Chapter 4:

Upon entering the chilly atmosphere of Snowdin forest, I got a bit of a chill as I then knew I wanted to have a small bit of fun with the camera in the bush. I proceeded into the bush and looked through the lens at Chara, who was outside of it and in its pathway... yet the camera didn't pick her up. Just her shadow. "Hmm... Idea time," I smirked as I then simply poked one finger to the camera and, in an instant, it then showed Chara through the lens, which is what I wanted.

"What are you planning by doing this, Indie?" Chara asked in confusion.

"Just wanted to give the one who put this camera here a great surprise to look forward to. No harm done," I smiled as I had to wonder what was going through the weeb dinosaur's head at this moment.

Alphys POV:

When I saw that one of the cameras picked up movement outside of the big door to the Ruins, I definitely wasn't expecting what I did. It was a human girl, one that looked more like a grown up than a child... and it wasn't who I was used to seeing... I knew enough to know that it wasn't Frisk at all.

"W-Who is that?" I asked in curiosity as they then got behind the camera and I was a bit confused... but then, whenever the camera got bumped by something, I spat my soda out of my mouth in pure shock. It was CHARA! The child that started all of this all those years ago!... But she looked partially see-through as she then spoke.

"What are you planning by doing this, Indie?" she asked, which made me confused.

"Just wanted to give the one who put this camera here a great surprise to look forward to. No harm done," the grown up female human said, me being a bit perplexed and deciding that I might need to observe these two with all the other cameras I had set up around the place.

"S-Shouldn't be too hard... right?... Maybe it'd be wise not to alert Asgore th-" I said before, out of nowhere, the camera stopped showing Chara... almost as if she disappeared in the blink of an eye! But then I saw a finger touch part of the lens and I saw Chara again... and once removed, she disappeared. "What the hell?" I asked in confusion.

"Seems it also works for cameras, kid. Anything I touch, they can see you... damn, this FUN stuff is starting to get a little confusing," she said, me gasping at that.

"S-She has... FUN?... Dammit, this is going to be tricky..." I said with worry, wondering just what kind of person this female human was... I had to start getting prepared for her arrival, though, so I proceeded to get myself some of the instant noodles in my fridge and I started to cook them up... very false advertising, humans. They weren't instant at all..

Indie POV:

Shortly after finding the camera, I then went down the long snowy path and came across the twig that was in the middle of the road... which was actually a very thick branch. I simply ignored it and continued forward for a couple inches until I heard the loud snapping sound, which I immediately turned around just in time to see Sans's shadowy figure retreating via teleportation.

"I saw you! Come on out and meet me face-to-face!" I exclaimed, hoping he'd do that... and just as I expected, I heard a very deep, menacing voice from behind me.

"Human... turn around and shake my hand," Sans said, me doing something different and forming my hand into a fist, giving him a knuckle bump instead and him simply smirking at that. "not gonna fall for that old trick, huh?" Sans asked with his much more laid back voice... and now I heard nothing but lowercase letters. I may need to get used to that at some point.

"I've seen this outcome a lot of times... hey, you think you can pause time for a short bit? I have some private things to talk to you about," I said, Sans looking at me with a frown, but me seeing the place freeze all around us and a small spotlight being on myself and Sans.

"how did you know that i can freeze time?" he asked.

"Because I'm what you may call the one behind the screen... the one who determined the outcome every single time from my personal experiences," I said, Sans sighing as I saw his eyes go blank.

"Did you ever do a Genocide path, little missy?" he asked angrily, me not really being intimidated by him.

"I refused to even lay a hand on any of the monsters during my runs... but someone brought me to this world to try and prevent the time loops from happening ever again. Someone that you should know very well, since you have a picture of him at your place with the words 'don't forget' next to it," I said, Sans gasping and shushing me soon after with his bony finger... but only then did he notice Chara was with me, his eyes opening to be their little beady pupils again.

"so you also have the kid on your side, huh? that's a laugh. so what questions did you want to ask me?" Sans asked.

"I wanted to ask you if you happened to know any possible way to have it so that Chara and Asriel can have a happy ending in this adventure, via them being resurrected as their old selves. I was told by your dad that it'd be the only way for this world to be freed of any and all resets," I said, Sans sighing and simply smiling with his eyes closed.

"my pops, huh? i can't ever forget him... mostly because of the fact that a part of him is what makes me able to be alive," Sans said.

"Yeah, because you're inhabiting Chara's old skeleton frame, right?" I said, Sans smiling at that.

"yep. you also had a weird sense in fashion, kid, so i just left your clothes in the dirt and got my own clothes in snowdin," Sans said, Chara frowning at him.

"So are we done conversing in secrecy?" Chara asked.

"i think so... unless you had any other questions?" Sans asked me.

"Only one... how do you think we can go about reviving Chara and Asriel? Because I have no fucking clue," I said, Sans smirking at that again.

"there is one way... but it'd have to be near the end of the adventure... you'll need to get one of the souls of the humans in asgore's care and give it to chara. once she has a human soul in her again, she'll return to her old, normal self... just without clothes on her," Sans said, Chara blushing a bit at that. "as for asriel... you're going to need to convince him to keep the 6 human souls inside of him when he destroys the barrier, while also freeing the monsters' souls. he'll stay in his goat form after that, but he'll need a substitution of a monsters' soul, just to give the human souls a bit of peace after death... so you'll need to find someone that'd be willing to offer their life to give their soul to asriel," Sans said, me thinking hard about that and actually remembering a small AU animation that had that happen in it.

"I think I got you... I'll have to try and find someone that'd be willing to help resurrect Asriel at the cost of their life... that's going to be hard to do, I'll admit," I said with a sigh.

"Or, I have another idea," Chara said, Sans looking at her in confusion. "You have a soul, Sans... and that body you're in used to belong to me. Put one of those human souls in that skeletal body, then you give your own soul in exchange for it. That way you'll be able to have a soul and still be alive," Chara said, Sans smirking at that.

"y'know? i think that's one of the best ideas i've heard in my life... i'd shake your hand, but if i may be brutally honest, i don't like you. at all," Sans said as his eyes turned pitch black, Chara frowning at that. I knew what he was talking about. The fact that, for every single Genocide run committed by other players, Chara was always the one to make the finishing blow to both Sans and the entire world.

"Okay, you can have time flow freely again, Sans," I said, him doing so and smirking.

"oop, i think i see my bro coming from over there. follow me," Sans said as he led me through the wide gate and I saw that there was a lamp for me, but it was way too small for me to hide behind. "quick, behind my sentry post," Sans said, me nodding and doing so, only to see that it had a bunch of hot dogs there as well as mustard, ketchup, relish, even... chocolate syrup? I decided to grab one and have a small bite to eat while I silently watched the scene unfold in front of me.

"hey bro. 'sup?" Sans asked with his usual lowercase mannerisms. As for his brother, Papyrus?

"YOU KNOW WHAT'S SUP, BROTHER! IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVE NEGLECTED TO RECALIBRATE YOUR PUZZLES! YOU JUST STAND AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!" Papyrus spoke in all capital letters, despite his voice being at a regular volume... I still wasn't used to actually hearing the letters in their different caps.

"starin' at this lamp. it's really cool. you want to look?" Sans asked as Chara then smirked at the banter as I finished my hot dog happily. Sure, it was a vegetarian one, but it tasted just like the real deal.

"NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH? I HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO CAPTURE IT! I MUST BE THE ONE! THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WANTED. I WILL BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD, I WILL GET A HEDGE CARVED IN THE SHAPE OF MY LIKENESS! AND MAYBE, I WILL ALSO HAVE PEOPLE ASKING TO BE MY FRIEND... I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING!" Papyrus said as I could see his head getting bigger... figuratively, of course. I was talking about his ego.

"hmm... maybe this lamp could help you out?" Sans smiled, Papyrus's reaction being priceless.

"SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING, YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"hey, take it easy. i've gotten a ton of work done today... a skele-ton!" Sans smirked as I could actually hear the rim shot soon after and I face-palmed. I hated to admit it, but while I liked Sans, I hated his dumb puns.

"SANS!" Papyrus exclaimed in annoyance.

"come on, you're smiling," Sans chuckled as Papyrus groaned.

"I AM AND I HATE IT! UGH, WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS I HAVE TO WORK SO HARD JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION?" Papyrus asked in annoyance.

"wow. sounds like you're really working yourself... down to the bone!" Sans said, followed by another rim shot. I simply grabbed a bit of snow from behind the stand and threw it at Sans's face, him being virtually unfazed by it, but I did make sure to hide behind the stand in case Papyrus was looking.

"HAHA! NOW, THAT WAS FUNNY!" Papyrus laughed, which Sans smirked at.

"looks like i got beat by an unknown snowball thrower," Sans smiled.

"AND AS FOR YOUR WORK... PUT A LITTLE MORE BACKBONE INTO IT! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEHE!" Papyrus sneered before he came back for one final "HEH!" and I waited until Sans gave the go-ahead.

"okay, it's safe. come on out," Sans said, me smirking at that as I did so and Sans smiled at me... in fact, I don't think he had the ability to form a frown. "i didn't expect you to get him to laugh at something, but i guess that it's the price i pay for punning, huh?" Sans asked.

"Gonna be honest, if that stand there had any tomatoes, I would've thrown one of them at you instead. You know, like people do at those comedy shows?" I smirked, Sans chuckling at that.

"hehehehe... yeah, i get tomatoes thrown at me more often than i'd like to admit... both in this world and the one you come from... i could tell just by lookin' at you that you came from the other universe... the one that dictates the time loops and whatnot."

"I do... so now I gotta go and befriend your brother, right?" I smirked, Sans smirking at that.

"you're a step ahead of the game, i see... alright, i'll see you in a bit. i'm gonna take a shortcut," Sans said as he then went to the left and I saw that he had disappeared into thin air.

"Man, I wish I could teleport. It'd be a super cool power to have," I smiled widely.

"Well, if you want to learn magic, this world can help you out with that. Just be prepared to have a ton of failures in performing any kind of magic other than the basics, because most humans suck at that stuff," Chara said to me.

"I believe it," I smirked at her.