Farrah awoke to a strange feeling in her hair. Sans left hand was under his chin bone while his right hand was dancing around in the air.

"Morning," he said to her. "I know breakfast in bed or something romantic like that would be better, but I was too lazy. So?" His hand stopped dancing around. "I made a flower out of your hair."

A flower? Farrah touched the side of her head. It felt intricate. She got up to see it in the mirror. How did he make it so detailed? It was definitely a braid with a strange twirl like a bun, but with more outer curves to it. It was beautiful. "Better than breakfast in bed. Thank you."

"Uh huh." Sans still didn't move. "So since you are out of bed and so thankful, you can flip the stereotype of the guy always doing it."

Tricky little monster. Farrah looked back at him. "A hotdog?" It was about the only thing she trusted herself to make on that stove.

She went downstairs and grabbed the hotdogs. She also grabbed her dress from last night and her bra she forgot to bring upstairs last night. When she finished up the hotdogs, she plated them and took them upstairs.

Yep, he hadn't moved an inch. She joined him back in bed to eat. "So, Farrah? Day is going to be a little bit different today."

Different? "Since I'm your girlfriend?"

"Nah, because you are going to have to risk your life to open up the barrier to bring yourself all together." He finished his hotdog off fast. "So I may have said a lie or two last night."

Farrah stared at him for a bit before quickly finishing off her hotdog. What did you do?

"So, I not only talked to Chara last night," Sans told her, "I also discovered my leg won't open the barrier up again." He dropped the covers lower.

Farrah stared at the top of his leg. How did she not notice that? "It's back."

"Yeah. It turns out that you can't open it the same way twice. Another precaution." Sans covered his leg back up. "The only solution is for us to get down with our bad selves and create a little skeleton of our own."

What?! "Are you kidding?!"

"Nah, it's not, I kid," Sans teased her. "I'm kidding you, but I'm not 'kidding' you. Heh."

"Sans, usually I love your jokes, but not now," she urged him. "What do we do?"

"The solution, is actually a solution that we can use against Stephan too afterward. If you are willing to work with your other selves on it."

Other selves?

"You'll have to put just your hand on it, Farrah. My magic hold on you is going to keep you alive until you become what Chara called the 'perfect blend'. Chara and Frisk will both come out and meet each other. Any conflict between the souls has to be settled. Once it is, you'll come back, and we'll be free."

She would have to willingly let them come out?

"Nobody is here but me, and I know they aren't going to go after me. How could they anyhow? They'd die." Sans gestured to her hair. "Apologies. Nobody should have that much control over another monster, and in such a precise way. That's the result of monster marriage."

"You said that before, but you never explained it," Farrah reminded him. "Why are we married?"

"From what Chara said, I get the feeling it wasn't for happy reasons." He gestured to the flower in her hair again, like he was trying to give her reminders he was a nice guy.

Farrah touched the flower on her head. I'll remember. Please tell me.

"You lose yourself when you get overwhelmed emotionally. Apparently, one of my selves must have found out. Probably because I can read all of your thoughts sometimes. Since you were so weak emotionally, and connected already with your thoughts?" Sans took a deep breath. "I must have tricked you. To marry skeletons, it's an exchange of bone to bone."

"Bone to bone?"

"Yeah, I thought about that one. Most likely, it was to the end when you'd approach closer. Somehow, I must have got my bone dust on you, to make sure you'd ingest it. Afterwards, I'd probably collapse close to you so my tongue could scrape your bone."

His tongue scraped bone? Powerful tongue.

"It can be gentle or hard. In that case, it was hard." Sans glanced in her direction. "Once I did that and we were married? It really didn't matter how many times we fought. You never could win. Even if you got one on me, I'd have taken some of your hit points. From Chara's reaction, it was years."

Years? They fought for years? "Did it ever end?"

"Not to Chara. Something must have happened because I am over here with this leg. Maybe something inside started to piece more together than 'how many ways can I kill this human'?" He said it with no glee.

Farrah watched her hand float to him as he took it in his.

"I'm sorry, Farrah. I don't know anything after that. Even that's just a guess 'cause I don't remember the other side." He held her hand gently. "You don't have to do this. We can choose to take the slow path, or try this when you are ready. It's just that-"

"Stephan could be ruling the world by then." Farrah was getting it. Even if Sans could find a way to stop him, they needed to get out first. "You said the way out could also stop Stephan. Do you plan on trapping him here and making him do the same thing?"

"Amalgamates aren't perfect. Different souls, they rarely clash. I've seen your other sides, I know you can beat the barrier. I'm not just rooting for you, I know you'll win it. Stephan though?"

"Half ancient monster and half spirit from another dimensions with some of Frisk's father." Not a pairing that would bring harmony so easy. "Frisk's father was good."

"Yeah, Stephan will break. Probably not the perfect way you want," Sans warned her.

"It's no way for him to live." Farrah knew he wouldn't get the perfect ending. "He'll be freed of it. I'm sure that's the most important. Being freed of something that causes . . ." If only she could do that too.

"Don't you be thinking too hard about that." Sans must have picked up her thoughts. "Big differences between the two. His other selves are evil to the rotten core, Farrah. Your other selves are just defending themselves and they are scared. Frisk just gets scared, gains LV, and eventually Chara takes over to save her."

He patted her hand. "So don't think of trying to bump off from me. Got it?"

Farrah nodded. "I guess from the rose in my hair, you are strong enough to handle this against me?"

"That barrier won't get past me at all. I strengthened our connection last night too. Kind of lied last night about monsters groping and making out. They don't do that right after a date, sorry."

Oh, a part of me knew it was just-

"If I had told you the truth, then you wouldn't have liked me touching you all over. You would have that 'it's only to strengthen the magic' thinking, and I didn't want that," he corrected her. "That's why I lied. I so wanted to touch you all over. Everywhere. You with me too. It just sort of . . . gave the push we needed."

I think I get it. "Then . . . you do want to be with me?"

"Oh yeah, every night." Sans touched his chin and gave it a gentle push. "My bed is yours. Once I get a double. Are you ready for this?"

Farrah nodded. There was no use in prolonging it. "I'll get dressed, and we'll start." She looked toward Sans again. "Can you get to Stephan before the barrier comes back down?"

She watched Sans remove the top of his leg. Sans flipped the part of the leg he birthed. "This isn't just a paperweight. Do you know where he'd be right about now?"

Not exactly. "He might be in his office. If not, he'll be out there campaigning."

"Then I'll check the office first. All I need is the general direction from there."

"Are you sure that's enough?"

"Yep. He's part of my father-in-law, I should be able to track him easy. We'll get this done, Farrah."

Wow. "We are really taking him down already. It's unreal." Too bad she couldn't remember how they stopped fighting and came up with the ideas in the other timeline. That part, she couldn't even access it at all. "Let's go."

—-

Barrier

"I've got you, Farrah," Sans assured her. He stayed back aways, but he definitely had his magic on her.

She felt some resistance, but she moved just fine. She felt like she was wrapped up in plastic wrap as she moved. It was a good feeling when she knew that without him, she'd be dead once she touched the barrier.

Okay, other selves. Please get along. Let's get along and do this.

Farrah touched the barrier, and felt herself split before she lost consciousness.

—

Chara held her hand on the barrier. "One night? Too easy wasn't it, Sans?" She complained, knowing he was behind her. She could feel his magic on her. Also, what the hell was going on with her hair?

Ah, nevermind. She looked beside her. Frisk hadn't shown up yet. "Sans, do something that'll trigger the Frisk in Farrah!"

"Like what?"

"How am I supposed to know?" She never talked to the Frisk in Farrah. What could she do?

"Yo, Frisk, come out!" Sans yelled. "That do anything?"

"That was so lame!" Chara complained. Ugh. Well? Chara only knew one thing. She hated to use it, but Frisk had to come out. "Frisk, your dad's coming!"

"He is not my dad!" Frisk appeared, her hand on the barrier. "I hate that thing, it's not - him?" Her tirade stopped as she noticed her hand on the barrier. "What's going on?" She looked around.

"Take it easy. Ignore the skeleton in the background, we're trying to break free of the Underground," Chara explained to her. "I'm going to need your help."

"Who are you?" Frisk asked her.

"I'm you."

"What?"

"When you fell down the hole, Frisk? How do you think you survived that long drop?"

Frisk almost took her hand off the barrier. "What?"

"Keep it together, Frisk, because you do live on. Just, not like yourself anymore. I joined you," Chara tried to explain. "Our souls joined together."

"I'm an amalgamate like he was?" Frisk started to cry, getting emotional. "I'm dead."

"No, you're joined," Chara corrected her. "You're safe. No one can hurt you anymore." She emphasized it. "He can't hurt you anymore."

Frisk tried to keep her hand on the barrier. "How am I still alive? If this is a barrier, I should be dead if I was like an amalgamate." She stared at her hand. "I don't understand anything."

"No one can touch you. No one can hurt you. Your soul is usually safe with mine," Chara explained. She took her arm and wrapped it around Frisk as she shivered. "I make sure you never take pain. I make sure your memory is never infringed upon. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You didn't even know me." Frisk was starting to believe. "Why?"

"I fell down, but I survived. There were monsters near me. They became my family," Chara explained to her. "Before that, I had a hellanasty father too. I wanted to . . . I couldn't ever take mine out, and I couldn't take out yours. I just . . . I wanted to protect you. It was the only thing I could do!"

Chara started to cry. She haaaated it. She rarely cried, but they had to become one as possible. "I wanted to protect you like my second momma protected me, Frisk. Most of your soul was gone, but I wrapped myself tightly around you."

Frisk continued to cry, but she leaned into Chara. "I'm sorry. I'm just a weakling that had to run. He wasn't him. He really wasn't him, my real one would never do the things he did. I couldn't see anything in him, and when I realized what he was doing, I couldn't do anything." Frisk curled up closer to Chara. "I'm sorry. I killed so many because I was so afraid. So afraid of everything."

"Yeah, and when it got tougher, I took over and fought for you," Chara told her. "Your memories are flooding this way. By protecting you, I left you out in the scary cold too. I'm sorry as well. You aren't weak, Frisk, you're strong too."

Frisk kept her hand on the barrier strongly. "I am strong. I used to have a lot of strength." She moved her other hand to the barrier, while Chara joined her other hand too. "I won't lash out at everyone anymore. No one can really hurt me. I'm just a soul now. A soul with you."

"Yep." Chara changed hands that were touching the barrier so she could wrap her arm around Frisk again. "We're souls, but we live on in Farrah."

"That was your mom's name," Frisk said quietly. "She smelled like chocolate."

"Yeah. Yeah, she did," Chara said as she faded away.

They both formed together, and Farrah was there again as the barrier came down all at once.

—

Sans came toward her and looked at Farrah. Her eyes were slightly different. It was a darker shade of purple, like more red had been added. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she assured him. "Go get Stephan. He's been living overtime in a world that isn't his." She put her hand in her pocket. "The good parts will be okay, but I'm sending the rest of him to hell."

Yep. That felt more blended than Farrah ever had been before. "Stay here and prepare yourself. Frisk is up for this one."