Me: This chapter...I thought I could make it longer. I just...

Shamir: No more self-blame, Shock. I found it interesting.

Me: If you say so...I really hoped it would be longer.

Shamir: Things are looking grim, anyway...

Me: ...Yup. And someone's made a move.

Danger...Approaching!


CHAPTER TEN: UNKNOWN DANGER AT THE DOOR

Sans must've stood in there frozen for like, five minutes, until he blinked and shook back the paw extended towards him. The contact felt quite surreal, as Sans definitely excluded the possibility Shamir's idea would actually work, and then an avalanche of questions started to roll from the small, fluffy goat monster before him. Emphasis on avalanche, while Sans tried to see just how much Asriel really remembered.

"Where am I?..." Asriel blinked as he tried to figure out his bearings.

"hi. i'm sans. sans the scientist skeleton. and you just came back alive in this timeline." Sans said, with his usual grin, towards the small goat.

"Wait, what? Who asked you to do this?..." Asriel looked at the skeleton, while playing with one of his floppy ears.

"someone who knows his duty." Sans said as he took a peek at the cameras in Waterfall.

Shamir was still fighting the human with extreme hostility, and while the latter didn't seem eager to give up, Shamir's strength was slowly draining itself. 'I cannot go for too long like this...This human is determined to harm me. But I am more determined to see the goals of the Underground reached.' the jaguar captain mused as he went in for another lashing attack, while Frisk casually dodged and smirked. The child wasn't going to give up on his goal of getting alive from here - even if it mean defeating the current monster in front of them - Frisk lunged with the small pocket knife towards the large cat, while the latter parried with ease.

"When are you going to stop, human? I can go for this longer than you can," Shamir said as he noticed the slight exhaustion on the child's face, "and I can assure you, it will not end well for you! CHARGER SHOCK!" the jaguar roared as he started shooting series of lightning bolts towards the small human, a few of those bolts zapping them in the process, burning their clothes and hair partially.

"You've killed my friend..." Frisk whispered under his breath. "That's why I keep going...", he added as he lunged for another attack, while Shamir saw himself forced to dodge yet again.

"If you insist on going...you're standing in front of the monsters' hopes! I will not let you pass. I swore I will not let any enemy of the Underground just walk away!" Shamir roared again, while Frisk placed their hands at their ears, unable to avoid said roar.

[The Anti-Void]

"they're going at this shit for an hour already...i have to initiate that damned genocide. that overgrown furball is a glitch, and i absolutely HATE glitches. even the classic universe's code is altered...i'm gonna have to deal with those bastards later..." a strange voice, similar to Sans' one, was talking as he watched gaps of space in the Void, showing various images that portrayed Alternate Universes, where everything was completely changed. His fist clenched as the decision was taken, a Genocide had to be initiated in that timeline - it had to be completely erased.

Thankfully, the kid looked like he showed some genocidal tendencies, but the problem was - just how was he going to convince the kid?

He was also thinking about that monochrome pipsqueak who was on his trail. 'damn him all to HELL. he's just standing in my way, each time i destroy these glitches...he is always going with that cretin spiel about how creativity is a good thing, and how the lives of these glitches mean somethin'. well...to me...NONE OF THESE SHOULD REALLY EXIST. no matter, things are going to change in this glitchy timeline...soon enough.

and the idiot won't be able to avert this in time.

[Sans' Lab, Snowdin]

"So...who asked for this? Was it Mom?" Asriel asked, his curiosity unsatisfied, as Sans kept ignoring him.

"ya'll meet the fella soon enough. just wait. he wanted to know you personally."

"He? You don't mean that large feline fighting that human, right?" Asriel's eyes widened at the jaguar's insistent fighting with the human.

"like i said, you'll meet him soon enough." Sans replied dryly, while his mind was repeatedly begging for Shamir to end this battle already.

The two kept staring at the cameras that showed a stalemate between Shamir and the human - the latter determined to see justice coming for his friend - and Sans could catch, in the corner of his eye, a small yellow star forming in front of the human.

"please, don't tell me he's gonna-"

"If he RESETS, my revival will be nonexistent?!" Asriel said, almost afraid.

"if he does just a regular RESET, you'll be still alive. and registering the after-effects. i guess...you'll be remembering the timeline as much as i do." the skeleton said, his bony hands deep in the pockets of his lab coat. "still, my pal is going to meet you...even if it will be in a rather different setting."

The small skeleton frowned at the thought of a new bad memory in his skull - didn't he have enough already? - and knew that the kid was now set for murder. It was the first time a human didn't complete the good route and was outright forced to act like they were in the evil route. 'tch. and come to think of it, apart from me and asgore, asriel will also retain there memories. damn it...such painful memories for just a kid...' Sans's grin lessened so much it became a thin line.

'i feel like i should warn you...it won't be a really nice memory." the skeleton said, as he closed his eyes.

"Meeting the feline or...?" Asriel asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"it's something else i'm talking about. my pal is actually very nice," Sans said, with a small grin, "once you get to know him."

[New Home]

He felt something shifting in the course of the wind, his generous blonde mane slightly flowing with it, while dread was creeping up to his SOUL unknowingly - he didn't want to tell Toriel just what exactly was about to happen - while she was the brains of the Kingdom, he did not want to see her risking too much for the sake of their ideals. Even though, Shamir wasn't going to follow this exact line, he was more than happy to risk everything for what he cared. He was prideful, that was sure, but he was also unwilling to let danger just walk freely through his home. Asgore was proud of raising at least him...

He wished he could've raised Asriel to the same level - a tad prideful, a tad heroic, and generous at heart - the old king left out a heavy sigh, while shaking his head. "Things are no longer going our way..." he mumbled under his breath, while Toriel had a thoughtful look as her eyes were set on Asgore, that seemed to have stopped with gardening for a moment, demeanour suddenly changed. She knew him far too well, and he wasn't like that - except for the cases where something was going wrong.

"Gorey, is anything the matter?" she inquired on him, softly.

"Oh? Nothing, Tori...It's just merely getting colder in here." he sheepishly excused himself while holding her in his arms.

"You never complained about the cold until now. Are you hiding something from me, Dreemurr?" she said, staring with her fiery gaze at his eyes.

"I-Well, the truth is...I feel something strange is going on." he said, in an honest voice.

"Maybe you're just tired, Fluffybuns. You've been gardening all day, after all."

[?]

After pressing the star that appeared in front of them, Frisk was teleported to a dark place...there was really nothing before them. Nothing...except faint sounds, here and there. Was it a memory? Or it was real? They didn't have much of an idea, until...they heard some rustling in the distance...or was it closer than they thought? It wasn't really simple to tell, in this place. A small boy, with a green sweater that had cream-coloured stripes and brown pants, approached them, a look of curiosity on his face. He looked like he'd seen his fair share of RESETS, whatever that exactly meant, but the gentle smile they had at first turned into a thin line, as the child before him was looking on the edge of insanity.

"...So, you've come here, huh? What are you going to do now?" the boy in front of them said, thei arms folded.

"I...I want to start over, when Roger was alive." Frisk said, a determined look in their eyes.

"Do you really think this is the best choice? Why not just give up, like I did?" the boy waved one hand, dismissively.

"...No." Frisk said.

"Chara. Leave the kid alone..." Napstablook said, "They're on my side now...can't you see? It's...too late...to save THEM."

Chara couldn't believe what he saw before him. Here was Frisk, the most determined and pacifist human he ever met, going down in despair, choosing to RESET instead of SAVING what could be saved...and it was also this other ghost. This ghost was looking like he did not giving a damn about what Chara tried to do, and his eyes squinted towards the child, whose hand was still shaking over the RESET button.

"Frisk, don't do that! You have no idea what will happen if you do this!" Chara tried to convince Frisk, but all of his persuasion landed on deaf ears.

"...No. And, frankly, I don't care. So, what are you doing here," Frisk asked as he looked towards Napstablook.

"I am here...to make an offer." Napstablook said.

"I'm not-" Frisk said, only to be cut off by a loud screech from the white ghost.

"You will...listen. And...you will not refuse."

"Fine." Frisk folded their arms and looked at the ghost.

"Frisk, DON'T!" Chara yelled as his eyes widened.

"...begone." Frisk uttered under his breath.

Chara went away, frustration written all over his face. Why was his persuasion failing? Frisk had the same SOUL of Determination, they had the power to change everything...and they made the choice of turning the timeline to hell. A hell Chara was all too familiar with - run after run, the monsters were just simple toys for him - and both Sans and Alphys caused him a good share of RESETS, with the former it happened quite a lot, since he was strong. He understood that Frisk lost someone, but...just how far can one feed from pain? How long it will pass until they will just kill out of playing and end up just like Chara?

No.

Chara HAD to prevent this somehow...he wasn't just going to let this slide. He wasn't going to be just an idle spectator while Frisk loses themselves to complete insanity - he didn't want to see another human going down this path. Wasn't it enough that the Light Blue SOUL of Patience did that with a monster? Turning said monster against their own race?...Chara witnessed it from afar...and someone else was going to relive the memories if Frisk did the RESET. 'I just hope someone will stay in their path, cut off their pain...' Chara mentally huffed as he walked endlessly in the Void, until he bumped into someone.

"GASTER?!" Chara yelled in surprise as he looked at the shadowy, tall skeleton with a scar on his bony face.

"Ah. Chara. I did not expect to meet you so soon." the former Royal Scientist said, with a scrutinizing gaze.

"What do you mean by that?" Chara asked, as his brows furrowed in expectation.

"I believe you know Frisk will RESET. But Napstablook wants to share control over Frisk's body-" Gaster said as he looked through Chara.

"...tch. That stupid ghost does exactly what I would've done, if I were still evil. But I'm no longer evil, and Frisk is going down that path like yesterday fast.", the small boy folded his arms, and stomped lightly his left foot.

"Some larger events are about to unfold," Gaster said as he fiddled with his hands. "the Classic timeline will be going through serious danger."

"Just how am I going to warn them? I mean-" Chara started pacing back and forth, until Gaster gently stopped him with a raised hand.

"You can't. All you can do is hope someone of this timeline actually survives."

"Great. Minimal chances of survival, and huge chances of everything getting fucked up." Chara facepalmed.

While Chara and Gaster were assessing the damage this timeline will suffer, and the possibilty of any survivor to remain alive, Frisk was still awaiting for the ghost before him to utter his deal. The child was starting to lose their patience, visible by drumming their fingers in the forearm and the furrowed brows, the RESET prompt still active in there, just awaiting a press.

"So. I want to hear that deal, ghost."

"Let me take control, friend. You'll have incredible benefits from that...and you'll be avenging your fallen friend. Don't you want that?" Napstablook said, as he was hovering above Frisk.

[Didn't you want power? Witness it. Taste it. Embrace it, a snarky, evilish voice said.

I just want you to figure out your time is almost over. And that you have to pay for your sins, a boy's determined voice roared.

My...my soul carries no love, only LOVE! It's hollow, dark and empty! Chara's voice roared within Frisk's mind.]

'What are these voices? These memories? Why-why do they come to me?' Frisk was thinking as their face was darkened, pulses of their SOUL echoing in the silence that surrounded the Void for a moment. It felt like time stopped, and Frisk's eyes were widened as the pulses of the SOUL continued to echo in the darkness, while Napstablook looked with indifference towards the small child, still waiting for their answer.

"So?...What it's gonna be?"

"I..." Frisk paused, but then nodded strongly, "I agree.", while yet another memory came back.

Frisk's eyes widened again as he could hear distinctly the snarky voice...[With you, I can leave chaos in my way. Together, we'll have the power to play with time and space as you want.] Something was about to start, and it looked like barely anything would stand in its' way.

Chaos.

Chaos ensured by Frisk and Napstablook, the latter possessing Frisk's body, corrupting his SOUL as well - and Frisk's neutral expression changed to a horrid, hollowed expression belonging to the ghostly villain. 'Flowey will be so surprised to see this." , he thought as he puppeteered Frisk's movements now.

He pressed the RESET button, and reality shifted a few moments after, causing ripples of after-effects in the timeline.

"Did you feel that, Gaster?" Chara asked as something shifted around them.

"The child has given themselves in. And...there will be no stopping this." Gaster sighed as he looked at Chara. "However, there is hope for you, somewhere else. Let's just pray to whatever deity above that someone will survive this."

[Anti-Void]

"finally. i was getting tired of their stupid spiel about the deal...i hope this bullshit will go according to plan, or otherwise, i'll have to go in and take that kid's SOUL myself." he frowned as ERRORS were visible in his eyes. 'then again, my job will be done with that. this universe should've never existed in the first place...' he mused as he watched, through temporal rifts, what was about to happen. The Anti-Void was a blank canvas, and somewhere else, someone was on the trail for this Error Sans.

A painter.

A painter that found the existence of alternate universes a real gift.

He fought daily against Error Sans, trying to hinder his plans of destroying them.

"NOBODY has the right to decide who's supposed or not to exist in this world..."

[Meanwhile, in the timeline...

Royal Guard's Training Grounds, Waterfall]

He was angry. Angry with the fact that the child just vanished from his face, forcing him to call this battle a bitter victory. He didn't want this, he aimed for more, he wanted to fulfill the hope everyone put their hearts to, but this time, he had to concede to the fact that his powers were not the best right now. He banged his right paw on the table, almost breaking it.'Darn it, one more forceful blow like that, and my favorite oak table will be gone. I should go out and train some more, to release this pent anger inside me.' Shamir said as he went out on the large field before him, where six training dummies were laying in front of his eyes, and narrowed his eyes to the point of slits.

He unsheathed his sabres, and focused his attention on one dummy, powering the blades with lightning - he wanted to control Jaguar's Fury to a point where no exhaustion was present, yet so far, he didn't reach a level of progress. He didn't deny that he was able to control it a touch better, but he wasn't looking to be a disappointing Royal Captain. Expectations were asked out of him, and he was working so hard to make himself worthy of surpassing said expectations.

"JAGUAR'S FURY! RRRAAAARGH!" he roared as an X-shaped mark was left on the training dummy, while he panted with exhaustion, nearly half of his magic gone. 'Not good enough! I have to-'

"hey, shamir." Sans's voice greeted the large feline, while the latter lost his focus and missed a blow he wanted to land on the next dummy.

Shamir left out a silent growl and sheathed back his swords, dusted his Delta-runed robes and looked at the small skeleton in front of him, who was accompanied by a hooded figure. His first instinct was to grip on one of the dual daggers, but Sans's left glowing eye was more than enough to make him give up on the attempt. 'Perhaps I am just too wound up to think clearly.' the jaguar conceded and folded his paws, not before leaving out a long frustrated sigh and preparing himself for whatever Sans had to say. It must've been important if he came here with River Person.

"before ya think that, he's not river person. it's someone you wanted to meet. drop the hood, kid." Sans gestured towards the dark blue hooded figure.

Shamir took a good look at the small goat monster before him, while hurriedly asking the two to come inside his tent. In that time, Asriel could've sworn he was a tad intimidated by the outward appearance of this monster - his fur looked a little gruff and his jawline was determining a monster of action, one that is calculating his paws before doing anything - and he sat down next to Sans on the white ottoman, while Shamir was busy leaving out his swords on the table.

It was his way to try and adopt a rather pacifist appearance, while still retaining that warrior aura of his - Sans was glad to see the two looking at each other in an intense study, as if trying to read each other's weaknesses. The large jaguar took an oak, strong seat and placed it in front of the two, his arms folded, and waited for his guests to speak.

"asriel, this is my buddy shamir. shamir, this is asriel." Sans said as he made the introductions, while the jaguar extended his large paw and shook somewhat gently the smaller paw of the goat monster. Asriel was surprised that, even though he was really strong, the jaguar monster before him had also a touch of gentleness in his actions.

"I am the adopted son of King Asgore and Queen Toriel. I know you are their biological son," Shamir said as he closed his eyes slowly. "and I've waited until now to meet you."

"Wait, what about Chara?...Where's my brother Chara?!" Asriel said, looking at the feline before him, some tears in his green eyes.

"unfortunately, i couldn't find a way to revive him. i'm sorry. i barely had the way to revive you, kid." Sans said, a frown on his bony face, while fiddling with the pockets of his coat.

"Why did you want to meet me?" Asriel sniffed, while wiping his tears away.

"I wished to meet one of my former brothers. I heard stories about you two, and your...rather unfortunate ending." Shamir said as he looked away, sadness present in his eyes.

"But...when are we going to tell Mom and Dad...?" the small goat monster blinked, confusion all over his face.

"At the right time, I hope," Shamir exhaled. "I'm not sure how they're going to take this, anyway..."

"Does anyone else know I'm back?" Asriel asked, then paused for a moment, "...well, apart from you and Sans?"

"nobody else, kid. it was shamir's idea all along, and i joined him." Sans said as he made large gestures with his hands.

The two monsters looked again at one another, and despite the rather big age difference between the two, they felt like brotherhood could be a very, very good idea and path for them to take, while Sans slowly chuckled. 'if shamir's alphys and undyne's dad, what does that make asriel? their dunkle?' he mentally made a pun and threw himself into a fit of laughter, while Asriel and Shamir looked at him with questioning gazes on their faces.

"sorry. i tend to cook up puns and end up laughing at them myself..." Sans smiled sheepishly.

"That's okay, Sans, you're catastrophic at making others mentally pun to themselves. And by catastrophic I mean really good." Shamir sweatdropped as he placed a small smile on his large snout.

"damnit, shamir! since when you've become a comedian?" Sans teased the feline, while the latter laughed heartily.

"Not my fault you are a good pun teacher..." the jaguar said as he scratched the back of his head. "Say, Asriel. Want me to train you for a bit?"

"...You want me to learn fighting?" the small goat said as he blinked owlishly.

"You're going to need it, if you'll be forced to fight! I suppose you don't want to be a weakling, is that right?" the jaguar asked as he looked with folded arms at Asriel.

"...No. I want to fight back if needed be, Master Shamir." Asriel said, a determined look in his eyes.

"Very good, very good, young one." Shamir smiled as he looked at the young monster before him, but something stopped him in his tracks. "Feel that?"

"yeah, i felt it...the timeline has RESET. and as i predicted, kid did a regular reset...gotta see what is in store for us."

[Ruins]

"Brother...it's me! I'm controlling the human!" Napstablook said as he was now face to face with Flowey.

"WHAT?! YOU ACTED WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE?! JUST-" the glitched flower said as he looked at the possessed human.

"You know...while you're my brother...I feel like I have enough power...ON MY OWN!" Napstablook said as he lashed at Flowey repeatedly, until he turned the latter to dust.

"Y-YOU...H-HOW...C-COULD YOU..." was all Flowey could utter before turning to dust.

From a darkened corner, Sans looked at the possessed human who dusted the flower - a part of him was glad that the flower's evil influence will no longer corrupt the timeline, but on the other hand - the human looked a lot more dangerous than before. 'damn. i'll hafta warn alphys so she keeps an eye on the human...' he mused as he teleported to Alphys and Undyne's home, set on warning them about the imminent danger that was going to befall everyone.

The Genocide Route was just about to start, and they were in for a worse route than it was before - the human was no longer acting on their own volition, or if they did, their conscience was most likely gone. That could only spell nothing but EXTERMINATION.

[?]

"Feel that, Chara? The chaos you used to unleash will be undone by someone else..." Gaster said as he opened a temporal rift, watching what was going on in the universe.

"Let's just hope someone is mad enough to stop this..." Chara mused as he rubbed a hand under his chin.

Even the darkness they were in echoed with the after-effects of the RESET - two other temporal rifts were opened, showing the Classic timeline, and the Altertale Universe - things didn't look so good for either of these universes should this timeline be gone. Whoever would survive - if there was any chance of survival, would most likely have a hard time to adjust to everything. Gaster himself was aware of what the Classics were aiming for his existence, while the Chara of this universe was content to remain a spiritual guide and force of the good...even if at times, it was easy for him to slip into that seething darkness he was once part of.

[Unknown Universe]

"Just in time...Error hasn't yet managed to destroy this one. Might as well guard this one closely... just so he won't cross with his stupid shenanigans here...but sadly, the tale of one universe will end so abruptly..." the mysterious voice said as a few rainbow tears fell on the ground, white light remaining in their wake. "He will never understand what creativity and willpower can do...and I will try everything to make sure he won't do this again..."

This particular universe was extremely different from Shamir's...it felt incredibly filled with creativity, with life, things The Painter loved so much and appreciated. He was fond of all the good universes, where the sun was shining brilliantly towards the monsters' good future, while the darkest ones...represented the embodiment of chaos...of neverending suffering, pain...universes like these caused great sorrow, yet even for a part of those - hope was there, sunken somewhere deep within.

One thing was certain...

He could only hope that a survivor will emerge from that universe.