oh hey here we go chapter 94


A cry in the night cracked a world of gleaming red in half, colour streaking as if poured from jagged fragments of a shattered hourglass. With a sharp exhale, Sans's eyes snapped open, endless dark stretched before him. He smashed the heel of his hand into his brow and let out a rough curse as the bones of his chest ached. It was another three seconds before he realized it was his brother's voice that had roused him.

.

The skeleton lurched upright and was greeted by shards of time— ancient phantoms passing between trees that weren't there; shadows of old warriors disrupting the darkness. Papyrus, just off to the side, stared out at the incongruous forms, one hand clamped over his mouth while the other clutched tight to the massive, white dog.

.

The tall skeleton's eyes darted over and he relaxed a little, returning his grip fully to the dog and shooting his brother a bashful grin. "Sorry, Sans," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to wake you up, but I got a liiiitle bit startled by…" He gestured out at the woods. "You can see that, right?"

"Yeah." Sans rubbed his heavy eyes— he could still see red when he blinked. "Don't sweat it. You're good, 'cept if you line up with yourself like I did."

"Riiiight, right, that makes sense." Papyrus shook his head. "Who do you think they are?"

Sans squinted into the darkness. Some of the time shards were a little lighter than the night, but not by much, and many of them had already started to flicker out.

"Uh. Soldiers, maybe?

"Do you think they fought us?"

"No way to know." He sat back a little, carefully scooting his leg out from under the giant dog. "Anythin' else shift?"

"Nnnnot that I saw. That mysterious orb I have did a little buzzing around the same time. I think this might've been connected to that?" Papyrus tilted his head towards the mountain. "Nothing from there, though. Whatever our sister did really looks like it worked."

"Hm." Sans had to shove down the pang in his soul to keep it from being plainly audible. "Sure hope so. At least until we gotta mess with it."

.

Papyrus cocked his head to the side. "What?"

"What what?" Sans repeated.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nah." He caught his brother starting to pout indignantly and smiled, turning his attention pointedly on the dog. "How's she doin'?"

"Sheeeee's… Weellllll… She's still pretty low, if I'm being honest," Papyrus said. "But I'm confident that as long as I…" He stalled as the shards of time flickered away, leaving only a few hovering above them like over-large stars in the night sky. "As long as I stay here until the sun comes back, she'll start to recover properly."

Sans nodded. "I, uh, didn't mean to pass out so quick."

Papyrus scoffed. "I know, but it was pretty much inevitable the minute you sat down with a big fluffy dog. Don't worry about it, because everything is just fine."

"Uh. But don't y'need, like… a break or somethin'?" Sans's brow furrowed. "When's the last time you slept?"

"Sleep is for the tired! Which I am not. Seriously, Sans, stop worrying so much!"

"Dude. You shot the top off a mountain and had a soul blast out your ribs today," Sans said with a lopsided grin. "And you've been healin' this pooch for how long?"

"Sans. I'm fine. And technically, that was yesterday," Papyrus insisted. "Really! I feel great! Completely awake!" He widened his eyes. "Don't I look completely awake?"

.

Sans raised a brow skeptically. "Could I…? Uh." He looked at his hands. No, he thought, even if he could heal by way of Undyne's magic, there was no way it carried that spark of sunshine like Papyrus's did. "Could I at least grab ya a snack or somethin'?"

"Get yourself one. You definitely need it. Don't forget! I'm not the only one who did ridiculous things yesterday, but of the two of us, I'm the only one whose health isn't consistently draining! So, you're not out of the woods yet!" He raised his brows as his brother's grin widened a little; Papyrus shone with a self-satisfied smile. "You can bring me some tea on your way back."

"Right. Uh." Sans rubbed the back of his skull. He got to his feet and stretched out his spine until it popped. "Need anythin' else?"

"Welllll… You could check in on Suzy. She ate some moss," he said. "Oh! And check in on dad? He was so stressed all day. And maybe Alphys, too! And mom! And then maybe the King, and—!"

"Alright, alright," Sans said with a chuckle. "Gotcha. Might take a bit."

"Take as long as you want, honestly!" Papyrus called after him as he began to stroll away. "I'll still be right here!"

.

Sans stuck his hand up as a see-you-later and strolled off down the ridge and made his way to the trees. Wandering in the dark, with the wind brushing by was pretty relaxing, but he was still seeing red in the back of his mind; still feeling some strange off-rhythm in his soul, and wondering why exactly it was—

.

He stalled, his slippers scuffing in the dirt, and he bonked himself in the forehead with the heel of his hand. "Idiot," he grunted.

It'd been his kid again. She'd connected, but he hadn't been able to reciprocate. Must've been that, he thought, or else there was no way he wouldn't recall what'd happened and still have that red imbedded in his psyche.

.

Cursing himself out in his head, he thumped his back against the nearest tree and pulled out his phone, scouring his stored items for the nodes that helped with amplifying dreams. He didn't have them, and he couldn't quite recall who did. He rubbed his forehead and strained to remember if he and the kid had discussed anything, but he could still only recall the red.

.

Puffing out a little sigh, he took the moment to check his texts as well, which had piled up into a stack of alerts that didn't quite make sense. There were duplicate numbers, some in Creatlach; others that were glitched out beyond being legible. He scoffed quietly. There were messages from Mettaton, Alphys, Asgore, Bratty the alligator, Grillby, Undyne… A few duplicates of Undyne's number, actually.

.

Sans winced. His thumb hovered over one of the messages and he reluctantly tapped it.

.

HEY IDIOT, WELCOME BACK! GUESS YOU WERE BONE TIRED HUH? LMAO

.

She'd followed that with a bunch of emojis of skulls and a photo of Sans from a while back, facedown on the couch. He couldn't help a little grin and a snort of a laugh.

.

I know you don't check your messages that much so i KNOW you're gonna get this after the letter unless paps forgets to hand it over

scratch that, as if he'd ever forget LMAO

ok so you're still under STRICT orders to not be a moron, GOT IT?! IF YOU ARE GUILT TRIPPING YOURSELF YOU ARE TO CEASE AND DESIST

i'm still your boss in this timeline right? so you better listen! LMAO

ANYWAY

you gotta save the world, right? that's kinda a lot

but somehow i know you can do it

i feel like you probably did it before, so it should be no sweat

take care of alphys for me too while i'm nappin or I'M GONNA KIKC YOUR ASS

GOOD LUCK YOU DUMB PUNK, I KNOW YOU GOT THIS! DON'T MAKE ME THROW YOU OUT A WINDOW LMAO

.

Sans let out a little breath of relief and cracked a tired smile.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled. No matter what she said, he hoped what she'd done to him didn't end up screwing her over later.

.

He headed on his way again, looking through what else he'd been sent, figuring he'd keep up the momentum while he had any energy at all to bother with it. There was a lot of stuff that he simply sent to the trash, but a few things deserved at least a look. New menu from new Grillby's from over a week ago. Mettaton reminding him to check the mailbox back home for a hard drive. Delete. Bratty asking if Papyrus was okay— he replied with a thumbs up. Alphys checking in, though it was old— he replied with a thumbs up. Some photos of photos from Asgore, mostly too blurry to see properly, but a few that were clearly pictures of Gaster from an album somewhere— he replied with a thumbs up. A few strange messages in other languages Sans couldn't read with dates ranging from the future to a couple years back. Delete. Some spam texts about great savings on a cungadero, whatever that was. Delete. Nothing else was of any substance.

.

As he cleared out the numbers that were duplicates and the ones written in gibberish, the most incomprehensible of them all wouldn't budge when tapped. The only message in there was a text heart. He vaguely recalled seeing it before. With a quizzical frown on his face, he replied with a question mark. It didn't send. The number didn't exist.

.

He lagged into a full stop again. He smooshed his thumb against the screen and it bugged out a little as he tried to scroll around. He tried to back out of the thread but it took a few tries and glitched half his screen black. A burst of headache knocked against the insides of his eye sockets. Sideways, in dark grey; muddled with the chunks of his screen and missing parts in gibberish, were three text hearts and the words: see you at home later? you can tell me all about it!

.

Sans stared at it for a moment before rushing to access the weird message again. Though it opened, the screen was still completely bugged out.

kiddo? he typed in. He had to hit send a half dozen times before his message attempted to leave.

The number didn't exist.

u gettin any of this?

Still, it didn't exist.

.

He checked the other number he'd been texting her at. Despite the screen being a glitchy mess, it was exactly the same as he'd left it. He tried once more.

did u try 2 dream at me?

The result was the same.

.

Sans flinched. Those glitched words were from his sister, way back from when he'd discovered their father in the CORE. That felt like a million years ago. Heartache struck him and he took a quiet, deep breath to steady his soul and summed cold to his fingertips to press against his temple. She was fine, he told himself. Better off than he was, anyway. As long as she and Asriel were together, it'd all be fine. They were getting close.

.

He wondered what had changed. The kid coming back for a while as Ghost, or…? He shook his head and stashed the phone away again. If he couldn't use it to contact her or Asriel, there wasn't a point in getting stuck on it.

.

Smouldering dots of light lurked in the dark forest, each one marking a spot where monsters camped. Sans continued onwards in the shadows, strolling by the quiet gatherings and dozing citizens of the underground. He came upon one of campfires cast in a ghostly blue flame. Filtering the light through his translucent body, Napstablook bobbed around, chatting softly with Mettaton, who was sitting on a rhinestoned stool and had a regular number of legs. The ghost matched Sans's gaze and smiled to greet him. Sans stuck a hand up but, as Mettaton turned to follow his cousin's gaze, the skeleton noped out and slipped away as quickly as he could before the metallic monster could jump him and demand a favour or some Papyrus-related film agreements.

.

Deeper into the woods, the soft hum of conversation guided Sans to the next group of monsters. In the centre of a ring of tents, another campfire burned, but this one was surrounded with logs to serve as benches and roasting sausages skewered on sticks. A few denizens of Snowdin were sitting around in the warm glow, snacking and chatting, while many others slumbered under shelters made from pine boughs. The amalgam that went by Mrs. Snowdrake was singing softly as she sat by her dozing son, while Mr. Snowdrake was just a little ways off, chilling the snowman from the edge of town who had been relocated via toboggan.

.

Most notable to Sans was Grillby, standing just a little ways off with two other flame elementals: his daughter and Flambé. Sans wondered if that was some kind of paradox. Had to be. He was about to move on before Grillby surreptitiously caught his eye and gestured to the golden elemental. Sans shrugged and his friend subtly beckoned to him.

.

The skeleton cracked a sideways smile and moved in to join them. Almost as soon as he entered the light, the small crowd at the fire welcomed him excitedly— it was most of the group that usually hung out at Grillby's when things were normal, minus the dogs. There were a few faces from New Home that he didn't know quite as well— possibly the out-of-time-and-space crowd— but they greeted him like an old pal, so he responded in kind. He was battered with questions: where had he been, what was going on with him, how was the family; did he have any insight into what was going on? He kept it cheery and vague, but excused himself quickly when he caught that Grillby was still staring at him.

.

The flame man put a warm hand on Sans's shoulder and pulled him to the side, sheltering them behind the closest tree. His brows raised high. The skeleton's eyes darted back towards Flambé and he grinned.

"What makes y'think I know anythin'?"

Grillby folded his arms. Sans chuckled quietly.

"Kay, but only if you're ready to hear somethin' crazy."

The elemental nodded.

"You sure?"

Grillby didn't budge.

"Welp. You asked for it." Sans shot him a lopsided grin. "I got this sister who's a time god. Pretty lucky. You'd like 'er. Basically, I got sick with a weird void flu or some crap and she and my little bro who's a goat— you'd like him, too, by the way— jumped off the world to stop me from bitin' the dust 'cause, uh, that's how that works, I guess. Problem is, they got stuck out there and it threw everything off and nobody remembers 'em. So, 'cause an angry ghost lost it and screwed up the world a little while back, without my sis, everything starts fallin' apart and a bunch of different times start, like, mashin' all together."

Grillby simply stared at him. He readjusted his glasses. "…Huh."

"Told ya," Sans said with a wink.

.

The flame elemental stood silently for a while. He looked back around the tree at his daughter and his out-of-sync niece, who seemed to be having a good chat despite the palpable confusion.

"S'okay if y'don't buy it," Sans said.

"Hm." Grillby crossed his arms. "It… fits. Flambé should be younger. Nina should be older."

"You're ahead, then," Sans said. "Think your kid's about right."

"…Ah." His gaze darted back towards the skeleton and his brow furrowed lightly. "…So. You are sick."

"Oh. Uh. Yup."

"I knew…" He shook his head. "It had to be something. How bad?"

"Oh. Y'know." Sans shrugged. "Dyin'. Nearly died twice already this week." He let his soul glow a little, projecting its altered energy out for his friend to feel. "I'm only up 'cause Undyne gave me… everything."

.

Grillby flinched. He reached out and, when Sans nodded, he brushed his fingertips through the blue light. The flame dipped to a darker red down to his knuckles and he pulled back with a shudder. He took the skeleton by the shoulder and hurried him over to the closest log and lightly pushed him to sit down on it. Whisking one of the roasting sausages from a stick, he had it in a toasted bun with just a wave of his hand. He made Sans take it and then pulled a gleaming, fancy bottle of purple elixir from his pocket and put it down on the bench.

"Uh. You sure?" Sans asked.

Grillby raised his brows.

"…Heh. Thanks." He lifted the elixir as if in a toast. "Put it on my tab, yeah?"

The flame elemental's face crinkled with a smile. He gestured off into the darkness and Sans chuckled.

"Hey, I ain't gonna wine about a deal like that," he said. "Thanks."

Grillby nodded. He bent and patted the skeleton on the back. "…Take care of yourself, Sans," he whispered before slipping off to join his family again.

.

Sans took his example, scarfing down the roasted water sausage in some decent company before heading on his way in search of Toriel.

.

The other pockets of monsters in the night were quiet. Most were resting. Some were in the treetops, stargazing. More still lingered on the mountain path in tents and little shelters, but the lights were dim. Some of the time shards, dotting the air with flecks of daylight or heavy downpour, showed a proper path carved out up the mountain, lined with railings and sculptures. It also showed chunks of it broken and aflame, from some other era.

.

Despite everything, that aspect of time collapsing was pretty interesting to Sans when it wasn't making seeing straight a pain. If things hadn't been so dire, he would have liked to take a while to observe some of them properly. He wasn't sure that they'd be very helpful in any way— there was no way to tell if some of them were past, future, or completely alternate versions of either, or even some other present— but they still piqued his curiosity. Shame it was mostly in his head, though, so it wasn't as if he could take pictures to search through later.

.

Sans found Toriel within a larger-than-average camp circle close to the base of the mountain path, sitting hunched before a fire of her own making and scribbling furiously into a notepad. He slid up silently to join her and watched for a moment before he scuffed the toe of his slipper into the grass to let her know he was there. Her ears twitched and she twisted around, eyes wide. Her face had an unusual darkness to it, as if she hadn't slept in weeks.

"Sans!" She almost got up, but he stepped in close enough for her to reach him and she pulled him into her arms without hesitation. "Oh, my boy, how are you?"

"I'm good," he croaked. "You?"

"I am…" She heaved out a sigh and rested her snout on his shoulder. "I am… heartbroken? Perturbed? Elated?"

"Yeesh. Havin' a time, huh?"

"It's… Hah. It has been a long night."

.

Toriel released him, gently sitting him down beside her. She scraped her palm beneath her eyes as if to wipe away sleep and shook her head. He offered her the bottle of wine and she raised her brows and accepted it carefully.

"Where on earth did you get this out here?"

"Grillby," he said. "Said I could have it for free as long as I shared it with you." He winked. "Couldn't pass it up."

"You have not even opened it," she said as she turned it over in her hands. "…Are we to drink this straight from the bottle?"

"Go ahead," Sans said.

A hoarse laugh tumbled from Toriel's mouth. She ran her hand through the fur on her brow, then popped the top off the bottle with the claw on her thumb and passed it back to him. "You first. You still need it more than I do."

.

Sans took a short swig— felt a tingle of warmth and energy pass through his bones and sturdy them along with the sweet, tangy elixir. He handed it back to Toriel and she almost downed half of it in one go. The skeleton chuckled.

"What happened?"

"If it were anyone but you asking, I would say: you would not believe it." She turned her gaze to the flame and let out a soft sigh. "Makena returned home."

"He… Wait, what?" Sans said.

"He passed through the world to… somewhere else, at least once before," she said. "Up on the mountaintop. But, he returned. In the woods, somehow, he… He slipped back. To his time. To his parents. They had been searching for him."

"…Huh." Sans frowned. "But, uh… The barrier thing, that still—"

"It is… fine. But it is different. Asgore felt his memory shift," Toriel said.

"He was there?" Sans's brows shot up. "Shit."

"Oh, yes, the poor man was a wreck," she said. "He told me that Mak… still returned to us, you see? When he was… elderly and infirm. He lived out his final days in Asgore's home, and then…" She sighed. "Then things progressed exactly as they had before."

"And this is our timeline we're talkin' about?" Sans said.

"Yes. I believe so," Toriel said. She handed over her notebook. "I recorded all that I could in more detail, if you would like to read it."

"I, uh… Yeah. Yeah, I… Damn, okay."

.

Sans took a moment to read the journal while Toriel took another long drink of the elixir. She offered it to him again, but he shook his head.

"Have you… heard of anything like this at all?" she asked.

"Nnnno. I don't, uh…" Sans scratched his head. "Closest I can think of is Minerva's house." He frowned. "So does this have anything to do with Paps?"

"With Papyrus? How so?" Toriel wondered.

"Welp. He, uh… You know that red gem he got? Dog artefact. Real powerful. It's been doin' some weird things. We think he… somehow actually reached through time like three months back and gave our missin' kiddo a good pat on the head," the skeleton said. "It also reached 'er in some weird, uh, fog place, somehow and showed us some crazy old magic circle stuff in the sunlight. Not only that, but with Minerva, Paps thought he maybe… made a wish, to get some help. And that was what let him meet her to begin with." He closed the book and handed it back to Toriel. "Their times lined up originally, right?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," she said.

"Minerva was still around when Mak came here the first time, yeah? Pretty sure, if I'm rememberin' my history right," Sans said.

Toriel frowned thoughtfully. "If she was… in Waterfall for… Goodness, what did she tell me? Almost twenty years? That's very likely, then, that he passed through the underground while she was still a… alive."

Sans patted her hand reassuringly. She finished off the wine and tossed the bottle into the flames.

.

"Could be whatever let us pass through to her is how Mak even got here to begin with," Sans said. "He was stuck in a spot for a while, too, right? Asgore's place?"

"That is definitely true," Toriel said. "So, you believe it was Papyrus's artefact that somehow facilitated all this?"

"Best guess I got," Sans said apologetically. "But, who the hell knows? I almost got ganked just by linin' up with myself at the wrong moment, I think, and I still don't super get how that works." He shrugged. "Still don't get how most of this works, other than that whatever our time kid did to the CORE slowed it down."

"That is fair, but to… To alter the timeline in that way. That sort of power is… Well, it's unnerving." She gestured to him. "And yet, you don't remember history like that, do you?"

"Nah, but I'm a freak," he said. "I'll ask Alphys. She's a nerd for human stuff and she's the most solid person in the timeline that I trust right now. The rest of us are all over the place."

"True." Toriel chuckled, thought the sound came out weak and listless. "Oh dear. At least it seems to be benign."

"Better than beten, I guess," Sans said.

The huge monster snorted and gave him a light whack on the shoulder. He snickered.

.

"So, uh, I miss anythin' else world-alterin'?" the skeleton asked.

"I'm sure Papyrus told you, but he delivered June to the humans," Toriel said. "It was… very emotional. He did exceptionally well."

"Course he did." He puffed out a little sigh. "Sorry for the, uh, complication."

"It's not your fault, dear," she said softly, putting a reassuring paw on his back.

He shrugged limply. "If my teleport was workin' like normal, I couldda got her, but—"

"Sans. Enough." She pulled him a little closer. "Let us just be grateful that the disaster isn't permanent."

"It can leave scars, though. Not for everyone, but… Even if you don't know. Even if you ain't gonna ever remember a second of somethin' past a reset. Sometimes, it still… lingers, somehow," the skeleton said. "I mean, I know it'll be fine. It's not like I haven't lived this crap for who knows how long, but if you got any kinda heart in ya, it's still rough."

.

Toriel let out a little, understanding hm and leaned over to press her snout against the side of his head. "Let yourself breathe, my child," she said softly. "Allow yourself a little reprieve."

Sans wasn't sure he deserved it and was certain that Toriel sensed his hesitancy, for she squeezed him a little tighter and gave him a light smooch on the head.

"I don't believe you mentioned why you are out here so late," she said. "It could not have been just to bring me something from Grillby's, I'm sure."

"Wanted to get some tea for Paps," Sans said. "He's, uh, got his hands full. And he asked me to do a check in, since I was headin' over." He rubbed his head and finally cast his eyes away from the light of the fire, peeking around at all the slumbering monsters in their shelters. "Guess Suzy's asleep."

"I should hope so, " Toriel said with a smile and a pointed look over at one of the tents. "Anyway. I believe we have some tea here. Alphys also has a nice setup and some thermoses, I believe, a few camps that way." She nodded her head off towards the woods, alongside the base of the mountain.

"Huh. Alright." Sans slid off the bench and stretched. "Guess dad's with 'er over there?"

"No, actually, he was sleeping here."

Sans raised he brows. "You're tellin' me my old man's actually takin' a whole night off?"

"Well, he was. He's with Asgore now." Toriel grimaced. "This has all been a lot for the poor old goat."

"Yeah, I bet," Sans said. "…Maybe they wouldn't mind somethin' to drink, either."

"That's kind of you, dear," Toriel said. "They headed off to the west of here. Would you like me to come along?"

"Nah, don't bother," he said. "You should be takin' it easy, too."

.

Using the glow of his eye for light, Sans picked through a big crate of snacks until he found some small boxes of tea in a few different flavours beneath a bunch of chips and candy bars. Pocketing one that was black tea with citrus, he said goodbye to Toriel and was on his way again.

.

The skeleton could pick out what site Alphys had claimed by the packages of cup ramen stacked up on a table for all to take. Her set up also included a cooking spot of hotplates, pots, and kettles of all different makes and styles. The place was quiet, though, save for the crackling of a low-burning campfire, and a few snores emanating from the edges of the circle.

.

Sans went to push a few logs into the fire and an odd glow off near one of the tents caught his eye. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was Alphys— the little lizard had dozed off with a certain purple cat and blonde-haired alligator. Alphys looked reasonably comfortable, but she still had her laptop open on her legs. Sans let out a quiet, amused scoff. He slipped over to her and, after checking that there wasn't any work running on the screen— no, it was just a folder of Mew Mew AMVs— he closed the computer and gently took her glasses off her face, placing both on the ground just beside her. Whatever questions about timeline consistency he had could wait until daylight.

.

A quick look around lead Sans to some thermoses in a box with a note nearby in Alphys's scribbly handwriting saying they were free to use. He picked up a few and moved to the hotplates and kettles to begin to boil some water for tea.

.

As he waited, the sky above dulled, thick clouds streaking across the darkness. Sans tilted his head back to watch them go as the wind kicked up, flame licking the air and puffing up at its touch. From somewhere far afield, the sky muttered like a grumbling beast. Sans held his hand out to check for rain, but he felt nothing. After a few minutes, the low growls of thunder only added to the ambience of the forest and nothing more.

.

Sans closed his eyes and the memories of his sister flooded his skull— of the cool rain and streaks of blazing light cutting the sky; the way the thunder crashed in behind it. It was so hard to sleep if that was going on right above your head but, off in the distance like it was now, the kid found it pretty soothing. He recalled her sitting in some old, decrepit shed on a hill, amongst rusted tools and weathered benches, snacking on a dinner of stale bread and wild fruits and watching lightning sear the distant sky, growing drowsy to the light patter of rain and the far-off rumbling.

.

The rustle of branches interrupted his thoughts and he opened one eye to look back into the darkness of the forest. A few monsters were hurrying back like kids sneaking in after curfew, eyeing the sky nervously and whispering in hushed tones. Only one of the group didn't seem perturbed, walking in a casual slump, head tilted back to watch the clouds through the gaps in the canopy.

.

As they came into the light, Sans picked out Kio amongst the first group. She saw him, too, and perked right up. She excused herself from the others and darted back to grab the lethargic one— Scathkath— by the arm and pulled him around to the skeleton.

"Sans! It's good to see you," the snakebird chirped. "You're up late."

"Same to you," he said.

"We were doing, uh, what'sitcalled. Stargazing?" Scathkath smiled wide, his teeth bright against his night-black pelt. "Man, the stuff we missed."

"Yeah. Sure is somethin'," Sans said.

"It seem to have ended for now," Kio said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "I hope they come back."

"Every night. If y'wanna see somethin' neat, head up the mountain a bit and look off towards the rumblin'," Sans said. "Probably catch some lightning."

"Lightning!" Kio repeated as she perked up again. "That sounds worth it."

"Come with us, kid, we can catch up a bit," Scathkath said.

Sans chuckled. "Sorry, already got plans."

.

The shadowcat's sharp ears dropped a bit and he put a hand to his head. "Oh, come on, you can't still be busy at this hour!" He shot the skeleton a sideways smirk. "You're supposed to be the sensible one."

"Maybe they made some new developments," Kio said quickly, nudging Scathkath with her wing.

"With everything coming down like that? Who had the time? Uh. Unless…" He stared at Sans with his brows raised high. "Did something new happen?"

"Well. Uh." Sans scratched his head. "Think we're sending our beacon out into the void tomorrow. Finally."

"For the missing kids?" Scathkath's ears perked straight up.

"Oh my god! Really?" Kio smiled and put her feathery hands on Sans's shoulders. "I'm so glad for you! Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Uh." Sans looked back at her blankly. "Actually, I, uh… I dunno. Maybe?"

"If you're doing stuff in the void…" The shadowcat stroked his whiskers. "I mean, we're uniquely equipped to do… whatever that stuff is that we can do now, eh?"

Kio nodded. "You'll let us know if there's anything, won't you?"

A little voice spoke up from behind them. "Me too."

.

Suzy had come from the forest, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles as she wandered into the firelight.

"Oh, hey, it's the little void champion," Scathkath said with a smile.

"Suz, what're you doin'?" Sans asked.

Suzy grunted a non-answer and wandered over, clambering up to sit beside him and grabbing his arm tight in her claws.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked.

"…Mmmaybe."

"You tell Tori you were goin'?"

"Nnnnno."

Sans held back a snicker. "Snuck out, huh?"

"Yeeeeah, but I'm sill s'posed to watch out for you," she said groggily

Kio cooed quietly while her husband chuckled, folding his arms and shooting Sans an amused grin.

"Brave little tyke," he said.

.

"Whatcha doin' up, though?" Sans insisted. "Was it the moss?"

"Nnnoo, moss was fiiiine. I heard you and Miss Toriel," Suzy said, her blinks still long and heavy. "Heard you guys, too. If…" She yawned. "If you're… doing void stuff… I gotta do it, too."

"We don't know yet, honey," Kio said gently. "Sans, do you happen to know the plan of what's going on?"

"Gonna have to hook this, uh, machine up to the NOCTURNE," he said. "Send out a signal of, uh… me, I guess, into the void to show the missin' kids where the heck to come home to. Which means we're probably gonna have to turn off the thing that's stabilizin' the CORE. Gonna be a big mess, in that case, but I dunno all the deets yet."

"Ah. We'll need to talk to Gaster, then, I guess."

"Leave that to me. I was gonna track him down anyway," Sans said. "You guys go see the lighting."

"…Are you sure?" Kio asked.

"Yeah."

The snakebird's brow furrowed with worry; the shadowcat giving a big, loose shrug. He leaned forward to pat Sans on the shoulder.

"Right. Try to get some sleep, at least?" he said. "Now's not the time to take after your old man, got it?"

"Heh. Do my best."

"We'll catch up with you in the morning," Kio assured him.

"It might be nothin'," Sans said.

"Still." She smiled at him. "Have a good night, honey."

.

As Scathkath and Kio headed off on their way, Sans carefully shifted Suzy to let the half-asleep crocodaur cling to his shoulder before he got up to finish making the tea. Once he had, he stashed it all away in some thermoses and shoved them in his phone. He left one for Alphys before heading out again, carrying the kid through the woods.

.

"…Why we walkin'?" Suzy asked after some time.

"Takin' ya back to Tori," Sans said.

"…Why?"

"'Cause it's like three in the mornin' and you're a tiny kid who should be asleep, doofus."

Suzy grumbled quietly. Sans chuckled.

"Dunno why you're complainin', I'd switch places with ya if I could."

"Then you go to bed then and I'll go find your dad," Suzy teased.

The skeleton snorted. "Nope."

.

Suzy went quiet for a while, and Sans almost thought she'd dozed off when she gave him a little squeeze.

"Sans?"

"Yup?"

"…Did you hear? My, uh… My sister came back."

"Yeah, Paps mentioned," he said. "Happy?"

"Kiiiinda?" She snorted. "Um. I can, um…? I can still… hang out though, right? That's still okay?"

"Sure," he said.

"I… I wanna see how this all goes," she said. "I wanna be around in case you still need me."

"I know. But, uh, don't sweat it, alright? Might be nothin' much left to do. If we're lucky."

"But the void and stuff…?"

"Dunno yet. We'll see."

"Right. Um. And after this is done, uh…?" She grimaced. "You're still sure we can all, um, still be friends and stuff, right?"

Sans scoffed. "Kiddo, relax."

"I'm serious." She smooshed her snout against his shoulder. "It's really weird; I know you guys more than I know her."

"Sheesh." Sans smiled sideways. "That is pretty weird. But this is a good chance to start over, yeah?"

"I… I guess so," she said. "She's not like how she was in my stupid fake memories."

"That's good, though, right?"

"Y-Yeah. It's good." Suzy slumped a little. "But still. D'you think we can all, like… Could we meet again? After the reset thingy?"

"Told ya not to worry 'bout that," Sans said. "We will. S'gonna be fine. You'll probably even end up hangin' out with our missin' time kids once this is all done."

"O-Oh right. Ghost is… You think she'll like me even when I'm not the only one that can see her?"

Sans couldn't help a laugh. He patted the kid on the head. "Yeah. She will. Pretty sure you'll get along with the missin' prince, too."

"Hm." She sounded a little pleased. "M… Maybe."

.

The kid went quiet again and settled in his arms. By the time Sans began to catch sight of the firelight, Suzy was fast asleep. The skeleton was pretty grateful to have some of Undyne's strength right about now, because in the state he'd been in just before he'd fainted, he wasn't sure he'd have even been able to carry a puppy for this long.

.

Toriel was barely awake when they arrived, but she gladly— and apologetically— took Suzy and a thermos of tea from Sans. Again, she pointed him deeper into the woods, away from the mountain, if he was still looking for Asgore and his father, and he took her advice.

.

Thunder grumbled far to the west but no rain had come despite the blanket of clouds above only thickening, but the wind was shifting back towards the mountain. Sans recalled the storm that had hit during the Ellie rescue debacle and hoped that it wouldn't be a repeat of that, or else there'd be an awful lot of extremely soggy monsters out here within a few hours. Only then did it occur to him that a lot of the people in the camps would have absolutely no concept of rain pouring down from the sky. He sighed to himself; supposed he'd have to deal with that soon, too.

.

It didn't take too long for the ambience of the night to be joined by a strange, low snorting sound. Sans followed it and soon came upon a clearing where a weepy-eyed Asgore sat, Gaster at his side with a comforting hand on his back. It was an oddly nostalgic, bittersweet sight. Sans could remember seeing his father consoling the old King like this a few times, way back when he was a little kid. He was glad that the ten year gap hadn't really changed much.

.

Gaster noticed Sans first and perked up; the shift in movement drew Asgore's attention, too. He locked his mismatched eyes on Sans, hurriedly wiped his face on his hand and got to his feet.

"Sans, my boy, I'm glad to see you," Asgore said. "How are things? What do you need?"

Sans shot him a lopsided grin and pulled out a large thermos of tea. "Thought you might need somethin'." He cut his eyes at his father and produced another, lightly tossing it at him. "You, too."

"Ah. Thank you," the old skeleton said.

"Y-Yes, thank you very much," Asgore said, gingerly opening the canister. "Oh! This… is very thoughtful."

"Is something wrong?" Gaster asked. "Is that why you—? Oh!" He bonked himself in the head with his palm. "Bloody idiot. Of course. Are you alright after all that chaos from the mountain? It sounded like it was—"

"Totally fine," Sans said. "Came out 'cause Paps asked me to check in."

"So… nothing's wrong?"

Sans grinned. "Not yet."

.

The old monsters wilted with relief. Asgore slowly sat back down in the grass and took a light sip of the tea. His huge shoulders sagged and he ran a hand through his golden mane.

"Golly," he said under his breath.

"…So," Gaster said. "You heard about what happened?"

"Yup." Sans plunked down into the grass. "It's a good thing, right?"

"…An… elimination of one of my many, many failures," Asgore said softly. "I've done nothing to deserve this. But… But the boy deserved to live." He chuckled. "I might have jumped for joy if I wasn't so tired."

"I think you're being too hard on yourself," Gaster said. "Don't forget, we were both there. I found him. It was frantic, but I'm sure I didn't imagine our conversation about how to indefinitely keep a human hidden in the Kingdom before the worst happened."

.

Asgore's ears drooped a little. He took a deep swig of his tea. "He… said that his family came from some tropical islands, far out in the southern ocean," he said. "I would like to see it someday. When this is all over."

"We never got very far out into the ocean, did we?" Gaster mused. "Just around the coast."

"I remember." Asgore smiled fondly and looked to Sans. "Your father was a natural on a boat, even his first time."

"I got caught in the rigging at least twice," Gaster said.

"And you got right out again!" The King chuckled and nostalgic look passed over his face as he looked out into the darkness. "Though this isn't the way it's supposed to be, it's… nice. To be out under the sky again."

.

Gaster took a careful sip from his thermos and let out a little sigh. "I'm hopeful that the worst of this will be over soon. Tomorrow, in fact." He looked at his son. "Unless something came up."

"Nope," Sans said. "Wonderin' about the void stuff, though. But. We can deal with that in the mornin'."

"Hm." Gaster nodded. "I'll think about it a bit. I suppose getting the afflicted monsters to help as a bit of a safeguard wouldn't be a terrible idea, but… I do worry, since—"

"If you need some extra power, I'd be happy to lend you all my strength," Asgore said.

"I appreciate it, but this void magic is… different than what we know." The skeleton held up his blackened arm. "I just worry because… Well. The most adept besides me is… Suzy. Then Flora."

"Yeah, kinda hate that," Sans said. "But, uh, she's seen the CORE actin' crazy on her own, now."

"Right. Right. That's…" Gaster sighed and rubbed his head, then laughed quietly at himself. "I have no bloody idea how I'm going to repay that kid after this."

Asgore chuckled. "I know the feeling."

"Your two old pals volunteered to help, too, by the way," Sans said.

"Ah. Kind of them. Void magic or not, they're more than welcome. Hopefully we just won't need anyone else." Gaster looked at his son very seriously. "You're ready for all this?"

"Gotta be," Sans said with a shrug. "Don't worry 'bout me."

"Not possible," Gaster said.

"You do have to be careful, Sans," Asgore said. "But! I do believe Undyne's gift will carry you through this."

"Heh. Yeah," he said. "It better, or she's gonna kill me when she gets up." He smacked his knee and began stand. "Alright. Enough shop talk. We can do that tomorrow." He pointed at Gaster. "Two things. Got the dream nodes?"

.

Gaster stared back at him blankly before patting around on his jacket pockets. He found them and handed them over and Sans winked.

"Cool. Thanks," he said. "Also. Kinda thought it might rain." He pointed upwards. "Just a thing to watch out for."

"Oh?" Gaster tilted his head back. "You know, you're not wrong."

"This sounds like a job for me, then," Asgore said, getting to his feet. "Can't allow my citizens to get drenched, now, can I?"

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Gaster asked.

"Of course!" The King assured him, grabbing him by the hands and pulling him to his feet. "Plus, a little work is good for me at a time like this. Come!" He headed towards the edge of the clearing and then turned back quickly. "Oh! And, Sans, please get some rest, alright? You have a big day tomorrow? Would you like me to carry you back to camp? I will not say a word to anyone."

Sans couldn't help but snicker. "Tempting but, uh, I gotta head back to Paps. See you guys in the mornin."

.

Sans risked a teleport and found himself stumbling into abject, silent chaos— time shards like a swarm of wasps engulfing him, too many to pick out any one image. He grunted and stuck his arm out, finding a tree and digging his sharp fingertips into its bark so he wouldn't buckle. It was like he could feel the rotation of the planet beneath him and he was about to be flung off.

.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Deep breaths. In and out. Just like the last few times.

.

Cold ooze of the void seeped down his face but still, he waited, as still as he could until the vertigo faded. He took a peek back into the world and when his vision was mostly normal again, he wiped his cheeks on his sleeve and tried to take a step without support. He was still dizzy; felt as if the ground might slip beneath him, but a few more steps and he was sturdy enough to walk.

.

He took stock of his surroundings and found he wasn't too far from he destination. He could see the telltale gold of Papyrus's magic up a rise about a minute away.

.

Catching his breath as he went, Sans strolled up to rejoin his brother, only to find the whole, small plateau covered in napping dogs. The skeleton held in a laugh.

"Hey," he said.

"Welcome back, brother," Papyrus said, forcing his voice much softer than usual. "Success?"

"Yeah." He edged up to the perimeter of canine and passed the last thermos of tea to Papyrus. "Things are, uh, pretty weird, but everyone's okay."

The tall skeleton frowned suspiciously. "Weird how?"

"Not urgent," Sans said. He tiptoed around a few more of the canines and found a spot up against Big Dog's flank. He plopped down, stuck the nodes onto his head, and then leaned back comfortably against the huge amalgam of pooch. "Tomorrow."

"Wellllll, okaaaay," Papyrus said. "Ooh, are you trying dream stuff again?"

"Yeah. Doubt it'll work without the spell, but—"

"Ooh, I could…! Wait, no, no I can't, sorry."

"I know, don't worry." Sans closed his eyes. "Wake me up if you get bored."

"I'll be fine, Sans. You sleep well. Hope you get to see into another dimension!"

xXxXx

Sans awoke to the sound birds, an unusual blue hue, and not a hint of a dream to be had. He didn't even have a moment to feel too disappointed as he was quickly greeted by a little white dog smooshing his snout into his face, then spinning around on his chest.

.

The skeleton grunted, putting a hand on the little beast's back to give it a pat as he sat up, trying to get his bearings. The stone to the side was damp, the water gleaming with sunlight, but they'd been protected as they slept by a thin, hexagonal roof of crocheted, indigo magic supported in by obsidian spikes at the corners.

.

Papyrus lay on his back nearby, eyes closed, looking fairly comfortable despite having a pillow of rock. Other than their small, white and fluffy friend, they were alone. Sans pulled the nodes from his head and got to his feet.

"She's outside," Papyrus said, opening one eye. He smiled. "The dogs took her. I think she's going to be okay."

Sans let out a sigh of relief and plopped down again to sit by his brother. "Y'did great."

"I know."

"Know where they headed?"

"Nnnnyo, why?"

"Eh." Sans shook his head. "Had a question, but I'll ask 'er next time."

.

Papyrus stretched his arms out above his head and then sat up quickly. "Nyeeeeh! I guess that's enough rest!"

"Is it, though?" Sans wondered.

"Yes!" He tapped his brother on the head. "Were you doing dream work again when you were supposed to be sleeping?!"

"No, I… Heh. No," he said. "Pretty sure our, uh, Crabapple Kid tried to get my attention last night and I was just seein' if I could, uh…"

"Ah." Papyrus's brow took an apologetic tilt. "No luck?"

"Just hope she doesn't think I was ignorin' her, is all," Sans said.

"Pffft! PFFT! As if that would ever happen!" Papyrus said. "I'm positive that Crabapple Kid knows you'd never do that! In fact, I'm sure she knows that if you could, you would have been basically living in her dreams this whole time she and Asriel were gone! I know a hundred-million-percent that nobody will hold it against you that it didn't work."

.

Sans's cheekbones flushed a little and he rubbed the back of his head. Papyrus cackled and thumped him affectionately on the shoulder. His face abruptly turned serious and he leaned in close.

"Now tell me about the pretty weird things," he said.

"Oh. That. Uh." Sans smiled sideways. "So you know your, uh, dog artefact."

"Yessss, of course!" Papyrus pulled it from within his scarf-poncho and there was suddenly the head of the little, white dog popping out along with it. "What about it?"

.

The short skeleton took a moment to organize his thoughts, then started first by breaking the news about Makena, just as Toriel had. After much alarmed squawking from Papyrus, Sans quickly detailed his speculation about the artefact, which only caused his brother to squawk more. Papyrus demanded answers from the white dog, but only received a big lick on the face and the pooch log-rolling away in place of anything useful.

.

"What a mess," Papyrus said, putting a hand to his head. "I mean, at least Mak got home! But what are the implications of this?!"

"Good for the kid. Good for the King, too. But, probably not great if it keeps doin' it," Sans said. "But, I guess it already happened so it is what it is."

"Nyeeeh, I guess soooo." Papyrus held the red crystal up to his eyes and squinted into it. "Please don't hurt anyone, okay?!"

The orb didn't say anything.

.

Papyrus rolled his eyes and stashed the artefact away in his scarf again. He scooted closer to his brother and offered his hands. Sans looked a little puzzled, but he reciprocated and Papyrus grabbed him tight and smiled.

"Forget that. Whatever that is— it's fine. It's not important. What IS important is that today is the day, right?!"

"Uh." Sans smiled sideways. "If it works first try."

"It will."

"Eh, probably won't."

"It WILL!" Papyrus asserted. "I already decided. It's going to work. Today. And then I won't have to worry about you, or them, or dad, or anyone else, or the world any more than the normal amount."

Sans snickered. "That'd be good."

"I know!"

.

Papyrus got to his feet, pulling Sans with him. His grin was wide and bright.

"Whatever happens," he said, "I know you're going to get them home. I—!" His phone rang suddenly, as did Sans's. He pulled it out with a curious frown. "Uhhh."

Sans slipped his own phone from his pocket and checked the alerts. "Asgore."

"Same here. Oh! And…" Papyrus frowned at his screen. "Hey it's me I don't know when you're gonna get this."

"…Mine just says to meet up where there's a kite flyin' or somethin'," Sans said.

"Mine too, but then there's this— Ah!" His eyes bugged out. "Oh no, Mettaton wants to do a song?!"

"Yeah, don't have that one either," Sans said.

"We have to go!" Papyrus said. He scooped his brother right up off his feet and burst out from the tent and into the woods, announced by the distant barking of dogs.

.

Just as the message said, a kite made from bright, wispy fabric flew above the woods under the midmorning sun, and Papyrus did his best to head for it. The speed the tall skeleton was going made Sans dizzy from the blurry time shards, but luckily, Papyrus seemed unaffected. Even through that, they could see other large, blue tent-roofs over the clearings where the monsters had spent the night.

.

The spot that had been marked was a wide, slightly misshapen oval clearing. Its trees, old and leafless, were piled off at the edges, except those that had been split to make basic benches, laid out before a small stage construction.

.

Gaggles of monsters were already here, many just chatting or exploring, while others helped with some basic building tasks. Asgore stood near the stage with a pleasant, puzzled smile on his face, nodding along as Mettaton emphatically explained something to him with a lot of big gestures and arm-waving. The King nodded along until his gaze traced over to the two skeletons and he smiled warmly to greet them. Mettaton turned and let out a little gasp, excusing himself and racing over to the brothers.

.

"Papyrus! Darling! My lovely, shining star! Excellent to see you! What happened to your head? Oh, actually, never mind. Are you ready?!"

"I'm going to go with probably!" the skeleton said. "What for?"

"A big performance! You know, for myyyyy— and your— adoring fans! To put them at ease in such a strange but exciting time." He winked. "A few numbers from METTA should be good, right?"

"Uhhh…" Papyrus tilted his head. "Hmmmmnope, no, don't think I did that one in this timeline."

"…Timeline?"

"Have you seen that one?" Papyrus asked, turning to Sans.

The short skeleton shrugged. "Bro, the number of times this guy made a musical called Metta—"

"METTA," Mettaton corrected.

"There's been like a dozen of 'em and they were all different you weren't in any of 'em, so I got no clue."

"You two are very strange," the metallic monster said, crossing his arms.

"I'm sorry, Mettaton, but I only did BLACKLETTER and TDP&TTP in whatever timeline continuity I'm in, sort of," Papyrus said, pointing out his tattoo. "Even though I don't actually remember making the first thing. I did watch it, though!"

.

Mettaton stared at the skeleton blankly for a few seconds. He shook his head quickly and looked at Sans. "Is it just moi having a nonsense dream or is it him?"

"Definitely you," Sans said with a teasing grin.

"Ugh." Mettaton put his hands out. "Please. Explain."

"Do you remember coming with us to rescue Ellie?" Papyrus asked.

"Ellie… Elllliieeeeeee OH! OH!" Mettaton clapped his hands against his cheeks. "OH! I do! Okay. Okay."

"Remember how we said time was all wrong and we have to rescue our siblings and all that?"

"Oooooooh, yes yes yes, right, of course."

"D'you remember gettin' extra legs?" Sans asked.

"What?! Legs?!" Mettaton yelped incredulously. "What's wrong with the ones I have?!"

Sans tapped his teeth thoughtfully. He shrugged at his brother. "Yeah, still dunno where he is."

.

"Did you make BLACKLETTER?" Papyrus asked.

"Well, of course, darling, but that was aaaaages ago!" Mettaton whirled on Sans. "And YOU! You troublemaker, why don't you answer your texts?!"

"Been kinda busy," he said.

"Well! I mailed you that drive you said to mail you, did you get it?"

"Uh." Sans smiled awkwardly. "Nnnnah, the, uh, mailbox is probably underwater about now."

"Ugh." Mettaton rolled his eyes, but then smiled slyly. He popped open a compartment in his side and yanked out a little, thumb-sized hard drive and offered it to the skeleton. "Good thing I am a monster of many backups! Here. And then consider your debt repaid."

Sans snorted out a little laugh. "Yeah, yeah, got it," he said.

"Thank you! Now!" He whirled on Papyrus again and put his hands on his shoulders. "You're telling me the songs are out."

"I'm afraid so," the tall skeleton said.

"Hmmm… Well. I… guess I could do some solo numbers," Mettaton said. "Can you still do the archery tricks, though?"

"Oh! I can definitely do those!" Papyrus assured him.

"Ah!" The monster's eyes lit up with stars. "Perfecto! Bellissima! I knew I could count on you!" He took him by the hand and lead him up towards the stage. "Come! Come come come!"

.

Sans waved his brother off and then inspected the little drive. He was pretty sure if he chucked it somewhere inside the time machine with all those extra hoodies he'd collected, it'd be safe unless the whole thing exploded. He shoved it into his pocket, then took a seat on a nearby stump.

.

Asgore was wandering the far perimeter of the clearing now, and the humans— still unnoticed by most— were near him. Ellie seemed to be in good spirits, skipping over roots as she trailed beside her father. It seemed lonely without Mak and June around, though.

.

Time travel was such a weird and fickle thing sometimes. It was an unnerving, cold feeling to know ahead of time that father and daughter would be yanked apart again, even if it was only for a little while. At least they could speed up the rescue this time, but Sans wondered if either of them would recall any of this. Boyd might be the only one with a chance of it.

.

No matter what, Sans mused, all this made that little kid's safety their responsibility. He was sort of tired just thinking about it, though. Hopefully the rescue road trip wouldn't involve getting chased by the human cops and almost getting electrocuted in a flying car the second time.

.

"Sans?" Alphys slid up beside him with a smile. "Ohayo! D-Did you have a good night?"

"Eh. Not bad," he said. "You?"

"Oh! I-It was… It was kind of great, actually," she said with a smile. "I n-never thought sleeping in the fresh air would be s-so relaxing. Or, um, even waking up to a bit of rain super late." She looked out over the scene and picked out Mettaton and Papyrus over near the makeshift stage. "O-Oh, jeez, what's h-he up to with your brother?"

"Some show or whatever, I dunno," Sans said. "Hey. History question."

"Uh. Alright?"

"Green soul, how'd we get it?"

"O-Oh! Um! It's supposed t-to be, a… A secr…" Her cheeks flushed. "Oh, who am I k-kidding, you won't tell anyone. And the King trusts you." She bent down to whisper to him. "A-Asgore told me a… A human child f-fell into the mountain at some point, but m-mysteriously vanished w-without… Well, it m-made no sense. They thought h-he must've panicked and died somewhere in the mountain. B-But! That same human appeared again years and years later as, um, a really old man, and gave up his soul w-willingly. I-Isn't that kind of crazy?" She tented her fingers and her eyes traced the ground. "O-Of course, the official story was always th-that Asgore defeated the human in battle. But. H-He told me when, um, I first started my research on the human souls that that wasn't the way i-it happened. He almost seemed… ashamed? That he was relieved?"

"Huh." It was just like Toriel had said, Sans thought. "Cool. Thanks."

"You're, uh, w-welcome," Alphys said. "Why? I-Is this a time thing? Did things m-move again?"

"Kinda. Long story; I'll tell ya when things are normal again."

"O-Okay, you better," she said.

.

The lizard looked around, taking in growing numbers of monsters, and then turned back to Sans. "A-Are we… going to be able to keep them all safe? When we… You know, with the CORE and e-everything…"

"I, uh… I dunno," Sans said. "Could ask Asgore and Tori to both stay here. Dunno if they'll like that. Maybe a couple of the void souls, too. But, uh… I don't have a good answer."

"Y-Yeah…" She rubbed her head spines and puffed out a little sigh. "So. Are you…? A-Are you ready? Like, are you f-feeling up to it?"

"Yeah," he said.

"How're y-you feeling otherwise?"

"Fine, unless I teleport," he said, shrugging one shoulder.

"Oh, good." Alphys smiled. "I'm… k-kind of nervous? But also kind of excited? But I do r-reeeeeally hope we don't all just, um, get burnt in magma or something."

"Same." Sans grinned. "Aah, shit, what a mess, huh?"

The lizard patted him reassuringly on the back.

.

As more monsters began to move in, Sans got up to bum around the edge of the clearing, and Alphys went with him. Before long, they were joined by Toriel, Suzy, and two teenagers, Fey and Holly Holiday. Both of them seemed a little flustered, but Toriel's presence steadied them. Suzy, on the other hand, was pretty blasé. She headed straight for Sans, grabbed his sleeve, and pointed at him.

"This guy."

"Oh yeah?!" Fey looked him up and down. "So you're the guy who's been watching my little sis?!"

"One of 'em, I guess," Sans said.

"Well, crap! Thanks!" She raised her brows. "…Aren't you, like, a comedian at MTT, though?"

"Sheesh, haven't done that in a while," Sans said, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh. Side-gig. I'm a sentry."

"Yoooo, Royal Guard?!" she said.

"Technically," Sans said, trying not to laugh as Toriel's face beamed with motherly pride behind the kids.

"This whole thing really freaked us all out," Holly said with a polite bow. "Thank you so much for looking after Suzy."

"Oh. Uh." The skeleton looked down at the little crocodaur. "No prob. She pulls 'er own weight, don'tcha, kid?"

"Captain Undyne gave me a job, too: I'm his bodyguard," Suzy said.

Fey snorted, hiding a laugh behind her hand and Holly smiled fondly. Sans's grin widened and he patted Suzy on the head.

"True. She's real good. I almost got got by some weirdo and she bit the hell outta him."

"What?! Seriously?!" Fey's eyes bugged out. "Suz, you bit a guy?"

"Yeah, I bit him really hard," Suzy said with a resolute frown.

Fey blinked. "…NICE."

.

"Suzy is, um, r-really brave," Alphys said. "She, um… Did…? Did Doctor Gaster tell you about—?"

"Oh, yeah!" Fey squinted at her. "…Are you a doctor, too?"

"I—! Y-Yeah, I am! Uh. I'm the, uh, Royal Scientist."

"What?! Wait, you're Alphys from online?!"

"Oh! I follow all your posts!" Holly said.

"A-Ah! Thanks," Alphys said with a bashful smile. She looked at Suzy. "Anyway, Suzy's magic is, um… It's really strong and—"

"Did you decide you're gonna need me?!" Suzy asked, eyes gleaming.

"Well, um, we'll talk to Gaster about it, okay?"

"Wait, she's just a little kid, what's she gonna do?" Fey asked worriedly.

"I got super powers, though!" Suzy protested. She looked up at Sans as if for help.

The skeleton let out a huff and chuckled. He gestured to the teens. "Guess we're about to throw them into the deep end, huh?"

"Oh dear," Toriel said.

"Huh?!" Fey barked.

"We will have a meeting with those involved after Asgore is done speaking," Toriel said. "Please, join us."

"Uhh?! Okay?!" The teenaged crocodaur looked increasingly bamboozled. "Sure?!"

"We'd be happy to, your… Highness? Ex-Highness?" Holly's white cheeks flushed. "S-Sorry, I don't know what to, um—"

"You may just call me Toriel, dear," the woman said with a reassuring smile. "Shall we find some seats, for now?"

"You guys go ahead," Sans said with a wave of his hand. "Got somethin' to check."

"Then, follow me, little ones," Toriel said.

.

She herded the others away, but shot Sans a questioning glance over her shoulder. He stuck a thumb up and she raised a brow, but continued onwards anyway.

.

Sans hung back for just a moment to rest his headachey skull. He peeked around the crowd for his father, but didn't see him. A bit strange— he figured he'd be close to Asgore somewhere, but it could be he was doing some prep work already. The skeleton set his back up against a tree, closed his eyes, and tapped out for a bit.

.

He was jarred awake again by an explosion of confetti and fireworks and wild cheering. The whole area was packed to bursting with excited monsters— some even in the treetops and still lingering in the woods— and Mettaton strutted around the small stage, taking dramatic bows. Sans rubbed at his eye sockets, wondering how long he'd dozed off for.

.

As whatever music was blaring died down a little below the noise of the crowd, Mettaton bowed again and backed up to allow Asgore onto the stage. The huge King, garbed in full regalia, was clapping and smiling as well. As soon as he was centred and looking upon the crowd, the monsters settled down a bit.

"Howdy, everyone," Asgore said, his deep, booming voice carrying easily above the crowd. "I hope you're all having a good morning under these unusual circumstances."

A small cheer of affirmation rose up from the audience and Asgore beamed.

"I'm glad to hear that. Golly, yesterday was something, wasn't it? I have to give thanks to all our volunteers and the Royal Guard for helping everyone leave the underground so safely. Also, to Graetsif and Muffet, for their evacuations of the deeper reaches of the mountain, the spider clan for their precautionary safety nets, Papyrus, for being key to preventing a massive cave-in, and to the lovely Toriel." His cheeks flushed a little despite himself. "For her help keeping the evacuation smooth and orderly. And for saving my life."

Rousing applause. Two girls cheered extra loud for Papyrus, which made Sans grin. Asgore smiled fondly.

"Now, I know that this was not the ideal way to leave the mountain, all at once like this," he continued, "but I'm so proud of each and every one of you for braving the circumstances and making it out beneath this bright, beautiful sky. Things are going to be hectic for a little while as we get everything sorted out and, be assured, we will be clearing a path back into the mountain so you can reclaim any possessions you left behind."

.

That wasn't going to matter, thankfully, Sans thought. But, the crowd mumbled, sounding pleased, so Asgore was on the right track.

.

"A few of my most trusted companions will be starting on this today," Asgore said, "so if you feel a little bit of rumbling beneath your feet, do not be alarmed! But, I would ask that all of you who are not involved in that project to stay down here in the campsites for the time being. Because!" He put a finger into the air. "Here comes the most boring but the most important part of today's speech! Surface safety precautions!"

That elicited a little laughter from the crowd, but also some impatient shifting. Asgore pulled out a notepad from his cloak and began to go down a list, and Sans's attention waned completely. He scanned the crowd for the void souls, but he was pretty far back, and his height didn't exactly lend itself to the task. He did catch Opurl bouncing around somewhere near the back of the audience, though.

.

Sans tilted his head to the side in time to catch his father sneaking out of the woods to join him, smelling of strong, sweet coffee. He lifted his fingers as a small wave and Gaster smiled. The old skeleton still looked grey around the sockets, but there was a strange, frantic energy about him. Sans raised his brows. Gaster clapped him heartily on the shoulder, then leaned back on the nearest tree, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets and letting his shoulders slump.

.

"I talked to Scath and Kio," the old skeleton whispered. "We'll gather the others after this."

Sans nodded. "Got a plan?"

"I think so. Just… have to position the players."

.

Asgore's presentation came after a few minutes to the sound of relaxed applause and some whistling. He waved and stepped aside, and Mettaton was about to climb up again for another performance, but Papyrus hopped up and grabbed him, whispering close to his head. The metal monster couldn't conceal his surprise, but he nodded and gestured for Papyrus to take his place.

.

The tall skeleton hopped up onto the stage and put a hand to his chest. "Hello, everyone! I am! The great Papyrus! Some of you may know me from such videos as The Dark Prince and the Time Travel Princess ooooor if our timelines aren't aligning, BLACKLETTER, or, most recently, the ones where I had four arms and shot a hole into the top of the mountain!" His smile faltered just a little. "I'm up here for something faaaairly serious, so, um. I guess I'll just get right to it! Everything was so dangerous coming out of the mountain, and… and I'm so grateful that all of us are out here, safe and sound! But there was still… There was only… one casualty."

An alarmed murmur passed through the crowd and Papyrus quickly puffed himself up.

"This is a person that not many of you will have known. But! She was… a good friend of mine. And. Without her, lending me her, um… Her magic. I would never have been able to shoot the hole in the roof. So, the New Home evacuation being made safe was really thanks to her in a lot of ways." He took a deep breath. "Her… dust was lost, though, and I just thought… I wanted to put a big thank you out there for her. If that's okay?"

.

Papyrus looked to Asgore, but the huge monster was already misty-eyed. He put his paw against his chest and his soul shone. The skeleton nodded and did the same, a soft buzz of notes emanating from him.

"Her name was June and she really did her best," Papyrus said.

.

Magical gleams shone from the crowd and the energy in the air thickened, humming like the melodic tuning of instruments in an orchestra. Motes of all colours flitted up in the breeze and the crowd went quiet aside from the sounds of their souls, carried across the clearing and between the trees.

.

Gaster put his hand to his chest, the broken light of his soul shining between his blackened fingers. Sans did the same.

.

After a few moments, Papyrus straightened up and smiled, wiping the glints of amber tears from his eyes. "Thank you so much, everyone," he said. He thumped his fist over his soul spot and stuck his hand up to wave as he stepped down from the stage.

Mettaton gave him a quick hug before stepping up to take his spot. "Very heartfelt. Very lovely. Very sad," he said. "Thank you all, darling monsters. We'll get back to the concert very shortly, but first, let me play something a little slower for everyone."

.

As Mettaton pulled up a keyboard and also his bashful-looking cousin, the audience's glow began to dull and a more relaxed vibe took over, especially as a slow song started from the stage. People began to shift and mingle a little more, but Gaster sprung back into action, making a beeline towards the King, only turning back to point Sans into the woods.

"Where you found us last night," he said. "I'll handle the rest."

Sans stuck his thumb up and shifted away.

.

Sans waited the minute or so of recovery time splayed out on his back in the grass, listening to the birds and the distant, unintelligible music. He was still alone in the clearing once he could see again. He sat up stiffly, rubbing the back of his head, then lifted his shirt and stuck his hand inside his ribcage. He pulled out the roll of paper he'd taped there and double-checked it. The direction to check his texts was still there, just as he'd left it. He pulled out a pen and scribbled a quick, nonchalant apology on the back. Then, he stuck it to the inside of one of his ribs again, then leaned back to look at the sky. He took out his phone and ran SOULSCN, thunking the thing against his chest for a few seconds before checking.

.

Still draining. He'd cut into Undyne's energy a lot more than he liked, but the buffer was still solid enough that, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have had a care in the world. However, with what he knew he'd have to do to get the time machine working, he'd be shocked if he got more than one shot at it. Might be a one-and-done for him, regardless of if it worked or not.

.

Though he loathed to admit it, Papyrus, with that new red steeped within his bones, might be able to substitute for him if a second try was necessary, and if he could curl up really small. That was all they had.

.

It made him feel a bit sick, but Sans added that detail into the notes he had been sending to their sister's dead number— the one that remained uncorrupted but empty except for what he'd been spamming her with. Pure DT was needed to make the machine go, the kind that oozed from the centre of Sans's bones under the layer that was more in-sync with his soul's appearance. Gaster's would NOT work.

.

As soon as he sensed someone else coming, Sans put his phone away and easily slipped back into lethargy. Of course, it was Papyrus who found him first.

"Sans, what are you doing sitting on the ground?" Papyrus asked. "There's some perfectly good stumps!"

"S'not so bad down here," Sans said. "…Good job, huh?"

"Thank you," Papyrus said, plunking himself down in the grass beside his brother. "I talked to Boyd. He sounded pretty grateful."

"Good."

.

They didn't have to wait long before the others arrived. Every monster with the void black in their souls came along with Gaster and Toriel, plus the two teens that accompanied Suzy. Asgore and the remaining humans joined them shortly after and, finally, Alphys, who had brought as much soda as she could carry.

.

Everyone situated themselves, Alphys doled out the drinks, and Gaster stood before them, pacing back and forth swiftly.

"Relax, dear," Toriel said.

"Right. Sorry. Okay." Gaster forced himself still and he looked around at everyone. "The plan." He quickly looked at the monsters with the altered souls. "Thank you for coming, by the way."

"It's no problem, Doc," Flora said.

"Speaking for myself, but it is my pleasure to help," Opurl said. "I feel fortuitous, even though everything has been very chaotic."

.

"I hope my cover story was alright, Gaster," Asgore said bashfully.

"It was perfect," the skeleton said. "I'm sure that once we start interfering with the CORE, things will shake again, so better to be warned about it."

"This is a big thing, kids," Scathkath said with a lopsided smile. "We're fixin' the world, right, G?"

"We're… Hah. I guess that's one way of putting it," Gaster said. "Alright. Straight to it, we're going to have to make our way back to the CORE, to its lowest levels, and bring Sans's machine down there. We will have to release the hold my daughter left so we can plug that machine into the NOCTURNE. Then, Sans will have to pilot the machine in such a way that its— and his— energy will become the beacon that guides our missing kids back to us."

"Might blow up," Sans said.

"Hush, you will be fine," Toriel scolded gently.

"Hey, that could still work, though," he said. "Alph, you'll be analyzin', right?"

The lizard gulped. "Well, yeah, o-of course, but—"

"So, if it blows, don't start worryin' unless the signal never happens, is all I mean."

"You're not blowing up, Sans," Papyrus said insistently.

"Just be prepared for whatever, that's all," the short skeleton said with a shrug.

.

"So, um… Speaking of that, there's… There doesn't s-seem to be too much we can really, um… p-prepare for, in terms of the, um, CORE itself," Alphys said, "except running the cables and powering e-everything on for the machine in a practice run. Once w-we're ready to go, we'll, um, have to try to, um, disable the time loop that—"

"The one that Ghost made?" Suzy blurted. "No way, that's to keep you guys safe!"

"We have to, t-to hook up the machine, or else w-we can't get close enough to the NOCTURNE," Alphys said apologetically.

"I'm going to do my best to keep it stable with what I can manipulate," Gaster said. "And I'm… hoping with my magic, and the rest of you with void souls, we can disrupt the loop enough to break it, but it could potentially be a snag if—"

"Oh. Don't sweat that," Sans said. "I got the key."

"The…? The what?!"

.

Sans fished into his pocket and pulled out the gleaming, magic blossom he'd been carefully carrying. Suzy gasped and pointed to it.

"Yeah, Ghost left that here!" she said.

"Its pulse syncs with the time bubble the kiddo made," Sans said. "Pretty sure if I touch the two together, the loop breaks."

Gaster's shoulders sagged with relief and Alphys tittered and rubbed her face.

"Oooh, PHEW!" she said. "Okay, th-that's, like… A lot of the uncertainty gone, actually."

"When did you have time to…? Actually, forget that." Gaster smiled. "Good work."

Sans shrugged. Papyrus tentatively held out his hand and his brother handed over the flower. Cupping it carefully between both palms, he raised it up beside his head and his eyes glimmered.

"I think it has some of her song," he said.

.

"S-So, then, okay. The issue is that, the l-loop has a timespan," Alphys said. "If we c-can, um, time the release to the start of the loop, we still only have a-about three minutes to hook everything up and go before, um, something unknown happens. It could be f-fine, but it coooould also cause an eruption."

"So you'll need a lot of protection, then," Kio said. "I can help. Gaster, if we work together—"

"Right, I think that'll cover most of it," he said. "We can shore up a lot of the chamber before we even begin."

"And what about the rest of us?" Scathkath asked. "Backup? Sidelined?"

"If we don't need you all to try to shatter my daughter's time loop, then…" Gaster tapped his teeth. "Hm. You can still help to stabilize any stray magic. I think."

.

"We should have some of us in the know to protect the people at the base of the mountain as well," Toriel said. "Asgore and I…? Or, do you need me to carry the machine once again?"

"Eh, I could probably do it," Sans said.

Everyone turned surprised eyes upon him. He shrugged.

"It's just kinda clunky, but I got Undyne's arms, remember?"

"Ooooh, right, that wouldn't be a problem for her at all," Papyrus said.

"…Maybe I should go in with them," Asgore said quietly. "Just in case?"

"I'm definitely going in!" Suzy announced.

"What?!" Fey blurted. "You're going where?!"

"Suzy is… the strongest of the monsters with void in their souls," Gaster said. "But I'm… not sure if I'm comfortable asking her to—"

"You're not asking me, I'm tellin' you!" Suzy said, making her sister splutter and Holly choke on her soda. "Ghost trusted me to go in there, so if you need someone to do it, I'm doin' it!"

Gaster blinked. Sans snorted laughing and gave Suzy a thump on the back.

"She's got a point, dad," Papyrus said quietly.

.

"Alright. Alright." Gaster had to stop himself from chuckling, too. He rubbed his brow. "Then, how about we divide it like this? Kio, Suzy, and I will deal with things within the CORE; Scath, Opurl, and Flora, you protect those on the outside in case of emergency?" He focused on Scathkath. "They'll be relying on you a lot."

"What else is new?" The shadowcat shrugged and smiled. "Sounds fine to me."

"And… Do we have others? That we can rely on out there if things go sideways? Any of you?"

"Grillby," Sans said. "The dogs from Snowdin."

"Mettaton, for sure," Papyrus said.

"Oh. And Muffet, actually," Sans said.

"Any of the Guards will help without hesitation, too," Asgore assured them. "Even if they're not entirely sure what's going on."

.

"Um!" Holly stuck her hand into the air. "Sorry! But we… have no idea what's going on, either."

"Legit! But if Suzy has to go into the CORE, I can't let her do that on her own, she's just tiny!" Fey protested.

"Neither of you will be able to go where she has to without being harmed, it would be extremely irresponsible to even let you near it," Gaster said.

Both teens drooped. Toriel reached out to put her hand on Fey's back.

"Dear. She will be with the King," she said. "No harm will come to her. The powers there cannot damage her as they could you or I."

"And I promise I extra won't let anything happen to her," Papyrus said.

Fey didn't look entirely convinced. She looked at Suzy. "…You're sure?"

"Yeah," she said. "Don't worry. I'm tough!"

"But you're a kid! And what even IS this?! What's any of this?! Why are all the most important monsters in the kingdom here with…?! With us?!"

"Ghost is a kid that makes the world not fall into a big mess and she got lost with her brother so we're trying to help them get home, and then things won't be falling apart anymore!" Suzy said. "And it's super important and if we don't do it, Sans is gonna DIE!"

"Wait, it's going to kill your babysitter?!" Holly squeaked.

"YEAH!"

Fey clapped both hands to her head. "Man, this is a lot."

.

"Hey. Uh." Boyd, who had been watching quietly from afar, slid up, positioning his half-asleep daughter with Asgore. "Is there, uh… any use for… someone like me down there?"

Gaster smiled and put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Even if there might be, stay with your daughter," he said. "You've done more than enough for us. If you want, help whoever stays to watch out for the others, since you're able to detect some of the shifts." He thumped the man appreciatively on the back and then looked over everyone. "Once we release the CORE, there's no telling what'll happen. So, be careful. Keep each other updated."

"I-I'll make a chat group," Alphys said.

"And let us make sure you're all stocked up with curatives, just in case," Toriel said.

"Ooh, I can help with that!" Flora said, heading off. "Opurl, wanna do that?"

"Yes, absolutely I do," she said. She turned to Fey and Holly and smiled gently. "Come on, you two. We all want to help Suzy, don't we?"

"Well, yeah, duh," Fey said.

Opurl offered a flipper hand. "Then come with us."

The crocodaur still looked uncertain. Holly gave her a gentle nudge. Fey sighed and took Opurl's hand, and the four monsters took off back towards one of the camps.

"We'll meet you back here!" Flora called.

"Don't do anything crazy, Suz!" Fey yelled.

"I WON'T!" Suzy said. She leaned close to Sans. "Like, I might, though."

He snorted and patted her on the head.

.

"Alright." Gaster clapped his hands together. "Make any other preparations. Then, we'll go." He looked to his two oldest friends and smiled tiredly. "If I could borrow one of you for this, I would be extremely grateful."

Toriel smiled. She put her hand on Asgore's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Asgore's eyes bulged with shock.

"You… think I should go?"

"Your place is wherever you think you can help the most, Asgore," Toriel said. "I know the situation with the evacuation is weighing on you. I'll protect whatever place you cannot."

"Ah…" The King's eyes looked a little misty. "Then… Then, I think I could help the most under the mountain."

Toriel cracked a small smile and nodded. "Do what you can." She reached out to Gaster and gave him a tight hug. "You will succeed."

He sagged in her arms and held onto her tightly. "Thank you."

.

As the older monsters conferred, Sans sighed and flopped onto his back again. He stared up at the clear, blue sky and watched the puffy white clouds roll by. Papyrus slipped the flower back into his hand and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"You're not going to blow up," he said at a whisper.

Sans scoffed. "Yeah. We'll see."