Core Issues

by Nicolle

Disclaimer: Undertale is copyright to Toby Fox. Gaster!Sans(our lovely narrator) is the creation of Borurou. Fase is from Technotale. The story is copyright to me.

1. After a long discussion about a possible interconnected story arc with the hubby, I realized I had enough material to really do something substantial here. So the one shot will turn into something longer. But, instead of chapters I will do episodes that drop hints to the larger story line until I tie it into completion.

2. This story is rated T for language, suggestive jokes/themes, suicide, and one reference to drinking alcohol. Two f-bombs are dropped in this fic.

3. Anyone who can identify where St. Canard City comes from gets MASSIVE geek cred.

Ep. 2: Family Matter

"Where's Frisk?"

Papyrus looked up from breakfast. "GOOD MORNING, MY BROTHER! TODAY IS HER DAY OFF. I BELIEVE METTATON TOOK HER SHOPPING."

Oh yeah. Right. She'd even reminded me yesterday. I looked at the text. Fuck. I dialed Blue as I headed out of the kitchen toward the equipment room.

"*well if it isn't the big bone himself. i never get a clava-call back from you."

"Frisk's off today. What's the deal?" I opened the equipment room and eyed the shelves.

"*anomalous reset. i've notified that universe's sans to keep an eye socket out for ya."

"Any other details?" I asked as I grabbed my pack from the shelf and shouldered it.

"*yeah. since your frisk is out, i'm sending white and his frisk with you. pick them up before hopping over."

White. Figured. "Anything else you want to ruin my day with?"

"*just get ready for the equations, bud."

Fase's voice of creepy doom filled my ear and I closed my eyes, memorizing the numbers and letters falling from its non-existent lips. When it stopped, the phone cut leaving a mathematical buzz roaming my mind. I stepped into the hall and closed the equipment room door.

"Hey, C? Do you want to come along today?"

A red hologram of Prince Chara burst to life on my shoulder. "Of course. I like missions way more than I like listening to Mettaton talk. Just remember that I don't have full function away from Frisk."

"No worries." I whistled and two GBs flew down the hall and I ducked their attempt to tackle me. "Come on, guys. Shape up." They both snorted and leaned together to make it easier for me to transport them. I looked into the rift and solved the first set of equations. We landed in White's living room.

"SANS! FRISK! BONES IS HERE!" Papyrus picked me up and gave me a big hug.

"Hey, Papyrus. Good to see you too." He set me down just as Frisk came in with his pack on his shoulder. "Hey, kiddo. Congrats on graduating."

He sat down to pull on his boots. "Thanks, man. Last semester sucked though. I should never have scheduled all those poli-sci and language classes together."

"Well, you won't have to do it again, provided you haven't decided on grad school."

Frisk shook his head. "Nah. Not yet anyway. I've already been offered diplomatic relations jobs by six different countries. Before I decide on one, I want to visit your Frisk for more martial arts training." He checked his laces and stood to pet the GBs. They both vibrated excitedly from the affection.

White came in from the garage with a bag full of food for himself and Frisk. "Hey, Bones."

"White." I know that there are millions of iterations of Sans-es, and several of them are human, but White was singular. In White's time line, humans who had sided with the monsters during the war were trapped underground with them. As monsters far out lived humans, their numbers dwindled. The Gaster family were the last surviving humans until the accident that felled W.D. Gaster turned his son Papyrus into a living skeleton, and trapped Sans eternally at the same age. When Prince Asriel died and war was declared on humans anew, he donned a skeleton mask and took Papyrus to Snowdin, the furthest he could possibly get from the capital.

He was white haired and translucent pale from generations of humans breeding without sunlight. His Frisk had been an infant boy left to die on Mt. Ebott. But instead of being bullied by Flowey, the flower wrapped the child up and left him at the sentry station outside the Ruins. Sans and Papyrus raised the kid as their youngest brother.

White was also smoking hot. I was not too proud to admit that.

He dropped the bag inside his pack. "Come on, bud. She's not here. You can tone it down. We all acknowledge that you're the 'Alpha Male Sans,' okay?"

Frisk looked over his shoulder at us. "Are there any female Sans-es?"

I shrugged. "Probably. I have yet to meet one."

White pulled on his hoodie and back pack. "Ready?"

I held out my right hand. Frisk grabbed a GB with one hand and my wrist with the other. White grabbed the other GB and put a hand further up my arm. I solved the other half of the equation set and landed us in Snowdin. By the decorations and festive lights, we'd hit Christmas time in this universe. A Sans was waiting for us next to Grillby's.

"Well, Frisk, ask and you shall receive! This would be a female Sans."

"How can you tell?"

White and I both looked at him.

"Okay," White started, "I know it's all vogue to say that you can't tell a person's gender, racial make up, and other important facts from the skeleton, but you know that's a load of supremely unscientific crap! I raised you better!"

Frisk held up both hands. "I know that! I was being serious! I mean, it just looks like Blue to me."

"Are you saying we all look alike?" Sans asked.

Frisk ducked behind his older brother. "Oh shit! She sounds like Tex from Red versus Blue!"

"Calm down, kid. I'm not the most dominate predator in history."

White looked at me. "That would be your Frisk."

I sighed and it came out a hiss. "Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaah."

"At least you didn't have to fight her," Frisk said.

"We've thrown down on the training floor."

"We have it on video!" C chimed in. "Totally epic!"

"How did you live?" Sans asked.

"I used the flirt option."

"You are so lucky she likes you," Sans said.

"I know. So what's the deal with you?"

She shrugged. "Not sure yet. My Frisk had other places to be. I've kept tabs on him, but haven't actually talked to him in thirty years. And then, bam, reset. I'm waiting for Alphys to tell me when he comes through the door so I can short cut over."

On cue, her phone went off. "Hey, Alphys. What? You're sure? Okay. Thanks, hon." Sans put her phone away. "A girl just came out of the Ruins."

We all looked at each other.

I blew out a breath long and slow while I thought. "Okay. White, you and Frisk check out exactly how far back the reset has actually gone. Sans, you run the routine. I'm gonna keep an eye socket on ya from the woods in case you need back up."

Watching in the woods, a young girl of about ten years old shivered as she walked down the snowy path. She stopped at the bridge as Sans walked up to her, following the routine.

"Don't you know how to greet a new-"

"Sans? Are you Sans?" The girl grabbed Sans' hoodie. "My daddy's in trouble! You have to help him!"

Sans knelt down to look the girl in the eyes. "What's your name, kiddo?"

She sniffed, tears in her eyes. "Victoria. Daddy calls me Tori."

Sans ruffled her hair. "I bet he does." She pulled off her hoodie and put it around Tori's shoulders. "Let's get you someplace warm and then you can tell me what's up with your dad."

The girl sniffed again and nodded. Sans glanced over at me and I nodded before short cutting back to Snowdin. White and Frisk were waiting inside the house.

"What've you got?" Frisk asked.

"It looks like this world's Frisk figured out how to insert his kid into his reset. What's the deal on the date?"

White held up his phone and the stream of Undernet posts. "According to this, there hasn't been a reset. Today is the day it's supposed to be. This isn't a reset at all."

"Any hypotheses?"

"Yeah. This world's Frisk has figured out how to manipulate saves."

Frisk looked between us. "But why? Why not just reset if things are going to hell?"

Sans came in the door with Tori.

"That's why," I said, "Resetting means erasing her."

The girl stared at Frisk. "Dad?"

Frisk shook his head. "Sorry, sweetie. I'm not your dad, but we are here to help him."

She sniffed and looked at her feet. "Can I hug you anyway?"

Frisk picked her up and hugged her tight. "Everything is going to be okay, promise. Here." He shifted her to one arm. "This is White. He's my eldest brother. This is Bones. My brother and I help him fix problems in time."

"So you're like the Doctor?"

I chuckled. "I don't have a sonic screwdriver, kiddo. Can you tell us what's happening to your dad?"

She sniffed and tears welled in her eyes. "This guy who looked like my dad showed up and hurt mommy. And then he chased me and Dad. Dad told me to close my eyes and he would send me somewhere safe. He told me to find a skeleton monster named Sans and then I was talking to a flower."

"Did the flower hurt you?" I asked.

"No. He looked really confused and told me to follow the path to see the goat lady."

I opened the back door and looked for a yellow flower. Flowey was sitting outside the door.

"You aren't my Sans."

"Nope. You want to add to our conversation?"

The flower disappeared and reappeared in the living room. "Frisk accessed my save." He looked at the ground. "I'm not sure how, but he opened my save and put his little girl in it." He looked at Sans. "You are simultaneously here and on the surface."

We all looked at Sans. She looked at Flowey. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know." He looked around. "You aren't really here right now. None of you are. Well... I mean... The two weird Sans, Frisk, and little Victoria are here. Everyone else is still on the surface."

Sans whistled through her teeth. "So I'm a memory?"

"Maybe? I don't know. I don't know what Frisk did."

"Tori, do you know where you and your dad were before you saw Flowey?" White asked.

She hugged Frisk tightly. "We were hiding in the Riesler building."

"Tori-honey, you stay here with Sans," I said. "Don your masks, guys. We're heading to the surface."

Frisk put Victoria down and patted her head. "Just wait here. Everything will be okay."

White put on his skull mask and held out his hand. "I know a short cut." Frisk and I grabbed his arm and when reality came back together, we were standing outside the door to the throne room.

Frisk took a peak inside. "Clear."

We made for the barrier and found it open. We passed through to the surface and made for the Riesler building, my GBs floating behind us silently. It was a huge building in the downtown section of St. Canard City and used almost exclusively by monsters in most universes for various purposes. For mid afternoon, the building was ominously empty.

C burst to life on my shoulder and looked around. "The floor is coated in a very fine dust."

"We're trying not to notice that, C," White gritted out.

A blue spear came at us from around the corner and Frisk grabbed it out of the air. "Hey, Undyne."

The former head of the royal guard took a quick look around the corner at us and then came out, another spear ready. "What the hell am I looking at?"

"I'm Bones. This is White and his little brother Frisk."

"You aren't the Frisk I know. In fact, a second Frisk just showed up and started killing monsters." She slammed her spear against the floor and a volley of blue spears came at us.

Frisk stepped forward and spun the spear in his hand around to block the projectiles. "I grant that our timing is bad, but we aren't your enemies." He blocked another volley. "We came to help you." A spear got past him and cut his left arm. White's left eye lit blue. Frisk waved him off. "That all you got, Sushi Roll?"

The next volley came fast and erratic. White and I both held up our left hands and the spears hit the floor. Frisk rushed her, tackling her to the floor and putting the spear to her throat.

"Your Frisk is about 38 years old, married, and has a little girl. That little girl has been safeguarded away in the underground. I really don't want to fight you, but I won't hesitate to incapacitate you if you're going to be a pain in the ass."

"Don't ever call me 'Sushi Roll' again."

Frisk had the grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry. It's what I call my Undyne." He pulled the spear back.

"Your Undyne? There's more than one of me?"

"Yeah." He offered her a hand and helped her up. "And every single one is a tough as nails, bad ass." He smiled at her, super big.

A smile tugged at her lips and she ruffled his hair. "The second Frisk looks a bit older than you. He's somewhere in the building."

"Is there a security room for the cameras?" I asked.

"Yeah. But the electricity was cut a while ago." Her eyes narrowed at me. "Why am I scared of you?" She shivered and rubbed a bare spot in the scales on her arm.

White and I looked at each other. "I don't know," I lied. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. I'm sure if I was in the Core I'd know damn well what this world's Gaster had done to her.

"What's that on your shoulder?"

"A hologram projection of my version of Prince Chara Dreemurr."

"The fallen child." She looked at White. "Do you guys have a plan?"

White looked around. "Well, if this is anything like my place, there are two main exits, and three emergency exits attached to stair wells, all leaving the ground floor. Let's each take an emergency stairs and clear the first four floors."

"This floor is clear," Undyne said. "I was waiting down here hoping to catch the impostor as he came back down."

"Who else is in the building?"

"Asgore, Sans, and my Frisk. But I don't know where they are in the building. I left Asgore on the 5th floor."

"If your Frisk is smart, he's hiding, which will keep the impostor from leaving the building," I said. "Let's clear floors 2-5." I turned to Undyne. "You okay with staying here?"

"Yeah."

"If the impostor comes down, only take him alive if you think he's damaged enough to capture."

"You're a little cold."

I smirked. "You should see my Frisk when she's pissed."

"She?"

I winked my left eye at Undyne. "Let's go."

We each headed for a stair well and cleared the second through fifth floors. Everywhere was a fine coating of dust. We moved to the sixth floor. Several monsters were hiding in closets and under desks.

White raised his voice. "We are the response team! Bones here will cover your exit of the building down the east emergency stairs. If you have any information about the upper floors or know how to turn the power back on for the building, we would appreciate your help."

I checked the stairwell and then let the group through. "Stay as quiet as you can. Do not run and do not pound on the stairs. Take it easy." Several of the monsters used magic to float down while the lighter footed tip toed down and out of the building. A Whimsalot and Loox stayed behind.

"I can fix the electricity," the Loox said, "But I'm no fighter. I'll need someone to go with me in case that maniac shows up again."

White nodded. "I'll go with you."

"I don't know what's happening now, but I know how we all got here," the Whimsalot said. "We were all from the upper floors. Toriel sent us a global text to go down the back stairwell and to hide on this floor."

"Tori's in the building?" White asked.

"It's a school day, so I don't think so." The Whimsalot looked confused. "I'm not sure how she knew to text us." He looked at Loox. "I'll go with you too. I'm not afraid."

White looked at Frisk and I. "Check the next floor and I'll meet you there after we get the electricity back on."

"I'll take the west stairs. You take the east. We'll meet in the middle of the floor."

Frisk nodded and we left White to the handle the electricity. The light outside the windows was starting to fade into early evening. I hoped they worked fast. The seventh floor was dustless, but a heavy breathing I knew well permeated the air. Asgore was in a back office with a bad wound, but not enough to be fatal. C blinked out before Asgore could see him.

Asgore eyed me through one heavy lidded orb, the other swollen shut. "You look like Sans, but you aren't her."

I pulled off my backpack and dug out some Monster Candy. "I'm a Sans, just not your Sans. Here." I handed him the candy. "Do you know where the impostor Frisk is?"

"Behind you."

I turned slowly. Standing in the door of the office was a male Frisk, somewhere in his late twenties, with bright brown eyes. He was languidly tossing a knife in the air and catching it, dark smile wide.

I pulled my gun from the holster hidden under my jacket.

He froze, face a mask of shock before turning, and running for it. "God Dammit! You didn't tell me they had guns! I can't dodge a fucking bullet!"

I short cut in front of him and close lined him. "And who might you be talking too?"

"Shit!" He took a swipe at my leg and I dodged the blade. My GBs let loose a massive blast at the same time, knocking him across the entire floor to slam into a support pillar with a sickening crunch. He slowly pulled himself to his knees and then dove into the back stairwell. I ran for the door as Frisk ran up from an office on his end of the floor. The electricity came back on as we hit the door at the same time. But the impostor had disappeared.

"He got away," I breathed. I turned to Frisk. He'd pulled off his skull mask. "Where were you?"

"I found this world's Frisk. He's hurt, but not too badly. He's getting some food in him now."

"I found Asgore. He's in rough shape but he'll pull through. He's in the office over there. Bring Frisk over and we'll finish getting them patched up."

This world's Frisk looked scuffed up when he limped in the office, but not too bad. A long held breath went out of him when he saw the goat king.

Asgore smiled. "Are you alright, Frisk?"

"I'm so sorry. I thought, when I went back home, that life would just go on. I didn't think anything like this would happen."

"It shouldn't have," I said. "This is an anomaly."

He looked at me. "Dr. Gaster?"

Reality vibrated for a moment and I grabbed my head. "Oh. Woah." I held up a hand. "Sans! I'm a Sans." I shook my head to clear it.

"You alright, Bones?"

I looked up at Frisk. "Don't say the G-word again. I don't know what 'dad' did in this reality, but mentioning his name is enough to shake the place up."

"Are my people safe?" Asgore asked.

"Yeah. Toriel texted everyone and directed them to hide on the floor below."

Asgore's good eye went wide. "Tori's phone broke two days ago. She hasn't replaced it yet."

Frisk and I looked at each other as our comms crackled to life. "Frisk! Bones! There was a non-human Frisk hidden among the monsters! Undyne and I have him pinned down in the lobby, but he's throwing some wicked flame magic at us. Have you seen the impostor Frisk?"

"Yeah. He escaped into the back stairwell."

"Which way did he go?"

"He disappeared. It didn't feel like a short cut. More like a save access. We found this world's Frisk and Asgore. Still no sign of Sans."

"Well, there's a save point on the tenth floor and you know exactly where we would be waiting for an ass-hat to appear." The comm went dead.

I looked at White's little brother. "He's bossy when he's mad."

Frisk smiled. "Someone is gonna have a bad time."

"Lock the door behind us and stay in here. We're going to sort this out."

"Wait!" This world's Frisk grabbed my arm. "Have you seen my little Victoria? Is she safe?"

I patted his hand. "She's in the underground. Flowey's got her hidden in the save."

He sat down next to Asgore. "Thank you."

Frisk and I ran for the east stairs. "C! I need plan of attack."

The red hologram burst to life on my shoulder. "I can only give you one based on what I know of our world's version of this building."

Frisk stopped. "Seriously?"

"I am literally installed in my Frisk's head. I don't have the ability to access wi-fi, electrical systems, or core data from the memory in Bone's comm link."

"I am never going anywhere without your Frisk again. Okay. So we have to run this blind." He pulled his skull mask back on and ran up the stairs ahead of me, the GBs following close behind. He waited at the door to the tenth floor, huffing a little. I risked a look through the door and saw a female Sans fighting the impostor and looking way too tired. Frisk and I went through the door.

Sans stopped moving, breathing labored. I used my magic to pull her out of the way of a strike. She looked up at me, confused. "Dad?"

Frisk stepped forward and the impostor stepped back. The GBs floated up next to him as his right eye glowed bright blue. "You're gonna have a bad time."

The familiar shing of blue magic took hold of the impostor and Frisk threw him around the room like rag doll, banging him off every available surface before letting him hang immobile in the air to be blasted by the GBs. He dropped the impostor to the ground, broken but still alive.

"What the hell, man? Why? What's wrong with you that you have to screw with someone else's world? Wasn't destroying your own enough?!"

The brown eyes glared at him through a blood stained face. "No."

Undyne came onto the floor with White. She poured a pile of dust from the striped shirt she was using as a make shift bag in front of the impostor's face. "Here's your friend."

The impostor growled and slammed his fist on the ground before punching a badge on his shirt and completely disappearing.

"NO!" Undyne screamed and multiple spears slammed into the floor where his body had been.

White picked up the striped shirt and looked at the black and green badge sewn onto the front.

I pulled out my phone and called Blue. "The impostor Frisk disappeared after using a magical badge. Have Fase scan the world. See if he's gone."

Fase's voice popped on the line. "Hello, Father! I hope you are well today."

I flinched. "Not really."

"Oh well. Tomorrow is another day. Checking data. Save anomaly detected." There was a moment of silence. "Oh that's bad. He's accessed File #3."

"Son of a-!" I shoved the phone back in my pocket and grabbed both GBs. "Short cut to Snowdin! Now!" I saw White grab his brother as the world went black and color came back. I ran from Grillby's to the house. The memory Sans had a huge gash across her chest, an orange liquid pouring from her mouth and the wound. Residents of Snowdin were gathered around her. I knelt down next to her.

"You holding together?"

"Just barely." She shifted a little and grimaced. "He grabbed the kiddo and ran toward the Ruins."

White knelt next to me. "Why the Ruins? That's a dead end."

"Chara," Frisk breathed. "He's taking her to Chara's grave."

"Will you be okay?"

"I'm good, but tired, so insert a bone joke here."

We ran for the door. "If we're lucky, the door will be sealed and he'll be trapped on this side." The door was a pile of rubble. "We aren't that lucky."

We ran into Toriel's place and found the impostor on the ground, severely burned. Toriel stood over him, little Victoria behind her.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I guess we can always count on goat mom."

Toriel looked at us, the fire in her hand blazing higher. "Who are you?"

I held up my hands. "We're friends! We're here to stop him."

Toriel stared at my hands. "Dr. Gaster?"

My vision swam and I grabbed my head. Symbols and equations poured into my mind. I felt a smart crack to the back of my head and caught a look at the impostor. He glared at me and touched the black and green badge on his jacket.

"Wing Dings!"

I blacked out.

I woke up sitting in a comfy chair in Toriel's living room. C was sitting cross legged on my sternum. I looked over to my right. White, Frisk, and Toriel were sitting at the table, having tea.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," C said.

"Where's Victoria?"

"With her dad. They're safe. What happened to you?"

"I don't know. Something's up with this world's me."

Toriel's hand touched my shoulder. "I'm sorry my words distressed you so."

I patted her hand. "No worries, Toriel. Just avoid the G-word."

She handed me a bottle of hot sauce.

"Nice! How did you know?"

She smiled. "White told me. Though I don't know how I feel about his nacho cheese habit."

White smiled sheepishly and waved her off. "It's my condiment of choice is all."

"He puts it on EVERYTHING," Frisk said. "He put it on his spaghetti last night."

I leaned forward to get a better look at White. "You are a brave man to have done that to Paps spaghetti."

"Yeah, and I would have gotten away with it if the little runt hadn't ratted me out!"

Frisk smiled big.

"So what's the situation?"

White put down his tea cup of nacho cheese. "Waiting. Fase says the anomaly is still present. Like it's looking for something. She's trapped him in Flowey's file so he can't leave the underground. We've been chatting while waiting for you to wake up."

Toriel reached down to touch C, her hand passing through him.

"Still a hologram."

"I'm sorry, my child. I know. I just can't help myself." She looked at me. "Why would the impostor have come this way? It's a dead end."

"My guess is that he was going to use Victoria as a host for Chara's spirit and the easiest way to do that is to go to the grave."

"But my daughter is not buried in the underground. Her grave is in a cemetery on the surface."

"That's a relief," Frisk said.

"But why would such a possession benefit him? My Chara was not an evil person."

White and I looked at each other. "How did she die?" he asked.

"Old age."

"Well hot dog! I'm not the only non-douche bag Chara!" He sniffed and wiped non-existent tears from his face. "I thought I was the only one."

"Oh no, my child. Chara was a jerk. But I loved her anyway."

"My quest continues."

"No, it doesn't. You're a total jerk," I said. "If my Frisk were here, she would agree." My phone buzzed and I looked at the text.

*C is a total jerk

I showed C my phone. "See? She agrees."

White threw up his hands. "How does she do that?!"

"I'm feeding her audio," C said. "And now I'm going to stop."

My phone vibrated again. "It's Blue." I accepted the call. "What have you got?"

"*nice to hear you're up, bud. the anomaly touched down in the lab. fase says that her dad did some messed up stuff in this world and it's all in the lab."

"Got it." I hung up. "The ass-hat is in the Lab."

"Language!" Toriel barked.

"My apologies." I winked at her and she blushed. How about that. "Without saying the G-word, can you tell us what he worked on the Lab?"

She started rubbing one arm. There was a tiny bare spot in the fur under her hand. "I don't remember. Maybe it was medical in nature?" She shivered suddenly.

"It's okay. We'll take it from here. Where are my pets?"

Frisk jerked a thumb toward the door. "Rolling in the leaves."

I whistled for them and they floated in, happily slinging back and forth. "Short cut to the Lab. Hopefully, the impostor hasn't hurt Alphys." White nodded and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. I grabbed both GBs and looked back at Toriel. "Thanks for the help, angel." She blushed even redder this time. I short cut to the Lab. White and Frisk were waiting for me at the door.

Frisk was laughing. "I'm telling Frisk you were flirting with another woman!"

"Go for it. She'll think it's cute."

He huffed. "Sure, just ruin my fun."

I smiled and had a listen at the door. Nothing. I tested the handle and found it unlocked.

"I smell a trap," White said.

"Cut to the second floor?"

White grabbed my sleeve. "I didn't mean on the door. I saw the way he looked at you before he disappeared again, and then he shows up at a place where dad was doing something really weird? Something's wrong and if you turn into dad while we're in here, I have a really bad feeling that Frisk and I won't be able to handle it."

"Okay. What's the plan?"

He looked at me suspiciously. "You're not arguing with me?"

"My Frisk isn't here. You can be the smart one all day long for all I care."

He shrugged in that way we all do. "Okay then."

"Can you two please stop?" Frisk asked. "It makes me really uncomfortable to watch you both get all huffy over a female version of me."

"Sorry, kiddo," we both said at the time.

"Oh My God, Sans!" He froze. "Three of you said that." He turned around slowly and this world's Sans smiled at him from where she leaned against the lab door.

"You're looking way better than last we saw you."

"That's because I'm the 'real time' Sans. The one you pulled out of the fight upstairs." She held up her phone. "Blue did something that let me get to you guys." She knocked on the door behind her with her knuckles. "You want to know what dad was up too?" She frowned. "Building a better monster." She sighed and put her hands in her pockets. "I'm sure you noticed the strange bare spots on the arms of monsters. That was the extraction/injection point. He was looking to find the right genetic combination to make a monster impervious to damage."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "He claimed it was the war, but I knew better. The whole project was madness. He wanted to see how far he could go. Undyne doesn't remember it, but she got the worst of it." She looked up at the sparkling cavern roof. "I started volunteering for the experiments just to keep everyone else safe." She looked down at her feet. "When he convinced Papyrus to be the next test subject, I shoved him in the Core."

She pulled out a bottle of duck sauce from her hoodie and chugged it before tossing the bottle aside. "I can handle dad if you get all weird in there."

"I'm not sure how I feel about having someone who fully admits to having murdered me watching my back."

"Yeah. But I bet you'd rather me than the possible harm you would do to someone else, right? We should take a short cut to the True Lab. Alphys isn't in there right now. She's over at Undyne's watching anime. So it's just the impostor, the amalgamates, and us. The amalgamates will attack if they see us. My father's experiments combined with Alphys have made them... Well, just assume the worst."

I sighed. "White, Frisk. You guys cut to the cooling fans. We'll cut to refrigeration. We'll meet in the bunk area."

White nodded and disappeared with Frisk. Sans held out her hand and I took it, the world going dark in a swirl before piecing back together. Refrigeration was quiet, but not empty. Lemon Bread was slithering along the floor. Sans pulled me back so it wouldn't catch site of us. We snuck around the back of the fridge units and slipped into the DT extraction chamber. Lemon Bread was slithering back our way. There was no way to avoid a confrontation. Sans handed me a pair of noise canceling headphones and I donned them quick.

Lemon Bread screeched and rushed us. I stepped to the side and grabbed it's arm, swinging it into the the wall. It let out a true siren cry and I jammed the headphones tight around my ear canal openings. Even still, it was completely disorienting. The GBs prepared to fire and I waved them off. I pulled a dart from my pocket and threw it, catching Lemon Bread's arm. It hissed and slowed down, suddenly dropping in a sleepy heap.

Sans pulled off her headphones. "And here I thought we were all a bunch of lazy-bones."

I shrugged. "Daily training is required. I nap the rest of the time." I quick checked the video viewing room before we went into the bunk area. Every bed was filled with a monster of some type, all of them glowing strangely.

White was kneeling next to one of the beds, having a look at the occupant. Frisk waved us over.

"It looks like the ass-hat grabbed some test subjects and activated whatever dad did to each of them," Sans said.

"Can you identify what we'll have to handle with them?" White asked.

She gathered some fallen papers and read over the contents. "He grabbed anyone who had a hatred matrix injected into them."

I knelt next to one of the beds, looking at this world's version of Dogaressa. "How is it activated?"

Dogaressa's eyes opened and glowed an ominous green.

"You know, I could almost feel that coming. Let me guess, proximity to void space?"

Sans nodded and dropped the papers as she backed away from the nine rising monsters.

"I suggest retreating!" Frisk yelled. "Grab a bed and we can use it to block the hall to the elevator!"

White and I grabbed the nearest bed, dumped the occupant, and rolled it across the floor to the hall. Flipping the bed on it's side, we wedged it into the hallway to give us some space to escape.

Frisk ran around the corner and squeaked. When the rest of us followed we found Frisk trapped against a wall with a knife to his throat.

"Get any closer and the kid dies. Now get on the horn to whoever locked me in this save to let me out."

"You have a really bad memory," Frisk said. He smiled and the familiar shing of blue magic filled the air. Frisk lifted his right hand, eye glowing, and threw his double into a wall. "Did you forget that I was the one tossing you around last?" Frisk lowered his arm and slammed the impostor into the floor.

He looked up from the floor. "Nah. I didn't forget." He looked at me. "Gaster, Gaster, Gaster."

My vision swam and my head felt like it would explode. But I was ready for it this time. I put a hand on the wall and glared. "That all you got? If we were in the Core, you'd have gotten somewhere, but you cashed in your chips at the wrong location."

He slammed his fist into the floor and threw his knife at White, catching him in leg.

"No!" Frisk lifted his arm and repeatedly slammed the impostor into the ceiling.

"Stop him!" White gritted out.

I grabbed Frisk's arm. "Chill, kiddo."

Frisk's eyes carried a red shadow that faded slowly. The blue glow disappeared from the impostor's body and he fell to the floor, coughing blood. Sans created a cage of bones around the him, trapping him.

White pulled the knife out of his thigh. "Son of a-!" He sat down. "At least it didn't hit an artery. I'll need stitches though. Got any Monster Candy?"

I tossed him a piece and turned back to the impostor. "Time to spill. What the hell are you up too and how did you convince another Frisk to join you in mass murder?"

His eyes went wide. "Where am I? Sans? Is that you? What are you doing?"

"Nice try, but I've seen a lot of possessed Frisks to know when I'm fighting a Chara."

C burst to life on my shoulder. "He hangs with one everyday."

He scowled.

There was a banging on the bed wedged in the hallway. The monsters broke through, rushing into the room.

"Doctor!"

"Doctor!"

"Where's the Doctor?"

"He DID this to us!"

"Where is he?!"

The impostor chuckled. "Looks like you've got a problem."

I scowled and pulled my gun. Nine shots later and all of the monsters were stuck in hard foam. "Got anything else?"

His face went blank. He pulled a syringe from inside his sleeve and shoved the needle in his heart.

Sans removed the cage and grabbed the impostor. His body was completely limp and starting to go cold. I ripped the badge from the jacket and Sans dropped the body. I looked at the black and green badge. There was a small communication link in it and a device I couldn't figure out. I'd have Paps look at it back home.

Frisk helped his brother to stand and looked at the body. "Why did he do this?"

White looked at his brother. "You okay, kiddo?"

"Why did you stop me?"

"For the same reason I would never let Paps hurt someone. I'm the oldest. It's my job to protect you both. And killing another person harms you deeply." He tapped his brother on the head. "I know Chara lives in there. Don't ever give it a foothold."

Frisk nodded.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Blue. "Situation resolved. The impostor committed suicide."

"*that's not good. we won't be to find out what he was trying to do. or how he managed to travel across timelines."

"We have the badges that he and the non-human Frisk were using to communicate. I'll send one over to you and let Paps have a look at the other."

"*everyone all right otherwise?"

"White's hurt, but nothing some stitches and some good food won't fix. This world's Sans will need a ticket out of the save. Fase might want to keep it locked for good so the impostor's determination will only keep him here."

"*agreed. i'll debrief you all later. head on home." He hung up on me and I heard Sans' phone ring. She picked up, gave a sign-off salute, and disappeared.

I looked at the GBs. "Come on you two, huddle in close. We're going home." I held out a hand to White and he took it, hugging his brother close. After dropping them off with their Alphys for a little stitching up, I landed the GBs and I outside the equipment room. I refilled my bag before putting it back on in its place on the shelf, and trudged toward the suite Paps and I shared.

The door to Frisk's apartment was open, a soft light beckoning me from within. I pushed the door open, going in. And, just like every other time I've been here, I was a little stunned. Walking into her apartment was like walking into the most secret and concealed place in her heart. Frisk's office was spartan, her public face mission oriented, if a little brash. And even though she literally lived at work, this apartment was her private oasis, a beautiful and intensely feminine suite filled with soft comforts. When she'd first given me a key I'd felt l had won the lottery, but now it felt like a sacred bond. This was her place and it was a gift that she let me have any part of it.

She was sitting on the couch in her off duty clothing, which was just as intensely feminine as her surroundings. She smiled at me when I sat next to her.

"Did you have a good day off?"

"Yeah. We took Napstablook to a vintage record shop." She set down her tea cup. "Are you okay? C filled me in. He said you blacked out."

I waved the question off. "Just something with that world's Dr. Gaster is all."

"I got you something while I was out. Well, two somethings." She pulled a bag up next to her feet.

"You didn't have to do that for me, Beautiful." She handed me a six pack of my favorite micro-brews. "You stopped over at Grillby's!" She handed me another bag. "Is this...?" I looked inside and pulled out an LP. "A Jimmy and the Mustangs album! Thanks, Babe!" I nuzzled her cheek. "You know you didn't have too."

"Go get cleaned up and we'll crash together with some MST3K."

"Feeling bonely, huh?"

She smacked me with a pillow.