I figured I'd update at least one of my stories this month, and for some reason, you all love this, so why not update it!


Cross stood in the empty world, arms crossed in thought. "So... other Alternative Universes exist?"

"He was in one like an hour ago." Chara groaned, dropping his face into the carpet, feeling exasperated with Cross not even a minute into hearing the conversation.

"Isn't it wonderful?"XChara asked, phantom form floating beside Cross, a childlike smile on his face. "While you were spending all your time talking to your buddy Ink, I decided to analyze these Alternate Universes. There are a lot of worlds that we can 'visit' ... but I'm only interested in a few of them."

Outer glanced at Chara before looking at Stretch, realizing that if they were here, their worlds would be paid a 'visit' as well.

"Heh. You're a very clever guy despite being just a dying piece of determination."

"You're still dying?" Outer asked, "I thought-"

"Our soul was part human, part monster, we got the monster part, not the human part." Chara interrupted. "It'd need to be a version of myself, since that's the most acceptable version, even if Cross won't get it for me. He'd rather I die."

"Stop showing off your new soul!" XChara pouted.

Stretch sat up suddenly, looking down at Chara with wide eyes. He was here, meaning his world would be involved. A human soul was needed, specifically of a version of this Chara, so not from a Frisk. His world was one of the very, very few where the Chara had a soul. That brought him to one dreaded conclusion, his Chara was in danger, and without their soul, his world could collapse.

Fuck.

"Now tell me, how are we going to get to the next world if we don't know any routes?" Cross asked, looking at XChara for their response.

XChara stared blankly ahead.

"You don't know, do you?" Dream smiled.

"Something that will be different by next time." Chara groaned.

"Doubt it broski" Fresh snickered.

"I DON'T WANT TO STAY DOING NOTHING!" Cross screamed, eyes glowing red and purple. "I WANT MY WORLD BACK! I WANT TO LIVE IN PEACE LIKE THEM!"

Dream flinched, feeling the emotions faintly. If he could feel them from the screen, they were incredibly strong emotions. Negative emotions. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Nightmare, not now.

Chara's eyes widened, hearing Cross talk like that was... was...

Was this what they sounded like? Was this how bad they'd get? How bad they'd already gotten when their world was whole.

Cross suddenly calmed down, looking to the side to see Nightmare standing beside him, looking around the void. "Seems like you're not happy for some reason. I can feel it. May I help you with that?"

Dream sighed, emotions bouncing off him as he saw his brother, both his own emotions and everyone else's. Whenever something big happened, or someone new appeared, it was like everyone's emotions were more compelling, and he couldn't help examining them.

Core felt pity, directed towards Dream.

Error was annoyed, he tended to avoid Nightmare.

Outer was confused, but suspicious, that soon turned to shock, as Dream saw Stretch tell him something, probably their relation. He remembers Blue told Stretch a while ago and now he was passing the information along. Great.

Stretch's emotions were muddled, pity, anger... He didn't know who Stretch was angry at. Probably both him and Nightmare. Stretch's original reaction to the news hadn't been the best.

He could never get a read on Fresh, and Chara's emotions were locked up again, small things like curiosity escaping.

Seeing Nightmare, Dream found it funny he couldn't identify his own emotions. What a great Guardian he is.

"...Have you anything to do with Ink or Error?"

Nightmare smiled mockingly, "How rude! I'm offering my help, and you attack me with stupid questions. No. I have nothing to do with them. I found you thanks to your negative feelings."

Dream sat up. If Nightmare found him and the negative emotions were so powerful that he could feel them here, then he probably sensed it as well in that time.

"Can you move through positive feelings too?"

"Can you?" Outer asked Dream.

"Yeah, I can get anywhere as long as there's some positivity." Dream responded, still rigid and staring at the screen with bated breath. If he showed up... He didn't want to watch himself fight his brother. Not yet, not...

"Ha! Why should I do it? Beings who are happy are fine on their own! Beings like YOU are the ones who need my help."

"Is that his way of saying he can't?" Chara queried with a smirk.

"Pacifist worlds don't deserve to be happy either..." Cross replied, listening to XChara as he whispered something to him.

"Ah. I like your intentions... Well, I guess I can give you the ability to access any AU you want... But I want one thing in exchange. Wherever you go, I want you to hurt somebody, but not physically. You know what I'm talking about."

"Heh. Deal."

"That's not fair." Dream whined to himself.

"He sounds like one of those, what do you call it?" Chara snapped his fingers. "Guides? Instruction manuals?"

Cross summoned a giant knife, grinning now. "I'll try to be careful."

The view changed to show someone walking, someone else was in the empty world.

"Dream, is that..."

The view shifted, showing the fourth occupant of the room to appear on the screen. Dream was walking at a slow pace, looking around the empty world before realizing he wasn't alone. Turning his head, he began to speak, "Uh, hi, I'm..." Dream stopped talking, eyes widening at the sight of Nightmare and Cross, who still had his knife out, talking with their backs turned to him.

Dream sighed in relief, slumping back into a more relaxed position. They were turned away from him, which meant he was lucky. There shouldn't be a fight, right?

Dreams hands flew up to his mouth as he started whispering to himself. "Nightmare? It can't be-!" He shook his head before taking a step back. "I must tell Ink immediately!" Snapping his fingers, Dream disappeared from the world in a ray of stars.

"Hey, hang on!" Stretch sat up, having realized something. "You can teleport to other worlds, who else in this room can do that?"

"Me and Error," Core spoke, tapping a finger against their cheek. "I believe it's only us three. Fresh has traveled, but he doesn't make the portals, so that doesn't count."

Chara twisted a strand of hair. Did they count? They couldn't do it now, and it was mainly his power that let them temporarily visit the OG, but if they had the access route... Eh, something to look into when they see Cross again.

"IT'S TIME TO PLAY VOLLEYBALL! NYEHEHEH!" Papyrus picked up the volleyball with a determined look.

"Straight." Fresh nodded to himself. "Have Ya Tried Makin' A Portal?"

Dream blinked to himself before snapping his fingers. "Have now."

"The fact I am in a physical form was enough for me to know I wouldn't be able to."

"I wouldn't be here if I coUlD!"

Stretch flopped back with a harsh sigh. "There goes that idea."

There were two teams, team one was Papyrus, Classic, and Frisk, while the second team was Undyne, Asgore, and Alphys.

"NGAAHHAHAAH! MY TEAM WILL WIN THIS TIME!" Undyne was given the volleyball as she spoke. "We've been training every day to defeat you, punks!"

"YOU CANNOT WIN, UNDYNE!" Papyrus had an arm wrapped around Classic's shoulder, whose eye lights had gone out, while Frisk stared blankly at them

"Should he be playing that?" Outer asked in concern for the other version of himself.

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, have a strategic and invincible team!" Frisk looked down as Classic clenched his fists, arms glitching.

"Definitely not." Error spoke quietly, looking unnerved at Classic's glitching.

Undyne jumped into the air with a grin, volleyball tearing through the net as she shot with all her might. Papyrus looked shocked as he and Frisk ran out of the way, but Classic stayed as it sailed straight towards him. Classic wasn't paying attention, eye lights still out as he looked down at the ground.

"SANS! WATCH OUT!" Alphys screamed out, but it was too late. The volleyball hit Classic, who fell back, looking for all purposes dead.

"He can't die just like that, right?" Chara tilted his head, smothering a laugh at the thought of death by volleyball.

Classic's world turned white as all sound evaporated. His view glitched as for a split second he saw two others before his view returned, eye lights back on.

"This Shindig 'Ll Be Over If He Knocks Out," Fresh answered bluntly, noting the two figures seen by Classic, that few seemed to notice.

"SANS! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Papyrus cried, kneeling beside his brother as Undyne ran over.

"Uh..." Classic glanced at Papyrus before sitting up. "Sorry. I was distracted..." He winced as he put a hand to his skull. "Maybe I need a break, can I, bro?"

"Of course, brother, but don't fall asleep! We need you to win this game!"

"Ok, bro." Sans stood up, giving a thumbs up to Papyrus, he started walking away. Frisk watched him go before running after him, determined.

"Is he gonna..."

Sans teleported to the paint Ink had left through, panting, he brought out his soul. It was different. An 'X' went across his remaining half.

"Wh-what's happening...?"

"Never seen that before." Error commented, looking slightly curious as he took in the state of the soul.

"Ink? Are you there?" Classic questioned as he turned to look at the paint. "C'mon, pal! Please answer me!"

"That idiot." Error groaned, sinking further into his seat.

"...Sans," Frisk spoke up, revealing themselves.

Classic looked up but didn't turn around, eye lights going out as he dreaded the next question.

"...Who is Ink?"

Fresh shook his head, frowning at Classic being caught so easily.

"...I should keep looking for you, Cross..." Ink looked grim, floating in his doodle sphere, eye lights continuously changing shape and colour. He was staring at the piece of paper with an 'X' on it, indicating Cross' world. "But... Your universe is so lonely... and... quiet..." He reached out an arm towards the paper before moving back, clenching his fist. "Ugh, why is this so difficult? Come on, Ink!" Ink crossed his arms, smirking to himself. "You're the Guardian of AUs! You can handle it! You'll find Cross in a blink!"

"Inflated. Ego." Error grumbled to himself, taking no notice of the looks he received as he insulted Ink in many ways.

Suddenly Dream appeared in front of the paper, having come from that world, arms outstretched as he floated straight towards Ink. "IIIIINNK!" He screamed before crashing into Ink, resulting in Ink clutching his skull as gravity floated him away while Dream watched.

Dream ducked his head in shame as Error burst out into glitched laughter, Chara, sadly having a similar reaction to his soul thief, did the same. Fresh snickered to himself alongside Outer and Stretch while Core tried to smother their giggles. Dream did not raise his head again.

"OUCH! D-DREAM!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Ink shouted, looking at Dream through one socket as tears pricked at his eyes.

Error continued laughing. "I'll give you whatever you want to do that again and record it with me there!"

"I saw something horrible in that AU!" Dream waved his arms up and down in panic. "I felt a negative feeling, and I was ready to help...! But my brother Nightmare was already there! And that guy had a giant knife! They made an alliance and a promise, and- and- !"

Error fell back in his chair, seemingly starting to suffocate as his laughter grew.

"It's not that funny." Dream defended himself with a small whine, glancing up at the screen before ducking his head again.

"It is!" Error wheezed out before collapsing again.

"Calm down, Dream!" Ink put a firm hand on Dream's shoulder, who looked at it, turning silent. "Are you saying that... you saw Cross?" Ink asked, looking steadily at Dream.

Dream looked away slightly before responding. "My brother will help him to teleport to any AU that has a pacifist timeline... He's planning to hurt everybody!"

Outer frowned, his human hadn't shown up yet... Would his world even get a pacifist timeline, or would the RESETs stop that from happening?

Ink shut his sockets before looking up, face set in a frown. "...Thanks, Dream. That will make it easier for me to catch him." Ink turned away, casting a glance around the doodle sphere.

"Ink, wait! I want to go with you!"

Chara and Dream tensed, casting long, considering looks at each other.

"I can't let hopes and dreams from those worlds get destroyed... I would never forgive myself!"

Stretch glanced at Dream, then Chara. Briefly, he'd met Dream, he knew that was true. Dream would never forgive himself.

"I'm sorry, Dream..." Ink looked over his shoulder at Dream, no expression. "We're fighting together to protect the AUs... But this time I won't put your life in risk. You saved me once. Now it's time to pay you back."

Core and Error both tensed, taking those words very seriously. He was... protecting Dream. During this time, they'd both noticed Ink was up to something, now they knew. He was keeping Dream out of it while he could.

A glance at Dream showed their suspicions weren't unfound. Dream was shaking his head, body rigid as he stared at his onscreen self.

"...I..." Dream trailed off, the silence surrounding them before a voice resounded around the doodle sphere.

"...Sans?" Ink questioned, smiling to himself, he turned to Dream, starting to speak while the world went dark and the screen glitched.

"Uh, this is awkward..." Ink spoke, standing behind Classic as he glared down at Frisk.

Outer shot up into a seated position as everyone started speaking at once, having despite the tension, started to doze off.

"Wait!"

"Did we miss something?"

"It just cut out their conversation!"

"That's Uncool. What'd We Miss?"

"It skipped something are you kiddin' me!?"

"Who's conversation?"

"Dream and Inks as well as Classic and the human's you numbskull!"

"There you are, Ink." Classic turned to Ink with a calm, lazy grin. "I've decided to go with you."

"IS HE STUPID!?"

"Calm Down, Brah."

"He's not dumb."

"SHUT UP!" Chara screeched, sending a scathing glare at anyone who opened their mouths.

"W-What!? Are you serious?" Ink questioned before remembering Frisk was there. "...uh... H-Hey pal..."

Frisk asked Ink why Sans had to leave.

"...I guess I have to tell ya everything, huh. C'mere." Classic winked, glancing at Ink, who still had his arms raised awkwardly.

Dream smiled as he watched his friend interact with Frisk, he made odd impressions on different people.

Ink sat off to the side as Classic talked to Frisk, drawing something in a notepad with his tongue stuck out in concentration.

Ink looked up from his drawing as he overheard Frisk's words, an odd look passing his face as the viewers got a look at what Ink was drawing while his eye lights flickered a different color again.

"That's!" Chara choked slightly, shaking in rage.

Error tensed at the confirmation of one of his theories, silently stewing in his own rage. When they left this place, he was going to destroy every single world Ink had created. Except maybe Outertale, for umm, personal... reasons. He may spare Underswap too but as a favor to… someone… Also Underfell, they had great chocolate. Also wasn't Candytale a thing?

Hmm, tricky, tricky.

"... Promise me you'll come back."

"Heh. You know I hate to make promises but..." Classic smiled down at Frisk. "I'll try."

Frisk smiled back before reaching into their pocket and pulling out a ketchup bottle, passing it to Classic. "Maybe this will be useful."

"Cool. Thanks, Frisk." Classic stashed the ketchup in an inside pocket of his jacket.

As Sans started to say goodbye, Frisk hugged him tightly. "Please, take care of yourself..." They stepped back, revealing they'd put a locket around Sans' neck. "...Because..."

Chara grasped lightly at his neck, a sad look crossing his face.

"...'Cause someone really cares about you... Yeah..." Classic finished with a soft smirk as he walked towards Ink.

"You don't have to do this, Sans." Ink commented as Classic walked past him.

"If I'm gonna die because of Cross... I prefer that my family doesn't see me become dust."

Chara didn't understand. How could things get so much worse in one month? Classic wasn't supposed to die. In reality, Chara was still trying to convince Cross on his way of thinking, but the idiot was drowning in his sorrows. For what Chara had planned out so far, Classic wasn't supposed to dust, not now, not ever. Not when they couldn't reverse it.

Ink looked down, guilty, before the expression disappeared, not having been there for even a full second. Classic and Ink turned towards a smiling Frisk, sending back their own forced smiles and teleporting away...

In another world, Nightmare teleported in with Cross, appearing near the doors to the ruins. "Here we are. The first pacifist timeline. People are a bit rude, but they managed to be happy thanks to a little human and a stupid flower."

"Thanks, Nightmare."

Nightmare started to turn away before giving one parting comment. "...Have fun."

With that, Cross stood alone, knife in hand, he stared ahead, and in a smooth motion raised the weapon, glaring. In the distance, a skeleton turned to look behind themselves in the direction Cross was, as though knowing he was coming. This skeleton revealed themselves as a Sans, the Sans of Underfell.

The screen turned dark, episode complete.

"Underfell." Core nodded to themselves, thoughtful. "That's... troubling."

"Finally!" Everyone turned towards Error and saw... an open portal.

Error grinned to himself, walking forwards... he slammed straight into it. "WHAT!?"

Fresh and Chara started snickering to themselves as Dream spoke up, snapping his fingers with no results apart from a small spark of magic. "So, when it said something would happen after the first part..." Dream trailed off with a deadpanned expression.

Core stood up and started pacing the room as they pieced together what was happening. "We can't go through any portals we make. Only Dream and Error can make portals to other worlds alongside me. None of us can pass through. We couldn't make portals before, but now that part one is over, we can."

"You just can't go through them." Stretch sighed, taking another glance at Error as he started opening multiple portals.

"None of us can pass through... None of us can leave..." Core twisted the ends of their puffy sweater tightly, expression twitching as a wave of emotion overcame them before the usual disconnected feeling clicked back into place like an old friend.

"Then let's watch the rest now, and then we can leave," Outer suggested lightly, looking somewhat put out at his own suggestion.

"We are also not continuing." Core stated as they took in a shuddering breath, moving to stand in front of the TV, hardening their resolve.

"I'm sorry, what?" Dream asked bluntly, looking decidedly unamused as he absentmindedly kept snapping his fingers, hoping for the slightest chance to leave.

"We have been brought here to see the future. If we go through it all tonight expecting to go back to our worlds once we're done, what would the point have been?" Core looked at each of them, eyes resting on Dream and Error longest, who looked uncomfortable and annoyed with this. Dream stopped snapping his fingers. "If we are doing this, willingly or not, we will do it correctly."

"How about no?" Chara drew the words out, laying on his back without a care in the world despite the bite to his clipped words. "You've seen what happens so far. I've only got a month left, I'm not interested in spending it here, with you."

"You heard me when I read the note. Time moves differently here." Core responded sharply, face scrunching up as they looked at Chara.

"In What Way?" Fresh asked "Like, Brah, It Didn't Say. Brutal."

"Do you mean... faster or slower?" Outer pipes up "Which way is time moving?"

Fresh shot finger guns at Outer, who took it as a 'yes'.

"Shouldn't it be slower? Why bother showing us any of this if in a month we get back and it's happening?" Stretch's lazy grin faltered briefly. "That'd be messed up."

"So entirely plausible." Stretch looked blankly at Error for his remark, contemplating something. Most likely whether it was worth the effort to get up and hit the destroyer or not.

"Let's continue, but with an 'open mind', is that good enough for you?"

Core frowned, face scrunching up as they pondered their situation before nodding slowly. "This includes Error, Chara, and Dream."

"It includes all of you," Stretch muttered with a sigh as the screen lit up once more, giving them precious seconds to prepare for the coming war.


Brief Update: I'm still technically on Hiatus. I haven't done any writing since the end of September, and I already had this chapter prepared, so all I did today was some small editing. I honestly don't know what's going on anymore. I have a couple of health issues that are becoming more of a problem lately and coupled with the stress of doing exams, everything is... slow.
But I know for sure I'll update on Christmas! That's a definite!
Thank you for reading this random update, I hope it allows you to understand a little more about what's going on, and thanks for reading this!