Core Issues: Season 5

By Nicolle

Episode 14: Unexpected Things

(01 is our narrator!)

Sophia's voice filled the air in my office, "Dimensional teleport detected."

Kris put his coffee mug down on the small conference table on the other side of the room and flipped through the papers on his clipboard. "We don't have the Pearl or the Phantasm scheduled for arrival today." He dropped the clipboard. "Wait. Did Sophia say 'dimensional teleport?' As in, a direct teleport?"

Sans' terminal, a glowing blue and white interface, activated at the same mine did, both appearing in mid air in front of us, though mine was a multi-colored screen, being one of the first things I experimented with altering.

Sans brow bones went up. "*yep. that's exactly what she said."

My terminal opened a feed from a set of cameras hidden in the trees surrounding the grassy, landing zone for anyone wishing to come or go from Site Alpha. Kris walked around to look over Sans' shoulder while I switched my feed to the closest camera to get a good look at our visitors.

Kris snorted. "Ten gold says it's you."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

"Besides Dragoon, you are the only jerk I know who is asshole enough not to call ahead."

"Sans, would you kindly put a sharpened bone through my brother in law's skull for me?"

"*settle down, children."

I gave the Bone Man a mock glare and turned back to the feed. An Undyne, tall and blue, with hair as red as a burning sunset stood with a teenaged Asriel. Well, teenaged by human age comparisons. He was wearing a dark purple suit with a very special kind of armor sporting the Delta Rune over his chest in bright silver. And despite how imposing he looked, the expression of fear on his snout undermined the authority of that look. He had one arm around a human male, his other hand holding the human's hand tightly. Undyne looked just as worried, ready to catch the human if he fell. After a moment or two, the human patted Asriel on the shoulder and stood up straight, revealing himself to be a Chara.

"Called it."

I flipped Kris the bird.

After a moment of orienting themselves, our visitors began to walk toward the facility.

Sans' boney fingers trailed over his terminal. "*they definitely didn't use a travel machine. signature's all wrong. they got here the old fashioned way."

Kris shrugged. "Then he's got the normal stomach flop of the first couple jumps."

I stood, dismissing my terminal. "Sophia? Hook into Fase and get me a timeline ID on these three." I waved at Kris. "Come on. Let's go see our newcomers."

Kris patted Sans on the shoulder before following me out the door. We headed down a hall filled with photos and various awards, including the photo of Princess holding her plaque, and out into the massive, glass atrium that made up the formal entrance of the building. With void travel still something of a mess, the only people in the atrium were residential staff and site residents who were cleared to wander about freely. The teen Frisk with the vampiric Flowey waved from her seat at one window, her school work in piles around her; Flowey sleeping on her shoulder. Kris and I both waved back.

Exiting the building, I shivered and wished I'd grabbed my jacket on the way out of the office. The sky was bright and clear today, but the forecast promised snow. The dog monster and human guards at the gate watched the three approach with interest, and without worry since an alarm hadn't been activated. Both stood back as I reached the gate. As our visitors crested the hill and came down to the gate, I got a decent look at them.

Undyne was your very standard Undyne, except that she wore the same style armor as the teen Asriel. It was close fitting, and made for freedom of movement. Very different from the many Undyne's who cobbled together armor from whatever could be found in the dump underground. And while any Undyne was dangerous, this one had that thread of barely contained violence. Something had been taken under her watch and she was damned sure to get it back. Asriel appeared to be in the process of trying to get himself pumped and failing. Whatever worried him was crushing him.

Chara, however, looked determined; his expression a calculated calm. But I'd seen that look before on my own face. It was designed to hide an express desire to cause grievous bodily harm to someone. He was of average height, appeared to be of average weight, had short brown hair, and brown eyes that had a slightly reddish tinge.

These were three people on a mission.

Sophia's voice filled my ear. "Identified! These three are from the original variant timeline Agent Serif has identified as the home of the dimensional physicist who shut down void travel. On this timeline, intra-dimensional physics is highly developed. As previously determined, their Sans has had a brief contact with Site Beta."

Kris looked up toward the camera on the gate. "Intra-dimensional? You mean on world dimensional manipulation?"

"Yes."

The three got to the gate and Chara beat me to the questions, "Are you 01?"

"I am. How do you know that and how did you get here?"

He shrugged to dislodge his backpack from his shoulders. "With the information my wife left for me."

I gave Kris a smile. "As usual, Church is spot on. I'm Chara Dreemurr, but most people refer to me as 01. This is Kris, my second in command."

"Chara Joul." He motioned to the goat. "This is my son, Asriel, and the two legged mermaid bodyguard is Undyne."

Son? I shook it off for the moment and motioned for them to follow me. "It's freezing out here. Follow me."

Asriel's head jerked up, eyes enraged. "If you knew what was going on, why haven't you done anything about it?!"

Joul's hand came to rest on the goat's shoulder. "Calm down, Asriel."

"Dad…"

Dad, huh? I wonder what happened to his Asgore and Toriel. I sighed and motioned again for them to follow me. "We know your Frisk was kidnapped, but so far, there are multiple timelines on which she could be imprisoned. She also shut down our ability to do much to help anyone by shutting down our means of travel in and out of the void. We have a new method of travel, but it requires the expert skill of people who aren't agents." I looked over my shoulder at Joul. "I'm hoping your wife left you the information that identifies the correct timeline."

Undyne stopped in the courtyard, looking up at the glass atrium. "When I saw the outside, I assumed this was a fortress."

"Partially." I held the stained glass door open. "There are a lot of people who would like to steal the artifacts stored here, and people who are imprisoned here who would like to get out."

Inside the atrium, we passed one of the staff members cradling her newborn and Joul flinched.

Kris frowned. "You're missing more than just Frisk."

Joul nodded once, jaw set. "Frisk and our youngest, Benjamin, were kidnapped by another Sans."

"And your older children?"

"Our neighbors are keeping them." His mouth twitched.

"Worried about them?"

"No. I…"

I stopped in the hall. "You feel like you have another child you didn't have a month ago."

Joul frowned. "Two children. Why?"

"There's a phenomenon we've noticed over the years that we call 'baby bones' because it was first observed in the children of any Sans. Any person integral to a timeline's primary story will see any other person integral to their own timeline in a familial way. After enough time has passed, those bonds solidify and become permanent. For you it means, wherever your wife is, she's calling other children hers and those children call her mom."

Kris frowned. "Speaking of Sans, where is yours?"

Joul shook his head. "He was almost dead when we found him and in a coma. Even now, Dr. Gaster isn't sure he'll ever wake up."

I opened the door to my office and found Sophia's cute little robot body busily setting out mugs of hot cocoa. "Sophia, cue their timeline for a medical visit."

"Done." She turned and left the office.

Joul set his backpack down on the conference table and unzipped it to pull out a tablet. "My wife is the best dimensional physicist on our world and, at first, we thought someone had kidnapped her for her skills. When we saw nothing, not even a ransom, I worried that she'd been taken for her part in opening the pocket dimension that released monsters back into our world. That she and Benjamin were dead."

Sans looked up from his terminal "*what changed that?"

"I discovered my wife had dimensionally folded a piece of the backyard and left all of the information about where she was, what was going on, and how to undo it in the folding." He unlocked the tablet screen and turned it to me. "In the information was how to get here. Who to talk too."

I looked over the text on the screen, frowning deeply.

"Is it enough information to get my wife and children back?"

I nodded. "It is. Can you reverse what your wife did?"

He frowned. "Yes. But it would take me a month or more to reverse engineer what she did. This is nothing like what we work with at home. And I'm worried that doing so will tip off her kidnapper. That said, I know my wife. She will have made a kill switch to return everything to normal.

"Then I need to put together a rescue operation." I summoned a terminal and uploaded the information from the tablet.

Undyne snorted softly. "Woah. That's cool." She elbowed Chara. "Why can't you do that?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "If my ability to create pocket dimensions isn't impressive enough, Mermaid, I can always drop you in one until you appreciate it better."

Undyne smirked and flicked the side of his head, a little of the tension in her unwinding.

I tapped my terminal, uploading the information to Fase. At the same time I set the terminal to identify the timeline Frisk Joul was being held prisoner on based on the coordinates provided. Kris worked on getting Asriel seated and the goat seemed better after a few sips of hot cocoa. I reached for a mug and stopped dead, eyes on my terminal.

"Oh f…" I bit off the curse.

Sans looked over my shoulder. "*that's bad."

"Sophia, where are the Pearl and Phantasm at this moment?"

Sophia's voice filled the air. "The Phantasm is transporting His Majesty, King Chara and Mage Frisk to Site Epsilon. The Planar Pearl is nowhere to be found. It's last listed location is Epsilon."

I pulled out my phone and dialed Star. She picked up before the first ring finished.

"Hey, Love!" She sounded excited. I bet a dress happened today.

"Hey, Star. Do you have any idea where the Pearl is right now?"

There was the sound of utensils klinking and I could vaguely make out conversations in the background. "Prime. Chara was summoned."

My jaw dropped. "That's not exactly a good thing."

Star laughed softly. "He'll be fine. He's only talking to himself."

She wasn't right, but she wasn't wrong either. The only time I'd ever been summoned, I'd seen myself.

"Thanks, Star. Love you."

"Love you too."

Sans gave me a sidelong glance. "*prime."

"Yeah." I dialed the Prick.

He sounded surprised when he picked up. "Yes?"

"Star said you were out with Brass on the Pearl. Call Fase for the coordinates and come pick me up at Site Alpha. I'll be bringing a few people with me."

There was a blip on the phone, a sign that C was with him and had hooked into the line. "Do we have reconnaissance on the target?"

"Yes. And the situation has changed." I hung up.

Joul watched me carefully. "What's going on?"

"Your wife and children are being held at a decommissioned Seraph facility and one that was designed with complete security in mind."

Undyne raised an eyebrow from where she leaned against the wall. "A prison."

"Was a prison. All inmates and materials were moved off site years ago."

"You hope," Kris muttered.

I glared in his direction, but he was right. Being the head of Seraph didn't mean much if someone decided that a Chara couldn't be trusted and the Sans who belonged to this particular world had been a serious pain for me, which had led to the decommissioning of the facility in the first place. The manifests said that everything onsite had been moved to Alpha, but at the time the move was made, I'd also been distracted by the original set up of Gamma.

All that said, the Sans of that world was also long gone. He'd fallen down a good 200 years ago, which meant some unknown was using the facility. But who? It wasn't Dragoon. That said, we still had no idea where he was keeping the people he'd successfully kidnapped.

Sophia came back in the office with a backpack and a duffel bag, handing both to me. "The Planar Pearl will arrive in ten minutes."

"Then it's time to head out. Sophia, alert Epsilon to our arrival and the need for a conference room. Send all files to C and tell him that I want Cross in the meeting. Yes, I remember that he's out on medical leave, but I need him on consult." I looked to Kris. "You're on till I get back."

"I'll hold down the fort. And I'll let Azzy know you won't be over for dinner tonight."

"Thanks."

Joul repacked his tablet while Asriel finished his cocoa. I grabbed my jacket on our way out the door.

As we walked through the lobby, Asriel slowed down, getting a good look around. "Where is your Frisk? Is it the girl by the window? The one with the flower?"

"My world doesn't have a Frisk. That Frisk is a site resident. The flower is an entity named Flowey." I grimaced. "It's a version of you from a world where several bad decisions led to you falling down and being resurrected as one of the golden flowers."

Joul paused. "Why is she being held here?"

"She isn't. Not technically anyway. Flowey is the one in confinement and he's submitted to it willingly. When he touches someone, he attaches to them completely, digging into their circulatory system and feeding off of them. The only way to remove him after that is amputation. He's unable to remove himself even if he wants too. The only person he can attach and detach from at will is his Frisk. And with that in mind, Frisk eats a special diet to sustain them both."

Asriel appeared to ponder what I'd said. "So, what happened to me here? On this world."

I held the door for them. "Here, you are my older sister. And she is married to Kris. They have a son and two daughters."

"Does she rule all monsters?"

"Not yet. Dad wants her to be able to raise a family without the political entanglements of ruling. When my nephew is old enough to find a wife and start a family of his own, Dad will retire and Asriel will ascend the throne."

We exited the gate, and made the top of the hill just as the Pearl came through a glowing rift in the sky. It circled overhead once before coming to rest in the field and lowering the gangplank.

Undyne's tight winding disappeared for a moment. "That's a steampunk ship!"

I nodded. "It comes from a steampunk world. There's a little bit of everything out there. Steam worlds, sci-fi worlds, fell worlds, horror worlds, happy rainbow fun worlds that make your eyes bleed."

Brass hung in the doorway at the top of the gangplank, his goggles on his head. "Welcome aboard."

Undyne gave Joul a bemused smile. "That's you."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And?"

"Just saying…"

His eyebrow twitched. "Just saying that I could be doing more with my life? I swear to God, Mermaid, if you even think of giving me one of my mother's lectures, I will make you sleep in the barn."

I started up the gangplank. "I take it that dimensional physics is not what you've chosen to do with your life."

"I had a choice between staring at a computer screen all day in a corporate office or shoveling sheep shit. And I'd rather be as close to the source of my yarn as I can get."

Undyne jerked a thumb at Joul. "Can you believe that?"

"Yes," Brass and I said at the same time.

She looked between us. "The knitting is a thing, isn't it?"

I nodded. "Oh yeah."

Brass shrugged. "I just finished a new set of gloves for my brother."

We came up to the flight deck where Stephen sat with Fell Chara, and chill went down my spine. His eyes, which were typically a muted kind of maroon, were a bright, shining red. Of course, our eyes were always a bright shiny red after a talk with the Prime Chara. Brass' always seemed to be that bright and shiny, so it didn't seem all that different to me. But the Prick? It was like the cap on his power had been ripped off and there was nothing to stop it.

I shook it off, refusing to let it bother me. No matter what had happened on Prime, he was still Fell Chara. "How's Star?"

The Prick looked up from his tea. "I had to threaten her with a rewrite this morning."

I frowned. "Trying to work on her day off?"

Brass sighed. "'It's bad' is an understatement."

I gestured around the room, making introductions. "Chara, this is Chara Dreemurr, the very second Chara to ever exist. This is His Imperial Highness, Chara Dreemurr. We call him Brass. And this is Lord Stephen Keenan Plant, Brass' Gentleman of the Bedchamber. You jerks, and Stephen, this is Chara Joul, his son Asriel, and their Undyne. Joul's wife is the Frisk behind the shut down."

I waited for Brass to put us in the void before continuing. "I'll brief everyone once we're at Epsilon on the situation." A thought occurred to me and I turned to the Prick. "Do you know why King Chara is going to Epsilon?"

He nodded. "I asked his wife if she could repair Dead Sass' soul and he said they'd be at Epsilon today."

I mused on that. "That's a pretty fast response for him."

The Prick shrugged. "It's for another Chara, and he's got a soft spot for the kids."

"Holy shit! I've never been so happy to see anyone!"

E.C. slammed into me and I hit the floor of the flight deck.

"Ow."

"Not apologizing!" E.C. sat up, the glow in his eyes bright, even as the area around him seemed to glitch in and out. "I know where Dragoon is hiding!"

I sat up, rubbing my shoulder. "Do you know where he's keeping the kidnapped?"

E.C. smiled wide. "He's not keeping them anywhere! I've been stealing them away. As of right now, they are all on Agent Helvetica's timeline."

I groaned, "And he hasn't told us this why?"

E.C. moved to float above me. "A fight with Dragoon destroyed his phone right before the shut down."

The Prick's glare was as ugly as it was jealous. It wasn't often he wore his heart so blatantly on his sleeve. Then again, of all Charas, E.C. could make the best case for being Star's partner over him. "Why haven't you reported in? Star's worried sick about you."

He gave a dramatic shrug. "Dragoon busted up my phone too." He frowned. "Even I have trouble getting in and out of timelines right now. I'll hang in the void outside Epsilon. If you need me, Star has my number." He disappeared.

Asriel frowned. "But he said his phone was broken."

Joul patted his son's shoulder. "Remember when I heard that voice in my head? The one that told me Star needed me? I'm assuming she can just call any of us." He looked up. "Who is she? Was it her voice I heard?"

"That voice wasn't her." The Prick shifted uncomfortably. "I'm guessing you picked up that Charas and Frisks are important on a much more cosmic level at this point. Star is a Frisk, one created from the void itself." He went silent for a moment and I wondered if Star was the reason he'd been summoned. "You'll meet her when we get to Epsilon."

We came out of the void, a glowing rift flowing over the Planar Pearl as we came to rest next to the Phantasm hovering lightly over Site Epsilon's parking lot.

Asriel walked over to the railing, looking out over the main building. "I was expecting another fortress."

I patted his shoulder. "Each site has its own dedicated purpose. Epsilon focuses on producing agents who fix anomalies in the field. They also have robust medical labs."

Asriel's snout swung to me. "Does that mean that Sans could come here and be healed?"

"An agent with a background in monster medicine will go to see him."

Asriel's stomach growled loudly and he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry!"

I motioned for him to follow me. "Come on. This place has some really good food."

Bones met us at the entrance, boney hands in the pockets of his bomber jacket, eternally relaxed. "We'll have conference room 6 in three hours."

"Good." I inclined my head to Asriel. "The goat needs a meal and I need to see my fiance."

"Three hours!" Asriel fumed.

Joul put a hand on the goat's shoulder and the kid seemed to calm.

"We need to wait for the rest of the team to arrive." Bones held out a skeletal hand to our newcomers. "I'm Dr. Sans Gaster, but everyone just calls me Bones. I'm your escort for the time being." His single, pinprick eye slid over to me. "Will all three be joining us for the meeting?"

I nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"The Brothers Tarsus are here."

I mused on that for a moment. "Hold that thought. I'll probably need it after the meeting."

Joul, Asriel, and Undyne followed Bones down the sunlit hall.

"You look a lot like our Dr. Gaster," Asriel commented, but whatever the response was, I didn't hear it.

The Prick grabbed my arm. "We need to talk about Star."

Brass flanked my other side. "She's killing herself with work. It's like she's completely forgotten how to slow down and relax."

The Prick nodded. "It's the shut down. Without her connection to the void, she becomes manic easily. The little sliver in Brass' locket only helps so much."

I frowned. "Hopefully, undoing the shut down will put her back to rights."

Brass shook his head. "Is there enough information from Joul to fix it now?"

"Yes, but it will take time. But even then, I don't want to undo it until Frisk Joul and her children are safe. I won't risk their lives on the chance that whoever has them imprisoned notices that void travel is back online. We're going to need Sunshine here. I want her to see this." I sighed, shoulders dropping. "It just means we have to keep Star together until then. Thankfully, Joul believes his wife will have built a kill switch into the system. Did you tell Star I was coming?"

The Prick shook his head. "Nope."

I smiled. "Good. C, where is Star?"

C appeared on my shoulder, a red glow. "Arranging an ice skating trip upstairs."

"Did you say 'ice skating?'"

I turned at a voice I didn't recognize and found an adult Chara with long, brown hair in a green shirt and black slacks. What is it with us and green?

Any enthusiasm C had drained away immediately. "Yes."

"Is there any chance my brother can go along? He loves ice skating. It'll… It'll help him feel better."

The Prick frowned. "I'll mention it."

"Thank you." He turned and walked away, disappearing into Dr. Papyrus' suite.

I jerked a thumb at the suite. "Give me the story later?"

C nodded and disappeared. Brass gave the Prick and I a salute before heading up the stairs. We made the top of the stairs just in time to see him disappear into one of the apartments. I caught Star's voice coming from down the hall in the other direction and turned on my heel. Only a few steps away was the only woman who'd made me forget about work, forget about responsibility, forget about Seraph, forget about being a Chara, forget about myself.

The long months I'd spent worried sick about her still sat like a stone in my stomach. No amount of long nights on the phone or hours spent on facetime could dispel the ache in my heart and the growing unease in my mind. The reports on her behavior from Brass only underlined the way she laughed like she wasn't wound up so tight I expected her to crack open at any moment. Was this what Crow meant when he said she'd been badly injured?

Stopping at the door of the Ossein apartment, I stared at her, the fading light of winter lighting her sublime face. Star hadn't caught sight of me when I entered the room, slipping up next to her and sliding my hand in hers. Without looking, her fingers curled around mine instantly accepting of such a gesture, even if she didn't know who's hand it was. I spun her quickly, leaning her over backwards for a kiss.

The kids might have started giggling at that point. I wasn't sure. I was too busy enjoying the feel of her lips against mine, her arms wrapping around my neck. Star sighed when I pulled back to rub my nose against hers. There wasn't any tightness around her eyes, just an overall winding. Was it because she couldn't fill herself with the void, she was filling herself with work in order to keep the ache at bay?

"See? I told you he was better looking."

I stood up straight, pulling Star up with me, holding her tight against me. "Better looking than who?"

Princess pointed at the Prick who shrugged.

But we look almost exactly- Oh. "Throwing shade, are we?"

"Gotta live up to my nickname, right?"

Star gave us a disapproving pout. "You can both stop."

Only for you, Star. "I heard a rumor that ice skating was on the table."

Star nodded and put a hand on the new Frisk. "The Little Lion hasn't skated before."

The Prick sat down. "Mr. Child Torture requested that we take his Asriel along."

The Little Lion frowned deeply, as Princess hugged her tightly.

Star stepped away from me to kneel in front of her. "Is that okay with you?"

The Little Lion thought about it for a little bit, eyes on the ground, before she nodded. "It's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Her mouth twitched for a moment before she looked up at Star. "It's not his fault his brother turned out to be such a shitty asshole."

Sans Ossein opened an eye socket. "*Language!"

The girl flinched and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Sans."

The Prick sat up straight, blinking a little, like he'd just seen a ghost. Star chuckled softly and Mr. Ossein smiled. Did I miss something?

I shook it off. "I'll drop my stuff in the apartment and join you."

Star's fingers entwined with mine. "I need to grab my skates." She looked around me to the Prick. "Gather everyone from Suite Fourteen for me?"

He nodded and stood only to have the Little Lion grab his hand. Fell Chara gave her a smile and she trotted along with him out the door. Star drew me along with a smile but the moment we stepped out the door, it fell, eyes going wide.

"Francesca isn't with you, is she?"

I raised an eyebrow. "No. Why?"

Star looked down the hall toward the Little Lion getting ready to ride the banister down the stairs. "Remember what she said she'd do if she got her hands on the Chara she watched slit a child's throat?"

"Yes…"

"That Chara's here."

"Really." I looked over at the Lion as she slid out of sight, laughing loudly. So she would be the child Francesca was so keen to avenge.

Star fixed me with a most disapproving gaze. "Chara."

I held up both hands. "I'm not strangling him, am I?"

"No. But you aren't here to play either. Should I get my uniform?"

I put my arm around her waist. "You are off today. There's a meeting in…" I checked the time. "Two hours, forty-five, and that's it." I leaned in, putting my forehead against hers. "You can't work and work and work and hope it will make up for the disconnection to your very essence. All it will do is burn you out."

I took her hands in mine, swinging them a little. "I haven't gotten to see you skate in forever."

She smiled, biting her lower lip. I leaned in quick, stealing a kiss before pulling her down the hallway to her apartment. Her hand trembled in mine and she kept her lips tightly pursed as she opened the front door. The door clicked shut behind us and I barely had time to drop my duffle before she jumped into my arms; her lips pressed to mine.

There was a soft snort behind us and Star groaned, turning to look at Umbra. The Umbreon was snuggled up with a large Luxray, both sleeping.

I raised an eyebrow. "Sleeping in the middle of the day?"

"I'm going to have another egg on my hands. I just know it." Star huffed and gave me a smile. "So how many kids are we having?"

I shrugged. "We're both effectively immortal so we might end up having as many as Mage Frisk and King Chara."

Star blinked. "They only have four kids."

"They only have four kids right now. They don't act like it, but they're both hundreds of years old. They have a bunch of kids, raise them, take five to ten years off, and then have another bunch. I'm pretty sure the current brood are kids 64 through 67." I frowned. "Aren't they here right now?"

Star nodded. "Mage Frisk looked over my sisters when we got back from the boutique. She said she needs to consult with Snow, but she's sure they can fix Chara's soul, make it one piece again. So we're waiting on Snow to get here. The Twins have been really busy ferrying everyone around."

"They don't seem to mind it."

Star smiled. "They love it!" She stepped away from me, heading for her room. "Let me grab my skates."

I looked down at the pokemon napping together. "If Umbra does lay an egg, I'll take it. It's been a while since I've raised a pokemon and the kids at Alpha would enjoy having an Eevee around."

Star came out of the bedroom in a pair of leggings and a black hoodie that read 'Lutz go to the rink.' Ten gold says her dad bought her that one. She hooked her arm in mine.

"How did you change so fast?"

Star gave me a devious smile. "I think a better question is, 'How did I resist a strip tease?'"

I thought about it. "You know, as much as I would like that, I'm still wondering about the fast change."

"I was wearing my skating pants under my jeans. It's really cold out today."

I opened the door to a face full of Frisk Boneweaver.

"Oh good! You're both ready." She smiled brightly. She grabbed Star's hand, pulling her down the hall. "Come on! I've been dying to go skating and you wouldn't believe how fast our guest perked up at the idea!"

Star put an arm around her. "Did the Little Lion ask him to come along?"

"Yes. It was a bit awkward to start, but smoothed out pretty well." She looked back over her shoulder at me. "I hope things have been going well at Site Alpha."

"It's been quiet."

She gave me a conspiratorial smile. "Makes you miss Star all the more, right?"

Yes. Yes it did. "Stop fishing for salacious information."

Star pulled her along, laughing the whole time. "Oh man, your fiance is right. You are the bad one!"

Rather than a general piling into cars, Dr. Papyrus took us on a short cut from the hall once we were all gathered together.

Mrs. Ossein sat next to me in the bleachers around the rink. "Why aren't you out there? I know you skate."

I watched Star and the Prick skate together, talking as they went. "This is their time together." I shivered a little and zipped up my jacket. "How did dress shopping go?"

Mrs. Ossein smiled warmly and a little sadly. "She found one."

I reached over and rubbed her back. "How about you, Miss Breen? Doing well?"

Mrs. Ossein's eyes turned red for a moment and another voice fell from her lips. "I'm all right. Constantly worried about my nieces and nephew, but that's normal."

Steam Frisk skated by with Charlotte, Brass having gone off on the Phantasm to retrieve White and Snow. Princess and Sophia chased after Brandon, dodging around Prince Chara and Prince Asriel. Dead Sass floated along next to Frisk Boneweaver both involved in some conversation. The Little Lion came by, clutching the wall tightly, her face set with determination even if her feet were slipping around.

Star stopped next to the Lion. "You won't learn to skate next to the wall like that." She reached out, catching the Lion's Asriel as he came by and he skidded to a stop against the wall.

"Eep!"

Star patted his shoulder. "Teach Frisk to skate."

Asriel blinked as Star skated away. "Uh…" He gave the Little Lion a sheepish smile, offering his hand. "Skate with me. It's easier away from the wall."

She frowned, but put her hand in his, allowing him to draw her away from the wall.

"Keep your knees bent and your feet hip width apart. Use your arms for balance."

She looked up at him with the most annoyed look I'd seen on anyone. "Yeah. Got that. How do I actually skate?"

If Asriel was aware of her sudden attitude, he didn't let on. "That's the fun part." He swayed from side to side. "Wobble like a penguin!"

The Lion snorted and burst out laughing.

"Come on, try it."

She started swaying side to side, mimicking him.

"Good!" He took both of her hands. "Now push off to the side with your right skate."

She did, and followed with her.

"On the left."

The Lion pushed her left skate out, moving back and forth, picking up speed. The goat prince stayed with her, guiding her around the rink.

Mrs. Ossein sighed. "She's got quite the attitude."

I chuckled. "A handful, huh?"

"All children are a handful." She took my hand in hers, holding it tightly, and sighed, eyes on Star. "Always a handful."

I put an arm around my future mother in law, holding her close while we watched everyone skate by.

My terminal beeped and activated, opening next to me. Sunshine had arrived with White and Snow.

I sighed. "I need to head back." I leaned in to kiss Mrs. Ossein's cheek.

She smiled. "I won't tell Star where you've gone until the skate is over."

"Thank you." I stretched when I stood and headed out into the lobby before short cutting back to the sidewalk outside Epsilon.

The Phantasm had returned and the latest arrivals were coming down the gangplank. Sunshine was being helped by White, her round belly making the gangplank a balancing act as she descended. Snow came down after them, a tall man who bore more than a passing resemblance to her Frisk behind her, wearing the very obvious dark suit of a bodyguard.

Sunshine waved when she saw me and I waved back, waiting at the door so I could hold it for them. "We finally have something!"

I nodded. "Finally. I'll introduce you to Chara Joul as soon as C tells me where he is."

C's voice carried over from a speaker in the wall. "Cafeteria, on the mezzanine."

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

Snow looked up to the speaker. "And Mage Frisk?"

"Same place."

"Thank you, C."

"Again, anytime."

I offered Sunshine my arm and she took it, leaning on me a little. "How far along are you?"

"Seven months." She rubbed her belly. "This one appears to be fully human like Amara."

"Boy or girl?"

Sunshine smiled, looking down at her belly. "Surprise. We are still hashing out names. You'd think it'd get easier the more children you have, but it only gets harder."

I looked back at Snow. "How are you, Lady Ravenbrooke?"

She smiled softly. "Just 'Snow' is fine. I'm doing better."

"Has anyone made Jon Snow jokes at you yet?"

White snorted. "She only lets Asriel get away with those."

I raised an eyebrow. "Frisk doesn't even get a pass?"

Snow chuckled. "He knows better." She smiled back at the man behind her. "Jared, this is Chara Seth Dreemurr, the head of the Seraph Foundation. Chara, this my bodyguard Jared Spencer, the only man who's ever made it to home base with me."

Sunshine lost it, leaning against me to stay upright as she laughed.

Jared snorted before he burst out laughing. "What? I'm no longer a 'giant bee descending into the cavern?'"

White rolled his eyes. "I will never understand your sense of humor. Ever."

Snow gave him a satisfied smirk. "You're the one who complained about me not making proper sex jokes. Live with your mistakes, Sans."

He gave her a sly smile. "Technically speaking, I do."

"You shouldn't talk about Papyrus that way."

Talk about spiking one over the net. I chuckled and held the door to the cafeteria. Mage Frisk spotted us from the mezzanine, waving. As always, she looked stunning, a true queen in her blue dress with sparkling silver accents. And, as usual, her a husband who looked like the roughest anti-hero to walk out of some, over top, action video game. I'd ask what she sees in him, but it's probably the same thing Star sees in me. Either that or sex that comes off of him so loud is also that good.

Snow climbed the stairs to the mezzanine quickly, clearly excited. King Chara stood to hold a chair for Snow only to watch her and his wife crash into each other with a tight hug. The grand jerk had a bemused smile on his face, as if he'd half expected this, and I wondered how often the ladies spent on the phone with each other. Having two people with the same magical language meet was a rarity in the growing vastness of the multiverse. White and Spencer both gave King Chara shrugs as they sat down.

Sunshine and I found Chara Joul a few tables away. Asriel had a growing goat monster's amount of food in front of him and it looked like he'd just finished eating. Undyne sat next to Bones with a cup of coffee, still wound tight, but less on guard.

I made introductions. "Chara Joul, this is Frisk Dreemurr. Sunshine, this is…" I trailed off at her bemused smile. "Fine. Just get to work."

Bones stood to give Sunshine a hug, and pulled out a chair, helping her get situated. "How ya feeling, kiddo? Do you need anything?"

Sunshine shook her head. "I'm fine. Ready to be done, but still a month away from popping."

Asriel reached over, putting a hand on her stomach. "Are you having a boy or a girl?"

Joul groaned. "Ask before touching, Asriel."

Sunshine put her hand over the goat's. "It's all right. And we're having a surprise. All I know is that the baby is human and not a goat monster."

Asriel looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

She gave him a patient smile. "I mean that my version of you is my husband."

His shoulders dropped. "That's really weird to think about considering my version of you is my mom."

Sunshine patted his shoulder. "That strangeness will fade after a while." She let out a whoosh. "Oh! Big kick! Hearing lots of new voices today, huh?"

"WOW!" Asriel's face lit up. "I felt that!"

I pulled an extra chair over and activated my terminal. "Sunshine here is Seraph's resident cosmologist."

Joul pulled out his tablet and set it in front of her. "I've spent the majority of my adult life studying exactly this and I only have my wife's explanation to see me through. Do you think you can help me parse this faster?"

Sunshine took the tablet. "She folded entire dimensions…" She trailed off, eyes on the tablet. "Oh."

"What?"

"I've never been able to describe what I see. But you. You have words for this. An entire language devoted to something I've always just used numbers to describe." She waved her hand. A notebook and pencil appeared on the table. She looked up at Joul earnestly. "Talk me through this like it's a freshman, gen ed. I need to understand this language. I need these words."

Joul chuckled and began teaching. Sunshine flipped the notebook open, diving into notes, Bones reaching over occasionally to comment on something she wrote.

The somewhat hidden door on the mezzanine opened and Princess ran in to hug Sunshine around the shoulders; Dead Sass floating behind. "You're here! And you're so big!"

"I am!" She hugged them both before pointing to the table down the way. "Lady Snow is here to see you both. Don't keep her waiting."

Princess nodded and rushed over to the other table, climbing up onto King Chara's lap. My attention was drawn away by the small, glowing rings of gold that erupted in front of Snow. She drew Dead Sass over to her, holding the ghost as if the wispy body were truly substantial. Everyone at the table watched closely while a soul in pieces was drawn forth from Princess. Snow's eyes glowed a warm gold, a few drops of black ichor sliding down her face as the rings moved and flowed around the broken soul until the light died away.

Snow sighed and it ended as a huff. "I can't pull the pieces of her soul forward."

Mage Frisk frowned and leaned in. "Why not?"

Snow frowned sadly. "When Toriel burned Frisk to death the first time, it shattered Chara mentally and spiritually. She watched her own mother burn a child to death and pieces of her soul burned up in that betrayal. Toriel had spoken of saving children from Asgore and yet was the first to kill."

Snow's shoulders fell. "And I can't pull her soul out of time from before that moment because it would take her out of the picture completely. She would cease to exist and Princess' history would dramatically change in ways I can't predict."

Sunshine looked up from the paper. "How about patching the soul with other pieces?"

Mage Frisk sat back to look at Sunshine, one graceful hand coming up to touch her chin while she considered the possibility. "Where would we get pieces to patch it?"

"My Chara." Sunshine looked back down at the notepad. "Don't you feel it? The change in him? I noticed it as soon as the Phantasm landed, but you have to know now that he's in the building. He's more powerful now. The chain that long held him down isn't broken. It's gone like it was never there. Ask him to make you the pieces you need."

Mage Frisk stood. "I'll retrieve…"

"No need." Sunshine smiled softly. "Chara," she breathed his name, like she was summoning him from some deep, dark well.

About thirty seconds later, the air turned thick and while the light in the room did not dim, it seemed to grow dark and strangely warm; comforting. The Prick opened the door, the sclera of his eyes black, the iris' glowing a bright red. Black ichor dripped down his face from his right eye.

He huffed, an exasperated frown on his lips. "I have a phone. You can text me." He blinked away the black in his eyes.

I felt something wet on my face and touched it, only to come away with a black ichor I knew too well. I huffed softly and pulled out a tissue to wipe it away.

Joul looked at Sunshine. "Don't do that again while I'm here." He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away the bit of black at his eyes.

"Oh… My cake…" I looked over the rail of the mezzanine and saw Chara Tarsus blinking black ichor onto his dessert plate.

Snow pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes. "Well, that happened." She gave the Prick a smile. "Your sister believes that you might be able to patch Chara's soul." She ran her hand through Dead Sass' hair and I wondered how that was possible.

The corner of his mouth twitched down for a moment, and then he shrugged. He wiped at the black ichor under his eye, slicking his fingers. He looked down at Snow and Mage Frisk. "Guide me."

Snow took his hand, drawing him between herself and Mage Frisk as another golden glow took the table. Snow drew out Dead Sass' soul once more, this time arranging the pieces so you could see what was missing. Princess climbed down from King Chara's lap to rush around the table to her sister, hugging the ghost tightly. Asriel turned in his seat to watch, fascinated.

Mage Frisk's hand came up to touch the Prick's head, words I didn't understand falling from her lips. Snow guided his hand through the swirling rings of magic to the broken soul. He touched the soul, gently filling in the missing pieces, and slowly fusing the whole together.

Dead Sass appeared to take a deep breath and let it out as a sigh.

Snow pulled Chara back and Mage Frisk's hand left his head to touch Princess' shoulder, extracting her soul. The golden glow shifted and the bonds between both souls became visible. The bonds appeared as cords of varying lengths and thicknesses, and several colors. Snow reached into the magic, oh so gently, and moved the bonds around, cutting away some while repairing and strengthening others.

When she finished, Snow looked weak, but satisfied. The souls returned to the girls, as they hugged each other tightly.

White looked over the girls. "So how do we know if it worked?"

Mage Frisk pulled out the heart shaped locket hidden under her dress and opened it, revealing a shining, silver star hidden inside. "Save."

Princess looked at Mage Frisk for a moment before reaching out and touching the star.

There was a brief flash and Princess frowned. "I don't feel different..."

Mage Frisk closed up her locket and dropped back under the neckline of her dress. "Now. Load your save."

Princess closed her eyes and everything seemed to pause for the briefest of moments before continuing forward.

Asriel nearly jumped in his seat. "Wow! She grew a good three inches!"

Dead Sass reached out, touching her sister's now unblemished neck, the puncture scar gone. Princess pulled back her sleeves, staring at arms that had once been covered in the white lines of so many scars but now appeared smooth and unblemished.

Princess looked up at Snow. "What happened?"

Snow put a hand on her shoulder. "You are no longer supporting Chara with your determination and that has left it free to heal you completely, just the way it should. You are still connected, that is something that cannot be changed. But now, you'll be able to support each other fully."

The Prick held out his hands to them. "Come on you two. Your parents and Star are going to want to see you."

The girls hugged Snow and Mage Frisk before running back toward the hidden door, the Prick following behind them.

Jarod Spencer put his hand on Snow's shoulder. "Why didn't you do for her what you've done for me? For Asriel?"

Snow sighed. "It's not the same. Such deeply intertwined souls have a bond that isn't easily broken and separation is traumatic." She looked down at her hands, eyes watering. Mage Frisk pulled her close, hugging her tightly.

My terminal beeped, and I looked at the time. "We have fifteen until the meeting." I put a hand on Sunshine's shoulder. "I don't expect you to have anything ready for it."

She waved me off. "You don't need me to plan a rescue." She pursed her lips. "I might need someone to rub my feet though. They're starting to swell."

Bones stood gesturing to our guests. "I'll mention it over at Lab Four while I take these three down to the conference room."

I nodded. "See you there."

Fifteen minutes went fast and the room was a little fuller than I expected. Several people had ended up at Epsilon during the shut down, but no one seemed the worse for it. That said, I'd heard a few things about Princess' Toriel, but that was neither here nor there. What I was interested in was the amount of new people. Church had mentioned briefly that she was looking to onboard new recruits, which I'd at first was a bit overboard. Epsilon has a substantial group of excellent agents.

Now that I could see them, I realized that it wasn't about Epsilon. It was about Star. They were all young and none of them saw Star the way older agents did. In a lot of ways, it was a blessing that I hadn't met her until after she'd been an agent for a while. She'd impressed the hell out of me with her effectiveness from the first moment. But older agents who'd known her longer remembered the scrappy little girl and that attitude was something that could kill a Seraph site when leadership change overs occurred. Church was determined to keep her hard work intact and that meant creating a strong position for a successor.

I took a deep breath and pushed my terminal out for everyone in the room to see. "We now know where Frisk Joul, her infant son, and another two children are being held: a decommissioned Seraph site."

On the screen appeared a large building of high, white, solid walls resembling a cube. It sat on a rocky island long overgrown with greenery. A bridge from the mainland disappeared into one cube wall, the only way in or out appearing as a solid wall.

Cross leaned in. "Site Phi. I considered it as a base of operations for Midnight Collapse."

Church looked over. "Why?"

"It's almost completely impenetrable." Cross frowned and leaned over to point. "The only way in or out is the front gate where the bridge enters the wall."

I nodded. "The wall, as it appears, is almost solid. There is an entrance there, flush with the wall, and the area in between the door and the wall is set to keep water from slipping through the slight crack. You cannot teleport in or out of the building while the front gate is shut and the walls are thick enough that they can take a large amount of firepower before you can even make a scratch."

I touched the terminal, making the building appear as an outline and the interior to appear with four glowing people. "Thermal scans show a skeleton monster, a human woman, an infant, and a child near the middle of the facility. There is a way to blow the front gate, but it would alert the Sans running the show."

I turned to Cross. "You've scoped the place out thoroughly before. How do we get in without alerting the warden?"

Cross let out a breath in a whoosh. "Unless we've got someone who can turn into water and slide through the walls, blowing the gate is our only option. It's why I decided against using it. It wasn't practical for ease of movement. Plus, the design was such that no one inside knew if the front door was opened or not unless they were in the control room. For a prison, it's a good design. For a fortress, it's a liability."

Straight Man Sans raised a hand. "*did you say 'made of water?' because i might be able to help you there."

I gestured for him to go on.

"*alphys called me a month or so back to tell me that she'd found our world's chara."

Church leaned over. "You've got one?"

"*yeah. and the weird part is that i know the guy. it's just that no one calls him chara anymore. it's a forgotten nickname. his name is charles larkin and alph said he could turn into ink at will. she said that he went toe to toe with dragoon and drove him off."

"Do you think he'd be willing to help us?"

"*i'm betting. alphys figured out that our timeline has these weird safe zones and all of them are marked with a gray delta rune. larkin is the one who identifies, marks them, and makes sure the marks are upkept. it was his place we found princess and dead sass in."

I nodded. "Get on the asking."

Sans nodded and stood, heading out of the room with his phone.

I changed the view of the facility so it showed an interior layout of cell blocks and offices. "As Cross said, the front gate opening and closing is completely hidden from the interior. If we can get the door open without the Sans inside knowing, we can send in a rescue team."

I pointed to a small office. "Frisk Joul and her son Benjamin are being held here, close to the facility's computer room." I pointed to what appeared to be a large conference room turned into a playroom of sorts with a bed in one corner. "This is where the child I believe to be another Frisk is being held. Sans appears to roam the facility."

"But I feel like I'm missing three children. Not two. Only two show up here."

I nodded and pointed to the glow of the older child. "If my guess is right, this is a Frisk and they are harboring the soul of a Chara. Two children sharing a body."

Church looked to Star pointedly. "Who is on the team?"

Star leaned forward to put her elbows on the table and covered her mouth and nose with her steepled hands. She closed her eyes for a moment, before sitting up. "I need three teams. The first to move fast and silent." She looked at her partner. "Chara." And then turned to look down the table. "Luna. " Her eyes went to the wall where our surfing swap Sans stood. "Sans. As soon as the gate is open, you three will neutralize the Sans inside."

"The second team is myself, Crow, Bones, and Brass. We'll retrieve the captives. Frisk Boneweaver, Prince Chara, Stephen, and Chara Tarsus will run backup. Frisk," she indicated Steam Frisk, "will manage our transport."

Church leaned forward. "Why backups?"

Star pointed at the glow representing Sans. "Because that isn't Dragoon and you don't seal something up in a prison like that unless you intend to keep something else out. And I'm betting that someone is Dragoon." She took a breath and let it out slow. "Whoever that Sans is, that child is not his Frisk. It's Dragoon's."

Church sat back, a slight quirk to the corner of her mouth. "We know from Fase that Dragoon's world was destroyed. If that is his Frisk, why hasn't his world come back together?"

Star leaned forward, eyes lighting up. "You told me months ago that you felt like the child you saw with Frisk Joul when you dreamed of her didn't have a world. That it might not exist because she'd burned the timeline away. That's Dragoon's Frisk. He did something and she set the world ablaze."

Joul's Undyne balked. "What the hell happens to a twelve year old that they are willing to do something like that?!"

"A lot of things." The Prick reached for the water in front of him to take a drink. His Frisks reached out, hands on his shoulders.

Star gave her partner a soft smile. "Maybe the shutdown was about keeping Dragoon away from her. Maybe it's about keeping her safe."

The quirk of Church's lips turned into a full smile.

Steam Frisk leaned forward on the table. "Remember that Snow is an analog for the Chara inside that Frisk. Someone with already established magical skill. If they decide to take over, it can go bad for everyone."

Church nodded. "I agree." She looked to Star. "Add Red to your backup team."

*ah sugar puss, are you really going to make me work?"

Church raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes. Yes I am."

White swung his finger back and forth, indicating the younger set in the room. "Is no one going to point out that Star chose several non-agents for this?"

Red sat up and for a moment, his smile changed, like Blue was in the room. "*guess we'll see about that after the operation is complete."

King Chara snorted and gave me a bemused smile. "You know that this all hinges on someone we don't know agreeing to help us, right?"

The Prick gave him a sidelong look, eyes still a bright red. "He won't refuse."

King Chara turned to him with a smirk. "Oh please, inform me on how you know that."

The Prick shrugged. "For the same reason neither of us would." His eyes flicked to Star and back to King Chara. "It's all about who's asking."

Joul's son Asriel huffed. "You aren't taking us?!"

Before Star could answer, Joul's hand rested on his son's shoulder. "All of the people here train for situations just like the one we face now. I know, after so many months, that it's maddening to be so close to finally getting our family back and not be able to help, but we've done our part. We need to let them do their's." He leaned over, pulling the young goat into a one armed hug and kissing the side of Asriel's head above his eye. "It's just a little longer."

The young goat sighed and nodded.

I sat down. "Does anyone have anything to add?"

There was a general shaking of heads.

I nodded. "All right. Everyone who isn't on assignment is dismissed. The rest of you stay. We have a lot of planning to do."