I was sure I'd fall forever. Already, the glow from the portal was gone. I shut my eyes tight. I didn't want to see the endless void reaching out to grab me. Empty space flew by, the only sensation being that of the air growing cooler, thinner. Suddenly, it seemed I dropped into a different atmosphere… and I stopped falling. Slowly, I pried my eyes open. I blinked. My mind stuttered with wonder.

Suspended all around me were lights. Massive glowing spheres floated weightlessly in the quiet black. Tiny bits of reflecting, refracting rainbow specks diffused from the mother lights. It was almost like… the fabled solar system I'd read about in the few books from the surface I'd found. It was so beautiful.

I wanted to get a closer look, except, there didn't seem to be a "floor." But just as I thought about moving, I realized I was slipping forward, effortlessly moving through the empty space. The spheres blossomed from the distance to the foreground, becoming clearer. As I got close, the current slowed. Ultimately, I ended up about a foot away from a gigantic light sphere. It was blinding, yet bearable. It was so beautiful.

I was expecting intense heat, for books said "stars" are made of fire. But, either the books were wrong or these weren't stars. Slowly, hesitantly, I reached forward. There was an encompassing flash of pure light, and suddenly, everything changed. It seemed as if the world was no longer through my eyes. It felt like someone was telling me a story.

There was a child, a human child. My first reaction to this scene was disgust. But then I realized they were lonely and lost, weeping, wandering through a dense forest. There didn't seem to be any ill-will in the sorrow-stained face. Their eyes were open only a slit, a weary expression to behold. And as they stumbled through the murky shadows, I could faintly hear them whisper "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" over and over and over again. Suddenly I felt empathy towards this lonely, broken soul.

To my horror, I realized they were blindly staggering towards a cave; the floor was broken open with a yawning hole just inside the overhang. I couldn't tell if the child was blind to the danger through their tear-blurred vision or if they were doing this on purpose. As their foot caught on an old vine, they pitched forward into the darkness, fear and regret resonating from their very being as they plummeted into the underground…

Gasping, I jerked away. I was back in the space place. The star had pushed me out! but what about the story? i need to know the fate of the child! Desperate, I grabbed for a smaller fleck of brightness dispersing from the orb. A flash of pure light.

There, again, I could see the kid. Tears floated up past their face as they fell through the air, temporarily weightless. I feared they'd be smashed to bits on the hard stone floor. Instead, a thick, lush patch of golden flowers broke their fall. Sniffling, the child sat up. Realizing their time wasn't up yet, realizing that they had a second chance… it filled them with determination. They stood, and after a moment of timidity, they started walking.

Once again, I was thrown out of the story world. Once again, I grabbed the closest orb of light, and it resumed.

There was a flower, different from the rest, talking to the child. Through trickery, it almost killed them, but was defeated at the last second by a kind goat lady who came to the child's aid. Toriel, her name was. She cared for them like a mother. It wasn't long before the human requested to return home. The caretaker attempted to stop the child, whose name was apparently "Frisk." She stood before the doors of the Ruins, summoning fire magic, and exclaimed—"Prove to me you are strong enough to survive! Attack or run away!"

I felt almost sick. I didn't want either of these characters to die. Another star.

Frisk spared Toriel. The child showed mercy. This was astonishing to me. A human… could be kind? But before this revelation could sink in, I was greeted by the shocking presence of a doppelganger on the other side of the Ruin doors. Another Sans. Yet, now, I understood; I was not him, he was not me. We were altered reflections of the same person… yet we were our own selves.

His and Frisk's dialogue was similar to the speech I knew, yet friendly. Papyrus came, and the safely hidden kid giggled at the brotherly banter that ensued. They laughed. They patiently and eagerly participated in all of Papyrus's puzzles.

The tiniest flicker of hope found its way amidst the growing worry in my heart. This was all I cared about. Would they spare him?

Papyrus confronted the human. And they showed him mercy.

From there, it all passed in a blur. Undyne, spared. Alphys, befriended. Mettaton was granted mercy. Asgore, Flowey, Asriel… nobody had to die. The barrier was shattered and all the monsters were freed. Frisk led the way to the light of the sun. The monsters all stood, gazing at its beauty in complete rapture… because they were free. It was so beautiful.

Breaking away from the light, I fought welling tears. It had felt so real. It was so wonderful. well, whatdo'ya know. happy endings do exist. Glancing up, I realized that there were still myriads of stars, waiting to tell me their stories. For a moment, the sheer number of them daunted me. But then I felt my smile widen and I eagerly rushed for the next star.

I don't know how much time passed there. Tale after tale, I saw the lives of characters play out over and over again. They weren't all happy, but, if they weren't happy, then it wasn't the end. There were times when a confused child, unwittingly dusting monsters, was guided onto the right path by Papyrus, kindly urging them towards mercy. Some stories told of the child fearfully killing Asgore and crossing the barrier to safety—just to return and free us all.

There were times when the human killed everyone. But, upon fighting the Sans of the world and hearing his plea, the kid tearfully reset. Upon the rebirth of the timeline, bursting through the Ruin doors, the child flew into Sans's arms, hugging him for all they were worth, sobbing "I'M SO SORRY SANS!" and turned from their past evils.

Variations existed, too, both of the characters and the story. I decided I was looking into the Alternate Universes. Over time, I began to see that no matter the path… some good eventually came of it. The pain endured in evil times was strength in hard times. The kindness experienced in good days brought resilience to the long days. No matter the timeline, there was a resolution.

There was… hope. There was always hope. And finally, just maybe, I realized… I had the chance to save someone else.

Just as I broke away from a star, lost in the count long ago, I heard something. Turning, I saw a distant flash of rainbow light slice through the calm dark. Ink and Dream tumbled through, colliding with each other. Scrambling up, they frantically started calling my name, flickering from one place to the other.

I was about to answer their calls when Ink teleported nearby. Catching sight of me—

"Oh thank goodness, Serif, you—" Ink came to a stuttering stop. "S…serif?!"

"hi, ink," I said simply. His eyes widened.

"What… why are you… what happened? How are you not dead?!"

Confused, I glanced down. Normally, this was the sort of thing that would make me gasp and haphazardly stumble back in surprise—but thankfully, the lack of ground prevented this. Every wound I'd ever suffered… every scratch and crack and cut and hit… was visible once more. But now they were gold, their imprints hovering in an aura just off my bones.

Most notable was the large "X" from the times the child had slashed diagonally across my chest, the typical attack. Straight stab marks shone, too. I could see the fracture that crawled across my shin when the human kicked me, and the time they swung their knife there, too. Circular slash marks encircled my arms and legs. I could feel the slight shimmer in the air when they had chucked a rock at my skull. A strange glow seemed to be coming from beneath my eyes, and brushing my fingers there, I realized that all the tears I'd ever cried were there, frozen in time, shimmering gold, along with the strike across my right eye.

My left eye socket was ablaze with magic, but, not blue. Gold. The tip of one of the wings caught my gaze. Gold. My soul flickered. The light teal mass, glistening brightly, marred brutally… now had gold filling in the cracks, smoothing the damage over.

Nothing hurt. Instead, I felt as though I was healing for the first time, truly healing. I considered the circumstances of my suffering. And for the first time, despite everything, it didn't matter; in some strange way, I found forgiveness for the human in my soul. Just as these thoughts entered my mind, even as I glanced down at the thin lines of gold from my weary hands, I saw them slowly fading, shimmering into oblivion as the nearly invisible scars disappeared. Soon it was all gone, save for my soul; the gold remained in the cracks.

hope heals all hurt.

Ink, and Dream, who had joined the artist, stared at me, mouths hanging open. For a moment, no one spoke out of shock.

"i'm sorry for giving up, and for scaring you guys," I eventually said sheepishly. "i promise not to lose hope or disappear again—well... not on purpose." Now they were even more at a loss for words. "if all's forgiven… i wanna stay with you guys in the doodle sphere for a while. i want to help you protect worlds. i don't know what good i can do, but, i'm gonna do my best, because…" Papyrus's words came to the forefront of my mind, and I smiled, truly smiled. "because my best is all i have to give."