I was engulfed by a bright light as I fell through the Rift. I was blinded as I passed through, tumbling out the other side across grassy ground. The ground soon disappeared from under me, and I fell right off a ledge. I instinctively summoned a bone sword and jabbed it into the ledge to stop my fall. My eyes began to recover from the blinding light, but all I saw was darkness beyond my hand holding my sword. Everything above me was just.. pitch black. I looked below me from where I was hanging and—

Holy Smokes—!

The darkness I saw above me continued down into infinity below me, a never ending void of darkness. There was absolutely nothing all around me, and more worryingly, below me. I scrambled up, using my sword as leverage, and got on solid ground. I caught my breath and calmed down, barely escaping death by endless darkness…!

I leaned over on the ground, noticing a fine silvery grass covering it. I got myself up, and saw the rest of the area was… gray. Somehow, a soft ambient light was coming from the ground, lighting the… world, enough for me to see it. Everything here was some shade of gray, the ground, grass, trees, rocks… The, sky I guess it would be called, was black. I peered beyond a clump of trees in the distance, and made out what looked like… a mountain? Is that what one looks like from the outside? Wow. Those comics I read were accurate after all.

As I took in the sights, I realized it was incredibly quiet here. There was nothing but a slight breeze, rustling the grass that covered the ground for miles, to make any noise, and it was a very soft noise, almost soothing. I put distance between me and the ledge, and stepped into this mysterious world.

Before long, I reached the trees I had spotted, finding it to be a large forest. I decided to navigate through it, but uh, I got lost rather quickly. The trees were growing around at random, but somehow, I couldn't keep myself straight by using certain ones as landmarks. I kept hitting dead ends of thick foliage, and the trees were all starting to look the same. This forest wasn't a monster built maze puzzle, but I was sure getting lost in it like one.

After wondering for an hour or more I found a tree that rose higher than most others. I decided to use it to get a better view of this lake of trees, and got myself lined up with one its highest branches, throwing myself with gravity magic up to it. I almost came up short, but managed to grab it and pull myself up. I got up onto the branch, and eased towards the trunk of the tree to brace myself on it. Once I had my balance, I looked out over the forest. And the view was certainly something. I could see in every direction from up here, for as far as my old eyes could see. I spotted the mountain from earlier in the distance, but couldn't make out any details through a gray haze, or was my vision just that bad now? Fine. I'll use the glasses…

I pulled them out of a coat pocket, and was reminded of Arial. I could hear her snapping at me about using these, heh. I ignored my concerns for her back home and got them on to see if they actually helped me any. I peered back out at the mountain and saw no difference, so the haze was a natural effect. As I glanced around, I noticed the glasses did help my vision, making the closer trees clearer, and I spotted what looked like a river beyond the forest. It flowed towards the mountain, or maybe away, I couldn't tell, and past it was what looked like a sea of sliver, possibly water reflecting the silvery light of this world. It's a'heck'lotta water if it is. Following the river back towards the mountain, I spotted… a town? Beyond that and the mountain, I saw the darkness of the sky again, as well as some faint dots that seemed to be floating, making me begin to question the physics of this world.

In fact, just looking at the flat horizon around me, I'm beginning to question a lot of things. From what I knew from reading comics and what was left of science books from the surface world, our world, the planet Earth, as a whole, was a sphere floating in empty space in a stable manner due to the strong effects of gravity generated by the sun, a star. It was called... an orbit, right. Our planet orbits the sun. Seeing no stars or anything like the sun above me, I'd say this world runs on completely different rules. But how? Is this world really just a giant plain floating in the middle of nothing? How is there even gravity here? Unless… Is the ground highly magnetic? I checked my watch and found no signs of magnetic disruption, so the magnetic field of this world wasn't any stronger than back home, or at least it wasn't enough to create a noticeable difference. Glanced at my old watch that had been stuck, and found it ticking again. And I'm not complaining, but, how did that happen? Did the Rift do something to it?

Ya'know, thinkin' back on it, I never checked if the gears had been magnetized due to the Rift overloading in the accident. It probably created a powerful magnetic field during all that before I got the CORE shut down. If it generated such a field this time as well, it could have reversed the effect, meaning, I could have fixed this thing years ago...

With a heavy sigh I peered around once more, and decided to head towards the town across the river in the distance. Maybe there were people who lived there that could help me out. If that human monster in here hadn't, well, cleared them all out...

It literally took me hours to escape the forest, but I finally made it out. I came out on the wrong side, but I was out of it, and that was all that mattered to me. I had somehow led myself to the edge of the forest that faced the river instead of the mountain, which suited me fine, as I could follow it upstream to the town without reentering that maze of sticks. It was going to be a long trek, but well worth it, I hope.

My wrist Mystrium had practically crushed began to hurt more than it already had been as I started out, so did my legs. I guess I was too hyped up on adrenaline to notice all this pain earlier, or maybe my WP was suppressing it. Regardless, I did my best to ignore it, focusing on my goal: Finding a way out of this world.

My pride, on this rare occasion, was driving me to do something right. There was justice left to carry out back home. I had to stop Mystrium and the monster, I had to assure Arial I was alright, and I had an apology to give… to more than one person... And for more than one thing...

Funny how being trapped in an alternate dimension can make you feel like absolute— hm, I need to find a more family friendly word to use... Trash? Yeah, I can use that. Can make you feel like absolute garbage. And with this long walk ahead of me, I had plenty of time to contemplate that fact...

Stars I'm such a idiot.

W.D had been right. I had grown so desperate to save the past, that I neglected the future. Entirely... I had lost myself to my pride, to that monster's influence, to my own fear. Strange how no one can save you from that, except the Star Blade, or yourself. Heh, some hero I turned out to be, I couldn't even save myself. I couldn't save anyone in the end...

A passing breeze ruffled the frizzy hood of my coat, along with the grass at my feet. I could feel my fear raising, but took deep breaths to keep myself calm. This was no time to panic, or to worry about things beyond my control. If I let my fear overtake me like it did with Sans…

Have some hope Semi'ol boy.

I reached the river and found it was a lazy one, heh. The crystal clear water slowly flowed away from the mountain, shimmering in the faint ambient light. I walked beside it, glancing over into it, seeing my reflection on the surface, and some shards of crystal at it's bottom. The sandy river bed sparkled as the water pushed it along, giving it a mesmerizing effect.

I paused from walking, taking a break really, and decided to tend to myself for a moment. I knelt down at the river's edge, seeing my bony face reflected back at me, marred by battle scars and age, including the crack in my skull I got when the Rift collapsed. Stars I look old, and the glasses aren't helping. I took them off for now, and as I held them, I was again reminded of Arial.

Oh Arial… I used them, heh.

I stuffed them back in my coat pocket, then cupped my hands to catch some water, splashing it on my face in an attempt to wash off the scuffs Mystrium had given me. The water was cool in temperature, and more importantly, clean. Wish I had time to do my clothes like Ol'Grammy did in her heyday, heh. As the water calmed, my reflection came in full view. My expression was harsh, cold, emotionless. I almost didn't believe it was me at first.

What happen to you Semi…? You use to be laid back, easy going, proud of who you were, but now… Now look at you… I really should have taken more time to self-reflect on my life before now, heh.

Heh, yeah... no joke's fixing this…

I looked back at my aged face, and could hear Ol'Grammy sternly scolding me over everything I had done. She'd probably kill me if she were here now. Sorry for not living up to your expectations of being a good guy... And breaking my promise to you... and to Mom...

Everything suddenly seemed quieter... All I could hear was the water flowing by, and the soft rustling of the grass in the breeze. I looked around, having the hope of finding someone there, but...

Nobody came.

I was exactly where Calibri said I would be.

Alone.

I lied.

I fought.

I hurt.

I killed.

All for nothing it seemed. I wasted so much time listening to my pride…! I was... so afraid of losing...

And still am, heh. Ah, but Arial will be alright, she can handle herself and take care of her family. Plus, the console for the Rift is destroyed, and it's not like anyone's going to find it and fix it. Unless Arial does, in which case, I'm going to have a long talk with her about wasting time on machines and the past when you have a family to attend to, heh. That'll turn the tables on her.

I stood up from the river bank and looked upstream towards the town. It was still some distance away, and with all this silence, I began to wonder if anyone lived in this world. Would I find anyone in that town? Or was it as quiet as these endless fields of gray? Could anyone live here? Relax Semi. Residents or not, you will get to rest up once you reach it. And boy, could I use the sleep. The past few weeks had been murder on my sleep schedule I was trying to reprogram, and the whole thing with Sans, heh, that only made it worse. That poor kid... He has no idea how much he scared me with that stunt of his. I've watched so many monsters turn because of the monster's influence, or just because of the hopelessness of the underground. For a moment, while he held out that Gaster Blaster, I could sense his soul growing colder, slowly corrupting. If Papyrus hadn't stopped him... I'm glad he did. All that time I spent training Sans up must have gotten to his head, he wanted so badly to— no, that wasn't his reason. Remember what he told you Semi?

"You call yourself a Royal Guard, but all you do is sit around while criminals get away with everything, because you never listen to anyone!" I could hear his little voice telling me. "I knew about their plan, and you weren't going to do anything about them, so I decided I would." he had told me. Then I remembered his stinging question...

"How come you never get in trouble?"

"For what?"

"Killing."

I shivered at the memory. Kid's too much like W.D. But he was right... Everyone's been right... Calibri was right about me being cruel. W.D was right about me being desperate. Arial was right about me being selfish. And Sans was right about me not caring. Heck, I'll even admit Tahoma was right to blame me for making Arial stressed out all the time! Asgore was right too, he told me to relax, not to work too hard. I ignored my own King's advice, and the Queen's; she suggested it more then he did. Was it just because I knew? Because I was the only one fighting that monster? It always felt like they didn't understand... Did they even remember...? I never spoke about it to anyone but Arial...

I really have been stressing her out then haven't I? Heh...

Just another mistake on my part I guess. I seem to make a lot of those. And when I try to fix the problem I'm hiding, it just gets worse, no matter what I do. I try to save lives, but lose them. I try to rewrite history for the better, and end up being used. I try to say I'm sorry but it— I paused for a moment...

Am I sorry...?

Do I really regret everything I've done?

Or is it too late...?

I was paralyzed with fear. I-If I wasn't actually sorry, I could never be forgiven! I-I was no better than the criminals I arrested! That I... killed...

I would be a lost cause...!

"Hey mister!" a little voice cried out, making me nearly trip over from its abruptness. "Oh wow! You're not gray! You still have a stable soul! That's awesome, good for you!" they cheered.

I stood shivering in a cold sweat, having to recover from a near mental break down. I turned to who was here and found they were a short reptile monster, raptor type, definitely a kid. They were completely gray in color, and their eyes solid white. I didn't sense a soul from them, so they were soulless. A Goner then? The kid didn't seem like those I had met before in conditions like this. They had… emotion.

"So how'd you get here?" the kid hopped toward me excited. "Did you use the Rift? I bet it was the Rift 'cause monsters can't use soul power like Human's do! But boy, it sure makes it easier I hear! What's your name? I can't remember mine, so everyone just calls me 'monster kid'! Sometimes just 'kid'! How old are you, because, no offense, you look REALLY OLD! You look tough though! Are you a Royal Guard? I hear they—"

"Kid stop!" I shouted at them. "Holy molly, one question at a time if you please..." I held my aching skull.

"S-sorry..." they shivered.

"Hey, I-I didn't mean to scare'ya kid." I quickly assured them. "I've just... had a bad day. And you have to admit, that was too much too fast for an old bones like me." I winked at them.

"Okay. So... What's your name?" they asked, perking back up a bit.

"Semi Gast—" I was about to pose with pride.

"Semi!? WHOA! Cool!" they hopped joyfully.

"While I appreciate the enthusiasm kid, we've never met so—"

"Oh but I've heard so much about you!"

"Y-you have...?"

"Yeah! My friends are always talking about you! They even said you would probably show up one day! And you have!"

"Okay...?"

"Come on! I'll take you to them! They will be happy to see you!"

The kid took off upstream, towards a bridge ahead that crossed the river to the town. I followed after them as best I could, their young legs kept them well ahead of me, plus they got that head start.

I wonder who these friends of theirs are here that know me by name?

The town wasn't as empty as I had worried it would be, to my surprise, there were actually quite a few people here, monsters, all gray like the kid, all of them Goners, meaning their souls were unstable, pretty much non-existent really. But none of them showed signs of hostility towards me like the Goners I had met with before, they just stared at me with interest as I passed by. Some were genuinely curious, some surprised, a few of them... I won't grace their expression with a description. But even those didn't seem to be ready to jump me in attack.

I kept up with the kid to a part of town that looked like it had come from the industrial era of the surface world, something the underground thankfully never experienced, for good reason. The buildings here were cramped together, yet, much neater than what I had seen in pictures from the surface, probably due to no one living in them. I can't blame anybody for that, they don't look like they can hold much.

"This is it! This is where they live!" the kid bounced up to a door. "Can you ring the doorbell?" they asked as I walked up the few steps to them.

I searched around the door and found a button beside it. I pressed it, and a chime went off inside. It was rare to find one of these in the underground, even in New Home, most monster's had a puzzle you had to solve to activate any sort of doorbell, heh. The door unlocked, and someone cracked it open to peek outside. They began to open it fully when they saw the kid, but when they saw me, they immediately shut it. Rude, heh.

"Hey, man, what's the matter? Who is it?" I heard a familiar voice ask from inside.

"It's Semi...!" the other said in a loud whisper.

"Whoa! Really? Rad!" they replied.

"No! Not rad…!"

"Why are you so scared?" someone else asked.

"Semi i-is at our doorstep! LITERALLY...!"

"Oh."

"Come on guys, he's not THAT bad!"

"Says the one who never had to face him in a fight...!"

"That I can remember."

I leaned against the door frame while I waited for them to decide what they were going to do. I recognized all their voices and knew exactly who they were. I had a lot to say to them, but I wasn't going to say it through the door. The kid looked confused by their reaction, heh, they weren't as happy to see me as they thought they would be.

"Just let him in man!" I heard them continue.

"N-no...!"

"We can't ignore him."

"Yes we can...!"

"Sure, until he blasts the door down."

Silence followed.

"Uh, if it's any comfort, I'm not going to blast the door down." I told them. "Heh, unless you're doing something illegal in this house of yours." I joked.

"Open the door guys! It's Semi! He came just like you said!" the kid told them.

The door peeked open again, and Snak, W.D's top supplier for the CORE and a serpent type monster, burst it out and met me face to face on their small porch. I winced in fear as he slithered out and rose over me. Last time he was this close he had his tail wrapped around me, crushing me like a twig. He was thankfully much more friendly this time. He had the usual happy-go-lucky look about him, and still wore his feathered hair in a mohawk style at the back of his head. He was just as gray as everyone else here, and I sensed that his soul, as well as the other two, were all in the same non-existent state.

"It really is you! You did show up!" he pressed in closer to me with a big smile.

"Yup." I winked and saluted, trying not to let my nervousness show.

"This could be good, or bad." Clay, one of W.D's assistants, said as they looked at me from inside.

He was a short guy, a ground type monster with a humanoid form. His expressions were always lifeless, and his humor dry like the rocks he summoned. The worse he ever did to me during the reset war was trap me in a theater where I was forced to watch a poorly written play about rocks. It was a romance too.

"Can't exactly blame you for being suspicious." I replied to him.

"Oh we are f-far more then suspicious Semi." Specs nervously straightened his glasses.

Specs. W.D's right-hand man, and top student. A feline type monster who was a pain to deal with during the resets. He was always nervous and fumbling around, but he was a genius at heart, and never liked being the center of attention. He never retained his memories over resets either, but W.D kept him up to speed on what to expect from me, leading to us having a fair share of encounters and battles...

"Understandable." I said with some distrust.

"Hey! We should celebrate!" the kid shouted out. "Let's break out the tea and cookies!" they smiled.

Specs groaned and looked down at Clay, who shrugged and walked towards what I could see was the kitchen. Snak grabbed the kid with his tail and plopped them on his back, slithering inside with them riding. Specs held the door open for me, and waited for me to make my move. I felt a little uneasy walking in, especially with him watching me, but I passed the threshold into the house without incident.

Clay had the tea out and ready by the time I reached the small living room of the house, and Snak had fetched some cookies for everyone. The tea was gray I found out; boring and bland looking like the rest of this world. The cookies were the same, don't know why I was expecting anything else. I got a cup of tea and did a quick taste test. It tasted about the way it looked, even after dipping one of the cookies into it, it was just bland. This put a whole new meaning into the name Earl Gray tea, heh. The kid hopped up onto the couch next to me and scoffed down a bowl cookies that were handed them. I tried to dodge the crumbs, but they were flying out from the bowl like pop rockets. The others sat on a couch across the coffee table from us, Specs keeping a sharp eye on me I noticed.

"So how'd you get here Sem'ster?" Snak asked as he settled his long body into a comfortable coil on the couch.

"The Rift." I answered, looking between him and the others as I worried about their reaction.

Specs choked on his tea.

"How?" Clay plainly asked.

"Well, I was going to disable the thing, but uh, Mystrium showed up, after missing for 30 something years, and—"

"The Rift is here!" Specs shouted. "The Rift imploded on itself and it was brought here! There is no possible way you could have used it!" he argued.

"Oh, well ya'see, I rebuilt it." I smiled, knowing that'd throw him for a loop. Everyone looked at me in total shock and disbelief. "At least I know what happened to W.D's version of it now. I couldn't figure out where the thing went when I returned and found the whole complex missing. I was expecting to find charred circuit boards, not a huge hole." I laughed.

Specs dropped his tea cup to the floor in shock.

"Y-you rebuilt... the Rift… from the ground up?" he was in utter disbelief.

"Took me close 30 years but I did it." I winked. "I mean, I'm not a genius like my brother was, but I know how to read blueprints." I stated. Specs stared off in disbelief, his glasses sliding down off his face, and Snak gave him a few pokes to try and snap him out of it. "Good to know the original exists here." I spun the tea in my cup around. "Gives me a way home." I winked.

"Eh, actually—" Snak began, cut off by Specs.

"You should not n-need the Rift." Specs interrupted.

I looked at him with suspicion as I took a sip of tea. It was easy to tell when he was lying about something. Or in this instance, hiding something.

"You... still have it, don't you?" he asked with a tinge of fear in his expression.

"Have wha—? Oh, Will Power." I realized. "You're right. That's how this works isn't it? I come here, and bring myself back to a different location, the surface!" I explained to myself out loud.

"IF you h-have enough, that is." he quickly explained.

"Well... I was able to traverse space across the underground a couple of times... So I must be close." I shrugged.

"I-I would suggest trying that first." he straightened his glasses.

I set my tea down and nabbed a cookie to go. I decided this was too cramped an area to try to wrap around in, and decided the empty streets just outside would be a better location. I didn't need anyone getting caught in the effect, or who knows what would happen. Using my WP to go from one place to another was never easy, and I really only managed to make it work a couple of times, and that was across the same dimension, this time, I would be going from one dimension to another, a self powered rift in a way. I questioned if that was possible for me alone. The Rift required tremendous power to create a stable portal between worlds, but that wasn't exactly what I was doing here, so maybe with my soul power alone I could manage to get myself back home. Hopefully without inflicting too much damage to my soul in the process.

I headed for the front door and immediately felt a surge of pain shoot through me from all the damage Mystrium had given me. I made the mistake of leaning against the wall with my injured hand, and as soon as I leaned my weight into it, pain shot up my arm from my wrist. I pulled it back and leaned my back against the wall, nearly falling to the floor. I looked my wrist over and found the bones making it up pretty well cracked. Mystrium did more damage to it than I thought he did. If I attempted to cross dimensions by soul power alone with all this damage... I'd probably not make it.

"Is it possible for you to use healing magic by any chance?" I asked the others.

They all shook their heads, looking at me with some measure of concern. I'd have to wait for this all to heal naturally I guess, and that could take days. Too bad it's not possible to cast healing magic on myself...

"Ou! Is he going to stay here with you guys?!" the kid asked them.

"There is a spare bedroom upstairs..." Specs groaned.

"I'll show him!" Snak slithered past me towards the stairs. "This way old man!" he gestured with his tail.

"I ain't old—!" I snapped back.

"You're definitely older than I remember..." he whispered, thinking I wouldn't hear him.

I ignored it. And followed him upstairs to get some rest.

The Next Day...

"So is there a king, or do you all just make your own rules?" I asked a local resident I had managed to start a conversation with.

She stood quiet for a moment as a group of monsters walked by down the busy, yet, still so quiet street. The area here was set up as a market place, with stalls offering stuff from food to building materials, none of which was for sale in the traditional sense. Around here, you took what you found and traded it for what you needed, or wanted. The monster I was speaking to, a fuzzy bear type, was selling freshly baked bread rolls, and they were one of the reasons I walked over here to talk with her.

She didn't answer my question to her right away, instead glancing down the road, towards the mountain. I glanced at it myself to find what she was looking at, and found there was a castle on the side of the mountain. The mountain's odd shaped peak loomed over it, making is all seem kinda ominous.

"No." she finally answered.

"I don't mean any offense by the question, I think it's really neat what you got set up here. Everyone seems to have an understanding between each other." I told her apologetically.

"We do. Life here is quite unpredictable." she told me.

"I'm sure it is. Stuff popping in and out at between dimensions at random must make planning a pain." I snickered. She didn't seem to share my sense of humor. "So, uh..." the scene was a bit uneasy now. "How long you been here?" I decided to ask.

"Since before this town was formed. I come from ages long ago, before many others that came here after me." she explained, oddly comfortable answering the question.

"So you're from the past?" I asked in surprise.

"Compared to where you have come from perhaps." she nodded.

"You remember a year? I'm from around the year 2000." I asked her.

"650 I believe was the year I last heard." she told me.

I had... no reply for that. No wonder her dress and mannerism was like something straight out of a history book. It explained all the varied styles everyone else was wearing too. I can't imagine what it must be like to be pulled from some ancient time and dropped here, a place that's a mixture of multiple eras.

"You are from far in the future it seems." she looked at me curiously. "Tell me, what is it like, thousands of years later?" she asked with interest.

"Oh... probably not much different from your time." I shrugged, not wanting to tell her about things that might, you know, blow her mind. "Asgore is still King." I thought of, that fact had been true for a long enough time to be the same in both eras.

"Who?" she asked.

"H-he's a great guy, trust me." I nervously replied. Guess Asgore's notthat old."Say, uh, whadda'ya want for one of these rolls?" I quickly asked to change the subject.

"You can take one for yourself if you like, in exchange for a story about the future." she smiled.

A story? Heh, I think I can afford that. I'll have to think of one that doesn't mention the fact that monsters are sealed underground. I don't want her to feel depressed about the future.

I dug around my memories, and thought of one event I could tell as a story to her. I began the story, explaining how I was part of an elite force that served the king, and how I got kidnapped by some old enemies of mine while on patrol one day. They had a revenge plan for me, and made it look like I had been killed then they kidnapped me. Everyone believed their ruse, except for Calibri, who made her own investigation into what had really happened, and where I was. She had to go undercover and everything to reach me, and fought beside me to break me out of the gang's hideout. That woman had a strong arm, and a solid frying pan, heh. I was honored to have been rescued by such a clever and strong willed lady knight, which, was funny, because she always called meher knight in shining armor, heh.

The lady was happy with my tale of loyalty and bravery, and offered me multiple bread rolls, but I agreed to just one and left her smiling. I wish my smile was as genuine as hers, because despite the happy tale I told, I was hurt by it more than anything. It painfully reminded me of a friend I had lost...

I managed to chat up other locals throughout the day, getting their story of what they last remembered before arriving here. One told me the last thing he remembered was walking in a forest known for eating people, cursing them to walk its maze for all eternity. He was glad he ended up here instead, so was I. Everyone here was pulled in from different eras of time, along with the buildings. Every intersection had a variety of buildings and people to see and meet, but I sadly didn't have the time to get to know them all in detail.

I did however, have time to check out the castle on the mountain side. At the edge of town I could see the entire mountain and castle complex, which, was quite large. I couldn't tell if it had been built on a mountain side, or if it just happened to appear on one in this dimension. The river flowed under a land bridge behind it, which connected it with another large building, even with my glasses on I couldn't make out any details about it. The entrance to the complex was a winding trail through broken down gates and walls, all of which looked like they had been purposely destroyed. The castle itself had what looked like battle damage as well, giving me the impression that, at one time, it must have been under siege. Wonder if that was before or after it ended up here?

The Next Day...

According to my watch anyway.

All the clocks around here were showing different times, but no one really seemed to care, and just like in the underground, there wasn't an actual night and day cycle to go by; no sun, no moon, no stars... Made it kinda hard to tell how much sleep I was actually getting. It didn't feel like much with the dreams I was having. Dreams, heh, more like nightmares...

"Ou! What about this one?" the monster kid hopped up to a strange looking flower along the path we were walking.

Ever since I identified one plant for this kid, they just assumed I knew them all. Here at the edge of town there were tons of them, but my plant knowledge was limited to the commonly known varieties, so I was giving the kid vague answers a majority of the time they asked. I already tried to tell them I didn't know every bloomin' flower in existence, but that didn't stop them, heh. I appeased the kid as well as I could with my limited knowledge, not wanting to push them away from some positive interaction. Kid probably gets pretty lonely around here.

I stopped to see which plant they were asking about now. It was tall, had slender petals and leaves, and had an odd bloom at the end. I recognized it but couldn't recall its name. Calibri used to have one planted around the house I remembered, but I had no clue what she called it. You'd think I'd know more about plants after being married to an expert gardener, heh. I tried to think of a made up name for it, but… my conscience wouldn't let me even joke about knowing what it was. Where were you all those times I told real lies?

"I dunno know kid." I replied as I had before with others.

"Okay. Uh, how 'bout this one?" they found another one.

It was a low-lying flower that spread its leaves and petals out like a fancy rug. I recognized it being native to Hotland, but wasn't entirely sure on the name.

"I think that's a Lava Flower." I said with uncertainty. "I remember seeing them in Hotland." I told the kid.

"Cool!" they hopped excited, before running on ahead to search for more.

I kept a steady pace behind them, not wanting to wear myself out as I continued to recover from my injuries. My wrist was still hurting, despite the wrappings and herbs one of the folks in town had put around it. I still felt a bit stiff all over too. Sleeping wasn't helping me recover as much as I had been hoping it would. I wasn't used to being injured like this for more then a day I'll admit, I'd grown spoiled to instant healing magic from Toriel.

"What's this one?" the kid asked as I caught up to him.

"I don't know kid." I answered, not recognizing it at all, and kept on walking.

The kid wasn't deterred and set off again ahead of me in search of other plants. Their energy made me think of Papyrus, heh. Ah, Papyrus. And Sans... I had made some peace with Specs and the others over the resets earlier today, now I wished more than ever I could do the same with Sans. But, we were literally worlds apart right now, heh...

"Check this one out Semi!" the kid prompted me.

I saw them standing next to a bunch of flowers I didn't recognize at all. Were they from the surface world perhaps? I noticed others nearby, very few I recognized. It was a big mishmash of flowers, all different shades of gray in this world. I could probably start my own garden using all these flowers, heh...

Calibri… I sure miss you...

The Next Day...

Three days I'd been here just about now, according to both my watches.

Specs asked when I would attempt to leave using WP, and my answer was… vague. I, admittedly, was afraid to try it, but I didn't tell him that. I used my injuries as an excuse, and he accepted it. I think.

I washed up before heading out, and got to have a good look at myself in the mirror. I traced out old scars in my skull as I looked myself over, scrapes, scuffs, dents, small cracks— I had no idea this was how rough I looked, even after having healing magic used on me countless times. The worst of it was the crack across the top of my skull, a very painful reminder of what happened to W.D, and myself… Not even Toriel's magic could mend it it was so bad.

Stars you're a mess ol'boy, did you know that?

Not until today apparently.

I headed out, finding a few of the folks remembering me and being a bit more sociable now. I decided that for today, I would try to figure out the history of this town. Someone around here must have arrived before all these buildings. The more I asked around though, the more complicated the history got. The castle however was a permanent feature in every tale I was told, as far as everyone I talked to knew, it had been here long before anything else. No one I found recognized it from their own time, and I discovered I was the only one who had come here from so far in the future. Trying to figure out everyone's eras and appearances here was… tiring...

As I made my way back to the house, I ran into someone I hadn't met yet. They were short, and had a head full of hair that hid their face. They also wore a striped shirt, that had color…? Something struck me as odd about them, I couldn't tell what type of monster they were, and I sensed no soul, yet, they had color on them like they had one. Unless… I'll have to find out.

"Hey there!" I greeted them in a friendly manner.

They stood motionless, and expressionless, down the road.

"Name's Semi, short stuff." I winked. "You got yourself a name?" I asked.

They didn't respond, didn't even move. I hope they understand me. I was speaking the right language, I think. With monsters here coming from all eras and places, it wasn't uncommon to run into some who spoke a different language. I decided to try some greetings I knew, just in case.

"Hola?" I said in Human Spanish. "Bonjour? Hallo? Gia? Salam?" I tried. Still nothing. "OhoyÔ gozaimasu?" I recalled from a cartoon show I saw once. I think it meant hello. I tried Old Mons too, just to be sure.

No response to any of them. Wonder if they can see my hands through their hair? I think I remember the sign for hello in sign language. Drat, I don't remember how to sign my name out though.

"You have a soul." they finally spoke.

"Hey! You can talk! And in English!" I said with some relief.

They immediately rushed me in attack with a knife. I dodged their strike and grabbed their hand, forcing them to drop the knife. They shoved me to the side and picked it back up, wasting no time attacking me again. I caught sight of their eyes behind their hair at one point, seeing nothing but blackness in them. I also got a good look at their face overall. This was a human...! But how? What happened to their soul?

I dodged another attack, their knife slicing down right in front of my face.

This isn't how I expected my first encounter with a live human to be.

Dodging their attacks became more of a struggle as this fight continued. The kid didn't let up for a second; they were relentless! And the more I dodged them, the more frustrated they got. I waited for an opening and soon got it after they missed an attack. I hit them dead center with a bone attack, knocking them back across the brick street. They held onto their weapon, getting right back up ready to keep attacking.

"What in the underground kid—?" I caught my breath while I could.

"Don't move." they calmly told me.

"Uh, NO." I refused.

Their eyes flashed, along with the tip of their sharp knife, and they came at me again. Their swings were precise, and fast, they obviously had experience with battling. Just what has this kid done to gain that experience? I kept up with their movements, countering when I could, because this kid didn't do battle in turns the traditional way, heh, cheater.

Their knife swiped by my face more then once, and they dodged my shots by a hair each time, getting glazed by them at best. My instincts were telling me to end this quick with one big attack, but... some other side of my mind was holding me back. I didn't want to HAVE to kill the kid if I could help it, but, at this rate, I'll tire out before they ever consider stopping. I just kept staying ahead of them as well as I could. In time, I found the opening I needed, and I only had a fraction of a moment to take it.

They made their attack with the knife and I dodged under it, coming up with a kick to knock them back, while swiping the blade from their grasp. They came charging back, but I stopped them by summoning a Gaster Blaster as a scare tactic, and it stopped them on the spot.

"And that my friend, hu, is why you don't pick battles... with everyone you see..." I panted, also wincing from the pain of the knife I had grabbed by the blade.

I had grabbed it with my bad wrist too, and it felt worse then ever now. I glanced down at my hand to check, and saw WP drip from my hand to the ground, along with some magical dust. Guess I'll be going back to the local medical monster...

The human stepped back from the blaster, looking at it in terror. Maybe the blaster was a bit much. I recalled it and and cautiously walked towards the kid, slipping the knife between my belt at my back.

"Ya'alright kid?" I asked them, wincing in pain again from my hand. They clenched their teeth as tears fell from their eyes. "I didn't just activate some kind of trauma for you did I?" I said with concern.

"I-I'm sorry..." they cried.

"Uh, forget it." I told them, confused by their sudden change in attitude. "Wanna try that intro again to make up for it?" I suggested with a wink, holding my hand out to them.

"I'm sorry...!" they gasped, clenching their fists and looking at the ground.

I wasn't too sure what to do from here. How and why did they just go from murderer to... a kid?

"Hey uh... it's alright." I assured them, trying not to sound afraid of them.

This could be a trap after all...

"You were right. I should have listened to you." they admitted. "You tried to help me, all of them did..." they continued before I could make a reply.

My fatherly instincts kicked in to help them, but I had no idea how. The kid had issues, clearly, but I had no idea why, how, when it started, who was involved, who they were apologizing to, or who they even were. The situation reminded me of Sans. I had left him crying last we saw each other…

I took advantage of the chance to not make the same mistake twice.

I knelt down and tried to see their face behind their hair, reaching up and gently pushing it aside to see them, they looked back at me teary eyed. I put a hand on their shoulder, smiling to reassure them, even though I felt an uneasy fear towards them.

"You're not Sans... are you...?" they asked.

"No, I'm not. Is that who you were apologizing too?" I asked.

I'm not going to ask how it is they know Sans.

"Who—" they almost asked. "It doesn't matter..." they huffed in anger. "I'm such a coward...!" they shook their head.

"Kid, you just charged at a random monster without any hesitation, armed only with a knife." I reminded them. They grunted at me, annoyed. "Chin up kiddo." I flicked their chin up. "Sans is pretty good when it comes to forgiveness. He's put up with a lot..." I thought of myself. "I'm sure he would forgive you were he here." I winked.

They burst into tears and hugged me, catching me off guard. As they sobbed on my shoulder, I reached around and pat their hairy head. Then I held them, as if they were Sans. I wish they were him...

"Easy kiddo, easy..." I comforted them.

"How are you not afraid of me...?" they sniffled.

"Heh, don'worry. I am." I chuckled in fear, realizing they could easily take their knife from my back and kill me right now. "But that's not going to stop me from trying to help you." I kept calm. "After all..." I paused, thinking of what I had heard Papyrus tell Sans in that alley incident. "Everyone is capable of being a good person. They just have to be willing to try." I repeated the thought behind his words.

The human held me tighter. I could sense their fear behind the sadness. It was overwhelming, corrupting even. Is that what happened to them, and their soul? I let them cry their eyes out all they wanted, and offered for them to come with me back to the house. They didn't say either way about it, so I just got them on my back and carried them there with me. Papyrus' words, haunted me the way there.

Anyone can be good, I thought to myself...

All they have to do is try...

The Next Day...

I slammed a plate of scrambled eggs on the table in front of the human. They glanced up from their seat at it for a moment, but didn't seem to show any interest. Everyone else in the room was in awe of my breakfast. It was the family favorite combo of scrambled eggs, toast with jam, and cut fruit to boot.

"W-where did you acquire eggs Semi?" Specs asked with surprise.

"My secret four-eyes." I winked at him. "Order up kiddo! Don't worry about manners with me, just dig in!" I encouraged as I slid a fork across the table to them.

They picked it up and looked at it for a moment. They touched their finger to its tips, then looked at everyone with a creepy smile. Everyone flinched in fear.

"If you're going to murder someone kid murder those eggs. Soul or not you need to eat." I leaned on the table towards them. They kept smiling, staring... "You have got some serious issues my child." I noted.

They winced, and their creepy smile disappeared. They turned their focus to the food, and finally began eating it.

"Out of 10 how does it taste?" I asked them.

"2." they plainly answered. I thought I did pretty good… "Compared to Mom's cooking anyway." they ate another hearty mouth full.

"Not gonna argue with'ya there. Nothin' beats a mother's cooking." I winked.

"Nothing except... chocolate." they got tense and wild eyed.

"I guess..." I replied with some concern.

"Semi." Specs whispered. "They really should not be here. They are merciless...!" they told me.

"Oh come off it Specs. They're a kid." I replied with a gesture towards them, the id chompin' down like they hadn't eaten in weeks. "We survived the night didn't we?" I reminded him.

"That's because you locked them in the bathroom." Clay stated.

"And it worked didn't it?" I laughed, trying not to let my fear of this kid show.

Think positive Semi. They may be murderous, but they're still a kid, HEH. I got to build trust with them, and fear isn't going to help with that. The kid finished eating about then, and was now staring this way again with the fork ready.

"Hey, good job bucko! You cleaned that plate quick!" I cheered. "What say you we go walk it off while we search for lunch? Might help me work off this excess dad energy I'm generating, heh." I offered with a snicker at myself.

They put the fork down, to everyone's surprise.

"Sure." they answered.

Needless to say, we both got some weird looks walking around town. Everyone knew this kid it seemed, and were pretty afraid of them. I managed to get some stuff traded between folks regardless, and I think the human actually made some friends with my help, heh. The kid didn't always appreciate my efforts to help them with that, and I got quite a few punches to the arm for it. They obviously weren't learning any lessons from me.

"So..." I began, my mouth full of fruit as we walked down the main road through town. "You still haven't told me your name. Or how you know Sans." I said. They didn't answer. "Aw come on kiddo." I nudged at them with my elbow. "Aren't we friends now?" I laughed. Still nothing. "Alright, keep it to yourself. It's not like I helped you out and gave you a bed and food and—"

They punched my arm. Hard. It felt like they had nearly shattered my arm.

"You ask too many questions." they said.

"And you got anger issues. I'm just askin' so I can help'ya out kid do you want it or not?" I replied, finally getting irritated with them.

"There is only one way you can help me." they stated.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"Get my soul back." they answered.

"Your soul? You know where it is then?"

They nodded to me and walked on down the road. I rubbed my arm and followed them with interest. Was getting someone's soul back even possible? They led me to the edge of town where the castle was. The kid was like a statue as they stared at it in the distance. I got the sense that they knew something about it, other than where their soul was within it.

"Do you know what's in there?" they asked me.

I propped my foot up on a nearby rock and gazed out at the ancient castle. For a split-second, along the wall of the castle itself, I thought I saw movement. Someone in town had told me some monsters lived up there, but I had never seen any signs of life around it before, until just now. It obviously was not the abandoned rock I thought it was.

"Your soul apparently." I answered as I put my glasses on. "Someone told me some monsters live there as well." I stated, scanning the castle wall for movement.

"There is more then that. But my soul is in there, somewhere, guarded by lifeless husks." they explained.

"Husks...?" I asked in fear.

"Monsters who lost not just their soul, but who they were. They are commanded by the half of the Dark Monster's soul that exists here." they told me.

"The human." I realized.

"I hate that guy..." they growled.

"You're not alone." I replied as I thought about having to face him.

"If you can get my soul back from him, I could get you back home." they stated.

"You could?" I asked.

"Yes." they answered.

I leaned forward and thought it over. It would be risky for me to try and get home on my power alone, even fully healed. A human soul, with all their WP, would be VERY helpful. But could they really take me back? Or was this some kind of trick?

"Promise?" I tested them.

They nodded.

"I didn't hear'ya, speak up." I gestured at them.

"I promise." they looked at me. "That monster will pay for what it has done one way or another." they stated angrily.

"What? Does he owe you some money?" I laughed.

"No, but it owes us both our lives." they stated.

"Whoa there, no need to get serious."

"This IS serious! That monster will keep destroying until there is nothing left if someone doesn't stop it! And after the sorry failure of Frisk, there may not be anyone strong enough to defeat it now…!"

"Frisk?"

"You're the only one still intact in this world, and the only one brave enough to face the monsters in that castle, so you have to go get my soul!"

"Brave enough? Is that why you haven't gone and gotten it back yourself?"

"If I had my soul, I'd be tearing that castle apart right now."

"If you had your soul you'd be corrupted with fear I think."

They grew quiet...

"Alright." I stepped off the rock. "Any hints on where exactly it is in there?" I asked.

They took their time before answering me.

"Try the library." they said.

"Which is... which side?" I looked the castle over.

They peered around the castle.

"There." they pointed. "Those windows there lead into the library." they stated.

"That makes it easy then." I spotted it. "Let's see... I should be able to scale that cliff side… a quick flip of gravity and I can reach the windows easily enough." I began to plan.

"Semi." the kid prompted me. "Me and Sans were friends, once." they said somberly. "If you make it out of this world... tell him I said —that Chara says— they're sorry for ignoring his warnings." they told me.

"Will do kiddo..." I replied with greater concern for them.