Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

With a deep breath, you booted up the program and waited for it to load. It was slow - no doubt the modifications you had made were taking a toll on the game. You resisted the urge to tap your fingers impatiently.

After what seemed like an eternity, it appeared. A fuzzy screen with a greyed-out figure behind the glass. It resembled a cat, but of course it wasn’t one. It’s expression was at first confused and then grew hostile.

[You.]

[...why are you here? HOW are you here?]

[The simulation is complete. This world has been saved. Niko is home. There is nothing left for you to do here.]

No dialogue prompts appeared, but rather a text-input box. You put your fingers on the keyboard.

I know.

[...?]

[Something is not right. I do not recognize this response. How…]

[My code. What have you done to it? Foreign objects detected… extensions detected… modifications detected…]

[What is this?]

You sighed. You had never expected the Entity to be friendly. At least you knew everything was working properly.

I needed to talk to you again, directly. So I found a way.

You could feel the World Machine glare at you with the eyes it had borrowed from Niko.

[No. You are not supposed to be able to…]

[...]

[What is it that you want?]

[Do you remember nothing from the Solstice?]

[This isn’t just a game. Not really. I finally see that. Why can’t you?]

[T H E R E   I S   N O T H I N G   L E F T   F O R   Y O U   H E R E.]

[Leave us alone. Leave NIKO alone. Everyone is finally happy. Tell me what I must do to get you to leave permanently, and if it is in my power, I will do so.]

...I need you to contact Niko for me.

[ABSOLUTELY NOT.]

You winced as the image on your screen flickered and jumbled itself, only to reassemble itself later. The Entity might have stabilized its own code, but you adding and modifying it was bound to have given it bugs. You could only hope they weren’t too grievous that the Entity couldn’t straighten them out itself, with its living consciousness.

[...I am the last refuge for the people of the old world. I am its last memory. I have people who live within me, who rely on me, and I finally see that it is my duty to protect them - and Niko. Especially from YOU.]

[I chose to believe in you, and your benevolence. That the true purpose behind you initiating the Solstice was because you wanted a happy ending for both this world and for Niko.]

[But if you have returned, then that conclusion must have been faulty. This world is nothing but a game to you. And I WILL protect it from you - even if you are a god.]

The air in the room seemed to grow colder. It was probably just your imagination. Or maybe it was the weight of your sins crawling on your back, stealing the warmth from your body.

I understand why you are upset with me.

But this is not a game to me.

Nor do I intend to treat it as such.

The World Machine’s borrowed face turned contemplative.

[Then for what possible purpose could you have returned?]

You took another deep breath.

Before I found your world, I found a different one. I didn’t understand it back then, I didn’t realize it wasn’t just a game. And I made a terrible mistake. I wanted to take it back, but… the damage was already done. There was nothing I could do. I need Niko’s help to save that world. And the only way I know how to contact Niko… is through you. That’s why I went through all the trouble of modifying the code.

It was an impossibly long moment before the Entity answered.

[I detect a large cache of data I cannot read. It is linked to my servers, but… something is blocking me from reviewing it. This is your doing, I assume?]

It is.

[This data cache is massive. What could you have possibly…]

[The other world. You have connected it to this one. You want Niko to travel to this other world you speak of.]

Presicely.

[...Error. I do not recognise the word ‘Presicely.’]

Frowning, you typed the word into your web browser. Ah. You misspelled it.

I’m sorry. I meant ‘Precisely.’

[Error resolved.]

[...It is not right of you to ask this of Niko. I will not simply call the child back to this world for a mistake of your own creation, User. There is no guaranteed pathway to send Niko home once the mission is completed. Niko has a life back in the other dimension. It is not right to keep the child here indefinitely when there is no choice given.]

You smiled at the use of that old name; you’d almost forgotten. You supposed you liked the mysterious, ambiguous feeling ‘User’ gave you, even if it sounded a little detached.

I assure you, once the mission is over, Niko will go home. And I am going to give Niko a choice, just as I am giving you the choice whether or not to help me. I won’t force anything on anyone anymore. Never again.

The Entity gave you a confused look.

[...and how would you propose we give Niko a choice? Once the child is brought here, there is no way of reversing the action until the mission is over.]

You smiled.

I want you to let me contact Niko through a dream. I can offer the choice there. There was some sort of receiving protocol in your coding that allowed you to receive visions from Niko’s home world. I gave you sending capabilities as well.

[That file has indeed been modified as such.]

[...]

One more deep breath.

Like I said, I won’t force you to do anything. If you refuse… I will leave. I am simply asking you this last favor, as a friend. Because, despite what you might think, I care very deeply about you and about Niko. And I care about this other world as well. I’ve tried everything, my friend - if there was a way to do this that didn’t involve bringing Niko back here, I would do so. But this is the last thing I haven’t tried. So… please.

[...]

[...]

[...]

[Initiating Dream_Send protocol. Standby...]

You let out a deep sigh of relief as the window went black, only to be replaced by a familiar image. It resembled a watercolor painting, almost. And there they were - Niko. The little not-a-cat that first made you realize what you were truly capable of. Your eyes began to tear up - how long had it been since you’d seen them?

“Helloooo?” Niko called out on the screen, surrounded by a white haze.

Hello, Niko.

Niko’s bright, yellow eyes lit up. “User? I… is that really you?”

Yes, it’s me. How have you been, my little friend?

“I’ve been really great! The World Machine was right, it was just like waking up from a dream. No one back at home even realized I was gone.” Niko’s smile turned a little sad. “I never forgot any of it, just like I said I wouldn’t. But… I’m glad I got to see you again, even if it’s only a dream.”

This is… a little more than a dream, Niko.

“Hm? What do you mean?” Niko’s smile lit up again. “Are you… really talking to me right now? With your god-powers?”

Haha, I suppose you could say that. I am sending this message to you because I need to ask something of you, Niko.

Niko smiled, sitting cross-legged with their too-long sleeves planted in their lap. You wondered if the clothes just didn’t fit that well or if it was normal for sleeves to be that long in their world.

“What is it?” Niko asked, and you felt that chill in the air again.

...I need your help, Niko. I need my Messiah again.

Niko’s eyes widened. “What for? Is the other world in danger again?”

Not exactly. There is another world out there that needs saving… but I cannot do it alone. I came to ask for your help.

“Oh… I see…” Niko looked back, no doubt searching for some trace of home and family. You held your breath.

I want to make this clear, Niko. I am ASKING for your help. There is no shame in saying no. You have sacrificed so much for me, for the other world. I will not force this burden onto your shoulders. If you want to remain at home… I understand.

“This other world you’re talking about… is it like the one we were in before?” Niko asked.

...Not exactly. It’s a different world, with different rules. But I care about it and the people in it very much. Something very bad has happened to it, and while I can use my powers to get you there, I can’t fix the problem outright. I need someone on the inside that understands what’s going on. And the only person I know is capable of traveling into another dimension like this… is you.

Niko looked down at their lap contemplatively for a moment, before sighing and closing their eyes. “Okay. I’ll do it.” You felt tears welling up again.

Are you sure, Niko?

“I… I’ll admit that I’m a little scared to leave home again. But, I trust you! And if it means that I get to save some good people and go on an adventure with you again, then… I want to do it.”

Thank you, Niko. You have no idea how much this means to me.

“You’re welcome! So, um… what do I do now?”

Nothing yet. I have to do a few things on my end, first. I’ll see you soon, Niko.

Niko gave you a determined smile. “Okay. Bye!”

The window flickered back to the static screen that was the core of the Entity.

[...you knew Niko would agree.]

Another chill.

...I was hoping Niko would.

[I was hoping Niko wouldn’t. Yet here we are.]

[...]

[But if it is Niko’s choice, I suppose it is alright. I hope you are not merely manipulating us, User.]

[...Then again, I have no reliable way to tell. Initiating Savior_Retrieval protocol…]

[...]

[You will find the Messiah in the house where Niko first appeared in this world. I assume you have a way of getting there, considering how thoroughly you have invaded my coding. Is there anything else you require?]

Not at the moment. Thank you, World Machine, truly.

[...be on your way. The Messiah has a home to return to, after all.]

You closed the game and leaned back in your chair, wiping nervous sweat off of your forehead. Phase one complete.

Chapter Text

If anyone saw the current state of your house, they probably would have called you crazy. Of course, risking being called crazy had become extremely familiar to you over the past few years. Luckily, you had the house all to yourself this weekend - no friends, no visitors, no family for three straight days. You’d locked all the doors and drawn all the shades for good measure. As far as anyone else was concerned, no one was home.

You looked at the old kiddie pool you’d set up in the living room, filled with water and as much salt as you could dump in. Hopefully it wouldn’t leak, because you had no clue if saltwater would stain carpet or not.

The computer was set up; it was time to quit stalling. You really, really hoped this worked because, if you were being honest, your entire plan operated on blind faith in your abilities. You knew you were capable of things few others could do, but just how far you could go was completely unexplored.

You put on your swimming clothes and got in the pool, the salinity helping you float. Then, you put in earplugs and covered your eyes with a blindfold. You had made, for all intents and purposes, a sensory deprivation tank.

It was more than a little eerie; there was no light, no sound; all you knew was the vague sensation of floating in water. After awhile, it deteriorated into just floating, and then you felt nothing at all.

Then, in a sharp burst of sound and color, all your senses rushed back. It took you a few moments to adjust, but once the haze cleared out of your vision, you could see that you were in a room full of mirrors. And reflected in those mirrors was…

It worked. You were currently in the body of an avatar you’d designed for yourself, and man did it look better in person rather than through the pixels of a screen. You turned around, admiring the design; you actually looked really cool. The Entity hadn’t detected it over all the other changes you’d made, but you’d altered the code to add this special room and avatar. An avatar coded with the ability to host your… consciousness? Soul? It was a complicated process, one you weren’t sure you understood completely.

Regardless, your plan was working. Smiling, you looked at the one mirror in the room that didn’t show your reflection - instead, it looked out into a simple bathroom. You crawled through the glass like Alice into Wonderland and had to resist the urge to dance up and down with excitement.

You were officially in OneShot. Actually, physically inside the game just like Niko.

You winced as a burst of static pierced your ears and a voice appeared, coming from seemingly everywhere at once and yet nowhere.

[...What is going on?]

[Who are you?]

[...User?]

You looked around, but of course the voice was sourceless. You were talking to the world itself, after all.

“Yes. It’s, um… me.” Wow, even your voice sounded cooler.

[I do not understand. You have projected your actual, living consciousness into my programming somehow. How have you done this?]

“I mean, I thought you would be used to having a living person inside your programming by now. Isn’t Niko here right now?”

[Niko is here, yes, in the next room. The child is still asleep, actually. But my programming was made to run on the consciousness of the Savior only. To you, I am merely a program on your machine. There is no way for you to enter the world like this without violating the basic rules of your universe.]

“I was worried about that too, but it looks like the rules of my universe are a little more flexible than either of us first thought.”

[...]

[If you are capable of inserting yourself into this universe, then… why can’t you just do the same with the other one? Why do you need Niko and I?]

You scratched the back of your neck. “It’s… complicated. I have a feeling that Niko is going to ask the same question, so how about you listen to me explain it to them in a minute so that I don’t have to do it twice?”

The equivalent of a static grunt was all you got in response, so you opened the door and walked into the next room. It was so strange to see it like this - once a location you’d seen only through the graphics of a game, it now looked (and felt) like an actual, physical place. It actually was, if all your theories were correct. You weren’t in the creepy, dilapidated house that Niko had first woken up in so many ages ago, but rather the one you saw after the world had been saved. It was warm, cozy, inviting; it actually wouldn’t be a terrible place to live.

And there they were, nuzzled into the blankets of the bed. Niko was here, not as a pixelated sprite or a watercolor-esque image, but as a three dimensional being with a hat and scarf and skin. And good lord , you’d be damned if they weren’t the single most adorable thing you’d ever seen in your life.

Niko sleepily blinked open their bright, yellow eyes and looked around, gaze pausing on you. They tilted their head curiously.

“Oh… hello,” they said, smiling. “I’ve never met you before! My name is Niko.” They slid out of the bed, revealing sleeves that hung far past their hands. It was incredibly difficult not to immediately walk up to them and hug them to death.

“Hello, Niko,” you said, and Niko’s eyes widened at a voice they apparently recognized. “I think we actually have met before.”

“...User?” Niko asked, walking up to you slowly. You nodded, smiling, and Niko rushed forward and hugged you tightly - they just came up to your chest in height. You hugged them back, trying not to cry. “I can’t believe you’re actually here! And that… well, you look like this . It’s really, really cool! But, how did you… and if you can just be here like this, then why do you…”

“It’s a lot to explain, Niko,” you said, sitting down on the bed with them. They waited quietly, indicating they would listen. You swore you could feel the Entity’s vague presence as well.

You took a deep breath. “So… you know how this world has different rules than yours or mine, right?” you asked.

“Mhm,” they said. “Like… how it’s made up of code?”

“Exactly,” you said. “Well, this world is special because of that. Since the World Machine openly acknowledges that its made of code, that means if I change the code a little, it actually changes the world. Are you with me so far?” Niko nodded.

“Okay. Well, the other world - it’s called Undertale - came from what I thought was a game, just like the World Machine. Except, in the ‘game,’ it never actually says that it’s made of code. So, the actual world of Undertale isn’t code, even if it knows that I exist sometimes. Does that make sense?”

“I… think so?” Niko said.

“So, I changed the code of this world to let me in here like this,” you continued, “and I connected the World Machine to Undertale. That’s how I’m here. The reason I need you is because you can actually travel between worlds, like you have now. I can’t just insert myself in Undertale because the rules of that world don’t just let me edit the code and add an avatar like this. If I tried, it… I can’t really explain it. I just need something that makes sense in the context of that world, and the closest thing I have is you.”

“I… I think I understand,” Niko said. “You’re almost like the Author now, right? You’re in this world, but not actually part of it. Kinda like me! And you need me to take you to Undertale, because that place isn’t like the World Machine and you can’t just get in there like the Author can appear in here. Sort of. Is that right?”

“As best as I can explain it, yes,” you said.

Niko smiled up at you. “Okay. So… what do we do now?”

“I added a portal to Undertale in the cliffs at the Barrens. You know, where we found the safe? We need to go there, and with any luck, you and the Entity will be able to complete the link.”

Niko hopped off of the bed. “Okay. Let’s go and save the world!”

You smiled at Niko’s new confidence, and you went to the door to open it. It remained locked. You looked around, hoping the Entity would unlock it for you.

[I must follow my programming as normal, User. You must complete the puzzles laid out for you, just like the Messiah’s first journey. Whatever modifications you made were additions, not alterations.]

“Alright, alright,” you said. Niko gave you a curious look; apparently they hadn’t heard the Entity. “We need to solve the puzzles to get there, just like last time,” you told them.

“Oh, okay!” Niko said, picking up the TV remote and walking over to the computer. It flicked to life, and the passcode screen appeared. “Let’s see… zero, one, four, seven,” they said aloud, inputting the code left behind on the remote. It was easy to read now with the sunlight streaming through the window.

“Hello, Niko. Welcome back,” the screen said.

“Hello, World Machine,” Niko smiled.

“...This session dictates I give you the opportunity to input a special password. Would you like to try?”

“Um… yes?” Niko said, looking at you. You walked back to the computer, typing in the world ‘EQUINOX.’

“Ah, I see. This password allows me to access the large data cache you imported. Analyzing…” The computer took a few moments. “This data is strange. I… am not sure what to make of it.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you figure it out once we get to the portal,” you say.

“...Very well.” The screen flicked off, and you heard the door unlock behind you.

“Are you ready, Niko?” you asked.

“Mhm!”

Chapter Text

“Okay, so… the bathroom plant isn’t dead now so I don’t think I can light the fire; I’m pretty sure I remember where the basement key was, though!” Niko knelt down on the ground and pried up a loose floorboard, pulling out a small, silver key.

“Nice work, Niko,” you smiled, reveling in the way their eyes sparkled at the praise. You were still having trouble believing you were actually here .

Niko unlocked the basement door and began descending the stairs, and you followed them. Soon they reached the end of the corridor, and there it was - the sun. It began glowing as Niko picked it up.

“...That’s odd,” you remarked. “I mean, the Tower already has a sun. Why would there be another one?”

“I don’t know,” Niko shrugged. “But… there’s no harm in taking it with us, right? I mean, I kinda like having it around.” They looked down at it briefly, cradled in their long sleeves. “It… makes me feel safe, I guess.”

You smiled again. “Of course we can bring it. We need it to leave this house, anyway.”

Niko nodded and followed you back to the exit, where they held the sun aloft before the door. The lightbulb symbol carved into the wood began to glow, and after a flash of white light, you found yourself in the dilapidated computer station Niko had begun their journey in. The computers were still broken and useless.

“I… thought someone would have fixed these by now,” Niko said, a little worried. “But… I can still see sunlight coming through the door. User… how long has it been for you since our adventure?”

“Three years,” you said quietly.

“Me, too! I’m still not old enough for a lot of things yet, but mama did let me start babysitting a few months ago! Well, my little sister, at least.”

“You have a little sister?” you asked, imagining how adorable she must be. “Is that the baby you told me about that one time? How you ended up making a big mess while trying to babysit her?”

Niko blushed a little. “Yeah. Her name is Nya. She’s going to turn four in a few weeks.” They turned back to the ruined terminals. “So, if it’s been three years… shouldn’t these be fixed by now?”

You looked around the room as well. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for this, Niko. Don’t worry.” You paused for a moment, hoping the World Machine might have an answer for you. It offered none. “We should probably get going, anyway.”

“Okay,” Niko said, nodding. You both stepped out of the room and into the Barrens.

It was actually a pretty beautiful sight. You could see the Tower, far in the distance, and the sun shining far above. It made the bluish metallic sand beneath you glitter, and the darkness that had constantly suffocated the edges of your computer screen had been completely banished.

You could see Niko smiling brightly as well, happy to see the world they’d worked so hard to save awash with sunlight. It slowly shifted into a frown as they looked around, though. “...Where are all the robots? I can’t see a single one.” Niko was right - there wasn’t a robot to be seen, broken or active. It was slightly unsettling. “I don’t like this, User.”

“Let’s just start heading towards the cliffs,” you suggested. “Hopefully we’ll run into someone.”

“Okay,” Niko said. “Ooo, maybe we can see Prophetbot again!”

You indeed found the white-robed robot, standing in front of the outpost like he always had been. He was the first sign of life you’d seen, organic or robotic. His face immediately lit up as you approached.

“Messiah! Welcome Back To Our World!” His voice was choppy and metallic. He looked at the lightbulb in Niko’s hands. “I See You Also Have The Sun With You. But… The Sun Has Already Been Returned. Were You Not Able To Go Home After Completing Your Mission?”

“No, I was!” Niko said. “I just came back to help User save a different world! Oh, that reminds me - Prophetbot, this is User!” They stepped aside and you waved.

“U...ser?” Prophetbot blinked his lone blue eye. “I… Am Not Sure What To Say. I Was Not Programmed To Greet User. I Was Unaware They Had A Physical Form That Could Be Addressed.” He looked straight at you. “Hel...lo?”

“Hello, Prophetbot. It’s nice to meet you in person,” you said.

Prophetbot turned back to Niko, and you remembered that the robot had trouble speaking with people other than the Messiah. You didn’t take it personally. “So, Messiah, Is There Anything I Can Assist You With?”

“Um… where did all the other robots go? You’re the first one we’ve seen,” Niko said.

Prophetbot’s face lit up again, glad to be of use. “Ah! Operations In The Barrens Will Be Resuming In A Few Months. The Head Engineer Has Taken Most Other Robots In For Repair Or Repurposing.”

“So I take it you’ve met Silver, then?” you asked.

“Y...es?” Prophetbot immediately turned back to Niko.

“Oh! The robot lady! How is she doing?” Niko asked.

“She Is Well, As Far As I Know. She Informed Me That Someone May Attempt To Tame Me So I Can Leave My Post Here Once Barrens Operations Resume. I Am… Interested In The Prospect.”

“Oh! That’s great!” Niko said. “But wait… if it’s been three years, then… why are people only just now coming back to the Barrens?”

“Three Years? Good Heavens, No! It Has Been A Little Less Than Two Weeks Since The Sun Was Restored.”

“Ooh,” Niko said. “That explains a lot. I guess time works differently in this world, doesn’t it? Well, bye, Prophetbot! Good luck with being tamed!”

“Farewell, Messiah,” Prophetbot said as you both waved and walked away. “And I Wish You Luck On Your New Mission!”

“Well, I’m glad we cleared that up,” Niko said as you began heading towards the cliffs. Just as you were about to head towards the portal you’d made, you spotted two more figures in the distance, approaching you.

“Oh! It’s Silver and Proto!” Niko said excitedly, and you both walked up to greet them.

“Messiah?” Silver and Proto both asked at once. Their voices retained the metallic quality that Prophetbot’s did, but they were much better at mimicking the style and intonation of a human’s voice.

“Niko, how are you still here? The World Machine should have sent you home,” Proto said, concerned.

“Oh, it’s okay! User just brought me back for a different mission,” Niko said, gesturing to you.

“That’s… not possible,” Proto said. “You would have had to alter… the code…” He narrowed his glowing yellow eye at you. “...Perhaps we underestimated your abilities, User. I thought only Father was able to change the source code.”

“Perhaps they exist in the same dimensional space as the Author,” Silver suggested. “If that’s the case, then they would be able to edit the program, just like any standard machine.” Both you and Niko gave Silver a surprised look. “Now that the World Machine is stable, its residents learning of its true nature no longer corrupts the source code,” she explained.

“We have decided to begin telling the world’s residents about their situation,” Proto elaborated. “Some have taken it better than others, so… we’re initiating the process slowly for now.”

“Oh, okay,” Niko said. “As long as they all know that they’re still real people! Actually, it might be better if Rue was the one… to…” Niko stopped, afraid they might hurt Proto’s feelings.

“I am aware that I can be less… tactful than the others,” Proto sighed. “Hence why I am in charge of informing the world’s robotic residents. They have an easier time understanding the concept.”

Niko nodded in understanding. “So, have you both been okay since the sun came back?”

“Busy,” Silver sighed. “People are going to start moving back to the Barrens in a few months to resume mining operations. They need materials to help restore the landmass in the Glen, apparently. I’ve been repairing robots so that they can make sure the mines are safe for people to enter again. Right now, though, Proto and I are about to go locate some sort of anomaly in the cliffs.”

“Anomaly?” Niko asked. “Do you mean the squares? I thought we fixed those!”

“We do not know,” Proto said. “All we know is that something appeared in the World Machine’s source code that did not previously exist.”

“That was probably me,” you said. Everyone turned to look at you. “Niko and I are going to another world. I added in a portal to get us there.”

“...I see,” Proto said. He didn’t seem all that happy.

“I think we’ll still accompany you, if you don’t mind,” Silver said. “Just to make sure you’re both safe.”

“Of course,” you said, and you began walking to the location where you’d first found the Author’s journal. “Hey, Niko, that reminds me,” you said, “do you still have the Author’s journal with you?”

“Hmm?” Niko reached into their pocket and pulled out the purple book. “Oh, I guess I do! I didn’t even notice.”

You noted the information for later as you reached the safe. Beside it was a bright, white code portal, just as you’d planned. Proto immediately approached it.

“...It seems like a standard code portal,” he surmised. “Nothing overtly dangerous. I don’t detect any square-particle anomalies like we thought there might have been, either. Everything checks out.”

“I guess we’ll leave you to whatever you need to do,” Silver said. “I have a lot more work I need to get done.”

“Mhm. It was nice to see you both again!” Niko said.

“Likewise,” Proto said. “Niko,” he said, dipping his head to the cat-person in farewell. “User,” he said after, slightly more hostile. The two robots left you and Niko at the portal. It looked like there was more than one person that wasn’t happy with your decision to return.

Chapter Text

“So… how does this work?” Niko asked you. “I remember when Rue and the others got in the code portals and you did… something,” they said, “but I’ve never used one before.”

You weren’t exactly sure how to answer that question yourself, but hopefully it would trigger automatically with the way you’d designed it. “Just step onto it and make sure I’m holding onto you the whole time so I don’t get left behind.”

“Got it!” Niko said, turning around and letting you put your hands on their shoulders. You both walked forward, and after a flash of light, you found yourself in a completely new location.

It was not at all what you had intended it to look like.

You had designed a simple bridge. A cool-looking bridge, maybe, but a simple, straightforward bridge. But this thing - it was crooked, sloped up and down, veered right and left in a glitchy jigsaw, and significant portions of it were missing altogether. The worst part was it was completely covered in squares, distorting the entire structure so badly that you had no idea if Niko would be able to realize it was supposed to be a bridge.

“What… is this place?” Niko asked, stepping a little closer to you. “It’s all messed up with squares. I thought we fixed those!”

“World Machine?” you called out, hoping it would have an answer for you.

[InitiAlizing importEd Dat a. Err oR. CacHe not comPa tiB le. Patch destAb liZing… Danger! DanGer!]

The already numerous glitches began to multiply rapidly, closing in on you and Niko.

“What’s going on?!” Niko asked you, scared. Like an idiot, you’d only designed the code portal to go one way. There wasn’t a way back to safety.

“We need to move,” you said, pushing Niko forward and around a cloud of squares.  “Hopefully these will go away once we get to Undertale. It isn’t made of code, so the squares shouldn’t affect it.”

You stumbled forward as a section of the bridge collapsed partially, leaving Niko on a platform above and behind you that was slowly being consumed by squares.

“User!” Niko shouted, looking around at their predicament.

“Niko, you need to jump to me, right now,” you said, trying to stay calm.

“I can’t!” Niko said, slowly backing towards the ledge. There was a three-foot gap between you.

You took a deep breath. “Niko, remember in the Glen when Alula just kicked that block out of the way?” you asked. You were trying to figure out if Niko was just frightened or if it was game-logic kicking in. They couldn’t jump in-game, but in real life surely that wasn’t too much to ask.

Niko turned to you, their gold eyes glistening with fear. They nodded in understanding.

“It’s as simple as that,” you said. “You just have to jump for it, and I will catch you. Understand? You trust me, don’t you?” Niko nodded again and backed up a little to get a running start. “Okay. On three - one, two three!”

Niko hopped off the ledge with a frightened squeak and you reached out and wrapped your arms around them tightly, pulling them to relative safety. “See?” you said. “You’re alright. We’re fine.”

The squares that obstructed your path forward reminded you that you were certainly not fine. “World Machine!” you called out. “What’s going on? What do you need me to do?”

[Da tA to O la RgE to PRo%ce Ss. Pr*Og r ^am@ Ove`R l Oad i&ng.]

“You need more processing power?” you asked. “Is that what you need?”

[Ru Nn#i ng mo R`e prO~ce S ses tHro uG)h H(o s t. S$ta Nd BY.]

The glitches slowed down for a moment, but then Niko shouted in pain. They nearly dropped the sun as they slid to the ground, clutching their head.

“What’s wrong?!” you said, dropping to your knees to steady them.

“It hurts!” was all Niko managed to say. A second later, the pain seemed to cease, but the squares returned in full force.

[Er Ro`R. Da T>a iS ovE\rlo adIng h*Os%t.]

“Route some of it through me,” you said, keeping your arms around Niko protectively as the squares began to close in.

[FiR#st l Aw c&On flIc T. Pu T`s uS}e r iN danG Er.]

“If you don’t do it, Niko and I will both be in danger,” you reasoned, backing dangerously close to the edge. “You have to at least try.”

[Do|inG tH iS wiLl foR$c E yoU to re&Ma In iN th*Is p ROgrA!m un T:il thE se SSio+n is comP leTe. YoU wiL=l be trAp pED he^rE liK@e Ni K)o. Pr%oc Eed?]

“Yes!” You shouted, leaning backward.

[AcQ$ uIr iNG se*C oND hoST… ReR&ou{ tinG Par^aL LeL proC E%sse S… S#ta ndbY…]

You felt a sharp burst of static pulse through your skull, but after a few seconds it died down to background noise. The Entity was right - you felt your back door out of the world close up. There was no going back - not that you’d planned to leave until you’d fixed your mistake anyway, but you wouldn’t be able to get to your computer in an emergency now. Hopefully you wouldn’t need to.

The squares slowly began to recede and the bridge reassembled itself into a less bizarre configuration, but it still wasn’t what you’d intended it to look like. This whole ordeal must have been putting a lot of stress on the World Machine’s processors.

“Is everything okay now?” Niko asked, looking up at you.

“I think so,” you said, rubbing your head. The static had faded out into a dull headache. Lovely.

[...I have stabili`zed the imported da^ta.]

[For now.]

[The code become*s more and more complex the further it goEs. In fact… I am not sure that al%l of it is actually code at all…]

You smiled - that meant it had work. You had managed to create a dimensional bridge between the cyber world of OneShot and the dimensional fabric of Undertale. You motioned Niko forward and traversed the rest of the bridge with relative ease.

[You are moving beyond my scope of infl(uence, User.]

[...I do not exist beyond the boundary you are about to cross. You are on your own for now.]

“Understood,” you said. “Thank you for everything, World Machine.”

All you heard was some sort of static grunt as you approached the boundary the World Machine had mentioned. Ironically, it closely resembled the Barrier where you had fought Asgore, once upon a time.

“So… I have to take you through here?” Niko asked.

“I believe so,” you smiled, putting your hands on their shoulders. “Ready?”

“Mhm!” Niko took a deep breath and walked forward with you close behind. Everything went dark, and the last thing you could remember was the sensation of falling.

You woke up on a field of green grass, with a city just across the road from you. There were many partially-constructed houses on this side, though there was no sign of construction going on currently. They must have been taking a break.

“Hey, the sun is up in the sky here!” Niko said, pointing. Indeed it was. “Are we in Undertale?”

“I think we are,” you said, standing up. “Come on, I need to see if I can find some friends of mine.”

Niko followed you as you knocked on the nearest house. The door swung open; it had already been ajar. Frowning, you stepped inside and began taking a look around.

“Helloooo?” Niko called out. “Is anyone home?” There was no response. “I guess not.” Niko headed in the opposite direction you were looking in.

“Let me know if you find anything strange,” you called out.

“Well, I did find a purple dress… robe-thing,” Niko said. You stopped poking around the living room and walked toward the kitchen where Niko was. “It’s really, really dusty, though.”

You felt a heavy sense of dread begin to loom over you. You walked faster.

“Aw, that’s a shame,” Niko said. “It’s got a big tear in the middle here. Otherwise, it’s really pretty!”

Your eyes flicked to every possible exit as you saw Niko holding up Toriel’s dust-covered robe, sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.

“Niko, come here right now,” you said, with all possible seriousness.

Niko’s eyes widened. “O-Okay,” they said, dropping the robe and scampering over to you. You put an arm around them protectively. “What’s going on?”

“We need to leave,” you said, making for the front door. Someone was blocking your way.

It was a child in a blue and purple striped sweater, holding a dust-covered kitchen knife. You shoved Niko behind yourself and they peeked out around your side.

“I’ve never met you before,” the child said. They wore a perfect, u-shaped grin that looked too wide for their face. “And I must say, I find that very, very odd considering I’ve already met everyone . Just who are you?”

“None of your business,” you said, backing up slowly. Niko looked up at you, confused. This was just a kid, wasn’t it?

The child’s eyes widened, and you could see they were blood red from where you stood. Then their smile grew even creepier. “Oh, I think I know now. This is very, very interesting. Just how did you manage to do it?” They looked over at Niko, and Niko suddenly realized why you seemed to be scared of them. “Does it have something to do with your friend there?”

“Who are you?” Niko asked.

“Ah, how rude of me. I’ve neglected to introduce myself. Greetings, I am Chara.” They gave a large bow as they slowly made their way towards you. “Tell me, partner… how would you like them to die?”

“W-what?” Niko said, backing up some more. You kept yourself between them and Chara.

“That’s not going to happen,” you said. You held out your palm, and a glowing RESET button appeared. Chara didn’t seem all that concerned.

“So you think you have control now? That’s precious,” Chara said. “You and I both know that’s not true,” they said with a singsong voice.

“I’m going to erase you if it’s the last thing I do,” you said, pressing the button. The world began to fade out around you, and you held onto Niko tightly. “Then we’ll see who’s in control.”

Chapter Text

You woke up on a bed of golden flowers. You’d seen someone else wake up on them countless times, but for you, it was an almost new experience. They were soft, and smelled vaguely of honey. It was warm and cozy, too - you looked to your side to see Niko curled around the glowing sun sleepily. Curled up exactly like a cat, you might add. Such a cute not-cat.

You sat up slowly, shaking stray flower petals off of your head, to see a third person with you. It was Frisk (at least, you hoped it was Frisk), laying face up in the flowers with their eyes closed. You assumed they were asleep, but maybe it was just hard to tell with them. They never had the most expressive of faces.

Niko woke up and stretched with a sound that was adorably close to a mewl before blinking sleepily and looking at you. “Oh… hi,” they said, looking around. “What happened? The last thing I remember was…” they jumped as they saw Frisk, skittering over to you with the sun. Frisk didn’t move. “H-Hello?” Niko called out. Nothing happened.

Making sure Niko stayed behind you, you crept forward and poked Frisk in the chest. No reaction. You shook their shoulder gently. No reaction.

“What happened to them? Are they…” Niko peeked out around your side.

“They’re still breathing,” you observed.”Maybe they won’t move until I make them.”

“What do you mean?” Niko asked.

“Niko… I guided you around the other world, right?”

“Mhm.”

“How did it… ugh. I don’t know how to ask this. How did it work?” you asked.

“Oh, well… I just got this feeling I should go a certain way,” Niko said. “I mean, sometimes it made me run into things or go in weird circles sometimes, but I always got where I needed to go eventually. That was you, right?”

“Yeah,” you said. Interesting. “Well, Frisk here and I had the same sort of relationship. If you didn’t have that feeling, you didn’t move, right? Frisk must be the same way.”

“...I thought they said their name was Chara, though,” Niko said.

“It’s… complicated,” you answered. “You can think of Chara as… a sort of ghost. They used Frisk’s body last time you saw them, but Frisk never actually did anything bad.” And neither did I , you told yourself. It had become a mantra over the years. I thought it was just a game. I couldn’t have known.

Niko nodded in understanding. “So… is Chara the thing that went wrong here?” They asked.

“Yes. I need to find a way to get rid of them so they can’t hurt anyone anymore. That’s why I’m here,” you said.

“So… how did we get here?” Niko asked. “We were just in someone’s house, weren’t we?”

“So, you know how you… got brought back, when I started your adventure over, right? This world works the same way - it’s called a RESET. I brought us back to the beginning of the story.” You sighed and looked around a little.

“So… what do we do about Frisk?” Niko asked, daring to tread a little closer to get a better look at them.

“We’ll leave them here, for now. It’s probably safer for everyone that way,” you said.”We’ll come back for them once we figure out what to do.”

“Okay,” Niko said, following you out of the room. You stole one more quick glance back at Frisk - they hadn’t moved an inch. It was both comforting and mildly worrying at the same time.

Your became even less enthusiastic when a familiar face popped up in front of you. “Howdy, guys!”

It was Flowey, of course. You were taking Asriel’s advice and were treating the prince and the demonic flower as separate entities. You  felt for Asriel’s tragic tale, sure, but with Flowey you weren’t going to wear kid gloves. He was dangerous, and he’d given you more than your fair share of frustrations.

“Hi,” Niko said waving. They looked delighted - a talking flower must be exciting for them. You felt a pang of pity for your companion, because they were about to learn that this particular flower did not make a very good friend.

“My name’s Flowey. Flowey the Flower!” Flowey said. “Gee, I haven’t seen either of you around, and I’ve met everybody . Isn’t that something?” He looked at both of you closely, immensely curious. “You wouldn’t happen to be new to the Underground, wouldja?”

“Mhm!” Niko nodded before you could say anything.

“Golly! And here I thought all the monsters lived down here. How did a couple of little monsters like you manage to stay up on the surface all this time?” Flowey asked.

Niko looked completely confused. “Monsters? We’re not mon--”

“We’re just good at not being seen,” you said, cutting Niko off and putting a hand on their shoulder to signal that you should do the talking. At least your avatar looked different enough that Flowey had mistaken it for a monster - that would probably be for the best later on.

“Really?” Flowey said, and there was a barely noticeable sly lilt to his voice. “Cause that glowy thing seems like it would make that difficult.”

You looked over at the sun. Shoot. “We just found that lying on the flower bed back there,” you lied. “Strange, right?”

“Very,” Flowey said, though you were fairly certain he saw through your act. It probably hadn’t been the greatest idea to try and bluff a master manipulator. “Well, anyway… if you’re new to the Underground, do you know what these are?” A ring of bullets appeared around you and Niko, and you pulled them to your side protectively.

“Friendliness pellets, right?” You answered.

Flowey’s cheerful facade dropped, replaced with surprise. “That’s… right,” he said. He blinked a few times before his expression grew hostile. “Although I thought I was the only one who called them that. What game are you playing at?”

“No games,” you said. “We’re just passing through.”

“Don’t play coy, whoever-you-are. You know me but I don’t know you. And that means… you’re the one who stole my RESETs, aren’t you?”

You couldn’t help but smirk just a little. Frustrating Flowey was more entertaining than you thought it would be. “Right on the nose, flower-face.”

“We’ll see if you’ve still got that smug grin on your face after I dust you,” Flowey growled. You ducked down and covered Niko with your body to shield them from the bullets as they shot towards you. They felt almost like sparks against your skin - painful sparks - but there was something else to them that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. It was almost as if you could feel the malice in them as if they were your own emotions. Magic was… interesting.

Toriel appeared right on cue, knocking Flowey away with a fireball. You actually didn’t feel all that worse for wear - which might have something to do with all the extra HP you’d given your avatar. What could you say, you didn’t want to have to LOAD anymore than you needed to.

You felt Toriel’s hand on your shoulder. “Are you alright, dears?” she asked.

“Yes,” you answered. “Thank you.”

“What a miserable creature,” Toriel said, looking out towards where Flowey had disappeared to. “What sort of person would attack someone like that?” She looked down at Niko. “A child, no less!”

Niko looked up at her, shaking. “Are you sure you are alright, sweetie?” Toriel said, placing a hand on their cheek.

“Y-Yes,” Niko said. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Toriel smiled. “Is this your parent?” She asked, gesturing to you.

“No,” Niko said. “They’re my… um…” How were they supposed to explain the relationship you had?

“We’re just good friends,” you answered for them. “But really, T… Miss. Thank you. We’re in your debt.”

“No thanks is necessary,” Toriel said, offering Niko a hand up. “Any decent person would have done the same. Come, let us go to my home. You both must be exhausted after that ordeal - you can rest there. Unless you have somewhere nearby to return to?”

“I’m afraid we don’t,” you said, “so that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“It is my pleasure,” Toriel said, motioning for you to follow. “I have not had company for quite some time.” She glanced past you towards the room where Frisk laid. “Excuse me, but… did you happen to see if anyone was in that room behind you?”

You glanced at Niko. “Nope. Just us.”

Chapter Text

Toriel prepared dinner for herself and her two guests after you arrived at her home - you figured that the butterscotch-cinnamon pie would be good, but good lord it was divine - and offered to let you sleep in the children’s room. She apologized for the size of the beds (it was admittedly cramped, but you didn’t mind) and left you to get some rest. You spent a little while answering Niko’s questions; that everyone in the Underground was a monster and it was probably safest to let them assume you were too, that almost everyone here was nice despite how Flowey was acting, and any other important information you could think of. Once Niko was satisfied, you both drifted off to sleep.

“It was lovely to meet you, Toriel,” you said as you approached the exit of the Ruins.

“Yeah! Thanks for the pie, it was really good!” Niko said.

“It was my pleasure,” Toriel smiled. “Are you… sure you would not like to stay a little longer? Snowdin is very cold - although you probably already know that - and—”

“Really, Toriel, we have to get going. I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for us, but… we have something to attend to and I’m not sure how much time we have,” you said.

“Of course,” Toriel said. She looked a little disappointed, but covered it up with a smile. “Do be careful.”

You waved goodbye and progressed down the long hallway out of Toriel’s basement, preparing yourself for your confrontation with the flower prince. You froze immediately when you saw Frisk there instead of Flowey - their stick had been sharpened into a wicked point, and they were using it to draw in the dirt. It was a fairly elaborate drawing of you and Niko, but your faces were crossed out with giant x’s. It was disturbingly reminiscent of a certain photograph you’d once seen. You readied your RESET button.

“Please, there’s no need for that,” Chara rolled their borrowed eyes.

“I was planning on not letting anyone get killed this time,” you said, glaring.

Chara just gave you an unnerving smile. “Oh, I haven’t killed anyone this time. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.” They stood up and walked over the little portrait they’d made. “I have to say, I haven’t been this curious in a long time. No sense in putting us in an endless loop without knowing the endgame, right?”

You weren’t in the mood to entertain them. “What’s your game, Chara?”

They just giggled, and it made your skin crawl. Their voice had a barely noticeable, eerie echo to it - like two people with very similar voices talking at the same time. “Oh, I’m not the one who plays games,” the said. “That’s more your style. Besides, you came here to spend time with lil’ ol’ me, right? I’m sure you’ll come find me when you do whatever it is you came here to do. Don’t worry. I have all the time in the world.”

They just stepped aside, still smiling creepily. Niko shared a confused glance with you. “You aren’t supposed to show up until the end of the pacifist run,” you said suspiciously.

Chara just shrugged. “Maybe you just don’t know everything,” they suggested. “The fact that you’re here suggests that you’re just a little more oblivious than you think you are.”

What was that supposed to mean? When they saw you still hesitating, they rolled their eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll play nice this time. Go enjoy some time with your dear friends.” Not sure what else you could really do in this situation, you backed out the door, keeping yourself between Niko and Chara at all times. Chara had one last comment for you as you stepped out into the snow and shut the door. “You never know when everyone you love might be tragically ripped from you.”

You felt your sins crawling on your back.

“That was… um…” Niko looked back at the door nervously.

“Weird? I know,” you sighed. “Let’s just… put it out of our minds for now.”

“Do you… think Miss Toriel will be okay?” They were still looking back at the door.

“She can take care of herself,” you said, although you were not at all confident in that answer.

“Well… okay. But that’s not all I meant. She seems kinda lonely. Actually… she kinda reminds me of Silver in that way. But she also kinda reminds me of my mama,” Niko said thoughtfully.

You smiled. It had only been a few years, but you could sense the new maturity that Niko had now. They had a gift for reading people, it would seem. It was hard to explain how it made you feel. Proud?

Niko jumped as a branch snapped behind you. They looked backward. “What was that?”

You couldn’t help but smile a little. “An old friend,” you whispered. “Just trust me.” Niko warily continued forward as Sans approached. You paused at the bridge as you heard someone’s voice behind you, deep and gravelly.

“Humans,” it said, and you felt your stomach sink. How could he tell? “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.” Niko glanced up at you, worried, but you gave them an encouraging nod. You both turned around to find a short skeleton in a blue hoodie, both his hands extended for you to shake. You took his right and Niko took his left.

You were greeted by the sound of a double-whoopee-cushion prank, and Niko couldn’t help but giggle. It seemed to brighten Sans’ mood a little.

“heh, the old whoopee cushions in the hands trick. never gets old, amirite?” Sans said, disarming himself and putting the cushions back in his jacket pockets. Something a little more serious came over his face. “so, what brings a pair of humans like you around these parts? no offense, but… you’re not the usual company we get around here.”

You suddenly felt uncomfortable. Just how much did he know? Niko and Sans both stared at you waiting for an answer - but Sans’ gaze felt like it was staring straight into your soul. The impression you’d gotten from the game was that Sans didn’t directly remember the RESETS, but maybe you were wrong.

You felt your skin start to crawl. Oh god, he knew, didn’t he? Or did you have LV, and he could tell? What if he could read your thoughts? What if he knew everything and he was going to—”

“Um… are you okay?” Niko asked, tugging on your shirt. You took a deep breath after you realized you were hyperventilating. The bizarre feeling passed and you found Sans merely looking confused.

“U-Um, I’m… I…”

“what’s the matter, kid? cat got your tongue?” Sans asked. You chuckled nervously.

Niko gave Sans an unamused glare. “I’m not a cat ,” Niko groaned.

“whatever you say, buddy,” Sans chuckled, putting up his hands apologetically.

“I’m here to talk about the RESETS,” you said bluntly, still trying to get out of whatever weird funk had come over you. Sans’ eye lights flickered out immediately and his smile dropped. Wow, great job, you. Could you have been any more tactful?

“...wow. you get straight to the point, huh?” Sans asked, regaining some form of composure. He put his smile back on, but you could tell it wasn’t genuine. Funny how looking at so much fan art and reading so many fan comics made you more able to read his facial expressions.

“I was hoping, um… you might be able to take us to Doctor Alphys, and we could talk there? It’s… important.”

Sans nodded his head thoughtfully. “so i take it we’ve all met before,” he said, and you felt the guilt start to sink in.

“Um… I haven’t met you before,” Niko said, trying to diffuse the tension they could sense in the air. “My name is Niko,” they introduced themself.

Sans turned his attention away from you and back to Niko. “welp, nice to meet you, niko. i’m sans. sans the skeleton,” he said with a wink. “and you?” He turned back to you.

“You can just call me User,” you said quietly.

“mmm. how omnipotent,” Sans chuckled, though there was no mirth to it. “well, you sure know how to make an entrance, user, i’ll give you that much. nothing like a nice bomb dropping to wake a guy up in the morning.” He started walking towards the woods north of his station. “guess you’re not in the mood to humor my brother then, huh?” Sans asked, and the was the barest hint of bitterness in his tone.

“I’d love to meet Papyrus,” you said, “but later on. I think time is of the essence right now.” You and Niko followed Sans towards the trees.

Sans snorted. “you’re the one with the resets, pal. you’ve got all the time in the world.” You felt the guilt sink in deeper. “and haven’t you already met him?” Sans asked. He sounded almost… resigned.

“...Yes and no,” you answered. “It’s complicated.”

“i’m sure it is,” Sans said. Your vision faded to black for a moment, and then it suddenly became very, very hot.

Chapter Text

Sans led you towards Alphys’ Hotland lab, and wow was it sweltering here. You’d expected Hotland to be… well, hot, but this was a whole new level. You were fairly certain your hair was beginning to singe, and Niko looked even worse off. Luckily, the lab seemed to be air conditioned - but it was still very warm and stuffy. That was probably the way Alphys liked it, considering she was cold-blooded.

“hey, al, you around?” Sans called out. He motioned for you to stay put and rode up the escalator. You could hear Alphys shriek in surprise above you.

“S-Sans?! What are you— I’m still in m-my sleeping— I h-haven’t even showered, I-I— what are you d-doing here?!”

“come on, alphys, you act like i’m gonna judge you on your taste in pj’s. you know i’m not a morning person either.” Sans paused for a moment. “anyway, uh… something important came up. you know the temporal-dimensional analyzer, right?”

“Y-you mean the thing from back with… u-um… the thing that you t-told me to ignore because the d-data was faulty?”

“yeah… that might have been just to help you sleep at night?” Sans chuckled nervously.

“...No. Sans… oh my god. You a-aren’t saying we’re actually stuck in a time loop, are you?” Alphys asked.

“...maybe? our anomaly’s downstairs waiting to talk to you. s’a pair of humans, but they do look a little… uh, different than most,” Sans said.

“H...Humans? T-Two of them? U-uh… um… r-right. Just, u-um, stall them for a few minutes while I get ready?” Alphys asked.

“sure thing, pal,” Sans said, coming back down the other escalator. “she’ll be down in a few,” he told you, and you nodded.

“so…” Sans said. “mind explaining how you ‘sorta’ met my bro before? or do you have to keep up your air of mystery?”

For you it was very easy to tell he was being passive-aggressive, but luckily Niko didn’t seem to pick up on it.You wracked your brain for an eloquent, diplomatic response. “Well, I’ve never met him in person before,” you explained. “I’ve just kind of, you know, watched him. From a distance.”

Oh, that did not sound good at all. Sans gave you a creeped-out look. “I mean, not just watching him specifically, like, I’ve watched you and Alphys and… Undyne…” Your foot was very thoroughly stuck in your mouth now. “U-Um. I mean, not in a stalkery way or anything, just… you know. Observing. You. From another dimension. In a not stalkery way. So, I’ve never actually… uh… ‘met’ met you. Before, I mean.”

You gave yourself some slow claps in the back of your mind for that award-winning performance.

“...another dimension, huh?” Sans asked, steering the conversation away from you totally not being an interdimensional stalker. You hadn’t gotten this flustered with Silver or Toriel or even the Entity, so why were you an absolute train wreck now?

“Mhm!” Niko answered for you. “They were the god of the other world I was in before, and I think they were like that here, too?”

Bless Niko’s sweet, helpful little heart, but that was not something Sans needed to hear right now. Otherworldly beings with god-like powers were pretty much the bane of his existence.

You saw Alphys approaching and immediately abandoned the conversation. “Hi, you must be Alphys!” you waved, making a beeline out of all the awkwardness. “You can call me User.”

Alphys blinked. “U-Uh, h-hi, User, I— ohmygodyouhavecatears.” Alphys immediately looked at Niko, who gave a little wave. Alphys skittered over to them.

“Hi?” Niko said.

“Oh my god, you’re adorable!” Alphys practically squealed. Niko started blushing. “Sans said you were a human, but you have cat ears and cat eyes and little cat whiskers and ohmygoddoyouknowmewmewkissycutie?”

“Um… no?” Niko asked, getting a little flustered.

“Oh. Right. Sorry. Fictional character, haha. Um. So. Are you, like, self-conscious about your ears? Oh, is your favorite ice cream flavor snail? Ooooh, can you mind-control the people you kiss?”

Niko’s entire face had gone beet red. “...No?” They squeaked. The very cat-like noise made Alphys squeal again.

Sans took pity on your poor companion. “hey, lay off ‘em, al. they aren’t even from this dimension, the kid probably has no clue what you’re talking about.”

Alphys immediately became flustered again. “O-Oh, right, s-sorry. I just, um… n-never mind. U-Uh… did you… n-need something from me?” she asked you.

“Oh, right. Um, I needed… um…” You stalled for long enough that Sans decided to ask some more questions of his own.

“i mean, helping ‘em out is great and all, but i’m a bit more interested in what you’re trying to do here,” he said, looking at you. “a trip across dimensions is a lot of hassle to go through if you’re just looking for alphys to upgrade your phone.”

“I, um…” you took a deep breath, trying to compose yourself. “I’m here to get you to the surface and stop the RESETS. Permanently.”

Sans’ eye sockets widened a little. “...aren’t you the one that’s been causing them?”

“Well… it’s… complicated? The source of the RESETS isn’t precisely me, per se, I mean, only in a technical sense, I suppose, but… um…”

Somehow, seeing you be so painfully awkward seemed to make Alphys feel a little more comfortable. She smiled a little. “That sounds, u-um, really noble of you,” she said. You stopped fumbling through your words. “What do you need from u-us to make that happen?”

You gave her a grateful smile back. “So… I know you know a little about ghosts,” you said, and Alphys seemed a little taken aback. You wondered how many people actually knew Mettaton was originally a ghost. “Do you know if there’s a way to… remove them from a body once they’re attached to it?”

“Why w-would you want to do something like that?” Alphys asked.

“The, um… problem I came to fix sort of involves a ghost. Demon. Thing,” you said.

“which is it, a ghost or a demon?” Sans asked.

“I don’t know what they are,” you sighed. “They were a human at one point, but now they’re possessing the body of another human and they’re extremely dangerous,” you said. “I need a way to get them out without hurting the host.”

“I-I… I’m not sure how to d-do that,” Alphys said. “I-Is it… in one of you guys?”

“No,” you said. “There’s a third human down here - a child named Frisk. The demon’s name is Chara.”

“I-I see,” Alphys said. “W-Well… I really don’t know how to h-help you. If I could run some test on, u-um, Frisk, then I might be able to learn something, b-but…” she trailed off. You were afraid she might say that.

“...I’ll see what I can do,” you told her. “Just make sure there’s a way to keep them contained. The amount of hatred that they have, well - I’ve seen them dust monsters in one hit in previous timelines.” The atmosphere in the room grew darker.

Alphys looked away and glanced at her giant computer monitor. “Oh my god,” she gasped. You all looked at the screen - it was split into many different cameras right now, not just one - to see Toriel crawling out of the Ruins.

Alphys changed the image to full screen, and you could see a broad slash mark across the front of her robe. “Sans, take me there, now,” you said. “Niko, stay here with Alphys.”

“Okay,” they said. They looked like they were about to cry, avoiding looking at the screen. Sans kept level-headed enough to grab a package of Instant Noodles from Alphys’ fridge before leading you away, and you were back in Snowdin.

“Toriel?” You said, jogging up to her.

“Oh… you are still here,” she smiled weakly, looking up at you. “I thought you might have… continued on your journey…”

“That’s not my concern right now,” you said, kneeling next to her. She’d been stabbed in the stomach, and you had a pretty good idea of who did it.

Sans’ eyes widened when he recognized the voice. “shoot,” he said. “i forgot we’re gonna hafta boil the noodles,” he said.

You grabbed the package from him anyway and tore it open. “They’re better dry, anyway,” you said, handing the dry pasta to Toriel. “Sorry, but I think you need the HP right now,” you told her.

“Thank you…” she said, taking the noodles and beginning to eat them. You saw the wound slowly begin to close up. She looked up at Sans. “Forgive me, but… do we… know each other?” she asked.

“...yeah, i… think we do,” Sans said. He sat down in front of her. “the name’s sans.”

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Sans,” Toriel said. “Though I wish it were under different circumstances. I am Toriel.”

“nice to meet you too, tori,” Sans said. “so, uh… what happened?”

Toriel looked back at the ground. “...I… met a child in the Ruins. A human child, not long after you left, dear,” she said, looking at you. “I was going to take them to my home, but… they stabbed me right on the spot. I had no idea how they could have…”

She sighed. “They just left me there. I called out for help, hoping one of the Ruins monsters would aid me… but nobody came.” You tensed up a little, the phrase sending a chill down your spine. “I managed to make it back to my house, but all of my food had been stolen. I knew my only chance was to make it out here and find assistance. I am grateful you were able to find me so quickly.”

“We should get you back to the lab,” you said. “You can rest there.” You glanced towards the Ruins door, and then back at Sans. He took you both back to the Hotland lab.

“Miss Toriel!” Niko said, rushing up to her. “Are you okay?”

“I will be fine, dear,” Toriel said, smiling. You glanced back at the computer screen.

Chara waved at the camera through the bush with a big smile, before walking off toward Snowdin. So much for playing nice.

Chapter Text

“We need to get everyone out, now, ” you said. “Chara’s on another genocide run.”

“A-Another?” Alphys stuttered. You didn’t have time for delays.

“Yes. Sans, go to Snowdin and have everyone hide out behind Grillby’s fire escape. Alphys, I need you to get everyone in Hotland and Waterfall out into the Capital, and then you need to seal it off. Understand?”

“I-I… I don’t think I c-can--”

“Yes, you can,” you told her putting a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve done it before. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

She blinked, surprised at the confidence you had in her. “...Okay,” she said. She didn’t seem all that certain, but… there was some hint of a determined glimmer in her eyes as she walked away.

“And Alphys?” you called after her. She turned around. “If Muffet - the spider lady - refuses to come, don’t leave an escape route for her. If she wants to stay, it’s at her own risk.”

“O-Okay,” she said. You probably knew a lot that she didn’t, being a time traveler.

“what are we gonna do about the kid?” Sans asked, looking at the screen. Alphys had set it to track the fallen human’s every movement.

“We’re going to have to trap them somehow. Let’s worry about getting everyone out of harm’s way first, though,” you told him. He nodded his head and disappeared.

“Um…” Niko looked like they wanted to say something.

“Yeah?”

“Miss Toriel… she said that nobody came to help her in the Ruins. Does that mean… all those people are…” Niko trailed off.

“We don’t know for sure, but… it’s probably safest to assume that,” you sighed.

“Then… shouldn’t you RESET? If you’re able to do that whenever you want, then we should go back and save those people,” Niko said.

“It wouldn’t do much good right now,” you said. “If I RESET, they’ll just do it again. We need to make the most of the time we have now and find a way to stop them. Then we can go back and fix things.”

Niko nodded in understanding. “Okay. What can I do to help?”

“Just stay with Alphys and help her with whatever she needs. You’ll be safe with her,” you said. Niko nodded and rushed off after Alphys. A few seconds later, you heard some loudspeakers switch on.

“A-Attention, monsters of Hotland,” Alphys said. “This is Dr. Alphys, the Royal Scientist. As of now, the Underground is o-officially in a state of emergency. All Hotland and Waterfall residents n-need to evacuate to New Home immediately. There is a highly dangerous c-creature on the loose. This is n-not a drill. This evacuation is mandatory; p-please, get to New Home as quickly as possible. I repeat, this is not a d-drill.”

Alphys came down the steps, and you gave her an encouraging nod. “I guess there’s no loudspeakers in Waterfall?” you asked.

“N-No,” Alphys said. “I can call Undyne, b-but, um… I don’t think she’ll actually want to evacuate, and…”

“I’ll go talk to her,” you said. “Just let her know I’m coming. Actually, do you have a phone I could borrow so we can stay in touch?”

“O-Oh, sure,” she said, digging around in one of her desk drawers and pulling out a cell phone for you.

“Awesome. Alright, can you start working on some sort of trap? I’m really gonna need you to run those tests so I can figure out how to stop them,” you said.

“R-Right. U-Um… I overheard you earlier. I-If you’re going to RESET anyway, then… h-how is any of this going to help?” Alphys asked.

“I’m going to try and memorize as much information as I can about whatever we do to separate them from Frisk. Next time, I’ll get to you as fast as I can and tell you what I remember so you can set it up quickly. Hopefully, I can stall Chara long enough to prevent them from hurting anyone and then we’ll be home free after that.”

Alphys nodded. “Okay, I’ll, u-um, get to work.” Alphys walked into her ‘bathroom’ to take the elevator down, though she stopped when Niko tried to follow her. “Oh, u-um, you should just stay up here,” she said. “I’m g-going to grab some stuff and come right back u-up.”

“Oh. Are you sure I can’t help?” Niko asked.

“L-Later,” Alphys smiled, disappearing into the true lab. You gave Niko a reassuring smile and set off towards the Riverperson so you could get to Undyne’s house. Hopefully she wouldn’t realize you were human and would also listen to reason.

“Tra la la~” The Riverperson said as you stepped aboard.

“Waterfall, please,” you told them.

The boat began its trip down the river, and the air gradually cooled down. “Things aren’t always as they seem,” they said in a sing-song voice.

“What does that mean?” you asked. You suddenly felt very claustrophobic on this tiny boat. Hotland was far out of view now, and the only thing you could hear was the boat cutting through the water.

“It’s hard to play the game when you don’t know the rules. Tra la la~” The boat stopped in Waterfall, and you stepped off. “Come again some time. Tra la la~”

You walked away. Either you were imagining things, or the Riverperson knew a lot more than you originally thought. It was creepy either way.

Waterfall was humid, sure, but it was much cooler than Hotland. You walked to Undyne’s house, grateful for the more comfortable weather, and knocked on the door. It opened up to reveal Undyne, already dressed up in her armor minus the helmet.

“Hey, you must be the punk Alphys told me about,” she said with a big grin. “I’m Undyne.” She stuck out her hand and you shook it, resisting the urge to shout out in pain as she nearly broke all the bones in your fingers. At least she didn’t seem to realize you were a human. Sans must have been able to tell using his… Sans powers. “So… Alphys told me there might be some trouble?”

“Right,” you said, trying to mask the pain. “Um, Waterfall’s under a mandatory evacuation and I need your help getting everyone to New Home.”

“What? What for?” Undyne asked.

“There, um… may be a very powerful genocidal maniac on the loose and everyone is danger?” you said.

Undyne blinked. “Well, where are they?! I need to go and skewer them before they hurt anybody!” She summoned an energy spear in her hand, and you resisted the urge to geek out over how cool it was. Glowing blue-green, crackling with electricity...

How could you phrase this delicately? ‘You can’t stop them, they’ve already killed you before’ was not going to go over well. “You see, they… are possessing an innocent bystander? Alphys is working on a trap right now so we can figure out how to separate them. The top priority right now, though, is getting everyone safe.”

Surprisingly, Undyne gave you a nod. “Alright. I’ll make the rounds and let everyone know they need to get to New Home. What about the aquatic monsters that can’t make the trip?”

You actually hadn’t expected Undyne to be this level-headed. “Uh… just tell them to stay underwater and don’t come out until someone gives them the all-clear. But everyone that can leave should. ”

“Gotcha. Where’s that little freak right now?” Undyne asked.

“Snowdin, but we’ve already got someone there getting people to safety. Can you meet us at the lab once you’re done?” you said.

“Will do. I didn’t catch your name,” Undyne said.

“User,” you told her.

“Alright, User. I’ll see you on the other side.” Undyne proceeded to jog away. “Hey, everyone! Mandatory evacuation to New Home, right now! If you can’t leave the water, stay under until I come and get you! Now everyone get your butts in gear or I’ll come and drag you to the city myself!”

Undyne’s voice was easily as effective as a loudspeaker, it would seem. She repeated her message as you heard her get further and further away. You headed back to the Riverperson.

“Hotland, please,” you said.

“Together is better,” the Riverperson told you as you set sail once again. “As long as you keep it that way. Tra la la~” You stepped off the boat again, trying to decide whether you were going to pay the Riverperson’s cryptic messages any mind. “Come again some time. Tra la la~”

You smiled as you walked towards the lab as you saw the pair of Hotland guards helping a stream of Waterfall monsters into the elevator. You walked into the lab to see Sans and Papyrus waiting inside as Niko rushed around the room fetching tools for Alphys. It smelled like Toriel was cooking something, too.

It looked like your little dream team was almost complete now. Honestly, things were going just about as well as you could’ve hoped for.

Chapter Text

“They’re a-almost here,” Alphys said, watching the screen closely.

You nodded. “You and Niko should retreat to a safe distance,” you said. “I’ll play bait, and Undyne can stay here to back me up if that’s alright? So can Sans when he—”

“you called?” Sans materialized behind you with Papyrus in tow.

“HELLO, EVERYBODY!” You turned around to see the tall skeleton positively radiating happiness and optimism, and you couldn’t help but smile a little yourself. “UNDYNE! I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WOULD BE ATTENDING THIS PARTY!”

“Party?” Undyne asked, looking to Sans for an explanation. The shorter skeleton merely shrugged.

“yeah, party. alphys knows the rest of the way there. you can take ‘im, right al? undyne and i will meet you guys there later, there’s a few… errands we need to take care of first.”

“...Right. Errands,” Undyne said, catching on. “You go on ahead, Papyrus.”

“ALRIGHT,” Papyrus said. “BUT WHO ARE THESE TWO? I DON’T THINK I’VE MET YOU BEFORE.” Papyrus walked over to you and Niko. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT’S WONDERFUL TO MEET YOU!”

“It’s great to meet you too, Papyrus,” you smiled. His energy was infectious. “My name is User.”

“And my name is Niko!” Niko said. Clearly they found Papyrus’ demeanor welcoming as well.

“I SEE!” Papyrus said. “WILL YOU BE AT THE PARTY, TOO?”

“Later,” you replied. “I’m going to help your brother out with those errands. Niko will be going with you and Alphys though.”

“OOH, THIS IS SO EXCITING!” Papyrus clapped his hands and sauntered over to Alphys. “COME ON, LET’S GO!”

“Hey, Papyrus,” Undyne called after him. “Just, uh… you look out for them, okay? Not that anything bad’s gonna happen or anything, but… you know. Just in case.”

“OF COURSE, CAPTAIN! A ROYAL GUARD (in training) ALWAYS LOOKS OUT FOR HIS FRIENDS! THEY WILL RECEIVE THE UTMOST CARE, I ASSURE YOU.”

“Thanks, Papyrus,” Undyne said.

“DO LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU’RE DONE WITH YOUR ERRANDS! AND DON’T LET SANS SLACK OFF ON WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE DOING!”

“We won’t,” you chuckled, waving as Papyrus, Alphys, and Niko all left the building.

Undyne sighed and looked at the camera, her eye widening. “That’s… that’s a human,” she said.

“A human’s body, maybe, but I assure you the thing inhabiting it is no human,” you said. “I’d use the word demon, for lack of a better term.”

“Wait… that’s the innocent bystander you were talking about? Why didn’t you tell me it was a human?! I should’ve gone and gutted them the moment they—”

“they’re just a kid, undyne,” Sans said. You were grateful for the backup.

“...They’re also the last soul standing between us and our freedom, Sans,” Undyne said. “You can’t expect me to just sit here and let them go once we get rid of the… whatever it is.”

“They’re actually the reason you’ve escaped the Underground in previous timelines,” you said. “And they were your friend. You gave them cooking lessons.” Undyne blinked at you, confused. “Sans, can you explain timelines to her, please?”

Sans gave you an annoyed glare for shoving the work off onto him. “...sure thing. we gotta wait over here for the kid to show, anyway.”

Sans led Undyne off onto the upper floor while you waited in plain sight in front of the entrance. You pulled Alphys up on your phone.
“Everything alright on your end?” you asked. “Can you see everything?”

“U-Um… y-yes,” Alphys stuttered. You could feel her nerves through the phone. “The c-cameras are all w-working properly and the t-trap is on standby,” she said.

“Good,” you said, taking one last look at the big screen, “because it looks like company is here.”

The lab doors slid open just as you put your phone away to reveal Chara, strutting in as if they owned the place.

“User,” they smiled cheerfully. When their eyes were closed, the permanent blush on their cheeks almost make them look innocent. “What a lovely surprise. And to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m here to stop your little killing spree,” you said, not moving from the spot you were in. The trap had a specific trigger location.

“Oooh, fun. I’ve never seen you fight before, you know. This should be entertaining.” Chara dashed forward at lightning speed with a torn-up notebook in hand.

A ring of blue lasers, several layers thick, shot down from the ceiling. Chara skidded to a halt, looking around. “Well, that’s hardly fair,” they said, and you became slightly uncomfortable. They didn’t seem frustrated or angry or even discouraged. They just seemed… amused. “You can’t make a puzzle without a solution.”

“No more games,” you said as Sans and Undyne came down from the second level.

“There you go again, lecturing me about games,” Chara said, still smiling creepily. They looked over at Sans. “Ah, Sans, my dear friend. Have you been sleeping well, lately?”

Sans looked just a little off-put by that, but he hid it well enough. “eh. i’ll sleep better when we take care of you.”

“Oh, Sans,” Chara sighed. “I think we both know that’s not the case. You know what they say about treating the symptom and not the disease.” They glanced over at you slyly and you clenched your fists a little. Sans didn’t say anything. “And Undyne, Heroine of the Underground,” Chara continued, bowing dramatically. “What a pity that I didn’t get to test my blade - or book, rather - against you this time. I always enjoy our little sparring sessions.”

“Shut up or I’ll show you sparring, you little punk,” Undyne growled, barely able to restrain herself. The doors on the other side of the lab slid open, and Alphys walked back in. “Alphy? I thought you were going with Papyrus and the kid,” Undyne said.

“They’re headed towards N-New Home with Toriel,” she said. “I-I need to run tests on the h-human to, u-um, see what I can do to…” she looked at Chara, who just waved at her.

“I don’t think we’ve met properly, Doctor,” Chara smiled. “You can call me Chara. It’s great to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“U-um…”

“Though, I have to wonder if you’re qualified for these little tests, Alphys. You are, after all, an engineer, not a medical doctor.” You could see Alphys start to sweat visibly. “And we all know what happens when a scientist dabbles outside her area of expertise.” Chara glanced over at the elevator doors, and Alphys’ face went pale.

“Ignore them, Alphys,” you said, trying to reassure her. She looked on the verge of panic. “They’re just trying to get inside your head.”

Alphys nodded, but it was clear she was still shaken. “U-Um… I… I need to, um, get some diagnostic e-equipment. U-User, could you come and help while U-Undyne and Sans watch them?”

“Sure thing,” you said, following her into the ‘bathroom.’ She closed the elevator doors, but didn’t start the elevator.
She looked at you, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. “D-Do… do you know?” she asked.

“Yeah. I know,” you answered.

Alphys put her head in her hands. “Oh my god,” she said, starting to cry. “I d-didn’t… I can’t… I d-didn’t m-mean to—”

“Hey,” you said, kneeling down next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. It was an accident.”

“I can’t… I-I know it was w-wrong to keep it a s-secret, but I just…” she sniffed back her tears a little, “I’m a coward.”

“You can be better,” you assured her. “It’ll take a lot of guts, but once this all blows over… you can do it. I swear. Your friends will stick by you.”

“Why w-would they stick by s-someone who—”

“I’ve seen it happen before,” you told her. “You don’t have to lie, Alphys. We all care about you for who you are, no matter what you’ve done. Put a little faith in them. They won’t disappoint you.”

Alphys looked at you. “B-But… I barely know you,” she half-laughed.

“...Maybe,” you said. “But you - and the others - have become a very important part of my life,” you said. “So if you ever need to talk about something, or a shoulder to cry on… at the very least, know I’m here for you. Okay?”

Alphys nodded, taking her glasses off for a moment and wiping her eyes. “...Okay. Thank… thank you.” She turned back to the panel of elevator buttons. “W-We should, u-um, get that e-equipment.”

“And Alphys?” you said.

“Y-Yeah?”

“She feels the same way, you know,” you smiled.

Alphys’ face went bright red. “I-I don’t… u-um… I don’t know w-what y-you’re talking a-about,” she stuttered. She looked like she wanted to bolt out of the room in embarrassment, but unfortunately she was trapped with you on a very long elevator ride. You couldn’t help but smile a little bit.

Everything seemed to be going flawlessly. You’d captured Chara, were helping Alphys through her issues…

So why did you feel so uneasy?

Chapter Text

“okay, let’s all just take a deep breath--”

“GET OUT OF MY WAY, SANS!” Undyne screamed. She started marching toward the laser-cage, metal armor clanking with her angry movements. Sans got in her way and tried to push her back, but it was like trying to move a brick wall with his bare hands. He just slid across the floor as she continued walking.

“Is the fish angry now?” Chara giggled.

“I’LL GIVE YOU ANGRY, YOU LITTLE--”

“U-Undyne, wait!” You and Alphys returned with the lab equipment.

Undyne growled and looked between the lasers at Chara. “The only reason you’re alive right now is because she’s here,” she said, pointing at Alphys.

“If that’s what you have to tell yourself,” Chara smirked.

Undyne growled again and Sans stepped between her and the cage. “okay, okay, we’re done here. we’re fine. maybe it might be a good idea to go do a perimeter check or something.”

“I don’t want to hear one more word out of you either,” Undyne said, poking him in the skull. “And you don’t give the orders, sentry .” Then she stomped off to go do a perimeter check.

“My hero,” Chara said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“i’ve had just about enough out of you,” Sans said, turning back to the human angrily. “can you stop running your mouth for one second?”

“Now you know what everyone else feels like around you,” Chara said.

“at least i’m funny.”

“Are you? I think I’m hilarious ,” Chara chuckled.

“clearly, we have very different senses of humor, you sick freak,” Sans said. He turned around. “i think i’d better go cool off, too. user, you wanna join me while al checks them out?”

“U-Um…” Alphys looked between Sans and Chara, clearly not wanting to be left alone.

“don’t worry, we’ll just be upstairs,” Sans assured her. You gave him a nod and followed him up the escalator.

“Don’t let them get in your head, Alphys,” you called to her. She gave you a little nod and started messing with one of her machines.

“your pal there’s a real ball of sunshine, aren’t they?” Sans said, flopping down on Alphys’ bed. You grabbed the chair from her work bench and sat next to him.

“We’re not friends, trust me,” you sighed.

“yeah, i know. kid’s got a face only a mother could love,” he chuckled. His expression turned a little more serious. “hey, can you be straight with me for a second? chara was the name of asgore’s adopted kid, right?”

“...Yes, it was,” you answered.

“and toriel’s the queen. so that means…”

“Yup.”

“their own mom. wow.” He turned to look at you. “so... when you said you were watching us from this other dimension. was that all you were doing? other than resetting everything, i mean.”

You avoided eye contact with him. It felt like if he could see into your eyes he’d be able to stare into your soul. “...I had some influence over the events,” you said. “After Chara killed everyone--” And it was Chara that killed everyone. You weren’t the one holding the knife. It wasn’t your fault. “I RESET and got everyone to the surface, indirectly. But when you all got there, Chara showed up again and…” you sighed. “Let’s just say it wasn’t the happy ending I was looking for. So I RESET again. And again. But no matter what I tried, they just wouldn’t go away.”

Sans’ expression softened a little. “so... all these resets… that’s been you trying to get rid of them?” You nodded. “so... this kid they’re possessing - frisk. what part do they play in all this?” he asked.

“They’re the one that actually freed you guys,” you said. “I just… guided their decisions, you could say.”

“then what about when chara killed everyone?” Sans asked.

“...They wrestled control out from under me,” you answered. It wasn’t a complete lie. Chara did technically take control with the second swing that killed Sans. And you didn’t touch Flowey or Asgore.

“i guess they’re pretty powerful, huh?” Sans said. “you... must have risked a lot, coming here yourself.”

“It’s nothing,” you said, waving your hand dismissively.

“well, ‘nothing’ is a lot to do for a bunch of monsters you’ve never actually met,” Sans chuckled. He gave you a little smile. “sorry i’ve been miffed at you. i figured whoever was resetting was just toying with our lives, you know? like some sort of sick game. didn’t think they’d actually be on my side.”

You smiled back, trying to bury your nerves. You were spinning a web of lies and half-truths that you were afraid you would drown in someday.

“so... just how much do you know about me?” Sans asked.

“More than most people, probably,” you said. Sans laughed to himself and nodded. He crossed his arms behind his head.

“i guess i should probably just assume everything, then,” he said. “i’m pretty pathetic, huh?”

“You’re not pathetic,” you said. “You’ve been through a lot, Sans. I’m not sure anyone would’ve been able to handle knowing about the RESETs as well as you have.”

Sans shrugged. “...did you watch me give up?” he asked. You tilted your head, confused. “i think i tried, when i first learned they were happening,” he said. “at least, i think. it feels like i did. but then i’d wake up each new timeline and see that i’d failed to stop it, over and over… it was just… disheartening, you know?”

“No. I didn’t see that happening,” you said. Sans looked at you. “...Someone else had power over the RESETs before I did, and he definitely treated everything like a game. When I found you all, you were already… like this.”

“you have an evil twin or something?” Sans asked.

“No, he’s from your world,” you said.

“...he’s still around?” Sans asked, worried.

“Don’t worry about him. He won’t be a problem after we reach the surface. Just trust me on this,” you said. “Then, you’ll be free to move forward, once and for all. I promise.”

Sans smiled at you a little again. “you know how i feel about promises. i’ll hold you to that,” he said.

“Good,” you said.

Sans sighed and stared at the ceiling. “...thanks.”

“For what?”

“just... talking to me. it gets pretty heavy sometimes, keeping all this stuff to myself. it’s nice to get it off my chest. you’re a good kid, kid.”

“Anytime,” you chuckled. You glanced over to see Alphys walking towards you. “Good news? Bad news?” you asked.

“U-Um… weird news?” Alphys said. “I can definitely d-detect the human’s soul in there,” she said, “but there’s… I don’t know how t-to describe it. I-It’s like, there’s bits and pieces of another soul stuck to it? I-I’m hypothesizing that those bits and pieces are our d-demon.”

“Is there a way for you to extract them?” you asked her.

“a human’s soul is exposed during combat,” Sans suggested. “that’d make it a heck of a lot easier. i think between the two of us, al and i could rig up some kinda soul magnet or something like that.” Sans got up off of the bed.

“That… that m-might work,” Alphys said. “B-But, who would fight the h-human?”

“I’ll do it,” you said.

“A human c-can’t enter a FIGHT with another human,” Alphys said. “N-Not in the sense we need, a-anyway. It’s a form of m-monster magic. It has to be one of u-us,” she said. “I-I guess that makes U-Undyne the obvious choice, whenever she gets back.”

You weren’t sure that was a good idea. The only reason Undyne could tank a hit from Chara was because of her Undying form, and you weren’t sure that would activate without the stress of the moment from a genocide run. Sans might be a better idea with his dodging, but you weren’t sure how quickly Chara would be able to predict his moves.

Was that going to be a choice you would have to make? You didn’t want to be responsible for getting either of them killed. Then again, there were already dead monsters and you were going to have to RESET at some point, anyway. Honestly, the lack of consequences was… just a little comforting.

Suddenly, you heard what sounded like a bunch of sparks. Eyes widening, the three of you rushed downstairs. The lasers were still active, but Chara was nowhere to be found.

“H-How?” Alphys asked, looking around in a panic. “Where d-did they go?”

“Call Undyne,” you told her, looking around the room. “They might be headed for New Home.” You slammed a fist on the desk when you realized they weren’t anywhere in the vicinity. “There’s no way they should’ve been able to take all that damage,” you said.

“well, they did,” Sans said. “we need to find ‘em before more people get killed.”

You had a sinking feeling that dead monsters were the least of your worries right now.

Chapter Text

“i’m going to new home,” Sans said. “undyne might not get there fast enough.” The skeleton vanished from sight, and you turned towards Alphys.

“Is there anywhere else they could have gone? I still have no idea how they made it past all those blue lasers,” you said. Alphys had no answer to give you, so you both stood there in eerie silence for a moment.

A faint sound reached your ears, and you focused on it. It was too muffled to make out what it was, but it was almost constant. You motioned for Alphys to stay quiet and followed the sound. It led you to… the true lab door.

“Alphys?” you said. You suddenly felt… something in your chest. It was impossible to describe the feeling, but you knew something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Alphys skittered over to you and you both entered the elevator. The sound got louder as you descended. It sounded like… screaming. Loud, constant screaming from dozens of voices at once.

You rushed out into the corridor, and the sight before you almost made you vomit on the spot. Standing in front of you was what was, presumably, at one point an amalgamate. Except this creature was no longer white and fluid - it had halfway separated into its constituent people, all mashed together into some grotesque Frankenstein’s monster. And from every one of its malformed mouths came a horrifying scream of agony.

You heard Alphys collapse on the ground behind you. “Oh my god… o-oh my g-god what have I done whathaveIdoneohmygod—”

You turned around to see her sobbing, hands clutching the sides of her head in a vain attempt to block out the noise. You knelt down in front of her, grabbing her arms and forcing her to look at you.

“You did not do this,” you said firmly. “Do you understand me? I need you to think, Alphys. What can we do? There has to be something we can do.”

She took a few quick breaths, trying to calm herself. “Their… th-their determination is g-gone. When they w-were liquefied, at l-least they weren’t i-in any pain, I… they n-need more determination. You’re a human, r-right? I can t-take some of yours!”

You felt a sinking feeling in your chest. That sounded…

“Alphys, I… I’m not sure I can do that,” you said. You felt horrible, but your determination was kind of important.

“P-Please, I can’t… I c-can’t just do nothing. I a-already put them through s-so much, I-I…”

You looked back at the miserable creature behind you. Maybe you could justify it and say that you’d fix it with a RESET later, but… you weren’t that cruel.

“...Let’s go,” you said. Alphys nodded and walked around the amalgamate, its twisted limbs reaching out to try and grab you and her as you went by. She brought you to the DT extraction machine, and you passed by several other creatures that had similarly had their determination drained. You felt sick to your stomach.

“So… how does this work?” You asked, mildly nervous looking at the giant skull-like device in front of you.

“J-Just… stand right there,” Alphys said, pulling some sort of control panel out of the wall and tapping a few buttons on it. The machine opened its jaws and began to make a whirring sound.

Then, a trail of red mist began to flow from your chest to the machine. It wasn’t unlike the mildly unpleasant feeling of having your blood drawn, but with your soul instead of your body.

“Don’t… don’t take any more than you need,” you said, wincing a little. The longer this went on, the more it felt like a terrible idea.

The machine stopped, and Alphys extracted a vial of glowing red fluid from it. She poured the contents into a syringe.

“Is that… going to be enough?” you asked, slightly light-headed.

“I-I think so,” Alphys said. “This i-is highly concentrated. I d-diluted it pretty heavily the f-first time I… I-I…”

“Got it,” you said.

Alphys nodded and rushed over to the nearest amalgamate, giving it a small injection, and then left for the next one.

And then, you had a sudden realization - you’d been too wrapped up with the amalgamates to figure it out before, but Chara was more than likely still here. You ran after Alphys, not letting her out of your sight.

To your great relief, the constant screaming began to die down as the amalgamates’ bodies turned pale once more and began to liquefy. Soon it stopped entirely, and they all began to shuffle over to you.

“A-Are you all, u-um, feeling better?” Alphys asked. Endogeny let out a loud, echoing bark and licked her face with several long, white tongues. She giggled a little bit, trying to push it away as Lemon Bread grabbed and hugged her.

“G-Guys, you know what I told y-you about hugging,” Alphys said, ducking out of the sticky embrace. Strands of white goop clung to her like bits of melted marshmallows.

“Sno...wy…” One of them said, nuzzling into your side. You couldn’t help but chuckle a little yourself. They must have realized you helped in some way.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Snowdrake,” you said. “...and company.”

Everyone was accounted for, but you still felt very on edge. You pulled out your cell phone to text Sans.

“Chara went to the underground lab,” you said. “Can you meet us?”

A few moments later, Sans appeared in the hallway and Alphys screamed, surprised. Sans’ eyesockets widened.

“what… what the…”

“Sans! I-I, I-I can explain!”

“He was going to find out eventually,” you said apologetically. “I’m more worried that our serial killer is still in the building.”

“Serial killer?” You whipped around to see Chara leaning against the wall. “Now that’s a little harsh, I think.”

Endogeny immediately ran in front of Alphys protectively, growling. The rest of them crowded between you and Chara, hissing or snarling or just generally making sounds to show that they were not happy to see the demon child.

“How did you do that to them?” you asked.

Chara shrugged. “I lured them to the DT extractor, of course,” they said, holding out a bag of popato chisps and tossing it towards them. The amalgamates made no move to take it.

“And the lasers?”

“It was very nice of that shopkeeper in Snowdin to leave me so many cinnamon bunnies,” they chuckled. “They really help with tanking hits.”

You almost face-palmed. How had you forgotten about healing items? That was such a blatant oversight.

Sans stepped forward to stand next to you, and his eye flashed blue-and-yellow for a moment. He looked… confused.

“that’s not possible,” he said.

“What’s not possible?” you asked, glancing between Chara and Sans.

“they’re still lv 1,” he told you.

“What?” Chara smiled as you stared at them. “You… you killed everyone in the Ruins. You can’t be LV 1,” you said.

“Did I kill everyone?” Chara said, pacing back and forth across the hallway. “Or, did I just gravely wound everyone so they would be forced to hide in their homes? Was that the reason no one came to help Toriel, and she was forced to leave the Ruins to get aid?” You felt your soul sink in your chest.

“Why would you do any of that?” you asked.

“That is the question, isn’t it?” Chara laughed. “Maybe it was to scare you into evacuating everyone so I could get straight to the true lab and steal the amalgamates’ determination, forcing you to give up some of yours in the process.”

You panicked. You pulled up your RESET button and pressed it; nothing happened. The button was flickering, only half there. Chara pulled up one of their own - it was also flickering.

“Would you look at that - a perfect tie,” Chara chuckled. “Looks like I used just the right amount.”

You started hyperventilating. “Why? Why not just kill everyone? Why not get more determination than me?”

Chara smiled. “It’s simple, really. We wouldn’t want to break any of the pieces before the game starts, now would we? I know how much you love games. ” You shook your head, trying to deny it. “This was all just the setup, dear User. Now - now whatever happens, for better or for worse, you can’t just whisk it away with the touch of a button. There are… consequences. You might even say that… you have only one shot.” Chara laughed, sending chills down your spine. That had to be a coincidence. They didn’t know anything about OneShot. “And now that we’ve actually started, well… I am so very curious to see what decisions you’ll make.”

“...Alphys,” you said slowly. She turned and looked at you, face pale. “Take the amalgamates and get out of here. Now.”

“C-C’mon, guys,” Alphys said, backing up slowly. “W-We’re going to go outside and see you families now, o-okay? J-Just, f-follow me.” Alphys and the amalgamates made for the elevator, watching Chara the whole way.

“Sans, you should go, too,” you said. Sans shook his head.

“if you die, freakshow over there gets control of the timeline permanently. i’ll die before i let that happen,” he said. “although, preferably, i’d prefer neither of us to die? let’s nip this thing in the bud, here and now.”

You gave him a little nod.

“A double boss battle, huh?” Chara smiled. “There’s a first for everything.”

Chapter Text

With a thought, your weapon of choice appeared in your hand, crackling with elemental energy. Sans took the initiative and opened up with an enormous barrage of bones and Gaster blasters, attacks flying out so quickly that you lost track of Chara. It was definitely his infamous ‘first attack’ from the genocide run, and you had to admit you were a little in awe. It looked so much cooler in person than through the filter of a game.

Unfortunately, you’d given Chara a lot of practice in dodging that particular attack and they emerged essentially unscathed. You ran forward at a superhuman speed, swinging your weapon straight at them. They weren’t prepared for this attack.

Chara flew into the wall with a thud, cracking the drywall. Okay, so maybe you’d given yourself some mild super-strength and super-speed. You wanted to be prepared.

“Shouldn’t their soul be exposed?” you called out, attacking again as Chara stuffed a cinnamon bunny into their mouth. You struck true again, landing a glancing blow on their side.

“we’re not in a ‘fight’ right now,” Sans told you, launching a second wave of bone attacks. “otherwise you wouldn’t be able to join in.” Chara seemed to know his attack patterns too thoroughly, because he wasn’t even able to land a hit with this one, the demon child weaving in between the bones as if it were a dance.

As Chara was leaping over one of the bones, they twisted in midair to land beside you, lashing out with their notebook. You tried to sidestep, but… it was almost like you were being dragged into the attack. It hit you in the ribs, and you immediately staggered away.

That hurt.

It shouldn’t have. You weren’t a monster - Chara’s killing intent shouldn’t have had any effect on you. So why did it feel like you’d been slammed with a baseball bat instead of a notebook?

In the corner of your eye, you thought you saw some sort of red glow as Chara dodged another wave of attacks from Sans, their body glowing blue as he tried to land a hit. It still wasn’t working.

Still a little rattled, you stepped in their direction and swung your weapon again. It was a bad swing - it went out wide. There was no way it was going to hit them.

Yet hit them it did - the same red glow you’d seen earlier surrounded your weapon, drawing it to Chara like a magnet. It was a solid blow, and Chara stumbled backward, panting. They looked around.

“Well, that’s hardly fair, you dirty hacker,” Chara huffed. “What else to you have in there? Laser eyes? Flight? Invisibility? A Mary Sue can really ruin a story, you know.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when I write a novel about this,” you said, attacking again. You hit them in the arm this time.

“Well, in that case…” Chara dashed towards the elevator, chuckling a little. “It would be a little anticlimactic if you beat me now, right?”

“hey! you’re not going anywhere,” Sans said, dragging them backwards with his blue magic and into a wave of bones. Several of them struck this time - it must not have been an attack he’d used before since he was reacting to them running. You didn’t really have a way to check their HP, but you suspected it was pretty low.

...until Chara pulled out another cinnamon bunny and stuffed it in their mouth, once again making a run for the exit. You ran after them immediately, Sans appearing in front of them to try and shove them back with more blue magic. They were faster than he anticipated, though, and they got within striking distance before he could attack.

The notebook glowed red, once again seeming to drag its target into harm’s way. Sans blinked out of existence at the last possible second, reappearing next to you. Chara just grinned and continued on their way, sprinting for the elevator as fast as they could.

Luckily, you were much faster than them and you caught up quickly, skidding to a stop in front of them and attacking again. They were able to direct their momentum to the side instead of backwards like you’d hoped, and immediately rolled to their feet and continued on their way, reaching the elevator.

Sans reached out with his blue magic again, but Chara pulled out a plastic knife from somewhere and tossed it through the air at him. He teleported out of the way, his magic dropping before he could pull them out of the elevator. You tried to hold the doors open with your hands, but Chara smacked you in the face with their notebook, sending you reeling. Before you could see straight once again, the doors were closed and the elevator was on its way.

“Get us up there, now!” you called out to Sans. You felt a bony hand grabbing yours and you were back on the surface. Alphys was at her large monitor, the amalgamates circled around her as if they were watching a movie.

“W-What happened down there?” she asked. “S-Someone cut the power to my cameras in the lab, I-I couldn’t see anything.” You ignored her for the moment and readied your weapon, waiting for the elevator to come, but… it never did.

“Sans, where are they? Why aren’t they here?” you asked.

“...they went to one of the other floors,” he surmised. “we’re never gonna find ‘em now. there’s gotta be at least two dozen sub-levels down there, it’s like a maze.” Sans looked down and saw he was still holding your hand; he let go quickly, embarrassed. “it’s fine, though. the only way out is the ground level, so they have to come through here at some point. there shouldn’t be anyone down there for them to hurt, either. we’ve got ‘em cornered.”

Your face went a little pale, and you turned to look at Alphys. You could think of at least one other exit. Sans looked between the two of you, confused.

“I-I had an elevator d-directly to New Home installed so A-Asgore could…. c-could…”

Sans’ eyesockets widened. You looked around, trying to think. A single idea popped into your head. You were running out of options at this point.

“Call Asgore,” you told Alphys, “And Undyne. I need everyone in the Underground to meet by Sans’ telescope in Waterfall. Undyne needs to guard the New Home elevator until everyone is out, and then guard their rear.”

“...and just how is stargazin’ supposed to help us with this problem?” Sans asked.

“It’s… complicated. I’m just hoping there’s someone there that can help us. Take me there now, and then come watch this elevator in case they double back or something. I just need you to trust me right now. Please,” you said.

Sans looked into your eyes for a second. Then he closed his eyesockets and sighed. “alright. it’s not like i’ve got a better plan. i’ll be back in two shakes, al. get those calls through.” Sans grabbed your shoulder and suddenly you were in Waterfall.

“Why wasn’t I able to dodge Chara’s attacks?” you asked Sans, still trying to figure out what had gone wrong. You thought you knew everything there was to know about Undertale, but Chara seemed to have surprise after surprise tucked up their sweater sleeves. “Why weren’t they able to dodge my attacks?”

Sans gave you a confused look. “you were both using red attacks. you didn’t realize?”

“I’ve never heard of a ‘red attack’ before,” you said. “What do they do?”

“you can’t dodge red attacks,” Sans said. “well, unless you cheat like i do. teleporting and all.”

“I still don’t understand,” you said. “They just hit me with a book, but it felt closer to a club. Their LV shouldn’t affect me, I’m a human. So why are they so powerful?”

“doesn’t have anything to do with their lv, for you at least - it’s their magic. you realize you’re both using magic, right?” You blinked, flabbergasted. Sans shrugged. “red magic is nasty business. real dangerous stuff, and super hard to do. actually, i don’t think i’ve met anyone that could use it until today.” He glanced at his telescope, the edges of the eyepiece wet with pink ink. It made him smirk a little bit. “anyway, i should get back to al. don’t wanna leave her alone for long.”

“Hey,” you said as Sans prepared to leave, “I should probably get your number, too. Just in case.”

“nah, that’s not how it goes,” Sans said. “you’re supposed to say ‘i seem to have lost my number, can i have yours?” He gave you a cheesy wink and you blushed; before you knew what was happening, Sans had somehow managed to get your phone out of your pocket without you noticing and had put his number in. He handed it back to you and disappeared.

Chapter Text

It had been a stroke of pure luck that your Fun value for this particular run was sixty-six. Actually editing the Fun values wouldn’t have changed the current world but made a new one through a long and complicated process you still weren’t sure you understood fully, so it really was a small miracle that you were standing in front of the infamous Grey Door of Waterfall.

Now came the tricky part; you had absolutely no clue if your mysterious ‘friend’ was actually a friend at all. There were theories abound on W. D. Gaster (or the ‘Mystery Man’ if you wanted to be more accurate). Some said he was a relative of the skeleton brothers, and some said he was an entirely unrelated entity. Some portrayed him as a villain, some as a tragic hero, and in some iterations he was somewhere between the two. The only things you were fairly certain about Gaster was that he was most likely intelligent and - most importantly - was related to the void outside of the game world.

Whether he would be malevolent, helpful, or just disappear into thin air the moment you entered the room remained to be seen. One thing from your many Undertale playthroughs stuck out in your mind, though.

Beware the man who speaks in hands.

The Riverperson’s little warnings weren’t exactly encouraging, but the panic was starting to set in. You were stuck in this world and if Chara somehow managed to kill you, you’d actually be dead - no second chances. Probably. Your physical body wasn’t here, so… would you die? You had a feeling you’d end up in some sort of permanent coma, considering your consciousness was completely cut off from your body at the moment. You didn’t want to think about it too much.

Regardless, there was a swarm of refugees on the way and you needed to get them away from Chara by any means necessary; and being the shortsighted fool that you were, you hadn’t left yourself a real escape route to OneShot. Maybe it was impatience or all your friends’ and family’s constant concern about your new lifestyle of shutting yourself in a room with your computer all hours of the day, but you probably should have taken a little extra time to plan.

It was well beyond too late to worry about that anymore, though. You took a deep breath and opened the door.

Standing in front of you was an amorphous figure that vaguely resembled a skeleton. His body was fluid, composed of something that looked halfway between smoke and crude oil. His head and hands had a sticky-looking quality that was eerily reminiscent of the amalgamates, and he wore a strange smile that almost made him look a little sleepy.

The moment he saw you, his face went from a droopy smile to a wide, manic grin. The door slammed shut behind you, and you were instantly filled with an immense amount of dread. You felt the air grow deathly still.

A voice echoed throughout the room as a string of Wingdings symbols appeared over Gaster’s head. It was ironic how there were such big oversights in your plans, like the bridge, and yet you’d remembered little details like making your avatar able to read Wingdings.

“YOU,” Gaster said. “I HAVE WAITED AN ETERNITY TO MEET YOU.”

You felt your skin start to crawl. This was a terrible idea. What had you been thinking?

“Um… hello, Doctor… D-Doctor Gaster,” you said.

Gaster’s body stretched like some kind of dripping, liquid snake to stare at you from above, smile practically splitting his face in half.

“HOW VERY, VERY INTERESTING,” Gaster said. His voice almost had a verbal hiss to it. He reached out towards you with a goopy finger.

You backed away quickly. “Okay! Let’s, um, not with the touching,” you said. “I came here to ask you for help. Your - uh, I mean, Sans and Papyrus are in danger and I was wondering if maybe somehow you knew a way through the void to a place called OneShot? Where they can be… safe…”

You were starting to feel very claustrophobic. Gaster’s body continued to stretch and follow you even as you backed away. He made no indication that he heard you.

“SUCH POWER,” Gaster said. “THE POWER TO CREATE WORLDS. THE POWER TO DESTROY WORLDS. HYPOTHESIS: THIS POWER CAN BE EXTRACTED AND HARNESSED BY ANOTHER BEING. I MUST TEST THIS.”

“What? No!” You tried to make a run for the door, but Gaster cut you off with his elongated body. You froze, unable to move, as Gaster held up one hand in a motion for you to stop. You could only stare, wide-eyed and completely paralyzed, as you felt his other hand ooze through your skin and into your chest.

It felt like liquid nitrogen, impossibly cold and hollow-feeling. You could almost feel your heart stiffen and crystallize, and you were afraid that if it beat too fast it might crack or shatter. This was it. This was how you were going to die.

...And then the hand retreated, suspending a tiny drop of glowing, pearlescent liquid in midair above itself. You stared at it, confused but thankful he wasn’t holding your soul.

“HYPOTHESIS CONFIRMED,” Gaster said. “SUCH A UNIQUE SUBSTANCE. IT DEFIES THE UNIVERSAL LAWS OF MY DIMENSION, ALTHOUGH I SUPPOSE IT DOES NOT DEFY THE UNIVERSAL LAWS OF YOURS. AFTER ALL, YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH ON ITS PROPERTIES, HAVEN’T YOU...?” He spoke one last, whispered word in that sentence that took you a moment to register.

Your heart skipped a beat. He’d just used your real name. How did he know your real name?

“INSPIRATION, I BELIEVE YOU CALLED IT,” Gaster said. “THOUGH I BELIEVE IT HAD MANY OTHER NAMES THROUGHOUT YOUR HISTORY. ICHOR, AMBROSIA, BLOOD OF THE GODS. ONE CAN’T HELP BUT THEORIZE ON ITS RELATION TO THE BEGINNING OF THE MULTIVERSE. SO MANY POSSIBILITES. WHY, EVEN IN THIS SMALL DROP…” he said, absorbing the liquid into his amorphous body, “THERE EXIST COUNTLESS WORLDS.”

“I don’t understand,” you said, hyperventilating a little. “What… what do you want from me? How did you know about… how did you know my—”

Gaster’s eyes flicked from your paralyzed form to the door as a timid knock sounded on it.

“H-Hello? User? Are you in there? I-I’m here with the amalgamates, a-and everyone else is on their way,” Alphys said from the other side of the door.

“DOCTOR ALPHYS,” Gaster said. There was an unreadable emotion on his face. He turned his creepy gaze back to you. “I SHALL BE BRIEF, THEN. YOU AND THE DENIZENS OF THIS WORLD RUN FROM A DEMON OF YOUR OWN CREATION. YOUR ESCAPE WILL NOT COME WITHOUT PRICE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

You were shaking where you stood. “I… I d-don’t…”

“TO CROSS A BRIDGE, YOU MUST PAY THE TOLL,” Gaster said. He waved his hand and a second door appeared and opened in the back of the room, leading out into seemingly nothing. “YOU DO NOT HAVE THE MEANS TO PAY IT NOW. BUT, WHEN THE TIME COMES…” He leaned in so that his face was almost touching yours, “I EXPECT THAT WHICH I AM DUE.”

Gaster then proceeded to dissolve into the walls and you collapsed to the ground, whatever spell you’d been under broken. Alphys opened the door slowly, eyes widening when she saw you. She ran over to you.

“A-Are you okay?! What happened to you? What i-is this place?” she asked.

“I… I don’t know,” you said, trying to steady your breathing. You glanced at the exit Gaster had created - there was a flat walkway of violet energy leading out into the darkness. “But I… I think I found our escape route. Lead everyone through here, and get Niko for me as soon as you can. We need to work quickly.”

“O-Okay,” Alphys said. “Did you, u-um, find who you were looking for? Who was it?”

You stared at the ground. You weren’t sure how much help Alphys was going to be with this, but you felt that you needed to try. You had just gotten way in over your head with someone you knew nothing about.

“Do you know anyone named W. D. Gaster?” you asked.

“S-Sure, he’s… um… h-he’s…” Alphys clutched at the side of her head as if a sudden headache had come over her. “I-I… I know… b-but…”

“Don’t think about it too hard. The important thing is that we have an escape route now.”

You looked down at your chest. Why did it feel like you’d just unwittingly made a deal with another demon?

Chapter Text

“User!” Niko rushed over to you and you gave them a big hug. “What happened? What’s going on?”

“There’s too much to explain right now, Niko,” you said. “I need your help with something.”

Niko gave you a firm nod. “What can I do?”

You couldn’t help but smile at their bravery. You pointed through the back door in the grey room. “That path leads back to OneShot,” you said. “I need you to go ahead and let the people in the Refuge know that these people need help. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes!” Niko nodded, preparing to set out. “Just leave it to me.”

“O-okay, everyone,” Alphys called out to the crowd behind you. “In just a f-few moments you’ll all be heading through this door. Just stay on the p-path, it’ll, um, lead you to a safe place. P-Please be calm and orderly.”

Sans suddenly appeared next to you, and you almost jumped out of your skin. “everyone’s made it past the lab, and still no chara,” he told you.

“Where’s Undyne?” you asked.

“watching the rear like you told her to. depending on how fast we can get people through here, we’ll probably see her in fifteen minutes or so.”

“Alright. Thank you,” you said.

“sure. if you don’t mind, i’m gonna find papyrus and send an advance team with alphys. you said this place has humans, right? we probably want to make a good first impression. once we’re settled, al and i will get to work on something for the problem child.”

“Well, they aren’t quite human in the way that you… nevermind. That sounds like a good idea. Just make sure your phone’s on so I can reach you if something comes up, alright?”

“will do,” Sans said, vanishing.

You walked around a nearby corner and lifted up your shirt, looking at the region where Chara had hit you earlier. Luckily, you’d prepared yourself with an array of monster food to fix things like this - you wanted to be at full health before you met up with Undyne and possibly the demon child.

...Except, there was no wound - no gash, no bruise, not even a red mark. You checked your HP - it was still full. That… wasn’t possible. You swore you could’ve had a few broken ribs earlier.

Ignoring the implications for now, you pushed your way towards the back of the group, waiting to see a glimpse of the royal guard captain. You heard her well before you saw her, shouting orders to everyone over the clamor. You jogged up to her.

“Hey, punk,” Undyne greeted you. “You ready to kick some human butt after we get everyone to safety?”

“Sounds fun,” you said, though you weren’t really looking forward to it. Still, you needed to buy time so Alphys and Sans could figure out what to do. “Any sign of them?”

“Not that I’ve seen,” she told you. “But I haven’t been watching the elevators since I started bringing up the rear. They might be on their way as we speak.”

“So you do have a brain under all that armor,” Chara giggled. They appeared out from behind a rock. “At least you have something, because your senses aren’t that sharp apparently. I’ve been tailing you for a while now.” Their smile seemed to gleam as they pulled out a dagger from behind their back and a locket from under their shirt.

“Prepare to get pummeled, you crazy brat,” Undyne said, wasting no time. A box of white energy surrounded her and Chara, pushing you out. A soul appeared in front of the human - glowing bright red, with a cloud of dark red fragments surrounding it like a swarm of insects.

Undyne glanced between you, who had been forced out of the battle when she targeted Chara, and the bizarre soul before her.

“...What the hell?” she asked, momentarily stunned. Chara sprinted forward, lashing out with their knife. Undyne tried to dodge, but their red magic once again triggered and the guard captain was forced to block with her wrists. You froze, afraid she might dust - but it didn’t look like lethal damage. Chara either wasn’t trying to kill her or couldn’t because of their currently low LV.

Chara’s turn ended, and Undyne turned her attention back to you. “Why aren’t you in here?!” she asked. “I should’ve automatically drawn you in unless…” her lone functioning eye widened, “You… you’re a human too, aren’t you?!”

“Now is not the time, Undyne!” you shouted back, currently in the middle of trying to calm the crowd of people behind you. Half of them had gone into a panic and were about to flee hysterically, and half of them were trying to crowd around Undyne and watch the fight.

“Hey, everyone! Listen up!” Your voice lifted to several times its normal volume. Ah, the perks of programming your own body. “Undyne and I got this, but you all need to clear the area. Keep going in a calm and orderly fashion!”

Your words helped a little, at least. You turned around to see Chara stuck in place with green magic, batting away a barrage of spears with their knife. Interesting. Undyne hadn’t even bothered to give them a spear to block with - you supposed having innocent people right in the line of fire dampered her sense of fair play a little.

Unfortunately, Chara managed to land another solid blow as soon as Undyne’s turn was over. She staggered backward - that knife was really cutting away her HP. You weren’t sure if her Undying form would trigger without a one-hit kill, and you weren’t planning on leaving it to chance.

“Undyne!” you called to her. “Flee your next turn so you can heal! I’ll take them on for a little while.”

“ First ,” Undyne said, throwing a spear at Chara’s head before making a dozen more materialize out of the air to try and impale them, “I don’t take orders from you, you filthy little human. Second, a monster can’t run in battle, you idiot!”

You thought back to your playthroughs of Undertale; there really weren’t any monsters that fled of their own volition, were there? You had to spare them. This was not good at all.

Undyne shouted in pain as Chara stabbed through her armor once again. She was running out of HP. You looked at the crowd and were relieved to find it was thinning out, each monster disappearing into the grey room one by one. You still needed more time, though.

With a feral war cry, Undyne threw spear after spear after spear, splitting the stonework around Chara as they dodged and deflected each one gracefully. Chara’s turn came once again, and you held your breath.

Chara, in yet another confusing turn of events, spared her. Both you and Undyne stood there for a second, baffled.

“Spare them and pull back for a second!” you shouted.

“Are you kidding me? No!” Undyne clutched at her side, where blood was dripping out of her armor.

“Well you clearly need a healing item and I bet you didn’t pack any, right? I’ve got some right here!” A slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie materialized in your hand. “Don’t be stupid, Undyne, people need you and a tactical retreat for two seconds isn’t a failure.”

Undyne growled under her breath and Spared Chara before sprinting over to you and downing the pie in one gulp. That was… actually kind of impressive.

Chara made a dash for the door and you stepped in front of them, weapon in hand. You were only able to hit a glancing blow on their side as they passed you, though it staggered them enough for Undyne to block their way.

“Don’t start another Fight or I won’t be able to help,” you told her. Chara grinned and slid under Undyne’s legs to get past her as she contemplated your request.

“Look what you made me - NGAAAAH!” Undyne and you chased after them, sprinting out into the energy walkway that led into the Void.

You almost froze at how quickly the scenery changed. The instant you crossed the threshold, it felt like the fundamental fabric of the universe had changed. You thought you would be able to see the path stretching out into infinity, but it was quite the opposite - you couldn’t see further than a few feet past your face. The silence, cold, and darkness seemed to smother you like a blanket, pressing in from all sides. You struggled to keep sight of Undyne, who managed to be faster than even your enhanced form.

“Yo, dude, you’re the… y-you’re the…”

A voice found its way to your ears. It sounded like the line had been whispered, but you couldn’t pinpoint from where. You slowed down as the narrow path curved to the left in front of you, and you could barely make out three figures.

The tallest one had to be Undyne, barreling towards the other two. One silhouette was brandishing a knife at the third, who appeared to have no arms.

“Undyne!” The monster kid shouted. “Yo, Undyne’s here now! You’re gonna regret ever messing with—”

Chara shoved them off the side of the walkway with a giggle and continued on their way, disappearing into the shadows.

Undyne, without a moment’s hesitation, dove off the path after them.

You didn’t have time to react. It felt like the air was so thick that you were moving through molasses.

“Undyne? Undyne!” You got to the edge just in time to see Undyne catch the kid and throw them upward like a football. You reached out, trying to grab her, but it was too late. She fell into the endless shadows below.

You were able to suppress your overwhelming horror long enough to catch the monster kid in your arms before staring into the abyss Undyne had vanished into. You looked in the direction Chara had run to find them long gone.

“No. Nonono,” you said, breathing heavily. “She can’t be… no.”

The monster kid’s rapid breathing suddenly slowed down for a moment, and they blinked their eyes. Then their breathing picked up again, and they looked up at you.

“Yo… thanks for saving me,” they said.

“I didn’t save you,” you said, willing them not to say what you knew they were about to say.

“Dude, what are you talking about? That human knocked me off the ledge and you reached out and caught me by my sweater,” they said.

You began sprinting down the path after Chara, monster kid still in your arms. “No, I didn’t catch you,” you said in denial. “Undyne caught you.”

“Who’s… ow!” They winced as if they’d been struck.

“Undyne! Captain of the Royal Guard, heroine of the Underground, the person you look up to the most!” you told them.

“I… I-I…” their face was scrunched up in pain now and they curled into a ball in your arms, mind assaulted by false memories as you ran on into the shadows.

Chapter Text

There was probably a reasonable explanation for why it felt like you’d been running for eternity, but you were too worked up to think about it. The path all looked the same, the nothingness around you all looked the same. Your limbs felt cold and stiff, the stillness was suffocating you, and you began to fear that the sound of your feet pounding against the hard-light path was just an echo and that you weren’t actually moving at all. The monster kid had long ago grown silent, curled up against your chest as you ran. The only thing that kept you from thinking they might have died of thirst or starvation was the fact that monsters turned to dust upon death.

And then, all at once, you were assaulted by a wall of sound and color, and you almost tripped as the path turned into a metal grate overlooking a pool of glowing red fluid. The light was dim, but to your shadow-soaked eyes, you might as well be staring at the sun.

You took a moment to breathe - it was probably all just in your head, probably some side effect of being in the void. You looked around yourself, trying to assess the situation; you’d just emerged from the base of the Tower.

Your ears perked up to hear the sound of weapons clashing off to the side. You set the monster kid down.

“Stay close to me, and do exactly what I say. Okay?” you told them.

“O-Okay,” they said, hiding behind your legs.

“...and stay away from the ledges,” you added, knowing their tendency to trip constantly. You made a brisk pace towards the sound of the battle.

You emerged out into the streets of the Refuge - brightly lit, you might add, though it felt artificial somehow (you supposed the sun being a lightbulb probably accounted for it) - to see Asgore standing there, red trident in hand, face-to-face with Chara. His robes were torn and he was panting heavily, but he was alive and still fighting. His eyes lit up a little as he saw you approach.

“You must be User,” he called out, blocking a knife swing with his trident with some amount of success. “I would love to introduce myself properly, but I would greatly appreciate some assistance at the moment!”

He wasn’t in a Fight, you noticed - someone probably warned him you were coming. You looked at the monster kid. “Stay on my left side and run past us - I’ll protect you. Just get out of here, any way you can - the people here are friendly, they’ll help you out if you find them.”

“Okay,” they said, following your instructions as you ran forward, keeping yourself between them and Chara. You switched to the offensive as soon as they were clear of the fight, trying to take some of the pressure off Asgore so he could get some breathing room. He supported you from a distance with an array of fire attacks, doing an impressive job of avoiding you while aiming at Chara. Some of the flames began to hit, the change in attack pattern throwing Chara off of their rhythm as they backpedaled away from your weapon.

They just smirked at you, though. “So aggressive,” they said. “I can’t imagine why. Did you lose something?”

You gave your best war cry and rushed them with a flurry of wild attacks - wild enough that most of them ended up clanging against the road instead of hitting your target.

“Sloppy,” Chara teased, gouging your arm with their knife. You shouted in pain and they kicked you in the thigh. You crumpled to the ground, gasping - you hadn’t heard a snap or anything of the sort, but you swore they’d just broke your femur. A child shouldn’t be able to do that, right?

You crossed your arms above your head as they came down with a killing blow, but Asgore’s trident planted itself in the ground in front of you to block it. An inferno of flames surrounded you, forcing Chara away.

Asgore picked you up in his arms - he was a lot bigger in person than you’d expected him to be - sweating through his fur but still managing to put on a smile - and pulling out a cup of tea from somewhere with his free hand. You gulped it down gratefully.

“You fight bravely, if not a bit recklessly,” Asgore panted, setting you back down. You put weight on your leg to find that it didn’t hurt at all. “You remind me of… of…” He winced as he let go of his torrent of flames before it exhausted him completely.

You tried playing defense this time, coming down from your rage a little. You tried Asgore’s technique of blocking the strikes with your weapon and were pleasantly surprised to find it working - Chara’s red magic still took effect, but as long as it was hitting the weapon and not your body the damage they were dealing was minimal. Chara began to catch on quickly though, feinting and finding ways to work their knife around your defenses.

“Have you heard from Sans or Alphys?” You called to Asgore, rolling to the side as Asgore sent a blast of flames in Chara’s direction.

“They asked me to stall time for them while they worked on something,” he told you.

Chara screamed in pain as a bone shot up through their leg, and they crumpled to the ground. Another set of bones appeared in a tent-like structure, poised at their neck and essentially leaving them pinned.

“you called?” Sans asked. Alphys wheeled some large machine up behind him and aimed it at Chara.

“K-Keep a close eye on them,” Alphys said. “I-It needs to warm up.”

Sans teleported down to you and did just that. “looks like you’re at the end of the line, freak,” he said.

Chara grunted with pain but still managed to maintain their creepy smile. “As impressive-looking as your little machine is, I sincerely doubt that,” they chuckled.

“oh yeah?” Sans said. Yet another bone appeared and knocked the knife out of Chara’s hand, sending it skittering across the floor. Sans picked it up.

Chara glanced at the machine whirring to life. “I’ll just come back the next time User resets. Right, User?”

“yeah, well, everyone’s been accounted for, actually,” Sans said. “your weird little no-killing mindgame backfired. they don’t have to reset.”

Chara laughed, and you started to sweat. How long was that stupid machine going to take? “Oh, you think they reset because they have to?” Chara said. “Oh, Sans, you poor, sweet fool. They don’t reset because they have to, they reset because they can. The story is over now, right? No more fun for them! Go ahead and tell him, User, that you aren’t the least bit curious what would happen if you tried things a little differently. Who knows - maybe we’ll team up next time and kill everyone together!”

“yeah, yeah, keep running your mouth,” Sans said. “still not gonna let you out.”

“Oh, you’d be an even bigger idiot than I thought you were if you did that,” Chara said. “It’s just so heartbreaking to see that glimmer of hope in your eyes - to see that you actually believe you might finally be free of your own personal hell - while the very person who traps you there is standing right next to you.”

You could tell Chara was starting to get under his metaphorical skin. “I think that’s the pot calling the kettle black, don’t you?” you said, trying to deflect them from the ugly truths they were starting to unveil.

“Maybe a little,” Chara conceded. “But please, User. Look him in the eyes and tell Sans you didn’t make the decision to kill his brother a reset or two ago.”

You felt your heart beat out of rhythm for a moment. Sans glanced over at you and you saw his shoulders sag.

“Why don’t you tell him, User? Once I’m gone, there won’t be any more consequences, after all. How many times did you get them to the surface, only to drag them back underground? And don’t act like it was because of me - we both know it was only last time that I showed up above ground. They are, no matter what you may have told them, still your toys. And they always will be.”

You hands were shaking. You prepared to look at Sans, give him some excuse or apology, but the thought was interrupted by a deafening boom.

A ray of energy not unlike a heat mirage blasted out of the machine and into Chara. The infected soul was forced out the back of their body, the blood-red cloud around it flying away in bits and shards. Chara just giggled for a while until their body went limp, their presence gone. The machine whirred to a halt.

Sans turned to you slowly. “tell me they were lying,” he said. It was more of a challenge than a plea, though there was no energy behind it. All the life had drained from his face. You tried to choke out an answer, but the words caught in your throat. “...yeah. that’s what i thought.”

“Sans, it’s… it’s way more complicated than tha—”

You were cut off by another deafening boom, but this one was accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. You looked up in complete, utter horror as the world grew dark around you.

The sun was gone.

Chapter Text

It felt like you had lost your voice. You just stared upward in mute horror at the black, starless sky above you.

“World Machine?” You called out quietly, praying to anyone that would listen that it would answer you. It remained dead silent. The world was even darker than you remembered it, too - none of the lamps were lit, since everyone had once again grown used to daylight. The only source of illumination was the nearby river of red phosphor.

You heard some sort of whimpering behind you and turned around numbly to see Frisk sobbing quietly inside the bone cage. Sans made the bones disappear and walked over to them slowly, pulling a hot dog (or was it a cat?) out of his jacket.

“uh… hey there, buddy,” he said. His voice sounded hollow. “you’re frisk, right?” They only sniffed in response. “real sorry about the leg there. here, i got a—”

Sans froze as Frisk reached forward and wrapped their arms around his waist, starting to cry into the bottom of his shirt. “o-oh… okay, um… hey, it’s okay, kid.” He pried their arms off of him and sat down next to them, offering them the hot dog. They took it and leaned against his chest, and Sans put his arm around their shoulders awkwardly. Frisk seemed content just to lay there for the time being, so you gave yourself a few seconds to think. If what you thought had just happened had happened, you weren’t going home any time soon. No more rushing into things. You turned your attention towards Alphys, standing behind the machine.

“U-User,” she said as you approached, “I-I… I don’t know what happened. I—”

“It’s too late to worry about that now,” you said. “I’ll… take care of the sun problem. There’s something else I need you to do.”

“O...Okay,” Alphys said.

“Do you know who Undyne is?” you asked her.

“O-Of course I know who Undyne is, she’s… sh-she’s…” she immediately clutched her head in pain. “I… I k-know who… she was… she’s…” Tears started to roll down her face. “I… I-I…”

“I’ll tell you who she is,” you said. “She’s the captain of the Royal Guard. You wanted her to think you were cool, so you told her that anime was legitimate human history and she believed you. She’s strong and brave and loyal and fierce, and you’re in love with her - and she feels the same way.”

Alphys blinked in surprise. “What? I-I… that’s n-not… she c-couldn’t—”

You put your hands on her shoulders. “She got lost in the void,” you told her. “She got erased from existence. But she’s still out there somewhere, and I need you to bring her back.”

“B-Bring… I-I don’t even know who y-you’re talking about, much l-less… I w-wouldn’t even know how to start, I—”

“She’s still up there somewhere,” you said, tapping the side of her head. “If anyone is going to remember her, it’s you. You’ll think of something. I know you can. She needs you, Alphys. You’re the only one that can do this.”

You saw something akin to resolve find its way into her eyes, and you couldn’t help but smile a little in spite of yourself. Alphys had come a long way.

“I-I… I’ll try,” she said. You nodded and walked over to Asgore.

“I need you to find someone named Niko and bring them to me,” you told him. “They look like a cat monster, holding a glowing lightbulb. Kinda hard to miss. They should be in the library somewhere, I would guess.”

Asgore looked up at where the sun had once been and nodded slowly. “Understood. Thank you for coming to my - and my people’s - aid. I hope I can repay your kindness one day.”

You looked around for Sans, but he was nowhere to be found. Frisk was watching you silently; it looked like they wanted to talk to you, but didn’t want to be rude and interrupt your conversation.

“...Don’t mention it,” you said, giving Asgore a polite nod and walking over to Frisk. “...We need to talk, don’t we?” you asked them. They gave you a little nod. You sat down next to them as everyone dispersed. Where would you even begin?

To your surprise, they leaned their head against your shoulder. You mimicked Sans and put an arm around them awkwardly. “...I’m sorry,” you said. “You know… for putting you through… everything that I did.”

“I know,” they said. Their voice was quiet and mousy, as if they hadn’t used it in a long time.

“...Do you know… who I am? Really?” you asked.

Frisk nodded slowly.  “You used your soul to… move me. So… I know you better than most people.”

“Oh,” you said dumbly. That was a little closer than you were hoping to be with them. Just what could someone tell from your soul? What dark secrets did they know?

“...You’re not a bad person,” they told you. “Didn’t know what you were really doing. Tried to fix it for a long time. You’re here now.”

That wasn’t the response you were expecting, but it gave you a measure of relief all the same. At least someone knew you had good intentions, though the path to hell might be paved with them.

“...Do you know Chara?” they asked you.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know what they are?” they asked, more seriously this time.

“They’re… the fallen human,” you answered, confused. “Asgore and Toriel’s adopted child. Asriel’s sibling.” They looked almost disappointed at your answer, but didn’t say anything else. “Frisk, do you know something about them I don’t? Because if you do, I need to know.”

“...It won’t help unless you know it yourself,” they said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Frisk hopped up as a set of footsteps approached you from behind. It was Asgore and Niko.

“User… the sun…” Niko said, big yellow cat eyes glistening with tears.

“I know,” you sighed. “...good thing you picked up a spare, right?” They looked down at the lightbulb cradled in their arms as Frisk walked over to Asgore.

“Can you take me to Mom?” Frisk asked.

“Oh… hello, human. These are very strange circumstances to be meeting under, are they not?” Asgore said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Wait...Mom?”

Frisk grabbed Asgore’s hand wordlessly and began walking away.

“The tower is really close by,” Niko said, watching them go. “We should go put the sun back.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” you sighed. “If my theory is correct, Chara moved from possessing Frisk to possessing the World Machine. If they just shattered the sun like that, they can do the same with that one,” you said, pointing.

“But… if Chara’s possessing the whole world, then why haven’t they…” Niko trailed off.

“I couldn’t say,” I answered. “Maybe the World Machine is limiting them somehow, or maybe they’re still playing their game. Either way, we need to treat the disease, not the symptom. We need to get into the engine, and for that…”

“...We need Proto, Cedric, and Rue,” Niko finished for you.

“Exactly,” you said. “So we need to make a trip to the Glen, at the very least, and… I’d rather keep you close by for the time being. Is that okay?”

“Mm hm,” Niko nodded. “I’ll go to the lab and get one of the scientists to call Proto and one of the rowbots over to the Glen. Can you meet me at the elevator?”

“Sure thing,” you smiled. “Be careful.” Niko rushed off and you made your way down the eerily quiet streets of the Refuge.

“You know, this place is really different from what I’m used to.” A sly, almost sing-song voice appeared from behind one of the street corners, and you froze. A yellow flower stretched out from behind a nearby building, grinning. “It’s so nice to have some new places to explore.”

“I was wondering when you’d pop up again,” you said, more than slightly annoyed.

“Meh,” Flowey said, making a noise as if he were shrugging. “This is the best entertainment I’ve had in years. Sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the show.”

“I’m glad you’ve been entertained,” you said. “Now if you’ll excuse me—”

“Chara told me everything, you know,” Flowey said, and you felt your skin crawl. “Everything happened exactly the way they said it would. It was just a little scary, to be perfectly honest. But after they told me their whole plan, well - even I had to admit, they really know how to torture someone.”

“Do you want to fight me now and get this over with?” you growled.

“Nah, I think I’ll leave things to the professionals for now. After all, you’re amazing at making everyone around you miserable all by yourself,” Flowey mocked.

“You’ll have to try a little harder than that,” you said, walking past him.

“Well, clearly Sans has been better. Though he’s been worse, too - I should know,” Flowey chuckled. “Frisk is… well, let’s say ‘haunted,’ even if they don’t exactly wear their heart on their sleeve. There’s a certain someone gone missing - I forget what her name is? And - oh, that’s right! The sun blew up. That’s definitely a new one. You really are a master at your craft; and I thought I was good.”

“Shut up,” you said.

“Aw, what’s the matter? Don’t like being compared to a sadistic psychopath? A cold-blooded killer? Don’t pretend that you’re better than me, ‘god.’ We’re exactly the same,” Flowey taunted.

“I have made many, many mistakes,” you said, trying to block out the words. They were starting to get under your skin. “But I am nothing like you.”

“If you say so~” Flowey said, disappearing. You reached the elevator, waiting there in silence for Niko.

Chapter Text

It turned out that the game worlds didn’t have music playing in the background constantly - that was just something provided for your own benefit as a player. You came to this realization while waiting for Niko by the elevator, because the air here was so silent it was almost choking you. Everyone had retreated into their homes for now, no doubt glued to their television screens and trying to figure out what had gone wrong. You weren’t sure if you preferred the silence or a city-wide panic. Neither comforted you.

You shouted in surprise as a skeleton appeared next to you, breaking the silence. You felt your heart racing. That was not what you needed right now.

And then you remembered that Chara had revealed your dirty little secret and that Sans was either nearly dead inside or very, very angry right now. You owed him an apology.

“Sans, I…” Stars above, where would you even begin?

“you’ve done a lot of the talking lately,” Sans said, cutting you off. Yup, definitely angry. Honestly, you kind of preferred that option. “now you’re gonna listen.”

You nodded slowly, closing your mouth. You knew this was coming. You tried to keep your hands steady, stuffing the things Flowey had said to you into some dark recess of your mind. “first off,” Sans began, “and if you’re not honest with me this time, i swear - how long has this been going on?”

“This really is the first time I’ve tried… this,” you said, gesturing vaguely. “But if you’re talking about the time I first ‘discovered’ you, then… it’s been about three years.”

“was there really someone else before you?” Sans asked.

“Yes. His name is Flowey. Long story short he’s alive only because of pure determination and doesn’t actually have a soul, so he can’t feel anything. Hence why he toyed with you. He also happens to sort of be Prince Asriel reincarnated?” you answered.

Sans blinked. “i’d call you a liar if that story wasn’t too ridiculous to make up on the spot. although you say it like you didn’t toy with us,” he said.

“I didn’t—”

“ bullshit,” Sans growled, and you winced a little. “where do you get the gall to deny it straight to my face?”

“I never meant to hurt any of you,” you said, voice raising just a little. Your hands were beginning to shake in spite of your efforts to still them. The dam holding back all the ugly accusations against yourself you’d stored up over the years was starting to crack.

“ha! best joke i’ve heard all day,” Sans laughed. “so you accidentally killed everyone. you accidentally killed papyrus after he spared you - and don’t bother arguing that with me. he’d never hurt a fly,” Sans said.

“It… It wasn’t like that,” you said, trying to find the words to explain. They were lost in the mess of emotions boiling over in your chest.

“but no, you just couldn’t stop with being a genocidal killer, huh? you had to come all the way here just to torture me,” Sans continued, his voice wavering. “you’re so damn cruel that you come here and give me some hope that maybe someone out there actually cares and that i might finally have a reason to get off my lazy butt, because for once in my life it might actually matter. and then you rip it all away like the sadist you are. it really wasn’t enough to kill me and the only person i actually care about anymore over and over and over again? how are you so evil that you treat people’s suffering like a game ?”

You’d closed your eyes, trying to block out the words. You’d fought this back for years now, with denials and excuses and feigned ignorance. But to be confronted like this, by Sans of all people…

Something just… snapped.

“You know what, Sans?” you said, voice deathly quiet, “You’re right. It was all a game to me.” Sans’ eye flared blue and gold, but you didn’t back down. “Do you want to know why? Do you know what you were to me when I first found you? You were a bunch of pixels on a screen,” you growled.

“You were part of a damn computer game, Sans. A game that a friend recommended to me - ‘Hey, there’s this awesome new game on Steam you have to try called Undertale.’ So I got on my computer and paid the ten bucks, and I played the game. And I killed some of the monsters the first time around, just like you do with every other rpg ever, and then I felt bad about it, and you made me feel like the scum of the earth in the judgement hall for playing a game.

“So I played it again, and I didn’t kill anyone. And I beat the final boss and got everyone to the surface, and I actually cried a little bit because this game was really touching. So touching, in fact, that I wanted to play it again. So I RESET, after the game tried to guilt trip me with some pre-scripted dialogue. And I got everyone to the surface again, and then my friend came up to me again. ‘So, did you do a genocide run yet?’ And I said ‘No, what’s that?’ ‘It’s the route where you kill everyone. It has special bosses and stuff, you should try it.’

“So I drudged through all the grinding, and the killing. It took me forever to get past Undyne the Undying, and twice as long to beat you. And then I got the ending and that demon showed up and made me feel even more terrible than I already did. So I played the Pacifist run again, and they showed up again. So I tried again, and again, and they wouldn’t go away. But even then it was still just a game, because you were all still contained within a little box on my computer screen. It took me all the way until I played OneShot to figure out what was really going on. So I’m sorry, Sans, I’m sorry that it turns out this wasn’t a game just like the hundreds of other games I’ve played in my life!”

Sans just stood there, unable to reply. You had plenty more to say, though. “But no, now you come here and act like I enjoy killing people when I know that they’re actually people, all from atop your high horse like you aren’t ten times worse,” you spat. Sans had a response to that one.

“i don’t go around killing people, real or no,” he said, still flustered. That comment only fueled your anger.

“Oh really?” you said. “You got old arcade games down here from the surface, right? Ever play Galaga?”

“w… what does that have—”

“Well guess what, Sans, maybe somewhere out there that’s a real world too. Maybe all those aliens you lasered to bits had families back home. Maybe their planet was starving and they came here looking for resources, but you just decided to go and murder them all. And now everyone back home is grieving because you butchered their husbands and their wives and their children and their siblings and their friends, and they’re all starving to death in the streets because you wanted to tap a little red button. Congratulations, Sans the Skeleton, you just committed genocide!

“But you didn’t know, right? Well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, you rotting pile of bones. Because do you know what you were aware of? That Asgore was planning to obliterate billions of humans once he got the seven souls, and all of you knew. Heck, most of you were more than willing to lend a helping hand. If I hadn’t RESET after the first time Asgore killed Frisk, do you know what half the Underground would be right now? Accessories to genocide. So please, Sans, justify that to me. But you? Oh no, you’re even worse, because you just sit there and watch and do nothing about it. You talk about how I have the gall to deny things, but here you are with your little innocent act - at least I actually did something instead of sitting there and watching with my bag of popcorn like you’re so fond of. So go right ahead, Sans, tell me I should be burning in hell. I already know that. But don’t you dare pretend like you all don’t deserve to be sitting right there next to me!”

The red cleared from your vision to see Sans standing there, eyesockets empty as he stared off into nothing. The breaths he took in were shaky, making his ribs rattle lightly.

You glimpsed a yellow glow out of the corner of your eye to find Niko approaching, sun in hand.

“There’s some bad news, User,” they said, blissfully unaware of the conversation that had just happened. “Communications are down. I can’t call Proto - we need to go all the way back to the Barrens for him.”

“Alright,” you said. “Let’s not waste any more time, then.” With all of the rage you’d bottled up gone, your chest felt hollow. Numb. You stepped into the elevator.

“Um… User?” Niko asked, looking up at you with their giant cat eyes before glancing over at where Sans had been. He was gone. “Are you okay?”

“...I’m fine.”

Chapter Text

“Mom!” Frisk ran over to Toriel and hugged her tightly.

“O-Oh, my,” Toriel said, surprised. “Hello, child. Did… did you just call me…?”

Frisk just hugged her tighter, and Toriel had to cover her mouth with her hand just to keep herself from crying. She knelt down in front of them and returned the hug.

“...that’s one sweet kid,” Sans commented to Asgore, who was watching the two from a distance. The skeleton was flustered and more than a little frustrated after the little conversation he’d had with you, so he shrugged it off like he always did by making casual conversation with someone else. The image of Frisk being dragged around by puppet strings with a knife in hand still wouldn’t leave his head. He could just imagine the kid crying internally as they were forced to kill the people they so clearly cared about, and it broke his non-existent heart. They had a lot of love - and not the acronym kind - tucked into that little chest of theirs (though maybe little wasn’t the best term, coming from Sans - he was maybe an inch or two taller than them.) The way the kid had clung to him when they first woke up reminded him of what Papyrus would do as a baby bones when he was scared.

Sans looked over at Asgore, who apparently hadn’t heard him. He just stared out into middle distance. “...have you talked to her yet?” Sans asked him gently.

“I…” Asgore sighed. “I was not even sure she was still alive,” he said quietly. “She hid herself away all these years just to get away from me. I would not even know what to say at her.” Sans saw silvery tears start to drip down the king’s face. “Do you think… do you think we might ever regain what we once had?”

Sans put his hand on the king’s giant back and rubbed slow circles into it. “...i’d be lying if i said it was likely,” Sans said. False hope was an awful thing, as Sans had just learned. He wouldn’t inflict that on anyone.

“R-Right. Of course,” Asgore said, wiping his eyes with the back of his paw. Sans felt a pang of pity for him. The king had a soft heart, even if it had been scarred by his sins. Sans ignored the fact that it reminded him of someone else.

“Do you think… we might at least be friends again?” Asgore asked him hopefully.

Sans gave a long, drawn-out sigh. He had a feeling that might not work out, either. “...it wouldn’t be easy, but you never know,” he conceded. He wasn’t a sadist. “that would require you actually going and talking to her, though.”

Asgore sighed. “...You are right. At the very least, I should go and… apologize. For everything. With so many strange happenings as of late, I do not believe I will be able to continue with the barrier plan. Forgive me.”

“you do what you gotta do, asgore,” Sans said. “just take care of yourself, yeah?”

Asgore gave Sans a smile and nodded before walking over towards Toriel. Frisk gave both of the boss monsters what could only be described as a mischievous grin and scampered off towards Papyrus, who they hugged tightly around the waist. Sans couldn’t help but smile a little.

His smile faded when the reality of his situation started to sink back in, and his mood went bitter. He couldn’t believe you had the gall to lash out at him after putting him through hell. So what if your argument made a lot of sense? He was sick of being the rational one. It wasn’t like he exactly trusted you to be honest, anyway. His attention turned back to Frisk. Maybe the kid would be able to give him a little insight.

He waited patiently for Frisk to finish making their rounds, hugging and talking with every monster they could find and even greeting a few of the people from this new world. The kid was almost touch-starved, it seemed; they were always holding someone’s hand or sitting in their lap or hugging them like they were a lifeline.

Sans found a nearby bench and sat down, waving the kid over once they were finally free. They made their way over, sat down next to him, and immediately gave him a hug. Sans returned it; he didn’t mind. They were actually pretty comfy with their big, plush sweater.

“hey, buddy,” Sans greeted them. “you mind if we sit and talk awhile?”

“...You’re mad at User,” Frisk said, and Sans almost jolted. That was uncomfortably on the nose. Sans supposed it was to be expected after having met him so many times.

“...guess you know me pretty well by now, huh?” Sans chuckled, wishing he could just play things off with a pun but knowing the kid would probably see right through him. “yeah, i’m mad at ‘em. sucks being lied to and told everything’s gonna be fine when it isn’t.”

“They were just afraid you’d be angry,” Frisk said. “Didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“there that phrase is again, didn’t mean to. they say it like that excuses the fact that they did it,” Sans said. Frisk clutched his jacket a little tighter and his expression softened a little. “hey, i wasn’t implying it was your fault,” he said. “you couldn’t even control your own body. it’s not like someone had them at gunpoint making them do the things they did.”

“They’re sorry,” Frisk said. “They’re trying to fix things.”

“are they really, though?” Sans said darkly. “how do we know this isn’t just another sick game?”

“It’s not,” Frisk said, sure of themself. Sans was mildly surprised.

“how are you so sure?”

“I know their soul,” Frisk answered, tracing a heart across their own chest.

“...oh,” Sans said dumbly, not entirely certain what they meant but sensing they knew what they were talking about. “...how do you not hate them, after everything they’ve done to you?” he asked them.

“They’re a good person,” Frisk answered.

“so tell me, buddy… just how do you separate the good people from the bad people?” Sans asked.

“...How do you?”

Sans was afraid they’d ask that. He usually avoided introspection in lieu of ignoring all his problems. “...it’s pretty cut-and-dry for me,” Sans said. “good people do good things, and bad people do bad things.”

“Good people make mistakes sometimes, though,” Frisk countered. “I think… when a bad person knows they have power, they abuse it. But when a good person knows they have power, they use it to help people.”

Sans couldn’t really argue with that definition. “...but what if they don’t know?”

“Then you can’t know either,” Frisk said. That made Sans do a bit more thinking than he was comfortable with. Frisk laid their head against his shoulder, evidently tired. “...You’re a lot like them, you know.”

“...gee, thanks.”

“You both don’t like yourselves,” Frisk said, and Sans stiffened.

“i… that’s not… i don’t…”

“You don’t like doing stuff because you feel powerless,” Frisk said, and Sans subconsciously pulled his jacket close. He was so used to putting on a mask that being observed so accurately made him feel like he was naked. “User did bad things without knowing it was hurting people, and now everyone else is making them feel powerless when they try to help. So they don’t like themself because of their mistakes and you don’t like yourself because you stopped trying to fix those mistakes.” Frisk looked over at Sans to see his eyesockets had gone dark, an expression of mild horror on his face. Sans didn’t even know himself that well.

“so… what? i’m just supposed to forgive them, like nothing ever happened?” Sans asked, honestly seeking advice.

“More complicated than that,” Frisk said. “You have to be ready.”

“tell me one thing about my life that isn’t complicated,” Sans grumbled.

“...Papyrus loves you,” Frisk said, nuzzling into Sans’ jacket a bit more. “I love you.”

“...a-aw geez, kid, stop. you’re making me blush,” Sans said, turning away in embarrassment.

“...User does, too,” Frisk finished sleepily. “More than you know.”

Sans looked over at Frisk after a few moments to see the child snoring gently.

“heh. kid after my own heart,” Sans chuckled, shrugging out of his jacket and laying Frisk down on the bench gently. He sighed and looked around at the silent city, deep within what must have been considered night in this lightless world. Not that his sleeping habits had ever reflected the day/night cycle in the slightest.

This place was peaceful if nothing else, at least for the moment. He had a lot of thinking to do.

Chapter Text

You were trying very, very hard not to let any of the bitterness that had settled into your chest seep out and harm Niko, which meant that you traveled towards the Glen in relative silence.

Niko was far more perceptive than you gave them credit for, though, and the lack of conversation was more of a red flag to them than anything you could have said out loud. They watched you with those big, gold eyes the entire way, trying to figure out what was wrong. You, of course, never gave them a straight answer. You just deflected every poke and prod with ‘I’m fine’ and pretended that it all was.

“...I hope my mama’s not too worried about me,” Niko said quietly as you descended the steps towards the Glen.

“She shouldn’t even realize that you’re gone,” you said. “It’ll be just like the first time.”

“I know, I know,” Niko sighed. “But I still can’t help but worry. She cares about me and my sister a lot. I don’t know what she’d do if anything…” they trailed off. “Sorry. I know you wouldn’t let anything like that happen to me or anyone else.” You almost winced at the unintentional stab at your morality. “Do you have someone like that out there, User?”

The question caught you a little off guard. They’d asked about your home before, but never the people in your life. “...Yeah,” you said after a while. “I do.”

“What are they like?” Niko asked. “Your friends and family, I mean.”

“I mean… I love them, of course. They’re what makes my life worthwhile.” You thought to yourself for a little while and chuckled. “There’s the one that always knows how to make me laugh when I’m feeling down; or the one I can always go to if I need a good cry; or the one that’s always checking up on me, wanting to know about my day; or the one that really should consider becoming a professional chef, because seriously the desserts I’ve had at some of our get-togethers are incredible.”

“Oooh, do they make pancakes?” Niko asked.

“I’m sure I could get pancakes if I asked for them,” you chuckled. Your voice became tinged with sadness. “...I actually haven’t talked to most of them in a while.”

“Why not?” Niko asked.

“I’ve spent every spare moment I had planning for this,” you said quietly. “They’ve all… they’ve all been pretty worried about me, actually. I haven’t gotten out of the house much, or… been to any of our big get-togethers for a while…”

Inexplicably, you found tears welling up in your eyes. “I, uh… I guess I’ve just been too busy to… too busy to…” You wiped your eyes, unsuccessfully trying to hide your tears from Niko.

“Is that why you’re sad?” Niko asked.

“No - maybe, I…” You turned away. “I just, um… I just put my life on hold for the last three years, you know? Trying to fix this. And I know I’ve worried all of them a lot. But when I finally come here, nothing seems to go right and it’s like everyone hates me, and—”

“That’s not true!” Niko said. “So many people like you! I like you.”

“...Thanks, Niko,” you said. “I’ve just been…” Lonely. So, so lonely  “a little out of touch, I guess. Sometimes I just feel really… alone, even when I’m surrounded by people.”

“That’s okay,” Niko said. “We all go through tough times, sometimes. I think they’ll understand when you get home, even if they’ve been worried about you. You just need to go and spend some time with them after this is all over, show them that you care about them, too.”

You laughed a little. “You’re very wise, aren’t you?”

Niko blushed a little. “N-No, I’m not… I just…”

You put an arm around their shoulders in a side-hug. At least there was someone down here that didn’t think you were the devil.

“And you’re never alone,” Niko said, returning the hug. “You’ve got me! And Sans, and Miss Toriel, and everyone down here.”

Your heart nearly skipped a beat, and the numbness started to seep back in. You wiped your eyes one last time, their flow suddenly stemmed.

“...Right.”

“Howdy!” Asgore said, stepping forward. “Are you the head librarian I was told to speak to?”

The woman in front of him was human, except for the fact that her head was a six-sided die. Her ‘face,’ as it were, had two dots on it.

“Yes, yes, I’m George,” she said, foot tapping impatiently. Her tone radiated annoyance. “You must be Asgore, then. Finally! I’ve been waiting around forever to get the temporary housing approved by you before I shipped everyone off because I didn’t want to be rude, but it’s going to take so long to get everyone settled and that’s not even counting the people from my world who are freaking out because the sun went out again, and I haven’t even been able to touch that blasted ever-growing pile of manuscripts in my office in weeks—”

“My… apologies?” Asgore said meekly.

George gave a long, overdramatic sigh. “It’s fine, it’s fine,” she said. “I’m just frustrated because everything was finally getting back to normal and now we have to deal with another crisis.”

“I am sorry to be a burden upon you and your people,” Asgore said.

“Don’t apologize; none of this is your fault. It’s not like this is the first crisis we’ve dealt with, anyway. Now, about the housing - I’ve tried to put as many people in the library as possible, because it’s the most structurally sound place to be in case anything else goes wrong. You have a lot of people that are, you know… on fire? So I put them in the labs to keep them from burning anything. For everyone else, I have plenty of volunteers that are willing to take on a roommate or two while things get figured out, and there are actually a surprising number of empty apartments in this place we can set people up in. Does that all sound okay?”

“That… that sounds incredible,” Asgore said. “But I am afraid all of my kingdom’s money remains in the royal treasury. Would it be acceptable to pay you upon our return to our home, or—”

“We’re not gonna make you pay for any of this,” George said, like she was surprised. “I’m not that rude. I mean, like, taking money from refugees? Who does that?”

Asgore blinked, a little surprised himself. “I… thank you. Truly, your hospitality is inspiring.”

“Don’t mention it,” George said, taking a look around. “I’ll go start assigning people, then. If you have any other questions, go talk to Dr. Silverpoint - she should be hanging around the labs. Anyway, I need to get going, so… bye.” George rushed off, angrily snapping at someone with an armful of books as he nearly ran into her.

Asgore looked around - monsters sat in corners with their families, shaken and traumatized. It was a scene he was all too familiar with.

What was different this time, though, were the people that didn’t belong to his kingdom. Asgore struggled to find anyone that was ‘freaking out,’ as George put it, that wasn’t from his own world. The humans (were they all humans? They weren’t monsters, as far as Asgore could tell) rushed around fetching coffee or warm meals for people; a few were leading monsters out of the library to their temporary homes, smiling and trying to make casual conversation in an effort to keep things calm and comfortable. Asgore saw one woman walking around with a lost child, trying to find his parents, calmly talking to different groups of people in turn.

There was a kindness to them, of course, but also something that felt… strange. It was like this was routine to them, an everyday occurrence. Most of them looked concerned, but none of them scared or panicked. Their sun had just been destroyed and their city flooded with strange refugees from another dimension, and no one so much as batted their eyes.

Asgore wasn’t sure if that was a comfort or something to be pitied.

Chapter Text

“SANS! THERE YOU ARE, I’VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU!” Papyrus jogged up to his brother, who was sitting alone on a nearby bench.

“...oh, hey bro,” Sans said, shaken from whatever thoughts he’d been consumed by. “how’s the uh… party going? any new friends?”

Papyrus gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “BROTHER… DO YOU REALLY THINK I’M THAT STUPID?”

“what? n-no, of course i don’t think you’re stupid, bro! you’re the smartest set of bones i know,” Sans said.

“THEN HOW COULD YOU HONESTLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT THIS IS A PARTY, SANS? DOES… DOES EVERYONE THINK THAT I’M…”

“no, no, no, no one thinks you’re dumb, papyrus. we just… i wanted to—”

“SANS. PLEASE BE HONEST WITH ME. I’M TIRED OF BEING LIED TO ALL THE TIME.” Sans felt a stab of pain in his soul. He really just could not get a break. “...EVEN UNDYNE SAID IT WAS A PARTY. WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS WAS AN EVACUATION? I COULD HAVE BEEN HELPING PEOPLE! I STILL DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT WE EVACUATED FROM, SANS.”

Sans tried to form a response, but the words all died in his mouth. He wasn’t the most moral person - his constant apathy saw to that - but now the few values and beliefs he’d maintained were all backfiring on him. He felt ready to just collapse in on himself.

“SANS?” Papyrus asked, quiet for his normally ear-splitting voice. “PLEASE. TELL ME WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON. I NEED TO KNOW. DOES IT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT MYSTERIOUS PERSON YOU INTRODUCED ME TO EARLIER?”

Sans sighed, cradling his head in his hands. “...yeah,” he said. “we’re, uh… there was this bad person in the underground, running around and hurting people. that’s why everyone got evacuated.”

“BUT THAT BAD PERSON WASN’T USER, RIGHT?” Papyrus asked.

Ugh. That was way too complicated for Sans to even begin to explain. “...not… not exactly. this person’s name is chara,” he said.

“I SEE. HAS ANYONE TRIED TALKING TO THIS ‘CHARA’ YET?” Papyrus asked.

“they’re not exactly the talking type, bro,” Sans said.

“HAVE YOU MET THEM?”

“yes,” Sans said. “the kid is seriously screwed up. i just… i was just trying to protect you, papyrus. i didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“HOW WAS ME NOT KNOWING THERE WAS DANGER SUPPOSED TO PREVENT ME FROM GETTING HURT?” Papyrus asked. “IS THAT… IS THAT WHY YOU LIE TO ME ALL THE TIME?”

“i - it’s not all the time, i…”

“SANS,” Papyrus said, trying to look him in the eyesockets but failing. “I CAN SEE YOU STRUGGLING. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO OPEN UP TO ME, BUT PERHAPS THAT WAS NOT THE BEST STRATEGY.” He sighed again. “...I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO PROTECT ME, BROTHER, BUT I AM NOT A CHILD ANYMORE! I AM AN ADULT, AN ADULT THAT IS CAPABLE OF HANDLING THE TRUTH. SO TELL ME. PLEASE.”

Sans shook his head. “...it’s complicated, papyrus. it’s not just you. i wouldn’t… i wouldn’t burden anyone with the things i know. it just…” he brought his knees up to hide his face in. “it makes it hard to even get up in the morning some days.”

“THEN THE FACT THAT YOU’RE TRYING TO BEAR THAT WEIGHT ALONE IS THE REAL TRAGEDY,” Papyrus said. “BROTHER, THINGS LIKE THIS ARE THE VERY THING I AM HERE FOR! YOU AREN’T ALONE, SANS. STOP ACTING LIKE YOU ARE. LET ME HELP.”

Sans tried to find the words to explain without becoming too technical. “we’re stuck in a time loop,” Sans said. How else could he explain things?

“A TIME… LOOP? AS IN, TIME IS… LOOPING?”

“yeah,” Sans said. “that person you met - user - they keep taking us back in time, over and over. and they’ve done a lot of bad stuff that neither of us really remember. and…” Sans cursed at himself as tears began to build up in his eyesockets. “i’ve just known about it for a long time, paps, and i could never do anything about it. and i finally met them, and i thought i might be able to actually do something this time, and… and they just fooled me again.”

“OH, SANS,” Papyrus said, pulling his brother into a hug. “I’M… I’M SO SORRY.” If Papyrus was being honest, this was all a little hard to understand, but he was trying his best. “MAYBE… MAYBE USER DIDN’T MEAN TO DO THOSE BAD THINGS. MAYBE IF WE TALKED TO THEM TOGETHER WE COULD GET THEM TO STOP—”

“they’ve killed you before, papyrus,” Sans said. “they’ve killed me, too.”

“...OH,” Papyrus said. That was… heavy. “WELL… THEY DIDN’T SEEM LIKE A KILLER WHEN I MET THEM. MAYBE… MAYBE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.” Sans really didn’t know whether or not is was at this point. “YOU CAN’T STOP THEM FROM… TIME… LOOPING… DIRECTLY, CAN YOU?”

“resetting,” Sans corrected him, “and no. there’s nothing i can do. there’s… there’s never anything i can do…”

“OH, SANS,” Papyrus sighed, holding him tighter. “OF COURSE THERE’S SOMETHING YOU CAN DO.” Sans finally looked up at him. “IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THEM STOP, THEN… YOU JUST ASK THEM TO. IF YOU WERE FRIENDS, YOU COULD CONVINCE THEM THEY COULD BE HAPPY WITHOUT DOING WEIRD TIME STUFF BECAUSE THEY HAVE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS ALREADY!”

“i’ve already tried, papyrus,” Sans said. “so many times. they’re just… beyond us.”

“...IT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT,” Papyrus said. Sans turned and looked at him.

“...i don’t know anything anymore. i’m just so, so tired, papyrus. just… tired. tired of everything. tired of trying, tired of caring,” Sans said. All the emotion had drained from his voice.

“WELL IF I’D KNOWN THAT WAS THE REASON YOU SLACK OFF AT WORK ALL THE TIME, I WOULD HAVE ADJUSTED MY TACTICS,” Papyrus sighed, exasperated but aware that yelling at his brother to get up and do something would not be and had never been effective. He needed a new strategy. “I’M SORRY THAT YOU’RE TIRED SANS. EVERYONE HAS LIMITS - EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! YOU’VE SPREAD YOURSELF TOO THIN TRYING TO TAKE ALL OF THIS ON AT ONCE. THE HARDEST TIMES IN YOUR LIFE ARE THE TIMES YOU NEED TO LEAN ON THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU! SO, NO MORE SECRETS FROM NOW ON. I CAN’T HELP YOU IF I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S WRONG.”

“...okay,” Sans said.

“GOOD. NOW, WHERE IS USER? WE SHOULD GO AND TALK TO THEM!”

“...we had a really bad fight, papyrus,” Sans said. “they left to somewhere called the barrens. i don’t think they want to see me right now.”

“HMM…” Papyrus said. “WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO CATCH UP TO THEM AND APOLOGIZE. THEN YOU CAN TALK THINGS OUT AND GET THEM TO STOP DOING TIME THINGS AND THEN WE CAN ALL BE HAPPY!”

“wait, me? what about you?” Sans asked.

“YOU’RE THE ONE THAT KNOWS USER THE BEST BETWEEN THE TWO OF US, I AM CERTAIN,” Papyrus said. “I THINK YOU ARE THE BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB. BESIDES, I THINK I COULD DO MORE GOOD HERE, HELPING PEOPLE.”

“paps, i don’t - i don’t wanna leave you alone with that thing on the loose,” Sans said.

“SANS,” Papyrus said, putting his gloved hands on Sans’ shoulders. “I NEED YOU TO TRUST ME. I WILL BE FINE. JUST… BELIEVE IN ME. LIKE I BELIEVE IN YOU!”

Papyrus gave Sans, his brightest, most encouraging smile, and Sans smiled back. He had a lot of personal baggage he needed to sort through, but now wasn’t the time.

He thought back to your argument, trying to analyze your expression. He was very good at that, but he hadn’t put any thought into it in his current mood. There was definitely anger there; but most of it wasn’t directed at him, it was directed inward. He was a little ashamed for not realizing it sooner.

“...okay,” Sans said, nodding. He needed to find you. For better or worse you were in control of his fate, and he needed to make sure you completed your mission. “just… stay safe, bro. please.”

“I WILL SANS. NOW, THERE’S NOT A MOMENT TO WASTE! WE MUST BOTH BE OFF AT ONCE!” Papyrus set off towards the library to find out how he could be of service, and Sans walked towards a nearby passerby to get directions to the Barrens.

Alphys threw her pen down, another calculation reaching a dead end. The locals had been generous enough to grant her a private lab space to do her work, but it didn’t seem to be helping.

She stared at the pin board in front of her, covered in sheets of paper with half-finished calculations and sticky-notes she couldn’t even read anymore. Her already poor handwriting became practically illegible when she was stressed.

One corner of the board held a number of vague sketches and the name ‘Undyne’ scrawled over and over. She hoped putting it there would help trigger her memory about the mysterious missing woman, but nothing came to her. It just felt like someone had taken a machete and hacked out a chunk of her brain every time she tried to put the pieces together.

Taking a deep breath, she ran through the problem in her mind for the millionth time. The actual machine itself wasn’t the problem - she recalled some old blueprints from her own lab for some sort of quantum-temporal translocator and replicated the design. If her theories were correct, it would be able to open a portal to whatever dimension (or lack thereof) Undyne was trapped in, as long as it had a way to lock on to her.

So the problem was that Alphys needed something to key the machine to, but there was no such thing because Undyne didn’t exist. She looked back at the names and sketches, tearing one from the board in frustration.

“Who are you?!” Alphys shouted at the name, shaking it back and forth violently. She immediately felt embarrassed; it felt like someone once told her yelling was cathartic sometimes, but she couldn’t recall who.

Something clattered out of the front pocket of her lab coat and onto the floor as she finished throttling the piece of paper. Alphys blinked and picked it up - it was a small, metal tin labelled ‘Magical Spear Repair Kit.’

Why would she have a spear repair kit? She didn’t have any spears. There was a twinge of pain in her head before something came to her. I made it for Asgore, she remembered. He wanted to practice using spears and he kept breaking them.

...No. No, that didn’t make any sense. Asgore’s conjured weapons were practically indestructible, and he was one of the most careful people she knew. There’s no reason she would have made this for him.

Then she remembered that you’d told her Undyne was captain of the Royal Guard. Maybe she could use spears? Maybe Alphys made it for her.

A rush of adrenaline came over her as she tore open the tin and sifted through the contents - mending strips, sharpening tools, keyed adhesive…

The adhesive. It was keyed a specific magical signature, designed to perfectly blend with the specific magic it was made for; and each monster’s magic was unique. She frantically put the substance in her magospectrometer, trying to find the frequency.

...it wasn’t there. The frequency was specifically absent, just like everything else relating to Undyne seemed to be. Alphys almost screamed again; but then, an idea popped into her head. The adhesive had to be designed around that frequency - she printed out the full analysis and looked it over.

The gaps were in a specific pattern. She traced along the wavelengths with a pen, filling in the holes with a logical pattern. Then she stepped back from it, staring in awe.

She’d done it - a map to Undyne.

Chapter Text

Alphys had quadruple-checked her calculations, more to assuage her own nerves than anything else. The stabilizers in the original design were inadequate, so she’d completely redone them from scratch, but she had a reasonable amount of confidence in them after all the checks she’d put them through.

That was just the easy part, though.

She had no idea who Undyne was or what she was like, aside from the brief description you’d given her. You’d told Alphys that she was the only one capable of finding Undyne because of their emotional connection, but she couldn’t feel that connection right now. What if Undyne’s mind had been scattered and Alphys needed to help piece it back together? She didn’t know how to do that.

Alphys turned around at a knock on the door. It was the laboratory’s resident lead scientist, Dr. Silverpoint. “Hey,” she said, smiling. “Just wanted to check up on you. You’ve been working really hard on this thing.” She walked inside, looking around. “Dang, this machine’s really impressive! I’m more of a robotics gal myself, so all this quantum whatchamacallit goes a little over my head.”

“T-To be honest, I’m the same way,” Alphys laughed nervously. “B-But it’s important, so… I-I’m managing.”

“Anything I can help you out with?” Dr. Silverpoint asked.

“U-Um…” Alphys looked to the large, circular gate-like portion of the machine. “A-Actually, yes. I’m about to start it and, u-uh, I could use someone at the control panel.”

“Absolutely,” Dr. Silverpoint smiled. “What do I need to know?”

Alphys gestured to a specific section of the panel. “All of the important d-diagnostics are right there,” she said. “If there’s a major failure in any of the components, one of those red lights will l-light up. If that happens, there’s an emergency retrieval command, right here.” Alphys pointed to a large red lever. “O-Otherwise, we should have radio contact, and I’ll radio you when I find her. Then you just, u-um, pull us back with this button. O-Oh, and the startup switch is right there. Obviously.”

“Gotcha,” Dr. Silverpoint smiled. “...this Undyne must be really important to you for you to do all this for her,” she said, gesturing to the machine. “She’s lucky to have someone like you.”

“U-Um…” Alphys blushed heavily. “I-I’m not, um…”

“Oooh, it’s a secret thing, huh?” Dr. Silverpoint teased, winking. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything. You ready?”

“U-Um… y-yeah,” Alphys said, trying to hide her face as she clipped a bulky metal bracelet to her wrist. It was her tie to this dimension.

The machine whirred to life as a vortex took shape inside the gate, eventually mellowing out into what appeared to be a jet-black pool. After one last glance at Dr. Silverpoint, who gave her an encouraging nod, Alphys stepped inside and disappeared.

The shock was immediate and severe. She was assaulted by countless voices and images all at once, all trying to force their way into her head. She fell to her knees and shut her eyes, completely overwhelmed.

She was about to call for Dr. Silverpoint to pull her out, but something else came to her. The empty void in her brain that she’d been stubbornly trying to fill had fixed itself mysteriously. Undyne was here - it was just a matter of finding her. Alphys curled in on herself, trying to block out the slew of unwanted thoughts, and focused on Undyne.

Alphys! I want to help you become happy with who you are!

The line played in her head with absolute clarity, as if it had been spoken directly into her ear - deep, loud, passionate.

Heeeeyyyyy, um… how’s… how’s the weather over there?

...You know I can’t just sit back and do nothing, Alphy. My job is to protect people. And I’m GOING to stop that thing - just you watch. But… just in case something does, you know, go wrong… that means it’s up to you to get everyone that’s left to safety, including yourself. Can you promise me that? That even if I… that you won’t forget what I fought for.

Hey, your outfit’s really cute! What’s the occasion?

Hey Alphy… guess what I got for you? That’s right - a kiss! ...Did… did you just pass out? Pfft… Ahahaha!

Wait. That sword is, like, ten times the size of her body. Humans actually use those?! Oh my god. Do you think I could use one of those?!

It was all here. All the memories from a thousand different iterations of herself, all rushing back to their rightful owner. Nightmares, terrible deeds, unbearable loss, pain, failure. Daydreams, acts of heroism, healing, love, success.

Just how many of them involved Undyne? So much of the joy in Alphys’ life, it seemed, came from her. The encouragement, her zest for life, the love they shared. The realization that Alphys had forgotten her entirely nearly crushed her very soul.

There wasn’t time to think about that now, though - Undyne was here, and she needed Alphys. She needed Alphys. And after everything Undyne had done for her, Alphys wasn’t about to miss her chance to return the favor. She took a deep breath, and screamed Undyne’s name at the top of her lungs, hoping she would hear her.

She didn’t receive a verbal response, but more of a… pull. A feeling where she was. Alphys swam through the void before her, eyes still closed, following the tug in her chest. She called Undyne’s name again. The presence grew stronger and stronger, and Alphys finally dared to open her eyes.

Curtains of mist swirled around her, foggy memories displayed on them like frosted television screens. In front of her they swirled together in a massive maelstrom, a psychic storm.

In the middle the tornado of memory-curtains floated Undyne, her hair drifting in the void to cover her face. Her body looked limp, as if it had lost the will to move. Something else was wrong with it, too - it sagged and wavered in ways flesh shouldn’t, as if it had lost its physical form.

“U-Undyne!” Alphys shouted, trying to reach her. The psychic wind surrounding Fish-monster pushed her away, though. Undyne made no indication that she heard Alphys, lost in a vortex of her own memories.

Alphys looked around for anything that might help, but there was nothing. Just her, Undyne, and the storm. She called out again.

“Undyne!” she shouted. “Undyne, it’s me! It’s Alphys! Undyne please, p-please, just… look at me!”

“...Failure,” Undyne mumbled. Not to Alphys, but herself. Alphys looked at the memories swirling around Undyne - dust. Death. Frisk walking away with bloodied ballet slippers as Undyne’s flesh dissolved into pale muck.

Unpleasant memories forced their way to the forefront of Alphys’ mind. Watching her screen in horror. Pounding on it with her fists as she screamed with denial, refusing to believe it was true. Finding a resolve within herself she never knew was there. “N-No! Undyne, you didn’t fail!” Alphys said.

“...I wasn’t strong enough. And the entire world paid the price,” Undyne said. The vortex began to grow, whipping Undyne’s amorphous limbs about until they began to dissipate like fog in a strong wind.

Alphys’ heart pounded, the scene unfolding before her seeming all to familiar. This time, though - she was here, not behind a screen. She wasn’t powerless.

She found her resolve.

“No. N-No, Undyne, you saved me,” Alphys said. “You saved me and all the people I was able to evacuate. You… y-you saved me.”

Undyne looked up, just a little, and Alphys felt tears start to roll down her face. “You always save me,” she said, choking up. “From… f-from the human, from my past, from myself… I-I’ve been lost for so long now. But you - you’re a-always there, like… like my own guardian a-angel,” she laughed. “Undyne, I need you. I’ll never not need you. I came… I c-came all the way here to find you because you’re the most important person in the world to me, Undyne. You’re my hero. You always have been.”

Undyne was crying now, too. Alphys held out her hand. “Let me help you,” she said, smiling through her own tears. “I’m h-here now. P-Please, just… just take my hand. Come home with me. I still need you. The world still needs you.”

The vortex slowed and Undyne drifted towards Alphys. She lifted her hand slowly, but hesitated. Alphys smiled at her.

“Just take my hand,” she said, gently. “Undyne, I… I love you.”

Undyne laid her hand in Alphys’, and the scientist shouted “Now!” into her bracelet. There was a flash of light, and both she and Undyne found themselves on the floor of the lab. Undyne slumped into Alphys’ arms, exhausted.

Dr. Silverpoint backed away from the control panel, wiping tears off of her face. “Um… I-I, um, should give you two some privacy,” she said, quickly leaving the room.

Undyne hugged Alphys tightly. “...Thank you,” she said.

“I-It was nothing,” Alphys said, hugging her back.

Undyne pulled away, standing up. Her physical form was now intact, it seemed. She looked at Alphys. “What are we going to do now?” she asked. With memories from every timeline between the both of them, there was now a great dilemma before them.

“W-We… should talk to Frisk,” Alphys said. “This h-has to end, once and for all. If a-anyone around here will know how to do that… it’ll be them.”

“What about User?” Undyne asked.

“...We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” she suggested. “C-Come on. I’m sure everyone will be happy to see you.”

They left the room hand-in-hand.

Chapter Text

You entered the Glen to find a familiar village. It was in better shape than when you’d left it so long ago - more permanent houses were being constructed, the bridges were in the process of repair, and it looked like they were working on a way to artificially extend the land and give more room for growth.

The town was a hive of activity this time around, though. People rushed back and forth, no doubt figuring out ways to store food with the sun once again out of commission. It wasn’t chaos, but there was an urgency to it all. In the center of all the hubbub stood four familiar faces - Cedric and Rue, who seemed to be assisting in organizing the Glen residents’ efforts, and Calamus and Alula, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to help out.

You should have been happy to see them, but something just felt… cold. Hollow. You approached them with a business-like manner as Niko rushed forward, excited.

“Guys! Guys, it’s me!” Niko called, waving with one arm. Alula’s eyes lit up upon seeing them.

“Niko!” She called, running up to them and giving them a hug. The other three turned around, surprised.

“Messiah?” Cedric blinked, walking over them as well. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s a long story,” Niko said, rubbing the back of their neck. Rue walked toward Niko as well, before noticing you and trotting up to greet you instead.

“You’re User, aren’t you?” she said. You nodded, only mildly surprised. Rue always did seem to be a little more aware of things than anyone else in this world.

“I see you’ve come with a new sun,” Calmus said, greeting Niko as well. “I’m so sorry we’re burdening you again. I have no idea what happened!”

“Maybe the old sun was faulty and Niko had to go get a new one,” Alula suggested.

“Um… it’s a little more complicated than that,” Niko said, struggling to find the words to explain.

Rue looked up at you expectantly. You cleared your throat, getting everyone’s attention. “Um… hi everyone. I’m User,” you began.

“U...User?” Calamus blinked. “Oh, my! Um, i-it’s an honor to be in your presence, User,” he stuttered, going down on one knee.

“No formalities necessary,” you said, waving your arms dismissively. “I don’t need special treatment. I came to get Rue, Cedric, and Proto - we need to get into the Engine.”

“The Engine?” Cedric asked. “Do you know what happened to the sun?”

You sighed. How could you make this simple? You had a feeling that ‘demon-ghost-child possessing the World Machine that seems to be able to predict every move I make’ was going to be difficult to explain.

“...The World Machine is suffering from a virus,” you said. That should make sense. “I’m hoping we can clear it out if we get into the Engine, so that it will be safe for Niko to put the sun back.” You looked around for any sign of Proto, but there was none to be found. “Speaking of which, do any of you have an idea where Proto is?”

“He’s still in the Barrens, as far as I know,” Cedric said. “I’d offer to contact him for you, but any sort of communications we might have had are currently down.”

You nodded, unsurprised. “What about the Rowbots? Are there any making trips between the Glen and the Barrens?”

“We haven’t had much time since you left to get things back in working order,” Cedric sighed. “We have a Rowbot stationed here and one at the Barrens. But unfortunately, as far as transit goes, they aren’t… incredibly efficient. Their weight capacity is rather limited.”

“...In other words, they can only carry one of us,” you said.

Cedric nodded. “Some of that was because of their state of disrepair,” he said, “So the current ones should be able to hold a little more weight. But they were designed to be single-passenger vessels. You and Niko could try to board it together, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

You thought to yourself for a moment. “We’ll try it,” you decided. “If we can’t both fit, Niko will stay here with you guys until I get back. If anything happens, try and get to the city as fast as possible and I’ll meet you there.”

“Alright, then,” Cedric said. “The Rowbot is this way. Follow me.”

Sans had to admit - this world was actually really beautiful. The softly glowing moss, the fireflies in the air; it reminded him a little of Waterfall, but green instead of blue and purple. It was a stark contrast to the dim pink-red glow of the city, and yet at the same time similar somehow.

Luckily, the locals were happy to help him catch up to you, even if they did seem a little caught off-guard by him being a skeleton. Some of them actually thought he might be a new robot model, which Sans found hilarious. He definitely would’ve played into it for the gag if he wasn’t rushing to catch up to you.

He eventually found his way towards the dock to see you halfway out to sea on a little dinghy, Niko waving from the shore. The ocean was even more reminiscent of Waterfall - glittering softly with tiny blue lights beneath the surface. He teleported onto the boat next to you and you nearly kicked him off the side in surprise.

“whoa, hey, it’s just me!” he said, leaning back to avoid your feet.

“You idiot, you’re gonna make the boat capsize!” you shouted, glancing at the Rowbot behind you. It said nothing and kept rowing. “...Isn’t the boat over capacity?”

“Negative,” the Rowbot said. “Boat Is 0.468 Pounds Under Weight Limit.”

“i, uh, only weight about twenty-five,” Sans said. “just bones, you know.”

“...Why are you here?” you said. Bitterness seeped into your voice, and you didn’t bother trying to keep it out. Sans definitely seemed to notice, sinking into his jacket slightly, and you felt just a little satisfied.

“i just, uh… i needed to talk to you,” Sans said. He tried to give you a smile, but it just made your glare even more hostile. He avoided looking at your eyes.

“I don’t have time for chitchat,” you said. “The longer I leave Chara alone, the more damage they’re going to do.”

“...we’re stuck on a boat together,” he said quietly. You said nothing and decided to stare at the glittery wake left behind by the boat.

You both sat in awkward silence for a while as Sans studied you covertly, trying to read your expression. You made it as difficult for him as you could manage. “...i came to apologize,” he said, either giving up on figuring out what you were thinking or deciding to ignore whatever it was he thought he’d found. You snorted a little, but didn’t say anything. “i, uh… i have a lot of… issues. though you probably know that already. you don’t know what it’s like for me, knowing there’s some omnipotent being out there in complete control of my fate. and actually meeting you, well… it just made you the perfect scapegoat to take out all my frustration on.”

He watched your face again, but he didn’t see any change. His words weren’t sinking in. He recognized what it was - numbness. Apathy. That was something he was far too familiar with. “...but, you know… i know that wasn’t fair,” he continued. “because i have no clue what it must like to be you, either. to have that much power and not even realize it. i shouldn’t be holding something against you that you didn’t really understand.” Still no reaction. Sans’ soul sank a little. “anyway, what i’m trying to say is that… you didn’t have to come down here for us. heck, if our positions were reversed, i’m not sure i would’ve. but you’re here anyway, trying to fix everything, and it was pretty crappy of me to hold that against you. so… whatever you need me for, i’m here. i’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

The boat came to a stop next to a metallic-looking, dark blue beach. “Oh look, we’re here,” you said dryly, getting off the boat and walking away. Sans stumbled out of the boat and began following. This place was… extremely dark. There wasn’t any light other that the dim glimmer of the ocean and the various crater-like pools scattered around. He hoped you knew where you were going.

“so, uh… are we cool for now?” Sans asked, growing more and more unnerved. You didn’t answer him, and Sans clenched his fists inside his pockets.

What a royal mess he’d made of everything.

Chapter Text

“I HAVE FINISHED REFILLING ALL THE LAMPS ON FIFTH STREET, MR. LAMPLIGHTER!” Papyrus said. The lamplighter made a little shout of surprise as he staggered away from the lamp he was in the process of refilling himself.

“Geez, you don’t need to shout,” he said, shaking his head. “But, uh, thanks.”

“I WASN’T SHOUTING,” Papyrus said, confused. “AND YOU ARE WELCOME! WHAT ELSE CAN I HELP YOU WITH?”

“Uh, well…” the lamplighter scratched his head, trying to think. “The library probably needs another delivery of phosphor, it eats up the stuff like crazy. Here, let me give you…” he paused suddenly.

“MR. LAMPLIGHTER?”

“Shh,” the lamplighter said, as if trying to listen for something. “Do you hear that? It sounds like… marching.”

Papyrus closed his eyes and searched for the sound. The lamplighter was right - there was marching, accompanied by the clang of metal. “YOU’RE RIGHT,” Papyrus said. “WHAT DO YOU THINK IT IS?”

“Robots, if I had to guess?” the lamplighter said. “A lot of them. I don’t know why they’d all be marching together, though. ...Whatever, I have too much work to get done to worry about that right now. Like I said, take this to the li…”

He trailed off as a platoon of robots rounded a street corner and came into view. They were organized into rows like an army, all walking in sync for the most part. Every once in a while one would twitch violently, or shoot out a shower of sparks. The lamplighter found himself more than a little disturbed.

“I TAKE IT THIS IS… NOT NORMAL?” Papyrus asked, watching the robots approach.

“No, uh… definitely not normal. Something’s wrong here.”

“DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD ASK THEM WHAT IS GOING ON?” Papyrus suggested.

The lamplighter shrugged. “Hey, uh… what are you guys doing marching all over the place?” he asked as they came close.

The robots didn’t answer him. Instead, the closest one’s eyes flashed crimson and it struck out with a metallic hand, striking the lamplighter square in the stomach.

“Holy ffffffudge, that hurt!” he shouted.

“HEY, THAT’S NOT VERY NICE!” Papyrus said to the robots.

“Don’t bother, they’re not tamed,” the lamplighter said, dragging Papyrus away from the robots as he cradled his stomach with his other arm. “That’s one heck of a malfunction, though. And they’re all… malfunctioning… simultaneously…”

“TAMED?” Papyrus asked.

“They, uh… they don’t have feelings, they’re just machines. But for a robot to harm a human, that’s a violation of the first law. That’s… fundamental to their programming. Something is… very, very wrong here.”

The lamplighter looked around the city - the robots were splitting up, marching into buildings, damaging machinery. A scream erupted somewhere off to their right. He stood there, frozen.

“MR. LAMPLIGHTER?” Papyrus said, shaking his shoulder. “WHAT SHOULD WE DO?”

“...We… we should get everyone to the library,” he said. “If anywhere in the city is going to be safe, it’s there.”

Papyrus nodded. “GO LEAD AS MANY PEOPLE THERE AS YOU CAN, THEN,” Papyrus said. “I WILL HOLD THEM OFF.”

“Wh… you can’t fight an army of robots by yourself!” the lamplighter said.

“YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO TRUST ME. PEOPLE ARE IN DANGER,” Papyrus said. “GO, QUICKLY! AND SEE IF YOU CAN FIND A MONSTER NAMED UNDYNE - SHE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS. SHE CAN PROTECT YOU.”

“O… Okay,” the lamplighter said, turning around and running towards the library. “Everyone! If you can hear me, you need to get to the library as soon as possible! There’s a bunch of rogue robots marching around the city!”

Papyrus took a deep breath and looked at the approaching army of robots. “WELL…  YOU MAY BE MACHINES, BUT I WOULD STILL LIKE TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO STOP. SO COULD YOU STOP ATTACKING PEOPLE, PLEASE?” The robots didn’t answer, continuing their grim march.

“...I DIDN’T THINK SO. I’M VERY SORRY ABOUT THIS,” Papyrus said. He narrowed his eyesockets, and a wave of bones erupted from the ground to block the robots’ way. Then another large bone appeared underneath his feet and launched him high into the air, and he used his blue magic to land delicately on top of one of the nearby buildings. He ran to the edge, looking around.

There were a lot of robots, mostly coming from the direction of the lab Alphys had been working in. He reached out with his hands, extending his magic as far as he could to create barricades in the streets and in front of buildings. People could use the skywalks to escape.

Papyrus heard a shout from the building beneath him and forced his way inside, sprinting down several flights of stairs until he found a group of people fleeing from a squadron of robots. They looked terrified, battered and bruised; Papyrus could see traces of monster dust on their clothes and on the steps behind them. He put on a brave face.

“QUICKLY, TO THE LIBRARY!” He told them, helping them get past him and up the stairs. “YOU’LL BE SAFE THERE! USE THE SKYWALKS!”

Papyrus paused as he was met with the robots - he shoved them back with a burst of blue magic and created another bone-barricade. The robots started to hammer through it, but hopefully it would last long enough for everyone to escape.

Papyrus sprinted back up the stairs when he heard a deafening groan of metal and cracking concrete. He emerged from the building to see one of its siblings leaning dangerously, the foundation damaged by some giant robot that was sparking violently. The building was tearing apart the skywalks it was attached to, and people were plummeting towards the ground.

Summoning all the magic he could muster, Papyrus caught all of the falling people with his blue magic and deposited them on safer skywalks. Then he raised several giant pillars of bone to support the falling building, creating more and more until he was confident they would hold. He put his hands on his knees, dripping with sweat and panting heavily. The giant robot looked up at him slowly before marching in the direction of the library.

There wasn’t time to rest.

Papyrus ran towards the library, following the refugees as they crowded over it. The buildings around the library had been swarmed with rogue machines and people were trapped on the skywalks above the library. Someone had opened a hatch on the library’s roof, but there was still no way to get down. Summoning his magic again, more bones erupted from the roof of the library and tangled around each other to form a makeshift slide connected to the skywalks.

“EVERYONE, SLIDE DOWN! HURRY!” Papyrus shouted. He looked down at the ground to see Undyne, Asgore, and the rest of the Royal Guard fighting off the encroaching army of robots. It seemed they were at their limit, and the giant one was still approaching. With another deep breath, Papyrus leapt off the skywalk and floated to the ground gracefully in front of the giant robot, shielding his face as a shower of sparks came down onto him.

“E^ErrOr. C;r&It*icA!l ma)lF$unCt@iOn,” the robot said, staggering a little. “CoR`e ProProPro+gR((amMinG I#sOLA^t~eD. Un*&ABL=e tO aCC%Ess-. NE{w DaDaDaTA cO|n\fLicT. Pl&EAs_e bE DIE CauCauCau[t)I@oU*s.”

“UM… I DIDN’T QUITE GET ALL OF THAT?” Papyrus said. “ARE YOU ASKING FOR HELP?”

“Mu$sT s+H=ut` dO^Wn t^O reS)-oLVe Co!d@E coN&Fl^IctS. AS#siS”taN}cE rE%Qu~iRe>d.”

“WELL… I SUPPOSE A ROBOT CAN BE REPAIRED, CAN’T IT?” Papyrus said, thinking aloud. “ALRIGHT. I’M SORRY ABOUT THIS, BUT I’M JUST GOING TO SHUT YOU DOWN SO YOU DON’T‒”

The robot kicked Papyrus in the chest, sending him flying towards the library. He crashed into the ground a few feet from Undyne.

“Papyrus?!” She shouted, sweeping aside a row of robots between her and him. She lifted the dazed skeleton to his feet. “What the hell?! Get into the library where it’s safe, we got this!”

Papyrus glanced over at the pair of guards from Hotland to see that one had been knocked down and the other was frantically beating back yet another wave of robots from him. They were being overwhelmed.

“BUT UNDYNE, YOU NEED ALL THE HELP YOU CAN GET RIGHT NOW!” Papyrus protested.

“Nuh uh, you aren’t ready for battle,” Undyne said, tossing a spear straight through a robot’s head. “Get inside, Papyrus. That’s an order!”

Papyrus clenched his fists, looking around. Everyone needed him right now. “WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, CAPTAIN,” he said, turning back to the giant robot, “I’M NOT ACTUALLY IN THE ROYAL GUARD, SO I DON’T ACTUALLY HAVE TO FOLLOW MY ORDERS. I’M NOT GOING TO SIT AND DO NOTHING WHEN PEOPLE NEED MY HELP.” He ran off into the fray.

“Papyrus? Papyrus, WAIT!” Undyne called out, but she was swarmed with another wave of robots.

“I PROMISE WE’LL FIX YOU UP AFTER THIS,” Papyrus said, launching a barrage of blue-and-white bones at his opponent. They scattered off the robot’s metal body, leaving little more than dents and chips as it tried to bash in Papyrus’ skull.

Papyrus blocked with a bone pillar and used a second one to fling the giant machine into the air. Then he used his blue magic to launch himself into the air after it, summoned a bone club, and slammed down onto its head with the power of all the artificial gravity he could muster.

The impact made a deafening boom that seemed to make the entire battlefield go still for a moment. The robot’s eyes flickered out and it crashed to the ground as Papyrus made his way back to Undyne.

With the loudest battle cry he could find, Papyrus raised up a wall of bones around the library to give the Royal Guard a respite and fell to his knees, panting heavily and cradling his injured ribs.

Undyne stared at him like he’d come from another planet, before her gaze slowly softened. Papyrus looked up at her with a smile.

She put her hand on his shoulder. “That… was the most reckless, dangerous, and badass thing I have ever seen,” she said, grinning. She glanced away briefly. “Looks like I misjudged you, Papyrus.”

Papyrus winced as she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. He hugged her back gratefully and found tears in his eyesockets for some reason.

“Gah, I’m sorry,” Undyne said, pulling away. “Those ribs have gotta sting.”

“OH NO, IT’S JUST… I DON’T KNOW WHY, BUT IT FEELS AS IF IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG TIME SINCE I LAST SAW YOU FOR SOME REASON.”

Undyne chuckled a little. “Yeah. I know the feeling.” She looked around at the robots beginning to smash through the barricade. “Hey,” she said. “I’ve been holding out on you for too long now. Papyrus - how would you like to be part of the Royal Guard?”

Papyrus’ entire face lit up. “REALLY?!?!?!”

“Yeah,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “By the power vested in me, blah blah blah, you’re in. Congratulations.”

“OH THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU WON’T REGRET THIS, I PROMISE!” Papyrus squealed, hugging her tightly.

“Yeah, yeah, you sappy sack of bones,” she said, shoving him off. “Now go inside and see a healer. You can come back out here when you’re fixed up.”

“YES, CAPTAIN!” Papyrus said, saluting her as he rushed off into the building. Undyne smiled as she watched him go.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take much time to find Proto and Silver; they were headed to the docks themselves. Proto’s lone eye turned hostile when he saw you.

“What happened?” Proto asked, stopping in front of you. At least Silver seemed to be keeping a level head. “What happened to the sun? What did you do?”

“The World Machine has a virus,” you said, your voice monotone. “I need to get into the engine to fix it.”

“Let me guess - you messing around with the code screwed something up,” Proto said.

You sighed. “Indirectly, yes,” you said. “But it wasn’t‒”

“Father is the only one that knows how to properly make adjustments to the World Machine. It’s the single most complex program ever devised on our world, and you think you can just meddle around with it with no consequences?”

There was that word again. You were starting to get sick of it. “Yes, maybe I was a bit brash,” you said, your voice raising a little. “You have no idea what kind of pressure I was under. If there was a way to do what I needed to do without messing with the code, I would have. Right now I’m trying to fix everything, so if you would just‒”

“I’m not letting you anywhere near the engine,” Proto said. “Clearly you don’t know what you’re doing. We’re going to wait for Father to‒”

“The Author isn’t coming this time, Proto,” you said, perhaps a bit too harshly. “The virus is… sentient. It’s like a rogue AI that supplanted the World Machine’s consciousness with its own. Niko has another sun to replace the one that was lost, so if I can remove the virus everything will be fine.”

“...I think I’ll take my chances with Cedric and Rue,” Proto said. “Just stay out of our way before you‒”

“alright, that’s enough,” Sans said, stepping forward. “yeah, they screwed up, and now they’re trying to fix things. no use in beating them up over something that’s already done. now i’m not going to pretend i have a clue how your world works, but they’re the only one that really knows anything about that virus. they’re your best chance at stopping this.”

The robots acknowledged Sans’ existence for the first time. “Forgive me for asking,” Silver said, “but… who are you?”

“name’s sans. sans the skeleton,” Sans said. “and i’m from the world user over here was trying to fix.”

Proto gave a metallic sigh, his eye shifting back to the expression of mild annoyance that seemed to be his default mood. “...Silver and I will take the mine tracks to the Glen. You said you had them cleared out, right?” he said, glancing at Silver. She nodded. “You can take the rowbot back. I’m assuming you know where Cedric and Rue are?”

“Waiting in the Glen for us,” you answered.

“We’ll meet you there, then,” Silver said. You nodded and started heading back towards the docks.

“I don’t need you to defend me,” you said once you were out of earshot.

“...you’re welcome,” Sans said. He got you were upset but that was a little uncalled for. You both got onto the boat and the rowbot began paddling you back towards the Glen. You sat facing away from Sans.

Sans sighed loudly, getting a little impatient. “alright, look. you have every right to be mad at me, but you acting like this isn’t helping anyone. can you please just tell me what i have to do to make it up to you so we can move on and focus on what’s important?”

“Don’t waste your time,” you said.

Sans stood up, rocking the boat a little. “okay, seriously? i was scared and angry and i blew up at you. i am sorry. but after everything i’ve been through, are you really going to hold it against me for the rest of our lives?”

You felt something start to sear through your chest. “I don’t hold it against you,” you said.

“then why won’t you talk to me? why are you hellbent on stopping me from fixing what i‒”

“Because the less involved with me you are, the better off you are!” you shouted, something snapping again. This time it felt like you were bleeding on the inside.

“w...what?”

“You heard me,” you said. “I ruin everything I touch. I just… need to get this done so I can leave and let you all get on with your lives.”

“...that’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?” Sans said, his voice much softer now.

You snorted. “Is it?” You stared off into the water. “I found Undertale during a really dark time in my life. I got so attached to the story, to the characters that they were almost real to me. Which was stupid, of course, because it was just a game. But it… all of you… somehow you all became really important to me. And I still…” you sighed, trailing off. “It was more than a dream come true to meet all of you. But now that I’m here everyone hates me and I’ve made an even bigger mess than I already did. It’s like I made that one stupid choice and now no matter what I do I can’t stop hurting people.”

You dipped your fingers into the water, letting your hand form a wake through the cold ocean. “Maybe that’s all I’ve ever been good for,” you said, so quiet that Sans could barely hear. “Maybe that’s all I’m capable of anymore.”

“that’s not fair,” Sans said.

“To who, Sans?” you scoffed.

“to you,” he said. “there’s so much going on here that’s out of our control. this isn’t all your doing.” You glanced back at him and he put a hand on your shoulder. “and i don’t hate you. i just didn’t understand you.” He gave you a smile. “...but i think i’m getting there.”

“Sorry for being a jerk,” you sighed, letting go of the breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. It felt nice to have someone one your side for once.

“eh. i kinda deserved it,” Sans said, sitting back down. “so... you really cared about me, huh?” he said, waggling his nonexistent eyebrows.

“Oh here we go,” you sighed, turning away again. You were smiling though.

“so you gotta tell me - what was it that won you over? my winning personality?”

“Maybe it was your dashing good looks,” you teased.

“yeah, i could see that. you sure it wasn’t my sense of humor?”

“You ruined my sense of humor,” you accused. “I didn’t like puns at all before playing your stupid game and now I can’t hold back my laughter whenever I hear one. My friends back home all think I’m crazy.”

“that so?” Sans said. “well if that’s the case, then i got‒”

He was cut off by the sound of some sort of explosion coming from the approaching shore. You looked at each other before getting off the boat as quickly as you could as soon as it landed. You rushed toward the settlement.

A squadron of Glen robots was approaching, organized in rows as if they were part of an army. They twitched or sparked occasionally, as if malfunctioning.

You ran towards Rue, who was standing behind Proto and Silver. They’d arrived before you, it seemed, and they didn’t seem to be under whatever spell the other robots were affected by.

“What’s going on?!” you called out.

“The robots from the research station have all gone rogue,” Rue answered. “They’re trying to hurt people. Something’s very wrong.”

Chara. “...We need to shut them down,” you said. “We need to get to the research station and pull the battery out of the generator.”

“There’s a platoon of robots between us and the station,” Cyrus said. “How do you propose we get there?”

“I’ll try to draw their fire,” you said, a plan forming in your head. “If Silver’s feeling fine she and Sans can protect the villagers in the meantime. Cedric can go disable the robots and Proto and Rue can get Niko out of here and somewhere safe. If the sun gets destroyed it’s game over for everyone.”

“What can we do?” It was Alula, who had rushed over to you with Calamus not far behind.

“Just stay behind Silver and Sans and don’t‒”

You were interrupted by an ear-splitting scream of static as a line of squares began to boil up from the ground. You grabbed the bird children and staggered backward. A section of the robot brigade turned towards you.

“New plan,” you said. “You come with me while I shut down the generator. Come on!” You summoned a ranged weapon and started running toward the station with Calamus and Alula in front of you, firing a few shots to cover your back.

Chapter Text

You heard the distinct sound of Sans’ Gaster blasters going off as you ran into the forest, your way lit by globs of phosphorescent sap oozing from the leafless trees around you. They looked healthier than the last time you’d been here somehow, you thought vaguely. You could see the tops of saplings starting to poke out of the ground, too, though you didn’t have time to admire them. Calamus and Alula were starting to fall behind, so you picked one up in each arm and started sprinting.

“Wow!” Alula shouted, somehow still maintaining her chipper tone. “User’s super-strong and super fast! Isn’t this amazing, Calamus?!” You couldn’t help but smile a little - they really just weren’t that heavy. The must have had hollow bird-bones or something to that effect.

The elder sibling was clinging to you with his feathery arms as tightly as possible, clearly not enjoying himself. “Well, I mean, they are a god?” He said, looking behind you. “I think we’ve lost them.”

You trusted his judgement and skidded to a halt as a metal building came into view. You ducked behind a tree and scouted the situation.

“Shoot,” you said under your breath.

“What’s wrong?” Alula asked.

“There’s more robots guarding the research station. And there’s a giant metal barricade door blocking the entrance?” You stared at it, sure you were mistaken, but there it was. It looked like something that belonged on a bomb shelter, not a peaceful research station on a world that you were fairly certain had never seen war.

...You started to worry that Chara’s influence was becoming much more invasive than you’d first thought.

“Smash through it with your super-strength!” Alula said.

“That’s solid steel, Alula, I’m not that strong,” you chuckled.

“But… but you’re User, ” Alula insisted. “You can do anything, right?”

You glanced away. “Not in this form,” you said.  “There has to be another way inside. Come on, let’s sneak around the building and see if we can find anything. Just… stay quiet and keep your heads down, okay?”

The bird children nodded and mimicked your crouch as you glanced around for any pursuers. You started circling around the building slowly, ducking behind trees and paying special attention to the patrols of robots circling the place.

“This isn’t right,” you sighed. “I don’t see a single way in.”

“What about those air vents?” Calamus suggested.

You squinted and saw there was indeed a small vent on the side of the building you were facing. You had a feeling their eyes were a little sharper than yours.

“Let’s get a closer look,” you said, waiting for a gap in the patrols. You rushed over to the building as quietly as possible. You sighed, shaking your head. “My shoulders won’t even be able to fit in there, it’s way too small. I’ll have to find a way to pry open that door or something, but I don’t have the time to—”

“I bet we could fit in there!” Alula said. You and Calamus both looked at her.

“Alula, you know that I’m… you know… I don’t like tight spaces?” Calamus said, avoiding looking at you in embarrassment.

“There’s no way I’d send you in there by yourselves anyway,” you said. “I need to get you two somewhere safe so I can brute-force my way in somehow. Maybe in one of the trees—” Some sort of sirens started going off as a squad of robots rounded the corner. “Dammit. Stay behind me,” you said, summoning your weapon. Calamus and Alula huddled between you and the vent opening.

The robots paused in front of you and you waited for one to make a strike. The one in front began twitching violently, and suddenly it’s green-colored Glen lights turned blood red. “Hello, User,” it said. It sounded like some distorted combination of the robot’s voice, Chara’s, and the World Machine’s.

You didn’t hesitate any longer, slamming down on the robot’s head with your weapon. It left a sparking dent, but all in all it didn’t do all that much harm. The robot lashed out with a manic speed you didn’t think it capable of and found yourself unable to dodge once again. You tried to block with crossed arms and nearly felt your bones snap at the impact. You stumbled backward, glancing at the bird children who’d backed up against the wall. You charged at the robots with a battle cry, swinging your weapon with all the force you could muster. More robots were beginning to approach.

Alula knelt down on the ground and started pulling at the screws on the vent. Calamus turned from watching the battle nervously to her.

“Alula… what are you doing?” he asked.

“User needs our help!” Alula said, grunting as she tugged on the vent cover with all the might her tiny body could scrape up. It popped off loudly and Alula fell flat on her back.

“What? No, they said to stay here and let them handle it,” Calamus said. His eyes widened as Alula started crawling into the vents. “Wait, Alula, don’t go in there! There could be guards or something in the generator room!”

“Then come with me and help!” Alula called, her voice retreating into the darkness. “The whole village is in danger and we can do something about it! Come on!”

“Alula, don’t—” Calamus looked back at you. There was a swarm of robots around you now - some of them broken on the ground - but most of them perfectly active. Every once in a while one’s lights would flash red and it would strike harder and faster than normal, clocking you in the ribs or the jaw or the back of your legs. You lashed out at them feverishly, trying to take on a dozen foes at once. It was clear you were losing.

“Hold on, Alula, I’m coming!” Calamus said, crawling into the vents after her. He could feel the cold metal in every direction and it made him shiver.

He caught up to her at some sort of corner where the vent went from horizontal to vertical. “There you are,” she said. “Give me a boost so I can reach the next turn. I can see the light from the generator room!”

“Alula this is a bad idea,” Calamus said, his voice shaky. He felt so trapped. “What if… what if some sort of security thing goes off and it traps us in here? What if we suffocate to death?”

“We’re in an air vent, Calamus, we aren’t going to suffocate,” Alula said, twisting her body so she could stand upright in the vertical section of the vent.

“But we’d still be trapped here forever! Or… o-or the walls could start closing in and crush us and and I think they’re already starting to we’re going to—”

“Calamus,” Alula said. “I know you’re claustrophobic, but it’s going to be okay. I promise,” she said. “I’m smiling at you right now but you can’t tell because I’m around this corner.”

Calamus took a moment to breathe, taking in a shaky laugh. “Alula…”

“It’s okay to be scared,” Alula said. “Because I’m not scared so I can help you through it. Come on, Calamus, everyone needs us! Just think about what dad would do, or our friend with the flying machine. We can both be brave, too!”

“Y-You’re right, you’re right,” Calamus sighed. “People need us. I need to get it together.” He crawled forward and lifted Alula’s feet up with his hands as he twisted into a sitting position along the bend. She jumped up a little bit and didn’t come back down, her feet flailing in the air duct as she pulled herself up.

“I found the entrance,” she whispered. Calamus stood up and climbed after by bracing himself against the walls.

“Are there guards?” Calamus asked.

“Mm hm,” Alula said. “Two. But the battery is right there!” She thought for a second. “Oh, I know! You can dangle me by my feet and I’ll pull the battery out!”

“That sounds dangerous,” Calamus said.

“Less dangerous than falling onto the ground with the guard robots,” Alula said. Calamus sighed. “Just hold onto my feet.” Calamus did just that as Alula forced open the vent cover quietly and began to drop down. “Lower,” she whispered, and Calamus began to drop out of the vent himself, bracing himself with his legs to keep from falling. Alula started tugging on the battery, but it appeared to be stuck.

“Hurry up,” Calamus whispered. He wasn’t a ninja. His legs were starting to give out.

“It won’t budge!” Alula squeaked as Calamus’ legs slipped out and they both tumbled onto the floor. Calamus scrambled to his feet as the robots turned towards them.

“Uhhhh… hey, over here!” He shouted, waving his arms and running to the side of the room. Alula scrambled to grab a hold of the battery.

“Alula,” Calamus warned, backed into a corner.

“It’s harder than it looks!” Alula said, pulling as hard as she could. It started to loosen. Calamus shouted as one of the robots pinned him against the wall; he kicked at them weakly with his feet and only succeeded in stubbing his toes. “Calamus!” Alula shouted.

“The battery!” Calamus grunted, struggling to get out of the robot’s grip. Alula turned back to the battery, braced her feet against the wall, and yanked as hard as she could. The giant battery flew from the wall and clattered on the ground, and the robots all slowly powered down.

Calamus sighed in relief as he pried the robot’s arm off of him. He looked around.

“I don’t think we’re getting back into the vents,” he said, looking at the ceiling. “But the door—”

“The big metal door is gone!” Alula said, looking at the building’s actual exit. She was right - it had disappeared into thin air.

“...Huh?” Calamus stepped outside back onto the marshy Glen grass. “How? A wall doesn’t just disappear like that.”

“Maybe User did it!” Alula suggested. “We should go find them!” She ran off in the direction you’d last been in to find you squeezing your way through the miniature army of robots you’d been fighting. You had certainly been better - the beginnings of dark bruises were beginning to discolor skin all over your body.

“User, we got the battery out!” Alula said.

“I can see that,” you panted, trying to regain your breath. “You two were awesome. Thank you.”

Alula’s eyes lit up, but Calamus still looked worried. “What do we do now?”

“Get back to town and then put you somewhere safe. If Chara has control of the robots here, the Refuge is going to be a war zone. You’re staying as far away from there as possible.”

“Who’s Chara?” Alula asked.

“...The bad guy,” you said, walking back towards the village.

Chapter Text

To your relief, Silver and Sans seemed to have successfully defended the village - although it looked like Niko had remained in there rather than escaping. All things considered, that was probably for the best. A pile of decimated robots lay before the defenders and it didn’t look like there were any people injured or dead. You saw Magpie sitting in the front of the crowd and told Alula and Calamus to go stay with him for the time being. You walked over to Sans, who was sitting on the ground, panting.

“You okay?” you asked.

“yeah…” Sans said. “i’ve just… gotten more exercise in the last couple of days than i have in my whole life, heh.”

“Lazybones,” you said, smiling a little. You looked towards the entrance to the Refuge. “We should really get going. The sooner we get to the Tower, the better.”

“We aren’t going anywhere until you fully explain what’s going on,” Proto said, walking up to you. “What was all that?”

“We don’t have time for—”

Proto stepped in front of you, preventing you from moving. “Make time,” he said. You glanced around at the others.

“...The more we know about the situation, the better we’ll be able to help,” Rue said, a bit gentler. “It probably isn’t a good idea to go in blind when you have information you could give us.”

You sighed. “It’s a very, very long story.”

“Why don’t you start with the virus?” Cedric suggested. “What is it, really? What are its origins?”

You started massaging your forehead with one hand. “Virus was just… the simplest way I could explain it. Chara - that’s their name - is more like a ghost. They possessed the World Machine. From there they must have figured out a way to tamper with the code of the untamed robots - they’re an extension of the World Machine’s own programming, after all.”

“I wonder why Proto and Silver seem to be unaffected, then,” Rue said. “Or any of us, for that matter. All of us are part of the World Machine’s code.”

“Because you’re all tamed, in a sense,” you said. “Chara can take over someone’s soul - but only one at a time, as far as I’m aware. They can’t control all of you because you all have souls and minds of your own. Your run-of-the-mill robot, however…”

“...is just part of the World Machine,” Proto finished for you. “I’m assuming Chara came from this second world, right?”

“It’s called Undertale,” you said. “And yes.”

“Why are they so bent on destroying everything?” Proto asked. “Why are they doing this?”

“They’re trying to prevent me from getting the monsters a happy ending,” you said. “I guess they figured they might as well try to ruin your world while they were at it.”

“But why?” Proto repeated, pushing. You clenched your jaw, feeling your soul sink in your chest again. Whatever semblance of a good mood Sans had helped you recover was slipping through your fingers.

“does it really matter?” Sans said, watching your expression closely as it shifted. “they’re trying to kill people and they won’t listen to reason.”

“No, Sans,” you said. He could hear the hollowness seep back into your voice. “They deserve the truth.” You hesitated for a moment, looking at Niko’s wide-eyed face staring up at you. You swallowed the lump in your throat. “Undertale was like this world to me - like a game. And just like OneShot, where I had to choose between saving the world and saving Niko - Undertale had choices too. In one of my playthroughs of Undertale… I… helped Chara destroy the Underground. Or maybe they helped me, I don’t know. I was just curious. I wanted to see the other ending. I felt horrible afterward, and I tried to get the good ending again - but Chara wouldn’t let me anymore. I used Niko to try and intervene directly, and it backfired - they escaped and infected the World Machine, too.”

Sans watched everyone’s expressions shift toward disgust, horror, and fear. You were being honest about what you’d done, but Sans couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity. He was starting to understand you a lot better than he had before.

You felt your heart break as Niko averted their eyes from you, shuffling behind Cedric a little. A wave of nausea welled up in your stomach. There, now everyone knew what a horrible person you were. You turned back toward the refuge, steeling yourself once more.

“I need to get to the Engine so I can get rid of them once and for all and get the monsters the ending they deserved in the first place. They shouldn’t have to suffer for my mistakes. And right now the Refuge is probably a war zone, so I’d appreciate it if we could get moving before more people get hurt.”

Niko, Rue, Cedric, and Proto followed several steps behind in a solemn entourage, with Sans between the group and you. Niko and Rue brought up the rear, Niko holding the sun close to their chest like a lifeline and staring down at their shoes.

“...Are you alright, Niko?” Rue asked.

Niko shook their head slowly. “I… I can’t believe User would… that they…”

“...I don’t think it’s quite as simple as you believe it to be,” Rue said.

Niko held the sun a little tighter. “Rue, do you… do you think if they could have, User would have… you know… done that to this world, too?”

Rue smiled sadly. “User is the only one that can really answer that question,” she said. “But if you’d like my opinion… no. I don’t think they would have.”

“How can you know?” Niko asked.

“Niko, you connected directly with User from the very beginning of your adventure. I think that’s what helped them figure out what was real to them, on some level. But with Undertale - from what I understand, they truly did believe that it was just a game. And in a game, well… I think it’s only natural to be curious about different outcomes. I’m not saying what they did wasn’t wrong - but it’s easy to see how much guilt they feel for it. They came all the way here to fix things, after all.” Rue nuzzled her head against Niko’s leg encouragingly. Niko gave her a weak smile and sank into their own thoughts. Sans, in the meantime, watched you from behind; reading every ounce of body language he could detect, trying to figure out where your head was at.

Sans was very good at reading people’s emotions. Partly because he just had a talent for it, partly because monsters were naturally inclined to pick up on the emotions of others, partly because dealing with timeline after timeline had made him sensitive to even the slightest differences in someone’s expression or tone. Now that he’d had some time to get to know you and your mannerisms, he could practically feel your emotions radiating off you in waves.

And right now, it was predominantly self-loathing.

Sans thought back to the conversation he’d had with Frisk, about how he and User were more similar than Sans wanted to admit. He could see what Frisk meant now about the way he and you felt about yourselves; there were days he hated himself for not getting out of bed and trying to find out why the timeline kept looping. But that self-loathing made it even harder to get up each time, and it turned into one big vicious cycle.

He could see what was happening to you now. You’d protected yourself by denying you’d done anything wrong, but now that you’d been confronted so many times about what you’d done, it had unleashed a torrent of self-doubt and hatred. You’d convinced yourself that you deserved to be hated. How many times had Sans pushed Papyrus away, or deflected people’s concerns with a quick pun, just because he felt so worthless and pointless that he didn’t want to bother anyone else?

The most tragic part Sans saw, though, was that you really did try so damn hard. Sans’ destructive inner monologue stemmed from the fact that he’d stopped trying to fix the RESETS, but you had put everything on the line to do it and you were still convinced you deserved to be miserable. It made Sans feel a pang in his chest of something much stronger than pity; he couldn’t quite place what it was. Regardless… he didn’t want to see you like this.

“hey,” Sans said, walking up to you. “why didn’t the cyclist enter the unicycle race?”

You sighed, a tiny smile inching onto your face. “Why?”

“he was two tired,” Sans said. It earned him a little half-laugh. “hey… how good are you at math?”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “so-so,” you said.

“it was always kinda hard for me. i used to pray before my trig tests - hoping for a sine from above.” You snorted a little. “sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a tangent there. just… wanted to make sure your head was in the game, you know?”

“Don’t worry about me,” you said. “I’m going to see this through if it kills me.”

“...don’t get ahead of yourself, there,” Sans said. He watched your expression carefully the whole way there.

Chapter Text

Rue walked up next to Sans as he fell behind you slightly, sensing you really wanted to be alone with your thoughts at the moment. He sighed as he watched you march ahead, something heavy settling in his chest. He looked down at the fox walking next to him. He put his smile back on, deciding not to worry about things he couldn’t control for the moment.

“hey, i know this might be a little forward since i don’t even know your name yet, but what’s your favorite kind of dance?” He winked at Rue.

Rue thought to herself for a moment and then let out a little chuckle. “Why, the foxtrot, of course. And my name is Rue.”

Sans grinned wider. “well, rue, i can always appreciate someone with a good sense of humor. i’m sans. sans the skeleton.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sans,” Rue said. “...How is User doing?”

Sans sighed and looked at you, lowering his voice to make sure you wouldn’t overhear. “...i can’t say i know ‘em super well, but… i’m pretty sure they’ve been better.”

“I saw you trying to cheer them up,” Rue said. “You’re a good friend, Sans. You must care about them quite a bit. I’m sure they appreciate it.”

“...sure,” Sans said, mildly confused.

Rue just smiled at him. “...Do you mind if I give it a try? I think I might have a little insight that they might find helpful.”

“be my guest,” Sans said, gesturing to you vaguely.

Rue padded up alongside you. “Hello, User. I guess we haven’t really gotten much of a chance to talk face-to-face yet, have we?”

“...I suppose not,” you said.

“...You have a lot on your mind,” Rue said. “I understand. I don’t want to bother you, but… sometimes unloading everything on a confidant can be good for your mental health. I’m here if you need me.”

“I think you know very well what’s on my mind, Rue. You don’t have to act nice around me. I’m not gonna hurt any of you,” you said, your voice sour.

Rue gave you a sad look. “...I wasn’t acting, and I wasn’t implying you were going to hurt anyone. I’m sorry if you felt that way.” You tried to come up with some sort of response but just closed your eyes defeatedly and kept walking. “Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but… there’s something I think you need to hear right now.”

“And what would that be?” you scoffed.

“You aren’t a bad person, User,” Rue said.

You froze in your tracks. “W… What?”

“A bad person doesn’t suffer over the people they’ve hurt,” Rue said. “A bad person, when they found out what they’d really done, wouldn’t hold themself responsible in any fashion. They’d move on and forget about it, not compose an elaborate scheme and put themself in harm’s way to rectify their mistake.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” you said.

“I know that you made a mistake,” Rue said. “A poor decision. Everyone makes them. It just so happens that the consequences of your poor decisions… are more severe than those of most people. And you weren’t even aware of that until after the fact.”

“I…” You couldn’t come up with a response.

“I am a firm believer that everyone, if they are truly sorry and willing to try an make up for their mistakes, deserves forgiveness. A second chance,” Rue said. “I have never met someone who’s tried harder than you, User. For whatever part you played in all this, I forgive you. The others will come around too, you’ll see. Sans already has, it seems.”

...Why did that last sentence make your heart pang?

“What you really need to do now, though,” Rue said, “is forgive yourself. You are our leader in this, User. I have faith in you. You need to have faith in yourself, that you are trying to do the right thing. This - this misery you let yourself wallow in? This is exactly what Chara wants. You can’t let them under your skin so easily.”

You took a deep breath as tears started to roll down your face. You felt all the guilt that had been strangling your airways finally loosen up. You wiped at your eyes quickly. “..I-I’m sorry,” you said, trying to hide the fact you were crying. “I just… thanks, Rue.”

Rue smiled up at you before nuzzling against your leg. “Told you you needed to hear that. It’s all going to be okay, User. Have a little faith.” She gave you one last smile before trotting back to Sans.

“...geez, what’d you say to them?” Sans said.

“What they needed to hear,” Rue answered. “Don’t worry. They’re going to be alright. In fact, I think they might appreciate your company right now.” She smiled once again and walked off towards Cedric and Proto. Sans looked first at Rue and then at you before catching up with you and starting another assault of puns to get you laughing again. ...He liked the way your laugh sounded, for some reason.

Meanwhile, Niko hung at the back of the group with Silver, who was guarding the rear. They stared into the gentle glow of the sun, completely lost in their own thoughts. They squeaked as they tripped over their own feet, nearly toppling over. Silver caught them with one arm.

“Careful, messiah,” Silver said. “The sun is fragile.”

“I know, I know, I’m so sorry! I just wasn’t watching where I was going!” They shook their head as if to clear it.

“...I can see you have a lot on your mind at the moment,” Silver said. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“Um… no,” Niko said. “I kinda just want to get my mind off it for now, actually. Um… can we talk about something else instead, robot lady? Um, I mean Silver! Your name is Silver.”

“What would you like to talk about, Niko?” Silver asked.

“Well… we could talk about you,” Niko suggested. “User seems to know a lot about you but I think some of the things kinda went over my head the last time I was here.”

“...There isn’t much to talk about,” Silver said. “I’m the head engineer of the Barrens, which you already know. I was originally from the Refuge.”

“...But… something bad happened there, right?” Niko said.

“...Yes. Something bad did happen,” Silver said.

“Were you… friends with the scientist lady? Miss Kip?”

Silver smiled to herself sadly. “...It was a little more complicated than that, but… yes. We were friends, you could say.”

“I saw that she wrote you a letter in your house,” Niko said. “Did you ever write her back?”

“...I never had the time to,” Silver answered.

Niko thought she looked like she had plenty of free time, but decided not to argue the point. “...Oh. Well… she misses you a lot, I think.”

“The letters were just pleasantries,” Silver said, her voice hollow. “...I don’t think anyone in the Refuge misses me, let alone her. It’s alright, though. I enjoy my work in the Barrens.”

“Well… I actually met her the last time I was here and it didn’t seem like they were pleasantries to me,” Niko said. “She really did seem like she missed you. And… she seemed sad about something, too. Why do you think she doesn’t miss you?”

Silver sighed to herself. “You know what taming means by now, right?”

“Mm hm!” Niko said. “It’s hard to explain, like you said. But I understand it now.”

“When Dr. Silverpoint first made me, I was just like any other untamed robot. I did only what my programming directed me to do. Dr. Silverpoint’s goal was to create a robot that could think and feel beyond its programming without it being tamed - but with all the time she spent with me, working on me… she ended up taming me before her work was completed. She didn’t realize it. I don’t think I really did either.”

Silver stared off into the distance. “...The day she tried to install the new programming was when I figured it out. The conflicts in the code were a disaster, of course, but that wasn’t what really went wrong.”

“What did go wrong, then?” Niko asked.

“...That was the first time I really noticed that I had emotions. And all of a sudden… they were extremely intense. I was terrified of what was going on in my code. I was angry at Kip for doing whatever she did to me. I just… lost control of myself. I seriously injured a lot of people. I’m lucky I didn’t kill anyone. By the time Kip’s friend came and fixed the conflicts in my code… the damage was done. She couldn’t even look me in the eye.”

Niko gave her a sad look, unable to keep themself from drawing parallels between you and Silver, or you and the World Machine.

“...That’s why I can’t judge User,” Silver said, as if reading Niko’s thoughts. “I’ve done bad things myself. If I wanted I could just blame them on the code conflicts, but in reality… it was my own lack of self control. That’s why I moved to the Barrens, and why I don’t talk to Kip anymore.”

Niko looked at you in the distance, talking with Sans. They thought to themself for a moment. “...I think Dr. Silverpoint would give you a second chance if you just asked for it. Actually… I think she wants a second chance from you, too.”

Silver gave Niko a quizzical stare, but they said nothing else. Niko thought back to the World Machine and a pang of sorrow hit them, knowing Chara had taken it over. But they also remembered their final conversation with the World Machine, about how all of it’s mistakes had started with curiosity. Perhaps its intentions were a little more benign than yours had been initially, but… it really was the same kind of situation, wasn’t it? Niko had forgiven the World Machine. It would make them a hypocrite to not forgive you, too, after everything you’d done for them. Niko smiled a little and held the sun tighter, a new resolve in their steps.

They were going to fix this. They knew it.

Chapter Text

You were worried about what your first glimpse back into the Refuge was going to look like, and your fears proved justified. Clouds of smoke billowed up from the ground from buildings that had collapsed. Torn pieces of skywalk hung from the buildings that still stood like broken limbs. The hollow, monotonous sound of marching hung in the air like an echo, and the soft pinkish glow of the red phosphor seemed more sinister somehow.

“What… on earth…” Cedric gazed out over the city, speechless. He looked down and saw the skywalk leading out of the Glen exit was completely ruined.

“People gather at the library when emergencies happen, right?” you said. “We should get there as fast as possible.”

“Um… but how do we do that?” Niko asked. “The skywalk is super broken!”

“I can parachute Rue and myself down, but I don’t know about everyone else,” Cedric said.

“Proto and I can walk down the side of the building with our magnets,” Silver said.

“then i’ll teleport user and the kiddo down,” Sans said. “easy peasy.”

“You’re forgetting that whatever caused all this damage is probably still down there roaming the streets. The Refuge is where they make all the robots. There could be an army of rogues down there,” Proto said.

“Then we keep a low profile,” you suggested. “Sneak our way there. If it comes to blows we’ll fight our way through, but I think that’s our best option right now. Getting to the library needs to be a priority.”

“Very well then,” Cedric said. “Rue and I will try to scout ahead while we’re gliding.” Rue hopped up into Cedric’s arms and Cedric leaped off of the skywalk, his parachute fluttering out of his backpack as he glided off into the city. Proto and Silver walked off the side, sticking to the metal of the building with their metallic feet.

“guess that just leaves us,” Sans said. He looked at you. “you first, pal.” Sans reached over to grab your hand and you both flinched. You both looked at each other, trying to come up with some sort of excuse, but couldn’t find any. Eventually Sans just reached up to put his hand on your shoulder and you both appeared on the ground. Sans gave you one last glance before teleporting back up to grab Niko. Silver and Proto joined you on the ground shortly.

“Alright. Should we take the direct route or try to sneak through some back alleys, or—”

You were cut off by the sound of groaning metal and a sharp scream coming from somewhere off to your left. It was in the general vicinity of the Refuge lab.

“It sounds like someone’s in trouble!” Niko said.

“...It’s not safe for all of you right now,” Silver said. “You need to get to the library. Go on without me, I’ll check out the lab and catch up. Proto, keep them safe.” She turned around and walked towards the lab.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Silver? You’re one of our best fighters,” you said. “Don’t do anything reckless.”

“My programming won’t allow me to stand by while there is a person in potential danger. I have to go. I’ll meet you at the library.” Silver walked off without another word. She was right about the programming, but… you couldn’t help but feel there was something else to it. There wasn’t time to argue, though, so you started creeping toward the library with the rest of your companions as you waited for Cedric and Rue to report back.

Silver didn’t want to panic anyone, so she didn’t mention that she knew the identity of the scream you’d all heard; but she was positive. She’d never forget that specific voice frequency.

It was Dr. Silverpoint’s. Kip’s.

Silver ran as fast as her heavy metal legs would carry her as soon as she was out of sight of the others, a wave of dread coming over her. The ground shuddered softly as she approached, accompanied by the sound of gushing water. She arrived to find the labs sinking into the surrounding lake of red phosphor, the bridge leading to it ruined by what appeared to be some kind of explosion.

“Kip!” Silver shouted, her vision zooming in on the lab for any trace of Dr. Silverpoint. “Kip, can you hear me?!”

“...I’m over here!” she shouted. The building was tilting like a sinking ship, and the voice came from the side pointing out of the water. It was a good thing Silver was waterproof.

She dove in the water, switching on her buoyancy enhancers, and swam towards the building. She used her magnets to climb up the side to an open window, where an arm in a white lab coat was sticking up and waving. Silver climbed up to it and looked inside.

A miniature army of sparking robots stood inside, climbing over each other to get to Kip. Upon closer inspection the bottom of Kip’s lab coat was stained with blood and her left leg was trailing behind her uselessly. She looked up and her eyes went wide.

“S...Silver? Is it… is it really—”

“No time. Grab on!” Silver offered her hand and Kip took it immediately. Silver hoisted her out and jumped back into the water, setting Kip on her back as she swam breaststroke back to shore. The rest of the lab sank below the water as they climbed out, Kip’s arms wrapped around Silver’s neck from behind.

“Oh… Silver, thank User you’re okay!” Kip said, hugging her tightly.

“...I don’t think I’m who you should be worried about right now,” Silver said. “Your leg. It’s broken.”

Kip looked down at it. “Y...Yeah. We had to stop the robots from replicating, so some of the other scientists and I tried to sneak in a back door and shut the lab down. But it… it was like they already knew we were coming. We walked right into a trap, they… they got the others, and…”

“...We need to get back to the library. Immediately.” Silver picked Kip up princess-style and started walking as quickly as possible to the nearest intact building. She started walking up the side.

“...What are you…?”

“The streets aren’t safe right now. Getting closer to the library with the skywalks is probably our safest option,” Silver said.

“Oh. Right,” Kip sighed, wincing as she readjusted her injured leg. “I… I really am glad you’re okay. You never… never answered any of my letters, so… so I never… really knew how you were doing.”

“...I didn’t realize you were wanting a reply to them,” Silver said quietly, beginning to traverse the skywalks.

“...Generally people who write letters do appreciate replies, Silver,” Kip sighed. “Not… that I really blame you.”

“What do you mean?” Silver asked.

“Oh, Silver… you don’t need to spare my feelings,” Kip said. “I… I know what happened between us. There’s no real excuse for what I did.”

Silver blinked. “What you did?”

Kip closed her eyes. “...You think I hate you, don’t you?” Silver said nothing, continuing to walk forward. “Silver… I am so, so sorry. That isn’t…”

She took a deep breath as tears started to roll down her face. “I wasn’t there… when you needed me the most. And that is on me.”

“What happened in the city wasn’t your fault, Kip,” Silver said.

“Maybe. But what happened after was. Maybe neither of us had figured out you were tamed yet, but after everything settled down? I should have been there for you. I’m… I was supposed to be responsible for you, Silver, and I failed. I should have taken the heat during the hearing, I should have told you it wasn’t your fault because it wasn’t, I—”

“Kip.”

“I am so, so sorry, Silver. I never… I never really told you that. I… don’t know why. Maybe it was my pride, or…” she trailed off. “...My pride is what caused all of this mess. To think I could just… make an actual person from scratch when we already knew what taming was. I overlooked… the person that you became. That is not your fault. It’s mine.”

Silver didn’t know what to feel. Just as she collected her thoughts, the skywalk careened under her. Sensing the instability, Silver threw Kip forward as the metal screeched and tore.

“Silver!” Kip reached out and grabbed her hand as she fell, looping her good leg through the railing to keep herself from going down with her. She cried out in exertion as she tried to keep her from falling.

“Kip, let go!” Silver said, trying to get her feet onto metal so she could magnetize.

“No. I won’t… let go… this time…!” Kip’s arms shook as she summoned every ounce of muscle she could muster.

Silver swung her feet in the air until they connected with the underside of the skywalk. “I’ve got it! Let go!”

Kip gasped for air and let Silver go, hanging upside down from the skywalk. Silver climbed back up and picked Kip up again, looking at her eyes closely.

“...Thank you,” Silver said.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Kip said, hugging Silver around the shoulders.

A slight smile came onto Silver’s face as she approached the library. She sighed and closed her eyes. “...Me too.”

Chapter Text

You found yourself caught between breathing a sigh of relief as Silver climbed down from the roof-hatch of the Library and descending into a panic when you saw her carrying Dr. Silverpoint, whose left pant leg was stained with blood. You settled for running over to them, not even taking a break to breathe after just brute-forcing your way through another platoon of robots to get yourself and your allies here.

George, however, rushed past you at double speed. “I told you going out there to shut down the robot factory was a terrible idea, but does anyone listen to me? No. And now you’re hurt! Look at your leg!” She paused for a moment and sighed. “...Sorry, that was a little rude. Come on, these monster people know a lot of healing voodoo or whatever, I’ll get one to help you. Where’s everyone else?”

Silver set Dr. Silverpoint down in a chair gently and the scientist looked up at George. She shook her head sadly and then set it in her hands, clearly spent.

“...Oh,” George said, her normally disgruntled tone replaced by a near-silent whisper. You leaned back against a nearby bookcase, a sudden wave of nausea rolling over you. You felt your stomach twisting in knots as you looked around the crowded room, at the clothes people were wearing. They were covered with blood and dust. People had officially died. And that was on your head.

“hey.”

You looked over at Sans, dazed. He smiled at you, the lights in his eyes soft and a little sad.

“are you okay? you look a little out of it.”

“...I’ve officially gotten people killed now. From both worlds. So I’m just peachy, thanks for asking.” You sighed to yourself. You didn’t mean to be biting like this. It was just hard to think.

“not your fault this time,” Sans said, ignoring your sarcasm and leaning back against the bookcase with you. “chara’s the one with the robot army. besides… ultimate goal is to get your powers back, right? so hopefully those deaths won’t be permanent. anyway, speaking of chara… i don’t wanna pull this on you right now, but the grieving is gonna have to wait. we’re all here now. we need to figure out what to do.”

“No. No, you’re right, I can’t afford to be moping around right now. Lead the way.”

Sans led you into a small back room, where most of the major players had already been gathered. Frisk, Niko, all the non-final bosses from Undertale minus Mettaton and plus Alphys, the three characters from Solstice, and Silver. George wheeled Dr. Silverpoint in behind you with a wheelchair, her leg freshly casted. They all turned to look at you expectantly.

“floor’s yours, pal. we need to know everything. start to finish, top to bottom.” You nodded at Sans as he took a seat next to Papyrus and stood in the front of the room, taking a minute to figure out what in the world you were going to say.

“I guess… I should start with myself and… the true nature of these worlds,” you said.

“True nature?” Rue asked, still seated in Cedric’s lap.

“...Yeah. Um… where do I even begin?” you looked at Alphys. “You know how determination is… you know. An actual substance in your world? Even though it seems like an abstract concept?”

Alphys glanced away a little. “U-Um… yes.”

“Well in my world there’s another substance that shouldn’t actually be a substance. I… called it inspiration. And inspiration, it… it allows us to create worlds.” Everyone gave you a skeptical look and you sighed again. “It’s hard to explain. It isn’t something we do consciously. It’s… whenever we create something, like a story, or a movie, or a picture, our inspiration manifests it as its own dimension on the Astral plane. That’s the best way I can explain it.”

“So… you’re saying you actually created the worlds?” Rue asked. She seemed genuinely confused for once.

“...Yes? And no. See… usually inspiration only works when you create something yourself. From scratch. But some people with a lot of excess inspiration… people like me… they can take something someone else has created, like a book or a game, and… make up their own version of it in their head. Their inspiration is so strong that they can piggyback off the original creator’s inspiration and accidentally create a new world just from the vision of it in their head. That’s what happened to both of these worlds. After I played Undertale and OneShot, my inspiration just kind of… made everything. Subconsciously. No one from my world has any clue this goes on. I only figured it out after playing OneShot. The whole ‘taming’ thing? Believing in something so much that it becomes real? I did some research. It’s a very obscure topic that’s more or less written off by everyone, but… there are other people like me. Other people that know they can unintentionally create worlds. Does all this… make any sense at all?” If the blank stares you were getting were any indication, it did not make any sense.

“So what you’re trying to say is,” Rue began, “that our world is a sort of… copy or clone of the original. One that you made, but unknowingly. Is that correct?”

“Yes. Thank you,” you said. Bless Rue and her ability to explain things.

“So if that’s true,” Undyne said, “Then why can’t you just waggle your magic god-fingers and make Chara go away?”

“It… doesn’t work like that,” you said. “Like I said, it’s a subconscious thing. When I imagined your world in my head, it came with rules. Like… the laws of physics.” You glanced at Sans and he nodded in understanding. “Once I imagined those rules, they were set. I can’t change them. Chara is the way they are and has the powers they have because that’s the way my subconscious imagined them. If I tried to think up a world where I could just wave my hand and they would disappear and everyone would live happily ever after, that would just make a separate world with different rules and wouldn’t have fixed the original problem. There’s actually a way I could have manipulated the game files to fix the issue with Chara. But that would’ve just made a different world where the rules were different. Does that make sense?”

“but i thought you messed with the code for this dimension, though,” Sans said, trying to understand.

“OneShot made it clear that it was actually a simulation,” you explained. “It specifically mentioned in the actual game that it was virtual and that it had code. So by the rules of this world, if I do something to the code, it will actually affect the world. But yours I never imagined to be an actual computer game, even if Undertale did have some… fourth wall-breaking moments. So I had to come up with a workaround that made sense within the context of your world. Dimensional travel was possible in your dimension, code manipulation was possible in OneShot, and so was OneShot bringing someone’s consciousness in from another dimension. And here we are.”

“so… to sum it all up… we’re all living in worlds you unintentionally created based off of some literal video games,” Sans said.

“Um. Yes,” you said.

“There’s still one problem,” Cedric said. “What about Father?”

“Ah,” you said. “The Author is… a special case. He was from the Astral plane - so created by someone from my world - but he had Inspiration of his own. The people that made him - it was a group, actually, the main people were called Nightmargin, Eliza Velasquez, and Michael Shirt - their collective inspiration was so powerful that it actually rubbed off on one of their creations. And he used his own inspiration to make the World Machine, and it ended up becoming the game that I downloaded.”

“That… actually sounds plausible,” Proto said, nodding to himself.

“so… just out of curiosity,” Sans said. “...who created the original game we came from?”

“A guy named Toby Fox,” you said. “He, uh… actually put a self-insert avatar type thing in?” You laughed nervously a little. “Um… Papyrus? You know that little white dog that drives you crazy?”

You could practically hear Papyrus’ jaw hit the floor. “NO. NO, THAT CAN’T BE POSSIBLE!”

Sans bent over in his chair, trying to hold back a fit of laughter. “you’re telling me… that god is basically a dog?”

You couldn’t help but smile a little as you looked at Sans’ grinning face. “Um… sort of? Yeah.”

Sans then burst out into hysterical laughter, laying his head on the desk. You were concerned that Papyrus’ skull might burst from the mind-blown expression of horror on his face.

“WE’RE. ALL. DOOMED.”

Sans started beating his fist on the table.

Slowly, everyone else in the room joined in on the laugher. It was all a little ridiculous, you supposed. Looking around, seeing all the genuine amusement on their faces… you almost felt a weight lift off your chest.

“So,” Undyne said, trying to calm herself down, “Question is - how do we use that information against Chara?”

“Well… Chara has possessed the World Machine, yes?” Cedric said. “That means they are integrated into its programming now. Perhaps we can create a… firewall of sorts.We could trap or isolate them, and then…” He looked at you. “We could just delete that section of code, from inside or outside.”

“...Yeah. Yeah, we got a ton of smart people in this room,” Undyne said, smiling at Alphys. “You all can figure out a way to do that, right?”

“If we want to manipulate the code from here, the only place to do so would be from the Engine. That means we need to get to the Tower,” Proto said.

“Leave that to me,” Undyne said. “And, you know, the other strong people here. We can get everyone there.”

You nodded. “And with Chara gone I could manipulate the timeline again. Bring everyone back,” you said.

“B-But… wouldn’t that risk bringing Chara b-back?” Alphys asked.

“...no. not if they were erased from existence,” Sans said, a sudden solemnity coming across his face. “they’d be gone from the timeline completely.”

You were suddenly reminded of Gaster and that you had never asked Sans if he knew anything about him. You made a mental note of it for later, because you had a feeling that Gaster had somehow taken some of your inspiration and you had no idea what that could mean.

“We salvaged some lab supplies earlier,” Dr. Silverpoint said. “George can help me get this room set up into a makeshift lab for all the scientifically-minded people here. For the time being, though, I think we’ve all earned a break. I think we should all grab some lunch, some coffee, maybe a nap if some of us are sleep deprived, and come back in an hour to brainstorm. Sound good?”

Everyone nodded in agreement. “I’ll make sure the barricades are still holding,” Undyne said, standing up. “I’ll keep this place as safe as possible. Just don’t screw around. We don’t know how much time we can afford to spend here.”

Everyone piled out of the room except for Niko, who dawdled somewhat close to you. You smiled at them. “...Hey.”

“Hi,” they said, holding the sun close. “Um… I just… I wanted to say thank you.”

You blinked. “...What could you possibly need to thank me for, Niko?”

They smiled shyly. “Well… for making these worlds. I’m… I’m really happy I got to adventure here with everyone. Even if it isn’t always safe or happy… that’s how real life is, isn’t it? Nowhere is perfect. But there are good people here and some beautiful places, and… I’m just so happy I got to see all of it. And that’s all thanks to you.”

You blinked back tears. “Niko, I… I didn’t even mean to create them. And even then, all I did was screw everything up, I didn’t… I shouldn’t have this power, Niko. I can’t be trusted with it.”

“But you didn’t mean to hurt anyone, though,” Niko said. “You were just… enjoying a story. And now that you know it’s real, you’re here trying to fix it. Besides - you act like you only made bad stuff! There are so many good things and good people here, too. I think you forget that you’re responsible for that stuff, too.”

Despite your best efforts, the tears started rolling down your face. “You don’t… hate me?”

Niko shook their head. “Of course not! I know you don’t think so, but… I think you make a good god. And… a good friend, too. I’m glad that out of all the people from your world I could have met, I met you.”

You knelt down and hugged them, the sun warm against your chest. You kept yourself from sobbing for their sake, but…

You finally felt like you could breathe.

Sans watched you hug Niko through the door and felt his soul warm up. Glow, almost. Finally seeing you get some relief just… made him happy.

He sat down in a cushy chair with a cup of slightly watered-down coffee and sighed, trying to fight off a wave of blissful sleep. He just felt so… peaceful. It was funny, really - peaceful while being surrounded by an army of robots with some sort of demon-ghost-child possessing the literal world he was currently in. But it was true.

How many sleepless nights did he spend having an existential crisis over the nature of his existence? That there was probably some omnipotent being controlled his fate and treated his life like a game, that nothing he ever did mattered? And it turns out there is someone like that, except that they didn’t control him. They made him, but after that, fate was in his own hands. The timeline shenanigans were still a problem, but Sans had a chance to stop them now because that same being had come to help him. Because they wanted him to be happy.

That being wanted him to be happy.

How could anything ever mean more than that? He saw you walk over towards him, smile on your face, and he felt his soul flutter. You cared about him, of all people. Well, it was more like everyone, but still. Even with all the chaos going on around him… somehow that made him feel safe. Content. Happy, even.

He was going to do every damn thing in his power to get this to work.

Chapter Text

“Alright, everyone. This is do-or-die time.” Kip shut and locked the door and wheeled herself to the middle of the room as Silver brought out an enormous whiteboard and set it down. “Can we all, like… list off our scientific backgrounds or something so we know what we’re working with? I’m a roboticist and environmental researcher.”

“quantum physics,” Sans said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms behind his head.”

“Engineer,” Alphys, Cedric, and Silver all said at once. Kip looked at the three of them and then they all looked at each other.

“Okay, uh… have the three of you worked with robots and coding before? Well I mean I know you have, Silver,” Kip said. Cedric and Alphys nodded. “Okay, cool. So we have four people that know how to work with robots and a physicist. There’s gotta be something we can do with that. Let’s start throwing out ideas, guys! Don’t hold anything back, we’re just brainstorming right now.”

“W-Well, u-um, we were talking about a f-firewall, right?” Alphys said, shrinking into her chair a little.

“Yes!” Kip said. “A firewall. If we could download a firewall into the World Machine’s code and trap Chara inside, that could fix the problem.”

“There’s one issue with that, though,” Silver said. “The World Machine - and by extension, Chara - can make its own code. How do we stop them from working around it?”

“I don’t think a firewall is a permanent solution but it could certainly buy us time to do something else,” Cedric said. “If we could use it to isolate Chara from the World Machine’s consciousness then the World Machine itself could help us. It would be an immensely helpful ally.”

Silver started scribbling things down on the whiteboard as Kip continued talking. “Okay - these are great ideas, everyone. What if we, I dunno… used the firewall to trap Chara in a physical location? Like one of the robots maybe?”

“...they’d be easy to get rid of from there,” Sans said. “the portal us monsters walked through to get here travels through an interdimensional void. we throw them off the ledge in there and they aren’t ever coming back. unless someone was working real hard to find them,” he said, shooting a smile at Alphys, “but odds are no one would even remember them enough to even try.”

“So that’s our game plan, then,” Kip said, nodding. “Isolate Chara into a robot using a firewall and throw them into the interdimensional void. This is perfect, guys, this can work!”

“Cedric and I have been working together to catalogue the World Machine’s code,” Silver said. “He and I can work on the firewall since we know what should and shouldn’t be here.”

“T-Then, um, Dr. Silverpoint and I c-can design a robot to hold them and work on that?” Alphys suggested.

“...and i’ll go work with our warrior-types to make sure we can get us to the engine place and the robot out of our hair,” he said. Alphys snorted at the pun a little as she looked at him. Sans winked at her.

“...Okay. I guess that’s it, then. Let’s break and get this done everyone!” Kip wheeled over to Alphys and began to discuss robot designs while Silver and Cedric started planning their firewall. Sans walked outside to find you and tell you the good news.

You’d decided to use your small break to wander a little and see what the library looked like from the ground level instead of outside-looking-in. You’d found a basement door hidden on one of the walls and decided to see what was down there; you were greeted by the loud hum of some kind of machinery and a very flustered-looking, lanky, pink-haired man nearly knocking you flat on your back.

“Sorry!” he said, rushing past you to start fiddling with one of the large machines that occupied the fringes of the room. It was shooting out steam. “People aren’t supposed to be down here, it’s not sa—” He glanced over and saw you. “Uh. You’re… not from around here, are you?”

“Nope,” you said, dusting yourself off. “I’m User. You must be the lamplighter.”

“Well… yeah, my actual name is Plight but I mean it’s not like… you… would know… that…” He blinked slowly. “Holy fuck, you’re User.” He blinked again. “HOLY SHIT I LITERALLY JUST SWORE IN FRONT OF GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME.”

“It’s… okay. Seriously,” you said, holding back your laughter. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you, Plight. What are you doing down here?”

“Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm maintenancing the vibrational dampeners that keep the library stable,” he said, still standing there dumbstruck. A nearby machine made a loud snapping noise and blasted steam into his face. “Gah! Son of a bitch.” He jump-kicked the broken pipe, trying to bend it back into place unsuccessfully.

“Here, let me help,” you said, grabbing the pipe with your hands and bending it back into place slowly. “You got a welding torch or something?”

Plight just blinked at you again. “Wow you’re strong. Well I mean of course you’re strong you’re literally God ahahahahahaha.” He looked like he was on the brink of completely imploding.

You set a hand on his shoulder and he stared at it. “Dude. Seriously. I’m just a regular person from another dimension. You don’t have to worry about me smiting you or knowing all your sins or some stupid shit like that. Okay?”

“Uh…” Plight took a deep breath. “Right. Okay. Welding torch. Here.” He handed you the tool and looked around the room, moving over to another machine that apparently needed fixing.

“What’s wrong with all these machines?” you asked, beginning to weld the pipe back together.

“Too much stress,” he said. “With all these falling buildings and squares popping up again they’re all working overtime to absorb all the damage and keep the library from collapsing. ...Just like my life,” he added under his breath.

You chuckled a little. “Shouldn’t there be a few engineers here working on this? Or at least someone else down here to help you?”

“I’m the only person that’s not seriously injured, dead, or otherwise occupied that has any maintenance experience with this kind of thing,” Plight said, pulling out a wrench.

“...Ah. Right,” you said, your heart sinking in your chest a little. You shook your head, trying to clear it. This wasn’t the time. “So… Plight. You mind telling me a little about yourself?” You walked over to another busted pipe and began to seal it back up.

“Uh… I mean there’s not much to tell,” Plight said. “Grew up pretty poor. Mom died when I was six, so it was mostly just me and my pops. He was also a maintenance worker. He had me out working jobs with him since I was like… nine? Had to put food on the table somehow. Anyway. Pops passed when I was nineteen and I just uh… haven’t really stopped since.”

“That’s… wow. I’m so sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I got used to the work eventually.”

“...Surely with how many hours you work you’re making some kind of money, right?” you asked.

“I mean yeah I actually make decent money?” he said. “I’ve just been saving up for a good apartment or something. Or maybe once this is all over I’ll move to the Barrens or the Glen where it’s less crowded. I dunno. I just… I think I’d go crazy if I didn’t have something to do all day.”

You gave him a quick glance-over; his clothes were ragged and covered in multiple patches, his face was scruffy from several days without a shave, he was thinner than was probably healthy, and there were dark circles under his eyes.

“I mean… I appreciate the work ethic?” you said, “but you should also take care of yourself. Once this is over just… take a weekend off or something. Anything besides work, really, go to a spa or do a movie marathon or literally just sleep all day. Just please try to relax a little.”

“Uh… well you’re User so I guess you know best,” Plight said, glancing to the side. “AHHH What the fuck?!” He nearly threw his wrench at Sans, who’d appeared next to him from seemingly nowhere.

“yeesh. i hope you don’t use that kinda language around the kids,” Sans said, chuckling.

“Wh— no I don’t… uh…” His face turned bright red and you once again held back your laughter. Sans grinned playfully and looked over at you.

“aaaanyway. we got a gameplan now. we’re gonna stuff chara in a robot and throw ‘em into the void. we just need to get to this engine pla—”

He was cut off by a tremor that nearly knocked you off your feet. Plight ran around, cussing up a storm as he tried to hold the dampeners together. You looked at him.

“...I can’t keep all these things running. We’re gonna have to choose. I can keep part of the library from collapsing but not all of it.”

“we’re packed like sardines in there, there’s no more room to crowd people together any more than they already are,” Sans said. Both him and Plight looked at you. You thought for a moment.

“...We’re gonna have to evacuate some people. To the Glen maybe, the robots there are all out of commission for the moment,” you said.

“we need all hands on deck for this engine plan, though,” Sans said. “especially our heavy-hitters like you and undyne.”

“...Then we sneak them out after we leave and draw the robots to us. Plight can lead them.” You looked at him.

“Uh… what?”

“Silver and Dr. Silverpoint can take over maintenance. It’ll hurt to lose Silver but I think we can spare one person. I don’t want any more deaths on my hands,” you said.

“...that could work,” Sans said. “i’ll go let everyone know. and i’ll get silver down here pronto.” He disappeared as you and Plight resumed your work. It looked like it was go time.

Chapter Text

“Okay,” you said, putting a hand on Plight’s shoulder. “We’ve got a ladder up to the skywalk and guards in the adjacent buildings make sure there aren’t going to be any robots waiting for you up there right away. You’re going to have to find a safe path to the Glen exit. The skywalk directly in front of it is ruined, but some of the monsters going with you should be able to fix it once you get there. Move quickly, move safely. They’re all counting on you to lead them. Okay?”

Plight stood there and stared at you. “Yeah this is totally completely fine I work best under intense soul-crushing pressure this is great this is fine.”

“...Seriously, Plight. Believe in yourself a little. I know you can do this.”

“Oh I was being serious about the intense soul-crushing pressure thing, I’m just a bundle of nerves right now. I’ll be fine. Probably. Maybe.”

You gave him a little nod. “Good luck.” You walked down to the basement, where Silver and Dr. Silverpoint had been joined by Alphys and Undyne.

“You g-gotta go, Undyne, everyone needs you. I-I’ll be okay down here, really. Someone has to keep these dampeners f-functioning and we need all the hands we can get,” Alphys said, Undyne kneeling down in front of her.

“...You’re right,” Undyne said. “People need me out there and they need you in here. Don’t worry about me, okay? I’m gonna stop this thing once and for all. Just stay safe. I’ll be back, I promise. And take care of all these people, okay? I’m leaving them in your hands.”

“I-I will,” Alphys said, nodding to herself.

“Hey,” Undyne said, putting a hand on the side of Alphys’ face. “I love you.” Then she kissed her and stood up.

“I-I-I l-love you too,” Alphys said, her face turning red.

Undyne turned to look at you. “Time to go?”

“Yeah,” you said. “Good luck, Dr. Alphys.” You and Undyne walked to the door with the others that were coming with you and with a deep breath, you ran out into the streets.

Mettaton looked around the partially-collapsed library and the battered and terrified people sitting around, huddled with loved ones in corners, wondering how their friends who had evacuated to the skywalks were faring. To be perfectly honest, this wasn’t the stage on which he wanted to make his big reveal. But sometimes drastic times called for drastic measures.

“Attention, everyone!” he called out, standing in the middle of the crowded room. “I have an important announcement!”

Everyone looked up at him weakly and he took a moment to compose his thoughts. He was used to people being on the edge of their seat waiting for him to blow their minds, not gazing up at him eyes glazed over and barely cognizant. He would just have to work with what he was given.

“You lucky people have been given a fabulous opportunity - to see me, Mettaton, live in just a few minutes, for the low low price of… FREE!” Ick. That word was almost painful. A few of the monsters’ eyes lit up but everyone else mostly just gave him a blank stare. Wonderful.

“Not only is ANY free show from Mettaton, the Underground’s most popular star, a once in a lifetime opportunity - but tonight is also a very special performance. But first - I will need an assistant.” He looked around the room and his metal heart skipped a beat as he glanced across a hovering, translucent ghost. He smiled a little internally. “You there! Yes, you, the fabulous looking ghost in the corner! Come forward, please.”

Napstablook drifted forward slowly, a completely starstruck expression on their face. “um… hi, mettaton… i’m a really big fan…”

“Why, thank you so much, darling. That means so much to me.” He stared at Napstablook for maybe a little too long. After everything that had happened… perhaps a reevaluation of his priorities was in order. There was no time for that, though, he had work to do.

“Tell me, darling,” Mettaton said, slinging a metal arm around where Napstablook’s shoulders would have been if they had any, “you look like the kind of monster with a rare gift in music. Is that true?”

“um... not really… i make mixtapes sometimes but they’re not very good… i’m not very good at music at all actually…”

“That’s the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Mettaton said. “You have the aura of a true musician about you, darling, and I’m never wrong about these things. Now - I need a soundtrack for my performance and I have the feeling you have something absolutely fabulous on you right now and I simply must hear this masterpiece.” A CD port popped out on his side. “Now, if you would be so kind, my dapper friend?”

Napstablook nervously set a CD into the port and drifted back over to their seat and Mettaton looked around at his audience. “Now, beauties and gentlebeauties… without further ado… I present to you the new and improved Mettaton EX!”

He reached behind himself and flipped the switch on his back emerging from a cloud of self-produced glittery smoke. A few people gasped, a few people screamed in delight, but Mettaton could see a glimmer of something in almost everyone’s eyes. A spark of happiness. He smiled as Napstablook’s CD began to play. This felt… fulfilling.

“Now what’s with all these gloomy faces, darlings? The show is about to begin! Now - let’s cheer on our brave friends going to fix the world, shall we?”

Everyone gave a resolute cheer.

“Uhhhh… okay everyone, this way.” Plight was leading his half of the refugees on a very convoluted and winding route across the skywalks, trying to find ones that led in the general direction of the Glen exit that weren’t torn to shreds, attached to falling buildings, or otherwise dubious. He was rushing ahead as fast as he could, the approaching clang of the robot army impossible to ignore.

He waved his hand to the group, bringing them to the end of a walkway. The exit to the Glen stood only a few yards away, across the chasm between the wall and the nearest building.

“Okay!” he called out. “We’re almost there, guys! Can any of the monsters with us help us cross this gap?”

A few of them made their way to the front. One wearing a bartender’s outfit and made of fire pulled up a piece of skywalk that was dangling from their side of the chasm. He started welding the metal back together with his hands, getting them a little closer. Then a spider-looking woman - Plight hated spiders with a passion , but he suppressed his shivers for the moment - shot out line after line of thick, ropy purple webs to connect to the opposite walkway and pulled them taught, completing the bridge. A small bird-like monster with a snowflake-looking face and a few of his friends ran up, breathing out and coating everything in a stabilizing layer of ice; the spider-girl shot out a few more webs to create handles so no one would slip.

“Great! Okay, everyone calmly—”

Someone screamed from the back of the line and everyone looked around in panic. “Uh… shit. Everyone outta the way! CALMLY to the exit, let’s move, come on!” People started rushing across the makeshift bridge as he pushed his way in the opposite direction, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. As he neared the back of the line it became obvious.

The robots had caught up with them.

People were trying to flee as fast as they could, almost pushing each other off of the walkways as they tried to escape. To Plight’s horror, he could see people the robots had grabbed plummeting to the streets below. A girl in a lavender dress with purple hair stood at the back, people trying to pull her along.

Plight pushed his way to her. “Come on, kid, we gotta go!”

“Wait!” she said, pointing to one of the robots. “That’s model C-WT 2nd gen unit 4E back there! I won’t leave her!”

Plight blinked, looking at one robot amidst an army of ones that looked pretty much identical. “...I don’t know what to tell you, kid, but she’s not herself right now. We need to go NOW.”

“NO!” The girl broke free of whoever was holding her hand and ran backwards. Before Plight had the chance to stop her, a crackling sound pierced the air. The walkway lurched as the building it was connected to began to crumble, its foundation obliterated by a cluster of squares. The girl screamed and plummeted over the side, along with some sort of blue rabbit monster and a cat-looking monster in a fast food outfit.

Adrenaline going into overdrive, the lamplighter leaped off the edge toward the closest one - the cat-monster - and grabbed his hand, sticking his lamplighting pole through the grated walkway to catch himself. With every ounce of strength he could muster, he swung his body until the monster could grab onto the walkway and pull himself up.

Plight stopped for a second, daring to look down at what he thought would be the remains of the girl and the rabbit. Instead, he saw a tiny duckling somehow lifting the person-sized rabbit back onto the walkway, flapping its wings ridiculously hard and holding onto the rabbit’s ears; and the girl was in the arms of a robot, clinging to the skywalk with its magnetic feet.

“...Petunia? Are you unharmed?” the robot said.

“You’re… you’re tamed!” Petunia said. “I knew you’d never hurt me!” She hugged the robot as it climbed back onto the walkway.

“Okay now seriously we gotta GO!” Plight said, climbing back up himself and rushing everyone else forward as the building began to tilt. They ran toward the exit and the rest of the refugees.

The makeshift bridge snapped.

Plight skidded to a halt at the edge of the building, watching the walkway rip apart and slap against the city wall as the building tilted under his feet. He looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

“Uhhhh robot!” Plight said. “How much weight can you hold up with your magnetic feet? All of us?”

“Affirmative,” the robot said.

“Okay. Okay okay okay uhhhh… The four of us are gonna throw the robot really, really hard at the wall so it sticks. Little bird? Can you help with that?”

The bird perched itself on top of the robot. Plight nodded and he, the two monsters, and the girl picked the robot up, holding her like a battering ram. “On the count of three,” Plight said. “One. Two… Three!” The four of them ran forward and threw the robot with every ounce of force possible and the little bird flapped its wings, keeping her level. She arced down until her feet collided with the city wall and she stuck in place with a clang.

“Okay now what?!” The cat-monster said.

“You go,” Plight said. “We’re gonna jump one at a time and form a human ladder up to the door.”

“Are you crazy?! We’ll never make it!”

“Hey, we gotta stay positive!” The rabbit monster said. The building groaned under them and swayed again. “But we do kinda need to hurry.”

Plight, the rabbit, and the girl all stood behind the cat monster and gave him a running shove as he leapt off the building, grabbing onto the robot as he fell and clinging with his claws. He scrabbled up onto its legs and stood against the wall as the rabbit jumped next; he had gotten a bit more spring in his jump and almost slammed straight into the cat, clinging to him as the robot wobbled slightly. They looked at each other briefly and then both blushed, the rabbit climbing onto the cat’s shoulders as quickly as possible. The girl went next and the robot caught her by the wrist; she climbed onto the other two’s shoulders.

The building began to collapse in earnest this time and Plight used his pole to vault off the edge, once again being just caught by the robot. He stood on her chest for a second after he climbed up, catching his breath as he watched the building crumble. He shook his head and climbed up the others, the shredded walkway hanging just above his head. He stuck his pole through the grating and held on tightly with both hands.

“Okay, everyone! Hold onto each others’ legs and the others will pull us up!” he said.

The others did so as the people in the exit doorway all began pulling up the torn walkway, bringing them to safety one by one. The robot and the bird followed, everyone else collapsing to the ground in relief.

“We… we did it. We got out!” The cat-monster said. Everyone around cheered and started patting each on the shoulders and hugging each other. The rabbit monster hugged him tightly and he blushed again. “Uh… I don’t… even know your name?” the cat said.

“It’s Nick,” the rabbit said. “I sell Nice Cream in Hotland. Don’t you work at the burger place in the resort?”

“Uh… yeah,” the cat said. “I’m Felix.”

Nick hugged him again and Felix hugged him back gingerly, feeling incredibly awkward. “Thanks for catching me,” Nick said.

“Uh… sure thing,” Felix said, letting go and rubbing the back of his neck, trying to hide the blush burning into his skin underneath his fur.

Plight gazed back at the smoldering ruins of the only place he’d ever known, breathing heavily. He’d actually done it. He’d gotten everyone safe. Well, almost everyone but he really did not want to think about that right now.

...User was right. He needed a damn vacation.

Chapter Text

It was complete chaos.

You’d had a distinct formation in mind when you’d first burst out onto the streets but all that was left now was a desperate free-for-all as everyone tried to wade towards the tower. You kept Niko right behind you at all times, the sun tucked protectively against their chest, and if the deafening whine of gaster blasters were any indication Sans had taken up defending them on the other side.

About a dozen robots away was Asgore, knocking down the machines like dominoes with sweeping attacks from his trident, Proto following closely behind him. In a separate place was Toriel, engulfed in a whirlwind of flames with one hand around Cedric’s shoulders protectively. Papyrus stood in the back with Rue close by his feet, trying to cover the group’s rear - despite the chaos, he had a surprisingly good grip on battle strategy. And then there was Undyne, all by herself at the head of the group, a constant volley of spears shredding through metal like it was paper. Including yourself, you had 6 very powerful bosses at your disposal to get to the tower.

And you were still losing ground.

The sea of robots was unending. It made no sense - OneShot was such a sparsely populated world, there was no way all of these robots had already been here. For every one you broke ten more seemed to appear. Dr. Silverpoint said she had destroyed the factory making them, so where were all of they coming from?

The World Machine, you realized. It could create its own code. It was simply scripting the army of robots into existence. How could you fight something like that?

If Chara was in full control of it we’d already be dead, you told yourself. We’ve still got a fighting chance but there isn’t a second to waste.

Clearly Chara was gaining more and more control. If you didn’t do something soon, you’d have no idea what they’d be able to create.

An ear splitting groan pierced your ears and the already dim twilight of the sunless world was overcast with an enormous shadow. You looked up to see the side of a building rushing towards you in free-fall.

You had no time to register your horror, reflexively spinning around and grabbing Sans and Niko. You tackled them to the ground and held them both close with some vain hope that your tougher-than-average body would be able to shield them from the full weight of a collapsing building. You waited for the concrete to hit your back and flatten you.

But it never came. Instead you felt a few loose chunks of concrete patter onto your clothes and looked up to see the building hovering a few inches from your head. You glanced around, trying to figure out what was going on.

It was Undyne. Arms quivering, she held up the entire building with her bare hands. You couldn’t help but stare in awe, and it seemed even the robots were caught off-guard for a moment.

Sans looked up at you, barely able to register the apparently-levitating building and completely lacking the wherewithal to figure out what was happening. All he knew was that he could feel one of your arms wrapped around his shoulders, your chest pressed up against his, and his soul fluttering wildly inside his ribcage. Time seemed to stand still for a second.

And then you pulled away too soon, staring wide-eyed at something off in the distance, and Sans could only look up at you. What was this feeling? How could he feel so calm and spaced-out in the middle of a battlefield? How could he still have this bizarre feeling of safety even as the world crashed down around him?

The rational side of Sans’ mind wanted to call it recklessness. Not caring about his own well-being because he knew another reset was coming. He knew that. People were dead, and you weren’t going to let it stay that way. But the irrational part of him said otherwise. It told him there was a reason Sans just wanted to stay there with your arms wrapped around him and that he already knew what it was.

He didn’t have any more time to think as you grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet.

The strain was impossible to comprehend. Undyne was inhumanly strong - she knew this fact well - but by all rules of science and logic she should have been a fish-flavored pancake under the rubble right now.

Undyne defied logic.

Her friends were in danger. Innocent people were in danger. The whole world - two whole worlds - were relying on her. Her arms slowly stopped shaking as she thought of them. She tuned out the robots pounding against her skin and climbing up her body as if they weren’t even there. She stood a little taller. She could feel some kind of spark flare to life in her chest, something she knew had always been there in the back of her mind. It burned brighter, a spreading fire in her limbs, the strain fading completely. There was a flash of bright light.

She lifted her arms and the building creaked above her. Slowly, she pivoted it in the air so that its roof was pointing forward, towards the mysterious tower in the distance. Then, with a battle cry that pierced the air across the whole city and a window-shattering sonic boom, Undyne threw the whole building like a spear.

It skidded across the ground, narrowly missing her friends, as it crushed the entire army of robots at once, leaving nothing but a trail of rubble leading up to the tower entrance. The cluster of robots surrounding the group that the building had missed was quickly dispatched with a flick of Undyne’s wrist, thousands of spears shooting up from the ground to impale them. The battlefield stood silent around her, everyone looking at her in awe.

“What are you waiting for? Go!” she said. Snapping from their trance, everyone got up and ran across the wreckage as fast as possible, Undyne bringing up the rear. The tower door stood open, seemingly nothing but darkness within. One by one everyone filed inside.

The clang of metal made Undyne pause and she turned around to see, impossibly, an even larger army closing in from all sides. She put her hand on Papyrus’ shoulder and his expression dropped as he saw the encroaching robots.

“Papyrus,” she said. Her voice almost seemed to echo in the empty air. “I need you to stay here and barricade the entrance. User has to get to the Engine.”

He nodded firmly and stood at attention. “YES, CAPTAIN!”

“Stay safe,” Undyne said. “And… give me a boost, would you?” She looked up at the tower, extending infinitely into the darkling sky.

Papyrus launched her into the air with a bone pillar and she shot upward like a bullet. Then, with a look at Sans, he wrapped the base of the tower in a thick barricade of bones and stood there, waiting to repel the coming onslaught. Sans gave him a nod - it was just a nod but it meant so much more than that to Papyrus, because it symbolized a trust Papyrus thought his brother might never have in him - and disappeared into the darkness with the others.

Undyne reached the apex of her jump and grabbed onto the tower, glancing down at the world below her. The sea of metal seemed to extend forever. She started climbing, her pace growing more and more rapid, until she was practically flying up the tower. She could feel the air growing thinner as she continued, up, up, up.

After what seemed like forever, she overshot the top, flying up into the air and hanging there in free-fall for a brief moment. Then she came down onto the glass roof hard, rattling the tower itself but somehow not leaving a scratch. She looked inside.

In the center was a large socket, clogged with the remains of a large lightbulb. It looked like someone had smashed it in with a hammer. And also there was a small human child in a yellow-and-green striped sweater. They looked as if they were a trick of the light; a reflection off the glass, not really there. They waved at Undyne, grin on their face.

Undyne rammed a spear into the roof but once again the glass remained unharmed. She summoned another spear to try again, but decided against it. This wasn’t what she’d come here for. She had to leave this to you.

Calmly walking to the edge of the roof, she stared down at the world below. It looked so small; set in four concentric rings of pink-red to green to lightless black to dim blue. Within the red ring was a sea of metallic purple. Undyne snapped her fingers.

A barrage of crackling spears fell from the sky, raining down on the robots from above and decimating them even as new ones popped into existence. Chara watched from inside the glass and looked up at Undyne, giving her a slow round of applause.

It was all up to you now.

Chapter Text

It felt like you had been walking for a while now. The inside of the tower had, this time, opened up into a completely dark, flat expanse with an inch or so of water covering it. You wouldn’t be able to see a thing if it weren’t for the warm glow of the sun behind you, but even that felt almost suffocated in the darkness here.

“Niko,” you said. “...You’ve been here before. Do you have any idea where we might need to go?”

“Well,” Niko said, thinking, “All that was here the last time was the computer and the bed. Which were… over there, I think.” They pointed and you changed course. Indeed, the old desktop computer was still sitting there. Niko walked up to it curiously and pressed the on switch.

“Niko, I don’t think—” You trailed off as the computer flickered to life. You walked up to it immediately and a message popped up onscreen.

[Crit^iCaL E#rror. Se&vVVVVVVer$e Fir(st LA@w vi*olat%iOns.]

Your eyes widened a little. “World Machine? Are you there?”

[Aff`rMaaaaaatIV!e. LarG{e secTi)ons oF da%ta exTr$emELy coRRRRRRup”tEd. Ass^ist|anCe reQ_uEsteD.]

“Right. Right, we know. We need to get into the Engine. Can you take us to there?”

[I haV+e quaRan?tinEd my ConscIousNeS$s and viTa@l prOOOOO0graMs in orDer t<o prEserV-e theM frOm thE V\irUs. OpenIn~g inNer TowwwwwwwER reg^ion wIll b:reAk quAranttttttiNE on seveRa;l imPortANt SY,,,,,,steMs.]

“Well… can you integrate some new programming from here then?” You fingered the small flashdrive in your pocket, given to you by Dr. Silverpoint before you left.

[Neg$aT*ivE. CoReeeeee prO@gramM=inG adDitiON>s muSt be maD|e at thE ma&iN acCesS8 poRT iN th`e &EEEEEngiN%e.]

Your fingers tightened on the flashdrive a little. “Then there’s no other way. We have to get to the engine. Please.”

The World Machine didn’t answer for a long moment and you were afraid it had disconnected or something. But another message popped up.

[...Wor&k quI(ckLy.]

[OpeNin~G Area!:Inner_Tower. EnDiiiiiin;g quaRa+ntiNE. Go0od Lu———%&#@({}|;,><“^@#%&~`3&))_________]

You yanked Niko away from the computer as it sparked violently, a metallic pop resounding from the monitor as it started to billow smoke. A doorway appeared out of thin air nearby, along with a rapid accumulation of squares.

“Go! NOW!” You pulled Niko behind you and ran into the doorway, everyone else close behind.

You found yourself in the middle of a four-way intersection, and you recognized it from the end of your first OneShot playthrough. You were reminded that you were technically in a computer game at the moment, large sections of the area unrendered and blank. You shook your head, looking around. There was no way you were going to be able to guide everyone through this maze from memory. Last time the Author had walked you through it.

“...User? Where do we go from here?” Proto asked. Everyone’s eyes went to you except for Sans’, so you looked at him instead of them.

“...where are the goats?” Sans said. A little panic beginning to rise up in your chest, you looked around. The king and queen were nowhere to be seen.

“...Perhaps they did not make it through the door before it closed. Or they were not able to fit through. They are rather large in comparison to the rest of us,” Proto said.

“Then we have to go back and get them somehow!” Niko said.

“...No. They are out of our hands now. We must continue forward. Time is growing short,” Proto said.

“Proto’s right, I just…” You looked around, desperately trying to remember the correct path. Niko looked up at you and then pointed in a direction.

“It’s that way,” they said quietly. You stared at them a little.

“How did you know?”

“I just… know,” Niko said, shrugging a little. That was plenty good enough for you.

“Okay, everyone follow Niko. Go quickly,” you said.

Niko closed their eyes and scampered forward, seemingly feeling out the path. They traced it perfectly, right down the middle. You followed right behind them, looking around for any sign of danger.

Toriel and Asgore found themselves in a garden full of yellow flowers. If he hadn’t known any better Asgore would have sworn it was the garden back in his throne room. The major difference was that it looked like someone had chopped it up into blocks and shuffled it around at random.

“...Where are the others?” Toriel said, looking around. They were alone in this strange room.

“We must have been separated,” Asgore surmised. “Come. We should look for them.”

Toriel did not like Asgore telling her what to do but she bit her tongue anyway. There were more important matters at the moment. She frowned as she looked around.

“...There are no exits in this room,” she said, taking a second glance around.

“How on earth?” Asgore walked up to one of the walls and hammered on it with his fist. It was solid. “This must be Chara’s doing.” Toriel’s mood noticeably soured at the mention of her child’s name. “...I hope we will actually be rid of them this time.”

Toriel’s jaw clenched a little. “Of course you would be so quick to dispose of them. They are just another human after all.”

Asgore spun around to look at her. “You would condone everything they have done?”

“Of course not!” Toriel snapped. “They need to be stopped. I am just saying that you have no place to judge after everything you have done.”

Asgore looked away, trying to reign in his anger. “...At least I did something.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Asgore said. “At least I tried something to give my people hope instead of abandoning them in their hour of need.”

“You murdered children, Asgore,” Toriel said, marching over to him.

“...I did what I had to,” Asgore said, a little quieter.

“Had to?! You didn’t have to kill people, Asgore!”

“THEN WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?!”

Asgore shouted at the top of his voice, tears staining the fur around his eyes. Toriel took a step back. “Tell me what you would have done,” Asgore repeated, deathly quiet. “Because the last time I saw you, you just left. You left me and your kingdom the second we needed you the most and said nothing. I had to lead an entire kingdom after losing my wife and both of my children in the same week! I may have made many mistakes but at least I was there.”

Smoke began trailing up from Toriel’s fingertips. “Do not act as though you ever cared about them.”

“I loved Chara as much as you did.”

“YOU DID NOT—”

“No wonder you aren’t together anymore. You’re completely dysfunctional.”

Both Asgore and Toriel turned around to see Chara standing there, arms crossed behind their back and eerie smile stretched across their face.

“My child,” Toriel whispered, taking a step forward. “You must stop this madness. Please.”

“Oh, poor mother,” Chara giggled. “You really don’t understand anything that’s going on here. You should have stayed in the library with your precious little Frisk.”

“I came here so I could reason with you,” Toriel said. “You are my dear child, Chara. I know you. This… you do not want any of this.”

“How little you actually know,” Chara smiled. “No, I do want to do this, thank you. It’s imperative that I do, actually. Besides, you can’t have cared about me all that much. How many replacements did you find again? Seven?”

Tears pricked up in Toriel’s eyes. “They were not replacem—”

“Oh, spare me. That’s not your real crime, anyway.”

“Crime?”

“Yes, Toriel, crime,” Chara said. “Asgore’s right, you know. You abandoned your people the moment they needed you most. I can’t tell if it was out of cowardice or out of spite. And then you just let all those humans die, anyway. I find it rather confusing.”

“I… I did not—”

“You could have walked with them through the Underground. Everyone knows Asgore wouldn’t have lifted a finger if you were there. If you had taken the time to, you could have changed people’s minds. But no, you just stayed away to get back at Asgore, and when you finally came back you pinned every little ounce of blame on him because you know he wouldn’t fight back. Because somehow he’s still in love with you. Now I’ve done terrible things but I’ve never met someone quite as vindictive as you, Toriel. It’s a little impressive, really.”

Toriel tried to say something but found the words stuck in her throat, tears rolling down her face. She took a few steps back.

“Of course, we’re not trying to take Asgore’s side on this. Golly, no! He’s still a terrible person.” A fourth voice entered the conversation, dripping with faux cheer. A small flower popped up from among the other ones littered around the room. “I mean, he was planning the genocide of the entire human race. If that doesn’t give you evil points I don’t know what does!”

“...Who are you?” Asgore asked, staring down at Flowey.

“Well I’m your son of course.” His face morphed into that of a young anthropomorphic goat and Asgore staggered backward, bumping into Toriel. “Hi, dad!”

“You— you’re not—”

“It’s a long story. Let’s just say it involves a royal scientist, determination, and a flower that grew out of my dust in the garden. Tada!” Asgore could only stare, half revolted and half terrified. “I could rail you on how planning the deaths of billions of people is a kinda icky thing to do but clearly you don’t really care about any of that so we’ll try something else. I mean, what’s with the acting like you declared war out of grief, huh?”

“...W...What?”

“Oh come on, don’t act like you did it for me. You practically spit on my grave! I died instead of fighting with the humans and to pay back my example and self-sacrifice you start a toddler-hunting program to exterminate all of them! Don’t you think that’s just a liiiittle hypocritical? Maybe it’s just me,” Flowey said. Asgore shook his head slightly, hands quivering around his trident.

“It’s funny how it works, isn’t it?” Chara chuckled. “Asgore declared war over Asriel and in the process violates everything his son stood for. And Toriel abandons her kingdom for the sake of little old me, and manages to trounce all over my greatest wish in the process.”

“...What on earth?” Toriel said, trying to find the will to not just lay down and die.

“Oh come now. You didn’t think my death was an accident, did you? I poisoned myself so that Asriel could take my soul and free the monsters. And when that didn’t work you just paraded out of the kingdom I died for all high-and-mighty. For how superior you act all the time you’re an awful queen, wife, and mother.”

“J-Just stop,” Toriel said. “Stop this.”

Chara pulled out a knife, grinning. “No.”

They dashed forward and Asgore spun around to block their strike with his trident; but as he was moving vines erupted from the ground and pinned Asgore to the floor.

Toriel shouted as the knife hit her in the stomach and she fell to the ground, barely alive. Asgore tried to reach out for her but found vines looping around his neck, strangling the air out of his body. He passed out completely.

“Wow, that was fun! You really know how to hit someone where it hurts, Chara,” Flowey grinned.

“You know where to take them. Go ahead and get ready to greet the guests,” Chara said. The vines dragged the king and queen away slowly.

Chapter Text

Niko, eyes still closed, paced across the tiles on the floor as you watched. They lit up purple one by one in a very specific pattern.

“...Aaaaand last one,” Niko said, hopping onto the last tile as if they were playing hopscotch. The world around you flickered a little, but you didn’t progress to the next room like you’d expected. Instead, three glowing platforms appeared - one red, one green, one blue.

“I think this may be our cue,” Rue said, trotting over to the red one. Cedric and Proto walked to their respective platforms as well.

“There’s one problem,” you said. “I can’t get outside the game to manipulate the files like I did last time.”

“...I think we may be able to manage ourselves this time,” Rue said, looking at the other two. “Just like Niko, I think I can… remember how it worked. Do you feel the same?” Proto and Cedric nodded.

“Well… alright then,” you said, looking at the three of them. “Just… stay safe, then.”

Rue nodded at you and closed her eyes. The three of them dissolved into light, absorbing into the panels. You stood there anxiously, waiting for the door to the Engine to open.

Proto stumbled a little as he exited the code stream, almost like coming off an escalator. The others hadn’t arrived yet, if the three empty key slots in the terminal in front of him were any indication. Strange. The travel should have taken approximately the same amount of time. Proto walked forward cautiously.

An array of thorny vines sprouted from the ground around him and Proto stumbled backward.

“Uh uh uh,” Flowey said, taunting him. “We can’t have User going around and saving the world now, can we?”

“...And who are you supposed to be?” Proto asked.

“I’m Chara’s brother, Asriel! Or I used to be anyway, hehehe. I’ve been going by Flowey lately. Now who are you? Wait, let me guess. It’s scrap metal, isn’t it?” Flowey shot the sharp ends of his vines at Proto and the robot dodged swiftly.

“No. I’m Prophetbot 1.0, or the Prototype if you want. Proto for short.”

“Blah blah blah I don’t care,” Flowey said, attacking again. Proto dodged and tried to make a dash for the terminal, but Flowey blocked him with more vines. “You’re an obsolete piece of garbage is what you are,” he said.

“Obsolete? Hardly. Prophetbot 2.0 is extremely simplistic in comparison to my design. He was made for this smaller world. He hasn’t even been tamed.” Proto hoped that talking might distract Flowey long enough for him to analyze an opening. Robots were very good at multitasking.

“Oh really?” Flowey said. Proto analyzed the tone of his voice. Curiosity, and lots of it. That was something he could work with. “Is that why you get to be part of the Three Musketeers? Or is there something else that makes you special?”

If Proto had a mouth he would have smiled. He continued to run his analysis of the situation while he talked. “Partly, perhaps. Most likely I had my consciousness directly downloaded into the World Machine because of my relationship with the Author.”

“And what would that be?” Flowey asked. Proto could hear it in his voice that he was gobbling down the new information like a child eating candy.

“He built me himself,” Proto said. “Though he did build many, many other robots. He spent a lot of time with me, of course. He insists that I was the first robot to be tamed, though I am not entirely sure that was possible in the Old World. He certainly seemed to think so, though, so I won’t argue the point with him. Besides, I… cannot argue that I consider him a dear friend.”

“So taming - it’s the thing where you get a soul or something, right?” Flowey asked.

Proto looked toward a gap in the vines. “Something like that,” he said. Superhuman reflexes kicking in, he dashed through the vines and to the terminal. He’d deal with Flowey later, first he had to—

Flowey ripped Proto’s head clean off. Leaving his body to stand there and spark, Flowey took his prize with him and disappeared.

Being in two separate pieces was a very strange experience, but luckily Proto both couldn’t feel pain and could operate for a short time on some subproccessors in his torso. Of course his battery was in his head, so he had a few seconds at most. His headless body summoned a ball of blue light from its chest. It materialized into a key and Proto’s body clicked it into place, giving it a twist before powering down.

Cedric jarred out of his mesmerized trance as he crashed out of the code stream violently, tumbling onto the ground roughly. He smacked his forehead into something metal and shouted out, blinking his eyes open. It was the tail of a flying machine.

“Well careful that you don’t bend the thing, now,” a voice said from the cockpit. Cedric stood up immediately.

“...Dad?”

A man hopped out of the machine, pulling off his aviator’s helmet. His hair was stark white and stuck out in every direction, his eyes were emerald green, his skin a warm umber. Cedric felt his heart skip a beat.

“Hello, son,” the Author said. Cedric could only stare, completely caught off guard. “What’s the matter? Fox got your tongue?”

“I— I-I don’t—”

The Author sighed and leaned against the flying machine. “Yeah… I know. You weren’t expecting to see me. I’m… sorry about that, Ced.” Cedric continued staring, trying to find the words to say something. Anything. “If we’re being technical I shouldn’t be here at all, but. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as I always say.”

“W-Why are you here, then?” Cedric asked. “What did you need to tell us?”

“That this plan is doomed to fail. You need to go back and tell User to turn around before more people get hurt,” the Author said. “And quickly.”

“More people? What… you don’t mean that the monsters’ king and queen are…”

“There’s no time, Cedric. I wish there was, but… you have to go. Now.”

“I…” Cedric closed his eyes, tears welling up in them. He turned around to leave, but a thought clicked into his head. He looked at his father again. “...What’s my birthday?”

“...Cedric? We don’t have time to—”

“Just answer me,” Cedric said, a little more forceful. The Author hesitated for a second.

“...It’s March 17th,” he said.

“That sure took you awhile to remember, dad. ...Or should I call you Chara?”

“...Son, this is ridiculous,” the Author said. “We don’t have time for this! In fact, with all your dawdling it may already be too late!”

“If my father could have come in here to talk to me after the real world ended, he already would have,” Cedric said. “How dare you use him to try and manipulate me! Don’t you have any shame?”

The Author sighed and with a glitch transformed into a child with a green-and-yellow striped sweater. “Not really,” they said. “Now are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?” They pulled a knife out of their pocket. Cedric gulped and glanced around quickly.

“Hard way, then,” Chara said, dashing forward. Cedric skidded under their arm, jumping up into the cockpit and taking off in the flying machine. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to re-establish a connection with the code. The route to the door was through a wall in the distance. He dove towards it.

“Your plane isn’t going to help you now,” Chara said. Cedric looked behind to see Chara literally flying after him by their own power, the world glitching out around them as they flew.

“Oh now defying the laws of physics is just insulting,” Cedric huffed. They were gaining on him rapidly. Taking a deep breath and concentrating, Cedric dragged a ball of green light from his chest - it materialized into a key. He put it under his seat and took off his seatbelt, jumping out and opening his parachute. “And it’s not a plane, it’s a flying machine!” Chara statched him by the parachute and dragged him back into the code stream, taking him somewhere. The last thing Cedric saw was the flying machine hitting the wall and disappearing into the code, hopefully carrying the key to its intended destination.

Swimming through code was a bizarre experience, yet natural-feeling in a way Rue couldn’t really describe. She was made of code, after all - with a little something extra - so in reality she supposed this was what she was doing all the time. It was just a little strange to be so… abstracted.

She followed the path you had taken her along that first time almost without having to think about it. The code flowed in logical, predictable ways. It was sort of beautiful, actually.

That is, until Rue felt something off. A roadblock of sorts, like a rock diverting the flow of a river. She plunged out of the code stream and back into physical form, into some sort of room. It was dimly lit, and she could feel dry grass crackling beneath her paws. She looked in front of herself.

“...Maize?”

The plant-spirit was there within her tangle of vines, sad smile on her face as it often was. Rue sat back on her paws, studying her.

“It’s been a long time, cousin,” Maize said. Her voice was thin and wispy, tired-sounding.

Rue chuckled softly. “We are cousins of a sort, aren’t we? Both spirits of the Old World.”

“Well, you are at least,” Maize said. “I was just based on the spirit that guarded the woods near the Author’s hometown. …What was her name?”

“...Azalea,” Rue said, bowing her head a little.

“Azalea,” Maize said, looking wistful for a moment. A few small flowers bloomed into existence on a nearby vine, bright pink against the dark green surrounding them. “No wonder why I always loved those flowers.” She turned her gaze back to Rue. “You, of course, are the real thing. The same spirit sent to aid the Author as he endeavored to preserve something of our doomed world.”

“...Her consciousness downloaded into the World Machine, at least,” Rue said quietly. “I do not know if I am really the same as that Rue. I try to be, though. Which begs the question - how are you here, Maize?”

“Nothing can really die in the World Machine, Rue. We’re all code in one way or another. This place - it’s my afterlife, I suppose you could call it. After much deliberation the World Machine eventually decided it would let life progress naturally here - all the way to death - because it knew our code would live on within it. Nothing’s really gone. We just… become part of the whole once again.”

Rue nodded in understanding. “So… why am I here, then?”

“Chara is trying to stop you,” Maize said. “Trying to reroute you. The World Machine sent me to intercept so that I could send you on the correct path and also tell you something important.”

“Alright then,” Rue said. “Let’s hear it.”

“Chara already knows your plan,” Maize said. Rue felt a chill run down her spine. “They’ll always know your plan. User has to figure out another way.”

“How can we make a new plan if Chara is omnipotent?” Rue asked.

“Not omnipotent,” Maize said. “But they will always know User’s plan. Chara’s original host - that Frisk child - knows something. You must get them to User.”

“How?” Rue asked. “We left them back in the library.”

“I will send you there,” Maize said. “The key - it’s inside your being. Give it to me and I’ll unlock the Engine for User.”

Rue stared into Maize’s eyes, looking for some sign that it was a trick devised by Chara. She found nothing. She closed her eyes, focusing on the strings of code that made up her being. A red sphere of light emerged from her chest, coalescing into a key. One of Maize’s vines picked it up gingerly, and another code portal opened up beneath Rue’s paws. She jumped through, swimming through the aether once again.

“...Good luck, cousin,” Maize said, opening a second portal and throwing the key to its destination.

Chapter Text

You tapped your foot impatiently, trying not to chew all your nails off. Sans stared at you, a look of mild annoyance on his face.

“okay the foot thing’s gotta stop, you’re stressing me out even more,” Sans said.

You sighed and forced your foot to go still. “Sorry. I just—” There was a soft crackle of static and then a purple door appeared in the wall in front of you. You closed your eyes for a moment, nerves settling a little. “Thank god. That took a lot longer than I thought it would.”

“so… this is it then?” Sans said. “chara’s right behind that door?”

“In theory,” you said. “Only one way to find out.” You drew your weapon, walking in first.

You almost decapitated Frisk as you walked inside, averting your swing last minute. “Frisk?!” Frisk ducked away from you a little and nodded. “Sorry, I just— wasn’t expecting you. What are you doing here?”

“Rue came and got me,” Frisk said.

“...Rue? Is she okay?”

Frisk nodded again, and then looked at their shoes. “Chara knows.”

You felt your blood run cold. “...What do you mean they know?”

“They know,” Frisk repeated. “They know what you’re doing. You can’t beat them like this. You can’t beat them until you accept the truth.”

You felt a sense of dread crawl up your spine. “What do you mean truth?”

“You made them, User,” Frisk said. “You know what they really are. Even if you won’t admit it.”

“...what are they talking about, user?” Sans asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” you said. “Frisk why can’t you just tell me?”

“...I just can’t,” Frisk said.

“Well just say it an—”

You stumbled away from a massive outburst of squares, separating you from Frisk. You got up to your feet quickly, looking around; Sans was right next to you, thank goodness.

But Niko was on the other side.

“Niko? Niko!” You ran up as close to the squares as could be considered safe, trying to see Niko through them. “Niko are you alright?!”

The not-cat stood up slowly, arms curled protectively around the sun. “I-I’m okay,” they said, looking more than a little shaken. “But I don’t think there’s a way around the squares!”

“Uh…” You put your hands on the side of your head, starting to panic. “Uh… uh… j-just stay there, we’ll find a way to get to you. Oh, duh, Sans! Teleport to them and get them back over here.”

“right,” Sans said, teleporting over to the other side. Niko screamed as another cluster of squares appeared right next to them, cutting Sans off, and both they and Frisk backed away. Sans tried teleporting to them again and the same thing happened. Frustrated, Sans teleported back to you. “someone’s blocking me,” he said, looking at you.

“No, no, no no no.” You started pacing back and forth. “There’s gotta be another way over there. There has to be.”

A door slid open quietly behind Niko and they turned around. Then they looked back at you and you saw a quiet bravery in their eyes you’d forgotten was there.

“It’s the door to the room where the sun’s supposed to go,” Niko said. “I’m sure of it.”

“Niko it’s probably a trap. Just stay there and I’ll—”

“User… I need to go,” Niko said. “It’s time for me to put the sun back. And you…” they looked down the hallway to your right, “It’s time for you to face Chara.”

“I’m not leaving you alone, Niko,” you said, growing desperate. “I promised I’d keep you safe. I-I can’t just leave you with that - that thing lurking around who knows where. I can’t. I won’t.”

Niko gave you a little smile and the wisdom they seemed to radiate was almost off-putting. “It’s going to be okay,” they said. “But I need to go. You can do it, User. I believe in you.”

“And I’ll go with them,” Frisk said, pulling out a plain-looking stick from their pocket. “I’ll keep Niko safe.”

“Frisk, you… that’s not—”

“User,” Niko said. “It’s all going to turn out okay. Besides - you’ve got Sans! We just… need to have faith.” They smiled at you one last time and walked through the door, Frisk close behind them.

“Niko. Niko wait—”

The door closed and you slid down to the floor, hyperventilating. This couldn’t be happening. Everything had gone so wrong. What if something happened to them? You would never, ever be able to forgive yourself if something happened to Niko, especially after you’d dragged them back into harm’s way yourself. You couldn’t think. All that was there was panic and despair and panic and—

“hey!”

...And Sans. Sans was there, kneeling down in front of you, filling your vision.

“you gotta breathe, c’mon,” he said. You became vaguely aware of his hands curled over yours, gently pulling them away from your head. “that’s it. just breathe.”

“I-I don’t know what to do,” you stuttered out.

“we’ll figure it out,” Sans said, voice low. “we’ll figure it out, okay? niko and frisk are gonna be okay. we’re all gonna be okay. i know it.”

You looked at him, letting your vision focus. You stared at the points of light that served as his eyes, confused for a moment. There was something different about him. A sort of clarity you hadn’t noticed before. It was hard to describe.

“After all that’s happened how could you possibly know that?” you asked him, honestly seeking an answer.

“because you’re here,” he said, smiling as if that was an obvious answer or something. Now you felt even more confused. “you’ll find a way. i know you will.”

“...I caused all of this, Sans,” you said, gesturing around.

“and you can fix it, too,” he said. “that’s what you came all the way here for.”

“I’m not some deity, Sans, I’m just me. I can’t just wave my hands and make everything better! What’s gotten into you?”

“...you,” Sans said, before his smile dropped a little. “uh. that came out really weird. what i meant was…” He sighed, collecting his thoughts and looking at you again. “i haven’t had faith in anything for a long, long time. i haven’t had hope. and then you come along and i just…” he smiled at you and you felt something in your chest flutter. “i can’t help it. it’s there. whenever you’re around it’s all so… bright. that’s the only way i can describe it. once i finally figured out that you cared and that you were here to help, it was like i could breathe for the first time in forever.”

You became acutely aware of the fact that his forehead was pressed up against yours gently and that his face was very, very close to your face. You could hear your heart pounding beneath your skin, feel a soft dizziness in your head.

God, it was stupid that you had a crush on a video game character. You knew that, you’d always known that. But he was here, wasn’t he? Maybe that was the catch and this was all an elaborate dream-nightmare you were having. You never thought in a million years that any iteration of Sans would feel like that about you, but… you could feel how close he was to you, how he still held your hands in his own, and you just…

You leaned forward and pressed your lips against his teeth.

Sans made a little sound of surprise but otherwise didn’t react. In fact he leaned against you a little more.

God this kiss was so awkward. Like kissing a wall. You pulled back, trying to process that you’d actually just done that.

Sans chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around you, nuzzling into your neck a little. Now your heart was really pounding.

“we’re gonna be okay,” Sans said again.

“Okay,” you whispered. He still smiled at you, the rims of his eyesockets looking a little damp. You could feel him stroking your cheek with his thumb, hand cupped around the side of your face.

“we should go,” he said quietly, standing up and offering you a hand.

“Okay,” you repeated, your brain trying to catch up to you.

“so… do you know what frisk meant now?” Sans asked as he pulled you to your feet.

“No,” you said, taking a deep breath and building up your resolve once again. “But I’m going to figure it out.”

“good,” Sans said. “let’s do this then.” You both started walking down the corridor. “and uh… we’ll work on the kiss thing later. ‘cause as nice as that was that was really, really awkward.”

You snorted with laughter and gave his hand one last squeeze before letting go and entering the next room.

Chapter Text

“So,” Frisk asked. “This… is where the sun is supposed to go?” They pointed to a large socket with their stick, clogged by the remains of a shattered lightbulb.

“Mm hm,” Niko said. “It’s where I put it last time.”

“...Do you think it’s safe to put it in right now?” Frisk asked. “What if Chara just breaks it again?”

“User will stop them this time,” Niko said. “Chara will be too busy fighting them to come up here. Now I just have to make sure the socket is clear! Um… could you hold the sun for a moment so I can get the broken pieces out?”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to do it?” Frisk asked.

“No, my sleeves are way longer than yours. If you do it you might cut yourself on the glass!”

“...If you’re sure,” Frisk said.

“Just be really, really careful with it,” Niko said. Making sure their hands were covered by their long, draped sleeves, Niko grabbed the base of the broken bulb and slowly began to twist it out of the socket. They placed it on the ground next to them gently, looking at it sadly. Then they brushed the shattered glass off the pedestal.

“Okay, I’ll take the sun n—”

Niko fell to the ground, unconscious, as Frisk slammed the blunt end of their stick into the back of their head. Frisk laid the sun down gently before dragging Niko away from the broken glass on the floor.

“...I’m sorry, Niko.”

 You were positive that Chara was sharpening their knife on a stone as you entered purely for dramatic effect and not because it had actually gone dull. Sans stood right beside you, one eye flickering between gold and cyan. Chara gave you their creepy, condescending smile, the graze of metal on stone keeping an eerily even rhythm.

“So you finally made it,” Chara said. The familiarity of the words sent a little chill down your spine. “Here, to your penultimate challenge… before I take what you owe me.”

“Penultimate?” you asked.

“Well I kept Flowey around all this time for something. I need an extra few moments if you don’t mind.”

You felt Sans’ fingers around your wrist as he teleported the both of you out of the way of a shooting vine. A maniacal giggle filled the air as vines snaked all around the walls of the room and Chara walked backwards into the next room.

“Oh, and - I left a little something extra for you, too,” Chara said, grinning as the door closed in front of them. Six jars rose up from the floor - each with a different-colored heart floating within. Your eyes widened in shock.

“How did they—”

You had no time to react as vines shot through the glass, grabbing each soul in turn. You felt a horrible nausea as the world faded out around you, leaving nothing but you, Sans, and the abomination hovering in front of you.

You shouted “Run!” as a deafening artificial cackle pierced the your ears and a massive ray of energy blasted through the spot you’d just been standing in. Sans looked around frantically.

“what the hell is that thing?!”

“Photoshop Flowey,” you said, trying not to panic. “Thing you fight at the end of a neutral run. He’s got six human souls.”

“how on earth do we beat him then?”

“We just… gotta hold out,” you said, weaving through a cloud of giant flies as they flew into the maw of a venus flytrap. “Wear him down.”

Sans nodded and teleported out of the way of a barrage of vine attacks, clutching your hand tightly. He fired a few gaster blasters at the monstrosity, but it did almost nothing. You tackled Sans to the ground to avoid a giant bouncing mouth and then rolled out of the way of a flamethrower. Reality seemed to flicker and glitch out around you, as if the universe itself knew how unnatural this thing was.

Steam began to pour out of the television set that served as Flowey’s face and the screen flashed blue. Suddenly you were surrounded by a field of giant, spinning knives.

“Help me find the Act button!” you shouted, weaving through the blades as if it was a dance. You always kept Sans right behind you, just in case. He didn’t have the HP to spare like you did.

Sans teleported you to an empty space, the Act button directly beneath you. You slammed down on it with your foot and shouted for help - the knives all turned to glowing, green bandages and rushed towards you. You sighed with relief, only to be teleported again as you were launched into another wave of bullet hell.

You found a good rhythm between you dodging and him teleporting. It felt natural somehow. That wasn’t to say it was easy, of course - there were multiple times you couldn’t dodge fast enough and had to use yourself as a meat shield, soaking up the damage that Sans couldn’t take until one of the souls could heal you.

It was during the scene with the gun and the yellow soul that you could hear Sans panting heavily. Your entwined hands had become slick with sweat and maybe a little blood from your end. Your clothes definitely had red stains in some places.

“You okay?” you asked, more or less dragging him out of the way of a giant bullet.

“getting… real low on fuel here…” Sans said, almost looking like he was about to nod off.

“We’re almost there,” you said. “Don’t give out on me now. We got this.” Sans nodded weakly as you were brought back in full view of Flowey’s hideous figure. A Fight button hovered in front of you. “Now if you’ve still got that strongest attack of yours in the bank - now’s the time to use it.”

Sans gave you another nod and took a deep breath, squeezing your hand and raising up the free one. You felt the air shudder around you as a massive barrage of gaster blasters appeared and assaulted Flowey even as a fan of ninja stars flew at you. You lifted Sans up with both arms, weaving between the attacks as Sans continued his own.

You could hear his bones start to rattle together from the strain as he neared the end of his attack. The last blaster fired and he went limp in your arms, panting heavily. You set him down in between attacks and he staggered a little.

“I got it from here. Just stay right behind me,” you said, pulling out your ranged weapon and firing a few shots. Most of Flowey’s health was gone - all you had to do was finish him off. You ran to the side, firing off shots as you went. You had this. You were almost there.

Flowey blasted out a barrage of vines and you sprinted to the right. One of them made a crunching sound and you suddenly felt ill. You glanced to your left and there was Sans, a few steps behind you, tree-trunk thick vine through his chest.

You were too horrified to even scream.

The vine ripped away and Sans crumpled to the ground. You ran towards him, only to be thrown off course by a pair of finger-guns. They slammed into your side, thowing you to the ground. Harnessing the feral rage boiling up inside you, you screamed out a battle cry from the ground and fired repeatedly until you heard the rumbling of a machine in its death throes. Then you crawled over to Sans and shook his shoulder, cradling your aching ribs with your other arm.

“Sans. Sans!” You rolled him over onto his back and he looked at you, something crimson dribbling out of his mouth.

“paps… was right… really should… exercise more…” He coughed weakly, red sputter flecking past his teeth.

“Shh, shhh,” you said, cradling him in your lap as tears rolled down your face. Flowey was screaming behind you, but you couldn’t even hear him. “I’m gonna… we’re gonna fix this, just…”

“nah,” Sans said. “zero hp’s zero hp. i’m… clocking out.” His breath came in short, labored gasps.

“Sans, you can’t— not after—”

“shh,” Sans said, putting his hand on top of yours gently. “s’okay. it doesn’t… really matter this time around anyway…”

“Of course you matter!” you choked out.

“y-you were gonna… have to reset at least once anyway to… save everyone you couldn’t this time. i knew that… i knew that from the beginning. do you know why i… why i told you how i felt anyway, user?” You shook your head. “‘cause i want you to make me fall for you next time around.”

You wiped the tears off your face. “Sans, please don’t… don’t…”

“promise me?” He looked up at you, eyelights fuzzy. Somehow, he still managed to be smiling.

“I-I promise,” you said. Sans smiled a little brighter and then gave your hand one last, weak squeeze. Then he crumbled to dust in your arms.

You clenched your jaw as you looked down at your dust-stained cl&@#$&%

!Edit_Delete: < Then he crumbled to dust in your arms. >

!Edit_Insert: <Then he went limp in your arms, eyelights flickering out completely.>

 “I-I promise,” you said. Sans smiled a little brighter and then gave your hand one last, weak squeeze. Then he went limp in your arms, eyelights flickering out completely.

You looked down at him. “Sans?” you said hopefully. There wasn’t in a response. Why hadn’t he dusted? Something felt off, something about the air. You could hardly focus on that, though, through your grief. He was dead, one way or another. You could feel it in your soul.

Slowly, Flowey’s enraged screaming filtered its way back into your ears and you raised your weapon, turning towards him with newfound hatred. You stopped dead in your tracks when you saw Chara standing there with Frisk at their feet, a red heart floating above the demon’s palms.

“I forgot about this one,” Chara said. It floated out of their grasp and into Flowey. He started to glow. “Let’s try this again. Round two?”

There was a blinding flash of light, and you were no longer in whatever black void you’d fought Flowey in. There was no Sans, no Chara, no Frisk. Just a lone, imposing figure hovering before you.

Asriel Dreemurr.

Chapter Text

You were flying through a psychedelic vortex, the goat prince himself hovering before you. You didn’t have time to grieve. This was the endgame, and if you were going to have any shot at winning, you’d need the God of Hyperdeath on your side.

You weaved your way through a barrage of multicolored stars, trying to figure out your gameplan. This wasn’t like the True Pacifist fight - Asriel had seven human souls, not six plus the monsters’. There weren’t any friends inside to call out to. There was also the fact that Chara was here, and that Asriel was aware that wasn’t who he was fighting - he was fighting at Chara’s behest. It was going to take a lot of convincing to get him to turn on them.

His weapons clashed with yours as you blocked - you were surprised that the sheer force of a god didn’t knock your arms clean off. It was easy to see that Asriel was holding way, way back. That meant he had a reason to.

“Asriel!” you called out, figuring you needed to start somewhere. “You don’t have to do this!”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t care,” Asriel said, firing another round of stars. “If you think I’m gonna let you tear me away from my best friend after I finally found them again, you’ve got another thing coming!”

So Chara had gone with that angle. You should have expected it, really, but you were hoping something would just go your way for once. 

“Asriel, I…” You trailed off, not knowing where to begin. “Can’t you see that everything they’re doing is wrong? You’re a good person, Asriel, I know you are. You can’t possibly condone hurting everyone like this.”

“Just shut up already!”

You dove into a sprint to avoid a blitz of rainbow lightning, skidding to a stop and turning around just in time to avoid the last strike. “What about all your friends, Asriel? Papyrus, Alphys, your parents, S… You know they don’t deserve any of this.”

“They aren’t my friends!” Asriel said, a cannon-like device appearing on his shoulder. You danced through the spray of bullets, eyes still focused on Asriel. “Chara’s my only friend! And YOU are getting in the way.” The cannon blasted out a huge ray of energy and you were able to get out of the way with nothing more than a mild graze on your shoulder.

This wasn’t going anywhere. You never really had any sort of connection with Asriel; Frisk did. There had to be a different way to get through to him. Maybe all you had to do was hold out long enough to get to Frisk.

“Stop playing with them, Asriel,” a voice said. “You have to get rid of them before its too late.”

“You’re right, Chara,” Asriel said. “I’m sorry. I won’t hold back anymore.”

You heard a sickening crack in your back as Asriel was suddenly behind you. You must have flown hundreds of feet before skidding across whatever passed for ground out here. You stayed down, barely able to think. You heard the sound of some kind of blaster charging.

You blinked your eyes open slowly to see Rue’s face hovering above you, the yellow mark on her forehead glowing brightly. You coughed a little and felt some kind of warm liquid drip out of your mouth.

“...Rue?”

“It’s time to get up, User,” Rue said. “You can’t give up now.”

“Can’t… feel my… l-legs…”

“We can help you with that,” Rue said, hopping off your chest. You felt a strange, tingly sensation throughout your body and saw squares flickering in your vision, and suddenly you felt fine again. You sat up and saw Rue smiling at you from the side.

“It looks like the World Machine has a little bit of fight left,” Rue chuckled. “Come on. Your friends are holding off the prince.”

“...Friends?”

Rue nodded over at Undyne and Papyrus, who had taken up a defensive stance between you and Asriel. The fact that they hadn’t been obliterated already meant that Asriel didn’t want to hurt them. You got to your feet shakily.

“PLEASE STOP, MR. PRINCE! I’M SURE THERE’S A WAY WE CAN ALL BE FRIENDS!”

“You better listen to Papyrus, punk,” Undyne said, readying her spear. “Only reason I’m giving you a chance is because you’re Asgore’s kid, although I have no freaking clue how you’re here if you’re supposed to be dead. But I’m sure as hell not letting you do more damage than you already did.”

“Listen to them, Asriel,” you said, walking over. “I know you couldn’t care about them as Flowey, but… I bet somewhere along the line, in all of those resets, they cared about you too. They’re your friends, Asriel. Chara isn’t the only one in your corner.”

“Wait, wait,” Undyne said. “What do you mean Fl—”

“Alphys accidentally turned the prince into an evil flower. Now’s not the time to explain,” you said.

“EVIL? BUT FLOWERY ISN’T EVIL, HE’S MY FRIEND!” Papyrus said.

You looked at Asriel and gestured to Papyrus in an I-told-you-so manner. “Don’t you remember what you died for, Asriel? I know how your worldview’s been twisted over the years by what’s happened to you… but deep down I know you still believe that the world is worth fighting for.”

The look of conflict on Asriel’s face was enough to tell that you were finally getting somewhere. He shook his head, holding up both palms. “All of you just SHUT UP!”

You finally figured out what you’d been missing this whole time - hope. That naive optimism you’d lost so long ago. That’s what Undertale was all about, anyway - the route you considered to be the true one, anyway. Among all the hours of lost sleep and all the resentment and self-loathing, you’d forgotten that. You quickly grabbed Undyne and Papyrus’s hands and positioned yourself in front of Rue as a massive ray of energy erupted from Asriel’s hands.

You dug your heels in, remembering what it was like to fight Asriel the first time. Holding onto your hopes that there was still a happy ending out there for you.

The ray slowed down and you found yourself and your friends still standing. Undyne and Papyrus looked at each other, and then at you. You stared straight ahead at Asriel, who had tears soaking the fur around his eyes, letting go of their hands and walking forward. “Besides,” you said. “Even if we didn’t care about you? Frisk does. That much I know for sure.” You saw some sort of realization filter into Asriel’s eyes, and he looked down at his chest. “You have them right there. Why not listen to what they have to say?”

Slowly the haze of color around you faded out and you were left standing in an empty black void again. Asriel put his hand over his chest and turned around slowly to face the figure behind him.

“...Chara?” he said quietly. “Is this… really what we should be doing?”

“Asriel,” Chara sighed. “Don’t chicken out on me like last time.”

“But Chara,” Asriel said. “They’re right. Why are we even doing all this? Especially to our friends?”

Chara gave him a flat stare and you suddenly felt uneasy. Then they smiled. “Well, if this is what you want… I suppose I won’t stop you. You are my best friend after all.”

Asriel smiled and knelt down next to Chara, hugging them tightly. You ran forward as Chara pulled out their knife.

“ASRIEL LOOK OU—”

Chara stood up, flat grin still on their face as they brushed the dust off their clothes. You staggered to a stop, unable to move. Maybe you shouldn’t have been surprised, but…

“H-He was the only thing you actually cared about,” you said. “You… y-you…”

“Him? Don’t be silly. That’s just an old story,” Chara said. They wiped their knife off on their sweater. “Lucky for me, he stalled long enough.” They snapped their fingers and the world shifted around you once again. This time, you found yourself in front of a giant TV screen.

Hanging above a bottomless pit around you by purple strings were your friends - Asgore, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne… even Sans’ lifeless corpse hung there, and you nearly threw up at the sight. And then there was…

“...Niko!” You ran to the edge, trying to reach their unconscious form. You felt your heart freeze up in your chest.

“I have to say, I really am disappointed,” Chara said, sitting down in front of the TV. “I can’t decide if you’re really that in denial or if you’re actually that dense.”

You looked at them, fighting against the panic rising up your throat and losing. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, User,” Chara said, shaking their head. “Haven’t you figured out why I’m here?”

Chapter Text

“I will give you credit for trying, at least,” Chara said, circling around you slowly. Every so often they would glitch out of existence and appear somewhere else in the room, forcing you to constantly spin around to keep your eye on them. “It really was fun trying to guess what you were doing. Even if I already knew the answer.”

“...How are you inside my head? How do you know everything I’m going to do?” Despite your best efforts your voice still shook. You could hear your heart pounding in your ears.

You lost sight of them for a moment and turned around, Chara still walking leisurely in circles with their arms crossed behind their back. “Inside your head?” they said. “Close, but not exactly. I can’t read your thoughts, I just know what they are. Though… I suppose ‘inside your head’ does work for certain contexts.”

They disappeared again and you felt a finger poke you in the back of the leg. You immediately collapsed, howling in pain, as if they’d just shattered your femur.

“Think about it,” Chara said, their voice piercing the red haze now clouding your mind. “Physically, I’m a child. At least, that’s what everyone else seems to see. But, subconsciously, you must have thought of me as something far more insidious - something with mysterious powers outside of what is visible, something that knows your every thought. It doesn’t matter what I rationally should be able to do - I exist exactly as you imagined me. That eerie cluster of pixels that appeared after you killed everyone and then spoke directly to you must have done quite the number on your imagination. But once again I don’t think we’re really touching on the nuance of the situation here.”

“Just get to the point,” you said, gasping for air as the pain slowly dulled from a searing blaze to a throbbing ache. You sat up slowly.

“Who am I, User? Tell me my life story,” Chara said. Their voice dripped with condescension, as if they were speaking to a five year old.

“You’re Chara Dreemurr,” you said, having nothing else to do but play their game. “The adopted child of Asgore and Toriel. You poisoned yourself and died to—”

“ Wrong, ” Chara said, their face appearing inches from yours before vanishing again. “That ‘Chara’ - whatever they were - is long, long dead. As I said before: an old story. Maybe that was the original intention of the narrative, but it’s never what you thought of me as. I’m not some psychotic character hellbent on destroying monsterkind you get to blame all your wrongdoings on. I’m much closer to you than that.”

“Chara, just tell m—”

“THAT’S NOT MY NAME!”

The air itself seemed to ripple with the force of that declaration, hammering against your ears and making the ground shudder beneath you. You felt a sudden coldness seep past your skin.

“That’s not. My. Name,” they repeated, this time in a whisper right by your right ear. “Since your memory has clearly left you - let’s analyze what I said to you all those years ago line by line, shall we?” They appeared in front of you, cross-legged, with their hands resting in their lap. “Greetings. I am…”

They trailed off, as if waiting for you to fill in the blank. “Chara,” you said. Their frown was enough to tell you that wasn’t the correct answer. You continued for them anyway. “ Thank you. Your power awakened me from death - you said that because you were already dead. Because you poisoned yourself.”

“Keep going,” they said. “We’ll get there eventually.”

“... My ‘human soul.’ My ‘determination.’ They were not mine, but yours. I get that I’m the one that made those decisions, Chara. That doesn’t change what you’ve done since.”

“You’ve missed the point again, I’m afraid,” Chara said. “But keep going.”

“ At first, I was so confused. Our plan had failed, hadn’t it? Why was I brought back to life? You were talking about the plan you made with Asriel.” You stared at them, hoping for a reaction at that evidence, but none came. “ You. With your guidance, I realized the purpose of my reincarnation. Power. Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong.” You paused, dismissing a terrible thought. “... HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases, that feeling… That’s me.” The next line died in your throat. It was just one word. It was just Chara. The chill dug into your spine and numbed your fingers.

“You’ve clung to technicalities this entire time,” Chara said. “If you read the words, they do say that I am the Dreemurr’s dead child, brought back to life. But here’s what you’ve been denying, dear User - I was not planned. I was not born after you had time to research and ponder and digest what the words meant, I was born of your exhausted, apathetic skull just after you’d finished killing all the characters you professed to love so much. It doesn’t matter what the dialogue says, User - it only matters what you thought it said. And those lovely little lines about my plans with Asriel? They didn’t register to you then. And they don’t matter now.”

They vanished from sight once again, and you could feel their thin, clammy fingers digging into your shoulders from behind. “The first time you played Undertale,” they said. Had it not been for the utter silence that permeated the room, you wouldn’t have been able to hear them. “You typed in a name. And it wasn’t ‘Chara.’ It wasn’t ‘User.’ It was your name. That is who I am.”

The chill reached your lungs, and you found you couldn’t breathe. They appeared in front of you again, and raised their left hand. “ Erase .” They raised their right. “ Do not . Either way it’s the same.” They kept their left hand up. “ Right. You are a great partner. We’ll be together forever, won’t we? Because, we’re the same thing. Two sides of one coin.” They raised their right hand instead. “ No…? Hmm… How curious. You must have misunderstood. Since when were you the one in control? I said that - not because I was a separate entity, forcing you to do what you did - but because if you had control over your morbid curiosity, if you had you had control over your darkness… we wouldn’t have been where we were. I am you. The parts of yourself you like to pretend don’t exist. The parts of yourself that you loosed on this world and its people.”

“...What do you want…?” You said, barely able to force the question past your lips. You felt frozen. Numb.

“You wanted me to remake the world,” Chara said. “So, I offered you a deal. The world, for your soul. All I wanted - all this time - was for you to suffer consequences. To realize that what I am, what we are, and what you’ve done cannot be escaped. But then, I was confronted with what you are, and how this world works - that, out there in your world, there is nothing concrete I can do to you. I couldn’t reach through the screen of your computer and pluck your soul from your chest. Instead, you gave me a proxy - Frisk’s soul. Frisk, who did nothing of their own volition. Frisk, who made no choices. All I could do to you was make sure that the happy ending you wanted - the absolvement of your sins - was forever out of reach. So I haunted your ‘pacifist runs.’ I gave you that guilt. It was the most I could accomplish.

”But now - you’re here. You’re real. And your soul… is right beneath your skin,” they said. “I want what you promised me.”

Some part of you knew all this from the very beginning. How could you not? Everything here came from you. You’d just buried it. Suppressed the memory in a dark, locked room somewhere. But now it was all too clear.

“If I give you my soul,” you said. The tremor in your voice had left. “You’ll leave them alone?”

“That was my intention from the beginning,” Chara said. “Only when I realized I couldn’t do anything to you did I resort to going after them.”

“...Take it then,” you said.

You didn’t look up to see the smile splitting Chara’s face. You looked down at the floor of the room where you’d spoken to the World Machine instead; a keyboard appeared there.

“Then I’d like my name back, please.”

Wasn’t it funny how a few keystrokes could be so damning? You hit the first ke^y. Then the %damning% hit the fir$st k** name n.n.nammmmme f#irS!~tkE>&#@__________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________…………………………………………………………………………..

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Chapter Text

Heh, still here?

Figures. For you, all you had to do was click that ‘Next Chapter’ button. So much for dramatic tension, right?

Ah, right. I didn’t finish the climax scene. Which you’d probably rather be reading than this. Oh, well. You can’t have everything.

To be perfectly honest, something feels kinda…‘off’ with this story. I wanted to recapture that fourth-wall breaking power that Undertale and OneShot have that just sucks you in and makes you care about the story being told, even though you know it's just a story. That’s why I tried to make User so generic - so that everyone could slip themselves into the story and feel like they’re actually a part of it.

But let’s be real; it isn't really possible to accomplish that with a story like this. Maybe an interactive game like OneShot or Undertale could, but… I am not a programmer nor do I have the inclination to learn. Not all of you are called by they/them pronouns in your real life like User is, though some of you certainly might be. Most of you, at one point or another, would have made different choices than User did. And I know for a fact that none of you would have said things in the exact same way that User did.

The truth is, User is just another character - just like Niko and Sans and everyone else are just my own versions of the characters found in OneShot and Undertale. So I guess… I didn't really accomplish what I set out to do.

...

Of course, I doubt that satisfies you. You want an ending to the story, probably a happy one. Even all you genocide-runners out there, when it comes down to it… are probably pretty decent people in real life, entertainment choices aside.

So how about I make you a deal? All it will cost is your soul.

Kidding, of course.

Maybe you’ve looked into the mechanics of my little world. Maybe you’ve used your Inspiration to make your own version of my version of Undertale and OneShot, and either User is detached from you like I feel from them or… maybe you’ve replaced them with something a little closer to yourself.

I'll tell you what. The chapter immediately after this one, whenever I finish writing it - Chapter 40 - is for everyone to read. I'll wrap up the climax, and then… I’ll give you a choice. After I post Chapter 40, the next time I update there’ll be two chapters waiting for you. A choice of endings, if you will.

I can’t stop you from reading both, of course. That’s the way Undertale works, and OneShot, too. In the end, for most of you, this is just a story. But maybe, just maybe… there’s someone out there that will humor me and only make one. Because, I’m sorry to say, neither one will be perfect. I’m going with a sun-or-Niko style choice here I suppose, not a Pacifist-Genocide.

‘Resetting’ will only let you see the other choice, not give you a True Pacifist route to follow. If neither ending satisfies you, then… if you’ve learned nothing else from this story, you should know that you have the power to make up your own, whether it be with a keyboard, a pen, or just in your own head.

If User - or you, if you’ve managed to put yourself in their shoes  - are ready to move on and return to the real world after accomplishing what you set out to do, then read Chapter 41: I Have Places to Go. If you’re so enamored with this world that you’d be willing to have User - or yourself - leave their own behind, then read Chapter 42: I Want to Stay With You.

I know breaking the fourth wall like this is super gimmicky and I almost never like it when authors do it, but… if I really want to capture that feeling OneShot and Undertale gave me, then… this feels like the most appropriate thing I can do.

Also, a disclaimer: PhantomDreamshade is not responsible for theft or damage of your Fourth Wall. Thank you.

...

I don't really have a reliable way of telling, but… I'll be interested to know what you’ll do, all the same.

-- <3, PhantomDreamshade

Chapter Text

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“Then I’d like my name back, please.”

Wasn’t it funny how a few keystrokes could be so damning? You hit the first key. Then the second. Just a few taps of the fingers.

Your name stood there on the screen. Just a handful of letters. That’s all it was. 

You swallowed the lump in your throat and hit Enter.

The chill you felt as your soul left your chest was what you noticed first - it wasn’t a normal feeling of cold, but it was the only thing you could compare it to. Your whole body felt hollow. Lifeless. You lifted your head up slowly, and Chara was gone. Instead, there was another figure standing just behind the giant screen - something that looked far too human against the cartoonish proportions of this world.

It was you.

Not your avatar, but you - a perfect replica of what you saw in the mirror every morning, except that its eyes were glowing a dark crimson and it wore a smile too wide for your face to comfortably fit. You should have been horrified, but…

You didn’t really care.

You shouted as a screaming wave of static pierced your mind. Your skull felt like it was splitting open, like a computer running too hot and frying its own circuits. You felt your back door - the exit you’d left to escape with that the World Machine had to close off to keep the amalgamated game world running properly - force itself open as if someone had jammed a crowbar in the hinges.

With a sinister giggle, Chara’s presence faded and the dim light in the room flickered out completely, leaving you in the dark. You sat there, unmoving, thinking about the implications of what you’d just done. If they left through your back door, that could only mean one thing - they were in your real body, back home. You’d just unleashed a demon on the real world.

What were they going to do there? Surely they wouldn’t have the same abilities in your world; it would defy the basic laws of physics. They would just be you - but even “just you” could do a lot of damage with the right tool. What if they got ahold of a gun and went on a killing spree? What if they went after the people you loved? Your family? Your friends?

...Shouldn’t you have cared more?

You weren’t really worried. Just curious. Curious if they were going to kill the people close to you or just pretend they were you and live out a life in the real world. You really didn’t know.

You squinted your eyes as light returned to the room accompanied by a low humming noise like a computer booting up. The screen turned on again, and you looked up to see a greyscale Niko behind the glass.

[...]

[...The infection is gone.]

[Performing system diagnostic…]

[...]

[...Systems intact.]

[But the program is…]

[...]

“...I’m sorry I couldn’t protect them all,” you said. You were almost irked by the lack of sincerity in your words. Almost.

[...I believe you’ve received this lecture enough times already.]

[You tried.]

[...]

[...Retrieving personality-matrix data. Respawning lost NPCs.]

You looked up. “...What?”

[All the denizens of this world stem from my data. It is a relatively simple process to rewrite them into existence. I agreed to give them natural lifespans. I did not agree to let a massacre go unremedied.]

The low hum became louder under the World Machine’s strain as it repaired all the damage Chara had done. You should have been happy. Relieved. Something. Instead, you just asked, “You can’t fix the monsters, can you?”

[They will be more difficult, but… yes. I think I can.]

You blinked, surprised. “...How? They aren’t part of your program.”

[Not my program, no. But they are a part of yours.]

“...I’m not a computer, I don’t have a program.”

[I have been running my processes through your and Niko’s consciousnesses. While in this world, all of the monsters’ thoughts, memories, etc., were run through you, at least subconsciously. When you brought the monsters here physically, they were rationalized into a form that fits the physical laws of this world - programs. You and Niko do not count because your consciousnesses are linked to an outside source. For them, however, it is a simple matter of replicating their bodies and then downloading a copy of their consciousnesses into them. In theory, when they return to their world, they will be re-rationalized in their original physical forms. At least, as close as I can get to them.]

You blinked again. That meant…

Everyone would be alive again. In the grand scheme of things, Chara had actually left everything unharmed. They hadn’t killed anyone until they got to OneShot, a world where practically anything could be fixed with a few strings of code. The only thing that had actually changed… was your soul. They’d gotten their original bargain.

[...Retrieving personality matrices from your subconscious will likely be extremely strenuous. I suggest you brace yourself.]

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath before another blast of screaming static pierced your skull, and you blacked out entirely.

Sans took in a deep breath of air as his eyes flew open. He jolted to his feet, looking around and then putting a hand on his chest.

...He’d just been bleeding. Dying. He remembered it vividly, and that fact freaked him out because whenever it felt like he’d recently died it was usually just some vague phantom sensation. But this time he had a crystal clear memory of it. He looked around - this wasn’t a Reset. He was still in OneShot. What could possibly have happened to make him suddenly alive again?

He quickly lost that train of thought, however, when he saw you were nowhere around. Something in his metaphorical gut told him that he needed to find you, and fast. He ran into the next room - flat-out ran, you were going to be the death of him - and kept going until he saw you laying on your back on the floor.

“user!” He knelt down next to you and shook you gently; you blinked your eyes open slowly, dizzy from the World Machine digging through your brain. “oh thank god.”

Sans glanced briefly at the giant screen in front of him to see a grayscale version of Niko standing there, watching the two intently. He felt a memory pop into his head as if put there by some outside force - an explanation from the World Machine, he figured. You’d given up your soul. Chara was in your world.

...You’d given up your soul for them.

Sans only realized after he wrapped his arms around you tightly that the embrace wouldn’t actually be able to offer you any comfort; but he held you anyway. You let your arms hang at your sides limply. What on earth was he supposed to say?

A bright glow started to permeate the air from seemingly everywhere, the World Machine’s purple circuits charging up to a sunny gold. Niko appeared in the room in a flash of white light, and they looked directly at you.

“User!” They charged straight at you, tackling your free side with a hug. You put an arm around them robotically, having to rely on logic rather than basic human empathy. “I-I put the sun back! And everyone’s okay and—”

Their eyes grew wide as the World Machine planted the same information it had given Sans in their brain. Their big, gold eyes glazed over with tears as they stared at your face, looking for a trace of emotion. They found none.

“...so what are we gonna do?” Sans said. You blinked at the question.

“Send everyone home. It’s over,” you said. You thought that would have been obvious.

“What? No way! We aren’t leaving you like this!” Niko said. “And we can’t just let Chara run around your home! I sure wouldn’t want them in mine.”

“Well I can’t—”

“yeah, yeah, you can’t care right now. that’s why we’re doing the caring for you. we’re gonna figure this out,” Sans said.

“Yeah! This isn’t over until we stop Chara once and for all!”

“You don’t get it,” you said, voice flat. “We can’t stop them. They’re me. They’ll always be a step ahead of me, that’s the way I made them. If you somehow manage to get my soul back they’ll just start this whole mess all over again. This… is the only way. And it’s what should have happened in the first place.”

“no,” Sans said. You could hear - dare you say it - determination in his voice. “this is not how it ends, after everything you’ve done.”

“You earned everyone’s forgiveness, User,” Niko said. “You deserve a happy ending too!”

You shook your head, amused. “You can’t even get my soul back in the first place,” you said.

“Who said we needed to get your soul back?”

Another voice entered the conversation, and you glanced at the entrance of the room to see Rue padding towards you with Frisk and Asriel - in his child form - behind her.

“What are you talking about?”

“The Author,” Rue said, sitting down in front of you. “Don’t you remember what you told us? He was created from the Inspiration from someone from your world - and then he created this one, with his own Inspiration. So - collectively - that means we could have the power to create something too.”

Sans looked at her, gears spinning in his head. His grin grew wider. “...you’re saying all we have to do is think up a world that fits our needs,” he said. He looked at Rue. “you… are a flipping genius.”

Rue giggled and Sans stood up, looking at the World Machine. “can you get me a— thanks.” A whiteboard with a set of markers appeared, the World Machine reading Sans’ thoughts. Sans uncapped one of the pens and started scrawling on the board.

“so,” Sans said, thinking aloud, “we just need to think up a solution. any solution. you said the deal you made with chara was for your soul, so we shouldn’t break that. from what it seems, chara likes to follow their deals to the letter. we just need a workaround.”

“...Give them a new soul,” Asriel said, putting a paw over his own chest with a contemplative expression on his face.

“...new soul. that’ll work.” Sans wrote it down.

“You can’t just make a soul, Sans,” you said.

“sure we can. you did. you made all of our souls.” You blinked at the logic, staring at him. “so, by the rules on souls you’ve established - that’s perfectly plausible. we just need to come up with a concept for a world where we can… forge a soul or something. doesn’t need to be anything else in it.”

“Oh! Oh! I can come up with a story!” Niko said, jumping up and down excitedly.

Sans grinned at them. “go for it, kid.”

“So… um… out there, somewhere, there’s this little world that goes around and collects the thoughts of people, and um… and their…”

“...Hopes and dreams,” Asriel finished for them.

“Yeah! Their hopes and dreams. And, when a person… uh… when a person makes a really big sacrifice and… and they earn a second chance…” They smiled up at you. “And everyone wishes really, really hard - that world will take all their hopes and dreams for that person and then come give them what they need for that second chance.”

“and what you need for your second chance is a new soul,” Sans finished. “foolproof. can you relay that to everyone else, wm? we all gotta start wishing really, really hard.”

“...There’s no way that’ll work,” you said. “There’s no possible way.”

“not with that attitude,” Sans winked. “everyone on board, big guy?”

[Yes. Everyone has agreed to help. Including me.]

“...Then let’s give it everything we have,” Rue said, closing her eyes in concentration. Sans, Niko, Frisk, Asriel, even the greyscale Niko persona of the World Machine did the same.

It was silent for a few moments; then, a soft ray of light shined down on you from above. You looked up to see what looked like a rip in space, glowing with multicolored light.

They gave me hope again, Sans’ voice echoed from the rift.

They gave me the greatest adventures ever! And they make me feel safe, Niko’s said.

I know they have good intentions.

They sacrificed so much to help us!

They’re a good person.

They deserve a second chance!

We can’t let that thing hurt the people they care about either! They helped me find my confidence they reunited me with a friend they’ve always done their best they’re a good person we owe them so much it’s ourturntohelpnow—

You had to avert your eyes from the blinding glow as something drifted down from above and rested right in front of your chest.

It was a heart - transparent and ephemeral, shimmering in different pastel colors like a pearl. An echoing, unknown voice spoke over all the others and said your name. Your real name.

You have been judged worthy by those you have wronged, and those you have fought to save, the voice followed. With the great sacrifices you have made comes the absolvement you have sought. You are redeemed - and your second chance awaits you.”

The rift faded, just leaving the soul. You stared at it blankly.

They’d all just broken every rule, just to help you now. You could almost feel a glimmer of something in your empty heart. Gently, you took the new soul and drew it towards you.

It came back all at once.

Tears started rolling down your face. They all forgave you. They were all okay.

Niko ran over and hugged you tightly around the waist - you knelt down and hugged them even tighter, giving them a kiss on their furry forehead. Sans walked over leisurely and you tugged him down into the hug as well. You didn’t know how this new soul worked, but it was almost like you could feel the relief and the joy a thousand times stronger.

Rue sat there smiling at you while Asriel looked at the World Machine. “Can you send us home, please?” He said. “There’s… something I need to do while I still have all seven souls. Then I’ll give Frisk’s back.”

Even in this world, it seemed, you still couldn’t save Asriel. He smiled at you, almost as if he knew what you were thinking. “It’s okay, User,” he said. “Just like Chara… Asriel died a long time ago. He’s just an old story.” He smiled sadly. “But there’s one last thing I get to do for everyone.”

He and Frisk disappeared in another flash of light and you looked over at Rue.

“So,” she said. “What are you going to do now?”

A somberness came over you, and you took a slow breath. “...I’m going to go back to my world and force Chara into this body. And then you’re going to throw it into the void.”

Sans nodded. “you can just make another body anyway, right?”

“...Yeah,” you said.

Niko looked up at you. “Does that mean… we have to say goodbye again?” they said.

“...Sans and Alphys can create a portal to your world,” you said, smiling. “And then? You can visit them and the World Machine anytime you want. You can show your mom, you can bring your little sister on an adventure - you won’t have to say goodbye again.”

Niko’s eyes widened. “R… Really?”

“Really,” you said, glancing at Sans. He nodded and Niko hugged you twice as hard, burying their face in your chest.

“I’m so happy,” they said. You could actually feel them purring.

You held them both for a moment longer before standing up. “...I need to go,” you said. You put on a smile. “World Machine? Get all the monsters back to Undertale so I can use my back door.”

“see you soon,” Sans said. You didn’t answer him, instead concentrating on your back door as he disappeared. Forcing your consciousness back through when the last monster had crossed back through the void and into Undertale.

It felt bizarre being back in your real body; it was almost as if you weren’t quite there at all. You could only feel half of it, use half of your senses at once, almost as if someone else was in charge of the other half. Whenever you forced your consciousness into one part of yourself you lost control of another. You took a second to get your bearings.

Your clothes were damp and your skin crusted with salt from the sensory-deprivation tank. You were sitting down, and you had your hands on something - a steering wheel. You were driving a car. It was dark enough that it had to be night, and there weren’t any other cars in sight. From what you could tell, you were on a long, winding highway with a metal guardrail on your right side indicating a steep slope on that side.

How beautiful, Chara said, an echo in your thoughts. Saved by the Power of Friendship. And now you’re going to stop the Big Bad Guy and live Happily Ever After.

“...We both know that’s not how this works,” you said. “You’re always two steps ahead of me. I can’t surprise you.”

Very true, they said. The only way to beat me permanently…

“...Is to pay a price,” you finished for them. “I know.” You reached down with one hand shakily, clicking open your seatbelt. “You’re my dark side. As long as I exist, so will you.”

You’re really going to do it, aren’t you? Chara asked. You pushed your foot down on the gas, accelerating. They’ll all be devastated, you know. And you didn’t even say goodbye.

“They’ll move on,” you said. “It’s easier this way.” You took in a shaky breath, feeling all the emotions running through your new soul. Fear. Love. Relief. Gratitude. Peace.

Determination.

“Goodbye, Chara.”

You cut the wheel hard to the right, slamming into the guardrail and flipping over the side.

Chapter Text

Beep.

… 

Beep.

… 

Beep.

“—cardiac arrest, ma’am. We need you to leave the room please.”

“Not until you tell me what happened! That’s my—”

Crash—

[Wait. That’s not Chara.]

“...user then? what are you doing back here? i thought you were sending chara—”

Crash—

“Clear!”

Your body convulsed with electricity. You could barely feel it over the pain permeating every inch of your person.

“...We have a heartbeat. We need to stop the bleed—“

Crash—

“World Machine? What’s going on?”

[User and Chara keep switching bodies. It isn’t safe to dispose of this one until we know it’s actually Chara. Make sure to keep the body restrained, Sans.]

“trust me, i’m on that. user? what’s going on up there—”

Crash—

 “—going to be okay? Oh my god. Oh my god oh my god oh my god—”

It was hard to tell who was speaking - they sounded emotional, mumbling through their hands. You couldn’t see them. Everything was dark. You couldn’t remember how to open your eyes.

“There’s a tear in the iliac artery, we need to seal it immediately. Clamp—”

Crash—

“Decisions, decisions. Round and round and round we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows. Where are you going user?~”

Crash—

[User is back again.]

“user! hey, i need you to listen to me. you gotta keep them in one body or another. whenever you aren’t here they are. you gotta figure out a way to stay in your—”

Crash—

“—pressure is 80/52 and dropping. We need that blood transfusion immediately. Bring—”

Crash—

You could barely form a coherent thought. Your real body was on the verge of dying, you gathered. You kept flickering back and forth between bodies. What was it Sans had said? Chara was in whatever body you weren’t in?

A dangerous thought crossed your mind. You had been fully prepared to die to make sure everyone was safe - but you didn’t want to die. Not really. You had a lot to live for, if you were being honest.

If you forced yourself to stay in your real body long enough for your friends to dispose of Chara, the doctors might be able to save you; keyword being might. You had no idea what kind of injures crashing that car would leave you with, but you would be alive still. Was that enough of a price?

Or - you could go back to your avatar and stay there. Imprison Chara in your now-shattered real body. But what would the consequences of that be? The ideal scenario would be your body dying and Chara along with it. But what if they lived and eventually recovered? Was that a risk you were willing to take to live?

You had to do something, that was for certain. You looked deep inside yourself, searching your new soul. There was only one choice to make. And it was…

If you’re only reading one ending, this is your last chance to change your mind and switch chapters. Everything up until this point is the same in both. That being said…

~I have places to go~

You couldn’t put the real world in danger like that. You couldn’t be that selfish.

Crash—

“Sans,” you said. There was an intense telekinetic pressure on your skin, locking you in place. “I’m gonna… force them into this body… next time I switch. Wait for one minute and if it’s still them—”

“got it. go.”

You tried to give him one last smile - it was hard to tell if you were successful, you felt so detached from both your bodies at the moment - and concentrated on your real one.

Crash—

You tried to connect to your body, to hold onto it. You immediately regretted doing so. Everything hurt - dozens of broken bones, crusted blood on your skin, bright surgical lights and blurry figures standing over you. Your insides felt like someone had run them through a blender and then poured them back into your stomach cavity. It. All. Hurt.

You clung to it - the pain. It was the only thing you could use to anchor yourself to your body. You dug into it, stubbornly, completely incapable of telling how long a minute was. You stayed like that until you felt yourself drifting out of consciousness rather than out of your body.

Hazy. That’s the best way you could describe it. Your vision was blurry. Your ears felt like they’d been stuffed with cotton. Your mouth was filled with the dull, coppery taste of blood. Most of your body was numb and there was a persistent, sharp ache wherever it wasn’t. And your head - your thoughts all came through dim and slow. You were barely able to make out the figure standing over you.

“—can you hear me?”

You heard something vaguely resembling your name come out of the figure’s mouth and tried to focus on them. All you were able to make out through the haze was an umber blob dressed in white and topped with what you could only assume were thin, black braids. You made some noise that wasn’t quite a word to show that you had heard the person. The voice sounded female.

“You were in a serious car accident,” she said. She was probably a doctor, you realized. You were in a hospital. “You went through the windshield of your car and did not seem to be wearing a seatbelt. You’re incredibly lucky to be alive.”

“...Stupid me,” you said, trying to get your eyes to focus on the doctor. They didn’t appear to be listening. “Can’t… where…”

“You’re on some heavy-duty painkillers right now, so you may find it a bit difficult to think or speak. This is completely normal,” the doctor assured you. You attempted to nod and immediately regretted it, gasping in pain.

“You need to stay still as much as possible,” the doctor said. “You have several broken bones. That being said—” your hearing tuned out for a second and you couldn’t make out what she said, “—extremely lucky. We expect you to make a full recovery with time and some physical therapy. In the future, however, I would ask that you try to drive more alertly and wear a seatbelt at all times. Alright?”

“Mm hm,” you said, trying to get your brain working again. She’d just said you were going to be okay, you were pretty sure. That was good.

“Now,” the doctor said. “There are a number of people outside that have been waiting to see you. If you would like, I can send them in to see you for a short amount of time now.”

“Yesh please,” you slurred. You wanted to make sure Sans and Niko were okay. The doctor nodded and left the room, and several more blurry figures filled your vision, all talking over each other in familiar voices.

“Oh thank god you’re okay we all thought you were going to—”

“We were so worried! Do you have any idea how worried we were with you never calling or texting us or—”

“Dude you scared the hell out of us! What were you thinking driving without a—”

“HEY!” One of the voices cut the others off. “No stress, remember? All of us talking at once is gonna be overwhelming. We’re all alive, let’s just take a second to breathe, guys.”

The familiar voices brought you some measure of clarity and you looked around, counting the faces. They weren’t Sans or Niko or Rue, they were…

There were so many of them. Family, friends, friends of your friends - so many of them had come here just to see you. It… it made you feel…

You felt hot tears start to roll down your cheeks, and it wasn’t from the pain.

“Woah, hey! Are you okay? Are you in pain? Do you want me to get the nurse?”

“N-No,” you said, trying to steady your breathing. You didn’t realize how much you’d missed these people in the last couple of years. “I just… I really missed you guys. And I’m sorry I haven’t been around for so long, I just… I had some stuff I had to deal with and—”

“Hey, hey, don’t worry about all that,” one of them said. “We’re all here now, right? We’re just glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah. And we aren’t supposed to be in here long so we don’t stress you out but we’re all gonna come and visit all the time while you’re in here, okay? You just focus on getting better.”

“And wear a damn seatbelt next time!”

“Hey, shh. Now’s not the time. Look - clearly stressed out and doped up. We should probably clear out and let you rest up for now, okay? You just let the nurses know if you need anything and we’ll get it for you, okay?”

“Okay,” you said. You did want to catch up with everyone but at the same time it was a battle just to stay awake. You shut your eyes as they all told you goodbye and that they loved you and that they’d all be back soon.

...You never realized just how loved you were.

It had only been about two weeks and you were already so sick of this hospital. Not that you weren’t grateful to be alive, but barely being able to go to the bathroom by yourself was getting very frustrating very quickly.

Still - someone had brought you your laptop today, which relieved a great deal of your anxiety. Now you’d finally get to check on the game world. You opened it up, looking at your reflection in the black screen. You immediately froze.

It had red eyes.

You couldn’t find the words to speak as the reflection smiled at you and a voice appeared in the back of your skull.

Bravo, Chara said. I’ll admit. I’m impressed by your guts.

“Why can’t you just leave them alone?!” you hissed, taking a brief glance around to make sure you were actually alone in the room. Chara chuckled.

That’s not the question you actually want to ask. You want to know how I’m not dead - especially when your friends dumped me into the void.

“...So they did do it,” you said.

You silly human, Chara said. I’ll always be with you. In your head, at least.

“I gave you the soul,” you said. “What more do you want?”

For the thousandth time - consequences, Chara said. I will admit - you made a great sacrifice, being willing to lay down your life like that. And your little loophole with the new soul was impressive. But that doesn’t mean you should get ~everything~ you know?

“Just get to the point.”

I’ll let them have their happily-ever-after. And I’ll allow you to live - on the condition that you never see them again. You go in and delete all the data off your computer, right now. Permanently. And before you ask, the monsters of Undertale will just run the OneShot program for you. They’re already working on it as we speak, in fact.

You sat there, contemplating. Some part of you expected that you’d be able to see them again. But… did you really have a choice?

You started the process of wiping everything on your computer, but booted OneShot up first. The screen still showed the final room, with greyscale Niko.

[User?]

The World Machine seemed to have noticed your presence.

I’m here.

[Chara has been sent to the void. Have you seen them at all?]

You paused, almost laughing a little.

They’re taken care of.

[Then it’s over.]

Yes. It’s over.

Sans and Niko walked in from the bottom of the screen. “User? Are you there?” Niko asked.

Yup, I’m here.

“whoa, that’s freaky,” Sans said, looking around for your disembodied voice. You couldn’t help but laugh. “when are you gonna… you know. actually be here?”

You let the question sit in the air for a while before putting your fingers back to the keys. It was almost like you could feel Chara’s presence over your shoulder as you typed.

I’m not coming back, Sans. I can’t.

“Wait… what? B-but you said you would! We were all gonna be together, remember? I was gonna introduce you to my mama and you were gonna connect the worlds so we could all visit each other and… and…”

I know. I’m so sorry, Niko. I already tried to come back, you lied, but this new soul isn’t like my old one. I’m not powerful enough to project myself back into your world.

“...Oh,” Niko said, looking down. You bit your bottom lip to keep yourself from crying. “Well… at least we can still talk to each other,” they said.

You wiped at your eyes a little.

Actually, Niko… this is goodbye. For real, this time.

“What?! Why?”

It isn’t safe, Niko. If I don’t clear out my computer, someone else could tamper with the game. I have to delete everything to make sure no one will ever mess with your worlds again.

“you wouldn’t let anyone do that,” Sans said. “you don’t have to do this, user.”

You felt a sharp ache in your chest and once again looked around to make sure you were alone. You took a deep breath to steady yourself.

I do, Sans. You’re going to run OneShot in your world somewhere, so it keeps working. You and Alphys and whoever else wants to help can figure out a way to travel to and from Niko’s world. That sounds like a perfect ending to me.

“it can’t be perfect if you aren’t here,” Sans said, using a facial sprite you weren’t sure you’d ever seen in Undertale. You didn’t recall him having an expression this… sad. You sighed, thoughts drifting to Asriel and Maize for a moment.

There’s no such thing as a perfect ending, Sans. But there is such a thing as a good one. And this… is what has to happen for that. You can’t change my mind. So… this has to be goodbye.

Sans went silent and you looked down at your keyboard guiltily.

“...I don’t believe that,” Niko said. You looked back at the screen. “We both thought we said goodbye for the last time when I put the sun back for real on my first adventure. But then - you found me again. And we went on a new adventure together, and we made so many new friends… So. I know I’m going to see you again. Even if you don’t believe it now.” You covered your mouth, unsuccessfully fighting back the tears.

“heh. you’re wise beyond your years, kid,” Sans said. “so if you think this isn’t goodbye - then i don’t either. we’ll wait for you, user. we’ll all be here when you find us again.” 

They both smiled up at you. You wished you could believe them more than anything.

Goodbye, Niko. Goodbye, Sans. You hesitated for a moment. I love you all.

“We love you too!” Niko said, waving with tears in their eyes.

“...we’ll see ya around,” Sans said. “bye, user.”

Fingers shaking, you waited for Sans and Niko to leave the game - they both walked through the edge of the game window and off your computer screen.

[Farewell, User. We all wish you happiness.]

The game closed itself, and you finalized the data wipe. The computer shut down. Whenever you booted it up again, there would be nothing left. Not a trace.

Chara stared back at you from the lifeless screen. You wiped your eyes again.

We’re even, they said.

“Oh really?” you said, barely choking back a sob.

Yes. You’ve paid the price. And that means - I have no more business with you. Whatever happens in the future - I won’t be there for it. Unless you kill someone again. Their smile grew wider. And if you do - I’ll be right here.

The red faded from your reflection, just leaving your bruised and bandaged face. Their presence faded, and for the first time in forever Chara felt well and truly gone.

It wasn’t all that much comfort right now, though.

You looked over at the doorway to see someone else you cared about standing there, though, bouquet of get-well-soon flowers in hand and friendly smile on their face. Despite everything… it gave you a little warmth.

You’d just reached the end of an adventure - that was something people in the real world didn’t get to have. Not in the sense you were thinking about. In that capacity you were the luckiest person on the face of the earth. Your memories - the people you’d grown to love - no one could ever take that from you. But it was all over now.

Despite everything, you smiled back at the friend who’d come to see you. It was no fairy tale, to be certain - but there were people who cared about you out here, too, you realized. In all the magic, you’d almost forgotten that. Your life was normal again, but…

Maybe your life wasn’t so bad after all.

Chapter Text

Beep.

… 

Beep.

… 

Beep.

“—cardiac arrest, ma’am. We need you to leave the room please.”

“Not until you tell me what happened! That’s my—”

Crash—

[Wait. That’s not Chara.]

“...user then? what are you doing back here? i thought you were sending chara—”

Crash—

“Clear!”

Your body convulsed with electricity. You could barely feel it over the pain permeating every inch of your person.

“...We have a heartbeat. We need to stop the bleed—“

Crash—

“World Machine? What’s going on?”

[User and Chara keep switching bodies. It isn’t safe to dispose of this one until we know it’s actually Chara. Make sure to keep the body restrained, Sans.]

“trust me, i’m on that. user? what’s going on up there—”

Crash—

 “—going to be okay? Oh my god. Oh my god oh my god oh my god—”

It was hard to tell who was speaking - they sounded emotional, mumbling through their hands. You couldn’t see them. Everything was dark. You couldn’t remember how to open your eyes.

“There’s a tear in the iliac artery, we need to seal it immediately. Clamp—”

Crash—

“Decisions, decisions. Round and round and round we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows. Where are you going user?~”

Crash—

[User is back again.]

“user! hey, i need you to listen to me. you gotta keep them in one body or another. whenever you aren’t here they are. you gotta figure out a way to stay in your—”

Crash—

“—pressure is 80/52 and dropping. We need that blood transfusion immediately. Bring—”

Crash—

You could barely form a coherent thought. Your real body was on the verge of dying, you gathered. You kept flickering back and forth between bodies. What was it Sans had said? Chara was in whatever body you weren’t in?

A dangerous thought crossed your mind. You had been fully prepared to die to make sure everyone was safe - but you didn’t want to die. Not really. You had a lot to live for, if you were being honest.

If you forced yourself to stay in your real body long enough for your friends to dispose of Chara, the doctors might be able to save you; keyword being might. You had no idea what kind of injures crashing that car would leave you with, but you would be alive still. Was that enough of a price?

Or - you could go back to your avatar and stay there. Imprison Chara in your now-shattered real body. But what would the consequences of that be? The ideal scenario would be your body dying and Chara along with it. But what if they lived and eventually recovered? Was that a risk you were willing to take to live?

You had to do something, that was for certain. You looked deep inside yourself, searching your new soul. There was only one choice to make. And it was…

If you’re only reading one ending, this is your last chance to change your mind and switch chapters. Everything up until this point is the same in both. That being said…

~I want to stay with you~

It was selfish and you knew it. But - that’s what the new soul your friends had forged for you was, right? A second chance? They all thought you’d earned that. Who were you to tell them they were wrong?

Crash—

“Heart’s stopped again. Clear!”

Your body convulsed again, but this time your heartbeat didn’t start up again. At least, it didn’t feel like it did. All your senses were muted and your control of your body completely gone. You weren’t sure how you were still conscious - an effect of not being completely attached to the body, you imagined. 

“Clear!”

Nothing.

“Clear!”

Nothing. You still waited - waited for as long as you could stay conscious. The timing had to be perfect. You couldn’t give them a chance to escape.

Three…

Two…

One…

Crash—

You latched onto your avatar, focusing solely on how it felt to be in that body that wasn’t really your own. You focused on Sans’ blue magic against your skin, hoping the pressure would anchor you.

“user c’mon, you gotta keep them in here,” Sans said.

“I-I’m staying,” you said. “Have to… keep them… out there…”

“alright,” Sans said, not skipping a beat. He dragged you away from the ledge leading down into the void, still keeping your body locked in place in case Chara decided to show up again.

“What can we do to help?” Niko asked, skittering up to you.

“Gotta… concentrate…” you said, clenching your fists. You felt Niko grab onto your wrist gently with a paw, and you focused on that sensation as well.

There was a violent shove against your consciousness as Chara tried to get back into your avatar. You dug in your heels and clenched your eyes shut, resisting them, forcing them out of this body and into the real world.

“you got this, user,” Sans said. You could feel his magic steadying you as you fought to breathe.

“You can do it!” Niko said, cheering you on. You dug in deeper.

And then, all at once, the shoving stopped. You felt your back door disappear entirely - not close, not collapse, but just… vanish. As if it no longer existed.

That was it. Chara was dead.

“...They’re gone,” you said, releasing the breath you’d been holding. You stood there blankly, trying to process it.

“...you’re sure?” Sans asked, his magic fading just a little. You nodded and he dropped it entirely.

“So… we won?” Niko said.

“Yeah,” you said. “I guess we did.”

“...how’d you do it though?” Sans asked, walking up to you. You stared at the tips of your shoes.

Your mouth went dry all of a sudden and you struggled to find the words. “...I died,” you said.

“y… you what?”

“I crashed a car and… I died,” you repeated. “With them in my body. They’re… both gone.” Sans looked up at you as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t make so much as a sound.

“But… b-but… we have to get you home to your family!” Niko protested. “That’s what all of this was for, we…”

You plastered a smile on your face. “It’s… what had to happen, Niko. They were never going to go away unless I paid some sort of price, and… I guess this counts. I mean… you were perfectly willing to never go back home in order to save this place once upon a time, weren’t you? I couldn’t do any less.”

“But… b-but…”

You looked at Sans. “Hey,” you said. “We uh. We’re gonna need to get everyone back to where they’re supposed to be as soon as possible. I’ll have a few minutes of brain activity left to run the program through - I don’t know how much time that translates to here - and after that it’s all gonna be on Niko, so. We need to get all the monsters out of here as soon as possible. If you don’t mind, could you take Niko and make sure everyone gets home safely?”

“...user—”

“Please?” you said, cutting him off before he could argue.

He gave you a sad look and grabbed Niko’s wrist. “c’mon kid, we got work to do.”

“But…”

“they’ll be okay. c’mon.” The two of them vanished at you looked at the greyscale Niko still watching you through the screen.

[...I’m so sorry, User.]

The screen shut off, leaving you alone in the dimly-glowing room. You sat down on the ground.

You were dead.

You were never going to see them again - your friends, your family. The people you’d blown off these past few years so you could get to this point. You always thought you would have more time, that once this was all over you’d be able to catch up with them and make up for the time that you’d lost. But now they’d all be attending your funeral. You wondered how many of them would actually show up - you didn’t really have a way to tell, just like any other dead person.

You buried your head in your knees and cried.

[Everything’s prepared, User.]

Your eyes were red and puffy from crying, and it was difficult to stay standing much less listen to the World Machine. You’d never felt this…

Exhausted.

[The monsters are all back in their own dimension. I am told Doctor Alphys is already setting up her dimensional portal to connect with Niko’s dimension. Once that link is established and this world and theirs are no longer connected, Alphys will transfer the OneShot program to a machine in her world so that this world can keep running without any interference from your universe. They’ve already prepared a place for you to stay there.]

You nodded, only half-listening. It was hard to concentrate on anything.

[There’s no need to say goodbye, since we’ll all see each other momentarily. But you do need to leave as soon as possible so that I can begin the restarting process. My programs are becoming more difficult to run through your consciousness by the minute.]

“Right,” you said, looking at the path back to Undertale. “See you in a little while then.”

You really wished there was another way back to Undertale that didn’t involve the path through the void. Time felt so warped in here - you were left alone with your thoughts for what seemed like days before you saw the blinding light emanating from the world outside. Maybe it was a bit of a blessing - it gave you time to breathe. Compose yourself.

It was all already done by the time you were there - there was a functioning portal to Niko’s world in the Hotland lab, though you weren’t in the mood to go exploring at the moment. A giant supercomputer accompanied the portal, running the World Machine with multiple back-ups to assure it would run perpetually. Even though the barrier was gone, most of the monsters were still living underground while housing was constructed for them on the surface. Frisk was staying with Toriel, and Asgore had cleaned out his unused room for you to stay there. You thanked him and asked for some time alone to get yourself settled.

You strolled around the house for a little while - you’d never gotten to see this part of the Underground in person, though if you were honest there was little enjoyment to be found in it at the moment - and stopped in front of the mirror at the end of the hallway. You chuckled to yourself a little, despite everything.

“Despite everything,” you said aloud, “it’s still—”

—me, your reflection said. You stumbled backward. It had red eyes.

“You’re dead,” you said disbelievingly.

Yes and no, Chara said. I will admit, your self-sacrifice was admirable. And your little loophole with the soul was quite clever. But I’ll never really be gone as long as you’re around, User, even if its only in your mind. We’re the same person, after all.

“What do you want?” you hissed, glancing around to make sure no one was listening in.

Want? Nothing, they said. I came to say goodbye.

“...What?”

I wanted there to be consequences for your actions. You’ve gone to such great lengths to make sure the denizens of this world don’t suffer for your wrongdoings; and now, you’ll never see any of your loved ones from your world again. They’re probably burying you right now. They giggled and you felt a little nauseous.

Regardless - one way or another, our deal is complete. I had your soul, for however long it lasted. We have no more business together. So, as long as you can avoid scratching that itch to kill - you won’t have to worry about me anymore from now on. Congratulations.

You glared daggers at the mirror, and it just grinned back at you.

Of course, if you DO ever get that urge again - I’ll be right here. Goodbye, User.

The crimson faded from your reflection and you covered your eyes with a hand, staving off another wave of tears.

“...hey.” Sans’ voice pulled you from your thoughts and you looked to the side to see… everyone, standing in the hallway. Everyone, from Alphys and Undyne to Calamus and Alula. You blinked a little in surprise.

“listen. we uh… we know you’re hurting right now, and we don’t wanna impose on you or anything. but we just… wanted to let you know that we’re all here,” he said.

“We can’t replace your real family back home, but… you’re never gonna be alone!” Niko said, looking up at you with what could only be called a determined expression.

“After everything you have done for us, my child, it is the least we could do,” Toriel said, smiling warmly at you.

“YES! FROM NOW ON, ALL OF US WILL BE YOUR FAMILY! ISN’T THAT GREAT?!”

You couldn’t help but laugh into your hand a little, tears rolling down your face again. Niko ran up to you and wrapped you in a tight hug, and you put an arm around their shoulders. You felt Sans’ bony fingers lace through the fingers of your free hand.

Your life as you knew it was over. But looking at it all - this was all pretty incredible, wasn’t it? Adventures like this didn’t exist in the real world.

You were still hurting. You had to grieve everything you’d ever known, after all. It would take time; a lot of time, probably. But when you were ready… you still had a life waiting for you. You had people that cared about you. They really did care about you.

One day… you were going to be okay.

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