loneliness… my fear… for you, my children… I will put them aside." Nemo's soul vanished. The fight was over. "If you truly wish to leave the Ruins… I will not stop you. However, when you leave… please do not come back."

"When we're done, we won't ever need to return to this place." That remained unsaid too.

She then released them and looked at them with a soft smile. "Goodbye, my children." With that, Toriel went back the way they came, and the three of them were alone once more.

"That… wasn't any more fun the second time around." Said Nemo tiredly.

"Are you ok?" Asked Frisk.

"Hm?" Asked Nemo.

"You were practically burned alive." Said Chara drily.

"Right… that." Said Nemo as he examined the burns on his arms. "Honestly, it does kinda hurt, but not very much."

"She was probably holding back." Said Chara. "I'd hate to see what would happen if she was really mad."

"I'd probably be in more pain." Commented Nemo.

"I mean… I guess?" Said Chara, unsure how else to respond to such a cryptid statement. "Regardless, you should get those healed, do you have any food on hand?"

"What's this? Chara? Showing concern for someone? Did I wake up in an Alternate Universe or something?" Said Nemo sarcastically.

"Well f*ck you too then." Said Chara. Before the curse could leave their lips, Nemo covered Frisk's ears with his hands. Chara stared in surprise. "How the h*ll did you do that?" Again, Nemo prevented Frisk from hearing the curse. "They've already heard me curse! Covering their ears now won't make a difference!"

Nemo gave them a flat stare. "Whatever." He said tiredly as he pulled out a monster candy from his pocket and ate it. He was shocked to learn just how effective this stuff was. He could see some of his burns vanish.

"Why even bother doing that?" Asked Chara. "Frisk will just heal you at the next save star anyway, man you really are an idiot."

"Are you and Flowey related or something?" Asked Nemo drily. "Because you both are equally annoying." For some reason, Chara didn't have a rebuttal for that verbal jab. Nemo could continue to prod for answers, but he was too burned out to care.

(I'm not sorry, moving on)

The humans, both corporeal and not, made their way through the first door, passing the area that Flowey taunted them in the first timeline, only for him to be absent this time. "Huh… that can't be good." Said Nemo.

"What do you mean?" Asked Frisk worriedly.

"If Flowey's not here, then where is he? And more importantly, what problems are he causing?" Asked Nemo. Frisk looked down at the ground where Flowey would usually appear.

"Standing around worrying isn't going to do anything, let's just get out of here. I'm tired of these ruins." Said Chara as they continued to hover around their heads.

"Chara's right, we should get going, we're going to meet Sans and Papyrus next." Said Frisk.

"Hah! See that! Frisk agreed with me!" Said Chara a bit too proudly. Nemo didn't even bother responding to their provocations as he thought back to the last two timelines, both the memories he made of the brothers in the first timeline, and the ones he forcibly acquired in the second. He… had mixed emotions about seeing them. He blinked back into reality to see Chara hovering in his face, doing one of their scary faces as black tears spewed from their eyes while black ooze dripped from their mouth.

"Get out of my face you weirdo." Said Nemo as he pushed them away.

"Not my fault you were staring into space like a brain dead idiot!" Retorted Chara.

"You did space out for a little while." Said Frisk.

"Did I? Sorry, didn't notice." Said Nemo as he shook his head, clearing up his head a little bit. "Well, that aside, I guess we have snow choice but to leave." Said Nemo with a joke.

"Ugh, if this was a moment, that joke definitely would've ruined it." Said Chara. Frisk and Nemo stared at them for a moment before Nemo began to snicker. "What is i-?" Chara trailed off when they realized their mistake. Which kickstarted their existential crisis. "Oh god no! What have I become!?" Nemo's snickers evolved into full blown laughter as Chara let out an inhuman screech. Frisk went over and patted Chara's shoulder, or tried to anyway, while giving them an empathetic smile.

"Ah." Sighed Nemo as he ran a hand through his hair. "Well, Chara's comedy aside, we should get going."

"Right." Said Frisk. They reached out and grabbed his hand, and started pulling him to the exit. Chara floated behind them as the trio began the next part of their journey.


Nemo looked around the snowy landscape. "Still doesn't make sense." He said as he shook his head. His head then abruptly stopped as he noticed something to their left. He walked over to a snow coated bush. He gave it a small kick, causing the snow to fall away, revealing a hidden camera. He crouched down so that he was eye level with it. "Hello there Alphys." Said Nemo ominously before standing back up and stretching. "Alright, let's go."

"Was there a need for that?" Asked Chara with an unimpressed face.

"Probably not." Said Nemo as the group began to make their way to the bridge. The walk went almost exactly like it did in the first timeline. Now they waited in front of the bridge as a familiar person approached them from behind.

"Human." He said as he extended his hand, but before he could say anything more, Frisk beat him to the punch, turning around and shaking his hand. The sound of a whoopee cushion filled the area. Chara groaned as Nemo gave an amused smile. "Heh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick… wait a sec… have you heard it before or something? You turned around before I said to… weird." Asked Sans with an amused smile.

"It's great to see you again." Said Nemo with a smile.

"Yeah, it's real nice isn't it?" Said Sans as he winked at him. "Especially considering I've never met you before."

"It's a beautiful day outside, dontcha think?" Asked Nemo as he looked away. "Birds are singing, flowers are blooming… on days like this, kids like us…" Nemo returned Sans's wink with one of his own as he said, "should be hanging out with skeletons, I suppose."

The white's of Sans's eyes vanished and the size of his smile had shrunk a considerable amount. "Uh huh…" Said Sans before coughing, despite lacking lungs, as his face returned to normal. "Whatever, you're a human, right? I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton. I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. But… y'know… I don't really care about capturing anybody. Now my brother, Papyrus… he's a human-hunting fanatic." Nemo smiled as Papyrus came to mind, but then the image of a headless Papyrus came to mind, causing him to frown and a shadow to fall over his eyes. "Hey, actually, I think that's him over there." This made Nemo jump in place. "I have an idea. Go through this gate thingy. Yeah, go right through. My bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone." Nemo sighed as he shook his head at Papyrus's silliness, a smile returning to his face. The group made their way past the bridge into a wider area. "Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp. And you can hide behind my station." Said Sans. The humans moved to their positions, while Chara floated over Frisk's head. Just as they got into position, Papyrus arrived. The brothers had their banter, and the humans quietly listened to them.

"HEH!" Said Papyrus before leaving.

"Ok, you can come out now." Said Sans. Frisk and Nemo came out of hiding.

"Thanks for the help Sans." Said Nemo.

"Yeah, thanks!" Said Frisk.

"You oughta get going, he might come back and if he does… you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes." Said Sans with a wink.

Nemo chuckled as he and Frisk began to make their way to the next Save Star. Just before leaving though, Sans stopped them. "Actually, hey… hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor? I was thinking… my brother's been kinda down lately… he's never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day. Don't worry, he's not dangerous. Even if he tries to be."

"Sure thing." Said Nemo with a wave.

"Thanks a million." Said Sans as he walked off in the opposite direction.

"I hate that smiley trash bag." Muttered Chara.

"Why's that?" Asked Nemo.

"The puns, for one thing." Replied Chara.

"Agree to disagree. And doesn't your mother like puns?" Asked Nemo.

Chara opened their mouth and then closed it, simply staring at him for a moment before muttering, "All the more reason to hate them."

Page 45 End

Chapter 7 End

DUALTALE