"I knew you'd screw something up, Ben!"

Sans opened an eye socket lid. He stretched and heard more sounds through the walls where he'd gone to sleep.

"Knock it off. My daughter never would've believed it was just for the monsters. When she starts putting stuff together, that's it. I could dupe Frisk T., but not Frisk E."

The voice of Ben, talking about his kid. No doubt it was having a tantrum. Who wouldn't? Not really Sans' business though. None of it was. In fact, they better figure out what they were doing because he didn't want to be on the surface as a reward for helping. Not by himself. Trapped with some humans. He'd rather be out on duty watching the snow with Papyrus.

That Frisk was number seven. Six souls. Six kids. He didn't want to do it anymore, but Frisk had visited his world countless times.

And he remembered every time. Everything good. Everything cruel. Every task. He had no idea if the person behind the computer was good or bad, he only knew what the sprite did. She made contact, but not long enough. Not good enough.

"Remember what you put them through! You have to do this for them!"

Oh yeah, Ben's voice broke through his thoughts. Ben was playing the blame game again. Well, it took a lot of coaxing to get someone to agree to die constantly to help something that was trying to kill them. Sans stretched again, pulled himself off the chair and trotted out of the room. He went outside, and caught Frisk T. following too.

"It doesn't matter," Frisk said as she looked away from her father. "You're desires? I don't care about them, and I won't do this for you. If I do it for anyone, it'd be for them, but you're not getting anything from me."

"Then you'll do it?" Marissa asked her.

"Do what?" Frisk T. asked as he approached. "What's really going on?"

"Magic. They want to free the monsters for magic, T.," his sister said.

Sans watched them. There. Now that made much more sense. Humans were greedy, there had to be more than 'it must be done'. Looked like after a thousand years, the little contact with monsters had almost completely worn off. No magic-magic. "Figures," Sans answered. A little bit of magic rubbing off against them wasn't worth shit to freeing his home. Hell, it just naturally happened. It was just a bit anyhow. It took several humans gathered together to pull it together to really use it for anything meaningful.

Sans had a good nap on it, and knowing the real reason they were hiding? Well, it wasn't that bad. Fine. "I'll help."

Ben and Marissa seemed surprised at him as they let Frisk E. go.

"But, to let you know?" Sans added. "Magic isn't something to dabble with, Benny Ben, when you don't know it. Even the magic already being used to open up my world through that game to retrieve us. There's risk involved."

Ben nodded. "Understood."

Yeah. He did. He wasn't the one risking anything. Still. Being up here, again, with Papyrus. And look how far everything's come? Hell, humankind passed us. Only makes sense.

Then Sans watched lights head up the road quite fast. A car landed right beside the house. Nice car. A woman got out and marched right out to them.

"Ben Nation!" The woman called out to him. She took off the shades that she'd been wearing and was gesturing to him with it. "What are you doing, letting some woman have her hands on my daughter?!"

"Shit," Ben uttered. "Samantha-"

"Don't Samantha me." Ooh, that woman was maaaaad. Good thing Sans didn't know her. "Frisco, baby, come with me." She moved Frisk E. closer alongside her. "Damn woman got her hands on my child." She looked toward Ben. "We'll just see when you see the kids again."

"Whoah, whoah, whoah." Ben tried to get in front of her. "It wasn't like that Samantha."

"Oh yeah?" Samantha pointed toward Marissa. "Give me the reason she was holding my daughter, or go over and slap that woman for holding onto your daughter like that."

"That's mom," Frisk T. groaned.

"Frisk, come on, you too," his mother insisted. She touched Frisk E.'s hair. "Oh my sweet Frisco, are you okay?"

Protective. Sans watched the mother of the Frisks.

"I'm fine, absolutely," Frisk E. said. "It's okay."

"I'm waiting, Ben," Samantha said, checking on Frisk E. one more time. Quite certain nothing was wrong, she stood, quite erect.

"It was a misunderstanding." Ben looked toward Marissa. "Frisco was trying to leave, and Marissa stopped her."

"Oh?" Samantha looked toward Frisco. "Why did you want to leave?" She patted her daughter's hands. "It's okay, you can tell me, Sweetheart."

"It's not a big deal, mom," Frisk T. tried to cover.

"Somebody, anybody laying their hands on any of my children is a big deal." Samantha looked back toward her again. "Frisco? Are they telling the truth? Now you know you shouldn't lie to your mother, so please tell me the truth."

Sans watched as Ben actually went and slapped Marissa against the face. Marissa grabbed at it, but didn't say a word back.

"Sorry, Marissa," Ben apologized, "but you shouldn't touch my daughter like that, no matter the case."

Samantha stared at Ben, then Marissa, then back toward her daughter. "Your father just struck that woman for putting her hands on you. Was he right in doing so, was she trying something with you, or are you covering up a lie, Frisco Eternity Nation?"

"It should have been D.," Marissa muttered toward Ben, glaring at him. "Determi. Break the whole thing without the middle name."

"Oh, not that nickname again," Samantha uttered. "Officially, it's Eternity, and that is that."

"At least you got Termi for the boy," Marissa said to Ben.

"Tavern, my son is named Frisk Tavern Nation! Now stop questioning anything with my children," Samantha said, barely keeping herself back. "I don't want to deal with the likes of you. And you don't want me dealing with the likes of you."

Determi? That was a funny middle name. It didn't take much time before Sans put it together. Nation. Determi Nation? And Termi Nation? This git won't even let his kids have a decent middle name without meaning? Thank goodness it got a good mom. Ben nor Marissa was on his favorite list of people. In fact, he wasn't even on a moderately okay list. If it wasn't for the fact he was going to be getting Papyrus back, he would have blown them off already.

Heh. The Frisk's mom wasn't shy at all. Sans could easily see how Ben and his group chose her to be the mom.

"Anyhow, there is an event with a highly selectable stable of officials I am attending tonight." Samantha looked toward Frisco. "After this fiasco, do you want to come or stay?"

"She can go," Ben answered for her. "Frisk T. should spend the night though."

" . . ." Samantha didn't answer back right away. She looked over toward Marissa.

"I'm out," Marissa said, holding her hands up.

"I'll never see her again," Ben covered up for her. "Not at the risk of losing seeing my children as often."

Samantha sighed. She held onto her daughter's hand. "Fine, Frisk can stay." She leaned down toward her son and gave him a kiss. "You be a good boy, okay? Anything happens though, you let me know." She moved her daughter along with her toward the car.

Sans gave a simple wave as he watched them take off. Heh. Woman didn't even care about his presence. "So? Benny Ben? Your secret weapons to the whole shebang, you don't even really have them, do you?"

"Events are spread out," Ben insisted. "I will get them there. The first one is next week, so I better make sure Frisk T. gets his work back up."

Then, Sans watched as Ben got slapped by Marissa. Only fair.

"I had to," Ben said to her. "Samantha is too clever. If she suspects any foul play with her children-"

"They are your children. Damn it, you should work harder for some kind of better custody," Marissa scolded him. "Twice a week? How are we going to schedule events when all we get is your two days a week? We need more."

"Hey." Sans looked toward Ben. "The names Marissa wanted them to have? Determi and Termi with Nation, huh?" Ben looked toward Samantha, then back at him. "Yeah. I thought so. Honestly?" Sans shook his skull at Ben. "Kinda happy about you not getting more. Who knows how messed up those Frisks would have been if you had them every day." He turned around and headed back inside.

"You need more time!" Samantha showed Ben a text that came in. "I suggest you get more time, or we get our butts back there to that room again."

"Damn." Ben looked toward Frisk T. "No one found anything. Don't ask me how, but we can get back. We need to try this."

Sans stopped in the doorway. Try what?

"Now, dad?" Frisk T. asked.

"Now."

"But-"

"Now!"

Ah. Sans knew that tempo. Unexpected surprise for Ben apparently. Looks like his group don't want to wait as long for him. Guessing family threat. That was okay. If anything happened, at least he wouldn't be stuck above the surface. "Wait for me too."


At the competition's 3d beta simulator . . .

"Secure?" Ben asked his son Frisk.

Frisk T. just looked at the outfit he had to wear. "This feels too quick. E. just got out Sans. Why do we have to do this?"

"Oh?" Sans kind of shuffled around Frisk T., waving at cameras. "Because your Dad's group isn't exactly the patient kind. Probably threatening your mom, or taking you yourself. Humans, greed, potential magic, it all runs fairly the same. Pretty close there, Benny Ben?"

Ben didn't respond to that. "You need to get the queen to hold your hand, Frisk. She will naturally do that at the beginning, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Hey." Whoa. "We are supposed to be getting my brother," Sans complained. Jumping to the queen first? That was stupid. That was a lot of power. Papyrus was the easiest to get, but from what he learned about Ben? He didn't really care about the danger facing the Frisk. "He shouldn't go after someone so strong like that." Honestly, if this dad even cared, the kid shouldn't be there in the first place. Eight or so. Looking for some kind of parental attention and approval. That kid wasn't going to make his own smart decisions.

"They want the strongest first that can be handled," the brave little squirt that worked with Benny before said as he came in. "Sorry, Ben. I gotta be here to make sure it's done right. All cameras and any access to this room has been sealed off."

Ben bent down toward his son. "Listen, Frisk, this won't take long. Get passed the little flower, grab the queen's hand and it's over." He put the goggles over his head. "You'll be fine. Just stay calm."

Ben, Brave Little Squirt, and the female human that he'd annoyed before were leaving the room. Ben looked toward Sans. "You can be down there when she comes. Otherwise, come with us."

"So ya don't kill me?" Sans moved toward the kid. My pelvis it's not serious magic. He hung onto Frisk's sweater. Eight years old. That was about the age he'd been thrown Underground. Strange. Felt like the same thing was happening again. He couldn't stop them though, they all knew the risk. Obviously, Ben had been threatened. Sans only had a monster soul, any of them could dust him. All he could do was hang on. "Be fine right here."

Ben watched him holding onto Frisk. "Everything will be fine. It's not real magic. At most very light magic."

"Sure, Pops." Freaking heavy magic, it had to be. Technology itself couldn't break into another dimension. "Still be right here. Preferred place of this skeleton," Sans said.

Ben shrugged. "If it makes you feel better. Marissa, start the game in one minute."


Inside, 2018

Okay, E. You could have told me how messed up it was down here! Frisk looked around himself. He stood up and tried to look around. It was so dark, except from the light above the flowers he'd been on. "Okay. Just, get pass the flower and then Toriel." He took a deep breath and started to walk, but felt squishiness beneath his feet. Not only that, the place stunk. He took his sweater and put it over his nose while he continued. It didn't help much though, so he started to pinch his nose.

He watched as the familiar flower showed up with it's typical line after he opened his first set of doors. When he watched all the 'friendliness pellets' coming his way though, Frisk yelled. Ow! It was like getting burned on Fourth of July, except in several spots in the body.

"Oh, my child!"

Frisk looked forward and saw a gigantic furry thing coming toward him. It was nasty, foul, and . . . Toriel? She touched him.

"Oh, what nasty burns from that nasty creature," she said. "It's okay. My name is Toriel. I am the caretaker of the ruins. I come back here every day to make sure no human fell. Come with me."

Frisk tried to be brave as he held her hand. Goggles, goggles, remove goggles. It just felt so real though, that it didn't feel like there were any on him. He closed his eyes as they walked through the ruins, then ignored his instincts that he was really there.

He yanked off the goggles.


Outside, On the Game Room Floor.

"Uh?" Toriel looked around herself. She was no longer in her ruins. "What magic is this?"

"What? What happened to Frisk?!"

Toriel watched as a human approached her. A grown up human.

"My name is Marissa." She looked toward the man. "The queen is here," Marissa said, "but not your son, Ben. Sans the Skeleton is also gone. He was right, somehow, there is heavy magic attached to the beta simulator."

"Hm?" Toriel looked toward the humans. "You are the ones who belong with the child that I just found?"

"Yes. We were here to . . ." The man didn't seem like himself.

"We are here to free you from the confines of the mountain," the woman said, "however, the child that brought you here did not make it back." She looked toward the man. "Why was your daughter successful?"

"I don't know!" he yelled at her. "Oh no. Frisk."

Toriel watched as the man quickly took off.

"Wait, you can't just leave her here like that!" Marissa moved toward the queen. "Majesty?" She bowed quickly. "If you value your life, you need to come with us before humans come and hurt your soul."

Toriel did not know what to do, but the humans could have killed her a long time ago. She held the humans hand as they dashed out of the strange facility she was in. Her mind could barely concentrate. Walls, the decoration, the deep and dark rich rugs beneath her feet. She reached a car.

"Come on, Queen Toriel!" the woman insisted.

Toriel saw a strange item in front of her, and suddenly she remembered Frisk. "The little human saved us countless times. It also accidentally killed me. It also viciously murdered me." She held her breath.

"Yes, that's them. Frisk."

Toriel listened to the whole bitter truth. It had been a thousand years in the mountain, even though time felt like it had only been about fifteen or so. She learned about the boy that had not come back with her, that was supposed to touch the most powerful monsters. She looked toward Ben, the father.

He was concerned. Greatly concerned. And yet? "Was it worth it for magic, human? To lose your child?"

"Shut up." He was quick to answer.

"Ben," Marissa complained. "You can't tell the queen of monsters just to shut up."

"I have to concentrate! Okay. So. It worked for my little girl, why didn't it work for my little boy?" Ben questioned. "How do I pull him out? With his sister? No, she doesn't have any magic to pull them out."

"Even if she did, for some reason, it didn't work this time," Marissa reminded him. "No guarantees, Ben."

"I can't just let Frisk stay in there!" Ben shouted at her. "But? I can't put my daughter through there without knowing why it didn't work."

"Magic imbalance." Toriel already knew. "I am much too strong for such a little boy to use magic upon."

"They demanded it," Ben said, "and I have to get to my little Frisk, now."

"Ben?" Marissa questioned. "Are you okay? We did get the queen. We will figure this out."

"Where's Gene?" Ben asked her outright. "Huh? He said he had to be there to make sure everything went off like it was supposed to. Damn." He touched the side of his head. "Samantha is at some kind of large official event. My little girl Frisk will be there."

Toriel crossed her arms. While she felt sorry for the human that he lost his child, she could not bring herself to show empathy. He named his children the same thing, to keep up a charade of a character for goodness sake. Even if his goal had not been magic, but had really been the selfless act of freeing the monsters?

She could still not agree. No one had the right to run a child's life like that.

"Will you hurry up?" Ben complained as he kept honking at the traffic. "Well, Marissa, look it up! It's gonna be a big thing, Samantha likes big and shiny. At least a couple of mayors are probably gonna be attending. Or actors. Or musicians, or somebody flashy that she likes."

"Or gamers?" Marissa quickly looked away. "Sorry, Ben."

"Just find it! If it's big enough, it's probably right around this city."


At Samantha's Event She Is Attending . . .

"Okay, Frisk. Purse those beautiful lips," her mom insisted as she finished putting on lipstick and kissing a tissue. Frisk pursed her lips. "Pucker." Frisk puckered. "Good girl." Her mom put her lipstick away. "Now, be sweet. Be innocent. Be pure. At the same time, if you see anyone out of the back corner of your eye, pull out a flirty look. That's how momma does it."

"Yes, momma." Frisk was too young for boys, she had no interest in them at only eight. However, her momma said if she trained her how to do it young, she'd feel more confident when she was ready to pursue them, leading to better results.

"And if you see someone you do like, make sure you get yourself firmly in their vision, give them your best flirting look, and then get almost out of their vision before giving them a chance to reach you. The more they have to hunt a little for you, the better your chances of holding their interest. If they don't follow, there's not enough interest to waste another minute on them." Her momma held her hand firmly as they walked along the floor. "As for the mangy mutts and unkempt women you do not want to associate with, use a similar tactic."

Frisk watched her mom glare at Francis, momma's rival. She didn't know why they were rivals, they just were. And rivals were weird too.

"Make sure you talk to them, but make sure they know it's not to be nice. Remember any names that they hate, pretend you forgot and build on from there." Her mom smiled at Francis as she came over toward her. "Hi, Francy," her mother greeted her.

"Hello, Sammy," Francis came back on her. "Lovely time so far?"

"Oh yes, absolutely gorgeous party, your date must be having a lovely time, Francy."

"Well, Sammy, he is, but you must be having a greater ball being around your daughter."

Frisk scooted toward her side more. "She is, Francy, but the man momma wants to see likes me too," she said raising her hand slightly toward her. "He finds children precious, and he's worth three times momma's estate, so she's very happy."

"Three times?" Francis said.

"Yes, Francy. Sometimes having children works in your favor." Frisk's mother looked at her nails. "Some men are just ready to settle down, but don't really want to go through all the hassles of a baby and raising. They want to start in the middle with a good outlook already."

"And some children are just perfect the way they are, Miss Francy," Frisk said with a low curtsy.

"Yes, and he absolutely adores Frisco!" Her mother giggled at Francis. "One day, we might all be one happy family." She pushed Francis' chestbone slightly. "Although, I'm sure you'll still be invited to the picnics? Oh, how wonderful it would be."

Francis stopped smiling. "And who is this three times your estate man?"

"Someone momma fell absolutely in love with," Frisk said, backing her momma up. "And who absolutely loves good children like me." Frisk patted her mouth thoughtfully. "Who do you think it is, Miss Francy?"

Francis humphed. "Fine. Sure." She shrugged. "My ex, huh? Well, never worked out between us."

"No, I know," Frisk's mother said. "Whoever knows why? Frisco, sweetie?" Her mother smiled lovingly. "Let's go, baby. He's been waiting to see you again. You know how much he loves you."

"Fine!" Francis lost her cool. "Good day, Sammy!"

"Good day, Francy." Frisk's mother waved as Francis left the room. "See that? The enemy left the room. That is called 'Complete Conquer', Frisco. A rare site, but wonderful when it happens. Come on, let's go get something to drink. Uh?"

Frisk looked at who was at the punchbowl. Uh oh. It wasn't momma's rival, but not the best to be seen with right now. She watched her mother move around the punchbowl, making sure he didn't see her.

"Hi, it's Samantha," she said to someone brand new. "I'm sorry, I forget your name?"

"Momma, I'm thirsty," Frisk said, playing her part.

"Oh. It's Donald Rainer." The stranger shook her hand. "I don't remember meeting you before?"

"Oh, dear. How rude of me, it's been so long. Wow. I don't even quite remember where we met," she said. "I'm so sorry. Forget I said anything."

"Momma, can I have some punch?" Frisk interrupted again.

"Oh no, really, it's my fault. Uh?" He scratched his head. "Was it at a party?"

"I won't spill the punch from the bowl this time," Frisk interrupted once again.

"Probably was. You know, I was probably alone, and now I've got my little girl here." She wiggled her fingers at Frisk. "So that just confuses it all up. Sorry. Why don't I reintroduce myself? Samantha Louis Curie. And you are?"

"Momma?" Frisk moved her arm. "Mom? Punch?"

"You spilled the bowl last time, Frisk," her mother insisted.

"Please, momma?"

"Why don't I get you both some punch?" he asked. "I'll be right back."

Frisk's momma smiled. "Good job. What do you think, Frisk?"

A little light on the pick up, so he wasn't too interested in momma. However, some interest. Not a real kid goer, more interested in mom. She had to get pretty insistent and use the spill the punch excuse to get anywhere. Frisk was getting punch though, and with the guy in front of the punch bowl, they did accomplish their goal of getting something to drink without worrying about intermingling with him. "Five out of ten?"

"Momma can do better?" she asked.

"Yeah, but, I'll take the punch," Frisk said.

"Just a second. Momma drinks first, Frisco." Her mother took the punch offered when he came back and took a sip. "Oh, thank you so much. Very kind of you. Here you are, Frisco."

Frisk took her punch and smiled at the man. "Thank you, Sir." Like she thought, not real interested in her. Momma wouldn't flirt too much, instead she would build a connection with him as a friend that would enable her to call on him in the future for something useful. Once she found out what he did.

Before she took a sip though, her glass bursted. The whole party started to scream and run in a chaotic order. Frisk looked next to her at her mom.

Her strike didn't hit her punch glass.

"Friiiiiisk!"

Her dad? Frisk was still stunned as she watched him come for her. He picked her up and tried to head out, but bullets were still being blasted at them. She watched as he got hit in his arm. Then the whole thing got wild as she saw fireballs being launched everywhere.

"Marissa, car, car!" Frisk's father yelled as he ran toward the car again. Frisk watched as the queen of the monsters emerged from the flames. Frisk cried out as she felt pain in her leg, deep pain! She dropped to the ground too, then lost consciousness, just remembering her father's heavy body on top of her.


Toriel ran and grabbed the child, shaking the human man. His eyes remained open, and the child had fainted from the situation and loss of blood. She quickly took off to the car and left with Marissa. Toriel stroked the little girl's hair back and forth while her other hands were trying to heal her leg wound as much as she could.

"Is she gonna live?" Marissa's voice was hoarse. "Well?!"

"Yes. It is but a flesh wound I can heal," Toriel answered back. "You have rivals that do not want the monsters freed as well, don't you?"

"No? Well, not for at least a century," Marissa said. "I don't think. I don't know. I can't think. You sure Ben was dead?"

"He was dead," Toriel said. "Her poor mother died of a bullet wound to the head too."

"This wasn't worth it." She heard the human start to cry. "Ben's gone. He's gone. It wasn't worth it!" She banged the steering wheel.

Toriel did not answer the grieving human. When dealing with magic, one must take their own risks in life with it. The little girl still did not wake up. As she looked at her though, she realized she was getting her dress all dirty. Just from herself. Her foul, putrid self.

"I'll get you to where the monsters were supposed to be safe," Marissa said. "There's plenty of land, no humans around for miles and miles. There are four hundred houses there, laid out in square lands. Our group was well-funded, we took good care of everything over several generations. You have all the technology any other human has in them, including electric and water. It's all hooked up too because that's where we had our most secret of meetings too and . . ." She sniffled. "Ben. Why?"

"Most humans do not want us out," Toriel told her plainly. She looked back at the young girl. "Who will take care of this child now?"

"I don't know, some orphanage. Who cares." Marissa banged the wheel again. "I mean, they were only for this anyhow. It's the only reason he had to ever touch that Samantha woman and have those dumb kids."

"He died trying to save his daughter."

"No, he died trying to get the little freak to get out the other little freak, so that we could figure out what went wrong and retry again!"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Toriel understood her mourning, but did not like the sound of what would happen to the little girl in her arms. "I will raise her."

"It killed you in the game."

"In a game. It did not know what it was doing. I cannot pass such a cruel judgment onto a child thinking they were only playing around."

"Whatever, I don't care," Marissa said. "Enemy is trying to kill it, so just watch out."

"I know how to watch myself. And humans." Toriel looked down toward the little girl. Her dirt and grime was rubbing up on the poor human child, but it would be nothing compared to the tragedy she now endured. Her mother and father were killed. Her brother was trapped Underground. Her whole family was destroyed.

"Can we get him out?" Marissa finally spoke again. "Ben's boy. Ben would have wanted us to get him out."

"I am sure that one day everyone will get out," Toriel said. "One day. And I have a deep feeling . . ." she looked down at the child's face in her arms. "It will once again be Frisk who saves the day."