Asriel: This chapter makes my brain hurt...a lot...golly I feel dizzy...

Frisk: It'll be alright. Some will be abke to understand it better than we possibly can, anyway.

Chara: Let's hope they keep a majority of their theories to themselves, to avoid too heavy spoilers of future events.

Red: I'm so confused...and so hungry...

Chara: *Facepalm* Confusion I get. But how are you still hungry?!

Chapter Start!


Now...when Asriel called his mother ahead of time and told her that they would be having a special guest...she honestly didn't know what to expect. She was under the impression that Asriel and the others met yet another new friend that they wanted to introduce her to. She and Asgore have already heated and prepared some relaxing Golden Flower Tea, plenty of Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie, and a couple Cinnamon Bunnies that were also heated enough to stay warm for a while. They were ready to greet their guest with open arms and friendly smiles.

They were surprised to see that Sans had a glitch around the right side of his face, mostly around his eye, had Papyrus's scarf, and his jacket and slippers were white. There was also the matter of the red slash across his chest. Needless to say, Toriel was horrified and concern, as was Asgore. Then...Classic Sans appeared behind the other, waving sheepishly.

"heya, tori. we, uh, brought someone...interesting home." Sans started out, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Asgore sighed as he stroked his beard. "So...it's going to be one of those days, eh?"

"yeeeep. pretty much."

"Well then. Tori, I believe it would be a good idea for me to prepare more Golden Flower Tea. Something tells me that we will be hearing quite a tale."

"You don't know the half of it, Dad." Chara sighed as he and his brothers entered the home after everyone else. He, Asriel, and Frisk were still a bit hurt from their fight with Geno, something which Toriel noticed immediately and tended to without a beat.

"My children! What happened to you?!" She gasped, concerned as she kneeled down and hugged each of them, gently patting them down hysterically for any other signs of injury. Taking comfort that there isn't too much to worry about, she applied healing magic to them, slowly and surely making any other signs of injury fade away in a manner of moments. With a sigh of relief, she hugged them once again, kissing each of their foreheads. "Thank goodness none of you are hurt too badly. What happened?"

Asriel rubbed the back of his neck. "We had a rather...violent misundertanding that involved our second Sans here. He was...under certain assumptions that-"

"He thought we were still evil in this timeline, so he was trying kill us." Chara said bluntly. Asriel and Frisk gaped at him with shocked expressions as he folded his arms and shrugged. "You were going take forever the way you were going. Just get it over with. Rip the bandage off, ya little babies."

Toriel's eyes darkened as she stood up and over Geno, who began feeling many times smaller compared to her. She slowly raised her paws and fireballs gathered in each one. "Oh. Is that right...?" Geno, even without a full soul, felt absolutely terrified of her. He shrunk a little, desparately wishing he were invisible so he wouldn't have to deal with her wrath. Sure he could teleport, but he really needed to know what makes this timeline so drastically different from the others, even though it greatly resembles a Post-True Pacifist Route. Chara was here and not being genocidal, Asriel and Flowey were two different entities AND two different bodies. Also, he didn't recognize Red at all, and he was supposed to recognize everyone. Not only that...

it ain't just me, is it. every one of my friends magic feels at LEAST five times stronger than they normally should be, even alphys's. what is it with this timeline? Geno felt himself shrink even further down as Toriel's fire became a distinct rainbow color. wait...RAINBOW FIRE?! since when could she...ha. one thing at a time, geno. first, focus on not being torched. the slash on your chest is bad enough.

Geno raised his hands quickly. "i-i can explain! maybe...kinda..." woooow. nice save, geno.

Geno was saved from a painful and colorful spontaneous combustion as Asgore placed a paw on the furious Toriel's shoulder. "Now Toriel, there's no need to bring out the rainbow flames. This Sans seems to have something important to tell us. We won't be able to hear it if he bursts into flames."

"He attacked our children, Asgore!"

"I know, I know. And I'm rather upset about that too. But we both know that people tend to do unreasonable and dangerous things when they are mentally and/or emotionally unstable." Toriel's eyes lowered and her flames became less intense. This was much more truthful than she would like to admit. Asgore gently grasped her paws, putting out the flames that she gathered within them, and softly kissed the top of both of them. "Let us hear him out, Tori. Then we can decide the next course of action."

Toriel looked at Geno as Asgore kissed her paws and talked her down from attacking the glitched skeleton. Now that she's calmed down, she managed to sense that Geno was wracked in a deep, constant cycle of anger, depression, agony, and hopelessness. She sighed and shook her head. "Alright..."

Geno breathed a sigh of relief, though was still surprised. tori and asgore are back together? i really gotta look into these things. In the meantime, Frisk, Asriel, Chara and Red looked at one another for a couple moments. With a nod, they each turned to the others. "Guys, we'll be upstairs if you need us. We're going to have our own private talk."

"Eh? Are you sure? We're gonna be talkin' about some pretty important stuff. You don't want to be a part of it?" Undyne asked.

"We have our own important things to talk about. You can fill us in later." Chara waved off as he began making his way upstairs...but he went back and picked up a Chocolate Bar from one of the cabinets before truly leaving. Asriel and Frisk grabbed a couple slices of pie on one plate and followed him.

Red grabbed...the entire bowl of Cinnamon Bunnies and followed the boys herself. Though she stopped when she sees the remaining monsters in the room look at her with gobsmacked expressions. She rolled her eyes as she pushed her cowl back. "Hey, I just got back from a pretty intense battle. Right now, my belly is empty and it demands to be filled with Cinnamon Bunnies. Pretty sure I need it more than you do. Monch Monch~" She nibbled cheerfully as she followed the Dreemurr Brothers upstairs. "We'll let the adults talk down here, while we talk upstairs."

The other monsters had a pretty strong feeling on what exactly they would be talking about with Red. It would be for them to discuss privately, while they talk about just as serious issues. Geno sighed as he sits down and looks at everyone before him. These two conversations would prove to be quite staggering on many levels.

Geno Sans sits down with a tired sigh. "alright. how are we going to do this? who and what goes first?"

Undyne folds her arms and looks towards him. "Obviously you're going first, dude. You attacked the four punks out of nowhere with intent to kill. What's your deal? Why is your body all glitchy? Why do you have Papyrus's scarf? And what's with the slash on your chest. Shouldn't that have...you know?"

"That is quite a plethora of questions, Undyne. You must be as curious as everyone else." Toriel said.

"Of course I am! I hate being out of a loop that I really should be a part of!"

Geno chuckled darkly as he raised a hand. "it's alright. as for your questions, undyne..." He raided his other hand and began counting off. "i thought that those three kids were still the enemy, and i don't even know the pink-haired canine. the body being glitchy part, i'll get to that in a second. papyrus's scarf...…i'll get to that in a second as well. as for the slash on my chest, yeah, hurts like hell and it ain't goin', nowhere. as far as i know, anyway."

"Hold up. That same slash mark is what kills Sans in a Genocide Timeline. How the hell are you still alive?!"

"heh...hehehe..." Geno tugged on his scarf a little, before he opened his eye socket, revealing for it to be dark, as his grin became crooked. "who said i was alive...?"

The words caught everyone off-guard. Geno was chuckling, but his tone was absolutely serious. This was obviously not something to joke about, especially since the joking Sans immediately disappears once Papyrus does. Undyne was struck silent by the answer, and almost wished she never asked at all.

Geno noticed the atmosphere, and waved his hands. "it's not so bad, really. i mean, it ain't exactly good. but i'm not exactly complainin' about it anymore. there's no point in complainin' about it when i can't do anythin' to change it." He then stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "so...yeah. i'm used to it."

"That doesn't mean it isn't a bad thing. If that scar is never going away, it means you're constantly in pain. It doesn't look like it can be closed and healed at all. Have you already tried...?" Toriel asked. Geno nodded, while Toriel sullenly sips a bit of tea from her teacup. "I see...do you mind telling us how you came to be into this rather unfortunate state?"

"well...i think i can give you the summarized version." Geno said as he gently caressed the scarf around his neck. "it was the usual genocide route. except i decided to go the extra mile in tryin' to do something about it. when the alphys of my timeline was busy evacuating the monsters, i snuck into her true lab and injected myself with DETERMINATION. i gained the power to see the RESET screen, and was able to match the chara of my timeline for a good long while. though of course the chump began seein' right through me, and eventually cut me down. though with my DETERMINATION, before i could turn to dust, i left the timeline completely. when i did that, my body became covered in glitches and holes, and my soul being reduced to a mere one-ninth of one. i've been stuck in the void ever since, at the reset screen."

Both Alphys and Geno Alphys gaped the most at Geno Sans explanation, while everyone else was somewhat horrified. The latter Alphys's eyes lowered. "That's what you meant by 'who said i was alive?' You're supposed to be dead. But because you injected yourself with DETERMINATION, you refused it. But it wasn't enough to keep your body fully intact when you left the timeline, so you came out as a glitch." She placed her paws over her mouth. "Your physical body is stuck in a state in-between life and death because you left the timeline before you could die. You're not dead, but you're not considered to be existing, either." Both Geno Sans and Geno Alphys looked at each other and their eyes had a silent, simultaneous agreement.

Just like Gaster...

Geno Sans folded his arms and nodded towards Geno Alphys. "alright. you got the gist of my story. now let's hear yours."

Geno Alphys sighed. "Well...my story is much less complicated than yours and a lot less sad."

"But she's a major reason why a majority of this timeline is as it is." Undyne said.

"I guess so. But in a way...so is Chara." Geno narrowed his eye-socket at this, leaning in to listen better. "The only reason I was able to do anything at all is because of Chara erasing the timeline I was in...yet he kept me alive. He wanted company. He was out to infiltrate another timeline, and he used Geno Frisk's soul to timeline hop so he won't use up energy from his own DETERMINATION. Though, I managed to swipe it from him and use it to LOAD to this timeline and make sure there we're no more Genocide Routes. I expected Chara to be dealt with when all of this was over, or he would win again and my efforts would be for nothing. But Asriel and Frisk were DETERMINED to find a third option...and so they did. They SAVED him, when everyone else considered it to be impossible."

"It is true, Geno. Ever since that day, for six years, Chara had been doing much better. Our family is once again whole, with Frisk as an excellent bonus." Asgore smiled, sipping some tea. "Much of the old wounds left behind by a normal True Pacifist Run have been mended. And many advantages have come to pass ever since then."

"does that include how all of your souls are much stronger than they usually are? how did that happen, anyway?"

"Asriel did something to our souls six years ago in order to stand a chance against Chara. Our monster souls have received a considerable boost in power, thus also enhancing our magic abilities." Undyne said. "Being the Angel of Prophecy has something to do with it. Some called it the 'Angel's Blessing'. Something along those lines."

"how was asriel able to...oh. you gave geno frisk's soul to him, didn't you? that makes sense. and somehow those kids were able to persuade the other six human souls to lend him pieces of their power to him so he could defy chara." Geno nodded. "i could tell that asriel's soul wasn't normal. and judging by your surprised looks, it seems i was right about it all. but what really tipped me off..." He turned towards his counterpart. "you won't go down in one hit anymore, will you?"

"the usual rules weren't helping us to a long-term degree anymore. so we had to find loopholes and create miracles." Sans shrugged. "those miracles filled me with genuine hope...and now i've grown stronger from it. we all have."

Geno nodded. "..okay. i think i'm beginning to believe that this timeline is actually looking pretty decent. but...how do you know that it won't just be undone again? what if chara-"

"It is not going to come to that. It will never come to that again." Toriel said sternly. "Chara no longer has a reason to do such a thing. He's happy as he is. And he's been this way for six years. Asriel, Frisk, and Chara want to keep moving forward in this timeline, instead of constantly heading backwards. This is why Asriel destroyed the True Reset option. It was the only threat they had to truly moving onward through time. 'True Reset' is destroyed and 'Erase' has been rendered unusable as a result."

Geno's eye-socket widened at what he was currently being told. It was just such a foreign concept to him. They were all able to defy the fate that's been placed on them in order to make it significantly better. And they actually managed to create miracles due to their success where he had failed. Of course he never doubted that the 'True Reset' and 'Erase' options could be locked out permanently, but he lacked the knowledge and the power to do so. They've gotten rid of the two options that had long-lasting and severe consequences, and were left with the options that were far less harmful.

He still couldn't believe that Chara was able to be pacified. He thought that it was impossible, for the chile has spent far too much time being evil to give others the impression that redemption was possible. Sans read the look of doubt on Geno's face.

"hey. if it means anythin', i didn't really trust chara's shift either. but i had to get used to it ,because he wasn't gonna go anywhere anytime soon. it took a long while, but we were able to settle our differences, and become friends. genuine friends." Sans said. "geno. i can't force you to believe us, but know that we're telling the truth. even the worst person can change and become a good person, if they just try...and no one slams the door in their face. that would be one of the cruelest knock knock jokes ever." He shrugged. "and believe me buddy, i did NOT want to be the guy that ruins all of that progress. tori and asgore would have kicked my tailbone something fierce, and asriel would have done much worse."

"he would have?"

"asriel has his brother back, as well as a new one. trying to separate them so forcefully is NOT a good idea. you're lucky that asriel hates fighting just as much as frisk, but he won't sit around and watch him get hurt either." Sans yawned. "not to mention he's pretty much the most powerful being on the planet. he's learn pretty good self-control, and it takes a lot to try and make him lose it."

So Asriel was holding back during the fight. Of course he was. The monsters wouldn't be very trusted with their magic if they had no self-restraint. That must have been why they waited six years to return to the Surface. He tugged on his scarf and grinned in realization. "six dead children. six more years. hehehe...that makes sense."

Geno Alphys had a lingering question on her mind. "My Geno Frisk sacrificed himself to give Asriel another chance at life and to amend for his wrongdoings as Flowey...you must have had a Geno Frisk that came out as a glitch as well. What happened?"

Geno's eye socket darkened as he tugged on his scarf a bit too harshly. "...some things are better left unsaid, geno alph." That was all Geno would tell them on the matter, and it was going to stick for a while. But Geno Alphys got the basic concept of what happened.

His Geno Frisk was gone.

Even if he didn't fully like Geno Frisk after discovering the truth, the child was still the only constant company he had left. Without that, his sanity became much more unstable. He didn't have the mental willpower to endure being alone in the Void for such an extended period without having his sanity wane.

Geno Alphys gently took hold of his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You must have been so lonely."

"...yeah. i guess ya could say that." He mumbled quietly. He turned his head to look at her. "...how'd ya do it, alph. even after that's happened to you, you choose to keep going on?"

"My Undyne would have wanted me to keep living my life. So that's what I'm doing. I couldn't keep letting my past regrets hold me down." She replied. "Besides...I've always wanted a twin sister. Kinda."

"Hehehe..." Alphys twiddled her thumbs nervously.

Geno looked at Geno Alphys for a bit. He nodded, accepting her reason. "okay. i get that. but i gotta ask something else before we continue. is...is papyrus...like you all? is his soul stronger like to rest of you?"

"Indeed it is. Papyrus has gotten crazy strong ever since then! Thanks to all of us pitching in a little bit for each other." Undyne grinned. Her grin lessened when she realized something. "Well crud. We all began this conversation without Papyrus! This is pretty important. Maybe we should call him and-"

"NO!" Geno suddenly shot up, his eye flash flashing wildly and his magic swarming around him like a cyclone. Everyone was taken aback by the outburst as they tried to keep their positions steady. When Geno realized that Undyne and Sans were getting ready for possible retaliation, he calmed himself down. His eye no longer flashing, he sighed as he sits back down while rubbing his skull. "dammit. i'm...i'm so sorry...i didn't mean to snap like that...i thought i would have more control over myself than that. it's just that...you can only watch the one person who unknowingly gives you the strength to live, die so many times...staying sane gets harder and harder..."

Toriel lowered her eyes as understanding grows. "...You don't want to see Papyrus...nor do you want to be seen by Papyrus...do you?"

Geno closed his eye-socket. "...i'm not ready...not even a little bit..."

Sans' phone began to ring. NYEH HEH HEH! NYEH HEH HEH! NYEH HEH HEH! Papyrus's ring tone. Geno's pinprick in his eye shrunk as he saw the look on Sans' face. "...no."

"yes." Sans tossed the phone to Geno, who clumsily catches it because he wasn't prepared for it. He was about to toss it back, but Undyne grabbed him by the wrist and forced the hand to where his ear would be.

"Oh no you don't! You're gonna answer that damn phone!" She gritted her teeth as she forced his hand to stay even when he struggled to pull it back. Undyne didn't budge. Physical strength between them is as far apart as a canyon.

"back off! i don't wanna do this! lemme g-"

"THIS IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS! SANS? ARE YOU THERE?"

Geno's eye socket went dark. Papyrus...this was Papyrus's voice. He was safe and sound. And overly optimistic as always. He could hear it in his voice. Yet simultaneously, he could sense that the voice were filled with much more maturity than he was used to. Did...did Papyrus grow up a bit?

"...SANS?"

He realized that he didn't answer yet. He coughed a bit and actually began talking. "yeah. i'm here pap...i'm here."

"AH! EXCELLENT! I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT I HAVE GATHERED UP MUCH OF THE GROCIERIES TO FILL OUR FRIDGE AND CABINETS! THE HUMANS WERE KIND ENOUGH TO HELP ME WITH EVERYTHING I NEEDED!"

"heh...that's great, pap. guess monsters and humans are really beginnin' to get along, eh?"

"INDEED! IT WAS A BIT DIFFICULT TO ORGANIZE THEM, BUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS AN EXCELLENT MASTER OF ORGANIZATION! NYEH!"

Geno chuckled. He was actually beginning to feel a bit better, just talking to Papyrus like this. Just hearing his voice was calming his ninth of a soul. He wondered if Sans knew that he would feel like this. "yeah, no one is a better master at organization than you, bro."

"OF COURSE! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus cackled on the other side. "WELL, I BEST BE GOING, BROTHER!"

"y-yeah, sure. i guess i'll catch ya later, brobone."

"...GAH! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WOULD PUN ME WHILE OVER THE PHONE! NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I TELL YOU NOT TO DO THAT! YOU REFUSE! HONESTLY, IT'S WORSE THAN PRANK CALLS!" Geno chuckled. Even hearing Papyrus berate him was making him feel better. "WHATEVER. I AM LEAVING!"

"okay." Geno accepted. "pap...i...love ya, bro. i...i really do."

He could literally hear Papyrus blink. "...OF COURSE I LOVE YOU TOO, BROTHER. ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"nah. i'm alright." Geno said as he wiped a tear beginning to escspe his eye-socket. "i just...wanted to say it, ya know. just letting ya know how i'm feelin', and all of that stuff." It was something he never got to say to his Papyrus. Saying it to at least this Papyrus, feels very good to him.

"WELL, THAT IS VERY NICE OF YOU. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS, HOW YOU SAY, SIGNING OFF! NYEH!"

Click...

Geno handed the phone back to Sans as Undyne let go of his wrist. Geno Alphys gently grabs hold of his hand and gives a gentle squeeze once again. "Are you feeling better now, Geno? Technically you didn't say anything about not wanting to hear his voice."

The glitched skeleton smiled as he gently squeezed back. "yeah...i think i'll be fine. at least for now." They both held each others hands for a little bit. Then their eyes widened as they quickly let go and turned away from each other. Geno sheepishly rubs his neck while Geno Alphys twiddled her thumbs. Asgore raised an eyebrow.

How peculiar...

Sans turned towards Geno Alphys. "hey. you said you had something to tell us about the breaking of the true reset being destroyed. said that you'd explain in deeper and better detail."

"O-Oh! Right!" Geno Alphys blushed as she came to her senses. "The True Reset has been destroyed. Which means that most of the negative consequences of just regularly resetting the timeline have been eradicated. We'll keep our memories, as well as our powerups. And our progress will also remain. If we truly are in need of a big enough Reset, it'll be back at the mountain after the Barrier was broken."

"significantly reduce the negative consequences and increase the positives. you really have stopped applying yourselves to the game rules. you pushed yourselves to defy fate and make it work for you." Geno grinned. "this timeline is proving to be a very resilient and promising one. i like it."

"But that's not all." Geno Alphys said. "Destroying the True Reset did something else. And Geno being here is a rather excellent example of that. He's from a Genocide timeline and yet we locked it out. He's from a different Genocide timeline entirely. Otherwise...an alternate universe."

"...Alternate...Universe...?" Undyne blinked owlishly. "Isn't that a bit...I dunno...?"

"Hard to believe, yes. But it's possible."

"No no. From what I've seen and experienced, I can believe that. What baffles me is...how?"

"It's like I said, Geno Sans is a great example of an alternate universe aside from our own. An alternate universe where he tried to stop Chara's Genocide, when he defied his death and got stuck within the Void. He was able to reach our own universe from the Void. And due to the True Reset being eradicated, it was much easier to do." Geno Alphys nodded. "His alternate universe is surely not the only one. There are many more out there. I don't know what they consist of...but what I can be sure of is that they can consist to being vaguely the same as our own, or being completely unrecognizable."

Toriel smoothed out her robes a little as she takes a bite out of her pie. "Curious. And how drastically does this affect us?"

"This is the Classic Timeline, Classic Universe, or Prime Universe. Otherwise known as the very original. The True Reset was the only thing keeping these alternate universes a respectable distance from ours, because the amount of energy it takes is like a repellant so that nothing ever truly changes. It kept those universe from affecting ours. Think of it as a super large temporal wall. But since that went bye-bye, these alternate universes will be much closer to this one, and that wall has grown weaker. It's why Geno was able to enter the universe so easily."

Asgore strokes his beard sagely. He was lost for a bit, but was also coming to a bit of an understanding. "So...does that mean we have essentially poked a hole through that temporal wall you speak of? Geno slipped through a hole?"

Geno Alphys shook her head. "Not exactly. We didn't punch a hole through the walls. Because the energy built up from True Resets has dissipated, those walls have gotten significantly thinner. Enough to pass through with little danger, but not enough for it to be easy, either. Hopping from timeline to timeline is one thing. Universe to universe is another thing entirely. The way I see it, there are only three ways you could Universe Jump."

"And what might those methods be?" Toriel asked curiously.

"You'd either have to be REALLY powerful, have a device or machine that can handle that kind of space-time travel strain, or..." She gestured to Geno. "...you'd have to be a glitch. And since Geno Sans is two out of three, being powerful and being a glitch, it's very easy for him to Universe Jump by himself. Though I suspect it still takes a bit out of him."

"i hafta admit, even i didn't expect to be able to do this. it goes to show how many rules you all broke to get where you are now with little severe consequences. and now we know it created windows of something interesting." Geno said. "we'll need to research this a bit more before we can be sure it's concrete."

Toriel looked towards Geno Sans. "So...does that mean that you'll be staying in this timeline and universe? Just like Geno Alphys?"

"it's not like i have many other places to go." Geno shrugged. "i was gettin' real tired of being a wanderer in the void, anyway. i could use this breather." He frowned a little. "though...i will have to find a way to keep myself out of papyrus's sight. at least until i'm ready to actually confront him."

"We understand, Geno. We know now how much pain you were forced to endure." Asgore nodded. "Maybe we can arrange something for you."

"i appreciate that." Geno nodded.

"Oh Golly, the tea is getting a bit cold. I'll go reheat it." Asgore said as he takes the pot of tea and returns to the kitchen to do so.

Meanwhile, Geno tugged on his scarf as he thought about something else. When he grabbed Red's soul when they fought, he sensed something off about it. When he thinks back, he knows exactly what it was now. He was certain that everyone else was currently unaware of this, and he was sure that even Red didn't know, or didn't remember. But he was very much aware.

when and how did that pup absorb a human soul...?

(Upstairs)

Red was sitting on the floor across from the three Dreemurr siblings. In her lap, was the bowl of Cinnamon Bunnies that she was eagerly eating. Asriel was the same way, occassionally taking a couple Cinnamon Bunnies and eating them with his slices of Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie. Frisk was also enjoying his slices of Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie. Chara was simply nibbling his Chocolate Bar, not really caring if it smears on his face a bit. They were going to be revealing quite a few heavily important details about themselves to Red. She's seen the alternate Sans, and he said many things about them that would definitely bring about a few trust issues. He wanted to clear things up between them before they could become something intensely problematic.

Flowey was sitting in his pot in the corner, rolling his eyes st the trio. "Are you three just gonna sit there and indulge in your snacks, or are you gonna actuslly speak to one another?! This silence is boring me!"

"Did any of you ever notice that your flower is a total brat?" Red said without turning her head. Her statement left the golden flower fuming, while it made Chara chuckle in agreement.

"Flowey is family too. We try our best to get along with him. He really isn't as bad as he seems...most of the time." Frisk smiled sheepishly. "He can't hide the fact that he's a much happier flower than he used to be~"

"I'm not a happy flower! Right now you're just ticking me off!"

"That's kind of the point." Chara chuckled mockingly, earning another heated glare from the golden flower.

Red nibbled on her Cinnamon Bunny, finishing one and licking crumbs off of her muzzle. "Alright. We have stuff to talk about, and it involves you three, right? That other Sans said wuite a lot of nasty things about you three, and you weren't exactly denying them. So whatever you have to say to me about that, just get it over with so we won't have issues about it later on." She picked up another Cinnamon Bunny. "I have my snacks. I enjoy my snacks. They're gonna fill my belly, as you three explain to me what's going on."

Frisk rubbed his shoulder. "We know. We do want to tell you the truth about the three of us. It's just...we're a bit afraid of how you'll react to us..."

"We were gonna have to tell her eventually, anyway. You and Asriel's lying skills are an embarassment. And eventually I'm gonna start feelin' bad due to how hard you two struggle to try and keep a deep secret without lying." Chara folded his arms. "You can't keep quiet forever. Believe me, even Sans can't hold that poker face every day." He nodded towards Asriel. "Let's get this over with. Azzy, you and I are going first."

Asriel nodded hesitantly. "Okay, here goes." Asriel swallow the pie still in his mouth and turns to Red, setting his plate down. "Red...you remember how you observed that Mom and Dad are centuries old and yet they haven't aged a day since you last saw them in your time period?"

Red nodded slowly. "Yeah?"

"There's a reason for that." Asriel sighed. "Boss Monsters age with their children. Something bad happened. Me and Chara had a plan to break the Barrier sooner...but I couldn't go through with it. And it cost both me and Chara, as well as the monsters of the Underground, nearly everything..." He looked Red in the eyes. "Me and Chara have been dead for centuries, Red. It's only been recently thst the both of us have been revived and better than ever. But before that, I was dead. So for all of those years, Mom and Dad didn't age. They began aging again once I came back to life. They're actually a bit relieved about it."

"Longevity, they can handle. Immortality? Not their style." Chara shrugged.

Red had to pause mid-bite in order to process this information properly. She swallowed the rest of the Cinnamon Bunny in her mouth and once again licks crumbs off. "Okay, now if you first told me THAT when we first met, I wouldn't have believed you. But considering that I was stuck in a glowing red orb for about a majority of that time, I'll have to accept that what you said isn't totally far'fetched. Besides, we just begun recovering from am attack by your friend from some other timeline thing or whatever, Sans." She lightly scratched behind her ear. "The future is weird. A lotta weird stuff is happening so quickly, and I'm not able to keep up with most of it."

"That's the future for ya." Chara shrugged. "Anyway, let's just say that after that, things kinda got worse for EVERYBODY. And I do mean, soooooo much worse. I mean, many magnitudes worse."

Red tilted her head. "What type of worse are we talking, here?"

Frisk raised his hand. "For those details, we'll have to fast forward a couple centuries. To when I finally fell into the Underground. Things got even more chaotic when I came along. Be it a good chaos or bad chaos...that depended on me. And I haven't always made the best of choices." He tapped his chin a couple times, then rubbed his neck. "Asriel. Chara. This isn't something we can merely tell her and expect her to believe. We'll have to show her."

"You're right, Frisk."

The canine blinked in surpise as Asriel pulled his soul out of his chest and held it in front of him. She leaned in towards it with her eyes gently reflecting the light of the rainbow colored soul. "Woah...I don't think I've ever seen the color of your soul, Asriel. At least not until now. It's so broghr and vibrant..."

Asriel nodded. "I warn you, Red. My rainbow soul holds a lot of memories. Both Good and Bad. Amazing and Terrible. Miraculous and Tragic. I won't blame you if you stop being friends with us after you finish viewing them. I just ask you to trust that these memories are real. No one can forge memories directly from their souls. Touch it when you're ready to see them."

Red was a bit unnerved by how serious Asriel looked and sounded when he was saying this. The multi-colored soul pulsed softly before her as she could sense how powerful it was, yet also being very gentle and warm. After a moment of consideration, she reached her paw out and lightly touched the soul...

Her eyes glowed white and her expression was blank, though on the inside she was going through a plethora of different emotions. She was seeing it all. The tragic events leading to Asriel and Chara's first deaths. Asriel's constant torment being soulless ane losing all positive emotions when Flowey was a vessel for his consciousness. Frisk first falling into the Underground. Him either going through the Pacifist or Genocide Routes all the way to the end, and what Chara had to do with either of them. Then they decided enough was enough, and decided to play by their own rules and choose their own fate. And choosing their own fate allowed both Asriel and Chara to be saved alongside everyone else. The only major sacrifice was their version of Geno Frisk. Gave up his soul to save Asriel, and gave up his body for Chara to possess. Chara's body used to be Geno Frisk's. Even when he had no reason to, he was still sort of acting for Chara's happiness as well as everyone else's. She recalled what Chara had told her:

NO ONE has suffered more than Frisk and Asriel.

Red pulled her paw back, and Asriel's soul returned to his body, phasing back into his chest. The look on Red's face being unreadable, he sighed. "Red...I can't expect you to keep being friends with us after seeing a majority of what we've done. We've helped, but we've also made people suffer. We're still trying our best to make up for it, even after so long. I-"

"Asriel. Remember what I said when that other Sans was fighting us?" Red interrupted him, making him quiet down. "No matter what seriously bad things you've done in the past, what I'm focusing on is how you managed to get past it and become better people. Besides, holding grudges tends to mess with your saniy." Chara's eyes lowered at this, but he nodded. Red then turned and hugged all three of the boys, closing her eyes. "Becoming friends with you three was MY choice, and mine alone. I won't be taking it back over something that happened when I wasn't even here." She pulled back, and turned to Chara. "Though I'm not gonna lie, I'm now tempted to kick your butt for giving these two a hard time."

"Yeah, I kinda saw that coming." Chara shrugged carelessly.

Asriel smiled as he reached out and placed his paw on Red's pink hair, patting down and petting her head. "Thank you, Red." She blinked in surprise, but she didn't stop him. Far from it, she gently nuzzled into the paw, her eyes sliding closed a little.

Frisk smiled. "You really like being pet, Red?"

She immediately reopened her eyes and lightly raised her head to glare at Frisk. "N-No! I don't like it THAT much!"

"I somehow believe differently." Chara chuckled as he pointed behind her. Red was shocked to see that her her tail was wagging rapidly behind her as a positive reaction to the attention she was getting, which would serve to betray her denial.

Red blushed angrily as she made a grab for the tail, missing it. She growled. "Grrrrr...stupid fluffy tail! You're embarassing me! Bark bark! Arf Arf!" The boys were then treated to the highly amusing display of Red trying to catch her own tail while barking furiously at it. They each laughed heartily at this, knowing that the deep subject was behind them, the tension was gone, and they could now breathe. Red gave up after a while, sitting back down and pouting. "Not a word from any of you. Or I'm kicking ALL of your tails."

"Hate to be technical when you're trying to be serious...but the only ones with tails here is you and Asriel." Chara pointed out mockingly.

"You know what I meant!"

"I'm not totally sure I-OW!" Red punched him hard in the shoulder, making him recoil heavily. "Alright alright, I get it!"

"You'd better." Red huffed as she returned to her bowl of Cinnamon Bunnies, intent on eating the rest of them. Asriel shrugged as he and Frisk focused on eating their slices of pie, while Chara focused intensely on his bar of chocolate.

After a while, they lie on their backs, their snacks completely gone and eaten by them. Asriel, Frisk, and Red's faces had crumbs from their cinnamon related treats, while Chara licked the leftover chocolate from his lips. "So just for clarification...are we good, Red?"

She nodded. "Yeah. We're good."

They relaxed on the floor, enjoying the peace for a bit. Then it was broken when Asriel suddenly released an adorable burp. He blushed and covered his muzzle. Chara shook his head. "And here i thought you'd know your manners around a lady around your age, Azzy-"

All three of the boys were cut off by a much louder belch that shocked them out of the banter they would have started. They all turned to Red, who was licking her muzzle clear of any leftover crumbs. Asriel and Chara were the most shocked, while Frisk was just caught off-guard. She blinked owlishly.

"...What?"

Chara tilted his head. "Huh. It would seem that Rude Baby Red isn't as ladylike as she appears."

"Now when you say that...are you using Muffet as a reference because she just so happens to act a lot that way?" The smirk disappeared from Chara's face as Red chuckled softly with victory.

...the spider with glowing purple eyes viewed the entire scene from the other side of the window. It saw what happened both upstairs and downstairs. It's mission now complete, it's eyes stopped glowing, and calmly crawls away.

(Muffet's Residence)

Muffet's eyes stopped glowing purple at the exact same time as the spider she sent on recon. Any spider she chooses could be her eyes and ears, and she chose to have them watch Chara. Something told her that he was in trouble, so she wanted to have a spider check on him to see if he was alright. Though she ended up discovering much more than she expected.

"So...that's how it is." Muffet said softly as she gently pets a spider with her middle pair of hands. "There's much more to Chara Dearie and his family than they allowed me to witness...and he wasn't comfortable enough to tell little ol' me." She pouted at this. "Though I suppose I can't blame him. That kind of information is pretty unbelievable, to say the least." One of her spiders crawled onto her shoulder and she listens to it. "Am I going to confront him about this? No, of course not." She turned her head towards a picture of herself and Chara enjoying tea together, picking it up with her lower right hand. After examining it and seeing the happy smile on his face, she grew her own smile of acceptance.

I won't push you, Chara Dearie. You can tell me when you're ready...


The Prologue Arc Ends...

Flowey: Plot...so much confusing plot is beginning to form...

Me: Yes. So much is happening, and is much more going to happen. It'll be a blast...maybe.

Chara: This is only the beginning. There is still much to learn.

Frisk: Our struggles are just beginning. Will we be ready to rise up to the challenges ahead?

Asriel: This is us confronting The New Frontier. We'll be ready for it, together. The three of us, as well as everyone else can handle it. We'll stay DETERMINED.

Chara: Oh, you sneaked the title in. You must feel sooooo cool right now.

Asriel: *Blush* So what if I do...?

Me: Until our next chapter, fellow readers.