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dn-838 · 1 year ago

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In defence of Undertale Yellow, how it can work with Undertale’s canon

So, I have seen a lot of debating recently on Undertale Yellow and whether or not it fits what we know already about the lore in Undertale. Of course Flowey’s presence in the mod is the primary thing that has sparked this debate, with many believing that he can’t have existed at the same time as the Justice Soul and that it is a major hole that breaks the continuity of Undertale. I however, as someone who has spent way too much time with Undertale and has vast knowledge about even the most obscure of details in the game, disagree. I believe that Undertale Yellow fits the original games canon well… maybe a bit too well, and I am here to give my own arguments against the things that I commonly see people say doesn’t fit the original game’s continuity. This may contain a few spoilers for Undertale Yellow, so unless you’ve already seen all 3 routes or for whatever reason don’t care about having the game spoiled, don’t read further until you are done.

Argument 1: all the Souls were already collected by the creation of Flowey and the amalgamates

Okay so this one I don’t really have much to say about. Yes Flowey and the Amalgamates were created using the SOULs of some of the collected humans, however it’s never specified that it was from 6 humans, all that’s made clear is that Asgore did have human SOULs (in plural) that were used in the experiment.

Argument 2: the timeline doesn’t match up

The timeline has always been a confusing topic among the Undertale community. While the most likely estimate of the gap between Chara and Frisk falling is 100 years due to what Sans tells us during his date.

There are a few reasons for us to believe that the gap is much smaller, especially considering the weird nature of the Deltarune timeline and the supposed grudge Chara seems to have against Snowdrake in Genocide (who is stated to only be a teenager).

However, no matter how you view the timeline, unless you have specific dates in mind for things like when Gaster was the Royal Scientist and when the fall of Integrity-Justice happened, or think the gap was REALLY short, Undertale Yellow doesn’t really contradict it too much. The game itself is meant to take place just a year before Undertale, with all the same characters existing in similar positions to how they do by the time of Undertale, however we never encounter them due to being on a completely different path that takes us to very different parts of the underground, being why they don’t behave like they encountered a human before in Undertale.

Integrity is a bit more interesting, because it can vary massively depending on how you view the lifespans of the Ketsukane’s, Starlo (Starlo won’t be important to this, but I mention him since he was childhood friends with Ceroba) and Dalv. It is strongly implied that as a kid, Dalv was best friends with Kanako, and was attacked by the Integrity human some point before the games events. At first you’d assume that this was all not meant to be long before the events of the game, however, Integrity was killed by Axis in UTY, a robot that was being worked on by Chujin back when the Steamworks were still in operation, which we can assume was long before the events of the game due to the state of the Steamworks itself and the fact it is stated to have been used as the source of all power in the underground, which would mean it would likely have shut down around the period that the CORE was first put into operation, so all the way back when Gaster was still the Royal Scientist, whenever you think that was (Axis wasn’t sent to kill the human until after Chujin was fired from his position, however due to the way Axis is locked up and deactivated before we wake up the Steamworks, we can assume he was shut down with the rest of the facility). On top of all this Dalv is shown to be a lot older than he presumably would have been when he was attacked by Integrity, and with him being a Vampire, you could say that he aged that much at a slower rate than a human would, with the Ketsukane’s also aging slow, 2 of them being Boss Monsters and one of them being a 9 tailed fox. We know that some monsters do likely age at very different rates due to monsters like Gerson who lived through the war.

So to give the whole timeline, basically, Chujin worked in the Steamworks and made Axis back before or during Gaster’s time as the royal scientist. After several failed prototypes that eventually got Chujin fired, Axis was sent to chase down and kill Integrity. He managed and Chujin kept the Soul hidden and over the span of years recorded a few tapes for what he had planning, meanwhile Dalv, who was previously attacked by Integrity, went into hiding, locking himself into a mostly dark and unknown part of the ruins. At some point when Alphy’s became the Royal Scientist, Chujin started to mentor Martlet, which led Martlet to enter the True Lab and get some strange serum. Eventually Chujin died around a year or two before UTY, revealing his hidden tapes to Ceroba, which Kanako overheard. This led to Ceroba attempting to inject Kanako with the Integrity soul, leading to Kanako falling and being donated to Alphy’s, and her of course then becoming an amalgamate.

Argument 3: Asgore killed all 6 of the other humans

Okay so this one is interesting, because Undyne does imply that humans before Frisk did make it to Asgore, with her saying that “no human has ever made it PAST Asgore” rather than “no human has ever made it TO Asgore”

The thing is, that other humans reached Asgore is all this really does imply, it doesn’t necessarily mean all humans made it to Asgore. You could argue that most of them died to Asgore, with Integrity and Justice being the only exceptions. If you really want to stretch you could even say that this line was actually just another attempt from Undyne to make Asgore sound like a powerful and threatening force (since she tries to make him out like that quite a bit in her fight, such as by saying that killing us is an act of mercy right after this), although I find this unlikely.

There is another line of dialogue that I sometimes see used to try and prove that Asgore killed all 6, and while it’s not used close to as much, I’ll still just quickly clear it up.

This doesn’t really mean that much, all it’s saying is that all the humans that leave the ruins inevitably die. She likely wouldn’t know any details on their deaths do to her isolation, and even if she had some knowledge she would probably still place the blame on Asgore due to his part in waging war and coming up with the plan to kill 7 humans in the first place.

Argument 4: The introduction of new incredibly powerful characters makes no sense

Okay, so this is a weird one, however the explanation for it is fairly simple. Nobody in UTY compares to the original Undertale cast when it comes to how “powerful” they are. We struggle so much against the opponents we face as Clover because well… Clover is much weaker than Frisk, bosses like Ceroba and Axis pale in comparison to Undyne and Mettaton, they just seem much harder since we are playing as a human with much less determination than Frisk. In Pacifist Clover fights a depressed fox lady, meanwhile Frisk fights a literal god; in Neutral Clover goes through a struggle fighting through Flowey’s mind after having his Soul absorbed, meanwhile Frisk holds on against Flowey with 6 Souls until those Souls rebel; and in Genocide Clover takes some time to finally destroy Axis, the failed prototype that got Chujin fired, meanwhile Frisk atomised Mettaton NEO, The greatest invention of the Scientist who was selected to replace Gaster, in a single blow.

The only Undertale Yellow character that I’d say surpasses any character in Undertale would of course be Zenith Martlet, but even then LV 19 Frisk would mop the floor with her, while LV 19 Clover had to go through a lot of effort to beat her, only ever managing to surpass Flowey in Determination after doing so. At LV 20 both Clover and Frisk have massive boosts from LV 19, however Frisk is far stronger, having awakened Chara and caused the destruction of everything, while Clover just destroys Asgore with a super laser blast directly from their Soul and leaves.

Argument 5: miscellaneous

Just to clear up any further confusion, I’ll give quick explanations for some more minor points that I have encountered

Nobody in the original Undertale apart from Flowey, Toriel and Asgore meets Clover, so the other monsters in Undertale acting like they had never met one makes sense.

Flowey not just stealing Clovers Soul is explained well by the game itself. He plans to, however he doesn’t get the chance in Pacifist; sees that we couldn’t surpass Asgore in Flawed Pacifist; steals our soul but is unsatisfied with the outcome and resets in Neutral, and gets gunned down in Genocide.

Toriel believing that it’s been a long time since a previous human fell when she sees Frisk in Undertale doesn’t mean much, she mostly lives isolated in the Ruins, with the other monsters being too afraid to speak with her, considering this and just generally how much seemed to have happened within that year, time could have felt much slower. Alternatively you could argue that the 6 humans all fell within months of each other, and that a years gap is a long time in comparison to the rate the first 6 fell (or 5, since she says the exact same thing to Clover).

Both Flowey and Clover using file 1 at the end of Genocide doesn’t fit what we know about save files no, however I feel it is a little nit-picky to use it as a definitive reason to discredit how well UTY fits into canon, after all the only thing you’d need to do is change the numbers and this would be fixed.

The Gunsmith having been born a week before the Human Vs Monster war doesn’t go against anything we already know. As stated before, we know that at least some monsters like Gerson do live for a very long time.

Flowey having more determination than Clover also doesn’t break anything. Flowey was injected with DT from 5 human Souls. The thing is that Frisk was special when it came to the amount of determination they had.

Unlike with most of the other cast, nobody in Undertale actually indicates that Flowey never met a human prior to Frisk.

Chujin being a boss Monster doesn’t contradict what we know about Boss Monsters. We know that the Dreemurrs are boss monsters, but nothing tells us that they are the only boss monsters.

Argument 6: the nature of the SAVE files contradicts Undertale Yellow

Here we go, the penultimate argument I shall argue against. Never did I expect for this obscure piece of Undertale lore to be the bane of my existence but here we are. For a short time I thought that this could not be countered, only after I had walked away from a discussion completely defeated did the pieces finally start to come together, and now finally… I have an explanation.

First things first, let’s look at the 10 save files. The files go from file 0 to file 9. We know that File 0 likely belongs to Chara due to it being the one that we save with in Undertale, and that file 9 belongs to Frisk since it works as the games Autosave/Checkpoint system. File 8 would then of course belong to Flowey, not just because it’s the one just before Frisks but because File 8 appears in your files after you beat Omega Flowey to mark your completion of a Neutral run, likely implying that his previous SAVE was of course when he was Omega Flowey. Flowey also uses files 2, 3 and 6 throughout the Omega Flowey battle, and since Toriel implies that other humans who fell were also able to save and reset, we can assume that 2-6 likely belonged to previously fallen humans.

Now the only files that need an explanation are file 1 and file 7, and I’ve seen 2 interesting theories for this. The first is that file 1 belongs to Asriel after he took Chara’s Soul, and the other is that file 7 belongs to Lemon Bread since they know what a SAVE point looks like and tries to trick us with it; but the thing is, which one of these are true? Surely it can’t be both since we know one needs to belong to the 6th… okay I’ll cut that out you already know I’m going to say they are both true.

So for Asriel having file 1, he absorbed Chara’s Soul so should have all of their determination and therefore should also have overtaken their ability to SAVE. Of course it’s unlikely that Asriel would have made anything out of it since the idea of saving and loading was fairly alien to Flowey, however that doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility that Asriel didn’t SAVE or at least have a file created.

Lemon Bread is a bit more complicated, and we are gonna need to look into the order of events within the True Lab to try and work this out. Firstly, we need to look at some of the true lab entries.

ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down."

Their bodies came in today.

They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust.

But what happens if I inject "determination" into them?

If their SOULS persist after they perish, then...

Freedom might be closer than we all thought.

This is entry 6, when the fallen down monsters are given to Alphy’s and have Determination injected into them.

I've chosen a candidate.

I haven't told ASGORE yet, because I want to surprise him with it...

In the center of his garden, there's something special.

The first golden flower, that grew before all the others.

The flower from the outside world.

It appeared just before the queen left.

I wonder...

What happens when something without a SOUL gains the will to live?

This is entry 8, Alphy’s gets a hold of a golden flower that she injects Determination into.

“One of the bodies opened its eyes.

This is entry 13, when the fallen monsters started to regain consciousness, 7 entries after they were first delivered.

Seems like this research was a dead end...

But at least we got a happy ending out of it...?

I sent the SOULS back to ASGORE, returned the vessel to his garden....

And I called all of the families and told them everyone's alive.

I'll send everyone back tomorrow. :)

This is entry 15, by this point all the monsters that had fallen down were awake, and the still not conscious Golden Flower was still just a Flower, being returned alongside the human Souls.

no No NO NO NO NO NO

This is entry 16, the fallen down monsters started to melt together and create the amalgamates.

the flower's gone.

Finally, we have entry 18, when Alphy’s noticed that the Flower seems to have disappeared from the garden, 10 entries after she first selected it.

So, why are these entries so important? Well we know that to have ever held the ability to SAVE, Lemon Bread would have to had held the right amount of Determination before Flowey first became conscious in the garden, and did they? Yes, yes they did. Flowey could have awakened anywhere in the timeframe between entry 15 when he was returned to entry 18 when Alphy’s noticed him gone, however all the fallen down monsters that were injected with Determination were already awake by this point, and therefore prior to Flowey waking up, they would have been the most determined beings in the underground, perhaps with enough determination that whichever monster happened to have the most was able to SAVE. The time that they would have had with the ability would also have at least been for longer than Asriel had it since Flowey can’t have awoken until after a couple entries later at the bare minimum. Of course since this follows the idea that Lemon Bread had the SAVE ability since they knew what a SAVE point looks like, we can assume that the monster in question would have been Shyren’s sister, since I doubt that the Moldbygg and Aaron that also make up Lemon Bread would hold such a role.

Argument 7: Flowey’s backstory

I really thought I was done with this infuriating Flower, but it appears not. For there is a single hole I need to clear up… Flowey’s Genocide speech. Of course this should be fairly simple to clear up-

Ah… well okay this makes things interesting. If Flowey didn’t know where the Souls were stored then that would make it very hard to believe that Flowey ever encountered a human before Frisk since if that were the case then Flowey would definitely have an opportunity to sneak by and see where they are hiding, however this is not what the dialogue actually means. Flowey knew where the Souls were, he sneaks in to steal them in Neutral while we are talking to a defeated Asgore, his only issue was that he wasn’t able to get them out without Asgore. In repeated Neutral runs he still just waits until we are distracted with Asgore to take the Souls, and in Pacifist he takes them while the main cast are all distracted which again is when the canisters are open and available.

On a last note, here’s some dialogue that actually helps the idea that Flowey encountered another human.

It’s made clear all throughout the underground that humans have far greater Determination than monsters, and while you could argue that Flowey was just overconfident in his abilities, it’s still fairly strange that Flowey would still find a human having the DT to overwrite his abilities something special, unless of course he’d encountered a human previously who wasn’t able to do as much.

Conclusion

So, that’s about all I have to say, honestly I’m just glad to be done with it. This was a lot of work, and I’m excited to see this post which I’ve been working on for 3 days get completely dismantled almost immediately. Anyways, wish everyone reading a good day and goodbye!

#undertale #undertale theory #undertale yellow #undertale fangame #indie games #ut yellow #uty

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gabriel-xander · 6 days ago

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Don't Forget

[Sans x Female!Reader]

36: Alright, Dude. What. The Flip.

♪────✿⁠(⁠✧◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕✧⁠)✿⁠────♪

When Gaster appeared in your dreams like this, he wasn’t exactly expecting a warm welcome or anything like that. Maybe a scream or a jump, something to spook you a lil’ as a little late-night trolling.

What Gaster wasn’t expecting was for you to immediately shout profanities at him.

He stands there awkwardly like the man-standing emoji.

🧍

All he can do is wait and twiddle his thumbs as you call him a beta bitch for the 17th time in 39 seconds. He almost wants to cry; why are you yelling at him? Is this really Sans’ type? Is this what the kids are into these days?

You stop pacing around in the endless void that is your subconsciousness. Putting your hands on your sassy hips, you look at him with an irritated and expectant look.

“Well?” You huff, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“…Are you done?” He asks.

You noticed that as he was talking, his hands (God, it’s so freaky. He does not have arms and his hands are not attached to his body. Seeing them with holes in the palms in person is a lot scarier than you thought it would be.) twitched upward, almost like he wanted to talk with them. You can somehow understand him now, but maybe he would feel better with some help?

Bringing your dominant hand up in a fist, you move it up and down in a nodding motion. “…Yes.”

“Thank you.”

He moves his left hand up to his mouth, palm facing his chin, then brings his hand outwards. The motion can be similar to blowing a kiss, but you know it’s sign for what he just said.

Looks like Gaster would much rather prefer speaking in Sign Language. That’s fine with you, you don’t mind having to do so for his comfort. It works out for you, too. Just because you can understand him now, that doesn’t get rid of this strange gibberish sound that seems to follow closely after his words.

Gaster continues to talk, and at the same time, he keeps using sign. “You should already know who I am.”

You snort, doing the same, “Yeah, that’s why I asked why are you here, not who you are.”

“…Oh.”

Nuh, God. This guy is so much like his son. A fucking dork.

Gaster is… not what you were expecting. His body is tall, probably over 7 feet tall. He’s almost lanky in stature, hunching over but you don’t think that’s of his own will. There are parts of him that are smokey and wispy, almost as if he’s incomplete (which you suppose he is…).

[ Despite being a tall bitch yourself, this guy still managed to be taller than you. / You’re considered to be average in height, so this man easily has height over you. / You’re already struggling in life being short, so imagine your horror when this monster is practically a fucking mountain compared to you. ]

His skull is not skeletal but the visual texture is similar to Sans’ and Papyrus’. Aka: bony as fuck. His right socket is normal and wide naturally, while his left eye is droopy in a forced-shut kind of way. The crack that starts on the tip of his head leading to his left socket is what forces it to be half-lidded.

His smile–his beautiful, baby boy smile–freaks you out the most.

He doesn’t have lips, no. But yet you can’t see the joints of his jaw the way you can with Sans and Papyrus. It’s almost like lips, but you know it’s not supposed to be.

Perks of being a monster, you suppose.

His drip is fucking immaculate though. A pearl-white turtle neck shirt that’s thick and hides his entire neck. Over that is a large black coat that closes low on his chest, dragging down to the floor hiding his legs and feet.

On top of all that, his voice is deep and silky. His tone is even and calming like he has it all figured out and everything will be okay.

Solid 8/10 in your opinion. You can see where Sans and Papyrus get their good looks from considering Gaster made them.

“Before we go any further,” Gaster clears his throat, “can you understand me just fine?”

“Oh, yeah,” You tilt your head, “How–How are you doing that?”

“I’ll answer your question another day when you are not about to shout profanities at me for the most minor of inconveniences.” He says with amusement.

…Okay, fine. You guess that’s fair considering what happened not even two minutes ago.

“Yes, I can understand you even though you’re speaking in Wing Dings. Using ASL is helping a lot, though.”

He chuckles at this, “How did you know to use sign language, if I may ask?”

You scrunch up your nose, “I remember the River Person mentioning a man who speaks in hands. Honestly, it was just a shot in the dark if sign language is what they meant.”

“Ah, I see. That’s right, isn’t it? You are aware this is a game,” Gaster smiles ominously. “That Undertale is a game.”

“…”

“Yeah, but…” You frown comically, “I’d rather not think too hard about it if that’s okay. Or what it means for me. Or what it means if it is a game, how I can possibly be here in the first place. Or what it means that this is all a game, how can I possibly be in different Au’s-”

“-Sorry, sorry. No need to spiral so casually. Let’s move on from that topic,” Gaster clears his throat again. You wonder if speaking might be too much for him. “That aside, how are you, [Y/n]? I know this must have been a long, tiring day for you.”

“Uh, yeahhh. I can’t lie, it’s been hella overwhelming.” You want to rub your cheek, but stop yourself since you are still signing as you speak, “I’m trying to push it down the best I can and not make a big deal out of it. I mean, I literally fucking jumped into an Au! How am I expected to just keep calm and act like this is nothing?!”

You continue your ranting, your hand movements getting messy as you begin to pace, “Oh, but I gotta keep my shit together whether I like it or not! One moment of complacency, and this Swap-Papyrus is gonna Divine Skeleton Death Blast us to next Friday! For some fucking reason, everyone’s got beef with poor baby Sans! I already gotta be this picture-perfect version of myself, that is sooo tiring, you know?!”

Gaster, that beta cuck, starts to laugh at you!

Another hand is summoned by him, identical to the other two he already had out. The hand is used to poorly cover his mouth to muffle his laughter. He’s not even trying, but you guess it’s just for show to appear polite.

Yeah, you’ll take it.

“It can be rather bothersome at first, yes. Though, you will soon get used to it, and possibly tired with it, too.”

You want to cross your arms. You already know that you cannot.

You even out your voice so you don't sound irritated, “It’s great to officially meet you, really. But I have to ask again, why are you here?”

Another hand appears; now a pair of hands are used to sign, and the other pair is used to straighten out his coat.

“Do you mean as of right now, or is the question deeper than that?”

“You know I mean more than just right now.”

The skeleton sighs, “I’ll be happy to explain it another time, but now is not it.” Before you can ask why, Gaster speaks again, “You will wake up from this extremely tired because of our conversation. Your body is asleep, but your mind is not. The longer you’re awake in this way, the less rest you’re actually getting.”

UGHHH! FINEEE!

“Okay, okay.” You sulk your shoulders dramatically. “I know how to be patient.”

“Do you really?”

“…”

Gaster chuckles, “My apologies.”

“…You’re not sorry.”

“I am not.”

Fucker.

“Okay, okay. Let’s focus,” You wave your hands then remember immediately you’re not supposed to do that. Damn, you need to get used to speaking ASL as you talk. “Is there a reason why you showed up now of all times? Please just tell me.”

“You’re quite straightforward. I like that.”

Slay.

“If it’s all the same to you,” Gaster begins to explain, “I’d rather not give you the answer right away. If I wanted this journey to be simple for you and Sans, then it would’ve been simple from the start.”

You deadpan.

“Don’t you youngsters enjoy adventure?” He asks genuinely.

You drawl out your words, “I meannn, I guuuess. But if the moral of the story really is “friendship was the answer all along…”

You trail off, and for good reason. Despite his simple face, Gaster looks rather sheepish and nervous.

“No…” You slowly shake your head, “Ain’t no fucking way…

“Do you remember how you told Sans earlier that you believe being honest with that version of Papyrus had worked out better for you?”

Bro.

“Dude, no way. So you’re saying we actually need to befriend these people?” You narrow your eyes, hand movements getting, admittedly, lazy, “I knew I was having a weird feeling about that the whole time! That was you, wasn’t it? That feeling was intentional.”

Gaster’s extra hands begin to rub each other out of nervousness. “I want Sans to make friends…”

…

Dude…

You’re so fucking done. This guy is a fucking dork-enormous.

You guess it’s cute that even in these circumstances, Gaster is like an anxious dad wanting to make sure his emo son isn’t emo for life. You’re guessing that it’s not actually necessary. Rather, Gaster will offer more help once you meet these “requirements”, similar to how he made the DJ work only until after you were honest with Sans.

Gaster continues when your defeated expression doesn’t change. “That is not all, of course. Please, allow me to explain some more to give you more background.”

You sigh and gesture for him to keep talking.

Clearing his throat, he asks, “How much… In regards to my past and how I became this way, how much do you know?”

“Ehhh…” You twist your face trying to think, “I know more than the average person, I think. You created the Core, and… the DT Extractor?”

The corner of his mouth twitches upwards, “Yes, that’s correct. Is there anything else you know?”

“You… “fell into your creation.” You put a hand to your chin, “According to Sans, you also created him and Papyrus. I know that you’re–were the Royal Scientist, too.”

“Yes, you are correct.” Gaster sighs heavily, body language and tone becoming exhausted, “When I created the Core, I made it with more than one purpose in mind. The first and main reason behind it being to provide magical electricity to the entire Underground.”

“It does more than that, of course. Because of the ozone being a byproduct of electrical power–Well, you’ve seen it before, right? That wolf who throws ice into the water–the ice reaches the Core to cool it off. Since the ice melts once it gets close to the Core, the ozone fuses with it and it becomes a source of ozonated water. This spreads throughout the Underground, infused with its natural magic. Because of that, it can clean clothes, sanitize food, and purify drinking water. Really, the Core is almost perfect.”

Gaster stops talking abruptly, looking at you with an almost embarrassed smile. You were patiently listening to him ramble on, nodding along with interest. He realizes that you probably barely understood anything he just said. (You didn’t understand shit, but it was endearing to listen to him regardless.)

“A-Anyway,” Gaster coughs weakly, “I thought at the time if I could extract raw power from the Core, perhaps with that power I can begin a new experiment that would allow me to research ways to naturally break the barrier without human souls.”

“I did not get very far, as you are aware of. I made a miscalculation and fell in. I could explain to you why it happened the way it did, but to be frank I am not patient enough to explain it in a way you’ll be able to easily understand. Just know that it resulted in my body being torn apart and destroyed on the spot. My soul was all that was left, yet that too was scattered across space and time.”

You don’t really know what to say to that. What can you possibly say? What words could you possibly give that would give any sort of comfort to someone as tragic as him?

“I…” You gnaw at your bottom lip, signing meekly, “I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s not my fault, I know I don’t need to apologize. But–you know what I mean.”

Fucking nailed that shit (you’re going to die of embarrassment).

Gaster smiles appreciatively and with amusement.

“For now,” He goes on to say, “all you need to know is that, yes, I waited for you to tell Sans about your knowledge of myself, and your knowledge of the Resets and Saves and whatnot. I waited only until then to turn on that machine myself. I believe you and Sans are calling it the DJ?”

You grin, “Great naming, right?”

“Indeed it is. Though if I may be honest, Sans is very much capable of doing all of this on his own. He doesn’t necessarily need your help in going to the different Alternative Universes and timelines.” Gaster shakes his head, “But I quite enjoy that you’ve made friends with him, and you’ve lifted his spirits a lot. I know Sans, and I know his way of thinking. If I made it so that you are “necessary” to be involved, Sans would believe it is intentional and allow it to happen.”

Ah, you think you get it now. Gaster used Sans’ belief that nothing (especially things involving Gaster) is a coincidence to make sure that Sans would keep you around for this adventure Gaster is putting you through. You think it’s really sweet, in a way. That even though you’re here to do something for the scientist, it’s ultimately for the betterment of his son as well.

…You wonder if you should mention to him that you’re… super friendly with Sans. Now probably isn’t the best time…

“You know, you weren’t far off the mark with that. Sans already thinks that you’re doing all this in this specific way on purpose,” You tell the monster, “It’s nice you’re looking out for him still.”

“And that is why I would ask you to keep this part a secret. If he knew that he doesn’t need to bring you along for future outings, I fear he would leave you behind.”

You nod, “I’m not a fan of lying, but… I guess I can make an exception for this. And… Yeah, okay. Despite all my bitching from earlier, I do like the adventure.”

Internally, Gaster is fucking stoked. So he was right! The youth does yearn for adventuring! That means he’s totally still hip with the kids!

“So, back on track!” Gaster claps his extra hands together, “I have been scattered across space and time, including the Alternative Universes and timelines. The original piece of me is still in our original universe, of course. But aside from that, the largest scattered piece of me is right here in… What did you call it before? Underswap?”

“Ahhh!” You nod eagerly in realization, “So that’s why you wanted us to come here first!”

“Yes, exactly!”

“And, that also means there are definitely other Au’s after this one that you want us to visit for the same reason! We’re finding these pieces of you and we’re putting you back together?”

Look at you, you smart fucking cookie!

“Right, again. What you did today, the way you will eventually find this piece of me, this is what you will need to do as well in the other Alternate Universes.”

Gaster uses one free hand to rub his chin in thought, the other hanging in the air, “Admittedly, the location of each piece will be different each time. Moreover, the effect of my fragments will have different effects as well. This one just so happened to cause a disturbance in the magic that affects the monster's emotional and cognitive health. Unfortunately, this is something I genuinely have no control over.”

You cross your arms and look down, “How do we even find your fragment? I mean, what does it even look like?”

“All of my fragments will look vaguely soul-like. I believe you will know what it is once you find it. As to where and how to find it exactly, not even I am 100% certain.” Gaster grins teasingly, “Well, no. That is a lie. But I’m confident you will be able to find it yourselves.”

You deadpan. Again.

This motherfucker.

Are you supposed to love or hate this guy? Or both?

“Now that you’re informed of all this, I will allow Sans’ device to work again. I believe that will also be what helps locate my fragment.”

“Wai-wai-wait. You made it stop working on purpose… just because you wanted to prolong our stay… just so you could talk to me tonight and tell me all of this? Just so I can make sure Sans makes friends before we finish the job?”

“Yes.”

…

DUDE.

You don’t even know what to say. What do you even say to that? How should you feel about this shit?

You groan and hide your face in your hands, “Why can’t bitches just tell me the answer? Why do people gotta make things harder and make us solve puzzles and shit?”

Gaster hides his mouth behind his hand, hunching his shoulders in a silent, mocking laugh.

Brother really said teehee.

Is this where Papyrus got his love for japes and puzzles and crap? Both he and Sans are rather cheeky, too. Motherfucker really is their dad.

You roll your eyes. You realized just now that you stopped using sign language a while ago. You feel guilty and hastily move your hands again before asking your next question.

“You know I have to tell Sans all of this–most of this when I wake up, right?” You frown, “I did promise him that I would whenever you are involved.”

“Yes, I know. I did this with that in mind, after all.” Gaster then smirks smugly. Somehow. “Tell Sans I said hello, yes? And congratulations on the relationship.”

“…”

“…Okay, I will.” You say casually, “Wait! Wh-What about the Swaps? I mean, if they know why we’re here and how we got here… Sans was saying how they might make him fix their machine, too.”

“I don’t think so,” He says quickly and confidently, “Once the Swap-Papyrus realizes exactly what is going on, I have a strong suspicion that he will most likely be eager to have you leave as soon as possible. In terms of the timeline, this is way before your swap version would “canonically” show up. During this time, if we were to mirror our Sans, this Swap-Papyrus will be too nihilistic and pessimistic to want anything to do with these things.”

Gawdamn, bro is roasting Sans and Swap-Papyrus in one go. This Sans slander must be stopped.

“Oh? So, there is time travel technically involved in all this?” You ask worriedly. “Is-Is that safe?”

“…”

“???”

“Ehh, you worry too much.”

You’re going to cry. This is karma for cussing him out, isn’t it?

“If I am being honest with you, it is not wise. But, it certainly won’t be harmful to you,” Gaster waves a dismissive hand, carrying the attitude of a confident scientist who isn’t aware his hubris will be the death of him. “Unless I suddenly and explicitly tell you otherwise, you shouldn’t worry.”

Wait a damn fucking minute!

“Don’t–Wait!” You frantically wave your hands, “Doesn’t this mean we might possibly visit an Au where I’m already there?!”

Gaster fucking giggles at you! He fucking giggles! What the fuck!!

“Until next time, [Y/n].”

Then there is nothing.

…

There is nothing until you wake up in total exhaustion.

You are immediately aware of what you were dreaming about, and remember the conversation you had with clear memory.

Sans is still sleeping on you comfortably, but you are now awake filled with annoyance.

A quiet “Motherfucker…” tumbles out of your sleepy lips.

Why is everyone in the skeleton family such a tease…

Tags:

@lemonboy011

@adriixboo

@fetusbaconegg

@fluffyart5000

#fanfiction #reader insert #female reader #don't forget fanfiction #sans x reader #undertale #sans undertale #sans #swap sans #swap papyrus #swap au #underswap #gaster #wd gaster

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ichiwashername-o · 1 month ago

Text

What Are Friends For Ch. 26

An Undertale fanfiction.

Written by ichiwashername-o

Summary: Undyne, Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster travel to the past in one last desperate effort to save their timeline.

Rating: Viewer discretion advised. Contains swearing, trauma, and psychological horror

Cast: Undyne, Papyrus, Sans, W.D. Gaster, and others

Chapter 1

AO3

Chapter 26: Final Gambit

There was no time to think.

Undyne charged straight ahead. She didn’t have a plan, but she didn’t need one! All she had to do was stop herself from hurting Papyrus! She’d kick her own ass if she had to!

Or at the very least, stall herself long enough for Sans and everyone else to take care of that kid.

It hadn’t really quite hit her how she was literally going to be fighting herself. It was like in those animes she watched, where the main character was forced to fight an evil twin/clone, usually created by the super evil villain to thwart them! Because what was a better enemy to face than themselves?

And now in the most brain-scrambling twist of fate, she was the future coming to beat some sense into her past-self.

Time travel is BULLSHIT! she thought.

But this was good, she reasoned with herself! All those late weekend nights binge-watching anime shows with Alphys was going to pay off in spades! She was going to exploit every trick and trope at her disposal to keep her past self from making that horrible mistake.

Her first mistake was trusting that stupid talking flower. She and Papyrus needed to have a talk about Flowey when all this was over, but that was for another time.

Right now, she needed to focus. She bull-rushed straight to the passage between Snowdin and Waterfall where, thankfully, it warmed significantly and Undyne was able to shrug the chill off her body. She slowed her mad sprint to a steady jog, waiting in anticipation. This was the only way to get to Snowdin, other than by boat, and she knew she’d run into her past self in mere moments.

She summoned a spear to her side, her claws tapping incessantly on its shaft as she braced herself, waiting for the battle ahead.

–

Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster cautiously approached Snowdin, where everything was dead silent. There was no one around; no patrons loitering outside Grillby’s bar, no neighbors having lively conversations on their front porches, no monster children frolicking in the snow. It was a practical ghost town as all the lights in the surrounding houses had been shut off.

“Seems everyone’s hunkered down already,” Sans observed quietly. They moved out of town, towards their house, where the Papyrus of the past was undoubtedly waiting for the human.

But Sans was torn on what to do. He made a promise to that old lady to protect the human if one should ever emerge from the Ruins, but, well, maybe some promises were meant to be broken. Maybe if he had never made that damn promise to begin with, none of them would even be here right now.

But that was in the past, and now here they were, in the past, trying to undo the one mistake that ruined everything.

Sorry, old lady, but if you knew what this kid was going to do, you’d understand, he thought to himself.

Papyrus turned to study him. “Are you alright, brother?” he asked.

Sans shrugged. “M’fine,” he waved off. “Just . . . thinking about what we need to do.”

“We’re going to stop the human,” he said resolutely. “And we can do that without hurting anyone.”

Even now, he was such an unbearable ball of optimism. But Sans didn’t respond. It wouldn’t do any good to start another argument.

Gaster lingered behind a stride or two, giving the brothers their space, but his movements were labored and slow and his expression was a perpetual grimace. He wasn’t looking well, seeming more and more unstable with every step. And of course, Papyrus noticed that as well.

“And are you ok?” he asked the doctor.

I̺̮ ̉wi̙̯ll̾ͅ ̄̃̄mǎ̙nā̊g̮ͬ��, he insisted, his voice much more static-y and garbled than before. J̻͖͙ust ̺ạ͈͓ ̦̙lit̳̻t͍̙͈le̦͉̦ ̼͉̦l̻̪̦oṋ̞g͕̦̼ḛr . ̥.̬ ͖̜̪.͍̝̠ ͖͉͍I ͎jus̱̗͔t neẹd to ͚̜h̙o̫̻͕ld͎̫̖ on̺̪ ͕̬a̗̣̹ ̼l͔̤it̪͔tle ̗̩lon͖̗̫g̭er̰.͙̥ I͕͙ ͔̣m̳̪ust̺͉͚ s̹̫͈e̮̯͖e t͖̼ẖ͔̳is̻ t̯h̭̟̯ro̺ug͈h̫.̼̖

Papyrus and Sans exchanged a look. Gaster’s warning still rang in their heads. This journey was a literal death sentence for the doctor, and it showed with every step and wince of pain on his face. It was a miracle he was still here.

“We’ll do this quickly, then,” Papyrus promised, picking up his pace.

N͓̱O,̹̜̓ͬ ̏̄̾WAĬ̦T͇ -͇̑-̈́̅̄ Gaster said suddenly, reaching out to him.

Without warning, vines erupted from the earth, spraying snow everywhere. Papyrus threw an arm across his face as one of the thorny vines wrapped around his arm, yanking him off his feet–

A thunderous roar and whine sounded behind him as a sudden flash of blue light exploded, blinding Papyrus for a moment but releasing him of the vine’s grip. Papyrus fell hard but jumped back on his feet, madly scrambling to make sense of just what happened.

Gaster loomed behind him, his expression fierce and focused, a Gaster Blaster skull hovering at his side as he pointed at something past Papyrus. Papyrus followed his gaze.

There, right in their path, stood Flowey, vines lashing as he grinned, his insane gaze locking with Gaster’s. The little flower let out a delightfully devilish cackle.

“Howdy, Doc!” Flowey said gleefully. “Long time no see!”

Asr͙ỉ̫e͑̏l͍̯͚, Gaster hissed.

Papyrus did a double-take. “Wait, WHAT?!”

Gaster ignored him. Ge̹̘̗ṱ ̥̬out ͎̤o͖͈f̞ͅ ou͕̻͈r͙̝ way͉. This̠ ̥̫̯i̦̙͖s ̤t̠oo̦̹̘ i̤m̪p̫̦͖ortant.

“Aww, is that any way to greet an old pal?” Flowey crooned. The wall of vines waved threateningly behind him. “I just wanted to say hi, that's all!”

Gaster turned to Papyrus and Sans. Y̙̤o̮u ̯t͉wo͖ ̲ͅgo͓,͙̣ ̻̼̭g̖ọ͇ ̥̫ṉ̱o̞̬w.̯ ̼͈ ̬I̫ ̪̩will d̠̜i̪st͖racͅt ̤h̲im̰.̣̮

“No one goes anywhere!” Flowey said, his vines darting forward to strike at the skeletons.

Sans didn’t let himself think. He just grabbed Papyrus, and teleported away.

“Wait, no, NO!” Flowey said, growing angry. “You don’t get to barge in here and ruin all my fun!” But he turned back to Gaster, that manic glee returning. “But I suppose I can have plenty of fun with you, can’t I?!”

Gaster closed his eyes, resigning himself to his fate. Yes. This would do just fine. He will distract Asriel–Flowey. He will buy enough time for Sans and Papyrus to do what needs to be done.

And if this final fight should be the end of him . . . so be it.

He just needed to hold out as long as he could.

He summoned another Blaster, and with a furious whine, a beam of pure energy blasted the wall of thorny vines as they descended upon him like a plague of serpents.

–

Undyne was racing as fast as she could to Snowdin, the Thorny Whip in her hand. She knew what she had to do–Flowey had warned her what would happen, and however much it broke her heart, she knew she had no other option–

Then she stopped dead, coming to a screeching halt. Standing right in front of her, right on the passage to Snowdin–

Was herself!

Undyne gaped, not trusting what she was seeing. “What–what sort of sick trick is this?!”

The Other Undyne was standing ready and braced, a spear in hand. “Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I’m from the future and I’m here to stop you!”

Undyne ground her fangs together, steeling every muscle in her body as she swapped out the whip for her more tried and true weapon, her spear. “If this is some sort of practical joke, it’s not funny!”

“It’s not a joke! Look, if you hurt Papyrus, you’ll turn him into an uncontrollable beast and he’ll kill the human and you are going to ruin his life–!!!”

Undyne had heard enough from the impostor. She didn’t know why she had even bothered to stop, she had a mission and she needed to get to it! She charged forward, screaming with rage and determination and brought her spear crashing down.

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!”

The Other Undyne leaped backwards, bringing up her own spears and fending off her attack. She countered Undyne’s attacks with her own ferocity, her yellow eye glinting with the same determination.

They were both fighting for their friend, and they were both going to give it everything they had.

Despite the severity of the situation, Undyne couldn’t help but grin. She had always been dying for a match against a true opponent, someone who matched her skill in every way to push her to the very limits of what she was capable of. And fighting an evil impostor/clone/whatever was the perfect match!

She had done her homework. She had watched countless animes with Alphys and fighting an evil doppelganger was a common trope in those shows. And so she would use every trick and counter she knew of to defeat this evil version of herself and save Papyrus.

Undyne screamed, raining down an endless torrent of spears. The Other Undyne dodged nimbly out of the way, bringing up a green shield to block the attacks she couldn’t outmaneuver. She retaliated with a similar volley, ferocious and unending.

The Other Undyne was grinning, too, but there was fear and panic and desperation.

The same fear, panic and desperation that Undyne was feeling right now.

If she didn’t get to Papyrus soon–

She was wasting time here! She had to get around the Other Undyne–

She jumped high into the air, using her spears to catapult herself over the doppleganger. Once her feet touched the ground, she took off running as fast as she could towards Snowdin.

“Oh no you don’t, you BRAT!”

Undyne felt herself lurch to a stop as her soul glowed brightly with green energy freezing herself in place, she spun, scowling furiously at The Other.

“Well, seems the only way to get away from you is to kill you! So let’s make it quick!” Undyne snarled.

That was just fine with the Other Undyne. She just needed to keep stalling.

–

The world blinked back into focus with a flash of blue and a zap of ozone.

Papyrus blinked blearily, trying to get his bearings. They weren’t too far away from their house, it was just over the hill. All he and Sans had to do was exchange a look, give a nod, and begin their approach.

Papyrus . . . really didn’t have much of a plan. Not a solid one. Which probably wasn’t a good idea. He was mostly winging this. But he felt that he’d know what the right thing to do would be when the time came.

“Do you think Gaster’s going to be ok?” he asked suddenly.

Sans was surprised by the question, but he sighed, shaking his head. “No idea,” he admitted. “Flowey’s a real piece of work.” Papyrus frowned at that, and Sans, seeing his dejected expression, gave another sigh and added, “Then again, so’s the doc. He’s . . . strong. And smart. If anyone could put up a fight against Flowy, it’d be him.”

That got Papyrus a little more hopeful. “But how did Flowey even know we were here–”

“Flowey’s got his own influence on the timeline,” Sans reminded him. “So he’s more tuned in to abnormalities than normal monsters. Us popping in here? Yeah, might as well set off a fireball to announce our arrival to him.”

Papyrus winced. “I admit, I didn’t think about that.”

“Nothing to do about it now. Come on, let’s get moving, I’m not about to take any bets on how long the doc can stall him.”

They approached their house, cresting a distant hill and coming to the edge of the surrounding forest. And there, right in plain view, standing and waiting . . .

Was Papyrus.

Him. His past self.

Papyrus froze. Hm. He had no idea how surreal it would be seeing . . . himself. He was stunned for quite a while, just . . . staring. Sans noticed and gave him a soft elbow to jar him from his thoughts.

Papyrus started. “S-sorry. It’s just . . . weird.”

“Tell me about it.” Sans more than sympathised. “But this is good. The kid’s not here yet. We’re early. We can head back into town, cut the kid off.”

Papyrus nodded. Even he knew that it wouldn’t be the best idea to just go waltzing up to his past self and try to explain everything. That’d be way too confusing. Best if they tried to avoid running into themselves.

The exception was Undyne, of course.

They snuck back through the woods, back to town, and began their careful skirt around the perimeter to see if they could spot the human.

It took them longer than they liked. Papyrus thought that the town being so dead and deserted would make things easier. But they must have been really early because the kid was nowhere in town. They were about to head further out of Snowdin, across the bridge, when Sans stopped him.

“Wait,” he whispered, gripping Papyrus’s arm. Papyrus froze, and saw Sans pointing across the way. Papyrus followed his brother’s gaze.

There they were. The human child, clothed in their signature striped shirt, a red bandana tied around their forehead and their hand adorned with a glove. They were hunched down low behind a building, carefully scanning in the direction where the brother’s house was.

“What are they doing?” Papyrus whispered.

“They’re waiting for something,” Sans muttered. A lightbulb went off in his head. Of course, how could he be so stupid? “They’re waiting for you.”

Papyrus’s head snapped in his direction.

“They’re waiting for you to change.”

–

Undyne could feel her pulse pounding in her ears, sweat gleaming off her scales. This evil doppleganger from the future was giving her one hell of a beating, but she never lost sight of her objective.

She needed to get to Papyrus, and she needed to get to him NOW!

She defended every attack sent her way with the green shield, but every moment she could, she strained to break out of the stranglehold of the green magic binding her in place. It couldn’t last forever, both she and her evil clone knew that, but every second she was here was another second Papyrus was closer to danger!

But the second she felt that green energy fade, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

“I doubt you’re gonna listen to me, but dammit, it’s worth a shot!” the evil clone shouted over the roar of battle. “Flowey’s tricking you! He wants you to use the whip on Papyrus! It’ll make him lose control! Don’t make him go through that! Don’t let that stupid flower use you!”

“I’m not about to get brainwashed by an evil clone!” Undyne snarled. “How stupid do you think I am?!”

“Pretty damn stupid, apparently!” Future-Undyne snapped right back.

They clashed, spears flying in every direction. One spear grazed her arm, but she managed to land a solid blow on the clone, sending her reeling, her single yellow eye widening in shock.

Undyne grinned. The blow was hard enough to snap the other’s concentration on her green magic, allowing her to move freely once again.

Undyne did not hesitate. She reached forward, and pinged her evil clone’s soul with green magic, locking her in place.

The Future Undyne, momentarily surprised, took the maneuver in stride, grinning right back at her.

And then Undyne spun right around and sprinted as hard as she could, towards Snowdin, leaving her evil clone in the dust.

She could hear her clone scream in anguish and rage behind her.

She blocked out the sound.

All that mattered was getting to Papyrus.

She needed to save him.

–

Vines lashed wildly through the air, their thorny limbs whistling through the ice-cold air as they seared towards their target. Gaster only blinked before he disappeared from view, apparating mere meters away and out of the vines’ wild swing.

“Hold still!” Flowey seethed. Vines erupted from the earth, serpentining around the doctor’s fragmented form, but he again disappeared from view, evading the attack.

“You are such a filthy CHEATER!”

Y̘͈̹our͓ͅ ̳̲̳fi̭rst̫ m̖i̺sta̠k͍̻̱e ̘w͍͚͕as ass͖̤uming̥̭ I͎ ��ͅwo̝u͚͇ḽ̪͎d̺ f̱igh̯t ̝̲̙f̤ͅa̜̪̭ir̰̬.̱̩ Gaster said coldly.

Flowey gritted his teeth, redoubling his efforts. More vines came crashing down, more razor-sharp leaves sliced through the air, a hail of bullets pounded the entire field they found themselves in. Gaster responded with a flurry of bone attacks and several of those hellish skulls blasting him away with their powerful breath attacks.

But despite his frustrations, Flowey found himself utterly fascinated by this recent development. The long-forgotten Dr. Gaster, brought back to life?

Well, perhaps life was a generous term. Even now, Flowey could see the glitchy form of the skeleton monster strain with effort, his breaths haggard and labored. Though he remained cool and focused, there was no masking that look of sheer agony that occasionally crept across Gaster’s shattered face.

But why was the doc so intent on stopping him? He must know about his plan with Papyrus, but what caused him to care so much to come back and fight him?

Flowey gleamed. Oh, his plan must work most marvelously if the doc was this determined to stop him!

Which meant that Flowey had to ensure his plan came to fruition by any means necessary.

“Well, this has been most invigorating, the best fight I had in a while,” Flowey crooned. Gaster paused, catching his breath. “Really, way to get the blood pumping! Well, not like I have any of that, hee hee hee! But you know what I mean!”

I͚̮ cann̫̙͓o̦͇̩t̜͔ ̫̪͖l̪et ̭̺̜yo͚u̘ h̪̼̞a̩̙rm͉͖̘ ͈Pa̖̟̼p̞͈̹yru͚s̙͕̳. Gaster said in a low voice. E͈v͈e̲̝̗ṉ ̥you ̘̭̫wi͔ll͚̞̯ c̹̬o̠̮̭m̩e ̖̩to̼̮ ̟regr̦͓͇e͇̭͕t ̥͓̙it͔.

Flowey laughed indignantly. “Because you’re such a paragon of virtue, aren’t you? No, I think I’ll very much like having my own bit of fun! And I’m not letting you stop me!”

Gaster’s hand shot up, pinging Flowey with blue magic, preventing him from escaping. But Flowey anticipated such, hence why he taunted the doc to begin with. Vines appeared behind Gaster and shot right through his body, running him through and tearing him apart.

A static cacophonous scream of pain ripped through the air, but Flowey was already gone.

–

Undyne breached the border of Snowdin, the winter chill hitting her like a frozen slap across the face. It sucked the air right out of her lungs, but she pressed on. Papyrus’s house wasn’t much further–

Suddenly a little yellow flower popped up right in front of her. Flowey! She screeched to a halt before she accidentally ran him over.

The flower looked up at her, panicked and out of breath. “More are here! More came to stop you!”

Undyne blinked. “What?!”

“It’s too hard to explain right now–but you can’t trust anyone you see! It’s a trick! They want to stop you! They want Papyrus to die!”

Undyne clenched her fist. “So, I’m not the only one with an evil clone here, am I?” Flowey’s only response was a miserable nod. She didn’t bother on the how and why of the matter, that wasn’t important. “Then I need to get to him right now!”

“Hurry!” Flowey urged. “I’ll try to stop the evil Papyrus and Sans for as long as I can!”

Undyne balked. Both an evil version of Papyrus and Sans were here, too?! One was a handful on their own, but if both of them were fighting together, they would be a nightmare. “Are you sure?”

“We don’t have a choice, and we don’t have time, now go!” Flowey urged, and Undyne took off without any further encouragement.

Flowey turned, letting a sinister smile creep across his face.

No one was going to ruin this.

He disappeared, taking off to search for the time-traveling skeleton brothers.

–

Papyrus stood at the outskirts of Snowdin, not too far from the entrance of Waterfall, anxiously awaiting for the arrival of the human. It had been so dreadfully, hauntingly silent when he walked through the town. Everyone was inside, behind locked doors and shuttered windows. Everyone who was lucky enough to escape the human’s path of destruction, he thought bitterly to himself.

He steeled himself. The human was coming. And they were going down a very dark and dangerous path. For a moment, he had been conflicted between his duties as a Royal Guard and what was right. But he arrived at a conclusion he could be proud of: he needed to help this human find their way, even if it meant going against the Royal Guard’s orders. The human needed his help and guidance! Who was he to turn them away?

He heard footsteps rapidly approaching behind him, crunching through the snow. He quickly spun around, his eyes lighting up with recognition.

“Undyne–!” he said. His best friend’s arrival was a surprise but not an unwelcome one–

She reared back her fist and cracked him as hard as she could across the face, tears streaming from her singular golden eye.

–

“Something’s wrong.”

Papyrus heard it, too. There was a faint muffled sound of some sort of commotion, too far to make out any details but they could hear voices and what sounded like some sort of fighting.

The kid heard it, too, and they emerged from their hiding space and approached the sound.

Sans gritted his teeth. Did Undyne fail to stop her past self? No time to find out, he wasn’t letting the kid take another step forward.

He reached out his hand, glowing with magic. Papyrus’s own hand snapped out and snatched his wrist, pulling it downwards.

“No!” Papyrus protested in a hoarse whisper.

“Paps, we don’t have time for this!” Sans snarled in frustration. “We talked about this, we have to stop the kid, no matter what!”

“And we can do it without hurting them!” Papyrus insisted. “Watch!”

Papyrus raised his own hand, glowing with blue magic. He targeted the snow covering the roof of a nearby building and with a simple flick of his wrist, the telekinetic magic caused it to come loose, falling to the ground in a cascade of snow right in front of the human.

The human jumped, just barely missing the wall of snow. They glanced around, looking for the cause of the disturbance, but shrugged and tried to trudge through the mound of snow now blocking their path. It was hard work, with snow so loose, but they pushed through with sheer determination.

Papyrus reached out and pinged the next house, causing the snow from that roof to fall right in front of the human once again.

The human stopped. They squinted suspiciously.

Sans couldn’t help but chuckle. “Alright, I gotta admit, that’s pretty funny.”

The stalling wasn’t enough, even Papyrus was aware of that. But how to get the human away from . . . from him?

Suddenly, a vine lashed around his mouth, gagging him. Papyrus let out a muffled scream of surprise before he was dragged away. More vines wrapped around him, binding him in place. Papyrus tried to thrash and wriggle himself free, but could barely budge an inch. The thorns on the vines scratched painfully against his bones, causing him to wince. Sans was similarly trapped, his eyes flashing blue and yellow. He was trying to teleport away, but somehow the vines were preventing him from doing so.

And away they were dragged, away from the human. Papyrus could see them crest the last snow mound and make their final approach.

Papyrus tried to scream. But his muffled voice barely reached his own ears.

Flowey appeared before them, that menacing smile greeting them once more.

“Honestly, I’m flattered!” he giggled. “I’m flattered you traveled all across space and time to stop little ol’ me! Which means just one thing: my plan must be something REALLY special!”

In the distance, a scream broke through the deathly silent air.

–

Undyne watched in horror as her friend’s body twisted and convulsed. She had watched Papyrus transform dozens, if not hundreds of times. But this . . . this was different. More violent. More visceral.

The changes were different. The spikes running along his back weren’t that long, they weren’t serrated–his tail didn’t have spikes on the end–his horns were different–

What was HAPPENING to him?!

“What have you DONE?!”

That was her voice. Did she say that?!

But no. Behind her was her evil doppleganger, quickly approaching but her steps faltered when she saw the state Papyrus was in.

Undyne could see the horror and pain and regret on her clone’s face. That expression . . . it was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

It was harrowing.

Her clone snarled with rage, turning on her. “Do you see now?! Idiot!!!” She summoned a spear to her side, resolution dominating her features. But still, there was that pain, that regret, that haunting sorrow. “We don’t have a choice now. We have to stop him!”

Undyne shuddered. Another scream erupted from Papyrus as his body continued to change, growing larger and far more monstrous with every passing second. “But Papyrus ca defeat the human–”

“THAT’S NOT PAPYRUS ANYMORE!!!”

Undyne stared. She couldn’t believe it . . . but the proof was right in front of her. That feral gleam in the dragon’s eyes right in front of them . . . there was nothing left of her friend in that thing that now stood before her.

The dragon let out a death rattle as the final changes overcame it. It rose to its full height–far taller than he was supposed to be, far more feral, far more dangerous, far more deadly. And those blazing orange eyes snapped right to them.

Undyne felt her blood freeze.

As fast as a viper, it lunged forward, those terrible jaws gaping wide to snap down on her–

There was a sudden flash of blue and a crack of ozone. Undyne blinked. They now found themselves in the Hotland labs?! She spun around, seeing her (maybe not so evil?) clone by her side and . . . Sans?

Sans was staring up at the both of them. His expression was shocked, understandably so, but Undyne could detect a hint of anger. But it was mostly shock as he glanced back and forth between the two of them.

“Well.” Sans said. “No one told me Undyne had a twin sister.”

The other Undyne began to rattle off at full speed. “SANS! I know this sounds crazy but I’m from the future and I came back in time with Papyrus and you to stop myself from hurting Papyrus–obviously that didn’t work but right now we need to make sure Papyrus doesn’t kill the kid because if he does, he’s going to screw up the timeline forever–!”

Undyne stared at her doppleganger. She didn’t know what to believe. But what she did know was that Flowey lied to her. Or at the very least, horribly manipulated her. And because of that lie, she hurt her very best friend in the worst way.

So now she was very angry.

Sans was still staring at the doppleganger, the shock wearing off and replaced by an unreadable mask.

“Well, that explains the anomalies I just saw . . .” he muttered.

“Oh, Gaster’s here, too, he’s helping us, so don’t kill him,” the other Undyne added quickly.

That proved to be the worst thing to say as both Sans and Undyne froze, stiffening in rage.

“Gaster’s here?” Sans asked. His eyes were completely empty, his voice low and dangerous.

The future Undyne mentally kicked herself. She should have kept that little tidbit to herself–

“He’s the only reason we were able to get here,” she said quickly. “Look, be pissed at him all you want, but we need to get back there and save Papyrus! Now are you going to help me or what?!” Undyne asked furiously.

But both Undyne and Sans knew that Gaster was undoubtedly the cruelest monster to ever live. He was the one responsible for what was happening to Papyrus, after all.

The two of them turned on the future Undyne, spears and bones summoned to their sides. Future-Undyne wanted to scream. Her and her big fat stupid mouth.

“I don’t know what sort of trick you’re pulling but it’s not gonna work!” Undyne snarled.

“You wanna ask him yourself?! Go for it!” Future-Undyne cried. “But we’re wasting time! We have to move!!! NOW!!!”

Undyne and Sans exchanged a look. If Undyne was lying, a lot of monsters were going to be hurt.

But if she was telling the truth, their entire existence could be in jeopardy.

Sans glared up at her. “If you’re lying–”

“You can kick my ass to kingdom come, now let’s GO ALREADY!!!” Undyne said, stomping her foot impatiently.

Sans gripped both Undyne’s hands and teleported away.

–

Flowey dragged Papyrus and Sans away from the imminent battle, feeling them both struggle in his grip. He let out a mad cackle. Their desperation was just so delicious! Perhaps he could indulge their worst fantasies and force them to witness the battle for themselves! Personally, he wanted to see the monstrous Papyrus rip that little brat to bloody shreds!!!

L̥̣EŤ͆͆ ͔̀TḪ̤͌̀̊ͅE̮̼ͮ̓M ̟̰G̭̻͌̓O̠̎!̲̪͒̽!!

Two Gaster Blasters appeared at the brother’s sides, their jaws snapping down on the vines and freeing them from their grasp. Papyrus jumped to his feet and helped Sans to his.

Gaster had come to their rescue! But the doctor was on the brink of turning to dust. His body was barely there as it was glitching in and out of existence like static on a television, his expression one of pain as he struggled to stay present. But underneath all that, his eyes glowed a bright and brilliant blue as through brute determination alone he hung onto existence.

Papyrus gaped. “Gaster–!”

Ḡ̰Oͮ̽ͣͫ͋!̦̬̰͕̾̎̆̚!̓! ̼͔̜͔͙͍̄̆͑͑͗̓N̹͒Ô̳͖͕̖͉̦ͬͪ̓̎͌W!̗͍͕̮!̟͔̭̲̓̏̍̓!͉͙̼̱͎̼ͦ͋͛͗̉ͤ

Sans gripped his hand and tugged him along, leaving Gaster alone to fight Flowey. He tried not to think how this was undoubtedly the last time they’d see Gaster alive.

They had to make this count. They charged forward, towards the battle.

They arrived at the clearing just in time to see the skeletal draconic Papyrus finish his shifting, turning its hellish gaze upon the two Undynes standing before it. It leaped into the air, ready to sink its teeth and claws into the two fish-monsters, before they inexplicably zapped out of existence with a familiar blue spark of magic.

Sans managed to snatch them away at the brink of time.

But they weren’t done yet. They could see the human approach, their eyes lighting up with eager anticipation as they saw the monstrous dragon before them.

And the dragon saw them.

It let out a furious roar, ready to pounce.

“NO!” Papyrus cried. He rushed forward, and using all his strength, he encompassed the dragon with blue magic. The dragon let out a shocked yelp as its body crashed to the ground as if struck with an immense invisible weight. It roared and thrashed viciously, fighting back against Papyrus. Papyrus gritted his teeth, using every ounce of his strength to keep the dragon–himself–pinned.

The human stared back and forth between the two Papyrus-es, one draconic, one humanoid, in complete bafflement.

“Human!” Papyrus called out. The dragon opened its jaws, ready to let out a deadly blast. But Papyrus shifted his focus, forcing the jaws to snap closed. “Y-you cannot fight this! It’s too strong! You will be destroyed!”

The human paused, almost considering it. Then they charged forward, fist raised, ready to engage the dragon. Papyrus winced. No! This wasn’t what he wanted!

“I’m sorry, bro,” Sans said regretfully. “But if the way to stop it is to put you down–”

“No! No one has to get hurt!” Papyrus shouted. He diverted some of his magic to the human, freezing them in place. “We–we just have to exhaust it–him–me!!! He can’t keep it up forever! Just tire him out!”

Sans could have slapped him. Even now, he was so stupidly optimistic.

But he reached out, and used his own magic to pin the dragon down. It again let out a furious roar, but it was strong. Even with the brother’s combined efforts, they could feel the dragon slipping from their control.

It also didn’t help that the human was so determined to fight the dragon themselves and was fighting Papyrus’s control just as fiercely. They managed to break free, and charged forward, swinging their fist and landing a heavy blow against the dragon’s skull.

The dragon’s head snapped to the side from the impact, but didn’t appear the blow itself did much damage. But it enraged the beast and with a surge of incredible strength it broke free of the brother’s control and lashed out with its wicked claws.

Papyrus was at the ready and caught the limb mid-swing, slowing it considerably. The human managed to duck mostly out of the way, the blow glancing off their side and shredding the hem of their shirt. They winced from the impact but it was a miracle they hadn’t been torn to pierces. Gritting their teeth and steeling their resolve, they attacked again.

“Please stop!” Papyrus shouted. “You’re just making it worse!”

Sans was right by his brother’s side, carefully weighing his options. He shouldn’t have been surprised his brother was so steadfastly resolved to fix this whole mess with pacifism. Sans had to find a way to fix this around Papyrus’s impediment. Realistically, if Sans went full-bore like he did when he typically fought the human at the end of the palace corridors, he could take them out. The human’s LV was still relatively low right now. But attacking the human outright would make Papyrus turn on him and he’d try to stop them.

So the best thing he could do was keep the dragon pinned down and let the kid finish him off. It was . . . brutal, and he hated the idea of helping the brat kill his own brother.

But if it saved their timeline, if it ensured their future remained intact, it was the only thing he could do.

“I’m sorry, bro,” Sans said as he focused all his magic on the dragon. It thrashed, its orange eyes wild and wide as it tried to attack, managing a slow and stuttering swipe once in a while, but for the human, it was like shooting a fish in a barrel.

And for that reason, the human was left unsatisfied.

“Don’t help me!” the human shouted.

That got Sans and Papyrus to start. The human barely spoke, and now they were glowering warningly at them.

“I want to fight him! You’re ruining it!”

Sans could have blasted that kid if he could. “Kid, this is a fight you can’t win. This thing is specifically designed to eat little freaks like you.”

“Then let me try!” Then the brat had the audacity to lunge at him! It was enough to cause Sans’ concentration to slip, causing the dragon to finally wrestle itself free of their control. The dragon roared, completely enraged and snapped around, going right for the kill.

Papyrus dove forward, wrapping the kid in his arms and shoving them away just in time. But the jaws snapped down hard around Papyrus, and the skeleton let out a cry of pain. He winced, bracing himself, but he had just managed to grip the dragon’s jaws, preventing them from closing around him completely and snapping him in half.

He then forced the jaws open just enough for him to worm his way out, falling clumsily to the ground. Papyrus cradled his side, wincing in pain.

“Human! Are you alright?!” he called out.

But the human wasn’t paying attention to him. They just charged right forward, fist raised, landing another blow on the distracted beast. It reeled for just a second before twisting around, its tail lashing out to swipe at them.

Papyrus once again used his blue magic to stop the tail dead in its tracks, allowing the human to easily dodge, but they were angry at Papyrus’s interference. Sans regained his footing and summoned a Gaster Blaster and the blast from the skull construct knocked the dragon off its feet.

“Why are you helping me?!”

“Because you can die!”

“I don’t care.”

“Die for GOOD!!!”

That got the kid to stop and stare at him. Papyrus latched onto that moment of hesitation for dear life.

“If I–if that dragon kills you, you won’t be able to come back!” Papyrus warned. “That’s it! No more do-overs! No more resets!”

The human’s eyes went wide. And Papyrus desperately hoped the human sensed his sincerity, or at least his desperation.

The human swallowed, staring down the draconic beast. It was back on its feet, shaking itself off, and ready to attack again.

“Fine. We’ll fight it together.”

“I was hoping you’d just–run away and let it tire itself out!” Papyrus called out feebly.

But the human wasn’t so eager to throw away such an exhilarating fight. Their approach became far more defensive, reacting to incoming attacks instead of bull-rushing straight on. Papyrus didn’t like that approach any better! They still wanted to kill him!

And worst of all, Sans was in on it. His entire focus was on stopping the dragon at every turn, impeding its attacks by freezing it in place. Then the kid could wail on it to their heart’s content.

Papyrus moved to stop them, but more commotion caught his eye behind him. Arriving at the scene was Undyne! Actually, two of them! Along with another Sans!

The human blinked, rubbing their eyes. Papyrus didn’t blame them if they thought they had started seeing double.

“Come on! Take him down!” Undyne cried out, throwing a volley of spears at the dragon. Papyrus couldn’t tell if that was past or future Undyne. He supposed it didn’t quite matter at the moment.

Now everyone was on the dragon, pummeling it with magic attacks. It tried to fight back, tried to bite and claw at anyone that got too close, even tried to blast them with its devastating laser attack, but the two Sans-es worked together to keep it immobile as the Undynes and the human unleashed their full strength against it.

Papyrus watched, horrified. This wasn’t right! This isn’t what he wanted! He didn’t want anyone getting hurt! Not even the dragon!

And then it got worse. Vines whipped into the fray, gripping everyone and pulling them away, even pinning the dragon under a cocoon of thorns. Papyrus turned to see Flowey emerge from the forest.

And in one of his many tendril-like vines he gripped Gaster–or whatever horrific remnants there was left of him.

Papyrus gasped.

“Now, now!” Flowey said in a sickly sweet voice. “I don’t think we should spoil all the human’s fun, should we?”

He dropped Gaster unceremoniously to the ground where he splattered like tar, his form incomprehensible. Papyrus could barely make out his face.

Flowey pulled both Undynes and both Sans-es away, leaving the kid free to approach the dragon. He loosened his grip on the dragon as well, letting it rise to its feet for one final fight.

The dragon had been significantly weakened, but it had more than enough ferocity left in it to cause devastating harm.

And Papyrus saw the future play out before him. He saw flashes of red against the snow. He saw the human’s body torn to pieces. He could hear the tortured, agonized wails of pain and grief.

He felt every crippling moment of pain and sorrow he experienced tenfold. He felt it all in that one moment, and he knew that he NEEDED to stop it from happening ever again.

The dragon’s jaws snapped open, a terrible whine building in its throat as its maw glowed a bright and blinding blue. The human hunched over, ready to strike.

Papyrus rushed forward, screaming.

”STOP!!!”

He threw himself in front of the human, his arms stretched out to his sides.

The blast hit him full-force, all that magic searing his entire body like fire. It consumed him in a terrible pain, pain so complete he thought he would rend to dust right then and there.

It was over as fast as it started. Papyrus collapsed to his hands and knees, every bone in his body shaking. But he looked over his shoulder, seeing the human was unharmed.

The human was in shock. Their mouth was dropped open, their eyes wide, their hands hanging limply at their sides.

Papyrus turned back to face the dragon, who had also paused. It let out a low continuous growl, but . . . it wasn’t attacking them.

The skeleton shoved himself to his feet. He forced one foot in front of the other, limping towards the dragon. Every step was agony. Every move took every ounce of his concentration and will.

Everything hurt.

But it was nothing compared to the hurt the dragon–himself–was surely experiencing.

He wasn’t aware of everyone else behind him, who were watching, stunned and frozen in place, waiting with bated breath.

“It’s ok . . .” Papyrus whispered, raising a hand to the dragon.

The dragon flinched away from him, letting out a louder warning growl.

“I know . . . I know,” Papyrus said, stepping closer still. The dragon didn’t move. Those orange eyes were locked firmly on Papyrus, still letting out a steady growl like thunder. “You must be so angry and so scared. I know. I too was hurt. And . . . I did something so very terrible. And whatever hurt you’re feeling now . . . it doesn’t come close to the hurt I felt then.”

Behind him, Undyne winced with guilt.

“None of this should have happened. And I’m so very sorry it did happen. But it can stop. All of this can stop right now. No one has to hurt anyone anymore. Not them. Not you.”

Papyrus was so close now, so close he could reach out and touch the dragon.

He raised his hand. The dragon flinched away from him.

“It’s ok,” Papyrus said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. And I won’t let them hurt you anymore, either.”

Flowey let out a snarl, ready to show that stupid skeleton just how wrong he was. But two skeletons and two Undynes simultaneously reached out and pinned him down, preventing him from moving a single inch. Both Sans-es and Undynes glared down at him warningly.

Papyrus stepped closer. The dragon pulled back its head, growling louder, so he stopped, and just held his hands in the air before him. He wouldn’t put a hand on the dragon if it did not want to. He could be patient.

And slowly, very slowly, the dragon’s growls softened to a whimper, and then to a whine. The savage and feral gleam in those eyes faded. And Papyrus could see . . . something within.

Familiarity. Recognition. Pain and hurt.

“It’s ok.”

The dragon closed its eyes. Its body began to shake.

“It’s ok. It’s over. It’s all over.”

Its head extended forward, its snout pressing into Papyrus’s hand. Papyrus breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped his arms around its muzzle.

“It’s ok. You’re ok. It’s going to be ok.”

And he stood there for a long time, just holding the poor tortured creature, whispering soft words of assurance to it. And then the dragon’s body sagged, overcome by exhaustion, and it crumpled to the ground. Papyrus followed it down, kneeling before the dragon, still cradling its massive head in its hands.

Its body crackled with orange magic, and at this, Papyrus pulled away. He recognized this magic. The dragon’s body began to shrink and change, the horns and spikes and tail all disappearing as it became smaller and more humanoid. In moments, the dragon reverted back to its proper shape–Papyrus.

The Papyrus that was once a dragon looked up blearily at himself, and a brief look of confusion crossed his face before the exhaustion of the battle and the transformation consumed him and he fell unconscious.

Papyrus eased himself to the ground, making sure he was ok–he hadn’t quite gotten over how surreal this all was, but that wasn’t important. All that mattered was that he was ok–

They all were ok.

He turned back around to see everyone staring at him, all with some mixture of shock, awe, and admiration, though Flowey mostly looked furious. But the human especially was fixated on him. And Papyrus thought he saw tears in the human’s eyes.

There was silence. No one seemed sure what to even say, certainly not Papyrus.

But then the human, of all people, spoke up.

All they said was one word, thick and choked with emotion as tears threatened to spill.

“Why?”

Papyrus simply shrugged. He knew why, but he too was exhausted, barely able to stand after enduring a single blow from the dragon.

“Because . . . because it was right,” he said. “Hurting people–it never does any good, does it? It just . . . hurts people. It only leads to bad things. You know the old phrase, hurt people hurt people. Which sounds . . . silly when you say it like that. But the pain you inflict on someone, it . . . reverberates. Echoes across everyone they come across. I . . . I didn’t want you–anyone–to have that happen to them.”

The human lowered their head. “I just–I needed to know what happened, and I just thought–” They stopped themselves, shaking their head. “I could always fix things if they went wrong.”

“Not everything,” Papyrus muttered. He grinned. “Why do you think we’re here?”

Again, a heavy silence hung around them. Undyne–the Undyne from the future–came to his side and cast healing magic on him to make sure he didn’t collapse into dust.

“That was unbelievably stupid of you,” she said, biting back tears. “But . . . It was also really brave.”

Papyrus just shrugged in response. What else was there to say?

But once he was feeling marginally better, he pushed himself to his feet. There was one other person he had to see to.

Gaster.

The scientist was reduced to a fraction of his former self. He was leaning up against a tree, barely holding himself together. Papyrus came to his side, desperately struggling with what to do. Did he need healing? Would healing magic even work on him?

Seeing Papyrus’s distress, Gaster raised a hand–a hand that was rapidly blinking in and out of existence.

D͚̖͓on't̙̘̗ wor͉r̘͙̜y ̩̳a̼̯boṷ̘t m̗̹e.̭ I͉ṭ͎̳ ͓̥is ̙o̝v̘̝ͅe͍͖̳r.

Papyrus didn’t know what to say, because he knew what the doctor meant. Gaster closed his eyes, sighing with content.

I̩̠̜ c̠a̤n g̬o̲͕̤ ̜̖̹ịn̖̥ pe͖ac̩e̠ now. A͕̬̲nd̤̳̦ now̹͕̝,̮̦ so̗ͅ ̗̝̠must͚ ̱̠y̘͇̠o͓u.̗

“But now what do we do?” Past-Undyne spoke up. “I mean, I don’t know a lot about time travel and stuff, but doesn’t having two of us around cause a paradox or something? That’s bad, right?”

“It’s easy enough to fix, actually,” Sans spoke up. Which Sans was that? It was hard to tell. “All the kid needs to do is RESET. And everything will go back to normal.”

“Normal . . . how?” Future-Undyne asked. “Are we just gonna disappear?”

“I mean, technically yes? Because our future wouldn’t have happened. So we’ll no longer exist.”

“So we’re just gonna blink out of existence?!” Undyne shouted. “I didn’t sign up for that!”

“You blink out of existence every time the kid resets,” Sans reminded her calmly. “That’s time travel for you.”

Undyne stared. “Ugh. Time travel is bullshit. It’s now my least favorite anime trope.”

Papyrus laughed.

The human looked between all of them, including the glowering and fuming Flowey who hadn’t yet tried anything because one Sans was bad enough and now there were two and Flowey knew those trash bags were begging for an excuse to throttle him.

“So . . . I just go back? And it’s like none of this ever happened?” the human clarified.

“Yup. Same as always,” Sans said casually.

“Then no one’s going to remember anything that happened!”

“No one but you, kiddo,” Sans said. “Same as always.”

The human’s gaze went far away. It hit them rather hard that no one was going to remember this, or at least, not fully. Sans might remember bits and pieces, he always seemed to have some sort of awareness of the resets, but never a complete picture.

But if the human wanted to try this again, nothing and no one could stop them.

Which, for the first time in their life, was horrifying.

It didn’t escape them what absolutely insane and absurd lengths the monsters went through to stop them. Which meant that the future in which they succeeded must have been truly awful.

So awful that Sans and Papyrus and Undyne traveled back in time to stop them.

It hit them hard and pierced deep. This gift they had–this power of DETERMINATION–they had been using it so foolishly, so callously, not paying a second’s mind to how badly it was hurting everyone around them.

Because they thought it didn’t matter, they could just do it over–

But that clearly wasn't the case. It was just like Papyrus said, there were echoes. Even if they couldn’t see it now, their actions still hurt them.

The human collapsed to their knees and sobbed. They felt Papyrus kneel down right next to them, and he wrapped his arms around them in a hug and held them tight.

The human decided they didn’t want to hurt anyone else. No more. Not again. Never again.

“I’m sorry . . .” they said. “I’m so sorry . . .”

“I know,” Papyrus said. “But you still have the choice to make it right.”

The human knew that. To them, there wasn’t a choice. So they wasted no more time.

Their soul filled with DETERMINATION.

And they RESET.

#what are friends for #waff #undertale #fan fiction #fanfiction #undyne #papyrus #sans #gaster #wd gaster #flowey #gaster blaster au #gb au

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riftfic · 1 year ago

Text

14. Human

Who will save you now?

Warnings: strong language, referenced suicide, violence

Featured Characters: Sans, Chara/Frisk (Reader), Flowey/Asriel, Wingdings Gaster, Asgore Dreemurr

Note: If you haven't read the previous chapters recently (maybe even if you have outside the past few days), I recommend giving it another read. It's definitely not a requirement, but I added some extra details throughout the story and a few more scenes, most notably in Chapters 3 & 9, that should help the ending feel even more satisfying.

Several years later . . . here's the next chapter.

< Load | RESET | Continue >

From a single strip at the Underground’s heart, Waterfall tunneled away into a boneyard mess of caves. In one direction, the passage to Hotland sprawled in mushroom-light mazes and a boulder choke disguising Tem Village. In the other, a quiet bubble harbored a simple mouse, neck deep in plans to retrieve a wedge of crystallized cheese. Between them, from a silver door that had only been there sometimes, Sans stepped out into a flood of bioluminescence.

Though a door latched shut behind him, dark, damp stone replaced the surface he reclined against now. Its cold, unyielding texture met his fingertips, a reminder that there would be no second visit.

He clutched the spindly metal bars of that unnaturally gray birdcage. He tucked his chin over the iron rung at its peak, hardly dousing the light of the small monster soul trapped inside.

The task set before him was unconscionable. Even if he managed to survive . . .

“i can’t do that,” he had resisted. “i can’t kill Frisk!”

“They shouldn’t even be alive,” said Wingdings.

The words took Sans by surprise. He set his heels despite the encroaching void and a minute hand nearing his final stroke of midnight.

“oh, but ya want me to take this soul all the way back to asriel, huh?” he said. “make sure he survives? double standard, if y’ask me.”

"I didn't say it was fair,” Wingdings hardly breathed. His eyes gained urgency. “The human . . . might survive, if they're determined enough. But after you pull the lever . . .”

At that, Sans’ anger siphoned away, leaving behind a fear much broader than the fate of one human child. Their mistake had set so many events into motion. Lives had been built and destroyed, paths forged and buried. The machine could rewrite the course of everything as easily as it could leave the butterfly effect intact. They could remain here in the present or be sucked back to the day it all began. With a phenomenon this unpredictable, just about anything could happen . . . but whatever world they left behind, at least it might survive.

“if i do use their soul to run the machine,” Sans said more calmly, “what’ll happen to asriel, then? to me? to the underground? heck, what’ll happen to you?”

It was clear to Sans by the frown on Wingdings’ face that his brother had already considered this question. Despite his ingenuity, the once royal scientist only shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he said, “but I do know what’ll happen if you don’t.”

In the present, Sans beat his fist against the rock behind him. Why did it have to be so fucking twisted? Why his Frisk? And why did he have to be the one to do it? Maybe it didn’t have to work out like this. Maybe there was more time than Dings thought. Maybe he could find another way.

His phone buzzed rhythmically at his waist. He pulled it from his coat pocket and looked at the screen. The image of Papyrus illuminated those shadowy cavern walls below several missed call notifications. Sans took a deep, shaking breath, then another, and answered.

“pup . . .”

“SANS!” Papyrus shouted. “I’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU FOR HOURS!”

“oh.”

“I’M NEARLY TO NEW HOME. A FRIEND HAS INFORMED ME THAT THE HUMAN IS IN TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE DANGER! IS THAT TRUE?!”

Sans nearly broke down then and there. Though seeing Wingdings again had restored many of the deeper cracks in his soul, it still felt fragile, even more when considering the path ahead of him.

“more than true,” he whispered.

A patch of silence followed. Sans dropped his cheek to rest on birdcage bars.

“tell me it’s gonna be all right,” he murmured into the receiver.

“Sans . . . where are you?” Papyrus asked, more gently than was typical.

“just tell me, please.”

“It’s . . .” Papyrus sighed. “It is going to be all right. Now, WHERE ARE YOU?”

Hearing the words in his brother’s voice quelled Sans’ fear, enough to return strength to his limbs. He lingered on the phone a moment longer, as if the connection truly placed him at Papyrus’ side.

“meet you there,” he said.

You followed in Asgore’s shadow, watching the folds of his cape sway and collide like cattails in the wind. His silhouette consumed yours. He could hold all of you in one hand, let alone the tiny red soul he sought to claim.

Past the end of that long hallway mirror of the Ruins, the barrier undulated with powerful magic. Its waves of golden white licked the crackled stone as if in search of escapees. It contoured Asgore’s silhouette in a crisp white line as he turned to face you.

That all-too-familiar smile prickled the fur along his muzzle. Looking up into his apologetic eyes, you remembered his hands on your shoulders, his all-encompassing embrace that threatened to lose you in his fur. The macaroni pictures, the crayon drawings, the sweaters . . . the buttercup pie. You shuddered.

“Human,” said the king of all monsters. His powerful voice trembled, and the earth trembled with it. “It was nice meeting you. . . . Goodbye.”

He held his trident firmly in both hands and lowered his head . . . but a stoplight glow kept his chin from falling too far. There you stood, hands outstretched, red soul hovering above your palms.

“I’m the last one,” you said.

Asgore stared at the heart-shaped spirit as if entranced. Its warmth illuminated your fingers with ruby firelight. It was in the crimson glint of your eyes, however, that he became lost, captured in the clutch of a ghost from years long gone.

“Do I . . . know you?” he asked, bewildered both by the situation and the question itself.

“Please, take it,” you said. Tears fell down your face. “It’s no good for anything else.”

Asgore’s eyes widened with recognition. “Chara . . . ?”

Intense heat flared in the hallway behind you. Before Asgore could say anything more, a brilliant ball of flame had launched him into the cavern wall. Flecks of gray stone spat out among a field of clouds.

You swung to face the spellcaster. Toriel stood framed in the doorway, her face scrunched in a scowl like a snarling lion. One smoking arm remained outstretched, clenched in a fist.

“What a miserable creature,” she growled, “torturing such a poor, innocent youth.”

You hadn’t known what path the timeline had taken or whether your friends would convene . . . yet Toriel had arrived, exactly the same as before. Though you may have jokingly called her “mom,” the name now rang through your head with the purity of a windchime in the breeze.

Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus appeared after her, along with a swath of others you had met along the way. You wanted to tell them to turn back, that you did not deserve them, that if they had known the demon you truly were, they never would have wanted to be your friend.

Your color drained. As they approached, a web of vines crawled after them along the dark ceiling and cavern floors.

You ran to Asgore, who sat slumped amid rubble and a brand new hallway door in the shape of his back. He grumbled in discomfort. A layer of dust coated his royal robes and golden mane, which he shook like a dog. You slid to your knees beside him.

“Hurry, please!” you blubbered to the stunned monster king. You proffered your soul as if it were on fire. “There isn’t a lot of time . . . !”

Toriel snatched you back by the shoulders.

“What has come over you, my child?” she demanded. “Do you not know what he means to do with it?”

“Mom, I . . .”

“Frisk.” Her eyes had begun scanning the room in fright. “Where is Sans?”

The path to the barrier gave Sans more difficulty than expected. The last time he had attempted these roads with fewer than two shortcuts, he had been a century younger and taking his time, mushroom hunting with young Papyrus. His limbs lagged behind his will. His breath rattled in his chest. Though his fingers slipped against that birdcage no one remembered, he refused to release its colorless patina bars. Everything depended on this.

He took what natural shortcuts he could—river ferries and elevators—but even then, the trip cost more time than he had bargained. At long last, he had reached the innards of Asgore’s home in the capital. He ran, huffing and puffing, down the golden tiles of the Last Hallway.

Even as he sped past, his heart ached to remember your meeting here. The flare of sunlight on your head, the even brighter smile on your face, the secret passwords on your tongue. . . . The memory of that pure soul compared to the corrupted one he had read beside the rift overwhelmed him, and he paused. He touched a hand to the white pillar that once occluded him.

Who were you now? Frisk? Chara? Both? If Chara truly were your forgotten name, if everything he knew about the tragedy of Asgore’s children had happened to you, such terrible memories weighed down on your tiny shoulders. It did not surprise him, then, that your violence had escalated to remember those horrors. Ferocious thorns had been hiding in the soft petal corona of your soul, and neither of you had known it.

Clinging tightly to the forgotten prison in his hands, he buried his sentiments and tore through vine-swathed hallways into a dark passage. He skidded to a halt just past the silvery stone archway to the barrier, where his bones clattered with shock.

The cavern pulsed in radiant waves like the steady spin of a lighthouse beacon. Twisting, thorny roots filled the cavern like a briar patch, and their position changed with every flash of light. Among the vicious mess of chloroplast, monster figures had been tangled, their souls nearly devoured.

The dimming pinpoints of Sans’ eyes could not peel away from your small form, crumpled on the floor before a yellow flower. Your red soul snapped among his vines, barely shimmering in a ruby remnant before splitting apart into nothing.

Sans could not stifle the horror that clawed its way out his mouth. He nearly dropped the cage.

Flowey turned to grin at him. “Trash day already?” he asked, spinning his head in a full circle.

Sans shook. No. This couldn’t have happened. You couldn’t have fallen to that little heathen daisy so quickly. You couldn’t have lost your determination. If only he hadn’t lingered in the hallway. If only he had kept running . . . !

You blinked at the human soul still hovering in your outstretched hands. It glowed red, though not as brightly as it once did. Still alive. Still yours to give. Not torn to bits by a nihilistic plant.

Only moments ago, you had fallen to a flower, the same flower weaving his way into this chamber of darkness and light. Toriel’s hands rested heavily on your shoulders. Papyrus chattered away, as Asgore pleaded with Toriel to give him a second chance. While they were distracted, Flowey dug his way out of the earth, grinning deviously, ready to spring all over again.

Confusion waltzed with your mind, spinning you gently. You had experienced this rush backward a thousand times before. Just a short step in reverse to let you continue after falling or if you disliked the outcome . . . but you did not have the determination to do it now. You had intended to die. You had meant for one of two creatures to take your power and be done with it.

It hadn’t been you.

The world shifted. Time rushed away like the tide, back into the ocean depths. Darkness bled away into golden sunlit tiles and stained glass windows. Birds chirped among a distant rustle of leaves. The air danced with prisms for a fleeting moment before the world reappeared as it had only moments before.

Sans realized suddenly that he stood in the Last Hallway all over again. A glittering pocket of magic danced like a handheld star beside him, where he had touched the pillar and remembered you. It had not been there before.

Air filled his ribcage in jagged gasps. His soul burned as it usually did when you reset time, though somewhat gentler. His hands shook around the bars of that monochrome birdcage with fear, confusion, and exhilaration.

He had just turned back time. He could feel it. And if that were the case . . .

He ran. He sprinted faster than ever to reach you, but you lay still on the floor again. Though uncertain how, and though it hurt him, he turned back the clock a second time. Then a third. Then a fourth. Every time, the flower tore apart your soul like a horror movie on repeat, until finally, Sans arrived one split second earlier. Your soul spun a circle above you as if hanging from a string, and a ring of white pellets had only begun readying itself to deliver the killing blow.

Before Sans knew what he was doing, he was charging Flowey through a rough shortcut, foot extended to drop-kick the weed down into his roots. That cursed dandelion’s shriek had never sounded so satisfying. Sans’ dragon skulls had already manifested over his shoulders, jaws aflame—but when they blasted blue-hot magic out their mouths, Flowey had already disappeared into the earth.

A whip of green struck the ground where Sans had stood. He skipped out of the way in the nick of time, then again, and again, and again. He punched his free hand to the ground, and a wave of long, white magic bones crashed down through the air like meteorites. They speared into the cave floor with enough force to run cracks through the ceiling. Clouds of rock sprinkled down onto his shoulders. Flowey’s grip on his friends and family slackened just an inch.

Flowey surfaced again, undamaged beyond a few frayed petals.

Sans panted, his adrenaline quickly plunging. His bones began aching again, though his raging soul burned brightly through its seams. Sweat slipped down his skull into the neck of his shirt. He didn’t know if he could withstand this much longer. He did not know if his soul could survive another time jump.

“Ha,” chirped the little flower. “Looking pretty rough, there, old pal." His eyes glinted red within the skull-like hollows of his face. "Poor, flimsy little monster souls. Why bother trying? Even Chara was no match for me, and they were a million times stronger than you’ll ever be!”

Sans knew he was right. He did not have the full resilience of a purebred human. Even you had to try several times before making it past this bitter herb. Who in their right mind would bet on him: half blind, right arm nearly useless, only one HP? Just like every moment in his life, he would find a way to fuck this up. Just like every other time before, he would be useless to help.

His hope dwindled down, as did the fire in his soul. He could not find the strength to evade the string of bullets shooting toward him, but they were serendipitously blocked by a fence of small white bones.

“DON’T LISTEN TO HIM, SANS!” said Papyrus through clenched teeth. “YOU. CAN. WIN!”

“We are here to help you,” said Toriel. “No matter what happens.”

“Statistically it’s impossible,” said Alphys, “b-but you’ve beaten the odds before! I know you can do it!”

“Fuck you, Sans,” said Undyne.

Everyone looked at her. She shrugged.

“Sans,” said Asgore. “Listen to me.”

Sans clung to the bars of the birdcage more tightly, eyes glued to the smirking flower afar.

“You are not just your father’s son,” said the king of the Underground. “You have more than magic running through your veins. Remember that . . . and stay determined!”

Sans’ white pupils snapped to Asgore’s blue and brown at once. The statement had struck him somewhere deep beyond the monster white shell of his soul, and still more words passed between them unspoken. Sans then dragged his gaze across all his friends, who looked back with steadfast confidence, even Undyne.

Flowey coiled down on himself, pretending to be scared. “Urgh, no!” he whimpered. “Unbelievable! This can’t be happening! I can’t possibly withstand all of you . . . you . . . !” His face contorted into his evilest grin. “Idiots.”

His vines snapped taut around every monster, and yet another thorny coil snatched Sans from the ground as well. Through ropes of green and brown, Sans watched your red soul go down the flower’s throat, sealed behind hungry white fangs within a golden crown. Then, everything became lost in a flash of white.

Clang.

Sans moaned. Between that blitz of light and now, he had dropped to his hands and knees. His palms felt scorched—and dreadfully empty. Ahead of him, the last withering wisp of gray silver bars dissipated into the air as if made of smoke. Seeing it clawed the magic away from his bones with every mounting breath. His eyes became hollow.

The cage was gone—really, truly gone. Not even a step backward in time could bring it back, and with it, Asriel’s soul. Sans felt the world bottom out. Had he really failed, after everything?

A voice cackled overhead. “Finally,” it said. “I was so tired of being a flower.”

Sans looked upward and blanched. Aside from a few drawings you had scribbled out as a child, he had never witnessed this ungodly creature of countless souls. Sans had only been consumed by him, a coal block among many to fuel his hate. Now, Asriel Dreemurr hovered overhead in all his glory, raging with deathly power in a kaleidoscope of energy. No wonder you had nightmares.

Past the wreckage of their earlier fight, your body still lay heaped on the floor among stone and dead vines, seemingly asleep. As Sans crawled close, tears threatened to form.

He bit them back. No. He needed to hope. He needed to dream. He needed to be determined that he could call you out from the darkness, just as you had done for him a hundred times. It was his turn, now. Everyone would make it to the other side . . . including Asriel.

“Huh?” Asriel grunted as he caught wind of Sans below. “What are you still doing here? I ate your soul, you dirty lawn bag!”

“grass not,” said Sans as he stood, dusting the dirt from his jacket with his left hand.

“Ugh.” Asriel pinched his muzzle exasperatedly. “So annoying. How many times have you died now? Thirty-five? Thirty-six?” He thrust a rocket’s flare at Sans with a wicked smile. “Thirty-seven?!”

Sans gathered your body into his arms and stepped into a last-minute shortcut, safely away from that raw magical surge. After hiding your figure inside an Asgore-shaped wall hole, he flitted through the blue light of a portal once again. He reappeared in the air, directly in Hyperdeath’s path, only inches from his head.

“bone apétit, fucker,” he said and threw a handful of small bones at Asriel’s face. Though they caused no significant damage, they certainly got his attention.

Sans landed on all fours and scrambled. Bullets, fireballs, shooting stars, and lightning strikes raged after him. They left craters in the ground and drove deeper cracks into the ceiling overhead. Stalactites fell and shattered. Sans dodged every one of them. His body thoughtlessly followed the part of him that knew how to survive but had no time to ask permission, so begged forgiveness instead.

As Asriel Dreemurr took a moment to lift his hands, Sans struggled to catch his breath. His hood smelled of smoldering keratin. Holes had been burned through his sleeves. His body felt slick and ashen against his jacket’s cotton interior. The bones he had tossed like a scoop of dog biscuits into Asriel’s face had been the last magic he could muster. Whatever great power the prince of the Underground gathered now, Sans doubted he could survive it.

The world darkened. Sans could no longer see Asriel or the barrier, not even his hands if he raised them. Everything had become silent except the paddle of his own breath.

A skull three times his size suddenly materialized from the shadow. In appearance, it reminded him of those he and his siblings had mastered, though its horns and features mirrored Asriel instead. It laughed in his face—a grim, bone-chilling sound like grating rocks—but Sans stood firm. Brilliant red rage and determination surfaced among the cracks of his soul. How dare Asriel steal from Papyrus? How dare he turn Sans’ own family magic against him?

Waves of light drew into the open bowels of its snakelike gullet. Debris ran past his ankles, recalling images of a lab in shambles, a brother consumed by a beast of timeless indifference. He braced himself, ready to dive into the darkness as he did then and save the ones that mattered most.

A flash of brightness burst over him once more. This time, it ripped the soul from inside him and shattered it into pieces.

His mind floated through an abyss, bursting with the fireworks of everything at stake. He thought of Papyrus, never seeing sunrise; Toriel, never knowing the love of a new family; Alphys, never seeing the true greatness inside herself; Undyne, never free to explore the world; Asgore, failing his people. He thought of you, swallowed in the belly of the very thing you had sought to save. He thought of the entire world, destroyed by the god of hyperdeath, eaten alive by a hungry rift in time. The pieces of his soul quivered in a glow of crimson, ready to disperse.

*But it refused.

The shards sewed back together. A burst of bright red coursed through him like a new flame that had waited a lifetime to be struck. He had to live. He needed to live. He wanted to live! The darkness faded away, and soon the pulsing light of the barrier greeted his eyes once again.

He gaped at his shaking hands, eye sockets wide with confusion and amazement and, more than anything, determination. His soul felt aflame with a ruby-red blaze that forged the bleeding cracks of every pain, every hardship, and every sorrow into an armor stronger than the thickest alloy.

Asriel’s final form hovered ahead of him. Giant wings had sprouted from his back, flaring with blues, reds, greens, and purples. His teeth bared in needle points to rival Undyne’s, seething with fury and frustration.

“YOU . . . GARBAGE BIN SKELETAL FREAK!” he screamed. “WHY? WHY CAN’T YOU DIE?!”

Sans realized very suddenly he couldn’t move. Asriel’s true power had run rampant through the air, cocooning him in a chrysalis of magic he could not escape. He struggled with no result. With no way to resist, Asriel’s attacks barreled into him again, and again, and again. Every time his brightly burning soul rebuilt itself, a little was lost along the way.

“I can feel it,” Asriel growled with relish. “Every time you die, your grip on this world slips away. Every time you die, your friends forget you a little more. Your life will end here, in a world where no one remembers you.”

Sans thought of Windings, lost in a hell of the same description. He recalled how determined his brother had been to hold that same world together in one piece, forgotten or not. Sans could not fail him again, not here, not now, not after how hard Dings had tried, not when all his hopes were so invested in his success. His brother’s words rang through Sans' head, the last he would speak before the ghost of a gray door had separated them.

“I want you to know,” Wingdings had said, “I believe in you more than I believe in anyone else.”

“heh, yer jus’ tuggin’ my tibia . . .”

“For Tesla’s sake, Sans,” Dings snipped. “Can you just, for a second, let me spoon-feed your imperceptibly minuscule single-cell petri dish of a trait you call your self-esteem?” He took a deep breath and steadied. “I know it might seem like you’re my only option,” he said, “but you’re the best option I could have ever hoped for. My big brother. The one who sticks it out through thick and thin. The one I could always rely on to come through for me. You can do this. You can save everyone. I know you can. So, please . . .

“. . . don’t give up.”

Sans closed his eyes and reached his heart out to Asriel’s amalgamation of souls. His friends and family were there somewhere. He could save them. They believed in him. Dings believed in him. His determination to save everyone bled through the confines of Asriel’s magic, and deep inside that monstrosity, something began to stir.

Darkness closed in and images of his friends materialized, though their faces could not be seen behind swimming, fragmented blurs of pitch. Toriel, Papyrus, Asgore, Alphys, and Undyne stood like statues in a ring around him. Under their breaths, they mumbled their deepest wounds aloud: loss, rejection, loneliness, guilt, and captivity.

Sans stared up at his little brother’s towering silhouette, shaken to see him so reduced.

“hey, puppy . . .” he began. He inched nearer. “‘member me?”

Papyrus did not acknowledge him beyond summoning a few bones, which promptly flew in his direction. They were nothing compared to what Asriel had been punting his way. Sans stood perfectly still to allow a large blue femur to pass harmlessly through his forehead, then teleported behind him. He wrapped his arms around his waist until his face lay cradled in the lower curve of his spine, as if it were fashioned to hold his head.

“is that any way to treat your big bro?” he asked quietly. He searched his head for his worst possible joke and turned to the remaining souls. “uh . . . w-whatcha all starin’ at?” He whipped out a finger gun as nonchalantly as possible. “never metacarpal of skeletons before?”

A long, silent moment passed. Then, Papyrus groaned. So did Undyne. Toriel giggled alongside Alphys with a snort. Asgore only sighed.

Sans beamed, then dodged what he saw as a well-deserved barrage of attacks from all five of his monster friends.

“hey, undies,” he said to Undyne past the quick flash of a blue spear. “i liked the tuna your piano. think you can teach me some scales?”

A similar response. Another wave of dangerous magic.

“knock, knock,” Sans said to Toriel. A hand of fire tried and failed to snatch him off the ground. He brushed off the heat. “i’ll take that as a ‘who’s there’. it’s yer local sentry, sans gaster!”

Toriel mumbled incoherently, but her last words sounded clear: “. . . Sans Gaster who?”

“yeesh,” Sans said, tugging at the neck of his shirt. “and i thought we were friends!”

Toriel laughed, then, revealing her face in a glorious burst of joy. Papyrus groaned more loudly than ever into existence.

“THAT’S ENOUGH BOONDOGGLING, SANS!” he shouted.

“i think you mean bone-doggling.”

“I DO NOT!” Papyrus stomped his foot.

With that, the rest of his friends returned to themselves, holding their stomachs or their heads in laughter. Sans wiped a joyful tear from his eye. By then, Papyrus had swept him off his feet into the tightest hug he could muster, which might have broken a rib were they more than specters. The remaining crew piled in: Toriel, Alphys, Asgore, even Undyne. In that one gesture, Sans’ soul swelled with hopes and dreams and burned brighter than ever.

“You’re d-d-doing great!”

“We’ve got your back, punk.”

“We believe in you.”

“heh . . . i’m rootin’ for me too, i guess,” Sans agreed bashfully.

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT,” Papyrus said, then lifted his eyes over Sans’ shoulder. “ONLY ONE MORE TO GO.”

As he said it, their images dissipated. Sans turned to follow Papyrus’ gaze. Another figure stepped from the shadow, eyes burning red through a shifting black cloud. A blood-red knife glinted in your hand. Your ruby soul quivered in the pit of your chest, a beacon through the dark.

“kiddo,” Sans breathed.

You shambled forward and blindly slashed for his neck. He side-stepped the sloppy cut. Your blade lodged into the unseen ground, so deeply it took a few tries to pry it out. Like a marionette, you lolled about to face him.

“It’s all my fault,” you murmured. “All my fault.”

“that ain’t true,” said Sans. He grimaced and ducked another swing. “you’re a good kid. you’ve always been a good kid.”

“I'm sorry,” you mumbled.

“why?” he asked. “you saved us. you saved me. you gave up your resets for it!”

Your razor-edged swipes and stabs began to falter. “My fault . . .”

“the only thing you’re at fault for is trying too bleedin’ hard.”

Though shaking, you continued to jab and swing your dagger with reckless abandon, and he continued to evade its path with infuriating precision. Whipping air and shuffling feet echoed through the dark as if you fought in an empty chapel.

“c’mon, bud!” Sans panted. Sweat had begun to gather on his forehead. “it’s me, sans!”

“Sans?” you replied in a fog. “Sans is dead. I killed him. It’s my fault.”

“i’m not dead. i’m right here.”

He came close, a breath away. Your knife grazed his cheekbone, revealing a stripe of red that trickled down into his shirt collar. As your arm passed his shoulder, he caught you around the chest and held on tight. He buried his face into your neck.

“i’m right here.”

At this, you froze. You held your knife shakily over his head, prepared to strike down into his back—but you didn’t. Though the black, jagged strokes of paint shifting about your head did not cease, the red of your eyes had dimmed.

“frisk. chara.”

He cradled your hiding face between his hands and looked into your eyes a long, long time. You could feel him reaching through your soul, judging you, reading you from cover to cover like an unlocked diary.

“it’s not your fault.”

As the words sank in, tears sprinkled down from that stormcloud between you, raining over your shoes and his. That dreadful, bloody knife clattered to the ground, and soon you followed. You sat seiza at his feet and clung to his coat, your face no longer shrouded. You sobbed into his t-shirt, broken, yet overjoyed to see him alive.

He hesitated, then slipped his fingers down into the deep brown thatches of your hair.

“You’re really here,” you said, looking up into his face.

Sans crouched down to your level and shrugged. “think so.”

“Am I dead?”

“uh.” He scratched the back of his skull and winced. “ya ain’t in yer body, that much is for sure. hopin’ you might join me on the way back, though . . . if you’d do me the honor.”

You hugged him again, even more tightly than before. Conflicted by memories old and new, shame hooked onto your soul with claws sharper than the dagger at his feet. His hand in your hair was all that kept you solid.

“I’m sorry.” Your tears fell faster as you considered the road leading you here. “I made you fall into the rift . . .”

“that one’s on me,” Sans said. “i knew what i might find down there.”

Your face sombered. “Did you find . . . him?”

Newfound brightness ignited his eyesockets. “he’s . . . alive,” he said quietly. He could scarcely believe the words. “trapped between time and space. it’s just like i thought.”

You were never more relieved to be proven wrong. Still, questions encircled your head like stars. Where was his brother, now? If Sans had gone to that place, how had he returned? How had he survived the rift, and Flowey no less? Was he the one turning back the clock? That should have been impossible.

As you extended a hand to smear the streak of red you had carved into his face, a terrifying thought occurred to you.

“Determination,” you breathed. “Sans, you didn’t—!”

“no,” he said.

“Monsters don’t bleed,” you said firmly in an attempt to call out his bullshit.

“not full-blooded monsters, no,” he agreed.

Several moments passed in which you digested these words, and what they implied.

His smile slowly fell into a grimace, a mix of regret and weary sadness. He sat down in the darkness across you. Here, the two of you were truly alone. He breathed in, breathed out.

“skeletons are kinda hard to come by,” he began hesitantly, “if ya hadn’t noticed. we’re only born under certain circumstances . . . with . . . certain parents.”

He lifted his head to the darkness above as if he might see the sky. A piece of him drifted away into nostalgia on Noctis wings. Bittersweet was the only word you could surface for his expression now.

“hardly look nothing like dad,” he began with a half-hearted shrug. “he was like . . . a dragon made of blue stars, a constellation in a nebula. huge, bigger than asgore. gast clan always was, compared to the dreems. i see him in my magic, though, sometimes. his face in my blasters, even if just the skull.”

You couldn’t find words. Surely he didn’t mean what you thought.

“don’ hardly look like mom, neither,” he said with a partial smile, “but we got her bones. we got her structure. i got some of her determination.”

“You’re half human.”

“i’m all me, thanks,” Sans snipped. Talking about it seemed to crawl over his bones like a spider bake sale.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” you asked, genuinely hurt.

He paused and picked at the healing cut on his cheek. He rubbed the red fluid pensively between his thumb and forefingers. “everyone down here knows what it means to be a skeleton,” he said quietly. “i thought you knew too, at first. we all did. a lot of folks thought it was why you shacked up with us instead of tori.”

Your shoulders relaxed.

“by the time i realized it . . . honestly, i didn’t know how to tell ya, kid. it's a sensitive subject.” He drew his coat around himself more tightly. “we’re the only ones left, y’know; me and puppy-dog. and dings. when the war started, humans went for families like ours first. papyrus was a bean, dings was just the right age for it to hit him later, and i . . . i remember everything, as always.”

Your guilt ascended all over again.

“we were just kids," he went on, "but nothin’ scared those purist humans more than a fuckin’ mule.”

“i’m sorry,” you said.

“don’t be,” he murmured. “not your fault.”

“But it is,” you insisted. Your tears began rising again. "I’m human. I’m responsible. After everything humans have done—after everything I’ve done—I don’t deserve any of you. I don’t deserve to be here. You shouldn’t have saved me . . .”

Sans gently wiped your face with his sleeve. “lemme finish, kid,” he said quietly. He heaved a long, drawn-out sigh, as if releasing a toxin trapped inside his ribcage. “i got a reason to hate humans, sure. they drove us down here. they blocked us in. hell, even monsters gave us a hard time for that half of us. papyrus was so bent on catching a human just to prove what side he was on. thought people might like him more.”

You felt sick.

“but,” Sans said, forcing you to meet his eyes, “my human parent sacrificed everything to save us. she stayed behind so we could get away. so many of us are alive because of her. you wanna tell me that was wrong? you wanna tell me she was responsible for everything that happened to us, just for being human?”

Your tears continued to fall.

“you can’t help where ya came from,” said Sans, “but you can choose where ya go. and boy have you gone to some good places.”

“Like the dump,” you quipped with a faint smile.

“heh, yeah,” he said. “like the dump.” He hung an arm over your shoulder. “so maybe you’ve made some big mistakes . . . but your heart was never in the wrong place. you want to make up for it. you want to be good. that’s what really matters, right?”

You sniffled and nodded. You had said the same to Alphys. Were you really beneath your own advice?

He gathered you into his arms again. After a long time kneeling there, faces in shoulders, he helped you back to your feet.

“gonna need you to step in from here on out,” said Sans. “the chances hyperdoofus listens to me are about a million to negative one.” He smirked. “think you can handle it?”

You took his hand and squeezed.

“Only if you stand there with me,” you said.

His heart swelled in his chest. “i can do that."

Holding onto one another tightly, you stepped out from the darkness into a rainbow of light.

Notes:

And thus we have arrived at my third and final head-cannon: skeletons are what happen when a monster loves a human. I think my nervousness about dropping that bomb contributed to the delay in a latent sense, haha. Sorry for that again.

The idea of skeleton monsters always puzzled me, because in most folklore and fantasy contexts they have a direct tie to humans. Undead, more specifically. But in the context of the Undertale universe, undead didn't sit right with me. Skeleton monsters that conveniently mimic human anatomy didn't either. Then I had this thought. It explained several things for me: the blood from Sans' cut in the no mercy run, the reason he's so powerful, that "fourth wall" breaking tendency he and Papyrus both share... I massaged things some for the narrative here, but yeah.

I had been building to this a little bit as a possible reveal, then considered sidestepping it, but then as I really hammered out my ending it became an essential fact. I added more scenes and details in earlier chapters to get a little more traction on it, hence why I recommended rereading. :) Either way, I hope you find it at least interesting.

Thank you again to everyone who held on until now. Only three chapters left!

Next Up! Chapter 15: Determination.

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