Disclaimer: The author doesn't own Undertale or MOTHER. They belong to Toby Fox and Shigesato Itoi.

Sorry about that hiatus, but midterms grabbed me by my neck.

Flowey: Is that your excuse?

Not an excuse. A reason. Normal posting will continue from now till the next set of exams.

Flowey:...Fine. I can accept that. This story of your's is going to end soon, anyway.

Oh, really?

Flowey: Oh please! We both know that I know everything about the Underground. Everything that damn brat will do. I will win. And you will fail. Even with that stupid psychic brat.

Really?

Flowey: Oh, yes! I hope that brat's psychic powers can show him the future, cause otherwise...HE. STANDS. NO. CHANCE.

...

We'll see.

Now, let's go to the reviews!

RaeChanNau: Let us all remember that PAPYRUS is, stats-wise, the stronger of the skelebros. He can also compete with Undyne, and that's a feat all on it's own. And I'm not overworking Ninten...Too much...Hmm...

Waterflame89fan: Unfortunately it's always Flowey time...Also, how'dyou do that text thing. That's really neat!

In any case, onto the chapter!


Chapter 12: Snowdin Spirit

"They sure are taking a long time," Toriel murmured.

I blinked and turned towards Tori. She was still in her disguise, though I wasn't sure why. Nobody would recognize her, after all. Then again, as far as I knew, in almost all of the timelines Tori had never, ever left the RUINS. So maybe assuming was a dangerous move.

The encroaching panic of the idea that the timeline had gone horribly awry was washed away when Grillby walked up to them, staring at them curiously.

"ah, hey Grillby," I said.

Grillby crackled and Red Bird cleared his throat.

"He wants to know if you guys want to order anything-"

"i know," I chuckled and quirked an eyeridge at Grillby, "what's wrong, grill? shy?"

Grillby just crackled and I huffed and glanced at Tori.

"you want anything? grillby's food is to die for."

Tori gave a wane smile.

"As heavenly as it might be, I'm afraid I'm not hungry at the moment."

I stared at Tori before shrugging. I wouldn't push it. Tori had been nervous since they had left the Child and the Anomaly, even if she had tried to hide it through their tour of Snowdin. For a brief moment Tori had seemed to forget her anxiety when in the library, talking to the librarians (I had just been sitting in the corner, trying not to sleep)- but as soon as they had left that worry had come back full force.

Not that there was no reason to be worried. It was taking those kids a while to get here. Snowdin forest wasn't that hard to get through…

"just some ketchup, grillby," I said.

Grillby nodded and placed a ketchup bottle-(I knew that Grillby kept a bunch of ketchup bottles beneath the counter, just for me. It was sorta touching.)- in front of me. I grinned and took the bottle.

"thanks grillby."

Grillby nodded and walked towards another dinner. I grabbed the bottle and was about to chug before remembering Tori was still there.

"uh…" he glanced at Tori, "you don't mind, do you?"

Tori shook her head and smiled.

"No, I don't."

She seemed sincere so I unscrewed the cap off the bottle and began to drink.

"Is that...Any good?"

Toriel's question jared him and I blinked.

"what?"

"Is...ketchup a good drink?" Toriel asked, her tone careful yet curious.

I gave it some thought.

"yeah, it's pretty tasty. it's a bit of an acquired taste though."

"I see. Then I shall just stick to water."

I shrugged and went back to his ketchup.

After a moment Toriel asked Grillby for a glass of water, still looking nervous.

What was taking those kids so long? PAPS shouldn't have been giving them that much trouble. Nor should any of the Forest Puzzles. And aside from the teenagers, the monsters of Snowdin were chill folk.

Absentminded, I took my hand out of my pocket and glanced at the device I held.

I almost spit out my ketchup when I saw the bright analog number one on the screen.

I always kept one of my pocket recorders on my at all times. It helped me keep track of how many times the timeline had been reset. Of course, I had to reset the count occasionally (when I first made the prototype it had blinked infinity at me before exploding.) I had reset it just after I had brought Toriel to Snowdin. And the count had remained zero until now.

Maybe the kid had just run into some monsters? Nothing too much to worry about (I suddenly felt guilty about that thought and glanced at Toriel, who was taking sips of water, oblivious to the Reset).

I nodded. A single reset wasn't too much to worry about-

The recorder now read two.

Something was wrong.

"uh, tori?" I began.

Toriel glanced at me and smiled.

"What is it?"

"uh, i was thinking of checking up on my brother. He and those kids are taking a long time getting here-"

Toriel stood up so quickly that I realized that she was a lot more nervous than had she let on.

"Ah, we should definitely go check on them then!"

I nodded and stood up, placing the ketchup bottle inside my jacket.

"grillby, put everything on my tab."

Grillby crackled and Red Bird cleared his throat.

"He say's your tab is now 50000g."

"kay. i'll pay it next time, grillb."

Grillby kept crackling, cleaning a glass. I turned to Toriel.

"C'mon, let's go see what's keeping them."


"Well, they're not at the bridge yet."

Toriel blinked and looked at the Snowdin Bridge.

"Is that the same bridge from the settlement of Snowdin?" she asked, shocked.

"well, i don't know bout that, but it is pretty old, tori."

I looked around. The snow hadn't been disturbed, and the traps on the bridge were still unsprung (not that my brother would ever use those traps).

I glanced at the recorder again. It still read two and-

"sans!"

I looked up quickly in time to see my brother run into view, the two kids on his shoulders. Even from across the bridge I could hear PAPYRUS.

"-I'M JUST WONDERING WHY YOU SEEM SO WORRIED, HUMAN! THE SNOWDIN BRIDGE IS COMPLETELY SAFE-"

"My Child!"

I watched as Toriel's call caught the kid's attention. They perked up and waved eagerly at Toriel and I could see the tension bleed from the kid's shoulder. The other kid sagged and leaned against my brother, clearly tired.

"HEY, BROTHER! WE'RE BACK!" PAPYRUS yelled.

"well, get on over here then, bro," I yelled back.

PAPYRUS quickly made his way across the bridge, and I relaxed slightly as he did-

But the kid still looked nervous and I was getting a bad feeling-

"Howdy there~!"

My blood froze and PAPYRUS stopped in place as a large vine curled around the bridge, blocking his path. And the flower popped into view on the other side of the bridge, grinning.

"Now, why are you in such a hurry, PAPYRUS?"

I jerked away as Toriel's paws caught aflame, bright fire crackling. But there wasn't anything she could do. The flower had positioned himself so that PAPS and the kids were always between him and her (if there was one thing that never changed, it was how much I hated that smug flower)

The flower slithered towards PAPYRUS, who stood there, glancing at the thorny vines behind him.

"I see you've got the humans, PAPYRUS! Now c'mon and give them to me," the flower smiled.

PAPYRUS hesitated. Before lifting his hands up, magic sparking.

I blinked in surprise and the flower paused. My brother had never raised a hand against the flower before, as far as I knew.

"PAPYRUS?"

"FLOWEY! I AM AFRAID THAT I CANNOT GIVE YOU THE HUMANS! THEY ARE MY FRIENDS!"

"Well, I'M your friend too, aren't I?" the flower said sweetly, after a moment.

"OF COURSE...SO, IF YOU COULD LET US GO…?" PAPYRUS asked politely.

The flower stared at PAPYRUS. PAPYRUS stared back, magic still crackling in his hands as Frisk clung to him.

"...Heh. Of all the times for you to grow a backbone...YOU REALLY CHOSE A BAD TIME!"

The flower's vines jerked taut before rushing towards PAPYRUS. And PAPYRUS shrugged the kids off his shoulders and into his arms, curling around them- As the vines collided against walls of bone.

"Sup."

The flower whirled around and bared his teeth at me. I just waved lazily, pulling my magic tighter into my body in preparation to fight (and to make the lights in his eyesockets blink out. Not that intimidation worked on the flower…)

"howya doing?"

"Smiley-trashbag….!"

"couldn't help but overhear you talking about a bad time."

"..."

"Wanna see a really Bad Time?"

I grinned at the flower and was happy to see the hesitation flicker past his face.

"This isn't over, Smiley-Trashbag!"

And the flower suddenly disappeared, burrowing back into the ground.

I sighed in relief and relaxed, feeling tired. PAPYRUS looked up and tentatively stood up, looking around.

"WHERE DID HE GO?"

"hell if i know bro."

"SANS! LANGUAGE!"

"alright. heck if i know."

I just smiled as his brother scolded him (and I felt something in me fizz away in relief as the fact that my brother was fine, was okay, sank in) and turned towards the kid.

"hey. howya doing?"

The kid opened their mouth-

"My Child!"

Only for Toriel to rush onto the bridge and enveloping them into a bone crushing hug.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Are-?"

I smiled as Toriel fussed over the kid. And my smile only grew wider as the kid blushed happily under her fussing, clearly embarrassed but enjoying it.

Deciding to give them some privacy, I turned towards the other kid. And blinked.

The other kid looked dead on his feet, swaying as he stood. The other kid's skin was pale and he kept squinting.

"kid, you okay?" I asked.

The kid blinked at him before nodding and almost falling to the ground.

"I'm fine. Just...tired."

"you look more than just tired kid."

"Not...a kid…" the other kid muttered, "I'll be fine...just need to sleep-"

The kid was about to say something else before blinking. I moved to help the kid as he suddenly fell, only to realize that the kid was kneeling. I followed the kids gaze and saw, where the flower had been, a camera. It was an old timey camera, decorated with faded colorful stickers.

The flower must have dropped it. But why would the flower be carrying a camera-?

The kid grabbed the camera and I realized that the kid was shaking violently. Before I could do anything, the kid dropped the camera and clutched my head, moaning. This caught everyone's attention.

"kid?"

"HUMAN-?"

"Ninten?"

"Ninten…?"

The camera glowed and the kid fell to the ground, dead still. And as everyone rushed towards him I could here soft singing in the background.

'Take a melody~

Simple as can be~

Give it some words~'


I watched as Toriel put a wet cloth on the kids forehead. The queen (though at this point I was the only one who knew that) had shed her disguise and was gently tending to the unconscious child. The Fallen Child was fidgeting next to her, helping in whatever way they could. And PAPYRUS-

"SANS! WHERE IS THE SAUCE?"

-PAPYRUS was making spaghetti to 'nurse Ninten back to health'. I didn't stop his brother, because there was a good chance that PAPS's plan would work.

"probably in the fridge, bro."

"HMM. I SHALL CHECK ONCE AGAIN THEN."

"good luck."

I walked up to Toriel and the kids. The other kid looked, to put it bluntly, like a corpse. His skin was a grayish pale and his chest barely moved as he breathed.

I glanced at Toriel and cleared my throat.

"is he going to be okay?"

Toriel started and turned towards me, before glancing at Frisk.

"Frisk, why don't you go see what PAPYRUS is doing?"

Frisk frowned but didn't say anything as they walked towards the kitchen, glancing at Ninten once last time. As soon as they were out of hearing distance Toriel gave a long sigh.

"not good?" he asked.

Toriel looked at the kid somberly before speaking.

"My magic doesn't seem to be doing anything. As far as I can tell, he is perfectly healthy, but-!"

Toriel glared at nothing in particular. I thought for a moment.

"well, the kid said he was exhausted, right? maybe he just needs some sleep?"

"I hope so…"

There was a crashing sound from the kitchen and Toriel was standing up in an instant and running towards it. I watched her go before turning back to the kid.

To be honest, I was junk at healing magic. That was more PAPYRUS'S forte. But I was good at other things, and-

I closed an eye and stared at the kid's SOUL.

The dusty pink SOUL shone, but it was now misshapen and light shined through small cracks in it.

Cracked SOULs were never good things, at all. At least, for monsters. I wasn't sure how it worked with humans. And I certainly didn't know how it worked with psychics.

"hmmm…"

I opened both my eyes and stared at the unconscious kid for a moment. I could could hear barking coming from the kitchen, followed by a yelp from Toriel and PAPYRUS's frantic yelling.

It didn't look like anyone would miss me right now, so-


-I had time to check up on somethings. I walked up to the laboratory desk and took the camera that the flower had dropped onto the desk. I stared at it for a moment, trying to see why it caused such a big reaction from the kid. Couldn't have been any chemicals, otherwise it would've affected the other kid too. And even without looking at it I could tell there wasn't any magic on it. Still…

I closed my right eye again.

The camera remained monochrome, still no sign of any magic on it. I sighed and turned around, thinking-

Pink flashed in my peripheral.

I turned around and stared at the camera, still colorless. Narrowing my eyes, I slowly turned my head until the camera was just in the farthest corner of my vision. And the camera became pink again. I kept still and tried to stare at it as best I could, but I couldn't make anything out. I sighed and sat down on my chair, leaning back.

(This was the most work I'd done in days.)

...It hadn't been the same pink as the kid's SOUL. But the fact that the camera and the SOUL both were lightish red was definitely a point of interest...Now, if only I could find a reason why the camera had no magic signature on...it…

...zzzzz…

I woke up slowly and yawned, stretching until my joints popped.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah. The anomaly.

I stood up and looked around. The camera still stood there, innocently.

Hmmm…

A moment later I was prying the camera open, the lights shut off so as to not damage any of the film inside. By only the light of my eyes, it was a tough task, but eventually I found a film that appeared to be developed. Closing the camera and putting it in the drawer, I turned on the lights to get a better look at the picture.

A smiling blonde human woman greeted me.

I was struck with a sense of strong familiarity and I quickly put down the picture and sat down.

That woman...She was familiar. And that was impossible, since the only human I knew was the kid. As far as I knew, they were the only human that fell into the Underground in all the timelines. At least until-

I blinked and thought for a moment. Then I grabbed the photo and stood up. I needed to check something. And for that-


-I stared at the Anomaly. He was still unconscious, and he still didn't look good. But the resemblance between the woman in the picture and the boy was easy to spot.

As I stared at the Anomaly I can vaguely hear PAPYRUS yell something about dating upstairs and I can hear Tori humming in the kitchen.

"...what are you, kid?" I mumble.

This was all kinds of confusing. Because this kid had never appeared in any of the other recorded timelines. And yet here was this picture of a human that looked like him. And I knew that the initial conditions of each timeline were the same.

They had to be. So-


-What was happening here?

I paced around in my lab.

None of this made any sense. The kid was an anomaly to this timeline only. And yet-

I looked up at the Slot Machine. It was the machine that he used to read data gathered from other timelines. Data sent from other me's. It was how I knew what was happening in the other timelines. How I kept track of all of them.

"...welp, might as well check," I sighed. I sat down in front of the Slot Machine and turned it on, waiting as it booped and beeped, before finally booming.

For a while it was mostly just the same old data, nothing terribly out of place. And then suddenly there was a blip. And another one. And a spike.

"play all unread message," i demanded.

"*Krztzzz-*"

"timeline 7271998…" the sans recording the message intoned. I waited impatiently. Sending messages across timelines took a lot of magic and power. He wouldn't have sent a message unless something important had happened. And unless the timeline was about to be Reset.

"I'll cut to the point," the other sans sounded grim, "this timeline has been going on as most usually do. the fallen child killed a few monsters, but they didn't seem to do it on purpose, and the flower is starting to get to them. so it looks like the timeline's going to be reset soon. but you knew that already, i guess...i'll cut to the chase. an anomaly has occurred in this timeline."

i perked up at that, and started to listen closer.

"doctor alphys has detected a signal. she was trying to beam anime from the surface, but it looks like she overshot. a lot. as far as i can tell, the signal is extraterrestrial in origin."

I blinked.

"extraterrestrial?" i repeated.

"yup, i know. color me surprised. anyway, i've deciphered as much as i could, considering, y'know...aliens, apparently. it...uh, it ain't good."

over the timeline I knew that we sans had seen many, many, not good things. so for this sans to say that sent chills down my backbone.

"i'll tack it on at the end of this recording. and that's about it, i guess. listen to that recording, bud. and if you hear the name giygas, run."

I stared at the recording, stunned. tori had mentioned that the kid had told a story about an alien called giygas-

"you'll see why. best of luck."

there was a click of a recording and i flinched as sharp static started to play.

and somehow that wasn't the worst sound in the recording.

"H...o….na….Ninten...so….ha...i...don't...sorry...Anna...giygas...retur...gr...fath...here...ru….Maria. Maria. Mother. Mother! MOTHER! WHERE...ARE...MOTHER!"

I started to back away from the machine slowly, as the words became more and more, well, the only word for it was demonic. The amount of rage in the voice dwarfed even the flower at his angriest.

"MOTHER! DON'T LEAVE! DON'T LEAVE!DONTLEAVEDONTLEAVEDONTLEAVELEAVELEAVELEAVEHUMANSHATEKILLYOURFAULTKILLNOTHAPPYNOTHAPPYSADSADSAD-!"

the recording became silent abruptly and the machine light turned off, signaling the end of the recording. so i walked up to the machine, to save the recording (as much as i didn't want to) when-

"...skeleton."

I stopped cold.

"Underground. Hero. Humans. Monsters. Mother. MOTHER!...frisk. Frisk. Friskfriskfriskfriskfrsikfrisk-"

I quickly pulled the plug on the machine, not caring about what would happen to data. but even as i did, i could swear i heard the voice echo through the lab, darkening the lights and seeping into the corners.


My phone rang and I debated whether or not it was worth picking up. but it kept ringing and ringing, and eventually I lifted my head up from the table and pulled my phone out of my pocket.

It was from Tori.

I stared at the buzzing phone for a long time before answering it.

"yo."

"sans, where are you?" Tori asked.

"just in my room," i muttered, looking around the lab.

"...sans, are you alright?"

i resisted the temptation to sigh, cause that would only make her more worried, and thought quickly.

"i'm fine, tori. just working on some programming and stuff, you know?"

"I see…" Tori didn't sound completely convinced, but she didn't bring it up (which was a relief.)

"Well," she continued, "I'm making dinner, so come on downstairs, okay?"

"i'll be there in a flash, heh," i said, and hung up the phone-

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

-And walked into the living room, listening to the sound of PAPYRUS and Tori in the kitchen, when I spotted the Fallen Child and-

I stopped in my tracks. The other kid was awake and sitting up, though he was clearly still exhausted, leaning against the sofa back with half lidded eyes. The Fallen Child was sitting next to him, talking softly. As soon as I stepped into the living room the other kid turned ever so slightly to face me. The Fallen Child followed their gaze and spotted me. They waved after a hesitant moment and I made sure I was grinning as I walked up to them.

"yo. i see you're feeling better, kid."

The kid made a noise that could've been taken as a yes.

"still, you look bone tired."

The sound the kid made was definitely a groan. But the Fallen Child laughed, and I felt a little better.

"so, what's for dinner?" I asked.

The Fallen Child tilted their head and looked thoughtful.

"Apparently it's a surprise," the other kid rasped.

I nodded, silently deciding to go to Grillby's latter. I loved my brother, but anything involving him, food, and surprises was generally a humorous but not particularly edible result. Still, with Tori around, maybe-

Both kids almost jumped into the air when the kitchen exploded and i sighed.

"welp."


I had eventually convinced Tori that we could grab some Grillby's for dinner. She wasn't entirely happy with the result but since the kitchen was out of commission for the time being she didn't have much of a choice. And that's why I was currently waiting at the Grillby's counter with the Fallen Child. I glanced at them and watched as they stared wide eyed at everyone in the dinner in a combination of wonderment and nervousness.

I cleared my throat as Grillby made our order and prepared to give the Speech.

"so, whaddya think of my brother?"

The Fallen Child started, before smiling with a slight blush.

"He's super cool…"

I chuckled.

"of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day."

The Fallen Child nodded and i continued with the Speech, talking about my brother, who the kid seemed really taken with (though they informed me that their date with PAPYRUS had ended platonically). When we reached the topic of the flower I had to deviate a bit from the script, since in this timeline the Fallen Child knew that PAPYRUS had been in contact with the flower (something that still made me furious, but was unfortunately another initial condition of the timelines). I offered them the idea that the talking flower that PAPYRUS had been talking about might've been the flower instead of an Echo Flower, and asked them to be careful.

The amount of determination in their eyes when they said they would made me believe that they really would try. But unfortunately the flower was the one person in the Underground that you couldn't hide from.

We sat in silence after I finished the script and I couldn't help but scratch myself awkwardly. Most of the time I gave the Speech during a break, not a whole dinner order. So Grillby still hadn't returned, and now there was an awkward silence, all because the timeline had changed so mu-

I blinked and glanced at the Fallen Child, debating for a moment whether to bring it up.

"so, aliens?"

The Fallen Child turned towards me and tilted their head in surprise.

"i heard about Ninten's story from tori. i'll admit, it's pretty hard to believe. but i guess the proof's right in front of my eyesockets, so…"

I scratched a cheekbone and wondered how to word this.

"...have you ever heard of something called giygas?"

Just saying the name seemed to darken the room slightly, and I wasn't sure if that was just my imagination. Based on the Fallen Child's reaction, they had indeed heard the name before.

"How…?" they began.

"tori mentioned the name once. i was sorta wondering about it."

"...He's the alien who hurt Ninten," The Fallen Child said, and i was momentarily surprised by the anger in their voice.

Unfortunately, I already knew that. Tori had already told me about the apparent alien who had tried to take over the Earth. Though she hadn't mentioned the unyielding rage part.

"do you know anything else?" I asked.

The Fallen Child shook their head and I sighed internally.

Welp. It looked like my best bet for getting info was going to be the other kid himself.

At that moment Grillby came out of the back kitchen, carrying bundle of hot greasy food, and I grined at the smell as he put it down in front of me.

"thanks grillb. just put it on my tab, kay?"

Grillby crackled but didn't say anything else and I stood up from the stool, hot food in hand as Red Bird translated, turning to the Fallen Child.

"Well, ready to go?"

They nodded quickly and slid of the stool, standing close to me and waving goodbye at Grillby.

"heh, then let's get going-"


"-and deliver this food," I announced, walking into the living room putting the food on the table.

The Fallen Child blinked and looked around in sheer confusion.

"SANS, WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TELEPORTING LIKE THAT?" PAPYRUS scolded.

"to do it all the time?"

"I AM FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT I DID NOT SAY THAT," PAPYRUS cupped his chin in contemplation.

"bro, don't bust her skull about it-" "SANS!" "-c'mon, let's just eat."

Tori started unwrapping the bundles of food and I looked at Grillby's masterpieces in anticipation even as Tori made a face.

"Very well then. C'mon, Frisk, take a seat."

The Fallen Child finally broke out of their confusion and nodded, before scrunching their face.

"Frisk? What's wrong?" Tori asked.

"...Where's Ninten?" they finally asked.

I blinked and looked around. I couldn't spot a single hair of the other kid though.

"But, he was just here on the sofa a moment ago, wasn't he?" Tori stood up and started looking around worriedly.

"Ninten! Ninten!"

There was no response and Frisk and Tori glanced at each other worriedly.

"FEAR NOT!"

My brother immediately stood up, standing ramrod straight and grinning.

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL FIND THE LOST NINTEN! COME ON, FRISK! LET US GO!"

PAPYRUS grabbed Frisk's arm and they ran up the stairs, calling for Ninten's name. Tori gave me a worried glance.

"sans-"

"don't worry tori. i'll go look for him."

Even with the grateful smile Tori sent me I couldn't help but feel uneasy, a sinking feeling in my gut telling me where the other kid might be. I walked out of the house-


-and dead stopped as I saw the other kid standing in the middle of my lab, leaning against the counter and staring down at an assortment of objects.

The camera was there. Along with an old pink headband and a tarnished pendant. And the Courage Badge was in the kid's hand.

"uh, kid?" I began carefully.

"W-Where did you get this?"

"oh, that courage badge? i've had it since forever," I said, inching towards the kid slowly.

"You're lying," the kid all but yelled.

I stopped and stared at him.

"…and what makes you say that?" I said carefully, warning bells ringing in my head.

The kid turned around. His eyes were glowing a dull glow, his pupils were tiny pinpoints, and there were dark bags under his eyes. In one hand he held the Courage Badge. And in the other he held a shiny badge that looked exactly like it. Exactly alike, except that the other badge was untarnished and glowed slightly.

"Why," the kid rasped," do you have a Franklin Badge? My Great-Grandfather was the one who made them, and he only made two of them. A-And I gave the other one to A-Anna!"

"easy there kid," I held my hand up, trying to calm the kid down and wondered why the kid was suddenly so aggro, "like i said, i've had it since forever. i didn't know your great-grandpa made it."

Though now that I did I couldn't help but grow more alarmed. The Courage Badge had been yet another initial condition in the timelines. In every timeline I had that badge. And now the anomaly was saying that it was related to him, and-

"Liar!"

I blinked and narrowed my eyes.

"uh, kid-?"

"You're lying! I know!"

I scratched the back of my skull as the kid yelled.

"you're going to have to humerous me, kid. i don't know what you're talking about."

The kid snarled and slammed the Courage Badge into the table before grabbing the photo and shoving it towards me.

"This picture! Why do you have this picture! Why do you have this picture of Maria!"

"kid, calm down-"

The kid moaned and closed his eyes, rubbing his palms against them.

I watched as he began to glow with power that wasn't magic, and the objects near him began to glow too. The headband, the pendant, the camera, and the Courage Badge rose into the air and began to glow a warm pink hue and I heard the same ethereal voice from before.

"Take a melody, simple as can be~

Give it some words, in sweet harmony~"

The kid moaned again and thumped against the counter.

"kid, are you alright-?"

"PK FLASH!"


I stood outside of my lab and house. It was snowing, making Snowdin's gloom almost as dark as Waterfall. I blinked, confused at what happened.

The kid attacked me. The kid attacked me.

"why the hell did he attack me?" I muttered.

"PK Flash!"

I stared at the kid, who was standing in a patch of melted snow where I was standing.

"Kid, If You Know What's Good For You, You'll Calm Down Right Now," I said, tapping into my magic and ignoring my beating heart (mostly cause I was a skeleton, heh.)

The kid snapped towards me and I blinked at the red hue in his eyes.

"Ninten…" he rasped and my bones ran cold as the voice from the recording came out of the Anomaly's mouth.

"…kid?" I began.

"Stop it. Stop it! Stopit!"

The Anomaly shoved its hand towards him and a dark orb of light careened towards me.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Say, Kid?"

The Anomaly turned towards me.

I grinned and pointed at its chest, and its SOUL popped out (and it was now a darker pink. At least until it turned blue). And I quickly flicked my finger and the Anomaly went flying away.

To my surprise it righted itself in the air and floated there, throwing its hand out again.

"PK Fire!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Nice Try, Almost Got Me."

I thrust my hand out again before the Anomaly could turn towards me and swept it to the side. And the Anomaly went flying all the way towards the Snowdin River.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Give Up," I said, standing in front of the Anomaly, hands in my pockets.

"…Give up…? ...Give up? No. Never!" the Anomaly snarled, snapping up at him.

"Inexplicable Jo-!"

I grabbed the Anomaly's SOUL and shoved him back, startling him out of the attack. The Anomaly flew over the river before righting itself. The Anomaly glared at me. Bofore clutching its head and groaning again.

"No…No…Mo…M..o…th.."

The Anomaly opened its eyes. And I saw the blue orbs of the kid from before staring at me in bewilderment. Before the kid plummeted into the freezing river below, sinking like a rock.

"…crap."


I snaked my way through the soil of Snowdin, laughing.

My plan was working! It had only been a few hours since I dropped that camera in front of those idiots, and the timeline had already Reset! This was my chance to that brat's SOUL! All I had to do was wait for them to die again, since there was no way they'd escape death with only one Reset, not a brat like them-

At least, that's what I thought until I felt Smiley-Trashbag's magic. I felt my grin vanish and I growled, vines curling.

"What is that idiot doing now?!" I snarled. I was surprised though. Smiley-Trashbag only ever used his magic when everyone was already dead. But the brat hadn't gone all crazy yet, otherwise there would've been a True Rese-

I froze when I felt a pulse of what could only be described as pure negativity wash over me. It felt like rage, sorrow, and insanity wrapped together.

What in the world was that?

There was only one way to find out.

I rushed my way towards where I felt that pulse of power. And as I got closer I felt Smiley-Trashbag's magic. And closer.

I'd never forget the sensation. After all, it was my first clear memory, thanks to that weeaboo doctor. That feeling in that dark lab. That presence that pervaded the entire lab and was strongest in the room with the skull. A feeling that I had caused in timelines before. A feeling that surrounded Smiley-Trashbag's little recording machine.

That feeling of static when something tore the walls of the timeline.

"What in the name of the Angel-?"

I popped up out of the ground. I was on the bank of the Snowdin River. And on the opposite shore stood Smiley-Trashbag and that Buff Ice-Wolf. Smiley-Trashbag looked figuratively frozen, just standing there staring. And the Wolf was pushing against the chest of a figure in blue and yellow.

But not familiar, since last I checked, the Psychic's brat's skin wasn't grey and he didn't have huge batlike ears.


Flowey: Wait, what?! You can't stop there! What the hell is going on? What's happening?!

Ah, well I'm afraid you'll have to tune in next time to figure that out, my flowery friend. Now I must be off before someone kills me.

Flowey: It's going to be me if you DON'T TELL ME!

Ah, running now. But before I do that-

Cognitive Dissonance is an Mother Fangame made by handish2000. Checking it out isn't necessary for this understanding this fic, but it's a great game, so check it out!

Flowey: WAIT-!

Tune in next week for the next chapter, 'Ghost'! Remember to Read and Review!