Well, that didn't go so bad Chapter 106

The scent of floral tea and sweet cocoa wafted from the kitchen and up into the second floor. It was almost as if Toriel was on autopilot, boiling the kettle, steeping drinks; toasting the bread of sandwiches with the flame of her breath. Sans had a tall mug of hot chocolate shoved into his hands the instant he was in line with the kitchen doorway. Toriel paused and watched him for a while with a look on her face as if she would have bundled him up in a scarf and a blanket if she had such things on hand. His cheekbones flushed faintly and he hid behind a swig of the cocoa. She smiled with a deep sense of knowing in her eyes and turned back to the kettle.

.

"Asriel, what would you like?" Toriel called.

The boy was in the living room, starting to arrange cushions on the floor. "Uh. I'm okay."

"Really? Honey, when was the last time you ate?"

"Uhh… I dunno, like, an hour ago, but a week in the future, or something…?" Asriel looked up at Frisk as she came downstairs, too. "What 'bout you, you hungry?"

"Uh." Frisk stalled on the steps. She couldn't recall when she'd last eaten in this timeline, but either way, she wasn't hungry. She could still recall the warming taste of Mistral's scones quite clearly. Her tongue, however, felt a little like sand. "No, but I, um, wouldn't mind a drink or something, though. Gotta refill my tear juice."

"Is that a thing?" he asked with a sideways smile.

"I dunno, but when I cry, my mouth feels all dry and weird after."

"That is something I can help with, at least," Toriel said with a little sigh of relief. "Just a moment."

.

Frisk perked up a little, then scooted back down to the ground floor.

"I figure, here," Asriel said, gesturing to the cushions. "There's a short table upstairs, right?"

"I think so," Frisk said.

"Asriel," Toriel cut in cautiously, "where…? Do I want to know what you were eating out there?"

"It's fine, mom," Asriel said with a laugh. "We made some friends. They literally threw us a going-away party."

"You…? Pardon?" Toriel asked as she stuck her head out of the kitchen. "…A going-away party, did I hear that correctly?"

"Yeah," the boy said, and his sister nodded along.

"And who… exactly was…?"

"The people we were staying with," Frisk said.

"And their queen, and archwizard, and the guard captain, and a bunch of dogs," Asriel said, sticking his tongue out. "We're gonna explain everything, but… Y'know. Don't worry too much, it's not like we were alone in the wilderness or drifting in space or something that whole time."

"…Huh," Toriel said quietly.

.

A little bit of anxiousness thumped in Frisk's chest. She took a deep breath, then headed for Sans. "Hey, bro?"

"Hm?" His hand was on top of her head again the moment she was within range.

She could still feel the ache through him. That had to mean whatever was going on actually inside him had to be pretty intense. Before she could ask her big brother if he was okay, his brow furrowed faintly and he put his mug on the table behind him, shifting his palm sideways over her scalp.

"You bonk your head?" he asked.

"Wh…? No. I'm fine," she said, and she offered him the jacket. "This is for you."

Sans's eyes widened a little. He carefully accepted the coat and held it up in front of him. "Yo. That's real nice," he said. "…Looks kinda like—"

"The dream, right?" Frisk said.

Sans looked down at her. His left eye flickered for just an instant. "…That… ain't a coincidence, huh?"

Frisk shook her head. Sans stiffly leaned back against the table.

"So. What I saw when I found ya, it really was them, huh?" he said.

She nodded swiftly. His fingers clenched more tightly into the coat's thick shoulders and his eyes quickly darted over its surface.

"It's from them," she said. She stood on her toes and he bent to let her whisper against his head. "Another guy named Sans. The guy you looked like in the dream thing." She pulled back to see his left iris had fully flared. She put a hand on his. "He wanted you to have one. Thought you'd like it."

"I, uh…" The corner of his grin twitched upwards a little. "I do. That's just, uh… That's really somethin' else."

"Oh man, you don't even know," she said.

"So, see why we said we were safe now?" Asriel cut in.

Sans snorted. "Heh. Guess so."

.

The short skeleton's gaze shifted to his sister's hand and he plucked it up, running his thumb over the mark on the top of it. He looked her in the eye and raised his brows. Frisk grinned sheepishly. Asriel held up his hand, too. The star pattern was faint in his white fur, but was still plainly visible. Sans paused; blew out a little sigh, a resigned smile on his face. He bent forward and pulled Frisk into a loose hug.

"Thanks, kiddo," he said quietly. "S'a great coat."

Frisk perked right up. "He said it had, like, instructions in the pocket?"

"Heh. I'm a bit of a bonehead, but I'm pretty sure I can figure out how to put it on without a step-by-step."

The kid snickered. She shook her head. "There's, like, some magic stuff in it, I think. I dunno what, though."

"Ah."

"Definitely the pockets," Asriel said.

"Oh! Yeah, the pockets," Frisk agreed. She drew back and patted her own pockets before recalling she wasn't wearing any of the other world's clothes anymore. "Ah. Um. Right, they have this thing, called, uh, mallet space? It's like a one item dimension box thingy, but in clothes."

.

"Did I just hear you say mallet space?" Toriel asked, peeking out of the kitchen curiously.

Frisk nodded. Her mother's brows raised high.

"Where on earth did you hear about that?" she asked as Sans unfurled the jacket and slipped it on. "The weavers that created those haven't been around for centuries."

"Uh." Frisk faltered for just a moment, her eyes widening. "Oh. Um. That's, uh…" She looked back at Asriel, but he only shrugged. She smiled nervously. "Thaaat's… Uh."

"There's all kinds of crazy stuff out there," Asriel said smoothly.

"Frisk." Toriel crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Is it very worrying to you? Is that where the hesitation is coming from?"

"Uhh…" Frisk clenched her hands together. It was all she could do to stop herself word-vomiting every secret she was holding in her head out into the world. She gulped. "It's just a lot?" she said, her voice shrill and warbly.

.

Asriel snickered and slid up to her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She almost jumped

"Just get your tear juice refill," he said. "Wait for everyone to get here so we don't gotta say it a thousand times. Duh."

"But…" She scrunched up her face and turned to whisper in right against his ear. "What about Avenir? Dad's gonna freak and I… I kinda want Sans to know before that."

The boy cocked his head to the side. He looked back at the grown-ups and then bumped the tip of his snout against his sister's cheek. "We can get through this," he said. "But. I mean. Go ahead?" He backed up and pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Gonna get the table."

"You're small again, though," she pointed out.

"I can lift it, no biggie."

"Allow me," Toriel said. "Just, assist me with the door."

"Oh. Sure. Thanks," Asriel said, and together, they headed up the stairs.

.

The moment Frisk turned back to Sans, he had a cocoa waiting for her. She accepted it gratefully and took a deep swig.

"You look tired," he said. "Why don'tcha sit down for a bit?"

Frisk shook her head. "In a minute. But. Um—"

"You wanted to tell me somethin'."

"Yeeeeah. Um." She sighed. "So. Uh. Part of this whole thing, was, um, weeeee kiiiiinda went back in time, I think."

"Uh… huh." Sans's brows shot up and the light in his eyes shrunk a little. "You can, uh… You can do that, huh?"

"It was like, a weird thing, not a normal thing," Frisk said quickly.

"How far back?"

"A really long time. Before the war," she said. She grabbed at his sleeve and snuck closer, lowering her voice. "Dude, I… I met skeletons. Three of 'em."

"…Uh—"

"We were at Crios Cnàmh," she said insistently. "We met grandma."

Sans shifted back a little, eyes wide. He bumped into the table. "You—?"

"Avenir," she insisted. "I… Um. D-D'you wanna see?"

"You took pictures?"

"Oh! Yeah, I did that, too," she said, quickly taking out her phone. Her fingers trembled faintly as she rushed to bring up the picture of Avenir working at her desk. She could only imagine all the stuff that was racing through his head right now. "I took a ton. I think she made some videos, too. I… I think there's one for you, actually. And Paps. And dad."

"…Our dead grandma made us… videos on your phone."

"Yeah."

The skeleton put a hand to his brow and blew out a little sigh. "Whew, kiddo."

"I know! I know, sorry," she said. "That's kinda why I wanted to tell you first, I think dad's gonna lose it when he hears." She found the picture and held her phone out to Sans. "See?"

.

With careful hands, Sans scooped the device up and looked intently at the image presented to him. He went quiet for a little, and Frisk waited anxiously for him to say more, bouncing on her toes. She wondered if he noticed how she had those big eye sockets, a lot like he did.

"She, um… She was really nice," she said. "She had one eye that was pretty much the same blue as yours."

"…Oh yeah?"

Frisk nodded. "It was cool to meet her and, um… She helped a lot."

"Did you tell her who you were?" Sans asked.

Frisk nodded, but quickly realized his gaze was still firmly locked on the photo. "Y-Yeah. She… She was really cool about it, actually."

"Dad didn't happen to be—?"

"No, it was before that."

.

A few seconds more and he passed the phone back to her, unable to prevent a little light glimmering in his iris. He smiled. "I, uh… Heh. S'funny. Hardly know what to say."

"I know, I know, sorry," Frisk said swiftly. "It's… It's so crazy, and—"

"S'there a point t'me askin' why and how already?"

"Uh. Well." Her heart thumped hard in her chest. "Az and I got separated for a little and I went to ask for help from this grey skeleton who looked like you but was actually me, kinda, and he sent me to this spot that was waaaay back in time where I met these two skeletons and we went on kinda a weird adventure and Avenir helped get Az back."

.

Sans stared at her. Frisk felt her face heat up. Before she could stammer out anything else, her brother held her shoulder.

"Okay. I, uh, got about a thousand questions, but… Say that again about the grey guy?" he said. "'Cause, uh… I think I saw 'im."

"You did?!" Frisk let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, okay, it's… I mean. He said— I said?" She scratched her head. "I don't really get it, but it's like… Okay, you know how I have like, a dream-you that does the memory management for me so I don't get super confused all the time?"

"Yeeeeeah."

"So, the grey guy, he's kind of like that, but for time and space," she said. "Said it was so my brain doesn't blow up or something."

"It was… a fragment of you," Sans said quietly. His brow furrowed and he tapped his teeth. "Then why'd it look like me?"

"Welllll…" Frisk smiled sideways, her cheeks flushing a little. "I think it was probably 'cause I missed you a whole lot and… y'know. You always help me with time stuff. So. If I couldda gone to you, I wouldda, I guess."

Sans blinked. The kid shrugged a little. He sighed and plucked her up under her arms, hugging her close. She squeaked; gladly leaned into him, though she tried hard not to spill her drink.

"Got me again, y'little nerd," he joked quietly.

Frisk snickered. "I knoooow."

.

He'd just barely put Frisk back down on the floor by the time Toriel returned with the disused coffee table. Asriel followed, clutching an armful of pillows.

"And, there," Toriel said as she placed the table in between what Asriel had already set up. "Frisk, did…? Ah. You got your drink, good. Is there anything else you'd like before everyone arrives, my child?"

At first, Frisk shook her head. After a moment longer of thought, she smiled bashfully. "Another hug?"

"Oh…" Toriel cooed gently and settled down on the floor to pull Frisk into her arms. "Of course. Whenever you wish."

Frisk's shoulders slumped and she lost herself in her mother's robe and fur. She could hear Asriel snicker a little, but she didn't mind.

.

"Frisk," he said. He beckoned to her when she managed to peek over their mother's arm. "C'mere." He sat down at the head of the table and patted the cushion beside him. "Let's figure it all out, real quick."

"Nearly time," Sans said.

"That's okay. We probably mostly got it," Asriel said.

Frisk nodded and carefully slipped over to join him. She grabbed his hand as she sat down. He was really holding it together well, she thought. She felt like her insides could bubble right out of her. She also felt like everyone in the room knew.

.

After just a few minutes of the kids conspiring, Papyrus blustered into the house, followed closely by the others who had been travelling through the caves. Toriel rushed to seize both the boy and his father in a tight hug, lifting them right off their feet. Behind the skeletons, Undyne locked eyes with Sans the moment she stepped inside. She grinned sideways and he looked almost embarrassed and sipped his cocoa.

"Sans!" Alphys rushed in and crushed him into a hug. "H-How are you, do you f-feel okay, do you want me to—?"

"Alph, I'm fine," he said. He put an arm around her. "…Thanks for the help, huh?"

"I-I'm kinda surprised I was, um, any help at a-all, in the state I was in," she said.

"Nah, you did great, babe," Undyne assured her.

Alphys's cheeks flushed brightly and she warbled out a high-pitched giggle.

.

"Hey. Cap," Sans said. "Doin' alright?"

Undyne shrugged and smiled. "Yeah. You?"

The skeleton nodded. "…Thanks, huh?"

"Hey, no problem," she assured him. She leaned in closer to him and lowered her voice a bit. "Talk later?"

He raised his mug and took another sip before placing it on the table behind him. She thumped him hard on the shoulder.

.

"SAAANS!" Papyrus appeared between them as if from nowhere and lifted his brother right off his feet. He pressed the side of his head against Sans's chest and frowned thoughtfully.

"Hey, Paps," Sans coughed.

"You absolute mess," Papyrus chided as he squeezed him into a hug. "Ugh. Thank god."

Sans snickered. He let himself flop over his brother's shoulders. "Sorry."

"Cease and desist! Just…" Papyrus put Sans back down on the floor and clasped a hand onto his shoulder. He smiled like sunshine. "It's good to see you."

"Your turn, dears," Toriel interjected, sweeping Alphys and Undyne into her arms.

Undyne made a bit of a squawking noise and the lizard stammered her way into a laugh as Papyrus cackled loudly at the sight.

.

Sans smiled to himself. He finished his drink and put it aside, then tried to quietly slip past the exuberant monsters and towards the coffee table. The moment he had space, though, his father was before him. Gaster bent and held his son's face in his hands, then gently bonked their foreheads together. Sans's grin turned a little sheepish. His eyes darted to his father's darkened bones, and the old skeleton hurriedly concealed them inside his pocket.

"Don't worry," he said quietly.

"Welp. You're not alone, I guess," Sans said, holding his hands up to show off the missing digit on one and the leftover scar on the other.

"Sans—!"

Sans winked. "Don't worry."

.

"Dad." Frisk beckoned and Gaster rushed to her as if it were an emergency.

He dropped down beside her and clasped her small fingers in his. "What do you need?"

"Well, uh…" Her eyes glimmered. "Dang, it's really nice to see you again."

"I…" There was a little, flustered tremor in his voice. He tentatively put a hand on her head. "It's nice to see you, too."

"I… I guess I just wanted to say, this might be kinda tough. Like, especially for you," she said. "Aaaand I'm not sure what I got to make it less bad, but—"

"Ah… Kiddo." Gaster smiled softly. "Thank you for worrying, but you don't need to bother trying to protect my feelings, of all things."

"But—"

"I know it's been almost no time at all, but I am your father," he said. "It's my responsibility to deal with whatever happens. Not yours." He rubbed her head fondly. "You just concentrate on telling everyone what you need to, alright?"

Frisk's eyes glimmered. "I… O-Okay. We'll do our best."

"It might actually get intense, though," Asriel said, resting his elbows on the table.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Gaster said with a teasing smile. "Prince or not, you're not taking on some emotional burden for me, understand?"

The boy snorted and waved a hand. "Okay, you asked for it." He straightened up a bit and looked around the room. "Guys, wanna get over here?"

.

Papyrus was beside them in an instant, all but crashing to the floor beside Asriel. "Yeeeees, please!" he said loudly as he righted himself. "Are we starting?"

Toriel headed towards the door, still slightly ajar, and peeked out beyond it into the snowy street. "…Is Asgore not coming?"

"He definitely is," Asriel assured her.

"Ah. Good." She gently scuffed some of the errant flakes on the floor out with her foot before pushing the way closed. "This is important."

"We, um, d-didn't see him in Waterfall, s-so he was probably a bit behind us," Alphys suggested.

"I think we maybe can get started a little bit," Frisk said. "Just like… unloading some stuff? We brought things back. Did I say that already?"

Asriel beckoned to the others. "Come sit or something, we have a lot."

.

Although most of the monsters looked a little confused, they sat down around the table, with Papyrus about as close to Asriel as space would allow and Sans just at his side, already slouched with his cheek on his fist. Undyne and Alphys leaned against each other next to him. Toriel passed around tea and a tray of toasted sandwiches before taking a seat close to Gaster.

.

As soon as they were settled, Frisk looked to Asriel. He shrugged and nodded, and gave her a little nudge.

"Okay, um. First… Oh!" Frisk pulled out the two phones she'd used as storage. "Dad, here's your book back."

"My…" The old skeleton's eyes widened. "The book of Dirges."

"Uh-huh!" The kid produced the tome with just a few button presses. It landed heavily in her hands and she passed it over to him. "Found your phone floating out there."

"I…" Gaster took the book tenderly and held it close. "…don't even have a strong enough word to say thank you."

"Oh! It's fine," she said quickly. "We, uh… We used it a bit. It came in really handy."

"You…" The skeleton looked as if he'd been frozen solid.

"Think you broke 'im again," Sans teased.

"How were you able to do that?" Toriel wondered. "That book is full of extremely powerful magic, is it not?"

"There's a couple magic boosts that aren't too hard," Papyrus said.

"That's true," Gaster said quickly. "But—"

"Hang on, hang on," Frisk said, scrolling through her item boxes. "Here we goooo."

.

A large, long bag clanked heavily onto the table. Asriel's ears perked and he leaned forward to open it up. The enchanted weapons he'd purchased glowed in patches of colour, shifting up from within the space. Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus leaned in, wide-eyed.

"Yo, WHAT?!" Undyne said.

"Where did you get all that?" Toriel asked, her brows shooting upwards.

"Bought 'em," Asriel said.

"You… bought them."

"Yeah, where we ended up, they just kinda sell a bunch of these," he said. "You guys, take whichever ones you want, okay?"

"Wh…? Really?" Undyne asked. She stuck her hand in the bag and pulled out an axe that had a blade seemingly made from lapis lazuli and plunked it out onto the table with a satisfying clunk. "Do they work?"

"Yeah. There's a list of what they all do in there somewhere," Asriel said.

"Wh…? Th-This is…" Alphys stood up and leaned over the bag. "…I've never seen a-anything like this before."

"Certainly not for a hundreds of years," Toriel said. She looked at Gaster, but he was still enthralled by the book of Dirges. "But… The master smiths and enchanters, they mostly did not survive the war. Those that did, managed to pass on very little of their skills before they… all inevitably fell."

.

Undyne got up and grabbed the bag, then liberally dumped its contents onto the table. Her eye gleamed. Asriel gestured for her to go for it, and she and Papyrus gleefully piled in, looking at fighting implements in all shapes and sizes— at least, those that were short enough to fit into the bag. Toriel's mouth fell open.

"What on earth did you need all this for?" she asked.

"I… I didn't really need it," Asriel said with a sheepish smile. "I just thought it was cool. Kinda thought it would be nice to bring back."

"…I see." She plucked a thin, one-handed sword with a glittering blade out from the pile, though it looked more like a dirk in her hand. She ran a claw down the edge, then twirled the sword to let it balance sideways upon one of her knuckles. "My. The quality is… fairly high." She looked at Asriel again. "You did not spend all your gold on these, did you?"

Asriel laughed sheepishly. "Not allllll of it. They weren't super expensive."

"That is a bit of a surprise," she admitted.

"So the p-place you guys ended up, it… i-it had shops. It had… m-monsters." Alphys huffed a little. "That's such a w-weird thought, isn't it?"

Asriel smiled apologetically. "It's, uh. It's gonna get a lot weirder. For… Well, all of you, probably."

"I got photos, too," Frisk said. "Like, a ton of 'em." The hair on the back of her neck prickled and she looked at Asriel with just a touch of nerves. "Uh. H-How do you think we should—?"

"W-Would you like me to set up your phone to, um, sh-show what you want on the TV?" Alphys asked.

"Ah! That sounds really good," Frisk said swiftly.

"Saves having to pass Frisk's phone around seven times," Asriel joked.

.

As Alphys took the device and got to work with the TV, Undyne leapt to her feet. A metal handle she had grasped tight burst into a quarterstaff inlaid with swirls of pale green, and she gave it a spin. A burst of cool wind, tinted with magic, blustered around the room.

"HAH! I thought so!" she said gleefully. "Man, this stuff is cool!" She deftly twirled the staff in one hand. "Did you meet the monster who made this?! Was there, like, a big forge or something?"

"It was just a normal store," Asriel said. "Maybe people had forges at home, but everything was just kinda, y'know, run by a shopkeeper."

"I think this is a list of names, here?" Papyrus had found what was essentially the receipt— the list of all the weapons, what they did, and the name of a monster. "So each person who made it is listed right there! That's very neat." He scanned the list and let out a large, loud gasp. "Fletcher?! The skeleton?! There were skeletons where you were?!"

"O-Oh! Yeah!" Frisk said quickly. "We met, uh, four there."

"Who who who?!"

"One named Mistral," Asriel said. "And, uh… what was that other lady? Desyrel, I think?"

"Yeah. And, uh…" Frisk smiled sideways. "So. Here's… part of the, uh, big weird start," she said. "The other two, were, uh. Sans. And Papyrus."

.

The room went so quiet that the faint, uncontrolled static of Gaster's twisted soul was the loudest thing to be heard. Then, an eruption of questions so loud and quick and muddled that Frisk couldn't help but squeak and Asriel burst out laughing. Sans was the only one who didn't look to be panicked, still wearing a cool, easy smile.

"Alright, alright, hang on a moment," Toriel said loudly, cutting through the commotion. "Surely you mean the names are perhaps just common or—?"

"Nope," Asriel said.

"…Nope," Toriel repeated blankly.

"Yeah, uh. See, that's, um… Thaaaaat's kinda why we were safe, y'know?" Frisk said. She looked at Papyrus. "It was the guy from the dream in the spooky world. That was the Papyrus we met."

"Wh…?! Oh! OH! MY! GOD!" Papyrus squeaked. "And?! Was he nice?! Was he as cool as me?!"

"He was really nice!" Frisk said.

"He was a little younger than you," Asriel said. "Sixteen, I think? He was pretty cool."

"Well, that's a relief!" Papyrus said shrilly. "And Sans?!"

"Really helpful," she said with a smile. "Honestly, they were super nice and everything wouldda been so much harder without them. They watched out for us."

.

"Wait, what the hell?!" Undyne demanded, sitting down heavily and leaning across the table. "How…? Yo, how is that even possible?!"

"There's a lot of alternate dimensions and stuff," Asriel said. "Infinite timelines. Tons of differences. All that junk. Just so happened we landed in one that we kinda had a link to to begin with." He grinned at her. "Met another you, too, fishface."

"WHAT?!"

"All of you guys, actually," Frisk added.

"What, m-me t-too?!" Alphys squeaked. She put her hands against her cheeks. "Ooooh, noooo, I, um…" She stiffly headed to Undyne, but her knees got weak before she made it all the way and she ended up in her girlfriend's lap. "I-I don't e-even know what to s-say…?!"

"I have some pictures," the kid volunteered again.

Alphys squeaked. "I m-m-might faint!"

.

"…So," Gaster said quietly. "That… place I found you in. That was there?"

Frisk nodded swiftly.

"And what…? Was it their link that made Sans sick, or—?"

"Oh! No, no no, it wasn't them at all," the kid said. "It was the first place we went. That was the second."

"How many places did you nerds go?!" Undyne blurted, wide-eyed.

.

Before Frisk could answer, there was a heavy knock on the door. She perked right up and most of the others whipped around to look. There was no question as to who it was.

"Come in," Toriel called.

As the door swung open, the frame was utterly filled with the huge King. He stepped in swiftly to a chorus of hellos and closed the way behind him, greeting everyone inside with clasped hands and a bright, if not tired, smile.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. "I had to… Oh, goodness, look at you all!" His smile only widened. "Safe and sound, hm?"

"Hiiiii, Asgore!" Frisk said brightly.

"Hello! Ah, little Friskadoodle, I'm so glad to see you! And—!" His face softened and his eyes glimmered. "Undyne. Sans. You're both alright."

"Yup," Sans said.

"You, too!" Undyne said. She got up, and the second she was within arm's reach, Asgore pulled her into a tight embrace. She snorted out a laugh. "I'm fine, I'm fine!"

"I know you are," he said quietly. He nuzzled his big snout against her head. "Of course you are."

"Yo, uh, was your eye always that colour?"

"No." He chuckled. "No, it wasn't."

"We're in the same position, then," Gaster said, letting his irises shine with their altered orange-gold and purple.

"Hm!" Asgore chuckled as he gently released Undyne. He pointed to his red eye and smiled. "Twins."

.

"Asgore, come sit," Toriel said, tilting her head towards the end of the table. "The kids have a lot to talk about."

"Ah! Right," he said. He paused upon getting close though: the only open seat after Undyne returned to her spot was the one next to Toriel.

The woman shot him a quizzical look and patted the cushion. He sheepishly sat down, but he caught Frisk's eye and smiled.

"I owe you a big hug after this, little one; don't forget," he said.

The kid brightened. "Good!" She drummed her fingers on the table. "I guess that means we can start for real?"

"Finally," Asriel joked. "Lemme just remind you guys, this is gonna be existential and weird and we went through kinda a lot but try not to scream or throw up, okay?"

"I-It's not that bad!" Frisk said swiftly.

The boy shrugged. Frisk nudged him gently with her elbow and he laughed and nudged her back.

.

Undyne grabbed onto the magic weapons, bag and all, and chucked them off the table. Alphys leaned up and passed Frisk her phone back.

"It should b-be all good," she said. "Just, um, tap that little rectangle icon a-and it'll go up on the screen, okay?"

Frisk nodded. "Okay. Thanks. Um." She looked at Asriel. "You or me start?"

"You," he said. "First place, let's go."

She took a deep breath to steady herself and drummed her fingers on the table. She took a quick moment to organize her thoughts, and then began.

.

Frisk started at the void— beginning with how they found the trail of what was hurting Sans and where it lead. She put Asriel on photo-duty, though she didn't have as many pictures of that world as she did of the others. She did her best to explain everything that happened, and about the people they met. It was hard to go into the Gaster that had caused the trouble to begin with, but she and Asriel had agreed, they wouldn't hold back anything but Chara.

.

She explained everything— the little Papyrus, how helpful Sans had been, the kidnapping of Undyne; the fights with the green-eyed Gaster. Despite her nerves, she tugged at the loose collar of her shirt to show one of the scars that had persisted through the reset. That got a bigger reaction than she'd expected, with Papyrus using his magic to yank her over to him and wrap her in his arms, and Undyne pounding on the table and threatening revenge. None of that was necessary or possible, though, so the big monster was left growling and grumbling to herself. Frisk assured them over and over again that she was fine; everything had already healed up, and it wasn't nearly the most important part of any of this.

.

By the end of that part of the story, Frisk cautiously looked across the table at her father. He didn't look particularly bothered, but he'd also been extremely quiet. Asriel put their souvenir photo up on the TV screen. That elicited a big response of shouting and pointing.

"YOOOO, I LOOK SO LITTLE!" Undyne yelled.

"You look the same!" Asriel teased.

"PAPYRUS LOOKS SO LITTLE!"

"He's s-s-s-so cute!" Alphys squeaked.

"I AM!" Papyrus agreed.

"It's not really you," Asriel said.

"But it looks just like us!" Undyne said. "Look at Sans! That's identical!"

"It… is quite uncanny," Toriel said quietly. She cast her gaze towards Sans.

The skeleton shrugged. "Guess that's how it goes sometimes. Just, uh, glad he wasn't full doomer like me."

"You're not," Frisk said.

"I was."

.

"Golly, I can't even imagine how strange that all must've been," Asgore said. "I'm… extremely proud of the both of you."

"So that… Gaster," Gaster said quietly. "After all that, he was arrested?"

"I mean, if you call bein' grabbed by Asgore after passing out being arrested," Asriel said.

"Hm. I'm sorry I wasn't able to come along." The old skeleton sipped his tea. "I would have thrown him into the CORE."

"Gaster!" Toriel chided.

He shrugged. "Putting aside what he did to the kids. All of them. Kidnapping Undyne to syphon determination is beyond the pale."

"Yeah, man, that's crazy," Undyne said. "I can't imagine you doing something like that."

Alphys nodded swiftly. "I a-almost can't believe it."

The light in Gaster's eyes shrunk and his focus turned downwards. "Every version of every one of us will be a little different," he said. "But… I've found that, from what I've seen in the void, for… myself, at least, we might as well not even be the same person most of the time." He drummed his fingers on the table and Toriel gently took his hand. "It is… a bit unsettling, still."

.

"Well," Asriel said. "Bad news? If you hate that guy, you're really going to hate the next guy."

"Oh." Gaster's face flattened into a dry expression. "Wonderful. That's the stranger that infiltrated here, I suppose?"

"The one Suz chomped on," Sans said with a tired grin.

"It got better!" Frisk assured them quickly. "It… Okay, it starts really bad but then it's not that bad, actually."

"There's the other stuff first, though," Asriel said. "That's, uh…" He grinned. "I mean, I thought it was super interesting, actually. You guys'll probably mostly like that one."

"Pardon a moment," Toriel said, a soft frown creasing her brow. "If I am understanding this all— and, please, correct me if I'm wrong— this whole issue… the stream through the void that was making Sans ill to begin with, all of that, you had resolved in under a day."

"Yeeeeah," Frisk said quietly.

"And that's when Frisk got knocked out in the void by a certain ooga-booga skeleton and I got shot and turned into a grey ghost for a bit," Asriel said. "Which is, uh… Yeah. That's why we took so long to get home."

"I couldn't open a way back from the place I fell into next myself," Frisk said apologetically. "It wouldda made their world blow up."

"Fully understandable, you'd never do that to someone," Papyrus said swiftly, gently squeezing his sister, his soul pulsing warmly through his chest. "How could anyone, right?"

"Please do not misunderstand," Toriel said quickly. "I am not criticizing. Well, except for that… man who attacked you two."

"We know," Asriel said. "We… Me and Frisk, we talked about this, too. It felt so… weird. We were just, like… hoping so hard that Sans was even alive, y'know?"

"Yeah, something got all screwed up with the dreaming, even, and it was so hard to get through that way, too," Frisk said, drooping a little. "We had to track down a monster who did dream magic like, as a job, to even do that much."

"Y'didn't have to worry so much 'bout me," Sans said. "Wouldda been fine on reset, dust or not."

"Sans, we very much did not want you to be dust!" Papyrus chided. "And we wouldn't have been able to find them without you!"

"Yeah, but after that, though."

.

"Th-This is… still so weird." Alphys had her eyes glued to the screen. "I wish I could… I-I wish… I mean, imagine b-being able to… read the magic of an a-alternate you? Or…? I don't know." She gulped. "Did you… m-meet an evil t-twin of any of the rest of us?"

Asriel snickered. "No. No evil twins. Mostly just taller twins."

"It wouldn't really be a twin," Frisk said. "But—"

"Did you meet any Papyruses that were taller than me?" Papyrus asked.

"No, only smaller, actually," Asriel said. "Anyway, no, everyone else that was one of you guys that we met was nice to us."

"That's…" Alphys took a deep breath and smiled a little. "Th-That's good."

Frisk nodded. She looked at Asriel. "Grey bit next, or…?"

"They don't need to hear about that. Uncle G remembers," Asriel said. "You just keep going."

.

So, Frisk kept going. She told them about arriving in a new world after passing out and what she found: the world they'd connected with in a dream, another set of skeletons that were just like her brothers, and another time kid who went by Pidge. She was careful here, though. They wouldn't be getting the reveal in the same way she and Asriel had. At least, not yet.

.

Undyne could hardly believe that her equivalent was Queen of the other world. They showed her the pictures. She hollered and pointed at the screen like it was an MTT event. Alphys was a bit flabbergasted to see her doppelgänger as well. She put a hand on the top of her own snout and wondered aloud if she'd grow a horn like that when she got older, too. Nobody knew. Toriel was also fairly shocked by her double— the wings, especially. Asgore, on the other hand, seemed a little relieved not to see his and, when Gaster was told about what little they knew about the one who was missing from that world and what, presumably, Sans had done, he looked pleased to hear it.

.

Papyrus was fascinated by the whole thing. It seemed a little more difficult for him to separate the other Papyrus from himself in his head, though. He wanted to meet him. Frisk assured him that the feeling was mutual. Sans was the only one that didn't seem particularly invested one way or the other, though he was audibly grateful the other guy had done a good job watching over the kids. He wasn't at all surprised by the face, though. He'd had it himself for a little while, after all.

.

Just before Frisk got deep into the past, though, Asriel tugged at her arm and whispered in her ear that, maybe they should hold that stuff off until the end. They'd known some of the story, especially the other Gasters, would be a bit distressing, but as she'd talked, putting everything together at once, he realized how crazy the whole thing sounded. Hearing about Avenir, at least, might be some welcome heartache in the opposite genre. Frisk agreed and moved right along, promising the others to go back to that part at the end.

.

She explained that it wasn't long after Asriel rejoined her that the other Gaster had attacked in a real place for the first time. Sans tried to piece in when the guy had shown up only to be bitten by Suzy; that brought back something important to Frisk's mind. She pulled out the huge bag of books they'd acquired and yanked out her journal with the timeline she'd hammered out with the aforementioned Gaster. Things didn't seem to happen in order, but it was the best they'd figured out so far.

.

After that, she went into the plans, the traps; the fights, building energy and detail as if she were describing bits from her favourite movie. Asriel was so caught up with watching her that he almost forgot to add anything himself. He had been right to insist Frisk do most of the telling, he thought, and not just because he was tired.

.

Once she got to the end, Frisk needed another tea. Asgore got up to prepare a whole new pot. The reprieve was welcome. The story was a lot for everyone to process, plainly evident by the mildly discordant hum of magic in the room— a chorus of almost every monster within, with only Papyrus's streak of warmth to lighten it. The tall skeleton still kept a fixed hold on his sister, but Sans had grabbed her hand. His sharp fingertips kept running over the new mark and the little scars that were pricked into her skin along with them. Frisk was mostly just happy for the contact.

.

"Man, you guys weren't kiddin' about this stuff, huh?" Undyne said. All of a sudden, she looked like she hadn't slept in a week.

"Warned you," Asriel said with an apologetic smile.

"Ugh, I wish I had been there!" She thumped a fist onto the table. "Like, don't get me wrong, it sounds like you did good, but—"

"It would have been easier if one-and-or-all of us were there, too," Papyrus said.

"Yeah! Exactly!"

"You couldn't," Frisk said. "But… I think you guys wouldda really liked that place. We got a lotta photos I took for fun we can show you after."

"It's just… such a relief to hear you two had someone to help much of the time," Toriel said quietly. She reached out to hold Gaster's hand— the man had been very quiet for most of the story. "…Hun, how are you holding up?"

"Me?" Gaster blinked as if he'd been startled out of a stupor. "Fine."

"Doubt it," Sans said.

"Th-There's no way—! G-Gaster, that was t-terrible, I…!" Alphys grimaced and shook her head. "I-It's not fair that all the… a-all the others were—"

"Alphys." Gaster smiled. "Don't worry. It's… to be expected, really."

"I-Is it?!"

He nodded. "I… really think the kids handled it about as well as possible."

"Eh. Not really. I was about ready to burn him to dust a couple times," Asriel said with a rueful smile.

"You were well within reason to do so at several points, it sounds like."

"I dunno, I'm glad things worked out how they did," Frisk said.

"Of course," Gaster said swiftly, nodding. "You went above and beyond for another universe. Nobody could ask for more. I have to admit, I'm… Hm." He frowned and drummed his fingers on the table as Toriel put her hand on his back and rubbed his shoulder.

"D-Disturbed?" Alphys suggested.

"I suppose so." He let out a little sigh. "I'll be fine."

"Did you ever find out who told him the weird timeline disrupting thing or why?" Papyrus asked.

Frisk shook her head. "No. I dunno how we could know without, like… looking back in time in his world, but it'll be a time that might not even exist now if the World Seed works."

"It'll work," Asriel said quietly.

"Aah, okay, I see how that would be a problem," the skeleton said. "Nyeh. That's a shame. I like to think that maybe it was some time kid trying to help that accidentally got a detail wrong or something."

"Me too," Frisk said. "Once we, um, knew about that stuff, I always hoped it wasn't someone being garbage to him on purpose."

.

"Now, that is something I'm awfully curious about," Asgore said as he returned, carrying cups and a fresh pot of tea over on top of an old baking tray. "I hope it's alright to shift away, but…" He looked to Gaster, and continued when the skeleton nodded. "I know you said you went to a giant forest, but how did you make such a thing as your World Seed? With time magic, or—?"

"Oh. Uh." Asriel smiled sideways. "That'd be me, kinda."

"You learned something new," Toriel said, eyes brightening.

"Heh. Y'could say that," he said. As Asgore passed out the tea, Asriel held out a hand to him. "Dad, got any seeds on you?"

"Always," Asgore said with a smile. As he sat, he reached into his pocket and produced an envelope and offered it to his son.

Asriel accepted it and plucked out one seed. He shuffled the stuff right in front of him away and gingerly placed it on the table. Clawing his fingers above it, he let a small burst of magic flow through his hand and the seed tripled in size before blooming into an awkward sapling right on the table, its roots gripping deep into the wood.

.

His parents gawked. Gaster was almost on his feet. Alphys stammered shrilly but said nothing.

"Whoops," Asriel said. "Uh. Sorry 'bout the table."

"Oh, that's cool," Undyne said, lightly poking one of the small tree's leaves.

"Asriel!" Toriel blurted.

"Oh, my god," Asgore breathed behind his hand.

"H-How did you…?! How—?! What?!" Alphys squeaked.

"What's all the alarm for?" Papyrus asked, wide-eyed as he reached out for Asriel's hand.

"That, uh, shouldn't be possible," Sans said with a sideways grin.

"Oh, seriously?" Undyne said, brows shooting up.

"Yeeeeeah," Asriel said.

"P-Plant magic, that's…" Alphys put her hands out as if searching for answers. "I mean, in a-all the literature, th-that was only f-for… f-for…"

"For a red-souled human," Gaster finished for her, and she nodded readily.

Asriel grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. Figured out I could do that. It's because of, uh." He looked at Frisk and then jabbed his thumb against his chest. "Natura, right? From Frisk, since she's human. We both have souls with both types of magic now. Right?"

Frisk nodded quickly.

"Oh…" Asgore's eyes shimmered. He reached over to Toriel and held her shoulder lightly to give her a little shake. "Tori. O-Our boy's a Druid."

"Asriel…" Toriel held her hands out across the table.

"I-It's fine," he said, cautiously grabbing onto her, his small paws dwarfed in his mother's palms. "It's no big deal."

"It absolutely is a big deal," she said, reaching out to stroke his face.

The boy's cheeks flushed and he laughed bashfully. "Come on, I can show you more later, there's still more."

"Asriel!" Asgore stepped right over the corner of the table to reach him and ducked down, pulling him right into his arms.

The boy grunted and all but vanished into his father's embrace. Frisk couldn't help a snicker and, relieved, Gaster sat back down.

"D-Do you think we should put that tree somewhere?" Asriel squeaked.

"I got it!" Papyrus said swiftly. He tossed Frisk to Sans and leapt to his feet, sailing away towards the kitchen.

.

As the kid fell into her brother with a quiet oof, he pulled her in under the open sides of his jacket and held her snug against his chest as he'd done many times before. Frisk flushed warm and she slumped a little. Her mind did a flip as if she'd been hit with vertigo and she very desperately wished she could take a nap right then. When Sans rested his chin lazily on top of her head, it felt, for just a second, as if she'd never left.

.

Beside them, Undyne let out a deep sigh and shot the kid a grin. "I knew shit had to be getting crazy, but I never thought you guys'd come back with a story like this."

"Neither did we," Frisk said.

"And all those battles and stuff!"

"Yeah, they were kinda tough."

"I wouldda loved to see it!"

"This is—! Oof, dad!" Asriel squirmed a little bit and Asgore chuckled and allowed him back onto the floor.

"Sorry, son."

"It's okay." The boy snickered. He looked at Alphys as his mother reached out to rub his head between his horns. "This place, this is where the tech is from."

"I-It really sounds amazing, w-with such a big city a-and a castle." She sighed wistfully. "I'd love to st-study stuff like that. It was, um, mostly st-still running on crystals, you said, r-right?"

"Yeah, crystal basically everything," Frisk said.

"That's interesting," Gaster said. "I suppose, without the war, and with the humans being… Were they quite different, you said?"

"We didn't really meet any except one," Asriel said. "But I think it's pretty fair to say the monsters where we were weren't doing any backwards engineering and using human-made parts for stuff very much."

"The old systems, with the resources and know-how to progress," Toriel concluded.

"And the sun," Frisk said quickly. "They were only under a thing for like, two hundred years or something? And even then, there was a bit of sun in the big city. It seems like that was super, super important."

"Oh, speaking of," Asriel said, his pale eyes glimmering. "You guys, they're… they're so strong, over there. Mom, dad, Uncle G, I know you know, but the rest of us… the surface is gonna help a lot in the long run, looks like. Also." He pointed to Undyne. "You can actually see at least one of the fights, it was on the news; we have a recording."

Undyne grinned. "YO, COOL!"

.

"I am baaaaack!" Papyrus returned to the room in a bounce with a large mug, filled up with dirt. He snuck in between Asgore and Asriel and carefully coaxed the little sapling off the table and into its new home.

"Whew, flashbacks," Asriel joked.

"You can't deny that it was a good idea, though," the skeleton said as he jumped away again to settle the plant on the other table.

"Eh… True." He rubbed his head and looked at Frisk. "You drink?"

She'd all but forgotten. She reached forward for the mug closest to her and sipped it.

"Asriel, why don't you continue the story for a moment while she rests?" Toriel suggested.

"It's okay, I can do it," Frisk said quickly.

"I was still in the void for part of the next thing," Asriel said apologetically. His ears perked. "Oh, what if I talked about all the magic and stuff, would that be alright?"

"Honestly, son, whatever you have to say, I'd be interested," Asgore said.

"Yes, anything at all, really!" Papyrus agreed as he came back to sit down between his little, fluffy brother and his older, boney one. "I still have about a million questions, personally, but I will hold off on those until maybe another day, because all of this still seems very… Hmmm…"

"Freaky and complicated?" Undyne suggested.

"Soooort of, but more, exhausting and might-possibly-change-the-nature-of-how-we-even-do-things-around-here, I think. Maybe."

"If you have even small samples of their technology," Gaster said, "there's quite a lot Alphys and I could do, I'm sure."

"Y-You'd work on it with me?" Alphys squeaked, starry-eyed.

"Of course," the old skeleton assured her. He chuckled at himself. "I don't think I'd be able to resist."

.

Asriel grinned. "Oh. You guys are gonna love this, then. We can definitely do better than just little pieces of stuff." He nodded at the huge duffle bag they'd brought out already in order to produce Frisk's journal, now situated just a little behind Asgore. "Dad, would you mind?"

The huge monster easily shifted the bag that was full to bursting and placed it gingerly on the table. Asriel unzipped it and showed off the contents proudly. Contained within was a massive selection of books. There were a couple novels here and there, but almost everything they'd grabbed was non-fiction. Books of spells, cookbooks; books of potions and elixirs. History, construction, architecture, maps; crystals.

"W-Wait, you d-didn't…" Alphys breathed.

"We got a lot of stuff," Frisk said.

Gaster got to his feet and plucked a book out gingerly. He opened it and flipped through, only to draw in a sharp breath through his teeth. Alphys reached up to take a book as well.

"A… Alchemy?" she said quietly. She shoved the book into Undyne's hands and pulled out another. "Oh my god."

"Is that…?" Toriel pulled one of the tomes out herself. "Instructions on spellthreading and weaving…" She opened it up and her eyes skimmed the pages quickly. "Oh my…"

Asgore leaned over her shoulder to look. "Golly, that looks…" He gulped. "Almost simple, doesn't it, Tori?"

"Instructions. Fit for beginners, and then more advanced," Gaster concluded. He looked up at the kids with a stark, stricken gaze. "Do you two know what you've done?"

"I… think so?" Asriel said cautiously.

"It's okay, right?" Frisk asked.

"Okay?" Gaster almost laughed. His eyes began to glow. "It's far, far better than okay."

Toriel stuck her paw back in the bag and pulled out a few more large books to lay on the table. "We'll… need to copy all of this into the Archives."

"Every word," Asgore agreed.

"And distribute some of them around."

"Absolutely."

.

Toriel clapped a hand against her chest. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes went wide as a tired, disbelieving wheeze of a laughed slipped from her mouth. "You've… Hah. You've pulled us from the darkness again, dear ones."

"M-Mom!" Asriel protested shrilly, his cheeks flushed. "Come on—!"

"We're just really glad you guys like it," Frisk said swiftly.

"Oh. Honey." She shook her head. "Sans. I would not ask you to let her go at a moment like this, but give her an extra squeeze from me, will you not?"

Sans, who had been relatively still and quiet until now, shifted just a little. "You're in for it now, bud," he said as he squished his sister gently, a cool chill of his magic seeping through her skin.

The kid snickered. "Thanks."

"It's fine, really, it's not a big deal," Asriel said swiftly.

"It is a very big deal, actually," Gaster said as Asgore nodded swiftly.

"I-I just mean it wasn't a big deal to get it, is all," the boy protested.

Toriel shook her head again. "Even so—!"

"Th-This could change everything," Alphys said.

"This is all lost magic and stuff, right?" Undyne said. "So… So! We can rebuild Starhome even bigger and better, this time!"

"We certainly can," Asgore said with a fond smile. "Oh… You kids, you've… You've really done so well."

Toriel leaned forward "What made you even think to…? How did this even occur to you?"

"Uh. Well." Asriel scratched at his cheek. "I guess we just thought… I dunno, there was so much stuff all over and, uh…" He looked to Frisk hopefully.

"We… Um." She grimaced. "I think we started just 'cause we thought you guys would find some of this stuff cool or whatever, but then Az started recognizing stuff from way back and…" She sighed softly. "I just thought… After all this. I know you guys went through something super crazy and bad while we were gone and… A-And I guess, for me, at least, I wanted you to have something… at least a little worth it from us? Since we left such a mess behind."

.

The adults shared worried looks. As Asriel nodded, Papyrus put a hand on the boy's back and looked at his little sister with a gently furrowed brow.

"Frisk… Asriel." he said quietly. "It… It wasn't like that."

"It wasn't anything we couldn't handle," Gaster assured her swiftly. "A stór, you two did everything right, there isn't any reason for you to—"

"Did we, though?" Frisk asked, wide-eyed.

"I, uh… I dunno what we couldda done different," Asriel admitted, "but it's… Ugh. We're real sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for!" Asgore asserted. "We were fine! It was unusual, of course, but we handled it, didn't we?"

"We certainly had to," Toriel agreed.

Undyne nodded. "Yeah, we put the whole thing in a headlock and punched it in the face! Uh. Figuratively." She gently bumped Frisk in the shoulder with her fist. "Don't worry so much, alright?"

.

That did absolutely nothing to persuade either of the kids. Frisk frowned and looked up at Sans, but from what she could see, he still wore a tired, calm grin. Papyrus, on the other hand, looked just a little guilty. Of course, he'd already said what had happened had been a mess. Frisk huffed quietly.

"Guys, come on," she said.

"Chill, huh?" Sans said quietly, rubbing a hand over her head. "Let's keep goin' on your thing."

Papyrus nodded swiftly. "Ours is a lot more confusing and a lot less save-the-technology-of-the-past-y," he said. "So, I would really like to hear yours, personally. The part where you had to rescue Asriel, right?"

A distraction, of course. But, they were right— the story wasn't quite over yet. Frisk slumped.

"I'm not gonna forget," she said. She reached out for her tea and finished it. "But, yeah."

"This part's, uh… Kinda crazy," Asriel said.

"What, just this part?" Undyne teased.

The boy snickered. "I mean, fair, but it's like, more personal, I guess?" He looked at his sister. "You okay to start?"

.

Frisk swiftly ran the whole thing over in her mind. She pictured her grandmother's face and frowned thoughtfully, her hand absently tracing the spot on her chest where her small ocarina was still hidden beneath her shirt. Her eyes darted to Gaster. He looked exhausted but, strangely, a little hopeful. He had no idea what she was about to hit him with— better to start with that particular strike, get through the shock first, she thought.

.

"Okay. Uh. So, this is a pretty big thing," Frisk said. "So. Don't freak out?"

"They'll freak out," Asriel said.

"I'll try not to," Papyrus said.

"No promises," Undyne joked.

"After all that, I'm not sure I would even have the energy to freak out, as you say," Toriel joked.

"I am completely freaked out," Asgore said with a solemn nod. At a cut-eyed glance from the woman beside him, he cracked a bashful smile. "Or… I'm… all out of freaked? Oh. Golly, that didn't work at all."

"Pff. No, it did not."

"Well! I-I'm not o-out of f-freaked," Alphys said. She still clung tight to a large book of magic. "I f-feel like my head's spinning?!"

"Relax." Undyne let an arm rest over the lizard's shoulders. "I'm sure it won't be nearly as bad, yeah? With, y'know, one of us actin' the villain or whatever. Unless…"

"No, no no no," Frisk said quickly. "But. Uh. Here's the thing. We kiiiinda went to the past a little bit?"

Undyne almost jumped up again. "How the hell'd ya do that?!"

"Why?! Where?! Did that help?" Papyrus asked.

"You did… Pardon. What, honey?" Toriel's eyes were wide again. "How on earth…?"

"I'll explain it all in a sec. First, though. Dad. This is, um… I want you to know this part first, before we start." She pulled out her ocarina and held it in her palm. "I… got this." She raised her eyes to lock onto her father's. "From Avenir."

.

The light in Gaster's dark sockets shrunk to pinpricks. He looked as though he might faint. His mouth opened but only a faint hiss came out. He quickly clapped his hand against his face. Asgore was on his feet in an instant to sit at Gaster's side.

"Avenir?" Toriel's eyes widened. She looked to the old skeleton and held his arm gently.

"…Wait, isn't that grandma's n—?" Papyrus squawked loudly over the end of his own sentence. "You went back and time and met grandma?!"

"I-Is that a paradox?!" Alphys wondered.

"Did you see your dad but as a little kid?!" Undyne asked.

"N-No, nothing like that," Frisk said. "But she did, um, give me this." For the first time since she'd gotten it, she tried to take the ocarina off, hoping it would stay solid. It did. She got to her feet and held it out to her father. "It's, um, stuck to my soul, so I dunno if—"

"You met my mother," he said at a whisper. Very gently, he plucked the little vessel flute from her and rubbed his thumbs across its surface, studying the star imprint with his touch.

Frisk nodded. She sat back down and Sans grabbed her again. "We both did."

"She was really cool," Asriel said. "She saved my butt. And we took a ton of pictures of books from her library."

Gaster's voice was no louder than a whisper. "You saw…?"

"We were at that same castle we went to with Papyrus," she said. "But like… It was before the war. B-Before the, um, Delta Rune had wings, even."

The old skeleton could only stare. Frisk's heart thumped hard in her chest and she felt a little sick.

"Are you alright?" Asgore asked Gaster.

"…I might faint," he said.

"Oh, dear." Toriel scooted over to hold his hand. "Deep breaths, hun."

"I'm really sorry," Frisk said swiftly.

Her father shook his head.

.

"So. You met… our grandma. And…" Sans's eyes seemed to sparkle. "She gave you something soulbonded?" He shot Papyrus a knowing look.

Frisk nodded. Papyrus seemed immediately interested. Alphys squeaked and clapped her hands together.

"Oh my g-god, that's…! That's amazing," she said. "I had n-no clue that could work on a h-human soul!"

"It was probably because of you guys and how you fixed me up," Frisk said, putting her hand to her chest.

"It's kinda like how I can do the plant stuff now, maybe," Asriel suggested.

"That… could make sense," Toriel said softly. She held out a hand to Gaster and he cautiously passed her the little vessel flute. "Goodness," she said as she rubbed her thumb over the top of it. "That's a fine construct to be sure, but why…?" Her violet eyes shot up to lock straight onto her daughter. "This was not this in anticipation of you casting through melody with it, was it?"

Frisk nodded. "Oh! Y-Yeah! That's how I put up the shield when that skeleton was chasing me before we put him in the ice dome."

"So you can cast magic?!" Papyrus squawked.

"Nice," Sans said.

"More th-than just the time magic?!" Alphys squealed. "Y-You learned—?!"

"Kinda!" The kid nodded.

Papyrus smacked his hands against the top of his own skull. "My little sister! Can! Do! SPELLCASTING!?"

As Alphys stammered, Undyne's jaw dropped.

"Does that mean we can teach you cool stuff?!" she demanded.

"Maybe But, um, I'll show you later, okay? Story first?"

.

"Frisk, you…" Asgore leaned forward, a small sparkle in his eyes. "Pardon. But. You're… You've become a wizard, while you were gone?"

The kid smiled sideways. "Wizards worked for the human king, right? I would never." She shrugged. "Some guys called me a demon for helping monsters, so I used that instead."

"Demon gang," Asriel agreed with a serious nod.

The giant man's eyes grew round and bright before his expression softened and a fond smile spread over his face. "Oh… Sweetheart."

"Who called you that?" Gaster rasped out.

Frisk smiled sheepishly. "Some jerks. We'll get to that." She pointed to her parents. "Don't freak out!"

"They're gonna, just go," Asriel said.

Frisk nodded. She was about to hang the ocarina back around her neck, but she caught Alphys's eyes locked on it, so she handed it to her first. The lizard let out a little gasp and cradled it carefully in both hands as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

"So," Frisk said. She cleared her throat a little. "This is the part starts where I, um, got shot out of the void and fell in a pond, I guess."

.

It was odd to think back on it now. Everything was so foreign and dire, but from where she sat, Frisk couldn't help but be filled with nostalgia. She told everyone about the new friends she'd met, Vera and Zapf, and the magic book she'd received at the temple in Goblin Grotto. She also told them about the strange humans, and the hunt they were on for people with red souls. It all lined up with what Toriel and Asgore knew to be happening around that time, though they couldn't place the exact year.

.

As she expected, the story of the fight to save Zapf near the river drew a lot of outrage from her family— blue fists crashing onto tables, claws digging into wood; the telltale shimmer of flame along silvery-white fur. Sans held her a little tighter, his soul's faint, cold ache letting her know exactly how he felt about it. Toriel was the one to put it into words: in the other stories, it felt as if, if Frisk and Asriel were together, they could overcome anything. Frisk, on her own, threatened by humans who fully intended on smashing a monster to dust and kidnapping her, somehow left a dread and a dire insult there that stung them much more deeply. Frisk wasn't sure she completely understood, but she imagined her parents and Asgore all had some sort of experience before the war that this had dredged up.

.

After that was dealt with, the rest was a lot lighter. Meeting Avenir was joyful. So was the knighting of the two younger skeletons, and the meeting with the dogs that fell down from the sky in their huge fortress. Asriel was rescued through the powers of Avenir and two giant canines and, after that, everything was easy as pie. It was downright pleasant, right up until the moment that Frisk and Asriel were whisked away again in the night.

.

"That all sounds like a long story to explain how you mightta paradoxed dogs into bein' called dogs," Undyne teased.

Frisk snickered. "They were already called dogs, I just knew that before the other guys did," she said. "I diiiid leave some coins back there, though."

"I would not worry about coins," Asgore said. "I doubt many monsters look at them very closely to begin with."

Frisk nodded. "Hope not. But, yeah, that's where I got the cube thing that saved our butts."

"The exact same one," Papyrus said. "I-I should still have that in my room, right?!"

"Might be in my machine," Sans said.

"How weird!"

.

"And, this…" Gaster tenderly laid out the book of Dirges on the table. "It's… hard to believe my mother owned this book herself."

"Uh. I think she was writing it, actually," Frisk said. "If you turn to, uh… Oh, heck, there was a really big spell that she marked in that it works, and—"

"World Tear," Sans said.

Gaster, wide-eyed, was already thumbing through the pages as fast as he could. He landed on the spell and saw, exactly as she said, it was marked to be successful. Frisk sat up a little to get a better look.

"Yeah, that one. That's what got Az outta the void."

Gaster nodded stiffly. He got to his feet and held his arms out, and Sans relinquished the kid to a grip of indigo magic that lifted her up and into their father's embrace. Frisk squeaked, but she gladly hugged her father as tight as she could.

.

"How'd you know that?" Undyne asked, leaning towards Sans..

The short skeleton shrugged. "Remembered it from the car ride."

"She wrote it herself…" Asgore said, awed. He smiled. "Gaster, your mother must've been a very special lady."

"She… She was," he said quietly. "Ah… Frisk." He sat down with her and brushed his hand over her head. "Thank you."

The kid grinned sheepishly. "N-No problem!"

"Picture time?" Asriel asked, looking square at Gaster.

Stiffly, the man nodded. Asriel put the photo of Avenir at her desk up on the screen.

"She left a video for you, too," Frisk said. She looked at her skeleton brothers. "You guys, too."

"Us?!" Papyrus looked between her and the skeleton on the TV. "She did?! You told her about us?!"

"Well, yeah, duh."

"That's amazing!" He leaned closer to the screen. "I had no idea she had horns that big. And look at that study! Oh, we've been there, that's a very strange feeling."

"I guess she had to keep a lotta secrets, huh?" Sans mused.

"I couldn't have her thinking her only grandkid was a weird time human," Frisk said.

When her brothers both shot her surprised looks, she clammed up quickly and glanced downwards, as if the tabletop was suddenly very interesting. Her mother's hand reached over and stroked her head.

"What a precious gift," she said gently. "What I wouldn't give to have such clear images of my mothers."

"It feels like… Hah. Several lifetimes ago, doesn't it?" Asgore said with a knowing smile. "How lovely. She feels familiar to me. Do you think she might have ever made a trip to the castle?"

"Oh, I'm sure she did," Gaster said. He breathed out a deep sigh and grasped Frisk's hand gently.

"More pictures?" Asriel suggested.

.

Everyone agreed, so he went through what they had, from everywhere, and explained what he could. If anyone noticed the absence of their new human friend in the pictures, they didn't mention it. He and Frisk certainly felt it.

.

It was deep into the afternoon by the time the kids had finished. Everyone was spent. Alphys peppered them with a few more questions, but, for today, other big details could wait.

.

As if he wasn't already shellshocked enough, Gaster decided that seeing the video of his mother was something he could manage, so Asriel handed the phone off to him. The old skeleton vanished quietly upstairs.

.

"So, uh. I guess that's the end of us for now. 'Cept, uh, mom. Dad. Gotta show you a video or two afterwards," Asriel said. He looked around the table. "What about you guys?"

Papyrus's eyes brightened. "Well—!"

Undyne got up swiftly and stretched her arms and back out. "Man, I dunno, I'm really exhausted after all that!"

Asriel looked as if he'd been bonked on the head. "Wh—?"

"O-Oh! Y-Yeah, me t-too," Alphys squeaked, nodding quickly, her cheeks flushing a little.

"You can't be serious."

"Dead serious, punk!" Undyne said.

"It has been a very long day already," Toriel said gently.

"But, you guys—!" Frisk protested.

"S'fine," Sans said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You'll hear it all. Uh. At some point."

"There is still a few things I have to do, actually," Asgore said, getting up quickly.

"Yeah, same!" Undyne said with a nod. She pointed at Sans. "Gotta talk to you."

"Yup," he said.

"And I would like to speak with you," Asgore told her.

"Oh! Uh! Sure!" she said. She rubbed the back of her head. "I gotta get on finding Suzy, though, yeah?"

.

Frisk felt like she'd been struck with static through her whole body. "You guys are seriously just gonna not tell us?!"

"My child, relax," Toriel said gently, patting her on the back. "It is… not that we do not wish to tell you, but, you must admit, it's been a lot to take in, for all of us." She smiled sympathetically. "Perhaps, for today, we could all just enjoy being back together for a few hours before we start up again?"

"Wh…?" Frisk grimaced. She looked around the room frantically.

Asriel looked just as flummoxed as she did, but her parents and Undyne all carried a sort of reserved, apologetic, but certain look in their eyes. Alphys stared at the ground. Sans was deadpan, but she could recognize the faintest trace of reluctance in his expression. Papyrus looked like he was holding himself back from bursting. Frisk gulped hard and whirled on her mother, wide-eyed with worry.

"You gotta promise," she said.

"Dear, I—"

"Promise for sure someone'll tell us," Frisk insisted.

"Please," Asriel said. "We've been goin' nuts worrying. Seriously."

Toriel nodded solemnly. "For my part, I promise."

"Look," Undyne said. "Don't worry too much, alright? It's gonna be fine. We're not gonna totally leave you in the dark."

"We are, um, t-technically the, uh, grown-ups, right?" Alphys added. "So, please d-don't worry so much a-about us, okay?"

"You know there's no way that's gonna fly," Asriel said.

The lizard smiled and shrugged. "W-Worth a shot."

.

Asriel let out a deep sigh. His father patted him on the head, and the boy crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But you better not try this crap tomorrow, too."

"Asriel," Toriel chided gently.

"Don't sweat it, punk," Undyne said. "Everything's gonna be cool."

"Is it?!"

"Yeah!" She grabbed Alphys by the hand and headed for the door. "See you guys tomorrow! And! I'll find that kid!"

"B-Byyyeee!" Alphys called

"I'll catch up with you soon!" Asgore said as they dashed out. "Allow me to help clear up this space. You kids, go rest, alright? That was… Well. Let's just say I would not blame you for taking a nice, long nap, after this!"

.

Neither Frisk nor Asriel looked very pleased. Asgore smiled awkwardly. He dipped to Frisk and gave her a quick, warm hug, then hurried to start moving things. Asriel sighed and slid over to his sister.

"I knew it," he grumbled under his breath.

She nodded. "Dang."

"Hey," Papyrus said, sneaking over to join them. "I doooon't really agree with everyone else but I think I got outvoted in the secret subliminal voting process."

Frisk huffed but she reached out and gave him a tight hug. He cozied her up in his arms, then reached out to Asriel. The boy let him pull him in, too.

"What if…? Gasp! I know!" Papyrus said. "What if…! We go up and watch my movie on the computer or something, once dad's done with your phone." His eyes brightened. "Alternate timeline media! That has to count for at least a little, right?"

"I, uh…" Frisk caught Sans giving her the thumbs-up from over Papyrus's shoulder. She cut her eyes at him. She was going to bother him about this the instant the two of them were alone, and he absolutely knew that.

Her eldest brother's left iris brightened with blue and he snorted out a little snicker. She stuck her tongue out at him, to which he replied by forming a heart-shape with his fingers. She almost blurted out a laugh and she looked up at Papyrus.

"Y-You know. Yeah. That sounds cool," she said.

"Better than nothing," Asriel agreed.

"Perfect! And!" Papyrus dropped his voice to a whisper. "I'll tell you just a little of what I did that was very cool, even out of context."

"Thanks, Paps," Frisk said with a relieved smile.

"Of course!" He hauled both kids into his arms and beamed. "You can always count on the great Papyrus!"

.

That, at least, was as true and obvious as ever.