"Sorry Sans." I say. "I'm going to become a Magical Girl."

"But, kid…" He looks horrified. "You can't!"

"I finally know what I want." I respond. "I've found the wish that I want to be granted to me. And for that wish, I'll pay with my life."

"Stop it!" Sans growls, a scared edge to his voice. "What's the point if… why would I even have done all this…" Rebellious tears are escaping his eye sockets again. It's fascinating how they appear. Feeling a little at loss for words, I come over to stand next to him. Hesitantly, I bend down and cradle his skull in my arms.

"I'm sorry." I say again. "But… I believe I am standing here because of you. Because you wanted to protect me, because you cared about me." His skeletal fingers clasp around my arm, but I move to get back up and he lets go. "This is the answer I've finally found. Please believe in me. I promise I won't squander what you've done for me."

"Kid…"

"Now that you control the fate of many worlds and have become a singularity for cause and effect," Flowey hums thoughtfully. "I should be able to grant you your any wish, no matter how absurd it is."

"That is the truth right?" I still can't hide the doubt from my voice. The possibility it might not work still lingers with this mysterious being.

"Now Frisk." Flowey starts contentedly and curiously, stepping upon a taller rock to project his words, "With your soul as reparation, for what shall you wish?"

"I…" I pause, turn to face Flowey more fully, and take the deepest, biggest breath I had ever taken in my life before speaking. I have to word it as carefully as possible.

"I want to eliminate all witches before their birth." The words come out of my mouth. "Every single witch in every single universe, under my own power, past and future."

Flowey is startled by my request, but the process has already begun. My chest is shining a vibrant red, and if I had to guess, it was the sacrifice of my soul letting my wish come into fruition. It is so vibrant, I have to shut my eyes.

However, that doesn't keep me from hearing Flowey. "B-but if that wish comes true," He squeaks, squinting at the light blossoming from my chest. "We won't just be talking temporal manipulation anymore! You'd be opposing the very laws of causality themselves!" His voice turns disbelieving. "Do you really plan on becoming a god?"

"I don't care what you call it." I state firmly. "I don't want any Magical Monsters that have fought until today to cry. I want them to remain smiling. I'll destroy any rule that stands in my way. I'll change them all. That," I say, "Is my wish. Now grant me this, Incubator!"

What happens next is indescribable. What I feel next is indescribable.

And a bright, flashing, blinding light envelops the earth.

"F-Frisk, do you know just how daunting that wish is?"

"Probably." I stare at the slice of cake sitting before me, untouched.

Alphys pours me a cup of tea, but her worried expression does not escape her face. "You'll be fighting forever, past and future, for all time. It might even mean… you'll cease to exist as an individual. And it's not even nice like dying. You'll just be… implanted in the universe as a concept. A concept just for destroying witches."

"That's fine." I say. "It was my plan anyway. I have to keep harboring hope. I'll say it as many times as it takes."

"Well, why not?" I turn in surprise. Undyne is ravenously tearing into a slice of cake with her bare hands, but it doesn't keep her from talking. "If you can do it, then why not? Because now, you've found a reason to fight." She's finished her last crumb. "You've decided not to run away anymore, and to face it head on instead. Then fine!" She pumps a fist. "Then all you've gotta do now, punk, is to do what you gotta do!"

"Yeah!" I grin. "Thanks, Undyne."

"Y-you're not just going to make people's hopes come true though." Alphys smiles. "You are going to become hope itself. The hope for all of us."

I am set, I am determined, and I know what I have to do.

The Walpurgis Night is laughing at me, she does not know what I am capable of. Intrigued by the light, she comes forward to see how much fun I will be for her.

My bangs are flying, and sparkles surround me. The end of my wooden bow flowers into a rose, and the red string finally appears. I draw it back, and a burst of pink smoke blooms out from behind me into an awake fire.

I turn the bow upwards, and once the arrow appears, I let go. It sails upwards, letting off tendrils of salmon-colored designs trailing into the sky. When it hits the air, the sky is immediately transformed. The grey disintegrates, and the blue returns in full color.

It's raining red streaks of hope. And they will reach whoever needs them.

In a grassy field of a carnival, a young monster's soul gem is slowly becoming dark. Her gem is cracking, and her eyes shine of fear and despair.

But I appear, and take her hands into mine. She watches as the despair leaves her gem, and she watches it returns to its original, beautiful green state before dissolving into the air. She smiles, cries tears of happiness, and lets her soul rest in peace.

A forest girl lays underneath a tree. The brown gem upon her arm is tainted and dark, but I appear and I tell the darkness leave. The gem disappears with the darkness, but she does not look upset. She smiles with relief and lays her head upon her blanket.

And I am there. Soaring across deserts, cities, oceans, islands, volcanoes…

I will appear to the little monster sitting upon a chair with her teddy bear. I will appear to the little viking girl squatting alone at the beach. I will appear to the the despair-trotten ones laying among the ashes.

I appear to those in torn cities, in bombed communities, in shelters, fires, palaces, bonfires, everywhere...

I refuse to let their wishes end in despair. And so I cleanse their souls, and let their spirits free. Now none of them will haunt other people. None of them will curse anyone. I will bear the fate of them all. So all of you, please…

...believe in yourself until the end.

The Walpurgis Night is chuckling, for she does not believe it. Herself, defeated by a mere trifle? She laughs, for it's hilarious. She laughs maniacally as the arrows tear into her dress, and as she is torn away into shreds while they drift off into space as nothing more than dust.

"It's okay. It's okay now." The gear that was once underneath her remains, and I speak to it. "You don't have to hate anyone anymore. You don't have to curse anyone anymore." I lift my arms in offering. "I'll assume your burden before you take that form."

She is broken apart. Her darkness is separated, and she laughs and laughs, and the light is bright and the world is gone.

I've accumulated enough hope to almost start an entire new universe. But with that, there was also enough despair to counter it too. It was an obvious outcome. It surrounds the world, dark and scary and unforgiving, but...

"Don't worry." I say. "It's okay."

Sans looks down at me from below, afraid and uncertain. But I know what I'm doing. "My wish was to erase all witches." I explain. "If that really came true, then I would have no reason to feel despair any further either."

Something inside me has changed. I lift the bow again, and this time fire it at the world below me.

We are not on earth anymore. That much was obvious.

We were way out beyond. We were outside of the world, of the universe. Where everything was just a fuzzy haze, and things in existence were not quite in existence, and where things were real, were not quite there.

"Your life now has no beginning or end." Flowey voice echoes at me. "There is now no proof of your living, or with memories that you had lived here. Your existence has shifted to a higher plane, and has now become nothing more than a concept. No one can perceive you, and likewise, you cannot interact with anyone else. You have now ceased to be a member of this universe."

"What?" He growls, infuriated. "Are you saying this is the conclusion the kid wanted? Are you saying that her wish granted her this ending? You can't be serious! That's…" He buries his skull in his hands. "That's worse than dying…"

"No, you're wrong, Sans." He stops, and turns to face me. "I can see the past and future now. I can see all the universes that may come to be. Every single one."

"Kid…"

"That's why I know." I insist, "I know how hard you tried to help me all that time. I know everything now. Just how many times you cried, how many times you were hurt… and it was all for me. I…" I hug him close to me, not wanting to let go. "I'm sorry I didn't notice until now."

After a moment, Sans hugs me back. Our hold on each other is tight.

"I was able to know the real you because I ended up this way." I explain. "I've found out that there was a great friend that was by my side the whole time." I think back on all those timelines, one's where Sans helped me, where he tried to save me. "So I'm happy now. Sans…" At the sound of his name, he looks at me and I smile. "Thank you. You were my best friend until the end."

"But now you'll never return." He says sadly. "And you'll be separated from everyone you care about! And now you'll be trapped here between space and time alone for all eternity…"

"But I'm not alone." I promise. "I'm not alone, because everyone will always be with me. Because from now on, I will always be everywhere, and at any time, right there. That's why even if you can't see or hear me, I'll still be right there by your side."

"Kid, that's…" He tilts his head a little. "That's okay with you? Even if…" He grits his teeth. "Even if I forget you? Even if I won't be able to know you're there?"

"Now, now," I shake my head. "It's too early to give up. After all, you did follow me here! So even when you return to the old world, you just might still remember me." I reach behind my neck and feel for the clasp of the necklace. Taking it off, I set it into the palms of Sans' skeletal hands. He looks up at me, uncertain. "It'll be fine." I reassure him. "I'm sure it'll be fine. We just have to believe, okay?"

"Frisk…"

"Magical Monsters make hopes and dreams come true, after all." I grin, finally letting go. "I'm sure if it's small enough, a real miracle just might happen. Isn't that right?"

"Wait, kid!" Sans has one hand holding the necklace, and the other reaching for me. "Don't leave yet!"

"I'm sorry, but I have to go meet up with everyone else. But maybe, I'll be able to see you again someday. So until then, we'll be apart…" I allow myself to fade away. "...just for a little bit."

"Friiiiiiisk!" He shouts, but he is already being pulled away, back to where he belongs in the world. Where I will, hopefully, meet him again someday.

He stands up on stage, legs swinging and performance ongoing. Mettaton is fabulous as ever, lights flash and those backstage try their best to keep up with him. It is like a disco party, wild and fun. All the seats around us are filled to the brim with cheering monsters and people. They cheer and shout and wave their arms to the dance. Mettaton looks like he is having a great time.

"SORRY FOR ALL THE TROUBLE." Papyrus finally says, sitting next to me in his ghostly form.

"Nah," I shake my head. "I'm… I'm sorry too. Because to save you, I would've had no choice but to make it so nothing ever happened. Except, if I did…" I look back onstage where Mettaton dances. "This version of the future would disappear too. But I had a feeling you wouldn't want that to happen, right Paps? I mean, your wish was really precious to you. I don't think it was very pointless in the end at all, so that's why…"

After a moment, Papyrus nods. He looks oddly satisfied. "YEAH!" He smiles. "I THINK THIS IS FINE FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT'S JUST..." He lets out a happy sigh. "I WANTED TO SEE ONE MORE PERFORMANCE FROM METTATON. AND I WANT MORE PEOPLE TO SEE HIS PERFORMANCES TOO. JUST REMEMBERING THAT FEELING IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME! AND I HAVE NO MORE REGRETS LEFT, EITHER!"

Then as an afterthought, "ACTUALLY." Papyrus huffs. "THE OUTCOME WAS A BIT DISAPPOINTING. HOW COULD I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, STILL NOT BE A MAGICAL MONSTER UNTIL THE VERY END? AND THAT SITUATION WITH NAPSTABLOOK..." He nods sadly. "THEY'LL BE HAPPY, RIGHT?"

"Yeah." I smile at him, proud of his decisions. But we've been here long enough. It's time for our departure. "Let's get going, shall we?"

"...Alright." Papyrus finally agrees, and gets up with me while we fade away into the seats.

Sans POV

The labyrinth fades away in front of us, the fires extinguished with the witch.

"Where's Papyrus?" Undyne calls out, her eyes narrowed as she looks around at us. "Hey! What happened to Papyrus?"

Alphys steps closer to Undyne, but could only look down at the ground. "He's gone." She answers in a sad whisper, "H-he was guided away by the Law of the Wheel." I flinch at the term. "He… he used all his magic in that last attack, s-so…"

Angry, Undyne slams her fist into a nearby pole, nearly bending it despite being made of metal. "That dummy! What's the good of disappearing over some stupid hunk of bolts?!"

"I-It's the fate of a Magical Monster." Alphys responds quietly, looking over the train station with a forlorn expression. "I-It's before the result of having sought out a wish to bring despair upon the world, w-we have to disappear like that."

I let these words soak into my skull, but I can't help but feel helpless. My hands shaking, I take the heart locket out from my pocket. Its golden chain rests in my skeletal palm, cold but warm with memories.

Holding the locket fills me with memories of Frisk. I remember her smiling face whenever she was hanging out with me, her laughter whenever I told a pun, and her determined gaze every time she was confronted with a problem. She was brave, she was strong, and she was kind. Too kind.

Thinking of Frisk makes me tremble more. I hug the locket to my chest, feeling my body shake with sadness and frustration.

"Frisk." I whimper quietly.

For a moment, there's only silence in which I can hear my own ragged breaths exhaling in and out. I hear Undyne and Alphys turning to look at me.

"S-Sans?" Alphys looks genuinely confused. " 'Frisk?' W-who's that?"

Undyne cocks her head sideways, looking confused as well. "Who?"

On the way back home, I pass by a familiar sand pit and see a little goat boy. Recognizing Asriel, I step into the pit and kneel down next to him to see what he's drawing in the sand. When he sees me looking, he looks up with a happy expression.

"Frisk!" He grins, gesturing to the drawing in the sand. To my surprise, it really was Frisk. This particular etched drawing was of her in her Magical Monster costume. How the the goat kid had such great drawing skill, I didn't know. "Frisk!" Asriel repeats enthusiastically.

My heart clenches, but the sight makes me smile. Even though Frisk was gone, some people would still remember her. "Yep." I say. "It looks just like her."

Asriel blinks for a moment, staring at a section under my skull. I look down and see the heart locket dangling from my neck right within his reach. For a moment, he reaches his paw forward as if to grab it, but he's quickly pulled back by someone else.

"Asriel, you shouldn't do that." King Asgore had snatched his child up, bopping him teasingly on the nose. "You shouldn't touch things that aren't yours."

"Frisk!" Asriel cheers. "Frisk!"

"I'm so very sorry," Toriel chuckles as she heads over to me. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I say, getting back on my feet. "Sorry for stopping you two." I look over to Asriel in amusement, seeing he was still excitedly yelling Frisk's name in Asgore's arms. "Frisk, right kid?"

Asriel stops for a moment, like he's surprised someone would actually listen to him. "Yeah!" He answers.

Asriel and Asgore go off to play in the grass next to the bridge. The goat kid is just plain adorable. The sky is turning into a darker shade of orange, the yellow sun starting to sink into the horizon. Toriel sits herself down upon a higher hill of grass where she can watch her husband and child, and I sit next to her, deciding to ask her about Asriel's words.

"You mean that invisible friend of his when he plays by himself?" Toriel chuckles, before shaking her head. "It's pretty common for children, I suppose."

"Yeah." I sigh nostalgically. "I remember her, too."

"You know Frisk as well?" Toriel smiles, looking intrigued. "Is she a character from some anime or something?"

" 'm not sure." I mumble. "I guess I remember hearing about her from somewhere."

"That makes sense." She nods once. "I wonder if I've seen her somewhere with Asriel at some point. Because sometimes… the name just sounds so very familiar." She then lets her gaze wander to the sky. "Frisk…" She hums the name thoughtfully.

"I see."

There's a moment where the two of us are just sitting in silence, but then Toriel looks over and sees the locket hanging from my neck. "Is that a necklace?" She inquires curiously.

"Yep."

"That's very peculiar." She chuckles. "I must admit I'm surprised. I don't wear jewelry very often, but… I know your necklace is very pretty."

"What?" I grin jokingly. "You want it?"

Toriel laughs, swatting her paw in front of her. "It wouldn't look good on me, anyway. Although, if I had a daughter, I don't think I would've minded getting one for her to wear."

I can't help it, but I smile. The ironic feeling in this whole conversation was amusing at most, but the genuinity of her words makes me feel like there may be some of Frisk left in this world after all.

Toriel and I resume our peaceful silence, and we sit still as we watch the sunset.

"Oh, I see!" Flowey exclaims, pacing in front of me. "What you're saying would make a decent hypothesis for everything."

It was nighttime, and the full moon shone above us. Flowey was next to me, listening to the story I had just told him about Madoka's sacrifice. I was sitting on the rooftop of a skyscraper, examining the black squares placed next to my Soul Gem. They acted just like grief seeds, sucking the darkness out of it. Picking one up, I toss it at Flowey. The red circle on his back opens up, taking the offending object.

"It's not a hypothesis." I say gruffly. "It's what happened."

"Well," Flowey snorts, wiggling his tail, "Even if it were, there's no way you'd be able to prove it. Like, per say, if the rules of the universe were rewritten like how you say it was, you'd have no way of verifying it. Heck," He scoffs, "if only you have memories of it, it'd be no different from a dream that only you had."

Disgruntled, I toss another black square at him. He catches it easily.

"Although it's true that we don't know the cause for disappearing soul gems that can't be purified, I find your concept of the mentioned witches pretty interesting. Such an appealing way to collect human emotional energy! Makes me wish I'd thought of it. If something so good existed, I'd bet all the incubators' tactics may have been different."

"Too true." I reply, casting the incubator a glare. "It's just like something you would do."

Flowey tilts his flower head in question. "But in the world you mentioned, the beasts we're fighting now didn't exist, right? Isn't it just a quicker way to gather curses?"

"It's not that simple." I say, "And we weren't exactly on great terms with you, either."

Even though we now lived in a world where witches weren't born, that alone hadn't seemed to be enough to end the curses people harbored on the world. The distortions of people's curses had merely changed forms, and they still attacked people, but from the shadows instead. They were like glitches, disfigured spirits in white cloaks that hid from prying eyes.

Flowey huffs with disappointment at my response, striding proudly behind me. "I really don't get you idiots at all." He says, rolling his eyes. Annoyed, I toss the rest of the used squares in Flowey's direction. Using his ears, he manages to catch all of them and slip them into his back.

Getting up from my sitting position, I sense an eerie tension in the air, lingering next to the other roofs of the skyscrapers nearby. Flowey crawls onto my arm, sniffing the air.

"The bad air sure is thick tonight." He guesses, "Those magical beasts just keep popping up one after another. There's just no end to them, huh?"

"Complaining gets us nowhere." I say quickly. "Let's go."

I jump from the top of the skyscraper into the white mist below, with Flowey clinging onto my shoulder. I feel the air rush past my skull, and let the thoughts of Frisk's sacrifice consume me.

This may have been a world with no salvation. It may have been a world where sadness and hate only repeated itself. But even still… it was a place that she had once tried to protect.

It was a place Frisk tried to protect.

A pair of giant, purple wings sprout from my back, magic allowing me to slow down my fall right before landing on the ground. Almost immediately, the spirit glitches are surrounding me, almost like they had just been waiting for me the whole time. Their stony expressions are blank, but I stand up and lift my arm.

I feel a blast of magic spilling from me, and a purple bow suddenly appears in my hand. I smile, remembering Frisk's old weapon. It was mine, now. Putting on a grim expression, I lift it to my enemies, a blue bone arrow magically manifesting itself onto the bowstring and in the palm of my bony hand.

I remembered her sacrifices. I remembered her. And I would never forget it.

I let the arrow go, the smallest of skeletal smiles forming on my face. "It's a-bow-t time." I grin.

And that's why I'll keep fighting.

Don't forget. Always, somewhere, someone is fighting for you. As long as you remember her, you are not alone.