Standard rules, lemme know bout any mistakes.
Question for your enjoyment is in the End Notes, please contribute as this is to provide you with the best story I can!
Underswaps Chara would die.
A simple deduction for Core, yet it still irritated them.
Not so long ago, Underswap had suffered a minute glitch, leading to uncontrollable resets.
Corrupted code leaking into the fallen human as an outlet, forcing body-swaps between Chara and Frisk in a desperate bid to conserve energy as the overloads wore them out, and the cycle continued, hopelessly lost until a miracle came forth.
Reset had been shattered by an external force, saving the universe.
But now, the very thing that had saved them could become their downfall.
Cross and Chara needed to stop Underswap from resetting to avoid altering their already fragile code, and while slim, there was a chance Underswaps Chara could regain their ability with some code tweaking.
With death, Underswaps Chara could no longer seek refuge in the save screen.
"After all, I don't need this timeline anymore."
The words echoed throughout Stretch's skull.
He... didn't need them?
Stretch knew Nightmare was a revolting monster, and this? This was vile.
Stretch's friends, his family, his world, they were not toys for that beast's entertainment.
In XTale, the washed out and controlled monsters of Underswap stood by blankly, all staring at the house that once belonged to the Underfell brothers, surrounding it.
Outer shuddered at the sight of Toriel at the forefront of the mob. He couldn't imagine the old punny lady from his world acting like this. It was so disturbing, like a delayed reset.
From one of the windows on the ground floor, Classic and Fell peaked out, holding a cat between them.
"Where'd the cats come from?" Chara blurted out, flushing as Dream and Fresh turned to him.
Chara had not wanted to be the one to break the silence between them, especially with Dreams reaction to...
…
Chara liked the freedom of this place; he didn't want to lose it.
"...This is scary." Fell grunted, eyelights shifting between all the monsters cautiously.
"We can't do anything." Classic pulled the cat to his chest with worry. "I can only hope that nothing serious is going on..."
"Another one!"
Where were these cats coming from?! There was no way Cross went out of his way to find them, and Chara doubted they'd been in Mr. Edgy Mc Edges' house.
… The cats did look cute though.
Fell turned away, eyelights extinguishing as he slumped back onto the sofa.
"... but even so..." Classis diverted the conversation with a troubled look, "I feel like something is not okay..."
"Um, Fresh?" Dream let out a startled laugh as Fresh was shown to be peering through the window.
"Yea, Dreamy Brah?" Fresh smirked, expression lighting up as his glasses spelled out 'huh,' mirroring his on-screen self. "Best Skelly Bein' Shown Now, Ey? I'm A Totally Radical Detective."
The two elected to ignore Errors scoffing.
"Of course, nothing is okay!" Fell waved a hand, growling lowly. "That stupid mad man in black and white ruined everything again!"
In the background, Fresh grinned, glasses spelling out 'Hmmm.'
"Hey." Chara pouted. An insult to Cross was an insult to him too!
"I'm not talking about that Cross; I'm talking about I-"
FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY
Error screeched inside his head, mentally jumping around.
Oh finally, one of the idiots in the future could see the rainbow vomit for what he was.
It was all coming together, and Error couldn't be happier.
"Shhh!" A hand was shoved in front of Classics mouth, preventing him from continuing.
That was of course until Dream ruined it.
For the Guardian of Positivity, the twig sure was good at ruining Error's mood.
In response to this action, Fresh's glasses flipped to '!' before settling on 'Oh Ho' as Classic and Fells' eyelights flickered and shrunk, zeroing in on the new person.
"I need to concentrate."
"Ey, Dats Two Of The Best Skellies Togetha Now!" Fresh did his best finger guns to Dreams quiet giggles.
"Why did you need them to be quiet?" Core called out, head tilting and uncaring of Chara's warning look as Dreams laughter stopped. "You were doing fine up until that point, and I can't recall that ever being a need of yours."
"It helps, sometimes." Dream shifted in discomfort, feeling an odd prick of emotions at Core questioning his actions. It was... something new, to be scrutinized by them.
"Who the heck are you?" Fell shouted, hands balling into fists. "What are you doing in my house?!"
"I forgot that was his house." Outer blinked blankly, half-listening to Errors muttered ramblings of the cat tilting its head. Honestly, it should be understandable how Outer keeps missing minor details at this point.
"Having more negative feelings like those won't let me concentrate to get you out of here."
Stretch internally cursed himself for forgetting about Dream. In the future, Dream would know no matter what that Nightmare was in his universe, with all that negativity.
Why did it bring such a shock to his system that Dream would be trying to get in to help?
Has it really been that long since I've seen him, to lose all that confidence and trust...?
'Seriously, all these alternate versions of myself will leave me with side effects for life' Classic internally groaned, sweating profusely.
Dream gaped at the screen, shocked as Error barked out a loud laugh, he flushed. "O-ok. Not the best first meeting."
Core shook off their surprise at hearing Classics thoughts and stared. Just... Core just stared at this odd group.
This was the group that was going to help the multiverse, and so far, Core had been acting from a critical point of view.
Core could trust Stretch, and possibly Fresh and Dream. Error and Chara were volatile, Outer was a wild card in his neutrality, undeterminable till his universe appears.
But in this moment, for the first time, Core was reminded of the Omega Timeline and of so much more.
Stretch and Outer snickering, Error maniacally laughing, Chara comforting an embarrassed Dream as Fresh mocked them all.
In this singular moment, Core didn't see any signs of them being Destroyers or Guardians, or living beings tormented and trapped in their limited worlds, desperately holding out for hope.
Classic pulled a face, looking around awkwardly for any other new people.
The moment of levity faded out slowly from the room as the clarity of Core's former thoughts dulled.
And yet, tentatively, Core was willing.
This could all work out in the end.
"Uh kid, what's going on there?"
"Not again."
Dreams skull hit the carpeted floor, jolting Chara, who smothered a laugh.
"Everything is bad... that's why I can't go there immediately." Turning away from Classic, Dream focused on Underswap. "I can only feel hatred and sadness."
Stretch opened his mouth, glancing over at Dream, before thinking better of it.
"My brother, Nightmare, gets stronger with that sort of feelings." Hunching in on himself, Dream continued in a softer tone. "If I could feel at least a fragment of positive feelings, I would save everyone!"
Outer's eyelights unfocused as he thought. It was much simpler to invoke negative emotions in positive situations, than the other way around.
Handling positivity seemed finicky. Attempting to force it brought dismal amounts of it, when compared with the yawning abyss you could stumble into when handling negativity.
Looking judgmental, Fell drew out each of his words to enunciate his point. "This is bullshoes."
A quacking sound echoed out, and Classic looked up at the ceiling in misery.
"Stars." Dream let out an uncouth snort, rapidly waving his hands in front of his skull.
"Fun." Fresh muttered with a rapidly widening grin as the scene went on.
"What was that sound?" Fell held a hand to his mouth. "What the Funk!?"
Stretch slowly unwound his tense shoulders. Despite knowing that all too soon they'd end up back at Underswap, he appreciated the moment of levity.
Sometimes, Underswap felt too small, however, the risks of the multiverse weren't worth risking his home.
In this moment though, hearing the laughter that surrounded him, it was still nice, to be reminded of the good.
Another quack, Fresh watched from the outside, glasses spelling out 'Woah' as he closely watched Fell.
Core's eyes scrunched up as they reminisced.
I can grant you entry, but only if you abide by the conditions I set forth.
Haha, 'Course Core, Wouldn't Dream A Breakin' Em.
Left eyelight flaring red, Fell spewed out as many swears as he could "Beach. Radhole. Mus my desk. Funk you. Shed. Motherfunny. Dunkhead."
Error rolled his eyelights, a smirk helplessly forming. So, the parasite had his moments, not like Error cared.
Classic shoved a cat into his face, silencing him as the cat meowed and Fresh sniggered.
Chara smothered a laugh, feeling oddly settled.
Blasted cats
"I'm serious guys." Dream held his clenched hands up to his chest, eyelights darting between the two.
"I'm starting to get why people call you a kid." Chara watched keenly as Dream flushed, twirling a strand of hair. "Maybe work on-"
"Nightmare could let them kill someone in that timeline forever."
Chara stammered to a stop, pausing for a long moment. He didn't mean it like that.
"Forever?" Outer sunk into his seat, shooting a nervous look at Error, who was observing him calmly. "Um, what about a Reset?"
"Blue... You're blinded by hatred."
Error glanced at the ceiling, pondering what to share with his audience. "External attacks can be handled by a Hard Reset, a basic one could leave remnants of influence that will affect the next few Resets and put the universe into a quasi-lockdown until a Hard Reset can happen."
For once, Error and Core shared a look, understanding of the same incident passing between them, the two turned away again.
Dream's voice was a whisp, shoulders slumping forwards. "...Please..."
"In this case, with the residents of Underswap missing, a Reset could cause permanent damage." Dream twisted his hands together, eyelights misty. "Or if a missing person is altered too much but can't be... replaced, they'll be dragged back without being reset..."
Stretch winced, lightly yanking on one of his arms. Not that their world could even Reset until someone messed with the code again.
"I need a positive feeling inside your heart like you always had..."
Perfect or not
I'm tired as heck of this job
We can enjoy our lives in this timeline
But it's the only way I can spent time with my best friend
Chara's hand hovered over his chest, an empty space where a soul once rested.
Gaster, Frisk... Chara, Sans.
That slot in his chest belonged to so many.
Blue... Blueberry... Sans... Cross...
Chara's lips parted, a silent wish forming.
Timeline X. . .
Ink... Why... can't I feel any feelings inside of you...?
"So, the squids reached that point." Errors words cut sharply through everyone, a simple fact that even those with limited understanding should grasp.
No one should defend Ink anymore. A point that Ink had been reaching for had been achieved, and now, he was not a friend.
Ink stood still like the remaining stump of a tree; inner being lost to the wind as he watched the battle continue.
"Gosh, Ink." Dream shook his skull, emotions stuffing his essence full. He should've tried harder to keep Ink away from that place. He knew how Ink could get, but he hadn't gone about things right, not in a way he could force Ink to stop.
Blue and XChara clashed with weapons, determination guiding them both as Blue leapt high into the air and put all his strength into summoning a Gaster Blaster.
Core's eyes widened in mild shock. Dream had spoken of Blue being filled with hate, but they hadn't predicted he'd go so far. Blue tended to use variations of close range after centuries of fighting other Sanses, it gave an edge against most.
Blasters were a last resort, especially one that big, and with how Blue had been fighting for so long... This could cost him most of his magic reserves.
Exertion made itself present while he powered up the Blaster, struggling to stabilize it as the Blasters own eyes flickered in and out of existence.
Stretch let out a strangled sound as he yanked at the strings of his hoodie. An unstable Blaster, oh no no no, Sans wouldn't be able to stop it properly, not when he'd summoned one so large!
The pressure from the flow of magic whipped XChara's hair in a frenzy as he steeled himself, carefully reaching within, he held Swap!Chara's soul before the Blaster.
Fresh let out a low whistle, playing with the edges of his glasses. Was that gonna kill 'em both? Or would it force a code lock?
Blue's flaring magic stuttered as his two eyelights returned, resolve faltering at XChara's actions.
Gripping at their chest, Swap!Chara shrunk back as Stretch held an arm defensively before them.
"Don't worry, kiddo. They are just playing... They are too coward to kill someone for real."
Chara traced a finger up and down his arm, swimming along the surface of his thoughts and memories. A permanent kill, he'd never reached that point. Anything close was altered by Overwrite. The closest you could get to a permanent kill back home would have to be a personality change that became their new reality forever, like Alphys...
Why do you think she made you that armor?
She was aware of what was going to happen.
Stretch hunched over, more cautious. "My brother would never hurt someone else's soul."
He can't find out about this.
...Why aren't you mad at me...?
Alphys, we're counting on you.
I lied to you about everything...
"If pushed," Chara forced the words out, needing to hear them, even if they came from himself, even if they stifled him. "Or forced... a... they..."
He couldn't.
"Don't lie to yourself." Nightmare looked over at the two with half-lidded sockets, smile splittingly wide and content. "You know your brother is tired of BEING NICE."
Stretch imagined the warmth of his brothers' hugs, the smell of tacos, his calming voice...
No, his brother would always be kind, to those who deserved it, who he could see the good in.
Nightmare would never be able to understand how far that went.
Nightmare's content expression shifted into a grin with vicious intent. "SHOW' EM, KID."
Error felt his own insides frizz up, an oncoming reboot that he desperately forced down once more. That was the third fucking time, any more times and he'd be risking severe damage.
But no, Error needed to see this through. What happened to Underswap, he needed to know everything.
XChara inhaled deeply, assuming control of the Power of the Soul and Overwrite, he screeched a command into the abyss.
The soul flickered, determination and perseverance.
*[ACT] = KILL ME, SANS.
Stretch sharply moved, standing on shaking legs, he stared down at Chara uncomprehendingly. "You..."
"Papyrus." Core's voice was loud in the silent room, despite the small rasp it came from.
Taking in Chara's wide, blinding eyes, Stretch collapsed onto the ground, back pressed against the sofa, Core's slow, deliberate hand resting itself upon his shoulder.
"We'll talk about this later."
Kneeling on the Gaster Blaster, Blue's face went slack as it was covered with an 'x,' and he fired the Blaster, raw magic shaking the universe.
"NO!" Stretch shot into action, terror filled, he ran at XChara, arm reaching out.
Dream hissed, curling into himself at the putrid smell of emotions lashing at his essence.
He needed to calm down, his own negativity... Dream needed to be positive! He could do this, his future self would save them, he had to.
The world shifted and slowed as Nightmare appeared behind him, self-satisfied with his hands in his pockets as Stretch's expression shrunk.
"Wow. It's so cold... That pain is freezing your heart."
Stretch absently rubbed a hand over his chest. He could almost feel the tremors wracking through his tormented soul.
"Even if you could do something. You will still feel that pain."
No matter what... Stretch's hands balled into fists as they shook.
Even if they all ban together and change the future, even if Underswap remains untouched in their future...
Papyrus will never forget what has happened here.
"You will never forget this."
"None of us will." Core shut their eyes to the absolute truth of that statement.
Everyone here will forever be united in their knowledge, a link between them all that cannot be severed.
"Why even try..."
Chara turned his eyes away, the weight of his own body pressing down against himself, phantom touches crawling down his back.
That expression of Stretch's, so fearful for a loved one's fate... it wasn't for him, no matter how Stretch reached for him, it wasn't to save him.
"KILL HIM NOW, KID"
XChara scrutinized Stretch, his desperation, his hopelessness, his aching soul...
Narrowing his eyes, he turned away, awaiting the blast of magic that was ever-nearing.
Outer held his breath. He didn't know these worlds, these alternates, he knew basically nothing before today.
But he cared, Outer knew Stretch, and he didn't want the guy to lose his world. The multiverse was tough, but Outer wanted to help.
Even if it was supplying a small comfort to people, Outer would take it. He wasn't the best fighter, but he'd find a way to help.
Glitching free, Blue came to with confusion before his eyelights shrunk and his sockets widened.
*give up.
*destroy yourself.
Stretch shortcut himself to stand in front of XChara, expression indecipherable with discontent as he slowly raised a hand and blocked the attack.
It felt like strings were wrapped around his body, puppeteering his life, and Stretch had to tug at his hoodie to reassure himself that he wasn't there.
Landing back on the ground, Blue's hands shook as he held them in an aborted move of nearing the duo. "BROTHER!?"
Behind Stretch, XChara dismissed the soul and readied his weapon.
ACT = [ERASE_CODE]
IS THIS BRAT INSANE?!
Error nearly choked on his own glitching to the point he couldn't even vocalize how utterly maniacal the kid was for trying this.
Code erasure would permanently destabilize the world past recovery. Heck, Error only messed with that when he knew the world had to be destroyed, like the ones corrupted by a virus, and he could rely on the fact he wouldn't be chased out of it before he could. Otherwise, a normal kill would suffice that was not code erasure.
The weapon stabilized into a solid creation, already stained with blood.
"Heh, really stabbing me in the back there..." Stretch could hardly force the words out, staring disconcertingly as Chara's expression closed off.
It didn't make him feel better nor worse.
"What are you doing!? Step aside!"
"They are right, Sans." Stretch looked down, unsettled and tired as he spoke each word with an ache. "We are no longer worth it in this timeline." Turning away from his brother, Stretch welcomed the attack. "It is better to disappear with all we lost."
Except this timeline is lost...
Core felt their expression scrunch up as they twisted their puffy sweater.
Underswap at this point can't be recovered, not to what it used to be.
"Why are you saying that..." Blue's eyelights struggled to remain solid, spiraling as they shook within his sockets, yet his body remained unmoving.
Stretch placed a hand to his neck, remembering the feel of his brother's cape wrapped around it, comforting him, reassuring him he'd come back.
I'm so sorry, Sans. I'll fix this, for you, for everyone.
Stretch slowly smiled, a tear falling. "You've done your best, bro. But it's time to go."
Memories flashed by of the wonderful reality that once was Underswap, that had now been stripped away from them.
Toriel and Asgore holding up Chara, fondness.
Core's mouth opened, a wistfulness encompassing them. Mom and Dad...
The monsters of Snowdin boxing up their things for the move as Sans and Papyrus made their final snowmen.
"Asriel..." Chara's hand twitched at the sight of the innocent child, wishing with all his being he could reach out in that moment and hug his brother.
Chara missed his brothers, his family.
Blue, Undyne, and Alphys cheering on Stretch and Napstaton in their rap battle, surrounded by other monsters, all friends.
Outer let out a chuckle.
Nights spent with Mettaton hosting a joke weather forecast in preparation to surprise the monsters with a meteor shower. They'd even gotten the monsters from the caverns to come out and watch.
For once, everyone had been united in marveling at their world.
"At least"
Blue encouraging Temmie to eat a taco with him.
The taste of chocolate filled Error.
"This was"
Undyne, Napstaton, Chara, and Stretch listening to music as they lay together with Happstablook on the ground, taking part in the family tradition.
Dream hugged his cape tighter.
Days spent guarding the tree, leaning against one another, promises of forever.
"The Happiest Timeline"
Undyne, Blue, and Alphys wearing cat ears as they watched Mew with Chara and Stretch, the latter of the two having fallen asleep, snoring quietly.
Stretch could feel his own tears slowly drip, a small smile forming as his chest ached.
It really is the happiest timeline.
"We could"
Asgore hosting a tea party with Muffet, all smiling happily as they talked.
Fresh adjusted his glasses at the memory of running into Dust and Horror in Candytale, the three messing with exploding confetti as Candy and Farmer drank tea, Horrors hands flying as he tried to get the confetti out of his skull.
Those were great times. These days, though, who knew where they'd all ended up.
"Ever live"
Chara laughing brightly as they watered the Floweys
The Multiverse is so weird! Did you know there's only one Flowey in most worlds, but there's like twenty Temmies!
Dear Toriel, I couldn't imagine handling that many Temmies, let alone the one we've got.
Mwehehe, no worries brother, the magnificent Sans will certainly protect your happiness!
The flashes of memories solidified into one final memory. The stars.
Alphys, Undyne, Toriel and Asgore stood behind Stretch, Chara and Blue, who sat on the ledge, feet hanging as Blue happily pointed out at the stars.
"We'll save your world, Stretch." Core turned to him, smile grim and set.
And Stretch... Stretch believed them. Looking around at these people, he could see how the memories brought forth their own memories. To know that they all understood how precious it was.
That was enough for now.
"Good memories!" Dream startled, quickly turning around with purpose, he forced Fell and Classic through a side-by teleportation. "It's our chance!"
Dream whispered a plea of hope, begging his future self to save them.
He had to do this; he couldn't lose them!
Please please please
No more!
The three appeared in Underswap, all reeling from the force of teleporting through such a small gap of positivity.
"You made it." Stretch felt relief and fear war for dominance, twisting his emotions into a muddled mess.
Save Sans, that's all I ask for. My brother, please.
Recovering first, Classics sockets widened in fear.
Sockets shut; Stretch accepted his fate.
And the moment was overlapped by a smiling Papyrus, bracing himself to be hit by a merciless Frisk.
Outer flinched at the image, knowing instinctively what his alternate would do, and hoping against all else that he was wrong.
No one should die.
But... When you're not in your world, and you can go against the script, what is there to lose against the pull of old wounds?
One step forward was enough to seal his fate as Classic blipped into place, arms outstretched, he blocked the hit.
9999999999
Fresh tilted his skull, ignoring the sounds of his fellow watchers, he forced a logical view.
From the perspective of entertainment, this wouldn't be the end.
No, someone would've stepped in. Classic couldn't die yet, not with his role.
But to avoid the hit... Oh.
Fresh let out a low snigger, muffling it with his sleeve.
Man, to think he almost forgot!
Classic didn't need to dodge.
Red splattered on the ground, Classics eyelights shook as he stared at the spot the blade grazed.
Withdrawing his weapon, XChara breathed heavily, expression disturbingly warped.
Outer dropped his skull into his hands.
'Don't ever let go of what's beloved'
He turned blue, freezing uncomprehendingly, XChara was slammed into the ground by the pull of gravity.
Behind his ears, Chara held strands of hair between clenched, the sensations tickling at him.
Who did he want to win? No, that wasn't right. This wasn't a silly game.
…
Who would Chara want to live? To experience true freedom...
A pierced ketchup bottle fell and rolled to a stop before XChara.
"Aww. It was a limited edition."
Fresh nodded, glasses bouncing with the motion.
Tell ya what, Fresh, I'll let you in on a neat trick we, augh, 'Sanses,' like to pull every once in a while
Ooo, Ya Warmin' Up Ta Me, Dust Bunny?
Don't call me that, or I'll start callin' you a freak
Mean
Pft, don't get me wrong, I don't give a shizzle, but this is common information among most variations of Sanses, so consider this an act o' mercy in helpin' you blend in
Aww, I Knew It, Ya Do Care!
I regret everything.
Sockets gone, Classic looked down at XChara, who was sweating both from his nerves and the strain of trying to lift his head to look at Classic.
"Take it easy." XChara could barely lift his head from the ground, smiling viciously. "We can talk and ketch-up some fun out of it."
Outer almost pouted. Not the best pun, but okay for an amateur... Why was he analyzing Chara's punning skills?
There's no way he was inviting the kid to come-ty hour in his world.
"I'm the puns guy, not you little brat." Classics left eyelight ignited in a flare of yellow-blue.
"Funk." Chara nervously gulped, tugging at his hair with more force.
Everything was a-okay. So long as Chara stayed as the ghost and Cross the bone-shield, Chara would be fine.
… That felt like going back on some progress he'd made... Well, it's not like HE wanted to be the one attacked, so Cross would just have to suck it up!
Using as much force as possible, XChara managed to leap high into the air in the split-second gravity reoriented itself to dodge the bones that cut through the air he once was.
Spinning, XChara slashed a distant knife attack, forcing both Stretch and Classic to dodge the luminous magic, he landed nearby, weapon slashing at their prior position.
Stretch reached up behind himself to tightly hold Core's hand, shooting them a brief look of question, to which Core gave their permission by clasping their other hand over his own.
This- This was it, the end to the battle.
Sweating, XChara hauled his weapon high above his head, breaking apart the ground in jagged cuts, only for Classis to shortcut right in front of him and dragging the stolen soul into view.
"'Never let your guard down'."
Chara glared at the screen in offence, cheeks puffing up. Those were HIS WORDS!
Classic wasn't allowed to steal them!
Hah, high and mighty original, well guess what!
Chara and Cross were going to beat him for sure, even if they were on the same side in the future, Chara would make crystal clear who the superior was.
Flashing eyelight settling on the blue of patience, Classic flung XChara back, knocking him into a barrage of summoned bones. Bouncing between them before being pierced through his chest by a jagged bone, coloring it lilac with his blood, XChara watched fearfully as the soul split in two and glitched.
Now Chara knew he'd caused a right mess but come on! That was an utterly spiteful attack.
Nearby, Swap!Chara held their hands close, curled in on themselves as they awaited the pain of the attack, only to gasp as another fragment of their soul was returned to them, giving them a quarter.
Error nodded at Classics actions upon seeing the soul shift more into Underswap Chara's hold.
Beat up a maniacal kid and fix the world into a more stable state.
You could ask for a lot more, but considering they were cleaning up the brat and squids mess, it was enough.
After all, no one could do as good a job as Error himself. Hehe, he'd kill them before he allowed THAT to happen.
Forcing XChara back onto the ground and disorientated, Classics eyelight glowed as Stretch, Blue, and Fell teleported in behind him, with Fell giving a vindictive grin and wave, each one of them summoned a Blaster, all aimed at XChara's prone form.
That would kill him.
Insides freezing, Chara dragged a hand down his face.
Nonononononono
He couldn't die! Not after... not after everything. He refused to die.
Not to these worthless alternates!
As the blasters powered up, Nightmare slunk in from the side, using a tendril to form a massive hand to block the blasters, he stood shielding XChara with a frown.
Dream pressed his mouth against his cape, a silent apology and kiss pressed into it.
Never interfere, if Nightmare is present, unless he does so first.
Watching all this, Dream flipped his staff, imbedding it with magic, it shaped itself into a bow as he summoned an arrow with his other hand.
Drawing back the string, Dream waited for a beat, sockets narrowed and eyelights clear, he fired.
Outer felt the oddest of urges to pump his fist. However, he was not a child, and he could understand the seriousness of the situation. Thus, like a mature monster, Outer refrained.
Not that that stopped Error from doing the exact same thing he thought of doing, just with a maniacal laugh to go with it.
Right, Outer is mature. Error... not so much.
Jostled by the blow, Nightmare's eyelight shook as he looked back and spotted the arrow.
Narrowing his gaze, Nightmare deformed to appear on XChara's other side, scrambling to face Dream in his rage as his form shuddered with strain. "YOU AGAIN? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BOTHER ME!?" He bellowed, calm lost in the face of Dream, body dripping with negativity that kept getting absorbed in an endless stream of collision.
Dream winced, the suffocating feeling of Nightmare attempting to collapse his ribcage all-consuming, he reached out and tightly held Chara's hand, urgency filling him.
I am not your brother
Shuddering from the contact, Chara cut off his desperately spiraling mutterings and turned to Dream.
You're fighting for justice, not for bloodlust!
Returning the gesture, Chara squeezed Dreams hand and rested his forehead against the linked hands, letting out a deep breath.
Stretch's attempts to save weren't for him, but Dreams comfort was a joint effort.
Shrugging, Fresh reached over and pried Dreams fingers from his cape and spread it between the three, then linking his hand with Chara's other hand, he gently pushed them all to rest their linked hands on the soft material of the cape.
Hey, Fresh...
Yea, Brah?
I get that you're a parasite and all that... but
…
Forget it
Resolving himself, Dream said nothing, summoning as many arrows he could and firing them in quick succession, they sliced through Nightmare's body in it's less than solid state, hacking away until it completely deformed, the remains flying every which way as he struggled to calm himself enough to reform.
Stretch let out a breath he'd been holding, silently thanking Dream.
Bit late though, he thought wryly.
XChara gaped at the sight of this, now left defenseless.
Classic took this as his chance for a brief break, struggling against magic depletion, he stayed on guard.
Gritting his teeth, XChara forced himself into a state of calm, shoulders slumping, he flashed closer to Classic, mirroring his prior conversation with Blue.
"Hey, Sans. Aren't you worried about all these Alternate Universes with nonsense timelines?"
"You..." Stretch cut himself off with a sharp bark of laughter. "You can't seriously be trying this again?!"
He... hahaha, Stretch could've almost believed the kid when he'd approached Blue like this, but doing it again? What, was it a lie?
Why was he trusting this kid? Stretch had never had complete faith in Ink, but he knew the protector better than he knew Chara.
What was he doing to himself?
Dream kept watch; bow drawn back with an arrow at the ready. Beside him, Ink remained still, hardly moving, a permanent frown as he took in his surroundings.
"Many of them have to do with ridiculous stories different to yours."
"That makes them all the more real." Core resisted the urge to twist their sweater as they put effort into keeping their voice clear." Everything may have originated from Undertale, but you can consider that to be an origin point, from there, the worlds have branched out, shaped into their own truths."
Looking away, Error silently nodded in agreement. He wouldn't have put it that way, but a lot of the worlds really were their own thing.
Just look at Undernovela, Error reminisced on one of his beloved favorites with a smile.
XChara's voice was steady, minute tremors wracking through his body, he proceeded. "You only wanted to stop the creation of timelines due to your humans' Resets, and then all this happened."
"That's the case for a lot of Universes." Dream forced his voice to work as he squeezed Chara's hand in a pre-emptive apology. "A lot happens in the multiverse; most get dragged into it without any say."
"You're still suffering even with a 'Happy Ending.' That got his attention." XChara gave the other a small smile, closing his eyes in remembrance. "Cross was so jealous of you because of the heart locket."
Frowning, Classic grasped at his locket and looked down at it, carefully opening it to stare at the picture hidden within.
Best Friends Forever, with everyone together, a family.
"In your case it's not as important as it was for him..."
Chara's eyes widened as the image, as he pictured the family shown to be his own family.
Freedom
Imagine, if only they could've taken a real picture together.
A shakily drawn picture of a family, left as nothing but a sketch, but filled with overwhelming emotion, the need and want for freedom consuming them
"Your timeline is not exactly as it should be."
Judgement hall, Classics hand covered in blood.
"That didn't let Cross think clearly about our mission."
Core pulled at a loose thread of the sofa. The truth of Classics world...
"... But now that I have control, I can do justice to everyone."
Classic's expression softened as he listened to XChara, who blinked at him with shaky care.
"Just one world. With the best of the others. Just one Universe."
"How true is any of this though." Stretch called out to Chara, who hunched in on himself. "How much of this and what you told my brother is true."
"Sans." Glitching his weapon back into reality, he pointed it at Classic, drawing Dreams focus solely on his movements. "I know you're getting the idea."
"I don't know." Chara whispered back, tightening his hold on his friends as Stretch scoffed, only for his focus to be pulled to Dream, who had accidentally tugged harshly on his hand as he sat up straighter, suddenly following the screen with an intensity that only appeared when Nightm...
Future-Dream wasn't watching Nightmare anymore.
"LET'S GET RID OF THE TRUE ENEMY." Classics eyelight automatically darted to the left, behind himself, to where Ink stood by blankly. "YOU CAN GO BACK HOME!"
"Come on, come on, come on!" Error rapidly whispered with zeal. Oh, if only everyone ganged up on the crayon chewer like they had the brat, this would be his second favorite show!
Hefting his weapon up higher, XChara steeled his commitment in his words. "THAT LIAR IS JUST USING YOU."
A sense of dread filled Outer. Something wasn't right, they were forgetting something.
"YOU'VE LOST THE CHANCE I GAVE TO YOU."
Just as some progress was being made, a tendril cut through the sound of Chara's voice as it slashed past, blowing wind into XChara's hair, Nightmare made his target clear.
"Nightmare!"
"WE LEAVE NOW."
Swap!Chara had no time to react, expression fearful as they slammed their eyes shut and grit their teeth to stop any sounds of pain escaping them as the tendril impaled their body.
"Chara!" Stretch sat up, hands flying to his skull, eyes wide and fearful as his mouth pulled back to intake oxygen. He needed to breathe, but Chara, he couldn't breathe. Toriel, no, he needed to pull himself together. He, Papyrus couldn't comprehend the idea that this would be permanent, that this is so close to his reality.
"Papyrus, breathe." Core slipped down from the sofa, wrapping their arms around Stretch's arm, carefully pulling it away from his skull. "They're okay, we'll stop this, I promise, they're alive, everyone is at home, everyone is waiting for you."
Chara's hands shook, trying and failing to force himself to focus on comforting Dream, who'd curled in on himself.
Dream was important, the future was important.
The two behind you aren't important, it's not your fault.
Seeing a version of yourself die isn't important, this was inevitable.
Blood dripping from their mouth, they collapsed as soon as the tendril retreated to its owner.
"CHARA!" Stretch and Blue ran to the human's side.
I should've been watching Nightmare
The thought went on loop within Dreams skull, a hand to his mouth, stopping the urge to vomit through perseverance, his other hand, still clasped in Chara's, grounding him, making him feel worse for being comforted by a future enemy he couldn't help but care for.
In replication of Swap!Charas wound, XChara collapsed, holding himself up with his weapon, blood dripped from his mouth.
The remnants of Nightmare began to float, swirling as they reformed into one being and Nightmares tendrils surrounded XChara.
Peering up at Classic, XChara gave him a final parting message through ragged breaths. "Spend your days remembering what you once lived, comedian."
The two collapsed into a liquified form, vanishing from the Universe.
"That's that then." Stretch's voice had an undertone of pure exhaustion, tired eyelights staring at the ruins of his home.
The battle was over, and now they were left with pieces that could never be repaired, a broken image fading away.
Hoisting up Swap!Chara, Stretch cradled the child. "Kiddo, please stay with us."
Swap!Chara refused to die as they called on their waning determination, weakly smiling up at Stretch, they glitched.
"What is happening?" Blue looked fearfully at his hands as they glitched, reminded of the amalgamation.
"Sans..." Stretch gave his brother a look filled with fearful resolve. "YOU HAVE TO LEAVE..." He tightened his grip on the dying child. "This timeline will collapse, but you have a chance to save your life."
"I'm sorry." Core murmured into their sweater, an empty feeling draining their emotions away.
Stretch looked up, past Blue, he noticed Ink.
Scarf flowing in the wind, mouth hidden, Ink watched them with a half-turned back, eyelights shrunk into still pinpricks, calculating.
The game that everyone kept mentioning...
Stretch almost couldn't believe Ink could see this all as nothing but a game.
It filled him with raw pain, the idea that someone he'd once welcomed into his home would do this.
"B-But Brother! I want to stay with you!"
Stretch shook, narrowing his gaze as he stared back at Ink.
"If we must escape, we'll do it together!"
Outer sunk into the fluff of his hood, feeling dizzied as memories of evacuations washed over him.
The fear that lingered past his memories clawing at him with his brother's voice.
"Everything will go back to normal if you help them." Stretch attempted to reassure Blue, sweat forming on his skull. "... I'll take care of Chara. LEAVE NOW!"
"IT'S YOUR JOB AS A ROYAL GUARD..." Blue's eyelights shook in horror as he listened to his brother, unable to believe this was reality, tears suddenly formed. "YOU'RE THE COOLEST BRO."
Stretch smiled a watery smile at the sight. While not the best goodbye, it was more than they ever got in the past.
The coolest brother.
Classic blipped over, placing a hand on Blues shoulder, reluctantly stopping the other as he tried to take a step towards his brother. "I'm sorry buddy, we have to go..."
Dream choked back on his own overflowing emotions at the desperation Blue was showing.
People I care about, I mean, my brother, obviously! It's why you're my favorite Dreamy... you... you get it...
I do?
It's like... while you don't understand anything as it's happening, the will to still hold out hope and do your best to affect what you can... I like to think we're the same in that way, aren't we?
A flash of glimmering positivity was guided into forming a spiraling portal to a new Universe.
"Quick! Go inside now!" Dream called out to them all from his position beside the portal, a hand outstretched towards it as he struggled to keep it linked with the hopeless ruins of Underswap. "This portal will take you to another safe AU!"
And suddenly Outer had a terrible feeling that he hoped he was wrong about because oh stars no.
"Dream... What will you do...?" Ink questioned him, facing away, expressionless.
"I'll go back to XTale, I have to keep investigating!" Dream responded promptly, turning to Ink.
There's nothing worth investigating, Dream silently urged his on-screen counterpart. Stay with Blue, watch Ink, keep them safe.
"I can feel a few positive feelings that will help me there. You can continue with your quest in the next AU's pacifist timeline..."
Outer raised a brow, almost letting out a laugh with how delirious he was feeling.
No way the human felt like doing a run anytime soon, no, this wouldn't be his world.
Did Dream count it as a pacifist run when the kid said they were going to mess with the caverns after taking a break in the save screen for a couple decades?
"Ink... are you okay...?" Dream hesitantly asked him, the question going ignored as Ink stared at the vial that sparked a unique lilac through the cracks of his guarded vial.
Chara shivered, feeling as though he was watching him.
Go away...
Ink drew his eyelights away from the vial as Fell appeared by his side.
Looking disturbed by Inks expression, Fell shoved him through the portal and shortly followed. "MOVE, YOU IDIOT!"
They appeared in a place filled with stars, Classic and Blue collapsing through the portal shortly after.
"Oh stars, oh stars, oh stars." Outer brought a hand to his mouth to keep his voice from reaching the others. That was HIS HOME! It was happening! What does he do?! The last world was torn apart!
"That funking bashwit of a guardian." Error growled out, drawing Outer's anxious attention to himself. "How dare they drag this mess into Outertale, my vacation home, that's protected air space!"
Outer silently mouthed the word 'Outertale' back to himself, managing to calm himself as he shared a look of dismay with Error, drawing comfort in the others' outrage.
Tears in a constant stream of anguish, Blue reached a handout towards the portal, helpless. "...Brother..."
Stretch raised his left arm to mirror his brother, the angle giving him a small bit of comfort as though he really could reach his dear brother.
Stretch stared back, Swap!Chara's face pressed against his hoodie, he gave his brother a final loving smile, content so long as his brother remained safe, he let out a mournful 'Nyeh' as the portal collapsed in on itself, separating the two worlds as it sealed itself away.
Chara never thought he'd feel so awful with this path of his.
No sweet taste of victory, everything was hollow.
Not even that, Chara couldn't fool himself.
He felt sad, and he regretted this whole mess.
Their actions, the plan he and Cross would act on, it would drag people from their worlds to watch, to learn, to change.
All of this wasn't just his fault.
… Whose fault... was it...?
The four skeletons who were naught, but strangers were left alone in Outerale, looking up at the stars, the three mourned together, as the final skeleton observed uncaringly.
Error was going to kill Ink, Truce be damned.
In Underswap, Dream turned away from the sparking remnants of positivity, and turned to share a long look with Stretch, filled with unsaid words as Stretch's smile dropped, a forlorn look of reflection replacing it.
"I'm so sorry..." Dream lowered his eyelights, sockets slowly closing as he resisted his urge to stay, he vanished in a shimmer of positivity.
"Thank you for saving my brother, Dream." Stretch rasped out, saddened at the lackluster goodbye with someone else he'd considered family.
But it was for the best, to ensure Dream wouldn't risk his own safety to give Stretch a proper goodbye.
Dream turned to look at him, the reflexive deflection dying as his own tears tried to force their way to the surface.
Stretch stared regretfully at where Dream had stood before looking down, the weight of everything that had happened crashing into him, he collapsed, left kneeling alone with the body of a dead child in the ruins of his world.
Tell them the truth.
Core's expression finally collapsed as they whimpered, tears falling and staining the carpet a dark color. "After all that, everyone tried their best to save that world, so why..."
Silence was the only response other than the quiet shuffling of friends drawing strength from one another.
"My home." Stretch struggled to force the words out, drowning in a sea brimming with chains. "Everyone I care about is in that world... Chara," Stretch couldn't bring himself to raise his eyelights to face him, he couldn't even bring himself to draw the emotions he wanted in his voice. "If it comes to it, I'll fight for my home, just as you're doing. But I'll never tear apart other worlds for my own..."
Chara's vision blurred as he stared at his hands, both linked with monsters he'd laughed with, who'd comforted him.
"We'll protect Underswap." Core rubbed at their eyes, the dark colors spreading to their sleeves. "We'll find a way. That's... It won't all be for nothing."
Stretch tried to bring out the words he thought, silence persevering for a beat longer than necessary as his mind scattered. "It... wasn't for nothing... my brother..."
"Outer," Dream hesitantly called out to the other skeleton, "I'm sorry, I'm... I'm the reason you're involved in this mess."
Error scoffed and upturned his skull beside Outer when the other only sent Dream a shaky grin, "It's a good thing you're apologizing, otherwise, the blame wouldn't only be going to Ink and his insecure friend!"
"It's fine, Error, we can... we can keep my home safe too." Outer's smile slipped as he fretted over his future. "We have to keep watching, to... to learn more and fix everything."
Dream nodded along, turning towards Stretch and Core, he wanted to apologize for not paying enough attention to Nightmare, only to falter at the sight of the two whispering and comforting one another.
So much was his fault.
"We'll be okay." Chara murmured, tightening his grip on his friends' hands. "I'll- I'll set all this right. I'll stop chasing ghosts, just... don't leave me alone again."
Gaster was still out there, they'd never achieved freedom, it was all an illusion.
"My goal..."
The revival of XTale, in its purest form, was impossible with them in the way.
"Goal, Ey?" Fresh used his free hand to draw out the scrap of paper he'd used to translate words earlier.
What was Fresh's stake in all of this?
Well, you couldn't be a body-hopping parasite with limited pick, and Fresh rather liked the people that were around in the Multiverse with whom he'd made friends.
"Let's change the future."
"And how are you going to do that?"
"An alliance, between us seven."
Question for you all that I'd like some help with.
This chapter was just over 8k words, chapter 12 was 7k, and Chapter 11 was 6k.
First of all, that's not intentional, neat as fuck, but unintentional.
Before my, er, lets call it a break, the longest chapter was barely reaching 5k words.
My understanding of 'watch the show' fics is hopefully the same as most of you, in that you skim the description of the show, just to understand at what point you're at and what they're reacting to.
While that's a good chunk of the writing in each chapter (and may I say, so draining to keep rewinding the video), this makes it a tad difficult for me to be able to tell when I've passed the 'enough' quota into 'too much'
Just, can everyone let me know if the chapters are dragging on a bit to be too much or if you're all handling the chapter length just fine, and if I should break each episode into 3 parts, rather than 2 parts.
Specifically asking as the next part is Xtra Scene 2, then 0.4, which Is the third longest episode after Timeline X and 0.6, all of which are between 30-35 minutes long.
Also, it took 3 weeks for this update, and I understand a lot of you basically ended up waiting over a year, but please be patient and expect roughly the same timeframe for the 0.4 chapters.
Thank you all for continuing to read, I love you all!