Core Issues Season 5

By Nicolle

Author's Note: I have been asked if I will be using Deltarune in any way in Core Issues. As it currently stands, no. I don't want people to mix up established characters (i.e. Kris - 01's brother in law) with new characters to the franchise (i.e. Kris of Deltarune).

Episode 12: It's Not About You
(Chara Provost is our narrator!)

"Dimensional anomaly detected."

"Wha...? EEK!" I slipped off the box I was standing on and crashed to the floor. "Ow." I sat up, rubbing my arm.

"I told you not to stand on that."

I glared up at Delta. The A.I.'s digital avatar loomed over me from the massive, two story screen that made up her 'home' terminal. While anywhere else on the ship, Delta chose a glowing star as an avatar, here she chose to look like her creator: an overly pale, human female, with white hair, mismatched eyes, and a scar in the left cheek.

"Yeah. Yeah." I stood and brushed myself off, having kicked up a pile of dust when I fell. "What was that about an anomaly?"

"A human, female child, twelve years of age, a human, male adult, twenty-three years of age, and a male, goat monster of at least 150 years have appeared in the top plate."

"Impossible. No one's figured out what's happening with dimensional travel yet."

"And yet, the anomalous individuals have appeared in a highly restricted area."

The top plate, huh? The one place off limits to all but five people on the entire ship. Figures. But maybe that was a good thing. Welcomed visitors from other dimensions were required to be monsters since humans were rare to the tune of 32 individuals. Every monster on the ship knew us by sight if not by name. Two anomalous humans would cause a significant stir and my brother in law would not be happy about that.

I sighed and it came out as a whoosh. "Okay. Should I get them or wait for Frisk?"

"Frisk is indisposed at the moment. Please retrieve them and take them to medical quarantine. I have already notified Dr. Alphys that she will have incoming."

I nodded and climbed the stairs back up to the second floor of Delta's home terminal. The door slid open automatically and I rounded the corner of the tram deck. The door to a secret elevator opened and I stepped into one of the very few ways to access the upper plate.

When you looked at the Delta from the outside, the colony ship appeared to be made of three discs, referred to as 'plates,' with multiple orbs, the biomes, sandwiched in between them. The Core, a long, singular shaft that rose up through the middle of the entire ship, supplied each plate and its biomes with power. Each biome housed people and did something to support life on the ship. Each plate housed great forests and their associated animals. While the first two plates were accessible by the general public, the third, and top most plate, was not. It was a completely untamed area and Delta kept it that way. Not even Asriel had the power to override Delta on the matter. It was the most important place on the ship, supplying the majority of the raw elements needed to keep everyone on the ship alive and healthy.

The elevator door opened and I stepped onto a platform that hung over the top of a forest turning red, orange, and yellow. Autumn had come to this section of the top plate and migratory birds were getting ready to make the 3,000 km trip to the summer side of the plate. I took the nearby set of steps down to the forest floor and stopped to check the area read out on the computer terminal at the bottom. The screen indicated that our anomalous guests were about two kilometers from the nearest access to the plate. Which put them a kilometer from me. If I hoofed it, I could get to them pretty quick. It appeared as if the child had separated from the adults, moving ahead of them.

I paused for a moment to check myself in the reflection of the terminal's glass. I wasn't wearing anything 'official,' having opted for a plain, white tee, brown pants, and my favorite green hoodie. My hair had grown out a bit since coming out of stasis, so now it was hitting my shoulders... and falling in my eyes. The red streaks Mettaton put in my hair were vibrant if a little much. I frowned. At least I looked vaguely like an adult if not someone 'in charge' as it were.

Checking position one last time, I made for the child, orienting over a part of the great forest I knew well thanks to Delta allowing me to explore up here. I wove around a few trees until I found a trail deeply entrenched in the woods from the time long ago when people on the ship were allowed into the plate enmass. Using the trail made running easier and I'd managed a pretty nice pace when the child crashed through the bushes just ahead of me. I managed to dodge her just enough to catch myself on a tree.

The girl gasped and ran over. "Hey! Are you all right?"

I nodded, giving her a smile. "Yeah. I'm all right."

The girl looked over her shoulder. "We need to run. We can't let those guys catch us."

I blinked, looking her over. Dark brown hair in a bob cut, purple and blue striped sweater over blue jeans, and a sticky bandage stuck to her face. This was a Frisk. And one that likely hadn't seen a real meal, let alone a bath, in ages. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

"Hey!"

"We gotta go! Asriel might not hurt us, but Chara will kill us if he gets the chance! We have to run!"

An awful feeling of deep seated loathing rose up from my stomach, souring my entire mood. If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was a Chara who couldn't do their one and only god damned job. Before the girl could go another step, I scooped her up, and tossed her onto my back.

"Hold on!"

I dashed down the path, heading for the nearest plate access. There was a crash behind me as two pairs of feet hit the trail.

"There! Get back here, you brat!"

"Chara! Just hold on a second!"

I chanced a look back, and saw a male Chara in a green button down over black jeans and boots gaining on us with a sharp knife in his hand. A very young looking Asriel in a purple shirt and black pants chased after him.

"Chara! We aren't in the Underground anymore! I don't know where we are! We have to stop!

"No! I am killing that thing once and for all!"

I frowned. I'm not a fighter. Not by a long shot. Combat was my sister's specialty. My only chance was speed... and some help. "Delta! I need assistance!"

Delta's voice emanated from some hidden speaker. "Acknowledged. Assistance is en route. Make a 90 degree right turn in 3... 2... 1..."

I turned on the ball of my foot and made straight through the trees, hoping against hope that I didn't trip on underbrush; our pursuers close behind. A doorway ahead slid open, revealing a tram deck. A tram, door open, waited just beyond. The pounding feet behind me were getting closer. I swung the girl around so it was my back exposed to attack instead of hers as I dashed onto the tram deck. The sudden shift in weight threw me off balance and we both fell. I rolled with it so I took the impact instead of her and we crashed into the tram.

But the tram doors didn't close behind us.

Instead, my brother in law and the captain of the guard both stepped from where they'd waited on either side of the tram door. Our anomalous Chara and Asriel both went down in one hit each.

I sat up with a breath of relief and helped the child Frisk sit up. "Are you all right? Nothing broken?"

The girl shook her head, looking a little relieved, and then immediately backing up against me when she saw my Asriel tossing the younger version of himself over his shoulder like a towel. Specifically a towel, because a bag of potatoes would indicate weight or exertion, and this required neither for him. The goat's a bit of a beefcake.

I patted Frisk's back. "It's okay. You're safe." She looked back at me and I gave her a smile. "Do you know where you are?"

"I thought, because of the forest, that I was back on the surface but..." She shook her head. "I don't know where I am."

I nodded, aware of the 'usual' story of being trapped underground. "Do you know what an alternate dimension is?"

She brightened suddenly. "Yeah! It's like your world but with people making different decisions, making a whole new one!" Confusion followed just as suddenly. "Right?"

I nodded. "Close. Every dimension has a central story and random decisions made in that dimension do not spawn off new ones. Instead, changes to the central story is what makes a new dimension. You fell down a hole and ended up underground, right?"

Frisk nodded.

"My Frisk is my sister. She fell asleep in a cryo-stasis pod and woke up a thousand years later here." I smiled. "I'm Chara Provost, Chief Artificial Intelligence Engineer."

I gestured to Asriel. "That's my boss, His Majesty, Asriel Dreemurr." He gave her a small nod.

I gestured to Undyne. "And the two legged mermaid is Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard." She gave the girl a half hearted salute over a smirk.

I stood and helped the girl to stand so that she could see out the tram window and the field of stars beyond. "And you are on the Colony Ship Delta."

"I'm in outer space..." the girl whispered. She stared out at the stars, eyes wide with wonder.

Asriel chuckled a little and the girl turned around to look at us.

"Where is your Frisk?" Her eyes flicked between all of us. "Did you kill her for her soul?"

"Heavens, No!" I grimaced. "I said she was my sister!"

The child frowned at that, but said nothing.

Undyne laughed, smile too big and too full of sharp teeth for her face. I wasn't sure how she pulled that off. "Let's be fair. The boss man did steal her heart!"

The child looked to Asriel, who shrugged a little, making his younger double swing a little. "Frisk is my wife."

That brought on a giggle as the tram came to a stop outside the medical bay. The deck itself had been cleared of all civilians making it safe for us to enter the bay without alerting the public to our 'guests.' Alphys had two gurneys ready.

The yellow lizard woman immediately began directing. "The human on this one and the goat monster on the other. Take them back to quarantine and start on them immediately. Make sure they are both disarmed. The rest of you to scrub down. I'm holding you until microbe analysis is complete."

Asriel folded his arms over his chest, but wasn't putting any of the menace I knew he could exude behind it. Oh my God... I think he's being funny!

Alphys looked completely unimpressed. "I've had a while to get over being scared of you, Your Majesty. You don't get to dodge the scrub." She looked down at the child. "I'm sorry, honey, but you will need to stay in quarantine until we are sure that you aren't carrying any microbes or viruses that could hurt the people on the ship."

Frisk grabbed a hold of my hand and looked up at me.

Well, I could stand in for the ass who couldn't do his job. "May I go with her?"

Alphys nodded as she tapped her data pad. "Yes. That will be fine. You can be scrubbed down together." She looked at Frisk. "Do you have any questions?"

"Are you an alien?"

Alphys head fell back, eyes squeezed shut while Undyne and Asriel lost it. I tugged on Frisk's hand and she followed me as I led her back to quarantine.

"So is the doctor an alien?"

I chuckled a little. "Oh no. She's a monster, but more specifically, she's not an alien to you because her ancestors come from the Earth."

"Do you come from Earth?"

I nodded. "Yes. But we are very far from Earth right now."

A nurse in a hazmat suit waved us into the tiled scrub down area and we stepped inside.

Frisk gripped my hand again. "Do we have to get undressed?"

"No. We just need to hold still. First we'll be hit with a light that will destroy any bacteria living on clothing. Then, we'll be brushed down with a special brush made to take all foreign matter off of us. After that, we'll be injected with a medicine that will destroy any viruses living in our bodies." The girl's eyes went wide at the mention of an injection. "No worries! The injection does not involve a needle. Just air pressure."

The light overhead switched on, bright and hot for about thirty seconds. Frisk scrunched down, shoulders up around her ears. After the light switched off, the nurse came in, and started with me on the scrub down using a soft brush before turning to the child. I held my head to the side, exposing my neck for the air pressure injection. Frisk squirmed a little, but managed not to flinch at the injection. After that, we stepped into a sealed room with plexi-glass walls and a comfortable couch to sit on. Frisk hopped up on the couch, sitting so as to let her legs swing a little.

"Could I have something to eat?"

The nurse nodded vigorously enough that the top of her hazmat suit wiggled. "I'll have something sent along. Do you need anything, Set?"

I shook my head. "I'm good."

"Set? Isn't your name, Chara?"

I sat down next to her on the couch. "Set is my nickname. It's something of a joke. Let's see, your twelve, right?"

She nodded.

"Okay. That means you've had World History in school, right?"

She nodded.

"Quick refresher time then. In Ancient Egyptian myth, Osiris was the god of the dead. He had a brother named Set. The ship that Frisk and I were on was called the Osiris and when Frisk was picked up by the Delta, her name wasn't released right away, just the name of the ship. So everyone calls her Osiris. And now that I'm here, they call me Set. The older monsters think it's really funny."

"You don't mind?"

I looked up as the male Chara, still out in the gurney was wheeled into a nearby containment chamber. "It's apropos for all the wrong reasons."

My Asriel stepped in the chamber with us. "Mind some extra company?"

Frisk shook her head. "You're really different from the Asriel I know. He lets Chara boss him around."

Asriel sat cross legged on the floor in front of us. "It's a matter of upbringing. I grew up knowing that I was responsible for the well being of millions of monsters and that my decisions were always the difference between life and death." He looked over his shoulder as the younger version of him was wheeled into a chamber next to ours. "Your Asriel isn't as old as I am and is very likely in a position that doesn't require him to be particularly assertive." He turned back to the child. "How did you end up here?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't know. All I remember is Chara knifing me in the back and when I came too, I wasn't at the last save star. I was in the forest you found me in. I made a run for it before Chara or Asriel had a chance to recover." She frowned. "And it wasn't the first time we were somewhere else after Chara's killed me."

"How many times?"

"How many times have we been somewhere else? I think four. How many times has Chara killed me total? Ten."

Asriel thought about that for a moment. "So you've been four other places before this one? Where did you think you were before coming here?"

"I thought I was in other parts of the Underground, but they didn't match places I'd seen before." She shook her head. "There was this one place. It was all super old fashioned and the moon was big and red in the sky. This big monster... Uh, not a monster like you, but... I mean..." She gestured to indicate something that was both massive and horrific. "This thing attacked us, and a woman just stepped in front of it and eviscerated it with her bare hand!" Her eyes narrowed, looking at the unconscious Chara two chambers away. "But before I could even talk to her, Chara slit my throat."

Undyne stepped into the chamber with us, carrying a tray with food. "The nurse wasn't sure what you'd want to eat, so I just grabbed what our Frisk likes: Cheeseburger and fries." She placed the tray on the child's lap and I helped to balance it. The child immediately dug in.

I didn't want to hear the answer to the question, but I asked anyway, "When was your last meal?"

Frisk paused for a moment, staring at the food in her hands. "I don't remember."

"And a bath? A change of clothes?"

"Not since before I fell."

Asriel frowned. "Why did you walk up the mountain?"

The child suddenly looked angry. "To find my brother."

There was a groan in the chamber next to us as the young Asriel sat up, holding his head, eyes squeezed shut. "Ohhhh... What happened?"

My Asriel stood, walking over to the clear wall that separated the containment areas, arms crossed over his chest. "I knocked you out when you entered the tram. You are now in quarantine until we are sure that you do not carry any microbes that can harm my people."

The young goat monster opened his yellow eyes and immediately whimpered. He curled away, covering his face and long snout. I wasn't sure what it was, but my brother in law had an aura of command that other monsters feared, including other versions of himself. I'd only ever met a few other Asriels that didn't cower, but then, they had the same aura.

"Stop simpering and look at me."

The young goat shook as his hands slowly pulled away from his face. "Who... who are you?"

"I am Asriel Dreemurr, King of All Monsters."

"King..." He spotted Frisk and was suddenly at the containment wall, pressing against it with both hands. "Frisk! Are you all right?!"

Frisk glowered at him. "Why do you care?"

His legs gave out underneath him and he hit the floor, covering his eyes with his hands again.

My brother in law moved to the questions. "Is Chara your brother, Asriel?"

The young goat nodded.

"And have you checked his LOVE lately?"

"I..."

"He's sitting at a solid eight. That is approximately two humans for every Level Of ViolencE."

The goat suddenly looked up, yellow eyes filled with tears. "But Chara hasn't hurt anyone! And even if he had, there are only six souls in containment! That would mean he'd killed ten more people..." He trailed off and looked at Frisk with a deep horror before covering his open mouth. "Oh God!" He drew his knees up, clasping the sides of his head as he curled on himself.

Asriel squatted down with one leg on the floor and an arm resting on the upright knee. "Tell me what's been happening since the moment you met Frisk."

The young goat took a deep, shuddering breath. "Chara and I take turns caring for the Ruins and watching for humans. It's our job to help them make it safely to New Home and acclimate to life Underground. I always thought that the souls Chara brought were from humans who died in the fall..." He shuddered deeply.

"And when you met Frisk?"

"I was heading into the old house when Frisk ran past me, Chara chasing after her, face bloody. I grabbed her when Chara yelled for me to do so. He said that the human had to die, that it had hurt him."

"He was trying to kill me! I have a right to defend myself!"

Asriel gave her a look and she quieted.

"I said that we should take her to New Home and let mom and dad decide that. Chara convinced me to lock her in the cells under the old castle in Waterfall. After a week, she escaped. We tracked her across the Underground and when Chara grabbed her, he..." The goat whimpered.

"Continue."

"We were suddenly in a different place in the Underground and Frisk was running again."

Asriel looked back at Frisk. "Recount your deaths."

Frisk suddenly looked awful, her hands shaking. "I don't want to remember them!"

Asriel sighed. "You need to tell him. He needs to know."

I put my arms around her. "We need to know too." I lifted her chin so she looked at me. "My sister was asked to endure many awful things during war and it was only by talking about it could we help her through her memories and prepare for the problems those memories could cause." I handed the tray to Undyne and lifted the girl onto my lap, holding her against my chest. "But we can't help unless you talk. Go on."

Her bottom lip trembled, hands gripping my hoodie. "The Ruins... The Ruins are filled with traps. Chara made me walk ahead of him every time. I fell in a pit filled with broken rebar. I turned a switch that dropped me into a pool of lava." She shivered and squeezed her eyes shut against the memory of both burning and melting to death at the same time.

"I walked into a room filled with spikes on the wall and they closed on me." She gasped in her next breath, shaking. "After... after Asriel put me in the cell, he..." She choked on a sob before her teeth set and eyes filled with rage turned on the young goat. "He tortured me to death twice! And when that didn't work, he starved me to death!" She looked away then, staring at the near wall. "After I came back from that, I escaped when Doggo came by to fill the water bowl. When Asriel and Chara caught up with me, he stabbed me to death three times and slit my throat once."

She fell silent then, leaning against me as if all her strength was gone, and her eyelids drooped sleepily.

"But... You were only in the cell for a week. How... How could any of those things have happened?"

Undyne gently rested a webbed hand on the girl's head. "She's a Frisk. It means she has the ability to reverse time and cheat death. The real question is, why did she wait to escape after being tortured the first time?"

The young Asriel leaned his head against the glass, looking miserable.

"Did you witness the last four deaths?"

The goat nodded, eyes squeezed shut.

Asriel frowned. "And you never thought to stop it?"

"I..."

Before he could respond, Alphys came into the containment area. My sister, eyes green blue, following behind her.

Frisk knocked on the plexiglass. "Doing your best impression of me?"

Asriel stood and shrugged. "Sometimes it's the only way I get a break."

Alphys opened the door. "You are all clear to leave containment."

Asriel nodded. "Do you have time to spare for another Frisk? She needs someone she can talk too."

"It'll have to wait," I said. "She's asleep." I petted the slumbering child's hair gently. "Where should I take her?"

Asriel thought about it for a moment. "My old apartment in the New Home office. There's room enough for the two of them." He gestured to Chara, still unconscious a few rooms over. "Undyne. Move him to confinement in the Royal Guard's headquarters, please."

"You got it, boss."

I gently pulled on the girl's hair. "Hey, kiddo? Wake up a little."

Tired eyes opened slightly.

"We're going to put you in bed."

She gripped my hoodie tightly.

"I'll stay with you." I looked up at my sister. "Let Blooky know I won't be home tonight."

Frisk nodded, eyes red orange. "Will do. I'll come by with your things and some dinner. Any preference?"

Undyne helped me maneuver the child onto my back to make carrying her easier. "The biggest, chickeniest, noodle bowl at the noodle house, please." After stepping out of the containment unit, I looked over my shoulder at the young Asriel. "Follow me."

The young goat stood and looked at Chara for a moment before following after me. At least, I didn't have to worry about people mistaking him for my Asriel. My brother in law did not have as pronounced an animal-like snout as this one did. My Asriel appeared more... human, I guess? With the Frisk on my back asleep and her face hidden against my back, I could have just been carrying any old monster child around. Well, any monster but my nephew, Folwin. He looked EXACTLY like his father.

The tram deck was still empty of people when I stepped onto it, but the tram that opened for us was not. A group of school children that Frisk and Sans often chaperoned on field trips around the station all waved at us from the tram.

"Oh oh oh! It's Osiris and Set, guys! That's so cool!"

Frisk ruffled the short mane of the lion monster. "Hey, kiddos. Going to New Home?"

"*they've got a tour of the offices today." Sans winked at me. "*and it looks like you could use an escort."

Thank you, Delta, for taking care of all of our needs. Now we wouldn't look suspicious. And, bonus, I got to spend some time with my favorite skeleton. "Thanks, Sans."

"*any time, set."

The young Asriel stepped onto the tram, noticed how high off the ground we actually were, and gripped the nearest pole with all his might. Thank goodness it could stand up to his strength. I leaned against the wall a bit to balance Frisk as the tram car started moving. The children clamored around the young Asriel.

A chimera child tugged on his robe. "Are you related to the Dreemurrs?"

A bird monster elbowed the chimera. "No way! He looks way too much like a normal goat."

The chimera frowned. "Are you afraid of heights?" When Asriel didn't respond, the chimera hugged him around the waist. "It's okay! The tram doesn't have far to go."

My sister hooked her arm in the goat's and gently maneuvered him into a seat. "Here. Sit down."

He looked at her for a moment, blinking at the shifting colors in her eyes as he gripped her hand.

And then he spotted the star field outside the tram window. He stared at it, blinking in a soft kind of wonder, ignoring all else while the stars were in view. The tram pulled away from the outer edge of the biome, and the stars disappeared. The tram came to rest at the New Home deck closest to the Dreemurr Royal Offices. The kids clamored around us excitedly as we made for the skyscraper office building.

Just inside the glass doors was a large lobby filled with comfortable seating and a few access terminals for Delta. The tour guide for the children waved them down while Frisk directed Asriel to the elevator. As soon as the doors shut, he looked between the two of us.

"Where am I?"

I shifted the child on my back a bit. "Yeah. You were still unconscious for that part. You are in an alternate universe."

"So... Asriel... That's me?"

Frisk shook her head, eyes purple yellow. "No. You are you and he is him."

He thought about that for a moment. "Who are you? Both of you."

"She is her Royal Highness, Queen Frisk Provost ap Dreemurr, the beloved wife of King Asriel," I answered.

Frisk pursed her lips at me.

"What? I never get to use the title."

She rolled her eyes, which, since they were implants, made the mechanical pupils appear to float across the multi-hued irises.

I chuckled and gave Asriel a patient smile. "I'm Chara Provost. Frisk is my twin sister. And you are on a massive spaceship with a population made up almost entirely of monsters."

He looked between us. "So, humans forced monsters onto a ship and sent them into outer space?"

Frisk shook her head. "No. Monsters built the ship themselves in order to leave the Earth. The few humans who live on the ship at current are all survivors from another ship."

He thought about that. "But... There was a sky above us."

I shrugged. "It's artificial. Each part of the ship is constructed to mimic the Earth as much as possible."

The goat sighed, staring at the floor. "What's going to happen to Chara?"

I frowned and decided to use the moment to drive a few points home. "He'll be confined at the Royal Guard's HQ a few blocks from here. He'll have a comfortable bed, three meals a day, and access to television. Once we figure out how to get the three of you back to your universe, he'll go home with you. Until then, you'll be able to visit. But no one on this ship is going to let anyone willing to repeatedly torture and murder a child walk around freely."

He flinched.

The elevator door opened on an empty hallway. My brother in law's office was down the hall a little on the right with the apartment right next to it. Frisk held the door so I could walk in and go straight back to the guest room, leaving the bigger bed in the master bedroom for the goat since the smaller bed wouldn't really suit him. That said, the guestroom bed was still pretty big, being made for monsters and all. I sat down before laying on my side and letting the child roll off of me unto the bed. Rolling onto her side, she curled up in a ball and whimpered. I let my hoodie slide off my shoulders and laid it over her. She quickly grabbed a hold of it, hugging it tightly to her chest. I tugged the blanket up and over her, tucking her in before heading back to the kitchen where Asriel sat at the table and Frisk dug through the cabinets.

"Thank goodness I still keep this place stocked."

I leaned against the door jam. "You keep it stocked because you and Az end up spending at least three nights a month here." I looked around. "Speaking of which, where is he?"

"Picking up Folwin."

"Another day with Tori and Gorey, huh?"

"What are they like?" Asriel asked.

I shrugged. "Very nice. Tori's very motherly and quick with a bad pun. Asgore is very much a dad and enjoys being a grandfather. Hard to get him out of his garden."

"May I see them?"

Frisk looked over her shoulder, eyes blue orange. "They are not your parents. I understand the need to grasp at familiar things when you are in an unfamiliar place, but it's only a stop gap until you move forward."

Sans came in the door, a Seraph phone at his ear hole. "*yeah, bud. i can do that. i'll need to confirm with my bossman. great." He smiled. "*that was bones. he says they have a way around the block in dimensional travel. also, fase is looking into where our anomalous friends are from."

Frisk nodded. "Great! Give me a hand getting them some dinner?"

"*sure."

Frisk followed him out of the apartment.

"Want some tea? There's golden flower tea in here."

Asriel shook his head.

I took the chair next to him. "What kind of person is your brother?"

"I... I don't know. I thought I knew, but..."

"Maybe you still do."

He looked to me and I shrugged.

"It's really hard for people to present two different faces. Even practiced liars have difficulty remembering all of their falsehoods over time. I doubt that he's suddenly a different person and has just been hiding it from everyone. There's this thing about Charas. When we have a goal, we are single minded in the pursuit of it. No matter what, that goal must be accomplished. He wants to open the barrier, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Asriel frowned. "To end humanity so monsters can live in peace on the surface."

I let out a low whistle. "Yeah... No. Let's say that everything in your world is absolutely normal with standard populations. That means around 10,000 monsters would have to face off against 7 billion humans." I shook my head. "Even if boss monsters in the entire cosmos were maxed out for power and combined forces, humanity would still win. And lets say, by some miracle, you did kill all humans: you wouldn't have enough monsters with the necessary skills to keep the surface running. Nuclear reactor meltdown alone would end you all. And that's if you have the right conditions for opening the barrier."

His snout turned to me. "What do you mean?"

"Every world in which a barrier exists to separate monsters from humans has a requirement to open it. While most of the legends say that you need seven human souls, that isn't always the case. And depending on the actions and ingenuity of the monsters and humans involved, opening can be made easier or harder. And you never want to forget that the souls you have, they retain their personalities, memories, and power. If they felt like it, they could sabotage the entire process out of spite."

He stared at the table, thinking about that as the door swung in. Frisk and Sans came in carrying several bags. Even from here, I could smell it. Chocolate!

Sans set a bag in front of me. "*one set special! complete with chocolate cake."

"Thanks, Sans."

"*sure thing, kiddo."

I sighed. "I'm older than you."

"*just like your sister, only technically."

I leaned over and gave him a peck on the side of his skull.

Frisk set a bag in front of Asriel before taking the rest over to the fridge. "I've got a few things in here for you. If you need something else, well, you know where the grocery store is."

"Gotcha. Thanks, Frisk."

She smiled and leaned over to rub noses with me. "See you in the morning."

"Hug Folwin for me."

"Will do!" She went out the door followed by Sans.

Asriel opened his food and ate in silence. Afterward, he looked in on Frisk before going into the master bedroom and falling into a fitful sleep. I kicked off my shoes and curled up with the child, passing out soon after.

"Wake up, Chara."

I rolled over and came face to glowing star with Delta's avatar. I glanced at the window. It was still pretty dark out under New Home's artificial sky. "What's with the early wake up?"

"Your double is roaming the ship."

I immediately sat up. "How did he get out of his cell?" No response. My shoulders drooped with an annoyed sigh. "You let him out."

"Of course."

I groaned. "Asriel is going to be pissed!" I stood. "Has he hurt anyone?"

"Would I have let him out if any of my data indicated he would harm someone?"

"He's more than likely to harm a human if he encounters one!"

"I am keeping him from chance encounters."

"Oh, so you're sending me out. Great. Just great. You know, if you wanted to be rid of me, Delta, you could have just blown me out an airlock," I grumbled. "Where am I going?"

"The top plate."

I checked the child Frisk next to me. She was still out. It was probably the best sleep she's had in ages. I petted her head gently before heading out of the room and down the hall to look in on the young goat. Asriel was sleeping on his side, gripping a pillow tightly, eyes squeezed shut. I pulled on my shoes and went out the door. The streets of New Home weren't exactly empty at four in the morning, but they were empty enough that the lone human was noticeable. I got a few waves, a few good mornings, and an offer to go out for breakfast with a couple of the computer engineers in sci-tech as I made my way to the central shaft and an elevator up to the top plate. I made a note on my datapad about the breakfast offer so I could make it up to them later. The sci-tech group were my kind of geek.

"Where am I heading?"

"The cabin."

I winced. The cabin was Asriel's wedding gift to my sister. Their own private retreat far from everything. "He's not wrecking it, is he?"

"No. Just sitting on the steps going up to the porch."

The ride from New Home to the top plate took a bit, so I used the time to check on the androids stationed on the Epiphany. The import of freelance technical help in the form of various aliens and humans onto the ship was getting it back in order, and the CHARA A.I. was coming back to optimal function. When Frisk Tamanna was ready to go back home, everything would be ready for her. Well, it would be ready for her if she decided to go back. CHARA was really worried she wouldn't return and who would blame her if she didn't?

The elevator door slid open at the ground level. I followed the dirt trail into the woods and down a gentle slope toward one of the huge lakes in this part of the ship. Just up from the lake was a cabin and Chara sat on the edge of the porch, watching the water ripple. He didn't move as I came up the path, so I sat next to him. The 'sun' was just starting to rise in this part of the plate, painting the forest with a soft glow. From here, I could get a good look at him. He lacked the red eyes common among Charas, his being a normal brown. His hair was darker than most and grown out down his back in a long, man-braid.

"I hope, at this point, you'll have figured out that you aren't anywhere near home."

"The tall skeleton... Papyrus?"

I nodded. "He's the tall one."

"He explained where I am." He looked me up and down. "So you're me?"

"No. I'm me and you are you. We just both also happen to be Chara." I frowned. "Any particular reason you've been wantonly murdering people to the tune of torturing a child to death twice?"

He frowned. "I didn't torture it. It escaped when Doggo was bringing it water."

I looked him in the eyes. "Her. Not it. Her. And her name is Frisk."

"What does it matter what the human's name is? As soon as we are back where we belong, it dies."

I slapped him across the face. He stared at me, slack jawed. I honestly don't think he'd ever been disciplined before, let alone slapped. He had no idea what to do in response.

"Her. Not it. Her. And her name is Frisk. If you are going to be so dead set on murdering someone, then you are going to know their name and you are going to learn who they are. Or is that the point? You don't know them, so they aren't real? They aren't worthy of respect because they aren't people?" I turned away. "Disgusting."

"We only need one more soul and we're out! That's more important than one useless human!"

"If that was true, why not just offer yourself as the last soul?!"

He froze, blinking at me. I expected to be told that he wasn't useless. What I got instead spoke volumes. "Why...? Why would I do that to mom and dad...?"

Time to turn it up. "Your brother's a mess right now! He's watched you kill the same person over and over, and now he's not sure if he ever knew you! Is that what you wanted?" I glared at him. "If your parents are even half as decent as your brother, why would you do that to them? Did you think it would be your secret? That no one would ever find out?"

I threw my hands up. "Or did you just think of yourself as some kind of moral martyr? Taking one for 'Team Monster?' Because that line of thinking is both cowardly and despicable." I looked him dead in the eyes. "Is the revelation that you are unworthy of even the tiniest molecule of your brother's trust what you wanted?"

He stood so as to look down at me. "Humans and monsters are at war! Even after the barrier is broken, all humans must die! I..." His vehemence died and his chin dropped to his chest.

"How old were you when you went up the mountain?"

"Eleven." The word was barely a whisper.

"Then you were old enough to understand just how many humans there were in the world. And the odds monsters would face in such an endeavor. By the gentleness of Asriel's nature, I'm willing to bet that most monsters are pretty nice people and unready for conflict. You wouldn't be shepherding them to a new day on a surface free of humanity. You would have herded them like sheep to slaughter."

His legs gave out and he landed on his butt on path. "I just... I just need one more soul."

"And why not your own? If you want them out so much, why not your own? If you're so willing to murder innocent people, why not add yourself to the body count?"

"I WON'T DO THAT TO MOM AND DAD!" He shook with his roar, breathing heavily.

"Is that because you did it to your biological parents once before? Just disappeared?"

He stared at the dirt.

I moved to sit in front of him on the path. "You remember all the things you did to Frisk, don't you?"

"I..."

"You remember every death. Did you have the power to reset time before she appeared?"

He shook his head. "No. I just... I wasn't sure what was happening." He looked up at me. "I just needed that last soul and I thought, maybe if I tried hard enough, she would just want to die. To not come back."

"And it never occurred to you that she might have been someone special?"

He said nothing.

I stood. "Well then, I guess no one is more special than you, huh?" I looked over the shining water of the lake, the 'sun' now high on the plate. "I don't get the torture or the child murder, but at least I get the murder part in general. All us Charas have the same problem. When we have a goal, we are laser focused on it. We make a plan and we stick to it, no matter the cost to ourselves or others. No matter who we hurt whether intentionally or unintentionally."

I looked down at him. "You hurt your parents by running away and now that you have new parents you thought you could make up for the first hurt by getting them out of the Underground, except now you've hurt your brother. He knows the awful things you've done. And that hurt won't end there. He'll have to tell Asgore and Toriel what you've done."

I nudged him with my foot. "Come on. You have to go back to the Royal Guard's HQ. I'd like that to happen before my Asriel finds out that you've been gone."

He stood and followed me back up to the elevator door. "You said that you get the murder part. Is it just because we are both Chara? Whatever that means? You don't seem like you even know how to use a knife."

I eyed him. "For your information, I'm rather handy with my electrician's knife." The elevator door slid open as we approached. "When my sister and I left the Earth, an explosion on the ship sent my sister's cryo-pod out into space and I ordered the ship to follow the pod. I condemned a thousand people to death in pursuit of my sister. I could have very easily ordered the ship to turn back to Earth, and everyone who remained would have been fine. But I let my feelings for one person override good judgement and chased Frisk into the dark."

"You found her though, right?"

I stopped. "That doesn't make up for what I did. You can't water a plant with poison and expect it to grow. Committing an intrinsically evil act in the name of some good result only poisons the entire endeavor." I stepped into the elevator. "Come on. The cell in New Home isn't that bad and only a small price to pay for your iniquities."

Chara stepped into the elevator and down we went to the bottom most biome of the ship so far, New Home. The elevator opened on Undyne, who seemed to be inspecting the underside of her nails. A guardsman flanked her on either side.

"Done with your walk about?"

Chara nodded.

"Good. The queen wants to see you."

He looked at me.

"If my sister wants to see you, you go."

"A human is the queen?"

Undyne snorted. "Yes. And it only took His Majesty twenty years to convince her to marry him."

One of the guards coughed lightly to cover a chuckle.

Chara looked between us. Either he didn't catch the joke or he wasn't sure if the comment was an insult.

We followed Undyne back to the Royal Offices via a few back alleys to avoid being seen. Back up in the apartment, my sister and the child sat next to each other at the table. Little Frisk's hair was wet and she had a change of clothes. Asriel sat across from them. When he saw his brother he gave him a little smile before his snout drooped and he stared at the table, unsure of what to do or say.

Frisk gestured to the chair next to Asriel. "Have a seat."

Chara took the chair even as the child glared at him. Undyne and I leaned back against the near wall next to Nacarat, a red-orange, demonic looking monster who wore her huge bat wings like a coat.

"The world you come from has been identified, though as yet, we don't have a way to get you home. That said, it is only a matter of time until we do. While you are here or at any other Seraph Foundation facility, all three of you will be in therapy. Do not attempt to argue the point." She took a sip of tea.

"During therapy, Frisk will have a very important decision to make and one that is hers alone." She looked at Frisk. "You will have the option to return to the Underground with Asriel and Chara; return home but above ground; or, lastly, to not return at all. If you decide not to return at all, Seraph will place you with a family for adoption on a world very similar to your own. There is no time limit for you on this decision. Even after we are able to send you home, you are welcome to stay at any Seraph facility after Asriel and Chara are gone to decide."

The child nodded.

"When identifying your world, a few key pieces of information came to light. But one of those pieces of information, Frisk already knows." She put a hand on Frisk's shoulder. "Tell them the reason you were on the mountain. The whole reason."

The girl nodded and looked to Chara, eyes filled with a heavy kind of rage no child should know. "I don't live with my parents. I live with my grandma. My parents abandoned me and completely disappeared shortly after I was born. Grandma told me that I had an older brother and that they'd given him everything except siblings. They'd tried several times to have more kids and nothing worked until my brother was eleven. And when they told him that he was going to have a baby brother or sister, he threw a fit and ran away. The last sighting anyone had of him was on Mt. Ebott. Mom and dad thought, maybe if they gave me up, he'd come back."

Undyne swore under her breath.

Asriel frowned. "But after so long, surely there was no chance of you finding him."

The child's eyes narrowed at Chara. "I did find him."

Well, if someone dropped a pin right now, you'd hear it a few buildings away. Chara blinked at her, mouth hanging open.

Frisk looked over her shoulder. "Nacarat?"

Nacarat stepped forward. "Yes, Majesty?"

"Take Frisk and find her some clothes. Use my personal expense account."

"Yes, Madam."

Frisk patted the child's shoulder. "Go on. Nacarat's my personal assistant. You can trust her. I need to talk to the boys alone and it's important that you don't know what I'm going to say to them."

The girl blinked at her. "Why?"

"Because I want you to make the decision ahead of you freely. You can't do that knowing what I'm about to tell them."

She held up her pinky. "Swear to tell me after I've made my decision?"

Frisk smiled and hooked her pinky against her double's. "I swear. And if I am not able to by distance or duty, I will be sure that someone tells you."

The girl nodded once before taking Nacarat's hand and being led away. Chara and Asriel watched her go, both looking nervous.

Frisk sighed. "What does the legend say about the barrier?"

"That it takes seven human souls to open it," Chara answered.

"Where does that legend come from?"

Chara looked to Asriel who shook his head. "I don't know. It's just the legend."

Frisk frowned. "Your history, much like the history of this ship, has been distorted over time. After a long war between humans and monsters, monsters retreated into the underground in the hope that humans would not follow them into the dark. The barrier was made when seven, monster loving humans sacrificed themselves to create a mystical seal to protect you from humans until a time when monsters could peaceably live again on the surface. Opening the barrier does not require the souls of seven humans to open. It requires that the seven souls already in the barrier be convinced that humanity is ready. This would happen by a human presenting themselves to the barrier and allowing the souls to bond with them in order to see if humanity is ready."

Asriel looked at Chara, whose head dropped down to the table.

Frisk sighed. "It is also a bit worse than that. The six human souls you have: each of them came one after the other in a pretty quick succession, correct?"

Chara nodded without looking up, forehead firmly against the table.

"They were part of a group of humans looking to open the barrier and bring monsters back to the surface. When six of them completely disappeared without making it to the other side, the rest of the group assumed that either humanity wasn't ready for monsters or that the monsters had killed them. They gave up after that. The entrance they used through the Ruins is now capped. Frisk is, essentially, your last chance to get out. I'm sure you both understand why Chara would not be a good candidate for proving humanity's worth."

An awful thought occurred to me and I felt bad about it, but it needed to be voiced. "Wouldn't that mean that Frisk is also no longer a candidate? Even with time resetting with her deaths, she still remembers them. You can't just gloss over what Chara did to her. The souls will see a human repeatedly killing a child."

Frisk looked over her shoulder at me. "Fase says that Frisk can still do it."

I frowned. "Any idea why they hopped timelines?"

Frisk nodded. "Asriel wanted so desperately for Chara not to murder Frisk that every time he saw it happen, it touched on the deepest parts of his magic. It's unusual, but it's also a known stress response. He's not the first Asriel to teleport across alternate universes." She gestured vaguely toward Asriel. "Think Agent 05 from Site Alpha."

I sucked in a breath. Yeah. Agent 05. His first teleport had dropped him in a nightmare realm. Most Asriel's would have died. He came out a one goat army hell bent on killing his own Chara. And wow… his story was very similar to this one.

"Any way we can tap that to reopen dimensional travel?" Undyne asked.

"There are Asriels who travel that way, but they often can't take people with them. 01's last communication indicated that they are testing a new way to get around. Bones is already arranging a test with our timeline to move our guests to Epsilon." She turned back to Asriel and Chara, who still had his head down on the table. She reached over and tapped his head with a finger. "Since Delta let you leave containment, I'm taking that as confidence that you won't harm anyone while you are with us. However, you will be housed separately from Frisk in a different part of the building. And I'm going to ask that you avoid contact with her until the therapist okays it."

He sat up, face blank, and nodded. "Understood."

The alarm on my data pad rang, making me jump. I nixed a groan. I distinctly remember leaving it off last night. "Really, Delta?"

The glowing star appeared in front of me. "I did not wish you to be late after such an early wake up."

I glared at the glowing avatar. Delta's been REALLY bitchy since I've been devoting time to the Epiphany. Who'd have ever thought that lines of code could be jealous? "No rest for the weary, huh?"

"You are the first person in a thousand years who can provide me with proper maintenance. Those burned out circuits are not going to replace themselves."

Mind you, they weren't burned out yesterday.

I ignored Undyne's chuckle as I leaned over to kiss my sister's cheek. "Call me if you need me."

I exited the Royal Offices and headed for the tram station, taking the first tram, and knew it would be empty by the time it reached Delta's terminal. Instead of sitting, I walked over to the window, held onto the rail, and gazed out at the stars.

Two very large and very strong hands came to rest on either side of mine on the railing, and a very warm weight rested very gently against my back. I sighed contentedly, leaning back against the lion monster who was very fond of using his tremendous size to indicate that I was his. It was something I noticed male monsters did around their chosen mates unless the female discouraged it.

I was not going to discourage it.

Like my sister, I am apparently a 'furry.'

"Greetings, Rajur."

"Greetings, Chara." His nose nuzzled against my hair, breathing in deeply. "I smell a child on you. Human."

I shrugged. "Just helping out."

His mouth moved down to my neck, scenting me. "Indeed. But spending time around children has a tendency to set off your receptiveness."

I mock glared at him in the reflection of the tram's glass for a moment. "Are you saying that I want to have children?"

"You're a biological creature and passing on your genes via offspring is something biological creatures tend to do." He smiled. "Considering that humans seem to lack the ability to tell when they are fertile and not, I thought you'd be appreciative of my care on that front."

"You say that like either of us have ever seen the other's bed." I winced. "Besides, its not that we can't tell. It's that learning how to spot it is heavily discouraged. Often with loads of misinformation on the subject."

"Why would humans do such a thing?"

I frowned. "Because the less a woman knew about her own body and how it properly worked, the more easily she could be persuaded to 'fix it' by taking a drug or undergoing medical procedures, and therefore lining someone else's pockets with money."

Rajur's arms wrapped around my stomach, holding me back against him. "Humanity seems to be very good at complicating their own lives for such temporary things as money."

I put my arms over his, cuddling in a little. "I suppose so. Since we are so good at complicating things, why do hang around me?"

"I seem to uncomplicate them."

I turned my head and buried my face against his chest. "That you do."

"I do not mean to interrupt-" Delta started.

"Yes you do," we both stated flatly.

"Nacarat and the child are missing."

I pulled back swiftly to look at the glowing, yellow star. "And the other two?"

"Still in the Royal Offices. I have yet to alert Her Majesty for this reason."

I huffed. "I'm sorry to cut this short, Rajur, but..."

"Royal family business. I understand."

I hugged him as tightly as I could for a moment before stepping away. "Where do I need to go, Delta?"

"Stay on the tram and I will bring it back around to New Home."

I waved to Rajur as he exited the tram. The car emptied soon enough leaving me alone.

"So when you say missing, do you mean gone from the ship or just off of your sensors?"

"Off my sensors. They were approached by two reporters posing as members of the New Home Police."

"Seriously?! It's a HUGE crime to impersonate a member of the police!" I threw my hands up in the air. "Is this more of that stupid 'Blame All The Humans For All The Problems' crap?"

"Maybe."

I kicked at the empty air. "Well, fuck them."

"*language, kiddo."

I jumped in surprise before quickly turning around to spot Sans' smiling skull. I grinned widely. "Hey, Sans!"

He put an arm around my shoulders. "*hey there, set. i heard a rumor that delta's been having you do work i should be doing."

"Doesn't she always?" I chuckled, my arm sliding around him. "What's the plan, Bone Man?"

"*based on the security feeds, it looks like they led nacarat and frisk into the zero-g area between new home and the bottom plate connector."

"Do the two reporters have zero-g experience?"

"*uh... we're on a spaceship, set. everyone has zero-g experience."

"Yeah. But Frisk doesn't! She's a kid from a standard world." I smiled. "They're in over their heads if they think they can handle a kid with her level of determination and complete freedom of movement. And that isn't even counting Nacarat's ability to whip out fire magic like it's candy."

Sans pointed at me slowly before rushing to the tram door as it opened. "*let's go!"

We rushed through the crowded tram deck for the nearest connector hatch. New Home was the bottom most biome, 'hanging' from the bottom plate. In another hundred years or so, another biome would join it, shifting it over. But until then, it was solidly connected to the very middle of the underside of the plate. The entire area was filled with connector tubes for foot, elevator, and tram traffic used to traverse the interior of the ship quickly. Everything outside of those tubes was the actual connector pieces, breathable atmosphere, and no artificial gravity.

In this kind of environment, you really needed something to give you an edge. Yes, I know I'm a Chara, and this is typically where a knife joke would be made. But, yeah, not a fighter. For me, having an edge meant having an air can that would shoot me around without needing to propel myself off a solid surface.

"Have an idea of where to look? This connector space is pretty big."

Sans used his magic to float around me. "*they came in from the hatch a kilometer from here. save your air and take my hand."

I grabbed his boney fingers and he turned my soul blue, immediately putting me under the force of gravity. But instead of falling, his magic pulled me along after him. We got to the hatch and found an unconscious reporter in a policeman's uniform tied to the hatch by a long scarf. The uniform was heavily singed and one leg was bent the wrong way.

"Nacarat did a number on this one." Yeah. She wasn't just my sister's personal assistant. Frisk didn't really need a bodyguard but that didn't mean that she didn't appreciate having one. I looked around, spotted a trail of burn marks from Nacarat's fire, and pointed them out to Sans.

Sans' left eye glowed for a moment, alerting Papyrus to the reporter at the hatch, before taking my hand and pulling me along to follow him across the connector, moving quickly. We spotted the red-orange demon monster, wings out and fire in her hands. She was in a stalemate with the second reporter, an owl monster, who was holding the child Frisk as both a prisoner and a shield.

Dear God. When were people going to learn that it was their job to shield children, not use them as shields?

Sans and I split up, coming around from either direction to grab the reporter. Only to have someone grab me from behind and pull me into a tram shaft. From the corner of my eye, I spotted an MTT Media logo, and turned, immediately throwing a punch. The squirrel monster ducked out of my swing and waved their arms at me.

"Wait! Wait! I'm on your side!"

"Then why did you grab me?"

"I don't want you to hurt my friend!"

I groaned. "Your friend is going to get the business end of Sans' bone attack in less than a minute!" I turned and grabbed the hatch opening propelling myself into the connector just in time to see Frisk struggle out of the reporter's arms. The child's eyes were filled with a deep and awful anger as she kicked the reporter right in the beak. The reporter hadn't been prepared for the child to put up a fight and clutched at her face.

Frisk spotted me and swam in my direction. I caught her in the air, holding onto her as Sans turned her kidnapper blue. Nacarat's fire went out and her wings propelled her over to Frisk and I.

The squirrel monster came up from behind me, looking at Frisk. "It is an unregistered human!"

I glared over my shoulder at the monster. "A human who has gone through hell only to be kidnapped by a couple idiots. When the King finds out about this, he's going to be furious!"

"But I don't understand... What do you mean gone through hell?"

I grabbed her by the back of her collar and hauled her to the hatch, Frisk still clinging to me, as Sans and Nacarat wrangled the cage. On the other side of the hatch, several members of the Royal Guard waited for us. The unconscious monster was taken away. But instead of the Guard HQ, the rest of us were escorted back to the Royal Offices. Asriel waited behind his desk. Next to him stood Mettaton, looking especially peeved with one hip popped out and metal arms crossed over his chest.

Asriel looked over the reporters with a smile I'd seen before. He was going to let them hang themselves. And Frisk wasn't in the room to save them. "Who would like to explain why impersonation of police officers and kidnapping were good ideas?"

The owl monster pointed at Frisk. "That is an unregistered human! Where did she come from?! They don't just happen!"

MTT's metal fist slammed the desk. "As a matter of fact, they do!" Hands on his hips, he strutted up to his employees, who had the grace to look fearful under the glow of his robotic eyes. His head lifted and he looked down his nose at the two. "The truth is that the Delta has picked up several humans over the centuries. Frisk Provost was simply the first to live."

Asriel gestured to the child standing next to me. "This girl and her older brother were picked up when the Delta intercepted their distress signal. They both live on a human outpost half a system away. As soon as their ship is repaired, they will be going home."

That was a great cover, but the owl wasn't giving up. "Then why not report it? Why not let the media release that information?"

Asriel's eyes narrowed, voice a low growl. "After the way you've treated my wife? You spent twenty years blaming her for absolutely everything that went wrong on this ship."

The owl and squirrel monsters had the decency to look sheepish at the reminder.

"And after she became your queen, you turned your attention to the few humans who survived an unprecedented journey and miraculous awakening. I have no faith in your ability to present the news in any way that doesn't completely vilify people who do not deserve such treatment. Especially in light of the serious contributions they've made to the Delta in their tireless work and expertise." He gestured to the child standing next to me. "With the information I just gave you, the best I can expect from the media is to demand that all humans on the ship leave with them."

Both reporters hunched in on themselves, staring at their feet.

"Where do you come from?" Frisk was looking up at Mettaton. "You're a human too, aren't you? Where do you come from?"

We all stared at the child for a moment, except Asriel and Sans, both of whom simply looked bemused. Oh my God... The Blooks. The Blooks were all humans. Dead humans.

I need to talk to them.

MTT smiled at her. "Oh? Did you figure it out?" A robotic hand patted her on the head. "My cousin and I were the only survivors of a failed colony on a planet the Delta mined for materials a few hundred years ago. We died shortly after coming on board."

The owl and squirrel monsters stared at him, wide eyed.

The robot rounded on them. "We have extraordinary freedom of the press on this ship. If His Majesty so desired, we could simply be slaves to 'official' news with its own specific, royal family approved slant. Instead, you have all made a mockery of journalism, looking for views and clicks over reporting actual news, and destroying the public's trust in us. Things like this incident have long needed to be kept deeply under lock and key because of your failure to do the most basic part of your job: report the facts exactly as they are."

MTT deeply frowned, eyes glowing. "I have grown tired of my empire running amok and it will happen no longer. In light of today's actions," he pointed to the owl monster, "you and your accomplice are dismissed!" He pointed to the squirrel monster. "For at least reporting to me that something was going on, you can stay on, provided His Majesty doesn't just throw you out an airlock with the other two."

The squirrel hunched in on herself, shoulders up to her ears in fear.

Sans jerked a thumb at the owl. "*what's the word, boss?"

Asriel looked at Frisk. "You were the one kidnapped. Should I throw them into the vacuum of space?"

The owl monster, legitimately terrified, shook her head, eyes begging for mercy.

And, true to form, it was offered. "No." Frisk frowned sadly, staring at her feet. "If they die, they can't change, and make up for what they've done."

I hugged the girl close to my side even as the monsters breathed deep sighs of relief. I wasn't going to take this as a sign of hope for her timeline, but it was a step in the right direction at the very least.

Asriel looked to the guard members. "Take them both away."

The guard gave a sharp salute before herding the owl and squirrel out.

MTT patted the child on the head once more before giving me a smile. "I'll see you later, Chara Dearest." He sauntered out the door.

I gave his back a wave. "Later, Mettaton."

Frisk jerked on my sleeve. "You know him?"

"He's my neighbor. I'm his cousin's housemate."

She nodded and went up to the desk, looking up at Asriel. "So now what?"

Asriel smiled. "The new interdimensional travel test is going to happen in a few minutes." He stood, eyes on Frisk. "I'm sure my wife mentioned that you do not have to decide on what to do right away. If the test is successful, the way to Seraph Foundation Site Epsilon will be opened. If this is the case, Asriel and Chara will be transferred there." He knelt in front of her. "You are welcome to stay here, but I do know that Epsilon has a few children there. And one of them is a Frisk you'll find easy to relate too."

Frisk thought about that for a moment. "Can I see the test?"

Asriel looked to the Bone Man. "Sans?"

My favorite skeleton shrugged. "*she'll be safe if she stands outside of the containment field." He nodded to the door. "*come on. if this works, we'll be seeing a few friends."

We followed Sans out of the offices. A tram took us over to Exploration. As always, Exploration was a mass of activity and today even more so. We'd just approached a new planet and the teams were prepping for first look as soon as the scan data was in. But even with all the activity, Rajur stood in the midst of it like the calm eye of the storm.

He bowed his head, hand over his heart, when he saw Asriel. "Your Majesty. We are set up in the ship hold near the quarantine area." He gestured for us to follow him, though Sans vaguely sauntered ahead. In the hold, a containment field was set up around a strange looking device. My sister, the young Asriel, and his Chara stood to one side. When Frisk saw us, she hurried over.

She knelt down to touch her younger double's face. "Are you all right?"

Frisk nodded and hugged her.

My sister looked up at Nacarat. "I apologize for the trouble, Ray."

Nacarat shrugged and gave her a sly smile. "Oh, you say that like it was actually trouble."

The young goat and his brother looked over at us, but didn't attempt to come over, both looking too unsure.

Sans stepped into the containment field. "*let's get this show on the road."

My sister stood. "Hooking up to Epsilon?"

"*nope! we're preparing for an incoming ship."

I blinked. "Incoming ship?"

Sans waved me off and started up the machine. "*based on the information crow was able to provide after star was pulled into the void by dragoon, and the testing she did afterward, moving people in out of timelines is still out of the question. the shutdown was specifically designed to eliminate single person or group travel. the equations won't connect us in and out. but a ship can be programmed to slide along the dimensional folding that's trapping us to get in and out." He looked over his shoulder at us. "*cross your fingers!"

The young Asriel leaned over toward Chara. "Did any of that make any sense to you?"

Chara shook his head.

Rajur came up behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I crossed my fingers as Sans flipped the switch to turn on a containment field. He pulled out his phone and hit a button, signaling readiness.

In the containment area, a rift in space itself opened, the light inside it flashed brightly before a giant, steampunk airship came through, appearing as a thick line of glowing light flowed over it. A galleon with a shining, metal coated haul and bright white sails seemed to come out of nothing; Planar Pearl emblazoned in gold across the bow. The ship, once fully through the rift, came to rest, still floating, inside the containment field.

Bones waved from the deck, leaning against the side. A Frisk with bleach blond, pink tipped hair and goggles, vaulted the side of the ship, a pair of metal wings deploying from the pack on his back to slow his descent. He landed on his feet and the wings pulled back into the pack. He stood up straight as he put his goggles up, dusting off his long, brown coat. The child Frisk gasped, mouth hanging open in delight.

His Imperial Highness, Frisk Dreemurr gave us a brilliant smile and a bow. "Permission to come aboard!"

My brother in law chuckled. "Granted!"

Frisk's smile ratcheted up to an eleven. "I apologize for not being a monster, but Fase is a little too busy to make that happen for us right now."

Asriel shrugged. "It's all right. Hey, Bones. How's your wife?"

Bones jumped down and walked up to the edge of the containment field. "Good."

"And the kids?"

The skele-man smiled. "Numerous and belligerent."

I snorted. "Oh My God! Church is going to cut off your Futurama time if you keep that up!"

"She always threatens, but it never happens."

I heard a deep throated chuckle and looked up to see Red and his Chara, leaning over the railing on the ship. *we did it. the tests have all been resoundingly successful. we can circumnavigate the asshole who's got us locked down."

I blinked, realizing that Rajur's hand was still on my shoulder. I looked up at him, but he didn't look the least bit surprised by the newcomers in our midst. I gestured toward Bones. "You...?"

"Are privy to many of the more classified happenings on the ship? Of course. I am the Head of Exploration and Osiris was not the first human I'd ever seen, though she was the first to survive. Dr. Alphys really is to thank for that."

"But other dimensions?"

He smiled broadly. "Bones and I have had a few drinks together."

My sister came back over to her husband. "We can send our visitors home whenever we like." She looked over at the young Asriel and Chara. "But all three of them need therapy. They can't go home like this. They're all broken."

His Imperial Highness waved. "Star is ready at Epsilon." He smiled at the child standing next me. Then his smile fell, and it was like all the joy that constantly bubbled up from him had vanished. He pulled something on his belt as he rushed out of the containment field and the field wrapped around him, keeping him from possibly contaminating the Delta. Quickly pulling off his gloves he knelt in front of Frisk, and took her face in his hands for a moment. Then he pulled her close, hugging her tightly.

My sister's hand touched his blond and pink head. "I take it that your dreams were as bad as ones Cross has been having?"

He leaned back a little, shaking his head. "No. Cross' nightmares are always worse."

The child touched Frisk's face. "You always look so happy in my dreams. Please don't look so sad now."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to give her a big smile. "You'll be safe at Epsilon. I promise." He paused for a moment, tapping his chin with one hand and I noticed a thick, gold wedding band on his ring finger. Frisk jerked his thumb at Bones. "Well, you'll be safe so long as you don't try to steal his wife's pokeballs. Her Seviper is still a total jerk."

"He likes me," Fell Chara muttered from the ship railing.

Frisk spun and pointed up at him. "Point proven!"

My sister nodded. "They are best equipped to help."

The child turned to hug me tightly and I knelt to give her a proper hug. "It's okay. Epsilon is a really nice place. There's another Frisk there like you. She's taken it hard and carries the scars of all her deaths on her body. Their Asriel is a lot like mine, very strong and very kind."

"Their Chara?"

"He's an artificial intelligence who lives in his Frisk's head. He's pretty cool."

"Will you visit?"

I smiled. "Absolutely."

She nodded and stepped away from me. She took Frisk's hand and turned to the containment field.

Bones motioned to her. "*just step on through, kiddo."

She closed her eyes and stepped through the field.

Bones waved our guests, Chara and Asriel, along. "Come on you two." As they stepped into the field, Bones looked back to us. "Anything I should know about these three?"

I nodded. "Keep Frisk and Chara separated."

Bones nodded once.

The child looked up at her older brother. "You haven't apologized yet."

Chara finally looked at her. "Would it help if I did?"

"It doesn't matter if it would or not. It's what you're supposed to do."

He sighed deeply. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all the things I've done to you. And that includes taking mom and dad away from you."

After that was silence. They ascended a gangplank and the ship disappeared in another rift.