Core Issues

by Nicolle

Disclaimer: Undertale is copyright to Toby Fox. Gaster!Sans (our lovely narrator) and Gaster!Papyrus are the creations of Borurou. The story is copyright to me.

1. This episode is my beta's favorite so far.

2. This story is rated T for language and suggestive jokes/themes.

Ep. 7 - 3:10 to Snowdin

A little kid crashed in to my legs and grabbed a hold of my jacket to stay on his feet. I put a hand down on his shoulder to steady him.

"Woah there, kiddo! I got ya."

His mother skated up. "I'm so sorry! Are you-" She blinked rapidly, staring at me.

Ah. The 'OMG It's a Monster!' stunned reaction. I gave her a smile.

"It's fine." I looked down at the boy. "First time roller skating?"

The kid nodded, unfazed by a talking skeleton.

"Slow down some. You're trying to go too fast." I looked at his mother. "Mind if I give him a few pointers?"

Before she could make a proper response, I turned around and skated backwards, pulling the kid along. "Keep your left foot straight and push off with your right. Very good. Now keep your right foot straight and push off with your left. That's right. One side then the other." Twice around the rink and he was handling it on his own. I got him back to his mother and found a line of kids, teens, and a few bold moms waiting for lessons.

Frisk laughed at me as she skated by, turning to go backwards and stick her tongue out a me. I sighed and worked through half the line when the lights lowered.

"Alright, Ladies and Gents. Our next song is a Couples Skate!"

I winked at the blushing mom in front of me and gave a little bow. "You'll have to pardon me. My girl's coming along." I grabbed Frisk's hand as she came by and swung her around to skate with me waltz style around the rink. She squeaked at the change in momentum and I used a bit of magic to help her keep her feet.

"Show off," she muttered.

I chuckled and pretended that she was asking and not complaining. "Sure thing, Beautiful!"

I spun Frisk around and she crossed in front of me, took my hand and moved to skate behind me. I turned and took her hand, twirling her so her back hit my rib cage, and put an arm around her waist. She moved her feet with mine, skating backwards, letting me lead us through the crowd. When we came around to spectator side of the rink I spied a bunch of people filming us on their phones. I twirled Frisk around for the crowd, her lacy skirt hiking up to just above her knees, before mashing her against my rib cage and pulling her around the curve.

"I swear I'm going to kill you one of these days," she grumbled, face red.

I snickered and pulled Frisk toward the middle of the rink as the song ended holding both of her hands. Before I could get away with embarrassing her again, she skated away from me.

"Sorry, but you have a line of love sick admirers over there. You'll need to get crackin' if we want to be out of here in time to get to White's for dinner!"

I sighed and slumped a little. White. Ugh. I looked over at the line, which was suddenly longer. "All right. Everyone who already knows how to skate, out of the line."

A bunch of crestfallen faces left as I got up to the que. A little girl pulled on my sleeve.

I crouched down. "Whatcha need, sweetheart?"

"Can I skate with the pretty lady?" She pointed at Frisk and I waved her over.

"You got a fan, Babe."

Frisk smiled and skated off with the little girl. My phone went off and I checked it. C had sent me a picture. It was a male version of my Frisk sitting at one of the tables in the rink. I glanced at the specific table and found it empty. I would have to ask C how he did that sometime. The blushing mom from before coughed politely. I shoved my phone in my pocket and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry!" I offered her a hand and took her around the rink. Between Frisk and I, we managed to clear out the que before we had to go. As she hopped into the passenger side of the car, I pulled out my phone and showed her the picture. "Is this the Frisk you were talking about?"

She frowned. "Yeah."

"He's hot."

Frisk sighed, not taking my bait. "Let's get back home so I can change before we portal."

"Sure thing, Sunflower."

That earned me a smile. One quick change back home and we were ready to go. I opened a portal for us to White's place and we stepped inside, traveling along a string of equations only I could see.

I felt the tug of a lasso around Frisk and I was we traveled through the void toward White's universe. I tried to compensate for the sudden change in our travel, altering the equations. The insistent tug pulled Frisk away from me. I dropped the equations to grab her tightly around the waist, holding her against me as hard as I could. A light flashed and we entered some random universe. I short cut us, hoping to avoid crashing into the ground.

Magic cut through my teleport and I hit the ground with a resounding crack. I struggled for a moment to check Frisk and realized she wasn't there. Panic overwhelmed me. I hadn't let go of her. I rolled onto my front and groaned, wishing I hadn't. Everything felt wrong. I scrambled on the dusty ground for a moment before recognizing a portal opening underneath me. I was falling again and when the magic let go of me, I hit the ground hard enough to knock me out.

"Sans? Sans?"

I could hear Frisk calling me quietly but insistently. I opened my eye sockets. I was laying on the floor in a cell in a sheriff's office. Like the kind you see in older western movies. Frisk was in the one next to mine. She sighed with relief when I sat up. I looked over at her.

"You okay, Babe?"

"I'm fine. You look like hell though."

"Where are we?"

"Y'all are in Snowdin," came a thickly accented, midwestern American voice.

I looked through the bars at a Sans in a long black coat, black jeans, and a black Stetson on his head. A silver star with the word 'Sheriff' engraved on it, shined on his coat. A Gaster Blaster coated in a sleek steel floated next to him.

"I heard you two fix timelines so I grabbed ya's." He looked at Frisk with an unusual blue-green left eye. "But I'm not so sure about that amount of LOVE."

I rubbed the back of my head. "So what's your problem and why not just contact Blue?"

He settled back on his heels and hooked his thumbs in the belt of his jeans. "Someone kidnapped my Frisk. I'd be mighty appreciative if you could get him back without having to call the big man. I'd prefer to keep my business to myself."

I stood and dusted off my jeans, grunting at the pain in my head. "All right. Let us out and we'll get on to the rescue."

He pointed at Frisk. "I'm sorry, little lady, but with an LV that high I'm gonna have to ask you to stay put."

Frisk sat down on the bed in the cell. "Okay."

We both looked at her and said at the same time, "Okay?"

She smiled at me, big and bright. "I love having days off!" She shooed us off. "You two go have fun."

"You're the investigator! I have no skill with that kind of abduction."

Frisk shrugged. "He called me a lady. If he wants me to sit and be pretty, I can sit and be pretty." She looked at him. "May I have my bag?"

Sans frowned. "No."

"Okay. May I have the sketchbook and pencil inside the bag?"

Sans opened the large purse she'd brought with her and pulled out the sketchbook and pencil, carefully handing it to her through the bars.

Frisk smiled. "Thank you."

He blinked at her, suddenly unsure about the situation. He opened my cell, eyes still on Frisk as she worked in her sketchbook.

"Where did the kidnapper take your Frisk?" I asked.

He looked up at me. "I don't know."

I huffed. "Where's your kiddo live? Maybe I can find something to at least point me in the right direction."

"This way."

Sans led me outside and I found myself in a dusty town underneath actual sky. What the hell?

"I thought you said we were in Snowdin."

Sans cracked a wry smile. "We are. And this place gets a lot of snow during the winter. The summers are just dry."

"We are not underground."

"Nope. Monsters here weren't stuck underground. We were shipped off on a boat and ended up banished to a different continent. We didn't have contact with humans until Europeans started coming across the Atlantic."

I frowned. "What about native tribes? You didn't have contact with them?"

"Based on what I know of other timelines, there wasn't a land bridge here for humans to cross."

We came up to an orphanage. Little monster children ran around the yard, playing in the hot summer sun. A Toriel in a demur purple dress watched the kids play from the shaded porch.

Sans took off his hat to address her, holding it to his chest. "Hello, Miss Tori. I brought someone along to help us find Frisk."

I nodded. "Ma'am."

She smiled. "Thank you!" She looked around. "Shouldn't there be two of you?"

Sans coughed uncomfortably. "The other one's got a little too much LOVE for my liking."

Toriel frowned.

I shrugged at her. "Can you tell me about the kidnapping?"

Toriel shook off her dismay. "Frisk was taken from his room in the middle of the night. Would you like to see the room?"

"Yes, please."

She showed us inside and took us to a room on the third floor. The room was clean and the window was closed.

I checked the window and looked at the drop to the ground. "Was the window open that night?"

Toriel shook her head. "There was a dust storm that night. All windows were closed and locked."

"Did you clean the room?"

She shook her head again. "Everything is exactly as it was. My child has always been very tidy."

I looked at the wooden floor. It was free of scuff marks. The bed was made. I looked in the small closet and in the trunk at the end of the bed for anything. Nothing. I pulled out my phone to text Frisk and found I didn't even have a signal of any kind. I huffed and looked at Sans. "I need to go back to the sheriff's office to talk to my Frisk."

He frowned but I didn't care.

I looked at Toriel. "Would you mind coming along? I'm sure she'll have questions for you."

"Not at all." She looked at Sans for a moment and then back to me. "Will I be safe?"

"As safe as all the little kids she spent the afternoon teaching to skate. Come on."

Frisk looked up from her sketchbook as we came in the office.

Frisk smiled at me. "Good Evening, Clarice."

I groaned. "You get points for getting the quote right. But, oh wow, that's in poor taste."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatcha got for me?"

"Their Frisk was taken in the middle of the night during a sandstorm from a third story room. There is no sign of a struggle and nothing appears to be out of place."

Frisk leaned back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling, arms crossed over her chest. She looked at Sans. "If you needed to go out during a sand storm, what would you wear?"

He shrugged. "Long coat, hat, scarf, and goggles."

She looked at Toriel. "Does your Frisk have those things?"

"Well, of course," Tori answered.

"Are they still in his room?"

Toriel and Sans looked at each other, surprised.

"No," Sans answered.

Frisk made a face and looked at the ceiling again. "How do you know he was kidnapped?"

"How the hell else do you explain it?!" Sans yelled, eye glowing.

Frisk gave him that sidelong look she gave someone she didn't like very much. "There's no sign of a struggle and the equipment he would need to leave in the middle of a dust storm is gone. Your Frisk walked out of the house under his own power." She looked at Toriel. "How old is he?"

"Sixteen."

"Just old enough to do something stupid and still young enough to go off with someone he trusts. Is anyone else missing? And not just children. Has it been a while since you've seen someone you typically see everyday?"

They both shook their heads.

She looked at me. "Your looking for another Sans and one similar enough to this one," she pointed, "that this world's Frisk would be fooled into thinking it was him from a distance."

"Why would another Sans try to take my Frisk?" he asked.

Frisk shrugged. "You can ask him when you find him."

"How do we do that?" I asked.

"Well, Sheriff, if you wanted to hide out for a while, where would you go?"

"I'd go to Diamond Mesa. There's an abandoned facility out there. It's not a place you can stay in for a long time, but it's sturdy enough."

"Then let's head out," I said.

"Before you go, may I have my knitting from my bag?" Frisk asked.

Sans looked at her for a moment, eye glowing that strange blue-green. "So you can use the needles to get yourself out of the cell? I don't think so."

"And ruin my good bamboo needles? Not a chance!"

Toriel walked over to the purse sitting on the desk and carefully pulled out the knitting. She handed it to Frisk through the bars.

"Miss Toriel!"

Tori's nostrils flared. "Sheriff Sans! This young lady is helping us. I understand your concern, but this is the least we can do. She's here by herself with no one to talk too. Let her have her knitting."

He sighed and looked away. "Yes, ma'am."

"Come on. We need to find your Frisk," I said. My Frisk settled back onto the bed in the cell and started knitting.

Toriel looked sad as we left the sheriff's office. "How could a girl who is so lovely have such a high Level Of ViolencE? She didn't seem evil at all, but..."

"She's a veteran. And when she served actively, it was during a time of war."

"That child has seen war? That is not fair."

"Whether it's fair or not, it made her the person she needed to be to set the monsters in my world free." I stopped and stared at the horizon. Red's Frisk was the person she needed to be to save those she loved, and Red would give anything for her to have never been that person. Was I such an asshole that I wouldn't want that for my Frisk? Was I that selfish? As much as my Frisk avoided talking about her service she was still very proud of it and the skills it gave her. Was I holding onto her pride to excuse myself?

I looked at the ground. Every Sans I had ever known had completely given up in captivity. We all simply lived at that point for our Papyrus and his happiness, trying to fill a void with making the people around us happy. And then Frisk appears and we all do the same thing. We latch onto the hope that one person represents. And it doesn't matter what kind of awful that Frisk has been through or must go through. It means we see daylight, for real, forever.

"Fuck," I whispered.

Neither of the two seemed to hear me though both looked concerned.

"You all right there, partner?" Sans asked.

"Yeah." We walked Toriel back to the orphanage before taking a short cut to Diamond Mesa.

I stared up at the building. It was huge and the windows were all broken, but otherwise seemed to be in good condition.

"Well, at least we know your Frisk is doing okay, otherwise he'd have reset."

Sans grimaced. "That's not really something you should go on."

I looked at him. "Why?"

Sans had the grace to look ashamed. "That'd be my fault. I wasn't exactly a good friend during his journey." He inhaled noisily and walked toward the building.

C's voice came over my comm. "The male version of our Frisk is here. He's chatting up our girl back at the sheriff's office."

"Frisk can handle herself. If she needs me, say so."

"Can do."

"One more thing. Record the conversation so I can hear it later."

"Already happening."

"Thanks." I headed after Sans into the building, looking for signs of life. "What was the this building used for?"

"Don't know," Sans said as he searched. "I remember it being in working condition at some point in the past, but not what went on here."

I felt a tug and a sinking feeling came over me. "Did Gaster run this facility?"

Sans turned, looking confused. "Gaster who?"

I suddenly felt ill. The tugging got worse. "We need to leave. Now." I grabbed his arm.

"Woah there. What's going on?"

xxx

Who was this skeleton monster? And why was my laboratory such a mess? I tightened my grip on his arm and pulled him up to me. I heard the sound of feet pounding the floor in a full run and turned to see a female coming toward me. A human female. There was a human in my lab. How was that possible?

She slammed into me with her shoulder, knocking the skeleton monster out of my grip. She grabbed my arm, twisting it around, and floored me. Turning, she grabbed the skeleton monster by the arm and pulled him away.

I rose and threw a tentacle to grab her ankle. She crashed to the floor.

"Great." She looked annoyed. "This one uses tentacles."

What an... interesting voice. I pulled her back toward me and she turned to face me, pulling a gun from under her jacket. I smirked. As if bullets would hurt me.

She fired twice. What hit my arms were not bullets but strange balls that expanded on impact turning into a hard foam and locking my arms to my rib cage. I snarled and used my tentacles to break the foam apart. She used the opportunity to fire twice more at my legs before getting to her feet and running. I broke the foam and teleported directly in front of her.

The human was ready for my teleport. She'd expected it. Who was this human?

She punched me in the sternum, forcing me back. I threw a tentacle and she moved to the side, letting it go past her. She grabbed it and pulled me toward her, jumping to kick me full in the rib cage and knock me down. She rolled to her feet and grabbed the tentacle again, this time pulling me behind her as she ran for the entrance. I wrapped it around her waist and I pulled her toward me. The human slammed into my rib cage and I locked my arms around her, teleporting the both of us to the deepest part of my laboratory.

Ah. Much better. It seems this area was still in good condition if very dusty.

The female slammed both hands hard into my clavicle. My grip on her loosened and she slipped out of my arms. I grabbed her with four tentacles, wrapping them to hold her immobile. She stopped struggling, and watched me carefully.

"You are quite the specimen. I was unaware that human females were trained as warriors. Or is that something particular to you?" I ran my phalanges along her jawline and she did not shy away from my skeletal touch, remaining silent and watchful. Fascinating.

I stepped closer to her, hands clasped behind my back. "If you can behave yourself, you'll find that I'm very kind to my test subjects." I touched her face again. "Now, let's have a look at you, shall we?" I adjusted the tentacles to hold her legs still and her arms behind her back. "I'd like to hear your voice again. What is your name?"

The human remained silent, watchful. Her blue eyes weren't cold and her expression was carefully blank. She wasn't interested in harming me, merely defending herself if necessary. I touched her face again. Her skin was very soft under my phalanges. "Come now. Even in your silence you seem to know who I am. Give me your name."

She remained obstinate. Well, there was more than one way to hear that voice. Using a tentacle, I locked her elbow and pulled on the joint. The human winced, but made no sound. I should have expected that. She appeared to be highly trained. Still, it was annoying. I moved my tentacles further up her legs in order to get a better grip.

She inhaled sharply.

I smiled. "Oh? It seems I found a sensitive spot."

"Sorry to interrupt, Doctor, but you have an appointment elsewhere!" I was grabbed from behind and pulled through a portal. The last thing I saw before everything went black was the human looking very worried. How strange.

xxx

I groaned as I sat up. I was back in the sheriff's office.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Sleeping Beauty." White was giving me his biggest, most annoying smile.

I sighed and rubbed my head. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't show up for dinner and didn't answer your phone, so I called Fase to hunt you down."

"Let me rephrase my question. How did you get here?"

White reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the black and green badges. "Blue dropped it on me a while ago. Now I just need Fase's equations to get around." His smile turned lecherous. "I'll be sure to visit your Frisk often."

"Bite me."

Frisk came in and knelt next to me. "How do you feel?"

"Horrible. And hungry."

"Well, I brought dinner with me. My brother was nice enough to wrap it up for you," White said. He stood and headed out of the cell.

Frisk stood and I grabbed her arm.

"How bad was I this time?"

She rolled her eyes. "You always ask and I always tell you it's fine. Stop asking." She smiled and held out her hands to pull me up. "Come on. Dinner's good. Papyrus made lasagna."

I followed her into a small kitchen. Sans was sitting at the table, poking listlessly at the food, while White noshed on nacho cheese covered, garlic bread.

"So you did use the knitting needles to escape," Sans said.

Frisk snorted. "I would never do that to my nice knitting needles." She passed me a plate and a fork before pointing at Sans. "And you should be thanking your lucky stars. I can't short cut which means I ran all the way out to the mesa to save your boney ass. Thank God I was wearing shoes I can actually run in."

"What tipped you off that something was wrong?" I asked.

"You went off to an abandoned facility on a mesa. That sentence screams trouble." She sighed. "Anyway. Thanks for the save, White."

"Anytime, Frisk."

I ate, thankful that White's brother was a decent chef.

Sans looked at me from under his hat. "So, what happened out there?"

"I became your world's version of the original me. And I'm pretty sure he was a really terrible person," I answered.

"That's why White and I are going back to sweep the facility while you two stay here," Frisk said. She pointed at me. "No arguments."

"Sure." I pointed my fork at White. "Try anything and I'll wipe the floor with your ass."

White snorted. "Like Frisk would rat me out."

C burst to life on Frisk's shoulder. "I would."

White pouted.

Frisk adjusted her purse so that it fit snugly around her waist. "Let's go. I want to look before we lose daylight."

White held out his arm like a gentleman and Frisk took it. They both disappeared.

"I did not agree to this plan," Sans grumbled.

"Too late to complain now. C? Can you play that recording for me, please?"

C appeared on my shoulder. "Sure."

A hologram of my Frisk in the cell and the male version of her at the bars appeared on the table.

"Would you like me to let you out of the cell?" A male voice, but distinctly familiar. Like my Frisk's voice dropped a few octaves.

"I'm fine," my girl answered. She was pulling the stitch markers out of her knitting and bending them.

He chuckled. "I suppose this kind of lock poses no real challenge for either of us. It's a little frustrating."

She stood and reached around the lock, inserting the picks she'd made. She closed her eyes while she worked. "Frustrating?"

"How boring it can be. The lack of challenge." The male version of my Frisk touched the bars, a thoughtful look on his face. "Doesn't it bother you?"

The cell door popped. "Nope."

"I suppose an easy win is still a win." He turned and leaned back against the bars, looking away from her as she opened the doors. "I'd hoped to have a longer conversation, but you're going to have to run to get there in time. Want a different pair of shoes?"

She looked at him. "In time for what?"

"What else? Gaster. And this one enjoyed doing interesting things with his test subjects."

She turned to leave and he grabbed her hand.

"Your shoes?" he asked.

She looked at her feet. "I can run in these."

He let go and she headed out the door. The hologram disappeared.

Sans leaned forward. "That Frisk seems like a copy of yours. Aren't we all copies of the original Sans and Frisk?"

I sat back. "Yes and no. Every variation of the originals have their own variations. For example, there are several versions of me with different Frisks."

"Are you the first Sans of your variation?"

"No. There's one with a little kid Frisk that's the first as far as I know." I shrugged. "Anyway, the only variation we absolutely know is the first of his kind is Red. And Red is the first change from Blue."

"So what's this guy's story?"

I huffed. "I have no idea. The best information we have so far is that he is literally a male version of my Frisk, even down to the specifics of military service. But he's been completely silent about his journey through the Underground. We think he's part of a group calling themselves Midnight Collapse, or at least in league with them. He's been stalking my Frisk since the group attempted to kill us a few months ago."

"So why do you let this guy near her? Seems like a mighty awful idea when you take her LOVE into consideration."

I leaned forward and rested my mandible on top of clasped hands, my eye going black. "Her LV is not an issue. Drop it." I sat back, relaxing. "We get quite a bit intel from the recordings and lately he's been as apt to help as to watch. So his loyalties are in question."

Sans frowned, propping his boots up on the table. One of his steel plated GB's nestled into his lap and he started petting it. "So what's this Midnight Collapse group up too?"

"They're attempting to destroy all timelines."

He looked confused. "Why?"

"The members of the group we've captured are all either completely possessed by Chara or truly genocidal Frisks." I shook my head. "It's a level of crazy I don't understand."

Sans fell into a deep silence, simply petting his GB while absorbing the information. Frisk and White reappeared, looking tired and dirty.

"That place is a real mess," White complained. He shook the dust out of his pale hair.

Frisk dropped into a chair. "We found evidence of two people having been at the facility. It looks like they moved on earlier this afternoon. They likely heard all the noise we made and dashed then. There are tracks that lead off west from the facility. What's west of the facility?"

"New Home," Sans said.

She sighed and stood. "Let's go. It's early enough that people will be awake and about so they'll be able to tell us which way your Frisk went."

I grabbed Frisk's hand. "You okay, Babe? Your eyes are red and puffy."

She pulled one of her lace hankies from her pocket and sneezed. "Allergies," she groaned. "That place was a dust emporium." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I'll be fine in a bit. Let's go."

Sans pointed at Frisk and White as he stood. "You two want to make yourselves look like monsters. Humans don't exactly have it easy in these parts."

White eyed him suspiciously. "So taking your Frisk to New Home was a bad idea for the kidnapper?"

Sans looked away. "Yeah."

Frisk crossed her arms over her chest. "Why would your Frisk not be welcome among monsters?"

He coughed nervously. "Like I said. I wasn't exactly a good friend."

The look of complete and utter disappointment on White's face mirrored Frisk's. He opened his backpack and pulled out his skull mask.

Frisk opened her bag and pulled out her make up kit. She yanked on my sleeve. "Give me a hand?"

I nodded and she pulled off her blouse revealing a pink, skull print bra.

White groaned and pointed at Sans. "Dammit! I am so disappointed in you right now that I can't even enjoy the free show." He sat down, sullen.

Frisk pulled out a cut up fishnet stocking she kept just for this purpose. She held it up to her face while I dusted her with blue powder, giving her the appearance of being a fish monster like Undyne. After covering her shoulders, arms, and chest, she sprayed herself with make up sealer and pulled her blouse back on. She looked like a proper fish woman and I gave her a thumbs up.

She shoved her things back in her bag. "Let's hurry."

I nodded and put an arm around her taking us on a short cut to New Home. The streets were packed and I kept my arm around Frisk to keep us together in the crush. White and Sans appeared behind us. I pulled Frisk into an alley to give us some room.

Sans tipped his hat to people as they went by. A monster woman grabbed his coat and pulled him to her.

"Why'd you bring that human here today? You're lucky the royal guard didn't pound you to dust for it!"

"I'm sorry you're so upset, ma'am, but Frisk is considered a monster by decree. He's got just as much a right to walk around New Home as anyone else."

She huffed. "It'd have been best for everyone had you simply taken care of the human the way you were supposed too." She turned and stomped off.

Frisk grabbed Sans, pulling him deeper into the alley. "Well, that confirms my suspicion that we're dealing with another you. Stay out of sight for minute, Sheriff." She stepped into the crowd, and started asking passersby if they'd seen which way Sans had gone with the human.

Several monsters stopped, marveling at the boss monster and asking if she was related to Undyne. It didn't take her long to get the information she needed. She waved us along and we followed her through the streets to the castle. She stopped just short of path to the entrance and turned to take a side path to the park in the center of the city. Frisk stopped at a spider bake sale vendor to buy a spider doughnut and talk up the vendor. After getting confirmation on which way Frisk and the other Sans went, she headed into the park, munching on the doughnut. She stopped in the center of the park.

"Okay, time to fan out. They're likely hiding somewhere in the park to wait out the evening crowds and avoid harassment. Everyone pick a corner of the park and work your way toward it. When you hit the edge, work your way back in to make sure you didn't miss them. Remember to look up and check in the trees. We need to be quick because the sun is setting fast and we are losing daylight."

She turned and headed off to the north. White headed south. Sans went east while I took the west corner. Taking a nice stroll along the paths meandering through the park, I nodded at passersby. There was a soft rustle above me. I kept walking for a bit and doubled back around a tree, looking up. There sat a Sans very similar to the one from this world and a human teenager.

"C?" I whispered, "Let Frisk know I found them. When she's ready, I'll grab them both and short cut back to Snowdin."

C's voice floated softly from my comm. "Got it."

I watched them, catching snippets of conversation. This Sans was female if the voice was any indication. They both seemed to enjoy each other's company, talking in a way that came naturally. I sighed. This whole situation was going to turn into the suck real fast.

"Everyone's ready, Bones," C said.

I floated up behind them, collared them both and short cut back to Snowdin.

The first volley of bones came as soon as we touched ground outside the Sheriff's office. I summoned a shield of bones to deflect the attack. Sheriff Sans was laying on the ground, letting the volley fly over head and starring in shock at Frisk and White. They'd caught the rhythm of the attack and were dancing through it, dodging easily. It was too slow for anyone who trained with me or White's brother on a regular basis.

In a desperate move, the female Sans summoned a massive bone and ran at Frisk. She stopped dead and opened her arms, sparing. The female Sans stopped, letting the bone fall to the ground.

"Are you really sparing me?" She shook her head. "It's a poor trick." She raised the bone.

Frisk remained still, arms open. The female Sans swung and Frisk stepped back, but did not retaliate. She swung again and Frisk stepped away again.

"Please stop, Sans! I really think she means it!" the teen yelled.

The female Sans stopped and looked at my Frisk. "I accept."

Frisk dropped her arms. "Oh good. My arms were getting tired." She crossed her arms over her chest. "So what's the story, morning glory? Why kidnap this Frisk?"

The teen came over to her. She sighed. "I need a Frisk similar enough to mine to open the barrier in my world."

"So you came here to kidnap this one?"

"You don't understand. I messed up! My Frisk didn't come back. I stood next to that save point everyday for twenty years!" She looked up at us. "This Frisk is the closest to being mine. He can complete the journey for her and we can all go free." She put her head in her hands. "I just want my little sister to see the sun."

The teen Frisk patted her on the back. "It's okay! I said I would go with you!" He looked at us. "You won't stop me, will you?"

I sighed, suddenly heartsick. I knelt next to him. "You can go with her, but, I'm sorry, kiddo. You can't take another Frisk's place. You can't complete the journey for someone else."

"I still want to try," he said and I could see it in his eyes: Determination.

"So how did you find out about this timeline and then get here?" I asked.

The female Sans reached into her pocket and pulled out a green and black badge. "This badge and a note that said I might be able to find a happy ending if I found a new Frisk just appeared one day with the equations. So I followed them and it brought me here, to him." She looked at the teen.

A sinking feeling hit me. "Have you tried to go back home yet?"

"I did several times after getting the kid. I think the equations to return home are wrong."

"Repeat them," White said.

She closed both eye sockets and started chanting out the figures. White's chin dropped to his chest, eyes closed, solving the equations in his head. He disappeared and just as quickly reappeared. He held up a hand so no one would interrupt his calculations and he disappeared again only to reappear a moment later. He tried a third time with the same result.

He looked at Frisk and I, and shook his head. "The equation's right. The timeline is gone."

The female Sans sank to her knees before falling to all fours and wept. The teen dropped down next to her, hugging her tightly. My Frisk sighed heavily and I put my arms around her. She looked at me for a moment before putting her laying her head against my rib cage.

"How did this happen?" Sheriff Sans asked.

"She was tricked into leaving so she couldn't be there to stop the death of her Frisk," White said. He looked at us, confused. "Who said that?"

When I shook my head, he dug into his pocket and pulled out the badge. It was vibrating in his hand.

Not fair... Don't cry... Don't cry...

Frisk and I ran over to him, staring at the badge.

"Oh God. They're still there." He grabbed my jacket to pull me down to his height, suddenly excited. "They're still there!" He let go. "If the Frisk used to make this is contained in that sliver of void, we might be able to get them out! They might not be gone at all!" He grabbed Frisk, bent her over, and kissed her. When I went to grab him, he twirled Frisk into my chest, and stepped out of my reach. "I need to see Blue. I'll leave you to sort this out." He fell backwards into a portal.

Frisk looked at me. "Please don't kill him the next time you see him." She headed over to the female Sans and got her to sit up. "Come on, Sans. Bones and I will take you with us."

"Can I come too?" the teen asked. He looked at Sans.

The Sheriff sighed. "You'll need to talk to Miss Toriel about that, bud. But I won't stop ya."

"I'll be right back," he said. He hugged her tightly before running off.

Frisk walked the female Sans into the Sheriff's office and sat her down. She went into the cell to pick up her knitting and sketch book.

"Hello?" She picked up a pair of shoes. They were a match for the ones she ruined with today's unplanned adventure. She frowned, but didn't put them down.

The teen ran into the office with a bag over his shoulder and Toriel following close behind.

She gasped and touched my Frisk's face. "Had I not seen you before, I would believe you to be a monster!"

Frisk winked at her. "I'm very good at my job, Miss Toriel." Frisk looked over at the teen. "I take it by the bag, you're letting your Frisk leave with us."

Toriel sighed heavily and very sadly. "Maybe, if he weren't here, other monsters would realize how much we need him." She ruffled his hair.

"I promise I'll come back," he said. He hugged her tightly. "I just... I need to fix her. I think I can." He looked at my Frisk. "Does that make sense?"

Frisk nodded. "Let's go." She helped the female Sans stand and I took us home. We landed just outside Frisk's office.

Asriel poked his head out of the lab. "You two are really late. Did something..." He trailed off looking at the female Sans and teen Frisk. He pointed back into the lab. "Howdy! I'm gonna get the keys for the suite next to the one you share with Paps."

Sans grabbed my jacket. "Was that Prince Asriel?!"

I removed her boney hands from my jacket but held them in my own. "In our world, Queen Toriel died taking Chara's body across the barrier." I looked over at Frisk. She was leaning against the wall, seriously tired.

"So there's no Mom? No Flowey?" the teen asked.

I shook my head. "No."

Asriel came back out with a set of keys. He stopped to check Frisk. She gave him a soft smile. He looked at me.

"I'll handle these two. Why don't you help Frisk get washed up and into bed?"

I nodded and put an arm around my Frisk.

The teen suddenly hugged Asriel fiercely. The goat prince smiled and hugged him back.

"Come along," he said and led the newcomers down the hall.

I walked Frisk to her apartment. "Are you awake enough to shower?"

"If I say no will you help me bathe?"

I smiled. "No teasing."

She chuckled softly. "I'm awake enough. You know that I'd never cheat on you with White, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I know you aren't attracted to someone unless you have a deep emotional connection to them first." I frowned. "Are you sure you're okay with the other version of you stalking you?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes and no. This group is using a code used by my special ops unit a long time ago at the same time that a male me shows up. That's not a coincidence. I'm just not sure what his end game is. Is he trying to recruit me? Manipulate me? Is he simply talking to the only other person who understands his experience in ops?" She frowned deeply. "Whatever he is, he's dangerous, but talkative." She looked up at me, filled with determination. "If I have enough time to get his mouth running, we'll learn a lot. We need to learn the identity of whoever is making the badges and directing their travel."

I stopped inside the door to her apartment. She wrapped her arms around my rib cage underneath my jacket, fingers gently caressing my spine. I sighed contentedly, putting a hand in her hair.

"Wow. We both seriously need to get cleaned up," I said, running my hand through her hair. "Though I'm not sure I should leave you alone in your apartment."

Frisk looked at me, confused. "Why?"

"Well, when you get naked in the bathroom, the shower gets turned on."

She shoved me out the door and slammed it shut.

Author's note: "There's a version of me with a little kid Frisk." That is a reference to Borurou's Underpatch AU which, when finished, will be the official AU home of the official Gaster!Sans.