"well uh. that's good and all, but did you forget that i was a scientist as well," Sans asked. He flipped a switch and made the room look normal.

"Oh! Is that the reason you always have the room behind our house locked? It's your lab, isn't it," Papyrus asked.

Sans nodded. "yup. i was working on a machine to help bring people from the void, but in never worked. maybe we could fix it," Sans suggested.

Alphys nodded. "Y-Yeah! Sounds good!"

Sans turned to Gaster. "are you helping too?"

Gaster nodded. "Yes Sans. Why wouldn't I?" Gaster grinned. "I do love science. I haven't been able to do anything like this for a while, so it will be a good experience for me."

"okay. so, who's shortcut are we taking," Sans asked.

"Sh-Shortcuts? What are those," Alphys stuttered.

Papyrus frowned. "It's a term my brother coined. He's practiced blue magic so much that he's found a way to mess with time and space. His shortcuts are him traveling to somewhere instantaneously," Papyrus explained. "No wonder you're out of shape."

Sans frowned. "aw come on papyrus. i'm just... big boned. " Sans stifled a laugh.

"Sans," Papyrus exclaimed.

Alphys nodded in understanding. "O-Oh. Your t-teleportation magic. That's y-your shortcut." Alphys turned to Gaster. "Th-Then what are yours, if you don't mind me asking." She picked up a clipboard. The former scientist hoped that she would learn more about the mysterious person she had vague memories about.

Gaster chuckled. "Still a scientist at heart, I see. Well, all the time I spent in the void caused me to develop a new power."

"O-Oh! What does that m-mean?"

"I can create doors from thin air and use them to move around," Gaster explained. "That is my shortcut, although I'm sure Papyrus could also learn it."

"Really? Wowie," Papyrus exclaimed. "Although... I don't think I'd ever use it."

Alphys was taken aback. "Papyrus? B-But he wasn't in the void, b-but if it's genetics, Sans should be able to learn it too, r-right?"

Sans shook his head."nah. i never went to that void. papyrus did."

"W-When did this happen," Alphys asked, looking between the skeleton family.

Sans waved his hand. "don't worry 'bout it. time travel stuff's kinda complicated."

"What," she squeaked. "T-Time travel?"

Sans nodded. "yeah. don't worry though. s'all fixed."

"Or is it? Perhaps they don't know that I'm here, but beings beyond the reach of this world know. You probably thought of me as this presence that was there, but unable to do anything, but that's wrong. I know of you. You root for the heroes of this. You cheer when they get justice. You cry when the heroes die, but ever since that time, there has been limited mention of me, except one. But even that person thinks that I can be saved. At some point, I will take control of Frisk. All those who watch our lives go on should prepare for a show."

"Sans, y-you... you know something I don't, right," Alphys asked.

"look alphys, i'm not gonna tell you everything. you'd be really confused with all the timelines and sciency stuff. i know you were a scientist too, but this time travel stuff can mess with your head, make you remember things you didn't want to remember. so for your own good, i'm not telling." Sans glanced at Flowey. "now we should try to help flowey so that he'll have a soul again."

Alphys sighed. "Okay. Y-You win."

"Yay," Frisk cheered. She raised the flowerpot above her head. "To Sans' lab!

Gaster created a door from thin air. The group of people walked through the door to the other side. It was Sans' lab. It looked like it had been recently cleaned out. The only thing left was a giant machine under a sheet and some blueprints written in a strange handwriting.

"S-Sans! This is your lab? It's so... empty," Alphys muttered.

"heh, well i was really only interested in one thing after dad left. once we left the capital, i needed a house with a room that i could try to build in secret. this one had a back room. although it's sorta small, it was okay," Sans explained. Sans walked over to the machine and grabbed the sheet. He yanked it off. Dust filled the air. Alphys and Frisk began to cough."i haven't worked on this thing for so long that dust began to cover it. that's kinda neat."

Gaster walked over to the blueprints. "Sans! This is my handwriting," he realized. The page was covered in strange symbols, some of them using hands. "It's in my original tongue."

"That explains why I couldn't understand you in that room," Frisk realized. "You were speaking in some foreign language." Frisk's eyes lit up. "That's so cool!"

Gaster chuckled. "Now now. It isn't that cool. I had to learn a completely new language and writing style just so others could understand. Wingdings is not a very well-known language."

"So what does it say," Frisk asked.

"These are the blueprints for a machine to head into the void. I discovered a pocket between space and time, so my curious mind wanted to know what exactly was there." Gaster rubbed his head. "Needless to say, I was slightly disappointed to find out that nothing was there."

"i managed to decipher the notes, but i could never get the machine to work," Sans said sheepishly. "if i had, dad would have been with us sooner."

Gaster took the notes. He began to write them down in a readable font, but it looked sloppy. He handed the notes back to Sans. "I've written down the notes. Now we can all figure out where I went wrong."

Gaster and Alphys gathered around the notes that were in Sans' hands. While the three former scientists were discussing what variable was wrong, Papyrus, Frisk, and Flowey stood to the side, confused at what they were saying.

"Frisk, can we walk around town while they do their science things," Papyrus asked.

"A-And if we change this variable to a three...," Alphys started

Gaster shook his head. "No no. There might be an explosion if we do that."

Frisk nodded. "Yes. I don't know what they're even talking about," she muttered.

"Guys! We're going to to walk around town," Papyrus yelled.

"got it." Sans gave the three a thumbs up. "just leave the plant here. we might figure it out in the time you're gone."

Flowey groaned.

"now flowey, don't you want your soul back as quick as possible," Sans asked.

Flowey looked to the side. "Fine. Leave me here."

Frisk set the flower down on a table and waved at the scientists. "Bye guys!"

Papyrus opened the door and walked out into the cold.

Frisk and Papyrus made their way outside the house. The atmosphere was a little off. The town was completely abandoned, aside from the occasional giftrot.

"So, what are we going to do," Frisk asked.

Papyrus shrugged. "How's your dodging skills, Frisk?"

"Pretty good, I'd say. Did you want to have a mock fight?"

Papyrus nodded. "It'll be good for us to stretch a little." He began to stretch, as did Frisk. "Now as this is a mock fight, there are some rules to keep in mind. Rule number one! You can't kill the other person. Although... I figure that you won't attack. Rule number two! If any of us has low health, the battle is over! Finally, no overeating! I will be making my famed spaghetti, after all." Papyrus smiled. "Now Frisk, are you ready to fight?"

Frisk nodded.

They began the battle. Frisk's soul floated outside her body.

"I'm not gonna attack, Papyrus," Frisk yelled.

Papyrus smiled. "Then it's my turn!" Papyrus held out his hand and turned Frisk's soul blue. It fell to the ground. "You're blue now! That's my attack," Papyrus exclaimed.

Bones began to fly at her. Frisk began to make the heart jump. She cleared the bones easily.

"I still won't attack you." Frisk smiled. "But you knew this, of course."

Papyrus nodded. "I know, and I'd be concerned if you suddenly tried to attack me." He sent more bones at Frisk. She dodged them easily. "I see you've been training Frisk."

Frisk shook her head. "No, it's just that blue magic is easy to dodge for me now." Frisk hung her head. "Because of her."

Papyrus ended the battle. "Let's not bring up those times. Instead, let's try to make a snowman!" Papyrus began to roll snow into a ball.

Frisk smiled. "Okay!" She rolled a ball of snow through the thick blanket of snow. She pushed the ball of snow onto the larger snowball that Papyus made.

"Very good Frisk! This snowman shall be great!"

Frisk nodded. "Lemme draw the face!"

"Why of course!" He stepped away from the snowman. Frisk poked her finger into the cold snow. She drew a smiley face in the snow.

A door opened. "hey frisk, we did it. we only had to change a couple of things. flowey's now asriel." The three former scientists turned the corner. Gaster was carrying a sleeping Asriel.

Frisk smiled. "Now he can have a happy ending, the one he never thought he could have!"

"We have to contact the queen and king," Papyrus exclaimed.

"Not right now. He's too tired for any sort of excitement, but when he wakes up, that would be a good time to take him home," Gaster said. He smiled at the goat. "For now, we'll let him get some rest here."

And done! Wow! An update on a day I warned there would be no update. I figured out what to write and decided to try!

Anyway, the next chapter will have Asriel seeing his parents again. Asgore will once again be seen. I've been trying to include him, but it's a little sad that his ex-wife is dating his old judge.

Bye guys!