purple for Perseverance Chapter 101
Beyond snow, beyond light, beyond space— out in some whirling maelstrom of memories, still, Sans fell. He plummeted from one facet of his mind to another, exhausted with each new vision. Dizzy and sick; latched onto a constant, guiding mote of red and little else.
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When it all finally crashed to a halt, everything was still. Silent. His body was numb and his soul was twisted and icy in his chest. He couldn't see, but he could feel the soft nose of a dog press against his fingertips.
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Then, greyness. He blinked. It wasn't just his eyes. He could see a drift, like layers of cloud shifting against each other in the wind. He held out his hand in front of his face and could see that, too.
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He was standing. Unusual. Filled with vertigo. He turned. Walked a couple steps on ground that had no texture.
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The second he stopped, the weight of his own bones was almost too much. His shoulders sagged and he tried to brace himself and keep upright. His eye sockets ached.
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How long had he been drifting? Days? Weeks? Longer?
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Just like peering through memories, any perception of the machine had vanished. But, unlike that experience, Sans had full control over his body from the get-go; the one exception being his voice. It had vanished again, in the sickness of his soul. Interesting, he thought. Did that make this more real than the rest, or was it just his expectations that had made it that way? In any case, he wasn't sure it mattered.
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He braced himself and concentrated on feeling for any other energies around him. Even that small effort strained him. He braced himself, breathed slowly, and focused.
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There was something there, but he couldn't pinpoint it. A shadow in the corner of his eye. A melody wove through the grey of the clouds, too quiet to hear, but he could feel it to the core of his bones.
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A subtle shift in energy sent a static shock up and down his spine. A cold dread prickled in the back of his skull. He was heavy. The thought of turning around came with the intense sensation that he might simply turn to dust. A waking night terror, creeping up just behind him. He took a deep breath and turned around.
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In the world of grey, he faced a copy of himself. Identical in almost every way, but drained of colour, like a monster on the verge of death. The other guy looked just as surprised to see him as he was. The only indication it was not simply a mirror image was a faint scar scratched from the corner of his left eye and down his cheek. It was hard for him to imagine anything worse. It took every ounce of Sans's fortitude to not try to leave as fast as he could.
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"How did you…?" The double had Sans's voice, note for note exact.
Sans bristled. The other skeleton tilted his head, his eye lighting up. The glow in this guys's skull and shining through his shirt, faintly illuminating his ribcage, was purple. Not just any purple though. Their purple.
"Oh. Hey," the guy said. "You're a long way from home, hm?"
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Sans stared at him intently. He tensed up, then grabbed the other guy by the shoulder, but his voice still wouldn't come out. He rolled his eyes and patted his pockets for paper. The other skeleton looked puzzled, but then perked up.
"Write in the air, like this." He traced a shape with his finger and it left a trail of magic that lingered just long enough to be read.
Sans sparked magic into his fingertip and tested it with a circle. The method worked.
"wheres my sister" he said in magic. "thats her colour"
"Yours, too." The other skeleton smiled. "Didn't really expect to see you in person. She's been real determined to get back to you."
Sans's soul ached. "gotta find her"
"She's outta your reach," the other guy said apologetically. "Unfathomably far. You get that, right?"
Sans frowned. "got to her in dreams, gotta be a way"
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The purple in the other skeleton's chest brightened just a fraction. "You did…? Oh. Hmmm…" The other skeleton tapped his teeth. His grin suddenly turned sheepish. "Oh, right, this form ain't the best for you, huh? Sorry, I'm, uh… Well. It's helpful to her, is the thing. I think I could, uh… Would she help?"
Sans's expression twisted with a puzzled frown. The other skeleton smiled apologetically.
"No, huh? Maybe mom? Papyrus?"
Sans felt sick. It had to have shown on his face, because the purple-tinted mirror winced and shook his head.
"Forget I mentioned it." He looked down at the glow in his chest and smiled. "Ah… I got it. Look. What you're doing, you can't interfere."
"ill do whatever i have to" He stared at the other skeleton cooly. "if you try to stop me we r gonna have an issue"
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The grey skeleton grinned wide. He tapped the purple glow within him. "You need her help. That's what drew you to me." He winked. "I can just tell with this kinda thing." He grabbed Sans's left hand just as he was about to write. "See, lemme finish. You can't interfere not 'cause it's rules or anything, but 'cause it just won't work. Especially not goin' that far in an old clunker like you got. But you already knew that, right? You can't change time with that in a way that means anything."
Sans pulled his hand away sharply. "then why am i here" He frowned deeply. "why did it bring me here?"
"This place is like… Think of it like, a little bubble waypoint. A relay. A place between places. Technically shouldn't be possible to get here, though. Not for you. Except that, in magic, and souls, like attracts like." His eyes darted over Sans's shoulder. "Somethin' you brought with you, right?"
Sans's eyes grew wide. His sister's magic. Of course. The grey skeleton grinned.
"Knew you'd figure it out. So! Same principle. Give her somethin' that's part of her already, that's not really interferein', technically. Got it?"
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Sans understood completely. The other skeleton beamed. His hand glowed with purple and it seeped into Sans's bones. The nostalgia made his soul churn before he could help it. Something shifted back into place. The grey skeleton patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.
"Good luck out there."
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Quick as a blink, Sans was overwhelmed by a blazing star of white iridescence and was stumbling out of the time machine again as if he'd been ejected from the seat. It was foggy, though the cloud-like mist billowed in odd, square shapes at the edges. An unusual magic buzzed in the air. Sans staggered backwards, his back clunking against the hull of his shuttle, and wheezed out a startled breath.
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His bones were stained faintly blue. That had happened before, when he'd made the successful trip to see what had happened right before he'd collapsed. That was a good sign, he figured. However, unlike that time, he couldn't remember the machine stopping, nor opening the door. He turned around to check.
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The capsule was wide open. The little white dog was still inside, but layered in a gossamer magic as he snoozed on the far side of the seat.
"Hey." Sans's voice was cracked and craggy, as if aching for a drink, but at least it was there. "Can you, uh…?"
That small dog's ears didn't even twitch. Sans sighed. He leaned back into the cockpit and locked his fingers into the cube and dragged it up, though it weighed like a brick.
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Resting his back against the machine, he rubbed his sore eye sockets. Had he been hallucinating just a moment ago? It didn't feel like it— didn't feel like the memories the machine shoved him through, either. A deep, existential chill infected his skull and his soul. He did his best to shove it aside and carefully took in his surroundings.
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The ground was covered in snow, and beyond the distorted clouds he could see the outlines of buildings. It reminded him of the bluster that often swirled around the outskirts of Snowdin on the way to Waterfall. Nothing sounded familiar, though. Listening closely, the world was a faint, discordant mess of magic, too many overlapping melodies to discern just one.
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Clutching the cube close to his chest, the skeleton took a few steps out into what seemed to be a street. He was reluctant to go far: he recalled that when he'd travelled to see the remnants of his sister the first time, she'd run right by him. Hopefully, after all this work and all that magic, the targeting had worked and, somehow, she was nearby.
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For a while, he waited. When nothing seemed to change, he cautiously went farther afield. There was a tug on his soul within a few paces, but proceeded nonetheless.
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Another building poked out of the mist to his right, announcing itself with a few gently flickering lights in desaturated red, green, and white draped along its snowy windowsills. Sans paused and looked it up and down.
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Judging by the arrangement of windows and the door, he was likely looking at a house. It was like a squat little fort built from grey stone, unremarkable except for those string lights. There was something about the place he could have sworn he recognized. Something a bit nostalgic about it. It reminded him a little of some of the more rustic houses in New Home. Had he seen it before?
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He snuck up to the closest window and took a look inside. There wasn't anyone there. Just a normal living room, but one that he was certain he'd seen. Not only was it uncannily similar to the one back home, but this one had been in that dream they'd entered where he'd been blind in one eye; where a Papyrus from some other world had met them on the other end. His soul stuttered. Had the kids somehow ended up there, of all places? Was that even possible?
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He tried the door but he couldn't even budge the handle. Rubbing the back of his skull, he turned back to the street and stepped down into the snow. Even in the fog and bluster, he could still see his machine clearly, exactly where he'd left it, as if it had some aura of light shining around it.
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He wandered back the way he'd come. The tension on his soul lessened as he neared the machine. He checked inside again, just in case. The dog was still asleep.
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Just a few steps down the path in the opposite direction, he saw movement in the fog. He paused to watch, though it was a little difficult. It was as if the world had a poor draw distance.
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A figure began to form. Then, two. Monsters. A long-legged owl and a spiky rabbit, one crossing the road and the other walking towards him. Sans stepped out of the rabbit's way and continued onwards, watching curiously as other monsters, mostly dressed for winter, stepped in and out of what he could see between the square-edged mist, going about their day.
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There was something uncanny about it. Alien, despite being so familiar.
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He continued slowly along the side of the street, taking in everything with curious eyes. Still no sign of his sister, though, nor his brother. Worry began to ache in his soul. It hadn't taken this long to find the kid the first time. If, after all this work, he'd gotten it wrong…
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He winced and his sharp fingertips locked more tightly into the runed cube in his hands. Don't lose it, he told himself. He was no use to anyone giving up already. The probability that there'd be a second shot at this while he was still solid was next to none. The thought of Papyrus— or even his father— having to endure the who-knows-how-long memory gauntlet made him shudder and slapped his mind back into focus.
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He kept going. More buildings of a small town's main street crept out of the mist. He peeked in windows where he could, though that fog carried on even inside at a certain distance. The thought of slipping in after a patron opened a door crossed his mind, but he quickly scrapped the idea— no way he'd want to be left at the whims of someone else when he had to leave again if he couldn't manipulate the world on his own.
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Soon, Sans reached the edge of town. His soul was aching. Venturing much farther didn't seem plausible. He tried to stomp down the worry and crossed the street until a new set of buildings popped up. He headed back in the direction of his machine, checking through more windows on his way.
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As he came to what appeared to be a crossroad, he paused and stared down it from the corner of a shop. It was a misty mess, with no hints as to what lay that way but the faint outline of the edge of yet another building. If he could make it all the way to the edge of town, heading that way was plausible, too. But, then, that sound of magic was wrapping a little more deeply into his bones. It didn't feel like a good thing. He might need to head back to his machine to rest up a bit, if that was even possible.
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A glint of movement caught him in the corner of his eye as it flickered across the glass of the nearest window. He took a step back to look. There wasn't much going on amongst shelves of books within, but the reflection in the glass told a different story.
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A tall figure— a skeleton— vanishing just out of view, heading back in the direction of the machine. Sans whipped around and, whatever else was there, he didn't see it.
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There was a kid walking the street. Human kid. Short. Tiny, even. Scrawny little thing. Light brown skin; dark brown hair, barely shoulder-length and straight with bangs; a blue and pink striped hoodie over a white, star-patterned shirt. She walked slowly, preoccupied, absently tossing a dark cube up into the air and catching it again as she went.
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Sans's soul just about dropped to his feet and his skull felt like it was full of fizz. "Kid?"
She didn't hear. He rushed into the street after her.
"Kiddo?"
Still nothing. Still tossing that cube. Even so, he knew. The way his soul roiled in his ribcage, he'd have known her no matter what.
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Sans looked at the artefact in his hand, identical to the one she was playing with, except for her aura of red glimmering beneath a portion of its surface. It had to be it, he thought, if like attracted like. He tested sparking the thing with magic and let it hover above his palm. It worked just as it did in the real world, though a weight was starting to pull on his soul and the hum of magic seeping from the fog was getting louder.
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He fell into step just behind the kid, measuring the rate of her toss with his eyes. With a twirl of his finger, he levitated the cube to match hers, bobbing up and down until, at the peak of her toss, he shot his straight at it.
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Shimmering blue, the two versions of the artefact collided; fused and tumbled to the ground, batted from the air by the force of the impact. Sans jolted. The kid did, too. Her eyes widened and she glanced around sharply, then looked in the direction the cube had flown from. Her face scrunched up with puzzlement, but she swiftly shook it off and walked over to pick the thing up.
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As she wiped the snow off its dark surface with her sleeve, Sans snuck up close, watching her intently. It was still hard to process her face in his mind, but he felt like some of her features were starting to etch into his memory. The way her eyes were shaped. Her sharp little nose. That scar on her cheek. He knew that was his fault, at least.
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He sparked magic into his hand and reached out, brushing the cube with his fingertips just as she began to move again. His touch left a cyan streak along the top and side. The kid stalled mid-step. She turned it over and her eyes almost bugged right out of her head. Sans leaned in close again and pressed his hand against the top face of the artefact. As the runic buttons lit up at his touch, she jerked it upwards and pressed her ear against it.
"…Sans?" she said under her breath.
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The skeleton's shoulders dropped and he let out a sigh that might as well have melted him, passing his hand across the back of his skull. The kid looked around, her gaze darting and frantic. His soul sunk.
"Sans?" she asked again. "Are you…? How are you…?" She stared at the cube in her hands, her brow furrowing. "It's you, right? It's gotta be…"
"Ah, shit," he muttered. "Uh…" He rolled his fingers. Then, cautiously, he put his hand on her shoulder.
She just about jumped out of her skin, letting out a squeak, and whipped around to face him. His eyes brightened.
"Kid, can you—?"
"Crap, what was that?!" she hissed.
She couldn't. He huffed. He touched the cube again and she jolted. Most of the squares on the top were already blue, but at least he could tap a small Hi with an uneven H in the blank corner. The kid's jaw dropped.
"Sans?!" Her voice cracked. "It's really…?! Are you here? Oh god, you're not a ghost, are you?"
Not quite. Not yet. He cracked tired smile and gently patted her on the arm.
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The kid stared through him. Her mouth pulled downwards and her eyes began glistening with tears.
"Oh, shit," Sans said. "Wait, don't—"
"S-Sorry." Her voice squeaked and she smooshed one hand against her face and kneaded at her eye. "Sorry." Her breath hitched and she bent forward.
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Panic hit the skeleton hard and he darted towards her and held her shoulders. The kid stiffened up under his touch and she wheezed out a quiet sob. Her knees sunk towards the ground and he dropped down with her.
"Sorry, sorrysorrysorrysorry," she babbled. "I-I'm okay. I'm okay."
"Like hell y'are," Sans grumbled. He wrapped his arms around her and squished her close. "Poor little dork…" He felt weak; like absolute garbage. Like he could've just sat there, hugging this kid, for hours. "Deep breaths, you got this."
"I'm… okay. I'm okay." She repeated it almost like a mantra. She lifted her arm to try to grab his, but her hand passed right through. She drooped. "J-Just… Just imagine I'm hugging you back, okay?" She sniffled and a weak laugh bubbled from her throat. "Sorry. Just missed you, i-is all. I kept dreaming fake dreams about you."
He bonked his forehead gently against hers and tried to let his soul hum for her, his sharp fingertips clenching into her hair. "…Kiddo, I'm sorry, it's… It's all just trash, I know. You're good." His voice cracked and he gulped hard to clear his throat. "You're gonna be fine."
She didn't respond other than trying to catch her breath, but he saw a gleam of faint, red light shine softly from her chest. Better than nothing, that was for sure.
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He knew, now, how their father must've felt, lurking as a phantom, attached to her as he was. The relief that he'd broken through was absolutely overwhelming. If he hadn't been on a time limit, he would have been content to stay in her shadow a while, just to make sure she was doing okay. It felt kind of pathetic, if he were honest, but in the moment, he missed her too much to care.
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He drew back a little and she jolted. He reached for her hand, carefully holding the underside of it. Though he couldn't move it, her brow furrowed and she raised it up. His eyes brightened.
"Let's see…. Uh…" He quickly traced letters in her palm— c u b e.
"The… cube?" the kid repeated. "Wh… What about it?"
He wrote again, a little slower this time— beacon.
She sniffled. "…Bacon?" She frowned. "OH! Beacon! Beacon, right?"
"Heh." He ruffled her hair with one hand while writing a big Y with the other.
The kid's eyes widened. She clutched the cube tight in both hands. "…Your magic. I… I can use this to find you! Like what dad said, right?!" She stared at it, her gaze glimmering. "We match your magic to… more of your magic! Right? That's what it means." Her face lit up. "So we can come home!"
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Sans couldn't help a grin. "You got it." A quiet, relieved sigh escaped him and he slumped where he sat. Every inch of him; every note of magic in his bones and soul hurt. He carefully held her shoulders and used the moment to take her in, then gave her a reassuring pat. "I know you can handle it."
The kid's face crinkled. "Hey… Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
"No," he laughed. He supposed he could only ignore the ache of wanting his kid to come home for so long. It was exhausting. "But maybe this is almost over, huh?"
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Something sparked in his mind— a sharp, static shock. His vision ebbed dark at the edges. That was his exit warning. He gently mussed up her hair again, though as he did, he caught a break in the skin above her left eye. It looked fairly fresh. He winced.
"This's been rough on you, too, huh?" He carefully grabbed her face in his hands and bonked his brow against hers and what little warmth that transferred between the veil of worlds almost made him sick with heartache.
The kid closed her eyes for a moment. She gritted her teeth as a tear slipped down her cheek. "I'm okay," she said again. "A-And… And you're gonna be okay, too. I… I know whatever's been going on at home's not good." She blinked, her irises sparking red in the gloom. She lifted the cube and her little fingers gripped into it tightly. "Thanks, bro. W-We got this."
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"Hey!" Some voice cut through the warbling, energy-steeped air. "Are you okay?!"
The kid turned and looked up. She squished the cube to her chest with one hand and wiped her eyes intensely with the back of the other. "Y-Yeah! Yeah, I'm g-gr—!"
Another form burst from the fog and dropped down to pull the kid into a hug. Sans blinked. A human. Bigger than his kid, but still a child herself, with straight, red hair and eyes that beamed gold when she raised her head.
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Sans knew that face. His soul stuttered. He'd seen it in a mirror, in a memory; in a nightmare. It couldn't be just his eyes messing up, could it? Discordant notes of magic from the fog grew louder in his head.
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"It's okay," the kid said with a crackling laugh. Her eyes darted towards him, though she looked right through. "I just…!" She sniffled and took a deep breath as she wiped her face again. She held up the cube to the newcomer with a big grin on her face. "Look! I-It's—!"
The inside of Sans's skull buzzed and the magic of the fog filled his head like water, clogging it with sound he couldn't break through. The kid said something else, but he couldn't tell if it was towards him or not. Either way, his soul was starting to feel like it was stuck taut to an elastic band on the verge of snapping.
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He ruffled her hair and forced himself away from her, dropping back towards his machine. He watched as she looked around, then peered down at the cube glowing with blue in her hands, a fond smile on her face. He clunked back into his seat as she scampered away. Then, it hit him.
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He'd seen her real voice.
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With a big grin on his face despite his eyes starting to fail him again, he closed up his pod and told it to go back home. It surged and, as he expected, he lost consciousness.
xXxXx
The chamber of the Soul of the World had been quiet almost all day. Borderline relaxing, until Mistral stormed through. Her annoyance was swiftly tempered, though, when she ran smack into the sleepy Oracle having tea with the former Queen and a mysterious goat of wood and petals inside the cabin. That monster alone was a story enough to easily last past lunch time, especially when Mistral accidentally caught a snippet of the truth that was being shared with Sans.
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Making a third pot of tea that afternoon was interrupted by a commotion of kids' voices from outside the cabin. They seemed to be calling for Sans. Before words of confusion had left anyone's mouths, the door burst wide open and Asriel ploughed in with Frisk in his arms. He almost tripped on the threshold and the smaller kid stumbled to the ground.
"Sans!" She raced up to the startled skeleton in the kitchen. Her eyes were big and frantic, with dark circles stark on the skin beneath them. Looked like she'd been crying.
"Whoa, kiddo," the skeleton said, "what's u—?"
"Look!" She shoved the cubic artefact up towards him.
Streaks of its buttons gleamed a cool cyan where it had been blank before. Frisk all but threw the thing into his hands.
"H-He found us!" she said shrilly.
"Wh—?"
"Our brother," Asriel said, his voice shaking a little. "I dunno how he figured it out, but he…" He gestured to the cube. His ears perked a bit and he turned as if Toriel, Leirach, and Mistral had suddenly faded into his perception. "O-Oh, um, sorry to interrupt."
"Do not worry, child," Toriel assured him, "but what in the world is going on?"
"Well, uh—"
"Do you think it'll work?" Frisk blurted.
Sans turned the cube over in his hands. His brows raised and he hummed thoughtfully. "Well…" He headed for the door and beckoned for them to follow him.
The kids raced out before he did.
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Chara had just reached the cabin, a little out of breath, and she ran to Frisk, grabbing her by the hand. "So?!"
"He's gonna check, I think!" Frisk said.
The girl whipped around to look at Sans as he stepped out onto the grass. "Sans, what d'you think?!"
"Relax," he teased. "I just need a sec."
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The three kids gripped to each other nervously as Sans strolled across the field. As the other monsters peeked out of the cabin, and the entrance portal blazed with a swirl of orange energy, Sans casually slid down the slope and approached the light of the Soul. He held up the cube towards it and allowed it to drift right to its centre.
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Everyone waited with bated breath. Papyrus and Gaster arrived just in time to see the artefact begin glow bright cyan at its apex. Frisk squeezed tight against Chara, a cold chill spreading through her skin, her eyes fixed upon the Soul.
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The cube slowly stained with blue, flowing down its surface like fluorescent paint. It spun lethargically in place as if bobbing in the water. Above it, the crystal constellations in the stone began to gleam and, somehow, shift, turning in place.
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Frisk's heart thumped so hard it was almost painful. Asriel put a hand on her head, his own soul buzzing nervously.
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Sans took a step back, settling his hands into his pockets, and waited for a few moments. The air hummed with magic and a cool breeze whisked around the lower section of the chamber, buffeting the grass of the slopes. Some small green blades, along with scattered silver and pink leaves from the black-barked trees, swirled around in wide arcs, until the entire chamber of the Soul of the World was twirling in a soft, magical wind.
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After a few seconds, the cube popped out of the light and Sans caught it in his magic. As it hovered at his side, the blue glow in its form was left behind exactly where it had been within the Soul. All of a sudden, the chill Frisk had been feeling was swept away.
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"Sans?!" Papyrus loped over to the edge of the slope and peered down.
"Hang on," Sans said, holding up one hand as if to pause him. He stared at the Soul, the light in his bad eye jittering around in its socket. He reached up and brushed the iridescent energy with just his fingertips and then pulled back, puffing a cool breath overtop of them.
Sparkles of magic drifted off like specks of snow. He cocked his head to the side and tapped his foot.
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After a few long, tense seconds, Sans came back up the hill. He turned his attention on the kids and grinned. "S'good."
"Wh…?" Frisk gawked. "I-It's good?!"
"Yup." He shot a glance back over his shoulder. "Still gotta give it a bit of time. Gotta peek in. But, uh… Looks like you got it, bud."
A baffled, awed squeak was all Frisk could manage, and Chara let out a cough of a laugh and grabbed the kid, shaking her back and forth. Asriel grabbed both of them up into his arms and squeezed them tight.
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Papyrus squawked, clapping his hands against his skull. "So they can go home?!"
"Yuuuup, pretty soon," Sans said. He pointed up at the shifting crystal patterns in the stone above the Soul. "It's all linin' up."
"Aaaaaaah!" He rushed to the other kids and was instantly absorbed into the fold of joyful embraces. "I'm so happy for you!"
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Frisk's ears were buzzing; her stomach felt sick, and every inch of her was hot with joy and dizzy with how quick everything had changed, thanks to whatever work her eldest brother had done. Tears ran down her face and Asriel dropped down to his knees with her and nuzzled his snout against her cheeks.
"He really did it," he said quietly. He grinned, his eyes shimmering. "Of course it was him, huh? Shouldda known he'd find you."
Frisk hiccuped and grinned, nodding. She put her arms around his shoulders and snuggled in, taking a deep, steadying breath.
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"Dear, pardon, what happened?" Toriel asked as she stepped out to join them.
Sans could only shrug. He tilted his head. "Hey, Frisk."
"Y-Yeah." She sniffled and wiped her eyes, and Chara gently brushed some stray hair from her face. "Whew. Sorry. Th-That was a lot."
Sans shook his head. "Mind explain' what went down?"
"Oh! Um." She had to wipe her face again. "Something knocked the cube thing out of my hands, and when I picked it up, my brother's magic was in it. A-And… And he was there. Like… I couldn't see him, but he, like, put a bunch more magic into it and gave me a hug and I freaked the heck out and I couldn't hug him, which sucked, but he wrote in my hand like my dad used to." She drew a spiral in her palm with a finger as if to demonstrate. "He said beacon. Just like dad did."
"So he's… gonna be putting out some magic back home," Asriel said, ears perking a bit. "That's what that means, right? It's gonna match up?"
"Yep," Sans said. "That's what it's startin' to do."
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The kids let out a collective breath of relief. Papyrus dragged all three of the others into a hug as he plopped down to sit on the grass with them. His soul gleamed warm and bright and Frisk all but melted.
"S-So," Asriel said, "how long do you think it'll be until—?"
"Not sure," Sans said. "Guessin' maybe… tomorrow? Next day?"
"Tomorrow?!" Papyrus barked.
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Frisk felt her stomach drop. She clutched tight to Chara's hand. She wanted this. More than almost anything. But leaving her new friends; her new sister, felt almost unbearable, too.
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"I have so much to plan!" Papyrus announced, hopping to his feet. "We absolutely, a thousand percent need to have a going-away party! And we'll need to get Queen Undyne and Archwizard Alphys and—!"
"Y-You don't need to do anything big!" Frisk squeaked.
"But you want to see everyone before you go, though, right?" he asked.
"Well, duh. But—"
"I think she just means, to not make it a massive production, my child," Toriel said, settling a reassuring hand on the skeleton boy's shoulder. "From what I understand, this will be a large ordeal as it is." She smiled at him. "Though, I will be happy to contribute to making something a little special."
"I'd like to help out, too," Leirach voiced sheepishly, turning his eyes on Asriel and Frisk. "If you don't mind. You two helped me a lot."
Papyrus's eyes shot over to the goat monster and he blinked blankly for a moment before letting out a loud squawk. "I didn't realize you'd look different!"
"Hah! Sorry, Papyrus," he said with a bashful smile.
Toriel smiled fondly and rubbed Leirach's back.
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"It's not gonna be sudden, right?" Frisk asked. "Like, I mean, it's not gonna just shoot us right out as soon as it's ready, right?"
"Hm? Ah, nah, not at all," Sans said. "I still gotta give ya the push."
Frisk sighed with relief. Chara laughed hoarsely.
"Not letting you go that easy," she teased.
Frisk squeezed her arm. "We still gotta do some stuff."
Sans smiled sympathetically. "I know, it's gonna be a big thing. But, s'gonna be fine." He gently tossed the cube to Frisk, which she caught easily. "Just chill until then, yeah?"
.
Frisk nodded. She sniffed again and wiped her eyes once more before she got to her feet. She walked straight to Gaster and held up the cube to him. "Take it."
"Pardon?" he asked blankly.
"Taaaake it."
"It's yours," he said.
"It's a gift," she said quickly. "I did what I had to do with it. You gotta take it."
"…Frisk, I told you—"
"Yeah. Avenir gave it to me. But I wanna give it to you." She smiled. "Come on, I owe you one."
"You…" The skeleton's expression was caught somewhere between surprise and incredulity. "You absolutely do not."
"Dude, please?" She stood on her toes and pushed it up towards him. "Come on."
"Just take it, man," Asriel said as he got to his feet. "Her heart's set on it; she's not gonna leave with it, ever."
"It's gonna get snuck into your coat or something before I leave and I'm gonna be in a totally different universe by then so you can't give it back," Frisk said with a stubborn frown.
"I…" Gaster let out a little, shallow sigh. He plucked the cube from her and held it gingerly. "Alright."
Frisk grinned smugly as he stashed it inside his jacket.
.
Mistral's eyes flashed, as if she'd suddenly be shaken from a stupor. She rushed past the others and stood before Gaster with a sturdy, stoic stare. "You. You're due for inspection," she said. "Were due a few hours ago, actually."
Though Gaster's shoulders tensed a little, he nodded. "Of course. Sorry to throw your schedule off."
.
Mistral reached out for his soul, but almost as soon she made contact, she drew back again sharply, frowning. "What happened to the dampener?"
Papyrus quickly put his hand up. "Well, I—!"
One of the drifting leaves, with the faintest of indigo tints, blew gently into his face and he spluttered and waved it away.
"Ain't that a funny thing," Sans said with an easy grin. "Seemed like it just, uh, faded off."
Papyrus looked like he was about to protest, but he caught his brother's eye and quietly nyeh-ed into his fist instead. Mistral raised a brow.
"Don't tell me you did something?" she asked. "No, there's no way you'd be that careless."
"It's a mystery." The sharp-toothed skeleton shrugged. "Like I told ya, he touched the Soul. Mightta been that. Don't worry too much, Mist, he hasn't made a move. If he had, he'd be in pieces." He winked. "Besides, Tori's here."
"And I do not mind staying," Toriel said.
"Hm." Mistral crossed her arms and tilted her head. "But, he did go out into the Kingdom like that, didn't he?"
"Not like anyone noticed," Sans said.
"I was right there and he didn't stab me or anything," Frisk volunteered. She tented her fingers. "Please don't be mad."
.
Mistral's expression softened. "We'll have to get the Archwizard back here," the skeleton said. "Until then, I'll stay on watch."
Sans shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Do what ya like."
"I'm sorry to cause any inconvenience," Gaster said.
"Yes, well. At least try to stay out of trouble. And don't even think about going out again until this is all sorted out." She took a step away. "I'll signal Alphys."
.
As soon as she was gone through a portal, Papyrus bashfully tapped his fingertips together.
"Sooorrrryyyy."
"Oh, so it was you?" Chara asked.
"Well, obviously, we kind of didn't have any choice," Papyrus said swiftly.
"How'd you even, though? I thought it was some super Archwizard potion or something," Asriel said.
"Oh! Easy! The magic water from the waterfall!" Papyrus said. "I—!"
"I stole it," Gaster said.
"What?!" Papyrus laughed. "No you did not!"
"I did. I took it from you; you had nothing to do with it," the old skeleton said. "And I won't hear any alternative argument if this is brought before your Queen or that court, understand?"
"Wh…?" Papyrus blinked. "You're trying to keep me out of trouble."
"There's no trouble for you to get into," Gaster said, crossing his arms. "It was entirely my doing."
.
"What a strange fellow," Toriel said quietly, tilting her head to the side.
The old skeleton almost faltered, his face taking a bashful tint. Sans snorted out a laugh.
"Welp. Don't hate that," he said. "But, uh, don't sweat it. If anyone asks, I'm sure my explainer'll cover it. Easy. "
"Ooh, a conspiracy," Chara teased. "That's fine with me, I'd rather not make a big deal of anything so trivial now."
"I just don't want anyone to get in trouble again," Frisk said. "He can't be in trouble, right? He helped me."
"Man, if someone tries to drag us to another hearing, I'm grabbin' you and I'm running away," Asriel said.
"Oh, dear, I am not sure, maybe it is best not to go on the lamb," Toriel suggested.
"Th-That only kinda works!" the boy protested as Leirach stifled a laugh behind his hand and Sans snorted loudly. "And we're goats, right? Not sheep." He tilted his head back and looked up at the silvery monster. "Uh. Aren't we?"
"Best to keep them guessing, my child," Toriel said. "It keeps your range of jokes wide."
"Leirach does have ram horns," Chara pointed out.
"But I have goat horns, though, right?!"
"I mean, sort of."
Asriel put his hands on his cheeks. "Baaaah, come on…!"
.
Frisk snickered. She wandered back to sit down with him again as the others continued to joke about horned beasts. All of a sudden, she was exhausted. As her brother pulled her onto his lap, her eyes focussed off on that blue shape still hovering in the Soul. She smiled to herself and ran a finger over her palm, imagining that chill of magic that had guided her.
.
Of course he would be the one to find her. Of course.
xXxXx
After some hot, calming tea, Chara was all business— pulling her siblings aside and discussing their next moves. Their reset bomb, which she unilaterally decided to call a World Seed, was highest priority. They could try to craft the real one that night, when the others were asleep. That way, they had more room for error if it so happened that the path home came sooner rather than later, and the likelihood that they would have to wait a second more than they actually wanted to would be reduced.
.
Asriel and Frisk both agreed. They'd take it easy for the whole rest of the afternoon, too.
.
It was back to waiting again, but with some sort of tangible end encroaching, Frisk couldn't help but feel energized. She wasn't, obviously— it'd been a mess of a night and her body still ached— but the whole thing lit a fire in her soul.
.
She worried about Chara, though. The freckled girl seemed to be in high spirits, but Frisk knew that they both had to be feeling that same ache in their chests. Asriel, too. Especially him, probably, Frisk thought.
.
The crystals might work for Chara's plan. Probably would. But, if they didn't… Frisk dreaded to think about it. She'd figure something out, though. No matter what.
xXxXx
They were inside at the low, cozy table, listening to music off Frisk's phone and painting again, when Alphys arrived. Papyrus was assembling some dumplings from scratch with Asriel and Gaster was reading an old novel he'd found on a shelf. Mistral paced the place like a stalking cat.
.
"S-Sorry I took so long," Alphys said. "Oh! Hi, everyone!"
"Hiiiii, Alphys," Frisk said.
"Welcome back!" Papyrus said.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mist," Alphys said.
The skeleton guard finally settled a little. "It's fine. But, I do need to get g—"
"Are you coming back for dumplings?!" Papyrus demanded.
"I doubt I'll have time, but—"
"Then, here!" the younger skeleton deftly wrapped a few of the uncooked ones in a large leaf and tied it with twine in just a few seconds before handing them off to her. "You just have to cook them!"
"Ah…" She smiled. "Thanks, kid, that's very kind of you." She tucked the package away in the pouch on her hip. "I'll just be waiting until the Archwizard is done."
.
"I'm a little surprised to s-see everyone in here like this," the lizard said with a smile. "Are we all getting along a little better now?"
"Surprisingly, yes," Chara said.
Alphys's brows shot up and she looked at Gaster. He smiled a little and shrugged.
"It's been less fraught than I expected."
"You literally fell down, though," Asriel said.
"I meant what I said."
.
"Well! Th-That's good! Um." Alphys looked around. She leaned closer to Chara. "So, who's that outside chatting with y-your mom and brother?"
"That's… a long story," Chara said with a crooked smile. "Did you hear about the Mirror Lakes?"
"Oh! Y-Yes, definitely, I got an earful about th-that," the lizard said with a chuckle.
"Sorry!" Frisk said shrilly.
Alphys shook her head and waved a hand. "It's alright, it's, um, pretty typical of the moonghosts to make a fuss whenever s-something unusual happens. They're just p-protective of the water up there, which is pretty understandable, but, y-you know, sometimes they go a little, um, overboard." She smiled bashfully and looked at Gaster. "You ended up there, too, didn't you?"
"Ah. I did," the skeleton said. "It was… unintentional. I touched the Oracle as he shifted."
"Oh! So you can…" The lizard nodded. "Of course, that m-makes sense. A-And the… magic you used, that was…?"
"I did only what he told me to," he said. "He wanted Frisk away from there."
"Ah." She tapped her chin. "So, that's what Bahmata w-was talking about…"
.
"Please don't be mad at him," Frisk said quickly. "I was bleeding all over the place or something and he helped me out, he couldda blown me up or something but he didn't and—"
Alphys laughed. "I know, Frisk, I know. S-Sans told me when I came in." She smiled apologetically as she put on some gloves. "Though, I d-do kind of have to reapply the d-dampener…" She held out her hand to Gaster. "You seem to have earned a l-little trust. We c-can put it on your hand, or your arm, i-instead of the more, um, intrusive way, if you'd like."
"Saves me the chill," Gaster said. He unwrapped the bandage on his right hand, unveiling the hole through his palm, and rested it on Alphys's.
She paused for just an extra instant before she smiled and got to work. "Thanks a-again for your cooperation."
.
Once the mark to limit his magic was reapplied on the back of his hand, Gaster rewrapped the bandage over top of it and went back to his book. Alphys headed for Frisk and knelt down a little to look her in the eye. She carefully reached out and brushed her finger alongside the raw scar on the kid's brow.
"Aw, whatever happened did a b-bit of a number on you, didn't it?"
"It wasn't that bad, I was passed out for most of it," Frisk said.
"…Frisk, that means it was really bad, not the opposite," Chara said.
"But I just mean I wasn't awake and it didn't hurt!" the kid protested.
Though Chara rolled her eyes, Alphys chuckled fondly. She straightened up and looked at Mistral.
"I-I'm alright, now. You can go, if you're busy."
Mistral nodded and dipped forward a little. She raised a hand and then headed for the door. "I'll be back tomorrow, as usual." She paused and smiled a little at Frisk. "And, if you don't mind, I'll be here again on your way out."
Frisk's eyes brightened and she grinned. "Cool!"
.
As Mistral left, Alphys's eyes grew wide and she looked at Frisk.
"D-Did you guys figure it out?! Y-Your way h-home?!" She looked at Chara. "Did you—?"
"We just have a little more to do," Chara said. "But, her brother found her. Somehow." She smiled a little and nudged Frisk. "I guess that means he's not as sick as he was before, huh?"
"O-Oh! You're right!" Frisk beamed. "But, yeah, he…! He… us something we can use to find home— to find their, um, beacon out to us, I guess."
"Ooh!" Alphys grinned and offered the kid a hug, which she gladly accepted. "Aah, that's so g-great, I'm really h-happy for you, sweetie."
"Thaaaanks!"
.
The door to the cabin opened up and Sans wandered in, stretching sleepily.
"Hey, Alph," he said.
"Ah! H-Hi!" The lizard turned to face him and smiled bashfully. "You, um…? Y-You busy?"
"Uhhh…" Sans instantly looked exhausted. "What happened?"
"W-Well, um, it's just… Uhhh…" She smiled bashfully. "Undyne kiiiind of wants to, um, t-talk to you? About… Y-You know, um, the Mirror L-Lakes thing."
.
All the kids froze with trepidation. Sans sighed. He wandered over to the couch and flopped down onto his back.
"Busy."
"Um, b-but—"
"Extremely busy."
"B-But, um, Bahmata c-came to the castle all the way from there," Alphys said.
"Ooh no, you really are in trouble again, huh?" Frisk said worriedly.
"When am I not in trouble?" the skeleton joked. He settled comfortably. "Eh, no big deal."
"Didn't they cuff you last time?" Asriel asked.
Gaster sat straight upright and looked at Sans with wide eyes. Sans snickered.
"S'fine."
"W-Well, um." Alphys smiled nervously. "The thing is, uhh… She's probably already on her way here, so…"
.
Sans sagged into a puddle. He sighed and slowly forced himself upright again. "Man."
"I know, I know, I'm s-sorry," Alphys said. "I—"
"I'll take full responsibility," Gaster said.
"Uh. Huh?" Alphys tilted her head.
"It was my foolishness that caused the whole problem to begin with," the old skeleton said as he snapped his book closed. "Everything that followed— we had no choice. So. Put the blame on me."
Alphys stared at him blankly. Sans, on the other hand, began to laugh. He waved a hand at Gaster dismissively.
"Just let me do the talkin', okay, bonehead?" he said as he got to his feet. He already looked completely exhausted.
"D'you need me?" Frisk asked.
"Nah. Just chill," he said.
"Aah, you can just w-wait!" Alphys said.
"I'm gonna fall the hell asleep," the skeleton said, rubbing at his eye socket.
"Don't get arrested, Sans," Papyrus said.
Sans chuckled. "Bro, I'm not gonna." He trudged back out of the cabin like he was asleep on his feet.
Alphys quickly followed him out.
.
Chara sighed. "Welp."
"He's gonna be okay, right?" Frisk asked.
"You know him, he can talk his way outta most things," the girl said.
"The Mirror Lakes miiiiight slightly kind of be a big deal, though," Papyrus said.
"You guys went there?" Asriel asked.
"Oh, sure! It was one of our most intense stealth operations," the skeleton said with a smile. "Remember that?"
"Yeah, it was horrible," Chara said with a laugh.
"It wasn't so bad, we only had to run for our lives maybe four— five times."
"Yeah, from Undyne and like fifty moonghosts, though!"
"True."
.
Frisk pouted a little. She carefully cleaned her paintbrush off and went to go rinse her hands off at the sink. She peeked over at what Asriel and Papyrus were making: almost a whole counterfull of neatly—and some not-so-neatly— crimped dumplings. She watched for a bit, then headed back to Chara, but only stayed for a moment before pacing the room on quiet feet.
.
After some time, Chara watched her going back and forth towards the door. Gaster, too, was paying more attention to that than to anything else.
"Frisk," the freckled girl said.
Frisk jolted. "Um. Yeah?"
"Just sneak out there and listen in," Chara said.
"Oh! Uh." She smiled bashfully. "…You don't think they'd mind?"
"Just be super quiet," Asriel said.
The kid perked up. She nodded and quickly slipped out of the cabin. After a few moments, Gaster got up, too, and silently slid out. Chara rolled her eyes.
.
She placed a few final brushstrokes onto her painting of the forest near Snowdin and then leaned over to look at what Frisk had been working on. She nearly laughed. It was a big action scene, mostly starring a girl with a sword and flaming hair, a tall skeleton, and a massive goat with a rainbow aura, outside of a mountain, with a big tree in the background. It was quite messy, but there was something endearing about it.
.
"Hey. Azzy," Chara said. "How're the dumplings coming?"
"Kinda sticky but okay, I think?"
"He's doing really well for his first time!" Papyrus assured them.
"That's good." She sat back comfortably and rubbed her head. She chuckled quietly. "Ah… What're we going to do?"
The skeleton paused and shot her a curious look. Asriel stopped mid-dumpling-fold and blew out a little sigh.
"I dunno," he said softly.
.
"Wh…? Oh! Oh." Papyrus's face fell. He shook the flour off his hands, gave Asriel an affection pat on the shoulder, and went to join Chara. He sat on the floor pillow beside her and pulled her into a hug. "Nyeh. Little sister, it's going to be okay."
"Hm." She clung to him and sighed quietly. "Sorry. I just… I'm happy. I am. But… I'm… selfish, too."
"I know. Same," Asriel said. "I know Frisk feels exactly the same."
"You think so?" Chara said quietly.
"I know it."
"I just don't want to be a mopey mess around her," she said. "She must already feel strange enough about everything."
"Just be how you have to be," Papyrus said gently. "She's your sister, right? She understands."
The freckled girl laughed weakly. She knuckled at a dry eye and slumped comfortably against the skeleton. "Are you almost done? It feels like it's been hours."
"There's like a hundred dumplings here!" Asriel protested.
"Oh, more than that," Papyrus said proudly.
Chara snorted out a louder laugh this time and smiled at him. "I was just thinking… Maybe we could do that tape now."
.
Asriel almost dropped the dumpling he was working on. He swiftly smushed the seams together and tossed it onto the counter, then whirled on her, his pale eyes gleaming. "Yeah?!"
She nodded. "I… still don't know exactly what I wanna say, but—"
"That's okay! It's fine!" Asriel grinned. "It'll be great. Paps, wanna help?"
"Me?!" Papyrus brightened. "Of course! I mean, I don't know exactly how or what, but—!"
"It's a recording, for our parents back home," the goat boy explained quickly. "They have no idea Chara's okay at all. Like we didn't."
"OH! Well! That's a huge thing, isn't it?" Papyrus said. "So, yes, absolutely tell me anything I can do!"
.
Chara's pale face flushed. Asriel swiftly wiped his hands on his pants and then grabbed Frisk's phone off the table. He bent down and put his arms around both of them, bending down to give Chara a smooch on the head. She scoffed and playfully batted him away, and he snickered and bounced up again.
"Come on, we can improvise a bit, it'll be fine!"
.
In the main Soul chamber, the three of them emerged just in time to see a monster made of crystal and stone and shaped a little like Toriel, standing near Sans and Frisk, crank a massive fist backwards and strike herself in the face so hard that half of it completely shattered.
.
Pandemonium erupted. Papyrus cawed and Asriel swore loudly; gripping to Chara who was gawking. Somewhere, Alphys shrieks, and a handful of moonghosts phasing into view, shrieking and spinning all about. In an instant, Frisk was reaching up and the newcomer bent to meet her. Quicker than it had happened, the monster's face was fixed.
"Couldn'tta just taken the explanation, huh?" they heard Sans say.
"I am more than satisfied," the huge, stone monster said. "…Little one, you did not appear very surprised."
"This happens more than you'd think," Frisk said with a sideways smile. She caught sight of the others near the cabin and waved. "Guys, the moonghosts aren't mad!"
"Well PHEW!" Papyrus called.
"I was a little mad," a large moonghost with wing-like ears said as they appeared from nowhere, just to their left. "Ooh, hi, Red Ghooost."
"H-Howdy," Chara's voice creaked. She rubbed her face. "Damn."
Asriel couldn't help a little laugh and she elbowed him in the side.
.
"B-Bahmata, th-that was terrifying!" Alphys protested, sneaking up closer from around the side of the cabin. "Aaaalso, I'm n-not sure if the whole, um, e-entourage should be here?"
"We're swooorn tooo secrecy!" the large moonghost assured her. "I dooo like that there's a little hooouse in here. Cooozy."
"Y-Yeah, but—"
"It's fine, Alph, I got nothin' to hide out here," Sans said. "Just, nobody touch that light down there." He pointed at the Soul, where several of the smaller ghosts were gathered like moth's drawn to a torch. "Even if you ain't got a body, capiche?"
The moonghosts flitted back away from the light bashfully.
.
"Oracle, why did you not just tell me?" Bahmata asked crossly.
"Legit didn't know," he said.
"Didn't know what?" Chara asked.
"Ah. Red Ghost. Hello," the massive monster said. "Tell your brother to cease his deceptions instantly."
"Well, you better do that, then, brother," Chara teased, shooting Sans a grin.
The skeleton laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm serious. Time kids got a distortion around 'em, they're a lot harder to see."
Bahmata sighed. "Yes, but if you had just said it would become a scrying pool—"
"Literally didn't know that."
.
"Wait, what's going on?" Papyrus asked worriedly.
"The human's blood dyed a moon pool," Bahmata said.
"Wait, she lost that much blood?!" Asriel yelped.
"Not quite, it was more just reactin'," Sans said.
"And it became a scrying pool," Bahmata asserted.
"After ya blasted the hell outta it."
"Oh. That. Yes." The huge monster reached into her sleeve.
Asriel rubbed his head. "What is going on?"
The other kids could only shrug.
.
Abruptly, the large monster pulled Gaster's Temporal Blaster from her sleeve and tossed it to Sans.
"How'd she get that?!" Asriel asked.
"Repayment," Bahmata said. "It is useless to me now."
"Uh. Kay," Sans said. "Sure. Thanks."
"Wait, she had that all night?" the goat boy demanded. His eyes traced the coloured segments in the chamber and saw it was reduced back to just the one red sliver. "She fired it off?!"
"Who is this boy and why is he so incredulous?" Bahmata wondered.
.
"HEY!" Undyne burst in from a portal like a typhoon. "SORRY I'M LATE!"
A chorus of voices greeted the Queen and Asriel looked like he was about to collapse with sheer confusion. Chara rubbed her temples.
"So, scrying pool?" she said.
"Ah. Yes. The pool. It can catch glimpses. Of the past, only, it seems, but—"
"That kinda makes sense, almost all my magic runs backwards," Frisk said.
"Wait, what pool?!" Undyne bounded up to them. "What's going on?! Yo, did we figure out the red stuff?!"
Sans looked about ready to faceplant into the grass. Bahmata began, but was interrupted as Gaster cautiously slid up to join the group.
"Excuse me, your Highness," he said.
"Oh." Undyne glared. "You."
"Ah, the mysterious criminal," Bahmata said.
Gaster cracked a crooked smile. "That's me. I feel as though I have the most complete picture of the situation, may I explain?"
Undyne raised her brows. She looked at Sans, who seemed extremely relieved. He gestured to Gaster.
"Uh. Sure, I guess; tell it," she said.
The skeleton dipped his head and began to outline what exactly had happened from the moment Frisk collided with the Soul of the World.
.
Still fairly flabbergasted, Asriel grabbed onto Chara and she pulled him by the hand. She caught Papyrus's eye, then Frisk's, and nodded off towards the woods. Once the four of them were a polite distance away from the adults, Frisk snuck in close with a curious look on her face.
"What we doin'?" she asked.
"Chara's video," Asriel said.
"Ooh!" Frisk's eyes lit right up. "Ohmigosh, that's great!"
"We'll walk her through it," he said. "It'll be cool." He cast a quick look back over his shoulder. "Seriously, though, what was up with that?"
"Sounds like a mess," Chara said.
"I have to admit, it was pretty hard to follow, even for me," Papyrus said. "Everyone is very full of chaos today.
"Yeah, tell me about it. Frisk, stay conscious more when dumb stuff happens, okay?" Asriel said. "These guys are terrible at explaining the deets."
"I'll try," Frisk said with a sideways smile.
.
Chara chuckled, but she rubbed her head again, as if a headache was pressing inwards. Frisk's brow furrowed with worry. She grabbed onto Chara's hand.
"Hey. It's gonna be good."
"Hm. I… I'll need help," she said. "I haven't recorded anything since just before Azzy and I…" She pursed her lips. "Well. I mean. We used a totally different device, so—"
"Don't worry, these new ones are a ton easier," Asriel said.
"The old ones weren't hard, Azzy." She smiled slyly. "At least when you remember to remove the lens cover."
Asriel's face flushed a little. He picked up the pace a bit, the fur on his neck bristling. "Haaaa ha, okaaaay, well, don't worry, it'll be fine this time then!"
"Just don't put your thumb over it," Frisk said with a smile. "Mom does that all the time."
.
Chara snickered. A tired, nostalgic smile crossed her face. "Thanks, you guys," she said quietly.
Papyrus reached down to gently ruffle her hair and Frisk shot her a grin.
"It's real important," she said.
"You gotta pick a good spot!" Asriel called— he was already at the tree line. "What d'you think? Somewhere in here?"
"Maybe near the wall," Papyrus suggested. "The stone glitters pretty nicely close up!"
"Hm." Chara shrugged. "Whatever you like. I'll just try not to screw up."
"Whatever you do, they're gonna love it," Frisk assured her.
The girl's cheeks reddened a little. She let Frisk take her by the hand and guide her into the shade beneath the dense, darkened trees.
xXxXx
Somewhere else, darkness stretched like an impenetrable night sky. A weighted blanked of lightless void that pressed ever downwards, squeezing away heat and breath.
.
However… To realize that one was in a lightless void, one had to still be alive. So. That was good news.
.
A rush of auditory nonsense, like the sound of snow from the television. Horrible, grating— instantly headache inducing. But, also, good news.
.
Then, a snap. Clarity. Just the normal amount of background noise, and—
.
"Aaaaah! Sans?!" Papyrus. His voice was so loud, but it was welcome.
.
A good guide out of the deep darkness, as it always was.
.
Sans's eyes cracked open and the distortion of colours were still there, playing different times of day around his brother's worried face. Sans smiled and raised his hand. Papyrus immediately grabbed it and cradled it close.
"Please tell me it's still in the machine."
.
Sans was overcome with confusion for a few moments until he caught the incorrect number of fingers on the hand being squeezed. He almost laughed.
"Sans!" the boy scolded.
Sans shrugged. Papyrus huffed. He looked at the floor. Alphys peeked in around him. She grimaced.
"It's gone," she squeaked as she pulled the dozing white dog out. "S-Sans, I'm s-so sorry, I—"
He shook his head and coughed, his voice cracking and distorted from the effort.
"But… This is your dominant hand, isn't it?" Papyrus's eyes flitted down and he grimaced. "I… If I hadn't told her to keep you there, you… could have at least used your right one if you had to do… that. I'm sorry."
Again, Sans shook his head. He sat up, unable to keep from smiling wide. Words wouldn't come, so he mimed for a pen. Papyrus sat him down and put a blanket around his shoulders, then fetched his notepad and pen from the time machine.
.
"her name is Frisk" Sans said.
"…Huh?" Papyrus looked confused. Then, his eyes went wide. "Wait, it worked?! Y-You met Crabapple Kid?!"
Sans beamed and nodded. He underlined the name and tapped the end of the pen on the paper. "her name is Frisk"
Alphys took one look and then grabbed his shoulder. "You did it?!" she asked.
He nodded. Papyrus cawed as the lizard grabbed Sans into a tight hug, laughing shrilly.
"Frisk! Our sister is Frisk! It's…!" Papyrus's eyes went wide. They flickered with amber and he put his hand over his soul spot. "Frisk… It's… familiar." He gasped sharply. "Ooooh, Sans, I think I'm starting to remember something! Frisky, right? The full name she got it from, it was Frisky, wasn't it?"
Sans nodded again. Papyrus cackled and he pulled the three others into a tight hug.
.
Sans gripped tight to his brother. He couldn't help it. He was elated. Glowing.
.
Glowing maybe a little too much, actually.
.
He and Papyrus both noticed at once, a beat of purple shining through his shirt along with his regular cyan. Alphys caught a pulse and squeaked, staring at it intently as she squeezed the sleeping dog tight.
.
It pulsed again. A tentative double beat. A pause. And again. And again, repeating that rhythm. Sans put his hand against his chest.
"Drums?" Alphys breathed.
Sans shook his head. Not drums. A heartbeat. Something of his sister's, lingering from that grey place.
.
Cautiously, he got to his feet. Every inch of him hurt, but he could still stand, at least. Papyrus grabbed him anyway.
"What now?" the tall skeleton asked. "Is there more that we do? Oh! We should tell dad, right?! He has a phone with him, I think?!"
"One of my extras," Alphys said. "But, wait, Sans, are you hurt?! What is that?! I-I've never seen anything like it."
"dunno but its hers" Sans wrote.
"So you managed to tell her what's going on?! What did you do?!" Papyrus asked.
"she got her way to find us" he said. "she and az will come"
"Oh my god, Sans, I-I'm…" Alphys drew in a sharp breath and smiled at him. "I-I'm so h-happy for you."
"You can stay up until then, right?!" Papyrus demanded. "You can. Right?"
Sans had no idea. He felt like a big old sack of dust already, but he nodded anyway.
"Good! You better! So, what should we—?"
.
Sans's phone rang. He pulled the thing from his pocket and put it on speaker, but immediately passed it to Papyrus.
"Heelllooo, the great Papyrus speaking!" he said.
"…Paps?" Gaster's voice. "Where's your brother?"
"He can't answer right now, unfortunately," he said.
"Why? What happened? Is he alright?"
"Oh! No, sorry, I mean— yes, he's fine, he just literally can't answer, he has the offkeys again."
"Ah! I'm sorry! Did you get our updates on the app?"
"Aah, oh no, sorry, I forgot to update ours, too!" Alphys said, whipping out her phone and typing furiously.
"We've been kind of busy," Papyrus said. "Sans went out. He lost a finger."
"…Oh. God."
Sans smacked himself in the forehead and cut his eyes at his brother. Papyrus smiled bashfully.
"Um! But! Here's the good news! He's back. It worked. He found her. Everything's perfectly okay so far!"
"…OH." Gaster made some strange sound, caught between a cough and a laugh. "Sans?! Can he hear me?"
"He can!"
"Sans, listen. I am… I am so, so incredibly proud of you."
Sans scoffed and waved a hand. Papyrus snickered.
"He's doing the bashful wave-it-off," he said.
Gaster chuckled. "So what happened, exactly?"
Sans mimed typing with his thumbs.
"He'll text you soon," Papyrus said. "It doesn't sound like you're still down in the CORE, are things okay there? How about Auntie and Suzy and the King?"
.
Gaster was quiet for a moment. The skeletons shared worried looks.
"It's, ah… They're all fine," Gaster said. "Kio came to, not too long ago. We had to pull back to the lab."
"Uh oh, is that bad?" Papyrus said.
"The lava is rising." Gaster let out a rough breath. "We're shoring up the doors."
"Oh g-god," Alphys breathed. "C-C-Can I help?!"
"Just stay there. Stay safe," he said. "The lab is built to withstand overflow."
"Overflow o-over the roof?!"
Gaster was silent again for a few seconds. "For a while."
.
"They're coming," Papyrus said swiftly. "Our siblings. They can find us, now. They're coming. Things'll be fine! It'll all be fixed."
"I know, Paps," Gaster said. "Sans, you'll have to tell me everything you saw."
Sans stuck his thumb up.
"He will!" Papyrus assured their father. "I can't wait to hear it, too, actually— he just got back."
.
A rumble growled beneath their feet. Papyrus swiftly grabbed the other three in his magic, but the moment he touched Sans's soul, his jaw dropped. He spluttered for a moment, then grimaced. He took a deep breath.
"Dad, I have to go," he said. "We need to do just a little more planning. We'll call again once we know what we're doing next."
"…All right, Paps," he said. "Love you. All of you. Good luck."
"Love you, too." Papyrus hung up. He took another deep breath and then turned to his brother and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Sans."
.
Sans smiled sideways. It must've been really bad, then. Papyrus sighed.
"You… You're…" He shook his head. "What do we do? What do you need me to do?"
Before Sans could answer in any way, the world rocked again. His head spun. He clunked the heel of his hand against his brow and Papyrus grimaced, too. Alphys looked around in bafflement.
"Is that an earthquake?!"
.
Both skeletons turned worried eyes on her.
"Uh oh, Doctor Alphys, did you forget?!" Papyrus asked.
"Forget what?" she said. Her eyes widened and she snorted laughing at herself. "S-Sorry! Sorry, that's such a cliché."
"Do you know what we're doing?!"
"Uh." Her eyes looked glassy for just an instant. She blinked. "Oh! The time machine, right?" She rubbed her head. "Or… s-something like… that?"
Sans grimaced. He patted the lizard heartily on the shoulder and then snatched his phone back from his brother. There was only one thing he could think of, and he told his brother as much via text. Papyrus checked his phone.
"A… save star?" Papyrus read.
Sans nodded. He pointed upwards. Papyrus nodded. He raced ahead to the door and threw it open.
.
The moment the skeleton stepped outside, though, he all but collapsed, holding his skull in both hands. Sans and Alphys raced to him. The fluffy white dog, awoken by the movement, barked in alarm and sprinted up, too. Stepping outside almost flattened the little thing. The second Sans set foot on the snow, he understood why.
.
Everything was moving. Changing. Twisting and warping, from the ground beneath their feet to the cavern and sky high overhead. Sans's breath caught and he turned to look at Alphys. It seemed as if she was moving in slow motion, flickering between colours and outfits— being there and not at all.
.
Sans had no idea if what he was seeing was real or just his mind being absolutely scrambled by time energy but, in the moment, it didn't matter. The same must've been happening to his brother and the dog as well, but neither of them had experience with anything even remotely close to this. He tried to get Alphys's attention, and he saw her eyes come to rest on him. She said something but it was in six different languages at once— or maybe he was just going deaf with the cacophony of sounds around him, too.
.
He pointed to his brother and then back into his small, makeshift lab. Whatever was happening, the area around the machine seemed to be shielded. To his utmost relief, Alphys, very slowly, nodded. She grabbed onto Papyrus's shoulders.
.
Sans couldn't stay, though. His time was running low. He took a step and nothing was any clearer.
.
He looked up and saw the house change, the snow turn to sun, the walls turn to stone and ruin and back, shift between every type of paint and pattern. For a moment, the top floor ceased to exist, but still, blazing gold, was a star-shaped rip in the world, before it was encased in structure once again.
.
Staggering out into the street, Sans watched time skip all over, a mess of a time-lapse backwards and sideways. He saw himself strolling by— saw dozens of monsters flickering in and out all up and down the street towards Waterfall.
.
Giant spiders. Tiny spiders. Dog spiders.
.
Blizzards and light, twinkling snowfalls and beaming sun. Stones falling in great chunks. Rivers and green, fresh grass beneath his feet.
.
Toriel, and Asgore, and their children flashing by in crowds of a migration. Monsters he knew. Some he'd never seen.
.
Papyrus scampering down the road with excitement, barely ten years old. Papyrus, twirling a child— Frisk— in the air in jubilation. Papyrus collapsing into the snow without a head.
.
Sans grasped onto the wall of the house and pulled himself along it, past eons of visions, and towards the front door. Even lifting each leg up the steps was a struggle.
.
The door was stuck. With shaking hands, he scrambled with the doorknob. It changed under his touch. He could hardly get a grip on it. He grimaced and took a long, deep breath. Anything Undyne had left him with, he charged it up into his arms and he shoved his shoulder against the door as hard as he could. The whole thing buckled inwards.
.
Exhausted, the skeleton stumbled into the quiet threshold of home. The lights were low and the place was controlled chaos. The coffee table and floor were covered with assembled puzzles and colourful books on the same topic.
.
He rubbed his hand over his face. His head spun and he shook it back and forth as if to clear it. His legs would hardly cooperate as he tried not to step on the liquid colour puzzles in plastic left out all over the floor.
.
He struggled out of a white lab coat and let it drop from weak fingers as he collapsed onto the green couch. He stared blankly up at the plain, boring ceiling, trying to figure out where he'd been or what had happened. Even his own name would be good.
.
When he blinked, he saw magma. He didn't know why. Everything hurt. Everything was too hot and too cold at once. He felt… He wasn't sure. His head ached so deeply it was a wonder it was still attached.
.
"Biiiig brooooothheeerr!" a little voice called to him.
His eyes darted over to the side just in time for a tiny, adorable skeleton in pyjamas to jump right on top of him, knocking the wind from him.
"You were away foreeeever." The little skeleton looked down at him with a stern frown, but his expression softened. "You don't look so good."
He stared up at the kid. Still so dizzy. He couldn't help but smile. His tired voice croaked when he tried to get words out. "H-Hey, Paps."
"Nyeh heh, well, you're awake enough for that, at least," the tiny Papyrus said. "You're home at a weird time. I mean, weirder than usual."
"Hm." He could hardly think. What was weird about it? Why? He reached up to pat the kid on the shoulder. "…S'okay?"
"Is it?" he tilted his head. "GASP! SANS! Have you been doing all the elixirs again?!"
Sans. Right. That was the name. Sans held his head and grinned tiredly. "Man… That was one time."
"Still!"
The skeleton chuckled. He didn't have answers, though.
.
Where was he? What time was it? What year was it?
.
Where was Frisk?
.
Sans blinked. The lights were dim. None of this was Snowdin. This was the apartment, in New Home. He hadn't lived here in years.
.
How long had he been here?
.
He sat up a little. The tiny Papyrus was dozed off on his chest. He couldn't help but smile and rubbed the kid's head.
"…This is fake, ain't it?" he said quietly.
"Yeeeep," Papyrus replied softly.
"…I think this might be the life flashing before my eyes bit."
"Could be!"
Sans sighed. "I gotta go."
"I know." The little Papyrus sat up a bit and yawned. "Nyeeeh! Well! That's okay. It's not far." He hugged Sans around the shoulders and patted him on the back with solid, little hands. "Just up the stairs, big brother."
.
All of a sudden, Sans was alone again, half-off the couch, in the living room of his house. Snow was coming in through the threshold, scattering on top of the broken door.
.
He forced himself upright. His knees were weak. The visions flashed again and he closed his eyes. He felt his way to the stairs and grasped tight to the railing.
.
Every step up felt like a mountain.
.
That attic room glowed in his mind's eye even without seeing it. He dragged himself up, pushing Undyne's magic through his extremities to steady himself as best he could.
.
Once his feet were on solid floor again, he cautioned a look. The attic room looked, to his surprise, much like how he'd left it. That star gleamed bright amongst everything, a warm comfort in the chaos.
.
He grabbed the armchair and shoved it as close to it as he could and plopped down. He took a deep breath and, pulsing magic out into his hands, grasped tight to the light. Energy ran through him like warm water and everything to the core of his bones felt like it flipped upside down. Even so, it was reassuring. The purple light in his chest beat steadily.
.
He projected what little he could into the rip until he felt himself waning and he slumped back into his seat. He cupped his hand over his soul and tried to catch his breath.
.
There wasn't much else he could do now. He pulled out his notebook and pen.
.
hey kiddos. if you see this and a pile of dust, sorry, i didnt make it. world got screwed while you were gone. no big deal, though, turn it back and i'll see you then, okay? missed ya
.
He tore the page out, folded it, and scribbled both siblings' names on it. He kept it loosely in his hand as he folded his arms. He stared at the tear in time with tired eyes and waited.