Reaper swung his scythe and cut through the fabric of the universe, opening a portal to another AU. He had to duck to fit through because he was unusually taller than normal.
"Daddy! I do!" Goth shouted angrily from his position on Reaper's back. He was gripping Reaper's ribs with his legs tight enough to hurt, but Reaper didn't care. It just felt good to be touching him.
Reaper so rarely was able to touch another monster. He could touch the other gods, but most of them weren't speaking to him. They were furious after what he had done to Life. Nevermind that she had been dead and bringing her to the Land of the Dead was the only way to bring her back. They were sure it had been his hand that had killed her. It hadn't, and as soon as Reaper found that damned Chaos then he could prove it. In the meantime he was almost alone except for his brother and Goth. He thanked Life every day for helping Geno and him bring their little light into the world. Why wouldn't he? Goth was wonderful.
"i know you can, but remember how big your portals are? you and i together wouldn't fit through. how about you open up a portal and come home by yourself? does that sound good?" Reaper tried to reason with him.
"Hmph!" Goth said, pouting. Reaper could just hear it in his voice. Oh well. He'd settle Goth down for a nap once they got back.
"HO! STRANGERS! HALT YOUR PROGRESS OR FACE THE WROTH OF THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!" A familiar voice called out. Reaper looked up and smiled. Standing about 20 feet away was the tall and sharply-dressed figure of Edge, the Papyrus of Underfell and one of Geno's adopted brothers.
Geno called back, half giggling, in his traditional response. "The God of Death stops for no monster! Bow before him or die!"
Reaper frowned when Edge didn't respond as he usually did. He usually shouted, with a twinkle in his eye, "THE GOD OF DEATH IS, OF COURSE, HONORED HERE!" and then bowed. Instead he screeched, "I RECOGNISE NO GOD OF DEATH, FOR I REFUSE TO DIE! FIGHT ME OR PERISH!"
Goth's little hands clutched at Reaper's hood. Reaper, completely silently, reached up and lifted Goth down to the ground. He knelt and said, "hey, goth. uncle edge and i need to have a private chat. can you show off how good you are at portals and head home? i'll come and get you."
Goth nodded and scurried off behind a tree- or, at least, he tried to. He squeaked as blue magic pinned him down to the ground. Reaper spun and glared at Edge, absolutely furious. "don't you know better than to harm a child? let him go or face me for real, papyrus. and rest assured that i do not play around with those who threaten my family."
Edge flushed and dropped his hand, hiding it behind his back. A gasp of air from Goth told Reaper that he had been released. He waited until he heard the sound of Goth's portal closing behind him before he sighed.
"I RELEASED HIM AS YOU ASKED ME, STRANGER. NOW TELL ME WHY YOU DARE COME INTO MY TERRITORY!"
Reaper sighed. "you have no memory of me, do you? do you remember your brother, geno?"
Edge growled at him. "I HAVE ONLY ONE BROTHER, AND HIS NAME IS RED. GET OUT OF MY TERRITORY BEFORE I KILL YOU FOR WHATEVER PALTRY EXP YOU BRING ME."
Reaper bowed to him, backing up slowly and never taking his eyes off Edge. "i'll just take my leave, then. try not to need me to come here too soon, brother-in-law. you may not know me, but i certainly know you, and i will not hesitate to reap you when your time comes. tell your brother i said hi~"
He hastily backed through a portal into their home before Edge's angry squak could become an attack. He couldn't help the wicked smile that played across his face. He loved making Edge squak, and if their world really did Reset, as he now suspected, then it would be a long time before he could do it again. Their world was supposed to be locked. It did not speak well to Geno's health that his lock had failed. Reaper quickly put that thought out of his head. Geno was fine. Fine! He was just… missing.
The thought of how long it had been was knocked from him as little Goth barreled into his legs. Reaper knelt down and smiled at his son. It quickly faded in the face of Goth's expression. "hey, gothy. why the long face?"
Big, soggy tears dripped down Goth's face. He tried to wipe them away, but they just kept coming. "Why did Uncle Edge not say the right thing? Why did he make me blue? We weren't training. He only does that in training. Did I do something wrong to make him mad? Do I need to apologize?"
Reaper shook his head sadly. "no, goth, this isn't your fault. something happened in their world that made him forget about us. you've heard mommy and i talking about the resets, right?"
Goth nodded and sniffed. "Yeah, but I don't know what they are. It didn't make any sense."
Reaper pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to his son. It was huge in Goth's small hands and soaked up the tears really well. "it doesn't make a lot of sense when you know what it is, either. they're a very not-good thing. you know uncle fresh's video games?" Reaper asked.
Goth nodded. Reaper felt relieved. Resets were so much harder to explain without that analogy available to you.
"well, have you ever reset one of those games?" His son only looked confused. Reaper sighed. There went the easiest explanation. "okay. so, imagine you're playing one of those games. you're having a good time with the easy parts, but then it gets harder. you remember how much fun those easy parts were, right? but you can't just walk back to those areas and have it be the same, can you?" Goth nodded slowly. "so, you could go on to play new parts and hope they'll be easier and more fun, or you could reset the game. a reset is like… making the game forget that you've already played it. you can go back to the very beginning and play the game like it's brand new. does that make sense?"
Goth's brow furrowed. "But what does that have to do with Uncle Edge? He's not in a video game."
Reaper chuckled darkly. "he… kind of is, goth. all the different universes we visit with our portals are like their own video games, and almost all of them can be reset by certain people. it happens more in some worlds than others. it's been a really long time since uncle edge's and uncle red's world reset, but that's what happened. uncle edge doesn't remember anything when there's a reset, because he meets us during the game. once he meets us again we can go visit him, okay goth? just… not yet."
"What about Uncle Red?" Goth asked quickly, "Will he remember us?"
Reaper smiled at his son,hoping this little bit of news would cheer him up. "he will. it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't show up in a bit to hang out with you, once uncle edge tells him about us. you can ask him to play a game with you, okay goth?"
Goth didn't look super excited about that idea. "But what about training with Uncle Edge? He promised me he was going to teach me how to turn someone blue next session!"
"and he will!" Reaper promised his son, "it's just going to be a while before that next session. okay? in the meantime, do you think you can draw uncle edge a bunch of pictures? imagine you're telling him the story of how you met! that way you can catch him up on you and your life!"
This idea got Goth more excited. He loved to draw people pictures at the moment. Reaper thought it might be because of his friend, Palette. Goth really wanted to impress him for some reason. It was cute! Sometimes Reaper wondered about what Goth felt about Palette, but Goth seemed to want to keep that a secret. Reaper could respect that. It was a harmless secret for the little one to keep from him, so he would let Goth keep it.
Reaper watched his son pull out the crayons and the construction paper and sighed. He needed a little time to himself. Hopefully Red wouldn't turn up while he was gone.
Only once he had retreated to their bedroom and closed the door did Reaper let himself cry. Big, soggy blue tears bubbled up from his eye sockets and slid down his face. He tried to stay quiet; he didn't want to worry Goth. It was damn near impossible, though. He was devastated. How could Geno's lock fail? He'd helped him set it. Underfell #13 should never have Reset ever again. Geno had promised Red it wouldn't. What did it mean that his promise had been broken? Was he…
No. He wouldn't think like that. He couldn't think like that. He just had to keep searching. Without Goth. He couldn't survive seeing his little Gothy hurt like this again. He just couldn't.
Footsteps echoed in the booming silence that was the Anti-Void. If he was going to be trapped here, it might as well have a name; at least, that's what Geno thought. He was pacing back and forth in the endless expanse of white, full of nervous energy and tears.
Then the barest whisper of a voice from behind him had Geno spinning around. Wild hope fluttered in his chest like a newborn butterfly. Then confusion replaced it. There was nothing there. There was no one there. But he could have sworn that there had been a voice. It had sounded so…
Hey. Hey! Hey, you!
Geno spun again, certain that someone else must have fallen victim to the Anti-Void. There was nothing.
Wait, he can hear us?
Geno slapped himself none-too-gently to try and wake himself up out of his hallucination. It had to be that, right?
Geno, hi! You can hear us now, right? Say something to prove it, please?
He hugged himself tightly. He was finally going crazy! Great! Now he was going to have to go on medicine and do therapy all over again. Absolutely wonderful. Not.
Reaper and Goth are crying, Geno.
He froze. His soulmate and their son were crying? No! They needed to be happy! They shouldn't cry. Not now, not when he couldn't be there to comfort them. That was awful!
Geno pulled out his picture and traced the images of little Gothy and Reaper with his other hand. The tears were spilling out now once again. He had no idea how he was still making them. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink in days.
"i promise i'll come back to you, goth, reaper. no matter what happens i'll see you again."
