A/N: Hey guys, I am officially back! Sorry for keeping you waiting. I successfully got through my first case of writers block, plus all of the other stuff that life piled on me. Good stuff mind you, it was jus a lot. Now lets get right into it, shall we?

Disclaimer: Undertale and all it's characters yet belong to Toby Fox

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: Rejoice and rumination

The path they walked on was well known to the children, especially to Asriel. He remembered having seen this place, and every other place in the entire Underground, enough times to make even the most nostalgic character sick with repetition. And yet, now was different. Everything suddenly had life again, as if the colours had returned after a milennia of black and white. Even though most of the colour here was white, but that was beside the point. It still all felt a bit surreal, but the cold air filling his chest, and the crunchy snow under his feet helped him grasp the reality of the situation.

Before, he remembered having watched- no, rather stalked Frisk, as she made her way through the cold, enjoying the punny antics and playful puzzles of the skeletal brothers. It was like studying a strange creature, exhibiting traits and behaviours he no longer understood - fun, joy, kindness. But now, as they passed each landmark, he couldn't help chuckling to himself at the memories, just as Frisk was smiling in enjoyment. Now it finally made sense to him! He expressed these feelings to his companion.

"Don't you mean it makes Sans to you now?" She asked coyly.

"...too soon, Frisk." The boy rerurned dryly, but it did not cover up his myrth.

Still, both of them felt strange as they passed deactivated puzzles and abandoned sentry stations, seeing these sights for the last time before, well, whatever came next in their journey. They only saw glimpses and traces of other monsters, like a Gyftrot sleeping under a distant tree, and a Whimsum fluttering past apologetically. Frisk knew the monsters were gathering in Snowdin, but she was still a bit concerned when she didn't see the snowman in his usual spot.

The plate of frozen spaghetti, on the other hand, was still there, eternally bonded and preserved with it's frigid surroundings. The mouse, however, had been busy too, as there was a significant stack of sticks and twigs next to the mouse hole, as well as miniature flint and tinder. It really did never give up, which brought an inspired smile to the children's faces, and refreshed their DETERMINATION.

Crawling through a maze of snaking snow dogs, Asriel was doing quite well in his new, or rather, old form. It was only when they came upon the large expanse of ice, that continued in a thin bridge through a thicket of trees, that it was obvious he was still getting used to having legs again. Or arms, for that matter. His short toe claws stopped him from sliding off to the side immediately. He held onto Frisk's soulders, and together they skidded across, laughing and stumbling all the way.

As they made the final stretch, and came to the bridge into town, they could already make out the hustle and bustle of celebration and preperation. The bridge was well worn, but it carried them faithfully. Frisk could feel Asriel getting nervous. The first encounter with another monster after his return hadn't gone so well, so understandably, he looked towards the townsfolk with trepidation. Frisk herself felt a shred of dread towards the impending reactions and explainations, no matter how much she looked forward to them rejoining the others.

Finally they arrived on the other side, and regarded the welcome banner happily. They just wanted to continue on, when they saw a dog head, dramatically raising itself over top of it, eyes squinting back and forth suspiciously.

"Hello? Did I see someone arrive?" Doggo inquired to no one in particular.

Frisk waved at him, smiling, even more so when the sentry dog litterally jumped at the sight of familliar movement, over the wall of cloth.

"Frisk! So you've returned from your trip to the ruins... I have the the mission to watch out for new arrivals, so everyone is accounted for. It's very important!" He yapped. Proudly?

Sometimes it was hard to tell with dogs, but Frisk found them cute, even when they swung spears, axes and doggers at her. The seasoned sentry just wanted to ask her about her sightings of other monsters, when he noticed a quiveing shape behind the small human.

"Hey you, come out so I can see you! Do you belong with the local bunnys?" he asked, barely making out long floppy ears.

All the lost prince could see when looking at the happy townsfolk right now, were memories of tearing them and their happiness to a thousand pieces, sometimes with vines and pellets, sometimes through deceit and trickery. Moving against the weight of guilt and fear, Asriel stepped forth. Regardless of what would happen, the truth of his return had to come out. As he moved, the dog's expression grew in astonishment. When he suspected his eyes of failing him, he leaned in close to sniff the child's head. Unlike most dogs, he rarely fell back on his sense of smell, but it only confirmed what the features of the young face had told him.

"Theres no mistake about it..." He uttered as he backed off. "You... are part of the Dreemurr Dynasty! But how? Our king hasn't had an offspring since..."

He lost his words. Everyone knew the tale, but seldom was it even mentioned. The one in question spoke up, a sliver of courage and royal etiqette kicking in.

"H-howdy! I am Asriel Dreemurr, son of Lord Asgore and Lady Toriel, crown prince of monsters... or.. w-well... I was..."

As quickly as it had come, that sliver was gone again, leaving only terror and resolve. By now a growing crowd had gathered, surrounding the three of them with puzzled stares and whispers of wonder. For a few moments no one seemed to know how to react to this situation. Frisk could feel what the suspense was doing to her friend. It was indescribable. Finally, the great brown bear stepped through the front line, the others giving way. This town had no mayor, but the bears often took the role of public speakers, due to their imposing, but calm voice and demeanor.

"People of Snowdin!" He anounced with a booming voice. "I have wonderous news to announce! Our prince, Asriel Dreemurr, has returned to us!"

In a cascede of realization, the cofusion turned into exuberant joy. The crowd errupted in celebration as they gathered around. Some fell to their knees, expressing their reverence and loyalty to the royal family, others danced and sung. The bunny sisters and Grillby brought more trays of their best treats for everyone to enjoy. Ice wolf could barely hold back greater dog from crushing the new arrivals with love and attention. They were not just welcoming back the long lost prince of their people, they were welcoming back one of their own. On other days, they might have been more bewildered at this turn of events, or even sceptical, but this was already a day of miracles and family reunions, and they werent about to turn away another. All the worry and fear Asriel held flowed away with tears of relief, and a deep sense of belonging filled him. To say he was touched by their uncompromising love, would be the understatement of many years.

Monsters are weird...

Still, none of them knew of his past, and maybe it was better they'd never, but he didn't feel right being the center of celebration. Or at least, the only one. With a somewhat mushy voice, he managed to speak.

"Thank you, everyone, your support means so much to me. But it wouldn't be possible for me to be here without the help of my friend, Frisk... the hero of the Underground!"

A second roar filled the air. Truly, he would never be able to express enough grattitude. He hoped he would prove worthy of this second chance. More so, he was determined to. Looking at her, the colour of her cheeks told him, that she was just as flustered at all the attention as he was. Resting a paw on her shoulder, the human returned the gesture, as they shared this moment. Magic fireworks began to illuminate the cavern cieling. The festivities showed no signs of slowing down.

Meanwhile, perched on a neighbouring cliff, one of Snowdin's sentrys watched the commotion with a troubling mix of Apathy, and more invested emotions. Thankfully the bears had heeded him, when he told them who was coming, and to prepare for them to pass through without much harry. Sans kept his exterior to nearly everyone, but he did have his connections.

The Bears knew there was more than meets the eye to his ability to procure almost any information, and to traverse the Underground with such ease, but they respected his secrets, and even protected them on occasions, even though they didn't really know them themselves. It was a delicate bond of trust. They saw that Sans was good for the village, and Monsterkind in general, bringing lightheartedness in troubled times, as well as useful information about current ongoings, and all that despite him doing "nothing" all day.

He rested his face in his bony palm, rubbing his rims tiredly. "what am i even doing..." He muttered to himself for the... he'd lost count. And he rarely lost count.

"none of this matters anyway. The next reset will happen, and then..."

Or so he told himself. He wasn't sure anymore if he even wanted the timeline to continue normally. Not that he didn't crave the solace and serenity of a permanent happy ending deep in his bones, but when was the last time he allowed himself to think that? Never in all his premenitions, dreams and memories had Asriel returned. What did it mean? Was it going to be different this time? Would time actually move on now? And now his apathy had almost led him to kill Toriel's long lost son, and in the same stroke, probably Frisk as well...wait, was that apathy or caring that drove him to do that? Or fear? He couldn't tell.

Ironically, the skeleton, who had used his juxtaposition among the timelines to act as a judge, had forgotten what it was like to live with consequences. Lasting ones anyway. Right now, Flowey wasn't there to torment him about his failings, but he didn't need any help doing that himself. What would the others do once it got out? What would Toriel do? Vistas of all kinds haunted his skull, from painful rejection to cold judgement. Would he simply go from a fluctuating hell to a constant one? Well, at least they could be happy... maybe they wouldn't laugh about his puns anymore, but at least, they could mabe laugh about his pun-ishment? His grin had never seemed so fake to him.

He had tried to enjoy his time with the wonderful goat lady as long as he could, but it had felt wrong to him. He had stayed long enough to quell her worries, and then excused himself from everyone's presence in his typical manner. Part of him just wanted to get it over with, and just tell her right then and there what had happened, and what he had done, but maybe it was best she saw the kid with her own eyes first.

guess she'll hear it from him then.

Of course his self-loathing intensified at his cowardice, but maybe this time it was better to let things play out on their own. Or was it just a bad excuse for being lazy again? Like he did every so often when nobody was around, he asked no one in particular out loud what they thought of all this.

No one answered.

Nobody came.

Sans suddenly felt like he was being watched, and when nobody answered him in a jumble of strange sounds in the back of his mind, he freaked out.

Lirni Alhus E ,a Ontnesrgm

The skeleton whipped around to find nothing behind him. Sans is not someone easily frightened, In fact even the most impossible or horrific scenarios tend to leave him with nothing but cold resolve. But something about the voice that barely touched reality, deeply unsettled him, and caused him eyeflares and skull aches.

"what's going on here?" he asked cautiously.

The voice responded.

Onl Eu6vu Ta6 Fs Et

His eye was flaring uncontrollably, and he could almost see a glimpse of- nothing. There was nothing here. As quickly as they had come, the flares, the voice, all traces of anything strange being afoot vanished, as if they were never there in the first place.

And the sentry was left alone to his thoughts once more.

A/N: *Huff* This chapter was the most difficult for me so far, and not just because of the writers block. So what do you think, how did the scene turn out? Anyway, this was good warm-up for the eventual reactions of the various main cast characters, I look forward to doing that. The story will also branch out to explore the other characters more as it goes along. Hopefully the next update will be quicker.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

~Lonesome Sage