PATCHWORK SOUL - NEW MEDIUM

by Spark the Barkivist

DIRECT SEQUEL TO "PATCHWORK SOUL" — A few months later. A family of monsters and their little human kid try to start life anew beyond the confines of a giant mountain. Maybe they find something. Maybe they lose something. Time flows ever onwards, but sometimes it goes sideways, and it's heavier than they thought.

111. Chapter 111 is the End

Chapter 111 is the End, but what's an ending, anyway?

---

As night fell upon Mount Ebott, the sky hung in hues of deepening cobalt above a wash of purple and orange, cut by a silver sliver of crescent moon. The thick canopy rippled, a sea of leaves taken by the wind. It carried with it the chill of autumn, alleviating the heat that lingered from the long, stormy summer and brushing the trees with hints of gold and copper.

.

Asriel had never seen the fall before. He'd skipped it back in the year he'd ruined, his secret observations of old Starhome put on hold when the first hint of an outside chill had made his leaves curl. The cold hadn't bothered him like that back in Snowdin but, somehow, that fresh air made him sick. Or, maybe it'd been something else.

.

He had to admit, he liked it now, though. It reminded him of Home.

.

The wind brushed through his fur, sending a tingle down his neck and to the tip of his tail. He breathed deeply; revelled in it as it buffeted his floppy ears. The salted scent of the sea spray shook him from the lethargy that had seized him on the long trip out to the coast.

.

He stood atop the ridge of a cliff, overlooking a boisterous sea. It was the first time he'd ever been to the northernmost edge of his father's Kingdom. Admittedly, it was a bit of a trek to get there. The old human roads only cut so far and the new ones, mostly paved in dirt, were not substantially better when the destination wasn't simply the town of Starhome.

.

"Asriel?" Through the brush, Asgore emerged, carefully plucking a thin, broken branch from the curve of his horn. He paused to take in the same sight his son looked out on. "Ah, what a view!" He turned to the boy and smiled. "I'm sorry again that we ran so late, but I'm happy we were in time to see this."

"It's nice," Asriel agreed. "So what were they doing with all this stuff last time? Nothing?"

"Hm. I suppose so. Though, I can think of a few things I might like to do. A little harbour, maybe."

"Huh."

Asgore leaned forward and shot the boy a fond smile. "What's on your mind?"

The honest answer was about fifty different things, but Asriel shrugged. He fished his black and green phone, a new model, out of the pocket of the jacket he'd been given in another world and aimed it out over the waves to take a photo of the scenery. He'd been building up a collection of similar pictures for a while now.

.

It had been three months since he and Frisk had returned from the places beyond the void, and the world had not slowed for a moment. The town was growing around the foundations of a huge castle and its gardens, new paths had been opened into the mountain for light and transport, and the Kingdom had expanded its borders far beyond what they'd been before. With some deft negotiation, the monsters had gained the entire peninsula on which Mount Ebott sat and a decent chunk inland to the west, as well. It was almost entirely swathes of untouched forest and ocean coastline, but that was more than enough for them. The only human they'd had to buy out was an old man and a couple dogs who were happy to trade ownership of some derelict campgrounds for a cottage and a sackful of monster gold.

.

Besides all the big things that came with setting up a new country, their immediate family was doing relatively well. Toriel's school was built, Alphys and Gaster were buried in projects; Papyrus was prepping for a more public local ambassadorship role and making special tour videos with help from MTT Studios to put up online. Undyne's workload had grown with the management of both surface and underground, but she revelled in it. The kids were learning new magic, and Frisk's panic attacks had subsided to around one per month.

.

The only one who seemed to be having any sort of extended rough patch was Sans, whose phases of bad nights would still come and go, especially over the last few weeks. The skeleton waved it off, as was his custom. It was nothing near as bad as the lead-up to what had happened with time and space dumping itself into his skull, he assured everyone. Asriel didn't doubt that that was true, but there was still something about the skeleton's state that made his fur prickle. He'd known Sans long enough not to trust his word when it came to his health.

.

As for more distant family, no one had heard a peep from Chara yet, nor from anyone else over in the other world. The red crystal, still deep in the Ruins under constant surveillance, had remained dormant aside from its slow, regular breaths of ambient magic, only perceptible to Alphys's instruments. Missing her was hard, but there was no reason to think that anything had failed yet, so they simply continued to wait.

.

As he snapped photos, Asriel could imagine Chara in his head scolding him, saying she didn't need to see every sunset, tree, or wave that came up the beach. Nonetheless, he knew she'd be smiling as she did. He turned to their father and took his picture. Another to add to the collection. He texted it to Frisk, too, and received a reply of a goat emoji and some sparkles right away. He grinned to himself.

.

"That was quite the stroll, wasn't it?" Asgore commented. "Would you like to take a break before you begin?"

"I'm good," Asriel assured him.

.

The boy drew up one of the newest location apps that Alphys had built and directed his phone into the forest. A phantom, white grid drew itself across the land, marking meter by meter. A gold line blinked amongst them. Asriel followed it through his camera and stomped his heel into the ground.

"Here."

"Ah!" His father hurried to join him, fishing inside the pockets of his large, loose jacket. He produced a pawful of assorted seeds and small, red fruits, cradled carefully in a white kerchief. "Do you think this is enough to start with?"

"Probably." Asriel traded his phone for seeds. The bundle was a little more weighty than he'd expected. "So is this all just hedge stuff, or…?"

"Well. Not quite. There's some trees in there as well. Hawthorne. Wild apple. Argentberry. A few others." He smiled. "You know Gaster; I told him the plan and before I knew it, he'd read about five books on the natural ecology and picked out a whole list of suitable plants."

"So it's gonna be a pretty tall wall," Asriel commented.

"And lovely for birds!" Asgore said brightly. An eager gleam came to his eyes. "I have to admit, son, I'm very excited to see your magic at work on a scale like this."

.

The boy cracked a small smile. He peeked around to get his bearings and then took a step back from the border line. "So, whose idea was this? Ours or theirs?"

"A bit of both," Asgore said. "Without the ocean— or a huge mountain— doing the job, the humans seemed fairly keen on some sort of boundary marker." He smiled. "I was the one who suggested a hedge."

Asriel stuck his tongue out. "Of course."

His father chuckled. "You know, Frisk seemed quite taken with the idea, too."

Asriel raised a brow. His sister hadn't mentioned it, but it might have been at one of the several logistics meetings he had slept through. Frisk was just as wary of the outside as the most cautious of monsters, if not even more so, so maybe that made sense. Or, maybe it was just that a big boundary of plants reminded her of Chara's world, where the Kingdom was guarded by an impossibly tall wall covered in massive, ancient trees.

"Well." Asriel glanced over the edge of the cliff. "It's not really gonna keep anyone out for long if they can just go around that way."

"I wouldn't worry about that too much," his father assured him. "It's not particularly about keeping anyone out, but more… funnelling them to the roads, I suppose. Plus, as a way to mark a border, it would be beautiful, don't you think?"

"Yeah, guess it'd be nice." The boy picked through a couple of the seeds and chose one that looked like a small, pale acorn. "This to start?"

"That should do," Asgore assured him. "It'll make a fine tree." He took a step back.

.

Asriel rubbed his thumb over the acorn and let his magic seep deep within it. Deep within its shell, he could feel its own energy, lethargic and viscous, link to what he gave it. Imagination painted a huge tree with a tangle of roots weaving into the land. It was as good a start as any.

.

Giving a wide berth to the edge of the cliff, he found a spot of dark earth amongst rocks and loose dirt and dug into it. He tossed the seed in and lightly buried it. He tilted his head back to get a sense of the canopy, and then began. His magic hooked deep into the seed and spurred it to life. As tendrils of magic dripped from his hands as if to nourish it, a sprout broke into the air and became a sapling within seconds. Branches clawed upwards into the sky as the trunk swelled, Asriel's influence running through it like water. Bark hardened into pale grey scales and leaves flared out, a silvery green layer catching what light was left in the sky. Serpentine roots ran through the ground and twisted down along the side of the cliff, gripping it tight. By the time he was finished, the tree towered proudly at the edge of the cliff, anchored tight through the stones and dirt.

.

Asgore stared up, starry-eyed. He grinned and laid a hand against the solid trunk of the tree. Glittering motes of magic drifted down from its limbs like powdered snow.

"Gorgeous," he said. "Would you look at you, hm? Could have been here for a hundred years!"

"Okay," Asriel said with a nod to himself, "that worked out. Alright."

"Son?" His father held him gently by the shoulder. "How do you feel? It's not too big a job, is it?"

"Oh, I can keep going for a while," the boy assured him. "I'll just probably sleep until noon tomorrow."

"Very fair. Then, it'd be best if we skip tomorrow, hm?" A tinge of glee sparkled in his eyes. "Don't want to be too tired on Sunday, do we?"

"Nnnnope, no we don't." A little prickle of excitement tingled in Asriel's soul. He grabbed the rest of the seeds and quickly began to plant them in a line.

.

By the time he was done with that handful, a stripe of new canopy towered above them. The trees wove close together and bracken between them provided a barrier that was, at least visually, fairly solid. As his father inspected them with a childlike glee, Asriel pulled a tin from deep within his jacket's pockets. Though it had a sticker-label of tea on it, a heap of tiny, four-pointed seeds were nestled inside.

"Dad, could you check where the border is again?" he called.

Asgore perked up and pointed the boy's phone around the area. He took a step away from the new tree line and pointed straight out towards the coast. "Does that help?"

"Yup." A spark in the seeds and a flick of his wrist cast a scattering of magic along the line of his father's finger.

The pale blue stars of beltaine flowers sprouted in an instant, glowing lightly in the ever-darkening forest.

.

Asgore gasped and his face brightened with a grin. "Where on earth did you get those?!" He came in close and Asriel offered him the tin.

"Avenir's place," the boy said as his father carefully inspected the seeds. "They're everywhere over there. Frisk picked up a ton when we went back a few weeks ago."

"What a wonderful idea!"

Asriel grinned. "I figure it'll be easy to see, right? Apparently, we used to use these for magic stuff, too. So, I'll put some on the other side later." He tilted his head. "D'you know how far that is from here for real? That little skeleton castle, I mean. You can't see the mountain from there."

"Oh, it's been such a long time… I'm not certain," his father admitted. "It has to be quite a ways away, though, if you can't see any mountain. You might have to travel for, oh… half a day, maybe? Or more. In these new cars, that is. Sorry, I'm not sure I have a good answer."

"That's okay," Asriel said. He supposed Alphys's new devices would soon be able to tell them, but it wasn't more than a curiosity for the time being. He looked along the new trees and felt the faintest of strains starting to set in behind his eyes. He puffed himself up. "Oookay, next batch."

xXxXx

Night had coated the land completely by the time Asriel had run out of seeds to grow, and he and his father made the trek back to the road they'd arrived on. As the forest broke, they were met by the sight of a very large navy and gold pickup truck pulled off to the side of the rough, cracked pavement. Undyne was nearby, her yellow eye shining faintly in the low light. She was putting the finishing touches on an archway that crossed the width of the road, built fully of large, uneven chunks of stone.

.

The blue monster noticed them before they'd said a word and greeted them with a big grin, her ears perking up. "Hey! How'd it go, you get a lot done?"

"Quite a good chunk!" Asgore answered. "How about you?"

"Same! Made a couple of these things." She thumped her palm against the arch so hard that it was a wonder it didn't shatter.

"Uh." Asriel crossed his arms and looked up at the peak of the arch. "Is… that high enough to let the bus through, though?"

"Will be!" she assured him. "Got some enchantments in there from Kio, makes it do the door warpin' thing." She gave the stone a much lighter knock and a faint shimmer of deep blue passed across the craggy surface. "Should still work even if you wrap some plants around 'em."

"Oh. That's good." He gritted his teeth to stifle a yawn. "We, um, ready to head back?"

"Yup. Just have a few more things to shove in place," she said. "Why don't you guys go sit? I'll just be a minute."

.

Asriel nodded. He went around the side of the truck, where he had to stand on his toes to reach up to the handle. He yanked the door to the cab open with a heavy clunk and he climbed inside. The second his back settled against the cushions of the passenger's seat, exhaustion hit him. He sighed. He needed to practice that plant magic a whole lot more if he was going to grow their whole perimeter himself within a reasonable amount of time.

.

Slouching, he stared out the window as Undyne and Asgore talked near the archway. He rubbed his eyes and let himself yawn before checking his phone. He had texts from Frisk and Papyrus that he'd missed. Frisk wanted to know how everything was going. Papyrus had had an idea for a video he wanted to make to put up on the monster Kingdom's website. He listed a ton of details that Asriel couldn't focus on, and then at the end asked if the boy would help. He replied with a thumbs up, then returned to Frisk's question to let her know they were done for the night and that the trees were looking nice. He sent her a photo he'd taken when they'd finished, too. She replied quickly with an emoji with stars for eyes.

.

An alert popped up. A new message from Papyrus. Asriel tapped on it.

.

"I KNEW I COULD COUNT ON YOU! Also! I am supposed to tell you that IT is done!"

Asriel blinked. "what's done?"

" """"""IT"""""" " Papyrus replied.

The goat boy had to stare at his screen for a solid ten seconds before he realized what Papyrus was talking about. He grinned. "eyyyy finally! how's it look?"

"She is going to LOVE it, I AM 100000000000% SURE!" Five fire emojis framed in skulls followed. "Of course I don't have to tell you to do the hush hush!"

Asriel replied with a thumbs up and Papyrus's previous message deleted itself.

"NYEH HEH HEH! I must now get back down to business! SEE YOU AT HOME LOVE YOU BYE!"

.

Asriel couldn't help but smile and shake his head. He leaned back, tucking the phone into his jacket, and zoned out, looking over the stickers from different anime plastered all over the dash until his blinks began to lag.

.

A bounce along the frame of the truck jolted the boy alert again. He twisted to see his huge father settling into the bed of the truck with a quilt and a book. The door on Asriel's other side slammed and he jumped, turning swiftly. Undyne snickered.

"Sorry, kid. Get some rest, at least?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he said, sitting up a little.

She shot him a grin that was tinged with sympathy, then slid down the window and leaned out. "Y'alright back there, big guy?!"

"Just fine, don't you worry!" Asgore called to her.

"Hah! Okay, just scream if you fall out!"

.

Undyne closed the window again and slapped a round crystal into a slot near the wheel. The truck's engine purred to life, deceptively quiet for its size, and they were off, back towards the mountain that towered in the distance. Asriel yawned and stretched, settling in for the ride. He rubbed at his eyes and huffed quietly.

"Kinda a strain, huh?" Undyne said.

"It's… not horrible," he said. "I felt like I could deal with it more when I was bigger."

"Bigger?" She raised a brow.

"You know, like… physically larger," he said. "Like I was in the other world."

"That makes sense. More room to let the flow of it breathe, kinda." She nodded thoughtfully. "So, you know what that means, right?"

"…I should bulk up?"

"Well, yeah, eventually," she said, "but what I was gonna say is, just wait a bit. You're young, it's not like you're stuck lookin' like a little guy forever."

"True, I guess."

"We could do attunement, too," she suggested. "Waterfall's still best."

"You think that'd help?"

Undyne nodded. "Yeah. Helped your sis."

"…True. Okay. Thanks."

"Sorry it's flowers," she said.

"Oh." He chuckled. "It's… fine."

"Is it, though?"

"It's funny, I thought it'd be worse," he admitted. "But, like… trees are fine. And I don't mind the beltaine or cactuses or whatever. It's mostly just those… certain ones, you know? That trigger my— what's it called? Run or gun instinct?"

"I can imagine."

.

The pair went silent, but it was comfortable. The road rumbled beneath their tires. Asriel cracked the window a bit. The cool breeze felt good running across his face. He could faintly hear his father snoring.

.

After a while, Undyne reached over and ruffled his fur. His cheeks flushed. The big monster shot him a sideways smile. There was a little consolation in her expression, but there was pride as well. She turned her gaze ahead again and flicked on the sound system. Some upbeat J-Pop began to play. She tapped her fingers against the steering wheel and lightly bobbed her head.

"Gonna stop at the lab after this," she said. "Come, if you want, but, like… no pressure, if you wanna go home and sleep."

"I'll come," he said.

"Good. Alph'll be glad to see you."

"I know." Asriel smiled a little, leaning his chin on his fist as he looked out the window. Trees in the darkness blurred in his eyes. He forced himself back a bit, blinking hard; trying to wake his mind up.

.

"So, um. Ready for Sunday?" he asked.

"Oh! Yeah! That should be fun, huh?" Undyne snickered. "Man, I can't believe we just sorta let the whole thing slide the first year."

"How would anyone have known, though?" Asriel said. "She didn't know."

"Sure. But still." She shrugged one shoulder. "We got a distraction plan?"

"Museum in Anthelion," he said. "The one at the university. There's some stuff she wants to see there anyway."

"The… Ah, that place!" She raised a brow. "You sure? Won't freak 'er out too much?"

"Nah. Sans already convinced her. He has a legit thing to do there, too. I'll probably go with them. Then back to Grillby's annnnd just… hangin' out near the river, probably."

"Okay. Yeah. That'll work." Undyne's ear-fins flattened. She frowned thoughtfully out the windshield for a few moments before cracking a bashful smile. "Never thought I'd feel so chill just strollin' into a human city. Or that, you know, any of us would."

"Yeah, it's kinda weird," he agreed.

"Also never expected the humans would ever be okay with someone like… well, me, or Asgore, just walkin' around in their places. But they kinda treat him like a celebrity, huh?"

"Better than the old times," Asriel said with a tired smile. "Mom did a few overnighters out there, too. Y'know, she said, other than all the doors being too small, it wasn't that bad at all. I mean, at least around here."

"At least there's that," Undyne said with a nod.

.

In general, monsters hadn't ventured much farther than Gullport or Anthelion since the rescue operation into Arrow Valley, though it was the former that those who chose to explore beyond their Kingdom tended to gravitate towards. It was hard to facilitate anyone's dreams of travelling the world quite yet and the chaos of a larger city was often a bit daunting, but Gullport was relatively calm and had the ocean right at its side. It was a draw for more than just the mer and the krakens.

.

"So we were, um, thinking of maybe making a little harbour town or something," Asriel commented.

"Oh yeah?! That sounds good," Undyne said. "North?"

"Yeah. Could do more than one, though."

Undyne grinned her big, pointed teeth. "I never thought we'd get it as good as this! And the ocean, man… I wanna see how deep we can go." Her brows lifted dramatically. "Hey, you wanna come sometime?"

"I'm not a great swimmer," he said.

"That's fine! Just use your, uh, Hyper-whatever and we'll get you a bubble or somethin' so you don't get soaked."

Asriel's ears perked a little. It wasn't something that had ever really crossed his mind, but— "That sounds kinda cool, actually."

Undyne's whole face lit up. "Cool!"

.

After some time on the road, the forest opened up onto the valley at the base of the mountain, dotted with colourful motes in the darkness. Even though there was plenty of space, little blocks of houses had begun to spring up in close neighbourhoods, surrounded by plenty of trees and magic-grown chunks of crystal and stone. The structures were formed in all kinds of shapes and sizes, though it seemed like the castle-aesthetic from New Home was likely to stick around. The actual castle was still in progress, but that didn't stop a wide courtyard and open-air market from cropping up in front of it. Some of the stands were still open, even this late at night.

.

Despite all that, home for this particular group was still mostly below the mountain. With Gaster's return, plans for the SCORE had changed, and therefore more time in the current lab and CORE was needed. Though the family had their new house built up in the fresh air, and they would all have places within the new castle, the home in Snowdin was still the most utilized for the time being. It was as comfortable as ever, but the pressure to move out completely was steadily increasing as the mountain emptied. About a third of the families in town were still around, but Grillby had left in the middle of the summer and the inn had followed shortly after. The shop and laundry services were only open two days a week.

.

Though the new house was almost identical to the old one on the inside— just with a few more rooms and space for a library— and was in a spot surrounded by trees and a wide garden, Asriel couldn't help but worry about Frisk a little. He realized that the house in Snowdin had been the most consistent home in the kid's short, strange life, and she'd even vocalized a little reluctance to go out into the world again. Partially his fault, he was sure, though he knew she'd never even consider laying the blame on his shoulders.

.

The mountain had protected her. Kept her away from the eyes of humans that hadn't wanted much to do with her beforehand. Asriel understood. The fact that the humans were now involved at all was still complicated, especially post-Gaster. The Kingdom could never explain what Frisk was to the outside, nor who she was. That, actually, their top scientist had blown himself up and created a human from his soul and the essence of time itself. That wouldn't fly at all. It was tough, even with the Ambassador, June Yamada, fully on-side (even if she didn't know all the details). Letters from humans wondering if Frisk might be their missing relative had not stopped. Asriel had been close to starting to light them on fire before his father had talked him out of it.

xXxXx

By the time Undyne parked her truck at the base of the mountain, Asriel was almost dozed off again. Luckily, they didn't have to make the whole trek up and through the mountain to get back to the lab. Alphys had installed a new pathway that connected to her elevator system through an unassuming cave nearby, newly cut into the stone; the entrance marked with a couple of small Echo Flowers.

.

Even with the lights low, the contrast between the white lab and the outside was a little painful on the eyes. Tables covered in stacks of books and letters, and a hodgepodge of machinery scrap were all over the main room. Alphys was stooped over the only desk that was relatively clear, but there was still some opened documents and chunks of metal beneath her. A small, white dog slept in her seat, snoring quietly.

.

The lizard straightened up to smile brightly at the three monsters as they joined her. "Konbawa!"

"Howdy!" Asgore said brightly.

"Heeeeyy!" Undyne strode forward to give her a smooch, eliciting a blush and a giggle. "Still workin', huh?"

"Well, y-yeah, there's so much to do." Alphys smiled, her eyes brightening as they landed on the smallest of them. She held out her arms. "H-Hi, Azzy! How'd it go? How are you?"

"I'm fine," he assured her, letting the lizard pull him into a warm hug. If he were honest, he sort of needed it.

"Let meeee s-seeeee…" Alphys held his shoulders and peered deep into his pale eyes. Then, she cupped his head, touching the fur near his horns and on his ears with an inquisitive frown. "Hang on, I'm just feeling h-how the energy's going through you."

"You can just pet the ears, you don't need an excuse," he teased.

She snickered. The touch of searching claws shifted to an affectionate preen. "It's… Hm. Well, it's a little… You'll get s-some rest, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you'll…! Oh! Let m-me get you a soda." She turned and rushed to the fridge.

.

"What's that you've got there?" Asgore asked, looking over her work area.

The metal pieces, when seen all together, looked a lot like a leg with a talon foot. Thin edges of crystal glimmered between some of the plates. Alphys hurried back, making sure Asriel took the drink.

"Well, it's all your… O-Oh! That!" She smiled proudly. "I-It's, um, a new prosthetic for someone from Snowdin. You wouldn't b-believe how some of these crafting recipes help!"

"Oh yeah?" Undyne leaned over. "So it… makes it all work better, huh?"

"Oh, god, it's like n-night and day. No more stiff joints, b-better magic adhesion, even some basic touch sensitivity! I've b-been, um, planning a bunch of upgrades for Mettaton's body, too. And! There's a ghost who, um… Well, she took a Mew Mew I had? A big one?"

"Oh, yeah, I've seen her around," Asriel said. An awkward smile spread on his face. "Wait, that was yours?"

"Who else's would it have been?" Undyne said.

"R-Right! Well!" Alphys's face flushed a little. "We worked something out, a-and I modified some of h-her limbs, too, and…! And!" She grinned and patted Asriel gently on the shoulder. "I'm so glad you and Frisk brought those books back, s-seriously."

"Same," he said.

.

"Golly," Asgore said with a proud smile. "Alphys, that's wonderful! I'm sure there's a lot of monsters who could benefit from that."

She nodded. "Y-Yeah, I'm sure! I put up a post for, um, people who need it on the UnderNet. I'm, um, just o-one monster, though, so it'll still take some time, and I need m-materials, but if I have a list of names, at least I know what I'll need to make."

"Is that the start of it?" Asgore asked, nodding at the stack of papers that were beside the metal limb. He squinted lightly. "Did Gaster leave some notes around?"

.

"Oh, no, that's…" The lizard turned to the papers and lifted one up. "Um, A-Asgore, this is, uh… Remember h-how you asked me to start g-going through the things the humans were sending you? It's all mail."

"Did…? Oh! I did, didn't I?" He chuckled. "You didn't have to do things like that so late, though!"

"I'm up anyway," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But, um, this one…" She lifted the document on the top of the pile. "The humans, and, um… I guess the, um, president of Sollund? They're a-asking for a proper name for the, um… country? Or Kingdom? S-Since, you know, maps have to change, they have to put it in, um… treaties, or something?"

"Is Starhome not good enough?" Asgore asked earnestly.

"Well, I mean, when w-we were a city-state it was," she said. "But th-there's enough land this time around for a f-few towns, if we want them! S-So… You know, it makes sense."

"Right! Right, of course." He frowned thoughtfully. "So Starhome will be our new capital, and… Hm. Maybe now is time for the good old Newest Home, or—?"

"No offence, pops, but I don't wanna be called a Newest Homeian out in the world," Undyne said.

"Hm." His snout wrinkled and he tilted his head from side to side, humming thoughtfully. "Then… Maybe something a bit more…? I'm not sure, what are the names of some other countries nowadays?"

"Japan, Sollund, Borealia," Alphys listed, "Yunyeno, A-Albion, Taiinu—"

"Hmm." Asgore scratched his beard.

"Most of them refer to, um, the people there, or the land of… W-Well, um, like, Sollund for example, it just means Sun Land. J-Japan and Taiinu are s-similar, p-places where the sun rises or where it l-lives, things like that."

"It seems as if the sun is well spoken for, then!" the King said with a chuckle.

"Is there a Moonland?" Undyne wondered.

"There issss, uhh…" Alphys checked her phone. "Not that, exactly, b-but there are a few—"

.

"Do the humans have a thing they call this place?" Asriel interjected as he plopped down to sit on the nearest chair. "You been checkin' online? Anything interesting? And what about us?"

"Oh! W-Well, first thing, Ebott is one I s-see a lot. Another one is just, um, the Deadzone."

"For the tech issues, I guess." He cocked his head. "So, you been following everything?

"On a few, um, f-forums. I've seen some stuff," she said. "Nnnnot all of it is the most, um, f-flattering, but—"

"Man, don't tell me they're pissed at us already?" Undyne growled.

"It's not really like that," the lizard said swiftly with a shake of her head. "I-It's more like… Well, I mean, outside of the, um, cities th-that sort of know us now, s-some humans are scared but, um… curious, you know? It's l-like, um, meeting aliens in movies, for them. If that makes sense."

"We've been here exactly as long as they have," Asgore said. "Just to note."

Alphys nodded eagerly. "R-Right! Though, w-we, um… I mean, I think some of Mettaton's programs leaked—"

"Leaked," Undyne repeated with air-quotes and a wry smile.

The little lizard snickered. "You're probably right. A-Anyway, what I meant to say was, there's st-still not a lot of exposure to us for most humans. Not many people have met monsters outside of Gullport and Anthelion, sssssoo, actually, some humans still think the whole thing is a c-conspiracy."

"…Uh. Conspiracy to do what?" Asriel asked.

"It's, um, sort of h-hard to follow without all the context," she admitted. "Things about, y-you know, scare tactics, m-making people change things about s-society."

"We aren't making anyone change anything," the boy said with a scowl. "They couldn't even use this land— that was ours, by the way— way back when it was Annwyn."

"They aren't mad at us," Alphys said swiftly, and she gave a sheepish smile. "S-Some of them still don't even think w-we're real. They're mad at the p-people in charge of them."

"Gosh. Imagine," Asgore mused ruefully. "I guess it could be that many of their leaders haven't been quite so forthcoming about important things in the past, for people to jump to that sort of conclusion so easily."

"Oh, y-you have no idea," Alphys said with a sigh.

.

"Hm." Asriel frowned thoughtfully. "Sorry. Uh. So, the forums…?"

"Oh! R-Right, right," Alphys said. "I guess there's also, um… Well, it seems like Ebottian is soooort of a common thing p-people call us. For the name of the mountain, you know? Um, there was also m-mons, pretty normal, poms— from humans shortening People of the Mountain, and some p-people sort of mash that together into monpoms and—"

"Monpoms, sounds like we're all little fluffy dogs," Undyne said with a laugh.

Alphys snickered. "Yeah, kinda does, hm?"

"A lotta the mountain," Asriel said. "Anything else?"

"Well, there's actually s-some people who think using the mountain would be o-offensive, so they're saying Free Monsters— Fremon."

"Fremon demons," Asriel said, sticking his tongue out. "No thanks."

"Like, that's a nice thought or whatever; I don't really like how it sounds, though," Undyne said.

"Same," Alphys confessed. "There's also sort of goofy stuff, like… Kaiju— Oh! Some people called this place K-Kaiju City, or The Monster Mash, oooor Fluffy Mordor."

"HAH!" Asgore couldn't help but blurt. "Oh. Golly, that really is something!"

Alphys's face lit right up. "There's m-more! Like, ummm, Goatropolis, or Goat Town, where we're the Goatees—"

"Dad made a big impression, I guess," Asriel said.

"W-Well, he is the, um, face of us for now, absolutely." Alphys smiled sideways. "There are, um, some ruder ones, too, but…"

"Freaks and demons again?" he wondered.

"Oh, that's some of them. There's worse." She scrunched up her face. "B-But some people seem to be using those kind of, um, affectionately, too? It's sort of weird, but… You know, I'll take it?"

.

Alphys leaned forward and showed them her phone. She had opened up a human social media app. There was a blurry zoomed-in picture of what looked like a loox in the background of an MTT video, attached to a post that read "look at this little freakazoid i love him so much i want to bounce him like a basketball" and a bunch of multicoloured hearts. Asriel snorted trying not to laugh and Undyne crossed her arms.

"I mean…" She shrugged lightly. They all knew that she had, in fact, bounced a loox like a basketball at least a couple times in her life.

"A-And there's some like this!" Alphys scrolled to another photo, this time one of Asgore where someone had edited the tip of his snout to be huge and round and pasted intensity lines and hearts all around him.

The only text were the words "el goblino". The post had a few thousand likes on it.

.

Asgore blinked. He stared at the photo silently for a few seconds, then let out a belly laugh so deep that it seemed to shake the room. Undyne couldn't help a snicker, though she shook her head.

"Yeah, I don't understand that one at all."

"I don't think my snout is quite that big!" Asgore chortled.

"Honestly, I th-think we're just really lucky that humans p-perceive your type of monster as really cute," Alphys said. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes brightened. "Oh, you should s-see what they say about Asriel."

Asriel's ears perked up. "Wait, me?"

"Oh, yeah! There's, um, even fancams!"

"Do I wanna know what that is?"

"It's just, u-um, videos with c-cross zooms and sparkly filters and pop music?" The lizard, suddenly, looked very embarrassed. "Y-You know, you…! You make one when you're a f-fan of someone?! That's not that weird, right?!"

"I've only been on the TV like one time, though," he said.

"That's more than enough!"

.

Asriel rubbed his head. Now more than ever, he was glad they'd kept Frisk's presence pretty low-key out in the public eye so far.

.

"Welp. All that's pretty funny and all," Undyne said, "but I dunno that it gets us much closer to a name for the Kingdom." She tilted her head, her ears perking. "What was it you called it, kid? Annwyn?

"Yeah. That's the name for the place that was here before," Asriel said.

"Maybe that's a starting point, at least?"

"I've thought a bit about it. About that particular name, I mean," Asgore admitted, though he frowned as if an old worry settled heavily upon his brow. "But, I would like for us to… I'm not sure. Have a fresh start might be the right way to word it."

"Not out here to reclaim our former glory, huh?" Undyne said with a sympathetic smile.

"Goodness no." The King shook his head quickly. "I don't know that I've thought like that for… oh, hundreds of years, probably. No." He smiled fondly at the monsters around him. "It's a new era, now. I think a new name would be best."

"Well, when you put it like that…" The blue monster patted him heartily on the back. "I think that's the right choice."

"Y-Yeah. Me too," Alphys said with a nod. "Though, um… I guess that leaves us b-back where we started, right?"

"Maybe mom'll have a good idea," Asriel suggested.

Asgore's ears perked a little. "You're probably right."

.

"Hey." Sans, from nowhere, trudged across the room as if he'd just been roused from slumber, perhaps from under a nearby table. There was a deep grey around his sockets and he looked like he could simply fall forward and hit the ground asleep.

"Oh! Howdy, Sans!" Asgore said brightly despite the confusion in his eyes.

"The hell you doin' here?" Undyne asked.

"Sleep-portin'." Sans slowly dragged the door of the fridge open.

"Oh n-no, again?" Alphys asked.

"Yup." He hefted a soda out and popped the tab to take a swig. "S'okay."

Asriel's brow furrowed with confusion. "That's weird, I didn't feel a freak out."

"Wasn't that bad," the skeleton said with a shrug.

"Hm." The boy crossed his arms.

"A-Are you sure?" Alphys pressed. "I can check—"

"Alph." Sans cracked a tired smile. "I'm fine." He groggily stretched his arms out above his head. "What you nerds up to over here, anyway?"

.

Though Alphys and Undyne share a worried look, Asgore merely smiled.

"Just a little bit of brainstorming," he said.

Asriel cut his eyes at the skeleton. "Hey, got a name for the Kingdom?"

Sans squinted at nothing through tired eyes for a moment. "…Asgord?"

"What, just his name?" Undyne asked with a little scoff.

The skeleton looked at them with an expression begging them not to force him to elaborate. Meanwhile, every one of them stared at him blankly. He sighed.

"Asgord, like Asgard— you know, some magic kingdom from some myths way up north and—"

Asriel groaned and chucked his empty can at the skeleton's head. "Why did I even bother?!"

"I was gonna ask," Sans teased. He caught the can and tossed it back. "How'd everything go, by the way?"

"Fine. Trees startin', beltaine all over."

"It looks lovely," Asgore said, shooting a proud smile at his son.

"There's still a ton more," Asriel said, "but we made a bit of a dent."

Sans nodded. He leaned against the fridge and poured more soda into his mouth. Asriel stared at him suspiciously, but if the skeleton noticed, he didn't show it.

"Guess we didn't make a dent in Kingdom names, though, huh?" he joked.

"We'll have to think about it a bit longer," Asgore said apologetically.

.

"Hey, um… While y-you're here," Alphys said, sliding up to the short skeleton. "Let me see your hands?" She took the closest one without waiting, inspecting the knuckle that was missing its ring finger. "Y-You still have feeling there, right?"

"Yup, didn't change," he said.

She opened her hand to show him a segmented, metal bar, rounded at the bottom to fit perfectly against the remaining bone. She rested it against him and gave it a jolt of magic. It clunked into place as if by magnetism. He shivered.

"Oookay."

"Try moving it?" Alphys said.

Sans frowned thoughtfully as he stiffly flexed the makeshift digit. It looked as if it were being tugged by a puppet string. Alphys grinned.

"S-So?!"

"Welp. Kinda shocked it synced that quick." He carefully clenched and unclenched his hand. "Bit cold. Tingles. Kinda stiff."

She nodded readily. "Okay, I can ch-change some components," she said as she popped it off and took it back. "Once we get the feeling r-right, I'll just shape it to match your other one."

"Thanks." He smiled sideways. "No rush, huh? It's not like it's botherin' me."

"I know," she said as she put the test-digit down near the almost completed leg.

"I still can't believe you just chucked your finger so far outta the world it's not even in old pics anymore," Asriel said.

"Wouldda chucked a toe if I had time," Sans said. He absently rubbed his fingers over his knuckles and then straightened up. "Welp, think I'd better be g—"

.

"Ooh, o-one more thing? I had an idea!" Alphys took his opposite hand and gently tapped on his deep, red scar. "Wh-What would you think of some, um, crystal or something in there?"

"Uh. Why?" He slumped against the fridge again. "S'that helpful?"

"Wait, you can just stick crystal into people?" Undyne asked, leaning in closer with a curious eye.

"It's still e-experimental, but for some harder p-parts like, nail or horn, or, w-well, bone, I'm pretty s-sure I can get a really magical crystal to bind right in."

"So, am I the lab rat?" Sans wondered. "I mean, I'm sure I can baryte, but—"

"I've t-tested it on a few people with similar injuries already, actually!" She traced the length of the scar with a claw. "I-It would, um, smooth out this line— so that sort of protects against more chips. Y-You'd still see the blue glow through it a little bit when you use magic, though. Plus, it… well, it'd just be by a tiny amount, but i-it might make you a little stronger."

"Ooh!" Asriel perked up in his seat. "Yo, do it! If I cracked my horns, I would put crystal in 'em, no question."

"Hm. I mean…" Sans rubbed the back of his skull. "Later, right?"

"Oh, y-yeah, I have to d-do at least three different a-attunements on it," she assured him.

"Kay. Could give it a try, for sure. Thanks Alph." Sans winked. "You're a real gem. I won't take it for granite."

Undyne lightly bonked him on the head and Asgore chuckled into his hands.

.

Sans couldn't help a grin. He stretched. "Okay, for real, I should go before they notice I'm gone." He shot a look at Asriel. "Want a lift?"

The tired goat boy shook his head. "Nah, I'll drag myself back at some point. You go." He winked. "Don't break your cover."

The skeleton stuck a thumb up. "G'night, nerds."

.

As they waved him off, Sans spirited himself away, back home to Snowdin. He figured landing in the kitchen was a good bet and, luckily, he was right. The lights were low, and though Papyrus was there, he had his back to him, leaning over the stove and stirring something in a pot. There was a nutty, savoury scent in the air. When Sans opened the fridge door and leaned in, his brother jolted and spun around.

"When did you get here?!" he demanded.

"Nnnnow?" The fridge was fairly empty, but there was a bottle of chutney on the door, so Sans grabbed it and popped the lid to take a swig.

"Can't you even be bothered to have that with a spoon?!"

"Why?"

Papyrus rolled his eyes. He turned back to his pot. Sans slid up beside him to peer in.

"Whatcha makin'?"

"A roux!" The tall skeleton's face brightened. He pointed to the recipe, displayed on the screen of his phone, beside him on the counter. "I'm making a very fancy cheese and macaronis!"

"Kinda late, huh?" Sans said.

"It's for tomorrow! And! Look who's talking!" Papyrus cut his eyes at him. "Did your really go out again after you said you were heading home early?"

"Didn't have much of a choice," Sans said.

.

His brother's expression softened. He patted Sans on back with a gleam of warming amber in his touch. "Did you talk to Frisk?"

"Nope."

"You should!"

"Eh, I dunno. Don't wanna cause undue stress, y'know?"

"And how are you so sure it's undue, hmm?!" Papyrus leaned over to him with a pointed stare.

Sans snickered. "Just, uh… trust me on this one, huh?"

Papyrus gave him such a dry look that Sans couldn't help but burst out laughing. His brother rolled his eyes.

"You're impossible!" the tall skeleton scoffed as he turned back to his pot. "You're lucky I can at least feel that you're not in a state of total mess."

"Sure am," Sans said with a grin.

"Nyeh! …Well, since you're up, did you see my texts?"

"Nope."

"Sans!" Papyrus scolded. "Come on, Alphys gave us all these fancy new phones, the least you could do is check it every once in a while! Specifically tonight, when plans are being made!"

"Guess so." Sans smiled sideways. "What'd it say?"

"That we teeeeested the certain special something after you left and it's absolutely perfect!" Papyrus's eyes glimmered. "Gosh, the more I think about it, the more excited I get! You're ready, right? You have everything?"

"Uh-huh."

"There's one more thing, but I'll have to do it the morning of," Papyrus said, "unless I can somehow get a copy of the newspaper a day ahead of time."

"Ask at the library," Sans suggested.

"Ooh." Papyrus perked up. "You know, I might!"

.

Sans smiled to himself. He took one more sip from the bottle before putting it back on the inner fridge door. He gave his brother a pat on the back, then sauntered out of the kitchen.

.

Gaster had dozed off on the couch. He'd had his own space and a bed up in the attic for the greater part of two months now and, still, it seemed more likely than not that one would find him snoozing in the living room by accident, often with a book dangling from his fingers. Sans supposed it was better than passing out at the lab all the time like he used to. At the very least, the sofa was comfier than the top of a desk.

.

He snuck off. Frisk was upstairs, right where he'd left her. So were Suzy and Kid. Earlier, the three of them had been doing some magic practice for one of their lessons, but it seemed as if the night had finally caught up with them. They were laying in somewhat of a heap. Whatever anime they'd been watching on a laptop was paused, and all three were covered in blankets from the blanket-orb, with pillows tucked beneath their heads.

.

Sans closed the laptop to darken the room. He looked down on the form of his dozing sister and cracked a small smile. Supposed he hadn't needed to rush so much after all if the kid's sense of dread hadn't been triggered. He bent to readjust the blanket on her back and give her a light pat on the head. Something was different. He frowned thoughtfully. No horns. She must've bonked her head pretty hard at some point during the day, then. He knew they'd be back by morning, though. They always were. He gave her a cooling spark of magic as he brushed his fingertips through her hair. He couldn't feel any bumps or swelling. That was good.

.

Since everyone seemed cozy, Sans left, landing upstairs and crashing onto his father's empty bed. If the old man wasn't going to use it, he figured someone else might as well. He folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, where a golden hallway and a phantom waited for him, same as they had for the last few nights.

.

He cracked his knuckles, stretched, and settled in.

xXxXx

"Saaaaans!"

A light series of thumps jolted the skeleton's tired mind back to reality and he shot upright, a cozy quilt falling away from him. He was disoriented for a moment until he caught Frisk poking her head up from the space for the ladder-steps in the floor. Attic, he realized. He rubbed his eye. He'd already lost track.

.

Frisk grinned and bounded up, rushing to the bedside. "Sans!" she said brightly. "Look!" She smacked her palms against her head.

The skeleton's eyes widened as a little shimmer of dust dropped away from her. Before he could say anything, she pointed to where her horns should have been. There were none.

"No horns! And…!" She braced herself, squeezing her eyes shut as her soul flared in her chest. The starlight in it glimmered and, in an instant, the little horns reappeared, shining faintly. "Horns!"

"Yo, nice," Sans said, leaning forward a bit.

Frisk beamed. She did it again, and again. "No horns! Horns! No horns! Horns! No horns—!"

"Okay okay," he said with a laugh, as she was starting to look a little dizzy "Where'd you learn that?"

"Suzy," she said as she hopped up to sit on the bed. "Ooh. Ow." She rubbed her head and shook it quickly. "She said she could do a big claws and little claws thing and she showed me how it works so I figured I'd…" She almost swooned for a second and rubbed her forehead. "Whew! Figured I'd try."

"Overdid it a little, huh?" Sans said, resting a cooling hand on her head.

She snickered. "Yeah, I guess. Sorry."

"She still here?" he asked.

"No, me and Az got her and Kid to their houses a little while ago," she said. "It's liiiiike… Almost noon?" She stared at him curiously. "Paps said you had a bad night again so we thought we'd let you sleep."

"Ah."

.

Frisk frowned lightly. "I, um, came to check on you a little while ago," she admitted. "You were locked in but you weren't, like… having a bad time? Right? I did a little reach in but you felt kinda comfy."

"Oh. Heh." He rubbed his eye. "Yeah. S'fine."

The kid wilted with relief. She snuck up to him and pressed close to hug him and nestle in. He smiled fondly and plopped his hand on her head.

"Youuuuu gotta tell me, though, okay? If it's bad?" she insisted. "Don't try to be tough and stuff, just tell me and we'll figure it out."

"Dude. It's fine," he said.

"Nuh-uh."

Sans held in a sigh. Just another thing he'd given the kid a complex about. He absently scratched her head, letting a little cooling magic seep into her scalp where she'd continuously whacked herself. "Look," he said, "don't sweat it. It's… Heh. Ain't like last time."

She looked up at him with an incredulous squint. "You sure?"

"Yeah." He cracked a sideways smile. "Guess the, uh, one positive is that I know what to look for, huh?"

"I guess," she conceded.

.

Sans couldn't help the sympathetic smile that crossed his face. "C'mere, goofball." He scooped her up under her arms and cozied her against his shoulder. "You worry too much."

"Yeah but—"

"Relax, will ya?"

She sighed, pouting and letting out a little harumph. Nevertheless, her posture went slack. She squished her cheek against him. "Just be okay, okay?"

"How could I not be? My kiddo's a time god," he teased lightly.

Warmth flushed in Frisk's face and she smiled, a tingle of pride blossoming in her chest. She shifted over a bit and to give him a gentle bonk on the forehead with her own. He laughed.

"You haven't bonked your noggin enough for today?"

"Bah!" she scoffed.

.

Frisk pulled back and he let her flop onto the mattress. She sighed and stretched out like a cat.

"Maaaaaan…" She scrunched up her face at looked at him upside down. "Hey, Sans?"

"Yuuuup?" he asked as he slid onto the floor, popping his back.

"Is it okay that I'm still not sure which one I want to be the normal one?" she asked.

"Hm." Sans tilted his head. "Both's fine."

"You think?"

"Not like you're a different person if you decide to, uh, change your hair, right?"

Frisk's eyes glittered. "I guess so." She sat up quickly, pressing her hand against her soul spot. She looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded to herself. "Yeah."

.

She hopped off the bed and ducked behind a bookshelf. One sat on an angle, concealing a glowing tear in time from the sight of the bed. She latched onto it for just a moment before spinning around.

"Me and Az are gonna go to the Ruins for a little bit, wanna come?"

He almost told her not to bother, but he shot her a tired smile instead. "Nah. I'll pick ya up after, if y'want, though." He tapped the grey beneath his eyes "Just, uh… might catch a couple more z's."

"You…? Oh! Yeah, yeah, do that, for sure. Don't worry about it," she said swiftly. "We can…!" Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. "Oh, man, sorry I woke you up! It was just—"

"Kid—"

"—I was so excited 'cause of the magic thing and—!"

"Frisk," Sans cut her off with an amused grin on his face. "Chill. I should grab somethin' to eat anyway."

Frisk's apologetic look brightened into a big smile. "Papyrus made some really nice cheese noodles! And Mom's making pie."

"Oh yeah?" Sans said.

"She said it's for tomorrow but she made extra filling so there's, like, tiny pies, too. Dad accidentally ate them together."

"Alright, I'm sold."

The kid grinned. She popped back down the stairs. Sans could hear her call to Toriel, telling her he was up. He caught the pleased cadence of the silvery woman's voice in reply.

.

Sans crossed his arms. He frowned thoughtfully. Maybe, he mused, he could be fair to the little nerd for once. He tapped his foot against the floor lightly for a few seconds before raising his voice. "Hey, uh. Frisk?"

He could hear the kid rush back to the stairs and her head popped up again. "Yeeeeah?"

"Look," he said. "If somethin' bad actually happens, I'm not gonna be secret about it, alright?" He hesitated for just a moment even though the next word was exactly why he'd called her back. " …Promise."

Frisk's eyes got big and borderline starry. She grinned. "Kay." She rushed back to him, threw her arms around him, and bounced up to plant a quick smooch on his cheek before she vanished downstairs again.

.

Sans couldn't help a tired laugh. He rubbed the back of his skull. Felt as if he'd just sealed a pact. Maybe that was for the best. No point in worrying about the state of him now, though. Especially with what was coming up for her.

xXxXx

Despite the changes in the mountain, the Ruins stayed very much the same, except that great, black tree near Toriel's old home. It had continued to strengthen over time and, as a beam of real, pure sunlight was cut down to it, crimson leaves blazed across its branches like flame.

.

The red crystal was the same as ever when Frisk and Asriel came to check it. There had been an alert of movement in the morning, but nothing on the instruments that Alphys had set up that indicated anything more than that. The kids found the culprit before long— a little, crested songbird, grey and orange with a yellow belly and a dark marking like a bandit's mask around its eyes. Frisk was sure she'd seen one before, darting around an ancient stone carving that looked a bit like Asgore.

.

As the bird peeped shrilly, a friend came to join it through the opening in the rock. The two bounced about on the branches, buzzing and whistling at each other as if just for the fun of it. It was kind of surreal for Asriel. He didn't think a wild bird had ever been down here before. Maybe it was a good sign.

.

Frisk had tired herself a little with the rapid destruction and reassembly of her horns, so the kids took a break together, sitting amongst the leaves and the black tree's thick roots. She stretched out, leaning against her brother as she looked up at the birds flitting about in the shaft of sunlight.

"You're coming tomorrow, right?" she asked him. "To the, uh, university museum thing?"

"Yeah, think so," Asriel said, trying to sound as casual as possible. "Paps was really talking it up."

Frisk snickered. "I bet it'll be nice. Sans didn't really get to see it, he was like, sneaking into the secret archives or something."

"I guess it's nice to know they don't only have adventures when we're around, huh?" he said with a wink.

"Heh. Yeah."

.

A little gloom of guilt drifting through Frisk like smoke, but she shook it off as quick as she could "Y'know, Sans was a teacher, in the old time. In Gullport. And at that place, too. But, he did it a little earlier last time." She folded her arms. "I thought maybe it was kinda good for him, but I dunno if he wants to do it again this time."

"Well, he's teaching you now, huh?" Asriel commented. His fur bristled and his eyes widened. "A-And me! I-I mean, that's more important, right? I bet he'd rather be doing that. You know him, he's a lazy guy, he'd rather stay home."

"…Maybe," Frisk conceded. "But he seemed happy before."

"Maybe he could set up something on the human internet," Asriel suggested. "Best of both worlds, right?"

"Ooh. He might like that."

"Right?" He stuck his tongue out. "You don't have to babysit him, you know?"

She lightly elbowed him. "I-I know!"

.

Asriel snickered. He draped an arm around her and yawned widely. The leaves crunched softly as he slumped downwards.

"Hey, uh… Random, but, uh… Wanna come do plants with me next time?"

"Yes," she said instantly.

"And, like… maybe we could get really big?" He tilted his head towards her. His eyes were huge and shimmery. "And we could fly, maybe?"

"I already said yes," Frisk replied brightly.

He grinned. "Hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm really glad you're fun."

She snickered. "Me too."

Asriel shot her a quizzical look. She shrugged wide.

"I didn't know if I'd be fun!" She smiled bashfully. "I always kinda thought people would find me weird. Like… I mean, sometimes I say stuff and people give me weird looks, still, but mostly it's okay, I think."

Asriel tilted his head, a flicker of pity in his eyes. He sat up a bit and gently headbutted her. She snickered.

"What?" she said.

"Nothin', just… Nothin'."

.

Asriel got up and, though she looked at him suspiciously, he merely grinned in reply.

"Why'd you look at me weird?" she asked.

His cheeks warmed. "I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

The boy skittered away. "Noooo I didn't!"

She pouted and got up to try to follow him around the tree, but he darted just out of sight. "Aaaaz, you know why they do the weird looks?"

"Noooo I don't!"

She chased him around the trunk, but he remained a step ahead, just around every turn. "Az!"

"I didn't see it, I dunno!"

"Then why'd you do the weird look?"

"I didn't!"

.

He was still just out of reach. Frisk stopped hard in her tracks, and after a second, Asriel ran right into her by accident, sending them both tumbling. She grunted as he bleated and they crashed into the leaves and roots.

"Ooowww, sorrrryyyy," he grumbled.

Frisk couldn't help but sputter out a laugh. She twisted awkwardly to grab onto him and he helped her up. She gave him a very exaggerated frown, and he instantly snorted laughing. She giggled, too.

"Dang," he said.

"Seriously," she insisted.

He shook his head. "Look, I—"

.

"Kids?" That was Gaster's voice, echoing lightly off the walls of Toriel's now-empty home. "Is that you?"

Asriel's ears perked up and he rushed away, relief widening his eyes. "Heeey, Uncle G!"

"Ah!" The skeleton, bundled up in his heavy brown jacket, emerged from the threshold where they'd left the old door wide open. "There you are."

"Heya," Frisk said.

Gaster smiled. "I assume you already checked—"

"Yeeeeah, it was just some birds." Asriel pointed upwards.

What little disappointment had flitted across the old skeleton's face lightened. He strolled to the bases of the tree and looked up to see the little, orb-like birds hopping around on its boughs.

"Ah. Well." He smiled. "That's a good sign. Maybe a bit more of the natural world is just what this place needs, hm?" His eyes brightened. "Look at those leaves."

.

The kids followed his gaze. Asriel's snout wrinkled and he looked up at the skeleton with a curious squint.

"So, uh… what happens, if the mountain gets all… natural, though. Does it change much?" he asked.

"It only improves," Gaster assured him.

"Is it like that, um… celestial-nature-a balance stuff?" Frisk wondered.

"Exactly that," he said. He shot the kid a fond smile. "The way my mother told it, the two aspects of this world are meant to work together."

"Is that why birds aren't ever scared of you guys?"

"I think it's just 'cause we don't eat 'em," Asriel said, sticking his tongue out.

Frisk blinked. "Oh."

.

Gaster patted Asriel on the head, since he was closest. "I'm just happy you two get to see things like this. I never would have thought…" He chuckled, shaking his head at himself. "I apologize, I know it's just a tree, but—"

"Nah, I get it," Asriel assured him. "Things are different now."

"Very different." The skeleton's gaze drifted off. What he was looking at was anyone's guess, but when he tore his eyes away, he looked down at the kids with a warm grin. "Make sure you take plenty of photos at the museum tomorrow, alright? We might be able to weasel some of those artefacts back, if they're of use."

"What, you're not coming?" Frisk asked.

"Ah. Um." Gaster rubbed the back of his skull, his eyes darted swiftly to Asriel before settling solidly on his daughter. "Don't worry, I will definitely be coming along next time. For now, you and your brothers should take some time to yourselves; have some fun." He winked. "No need to be worrying about your old man getting lost in some human library, hm? Trust me, I could get stuck in for hours."

.

Frisk scrunched up her face. The logic didn't really make sense to her. In fact, that sounded even more like he should come. But, it wasn't as if it was the only time they'd be able to go to Anthelion, and he did look pretty tired. Gaster often kept similar hours to Papyrus, but he did not have quite the same amount of energy. Maybe he was really just worried about being a stick in the mud. The kid nodded.

"Kay. But it's cool if you change your mind, I don't think anyone'd be mad."

"I'd be mad," Asriel joked.

Gaster's eyes lit with amusement. "You'd have to forgive me," he said. He strolled around the tree. He paused again, his eyes fixed on the roots. A little gloom settled on him despite his smile.

Asriel knew exactly what past; what phantom the old skeleton was looking at. He gave him a nudge. "It's a good place to read," he said.

"Hm. Of course it is," Gaster said quietly.

.

Asriel cut his eyes at Frisk. She perked right up and reached up for her father's hand.

"Wanna sit for a bit?" she asked. "You brought a book, right?"

Gaster's brows lifted. He looked between the two kids. Their scheme dawned on him quickly and he began to grin. He took a seat and beckoned them close. As Frisk snuck in close beside him and Asriel sat down on a nearby root, the skeleton pulled out his phone to show them. His dimension box was packed with novels.

"Frisk, pick," Asriel said with a grin.

"Aah, I dunno, there's so many," she said.

"I think I know something you'll like," Gaster said. He plucked out a green book with golden runes across its embossed, water-damaged cover. "Now, this is a human book, but the story is a classic. It's about friendship, and danger, and someone quite small taking on a big adventure." He drew Frisk in under his arm to show her the tome's pages as he opened it, and waved Asriel closer as well.

.

Once the boy was settled and Frisk was comfy, Gaster began to read. He would do so untiringly, until Toriel came to check on them hours later.

.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Sans had had a proper nap. Toriel made herself busy with a knitting project. Papyrus was all over the place, whispering schemes to almost everyone, but that was nothing unusual. Frisk and Asriel played some video games and helped him make dinner. The little white dog stopped by, which had become an increasingly common occurrence. He ate with them and fell asleep in the oven, only making a break for it once Papyrus found him, stealing a bunch of empty envelopes as he went on his way, cartwheeling out the window. This had also become an increasingly common occurrence.

.

That night, at Frisk's request, Sans pulled out his favourite tapes, and they watched robots poking fun at bad movies until they fell asleep.

.

The next morning, Frisk was roused from bed by her mother with a warm smile and a cup of hot cocoa.

"My child, your brothers are almost ready to go," she said.

The kid sat up groggily to take the mug and Toriel sat on the bed beside her.

"We thought it best to let you rest. Did you sleep well?" she asked.

Frisk nodded. "Mhm. You?"

"Oh." Toriel chuckled. "Yes, don't worry."

"You sure you don't wanna come?" she asked.

"Thank you, but I will come along next time," she said. "It is a little late to ask the bus, is it not? Since I will certainly not fit into Papyrus's car yet!"

Frisk snickered. "You could if the roof's down."

Toriel gently tapped the kid on the head. "And you will continuously pop your poor little ears!" She smiled. "Don't worry, dear. There is… so much time, now, to do so many things. And, besides." She smiled. "You will have a wonderful time with your brothers. I'm sure Papyrus especially will be anxious to show you everything he saw last time; I would not wish to slow you down."

.

Suspicious, Frisk thought. She'd heard almost the same thing before. Her mother's expression was steady and even, though. She wondered what the adults were scheming about. Maybe they all felt really carsick. When she wasn't used to travelling in cars, she'd felt that way, too, so that'd be fair. Or, maybe being around that many humans made them nervous and they just didn't want to make her feel bad about it. That could also be fair.

.

Frisk smiled sideways. "You wouldn't, but that's okay. You're right, there's tons of time." She sipped the cocoa and it sent a tingle of warmth down all her limbs. "Thanks for this."

"Of course." Toriel stroked the kid's head. "When you all return, we will meet up at Grillby's. What do you think?"

The kid perked up. She felt like she hadn't seen Grillby in forever. It'd probably only been a week or so, though. "Yes please."

.

"Hey." Asriel stuck his head into the bedroom while knocking on the door at the same time. "Dude, you ready?"

"Uh—"

"Nope." He pulled out of the room. "She's still in her PJs!"

"Frrrrrrrisk, get dresssssed, we have to start driving away sooooooon!" Papyrus called.

"He says we have to go soon," Asriel said.

Frisk snickered. "Yeah, I heard."

He grinned. "So, come on!" He rushed away down the stairs. "I'll make you food, but let's gooooo!"

Frisk brightened. Toriel chuckled and slowly got to her feet. She gave the kid a gentle pat on the back.

"I will leave you to it," she said.

.

As soon as Toriel stepped out, Frisk took a big swig of the hot cocoa and got up to change. She grabbed a white tee with three diagonal Z's across it and her favourite hoodie, then looked at herself in the mirror on the inside of the closet door to decide on whether to have horns that day or not. She tapped them gently. She didn't think that they were enough to have her be mistaken for a monster, so they might just invite more questions than not. A scenario flashed through her mind of some stranger somehow finding out they were growing out of her head and people all over the world going into a panic, thinking that monsters could somehow make humans mutate.

.

Frisk scrunched up her face and bonked the horns to dust, quickly brushing the glittering residue from her hair with her fingertips. Better to avoid anything for now, she thought. A human kid travelling with a small pack of monsters already drew in enough curious eyes, and she definitely didn't want to cause her family any troubles.

.

As she finished her cocoa and headed downstairs, she caught all the monsters in the house huddled up, whispering conspiratorially near the kitchen. She paused to watch. Though she could catch a few scraps of words, she wasn't sure what they were talking about. She tilted her head. The last time she'd seen something like this was back when Sans was planning to buy Papyrus a car, but she had been involved in that one.

.

She blinked. So, there was a conspiracy, but she wasn't in on it this time. Interesting. Was it about her, or would she be bad at keeping the secret? She couldn't really think of anything special going on, though. Couldn't be Chara— the phone would have gone off in the night. Couldn't be school stuff. Maybe it was something to do with the castle, or the new house?

.

She was noticed after just a few more steps towards the ground floor. Every set of eyes settled on her, but before any sort of excuses were made, Papyrus bounded over to her and lifted her off her feet.

"Good morning!" he said brightly, leaning in to rest his brow against hers in the gentlest of bumps. "How are you; did you sleep well?! Are you ready to go?!"

"Yeah!" She lowered her voice. "What's up? Everyone's in a sneaky circle."

Papyrus snickered loudly and shook his head. "Sneaky, maybe, but bad, no!" He gave her a very serious look. "I swear, as the great Papyrus and your biggest of brothers! That you don't need to worry about a thing."

Frisk couldn't help but smile. So, it had to be some kind of surprise for her, for some reason. She didn't quite get it, but she nodded anyway. "Heck, how could I not trust that?" she said.

Papyrus beamed. He whirled around and pointed his finger at Sans.

"You have what you need?!"

"Uh." Sans smiled sideways. "Yeah?"

Papyrus flicked out some sunglasses and slid them on. "Then let's blow out of this metaphorical bicicle stand!"

.

After giving her parents hugs goodbye, Frisk grabbed onto Papyrus and Asriel and pulled them through the starlight in the attic to arrive in Starhome, near the unfinished castle. Sans met them just a little up the street, having grabbed everyone a soda from one of the nearby market stalls. They strolled along the smooth, cobblestone roads as Frisk munched on the sandwich Asriel had made for her.

.

Starhome in the daylight was starting to resemble spots in the other world's New Home, with its rustic vibes, stonework, and plenty of plants already growing up short dividing walls or the sides of buildings. Monsters were out and about, like any normal day in any normal town, taking walks, doing the shopping; sitting in the sunshine. The sight of it never failed to warm Frisk's soul a little bit.

.

A couple of unusual denizens were out and about near the market, too. A pale human man with short hair, greyed a little too early, and a scruffy beard, cradled his tired, brown-haired daughter against his shoulder as he toted around a hefty bag of groceries in the other hand, a calico cat darting along right behind his heels. Papyrus waved excitedly at them and received a tired grin and a raised hand from the man in reply. Frisk hadn't expected she would be pleased about their presence, but after what she'd seen in Sans's head, it seemed like Boyd and Ellie Dunleavy would be a good fit for their town. She was extremely relieved about that.

.

Papyrus's bright red convertible had been left safely amongst a few public bikes and two snail-shaped moving vans in a small, temporary lot around the other side of the castle where things were still mostly bare rock. They loaded up, Papyrus closed the roof, popped on some tunes, and they were off to Anthelion.

xXxXx

By the time they arrived at the university campus, they had a fifth passenger in the car: that little white dog again. Nobody knew how he'd gotten there, but he'd toppled out of the glove compartment and rolled onto Sans's lap amongst a plethora of stashed bones the moment Papyrus parked the car. The dog was off Sans's legs and out the door as soon as he opened it, as per usual.

.

Though classes running would be minimal on a weekend, there were still plenty of humans around, wandering the greens, walking their pets; heading in and out of the large building. Banners on tall, pine-green lamp posts advertised all kinds of events nearby, from theatre shows and sports games, to the very museum exhibit that the group from Mount Ebott had come to see.

.

Papyrus leapt from the driver's seat of the car without a moment's hesitation, straightening his white-and-orange windbreaker and tossing the end of his red scarf back over his shoulder as he took in the autumn breeze. The bright red of his car had already drawn some eyes, but it was nothing compared to the still that settled over just about every human within spying-range at the sight of him.

.

Sans leaned up against the side of the vehicle with a tired smile on his face, eyes half-lidded. Cool, cautious magic bristled just beneath his shirt. He was pretty used to this— it seemed to be a typical reaction for humans seeing skeletons for the first time. However, when Frisk and Asriel hopped out to join them, the world defrosted. The skeleton breathed a shallow sigh of relief. He caught his sister shoot him a smile from the corner of his eye and he reached out to ruffle her hair as he pushed himself forward casually, scuffing the heel of his loose sneaker on the pavement.

"Wanna head in?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's see the stuff," she said. She pulled up her hood with the little horn points, grabbed his arm, and grinned. "Don't worry, I gotcha."

He snickered. "Good. You never know."

"Just follow me!" Papyrus asserted brightly. "I remember this exactly!"

.

Papyrus marched ahead without a care, guiding them towards the large doors of the main building, where they entered into a huge, open area, where their steps echoed on a bright, tiled floor. Above, the place was lit by skylights and it smelled faintly of coffee and window cleaner. The people within were spread out and mostly occupied with their own business. Some eyes settled solidly on them, though. Frisk watched her tallest brother like a hawk, scanning any human who could conceivably reach them in a few steps. Nothing happened, though. Nobody even gave them a cross word.

.

The exhibit, in a dark, interior room with the lights focussed specifically on the displays, was a bit busier than the rest of the place, especially since it was a weekend. Some kids scampered around while their parents looked through glass cases and onto old artefacts. Those kids froze at the sight of Asriel. Before a word could babble from their mouths, a young man in a harmlessly tattered jacket and jeans splattered with paint approached Papyrus in a rush.

"E-Excuse me," he said swiftly. "Are you…? God, you're real, aren't you?"

"I am indeed very real! Hello, human!" Papyrus said brightly. "I am the great Papyrus! How can I h—?"

"Dude, I saw your movie," the human said despite a little warble in his voice. He cleared his throat "Blackletter."

"Oh! You did?!" Papyrus grinned. "Thank you so much for watching it!"

"Wait, I saw that, too," a woman nearby said, nudging her husband lightly with her elbow. "That's him?!"

"Greetings and hello, yes, it is, in fact, me!" the skeleton asserted.

.

It was as if a spotlight of stars beamed down upon Papyrus, and suddenly, people were all around him. He grinned like a ray of sunshine. "I-I'll be happy to answer any questions at all!"

The crowd was hooked.

.

"Typical," Asriel said with a grin.

Frisk snickered. Though she still had a prickle of worry in her, when she glanced at Sans, it faded. Her brother looked beside himself with pride. Asriel took her hand and nodded.

"C'mon, while there aren't any big people legs blocking everything," he said.

"O-Oh! Right!"

.

There were all kinds of artefacts and ancient weapons in the glass cases. Old things of magic and unknown use. Frisk didn't know much about what she was looking at, but she skimmed the placards and took pictures of everything, just like Gaster had asked her to.

.

Two paintings from a land far to the east caught her eye. One of a giant, tusked beast of white and gold that resembled Asgore except for its four horns, looming over the side of a mountain and a churning ocean. The one beside it depicted a similar creature, sitting serenely in a garden in a kimono patterned with feathers. Two different perspectives on the same monster, the notes nearby speculated.

.

"Hey, Frisk?" Asriel was over by more paintings and a large board of words. "…Yo, did you see this end of the world stuff?"

"Is it the thing about weird explosions people don't remember well?"

The boy nodded.

"Yeah, Paps saw that last time, I still have all the photos."

"…Do we have to, like… do anything, though?" he wondered.

Frisk shrugged. "Maybe sometime?" She pulled out her phone to make a note of it. "I dunno, I gotta look into it."

.

She turned back to the case she was peering into, only for a nearing presence to make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She turned quickly to see two young boys, one around her height, the other a little taller, peering at her with wide-eyed curiosity. They both were wearing striped shirts— the the former in the cool half of the rainbow and the latter in black and white.

"What kinda monster are you?!" the smaller of the two asked.

Frisk smiled awkwardly and stepped back a little. Maybe it would have been better to have horns after all. "Demon."

"Why'd you just look like a person with red eyes?" the older asked.

She shrugged. Asriel bounced up behind her.

"Howdy!" he said cutely.

"Fluffy," the little kid breathed.

"What kinda humans are you guys?" Asriel asked innocently.

The other kids blinked and looked at each other. The oldest one shrugged.

"Normal, I guess?"

The goat boy nodded sagely. "I see, I see."

.

The boy in the black-striped shirt looked at the two kids before him with a curious frown. "There's ones like you in a bunch of the pictures," he said to Asriel.

"Yup! We used to be all over the place," Asriel asserted.

The smaller kid started to bounce. "Oh! Oh! I saw one like you, too," he said, pointing to Frisk.

Asriel and Frisk caught each other's eyes, each of them equally puzzled.

"Really? Could you show me?" Frisk asked.

The little boy looked around swiftly and scampered over to one of the cases they hadn't checked yet, then waved for everyone to follow him. He stood on his toes and pointed a pudgy finger against the glass. Frisk peeked in, too, and her stomach dropped straight to her feet.

.

It wasn't just someone who looked like her in a picture— it was Avenir's ancient pictobox in that case, and a faded, sepia photo of Frisk amongst a few others displayed beside it.

.

The second Asriel laid his eyes on the picture, he spluttered out a laugh. "Yo, what?!"

Frisk clapped her hands to her face. "Aaaaah…!"

"Whatchu goofballs doin'?" Sans asked as he appeared from nowhere. He leaned over to look at what they were.

The cool-striped boy squeaked at the sight of him and darted back a bit. His brother stood, frozen, eyes bugged out of his head. Sans let out an easy chuckle and offered his hand.

"Hey. I'm Sans," he said. "Betcha never met a skeleton before, huh?"

The kid cautiously reached out to shake Sans's boney hand, only to be met with an abrupt farting sound the moment he grabbed him. Sans grinned and the smaller boy burst out laughing. The older kid drew back swiftly, a little flustered, and the skeleton winked.

"The ol' whoopee cushion in the hand trick. Always good for a laugh, huh?" He offered the silly little plastic pillow to the kid. "Give it a try."

"Pff. That's dumb," the boy said, though his eyes glimmered a little as if he was trying not to laugh. He took it anyway and squished it to make a farting sound himself.

"I wanna!" The shorter kid smooshed the cushion against his brother's hand and it farted again. He snickered loudly.

.

A moment later, the two boys were called away. The older was still making fart noises with the whoopee cushion, and the younger turned to wave to the little monster group before joining up with their parents again.

"Humans are kinda funny, huh?" Asriel commented. "How often does that actually work?"

"More than ya'd think," Sans said. He turned back to the case and tapped lightly on the glass. "But, now, how the heck—?"

"It was grandma's!" Frisk blurted. "She took the picture when I was showing her phone stuff!"

"Wait, that's literally you?!" Asriel burst out laughing so hard he almost doubled over. He sounded like he wanted to say something but he was wheezing too hard to get it out.

Sans leaned in to take another look, then cracked right up, too. "Holy shit, kiddo."

"How was I gonna know that'd happen?!" she squeaked.

Sans could only laugh and thump her on the shoulder.

.

"What are you three making such a ruckus over here for?" Papyrus asked as he came to join them. "You sound like a hoard of hyenas!"

Asriel jabbed his finger at the picture as Frisk hid under her hood. The tall skeleton blinked.

"Oh!" He blurted excitedly, only for his face to fall to a dry expression. "Oh."

"What?" Asriel asked as he tried to catch his breath.

"Well, it just figures that a photo of my own missing sister would be right in my face in a time where I couldn't remember things properly so it wouldn't actually mean anything in the moment, just to TEASE me! Thank you for NOTHING, dramatic irony!" He sighed heavily, but then shot Frisk a fond smile. "That is pretty funny, though." He reached out to pick Frisk up. "Come on, let's look at things. You can see better from up here, right?"

"Y-Yeah." Frisk held onto him tight. For some reason, her soul ached so badly for him that her eyes misted. She brushed them swiftly and pointed at a display case at random. "I could only see a bit!"

"Then that's a perfect place to start!" he said as he whisked her away. "Would you like to do the soul colour test?! It's not very good!"

"Sure?!"

.

Asriel leaned back against the case, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, and smiled fondly. He shot Sans a curious look.

"All good?" he asked.

Sans nodded. "Paps is good at, uh, breakin' the ice in just about any context, so…"

"And he's finally kinda famous. Since, y'know, the MTT leak." The boy grinned slyly. "Just like he wanted, right?"

"…Huh." Sans's smile widened. "Still as schemey as ever, ain't ya?"

Asriel shrugged, but he still wore a distinctive aura of smugness. "I have nooo idea what you mean." He stuck his tongue out.

"Heh." Sans reached out and ruffled the boy's fur. He leaned on the wall, too, and checked his phone. "Anyone back home say anythin'?"

"Uhh…" Asriel pulled out his phone, too. "…Nope. I mean, it can't take that long to set up, can it?"

"You'd be surprised, sometimes." He turned back to look into the case. His eyes were fixed quite intently on the pictobox. "Hm."

"…Think you could get it back?" Asriel asked.

"Possible," he said. He backed up and stretched. "Another time."

.

After the four of them were done taking everything in— and answering a few questions from some curious humans that came and went— the group proceeded onward to Sans's stated reason for wanting to come to the university to begin with. He had a translation of the book of Dirges to deliver.

.

The man they were looking for had an office in one of the other university buildings, but they hadn't actually expected him to be there since it was the weekend. Thankfully, most of that building was completely empty, even the admin desks, and they managed to get up the two storeys without anyone bothering them.

.

Of course, the office they needed to get into was closed off, but Papyrus made quick work of picking the lock and so they could let themselves in. There was a security camera up in the corner and he smiled and waved to it.

.

Professor Shan's desk was just as messy as it had been in the other timeline— so messy, in fact, that even a big, bound stack of paper could easily get lost amongst all the things that were already there. Instead of leaving it to drown in an avalanche of other notes, not to be found again for a year and a half, Sans grabbed the large desk chair and flipped it upside down. He left the translated manuscript on its upward-facing underside, with an additional note of explanation on top of that written in bright red ink, impossible to miss. Frisk relocked the door and away they went.

.

"SO!" Papyrus asked loudly when they were safely back in the car. "Is there anything else anyone wants to do?" He turned and fixed his gaze right on Frisk in the back seat. "Anything else you want to seeeee in the city? Or eat? I brought enough conversion powder for a few things, of course!"

"Um." Frisk smiled sheepishly. "…I dunno? Anyone?"

"I'm tiiiired I don't care, I'll do whaaatever," Asriel said as he slumped dramatically.

"Yup, drawin' a blank, kiddo," Sans agreed. "Up to you."

Frisk tilted her head. She looked out the window. "Shouldn't we wait for the dog?"

"Don't you worry about him, he will show up when you least expect it," Papyrus said. "In fact, he's probably in the trunk chewing on one of my special attacks as we speak."

"I bet he has a car and he didn't tell anyone about it," Asriel joked. "I bet he's doing donuts in a field somewhere."

Frisk snickered quietly. "Well…" She frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe… Um…"

"…You wanna see the trains?" Asriel suggested.

The kid perked up immediately and nodded. "Yeah!"

"Trains?" Papyrus looked a little puzzled, but he turned around and started the car. "Trains it is!"

.

Ever since they'd seen the way the rails worked in the other world, Frisk had been hoping that their new home would be able to do something similar, maybe across the Kingdom, or over the ocean, or maybe, sometime in the future, even connecting to the ones the humans used. There was something about the train cars that made her feel very cozy. Papyrus's car was fun, too, but everyone just being able to relax and watch the scenery go by was a nice thought to her.

.

Anthelion's biggest train station was at the north end of the city, a massive limestone building that looked like it was from another era. Columns carved with dramatic, geometric animals lined the whole structure. Above them were reliefs of different leaves and sun imagery between deers, horses, bison, and wooly rhinos. On the lowest ridge of the massive roof, statues of all different styles stood proudly. They were dogs, mostly, but a few other animals— a crane, an elk; a four-tusked elephant— were amongst them as well. Strangely, there was a single spot that was vacant, except for a banner attached to a pole marking where something should stand. Upon closer inspection, the symbol upon it was very clearly the Delta Rune.

.

Frisk felt tiny beside such a structure. She'd been there once before, just to get out of the snow for a night. She'd accidentally been startled out by a cleaner, though, and hadn't returned since then.

.

Inside, the place was bustling with humans on the move, an echoing, messy chorus of shoes on stone, chatter, digital voices, and the distant rumble of the heavy, moving trains. Everything was polished greys and whites, with golden colours embedded into the stone and marble tile. The vaulted ceiling towered high above, with more reliefs carved into squares along its entire expanse. It all reminded Frisk of some of the architecture in the castles she'd visited. The space was so large that she couldn't think of a single monster who wouldn't be able to fit inside.

.

Asriel looked up, letting out an impressed whistle. "Welp. Humans got a bit of style, after all."

"I wanna do a big train thing," Frisk said, looking to him excitedly. "Do you think Asgore'd go for it?"

"Dude, you're the hero of the underground, I think you could ask him for just about anything and he'd at least try to make it work."

"I juuuuust think it'd be really cool!" she said, her eyes glimmering.

"Who wouldda thunk, huh?" Sans joked.

"Ooh." Frisk grabbed his sleeve. "D'you think they'd let us go look at them? See how it kinda works?"

"Dunno 'bout that," he said apologetically. "We are kinda a buncha weirdos out here, still."

"Maybe they have like, a waiting spot," Asriel said. "And you can just watch from there for a bit."

"Oh! Yeah!"

.

"Don't worry about appearing too weird!" Papyrus said. He fanned out four little laminated cards between his fingers as if he was about to do a magic trick. "I have all our temporary passports! Just in case." His eyes brightened and swiftly handed over three of them to Sans. "There. You go on ahead." He straightened up and looked around the area. "I'm going to see if there's any train-related merch!"

"…Merch? For what?" Frisk wondered. "Like t-shirts?"

"No, you silly Frisk! Nyeh!" He paused. "Unless you'd like a t-shirt?!"

The kid snickered and shook her head.

"Oh! Then, no, I was thinking more like, books!" he said. "Maybe our King Uncle could do something with that!"

"Not bad," Sans said. He scanned the area, catching that a few humans were now lingering to look at them. He put a hand on Frisk's shoulder and nodded in the direction of one of the platforms. "Let's see if we can go scope it out, huh?"

"Kay!" she said brightly. She waved to Papyrus as they left. "Catch up soon!"

"I will!" he assured her.

.

Papyrus twisted around, eyes up on all the signs around the massive hall. He wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for, but he picked a direction and began to walk. He knew he was catching eyes, but he merely continued to smile pleasantly whenever someone stared at him for longer than a few seconds.

.

Though he tried to hurry, there were many things to check out along the way. Images stood out in stained glass. He took a photo. A man was playing guitar in front of a crowd, with the instrument's case on the ground in front of him. People were putting coins in it, so Papyrus did the same with some gold after listening for a little. Some nice, soft pigeons sat on an indoor bench. He picked one up to give it a light, friendly squish. It and one of its white-mottled friends began to follow him the moment he walked away. He picked them both up and ferried them back to the bench, but they instantly trailed him, not veering off even after a few minutes. With a puzzled frown, he picked them up again.

"Excuse me," he asked the nearest person in a uniform. "Whose clingy birds are these?"

"U-Uhh… N… Nobody's?" the woman replied, befuddled.

"Hmmmmm…" His brows shot up. "Can I bring them home with me?"

"What, just take them?" She squinted "…For what?"

"I'm not sure, I just think they're nice," he said.

The woman, still flummoxed, shook her head as if in disbelief. "Take them. It'd be doing us a favour."

"Oh! Thank you, I will!"

"They're messy!" she warned him as he left.

"That's okay, so is my brother!" he replied.

.

Papyrus continued on with a pigeon on each shoulder, looking around for something that might resemble a gift shop. Instead, he found himself in a slightly more modern-looking area of the train station, with posters plastered around meant for phone interactions and digital machines on pedestals waiting to be used. It was less crowded here than elsewhere, but there were still humans lined up outside various wooden booths in the walls, interacting with people or computer terminals behind sheets of glass.

.

Before he'd gotten much farther, Papyrus was suddenly accosted by a small, white dog. He put his hands on his hips and frowned down at the little beast.

"Well, about time you showed up!" he said. "Where were you? Causing chaos?"

The dog yipped and spun, then ran ahead as if to lead him somewhere.

"I am looking for books!" he insisted.

He was answered with a little snort, and the dog spun away. Papyrus heaved out a long-suffering sigh and followed along as fast as he could.

.

He came to an abrupt halt when the pooch disappeared behind a garbage can. Rolling his eyes, Papyrus strode over to look around for him. He saw nothing, but a faint prickle of magic tingled through him in a way he hadn't expected. He straightened up swiftly and cast his eyes around. He didn't see the dog, and the area was mostly clear of humans, though there was a small, anachronistically-dressed group at one of the wall booths. They wore hooded cloaks, and one was extremely tall and oddly rectangular-shaped in the head area. Papyrus did not have time for any of that now.

"Okay, you incorrigible pooch, you have temporarily bested me!" he announced. "Now I and these spherical birds will be on our way, if you don't mind!"

.

As he turned, he still saw no white dog, but he did catch a faint snippet of conversation from the three at the nearby booth.

"Listen, I told ya, we don't have a passport!"

Papyrus bristled and his eyes widened. There was magic in that voice. He flitted closer before he could even think not to, and he peered around the group, trying to get some glance at their reflections in the glass before them. He could not, but he saw that the girl at the register behind it looked apologetic, if not a little pale and worried.

"I'm very sorry, but without one there's not much I can—"

"But we were stuck on an island for hundreds of years, can't y'give us a little bit of a break?"

"We, um, could not get a passport because our country doesn't exist any longer," a deep, male voice chimed in. "You wouldn't happen to have a map we could purchase instead?"

"I'm sorry, we moved it all to digital," the human girl said. "But it's a free app on your phone."

"Buuhhh, we ain't got those either," the first voice grumbled.

.

Papyrus's soul sped with frantic excitement. He snuck up behind the strange group and cleared his throat. "Hello! Perhaps I can help! I have a phone!"

The three whirled around and, just as Papyrus had guessed, three monsters stood before him. What he had not expected, however, was for two out of the three to be skeletons. His eyes grew wide and glimmered with amber light.

.

The taller of the two had an extremely sharp jawline and spiked ridges as his brows, as well as very large horns that accounted for the shape of the hood. Bright, white irises in the black of his eyes stared back at Papyrus, flickering faintly with pink. The other skeleton had a rounded head, wide, sharp teeth, and little horns that somewhat resembled the ears of a cat. She gawked. The last monster, similar in size to that skeleton, was a black and white border collie with ears that were half-flopped. Her bright, golden eyes glimmered and she looked back at the tallest skeleton, her tail wagging.

.

"A… no way!" The shorter skeleton grinned. "A skele? Here?!"

"Two skeles there!" Papyrus retorted shrilly, hardly believing the words as they burst from him. He beamed. "And a dog! Hello there! I—!" He raced forward and crushed all three of them into a tight hug. "Nyeh heh heh, I can't believe it!"

"Oh, he's cute," the dog said under her breath.

"Is he ever!" The sharp-toothed skeleton reached out and squished him in return and then grinned up at him. Her eye sockets glistened "Lookat ya! Damn! Damn damn, I hoped—! Cuz!" She turned, beaming, to her companion. "We ain't the last!"

"Neither are we!" Papyrus felt like his bones had turned to jelly but he held himself as steady as he could. "Oh. My. God. It's so good to meet you!"

"You, too, kiddo! Where're y'from?! The mountain, yeah?!"

"Yes, exactly!" he said. "And you're definitely NOT from the mountain!"

She grinned. "Ugh, this is so perfect! Finally!"

"It's an excellent coincidence," the long-horned skeleton said. "Unless… It was not you who was writing us notes, was it?"

"Nnnnnope, not me!"

"Then, a coincidence."

"Well, kinda," the other skeleton said swiftly. "The letters said today was the best day to be here. So. Here we are, y'know?"

"What, right here? Right now?!" Papyrus demanded.

"Yup! Uhh…" She pulled a letter from her pocket, rumpled and crunched, to show to him. "Says, uh, the twenty-third day of the eighth month, right in there. Best day to get to the mountain."

.

Papyrus looked at the note with big eyes. It was scrawled in a language he had never seen before, and yet he could read it as if he'd grown up with it. Just as the skeleton said, it was written like an invitation, specifying that day's date. It was signed with the name of the mountain itself.

"HUH."

The taller skeleton smiled, his expression softening with exhausted relief. "We have been looking to reach the new monster kingdom for… quite a while."

"Then you are in luck!" Papyrus said brightly, snapping his fingers. "Because I'm from there and I'm going back there very soon, so you can definitely come with me."

.

The dog's jaw dropped in awe and she clenched her paws together, eyes glittering; tail thrashing back and forth. The long-horned skeleton grabbed her shoulder gently, and she reached up to hold his hand as the sharp-toothed skeleton grinned wide.

"Seriously?!" she blurted.

"Of course!" Papyrus stuck his finger in the air. "Plus! It's actually your lucky day twice, because it's a very special day and there will definitely be cake involved."

"Oh, man, we don't wanna intrude on some family thing, though," she said quickly. "The lift would be great, though."

The dog nodded, but Papyrus pshawed.

"Don't worry about that for even a second, my family will be so excited to meet you! Especially my parents." A distant thought plunked heavily into Papyrus's skull and his eyes widened. The names scrawled in their voices seemed as if he might have heard something similar before. He tilted his head. "…Sorry if this is just slightly weird, but you two—" He pointed at the skeletons. "—look sort of… familiar to me, for some reason."

"We, uh… might be on a tapestry somewhere?" the sharp-toothed skeleton said with a bashful smile and a shrug.

"Hm." Papyrus rubbed his chin. "Well! Whatever the case, come with me!" He beckoned to them to follow along.

.

They had just begun to trace Papyrus's steps backwards when he got a text from Frisk. The rest of his family were already outside, waiting in a little park just down the street. He grinned wide and replied about how he'd found a few very nice somethings while he was exploring and he'd be there to meet them soon.

.

"Man, you guys must've done good, huh?" the sharp-toothed skeleton commented as she peered around the huge station.

"Mhm, nobody tried to stab or shoot us even one time," the dog said. Her ears perked up. "They haven't even looked very suspicious of us."

"Oh! Yes, I think we have my sister and little brother to thank a lot for that," Papyrus said. "And that the King is extremely fluffy and likeable. Some other towns I think might be a bit more nervous, but they've seen us a few times over here, at least!"

"The King is still… Asgore?" the tallest skeleton asked quietly.

"The very same King Fluffyman himself!" Papyrus grinned. "He's also slightly my Uncle and he's very nice, you will like him a lot."

"And, is Toriel still the Queen?" the collie asked.

"Nope! They! Have! Broken up," he said. "But, it's not all bad. She adopted me and my siblings!"

"…Wait, you're a Prince?!" the shorter skeleton blurted.

"Oh! Nyeh heh heh, no no no. My little brother's the Prince!"

"I'm confused," the dog admitted.

"That's okay, you will see very soon!"

.

The new group of monsters, plus two pigeons, headed outside into the sun and the cool air. As Papyrus scanned around for the right park, he caught sight of that white dog again and levelled a finger right at him.

"YOU!"

The dog grinned and pranced up to them happily and the three monsters with him froze. The border collie bowed slightly and the sharp-toothed skeleton dipped to one knee before him.

"It's you! I can't believe—! You're alive?!"

The white pooch fluffed up his fur and jumped up to lick her on the cheek. The skeleton's big eyes welled up instantly and her face crinkled. She pulled him into her arms and wheezed out a rough sob. The border collie bent down to pat her on the back.

.

"Oh. Gosh. Are you…? You… know each other?" Papyrus asked, wide-eyed.

The long-horned skeleton nodded. He put a fist to his mouth for just a moment, then cleared his throat. "…This is… already a very good day," he said quietly.

"Wait. Wait wait." He stared at the white dog. "Did you invite them?!"

The little spitz smiled brightly at him before nuzzling back into the skeleton's arms.

"Aaaaah!" She wailed. "G-Go on! Gooo! I'll c-c-catch up soooon!"

Her companion's eyes widened. "Are you su—?"

"Yeeeah!" She wheezed. "I'm just h-h-happppyyyy! G-Go meet m-more of them!"

"I'll stay," the border collie said quietly, rubbing her friend's back gently. She nodded towards a green area sheltered by trees about half a block away. "Magic, that way. We'll join you soon."

Though the tallest of the skeletons looked a little worried, he nodded. He leaned towards Papyrus. "Privacy," he said.

Papyrus nodded swiftly. He beckoned for the long-horned skeleton to join him and they walked off together.

.

Just beyond the trees, there was a few benches and a little pond for ducks. Papyrus caught Sans laying in a slovenly heap in the grass, while Frisk and Asriel were chatting on one of the benches. They had hardly entered the area when Asriel took notice and turned from his conversation. His eyes bulged, his fur stood on end, and his jaw dropped. He nudged Frisk a little too hard as he pointed and she turned around.

.

Frisk turned stiff as stone. Her mouth opened but some sort of aghast squawk fell out of it. For the second time today, she felt like her insides had simply fallen from her body. Papyrus stalled, too, and the long-horned skeleton froze almost as if in terror.

.

There was no way, Frisk thought. No way in the world, and yet, she would have known that spiky face anywhere.

"Wait, holy shit," Asriel breathed.

After a second, Frisk stumbled to her feet and managed to choke out a sound. "…Zapf?!" She almost couldn't believe it as she said it.

The tall skeleton's eyes widened and the lights in them shrunk to pinpricks. He recoiled, like he'd seen a phantom in the mist. Then, he leaned forward slowly. "Frisk?" His deep voice rasped.

The kid's ears burned. She nodded. A step closer and the tall skeleton bolted towards her, dropping to his knees and pulling her into his arms. She squeaked and laughed in disbelief as she clung to him.

"H-Holy crap!" she said shrilly.

.

Zapf, the Knight from a hundred lifetimes ago, sank to the ground and he chuckled hoarsely, cradling the back of the kid's head. "It… It has been a long time, hasn't it?" He pulled back, holding her face in both hands. His eyes glowed. "You haven't changed a bit."

"I-It's only been a few months for me! Have you been out here all this time?!" Her eyes widened. "Is V-Vera—?"

"She's fine. She's completely fine. And you, your…? You were on an important quest, weren't you? Did…?" His eyes widened, they darted from Papyrus to Sans, who had finally sat up. "These are your brothers, aren't they? Everything turned out alright?"

"You remember that after a thousand years?" she squeaked.

"Of course." He smiled at her fondly. "We were friends. You saved my life." He tilted his head. "I guess, technically, you saved all three of us with your advice."

.

Frisk's heart ached and tears welled up in her eyes. She hurriedly wiped them on the back of her hand. "I-I… Dang. I'm… I'm so glad you're here!" She grabbed his face and pulled him in to gently bonk her brow against his.

He snickered. The light in his eyes glimmered pink. "You have to see Vera. And I would love for you to meet my partner."

"Yes please," the kid said swiftly. She turned on Papyrus. "Dude, what the hell?! How'd you…?! What?!"

"I…!" Papyrus's voice creaked. He coughed, and began to beam. "I think it was that white dog?! He invited them specifically today?!"

"Oh. Yeah. That'd do it," Sans said thoughtfully. "Also, uh. Hi. I was the dyin' guy. Good to meetcha."

"You as well," Zapf said quickly. "And…! A-Asriel, right?"

"Yeah! Damn, I…!" Asriel swiftly brushed a hand over his eyes and grinned. "Dude, I'm glad you're okay!"

"The same to you."

.

"Wait! Wait wait wait, what do you mean that'd do it?!" Papyrus demanded.

"I mean… That dog's like a million years old, yeah?" Sans said with a shrug.

"He is?!"

"Well, not literally, but—"

"The Emissary is very ancient," Zapf agreed with a nod.

"I! Am! Bamboozled!" Papyrus sighed. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "I am very glad, though. I knew that I knew you from somewhere! I should have guessed."

"Don't apologize," the tall skeleton said swiftly. "I… I don't know why the Emissary chose to bring us together today, but—"

"I have a bit of an idea," Sans said with a wink. He got up and strolled over to the skeleton who made even Papyrus look a little small and offered him a hand. "Thanks for helpin' these goofy kids way back then, huh?"

"Oh. You… don't have to thank me at all," he said, shaking Sans's hand— sans fart sound, to everyone else's relief. "Frisk gave us advice on how to survive the war. It's thanks to that we can even be here to see this place."

.

"A-Are there more?" Frisk asked. "Survivors? Somewhere out there?"

Zapf's spiky brow creased. "There were… a handful more dogs, a few hundred years ago. They left the safety of the island we fled to, so I don't know what became of them. And I believe Waterghost may still be out there. Other than that…" He flinched, but then took a deep breath. His expression softened. "Well. Honestly, the Emissary and Foredog, if you recall, both had the option to leave with us, but both vanished. We were sure they were dead, and yet—"

"Foredog's alive, too," Asriel blurted. "She's still recovering from almost falling down, but she's alive."

"She is?" Zapf's eyes widened.

"Yeah!" Asriel couldn't help but grin. "She gave me like the biggest hug when she met me again."

The skeleton cracked an exhausted smile. "I am… extremely happy to hear that."

"So those two, they got caught on purpose, huh?" Sans mused.

.

"Aaaah, gosh, I can't believe this," Frisk said, rubbing her eyes. She grabbed Zapf's big, scarred hands. "Dude, I'm so glad. There's so much…! I mean… A ton of stuff changed, but—! So much is good now, and…! A-And you guys are gonna love it and—!"

A shrill shriek interrupted the kid's rambling. Vera, still watery-eyed had found them, with the border collie at her side and led by the white dog.

"SHORTIE?!" she almost screamed. "IS THAT…?! CUZ, AM I HAVING A THING? AM I DYING?!"

"It's her," Zapf said.

"Vera…!" Frisk almost choked again and got up to throw her arms around the sharp-toothed skeleton.

Vera wheezed loudly and lifted her up to snuggle her. "Aaaaaah oh my god, shortiepants, you're alive?! You're good?!" She gave her a little bonk on the forehead and Frisk reciprocated right away. The skeleton let out an ugly, weeping laugh, beaming bright. "Oh my god, kiddo, I could be your grandma like twenty times back by now! And you're identical!" She sniffled, hard. "How long…? You time travelled, right?"

"Just months," Frisk said quickly.

"Ooooh my god." She looked up for Asriel. "Fluffstuff, you too?! Aaah!"

.

"Vera. Aileth. Foredog survived. With them," Zapf said. "The Emissary, too."

"WHAT?!" Vera blurted.

"Oh, thank the sun," the border collie breathed.

"Sorry, uh, can someone tell me why Papyrus has birds?" Asriel cut in.

"The train people said I could have them," Papyrus said. "But! That's not important right now! What's important is…!" he beamed. "These three are alive and we aren't the last of our kind anymore!"

"Sure is somethin'," Sans agreed with a grin. He looked at Vera. "I'd give ya a handshake, but looks like yours are still full."

"That's alri… WAIT! You're the guy that nearly died?!"

"Same one," Sans said.

"Damn, glad you didn't!"

He chuckled. "Same."

She gently put Frisk down, patted her head, and stomped over to Sans to give him a hug, too. "Here! Congrats, you whippersnapper! Hah!"

"Pfff, thanks."

.

"I'll be honest, I… I almost thought we didn't come from the same world, in the end," Zapf voiced, as the border collie nodded. "But I'm so glad that we did. Or, we do." He took a deep breath and then smiled. "Sorry. After all that, let me introduce Aileth. My partner."

The border collie smiled and waved. "I think we met for a few minutes, all those years ago," she said.

Frisk stared. She thought back. If she was remembering right, one of the first dogs they encountered in Foredog's chamber was a black and white one a lot like she was. The kid grinned. She reached out her hands and the dog gently took them.

"I'm so glad you made it," Frisk said.

Aileth smiled, her tail wagging, and gently bumped her snout on Frisk's head. "You did a good job, time-puppy."

The kid snickered. "Thanks."

.

"So, you guys have to be coming back with us, right?" Asriel said. "You picked a good day for it."

"It was this guy," Vera said, pointing at the little white dog. "…I guess he knew you guys were comin' today?"

"That'd be funny," Sans said, "since we didn't decide we were until about a week ago."

The little snowball of a dog raised his tiny shoulders in a shrug. Papyrus picked up the dog under his little arms, to the gasps of Vera and and Aileth.

"You are an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in ninety-percent fluff!" he said.

"E-Emissary?" Aileth stammered.

"Oh, don't worry, he loves this," Papyrus said as he lightly shook the dog, who replied by closing his eyes and sticking his tongue out.

"…Heh." Vera snickered. "Things have changed a lot."

Frisk held out her arms and Papyrus deposited the hairy beast into her grasp. "You never told me you were the same exact guy," she scolded in jest.

The dog snickered. He rested his chin on her shoulder and shut his eyes. Instantly, he was snoring.

.

Frisk was in a bit of a daze as they all walked back to the car. It felt like a dream. Some sort of magic hallucination. It was certainly not helped by the little beast they were calling the Emissary seeping cozy magic straight into her as she carried him, nor the fact that her tallest brother inexplicably had pigeons on him.

.

It wasn't until they were all crammed into the seats— Papyrus driving, Asriel and Sans squished together riding shotgun (Sans had to be dissuaded from hopping in the trunk instead), and the rest of them in the back, that what had happened really hit her. It was her turn to choke on her sobs of utter relief, until she was too exhausted to do much other than listen as her brothers tried to get the newcomers up to date on what they'd missed under the mountain. She felt good, though, even though every inch of her hurt from wheezing. The little white dog and Vera cuddling her helped, too.

.

By the time they reached the edge of Starhome, Frisk was all but asleep. She missed the awe on her ancient friends' faces as they saw what was built; the joy from realizing how many monsters were still left alive, even after all this time forced out of the sunlight.

.

When they finally parked in front of Grillby's, Zapf carried the now-dozing kid out of the back seat and handed her off to Sans. It was sort of strange to them, all of a sudden. This time god, rescuer of monsters, looked so tiny and tired, cradled against her eldest brother's shoulder.

.

"How 'bout you guys go start," Asriel said, nodding towards the bar. "I can take these guys to dad or something."

"Ooh? You mean, start start? Are you sure?" Papyrus asked, keeping his voice as low as he could.

"Yeah." The boy winked. "I don't need to be the one to tell her. What if she cries again?"

"Tell her what?" Vera asked with a worried frown.

Sans pointed at the little white dog. "Ask this nerd why he invited you today, specifically."

The dog stuck his tongue out. Aileth gasped. She clasped her hands together and her tail wagged.

"Oh! That is very special, actually!" she cooed.

Zapf chuckled. "We should have brought a gift."

"I think you might be the gift," Asriel joked.

A sneeze said the little pooch Emissary agreed. Vera snickered.

"I don't mind one bit," she said. "This is great." She turned to Asriel. "Alright, fluffy Prince, take us to your pops!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the boy teased.

"Buuhh, don't call me that, y'wee bairn," she joked, nudging him lightly. "Makes me feel way too old!"

Zapf chuckled. "It will be nice to see him again," he said quietly.

"Wait, you know him?" Asriel said, pausing mid-step.

"As much as one might know their King from a distance," he said. "But, I did think he was doing a good job."

"I think we all did," Aileth said. "They were hard times."

The white dog woofed definitively and did a little spin. Then, he took off.

"Alright, alright!" Asriel said. He followed, turning to walk backwards a couple steps. "Be back soon!"

.

Papyrus waved them off, then looked to Sans with a big, satisfied grin as soon as they were gone. "Wowie."

"Yup."

"That dog is something else," he said.

"Yeah. Literally," Sans said. "C'mon."

.

Grillby was already waiting for them inside with milkshakes and fries ready. There were a couple extra motes of fire drifting around, some streamers fixed up in the corners, and balloons tied to a couple of the chairs. The place was empty, cozy warm, and had a comfortable ambiance of jazz music.

.

Sans grabbed the food in his magic and gently plunked Frisk down in one of the booths as Papyrus excitedly slid in across from her. He put his new pigeons down on the table and gave them his fries as Sans gently roused the kid.

.

Frisk blinked heavily and rubbed her eyes. "I fall asleep…? M'sorry."

"You needed it," Sans said as he took a seat beside Papyrus and dumped a dollop of ketchup into his own milkshake, much to his brother's chagrin.

The kid squinted around, disoriented for a moment until the familiar smells triggered her memory. She managed to perk up a little and took a fry to dunk it into her milkshake. "That all, um, wasn't a dream, right?"

"Nah," Sans assured her.

"Asriel's taking our new friends to Asgore," Papyrus assured her.

Frisk breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled groggily. "Sorry for losin' it."

"Noooo, no no no!" Papyrus squawked. "You! Were overwhelmed! It's okay! You did really well!" He smiled. "And now it's time for something else! And it's nice! Just like I said, right?"

Frisk yawned quietly and nodded, smiling. "Yeah, 'course, I trust you," she said.

.

Papyrus looked at Sans, who shrugged and nodded in reply. Quick as he could, the tall skeleton pulled a small box out of his jacket and handed it over to her.

"Happy birthday!" he said brightly.

Now Frisk was awake. "Birthday?" she repeated, accepting the box with a confused look on her face. "I thought I was sharing your birthday."

"You were!" he said. "But now you don't have to! Since today is! The 23rd of September!"

"Okay." She still sounded confused.

"It's the day dad vanished into the time mess years ago! So! That means it's your birthday!"

"O-Oh." Frisk tilted her head, trying to clunk that date around her brain. It felt a little weird. "Oh! O-Okay."

"And now you are! Officially! Eleven!"

Frisk snickered. "I been eleven for like a year and a half!"

"You wanna explain that to someone every time your age comes up?" Sans asked with a tired grin.

"Yeah, I guess that is kinda annoying," she admitted. "Fiiiine." She smiled warmly. "Thanks, Paps, I really appreciate it."

"I know!" he said brightly. He cupped his hands to form a heart shape. "I love you!"

She reciprocated by forming a heart with her fingers and red bubble lingered in the air. Papyrus grinned and leaned forward excitedly.

"Are you going to open it?!"

"Uh. Yeah! Sure," she said.

.

She pulled the lid off the box only to reveal another lid, fastened closed with a basic lock and a five-digit code. A note was tucked under the metal clasp: that day's horoscope. Frisk pulled it out and smiled with bemusement. Papyrus grasped tight to the edge of the table and grinned, bright and eager. Sans, clearly amused, gave a one-shouldered shrug.

.

Frisk couldn't help a little snort of a laugh. She stared at the paper in her hands before a little lightbulb flicked inside her noggin and she smacked her hand onto the table. "Waaaaait! Wait! That was a birthday trip?!"

Sans's grin widened while Papyrus nodded enthusiastically, beaming like sunshine. The kid felt a tingle of warmth shoot through her, her cheeks flushing.

"A-And you guys planned everything?!"

"Well, of course we did!" Papyrus asserted. "What kind of good-for-nothing-brothers would we be if we didn't?"

"And everyone knew?! That's why it was all secret?" She rubbed her head. "Man, I had no idea!"

"Course ya didn't," Sans said with a wink. "No reason to suspect it. Y'never had a real birthday before."

"Yeah I did, you guys gave me cake and everything on Papyrus's," she protested.

"As much fun as that was, it was more like a birthday test run!" Papyrus insisted. "This one is absolutely the real-and-honest-deal!" His eyes darted down to the horoscope and he drummed his fingers on the table in anticipation. "I think you're going to have a lot of fun, in fact!"

Frisk snickered. "I already was!"

.

She stared down at the horoscope for a few seconds, pulling what numbers were in it out and into her head. Since there were no other clues in the form of maths, she ordered the numbers from spikiest to least spiky and, just like that, the latch popped open. Papyrus clapped.

"Told you!" he said, giving Sans a nudge.

.

Inside that, there was a book about snails but, somehow, it looked a little suspicious. Frisk plucked it up. It rattled faintly. When she opened it, after a few page turns, she found one final box within— Little Monster's First Crystal Growing Kit.

"Oooh," she said. "I didn't know you could grow crystals from a box!"

"Oh! Yes! Absolutely! I figured that you could use it for magic things! And, look!" He took out the crystal kit and pulled the snail book from the other boxes and flipped through it. "See, this?! It's like a fake book! About snails! If you open it to the wrong page, you won't find the hole at all! So you can hide things in it! And the best thing is, all the snail facts are complete nonsense that don't look like nonsense, so nobody will know it's a fake book unless they already know a lot about snails."

"No secrets from mom, then," Frisk joked. "That's really cool, though, thank you."

Papyrus beamed. "You're very welcome!"

.

"Here." Sans slid something along the table to her— a small, metal, golden star with four points, about the right size to be a cellphone charm.

"…You didn't even wrap it?" Papyrus asked dryly. "Not even a puzzle?"

"It's fine," the kid said swiftly. She already had her phone out and was attaching the star to pair with the dragon blaster skull charm already dangling from it. "Thanks!"

"It's a one-slotter," Sans said. "Quick-draw. There's, uh, a little magic ping you can learn to remote activate it."

"Oh yeah?! That's cool! I didn't know we had those," she said.

"S'new," he said.

Frisk's cheeks flushed and she grinned bashfully. "You guys didn't have to do this stuff, the trip was nice enough."

"Pffff, this?! This is nothing!" Papyrus said. "This isn't even the big thing."

"Why's there's a big thing?!" Frisk asked with a laugh.

"Because!" Papyrus lightly banged his fists into the table, causing the pigeons to flutter lightly before resuming their consumption of his fries. "It's your first real birthday! Ever! In your whole life!"

"Think of it as, uh, birthday-stackin'," Sans joked.

"You guys are nuts," she said fondly.

.

"…Here." Grillby slid over with a little chocolate cupcake on a plate, a candle burning on the top of it, and placed it in front of her. "…Happy birthday."

Frisk stared up at him, starry-eyed. "Wh…?" Her heart thumped. "Th-Thanks!"

He nodded, giving her a fond, toasty pat on the head before silently leaving for the counter again. Frisk had to quickly wipe her eyes. She stared at the cupcake and carefully plucked the burning candle out of it.

"Think you're supposed to blow it out, pal," Sans said with a smile.

"But it's from Grillby!" she said.

"…You can," the elemental assured her from across the room.

"O-Okay!" She gently blew the candle out, then put it down on the plate. She carefully broke the cupcake into three and, before her brothers could object, she held out a piece to each of them.

Papyrus and Sans glanced at each other before they both took the small bits of cake without complaint and ate them, as she did. Frisk's eyes lit right up at the very chocolatey flavour. She couldn't help but think how much Chara would have enjoyed it.

"Grillby, I didn't know you made such good cake!" she called over to him. "Thank you so much!

The flame of his cheeks blued a little and he smiled. Frisk snickered and kicked her feet.

.

"This is nice," she said. She leaned back against the comfortable seat and slumped. "…Those guys are gonna come back here, I hope? Like… I mean. I… I just wanna—"

"Make sure they're real?" Sans said, half in jest.

She nodded urgently.

"They'll show," he assured her. "Don't think that dog would go to all that trouble and have them not show up for cake."

"How did he even know they were alive?" she wondered.

"Dunno. It's like he's readin' the script or somethin'," Sans joked.

"Nyeh! Well, I think he could be at least ninety-five percent less cryptic," Papyrus said, crossing his arms.

"Where's the fun in that?"

The tall skeleton scoffed. "Of course you'd say that."

.

A strange, rhythmic bass sound suddenly made itself heard beyond the door. Sans blinked over to Frisk's seat and covered her ears, just in time for Mettaton to kick open the door with music blasting from a boombox carried over his shoulder. Somehow, the room erupted with light like the reflection off a disco ball as soon as he strutted in. Napstablook drifted in just behind him, smiling sheepishly.

"Ha—"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLING FRISKERINO!" Mettaton bellowed. He stuck an arm into the air and blew confetti out of it, whipping off a pair of sunglasses and beaming at the shellshocked little kid. "My beloved cousin and I are here to DJ, of course!"

"A-Ah! Um! Thanks!" Frisk said. She waved to Naptsablook and smiled apologetically. "I dunno how that works, really, but I'm happy to see you guys!"

"Of course, doll!" He patted her on the head, getting a couple sparkles in her hair, and flashed a smile at the skeletons. "Papyrus, you'll dance, of course, won't you?"

"Nyeh heh, as if you could stop me!" he said, leaping upright.

"Perfect!"

"Oh… I'll… handle the other music for a little…" Napstablook said. They sailed in close to Frisk and a little disk appeared before them. "It's not much, but… I made this… It's a music mix…"

Frisk reached out and accepted the iridescent disk as if it was the most precious thing in the world. "I'll listen to it the second I get home."

The ghost smiled big enough that their eyes watered lightly. They slowly vanished, only to reappear over near the jukebox. Frisk hurriedly stashed the Spooktunes Birthday Mix in her phone.

.

Before long, much to Frisk's surprise, more people came to the bar. Kid showed up, dropped off by Flora, and both Rockram kids, Lari and Adaro came to join in soon afterwards. So did Suzy. She had no idea how birthdays worked, never having had one, but she'd brought a heart-shaped rock, and that was more than good enough for Frisk.

.

Asriel finally returned after that, accompanied by the white dog. Frisk embraced her brother tightly and told him all about what had happened. He could only laugh. Of course, he'd been deeply in on the whole plot, with the exception of whatever the dog had been up to.

.

He told her about bringing the newcomers to Asgore. The monster King had reacted about as expected, with yelling and spluttering and huge, tight embraces. Toriel had behaved in much the same way. Even if it was only three survivors above ground, that was still leagues better than zero.

.

Asriel hadn't been able to find Gaster, though, and the old skeleton wasn't picking up his phone, so chances were high that he was going to get jump-scared by the fact his kind weren't quite as extinct as he thought. Not a bad thing to have happen, but the boy warned his sister to brace for the old man to just faint at the sight of them.

.

When Undyne arrived, she decimated what was left of Grillby's door and raced straight to Frisk, yanking her up off the ground and crushing her into a tight embrace. Alphys carefully stepped over the wreckage and also got in on the hug. Frisk was more than happy about this.

.

"Look!" Undyne announced through the sounds of the loud music and the partying monsters. She pulled out what appeared to be Frisk's paper parasol.

"Wh…? How'd you get that?" the kid asked.

"Stole it, sorry," she said, eliciting a loud laugh from Asriel, who had been in on that, too. "But! Look!" She gave it a spin and what looked to be paper shone and slid like metal as it pressed flat against the wooden handle to form the point of a spear at its end. She twirled it again and it was solid as a shield again.

Frisk's eyes sparkled. "Yo."

Undyne chortled and passed the parasol into the kid's hands. "Upgraded. So, when that ghost shield runs out— which, uh, might be soon— you can still use it for stuff." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Also touched up the sword in the handle. I know you hate knives and stuff, but you could use it for, like… cuttin' rocks or something."

"Rocks?!" Frisk squeaked.

"Yeah! It's really good, trust me."

The kid snickered and hugged her again. "Thanks."

.

"We've been, um, w-working on a lot," Alphys said. "Unfortunately, what I… w-wanted to give you is not quite ready, but I made you these?" She produced a small pile of shirts in assorted colours. "S-Some, um, enchanted and stuff, and—"

"—It's actually my size?!" Frisk squeaked as she looked at them.

"Well, o-of course."

The kid lit right up and gave Alphys a tight hug as well. "Aaaaa, thank you!"

"Oof! Um! You're…! You're welcome!" She looked to Asriel, who was snickering loudly not far away. "W-What did you get her, Asriel?"

"Me? Uh." The boy smiled sideways. "Just some old video game I promised her a while back. It's at home."

"Dang, you guys are all so nice to me," Frisk said quietly. "Thank you."

"Well, first birthday, it's gotta be special," Undyne asserted, as Alphys nodded along readily.

"You got me that bike I wanted on mine, it's the least I could do," Asriel said.

.

Frisk was all aglow. She stashed the shirts away and put the parasol into the new mini dimension box in the form of a cellphone charm. She had kept the rock in her pocket, though, and cradled it in her hand for a moment. The fact that anyone had actually thought to give her anything still floored her. Her eyes watered a little and she wiped them quickly on the back of her hand.

.

"Hey, Frisk!" Kid called to her from across the room. He blew out a bubble that burst in a shower of green sparkles and grinned. "Come on, we're playing' magi-blast!"

"Wassat?" she asked.

"You just do a bunch of blasts! Whatever you can!" Adaro said. "All you gotta do it make 'em bright!" He grinned his big, pointed teeth. "First one to make everyone's eyes hurt wins!"

"Pff." Asriel cracked his knuckles. "Easy."

"Don't count us out yet," Kid said with a determined grin.

Asriel grinned. He cut his eyes at Frisk and nodded towards the other kids. "C'mon, before mom gets here."

"Pff." Frisk shook her head, but she darted over to join in anyway.

xXxXx

It was a little while later when Toriel, Asgore, and the three newcomers arrived and, instantly, whatever amount of energy had died down was relit. It was time for another big explanation, but it was very welcome. Zapf and Aileth handled most of that. Vera was too busy weeping over Grillby's milkshakes to explain much at all. The little white dog refused to explain anything, choosing instead to take a whole booth seat to himself and sleep. Sans could relate.

.

Gaster was running quite late, so, in the meanwhile, Toriel presented a large cake, as well as her classic pie. Both were butterscotch and cinnamon. The smell in the bar had never been better. Everyone dug in. Vera cried over the pie as well.

.

After that, Asgore quietly pulled Frisk aside. He wanted to offer her something truly special, but wasn't sure what would be right for her. She didn't want a statue, or a big fancy title, or anything like that. She did ask him about maybe thinking about a magic train. He chuckled and agreed to look into it, but stated that that still didn't count as her birthday gift. She'd have to think a bit more about it.

.

As the party was starting to wind down, the music had shifted more to Napstablook's choices, and all the kids but Suzy had gone home, finally, Gaster showed up. He almost tripped over the broken door and dipped to fix it on his way in.

"I'm so sorry that took so long," he said as his deep blue magic repaired the wood, "but I did one more test and I smoothed out a few things, and I had to gather some—"

"Din?"

.

Gaster petrified at the sound of a voice that scraped the deepest recesses of his memory. He looked over into the disco-lit bar almost mechanically. First thing he saw was Frisk, smiling awkwardly and waving at him from her seat at the bar with Sans and an oddly familiar…

.

The thought caught in his mind like a hiccup.

.

Skeleton.

.

His dark eyes darted to the source of the voice. A towering man with great, pointed horns, and a very worried expression. This sharp-faced skeleton reached out a hand to him.

"Din, that's you, isn't it?"

Gaster's voice caught in his throat and he could hardly make a sound.

"W-Wait, that's little Din?!" The other skeleton yelped. "Wait wait, I thought—?"

"Friends, this is Gaster," Asgore said with a smile.

"…Is that what the D in dad's name stands for?" Frisk asked Sans at a whisper, only for him to shrug.

"Wingdin Gaster," he said. "Guess so."

.

"Hang on," Gaster finally forced out. "I-I don't think a soul has called me that since—" The lights in his eyes shrunk. "You… were at Crios…? Wait a moment, you couldn't be…?"

The horned skeleton gritted his teeth for a moment. He took a breath and cracked a smile, holding Gaster by the shoulder. "It's… so good to see you, Din."

.

Gaster froze. His eyes raced over the other skeleton, trying to process. "You were one of Avenir's Knights? You both were…?" He noticed the new dog as well, who smiled and waved at him from her spot in a booth with Toriel and Papyrus. His jaw dropped as some deep recollection stirred in him. "All three of you were Knights, weren't you?" He grabbed Zapf's arm. "You survived?! I thought you were all killed. Before the war, even."

"We thought the same of you," Zapf said apologetically. "We had no idea… We didn't realize you'd changed your name."

"I— Bloody hell." Gaster grabbed Zapf into a hug and crushed him tight. "I did, right after I escaped, I…! I never thought—! After what happened to my mother, I didn't think anyone could have—"

"I…" Zapf sighed and drew back, holding the other skeleton by the shoulders. "I'm sorry. That we weren't there."

Gaster shook his head. "If you had been, you would have been killed, too. Just like the rest. My mother would be happy that you, at least…" His eyes widened and he turned to the skeleton at the bar. "Vera. Zapf. And Aileth. Is that right?"

"Aah! I kinda can't believe ya remember, Din!" Vera said. "You were so tiny, eh? Sun 'n moon, I'm glad you made it."

.

Gaster heaved a sigh of relief and let out a weak chuckle. As if suddenly recalling where he was, he looked around at everyone else. Before he could say a word of apology, Asgore slid over and gave him a light hug.

"What a wonderful day!" he said. "Frisk, you must've brought us your luck."

"Hah, noooo, it wasn't me, I'm pretty sure it was that dog," she said.

"But, I don't understand," Gaster said, turning his attention on Zapf. "How on earth did you three get here?"

"Frisk warned them not to die and then they didn't," Asriel called.

"Let's talk about this tomorrow," Zapf said gently. "There are more important things today."

Gaster was taken aback, but he couldn't help a little grin. "…True." He turned to the door. "There's something a bit more to do. Shall we? And, Grillby, you're more than welcome to come along, too."

"Finally!" Asriel said brightly.

.

As everyone filed out, brimming with excitement, Frisk was left a bit befuddled. Suzy was the only one that looked as confused as she did. They shared shrugs before following along with the others.

.

Somehow, it was early evening. The thin, crescent moon was bright in the deep blue sky, as were the flickering of stars. Gaster briskly lead the group, pigeons and all, off into a less developed section of the city, right alongside the flowing river. There was a small, scattered group of picnic tables there, and a totem made of stone that looked quite a bit like a quadrupedal dragon, sitting up like a dog might. A basket of beltaine, faintly glowing, already waited on one of the tables.

.

The second Frisk's eyes hit those flowers, a chill ran down her spine. It seemed like almost everyone else knew what was up, too. Her friends and family sat down all around. Asriel grinned bright at her and grabbed Suzy's hand to pull her to sit with him. Toriel paused with Frisk and bent to gently embrace her before standing just off to the side.

.

Gaster walked to the stone totem, then past it to the river, where he used a bowl-shaped stone to scoop fresh water. He carefully placed it in front of the dragon and gestured to the basket of flowers.

"Frisk, would you put those in the water, please?" he asked.

"Kay." Frisk grabbed the basket— she heard Vera gasp with excitement and start murmuring the moment she did. She had to keep herself from laughing. Carefully, she placed them in the water and then, setting her magic aglow, dipped her fingers into it.

The water radiated with a vibrant crimson after just a few seconds, so she straightened up and stepped back. Her father smiled proudly at her.

.

Clawing the fingers of one hand, Gaster drew an iridescent glow to the hole of his dark palm. With the other, he pulled up the intensely red water as if it was tendrils of vines and, very carefully, combined them. The liquid flashed and both apparitions vanished, leaving a dusting of red, starlike sparkles to shower down over everyone present.

.

The skeleton drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly through his teeth, expelling air so steeped in red it looked like flame. Frisk's soul surged in her chest, beating out brightly, star and all. She squeaked a little before she could help it. Gaster strode up to her and crouched to rest a hand affectionately on her head, and she realized she had sprouted the horns once again. Magic shocked her deep into her soul and she took in a breath sharply.

"There," he said. "That should do it."

"Uh. So. What… was it?" Frisk asked.

Gaster grinned. He held her arm and his magic flared through her, guiding her.

.

In the blink of an eye, a blaster skull surged into existence, silvery white with a grinning maw of fangs. Its shape was a little like that of a hybrid bat-and-dog, and its horns were just like how Frisk's grew in her monster disguise. A faint brand of a four-pointed star gleamed on his brow, and the same shape shone white in the depths of its black sockets.

.

Frisk's mouth went completely dry. She cautiously moved her hand and the blaster tilted sideways along with it — an extension of her and a puppet all at once. She drew in a trembling breath and couldn't help a grin.

"Y-You guys made me a frickin' blaster?!"

The moment she'd broken the silence, her friends erupted, cheering, whooping; exclaiming how cool the huge, beastly skull looked.

"Disaster Blaster is a go!" Asriel cheered.

"HOLY SHIT, IT'S BADASS!" Undyne hollered, leaping up to inspect the thing.

"I-It turned out so well!" Alphys said.

.

Sans was at Frisk's side in an instant, smiling proudly. Papyrus rushed to her as well.

"I knew you'd like it!" he exclaimed, picking her up to give her a hug.

"W-Wait, how did you even—?!"

"Same way as anything else!"

"Wait, but I thought, like, even them, I'd have to be fourte—"

"That was before we knew it worked," Sans said. "And it's not like you're a typical power level for a kid, y'know?"

"Okay, but—!"

.

"Now, just so you know, there is only one," Papyrus said.

"Mostly 'cause we kinda thought of this too late," Sans added.

"And they are very time-consuming to make. But! We all pitched in."

"It was mostly Paps." Sans smiled sideways. "Since we could only do the one, it needed structure."

"And boy does it have it!" Papyrus said proudly, giving the blaster an affectionate thump on the snout. "Guess what it's made of?"

"Uh. I-I don't know?!" Frisk was completely flustered.

.

"Well," Gaster said slowly. "It… Well. The magic was all but completely converted to ours, but—"

"Found a use for that time gun," Sans said with a wink.

"…Wh…? Huh?! Seriously?!" Frisk barked. "W-Wait, what if it hates me?"

"We did actually think of that!" Papyrus said. "But! I don't think that's possible!"

"It bound to you," Gaster said. "It's not possible to complete the spell without total sync."

"I… Uh…" Only then did Frisk notice that the big blaster had been bobbing around and moving in tandem with her. She gulped and couldn't help but grin. "Man. That's… Th-That's really cool."

"You will have to be cautious with it," Toriel said gently as she came close. "But, if Asriel can handle one, I have quite a bit of confidence in you, too, my child."

"Th-Thanks!" Frisk all but glowed. "So, um… What does it… shoot?"

"Disasters, probably," Asriel joked.

"It's time magic," Gaster said. "Though it can probably be adjusted a little."

"I… Man. I dunno what to say? Thank you guys."

"You weren't about to be the only kid in this family not to have one," her father said with a wink. "Not if we could help it, hm?"

.

"Mind puttin' 'er away?" Sans asked. "Good thing to learn."

"Oh, uh. Right." Frisk wasn't exactly sure how to, but her father gently took her hand and guided the energy back to her. She did a little snap of her fingers like she'd seen Sans do, and the blaster vanished into glitter.

"Ah! Cool!" she said.

"Great." Sans grinned. "'Cause there's, uh… one more thing."

"What?" The kid gawked. "What the heck more could there be?!"

"Nyyyeesss, that's actually a very good question," Papyrus said, his eyes locking onto his brother intently.

Sans gave a little shrug. "See, uh… It's kinda for Frisk and Az, both. Thing is, had it planned for a bit. Didn't really expect the day to be so, uh… emotional already. Not that I ain't happy 'bout it."

"Uh oh," Asriel said. "What'd you do?"

"Yes, Sans," Papyrus said cautiously. "Whaaaat did you do?"

"Wasn't really me, so much," he said. "I'm just a coordinator." He checked his phone. "And… it's about time."

.

Before anyone could push him farther, multiple phones in the crowd went off, all with a very specific siren.

"W-Wait!" Alphys squeaked. "But that's…!"

"Yup." Sans silenced his phone as the others struggled to do the same.

"Wait," Asriel said. He rushed to Sans and grabbed him by the jacket. "Wait, wait wait wait, you don't mean—"

"Yup," he said again.

The boy's eyes went wide. He looked up at Frisk and held out his hands. Papyrus quickly let her down to the ground to join him.

"Y-You mean right now? Like, right now? She's coming right now?!" she demanded.

Sans snickered. He offered his hand. "I can take you two. No idea how it'll go, but…"

"Y-Yeah!" Frisk said swiftly. She turned to the others. "Um! Th-Thank you so much, again, everyone, but we gotta—!"

"Go, honey." Toriel's voice was cracking a little. "We will see what we can do, but—"

"Hurry,"Asgore said. "Send her our love."

"We will," Asriel said.

.

Frisk took his hand tight, and then Sans's. In the blink of an eye, the three of them were in the Ruins, where the red crystal was absolutely radiating. Sans let out a little huff and he backed off.

"I'll just be, uh, over here," he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder towards Toriel's abandoned home before he wandered over that way.

.

Asriel and Frisk were both completely flummoxed. They hovered around the crystal like cautious bees.

"What do we do?" she breathed. "D-Do we…? Should I touch it, should we—?"

"I dunno! I dunno, I don't wanna move it," Asriel warbled.

"You don't have to do a thing."

.

The kids whipped around. Just beyond the crystal stood the shimmering form of Chara— almost true to life, except a faint sheen of red tinting the edges of her body. Asriel's jaw just about hit the floor. Frisk stumbled forward, reaching out hesitantly.

"C… Chara—"

"Hey, you dorks," she said. "I'm h—" She grunted as Frisk grabbed her tight into a hug. A fond smile spread on her face and she embraced her in return.

It didn't feel quite real. The touch was too light— too cold. Still, in that moment, it was wonderful. Frisk had half-expected to simply fall right through and had risked it anyway. Her eyes welled up.

"Chara…!"

"Hm. Happy birthday, you crybaby," Chara said gently.

"Sshhhh, or I'm gonna really start," Frisk croaked.

.

"Oh my god," Asriel grumbled. He rushed in and held them both tight. "How—? Aah. Crap. Craaaap."

"Don't you cry, either," Chara teased.

"I'm trying so hard, you don't even know."

.

"Wait," Frisk said, sniffling. She pulled back a little. "How did you know it was—? I didn't know 'til like a few hours ago!"

"True," Chara said. "But, Sans did. Your Sans. We thought it would be nice, timing-wise." She gestured to their crystal setup. "This whole thing was probably ready a couple days ago."

"Y-You coordinated with him?!" Asriel spluttered.

"Not me, personally," Chara said. "I can hardly contact him. The trauma; you understand. But Papy…" She grinned. "Seems like it all worked out."

.

"Oh my god," Asriel said again into his hands.

"H-How are you?!" Frisk demanded. "Is everything okay? What about Gaster, what ha—?"

"Frisk! Relax!" Chara said with a laugh, holding her gently by the shoulder. "I'm fine. Everything is fine. Things with that Gaster went fine. We sent him back out about a month after you guys left. The World Seed stayed stable the whole time, so…" She shot them a lopsided smile. "If it goes wrong, it's going to be user error by now."

Frisk wilted with relief. "O-Okay."

.

"Oh! A few other things," Chara said. She peeked at the palm of her hand. "Pipa said she's sorry she missed you leaving and hopes you're doing okay. Grumf sends hugs. Papy and Sans both miss you and also send hugs. I miss you, obviously. Undyne wanted me to tell you they're keeping your holiday indefinitely, and—"

"Why're you rushing?" Asriel asked. "This thing got a timer?"

"Absolutely it does," she said. "And I'm not sure how long it is. But, good news, it'll get longer over time. Though, the crystal does take a while to charge between contacts. I was also told that time'll get shorter over… well, time."

"So… we might still have to wait months again?" he asked worriedly.

"Probably, the first few times," Chara conceded.

"Okay." Asriel rubbed his hand through the scruff of fur between his horns. "Okay, okay."

The freckled girl smiled. "You look cute at that size."

"Of course I do," he said with a tired laugh.

.

"O-Our turn, then? Just in case?" Frisk said. "Mom and your dad know. Like… The whole family knows."

"Oh wonderful," Chara said dryly.

"It actually went over pretty good?" Asriel said. "Gaster wants to make like a time tunnel so you can come home."

The girl scoffed. "Nice thought, but that won't work."

"Why?"

"We talked about this, Azzy."

"No, I mean… Like, a bridge. He wants to make a bridge. So you don't touch the void in between."

"I…" Chara frowned. "I have no idea how he'd even do that," she said. "And I can't leave—"

"He said to bring them."

The girl blurted out a loud laugh. She grinned. "He did always have a sense of humour. Sounds like it'd be a better idea to figure out how you could visit without your world collapsing. Sorry about that again, by the way."

"We'd have to think about it," Frisk added. "But… Like. Who knows? Oh, and Asgore said to tell you they all love you."

Chara's eyes widened. "What, just now?" Her voice warbled. "They all know I'm here?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, god." She rubbed her face and laughed. "Welp. We'll… see what happens with that, I guess." She looked around and her brow furrowed slightly. "…Who else is here?"

.

Frisk and Asriel shared a look. The boy tilted his head a little towards the direction of the home.

"Sans is."

"H-He…" She took a deep breath. "He is, is he? …Alright." She crossed her arms tight and stared off past them. "H-Hey. Bonehead."

"Sup?" Sans appeared at the trunk of the tree, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Chara stared at him, her teeth gritted. His expression didn't shift in the least. She scrunched up her face, huffing out a little sigh, before her eyes darted away.

"I'm sorry," she said hoarsely.

"I know," he said.

.

Her head jerked up and she stared him in the face for a few seconds. He shrugged.

"I know the story," he said.

"So… So, what now, then?"

"Let's chat when you got more time," he said with a wink. "S'the kid's birthday, let's not spoil it."

"Yes. Of course." She smiled a little. "You're right."

"I know." He paused for just a moment. Hesitated. Then, he gave her a solid pat on the shoulder before vanishing again.

.

Chara's pale face flushed, even under the red glimmer. Asriel snickered. Frisk smiled and reached out for her sister's hand.

"We got so much to tell you," she said.

Chara's expression softened. She nodded. "Let's sit, then. While we have the time."

.

Time that night would be short. Chara would vanish before any of the others could arrive to meet her. It would not always be like that, though.

.

These four— the red ghost, the Druid Prince, a god of time, and her patient guardian— all inextricably linked, would be drawn to this place for a long while to come. There would be plenty more opportunities, and their time god was only getting stronger; more determined.

.

Maybe a way to bind worlds together was out there. Maybe a way to strengthen their home existed, too. It would take a lot of work, but even impossible things were not always out of reach.

.

Frisk had only just turned eleven. She was young; just a tiny blip in the world so far, especially in the grand scheme of things. She had all the time in the universe to figure it out.

---

▼・ᴥ・▼

We've reached the end of this adventure, but not the end forever. More things will show themselves someday, some from before, or after, or a very long time ago. Watch out for those! They may be fun.

Thank you so much for every second you have spent here. Thank you for kind and thoughtful words, or pictures sketched, or goofy mistakes tracked down.

Much love to all of you. The story is dedicated to you, and to three special little ghosts who have snuck in here, somewhere.

Anyway! See you next time!