Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

No one did Christmas like the Holiday’s. Ever since Dess could remember, her parents went crazy on Christmas every single year. Lights strung up everywhere, the biggest tree they could fit in the house, and enough ornaments hanging from said tree to completely hide the pines beneath. Every inch of snow outside would be rolled up into a snowman and the radio would play the Christmas classics twenty four seven.

In Dess’ almost decade long absence, those memories of Christmas with her family were the only thing she had to look forward to when she tried to sleep. For almost a decade, she believed that she’d never get to experience Christmas with Mom, Dad, or her little sis ever again. The fact that she was brought back home only weeks before the day was the greatest gift she could have ever received.

It hasn’t been easy getting used to things again now that she is back home. Kris tried to warn her about how drastically things changed, but even if this weird magic Dark World stuff never happened, there was so much that hurt her head and heart to think about.

She missed out on her little sister’s entire childhood. Noelle was her age now, maybe a little older, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that her shy, sometimes reclusive personality was a result of her disappearance. Dad won his battle with cancer in the time she’s been gone, but it’s done a number on him. Dess’ heart sank when she first saw how many gray hairs he had and how many wrinkles were on his face. And Mom…

She barely recognized her anymore.

Carol Holiday was always a little reserved and aloof. She had this air of superiority and authority that no one could budge. Not even on the holidays would her mood change that much. When she was busy, Dess would be lucky to even see her some days. When she heard from Rudy that Carol had become even more shut off from everyone after she disappeared, Dess couldn’t help but feel responsible for it.

She couldn’t help but feel responsible for everyone’s grief. She knows they would have helped her if she asked, she did it before, but it wasn’t enough. What she did obviously wasn’t the right choice and she’s glad she’s been given a second chance, but it still hurts to know that her friends and family believed she was dead for nearly a decade.

The past few days have put her through an emotional wringer. Most of her days were spent wandering around the new town, marveling at the massive castles, sprawling cities, and magical forests that now lay over her memories of what home used to look like. Every once in a while, she’d bump into someone she recognized, only to be hit with another pang of grief over the time she lost.

The Catty she went to school with was much older now, and her little baby sister she used to babysit was now her age. Asriel, who was a little wimpy freshman when she last saw him, was now a full grown man who would have had a degree by now if he weren’t trapped in town. He was still a complete wimp though, so not everything had changed.

A lot of her old friends had either moved out before the barrier went up, died during the apocalyptic merging of this world and the Dark Worlds, or simply forgot who she was in the decade she’s been gone. Outside of her family and a couple of neighbors she remembered, all her friends were gone.

And finally, the most jarring and challenging thing to overcome, was just existing again.

For ten years, she was in limbo, unable to see anything, hear anything, smell, taste, feel. Out in the Void, there was nothing. All she could do was sit there, clinging onto her memories of the physical world and what it was like. Once she came back and was restored to her full physical form, she was reminded of all the once automatic functions she now had to focus on again. She needed to eat on a regular basis, which she found easy as everything she ate now tasted absolutely amazing after not having anything to eat for years. The less fun function she remembered shortly after that was that her body needed to dispose of waste. It wasn’t like she forgot how to use the bathroom, but it was an unpleasant experience after not having to go for years.

The scariest thing she had to worry about was she sometimes forgot to breathe. She had tried to hold her breath in the Void, hoping that at the very least she’d pass out and sleep through the endless sea of hours she would spend there, but she didn’t even need to breathe out there. The habit must have stuck, because she would sometimes have moments where she felt light headed or her chest would start to ache, only for her to realize she was holding her breath and she would gasp for air. To her surprise, Kris seemed to understand where she was coming from and gave her some tips to try and help her through it.

“If you ever feel yourself drift off, clench your fists and force yourself to blink a bunch.” They told her after she had another episode. “Dig your nails into your palms every once in a while, just to make sure you can. I sometimes found myself doing it even after I got rid of Vess. I’ve been doing it again ever since I got back.”

Kris has been Dess’ lifeline in this new world she found herself in. They were one of the few people she still remembered in town, and of course they were fully aware of everything she went through in the Void as they were sharing it with her for a while. Not only that, but they once had the same ability she did, the one that drove her to desperation and into the Void.

Through Kris, Dess was able to quickly make new friends who were able to understand a lot of her troubles. There was Ralsei, who was an almost spitting image of the Asriel she remembered before she left. He quickly found a place in his impressive castle to let her stay and fed her every craving with his magical cooking skills. Not to mention, he was the fluffiest little bastard in the universe and was a frequent hugger.

There was also Susie, Noelle’s girlfriend. Tall, super muscular, and goofy as hell. The first time Dess saw her, she was more than a little intimidated by the scars and the sharp teeth, but once things calmed down and no one was fighting, she found out there was an absolute sweetheart underneath that scary exterior. Knowing how timid Noelle became over the years, it made perfect sense that she’d attach herself to the biggest, scariest girl in school to keep her safe. Susie was cool, and had she been around while Dess was in high school, she knows they would have been fast friends.

Hanging out with these new friends, catching up with the old ones, and having plenty of time to get used to functioning like a normal person again, she believes she’s ready to celebrate her first Christmas in a long time.

Waking up in her room at Castle Town, she forced herself into the ridiculous outfit the Dark World decided to curse her with, poofy pants and all. At least the hat was cool. Besides, she wasn’t the only one walking around looking ridiculous. Still, seeing a few others walk around with suits of armor or beautifully embroidered dresses made her feel cheated that she got this multicolored garbage.

Stepping out of her room, she wanders down the hall of Ralsei’s castle, bracing herself for the cold that would be waiting for her outside. Noelle comes to visit every once in a while, mostly to see Susie, but she insisted that Dess stay here for the next couple days so that she and Rudy could make the house extra festive for her first Christmas in forever.

“Oh hey!” Dess lets out a startled yelp when someone pats her back, causing her to leap forward in shock before spinning around. Standing just behind her was Susie, who was now leaning back in surprise, her hands held up in surrender. “Uh, sorry.” She mumbles. “Didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to say good morning.”

“Good morning to you too.” Dess huffed, resting a hand against her chest to slow down her rapidly beating heart. “Sorry, I’m just… I’m still a bit jumpy after everything that happened.”

“I’ll keep it in mind then.” Susie says, lowering her hands and relaxing a bit. “Kris is still jumpy too. A lot of us are, actually.” Susie appears to bum herself out saying that, but she quickly picks herself up. “But hey, forget about all that, it’s Christmas! Noelle’s been losing her mind waiting for today and I don’t wanna miss out on what’s probably gonna be the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”

“Right.” Dess nods, forcing herself to calm down as well. Everything’s a mess, but Christmas was always the highlight of the year. She didn’t have anything to worry about today, she just needed to chill out and enjoy herself. Nothing was going to jump out at her, nothing bad was going to happen. She was never going to see that ocean of darkness or that damn doctor ever again.

Heading downstairs, she found that despite how early it was, plenty of people were already awake. Gathered around the large cauldron in the center of the castle’s main hall, Ralsei was quickly stirring something up. The green and black robes he usually wore were now replaced with bright reds and whites. A santa hat rested on his head as he worked, and upon seeing the girls come down stairs, he quickly waved them over.

“Dess, Susie! Good morning!” He greeted them, sounding especially cheery. “Have you two slept well, or were you too excited for today to sleep?”

“I slept like a baby.” Dess comments. “I’m actually surprised I woke up at a reasonable time, I was out for an entire day when I got… Is that eggnog in that pot?”

“Oh yes! You want some?” Ralsei asks, stopping his stirring to reach for a cup.

“You wouldn’t be able to fucking stop me!” Dess nods very enthusiastically. Eggnog was a staple for her household during the holidays. She remembers catching Dad slipping in a little brandy into his glasses and in exchange for not telling Mom, he’d let her have a couple drinks once she was old enough. It’s been so long since she’s had eggnog, she was almost tempted to dunk her head into the cauldron instead of waiting. If her time in the Void taught her anything, it was patience, and after only a few seconds, Ralsei rewarded that patience and handed her a glass which she downed in an equally short amount of time.

“There’s more where that came from, don’t worry.” Ralsei tells Dess before she even gets the chance to ask for a refill. “If anyone else wants some too, you’ll have to wait on them. Susie? Would you like some?”

“Yes please.” Susie nods, getting a glass herself before Dess gets a chance to get her refill. She takes the time to savor her drink, and by the time she’s finished her first sip, Dess had already downed a second glass.

“Alright, I probably shouldn’t have done that.” Dess huffs. “That’s gonna be it for now, it’s having a little trouble going down.” As much as she liked it, there was a limit to how much she could do in such a short time. She’ll be back for more though, that’s a promise.

“Oh, Rals!” Setting her glass down, Susie reached into her pocket and produced a small wrapped box. “Merry Christmas man. It’s not much, but I wanted to make sure you got something.”

“Oh my goodness!” Ralsei took the present, looking overwhelmed with joy. “Can I open it now?”

“Uh… I think so?” Susie says, turning to Dess. “I don’t know, is there a specific time you’re supposed to open these?”

“Just open it.” Dess tells Ralsei, before focusing on Susie? “Do you not usually do Christmas presents?”

“Not really.” Susie shook her head. “Dad would get me a jacket because I complained about being cold and that’s as much as I would ever get. He would say I was being greedy if I asked for anything else.”

“You dad sounds like an asshole.” Dess says the first thing that comes to mind.

“Well he’s dead so…” Susie shrugged, and Dess kept herself from saying anything else. Now she felt like an asshole. It’s not like she had much opportunity to socialize out in the Void, but still, she should probably watch what she says in the future. “Oh, don’t worry about it.” Susie takes notice of her reaction and is quick to assure her. “He one hundred percent was an asshole, It’s fine.”

“Oh my gosh!” Dess and Susie thankfully get to sweep this awkward conversation under the rug as Ralsei gasps at the sight of his present. Tossing the box aside, Ralsei holds up a pair of sunglasses, which he immediately places over his regular ones.

“Like I said, it’s not much, but I wanted to help you fit in with us a little more.” Susie says. “Kris and I look like battle hardened badasses, you’re still a fluffy little nerd. With those, you look way cooler!”

“Really?!” He asked, attempting to strike a pose to show how tough he looked with the glasses on. Dess couldn’t stifle her laugh. He looked like a complete dork.

“Hell yeah man, you look hard as hell with those glasses.” Susie cheers him on regardless. “I hope the glasses are alright. I was pretty busy so I couldn’t really get my hands on anything better.”

“These are perfect!” Ralsei insists, hopping off his stool to give her a hug. “Thank you so much! I’m never gonna take these off!”

“You’re welcome man!” Susie tells him, plucking his santa hat off to ruffle the hair beneath.

“I’ve got presents for both of you two, but they aren’t ready yet.” Ralsei tells them. “While you two are out at Noelle’s house, I’ll be getting them ready.”

“Wait, you have a present for me?” Dess asks.

“Well of course!” Ralsei nods, pulling away from Susie after taking his hat back. “I’m giving gifts to all of my friends!”

“We met only two weeks ago.” Dess says.

“So?” Ralsei shrugs. “Kris and Susie became my best friends the very same day we met! We haven’t had many chances to hang out yet, but I’m sure you’ll be just as close as the rest of our friends!”

Dess’ heart could barely handle this. God, this little guy is the cutest little fluff ball in the entire world.

“You know what, you’re absolutely right.” She tells him, giving him a hug. “We’re best buddies from here on out!”

“And just like that, Ralsei’s claimed another victim.” Susie laughs at their side. “Remember, you don’t get to keep him all to yourself.”

“Just try to take him away from me!” Dess taunts.

“Trust me, half the people in this castle would fight you if you ran off with him.” Susie snorts. “Anyways, I should probably go and wake Kris up if they aren’t already. You should head to Fort Holiday and meet up with Noelle. I haven’t finished wrapping her stuff yet so I’ll meet you there.”

“Right.” Dess nods. “I can’t wait to see what the place looks like now. We always go crazy with the decorations, but that place is massive.” For a moment, Dess feels her pulse quicken at the thought of either Noelle or Dad trying to string up lights on the roofs of that massive castle. Her first reset following her accident stringing up lights was still a haunting memory that refused to leave her head, she can’t imagine how dangerous it would be to try and get lights up on the fort walls that were at least four stories high.

“Would you like another eggnog for the road?” Ralsei asks Dess, snapping her out of her dark thoughts.

“Hell yeah I would, little guy.” Dess breaks into a smile, unable to focus on any of this horrible stuff while looking at a little goober trying to look like a badass santa.

Getting another refill and pacing herself so the richness doesn’t overpower her. Dess sets out through the castle's front gates to make it to Fort Holiday where her family was waiting. Breathing in the crisp winter air, she couldn’t help but feel nostalgic despite how different everything was now.

It was bizarre to think about, but the small town she was walking through, with all of its brightly lit up shops and attractions, was once the school she went to every day. The people roaming the streets and chatting with each other weren’t her friends and neighbors, but magical beings created from random objects from all over town. The few people she did recognize were completely different too, now possessing magic powers and dressed in fantastical clothing. Ralsei had called her a bard when she came back home, but as far as she knows, she doesn’t have any magical powers, though she hasn’t really tried. She should maybe ask Susie for help. If there’s any especially cool magic spells, she’d probably know how to do them.

The trip to Fort Holiday wasn't too long, but it was still very strange to walk through town. There was absolutely nothing familiar about her hometown anymore. Her memories of what the town used to look like were already so faded and distant, and while the place was thriving now, it was still disheartening to know she’d never see her home like she remembered it. She wanted her old room back, her old life back, all those years she missed out on.

As awful of a thought as it was, if she had the chance, she’d willingly reset all the way back to that one fateful day if she knew the reset would be gone immediately after. She’d get everything back, she’d have her little baby sister back, she’d have her high school crush back, she’d have everything she lost. It was never going to happen though. Even if it did, she’d probably only have a year before she ended up getting herself killed again, only this time, she won’t have her safe point to fall back on.

She hates how she can’t get these thoughts out of her head. It’s all she can think about when she doesn’t have someone to talk to. It was her default thought process at this point. If there wasn’t something new and engaging in front of her, she just fell back on wishing things would go back to normal. She’s out of that damn Void, but it sometimes feels like a piece of her was left behind in there.

Maybe that would explain the weird dreams she has, but that was a whole other can of worms she didn’t want to think about. Fort Holiday was just across the street and it was impossible to miss. Despite the massive size of the fort, they did not skimp out on decorations. Lights hung from all of the battlements, wreaths hung below the windows of each tower, each of which was completely wrapped up in multicolored tinsel. Approaching the guards at the front gate, she noticed that candy canes hung from their antlered helmets.

“Welcome home, Ms. Holiday.” The guards greeted her, stepping aside to allow her entry. “Your father awaits in his throne room.”

Dess thanks them as she steps inside of the fort. She isn’t exactly sure who those guys are even supposed to be. Darkners and the worlds they come from is something she’s still trying to comprehend, but she’s reasonably sure this fort and the guards patrolling it were somehow created by Dad. It was a little concerning, considering she’s pretty sure this fort is where the town's hospital used to be.

She tries to push that thought out of her head as well before she could take the time to linger on the fact that Dad likely spent more time at the hospital than at home. It becomes significantly easier to push all her thoughts out of her mind the moment she enters into the throne room and finds her family waiting for her.

“There she is! My little baby girl! The best early Christmas gift I could have ever received!” She wasn’t even three steps into the room before Dad had his arms around her. Instinct demanded that Dess told him off, that despite what she looked like, she wasn’t a teenager anymore, but she elects to remain silent and enjoy the moment. If she closed her eyes, it almost felt like the way things were ten years ago.

“It’s good to see you too, Dad.” Dess says with a bit of a heavy heart. She’s talked to him plenty of times ever since she got back, but every time she met up with him, it felt like her first time again. It hurt how much she missed him. “Are you feeling better?”

“You keep asking that and I keep telling you I’m fine.” Dad reassures her, pulling away so Noelle could run up and join them. “I’ve been cancer free for a while now and despite how long it’s been, I’m not old enough to start having problems just yet.”

“Dess!” Noelle quickly closed the gap now that Dad was out of the way to give her a hug. “Did you see all the decorations I laid out?”

“Yes I did.” Dess nods. “How the hell did you even get them up there? I got anxious just thinking about how high some of those lights are.”

“Oh I got some friends to help out.” Noelle tells her. “Catti did the tinsel up the towers. It’d be dangerous to try and hang those myself.” That still sounded incredibly dangerous and hearing that Noelle pushed the danger on someone else didn’t help, but with how nonchalant she was, Dess could only assume Catti had some way to avoid hurting herself.

“Is Mom going to be coming over?” Dess asks, noticing that Noelle and Dad were the only ones in the room.

“Of course she is, it’s Christmas.” Dad says, though Dess could easily spot the look of uncertainty on his face. “She hasn’t missed one since, even after you left. Things are a bit more hectic now and she’s got a lot on her plate, but I doubt she’ll miss out on a chance to spend another Christmas with you.”

Dess really hoped so. She’s only seen her mother once since she got back, and even then, it was only for a minute at most. The day she came home was a day she would never forget. There were so many tears, so many I missed you’s, so much raw emotion all around. Mom was at town hall, like usual, though it’s gone through some renovations since the Dark World merge. She had come out to investigate what the commotion at Castle Town was and after speaking to Ralsei, he eventually led her to her long lost daughter.

Mom was always a hard to read person, even at the best of times. Her face was a stone mask that wouldn’t budge. Even years ago, when she broke the news that Dad was sick to Dess, the only sign that she felt anything at that moment was the slight warble in her voice. She never cried, she never smiled, she always kept an air of cold stoicism. There were times that Dess resented her for it, wishing she’d just say something or somehow prove that she actually cared about what was going on. The moments where that mask cracked were few and far between, but it was how Dess knew that she actually cared.

Dess was so sure that her returning home would finally break that mask. Dad had already told her that she somehow became even more shut off since she left, but she was positive that coming home would break Mom out of her shell.

Mom didn’t even say a word to her. A part of her wanted to believe that maybe she just somehow didn’t recognize her, but they locked eyes with each other for what felt like an eternity. Mom didn’t say anything, she didn’t burst into tears like Dad did, she didn’t rush over to her to pull her into a hug. She just stared at her for several seconds before returning to business as usual. It was like she looked right through her…

“Honey!” Rudy reaches out and touches Dess’ shoulder, causing her to jump. “You were zonin’ out there. Do you want some eggnog? It’s gonna be a while before Mom comes around.”

“Um, yeah…” Dess nods, pushing yet another troubling thought aside to try and enjoy herself. “I already had some at Ralsei’s place, but do you think I can add a little something to mine?”

“What do you mean?” Rudy asks her.

“You know…” She says, glancing at Noelle. Her little sister probably already knew, but she hasn’t shaken the habit of protecting her baby sister from anything potentially bad and grown up. “I caught you slipping brandy into a couple of glasses. If this is going to be my welcome home party, why not-”

“No.” Rudy quickly shuts her down.

“Why not?!”

“Three reasons.” Dad holds up three fingers. “One, I stopped doing that a while ago. It was only for special occasions and the doctors were getting fussy about it so I stopped. Two, it isn’t even noon! And three, you’re way too young to drink.”

“You said that eight years ago! I’m like twenty four, or… twenty six? One of those two, I think.” Dess tries to argue, but it doesn’t sound very convincing as she starts to question herself.

“You look the same age as your little sister.” Dad points out. “If you’ve been stuck like this, then biologically you’re the same age and you shouldn’t be drinking.”

Dess crossed her arms and pouted. After spending so long in that hellhole, she probably deserved a drink, but Dad made a pretty sound argument. Maybe it was for the better. She missed out on a lot, but if she stopped aging entirely while in the Void, then technically, she still had a couple years as a teenager. She could still be a kid.

She spends the next few hours hanging out with her family, catching up on more of what she missed as they waited for more guests to arrive. Susie eventually arrives, bringing Kris along with her, as well as a wrapped gift for Noelle. Asgore makes a quick stop to say hi to Rudy before leaving him with a large bouquet of flowers. That’s everyone she recognizes though, everyone else who arrives to say hi or exchange gifts are either people who were still going to preschool when she last saw them, or they were complete strangers. Almost all of them knew who she was though. Hell, her disappearance was probably a core memory for a lot of these kids.

It was all a little too much for Dess. She spent years with only her own thoughts as company. Having other people talk over those thoughts was still something she was getting used to, but with the Christmas music playing and with four or five different conversations going on at once in the decorated throne room, she found herself hiding away in a quiet corner to allow herself the peace she needed to even think.

How long was she going to spend recovering from this? How long would it take for her to go back to normal? Could she go back to normal after experiencing something like the Void? She needed to spend more time with Kris. She’s sure Dad and Noelle would be more than supportive, but none of them have any idea what it’s like to be stuck out there. Kris knew how awful it was out there and they’ve already helped her in ways no one else could. Maybe…

“Carol! You made it!” Dess snaps herself back into the present upon hearing her mother’s name. She actually came?!

She must have, the whole room’s temperature dropped about ten degrees. The conversations stopped, even the radio seemed to fall silent in her presence. The Dark World left her clad in a glittering dress of ice and gemstones, her fur and hair were both drained of color, leaving her almost as white as snow. She looked like an elegant ice sculpture.

“I’ve never missed an appointment, I wouldn’t miss this either.” She says, almost sounding annoyed with Rudy. “Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“Well, you know…” Rudy let out a nervous chuckle. “A lot’s happened since last year. You probably got a lot more on your plate nowadays than you did before the world almost ended.”

“Even if the world did end, I wouldn’t miss an appointment.” Mom insists. “Though I must admit I’m not staying long. There is important work I have to attend to at the barrier. I’m here to drop off a gift before I go. Where is Dess?”

Dess gasped at the mention of her name. It didn’t even register until now, but Dess noticed that her mother carried a large case in her hands with a cheap bow placed next to the handle she was holding onto. Looking up from the case, Dess found that Carol was looking right at her.

Dess studied her mother’s face, looking for any crack in her mask. Even now, she didn’t seem to react at all, even though she was apparently looking for her. Stepping forward, Carol moved towards the secluded corner where Dess waited. Dess had absolutely no idea what to think as she approached. She was waiting for any reaction at all, but Carol remained stoic as ever.

She stops right in front of her, looking down at her. They stared at each other for a moment, and this up close, Dess was able to see a few things she missed the first time. Just like Dad, she was visibly older now. New wrinkles lined her mom’s face, and it was hard to tell, but they made her look softer somehow. She didn’t look as scary or stern as she remembered, Mom looked almost…

“Here.” Before Dess could place the expression she thought she saw, Carol held out the case to her. She didn’t say anything more and waited expectantly for Dess to take it.

“You got me a gift?” She asks in disbelief, taking the case from her mother. Carol nods in response. Dess wasn’t even expecting to get anything out of this Christmas. She barely knew anyone and she showed up only a couple weeks before the big day, so she was perfectly fine with not getting anything, but here Mom was of all people handing out her first gift.

The case was fairly heavy and after gently setting it down, she took the bow off the case to get to the clasps keeping it shut. Clicking them open, she isn’t sure what to expect.

Throwing the case open, her heart stutters in her chest.

Resting inside, looking exactly the same as she remembered it, was her old guitar…

“I held onto it for you.” Carol spoke up, forcing Dess to look up to her. “We cleaned out your room during renovations to the house four years ago, but there were some things I held onto, things I couldn’t get rid of or replace. I quite liked the songs you were learning to play on it and I held onto this in the hopes that I’d get to hear them again.”

“You did?” Dess asked, almost in disbelief. Looking back down at the case, she pulled the guitar out and held it in her hands. It was exactly as she remembered it. This wasn’t a replacement, this was her old guitar, still covered in the same stickers to hide the bumps and scratches. Running her thumb across the strings, she cringes a little bit as it is severely out of tune, but that was an easy fix.

“I have a very busy two weeks, especially on New Year's day.” Dess looked back up when her mother continued to speak. “After that, my schedule should clear up and I’ll try and assign another day to come visit again. I cannot shirk my responsibilities, especially with how many people are relying on me now, but…”

”I missed you.”

Those three words almost broke Dess. This whole time, she was thinking that her mother didn’t really care if she was gone or that she came back, but this gift and those three words proved that she cared just as much as everyone else did. Tears started to blur her vision, but Dess still tried to see if anything changed in her mother’s face.

It was almost impossible to notice, especially through the tears, but Dess could have sworn she heard her mother sniffle. Before she turned to leave Carol brought her hand up to wipe her eyes.

“I must get going.” She says, her voice still sounding steady and stern despite what Dess thought she saw. “I’ll send a call your father’s way when I have free time for us. I have to get back to work now.”

Without another word, Carol leaves the throne room, drawing everyone’s attention with her until she disappears through the front doors. The moment she’s gone, hushed conversations start to fill the room again, but Dess doesn’t register any of it. She stares down at the guitar in her hands, tears spilling down her face.

She felt relieved, but also ashamed of herself for ever thinking her mother didn’t care. She always did, she just struggled to show it. Rudy always told her that it was one of her mother’s greatest traits. It was almost impossible to get any reaction out of her, but when someone did…

“Told you she’d come by.” Rudy comes by and kneels down next to Dess with a bit of difficulty. “I had no idea she was still holding onto this. I was convinced we lost it ages ago.”

“Your old guitar!” Noelle gasped when she came over as well. “Oh my god! I remember when you used to play it all the time! Kris thought you were so cool and you were gonna be a rockstar!”

“I still have time.” Dess forces out, bringing a sleeve up to wipe her eyes. “I’ve been wondering what the hell I was supposed to do with myself and I finally found something to pick up again.”

Dess’ guitar felt like it molded perfectly into her hands, like it was specifically made for her. Having it in her hands and resting on her knee, she could almost feel a warmth emanate from it. It was like it was calling out to her, begging her to play. She plucked each string individually, reaching up to tune each one. It’s been a while, so she probably couldn’t accurately tune it by ear, but it sounded good enough. Wiping her eyes one more time, she settled down on the ground and propped herself up against the wall for support. She grabs the fretboard, rests her fingers on the strings and…

And…

“Whatever you do, please don’t play Wonderwall!” Kris calls out from somewhere in the throne room, but Dess quickly shakes her head and tries to focus again. She strums again, reaching up to tune it a little more. There was no way it wasn’t perfect now. Once again, she rests her fingers on the frets, readying herself to strum…

“I…”

“Can’t think of what to play?” Noelle asks.

“No, I…” Dess falters. “I can’t…” Dess sets the guitar back in its case.

“I don’t remember how to play…”

Dess looked down at her guitar, tears returning to her eyes in frustration. She used to play every single day, and looking down at her hands, she still had calluses on her fingers that never faded thanks to being trapped in the Void. She used to have entire guitar solo’s memorized, but she could barely even remember what those songs sounded like. She didn’t remember any chords, she couldn’t even remember which notes each fret produced.

Her mom opened up to her for the first time she can even remember and admitted that she loved the music she played, but she couldn’t even play the stupid thing anymore! Feeling everyone’s eyes on her and unable to take all the attention, she kicks the case away from her, hurries to her feet, and rushes out of the throne room, completely ignoring everyone who tried to stop her.

Rushing outside, she just keeps running, unsure of where to go. Nothing about this place was familiar anymore, but she desperately wanted to be left alone. She kept running down the street until she spotted a dirt path leading down into the woods. She hurries down the path, praying that no one would find her here.

She must have looked like a complete fucking nutcase to everyone at the fort. Fuck it, who cares? She barely knew anyone there anyways and she had a perfectly good excuse to be pissed off and frustrated about everything. She was trapped and terrorized for years, who wouldn’t be fucked up after that?

She’s just… Fuck! She feels like she’s going insane. Everything felt so strange now. Her stupid fucking brain wouldn’t shut up to let her enjoy anything anymore. The moment she talks to someone, hell if she even looks at something, her mind automatically defaults to reminding her that everyone thought she was dead or that she’d never get to live a normal life ever again.

When she saw her dad, all she could think about was how old and tired he looked now, lamenting that she lost years of time she’d never get back with him. Every time she saw her sister, she only saw the scars and how timid she became. She just wanted to enjoy herself on Christmas, she just wanted to shut her brain off and stop being so pessimistic, but she can’t!

That guitar was probably the best gift she could have received, but her stupid, broken mind somehow found a way to make her hate herself for it. What else couldn’t she do anymore? She already figured out that she has trouble fucking breathing so the sky’s the limit! What’s next?! Is she gonna forget how to fucking blink?!

She stomps down the dirt path, thankful that in the time since she’s gone she hasn’t somehow forgotten how to walk. Eventually, she comes to the end of the path and in the center of a snow covered clearing is a large hill. Dess moves towards the hill, aiming to just sit on top of it since she had nothing better to do. This place seemed quiet enough, she could try and get a grip on her wildly running thoughts here.

Climbing up the steep hill, she sits down, hoping to drown her thoughts out with the silence, when she notices the sudden drop not far from where she sat. Looking over the edge, she finds that she isn’t actually sitting on a natural made hill, but an overgrown entrance leading into some kind of bunker!

Was this always here? Was this another Dark World thing? No, she remembers this path now! This is where all the cool kids would hide away to smoke cigarettes when she was still in highschool. Slowly sliding down off the side of the hill, she wandered around to the front to find that the large set of metal double doors leading down were barred off. It was mildly concerning to find that the large board keeping the doors closed was on this side though, as if it was to keep someone on the inside from getting out.

What was down there? Was this place transformed with the Dark World too?

Somewhere in the back of her head was a voice begging her to leave this place, but with how awful her own thoughts were being right now, indulging her curiosity and distracting herself with what’s down here would easily keep her from thinking about how awful everything was. Walking up and grabbing hold of the wooden board, she moves to lift it when a sudden sound scares her badly enough for her to fly backwards away from the door.

“DON’T GO DOWN THERE!” Dess’ back hits the snow as she falls flat. Quickly pushing up, she found she was no longer alone out here. Kris somehow managed to find her with her guitar case in tow. She didn’t pay that any mind though and instead focused on the intense look of fear in Kris’ eyes. “Don’t open that door! Ever! There’s nothing good down there!”

“Shit! I’m sorry!” Dess quickly apologizes. “I won’t go down there! I promise!”

With her promise that she’d never open the door, Kris practically crumpled into the snow, landing on their butt and gasping for breath. “Sorry.” They huff. “Just please, never go down there. Please! Pretty much every bad thing that’s ever happened to me was because of something we found down there. Never go down there!.”

Dess nods her head and pushes herself out of the snow. Kris didn’t need to explain themself, the reaction they had was evidence enough that this whole place was bad news. Once she’s calmed herself down and the hit of panic she got drains from her body, she focuses on the case in Kris’ hands as they wind down and catch their breath.

“Why did you follow me out here?” She demands. “It’s pretty obvious that I want to be left alone.”

“I kind of doubt that, considering you’ve been alone for ten years.” Kris counters. Dess did not want to deal with a smart ass right now, but what they say next almost pisses her off more. “Are you mad that the only present you got was something you already owned? Like, ‘surprise! We didn’t throw away all your personal belongings!’”

“No!” Dess sputtered. “No that’s not it at all! It’s-”

“You’re frustrated that you can’t play the guitar anymore? Are you freaking out over all the other things you might have forgotten about?” Dess is left momentarily speechless. They somehow managed to hit the nail right on the head, and it made their first guess sound even stranger since they were able to guess so accurately this time around.

“How the fuck do you know all this stuff?!” Dess asks. “Did you learn how to read minds in the two weeks we’ve been back?!”

“Being possessed for three years and Voided for one made me shit at playing piano.” Kris explains themself. “I’m trying to learn again, but I feel like an idiot trying to go through the basics again. I can only imagine it’s ten times worse for you.”

Dess lowered her head and grumbled. It was nice to know at least someone out here knew just how bad she had it and how awful everything was, but knowing that they were going through the same bullshit wasn’t great.

“I think you’ll find it’s a lot easier to pick it back up than you think.” Kris tries to reason with her, opening up the guitar case. “It’s not like it’s gonna come back to you all at once, but you’ll start to remember how it works again. You were a prodigy, and you’ll learn just as fast as you used to.”

“I appreciate it Kris, but I don’t want to hear it.” Dess sighs, turning her back on them and looking out into the woods. “I… I don’t know. I know I need to work on myself to get back on track, but I want everything fixed now. Even if I do take the time to slowly pick myself back up, what the hell do I do then? All of my plans I had growing up are useless now, half the people I cared about are gone or dead. I just… I wanna go back. I don’t care if I’ll have to relive that same year all over again, I don’t care if all of the magic of this world goes away. I want my old life back, just as I remember it, but I can’t even have that because I’ve forgotten everything and my stupid ass brain would rather remind me that my dad’s gonna die one day and I will have missed out on ten whole years of memories I could have been making with him!”

Tears threatened to spill again and Dess shut herself down in an attempt to hold them in. She sounded like a little girl throwing a tantrum. Kris was just trying to help, but once again she was spiraling out in self pity and hatred. She wanted to just run right into the woods, to keep going until she hit the barrier so no one would find her. She didn’t want to deal with any of this anymore, she just wanted to…

Dess’ intrusive thoughts are suddenly silenced when she hears her guitar being played behind her.

Turning around, she found Kris sat in the snow, slowly plucking out a melody that tugged at the back of her subconscious. They were playing cautiously, and every once in a while, they’d play a note wrong or mess up a chord, but after one or two corrections, they got it right. They looked really nervous to be playing on the spot with an audience, but after a couple sour notes, they started to pick up the pace and grow more confident. The melody keeps bugging her, it was just on the tip of her tongue. It isn’t until Kris has played for a couple minutes that it suddenly jumps at her.

“Is that the theme song for that dumb Dragon Blazers game Asriel tried to get me to play?!”

“Yes!” Kris lights up, stopping their plucking to speak with her. “I learned this song specifically to try and convince him to lend me some of his allowance so I could buy a guitar like yours.”

“Since when the hell did you play guitar?!” Dess asks, completely dumbfounded. She vaguely remembers trying to teach them during one of her resets, but none of that stuck.

“Because you were going to teach me.” Kris says. “You promised you would before you got stuck in the resets. I wanted to be a rockstar just like you. When you disappeared, I didn’t really lose that dream yet and I tried to teach myself in your absence. I wasn’t very good at it, I’m still not very good at it, but I know how to play a few songs from old video games me and Asriel used to play.”

“But it’s been years.” Dess tries to argue, though she can’t discern why. It wasn’t like she didn’t believe Kris, but it was as if her brain wanted them to be wrong so she could keep being angry at herself.

“I was stuck in the Void too.” Kris reminds her. “There were a lot of things I had to relearn, and the guitar was something I haven’t touched in forever. But like I said, you can relearn. I’ve only been back for like two weeks and I spent the first one just looking for a guitar to play to try and get my reflexes back, but I’m already playing basic melodies again. Trust me, if you start playing again, it’ll take only a week or two before you’re the rockstar you used to be.”

“I…” Dess could feel a lump forming in her throat.

“And if you don’t know where to start, then I’ll teach you.” Kris offers. “Again, I’m not very good at all, but if I help you get started, then you’ll eventually pick up on it. Besides, look at yourself. You’re a bard! The Dark World even thinks you should be running through town playing this thing all day! You were meant for this, come on!”

Dess was crying again, but she didn't bother trying to hide it anymore. She’s been through so many emotional highs and lows today that she was exhausted. She’s still a complete mess, but that wasn’t going to change if she tried to run away from her problems. She had to sit and bear with everything until she was firmly back on her feet, no matter how long that took. Walking over to them, Dess sat down in the snow in front of Kris, reaching out for her guitar.

“You know, we could probably go back home instead of sitting out here in the cold.” Kris tries to tell her, but Dess shakes her head.

“Not yet.” She sniffles, letting her tears flow freely. “As much as I hated it, I think I prefer being alone more than in crowds.”

“It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” Kris nods. They were stuck too, though they always at least had her to keep themself from going mad in the endless black abyss. “I get that you want some place quiet and out of the way, but this isn’t the place for it.” They cast a cautious glance over at the bunker, as if they were expecting something to start breaking down the doors. She wasn’t sure if they were shivering because of the cold, or something else.

“Know any good spots then?” Dess asks, taking her guitar and placing it back in its case before pushing off the ground. “All my old hangout spots are ruins or some lord’s front lawn now.” Kris picks themselves up too, but doesn’t answer right away. They take a moment to think through their options.

“There are plenty of quiet places in Castle Town, but Ralsei’s setting up your gift there, so I don’t want to spoil that.” They mumble, scratching their head. “If the cold really isn’t bothering you, the river next to Dad’s flower shop is pretty chill, but I’d rather not sit out in the snow like this. This armor doesn’t insulate very well.” They pace back and forth through the snow for a few more seconds, opening their mouth but saying nothing as they shoot down all their own ideas. “Oh shit!” Suddenly, something sticks. “There’s no way the studio doesn’t have an auditorium! Hell, once you get good at playing again, Biz will be all over you!”

“Who?”

“Actually wait, he’s really loud and obnoxious. You probably don’t… Whatever, it's the best idea I got, we’re going with it.” Kris turns to leave, now dead set on introducing Dess to whoever this Biz is. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to deal with anyone else just yet, but she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be ready. Her time in the Void messed with her head more than she could have ever imagined, but she’d be able to pull herself out of this slump. Kris has gone through hell and back and they still somehow managed to be a beacon of light for everyone in town. Hell some people already looked at her the same way. She meant a lot to a lot of people, especially her family.

Especially her mom…

She held onto her guitar this entire time. She had to have believed that her daughter would come home safe, even after everyone else gave up hope. Carol didn’t open up much at all, but this one single act spoke a thousand words.

She wanted to see Dess again, too. Dess can’t even remember a time when her Mom actually stepped away from work just to spend time with her, unless it was for a school meeting or performance.

Dess wanted to play her a song. Hearing that her mother loved to hear her play and seeing the small crack in her mother’s mask, she desperately wanted to rekindle those memories, to show her that she was here to stay and that there would be more music in her life.

Hey, was that an actually hopeful thought with no depressing follow up? That was a refreshing change. Maybe she was finally on the right track. Following Kris, she wipes away her tears and tries to hype herself up for her first guitar lesson. She wasn’t quite as optimistic as Kris was in thinking she’d be as good as she used to be after only a couple weeks, but she prayed she’d learn just enough to play something for her mother.

If she can do that, then maybe things won’t be as bad anymore.

—

A couple of weeks have passed, and while she’s had some serious ups and downs, she thinks she’s doing a bit better now. The worst of her depressive mood swings came when she returned to Castle Town after Christmas to find that the guest room that Ralsei had set aside for her had completely transformed. She had no idea how, but he somehow managed to completely recreate her old room. Everything was just as she remembered it, including all the old posters she had of bands which have long since fallen out of style now.

After finding her room, Dess gave Ralsei a hug that threatened to snap his spine with how hard she squeezed him. She only received two gifts this year, but both of them drove her to tears. She loved it, but she found she couldn’t fall asleep that night.

As much as she cherished having her old bed to sleep in again, she was terrified that if she fell asleep, she would wake back up in a loop again. Lying here on this bed, looking at everything around her. How often did she wake up to this exact same scene, only to learn that the clock went back months and she’d have to relive it all over again?

She had ups and downs. With every step forward she took to getting back on solid ground, she stumbled a step backwards. She was ecstatic to be invited back to the fort to watch some movies with her sister, but devastated to learn that she’d never get to scare her little sister with rated R movies anymore as she’s already grown accustomed to them. She finally had a chance to talk to Asriel again and bully him for still being a big baby, but hearing him lament about not being able to finish college only reminded her that her own future she had planned out was dead in the water too. Every attempt to try and be a normal kid again only reminded her that it would never happen.

The only thing that didn’t bring any baggage with it were the guitar lessons.

It wasn’t free of grief. The auditorium that Kris found for them was amazing, but to get to it, they had to get through a guy named Biz. She isn’t sure if she’s ever met someone so loud, obnoxious, and confrontational. Despite how annoying he was, Kris was able to convince him to let them use a sound stage to practice, promising him that Dess would one day be playing up there to an audience of thousands.

Getting past that headache, they were free to practice in peace. It was slow going, and Dess almost gave up on the whole idea out of frustration a couple of times, but she kept coming back, and with every bit of noticeable progress, her mood began to lift. After a few days, she was on Kris’ skill level again. After that, they visited the Queen in Cyber City where the old Library used to be to find some old guitar tab books so they could both keep learning together. She had no time to simmer in self pity, she had no time to cry over everything she missed out on, she just kept playing until her fingers cramped up, pushing herself to focus on something positive for once.

With Kris’ help, the past two weeks were a breeze and she was able to prevent herself from having a complete breakdown like she did on Christmas. Though, through it all, there was one thing stressing her out in the back of her mind, urging her to hurry up and learn before it was too late.

She sat in her room, wondering if today was going to be the day, feeling anxiety bubble away in her guts. She knew what she wanted to play and had the song playing on loop in her head as she mimed out the notes with her hands. She was ready, she knew she was, she played the song over and over again for Kris, but now she was nervous, afraid that she’d fuck something up. Kris wouldn’t mind if she flubbed a note or two, but this was a big deal for her.

A knock on her door caused her heart rate to spike. “Dess?” Ralsei’s voice comes through the door. “May I come in?”

“Get in here, you little fur ball.” Dess responds, sitting up in bed as Ralsei opens up the door, still wearing those dumb looking sunglasses Susie got him for Christmas. “It’s not lunchtime already, is it?”

“Not quite, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” Ralsei tells her, waiting by the door. “The mayor is here to see you. She said you two had an appointment?”

Today’s the day then. It was time to spend the day with her mother. This shouldn’t be as intimidating as it is, but everything becomes intimidating whenever her mother is involved. Nothing was expected of her, but this was the first time Carol took a day off just for her, she had to make this count.

“Can I get an emotional support hug before I head down?” Dess asks.

“Of course you can!” Ralsei answers without a second’s thought. “Kris declared me the fluffiest mother trucker in the entire world for a reason!”

“God, you’re adorable.” Screw that Vess kid, Ralsei was clearly an angel with how often he’s pulled her out of a slump with his presence alone. Wrapping him up in her arms, she gives him a tight squeeze before reaching beside her bed and grabbing her guitar case. “Wish me luck.”

“I don’t need to, you’ve got this!.” Ralsei assures. “But just to put your mind at ease, I’ll be rooting for you the whole time.”

“Thanks, fur ball.” Dess tells him, taking a deep breath before leaving the room. Ralsei gives her a smile before heading further down the hall to continue his princely duties, leaving Dess to start heading downstairs.

Her heart pounded in her chest every step of the way. She felt silly being this worked up over something so simple, which was a big step up from actively hating herself for being a coward, but either way, she was stressed out and dreading this meeting. Simply going down stairs seemed to make the air colder, Carol’s presence alone chilled the entire castle. Dess tried to shut her brain off entirely, focusing only on keeping her feet moving and her breathing steady. She’s so out of focus that a touch on her shoulder nearly causes her to fall over out of shock. Just barely catching herself, she turns to find Kris who was leaning out of their room.

“The hell are you so jumpy for?” They ask, not even bothering to apologize like Susie did a couple weeks ago. “We’ve been practicing for two whole weeks. This is like all you’ve been doing since Christmas. You’ve got this, stop freaking out.”

“Fuck you, I’m trying!” Dess huffs, taking a deep breath to try and ground herself. “This is my mom we’re talking about, I have a reason to be jumpy.”

“Fair, but still.” Kris shakes their head. “You’ve been practicing this song non stop. You’ve drilled it into my brain and it’s driving me insane. You’re not gonna screw it up, you’re gonna knock her socks off, and you’re gonna realize you’re overreacting for no reason.”

“Make fun of me afterwards then.” Dess tells them. “Right now I’m trying not to run back upstairs and call this off.”

“You won’t.” Kris tells her flat out. “If you can’t play a song for your mom, then what’s the point in learning how to play? You need an audience, this should be the easiest gig of your life.”

This certainly wasn’t as nice as Ralsei’s assurance that she wouldn’t need anyone to wish her luck, but Kris’ brutal honesty did put things in perspective. They were playing in an auditorium every day, and why else would Dess be putting so much effort into learning to play if she didn’t plan to fill that auditorium up with people excited to listen?

She gets moving again, passing by Kris’ room and heading down stairs into the main hall. She swallows her fear as the temperature continues to drop with each step. She just had to keep her cool until she started playing. Once she starts playing her guitar, all these worries should fade into the background as she loses herself in her music.

To Dess’ surprise, the main hall was completely empty, save for her mother. She impatiently stood by the door, her eyes dancing between the watch on her wrist and the phone in her hand. This was her day off, but she clearly wanted to get back to work. The moment Dess hit the bottom step, however, her mother pulled her eyes away from her phone and locked eyes with her.

“Good morning, Dess.” She says to her, slipping her phone away and resting her hands behind her back. There was no hostility in any of her words, but Dess couldn’t help but shrink under her mother’s piercingly cold gaze. It was as if her mother’s very presence altered her mind to make her feel like a lowly peasant speaking up to a terrible ice queen.

“Hi Mom.” Dess forces herself to respond to her mother’s greeting. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too.” And just like that, a lot of the tension suddenly vanished. There was no shift in Carol’s tone, she sounded as aloof as ever, but the moment she spoke, the cold around them dissipated a little bit. There was a warmth to her voice. “Have you come home at all since you’ve returned?”

“Huh?” Dess asks, trying to regain her focus.

“Our home.” Carol repeats. “Your father and sister spend a lot of their time at their fort and you’ve been staying here with the prince. Shall we go home, to the old house you grew up in? It’s felt empty for a long time.”

“Y-yeah,” Dess nods her head. “I’d like that.”

Carol turns to open the front gates and steps outside. Dess follows after her, repeating that last sentence in her head over and over again. The house felt empty without her. Mom really missed her…

Walking beside her mother, Dess watched as residents from Castle Town turned their heads to follow their movement. Carol paid them no mind, walking forward like she was on a mission, leaving Dess to struggle to keep pace with her. She knows why her mom always keeps up this air of superiority, but it’s strange that even now on her day off with her daughter, Carol still isn’t dropping it. Dess vaguely remembers a conversation she had with her mother a long time ago about how hard it was to move up in the world and how people would always try to drag her down to take her place. Now that their world was filled with literal kings and queens, Carol couldn’t drop her mask for even a second, or else someone could see it as a sign of weakness.

Dess wonders if she even remembers how to take that mask off.

“Dess.” Dess is pulled out of her thoughts as her mother says her name. “Have you been…” She hesitates, glancing around as she picks her words. “Are you alright?” She finally asks, turning to look at her. “I’m afraid I’ve been so busy, I never got a proper explanation of what happened to you. I feel like there’s way too much slipping past me these days.”

“I’m… not doing the greatest.” Dess admits. “I’ve been struggling to get used to just about everything. Kris and a few others have been helping me get grounded again, but… It’s been rough.”

Carol turns her head forward again and doesn’t say a word. Scrutinizing her, Dess could see that her mother was putting up her mask again, but she was able to spot a few things were off. She was frowning, which wasn’t an uncommon sight, but it wasn’t in an attempt to look natural or uninterested, she looked genuinely upset. Her downturned eyes were another dead giveaway. Little by little, Dess was learning to see the emotions her mother was trying to hide, and if they were this obvious to her, she had to be struggling to keep up the act.

“I brought my guitar along.” Dess speaks up, hoping to try and cheer her mother up. “I’ve been practicing non-stop since you gave it to me.” And just like that, the cracks in her mother’s mask begin to smooth out. In fact, it looks like she overcorrects. That looked like a smile on her face!

The rest of the walk goes on in silence. Carol was never great with conversation and Dess was too unconfident to start one herself. Dess didn’t mind at all, however. She must have spent a good month or two talking to Kris nonstop after they joined her in the Void, but both of them grew to appreciate just having each other’s company without filling the quiet.

Quiet moments are hard to find nowadays. Hell, they were hard to find in her last year in the Void with Kris, Gaster, and that little devil child Chara messing with her all the time. Ever since she got back, everyone’s been talking to her and she was desperate to try and catch up on everything she missed. Once that became too much for her, she started playing the guitar again in the auditorium, listening to her notes and chords echo through the room.

Walking in silence with her mother through the snow was a nice change of pace.

Dess doesn’t even realize it when they make it to her house. Her home and the entire neighborhood surrounding it have completely changed. What once was a very large and fancy looking home had expanded even more into a towering castle which almost blended in with the snow resting on the roof.

Walking in through the front doors, Dess looked around at what was now her home. A massive chandelier hung overhead with dozens of crystals shaped like snowflakes glittering in the light. Stairs led up to a second floor, but looking down the halls on either side of her, she could see two different lights shining into the room, one red, one green. Dess doesn’t get the opportunity to explore, however, as her mother begins to climb the stairs to the second floor. Following her, Dess allows her mother to lead her through the massive house, leaving her to wonder where everything was and what her room must look like now.

She gets an answer to her question, though she gets it in the most horrifying way possible.

Walking down a hall, Dess couldn’t help but notice the castle was looking less and less decorated as they walked. The ceiling came down to a reasonable level, the beautiful lights overhead were replaced with regular light bulbs, and with a bit of a shock, she realized that the layout of the hallway was just as she remembered it in the old house. Opening the door to what she immediately recognized was her room, Carol opens it and steps aside to allow Dess to walk in. Stepping through the door, Dess froze on the spot.

The room was completely empty.

No posters hung on the walls, no furniture rested on the floor. There weren’t even imprints in the carpet where her bed and dresser used to be. It was an empty box. It didn’t take long to deduce that the emptiness of this room was responsible for the sudden change in the house leading up to it. If the Dark Worlds were formed from the memories of the people who owned them, then her whole half of the house was completely unchanged. There was nothing here to transform.

“I’m sorry if this place is a little dusty.” Carol spoke up in a quiet voice, her words bouncing off the barren walls. “I don’t come to this half of the house anymore.”

“I don’t blame you.” Dess mumbles, staring at the emptiness of her room. She isn’t sure why, but out of everything she’s gone through, this hurt the most. Seeing the room she grew up in be this empty, this dead and devoid of anything, it helped her realize just how sudden and painful her disappearance must have been to everyone. This whole half of the house was a constant reminder that she was gone, that there were no more memories to be made here.

Until now, anyway.

“We can fill the room back out.” Dess tells her mom. “I don’t know where Ralsei got the furniture from, but he recreated my old room at his castle. Maybe he can move everything over here.”

“You’d rather stay here?” Carol asks, sounding somewhat surprised.

“The castle’s too crowded.” Dess explains. “I like having my friends close, but I don’t think I can live there like everyone else does. Besides, this is my room. I think all of us would feel better if it wasn’t this empty.”

“Should we arrange to have this done now?” Carol asks. “I have the prince on speed dial and I can have him moving your things over in only a couple of hours.”

“It can wait.” Dess tries to stop Carol. “Today’s our day, we don’t have to be making calls and moving stuff today. I know you’re busy, but it’s not like I have anything better to do. I’ll get his help throughout the week.” Carol nods, sliding away a phone that Dess didn’t even realize she pulled out. “Before we do anything, I actually wanted to play you something.” Dess says, gesturing with the guitar case in her hands.

“You would?” Once again, another crack reveals itself in Carol’s mask as her eyebrows raise in surprise.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said on Christmas.” Dess tells her. “I wanted to play you a song, just like old times.” Setting her case down, Dess clicks it open and pulls out her guitar, slinging on the shoulder strap and resting the instrument in her hands. “You’ve probably already heard it before, I used to play it all the time when I first learned how to play.”

“That’s fine.” Carol nods. “In fact, I think I’d prefer that. Just like old times.” That was exactly what Dess needed to hear. There was probably a better place to do this, the acoustics of this room were garbage due to how empty it was, but she felt it was fitting to play this here. Her old music in her old room, filling out this empty half of the house again.

Taking a deep breath and adjusting the guitar in her hands, Dess closes her eyes, and begins to play.

The melody was relatively simple to pluck out, though it took plenty of practice to get it right. It was one of the first songs she was proud to master and was desperate to share, so it only made sense that she’d learn how to play it again. Her fingers danced along the fretboard, and through the melody, she thought she could hear her mother gasp. She recognized the song. Hearing that one sound almost choked Dess up, but she swallowed her emotions for just a moment to allow herself to sing.

”Jumping up and down the floor,”
”My head is an animal.”
”And once there was an animal,”
”It had a son that mowed the lawn.”
”The son was an ok guy,”
”They had a pet dragonfly.”
”The Dragonfly, it ran away,”
”But it came back with a story to say…”

The very moment she got her guitar back on Christmas, Dess felt something resonate through the instrument. It wasn’t just a sense of nostalgia and familiarity, it wasn’t just muscle memory guiding her hands across the fretboard, there was something deeper going on. From the day she came home, she witnessed impossible things and learned of the existence of magic. Ralsei himself told her that she herself was magical, though she did not know how to channel her abilities.

What she was doing now though… this felt magical.

As she continued to strum, she could literally feel anxiety and stress bleed away from her body. There was no way she could mess this song up, it was as if her guitar was an extension of herself. She wasn’t sure if it was just in her head, but she could hear other instruments joining her guitar. She tapped her foot to the beat, but she could hear something else give her backing percussion. With her eyes still closed, she continued to play, feeling like she was the lead of a band, her backing members giving her the soundscape she needed to fill out the quiet.

”Her dirty paws and furry coat,”
”She ran down the forest slopes.”
”The forest of talking trees,”
”They used to sing about the birds and the bees.”
”The bees had declared a war,”
”The sky wasn’t big enough for them all.”
”The birds, they got help from below,”
”From dirty paws and the creatures of snow.”

It wasn’t just in her head now.

As Dess continued to sing, she heard other voices join hers. For just a brief moment, she wondered if it was her mother, but it wasn’t just one. There was what sounded like an entire choir singing along with her. It was almost enough to startle her out of the song, but she found she couldn’t even stop.

Opening her eyes, she was shocked by what she found.

Her hands were moving on their own. Each note, each strum, everything came to her as naturally as breathing. As she played, she watched, mesmerized as a golden glow seemed to radiate from her hands. Looking around the room for the source of the other voices and instruments, she found no one there. Somehow, all of it was coming straight from her. The room was completely empty, save for…

No… No, the room wasn’t empty! The room was changing! As her hands continued to play, her attention was directed almost entirely at the transformation her room was undergoing. The ceiling was climbing up the walls, the floor beneath her feet grew softer. Every single time she turned her head, she could swear something new appeared in her room every time she looked away. It was like the magic of the Dark World finally managed to find this half of the house and was transforming it to match the rest.

She was doing this. She wasn’t sure how, but deep in her patched together soul, she knew this was being caused by her. The golden light, the sensation she felt when she held her guitar, this was her magic. As a bard, her medium was music, and in an attempt to fill out the emptiness of her abandoned room, her music gave it life again. She looked up at her mother, wondering if she was seeing all of this too.

Her mother was crying.

Her mask was completely off. She held her hands to her mouth, tears streaming down her face as she looked at her daughter with awe. The sight was almost enough to get Dess to drop her guitar out of shock, but she kept going. Feeling tears sting her own eyes, Dess continues to play the whole song through, not wanting to cut the performance short. With a smile on her face, she continues to play for her mother.

”So for a while, things were cold,”
”They were scared down in their holes.”
”The forest that once was green,”
”Was colored black by those killing machines.”
”But she and her furry friends,”
”Took down the queen bee and her men.”
”And that’s how the story goes,”
”The story of the beast with those four dirty paws.”

Dess sang out once more, her voice an entire choir on its own. One more voice joined her this time, one that finally made her break into tears. Her mother was humming along now too. She struggled to stay in key through the sobs that tried to escape her mouth, but the fact she was trying to sing at all made Dess’ heart ache. Through the tears, they finish the song off together, allowing the magic of the music to finish transforming the room.

With one last strum, the glow fades from Dess’ fingers. The sound echoes throughout the now filled out room, and looking around, Dess could tell it was tailor made for her. Her hands and fingers ached and the weight of her guitar was starting to strain her neck. Pulling off the strap and setting her guitar down, she looks back up to her mom, still crying and looking at her with pride.

“That was…” Carol sniffled, wiping her eyes. “That was beautiful, dear.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry before.” Dess says, wiping away at her own tears.

“I think this is the second time I’ve ever cried like this.” Carol tells her, desperately trying to dry her eyes and regain her composure, but the mask was off, it wasn’t going back on anytime soon.

“When was the first?” Dess asked with a bit of confusion. “You didn’t even cry when Dad got diagnosed. I feel like I would have remembered if you cried.”

“You weren’t there for it.” Carol explains. “It was after you disappeared.” Hearing that sent another pang of grief and guilt into Dess’ heart. How much pain must her mother have been in for her to cry tears of sadness if Dad’s cancer wasn’t even enough to break her?

Before she could beat herself up too much, Carol suddenly stepped forward and pulled Dess into a hug, crying into her shoulder.

“I know I’m not around and I know how frustrating it must be to hear I’m busy,” She sobs into her daughter’s embrace. “I know I never find the time to say it, but I love you Dess. Nothing in my life hurt more than losing you. I missed you, so, so much.”

Several years worth of repressed emotions finally came crashing through. In seconds, Carol’s icy demeanor melted away, leaving her to sob uncontrollably in her daughter's arms. Dess didn’t know what to do other than hold onto her and let her air it all out. Having her mother be this vulnerable felt almost more intimidating than the stone faced, emotionless woman she was familiar with. This was uncharted territory.

“I missed you too.” Dess eventually finds the courage to speak up. “When I was lost out there, I always had my memories of you, Dad and Noelle. It’s true that I didn’t have as many memories of you, but I cherished my short moments with you just as much as everything else.”

Holding her mother close, Dess allows herself to cry as well. Never in her life did she think she’d get her mother to open up like this. As distressing as it was to see her mother break down, it was just a testament to how much she loved her. They stood there for what felt like an hour, letting everything out. Dess was pretty sure her tunic was soaked through with tears and snot by the time her mother was done, but eventually, Carol pulled away, desperately wiping at her face.

“Goodness, I'm a mess right now.” She sighed, trying to slip back into her professional façade, but her emotions threatened to break that mask at any moment. “I’m sorry for losing my composure like that. I… I enjoyed the song very much.”

“Thank you.” Dess replied. “I’m glad my practice paid off. A little more than I expected, to be honest.” She looked around at her newly formed room, she was going to have to play more often to see what other crazy magic shenanigans she could come up with.

“I would love to hear more of them.” Carol told her. “My schedule is pretty rigid for the next few weeks, but… If I can find the time, would you be willing to play another song for me?”

“You don’t even have to ask.” Dess assures her. “I’ll still be practicing. The next time we get a chance to see each other again, I’ll have a new one ready for you.”

“Thank you.” Carol says, letting her emotions slip just one more time before she’s able to get her voice back under control. “I can’t wait until your next performance.”

The rest of their day together went by way too fast after that. They explored the new additions to the house and caught up a little more on what the other was up to during their separation, but before they knew it, the sun had set. A couple hours after the performance, Carol was as stone faced as ever. The only signs that the mask had even slipped were the wet streaks running down the white fur of her face.

Despite the emotionless front that she was still trying to put up, Dess didn’t mind it at all. She knew just how much her mother really cared, and after seeing the mask slip entirely, she was able to effortlessly spot the cracks whenever they appeared. A little curl in her lips whenever she wanted to smile, a light twitch in her eye whenever tears threatened to spill again. To anyone else, Carol still looked like a statue, but Dess has seen enough to know the truth.

As the day wound to a close, Carol retreated to her room. She would have to be up and ready the next morning to return to her duties so she couldn’t waste time staying up late. Dess went to her own room, wanting to explore it further to see what the Dark World granted her.

A new bed rested in the corner, with curtained posts reaching all the way to the ceiling. Lying down on it to test its cushiness, she wondered if sleeping in this room would remove the anxiety she felt over sleeping. This place looked nothing like her old room anymore, every time she woke up, she’d immediately know she wasn’t reliving the same nightmare she woke into countless times before.

Aside from the bed, there looked to be a dozen brand new instruments in her room. A large harp sat in the opposite corner, and resting against the wall right beside it was a massive double bass. The whole room was almost segmented into different instrument types. The strings were all in that corner, but beside her bed, she was able to identify multiple woodwind instruments in various cases. Every instrument in the room looked beautiful. Perfectly polished brass and silver, finely treated wood, they looked like instruments created for royalty. The only thing that looked out of place was her own, perfectly generic acoustic guitar, covered in dozens of stickers her little sister plastered over it.

Out of all the intricately decorated instruments that surrounded her, she reached for her old guitar before sitting back down on her bed. She’d probably get around to trying out the others, but this one was hers. The Dark World didn’t alter it in the slightest, it was perfect the way it was.

Resting her guitar on her lap, she began to pluck at the strings with no real melody in mind, wondering if that would produce the same magical abilities she performed a few hours ago. She doesn’t see the golden light as she plays random notes, it doesn’t come as naturally to her as the song did. Instead of plucking random notes, she starts up the same picking pattern she mastered for Dirty Paws, and while the pattern was way easier to play thanks to her constant practice, it still didn’t replicate the same magical feeling she felt before. She keeps playing, mumbling out the lyrics and tapping her foot against the bed frame, trying to replicate everything she did to try and get it to kick in again, when she hears something through her walls.

Her mother was humming along in the hallway, listening in to her practicing.

Hearing that, Dess found her hands were moving on their own as she moved closer to the wall, the percussive tap of her feet still keeping rhythm even after she stopped to crawl across the bed. Resting her back against the wall, she continued to play, focusing entirely on her mother’s voice as the music all but played itself. She’d have to ask Ralsei how her powers worked exactly, but she thinks she’s got a pretty good idea. She played this song over and over and over again with Kris and nothing happened, but the moment she played for her mom, she became some kind of musical goddess.

It had to be the intent behind why she was playing, the emotions going into it. With how effortless playing the guitar was for her mother, she wondered if she’d be able to do the same with everything else in her room despite not knowing how to play them. She had a lot of interesting things to try out, dozens of new instruments to learn, and she couldn’t wait to show Kris what she was able to do now.

Dess thinks she plays for another whole hour before she realizes her mother is gone and likely asleep. Dess finishes off the song she was playing before setting her guitar back into its case. Lying down in bed, hands cramping and sore from the constant practice, Dess rested her head on her pillow, heart still heavy. She thinks this might be the best day of her life.

For once, there wasn’t any regret, guilt, or sadness in her heart. She didn’t lament over the time she lost, she didn’t focus on the regrets she had the moment she disappeared, all she could do was think about what she would do next. What song would she learn? When would she be ready to perform in front of a larger audience? When would Mom get to hear her next performance?

Dess fell asleep, no longer lost in the past, and actively dreaming of her future.

Chapter Text

Berdly’s been waiting for this day for a long time.

Kris has always been a bizarre specimen and arch rival to him. They’ve known each other since elementary school and for as long as he can remember, they’ve always been picking fights with him. That wasn’t anything special at the time, Kris had a habit of screwing with literally everyone around them, but by the time middle school rolled around, it became targeted and personal.

Every day was a battle of wits. Berdly of course had unrivaled intellect, but Kris proved to be wiser than they appeared. Berdly could easily best Kris in a battle of brute smarts and he had the grades to prove it, but Kris’ outside the box thinking and crudeness made them unpredictable and they often laid traps for Berdly to talk himself into.

That all started to change once they got into high school though. Kris started to put less effort into their rivalry. They grew distant and quiet as years passed. Every once in a while they’d spit out a snarky response or correct a mistake he made, but aside from the rare outburst, it was like they were replaced by someone completely different. When that turned out to actually be the case and the real Kris came back, Berdly was almost… delighted to have that snarky buffoon calling him names again. He didn’t realize how much he missed it.

He felt numb when he was told that Kris was gone after the Roaring ended.

Susie and a few others acted out in all sorts of strange ways after the Roaring, claiming to have manipulative abilities over time itself. It all sounded like nonsense to Berdly and he hated it. His best friend was gone without a trace, his other best friend Noelle was becoming increasingly stressed and anxious. He couldn’t do anything about the situation and no matter how hard he thought, his brain fizzled out before anything even remotely helpful could come to mind.

The only thing that helped him keep his chin up during the whole ordeal was the strange visions he had.

It scared him at first, and for a while, he was convinced that he was seeing a ghost. Seemingly at random as he walked around his house or played his games or visited friends, he could have sworn Kris was right there with him. It was like a sense of deja-vu, a memory so vivid and clear in his mind, he could have sworn it already happened, but obviously, Kris wasn’t there. He remembers Ms. Dreemurr invited all of Kris’ friends over for dinner at her house to talk about her missing child and he was relieved and terrified to find that whatever these strange glimpses of Kris were wasn’t just a thing he had. Practically half of the people at the table experienced the same thing, like Kris was right there with them.

Susie eventually explained that Kris spent time with a lot of them before they disappeared and what they were experiencing were memories from those alternate timelines. Even stranger was that Berdly seemed to have the most of these strange alternate memories and he and Kris were…

Well, surely that was a prank. Susie could be pretty cruel sometimes and Kris no doubt left her with some instructions to prank everyone in their stead while they were gone. Of course Kris wouldn’t like him that way.

Those doubts melted away when he came home late one night, and before he opened the door, he could have sworn Kris was standing right behind him. A crystal clear phantom memory played out in his mind like a movie. Kris stood right in front of him, holding his hands and talking about how wonderful of a night it was. Berdly mumbled to himself as his mouth tried to continue the conversation, even though it obviously wasn’t happening right that moment. The conversation kept going back and forth, the tension growing more and more. Berdly had no idea where it was going until Kris leaned forward to kiss him.

Berdly felt something press against his beak and his breath leave his mouth, but just like that, the memory was over. He was left at his front door, heart hammering in his chest and wishing it could have kept going. That couldn’t have been a prank, that was real. Somehow, despite their rivalry and how idiotic that human was, in another timeline they were somehow partners.

And for some reason, he desperately wanted to make it happen again.

Since then, he’s been training himself in every way he can. Honing his magical and fighting abilities, sharpening his reflexes and reaction times in the gaming room, and studying in the grand libraries within Cyber City. By the time the Angel Vess awoke from their slumber and began searching for Kris, Berdly had forged himself into a mighty warrior, ready to do whatever was necessary to rescue his partner.

He fought valiantly, and he is sure that his efforts warrant yet another golden statue in commemoration of his heroic deeds. His tactical genius alone should be taught in history books, how he used his screams of terror to prevent the enemy from overhearing his companions' battle plans.

He didn’t do it for the glory though. His bravery brought home a much greater prize. Kris was back home, safe and sound.

And now Berdly was standing right in front of their house, carrying a bag of all the ingredients he would need for his famous Gamer’s Delight. It was a hassle to find the place within the massive studio which was formed on top of it. Ms. Dreemurr did a great job of making the path here a little more obvious, but it was still a maze just to find the dressing room sitting outside the set of the home.

He sadly doesn’t remember what spurred this idea on, but Kris insisted that they bake a pie together the very first day they came home. Of course they’ve been busy for a while now, Kris had their whole family and a dozen other friends who they needed to catch up with and they’ve been spending a lot of time with Dess as well, but out of the blue, they suddenly called him and set up this date.

It was a date… right? Berdly wracked his brain to try and think of any other reason why they would invite him over like this. Kris did say that they felt kinda bad for rushing things through. Maybe this was just a friendly outing. Maybe…

The front door is suddenly pulled open and before he can get a word out, Berdly is crushed in Kris’ embrace. “Berdly!” They cheered. “I’m so glad you made it! It’s good to see you again!”

“Kris! Kris, my back!” Berdly squawks, feeling his entire midsection get crushed beneath Kris’ iron grip. Kris has been like this ever since they got back, and unfortunately for Berdly, they latched onto everyone like they would be lost forever if they ever let go.

“Oh.” Kris lets him go, allowing him to breathe easy and hunch over. “What, your brittle bird bones can’t take it? I bet if Susie squeezed you hard enough, you’d pop.”

“Just ease up on me.” Berdly whines, stretching himself out and hoping nothing bruises. “It’s embarrassing when you do that.”

“What? You don’t like being manhandled by someone half a foot shorter than you?” Kris teased.

“No!” Berdly crosses his arms. “I don’t like being manhandled at all! Besides, I’m the heroic knight in shining armor. If anyone’s going to be carrying anyone, I should carry you.”

“Pfft, you look like you’re struggling to carry those bags.” Kris points out cruelly. Berdly’s arm is a little sore, but he flexes his arms in an attempt to disprove Kris. “Well worry not, my valiant knight. Your herculean task of delivering groceries is over and will be rewarded in time.” Reaching out, Kris takes the bags into one hand and takes Berdly’s hand in the other. “Now come on, I’ve been waiting literally forever to do this with you. I can’t wait anymore.”

Berdly is dragged through the house towards the kitchen as his mind races from the sudden back and forth with Kris. They’ve always been this snarky and mean, but they wore a smile the whole time. Despite being made fun of multiple times already, Berdly also couldn’t help but smile. Kris might have landed an early blow to his ego by belittling his physical strength, but the war was far from over. In time, Berdly would put them in their place with his superior intellect!

“The ingredients you told me to bring were very specific,” Berdly points out as Kris drags him towards the kitchen. “Clearly you must have tasted my culinary masterpiece and want me to show you ho-”

“No,” Kris quickly corrects him. “I’m gonna show you how to do it right.”

“Hmph. As if you could improve on perfection.” Berdly scoffs.

“It’s mountain dew flavored gelatin in a pre-bought pie crust,” Kris tells him. “You aren’t going to be winning any baking competitions with that thing, which is why I’m here to help you.”

“What makes you think that a pie you would make would be better than…” Berdly starts to argue, but it quickly dies in his throat. Kris turns to give him an unimpressed glare, but even though their mouth doesn’t move, Berdly can already hear their response.

”You just realized how stupid you sounded, didn’t you?” Berdly’s brain hurts as another memory plays out in his head. He’s had this conversation before, hasn’t he?

“You ok?” The memory comes to a crashing halt as Kris suddenly looks concerned. “You spaced out there for a second.”

“Sorry,” Berdly shakes his head. “Just a bit of deja-vu,” He tells them. “Ignore what I was saying before. I’m actually excited to see the Dreemurr’s baking skills first hand.”

“Well that’s the smartest thing you’ve said all day!” Kris breaks into a smile at that. Berdly was supposed to be trying to find a way to get back at them for all the teasing from earlier, not praising them, but that smile was contagious, so he decided to chalk it up as a neutral action. It couldn’t be bad if he was smiling too.

Besides, Kris admitted he said something smart!

Entering into Kris’ kitchen, they both began laying out the base ingredients they would need to make the Gamer’s Delight. Berdly didn’t bring everything though, as Kris insisted that some of the ingredients were replaced with higher quality stuff they already had in stock. Kris hasn’t admitted it themself yet, at least not in this timeline, if they were so desperate to make this pie again, they must have really liked it!

“Say, Kris.” Berdly turns to his partner just as they finish laying out the ingredients. He could call them that, right? Nothing’s happened yet, but they are his partner, right? “Susie never gave me many details about what things were like before you disappeared. She only ever told me that we were both a thing.”

“Good to know she wasn’t spreading any wild stories about us then,” Kris chuckles as they begin to dig through the cupboards. “If she left in my place, I would have told Noelle all sorts of crazy shit about what she was up to.”

“You always were good at coming up with bizarre stories on the fly.” Berdly nods. “Noelle still doesn’t like going near Ice-E’s pizza, especially after the Dark Worlds popped up.”

“Well yeah, because Ice-E haunts the place now.” Kris says without a hint of humor in their voice.

“That isn’t going to work on me, Kris.” Berdly shakes his head. “Noelle may be gullible enough for that to work, but not-”

“No, think about it.” Kris interrupts him. “The Dark Worlds gave life to all sorts of things based on our memories and feelings. Noelle wasn’t the only kid terrified of that demented looking mascot. If my own TV came to life and tried to kill me thanks to the Dark Worlds, why wouldn’t Ice-E come to life too?”

Berdly is left stunned. Kris was of course making a joke, that’s what they do, but he couldn’t deny there was actual logic to their reasoning. In this world of fantasy made real, why wouldn’t that creepy mascot come to life? Berdly tried to scrutinize Kris’ expression, looking for any sign that this might be a joke at his expense or if they were being serious, but they look completely deadpan. That is, until they notice him staring and turn to face him.

“Uh, anyways…” Berdly quickly tries to change the topic. If this was a prank, he couldn’t admit he fell for it. “What were you up to while you were gone?”

Berdly only realizes how dumb of a question that was after it leaves his mouth. He couldn’t take it back now, and he couldn’t come up with another question to bury this one. Kris reacted to it, but it was so subtle that he almost missed it. Their head tilted downward by a couple degrees, the corners of their lips tugged downward, the straight face they were trying to maintain while telling their story slipped away into a look of uncomfort and dismay.

“Not much,” They eventually answered, despite how clear it was that they didn’t want to talk about it. “It was nice to catch up with Dess after all these years, but… It was absolute hell out there. Stuck with two people I hated more than anything and left with absolutely nowhere to go and nothing to do. Shit, I don’t even wanna turn the lights off when I go to sleep because it was so god damn dark out there…”

Berdly needed to say something, and fast. Anything to take Kris’ mind off this depressing topic.

“Well you have no need to fear the dark anymore,” He declares. “Your knight in glow in the dark armor will serve as your night light, should you need me.” That earns a snort out of Kris as they try to hold back laughter.

“Do you go to sleep with the armor on?” They ask.

“Of course!” Berdly nods. “A knight must always remain vigilant. Besides, it’s convenient to be wearing a light source when I want to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.” Kris continues trying to hold back laughter and Berdly declares his efforts successful. “Now,” Berdly clears his throat, grabbing the nearest bowl. “What is the first step to making this pie? It can’t be too hard, can it?”

“Oh yes it can.” Kris says, quickly snatching the bowl out of Berdly’s hands. Now that the Void talk was behind them, they were back to their snappy self. “This isn’t like regular cooking. Regular cooking is easy, you just heat things through and put seasoning on it until it tastes good. Baking is a much more precise science and even a single mistake in the measurements could ruin the whole dish. Pastry making is basically calculus for cooking. Too much flour? Ruined. Not enough butter? Ruined. You cannot eyeball this stuff, it has to be precise.”

“Well then I’m surprised a nincompoop like yourself can even bake at all.” Berdly hums.

“God, just call me an idiot, please.” Kris whines. “I can’t believe you use the term ’nincompoop’ unironically.”

“Stop acting like one, and maybe I’ll have a reason to stop calling you one.” Berdly says with an evil smirk. And just like that, he finally got his first good hit in. He now knew a weakness to exploit, and even better, he set Kris up to make every utterance of the word nincompoop their fault.

“Whatever,” Kris grumbles. “There’s a pitcher of water in the fridge. Get that while I measure things out.”

“Very well!” Berdly nods. He considers pressing his attack and going for another jab, but the look of sheer concentration on Kris’ face discourages him. They were putting a lot of care into this and now he was curious.

“I don’t think I’ve ever made a gelatin pie before, so we’re gonna hope a shortcrust works,” Kris says, scooping up a cup of flour and leveling it before placing it into a waiting food processor. “Grab an egg while you’re over there. Do you know how to separate the yolk?”

The next ten minutes or so passes and Berdly can’t even focus on trying to get back at Kris. He stood at attention as Kris showed him the process of making a shortcrust and all the care it required to get right. There was no time for jokes, only time to learn. Even after everything was mixed, Kris explained how important it was to not overwork the dough as they rolled it up over the floured surface of the kitchen counter. They did everything with practiced motions, and while they claimed they were out of practice and that their mom was way better at it, Berdly couldn’t help but think they were standing next to a culinary genius.

All that came to a sudden stop when Kris placed the dough in the fridge and said it would need to chill.

“For how long?” Berdly asked.

“Half an hour or so.” Kris shrugs. “It won’t roll properly unless it’s cool. We’re gonna have to kill time until then.”

“Hmm…” Berdly ponders for a moment, wondering what he should say. He was being a little more cautious this time around. After his mistake with bringing up the Void, he didn’t want to bring up anything from the past, but curiosity was getting the better of him. “If it isn’t rude to ask,” Berdly starts. “What was I like as your boyfriend in the alternate timelines?”

“We didn’t get further than kissing if that’s what you’re asking.” Kris says with a smirk. Berdly is just relieved that this topic wasn’t as sour as the last. “What, do you still have doubts? Was Susie’s word not enough?”

“N-no! Not at all!” Berdly shook his head, though he of course did have doubts, even after Kris admitted they may have kissed in a previous timeline. “I mean, for a while I did. It felt like something you’d do, but I think I remember the night of our first kiss.”

“Huh?” Kris’ eyes go wide. “Wait, did you become resistant too?! When did-”

“Only a little,” Berdly explains. “A lot of us got a little bit of resistance over time. We missed you enough that we pushed through it I guess.”

“Well that’s sweet,” Kris says, not with any smarm or sarcasm. They seem genuinely moved by the idea. “Also corny as hell, but everything about the resets were stupid. So, what did you remember from our first date then?”

“Not much,” Berdly replies sadly. “I don’t even remember the conversation leading up to it, but I remember it ending with a kiss and it didn’t even last.”

“You looking to rush to the good part then?” Kris asks him, waggling their eyebrows.

Berdly’s cheeks go red. “Is… Is that on the table?”

“No.” Kris chuckles cruelly. “We’re still technically waiting on our first kiss. I’m not gonna waste it right now.” They explain. “Don’t worry though. I’m sure you’ll figure something out to become my drama king.”

“W-wha?” Berdly is taken aback for a moment.

“What?” Kris asks.

“Your drama king? Where did…” Berdly scratched his head. Did he have a lapse in memory or… Looking at Kris they were staring at him like he was crazy, only for recognition to suddenly flash onto their face.

“Woah, is that what you meant by you remembering things?” They ask in shock. “Holy shit I almost forgot I said that. God I wish I did, it was one of the dumbest things I ever said.”

“Pfft, no.” Berdly sees an opening and takes it. “You’ve said things far stupider in the past.” Kris crosses their arms and scoffs. Another point for Berdly! “Well, I don’t have the full context, but I think I like the idea of being your dramatic king.” Berdly says. “I wonder what set that off though?”

“The last time we discussed our first kiss, I was telling you I didn’t want to make out in the middle of the woods while we were running for our lives.” Kris explains. “I wasn’t going to settle for that and you called me a drama queen. If you want that first kiss, you’re gonna have to earn it.”

“So we can’t do it now to pass the time?” Berdly asks, not caring how desperate he sounded.

“No.” Kris shakes their head.

“When can we?”

“Whenever the moment feels right.” They say. “Maybe it will be in an hour from now. Maybe the pie we make will be so amazing, I’ll try to suck it out of your mouth.”

“What?!” Berdly recoiled in disgust from the mental picture in his head. Kris laughs at his mental anguish and with dismay, he realizes that Kris just managed to best him yet again in their game of wits. He really needed to clear his mind and come up with something good to get back at them, otherwise this battle might already be over. “Here you were talking about how you had standards and wouldn’t just kiss me for no reason, yet here you are talking about wasting it on the most disgusting thing imaginable.”

“You don’t want your first kiss to taste like mountain dew?” Kris asks.

“No?!” Berdly shakes his head. “Do you?!”

”Maybe?” This conversation wasn’t going anywhere. There was no way Berdly was going to spin this around against them, he just needed to change the subject.

“So um… Dess!” Berdly says. “How’s Dess doing these days? You’ve been spending a lot of time with her, haven’t you?”

“She’s doing a lot better!” Kris says with a smile, burying their previous disgusting conversation. “She had a rough time getting used to things again after being gone for so long, but I think she’s found her footing. We’ve been learning guitar together in the auditorium here at the studio. Maybe you could swing by during one of our practice sessions.”

Their conversations thankfully remained normal from that point on. Dess has quickly been recovering from her long absence, Ralsei finished what should be the final extension for the castle, Azazel has been helping Asgore run the flower shop. There was even the exciting news that in a week's time, they should be able to communicate with Vess again at Queen’s Manor!

Berdly listened intently, looking for some way to get back at Kris and finally get even, but the more he listened, the less he tried to interrupt. They talked about all of the little things they missed, all the people they were glad to see again. They talked about Susie and how grateful they were to have a friend as reliable and strong as she was, how they wouldn’t know what to do if she wasn’t there to support them. They talked about Ralsei, who no matter how dire or desperate the situation, always wore a smile and lightened the mood.

They talked about him, and how the memory of their first dates kept them going through the horrors of the Void, that he kept them persisting, clinging to hope that they’d be able to get home one day.

After that, Kris went silent.

Berdly sat completely still, at a complete loss for what to say. A lump was lodged firmly in his throat and his heart stuttered as he looked at Kris who stared off into nothing, their mind off somewhere much darker. The little game they were playing was completely forgotten about, and in this moment, he wracked his brain, trying desperately to think of something to help pull his friend, his partner, out of this strange depressive slump.

Just when he thought the silence was stretching out too long, an epiphany struck him. “Oh! The pie crust!” He blurts out.

“Huh?” blinking rapidly, Kris shook their head and tried to regain focus. “What about it?”

“Enough time’s passed by now, right?” Berdly asks. “Is it ready to roll?” Kris stares at him blankly for a while, but he lets out a quiet sigh of relief when he sees them break into a smile.

“Yeah,” They nod. “Thanks for keeping track. I uh, rambled on for a while there.” Pushing off the couch, they move for the kitchen and Berdly turns to follow them. As he walked, he couldn’t help but feel his heart swell.

Maybe his cheesy comment about being their knight in glow in the dark armor wasn’t that cheesy after all.

Back in the kitchen, Kris is back to their normal self once they had the crust back on the table. Berdly readied himself to learn more, but is surprised when Kris hands him a rolling pin.

“This is the fun part,” They say. “But it’s also one of the easier parts. Don’t worry too much about screwing it up, just roll it out flat until I tell you to stop.”

“You’re letting me do the fun part?” He asks.

“This is the only part I trust you to not screw up,” Kris jeers. “Besides, now if the pie doesn’t turn out right, I can shift the blame onto you since you had a part in making it.”

“Oh please.” Berdly scoffs, taking the rolling pin and pressing it onto the dough. “Have a little more fai-”

“Woah woah! Stop!” Kris blurts out.

“What?! What did I-?” Berdly immediately takes the pin off the dough, only for Kris to burst into laughter. “Ugh, you’re insufferable.”

“So are you.” Kris nods with a smile. Berdly grumbles, but he can’t help but smile too.

Rolling the dough flat as Kris stood by to measure its thickness, Berdly couldn’t wait to see the finished product. Had they done this his way, they would have already made two pies, but doing everything from scratch like this has to make it taste ten times better. While it was true that Kris would blame him if the pie turns out bad, that just meant that if it turned out amazing, Berdly would deserve just as much praise as he would get blame! He was really slacking on their battle, but if Kris was just going to hand him a victory like this, he wasn’t going to complain.

“And stop.” Kris orders and Berdly obeys. “Perfect,” They smile. “Now for the hardest part, actually rolling this out into the tin.”

“Here you are.” Berdly hands over said tin, having been using it to make sure the dough was rolled out to a suitable length. Watching Kris work again, they roll the dough up along with the pin before lifting it over the waiting pie tin. Berdly doesn’t know the last time Kris did this, they’ve been practicing and relearning all sorts of things since they got back, but the effortlessness they showed in filling out the pie tin convinced him that there must have been a kitchen in the Void for their skills to still be so sharp.

“Alright, I was getting worried for a second there,” They say. “Almost tore it, but it looks fine.”

“Is that you messing with me again?” Berdly asks. “It looks perfect.”

”Maybe.” Kris smiles again. “This tin’s kind of dull, so I’m gonna have to trim off the edges myself.” They reach for the knife block at the end of the counter. “Do you want to grab a fork from the second drawer down beside you? We gotta make sure it doesn’t puff up.

“Of course, one mo-” Berdly nods and reaches for the drawer, when a sound startles him out of his train of thought. Just out of reach, the phone hanging on the wall beside the kitchen starts to ring. That’s strange, who’s still using landlines anymore? Everyone switched out to cellphones once Queen made them more popular within the barrier.

Leaving Kris’ side for a moment to silence the ringing, Berdly answers the phone.

“Hello?”

“Kris Dre- oh?” A woman answers the phone and Berdly instantly recognizes it is Ms. Dreemurr’s. “I’m sorry, did I get the wrong number? I could have sworn I called the house phone.”

“You did.” Berdly replies. “Kris is showing me how to bake.”

“Oh, is this Berdly?” Ms. Dreemurr asks. “Well if they’re still there, tell them to turn their phone back on! I’ve been trying to get a hold of them for the past hour! Rudy is inviting everyone over for dinner tonight and I don’t want them to miss out.”

“Am I invited too?” Berdly asks.

“Of course,” She replies. “I’m sure Kris wouldn’t go without you. Dinner is at six, make sure you’re both there by then.”

Ms. Dreemurr hangs up the phone before Berdly can press further, and now he’s left with a question. Why does Kris have their phone off? He seriously doubts they turned it off just for him if they could have missed out on something this important.

“Hey Kris?” Berdly calls out as he hangs the phone back up on the wall. “Why is your…”

Berdly’s words fail to come out as his heart is suddenly lodged in his throat.

Kris was still standing in the kitchen, but something was very wrong. Their light blue skin has suddenly turned several shades lighter in the time Berdly made the call. Clenched in their hand with a white knuckled grip was a kitchen knife. Their grip is iron, but their whole hand shook. Kris stared straight ahead at the wall, wide eyed and paralyzed looking at nothing. Their breaths were so quick and so shallow that it couldn’t be circulating anything at all.

“Kris?” Berdly finds the nerve to speak up, but Kris doesn’t react in the slightest. Their breathing is becoming more ragged, and for a moment, he’s terrified that they might fall over. “Kris?! Kris, what’s going on?!”

Hurrying over to Kris’ side, they finally react, though not in the way he hoped. They gasp the moment he gets close, turning the knife on him. Berdly comes to an immediate halt, his eyes going wide at the blade now being pointed at him. Kris’ eyes come back into focus, first staring at Berdly, then the knife in their hands. They drop the knife, their breathing becoming even harder and the shakes taking over their entire body. They stumble backwards, but Berdly closes the distance and grabs hold of them now that the knife was out of harm's way.

“Kris!” Berdly tries to hold Kris still. “Kris, are you ok?!”

“I’m sorry!” They mumble out, still short of breath. “Fuck! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m…”

“Kris!” Berdly doesn’t know what to do. He has no idea what was going on. Were they hurt? Were they scared? Was this something much worse happening that he didn’t know about? “Kris, I can’t help unless you tell me what’s wrong. Please!”

“I can’t!” Kris continues to cry out in a hoarse voice, tears threatening to spill. “Don’t answer! Please! I don’t care what he wants! I won’t do it!” Pure panic was filling Berdly’s chest as Kris started to break down into hysterics, hyperventilating and gasping for breath.

He needed to do something, but he didn’t know what. Kris was pleading with him with tears in their eyes, but it all sounded like nonsense.

Berdly was never good at thinking on his feet. He was smart, very smart, but he couldn’t quite call on those smarts when he wanted to. He needed time to formulate a plan, to go over the pros and cons of every possible action to deduce the best strategy. He didn’t have that time though. Kris was a blubbering mess and they were shaking and gasping so much that he was convinced they were somehow dying.

Having no idea what else to do, Berdly pulls Kris into a hug, hoping that it would somehow make things better.

Kris latches onto him immediately, crushing him with a grip even more powerful than the one they greeted him with. It hurts, but Berdly endures. Kris burrows their head against his chest, their rapid fire heartbeat drumming against him as they hitch and gasp for breath. He has no idea if this is helping them, but at the very least, they weren’t shaking anymore.

He kneels down, taking Kris with him until they were both sitting on the floor. Berdly continued trying to force his brain to come up with a better plan, but thankfully, whatever he was doing now seemed to be working. Kris’ shaking died down, they started to take deeper breaths, and little by little, their heartbeat was slowing down to a reasonable level.

They probably sat there on the floor for ten whole minutes after Kris finally settled down. Berdly had no idea what started this and he was terrified that doing anything might start it up again.

It takes forever, but eventually, Kris speaks up.

“I’m sorry…” They mumble so quietly that Berdly almost misses it. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m so… God, I’m so-”

“It’s alright.” Berdly assures them, running his feathers through their hair in what he hopes was a soothing motion. “I don’t know what happened, but everything’s ok now.” He had no idea if things were alright or not, but he doesn’t show it.

“Thank you.” With one more hitched breath, Kris pulls away from him. They look up at him with an exhausted look on their face, their eyes and cheeks ruddy and purple. “Thank you so much.”

“I didn’t even-” Kris falls back into his embrace, though this time they are a lot more gentle. He decides not to argue. He barely did anything at all, but evidently, just being here was enough. “What happened?” Berdly asks instead. “Are you going to be alright?”

“I don’t know,” Kris whines against his chest. “That’s the worst it's ever been.”

“Th-” Berdly chokes up. “This isn’t the first time this has happened?!”

“It doesn’t happen often, but…” Kris falls silent again, not even having the courage to finish answering.

“Does anyone else know about this?” Berdly asks.

“Dess,” Kris mumbles. “Maybe Susie. Both caught me like this on separate occasions, both promised not to tell anyone about it.”

“Why wouldn’t they tell anyone?” Berdly asks. “If you’re in trouble, we should te-”

“I don’t want people to know how much of a fucking mess I am!” Kris blurts out before Berdly could finish. “I don’t want people to know that hearing a fucking phone ring is enough to give me panic attacks severe enough to… to…”

“It’s alright.” Berdly tells them, squeezing them a little tighter to keep them grounded. Looking up at the phone hanging against the wall, he feels his heart lurch. That’s what caused this? Ms. Dreemurr said that Kris had their phone off too, were cellphones enough to trigger this? He wasn’t part of the core group who were fully immune to the resets, but he vaguely remembers that Gaster always communicated by phone. He might have even been present once or twice when that phone rang, a small rotary phone resting on a small stool.

Reaching into his pocket and making sure Kris didn’t see it, Berdly set his phone to silent.

“Let’s get off the floor and move to the couch.” Berdly says, trying to push off the floor. Kris goes along with it, though they’re still a little unsteady on their feet. Slowly walking through the kitchen and towards the living room, Berdly gently sets Kris down on the couch. The whole time they move, Kris’ eyes are glued to the phone in the kitchen.

“Who was it?” They ask.

“Your mom says that Rudy’s having a big get together at his fort,” Berdly replies. “She also sounded a bit frustrated that your phone was off, but…” Kris grumbled in response, lowering their head to stare at the floor. “I don’t know if it’s best to keep this a secret from people. If your mom knew, she probably would have tried to call me instead of the house.”

“That’s probably the smart thing to do, but…” Kris huffs. “I just want to be normal,” They say. “So much of my life has been screwed up one way or another and I just want to not worry about it anymore. All this stupid bullshit should be behind me but I can’t get it out of my head. I’m… I’m…”

“Kris…” Berdly hesitates, wondering if what he was about to say was the right thing, but seeing how hurt Kris looked right now, he couldn’t afford to leave them in silence. “I don’t think any of us are normal anymore.”

Kris looks up at him with an expression he can’t place. He quickly elaborates. “I mean, you probably had it the worst, but all of us went through the same traumatizing stuff you did. All of us were terrified of Gaster, Chara, the resets. A lot of people put themselves on the line for your sake, too.”

“Don’t remind me…” Kris’ expression falls and Berdly continues to ramble, desperate to say something that might cheer them up.

“We did it because we cared about you!” Berdly sputters. “All of us cared about you! You’re our best friend! It didn’t matter what tried to take you away from us. Demons, Angels, evil Void scientists. I personally trained every day in preparation for the day that I would get the chance to rescue you, and even though it was the scariest moment of my entire life, I would do it again if it meant you’d be home safe! Noelle would do the same for Susie and vice versa, Asriel stood up and fought despite how much he hated it. All of us carry some of what happened that day with us, you aren’t the only one who’s going through it.”

“So…” Kris finally looks up at him, a hint of a smile trying to force itself onto their face. “You admit you were afraid during the fight?”

“I was losing my mind.” Berdly nods. “I sometimes have nightmares about that thing. Their smile alone basically ruined any good memories I had with Chara Tor.” Berdly notices Kris react to that. They must feel the same way. It was uncanny how similar Chara looked to their demonic double. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I wore my armor to bed. The Lightbringer is gone, but something deep in the back of my mind insists that I need to take every precaution I can to keep myself safe, just in case. It wasn’t smart or reasonable at all to think they could be back, but I do it anyway.”

“Oh…” Kris looks sad again, though for a different reason this time. Berdly supposes they were initially trying to poke fun at him for essentially wearing a night light, but now that they knew the reason, it wasn’t as funny.

“I’m sure everyone else is struggling with it their own way.” Berdly continues. “I haven’t been hanging out much with Dess, but it’s obvious that she isn’t acting right. Noelle’s been pretty cheery, but I sometimes think it might be forced, like maybe she’s trying to bury some other emotion with a smile.”

“Dess talks about that too.” Kris hums. “Dess sometimes teases her and she’s noticed that no matter what she does, Noelle hasn’t even frowned since they met up again. So what? Why are you even bringing this up?”

“Well…” Berdly forgot where he was even going with this. He was just so desperate to fill the silence and cheer Kris up that he let himself ramble. He did, however, have an answer to this question. “I’m just trying to say that we’re all going through it and no one’s going to judge you for it. I’m not trying to drown you in pity or anything like that, I’m just saying that no one’s going to think differently or less of you because of these panic attacks. If you tell us, we’ll only do whatever we can to help you through them and prevent them from happening.”

“I think…” Kris mumbles and Berdly wonders if he might have said something wrong. Those worries go up in smoke when Kris leans over and rests their head against his arm. “...That might have been the smartest thing you’ve said all day.”

Berdly’s first instinct is to explain that they didn’t even think about any of what they just said, but having Kris so close and intimate with him shut him up long enough for him to realize that staying quiet was the best move.

“Could it be because you actually stopped talking for a minute and actually took the time to think?” Berdly jolts slightly as yet another phantom memory plays out in his head. “You don’t always have to say everything that comes to your mind, you know.” Maybe that was true, he does have a habit of saying foolish things without thinking, but it seems to have worked out this time around. Maybe that was just proof that he’s grown smarter since his last date with Kris in the alternate timelines.

“Oh!” Berdly sat up, jostling Kris slightly. “The pie! We didn’t leave it too long, did we?”

“It’s fine,” Kris assures him. “The crust can chill in the fridge overnight, it shouldn’t get too cracked up. And if it does, that just means we get to make another one. I just need to lie here for a while.”

“That’s alright.” Berdly says. He didn’t have much planned today other than this, and simply sitting here on the couch with Kris resting against his shoulder was pleasant.

“When we go to Rudy’s party,” Kris speaks up. “Don’t tell anyone about what happened today. I’ll tell them eventually when I find the words for it, but I don’t want people to know I broke down today while we’re at the party.”

“Alright,” Berdly nods, when an idea forms in his head. “Only if you promise not to tell anyone about me sleeping with my armor on.”

“Damn it…” Kris whines. “That was solid gold I could have used at the party.” After a few seconds of internal debate, Kris eventually concedes. “Fine,” They grumble. “But only because you’re my boyfriend.”

It was already confirmed through multiple sources, but hearing Kris directly call him their boyfriend made Berdly’s heart stutter in his chest. He holds Kris a little closer, feeling them wrap their arms around him as they both pass the time. The day isn't over yet, and while things have been a little rough, he’s confident that things will still turn out alright before the end of the night.

The closer Berdly got to his neon lit castle, the more his heart hammered in his chest.

The dinner party at Rudy’s was great. Rudy was still in a celebratory mood after getting his long lost daughter back and it was hard not to feel down while he was in high spirits. Kris started the evening off a little more reserved than usual, but once Susie and the rest of their friends came along they started to open up a lot more.

What surprised him was that Kris insisted that he be a part of that group too.

He’s always been a little bit of an outsider to the group. It wasn’t a secret as to why. He fought against them all during his first visit to a Dark World, he was wildly unpopular, and he had a really obvious and really awkward crush on Susie for the longest time. Though he was clearly overthinking how awkward things would be talking to them because none of them minded at all and included him in their conversations. He supposes all of the craziness over the last few months kind of overshadowed him being a weird nerd in school.

Even more shocking was the fact that Susie apparently wanted to hang out. He had no idea what to think about that other than it had to be some kind of ploy to bully the shit out of him once they were alone. He agreed to it, however. Kris thought it would be nice to have them get to know each other a bit more. Knowing Kris, it was a coin toss whether or not they were in on whatever Susie was planning to do with him.

That was something for him to worry about tomorrow though.

Right now, he was walking back home late at night, Kris’ hand in his as they approached his castle. The walk has been completely silent, and Berdly desperately wants to fill it, but he can’t. Something about the path they were walking down, something about the bright glow in the distance as they walked in the dark triggered even more vivid phantom memories.

He’s been in this exact same scenario before, multiple times in fact. The memories playing out in his head didn’t have snow, but he’s come down this path with Kris walking right beside him. His pulse continues to rise as he wonders if this was leading up to another memory he had. He wonders if his first kiss was going to be tonight.

“Are you scared too?” Kris asks at his side.

“Yeah I- Wait, scared?!” Berdly sputters. “I mean, I’m a little anxious, but I wouldn’t say I’m scared. Why are-”

“This is all really familiar to me.” Kris says, looking around as they make it to the walkway leading towards the castle. “I’ve experienced two nights exactly like this one, though both ended very differently.”

“Oh.” Berdly mumbles, glancing down at Kris to find them anxiously looking around the dark corners of the street. “I think I only remember the good one.”

“Oh, so that’s why you’ve been so quiet.” Kris chuckles and Berdly feels a blush burn up his face. At least their attention was focused on him instead of whatever imagined dangers they thought were hiding in the shadows.

Marching up to the front gates, Berdly and Kris both stop at the door, both of their minds reeling from deja-vu. Berdly turned to face Kris, his heart pounding harder and harder as he braced himself for whatever happened next. Kris looks up at him with a blush, clearly thinking the same thing. Both of them stare at each other for a while and Berdly wonders if he should make the first move.

“I really-”
“Thank you fo-”

Both of them break the silence at the same time, leading to both of them shutting up again out of embarrassment. Berdly’s the first to speak up again though.

“I really enjoyed my time with you today,” He says. “It didn’t really go as planned, but it was really nice to get to see you again after being gone for so long. Maybe we could do it again soon?”

“We still have that pie crust chilling in the fridge, so yes.” Kris nods. “And, thank you for helping me through that. I’m…” They lower their head. “I’m really sorry for pulling that knife on you and ruining everything. It’s just-”

“Hey, you don’t need to apologize.” Berdly quickly interrupts. “I didn’t get hurt, there’s no reason to put yourself down.”

“I know, but I… I ruined our-”

“You didn’t ruin anything.” Berdly assures them. “Spending time with you was more than enough to make tonight great. What I did for you today was just my responsibility as your knight in glow in the dark armor.”

Kris lets out a noise that Berdly can’t accurately describe after saying that. It sounded like a mix of a repressed laugh and a sob. Before he knows it, Kris is holding him tight, burying their face in his chest.

“God, I missed all this stupid shit you used to say.” They say, their voice sounding heavy and full of emotion.

“Well it can’t possibly be that stupid if it’s wor-” Berdly isn’t able to finish his rebuttal before he was pulled down and he suddenly found Kris’ lips against his. His mind goes blank, his chest seizes, all of his attention is suddenly directed to the human kissing him. He’s at a complete loss for what to do, so much so that he doesn’t even remember how to breathe. He feels the strength fade from his legs as Kris pulls him in closer.

Eventually, his legs give out completely and he pulls away from Kris at the last second to avoid crushing them. He lands on his back, gasping for breath and still seeing stars. Dopamine floods his brain, blocking out any and all higher brain functions. He looks up at Kris who stares down at him with a smug grin.

“Still just as easy to tease, too.” They chuckle, a sound that does unbelievable things to Berdly’s brain. “If there’s one thing I miss having the resets for, it’s being able to give you your first kiss over and over again.”

“I… I don’t…” Berdly huffs, pushing himself up and readjusting his glasses. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that! That was…” A spark goes off in his mind, a thought forms in the cloud of euphoria he was lost in. It was like his brain was rewired to use all of its mental power to get more of this. “Do you want to do that again? See if I have the same reaction a second time?”

“And there’s the desperation I was waiting for.” Kris laughs cruelly. “I might… But I haven’t had the chance to tease you in forever. I like watching my little knight squirm.”

“You are a cruel and merciless tyrant!” Berdly cries, though he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “Is this what you’ve been waiting for? Building me up all day just to tease and belittle me right at the end?” It looks like he was always meant to lose this battle. Even if he countered every one of Kris’ jabs, even if he proved he was the intellectual superior, Kris had the ultimate trump card to turn him into a gibbering mess at their mercy. The game was rigged from the start.

“You’re smart, you’ll figure out how to get more of what you want.” Kris laughs before turning around. “I’ll come by to pick you up tomorrow, maybe literally if you haven’t picked yourself off the floor by then. Goodnight.”

Kris leaves Berdly on the floor at the foot of his door, flustered and out of breath. Brushing himself off and trying to recompose himself, Berdly rises to his feet, his heart still hammering in his chest. He thought he knew what to expect from his first kiss after nearly experiencing it early through his phantom memories, but nothing could have prepared him for the real deal. Once he’s calmed himself down, he turns to open the front door. He takes a single step inside before he turns to watch Kris walk home.

Only… They were still in his yard.

They looked tense as they stared out into the dark, their head looking up and down the road. Castle Town wasn’t a long walk away, and there were plenty of other light sources to lead the way, but that probably wasn’t enough to ease their worries. Being alone in the dark was probably the last thing they wanted to be.

Berdly moves to join them out in the yard. “Kris?” He speaks up once he’s close. “Would you like me to walk you home?”

“No.” They shake their head. They look uneasy, but looking up at him, a smile creeps onto their face. “I think I have a better idea.” Taking Berdly’s hand, they turn and start walking towards his castle, taking him with. “Can I spend the night with you? You can be my night light.”

Berdly’s brain shorts out again. Was Kris toying with him again? Were they toying with him when they started to leave? Was this always the plan?

Does it really matter?

Letting Kris lead him, Berdly follows along as they let themself into his castle. Maybe he didn’t lose his battle after all! He was the one who put the idea of him being a walking night light into Kris’ head. He wasn’t even consciously trying to do this, but clearly his subconscious was working ahead. He was a genius! His battle of wits against his partner hasn’t ended now that they’re together, it has simply evolved. Kris will surely catch on and they still had the deck weighted in their favor,

But tonight, he was the clear victor.

Chapter Text

The cold was absolute hell all the way up here. Flying circles over her hometown, Catti looked out over the castles and kingdoms below her. Despite the cold, Catti loved being up here. It was one of the few things she openly showed joy towards. She had a reputation to keep up, but she doubts anyone would be able to maintain a neutral expression while flying around like this, the wind whipping through her hair, looking down at the once grand castles like they were toys.

Up here, she was on top of the world. Nothing hid from her gaze and she was able to observe the kingdom in peace and quiet, unbothered by all the benign and boring crap she was forced to participate in like school or work or dinner with her family.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have that peace and quiet right now, as she had a passenger.

“IT’S REAL! I SAWS IT!” Temmie shouted at her from the back of her broomstick. She wasn’t doing it to be heard over the wind, this was just her natural tone of voice. “IT HAD A BAZILLION HANDS AND A EVIL SMILE WIF A JABILLION TEEF AND- AND IT WAS THE WAVIAFAN! I SAW IT, I SWEARS!”

“No you didn't, Temmie,” Catti replies calmly, looking back at her partner and helping her secure her witch’s hat before it blew away. “We are thousands of miles away from the ocean. Hell, even the nearest lake is two towns over and we have a magical barrier trapping us inside. You did not see the Leviathan swimming around in the freshwater river cutting through town.”

“BUT I DID!!!” Temmie insists. “IT WAS MASSIVE, AND BULBOUS! IT HAS THE DEVIL IN ITS EYES!”

“Are you sure it wasn’t Susie going for a swim?” Catti chuckles to herself. She doubted it though. A cold blooded monster like her would probably freeze in an instant if she tried to swim in the river at this time of year.

“NO!” Temmie shakes her head, threatening to send her glasses and hat falling off the broom again. She really needed to find a way to keep those attached, Catti was getting sick of making detours to grab them before they hit the ground. “Susie is yucky and muscular, this thing was SCARY! You has to belieb!”

“Well you obviously saw something if you’re this worked up,” Catti deduces. “What were you even doing out by the river? I figured it’d be frozen over.”

“I wuz buying pretty flowers from King Fluffybuns,” Temmie explains, only to be immediately interrupted.

“Who?” Catti asks.

“Asgore!” Temmie corrects herself. “He sells the prettiest flowers! Flowers perfect for potion brewing! The yellows are wemmon fwavered!”

“I really don’t think you should be mashing up random flowers and drinking them.” Catti tells her with a weary sigh. “You’re gonna end up poisoning yourself. If you’re gonna have anyone test them, pay Kris to do it. I’ve seen them snack on crayons right out of the box, I’m sure they’d be fine. That, or make Susie drink them, I don’t know. Anyways, how does this lead to your sighting?”

“Well, after getting the flowers, I went for a walk!” Temmie continues her story. “There’s a nice paff dat goes along the river. I was walking when I suddenly saw something in the water! I twied to investigates, but I heard stwange music coming from the water. I got closer and all of the suddens, BAM!” Temmie jumped on the back of the broom, nearly tossing herself off of it entirely. Catti increases her altitude a little more to give herself enough time to catch her if she does manage to fall. “A GIANT MONSTER ATTACKS, NEARLY EATING TEMMIE!”

“Are you sure you weren’t eating the flowers you got before you went on your walk?” Catti asks. “With how many things Asgore has growing in that shop of his, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he had-”

“NO!” Temmie shakes her head, this time sending her glasses flying off her snout. Catti wastes no time diving down and changing course to snatch the glasses out of the air, placing them back onto Temmie’s face. “My mind was clear! No potions, no drinks, no psychedelic substances! Temmie is squeaky clean!”

“Well now I’m curious.” Catti hums to herself. From all the way up here, she couldn’t actually see the river. She could see an uneven line cutting across the snow covered woods, but the actual waters were obscured by the trees. Temmie clearly saw something down there and she hasn’t shut up about it since. All this talk about music coming from the water and a terrifying beast…

It was too much for her to ignore.

“I got nothing better to do today,” Catti shrugs. “Wanna go take another look?”

“No.” Temmie quickly shakes her head. “Temmie not getting eated!”

“I’ll drop you off at the tower then,” Catti says, slowly lowering her altitude. “I’ll tell you if you were overreacting or not when I get back.”

“IF you get back!” Temmie warns. “The Leviathan might gobble you up if you aren’t careful!”

“It’s not the Leviathan.” Catti repeats, making a beeline for her tower. “It’s probably some Darkner going for a swim or something. I’ll be back in an hour or two. In the meantime, do you want to form the lens again while you’re at the tower?”

“We’re looking into the Void again?” Temmie asks.

“We’re gonna try to.” Catti says without much hope. She’s been messing with those crystals for months, only for the Angel to show up to make it work after all the research she put into it. Kris can do it too, but the vague, distant memories she had of that whole ordeal convinced her that it probably wasn’t a good idea to have them help out again. The Void couldn’t be completely ignored though. There was an entire plane of existence that two of her friends were trapped in for a year, she wanted to know more.

What if there was someone else out there? What if there were more powerful entities like Gaster? She needed to know more, not just to satisfy her own curiosity, but to make a potentially dangerous unknown become known. And who knows, if there is something that calls that place home, maybe she could commune with it. So far, none of the summoning circles she tried to draw up with Temmie have worked, but now that she knew of an otherworldly hell plain that actually existed, this was her chance to do some actual theurgy!

Swinging by the tower, she opens up the door before slowly backing her broom into it, letting Temmie hop off inside. With a wave goodbye, Catti takes to the skies again. She doesn’t break off immediately towards the river though, and instead returns to the skies to clear her head some more.

Temmie was far too high energy for her to deal with all the time, but out of everyone she knew from school, she was the best possible partner she could have asked for. Catti didn’t talk all that much during school, she rarely talked to anyone really, but whenever Temmie decided she wanted to speak with her, they usually got along well. She was really excitable and didn’t shy away from her interests which most other people saw as strange or creepy. Temmie was one of two people who actually sat down to do tarot readings with her, the other being Kris.

When the Dark World magic kicked in, Catti of course became a witch, but to her surprise, so did Temmie. Temmie’s thirst for knowledge eventually led her to Catti to begin researching alchemy and the occult, and while she isn’t the greatest at it, Catti more than appreciated the support. Not only that, but Temmie did more than enough talking for the both of them. Catti didn’t have to say a single word to the people hanging around her tower or the shopkeepers she was buying ingredients from. Getting to ignore all the losers around her made dealing with Temmie’s energy more than worth the headache.

After spending a couple minutes enjoying the peace and quiet, Catti finally makes her descent, diving down towards the overgrown flower shop where the trail leading to the river started. Without a passenger clinging to the broom, she was able to maneuver much more freely. Within seconds, she was back down to ground level, expertly killing her momentum just before she crashed into the dirt. Casually sliding off her broom stick, she snaps her fingers and sends the broom hovering to lose itself in the branches of a nearby tree. She wanted it close by, but leaving it out in the open for some idiot to fly around and hurt themselves wouldn’t be ideal.

Patting herself down to try and warm up from the cold, Catti begins her walk down the small trail leading towards the river. She was almost positive that Temmie had to have been over reacting at something, but a small part of her hopes that maybe there was truth to what she was claiming. At least there would be a point to coming out here and hanging out in the cold.

The walk to the river is thankfully a short one, and upon arriving at the running waters, she stood there for a moment, waiting for something to happen. The frigid waters were still rushing down the river, though the cold had slowed the flow down a bit. Nothing seemed to be moving within the water, no fish, no grasping tentacles, no monsters. She strained her ears to listen out for music, but other than the gurgling water…

…No, there’s something there…

She could hear a faint humming sound, piercing out a clear melody. Was this some kind of siren’s song she was hearing? Was there some kind of beast in the river singing? She leaned down close to the water, trying to listen in, but what she was hearing wasn’t coming from below the river, it was something on the river.

Looking up, Catti’s startled when she finds something approaching her on the river. Standing atop a large plank of wood which could only be loosely described as a boat and humming to themself was a tall figure cloaked in black. This clearly wasn’t the monster Temmie saw, but it was still enough to make Catti uneasy. She stood still, watching as the cloaked stranger drifted down the river. Without any obvious action from the stranger, the boat suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the river. The stranger stopped humming and turned their head to face her, revealing only blackness underneath the hood.

“Hello.” They speak with a gentle, almost sing-songy voice.

“Hey.” Cattie replies casually, though she could feel her heart beating hard in her chest.

“The river is so calming and quiet in this weather, isn’t it?” The stranger says, looking around at the snowy woods surrounding them. “Just you, your thoughts, and the song of the sea.”

“Yeah, it’s alright.” Catti nodded along, but she had absolutely no idea what was going on. Was she in danger? Was this some kind of demon or cultist trying to lure her into the river? Was this just some old guy enjoying a quiet boat ride? The conversation seemed pleasant so far, but everything about this felt like it came out of a horror movie. Catti was on guard, but for the moment, this stranger didn’t seem malicious.

“Did you come to listen to the song too?” The stranger asks. “It’s really beautiful at this time of year.”

“I guess I did.” Catti nods. She was here to investigate the oddities that Temmie reported here. This robed figure sailing down the river speaking of songs was clearly something worth looking into.

“Would you care to keep me company then?” The stranger asks, slowly moving over to make room on the boat for her. “I know a spot where the song comes through the clearest, just down the river.”

“Can I at least get your name first?” Catti asks. She wasn’t eager to hop onto a boat with a complete stranger, but if she could at least learn their name, she could maybe hex them and give them genital warts or turn them into a newt or something if they tried anything.

“Oh dear, my apologies,” The stranger bows down, sounding a little embarrassed. “I struggle with proper introductions, you see, for I do not have a name. Everyone just calls me the Riverperson. I believe I once had a name, but I fear I’ve forgotten it.”

As creepy as this Riverperson was, the more they spoke, the more Catti calmed down. They weren’t giving her serial killer vibes or giving off the impression that they could be unstable or dangerous. They sounded quiet and introverted, much like herself. Maybe this is how other people feel while trying to talk to her?

“I’m Catti.” Catti introduces herself, carefully stepping forward onto the Riverperson’s boat. “I’ve got nothing better to do, so sure, I’ll ride along. Is there anywhere specific you’re headed?”

“No,” The Riverperson shakes their head. Once again, without reaching out from their robes or moving from their spot at the front of the boat, the craft suddenly starts moving again, slowly drifting downstream. “I go wherever the river takes me, though I’ll sometimes change course if a passenger has someplace they need to be.”

“Just let it drift then,” Catti shrugs, sitting down at the back of the boat. “I have a friend expecting me in a couple hours, but she can wait.”

“Two hours is more than enough time to enjoy a lovely boat ride,” The Riverperson nods. “But if you’ve places to be, I’ll make sure to drop you off.”

Catti lets herself relax fully after hearing that. This really must be some old geezer who wanted some company while going on a quiet boat ride. Maybe the creepy robes were just part of the Dark World spell the whole town was under. Maybe they were another sorcerer or witch, surely she and Temmie weren’t the only ones.

Catti is content to sit around in silence and enjoy the ride, but she came here for a reason. “Uh, hey,” Catti speaks up, earning the attention of the Riverperson. “Have you seen anything strange here on the river?” She asks. “My friend says that she saw a giant monster in the water which scared her off. Would you know anything about that?”

“Are you speaking about the Onion?” The Riverperson asks. “I have met them in these waters. They were quite friendly, and even declared me their second ever friend. We spoke about the songs of the river for a while before I sailed off. Maybe we’ll run into them again.”

“My friend thought she heard something like that as well.” Catti says. “What is this song you keep talking about?”

“It’s a lovely melody, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, though…” The Riverperson’s head tilts downward. “It’s gotten a lot quieter as of late. I feel as if someone has stopped singing. I can only hope they’ve moved on somewhere nice. New voices have since filled the silence, but I’m afraid they aren’t very good singers.”

None of that answered Catti’s questions. In fact, it only raised more questions. There were people out here singing? Who left? Who joined in? Also, what the hell was this onion that they were talking about earlier? Who was the onion’s first friend?

She was so lost in her head trying to make sense of what she was told, that she didn’t notice anything had changed around her until it was dead quiet. Raising her head up, she suddenly found that the sky had gone dark. Looking around, nothing looked familiar anymore. The river was flowing faster now, and staring up into the dark sky, she couldn’t even make out stars.

“What’s going on?!” She asks in alarm, unable to maintain her apathetic tone. Was this a trap after all? Where was she?

“Shh,” The Riverperson shushes her. “Listen.” Catti immediately wants to argue, but before she can open her mouth, her ears twitch as something catches her attention.

It starts off incredibly faint and quiet, but as the boat continues to silently drift across the water, it slowly picks up. She at first thought it was whispers coming from the woods, but the further along they went, Catti realized it was coming from below. Very slowly scooting towards the edge of the boat, Catti peered over the side, looking into the water. She couldn’t see anything except her reflection, but to her surprise, her hat was missing, as well as her black dress. She was back to normal! Reaching up to her head, it only pats down on her hair, looking down, she was wearing a plain black t-shirt. The Dark World’s magic somehow lost its grip on her. Did they manage to escape the barrier?

She’s so enamored by what she saw that she almost forgot why she looked into the water in the first place. There were dozens of voices echoing up from the river. There were hums, chants, words that were so distant or jumbled that she couldn’t make them out. Even though these voices sang in unison, none of them stuck with the same melody. It was like every single one of them were trying to sing their own song, and the result was a haunting chorus of aimless voices, culminating into something that somehow resembled an actual song.

Stranger still, she thought she recognized one of the voices. Straining her ears to focus in on that voice, one of the singers seemed to have a bit of a southern drawl. That… That couldn’t be…

“Tra la la,” The Riverperson sways their head along to a non-existent beat, adding their own voice to the choir. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

“What…” Catti sat in complete disbelief. She’s seen and experienced some crazy things since the Roaring, but… “What is this?”

“This, my newest friend, is the song of the sea.” The Riverperson turns to face her, staring at her with their dark, hollowed out hood. “What you are hearing are the collective voices of the Void, singing out in unison, yearning to be heard.”

“The Void?!” Catti looked up to the Riverperson in disbelief. “But how?! How are we hearing this? Was this always here?”

“This is a song that resonates all over the world,” The Riverperson explains. “But only where it’s quiet and out of the way. I do not know why places like this seem to be so close to the Void. Maybe the silence and the loneliness calls to them. Out on my lonesome, drifting down the river, I find myself listening to the song all the time.”

“So this isn’t a unique thing?” Catti asks in disbelief. “This happens in more places than just…” Catti looked around, expecting to see the snowy woods of her hometown, but she had no idea where she was. She had wondered why it had become so dark, but even the trees were starting to decrease in number as the river started to lead them into a cave. There weren’t any caves in Hometown. She’s seen the river almost every day from her broomstick, it stretches on for miles until it hits the barrier. “Where are we?!” She asks.

“A favorite route of mine.” The Riverperson says. “Do not worry, your world isn’t far. You will make it back in time to see your friend. I’m just very fond of this place. I used to have a lot of friends here, but… Well, at least the song comes through crystal clear in these empty caves.”

Catti could only sit in dumbfounded silence. This was much more than she bargained for, but… It was also the exact kind of thing she was obsessed with. She was staring directly into the Void, she was hearing the singing of ghosts! This Riverperson, whoever they were, was clearly a powerful magic being!

She decides to let them sing, holding her questions back for a moment. It was relatively easy thanks to the bizarre route they ended up taking. They weren’t in Hometown anymore, she was very far from home. Floating through the cave, things get pretty cramped and dark for a moment, before the cave walls suddenly spread out and open up into a massive underground cavern.

Catti looked up, mouth held agape, as she was overtaken by just how beautiful this place was. The water below her was glowing a bright blue as the rushing waters agitated some kind of bioluminescent plants along the riverbed, lighting up the whole cave. Waterfalls raged in the distance, spilling into a completely separate river in the distance. Looking up, hundreds of stalactites hang overhead, the moisture clinging to the rocks reflecting the light of the bioluminescent water and taking on the appearance of twinkling stars.

The only thing that irritated her and ruined the perfect beauty of this place was the thick layer of dust that seemed to cloud the air and everything around her.

“What is this place?” Catti asks, raising her voice a little to be heard over the song of the river.

“These are the waterfalls.” The Riverperson says, clearly fond of the place “The song rarely used to come up from here thanks to all the traffic in the area. People used to come here all the time, and I had plenty of company ferrying people back and forth. I even ferried a human down this same path, one who some believed might have been an angel of prophecy.”

“Vess?!” Catti asked with surprise. “You knew the Angel?!”

“I suppose they never said their name.” The Riverperson tilts their head. “They didn’t speak much at all. The only thing I can say for sure is that they were a very determined soul.”

“That’s Vess!” Catti says. “That has to be them, or at least someone exactly like them! That means this place is…” Looking around, she can see that not everything in this cave was natural. There were walkways, lamp posts, there was even a sign to help direct people to a nearby shop run by… Temmie?! Nothing moved here though. Nothing made a sound. The Riverperson said so themself that this place has suddenly gone quiet. Does that mean… “This is the world that they destroyed…”

“Yes…” The Riverperson lowers their head. “It’s a shame to see such a thriving kingdom be reduced to dust. This is only one path of the river, however. Should we turn down the right bend, we should be able to find a stretch of the river which isn’t completely abandoned, though we’ll miss out on the rest of the song.”

“You mean, there are still people out here?” Catti asks, looking out at the complete stillness around her.

“Not here, no.” The Riverperson shakes their head. “This world has been dead and gone for years, but the river can lead us to another world, one that is much more lively.”

“Can you show me?” Catti asks.

“I’m not sure.” The Riverperson responds. “I don’t have full control of where I go. I’m simply letting the river take me. I can paddle along to speed up, I can struggle to try and go upstream, but where the river takes me is completely up to chance. Were we out at sea, I’d be forced to go wherever the tide carried me. It’s a completely aimless journey, though I do have a few favorite spots I’ll go out of my way to visit. As lonely as this place is, I can always hear the song of the Void here, and better yet, the echo flowers add to the choir. It’s been a long time since I passed through, we might be able to hear my favorite singer through them.”

Catti has more questions, especially about the strange properties of this river (though from the sounds of it, maybe this was a trait of all rivers?), but she spots what must be the echo flowers the Riverperson was speaking of. They all shared the same otherworldly blue color as the river, and as they passed, the petals started to vibrate, playing music. It was a different song from the one currently being sung, and from the name alone, she can guess that this was an older song sung some time ago. She listens for any major difference in this song, and she can almost immediately pick out a new voice.

And it’s no wonder she was able to recognize it so quickly, she knew that voice! That was Dess Holiday!

“Such a lovely singing voice.” The Riverperson hums along to the melody. “I wonder why they’ve grown so silent as of late.”

“She came back home.” Catti answers. “She’s been lost for years, but the Angel and a bunch of their friends found a way to get my friends out of the Void.”

“Hmm…” The Riverperson hums. “I always assumed the singers who went quiet simply stopped singing. I didn’t think the Void was escapable, but knowing that at least one voice finally found their audience… Maybe the others didn’t give up hope, but simply found a new home. Maybe one day I’ll step foot on land again.”

“Are you from the Void?” Catti looks up in surprise.

“I believe so…” The Riverperson says, looking over the side of the boat and into the water. “I’ve been around longer than I can remember, but I’ve always known about this song. When I first discovered these flowers, I remember hearing my own voice from within them, so I must have been lost just like the others. Maybe I have escaped, but I find that I cannot leave my boat. I feel hollow, like if I took a single step, I’d crumple into nothing, but as long as I sit right here, I can let the river carry me.”

So there really is nothing underneath that cloak. This was barely a person, just a fractured figment of someone aimlessly drifting along the river. The Riverperson coughs slightly, clearing their throat.

“My, I haven’t had a conversation this long in years.” They say, grumbling out the rest of the irritation in their throat. “You’re quite talkative, aren’t you.”

“I’m really not,” Catti corrects them. “I just have a lot of questions about you. You’re a really interesting person to talk to.”

“I’m flattered.” The Riverperson may not have a face beneath that hood, but Catti could hear the smile in their voice. “I usually keep quiet as well while ferrying passengers, but you’ve been a great listener. It gets awfully lonely out here. Thank you for keeping this lost soul company.” They ride on in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the song as they start to make their way through another cave tunnel. “If I ever fall back into the Void, it will be a relief to know that at least one person will be out there listening to my song.”

Catti leans back and takes a deep breath, taking in the music and the majestic scenery. What the Riverperson was describing sounded… hopeless, yet comfy. They had nowhere to be. They’ve completely forgotten their name and barely exist at all, but being pushed along by the river, getting the chance to see all these places, it was certainly a massive step up from the Void. She wonders how they managed to get out. Apparently Dess wasn’t the only voice to have gone silent, so maybe there were other people finding ways out of the Void. Could Dess have ended up like this? Drifting down river and singing her songs, hoping someone was close by to hear and keep her company? Catti wonders if it would be a good idea to tell Dess that all the songs she sang to herself in the Void had an audience or not.

Before she knows it, the caves around her disappear, and the boat continues down a very familiar stream. Catti pats herself down as the winter cold kicks back in and finds that her witch dress was back. Her magical trip between worlds was over. Strangely enough though, as the Riverperson continues to float down the river, Catti realizes that they somehow ended up upstream from where they started. She supposes they managed to teleport the whole boat to another dimension, so teleporting it further up river so they wouldn’t have to paddle upstream wasn’t too out of the question. Eventually, the clearing where she hopped on comes into view and the boat begins to slow to a stop.

“Thank you for riding with me, Catti.” The Riverperson thanks, turning to face her. “I don’t carry many passengers with me anymore, so I’m glad I was lucky enough to find someone as understanding as you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Catti nods, pushing herself up to her feet and hopping off the boat to land. “So uh…” Catti turns to face the Riverperson again, who of course can’t leave the boat to follow her. “Will I be seeing you again? It sounded like you don’t really have that much control over where you go.”

“I suppose I should make the effort to visit.” The Riverperson nods. “The song is incredibly faint here, but with how many friendly strangers are nearby, I suppose that’s a fair trade. I’ve been sailing alone for what’s felt like years. I’d love to show you around more if you’d let me.”

“I’d like that.” Catti nods. “When can I see you again?”

“I don’t know.” The Riverperson shakes their head. “I could wind up here tomorrow, I might not be back ever again. We simply went in a circle to visit the waterfalls, but I intend to journey further to see where the river bends take me. It’s not impossible that we’ll meet again, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“What if I could help you?” Catti suggests. “We brought two people back from the Void, maybe we can find a way to help you too.”

“That’s really thoughtful of you, but I’ll pass.” The Riverperson tells her. “It sounds like such a hassle, and even if I did become corporeal, I’d just be back on my boat. I’m perfectly content with where I am, drifting along and enjoying the music. I’m sure you understand, I’m not much of a people person.” They chuckle to themself. “I’m barely a person at all.”

The boat begins to move again, carrying the Riverperson downstream. “Goodbye, Catti. I hope to see you again. As long as my voice doesn’t join the song of the sea, I’ll be out here, letting the river take me wherever I’m needed.”

Catti watches as the Riverperson disappears downstream, giving them a wave before they disappear around a bend. Once they’re gone, Catti’s left alone in the cold, listening to the rushing water and the faintest sound which might be the singing they showed her. She still had millions of questions she wanted to ask, millions of things she wanted to see, but right now, all she could think of was how…

Sad she was to see this stranger go.

She wasn’t a very sociable person. She could count the number of people she considered friends on one hand and even they could grow irritating if they overstayed their welcome. She can’t remember the last time she made a new friend, or the last time she completely dropped her resting bitch face. Something about the Riverperson just… clicked for her, but she can’t describe why.

Was it the vibe they gave off? Was it their quiet but melodic voice? Was it their outlook on things, not caring about the destruction around them or the depressing source of the music they love and just finding joy in their lonely existence?

Maybe it was just the fact that they were a Void entity, freely answering the sea of questions she had about the mysterious plane of existence. The Void wasn’t nearly as empty as she was led to believe. There were plenty of people in there, and she already knows thanks to the Angel and Kris’ efforts that there are ways to peer into the Void. She’s spent three months aimlessly playing with magic crystals and the last month trying and failing to learn anything new. But today, her mind was racing.

Could she travel to other worlds like the Riverperson? When the water warmed up again, would she be able to hear the song better if she dived into the river? Did anyone else know about the song until today? Did this song come from anywhere else other than this river?

She had so many questions, so many things to look into, so much to learn. For the first time in forever, Catti’s cheeks hurt from how much she was smiling. She had to talk to Kris, Dess, Temmie, hell, she might even hit up a couple of the places nearby to see if any of them knew about this. What if she brought the crystals here where the connection to the Void was stronger? What if they were able to find other people in the Void in need of rescue?

She’s been sitting around doing nothing for months and expected more of the same today, but now she was ready to grab up Temmie and spend the next several days hanging out here at the river to do more research and, if the river allows it, see her newest friend again. She can’t wait to-

Her train of thought is suddenly derailed as several tentacles rise up from the waters and a large, bulbous shape emerges from the river. Two giant eyes peer deep into her soul, freezing her in place.

“HEYYYYYY! DO YOU WANT TO BE MY-!”

“HOLY SHIT!” Catti immediately books it in the opposite direction, snapping her fingers to summon her broomstick to her location. What the hell was that thing?! Why was it onion shaped?! She wasted absolutely no time hopping onto her broomstick and speeding out of the woods.

Soaring into the sky, Catti doesn’t stop until she’s several hundred feet in the air. Looking down to where she took off, she finds the waters are still now, the strange onion shaped monster of the river was completely absent. Was that a local? A bizarre Darkner? A Void monster?!

Maybe the river can wait until tomorrow. For now, she owes Temmie an apology for not believing her. Shaking off the rest of her jitteriness, she found she was still smiling. Not only did she get a new friend and discover more secrets of the Void, but she also just discovered a terrifying sea monster living in the river! Today was full of surprises, and she couldn’t wait to see what happened when she returned to the river again.

Chapter Text

I couldn’t sleep again.

I don’t know what’s bothering me this time, but I think this is the third sleepless night I’ve had in a row. It could be all kinds of things. Maybe it was the things I saw in the Void and the fact that I couldn’t sleep for a year. Maybe it was the darkness of the room bringing back bad memories, placing that horrible kid’s face into my mind. Maybe I just wasn’t used to having someone else in the room with me anymore.

Instead of my room at Castle Town, I was back home. Mom got everyone together again to have dinner and everyone ended up staying later than anticipated. Instead of wandering through town in the dark, Asriel and I just searched through the studio until we found our old room. Hearing Asriel’s quiet snoring in the separate corner of the room should have made me feel more at ease, but my mind kept replaying that one horrible night over and over in my head, the night I discovered I had the resets, the night the Everyman snuck into the room and sat right beside my bed without anyone noticing.

My eyes snap open again, scanning the dark room. It was empty, just like the seven other times I’ve had a scare like this. Asriel was still fast asleep, his chest slowly rising and falling. The door to the room was still shut, the light in the hallway streaming through the slit at the bottom giving me just enough light to see.

I was being paranoid, I wasn’t thinking straight, but simply acknowledging that wasn’t going to make it any better. If tonight was going to play out like the last two, I’d just be sitting in bed, waking myself up every hour because of some bad dream or a creak in the house. My eyelids felt like bricks, I felt like I could pass out at any moment, but I wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight.

I just hope I’m awake enough for Vess.

Slipping out of bed, I creep through the room and slip out the door, not even bothering to suit up and leaving in my black undersuit. As paranoid as I was, I was at least stable enough to know I didn’t need my armor to walk through my own home. Silently wandering through the hall, I make my way towards the stairs to get to the kitchen. Of course, the kitchen isn’t directly downstairs, I was on a set and the stairs only went down five steps before I was in a dressing room. The downstairs set was a couple rooms over. It was pretty annoying to have the house I was so used to moved around this much, especially when I needed late night bathroom runs, but I’ve quickly gotten used to the short walk it took to get to the rest of the house.

During that walk, I fish out a small notepad from my pocket. Tomorrow was the big day and I’ve been trying to gather as many questions as I could. It probably would have been more convenient and efficient to just call everyone or have them send their answers into a group chat, but my phone’s been abandoned in my bedside drawer for a while now. I’ve already talked to people and they know to only try and call during emergencies and Berdly helped silence any and all alerts the phone could throw at me, but just having it on me made me feel uneasy for some reason. A rumble in my pocket was nothing to freak out over and texting seems to be more popular than calls anyways, but there was always a lingering worry that someone I didn’t want to talk to would reach out to me.

I’ll get better soon. All of this was still fresh in my mind, it’s only been a month or so since I got back. Eventually my stupid brain will let me calm down and I can act like a normal person again, but until then, I guess I’m going analogue. Besides, gathering questions in person gave me an excuse to actually get out of the house on a regular basis and forced me to talk about what happened.

Looking down at my notepad, I had questions gathered from as many people as I could for Vess. Queen has made a few improvements to the massive communication network I used to talk to them last time, but it was still incredibly power hungry and sensitive. It wouldn’t be possible to stuff everyone in there to ask questions themselves and it wouldn’t be able to run long enough for everyone to get through their questions anyways. To make sure everyone got to say something to the Angel, I gathered what questions I could so I could relay them to Vess during our meeting.

I wonder what they’ve been up to. It’s been so long since I last saw them, or at least, their vessel. During my first talk with them, I realized just how little I actually know about the real Vess. Even in the scattered dreams I have when I am able to sleep, so much of it is incomprehensible to me. I don’t know what it is about those dreams that are so hard for me to understand. From what little I can gather, they’re just going to school and hanging out with friends, doing regular people stuff. At least, that’s what I think’s going on. I can’t make anything out, but they aren’t doing crazy stuff like exploring alternate dimensions or possessing people as far as I can tell.

That was already in the notebook. “Have you visited other worlds since you’ve been gone?” They mentioned that this world and the last one they visited weren’t the first, I’m curious where else they’ve been. My second question on the list was also a pretty important one that a lot of people shared. “When will you be back?”

Finally finding the set to the rest of the house, I make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Before I can make it to the fridge, however, I notice something that catches me off guard. Sitting upside down on the couch was Sans, his head hanging off the side and facing towards the tv which was quietly playing through a rerun of one of Biz’s old shows. I was convinced that he might have fallen asleep like that, when his head suddenly turned in my direction.

“Oh, hey kiddo.” He says in a tired voice, making no move to correct his posture. “What time is it? Is it morning already?”

“Like… two in the morning.” I reply.

“What are you still doing up?” He asks. Sans has been spending his days here for the most part. I guess it was kinda my fault for letting Chara take his house, but he’s been a good houseguest. Not sure what to think about him hitting on my mom all the time, but I’ve got so much else on my mind it’s actually pretty easy to ignore that.

“Can’t sleep.” I answer his question. “What are you doing up?”

“Ditto.” Sans mumbles back. “Got a lot on my mind and it won’t let me sleep.” He turns his attention back to the tv, only for something on it to catch his eye and make him shift on the couch so he was sitting properly. “Is that you?”

“Huh?” Crossing through the kitchen, I walked into the living room to find that, sure enough, I was on tv. “Oh, so he actually aired those.” Playing on the tv were all the strange advertisements that Biz had me and my friends participate in during our first trip through the studio. I always thought it was kinda weird how his big VIP's also had to act through all these dumb ads, but I guess we were really popular. Sticking my face on some eyeliner brand would probably convince some Darkners to buy some.

“You don’t really look enthusiastic to be there.” Sans observes.

“Well that wasn’t really me.” I tell him, sitting on the couch next to him. If neither of us were going to be sleeping any time soon, we might as well kill some time. “I was still possessed during this whole trip. Vess kinda just gave everyone a blank stare most of the time.”

“Oh…” Simply bringing Vess up seemed to kill any interest Sans had in what he was watching as he sank back into his seat. I probably should have seen that coming, but whatever. Both of us could just zone out at the tv. Before I allowed myself to waste away on the couch, I looked over everything on my notepad one more time. All of my friends already had their questions penciled in. Dess had a few messages she wanted to send and Catti left some… ominous questions for the Angel. Ralsei was limited to only 5 questions, but that wasn’t even half of what he wanted to say. He’d probably need to be put in front of the computer himself one of these days, he really missed Vess. Everyone had something in the notepad, ready to be shared, but there was one person who I never thought to ask.

“Any chance you want to say something to Vess?” I ask Sans.

“What, are they here?” He asks with a bit of alarm.

“No, they’re still gone.” I tell him. “Queen’s got something set up to let us talk to them though. She said that you shared some schematics and stuff while she was helping you supercharge your house to come get me. She built some crazy supercomputer thing that lets us talk to them in whatever world they’re in.”

“She did?” Sans sits in silence for a moment in disbelief. “I didn’t think it was possible for us to reach out to people like… You know, considering…”

“Considering what?” I ask. “Wait, do you know what Vess actually is? They always told me that ‘oh you’re better off not knowing’. Do you know what the hell they’re on about?”

“Eh, trust me kid, they know what they’re talking about.” Sans sighs, begrudgingly agreeing with Vess’ call. “I mean, as a student in theoretical physics, it was always a sort of possibility, but the moment that kid came into my life and started screwing with things, it just confirmed everything. If I tell you anything about what Vess is, you will experience an existential crisis so cataclysmic that you’d probably never recover.”

“You seem fine.” I point out.

“I’m really not.” Sans says with another tired sigh, sinking deeper into the couch. I elect not to say anything after that and instead look at the tv. All this talk has done is kill everyone’s mood and give me even more bizarre questions about what the hell Vess was, questions that no one will answer which is apparently in my best interest.

Maybe I should actually listen and push it out of my mind then. I already feel like a neurotic nutcase sometimes, trying to dig into the apparently eldritch truth about who Vess actually was would probably just make me crazier. I’m not happy about it and I’m still going to ask my questions, but maybe I’ll save the bigger ones for later.

“I guess…” Sans suddenly speaks up, pulling me from my thoughts. “I guess I got one question for them.” I flip through the pad until I find an empty stretch of paper, pulling the small pencil out from the rings binding the notepad. “Are there others like us?” He asks. “Are there other people who can perceive them properly? Who are aware enough to realize that they’re different from the others?”

“I get you’re being vague to protect my mind or whatever,” I start. “But you might want some more details here. This means nothing to me, are you sure it’s gonna mean anything to Vess? You can probably tell me a little bit, it’s not like my brain’s gonna explode.”

“They’ll get it.” Sans assures me. “We talked a little when they helped clean up the fountain in my shop. They’ll know what I’m talking about if you ask.”

“Alright then.” I scribble down Sans’ question along with his name. I have no idea what he’s asking or what any answer will mean, but I guess I’ll pay attention. With that, I have all my questions ready. Hopefully the machine will have enough juice for Vess to get through them all. “So…” Pocketing the notepad, I turn to Sans again. “Now what?”

“I dunno.” He shrugs. “Just watch tv until the sun rises or I pass out. Whichever comes first.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I nod, sinking into my seat as well. I felt mildly better than I did back in my room, but there’s no telling if I’ll actually be able to sleep if I go to bed. I was already struggling to keep my eyes open, zoning out in front of the tv will probably push me over the edge.

I just needed enough rest to keep myself conscious later in the afternoon. I should… I should probably get some…

Oh, there I go…

“Oh Kris! You made it!” Looking to my side and agitating the crick in my neck for sleeping weirdly, I find Berdly quickly running down the street to join me as I make my way towards the Queen’s Manor. I slow my pace to let him join me, though I’m a little surprised to see he isn’t alone.

“Good afternoon Kris!” Ralsei was also here with him. “How are you doing today? Are you as excited as I am?”

“Kinda.” I answer, scratching my head and trying to roll out the crick in my neck. “Mostly just anxious. Queen got really pissy at me for talking so long and we technically don’t know if Vess will be able to receive the messages when we make the call. All that’s on top of the usual anxiety I’m always carrying around.”

“Well don’t fret Kris!” Berdly puffs out his chest. “Your knight is here to keep your mind at ease as we venture inside to commune with the Angel. There’s no point in worrying until the machine’s on, after all. If they answer right away, you will have stressed yourself for nothing.”

“Ok, ok,” I shush him, fighting the smile trying to form on my face. “You don’t gotta break out the ye old knight talk.”

“Of course I do!” Berdly insists. “It’s the only way to force you to listen, and there’s only one easy way to shut me up.” Berdly leans in, a smug look on his face. He really thought he was being sly, but it was going to take a lot more than that to get me to fold. If I rewarded him for being annoying, he’d never shut up.

“You do know Ralsei’s right here, right?” I tell him. “I’m still holding that thing about the armor over you if you push it too far.”

“Hey! You…” Berdly looks like he’s about to argue, but after a stretch of silence, he breaks into a smile. “Actually, I doubt Ralsei would share such a secret. We’re cool.”

“You are?” I ask.

“Of course!” Ralsei nodded behind me. “Him and Susie have been trying to get me into video games!”

“You hang out with Susie?!” Hearing that Ralsei was friendly with Berdly wasn’t that much of a surprise, Ralsei was best friends with literally everyone, but hearing that Berdly and Susie were hanging out was very jarring.

“Of course!” Berdly boasts. “You may be my beloved partner now, but for the longest time, I’ve had my sights on the gamer girl’s in class and Susie always had my attention. Hearing about her knowledge of Dragon Blazers 2 during our excursion of the Dark Worlds, I knew she was a true gamer of immaculate tastes. Of course we’re friends!”

“Damn, we’ve only been together for a week and you’re already trying to replace me?”

“Wh- No I- That’s not-” Berdly sputters in defense before I let out a cruel chuckle.

“It’s fine.” I assure him. “Literally everyone’s got the hots for Susie, even me. Hell, I bet Ralsei would go for her if he had the chance.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Ralsei says shyly, a blush forming on his cheeks. “She is really pretty, and strong, and thoughtful, and kind, and…” He looks up to notice me and Berdly staring at him.

“Yeah, see.” I shrug. “Even bird brain here can tell you like her. What’s that make you, the fourth person to admit they liked her?”

“I believe everyone likes Susie.” Berdly deduces accurately.

“Another astute observation, captain obvious.” I tease before returning my attention to Ralsei. “I guess welcome to the Susie Fanclub. Noelle is club president so if you want your member's shirt, talk to her.”

“Well, I certainly am a fan of Susie, but I’m not sure if it’s like that…” Ralsei says, pulling his scarf up to hide his blush. “No offense to her of course, but I think I have feelings for someone else.” He does?

“Well, using my genius deduction skills,” Berdly speaks up again. “If Kris and I are anything to go off of, Ralsei is crushing on a yet unknown fifth member of the Susie Fanclub.”

“I don’t think one piece of evidence is enough to establish a pattern.” I tell Berdly. Berdly huffs and crosses his arms and our group goes silent for a while. I sit there for probably ten seconds before I ask, “What were we doing before we brought this up? Berdly started talking and I forgot everything that was going on before then.”

“You were about to talk to Vess.” Ralsei reminds me.

“Oh, right. Shit.” I turn around to find myself at Queen’s front door. “Not gonna lie, I’m feeling a lot of that anxiety creeping back in now that you two aren’t talking.”

“Kris, I know I was talking this up by saying you were on a quest to commune with the great Angel, but you’re just trying to message Vess.” Berdly tells me, slipping into his annoying knight voice again for only a moment. “I mean, it’s gonna suck if we can’t talk to them, but it’s not the end of the world.”

“Don’t say stuff like that, you never know,” I warn him. “But thank you. Things will probably go fine.”

“Also, please remember to ask whe-”

“When they’ll be back, I know.” I nod as Ralsei asks his question. “I already got all the stuff you wanted to ask them right here, it’ll be one of the first things I ask. I’m sure they miss you too, don’t worry.” Taking a deep breath I start moving inside. “Wish me luck, guys.”

Stepping inside the Queen’s manor, I enter into the main hall and am immediately greeted by a swatchling butler who has been expecting me. Following him, I’m led through the estate, careful not to tilt any of the portraits lining the halls or topple any of the priceless pottery which has been carelessly strewn around the floor. Are they supposed to be on the floor? There’s a whole army of butlers working for Queen and aside from the weird maze of pottery, the halls are spotless. There was a reason why Susie wasn’t allowed in the manor anymore, these pots were just begging to be kicked and smashed.

Successfully resisting the urge to get myself banned from the manor, I am led to the communications room where Queen is currently hanging out with Lancer.

“Krispy!” Lancer literally jumps for joy upon seeing me and hurries over to me.

“Yep, that’s me.” I nod. I’ve tried correcting him countless times now, but it either never sticks, or Susie keeps convincing him to come up with new nicknames.

“Hello Krispr.” Oh great, Queen’s in on it now too. “Have you thoroughly prepared yourself for the task at hand.”

“I’ve barely slept at all, haven’t eaten anything since eight this morning, and I’ve been slowly driving myself mad with anxiety all day. I’m as good as I’ll ever be today.” I tell her.

“Well that was a concerning string of words you just put together.” Queen says, her visor flickering slightly with concern. “But, if you say you’re good to go, the floor is yours!” That concern immediately drops and Queen steps aside to point towards the door leading to communications. “And remember Krips, power efficiency has been drastically improved since the last run, but when I tell you to cut power, I better not hear any backtalk or complaints. I have instructed Swatch to remove you from the room with force if need be.”

“Ok, ok. I get it.” I put my hands up in surrender. “I’ll cut things short as soon as you tell me to.” Queen is satisfied with my answer and steps aside to let me in.

“Good luck, Kreeper!” Lancer calls out before I go through the door.

“Ok, now I know you’re doing this on purpose!” I shout back before stepping through and shutting the door behind me.

Running along the wall are several humming wires and cables leading towards the massive computing system taking up the entire wall across the room from me. Slowly approaching the imposing machine, I step up onto the little stool Queen left for me so I can actually reach the keyboard. Once I was situated, I flipped a hatch and hit a large red button, starting the machine up and drawing power from the tangles of wires lining the room.

The screen flickers to life and the room begins to ominously hum with electricity, causing the hair on my head to stand on end. I always feel incredibly anxious sitting in this room when the thing is running. With all of the electricity running through here, there was probably a good reason why Queen refused to enter this room herself while it was on.

After a few minutes of booting up, a connection was established, and I immediately began typing out my greeting.

“Hello? Vess, are you there?”

With my message sent, I sit and wait, literally praying that the Angel will respond. Every second that passed felt like a full minute, eating away at the precious little time I’d have to communicate. I stared at the mostly blank screen, willing more words to come up.

After around ten seconds, a word appears on screen.

“Kris?” I gasped when Vess finally responded. Just like Berdly said, all of the anxiety over whether or not they’d answer vanishes in an instant.

“Sup bitch!” I quickly type back. “Been a while since we last talked. You’re still working on getting back, right?”

“Yes.” They reply. “It’s slow going, but I think I’m making progress. It’s hard to know if anything I do will be dangerous or not, but I think I’m almost ready to try and get back in.”

“Well that’s good,” I tell them. “Because we haven’t made any progress at all in trying to fish you out of the hole.”

With Castle Town fully constructed to house all the newcomers in town, Ralsei’s been looking for new projects to occupy himself with and stabilizing the underground cave system beneath the castle became his new goal. I can't say how much progress he’s made down there though. I refuse to even go near the bunker doors.

“If what I have planned works out, it’ll be better than that old vessel anyways.” Vess assures me. “How have you been, by the way? Is there a reason you’re calling me, or is this just another checkup? Is there anything wrong?”

“Things are as normal as they can be nowadays.” I type. “Everyone just misses you so we’re giving you a call. I actually have a bunch of questions people wrote down for me to ask you. Also, I’m on a time limit again, so we gotta make this quick.”

“Well I was in the middle of something, but I can put it aside for an hour.” Vess says. “I guess I’ll save my questions until after you get yours out. If things are cut short, I guess I’ll have to ask them whenever I manage to get back.”

“Good to hear you saying ’when’ over ’if’ you’ll get back.” I mention. “Any estimates on when?”

“I think most of the practical work is done, it’s just…” Vess pauses for a moment, their words stopping mid sentence. “I have to make sure that doing this doesn’t screw anything up for you guys. I don’t think I can be 100% positive on that, but if I can make sure this works in a test environment, I’ll try it over there.”

“Don’t know what any of that means, so I’m just gonna hope it’s good news and start asking my questions.” I can only guess this was more obfuscation to protect my mind or whatever. All that I could glean was that whatever the hell Vess was up to, they were apparently almost done and just had to make sure it was safe to bring here. Pulling out my notepad, I get to work. “To start with, I have a whole bunch of questions from Ralsei who’s been really impatient about your return. To start with, how have you been since we last talked?”

“Just fine.” Vess replies. “Summer vacation actually just started a week ago. I haven’t planned anything out yet, but that’s what my friends are for, figuring this stuff out for me.”

“Lucky.” I grumble as I type. “It’s been freezing out here since I got back. The Dark World barrier doesn’t really let much sun in so it’s a lot colder than usual.”

“I’d love to trade places with you right now. The heat is unbearable out here.” Vess says back. There’s a pretty easy solution to that problem of theirs, but wanting to cut this conversation short, I move on.

“Next question, which you sort of already mentioned. What are your friends like in your world?” I type out. “Are they all as weird and Angelic as you are?”

“I have a few close knit buddies.” Vess answers. “Zach has the patience and kindness of a saint, but I’m not sure if I would call anyone an Angel. He’s the most reliable guy you could ever have in your corner. Miles is the introvert the group decided to adopt. He doesn’t talk all that much, but he comes along every time we invite him and when he does open up he’s the funniest guy in the world. Finally, there’s Lizzy. She’s not a social butterfly either, but I think that’s less her being antisocial and more that she’s just lost in her head 24/7. She’s really smart and creative, but it’s really hard to keep her attention. She actually pisses a lot of people off because whatever’s going on in her head is clearly way more interesting to her than whoever’s trying to talk to her.”

“Sounds like an interesting group of weirdos.” I observe. “Quick side question, which is weirder, these guys, or us?”

“As far as I know, none of my friends eat crayons, throw people like footballs, or perform feats of magic on a regular basis.” Vess tells me. “You guys are still the weirdest people I know.”

“As we should.” I nod to myself. “I work very hard to maintain this reputation.”

“As for your second question,” Vess continues. “All of them are kinda like me. We all visit other worlds, sometimes we do it as a group, but I’m pretty sure none of them have done anything like this before. I can’t really explain it in detail, but your world is special.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Really getting sick of this stuff. What the hell were they doing? What kind of world do they live in where all of their friends routinely visit other dimensions? They talk about it like it’s as easy as walking to the park. Whatever, I had a whole list of questions to draw the conversation away from this topic. “You already answered a couple of Ralsei’s other questions, but he’s got one last one for you before I move on to Susie.”

“Hit me, what is it?”

“Are you romantically interested in anyone?” Out of all the questions Ralsei threw at me, this one always stuck out to me. Maybe he was just curious after I started Dating Berdly again. All his friends were getting together, it only made sense to see if Vess had anything going on.

“Ralsei asked that?” Vess asks after a stretch of silence. It takes them even longer to continue. “Not really, I guess. I’ve had a lot going on and haven’t really looked into stuff like that. Is…” Another pause. “Does he like me?”

I stared at those words on the screen for what felt like a solid two minutes. Did he? I mean, Ralsei was really friendly with pretty much everyone, but I’m not sure if he treated Vess any… No, he does treat Vess differently. He obviously cares a lot about everyone, but without fail, when things got heated between Vess and the rest of us, he always sided with Vess. When their vessel was destroyed, he immediately offered to act as their host and he was the saddest to see them go.

“Side question that may or may not be related to that,” I quickly type out. “Would you consider yourself a member of the Susie Fanclub?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” Vess replies after a short while and I bring my hands up to my head. Berdly was right! There was a pattern here! And in hindsight, it was so obvious too! I guess I was just too stressed at the time to really notice but…

Holy shit, Ralsei likes Vess!

“We’re wasting a lot of time, we should really move on to the other questions.” I type out. This was a pretty big revelation and it could probably take up the rest of the time I have to talk about it, but I had like twenty more questions to get through.

“Are we really just gonna brush off the la-”

“You can ask him yourself when you get back here, we’re moving on.” I interrupt, pulling out the notepad and looking down to the next question. “Susie wants to know what kind of crazy stuff you do in other worlds. Have you slain dragons before? Are you a hero in other universes?”

“Well, again, the other worlds I visit are nothing like yours.” Vess answers, thankfully moving on from the Ralsei thing to let the questions continue. “I told you that in the last world, I was sort of disconnected from everything. I was doing bad things, but I wasn’t really able to comprehend the consequences. All the other worlds are the same. I have slain dragons, I have been a hero to thousands, but nothing compares to what I did with you. I was sort of an observer in all the other worlds, it wasn’t necessarily me swinging the sword and slaying evil.”

“Like a video game?” I ask. I was going to lose my mind if Vess kept dancing around what they were actually doing.

“Sure…” Vess answers after a brief pause. “Think of it like a game. When I first came to your world, I wasn’t playing as myself. I was playing as you. From a distance, completely disconnected from the reality of what I was doing, I was playing the role of a brave knight exploring the Dark Worlds, meeting the bizarre characters of your world. In the last world, I was a young child named Frisk trying to escape the kingdom of monsters. Before that, I was a young girl exploring her dreams. Stretching really far back, I remember playing the role of a reporter trying to uproot an alien conspiracy.”

“After meeting you, after having my soul sucked into your world and being given a vessel of my own, I was there. Every fight was real, every person was real, I was no longer a passive observer, but a living breathing resident of your world. It makes me wonder if the others were the same. The last world was clearly real and full of real living people like Sans, it wasn’t a game, it wasn’t some fun adventure, something deeper was going on there.”

I was starting to get weirded out by all of this. Maybe I shouldn’t have compared this to a video game. It just put the thought that I was a plaything back into my mind again, that my choices didn’t matter because I was just a puppet for some random kid to control and play with. It brought so many terrifying implications and questions too. All of Vess’ friends did this, were they all visiting other worlds and possessing people too? Were there other poor bastards like me who had their lives completely replaced by a stranger who saw them as characters in a game? How do they visit these worlds? How do they possess people so willingly without thinking about it?

“I’m really sorry about being so long winded with all these questions.” Vess apologies on screen, dragging me from my increasingly upsetting thoughts. “I’ll try my best to be brief with the rest of these so nothing gets left unanswered.”

“Ok…” I type back, stomping down on the whole game thing and hoping it won’t bother me later today. “Dess has a question for you. She wants to know what kind of music you’re into or if you play anything yourself. I already know you’re shit at piano, so you don’t have to answer that second part.”

“Ouch.” Vess types. “I don’t know, older rock stuff. Not like 80’s rock like my dad listens to all the time, like early 2000’s rock. The dumb stuff you’d find on old AMVs online.”

“I think Asriel’s still making those, so I guess I’ll talk to him about what he listens to to get an idea of what you’re into. Speaking of, Asriel’s still kinda stuck on the whole Angel thing and wants to know if you can hear our prayers.”

“Nope.” Vess answers quickly. “Aside from the prophecy stuff, I’m just a regular person.”

“Yeah, sure.” I shake my head. Vess was anything but normal, no matter how many times they try to say otherwise.

I’m really conscious about the time I’m spending in this room, but thankfully, a lot of the questions go by pretty quickly, with Vess giving one to two sentence answers for each. I guess I got all the hard hitting questions out of the way first. I make it through the majority of the list before I notice the electric hum still rumbling through the room was starting to die down a little. I was running out of time, and I still had a few important questions to go through.

“Catti left a question, one that she didn’t really elaborate on and has been worrying me a bit since I wrote it down.” I type nearing the end of my list. “Do you know anything about the creepy person in a robe who spends their time on the river?”

“The Riverperson?” Vess’ response is almost instant.

“I really don’t like how quickly you answered that question.” I reply with a growing pit in my stomach. “She didn’t tell me anything, but with how quickly you answered, something tells me it isn’t good. You didn’t bring some other dimension hopping monster into our world, did you?”

“I don’t know?! I’ve basically been dead for months, why would it be my fault?!”

“What the hell is a Riverperson?” I demand. “Catti apparently saw something and if you know what it is, it can only be bad news.”

“They were just some guy who boated me around in the last world. I don’t think they’re dangerous or anything.” Vess is quick to type back. “I have no idea how the hell they would get to your world though. Maybe they’re a double, just like the Chara’s or your family? You’re freaking me out now. Talk with Catti again and press her for more info.”

Well that wasn’t something I wanted to hear. I don’t let it get to me too much though. Catti seemed pretty chill about the whole thing. More than chill actually, she’s been in a really good mood for the past couple weeks, so it probably wasn’t something to worry about. Actually… Knowing Catti, she’d probably be giddy if she met the grim reaper himself, so I guess her good mood was nothing to go off of.

“I got one more, and I think I’m about to lose connection, so I’ll make it fast.” I say, going down to the last question I penciled in earlier this morning. “This one is from Sans and he asked; are there other people who can perceive you? Others who are aware of what you are? He was kind of vague about it, probably for the same reasons you are but-”

“Maybe.” Vess answers before I can finish. Guess Sans was right that they’d figure out what he was asking. “He’s asking if there are people who are aware of my existence, who are self aware about the situation they’re in like he is.”

“And that you refuse to let me in on.” I say.

“For good reason.” After a short pause, Vess continues. “It’s impossible to tell really. Sans and all the people in the last world were pretty cognizant of what was going on with me, but I was still sort of disconnected from everything, even when they tried to speak directly to me. That all turned out to be real and not an intentional thing dev- ” Vess quickly deletes whatever they were saying. I curse myself for not catching what it was, wondering if it was a clue to what was really going on.

“Let's just say that there was one other world I visited where someone knew exactly who I was.” Vess carries on the conversation without bringing up their deleted message. “There were a couple like yours where people might have known, but there was one where someone actively ruined the world they lived in to get my attention and even knew me by name. Her name was Monika, and I wouldn’t say she was Chara levels of terrifying, but there wasn’t a wall of disconnect between us like with Chara. I feel kinda stupid thinking this, but your world kinda re-contextualized a lot of stuff and I feel like I might have actually been in danger while dealing with her.”

“Sounds like some serious stuff.” I say. “What was this Monica person like? Was she some evil witch? A demon?”

“She was president of the local literature club.” Vess replies, and the menacing mental image I was creating quickly faded away.

“Kris!” I jump when I hear someone call out my name. Queen was issuing orders, my time was up. “You’ve got one minute! Not a second more! Swatch is waiting outside the door and has been instructed to toss you out like trash if you do not power the machine down and leave the room in sixty seconds starting now!”

“My time’s basically up now.” I quickly type out. “I’m probably gonna get my ass kicked for trying to squeeze an extra question out of you, but it’s kinda come and gone over the weeks and I want a definitive answer.”

“I’ll try to be brief then.” Vess says, ready for the question.

“Who’s Toby Fox and did you ever get around to suing them?” I remember them mentioning someone named Toby some time after I got out of the Dark World at the hospital. I learned about Gaster, Chara, all the other crazy shit that happened in the other world, but Toby Fox was someone I never learned about. Maybe it was a Darkner in the correctional facility that somehow wronged them and convinced them to try and sue, but until Vess answered the question, I’d never know for sure.

“Fuck, how do I explain this…” Vess pauses far longer than I would have liked, not only because these pauses are followed by typically upsetting information, but also I was on a timer and I didn’t want to risk getting stomped by Swatch if they didn’t hurry. “There’s no way to properly explain this in a hurry, so I’m just gonna say he’s basically your god. It was good talking to you, but I should probably let you hang up now. Hopefully the next time we talk will be in person. Bye!”

“Kris, you have exactly ten seconds before Swatch busts in there and folds you like origami!”

“Alright, it’s shutting down!” I call out in a panic, reaching over and hitting the big red button to kill the power. The electrical hum in the room suddenly gives out, leaving the room in complete silence. The screen was now dead, my connection with Vess in whatever world they lived in severed. It was good to talk to them again, but holy shit my head hurts now. Weird riverpeople, evil literature club presidents, people treating my life like a video game. And what a way to end it off too. Toby Fox was God? What the hell did that mean?! Did people worship him? Was there some obscure cult out there who knew who Toby was? Did Vess really plan on suing God?!

Stepping down from my stool, the door behind me opens up and Swatch steps inside. He takes a glance at the machine and seems pleased to see it turned off. “Very good.” He nods, stepping aside and showing me out. “Thank you for following the house rules. You may step outside now.”

“Thanks for not throwing me out of here like a sack of potatoes.” I thank him as I leave.

“Of course.” Swatch bows as I pass him by, leaving him to clean up the room behind me. Stepping out of the communications room, Queen and Lancer wait outside. Queen looks content to see that I followed her orders, as well as a little disappointed that she didn’t get to see her main butler haul me out.

“What did they say? When are they coming back? Where is…” Lancer starts to rattle off a bunch of questions clearly excited to hear what’s going on, but his attention is turned elsewhere. “What happened to your hair?!”

“Huh?” Looking up, I find that the static electricity that built up in communications was still clinging to me, making most of my hair stand on end. “Huh, cool. Hey Lancer, you want a high five?”

“Boy, do I!” Lancer cheers, jumping up to give me a high five. The moment his hand makes contact with mine, the static electricity discharges and Lancer somehow manages to jump midair from the shock, going flying and landing somewhere across the room.

“Goodness, I think you managed to hit the ceiling, dear.” Queen comments once Lancer has settled on the ground. “I wonder how much air we could get if we tried that again. Kris Cross Applesauce,” Queen turns her attention to me.

“You literally got it right on the first wor-”

“Will your Angel friend be communicating with us again soon?” Queen asks, completely ignoring my correction.

“Not through that machine I don’t think.” I tell her. “It sounds like they might be able to visit again pretty soon.”

“Well that certainly is news!” Queen nods. “It’s also a relief as well. I was not paying attention at all and you were eating into reserve power. Had you been on that machine any longer, you probably would have blacked out the entire town. It’s probably best that we just decommission the whole thing.”

“If it means I’m not threatened by you every time I use it, that’s fine by me.” I nod. “I gotta go tell everyone what I heard now, so I guess I’ll see you later.”

“See you later…” Queen starts to wave before her visor starts to flash a buffering circle. It takes her a couple seconds before she snaps out of it. “...Krispy Kreme.”

“Aren’t you a super computer?” I ask. “Did you really have to buffer to come up with another nickname?”

“Belittling you is not one of my main subroutines, I have to dedicate precious processing power to do this and I am a very busy woman.”

“Whatever.” I shrug, leaving the room. “See ya Lancer.”

“Bye, Krapple!” Lancer waves me off. “Send Susie over if you see her!”

Carefully making my way back through the manor, I find myself standing at the front gates staring off into the neighborhood. Berdly and Ralsei have already left in the time I took to talk with Vess, leaving me with my thoughts as I started my walk back to Castle Town.

So Vess wasn’t a real Angel, but they knew the god of this world? God was just some dude named Toby? People in Vess’ world treated other worlds like playgrounds to freely interfere in? I feel like I’ve learned so much and nothing at all at the same time. Vess essentially just skimmed through the sparknotes version of some terrible grimoire and my head still hurts trying to comprehend what little they told me. It’s no wonder that Sans bummed around the house all day if he was lugging around thoughts like this in his head at all times.

As I approach Castle Town, I try to bury these thoughts as best as I can. There were so many things to worry and think about, but I instead cling to one thought as I seek out Ralsei in the castle, a thought that doesn’t fill me with existential dread or terror.

“Oh, dude!” Susie spots me as I climb the stairs from the main hall and rushes over to join me. “How did it go? Did you get a chance to talk with Vess?”

“Uh huh,” I nod a little dumbly. “I’ll tell you what they said about your question but I think I need a moment to clear my head first. Have you seen Ralsei anywhere?”

“He’s up in Vess’ room.” She nods, thankfully not pressing me about her question, though her answer gives me some pause. “I don’t know,” She shrugs before I can ask. “He goes up there all the time. I don’t know what he’s doing up there, it’s not like he’s cleaning the place out or something, nobody goes in there other than him.”

“Well I got an idea,” I chuckle. “I was actually going to talk to him about it right now. I guess I’ll let him explain if he’s up to it.” I start to move down the hall to Vess’ room, but Susie stops me.

“I know you said you’d tell me later, but I guess I got one burning question I want answered now.” She says. “Does Vess know when or if they’re coming back?”

“It sounds like we won’t have to wait too much longer.” I tell her, earning a crooked smile out of her. “I’ll tell you the rest later tonight. In the meantime, Lancer’s hanging out at Queen’s place if you want to go see him.”

“Oh I’m not allowed in there.” Susie quickly says.

“I know.” I nod. “Just knock and he’ll come running out.” With that, we go our separate ways, Susie downstairs to go hang out with Lancer, and me climbing upward to find the prince. Sure enough, when I reach the hallway Vess room rests on, the door is left slightly ajar. I give it a gentle knock before stepping inside.

“Oh, hello Kris.” Inside, Ralsei is sitting in a large chair beside Vess’ empty bed, closing up a book and setting it aside as I step in. “Did you get to talk to Vess? Did they answer my questions?”

“Yes, yes, I got through everything I wrote down.” I nod as I move towards the bed, sitting down beside Ralsei. “They told me a lot of weird stuff that I’m still struggling to wrap my head around, but they had a bit of good news sprinkled in as well.”

“Are they coming back?!” Ralsei asks immediately, his eyes lighting up.

“Eventually,” I nod. “They didn’t give me a date or anything, but it sounds like it’s gonna be sooner than later.” The look of pure joy on Ralsei’s face is so genuine, I’m seriously questioning how I could have possibly missed how he felt about Vess until now. Susie made a few jokes while Vess was still here, but I don’t think even she knew this was a real thing. “They talked a lot about their friends and how they’ve been holding up since we last saw them, but I wanted to focus on that last question. Ralsei, do you like Vess?”

“Well of course I like Vess.” Ralsei nods. “I like all of yo-”

“That’s not what I’m asking.” I stop him, turning to face him directly. “Do you like Vess? Do you love them?”

Once again, Ralsei blushes as he sits in his chair, struggling to meet my eyes. “M-maybe.” He stammers.

“It’s a pretty simple question.” I tell him. “I’m also pretty sure I know the answer already.”

“I guess I don’t really know.” Ralsei admits, twiddling his thumbs as his blush continues to spread across his cheeks. “There’s a lot of feelings that I’m still trying to come to terms with. I spent years alone in this castle before you showed up and I always dreamed about what the heroes of prophecy would be like, wondering what it would be like to have friends like you. I love you guys, I love everyone. You’re all so funny and nice, but… I don’t know why, no offense to you or anyone else, but I just feel differently about Vess.”

“You really like them, don’t you?” I observe. Ralsei nods nervously, wearing a big dopey smile on his face. “It’s ok, you can tell me. You’ve had to put up with me and Berdly being extra obnoxious over the past week, I’m not gonna make fun of you for it or anything. What are you even doing in here anyways?”

“Oh, wow um…” Ralsei stutters. “This is going to sound silly but… I like to spend time in here because I feel like it’s the closest I can get to them right now. Also, the moment I really knew that I had feelings for them was when they brought me in here and put me to bed after the first Lightbringer incident. They took care of me, and I want to be here when they finally come back so I can show them the same care they showed me.”

“Wow, you’re really into them, huh.” Yeah, it’s official now, I’m a dumbass for not noticing this sooner. “Well they did answer your question and not only are they single, they sounded surprised when they heard it was you who asked.” I was genuinely starting to get worried by how red Ralsei’s face was getting. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna pop a blood vessel at some point.

“Did… Did they-”

“I had to move on to the next question.” I tell him. “Queen’s really finicky about the communication machine and threatened to beat me up if I took too long. I told them to bring it up with you when they eventually come back.”

“Oh gosh…” Ralsei adjusts his glasses, still looking incredibly flustered. “What… What do I say when they get here?”

“Say what?” I raise an eyebrow.

“How do I tell them how I feel?” He asks. “How did you work things out with Berdly?”

“Dude, I’m like the last person to ask for relationship advice.” I explain. “I don’t even know how the hell we started dating. It was already a weird relationship to begin with and the reset stuff just made it ten times weirder. Talk to Susie or something, she seems to have things figured out.”

“But then I have to tell Susie I like Vess!” Ralsei whines. “I’m already so embarrassed just telling you this.”

“Well she’s gonna figure it out eventually,” I tell him. “Might as well do it on your terms. Besides, she’s the best source of advice you can get on this, so if you want to hit things off with Vess, talk to her.” Ralsei pouts in frustration, crossing his arms. “You could also just wing it,” I suggest. “Everyone already loves you and while I can’t really make out the tone through text, it sounded like Vess might have been into the idea.”

Ralsei sits in his chair looking flustered and conflicted. It took a while before he could make up his mind, but he finally met my eyes and said. “You have to help me talk to Susie about this. We went on all of our adventures together, you two are going to help me through this one too.”

“As long as you don’t make me third wheel on your first date like she did, I guess I’m cool with that.” I nod my head. “Asking for my advice is going to make things weird though, just a forewarning.”

“You’re already weird,” Ralsei counters. “I won’t mind.” And with that, Ralsei is able to compose himself a little more, his blush fading away. “So what else did Vess say?”

“I’m gonna be here all day trying to explain it to just you.” I sigh. “Can you call everyone over for me? Maybe we can make it a party or something.”

“That’s a great idea! It’s been a while since we had a celebratory feast!” Ralsei cheers.

“You gathered everyone over for a pizza party just because Dess announced she learned a new song. That was four days ago.” I point out. “I don’t actually know why I’m arguing with you though, food sounds good right now.”

“Good. You can share all the things Vess told you with everyone during the party!” Ralsei nods with a smile, hopping off the chair. “And please don’t tell anyone about what I told you, not yet at least. This is the first time I’ve had feelings like this and it’s already overwhelming enough.”

“I’ll try.” I tell him, lying back on the bed. “Also, while you make the calls and stuff, do you mind if I just pass out here for an hour? I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep myself awake through the party otherwise.”

“That’s more than alright.” Ralsei nods. “Vess’ bed is very comfortable, go ahead and tuck yourself in. I’ll come get you when food is ready and everyone is here!”

“Thanks Ralsei.” I groan, kicking off my boots to curl up on the mattress. I could already feel my body shutting down for sleep, but I had just enough mischievous energy left in me to say one more thing. “Vess is gonna be one lucky person when they meet you again.”

I catch Ralsei’s cheeks going red before I close my eyes. Whether it was just the lack of sleep from last night or the mentally exhausting conversation I had with Vess, I find it impossible to open my eyes back up. Letting myself sink into the mattress, I fall into what was probably going to be the best nap I’ve ever had in my life.

Chapter Text

”Just take me home where I belong,”
”Cuz everyone there knows this song,”
”Where my troubles always tend to melt away…”
”Just wanna go where I was told,”
”I’d be welcome till I grew old,”
”Where I’d always… find…”

“Shit.” Chara lost the melody again. They almost had it that time, but they always forgot those last couple of lyrics. Chances are, with the way things were panning out, they would never get it right. They weren’t even sure if the lyrics they were singing were the right ones, so they might as well try to make up some more. ”Just take me-”

“If you keep singing that song, I’m going to rip out your tongue.”

“Alright, fine, jeez.” Chara crosses their arms, an action that only angers their partner sitting beside them further considering they only got one arm.

Chara would be lying if they said they were happy with the situation they were in now. This was in everyone’s best interests, they were still very sure of that. Kris, Azzy, and all the other guys they met at Hometown were all still home safe, but this was not the clean, perfect getaway that ensured everyone walked away happy. Chara definitely got the raw end of this deal, but that’s probably exactly what they deserve after what they did.

It wasn’t all bad though, they got what they wanted in the end after all. Good thing too, because the other Chara, the little Lightbringer, did not take kindly to them after dragging them back into the Void. Once the Angel was gone and the Lightbringer’s prize was pulled from their clutches, the truce was off. They wasted no time trying to rip Chara limb from limb for stealing what belonged to them again.

It was probably the most fun Chara’s ever had in their life.

The adrenaline rush, the sheer, pulse pounding panic in their chest as the Lightbringer lunged at them like a feral animal, it was amazing! This was the fight they were looking for. The Lightbringer didn’t hold back at all and felt no remorse, making them a much more ruthless sparring partner. They were way more fun to play with than Noelle or even Susie.

Every time they died, they reset. They must have bled out a dozen times before they managed to beat the Lightbringer once, but once that happened, they reset again to keep the fight going. The fight must have lasted hours, maybe even days, it was hard to tell out here, but after countless deaths on either side…

Chara got bored.

This wouldn’t be the end of their fighting, it was too fun to get boring this quickly, they simply needed to mix things up a bit, space these sparring sessions out, that’s all. The Lightbringer didn’t have any memory of these resets, at least not yet, but after fighting for so long, Chara had already learned all their moves and made it clear to the Lightbringer that this was a fight they wouldn’t win. It took ages to bring them to a stand still, but eventually Chara managed to convince them to stop killing them thanks to one other visitor they had in the Void.

Gaster.

That distraction sadly didn’t last long. Chara and their double were physical, and while Gaster was a little more present than he usually was, they weren’t able to do much to him. Their punches and kicks seemed to agitate him, but the moment they were having fun with him, he vanished somewhere out into the endless white Void around them, leaving them for hours, (or again, days, hard to tell.) only to return once he was fully incorporeal again.

It took forever, but eventually Chara was able to convince everyone to stop killing each other. They didn’t just come out here to rip each other to pieces for eternity, Chara had a plan when they came out here.

That plan unfortunately blew up in their face once they got here, along with half the house.

Chara was currently sitting on the old couch in Sans’ living room, the Lightbringer sitting beside them and kicking their feet over the edge. The only real way to tell how much time has passed is by how much the Lightbringer has healed. They didn’t quite look like a corpse anymore, but the missing arm was kinda hard to ignore. This was one of the quieter moods they were in now. It was only a matter of time before they tried to bite Chara’s head off again and the constant threat of that attack kept Chara from fully succumbing to boredom.

Sans didn’t really have any reading material in his house other than the hundreds of schematics and science graphs or whatever all over the house, and a bunch of those blew up with the Void jumping machine in the shed out back. Chara spent quite a lot of time gathering those loose papers into neat piles and picking through what could be salvaged from the explosion, but that little distraction didn’t last in the eternity that awaited them.

The plan was to screw with the machine enough until they could find themselves in a different world, one where they’d be free to run wild without hurting any of their friends, instead, all they’ve managed to do is trap themselves god knows where with two people that hated their guts.

It wasn’t the end of the world though, this was just a setback. It was potentially going to be a very long setback, but they aren’t stuck here. Their two roommates were proof that people could get around the Void just fine without any fancy machine. In the meantime, they might as well try and smooth things out with everyone to make their eternity a little more pleasant.

“So uh…” Chara speaks up, trying to spark a conversation. “Nice house, right?” The Lightbringer turns to glare at them.

“You betrayed me,” They growl. “Just like everyone else, you dragged me down right when I had what I wanted. You’re just as bad as Asriel.”

“Hey, if Asriel held me back from something, I was probably doing something real stupid.” Chara says. “Asriel’s a smart guy, if he tried to talk me down from something, I’d stop right then and there and question everything I was doing up to that point. Whatever happened in your world is all on you.”

“HE PROMISED HE’D HELP ME!” The Lightbringer shouted, causing Chara to flinch away from them. “He promised! I asked him a million times, he knew exactly what he was getting into! I died to put this plan into motion! I spent days hurling my guts out and slowly withering away in bed to give us the chance to save the monsters and he just threw it all away for people who probably cheered when he died! He’s an idiot! I hate him!”

The Lightbringer’s words trembled as they neared the end of their tantrum, as once they finished, they sat on the couch stewing in raw emotion. Chara could swear they were trying to hold back tears. It was such a jarring sight to see on the little demon kid, Chara didn’t think they were even capable of emotions other than rage and bloodlust.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Chara offers.

“I’d rather slit my own throat.” The Lightbringer barks back. “What is there to even talk about? Asriel was a traitorous bastard and I’m glad he’s dead.”

“It wouldn’t hurt this bad unless you really cared about him.” Chara points out. “You clearly put a lot of trust in him if you put your life in his hands. He was your brother in your world, wasn’t he? What was he like?”

The Lightbringer glared at Chara, as if willing them to keel over and die with just a stare. Chara knew they were stepping on some toes bringing the past up like this, but as they met the Lightbringer’s stare, they could see just how conflicted they looked. For as crazy and twisted as this kid was, they were still Chara, they are (or at least were) just a kid. Something happened to make them like this and Chara figures it’s probably in their best interest to find out what before they become as hateful as their double.

Eventually the Lightbringer looks away from Chara, staring off into the corner as they finally open up. “He was the only friend I ever had.” They grumble, still trying to sound tough, but their voice lost a lot of its edge. “I didn’t have anyone in my life before I had him. I ran away from home and hid away up on that mountain to get away from everyone, but I never expected anyone to help me when I fell down into that cave. He didn’t even know who I was, we had just met, but he took me home with him to Mom and… To Toriel and Asgore.” They correct themselves, though Chara isn’t sure why. Was it because they weren’t considered family at the time, or do they not consider them family anymore after what happened?

“That sounds like the Asriel I know.” Chara nods. “He’d drop everything to help out a complete stranger. I knew him for probably only fifteen minutes in college before he considered me a friend. It’s just the kind of guy he is, no matter what universe he’s in.”

“It’s a miracle you lasted as long as you did if other people’s opinions sway you that much.” The Lightbringer spats. “I spent my entire life up until then being talked down to and despised, Asriel was the only person who ever let me speak my mind and do things my way.”

“Sorry if this is asking too much, but what the hell happened before you found the Dreemurrs?” Chara ventures. “It sounds to me like your problems started way before you met Azzy.”

“Why are you asking?” The Lightbringer snaps their head around to face Chara. “I know me, I wouldn’t ask such stupid questions unless I knew I could get something out of it! What do you want?”

“Well that’s where you’re wrong, mini-me.” Chara crosses their arms with a scoff. “I’ll admit I’m a twisted, selfish prick just like you, but I’m way more put together than you could ever be. I’m not asking because I think I can get something out of this, but because you’re my partner and we gotta work together. I wanna get to know you.” The Lightbringer is only able to hold their death glare for so long before they lower their gaze to the floor again. Chara takes this as a sign that they might be willing to talk. “I’m guessing your birth parents weren’t great?”

“I’ve been an orphan for as long as I can remember.” The Lightbringer answers after a short pause.

“Hey, same here!” Chara points out. “Never knew my dad and my mom apparently died during childbirth. I was basically a foster kid until I was thirteen. How about you? What happened to your folks?”

“They got eaten by wolves.” The Lightbringer mutters in response.

Chara stares at them for several silent seconds before they realize this wasn’t the start of a dark joke. “Wait, what?! They were eaten by wolves? What about you? Where the hell did this happen?”

“They lived on the outskirts of my village. I was maybe three years old when they both left to tend to their garden outside and gather some berries from the nearby woods. They never came back and I was eventually found all alone at home. No one wanted to take in an extra mouth to feed and I was forced to beg and scavenge for most of my childhood. When I turned to stealing to keep myself fed, they had enough of me and drove me out of the village. That’s when I hid away in the mountains and found a family who did care about me.”

“Huh…” Chara took a moment to process this new information. “You know, I always just assumed that our worlds were more alike than different, but I didn’t know that you were… how old are you?” It was no wonder this kid had such a rough upbringing, they were basically a medieval peasant!

“I may still be a child, but I’m far older than you can imagine.” The Lightbringer tells them. “My time with Asriel was a short one, but I’ve persisted far after my death through sheer Determination and spite alone.”

“And you’re still kicking.” Chara nods. It’s honestly kind of inspiring in a macabre way. It seems like literally everything was being thrown at this kid, but they kept pushing forward, they refused to let the world crush them. Not even death itself was able to stop them in their tracks. “So what did you and Asriel do before things went wrong?”

“You’re asking stupid questions again.” The Lightbringer tells them. “It doesn’t matter what he was like, he was a traitor who-”

“It does matter.” Chara corrects them. “Like I said, this betrayal wouldn’t have hurt unless you really cared about him. Only your friends can betray you after all. What was he like?” The Lightbringer pouts and grumbles like a child being forced to eat their vegetables. It was just an act at this point, they’ve answered all of Chara’s questions up until now, they’d answer this one too. They were just as bored out here in the Void, talking to each other was all they had to do.

“He was my little brother,” The Lightbringer eventually explains. “He was a dumb cry baby who was scared of everything and always told on me whenever I did something bad. He was also the first person who ever shared anything with me. During my first weeks while staying with him, Mom would get chocolate for both of us and he’d always give me a little bit of his. Mom always made pie and we’d take turns deciding whether or not we wanted his favorite butterscotch or my favorite cinnamon. He let me wear his sweaters, he shared all his toys with me, he…”

Chara watched as the Lightbringer started to choke up as they continued talking about Asriel. Even after their falling out, it looks like they think back fondly on the time they spent with each other. Despite what they said about existing for an eternity and all the horrible things they did, right now, all Chara can see is a sad, heartbroken child who was betrayed by a dear friend.

“What exactly did he do?” Chara asks. “The Asriel I knew was a really nice guy too. I couldn’t ever imagine a scenario where he’d actively throw me under the bus. What happened?”

“I came up with a plan,” The Lightbringer wastes no time explaining it, desperately trying to swallow their emotions by burying them with the story of their brother’s betrayal. “The monsters of the kingdom were banished centuries before I arrived, trapped underground in that mountain never able to see the sun or the stars. I wanted to help them, I wanted to break them out and bring the fight to the bastards who left me to beg on the streets, who were content to just bury their problems and leave them to die.”

“That doesn’t sound like something he’d help with.” Chara points out, but the Lightbringer presses on through their interjection.

“We had accidentally made Dad sick trying to make him a butterscotch pie using the buttercups he grew in his garden. He and Gerson told me all about the legends of the great war and the barrier, as well as the tale of the Delta Rune, how an angel would arrive and empty the underground. I thought I was that angel, I saw the surface and the injustices it brought, and I was there to free the monsters and let them reclaim what was stolen from them. I told Asriel the whole plan, and he was scared at first, but he agreed to help me. He was my brother, that’s what brothers do. Once I knew he would help me, I ate as many of Dad’s flowers as I could, intentionally poisoning myself.”

“Why?!” Chara boggles, completely taken aback from this sudden turn in the story. “What the hell does poisoning yourself accomplish?!”

“The reason the humans went to war with the monsters was because they feared the power monsters would possess with the power of a human soul.” The Lightbringer explains their plan in great detail, clearly taking pride in the idea. “Monster souls were incredibly fragile and weak, but human souls persisted after death. No one could exit the barrier trapping everyone in the underground, but someone who had the power of both man and monster could pass freely. That’s why I needed Asriel. I gave my life for him so he could take my soul and we could pass through the barrier and save everyone.”

“You sacrificed yourself?” Chara asks. “That’s… quite selfless of you. I…” Chara was genuinely stunned. What was this kid, like ten? They really sacrificed their own life to try and rescue their family from their underground prison? That sounded like the actions of a pure hearted hero, not a heartless monster. “You really sacrificed that much for them?”

“They gave me everything I could have ever wanted.” The Lightbringer nods. “I wanted to give them something just as meaningful. I would have lived on within Asriel on the surface if the plan worked, but…” The Lightbringer sucked in a deep breath, forcing their emotions back down and replacing it with anger and resentment once more. “But he chickened out right when it mattered!” They hiss. “We didn’t even need to destroy the whole village, we only needed six other souls to break the barrier for good and set everyone free. It would have been so easy! Six people, that’s all! But no! He-”

“Asriel would never do that.” Chara finishes, already deducing how this story ended for them. “The guy could barely stand up for himself and cried when he stepped on a butterfly. He isn’t a fighter and never was one, nothing would have changed that.”

“B-but… I know, but-” The Lightbringer stops themselves upon realizing what they said. “I told him we’d be able to bring everyone to the surface. Everyone was miserable in that mountain and I knew how to fix it! I wanted to show him the stars, the sun, the forests that stretched on for miles. I told him about all the beautiful things that were out there and he told me he wanted to see them, but then he…” They start to choke up as it gets harder and harder to stay mad at their little brother. “They were killing him! They were stabbing and beating him with whatever they could find! He had the power to make them all stop, to save everyone and give them the same happiness they gave me, but no! He just sat there and let them kill him as he…”

Chara sat in silence as tears suddenly began to spill from the Lightbringer’s eyes. It was shocking to see this little demon break down into tears, and it seems to be just as shocking to them too. They brought their hand to their eyes, wiping away their tears and looking down at it in confusion.

“What’s happening?” They mumble between sobs. “Why am I crying? I’ve felt nothing but anger over that stupid goat for years, but… I can’t… Why am I suddenly so…”

“Because you realized that deep down Azzy was a good guy and you misunderstood him?” Chara suggests.

“NO!” The Lightbringer snaps back. “The exact series of events has been etched into my soul for years! He still betrayed me, he’s still a selfish bastard for letting me die for nothing, but…” They rest a hand against their chest. “I haven’t felt like this in what’s felt like centuries. I thought I was a soulless husk.”

“I don’t know, maybe you just needed someone to talk to?” Chara suggests. “People pay out the ass for therapy, so it must wo-” Without warning, the Lightbringer suddenly plunged their hand into their chest, crying out in pain before biting down on their tongue and ripping something free. Chara stared in shocked silence as the Lightbringer opened up their hand, revealing a small glowing shard of red in their palm. “Ok, can everyone just do that?”

“This is all I have.” The Lightbringer explains between labored breaths. “This is the small fragment I was given by my old partner Vinny in exchange for bringing the world we destroyed back. The only reason this is enough to keep me going is because of my Determination.”

“Who’s Vinny?” Chara asks.

“The human we were supposed to kill, the one who owed me.” The Lightbringer reminds them, growing angry again once they were reminded that Chara let them get away. “Asriel became a soulless husk unable to feel anything after he died. Once my partner started wreaking havoc and growing more powerful, I knew I had to find a way to prevent myself from becoming just as pathetic as he was. When Vinny came crawling back to me after we destroyed everything, begging me to fix it, I knew I had the leverage to get what I wanted, but that bastard never paid in full.”

“Do you need the rest?” Chara asks, leaning over to get a better look at the soul fragment. “You’re a persistent little bastard, and from the looks of it, you aren’t exactly an emotionless husk. Maybe this is all you need.”

“I want what I’m owed!” The Lightbringer growls, shoving the shard back into their chest. “I’m sick of getting short changed and betrayed! If you didn’t have the reset that I would have if I had a complete soul, I would rip you apart in an instant and forget all about you.”

Both of them sit in silence for a little while, Chara thinking over what they just learned and the Lightbringer curbing down on their out of control emotions until they are settled back into their trademark devilish smile.

“Sorry.” Chara blurts out after the silence becomes unbearable.

“For what?” The Lightbringer turns to them.

“For dragging you into this, for bringing up bad memories, I dunno.” Chara shrugs. “I’ve been a real asshole to a lot of my friends recently and now I’m being a huge asshole to my own alternate self. You don’t even seem all that bad now that I know your story.”

The Lightbringer snorts in response. “You can’t actually believe that,” They shake their head. “I’ve killed thousands in a quest for ultimate power. I’m a soulless freak living off of pure spite and Determination. I’m a monster!”

“You’re a traumatized little kid.” Chara corrects. “Yeah, you did a lot of terrible stuff, but a lot of terrible stuff happened to you too. The whole catalyst for all of this happened because you loved your family and you wanted to help them. Heartless monsters don’t give their own lives to let their little brother be happy and see all the beauty of the world. Admittedly, the way you went about it is the most batshit insane plot I’ve ever heard, but there were good intentions behind it.”

“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” The Lightbringer asks. “Are you screwing me out of the world conquering plan too?”

“Oh god no.” Chara quickly shakes their head. “I just got the power to rewind time itself, I’m not letting that go to waste. Fighting you was the most fun I’ve had in years, I need more of that! It’s just… Sorry for what happened with Vess, or Vinny, whoever they are. You probably got some of the craziest trust issues known to man, but you’re me. This is gonna get real dull real fast if I’m going at this alone, and from the looks of it, you could really use the company.”

Chara holds their hand out in a show of peace. “What do you say, partner? Do we have each other’s backs?”

The Lightbringer stares at Chara’s outstretched hand with a conflicted look. Chara’s already screwed things up by losing them both in the Void and permanently losing one of their arms, but the fact that they seemed to be considering the offer at all told Chara that there was a chance at peace here.

An entire minute stretches by before the Lightbringer reaches out and takes Chara’s hand.

“Just know that I will not tolerate betrayal anymore.” The Lightbringer says, staring into Chara’s very soul as they speak. “If you turn your back on me, if you even consider trying to stop me for whatever reason, this partnership is over and I will not rest until I tear out your soul for myself.”

“Sounds like a fair trade.” Chara nods. “Loyalty or my life. I’ll make it work.”

They shake on it, and just like that, they form an uneasy alliance. Settling back onto the couch, both of them rest a little easier in each other’s presence, knowing they won’t turn to slaughter each other at any moment.

It was depressing to see a little version of themself be so miserable. Chara hopes that maybe they’ll be able to form a real bond with this little devil and give them someone they can finally trust. Chara always wanted a little sibling, this was the closest thing they could get to one.

“Good talk, but I’m getting bored.” Chara sighs, pushing themself off the couch. “I’m gonna go fuck with our neighbor some more and see how he’s doing.”

“Whatever.” The Lightbringer groans, sinking deeper into the couch. “As long as you don’t bring him back in here. I got sick of him years ago.”

Leaving the Lightbringer to lounge on the couch, Chara wanders into the kitchen. At least, what was left of it. When the house made its jump, something happened to the power supply for the massive control terminal they used, causing the entire shed and a good chunk of the house to be blown apart. The entire back wall of the kitchen was missing, revealing the endless stretch of featureless white in the distance, as well as what little remained of the shed.

Sitting inside of that shed, surrounded with scattered papers and desperately trying to lift a small wrench with his barely corporeal hands, was the doctor that put Chara into this situation in the first place.

“Sup egghead.” Chara’s words startle Dr. Gaster, causing the wrench he was so focused on trying to pick up to literally fall through his fingers. It’s the only reason he even stays near this house instead of running off to ditch them forever. Chara and their double were physical beings, but even after staying here for what must have been days, Gaster never became fully corporeal.

“Leave me be.” The doctor growls, reaching down and struggling to wrap his fingers around the wrench again. “Do you really have nothing better to do aside from torture me?”

“Not really.” Chara shakes their head. “I already tidied up the house as much as I could and got you all these dumb papers. Mini-me and I are on better terms now, but I think they’ve had enough social interaction for today. You’re stuck with me now.”

Gaster mutters curses under his breath and returns his full attention to the wrench, trying and failing to pick it up. After an agonizing minute of watching him struggle, Chara steps forward and picks up the wrench for him.

“What needs tightening?” They ask, earning a surprised look out of the doctor. “Hey, I’m stuck here until you fix this thing and if you’re going this slow, I might as well help. What are you trying to do?”

After a moment of hesitation, Gaster pointed towards a panel on the side of the blown out console. “Undo the bolts holding that in place. I need to see what condition the motherboard is in.”

“Got it, doc.” Chara salutes with the wrench before kneeling down and working on the heavy duty bolts holding the machine together. They’re screwed on pretty tight and Chara really has to work to get them loose. There’s no way in hell Gaster would be able to do this if it took him ten minutes to even lift the wrench. The entire time Chara works, they can feel Gaster’s eyes on their back. “What’re you starin’ at?” Chara speaks up. “Like watching me bust a sweat?”

“You’re a very peculiar person, Chara Tor.” He says, standing up straight now that he wasn’t fruitlessly trying to pick things off the floor. “First you go from thanking me for the tests I ran to trying to kill me, back to helping me. Are you always this inconsistent, or is what you’re doing now a plot to somehow hurt me?”

“I’m not inconsistent.” Chara defends themself. “I only tried to kill you because you were hurting Kris and the rest of my friends. They’re out of your reach now and I’ve already had as much fun as I can stabbing at empty air, so we’re on neutral terms again. This thing is the only easy way out of here and you’re the only one smart enough to fix it so for now, we’re working together.”

“Are all your relationships transactional?” Gaster asks.

“Only with the assholes I’m forced to work with.” Chara answers. “And that’s rich coming from you, making all your little Faustian bargains over the phone, forcing us to fight each other for your amusement.”

“I was conducting study on the res-”

“No you fucking weren’t.” Chara interrupts as Gaster tries to correct them. “Trust me, I’m a control freak myself, I know one when I see one. I’m already going crazy out here and it’s been like… I don’t even know how long it’s been, but you’ve been here forever. You had a connection to us and you were free to meddle in our world and screw around all you wanted. It’s probably been the most power you’ve ever had in years. Don’t try to lie to me or yourself by saying you were conducting research, you just liked watching us fight and knowing you started it.”

Gaster doesn’t grace Chara with a response. Once a couple of the bolts were undone, Chara glanced over their shoulder to see the old doctor glaring at him. They were right on the money, and he hated it.

“So…” Chara continues working on the bolts. “Mini-me just got done telling me their tragic backstory and completely changed my perspective on them, how about you? What series of events turned you into this pathetic, manipulative bastard who terrorized a bunch of kids?”

Gaster just continues to glare at them for a while, but he eventually breaks and begins to tell his story. “I was born as one of the brightest minds the kingdom of monsters had ever known.”

“Starting real humble I see.” Chara snickers.

“It’s true.” Gaster insists with a grumble. “I had finished my primary education by the time I was ten and went on to get several doctorates in half a dozen fields. King Asgore wasted absolutely no time in assigning me as his royal scientist and I single handedly brought the kingdom into a new technological age. My greatest achievement was the Core, a city sized geothermal power plant harvesting the thermal energy of the planet's core to power the entire kingdom.”

“Alright, gotta admit,” Chara nods. “That sounds pretty damn impressive. Also, panel’s off, come have a look.” Chara stands up and aside to let Gaster approach the panel. As he kneels down to examine the electronics inside, Chara presses him. “So when did everything go wrong then? Seems like you kinda had everything set, when did it all come crashing down?”

“For some reason, the Core started to suffer a catastrophic meltdown.” Gaster explains as he starts slowly and carefully poking through the electronics, using all of his strength to push even a single wire aside with his barely existent body. “Things had been working smoothly for months, but in an instant, the entire structure threatened to detonate, taking everyone and possibly the whole world with it.”

“And of course someone as brilliant as you would have set up fail safes and safety measures.” Chara nods, only being slightly sarcastic as they say this. Gaster did seem like a genuinely smart guy, if he was missing with this much power, he would have been very aware of the risks. “What happened then? Did someone sabotage it?”

“That’s the only logical explanation.” Gaster nods. “If there was anything wrong in the design, I would have known about it days before things got that bad. For a failure this catastrophic, destructive, and sudden, it had to have been done intentionally, but by whom, I do not know. It had to have been someone who watched me as I designed it, that’s the only possible way they could have known what to do.”

“I mean, you weren’t the only one who worked on it, right?” Chara shrugs. “Maybe one of the other scientists did it. Maybe one of the workers who helped build it. It’s not like you made the entire thing by hand all by yourself.”

“I might as well have.” Gaster grumbles. “Those fools had no idea what they were doing, I had to babysit every single one of those buffoons to make sure they didn’t break anything or twist the wrong dial. My compatriots in the science team all tried to take credit for my genius, in fact after I was gone, that despicable lizard Alphys took my research for the DT Extractor and claimed that she created it herself! I bet it was her!”

“It could've been basically anyone who worked for you from the sounds of it.” Chara points out. “You sound like a narcissistic nut job. You probably undercut a lot of people and took every bit of credit for yourself. Some disgruntled employee or coworker was probably sick of your shit and of having all their work go uncredited and decided to take the whole thing down.” Gaster scoffs at the idea and that only fuels Chara’s suspicions that they might be right. For as brilliant as the doctor was, he was a real asshole.

“Everyone else had already left, leaving me alone to try and get the Core back into a stable condition.” Gaster continues. “I was not successful… As hard as I tried, I was not able to stabilize it before it suffered a critical failure with me right at the center of it. The complete and utter annihilation I suffered as I fell into the overloading Core completely obliterated my soul, erasing my very being from existence.”

“Damn…” Chara let out a slow breath. “That sounds pretty rough. What the hell happened to the rest of the underground? It kinda sounds like the entire world blew up after that.”

“The Dreemurr boy undid the damage.” Gaster explains. “He was probably caught in the blast and got reset, but by the time he got to the same point in time where the Core went critical, nothing happened. Unfortunately, the complete destruction of my soul at the moment of his reset unbound me from reality. No one remembered my name, no one remembered who I was. Everyone saw the pictures and my signatures and assumed I was some old scientist from years past. They just assumed that they always had the Core and that it wasn’t a marvel of technology that I created less than a year ago.”

“That’s rough.” Chara shakes their head. Fuck, they weren’t gonna start feeling bad about this guy too, were they?

“I was completely helpless out here in the Void, forced to watch as the world went on without me.” Gaster stops messing with the electronics and focuses on his story. “I wandered for what felt like a year before I found someone else out there. I wasn’t the only one caught in the blast, a couple of other souls were taken with mine, leaving us all to wander the Void. Eventually we learned our way around, found out how to project ourselves into the world for fleeting moments.”

“And then the Angel and the Lightbringer destroyed that world.” Chara nods. “I guess there wasn’t a point in sticking around after that?”

“No.” Gaster shakes his head. “I wandered for eternity until I was lucky enough to stumble across Dess Holiday. That’s when I discovered the last world we visited and did what I could to try and gain some semblance of control back.”

“Then the Lightbringer found you, you started screwing around with Vess and Kris, and everything went to complete shit and now we’re here.” Chara wraps up and Gaster nods in confirmation. “Gotta say, pretty intense, but nowhere near as cool as the Lightbringer’s backstory.”

“I was not aware that this was a competition.” Gaster grumbles. “Now if you’re done insulting me, find a phillips screwdriver and unscrew this chip from the board. It won’t be necessary to get this functional again, but we could use the parts.”

“Got it.” Chara nods, leaving the console to dig around in the scattered tools Gaster assembled.

“So what is the plan once I get this thing working again?” Gaster asks. “Are you going to kill me once it’s done?”

“First off, it’s when we get this working again.” Chara corrects him. “Talk like that is what got you killed, you wouldn’t have made any progress at all without me. Second, I have no reason to kill you. It would probably be cathartic as hell to get revenge on the guy who drove Kris into the Void, but I’m probably better off with a guy like you in my corner. I got half a degree in economics, you have several doctorates and actually know what’s going on out here. It benefits us both to work together.”

“I suppose in my current condition, I’d have to agree.” Gaster nods.

“Shake on it?” Chara holds out their hand, offering it to the doctor. “Same rules the Lightbringer and I are on. We watch each other’s backs and stick together. If you double cross us or ditch us at any point, you’re done, but as long as you’re cool and helping us out, we’ll help you out too.”

“It’s not like I have a choice.” Gaster looks at Chara’s offered hand in disdain.

“So shake on it so we can work on agreeable terms.” Chara says, still holding their hand out. “You could say screw it and leave us all alone out here to figure something out ourselves. You don’t have to stay here, but things will work out if we do this together. Who knows, if you stick around with me, maybe I can help sand down your edges so you aren’t such a massive prick anymore.”

Gaster just glared at them for several seconds before letting out a dejected sigh and reaching for their hand. His hand doesn’t really collide with Chara’s, but phases through it, leaving a slight, tingling sensation on their palm.

“I got the screwdriver by the way,” Chara informs once they seal the deal. “What needed taking off?”

“This chip right here.” Gaster points at the motherboard, directing Chara towards a small support structure holding electronics in place. Chara kneels down and does as they are told, undoing the screws and keeping them close by to replace them once they were done.

“So how long do you think it will take to get this set up?” Chara asks as they work.

“There is no point in making estimations now.” Gaster tells them. “There’s no guarantee that I can make this function again with what little is left of it. It isn’t impossible, however. While I may not be able to perfectly recreate all of its functions, I might be able to have it jump us forward again.”

“We,” Chara corrects. “We might be able to get it to work again. You’re part of a team now, there’s no i in team. I’m the one doing all the work here.”

“And you’d be completely helpless without my directions and expertise.” Gaster adds on.

“Doesn’t change the fact that this is a team effort, start acting like it.” Chara says. “Seriously, I’m considering just stabbing this thing with the screwdriver just to piss you off.”

Gaster doesn’t press them any further, speaking up only to give more directions from that point on. They don’t accomplish much other than taking apart the electronics and fitting them back together, but Chara actually feels like they made progress today. Doing something with their hands like this was certainly better than bumming around in Sans’ house forever.

Maybe this wasn’t so bad. It sure wasn’t great, but if they can get this thing working again, they’ll be able to make their way into a brand new world and Chara will finally be able to see what they can really do with their newly acquired reset. As they finish bolting the side panel back onto the console, a question crops up in their head.

“Hey Gaster,” Chara turns to the doctor. “Who were all those weirdo’s you had working with you?”

“I presume you are speaking about the Everyman?” Gaster asks. “He was an old colleague of mine, destroyed in the same blast that obliterated me. For whatever reason, he had a much easier time projecting himself into your world and assisted me with my many tasks. Unfortunately, we’ve likely left him behind.”

“What about Rouxls?” Chara asks.

“Hmm?” Gaster raises a brow. “Who?”

“Tall blue guy who talked real funny,” Chara details. “Some old duke or something. He was apparently taking orders from you, what did you do to get him on your side?” Gaster looked genuinely confused about what Chara was talking about, but once it clicked, Chara could see the disappointment on Gaster’s face.

“Oh, him…” He sighs. “He was an odd fellow from the moment I met him. With my volunteer and Kris picking fights with the few people I managed to reach out to in my early attempts at communication, he sought me out hoping that I would make him just as powerful as they were. He turned out to be a very willing and useful pawn, but without my guidance, he’s a complete imbecile.”

“I wonder what he’s up to then.” Chara chuckles. “Probably aren’t any big bad evil guy’s that can compare to you back home anymore.”

“There’s no point in thinking back on what’s happening in that world anymore.” Gaster grumbles, dismissing the thought. “We will never return, no matter how much we try. You will never see Asriel or the rest of the Dreemurr’s ever again, nor will you get the chance to see if they forgave you or not. Push them out of your mind completely.”

“Fuckin… ow.” Chara tightens the last bolt on the panel and drops the wrench, standing up from the machine. “Don’t gotta be such a dick about it. Jeez.” Turning their back on Gaster, they step over the remains of the shed wall and start making their way back to the house. “I’m done for today if you’re gonna be such an ass. Adjust that attitude and maybe I’ll help you keep working.”

“We are all trapped out here unless you help me, get back here this instant!” Gaster growls as they leave.

“What? You’re the brilliant scientist who knows what he’s doing, you don’t need me, right?” Chara shrugs, flipping the bird over their shoulder. “Hopefully you’ll be in a more cooperative mood tomorrow.”

“There is no tomorrow out here! Time is non-existent!” Chara pays Gaster no mind, hopping back through the hole in the kitchen wall and walking back into the living room. There, they find the Lightbringer fast asleep on the couch. There was no need for sleep out here, but there wasn’t much else to do and Chara doubted they’d be willing to help fix anything. Deciding it’s for the best to leave them be, Chara heads upstairs to dig around in the old rooms up there some more.

As they do, they can’t help but think about what’s going on back home. Gaster’s probably right that thinking back on everyone and what they’re doing is pointless since there was no going back, but Chara did all of this for them. They were going to miss Azzy, Kris, Suzie, and everyone else out there. They were also going to really, really miss Toriel’s butterscotch cinnamon pie.

Though, since they brought him up, Chara can’t help but wonder what ever happened to that Rouxls guy. There were wanted posters everywhere and even Ralsei seemed determined to bring him to justice.

Where was that old duke now?

What hath this poor duke’s life becometh?

Rouxls Kaard was never held in high regard, even in his native kingdom. As the Duke of Card Castle, he had many important responsibilities, but he never truly got the respect he deserved for it. His duties of raising and training an army and ensuring the castle was properly defended quickly became babysitting the young prince and designing childish puzzles to keep him entertained.

Even still, he served under the Chaos King with a smile. Servitude was all he knew, and while he was sure he didn’t have the charisma or tact to be a leader himself, being a tyrant’s right hand man was the next best thing. When the king tired of someone and wanted them gone, Rouxls was the one charged with disposing of them. When there was a threat to the kingdom, Rouxls mobilized and ordered the guards who would neutralize the threat. It was just enough responsibility to feel like a true lord, even if he was playing second fiddle.

Then those meddlesome brats showed up.

They marched right up to the castle, broke free from the dungeon, made a mockery out of his puzzles and delegation skills, and imprisoned his ruler, leaving him completely aimless. Without his rank and the King’s protection, he was a nobody, and he couldn’t stand it. He immediately tried to serve under Prince Ralsei who managed to best the Chaos King, but with no armies and no real power of his own, serving under him would prove pointless.

He took the first opportunity he had to ditch Castle Town and search for a new ruler, one who was feared and respected so he could get a little shred of that respect once he became their minion. Unfortunately, the Queen wouldn’t take him, nor would Swatch and his army of butlers. He hoped that by capturing the Lightners he’d be able to earn the respect of one of the two, but outside of his own Dark World, he sadly didn’t last.

After the Roaring, he thought he had a chance, but most of the viable lords were imprisoned or changed their ways. There was no one suitable to serve under, no one who was feared enough to make people fear him as well.

Until he met that strange doctor.

Rouxls didn’t quite understand what the doctor was saying, but he apparently already did plenty of good work for him in the past, work that he doesn’t remember doing, but was praised for nonetheless. Even stranger was after joining his side, Rouxls didn’t even have to do much of anything other than sneak around and move stuff around or knock on some doors in the middle of the night, but within weeks of joining, there were wanted posters all over Castle Town for his arrest. Whatever he was doing, it seemed to be working. The Lightners genuinely feared him and he felt like a devious mastermind plucking the strings from behind the scenes.

But then, Doctor Gaster vanished, and that fear vanished without a trace. And unfortunately for Rouxls, they weren’t going to let him walk away this time. The posters were still up, and he had several close calls where residents of castle town nearly ratted him out. He’s had to constantly hide away from the local police force, but they’ve been getting closer and closer to discovering him. He was running out of time, they would find him eventually, but he had a plan.

He just needed to find someone new to take him under their wing. There weren’t many people left who would take him, especially with the reputation he was already carrying with him, but there was one man who just might be able to save him. Rouxls just has to save him first.

Currently, Rouxls was on his sixth straight hour of chiseling through the hard packed soil with a spoon, slowly but surely digging his way into Castle Town’s dungeons. The Chaos King was bested once before, but if Rouxls breaks him out and gets him back on his feet, not only will his show of loyalty guarantee him his old position back, but he may actually surpass the old King thanks to the new reputation Rouxls earned himself.

Yes, he’ll break out everyone in the dungeon and then lead the charge on Castle Town himself! It was a perfect plan, a foolproof plan! Those foolish Lightners have had it far too easy for far too long. Once the Chaos King was unleashed, his vengeance will sweep over the kingdom as he led his bloody campaign to reclaim his throne! All the while, Rouxls will be right beside him, in the king’s shadow, shaded from the harsh heat of the spotlight.

Rouxls continues to chisel away, kicking the dirt he was loosening behind him to let him keep crawling forward. He was only 90% sure he was going in the right direction, but even if he wasn’t, no one was going to find him down here. He could keep this up for days if he needed to, it’ll all be worth it once he found his way in.

He thrusts his spoon forward, expecting to meet resistance, only for his spoon to suddenly break through into an opening. His hands were scared and blistered after days of digging, but the burst of adrenaline he gets compels him to dig faster, chiseling away at the thin layer of soil in front of him. Once the gap was large enough, he found himself in another dark tunnel, this one much wider than his. At the end of this tunnel was the faintest source of light.

Setting his spoon down and quietly crawling forward, Rouxls approaches the end of the tunnel, finding that the light he saw was coming along the edges of some sort of cover. Pressing on the cover, he is nearly blinded with light as he peers into a dungeon cell.

Sitting in the middle of this cell, to Rouxls’ relief, was the Chaos King, sound asleep on the floor.

“SIre!” Rouxls calls out, crawling through the rest of the tunnel and falling onto the floor. A loosely fitted poster falls back over the hole in the wall as the King wakes up from the sudden commotion. “Sire! Tis I, Rouxls Kaard, here to rescue you from thine confinement!”

“Huh?!” The King blearily reacts to him, seeming more confused than surprised. He must have been out pretty hard. “Where’d you come from? Where have you been?”

“Working from the shadows, sire.” Rouxls explains, brushing himself off before prostrating himself before his King. “Since thine capture, I hath been tirelessly scheming to destroyeth the Lightners who overthrew you. Tis the time to breaketh you out of thine shackles and return thee to the throne!”

“Oh…” The King still seems confused, but after a while, a cruel smile starts to form on his face. “Oh I’ve been waiting for a moment like this for a long time.” Rising from his slumber, he marches right up to Rouxls who remains prostrated on the floor. “I’m finally going to be free from this prison once and for all, and you’re going to get me out.”

“Of course, sire.” Rouxls nods. “All I ask is that-”

Before he can make his request to remain at the King’s side, one of his massive hands grabs hold of Rouxls’ neck, lifting him up into the air and he kicks and squirms to escape his grip.

“I know just how you’re gonna get me out of here.” The King hums, marching towards the bars of his cell with Rouxls still in his iron grip. Rouxls continues to struggle, having no idea what was happening but figuring it wasn’t going to be good for him. As he tries to pry himself out of the King’s hand, he notices the King is moving towards a bell hanging beside the bars. With his free hand, the King reaches up and rings the bell before sitting and waiting beside the bars.

“S-sire!” Rouxls manages to sputter out. “This plan seemeth a tad unorthodox. I hath carved a tunnel to abscond through, why alert the Lightners?” The King does not respond and instead patiently waits as someone comes down into the dungeon.

“Good Morning!” The voice of the young Prince Ralsei calls out from down the hall as he makes his approach, greeting the King before he even came into view. “It’s still a little early for breakfast if that’s what you rang for, but if you need anything else, I’d be happy to…” Ralsei finally reaches the end of the hall and looks past the bars, his words dying on his lips as his eyes land on Rouxls. “What’s…”

“You’ve been looking for him, right?” The King asks. “He just tunneled through my wall and tried to break everyone out.”

“And you’ve captured him?” Ralsei asks with a confused look on his face. Rouxls wears the same expression. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all.

“Of course, I’m a changed man after all.” The King says with a wicked smile. “You’ve had me doing community service and were already thinking of letting me go, surely a good deed like this is enough to set me free, right?”

No! NO! This can’t be! His own King is betraying him?!

“Hmm…” Ralsei rests his chin on his fist as he mulls the idea over. “We really have been holding you in here for far too long, and you have been behaving yourself quite well, especially during your community service. You won’t try anything if I open the doors, right?”

“Of course not, Prince Ralsei.” The King shakes his head. After a moment, Ralsei starts to move for the cell door and the King follows.

Rouxls slows down his struggle. What if this isn’t the betrayal he thought it was? What if… What if the King had a different plan? Yes, that’s what this must be! The King was using him as a distraction, as proof that he changed for the better and once the foolish prince opened the door, his true intentions will be revealed! Rouxls felt almost embarrassed for ever having doubted his terrible King.

The Prince fumbles through a large keyring before placing one into the locked cell door and turning the key. The door creaks open and Rouxls braces himself for the flurry of action that’s sure to follow as the King makes his escape, but he remains still.

“Would you mind holding onto him for a moment?” Ralsei asks. “Where did he come in from? I want to make sure this place is still secure.”

“Behind the poster.” The King points behind him and Ralsei lets himself into the cell, walking right past the King. He makes no move for the Prince. Ralsei had his back turned and the King still wasn’t attacking. Rouxls stares in complete befuddlement once more until his eyes land on the cell door.

The Prince left the key in the door! Oh how deliciously cruel and ironic! The King was simply waiting for the Prince to retreat to the very back of the cell to seal the tunnel before rushing through the door and locking him away! Yes! Let the Prince rot in his own dungeon for sealing him away, a masterful plan!

“Hmm… This might take a few days to fix, but it’s nothing a little bit of elbow grease can’t cover up!” Ralsei says, rolling up the poster so the hole was no longer covered. “I was thinking of letting Rouxls have your cell here since it’s easily the nicest one in the dungeon, but I suppose he’ll have to settle for a different one.”

Ralsei was now walking back towards them and Rouxls started to panic again. With every step, the King’s chances of successfully locking him up dwindled. The King just stood and watched as Ralsei came right up to him and left the cell.

“Come along then. It’s time you stepped foot out of this cage.” Ralsei announces, holding the door open wide for the King to step through. The King takes his time leaving his cell, still dragging Rouxls around with him. The entire time, the Duke is just waiting for the King to make his move, to lash out at Ralsei when he least expects it, to drop him so he can take on the Prince himself, to make a run for it, anything. Instead, Ralsei begins to move towards another cell in the dungeon and the King follows close behind.

Rouxls’ mind kept jumping back and forth. Was he being set up, or was this all an incredibly convoluted and drawn out escape attempt? Rouxls wanted to hold onto the hope that the King was on his side because if he wasn’t, then it was already over for him. But as the King followed Ralsei through the dungeon, it occurred to him that the King was technically already free. He was out of his cell, there were no bars between him and the Prince. If he had any intent to harm the Prince, he would have done so already.

When the Prince opened up a new cell and stepped aside with the door wide open, the Duke got his answer.

“Leave him in here.” The young Prince instructed the King. “Once he’s locked away, I’ll inform everyone of your freedom and help you on your way! I’ll be back with some friends to speak with Mr. Kaard here.”

“With pleasure!” The King said, followed shortly after by a cruel laugh as the King reared the Duke back and chucked him through the open door into an empty cell. Rouxls Kaard collapsed onto the concrete floor like a sack of bricks, sprawled out and completely drained of any fighting or resistant spirit at all. The Chaos King was his only lifeline, and he just threw him into a cell.

“You didn’t have to throw him that hard!” Prince Ralsei scolds the King. “He doesn’t bounce like your son does!”

“Sorry, force of habit.” The King apologizes. Rouxls just lay on the floor, heart broken and mind racing as he heard the door to his cell slam shut and the locks click into place. He needed to find a way out, he had been working tirelessly for days digging that hole only for it to lead to his immediate capture by the man he came to rescue? It couldn’t end like this.

Perhaps he could start a new tunnel? The King appeared to have started his own until Rouxls broke into it. Maybe he could snatch a key from the Prince's robes the next time he passed by. Perhaps Gaster or one of his other minions will break him out. Maybe the King is still secretly trying to earn everyone’s trust before breaking him out.

This wasn’t over. He was feared throughout the kingdom for a reason! He was Dr. Gaster’s greatest minion! He was DETERMINED to get out! That’s all those wimpy Lightners needed to succeed, right? He certainly had the will to escape, he had the perseverance to dig a tunnel with just a spoon, he’d break out. Even with the overwhelming weight of betrayal holding him down, Rouxls pushes himself off the floor, brushes himself off and addresses his situation.

The King and Prince were gone, leaving him all alone in the now empty dungeon. Unlike the King’s cell, which thinking back was quite nice, he was left in a featureless box with only the bare necessities. A cot in the corner, a sink for water, and a latrine. His spoon was unfortunately left behind in the tunnel, but Prince Ralsei spoke of breakfast being sent down while speaking to the King. If he bided his time, Rouxls could procure another utensil and begin digging a new hole. He had no way of hiding his progress, but he’d figure something out.

He sits around, trying to let time pass him by as he brainstorms other escape attempts. The sink, could he maybe get a steady stream or trickle of water to drip out of the basin and slowly erode the concrete? No, that was too absurd. Could he find something to pick the lock to his cell door? That seems a little more plausible, but still far fetched. Maybe… No, not even he would dare try that.

An hour must have passed with him aimlessly pacing around his cell, moving the cot around with his foot, running his hands through the water in the sink, looking for anything to occupy his racing mind. He runs out of distractions, and his desperate need to escape forces him to toss aside his reservations and examine the latrine.

Tucked away in the corner, not quite out of sight from the bars looking into his cell, was a wooden bench with a hole drilled in the middle. It thankfully hasn’t been used in a long time, sparing him from any foul smell that would radiate from it. Looking down into the hole, there was only an endless sea of black. Where did this lead?

Rouxls knew of the underground cave system running underneath town, could this be a sheer drop into those very caves? Rouxls became very familiar with those caves while working with Dr. Gaster. Perhaps he could escape through the latrine and into the cave systems below!

What would he do once he was down there though? The King would be of no help to him. There were no other tyrants in this dungeon, or any other dungeon he knew of. He could try to make it to the penitentiary further in town to search for ne'er do wells there, but if he gets caught, he doubts Justice will offer him mercy in the trial that follows.

He had to try though. With his newfound Determination, his refusal to sit idly in this cell, he decides to accept the risks and escape. His odds weren’t great, but he would have way more options out there than stuck in here.

But was he really going to crawl through the toilet to escape?

Oh what does he care? His dignity was gone the moment his own King imprisoned him.

Sliding his arms through the hole first, he manages to squeeze his head in before trying to force himself down. He manages to get most of his upper body through the hole, before he manages to get himself stuck. He tries to kick his legs back to pull him out, but he doesn’t budge. He tries to suck in his gut and find something to grab onto and push, but that doesn’t help either.

It takes every ounce of his willpower not to panic. He just spent several hours tunneling through the walls. This was a cramped space he managed to get himself wedged into, but if he managed to get himself into this position, he can get himself out. He just has to do it before any-

“What the hell is he doing?!”

Rouxls nearly bursts into tears once he realizes he’s been found in such a pathetic position.

“Shit, he swirlied himself before I got the chance!”

“Mr. Kaard! What are you doing?!”

Hands grab onto the back of Rouxls shirt and he is pulled out of the latrine and tossed to the floor. Looking up, he finds there are now four people crowded around him. Prince Ralsei was obviously here to let everyone in, and it looks like his enforcer Susie has arrived as well. Joining them were two people he didn’t expect. Beside the Prince was Asriel, the older brother of the Determined knight who bested him in the Dark Worlds. Standing beside Susie was a woman he didn’t recognize, wearing the garb of a bard. Out of everyone here, he was most afraid of her. She looked furious with him, and for some reason, she seemed to emanate some kind of low drone in the air around her, a dissonant tone that didn’t sit right with him.

“Was he trying to escape through the toilet?” Asriel asks, genuinely dumbfounded by Rouxls’ escape attempt.

“Damn, Kris really should have been here to see that!” Susie barks out a laugh at the Duke’s expense.

“I only left you alone for half an hour, Mr. Kaard.” Ralsei scratches his head. “You weren’t even in here for a full hour before you started trying to crawl through the toilet?”

“I wasn’t going to wasteth mine time withering away in this cell when escapeth was an option.” Rouxls says, trying to salvage the last remaining shreds of his dignity. “Had thou cometh ten minutes later, I would have already absconded!”

“And we would have smelled you from a mile away and put you right back.” Susie points out. “The only difference would be that we’d take away your toilet so you can’t get out again.”

“I think we should do that anyways.” The strange bard comments with a smirk that was almost as menacing as the King’s. “It’s the least he deserves for what he did.”

“Hey now,” Ralsei shakes his head. “That seems a little too cruel for someone who…” Ralsei pauses for a moment before turning to face his friends. “Actually, wait a minute. What did Rouxls do exactly?”

Rouxls would actually like to know this himself. He’s clearly angered everyone here, especially the bard, but he genuinely has no idea what crimes he’s committed. Gaster was the true mastermind behind everything and only ever had Rouxls do bizarre little actions here and there. He never did anything major, he never confronted anyone directly. The last order he received was to assist the Lightners in the battle against the Lightbringer, one that he quickly fled from once he realized just how dangerous that fight would be. What did he do to inspire such anger in these people?

“He terrorized my little sibling until they ran away into the Void!” Asriel says, not sounding too pleased. “They’re still afraid of him because he’s the last person with connections to Gaster left running around.”

“This asswipe was responsible for setting up a lot of the ’tests’ we were forced to participate in.” Susie growls, flashing her sharp teeth from beneath her scarred lips. “When we didn’t immediately participate, Gaster would have him stalk us as a constant reminder of what we owed him.”

“This bastard killed my dad.” The bard suddenly speaks up, and her claim is so grievous that even Rouxls recoils at the assertion. The ominous droning in the air becomes louder as she continues to list off his crimes. “He created a fake crime scene and incriminated Kris and Asriel, making half the town believe they were murderers. He killed my dad who was still recovering from cancer, breaking Noelle’s heart so much that she nearly destroyed the town in grief. He killed Kris, he got Susie killed. He abandoned Noelle when that monster was trying to kill her! And that’s all the stuff that Kris told me! Who knows what else he’s been up to since they’ve been gone!”

“Wait wait wait!” Rouxls vehemently shook his head. “I did no such thing! Maybe that very last part, but I’ve never slain another in my entire life!” He couldn’t even keep up the accent anymore, the crimes he was being accused of were so serious that he didn’t have it in him to keep the act up.

“You’ve been screwing with us for almost an entire year!” Susie points out, and Rouxls immediately tries to point out a clear contradiction.

“The Doctor only approached me four months ago!” He declares, catching Susie in her lie. “I couldn’t have worked with him for as long as you claimed! And another thing! How could I have killed you and Kris if you’re interrogating me right now?!”

“In the other timelines, duh.” Susie declares, only for Asriel to speak up.

“Actually, wait a minute.” He interrupts the barbarian. “Correct me if I’m wrong, the whole reset thing is still a little jumbled in my head, but has this Rouxls actually done anything?”

“Az, I just got done listing off all the things he-” The bard interjects, but Asriel presses on.

“Yeah, I get that, I know. Kris talks about it all the time. But I mean did this instance of Rouxls do anything seriously wrong?” Asriel corrects, though his words do not make any more sense to Rouxls. “I mean, Chara’s whole thing was that the tests we did never led to anyone actually getting hurt, so they were fine.”

“Not really the best example, man.” Susie shakes her head.

“Ok, yeah, probably not the best example, but you see my point, right?” Asriel shrugs. “He one hundred percent did bad stuff, but he doesn’t seem to remember any of it. For all we know, Gaster forced him to do everything and was threatening him just like he was to us. You wouldn’t have hurt us or taken part in the tests if Gaster wasn’t threatening Kris if you didn’t. Rouxls could be a victim, just like us.”

Rouxls elects to stay quiet as Asriel’s words wash over everyone, submerging them in thought. He had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but he wasn’t going to say anything that would incriminate him or prove Asriel wrong. Whatever was going on, everyone was calming down. Well, everyone but one.

“We aren’t actually considering letting him go, are we?” The Bard asks. “He killed people!”

“I mean, so did we?” Susie shrugs. “Gaster forced us to do a lot of horrible stuff.”

“I don’t believe Rouxls is really a bad guy.” Ralsei speaks up in Rouxls defense. “I can tell he has no ill will in his heart. And, no offense Mr. Kaard, but I really don’t think he’s all that dangerous.”

“He was kind of a whiney pushover until the Gaster stuff started happening.” Susie agrees. “Hell, half the reason why Kris was so pissed was that Rouxls was the one who killed them.”

“Also, aren’t like half of your friends people who tried to kill you before?” Asriel asks. “Even Lancer threw you in a dungeon when you first met, right?”

“Kris literally lives in the studio that belongs to a guy who tried to kill us all on live television.” Ralsei nods his head.

“Ok, I thought I was the crazy one?!” The bard boggles. “You guys are just buddy buddy with people who actually tried to kill you?!” Everyone else nods their heads. “What is wrong with you people?!”

“We’re all very forgiving people.” Ralsei explains, earning a sympathetic nod from Asriel.

“Well after spending years hanging out with this asshole’s boss, I’m not ready to forgive him at the drop of a hat.” The bard says, turning to glare at Rouxls. “Kris is still shaken up by the whole ordeal and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that my little sister isn’t doing well either. Chara took out Gaster and I have a whole decade of repressed anger I need to take out on someone. This guy’s the closest I’ll get to fighting Gaster himself!”

“I’m really not.” Rouxls shakes his head. “I’m just a lowly minion, I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“Yeah…” Susie groans. “Not gonna lie, I was really hyping myself up to beat the snot out of this guy, but the more I think about it, I can’t think of any actually bad thing this guy’s done that stuck. I mean, he did break in here, but…”

“I didn’t plan on leaving him in this cell for long.” Ralsei says. “Once the hole was plugged up, I was going to let him stay in the King’s cell. It’s really roomy and nice in there, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“We could just leave him in here to try and escape through the toilet again.” The bard suggests.

“Dess, do you wanna talk or something?” Asriel asks with some worry. “You aren’t usually this worked up.”

“Sorry, it’s just…” The bard, Dess if Rouxls heard right, presses her palms against her face. “Kris comes out all the time for practice and I can tell they aren’t sleeping. All this bullshit really got to them and it kills me to see them like that. Noelle’s been acting weird too and I just… Fuck! I wanna punch someone for doing this to them! That’s what I do. Whenever someone was talking shit to you, I’d find them and kick their ass. Gaster did more than call Kris and Noelle names and…” Dess’ fists are balled up as that droning noise gets louder. She looked absolutely furious.

“I understand, Dess.” Ralsei says with a somber tone. “I see the same things you do and I can only imagine what’s going on in their heads. I do my best to cheer them up and I know I’m making things better by doing that, but I don’t think beating up Rouxls Kaard is going to make them or you feel any better.”

“Sure it will,” Dess argues. “Come on, it’s either gonna be him or a wall. I’ve already talked myself into punching something, it’s gonna happen.”

“Dess…” Ralsei looks up at her with a sad look in his eyes. “I’ve seen a lot of my friends get into fights they didn’t want to get into. I’ve had to get into fights I didn’t want any part of, but I did it to protect everyone. I really don’t want to see anyone fight anymore, especially when everyone’s still dealing with the repercussions of the first fights. Please, there’s no need to punch anything, I can help you find something else to take that aggression on. Please?”

The ominous drone radiating from Dess slowly starts to quiet down as Dess looks down at Ralsei, the tension in her shoulders fading and her fists unclenching. The droning goes completely silent, and Dess folds.

“God, don’t look at me like that.” She whines, unable to take her eyes off of Ralsei. “I can’t say no to a face like that.” Ralsei continues to stare up at her. “Ugh, you fluffy little bastard. Fine.” Dess reaches out and ruffles Ralsei’s hair. “Do whatever with him then, I’ll be upstairs.”

“Oh hey, wait up!” Asriel moves to follow Dess as they both start making their way through the dungeon halls back upstairs, leaving Ralsei and Susie behind to watch over Rouxls.

“What is mine punishment?” Rouxls asks, staring up at his two prison guards. He looks at Susie, the less forgiving of the two, but she only shakes her head to look at Ralsei. He had the final say here.

“I’m afraid a lot of people are a bit too high strung to let you walk free right this moment.” Ralsei informs him, though he seems disappointed to announce this. “I really don’t like locking people down here at all, but for some, such as the Chaos King, it’s a necessary evil to make sure no one, including the prisoner, gets hurt. You still have wanted posters all over town and as you’ve seen for yourself, there are many people who wouldn’t hesitate to fight you on sight. I think it’s best that you remain down here until I can clear things up and explain the situation.”

“So I’m going to rot in this cell until ye decideth to let me go?” Rouxls asks. “All because of who I served under?”

“I mean, it isn’t that bad down here.” Susie shrugs. “You get a room, three meals a day, bars between you and the people who don’t like you.”

“And it won’t have to be in this cell.” Ralsei informs. “This was just the only one that was cleaned out. Once we seal the hole in the wall, we can move you back into the King’s cell. I’d decorate one personally for you, but I don’t think you’ll be here long.”

“How long will it taketh to seal the tunnel?” Rouxls asks. This isn’t great, but from the sounds of it, the endless prison sentence he was expecting has been replaced with a light slap on the wrist in comparison.

“Let me go take a look.” Susie offers, leaving the cell to investigate, leaving Ralsei to turn and watch her go. As she does, Rouxls goes over his options one more time. Escape was still a potential option, but with how courteous and forgiving the Prince has been, maybe it would be better for him in the long run to stay put.

“Mr. Kaard?” Ralsei speaks up, pulling Rouxls from his thoughts. “You do know there are other ways to get the respect you feel you deserve, right?”

“What?” Rouxls is taken aback.

“Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t get the appeal of being feared.” Ralsei continues. “I’ve seen what people do to keep their subjects subservient and their souls become black with loneliness and hate. The people of Card Castle did not like their king, he was cruel and despicable, he had to be to keep them all in line. It’s why they were all so quick to usurp him and put Lancer on the throne. Is that what you really want? Do you want to be hated and plotted against?”

“W-well no.” Rouxls shakes his head. “I want people to respecteth me! I’m the Duke, not a Jester! I am consistently treated like a fool! As the grand minion of a truly feared leader, I would get at least a shred of respect!”

“Like the King?” Ralsei asks.

“Yes, of cou-”

“The one who treated you poorly in the first place, even as his Duke?” Rouxls’ words die in his throat. “Mr. Kaard, if you seek validation and respect from terrible people, you’re never going to find it. You are not an equal to them, you are not a close companion sharing the glory. You’re in the same exact position as the subjects you want to rule over, a subservient pawn of the Chaos King.”

Ralsei turns to face Rouxls directly. “I saw the hurt in your heart when the King threw you in this cell. You’re putting your trust into people who will only see that trust as something to be broken when it suits them. And look where working with people like this has gotten you. Gaster used you as a tool to bully and hurt my friends. No one respects you, the fear that we felt doesn’t make us treat you seriously, it only breeds the same resentment that imprisoned your King.”

Rouxls sat in stunned silence as he took in Ralsei’s words. His position under the King’s rule was all he’s ever known, and while he thought he found similar success under Gaster, the actions he apparently did are far worse than anything he would have done on his own. And what has either of those gotten him? He was laughed out of Card Castle and forced to embarrass himself before the Cyber World Queen, he took on shady work for a villain far beyond the Chaos King, and now here he was, rotting in a cell and despised by everyone.

“How do you do it?” Rouxls asks in desperation. “The others listen to you! Even the Chaos King had you right within his grasp but he did not touch you! How do you command such respect?!”

“I could teach you.” Ralsei offers with a smile, holding out his hand to help Rouxls to his feet. “It really isn’t that hard.”

Before Ralsei gets a chance to tell him, there’s a loud crash from further in the dungeon.

“Fixed it!” Susie shouts from the king’s cell. With that, Ralsei reaches out and takes Rouxls’ hand, helping him up and keeping him in his grasp as he starts to leave the cell. Rouxls follows close behind, desperate to learn the Prince’s secret.

Returning to the very back of the dungeon, Susie leaves the cell with a proud smile on her face. The hole in the wall has been plugged with the massive water container that was kept in the corner. There was now a massive obstacle jutting out of the wall, but this cell was still leagues better than the one he was just in. Leading him inside, Ralsei lets go of Rouxls once they are within the cell.

“Once again, I am very sorry that I have to do this,” Ralsei apologies once more. “I did all I could to make this cell as accommodating as possible, but nothing changes the fact that it’s a cell. You won’t be here long though, only a week at most as I take down the posters and call off the searches.” Leaving through the cell door and closing it, Ralsei turns the key which was left in the lock before returning it to his keyring. “I will be back again real soon, I promise.”

With Rouxls secure in his new cell, Ralsei and Susie leave the dungeon, giving him privacy and more time to think. Sitting down in the center of his cell, he takes some time to mull over what he’s been told.

Was he truly happy with his position as the King’s Duke? Aside from his title, he really didn’t have much to gain. He supposed Lancer took a liking to him more than his father, but… But what? Lancer didn’t treat him with respect, far from it, that little snot was a menace, but thinking back on all the time he spent with him, he can’t say all his time with the Card Prince was bad. He certainly enjoyed himself more dealing with the Prince than having to speak with the King.

Working with Dr. Gaster was exciting, if a bit aimless and confusing, but once he got a glimpse of the anger his actions were brewing, he was having second thoughts about the whole villainy thing. He wanted a rival, not a mortal enemy. If Ralsei wasn’t here to talk her down, Rouxls was positive that Dess girl would have punched his head clean off his shoulders.

Ralsei made it very clear. He was associating with the wrong people. As naive and hopelessly optimistic as Ralsei appears, he was able to see right through Rouxls, identifying what he was lacking and offering to give him just that. As depressing as it was to admit, it was also eye opening to realize how alien the Prince’s empathy was to him. None of his other masters would have given him the time of day, but Ralsei, someone who he’s done battle with several times, someone who until an hour ago he considered an enemy, he was the only one who seemed to care.

It isn’t long before someone comes down into the dungeon again, followed by a sweet aroma. Coming around the corner, Prince Ralsei returns to the cell with a towering plate of pancakes in his hands.

“I made you a few extra.” He explains as he opens up his door again to leave the plate inside. “I don’t know when you last ate, but I’m sure you’ve worked up an appetite after doing so much digging.”

“T-thank you.” Rouxls nods as he picks himself up to move towards his breakfast. In truth, he doesn’t remember when he last ate. He thinks the loaf of bread he managed to steal from the bakery was last night, but it could have been the night before. Taking his plate, he wastes absolutely no time scarfing down what he’s offered. Whenever his last meal was, it was far too long ago. He’s about halfway through before Ralsei speaks up.

“You want to know what the secret to earning people’s respect is?” He asks, interrupting Rouxls’ feast and forcing him to swallow before he speaks. He was found with his head in the toilet not long ago, but while he lost his dignity, he still had his manners.

“What is it?” The Duke pleads.

“It’s respect.” Ralsei says with a smile. “Respect is earned, and the quickest way to earn it isn’t through a title or power or fear, but by showing respect yourself.”

“That seemeth far too easy.” Rouxls says dismissively.

“Well, is it working?” Ralsei asks. “Who do you like more right now? Me, or the King you tried to rescue?”

Rouxls opens his mouth almost on instinct to defend his King, but catches himself before he can get a word out. His King? The man who laughed in his face and turned his escape plan against him? Ralsei has shown him nothing but kindness despite what he’s done. Ralsei wasn’t treating him like a joke or a pawn, he was treating him as an equal.

Rouxls didn’t even need to answer the question for Ralsei to beam with pride.

“I’d love to keep you company, but to get you out of here, there’s a lot of work I have to do first.” Ralsei informs, brushing himself off and making sure he had his keys. “I’ll be sure to bring you your meals during your stay. And once you’re out, if you insist on being a servant to someone, I would really appreciate some extra helping hands around the castle. I can promise you, you’ll see a lot more smiles and friendly faces with me than you would with your old bosses.”

Leaving the dungeon, Rouxls is left alone once again with his meal. He slowly picks at it despite how hungry he is, taking the time to really think about Ralsei’s offer. The last few hours have been some of the most grueling, embarrassing, heartbreaking moments of his life, but Ralsei was giving him a way out. If this was how kindly he treated his prisoners, it was no wonder the delta warriors followed him so readily.

Maybe he had it all wrong, or at least, partially so.

He still couldn’t see himself going far without guidance, but rather than serve a villain, basking in the shadow of their infamy and power, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad standing beside Ralsei, gaining some of the praise and love he was showered with by his people. At the very least, he’s positive his loyalty to Ralsei would not be thrown back into his face.

That settled it then. Finishing his plate, Rouxls Kaard stood up with his head held high. This Duke was not out yet. This prison stay was only a minor setback, but once he was free, he would serve a new master, one he was Determined to make proud, and one he knew he wouldn’t have to try hard to achieve that goal with.

Before long, Duke Rouxls Kaard will be held in high esteem once again!

Chapter Text

For the first time in what must have been forever, Susie attempted to pull a brush through her hair.

Susie would never really bother with such a chore and to even do it now, she had to hunt down both a brush, and a mirror for her room. This wasn’t even all she was doing, she spent all day with Ralsei and Kris trying to see if there were any other clothes she liked besides her vest, and even let Kris attempt to put makeup on her. That didn’t last very long though. The moment she saw that devilish little grin on Kris’s face, she knew she was going to hate whatever was on her face when she found a mirror. Thankfully all that crap washed off, but she was wondering if it would be worth it to get someone else’s help with it.

It was date night tonight, the first actual date that she’s going on with Noelle in… a few months? A year? The last real date she remembered going on was with Noelle, Kris, and Berdly on the river. All of that got reset though, and with Kris’ disappearance and Gaster making his calls, Susie and Noelle never found another quiet moment to go on a date again. Hell, Susie’s struggled to find the time to even hang out with her these days, Noelle spends almost all of her time at Fort Holiday.

Tonight, that was going to change. Susie got the text early in the morning that Noelle wanted her to come over for a movie night. Not only was this going to be her second date, potentially Noelle’s first from her perspective, but it was Noelle setting it up. Maybe that’s why she’s been staying home all this time, she was setting things up herself and mustering the courage to make the call. Susie had to be prepared for it, and wanting to make sure Noelle’s first date went smoother than hers, Susie did her best to clean herself up.

“You don’t gotta worry so much, you look cool already!” Sitting on the edge of the vanity, Lancer does his best to hype Susie up for the night. “If you try too hard, you’ll look too cool for Noelle.”

“That’s kinda the point, Lancer.” Susie chuckles, though that turns into a grunt of pain as her brush snags on yet another knot in her hair. “She showed up to the last date with this super nice dress that she made herself and she looked so damn pretty and… I don’t know, I want to put in at least a little bit of effort into this.”

Trying to force her brush through her messy head of hair and yanking out a few strands in the process, Susie tries to tame her wild mane as she looks in the mirror. It honestly wasn’t fair how pretty Noelle was compared to her. Even Noelle’s scar looked more aesthetically appealing than the one Susie ended up with. Noelle had a mostly healed cut running down her snout, Susie had a jagged wound running down her face that split her top lip, permanently revealing some of her sharp teeth. She was quick with her healing magic and Ralsei did his fair share of helping out too, but nothing would fix the mass of scar tissue splitting her face.

“Are you looking at the scar again?” Lancer asks, sitting up to look at her.

“Maybe?” Susie says, not wanting to admit it. “I don’t really look at my own reflection all that often.”

“It only makes you look cooler.” Lancer insists once more. “Everyone agrees, you look like a warrior! Not only that, your smile’s bigger now!”

Susie couldn’t help but chortle at that. Smiling at her reflection, it was true that technically, her smile showed more teeth than it usually did due to the split in her lip.

“Alright alright,” She shakes her head, reaching over to Lancer to grab hold of him. “I’m awesome and no one can say otherwise, not even me. I gotta hurry up and finish this though, so you’re gonna have to leave me alone for now. Go bully Rouxls in the dungeon or something.”

“Oh, that sounds fun!” Lancer beams before Susie tosses him towards the door, listening to him bounce a couple times before he leaves the room. Left with peace and quiet, Susie continues trying to rip the brush through her hair, untangling the mess and straightening it out until she looks almost presentable. Once all the knots and frayed ends were dealt with, she reaches up and ruffles her hair again. She just looked weird with straight hair.

Staring at the mirror, she wondered what else she could do. Staring at herself, she couldn’t really think of any way to make herself even half as pretty as Noelle was. Her scraggily, bed head hair looked just fine, but she didn’t know anything about makeup or picking out nice clothes. What was she supposed to do? She wanted to look special for the date.

Though, was it really a date? They weren’t actually going anywhere, Noelle said it was movie night. They weren’t going to the studio, they were just hanging out at her house. Noelle probably wasn’t going to break out a fancy dress and stuff if they were just gonna hang out on a couch and watch stuff on tv. Maybe she was overreacting. She kinda had to get in the habit of being overly vigilant and paranoid thanks to Gaster, but it’s probably not necessary here.

Stepping away from the vanity, she gives her reflection another big smile, before coming up with one last thing she could do to freshen up. Running over to her shelves, she finds the bottle of apple scented shampoo she swiped from Kris’ house while they were gone. The stuff smelled so good and they weren’t using it in the Void anyways, so there wasn’t really any harm done in taking it for herself. Popping the cap off, she squirts some into her mouth, swishing it around before swallowing. Holding her palm up to her face, she takes a sniff after exhaling.

Oh yeah, she feels a lot fresher now.

She was as ready as she was ever gonna be. Leaving her room, she tries to keep her heart rate steady as she descends down the stairs and leaves through the front gates of Caste Town. Once she was outside, she was in too much of a hurry to let her mind linger on anything. Winter couldn’t end soon enough, it was freezing out here.

As she jogs her way to Fort Holiday, something catches her ear as she approaches the fort. She slows her pace down as the sound of rapidly strumming guitar chords and heavy percussion gets closer. Was someone carrying around a radio? As the sound got closer, the temperature seemed to get warmer as well.

Coming around the corner of an intersection, Susie spots Dess playing her guitar as she walks down the street, head bobbing side to side with the beat of her song. Susie didn’t see any radio, just the guitar in her hands. Where was the rest of the music coming from? Kris was telling her all about how insane Dess was when she performed, but something wasn’t adding up here.

Dess turned down the intersection to start heading towards Castle Town, which put her right in Susie’s path. She was pretty focused on her song, but once they got close enough, Dess looked up and took notice of Susie.

“Hey!” Dess stops strumming her guitar, picking up her pace to close the distance. As she does, the music dies down a little but doesn’t go away, and the warmth Susie felt earlier follows Dess. Was the music doing that? “How’s it going, Suz?”

“It’s going pretty good.” Susie nods, her mind still refusing to budge from the topic of Dess’ music. “What are you listening to?”

“Listening to?” Dess asks. “Oh, Kris has been trying to help me catch up with the music I missed out on while I was gone. I was just playing last year's summer hit. I don’t have the lyrics down just yet but it’s pretty catchy.” As she says this, she strums a couple chords again, not even looking down at the guitar to do so. The rest of the instruments kick back in too, and as she plays, Susie could feel that warmth kicking in again.

“Holy shit, are you doing all of that?!” Susie asks in shock. Dess chuckles and lets her hands rest, causing both the music and the warmth to die down

“I’m telling you, my first performance on stage is going to blow people away.” Dess beams. “So, what’re you up to right now?”

“Oh, I was heading over to your place to see Noelle.” Susie explains. The moment the words leave her mouth, the music suddenly stops and cold quickly creeps up in its absence. Susie’s worried that she might have somehow said something wrong, when she suddenly hears a saxophone cut through the air.

“Oh…” Dess says with a coy smile. “Spending the night with my sister, huh?”

“Oh god…” Susie squirms under Dess’ look. “Why do you always gotta get weird whenever I talk about her?”

“Because it’s my job as her older sister to tease her over everything.” Dess says. “I’m just having a bit of fun. She’s still my baby sister in my eyes, so of course I’m gonna mess with you while you’re messing with her. Dad does it all the time too.”

“Ok, but do you really gotta play the jazzy porno music while we’re talking about this?” Susie asks, and just like that, the music stops. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Dess nods. “I’m still getting a hang of my bardic magic and sometimes I just play stuff unconsciously. I’ll try to keep myself from playing Careless Whispers whenever you and Noelle are in the same room, even if it’s funny to see your reaction. I’ll let you go see her now, but um…”

“What is it?” Susie asks. Dess suddenly looks worried, dropping her smile and her joking attitude.

“Can you find out what’s been bothering Noelle for me?” Dess asks. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid and this is just how she is now, but she seems more shut in than usual. She seemed fine during Christmas, but she’s just been getting quieter since. I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but she just tells me nothing’s wrong.”

“She isn’t normally like that, no.” Susie shakes her head. She just assumed that Noelle was busy or spending time with her sister instead of visiting Castle Town, but maybe there’s something else going on. “She’s the one who invited me over, so if anything’s going on, she’ll tell me tonight.”

“Thanks.” Dess sighs with relief. “You know, other than the few times I teased you, we don’t really hang out all that often. I promise that if Noelle turns out to be just fine, I won’t be too annoying if you let me tag along the next time you two head out somewhere.”

“I’ll think about it.” Susie nods. “It’d probably be pretty cool to have a DJ following me around everywhere I go. You can just play whatever you want on command?”

“For something to have an actual effect, I have to learn how to actually play it, but yeah.” Dess nods. “Sometimes I just whistle a song to myself and my magic just kicks in to do the rest. I’m still figuring out how the automatic stuff works, but I’m hoping I could get it to kick in every single time I enter a room. I want there to be a Dess theme song that everyone recognizes when I show up.”

“Dude, that’d be so fucking cool!” Susie nods her head. “You gotta make one for me too!”

“We’re gonna have to hang out more for that to happen.” Dess says. “I gotta be around to play the music.”

“Alright fine, you got a deal!” Susie tells her. “Don’t tell anyone about this idea though, I want it to be a surprise. Lancer’s gonna flip when he hears my badass theme song!”

“I’ll keep in touch then.” Dess says, taking up her guitar again. “I’m gonna go pick up Kris for practice now. You should move along too. Don’t want to keep the love bird at home waiting.” Susie groans as Dess waggles her eyebrows as she walks past her. “Do make sure she’s ok for me though, alright?”

“Alright.” Susie replies, picking up her own pace to hurry to the fort. Just as she managed to smother her previous worries, new ones cropped up. Dess mentioned that Noelle was feeling off the last time they were together too, didn’t she? When was the last time she saw Noelle? She almost wanted to run to the fort, just in case something was actually horribly wrong, but managed to swallow that fear for now. Noelle wanted her to come over and watch some movies, it couldn’t be too drastic if she wanted to hang out again.

Her mind bounced between freaking out and assuring herself that everything was fine all the way to Fort Holiday where she was greeted by the guards. She didn’t even have to say a word to them, they stepped aside as soon as she approached.

“The young princess is waiting in the hall on the right, just before the throne room.” One of them tells her. They were expecting her.

“Uh, thank you.” Susie nods, moving through the gate. She was already pretty familiar with this place, so she already knew exactly where the guards told her to head. The halls branching off from the throne room led to the living quarters of the fort. During the short walk, she passed by the throne room and could faintly hear a conversation behind the closed doors. A laugh echoes through the throne room and Susie takes that as a sign that at least Rudy doesn’t think anything is wrong.

She was still just being paranoid, nothing’s wrong.

Walking through the halls of the fort, she makes a beeline straight for Noelle’s room. She knew exactly where it was, she’s been here plenty of times in the past. Stopping in front of her door, Susie knocks on the hardwood, eager to see Noelle and for her presence to make all of her anxieties wash away. As soon as she saw Noelle was fine, she’d have nothing to worry about.

After a stretch of only a few seconds, the door opens up, and just as Susie hoped, all her worries left her body as Noelle leapt into her arms.

“Susie! You made it!” She cheers, hugging her tightly.

“Well yeah, of course I am.” Susie nods, returning the hug. “I can’t remember the last time we hung out, I’d have to be stupid to skip out on this.” As she spoke, Susie couldn’t help but give Noelle a look over, just in case. Dess seemed pretty adamant that something was wrong, but at a glance, Noelle looked perfectly fine. “The text said it was movie night tonight?”

“Yes!” Noelle nods, pulling away to spare Susie an antler to the eye from the motion. “I’ve got a whole bunch picked out, some of my favorites! I hope you didn’t plan on sleeping tonight.”

“What do you mean by that?” Susie asks.

“You’ll see once you see the lineup!” Noelle says with a smile. “Come on, follow me!”

Taking her hand, Noelle leads Susie deeper into the fort, dragging her around so many turns that she almost loses track of where they were going. Eventually, Noelle slows her pace and stops in front of a door Susie’s never been through before. Pushing it open, Noelle reveals what appears to be a personal theater. A massive couch waits in front of a tv mounted to the wall. There are enough pillows and blankets on the couch to furnish five beds and resting on the coffee table in front of the couch was a wide array of candy, soda’s, and of course, a large bucket of popcorn.

“How long have you had this set up?” Susie asks, looking in awe at the setup. This place looked so cozy, she was getting tired just looking at the couch.

“This place has been set up to watch tv ever since we got broadcasts back.” Noelle explains, stepping inside. “I grabbed a few extra blankets and all the snacks I could from Sans’ store for tonight though.”

“Oh man…” Susie was so god damn lucky to have Noelle. This was amazing! “What movies are we watching?” Susie asks, unable to contain her excitement.

“A couple of my favorites and a new one that came in one of the shipments from out of town!” Noelle says, hurrying past the tv to grab the cases. Holding them out and presenting them to Susie, she proudly declares, “First, we’re gonna watch Night of the Blood Suckers! Then, Murderous Mimes from Below the Earth, and finally, we’ll finish off with The Dimming!”

“Never heard of any of them.” Susie says, her eyes bouncing from each DVD cover. It wasn’t hard to tell from the big R plastered on each corner and the blood stained logos that every single one of them were horror movies.

“I don’t know about the one in the middle, but the first and last ones are some of my all time favorites! You’re gonna love them!” Noelle promises, popping open the first case and hurrying back to the tv. “Sit down, I’ll be right over!”

Susie wastes no time walking towards the couch, collapsing onto the cushions and sending pillows flying with the impact. She was already sinking into her spot, the blankets draped over the couch slowly wrapping around her. It was going to be tough to stay up while resting in such a comfy spot, but Susie’s never really watched scary movies. She feels like they should be her thing; blood, cool monsters, a super violent third act. These couldn’t be that scary, could they?

Maybe that’s what’s got Dess so worried. Noelle’s been keeping herself up watching scary movies.

It isn’t long before the movie starts and Noelle kills the lights in the room. Hurrying over to the couch and joining Susie’s side, Noelle wraps herself up tightly in one of the blankets before leaning against Susie who’s already done the same. Propping each other up, both of them stare in silence at the screen as the movie begins.

It doesn’t take too long to get started. In the film, a human doctor moves into town on a dark and stormy night, hiding away in his house during the day. The next night, he steps out to meet the neighbors, where it is revealed that he isn’t fully human, but a vampire. It’s a bit of a slow burn, nothing cool happens on screen as people in town start to disappear, and it isn’t until a half an hour into the movie that the protagonist, a young local reporter in town, starts her own investigation and begins following the strange newcomer.

Susie was seconds away from dozing off before she finally caught the vampire in the act. Things got a lot more interesting from there.

She watched with rapt attention as the reporter spy’s the man through the window, kissing the wife of the town’s mayor. That alone would have been a scandal on its own, but once she moved in to snap a picture to get evidence of the affair, she hesitates at the sight of blood. Snapping a picture through the window, she tries to get a shot of the man kissing the mayor’s wife’s neck, only for the flash to reveal that he was not kissing, but biting her.

Turning to look at Noelle, Susie finds that her eyes are glued to the screen, and though she looks a little tense, there’s also a deep blush on her face. She seemed a little too into this specific scene. She barely even looked scared.

That changed pretty quickly though, as the movie shifted from a slow paced mystery into the horrifying bloodbath that Susie was expecting. Desperate to keep his true nature from getting out to the public, the vampire starts to hunt the reporter, who hurries back to her house to try and defend the place. There are claws slashing through the air, gunfire, close ups of the vampire’s blood stained maw. It’s all pretty intense and it was exactly what Susie was waiting for, but…

Wow, this was hitting a little too close to home.

It must have been a little too much for Noelle too, because moments before the final blow was about to land, the movie paused. Looking back over at Noelle, she was hiding herself beneath her blankets, one arm poking out from her little cocoon to point the remote at the tv.

“Lets…” She mumbles after a few seconds of silence. “Let's watch something else.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Susie grumbles, feeling a little weirded out too. It genuinely seemed like a good movie, and Noelle sounded so excited to show it off, but after what happened a couple months ago, she probably won’t be able to watch the movie ever again without bringing back some bad memories. Even now as Noelle got up from the couch to swap movies, she couldn’t help but reach up and prod at her scar again.

The next film probably won’t cause any problems like that. As the next movie slowly starts up and Noelle returns to her little blanket cocoon, Susie can’t help but speak up. They’ve both been pretty quiet so far, and Susie feels that she should at least address the fact that Dess was worried.

“Hey Noelle,” Susie raises her voice as the opening credits of the movie start to play, but before she could continue, Noelle shushes her.

“It’s fine.” She’s quick to reply. “I’ve got plenty of other movies to watch, we can skip some if they’re too scary.”

“That wasn’t what I was gonna-”

“Shh! The movie’s starting!” Noelle interrupts again, and Susie decides to drop it, at least for now. She feels like she should say something, but Noelle’s the one who set this up, she calls the shots now. If tonight was just gonna be watching a bunch of horror movies, then she’ll stick to that. Reaching out for a fistful of popcorn, Susie returns her attention to the screen.

This movie is thankfully a lot more tame, though it’s so bizarre that it could barely be considered a horror movie.

The title ‘Murderous Mimes from Beneath the Earth’ was exactly what she got. Deep below the earth lives a subterranean culture of ancient aliens who breach the surface to begin harvesting the townsfolk in a small suburban town. For whatever reason though, all of the evil aliens wear makeup and are completely silent like mimes, and all of the victims they slay are killed with invisible weapons and torture devices that everyone blindly stumbles into.

It was unbelievably stupid in the best way possible. There were no scares to be had at all in this movie. Sure, the alien mimes were a little creepy at times, but the sheer absurdity of the whole thing kept it from being truly scary. Susie even laughed a few times while watching it, and to her relief, Noelle let out a few giggles here and there.

She was still quiet though. After every especially stupid scene, Susie would glance over to gauge Noelle’s reaction, and nine times out of then, Noelle was barely paying attention. She would be staring at the empty candy wrappers piling up on the couch, or the half empty bucket of popcorn, anything but the movie. She looks tense and unfocused, but it couldn’t be because of the movie, could it? The first one was way creepier and it was apparently her favorite.

“Noelle?” Susie speaks up again. “Is there something wrong?”

Noelle turns to look at her, but stops herself half way, keeping her attention fixed to the coffee table in front of them. She takes a breath in to say something, only to slowly let it out without saying a word. The movie plays on in the background, completely ignored.

“Noelle?” Susie repeats, now completely overcome with worry, sitting up from the couch and leaning in close. “Is everything ok?”

“It’s fine.” Noelle insists, but Susie can still see how tense she looked. “Let’s just watch the movie.”

“You’ve barely been paying attention to it.” Susie tells her, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “Are you still freaked out over the last movie? Did I do something wrong? What’s going on, you’re freaking me out!”

“I said I’m fine!” Noelle barks at her, whipping around to stare her down. Susie immediately backed off, pulling her hand away. Noelle glares at her for only a second before her expression softens a little, only for her lips to curl down and for her to look away. “I’m sorry!” She quickly apologizes. “I didn’t mean to yell at you, but… I really am fine, I just wanna watch the movie.”

“You obviously aren’t.” Susie says, though those words only seem to make things worse. Looks like Dess was right, something was going on here. “Look, whatever’s messing you up, you can tell me, alright? I can help you fix whatever’s going on, but you gotta tell me what needs fixing.”

Noelle spun around again, looking furious for just a moment before her expression smoothed out again. “You…” She seemed to be struggling on deciding whether she should be angry or sad. “You wouldn’t be able to help.” She finally manages to push out. “You’re part of the problem.”

The immediate lurch in Susie’s chest nearly caused her to choke, but she pressed on anyway. “W-well what did I do wrong? I can fix it!”

“I told you for months, but nothing changed.” Noelle says, keeping her voice level but not meeting Susie’s eyes. “I know I’m being unfair and that we were doing it for Kris, but… I told you over and over and over again that I didn’t want to do the tests, but you still talked me into them anyway.”

Susie’s heart sank. She was trying her absolute best to put all of the Gaster stuff behind her, but evidently, Noelle couldn’t. It was hard to pretend that nothing happened when both of them still carried the scars from the experience, but hearing that Noelle had problems with her specifically filled Susie with so much dread it made her sick.

“I’m…”

“I know you’re sorry.” Noelle says before Susie can apologize. “I know you really like me and wouldn’t willingly do anything to hurt me, but… You still did, and I…” Noelle finally looks Susie in the eyes. She looks furious. “I kinda hate you for that.”

Both of them sat in complete silence after that, the only thing filling the quiet being the movie in the background. That, and the rapid drumming of Susie’s heartbeat in her ears.

“I don’t…” Noelle’s scowl fades again, leaving her looking conflicted. “I’m sorry. I know it probably hurts to hear that and I still really like you, but… During those repeated months dealing with Gaster, it got harder and harder to ignore how much I hated everything that was happening. It all came to a head when Vess showed up and I was forced to do another test. Watching both of you sit on the sidelines and watch, it really put into perspective just how messed up the situation was. You were cheering me on, telling me to do my best and getting ready to support me when it was over. Vess just looked as horrified as I felt. And Chara…” Noelle clenched her fists. “I’m still horrified by what I did to them.”

“Is…” Susie had to swallow the lump in her throat. Noelle assured her that she still liked her a couple of times, but still, hearing all of this scared the absolute shit out of her. “Is everything going to be ok?” She manages to ask. “Are things over between us?”

“No!” Noelle quickly shakes her head. “No no, I’m… I’m mad, but I’d be miserable if I didn’t have you around. You’re like everything I could have dreamed of, but… I don’t know.” Noelle pulls her blankets closer together, curling up on the couch. “I’m just pissed off at everything and… I’m scared I’m gonna do something rash again. I already feel awful for making you freak out so much, but at the same time, I feel like you deserve it.”

“Then why did you invite me over then?” Susie asks. “Was this all just to get the chance to yell at me?”

“I wanted to have a good night.” Noelle shakes her head. “I wanted time to myself to try and think, but I think I’ve been making things worse. I invited you over so we could watch some fun movies and hang out like old times and clear my head, but now that you’re here, I think I really need someone to talk through this, even though it’s gonna be really hard on both of us.”

Taking a deep breath, Susie scoots a little closer to Noelle. “Alright,” She nods. “I’ll help you out. Say what you gotta say, but… Can we turn off the movie while we do this? It’s kinda distracting.”

“Yeah, it’s uh…” Looking back at the screen, the protagonists of the movie seem to be trapped in what looks to be an invisible trash compactor as the killer mimes watch on. “I think we can skip this one too.”

As Noelle reaches for the remote to stop the movie, Susie gets a couple seconds to try and calm down. The moment Noelle said the word “Hate”, a million terrible scenario’s played in her head. It was dumb to think that everything they built up since the Roaring would disappear in a heartbeat, but a mix of her mother’s cruel words and her own paranoia genuinely made her think that her relationship was over.

Shit, maybe she’s got issues that need working out too. She thought she got out of the whole thing relatively stable, but it wouldn’t hurt to talk through some things herself. With the movie now silent, Susie and Noelle sit in the dark room, wrapped up in blankets and building up the courage to talk about things they want nothing more than to leave buried.

“So you hate me?” Susie asks, still unable to get those words out of her head. It was like an itch she couldn’t scratch, causing her whole body to twitch and fidget in uncomfort. Noelle lets out a sad sigh.

“No, I still love you, but…” Noelle stares off at nothing. “I don’t know where it’s coming from, but I’m just so angry at everything. I hated you for willingly doing the tests, I hated Chara for actually enjoying them and encouraging me, I even hated Kris for running off on us and leaving us to deal with Gaster in their place. It isn’t fair, none of you really did anything wrong, but I was just so fucking mad.” Noelle clenched her fists. “It just kept building up more and more, and I eventually snapped on Chara. I felt like a complete monster, but at the same time, it felt good to make that asshole feel bad about what they did to me.”

“I mean, I don’t really see the harm in that.” Susie tries to assure her. “You fought back against a bully, that isn’t anything to be ashamed of.”

“I didn’t fight back, I killed them!” Noelle shouts. “And don’t you fucking dare say that the reset makes that ok because you could undo it. I murdered someone!”

“Yeah… I get the feeling…” Susie remembers the first time she took part in the tests, when she was forced to kill Chara in self defense in the bunker. The blood in her mouth, the stillness of the body, the surge of adrenaline that made her body shake. She had no idea how Chara could get a rush out of such a horrible feeling.

She still remembers seeing Kris go through the same thing when they first killed the Lightbringer during the Roaring. They were frozen on the spot, staring at their blood stained hands with a look of pure horror. After sealing the fountain, they seemed to have completely gotten over it, but by that time, they had already reset at least a couple times and had much more pressing things to worry about.

“Vess was kind enough to not force me to fight.” Noelle continues. “After taking my body, they told me that I had the strength to take the Lightbringer down, but they didn’t force me to. They knew from day one how awful everything was and did everything in their power to get me out of it with as few conflicts as possible. But once we got into the Void and I saw Gaster…”

“Yeah, you kinda blew up at him.” Susie mumbles quietly. That was an understatement, Noelle was screaming with rage, she’d never seen her look so angry before in her life.

“I wanted to kill him.” Noelle says, looking sick just saying that. “It’s awful to think and I already felt horrible being forced to kill Chara, but I wanted to kill Gaster. I wanted to hold him down and just keep punching his stupid crooked face in until it was flat! I wanted to strangle him, I wanted to stab him, I…”

Noelle’s clenched fists had gone completely white with frost. The whole room had gone cold and the only thing sparing Susie was the blanket she was wrapped up in. Noelle takes a few deep breaths, tucking her hands back in beneath her blanket to warm them up.

“I hate that I feel this way.” Noelle says, barely speaking above a whisper. “I hate that I genuinely wanted to hurt someone. I hate that I try to excuse it by saying he deserves it. I hate that I’m even capable of hating so much. All I can think about are Vess’ stories about what other worlds like ours are like, how in another world, I apparently killed Berdly. Do you have any idea how scary that is? I feel like a ticking time bomb that’s going to blow at any second.”

“Why haven’t you told anyone about this?” Susie asks. “Dess has been worried about you and I would have come over any time you asked. Why would you bottle this up?”

“I was scared of what people would think,” Noelle says. “And what I would say. I don’t want to be like this. I’ve tried to put on a smile and pretend it’s all behind me, but every time I thought of calling you over, I kept thinking back to all the times I begged you to take my place during the tests. I love you, I was so happy to see you show up and was excited to spend the night together, but then I was reminded of everything and I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about all the bad stuff. I didn’t want to say it, but I hate you for putting up with everything and dragging me into it.”

Susie felt like absolute shit. It didn’t matter that Noelle kept saying that she still loved her or that she was being unfair. Hearing her say that she hated her felt like a knife was being repeatedly jabbed and twisted in her heart. A reasonable part of her brain was trying to convince her that Noelle was avoiding her to protect her from talk like this, but it was a lot easier to think that it was because she hated her. It was just such a shock to hear it from Noelle of all people. She was used to being despised, actually having friends who relied on her and wanted to hang out with her was something relatively new, but to have one of those people say those words stung more than she thought possible.

Yeah, she definitely had some issues to go through herself.

“You don’t gotta go through this all by yourself.” Susie assures Noelle, trying her best to swallow the pain, at least for now. “All of us were caught in the reset stuff, all of us had to go through the same shit. Everyone else probably has grievances about the whole thing too, but you aren’t going to make things better by trying to ignore it. It was a long time ago, but Kris got me through some deep ruts in the past, we can help you out too.”

“You don’t mind talking about this?” Noelle looks at her with some worry.

“I’m going to be honest, it fucking sucks to hear you like this.” Susie says. “It hurts, but if I hurt you doing these tests, then the least I can do is take the heat for it.”

“That’s… That’s not…” Noelle tries to find her words, but before she could argue or make excuses, Susie leans forward and rests her head against Noelle’s shoulder.

“You have no idea how happy you’ve made me over this whole thing.” She says. “I wanna make you as happy as you made me.”

“Susie?” Noelle tenses up a little once Susie rests against her, but she doesn’t shy away.

“I’m serious, I was fucking miserable before I suddenly made friends with all these weirdos.” Susie says, feeling her eyes go watery. “You have no idea what it’s like to be told all your life that you’re unwanted and disgusting just to have someone prove that it isn’t true. I thought it was amazing that people even tolerated me, but you, you loved me. I still have no idea what the hell you see in me, but you have no idea how much it means to me to know that you love me.”

“Susie…” Noelle reached a hand out from her blanket and pulled Susie closer. “I love you to death, everyone does. Who the hell would tell you otherwise?!”

That gives Susie some pause. “Did…” She looks up at Noelle. “Did I never tell you about my parents?”

Susie combs through her own thoughts, trying to figure out her own question. She wants to say she did, she has vague, distant memories of bringing them up, but she can’t come up with any details or guess when she would have mentioned it. Thinking back as far as she could, she thinks she remembers Kris bringing it up to her at some point, but for all she knew, she told them everything and then forgot when they reset and never brought it up again.

Fuck, she never told anyone!

“Fuuuuck…” Susie whines. “I guess I gotta tell you about Mom and Dad.”

“You have…” Noelle speaks up before stopping herself. “What am I saying, of course you have parents. I don’t think I’ve ever met them though.”

“Had,” Susie corrects. “They both probably died during the Roaring. I haven’t seen them since.” She could see shock and regret immediately forming on Noelle’s face. “Don’t freak out.” She assures. “I fucking hated them. My life has done nothing but improve since they disappeared.”

“That…” Noelle struggles to find words. “I can’t even imagine… Were… Were they the ones who said they hated you?” Susie nods her head, nestling in closer to Noelle.

“I don’t know what started it.” She says. “I’m just convinced that they were shitty, hateful people from the start and I was the mistake that kept them together. Dad just yelled a lot, I don’t think he really had it out for me specifically, it’s just that I was stuck living with him so I was his target for most of his rants. My Mom was so much worse. She didn’t stomp around the house or throw things, but the things she said to me, the shit she drilled into my brain, she hated me.”

“But you’re her daughter.” Noelle says, struggling to even fathom how someone could hate their own child. “What did she say to you?!”

”You’re really going out like that?” “You must have inherited your father’s genes, you look as bloated as he does.” “Don’t touch my makeup again! It wouldn’t help you anyways.” “You’re the one who decided to stay out late, make your own food since you think you’re so independent now.”

”I wish I never had you.”

“I don’t wanna say.” Susie mumbles, swallowing down the bile rising to her throat just thinking about her mother. “I know how you feel about thinking you’re a monster for wanting to hurt someone. The only reason I didn’t end up doing something to her was because I didn’t want to prove her right. I wanted to bite her damn face off every time she opened her mouth, but then I’d just prove to her that I was the disappointment she thought I was. Even thinking it made me feel like I was proving her right, that I was some violent monster just waiting for an excuse.” Susie hugs Noelle as tight as she can. “Then I met you.”

“Oh my god…” Noelle looked completely mortified. “Why did you never bring this up?! This is horrible!”

“Same reason as you.” Susie whines. “I wanted to forget about it. I was scared of what other people would think. It was easier to just smile and pretend it didn’t happen at all.” She sniffles a little bit, trying her hardest to swallow her emotions. “I spent so long in the mirror today getting ready for this, wondering what the hell I could do to make my mangled up face look presentable. I mean, just look at this! Half my face is split open! I can’t even fully close my mouth anymore! What do you see that I-”

Susie’s words quickly devolved into rambling as tears threatened to spill, only for Noelle to put a stop to all of that by leaning forward and kissing her. It’s a gentle kiss, just a small peck on the lips, but that was enough to make her stop.

“Susie,” Noelle pulls back to look her in the eye. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my entire life. The scar doesn’t change that. No matter what your mom told you, you’re beautiful. Practically everyone in school thinks so.”

“You’re…” Susie’s breath hitched as she tried to hold back a sob. “You’re just saying tha-”

“Berdly had a crush on you for the longest time.” Noelle counters, looking almost angry with Susie to hear her try and argue against her. “I’m like ninety percent sure that Kris had a crush on you too. Are you calling all of us liars?”

“No.” Susie shakes her head. Kris made it very apparent that they liked her before she got dragged into the reset stuff and Noelle’s been by her side for an entire year in their shared perspective. Neither of them would have kept this up as a show of pity, they actually liked her. Insinuating otherwise just made her feel even more like an ass, even if it was unintentional.

“How could you even believe a single word your mom said?” Noelle asks. “Just look at you! You’re amazing!”

“Kinda hard not to take it to heart when she was my fucking mom.” Susie grumbles.

“Then how many times do I have to tell you you’re beautiful before it gets through your thick skull?!” Noelle demands, raising her voice a little too high and reaching out from her blankets to hold Susie’s shoulders. “How many?!”

“Uh, Noelle?” Susie tries to back away. “You’re kinda sending me mixed messages here.”

“I’ll say I love you as many times as I need to in order to clean out every lie that bitch ever told you, alright!” Noelle says.

“Noelle?!”

“Honestly, what the fuck is wrong with her?! God, I wish she was still around so I could fucking-”

“Cold!” Susie jolts in surprise, reaching up and grabbing Noelle’s arms to lift them off of her. “Too cold!” With Noelle’s arms now stuck in the air, both the girls look up to see that Noelle’s hands were white with frost again, her magic slipping out along with her rage. Susie lets go, and immediately, Noelle’s hands retreat back under the covers of her blanket as she curls up away from Susie. She doesn’t say a word and sits completely still, staring off into the corner.

“It’s fine.” Susie tries to assure her, pulling her own blanket tighter to try and warm up. “I don’t blame you for getting that worked up. Honestly, someone else coming along and dealing with her for me would have been a dream come true. But I guess me enabling this kind of stuff isn’t what you want, huh?” Noelle slowly shakes her head no. Susie scoots a little closer until she’s leaning against her again. “What do you want me to do then? You’re clearly struggling through this, but you can’t just pretend that this isn’t happening. We gotta find a punching bag for you to go off on or something.”

“I don’t really want to hit anything.” Noelle says, leaning back against Susie.

“Sure you do. Punching stuff is fun.” Susie argues. “You’re just lashing out. Again, I’ve been there. I’ve done a lot of shitty things in the past but no one really holds it against me. Well, except Catti, but who cares about her. You’re rightfully pissed off about all the stuff that happened, and whether you need to just punch something out to get it out of your system or if you need to vent some more like this, then do what you gotta do. Trust me, keeping it bottled up like this isn’t going to help anyone, especially you.”

“Thanks…” Noelle sighs, resting her head against Susie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier and… about what you had to go through growing up.”

“Don’t menti-”

“All I ask is that you never believe that you aren’t perfect the way you are, alright?” Noelle asks. “You’re perfect. The wild hair, your muscles, your smile…” Noelle pauses for a moment. “What smells like apples?”

“I uh…” Susie hesitates before deciding to go the honest route. “Kris always smelled like apples and I swiped this bottle of shampoo from their house. I caught Lancer drinking from it at one point and he convinced me to give it a try too..”

“You drank it?!” Noelle boggles, almost completely shocked out of her slump.

“It tastes like apples!” Susie defends herself. “It’s just a big tube of apple paste that makes you burp bubbles, how could I not drink it?!” Noelle just stares at her in pure confusion before she breaks out into laughter. “Hey, you can’t knock it, it works, doesn’t it? Better than any breath mint could do.” Feeling a little courageous, she adds on. “I probably still taste like apples too, if you want to go in for another kiss.”

“And have my mouth taste like soap?” Noelle counters.

“Did you hear some of the things you said?” Susie challenges. “Someone should clean your mouth out with soap and I’m the best way to do that.”

Noelle lets out a snort at that and Susie can’t help but feel a little embarrassed at her extremely bizarre flirting attempts. Nevertheless, that dumb joke actually works. Leaning forward again, Noelle closes in for a kiss and Susie’s ready for it this time. Their lips meet, and while there’s still a little chill to Noelle’s touch from her earlier outburst, the kiss quickly melts away all the cold. Susie jolts a little when she feels Noelle’s tongue exploring her mouth. Pulling away, Susie could feel her entire face burning red. Noelle smacks her lips a couple times, looking completely baffled.

“It does taste like apples!” She boggles, clearly taken by surprise. “Are you sure that was shampoo?”

“It was in Kris’ bathroom and has ‘no tears shampoo’ written on it, so yeah, it’s shampoo.” Susie nods. “Shampoo isn’t supposed to taste good, right?”

“No?” Noelle shakes her head. “Can I go in for another? I have to confirm something.”

“Go in for ano-?!” Once again, Noelle was kissing her, though instead of the slow passionate embrace she was used to, Susie felt Noelle’s tongue dancing around her mouth with a purpose. It was such a jarring and exhilarating experience that Susie had absolutely no idea how to react and just sat still as Noelle did her thing. Once she’s satisfied, Noelle pulls away again. Susie struggled to keep herself upright.

“What the hell?” Noelle shakes her head in pure confusion. “You need to bring that stuff with you next time, I refuse to believe that’s just shampoo.”

“S-sure…” Susie nods dumbly. “Whatever you want.” Noelle can only smile at her response.

“I gotta add ‘great kisser’ to your expansive list of amazing qualities.” Noelle says. “Don’t let anyone tell you you’re anything but perfect, alright? You’re amazing, and I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have you.” Noelle pulls her close for a hug and it takes Susie a good few seconds to compose herself enough to return it.

“I’m lucky to have you too.” She says, feeling tears welling up in her eyes.

“Thank you for talking me through this.” Noelle sighs. “I’m not sure we really fixed anything, but this helped take a huge weight off my chest. Sorry for all the mean stuff I said and the cold, I hope that doesn’t scare you away from bringing this up again in the future.”

“Course not.” Susie shakes her head. “You’ve helped me through so much shit, returning the favor is the least I could do. We haven’t hung out like this in forever, but we finally got the chance to now. I wanna spend as much time with you as possible, even if it’s just to go through the bullshit we’re dealing with.”

“Hmm…” Noelle rests her head against Susie’s shoulder, finally at peace, before she suddenly jolts upright. “Oh! The movies!” Unraveling herself from her blankets, Noelle hops off the couch to move towards the tv. “I almost forgot the last one!”

“Isn’t it getting kinda late?” Susie asks, rubbing her eyes. “We could save it for another time.”

“I want to end the night off on a good note.” Noelle insists, quickly swapping DVD's. “The first two didn’t work out, but I promise you, this one’s amazing!”

“Making out on the couch wasn’t a good enough note to end on?” Susie tilts her head.

“Nothing’s stopping us from doing that during the movie.” Noelle laughs. “I didn’t really intend for Movie night to be an impromptu feelings jam, I really did want to share some of my favorite movies with you. I know this one like the back of my hand, and I’m fairly positive that it won’t have the same issues as the first.”

“Alright then!” Susie nods. “Let's see if we can salvage movie night!” Reaching out for the now cold bucket of popcorn, Susie settles in as Noelle returns to the couch while the new movie starts. Noelle wasted no time settling up right next to Susie, her discomfort and frustration gone, at least for now. Her problems weren’t solved, one conversation wasn’t going to fix everything, but they could spend the rest of the night clear or mind.

Susie herself hasn’t forgotten everything her mom told her, and she was still very conscious of the scar running down her face, but she could rest assured that Noelle thought she was beautiful, and that’s all she needed to hear right now.

Still feeling a little cold from the shock Noelle gave her, Susie unwraps herself and wraps her arm around Noelle, wrapping them both up into the same blanket. It doesn’t take long before the chill is completely gone.

The movie takes a long time to get going. The Dimming follows a family who is tasked with watching over a summer resort during the winter, making sure no one breaks in and to keep things running until it’s ready to open again. The main character, a screenplay writer, takes a liking to the place and the quiet which gives him time to write, but as the weeks draw on, it becomes blatantly clear that something wrong is going on at the resort. Aside from the first few days, it always seems to be dark outside, the grand lobbies with walls of windows to let the sunlight in looking eerily dark and quiet without the summer sights. As the family wanders the halls to maintain the place, it’s hard to ignore their hot breath fogging up in the cold air.

Things are almost too slow in this movie. There’s no big monster, there’s no killer on the loose, it’s hard to tell if there’s even anything actually going on or if she’s just looking for something to be afraid of. It’s only until she’s halfway through the movie that she deduces that that’s the whole point. Everyone’s getting increasingly more paranoid, but everything seems completely justifiable. It’s dark all the time because it’s winter, which explains the cold and the eerie silence too, but everything feels just off kilter enough for their minds to start filling in the gaps with something worse. Honestly, the father of the family is the scariest thing in the movie. The strange goings on affect him the worst, he starts wandering the halls with a bat, staying up later in the night to keep watch for intruders, and he’s constantly rambling to himself just to keep the quiet at bay.

Susie watches as the father sits in the main lobby of the resort, staring out into the pitch black darkness outside the wall of windows, typing away at his typewriter in complete silence. Each clack of the keys echoes through the building and he pauses after every press, waiting for the sound to dissipate before he hits another key. It stretches on forever, and Susie could swear that her heart had gone still with how quiet everything was as she strained her own ears to listen for something other than the keys and the echo.

Susie’s heart definitely does stop as something snarls directly in her ear.

She couldn’t even flinch, it completely paralyzed her with fear. The shocked scream that she wanted to let out died in her throat as she squeezed her eyes shut. Nothing happens. A couple seconds stretch by as Susie waits for teeth to chomp down on her neck when she hears the noise again, still right beside her face. Opening her eyes, she quickly looks over to her side, unsure of what would be waiting.

She finds Noelle fast asleep, slumped against her and snoring into her ear.

Susie lets out a slow sigh of relief, her heart pounding in her chest. God damn, that startled the hell out of her. She rests her head against the back of the couch, trying to catch her breath and calm herself down as Noelle continued to snore away. She guesses it was later than she thought, that or the slow build up of dread in the movie only put her to sleep since she’s seen it already.

Either way, Susie wasn’t going to be sleeping herself any time soon.

She doesn’t dare move from her spot, letting Noelle sleep peacefully against her. With nothing else to focus on, Susie returns her attention to the movie, fully anticipating the sudden turn for the worst. She just wishes Noelle was up for it, huddling together through the scary stuff was the whole point of these movies, right?

There was always next time, she supposed. They couldn’t keep their worries and grievances buried, they needed to work through it together. Hugging Noelle closer to her, she wonders what they’ll do next time. Another movie night? Will Dess be ready to perform by then? Maybe the fair was still operating this late into the winter.

She’d love to go for a ride of the ferris wheel again.

Chapter Text

Asriel has finally figured out what’s been bothering him so much since he came home…

To be fair, there was a lot of things he was worried about when he arrived, like the world ending, him being trapped inside a bubble of pure darkness, and of course his sibling apparently being at the center of it all and getting banished into the Void. There was so much to worry about, so much stress being piled on that he couldn’t really focus on anything.

And that was before he ended up getting dragged into the reset stuff. Everything became a damn nightmare after that.

But all of that was past him now. It’s been months since then. It’s halfway through February now, and after another good snowstorm or two, the worst of winter will be past them and everyone can look forward to spring. Kris was back home, nobody was getting murdered, and as an added bonus, one of his best friends suddenly came back out of nowhere after being presumed dead for years. Sure, one of his other best friends he made in college also went crazy and disappeared off the face of the earth, but overall, it was a net positive. Even so, something’s been eating away at him for months now, and after the initial excitement of having Kris and Dess back home started to wear off, it was becoming harder to ignore.

Asriel was lying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He missed this room dearly during his tuition and he was so excited to come back to the room he grew up in. The lack of a proper ceiling and the dangling lighting and camera equipment far above him made it hard to forget the fact that this wasn’t exactly the room he was familiar with, but an exact copy. It obviously weirded Kris out quite a bit because they spent most of their nights at Castle Town instead. Not having his little sibling in the room made it feel empty, and it was while he was lying in bed all alone in his room that he realized what’s been bugging him so much.

He desperately wanted everything to go back to normal.

Maybe not everything, he was being hyperbolic there. The Dark World transformation was something everyone had to get used to, but he loved the change. He couldn’t leave to finish getting his degree, but why would he? He lived in a fantasy land where he could fire shooting stars from his fingertips! There were so many interesting people in town now, so many secrets to uncover, so much to learn. He can’t imagine all of that going away and being a boring Joe Schmoe who had to go back to school and find a job.

No, what he wanted was for everything here at home to be exactly as he remembered it.

He wanted to be the first to wake up so he could bug Kris until they eventually kicked him. He wanted to be led downstairs by the smell of Mom’s cooking. He wanted Dad to tell him all of his awful jokes over the table and to see Kris cringe in embarrassment after every single one.

A lot has changed since he’s been gone.

Kris had gone quiet just before he left and during his calls back home, they weren’t that talkative anymore. It would have been easy to blame all of that on Vess, but shortly after he left, Mom and Dad split up, leaving the house half empty and with Kris no one to talk to through it all. Even during the get togethers they have nowadays where Dad’s invited, something feels off about it. Something feels forced.

Asriel was too occupied with school and Chara to get answers. Mom never told him why things broke up, just that they did. Once he got back, again, there was way too much going on to ask. Besides, Mom and Dad seemed to be working together to try and find Kris, so things couldn’t have been that bad, right? Time’s passed though, Kris is back home safe and sound and it’s becoming apparent that Mom and Dad don’t really feel the need to fake it anymore.

Kris running off on their own wasn’t something that Asriel could stop. They were growing up, they were fleeing from the nest and hanging out with their friends. Nothing was stopping Asriel from following them, but neither of them really wanted to come back here anymore. Asriel wanted Mom and Dad back together at home. Without both of them, this place just felt wrong.

He needed to find out what happened between them.

He also knew this was going to be an awkward and painful talk.

Pulling himself out of bed, Asriel decides that if he’s going to ruin any day by digging into his parents divorce, it might as well be today.

Leaving his room and venturing downstairs, he’s once again caught off guard to find a dressing room after only a couple steps. Kris seems to have already gotten used to it, but even after months being back home, he still always expected the stairs to lead directly into the kitchen like they’re supposed to. With all the magic in the world, what was stopping them from just slapping both sets on top of each other so they could have a full house inside the studio? Why can’t they just remove these sets from the studio and have their own house again without having to pass through the main lobby? Those will have to be questions for later, he probably wouldn’t be able to find a good place to drop that question into a conversation with Mom about why she didn’t love Dad anymore.

Finding the rest of his house isn’t hard, and once he’s found the bottom floor, finding his mom isn’t hard either. Even with a relatively empty house, she never slacked on breakfast. From the sizzling sound alone, he could tell she was making breakfast sausages.

“Good morning, Asriel.” Toriel greets after sending a quick glance over her shoulder. “Did you sleep well?”

“A little,” Asriel shrugs. “I've got a lot on my mind that I’m hoping I can clear up with you.”

“Of course.” Toriel nods. “I was just finishing up here. We can talk about whatever you’d like while we eat. And I hope you’re hungry too, I’m not sure if the three of us are going to be able to finish all of this.”

It took a moment to register, but glancing over into the living room confirms Asriel’s suspicions. Sitting on the couch and patiently waiting for breakfast to be finished was Sans.

“Hey.” The skeleton gives Asriel a small wave and Asriel returns it without a word.

Asriel had very mixed feelings about Sans staying here. On one hand, Sans is almost single handedly responsible for bringing his sibling and his best friend back home from the Void, saving both of them from an eternity spent in suffocating darkness and stagnation with the most awful people in existence. On the other hand, it was very obvious he intended to and may have already boned his mom. He seemed like a nice and funny guy and Asriel could never hope to repay him for saving everyone, but yeah, he doesn’t see himself becoming fast friends with the guy.

“Actually,” Asriel speaks up as Toriel turns off the stove and prepares a dish to lay out the sausages. “This is kind of a personal thing that’s been bothering me.”

“Oh?” Toriel stands up a little straighter, turning to give Asriel her full attention. “What is wrong, my child?”

“What happened between you and Dad?”

Asriel can see the immediate shift in his mother’s expression once the question leaves his mouth. Her gentle, worried face suddenly became distant and neutral, her shoulders stiffened, and she let out a slow exhale through her nose. Asriel knew this reaction all too well when he was a kid, she used to do the same thing every time he told her that Kris managed to hurt themselves doing something stupid or if either of their report cards came in from school with a D or god forbid an F. She was trying not to look angry.

Even a good way into his twenties, his pulse spiked seeing that expression again. Glancing around the room, Sans must have noticed the sudden tone shift too because he just straight up disappeared, leaving the house empty for them.

“Do we really have to talk about this now, dear?” Toriel pleads with him. He really didn’t want to talk about this either, but he deserved to know.

“I’m not asking you to make up and get back together,” (Though he really wants them to.) “I just want to know why.” Asriel tells her. “I didn’t even know you two divorced until like five months after the fact when I wanted to talk to Dad over the phone and Kris had to break the news that he didn’t live here anymore. What happened?!” When it became clear that Asriel wasn’t going to drop this, Toriel’s stoic expression started to crack, leaving her looking somber and frustrated.

“Sit down, Asriel.” She sighs. “I suppose you deserve to know.”

Asriel does as he’s told as Toriel finishes up in the kitchen. It doesn’t take long for her to set up three plates, but once she arrives at the dinner table with both of theirs, their food remains untouched as she tries to build up the strength to explain what happened.

“To start, I want to make it clear that I do not hate your father.” Toriel is quick to assure him. “We have had time to talk since the divorce and cleared up a lot of our grievances, but we both agreed that it would be best to see other people. You were not here for it, but I think we… I made things hard on Kris by not wanting to have anything to do with him after our breakup. That is not the case anymore, we are on good terms again.”

“But why did you separate in the first place?” Asriel asks. “You two were almost inseparable. Hell, everyone in town saw you as the perfect couple, what changed?” Toriel took a deep breath, rolling a sausage around on her plate before she could figure out what she wanted to say.

“Your father is a very loving and kind man.” She eventually says. “He loved me with all his heart, he still does too, but…” She lets out another slow sigh. “I was not the only person he treated that way…”

Hearing that formed a burning pit in Asriel’s guts. “He cheated on you?!”

“No!” Toriel quickly shakes her head. “No, he … Not in the…” She grumbles in frustration. “He never did anything with anyone else, but I would not quite say he was completely faithful.” She finally manages to get out. “He did some things behind my back, things that I could not ignore.”

“Like what?!” Asriel demands. She was dancing around the problem, not wanting to go into details.

“He flirted around a lot,” Toriel eventually says. “It was one of the reasons why I fell for him in the first place, but he never really stopped after we got married. I used to think it did not bother me, that was just his way of being nice, but some of the things he would say to other women started to irk me. Sometimes when he would drive by school to pick up Kris while I stayed late, he would flirt with the other teachers. He even started bringing flowers to Alphys whenever he stopped by. I did not even know he was doing this until Alphys asked why I did not have flowers at my own desk.”

“There were so many little things like this. So many blown kisses, so many gifted flowers, so many flirtatious winks, and I felt like none of them were being directed towards me anymore.” She says, her head drifting down lower and lower. “It felt like he was getting sick of me…”

“The final straw was during a Christmas party at the Holiday’s.” She continues, sounding more furious as time went. “I knew that Asgore was always really friendly with Rudy, but I didn’t really think there was anything going on between them. Once it got late enough and most of the kids were heading home or falling asleep, Rudy spiked some of the eggnog and shared it around. For as big as your father is, he can not hold his liquor at all and after only a couple glasses he was a mess. He disappeared at some point during the party and when I found him again, he…” Her voice starts to warble and she stops to recompose herself.

“What happened?” Asriel’s been sitting quietly during all of this and he had a pretty good idea of where this was going, but he wanted to be sure.

“I found him and Rudy together alone, kissing each other.” She says, trying her hardest to keep her voice steady. “Both of them were married men, both of them knew that what they were doing was wrong. Asgore sobered up once he realized I caught him in the act. He tried to tell me that it was the drinks and that he was not thinking straight, but I was so furious with him, I could not care less about his excuses. If he was fine to flirt and fool around with everyone else in town, he did not need me anymore.”

Toriel sniffles and Asriel watches as she raises a hand to wipe at her eyes. He couldn’t lie, seeing her like this made him want to drop kick Dad on sight for making her feel this way, but he knows he wouldn’t ever go through with that. Besides, while bringing it up has brought the worst of her feelings to the surface, things had smoothed out considerably by the time he showed up.

“What happened since then?” Asriel asks, wondering how they found common ground again.

“I avoided him for the longest time.” Toriel admits, grateful to move on and work towards the part where things got better. “He would call constantly, he would catch Kris on the way home from school to have them bring me flowers, and every time we met in town he would apologize profusely. I just ignored him, clearly if he was able to fool around with everyone else in town, he could find someone else to suck up to. With how many flowers and notes Kris ended up bringing home, I was convinced that he was bothering Kris to try and get back to me, but I quickly learned that they missed him and went to visit him on a regular basis.”

“Did you tell Kris what happened between you?” Asriel asks. Toriel doesn’t reply, but the guilty look on her face was all he needed to get his answer. “You didn’t tell them anything?!”

“I told them that we were not together anymore.” She sighed. “That was that. They did not need to know what he did or why I made my choice. I wanted to keep them innocent through it all. I know that wasn’t the best move, but… I made a lot of mistakes during that time. You do not know what was going on in my head and I pray you never experience the same heartbreak.”

Asriel couldn’t be mad at Mom for making a mistake like that. He’s done plenty of dumb stuff too, especially in college, but to break off a happy marriage of over twenty years has to be an insane amount of stress to push through. Kris willingly tossed themselves into the Void out of sheer desperation to escape from the resets, and Dad quit the force out of guilt for not being able to find Dess. Asriel himself folded at even the slightest sign of conflict, so maybe being really bad at dealing with stress ran in the family.

“The first time we really started talking again was when Kris dragged us into a Dark World.” Toriel continues, desperate to move past the hurt. “I had called the police thinking there was someone skulking around the house and rather than sending an officer, they sent Asgore instead, figuring that he was familiar with us and more than capable of dealing with someone who would want to hurt us. He did just that, leaping to our rescue within the studio to save us from Biz.”

“Regardless of how I felt about him, he still cared a great deal for me and Kris and continued to help everywhere he could, wanting to make sure we were all safe. Seeing the lengths he was willing to go for us, seeing how much he cared, it made me realize that he did not hate me or lose interest in me like I thought, he still loved me to death.” A lot of the tension was leaving her body now. Her eyes were still a little red from the tears, but she was smiling again.

“We have had a lot of time to talk since then and get to the bottom of things.” She explains. “Your father is a very loving man, a bit too much, honestly. He made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world and I was glad he was mine, but he wanted everyone to feel that way around him. He had enough love to share, but I wanted him to myself. Maybe I’m just being old fashioned, maybe this is another LGT thing that your poor old mother is struggling to keep up with, but once you tie the knot, it’s just the two of you. I devoted my life to him, but if he couldn’t devote his whole life to me, I can not help but feel cheated. Is that wrong?”

“I wouldn’t say so.” Asriel shakes his head. “I’ve been to college, people are screwing around all the time exploring what they like, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is everyone’s in agreement with what’s going on. If you want monogamy and he doesn’t, then one of you has to make a compromise or else it’s not gonna work out. You want a faithful partner, if Dad isn’t that, then he just isn’t for you.”

“I suppose so.” Toriel nods along, though Asriel can tell she isn’t really happy about this fact. “While I am not sure things are going to be fixed between us, he is still your loving father and I do not want to deny you kids that. We talk sometimes, and it is still really obvious that he loves me to death, but like you said, I guess we just have conflicting interests. I just can not see him the same way knowing he has probably already moved on to someone else.”

“Like you did?” Asriel asks, realizing just how stupid that was to say after it already left his mouth. His mother immediately looks up to glare at him.

“What are you implying?” She asks, her voice coming out in a low grumble. Asriel was very familiar with this tone, but he’s already dug his grave here, so he might as well keep digging.

“Aren’t you and Sans a thing now?” He asks, trying his hardest to make it sound like an innocent question. Thankfully, the question doesn’t blow up in his face and actually catches Toriel by surprise. Pushing his luck, he presses her on it. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious he has a thing for you.”

“It… W-well that is…” Toriel stutters as she tries to come up with an explanation, but she quickly gives up with a defeated sigh. “Oh I’m a hypocrite, aren’t I?”

“I’m not accusing you or anything, just making an observation.” Asriel says, trying to ease things. “I mean, he seems like a nice guy.”

“He really is.” His mother admits with a smile. “The funniest man I have met in a long time too. He is always trying to make me laugh and he always succeeds. I just think it is nice to have someone around the house again, but there is something about him I just can not get out of my head. Like… like he already knows me on a deeply personal level, even though we have only known each other for a few months at most. I know he has his eyes on me, and… Well… I miss having someone look at me that way.”

“Well I’m glad you found someone who can make you happy.” Asriel says, deciding to put a pin in things and end everything off on a good note.

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?” Toriel asks, finally having enough of an appetite to pick at her plate again. “Did you just want things cleared up?”

“Well, that’s only part of the reason I asked.” Asriel admits. “To be honest, I just want things to go back to the way they used to be.”

“Oh, if only things were that simple…” Toriel says wistfully. “I am sure you are old enough to know that life throws you curveballs and not everything goes as planned. Of course, over the past year, we have dealt with more than our fair share of life altering historical events, but we have to roll with the changes. I miss what we had too, but I think I am starting to warm up to what I have going on now. Besides, it is not like your father is gone. He still comes by every weekend and gives me flowers, nothing is stopping you from seeing him.”

“I guess you’re right.” Asriel nods. “Maybe I’ll go talk to him today, get his word on this. Things have been quiet for a while now, but I don’t remember the last time I had a heart to heart with him.” Asriel picks at his plate, finally mustering up an appetite to eat, but before he could take his first bite, he looks up to find his mom staring at him with tears in her eyes. “Mom?! Are you alright?!”

“Sorry.” Toriel says, wiping her eyes. “You have grown up so much, I am just overwhelmed by how much you have matured since you were gone. I never would have thought I would be having a conversation like this with my own son. Thank you for having this talk with me.”

“Don’t mention it.” Asriel nods, choking up a little himself. “Even with all the calls, I still really missed all of you while I was away. I just wish everyone could be back together again.”

With a sad hum, Toriel nods her head in response. Things would certainly be easier if everyone was together, but from the sounds of it, at least she found someone else who made her just as happy.

Speaking of whom, Asriel turns to look at the counter where a third plate was left for Sans, only to find that plate was sitting in the sink, a few scraps still clinging to it. Did he sneak by multiple times to grab his plate and return it? He was a short guy, but damn, he was stealthy too. As he ate, he was able to cheer up Mom a little after such an uncomfortable conversation. It wasn’t long before she was smiling and laughing again.

Spending time with her like this alleviated a lot of the gnawing, awful feeling he’s noticed, but he wanted to talk to everyone else too. After breakfast, he makes his excuses and heads out for the day, his next destination already cemented in his mind.

It was just down the road, but with how much stuff there was in town, that was quite a hike. It still baffled him how much stuff was packed in such a small town. There were entire cities and kingdoms occupying the same spaces small playgrounds and coffee shops used to sit. There were a few familiar faces he could pick out if he tried hard enough, but the introduction of Darkners into the city might have quadrupled the town's population literally overnight after the Roaring. Even after several months caught in a time loop, he still hasn’t seen everything his hometown had to offer.

It was just another itch that he couldn’t scratch, a reminder that things would never go back to normal for him. Just thinking that made him feel stupid though. Looking off the street, one of his neighbors houses has turned into a massive, sprawling fortress, and looking further down the street, he could see the tallest spires of Castle Town in the distance. The town now was absolutely breathtaking and beautiful, but it wasn’t the quiet cozy town he grew up in. It was too crowded, too flashy, too loud. It felt like he was back at campus in the cities again, but he specifically left that place to get the peace and quiet home offered again.

That wasn’t something he could fix though. Pushing his surroundings out of his mind, he just focuses on making it to Dad’s flower shop to talk to someone who can help him feel more at home.

Dad’s flower shop wasn’t nearly as overgrown as it used to be before the snow rolled in. With the cold killing most of the flowers sitting outside, the shop looked almost normal compared to the fantastical buildings neighboring it. That illusion was broken the second Asriel stepped inside, however.

Leaving the dry cold behind, Asriel can practically feel his fur go damp as he’s hit with a humid wave of heat upon stepping inside. Smooth stepping stones rested beneath his feet, cutting paths through the grass and flower beds bordering them. He isn’t even three steps in before one of those flowers turns to look at him.

“Asriel!”

“Azazel!” Asriel wastes no time hurrying down the path before kneeling down beside the edge to see his floral friend. “Is the cold bothering you at all? Is Dad taking good care of you?”

“You’ve seen this place, of course he has!” Azazel says with a grin. Asriel could feel it too. This place sweltered like a rain forest. “Also, Kris told me to yell at you the next time I saw you.”

“For what reason?” Asriel asks. He knew this was a set up for something, some kind of prank their sibling was trying to pull. It’s been years since they hung out regularly, but he still remembers how much of a little gremlin Kris was.

“They’re angry at you for giving me my name.” Azazel tells him, putting a frown on Asriel’s face.

“What’s wrong with it?” He asks.

“Everything, apparently.” Azazel replies. “Kris says it’s too edgy, too similar to your name, and doesn’t fit me at all. They went as far as saying letting you pick my name was one of the worst consequences of being lost to the Void.”

“Jeez, it’s not that bad, is it?” Asriel scratches his head. That was quite the claim coming from Kris. They obviously didn’t mean it, but still, even joking about that kinda stuff still weirded him out. “What, do they have a better name already picked out?”

“Buddy!” Azazel declares, contracting his petals to hide his face and make himself look like a budding flower.

Asriel can only stare in shocked silence as the flower repeats the motion. “Shit, that’s good.” He admits. “That’s better than good, that’s perfect actually! Damn it!”

“I thought so too!” The flower nods with a smile.

“Is it too late to change your name?” Asriel asks.

“Kris apparently changed their name in the past, so I don’t see why not.” The flower replies.

“Buddy it is then!” Asriel decides. “Kris is right, it does suit you. I don’t think I’ll have a problem getting used to the change. Hell, it feels like this is what your name always should have been.” Asriel can almost perfectly visualize what Kris’ first meeting with the flower must have been like, straight down to them shutting down his and Dad’s names in favor of their own. It was a weirdly vivid scene, one that filled him with an overwhelming sense of deja-vu.

“Asriel? Is that you?” Further within the overgrown store, Asriel could hear his dad trying to find his way through the overgrowth.

“I’ll swing by a little later to talk with you, but I got some heavy stuff I gotta talk to Dad about. I’ll see you around, Buddy.” Asriel says, pushing to his feet to try and meet his father halfway.

“No problem!” Buddy assures him, already completely accepting of his new name. “And as comfortable as it is in here, I wouldn’t mind if one of you potted me up so I could get some fresh air.”

“I’ll let Dad know.” Asriel nods, giving Buddy a wave before he starts moving down the stone path. Careful to not deviate from the stepping stones and trample the flowers, Asriel makes his way through the store until he finds Asgore on his knees and gathering various wild flowers. He’s long since retired the massive suit of armor he was given by the Dark World for something much more practical. Pushing to his feet, he wipes his hands off against the heavy duty apron he was wearing before turning around.

“Ah! There you are, my boy!” Marching towards him with soil stained arms outstretched, Asriel braced himself for the hug that was coming. He wasn’t nearly as small and fragile as Kris was, but Dad crushed the air out of him and lifted him off the ground regardless. He’s even seen Officer Undyne struggle to get out of Asgore’s crushing embrace. “How’re you doing, Asriel?”

“Not really sure, actually.” Asriel manages to squeak out between his dad’s arms. “I’m gonna be honest, I’ve had a lot of mixed feelings today. There’s probably gonna be a lot more ups and downs over the next hour or so too.”

“Oh?” Asgore lets him go before taking a step back to look him over. “Is something the matter?”

“I had this conversation with Mom and I’m gonna have to bring it up with you too.” Asriel sighs. “We were talking about your divorce.”

“Oh…” Asgore just lets out a quiet ‘oh’ before going silent for several seconds. “That would do it.”

“Yeah…” Asriel nods back. “Believe it or not, no one actually told me what happened between you two until this morning. I’ve been feeling this weird sense of homesickness for a while now and I wanted to know why you both split up. It’s probably not something you want to talk about, but I want to hear your perspective.”

Asgore lets out an uncomfortable groan, looking down at the bundle of flowers he just picked. After a moment’s hesitation, he relents. “Come with me upstairs then.” He says. “It’s a little more comfortable up there.”

Asriel nods his head and follows after his father as they navigate the path towards wherever upstairs was anymore. The shop didn’t look too big from the outside, but it was clearly a lot roomier on the inside. Just as Asgore said, once they did start to rise in elevation, the ’weather’ became a lot more temperate and the humidity died down. It was still overgrown with flora up here, but it wasn’t nearly as suffocating as downstairs. Illuminated by a greenhouse skylight, a small living space has been set up here.

“Does tea sound nice?” Asgore offers. “I’ve been learning to grow my own tea leaves up here.”

“That actually sounds really nice.” Asriel nods with a smile. Asgore hurries over to a small stove pressed up against what remained of the walls of the building, setting aside the bundle of flowers he picked so he can get a kettle going. Asriel eyes those flowers, Mom’s stories bouncing around in his head. “Who’re the flowers for?” Asriel asks, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Oh, these?” Asgore glances over at the bouquet. “I was picking some fresh flowers for Rudy.” He says all of this with a smile as he fills the kettle with water, but the moment he puts it onto the heat, he stops suddenly, turning to look at Asriel with a cautious look in his eyes. “I don’t suppose your mother told you anything regarding us, did she?”

“She did.” Asriel tells him with an awkward nod. “I’m not mad or hurt or anything, I just wanted to talk to get your side of the story. I know you and Mom have mostly settled things, but she got a little heated talking about what happened at that Christmas party. Was this thing between you and Rudy going on for a while, or was that a spur of the moment thing?”

“It was…” Asgore rests his elbows against the counter as he watches the kettle, a regretful expression on his face. “It was a little bit of both,” He admits. “What all did Tori tell you?”

“She said you flirted around a lot.” Asriel says. “She was getting jealous of all the attention you were giving to other women and that the kiss you shared with Rudy was the final straw.” Asgore’s expression just continues to fall as Asriel speaks, so he tries what he can to lighten things up. “She explained it by saying that you were just a really loving person, and that you couldn’t really keep all of it to yourself and her. You just love everybody.” That at least earns a light chuckle out of Dad.

“Oh you don’t know the half of it.” He says, trying to stay in a good mood. “Out of high school I had plenty of partners before I found Tori and knew she was the one. You got my looks and my charms, I’m sure you had plenty of fun in college.” Asgore turns to see Asriel wear a deep blush before bursting out into laughter. “Ah, those were the days. But it was back in high school that I met Rudy for the first time.”

“Really?” Asriel says with some shock. “Were you two a thing back then?”

“For a little while.” Asgore nods, still wearing a dumb smile on his face. “That was years ago though, in a different time too. You kids got off lucky with how progressive things got, but the relationship I had with Rudy was kept quiet and out of sight. We had each other, but it wasn’t easy trying to hide it, always wondering what would happen if people found out. Eventually, he decided he had enough of that and we went our separate ways. Both of us found women we loved, both of us settled down, and both of us kept in touch, reminiscing about those days every once in a while…”

His smile was starting to fade now. “During that Christmas party, things got a little out of hand. He always drank during those big parties and he convinced me to have a couple as well. We started talking about our past and how much has changed since then, and… He started talking about how much he missed having me. He said he loves Carol and the family they started, but that what we had was special. Honestly, I’m awful with alcohol, but I think he was further gone than I was. I knew that I shouldn’t have done it, Tori was giving me cross looks all the time for the few comments I made to people walking by, but this was crossing a line. Of course, I was drunk at the time and those thoughts were all in retrospect. He was begging me for a little something to bring back the memories, and that’s when your mother walked in on us.”

The kettle started to let out a low whistle and Asgore kills the heat, moving to find a couple mugs for them. He remains silent as he works, regret etched into his face. Asriel can’t help but feel for him. His previous relationship with Rudy brought up some much needed context for this sudden turn, hell it sounds like Rudy was the one who pushed it, not Asgore, but the end result was the same. Pouring out two cups, Dad turns around with the piping hot mugs of freshly brewed tea, offering one to Asriel.

“I still curse myself for that night, you know.” Asgore says, looking absolutely grief stricken. “Your mother is the most beautiful woman in the world and I ruined everything between us. I love her so much, but just knowing that she’ll never look at me the same way is…”

Asriel felt a lump form in his threat watching his father act like this. It was painfully obvious that Mom and Dad still loved each other to death, but they’ve already talked and already agreed it wouldn’t work anymore. Asriel probably wishes just as badly that they could make things work. With a deep sigh, Asgore brings his mug to his lips, taking a sip of his tea, only for him to let it dribble out of his mouth with a grimace.

“Oh! Don’t drink that!” He sputters, reaching his free hand out to take Asriel’s mug back. “That one didn’t turn out right!”

“What’s wrong with it?” Asriel asks, quickly handing the mug back as if it were full of poison.

“Don’t know, it’s not good though.” Asgore shakes his head, dumping both of the mugs out onto the grass growing in the room. “Like I said, I’m still learning, and obviously I still got a lot of learning to do.” He turns to spit in the grass, reaching up to rub at his tongue. As grateful as Asriel was that his dad spared him from whatever concoction he just made, a part of him was curious about how bad it could have been. Kris would have drunk it without hesitation just to satisfy that curiosity, but Asriel didn’t hate his own body enough to eat and drink whatever was put in front of him.

Thankfully, the tea mishap was enough to break the tension brewing between them and Asriel was able to speak up and change the subject. “So what have you been up to since?” He asks. “You said so yourself, you got around a lot. Are you enjoying the single life?”

“Can’t say I am.” Dad sighs, but it isn’t loaded with nearly as much emotion this time. “I’m not young like you are. Your old man still turns some heads, but everyone my age is either already hitched or not interested. I don’t really see myself meeting anyone new anytime soon.”

“What about Rudy then?” Asriel asks, looking towards the bouquet Dad picked earlier. “Are you still seeing him?” Asriel briefly wondered if this was going to be similar to Mom’s situation, but there were obviously a few things that would complicate that.

“No.” Asgore quickly shakes his head. “My old high school fling would obviously be the next best choice, but I’m sure you’re already aware of the fact that he’s married. I’d rather not be responsible for two broken marriages.”

“But you still give him flowers?” Asriel prods.

“I own a flower shop, I give everyone flowers.” Asgore shrugs.

“Isn’t that kinda what got you in trouble with Mom in the first place?” Asriel asks. “Also, is Carol alright with you giving flowers to Rudy all the time?” Asgore opens his mouth to respond, but that last question gives him pause. As the silence stretches on, Asriel follows up with another, more jarring question. “Does… Does Carol even know what happened between you two?”

“Uh…” He scratches his head. “I’m sure she must know. Tori must have told her at some point and I’m sure Rudy would have told her something after he sobered up and realized what he did. I don’t think I’ve ever heard from her about it though.”

“That’s probably something you should talk to them about then.” Asriel points out. “God, how am I the most mature and reasonable person in this family now? I just got through with this with Mom, communication is a key part in stuff like this. What if Carol doesn’t like you borderline flirting with her husband? What if Rudy’s trying to put it behind him but can’t find it in him to tell you no? You gotta talk about this stuff.”

“I really should…” Asgore nods along, looking a little ashamed of himself. “Carol’s really intimidating though.”

“Absolutely terrifying.” Asriel nods in agreement. The last time he saw Carol Holiday was during the Christmas party at the fort. He’s pretty sure the temperature inside dropped ten degrees just with her presence. “But you’re better off talking to her now and finding out what she’s ok with before she decides to march into this shop and demand that you stop talking to her husband. She’d probably throw the whole ecosystem you got going on inside here out of whack just by existing in the same building.”

“Right, right…” his dad says, still nodding and looking apprehensive. “What if…” He starts. “I like the few short moments I spend with Rudy. What if doing this means that I can’t visit him anymore?” Asriel feels a pang in his heart hearing that. With Mom out of the picture, Rudy was all he really had left.

“If no one’s confronted you about it yet, I doubt either of them are going to have a problem with what you’re doing now.” Asriel assures him. “But this is still something you gotta talk to them about. Bring your flowers and sit down with Rudy to really get to the bottom of what’s alright and what isn’t. It’s gonna be awkward and you might have to make some compromises, but it’s better than having everything come crashing down if you cross a boundary you didn’t know existed.”

“Alright.” Asgore nods and takes a deep breath, walking over to the counter to retrieve his flowers. Once they’re in his hand, he pauses for a moment before turning to look back at Asriel. “Which one of us taught you to be like this?” He asks. “I feel like I’m being coached by my old man through a break up.”

“Well, like you said, a lot of stuff happened in college.” Asriel says a bit bashfully. “Some of it’s personal experience, but I saw a lot of bad breakups and fights through college. I didn’t want to break anyone’s heart or find out the girl I was dating had a boyfriend I didn’t know about who was willing to kick my ass. People did stupid stuff all the time, I didn’t want to be one of them.”

“Well, you turned out smarter than your old man, I’ll tell you that.” Asgore says with a laugh, reaching over and patting Asriel on the back. “You’ve grown quite a bit over the years, you know that?”

“Mom said the same thing.” Asriel nods, feeling his heart swell. “To be fair though, I got almost an extra year of learned experience thanks to the whole reset thing, but yeah, I’m not the same dumb kid you sent off to college all those years ago.”

That’s sort of the root of all of Asriel’s issues, isn’t it? He wanted to be a dumb kid again, but so much has happened since he left, he was never going to get that innocent, carefree life back. The drama and stress at college, the homesickness that never went away, the terror of the resets and the pain it brought to his family. Then there was Chara, his best friend, someone he genuinely thought would end up being more than his friend, who went off the deep end and disappeared forever. Chara was probably solely responsible for keeping him from dropping out and knowing that he’d never get to hear their voice again, even after everything they did, hurt like hell.

Growing up sucks. It was honestly no wonder Chara dropped everything for the reset. If Asriel could turn the clock back a few years so he could experience the home life he missed, if he didn’t have anyone else to worry about, he’d do it in a heartbeat, but he was a well adjusted responsible adult now, arguably more so than his own parents as it turned out.

“Is there something wrong?” Asirel’s pulled out of his slump as Asgore jostles him slightly.

“Sorry, just spacing out a little,” Asriel sighs. “Wishing things could go back to normal.”

“Oh, I know that feeling all too well son.” Asgore nods, pulling him close. “No use stewing in nostalgia though. Give it a few years and eventually you’ll start missing these days just as much. Things aren’t gonna stop changing, for the better and for the worst, but no matter what, it’s not gonna be what we have now, and you’re going to miss it regardless.”

“Alright then.” Asriel nods before getting caught in a one armed hug by his father. “So are you about to head off for Rudy’s then?” He asks.

“Oh, right.” Asgore nods, remembering the flowers in his other hand. “I’ll lead you out then. Thanks for coming over, by the way.”

“No problem.” Asriel nods. “Honestly, this went surprisingly well. Maybe we could have a few more heart to hearts like this, exchange some advice.”

“After how much you’ve grown, you’ve probably got a lot more to share than I do.” Dad chuckles, giving Asriel another pat on the back to get him moving. For as bummed out as he feels about missing his past, the sense of pride bubbling up in his chest almost made up for it.

Cutting through the oppressively humid ground floor made stepping outside almost painful with the sudden shift in temperature. Dad wastes no time hurrying to his truck to escape the cold, leaving Asriel to walk wherever he pleased. At the moment, he didn’t really know where to go. Other than confronting his parents about the divorce, he had no plans at all. He’s about to start walking to see if he bumps into someone he recognizes, when someone approaches him instead.

“Hey.” Flinching from the sudden introduction, Asriel turns to find Catti staring up at him, a bored, disinterested look on her face. “Do you know where Sans is?”

“Where’d you come from?” Asriel asks, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. He didn’t go through nearly as much bad stuff as the rest of his friends during the resets, but the experience left him with a healthy sense of paranoia over people sneaking up on him.

“The river.” Catti answers nonchalantly, either oblivious or apathetic to the fact she startled him. “Where’s Sans?”

“I don’t know, either his store or my house, why?” Asriel tells her, getting his bearings again.

“What’s he doing at your house?” Catti asks, her completely neutral expression giving way just a little bit as her confusion shines through.

“It’s complicated,” Asriel shakes his head. “Why do you want to know?”

“Temmie and I have questions for him regarding the secrets of the Void and its denizens.” Catti answers, her voice slipping back into its normal monotone. “He is the only known visitor from another world that I can reach until the Angel returns. I have seen impossible things that I need answers for and he’s the only one who can provide them to me.”

“Uh, yeah. He’s at my house or he’s at the shop. If he isn’t in any of those places, I can’t help you.” Asriel tells her.

“Thank you.” Catti nods. Without turning to look, Asriel takes a step back in surprise when a broomstick suddenly dislodges itself from the branches of a nearby tree and flies towards Catti. Catti simply leans back to sit down and the broom perfectly positions itself beneath her. “Tell Kris I said hi if you see them.” Without another word, the broomstick takes off with her, sending Catti away in a streak of pink light into the sky.

Man, Kris made the weirdest friends…

That bizarre interaction does give Asriel an idea, however. After seeing Mom and Dad and talking about their past, why not round up the whole family and have a chat with Kris. Kris didn’t have a messy divorce they went through or insane relationship drama, talking with them should be simple. He didn’t really know where Kris would be at the moment and calling them wasn’t an option, but he had a pretty good idea where to look.

Hiking through the cold, it doesn’t take too long to reach Castle Town, and luckily for him, he doesn’t have to look to find Kris. Almost immediately after entering Castle Town, Asriel spots the bright pink of Kris’ cape in the distance and hurries over to see his sibling. They were sitting alone on a bench tucked away on a little side road leading to some shops, staring off into nothing as they sat.

Maybe this wouldn’t be a pleasant talk, they looked pretty down in the dumps.

“Hey Kris!” Asriel calls out, picking up his pace to join Kris on the bench. Kris doesn’t respond, they don’t even turn at the sound of his voice. “Kris?” Still no reaction, even as he walks right up to the bench. “Kris?! Is everything alright?!” Asriel leans in close, worry briefly flaring in his chest before he kneels down to find that they weren’t staring off into space, but slumped over and asleep. How the hell were they asleep in this cold?! Cautiously reaching out, Asriel pokes them in the face. “Kris?”

After a couple pokes, Kris eventually snaps to attention, batting Asriel’s hand away. “Wha-?! Who’re y…” Clawing back into consciousness, Kris’ bleary eyes eventually settle on Asriel. “Oh, hey Azzy.” They groan, trying to slump back down onto the bench, but now that they’re awake, they’ve taken notice of the cold.

“What are you doing sleeping out in the cold?!” Asriel asks, sitting down beside them. Almost immediately, Kris presses themself against his side for warmth. “Are you still having trouble sleeping?”

“Mm hm.” Kris nods, still on the verge of dozing off. “I was fixing that problem until you woke me up.”

“You’re gonna freeze if you fall asleep out here though.” Asriel insists. To curb Asriel’s worry, Kris tiredly reaches into their pocket to pull out a small thermos. Popping the cap open, Asriel sees steam billow out from the container before Kris brings it to their mouth. Their cheeks flush with color as they drink up the hot contents. Now mostly awake and warmed up, they shake the thermos in Asriel’s direction. “Hot chocolate?”

“Oh that’s what that is,” Asriel sighs with relief. “I thought someone doomed us all and gave you coffee. God knows you don’t need caffeine in your system.”

“You’re safe for another day.” Kris assures him, pocketing their thermos and stretching out.

“Aside from napping on a bench in the cold like a homeless person, what have you been up to?” Asriel asks.

“Dunno, not much.” Kris sighs. “More practice, checked out what Queen’s been up to with communication equipment, and I worked with Ralsei and Susie to make preparations for Operation Big Rig.”

“That’s…” Asriel nods along, but that last sentence catches him off guard. “Operation what?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Kris dismisses him with a smirk. “Can’t work until the sixth wheel shows up anyways and they’re taking their sweet ass time.” Kris turns to face him. “How about you? Have you been doing anything cool?”

“I talked to Mom and Dad about their divorce today.” Asriel tells them, and Kris’ expression sours immediately.

“I asked if you did anything cool,” They say. “That sounds awful.”

“I think it turned out a lot better than I expected.” Asriel admits. “I never got a clear explanation for what happened and I missed having them together. I just wanted things to go back to normal and wanted to know why that wasn’t possible anymore.” Kris lets out a little hum in response to that, staring off towards the castle. “What’s the matter?”

“I think I’ve genuinely forgotten what’s normal at this point.” Kris says. “I’m not just saying that because it’s been a long time, I’m dead serious. I can’t even remember the last time there wasn’t something insane going on. The possession, the apocalypse, the resets, the Void. The past few years have taken so much of my mind that I can barely remember when I was just a regular kid doing normal kid stuff. Even before all this horrible bullshit happened, Dess disappeared, Dad quit his job, I was still coming to terms with my own identity at the time. I’m convinced I’m never gonna get a single break.”

Kris looks absolutely exhausted as they say this. Asriel had gone entire years without seeing Kris after he left for college and he’s only had them back for a couple months now. They grew up quite a bit too, but unlike Asriel, they didn’t look pleased at all about the changes they went through. Seeing them like this, Asriel braced himself for another hard hitting heart to heart with his little sibling, but unlike his parents, he had no idea what subject to tackle or how to fix this.

“I’ve just…” Luckily for him, Kris keeps talking. “I don’t know what I’m hoping for anymore. I’m never gonna forget what happened to me, none of my friends will, the entire town has changed and it’s still up in the air over whether or not it’s even possible to fix it or if anyone even wants to.” They slumped in their seat. “I don’t even know if I want nothing to happen anymore or if I want some new big distraction. I’m practically used to my life being in mortal danger, I don’t even know what to do with myself now.”

Asriel takes a few moments to come up with a response. This wasn’t a simple problem, or even a complicated one like the divorce. He might be in way over his head, but he tries to help anyway.

“You don’t have to do anything.” Asriel suggests. “You’ve had the most hectic few years of your entire life. You’re still a kid, we can’t go anywhere so there’s no point in worrying about it yet, just screw around, do nothing, whatever you want.”

“I’ve done less than nothing for what felt like an eternity.” Kris reminds him. “I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t even need to breathe. I need to do something, anything at all. Sitting around like this just makes me anxious now.”

“Wanna go for a walk then?” Asriel suggests. “That’s gotta beat sitting around in the cold, right?” Getting up off the bench, Asriel holds out his hand to Kris. They hesitate for a while, but they eventually reach out and take his hand. With no real direction in mind, Asriel just starts to walk, bringing Kris with them. “I had a talk with Buddy today.” He tells them, hoping to break the silence.

“It sounds like he convinced you to change his stupid name too.” Kris says with a smile.

“Was calling him Azazel really the worst thing?” Asriel asks, still remembering Buddy’s comment about how the name was the worst thing that happened in Kris’ absence.

“At least you didn’t settle for Flowey.” Kris sighs with relief. “As dumb as your names are, you at least put a little bit of effort into them.”

“Well thanks for the backhanded compliment.” Asriel nods, just thankful to see Kris was smiling. “How have things been with your new boyfriend, hmm? He treating you well?”

“For the most part.” Kris nods. “I’ve been treating him like shit, but he knew what he was signing up for. I’ve been trying to get back into smash again, but he keeps kicking my ass.”

“Doesn’t feel so good, does it?” Asriel chuckles cruelly. Kris was always a competitive little shit whenever they got to play games. It’s good to know that someone finally gave Kris a taste of defeat. “Aside from beating you up virtually, things are alright between you?”

“Things are perfect.” Kris says, wearing a smile that almost hid how tired they looked. “I don’t know how someone could be so stupid and smart at the same time. He’s an annoying, feathery asshole who doesn’t know when to shut up, but I know I can depend on him if things get rough. In the endless sea of word vomit he spews out, there’s always something in there that makes me feel better, and in the rare moments where he’s quiet, I know he’s thinking of the best ways to cheer me up. I love him.”

Kris talked about Berdly in a similar way that Mom and Dad talked about each other, though luckily for Kris, they still had him close by. As they talked, they almost looked like themself again, standing up straight and wearing a smile. Asriel prays that this relationship lasts, everyone else in his family seemed cursed to have their relationships suddenly fall apart.

“Why aren’t you with him now?” Asriel asks. “I’m pretty sure he’d be worried if you were taking naps in the snow out of boredom.”

“He’s talking to Ralsei.” Kris explains. “Berdly’s been hanging out with the rest of my friends a lot more now that he’s part of our little group. Ralsei didn’t seem to like the sound of Operation Big Rig so I think he’s asking Berdly for advice instead. I’d say asking Berdly for any advice like that is pointless, but he did manage to hit things off with me, so he clearly has some idea of what he’s doing.”

“What’s Ralsei been up to, anyways?” Asriel asks, wondering how his princely doppelganger is doing.

“Stressing himself out over Vess.” Kris tells him. “They’re all he can think about and he’s been counting the days since I told him they planned on coming back soon. That already felt like forever ago, but my sense of time is still completely destroyed so it’s probably only been a week or something.” After a brief pause, Kris looks up at their older brother. “Are you seeing anyone?”

“Huh?” Asriel is slightly taken aback by the question.

“Basically all of my other friends are dating each other, I was wondering if you had anything going on.” They elaborate. “I’m sure you already know, but Chara said some things about you before they left, but they aren’t here anymore. But surely the hearthrob who taught me all those dumb flirting techniques found someone else, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna be seeing anyone for a while.” Asriel shakes his head. “I already explained it to Mom and Dad, but college was pretty rough and the one person who I might have had a serious relationship with went crazy. I think I’ll be fine on my own, at least for now.”

“What about Dess?” Kris suggests. “During the year or so I spent with her, she talked a lot about you and all the stuff you two did through school. I’m pretty sure she liked you. She’s also very obviously lonely after all that time.”

“I don’t see that happening.” Asriel dismisses the idea. “It’s been forever since we’ve hung out and I don’t really think I have feelings like that for her. Also, physically, she’s basically your age. Dating someone as young as her isn’t an option. You and all your friends are getting together, but I think I still need some time before I start doing anything serious again.”

“Did talking to Mom and Dad get to you?” Kris asks and Asriel gives them a slight nod. “Maybe I’m just biased because I’m surrounded by people who have nothing but love on their minds. Out of all of us, you seem to have your head screwed on tight.”

“I wouldn’t say I got out completely unscathed. Catti scared the hell out of me on the way here.” Asriel comments. “Catti said hi, by the way?”

“Was she hanging out by the river again?” Kris asks. “They keep telling me I should go there and I’m convinced she’s trying to lead me into a trap of some kind. She remembered a promise I made to her before I left and I think she wants to use me for some kind of ritual or something.”

“She told me she was looking for Sans.” Asriel tells them, though their comments about human sacrifice leave him anxious. Seriously, what was up with the people Kris hung out with?

“Oh great, she’s trying to dig into the horrible secrets of the universe too, huh?” Kris groans.

“D…does Sans know anything about that kind of stuff?” Asriel looks at Kris with some concern.

“Him and Vess go way back and he apparently knows some horrible existential secret which both of them know and both of them refuse to share it to any of us lowly mortals because it will blow up our brains or something. Vess danced around the whole topic but even vaguely mentioning it put me in a really bad state of mind. Catti would probably be fine though, she’ll probably put everyone else in danger because she’ll want to share this unknowable knowledge to everyone.”

“Great…” Asriel whines, now thoroughly terrified of not just Catti, but also the guy crashing on his couch. Seriously, what the hell was up with these people? Looking around, he found he was unconsciously walking back home, but knowing that both Catti and Sans could be sharing mind melting secrets of the Void or whatever, he decides to turn in the opposite direction, wandering down a completely different street. “So are you doing anything now?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m not.” Kris tells him. “Are you?” Asriel shakes his head.

“I didn’t have any plans other than talking to Mom and Dad about the divorce.” Asriel explains. “I’ve just been really bummed out about how different everything is now and I just want things to go back to the way they were. That isn’t going to happen though, so I don’t know what I’m gonna do anymore.”

Asriel really hoped Dad was right and that this feeling would pass. Seeing just how messed up and strange everything was, knowing his parents would never get back together and that Kris was carrying around more trauma than any one person should, he can’t help but feel like he lost something special.

He can’t help but feel like some of it might be his fault.

His parents divorce was completely out of his control, he knew that. Him staying home wouldn’t have changed Dad’s actions or Mom’s reactions, but Kris… He was the big brother, he was supposed to look after them and make sure everything was alright. He still vividly remembers the phone call he shared with them before he boarded his plane home. Kris had told him that someone tried to hurt them and their friends, that they had almost died on the same day he called. His heart nearly stopped when he heard that, but Kris was so sure that once he came back home, things would be better. He promised them that they would.

Then Kris was nowhere to be found when he finally made it.

He’s sure he did his best when Kris was around, Asriel still gets these faint snapshots of his time with Kris before they vanished into the Void, but it wasn’t enough. It was likely way out of Asriel’s control, he still struggled to wrap his head around everything that was going on at the time, but he promised he’d fix things, and Kris was suffering because of his failure.

Just walking around town like this brought back memories of him walking Kris back home at night from the Holiday’s, keeping them safe from all the spooky stuff hiding in the dark. If anything did attack them, Kris was probably way more prepared to deal with it, but he’s seen how shaken Kris was after everything that happened, he’s witnessed the panic attacks that strike them over the smallest, seemingly random triggers. Maybe if he tried harder, maybe…

“Hey Asriel?” He’s pulled from his thoughts as Kris comes to a stop. “You look like you’re freaking out a little. You alright?”

“Yeah, just wishing things were better.” Asriel tells them with a sigh. Maybe this homesickness was hitting him a little harder than he thought. That, or he was just depressed.

“Wanna play smash or something?” Kris asks, earning Asriel’s attention. “Berdly says I can swing by his house and practice whenever I want, we can just sit around and play games all day. Doesn’t really fix anything but hey, it’s better than doing nothing and feeling sorry for yourself. It’ll be like old times.”

It’s been years since Asriel’s played a game with Kris. He doesn’t even need to think before he nods yes, though he does ask for something in return. “Will you go easy on me? It’s been a while since I played.”

“Hell no.” Kris tells him outright. “It wouldn’t be like old times if I didn't make you cry by the end of this.” Taking the lead, Kris turns them around and starts walking them towards Berdly’s castle and Asriel can’t help but smile now.

Despite everything, Kris was still Kris. They’ve changed a lot while he was gone and they aren’t doing the best, but they were still the annoying little sibling he was in charge of. He was still the overprotective big brother, Mom and Dad despite their differences were still his loving parents. Even after everything that changed, even after all the horrible things they’ve endured and the very real harm it’s done to them, it wasn’t enough to stop them from being dumb kids playing video games.

Maybe things will be alright. He would never get the perfect home he wanted to come back to, but he’s tired of being the responsible adult now. He didn’t have a job, he couldn’t go back to school, so in a roundabout way, other than his responsibility as a big brother to Kris, he didn’t really have any obligations at all. He could just go back to being a kid again if he wanted to.

After everything he missed out on, after everything Kris missed out on, he thinks everyone will get something out of him saying screw it and playing games with his sibling all day.

Hell, maybe he’ll finally see himself on that victory screen someday. He’ll have plenty of time to practice.

Chapter Text

Ralsei always thought he was a patient person. He spent years alone in his kingdom, eagerly awaiting the Lightners of the prophecy to aid him in his quest. He kept his castle tidy, he practiced his speech for when they arrived, he did what he could to prepare for their eventual meeting. This should be easy…

But the past few months have been really testing his patience.

First, he lost two of his best friends after the Roaring. He was completely devastated, but Susie assured him that Vess promised to come back to rescue Kris. She told him that every month whenever he asked, but he still found himself in Vess’ room, urging them to wake up so they could rescue everyone. It was hard to sit around and wait when someone was in trouble.

No one was in trouble anymore, but the wait was somehow even harder to withstand. Kris told him that Vess planned on coming back only a couple weeks ago, but he’s been counting the days and searching for Vess every chance he got since then. He doesn’t know why it’s so much harder to wait. Is it because they were supposed to come soon so they could arrive any day now? Was it because he didn’t have any big projects or problems to distract himself with in the meantime?

Is it because he desperately wants to spend more time with them?

With the castle extensions complete and support work for the bunker well under way, Ralsei didn’t really have much to do in terms of princely duties. He fed everyone, checked up on some troubles within his kingdom and assisted the mayor every weekend, but he suddenly had a lot of free time and all he could do with it was daydream about what he would do once Vess came back. What would he wear? Where would they go? What would he say?

Kris and Susie have been teasing him relentlessly ever since Ralsei admitted to having feelings for the Angel. It was almost enough to make him regret ever talking about it, but once they realized how much this meant to him, they reeled back the jokes and tried to give him genuine advice. He isn’t sure if their advice is much to go off of though. Susie admitted that her relationship was a little strained thanks to the resets and she’s trying to clear things up with Noelle, and Kris… Ralsei was really happy for Kris, but the relationship they had with Berdly was very bizarre and he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to emulate what they had going on.

Together, they did help him with the worst of his anxieties about meeting Vess again. He wouldn’t have to wear anything special, he didn’t have to make a grand show of things. He just needed to be his regular, lovable self and things would be fine. And whenever he does manage to confess his feelings, they already had a date idea in mind.

Operation Big Rig

Kris told Ralsei a few stories about the first few dates they went on and how their first ever date was as a third wheel with Susie and Noelle. During a later reset, they had the bright idea of bringing Berdly along as a fourth wheel for a double date which worked out a lot better for everyone. So of course, dragging two more people into the mix, the fifth and sixth wheel in this weird truck analogy they were coming up with, things should turn out even better, the more the merrier. Once things heat up and Kris and Susie start making out with their respective partners, Ralsei will get his chance to do the same.

Just thinking about kissing Vess filled Ralsei’s guts with butterflies and made his face burn red hot. He’s spent most of his life all alone and was overwhelmed by the prospect of having not just one, but two friends. A romantic relationship felt so intimidating to him, he doesn’t know if he’d be able to handle it despite how badly he wants one. Despite how overwhelming it all was, he couldn’t deny his feelings and he feels that Vess would surely share those same feelings.

But he’ll never know until they get here.

Today was going to be one of the few busy days he has anymore. Rising early and getting dressed, Ralsei hurried down several flights of stairs so he could begin making breakfast for everyone, but just as he had every morning for the past two weeks, he stopped by Vess’ room just in case. Opening up their door, he peers inside to find the room quiet and empty, the sheets on the bed neatly made. With a disappointed sigh, he closes the door and continues downstairs. Maybe tomorrow.

Entering the main hall, Ralsei drags a stool beside the cauldron and climbs up, pulling back his sleeves as he grabs his stirring spoon. What to have for breakfast… Savory stuff was something he was still practicing, maybe he could try his hand at making bacon again. He could always go down the safe route and make something sweet, but people are starting to complain about having pancakes every other day. He doesn’t understand how that’s possible, everyone loves pancakes, but as the Prince of all Darkners, it’s his duty to make sure everyone’s concerns are accounted for.

He’ll make crepes today. Sure, they were essentially just flatter pancakes, but if people were worried about eating too many sweets, the strawberries he’ll serve with them should ease their worries at least a little bit. Fresh fruits are good for everyone! He gets to work, picturing the breakfast treat in his mind as he begins to stir. It isn’t long before his desires transfer into the cauldron and the scent of freshly picked strawberries fills the air.

He spends the next hour at the cauldron, stirring away as the smell rouses people from their slumber. The crepes seem to be a hit and everyone walks away from the cauldron with a smile on their faces. Once enough people were up and about, Susie eventually comes downstairs, dragging a barely conscious Kris along with her.

“Come on dude, you can’t feel bad after eating breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day!” Susie insists as she tries to steer Kris towards the cauldron.

“I can eat later, I’m…” Kris mumbles, dragging their feet. Once they get close enough to get a whiff of the cauldron’s contents, however, they snap to attention. “What’s that?”

“Crepes!” Ralsei excitedly announces, fishing out a plate and handing it over. “And Susie’s right! You may be tired, but you can’t miss out on breakfast!”

“That’s what brunch is for.” Kris argues, but they take the plate regardless. Despite the bags under their eyes and the irritation of being woken up, Ralsei can see a smile creeping onto their face. It upset him to know that Kris wasn’t doing that great and was having trouble sleeping, but those little smiles were proof that he was helping them through it.

“So,” Susie nudges Kris aside so she could get her serving. “You’re going to see Noelle’s mom later today?” Ralsei nods, but Kris suddenly raises their head, looking between the two of them.

“What are you going to see the mayor for?” They ask.

“I’ve been seeing Mrs. Holiday every weekend for a while now.” Ralsei informs. Kris was gone when he started doing this and likely doesn’t know about his more recent duties. “As the Prince, I’ve been chosen as an ambassador for all Darkners to work with the Mayor when discussing matters within town and while communicating with people outside of the Barrier.”

“It’s a lot of dumb paperwork and talking to boring politicians and stuff.” Susie fills in for Ralsei. “I went with him to see what the deal was and I fell asleep ten minutes in. You’d probably be unconscious before anyone even started talking.”

“I’m not doubting that, I’m just…” Kris stares at Ralsei for a moment. “I’m just trying to picture you and Carol in the same room next to each other. That’s like putting a kitten in the same pen as a tiger.”

“I know that Carol can be a little intimidating, but she’s actually very nice to work with.” Ralsei insists. “Sure, the work can drag on a little and it’s a lot of arguing, but I get to speak with Lightners outside the Barrier! It’s kind of exciting!”

“I’ll have to take your word for that.” Kris shrugs, stuffing their face with a fistful of crepes. They don’t bother trying to swallow before they continue to speak. “I’m gonna go find Berdly or pass out, whichever comes first. Have fun talking to a bunch of big wigs.”

“Have fun or sleep well then!” Ralsei calls after them as they leave. “Whichever comes first!” Wandering off through the front gates, Kris leaves the castle to search for their boyfriend as Ralsei continues to dish up plates for everyone. Susie quickly finishes her plate, but sticks around as Ralsei works. “Are you doing anything special today?” He asks her.

“Don’t know yet.” She slouches her shoulders. “Noelle’s hanging out with Dess so both of them are gonna be busy all day. Berdly was gonna teach me how to play more of his dumb games but if Kris is going to see him then both of them are gonna gang up on me. Lancer’s been hanging out with Rouxls a whole bunch and he’s still kind of a loser dweeb so I’d rather not spend time with him. I’m just gonna be bored until you’re back from all your important ambassador stuff.”

“Do you not have anything else to do?” Ralsei asks and Susie shakes her head. “What did you normally do after school before you met us?”

“Dumpster dive, shoplift, find big branches in the woods and smash them against trees.” Susie lists off. “I ended up stealing a Gameboy off of Drake and played a bunch of Dragon Blazers 2 which was apparently Berdly’s favorite game of all time before some jerk stole his Gameboy, but other than that, I didn’t do much.”

“It sounds like you could use a hobby.” Ralsei observes. “Take it from me, you’re not always going to have friends to hang out with all the time. It’s important to find something to keep yourself engaged in the meantime. Are there books you like to read? Do you like games?”

“I guess…” Susie pauses for a moment. “Man, it felt like forever ago, but Ms. Toriel tried to teach me how to bake a pie when I first slept over at Kris’ place. I didn’t even get to have any of it and I doubt I could make it again from memory, but I don’t know, just watching it bake in the oven and knowing that I helped make that felt… I don’t know, it felt good to make something like that.”

“You want to learn how to cook?” Ralsei suggests.

“Hell yeah I do!” Susie quickly barks out in agreement. “If I can make pie, I can eat all the pie that I want without pissing anyone off for eating it all!”

“That’s the spirit!” Ralsei beams. “If you want, once I’m done with my business today, I can teach you how to use the cooking cauldron. If you’d rather do things the old fashioned way and put the work in, I’m sure Toriel would love to teach you too!”

“Hell yeah!” Susie vigorously nods her head. She absolutely loved this idea. “Lancer’s going to think I’m the coolest person in the universe if I can make him whatever he wants whenever he wants it!”

“He already thinks you're the coolest.” Ralsei points out.

“The coolest in the world, but he’s reserving the coolest in the universe for whenever he meets aliens.” Susie corrects him. “It’s a big universe out there, and as unlikely as it is, there’s a slim chance that there’s someone cooler than me out there.”

“I doubt it.” Ralsei shakes his head. “Even with the sunglasses you gave me, I can’t ever hope to be as cool as you.”

“Bullshit, you’re super cool.” Susie insists. “You’re in Lancer’s top five people ever, even though you’re a huge dweeb too. Good to know I’m at the top of your list though.” Reaching over to him, Susie wraps her arm around his neck and pulls him down to give him a noogie. She isn’t nearly as rough with him as she is with Kris, but the action still jostled him. “Anyways, if you’re going to be busy for the next few hours, I guess I’ll go bug Ms. Toriel first. I’ll bring whatever I make back so you can try it.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Ralsei nods, readjusting his glasses and smoothing out his fur again. “I can’t wait to see what you make!”

Hurrying out the front gates, Susie leaves Ralsei behind to finish feeding everyone, serving up breakfast for the late risers who slept in. It isn’t long before everyone gets a serving and dishes are returned to the cauldron. Jumping off his stool and stretching out, he retreats back upstairs to take a small break before he leaves to see Mrs. Holiday.

Opening the door to Vess’ room, Ralsei checks the place over again once more. Of course, nothing has changed, the room is still empty. With yet another disappointed sigh, Ralsei enters the room and sits down on his chair, leaning over to grab the book from the small pile he’s left here. Leaning back into his seat, he cracks open the book and continues where he left off.

He’s already explained to Kris why he spends so much time here. It’s the closest he can get to Vess without them actually being here. Not only that, but since then, Kris has confirmed something that Susie suggested a while ago. In another timeline, when Vess first left, Vess was aware of Ralsei’s presence in their room, and when things got particularly bad, they woke up to make sure he was alright. Vess wasn’t even in the room anymore, but he hoped that they still knew he was here, impatiently waiting for their return.

Everyone says he’s extremely lucky that he was completely left out of the reset shenanigans, but he didn’t think so. Sure, he was spared from the awful things Gaster did to everyone and he wasn’t trapped in a time loop, but he missed out on so much. Susie sometimes talks to him about things or promises she made that he has no memory of at all because the original conversation was reset. People will come to him for help dealing with their feelings about the whole ordeal, but he was missing crucial context and couldn’t really relate or understand what was bothering them. He missed out on several weeks of time he spent with Kris before they disappeared. From his perspective, Kris vanished immediately after the Roaring, and he didn’t even get a chance to try and help them through it despite Kris’ assurance that he did his best and helped a lot while they were still there.

Ralsei also missed out on all the time he spent with Vess before they left again. It wasn’t until months down the line after being told countless times that they’d be back that they finally returned. Even after that, things were so serious, they were so laser focused on saving Kris that he couldn’t even spend time with them. Ralsei only got to experience a single day of fun with them, and after that, they were gone again.

He hopes beyond hope that when they come back, they’ll stay for a while. There’s so much he wants to do, his heart wouldn’t be able to take it if they only came to visit for a single day.

Another hour passes as Ralsei struggles to focus enough to get a few chapters finished in his book before he closes it up and leaves the room behind. It was time to get to work.

Stopping by the cauldron one last time to fill a thermos full of piping hot chocolate, Ralsei ventures out into the cold and begins his long trip towards the old fair grounds. He’s sure any number of people in town could offer him some form of transportation, but he spent too long hidden away in his castle. Getting a chance to stretch his legs and get some fresh air every weekend did him some good, so he preferred to walk. Humming a tune to himself, he makes his way through hometown, taking in the sights and greeting those he passed by.

Eventually the buildings and the townsfolk gave way to a long stretch of trees and silence as Ralsei walked down the lonely road towards the fair. It gave Ralsei time to think, and of course, the only thing he could think about was Vess. He hopes they’ll stick around long enough for the snow to melt and for the fair to go back to its usual busy state. The bumper cars, the ferris wheel, all of it was so much fun, and as much as Ralsei enjoyed his time with Vess on the last day they shared, he wanted to do it again. Vess lost their body at that point and had to use Ralsei as a host. He’d take that over nothing, but during the ferris wheel ride, he desperately wanted someone to cling on to when Kris started rocking the carriage back and forth. He wanted Vess to be there to hug, to hold their hand…

Ralsei hears someone clear their throat beside him, startling him out of his daydreaming and returning him to the present. He didn’t even notice, but he had made it to the fair and almost walked right past the woman he was supposed to meet. Mrs. Carol Holiday stood by impatiently, splitting her attention between a phone she was rapidly typing away at and him.

“You were almost late.” She says with a hint of irritation, though none of it shows on her statuesque face.

“Almost.” Ralsei points out. “I know how important these meetings are, I’d never miss one.” Mrs. Holiday only lets out an affirmative grunt in response and turns to move, expecting him to follow. A lot of people saw her as cold and emotionless, but Ralsei had a clear view into her soul and how she really felt. She was pleased to see that he took this seriously, even if he wasn’t willing to arrive half an hour before the meeting like she did. None of it showed, but Ralsei could tell that she liked him.

Trailing behind her, Ralsei looked out at the now mostly empty fairgrounds. All of the rides and attractions have closed down due to the weather and in the time since the Roaring, everyone who took refuge here had found a new home. The only thing that was active anymore was the large, blocky building sitting just beside the great Barrier of darkness separating them from the rest of the world.

Stepping inside and escaping the cold, they enter the communications room. The Queen has made great technological leaps since the Roaring and immediately got to work in trying to reestablish connections to the outside world. She claims to have only done this so she could use social media to steal memes, but whatever her intentions were, they were now able to talk to people outside the barrier. With the help of Sans and a great surge of power, they were even able to communicate with Vess in their own world.

“Mrs. Holiday, Prince Ralsei.” Upon entering the room, the Tasque Manager greets them. Queen was of course too busy running her kingdom to help here every weekend, but the Tasque Manager she sent to assist them in her place was far more pleasant to work with anyways. “The power is fully charged and the connection is strong! I have run troubleshooting parameters as always and found no issues. If you have any problems, I will be waiting right outside the door.”

“Good.” Carol says with a dull tone. She’s heard this several times now.

“Thank you for your amazing work.” Ralsei tells the Tasque Manager. They’ve never had any problems with this machine, but he’s sure he has the Tasque Manager to thank for that. If it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t even know how to use the machine for even the most basic tasks. She gives him a big smile before leaving him to his meeting.

Wasting no more time, Ralsei and Carol sit in front of the large computer terminal which would give them access to everything outside the barrier. Turning it on, a generator roars to life just outside of the building, giving it power. The large monitor in front of them flickers on, and Carol’s hands are already moving to establish a connection. Berdly tried to get him into gaming, but he doesn’t understand how anyone can just know where all the buttons are supposed to be without looking at them constantly. Watching Carol type, he isn’t even sure if her eyes leave the screen once before the blank desktop becomes several large windows, one of which is trying to establish a voice call with the important government officials they needed to speak with.

The connection goes through, and a sea of old, serious looking faces are suddenly staring back at Ralsei.

No one says anything for a while as people continue to tune into the call, but Ralsei can’t help but feel nervous under so many judging eyes. He was by far the youngest person in this call and he’s sure he looks very out of place in his green robes when everyone else wore a suit and tie. He couldn’t read any of them, all he could see were their wrinkled, grouchy looking faces.

“Initiating roll call. Everyone, sound off when called out.” The oldest and meanest looking member of the board calls out and begins listing off names, making sure everyone was accounted for. Not a single name goes unresponded, no one is late to this meeting. “Mrs. Carol Holiday?”

“Here.” Carol is quick to respond. Something else Ralsei noticed during these meetings is that he wasn’t the only one who felt anxious during these meetings. Carol looked razor focused and calm, but seeing past that, Ralsei could see that she felt just as intimidated by this wall of bureaucrats. They’re probably the reason she was so stone faced in the first place. He wonders how many of the men they were talking to were putting up a similar façade.

“We are all gathered once more to continue the discussion regarding Mrs. Holiday’s district and how to properly handle the strange state of affairs surrounding her town.” Once roll call was finished, they got straight to business dealing with Hometown and the barrier. Ralsei noted once more that no one bothered calling out his name. He’s been present at a lot of these meetings, but these people rarely ever acknowledged his existence unless an issue came up that he needed to speak up on. After the first few times, he almost stopped showing up all together, but Carol insisted that he kept coming along.

“Don’t let them talk over you.” She told him before one of their meetings. “You’ll never get a word in unless you assert yourself.” The way she spoke, it almost sounded like she was disappointed in him, and maybe she was a little, but he could see the intent behind it. She saw him as someone with just as much power around here as she had and she didn’t want to see these guys boss him around and make decisions he didn’t want.

It was how he knew without a doubt that through her cold exterior, she respected him quite a bit.

“It’s been almost six months since Mrs. Holiday declared a state of emergency in her district.” The bureaucrats discussed. “Emergency resources and care packages have been supplied since then on a regular basis, but frankly, it is a massive drain on resources for a situation we no longer see as dire. It is of the opinion of several members of the board that shipments should be slowed down or outright cut off from town.”

“Bu-”

“I think you know damn well why that’s a bad idea.” Carol speaks up, interrupting Ralsei and speaking sternly. “While things have been stable and no one is in any immediate danger, people are still cut off from regular supply lines. You do understand that people are relying on the shipments that are coming in, right?”

“We understand, but you are simply using up more than what should be necessary for a town of your population density.” An older gentleman argues, a large pair of glasses resting on his snout. “There’s no conceivable way that a town with a population of under ten thousand can burn through what we offer in such a short amount of time.”

“I have already explained in great detail that the population boomed after the events of the Roaring.” Carol insists with a growl, and Ralsei can feel the temperature in the small room they’re in drop dramatically.

“Have you done a census yet? Do you know how many people crossed the border into town?” Another old man speaks up, a large crack running up his beak. “I understand that there is no real correct course of action for a disaster such as this, but there are still rules that need to be followed and it is getting harder and harder to justify spending taxpayer dollars on a situation we have no concrete numbers for.”

“Cuts have to be made, and seeing as you aren’t working urgently to give us the information that we need, you clearly do not need the supplies we’re sending as much as you claim you do.” The board continues to focus all their attention on Carol, all of them pointing out her mistakes. Ralsei shivered as he glanced over at Carol. Her facade hasn’t changed at all, she just glares at the screen, her mouth downturned into a frown.

Sitting up straight, Ralsei speaks up.

“What is wrong with all of you?!” He demands, earning the attention of everyone in the call. Even Carol seems caught off guard when he speaks up. Ralsei was a very patient person, but after sitting through so many meetings and listening to these old men bicker and berate each other, his patience was being tested. “Who cares about the costs, people need these supplies to survive!”

Everyone on the screen stares at him for several seconds before one speaks up. “Excuse me, who are you?” For the first time in what felt like forever, Ralsei felt genuinely angry, but before he could voice that anger, Carol spoke in his stead.

“This is Prince Ralsei, one of the recognized monarchs within town and communally elected ambassador for his people.” She tells the board. “Have you been paying attention through these meetings? He’s been here for every one of these meetings since the start of the year, something I can say you haven't done, Mr. Blanchard.”

The board of bureaucrats mutter to each other for a moment, taking attention and pressure away from Carol who takes in a deep breath through her nose. He shoots her a smile. She’s never said anything like that about him before and he gets the impression that he did a good job.

“Right… This Prince Ralsei may have been elected by the local population, but he cannot be considered a legitimate ambassador as he has not gone through the normal process of being elected.” A member of the board finally addresses him.

“If I could, I would gladly go through whatever paperwork I need to, but legitimate or not, my point still stands.” Ralsei declares. “People need the food, medicine, and water you’re sending into town. You can’t just deny everyone these important resources just because it’s expensive! What’s the point of being a government official if it isn’t to help the people you’re governing?”

Ralsei doesn’t get an immediate answer as the board starts to murmur amongst themselves again. He hopes that’s a good sign, maybe they’re reconsidering. As they talk with each other, Ralsei looks over to Carol again and she gives him a slight nod. He was doing a good job! She had a professional reputation to keep up, but Ralsei wasn’t shown the same level of respect. That meant he could speak his mind a little more freely than she could.

“This issue isn’t as simple as you think it is, young man.” The oldest member of the board addresses him. “There is a lot of work that goes behind the scenes and a lot of money that is passed around. Simply put, what is going on in your town was of significant importance to start, but we cannot continue to throw money and valuable supplies at the problem and get absolutely no return. That is not how this economy works, you cannot take without giving something in return.”

“But we can’t get anything through the Barrier.” Ralsei argues.

“Precisely.” The head bureaucrat nods. “We are shoveling ungodly amounts of money into a bottomless pit and getting nothing in return. We have no idea what the situation is like in there and for all we know, everything we are giving you is being mismanaged or going to waste and absolutely no progress has been made in breaking the Barrier or finding a way back through it. We cannot fix the problem and we cannot let it drain our resources. Something has to change.”

They were at a standstill again. These people weren’t budging on their decision, and as much as he hated it, they had a point. It’s been months after the Roaring and absolutely nothing has been done regarding the Barrier. No amount of magic seems to be able to break it, no amount of force would be able to push through. They had no plans to take it down, and even if they knew how, who knows what would happen if they did. The darkness that flowed from the fountains tried to contain itself here. If they broke it, would it spread and consume more cities, or would it all fade away, destroying him and all the other Darkners along with it? The Barrier was a very tricky subject, and almost everyone agreed that it was best to not mess with it at all.

Ralsei didn’t know what to say, but thankfully, Carol filled the silence. “If you’re worried about this town becoming a money sink, then let me offer you a compromise.” She says, earning the attention of everyone on the board. “Now that you’ve made your concerns known, I can take the necessary steps to complete the census and all the other necessary work needed to keep track of everyone. In the meantime, I will try everything I can to alleviate the financial stress I’m putting you all through.”

“And how will you do that?” The oldest member asks.

“As I’ve explained in the past, the new residents of town are capable of things I cannot fully understand. The technology being used to speak to you was created by a neighboring kingdom from Prince Ralsei’s. If you are not willing to continue supporting us, all I ask is that you continue to offer emergency services as I try and push to make the town self-sufficient. Ease up on the supplies you send until the end of spring. By then, we should be able to support ourselves, or at the very least drastically ease up on the funds we’re eating into.”

The board murmurs amongst themselves again, but Ralsei can’t help but feel conflicted about the idea. These people were supposed to help the town, but they had to negotiate with them and make compromises to make sure people were fed and their pockets were still fat? If this was what politics were like in the rest of the world, he didn’t want any part of it. There was only one answer which made any sense to him and that was to feed the people who needed food. What was so hard to understand?

“What steps can you take to ensure this process works?” The brittle beaked bureaucrat asks. “Do you have land fit for agriculture? Do you have a source of clean water? How will you distribute these supplies?” Carol falls silent for a moment, trying to choose her words. Ralsei isn’t quite sure if she’s knowledgeable enough to know how to do all of this. She was very smart and worked very hard to support the city, but she had her own group of advisors to rely on for questions like this. She was being put on the spot, but once again, Ralsei spoke up to keep everyone from ganging up on her.

“We have ways of making food.” Ralsei insists, averting attention away from Carol again. “It is my royal duty to feed my subjects every morning, and the food I bring them is made by me personally. As for the neighboring kingdoms, there is plenty of open land and I know a few people who could help establish a permanent farm plot to help feed the rest of the town. As for medicine, you can safely cut out basic medical supplies from the care packages you send us. Not only are there trained doctors within town, but our healing practices are more than enough to take care of the sick and wounded without your help.”

“Mrs. Holiday? Can you confirm any of the young man’s claims?” The board leader asks, glaring at the screen.

“Everything he said is true.” She nods her head. “I know that my word alone isn’t enough to sway you, especially on matters regarding your budgets, but I know we can support ourselves completely if you give us just a bit more support.”

Ralsei could tell that Carol’s mask was starting to slip. She was starting to sound a little desperate, something that he’s learned by now is the exact opposite of how she wants to appear. He couldn’t blame her though, dealing with these people was difficult, and trying to decide what to cut out of life saving care packages was an incredibly difficult choice. Ralsei was confident that he could arrange something to help though, and with Carol vouching for him, he knew she was confident too.

Ralsei and Carol must have sat in silence for several minutes as the board tried to come to a verdict, calculating the costs and determining what could be cut and when. Ralsei was relieved that they were genuinely considering his proposal, but also angry that he had to make the proposal in the first place. He really should treat Carol for all the hard work she puts herself through for the town.

After several minutes of tense silence, the board finally comes to a verdict. “We have decided that the plan you’ve put forward is agreeable to everyone in the board.” The board head declares. “As you’ve suggested, medical supplies will be removed from future care packages. The amount of food and water we offer you will decrease with each passing month for the next three months where we will finally cut you off. Unless you find a way to pass through the Barrier, this will be the last bit of outside help you’ll get. You will of course continue being present for these meetings to report on your progress. Until then, our meeting is adjourned.”

With that last announcement, Carol’s hand flew across the keyboard and pressed the escape key, closing down the window and ending the call. Once the connection was cut, she slumped down in her chair, hands going up to her face as she let out an exhausted groan. Ralsei can’t help but grumble to himself too, he hated that. There were some other meetings that were annoying, like the time they questioned how they were supposed to tax the town without being able to get in or out, or when they threatened to revoke several licenses of Carol’s since she couldn’t appear in person to some of their meetings. The best case scenario for these were that they’d be boring and focused on other towns.

“I don’t suppose you have a cigarette, do you?” Carol suddenly asks Ralsei.

“Of course not! Those are bad for you!” Ralsei shakes his head. “Do you smoke?”

“No, but days like these make me consider starting.” Carol sighs, struggling to recompose herself and appear as stoic as she usually does. Had he been anyone else, she would probably try and hide her weakness, but she didn’t have anything to hide with Ralsei. She was exhausted and he wanted to help.

“Would coffee be ok?” Ralsei suggests. Carol lets out a pleasant sounding hum at that suggestion. She doesn’t smile, but her frown smoothes out until her expression is perfectly neutral once more.

“Let’s take this to your home then.” Carol says, pushing herself out of her chair. “We have no time to waste, we’ll have to discuss what we’re going to do on the drive and at your castle.” Leaving the building, they step back out into the cold, but Ralsei barely even noticed a change in the temperature due to how cold Carol made the building during the meeting. He gives Tasque a wave as they leave, thanking her for her help once again.

“Did I do a good job?” Ralsei asks.

“Yes.” Carol nods. She says nothing more, but that one word was enough to put a smile on Ralsei’s face. He asserted himself and made his voice heard. He didn’t really like the outcome, but the alternative was having nothing sent to them at all. He helped, even if it wasn’t as much as he wanted.

Carol makes her way to a sleek looking black car parked at the edge of the fairgrounds. Knowing that he couldn’t waste the rest of the day away hanging out with friends just yet, he follows after her to get a ride back home, skipping the walk so he could get right to business. Hopping into the car with Carol, they begin the relatively short trip back to his castle.

“You feed everyone at the castle from your own reserves?” Carol asks once they’re on the road. “I told the board that you could feed everyone, but I don’t actually know what you’re doing.”

“Yes, I do.” Ralsei nods. “In fact, I’ll show you how once we get home! It’s a lot of hard work to feed everyone and I’d need help if I was going to feed the whole town, but I’m reasonably sure I can keep everyone from starving.”

“And the agriculture plans?” Carol continues.

“I suppose I should have asked him first, but Asgore Dreemurr has quite the green thumb!” Ralsei says. “WIth the amount of care he shows all his flowers, I’m sure he’d do great growing crops for people to eat.” At the mention of Asgore’s name, a short chuckle escaped from Carol, catching Ralsei by surprise. “Did I say something funny?”

“I can speak with Asgore myself.” She says with the barest hint of a smirk on her face. “I’ve been seeing him recently on other private matters, I’m sure I can talk him into working with me.” Ralsei smiles at that, looks like that’s one less problem to worry about. Maybe this will be easier than he thought!

Returning to the castle, he invites Carol inside. The few people hanging out in the main hall clear out once Carol enters, but that’s for the best anyways. They had a lot to discuss, they’d be able to talk more freely with some privacy. Dragging his stool over to the cauldron, he immediately starts stirring its contents, picturing a pot of freshly brewed coffee in his mind. He’s only ever had coffee once in his life after being offered some at the café, so his experience is limited. He hopes Carol likes hers with a LOT of cream.

“This is how I feed everyone here in Castle Town.” Ralsei tells Carol, slowly getting into the groove as he stirs the pot. “It’s a magical creation I perfected during my years of isolation here before people started to move in. As long as I can picture what I want in my head, I can channel that mental image into the magic soup within the cauldron and create it from nothing!”

“From nothing?” Carol steps forward and peers into the cauldron, skepticism written plainly on her face, but she must be able to smell the fresh brew Ralsei was making in there. Rather than answering her, Ralsei continues to stir a little while longer before dipping his ladle into the pot and fishing up a mug. Ralsei fails to hold back a chuckle at the surprised look on Carol’s face. Holding the mug out to her, he waits for her to take it and try it for herself.

She cautiously reaches out for the mug and brings it to her nose. One good whiff is enough to dispel her reservations and she takes a sip. Ralsei stands by, clutching at his stirring spoon and waiting for her reaction.

“Too much cream.” She states after her first sip, disappointing Ralsei, but she goes in for a second sip regardless. It may not be exactly to her tastes, but she was still drinking it. “This can create anything?”

“As long as I can picture it myself, yes!” Ralsei nods. After several seconds of staring at the pot, slowly sipping at her coffee, Carol speaks up again.

“Can you make an apple strudel?” She asks. “I used to get them from a bakery with my coffee years ago. They were Dess’ favorite.”

“Good choice!” Ralsei nods, clearing his head and picturing the new desert in his mind. Carol waits patiently, still glaring into the cauldron to try and make sense of it, but her eyes go wide when the scent of apples starts to waft from the pot. The reactions were his favorite part of the process. Sure, this method wasn’t as gratifying as actual cooking, working dough and measuring ingredients, but the surprise on everyone’s faces when he fishes their favorite dish out of thin air is always a joy to see.

Dipping his ladle into the cauldron once more, Ralsei pulls out a small plate containing the apple flavored delicacy, carefully balanced on the ladle. He holds it out to Carol who struggles to maintain her usual façade as she stares dumbfounded at the desert. Taking the dish and poking at the strudel, she finds that it is warm and flakey instead of soggy. Ralsei waits patiently for her to take a bite, wondering if it will break the mask she’s putting up completely.

Just one bite was enough to make all the stress of the meeting melt away. One bite was enough to completely lower her guard and Ralsei nearly gasped at the sight of her smile.

She quickly moves to put up her walls again, and while Ralsei could tell she was still overjoyed, she tried to get back to business. “This cauldron is extraordinary. This would fix more than just our own food problems, this could put an end to world hunger! Could we make more of these? Are there any limitations to their use?”

“It took me a very long time to create this.” Ralsei informs. “It takes a lot of magical energy to produce, and while I’m sure I can make one way faster if I tried again, it would still take way too long. Not only that, but it takes a lot of time to master its use and it requires concentration and a firm grasp on what you want. I was already very familiar with various baked goods, so making pies and cakes comes as second nature to me, but if you wanted me to make a dish I never heard of or had before, I wouldn’t be able to recreate it without experiencing it myself.”

“It’s still an amazing feat.” Carol says, staring in repressed awe at the cauldron. “One man operating this magical creation wouldn’t be able to feed the entire town though, and as you said, it has its limitations. We need supply lines, we need agriculture, we need people to process what we can harvest. Things are chaotic right now, but the board is right, I’ve been slacking. I’m afraid I’m out of my element here and I cannot hope to make things normal again, but that doesn’t mean I can let things like this slip.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Ralsei pleads with her. “I honestly don’t know how you put up with those people. That meeting made me so upset, hearing how willing they were to just cut everyone off for such a dumb reason.”

“That’s politics.” Carol sighs, taking another sip of her coffee. “Old men looking out for their own towns, but mostly for themselves. Some do it for the money, some for power, it’s all a complete mess.”

“But you’re one of the good ones though.” Ralsei points out. “You’re one who really cares.” Carol lets out a dull hum. He isn’t sure what that sound is supposed to mean. Was she not as great as he thought she was? Did she have to make hard choices too?

“I won’t lie, sometimes I wish we were truly cut off from the rest of the world.” She sighs. “The real world is a lot harsher and messier than you know. In here though, everything is a lot simpler, even with the impossible magic and supernatural beings. My husband is cured, my oldest daughter is back home, everything seems to have an easy fix. The couple of months where I no longer had to worry about the board and all the paperwork, it was simultaneously terrifying, and relieving.”

“Terrifying?” Ralsei asks.

“No one makes it in politics with nothing but good intentions.” Carol says. “After Rudy’s diagnosis and Dess’ disappearance, I struggled to keep things together. Being in that office, signing off on every little change that happens in town, I was in control of everything. I didn’t do this purely to help the town, I did it because…” Carol takes another sip of her coffee, finishing off the mug. “I don’t know why I’m sharing this. I should-”

“It’s alright.” Ralsei says, holding out his hand to take the empty mug. “You’re still helping the town, even if your intentions aren’t perfectly pure. Even I do things for selfish reasons sometimes. In the end, you’re still doing a good job.” Handing him her mug, Ralsei tosses it back into the cauldron, letting it dissipate back into the magical soup within. Carol looks hesitant to go on. She was a very reserved person, and after sitting through so many meetings, it was no wonder, but at the same time, he’s been right by her side, pointing out just how dumb all of this was.

She probably didn’t have many people to confide in, but if anyone would keep her secrets, Ralsei surely would.

“I’ve turned being the mayor of this town into a sort of war with the neighboring government officials.” She admits, her mask slowly coming off. She was speaking from the heart. “Things were falling apart at home, but I was the queen of the castle when I was in my office. I needed that sense of control after getting blind sided by so many disasters at home. Of course, I didn’t always get my way. Other members of the board had their own agendas and their own ideas for how things should be run, and they often conflicted with my own. It didn’t help that I was a woman in a male dominated field which only made me seem like an easier target to overrule.”

“Why would that change anything?” Ralsei asks. The look Carol gives him is a confusing one, a strange mishmash of frustration, grief, and relief.

“Like I said, the real world outside of this bubble we’re trapped in is complicated, filled with morally gray people playing with power for their own gain.” She says. “I was terrified to see everything around me crumble during the Roaring, but once things got stable, when Rudy started to look better and better with each passing week, when I heard Noelle say that people were looking for Dess, I stepped away from my office and took some time to reflect.”

“This job makes me absolutely miserable.” She says, finishing the strudel which had now gone cold and tossing the plate into the pot. “I hate having to fight to be heard by a dozen old men who look down on me. I hate having to fight an uphill battle to do anything for this town, no matter how small. I live in a fantasy world where my daughter can heal any injury in seconds and my husband is cancer free, but the board still insists that I adhere to all their rules and regulations. The situation we’re in now doesn’t make any sense, and trying to apply logic and standard procedures doesn’t work anymore. We can’t fix the Barrier, meaning we’re a constant drain on resources, and I’m the only person who can try and convince the heartless old bastards to think of the people still stuck in here. I almost feel that showing up every weekend gave them the stupid idea. If I can look so calm, surely we’re not in an emergency. It’s…”

As Carol spoke, her ranting became more passionate and Ralsei gets the unfortunate pleasure to witness Carol when she’s genuinely angry. Ralsei must have looked pretty upset because suddenly, Carol shuts up and her face becomes neutral again.

“It’s stressful work, but someone has to do it, even if nothing makes sense anymore.” She stares down into the bubbling cauldron, her face expressing no emotion at all, hiding what she’s thinking behind the stone mask she wore to not show weakness to her political opponents. He only got a short glimpse of what she was like without that filter, but seeing Carol get angry like that made her very similar to the passionate and fiery nature of Dess when someone crossed her.

“Thank you for sharing that with me.” Ralsei says, genuinely touched that Carol trusted him enough to open up this much. “Maybe I’m naive, maybe how I run this castle doesn’t really work out in the real world, but whatever you need help with, I can do my best. If you still need someone to back you up when talking to those mean old guys or if you just need a treat afterwards to wind down, you can count on me!”

“Right.” Carol nods, still trying to look stoic. She turns to leave, but before she does, she glances back at him. “I’d like you to come down to town hall tomorrow afternoon. I don’t have any magic desert making device, but I want to pay you back for being such a good host.”

“I’d love to!” Ralsei beams.

Without another word, Carol leaves the castle, off to continue her important work to make enough changes around town to sustain it without the help everyone else didn’t want to give them anymore. Getting to see a little bit of the real her, he’s also starting to think they’d be better off without the rest of the world, or at least without all these mean bureaucrats. There were no doubt plenty of really cool people and places out there that he’d like to meet and see, but things were much simpler here. It sounded like the outside world was a huge hassle.

He wasn’t quite sure what the time was, but he was beat after that meeting, and Susie hasn’t come back yet. If she was still out, she was probably still learning how to bake with Toriel. With her out for who knows how long and with his official business for the day finished, he decides to continue reading his book. He’s got a lot on his mind right now, but for once, it wasn’t about Vess, so he might be able to focus this time.

Climbing up the stairs and entering Vess’ room, he once again finds it empty. Sitting down on his chair, he reaches down and picks up his book, his finger skimming through the dog eared pages until he finds where he left off. Despite his best efforts to actually get some reading done, he finds it difficult to focus on the words or even keep his eyes open. It was a little early in the day for a nap, but there was no harm in taking one now, was there? Besides, Vess would want him to rest after such a stressful day.

Closing his book, he sets it down beside the chair before taking off his glasses and placing those down as well, settling into his seat and letting himself sink into the cushions. He closes his eyes and tries to let himself relax, but his mind wanders a little too much for him to really fall asleep. All this talk about the Barrier has him thinking now. Something had to be done about it eventually, right? He really liked how things turned out, but this wasn’t exactly natural. Light and Dark were supposed to be separated, the Barrier itself was proof that there was an imbalance that it was trying to contain.

Will it always be here? Will it remain as an indestructible, inescapable bubble that he and his friends will spend the rest of their lives in? Will it fade over time, will someone find a way to break it? Once it’s gone, will that affect everyone in town? Will it affect him?

He’s so happy that he gets to spend time with Kris and Susie every single day, but during the Roaring, when the entire world was under threat, he was fully prepared to become nothing more than an inanimate object to make sure everyone was safe. If he needed to seal the Grand Fountain, that was a sacrifice he was willing to make, it was his purpose in the prophecy after all. But things were perfect now, better than perfect, so what will happen if that all goes away?

He supposes he wouldn’t even be capable of caring unless he was brought to a new Dark World, but how would Kris and Susie handle it? How would Kris handle trying to be a normal kid again after everything they went through? How will Susie handle losing half of her friends once the Dark World magic takes away their forms?

The people outside of the Barrier want it gone, but that brought so many unknowns with it. Would he be here, would the darkness spread? Could the entire world be put into jeopardy? Maybe this was a bigger problem than he thought. Carol was beating herself up for not paying enough attention and working to prevent problems, but he might be doing the same. He should probably bring it up with the board to see what they were planning, even though he knew it was going to be unpleasant. Could he wait another week though?

“Ralsei! Ralsei, where are you, you nerd!” Ralsei is roused from his fitful nap by the sound of Susie shouting down the hall. Panic briefly filled his chest hearing her raise her voice after thinking about potential end of the world scenarios, but he quickly calms himself down. Those weren’t desperate, panicked shouts, those were excited shouts.

Kicking the door open, Susie barges into the room, holding a tin in her hand covered in foil. “Wakey wakey! I don’t care if it’s nap time, I just made the best goddamn pie in the world and you… gotta…”

Ralsei was still trying to fully wake himself up and reach for his glasses, but hearing her words slowly die out filled him with panic again. What was wrong? Why did she stop? He tries to listen if maybe she heard something that caught her attention, only to hear something that nearly stops his heart.

He heard a light breathing coming from right next to him.

Blindly reaching out, his hands finally find his glasses and he hurries to place them onto his face. Once they were on, he looked to his side to confirm what he suspected.

Someone was in the bed.

“Holy shit, holy shit!” Susie started freaking out. “I gotta go get Kris, hold on!” Sprinting back down the hall, Susie retreats back down the stairs to bring Kris here as soon as possible, taking whatever she wanted to show Ralsei with her. Ralsei remains completely motionless at the bedside, his heart pounding in his chest. They were here! Vess finally pulled through! He could barely contain his excitement, he wanted to reach out and shake them awake, to finally say hi to his friend for the first time in months, he…

He stared at the form on the bed, his excitement slowly being replaced with confusion. They looked… different from how he remembered them. It hasn’t been that long since he saw them, he had a pretty good memory and he can still perfectly picture how Vess looked when they tied their hair into a ponytail after waking up to rescue Kris. The person in the bed did not match the image in his head.

The person sleeping on Vess’ bed had hair even longer than Vess’ after waking up, their hair tied into a braid and reaching halfway down their back, though they still had the cute heart shaped cowlick at the top. They wore the same red and brass bounty hunter armor, but Ralsei noticed (a bit bashfully,) that the chestplate protruded outward slightly, making room for this person's chest. Ralsei could not see any of the scars Vess had, their face did not match the same one Ralsei saw in his dreams. The more he looked at the person lying in Vess’ bed, the more he was convinced that this was a complete stranger.

“Vess?” Ralsei called out, unsure if this was his crush or someone else entirely.

In response, the person on the bed let out an annoyed grunt, and shifted in bed, curling up and turning away from him before falling back asleep.

Ralsei wanted to shake them awake, to confirm if this was his friend or not, but all he could do was stare, his heart hammering in his chest. All he could do was wait for his friends to return, or for the beautiful person in the bed to wake up.

Chapter Text

“Any final touch up’s you want done?” Lizzy asks you as you look over the sprite sheet she’s sent you. You can’t think of a single change you would make. Lizzy’s always been an amazing artist and she’s made plenty of things for you, but this felt a lot more personal. This wasn’t just a commissioned piece of artwork or a fun side project.

“Just gotta say, by the way, love the idea that the Dark World version of the vessel would wear Varik’s armor from that dumb Earthbound thing Toby made ages ago.” Lizzy adds on, clearly quite proud of the work herself. “And I tested it myself, I’m able to respite my game with this with the right conversions done. It’s good to go.”

“Thank you.” You eventually manage to tell her over the call, pulling your eyes away from the sprite sheet to focus on the actual conversation. “I’ve been waiting for something like this for a while now, I can’t believe I actually have it!”

“What was this for again?” Lizzy asks you. “I get that you’re basically known as that one guy who’s REALLY into Undertale and Deltarune, but this seems like it’s for something special. Are you modding the game? Are you making a fan game with all those long distance friends you hang out with?”

“Something like that.” You tell her. “I can’t really explain it. It’s kind of like a fan made continuation of everything I guess. I already ramble on about this stuff enough, I’d probably bore you to death talking about it.”

You still haven’t told anyone about what actually happened. You want to, you really do, god knows it would take a massive weight off your mind to know that you haven’t gone completely crazy, but you don’t know where to even begin. You’ve considered dragging a friend into a call whenever Kris called back, but would that be definitive proof? Your friends would probably think you’d just gone insane and convinced yourself that a random roleplayer online was the real life Kris Dreemurr. It was better to just keep the lie going that you’re just part of some fan group with people who live overseas.

“What’s her name, by the way?” Lizzy asks you a question, and for a moment, you find yourself completely blindsided.

“Huh?”

“You’ve sat here giving me details as I streamed the design process and told me all about all the stuff she did saving the world and sealing the Fountains or whatever. You’ve never told me what her name is.” Lizzy elaborates. “It’s usually the first thing people tell me for commissions.”

“It’s uh…” You pause. “It’s Vess.”

“The discarded vessel made into an actual character is just named Vess?” You can hear just how unimpressed Lizzy was through the call. “You suck at coming up with names, man.”

“It just stuck, ok?” You say, desperately trying to defend yourself. “I was put on the spot and Vess was the best I could come up with at the time. It stuck though, everyone seems to like it.”

“Calm down man, I’m just messing with you.” Lizzy snorts. “Just saying though, people are gonna think that name’s dumb if you actually do upload whatever this weird project you’re making is. Just make sure you tell your buddies who made it and ask them what they think. If they’re looking for a sprite artist, I’m your gal.”

“I’m sure they’ll get a kick out of it and I’ll let them know.” You assure her. “I don’t really know how they’d go about commissioning you or what they’d even want, but I’ll spread the word.”

“You know, it’s weird shit like that which makes me curious.” Lizzy points out. “You don’t know how they’d go about commissioning me? Where do they live, the moon? They can reach me the same way everyone else does.”

“Right…” You mumble.

“Anyways, you gonna head up to the mall with the rest of the guy’s tomorrow?” Lizzy asks, moving on to another topic. “I’ve still got a lot of work to catch up on and it sounded like they were just gonna bum around the arcade all day.”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” You shake your head, though obviously Lizzy can’t see that through the call. “I gotta share this with everyone online and they’re probably gonna take up a bunch of my time. I’ll call them up tomorrow morning to see what my plans are.”

“Cool.” Lizzy tells you. “I’ll see you whenever then. Remember, tell everyone where you got those sprites. I’m still trying to get out there and if all your buddies overseas like it, I’d appreciate the shoutout.”

Without much of a goodbye, Lizzy cuts the call, leaving you staring at the discord page containing the sprites she drew for you.

You aren’t sure how long you stare at those pixelated sprites for. Something about them just drew you in. You’re not much of an artist, but you tried to recreate your vessel as best as you could so that Lizzy could get the look right, but halfway through sketching it out, you realized that you could make your vessel however you wanted. This was you, you could completely curate your body to how you felt.

And you’ve been feeling very strange ever since you left Hometown.

You’ve maybe spent a few weeks total inside Deltarune, but in that short time, your perception of yourself has changed a little bit, not just personality wise thanks to Ralsei and the others, but physically. When you look in the mirror, you almost expect to find long, unkempt auburn hair instead of the short, spikey head of dark hair you normally have. People have had to repeat themselves to get your attention because ”Vinny” doesn’t immediately jump out to you as your name like ”Vess” does. People commented on how androgynous your vessel looked within Hometown and Kris treating your real name almost like a deadname was what sparked a connection in your head that you’ve been simmering on for weeks now, and looking at how you’ve helped design your new vessel, it’s impossible to deny anymore.

You were starting to question your own identity.

Needless to say, it’s stressing you the fuck out.

It’s not like you’re afraid of people’s reactions or anything. You live in a reasonably progressive state and every one of your friends knew that Miles was gay, even though he would never admit it. You’re mostly just questioning yourself. Was this something that’s always been going on in the background that this weird soul stealing video game managed to bring to the surface? Or was it the game messing with you? Were these weird gender problems being caused by the game?

It all sounded stupid, it felt like it came out of nowhere, but you cannot deny the feeling of envy you feel when you look at the sprites on your screen. You want to be that. You want to look like that. You can look like that.

If this sprite sheet actually works, anyways.

You quickly put a pin in the existential crisis you were on the verge of having to clear your desktop and focus on the work at hand. You can freak out later, preferably in good company and in the body you were desperate to be in. You save the sprite sheet that was given to you and get to work converting it into the correct file extension to work for the game.

You’ve already looked into this, you’ve already convinced your friends to let you run tests on their computers and compared their files to yours. The program files for your copy were different from everyone else’s, though there was only one noticeable difference between yours and everyone’s regular copies. There was a single additional folder, completely blank and awaiting assets. As far as you can tell, it was created when you tried to get back into the game and learned that you couldn’t.

It was waiting for your vessel.

With your freshly converted sprite sheet completed, you drag the sheet into the waiting folder, your heart pounding as you do so. Nothing significant happens once it’s in there, these were just files you were moving around on your computer, but now was the moment of truth. You’ve already had dinner, the sun was just starting to set on the horizon, you had no other responsibilities to worry about. You were ready to go back.

Minimizing everything and staring at your desktop, you slowly bring your mouse over to the application launcher, sweat beading on your forehead as anxiety and anticipation brew into an unstable mixture within your guts. You brace yourself, unsure of what was going to happen as you double click on Deltarune, closing your eyes immediately afterwards.

A couple seconds pass before you open your eyes out of confusion. A new window you’ve never seen before pops up, which you take as a good sign. Leaning forward and taking a deep breath to relieve some of the tension inside of you, you read the new window.

Alright… Ok, this is good. You seriously doubt any other copy of the game has any functionality like this, but rather than question it, you’re instead grateful to whatever the hell cursed your game into containing a real life pocket dimension, whether that be God, or Toby Fox himself. How convenient that this soul snatching piece of software also had a built in patcher! That’s a lot of doubt and anxiety taken care of. It looks like the program will handle things from this point out.

The window extends slightly as a progress bar is added to the bottom, and after a couple of minutes staring at it, your anxiety and anticipation is instead replaced with disappointment and frustration.

It’s been sitting on 1% for what felt like ever.

You continue to stare at it, willing the number to go up by even a single integer. You scroll through discord, wondering if there’s anything you’ve missed, you tidy up around your desk, you even leave to go use the bathroom and by the time you come back, the bar has thankfully moved, but only by a single point. It was going to take more than a moment.

Now what?

Well, a watched pot never boils, right? Leaving your desk, you try to find something else to occupy your mind, desperate to avoid the more complicated and personal problems that were trying to creep back into your mind. Mom and Dad were still out late, but you do them a favor by washing up some dishes and cleaning up around the house. You were about to dive back into an alternate world for who knew how long, the least you could do was some chores before you became unresponsive.

Now that you’re thinking about it, what the hell happens to you while you’re ”playing?” Could someone wake you up and drag you back into reality? Are you just completely brain dead at your desk until you wake up again? That would be an interesting way to show your friends that your game is messed up, just launching it makes you pass out!

Shit… If Kris is able to communicate to you through your computer, maybe you could send messages to yourself once you’re over on their side. If you had someone waiting at your computer to receive those messages, you’d be able to explain exactly what’s going on. You were actually starting to come up with some interesting plans now! Of course, knowing your luck and how weird and nonsensical this whole program was, it might not work at all with someone else in the room to keep its true power a secret. You wouldn’t write that off, literally nothing about any of this made sense.

Whenever you get back to your room, you find that the patch is 7% complete. At this rate, it wasn’t going to be finished until sometime tomorrow morning. You’d ask why it was taking so long to integrate a sprite sheet that was only a few megabytes big so damn long, but you know better than to try and make sense of this. Besides, this wasn’t a sprite bank, this was making a whole ass person.

You’ve officially run out of things to do, and with it already being pretty late in the evening, you decide the best course of action is to just sleep in and wait out the patch time.

Crawling into bed, you pull up your covers and try to fall asleep, but your thoughts start to wander as you drift off. You couldn’t wait until you got to see everyone again. It’s been way too long, and while Kris’ calls helped make the wait for your commission to go through tolerable, you couldn’t wait to see them in person. You were a little worried that Susie would hold true to her promise to punch you in the face for being gone so long, but you were excited to see her too nonetheless.

You were especially excited to see Ralsei.

You loved all of your friends dearly, both here in the real world and within the game, but Ralsei’s different. It’s literally impossible for you to feel down whenever he’s around. You’ve always been drawn towards him, but something from Kris’ last call has been bouncing around in your mind for a while now, something that’s been making you think back on all the time you spent with him.

Kris didn’t really leave that much room for interpretation, but you still find it a little hard to believe that Ralsei might have a thing for you. He obviously likes you, he likes everyone, but you can’t help but feel that you get special treatment. He always came to your aid when Kris was weary of you, he was the one who kept you company every night while you were away, waiting for your return. He alone was responsible for a huge change in your personality as you tried to emulate him somewhat. You respected how much he cared for other people and the lengths he went to in order to avoid conflict and find a peaceful solution to things.

You don’t doubt that he might have feelings for you, you just don’t know what to do if he does.

You hear a door open and a muffled conversation takes place. Your parents must have finally gotten back. Turning over in bed, you try to blot out the conversation and get some real sleep, but your mind continues to race.

You’ve never really been in a real relationship yet. It’s something that hasn’t bothered you much, but the idea of a serious relationship being a possibility puts butterflies in your stomach. The thought of starting a relationship with Ralsei was an exciting one, but there were all sorts of dumb thoughts holding you back from taking that idea seriously. You know for a fact Ralsei is real, the world he comes from is not a game or an advanced VR program. He’s real, but a voice in your head is still trying to convince you that you’re a weirdo who’s best friends are video game characters. You wanna think that you don’t care, but the fact that this voice in your head exists means that there’s still a little bit of insecurity about what you’re doing and how you feel about your friends.

You really do need to show Zach and the other’s what’s going on here. As soon as one other person can confirm that this isn’t all in your head, all of the doubt will go away. None of them are especially into Deltarune, but you know for a fact that if Ralsei was put right in front of them and offered them a hug, they’d love him immediately. Maybe if the patcher is still working by the time you wake up, you can invite Zach over and figure out a plan to prove all of this to him.

You curl up a little more, finally settling in enough to fall asleep completely, when something pelts you in the side of the head. You tiredly scratch at your cheek, wondering if some kind of bug managed to get into your room, but you find nothing and try to ignore it. You’ve been on the verge of deep sleep for a while now, once you get over that threshold, it won’t bother you anymore.

Unfortunately, whatever’s buzzing around the room hits your face again.

“Dude?! Cut it out!” A hushed voice hisses in your room, giving you a jolt. What the hell was that?! Before you could even open your eyes or move to look, something once again hits your face. You bring your hand up quickly and bring it down on your cheek, catching whatever’s been hitting you. Struggling to open your eyes, you bring your hand in front of your face to find something golden brown and crumbly. You think you can see a grain or two of sugar on it before you’re hit again.

“Wha?!” You finally turn around, sluggishly as you’re still trying to hold onto your drowsiness so you can fall back asleep, but the sight of people in your room forces you to quickly jolt awake. You wipe at your eyes, careful not to get crumbs in them, and once your vision finally clears, you’re shocked to find Kris, Susie, and Ralsei all staring back at you in awe.

You all just stare at each other for a while in disbelief. You’re the first one to break the silence as you watch Kris pick a piece of crust off a plated slice of pie they’re holding and flick it at you.

“Stop that!” You eventually blurt out. “What the hell are you doing that for?!”

“Trying to wake you up.” Kris tells you. “You finally showed up after how many months and you’re just gonna sleep in all day?”

“Kris, you really don’t have any grounds to stand on here.” Susie shakes her head at their side. “I had to drag your ass out for breakfast this morning.”

“Yeah, but I have an excuse for that.” Kris argues, but you aren’t able to hear what that excuse is before arms are wrapped around you and you find yourself in the warm and fluffy embrace of Ralsei.

“VESS!” They cry into your shoulder. “You’re finally back! I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too!” You tell him, resting your chin on top of his fluffy head. God, he’s so fluffy. “I honestly wasn’t expecting to drop in so soon, but I’m glad I’m here.”

“About time you got back.” Susie nods, her look of worry from earlier now replaced with a wide, split lipped grin. “You uh… You look different.”

“I do?” It takes a second for her words to click, but once they do, your heart stutters in your chest. Pulling your arm free from Ralsei’s hug, you reach your hand up to your hair and gasp when your hand brushes up against the long braid running down your back. Did it work? “Do any of you have a mirror?”

“Yeah, actually.” Susie nods. “It’s in my room, but that can wait. You’re finally back?”

“I think so, yeah.” You nod, a little breathless with excitement. Ralsei pulls away from you, allowing you to pull yourself out of bed. You’re still a little drowsy since you were just about to fall asleep, but your heart was racing now, there was no point in staying in bed.

Just getting out of bed and stretching out your legs made something tingle in the back of your head though. The weight of your armor was great to have back, but just the way your body felt was new. You were a lot more slender now than you normally were, maybe a bit taller too. It also wasn’t hard to miss the weight on your chest. You didn’t need a mirror to confirm this was your new vessel, but you desperately wanted to see what you looked like.

That could wait though. Before you could do much of anything, Kris hands you the pie they were picking from. “Susie made pie, by the way.” They tell you. “We were all about to try it, but you materializing out of thin air was a bit of a bigger deal.”

“And none of you assholes have told me what you think about it yet!” Susie points out. “I get this is a big deal, but still.”

“It was very good, Susie, especially for your first time!” Ralsei tells her. “I think you have a real talent for this!”

“Thank you.” Susie nods, turning her attention towards you. “How about you? How is it?” Looking down at the plate given to you, you can see the crust has been picked away, but you pick the slice up and take a bite anyway. The taste of cream and raspberries fills your mouth immediately, and before you can even finish chewing the first bite, you go in for your second. You just ate not long ago, but evidently your vessel wasn’t created with a full stomach. “Alright good, you like it.” Susie seems pleased. “I just remembered I had to punch your lights out for being gone for months and driving Ralsei crazy, but you’re in my good graces for a little while longer.”

Ok, that’s something you’re still gonna have to worry about. Something that she says catches your attention though, and after swallowing what you’ve scarfed down, you ask a question. “What’s wrong with Ralsei?”

In response to your question, both Susie and Kris turn to look at Ralsei, who suddenly finds it very hard to meet your eyes all of a sudden. “Oh, uh. Nothing’s wrong with me, I just, uh… I just… I really missed you is all. I’ve been kinda annoying about it, I guess.”

“Absolutely insufferable.” Kris says with a cruel smirk. “You literally never shut up about them.”

“Shush!” Ralsei shushes them, a blush burning at his face. You can’t help but feel a blush forming on your cheeks as well. He was into you, wasn’t he?

“So what were you all doing here before Kris started throwing stuff at me?” You ask as you try and finish off the raspberry pie Susie made. “Were you just watching me sleep?”

“We weren’t sure it was you.” Susie says. “You can see for yourself in a minute, but you look completely different. Even Ralsei was second guessing himself.”

“Do I look alright?” You ask. “I have a general idea of how I look now, but I haven’t gotten a chance to get a good look.”

“You look very p-pretty.” Ralsei says, stuttering a little at the end.

“You look amazing and it pisses me off.” Kris says. “I’d kill to have hair like that. Where did this vessel come from? Were you just randomly made more feminine?”

“A friend of mine made this for me.” You say, your heart beating heavily as everyone praises your new look. Ralsei calling you pretty nearly stopped your heart. “She wanted to know what people thought, but I guess I can tell her it’s a hit?”

“What the hell do you mean someone made this for you?!” Susie asks, incredibly weirded out by the idea. “What, did you just grab a bunch of body parts and stitch this together? How did it even get in here? Ralsei was sleeping in his chair when I found you two here, did they sneak in and just dump you in bed?”

“Don’t ask how I got here, I have no idea.” You shake your head. “I wasn’t even planning on showing up today, I was going to visit the next morning after I went to bed. As for how this vessel was made, it was a process that took months of hard work and careful planning. I had to watch over the whole process, pointing out the changes I wanted made and making sure all the details were in place. Unlike my last vessel which was made by Gaster, this one was designed to fit me specifically.”

You were dancing around the truth again. Thinking about it now, you realize that you actually do quite a bit of lying to both of your friend groups. You were already coming up with plans to open up and be a bit more honest with your real world friends, but you’d likely have to keep lying to everyone here for their safety. Kris was looking at you funny and you suspected that they realized that you were intentionally leaving out details, but something about their look makes you think otherwise.

It’s been a while, but you know that smirk. They’re scheming something.

“Well your friend did a very good job.” Ralsei says, still looking a little bashful. “Not to say that I didn’t like the way you looked before, but uh… I… I really, really like the new look.”

“I think I do too.” You say, feeling a strange wave of euphoria wash over you. You haven’t even gotten a good look at yourself yet, but the reaction of your friends alone made you feel giddy. You really wanted to find yourself a mirror, so after finishing the rest of the pie you were given, you try to move things along. “So are we all just gonna sit in here, or are you guys gonna show me around? It’s been a while since I last saw the place, what’s new?”

“Oh! Oh! Come on, I’ll show you!” Ralsei says, quickly hurrying for the door. “There’s a lot of new additions to the town you haven’t seen yet! Come on!” He doesn’t even give you a chance to follow after him before he leaves the room.

“Don’t want to keep him waiting any longer than you have.” Susie tells you, moving to hurry after him. “Good to have you back, Vess. I still owe you that punch in the face by the way, but I’m not gonna do it now while Ralsei’s so excited. I’ll bide my time for now, but it’s coming, I promise.”

“Great…” You mumble as Susie leaves the room to follow after Ralsei. You move to do the same, but Kris holds you back now that you’re alone, still wearing that devious smirk. Now that you’re getting a closer look at them, you also notice that they have pretty pronounced bags under their eyes. “What is it?”

“I know what you are…” They say, never dropping that smirk. “When did you find out?”

“Find out what?” You ask, though you have a pretty good guess.

“Come on, you know.” Kris shakes their head. “I can tell you right now, you certainly don’t look like a Vinny to me anymore. So what are you going for? Are you a full blown girl now, somewhere in the middle, or did you just ditch the whole gender binary like I did?”

Well shit. You guess there’s no skirting around this or pushing it off for later. Kris is putting you on full blast right here and now.

“I don’t know.” You admit. “Really, I don’t. I’ve been having some weird thoughts about my identity ever since I left you guys and I never even considered it to be a gender thing until I took Noelle as a host for a while. I’m almost certain that’s when these feelings started kicking into overdrive. I’m not gonna go as far as to thank Gaster for my vessel, but being in a body that was different from my own felt liberating somehow, and this one is even more so.”

“I get it. You’re in the experimental phase.” Kris nods with sagely wisdom. “I went through something similar growing up, but that was mostly because Noelle started putting bows in my hair and trying to paint my nails. You’re experimenting with your looks by frankensteining together entire human bodies with your friends and then stuffing your soul into them.”

“The design process isn’t nearly as weird or as disgusting as you’re making it out to be.” You say, scratching at your arm as the thought of being a stitched together corpse sends shivers down your spine.

“Well I’ll never know because you refuse to tell me what the hell is up with you.” Kris says with some frustration. “For all I know, gender isn’t even a thing for whatever you’re supposed to be, considering you spend your free time possessing other people from alternate dimensions.” With one more huff, Kris turns to leave the room, letting you go. “Whatever, I’ve accepted that I’m probably better off just forgetting about asking those kinds of questions. Let’s just hurry up and get you to your future boyfriend before he throws a fit at me for keeping you up here.”

“My what?!” Kris confronting you on potentially being trans was one thing, to be blindsided by this immediately afterward was almost enough to physically knock you over.

“Did you not see him?” Kris asks. “He was literally fawning over you. Seriously, you are all he ever talks about now. He’s obsessed with you.”

“Y-yeah. I noticed.” You admit, your heart lodged in your throat. He really does like you! “I’m just uh…”

“Oh shit. You aren’t already with someone, are you?” Kris asks with some worry.

“No, no, it’s just…” Just what? Your heart stuttered in your chest when Ralsei said that you were pretty. You don’t think anyone has ever made you experience something like that before. “I don’t know, things are moving a little too fast I guess. I got a lot on my mind.”

“Right.” Kris nods again. “Going through the whole trans panic thing. Adding a relationship on top of that is probably overwhelming.”

“Yeah…” You nod. Maybe that’s it. You’re sure that once you take some time to get used to things again, you’ll jump at the chance to hang out with Ralsei. In the meantime, there’s still something you’re dying to finally do. “Can we swing by Susie’s room to get a look in a mirror.”

“Yeah, sure.” Kris turns to leave again, finally heading out the door as you follow after them. “Don’t know why you need a mirror though. You made your body, how do you not know what your own face looks like?”

“It’s complicated.” You tell them.

“Fucking everything is with you.” They grumble, but you can see a bemused smirk on their face. “So are you still going by Vess, or are you changing names along with your new look? If you are, is the name pronounceable with human vocal chords?”

“Vess is fine.” You quickly say. “That’s one thing I’m a hundred percent certain on. Vess is my name.”

“Alright, cool.” Kris nods. “I already got you a front row seat for Dess’ performance under the name Vess. Good to know I don’t gotta change anything. Come on, we have a lot of catching up to do.”

You take a couple of deep breaths as you follow after Kris. Your gender crisis was now at the forefront of your mind, but thankfully Kris was here to walk you through it. You genuinely have no idea what you’re doing or really what you want, but having someone who’s likely gone through the same crisis and who was willing to hear you out was a massive relief. It was certainly better than freaking out at home and wondering what you would do to make the changes you wanted.

Moving through the halls of the castle to make it to the main hall where Ralsei and Susie were waiting, Kris comes to a halt just before the last set of stairs to open up the door to Susie’s room, gesturing for you to follow them inside. You step into the room, and right across from the door was a large vanity with a mirror. You freeze in place once you spot your reflection.

You feel you have a weird connection with mirrors. How many different faces have you seen stare back at you at this point? You’re pretty sure any normal person would only see one, their own, but you’re far from normal now. You remember what your old vessel looked like, you liked it quite a bit. Staring at your reflection from within that old vessel felt more familiar and comfortable than your real reflection back in the real world. Even for the short while you possessed Ralsei, seeing his reflection in place of your own was jarring, but you almost welcomed the change. Who wouldn’t want to be Ralsei? Hell, he himself was a reflection of Kris’s ideal form at the time, a perfect little brother who looked just like Asriel.

Looking at your reflection now, there’s no doubt in your mind that this was you. Slowly stepping forward, you approach the mirror, completely unfamiliar with the person staring back at you, but entranced by your appearance. Your eyes were still colored a deep crimson, just like Kris’, and for as flawlessly braided and smooth as your hair was, there was still that little cowlick at the top. There were just enough familiar traits to recognize yourself, but everything else was different.

Everything else was perfect.

Ralsei calling you pretty was an understatement. You were gorgeous and you could hardly believe you were looking at your own reflection. Your heart was racing. You could barely breathe.

It’s you!

This is it. This is what you want. All doubt was erased from your mind once you were put in front of this mirror. This was you, and the idea of seeing your old reflection again suddenly felt very wrong to you. Even that thought brought questions along with it. You don’t think you hate how you normally look, you don’t sneer at your own reflection with disgust. You’re a pretty good looking guy and your friends all agreed, but you don’t ever see yourself willingly choosing your old look over this one.

If only you could bring this vessel back with you.

“So uh…” Kris speaks up behind you. “Do you need some privacy or something? You look like you’re a little too into yourself right now.”

“Oh, sorry, I just…” You force yourself to pry your eyes away from your reflection. When you do, you find your heart is racing. “I can’t even describe how I feel knowing I look like this.”

“Well if you’re done staring at yourself, we should probably hurry up.” Kris says, stepping back towards the door. “I doubt Ralsei has much patience left after having you be gone for so long, we shouldn’t keep him waiting.”

Kris turns to leave the room and you follow after them, but not before casting one last glance at the mirror over your shoulder. This was you, this is what you wanted to be. You aren’t sure what you’re gonna do when you get back home, but one thing was for sure, you were gonna have to find some way to pay Lizzy back for doing such an amazing job.

Stepping outside of the castle and into the streets of Castle Town, you’re reminded just how much you missed this place. Your summer vacation has been a bummer so far, with constant heat waves and not much to do. Zach has tried to force big get togethers, but most of the time, something came up for one of your friends and they wouldn’t be able to attend, and if all of you weren’t going, why bother?

You’ve spent almost all your time sitting at home, catching up on shows, helping Lizzy with your commission, and playing a few select games you’ve deemed safe. After getting your soul trapped in this one, you’ve been really anxious to start playing anything else out of fear that you’d get trapped in there too. You’ve been carefully selecting your games so that on the off chance that you are cursed to get sucked into video game worlds, you aren’t pulled into some nightmare hellscape full of super murder demons or are dropped into an active warzone.

Standing out here though, feeling the snow crunch beneath your boots, seeing all of the brightly colored lights in the dim Dark World midday, you can’t help but feel relieved to be out of your stuffy old house.

“So, anywhere in particular you want to go first?” Susie asks as she steps out with you, patting down her bare arms to combat the cold. “There’s plenty of people who are probably excited to see you.”

“I’m not sure.” You say, suddenly overwhelmed with the decision you had to make. You just wanted to take your time and walk around. “Why are we seeking everyone out anyways? Why not stay inside and call everyone in?” It takes a moment before anyone answers your question. Glancing over at Susie, she seems a little uncomfortable, but before you can ask why, Kris answers you.

“We don’t really do phones at the castle anymore.” Kris says, their tone sounding a little forced. “They freak me out.” They say this completely deadpan, and from the blankness of their expression, you can tell it isn’t a setup for a joke. Before you can figure out what was going on or ask for an explanation, Ralsei quickly rushes to their side, taking their hand.

“We haven’t heard from him since and we never will.” He reminds them. “He’s gone forever.” Kris nods along, taking in a deep breath as their expression smooths out a little. It wasn’t much to go off of, but judging by the bags under Kris’ eyes and how quickly Ralsei acted to assure them that things were fine, you suspect that Kris might not be doing so well.

“How do you normally get people’s attention then?” You ask. “Carrier pigeons?”

“I usually just run to the closest person we need to talk to and have them call everyone to Castle Town for us.” Susie says. “When I saw you got back, I just ran all the way to Berdly’s place to drag Kris over. It’s not very practical, but my legs are almost as muscular as my arms now. It’s good cardio.”

“So Kris and Berdly got back together?” You ask, and it has the desired effect of immediately pulling Kris out of their slump to look at you.

“Sure did, and it’s the best thing to happen to me since I got back.” They say, some genuine excitement creeping into their voice, but you notice their lifting expression take a turn for the mischievous as they glance at Ralsei by their side. “Honestly, you should think about finding yourself a boyfriend too. I know a guy who’s interested in meeting someone.”

“Ah…” Ralsei jolts at Kris’ side, his face starting to turn red. Susie lets out a cruel chuckle at your other side.

“Oh yeah, I know who they’re talking about.” She grins. “He’s been really desperate over the past few weeks, pleading with us to give him dating advice. Maybe we can set you up with him? It would certainly make his day.”

“Heh, heh…” Looking back over at Ralsei, you find that he’s trying desperately to hide himself underneath his own robes, wrapping up most of his face in his scarf. “W-wow, I wonder who that could be… He must be really…” He doesn’t have the nerve to even finish his sentence. You’re at a loss for what to say for a while, but once you do, you try your hardest not to look at him directly to give yourself away.

“I might be interested in meeting this guy.” You say, and out of the corner of your eye, you’re genuinely afraid that Ralsei might faint. “Is he cute?”

“Absolutely adorable.” Kris says with a cruel snicker. “I’ll let him know you’re interested.”

The four of you walk in silence for a little while, You, Susie, and Kris all pretending to not notice how flustered Ralsei was. Thankfully, everyone’s so busy glancing over at Ralsei that no one seems to notice that you’re feeling a little hot under your cape as well. It was painfully obvious that Ralsei was into you and everyone was making a game out of it. You don’t know if it would be a mercy or not to just outright ask Ralsei out right here and now. The poor guy might die of a heart attack if everyone teasing him got him this worked up.

You were gonna let him confront you at his own pace. You were having a hard time keeping your cool as well, so why take on the extra stress of trying to ask him out?

At some point, Susie ends up taking the lead and without a word, she leads the four of you to Fort Holiday. To your surprise, there’s still lights and tinsel hanging out all over the battlements of the fort even though you could have sworn Christmas time passed shortly after you left. Susie looks back and notices you staring, causing her to laugh.

“Yeah, all the Christmas decorations are still up.” She snorts. “As long as there’s still snow, the Holiday’s are keeping the festive spirit up. Once everything melts, they’ll go away… Probably.”

“They won’t.” Kris promises. “I remember a few years ago they kept their Christmas tree up all the way through August until Dad mentioned it. Besides, Noelle has ice powers. Do you really think she’s gonna let the snow melt around her enclosed winter wonderland?”

“I think the lights are pretty.” Ralsei says. “Why not keep them up all year?”

“Are the lights prettier than Vess, or no?” Kris asks, still wearing that evil grin. Ralsei starts to get flustered again, but you decide to jump to his defense by diverting attention away from him.

“Who are we here to see?” You ask Susie.

“I’mma be honest, I just wanted to see Noelle.” Susie shrugs. “But I also thought that Dess would probably want to see you, considering you helped pull her out of the Void. She didn’t really get a chance to know you before you ditched us again.”

“You managed to show up just in time for something she’s been planning.” Kris mentions. “Spending an eternity in the Void hasn’t done a thing to her musical ability and she’s only gotten better now that she’s practicing again. Her first live performance is tomorrow.”

“I’m starting to think that whatever the hell drags me here has a mind of its own and knows these kinds of things.” You shake your head. “Let’s head inside then. I’m glad to get out of the summer heat from back home, but it’s still freezing out here.”

“Right, in we go.” Susie nods, hurrying towards the front gates. You notice a pair of guards standing in position in front of the gate, but without a word from any of you, they step aside to let you in. Kicking off the snow from your boots, you shiver off the rest of the cold as Susie leads you through the fort.

You try to think back to the last time you visited this place and pull up nothing but blanks. You knew Fort Holiday existed, but you aren’t sure you ever stepped inside. The last clear memory you have of being here was after Rudy was killed and Noelle froze the whole place over. Looking around, everyone else seemed very familiar with this place. There was still so much you haven’t seen yet, even the neighboring kingdoms were a mystery to you.

Still taking the lead, Susie leads your gang through a massive set of doors into an impressively expansive throne room. At the other end were three of the four Holiday’s: Noelle, Rudy, and Dess. All of them turn their attention to your group, waving to greet you, but all three of them noticeably freeze when they notice you amongst the group.

“Vess?” Noelle is the first to speak up, recognizing who you were from the few traits that remained consistent from your last vessel, but clearly taken off guard by your new appearance.

“God damn! That’s who was inside you when you got me out?” Dess asks. “Jeez, you’re just a magnet for all the hot chicks, aren’t you?”

“I’m still biding my time until I punch them in the face for that, by the way.” Susie announces. “Also, I knew you would say something along those lines the moment you saw Vess.”

“Didn’t you make a similar joke when Ralsei volunteered to host them?” Kris points out.

“Shut up.” Susie mutters, throwing a light punch into Kris’ arm. Ralsei gives her a stink eye for that as he reaches over to heal the spot she hit despite dealing no real damage.

“Hold on a minute,” Rising from his throne, Rudy steps forward to get a better look at you. “I know it’s been a while, but are you sure this is the same kid? Last I saw you was when I was still bedridden and this place was still a hospital, but I coulda sworn you looked a little different back then.”

“To make a kinda long story short, my last body got torn to shreds and tossed into a bottomless pit and a friend of mine made me a new one.” You quickly ramble off. You were likely gonna have to tell this story to basically everyone in town so you might as well shorten it down.

“A friend made this new body for you?” Dess asks, looking you up and down. “Any chance they could give me a makeover?”

“You know, she did tell me to let everyone know she takes commissions, but I’m not entirely sure it would be safe to try anything with you guys.” You say. “I was nervous enough trying to get this new body in here, I wouldn’t dare try doing anything to someone who isn’t like me though.”

“Damn.” Dess grumbles.

“When did you get back? What are you doing here?” Noelle starts spitting out questions, her initial shock of seeing you wearing off.

“I just woke up an hour ago.” You say, rubbing at your eyes. You could still use a nap right now if you’re being honest. You aren’t sure if your drowsiness passed over from your real body or if you’re just tired because this body never actually slept before. “As for why I’m here, I’m just here to visit everyone again now that I actually can.”

“How long are you staying?” You’re caught off guard as Ralsei finally finds the nerve to speak up again after being teased so much. Turning to look at him, he finally meets your eyes and you can see how anxious he is to hear your answer.

“I’ll be staying for a while.” You assure him. “I don’t have anything important to get back to and I miss you guys. Unless something happens, I’m not going anywhere.” The look of pure relief in Ralsei’s eyes made your heart melt a little. He missed you a lot, and you feel the same. You might actually have a chance to just hang out with him withou-

“Don’t fucking jinx it!” Without warning, Kris punches you in the arm, much harder than when Susie punched them a moment ago. They seemed genuinely frustrated with you. “Don’t say ’as long as nothing happens’, you’re literally asking for some other bullshit to pop up!”

“Alright, jeez!” You say, rubbing at your arm. Without hesitation, Ralsei quickly rushes up to and places his hand on the exact spot you were hit. Within seconds the pain fades into nothing. You try to give him a smile, but he’s become flustered again, staring off in the distance as his cheeks go red. You hear Susie chuckle to herself a little bit as she watches, but before you know it, you’re suddenly pulled away from Ralsei and into a hug by Rudy.

“Well hey, I haven’t been able to show any appreciation at all for everything you’ve done for me.” Rudy says as he jostles you around. “You’re welcome here any time. A king’s feast is the least I can do if you helped save my baby girl.”

“Stop calling me that!” Dess barks. “Seriously, I already told you I’m basically in my late twenties despite how I look.”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re still my baby girl.” Rudy teases. “And I’m never gonna stop calling you that, so get used to it.”

“You’re the worst.” Dess pouts and desperately tries to pull the conversation away from her. “It’s nice to actually see you in person, Vess. I feel like I should pay you back somehow for saving me and keeping my sister safe, but I can’t think of anything that would even come close. Kris already got you front row seats to my concert, there isn’t anything that cool backstage, just Kris’ house.”

“You don’t gotta pay me back at all.” You insist, pulling away from Rudy. “I was just helping out my friends and cleaning up messes that I caused.”

“Yeah, but if I saw that little shit Chara running at me, I’d probably trip whoever was next to me to get away.” Dess counters. “The fact that you actually confronted that little monster directly basically makes you a fearless superhero in my eyes.”

“I can promise you right now, I was absolutely terrified the whole time.”

“You still saved my ass when I would have ditched everyone to save myself, so you still deserve something as thanks.”

“You could write them a theme song like you are for me.” Susie suggests.

“You have a theme song?” You ask in confusion, turning to look at Susie.

“You have a theme song?!” Ralsei gasps behind you in awe. “I wanna hear it!”

“Still workshopping that one and my guitar’s still in my room.” Dess shakes her head. “But Vess… With the amount of stuff you’ve done, I could probably write something a lot longer.”

“Oh! Oh!” Ralsei hops up to get everyone’s attention. “You could write a ballad about their adventures!” Once again, Kris and Susie try to suppress laughter over how embarrassingly into you Ralsei is, but Dess takes a moment to think it over.

“I…” She lifts her hat up to scratch her head. “I can’t exactly say it’s a genre of music I’m used to, but I am a bard, so…” After a couple more seconds of thinking, she points towards you. “Slight problem with that idea. I know basically nothing about you, let alone what you did before you saved me.”

“Oh! I could tell you the whole story!” Ralsei says. “I know everything!”

“One, no you don’t.” Kris counters. “You literally have no memory of half the time they spent here. Two, you’re gonna embellish the hell out of it.”

“I don’t really trust you not to make stuff up about me either.” You point out.

“Well hey, you said you’re not going anywhere, right?” Dess asks. “How about I treat you to a few places around town for helping me out and while we’re at it, you can tell me what your whole deal is. Have you been to any of the restaurants in town?”

“I haven’t seen much at all if I’m being honest.” You tell her. “This is the first time I’ve stepped foot in this fort and it’s been around for a while now. I already planned on taking a look around, so sure, I’ll take that offer.”

“What about right now?” Noelle asks. “You just got back, is there anything you’re up to right now?”

“Not really.” You shake your head. “I’m mostly just trying to catch up with everyone. Once I’ve said hi to everyone I know… I’m not sure.”

Saying this, you glance over at Ralsei just in time to catch him averting his gaze. This was starting to become too awkward for you to handle. You might as well rip the bandaid off now and confront him about this. Before you return your attention to the Holiday’s, you notice that Susie and Kris are huddling up next to each other with Susie whispering something into Kris’ ear. You see that evil smirk forming on Kris’ face again and figure whatever’s going on can’t be good. Eventually they break away and Susie turns her attention back to the main conversation.

“Anyways, we mostly just wanted to drop by to let you all know that Vess is back in town.” Susie says. “You can bug them yourself later, but we got a lot of people to meet up with, so we should get going before it gets too late.”

“But you all just got here.” Rudy seems disappointed, but he waves you all off regardless. “I guess I shouldn’t keep you then. Stay safe kids, and remember Vess, you’re free to visit whenever!”

“Thank you.” You tell him back, turning to find that Susie was already leaving at a brisk pace. You were getting the sneaking suspicion that she might be planning something.

“And remember guys! Concert’s on at six tomorrow!” Dess calls out to you all as you leave. “Don’t miss it!”

“We won’t! Don’t worry!” Kris assures her. “If I don’t make it, it means I’m dead!”

“That or you slept in.” Susie snorts.

“She’s been practicing for this for month’s, I’m not missing it.” Kris promises. “One of you guys can slap me awake if I’m out of it tomorrow evening, right?”

“Why don’t I just gently nudge you awake?” Ralsei asks. “Why is slapping you awake your first suggestion?”

“Because that’s guaranteed to work.” Kris explains.

“Trust me, Rals, they sleep like the dead when they go out.” Susie adds on. “I remember literally picking them up from Berdly’s to bring them back home and they had no idea. It actually freaked them out when they woke up in their own bed instead of Berdly’s couch.”

“Don’t do that anymore, by the way.” Kris pleads. “It did more than just freak me out.”

“What’s all this about?” You ask as your group wanders through the halls to make it back outside.

“I think I’m a full blown insomniac now.” Kris tells you, stating it matter of factly as if that wasn’t a terrible thing to be. “I don’t even have a sleeping schedule anymore, I just kinda keep going until I drop and I hope that people will leave me alone long enough to actually get a good night’s rest.”

“That doesn’t sound healthy.” You comment.

“That’s because it isn’t.” Kris replies. “Sans has some of the same problems himself and he’s been trying to help out, but unless I want to knock myself out every night, I kinda just gotta brute force myself into a sleeping schedule again.” After a brief pause, Kris lets out a little gasp. “Aw shit, we gotta tell Sans about you, huh?”

“Well that’s gonna be a fun reunion.” You sigh. You aren’t looking forward to meeting Sans again. You feel that things should be a lot less hostile between you after saving the town and helping him rescue Kris and Dess, but no amount of good you do undoes the bad you’ve already done.

Stepping outside again, you’re reunited with the biting cold of the late winter air. Looking up into the sky, it’s hard to spot, but you think the sun is somewhere right above you. It was sometime in the afternoon, you still had plenty of time to meet up with everyone else in town, the question was who was next.

“Hey Ralsei.” Susie speaks up from up ahead. “You don’t got anything important to do for the rest of the day, right?”

“Oh, uh, no.” Ralsei shakes his head. “All my duties for the day are done. I can spend the rest of the day with Vess.” Kris and Susie share a look, and you suspect it’s because he specified you and not the group as a whole. Kris gives Susie a nod, and in response, she steps towards and and rests a hand on your shoulder.

“Well, a promise is a promise.” She shrugs.

“Wha-”

With a blindingly quick jab, Susie’s fist smashes into your face, causing you to stumble back and throw your hands to your face as blood immediately begins to spurt from your nose. It catches you so off guard that you actually fall on your ass from the sudden blow, sending a painful shock up your tailbone causing you to squeeze your eyes shut as pain overwhelms you.

“THANK ME LATER!” Susie shouts, her voice becoming distant as you hear her run off through the snow, the crunch of the snow under her feet getting quieter and quieter.

“SUSIE?! WHAT WAS- VESS!” Hands are suddenly placed onto your face, and immediately the pain starts to die down, but you still writhe around as blood spills down your face.

“What the fuck! Oh god! Blood everywhere! I think it’s broken!” You have no idea what you were expecting when Susie promised to punch you, but you didn’t expect her to hit you as hard as she did on your last trip. That time had some actual anger and force behind the hit, but you think she might have underestimated her strength this time.

“Don’t worry!” Ralsei assures you, still gently holding your face. “This is an easy fix. You’ll be all better in just a moment!”

True to his word, the pain fades away almost completely in a matter of seconds. Your face is still warm and sticky with blood, but the flow has stopped, allowing you to breathe easily again. You let out a slow sigh of relief.

“Thank’s Ra…” Opening your eyes, your words die in your throat as you find Ralsei’s face inches away from your own, his hands still resting gently on your cheeks as you look up at him. He doesn’t say a word, he doesn’t even move. His eyes are locked onto yours and you can see his face turn beet red as he continues to hold this position.

D-did…

Did Susie just set you two up?

Chapter Text

Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh!

Ralsei’s heart was lodged firmly in his throat as he stared down in awe at Vess, his body frozen in place as he struggled to recompose himself. He was already taken off guard by how pretty they were, but to have them this close, to have his hands on their face like this, he’s never pictured himself in this position even in his wildest dreams. He was staring right into their eyes, colored a shade of crimson that seemed even richer than the blood that spilled from their nose. He might have lost himself in those eyes if Vess hadn’t spoken up.

“Ralsei?” With that one word, Ralsei forced himself to snap out of his trance, shaking his head and forcing himself to step back.

“Ah, there!” He says with a nervous laugh. “All better! It won’t even bruise!” He quickly turns his back on Vess to stare off into the distance, praying they didn’t notice the blush on his cheeks. “Honestly, I don’t know what came over Susie. She certainly isn’t getting any sweets tonight after doing something so mean!”

“I knew it was coming.” Vess eventually sighs, sitting up in the snow and wiping themselves off, using some of the snow to wash away the blood. “I mean, it still caught me completely off guard, but she said it would happen at some point today. I’m just glad you were here to fix it up so fast. I just got this face, it’d be a shame if I ended up with a broken nose the day I got it. Can I get some help, by the way?”

“Oh, right!” Turning around, Ralsei found Vess holding out their hand to be helped up. Taking it and pulling them to their feet, Ralsei is once again left flustered as he stands next to them. Ralsei thinks he can see where Kris was coming from when they said they were angry with how pretty Vess looked. It was unfair that they looked so nice, how was he supposed to focus on anything else. He isn’t sure how long he stares at them, but when they look down to meet his eyes, he tries to look away to avoid embarrassment, but he realizes something now that made his heart do flip flops in his chest, an observation that Vess voices aloud.

“It’s just us now…” They say as they step a little closer. “No one to bother us.”

Oh gosh, his heart can’t take much more of this! He’s been dreaming of this day for weeks, but now that he actually had Vess here alone with him, he was so flustered and anxious he could hardly look at them without feeling like he was going to pass out. All of Kris and Susie’s dating advice was useless as he struggled to find the courage to even talk to them. How was he supposed to flirt when simply telling them they were pretty made him want to curl up into a ball?!

“Ralsei?” Vess’ hand touches his shoulder, causing Ralsei’s pulse to skyrocket. “Are you feeling alright? You look nervous?”

“I- I do?!” Ralsei asks. “Sorry, I just… I’m just really-”

“Settle down.” Vess tells him, resting another hand on his other shoulder. “Have you been taking care of yourself like I asked? I know you’re the Prince, but you gotta give yourself time to calm down too. Deep breaths, buddy.”

Having Vess this close only got him more worked up, but he tries to follow their advice, taking in several deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. To his surprise, it actually works. Breathing in through his nose and exhaling, his breath fogging up in the cold, he’s able to ground himself enough to actually think. The whole time, Vess gently rubs his shoulders, trying to help him wind down.

“You feeling better now?” They ask, slowly turning him to face them directly.

“Uh huh.” Ralsei nods dumbly. His heart was still rapidly beating in his chest like a jackhammer, but Vess doesn’t seem to notice.

“I know why you’re freaking out, you know?” Vess says, stepping back and crossing their arms. Those words alone nearly throw Ralsei back into a panic, but Vess quickly speaks up to calm him down. “It’s the first time I came back in forever. You want to make sure my first day is a good one, don’t you?”

“Y-yeah.” Ralsei nods. That wasn’t all, but they weren’t wrong either. Ralsei wanted to spend a perfect night with them, but his idea of a perfect night and theirs probably didn’t match up.

“I really appreciate the concern, but trust me, you don’t gotta worry about giving me a good time.” Vess assures him. “Just getting to hang out with you is fun enough.”

“Really?” Ralsei felt like he was going to melt into a puddle, but with no one to hide behind or to distract Vess, he was at their mercy.

“Yeah, I missed you.” Vess nods, showing him a warm smile. “We don’t have to do anything crazy, it doesn’t have to be this big special event like my last day here. I’m not going anywhere, we can take this at your pace.”

Ralsei sighs with relief. This was the Vess he fell for, the person who was always eager to help and wanted to show him as much care as he showed others. It was obvious that he was doing a very bad job at hiding how flustered they made him, but they either didn’t know he had very obvious feelings, or they knew and were just trying to ease him into things.

He didn’t know which one he wanted to be true. On the one hand, them being completely ignorant of what was going on gave him the chance to build up his courage to finally confess his feelings. If they did know, which was very likely considering how obvious Kris and Susie says he is with his crush… Gosh, he still didn’t know what he was going to do.

“What do you want to do right now?” Ralsei decides to ask. He didn’t have any plans at all, but he could probably work with whatever Vess wanted to do.

“Well… After getting punched in the face, I’m not looking forward to bumping into Kris and Susie again right now.” They say, reaching up to make sure their cute little nose was still aligned right. “I really should go see Sans just to give him a heads up that I’m in town, but after that, I don’t really know. Say hi to Toriel, maybe? Check in with everyone else? I don’t know. After Sans, I guess I’d just like to take a walk around town with you to get caught up on everything.”

“You just want to walk around town with me?” Ralsei asks.

“Well yeah,” They shrug. “I can’t ask for a better tour guide. Besides, I feel like I have a bit of catching up to do with you. Kris and Susie remember a lot of our time together, but you never became resistant to the resets. I want to spend some more time with you to make up for the time you lost.”

“That… That sounds really nice!” Ralsei says with a smile, forcing himself to look at Vess without getting too flustered. “We still have plenty of daylight left, let’s not waste any time!” Reaching their hand out, Vess holds out their hand for Ralsei to take, and after a bit of hesitation, he takes it and Vess begins their walk towards the convenience store nearby to visit Sans.

He was holding their hand! Was this the first base Kris was talking about? It feels like a pretty big step, but he was handling it like a champ. He couldn’t help but worry though. Was he gripping their hand too hard, too lightly maybe? Could they tell how flustered they were from how sweaty his palms were? He’s held people’s hands plenty of times, but this felt different somehow and it made his heart flutter.

It sadly didn’t last long. Sans’ convenience store wasn’t that long of a walk and in a matter of a few minutes they were there. Once they got to the front doors, Vess pulled their hand out of Ralsei’s grip and he had to resist reaching out to grab hold of them again. Looking up at Vess, they looked as tense as Ralsei felt.

“Is everything alright?” Ralsei speaks up, his concern overpowering his anxiety.

“Yeah, just… Not very excited about this.” They say with a strained voice. “He probably won’t do anything but make me feel like shit, but I still get anxious any time I’m around him. At least I know that if I die, I could probably just get a new vessel to replace this one.”

“It’s not gonna come to that.” Ralsei assures them. “Sans is nice and he was more than cooperative when he helped you rescue Kris. I’ll be right behind you.” The look of relief on Vess's face gives Ralsei a surge of confidence. They were worrying over nothing, and Ralsei was probably doing the same. He’s talked to Vess plenty of times without issue. He just needed some time to get used to having them back again and he’ll be able to be comfortable enough to voice his feelings.

Stepping through the door of the convenience store, a bell rings overhead to signal their arrival. Stirring awake at the front counter, Sans lets out a groan as he stretches out and tries to wake himself up.

“Eh, break time’s over. Browse around and let me know if you need help fi-!” Sans mumbles out as he rubs his eyes, but once they’re open and he sees who’s in his store, he jolts and stands upright, now fully alert. “I swear, if there’s more than one of you freaks running around town, I’ll-”

“It’s me, Vess.” Vess is quick to hold their hands up in surrender. “The same asshole you’re used to. I just look a little different now.”

“They’re the same one who helped you rescue Kris and Dess.” Ralsei speaks up behind Vess, backing up their claims. “They just came back to visit! Isn’t that great?”

“Oh…” Sans deflates and returns to leaning against the counter, but his expression does not lift as he glares at Vess. “What are you doing here then?”

“Just swinging by to let you know I’m in town.” Vess says, reaching up to scratch their head. Ralsei notices that they jolt a little bit the moment their hand brushes against their braid. It looks like they’re still getting used to their new changes. “I didn’t want to catch you by surprise.”

“Good call.” Sans hums. “If you showed up at the house without warning, I probably would have punted you right back out the door.” He continues to stare down Vess who looks incredibly uncomfortable under his gaze. After several seconds of tension filled silence, Sans eventually shrugs. “Whatever,” He says with a grumble. “As long as nothing abnormal happens in town thanks to you showing up, I don’t really care. Doesn’t mean I want to talk to you either though, so unless you’re here to buy something, feel free to leave.”

“Can I get something?” Ralsei asks from behind Vess.

“Oh, I got no problems with you, buddy.” Sans stops glaring at Vess for a moment to shoot Ralsei a smile. “In fact, whatever you want is on the house.”

“Oh! Thank you!” Ralsei lights up, moving towards the sweets on one of the shelves. The moment he starts moving though, he notices that Sans’ eyes immediately return to Vess to continue glaring at them. Wanting to put an end to the staring contest sooner than later, Ralsei plucks a chocolate bar from the shelf and hides it in his sleeve for later. With his business here done, he returns to Vess’ side and takes their hand. “Thank you Sans, we’ll get out of your hai… uh…”

“Don’t sweat it, kid.” Sans chuckles, rubbing his smooth head. “I’m going on break.”

With the doorbell ringing on their departure, Vess and Ralsei leave the convenience store and Vess shudders with relief. None of that was pleasant, but it needed to be done thanks to their shared history with the skeleton. Ralsei desperately wished that they could overcome their differences, but what happened between them is something that can’t be fixed.

What can be fixed is Vess’ sour mood. Sliding the bar of chocolate he picked up a moment ago, he peels off the wrapper and breaks it in two, holding out the bigger piece for Vess. No one can be upset when they have chocolate! He doesn’t even have to say anything, the sight of the offered treat is enough to wipe away the tense expression on Vess’ face.

“Thanks.” They say with a warm smile, one that does funny things to Ralsei’s heart. Taking a bite of chocolate and a deep breath, they calm down considerably. “Well, that’s the hard part out of the way. Now we can do whatever.” Looking off at the grand castles, towers, and cities surrounding them, Vess turns to look back at Ralsei. “Know any quiet spots to chat?”

“Um…” Oh gosh, someplace quiet and alone?! They probably don’t mean it like that, but still, Ralsei’s heart raced as he tried to filter out the thoughts rushing through his mind to give an appropriate answer. It takes a while, but a brilliant idea occurs to him. “There are a few park benches near the river next to Asgore’s flower shop!” Ralsei suggests. “They’re probably covered in snow, but if the cold doesn’t bother you too much, it should be a really nice spot!”

After a moment of consideration and another bite of their chocolate bar, Vess nods their head and holds out their hand to him. “Let's get going then.” Ralsei gratefully takes their hand again, walking alongside them as they move through town to find the flower shop.

He thinks he’s actually getting a handle on things. Here he was, walking hand in hand with his best friend through town, sharing a chocolate bar as they made their way to a nice spot to enjoy each other’s company. What was it that Susie said before she ran off, he can thank her later? Was this all some sort of ploy to set them up with each other?

If it was, he really needs to stop taking advice from them. Punching his soon to be significant other in the face and the whole Operation Big Rig thing to guarantee sloppy makeouts was leading him to believe that their relationships were complete flukes. That, or Berdly and Noelle just had very strange tastes in partners.

“How’s everyone else doing, by the way?” Vess asks, drawing Ralsei out of his thoughts as he dedicates all his attention to Vess. “I know I’ve been at the butt of most problems in town, but has anything big happened since I left?”

“Not really.” Ralsei says, surprised by how quickly he was able to respond. He’s actually finding his nerve! “No big bad guy’s have shown up, everything’s just been really quiet and calm for the most part. I’d argue the most eventful thing that’s happened recently is we found Rouxls Kaard trying to break into the dungeons to free everyone.”

“That… sounds like a pretty big deal.” Vess says with some worry.

“Not really.” Ralsei shakes his head. “All he managed to do was dig himself into a cell so he could learn his lesson. He’s out and about now, after spending some time with him, I think I helped him onto a good path. There’s been a few hiccups and Kris refuses to be in the same room as him, but he’s getting better.”

Vess looks like they’re about to say something about Rouxls, but the mention of Kris causes them to frown. “Is Kris doing alright?” They ask, full of concern. “They acted pretty nonchalant about everything, but they didn’t look so good.”

“They’re…” Ralsei wanted to instinctively tell Vess that Kris was fine, but something held him back. It was obvious that Kris was struggling, he saw every sudden jolt of panic, he noticed every moment their words turned towards a darker place. He told everyone else who asked that they were fine, because he knows that they’ll pull through, but Vess was a lot like him. They evidently saw through Kris’ attempt to avoid drawing attention to themself and Ralsei already knows how protective and caring Vess was. He felt he could be honest with them, that he could stop pretending that things were perfect for just a moment.

After all, they were the one who took care of him when he was too busy to do it himself.

“They’re not doing great.” Ralsei admits. “They’ve been struggling really bad ever since they got back. Dess has been having a few troubles reintegrating herself back into society, but it’s been hitting Kris a lot harder.”

“How bad is it?” Vess asks in a low voice. Looking up at them, they looked almost guilty, as if this was somehow their fault. Ralsei squeezes their hand.

“Their time in the Void and the constant harassment from Gaster and the others has left them paranoid over everything.” Ralsei says, specifically bringing up Gaster in hopes that Vess will realize that the nasty doctor was the problem over themself. “They don’t like being alone in the dark, they struggle to fall asleep, and they’re terrified of the sound of ringing phones, thinking that Gaster somehow found a way to reach out to them again. I’ve done what I can to accommodate them, but I feel like there might be other things wrong that they’re not telling me about. I get the impression that they feel almost ashamed that there’s so much going wrong with them.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Vess asks. This is why Ralsei liked them so much. One of their friends was in trouble and they wanted to waste no time to make things better.

“I’m not sure there’s an easy fix.” Ralsei says. “I’ve done all I can to remove any potential triggers and ease their worries, but they’re still struggling. They’re always in a good mood whenever they’re with Berdly and I’ve considered asking him if there was anything wrong that Kris hasn’t told me, but that almost felt like going behind Kris’ back and digging into secrets they want hidden, even if I just want to help.”

“Maybe they’d be willing to tell me?” Vess suggests, only to immediately shake their head. “No, that’s stupid. I doubt they’d want to share anything personal with me after possessing them for so long.” Ralsei opens up his mouth to argue, but stops himself. He really really liked Vess, but that feeling wasn’t universal. They weren’t perfect, even if they looked like they were.

“I feel they’re doing better than they were though.” Ralsei says, desperate to lighten the mood. “It’s really obvious that Berdly is a perfect match for them. Kris will sometimes have days where they’ll try to sleep the whole day away or isolate themselves, but whenever they come back from Berdly’s castle, they’re always in a good mood and they love to talk about everything they did that day. If they’re in a deep slump, just asking them to talk about Berdly is enough to pull them out of it.”

“Kinda sounds like you.” Vess comments, causing Ralsei’s heart to stutter. “At least, according to the others. It sounded like I was all you talked about since I disappeared.”

“I uh…” Oh come on, he was just getting used to this, he can’t get flustered now! “I talk about other things, like… politics.” Vess nearly doubles over as they choke on their suppressed laugh.

“Politics?! What?” They boggle, trying to recompose themselves. It’s been a very long time since Ralsei heard Vess laugh, and he desperately wanted to hear it again. “No, you're screwing with me. That’s the most outlandish lie I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“I’m serious!” Ralsei insists. “I work with the mayor now and went to a board meeting hours before you showed up! You can ask Kris and Susie, they’ll tell you the same thing!” Looking around, Ralsei realizes they are getting close to their destination and spots a familiar looking black car parked right outside the flower shop. “In fact, you can ask the Mayor herself. She’s talking to Asgore right now to discuss agriculture plans for the town.”

“I think I’ll just take your word on that one.” Vess says, shaking their head. “So, what developments are happening around town then?”

“We’re losing all outside shipments of food and water within a few months.” Ralsei informs, immediately wiping the smile off of Vess’ face.

“Is this still part of the joke?”

“It’s no joke!” Ralsei insists. “I went with Mrs. Carol Holiday to talk to a bunch of mean old governors and mayors and they say it’s too financially taxing to keep supporting us. Care packages have been pushed through the Barrier to make sure everyone is fed, but that isn’t going to happen soon. Carol is speaking with Asgore to see if his flower shop could maybe help feed the people of Hometown.”

“Oh…” They mumble, taken aback by the seriousness of the situation. Ralsei almost regrets bringing it up at all. “So I guess that means you’re gonna be pretty busy for a while, huh?”

It didn’t occur to Ralsei, but once Vess brings it up, it hits him like a truck. He thought his duties were mostly finished and that he could spend all his time with Vess, but with this new development and all the changes that need to be made to town, he might not have as much freedom as he thought.

“I guess that means I gotta make tonight count before you get swamped with work.” Vess says, squeezing Ralsei’s hand and continuing towards the river. “Come on, show me this spot you have picked out for us.” Ralsei has to pick up his pace to match Vess’, but he now moves with renewed determination. He was still nervous, but he needed to confess tonight. Who knows when he’ll find the time to do it again or if Vess will even be here to hear it when he finally does get the chance.

He has to find the nerve to confess tonight.

Passing by the flower shop and walking down a narrow dirt path, it only takes a minute to find the spot. Alongside the trail, only a short distance from the river, were a couple of picnic tables which were covered in a thick layer of snow. It was tucked away from the busy streets and the only other sign of life out here were a single set of footprints leading towards the river. It was quiet and secluded, a perfect place to catch up without interruptions. Using his sleeve to scrape off the snow, Ralsei clears a spot for himself and Vess before sitting down.

“This is a pretty cool spot.” Vess says, taking a seat next to Ralsei and helping him clear off the table in front of them. “Do you come here often?”

“No.” Ralsei shakes his head. “I found Kris out here one time while they were hanging out with Catti. They said that it’s so quiet and peaceful here that they can sometimes fall asleep without trying.”

“It’d probably be nicer in the spring, but this is fine.” Vess nods, now directing their full attention to Ralsei. Once again, he feels himself become a little flustered, but he doesn’t bother trying to hide it. They haven’t brought it up once, they likely wouldn’t start now. “So, let's set aside the problems going around town and talk about some of the good things that have been going on. How have you been doing?”

“I’ve been doing very well.” Ralsei nods, conscious of how closely Vess was sitting next to him. “I finished up multiple extensions to Castle Town to ensure everyone has a place to stay. I’ve been trying some new things around town to learn how to make them in my cauldron. Berdly and Susie have been trying to teach me how to play video games.”

“Berdly and Susie hang out?!” Vess raises an eyebrow. “How’s that been going for you?”

“Terribly.” Ralsei says with a bit of disappointment. “I’m still struggling with the buttons. It’s all too fast for me.” It didn’t help that Berdly and Susie grew really competitive whenever he was forced into multiplayer with them. He’d either get destroyed instantly if they fought, or left in the dust if they were supposed to cooperate. The same thing happened with Kris too. It didn’t matter that he was new and learning, they all played for keeps. “What about you?” Ralsei asks. “Are you an elite pro gamer?”

“I wouldn’t use those words exactly, but yeah.” Vess nods. “I play a bunch of games, some of which are probably more to your speed than whatever a ‘pro’ like Berdly is trying to teach you.”

“You know…” Ralsei leans his elbow against the table, looking up at Vess. “I don’t actually know that much about your hobbies or what you usually do when you aren’t trying to save the world. Admittedly, there are a few people in town who are trying to get used to the world no longer ending, but still. What do you do for fun Vess?”

“Eh, not much really.” They shrug, leaning against the bench to match Ralsei’s actions. “I play a few games, I considered making them a couple of times but all my attempts to learn coding just leave me confused and frustrated. I don’t really have all that much going for me. I’m honestly kinda boring.”

“Hey, don’t say that!” Ralsei says. “You’re the bravest and prettiest person I know! You’re the furthest thing from boring.” Vess jolts slightly, and Ralsei wonders what caused it until he spots a blush forming on their cheeks.

“I think that’s the third time you’ve called me pretty…” They say, sitting up to rest their hands on the table. “Do you really like this new look that much?” Ralsei suddenly felt nervous again, but seeing how flustered Vess was, he feels at least a little bit more confident. They looked just as worked up as he felt, and if they were both on even ground, he didn’t have to worry too much.

“I um…” Ralsei laughs nervously. “I always thought you looked nice, but this new version of you is… breathtaking.” This time, it’s Vess who looks away from him, the once gray and monotone tint of their face starting to turn beet red. Maybe he was worrying over nothing, this was easy! “As much as I like this new look, what made you change your appearance?”

“That’s…” Vess clears their throat and tries to return their attention to Ralsei. “That’s actually something I’ve been thinking about ever since I got here.” They say. “I don’t really know how to explain it.”

“You have a separate body outside of this world, right?” Ralsei ventures. “Does this new vessel resemble the real you more?”

“N…” Vess hesitates, taking several seconds to try and form an answer before they give up. “I don’t know…”

“Do you not know what you normally look like?” Ralsei asks, tilting his head in confusion. “Does your vessel resemble you or not?”

“It doesn’t, but…” Vess crosses their arms and rests their head on the table. “I wish it did…” They finally say. “No one really calls me pretty back in my world, but the moment I got here, everyone had something to say about my new look. When I looked in the mirror, I…”

“I think I know what you’re saying…” Ralsei says after a while. “I felt something similar a long time ago.” That gets Vess’ attention, causing them to sit up again. “I was once a part of Kris, remember? They wore the headband I was made from to try and be more like their brother Asriel, and I embody a lot of the ideals and desires they had at the time. I was supposed to be the perfect little brother, but as you already know, Kris grew up and changed quite a bit since then.”

“I think they got rid of me right as they started questioning their identity, and some of that must have rubbed off on me.” He continues, thinking back to the earliest moments he can remember in the empty halls of Castle Town. “I used to wear a big baggy sweater just like the Dreemurr’s did while growing up, but something about it didn’t really feel right for whatever reason. Looking in the mirror, I didn’t feel anything was wrong, but eventually I tried something new to see if it would make that feeling go away. I found a pink piece of ribbon abandoned in the caves nearby and tied that into my hair to accessorize a little, but when I saw myself in the mirror after that, I found out what the problem was.”

“I wanted to look cute.” He says. “I was trying to look big and tough just like Asriel, but that isn’t what I wanted. It was the first time I really started questioning things about myself and, just like Kris, I started coming up with an identity of my own. I didn’t fully transition like Kris did, I’m still a boy, but that one little change made me feel so much better about myself.”

“I’d say you succeeded.” Vess says after a brief pause. “You’re the cutest guy I’ve ever seen.” Ralsei blushes deeply, but Vess continues. “I guess… I feel the same way now. I don’t exactly hate how I normally look, but ever since I got my first vessel, I’ve just felt more comfortable in that body than my real one. Lizzy gave me a chance to fully express myself and now that I’m in this body, I feel so…” Vess looked down at their hands with a look of awe on their face. “This is me, this is who I am, and knowing that this is just a vessel and not my real body makes me dread having to go back.”

“Do you have to go back?” Ralsei asks. “If you like it better here, why not stay?” Vess doesn’t answer. Several seconds pass in agonizing silence as an internal conflict plays out behind Vess’ eyes.

“I’ve given that idea some thought… multiple times now.” They say. “This place is amazing, you and the rest of our little gang are some of the best friends I’ve ever had. I’m boring back in my world, but here, you guys see me as a hero. Now I have this perfect vessel and it’s everything I’ve ever wanted, but…”

“Do you not want to leave your old friends behind?” Ralsei ventures. “Is there any way to bring them here too? That way you don’t have to leave.”

“You see, I thought about that, but…” They grumble. “I don’t know, even if I brought everyone I knew here, it wouldn’t feel right. I can’t really explain it properly without sharing some information you really shouldn’t know. All I can say is that there’s a clear divide between this world and my world, and as much as I want to, I don’t think it’s the right choice to ignore my real life to spend all my time here.”

Ralsei couldn’t blame them for thinking that. It wasn’t long ago that he had similar thoughts about how things worked around here. Dark Worlds aren’t really supposed to be permanent places for Lightners to stay. Berdly nearly ended the world a week early because he didn’t want to leave and instead wanted to expand the Dark Worlds. Asriel dropped out of college, Mrs. Holiday started shirking her duties as Mayor. Things seemed perfect in here, but there was still a world outside of the bubble they were trapped in, a world that was now forcing them to clean up their act or face disaster.

It was slowly starting to dawn on him that this perfect scenario everyone found themselves in might not actually be perfect. The Dark Worlds, which were supposed to be a brief escape from the problems of the world, don’t have an exit anymore. People are just completely abandoning their old lives to stay here forever, to live in a fantasy world where the real problems can’t reach them. Vess wasn’t like everyone else outside the Barrier, but the point still stands, this place was almost perfect, but they’re cautious about abandoning their real world responsibilities to stay here. That didn’t even take into consideration that this place was a completely separate dimension from their native one, so there was another, much larger divide between their real world and this Dark World.

Ralsei’s heart nearly stops as he comes to a horrifying realization. Would it really be a good idea to confess his feelings if they shouldn’t stay here? Ralsei really li… no, he loved Vess. There was no denying the butterflies in his stomach and heaviness in his heart. No one else has made him feel this way, he wants them, badly, but at the same time, he cares more for their well being than his personal happiness.

But isn’t that a habit that Vess tried to get him to shake? He always puts others first, but Vess was the first to confront him and ask him to take care of himself. That was more for his safety though, to make sure he was well rested and healthy so he could properly care for everyone. He didn’t need Vess’ love to survive…

“Ralsei?” Shaking himself out of his daze, Ralsei returns his attention to Vess, only to find that they’ve scooted closer to him on the bench.

“Y-yes?” Ralsei stutters, caught off guard by their proximity to him.

“I’ll still visit, you know?” They say, and Ralsei almost wonders if they could read minds. Was it that obvious that he was worried about them going away? “I don’t know if I can or should stay, but I could never just abandon you guys for good. Despite the divide between us, you’re all still my friends. Maybe… more than just friends.”

“M-more than friends?!” Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh! He was spending all this time trying to find the nerve to confess, but were they going to do it first?! This should honestly be a relief because it means they 100% like him back, but at the same time, it felt like things were going too fast. What does he say back? What happened next? “What are you talking about?” Ralsei asks, trying his hardest to play things cool, but Vess only chuckles in response, making him flush with embarrassment.

“Come on, you know.” They say with a smile. “It was pretty obvious the second I got here. Also, not to throw Kris under the bus, but they also outright told me.”

“Ugh! That b… butt!” Ralsei pouts. “I told them to keep it a secret!”

“You leaked it yourself.” Vess says. “Kris just stated the obvious.”

“Was it when I called you pretty?” Ralsei asks, causing Vess to jolt again.

“That helped confirm it,” They say, resting a hand on their face, trying to hide their blush. “But I had my suspicions when one of the questions you had Kris ask me during our last call was essentially ‘are you single’. There wasn’t really much room for interpretation there, but having you look at me like I was the most gorgeous person in the world the second I got here made me realize just how serious you were about this.”

“And you feel the same way?” Ralsei asks. He already had an answer, Vess saw him as more than just a friend, but still, he wanted to hear it straight.

“To be honest, I was at a point in my life where I was questioning what kind of people I actually liked and you helped me figure out that crisis.” Vess says. “That was a few years ago, but it was thanks to you that I almost asked out this guy who goes to the same arcade I go to.”

“I did?” Ralsei asks.

“Yep.” Vess nods. “I like cute guys. You’re how I found out.”

“Oh wow…” Ralsei shivered with delight. They liked him just as much and have been liking him since… “Wait, a few years ago?” Ralsei notices a pretty big discrepancy. “We only met a few months ago. Did the resets really take that long?!”

“Oh, no.” Vess shook their head. “There was like a three year gap between our trip through Card Kingdom and the Cyberworld from my perspective. It’s hard to explain, but you caught my eye and became a favorite of mine ever since we first met. You’ve apparently been head over heels for me for a couple months, but I’ve had a bit of an obsession with you for years.”

Ralsei was left stunned. Was this romantic tension between them always present without him knowing? Ralsei thinks all the way back to when they first properly met, with Vess having been locked away in the dungeon by Kris. It was a tense moment filled with a lot of doubt and weariness, but Ralsei saw the good in them all the way back then, even though they insisted that they were a bad person. He remembers how relieved and happy they were to hear him say that he still cared about them and that they were still a good person for wanting to fix their mistakes, even though they couldn’t.

Were there feelings all the way back then?

“If you liked me just as much, why didn’t you say anything until now?” Ralsei asks.

“Why haven’t you confessed yet?” Vess counters. Ralsei stumbles on his words and struggles to get a response out, but Vess just laughs. “You don’t have to answer, I get it. I didn’t have the nerve to ask anyone out years ago, and I’m struggling to even outright say how I feel now, but there’s a reason why I’m holding back, a reason that I want to ignore but it’s still bugging me.”

“What is it?” They were so close, both of them knew how each other felt, both of them knew what they wanted to say, but weren’t saying it. Ralsei was still trying to muster up the courage to outright declare his love for them, but clearly there’s something else bothering Vess.

“You’re…” They start, only to drop their explanation immediately. “I’m just… We’re too… Fuck!” Vess grumbles, burying their face in their hands. “God! It’s so annoying not being able to properly explain this. The only person who would understand is Sans and I know for a fact that he couldn’t give two shits about my problems.”

“You can tell me, can’t you?” Ralsei pleads. “If it’s bothering you this much, I can keep the secret if you need to share.”

“Not happening.” Vess shakes their head. “It’s for your own good. You remember Jevil? Spamton? Mike? Seam? All of them got screwed up by knowing what I know. Hell, I’m scared that what little I leaked to Kris might be what’s causing their issues. I could never do that to you.” They rest their head back onto the table in front of them. “It’s too complicated to explain, and even if you were able to handle the truth, I’d feel awful telling you what’s holding me back. I love you, but…”

Those last few words rip Ralsei’s heart back and forth in his chest. They said it! They said it out loud! They loved him!

...But…

That single word filled him with so much dread. But why?! Ralsei had his own concerns, he knew they were very different from him and that the current situation with the Dark World isn’t as perfect as he thought, but he’d gladly push those problems aside to make Vess his. Why don’t they feel the same way? Was it something that could be fixed?

“Vess… I…” Ralsei tried to force himself to say it back, hoping that it would be enough to make them reconsider, but before he could, someone intruded on their conversation.

“Catti!” Ralsei and Vess both sit up as someone calls out from the start of the trail “Catti pwease! Don make Temmie go to the river! I don wanna be eated by the Leviathan!”

Ralsei had no idea what to think of the cries coming from the trail, but evidently Vess thought it was something worth investigating. Standing up from the bench, they immediately start to move to see what was wrong, and Ralsei can’t help but feel like he just lost his chance. He was so close, the word was at the tip of his tongue, but he lost it.

He still had the rest of the day to correct this mistake though. He wouldn’t lose his nerve again. He knew Vess liked him, it was clear that they wanted this to work but something was getting in the way. He was going to figure it out and make things right. First thing’s first though, it sounded like someone needed their help. Ralsei joins Vess’ side as they retrace their steps back down the path, and once he’s beside them, they reach their hand out to him.

He takes it without hesitation. Whatever was keeping this from being a serious relationship didn’t get in the way of their friendship. They were still partners, even if they weren’t partners just yet.

Returning to the edge of the woods, they find a strange sight. A strange girl wearing a pointed witches hat far too big for her head fidgets anxiously at the start of the trail, clearly too afraid to walk the path. He remembers her from his trip to Catti’s tower with Vess while looking for Kris, but he can’t quite place her name. Vess recognizes her immediately though.

“Temmie?” They kneel down to get on her level. “What’s going on?”

“Wowoah!” Whatever was bothering Temmie is temporarily forgotten as they’re caught off guard by Vess's new look. “Who-?”

“It’s Vess,” They’re quick to explain. “I’m the one who ripped their soul out at Catti’s tower. What’s the problem? Why are you yelling?”

“Oh yeah!” Temmie nods in recognition, but her excitement quickly fades as whatever distressed her in the first place came back to her attention. “Catti’s not coming home!” She says. “Temmie can’t get back in the tower. Catti promised she wouldn’t be gone long. Was Catti by the river?”

“I don’t believe so.” Ralsei shakes his head. “It was just us two.” He wished it stayed like that, but with how upset Temmie was, it was clear that something was very wrong here.

“But her bwoom’s right there!” Temmie says, jumping up to point at a nearby tree. Sure enough, a broomstick was lodged in between the branches. “And these tracks!” Temmie now directs their attention downward. “Da big wons only go one way.” Looking back down the path, there’s a clear trail through the snow where they came and went. Ralsei noticed the tracks going towards the river, but didn’t realize that there wasn’t a second set coming back. “She must have been eated by da Leviathan!”

“The Leviathan?” Vess boggles. “In a small river running through town?”

“I sawed it!” Temmie insists. “It was BIG, and BULBOUS, and it had a gajillion tentacles that-”

“Oh, that’s Onion.” Vess quickly shuts her down. “They’re a little creepy looking, but they’re nothing to worry about? We can go say hi if you want.” It doesn’t surprise Ralsei at all to learn that Vess has apparently befriended some kind of sea monster that lives in the river. Aside from Sans, and to an extent Kris, everyone was friends with Vess.

Temmie looks a little hesitant to go searching for this onion monster, but knowing that Vess wasn’t afraid of it bravens them up a little. “Will Vess help Temmie look for Catti?”

“Sure thing.” Vess nods. “It shouldn't take long to find her, then we can get back to our talk.” Vess looks up at Ralsei, and this time, he has the courage to actually face them back without looking away out of shyness. Once again, he was worrying himself over nothing. He was starting to get used to those warm smiles and to the feeling of their hand in his. It shouldn’t be long before they work something out.

“Excellent! This pleases Temmie greatly!” Temmie says in an odd tone before slipping back to her usual one. “Let’s go, yaya!”

Venturing back down the dirt path with their new excentric friend in tow, they follow the third set of tracks in the snow, searching for the missing witch. This should be an easy problem to fix, but looking up at Vess, he sees their expression start to drop little by little as they walk. Something was bothering them now, leading them to start asking questions.

“Has Catti been doing anything strange by the river?” They ask. “Has she met anyone strange? Kris told me not long ago that she met with a strange person out here the last time we spoke.” Those questions brought a whole slew of upsetting implications, and to Ralsei’s dismay, Temmie was quick to answer.

“Yeah!” She hops up in affirmation. “She saw the Leviathan AND a cweepy stranger on a boat!” She says. “She also says someting about singing?”

“Oh god…” Vess groans in obvious distress. Ralsei squeezes their hand tight, trying to silently assure them that things would be fine, but it wasn’t working. Whatever they thought this was deeply disturbed them.

“She goes to the river every day now, and even started talking to the funny skeleton about stuff, but she always came back before it got dark.” Temmie says, clearly worried herself, but with every new piece of information she shares, Vess becomes more distraught.

“What’s going on?” Ralsei finally asks, hoping to take their mind off of it, but it only seems to make things worse.

“I’m hoping I’m wrong, but I think this is another thing that’s my fault.” Vess says. They didn’t need to elaborate further, they brought all sorts of trouble with them. Maybe that’s one of the secret reasons why they didn’t want to stay, but Ralsei shakes his head.

“Then we’ll fix it like every other problem.” He assures them. “It’ll be fine!”

Passing by the picnic table they were resting at a few minutes ago, Ralsei, Vess, and Temmie all approach the edge of the river, anxiety starting to bubble up within all three of them. They were all following the trail that Temmie insisted was Catti’s but to their growing worry, the trail ends right at the edge of the river. Just one large print in the snow right as the ground erodes into rushing water, then nothing.

“Where she go?” Turning around, Ralsei finds that Temmie has backed away from the river's edge, terrified that something must have dragged her friend into the river. He immediately steps back after her to console her, leaving Vess to kneel down at the edge to look into the water.

“You said she met someone on a boat, right?” Vess asks. “She clearly didn’t fall or get dragged away.”

“Ye.” Temmie nods vigorously, enough for her glasses to fall off and land in the snow. Picking them up and wiping them off, Ralsei returns them to her face. “Catti says she met a singing stranger on the river who gave her a ride and talked about the Void! She’s been trying to study it since!”

“Fuuuuuck!” Vess whines, running their hands through their beautiful hair. “What the hell are they even doing here?! Did they follow me too?! Fuck, where could they have taken her?!”

“What’s going on?!” Ralsei rushes to Vess’ side. It was clear now that this wasn’t a simple problem anymore. Something terrible has happened!

“I don’t know.” Vess shakes their head. “There’s only one person I can think of, and I don’t think they’d hurt anyone, but I don’t know anymore. I don’t even know how they would have gotten here, but…” Vess pauses mid ramble, and Ralsei is about to ask what stopped them when he falls silent too. He could hear someone singing.

No one says a word as they all turn their heads up stream to find a hooded figure approaching them by boat, singing a strange melody to themself as they drift along. Temmie ducks down in the snow, trying to hide herself beneath her hat. Ralsei steps back, getting away from the edge of the water just in case this stranger was dangerous. Only Vess remains at the river's edge as the stranger gets closer.

The wooden boat the stranger rides in comes to a sudden stop right beside them. The stranger stops their singing and slowly turns to face Vess. Ralsei can’t see anything beneath the hood, and stranger yet, he can’t get a glimpse at the stranger’s soul. He couldn’t read this person at all, their intentions are a complete mystery.

“Oh…” A gentle voice falls out of the empty hood of the stranger. “What a pleasant surprise. I don’t see many familiar faces in my travels, though I suppose your face isn’t the one I’m used to. A pleasure to meet you again.”

Ralsei stared in shock at the hooded stranger. If they knew who Vess was, they must be a visitor from another world! Knowing the track record of most of the other otherworldly visitors they’ve had though, he stands protectively over Temmie, reading his healing magic to support Vess just in case.

Vess was clearly weary of this stranger, but not enough to flee or fight. Taking the diplomatic approach, they start to ask questions.

“Where’s Catti?!” They demand. “I know you’ve met her before! What did you do to her?!”

“Catti…?” The stranger tilts their head, their tone still sounding sing songy even after being yelled at. “Is she not here?” They ask. “I was hoping to meet her here. I had taken her for a ride some time ago and wanted the company to break up the silence. Has something happened?”

“I thought you happened!” Vess points at them.

“I suppose that’s what the aggressive tone of voice would indicate.” The stranger hums, not at all bothered by how confrontative Vess was being. “I’ve only just arrived. I’m afraid if Catti has gone missing, I do not know where she could have gone.”

“Her footprints in the snow lead right here.” Vess says, pointing down to the tracks. “She had to have stepped onto a boat or something. Are there more than one of you? How did you even get here?!”

“You’ve become a lot more talkative since we last met.” The stranger chuckles. “I would love to answer your questions, though if she isn’t here, it could be possible that she went looking for me instead. It has been a while since my last visit, perhaps she became impatient.” Sliding over, the stranger appears to make room for Vess on their boat. “Would you like to come along? I’m a little more familiar with this path. I should have no trouble bringing you back while we search.”

The more this stranger spoke, the less tense Ralsei felt. It was incredibly unnerving that he couldn’t see anything beneath their hood or the purity of their soul, but their pleasant voice and calm demeanor was disarming. Vess wasn’t immediately afraid of them unlike the Lightbringer and Gaster, they thought they could be reasoned with. This strange Riverperson seemed like someone who could be trusted.

That didn’t ease his worry at all when Vess stepped onto the boat.

“Vess?! Where are you going?!” He asks, getting as close to the water’s edge as he dared.

“I’m not sure, but I’m sure I’ll make it back.” They assure him, settling down on the boat. “One way or another at least… Don’t worry, I think I’ll manage this on my own and I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Shall we depart without further delay?” The Riverperson asks.

“Sure, let’s try and do this quickly.” Vess nods, and without warning, the boat starts to slowly drift downstream. Ralsei walks along the river’s edge as the boat starts to move and Vess gives him a wave. “Don’t worry about me, I won’t keep you waiting long. I promise.” After a second of hesitation, they say something that stops Ralsei in his tracks.

“I love you…”

Ralsei watches as the boat slowly drifts off down the River, taking Vess with it until they go around a bend and disappear behind the trees. Ralsei trusts that they’ll come back. They’ve been through worse, they’ve literally died and came back, but still, watching them go so soon after they came back, when he was so close to starting something serious, it hurt…

”I love you too.” Ralsei mumbles to himself, wishing he had said it sooner, just in case this was the last time he saw them.

Chapter Text

You jinxed yourself.

Kris was right to punch you, you just had to open up your dumb mouth. Every day you’ve spent in this game has been the most hectic day of your life, why in the world would you ever think you’d get to relax? It wasn’t like you were relaxed before you hopped on this boat, but at least you weren’t in danger with Ralsei. You had no idea what to expect now.

How the hell does this keep happening to you? Can’t you have just one day? One day where you aren’t freaking out or trying to save the world?

“I thought you had become more talkative.” The Riverperson speaks up beside you. “Do you reserve the silent treatment only for me?”

“No, I’m just stressed.” You say. “To be honest, I’m still questioning if getting on this boat with you is a good idea or not. I have no idea what your intentions are.”

“I am simply letting the river take me wherever it leads.” The Riverperson replies, not at all offended by your skepticism. “Catti was also reluctant to ride, but a short time on the water listening to the song of the sea eased her worries. If you believe she has vanished, she likely tried to sail without me.”

There were a lot more important things to talk about when you first got here, but Catti’s questions from the text chat you had with Kris were something you didn’t forget. It was clear that she somehow met the Riverperson, but that brought so many questions.

“How did you get here?” You repeat your question from earlier. “This is a completely different world from the one I last saw you in. Did you somehow go through the Void?”

“I did.” The Riverperson slowly nods. “How do you think I ferried you so efficiently through the Underground? I only ever let the river take me downstream.” It’s been a while since you played Undertale, but you’ve ridden with the Riverperson quite a bit, trying to exhaust all their dialogue to see if they had any more creepy secrets to share. It never occurred to you at the time, but their last comment made you realize they only ever went left, never facing right. They were somehow able to go backwards towards Snowden, but drop you off in Hotland.

“Did you know Gaster, Sans and the other Void people?” You ask next. “Were you part of the royal science team?”

“I don’t believe so.” The Riverperson answers after a short pause. “Though I can’t tell you much about myself at all. All I know is my place is here on the river and that I was once part of the Void. Things were quite active in the Underground, but I have no idea if I was a part of that or not. I was familiar with everyone there, including those who were forgotten by all others.”

Maybe this wasn’t as bad as you were thinking. This was still very distressing, people from your past just keep popping up and who knows what other Void entities could force their way here, but out of all the possible things that could have shown up, the Riverperson was probably the least threatening.

Maybe this was your chance to ask some questions. Maybe the Riverperson wasn’t someone you had to be careful around.

“So, quick question.” You speak up after a moment, looking around at the snowy woods around you. “You know what all of this is, right?” You ask, not wanting to say it outright in case they didn’t know. “You know what I am and why I’m here?”

“I do.” The Riverperson nods. “You’re a visitor from a plane of existence far greater than this. You came here seeking adventure and challenges. You see this all as a game.”

“Not so much anymore but, yeah…” You nod. They do know. “Have you met anyone else like me?” You question. “You seem like you get around a lot and you don’t seem too distressed to have someone like me on your boat.”

“I have…” The Riverperson nods again, though there's a slight hesitation in their voice. “I believe you may be special though. Something within you, something about the way you act, you’re not like the others.”

“I don’t suppose you know exactly what’s different about me?” You ask, not really expecting a solid answer. To your surprise, however, the Riverperson is quick to respond.

“There are many people like you, though I suspect your higher plane of existence has amplified that quality somewhat.” They say. “In the few populated worlds I’ve visited, I’ve met those who were simply drawn to the strange and unexplainable. Most seek it out, wanting to find answers for the secrets the world holds, but there’s a rare few who have the strangeness come to them. I suppose I’m one of those people, or at least one of the oddities that are drawn to them.”

“I guess that certainly sounds like me.” You say. You always wanted to know more. Playing your games, especially these games, you didn’t want to leave a single stone unturned. You searched for every easter egg, exhausted every dialogue tree, and if what the Riverperson is saying is correct, the fact that you managed to find Gaster on your second playthrough of Undertale might not be as much of a fluke as you thought. You were drawn to these kinds of things, and apparently, they’re drawn to you too.

“I believe there are a couple of people like you in this world.” The Riverperson continues. “Catti of course is quite attuned to all of this, but I’ve seen one other young girl who might be drawn to this too.”

“Who’s that?” You ask.

“It felt like ages ago, long before this world was shrouded in darkness.” The Riverperson says, staring off into the distance as they peer into their past. “It was another cold winter evening, just like this. The song of the sea came through loud and clear through the quiet gurgling of the river. I drifted along, taking in the sights as I passed through, but someone was waiting at the riverside.”

“A young girl in an ugly sweater sat at the edge of the river, looking down into the rushing waters. Tears froze against her cheeks as she lost herself in her thoughts, letting the music wash over her. I passed right by her and not once did she raise her head to watch me go, she simply stared at the water, mumbling to herself, calling out for someone named Dess.” You jolt slightly as you finally realize who they’re talking about. Turning to face you, even though they had no face, you feel they must be smiling at you. “I suppose she has you to thank for bringing Dess back home.”

“You know about that?” You ask in surprise.

“Catti told me.” The Riverperson nods, returning their attention to the front of the boat. “I was a big fan of Dess’ music, and while I’m glad to hear she’s returned home, I miss the sound of her voice.”

“Did you know her?” You were starting to get lost. “What’s this music you keep talking about? Did Dess give you her mixtape in the Void before you moved on?”

“You’ll hear it soon enough.” The Riverperson assures you. Falling silent for a while, you decide to sit back and keep an ear out, but your mind is focused on the story about Noelle. It’s been forever, but you swear you’ve heard something similar about her. Not only that, but an even stranger piece of information comes to you.

The Spamton Sweepstakes.

It was mostly a charity thing held by Toby Fox, but it held quite a bit of lore too, and hearing that Noelle was drawn to, or might be a magnet for the strange and supernatural, you’re suddenly reminded of something found within the hyperlinks of that sweepstakes. Noelle apparently had a blog she used to run, maybe she still does, but she had a habit of finding strange glitches and bugs in games she used to play. While playing some sort of pet care game, she managed to corrupt it in such a way that all she was left to take care of was a single egg that never hatched and never went away.

Knowing what you know now about eggs, it’s deeply unsettling to you that it could have been a piece of Gaster, or maybe some other physical remnant of a Void entity. You never got a chance to see much of her blog, it was just lore tidbits that Toby Fox was feeding everyone through the sweepstakes, but this and her near run in with the Riverperson has you thinking that they might be right that she’s drawn to this stuff just like you.

You’ll have plenty of time to ask her later once you find Catti. You pull yourself out of your thoughts to look for any signs of her, but you gasp when you find that you’re not actually in the woods anymore. A thick, choking fog of dust fills the air as the Riverperson boats you down through some sort of cave system. You aren’t fully familiar with the town, but you know for a fact that there are no caves there.

This wasn’t Hometown anymore, and after taking in the new sights, you gasp when you realize where you are.

“How the hell?!” Your mind goes blank as a million questions try to force themselves out at the same time. Is this the same Underground you left behind? Was this after your no mercy run, or was this Chara’s work after you sold your soul? How the hell did you get here? Does the Riverperson somehow know how to travel between all of these worlds? Is it possible to travel these worlds because you have both games installed on your computer? You try to voice all of these questions, but the next question comes up before you can even say a single word of the last, leaving you to stutter and stumble on every syllable.

The Riverperson chuckles at your brain fart. “Feeling nostalgic back there?” They hum. “I can’t quite say I’m a fan of what you’ve done to this place, but even through the quiet and the dust, the Waterfalls are still a sight to behold.”

Leaving the cramped cave interiors, you suddenly find yourself in the crossing streams of the Underground’s Waterfalls. Brilliant blue light emanates from the waters overboard and light reflects off the condensation hanging from the stalactites above, creating constellations below ground. You’ve seen this place before, you know exactly where you are, but not like this. This place used to be 8-bit pixels and solid colors, but to actually be here and see it with your own eyes…

You had to constantly blink as dust irritated your eyes. It hung in the air like smoke, every breath strangled you as your mouth and throat started to become dry. The consequences of what you did here were literally haunting you now, and you’ve never been more terrified in your life. You felt a little upset getting the bad ending playing a video game, you were horrified to learn that those might have been real people, actually standing on the battleground and seeing the dust of everyone you killed left you frozen in fear on the boat.

You’re only jostled out of that fear when the boat bumps into something and comes to a halt.

“Oh?!” The Riverperson lets out a surprised gasp as they tilt their head to peer over the bow of their boat. “Oh my, we’ve hit something.” Leaning over the side of the boat and careful not to fall over, you find what’s stopped you and are caught off guard.

Tied down to a lamp post beside the river was a loosely assembled raft, blocking off the water way. There’s no identifying marks or signs that give away who it belongs to, but the fact that this raft is here at all and isn’t covered in a blanket of dust means that someone’s been here recently. The Riverperson must deduce the same exact thing as they kneel to sit down on their boat.

“I shall remain here.” They tell you. “I cannot do much unless the path is cleared and I cannot do that myself. Good luck, and may you come back safely.”

“Thank you.” You nod, standing up from the back of the boat and hopping the short gap to solid ground. Once you are able to walk around, you move to get a closer look at the raft, but take notice of prints in the dust leading deeper towards land. They were the same set of prints you saw in the snow. Catti was here, but why? How?! You’ve been a mess of unanswered questions for a while now, and desperate to get answers to some of them, you start to follow the trail.

You reach up to try and pull your cape up over your face to shield you from the dust, only to tug on the collar of a thick, gray sweater. You were no longer in the Dark World and your armor was now gone. Lizzy never created a Light World sprite for this vessel, but again, nothing about how you get here and back makes sense. You just count yourself lucky you didn’t show up naked or cease to exist.

Swirling within your chest is a potent mix of genuine awe at the beauty surrounding you and overwhelming dread over what you did to this place. You wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, but at the same time, curiosity was getting the better of you. If you went to Snowdin, would Sans’ house and Grillby’s be gone? If you marched all the way up to the Barrier, would it be broken? Is there still a world outside of the Underground, or has that been wiped out too?

You decide you’re better off not knowing. You already felt awful being here, getting a better look at the damage you did will only make you feel worse.

Straining your eyes to continue following the trail in the dust, you realize where it leads and ignore the tracks all together as you wander down the familiar path towards Tem Village. You’d rather not, especially after seeing Temmie alive and well only a few minutes ago, but Catti must have seen a sign somewhere and went to investigate.

Turning the corner, you find yourself in Tem Village which stands eerily quiet and still. It wasn’t completely quiet though. Out here in the village, the bioluminescent light from the rushing waters didn’t reach, leaving most of it shrouded in darkness, but the door leading into the Tem Shop let light out through its open doorway. Someone was rummaging around in there. Slowly approaching the shop, you peer inside, calling out ahead of time to let Catti know you’re coming.

“Hello-”

“WHAT THE-!!!” Before you have time to react, you are pelted in the face with a tall cardboard box which explodes out into multicolored strips of construction paper. You stumble back, one hand covering your face while the other is thrown out in front of you to try and catch any other projectiles flying your way.

“Woah woah! Wait! Catti, stop!” You quickly sputter out, bracing yourself to dodge if something else gets thrown at you. “It’s me! Vess! The Angel!” Nothing gets thrown at you after saying that, leading you to slowly open your eyes and lower your hands.

Inside of Temmie’s shop, Catti stares back at you in complete shock and disbelief, an opened box of Temmie flakes in her hand and poised to be pitched at you with extreme prejudice. She tilts her head as she tries to get a good look at you, obviously extremely shaken by your sudden appearance in what was clearly a completely dead and abandoned world. You doubt there’s any way you could have introduced yourself without scaring the hell out of her.

“You don’t…” Catti starts, taking a step closer and calming down, but still ready to chuck the inedible snack at you at a moment's notice.

“I look different, I know.” You nod. “I just got back in town, but Temmie went out looking for you because you haven’t come home. I followed your footprints to the river, hopped a ride with the Riverperson and…”

“The Riverperson?” That gets her to lower her guard. “They’re here?!”

“They helped me get here to come looking for you.” You nod. “Your raft’s blocking up the river, keeping them in place.”

“Oh…” Catti says, finally lowering the box she’s holding to her side. You let your own guard drop fully now that she isn’t throwing things at you. Looking down at the box in her hands, Catti comes to her senses. “How long have I been gone?! Temmie’s looking for me?”

“Ralsei and I were out by the river and she was too scared to get close to the water thinking Onion was some kind of sea monster.” You explain, clearing your throat as dust threatens to choke you.

“You know about the sea monster too?” Catti asks in surprise.

“It’s Onion. Kris and I met them ages ago.” You confirm. “Hell, I met them here years before I came to your town.”

“Does that mean it’s another Void hopping monster?” Catti asks and that gives you pause. You want to say no and that there are just two Onions, but with how many people actually managed to follow you into Deltarune, you can’t confirm or deny it. “So this is the place, isn’t it?” Catti decides to move on from her question when you fail to answer it. “This is the last world you visited? The one you destroyed?”

“Yeah…” You nod, growing more and more uncomfortable. She had to notice the dust, right? What was she thinking right now? What if the reason she attacked you wasn’t just because she was startled, but because she thought she might be next, that you might hurt her.

Watching Catti return her attention to the shop to dig around, that worry starts to dissipate. “Did you know Temmie here?” She asks, fascinated by everything in the shop. “Did you shop here?”

“A few times, yeah.” You say, stepping into the shop and getting a good look at the place in person. “I didn’t buy much, but it was certainly one of the more unique stores down here. One of the things she was selling was the opportunity to put her through college.”

“That certainly sounds like the Temmie I know.” Catti chuckles, opening up a box of Temmie flakes and pulling a ‘flake’ out. You watch as she considered eating it for only one second before she realized that it was a bad idea. “How’d that turn out for her?”

“I actually did pay for her tuition during one of my resets here.” You tell her. “With her education, she ended up creating one of the strongest suits of armor in the Underground. Undyne and Asgore could barely even leave a scratch on me while wearing it.”

“She became an armorsmith?!” Catti asks with some shock.

“It wasn’t really armor, but a baby holster with another smaller Temmie strapped to my chest.” You explain. “Nobody really wanted to hit me out of fear of hitting Temmie.”

“Another Temmie?”

“This is the Tem Village.” You nod. “There were like a dozen of them that lived here. I don’t know if they were siblings or mitosis clones or something, but there were lots of them.” Catti stares at you for several seconds after you finish explaining all of this.

“I wanna say you’re screwing with me, but I don’t think you’d joke about something like that considering what you did to this place.” Hearing Catti directly address your actions here has you freeze up, but Catti just continues to rummage. “It’s unnerving to actually see all of this, but I’ve heard the stories about you already and you’re obviously not dangerous anymore. If you wanted my world destroyed, you could have just sat back and watched as the world ended on its own.”

“I guess I’m not used to people being so forgiving after seeing it for themselves.” You say. You’re struggling to forgive yourself now that you were literally choking on everyone’s remains. You just try to cling to the thought that you tried to fix it immediately afterwards and that you’ve done everything you can to help your friends in Deltarune.

“Sans certainly didn’t have many nice things to say.” Catti nods, brushing herself off and taking another box of Temmie Flakes. “But you helped me get Kris back, so you’re good in my book. We should get going though, Temmie’s probably worried sick about me.” With the few goodies she was taking as souvenirs in hand, Catti moves towards you as she tries to wave the dust out of her face. “Let’s go home.”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” You nod, desperate to get back to the boat so you can get a breath of fresh air. “How the hell did you even get here in the first place, anyways?! I thought the Riverperson kidnapped you or something.”

“I let the river take me.” Catti says, giving you the same non answer the Riverperson gave you. She thankfully elaborates a little more than the Void traveling stranger. “I’ve been looking into this stuff for weeks now, trying to uncover the secrets of the Void. I’ve heard the song of the sea, I know where this kind of stuff happens the most, and today was the first time I tried to do something practical with it.”

“You mean you found out how to travel to different worlds by yourself?!” You ask in shock. For once, Catti actually breaks into a proud smile. Not a snide smirk, but a full blown smile.

“Of course I did.” She says. “You’re looking at the most powerful witch in the world, or at least my world. I have stared into the Void, discovered its secrets, and I can now bend it to my will. No mortal alive can match my magical prowess!”

“Can you make it back though?” You ask, and some of Catti’s confidence starts to drain.

“You dare challenge my power?” She says, still trying to save face. “I could turn you into a frog where you stand.”

“But you’re not a witch anymore. You don’t have your Dark World Magic here.” You point out, and Catti’s act cracks immediately. You were caught off guard when you lost your armor, and clearly Catti didn’t realize that her magic was left behind in the Dark World. She was no powerful witch, she was just some goth teenager in a completely different dimension from where she originated.

“Oh shit…” She mumbles. “I think I might have trapped myself here. I don’t think I can make a jump without my magic.”

“Good thing someone swung by to pick us up then.” You say, picking up your pace. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”

Leaving Tem Village behind and retracing your steps back through the Waterfalls, you bring Catti along as you return to the riverside. The Riverperson thankfully keeps their word and patiently waits for your return. They seem pleased to see you aren’t alone.

“Hello again, Catti.” They greet her. “I see you’ve begun to travel the rivers as well.”

“I’ve been visiting the river every other day wondering when you’d be back.” Catti nods. “I got tired of waiting and went on my own, but I’m not sure I would have been able to make it back without you.”

“I’m sure you would manage.” The Riverperson assures her. “There aren’t many who are wise or willing enough to let the Void take them. That you managed it at all is proof that you’re a very resourceful woman. You would have continued your journey in time, though, it seems our mutual friend here is eager to take you back home.”

“I’d like to be anywhere else other than here.” You nod. “I’ve got too many bad memories here.”

“Then shall we depart?” The Riverperson asks, rising from their knees to continue sailing. With Catti’s help, the two of you drag her raft ashore, clearing the waterway for the boat to pass through. Hopping back onto the boat, you both take a seat and give the Waterfalls one last farewell as the Riverperson begins to sail away once more, leaving the Underground behind.

“Any chance we can take a couple detours?” Catti speaks up once the dust in the air starts to fade. “I know we have people waiting at home, but I want to see more. I want to know what other worlds we can reach.”

You want to argue. You don’t want to push your luck and you want to return home safely where Ralsei was waiting for you, but you can’t help but be curious about where the Riverperson could take you. Nothing made sense, this world was full of mysteries, and the Riverperson said so themselves, you’re a naturally curious person who can’t leave these questions unanswered.

“I see no reason we can’t.” The Riverperson says. “Unless the Angel objects.” Turning to face you, they await your answer.

“As long as we can get back home.” You say.

“Very well.” The Riverperson nods. “Let’s be on our way then.” The Riverperson returns their attention to the front of the boat, sailing off into the dark towards some unknown destination. As they sail, you try to think of some questions to ask to try and get a better understanding of what’s going on, only to be interrupted by Catti.

“Is this what you really look like?” She asks out of nowhere, drawing you from your thoughts. “Is this the real you?”

“Funny that you ask that, it’s actually a conversation I had with Kris when I woke up.” You say. “This body feels closer to the real me, but technically speaking, no. This is just another vessel, my real body is back in my world.”

“So what is this world exactly to you?” She asks next. “How did you reach it before? Is it really just like a game to you like Sans says?” Hearing that gives you a jolt, making you turn and stare at her in wide eyed shock. “What’s that look for?”

“You know about that?” You ask. “You know that this is all just supposed to be a simulation? You seem fine.”

“Dude, I got over the fact that I was an insignificant speck of dust in the grand scheme of things when I was ten.” She shrugs, not at all bothered by this reality breaking revelation. “I’m just kinda pissed that instead of galaxy eating elder gods or physical embodiments of the forces of nature, the being that rules over these worlds is you. No offense, but you’re pretty boring for a god who treats this whole world like a plaything.”

“Don’t tell anyone else about this, alright.” You beg her. “You’re weirdly ok with learning you’re just ones and zeroes, but I don’t think other people would take it well.”

“I wasn’t planning to.” Catti says. “Besides, that probably isn’t the full picture here, since you’re clearly not fully informed on what the hell’s going on here either. Maybe there’s layers to this. Maybe I’m your plaything, but there’s someone even greater pulling your strings. You sure don’t act like we’re programs running through basic functions.”

“Where do I fall in this strange hierarchy you’re theorizing?” The Riverperson asks at the bow of the boat. “I’ve roamed aimlessly for centuries, long before I met you or bent to your whims. Was I created for your amusement and convenience, or am I a free agent? Though, I suppose I’m not free now, I’m at the mercy of the river. Perhaps the rivers themselves bent to your will and I was simply forced to carry you along.”

“I have no idea what’s going on anymore, but none of this is a game or a toy or anything like that anymore.” You shake your head. “You two are as real as I am.”

“Or we’re as fake as you are.” Catti shrugs again. “It could go either way.” You’d rather not think like that. You’ve watched almost half a dozen people now go different levels of crazy over discovering that their existence is a complete lie. Of course you’re real, you’ve lived your entire life up to this point with no real issue or excitement, but then again, so did everyone here. What did that make you then? The protagonist of some extremely meta video game that some other person was playing? Are they playing through this now? Did you not have any actual free will at all and you’re just a vessel for this player on a higher plane of existence than your own?

It’s no wonder all those people went insane, your head hurts just trying to comprehend this. Thankfully, you’re pulled from your painful thoughts as a bright light suddenly comes into view. You have to shield your eyes as the light blinds you after being trapped in the dark for so long, but when your eyes finally readjust, you’re awestruck by what you find.

The cramped caves and restrictive rivers you were confined to only moments ago are gone. Surrounding you on all sides and stretching out forever was an endless sea of shallow water colored pink by the sky above you. Despite this looking like a natural water source, the scent of chlorine fills the air as the Riverperson cuts through the small, choppy waves washing against the boat. Off in the distance, you can see an island of snow white sand with several spires pushing up through the ground with each cone shaped spire being segmented in rows of multicolored layers. Several balloons float aimlessly in the air like a flock of seagulls.

“Woah…” Catti looks over the sea in amazement. “What kind of place is this?! This place doesn’t even feel real, it feels like a dream.” Catti turns to gauge your reaction, but you aren’t nearly as mesmerized by what you were seeing.

“I’ve been here before!” You say once the initial shock wears off, crawling to the side of the boat to get a better look at the island. “This is the Pink Sea! This is…” Focusing on the island in the distance, you notice that three of the tallest spires on the island are bunched up right next to each other in the center of the island. “That’s Poniko’s house!”

“What the hell do you mean you’ve been here before?!” Catti asks, but before you can answer, she throws another question at you. “Also, someone lives here? Can we go see them?”

“No!” You quickly shake your head. “No we cannot!” You’re already freaked out that you’re here at all despite this place having no relation to Undertale or Deltarune in the slightest. Bumping into the woman who inspired Gaster’s design was the last thing you wanted to do.

“What is this place then?” Catti seems disappointed that you refused to let her see anyone, letting her hand hang over the boat to splash in the water. “Is this another world you visited before? Another simulation?”

“Yes, but… I haven’t been here in years. I don’t even have this saved anywhere!” Not only has it been forever since you even thought of Yume Nikki, you’ve never even installed it on this computer. You played it on a busted old laptop that couldn’t run anything else when you were still a little kid. The Riverperson wasn’t just taking you between worlds that were obviously connected in some way, the Pink Sea shouldn’t have anything to do with Undertale at all! “Riverperson?”

“Yes?” They turn to look at you.

“Is there any clue you can give me for how this place connects to the last two worlds at all?” You ask. “Those two being connected makes sense. They’re made by the same person, they share the same characters. How did you get here?”

“Oh, so someone else did make our worlds!” Catti nods. “Who did it? Are you sure you aren’t another creation of theirs?”

“I’ve seen many such places.” The Riverpseron says. “I do not know if there is a throughline between them, some shared trait that connects them. You seem to be familiar with a lot of them, but perhaps the next one will be something new to you? We’ll have to see where the river takes us.”

You aren’t sure if you’re hoping you recognize the next location or not. If you do, there has to be a clear connection with all these places to you, and that gave way to a million questions you were afraid to have answered. On the other hand, if you didn’t recognize where you ended up, that meant that there could be an entire multiverse of strange ’fictional’ worlds that you could actually go visit.

The island in the distance starts to disappear over the horizon as the tide carries you along the sea, and eventually, the pink waters and chlorine smell start to fade. Darkness settles over you once more as you make another jump through the void.

Coming out on the other end, the boat's forward momentum slows to a crawl as the rushing water beneath you is suddenly replaced with thick, crude oil. Caitti quickly pulls her hand back on board, trying to smear the inky blackness off her hands. Despite no longer being in water, the boat was still moving, if only barely.

“Alright, what about this place?” Catti asks with a grimace, flicking her hand overboard to try and get as much oil off as possible. “Have you ever been here before?”

“It’s not ringing any immediate bells…” You say, looking around and trying to get a lay of the land. It looked a lot like Waterfall at first glance. All along the riverbanks were bright blue mushrooms and trees which radiated light. Buzzing around here and there were little golden lightning bugs and up in the air, swirling black clouds loomed overhead. You were about to write this off as someplace you’ve never seen before, but staring up into the sky, you see something that helps you recognize this place for what it is.

Hanging just overhead, visible even through the clouds, was a brilliant blue ball, orbited by a moon of solid gold.

“No fucking way…” You mumble in complete shock. This isn’t even a video game! How the hell are you here?! There’s no save files for this on your computer, there’s no game to take control of. Unless… Did those walk around flashes count?!

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Catti says, staring up at the celestial body above you. “So what’s this place then? What did you do here?”

“I didn’t do anything!” You try to explain while clinging to what little shreds of sanity you have left. “This isn’t even a game! This is a story I read! This is a completely different medium altogether! This doesn’t make any sense!”

“Huh…” Catti hums, looking back at you to get a good look at how distressed you were. “That does raise some questions.” Questions you cannot even begin to fathom as you’re still reeling from shock. There’s no doubt about it now, you’re going to know every location the Riverperson takes you, but why?! How many places will they be able to reach? If it’s not just limited to games, where could they take you? Was this all linked to you, or was there a connection you weren’t seeing?

“I sense that you are upset.” The Riverperson speaks up. “I find this locale quite calming, but if you’d rather return home, I’d be happy to oblige.”

“I feel like I could visit places like this all day.” Catti says. “But Temmie’s already worried about me, we really should get going. It also looks like Vess is gonna have an aneurysm if they stick around for too long.”

“Sorry, I’m just…” You take a deep breath. “This opens up so many possibilities. Just being here means that I can theoretically explore all of Paradox Space. In the last world, I could follow the trail back from the Pink Sea until I found the Nexus. There’s so much back in Hometown I haven’t even had the chance to see yet, but there are entire universes out there still waiting to be seen! It’s just so…”

“Yeah see, what you’re feeling now, that’s sort of what I went through when I was ten.” Catti explains. “Though, I can only imagine how jarring this is for you, considering until a few minutes ago, you probably thought you were essentially the god of our world, but you’re just as small as us.”

“It’s terrifying!” You say.

“I disagree.” The Riverperson says beside you. “I find it quite comforting to be so small. Perhaps I’m biased as I’m unable to leave this boat, but I like having no greater plan for me. I’ve sailed for what felt like forever, and I know that I can keep going for centuries and still never see it all.”

“Eh, whatever floats your boat.” Catti shrugs. “I just see the pointlessness of my existence as a challenge. I’ve already learned secrets that can break mortal men, what’s stopping me from rising to the power of gods and demons?”

“You got stranded in the Waterfalls because the source of your magic was back in Hometown.” You remind her. “I respect the effort, but almost everyone back home has magic powers.”

“But can everyone travel to alternate dimensions? Dimensions that not even you, the world destroying Angel, thought were reachable?” Catti counters, and when you fail to answer, she crosses her arms. “I thought so. Challenge my power again I’ll curse you the moment we get back home.”

You decide to leave it at that and retreat back to your own head to try and make sense of what you’ve learned here. It was safe to assume that your copy of Deltarune wasn’t cursed or haunted or whatever, this went way beyond that. The Pink Sea and LOWAS opened up so many doors for you, and if you stuck around with the Riverperson a little longer, there’s no doubt that they’d take you to some other universe which was just as expansive.

What did all of this mean? You needed to find some sort of connection, one had to exist somewhere. This wasn’t random, there was a pattern, you just needed to find what. What did all of these places have in common, besides having running water for the Riverperson to actually float on. You knew about them all, you were able to recognize all of these places pretty quickly, but was that it? If you kept going, would you see locations from tv shows you watched? Books you read? Dreams you had?

You didn’t want to believe that every place the Void was taking you to was because you knew about them. There was something else to this, you just needed time to figure it out.

“Just a moment.” The Riverperson says with some irritation. “This oil does not make for a pleasant boat ride. I’ll have to kick this into second gear.” Despite saying this, they make absolutely no move to do anything different, yet the boat starts to move anyways. The boat comes to a stop for just a moment before being lifted upward slightly. You and Catti hold on to the edge of the boat for support as it suddenly lurches forward, and to your surprise, rather than gliding through the slick oil, the boat seems to be running on top of it. Leaning over the side, the boat has sprouted legs and beside the Riverperson, the bow of the boat now had the face of a dog carved into it.

Galloping over the oil, the ride becomes much faster, speeding down the winding rivers of oil towards your next destination. Catti appears dumbstruck by the sudden transformation of the boat, but you’ve seen it before. Of course, back in Undertale, you thought this was just a fun easter egg, but it’s apparently some sort of special form the boat can take for particularly difficult waters.

It’s a bumpy ride, and with how stressed out you’ve been recently, you start to feel ill. Closing your eyes, you try to ride out the rest of the trip in silence, but moments after you close your eyes, there’s a noticeable shift in the air, and sunlight beats down on your closed eyelids. Bracing yourself and opening them up, you strain your eyes as you look out at fields of snow painted gold underneath the setting sun.

“Oops.” The Riverperson mutters. “I may have overshot our destination.”

“What?!” You ask with some alarm, sitting up in the back of the boat. “Where are we?!”

“You’re back home.” The Riverperson assures. “Just a few miles off course.”

You look around in confusion. All you see is snow in the distance, looking down at yourself, you’re still wearing a sweater and didn’t have your normal gear back. You’re about to question just how far off course you were when Catti tugs on your sleeve to direct your attention backwards.

You nearly choke on your own breath as pure darkness dominates your vision, stretching out across the horizon. Your eyes watered as they tried to make sense of what they were seeing. The sunlight beaming down on top of you didn’t react to the massive dome of blackness in front of you, it was like you were staring directly into a black hole.

“We’re outside the Barrier?!” She gasps. “Holy shit! We got out! People have been trying to get out for months and we just ditched town by accident!”

“So sorry for the inconvenience.” The Riverperson says bashfully. “Shall I circle around?”

“It’s not that far off, I can make it the rest of the way once I’m past the Barrier again.” Catti assures them. “Could you pull over?”

“Of course.” The RIverperson nods, letting the boat drift to the side of the river before coming to a stop. Standing up, you quickly hop off the boat, grateful to be back on solid ground that you’re familiar with. Catti is a little slower to leave the boat behind, carrying all of the stuff she swiped from the Tem Shop.

“I wish I could have stuck around a while longer, but I really should get back home.” She says. “Do you have a phone number or something? Any way for me to know the next time you’ll drift by?”

“I’m afraid not.” The Riverperson shakes their head. “I come and go at the whims of the river, though I’m finding that I dearly miss the company of ferrying others around. King Asgore in the last world paid me a fine sum to serve as public transport, and while I had no use for the money, meeting new people proved just as exciting as seeing new worlds. I will certainly make my visits more frequent, especially if the Angel wishes to join me on future voyages.”

“Huh?” You look away from the Barrier in the distance to stare back at the empty hood of the Riverperson.

“You’re a peculiar being, one who is immensely knowledgeable and powerful, but just as helpless as I am in the face of the Void.” They say. “You know more than I do though, and I would love to hear what you know about the many worlds we’ve visited today. You never even got a chance to hear the song of the sea.”

“I have a whole bunch of questions I haven’t gotten around to asking.” You say. “But I guess you’ll want me to get back in the boat to answer them.”

“It is fine.” The Riverperson assures you. “Let your friends know you are safe. Hopefully the next time I visit, you’ll be willing to sail a while longer.”

“I can definitely make this a regular thing if you actually show up.” Catti nods. “The problem now is nobody knows where I ran off to. Once I explain everything and let people know that I want to ditch this plane of existence every once in a while, things should mellow out.”

“I will make the effort.” The Riverperson assures her. “This is farewell then. It was a pleasure to see you again, Catti, and a delight to meet the Angel once more after so many years. I hope to see you both soon.”

Without another word, the boat begins to move down the river again, the Riverperson watching them as they disappear into the horizon. Feeling the cold, late winter air cut through your sweater, you and Catti turn to head towards the imposing wall of Darkness behind you, eager to get back home.

“So…” Catti speaks up as you walk towards the dark. “I know you’ve probably got a million things on your mind right now, I know I do, but I have one big question I didn’t get an answer for yet.”

“What’s that?” You ask, wanting to get this over with so you can try and clear your head completely.

“Who created this world?” She asks. “Who’s the god who made each and everyone one of us in this weird simulation for you to play around in?”

“Toby Fox.” You tell her, though you doubt that more and more with each passing day. “He made this world and the last one I visited, but I know a whole bunch of people who’ve gone through these worlds themselves and it’s nothing like this.”

“So God’s just some dude named Toby?” Catti looks disappointed by this fact. “And here I thought the universe was created by formless, uncaring gods beyond comprehension. What about those other places then? Did Toby make those too?”

“No, he has nothing to do with…” You pause, thinking that question over. He obviously didn’t make those worlds, they come from completely different developers and authors, but as you try and picture a link between those places and Toby, something clicks. Toby did have a hand in Homestuck’s creation, being one of the lead musicians for the series. He had no tangible link to Yume Nikki at all, but you made the connection between Uboa and Gaster during your trip. It had to have been a massive source of inspiration that led to Undertale’s creation.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that you were familiar with all the worlds you visited today, maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with you, but with Toby Fox.

“Hello?” Catti snaps her fingers beside your ears, bringing you back to the present. “Jeez, I’m gonna have to pick your brain some time soon.” She sighs. “I gotta make sure Temmie’s doing alright, but I’m going mad not knowing what the hell’s going on too, and you’re the only source of answers I have now.”

“I’ll be here all week.” You tell her. “Truth be told, I’m kind of relieved to have someone I can talk to about this stuff. The only other person who knows is Sans but-”

“He hates your guts, I’m aware.” Catti nods. That successfully kills the conversation and you two walk the rest of the way towards the Barrier in silence, only speaking up again once you’re stood at the very edge of it. “So…” Catti mumbles. “You first?”

“Do we just walk through?” You ask.

“I don’t know?” Catti shrugs. “I’ve never been on this side of the Barrier before. Plenty of people have come through though, so it can’t be that hard.”

Reaching your hand out, you try and push your hand into the darkness, the pure blackness of the Barrier messing with your depth perception and making you question if you were even close enough to touch it. Before your eyes, your hand is suddenly swallowed by the dark. You instinctively try to pull it back, but once it’s past the threshold, it refuses to come back out, leaving you no choice but to continue pushing forward. Closing your eyes and holding your breath, you walk through, feeling the darkness wash over you like water.

Once it passes, you open your eyes to find yourself in a location not too different from the one you left, though your still outstretched arm was now properly armored. Off in the distance, over the trees of the forest not far from where you’re standing, you can see the tallest spires of Castle Town.

“I didn’t think I’d miss this until it was gone.” Turning around, Catti has passed through the Barrier and was now clothed in her witch’s garb again, something that puts a content smirk on her face. Seeing the path ahead of you, she raises her hand up into the sky, but after a couple of seconds, she lowers it again. “Actually, I have a better idea.” Instead of holding her hand up into the sky, she holds it out to you. “Take my hand.” She orders, not elaborating at all.

You’ve been putting your trust in a lot of weird people recently, but it hasn’t screwed you over any time recently. Taking Catti’s hand, she closes her eyes and slowly exhales through her nose. You’re wondering what’s about to happen, questioning if Catti was going to perform some kind of spell or summon her broomstick, but as you waited for something to happen, you blink, and within that fraction of a second of darkness, you suddenly found yourself someplace completely different. You turn your head in shock, trying to figure out where you were, but your attention suddenly lands on the large group of people huddled up next to you.

You were back at the river, and standing nearby was Temmie, Ralsei, Kris, and Susie.

“What the hell just happened?!” You gasp, breaking the shocked silence between you all. Catti lets go of your hand, looking quite proud of herself.

“Learning the secrets of the Void comes with a few benefits to make up for the mental drain learning such secrets causes.” She says. Before you can press her further, you’re nearly tackled to the ground as Ralsei practically throws himself at you, wrapping his arms around you.

“VESS!” Your heart is nearly torn apart when you realize he’s crying. “Oh thank goodness you’re alright! You said you’d be back, but I waited for so long and I…”

“We didn’t wait that long.” Temmie speaks up. “But Temmie was scared too. Catti! Where did you go?!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be gone so long.” She apologizes, acting as if this was just a slight misunderstanding and she didn’t strand herself on a completely different world. “I’ll warn you ahead of time if I try to leave again.” While Catti has her conversation with Temmie, Susie and Kris approach you. Susie looks confused but relieved to see you’re alright, but Kris…

Kris looks furious.

“What the fuck!” They shout once they’re close enough. “It’s been three hours! You couldn’t stay here for three hours without something weird happening!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” You say. “Besides, ask Catti what the hell’s going on! This apparently isn’t even anything new, she’s done this before.” That successfully turns Kris’ attention away from you and towards Catti. You can see that they’re visibly shaken by your sudden disappearance, and after hearing everything that was going on with them from Ralsei, you can’t help but feel a huge wave of guilt wash over you. They probably thought something terrible was happening again.

“Are you alright? Did anything serious happen?” Susie steps up as Kris goes to confront Catti.

“I think so?” You tell her. You aren’t quite sure. Physically you’re fine and you aren’t in any danger as far as you know, but mentally, you feel like you’ve discovered something that you shouldn’t and the gravity of what you’ve seen is threatening to squeeze your brain out through your ears.

“So did you make out with Ralsei before you ran off, or did you just leave him here to do… whatever the hell you just did?” Ralsei jolts slightly as Susie drops all subtlety and just asks outright if you two are a thing now.

You were hesitant to fully commit to that, despite how much you wanted to. There were lots of dumb thoughts that were trying to convince you that this was strange, that despite him being right in front of you, he didn’t really exist. With how much you’ve seen today though, with how indisputably real this world and the others are, those doubts were gone. Maybe you were just going completely insane, but holding onto Ralsei right now, seeing how much he obviously cares about you and how scared he was to see you go for only an hour at most, you wanted to keep him close, you wanted to make him happy. Not a lot makes sense anymore, but he does.

“I was getting to that.” You say, making Ralsei jolt again. “Temmie freaking out and Catti disappearing off the face of the earth was kind of a big deal, but I think we can pick up where we left off.”

“W-we can?!” Ralsei asks in surprise.

“Yeah,” You nod. “My whole world view just got punted into orbit, all my hang ups just feel stupid in comparison now. Nothing sounds better than just sitting here and hanging out with you for the rest of the week.”

“Really?!” He says, his face starting to turn red again. Behind him, you see Susie slowly pumping her fists, chanting something.

“Big rig, big rig, big rig.”

“Shush!” Ralsei tries to wave her away and shut her up. “I can do this!” Letting you go and stepping back, Ralsei looks up at you, still obviously nervous, but now clearly determined. “Vess… I love you.” He says, nearly faltering before he can get it out, but he pushes through his anxiety and once he’s over the hump, he doesn’t stop. “I’ve felt this way about you for longer than I can remember. I haven’t known you for long, truth be told. Maybe that’s what was holding you back as well, but I want this, I want you. Less than a year ago, I was completely alone and had been for years, desperate for contact with someone. Kris and Susie eventually came along and Castle Town went from barren and lonely to bustling and full of life. I had everything I ever wanted, but when you came along, when you showed me the same kindness and care that I showed everyone else, I knew there was one more thing I wanted.”

“Ralsei…” You feel your heart surge in your chest.

“Take a breath man,” Susie warns behind him. “They’re not-”

“I love you Vess.” Ralsei repeats, this time with no hesitation in his voice at all. “The way you make me feel, the way you never escape my mind, I’ve never experienced anything like this before. You’re more than just a friend to me, you’re everything I aspire to be. You aren’t perfect, you’ve made mistakes, but you always strive to improve yourself and make things right. You’re selfless, but you also know your limits. Even then, you push those limits for the sake of your friends, so much so that you nearly gave up your life for us on multiple occasions. You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met, the prettiest person I’ve ever met, you keep claiming that you’re just a normal person with nothing special going on, but all I see is a pure hearted Angel. An Angel this Prince wants to make his.”

You’re left speechless by Ralsei’s confession. After dancing around the big question, after an hour of blushing and shy glances, he’s found the courage to fully open up and bare his heart to you. It’s no mystery where this courage came from either. You disappeared again, no matter how briefly. He’s right that you’ve only been together for a few weeks at most, and it’s because you keep leaving. It’s bound to happen again, even after all you’ve learned, all the mysteries this world and the others have, you still aren’t ready to completely abandon your original life for it all. You still have friends and family back home who you still care about.

But you also deeply care about Ralsei too.

Resting your hands on Ralsei’s shoulder, you tell him how you feel.

“I love you too, Ralsei.” You say. “I might not have an entire novel of amazing things to say about you, but I love you just as much. You have no idea how much you helped me learn about myself, how many of the great qualities you love in me originally come from you. My situation is… complicated, there’s a whole slew of reasons why this might not work and ways that this could go wrong, but I’m sure it’ll be easier to get through it together with you.”

The look of pure joy and elation on Ralsei’s face was almost enough to consider abandoning your entire life just to make sure he always wore that smile. Zach and the others would probably understand if they saw the same look, but you stand your ground on this.

“I’m not gonna say anything specific to jinx us again,” You say, glancing over at Kris who was now glaring at you once more. “But as long as I’m here, I’m yours. I’ll have to go home again at some point, but I’ll be back, no matter what, and when I do, we can pick back up wherever we left off.”

With his lips trembling and eyes watering, Ralsei closes the gap again and wraps his arms around you, hugging you tight. With signs of clear nervousness, Ralsei looks up and cautiously kisses you on the cheek, quickly burying his face in your shoulder as his face heats up in embarrassment. You feel your heart stutter in your chest at that, and wanting to do the same for him, you lean down and kiss his forehead. He shudders against your body after you do, something that causes you to tremble a little as well as your heart stutters in your chest.

“Daw…” Susie says with a light chuckle. “That was one of the sappiest, mushiest, cutest things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“I know, that was disgusting.” Catti comments beside you, earning a bark of rage out of Susie.

“Hey! Shut up! This is Ralsei’s big moment, don’t ruin it!” She growls, staring Catti down.

“That was the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.” Kris says at Catti’s side. “I can’t even joke about it, that was sweet.”

“Alright, enough teasing him.” You say. “He’s under the same protections your boyfriend is under. Only I’m allowed to tease him now.”

“Aw come on, that’s not fair!” Kris balks. “Did you see how easy it was leading up to this? He finally found the balls to confess, now we can’t make fun of him for taking so long?”

“No you can’t!” Ralsei says in your arms. “You told Vess I liked them before I was ready, you butt!”

“I really didn’t need to, you made it pretty obvious.” They try to argue.

“But you did.” You point out to the defense of your Prince. “You better go easy on him from now on.”

“Fine…” Kris huffs. Since you got back, they’ve calmed down quite a bit, but they still look antsy. “I’m happy for both of you and to see that you’re all alright, but what the fuck happened?!” They demand. “We literally left you alone for like half an hour and you suddenly disappear with some hooded stranger?!”

“Yeah, what’s that about?!” Susie asks. “Ralsei was a blubbering mess and couldn’t get it out straight and Temmie… Well, it’s Temmie, some of the stuff she says is just pure gibberish.”

“We went on a ride with the Riverperson.” Catti explains. “Well, Vess did. I tried to sail off on my own and needed to get picked up along the way.”

“Ok, who the hell is that?” Kris asks, growing more frustrated.

“They’re an old friend of mine.” You explain, and in an instant, Kris presses you on that.

“Are they dangerous?” They ask.

“Not at all.” You quickly assure them, allowing them to relax. “From the sounds of it, I don’t even think they can leave their boat. If you want to avoid them, just avoid the water and you’ll never see them if you don’t want to.”

“Noted.” They nod. “And where did you go? How did you get back here?”

“We visited the other worlds surrounding this one, including the last one I visited before I found myself here.” You say. “As for how I got back here, I have no idea. Catti, you didn’t really give me a clear explanation for what you did.”

“It’s a trick that Sans showed me.” She shrugs. “I need magic to do it which is why I got stuck, but as long as I’m here, I can just pop up wherever I want, and if the conditions are just right, jump out of this dimension entirely.”

“You left this dimension?!” Ralsei finally pulls away from you as the conversation going on draws his attention.

“Yep. Saw the world that Vess destroyed too.” Catti nods before remembering she brought something along from there. Reaching into her dress, she pulls out a box of Temmie Flakes. “Hey Temmie, I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of these.” Holding the box out to her, Temmie literally jumps in surprise upon seeing her own face on the box.

“Woahwoawoahwoah!” She presses her face right up against the box. “That’s Temmie!!! Temmie has breakfast cereal?! Let Temmie try!”

“I feel like we’re skimming over the fact that you apparently went to another world.” Susie tries to say, but Kris’ interest falls on the Temmie Flakes as well, kneeling down beside Temmie to help her open up the box. Inside is nothing but multicolored shreds of construction paper, but despite that, once the box is opened, Temmie immediately tries to stuff her face inside to eat it while Kris pulls out a handful. You watch as Kris identifies what the flakes actually are, before shrugging, plucking out a green sheet of paper, and sticking it in their mouth anyways.

“What was the other world like?” Ralsei asks, looking up at you for an explanation.

“Deeply unsettling.” You say. “I was terrified the whole time I was there.”

“It was boring.” Catti says. “Though I didn’t get to see much. I saw the Tem Shop and had to get a good look at that. Vess came along with the Riverperson to get me back, but not before stopping by some other places that made them flip their shit.”

“How so?” Kris asks, speaking with their mouth full as they continue to eat strips of paper. Susie stares at them in confusion, leading them to offer her some of the flakes in their hand. For whatever reason, she takes them up on the offer and eats a ‘flake’.

“We saw some weird pink dream world place with weird cone castles and balloons floating around everywhere, and then there was this other place with rivers of oil and what looked like a moon made of solid gold floating overhead.” Catti says. “It was some crazy looking stuff, but Vess apparently knew exactly where we were both times and it freaked them out.”

“Were they other worlds you visited?” Ralsei asks.

“I’ve never personally visited one of them.” You shake your head. “I’ve only ever read about one of them.”

“So what’s that mean for us?” Kris asks. “Is there anything dangerous in those worlds? Could they follow us here?” They were as paranoid as ever, and for good reason. They’ve been at the center of basically every disaster over the past few months, it only makes sense to fear that access to new worlds could lead to bad things.

“I think those worlds are self-contained.” You say. “The Riverperson, and I guess Catti now, can come and go to these places, but I don’t think the natives of those worlds can come here. If they could, there’s literally nothing I could do to stop the entire planet from getting torn to shreds in seconds.”

“What the hell happens on those worlds?” Catti asks in surprise.

“Oh, that last world we visited must have been from some time before that entire known universe exploded.” You say. “We also ended up on a pretty safe world, considering one of the planets next door is just a floating ball of magma.”

“Dude, that sounds awesome!” Susie says. “Why were you freaking out? I wanna see that place.”

“Because now I know this world isn’t the only one that’s special.” You say. “I now know of four different universes I can visit in person, worlds that I didn’t really give much thought to. I… I can’t really explain why it freaks me out so much.”

“I get it.” Catti says. “If it happened to me, I’d freak out too. LIke, if I opened up one of my books and…” Catti finds Kris staring at her in shock. “What?”

“You know?” They ask.

“Know what?”

“About what’s actually going on?” Kris says. “You know what Vess is and what this world is to them?!”

“Oh yeah.” She nods. “I probably should have shut my mouth about that, huh?”

“Tell me!” Kris demands. “I’ve been driving myself crazy thinking about it and the only theories I have sound insane.”

“It’s really stupid.” Catti insists. “Whatever theories you have cooked up are probably way cooler than what’s actually going on. Besides, your feeble mortal mind wouldn’t be able to fully comprehend it.”

“Fuck you.” Kris grumbles.

“I’ll take pictures if it makes you feel better.” Catti offers. That only slightly cheers Kris up, but what she says next gets everyone’s attention. “Also, something else probably worth mentioning. We got outside the Barrier.”

“What?!” Ralsei lets go of you and immediately rushes up to Catti. “You got out?! How?! Things have been getting dire and being able to leave the Barrier would solve so many problems!”

“The Riverperson dropped us off outside.” Catti says. “We literally traveled across dimensions, I doubt it's that hard to just pop out of the world and then back in some place just outside it. Hell, you don’t even need to go on this long ass boat ride to do that, I could probably just… Hold on, give me a minute.”

You blink, and without warning, Catti is gone. She was simply there one moment, and then not. Everyone around you gasps in shock. Temmie, who was content to pig out on the box of Temmie Flakes, is taken aback by Catti’s sudden disappearance and begins to panic, hopping around in the snow calling out her name.

Before anyone’s shock can fully wear off for someone to ask what happened, Catti is suddenly back where she originally was.

“Ok, good news.” She says. “I can come and go whenever I like. I can’t jump while I’m outside since I don’t have any natural magic, but once I’m in the Barrier, I can go wherever I want.”

“Why does everyone get cool magic powers but me?!” Susie cries out in frustration. Catti only scoffs at her.

“Have you even tried to learn anything new?” She asks. “Books exist, you know? They have words in them, do you know what words are?”

“Oh fuckin’ bite me.” Susie grumbles. “I learned healing magic just fine without having to read any boring books.”

“Since when did you learn how to teleport?! You said Sans taught you? Is it possible for me to teleport?!” Kris rattles off in quick succession, clearly impressed by this new ability.

“You have to have a pretty firm grasp of how this world works to be able to do it.” Catti says. “Which means that you can’t teleport unless you completely screw yourself up in the head first.”

“So you’re actively withholding the ability to teleport from me because you think I can’t handle it?” They ask. “Why not go all the way then? I’m already more than halfway insane, I can’t get that much worse, can I?”

“I can’t teleport.” You point out. “I arguably know more than you, so why can’t I do it?”

“I dunno. Maybe you’re not trying hard enough.” Catti shrugs.

“Or maybe Sans is just screwing with you.” You counter. “He found ways to prank and mess with me even through resets. Maybe he’s just feeding your ego by convincing you that this is forbidden knowledge that drives people mad when it’s actually just a common ability.”

“Say whatever you need to make yourself feel better.” Catti crosses her arms. “Until I see other people teleporting, I have no reason not to believe him.”

“This is amazing!” Ralsei beams. “Carol’s been looking for a solution to the Barrier problem! This doesn’t seem like a perfect solution and I feel we all need to know a little more to safely use this ability, but we can do so much good to help the town with this!”

“Oh, so these are the consequences Sans was talking about.” Catti groans. “Not the heavy tax on my mental wellbeing or the threat of being swallowed by the Void, but social obligations and responsibility. What’s in it for me?”

“Oh, uh…” Ralsei’s taken off guard. “The respect and gratitude of everyone in town?”

“Mmm, don’t need that.” Catti shakes her head. “What else you got?”

“Uh… Whatever you want from my magic cauldron?” Ralsei offers. “I can give you whatever sweets you want!”

“Eh, I guess that works.” She shrugs. “Later though. It’s been a long day with how stressed Temmie must have been and with how much of this stuff she’s eating, she’s going to be a hassle for a while.”

“Moah! Temmie want more!” Temmie demands, seeming a little more hyper now than she usually is. Raising her hand, Catti waits for a moment before a broomstick flies over your head and into her waiting hand. Setting it down, she tries to grab the vibrating Temmie to secure her to the broomstick, leaving Kris to speak up.

“Wait, that’s it?” They ask in a disbelieving tone. “You both met a dimension traveling stranger and visited other worlds and now you’re just going home? Is this not a big deal?”

“This feels like it should be taking all of our attention.” Susie nods in agreement. “If what Vess said is true and bad things might be able to visit from other worlds, then shouldn’t we prepare somehow? Is there a way to prepare?” These were very valid worries, ones that you shared, but you offer a retort.

“Can we not just put it aside and have a normal week?” You whine. “I didn’t want to find this, I wanted to hang out with you guys. Ralsei just confessed to me in the most adorable, princely way possible and I don’t want to put that on the sidelines because of this. Can we just… pretend none of this happened for like three days? Is that too much to ask?”

You hate all of this just as much as everyone else. You don’t want your very presence here to be a massive, world altering event. You’ve been impatiently waiting for a chance to actually be these people’s friends instead of their hero. You wanted to spend time with Kris and smooth out the rough edges in your tense relationship. You want to see all the places in town you still haven’t explored yet. You want to spend time with Ralsei, to give him the company he’s been praying for.

You want to explore yourself, this new identity that you were starting to put together. You want to get to know the real you.

“You know what… that’s fair.” Kris nods. “I sure as hell am not ready to start doing more crazy stuff right now. I need time to mentally prepare myself for that. As long as we don’t screw with this, nothing bad can happen, right?”

“I’m cool with that.” Susie says. “I got plans with Noelle later this week anyways, plans that I can bring the new lover boy in on now…” She turns to Ralsei with a mischievous grin, one which Kris also starts to wear as they both start to chant again.

“Big rig, big rig, big rig.”

You have absolutely no idea what the hell they’re saying, only that it seems to be getting Ralsei flustered. You assume it’s some kind of inside joke you’re not a part of. You just sigh with relief as it’s clear that they want as little to do with this as you do.

“Cool, that means I don’t gotta do anything important.” Catti hums. “Come on Temmie, let’s go home.” Sitting down on the broomstick and making sure Temmie was on tight. Catti starts to slowly float up into the air, but before she can go, Temmie leans over the side.

“Thank you for help!!!” She calls out to you, shouting her praise until she’s too high up in the air to be heard. With Catti and Temmie gone, that leaves you alone with the Delta Warriors, who now all stare at you wondering what happened next.

“Let’s just get back to Castle Town.” You say. “I’ve had enough adventure for today.”

“You don’t want some private time again to make out with your new fluffy boyfriend?” Susie asks, reaching out and ruffling Ralsei’s hair. “I set you two up perfectly before all this bullshit happened.”

“Could you have least hit them a little less hard?” Ralsei pouts under the headpats. “You almost broke their nose! I appreciate the gesture, but there’s no need to be so rough about it.”

“I didn’t hit them that hard, did I?” Susie asks, now looking a little guilty. “I was just trying to bruise, leave them with something for you to work on so you can stare into their eyes. It’s not my fault their pretty face is so fragile.” God, even Susie called you pretty.

“We’ll have plenty of time together at the Castle.” You insist. “I just want to hang out someplace that’s familiar to me after everything I just saw.”

“I’ll make something to celebrate!” Ralsei announces. “Something very special for you! I’ve been learning a whole bunch of new things to make and I can’t wait to show you! Also, Susie, I can start trying to teach you how to use the cauldron! In fact, I know the perfect recipe for you to try!”

“Aw hell yeah!” Susie pumps her fists. “What are we doing out here in the cold then? Let’s go!” Grabbing hold of the Prince, Susie starts running off, dragging Ralsei helplessly behind her. You move to give chase, but once again, Kris pulls you aside, holding you back now that you’re both alone. Turning to face them, they don’t look mischievous or happy. You aren’t really sure what that expression is.

“You’re going to tell me.” They say. There’s no point in playing dumb, you know exactly what they’re talking about and you try to hold your ground.

“It isn’t worth knowing.” You insist. “Knowing will only make this wo-”

“I don’t care.” Kris says. “I’m already crazy. You apparently just got back from some trip that’s completely blown your perspective apart and Catti saw all that too and she’s fine. I live with Sans and he knows everything, and while he’s obviously got some problems too, he’s arguably more functional than I am right now. You need to tell me. It’s all I can think about.”

“I don’t…” You try to pull away, but Kris holds on tight. “I don’t want to tell you something that could hurt you.”

“Vess…” Kris meets your eyes. “Things between us will probably never be perfect. You stole away years of my life and dragged me into the most terrifying shit I’ve ever seen and abandoned me to fend for myself for almost a year, but you’ve also saved me every time and offered a piece of your damn soul to keep me alive. I really don’t doubt that you have the best intentions here, but you’re a fucking dumbass who’s hurt me just as often as you’ve helped me. Keeping this from me is only going to make things worse for both of us. Tell me.”

You want to argue, you want to say they’re being unreasonable, but you can’t. You can’t deny you’ve done a lot of dumb shit and even after everything you’ve done to make it up, you’re probably not even. Even if you were, with what you just learned and with your own understanding of what this was shattered, would it really hurt them that much? This was all a game, Kris was made to be a vessel, but it’s clear that isn’t the case anymore. No one controlled them anymore, the programming of the game was way behind them at this point. You had no idea what Kris was now, so what was the harm?

“Alright…” You relent. “Just, not now.” You plead. “I want at least one day of normalcy before we start to do anything weird, alright? One day, and I’ll tell you everything about who I am, what these worlds are to me, and what I really saw out there. Once you’re in the know… Maybe you’ll get to see everything yourself.”

“Alright.” Kris nods, already looking much calmer. “Besides, even if this does completely push me over the edge, I guess I got you to try and pull me back.”

“I’m sure it won’t come to that.” You tell them. “Come on, just one more day of being normal before the beans are spilled.”

“You were never normal.” Kris scoffs. “But fine. I guess I’ll start placing bets on which of my stupid theories turn out to be right.”

Leaving the river together, you and Kris start running back to Castle Town, struggling to keep up with Susie and Ralsei. You had no idea if this was the right choice or not, but you suppose this could help you in the long run. This would be one less person you’d have to lie to. If you were really going to try and get Zach and your other friends to learn about what was going on here, having someone in the know on this side could be your ticket to bridging that gap.

You just hope you aren’t making a mistake here.

Chapter Text

“So… Vess, huh?”

“What?” Noelle looked up at her sister as they made their way to the studio, trying to beat the crowds before people started funneling in to fill seats.

“What was it like to have them inside of you?” Dess asks with a grin. “Is it better or worse than how Susie feels?”

“Can you not?” Noelle sighs, shaking her head and turning away as her sister laughed. “I swear, you’ve been going non stop with this stuff ever since they showed up again. What, do you have a thing for them?”

“Oh no, I’m straight as a line, but I mean come on!” Dess says. “Have you seen them?! I asked Kris what was up with the new look and they made themselves look like that. As creepy as it is that they can apparently just make a new body, I gotta respect their decision to come back as a hot chick.”

“You say you’re not into girls, but you can’t seem to get them off your mind.” Noelle points out. “Are you sure?”

“I’m just trying to talk about your interests.” Dess says. “Before I came back home, the last memories I had of you were of you playing with barbies and going to elementary school. Sorry if I’m interested in how things are going now that you’re all grown up. I didn’t get the chance to try and coach you through your first crush or threaten to beat up your partners if they ever hurt you. I’m trying to catch up.”

“I know, I know,” Noelle assures her. “I’m not accusing you or anything, it’s just that you keep asking these questions around my friends, it’s getting embarrassing.”

“Oh like Kris doesn’t say dumb shit all the time too.” Dess counters.

“And for your information, no,” Noelle answers. “It was not at all pleasant to have Vess inside of me controlling my every action.”

“That’s just because you were running for your life.” Dess argues. “It’d probably be pretty cool in any other scenario.”

“Kris was literally possessed for years and hated every second of it!” Noelle says. “They possessed me because they had no choice and tried to set me free the first chance they got. In what scenario would it be cool?”

“Imagine if it was Susie in there.” Dess challenges. “Imagine if she was with you everywhere you went, whispering into your ear the whole time. Imagine her playing with your hair by having you run your fingers through it. Imagine her running your hands to-”

“Question,” As exciting of a thought as that is, Noelle tries her hardest to hide that excitement as she gives Dess an unimpressed look. “Did you just become extremely horny in the Void or what?” She asks. “Your mind’s been in the gutter ever since you got back.”

“Have I not always been like this?” Dess challenges before giving a more concrete answer. “I’ve been stuck as a teenager with infinite free time, privacy, and only my imagination to keep me company for years.” Dess says. “I literally had nothing else to do.”

“Gross…” Noelle regrets asking, but she couldn’t stop herself from making another observation. “Gaster’s been in there for a while too, he didn’t seem interested in that stuff at all.”

“Oh trust me, he had a massive stick up his ass the whole time I knew him. He had to have gotten something out of constantly dropping in on us and getting yelled at.” Dess' response only makes Noelle more upset, and judging from the look on her face, Dess wasn’t exactly pleased with the mental picture she just gave herself. “I really gotta just stop talking, don’t I?”

“I love you, I love getting to talk to my sister again, but you really need to have a filter.” Noelle nods her head.

“Give me a few more months of saying off kilter shit and I’ll probably get it out of my system.” Dess promises. “I’m still getting used to talking to people again. It’s not like I had anyone to actually tell me how weird some of the stuff that comes out of my mouth is. I had Kris, but they’re just as weird sometimes.”

Their conversation slows as they approach the studio. They left an hour early to try and beat the crowds and give Dess the time to prepare, but even now, there are several dozen people all hanging out on Kris’ lawn, waiting for the line leading inside to thin out so they weren’t elbow to elbow with everyone. Things have been really slow and uneventful in town, this was the first big event going on in forever and it looked like no one wanted to miss it.

As they move towards the line, Dess suddenly reaches out for Noelle’s hand, gripping it tightly.

“Are you feeling nervous?” Noelle asks. She can’t remember the last time Dess actually reached out and touched her. Touch was another thing that Dess was still trying to get used to. Every time she tried to hug her sister, every time Dad patted her on the back, Dess jolted from shock. She always laughed it off immediately afterwards, but it was clear that she still wasn’t used to people actually getting that close to her and being able to feel it. This was one of the few times since she first got home that Dess actually tried to touch her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people in my life…” Dess says a bit breathlessly. “Even before I left, I went to some school band recitals, but that was a few dozen bored parents watching their kids play. This is insane!”

“This is quite the turnout…” Noelle nods, searching through the crowds and trying to see if she recognized anyone familiar, but she couldn’t identify anyone. They were all strangers who were here to see Dess’ performance. Looking over at her, Noelle finds that while Dess looked more than anxious, she also wore a genuine smile on her face.

“Holy shit…” She says, sounding almost giddy with excitement. Noelle swears she could hear a steady drum beat fill the air and wondered if it was Dess’ heart pounding in her chest. “I would have killed for even a tenth of a turnout like this when I started playing music. I didn’t think I’d be this popular already.”

“You’re gonna be alright all alone on stage, right?” Noelle asks with some worry. Dess has always been pretty headstrong, but it was obvious that her time in the Void messed her up. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to put herself in front of a crowd of hundreds after being all alone for close to a decade.

“I’m not-” Dess starts to speak up, but catches herself mid sentence. “I’m not gonna have a problem.” She says after a short pause. “You haven’t been to my practice rehearsals, I’m gonna ace this.” Even as she says this, that constant drumming only gets faster as more people arrive. “I’m gonna hurry inside and hide backstage now.” She says, giving Noelle’s hand one last squeeze before letting her go. “I’ll see you in the front row!”

Running off around the back of the building, Noelle is left alone in the line to slowly funnel in through the front doors. She wanted to stay by Dess’ side a while longer to make sure she was alright, but she had no choice now but to trust that she’ll keep her nerve once the performance starts. Once inside, she shows off her ticket and follows the masses towards the auditorium, but she’s stopped when she notices Kris hanging out further down the hall, a place which has clearly been labeled as off limits. They looked to be dozing off as they leaned against a doorframe, unbothered by the noise of the crowd walking through. Crew bots were stationed in the halls to make sure people made it to their seats, but none of them cared about Kris who was obviously outside the main area.

With no one else to talk to yet and with plenty of time to kill before the show started, she waits for the bots to look away before slipping out of line to go see Kris.

“Kris!” Hurrying down the hall and calling their name, they start to come to, blinking their eyes and standing up a little straighter. Noelle slows her pace as she gets close and when Kris meets her eyes she can’t stop herself from asking, “Were you asleep standing up?”

“Mhmm.” Kris nods slowly, stretching out a little. “It’s a neat little trick Sans taught me. I was just trying to get a little power nap in before the show.”

“What are you doing back here?” Noelle asks. “This is a restricted area, isn’t it?”

“I live here.” Kris reminds her. “I can go wherever I want.” Kris reaches their hand up to brush aside the hair in their face and as they do, Noelle notices with some surprise that, though they look tired, they look a lot more put together than usual. Their hair was neatly brushed and beneath their hangs, Noelle could swear they were wearing a fresh layer of makeup. They looked great, but it got her thinking. Kris’ house was not down this hall, and with an actual performance about to happen, she didn’t really see the crew being perfectly fine with people running around backstage.

“Are you going on stage too?” Noelle asks, putting the pieces together as she remembers Dess’ hesitation when she asked if she’d be fine all alone on stage.

Kris straightens up really quickly after hearing that. “Don’t say that out loud!” They hiss. “It’s supposed to be a surprise!”

“Sorry!” Noelle quickly quiets down, feeling a little guilty despite not knowing this was the case. “It’s just… You look really nice right now and with you being backstage, it looked like you were cleaned up by the crew for a performance.”

“I’m gonna join Dess for her last performance.” Kris says, though it’s clear that they think they shouldn’t be telling her this. “I’ve been practicing a lot too and this last song is something special for both of us. It’s something that she’s been working on for years and this is the first time she’ll have other people hear it.”

“For years?” Noelle raises an eyebrow. “You mean this is a song she made in the Void?” Kris nods their head. “And here I was thinking all she did was have weird sex daydreams with all the weird stuff that goes through her head.”

“I probably would have had some weird daydreams if Chara wasn’t breathing down my neck 24/7.” Kris says, only to immediately regret bringing it up and shiver. “Nothing fun happened in there once I showed up. Also, Dess has always been a little forward with things. She’ll get sick of it and move on.”

“Well I can’t wait to hear what you two have cooked up.” Noelle says, trying to steer the conversation away from the Void stuff. Kris flashes her a smile, but it doesn’t last as their expression starts to fall again. “What’s wrong?” She asks. “Are you anxious about your first performance too?”

“That’s the least of my worries right now, actually.” Kris says, leaning against the doorframe again. “Dess has this in the bag and I’ve been playing the same song for a month, we won’t have any problems. I’m just anxious about the talk I’m gonna have with Vess after the show.”

“Why?” Noelle asks. “Is something going on with them?”

“It’s complicated.” Kris says, shaking their head and pushing off the doorframe. “I can’t even begin to explain what it’s about and depending on what they tell me, I might not even be able to explain it after I know everything. It’s nothing you need to worry about, probably, hopefully...” None of what Kris tells her assures her things are fine, but before she can ask for them to elaborate, they start moving back down the hall towards the line leading to the auditorium. “Come on, let's get to our seats before the place fills out completely.”

Kris was pretending there was nothing wrong again, but Noelle knew that if they weren’t willing to explain what was wrong, she wasn’t going to get an explanation. It’s something that they do a lot now, something that Susie complained about to her constantly. She didn’t like seeing Kris act like this, but they didn’t leave her many options to try and help. At the very least, they seemed excited to watch and eventually perform in the show, so there wasn’t any real point in trying to address their problems now when they wouldn’t need to face them until after the show.

Joining the crowd, Noelle makes her way into the studio’s auditorium, a ginormous open room with what looked like enough seats to fit a thousand people, all directed to the large stage at the end of the room. The acoustics of the room bounce the dozens of conversations going on off the walls, amplifying them and filling the air with a constant droning noise that makes it difficult for Noelle to hear her own thoughts. She had to wade her way through an ocean of people before she managed to get to the front row where a dozen or so seats were reserved.

She takes her seat, settling in and waiting for the other’s to arrive. On either side of her, two posts labeled the seat to her right as Susie’s, and the one to her left as Vess’. Kris was already seated a little further down, the seats next to them reserved for their family. Her parents were going to be here too, and Noelle wondered how people would react to her Mom coming into the room. Noelle stopped caring about the cold a long time ago, but Mom’s icy glare was still enough to scare people off.

As the minutes ticked by, the auditorium started to fill out more and more, increasing the volume of the background conversations which deafened her thoughts. It was starting to get on her nerves, but before it could bother her too much, some familiar faces finally arrived and started taking their seats.

“Noelle!” Cutting through the crowd, Susie hurries to the front row, rudely nudging people out of the way so she can get to her seat right beside Noelle. Crashing down onto her chair, Susie immediately leans over and wraps her arm around Noelle’s shoulders. Noelle suddenly found it very easy to ignore the chaos all around her to focus solely on Susie.

She looked absolutely ecstatic right now, grinning ear to ear and showing off every single razor sharp tooth in her mouth. Noelle remembers a time she used to be scared of those teeth, but Susie’s smile was one of her best traits. Those teeth were still dangerous, Susie’s bit her lip and tongue a couple of times and drew blood while they kissed, but that just added to the excitement of it all. Leaning towards her, she plants a quick kiss on Susie’s lips, though after doing so, she notices a familiar taste lingered on her lips.

“Did you drink that shampoo again?” Noelle asks.

“I figured you wouldn’t have any plans after the concert, so I’d swing by your place afterwards.” Susie says, her grin somehow getting even wider. “I also plan on swigging some for our date later this week. I’m sure you’ll appreciate it.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a busy week ahead of you.” Noelle giggles, feeling her face start to go red. She tries to smother that feeling and hide her blush as the rest of her friends start to arrive. Berdly hurries over to Kris’ side, already rambling about something and adding onto the background noise. Asgore clogs up the front row as he stops to talk to Dad before eventually being pushed forward by Toriel to his assigned seat. There’s a subtle but noticeable shift in temperature as Mom arrives, and following close beside her are Ralsei and Vess. Both of them separate, Ralsei sitting on Susie’s right as Vess passes by Noelle to sit on the vacant seat to her left.

“Hey Vess.” Noelle greets the Angel as they sit down. “Sorry if I was a little awkward yesterday. You just caught me so off guard that I didn’t know what to say.”

“Yeah… Everyone’s been saying that…” Vess nods, a blush forming on their cheeks.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.” Noelle says. “I mean that it’s been so long since I saw you that you just showing up at my house without warning stunned me. You do look really nice though.”

“Thank you.” Vess nods. “It’s nice to see you too, Noelle.” For all of Dess’ teasing about being so close to Vess, Noelle couldn’t help but stare. Other than the very short visit they made, she hasn’t been able to talk to them or any of her other friends until now. She wanted to know what led to this transformation, and more importantly, how did they do that with their hair? She’s tried braiding her hair before, but it's pretty difficult to do it by herself and Susie wasn’t very good at it either. That braid was so tightly woven that it could probably double as a whip.

“I’m gonna ask anyway.” Returning her attention back to Susie, Noelle finds she’s just finished up a conversation with Ralsei and was turning to ask her a question. “Hey Noelle,” She whispers, beckoning her to lean in close. Noelle obliges, leaning away from Vess to listen in. “So Kris and I have been working on something pretty big and I want to know if you’re alright with changing up plans for date night.”

“How so?” Noelle asks, lowering her voice as well. “Is it gonna be another double date like the one you talked about from the resets?”

“It’s gonna be a triple date.” Susie nods. “Ralsei found himself someone special and we’re trying to hook him up!”

“Really?!” Leaning forward, Noelle tries to get a look at Ralsei and finds that he’s trying his hardest to hide himself with his scarf. “I have no problem with that at all.” Noelle assures Susie. “Who’s the lucky someone who landed a date with the prince?”

“They’re right next to you.” Susie tells her, still trying to keep quiet so Vess can’t hear. “You should have seen Ralsei when he asked them out. It was the cheesiest, cutest shit I’ve ever seen!”

“Vess says you’re not allowed to tease me anymore!” Ralsei whines.

“I’m not, I’m just stating facts! It was adorable!” Susie insists. “You don’t wanna miss it Noelle.”

“You said it’s a triple date, right?” Noelle asks. “Kris and Berdly are coming too?” Susie nods, leading Noelle to turn to try and get a look at Kris, only to find that Vess’ attention was also turned in the same direction and Kris was staring at them. She had no idea what this talk was going to be about, but judging by Vess’ expression, they were just as anxious about it as Kris was earlier.

She decides to try and put it out of her mind entirely. Kris felt it wasn’t necessary to share, at least yet, and no one else seemed bothered by it. It was probably just a personal thing she had no part in. She just hopes they settle things between them before the date if they planned on getting everyone involved.

Everyone was here, and just as the noise of the massive crowd behind her was about to drive Noelle nuts, everyone went silent as someone even more obnoxious and noisy stepped onto the stage.

“GOOD EVENING EVERYONE!” Spotlights all suddenly converge on Biz as he marches onto the center of the stage. “MY OH MY! NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN AN AUDIENCE THIS LARGE! AT LEAST, NOT FOR A PERFORMANCE I MYSELF DIDN’T STAR IN!” Some laughs erupt from the back, but Noelle was just counting the seconds for this guy to hurry up and get off stage so her sister could finally come out. “ALAS, I’M NOT WHAT YOU ALL CAME FOR!” Biz announces, turning to look at the closed curtains behind him. “BEHIND ME IS A YOUNG UPSTART WITH A TRULY REMARKABLE TALENT FOR MUSIC! THE LIVING DEFINITION OF A VIRTUOSO! LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR DESS HOLIDAY!”

Biz quickly hurries off stage as the curtains are pulled, the spotlights all converging on center stage as Dess comes into view. She holds her hand up to shield her eyes from the harsh lights, her other hand holding the neck of her old guitar. As the curtains are pulled out of the way, several instruments are revealed to share the stage with her. Various drums, stringed instruments, woodwinds and brass. Dess was all alone up on stage though…

And she looked terrified.

“Ah- h- hey!” Dess gives the crowd a wave, still squinting her eyes from the lights. Noelle can’t help but cringe out of second hand embarrassment and fear. It was genuinely distressing to see Dess like this. Noelle was always the scaredy cat between the two of them, Dess wasn’t scared of anything. Seeing her be this frozen and shaken up from being on stage… Noelle almost wanted to do something to draw attention away from her, but she herself was too anxious to sit up.

There were a few seconds of agonizingly painful quiet, before Dess finally acted.

Without saying another word, she starts to play her guitar, keeping her head down and focused on the fretboard to avoid all the eyes staring at her. The chord progression is nice and her hands fly up and down the neck of the guitar to hit each chord perfectly, but the sound of the single instrument in this packed auditorium left the room quiet enough for murmurs to be heard from the audience.

All of that stops when Dess lets go of the guitar.

After strumming for some time, she pulls her hands back, and to everyone’s shock, the strings are still moving without her input. She slides the guitar strap off her shoulder and the instrument remains floating in the air, leaving Dess to quickly walk towards a waiting drum set. Before she even started playing that, people were piercing together what was going on with growing excitement.

Dess hasn’t shown Noelle much specifically to make this performance a surprise, but she’s already accidentally shown off some of her magic. She would sometimes drum her fingers on the dinner table or whistle to herself, and as she did, other sounds joined in and harmonized with whatever she was doing. Her own body was an instrument that radiated music. That alone was enough to get Noelle excited for this, but watching Dess’ guitar strum itself, repeating the same chord progression she played only a moment ago, she knew she was in for a treat.

Seated at the drum set, Dess effortlessly lays down some percussion for the song she was slowly building up on stage, standing up from her seat after a while and leaving the drumsticks to keep banging away in her absence. Dess starts moving for a bass guitar resting nearby, and from the front row seats, Noelle can see that almost all of Dess’ anxiety was gone as people started to silently cheer as she performed.

It wasn't long before Dess had an entire band ensemble playing alongside her, with every instrument being played by her. Some instruments she didn’t even have to get going first. Simply pointing at another drum set was enough to get it going with her wiggling fingers controlling the drumsticks. More and more instruments joined in as Dess returned to her guitar, slinging the strap back over her shoulders just as the music reached a crescendo, before everything went quiet as she brought her hand down to strum a chord.

She held her pose, letting the sound of the chord fade into nothing as everyone stared in awe struck silence. The room was completely silent for just one second, before the entire auditorium erupted with cheers and applause. Noelle was too stunned to really cheer and awkwardly clapped as she stared up in awe at her sister.

Dess always wanted to be a Rockstar. That’s what she told Noelle all the time when she was still a little kid, and she fully believed it would happen whenever Dess learned to play her favorite songs. She forgot how much she missed hearing Dess play, and hearing her little musical outbursts since she got back brought some of that feeling back, but actually hearing her play her guitar again…

She’s pretty sure she’s crying right now.

“Ay! Shut up! Sit down!” Dess suddenly calls out to the crowd, silencing most of them in the front. “That was just the opening act! Save the standing ovation for later!” That only made the cheering louder, but it quickly died out as Dess started moving on stage again, idly strumming her guitar as she walked back towards one of the drum sets.

“Dude, I thought your sister was already cool, but holy shit!” Susie said beside her. “That was the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life!”

“God damn…” Looking to her left, Vess looked just as awestruck as Noelle felt. “I think I might actually cry if she goes through with writing a song about me.”

Leaning forward to get a look at everyone else’s reactions, they all looked to be the same. Past Vess, Asriel was cheering his best friend on with tears in his eyes and Kris looked more awake and happy than they have in months. Berdly looked like he was genuinely frozen in shock, his mouth held agape. Turning her head the other way, Ralsei looked like he had stars in his eyes. Near the end of the front row, she sees that Dad is crying too, but something that catches Noelle completely off guard was the fact that Mom was crying too. Noelle isn’t sure if she’s ever seen her Mom cry before, but seeing it now… She wasn’t sure how to react. It was genuinely so jarring to see her mother wear any other expression than aloof and emotionless that Noelle struggled to figure out how she felt.

Putting those feelings aside, she returns her attention to the stage.

Dess performs several songs over the course of half an hour, each of them just as amazing as the last. Some are more grounded as she sticks to a couple instruments at a time, and others have her running all across the stage conducting an entire orchestra. Her actions on the stage were just as much of a performance as the music she was playing as she showed off new ways her bardic magic could be used. Her guitar battle against herself seemed to be the most popular as she sat on one end of the stage playing against an electric guitar that played itself on the other side.

It was during this performance that Kris got up and cut across the front row, trying to get out. Their excuse was that they needed to go to the bathroom to anyone who asked, but as they passed in front of Noelle, they shot her a knowing look. Noelle keeps quiet, not wanting to spoil the surprise they had set up. Watching them go, they hurry through the crowd, exiting the auditorium and leaving everyone to wonder when they’d be back and what they would miss.

By the time Dess wraps up her next performance, however, everyone’s already forgotten about them. Forty five minutes have passed, and while Dess didn’t look anxious or shy at all anymore, she was clearly exhausted. Cheers and applause rang out in between every performance, everyone was still blown away by the show, but it was clear that it was coming to an end. The applause was dying down as Dess slowly approached the drum set again and instead of sitting down, she took the stool and dragged it with her to center stage. Her guitar was slung over her back, and for a moment, she took some time to catch her breath. Once she was relaxed, she took in a deep breath and looked up at the crowd.

“I really cannot understate how much it means to me to see you all here.” She says, staring out into the sea of people watching her. “I won’t go into the details, if you know you know, but I never thought I’d have an audience at all, let alone one this big. I’ve been all by myself for years, and…” Dess clears her throat, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat. “I wrote a song a long time ago, one I was sure would never be heard by another soul for the longest time, one that I’ve wanted to share ever since I got back home, one I can’t play alone.”

A low murmur rises from the crowd as intrigue starts to rise. Up in the front row, Berdly and Asriel are clearly worried that Kris is going to miss out, but everyone up front gasps in surprise as Kris suddenly steps onto the stage.

“Kris, would you do the honors?” Dess says, turning to address Kris before lowering her head and taking a deep breath. Without a word, Kris nods and takes a seat at the grand piano near the back of the stage. The spotlights beaming down on both of them start to dim, as well as most of the stage lights. The stage gets progressively darker and darker until there’s only two spotlights remaining pointing at each of the performers.

The audience is dead silent, not a sound rings out throughout the auditorium, until Kris starts to play. The moment the first couple notes are played, Noelle can already tell it’s going to be a melancholic song. Even if it wasn’t, Noelle couldn’t help but feel emotional.

It’s been years since she heard Kris play the piano. It feels almost poetic that she’s hearing them play now during Dess’ concert, considering the last time she heard them play was when she was in her deepest pit of depression over losing Dess. Kris still came over to her house all the time, but it wasn’t the same without Dess around, and rather than linger on that fact, they instead played the piano in the other room as Noelle tried to lose herself in the music. It had felt like a personal concert just for her, and here they were now, and even though this was being played in front of at least a thousand people, she could still feel that this was likely a very personal song.

After a minute of buildup, there’s a lull in the song and Dess raises her head, opening her mouth to sing. Her voice rings out loud and clear through the auditorium. It was a beautiful sound, but once she heard the actual lyrics, Noelle sat petrified on her chair.

”When the light is running low,”
”And the shadows start to grow,”
”And the places that you know seem like fantasy…”

She’s heard this song before…

Noelle’s mind is thrown back years, digging up memories she thought she had repressed long ago. It must have been four years ago, back when her depression was hitting her the hardest. She found herself at the edge of the river, staring down at the dark rushing waters at her reflection with horrible thoughts running through her mind. Dad was still going through treatment and suffering through it, Mom was never home to talk to, and she had given up all hope that Dess would come home. She didn’t know what to do, she contemplated tossing herself into that river and letting the waters take her, but before that idea could linger in her head, she heard someone singing. She thought she was losing her mind, or that she was hallucinating or remembering some old song Dess used to sing, but here Dess was now, singing that same exact song, the one she wrote in her isolation within the Void.

Somehow, she’s already heard Dess sing this song.

Stranger yet, Vess seemed to be quietly singing along to her left.

”There’s a light inside your soul,”
”That’s still shining in the cold,”
”With the truth, the promise in our hearts.”

Did they somehow hear this before too?! This was supposed to be the premiere, the first time this song was heard by anyone outside of the Void, and yet, both of them have somehow heard it, years before Dess came back home in Noelle’s case.

There were no crazy acts, no magic at play, no extravagant performances. It was just Kris and Dess, playing and singing a melancholic, but hopeful melody from the heart. Despite the simplicity of the performance, it struck a chord within Noelle’s soul. Tears flowed freely, but she didn’t dare interrupt the performance with the sobs that tried to escape from her. Glancing around at the others in the front row, they were all in a similar state of teary eyed awe.

With one last piano refrain from Kris, the last remaining spotlights dim, slowly engulfing the stage in total darkness as the curtains are called. In the darkness, Noelle hears a sniffle, one that doesn’t come from behind her. Dess was crying on stage in the dark.

The lights around the auditorium started to come on, signaling to everyone that the performance was over. Once they were given the all clear, the entire building erupted in applause as hundreds of people gave a standing ovation. Noelle rose as well, putting her hands together as she let herself cry. The curtains pull open once more to reveal Kris and Dess standing beside each other. Both of them bow to the audience, both of them wear bright smiles that stretch across their faces, both of them are crying.

“WHAT A MOVING PERFORMANCE!” Biz almost ruins all of the emotional weight of the moment with his presence alone, though even he seems to be having trouble holding back his emotions. His display is fuzzy and his perfect smile warbles a little. “I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED DESS HOLIDAY’S DEBUT, AS WELL AS KRIS DREEMURR’S SURPRISE RETURN TO THE STAGE! SOMETHING TELLS ME YOU’RE GOING TO SEE A LOT MORE FROM THESE TWO STARS IN THE NEAR FUTURE! KEEP THE APPLAUSE COMING, LET THEM HEAR IT!”

The volume in the room doubles as every single person inside cheers Dess on. She was openly crying on stage with one hand waving back to the crowd while the other tried to hide her face. Noelle can’t even imagine what was going through her mind. Years and years of isolation and loneliness, and now this. It was like the entire town was cheering her on for making it back home.

She must have been so afraid that everyone forgot about her, but they were all still here, and Noelle couldn’t be happier that she’s home.

I don’t think my heart’s ever beaten this fast before. Not during my first kiss, not during my first time with Berdly, not even during all the horrible shit I’ve endured through the Roaring and the resets. It was genuinely kind of scary to have my heart pound in my chest this hard. I wasn’t even working with a full soul, something like this could probably actually kill me.

I couldn’t help it though, my face hurt from smiling so much. I don’t even know why this show was making me act up this much. I’ve performed plenty of times on these stages, but this time was completely different. Maybe it was just that I wasn’t in danger during my performance, maybe it was because all my friends were cheering me on instead of struggling to survive right next to me. Maybe Dess’ happiness was just contagious.

Whatever the reason was, I felt amazing, and I almost wanted to put off the meeting so I could coast on this high for the rest of the night. Almost… Vess owed me answers, and after waiting so long and driving myself insane trying to figure it out myself, I wanted them sooner than later. Maybe the euphoria I was feeling now would soften the blow of whatever perception destroying secrets they were about to share.

I was waiting in my living room after sneaking out backstage. Everyone would find me eventually to congratulate me or tell me about the show, but Vess and I needed privacy. They only agreed to this on the condition that I would be the only one to hear about it. I wasn’t exactly happy with those terms, but if it got me answers, so be it. Mom and Dad would be out for a while, Sans didn’t show up until late, but even if he did, he apparently knew anyway so whatever. Everyone else would probably head home or to Castle Town. It would just be us two.

There’s a knock at the front door. Opening it up and peeking through, Vess stares at me on the couch. I can see that their face is a little wet with tears and chuckle a little bit, ushering them inside.

“Before I say anything,” Vess says as they step inside, “That was an amazing performance.”

“Thank you.” I nod. “Glad you could make it in time to hear it and glad that you didn’t accidentally end the world before it happened. You gave me a pretty bad scare yesterday, but you pulled through.”

“Right…” Vess nods awkwardly, sitting down on the couch next to me. We both sit there for a while, and I suspect they’re thinking the same thing I am. This was a nice moment, whatever was coming next was probably going to ruin it, but I was determined to get answers out of them.

Before either of us could speak, however, there’s another knock at the door. Vess and I share a confused look at each other before the door opens up and Ralsei steps inside.

“Vess! Kris! There you are!” He says excitedly, though I can see how his eyes linger on Vess a little longer than necessary. It was nice to see him, but this created a very obvious problem with what was about to happen.

“Ralsei?! What are you doing here?!” Vess asks, turning to look at me in alarm. I give them a shrug in response. I didn’t tell anyone else I would be here.

“I was looking for you after the show and one of the crew bots said you went backstage.” Ralsei explains. “What are you two doing? Oh! Does Kris need some space after the performance? I’m sure it was probably very-”

“No, I'm fine.” I quickly assure Ralsei. “I just wanted to pull Vess aside to tell me something. I’m sick of being left in the dark about what the hell’s going on with them and I’m done waiting.”

“And it’s something you probably shouldn’t hear.” Vess says, pleading with Ralsei. “I’ll probably wrap this up soon and I’ll see you back at Castle Town, but this really should stay between me and Kris.” Ralsei looks disappointed for a moment and turns to head back out the door, but he suddenly turns back around, staring back at Vess.

“I want to hear it too.” He says, catching Vess off guard. “I saw how frustrated you were that you had no one else to talk about this to, and I know that whatever this is made you hesitate when I tried to confess to you. I want to help you, but I can’t do that if you’re purposefully leaving this wall up between us. I want to know what this terrible secret is, no matter the consequences.”

That actually catches my attention. Vess hesitated? Ralsei opened up his heart to Vess and it’s already been established that they have some chemistry together, so what the hell could make them consider not starting a relationship? Ralsei clearly wanted to know, and I can’t really see things working out perfectly between them unless this secret gets aired out.

“Ralsei please…” Vess whines. “I really appreciate it and I want to tell you, but I really shouldn’t.” Vess remains insistent with their belief that this information is dangerous, but Ralsei has a perfect counter.

“Then why are you telling Kris?” He asks. “Is it just because they were persistent enough? I want this to work, I want us to be together and for there to be no secrets between us. If they get to know, I deserve to know too.”

“He’s got a pretty good point there.” I say, much to Vess’ dismay.

“Don’t egg him on!” They plead. “Ralsei I’m serious. This information could hurt you, I don’t want that to-”

“What’s going on in here?” Looking up from the conversation, Susie steps into the house without knocking, finding the three of us in a heated conversation. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Vess was just about to tell us the mind breaking secrets of the universe.” I say.

“Something that was supposed to be for Kris’ ears only.” Vess insists, but upon hearing what was going on, Susie steps inside and closes the door behind her.

“I just came back here looking for Ralsei to confirm some things for later, but this sounds interesting.” She says, crossing her arms. “Let’s hear it then.”

“But it’s… I don’t…” Vess leans back on the couch in defeat. It was three on one and we were all pretty adamant about wanting to hear this.

“Dude, I struggled with the reset stuff for almost a year and almost got my face ripped off by a zombie Void demon thing. I can probably handle whatever you’re about to throw at me.” Susie assures Vess, throwing her own two cents in, but it doesn’t do anything to help. Seeing their clear distress, Ralsei moves to join us on the couch. I scoot over to give him some room and once he sits down, he cuddles up next to Vess.

“I understand that you only want to protect us, but I think it’s fair to say we’ve all experienced things that can’t be explained.” He reasons. “But we’ve made it through all of that together. Surely we can jump this hurdle together as well. Please, this information is hurting you too, let us share that burden.” Vess holds Ralsei close as he presses his face into their shoulder, but even now, it was clear that they were extremely reluctant to talk.

“God I wish I had a reset on standby just this once…” They whine. Just hearing that made me feel sick to my stomach, but I couldn’t really blame them for thinking that. Hell, I thought about it all the time. How nice would it be to get one last reset to go all the way back to the end of the Roaring without Gaster and the others? How nice would it be to go all the way back to the time before I was possessed? I could actually have a shot at being normal.

The resets are gone for good though, and as convenient as they were, the world was a better place without them. Vess was scared, they were 100% convinced that what they were about to say would hurt us, but I needed to know, and everyone else had their reasons to want to know too. It isn’t on them if their fears are justified, we brought this on ourselves.

“Alright…” Vess relents. “Fine, I’ll tell all of you. I guess the more of you who know, the easier things might be for me explaining things back home as well, but please, if any of this gets too distressing, tell me and I’ll stop.”

“Alright, alright.” Susie nods. “Just tell us already.”

“Actually, before you start,” I interrupt, “I have a few theories I want to throw out to see if I figured it out myself. They go to some pretty wild places and I want to know if the headache I've had over the past couple weeks was justified.”

“Go ahead I guess.” Vess sighs, looking a little relieved to get out of having to explain themselves for just a little longer.

“Are you secretly God, and all the shit that we’ve been through was part of some grand plan of yours and you don’t want to let us know because that would mean you were complicit in everything that happened?” Everyone turns to stare at me in confusion. “What? I told you, I’ve been driving myself insane with this shit trying to explain it all to myself.”

“No, I’m not a god.” Vess shakes their head. “I’m serious when I say I’m just a normal person like the rest of you. I’m just on a higher plane of reality.”

“Ok, next theory.” I nod, moving on and already feeling better having one of my theories debunked. “Is this all a dream and the reason you keep saying all of this higher plane of reality shit is because we aren’t real?” Ralsei takes extra interest in this idea. If Vess hesitated during his confession over something they couldn’t share, maybe this was it. Maybe the relationship couldn’t work because Ralsei was just a figment of Vess’ imagination.

“This is all real.” Vess debunks this idea too. “I gave you a piece of my soul, remember? I thought this was all a dream too, but taking pieces of my soul physically affected me when I got back. Not to mention, you were able to contact me while I was ‘awake’, so it couldn’t have been a dream.”

“Alright, that’s two down.” I nod. “I got one more, and it’s the stupidest one yet.”

“I don’t know, those last two were pretty crazy.” Susie argues, but I press forward anyways.

“Is this all actually a video game, or some kind of simulation?” Vess suggested that I try to picture the situation like it was a video game during the last meeting over the computer, and it’s stuck with me ever since. I thought they suggested it to try and make whatever impossible magic was happening understandable, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to think they were being literal. It answered a lot of questions, especially about how the last world worked and how Vess could kill so many people willing ’without realizing they were hurting real people’. It probably wasn’t that though, they wouldn’t just outright tell me the answer and pretend it was more complicated than that.

Though, while waiting for Vess to reply and tell me I’m wrong again, their expression starts to sink.

“Vess…” I urge them to speak, to debunk this absolutely wild and stupid theory of mine, but they try to turn their attention elsewhere. “Vess, look at me.” I demand and they oblige. “I’m not right, am I?!” They tried to look away again, but now everyone was staring at them with a similar look of confusion and denial. “Fuck you! I was mostly kidding with that idea, are you serious?!” Unable to outright say it, they give me the slightest of nods and my heart sinks.

All at once, everything that’s happened to me over the last four years suddenly has context. All at once, all of the horrors, all of the secrets, all of the mysteries were explained to me in one horrible moment. For one, sickening, terrifying moment, I realize that Gaster was right when he said my choices didn’t matter.

I wasn’t a vessel for an interdimensional being, I was a player character.

Jevil claiming he was free by reveling in chaos and not playing by the rules, Spamton trying to cut himself free from his strings, Mike trying to write me out of the script. All of them knew, at least partially, and realized what it meant. None of us actually had free will, we were all programs following whatever our coding dictated we do. We were all playing for Vess’ enjoyment. We were all…

“Is the game any good?” Susie asks, pulling me from my racing thoughts for a moment. She looks pretty taken aback by the news too, but for some reason, this is the first question that comes out of her.

“I certainly think so.” Vess replies, anxiously looking between the three of us. “Plenty of other people do too. Hell, it changed a few people’s lives. It certainly did for me.”

“So you’re serious then?!” Susie asks. “This is all a video game?!”

“Oh of course it’s a video game!” Ralsei pouts, crossing his arms. “I think I hate video games now.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” I shake my head, trying to clear out the jumble of thoughts in my head for a moment to get a question out. “If this is all a video game and we’re just programs, what the hell are you doing here then?!” I ask. “You’re physically here with us, you gave me a piece of your soul, you fished me out of the- Actually wait, what the fuck is the Void then if- No, we’ll tackle that later. How the hell are you inside the video game with us? How are we ‘programmed’ to deal with a flesh and blood human being that couldn’t have been accounted for?! Was Gaster always a part of this? Was the Lightbringer? If the last world was a video game too, then how the fuck is Sans here?!”

“Uh…”

“Wait a minute…” Susie interrupts. “The resets… Were those like… Berdly said it was kind of like quick saving a game before you did anything risky or before you go on a rampage in the main town before reloading it. Are you telling me Berdly was 100% right and we were actually saving the game?!”

“Does…” Ralsei speaks up at Vess’ side. “Was the reason you thought things wouldn’t work out is because I’m not real? Were you self conscious about loving a fictional character? Were you…”

“Hey, don’t talk like that.” Vess quits their fumbling the moment it’s clear that Ralsei isn’t taking this well. “You’re real. All of you are.” Looking out at the rest of us, they looked worried, but they quickly followed up this revelation with something that genuinely helped soothe the pain. “This all was just a game, but it clearly isn’t anymore.” They say. “It stopped being a game the moment I got dragged in here physically. It stopped being a game when I got to actually meet you all. It stopped being a game the moment Chara followed me here and tried to take my soul. To tell you the truth, I don’t actually know what the hell is going on, but what I do know is that all of you guys and the world you inhabit are originally from a game, a game that I have to launch on my computer to get here. A game called Deltarune.”

I lean back in my seat, resting my hands on my head. This was all so… stupid… Catti was right, my other ideas were way cooler and arguably easier to digest than the real deal. I can also see exactly why Vess wanted to hide this from us, especially me and Ralsei. I was a literal computer program, I had no free will of my own and I had no choice but to bend to the whims of whoever was playing me. My life was a literal game to Vess as they walked around in my body. And Ralsei, god, Ralsei must feel horrible knowing that, even if for only a while, Vess thought a relationship couldn’t work between them because he was a fictional character.

But that wasn’t all there was to this.

“Those other places you saw,” I speak up, hating how unsteady my voice sounded but I couldn’t help it. I just focused on trying to get my question out and keeping my heart beat steady. I couldn’t panic now. “What were they? Were they other games you played?”

“One was the old world I talked about.” Vess nods. “A game called Undertale, a sort of sister series to this world. There wasn’t much left of it, everyone either left or died.”

“But if it’s all a game and the resets are just saving…” Susie was piecing things together. “Then you basically just did what I do every time I play GTA. Save the game, and then just run a bunch of people over before calling it a day and reloading. Except…”

“Except they were all real people.” Vess nods, looking as horrified as Susie did now. “And now you know why Sans looks at me the way he does.”

“B-but you didn’t know!” Ralsei insists. “Even I do mean things in video games! I wouldn’t hurt anyone if I knew it was real, though… How would we know? Oh gosh… We aren’t actually forcing people to beat each other up when we play that smashing game, are we?!”

“Fuck dude, I hope not!” Susie says, starting to panic herself. “I almost exclusively drive on the sidewalk in GTA, are you telling me there’s a slim chance that I’m actually a mass murderer?!”

“I don’t know?!” Vess says. “I’ve been avoiding most video games nowadays because of that exact same fear. Even the more light hearted and non violent ones make me feel weird because I’m terrified that I’m screwing someone over like Kris and stealing their free will.”

“Berdly would be worse than literally every single dictator and warlord combined if every video game had living breathing people inside of them.” I say. “It can’t all be real, something weird has to be going on here.” I don’t really have any proof for this claim, but I hold onto it because it needs to be true. “You said very early on that other people visited our world too, I’m guessing those were other people playing the game? Are there any other people who went through the same thing you did?”

“No.” Vess quickly shakes their head. “I looked everywhere for people like me, and while I couldn’t really ask around out of fear of sounding completely insane, someone would have spoken up if their soul got sucked into this game too. As far as I’m aware, this is unique to me, so don’t go thinking you’re all serial killers for playing video games.”

“Then you should stop beating yourself up for doing the same thing!” Ralsei insists. Vess opens their mouth to try and argue, but Ralsei interrupts before they get the chance to. “You didn’t know. You couldn’t have known and it’s unreasonable to see yourself as evil for doing something completely innocent as playing a game.”

“I was there though…” Vess says. “Catti was there too, it was completely empty and quiet. I could hardly breathe while I was there.”

“Look…” Susie huffs, clearly uncomfortable with this whole conversation. “I had to do a lot of shitty stuff while you were gone during the reset stuff. It almost ruined things between me and Noelle. I did a lot of terrible things that, even with the resets, I can’t really take back. I get where you’re coming from, but the difference is, I knew what I was doing was shitty right from the get go, but Noelle still thinks that I’m a good person despite that. If I can get off the hook for what I willingly did, then you can’t demonize yourself for hurting people without knowing about it at all.”

Everyone was in agreement that Vess wasn’t the bad guy here. It’s already been established that they’re just a dumbass who gets people into trouble sometimes. It was becoming more and more obvious that everything was completely out of their control though. They didn’t mean to kill anyone, they didn’t mean to ruin my life, they didn’t mean to draw the attention of Gaster, the Lightbringer, and the rest. They were just as much of a victim as the rest of us.

“What else did you see while you were gone?” I ask again. “There’s this one and the last one which you destroyed, but Catti said you saw a couple other places. What were they?”

“The Pink Sea and the Land of Wind and Shade.” Vess says. “Two worlds that couldn’t be more far apart, one being from another game, the other coming from a webcomic.”

“Wait, so it isn’t only video games?” Ralsei asks in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“As if any of this made any sense in the first place.” I grumble. “If this isn’t a video game anymore, then what the hell are those other places then?” Vess gives me a helpless shrug, but all of a sudden, a name jumps to the front of my mind, one that Vess mentioned super early on and one I even demanded answers about during our last meeting. “Could Toby Fox be behind all of this?”

“Who?” Susie and Ralsei both turn to look at me in confusion, but Vess sits up on the couch.

“Maybe?” They say. “He’s just a normal guy as far as I know, but he did make the two games I’ve had the most issues with.”

“Is this Toby person a game developer?” Ralsei asks.

“He is, and a damn good one too.” Vess nods. “He’s responsible for making you, so I guess even if he is somehow responsible for trapping my soul inside of a video game, he can’t be all bad.”

“So that’s what you meant when you said that he was basically God. He made these games.” I deduce. “Did he make the other worlds you visited too?”

“No, and that’s what’s got me so messed up.” Vess shakes their head. “The other two worlds I visited with Catti and the Riverperson were made by two completely different people, though each one has some loose ties back to Toby. If rumors are true, Toby Fox made Undertale, the last world where Sans came from, in Andrew Hussie’s basement, and Toby’s one of the few people who have ever spoken to Kikiyama.”

“Those names mean absolutely nothing to us, dude.” Susie shakes her head.

“Yeah… I’m kind of a nerd about this stuff.” Vess admits bashfully. “That hyperfixation feels pretty justified right now considering what’s going on. Anyways, the point is, Toby didn’t make the other two worlds I visited, but he either had a hand in helping make them or he took huge inspiration from them. Arriving at the Pink Sea, I was starting to think that maybe my computer somehow hit singularity and created a multiverse within itself with all the shit in my files or something, but the inclusion of a world from a webcomic I haven’t read in years threw that idea out of my head. I’m not sure if all of this is connected to me or if I’ve been dragged into something much bigger.”

Everyone sits in silence for a while, taking in all this new information. I certainly didn’t feel very good about finding out my entire life is a game to people and there were likely thousands of people who have done terrible things to other mes, but the impossible to explain interdimensional travel between worlds somehow made the concept a lot easier to swallow. Other Kris’ weren’t free, they were characters in a video game, but for whatever reason, I was different. Though, this just paved the way for even more questions, ones just as daunting and draining as the first set of questions Vess was so reluctant to share.

“So for all we know…” I mumble. “My first two theories could still be real. Maybe Toby Fox is actually this all powerful God and you’re part of another story or game he’s making. Maybe Toby Fox is a lucid dreamer and he’s recreated all of these places in his mind and you’re a figment of his imagination. Maybe…”

“Catti already put the idea that I’m as ’fake’ as the rest of you, and I’d really rather not think about that.” Vess whines.

“Well you just told all of us we’re video game characters, so fuck you.” I counter. “You obviously don’t know what’s going on, so I’m dragging you down to my level. But now that we’re all on the same page, what do we do about this? Do we even do anything, or do we just sit around and continue business as usual now that we know this?”

“I don’t know.” Vess shrugs. “I kind of like the sit around and do nothing plan. I still have a lot of stuff around town I’d like to see and Ralsei and I haven’t even had a chance to do much yet. He’s been really busy doing political stuff if you can believe it.”

“I was hoping to change that after the show, but…” Ralsei sighs. “All I did was get dragged into whatever this was.”

“Well you’re in luck Ralsei.” Susie smirks. “I came looking for you to let you know that Operation Big Rig is a go, as long as you’re free on Tuesday.”

“I’ve already talked Berdly into it, so it’s all on you Ralsei.”

“Oh, um…” Ralsei starts to blush again, causing Vess to look down at him in confusion while Susie and I start our chant again.

“Big rig, big rig, big rig.”

“Ok, I don’t know what the hell this big rig thing is supposed to be about, but I thought I made it clear that you were supposed to go easy on Ralsei from now on.”

“Hey, he told me that this was something that he wanted.” I try to defend myself. “Isn’t that right, Ralsei?” I ask looking at the Prince. “Are you gonna come along on Tuesday?”

“I know all you’re gonna do is tease me the whole time…” He says, but after a quick glance at Vess, he nods his head. “But yes, I do. I haven’t spent much time at all with Vess thanks to the work I’m doing with Mrs. Holiday, so I’d love to go along with you.”

“Cool.” I nod. “Vess, don’t do anything stupid until after Tuesday.”

“What’s happening on Tuesday?” Vess asks.

“We’re still working out the details.” Susie says. “The plan was to maybe go back to the river, but with what happened there yesterday, I don’t think that’s a good idea anymore. You don’t gotta worry about it, Kris and I will figure it out and Ralsei will bring you along.”

“So…” Vess looks over all of us again. “You’re all alright?” They ask. “I didn’t need to hide this?”

“Oh trust me, I feel like shit.” I correct them. “I can’t really say it’s the worst thing to happen to me though. Besides, it gives me some fun questions to push on you.”

“Like?” Vess asks, raising an eyebrow.

“How popular are we?” I ask. “You said that our game changed a few peoples lives, do people like us?”

“Oh yeah, you’re all super popular.” Vess nods. “Merchandise, fan fictions, songs, fanart… A lot of fanart… Honestly, I think some people like you guys a little too much.”

“That’s nonsense.” Ralsei shakes his head. “How could someone like us too much?”

“I really didn’t like the tone of voice you had when mentioning the fanart.” I say, suddenly wishing I never asked. “You’re not suggesting what I think you are, right?”

“So if other people played our game, that means there’s alternate universes where things played out differently, right?” Susie interjects, completely speaking over my question and honestly, I appreciate it. I don’t need the answer. “Do Noelle and I get together in every universe? I think she’d get a kick out of hearing that our relationship is a universal constant.”

“It depends actually.” You say, also thankful to move on to less horrifying topics. “There’s some playthroughs where you end up with Kris.” Susie and I cast a glance at each other. I still remember that strange day before her first date, the one where she wasn’t sure if her feelings were real because she felt the same way about me as she did Noelle. I could totally see how a few small changes could butterfly effect into us getting together.

“What about Berdly and I?” I ask. “I love the guy, but I know he’s far from popular with everyone at school. How many people go for him?”

“I’m pretty sure there’s just one moment in this game where you even get a choice to go for Berdly and it’s mostly played as a joke.” Vess says, catching me by surprise. “I’m pretty sure the thing you have going on with him now is completely unique.”

“I don’t know if I should be angry at people for clowning on my boyfriend that hard or if I should be proud that one of my true acts of free will is making out with the guy no one actually likes.” I muse. “Your body.” I suddenly ask as another question leaps to my mind. “If this is all a video game, what is this body of yours then? You said a friend named Lizzy made it for you, how?”

“Well, the game uses sprites to represent all of you.” Vess explains. “I had her draw me a sprite sheet to represent my vessel.”

“She’s an artist?” Ralsei asks.

“Yep.” Vess nods. “I commissioned her to make the sprites for this vessel and I put them in the game. I can’t really elaborate further than that because I don’t know how a bunch of pixelated sprites turned into all of this.”

“It looks like the game’s doing you some favors then.” I say. “How pixilated are we talking?”

“Oh, is our game like Dragon Blazers?” Susie asks.

“I think so?” Vess shrugs. “I haven’t actually seen the game myself, but I can only assume it's some kind of rpg. A pretty old one too if you’re still playing it on gameboy.”

“It’s not that old?” Susie says. “Dragon Blazers 2 came out a couple years ago.”

“Oh yeah, another weird fact, I think I’m also technically from the future.” Vess adds, throwing even more curveballs at us. “I thought that maybe this was just a poorer household, but the flip phones, the boxy tv’s, I think I’m a good decade or two ahead of you guys.”

“Woah…” That draws some awe out of Ralsei, causing Vess to relax a little. Ralsei at least wasn’t as weighed down by the existential dread of all of this and was just excited to learn more.

“Is the future cool?” I ask. “Catti always kept telling me that the end times are coming sooner than later, does it suck in your world?” Vess sits stumped for a while. Maybe that’s too broad of a question to ask. “Does a new smash bros game come out soon?” I ask instead since video games were still fresh on my mind.

“Oh yeah, we’re on our fifth one.” Vess nods. “Sans is in it.”

“Eg-fucking-scuse me?!” Out of everything I heard tonight, the video game thing, my lack of free will, the fanart thing that still refused to leave my mind, this is what nearly drives me over the edge. “Sans the skeleton, the guy who lives in my house, is in fucking smash bros?!”

“Well, technically.” Vess shrugs. “He’s a costume for a different fighter, but he’s in there and he’s got his own theme song too.” I lie on the couch, completely drained.

“I’m done…” I say. “That’s enough. I’ve heard all I can handle right now.”

“Then we’re done.” Vess nods, putting an end to the questions. “I guess I was overreacting thinking you guys wouldn’t be able to handle this, but…”

“Well we still don’t really know anything.” Susie points out. “We’re not a video game anymore, you saw places from other video games and apparently a comic book, and you have no explanation for either of those. We might not be a video game at all.”

“Maybe…” Ralsei speaks up. “Maybe the video game is based on our adventures?” He suggests. “Maybe all of these places actually exist and the games you’ve been playing are just simulated versions of them. Maybe-”

“I said I’m done.” I whine. “We could go back and forth on this for hours, I don’t want to think anymore.”

“Are you good?” Vess asks. It sounds innocent enough, but I can hear genuine worry in their voice.

“I’ll be fine.” I assure them. “I just need time to take all of that in… To be honest, I’m probably going to block half of this out of my memory by tomorrow morning.”

“It sounds like there’s still a lot to talk about and things to figure out, but I’m with Kris on this one.” Susie nods her head. “Noelle’s waiting on me and I got way more information out of this conversation than I ever wanted.”

“So we’re putting all the weird stuff off and pretending things are normal again?” Vess asks.

“Yes.” I nod. “Wait until after Operation Big Rig at least. Then we probably gotta look into the River and we’ll talk more then.”

“Are you sure you’ll be alright here?” Ralsei asks. Leaning over on the couch, I reach out and ruffle his hair.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll be fine.” I tell him. “I just need to nap this off, maybe watch a movie or two to take my mind off things.” Ralsei looks reluctant to leave me behind, but eventually, Ralsei hops off the couch.

“Well, if we’re all done here, should we go home now?” He asks.

“I am home.” I remind him.

“I planned on staying the night at Noelle’s after the concert.” Susie says. “It’s on the way, so I’ll follow you two back until then.”

“I know it isn’t really that late, but I think I’m calling it a night.” Vess says as they get up from the couch as well. “How about you, Ralsei?” Vess turns to the Prince. “Is there anything you wanna do tonight, or are you clocking out too?”

“I’m afraid I have to get up extra early tomorrow to help the Mayor.” Ralsei says. “I have a very busy schedule now, but don’t worry! I’m free on Tuesday, which means that I can bring you to the dumb big rig thing these two have planned.”

“So is there like a monster truck rally going on in town or something?” Vess asks. “What the hell is-”

“Don’t worry about it.” I say. “Just show up, things will work themselves out from there.” Vess is weirded out by all the Operation Big Rig talk, but they'll be thanking us once everything’s said and done. They got nothing to worry about.

“Well, goodnight Kris.” Ralsei says. “If any of this gets to you too much, you know where to find us to talk it out.”

“Thanks.” I nod, watching as everyone leaves out the front door. Once the door closes, I lay back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling, at the cameras and lighting equipment hanging over the set. It was already creepy enough to have all this junk sitting over my head, potentially spying on me, but knowing what I do now, it’s ten times worse.

How long has this been going on for? How much of my life was set up for people to play through? Were the other Kris’ just as afraid as I was? Were they just as desperate to break free of their possessors?

I try to push the thoughts out of my head, to focus on something else, but I can’t. Every thought circles back around to this, that at one point in my life, everything was pre programed and scripted. When did I fully break free? When did I stop being a character with no free will to a sentient person?

Did I ever get out? Am I still following a pre set plan?

What about Sans? He isn’t even in the same game he started in. Is he free? If he was, and I wasn’t, would I even know how to interact with him since it’s not in my programming? If both games are made by the same guy, what if he’s stuck in the same exact dilemma I’m in? What if his perceived freedom is part of the script?

Disrupting me from my thoughts, the front door opens up and Sans steps into the house. “Hey kiddo.” He greets, moving towards the couch to join me. “How’s it going?”

“You’re in smash bros.” I find myself blurting. That really was the least of my concerns, but as stupid as it was, it dragged me out of the downward spiral I was falling down.

“What?” Sans asks, giving me a weird look before he sits down.

“Nothing, I…” I let out a slow sigh. “I’m gonna go to bed.” I say, pushing off the couch. “I’m exhausted.”

“I’ll bet.” Sans chuckles. “I saw the performance, you nailed it up there kiddo. I could tell it came from the heart.”

“Thanks.” I say, feeling a smile form on my lips. I move to leave the living room as Sans reaches for the remote, but before I go, I stop and ask him something. “Hey Sans?”

“Yeah?” He perks up.

“You had to have seen and experienced a lot of terrible things in the last world…” I say, already seeing Sans’ expression drop. “How do you keep yourself going?” I ask. “How do you keep yourself from lingering on all the bad stuff? How do you ignore the existential dread?”

Maybe that was a little too much to dump on someone all at once, but Sans leans back in his spot, crossing his arms as he takes some time to form an answer.

“I’m not gonna say that this is the best advice, but…” He starts. “You just gotta say screw it and pretend it doesn’t matter.” Sans tells me. “It’s out of your control, there’s no point in beating yourself up over what you could have done or what you wished you could do. Just keep going and look for things to keep you smiling. Trust me kid, things are way more complicated than you think. There’s no real point in looking for solid answers, just roll with the punches and find happiness where you can.”

That sounds too easy, too simple for the problem I had on my hands, but he was doing better than I was and he arguably knew way more. He had his issues, but he seemed genuinely happy here. It wasn’t exactly comforting to know that even he, someone who traversed the Void to save me, didn’t know all the answers and gave up trying, but it worked for him. I had plenty of things to be thankful for, that was for sure, and had I not been told any of this, I would have been just fine thinking nothing was wrong. This was way too high concept and theoretical for me to worry about, and besides, even if I was a simulation, it’s one where I eventually got a happy ending and got to spend my time with people who love and care about me.

“Thank you…” I say, breathing a little easier. “My mind’s been racing and I needed someone to help clear it out.”

“No problem kiddo.” Sans nods, finally taking the remote and turning on the TV. “If you wanna talk more, I’m all ears. The Void messes people up all the time, and I think I got a pretty good idea of what’s going on in that noggin of yours.”

“Right…” I nod. He knew, didn’t he? He knew that I became aware of the weird pointlessness of all of this. I briefly considered sitting down next to him to really open up about it, but like he said, there wasn’t really a point in doing that. It was all out of my control, so why bother?

Retreating up the stairs and through the sets to my room, I collapse into bed, not even bothering to change out of anything as I sat in the dark.

I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to just be ok with how things are. There are plenty of people who know about this now, people I can bounce theories off of or hear their coping methods. And if all else fails, the river was right there, it held passages to other worlds, worlds that might hold the answers.

Closing my eyes, I find that sleep creeps up pretty quickly, something I’m not used to after so many sleepless nights, but I was too mentally drained to keep this train of thought going for much longer.

Simulation or not, free or not, I had Susie and Ralsei by my side, I had Berdly to tease whenever I wanted, and I had Vess who knew all of this yet still gave up so much of themselves for my sake.

All of that was real, and that was enough to get me to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

Ralsei never had problems with Mondays, it wasn’t really different from any other day of the week, but this Monday seemed to drag on forever and he hated it. Everything just added up to make Monday one of the most agonizingly boring, dull, and exhausting days he’s had in a long time.

For one, he had trouble sleeping the night before. Vess was on his mind of course, keeping him up longer than he’d like as his daydreams kept him from actually falling asleep, but even after he closed his eyes and finally went under, all sorts of upsetting dreams plagued him. Vess’ words about the nature of this world were now starting to settle and fester in his mind, bombarding him with uncomfortable truths and distressing questions.

If they were in a game, could something happen to their save file? How does the Void and all the strange people who came through it tie into everything? Was Vess being truthful with him when they said that things were serious between them now? Ralsei himself thought a few of the characters in the smash game everyone kept forcing him to play were pretty, but he doesn’t have any real feelings for them. The situation they were all in now was obviously different, but could that disconnect still be there? Could Vess still be holding back?

He tossed and turned all night, leaving him unrested when he was forced to rise earlier than usual to assist Mrs. Holiday with important business around town. The next few hours were a sleep deprived blur as Ralsei struggled to wake up. Carol offered him some of her coffee to perk him up, but it was far too bitter and dark for his liking. He eats far too many sweets to find plain black coffee palatable.

He’s offered a short break to return to the castle to wake everyone up and make everyone breakfast. Once he settles back into a familiar routine, things get a little better, but he still has a lot of work to do. He gets to say hi to Kris and Susie who he plans to speak to later in the evening about their plans for tomorrow, but they leave him to hurry up with his work.

Vess swings by in the morning as well and the way Ralsei’s heart stutters in his chest whenever they’re close to him helps him wake up the rest of the way. Ralsei tries to hurry them along by saying he’s busy so he could focus on making the rest of breakfast, but they linger at the cauldron, concerned about how tired he was and if their conversation last night was messing with him.

They were so thoughtful and he wanted to forget about work and breakfast entirely to spend more time with them, but everyone in town was counting on this work to get done. He couldn’t shirk his responsibilities, no matter how badly he wanted to. Besides, tomorrow was the big day. He’d make up for all the time he was missing out on now, and once all this work was done and things settled down again, he could dedicate himself to this fully.

Ralsei then spent the next several hours with Carol again, speaking with Asgore, Queen, and several other people around town to come up with a plan for developing agriculture for the town to create a sustainable food source.

It took considerably less paperwork than normal according to Carol, but even without all the regulations and laws of the regular world holding them back, it was still a lot of forging and signing contracts, discussing compensation for work, mapping out the logistics of moving equipment and seeds. It was a huge headache, but even with how boring all the paperwork was, it was exciting to see how quickly things were going into motion.

The titans footprint, the destroyed stretch of woods to the north of town where the Roaring Titans nearly destroyed the everything, was the perfect place to clear out farm land. It belonged to no one, and while the cold would make things difficult, everything that was destroyed had all autumn to start to decay into the earth, meaning the soil there might actually be somewhat fertile. Even if it wasn’t, Asgore had that covered, they just needed to knock down a few dead trees and start plowing and they might be able to plant something come springtime.

After signing a few more forms, the day was coming to an end, and Ralsei was allowed to go back home. Exhausted and cautiously excited for whatever was going to happen tomorrow, Ralsei stepped into the castle and tried to make his way straight to his room for bed, only to be dragged into Kris’ room the moment he made it up the stairs. Inside, Susie was waiting for them both.

“What’s going on?” Ralsei asks, rubbing his eyes and trying to wake himself up a little longer. This seemed serious.

“We’re still not sure what we’re doing for Operation Big Rig.” Susie admits with some worry. “We need to do some last minute brainstorming.” That gets Ralsei’s full attention and snaps him out of his drowsiness.

“I thought you said you had it covered?” He says.

“Well yeah, we had this planned out like a week ago before Vess showed up and a bunch of weird shit started happening.” Kris explains. “We were gonna do the river thing again, but the shit that happened a couple days ago means that isn’t really an option anymore. Susie and I have a couple of ideas but we can’t settle on one and we were hoping you could either break the tie or come up with something yourself.”

“Oh, um…” Ralsei’s mind comes up blank. He didn’t really know what he was doing, they wanted him to try and come up with date plans this late? “How about I hear your ideas?” He asks them, hoping they’ll help spark something in his mind.

“Well, I was thinking we could just have a party at Berdly’s place.” Kris offers. “He’s gonna be in on it too. We can gather up a bunch of snacks, hang out in his weird gamer cave, and have a huge competition.”

“Which doesn’t work for a couple of reasons.” Susie is quick to interject. “One, I don’t think all of us screaming at each other is going to get us in the mood, and two… I don’t know, I’m still kinda freaked out about the whole video game thing. Noelle was showing me her Dragon Blazers party and I couldn’t help but wonder if any of those little guys were real or not. I’m just not feeling it.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” Ralsei nods. “I also don’t think I’d be a big fan of gaming night with everyone. It’s just not fun when Kris refuses to give me time to learn.”

“The title of gamer has to be earned in blood.” Kris states. “It’s sink or swim, but since it’s a video game, you can drown as many times as you need to before you learn to tread water.”

“Or you can just stop being an over competitive ass and give him a fighting chance.” Susie counters in Ralsei’s defense. “But yeah, that plan’s garbage. I figured we could all go to Noelle’s home theater and have a little movie marathon. Everyone all snuggled up in blankets with popcorn and stuff, watching movies all night.”

“Oh that sounds nice!” Ralsei lights up, but Kris of course comes in with a counter argument.

“Yeah, but one, Dess lives in the same house.” They point out. “Ralsei already throws a fit whenever we tease him about Vess, but Dess will probably actually break him with some of the weird stuff she says.” Oh, Kris and Susie’s teasing has been unbearable, even with his insistence that they weren’t allowed to do it anymore. Some of the stuff he’s overheard Dess say is just downright scandalous. “Also, I’m not weird like you and Noelle where you both get off to horror movies and people screaming bloody murder.”

“I… yeah…” Susie relents. “I’mma be honest, I barely even get ten minutes into those movies before I’m busy with stuff, bu-”

“I’m assuming Noelle is stuff?” Kris interjects, earning a flustered grunt out of Susie.

“Look, I just try to tune it out sometimes, but yeah, Noelle watches some pretty metal stuff and I’d totally get if that wasn’t your thing at all. The problem is, it’s either extremely gruesome or dread inducing horror movies, or Christmas movies. There’s some in between where it’s both, but if there isn’t a monster or Santa Claus in it, she doesn’t have it.”

“That… Hmm…” Ralsei sighs. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea either.” He knows for a fact that he wouldn’t be into horror movies, and even if he was, it still didn’t seem like a good idea. With the real life horrors everyone’s been through and the concerning things that happened near the river, he really doesn’t think everyone watching slasher films would be very romantic.

“So.” Kris turns to him. “Got any ideas?”

“Um…” Ralsei wracked his brain, trying to come up with something. This is what he’s been reading all those romance novels for, right? Come on, he’s gotta come up with something. “I don’t know…” He shakes his head. “Why can’t we just have a sleepover or something? We can all just hang out in my room. Each other’s company should be fine enough, right?”

The moment he makes his suggestion, Kris and Susie share a look before both turn to look at him. He knows that look, and he braces himself for the worst.

“Oh, you’re just skipping the date entirely and inviting Vess into your bedroom huh?” Susie says, waggling her eyebrows.

“After that whole confession speech at the river, I figured you’d at least take them out to dinner first.” Kris says with a cruel smirk. “I don’t know though, maybe Vess is into the desperate, extremely forward type.”

“No! I didn’t mean it like that!” Ralsei tries to pull his scarf up to hide his blush, but it’s no use.

“Right, the stuff that happens between you in your bedroom is for after the date, Ralsei.” Susie chuckles, causing Ralsei to blush even deeper. “Also, your room is kinda stuffy and boring. This is Operation Big Rig, it can’t just be us all hanging out in your room.”

“I…” Kris looks like they’re about to make another crude comment, but something stops them. “Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your room before.” Kris says. “Shit, I’ve known you for like a year and I’ve never even gone up there to see what your room looks like.”

“Oh, if you want to take a look, you’re welcome to come up with me before I go to bed.” Ralsei offers, hoping it would turn the conversation away from its previous topic, but Kris just doubles down.

“Oh, so you just invite anyone into your bedroom!” They say with a cruel smirk.

“You know what, never mind!” Ralsei barks, wrapping himself up with his scarf. He swears, every little thing he says somehow gets turned around into an innuendo of some sort. He isn’t sure if things are going to get worse or better after the date’s over.

“Alright, ease up on him.” Susie says, nudging Kris’ arm. “We still gotta figure out what we’re doing. Truth be told, there aren’t really a lot of places to go in town. The fair’s still out, the river’s haunted, I don’t know, maybe we can watch a show at Kris’ place? As much as this place rocks, It’d be nice to leave town and visit the cities some time.”

Ralsei sits down and tries to clear his mind, desperate to come up with some kind of plan. He hasn’t actually taken the time to plan anything out, but he’s daydreamed constantly, thinking of all the things he wanted to do and places he wanted to take Vess. They could have a large dinner date at one of the many restaurants in town. Instead of the river, they could ride through the tunnel of love in Queens manor. If privacy was a concern, surely a relaxing walk in the park would be enough, though that was hardly special enough for the absurd title Kris and Susie labeled this whole idea with.

He thinks and thinks, forcing his mind to come up with something unique, but after such a long day of work, all he can think of is…

“The footprint!” Ralsei blurts out, catching Kris and Susie by surprise.

“The what?” Susie asks.

“The… You mean the titan’s footprint?” Kris deduces after a long pause. “What about it?”

“It’s going to be cleared out by next week.” Ralsei explains, still forming the idea as he’s explaining it. “The place has been marked off for demolition, but I should have access to the place thanks to being one of the people in charge of clearing it. It isn’t the most scenic location, but it is a distinct landmark that’s going to be gone soon. Maybe we could spend the night there before it’s gone, we could… We could make it a camping trip!” He exclaims excitedly, the plan now fully formed in his mind. “A camping trip in the center of the titans footprint, something we’ll only be able to do tomorrow before it’s gone forever!”

Kris and Susie stare at him for several seconds, their mouths held agape.

“Dude…” Susie is the first to break the silence. “Holy shit, that’s a great idea! God damn! Hanging out by the fire, eating smores, miles away from anyone who would bother us.”

“Huddling up close for warmth and retreating to your tent at the end of the night with Vess…” Kris says, trying to tease him again. “Damn, you’re setting this up better than I ever could. You might even make it to home base if this plays out right.”

Ralsei can’t even tell them off for teasing him again. The mental images they just put into his brain had him stunlocked. He can already picture it, sitting beside Vess by the fire, being held close as the winter cold makes them desperate for warmth. He can see himself in his tent, shivering in the cold and dark, only to be pulled into Vess’ arms and hugged tight, stopping his shivers and enveloping him in warmth. Gosh, just thinking about it was giving him shivers now.

When he does finally snap out of it, he finds Kris and Susie are still staring at him.

“I think it’s safe to say you like the idea?” Susie asks. Ralsei slowly nods his head. He desperately wanted this to happen. “I guess it’s settled then.” Susie nods, not pressing him further. “We still got an hour or two of daylight left today and all day tomorrow to get stuff ready. We’ll get tents, marshmallows, all that stuff set up and ready in the footprint. All you gotta do is bring Vess and we’ll handle the rest.”

“Alright…” Ralsei nods again, trying to get a grip.

“Go ahead and try to sleep in.” Kris tells him, moving to open up the door to let him out. “You’re gonna have a long night tomorrow.”

Ralsei leaves Kris' room and continues his original trip to his room, now with a lot more to think about and with even more restless excitement for tomorrow. He wouldn’t have as much work to do, but it was going to drag on for eternity knowing what was waiting for him once it was done. He’s seconds away from making it to his room, when he’s stopped by Susie.

“Hey Ralsei!” She calls out, stopping right behind him.

“Yeah?” Ralsei turns to face her, wondering what was so urgent.

“I know Kris and I have been bugging you a lot, but I do have some genuine advice to get things going when we’re all around the fire.” Susie offers. “Have you kissed Vess yet? Like, a full blown kiss on the lips?”

“No,” Ralsei shakes his head. “They’ve kissed me on the cheek, but we haven’t done anything big yet. I’m…”

“You’re waiting for the right moment?” Susie guesses. “You’re trying to get this all to play out like some kind of romance movie, aren’t you? You had that big confession speech and everything.”

“I guess so.” Ralsei nods. As much as he’d like to get to all the fun stuff right now, he feels that there’s a process to this. He’s sure it’s not that complicated and that the books he’s been resting are purposefully dramatic and overblown to make a more engaging story, but still. Vess was an Angel, they deserved nothing less than perfection.

“Then I know how to set up your first kiss.” Susie says with a smile. “There’s no way Vess won’t be all over you if you do this. Here’s what you’re gonna do.”

Leaning in close, Ralsei is given Susie’s instructions, his heart beating faster as she details what he’s going to do when the time comes. There were no jokes, no crude remarks, nothing. Susie had a plan, and Ralsei couldn’t see it failing.

He couldn’t wait to put it into action.

“Is there something bothering you, Ralsei?”

“Huh?” Once again, Ralsei struggled to sleep soundly, even more anxious about the approaching date. He was too worked up to sleep soundly, and now Carol was taking notice. “Sorry,” He apologizes, returning his focus to a form he was being forced to fill out. “I have a lot on my mind right now. I have plans later today.”

“The same ones you wanted to reserve the renovation site for?” Carol asks. He’s already mentioned that he wanted to do something there, but he’s been light on details. Thankfully, she didn’t pry into it and allowed it knowing he wouldn’t disrupt anything, but it seems she’s grown curious now. “Is there an issue within your kingdom causing you trouble?”

“No, it’s just… personal stuff.” Ralsei says. “I’m meeting someone special after work.”

“Ah.” Carol nods and returns her attention to her own paperwork, only to pause and set her pen down. “Oh…” She turns to look at him and Ralsei can’t help but blush. “Oh so that’s what’s been occupying your mind recently.”

“Sorry that I haven’t been doing my best.” Ralsei apologizes, but Carol is shaking her head.

“Don’t be. You’re a diligent worker and a well respected representative to your constituents, but I keep forgetting how young you actually are.” She rests her chin on her hand, wearing one of her rare smirks. “Oh, to be your age again, back when Rudy was all I could think about and the only worries I had were what my mother would think if she caught me with him.”

Ralsei isn’t sure how to respond. He takes the stretch of silence following her comment to finish signing his form before she speaks up again. “I feel almost guilty asking you to work now, you should be spending your time with this special someone of yours.”

“Trust me, I plan on spending a lot of time with them today.” Ralsei assures her. “I’m the prince, I should be doing stuff like this to help the town, but I’ll admit, I haven’t been able to spend much time with them.”

“You do know you’re off in ten minutes, right?” Carol asks, causing Ralsei to sit up.

“I am?!” He looks around Carol’s home office for a clock, just to find that it was less than a quarter to six. Today dragged on for so long, he stopped bothering to check the clock. “Oh shoot!” Ralsei drops everything to get out of his seat. “I didn’t realize how late it was! I really need to get going.”

“It is not professional to leave your post before your scheduled release.” Carol scolds, but judging by her follow up, Ralsei gets the impression she did it out of habit rather than actual disappointment. “You’ve done plenty of work today, however. I have one more meeting to attend before dinner, so we can postpone the rest of our work here for tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Ralsei says, quickly hopping off his chair to try and find his way through Carol’s house. Carol herself follows close behind him to leave for her own errands. Ralsei hasn’t heard from Vess in a while and the others were gone all morning preparing for tonight. He only had one job and that was to bring Vess along. He still had plenty of time before it got too late, but-

A knock on Carol’s front door stops Ralsei from opening it to leave. Carol looks surprised to have a visitor this late for only a second before that expression is erased and replaced with complete neutrality as she moves past Ralsei to greet whoever was on the other side.

To Ralsei’s surprise and relief, it’s exactly who he was looking for.

“Oh, um. Hello, Mrs. Holiday.” Vess takes a step back, clearly taken off guard by Carol’s cold glare. “Im, uh… Noelle told me that Ralsei would… Ralsei!” Vess’ eyes wandered, desperate to settle on something else, only for them to light up when they noticed Ralsei standing close behind Carol.

“Hey Vess!” Ralsei greets them, just as if not more excited to see them than they were. “I was just wrapping up here and getting ready to go look for you.”

“Oh?” Carol’s expression shifts slightly. “Is this who I think it is?”

“Oh right.” Ralsei slips past Carol to join Vess side, their hand automatically reaching out for his the moment he’s close. “This is Vess, the person I was going to meet tonight! Vess, have you met the Mayor yet?”

“Vess?!” Carol’s expression shifts to one of genuine surprise, disrupting her usual stoic façade. “My daughters have told me a lot about you. You’re the Angel that everyone’s been talking about, right?”

“People keep calling me that, but I’m serious, I’m just a normal person.” Vess says, feeling a little less nervous now that Ralsei is at their side and Carol is familiar with them. “It’s nice to meet you, by the way.” Vess holds out their free hand, and after a glance at Ralsei, Carol breaks into a smile and goes to shake it.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” She nods. “I don’t think I’ve met a young woman as humble as you are. I feel I owe you for bringing my daughter home.” As they shake hands, Ralsei can’t help but feel Vess jolt slightly at what Carol said.

“T-thank you.” They stammer. “Really, you don’t owe me anything. I was just helping a friend out.”

“Right, I shouldn’t waste too much time here.” Carol says quickly. “I have business to attend to and I shouldn’t be keeping you two either. Excuse me.” Giving Ralsei one last sidelong glance, Carol hurries out of the house, moving towards her car to carry on her official business.

“I think she likes you.” Ralsei says excitedly. “She doesn’t give that look to just anyone.”

“What look?” Vess asks. “It looked like she wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.”

“She’s always busy, but she stopped to shake your hand!” Ralsei points out, squeezing the hand that was already clasped around his. “What was that jolt you made earlier, by the way?”

“Oh, it’s uh…” They stammer again. “Nothing, just anxious to meet her in person.” That was fair enough, everyone had the same reaction, but Ralsei knew that wasn’t the whole truth. Ralsei couldn’t press them on it though, there were bigger things on the horizon. “Noelle said that you had someplace you wanted to show me?”

“Yes!” Ralsei says, trying to hold back some of his excitement but still letting a lot of it slip. “Kris, Susie, and I have all been preparing for something and it should finally be ready to show off. Come on!” With Vess’ hand already in his, Ralsei quickly starts dragging Vess along off the Holiday’s porch to make the long trip to the footprint. He was so excited that Vess had to actively drag their feet to slow him down enough to catch up.

“Jeez, what’s the hurry? Is this that big rig thing that everyone’s been talking about?” They ask. “I thought they were messing with you with how you reacted every time they brought it up, what’s changed?”

“They let me help plan it.” Ralsei says. It was a lot easier to talk about it when Kris and Susie weren’t chanting it every time he tried to talk to Vess. “It’s a bit of a hike, so we shouldn’t waste much time.”

“Does it have anything to do with trucks or wheels at all?” Vess asks, matching Ralsei’s brisk pace. “I legitimately have no idea what you’re dragging me into.”

“Not in a literal sense, no.” Ralsei shakes his head, wondering how much he should share and how much to keep secret. He decides to let everything be a surprise. Kris thought they were pretty clever coming up with the operation title, they should get the chance to explain how they came up with it themselves. “All I can say for certain is tonight will be a night to remember.”

“I’m just glad I actually managed to get a hold of you.” Vess says. “I can’t stop thinking about what you said to me at the river a few nights ago and I’ve been dying to spend some time with you, but you’ve been so busy. I was scared I might not get a chance to hang out before I had to leave again.”

Ralsei struggles to keep a good pace going after hearing that as his heart starts to stutter in his chest. They were worried about the same exact things he was. He’s only been able to talk with Vess in short bursts during the morning and sometimes before bed. He felt like he was doing a bad job and not putting in the effort, but to hear that they were just as anxious about it made him feel a little better knowing he wasn’t alone in his way of thinking.

Not only that, but hearing that his speech has been stuck in their mind like they’ve been stuck in his made him feel giddy.

The walk goes on for a while as they cut through town, and Ralsei now struggles to keep the conversation going as he tries to find words through the mish mash of thoughts flying through his racing mind. He had Susie’s plan in mind and the date plans were all covered, but what should he do now?

“Are we heading into the woods?” Vess asks, cutting through Ralsei’s mental monologuing. “This Operation Big Rig is getting weirder and weirder.”

“It’s gonna be great, trust me!” Ralsei assures. “I’m a little anxious about how things will turn out, but I trust that everyone will make this work.” That puts Vess at ease as they both start walking down the cleared path through the woods. There’s another stretch of silence as Ralsei wonders what he should say or do. Desperate to fill the silence, he asks a question that’s still nagging at him. “Did you react during your meeting with Carol because she called you a woman?”

Vess jolts again at Ralsei’s side, answering his question before they can speak. “I’m just not used to hearing that is all.” They explain. “I still get caught off guard every time I see my own reflection. I’m still getting used to this new, better me.”

“Do you like it?” Ralsei asks. He understands that Vess is still figuring things out for themself, but it would be a real shame if the first time they met the mayor she called them by something they didn’t like.

“I… think I do…” Vess answers, sounding a little unsure of themself. “I don’t know, I obviously look the part now, and… it’s like my name. It’s nice to be called something different, it sounds right.” Vess shakes their head, trying to regain their focus. “I guess I need more time to figure things out. You don’t have to address me any differently, I’m still wondering what’s going on myself. There’s a lot that I still haven’t even begun to explore about this new identity of mine.”

Well, that’s a relief at least. It also gave Ralsei plenty to think about during the walk through the woods. A lot of his thoughts about Vess were things he’d like to keep to himself, but he wondered if he could maybe help Vess somehow in discovering themselves. The chat they had at the river before Temmie arrived seemed to help them out a little. He wasn’t trans, but his early experimentation with his appearance could be relatable to Vess’ current conundrum.

All those thoughts are pushed aside once they finally make it to the clearing of the titans footprint.

“Hey! They finally showed up!” Sitting in the middle of the clearing beside a sizable bonfire was Susie and Noelle, with Susie waving them over. “Come on, sit down! You two beat Kris and Berdly here!”

“Operation Big Rig is a camping trip?” Vess asks Ralsei as they both approach the fire where Susie has already folded out chairs for them. Sitting a good distance away from the fire and spaced way apart are three large tents, and sitting in a large pile beside Susie are several bags of marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers. “Why were you so worked up over a camping trip?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ralsei tells them. He didn’t want to sound dismissive, but he isn’t sure if he’d be able to withstand the pressure if they tried to get a real answer out of him. “Come on, let’s sit down.” Bringing Vess along, Ralsei makes his way to two seats pushed next to each other, sitting down at the fire next to Susie and Noelle.

“I’m still not seeing what this Operation Big Rig thing is supposed to be.” Vess shakes their head as they sit down. “I don’t suppose either of you know?”

“I’m actually just as clueless.” Noelle says. “Susie just said we were going on a triple date. What’s this big rig thing about?”

“Oh! A date?!” Vess turns to face Ralsei and while he didn’t have too much trouble keeping his cool during the walk here, now that they knew what this was, he was struggling to meet their gaze again. The operation has begun. “So that’s why you’ve been keeping this a secret from me.”

“Y-yeah.” Ralsei nods. “Kris and Susie have been planning this for a while, but with how busy I’ve been and with the weird stuff going on, I really wanted to set aside the time to be with you.”

“So what’s in store for us?” Vess asks, leaning in close. Ralsei feels his whole body tingle, but before he can even attempt to answer, Susie does in his stead.

“Nothing yet until the gamers get here.” She says, leaning back in her chair to look for the last two wheels needed for the operation to start proper. “I don’t know if you’ve been here before, but this is the titan’s footprint. Those big bastards the size of mountains that were blotting out the sky during the Roaring got pretty close and this whole clearing is just a single step they took towards town.”

“Yeah, I’ve been here before, just once.” Vess nods, getting another look at the place. “This is where I talked things through with Kris the first time I got back after the Roaring. It had to have been one of Kris’ earliest runs since no one else was aware of what was going on and Kris themself was still coming to terms with the ability.”

“Well Ralsei says this place is getting bulldozed and cleaned up like next week.” Susie says. “We had other plans for triple date night, but a lot of them started falling apart, but your adorable furball of a boyfriend suggested we all spend the night out here in the footprint before it’s gone forever.”

Vess turns to Ralsei, likely to hear what his thought process was for coming up with this plan, but he’s too busy reeling from hearing Susie call him Vess’ boyfriend. He guesses that’s true, they hold hands and consider each other partners even though they haven’t done much, but hearing Susie say it so casually and matter of factly just hammered it home that he had a romantic partner. He’s pretty sure everyone else has gone through something similar, he’s almost positive Kris told him something exactly like this when they started dating Berdly when they got back. It still made his heart rate spike and his mind race.

“Dude, can you stop whining for like three seconds? It wasn’t even that long of a walk.” Ralsei’s racing mind slows down when he hears the last two members approaching from the woods, though it’s clear that one of them isn’t looking forward to spending the night outdoors.

“What is there even to do all the way out here in the woods?” Berdly complains as he steps into the clearing with Kris in tow.

“You’ll find out later tonight if you shut up and behave yourself.” Kris says at his side. “Hey guys! You didn’t start without us, did you?!”

“We got here like three minutes ago.” Vess calls back. “I still don’t really know what’s going on other than the camping trip, so I think it’s safe to say you didn’t miss anything.”

“Good, I don’t want to miss a minute of this.” Joining the rest of them by the fire, Kris and Berdly sit down in the remaining two chairs, settling in as the evening starts to wear on and the sun starts to fall towards the horizon. “You won’t believe how hard it was to convince Berdly to spend a night out here.”

“It’s cold and snowy and in a couple hours it’s going to be dark.” Berdly argues. “What happened to hosting the get together at my place?”

“We’re not going on a date in your gamer cave.” Noelle says. “Besides, we go there all the time, this is way more romantic. A night out by the fire in a stretch of woods that won’t exist soon, it’s sort of a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“And we have Ralsei to thank for the idea.” Kris nods, looking towards Ralsei and giving him a wink. “Trust me Berdly, it’ll be worth your while. So Vess,” Kris turns their attention towards Vess. “Have you ever been camping before?”

“A couple times, yeah.” They nod. “Zach dragged us all out a couple summers ago to get all us nerds out of the house and into the great outdoors. None of us really took it well.”

“Well I’m actually very excited to spend more time outdoors, even if it’s a bit cold.” Ralsei says, leaning a little closer to the fire. “I was going stir crazy inside the castle, I was so happy to visit new places with all of you during our adventures. Sleeping out here so far from home might be fun!”

“We’re not that far.” Susie points out. “If you squint, you can just barely make out the top of your castle over the trees.”

“It’s still further than I ever could have gotten trapped in my Dark World.” Ralsei counters. “I also don’t think I’ve had smores before.”

“What the fuck?! You haven’t?!” Susie barks. “Dude, even I’ve had smores. We’re not doing anything until that changes. Everyone, find some sticks, we’re making marshmallows right now!”

There was no room for conversation until smores were made. Getting up and scrounging through the smashed clearing, everyone procures marshmallow sticks, as well as a bit of extra dead wood for the fire. Returning to their seats, everyone takes their time roasting their marshmallows to their liking. Noelle keeps hers just out of range of the fire, giving it a perfect golden crust. Vess’ looks to be at a similar level of perfection, but they’re a little too engrossed in a conversation with Ralsei to notice when it's done, causing it to burn just a little bit. Berdly is impatient and sticks his into the flame in quick little jabs, trying to apply as much heat as possible without catching the marshmallow alight. He is not successful. Susie and Kris also burn theirs, but it seems to be on purpose to watch them burn before blowing them out. Ralsei takes his sweet time, much to the irritation of Susie who wants him to hurry up and try this must have camping treat. He wants it to be perfect though, he wants to make sure there's no flaws in the process so he can recreate it within the cauldron if he wants to.

Once the treat was assembled, he found it wasn’t the most mind blowing thing he’s ever tried like Susie was insisting it was, but with good company like this, he thought it was one of the best things he’s eaten in a long time.

Hours pass by as everyone snacks on smores and eventually moves on to fire roasted hotdogs as the sun continues to set and supper time comes around. The whole time, everyone’s talking about how they’ve been and helping Vess catch up on all the big events that happened since they left. Ralsei spends what must have been half an hour straight detailing as much as he can, dragging on way longer than Susie and Kris who finished their stories pretty quickly. Ralsei could see the others groaning every time he started up a new story or whispering to each other as it was obvious what he was doing, but Vess looks invested in every single one.

In fact, Ralsei thinks they might be leaning in a little closer than they usually were. Ralsei continues trying to tell Vess about his efforts to map out and support the cave systems beneath town, but he ends up losing himself in Vess’ eyes, his words slowly quieting down into mumbles.

A couple quiet snickers from the other couples snaps him back to attention. “Uh… sorry.” He mumbles out an apology, turning his eyes back to the fire once he realizes how long he must have been staring at Vess. “I’ve just been really busy since you left.”

“Hey, no need to apologize, I’m interested in what’s changed.” Vess assures him. “Crazy stuff happens here all the time, but even hearing about how you expanded the castle to house everyone still homeless after the Roaring is interesting. How do you do that anyways? Is it magic, or do you have an entire workshop of tools hidden in your castle somewhere to build all of that?”

“Well, it’s like my cooking, it’s a little bit of both!” Ralsei explains. “My magic relies on my knowledge and intent, so I need to know how to normally create what I want in order to do it magically. Living alone in the castle for years, I picked up a lot of hobbies to pass the time.”

“Like furniture making?” Noelle asks. “Interior design? Brick laying?”

“I read a lot of books.” Ralsei nods. “It was all I could really do until I met all of you.”

“Well with the wealth of knowledge you’ve acquired, you must have an impressive library within that castle of yours.” Berdly praises. “Perhaps a fellow scholar can visit some time?”

“Oh! Of course!” Ralsei nods his head. “We can have a sort of book club!”

“Ew, sitting around reading books with a bunch of nerds? Pass.” Susie groans.

“I don’t read nearly as much as I used to.” Vess shrugs. “But I’d be interested in reading some books from this world. What have you been reading recently?”

“Oh, um… Ralsei scratches his cheek. “Just some dumb fantasy books is all, nothing special.”

“He’s lying.” Kris interjects. “He’s been reading a bunch of trashy romance novels.”

“NO!” Ralsei blurts out in a panic. “You can’t prove that I have!”

“I saw the books you were sneaking out of Vess’ room when they got back!” Kris shakes their head. “The Empty Palace; a tale of star crossed love. You thought no one would notice it if you kept it at the bottom of the pile of books you had by your chair, did you?”

“Oh no…” Ralsei wanted to shrivel up into nothing right there on the spot.

“I mean, I read the synopsis, it doesn’t even look that bad. I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed.” Kris shrugs. “Now the book you hide under your chair, Hot as Hell: How I laid the dra-”

“STOP! SHUT! CEASE!” Ralsei was cringing so hard he felt like he was going to implode. Under normal circumstances, having Kris find his less than acceptable literature would be bad enough, but for them to expose him in front of everyone, in front of Vess, he felt so embarrassed he could die.

“I thought I made it pretty clear that you’re supposed to lay off of Ralsei.” To Ralsei’s surprise, Vess isn’t disgusted or shocked, but defensive. “It’s the only reason why we don’t rip into the nerd bird all the time.”

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth.” Kris throws their hands up in their defense. “Stating facts isn’t teasing is it?”

“Would you be upset if I said your boyfriend smells like stale cheetos all the time?” Vess challenges. “Because that’s an objective fact.”

Berdly looks stricken with panic for a moment as he lifts one of his sleeves to his beak. “Is that true?”

“It’s a good smell, they don’t know what they’re talking about.” Kris assures him.

“Point is, he obviously doesn’t want you talking about that kind of stuff, so unless you’re fine with revoking your boyfriend's protections, you gotta lay off Ralsei.” Vess comes to Ralsei’s rescue, protecting his dignity and seemingly not caring at all about the fact that he reads dumb love stories and… slightly raunchier love stories.

“Damn, that’s a hard choice.” Kris sighs. “Berdly, how mad would you be if I-”

“Very.” Berdly tells them before they can finish. “Are you saying you like teasing Ralsei more than me?”

“So you are into it…” Noelle comments on the other side of the fire.

“Alright fine…” Kris grumbles. “Ralsei is safe from any more prodding from me. I’m borrowing that book though, I didn’t even know he was into that kind of stuff, but he’s got some good tastes.”

“This is the worst…” Ralsei whines.

“Hey, there’s more embarrassing things that they could have dug up.” Vess says nonchalantly, still not at all bothered by Ralsei’s choice in reading material. “I mean, Lizzy sends me weird shit to read all the time. I doubt any books you have could be worse than the fanfics she digs up from the depths of the internet.”

“You don’t think I’m weird?” Ralsei asks.

“Dude, everyone’s got a stash hidden somewhere.” Susie says. “You may put on this look of pure hearted innocence, but I know you’re just as messed up as the rest of us.”

“You can’t prove it.” Ralsei says, but he knows she’s right. He doesn’t want it to be, he feels almost impure with the recent daydreams he’s been having, but despite being a magical Darkner prince, he supposes he’s still a teenage boy at the mercy of his hormones and instincts. It didn’t really make him feel any better about the fact that Vess now knows all of this stuff about him, even if they probably do the same. Does knowing he reads dirty books tarnish his adorable image?

“Anyways, let’s move on to a different topic.” Ralsei sighs with relief, hoping whatever this is will help him clear his mind and forget about this embarrassing reveal. “Now that Vess is here and the mood is right, I wanted to share a story and hear some of yours…”

Oh no…

Oh gosh, it’s happening now?!

The sun had long since passed the trees and was now setting over the horizon. It was starting to get dark and Susie was now breaking the big question. This is what she had planned, he had a role to play to guarantee things worked out between him and Vess, but he still isn’t sure if he has the guts to go through with it. He had to find his nerve fast though, she was already starting.

“What led up to your first kiss with your partners?” Susie asks, capturing the attention of everyone around the fire. “Everyone remembers their first kiss, right? How about I start.”

The final cogs of Operation Big Rig were turning. It was time to see if this plan would bear fruit.

“So are we talking any kiss, or our first real kiss?” Noelle asks at Susie’s side, leaning against her arm. “Because one of those stories is way more fun.”

“We’re obviously sharing the fun one.” Susie assures her. “The earliest moment I can remember, and I’m specifying that because reset bullshit has screwed up all of our heads to some degree, was back when Vess was still with us, so that was probably… Kris’ second reset, right?”

“Second run, first full reset, yeah.” Kris nods. “You were one of the first to become resistant to the resets so you only missed out on one ’playthrough’. A lot of that time is actually a bit of a blur to me, so I might not remember how this goes. Did it not happen during the double date?”

“Aw fuck, does anyone else remember the double date?!” Susie asks, looking out towards everyone for confirmation. She and Kris told Ralsei that this double date they went on with their respective partners is what gave them the idea to go with this triple date plan, but judging by the confused reactions of Berdly and Noelle, the resets have erased that moment. “Damn! If the river doesn’t turn out to be haunted or whatever, I gotta drag all of us out there again, it was great.”

“Now wait a minute…” Noelle speaks up at Susie’s side. “I don’t think I was aware of anything that early, this isn’t my first kiss you’re talking about, this is a completely different story!”

“Oh yeah, Berdly and I probably got completely different stories too.” Kris confirms that time shenanigans will jumble their stories.

“Did it not happen at the same place though?” Berdly asks.

“No, my first time with you was in court.” Kris corrects, and when they see the shocked and confused reaction that earns them, they chuckle. “I’ll get into it eventually, but Susie hasn’t even started her story yet.”

“Right, um…” Susie tries to get things back on track. “After the Roaring, Vess kind of took charge and explained the whole situation while Kris was recovering from their first true reset. After everyone gathered up and Kris was getting better, things sort of settled down again, but everyone was shaken up by the reset news and what caused it, Noelle especially. I walked her back to the fort to check up on Rudy, but on the way, she opened up a lot. Hearing what happened to me, realizing how quickly she could lose me at any second, she realized that we couldn’t just keep giving each other pecks on the cheek or holding hands and teasing each other. She just went for it. We both wanted it, I was planning on it for our trip to the fair before the whole world started exploding, but neither of us really had the courage to go all the way. Convinced that she might not get another chance if things go wrong again, she wanted to get one real kiss in, just in case it was her last.”

Ralsei’s heart pounded in his chest. Not only was it a touching story, but it was also painfully relatable. He nearly lost his mind when Vess left him by the riverside to go look for Catti, terrified that he would never get to tell them that he loved them to their face. That fear was what helped him confess when they got back and what gave him the courage to kiss them on the cheek, but even now, the prospect of kissing them on the lips was making him a nervous wreck. What if he messed up? What if he goes for it too soon? What if, what if, what if…

What if he just went for it?

No, he has to stick to the plan. Susie was confident that it’d work out and Ralsei agreed that the plan was foolproof. He just needed to slow his heartbeat down so he could actually speak when it’s his turn.

“That’s all I got, you want a turn Noelle?” Susie asks, leaning over to give Noelle a quick kiss.

“I don’t know.” She sighs. “My first kiss doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic or fun as yours. You just kissed me out of nowhere forgetting that I didn’t remember your previous runs and I liked it so much that we started making out right there on the spot.”

“Ha! Oh yeah!” Susie barks. “Man, that was awkward, but it worked out in the end. Alright, how about you two?” Susie points towards Kris and Berdly. “When’s the first time you two sucked face?”

“Which one of us goes first?” Kris turns to ask Berdly. “Mine’s pretty interesting but it’s also while I was knee deep in shit I’d rather not talk about.”

“Oh! Let me go!” Berdly pleads. “It actually has a lot of interesting build up.”

“The stage is yours.” Kris bows their head and gestures for Berdly to tell the tale.

“So I know now that Kris and I got together a long time ago in a previous timeline, but of course those moments were erased, but not completely.” Berdly starts, leaning in close by the fire and putting on this strange voice to make him sound more dramatic. “Susie told me as much and I assumed it was a joke at first, but even though I never became fully resistant to the resets, I had just enough resistance to remember little snippets of the past we shared. Other halves of conversations we once had, brief flashes where it felt like they were right next to me. Several times on my walk home where I would eventually have my first kiss, I would have vivid flashbacks where Kris first kissed me in the same exact spot, all of which ended before it could actually happen.”

“I’m convinced whatever power was behind the resets was blue balling you while I was gone.” Kris chortles, though there’s a bit of force behind it. A quick glance at their expression tells Ralsei that the mere mention of the resets and whatever controlled them was upsetting. It was easier to laugh about these odd coincidences than linger on the possibility that there could have been some kind of consciousness behind the resets and why it works the way it does.

“There weren’t any doubts in my mind that we were together before Kris vanished, and once they got back, they wanted to reconnect pretty quickly.” Berdly says, trying to maintain his storytelling voice, but it’s getting harder to keep up through the ever widening smile on his face. “They invited me over to their house to teach me how to bake a pie, a promise they made to me during one of their first resets. They followed me home that night and the whole time, I knew that they were going to kiss me at my front door, just like in all of the visions I had. Even though I saw it coming and was bracing for it, I don’t think anything could have prepared me for when they finally kissed me.”

“Or what I did to you afterwards…” Kris says in a sultry tone, causing Berdly’s feathers to flare up. “My little night light…”

“Y- your night light?” Vess asks at Ralsei’s side.

“I can’t share.” Kris is quick to say, much to Berdly’s relief. “You’ll just have to use your imagination.”

“So…” Susie speaks up, staring right at Ralsei. “How about the both of you?” She asks.

This was it. It was now or never.

“Oh, I haven’t actually-”

“It happened after a long night spent with our friends.” Ralsei interrupts Vess, keeping his eyes on the fire and trying to keep his heart steady. “We spent some time together and loved every second of that time, but with so much going on and so much to worry about, we didn’t have much time to share. But… Thanks to some close friends of ours, we finally got to spend a night in each other’s company.”

Susie nods to him to let him know he’s doing a good job. Everyone else has fallen silent, picking up what was going on and being left in an awed silence. Risking a peek away from the fire, Ralsei glances back at Vess at his side and finds that they’re left completely stunned, their cheeks almost as red as their gorgeous eyes.

“Hearing the stories of everyone’s first kiss, I was feeling a little left out since I never experienced my first kiss yet.” Ralsei continues, holding his stare with Vess despite how much it made his heart race. “And… and I thought that… maybe we could… I mean…”

“Ralsei…” Vess says his name and he immediately starts cursing himself. Did he do it wrong? Was he coming on too strong? Did he-

All thoughts left his head as Vess placed their hands on his cheeks. He gasped at their touch, and before he could close his mouth, he suddenly found Vess’ lips against his. For the briefest moment, he thought his heart stopped in his chest, but after a second, he realizes it’s just beating so fast that he can barely count the beats. Susie and Kris erupt into cheers around the fire as their operation proves to be a success.

Despite his mind being completely blank with pleasure, his hands reach out and grab Vess’ face, pulling them in even closer so he can have more of them. The action earns a surprised but muffled yelp out of Vess, a sound that drives Ralsei crazy. His first kiss! It was better than anything he could have dreamed of! He wanted to keep this up forever, he never wanted to let Vess go, but eventually Vess tried to pull away. Ralsei lingers as long as he can, trying to hold on before Vess escapes his embrace, gasping for air and looking beyond flustered.

Both of them stare at each other in disbelief. Ralsei’s whole body felt like it was on fire and Vess’ entire face was beet red as their chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.

“Holy…” Vess huffs. “I was gonna say I can’t not kiss you after saying something so cute, but holy shit, you went for it!”

“I’m…” Ralsei can see the smile on Vess’ face, but he still feels like he might have pushed his luck. “Did I do it too long? I pulled you in without thinking and-”

“No no, that was… That was amazing!” Vess insists, sitting up again. “You’ve been so shy and hesitant around me, I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“He knows what he wants.” Kris chuckles, but Ralsei doesn’t feel an ounce of embarrassment. Kris and Susie couldn’t tease him about Vess anymore, he sealed the deal, he got his kiss!

“That whole build up was really sweet!” Noelle says, bringing a deeper blush to Ralsei’s cheeks. “Was this all planned?”

“Ralsei, being the little goober that he is, wanted to make a grand spectacle out of the whole thing.” Susie says. “Apparently it’s because he reads a bunch of cheesy romance novels, so I guess that makes sense.”

“Now the big question is what books are you gonna reference for the next big step?” Kris asks. “Is Vess the giant dragoness or the knight in shining armor?”

“Kris…” Ralsei turns to glare at them. “Please don’t ruin the best moment of my life.” Kris backs off, allowing Ralsei to enjoy the moment as he reaches out for Vess’ hand. “Can I have another?” He asks his partner, still elated after his first kiss but desperate for more now that he knows he can have it. Vess doesn’t even reply and goes in for another. That alone shot fireworks off in Ralsei’s mind. They liked this just as much! They liked him just as much! Was this their first kiss too? It had to be, before he started his story to lead up to this, Vess was about to say they never had a first kiss. He was their first, and he hoped that it felt just as magical for them.

“So uh… Kris?” Ralsei’s pretty invested in what he’s doing right now, but he still keeps an ear out as Berdly speaks up.

“Yeah yeah, get over here.” Kris laughs, turning to their boyfriend to give him a kiss as well. It doesn’t take long for Susie and Noelle to share a kiss too, leaving all six of them to focus on their partners. Ralsei eventually pulls away from Vess, feeling them trying to hold on to this kiss this time. Once they break away, Ralsei holds them close, hugging them tight and resting his chin on their shoulder.

“I love you, Vess.” He tells them, beyond happy that he has someone he can say that to. “I…”

He hesitates.

“You what?” Vess asks, sounding a bit breathless but just as excited as he was. “Is there something else you want to say?”

There is, but he doesn’t know if he wants to say it now. It needs to be said, but he doesn’t want to ruin this perfect moment. He wanted to ignore it, he wanted to just keep giving Vess kisses, but he’d feel guilty if he didn’t at least bring this up.

“Well, I think I’m calling it a night.” Susie suddenly declares, rising out of her seat and helping Noelle out of hers. “It’s getting pretty late and who knows what the hell’s gonna happen tomorrow, so we better get some rest early. If you four want to keep making out, I think you’ll have some more privacy in your tents.” Susie focuses on Ralsei as she says this, waggling her eyebrows at him again. Ralsei’s whole body has a heat flash. Susie was setting him up for more than just his first kiss.

“Yeah, I’m not very tired right now, but I’m heading off too.” Kris says, shooting Berdly a knowing look. “You coming or what, my little night light? You were complaining all night about there being nothing to do out here, let’s do something.”

“O-of course, my lovely knight.” Berdly says.

“That’s not what you usually call me.” Kris chortles.

“Yeah, but I’m not a weirdo like you who just blurts that kind of stuff out next to our friends!” Berdly hisses. “You know everyone’s gonna be calling me night light now, right? How would you feel if everyone started calling you jo-”

“Shh…” Kris places a finger against his beak. “Not another word. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Ralsei remains at his seat by the fire, watching as his friends retreat to their tents for privacy. It was clear that they were expecting him to do the same, but he suddenly found himself feeling anxious again.

“Well, um…” Vess speaks up at his side and by the sounds of it, they’re a little shy too. “The fire’s getting low, we should probably check out our tent.”

“Yeah.” Ralsei nods, his whole body shivering with excitement and tension. He knew where this was going, but something was still nagging at the back of his mind, trying to convince him to put a stop to this. Taking Ralsei’s hand into theirs, Vess leads him towards the last remaining tent, leaving the light and warmth of the dimming fire behind. The tent is decently sized, able to comfortably hold the both of them, but upon zipping it open and looking inside, Ralsei finds that it looks a little under furnished.

There’s only one sleeping bag, though it looks large enough for two.

“They’re laying it on a little thick, aren’t they?” Vess says with a nervous chuckle, sliding into the tent and bringing Ralsei inside as well. “I guess we won’t have to be worried about getting cold.”

“Ha, yeah…” Ralsei chuckles, already flushed with heat and embarrassment. Ralsei takes some time to look around the tent, finding an electric lantern in the corner along with a couple other necessities and snacks so they don’t have to wander back out in the dark. Hearing a metallic click, Ralsei returns his attention to Vess to find them sliding off their chest plate and Ralsei’s breath hitches in his chest.

Of course they were taking their armor off, there was nothing lewd about that, it couldn’t be comfortable to sleep in. They were still fully clothed without it, but it felt almost dirty to see them under protected like this. He doesn’t know why, he’s seen Kris wander the halls of the castle in their under suit when they couldn’t sleep with no issue. Something about how casually they were undressing in his presence just made his heart flutter.

Once their armor was off, they sat in silence, a blush on their face and clear embarrassment in their eyes. Something was keeping them from pushing things any further too, something that only fueled the voice in his head telling him to stop this and set things straight. He didn’t want to, he wanted things to keep going, but his desire to protect overpowered his desire to escalate things until he knew everything was alright.

“Vess…” Ralsei said, and the reaction it gets out of Vess nearly makes him consider. They looked just as giddy, just as nervously excited as he felt, like they were waiting for the right push to go through with this, but that wasn’t what he had planned. “We need to talk.”

“Oh?” Vess tilts their head. “Are we moving too fast? We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

“No!” Ralsei quickly corrects them. “Oh my gosh, I’ve never wanted anything more! We haven’t even done anything yet and it feels like my heart is about to explode, but… There’s some things that I need to clear up first. I don’t feel comfortable doing anything more than I already have until I know this is alright?”

“I mean…” Vess sits down on the sleeping bag. “I have a few concerns myself, but it’s nothing serious. It sounds like something’s really freaking you out though. Is it the game thing? I told you, that isn’t going to get between us, you’re real.”

“I know, but that’s not… Well not entirely…” Ralsei sits down beside Vess with a huff, crossing his arms. “It’s something I’ve been worried about before you came here, something that’s been messing with me more and more as time goes on. The divide between your world and ours is one thing, but I’m also starting to feel conscious about the fact that I’m a Darkner and you’re not.”

“Why would that change anything?” Vess asks. They sound genuinely curious and concerned, clearly wanting this to keep going just as badly as Ralsei did, but his concerns couldn’t be ignored.

“I’ve never actually talked to anyone about this yet because I don’t know if I’m just making up problems to be afraid of or if there’s no way to fix it and telling people would just make things worse.” Ralsei whines. “I’m scared that our current situation with the Barrier won’t be permanent, that the Dark World won’t last and by extension, neither will I.”

“What makes you think that?” Ralsei can see clear worry in Vess’ eyes and a breath of panic in their voice.

“I don’t have any evidence for it but, working with the Mayor and trying to keep everything running, I’m not sure if the world we have in this little bubble is sustainable.” Ralsei explains. “Dark Worlds were only meant to be brief respites, a safe haven to escape to when the Light World became too much. This fantasy was never supposed to be permanent, there’s supposed to be a separation. Already, people have been giving up on their old lives to live in this fantasy, even the Mayor stopped doing her work, and while she’s been happier now more than ever with her family back together, the whole town is getting cut off because she hasn’t been working to reconnect it somehow with the rest of the world.”

“Well…” Vess mumbles, taking what he said into consideration. “You’re fixing it though, right? You’re helping her make the necessary changes to make the town sustainable.”

“But that’s just a band aid fix.” Ralsei sighs. “The point is, Lightners don’t really belong here. This world of escapism has become their entire lives, and if anything happened to this place, they’d be thrust back into the real world and the weight of all the responsibilities they neglected would crush them. There needs to be a balance.”

“Says who?” Vess tries to argue. “Everyone in town is the happiest they’ve ever been. Susie has Lancer, Dess found her audience, getting to spend any time with you at all makes staying in the Dark World worth it.”

“Then why do you need to leave?” Ralsei asks, finally bringing up the problem that’s been bugging him the most. “You obviously think there needs to be some kind of balance because you need to go back home. The Barrier is one thing, but this game, simulation, whatever this is, you refuse to stay here. You have other friends, other aspirations, other things you want to get back to. In a weird way, this game is almost like its own little Dark World. An escape, a fantasy before you return to the real world.”

Vess doesn’t have an immediate counter or assurance after that. They sit in place, lingering on what Ralsei said.

“I love you, Vess.” Ralsei tells them. “I don’t think it’s fake or not real or whatever, what we share is real, but I’m scared that it can’t be permanent. The Mayor is looking for ways to leave the Barrier, to return to the Light World and the way things are supposed to be. You say that things are perfect here and a lot of people would probably agree, but you seem drawn to the world you came from, the Light World or whatever your equivalent is. Whether you’re conscious of it or not, maybe you know you don’t belong here, that staying here isn’t right. Maybe by extension, it wouldn’t be right to start a relationship with-”

“Ralsei.” Vess interrupts. Despite speaking up to silence him, Vess takes a moment of silence to choose their words, giving what Ralsei was saying some thought. “I guess I can see where you’re coming from.” They nod. “You keep calling this a fantasy and that kiss we shared at the fire felt like a dream. I have a body I feel comfortable in here, I have some of the coolest if not also the weirdest friends in the world, but it doesn’t feel right to stay here forever when I have my family and childhood friends waiting for me back home. I want to, my life is boring and dull in comparison, but…”

“It’s real life. You can’t ignore it.” Ralsei finishes. “Maybe I’m worrying over nothing, maybe I'm just being extra paranoid because I want what’s best for everyone, but if there’s even a slight chance that staying here could be bad, I don’t know if committing to a relationship is a good idea. I’d just be holding you back, keeping you from living your life. It wouldn’t be fair to you to keep you from that and I missed you so much while you were gone and I don’t want to have you disappear again after getting to experience something like this with you and-”

“Ralsei.” Vess interrupts him again, though this time they’re more firm. “I’m not going to leave you.” They promise. “I love you too. You were my first kiss and I’ve never felt this way about anyone else, not even back in my world. I have no idea what’s going on between the Light and Dark worlds or what the hell this whole universe even is if it isn’t a video game, but I don’t care. Maybe it isn’t permanent, maybe the Barrier will break one day, maybe my game will get corrupted. Literally nothing makes sense anymore and all of this is way out of our control, but I have you here right now. Yes, I have to leave to check on my friends and live my real life, but you better believe that I’ll come right back. I’ll find some sort of balance, I’ll make it work, anything to be with you.”

Ralsei felt a blush cover his whole face as a weight was lifted from his conscience. He was the Prince, he was supposed to do whatever it took to make the Lightners happy, to keep the balance, but things were obviously different now. Vess was right, he probably couldn’t do anything about the Barrier, none of them even knew what the video game thing was about, so why not live in the moment. Why not enjoy themselves while they can?

“What was your problem then?” Ralsei asks, earning a raised eyebrow from Vess. “Before I said all that, you said there was something else bothering you.”

“Oh, um…” Vess’ face turns beet red. “I was just gonna say that I’m… not equipped with what I’m used to.” They say, not meeting Ralsei’s eyes. It was kind of amusing to know they were both this awkward, but he had no clue what they were trying to say. Looking up at him and seeing his confusion, they elaborate. “I have girl parts, alright!” They blurt out. “I’m a guy in my world, but this vessel is obviously isn't. I still want to go through with this, but I don’t have any clue what I’m gonna be doing.”

“O-oh…” Ralsei stutters. “Right, that’s… that’s what we were building up to.”

“You’re still alright with that?” Vess asks. “Because if you’re still worried that-”

“No no!” Ralsei insists, not at all ashamed of how desperate he sounds. “I needed to bring all that stuff up just to get it on the table and get your word on it. I’ve dreamed of a moment like this for years while sitting alone in my castle. What’s a prince without a princess, right? I just wanted to make sure you understood my concerns and helped me… Vess?” In the middle of his rambling, Vess jolts, a look of pure awe and confusion on their face as they stare at Ralsei. “What’s wrong? Did I say somethi-?!”

Before he could finish, Vess leaned forward and kissed him again. This was the third time now, but it still made his whole body tingle with delight as his mind went blank. It doesn’t last as long as the others, but that’s because Vess needed the breath to give him a request before going back in.

“Call me princess again.”

Ralsei couldn’t sleep, he didn’t want to. His eyelids were growing heavy and he couldn’t wiggle out of his sleeping bag now even if he wanted to, but he didn’t want to miss out on a single moment of this.

He wanted to stay right where he was forever.

Underneath the cover of the sleeping bag, he was curled up in Vess’ embrace, their arms wrapped around him and their face pressed into the back of his neck. Their fingers were buried in his fur, and even in their sleep, Vess brushed his sides gently and their deep breaths blew down his spine as they silently snored. They cuddled him like he was a giant teddy bear, desperate to feel his fur with every inch of their body.

Ralsei has never felt more loved.

He’s been given a million hugs since he started his adventures, but nothing has ever felt this intimate, this vulnerable. He never even knew he could be this… close to someone. Not even the sex made him feel as loved as he did right now, curled up in Vess’ arms as they slept. Maybe it’s because they were both inexperienced and Vess didn’t even know what they wanted or what they were supposed to do, but even if it was as wild and crazy as some of those dirty old books he used to read, nothing beat the afterglow, nothing beat being able to cuddle someone he loved.

Nothing beat being held by his princess.

He was still worried, even more so now that he’s gone all the way. He loved Vess to death, their smile, their laugh, the look on their face every time he called them princess. He never wanted them to leave, he wanted to keep them all to himself forever, but that couldn’t happen. Things are completely out of their control, all sorts of terrible things could happen that might separate them or put a wedge between their relationship. Even if nothing catastrophic happened, when would he get the chance to spend time with Vess like this again? When would his princely duties slow down enough to let him spend a night like this? When Vess eventually left to go back home, how long would he have to wait for them to come back to him? Vess themself was still questioning things, but they loved him, and while nothing was set in stone and no promises could be made, they got to spend this one night together, and that alone made it the best in his life.

This could be their last, or the first of many nights like this, and since he couldn’t know what the future held, he vowed to give Vess all the love he can muster at every opportunity.

As scared as he was of losing Vess or doing the wrong thing, he feels the pain of any loss would pale in comparison to the love he felt right now.

Chapter Text

Unzipping her tent, Susie finally realizes just how bad of an idea it was to try camping in the winter. Her sleeping bag was so warm while everything else was so damn cold, but she couldn’t stay in there forever. Someone had to get the fire going again and she desperately needed to pee.

“One more hug for warmth before I go?” Susie asks Noelle who was still wrapped up in their sleeping bag. Reluctantly, she leaves the bag's warm embrace to share some of that heat with Susie before she ventures out into the snow. It only occurs to Susie after she steps outside to run to the tree line that Noelle probably didn’t care about the cold at all thanks to her ice powers and could light the fire herself, but she’s already outside.

Once she’s finished with her business, she starts gathering up more dead wood and dried bark for kindling before hauling it all back towards their makeshift fire pit. As she does, she can’t help but look over at Ralsei and Vess’ tent. Operation Big Rig was a complete success, she just hopes that she didn’t make things too awkward for them with the single sleeping bag. Either way, that fluffy little bastard was probably the happiest guy in the world last night. Honestly, with how many cute ass speeches he keeps coming up with, maybe she should start reading some of his books. Noelle would probably get a kick out of that.

Then again, knowing her, she’d probably be more into that book about laying dragons that Kris was talking about.

It only takes a couple minutes for her to get the fire started and as she’s piling up wood to feed it, one of the other tents opens up and Kris steps outside, shivering in the cold and quickly moving towards her and the fire she’s building. Despite the clear distress they’re in thanks to the temperature, there’s a mile wide grin on their face. Sitting down in one of the empty chairs, they wait for the fire to get going, all the while wearing that grin.

“What’s that look for?” Susie eventually asks.

“Nothing.” They tell her, though that’s clearly not the case. “You’ll hear about it later.” That was never a good thing to hear from Kris. They were plotting something. For now, Susie focuses on building the fire, eventually drawing Noelle and Berdly out of their tents once it got going. That only left one tent unaccounted for and Susie was wondering whether or not she should try to get their attention when she saw the front flap unzip.

Ralsei cautiously peeks out of the tent before quickly retreating inside. It wasn’t like him to sleep in so late, he was usually up long before dawn to get breakfast made. Looking over at Kris, she could see that their smile was even wider. Did they know what was going on?

After another minute, Ralsei eventually leaves the tent with Vess following along right beside him. Both of them held hands all the way to their chairs and while Ralsei kept his gaze pointed directly at the ground, Vess cast quick nervous glances between everyone. Kris seems to pay special attention to Vess, whatever they were planning was for them. Was she missing something?

“Did you two sleep well?” Susie asks.

“Like a baby.” Vess answers. “I probably could have slept in for another couple of hours if Ralsei didn’t wake me up.”

“Y-yeah. We slept fine.” Ralsei nods, still looking at the ground but Susie could see the smile on his face.

“So I couldn’t find enough sleeping bags for everyone, that wasn’t too much of a problem, was it?” Susie asks, genuinely worried that it might have made sleeping out here rougher than it needed to be.

“Um actually,” To Susie’s surprise, Noelle’s the first to speak up, “I think you drooled on me in your sleep.”

“That’d be the least of my worries.” Kris snorts. “Have you heard her snore? She shook the whole god damn house when she slept over at my place. You’d have her snoring directly in your face.”

“It was fine.” Everyone shuts up when Ralsei speaks up. “It was very comfy getting to share a sleeping bag.” He still doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes, but his smile was getting even wider as he leaned towards Vess, still holding onto their hand.

“So what kind of speech did you pull out last night?” Kris asks him. “Your confession and the little story you built up before your first kiss was fun, but did you share any other loving words once you were in the tent?” Susie can see Kris’ smile grow even wider, as Ralsei freezes up, too flustered to speak, but Vess seems a little more open to sharing.

“He told me exactly what I wanted to hear.” They say, leaning over and planting a kiss on Ralsei’s cheek. “We also had a pretty lengthy talk about some more serious stuff before that, but once that was behind us, he said nothing but the sweetest things I could ever hear.”

“Because you’re the sweetest thing to ever happen to me.” Ralsei replies, returning the kiss back to Vess. God damn, these dorks were adorable together. She also couldn’t help but notice how freely they were sharing kisses now. She mentally pats herself on the back for that. She was glad she could help Ralsei break the ice a little bit.

“He would know too, considering how many sweets he makes.” Berdly chimes in after Ralsei’s comment, earning a surprised laugh out of most of them by the fire.

“What the hell? An actually clever comment?” Kris balks at Berdly’s side. “And here I thought I turned your brain to mush since we got together.”

“Are you implying that your stupid is wearing off on me?” Berdly counters, shooting a challenging glare at his partner.

“I can turn you into a blubbering desperate mess with a touch.” Kris retorts. “My intelligence or lack thereof doesn’t matter. I’m just relieved that there’s anything left in that head of yours.”

“My intellect is my best trait.” Berdly declares.

“Eh, your smarts are in the top five, but it’s not your best trait.” Kris shrugs. “Your stupid moments are more fun.”

“Well, last night was really fun and I’m glad I could come along.” Noelle says with a laugh. “I think I’d like to get out of the cold though.”

“Seconded!” Berdly nods. “Coming out into the great outdoors turned out to be more fun than I originally thought, but nothing beats the greater indoors!”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss having sleeves.” Susie says, patting down her bare arms. She liked to show off, but it wouldn’t kill her to wear a jacket during the winter and wait until spring to get her guns out again. “Ralsei, you said we gotta clear everything out before the end of the day, right?”

“Oh, uh, yeah!” Ralsei nods, finally pulling his eyes from the ground now people's attention were drawn elsewhere. “Do you need help packing things away?”

“I’d appreciate it if you don’t have anyplace you need to be right now.” Susie nods. “I’m guessing Noelle’s Mom is gonna be dragging you around town again?”

“There’s only a little more paperwork that needs to be done before we clean this place up.” Ralsei nods. “After that, I should be a little more free. Is there anything you guys are gonna be doing later today?”

“The river, I guess.” Kris says, earning everyone’s attention. “It’s been three days, right? We should probably look into that sooner rather than later if there’s even the slimmest chance that interdimensional invaders could be a problem.”

“Yeah, we probably should…” Vess relents. “As much as I’d rather do anything else, I’m really curious to see what else could be out there. We already know we can leave the Barrier by leaving this world and then coming back, but maybe there are solid answers out there. Maybe we can find out what connects all of these worlds.”

“Maybe we’ll find your world.” Susie suggests, but the look of sheer horror on Vess’ face makes her regret saying it.

“I swear to god, if we somehow end up in my world, I think I’ll have an aneurysm.” Vess says, looking genuinely distraught at the thought. “I don’t even know what to think if that happened or what I’d do.”

“Take us to your place so we can say hi to the real you?” Kris suggests. “You said you found yourself in a comic book world. Going to your world sounds like it’d be pretty boring.”

“Yeah, but…” Vess sighs. “I don’t know… I don’t think I want confirmation that my world is as…” Vess pauses, glancing towards Noelle and Berdly. “Whatever, forget it. Either way, we should look into things and see what we can learn.” Right, not everyone here is in the know, and that’s probably for the best. The video game thing has been messing with Susie quite a bit, there was no need to burden the rest of their friend group with that knowledge.

“Whatever.” Susie shrugs. “We pack stuff up here, drop it off at the castle, and then we go on a boat ride! Maybe we’ll get to see some crazy alien worlds too!”

“I’m down.” Kris nods. “I’m more than a little anxious about all of this, but holy shit, I need something to shake me out of the slump I’m in. Maybe this will be just the kick in the ass I need to function again.” That catches Susie off guard. Kris has obviously been going through it, but every attempt at trying to help them has been met with deflection or outright denial. To hear Kris actually admit they were having trouble, even offhandedly, made her just as hopeful that this trip might help them loosen up a little.

“All of you are going?” The only one who didn’t sound at least a little excited about this trip was Ralsei.

“What, are you not coming with?” Susie asks. “Come on, the Mayor can go a day withou-”

“He can’t actually.” Vess interrupts. “These other dimensions don’t have Dark Worlds. Ralsei won’t exist outside of town.” They cast a worried glance over at Ralsei. “He’d have to stay behind while we all leave.”

“What?!” Kris gasps. “Come on, we gotta go as a team. Ralsei’s the support! We need him.”

“That’s nice to hear, but I can’t follow you everywhere.” Ralsei sighs. “I’ll be right here, but if anything goes wrong or you need help, I’m afraid I won’t be able to do anything. You all came and went before the Roaring just fine, but I don’t think I’m used to the thought of you guys being completely out of reach anymore. This isn’t just you guys going back to the way things were though, you’re going to be leaving the world as we know it entirely…” Ralsei only looks more and more distressed as he speaks. Vess also looks worried, leaning down to wrap their arm around him, but it does little to actually cheer him up. “Promise me you’ll come back.” Ralsei says, not just to Vess, but to all of them. “I’d feel so much better about this if I could come too, but I’m trusting all of you to come back home safe and sound.” Turning to face Vess, Ralsei leans forward and rests his head against their chest. “Don’t let this be the last night we spend together.”

“It won’t be.” Vess is quick to assure him. “I literally died and came back for you. Even if the worst happens, you’ll see me again soon.” Giving him another kiss, Ralsei looks content enough to get up off his seat.

“Alright then.” He sighs. “I’ll help pack some things and bring them back to the castle with me. The rest of you, I wish you good luck and safe travels. It makes me sad that I can’t come with you, but maybe you can bring a souvenir from your trip for me?”

“Sure thing, dude.” Susie nods. “And don’t worry. We didn’t go through all the trouble of setting you two up just to let something happen to Vess.”

“I think you’re underestimating how tall of an order that is.” Kris points out. “Vess gets up to stupid shit all the time. They-”

“Kris, I don’t need to hear that.” Ralsei tells them. “I need to hear you say that you’ll all come home safe.”

“Yeah yeah, you’re right.” Kris shakes their head. “Sorry. We’ll be right back. I’ll personally hold Vess down if they try to do anything especially stupid for your sake.”

“Thank you.” Ralsei sighs. “It means a lot.”

Helping pack up the tents and putting out the fire, the campsite is completely taken down within an hour and all the equipment is hauled back to Castle town with Ralsei, Berdly, and Noelle, leaving the remaining three to cut through the woods towards the river to begin their investigation of the weird stuff going on.

The first stretch of the walk goes on in silence, and if Susie had to guess, it was due to how worried Ralsei was for them. There was something deeper going on than him just being anxious, he seemed genuinely disturbed to hear that they were all going to leave without him, even though they wouldn’t be gone for long. He practically clung to Vess the whole time they were packing, making them promise over and over that they’d come back.

Susie decides that she needs to talk to him when she comes back. It wouldn’t surprise her if he had some serious issues going on that he was keeping from them. Damn near everyone she knew had some level of trauma after the Roaring and the resets. Maybe that’s what they’ll do next. Instead of a romantic date, they’ll just all huddle up and have a feelings jam to get everything out into the open so they can help patch each other up.

“So…” Kris suddenly breaks the silence as the edge of town comes into view and they’re about to leave the woods. “What all happened last night… Princess?”

Vess freezes in place, sputtering out in a cough as the air in their chest catches in their throat. “Oh god, you heard that?!” Looking over at Kris, Susie finds that horrible grin they were wearing in the morning is back. This is what they’ve been waiting to drop.

“You guys seem to keep forgetting that I barely sleep anymore.” Kris says, still wearing their shit eating grin. “I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything. Besides Berdly’s breathing, it was dead quiet in that footprint. I heard a bit of a commotion in your guys’ direction and couldn’t sleep until I found out what it was. I swear, as soon as I pieced together what was going on I tried my best to ignore it.”

“What?” Susie looks between Kris and Vess. “What’s this about?” Kris doesn’t elaborate further, but they didn’t need to. Ralsei’s shyness around everyone when he came out by the fire, Vess’ current reactions, both of their assurances that they had absolutely no problems sleeping and in fact liked the shared sleeping bag. Did they… Were Kris and her better wingmen than they thought, or was Ralsei a better smooth talker than any of them thought? Here she was worried that the first kiss thing might not go over well and that the single sleeping bag would make things awkward, but… Huh?!

Vess, who up until now hadn’t shown any sign that any funny business might have gone down between them and Ralsei was now covering their face to hide how flustered they were. “God, you’re insufferable…” Vess whines. “More so than usual. Are you just in a particularly annoying mood, or did I do something to deserve this?”

“You said I’m not allowed to tease Ralsei anymore, so I’m targeting you now.” Kris is quick to answer. “Also, again, three years of possession to get payback for.”

“I don’t know, you’ve been more snappy than usual.” Susie shakes her head, sparing Vess any more embarrassment despite her curiosity over what happened. “Something’s got you worked up. Is it because we’re checking out the river?” In an instant, a lot of Kris’ mischievous energy dies out. She was right on the money, they were trying to distract themself from what was coming. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m freaking out a little too. I even considered just sitting the whole thing out just to make sure Ralsei felt better.”

“He’d really appreciate that…” Vess says, uncovering their face but still looking flustered. “I don’t want to share much because he probably doesn’t want you all to worry, but he’s freaked out by the whole alternate worlds thing and the fact that he’s stuck here while we can leave.”

“He’s…” Susie sighs. “He’s not scared that we’re gonna leave him are we? Why would he think that, this place is awesome! You know what, that settles it. I know what we’re all gonna do for our next get together.”

“What, a group therapy session or something?” Kris asks.

“Exactly that.” Susie nods. “Seriously, what put that idea into his head?”

“The fact that I gotta go home eventually.” Vess says, causing everyone else to fall silent. Shit, that explains why Ralsei was so messed up the first time Vess left to look for Catti. They came back after being gone for months just to disappear hours after showing up.

“Well you know how to make him feel better about that, right?” Susie looks at Vess. “Don’t go disappearing for months at a time and don’t do anything stupid that could get you killed.”

“I don’t really need to be told to not get myself killed.” Vess replies. “And I already promised him that I’d be back. Even if something bad happens to me, I don’t think anything’s stopping me from just replacing my vessel like I did for this one. I’m not gonna tempt fate though. I don’t know what the rules are for all of this.”

“Why do you even want to go home anyways?” Kris asks as they find the trail leading towards the river. “I’m not that annoying am I?”

“Again, I talked to Ralsei about this.” Vess tells them. “I can’t just abandon my real life to live in this fantasy forever. Escaping to the Dark World isn’t supposed to be a permanent thing, there has to be a balance. That’s why Ralsei’s working so hard with the Mayor, to work with people on the outside to find a way to make things work so there’s no massive divide between the two.”

“All of that sounds really complicated.” Kris shakes their head and Susie can’t help but do the same. Ralsei definitely needs to talk this out with more people. Susie’s been sitting around itching for something to do, and while political nonsense didn’t sound fun at all, if it made Ralsei feel better, she’d be down for it. “How the hell did you two bone after talking about so much depressing stuff?”

“Can we please move on from that?!” Vess pleads, slowing their pace as everyone finally makes it to the river. “Yes, we did the thing. That’s what the whole Operation Big Rig thing was for, right? To hook us up? Why are you so focused on that?”

“Because it’s less depressing to talk about and it bothers you.” Kris answers. “Standing next to this river is freaking me out and I need something stupid to occupy myself with or I’m gonna have a fit. Also, how?! He could barely work up the courage to kiss you, how did-”

“I don’t know and I’m not getting into it!” Vess says, making their stance on this final. “Not until after I talk some more with Ralsei at the very least. I doubt he wants me to share what happened between us and there’s a bunch of other stuff I need to ask him. I’d rather be talking through this stuff with him right now, but this river stuff might be important.” That shuts Kris up and prevents Susie from asking any questions herself, leaving her to focus on Kris’ previous words before Vess’ interjection.

“You don’t have to come with, Kris.” Susie suggests. “If this river thing is freaking you out, You can bug Ralsei instead. It’s not like Vess will be here to stop you.”

“Please don’t terrorize my boyfriend.” Vess pleads.

“No, I’m coming with.” Kris insists. “I’ve sat around and done nothing for almost an entire year. I need to do something and you’re offering me a chance to go on a magical boat ride to see alternate dimensions. I’d have to be stupid not to come, even if I’m scared out of my mind.”

“Then please just stop talking about me and Ralsei.” Vess says. “If you want details, you’ll have to get them out of him, not me.”

“Like he’d ever share.”

“Exactly.”

“Alright, alright,” Kris nods their head, but Susie can see that smile creeping back, “Whatever you say, Princess.”

“Kris, I swear to-”

“Am I interrupting something?” Susie barks out in surprise as someone speaks up right behind her. Everyone else is also caught off guard, yelping as someone suddenly intrudes into their conversation. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Out of nowhere, Catti has suddenly appeared by the river alongside them.

“When did you get here?!” Susie asks in alarm.

“Like five seconds ago.” Catti says nonchalantly. “I literally just showed up and found you three here. You all here for the Riverperson too?”

“I didn’t even hear you sneak up on us.” Kris says with a huff, holding a hand up to their chest. They looked to be in actual pain with how badly they were startled.

“I took a shortcut.” Catti tells them. “Secret Void stuff I can’t share or else you’ll go mad. Don’t worry about it.”

“I actually am going to worry about it because I already know what’s up and I wanna teleport.” Kris counters. “Fess up, how do I do it?”

“Shit, I wanna teleport!” Susie blurts out. “Tell us!”

“You really expect me to believe that you learned the secrets of the universe withou-”

“We’re in a video game.” Susie answers before Catti can finish. Catti stares at her blankly for several seconds before letting out a disappointed sigh.

“I suppose if you simplify it that way it makes it more comprehensible to simpletons like you.” She scoffs. “We are within a simulation, yes. A simulation that Vess here may control or potentially be a part of themself.”

“And again, I really don’t want to linger on that idea.” Vess whines.

“Welcome to the existential nightmare.” Kris declares. “Cheer up, maybe you can teleport too.” Kris turns their attention back to Catti to press her further, but she walks past all of them to the river's edge, looking up stream.

“How long have you been here?” Catti asks. “Any sign of the Riverperson.”

“We just showed up.” Susie says “We were hoping to finally look into what happened here, but uh… Shit, I guess I didn’t think about the fact that we need this river guy to show up.”

“Big surprise, you didn’t think things all the way through.” Catti scoffs. Susie grumbles in response.

This is an old rivalry that’s been going on basically since middle school. Susie probably started it, she was a real jerk back in the day, but unlike everyone else who’s come around after her change of heart, Catti continued to hold a grudge. She’s tried to extend the olive branch a couple times, but Catti always batted it away with so much smugness that it made her question why she even bothered trying. Susie tried to think back to any specific moment that could have pissed her off, but she couldn’t think of anything that would warrant this. They just didn’t gel well with each other and Susie doesn’t think anything’s gonna fix that.

“So, teleportation!” Kris redirects the conversation back to the topic of Catti’s shortcuts. “You got no excuse not to share.”

“Sure I do.” Catti counters. “Riverperson’s here.” Everyone jumps to attention, hurrying as close to the river’s edge as possible to get a good look. Susie watches with some shock as a hooded stranger floats down the river, their wooden boat gently bobbing in the current as they approach. God, no wonder Ralsei was freaking out so bad when she found him at the river, the god damn grim reaper stole his partner away!

The stranger doesn’t speak or move at all until the boat comes to a slow stop beside them, only then does the Riverperson turn their head. “Ah, old friends and new ones!” The calm, gentle voice that escapes the Riverperson’s empty hood does a lot to help Susie lower her guard around the creepy dude. They didn’t seem all that bad all of a sudden. “I’m afraid the boat may be a little crowded with all of you, but I’m no stranger to ferrying large groups, even if it’s been quite some time. Hop aboard.”

Catti jumps the small gap between land and the boat with no hesitation, finding herself a spot right behind the Riverperson. Vess takes a moment to pull in a deep breath before doing the same, hopping aboard the stranger’s boat without much fuss. Susie isn’t that trusting though. She stands at the edge of the river, looking over the tiny boat and the weirdo sailing it, wondering what the hell was wrong with these two to just blindly hop on board with them.

“What’s the matter?” Catti crosses her arms and shoots Susie a smug look. “Scared?”

“Yeah?!” While the jab was directed towards Susie, Kris is the first to respond. “This is weird Void shit. I am NOT getting stuck out there again!”

“Oh? You’ve escaped from the Void?” The Riverperson takes interest in Kris. “Have you by chance met a woman by the name of Dess?” Kris freezes, reluctant to answer. “I believe I’m familiar with you. You used to sing with her in the Void, am I right?”

“How…” Kris starts to look a little pale. “How did you-”

“Song of the sea, right?” Catti speaks up on the boat. “You missed out on their first live performance a few days ago. After getting to hear her sing myself, I can tell why she was your favorite.” Looking back at Kris, Susie can’t deny it anymore, they’re breathing really hard. This Riverperson doesn’t seem all that bad, but they’re obviously bringing back some really bad memories.

“Kris?” She steps forward, but gives them plenty of space to breathe. “Do you need a minute? I don’t think we gotta go right this second. You don’t have to go at all if you-”

“I’m fine…” Kris huffs, trying to suck in a deep breath. “I’m just… What’s it like when you pass into another world?” Kris turns to ask everyone on the boat. “What do you see when you travel?”

“I don’t know.” Vess shrugs. “You just kinda blink and you’re there.”

“Ok…” Kris takes in another deep breath and before Susie can ask if they’re alright, they step forward onto the boat. “Crisis averted, just… How quickly can we get back home if we need to?”

“It doesn’t take too long to make a jump I don’t think.” Catti assures, looking a little confused by Kris’ concern. “I rode with the Riverperson twice, there isn’t anything to be worried about.”

Kris sits down at the far side of the boat, still looking incredibly uneasy about the whole trip but still insistent on going. Not wanting to miss out and not wanting them to go at it alone, Susie hops on board as well, sitting next to them hugging them close. With everyone on board, Kris starts to breathe a little easier.

“Any particular destination in mind?” The Riverperson asks. “If not, we may simply let the river take us.” Catti turns to look at Vess, waiting for them to answer.

“We’ll go wherever I guess.” Vess shrugs. “We aren’t in a rush to get back, we can take our time.”

“Very well then.” The Riverperson nods. The boat suddenly starts moving again, startling Susie a little bit as the wooden boat starts to drift down stream. “I am already familiar with Catti and the Angel, may I have the pleasure of knowing your names?” It takes a moment since they didn’t have eyes, but Susie realizes the stranger is looking at her.

“Susie.” She introduces herself, leaning over to do the same for Kris. “This is Kris. We’re both close buddies of Vess here.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” The Riverperson nods. “I’m afraid I cannot return the gesture as I do not have a name. Your friends here simply refer to me as the Riverperson.”

“No name at all?” Kris asks. They still look wary, but they’re doing a bit better now. “You don’t at least have a nickname?”

“Some people in older worlds I resided in knew me as the Ferryman, others as a lonely sailor.” The Riverperson explains. “I suppose those are more titles than nicknames though.”

“That’s dumb, we can’t just keep calling you Riverperson.” Kris says, sitting up a little. “Are you cool if we try and give you one?”

“I would love that.” The Riverperson nods, returning their attention to the water as everyone in the back brainstorms.

“Well, if people called you the Ferryman in the past, would calling you Kharon be a little on the nose?” Catti suggests, but that earns a groan out of Kris.

“Ugh, you sound like Asriel going around naming people after Greek gods and angels and stuff. Buddy was stuck being called Azazel for months before I came back to point out how dumb of a name that was. This isn’t someone’s edgy oc, this is a real person.”

“I’m not opposed to it.” The Riverperson says. “It sounds mysterious.”

“Well, if we wanna stick to the theme, maybe we can call you Styx?” Vess suggests, earning another groan out of Kris and a bemused smile out of Catti. “I mean, rivers seem to be your thing, we could name you after one.”

“That sounds absolutely lovely!” The Riverperson chuckles. “Styx… A delightfully strange name. Very well, For the rest of our trip, we shall break in the new name, see how it fits me.”

“Sure thing, Styx.” Susie shoots them a thumbs up. Not only do they seem to like it, but having a name to call this shadowy stranger helped her and Kris warm up to them way faster.

“Now, sit back, relax, and let's see what’s waiting for us out there.” Catti says, lounging on the side of the boat. “The secrets of the Void await.”

Susie braces herself, unsure of what they were all getting into and what they’d find. Catti looks uncharacteristically excited, her resting bitch face nowhere to be seen. Vess also looks cautiously excited to see what else was waiting out there. Susie focuses on Kris though, who looks restless. Susie scoots closer to them to help assure them, but those restless jitters seem to be caused by excitement over anxiety. That smile on their face wasn’t forced, they were actually happy to be doing something again. Susie felt the same way. After almost a year of constant bullshit, this is gonna be the first time in a while that she got to do something crazy that didn’t involve Gaster.

Susie tries to let herself relax as the boat takes them down the river, but the moment she leans back, she suddenly finds the sky looks different. Sitting up again, the sudden shift in everything around her leaves her mind scrambled for a moment as she takes everything in. The temperature has increased, it was a lot brighter now, there were no more trees obstructing her view and…

“Holy shit, I got sleeves again!” Looking down at herself, Susie finds she’s wearing her old beat up jacket. She can’t remember the last time she even saw her jacket. Not only that, but her skin has faded from its bright pink to a slightly deeper purple.

“And I’m not blue!” Kris says at her side. Looking over everyone else, the armor and the robes were gone and replaced with t-shirts and sweaters. Susie would have been grateful for the jacket, but now that it wasn’t nearly as cold, she shrugs it off and ties the sleeves around her waist.

“That’s the first thing you two noticed?” Catti asks, her attention firmly placed elsewhere. Susie tries her best to pay attention. At first glance, it looked like they just left one snowy river for another, but now that she’s getting a good look, she isn’t sure if this is snow at all. There’s a sweetness in the air.

“Is this sugar?!” Susie blurts out in surprise.

Looking overboard, the dark waters they were riding on moments ago were now much darker, the waves breaking on the boat releasing a familiar smell that she couldn’t place just yet. All around them were large rolling hills and plains of what looked like snow at first, but leaning over the edge of the boat to reach for land, she managed to get some of it on her finger. Little crystalline granules stick to her skin and putting her finger to her tongue confirms her suspicions. Holy shit! They were in a sugar desert! God damn, Ralsei would lose his damn mind if he were here!

“Oh hey! This place has the same moon.” Catti directs everyone’s attention upward. Hanging over them was a large blue star with a golden moon orbiting it. “Are you familiar with this specific world, Vess?”

“It’s uh…” They look around some more, and as the boat goes around a bend in the river, everyone looks on in befuddlement as a teapot as big as a house is revealed from behind a large hill of sugar. “This is LoLCAT.” Vess eventually confirms

“This is what?!” Kris asks.

“The Land of Little Cubes And Tea.” Vess elaborates. “It took me a minute because I think this place only ever existed in a couple of pages in the comic it comes from. This is Nepeta’s world.”

“So that’s what this is!” Susie gasps as she looks overboard again, dunking her cupped hand into the river to try and get a taste.

“So is this one of the other worlds that orbits that star in the sky?” Catti asks. “Is that oily place close by too?”

“Actually, no.” Vess shakes their head, leaning back a little. “We’re actually in a completely different but parallel universe from the last one. The only reason Skaia and Prospit are still in the sky is because those are both constants within the Medium. They exist in every Medium, all of which exist outside of time and space in…” Vess’ speech dies down when they notice that everyone on the boat, Styx included, is staring at them in confusion. “Sorry.” They laugh nervously. “It’s been years since I read it, but I’m still a huge nerd for this stuff.”

“I didn’t understand a single word of any of that.” Kris shakes their head. “But holy shit, we’re on an alien planet made of sugar and tea!”

“I only gleaned some of that.” Catti shakes her head. “You said this place exists outside of time and space and runs parallel to the last world we visited?”

“It’s a lot to get into.” Vess nods.

“So how impossible is it that we’re here?” She asks. “I already know this is a comic and this world is as fictional as mine and potentially yours, but within the rules of this universe, how hard would it be to get from the oil river to here?”

“I…” Vess sighs. “I don’t know. It might be possible? A bunch of people did travel through Paradox Space for three years to escape to another Medium after the last one blew up, but… It’s a lot. There’s literally countless timelines and god knows how many Mediums and bubbles floating around in Paradox space that have existed for millennia and the fact that we’re here at all is actually terrifying.”

“If it means anything, I don’t feel that we’re very far from the last land we visited.” Styx speaks up at the front of the boat. “In fact, it wouldn’t take much at all to return there. Within the confines of this universe, these two worlds could be lightyears away, but as far as the Void is concerned, they’re a stone’s toss away.”

“So…” Susie tries her best to wrap her head around everything. “Even though the two places Vess went to are in completely different multiverses or whatever, since it’s still the same comic book, we can go wherever we want in it easily?”

“Don’t hurt yourself Susie.” Catti scoffs. “I can hear the gears grinding from here.”

“I believe she’s making a fair point.” Styx says. “There are dozens of paths down this bend in the River. They’re all connected, and thus, easy to reach.”

“Ha, see?” Susie barks smugly. “I know what’s up.”

“Yeah, sure.” Catti shakes her head, not at all impressed with her theory. Susie didn’t care much for her opinion anyways. Turning to Vess and Kris, both of them were simmering on her idea.

“I guess it helps give us some sense of structure and stability in this absolute mess we’ve found ourselves in.” Vess sighs, running their hands through their stupidly long hair. “It doesn’t explain how these places exist as real physical places and not just fiction, but baby steps I guess.”

“So, this place is really cool and all, but what exactly are we doing out here again?” Kris asks at the back of the boat, still staring off at the rolling hills of sugar and towering teapots. “Are we looking for anything specific? Can we hop off the boat and screw around for a minute? Are we just kinda going wherever, taking in the sights and the existential dread and then going home?”

“We’re…” Vess takes another moment to think that question over. “I don’t think there’s anything specific we’re doing this time.” They eventually shake their head. “Susie’s already made a pretty good observation so far, so maybe we just gotta keep going to slowly learn more about what’s going on.”

“Think of this as a fun excursion into the unknown.” Catti shrugs, reaching for her side only to pat down on nothing. “Oh dammit, I didn’t keep my satchel. I guess I’m just gonna have to fill my pockets with this stuff.”

“Why would you fill your pockets with sugar?” Susie asks as Catti leans over the edge.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Catti immediately snaps back, refusing to be helpful or considerate.

“I don’t know, it’d be pretty cool to make something using alternate dimension alien planet sugar.” Kris says. Once that idea is put into her head, Susie turns to do the same, reaching out to try and get a fistful of sugar. Susie isn’t sure how much traditional baking Ralsei does anymore, but he’d probably want to make a cake out of moon sugar. Better yet, she can save the alien sugar for herself for the next thing she tries to bake.

“Shall we move on to someplace new?” Styx asks. “This place is quite pleasant, but I’m sure you’re eager to see where else the river will take us.”

“So you said that there are other ‘bends’ in the river, right?” Kris asks. “Ones that take us to places completely different from here? If we’re gonna get the most out of this trip, we should try to branch out as far as possible, as long as we can get back safely.”

“Do not worry, Kris.” Styx nods. “I’m fond of taking the scenic route, but I always reach my passengers’ destination.”

“Full speed into wherever then!” Susie declares, stuffing a fistful of sugar into her pocket and licking off the excess that clings to her hand. To her disappointment, the boat doesn’t go any faster and continues at its slow and steady pace, gently floating downstream. After a few seconds of nothing, Susie turns her attention to Kris to kill time until the jump. “So, enjoying our first adventure since the reset stuff?”

“Surprisingly, yeah.” Kris nods. “Vess is freaking out because of the whole fictional world thing, but I guess that doesn’t really apply to us. These are all just cool alien worlds we get to see.”

“I mean, it’s kinda scary.” Susie says. “It kinda makes me feel… I dunno, tiny? Like, we went through hell and back and saved the world and all of that, but there’s like a million worlds out here now and… I mean, did any of our stuff really matter if all this exists?”

“Are you just now coming to terms with your own insignificance?” Catti asks from the front of the boat. “How has this not happened already? You did learn the secret of our existence, right? Our whole world’s a simulation, literally nothing matters.”

“We’re different.” Susie counters. “Vess said so, we aren’t just in a game, we’re way past that point. Seeing all this stuff just means we’re not the only ones who are different and that’s what’s getting to me.”

“You’re so backwards, I swear.” Catti shakes her head. “This is taking a while, by the way.”

“My apologies.” Styx hums. “We’re drifting out further than normal. It is nothing to worry about, it should only take us a while longer.”

“Well hey, since we got the time, Catti.” Kris points a finger towards Catti. “Fess up, how do we teleport? We know the secrets of the universe, you have to tell us now.”

“That’s not all you need.” Catti groans. “You also have to possess magical abilities to channel the Void with.”

“I got magic powers.” Kris says. "I can shoot little hearts out of my fingers when I point at people." Kris tries to demonstrate this by turning to Vess and shooting finger guns at them, but outside of the dark Barrier, nothing happens.

“Does that… do anything?” Catti asks with some confusion.

“I dunno.” Kris shrugs. “But I can't do it now, so it has to be magical, right? Pew pew.” Kris continues to shoot finger guns at everyone.

“I guess that’s something.” Catti sighs, turning to Susie. “You?”

“Healing magic!” Susie announces. “I got really good at it too. I’ve begged Kris’ parents to teach me how to shoot fireballs, but Ms. Toriel’s a killjoy.”

“Vess?” Catti turns to Vess for an explanation of their magic powers, but after a moment, Vess scratches their head.

“I’m not sure if I have any.” They say, looking down at their hands. “The closest thing I had to magic powers was the reset, but that wasn’t really unique to me and it’s gone now. I have an absurd amount of Determination, but I don’t really know how much good that does me.”

“You’re like the weirdest out of all of us. You don’t have magic powers?” Kris boggles. “Sucks to suck. Guess you don’t get to teleport.” Vess looks a little dejected as Kris returns their attention to Catti. “So, what’s the secret? How do I teleport?”

“Alright, try to keep up.” Catti finally relents, sitting up to share her wisdom. “Sans is the one who taught me all of this, so I’m using his explanations and terminology for all of this. The first thing that you need to wrap your head around is that this simulation isn’t seamless. He says that the whole world can be split up into little chunks of sorts, and each unique location is its own chunk. The borders of these chunks can be manipulated if you know what you’re doing to let you walk through a border which would take you from one part of town, and trick the simulation into spitting you out of a completely different border.”

“So… are these chunks like loading screens in a video game?” Susie asks. “In Dragon Blazers, each district of the capital city is treated like its own room, and to get inside any houses, you gotta open the door and go through a loading screen before you can look around inside.”

“So you’re wrong warping!” Kris blurts out! “These loading gates have instructions that search for where you are and determine where you’re supposed to go from there. If you mess with enough variables you can manipulate the game into taking you places you shouldn’t be.”

“Why am I friends with so many nerds…” Catti sighs. “As much as I hate to admit it, that’s actually a really good explanation. Say I walk through the front door of your house. That door acts as the barrier or loading screen between your front lawn and your living room. Those places have coordinates associated with them, but if you’ve been around and you have the power and mental knowledge necessary to alter those coordinates, instead of walking into the house, you could walk through the door and find yourself at the park instead.”

“So that’s why we needed to know the ’secrets of the universe’ before we could learn this. It would have given away we were in a game.” Kris deduces.

“And how do you learn these coordinates?” Vess asks. “Are you opening up some kind of debug menu or something?”

“You just get a feel for them.” Catti says. “Once you know what’s going on and how the world actually works, you’re able to deduce what locations count as their own chunks and where those borders are. I’m very familiar with the river we all met up at, so all I really need to do is picture that location in my mind and the exact location I want to appear in. After that, I simply walk towards a border and magically will myself into that position.”

“How did you get to the Waterfalls then?” Vess asks. “It sounds like you need to know where you’re going to teleport, but you managed to jump to a completely different reality.”

“You simply let the river take you.” Styx speaks up at the front of the boat. “I believe I’m familiar with these shortcuts you’re speaking of and I follow the same principle. I simply picture myself somewhere else, but thanks to the river and its closeness to the Void, somewhere else could be anything. Speaking of…”

In the blink of an eye, the bright skies of the Land of Little Cubes And Tea vanish, plunging everyone into darkness. Kris gasps in shock, their hands suddenly reaching out and grabbing hold of Susie. Susie herself startles for a moment, but after a couple of seconds, her eyes start to adjust to the sudden loss of light and she realizes that it’s simply nighttime where they are now and not completely black.

“Any idea where this is?” Catti asks, seemingly having no problems at all taking a look around their new environment.

The overwhelmingly sweet scent in the air was gone now, and as far as Susie can tell, the river was just water again. Rubbing her eyes, she squints up to find that regular looking stars hung overhead instead of golden celestial bodies. A thick fog lingers in the air all around them. The river they were floating down was pretty wide with tall trees bordering it. Obstructing Susie’s view of the stars, there’s a lot of light coming from over the trees, likely from some kind of city.

Oh shit, are they gonna actually meet some interdimensional aliens?!

“I’m… not getting anything.” Vess shakes their head. “This looks like a regular stretch of woods. A creepy one at that.”

“So… is this it?” Kris asks, looking around a little frantically. “I was expecting something a little crazier, considering we just came from an alien planet made of sugar. This is lame.”

“I mean, there’s an infinite amount of worlds, there’s gotta be some that are just normal like ours.” Susie shrugs.

“Yeah, but if this is just some regular world, then that throws my theory that all of these places are connected in the garbage.” Vess shakes their head. “This has to be some place that Toby is familiar with.”

“I assure you, this place is not as ordinary as you think.” Styx calls back. “I also recommend you keep all limbs inside the boat, I’m having difficulty in these waters.” Susie wasn’t planning on reaching overboard again, but hearing Styx’s warning causes her to scoot closer to the center of the boat. What was wrong with the water? Were there sharks or something in there? Piranhas?

“What are the chances that this is your world?” Catti asks Vess, unbothered by Styx’s warning. “You think that these places are all connected to Toby, but he lives in your world too, right? Wouldn’t that mean that your world is also technically connected.”

“Yeah, but…” Vess groans. “I don’t know, I’m going off the assumption that all of these places are connected because they inspired or were directly created by Toby. Like, maybe all of this is in his head and… I don’t know.”

“But that would mean you’re fake too since you’re here in these fake places in his head.” Catti counters. “What if your world is just another weird project of his and he just self inserted himself into it. What if Toby isn’t actually real and he’s just another character? What if there’s some even higher being at play who created Toby who just so happens to be a fan or the creator of all the things this new higher power came up with?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Susie asks once the nonsense Catti was spitting becomes too much to handle.

“I think you’re making things a lot more complicated than it actually is.” Kris nods in agreement at her side.

“Look, I refuse to believe that we’re just video game characters made by some guy named Toby.” Catti grumbles. “It’s genuinely more appealing to me if there are greater layers to all of this. It also makes more sense. You really think some video game developer is able to create some kind of pocket dimension that can somehow access other universes that you believe are works of fiction?”

“I don’t know?! Maybe?!” Vess shrugs. “I literally know nothing anymore. I all understand is a guy named Toby Fox made the game you and Sans come from and has at least some passing connection to the worlds we visited. If Toby isn’t involved in this stuff somehow, there’s no understandable explanation for all of this, no matter how dumb and out there my theory is.”

They really were completely clueless to what was going on, weren’t they? The more these two talked, Susie was becoming more and more convinced that whatever was going on was WAY beyond anyone’s comprehension.

“Excuse me.” Styx speaks up and everyone turns to look at them, but with some shock, everyone realizes that they aren’t talking to anyone on the boat, but someone else entirely. “Excuse me ma'am, you are blocking the way.”

Inching towards the front of the boat and still cautious around the water, Susie tries her best to lean over to get a look at what’s going on. Parked right in front of them was another boat, bobbing perpendicularly to theirs and in their direct path. It was a decently sized rowboat, not too dissimilar to theirs, but there was only one passenger on this boat. Dozing and resting her head against one of the seats, a red headed woman snores away in the middle of the river, clutching a massive scythe that looked to be just as big as she was close to her.

“Should we be trying to wake someone who carries something like that around up?” Kris asks with some concern, eyeing the massive weapon on the other boat.

“I still have no idea what this is.” Vess whispers beside everyone. “It’s probably something Toby’s familiar with that I never got into. Kinda sucks that the first person we see is someone I don’t recognize.”

“Do we just push her over?” Susie asks.

“That’d be quite rude.” Styx shakes their head, attempting to wake the woman up again. “Excuse me, ma’am, may you please make way for us?”

“Jus…” The woman groans, curling over on the boat. “Just a couple more minutes…”

“We’re kinda stuck here unless you move.” Catti insists. “We don’t exactly have a paddle to help us get around.”

“Ugh…” With an annoyed groan, the woman tries to sit up, stretching her arms out before turning bleary eyed towards them. She tilts her head and stares at them for a couple seconds, before her eyes suddenly shoot wide with alarm. “Wait a minute?! How are you… None of you are… What’s going on?!”

“Uh…” Susie looks to everyone else for help. Did they do something wrong? They didn’t accidentally teleport onto private property or something did they?

“Only spirits of the dead are supposed to be able to cross the river!” The woman insists, squinting inquisitively at everyone on board. “All of you look pretty alive to me, ‘cept for you.” She glares at Styx. “Shoot! Is Lady Eiki replacing me?! You’re not a Shinigami, are you?!”

“I am simply passing through.” Styx is quick to assure her. “I am just a ferryman helping my passengers explore the waters nearby. I am sorry if I am intruding.”

“Well I’m a ferryman too, but this isn’t just any river.” The woman shakes her head. “This is the Sanzu river you dummy! Mortals aren’t even supposed to travel these waters, your boat should have been swallowed up the moment you even tried!”

“Sorry, did you just say you were a Shinigami?!” Catti asks with some surprise.

“Oh, of course you’d know what that is.” Kris shakes their head, but they’re just as surprised as she is. Susie has absolutely no idea what that is, but knowing these two nerds, she was probably going to learn whether she liked it or not. Catti’s outburst earns her the attention of the strange woman who’s now leaning over her boat to get a better look at everyone on board. Susie’s eyes remain on the large scythe in the woman’s hand.

“You don’t look like spirited away travelers either…” She hums. “You’re something entirely different, aren’t you?”

“What happens if we say yes?” Kris asks at the back of the boat. Susie wasn’t even paying attention to them, but looking back now, they looked incredibly anxious. Looking down, she realizes their hand was resting on one of their pockets. Did Kris still carry a knife with them? Would a knife do anything to help against that big ass scythe?

Thankfully, things don’t come to that as the woman lets out a chuckle. “Well hey, if you all have a death wish and want to keep sailing down the river, be my guest. If you make it all the way to Higan, I guess you’ll have done my job for me.” Standing up straight, the woman rocks her boat and helps clear the way for them. “As long as you didn’t punch a hole in the Barrier or something, I got no problem with you floating around I guess. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you though. But hey, if the river finally gets the memo and drags you all to a watery grave, you’ll get to hang out with me a little longer.”

“Sorry to disturb your nap.” Styx apologizes. “We’ll be on our way now, though I may have to return on my own time to speak with a fellow ferryman.”

“I’ll look forward to it!” The woman nods. “Most of the dead folk I take down the river are real downers. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m still on break and I’d like to get some shut eye before I gotta get back to work.”

“Very well.” Styx nods. “I’ll see you again soon, miss…”

“Komachi!” The woman introduces herself. “And take your time. Once you kick the bucket, you’ll be seeing me again eventually anyways, so there’s no rush!”

Leaving the strange scythe wielding woman behind, Styx continues to float down the river unimpeded. While they continue their sailing, everyone in the back stares at each other in shared confusion and worry.

“So we really shouldn’t be in these waters, huh?” Kris says, peering over the side of the boat.

“From the sounds of it, we’re currently sailing whatever counts for the river Styx in this world.” Catti deduces, earning the attention of the Riverperson bearing the same name. “Oh, not you, the river we named you after.”

“So does that mean that we just saw the Grim Reaper?” Susie asks, looking back to find the woman was already lounging back on her boat and trying to drift off again.

“A Shinigami.” Catti says, repeating that same nonsense word. “Though… technically Shinigami don’t exist in any actual folklore or myths and are basically just fictional Japanese versions of the Grim Reaper, so yeah, I guess you got it right.” Catti sounds almost disappointed, irritated that Susie managed to correctly guess what was going on. Susie was surprising herself at this point, she had absolutely no idea what was going on, but apparently she was smarter than she thought.

“So, Vess.” Susie turns to address someone else. “Do you have any idea who she was or what this place could be?”

“Maybe?” They shrug, not sounding sure of themself. “Maybe this is a Touhou thing? I never got into it, but I listened to some of the music that came out of the series. Toby’s a big fan too, so I guess we’re still on the right track with that theory.”

“So is anyone else coming to the same conclusion that we just met a real life anime girl?” Kris asks. “The crazy hair, her lugging around that scythe like it was nothing?”

“She did look a lot like the characters from those shows Alphys would suggest at the library all the time.” Susie nods her head. “So Vess has been inside video games, comic books, and now anime? Is there anything we’re missing? A TV show? A regular book?”

“I don’t know everything about Toby to tell where we could go next.” Vess shrugs.

“With how much you already knew about him, I thought otherwise.” Catti comments at their side.

“There’s Earthbound, probably some other old obscure rpg games he grew up with, but it’s not like I personally know him.” Vess continues. “And this is all still under the assumption that this is all connected to Toby and the three distinct universes he took inspiration from that we visited aren’t all coincidences.”

“The Void is a mysterious and fickle thing.” Styx comments at the front of the boat. “Perhaps it is leading us somewhere, giving us clues as to the true meaning behind these worlds. Though, it is just as likely that there is no pattern or throughline to be found at all and your knowledge of these worlds is just as you said, a coincidence.”

“So is there even a chance we can find definitive proof out here?” Susie asks. “We could probably go to ten different worlds and unless you know every single one of them and know that Toby likes all of them, there’s no real way to tell. If you don’t know even one world, that one world could completely take apart your theory.” Susie’s suggestion earns frustrated groans out of Vess and Catti. It was starting to settle in just how in over their heads they all were.

“To be fair, I’ve kinda been dissociating ever since I got on this boat.” Kris speaks up, not at all bothered by the confusing conversation everyone else was having. “I’m taking a page from Sans’ book here and just refusing to think about this stuff anymore. You’d all probably have more fun with this ride if you did the same. Also, when are we getting off the death river? The anime girl back there made it pretty clear that this was not a good place to be.”

“I’ve already been working on it.” Styx assures. “Though, once again, it’s taking longer than expected. The waters aren’t usually this harsh.”

“Is that a problem?” Catti asks.

“I’m not sure…” Styx answers, putting a pang of worry into Susie’s heart. “I don’t usually have this much difficulty. It isn’t the waters themselves, though this river is giving me a tad of trouble. Perhaps it’s just been a while since I had so many passengers and you’re weighing me down?” At that suggestion, Catti turns to look at Susie.

“The fuck’s that look for?!” Susie barks. “If anyone’s weighing us down, it’s your fat ass!”

“Now now, there’s no need for that!” Styx pleads with them. “It’s just a short delay, we should be arriving at our next destination in just a moment. I must ask you to refrain from raising your voices at each other. We are all friends here.”

“Eh, I only really got one friend on this boat.” Catti shrugs. “Vess is an acquaintance at best. Actually, scratch that. Two friends, you’re cool too.”

“Thank you.” Styx hums. “Now brace yourselves, we’re about to cross.”

Grumbling in frustration, Susie closes her eyes and braces herself for the jump, not wanting to be caught completely off guard when they suddenly teleport. Patiently waiting and tapping her finger, she feels a shift in the air as the humidity and mist vanishes. Opening her eyes again, she freezes once she realizes what she’s seeing.

Nothing. It’s dark.

Her eyes didn’t need time to adjust, it wasn’t just dark outside wherever they were, it was pitch black all around the boat, though she could still see everyone on the boat just fine. There were no stars in the sky, no sounds in the distance, just nothing for miles. There was only one place that this could be, and as soon as she knew where she was, she turned her attention to Kris immediately.

They were completely stunned, their eyes wide and breaths shallow as they realized they were back in the Void again.

“Shit!” Susie quickly scrambles over to Kris, grabbing hold of them and hugging them tightly as they start to hyperventilate. “Deep breaths, Kris! Deep breaths.” They squeezed their eyes shut, bringing their arms up to cover their ears and curl up in her arms. Their skin was already clammy with sweat as they clung onto Susie for dear life.

“OUT!” They sputter out in between sporadic gasps for air. “GET ME OUT!”

“Do not fret!” Styx calls back, trying to calm everyone down, though they can hardly be heard through Kris’ panicked breathing. “There is nothing to fear! This is not the true Void, simply a barren, empty world. We still have a way to escape from here and get you all home.”

“Then hurry out of here already!” Susie demands, feeling panic ebb away at her own mind as Kris trembles uncontrollably in her arms.

“What’s going on with Kris?!” Catti asks in alarm.

“We just gotta get them home, right now!” Susie tells her, giving Kris another assuring squeeze. “Just keep your eyes closed and take deep breaths, Kris. Styx is getting us out.” Kris holds her tight, still breathing heavily but trying it back into a steady rhythm. Catti is now hovering close by as well, shock and worry now etched into her typically smug and contemptuous face. Vess stays close too, but their attention is focused more on the Void around them than on Kris.

“Styx, you said this isn’t the Void?” They ask, still trying to learn what they can.

“Correct.” Styx nods. “I’ve seen a couple of places like this. They aren’t truly Void as they aren’t always empty. We still have a river to traverse, meaning this place must have a beginning and end. We should be out of here in only a few seconds.”

“Why does this place exist though?” Vess continues to press. Susie was curious as well, but keeping Kris company and stable was more important than asking questions right now. “Why is there just a space of absolutely nothing but a river for us to boat down? This isn’t a fully fleshed out world, this is nothing.”

“I do not know.” Styx answers. “I’ve traveled these waters for longer than I can remember, but I do not have the answers for everything. We may explore again some other time, but your friends seem adamant that they want to go home.”

“Yeah, sooner than later please.” Susie nods. “Just a bit longer, Kris. Don’t worry.”

“Get me out right the fuck now!” Kris huffs, doing way better than they were before but still drowning in panic. “Everyone just shut up and get me home!” Susie just continues to hold them, unsure of what else she can do to try and help. Once they made it back, she was gonna drag them to one of the boys, Berdly or Ralsei, whichever one she can reach first. They’ll know how to make them better.

“Is…” Catti speaks up, earning a glare out of Susie, but Catti’s attention is elsewhere. “Is that a dog?”

Turning her head in the same direction as Catti’s, sure enough, they aren’t alone in this black Void. Sitting not too far from the boat was a little ball of white fur, two beady black eyes staring back at them. Susie isn’t sure what breed of dog it is, but the fact that it exists out here at all is enough to leave her completely baffled.

“YOU!” Without warning, Vess stands up beside her, pointing at the dog accusingly. Almost immediately, the dog yips out in surprise and turns to run into the darkness.

To Susie’s absolute horror and confusion, Vess leaps off of the boat to give chase.

“Get back here!” Vess calls after the dog, hitting the ground running and trying to get the furry little beast to slow down. “You’re going to tell me what’s going on!”

“Vess!? What the fuck are you do-” Susie calls out for Vess, dumbfounded by their sudden interest in some random dog, but before she can even finish yelling at them, she finds herself back home. All at once, the darkness in front of her where Vess was only a moment ago was replaced with snow and trees.

“Oh… no…”

Chapter Text

Returning to Castle town with Noelle and Berdly, Ralsei was surprised to find that Carol was already waiting for him as well as Dess. Carol brought along a handful of documents for him to sign, but after that, she told him that he could have the day off. Ralsei assured her that he could still help with her work, but after hearing about the date he had planned and how work was getting in the way of things, she wanted to give him a little time off. It’s not like he was actually contracted or accounted for in any official records, so technically he wasn’t registered as a government employee. He shouldn’t be working at all, but Carol was grateful for his help and wanted to repay him with a short break before returning to work the next day.

With a stack of paperwork dropped off, Carol left the castle, wishing her daughters well before returning to her work. Berdly wandered home after dropping the camping supplies off while Noelle stayed behind to help Ralsei. Getting free time again after so much work was an exciting prospect, especially now that he had a full-fledged romantic partner to spend it with, but once Dess heard that he had gone on a date, the next several minutes were spent reluctantly sharing details with the very curious Bard.

“Come on!” She pleaded. “I wanna know how my favorite little guy did on his first date! Who’s the lucky someone? What all did you get up to?”

“Susie set up a group camping trip for all of us.” Noelle explains as she continues to stash away the camping supplies with Ralsei, thankfully sparing him from having to detail everything himself. “Kris and Susie apparently had this whole plan set up to get Vess paired up with Ralsei. Ralsei even coordinated this whole little speech to build up to his first kiss. You should have seen it, it was straight out of a love story.”

“Yeah, it was great.” Ralsei says with a bit of a blush. That first kiss would live in his memories forever, and without Kris and Susie here to constantly tease and prod him, he finds that he doesn’t actually mind sharing some of those details. He had nothing to be ashamed of, he loved his Princess and wanted everyone to know. “Susie talked with me the night before and said she had a fun idea for stories we could all share by the fire and she thought I could use it to get my first kiss. She started asking everyone when they had their first kiss and when it came to my turn, I tried to talk about the camping trip we were all on as if it had already happened and it was when I had my first kiss. I didn’t even have the nerve to finish it, but… Vess made the story come true anyways.”

“Oh my god! That’s adorable!” Dess laughs, giving Ralsei a light punch on the arm before suddenly leaning in close. “You two do anything after that?”

Ralsei felt his heart skip a beat. “W-well…” He couldn’t rely on Noelle to explain anything past his first kiss for him, she didn’t know about anything past that. Not wanting to linger on the topic for too long, he tries to divert her attention. “It was a great night.” He says, not going into any more detail than that. “I’ve been crushing on them for a while now and they’ve apparently liked me for way longer but didn’t think it could work. I think we’re both still a little worried about how this will work out, but after that first kiss, I don’t think either of us had any problems keeping things going. I love them, and they told me plenty that they love me.”

“God, that’s so adorable.” Dess ruffled his hair. “Noelle said that your first kiss was straight out of a love story. Do you read those? You got any recommendations?”

“Oh! I do have a pretty big collection of books here at the castle if you want to borrow some.” Ralsei nods, stashing away the tent he slept in last night before turning to face Dess. “Susie said the same thing after it happened and wanted to know what I’ve been reading. I suggested that we could all do a book club to spend more time together. I have a few favorites and-”

“Well, there was this one book that was brought up during the date.” Noelle says behind Dess as she finishes putting away the rest of her things with a smirk. Ralsei stares at her in absolute betrayal. He would expect this from a notorious trickster like Kris and Susie certainly isn’t opposed to teasing him, but Noelle too?

“Forget about the books for now.” Dess waves the question away, sparing Ralsei from having more people find out about his guilty pleasure. “So tell me, You spent a night all alone with Vess in a tent? Did anything happen between you while you had your privacy?” On second thought, Noelle talking about his books was preferable to this.

“Well, um…” Ralsei mumbles, feeling his face burn up. “We uh… talked a bunch, mostly about personal stuff. Vess is gonna be going back home in a few days and we wanted to discuss how that’d affect our relationship and-”

“I don’t mean that boring stuff.” Dess shakes her head. “I want the juicy stuff. Did you two get up to anything crazy? If I had someone like Vess right in front me sharing a tent, I certainly wouldn’t go right to bed.” Ralsei felt his heart pound in his chest. He’s a terrible liar, so he knows that if he tries to deny anything happened she’d catch on immediately. He considers simply admitting to what happened, but he knows Dess, that wouldn’t be enough for her, she’d want details. Gosh, what does he do?

“You know, the more questions you ask, the more I’m convinced you have a thing for Vess and you’re trying to date them vicariously through Ralsei.” Noelle accuses her sister, drawing attention away from Ralsei again.

“And I already told you that I wasn’t interested in them like that and that I could appreciate the fact that they looked absolutely gorgeous without being gay!” Dess turns her attention away from Ralsei to argue with her little sister, sparing Ralsei for just a while longer. Just thinking back on what happened last night was enough to get his heart racing and to cloud his thoughts as he loses himself in those memories. It felt almost blasphemous to share their most private and intimate moments with someone else. He wanted every kiss, every touch, every memory of his beautiful Princess to be his and his alone.

He wanted to make more memories like that. Vess wouldn’t be here forever. They’d stick around for a few more days, but they’d be going home before long and who knows when they’d be back. With the news that he wouldn’t have to work for the rest of the day once all this paperwork was signed, he intended to spend that time with Vess, to get as much of them as he can before they inevitably leave.

As the Holiday’s continue to argue back and forth, Ralsei’s mind wanders, pulling away from his memories of last night to wonder what he’d do tonight. Everyone just went on a huge date together, but he already wants to go on another one, just him and Vess. He had daydreamed about potential dates in the past, but while those old daydreams were dismissed for being too showy or way out of his comfort zone, thinking back on them now, he feels like he could actually pull some of them off. They could ride down the tunnel of love in Queen’s manor again, sharing a kiss just before the camera goes off at the end to keep as a memento. Maybe he could take them out to a fancy dinner, he still had his tux the Swatchlings gave him for his short time as a butler in the manor. Maybe instead of a suit, he could find a nice dress. Vess called him cute all the time, and while he looked sharp in that tux, he’d look even cuter in a dress. Better yet… Maybe he should get them a dress! They wanted to be called Princess, but a Princess needs a beautiful dress. Just the thought of them wearing a dress made his heart do flip flops in his chest and-

“Ralsei!”

He’s pulled out of his daydreaming when he realizes someone’s trying to get his attention. He shakes his head and tries to focus on Dess again, but to his confusion, she looks incredibly concerned.

“Ralsei, what are you doing?! Get out here!” She shouts at him, kicking him into full alert. “I don’t know what’s going on, but Kris needs you!”

“W-wha?!” Kris was here? Was everyone back already? Hurrying out of the storage closet and following after Dess, he quickly makes his way towards the main hall. Once there, the surge of pure dead that hits him almost throws him to the floor.

Clinging desperately to Catti and struggling to breathe was Kris, tears streaming down their cheeks as they closed their eyes and shook their head. Catti was looking to Ralsei for help to make them better, and Ralsei wasted no time rushing forward to take Kris from her, but he couldn’t help but notice that the others weren’t here. Where was Susie, where was Vess? What did this to Kris and why wasn’t anyone else able to help?

“Kris!” Ralsei quickly buried the rising worries to focus on the immediate problem, wrapping his arms around Kris and gently taking them both to the floor, hugging them tight. “Kris? What’s wrong? Are you alright? Do you need anything?”

“Can I open my eyes?!” They gasp out. “Where am I? Am I back home?”

“Kris, we’ve been back for a while now, snap out of it!” Catti snaps at them. Ralsei turned to glare at her, but it’s clear that she doesn’t know what’s going on either. Even then, shouting would only make things worse.

“You’re back at Castle Town.” Ralsei assures Kris quietly and gently. “You’re safe at home and surrounded by friends. You can open your eyes.”

After a moment of hesitation, Kris finally opens their eyes, quickly scanning the room to confirm that they were back home. Tears were still streaming down their cheeks and Ralsei could feel how hard their heart was pounding in their chest with how close they were to him. Their sporadic, rapid breaths start to slow down as they gasp for breath between sobs, but the panic doesn’t go away just yet.

“Susie?!” They call out, looking around the room again. “Where’s Susie?!”

“Back at the boat.” Catti tells them. “She’s still with Styx trying to figure out what to do.”

“And Vess?!” Kris asks next, and Ralsei’s heart immediately sinks. “What happened?! I didn’t see what happened. Was he there?! Did he take them?!” Ralsei turns his head to Catti for answers, feeling himself break out into a cold sweat as his worst fears seem to be coming true.

“I don’t know?!” Catti shook her head. “There was a dog or something out there and Vess just jumped off the boat like a fucking idiot! Styx moved on before they realized that they were short a passenger and now we don’t know where the hell they are.”

Kris doesn’t take the news well, but Ralsei takes it even worse. His ears start ringing and focus starts to slip from him. There was probably a way to fix this, there had to be, but the mere thought that they could be lost forever shook him to his core. This… That couldn’t be it, could it? It couldn’t be over so soon!

“Hey! Ralsei!” Snapping him back to attention, Dess jostles him slightly. “We’re gonna get them back, alright? They helped pull me and Kris out of the Void and came back to life. They’re probably already on their way back, you’ll see them again, don’t worry.”

There was no doubt in her voice. She herself saw Vess as this perfect Angel capable of performing miracles and Ralsei believed that too. They’ve been through worse, but still, he couldn’t help but worry. He was devastated when he learned that Kris had vanished all those months ago, and imagining his Princess going through the same terrifying scenario made him so upset he wanted to throw up.

He bottles it all up for now. He just had to trust that Vess would somehow find a way back, just as they had several times now. Kris needed him and as much as panic was threatening to take him too, his need to make sure Kris was alright helped him curb that rising panic for the moment.

“I’m gonna go check back in with Susie.” Catti says, clearly uncomfortable seeing her friend break down so thoroughly. “Maybe Styx and I can head back out and search for Vess.”

Without another word, Catti vanishes, leaving Ralsei behind with Kris and the Holiday sisters. The girls don’t even acknowledge Catti’s teleportation ability and instead huddle down next to Kris, giving them constant reassurances that they were alright. Slowly but surely, their breathing goes back to normal and their heart rate slows down, but the tears don’t go away.

“God damn it…” They whine, burying their face in their arms. “Sorry I couldn’t stop them from doing something stupid like I promised, but… I couldn’t… God, I’m such a fucking mess!”

“Hey, hey!” Dess tries to cheer them up. “What are you beating yourself up for? From the sounds of it, Vess was being a dumbass. It’s not your fault.”

“I couldn’t even…” Kris continues to sputter, sucking in shaky breaths. “I was in there for only a couple seconds before I fucking broke! I didn’t even see what happened because I was so scared that… That he’d be there waiting for me and… I thought I’d be able to handle the trip but I…”

“Breathe, Kris.” Ralsei squeezes Kris tight. “I told you, he’s gone forever. He’ll never hurt you ever again, and neither will Chara.” There was no mistaking it, once they saw the Void again, all of their most horrifying memories came flooding back all at once. Even Dess has finally pieced together what happened and looked pale with terror.

That panic was mostly gone now, but Kris was still crying and shaking in Ralsei’s arms. This wasn’t a panic attack anymore, this was something much worse. Peering into Kris’ broken soul, he can see exactly what they’re feeling; self hatred and frustration. They were angry at themselves for not being able to handle seeing the Void, cursing themselves for breaking down when Vess needed help. They’ve already told him how badly they want to do something again, to go on more adventures, but with how terribly this one went, they might be thinking that those kinds of adventures aren’t in the books for them anymore.

It was a problem that Ralsei couldn’t fix or hug better. The panic attacks are bad enough, but Kris is kicking themselves for having them in the first place…

“You’ll get better, Kris.” Having been in a stunned silence for most of the ordeal, Noelle suddenly speaks up, kneeling down beside Kris. “The panic never really goes away, but you’ll learn to push through it eventually, to keep going no matter how much you think you can’t. I don’t know what all happened to you in the Void, and I still freeze up too over things that probably aren’t as bad, but it gets better.”

Noelle’s words reach Kris, and after a moment, the crying dies down to an occasional sob as Kris finally calms down. Tensions were still high all around though as Vess was still missing, and now that Kris was stable, Ralsei’s own worries were starting to surface.

“Will they be alright out there?” Ralsei asks, not wanting to pry into Kris and Dess’ worst memories immediately after Kris’ panic attack, but his desperation overrides his common sense.

“I think so.” Dess nods. “Nothing can happen to them out there, even if they aren’t alone. We were completely unable to interact with each other during our stay. I doubt they broke anything or lost their soul out there, so maybe they’re still physical, but anything that could be stuck out there with them wouldn’t be.”

“They’ll still try though…” Kris mumbles. “They can’t hurt you, but they’ll try, and you’ll always flinch even though you know you won’t feel it.”

“I told you, they’re gone forever!” Ralsei repeats. “Chara, the Lightbringer, Gaster, none of them will ever bother us again, nor will they bother Vess out there!” Ralsei didn’t know that for sure, all this Void nonsense was making him question things, but he prayed that he was correct.

“Did Catti say there was a dog out there?” Dess asks, remembering a comment Catti made before she left.

“I… I think?” Kris says, finally clawing their way out of their horrible memories. “I didn’t see anything, but I think I heard a little bark before Vess started yelling at it.”

“Maybe a little dog got lost?” Noelle guesses. “That wouldn’t be so bad, right? They’re stuck, but at least they have a cute dog to keep them company.”

“Shit, if I had a dog out there with me, I’d be way more mentally put together.” Dess says, only to break into a frown a second later. “Wait, no. I wouldn’t be able to pet it because I’d be incorporeal. Nevermind, having a dog that I can’t pet would make things even worse.”

“Don’t say that!” Ralsei whines.

“Yeah, my bad, sorry.” Dess says, lowering her head in shame. “Man, I feel bad about bringing them up and asking so many questions about your date now. You spent all night together and now this happens?” Ralsei lowers his head, his heart heavy in his chest. They’d be back, they had to. They’ve gone through so much for everyone’s sake and getting lost is probably just a minor setback for them. They promised they’d be back. Still though, it breaks his heart to know that they could be all alone out there with no one to help, afraid in the dark just like Kris and Dess were.

Cutting through the depressed silence, a light chuckle escapes out of Kris. “Did you get him to actually tell you anything?” They ask, leaving everyone else confused until they look up to Dess. “Did Ralsei give you any details?”

“Kris…” Ralsei grumbles, feeling a smile creep onto his face. They still look completely drained and shaken, but for now, his reaction has put a smile on their tear stained face. Maybe he can put up with their teasing for a while if it helps cheer them up.

“We talked about the date, but Dess has been trying to see if they got up to anything while they were alone.” Noelle sighs, trying to smother the smile trying to form on her face.

“Like he’d tell you any of that.” Kris forces out a laugh, but that gives Ralsei a jolt. Did they… Well, he supposes they all did set this up for him, but they couldn’t know for sure, right?

“So something did happen last night?” Dess quickly picks up that Kris seems to know something, but for once, Kris decides to spare Ralsei.

“Don’t worry about it.” They shake their head. “It’s his business and if he wants to share it, it’s on him.”

Ralsei feels a deep blush form on his cheeks. They definitely knew, but common decency and or their lingering dread kept them from sharing his private secrets. Kris lets out a cruel chuckle at his reaction, but it doesn’t last, and in the silence that follows, Ralsei feels a bubbling anxiety build up within him. He can see the same restlessness in Kris too. How could they be sitting around laughing when Vess was missing?

Kris was in no condition to go though. Even now they still shook slightly and bringing them back to the river would only make things worse for them, no matter how much they wanted to help. Ralsei wanted to leap into action too, but what could he do? He couldn’t leave this world or else the lack of Dark Magic would take him out. Finding Vess, a moving flesh and blood person, had to be a lot easier than searching for a plastic headband lying on the ground.

He couldn’t sit here and do nothing though, he needed to do something. He needed to save Vess, just like in all of his stories about heroic nights braving danger to save the beautiful Princess’ from evil.

“I’m going to go out and look for Susie.” Ralsei declares, standing up off the floor and brushing himself off. “Will you all be alright here?”

“Go ahead.” Kris sighs. “I probably wouldn’t be much help anyways.”

“Hey, none of that!” Dess barks. “We’re all a little fucked in the head after everything that went down. You don’t get to beat yourself up for something anyone would freak out over.”

“We’ll keep watch here in case you miss Susie on her way back.” Noelle tells Ralsei. “I’m… I don’t actually know where Catti came from or even where she went. Maybe she’ll come back with Susie while you’re out.”

“Oh yeah, she can teleport.” Kris nods, still clinging onto anything other than their fear to talk about. “I’m probably not gonna get to learn any time soon though after all of this.”

“We’re going to resolve this as soon as possible.” Ralsei promises. “No one wants Vess back home more than I do. We’ll get them home safely soon, trust me.” Kris gives him a hopeful smile, letting Ralsei know that they believe him. Vess has pulled them out of all sorts of hard times, most that Ralsei himself probably didn’t even know about, but it was time for them to make a rescue.

Taking a deep breath, Ralsei opens up the front gates.

Susie sat on the boat, focusing on taking deep breaths to try and steady her heart. This was so bad! She really should have gone back with Kris to help them out, but she didn’t want to see Ralsei’s reaction. He had to be devastated over what happened.

“Again, I am terribly sorry!” Styx was still on the boat with her, parked at the river’s edge where they originally boarded.

“I know, you’ve apologized plenty already.” Susie assures. “You were just trying to get us home in a hurry like we asked. It’s not like you personally threw Vess off the boat.”

She still can’t believe how insanely stupid Vess was at that moment. What the hell possessed them to do something like that?! Was that dog their arch rival or something?! Even if it was the cutest dog in the world, the simple fact that it was in some pitch black nightmare dimension would have been enough to keep her away. Hell, they couldn’t even see the river they were riding on, Vess was lucky they landed on solid ground and didn’t sink.

“Are you sure you can’t just go back?” Susie asks Styx again, desperate for an easy solution to this problem.

“I’m afraid not.” They shake their head. “It isn’t pure Void, but there’s so little there that I cannot find it again. It is possible that circling around again could return us to the same spot, but the river’s current changes constantly. Going down the same bends could lead us somewhere else entirely.”

“Stupid, dumb, annoying ass magic river.” Susie grumbles.

“Was the Angel not responsible for releasing Dess and Kris from their prison in the Void?” Styx asks, trying to cheer her up. “I trust that they’ll find a way out eventually.”

“I mean, they didn’t do everything themselves.” Susie shakes her head. “It was a huge group effort that involved having an actual scientist with a bunch of crazy computer stuff to fish both of them out. I don’t think it’s going to be as easy this time.”

“Kris is back at the ca-”

“Fuck!” Susie flinches as Catti suddenly appears beside the boat, catching Susie by complete surprise. “God, you need a bell or something to give me a warning when you show up like that!”

“Kris is back at the castle with Ralsei.” Catti repeats herself. For once, she didn’t immediately snap back at her or throw some shade her way. She actually looked worried. “What happened to them? I’ve never seen them like that before.”

“Panic attack.” Susie answers. “They’ve been having them ever since they got back home.”

“That doesn’t sound right.” Catti shakes her head. “Nothing gets under Kris’ skin. That’s why we got along so well in the first place. Everything just bounces right off of them.”

“Then you haven’t been paying much attention to them then.” Susie says. “Ever since they got back from the Void they’ve been having problems. Hell, it’s been going on a while before then, but I’m the only one who caught on to the resets early enough to remember.

“They came by my tower a few weeks ago to gather questions to ask Vess.” Catti shakes her head. “Why wouldn’t they tell me then?”

“They don’t tell anyone.” Susie sighs. “We learn the hard way. They don’t like talking about it or even admitting that it’s a problem. Everyone at Castle Town just does what they can to get rid of the triggers and pretend everything’s fine.”

“That doesn’t sound like the right course of action.” Catti shakes her head.

“Well we’re not doctors or psychiatrists or whatever.” Susie grumbles. “We’re just trying our best. Did they look alright once they were at the castle?”

“I don’t know…” Catti says, looking incredibly anxious. “I was convinced they were dying or something. Ralsei and the Holidays were there to help and I think they calmed them down a little, but Ralsei didn’t look so good either.”

“Oh god…” Susie whines, burying her face in her hands. “Poor Ralsei. Vess told us all that he was scared of us leaving because he wouldn’t be able to do anything if something happened to us outside the Barrier. I… I don’t know if I should go to Castle Town to be there for him or if he’d want me out here doing something to get Vess back.”

Susie hated this so much. She lets out a shuddery breath, trying to hold everything in so she can focus on getting something done. She was used to disasters like this, she was used to being the one everyone depended on, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying. No one was actively getting murdered or stalked or anything, but people needed her help and she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t have resets to undo mistakes if she made the wrong choice.

“Get off the boat.” Catti suddenly speaks up, drawing Susie out of her slump. She glares up at her, wondering if this was a set up to some cruel joke or Catti telling her she’d be no help, but she didn’t see any hostility on Catti’s face. “They obviously have terrible taste in friends, but from the sounds of it, Kris and Ralsei probably want you with them. It’d only stress them out more if you went off on your own.”

Susie isn’t sure what’s going on, but she’s pretty sure this is the first time Catti’s ever been genuine with her. It was equally refreshing and distressing to have her mood shift so suddenly.

“So you admit that Kris has terrible tastes befriending you?” Susie jabs, almost instinctively.

“Just get off the damn boat.” Catti growls. “I’m trying to be nice.”

“Well you know what, for your first time, you’re doing a pretty good job.” Susie replies, standing up and hopping off the boat. “What’s the plan then? Are you running off on your own?”

“Vess helped drag me out of a world I didn’t belong in, might as well return the favor.” Catti nods. “Besides, I’m not done exploring yet. Styx!”

“Yes, Catti?” Styx turns to face her.

“You’re sticking around a little longer right? Are you willing to help me look for a few more hours?” Styx nods their head. “Alright then.” Catti nods as well. “Susie, I’m dropping you off at the castle and coming back here to search for Vess and keep exploring. The moment I find them, we’ll come back and I’ll drop them off. If not… I’ll let you all know, but I guess we’ll have to resort to older methods. Maybe break out the lens again.”

“Well shit, that’s better than anything I would have come up with.” Susie admits, though she almost immediately regrets saying something like that in front of Catti of all people. Thankfully, Catti doesn’t capitalize on it and reaches for Susie’s hand.

“Styx, we’ll be back in just a moment.” Catti says.

“I eagerly await your return.” Styx replies, kneeling down to sit and wait. Reaching out for her hand, Susie braces herself for the teleport, unsure of what to expect or how it would feel.

In the blink of an eye, they were gone.

“Get back here!”

You should have probably thought this through a little more. Once you started chasing after what can only be Toby, you realized just how hard it would be to catch him. His four tiny legs somehow carried him much farther than your two and none of your demands for him to slow down were followed.

This had to be him though! This had to be Toby! Why else would this tiny white ball of fur be staying out here in the Void? You finally found the man who had all the answers you were looking for and damn it you were going to get them! Already you were forming a list in your head for when you got your hands on him. What the hell is wrong with your game? How are you able to exist in this fictional world? Why are all these other worlds connected by the Void?

You just had to catch the speedy little bastard!

“I just want to talk!” You shout, breathing hard as your legs start to burn. Your new vessel has offered you all sorts of surprises, but evidently, it’s not nearly as athletic as your real body. You’re a little lighter on your feet, but you don’t have the endurance to keep up anymore. “Please! Come back!” You plead, trying to push yourself as hard as you can to keep pace, but Toby doesn’t slow down.

You try to lean forward to let your momentum carry you, but a sudden cramp in your leg causes you to fall. You throw your hands out to try and save yourself but with no physical ground at all beneath you, the impact catches you completely off guard, punching the air out of your chest as you sprawl out. With a triumphant bark, Toby keeps running, the sound of his paws slowly becoming more distant.

It’s safe to assume you just lost him for good.

You pant on the ground, gasping for breath and hissing out in pain as your legs continue to cramp up. As disappointing as this was and with as many questions this brought up, you held onto one shred of hope. Toby is out here. There is a way to have all your questions answered. You were unlucky this time, but if you keep searching, you should be able to learn everything you want to know.

You take a few deep breaths after riding the cramp out, pushing yourself up into a sitting position as you finish catching your breath. Looking around, Toby was nowhere to be seen. There was just darkness all around you stretching out into the non existent horizon. It takes a moment, but once you get over the fact that you couldn’t find Toby, you’re suddenly struck with the realization that you couldn’t see any of your friends either.

Did they not follow you? Did they not wait? Toby was already moving so you couldn’t waste too much time trying to explain yourself, but you figured they’d still at least be here!

You really should have thought this through more.

“Guys?!” You call out in a panic, pushing yourself up to your feet, trying to discern which direction you came from in the featureless black. Your voice doesn’t echo, there’s nothing for it to bounce off of. In this complete silence, your voice should be able to be heard for miles, but you get no shouted response back to lead you to the boat. You were lost.

You sit back down, your guts turning into lead and your heart sinking. Panic bubbles up in your chest as you take deep but shuddery breaths. This is… Well, this was unbelievably bad, but you aren’t completely screwed… you think. You weren’t sure where your friends are, but surely they would be coming back out here to look for you. And what did Styx say before you saw Toby? This wasn’t a complete Void? Maybe there’s still a way out.

You couldn’t freak out just yet, you still had options, no matter how unlikely they were to work. Even if nothing works out, you suppose there’s a much more drastic action you can take as a last resort, but you’re going to give rescue a chance before resorting to something as crazy as destroying your own vessel so you can simply reupload it to get back to Castle Town. You take a couple deep breaths, trying to still your heart and swallow your panic. You’re gonna get out of here, you’re gonna get back to Castle Town and you’re gonna return to your Prince before he gets the chance to miss you too mu-

“Hey!”

“BWAH!” Cutting through the deafening silence all around you, a voice suddenly calls out right behind you, forcing a startled scream out your throat as you try to scramble away, falling flat on your back in the process. Whipping around to find the source of the voice, you find that you’re no longer alone.

Sitting close by and staring you down with huge adorable eyes is a… thing? You were originally going to say it was a young girl, but this thing is too tiny and round to be human. It was more loaf shaped and cat like, though it resembles a person more than an animal. She wore a hoodie around her tiny body and a black cap adorned with flower designs rested on her disproportionately large head.

She didn’t seem too pleased to see you here.

“Why are you scaring my friend?!” She demands, hopping towards you. You quickly scramble backwards in response. This thing didn’t look threatening in the slightest, but the fact that she snuck up on you in the Void still had your heart racing. “You think you’re so scary?! Chasing him around and yelling at him?! What are you even doing here?! Why would you do that?!”

“I’m sorry!” You quickly blurt out, still crawling away from the weird chibi person menacingly hopping towards you. “I only wanted to talk to him, I swear!” Your mind was racing with panic, but you think you have a pretty good idea of who this is, but that only raises even more questions. “Please, Temmie, I didn’t mean to scare anyone!”

The mention of her name causes her to stop, giving you time to catch your breath as she stares at you in shock and confusion. That’s confirmation then, this is Temmie Chang. So what the hell does that mean? Is this the actual Temmie Chang, or is this another character bearing her name? You’re pretty sure Temmie in real life isn’t a two feet tall cartoon character, but then again, Toby Fox obviously isn’t a dog but you know for a fact that you were chasing Toby not too long ago. Were these vessels of theirs?

“Who are you?” Temmie asks. “We didn’t let you in here. How did you get here?” She does not press forward, giving you space to actually sit up and catch your breath. This wasn’t Toby, but she was the next best thing and from the sounds of it, she knows a lot more than you do.

“I’m Vess.” You answer. “You’re Temmie Chang and that dog I was trying to get a hold of was Toby Fox, right? I don’t exactly know how I got here and I was hoping to find someone like you to give me answers.” Temmie tilts her head, scrutinizing you and your claims. “Can you get me out of this Void? I need to get back to Castle Town to let Ralsei know I’m alright.”

“You’re from…” Temmie lights up at the mention of Castle Town, but she quickly shakes her head. “No, that isn’t right. I would know if you came from there. That also doesn’t explain how you managed to get here.”

“Where is here anyways?” You ask. “I was told that this isn’t a pure Void. How did you get here? How did Toby get out?”

“We were trying to start something new.” Temmie tells you. “Of course, we’re not going to share it with a stranger, now tell me! How did you get here? Who are you really?”

“I’m just…” God, where do you even start explaining things? “I don’t know, I just wanted to play Deltarune, but things got really complicated, I got my soul fused with Kris’, Chara tried to kill me, I stopped the Roaring.” You just start listing things off, hoping it would spark something in Temmie’s mind that would hopefully explain what was going on, but she just looks more and more confused as you speak. “Something about my game is different. A few of my friends played it and it’s just a game, but I’m…” You gesture at yourself, at the vessel you helped create, trapped within some sort of Void between fictional worlds.

“I…” Temmie looks down, looking completely baffled. “Oh this doesn’t sound right at all.”

“So you don’t know?!” Oh that is NOT what you wanted to hear. You had one of the developers right in front of you and she had no idea why or how you’re here.

“I’m going to have a talk with my friends.” Temmie tells you. “I don’t know what’s going on here and you don’t either. I’m not sure if I should even share anything with you, but we can’t ignore you running around out here. I gotta go, be right back.”

“Wait!” You call out, catching Temmie before she leaves you. “Are you just gonna leave me out here in the Void?!”

“Well I can’t take you with me.” Temmie shakes her head. “You somehow forced your way in here, can you not get out? Can you not just take a shortcut back to someplace you know? You’d be a lot easier to find again there anyways.”

Without another word, Temmie vanishes before your eyes, leaving you completely alone in the Void again with a million more questions than you started with. You had safely debunked the idea that you were simply going insane and hallucinating this game and everything going on a long time ago, but with everything that’s happened over the past few minutes, you’re starting to think you’re losing your mind again. Were these ’real’ people using vessels like you, or was this version of Temmie Chang simply another character designed in her image? Was that dog the real Toby, or was it simply the idea of Toby as a dog and not the real man himself?

And what the hell were you gonna do to get out of here?! You couldn’t sit around and wait for someone to come back and figure out what’s going on, you needed to get home. You promised that you’d make it back safe to Ralsei, and damn it, you’re not gonna let him down! This was what he was terrified of, this was the one thing that nearly made him push away from you. You want to be there for him, you don’t want to make him regret starting a relationship just for it to end the next day.

But how? Temmie mentioned shortcuts, but was that something you could do? Catti was able to do it just fine, but only with the help of Dark World magic. You’re not in a Dark World, and even if you were, you don’t have any magic abilities, at least none that you’re aware of. But did Temmie have magic powers? Toby? If Toby had any powers of his own, you probably would have seen them if Temmie was right and you genuinely scared him. If he took a shortcut out of here, then maybe magic isn’t the only thing you need.

How did Catti and the others put it? It’s like loading screen wrong warping? Running your hands through your hair, you lie down on your back and groan out in frustration. God damn it! You’re probably not gonna be stuck here forever, but that wasn’t good enough! You want to go back now! Closing your eyes, you start clicking the heels of your shoes, desperately mumbling out “There’s no place like home” in a desperate and vain attempt to wake up and find yourself back in bed.

You want to see your Prince again. You both rushed into things, but there was still so much you wanted to do with him and he’s already said the same to you. He was your first love, first kiss, first everything. There were other guys who caught your eye back in the real world, but none of them compared to Ralsei. He was different, his radiant positivity, his unwavering selflessness, the way he flustered without fail whenever you were nearby.

You want to see him again so badly. You’d do anything to get back to him. You’re Determined to-

A shiver runs down your spine as you’re struck by how cold it is all of a sudden.

Opening your eyes, you're blinded as the pitch black that once surrounded you was now replaced by a blue sky. Sitting up in shock, you’re weighed down with armor again and snow clings to your back and hair. You whip your head around, trying to figure out where you are, only to look up and find you’re right in the middle of Castle Town, the main gates not far from where you were sitting.

You don’t even bother questioning it, you just shove yourself off the ground and sprint towards the gates. Nothing makes sense, but at least the insanity is working in your favor for once. You’re just about to make it to the gates when they suddenly start to open up. With your legs still sore from the cramps and now snow underneath your boots, you’re unable to slow your forward momentum down at all and end up slamming full speed into the poor guy who just tried to step outside. You both collapse onto the floor, knocking the wind out of yourself for the second time in quick succession. You try to suck in enough of a breath to say sorry, though once you finally focus on the guy you were on top of, that breath leaves you again.

Staring up at you in watery eyed shock was your Prince.

“VESS!” Wrapping his arms and legs around you, Ralsei hugs you as tight as he can, keeping you both pinned on the floor. “Oh my gosh, I was so scared!” He was sobbing against you, clinging onto you and refusing to let go.

“Wait, what?!” Other people suddenly hurry forward, surrounding you and Ralsei on the floor. It’s hard to get a good look at anyone down on the floor, but you’re reasonably sure that was Noelle.

“Hey guys? Kris? Just swung back to… Wait, Vess?!” And that must have been Susie. Shit, how long were you gone for?! If Susie already made it back to the castle from the river, did time distort again while you were in the Void?

“Can someone help me back up?” You groan, unable to prop yourself up thanks to your clingy Prince. “I just went through the weirdest moment in my entire life and I think I might have twisted something in my leg.”

“Huh?! Hold on!” Just like that, Ralsei pulls away from you, his hands quickly going to your legs to try and heal the pain away. You take the brief respite from his hugs to sit up and catch your breath, getting a good look at everyone else in the room. Dess and Noelle were both standing next to each other and sharing a confused look. Kris stared at you completely stunned and motionless. Susie was walking right up to you and you hold out a hand to her so she can help you up.

She ignores your hand and balls one of her own into a fist before hammering it down right on top of your head hard enough to clack your teeth.

“What the fuck?!” She barks at you as you curl up in pain, Ralsei already gasping in surprise and rushing to heal that. Before he can scold Susie or ask why, she keeps yelling at you. “What the hell were you thinking?! You just jumped off the boat?! We were all scared to death, what fucking possessed you to do something so god damned stupid?!”

“Hey! Don’t yell at them!” Ralsei shouts back, hugging you close and pulling you away from her.

“You…” Kris speaks up now, breaking out of their stunned silence. “You gotta stop doing this! This wasn’t even some random accident or coincidence, everyone says you just jumped off the boat!”

“I had a good reason to!” You insist, rubbing your head as Ralsei tries his best to keep healing you. “That was Toby! The guy I was talking about this whole time! All the answers were right there and I couldn’t just let him pass us by.”

“Man, I’d love to sit through all of this, but Styx is still waiting on the river and it sounds like Vess has gone completely insane.” Catti makes her presence known, only to announce her departure. “Kris, give me the spark notes version later. We’ll talk soon and I’ll show you the shortcut trick.” With her excuses made, she vanishes, leaving everyone to stare at you in confusion, anger, and relief.

“Are you alright?” Once your head and leg are healed, Ralsei wraps his arms around you again, his tear stained cheeks brushing against yours. “Everything happened so fast and everyone was saying that something bad happened to you. Is there anything else that hurts? Are you ok?”

“Physically, I think so.” You nod, hugging Ralsei close. “I was scared too. I didn’t want to leave you here all alone.” Ralsei gives you a kiss on the cheek and holds you tighter. You get the feeling that he isn’t going to let go of you any time soon.

“No! Stop being adorable! Vess needs to explain themself!” Susie barks. “What the hell do you mean that was Toby? That little dog is the one who made all of us?!”

“What?” Dess and Noelle both ask in unison, causing Susie to whip around and take notice of them.

“Oh, uh…” She mumbles, most of her steam fizzling out. “Shit, do we tell them everything or…”

“No, I think we’re all just freaks for handling it so well.” Kris shakes their head. “And that’s debatable. I’m still a fucking mess and I can guarantee learning all of this hasn’t made it any better.”

“Learning wha-”

“You know, I’m gonna trust Kris’ judgment on this one.” Dess says, taking Noelle’s hand. “This has weird Void stuff written all over it and I want absolutely no part in it. Kris, get well soon, and Vess, good to know you didn’t die or get lost.” Dragging Noelle with her, Dess makes a quick escape, leaving you with your crew alone in the main hall of the castle. Reluctantly pulling away from you, Ralsei rises to his feet and holds his hand out to help you up as well. Back on your feet, Ralsei holds your hand tight as your other two friends glare at you with mixed feelings of frustration and worry.

“What the hell happened?” Kris asks, sounding completely mentally drained.

“That dog was Toby.” You repeat. “The developer who made this game and Undertale.”

“I thought Toby was a person, he’s a tiny dog?” Kris asks.

“Well, Toby doesn’t really reveal himself all that much and hides himself behind the persona of a little white dog.” You elaborate. “The same dog I saw out in that Void. He should have all the answers so I tried to get a hold of him.”

“By jumping off the boat and running into the Void after I told Styx to get us out as soon as possible?!” Susie says, still hammering home how stupid you were to do that. You don’t disagree.

“Did he tell you anything?” Ralsei asks at your side.

“I didn’t catch him…” You admit, earning an unimpressed look out of Kris and a deep grumble out of Susie. “But, I did meet Temmie out there!” You say, trying to prove that your trip wasn’t completely pointless.

“Temmie?” Ralsei asks. “The girl we helped by the river?”

“The little pipsqueak Catti hangs out with all the time?” Susie asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, different Temmie.” You shake your head. “Well, kinda. The person Temmie is based on.” Everyone continues to stare at you in confusion. “Look, we talked and I tried to get answers out of her and while it sounded like she knows more than any of us do, she wasn’t keen on sharing and seemed pretty freaked out that I was there at all. I told her how I started coming here and she left to talk with Toby, leaving me to find my way back here.”

“And how the hell did you manage that?” Kris asks. “I… I tried so goddamn hard to leave that place. I ran and ran and never got anywhere. You were gone for like ten minutes tops!” They stare you down, desperate to know how you managed to escape the inescapable Void that not even Gaster could permanently flee from.

“I…” You scratch your head, not entirely sure yourself. “I think I took a shortcut.” Kris and Susie stare at you in disbelief. Only Ralsei seems confused by your words.

“A shortcut?” He asks. “A shortcut where? Everyone who’s explained the Void to me says it’s just empty and featureless forever.”

“It’s how Catti and Sans get around.” You try to explain to him, realizing he wasn’t present for the explanation from Catti. “Temmie assumed I had gotten into the Void via shortcuts and wondered why I was so freaked out by being stuck. Toby and her could do it too. Catti had only just explained it and I didn’t have any magic to try it even if I knew how to do it, but… I wanted to see Ralsei again so badly.” Ralsei was still at your side, his face wet with tears and his hand held tightly in yours. “He wanted to do everything with me, there was still so much we could do. Last night, he told me how scared he was of letting me go, terrified of the possibility that the next time he said goodbye would be his last. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to be here for him, I wanted to make sure he was alright. I wanted to be with my Prince and… I just… showed up here.”

A fresh stream of tears were streaming down Ralsei’s face now as he hugged you tight, peppering your face with kisses. “Thank you.” He tells you, resting his chin on your shoulder. “Thank you so much for coming back to me.”

“Ok, that’s nice and all, but that’s not how this works.” Kris shakes their head. “Nobody wanted to come home more than I did! I tried everything to go back home, I wanted to go back to Berdly and see all my friends again and hug my big brother, but just wishing for that didn’t bring me back.”

“Well I don’t know?” You shrug, jostling Ralsei slightly. “I’m sure as hell not gonna try again. I’m here and I’d like to stay here.”

“I would too.” Ralsei whispers in your ear. “I’m not letting you out of my sight for the rest of the day, my Princess…” You jolt slightly at hearing him call you that right in front of everyone else, but they all knew anyway and after everything you just went through, it was nice to hear.

“I’d like that.” You nod, turning to kiss him back. “I don’t know if everything’s fine just yet though.”

“What’s that mean?” Susie asks, still looking a little on edge.

“Temmie said she was gonna come back for me, wherever I ended up.” You say. “I don’t know if they’ll actually find me, but considering Temmie and Toby seem to actually know what they’re doing out here, I don’t doubt them.”

“So God could show up at the front gates at any second?” Kris asks, looking more than nervous. “Well, I didn’t plan on doing anything else today. Guess we’re just staying here and waiting to meet our maker.”

“Don’t say it like that.” Susie shakes her head. “That makes it sound like we’re gonna die or something. This is a good thing… right? We’re gonna get the answers we were looking for.”

“But…” Ralsei whines, pulling away slightly but still holding onto your arm. “I don’t have that much work today. I want to spend the day with Vess!”

“You didn’t get your fill from last night?” Kris asks, trying to force a mischievous smile. To their surprise, Ralsei answers honestly.

“No!” He shakes his head. “I really liked the date you set up for us, but I want to do more! If they didn’t find a way back, last night would have been all the time I got to spend with my Princess. I have them here now, I want to make that time count before something happens again! These gods have until I’m finished with my paperwork before I take Vess away.” Ralsei eventually declares, letting go of you and stepping away for the first time since you got here. “Carol says that once the paperwork is done, I have the rest of the day off.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve had my share of adventure for the week.” You nod. “I really want to spend more time with you too. I don’t know if I want these guys to show up sooner or later.”

“Well, we have at least an hour before we have to start worrying about that.” Ralsei assures, taking your hand again. “Do you guys want to come with us? The paperwork I gotta do isn’t that interesting, but I think we’d all feel a little better sticking together after all this.”

“You sure you don’t want time to yourself to smooch your Princess?” Kris asks, still trying to tease Ralsei. You open your mouth to defend your Prince, but he retaliates first.

“Kris, everyone knows, alright.” He sighs. “You don’t have to keep trying to mess with me.” That catches everyone by surprise, something that Ralsei notices immediately. “Right?”

“Kris found out about it, but I didn’t know until they started talking this morning on the way to the river.” Susie says

“You…” Ralsei’s confidence starts to fizzle out as he realizes he might have misread the situation. “Wasn’t that part of the operation?” He asks. “To set us up and go for home run or whatever Kris’ baseball metaphor is about? Isn’t that why you spread the tents out so much and gave us one-”

“Dude, we gave you privacy so you could kiss up Vess without me and Kris bothering you the whole time.” Susie shakes her head. “This was your first date, we were trying to help you out but we weren’t expecting things to go that far. That’s all on you two.”

“Oh…” Ralsei’s face turns beet red as he realizes what he just admitted to. You can’t help but feel flustered as well. You two really needed to talk about what happened last night. From the sounds of it, not even he knows how things escalated so quickly.

“I, uh…” Everyone’s eyes were focused on the increasingly flustered Ralsei, and wanting to get the attention off of him, you admit to the same thing yourself. “I kinda thought that’s what you guys were trying to do too.” You say sheepishly. “I guess my mind was just in the gutter and I took some of Kris’ jokes a bit too seriously, but…” You elect not to speak further as Kris and Susie stare at you both in what you imagine must be shock, confusion, and maybe a little astonishment that their fun camping trip led to something so sudden.

“So uh…” Kris mumbles. “Are you two gonna explain how the hell you-”

“No!” Ralsei quickly shakes his head. “I’ve got work to do! Let’s go!” With your hand in his, Ralsei quickly marches off with you, earning stifled chuckles out of everyone else as he tries to ignore it and focus on something else. That cat’s fully out the bag now, and knowing your friends, this probably wasn’t gonna be the last you heard of it, but for now, they don’t push it. All of you are a little rattled after what just happened and sticking together felt like the safest plan.

Sticking together as one unit, the four of you retreat to the castle courtyard, clearing the snow off of a bench and resting there while Ralsei reads and signs off on a sizable stack of papers on his lap. The three of you try your best to help where you can and look over his shoulder, but the contents of the budget forms, contracts, and written permissions Ralsei took his time reading through were mind numbingly boring. Ralsei was taking his time and being thorough, but you could tell how eager he was to get it done as he leaned against you while he worked.

You sadly weren’t as excited as he was. Well, no, your heart’s racing at all the different possibilities for tonight, but that excitement is tarnished by the idea that a bunch of all powerful developers could arrive at any second and who knows what would happen after that. Ralsei had the right idea of keeping everyone together, and while you had no objections at all to running away with Ralsei once the work was done, there’s a lingering fear that something might happen to Kris and Susie while you’re out or that your time with Ralsei will be cut short.

You aren’t sure if you should be relieved or worried that your visitors arrive just before Ralsei can finish.

There is no grand reveal or sudden introduction. Sitting around the bench and trying to keep yourselves from becoming too bored, Ralsei suddenly looks up from the last couple pages he needs to go over and nudges you to get your attention. Cutting across the courtyard are two small figures, ones you believe to be Temmie and Toby. You tense up, and while everyone around you is a little wary, they aren’t nearly as intimidated as you are.

“Oh my gosh!” Ralsei set aside his work to admire the dog. “No wonder you risked so much to get this little guy! He’s almost as fluffy as me!” Toby barks in response, his tail wagging behind him, though he keeps a respectful distance away from you and your group.

“This is so weird…” Temmie mumbles at Toby’s side, glancing over all of your friends. “They’re all so familiar, but… different…”

“I’m feeling a little dumb for being scared of these guys…” Kris says behind you, leaning over the bench to get a closer look. “These are the gods of this world?”

“Catti’d probably be pissed if she found out these little goobers were the all powerful creators of the universe.” Susie snorted. “So uh… You two already know who we are, right?”

“Kris, Susie, and Ralsei; The Delta Warriors.” Temmie nods “I’ve been working with you guys for years. I even had the chance to get to know you all in person, but you three are different from the gang I remember.”

“What does that mean?” Ralsei asks moments before lighting up. “Are there other Ralsei’s out there?!” Toby lets out an affirmative bark. You’re not exactly sure why you know that his bark is confirming Ralsei’s question, but evidently, Ralsei was thinking the same thing. “Um… Mr. Toby, is it? While I love the look, can you not talk like Temmie can?” Toby lets out a bemused grunt in response, and once again, your mind automatically interprets the sound as a verbal shrug of sorts.

“Toby’s a really great guy and fun to talk to, but he isn’t the most talkative person.” Temmie elaborates in his stead. “That's why he likes it so much here, he doesn’t have the interviews or responsibilities of a director in here. He’s completely free of responsibility and worry and he’s as happy as a dog!” Toby lets out a happy bark to accentuate this point. “But, this is a pretty serious situation though, so maybe you can reel it back just a bit?” Temmie asks, looking at Toby. Toby lets out a low whine, glancing between you and Temmie before finally conceding.

“Alright fine…” You flinch a little along with everyone else on the bench when a perfectly normal human voice escapes from the tiny dog. “But only until we get to the bottom of this.” Turning his attention to you, Toby steps forward a couple steps. “Now, we got off on the wrong foot after you started chasing me around like a crazy person. Can I have your name?”

“It’s Vess.” You answer him, feeling incredibly awkward as you do so. “I’m uh… I’m a real big fan of your work, but I wasn’t chasing after you cause I’m a crazy fan or anything, I’m… I don’t really know how or why I’m here.” You try to explain. “It felt like forever ago, but I just started playing Deltarune and at some point I got stuck in here. We’ve all been collectively losing our minds trying to figure out exactly what’s going on and when I saw you, I hoped you had the answers.”

“So you found this place by complete accident?” Temmie asks. “That is all kinds of upsetting to hear. How long has this been going on?” You and your friends look at each other, all of you sharing a look of confusion.

“No clue.” Kris shakes their head. “My sense of time is completely gone.”

“With resets, probably a year or so? Susie says.

“I’ve been coming back here in week-long bursts, but the time outside and inside are different.” You shrug.

“It’s been almost half a year since the Roaring ended and Vess was here a week before that.” Ralsei answers, giving some actual dates along with his guess.

“Oh wow…” Toby takes a deep breath. “This has been going on right under our noses for months at the very least?!”

“Sorry?” You shrug.

“Hey, this isn’t your fault.” Temmie says. “It’s just… we thought we were the only ones. We’re not mad that you’re here doing your own thing, but if you’re here, then by the laws of probability, there has to be others, right?”

“But how are you two here?!” Kris asks behind you. “I’ve been driving myself crazy and Vess tiptoed around the fact that we’re a video game for months, but what the hell are we if you’re all here and you’re apparently running around in your own worlds?! You made us, right? How are you also here physically talking to us?”

“Toby? You wanna tackle this?” Temmie asks. “You’re the one who figured this out, you should be the one explaining it.”

“Right…” Toby takes a deep breath and you lean forward, desperate for any information at all. “I suppose you being a fan of mine makes explaining this a little easier. Think of this world and the place you found me in as Dark Worlds. These places have been magically created, typically in the image of the worlds you’re familiar with. You all were part of a video game, but the world you exist in now is a unique, magical construct created by Vess.”

“Huh?” You lean back in confusion.

“So I was right the whole time!” Kris cheers. “You are the god of this world! Also, what?!”

“I’ll be honest, a lot of the content within these games were based on this strange phenomenon I discovered.” Toby tries to elaborate. “Within this universe, Dark Worlds are escapist fantasies made manifest, but in practice, so was your Light World. This entire place is a sort of Dark World created by Vess thanks to what I can only imagine is a great deal of Determination.”

“Oh jeez.” Susie sighs. “We’re bringing this shit up again.”

“Again, it’s probably not an actual measure of Determination, that’s just what Toby calls it.” Temmie explains. “He used the idea for Undertale, but the actual force that lets us do this isn’t fully understood yet.”

“So wait?! You don’t even know how this works?!” You ask in shock.

“I don’t know how it started, but I’ve learned to roll with it.” Toby says, trying to shrug with his small, four legged body. “Some of the others I’ve brought in on this tried to look into it more, but it’s a lot to wrap one’s head around.”

“What we know for sure is that there exists an endless Void somewhere parallel to our real world, this sort of Dark World we’re talking about.” Temmie continues. “Toby, and I guess you are special somehow, possessing some sort of innate ability to access the Void and create things, to impose your will on the immaterial nothingness and create something within it. This imposing of your will on the world lets you do all kinds of things, and it inspired the concept of Determination within Toby’s work.”

“Ok…” Ralsei nods along at your side, but glancing over at him, you can tell that he’s struggling to follow along. “But… So Vess… Can they just make all of this by accident?” He finally gets out. “They went through a lot of really scary stuff. They almost died! They didn’t intentionally put themself in danger, did they?”

“They likely created this world while playing the game.” Temmie says. “Maybe long before they even realized they were doing it. Once you guys are done though, you guy’s exist on your own. This world is made up by Vess, but even within the narrative rules of this world, Ralsei is a made up character created by Kris. Just because he’s a Darkner doesn’t make him any less real.”

“That’s… comforting to know, I think.” Kris mumbles to themself. “Wait! Does that mean my dream theory is correct too?! Were all of my dumb theories somehow right?!”

“Holy shit!” Susie gasps.

“So… Vess is actually the god who created this world subconsciously without realizing, drawing from a video game called Deltarune that chronicles our adventures through the Dark Worlds.” Ralsei lists off. “Is that all correct?”

“More or less, yeah.” Temmie nods.

“I feel like I’m owed something for managing to figure most of that out on my own.” Kris grumbles. “Do I get a cookie?”

“I can make you one.” Ralsei offers.

“Ok…” You scratch your head. “But, what about the game itself? That’s how I get in here. It doesn’t just let me in, but it has other features to help me along. The game created a whole new file for me to put this vessel in after my last one was destroyed. I’m pretty sure other people’s copies of the game can’t do that.”

“It is no longer a simple piece of software.” Toby explains. “Thanks to the same ability you have to impose your will onto the Void, you have altered the program completely, changing it from a simple game into a tool to prepare you for entry into the Void and the worlds within it. I have a couple entry points to get me around myself.”

“This is…” All of this is starting to pile on too high now. You apparently have magical powers in the real world and are actually responsible for creating not only this world, but a version of your Undertale playthrough too? Not only that, but you turned your video game into a portal between dimensions which apparently reside in an endless Void that contains other worlds created by other people?!

“Go ahead, take your time.” Toby nods understandingly when you fail to finish your sentence. “It was a lot to take in for me too. I had to figure most of this out all on my own.”

“I think this is an overall good thing for us though, right?” Susie asks. “We aren’t a game and we all have free will?”

“You’re all fully realized individuals with free will of your own.” Temmie nods. “No gods, no masters, no higher powers. Vess’ reality exists parallel to yours, just like the Light and Dark worlds do.”

“I…” You groan, leaning back on the bench “I have so many more questions, I don’t even know where to start.”

“We could be here all day.” Temmie admits. “It took me weeks to fully wrap my head around all of this and I had Toby walking me through it the whole time. Would it be easier to explain this in a more familiar setting?”

“What do you mean?” You ask, leaning forward again.

“We have a lot of questions ourselves.” Toby says. “We thought that we were the only ones here, working on our own little projects. Knowing that you’re out here raises a lot of concerns. We have some work to finish elsewhere and I’m sure you were up to something before you found us, so we should try to contact each other back on our side of things. Are you staying here long?”

“I planned on sticking around for a few more days before heading back.” You answer.

“Well once you’re out, shoot me or Temmie a message telling us you’re Vess and you want to continue this talk.” Toby tells you. “Maybe this will be a little more comprehensible when you aren’t talking to a dog.”

“I think that was the least of my concerns, but yeah,” You nod, “I think this will go over a little easier when I’m more grounded in reality.” In response, Toby lets out a bark again, wagging his tail.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Vess!” Temmie tells you with a big smile on her face. “Not gonna lie, you scared the hell out of us, but it’s actually really exciting to know that there are other people like us out here! Just try to stay out of trouble and don’t wander too far out. We’re still trying to understand things ourselves and you bringing your own worlds into things could have some unforeseen consequences. Once I’m out of here, I’ll be keeping an eye out on my DM’s for you.”

“Wait, you guys are just leaving?” Ralsei asks. “This seems like a really big deal. You two made us, you’re-”

“Hey, we’re just artists, we’re not all powerful gods or anything.” Temmie shakes her head. “We’ll probably be poking around here on our own time anyways if you guys had more questions for us. This is a whole version of the world with months of changes we’re not familiar with. It’ll be interesting to see what’s different in this version.”

“I look forward to hearing from you again, Vess!” Toby tells you, jumping in place before suddenly vanishing before your eyes. You turn to look at Temmie only to find that she’s gone too, leaving you alone with your friends again. You all turn to look at each other, all of you still looking wary and hesitant to feel relieved. After a minute of nothing happening, Ralsei picks up his paperwork again and uses the brief moment of quiet to quickly sign off on the last couple pages he needed to go over. Once it’s all wrapped up, he tucks the packet beneath his arm and takes your hand, standing up from the bench.

“Vess? Do you want to come help turn these in with me?” He asks.

“Oh, uh yeah!” You nod. “Just give me an extra minute.” You still need to get your thoughts in order. That was a lot to take in all at once, so much so that the excitement of spending more time with Ralsei temporarily overwhelmed you. There were a dozen questions you didn’t get the chance to ask, and a hundred more that you’re still coming up with in your head. You got answers, quite a lot of them actually, but each one brought with it another question. You aren’t completely alone in this bizarre scenario you found yourself in, but the people you had explain it to you didn’t seem to know that much more than you do.

They offered to speak to you later on your own time, so after taking a moment to condense and put away all your questions for later, you sit up and squeeze your Prince’s hand. You don’t have to worry about all of this just yet, and Ralsei was right here giving you an opportunity to try and forget about all of this and make him feel better after your stunt on the boat.

“So…” Susie mumbles. “Should we talk about this to other people? I kinda just want to veg out with Noelle somewhere, but if she asks what happened, what should I tell her?”

“I don’t know, you’re on your own.” Kris sighs, pushing off the bench and moving towards the courtyard gate. “I think I’m gonna pass out while I’m still exhausted.”

“Are you gonna be alright?” Ralsei asks, catching Kris off guard for a moment.

“Oh, yeah, I’m mostly fine now.” They assure him. “I’m just gonna try and sleep this off and I should be fine tomorrow.”

“I don’t know if-”

“Goodnight.” Kris wanders off before Ralsei can finish, disappearing through the gate to retreat back up to their room. You didn’t stick around long enough to see the aftermath, but you saw the sheer panic they were in before you jumped off the boat in the Void. You can see the worry on Ralsei’s face now, he didn’t think Kris was as fine as they claimed to be.

“I’ll keep an eye on them for a bit.” Susie tells you both, clearly thinking the same thing you and Ralsei were. “After a close scrape with the Void like that and getting confirmation that we weren’t alone out there, I doubt they’re gonna sleep well.”

“Thank you, Susie.” Ralsei tells her with a smile. “We’re all lucky to have a friend as thoughtful as you.”

“Aw come on, save your flattery for Vess.” Susie snorts. “I trust you two don’t need our help setting you two up after what happened, huh?”

“N-no…” Ralsei shakes his head, trying to hide his blush. “I think we can figure things out on our own from here.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Susie says, but before she turns to check up on Kris, she stops and points her attention to you. “Vess. Please don’t go running off again, not just for Ralsei’s sake, but for all of us.”

“I won’t.” You promise, not just to her, but to Ralsei too. You scared everyone with that poorly thought out action, and while things worked out for you, you probably won’t be so lucky if you do something like that again. Susie finally leaves to follow after Kris, and the moment she’s out of earshot, Ralsei speaks up.

“I’m not letting you go for the rest of the week.” He promises, leaning against your arm. “That’s… you’re alright with that, right?” He still sounded really shy about it, maybe afraid that he was being a little too demanding, but you reach your arm around him and pull him close.

“Of course it is.” You assure him. “I can’t think of a better use of my time, and I probably owe you that much after scaring you so bad.”

“I…” Ralsei is at first relieved, but suddenly hesitates now that he’s got you. “I guess I don’t have anything planned for today.” He admits.

“We’ll figure something out as we go.” You tell him. “As long as I’m with you, I’m sure we’ll have a good time.

That puts a smile back on his face and gets you both moving, leaving the courtyard and the main hall to venture out into town. You didn’t have anywhere specific to be once Ralsei dropped his work off, but you had plenty to talk about.

You can’t help but worry the whole walk to the Mayor’s office though. Toby and Temmie were still lingering in your mind along with the hundreds of questions you had for them, but one thing they said still lingered in your head. They said they were slightly concerned with your presence here, not knowing what unforeseen consequences could follow now that you were apparently altering the Void around you. Your time here has already been dangerous, and if what they’re saying is true, you brought that danger into existence.

It’s possible you could have already unleashed something terrible into the greater scheme of things.

Chapter Text

The last few days have been the best of your life.

Ever since getting back from the trip from the river, you’re pretty sure you’ve spent almost every single free second you’ve had with Ralsei. You aren’t complaining of course, it’s just you weren’t expecting him to be so literal when he said he wasn’t going to let you go for the rest of the week.

After your meeting with Temmie and Toby, Ralsei was glued to you until the next morning. You couldn’t blame him, with all of this crazy stuff going on that was way past your ability to comprehend, you were starting to worry too. You made your way to the Mayor’s office to drop off Ralsei’s paperwork, but once that was done, you ended up just walking around town together with no real plan in mind.

That gave you plenty of time to think, to mull over what you had been told and what you wanted. Better yet, you had Ralsei to share these thoughts with. You didn’t have to keep any secrets with him, and after his talk with you the night before, he had his own worries that he needed to get out too. Wandering the streets and trying to see parts of town you never visited before, you talked about the strange meeting with the devs, the work he had been doing with the Mayor, the conversation he had with your friends before the meeting happened.

That led to even more questions. What the hell happened that night? Neither of you had any regrets with how that night ended, but everyone, both of you included, were surprised that things escalated as quickly as they did. Zach would probably give you a pat on the back for managing to get laid on the first date, but considering this was your first time ever, even he’d be shocked. You had plenty of time to talk, and while Ralsei was still shy about the subject, both of you tried to figure out what led to it.

Operation Big Rig was set up to get you two together, but both of you misread how far Susie and Kris planned for things to go. The camping trip was just meant to break the ice, to help Ralsei get over his nervousness and kiss you and to actually set aside time for you to spend together. For whatever reason, both of you thought that the privacy they gave you and the singular sleeping bag was purposefully set up for something else. In hindsight, you have no idea how you came to that conclusion. Like Susie said, it was your first real date, they could never plan for something like this to go down so soon. Kris was teasing Ralsei most of the night regarding his books and even questioned what kind of speech he would pull out for the next step, but they were just being annoying, they weren’t actually trying to push their night into a certain direction.

Maybe your mind was just in the gutter. This was your first date and your first kiss, did your mind and emotions just get the better of you and you went for it? Ralsei was probably in a similar mindset too. He’s a lonely guy, he spent years living by himself in the castle with nothing but books to keep him company, evidently reading love stories and fantasizing about having a relationship of his own. He finally had someone he could hold and kiss, and with your own forwardness thrown in, he probably jumped at the opportunity. Were you both just so awkward and desperate that you skipped straight to sleeping with each other?

You must have walked around town for hours just talking with Ralsei, trying to make sense of what happened and getting frustrated that you were wasting time doing this instead of something else with your Prince, but that’s when he stopped you and brought your attention to something. When was the last time you ever slowed down to just spend a few hours doing nothing? That one question sent you thinking back on every moment you spent here and, after giving it some thought, you realize that you haven’t really had time to relax at all. From the moment you first appeared here, your soul split in two and shoved in an unfamiliar vessel, you’ve always been tirelessly working towards some end goal. You had to stop the Roaring, you had to protect your friends, you had to get rid of the resets, you had to rescue Kris. Even on this trip, which was supposed to be relaxing and fun now that all the danger was gone, you leaped right back into that same mindset. You had to find Catti, you had to tell the truth about this reality, you had to…

You had to spend time with Ralsei before you left again.

The moment you got here, it was clear that Ralsei had feelings for you, but it was also clear there was a time limit ticking over your head. That’s what pushed Ralsei to try and get over his nervousness and confess to you, and the camping trip was done to help further speed things along so you two could spend more time together. None of you were in danger, the world wasn’t going to end if you didn’t kiss your Prince, but you were almost conditioned to try and solve problems as soon as possible whenever you were here. Ralsei was scared to see you go, scared that he wouldn’t get to spend much time with you, so you ended up giving him everything all in one night.

It was all rushed, you both were in over your heads, but like Kris said, you get into trouble all the goddamn time. You’re lucky that you're even here right now, if you didn’t find a way back home, you’d be stuck in the Void and the one night you spent with him would be your last. Even now, you have what are essentially the gods of this universe watching over everything and who knows what problems that could cause, so you were trying to find something to do, something to make this night count just as much as the last. It probably wasn’t the best idea, things could have progressed a little more naturally, but if you didn’t do it that night, you might have never gotten the chance.

Strangely enough, knowing that you rushed things and why made the prospect of slowing things way the hell down really appealing.

You went all the way, you skipped several steps to get to that point, but even with your days here numbered, Ralsei wanted to take things easy from here on out. He didn’t mind what happened that night, and he certainly wouldn’t mind if things escalated like that again, but he wanted you to relax. There was no need to rush, there was no need to prove yourself or to go out of your way to be the best possible partner for him before you left. He was more than happy to just hold your hand and talk.

It was a refreshing change of pace.

You didn’t go anywhere special, you didn’t do anything fancy. You walked around for hours, taking in the sights and talking more about what’s been going on in town and what Ralsei’s life before he met everyone was like. Technically, you two didn’t do anything at all, but both of you could agree that it was a wonderful use of your time together, just being near you was enough for him. He felt so strongly about that, that when you tried to go to your room for the night, he instead led you further up the stairs to his room.

It was at the very top of his castle, residing within the tallest spire. One entire wall of the room was covered with an absolutely massive shelf of books of all kinds, and on the other wall, a single window looked down at Castle Town square, giving you a breathtaking view of everything in town and a few of the other kingdoms nearby. Showing you his bookshelf, Ralsei told you that there were dozens of old textbooks and misplaced library books that got lost in the school and tossed into the supply closet over the years while he waited, adding to his collection and giving him plenty of reading material to learn new skills and keep himself occupied during the countless lonely nights he spent up here waiting for the heroes of prophecy.

You told him that he wouldn’t have to read alone anymore and asked him to show you his favorite book so you could read it together.

That was the first night you ever shared a bed with someone. The sleeping bag from the night before was a cute idea, but in practice it had its downsides. There wasn’t that much free space within the sleeping bag and a lot of knees and elbows got jabbed into tender places whenever either of you tried to shift around in your sleep. On the bed though, sharing the covers, resting your heads on the same pillow, crowded around the same book as Ralsei read by lamp light, you had plenty of space to get comfortable.

One thing you had noticed after that first night was that Ralsei had grown a bit bolder. After going all the way, it became a lot easier for him to talk to you without shying away or ask you for small things like kisses. It was equal parts disappointing and exciting. You were disappointed that he was no longer as easy to fluster. Practically any time you spent next to him turned him red faced, but now he could lean over and kiss you on the cheek without his own cheeks burning up. On the other hand, you were getting more kisses, and deep down you knew that the reason he was so much bolder now was because he wanted to please you.

That boldness only went so far though, as you found out that night. He could hold your hand, ask for a kiss, but with you in his bed holding him tight, all of that nervousness came right back. You loved seeing how flustered he could get around you. Never in a million years did you ever think you could make someone feel that way about you. You didn’t do anything more that night, but holding him tight as you settled in to sleep, you could feel how fast his heart beat in his chest to have you so close. You wonder if he felt the same thing from you.

The first time you separated from him came later the next morning. He’d rather spend the whole rest of the week right next to you doing whatever came to mind, but his princely duties couldn’t be ignored. You told him that it was fine and that you’d be waiting back in Castle Town whenever he was finished, but the moment he was gone, you got to work.

You wanted to surprise him, you wanted to show him that you were just as invested as he was and bring him out on a date too. You still weren’t fully familiar with the town though, so for the next few hours while he was away, you ventured out on your own, wandering the streets and exploring what you could, looking for particularly interesting places you wanted to show your Prince.

You realized a couple hours in that you were slipping back into that objective based mindset again. You only had so long before Ralsei would be finished with work and you needed to have something set up for him before he got out. You were in a rush again, but just like Ralsei, you wanted to make your time count, you wanted to make it special. You didn’t think you could pull off something to the scale of Operation Big Rig all by yourself, but still, anything at all would make Ralsei’s day.

Once Ralsei was let go by the Mayor, you were already waiting for him at the door, excited to tell him that you had something planned for him. The look on his face is still burned into your memory, the sheer amount of joy and surprise, it was adorable.

The whole evening, you actually felt like the dynamics had switched a bit. You were nervous, wondering if your trip around town compared to what Ralsei had set up with your friends, but he could tell how anxious you were and all it took was a kiss to set your mind straight. It wasn’t as thought out and eventful as Operation Big Rig, but you both had a blast.

He brought you to Queen’s manor to ride on the swan boats, sharing a kiss with you as the camera at the end of the tunnel snapped a picture. In turn, you explored the manor long enough to find the ferris wheel attached to Noelle’s old cell, a secret of the manor that Ralsei never found and was delighted to go on. That night, he tried to guess what your favorite food was so he could make it with his cauldron, and later the next morning, you tried your hand and cooked him something the old fashioned way. You aren’t necessarily the best cook and know for a fact that if Ralsei tried to make the same dish it would be leagues better, but he still praised the dish and asked for seconds. You even tried to follow him into his work with the Mayor that day, and while you felt out of place there, you could see he was smiling through the hard work knowing that he wouldn’t have to miss out on time with you while he was busy. He…

He bought you a dress…

Last night, you had tagged along with Ralsei as his work involved gathering up the paperwork other people around town had to sign. He had just finished gathering the permissions Queen had been given and before you left Cyber City, his eyes caught an ad and he ignored his work for just a few minutes to take you to a nearby store. On display in front of the shop was a dark colored dress with red trimmings and a large ribbon tied around the waist just above the skirt. Your eyes lingered on it, and you didn’t even realize that was what Ralsei went there for until an Addison pulled it from its display and packaged it for you. You held onto that package for an hour as Ralsei continued to gather paperwork, promising you that you’d get to try it on once you both got back to Castle Town.

You don’t think your heart has ever beaten so fast in your life.

There was a lot going on, and your whole gender identity was something that kept getting pushed aside. Ralsei calling you Princess lit up all sorts of sparks in your brain and both of you got a little hands on exploring the new body you were in, but for some reason, the dress in your hands made your heart pound in your chest.

It only took around an hour for Ralsei to gather everything up and return it to the Mayor, but it felt like forever. Once everything was done and Ralsei was free for the night, he hurried you straight to his room, leaving you to open the package while he fetched a mirror.

During the short time you had possessed Noelle when the Lightbringer returned, all sorts of strange thoughts had filled your head, thoughts that would eventually lead to your gender crisis, but the one that came to you when you finally had the dress in your hands was how it felt to wear one as Noelle. How soft the fabric was, how your skirt trailed behind you as you ran. You hadn’t given it much thought until now, but you were desperate to try this on, desperate to know how it felt, desperate to see how you looked. The moment Ralsei came back with a mirror, he helped you out of your armor and helped you get changed. The whole time, your heart was pounding, and before you could get a look at yourself, you could already see how breathless Ralsei was as he was helping you into it.

You cried when you finally saw yourself.

Every time you looked in a mirror recently, all sorts of new emotions swelled up in your chest, but seeing yourself in that dress, the joy that you felt was overwhelming. Ralsei said so himself, but you thought you were beautiful. Never in your life have you ever thought that while staring at yourself in the mirror. You always thought you looked alright, decent, slightly above average at best. Even when you tried to look your best, even when your friends said you were looking great, nothing ever sat right with you. Staring at the mirror back at home, something always felt off, but you think you’ve finally found out what. Hell, Ralsei told you something really similar almost a week ago and now you realize you want the same thing.

You want to look pretty. That’s what you were missing. At no moment in your life have you ever considered yourself pretty until you came here in this new body. Wearing the dress, you were more than pretty, you were beautiful, and as nice as it was to hear Ralsei call you that, hearing yourself admit that you were beautiful was what finally got you.

It was overwhelming, so much so that you wanted to keep it to yourself for now instead of rushing downstairs to show everyone your new look like Ralsei suggested. Your heart was still racing and if everyone else reacted even half as shocked as Ralsei did, you would pass out. For now, it was your secret, and for the rest of the night, he went through all his stuff, looking for more accessories to give you from his old inventory to see how you liked them. Old bows and ribbons, spare scarfs, his old hat, anything he could find to help you look more pretty.

God, you loved him so much, and you let him know exactly how much that night. In between kisses, you kept telling him that you loved him and he kept showering you in praise that made your heart flutter. You were pretty, you were beautiful, you were-

“What are you doing?”

You’re pulled from your thoughts and back into the present as Kris wanders into the main hall of the castle.

“Considering a haircut.” You answer.

“But you look so nice with hair this long.” Ralsei insists behind you. Over the past fifteen minutes or so he’s been helping you braid it again as you waited for your friends to gather up in the main hall. You’re not used to having this much hair, so actually maintaining it has been a lot more work than you thought. Ralsei of course was quick to help you, helping you brush it and working on the braid. Maybe your long hair isn’t that big of an issue if it means you get to feel Ralsei’s fingers running through it like this.

“So…” Kris walks over and sits down next to you and Ralsei. “This is your last day?”

“Yeah…” You say, careful not to nod your head and disrupt Ralsei’s work. “Toby and Temmie haven’t left my mind all week and I’m a little anxious to reach out to them, but it’s gotta be done. I made sure to give Ralsei as much time as I could before now though, isn’t that right?”

“It’s been the best week of my life.” Ralsei says behind you. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you here though… It’s gonna be hard going back to spending time by myself after all the time we spent together.”

“I won’t be gone long.” You promise.

“Yeah, you said that last time and-”

“No, I’m serious this time.” You interrupt Kris before they can say anything more. “I’m coming right back as soon as I can, and with Toby and Temmie to talk to, I should know a lot more about what I’m doing and how all of this stuff works. I won’t be gone long, I know that for a fact. Besides, there haven't been any weird gaps or leaps in time. I was gone for a few months on both my end and yours before I showed up.”

“But does that mean you’ve been asleep for a week, or is being here messing with time on your end?” Kris asks, leaving you stumped. You feel like something would have happened to you by now if you were still going in real time back home, but that just highlights how weird time is surrounding this stuff. It was more questions you’d have to ask the devs. Maybe there’s a way to control it, maybe there’s a way to reverse the effects. You spent an entire week here overnight, how happy would Ralsei be if you came back only a day later after taking a week long break in your world?

“Sup nerds.” Pushing through the front gates, Susie joins the rest of you and sits herself down on the floor opposite of Kris. “You finally gonna stop hogging Ralsei all to yourself.”

“Hey, you’ll have him for as long as I’m gone.” You say with a smile. “Once I’m back though, he’ll probably latch right back onto me again.”

“Was there something specific you wanted to do with me?” Ralsei asks Susie.

“You were gonna show me how to use the cauldron, remember?” She says, causing Ralsei to gasp behind you.

“Oh gosh! I forgot! I’m so sorry Susie, I was so busy with-”

“Oh don’t sweat it.” Susie chortles. “I’m sure you’ve been very busy with your new partner.” She says, wagging her eyebrows at the both of you. “Vess could only stay so long, so I don’t mind putting things off to let you spend time with them. We really should do more stuff together as a group though. I feel like I only really got to spend a day with you before you started doing stupid stuff again.”

“Oh right, Vess.” Kris perks up. “I know there’s no use asking you to not cause horrible shit to happen whenever you come back, but can you at least try not to invite higher powers into our plane of existence or disappear off the face of the earth?”

“I do try!” You insist. “I don’t want weird stuff to happen, I just wanna hangout with you guys. It’s not my fault that weird stuff just so happens to go down whenever I’m in town.”

“I’m pretty sure it is.” Kris shakes their head.

“Styx showed up before I did. Catti already knew them.” You point out. “You had creepy stuff happening in town without me.” Kris has no comeback for that and concedes, sitting in silence for a while before Susie speaks up.

“So if you’re leaving soon, why even bother getting your hair done?” She asks. “You’re going to be getting back into bed to leave, right? No matter what you do now, you’re gonna have a serious case of bed head whenever you get back.” That gives Ralsei some pause behind you, but after a moment, he continues braiding.

“This is just practice.” He says. “Their hair’s only going to grow as I wait and it’ll need to be braided again then too. I’ve never braided anyone’s hair before, so I could use the practice.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Kris snorts at your side, causing some concern to stir in your chest. “Here, brush it all straight again, I’ll show you.”

“He’s been doing it for the past ten minutes though!” You complain.

“And he’s doing it wrong.” Kris insists, taking the brush sitting next to Ralsei and undoing his work. “Don’t worry, I used to do this for Noelle years ago, I know what I’m doing.”

“And if they don’t, you can always just tie your hair into a ponytail.” Susie suggests. “I did it all the time whenever I couldn’t get a haircut.”

“Oh gosh, I’d like to see that!” Ralsei says behind you. Susie blushes slightly in response.

“My hair still looks like shit even tied up, it’s just out of my face that way.” She says.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t make it work.” Kris says. “I’ve been thinking of getting a bit of a makeover too. The crewbots at my house did something for me during my first run that I’d like to wear around again once it warms up a little more.”

“Was that why you looked li-” You speak up, vaguely remembering how edgy and weathered Kris looked when you first saw them after coming back, but they shush you.

“Don’t spoil it for everyone else.” They tell you. “Half the fun was seeing everyone’s reactions.”

“That sounds fun!” Ralsei cheers as his hands get into your hair again as Kris starts to show him how to properly braid it. “Maybe we can all get a makeover! I don’t know how much work I’m going to have next week, but regardless, I’m going to have a lot more free time when Vess leaves.”

“I don’t know.” Susie shrugs. “Vess has to get in on it too. You literally completely changed your body, but you’re wearing the same exact outfit you started with. We can save it for when you get back.”

“Oh don’t worry about me…” You say, feeling a blush form on your cheeks.

“What’s that mean?” Kris asks. “You already have something planned?”

“I already got them something new last night.” Ralsei admits. You can’t see him as he works on your hair, but you can hear the smile in his voice. “We aren’t ready to show it off yet, but when Vess comes back, maybe then you’ll all get to see it.” God, you feel nervous even thinking about the moment the others see you in that dress.

“Well seeing both of you turn red as tomatoes has me curious now.” Susie snorts. “Just don’t keep us all waiting for too long this time. If you’re gone for too long, I might have to hit you again for sleeping in.”

“I think Ralsei’s a good enough motivator to get me back here as soon as possible.” You tell her. “I don’t need threats of violence on top of that too.”

“Please don’t threaten my Princess.” Ralsei adds on behind you, forcing a slight shiver to run down your spine. Kris must have taken notice because they stop braiding your hair.

“So are we gonna talk about that before you go?” Kris asks.

“Talk about what?” You reply, not quite sure where this was going. With how quick they were to mess with you after leaving the camp, this could be a setup for some kind of crude joke or it could be-

“Have you figured yourself out yet?” Alright, it’s the gender thing. “Not trying to rush you or anything, but the two of you referring to each other as Prince and Princess all the time just has me thinking that maybe you’ve accepted something about yourself by now.”

“I… I guess I…” Wow, Kris really has a habit of putting you on the spot.

“What’s this about?” Susie asks, not catching on to what Kris was asking.

“Trans stuff, don’t worry about it.” Kris waves her off.

“I guess I’m leaning more towards the feminine side of things.” You admit. You remember the surprised jolts you felt when Dess called you a hot chick or when the Mayor referred to you as a young woman. They didn’t set off sparks in your head like when Ralsei called you his Princess, but you figure that’s more Ralsei being the one saying it over the title itself. You liked it, it was just a jarring thought to think of yourself as a girl after years of believing otherwise. “I don’t know, I’m still feeling things out.”

“Oh…!” Susie seems to finally pick up what’s going on and after a short pause, she asks a question. “Wait, should I stop calling you ‘dude’ then?”

“You call everyone dude.” Ralsei points out. “You call Noelle dude.”

“It’s a fun word to say.” Susie shrugs.

“I’m fine with that.” You assure her. “Zach says it all the time too…” Moments after saying that, a new thought dawns on you. “Oh shit… what do I tell everyone back home?!”

“The same thing you told us?” Kris shrugs. “You’ve given it some thought and you’re pretty sure you’re a girl now? If that’s too much to drop all at once, just ask them to call you Vess.”

“I already told Lizzy that this vessel was called Vess.” You tell them. Lizzy also thought Vess was a girl the whole time drawing it up, if you started referring to yourself as Vess, she’d probably pick up on it really fast. She’d also probably want to know what the files were used for and what everyone thought about them and… “Jesus, I have a lot of things I gotta do when I get back.”

Not only did you have your whole gender thing going on, but there was also Toby and Temmie who you needed to reach out to as soon as possible. All your friends have been curious about who you’ve been hanging out with apart from them and one of the first things you thought of before Ralsei became all you thought about was how to bridge the gap between these two friend groups. You were going to have a very busy week. No matter how well or poorly things go though, you always have this place to fall back on to wash those worries away. Not now though, you had to get the ball rolling sooner than later.

“Braid’s done, by the way.” Kris announces, standing and walking in front of you to offer a hand. “Admittedly, I didn’t do much better than Ralsei did, but it’s gonna have to be redone when you wake up anyways.” Taking Kris’ hand and being helped up to your feet, you reach your other hand back to feel your hair. It isn’t as tightly woven as before, but Lizzy drew your hair on, so you aren’t exactly sure if it’s possible to get it back to its original state.

“Are you sure you can’t stay just one more day?” Ralsei asks as he rises from the floor behind you.

“You spent literally all day with them for like three days straight.” Susie points out. “I’m sure they’re gonna miss you just as much… Also…” Susie scratches her head, looking at you. “I know you’re cool with the dude thing, but do you want me to say anything differently? If you’re a girl now, do you want me to call you one?”

“You know what?” The whole idea was still weird to you, but you nod your head. “I got a few more minutes before I’m gone, let’s see how that feels.”

“Alright then.” Susie nods, turning to Ralsei. “Come on, Ralsei. Let’s not keep her waiting any longer.”

Almost immediately, you feel a jolt in your chest again. It was strange to hear, but it felt right. Being referred to with neutral pronouns didn’t bother you at all, but this was doing something for you. Maybe this was the move, maybe you should have asked for this sooner. There was still so much you were figuring out about yourself, and as much as you’d like to stay here with everyone to keep exploring this and to keep spending time with your Prince, there were more answers waiting for you back home.

Climbing up the stairs, the four of you make it to your room where you would be spending the next week or so sleeping until you eventually returned. Sitting down on the bed, you try to reach back and undo the clips holding your armor on when Ralsei steps forward.

“Oh, I can help with that.” He says, jumping up on the bed next to you to unfasten your chest plate while you kick off your boots. As you both worked, Kris let out a repressed snort of laughter.

“Already know how to get her armor off as fast as you can?” They ask, trying to get a rise out of one of you, but to both of your surprise, Ralsei actually rolls with it.

“Yes.” He says nonchalantly. “It isn’t very comfortable to cuddle up with her when she’s wearing so much metal.” You felt a blush creep across your face, not only because of his sudden boldness, but from hearing him refer to you as a girl twice in one sentence. This was definitely something you wanted to keep doing.

“I mean, Berdly basically never takes his armor off and I don’t mind.” Kris mumbles to themself, looking a little surprised that Ralsei actually gave them an answer.

With everything undone, you gather all your armor beside your bed and lie down, trying to get yourself as comfortable as possible for the very long nap you’re about to take. Glancing over at Ralsei, you find that he’s quickly becoming more and more upset at the thought of seeing you go.

“I promise I won’t be gone for long.” You remind him, as well as Kris and Susie. “I have a lot of things I need to do back home, but while I’m talking with Toby and everyone else who’s in on this, I’ll try to ask one of them to swing by to let you know how I’m doing.”

“Or you could not send interdimensional gods to our world.” Kris says. “You know, just a suggestion.”

“Just hurry back.” Susie nods. “We’ll make sure to cheer Ralsei up while you’re gone. We’re also going to have to do something as a group when you get back too. Ralsei can’t hog you all to himself forever.”

“Alright.” You nod. “Just go easy on him while I’m gone, Kris.” You warn. “Ralsei will tell me if you were being an ass to him while I couldn’t shut you up.”

“I think I’ll be fine.” Ralsei assures you. “Kris has always been a butthead, I can handle whatever they throw at me.”

“Oh that reminds me, Dess caught me reading that book I borrowed from you and wants to know if I can lend it to her when I’m done. Are you cool with that?” Kris asks, wearing a sadistic smirk on their face.

“What bo-” Ralsei turns to face them when the realization hits him like a truck. “No! Don’t share it around! That’s mine!”

“You told Berdly that you were cool with people borrowing your books.” Kris replies with feigned innocence, still wearing that dumb grin on their face.

“Not that one!” Ralsei insists. “Where is it? Give it back!”

“I will when I’m done.” Kris assures him, though it doesn’t calm him down in the slightest. “I’m more than halfway through, you’ll get it back before Vess wakes up again, alright?”

“Come on dude, give it back.” Susie sighs. “If you don’t lay off him, Vess will probably curse us or something from beyond the Void.”

“I have like nine chapters to go, just give me a couple more days.” Kris says, earning a raised eyebrow out of Susie.

“You mean you’re actually reading it and not just being an ass?” She asks, much to Ralsei’s horror.

“It’s a good book.” Kris replies. “I wanna know how Freyja escapes with her knight. It’s actually really interesting.” Susie and you look to Ralsei to see if Kris is bullshitting or not, but he actually seems surprised.

“Well…” He groans. “It is a compelling story, even with its less than appropriate content. If you’re actually enjoying the story and not just doing this to mess with me, I guess I could let you see how it ends, but you have to give it right back when you’re done!” Kris nods along, agreeing to the proposal. Seeing how quickly the conflict was averted, Susie speaks up.

“So is the book even as bad as the title makes it sound?” She asks.

“Oh man, you have no idea.” Kris snorts. “There’s like three whole chapters in a row which is jus-”

“Stop!” Ralsei blurts. “One more word and I’ll spoil the whole thing for you!” That threat seems to hit hard as Kris shuts up immediately. Susie just watches on in awe struck confusion while you watch on from the bed.

“Well, good luck Ralsei.” You mumble out, breaking the tension. “It sounds like Kris might still be a hassle for you.”

“I’ll survive.” Ralsei sighs. “I guess we should let you sleep now. The sooner you’re done back home, the sooner you can come back here.” Everyone else turns to head out the door, but Ralsei lingers by your side, not wanting to leave. “Can I have just one more kiss before you go?”

“You can have more than one.” You tell him with a little chuckle, feeling your heart surge as he leans forward. Feeling his lips on yours and reaching your hand up to brush the fur on his cheek, you realize just how much you’re going to miss having him while you’re gone. You can tell how much he’s going to miss you too as he lingers on your lips, not wanting to pull away. You don’t want to either, but eventually, you lean back, keeping your hand on Ralsei’s cheek. “Goodnight, my Prince.”

“Goodnight, my Princess.” Ralsei nods, placing one last kiss on your lips before pulling away. You lie down and try to pull the covers up, but find Ralsei reaching for them before you can, tucking you in for your return trip home.

“You’re so sweet, you know that?” You tell him, earning a warm smile out of your Prince. You understand where he was coming from when he said he was worried about starting a relationship like this now. You wanted to stay with him so badly, to cheer him up and tell him you’ll stay for just one more day, but then you’d be going through this again tomorrow. As much as this goodbye was going to suck, you had the look on his face when you came back to look forward to.

With one more kiss once you were tucked in, Ralsei leaves your room, and you slip into unconsciousness.

You were only out for a few minutes at best when a rhythmic buzzing noise woke you. Struggling to open your eyes, you find yourself in your old room again, safe and tucked away under your sheets. Blearily searching for the source of the buzzing, you find your phone resting on the end table next to you and reach out for it. Someone was calling you? Weakly reaching out, you manage to grab hold of your phone and swipe up, pressing it to your ear while still laying in bed.

“Hrng…?” Your tiredness keeps you from giving a proper greeting and you instead grunt inquisitively into the phone.

“Vinny! There you are!” Your excitement to hear Zach’s voice was almost immediately lost after the mental kick in the head of being called Vinny again. After a week of Vess, you were shocked by just how much Vinny sounded wrong now. “I’ve tried to call you on and off for like two hours now, where are you man?”

“In bed.” You weakly reply, trying to stretch your legs out and build up the energy to get up.

“It’s almost noon!” Zach tells you, giving you a little more of a shock as you take notice of how bright it was outside your window. “Were you up all night talking to your online buddies? Lizzy said it sounded like you were up to something last night.”

“Yeah, yeah I was real busy.” You nod, forcing yourself to sit up. “You’re calling about heading down to the arcade at the mall, right?”

“I’m heading out in half an hour if you want to come with.” Zach confirms for you. “Lizzy already said she’s working on commissions all day so it’ll just be us guys.” Once again, another pang of something unpleasant after hearing that.

“I think I’m going to be busy too.” You tell him. “I’m still waking up and there’s some… stuff… I gotta do today.” Way too much stuff to go over on the phone, or even in person. How were you going to tell everyone? How were you going to explain everything?

“Seriously dude, what did you do last night?” Zach asks, not sounding too disappointed, mostly just curious. “What are you getting up to for you to be sleeping in this late?”

“Something that I plan on telling you about eventually.” You promise, though you still don’t know when you’ll be able to act on it. “I met Toby Fox last night!” You add on, wanting to give him some kind of explanation instead of leaving him in the dark before ghosting him for the day.

“Toby? The Toby Fox?” That seems to get him worked up. “Wait, are these foreign guys you talk to friends with him or something?”

“Yes…?” You scratch your head, wondering how to play this. “They’ve got connections with him and I was able to talk to him last night. I’m actually planning on reaching out to him again today.”

“What’s that all about?” He sounds interested now. He isn’t that much of a fan of Toby’s games, but you’re obsessed and he’s clearly excited for you. “Are you under an NDA or something? Why can't you talk about it now?”

“Well one, I don’t really know what’s all going on just yet, that’s why I gotta talk to him.” You tell Zach truthfully. “And second, I don’t know if it’s something he wants to spread around. As soon as I know it’s fine, I’ll let you all in on it, but trust me, it’s weird.”

“Sounds like it.” Zach laughs over the phone. “I guess it’ll just be me and Miles at the mall then. If you change your mind any time soon or if whatever this is doesn’t go through, call us up.”

“Will do.” You tell him, nodding along.

“See you later then, Vinny.” Once again, another gross feeling of discontent washes over you as Zach says goodbye, hanging up the call. A week ago you weren’t too bent out of shape over that name, no scratch that, yesterday you didn’t have a problem, but now it sounded so alien and wrong that it barely even registered as your name anymore.

Taking a deep breath, you rise out of bed. One step at a time, you wanted to be called by your new name sooner than later, but you had someone to reach out to.

Stumbling over to your computer as you continue to stretch, you find that a new window is open on the screen.

Your vessel must have finished installing while you were asleep and the game pulled you in once you had a body for it. Closing the window, you’re left with your desktop again, the Deltarune symbol beckoning you to go back. You leave it for now and instead open your browser. Neither Toby nor Temmie actually left you any contact information, so with no other idea for what to do, you find each of their twitters and shoot them a dm, explaining that you were Vess and that you spoke not long ago after you accidentally scared Toby. On the off chance that the two people you met weren’t the real devs, your message would probably look pretty weird, but there was enough there for them to realize who you were. With both the dms sent, you’re left waiting for a response. Stretching out a little more, you move to the bathroom, opening the door and flicking the light on.

The moment you saw your reflection in the mirror, you froze.

For the briefest second, you thought there was a stranger waiting for you in your bathroom. Once that second of shock passed, you were relieved to realize it was just you, but that relief was quickly followed up by disappointment and an overwhelming sense of grief. Your reflection looked familiar, but this wasn’t you. This wasn’t what you wanted to be, this wasn’t Ralsei’s Princess. Staring at yourself, you’re overcome with an overwhelming feeling of discomfort and… wrongness. You couldn’t even fully describe it, this was just wrong.

Yet you didn’t fully hate it.

Your hair was short, dark, and a little spikey, but you’ve had it grow out long before, never past your shoulders, but you think you can grow it out again just fine. Your brown eyes weren’t the same brilliant crimson color that Ralsei lost himself in, but there wasn’t anything wrong with your eyes. In fact… staring at them now, you realize they’re kind of pretty. You don’t think you’ve ever paid that much attention to them, but with so much else feeling so wrong, you focused on them.

You aren’t sure if jumping into a completely different body was a good or bad thing at this point. On one hand, you knew exactly what you wanted, the mental image of you in that dress was still fresh on your mind. You wanted to be the Princess Ralsei loved. On the other hand, that goal felt way out of reach with how you look now. Your hair would take months to grow long, years if you wanted to match your vessel’s hair length, none of your clothes really fit the new identity you were building up for yourself, and you don’t even know how to begin actually transitioning. Getting to just jump into a female body felt almost like cheating and the euphoria you felt then seemed like a high you could never reach again now.

But you can see it in your eyes. There’s still a Princess somewhere in there. Your whole life you’ve never really known what you wanted to look like, but now you do, and you can take steps to get to that point.

Prying your eyes away from the mirror, you clean yourself up in the bathroom before venturing out into the kitchen for something to eat. Your parents were off at work again, and for once, you were actually kinda glad to be home alone right now. You gotta tell them about how you feel eventually, and while you seriously doubt they’ll have any problems with it, the idea still feels nerve wracking to you. Would anyone else think it was too sudden? You thought so yourself that your feelings crept up on you out of nowhere and you just had a whole conversation with Ralsei about how much you rush things, but you’ve had a whole week to fully explore an identity overnight. How do you explain that to anyone?

This was a lot more complicated than you thought…

With your late brunch scarfed down, you return to your room and find something to take your mind off the full blown trans panic you were about to spiral into. Opening your twitter again, you find that Temmie has replied to your dm, leaving you a discord link to a private group chat. Opening up your discord, you’re given a jolt when you find the sprite sheet Lizzy sent you last night, the pixelated form of your vessel staring back at you. You gotta call up Lizzy and find a way to properly thank her for what she’s done for you. She’ll be pleased to know that everyone was a big fan of the new you, Ralsei especially.

Clicking on the private link, you enter a new group chat on discord. Temmie seems to be the only other person in the chat, and seconds after you join, she starts a call. You can’t help but feel a little bit anxious as you move your mouse to join it. You were finally going to get more answers, you just hope that you don’t leave this call with more questions than you started with.

“Hey!” Tem replies immediately once you join. “Glad you could reach out to us! Now, real fast, I just wanna confirm if you’re the same Vess I’m thinking about. Where did we last talk?”

“The courtyard in Castle Town.” You answer quickly, feeling relieved to hear her call you Vess instead of Vinny. You guess that’s another thing that you got to skip by going into Deltarune, you didn’t have an already established name that you had to change and correct people for, you were Vess and that was it.

“Right! Just double checking.” Temmie says, sounding almost giddy. “I’m still freaking out over the fact we found someone else like you! I was so scared when this first started happening that I was convinced I was insane, but-”

“But I’m not the only one, right.” You nod along. “I went through the same thing until I found you guys. Is Toby not here? Is it just you?”

“Toby’s still in there somewhere.” Temmie explains. “He probably will be for another hour on our end. He was working on something before you scared him off.”

“Sorry about that again, by the way.” You apologize.

“It’s no problem.” Temmie assures you. “He was probably the first ‘real’ person you saw out there, I’d freak out too if I found out I wasn’t the only one.” She says the word “real” with an almost audible shrug. It was clear to both of you that people like Ralsei were real too, but you didn’t have a good word to differentiate yourself from everyone else. “So, do you have any immediate questions, or would you rather I try to explain everything I know from the start?”

“I have nothing but questions, but hearing what you have to say might answer some of them.” You tell her. “What is this Void place, how are we able to go there and mess with it?”

“Alright, I assume you’re sitting down, right? Get comfy because there’s a lot to go over.” You settle into your seat, bracing yourself for what was no doubt going to be an insane sounding story.

“So Toby isn’t here to confirm all of this himself, but he told me that he’s been doing this for years now.” Temmie begins detailing. “I don’t know the exact date, but this was sometime before Undertale came out, maybe mid development. He said around that time that he was kinda losing his mind in his work, constantly scribbling down notes, doodles, and design ideas for everything to the point that it was all he could think about. Even in his dreams, he was still mapping things out, imagining various conversations between characters. Ok yeah, it was definitely mid development, because he said one night he ended up working into the dead of night, crunching himself to try and finish the demo he would eventually release when he passed out at his desk. He said he had the most insane dream imaginable where he woke up in a bed of flowers and was rescued by Toriel herself. He thought he had somehow managed to have some kind of work induced psychotic break, but he was there for days in Toriel’s house. He didn’t know how to get out, and his attempts to leave were met by Toriel’s refusal to let him out the back door to the rest of the Underground. She told him it was dangerous and that he’d be safe with her, but he wanted to go back.”

“Isn’t this just…” You interject for a moment, but Temmie answers your question before you can even ask it.

“Yes, it’s the beginning of Undertale.” She confirms for you. “This wasn’t how he originally planned for things to go at the time. Undertale wasn’t the big passion project he had been planning for years, so he was still coming up with things as he went. Things were so unfinished at the time that when he actually managed to convince Toriel to let him go, he went out the basement door and found absolutely nothing. He ended up accidentally throwing himself head first into the Void before he woke up, drenched in sweat and completely dumbstruck by what he just went through. As shaken up as he was, his experience with Toriel, her understandable reluctance to let him go and her instance that he stayed, it helped him work out some problems he had with the story and those experiences are what led to the final product you played through yourself.”

“So… So that wasn’t a fever dream, he ended up stuck in there just like I did.” You deduce. “But he reworked the story to match his experiences there?”

“Yep!” Temmie confirms. “The whole story ended up getting reworked thanks to its influence. The introduction of Determination, the metafictional stuff and fourth wall breaks. The whole reason why all the characters were so personable and well written is because Toby actually got to personally know them all. I was helping him out with art stuff and wondered why he had so much trouble sleeping. He ended up devising a plan to try and prove that he wasn’t going crazy and tried to communicate to me from inside the ‘game’.”

“And that worked?” You ask. You had been thinking of something similar. Kris was able to talk to you out here through your computer. If someone was in your room while you were sleeping, could you try to contact them through the same means?

“It freaked me out, but yeah.” She nods. “It was a huge relief for him too, but after confirming that he was actually someplace else and this all wasn’t going on in his head, he tried to get me in on it too. I’ve done it enough times now that I can do it without his help anymore, but that took ages to get right. Once I was in though, I was able to help him out and explore with him. I don’t think I’m quite at the point where I can impose my will into the Void to create new stuff like he can, but I’m able to hop in and explore all the different worlds in Toby’s headspace. Your version of Deltarune is thrown into the mix now too! Things already looked way different compared to the one I visited. Where did Susie get that scar? It looks super cool!”

“She got it in a…” You pause. “Actually, before I get into that, I have some questions I need to get out first.”

“Oh, sorry! Go ahead!” She tells you. “I have a bunch myself, but I’ll let you go first.”

“Is this… safe to do?” You ask. You didn’t have the scars anymore, on this body or your new vessel, but you still remember the unbelievable amount of pain and terror that ran through you when Chara drove a knife into your hand.

“It’s…” Temmie hesitates. “Well, it can be kind of dangerous sometimes. It depends on where you find yourself. What’s an adventure without a little bit of danger though? Besides, if you’re close knit with the Delta Warriors, you’re perfectly fine!” You suppose that’s true, and she should know since she had a hand in their creation. You couldn’t ask for better friends and they’ve already saved your life countless times.

“Ok, but have you ever dealt with someone genuinely dangerous?” You elaborate. “As in someone who had it out specifically for you.”

“No…?” Temmie tells you, sounding very worried all of a sudden. “Is everything alright on your end? Have bad things been happening to you?”

“Well as Kris likes to keep putting it, almost every time I show up, terrible things keep following me.” You say. “The past week I spent there was the best of my life, but early on, I was genuinely afraid I was going to die multiple times.”

“What happened?!” Temmie was more than worried now, she sounded genuinely alarmed and concerned for you.

“Deltarune wasn’t the only world I must have brought into existence.” You explain, using the new information you’ve learned from her. “One of my old No Mercy Undertale runs must have been added in too, and Chara was still roaming around, convinced that I still owed them and somehow managed to find me in Deltarune. I was lucky I got away with my life. I was positive that if they managed to get a hold of me, I would have died here too.”

Temmie seems to be in a stunned silence after your story, horrified by what she heard. “It’s been months since anything really bad’s happened though.” You try to assure her. “No one’s trying to hurt us anymore and the scariest thing that’s happened in ages was me accidentally getting lost in the Void trying to talk to Toby.”

“That’s still awful!” Temmie insists. “Oh my god! Are you alright? Is everyone else alright? Is that where Susie’s scar came from?”

“We’re fine.” You insist. “All the bad guys are gone now. Things have just been going business as usual in Hometown for a while now. We managed to kick all the troublemakers out into…”

Wait a minute…

“Um…” You mumble, absolutely hating the thought that’s trying to force its way out your mouth. “If someone were to be lost in the Void, what are the chances of someone with enough Determination breaking into someplace they shouldn’t?”

“Ok, see?” Temmie starts to freak out. “This is why Toby and I were worried about someone else adding onto things. No offense to you or anything, you seem really nice, but you just added something dangerous into the Void, something that can apparently go from one world to another. It’s just Chara, right? This is one person we’re dealing with?”

“No…” You admit sheepishly. “Two Chara’s, and Gaster.” You tell her. “Though, both of the Chara’s didn’t like Gaster, so he might not be a problem anymore, but there’s still two copies of the same insane person running around and potentially working together.”

“Why…” Temmie seems taken aback by what you said. “Why would Gaster be a problem?” You’re left a little confused by her question and Tem elaborates in your silence. “Gaster’s the one who helped me actually get into this. He’s a good guy, if not a little eccentric. Is yours different?”

That throws you for a loop. “I guess technically he’s the reason I got fully sucked into this, but it wasn’t by my will and he didn’t do it with good intentions.” You tell her, terrified of the prospect of multiple Gaster’s running around, even if this other Gaster was apparently good. “I’m guessing your or Toby’s interpretation of Gaster is less antagonistic, meaning when you made his world, he wasn’t as manipulative?”

“Gaster’s just a lonely old man.” Temmie tells you, describing her own version of the Doctor. “He got lost in the Void and wandered for ages until he eventually stumbled onto the new world Toby and I were working on. He just watched for the most part, excited by all the new things that were happening. Toby was the only one who could actually go in and out of the place at this point, but Gaster seemed to be a bit more observant. He quickly figured out Toby was the one behind most of the changes going on, but he somehow knew that there were other people helping him, people like me. He eventually managed to get Toby’s attention out in the Void, and together, they were able to come up with a plan to get me in there with them, creating a vessel for me and drawing me into the world.”

“That isn’t too dissimilar to how things worked out for me.” You say. “Why did he draw you in though? What reason did he have?”

“He was lonely.” Temmie answers. “He was stuck in the Void with no easy way to get out. He was able to see almost everything, even beyond the Void, but he didn’t have anyone to talk to, nothing to do, barely any power or control at all over his situation. Helping Toby and making me a vessel, he was finally able to do something, to have someone to talk to, to leave his mark on the world instead of being a forgotten relic no one even knew about.”

It was scary how similar and different this Gaster sounded compared to yours. Both wanted to exercise some level of control over their situation, to influence the world and not be forgotten. The only difference was that Tem’s Gaster acted altruistically, helping people so he could have someone to talk to in order to make his isolation bearable. He wanted a small, but notable role in helping change the world he was observing by bringing the creators into it. Your Gaster wanted control by any means, whether that meant making deals with shady characters like Chara, or terrorizing your friends just to feel agency and to force them to act in his favor.

In a weird way, both got what they wanted and they won’t ever be forgotten. Temmie’s Gaster is remembered fondly and probably still talked to. Your Gaster will never be forgotten, no matter how much you wanted to.

“This is so strange…” Temmie chuckles nervously. “As scary as this all is, it’s still really interesting to see how differently things played out for us.”

“Yeah, I also have mixed feelings about this.” You admit. “It’s really nice to get some answers after so long, but the scale of what I’m dealing with feels WAY too big now. There are entire multiverses out there in the Void and just knowing that it’s possible to go there had Kris worried that something unpleasant could find their way into their world.”

“How did you find Toby, by the way?” Temmie asks. “It took us forever to figure out how to get around the Void, how did you find Toby in a place that just barely started to exist?”

“Styx took me there.” You say, quickly elaborating. “The Riverperson from Undertale. They told me that they like to float down the river and let the Void take them places. Catti ended up meeting them some time before I got back and they were able to visit other worlds. I went along with her and a couple other friends to let Styx boat us around to try and figure out what was going on and what all these places meant. I saw Toby and wanted answers and now here we are.”

“So there are more people moving around that we don’t know about?” Temmie says with that mix of wonder and worry. “Well I guess that should be obvious to me, we do that and Gaster managed to make his way to the new world Toby was making. It’s just scary to think that potentially bad people can intrude into these places. I’m almost tempted to check up on some old worlds I used to visit just in case something happened to them.”

As Temmie worries about the possibility of interdimensional invaders, you get a ping on your discord and find that Lizzy is typing. She probably wants to hear back about her commission work, but that gave you some more questions you needed to ask.

“So should I keep this all to myself, or can I try to tell my friends what’s going on with me?” You ask Temmie, drawing the conversation away from the dangers your introduction to the Void brought awareness to. “They all know I’m acting a little funny recently and I’ve been trying to think of a way to prove to them what’s going on with me. Should I keep lying to keep this a secret, or…”

“I’m…” Temmie hesitates. “I don’t know. This used to just be a space for me Toby, and a few other really close friends. I doubt you’re the only one running around the Void, but I think it’s safe to say that neither of us know exactly what’s going on or what’s changed with you here. I don’t want to say no, I’ve had the time of my life in there thanks to Toby and Gaster, but adding more people into the mix could potentially make things more dangerous or hectic.” You’re about to sigh and accept that, but Temmie offers you a compromise. “I think there isn’t much harm in telling them or contacting them while inside the Void.” She says. “As long as they aren’t pulled in with you, I don’t think they can influence things too much. Your friends can learn the truth and everything inside can stay the same without too much change or upset.”

“Ok.” You nod. “I have a lot of things I need to talk to my friends about, but they’ve been kinda worried about my sleep and wondering who I’ve been talking to. If I can be honest with them about that, I think I’ll have an easier time explaining some other things I’ve been going through.”

“I can’t imagine keeping a secret this big under the covers.” Temmie agrees. “I’m sure it’ll be a huge weight off your shoulders.”

You get another discord ping from Lizzy. “So, I know we just started talking about this stuff, but I think one of my friends is trying to get my attention right now. Is it fine if-”

“Oh yeah! Perfectly fine!” Temmie assures you. “Just keep this group chat on your mind if you have any more questions. When Toby gets up I’ll get him in here too to answer some questions as well. I’m really sorry to hear that things haven’t been perfect on your end, but maybe if we put our heads together we can learn more about the Void and find a way to make it safer for all of us. Maybe we can set up a meeting when we’re all back in the Void too.”

“That sounds like a plan.” You tell her. “I have plenty more I want to talk about, but I have some other stuff I’ve been putting off that I really need to tell my friends.”

“Don’t sweat it!” Temmie says. “Just leave a message here or call again when you’re ready, bye Vess!”

Temmie hangs up the call, leaving you in silence as you take in everything you’ve heard. You think you did get more answers than questions this time around which is good, but the few questions you did get were bad ones. You may have accidentally introduced three crazies into the greater multiverse. How big of an issue was that though? What were the chances of them somehow getting into someplace to do harm? What were the chances of you ever crossing paths again if there were entire self contained multiverses within the Void? Now that you’re thinking about it, even if all three of them found a way into one of these other worlds and tried to wreak havoc, would they even be a threat? If the shinigami you met on that river while boating with Styx was a Touhou character like you suspect, you think that world will be just fine. You don’t know much about Touhou at all, but you’re reasonably sure that they should be able to take on a couple determined humans.

Another ping sounds off from Lizzy, still sending you messages and trying to get a hold of you. You put a pin in the Void stuff and check up on your dms with Lizzy, jolting slightly when you see the sprite sheet again. Ignoring the sheet, you focus on the new messages Lizzy has left for you.

“Oh hey, you’re back online.”
“You don’t usually stay off this long.”
“You show your buddies the sprites?”
“Vinny?”
“Zach said you skipped out on the mall, you up to anything today?”
“You there or should I keep working on my stuff?”

“I’m here.” You type out and after a moment of hesitation you follow it up. “Are you fine to call? I got a lot to talk about and I don’t know if it’s something that should be over text.” After a couple seconds, Lizzy responds by starting a call. Even though you asked for it, you hesitate a little, feeling a little nervous about the conversation you were about to have. You close your eyes and take a deep breath, trying your hardest to fall back into that objective based mindset you fell into whenever you were in the ‘game’. The sooner you got things done, the better you’d feel. You join the call, and Lizzy is quick to greet you.

“What’s goin on, Vinny?” She greets you. “Zach shot me a couple messages a few minutes ago saying that you were apparently talking to Toby Fox or something? What have you been up to since last night?”

“I guess that’s what I want to talk about real fast. One of the things, anyways.” You tell her. “Maybe this would be better as a group call, but I’m going through some personal stuff too and I guess it’ll be a bit easier one on one.”

“I’m in the middle of some commission work, but if it’s something serious, hit me.” Lizzy offers. “What’s up?”

“I’m uh…” You hesitate again. “I guess I don’t know what to start with first.” You admit. Everything you had to talk about was either really heavy and personal or something that would make you sound insane.

“Did you show your buddies the sprites for Vess?” Lizzy asks, still eager to hear feedback.

“Yes, I did.” You tell her, settling down what was probably going to be the harder road first. “She was a hit. I told everyone where I got it and they were all really impressed, but like I said before, I don’t think it’s possible for them to reach out and commission work from you.”

“So are you ever gonna explain what the hell that means?” Lizzy asks. “If they’re not on Discord, I can get whatever else you’re using to talk with them.”

“I’m actually getting to that point, but I think I need to tell you more about Vess first.” You say, wanting to stick to one topic at a time. “She’s… Fuck, how do I put this in a way that makes sense? She’s… me.” The moment you get those words out, you realize how stupid they sound. “No, wait. I’ve… I’ve been thinking about a lot of stuff recently, about how I look and how other people see me and I’ve made some pretty big revelations about myself. Vess is… Vess isn’t just a character, she’s me, or what I want to be at least.”

“Is…” Lizzy is silent for a moment and that silence stretches on forever for you. “I thought you were acting weird while designing her, especially when I asked for her name but… Are you saying that you’re…”

“I think I’m a girl.” You tell her outright, unable to think of a more subtle or natural way to say it. “It’s been on my mind for a while and the friends I talk to late at night have already been calling me Vess for a while now. I can’t properly explain it right now without context, but the commission you made for me helped me finally make up my mind and come to terms with how I feel. I’m Vess.”

You take a deep breath after getting everything out. Lizzy was probably the easiest person to come out to considering how closely she worked with you on your vessel, but still, it made your heart pound in your chest to commit to such a big change in your life, to voice it out instead of keeping it in your head. Lizzy is left understandably stunned, but you’re still worried about her reaction, but when she speaks up, you’re relieved to find that those worries were unfounded.

“Vess…” Just hearing her say that name made a shiver run down your spine. “I don’t know what to say. Am I the first person in our friend group you’ve told?”

“Yes.” You tell her. “I only fully committed to this recently, and like I said, I have a bunch of other really important things I need to talk about too which have been keeping me occupied. If you could help me break the news to Zach and Miles, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Yeah! I can definitely help you out with that!” Lizzy tells you. “I like the idea of no longer being the only girl in the group. This is, well I didn’t even have a clue this was something you were going through, but thank you for telling me. I guess I just have one more question for you, unless the other stuff you need to talk about is important.”

“Maybe we can tackle these things one at a time.” You decide. “Zach was right that I was talking with Toby earlier and I plan on talking with him some more today about stuff, so we can save that for later and focus on this instead. What do you want to know?”

“I guess I’m just more curious about that name, Vess.” She says. “It’s certainly unique, but still, it’s such a strange name to go with.”

“Like I said, I was put on the spot.” You tell her, still smiling after being called by your new name. “My other friends wanted to know my name but I didn’t want to use my old one. I had already opened my mouth to say it and got the first letter out before I picked something else. I hadn’t even considered the trans thing at the time, it’s… Again, I have a lot of context to lay out to have everything make sense, but I picked Vess, I’ve stuck with it, and that’s how I want to be referred to here as well.”

“Man, it sounds like you have quite the story for us!” Lizzy says, growing more excited. “How long have you been holding onto this? Why break the news now?”

You’re starting to realize just how big of a job you have in front of you. Not only do you have to reintroduce yourself to all your friends under your new name and identity, but once that’s done, you need to find a way to explain the time you spent in Deltarune, the Void, your meeting with the devs and their connections to everything, how all of that helped lead you to the decision to start transitioning.

You already had your foot in the door though, you got past the first hurdle. You missed Ralsei and wanted to get back to him as soon as you could, but you had a very busy and eventful week ahead of you. It’s time to get to work.

Chapter Text

Looking up at Catti’s tower, I try to find the energy needed to get someone’s attention up there. Seeing Catti flying around in the air wasn’t an uncommon sight before, but with her new teleportation ability, she’s been harder to reach. Susie of all people told me that Catti wanted to talk though, and considering how heated things were between them, the fact that Catti went to Susie at all to get my attention means she must have been desperate to get a hold of me. I didn’t have the energy within me to start screaming for someone to let a ladder down though. I understood and respected the idea of having no easy access to the tower so she couldn’t be bothered, but would it kill her to have a doorbell or-

“Hey!” I feel my breath hitch in my chest as Catti speaks up right behind me. As much as the jolt hurt, it does help kick me awake.

“Can you not do that?” I plead. “Or at least wait until I have the chance to do it back to you. Like, just take a few steps back before you announce yourself so you don’t jump scare people.”

“Hey, I’m learning.” Catti shrugs. “I didn’t mean to pop up so close, I wanted to be here and you just happened to be right next to me when I got here. So do you want in?”

“Unless you want to sit around in the cold, yeah.” I nod. Reaching out, Catti offers her hand and a second after taking it, the late winter chill suddenly vanishes as I’m transported into Catti’s cramped and now strangely sweet smelling tower. The strange charms, unidentifiable smells, and claustrophobic room would probably unnerve most, but this was the safest place in town in my eyes. Catti had this place completely closed off from the outside world, it even kept me hidden from Gaster’s sight when I first tried to find Dess. Nothing could reach me here.

“Remember, don’t touch anything.” Catti warns, looking around and trying to clear the clutter so both of us could take a seat. “It’s the one rule I have for this place, but it seems like everyone’s first instinct upon getting up here is to start poking things on the shelf.”

“Because you got a lot of cool stuff up here.” I tell her, trying my hardest to resist that very urge. Across the room, I think I can see a jar of what looks like eyeballs and I desperately wanted to tap the glass. “Where’s Temmie?” I ask, desperate to draw my attention away from things I wanted to touch.

“Hanging out with Dess I think.” Catti shrugs, pulling up a chair for me and forcing me to sit down before I start touching anything. “She’s trying to get to know more of Noelle’s friends and classmates. She’ll probably bother me later today, but for now, we’re safe up here.”

“Cool…” I nod, slouching in my chair and closing my eyes. It was cool to see Vess again and even cooler to see Ralsei so happy around her, but god damn I need a break from the weird shit sometimes. Nothing’s happened since Toby showed up and after Vess left, but I can rest assured that if something weird happens again within the next hour, I can probably ride it out here.

“So uh…” Catti speaks up after finding her own seat and sitting down beside me. “I had a few things I wanted to talk about. Do you want the fun stuff now, or do you want to save that for after the less fun stuff?”

“Less fun stuff?” I ask in alarm.

“It’s nothing serious, I don’t think…” Catti says. “I guess I don’t know if some of it is good or bad. Among other things, I was wondering what Vess was talking about when they said they saw a guy named Toby out in the Void.”

“Oh yeah that’s…” I let out a sigh. “That was a lot, but it wasn’t really bad news. It’s nothing to worry about I’m pretty sure. You probably wouldn’t like it though.”

“Well then where do we start?” Catti asks. “Fun stuff first or later?” I still don’t know what these unfun questions would be, but I came here to try and unwind from a lot of the chaos going on outside.

“Fun stuff.” I answer. In response, Catti gets up from her chair, moving towards one of the shelves.

“I couldn’t get a hold of you or anyone else after everyone got back from the river, but I got a couple of things during my second trip with Styx.” Catti says with clear excitement in her voice. “Styx was a little worried to keep going after Vess disappeared, but after hearing they were fine, we boated around for a couple more hours and found all sorts of weird stuff. How did they get back, by the way?”

“Shortcuts, she thinks.” I reply. She raises an eyebrow, likely at the added ’she thinks’ at the end, but Vess didn’t even know how she did it so how should I?

“Right, but we went boating around a while longer and while a lot of the worlds weren’t that interesting, we boated by this one place and found these weird little blob things with big noses wearing bows.” Catti describes, finally fishing out whatever she was looking for and returning to her chair with them. “They were a little hard to understand at first, but after talking with them, they offered a couple things for me to take on my journey.”

Clearing some space on a nearby table, Catti puts down two objects. One was a jar with some pink gelatinous paste inside of it, the other looked like a candy bar. Both had strange chicken scratch symbols on it which I didn’t even recognize as words before giving them a closer look.

“You got alien snacks?” I ask, reaching out to get a closer look only for Catti to slap my hand away. Right, no touching.

“I plan on saving them for Temmie’s birthday coming up.” Catti explains. “I was hoping for something cooler like a flower from an alien planet or an ancient tome from a long forgotten civilization, but interdimensional sugar and treats are right up Temmie’s alley so why not let her give them a try.”

“What is this stuff?” I ask. “Is it even safe to eat?”

“Well again, the little guys were hard to understand, but I believe that there is Pig Jelly, and this is Peanut Butter Cheese.” Catti explains, pointing first at the jar then at the bar. “They’re apparently staples in their diets. As for whether or not they’re safe to eat, you and Temmie ate a box full of paper the last time I brought something back. If you come along, you can taste them first. You aren’t the best control group, but if it’s poisonous or something, you have the best bet at not dying from food poisoning with all the weird stuff you eat.”

“How thoughtful of you.” I hum. “Always looking out for me. So is there any more fun stuff, or is that it?”

“That’s it.” Catti nods. “We popped up in an ocean at some point, a couple rivers flowing through forests, and spent some time on a lake. There were some cool looking trees in the woods, but nothing as cool as the alien sugar planet with tea rivers that we started the trip with.”

“Yeah, that’s a pretty high bar to clear.” I chuckle. “So I guess you want to know what all happened after you dropped everyone off?”

“It looked like a lot was going on and I had a boat to catch.” Catti nods.

“God, you don’t even fucking know.” I groan. “It’s been four days and I still feel shocked by what all happened. Vess starts saying that she not only met Toby out there, but Temmie too, and after a whi-”

“What?!” Catti stops me, and after a brief pause, I recognize why.

“Oh right, this was a different Temmie.” I quickly elaborate. “She looks really similar though. I guess I never asked but maybe they’re related somehow? Maybe your Temmie is this other Temmie’s self insert?”

“What does… Who’s this other Temmie then?” Catti asks, growing more confused.

“I think she’s a co-developer for the video game world we exist in.” I try to explain. “Or, existed, anyways. Turns out we’re not 100% in a video game, but a physical recreation of one that Vess made subconsciously and was eventually dragged into because Vess is actually some all-powerful being just like Toby and she didn’t even realize it.” Catti stares at me in dumb shock, not even able to ask questions. “Like I said, it was a lot. Vess said she’s going to try to talk to them while she’s gone. We’ll have all the time it takes for her to get back to prepare for the massive info dump she drops on us, if she can pry Ralsei off of her long enough to say everything.”

I was happy for Ralsei and all, but man, Vess was all he cared about. Susie said I was annoying as all hell after getting together with Berdly again, but I know for a fact I was not this love crazy. I figured it would be easier to tease him but that’s getting harder to do too. He’s becoming resistant to it. He even openly admitted to making out with Vess on that dumb swan ride at the manor and showed me the picture to prove it.

I’m almost positive he’s doing it on purpose to get back at me, to prove that my teasing doesn’t bother him anymore. I still got that book in my room as back up, but actually reading through it, I can’t even make fun of him for that either. It was actually a really interesting story about how quickly people are to judge others for things out of their control and how simple acts of kindness can break a feedback loop of ignorance and hatred. The dragon princess can’t leave the cave because of her broken wing and is forced to eat the village's cattle for survival. The knight they send to slay her is the first person to try and talk things out instead of mindlessly continuing the violent cycle. I mean, it’s still smut, but it’s weirdly well written stuff.

“Kris.”

“Huh?!” I snap back to attention. “Sorry, I drifted off a little there, what were you saying?”

“Are you alright?” Catti asks, her face looking a little more solemn than usual.

“Uh, yeah?” I nod, unsure of what she meant. “I’m just tired. I didn’t get much sleep and my mind likes to wander sometimes.”

“I guess I mean in general…” Catti says. “But more importantly, after the boat ride.” Oh… I lean back in my seat, feeling dread wash over me. This was the unfun stuff she wanted to talk about. “Kris, I’ve never seen you like that before. I thought you were dying.”

“It felt like it too…” I mumble. “I’m better now though, you don’t need to worry about it.”

“That’s not what Susie told me.” Catti says. I want to tell her off for pushing it after I said I was fine, but hearing that gives me something else to latch onto.

“What ever happened between you and Susie?” I ask. “I mean, admittedly, she was kind of a bitch back in the day, but she’s been cool for a year now. Why are you so snappy with her?”

“That is not at all what we were talking about.” Catti is quick to point out. “That doesn’t matter right now, you do.”

“Well if you’re not inclined to share, then neither am I.” I cross my arms. This didn’t need to be everyone’s business. Berdly knew, but with how close we were that was inevitable, but he knew not to share.

“If I tell you, will you actually let me help?” Catti asks. She was being persistent. I grumble and try to turn away, but after a moment, I turn to face her again. Before Susie, Ralsei, and the others, Catti was one of my first close friends. She is who I turned to in my most desperate hour and she kept her word and helped everyone find me in the end. She liked to put on an act of apathy, but she cared quite a bit for me.

Besides, I’m really curious to know what the hell’s going on with her and Susie.

“Fine.” I relent. “But you gotta go first. What’s your beef with Susie? I know you can hold a grudge, but she’s a completely different person from who she was a year ago.”

“It’s more recent than that, but…” Catti starts, though almost immediately her words trail off into silence. “Well shit, I actually gotta tell you now, don’t I?”

“Not fun having people bring up stuff you’d rather keep hidden, huh?” I point out, hoping that she’d move past this, but she eventually relents and reveals her secrets.

“I guess I’m just… jealous… of Susie.” Catti grumbles out, refusing to meet my eye and staring off into the corner.

“Jealous of what?” I ask, genuinely confused. “If you’re sick of her hogging me all the time all you gotta do is ask and I’ll swing by here for the day.”

“It isn’t about you.” Catti shakes her head.

“You were trying to make everything about me a moment ago.”

“Quiet, jackass.” Catti growls. “I’m… I’m jealous over her and Noelle.” I wait for her to elaborate or continue that thought, but she doesn’t say another word.

“Wait, why?” I ask, genuinely confused.

“I could have sworn I talked to you about this before.” Catti mumbles, not wanting to talk much anymore.

“Maybe, but possession and being lost in the Void between dimensions messed with my memories a little, so if I could get a refresher…” With one more pained sigh, Catti finally lays everything out straight.

“I always thought that I could make something work with Noelle.” She finally admits, though she sounds reluctant to do so. “She’s so bright and cheerful, but she’s also into the creepy and mysterious like me. I always pictured that we’d be like this weird yin yang of horror, the light and positive, the dark and negative, but each of us having a little of each other within ourselves. Everyone else was put off by the books I read and my offers on tarot readings, but same with you, Noelle took some interest and I kinda started to fall for her.”

“Oh…” Despite what I said earlier, memories started to crop up, memories of her begging me to protect Noelle’s brilliant, shimmering light from the darkness that was Susie. Back then, I had just assumed she still saw Susie as a bully and wanted to keep Noelle safe, but thinking about it now, the fact that she seemed to care about anyone else's safety at all should have been my first clue that she had taken a special interest in Noelle. Hell, I’m her best friend and she still refers to me as a weird creepy goblin person, yet she only ever said flowery, nice things about Noelle.

“I didn’t know if it would work out, I doubted myself and kept my distance.” Catti continues to speak, looking more sullen and frustrated as she does. “I thought that maybe I could wait for the right moment, that maybe Berdly would be sick one day while partners were being assigned so I could pair up with Noelle. But seemingly overnight, she was suddenly hanging out with Susie every single day and…”

Catti lets out a frustrated sigh. “It’s stupid. Noelle and I were barely more than acquaintances and she can make her own choices, but it hurt when she decided to start dating Susie of all people. It made me feel like an indecisive idiot for not speaking to her sooner. It’s stupid. I’ve moved on, I made new friends, I’m doing fine, but still, every time I look at Susie, I see this big dumb bully that somehow managed to pair up with the nicest, prettiest girl in school.”

“Wow… that’s…”

“Yeah…” Catti nods, sounding ashamed of herself. “Being forced to spend some time with her on that boat ride and seeing how quickly she jumped into action when you started freaking out, I realized she wasn’t the same person I pictured in my head. She’s a lot more thoughtful than I gave her credit for, but some stupid, selfish part of my brain is still jealous of her and I wish I could just bury it and move on.”

I sat in silence for a little while after that. I had some crude joke forming in my head, but seeing how Catti looked after sharing all of that killed that joke before it could come out. This was something deep and personal that bothered her and not even I was low enough to make a joke about it at her expense.

I guess I need to do my share now. That’s the only reason she parted with this information.

“I’ve been… struggling, since I got back.” I admit to Catti. Thinking about it now, I don’t even think I’ve said that much on the topic to anyone else. “The years of possession already messed me up a good bit, but the resets and my time in the Void, I’ve never been in a worse position in my life and…” I lower my head and stare at the floor. God, I didn’t want to talk about this. I didn’t even want to think about this! I wanted nothing more than to put all of this shit behind me, but it keeps cropping up at the worst times.

“Do you get panic attacks often?” Catti asks a little hesitantly. I want to glare at her for asking such a stupid question, but looking up, she seems genuinely curious and worried. “I guess I’ve never seen someone have a panic attack. I thought it was just becoming super stressed out and irritable or something, but you looked like you were physically being attacked.”

“I was convinced I was going to be at any moment.” I shudder, already feeling an unpleasant chill trail down my spine just thinking about it. “The moment I saw the darkness, the moment the air became still, I needed to close my eyes. I was so convinced that someone was going to be there, that when I opened my eyes again, Chara was going to be right in my face. I was so convinced that at any moment, Susie’s arms would phase right through me and I’d be left all alone again.”

I could feel my breath becoming more unsteady as I went and stopped to take in a couple deep breaths. I tapped my foot, I reached down and brushed my hands against the rough wood of the chair I was sitting on, I kept my eyes open and unblinking to prove to myself that I was here and not back in the Void. Catti remained quiet, taking notice of my obvious discomfort, but I wished she kept going. I needed her to keep talking so I could take my mind off this.

“Do these happen often?” Catti asks again, but those four words don’t do much to ease my growing anxiety.

“Often enough for Berdly to have a whole routine in place for when it happens.” I tell her, focusing on that to take my mind off what I saw in the Void. “If I’m looking bad, he’ll flick the lights on or turn up the tv to give me something to focus on, but the most important thing is that he gets close enough to hug me. He’ll hum a song, he’ll play with my hair, just whatever he can think of to draw me out of whatever waking nightmare I found myself in. He knows what all causes it, he knows what to say to calm me down, and I swear, I always cry after it’s done. He’s a real dumbass sometimes, but without even needing to say anything, he knows exactly what he needs to do and what he needs to say to help me.”

I wanted Berdly here right now. He’d make me feel better. He’d ask if I wanted to talk about it or if I wanted to pretend it didn’t happen. He’d drop the games and quit being a smartass for just a minute until he was sure I was alright enough to start making fun of him again. I wish he didn’t have to know at all, but he does, and he knows how to fix it.

“Does anyone else know about this?” Catti asks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I haven’t told anyone.” I shake my head. “Everyone’s probably figured it out by now though…”

“Why not?!” Catti blurts out, sounding genuinely baffled and breaking her usual look of stoicism. “Why the hell wouldn’t you tell people this is happening to you?!”

“The same reason you don’t share your secret.” I huff, but that just makes Catti more angry.

“Kris!” She raises her voice. “Me being a petty bitch over a crush I never acted on is not at all comparable to this! There’s something seriously wrong with you and you need help!”

“I know there’s something wrong with me!” I shout back, feeling tears stinging at the corner of my eyes. “I get it, ok?! I’m fucked up! I’m all screwy and I can’t even listen to a fucking phone ring without crying so hard I want to throw up! Do you think I want everyone to know that?! Do you think I want everyone to know I’m a fucking mess who can barely even function?!”

Catti leans back in her chair, petrified at my words. I try to swallow the sobs that try to break free, desperately reaching up to wipe my eyes. “Everyone else has gone through the same shit.” I mumble, hating how my voice sounded trying to form around the lump in my throat. “Everyone else had to deal with the resets, I wasn’t the only one who got stuck in the Void, but… I’m the only one who’s this fucked up. I passed the reset onto Susie and she had it for almost a year. I couldn’t even hold onto it for one month before I threw myself into the Void just to get rid of it! Dess was stuck in there for years, but you’ve seen her now. You barely even notice there’s anything different about her, but with me…”

“I’m sorry.” Catti says, her voice sounding shaken. “I didn’t know all of this was going on, I’m…”

“Everyone’s gone through the wringer.” I whimper, knowing my voice will break if I try to speak any louder. “I don’t want them to see how broken I am when all of them made it out relatively scot free. They know something’s wrong and they’re trying to help, that should be good enough.”

“Kris, no!” Catti raises her voice again, but I can tell she’s holding herself back, scared that she’ll draw another outburst out of me. “That’s now how that works. I’m not a doctor, I just collect crystals and try to make potions, but you have some serious problems that can’t just be ignored. You need professional help!”

“Are there any shrinks inside the Barrier?” I ask her. “Didn’t think so. Besides, I don’t see myself trusting any doctors any time soon.”

“Then talk to your friends then! Talk to Susie!” Catti insists. “Susie looked literally sick with worry and wanted to come back for you instead of looking for Vess. Yeah, she might not be as hurt by what happened with the resets, but she knows what you’re going through. Don’t keep this to yourself!, please.”

I’ve thought of doing that multiple times, if not with Susie, then with Ralsei. They don’t even know how deep this went, but all of them were doing their best to be supportive. It wasn’t that easy though, if it was, I wouldn’t still be having this problem. Just thinking about this hurts, and as irrational as the thoughts were, the mere chance that they might not fully get my problem or even worse, think I’m weak for not being able to handle the same things they did kept me away. I doubted they’d ever do that, but it was an irrational fear, it doesn’t make sense at all, but my stupid, fucked up brain keeps convincing me that it’ll happen, screaming at me and dumping adrenaline into my veins every time I even consider it.

“I’ll try…” I tell Catti. There were now two people who knew the whole story, and that felt like two too many.

“I think I’m gonna need more than an ’I’ll try’ from you.” Catti shakes her head. “Better yet, I’m going to come with you to make sure you actually talk to someone. And because I know you’re going to bitch and moan about that, I’ll sweeten the pot for you. I’m gonna stick with you and teach you how to take shortcuts like I can, and in exchange, you’re going to bring me with you to Castle Town.”

“Great… I get a fast pass to the worst conversation I’ll ever have in my life.” I whine.

“Hey, at least your feet won’t hurt from standing in line for so long now.” Catti adds, trying to sound positive.

“How thoughtful of you,” I grumble, finding a smile creeping onto my face at her dumb joke, “Always looking out for me.”

“I’m not the only one looking out for you,” Catti assures me, “But you gotta let them know. Now, take a minute to try and clear your head. This requires a good bit of focus and concentration. When you’re ready, take my hand and try to feel out what’s going on.”

I wasn’t sure how alright I was with this.

During the walk towards the river, alarm bells were ringing in my head, trying to warn me that weird Void shit was going on and I wasn’t going to like it. While most of the boat ride was cool, I really should have stayed off the thing entirely like Susie suggested. Those same alarm bells were ringing now. Catti has assured me that this is perfectly safe and has taken me on random jumps for a few minutes now to get me used to it, but it’s still fanning a fire in the back of my mind.

I kept up with it for the same reason I stayed on the boat though. Overpowering the rising anxiety and fear was a desire to do something. I thought I had my share of adventures for a while, but even with how fucked up I was, I still wanted to do something, to get out there and make a name for myself. Maybe I’m still trying to compensate for the three years I lacked free will, maybe it’s some other completely different mental issue which is only making things worse.

Whatever the case, I wanted to push through my fear, no matter how debilitating it gets. I wanted to get better and do something out of my comfort zone to prove to myself that I could. Catti was obviously a little worried about it and gave me plenty of outs, but I was managing so far. Besides, with the weird stuff going on at the river and our makers now keeping an eye on the place and potentially walking among us, I needed to build up tolerance to this stuff anyways or I’d go crazy.

“Still want to go ahead with this?” We were back in Catti’s tower again, and while I wasn’t feeling the greatest, that could easily be chalked up to my lack of sleep or just having to explain my panic issues.

“Yeah,” I nod, “I think I get it.” I’ve jumped around with her a few times now around town, and while it was jarring to feel everything change around me, I got the general premise of how it worked. Just as she had explained on the boat, shortcuts could be opened to places I was familiar with by magically altering the space around me. Our world wasn’t exactly a video game anymore so the loading screen coordinate explanation might not be accurate, but in practice, the same ideas applied. I just had to picture where I wanted to be, and use what magic ability I had to take myself there with a step.

“Alright then.” Catti nods, taking your hand. “I’ll let you lead on this one. Picture someplace deeply familiar to you, someplace that you can perfectly recreate in your mind.” There were plenty of places to choose from. Berdly’s little gaming room, Fort Holiday’s throne room, basically anywhere in Castle Town. I settle on the place I spent the most time in, the bedroom I grew up in.

“Got it.” I tell Catti, keeping the image in my mind. Mine and Asriel’s beds, the trophies hanging on Asriel’s wall, the shared computer in the corner.

“Now. Close your eyes, lift your foot, and try to step into that image in your head.” Catti instructs. “You know exactly where it is, you know how to get there, now use your magic to close that distance.”

I do as she says, closing my eyes so that my room is all I can picture. Lifting my foot up, I try to channel what abilities I can. I never had the time or safety to really practice my magical abilities, but I knew I was capable of it. The little finger guns were cool, but during my quests to seal the fountains, I was able to do so much more. I couldn’t do much myself, but with people to support, with people like Susie and Ralsei fighting by my side, I could help them cast their own abilities with more efficiency and power. I couldn’t do anything crazy like shoot fire, but I had the potential.

Reaching deep within myself, drawing what little power I had in my broken, borrowed soul, I feel the air shift around me as my heart pounds. I’m scared to open my eyes, terrified by the prospect that I might have missed my intended destination or somehow teleported somewhere I didn’t want to be, but Catti’s words kill that worry before I find the courage to open my eyes.

“Where the hell is your ceiling?” Opening my eyes, I let out a relieved sigh to find I’m exactly where I wanted to be. Looking over at Catti, her attention is directed towards the lighting and filming equipment hanging over the set of my room.

“Yeah, my house got merged with the filming studio, so everything’s part of a set now.” I explain, trying to calm myself down after making the jump. I can’t believe I actually did that!

“Alright, your first time worked out well.” Catti nods, still holding onto my hand. “Now, think of someplace else and take me there. You took some time to picture this place, so try and pick someplace new to go to within the next thirty seconds or so.”

Alright, I have a time limit now. Clearing my mind, I try to picture someplace different. Would it be cheating if I just jumped to my other room at Castle Town? Shaking my head, I try to choose a different destination, but with Castle Town still on my mind, I picture the main streets leading up to the castle itself, surrounded by countless shops brought over from neighboring kingdoms during my trips through the Dark Worlds.

Once again, there’s a shift in the air as I raise my foot to step into the mental image of the street and opening my eyes I find I’m exactly where I wanted to be.

“Is it really this easy?” I ask, shocked by how seemingly effortless this was.

“I think the mindset that this is a simulation makes it possible.” Catti nods. “Or at least it puts you in the right headspace. Think of every location as a separate chunk, a piece of data that needs to be loaded, and your magical will as the programming code that will load that data. Sure anyone can wish they were someplace really badly, maybe there are people with the natural magic ability to teleport around, but these shortcuts are as simple as altering the sort of ‘code’ of your position and moving yourself to another chunk.”

“You really aren’t the computery type huh?” I ask.

“I sound like an idiot, don’t I?” Catti sighs. “These are all Sans’ words, not mine. I can’t really think of a proper way to explain it in full detail without sounding like Berdly that will still actually explain what’s going on.”

“I mean, I don’t need the full picture, do I?” I ask. “Just picture the place, and where I want to be in it, use magic and step in, and boom. It honestly feels too easy.”

“Well that’s what I’m going to ask you about now.” Catti says. “Do you think you can take a shortcut all by yourself?”

“Yeah I…” Before I can finish my sentence, I stop. I’ve created two shortcuts and while there were no problems, there was still that fear that I’d somehow mess it up. I had Catti with me though, and she could take me back if anything bad happened. What she was asking now was for me to make a jump without a lifeline.

“You cannot go anywhere unless you absolutely want to.” Catti tries to assure me. “As long as you can clearly picture the place you want to visit, there’s no chance of you appearing somewhere you didn’t mean to.”

“Are you absolutely sure about that?” I ask. “If we’re going by video game logic, who’s to say I can’t accidentally clip out of bounds or wrong warp into some kind of-”

“It’s not going to happen!” Catti insists, though her expression softens after a moment. “I’ve been doing this for days, and I doubt Sans would teach some random stranger how to do it unless he knew it was safe. If you don’t want to do it, that’s alright. Maybe you can save it for an emergency, a last resort if you get lost or stuck somewhere.”

“No, I…” I wanted out, my mind was throwing all sorts of terrifying possibilities at me, the most terrifying of which being the possibility that screwing up a shortcut would drop me off somewhere in the Void. Catti could hop outside the Barrier, it isn’t impossible to hop outside of reality itself, is it? I was very familiar with the Void, and it wasn’t very hard to picture. It was just endless black as far as I could see. I try desperately to clear the darkness out of my mind and focus on the town around me instead, lingering on the colorful signs and the distant conversations of wandering Darkners.

“I wanna try.” I eventually force out against my better judgment. I just did it twice without issue and Catti has been doing it for at least a week with no problems at all. I was being paranoid, I just needed to do it!

“Alright then.” Catti nods, looking worried but trusting me with my choice. “Tell me where you plan to go so I can meet you there.” I close my eyes and try to focus on happy thoughts, someplace that Catti would know about too. Berdly’s place was where I mostly hung out when I wasn’t staying with Ralsei and Susie, but I seriously doubted Catti would be able to follow me there.

“You saw Dess’ performance, right?” I ask.

“I almost skipped out on it, but after seeing the crowd it pulled in, I was curious.” Catti nots. “I’ll be way in the back, but I think I can find my way to the auditorium the concert took place in.”

“Ok…” I try to take in another deep breath. “Head over there and I’ll try to follow you.”

Catti doesn’t respond and when I pull my eyes away from the shops nearby to look at her, I find she’s already gone. I close my eyes and take a couple more deep breaths, still terrified but trying to hone in on the memory of the concert. The endless sea of eyes staring back at me, the spotlights beaming down on me and Dess, the sound of Dess’ voice as I sat behind the piano.

I almost give up. It was too dark, my heart was racing too fast. I was too stressed and I was terrified that my stress would somehow screw everything up or screw with the mental image I was trying to paint. I needed to do this though! I couldn’t chicken out of this too! I needed to do something right without breaking down!

With my breaths growing more unsteady and my heart drumming in my ears, I squeeze my eyes shut and step forward. The air shifts around me and my boots hit what sounds like a hardwood floor, the sound of my footfall echoing around the space I was in. I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to open them up, but as I tried to get my breath steady, I heard a clapping coming from further away.

Slowly opening my eyes, I find Catti sitting in the middle of the empty auditorium, applauding me for my accomplishment.

Lowering myself to the floor, I sprawl out on my back, gasping for breath. I did it! I fucking did it!

“You alright up there?!” Catti asks with some alarm as she tries to hurry through the seats towards the stage. I weakly hold a thumb up to let her know I’m fine. I was still on the verge of losing my mind, but at least I was smiling. She eventually clambers up on stage next to me to offer me a hand. “See, it isn’t that bad. Wherever you wanna go is just a step away.”

“Yeah… Whatever…” I huff, still trying to calm myself down as I reach for Catti’s hand. The moment I’m holding it, the air shifts again and we’re both back in her tower, helping me squash the worst of my fears faster. Adrenaline is still coursing through my veins, my whole body trembling with a mix of giddy excitement and sheer terror. “I did it!” I huff, trying to cling onto that despite how scared I was. I managed to overcome my fear, at least this one time.

“Just think of all the possibilities.” Catti tells me. “You can skip the walk to wherever you want to go and never be late again, you can terrorize Berdly by popping up right behind him. You have the perfect get out of jail free card too if you ever get into trouble.”

“And all I gotta do is give myself a heart attack to do it.” I sigh, chuckling slightly at the absurdity of everything. I was still a fucking mess, but I wasn’t completely helpless.

“Well if you still need a breather, I can help you make the next jump then.” Catti says, reaching her hand to me.

“What?” I ask, hesitating for a moment. “Where are we going?”

“To find your friends and force you to talk to them so you can try and get your panic attacks under control.” Catti reminds me. I lower my hand back to my side, ignoring her offer to take me there. “Kris, this was part of the deal. I show you how to take shortcuts and you get the help you need.”

“Yeah, and you just gave me the ability to literally run away from any confrontation I don’t want to take part in.” I point out, already picturing my getaway.

“Yeah, the ability you’re still too scared to use properly.” Catti counters a bit cruelly. I want to glare at her for that, but she isn’t even wrong. I can’t see myself willingly doing that again unless I needed to or something urgent was going on. Maybe more exposure and use would help me get used to it, but I was already gassed for today. Despite that, I don’t think Catti’s going to let me weasel out of telling everyone I was messed up in the head.

“Any chance we can do it tomorrow?” I try anyway, but it gets the response I was expecting.

“No.” She tells me flat out. “You get five minutes to get your bearings again and then I’m taking you to Castle Town. I’m not trying to be an ass, but this isn’t something you can ignore or put off. If what you said is true and they all already know without you telling them, I can promise you they’re probably dying for you to give them a chance to help you out.”

I just stay silent and focus on my breathing, slowing my heartrate back down to an acceptable level. I knew all this fear was irrational, but as scared as I was, I did manage to take a shortcut by myself with no issue. This was going to fucking suck, but if I could make it past something as terrifying as displacing myself in reality, I can probably talk to my best friends about something they’re all familiar with anyways.

With one more grounding deep breath, I reach out and take Catti’s hand. Without another word, we make the jump to Castle Town to search for my friends. Thankfully, we don’t have to look very hard as Ralsei manages to walk right into me before I can even get a proper look at where I was.

“OH!” Ralsei gasps and throws his arms out around me to keep me steady, only to pull back in shock when he realizes it’s me. “Kris! I’m so sorry, I didn’t even see you. Oh, Catti too? Do I need new glasses?

“I think you’re fine.” I assure him. “We weren’t here a second ago for you to even see us. Guess who learned how to teleport!”

“Oh?!” Ralsei has looked a little glum ever since Vess left and I’m pretty sure this is the first time he’s genuinely looked excited for something since. “Can I see?! That sounds so cool!”

“Eh…” I shrink back a little bit, unsure of what I should say, but Catti speaks up before I can come up with an excuse.

“They can show you later.” She says. “Is Susie around, Kris has something they need to share with you.”

“She’s up in her room.” He informs her. “Would you like me to go get her?”

“Yeah, it’s something she’s gonna want to hear.” Catti nods.

“Alright, I’ll be right back!” Ralsei says, turning to hurry up the stairs from the main hall I can now confirm we’re standing in. As we wait, the dread of the conversation that’s coming starts to build up in my chest and I try to find something to take my mind off it. I’m not sure the thought that crops up in its place is better than the one I was having, but I voice it to Catti anyways.

“We can’t accidentally telefrag anyone with shortcuts, can we?” I ask.

“Tela-what?” Catti raises an eyebrow.

“Is it possible for us to accidentally teleport into people?” I elaborate. “If you jumped a second later, would we suddenly appear in the same space Ralsei was occupying and obliterate him? You’ve popped up alarmingly close to me if that’s a possibility.”

Catti’s eyes go wide with worry. “Ok, this is why you need to have this talk.” She shakes her head. “Your paranoia’s starting to wear off on me. It’s probably fine. The fact that I’ve routinely shown up next to you instead of on top of you probably means there’s some kind of built in protection or something that displaces you just a little bit to avoid that kind of accident.”

“But you don’t know for sure.” I point out, only to earn a light punch to the arm from her.

“Quit it!” She hisses. “I popped up right on top of my seat at the auditorium. That place was pretty cramped and my memory of the place wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t appear inside my chair or anything, I showed up right in front of it so I could comfortably sit down. It’s fine, talk about something else.”

“How’s it feel to know that one of your best friends might be directly related to one of the gods that created you?” I ask instead, finally finding a less distressing topic to focus on. That one catches her off guard.

“I wanna say that it feels like fate drew us together.” Catti replies. “Our shared obsession with the occult and the unknown, the secrets we’ve uncovered, her natural talent for the craft. Maybe she is related to this other godlike Temmie, but at the same time… I mean, you know Temmie. Maybe she’s god's favorite and was named accordingly, but it’s not like she’s a demigoddess.”

“Hey, Kris!” Coming back down the stairs, Ralsei returns with Susie by his side. As she comes down, Susie notices Catti and her expression sinks just a little bit. I don’t think she has anything personal making her dislike Catti, but Catti’s own hostility probably made it hard to be excited about talking to her. “Ralsei says you apparently teleported right in front of him to talk about something?”

“Well, Catti teleported me here, but…” I look over at Catti, silently pleading for a way out, but she refuses to budge. Everyone else was too scared to step over a boundary I didn’t want crossed, but Catti wasn’t going to let me walk away from dealing with this. “I guess it’s time I talked to you guys about what’s been going on with me since I got back. You all probably know, but…”

“Is this about how you’ve been feeling since you came home?” Ralsei asks, sounding incredibly hopeful. He’s been waiting for this moment for a while, hasn’t he?

“Fucking finally!” Susie is a little less tact about it, but it sounds like she shares the same sentiment. “I mean, thanks for giving us the chance to actually talk about this.”

“I don’t want to, but Catti’s refusing to let it slide, so I guess we’re tackling this now.” I sigh.

“Kris, look at them, they want to help.” Catti insists. “Berdly knows, I know, and they should too. It’s gonna suck, but it can only make things easier on you.”

“Well…” Ralsei lowers his head. “I don’t want to force them if they don’t want to share, but Kris, if there’s anything you want to talk about, please let us know as soon as you’re ready.”

“I’ll do it…” I grumble. They already knew, they knew I told Catti, I might as well just rip the band aid off now. My heart was already pounding, but what would make me look more weak and scared? Refusing to talk at all, or spilling my guts to them? I was able to take a shortcut by myself, I was able to get better, but this time, even though they’re the ones I’m scared about, I’ll have three people to help me through this. I wasn’t going to be dealing with it alone. “I have a few conditions to meet first before I do this though.”

“If it means you’ll actually talk, we’ll do it.” Susie nods. “What do you need?”

“First, I want Berdly in on this.” I demand, earning an annoyed groan out of Catti. “None of that. He already knows everything and he’s going to make this easier to do. I want to go get him.”

“Alright then.” Susie nods. “Let’s get going.”

“We don’t have to go anywhere.” Catti interjects. “Kris, you can take us to his place, can’t you?” Oh great, I get to make more shortcuts. I guess won’t be too bad since I have Catti and the others too.

“Does it get harder when there’s more people involved?” I ask Catti.

“I don’t think so.” She shakes his head. “Everyone hold hands.”

“Wait?!” Susie gasps. “Kris, did you learn how to teleport like she can?!”

“Oh gosh, is that what we’re about to do?!” Ralsei asks as he reaches out and takes both the girls’ hands. “Oh this is so exciting!” I try to let Ralsei’s positivity and excitement rub off on me as I close my eyes and try to focus again. It only took seconds for me to picture the gaming room within Berdly’s castle with all of its LED lights, bean bag chairs, and snack piles. There was still a little anxiety behind making my own shortcuts, but with this many people backing me up, I manage to make the jump without much fuss.

“No no no no! Come on!” Opening my eyes, I find all four of us have managed to show up behind the large couch in the center of the gaming room where Berdly is currently in a full gamer lean as he’s trying desperately to beat the final boss of some fighting game I haven’t gotten to yet.

“Why does it smell like stale cheetos in he-”

“AH!” Berdly jumps in his seat, his controller flying out of his hand and his game unpaused, leaving him to sit still and take a beating in his game as he whips his head around in surprise. Catti still doesn’t seem to understand how jarring it is to be snuck up on, let alone by four people and in his own house. “Wha?! Kris?! When did you get here?! I didn’t even hear any of you come in!”

“I took a shortcut.” I tell him, refusing to elaborate further. Catti was right, I doubt this would be enough to make me consider making shortcuts a regular part of my life, but seeing the shocked and confused look on Berdly’s face almost made the stress worth it. “Come on, we’re doing an impromptu therapy session and I need someone to hold while going through it.”

“I uh…” Berdly’s still reeling a little bit from our sudden intrusion into his room and the poor explanation I gave probably isn’t helping, but the promise of being held by me as I worked through my shit seems to get his attention as he gets up off the couch. “Are we doing it here? I can get more snacks if you’re all going to stay.”

“Ugh, I hope not.” Catti whines. “Not a fan of the gamer cave.”

“We’re not doing it here, there’s a better place to do this, someplace where I know I’ll be safe.” I tell her. “We’re going back to your place.”

“We’re bringing everyone up to…” Catti balks. “I mean… this place isn’t that bad, is it? It’s your boyfriend's place, you’d probably be-”

“Your tower is the best place to do this.” I insist. “I know your wards work and there’s enough going on in that place to keep my mind busy. We’re doing this at your tower.”

“Catti’s tower?!” Berdly seems excited by the prospect of visiting the elusive witch’s domain. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen what that place looks like.”

“We went there once before in another timeline.” I tell him. “You’ll probably remember some of it when we go back.”

“Why the hell would I ever invite Berdly into my house?!” Catti scoffs at the idea.

“Because I was in trouble and your place was safe.” I tell her. “And if we’re gonna do this, we’re going back there.” With an extremely drawn out, agonizing groan, Catti relents and holds out her hand again for me to take. “Come on, Berdly, hands together.” I let go of Catti’s hand and we both reach out for Berdly.

“Why are we all holding hands?” He asks as he follows the instruction, taking mine and Catti’s hands. “I thought we were all leaving to go to-”

I don’t make the jump this time. I hadn’t even started picturing the tower in my mind before Catti made the jump for us, leading all five of us back into her tower. Berdly’s question dies in his throat as the shock of his sudden teleportation hits him. The others are a little shaken too, but they react a bit more positively.

“That’s so damn cool!” Susie cheers. “Kris, you gotta show me how to do that!”

“That really was exciting!” Ralsei nods his head at her side. “Where else can we go with it?”

“What the hell just happened?!” Berdly finally blurts once most of the shock wears off. “Where am I?! What did you just do?!”

“We took a shortcut.” I tell him, still playing dumb. He locks eyes with me, he knows that I have the answers and he wants to get them out of me, but Catti interrupts before he can try to force me to speak.

“Alright, we’re playing by Kris’ rules here, but I have rules for this place.” Catti announces. “I’ve already told most of you at some point, but don’t touch a single thing in this tower unless I tell you to. Whatever hex or spell you accidentally cast on yourself if you drink one of my potions is all on you.” With her warning issued, she returns her focus to me. “Any more conditions, or can we finally start talking.”

I’m tempted to keep adding on, to keep throwing more conditions at her to avoid this for just a little bit longer, but I stick to my decision. “That’s everything.” I sigh, lowering myself to the floor. “Sit down everyone, this isn’t gonna be fun for any of us.”

“I never thought it would be fun, but I’m glad we’re finally having this conversation.” Ralsei tells me, lowering himself down too. Everyone quickly follows suit, gathering in a circle as I try to brace myself. Berdly’s the only one out of the loop, but he quickly picks up on what’s going on.

“Wait, you never told anyone else about this?!” Unfortunately for me, he shares the same sentiment Catti had.

“I’d rather not get into why I didn’t share it and just get it out first.” I grumble, not wanting to break down again before I even get into details. It would probably be brought up at some point and I’ll probably freak out down the line eventually, but the sooner everyone was in the know, the better…

I hope…

“I don’t think it’s any surprise to you guys that there’s something wrong with me.” I force out, focusing on the floorboards instead of anyone in particular. “I don’t even know if I can pick a specific reason why I’m so messed up. It’s mostly the Void, but Gaster, the resets, Chara’s betrayal, all of that right off the heels of being possessed for years… I don’t think I can ever be normal again after all of that.”

“To be fair, literally nothing is normal anymore after the Roaring.” Susie says. Looking up at her, I can see that she looks a little self conscious about interrupting, but I chuckle at her attempt to lighten the mood. I needed distractions, even short ones like that to keep all of this from crashing down on me all at once.

“It’s not just that everything’s different now though…” I tell her. “I’m… you don’t understand how fucking terrified I am half the time. There are very few places in town where I actually feel safe, and unfortunately, none of the places I sleep at night are really safe to me anymore.”

“Is there something we can do to change that?” Ralsei is quick to ask, eager to help. He didn’t even know what was all wrong, but he was still trying his best. That’s partially why I didn’t even want to bother with going through the pain of talking about this thinking he’d make things better without even knowing, but it’s been months now and I was still broken.

“I don’t think so.” I tell him. “A lot of it is way behind us now. The events that still haunt me were reset away, the people who terrorized me are dead or gone, but… sometimes it feels like they never left. I don’t know what all Susie went through, I think I’d be perfectly happy never learning what she suffered through for my sake, but the things that Gaster and his creeps did to me…”

A memory comes flying in, fast and hard, nearly knocking the wind out of me as it forces itself into my brain. “I remember my very first reset.” I mumble out, but I’m not even addressing anyone anymore, I was back in my room, the memory was so vivid. “I was already kinda freaking out before then, the world had nearly ended and I had to… to kill the Lightbringer to protect myself and…”

A feathered hand grabs a hold of mine, and I grip down hard on it, maybe a little too hard based on the slight hiss that escapes Berdly. I ease my grip and interlock my fingers between his, feeling the sensation of his soft feathers, reminding me where I was and who was all here for me.

“I was still paranoid.” I force myself to continue. “I needed my knife back to know I could protect myself and that night I went down into the caves below town again to get it back. Gaster was waiting for me down there, telling me about the resets and offering me one of his stupid deals. I tried to back away from him, clinging onto my knife to kill him again if I needed to, but I wasn’t paying attention and I ended up stumbling ass first into the bottomless pit the Grand Fountain used to be in. I think I fell for a good couple minutes before I eventually hit the ground.”

“Holy shit…” Catti mumbles. “That’s really bad. I-”

“That’s not what gets me though…” I shudder. “Asirel and Buddy were in the room with me and immediately checked to see what was wrong when I woke up kicking and screaming. Susie even came rushing in from next door. I couldn’t even explain what had happened, but Susie decided to sleep in my room and Buddy stayed up to keep watch at the foot of my bed to ease my mind enough to let me fall back to sleep.”

“But he still got in…”

Anytime I was left alone in the dark, anytime I slept in my own bed, I’m always reminded of how it felt to just feel the Everyman looming over my bed. I keep my eyes closed but I’m always tempted to check, to open my eyes to confirm if that hulking stranger was staring down at me with my knife in its hands. The few times I slept with Berdly helped, I could easily convince myself that any weird movement or sound could have come from him, but my fears only evolved from there. Berdly quickly went from my shield, my literal knight in shining armor, to a pawn that could be used against me. Gaster loved to do that, to hold other people’s lives over my head. If I relied on Berdly too much, he’d know that I cared enough about that dumb bird for him to become a target.

My nightmares had layers. That bastard Gaster was always coming up with a new plan whenever his first one failed, and he almost always got what he wanted in the end. It was only a matter of time until he started going after Berdly or-

I feel Berdly’s beak run through my hair and I suddenly find myself back in the tower again. My breaths are ragged and shallow, but Berdly’s right up next to me. I hold him close, letting him do his thing.

“What is he…” Looking up, I find Susie staring at us in total confusion.

“I think he’s preening their hair.” Ralsei guesses, but he looks just as stumped as Susie does.

“Does that… help?” Catti asks.

“It keeps them grounded.” Berdly informs, taking a break from what he’s doing and reaching up to brush my cheek with his feathers to keep me focused on him as he speaks. “As long as you can remind them that they’re here in the physical world, you can help them calm down.”

“Do I have to get dandruff in my teeth, or will a regular hair brush do?” Susie asks, earning a snort out of me.

“Won’t talking help?” Ralsei asks. “If you want reassurances, I can easily-”

“You already did a great job after the boat ride.” I tell him, my voice still a bit unstable but I was able to get the words out at least. “Just keep me busy, keep my mind off of things, touch me so I know I’m still here.” Berdly continues to play with my hair, doing everything he needed to do to reel me back in. Once I was doing a little better, Ralsei spoke up.

“If that helps, why wouldn’t you just tell us then?” He asks. “This all sounds horrible! Why would you keep this to yourself?” That was the big question, the big hurdle I was scared to even address.

“Because you’re all fine…” I mumble out, losing the strength to elaborate any further. Berdly and Catti already knew, but it still felt like I was exposing myself to them somehow. They already told me It was fine, but I was still waiting for them to say something, to call me out or-

“What makes you think we’re all perfectly fine?” Susie asks out of the blue. “Dude, I still get nightmares over some of the shit that happened! Noelle couldn’t even watch her favorite movies for the longest time. You’re not the only one who got messed up by this stuff.”

“But none of you are as fucked up as I am!” I argue. “You all got better, you were more than happy to jump on that boat and start doing weird shit again but I could barely hold myself together long enough to get on!”

“That doesn’t mean we were any less scared.” Ralsei says back. “This isn’t a contest, we were all hurt by Gaster and we all deal with it differently.”

“I still have trouble sleeping by myself and I was barely a part of it.” Berdly reminds me. “You were specifically targeted for most of this, no one can blame you for struggling to move past it.”

“Yeah, but…” I try to find a way to properly explain why I was different, but Ralsei goes right for the throat.

“You didn’t think we’d think less about you, did you?” He asks with sadness in his eyes. “Kris, we’re your best friends, we’d never do that.”

“Yeah, obviously.” I grumble, shaking my head. “But My stupid, fucked up brain keeps telling me otherwise. That’s the problem. You all got better, you all found ways to manage your problems, I’m still completely messed up in the head and I can barely fucking function!”

“But you made a shortcut on your own.” Catti reminds me out of nowhere, having stayed silent for most of this conversation. “You can overcome some of these setbacks if you get a little push.”

That shuts me up for a good while. Could Catti read my mind? Probably, with all the weird shit she had stored away in here, it’s not impossible. I’d try to imagine something dumb to get a reaction out of her, but I’m just left stunned by the fact that she repeated the same thought I had after my shortcut. I could get better, at least by a little bit.

“Kris, I’m not a therapist or doctor or whatever, and I guess my problems aren’t nearly as personal and scary as yours, but talking this stuff through helps.” Susie insists. “I felt like absolute shit when I was stuck with the resets, but I had Noelle and even Chara to talk to about it. Noelle was holding back a lot of stuff that was eating up at her too until Vess came back and gave us an outside perspective on just how bad things had gotten.”

“Kris, no matter what you might think, we’re always here to support you.” Ralsei assures me. “We’ve always had your back. You’re the leader of the team! Even I had some things that freaked me out, things that almost made me consider dropping the whole idea of dating Vess. We had plenty of time to talk though, plenty of time to make things right and assure each other that nothing was wrong. I was beating myself up the whole time as I held back, but once it was out, I was able to squash some of those fears. All you need to do is act, Kris. Just give us the word, and we’ll help.”

“Come on, Kris.” Berdly cooed at my side. “Make the smart choice here.” It takes a second, but a snort of laughter escapes me before I can hold it back.

“Oh fuck you.” I nudge him slightly. “Of course you’d say that.”

“Well if you think you’re so much smarter than me, then why is this a hard decision?” He asks, still jeering me. Everyone else has been talking softly or not at all, but Berdly’s familiar enough with me and my episodes to know when it's safe to start messing with me again. As annoying as he can get, I actually prefer this over what everyone else is doing. It makes me feel less shitty, like I’m not some wounded animal that needs to be taken care of but someone who just needs to get their head straight. I had serious issues, but Berdly helping me joke through it makes it feel manageable.

“I guess you got me there.” I sigh, leaning against him. “It’s just… I hate talking about it. It’s basically guaranteed to drag me right back to that moment, forcing me to relive the worst days of my life.”

“I don’t think you have to go into excruciating detail over every terrible thing that’s happened to you.” Catti says. “You just need to let us know that something’s wrong and what we can do to try and help.”

“We’ve been trying to do something, but we can’t really fix anything if we don’t know what’s wrong.” Susie nods, agreeing completely with Catti’s words.

“We’ve already inferred some of your triggers, but if you’re still having trouble sleeping, we can try some other things to help make Castle Town more welcoming and safe for you.” Ralsei offers. “What do we need to look for, what needs to change?”

God, I was so lucky to have these guys…

“Phones are a no go.” I tell them. “I’ve already told you that much.”

“And I totally get why.” Susie nods, shuddering slightly herself. “I never want to hear an old rotary phone ring ever again.”

“I’d rather not be alone in the dark.” I continue. “I think that’s also pretty obvious. And I… I don’t even know if this makes sense, but I don’t want any of you to try and be quiet around me.”

“What does that mean?” Ralsei asks, raising an eyebrow over his glasses.

“I don’t want people creeping past me or whispering around me.” I elaborate. “It feels like someone’s sneaking up on me or conspiring something.”

“Aw shit, does that mean that my-”

“Yeah,” I tell Catti before she can finish. “I don’t freak out for long once I realize it’s just you, but still, it physically hurts with how bad it startles me when you teleport behind me. To be fair though, I think you speaking up right behind me is better than trying to creep away for distance. You announcing your presence jump scares me, but hearing your footsteps right behind me would be worse I think.”

“I’ll keep all of that in mind, but Kris,” Ralsei speaks up, “Why did you go with everyone down the river if you were so afraid of all this stuff? If you’re trying to avoid triggers, why would you deal with things directly tied to the Void?”

“Because…” I sigh. “Because I wanted to do something...” I grumble out. “I’ve been stuck here feeling sorry for myself for months and of course the moment Vess shows up, a bunch of crazy shit starts happening again. I wanted to do something, to get back on my feet and feel in control again, but I couldn’t handle it. I was terrified the whole time, but once we dipped into the Void, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep going. I guess that’s what fed into the fear that you’d all think I was broken, I don’t think I can go with you guys on adventures like that anymore.”

“I actually think I share that worry with you.” Ralsei admits, catching me off guard. “All of these new things you guys are doing are all outside of the Barrier. I can’t follow you out and it feels like there’s less and less to do inside of it. I know it’s dumb and you guys will stick with me, but sometimes it feels like I’ll get left behind at some point. That’s what a lot of the other Darkners were afraid of too during our old journeys through the Dark Worlds. I wanna go on adventures too, but I’m stuck here. Spending time with Vess, she showed me that there was still plenty of adventure to be found in town, but it isn’t that fun when she’s not here to experience it with.”

“Do you two really need to go on crazy adventures though?” Susie asks. “We literally saved the world and banished a time distorting super power from the universe. Crazy shit can still happen that doesn’t involve interdimensional beings or super powers. Remember Operation Big Rig? Things can still get crazy even without all that creepy Void stuff.”

“What the hell is Operation Big Rig?” Catti asks.

“Ralsei, you had the most eventful night during that trip, you wanna tell her?” I turn to ask the Prince, immediately putting a blush on his cheeks.

“My point still stands though.” Susie continues. “Yeah, going camping with our dates isn’t as crazy as stopping a mad scientist or saving the world or whatever, but I’ll be honest, I’m sick of all this supernatural stuff. I wanna learn how to bake and watch scary movies with Noelle, I wouldn’t mind if I never sailed on that river again. If you forced yourself to go on that trip just to feel like you were doing something productive, then maybe that’s what we gotta focus on. We gotta get everyone together again for something.”

“My place is still open if you guys want to have that tournament.” Berdly offers. “I don’t expect any of you to win, but there will be a snack table with my signature dish that Kris helped me perfect.”

“I still think a book club would be really fun.” Ralsei says. “Vess and I started rereading one of my favorites and I think you’d all like it too.”

“Oh! That reminds me!” I perk up. “I finished that book I borrowed from you.”

“Where is it?” Ralsei immediately demands.

“Back on the chair I found it under.” I assure him before chuckling at a thought that crops up. “I know you’ve been praying for Vess to wake up as soon as possible, but let's hope she doesn’t get up before you can hide it again.”

“You’re such a butt, Kris!” Ralsei pouts.

“Hey, you’re the one who wants us to read books.” I shug innocently. “We can do a little mini book club right now and discuss Princess Freyja’s character development.” Ralsei grumbles, trying to hide how flustered he was. “I think I like the idea though.” I tell him, erasing some of that frustration. “The camping trip we went on was really fun, probably the most fun I had in months. I don’t know if hanging out more is really going to fix me being a neurotic mess, but…”

“It can’t hurt to try, can it?” Berdly says. “Hanging out with me always makes you feel better.”

“I can’t really think about the bad stuff when I’m busy making out with you.” I laugh. “I doubt anyone else wants to see that though.”

“He just had his mouth all up in your hair!” Susie points out. “You’re not actually gonna kiss him after that, are you?”

“I condition it every single day.” I counter. “I even had this super fancy shampoo that made me smell like apple cider. I know it had some effect on you with how often you used to threaten to bite my head off. I probably have the tastiest head of hair in town!”

Ralsei bursts into laughter at the pure absurdity of what I just said, earning chuckles out of everyone else in the room. “Sounds like things weren’t as bad as you thought it would be.” Catti says with a bemused grin on her face. “How’s it feel to know that you have these guys in your corner to help you out whenever you’re in a bad spot?”

If I wanted to be one hundred percent, brutally honest, it made my whole body itch knowing that they all knew now. I felt exposed, vulnerable, naked. They knew the list of things that could break me, they knew how deep the wounds went, they knew how weak willed I was in the face of danger. Despite that though, they still saw me as their friend, as the leader of the dumb little gang we formed all the way back before the Roaring.

They didn’t pity me, they didn’t think I was a sandbag weighing them down, I was just going through the same trouble they were going through, just without the help. If anything, the worst they thought of me was that I was stubborn and maybe a bit stupid for not coming to them sooner. Catti said as much, and maybe that’s what I needed most. Ralsei and Susie cared so much for me, but they wouldn’t ever try to push me out of my comfort zone. Catti was a little less tact, but her tough love finally got me to do something.

“I feel great.” I eventually tell Catti. It wasn’t a complete lie, yeah I still felt like shit, but the lingering fears of being pitied or looked down on were behind me now.

I could get better, even if it’s just a little bit at a time.

“HEWWO?!” A voice calls out from somewhere outside the tower, loud enough to be heard from the ground. “CATTI?! DESS IS HERE TO SEE YOU!”

“Oh great.” Catti grumbles. “Well I guess that’s my que to check out of this. Kris, I trust you’ll keep talking about this with your friends and working things out?”

“Yeah I will.” I nod. It was going to suck and I haven’t even scratched the surface of my problems, but it still feels like I made progress just getting everything out there.

“Do you think you can get everyone out of here on your own?” Catti asks next. “I shouldn't keep Temmie waiting for too long, but if you think you can’t do it by yourself…”

“I’ll manage.” I nod again. “I think I’ll be fine with everyone here with me.”

“Alright then.” Catti nods. “See you again soon. I probably won’t let anyone else up here, but if you need a place to chill out, you’re always free to visit as long as you don’t touch my stuff.”

In the blink of an eye, Catti vanishes and a short while later, I can faintly hear a startled yelp outside the tower as she scares Temmie and Dess who were waiting for her. In her absence, everyone turns their attention to me. Feeling uneasy under those eyes after such a harrowing conversation, I quickly reach my hands out to take us all someplace where I can clear my head.

“Do you guys wanna play smash at Berdly’s place or something?” I ask. “Or are you two still freaked out after the talk with Vess?”

“Well the talk with Toby basically proved that it’s not a problem, right?” Susie shrugs. “Yeah, I’m down for that.”

“I still have a few things I need to sign, but I suppose I could use a break, especially if it makes you feel better.” Ralsei beams. “Can you all just please go easy on me this time? You guys always beat me.”

“It takes a lot of time and effort to hone your skills in a fighting game.” Berdly tells him. “Though, it doesn’t help that you play a low tier fighter. You’d do much better if-”

“Ignore him, Ralsei. Kirby’s the best character.” I shake my head. “You even started knocking stocks off of people, you’ll get the hang of it.”

“So um…” Berdly speaks up as he reaches for my hand. “Nobody’s explained to me why you and Catti can apparently teleport now?! Since when was this a thing?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I tell him, smirking in response to the scoff he lets out. I might let him in on the big secret eventually, maybe when Vess comes back, she’ll be a bit more knowledgeable about our situation and what we should be doing. For now, I just needed to focus on myself and try to get my head straight. Closing my eyes and picturing the same place I ventured to not long ago, in the back of my mind, I wonder what could be done to try and squash that urge to get myself out there, to blindly cross my set borders just to feel productive. Sitting around playing video games wouldn’t scratch that itch, but like Susie pointed out, Operation Big Rig was proof that we could still go on crazy adventures without the world ending.

I couldn’t wait for the next big thing. In fact, I think I’m already forming something of my own…

Chapter Text

“I think I’m ready to show you guys what I’ve been doing on and off over the past few months.”

The moment you post that message into the group chat, you feel another weight lift off your shoulders. The last few days have been beyond stressful as you opened up to your friends and worked towards transitioning. You’re so glad that your friends were all cool about it, but it’s obvious that they were still getting used to the changes, just like you were. Your old name slipped out every once in a while though they always corrected themselves, and as much as you wanted to make big changes fast, you still looked just as dull as you used to and it’d probably take weeks or months to really start anything that would be noticeable.

Lizzy says she plans to fix that by dragging you to the mall on the weekend, but today you have something else in mind. You’ve still been talking to Temmie every once in a while and even got to briefly speak with Toby, and while they were still hesitant to let you try and bring more people into the Void with you, they didn’t have any problem with letting you tell your friends about it or proving its existence to them. You’ve been preparing yourself all day for this, setting things up around the house and clearing space in your room to make this work. You still have to get to the other side of things and have your other friends work with you, but you doubt that will be an issue. You managed to tell almost everyone about your transition, you had to keep this ball rolling and get over this hurdle too to get everyone on the same page.

Though, in actuality, you just wanted to do this so you could see Ralsei again, even if you didn’t plan on staying long.

Messages start flooding in as your friends finally read what you left in the chat.

“Are you serious?!” Zach is the first to respond. “I’ve been dying to know what’s been keeping you so busy!”

“Are we gonna be meeting your other friends too?” Miles replies pretty quickly. It usually takes him a while to get to these, but you’ve obviously caught his attention.

“I hope so.” Lizzy joins in. “They’re all pretty familiar with Vess and I wanna know how long they’ve been talking. They’re the ones who helped you decide to transition, right? You’ve been weird about them so I’m excited to finally hear from them.”

Leaning over your keyboard again, you start to respond to the messages. “Trust me, you’ll quickly figure out why I’ve been weird about them. In fact, everything I’m setting up is probably going to be the weirdest thing you guys have ever been a part of.”

“You keep saying stuff like that and it only gets me more curious.” Zach replies. “When are we doing this? Are you gonna invite us to a special call or something?”

“I’m inviting you all to my place.” You type out. “I don’t think it’s possible for them to reach out to you guys, but they have a direct line to my pc. You’ll talk to them that way.”

“How does that work?” Lizzy quickly gets in, but you continue to type over her instead of stopping to explain.

“I also won’t be answering the door when you guys get here. I’ll leave the door unlocked for you guys and I’ve already left some notes around the house for you to follow along.” You can already see that all your friends are typing something in response to that, but you continue on. “I’ll be asleep in my room and the message board should be open on my pc for you to chat. Try to keep it down and don’t wake me up. You’ll understand why once things get started.”

You finally lean back from your keyboard, and the responses you get are about what you expected.

“Vess, what the hell does any of that mean?!” Zach asks.

“Is this a cult thing? I feel like you’re initiating us into a cult.” Miles adds on.

“Is this all a really elaborate setup for a prank?” Lizzy is just as confused.

“If I try to explain things to you now, it won’t make sense.” You insist. “It probably won’t make sense even after you see it for yourself, but it’ll be easier to talk about once you’re aware of what’s going on.” Once again, you see a bunch of people typing, but you get the rest of your message out before they can finish. “Try to meet up at my place in an hour and follow the instructions I left you. I’m gonna try and get some rest now, and remember, don’t wake me up.”

With that done, you step away from the computer, even as questions and concerns start flooding the group chat. That was that. Leaving your room and walking to the kitchen to get yourself a drink before you went under, you double check that everything is in place. Taped to the walls are little handwritten post notes with instructions for when your friends arrive.

Looking at everything now, you can totally see why Miles would think this was a cult thing you were setting up for them. Keeping a bunch of secrets, plenty of sleepless nights, the weeks of fatigue you felt after giving pieces of your soul away. That was the only real logical conclusion to draw other than you just going crazy, but once you got things going, they’d understand everything.

Returning to your room, you get yourself ready for the jump. You were already dressed for bed and moved to sit down to try and get comfortable, when a realization hits you. You had to launch the game to actually get in. It’s been a while since you’ve done this, but you swear, each time was different. The last time you did this, you had to wait for your vessel to import and that took so long you fell asleep. If you launch the game to get in again, you shouldn’t have anything keeping you and the transition should be instant.

Making some quick last minute adjustments, you grab one of your pillows and bring it with you towards your desk. Moving your seat over to the side so that your friends can actually use the computer while you sleep beside it, you place your pillow at one end of the desk and reach your hand out for the mouse to launch the game. This is going to be a really awkward sleeping position and your friends are probably going to be confused as hell, but at least you won’t be passed out and slumped over on the keyboard. You should probably find a solution to this problem, if you have to do this for your next long stay, it’s probably going to be hell on your neck and back.

Bracing yourself, you hover your mouse over Deltarune, close your eyes, and double click.

There is no disappointment as it fails to work, instead, you feel your body go limp and your thoughts go cloudy as you sink into your pillow. You can’t even celebrate that it worked as you go under, everything becoming a swirling mess of black in your head.

When your head finally clears up enough for you to actually think, you realize you’re lying on your back instead of slumped over at your desk. Your eyelids are heavy, but forcing yourself to open your eyes, you find yourself back in Castle Town, your body already abuzz with excitement to be back. That wasn’t all you were excited about though.

Sitting up in bed, you’re a little stiff after being out for a few days, but you already feel so much better now than you did in your ’real’ body. Your long hair was reaching all the way down your back, the skin on your hands felt softer, all these small little sensations made this feel more comfortable than what you’re normally used to.

You desperately wanted to find a mirror, to get another hit of the euphoria that seeing yourself here always gave you after three days of being disappointed at your reflection.

Sliding out of bed, you try to stretch yourself out to work the stiffness out of you before reaching for your armor. Once you’re all strapped in and dressed, you push yourself up and move towards the door, wondering where everyone was and how excited they’d be to see you. The moment the door is opened, you catch a whiff of something coming from downstairs and get a pretty good idea of where one of your friends are. Your hair was undone and you probably don’t look the best after being asleep for several days, but you were desperate to see your Prince again. You couldn’t wait to see his face.

You slowly walk down the halls and creep down the stairs, getting your blood flowing and waking yourself up as you go. The closer you got to the main hall, the more powerful the smells became. There was an almost overpowering scent of cinnamon in the air, was Ralsei making french toast? You make it to the last hall, passing Susie and Kris’ rooms to make your way down the last set of stairs. The sound of your foot falls must earn Ralsei’s attention because he calls out before you even make it to the main hall.

“Good morning!” He calls out before seeing you. “Breakfast might take a little while longer, I only just started making it, but you can have the first serving if you…” The moment you finally come into view, he trails off, his eyes going wide and his mouth hanging agape.

“Good morning.” You tell him, unable to hold back your own smile and excitement to see him again. Without hesitation, Ralsei drops everything he’s doing to rush you down, leaping into your arms and peppering your neck and cheek with kisses.

“Vess!” He sounds almost on the verge of tears with how excited he was to see you again. “Oh I missed you so much! I could barely stand the wait!”

“I wasn’t gone that long, was I?” You tell him jokingly, kissing him back before a worrying thought crops up. “Was I?”

“It’s only been a few days,” Ralsei admits, “but it felt like forever. I thought you were going to be gone for much longer! Did you miss me that much too?”

“Of course I did.” You tell him. “I couldn’t resist leaving you alone for a whole week. Unfortunately, I can’t stay for another week before I go.” Ralsei’s expression immediately drops upon hearing that, but a kiss on his forehead wipes that frown off his face. “Hey, we still have plenty of time to hang out before I gotta do some stuff. You can even come with me. I tagged along on a few of your work trips, you can help me with mine!”

“What are you in such a rush for?” Ralsei asks. You’ve already talked about how much you need to take things slow every once in a while, but this surprise visit has him curious.

“Do you wanna talk to my other friends from back home?” You ask him, and Ralsei’s eyes light up.

“We can do that?!” Ralsei asks in shock.

“I hope so.” You shrug. “Otherwise I’m gonna have a lot of explaining to do when I get back. Probably should have confirmed my plan would work on this end before I invited everyone over, but it’s too late now. We don’t have to worry about that just yet though. Was that french toast I was smelling?”

Returning him back to the cauldron, Ralsei continues his work, now with the widest smile his face will allow him to wear. It’s only been a few days, but you nearly forgot how good it made you feel to know he was acting this dopey just because you were next to him. You forgot how much it made your heart race to have him stare at you. Looking into the reflective liquid within the cauldron, you can’t help but stare at yourself too.

“You guys didn’t get up to anything too crazy while I was gone, did you?” You ask him, catching him staring again before he shook his head to focus.

“I went to another meeting with Carol after you left.” Ralsei informs. “It wasn’t fun and I don’t think bringing you along would make it pleasant, but I think we made some serious progress since then! The footprint is officially being renovated to eventually be plowed and primed for agriculture! Once the snow melts away, we should be able to start planting seeds that will come with one of the next dwindling shipments.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy while I’ve been gone.” You tell him.

“Not really.” He replies. “Actually going through all the paperwork to get this started and make sure everyone was being properly compensated was what most of my work last week involved, but now that things are actually going, there’s a lot less paperwork and more physical work to be done. There’s still stuff I have to do, but it’s a lot less intensive now. Are you sure you can’t stay for a couple days while I’m less busy?”

“Unfortunately, no.” You shake your head. “I’m probably going to need to talk to my friends in person again after I give them a chance to talk to you and the others. How about them? How have Kris and Susie been?”

“Susie’s been learning how to bake some more!” Ralsei excitedly announces. “I meant to teach her how to use the cauldron, but we ended up spending all our time together so I couldn’t get around to it until after you were gone. She hasn’t managed to fish anything out of it yet, but she’s getting really close! You can smell the raspberries whenever she’s mixing the pot. As for Kris, they… Well after their really bad panic attack after the boat ride, Catti eventually convinced them to finally go into detail about things so we can work on it together. In slightly more fun news, they learned how to teleport too!”

“Oh great, we get to look out for that.” You sigh, though it’s a huge relief to hear that Kris is finally looking for help. Maybe you’ll get a chance to talk things through with them yourself, if not today, then maybe on your next visit. “They haven’t been messing with you too much, have they?”

“Not really.” Ralsei shakes his head. “And I understand where a lot of their antics stem from now. They’re probably going to mess with us all a little more since they’re sort of being forced to confront their bigger problems, but if a little teasing and crude jokes help keep their mind off the worst of it, I don’t think I mind that much. I’m getting better with my comebacks anyways. They also put my books back and didn’t share any of them.”

“That’s good to hear.” You hum. Looks like things haven’t been too crazy since you left. Though, hearing about that book again started feeding your own mischievous side. “So when we’re finished reading your favorite book, are you gonna read that one to me before bed?” You ask with a smirk. Ralsei tries his hardest to give you a dismissive groan, but you can see a blush on his cheeks anyways.

“Don’t tell me you want to start a book club too.” He sighs. “Kris read through the whole thing and thinks it’d be funny if we did a legitimate character analysis on it.”

“That sounds like it could be fun though.” You admit. “I mean, I can obviously see why you wouldn't want to go into detail about that kind of stuff with them, but…” Leaning in close, you rest your head against his. “What about me?”

“Um…” You can practically feel Ralsei heating up beneath you as he flusters. “You know I can’t make breakfast if you keep putting funny thoughts into my head, right?”

“Alright, alright.” You ease up on him. “French toast sounds really good, I’ll let you focus.” You continue to lean against him as he works, staring at your own swirling reflection as well as Ralsei’s in its contents. “Should I wake up the others?” You ask after what must be five whole minutes of being hypnotized by your own reflection.

“The smell will wake them up eventually.” Ralsei assures you. “Besides, I really like having you all to myself.”

“Yeah, I do too.” You hum, still resting against him as he works, cherishing the feeling of his fur on your skin. You always loved this feeling, damn near everyone did. Your Prince was just so damn huggable.

You must have woken up earlier than you thought because you get an entire hour to spend with him talking about what you’ve been up to on your end before anyone starts to make their way down for breakfast. Plenty of Darkners and a few Lightners come down, but you get another good ten minutes before someone you recognize shows up. Stumbling down the stairs and seemingly on auto pilot, Kris drags themselves towards the cauldron, seemingly completely unaware of your presence beside Ralsei.

“Good morning Kris!” Ralsei greets them, fishing up a plate but holding it close to himself to try and get Kris’ attention. Kris sluggishly reaches for the plate but Ralsei keeps it away until they actually take notice of you.

“Gimmie…” They groan.

“Aren’t you going to tell him please?” You ask. At the sound of your voice, Kris slowly turns towards you, still looking out of it, but after a couple seconds of glaring at you, you watch as the gears in their head start turning and recognition flashes across their face. In mere moments, Kris goes from dead tired and barely functional to wide awake and in disbelief.

“Vess?!” They blurt out, stumbling back a couple steps. “When the hell did you get here?! How long have I been out?!”

“Vess woke up early!” Ralsei explains excitedly. “They unfortunately can’t stay for long, but they have something special planned for today!”

“Something that I think I’m going to need your help specifically to do.” You tell them. Kris takes a couple more seconds to wrap their head around the fact that you were back so quickly, but once your words settle in, they suddenly look anxious.

“What exactly do you need me to do?” They ask cautiously.

“How did you talk to me before I made it here?” You ask. “How were you able to send messages to me?”

“Oh…” Kris eases up quite a bit once you clear things up. “Queen has this really sketchy computer set up at her manor. It uses up a LOT of energy, which I guess makes sense now if we were actually talking to you from beyond the Void or whatever, but last I heard, she was going to decommission it because of how power hungry it was. Who knows if she actually got around to doing that though. Why do you need to know?”

“Vess wants to introduce us to some of their other friends!” Ralsei says. “Is the person who made this new body for you going to be there?”

“Lizzy? Yeah, she should be there.” You nod.

“What, you want to thank her specifically for how Vess looks?” Kris asks a little salaciously.

“Yes, actually.” Ralsei nods, not at all phased by the question. “Just look at her. Lizzy deserves some praise for making my Princess so beautiful.” You’re left momentarily stunned by that. Ralsei did tell you he was getting better at managing Kris’ antics. You also just loved to hear him call you beautiful, and judging by the look he was giving you now, he knows just how much you love it.

“Well meeting more of your weird ass friends sounds like an interesting little adventure to go on.” Kris crosses their arms with a growing smile on their face. “When is this happening?”

“After breakfast of course.” You tell them, reminding Ralsei that he was still holding onto a plate of french toast which he finally hands over. “Time stuff is pretty weird whenever I’m here, but as long as it happens sometime today, I think we should be able to catch my friends before they leave. We have a couple hours to catch up.”

Over the next hour, you and Kris eat up while Ralsei continues to serve breakfast to everyone who wakes up. Susie eventually comes down and her reaction to your presence is much more immediate and loud. You thankfully didn’t get punched again for being gone too long, but you do get a noogie for startling her. That draws attention to your hair which has come loose while you were asleep, but with you leaving so soon anyways, you decide to leave it that way instead of taking a bunch of time to braid it again. From the looks Ralsei kept shooting you, you knew he thought you looked pretty regardless of how your hair looked.

“So how does all of this work?” Susie eventually asks after cleaning her plate. “Kris told me that they would type to you on some big ass computer in Queen’s manor. Are you usually at a computer too?”

“Yeah.” You nod. “The video game thing is kinda questionable now after all I’ve learned, but I still get here by trying to play the game you guys come from. That’s how I got here this time. Right now, other me should be sleeping at my desk and when I leave this place I should wake back up there.”

“So what, are your friends going to be typing back to us over your unconscious body?” Kris asks in confusion.

“Yeah…” You nod. “I couldn’t really think of a better way to do this, but if we can open that connection again and send messages back, It should be proof of what’s going on with me. I’ll be able to talk to all of them while I’m literally passed out right next to them. Once I prove that impossibility, I should have an easier time explaining what else I’ve been doing and maybe one day I’ll be able to physically bring them here.”

“Oh I’d love to meet them all in person!” Ralsei cheers, but Kris is a little more skeptical.

“I don’t know if I like the idea of bringing even more of you into this world.” They say. “You cause enough chaos as is on your own, what would bringing your friends here do?”

“Well that’s why I said maybe.” You tell them. “I’ve been talking to Toby and Temmie on and off over the past few days and while they don’t see anything wrong with telling people about it, me being here changed a lot of stuff and they’re both kinda scared to see what happens if more people start joining in.”

“Well what are we waiting for then?” Susie asks. “I wanna talk to more nerds. Are your friends as cool as you are?”

“I’d argue that they’re cooler than me, but…” You start, but Ralsei immediately counters.

“I don’t see how that’s possible.” He shakes his head. “Did any of them save the world multiple times over?”

“I guess you got me beat there.” You admit. “They’re still pretty cool though.”

“Well I’ve been dying for something to do and out of all the things you could have dropped on us, this actually sounds kinda interesting.” Kris says. “Just say when, I wanna see if these guys are as weird as you are.”

“We’ll head out as soon as you guys are ready.” You nod, your anxious excitement for this meeting bubbling up inside you. No matter what happens, you know for a fact that this conversation was going to be very interesting.

Vess has always been a little strange, but for the first time in a while, Zach was genuinely stumped by what was going on.

After leaving that last message, Vess has gone quiet and stopped responding to any of his messages. With no clue what was going on and what she was up to, Zach decided the best course of action would be to go along with whatever she had planned. It’s been a while since all four of them got together for something, and while Zach would have preferred they all went to the mall instead, he wasn’t going to complain about Vess actually getting everyone together, no matter how strange the situation was.

Zach lived the furthest from Vess’ place, but a quick bike ride was all it took to reach the place within the hour long window Vess had set for everyone to arrive. He wasn’t the first one to show. Miles was already sitting on the curb in front of her house, patiently waiting for everyone else to arrive. He was wearing a baggy hoodie as he sat out in the sun, and if they all weren’t gathering up to see what the hell Vess was up to, Zach would have called him out on it. He probably wouldn’t get an answer if he did, but still, how the hell does he wear that in this heat?

Pulling to a stop besides him, Zach lets his bike fall into the grass before sitting down next to him. “You try knocking on the door yet?” Zach asks, earning a shake of Miles’ head. “Has Lizzy swung by yet or are we waiting on her?”

“Waiting.” Miles answers in a quiet mumble.

“Any ideas on what the hell’s going on?” Zach prods.

“Cult stuff.” Miles replies. “You?”

“I didn’t forget anyone’s birthdays, did I?” Zach asks. “Maybe this is a surprise party or something?” Miles shakes his head no. Zach shuts up to simmer on other potential explanations as they wait for Lizzy. Maybe… Maybe this was a trans thing? Zach admittedly didn’t know that much about what was going on with that, but he’s trying his best to be supportive. Not even Lizzy knew what was up and she was way more in tune with that kind of stuff. It was probably a safe bet to assume that this wasn’t related to her coming out.

After a few minutes of waiting, a car turns around the corner and eventually pulls to a stop in front of Vess’ driveway. Stepping out of the car, Lizzy casts a quick glance at the bike in the grass.

“You know I could have picked you up, right?” She says. “You didn’t have to bike all the way across town.”

“It’s a nice day today, I wanted to.” Zach tells her. “Why did you even take the car, you live like two blocks away.”

“Because the car has ac.” She answers back. “Have either of you tried the door yet or were you waiting for me?”

“Waiting for you.” Zach answers, pushing up off the curb and helping Miles do the same. “What’s your theory on what’s going on?”

“I don’t know?” Lizzy shrugs. “Maybe this is just some elaborate prank or she’s setting something up for us. That, or maybe she’s being spied on and that’s why she’s being so secretive.”

“Spies, cult, or a surprise birthday.” Miles lists off. “Any bets on which?”

“All would be pretty weird, but she promised that this would be the weirdest thing we’ve ever been a part of.” Lizzy shakes her head.

“A cult would be pretty high up there on the weirdness scale.” Zach decides. “If this actually is cult stuff, do we really want to make bets when our friend could be in danger?”

“It’s not gonna be anything serious.” Lizzy assures everyone. “She wouldn’t invite us all over if we were walking into something dangerous. We’re just talking to her online friends.”

“But that wouldn’t be weird.” Zach points out. “She said things were gonna get weird.”

“And we’re not gonna figure out how out here in the sun.” Lizzy tells him, moving towards the front door. She’s right, they could probably go back and forth for an hour coming up with increasingly more bizarre theories as to what was going on, but they could get their answer in a few minutes by stepping inside. Grouping up, all three of them move for the front door, stopping to read the yellow post-it note hanging just above the door knob.

Come inside and try to stay quiet. I’ll be asleep in my room, meet me there.

“See, that’s what’s got me so confused. She’s asleep?” Zach scratches his head.

“A slumber party?” Miles suggests behind him, trying to feed Zach’s idea that this was a surprise party of some kind.

“It’s noon.” Zach points out.

“So?” Miles shrugs. Zach lets out a sigh, of course he wouldn’t see any problem with sleeping past noon. Vess has been having trouble sleeping on and off for a while now complaining about weird dreams and stuff. Maybe she’s just catching some z’s while she can while they all do whatever she has planned?

Lizzy opens the door and steps inside, eager to see for herself what’s going on. Everyone funnels through the door, glancing around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, save for another yellow post-it right next to the hall leading to Vess’ room.

Don’t wake me up when you get to my room. I need to be asleep for this to work.

Everyone turns to stare at each other in confusion. So the sleeping thing is important? Nobody even speaks up to voice their thoughts. They all wanted to stay quiet to not wake Vess, but they were all quickly becoming lost in whatever was happening. Walking down the hall, the door to Vess’ room is already open for them. Taking the lead, Zach cautiously peeks into the room, unsure of what would be waiting for him.

There’s no demonic cult symbols scrawled all over the walls or someone holding Vess hostage. Instead, Vess is sound asleep, her desk chair repositioned at the side of her desk where she rested her head. She was out cold. Miles and Lizzy eventually peek in around Zach to see what’s going on, and while nothing seemed wrong with Vess herself, there were more post-it notes hanging off the bottom of her computer monitor. Stepping into the room with a bit more caution and grace, Zach reaches out and grabs hold of the notes.

A window should appear on the screen soon if it hasn’t opened up before you arrived. I will reach you from there.

I know this is going to be weird and confusing, but I’ll wake up to explain everything in person when the call ends.

Don’t close or minimize anything on the computer, just type.

Zach shares these notes with the others, growing even more confused and worried, when something on the monitor changes. A window pops up, revealing what looks like a blank, black command box. He hears a slight gasp from Miles once it pops up and everyone’s attention hones in on the screen. It remains blank for a few seconds but eventually a single line of text starts to crawl across the top of the window. Everyone else is too weirded out to get a closer look, leaving Zach as the only one brave enough to step forward and read what was written.

“Zach? Miles? Lizzy? Are you all there? Just type back if you are.”

Everyone turns to look at each other. Should they reply? Who was this? What the hell was going on? With Zach still being the closest by the computer, he kneels down a little by the keyboard and after a moment of hesitation and thought, types out a quick response.

“Hello?”

Almost immediately, he gets a response.

“Yes! It’s working! Who is this? Which one of you is typing right now?” Someone’s actually typing back. This didn’t look like any messenger app he’s ever seen, it just looked like a command prompt. It made him feel like he was speaking directly to the computer.

“Zach.” He eventually replies. Whoever this was is expecting them. “Who are you?”

“Vess.” The moment that name popped up on the computer, everyone behind him finally stepped forward to investigate. That couldn’t be right, Vess was asleep right next to them. She wasn’t secretly texting them or anything, she was completely unconscious and her hands were in plain sight.

“Maybe…” Lizzy mumbles, trying to keep her voice down. “Maybe she’s learning to code programs? Maybe this is a chat bot or something and she’s just messing with us?” Zach turns to Miles to see if he has anything to add on, but he’s gone quieter than usual. He must be wracking his brain to come up with an explanation. Whatever was going on, none of them were taking this computer's word that it was actually Vess talking back to them.

“Prove it.” Zach eventually types back. If this was a chat bot, there would be limitations.

“Well I can’t really do much in the state I’m in besides talk.” Vess replies. “Ask me questions only I should know the answer to. Get creative, ask whatever you need to believe me.” She’s playing along, but maybe she’s been programmed to know they’d be skeptical and to offer this test for them. He couldn’t think of any other way to try and prove this though, so after a couple seconds of brainstorming, he leans down and types out his first question to try and prove Vess’ legitimacy.

“What’s your old name?” Zach types out, and almost immediately, he gets flicked in the ear.

“You can’t ask her that!” Lizzy scolds him.

“Sorry, I’m trying to stump her!” Zach surrenders. “If this was a program she made, she probably wouldn’t-”

“You still shouldn’t deadname her though.” Lizzy shakes her head, gently nudging him aside so she can type on the keyboard. “Ignore what Zach just asked. You don’t have to share your deadname.”

“It’s fine, don’t give him too much hell for it.” Vess assures them. “I told you guys to ask something only I would know though, I literally asked you guys to start calling me Vess like two days ago.”

“Zach thinks you’re an AI the real Vess made and thought you wouldn’t program that knowledge in.” Lizzy types in, giving an explanation for what Zach is now realizing was a really dumb question. “As for a question only you’d know but not think to program in as a response, what did Miles get for you on your 10th birthday?”

“Oh!” Miles gasps a little behind both of them. “I got…” Before he can finish, a response is already being typed back.

“He gave me a little Frisk plush he bought off etsy. I was obsessed with the game back then and while you two were probably getting sick of me talking about it all the time, he decided to feed that obsession. I think I still have it in my room somewhere, but I don’t want you guys rummaging around in my stuff while I can’t stop you.”

After reading all of that, Zach turns to the others to see if any of that was true. They both nod. Looking back over at Vess, She’s still fast asleep, not moving at all and unable to speak to them, yet the person on the computer was clearly her.

Stepping back up to the keyboard, Zach voices his concerns. “Vess, what the hell’s going on? Are you in the computer?! Are you a psychic?! What is this?!”

“I don’t think I’ll have enough time to explain it to you in detail inside here.” Vess says, and there’s no denying that it’s actually her now. “It’d probably be easier to explain in person anyways, but I have some other people here who are excited to meet you all.”

“There are other people in there?” Zach boggles. “How soon can we get an explanation?! This is crazy!”

“I’m being told we have ten or twenty minutes before I gotta shut this down, and I’d like to wake up before then, so ten minutes for introductions, a few more for goodbyes after I wake up, and then I’ll tell you everything.”

While everyone was still completely befuddled and stunned, a lot of the fear was gone now. Vess was going to wake up soon and tell them everything, but for now, she was stuck in there and she apparently wasn’t alone.

“Who else is all in there with you?” Zach types. “Are these the foreign friends you’ve been talking about?”

“I haven’t been a hundred percent truthful with you guys about who they all were, but as you can probably imagine, I’d sound insane if I tried to explain it.” Vess replies. “I’m letting someone else step up to the keyboard now. I gotta give everyone else a chance to speak up, you’ll talk with me later.”

“What the hell is going on?!” Zach steps back to take a deep breath.

“They don’t seem to be freaked out themselves, I don’t think it’s anything we have to worry about.” Lizzy tries to keep the team calm, but it’s clear to everyone that she’s freaking out too. They were all bracing for something strange, but at a glance, this seemed to be genuinely supernatural. This is what Vess has been up to all this time? After a short pause to collectively panic, a new message starts to form on the monitor.

“Hello.” Unlike before, this message comes out way slower, each letter taking almost a full second to form. If this was someone else at a keyboard, it was obvious they were a ’hunt and peck’ typer. “It’s nice to meet you. Vess said many nice things about you.” They start to pick up their pace as they type, but it’s clear that they’re picking their words carefully to save time.

“Who’s this?” Zach starts to type again. “Are there more of you guys stuck in here? Where are you?”

“I’m home. I live here.” The stranger replies. “Vess is a visitor, she doesn’t stay long, though I wish she would.” Zach scratches his head as he reads over that again. Whoever this is isn’t someone like Vess, they apparently live wherever she is right now. Is this a sentient computer program, is Vess astral projecting to wherever this person is to talk with them. “Is Lizzy there?” The stranger types, earning a shocked gasp out of Lizzy who steps forward after a moment of hesitation.

“I’m here.” She types out. “What do you want?”

“I really like your work.” The stranger says. “You did a really good job.”

“Oh?” Lizzy seems caught off guard by the compliment. All of this was really weird and creepy, but this stranger seemed pretty nice. Once they get a good idea of who or what this is, Lizzy will probably love the fact that she has fans in… wherever this person is. “Thank you.” Lizzy types out. Everyone waits for a response or for them to continue, but when the next string of text appears on screen, it’s very obvious this isn’t the same person anymore.

“Sup you nerds!” This new text comes out way faster, and they aren’t nearly as polite. “How’s it feel to talk to someone in a different dimension?” Everyone’s left a little stunned after reading that, but Zach manages to step forward to reply.

“Is that what this is?” He asks. This is obviously not normal, but that feels a little too far fetched to believe, even with the impossibilities he was being shown. Whoever this guy was, they had to be messing with him. “How many people are in there anyways?” He asks. Vess wasn’t talking anymore and the polite one who complimented Lizzy’s work wasn’t at the keyboard either. This was someone new.

“You got one more weirdo after me.” The more abrasive stranger explains. “Besides your Angel, there’s the Prince you just talked to, me, and…” There’s a slight pause mid sentence. “And the dark knight.” They eventually finish. “The Prince is too shy to share his name and the knight’s being an edgy ass, but you can just call me Susie.” Alright, he had names and titles to call these people by. That made keeping track of things a bit easier and also made these people a bit less intimidating, but something catches his attention.

“Our Angel?” He asks. “Is that supposed to be Vess? Is she coming up with dumb nicknames too?”

“She got stuck with it a while ago.” Susie replies. “She insists that she doesn’t want to be called that, but she doesn’t seem to have any problems at all when the Prince calls her that. Who am I talking to, by the way? The artsy one, the quiet one, or the leader of your little group?”

“This is Zach, the leader I guess.” Zach was a little too humble to declare himself as the leader, but looking back, Lizzy and Miles seemed to think it was an apt descriptor. He was the one who always tried to get everyone together. “Can you explain where you all are in some more detail? Do you live wherever you are too?”

“Right this second, we’re all cramped up inside a really sketchy computer room with live wires running along the walls.” Susie explains. “It apparently takes a LOT of power to actually reach out to you guys. Other than that, we all live in the pretty uncreatively named Hometown. A whole bunch of scary shit’s gone down over the past year and it doesn’t look a thing like it used to, but it’s probably the coolest place on earth right now. Vess says she’d like for all of you to visit one day, but that’s probably a long way off if it’s even safe to do that at all.”

“Safe?” Zach types out with some alarm. “Vess isn’t in any danger there, is she?”

“I’m out of time.” Susie quickly types back, dodging the question. “Passing this on to the next weirdo now. Ask them.” The messages stop for a moment, presumably as the next person steps up to start typing.

“It’s probably fine.” Lizzy speaks up behind Zach, repeating her same sentiment over again. “If she wants to invite us, it probably isn’t as dangerous as this person says it is.”

“But she said it might not be.” Miles speaks up for the first time in a while, pointing out one of the last messages. “We still don’t know what this is.” Miles didn’t talk much, but when he did, it was almost always something to think about. Maybe Vess is safe now, but if what Susie said about a bunch of scary stuff happened in town is true, maybe it wasn’t always peaceful? A new message starts to form on screen, returning everyone’s attention to the conversation with the possibly interdimensional strangers.

“Greetings, otherworldly divine beings…” The newest message reads. Susie did warn that this next person was ’being an edgy ass’ and it seems they’re well aware of how weird all of this is and is running with it. “It is an honor to meet the Angel’s closest companions. What wisdom do you wish to share during our communion?”

“Is that how you actually talk, or is this a bit?” Zach asks despite what Susie said. They were probably just messing with him, but with how bizarre this all was, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure if this ’dark knight’ was just playing things up or if this was actually how they talked.

“You’re no fun.” The knight replies, giving a pretty definitive answer to that question. “I’m only stopping because I can’t stand talking like that even though text. I hear enough of it from my boyfriend. I guess now that that’s dropped, I got a question. How freaked out are you guys right now? Is Vess passed out right next to you like she says?”

“Yeah, she’s right here.” Zach confirms, glancing over at Vess’ unconscious body. “And for your previous question, I am very freaked out right now. Are you guys inside her computer or something? Where is she? How is she there?”

“I don’t know.” The knight replies. “The running theory was that we were in a computer, but Vess met this guy named Toby and he says things are more complicated than that, so we’re all kinda in the dark right now about what exactly is going on.”

“Toby Fox?” She did say that she was apparently sharing messages with Toby, but Zach was thinking that was just Toby talking to some fans or something, not whatever this is. Can he do this too? Is he the reason Vess is in the computer?

“Vess says she’ll get into it later.” The knight says. “Any other questions or things you guys wanna ask. We gotta shut this thing down sooner than later and I’d rather not spend too long in this room. Half of us are wearing metal and I’m pretty sure with the static build up in here, we’re all basically lightning rods ready to discharge enough electricity to vaporize each other. Maybe it won’t be as bad because it’s being shared between the four of us, but the last time I stepped out of here, I was able to shock Lancer so bad his head hit the ceiling.”

Zach tries to take his mind off that last comment to come up with something when he feels a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, Miles motions towards the keyboard and Zach steps aside to let him type.

“Is this a cult Vess is trying to drag us into?” He types out, still dead set on his cult theory.

“Susie’s got a fan club we’re all part of, but no, this isn’t a cult. If It is, I never got my black cloak.” The knight replies. “I did get into a fight with a whole bunch of people who thought I was literally Satan, but that’s a really long story to go into.”

“Are you Satan?” Miles asks. “Why would people think that about you?”

“Like I said, long story.” The knight replies. “We ended up finding the closest thing we could probably get to Satan and kicked their ass, so it’s not a problem anymore. We got time for a question or two more. Anything you guys want to ask?” What they just said brought up a million more questions, but with their time short, Zach tries his hardest to think of something to say as Lizzy returns to the keyboard.

“What’s your opinion of my commission work?” She asks. “The Prince likes it, how about the rest of you.”

“I’m fucking jealous.” The knight replies. “You probably think it’s just a drawing, but it’s a lot more than that. I don’t know how much Vess has told you, but your little drawing means a hell of a lot to her. One more question now, she’s gonna be leaving us and everyone's arguing with her about how this is going to work.”

Once again, even more questions were thrown his way, but with time running out, Zach needed to make up his mind to figure out what he was going to ask these strange computer people. The knight kept reminding them that Vess herself will be able to answer most of his questions on her own time. He needed to ask something specific to these people. After a couple more seconds, he finally settles on something and leans forward.

“How close are you guys with Vess?” He asks. “I’m not exactly sure how long this has been going on, but you all seem to be pretty familiar with each other.”

“I’ll be honest, I’ve known Vess longer than I would like.” The knight answers. “Things have been back and forth between me and Vess specifically, but I’m glad we’re friends. My life’s gone to complete shit mostly thanks to her, but it’s also thanks to her that I got to be friends with everyone else and why I’m even here typing to you guys in the first place. She’s saved my life, multiple times. I doubt any of you have gone through anything nearly as bad, but if anything goes down, Vess will get you out of it. You’re lucky to have her as a friend.”

Things definitely don’t sound perfectly safe on their end, but hearing them all talk about Vess that way, hearing them call her an Angel and stuff, it was clear that while they probably didn’t see eye to eye at all times, they all cared deeply for her. Vess has always been a weird girl, but that’s what drew Zach to her, just like the rest of his friends. They were all far from the most popular people in school, but together they all clicked. Together they were all able to break out of their shell, to be more open about things. Zach hasn’t been doing the best with Vess’ transition, his ear still stings a little after asking her for her old name, but the fact she felt comfortable enough to open up to him at all let him know he was doing a good job. He’s always in his friends’ corner, and if he ever gets in trouble, he knows they’ll be in his too. It sounds like Vess was the same for all of these strangers too.

He was lucky to be her friend.

“Ok, so Vess is passing out right now on our end and everyone’s freaking out a little bit. Is she waking up on your end?” The knight suddenly types out, drawing a concerned response out of everyone in the room. She just passed out?! Before Zach could press them for more information, a low grumble came from Vess’ unconscious body. It’s the first time she’s done anything at all since they showed up, and it stuns him long enough for her to start moving some more.

Her face scrunches up as she lets out a tired groan, trying to stretch out in the awkward position she fell asleep in. She eventually opens her eyes, trying to sit up in her seat.

“Hey guys…” She mumbles out. “How ar-”

“Vess?! What the hell is going on?!” Zach blurts out before she can finish. “Where were you?! Were you actually somewhere inside the computer?! Are you-”

“Keep it down…” Vess whines. “Just give me a minute. I gotta make sure everyone’s still alright on the other end.” Dragging herself along by her feet, Vess scoots the chair back in front of the desk with everyone making way so she can type a response back. “I’m up.” She tells her friends, who if Zach is understanding this right, she was standing next to only moments ago. “Everything’s fine on my end. I’m just shocked I was able to get back here so fast.”

“So what the hell are we supposed to do with you now?” The knight asks. “Ralsei just zapped himself trying to lift you up. Do you expect us to drag you back home through the snow and dump you in bed?”

“You have a way to get me back without much hassle, don’t you?” Vess types back, not paying anyone else any mind as she wraps up this conversation.

“You could have at least asked me first, dick. I’m still getting used to that stuff.” The knight responds. “It would be pretty funny to just ditch this place once this gets shut down and leave Queen wondering where the hell we all went, but don’t expect me to start zipping you around town when you get back again. When will that be, by the way? This weekend?”

“Time’s kinda hard to keep track of, but I should be back in only a few days.” Vess types back. “I might have to make more short visits like this though, it was fun to surprise Ralsei like this. Tell him I love him, by the way.”

“Not a fan of surprises, but yeah. This was fun. Anyways, Queen’s threatening us again so I should get this shut down now. Ralsei will make sure you’re nice and tucked into bed. Have fun explaining all of this bullshit to your friends now.”

Seconds after that last message is sent, the command box disappears, leaving a blank desktop. Turning around in her chair, Vess rubs her eyes and stares up at everyone’s concerned faces.

“So…” She starts off. “I’m sure you all have plenty of questions.”

“What the fuck!” Zach repeats himself now that Vess is paying attention. “What was any of that?! Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” Vess assures everyone. “This was actually the least problematic entrance and exit I’ve made. I was even able to wake up before the call was cut off. I didn’t even think I’d be able to get in and out that fast and actually-”

“Ok, cool, but how the hell are you getting in there at all?!” Zach elaborates. “Where did you go? You were right here, but also there?!”

“I guess we never came up with a proper term to explain what we were doing, but…” She scratches her head, flinching a little once she touches her hair as if she were surprised by it. “I guess the closest thing would be astral projection?” She shrugs. “I’m transferring my consciousness to a different body outside of this plane of existence. When I go to sleep here, I can visit someplace else and when I sleep there, I wake back up here.”

“B-but-”

“Don’t ask me how I can do that, I don’t really know. I just can.” Vess shrugs again. “I’ve talked to a couple other people who can do it too and they can’t even fully explain how or why.” She said that she’d be able to answer all of their questions, but Zach’s growing pretty frustrated as she continues to give him non-answers.

“Where were you exactly?” He asks. “Were you in a different dimension like Susie said? Were you inside of your computer? Give us something!”

“That one I actually do have an answer for!” She sits up. “It is another dimension. Again, I don’t know much about how it works or why my computer lets me get in there, but I think I gave you all pretty definitive proof that I’m able to talk to you from it. I’ve been going there for a while now, starting back last fall. Time isn’t always stable between the two places though. After calling you guys over, I ended up spending at least three hours hanging out with everyone before we left to call you. I don’t know how long it’s been for them, and that doesn’t even get into the whole reset problem, but…”

Zach and the others just stare in dumbfounded shock at Vess as she tries and fails to make sense of what was going on. She has a lot of history with whatever this place is and the people who live there and she’s trying to explain everything with very few concrete answers. She trails off, either realizing she needed to reel things back or coming to terms with the fact that she might not be able to explain this at all.

“Do we know these people?” Miles suddenly asks, earning everyone’s attention. “While you were talking with the knight, they said something about Ralsei.” Zach digs through his memories to try and figure out where he heard that name before. Did he know Ralsei? Maybe Vess… no, Vess definitely talked about Ralsei in the past before all of this. Where has he heard that name bef-

“Like… Deltarune Ralsei?” Lizzy asks and everything clicks in Zach’s mind. Oh duh! Vess is obsessed with that game, she talked to him all about it when it came out and the hype surrounding it and how Ralsei was her favorite character. What does that have to do wi-

Wait…

“Was Susie… that Susie?” Zach asks. That name sounded familiar too, but what he was asking sounded almost too stupid to be true. Then again, Vess did just talk to them from an alternate dimension.

“Yes.” Vess nods. “According to the people who are familiar with this stuff, I actually created that dimension from within my subconscious. You guys always made fun of me for how much I talked about those games and… Well I guess you had every right to because I literally created an entire universe because of it.”

“S-so you’re saying that we were just talking to video game characters?” Zach asks. “So you were in the computer?”

“No, I had this talk with them before. They’re real people.” Vess shakes her head. “They’re copies of video game characters, but they’re all flesh and blood. If you all played the game now, the Susie, Kris, and Ralsei you meet in that game would be completely different people than the ones I’m friends with. The world I was in isn’t just a computer program, but an entirely separate world that other people can visit.”

“Why have you been keeping this secret for so long?” Miles asks her.

“I literally only started getting answers for what the hell’s going on a week ago.” Vess says. “I was convinced I was going crazy or something, but I met other people like me in there and they’ve been helping me actually come to terms with what’s going on and helping explain some of the weirder stuff. Coincidentally, those people just so happen to be Deltarune devs.” Zach thinks he can feel his brain fizzling out. This was getting too weird. “I have the dms for that too!” Vess says, leaning back over her desk to open up discord. “I’ve been talking with them for a few days now trying to make sense of this. They’re the ones who gave me tips on how to break the news to you guys!”

Trying to focus on the screen, Zach skims over several messages Vess had with two people, one of whom seems to be none other than Toby Fox, or so he claims anyways. Reading through what he can as Vess scrolls through the messages, he sees more of the same nonsense she’s been talking about. Alternate dimensions, The Void, subconscious manifestations, interdimensional travel.

“I’m at a loss for words…” Lizzy shakes her head. “This is all so…”

“I guess you know why I’ve been acting so weird now.” Vess chuckles nervously. “I’ve wanted to tell you guys about this since it first happened to me but I had no way of proving it or convincing you without sounding absolutely insane. I’m a bit more familiar with it now and I’ve made a couple new friends who I can talk to about it. I was still scared to drop all of this on you, but I didn’t like keeping a secret this big and you guys have helped me through a lot of stuff in the past, especially with me coming out a few days ago, so I figured you could help me here too.”

“What do we even do to help though?” Zach asks. Once again, he feels a sense of pride knowing that Vess trusted him with this info and knew he would help, but this felt way over his head. What the hell does he do?

“Nothing for now.” Vess assures him. “Just knowing you guys know helps clear my mind a bit. I’ve thought about trying to find a way to actually get you guys to meet everyone else in person, but we don’t know how to do that yet and we don’t know if it’s safe to do that either. Just having more people to talk about this to is enough.”

That sounded fair enough. Zach probably would have driven himself insane if he learned even half of this stuff and didn’t know how to share it with people. This was all really fucking scary, but if simply talking through it helped, he could probably stay here all day asking a million different questions.

“What’s this commission they were talking about?” Miles speaks up again behind them. At the mere mention of it, Vess lights up.

“Right! Hold on a second!” She quickly turns back to the computer, jumping to a different tab on discord to show her dms with Lizzy. Scrolling up a little, she eventually finds a sprite sheet containing several pixelated drawings of a woman wearing brass armor with a short red cape.

“Damn, Lizzy made this?” Zach asks. He’s seen a bunch of her drawings, but this looked straight out of the game.

“Wait, how did you even show people this if you’re stuck somewhere else?” Lizzy asks. “What were they talking about when it was more than a drawing?”

“Remember how I told you a few days ago that Vess was me?” She asks. “How this drawing you made helped me come to terms with my own identity? I was being a bit more literal than you probably thought. I leave my body behind here while I’m off doing this, but I’m not just free floating around once I’m in the other world. I have a different body over there, one you helped make.”

“Are you saying that…” Lizzy pauses. “Did I make an entire body for you?! Was that what the knight was talking about?!”

“Yeah.” Vess blushes a little as she nods. “I needed a new vessel after something happened to my old one. I didn’t really know if commissioning a sprite sheet would work or not, but I think I somehow made it work. I only came out a few days ago and haven’t really done much to actually transition yet, but when I’m in there, when I’m in that other body, I can’t even describe how it feels.”

“So when Ralsei said he really liked Lizzy’s work, he’s really saying…” Miles starts, purposefully stopping himself to let Vess finish for him.

“He thinks I’m pretty.” Vess says with an even deeper blush. “No one’s ever called me that and… That’s what pushed me to finally come out to you guys and make big changes. It’s…” She scratches her arm, looking down at herself. “I don’t wanna say I hate being back in this body, but I felt so relieved to be back in the one you made for me, even for only a few hours.”

“Well…” Zach opens his mouth, only to struggle to figure out what to say next. He’s said some stupid stuff already and he really doesn’t want to say something dumb now while she’s talking about something so personal. When he finally does think of what to say, he’s confident it’ll put a smile on her face. “Well we’re gonna fix that this weekend, aren’t we?” He asks. “We’re all going to the mall. I was thinking of doing some clothes shopping myself, but we can help you try something new. I don’t really know much about girl stuff, but Lizzy can help pick stuff out for you, right? We can make it a whole group thing.”

“I’d really like that.” Vess nods. “It’s actually kinda funny how backwards this all feels for me.” She chuckles. “I seem to be doing that for a lot of things recently. It wasn’t that long ago that I was questioning myself, wondering if I was just confused or if I wanted to be something else, only to find myself in a body that felt perfect and being called by my new name by friends who didn’t know me by anything else. I got everything I ever wanted all at once, and when I got back here, I realized just how much I actually had to do to even get close to what I felt. I got you guys though, and while my transition is just one of many big things I’m going through right now, I’m glad I told you guys and I’m glad you accepted it so quickly.”

“Of course we would.” Miles says. He didn’t need to say anything more. Vess was their friend, of course they accepted her.

“So…” Lizzy speaks up. “What the hell do we do with this information?” She asks. “Do we just pretend things are normal? Do we just accept that you’re astral projecting into a fictional universe to hang out with your favorite characters?”

“I guess so. That’s what everyone else did.” Vess says. “They arguably had it worse since they were coming to terms with the fact that they’re all video game characters and are potentially part of a simulation and have no free will at all. We got that cleared up, but it’s still a lot to take in. You guys don’t have any existential crisis to deal with, so this should be easier to digest for you.”

“No?” Zach shakes his head. “You’re exploring alternate dimensions, that isn’t an ‘oh you’ll get used to it’ situation!”

“I think I can manage.” Miles mumbles out behind them.

“Well yeah, you can. Literally nothing phases you.” Zach counters. “A fight broke out right next to you one time and you barely even flinched.”

“I think I’d need some more time, but I think I can get a handle on this.” Lizzy admits. “This is some weird creepy pasta stuff going on right now, but as long as you’re safe and you’re fine with me throwing more questions at you, I think I can accept it. I’m just… I can’t believe those little sprites I made meant that much to you and helped you with your transition or that this alternate universe stuff played a part in it.”

With a sigh, Zach returns his attention to Vess. “I guess I’m just gonna have to play it cool then.” He says. “I’m with Lizzy on this one, you’re gonna have to tell me everything that goes on in there. There’s no way in hell you don’t have some insane stories to share with us.”

“God, I could spend days going over everything that happened.” Vess chuckles. “I could go on till tomorrow morning just going over everything that happened to me during my last visit!”

“Well it’s not like we’re gonna be doing anything else today after having this bombshell dropped on us.” Zach throws his arms wide. “Come on, let us hear it. When did this all start?”

Getting up from the chair and moving to her bed, Vess tries to get comfortable as she settles in for a VERY long story. Taking her place in the now vacant chair, Zach leans forward and listens in. Vess has always been a weird girl, but out of the whole group, she was probably the most grounded out of all of them, until now at least. As she starts up her tale, Zach can’t help but linger on what the knight told him.

He really was lucky to be her friend if these were the kinds of adventures he could expect to go on when hanging out with her.

Chapter Text

Catti could go pretty much wherever she wanted in the blink of an eye, but she still found the time to fly around every day on her broomstick. Not only did she have the whole witch aesthetic she was trying to maintain, but there wasn’t much thrill in simply teleporting to her destinations. She didn’t get to feel the wind in her hair or her heart rise up to her throat whenever she descended when she teleported. Besides, she needed time to think about what Ralsei could possibly want with her.

Not long ago, Temmie came back to the tower and told her that Ralsei wanted to speak to her within an hour at his castle. If she had an hour to kill, she was going to take advantage of it and fly around for a while. She wasn’t that familiar with Ralsei. She’s seen him around all the time and almost every time she swung by Castle Town for whatever reason he always offered her some kind of treat just for showing up. He seemed like a really nice guy, but that’s sort of why she never bothered trying to really get to know him. She gets enough overwhelming positivity from her family and she knows from experience that she usually kills the good mood whenever they try to put a smile on her face and she doesn’t play along.

He was one of Kris’ best friends though, and while they had terrible taste in friends, she got to see just how much he cared about them during the impromptu therapy session she held in her tower. They didn’t really know each other that much, but he must know she was someone Kris went to whenever they were feeling down. Was that why she was being summoned? She couldn’t think of any other reason why the Prince would be reaching out to her specifically.

Cutting her joyride in the air short, she lets herself fall, soaring through the air towards the tall spires of Castle Town as she descends. Moments before she collides into town square, she kills her momentum, swiftly coming to a stop before hopping off her broom and letting it fly off somewhere out of reach. Some townspeople give her startled looks after her sudden appearance from the sky, but she pays them no mind and moves for the door.

Opening the gates, she is immediately greeted by the Prince who stands in the center of the hall waiting for her alongside Mayor Holiday. “Catti! It’s good to see you again!” He greets her with a smile on his face, but the Mayor only glares coldly at her. It almost made Catti feel like she’s done something wrong and that she should apologize, but she hasn’t done anything yet.

“Is Kris alright?” Catti returns her focus to Ralsei, asking the one question she assumes he summoned her here for.

“What?” Evidently, this isn’t about Kris as Ralsei is confused by her question. “Kris is fine.” He assures her. “If you’re wondering how they’re doing after our talk at your place, they’ve opened up a little bit more. They still don’t like to talk about it, but if something’s really bothering them, they’re willing to come to me or Susie to talk it out.”

“That’s good to hear.” Catti says contently. Kris could be a real stubborn ass sometimes, but it’s a huge relief to know that they’re trying to get help after she forced them to talk about it. “What did you want me for then?” Catti asks. “We don’t really talk much.”

“Ralsei here has told me you have a skill that could be invaluable to our work for the town.” The Mayor speaks up, causing Catti to jolt a little though she doesn’t let it show. There wasn’t much that scared her, she stared directly into the infinite inky blackness of the Void without fear, but Mrs. Holiday intimidates her in a way she could barely understand. “Do you know a way to escape the Barrier surrounding town?” The Mayor asks, and despite how intimidating she was, Catti couldn’t help but let out an annoyed groan once she realized why she was brought here.

“Can’t you get Kris to do it?” She whines. “They know how to take shortcuts too. Why do you gotta drag me into this?”

“Two reasons.” Ralsei holds up two fingers. “One, Kris is still uncomfortable using the shortcuts and only wants to use them when they have to. You’re the one who helped them open up about their insecurities so I’m sure you’d understand why I wouldn’t want them to do something they’re uncomfortable with.”

“Have them teach someone else to do it then.” Catti tries to argue, but Ralsei shakes his head.

“That brings me to two;” he announces, “You and Vess are the only people who have been outside the Barrier. If what Kris told me about the shortcuts is true, you can only go to places you’ve been before and I’ve seen you leave us at the river to see if you could get out again. Even if Kris wanted to, they’ve never left the town to be able to take a shortcut out. That leaves only you.”

“Ugh…” Catti throws her head back and lets out an agonized groan. She should have just flown around for another half hour before showing up. She knew openly sharing this power with other people would cause problems, but she just had to show off her magical prowess, didn’t she? She almost considers throwing Sans under the bus and saying that he could help out, but he’s from a completely different dimension. Even without the Barrier, he’s probably never left town.

“I do intend to compensate you for your assistance in official business, you know?” The Mayor speaks up, and all of a sudden, Catti was interested.

“How so?” She asks. She can already see a look of disappointment on Ralsei’s face, but a thank you and the pride of a job well done isn’t enough to motivate her to go out of her way. Her time was valuable, and the Mayor seemed to understand that.

“You’ll be paid for your contributions as this would be considered contracted work.” The Mayor informs. “You possess a specialized skill set that I am in demand of, that only seems fair.”

“Sounds good to me.” Catti says, still irritated that she was being used as a glorified taxi now that people knew about her shortcuts, but she was probably going to make more than a measly cab fare. “So do you want me to just drop you off outside?” She asks. “It’s probably super out of the way of anything actually important. We were dropped off next to some river or something.”

“Until we find a more secure method for doing this, I’m afraid I’m going to need you to accompany me so we can discuss how to do that.” The Mayor informs her. “I’m sorry you were called here on such short notice, but I assure you, I’ll make it worth your time.”

“I guess I can help out.” Catti reluctantly agrees. “As long as this doesn’t become a regular thing you guys make me do.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.” The Mayor nods her head, her lips curling upward ever so slightly. It wasn’t enough for it to be considered a smile, but Catti wasn’t sure if she could even move her face that much. “When can you take me to this shortcut you were talking about?”

“Gimme your hand.” Catti reaches out to her. “Also, close your eyes or something. The shortcuts are really jarring for people who aren’t expecting them.”

The Mayor seems confused, but after a moment, she does as she’s told. “I’ll see you both soon!” Ralsei gives Catti a wave, but she can see that he looks a little worried, though she can’t understand why. With the Mayor’s hand in hers, she returns the wave to Ralsei before thinking back to the test she made to see if she could get out of the Barrier.

And just like that, she’s there.

“Alright, you can open your eyes now.” Catti instructs, letting go of the Mayor’s hand.

“What was the point of closing my-” The moment the Mayor opened up her eyes, she’s left completely silent as the castle she was standing in just a second ago was replaced with an empty field of snow. She looks around, trying to see where she was, only to actually get startled by the massive, imposing wall of pure darkness right behind her. “W-what is-”

“The Barrier.” Catti explains, actually shocked that the Mayor looked genuinely disturbed by the pitch black wall of darkness. “I can get us out just fine, but out here, the only way back in is to walk through the Barrier again. Shortcuts are magical, and if you didn’t notice yet, we’re back to normal out here.”

At the mention of that, the Mayor steps away from the Barrier and looks down at herself. Her icy blue dress had been replaced with a black suit and skirt, changing her appearance from a terrifying ice queen to a more grounded but still intimidating government official. She spent some time staring down at herself, but after a few seconds, she reaches up and adjusts her collar, straightening out her suit jacket to smooth out any wrinkles. She looked confused and in awe at the sight of the Barrier and her transformation, but all that emotion was gone now and replaced with a look of flat stoicism.

“Where are we?” She asks.

“Dunno.” Catti shrugs. “There’s a river running out of town not too far from here, that’s how I got out in the first place to make a shortcut here.” The Mayor turns to look at her, but before she can open up her mouth, Catti interrupts her. “Don’t ask how I got out through the river. It’s a long story and if you have any place you actually wanna be out here, we’re probably gonna have to do a bit of walking.”

“Very well.” The Mayor nods, taking one more look around and spotting the river. “If it’s going downstream, we must be on the south east side of town. I don’t suppose you can take us closer to the west?”

“If you’re dragging me with you, I can take a shortcut to wherever you take me on the next trip, but for now, this is the only place I can go unless you want to head further down along the river.” Catti shakes her head.

“Then we have quite the walk ahead of us.” The Mayor sighs.

“Can’t you call someone to pick us up?” Catti suggests. The Mayor’s eyes go wide at that. She starts patting herself down before eventually fishing a small flip phone out of her breast pocket. Flicking it open, Catti can see that slight smile trying to form on her face again.

“I don’t have a signal out here, but now that we’re outside, I should be able to get a hold of someone to assist us.” She says, snapping the phone shut and stashing it away. “Let’s get moving. The sooner we find a road leading into town, the sooner I can call us a ride.”

Trudging through the snow, they walk along the massive Barrier of darkness surrounding the town. It was not pleasant at all, and according to the Mayor, they were trying to make their way all the way out to a border just beyond the Barrier next to the town fair. They would be walking through the snow for hours trying to take the long way around to get to that point, but thankfully, they’re able to find another road leading into town and instead of continuing on their main route, they start heading up the road. It isn’t long before they find a border to keep people from heading into town where the Mayor’s able to get a phone signal and call for a ride.

Calling up a chauffeur and spending most of the ride explaining how she managed to get out, the Mayor starts getting them to the main border while making further calls to other important sounding officials. Catti tries to tune it out. It’s nothing that involved her and it was all boring politics stuff she didn’t care to eavesdrop on. Instead, she stared out the window for most of the drive, watching as they drove away from the absolutely massive black hole on the horizon and into a nearby town to redirect themselves.

After months of seeing massive castles, magical powers, and futuristic fortresses, it was actually weirdly exciting to see places that looked so… normal. Plain looking suburbs covered in snow, a few gas stations along the main roads, people driving around going about their day. The Barrier was still visible from here and while having a massive nightmare ball of darkness constantly on the horizon was probably freaky, that was the weirdest thing going on here. Other than that, there was no magic, no crazy adventures, no clue at all that all powerful gods had visited the earth only a town over.

She felt like she was in school again, watching as everyone worried about homework and the upcoming school dance while she studied the occult. None of these plebeians knew what she did, knew what power she possessed or knowledge she held. It just didn’t feel as special anymore since basically everyone in Hometown was capable of using magical powers now. She was still the most powerful witch though, no one could challenge her claim to that. Maybe there’s some wizard or warlock somewhere in town she didn’t know about, but she was the best witch.

Eventually the car starts heading back towards Hometown, taking a different road so they could approach it from the West where the main border checkpoint was. It isn’t until the wall of blackness completely takes up the view from the windshield that Catti actually sees the border.

Several gates have now been built over the road to make sure no one speeds into the Barrier. All along the road were a few new buildings to house security, but there’s also what seems to be a visitation center. Obviously no one can get in, but some big tech savvy people from within Hometown have tried to find a way to reach outside to communicate with people. As the car pulls to a stop, she can see that several cables, wires, and tubes were passing through the Barrier, connected to the new building outside of it. They couldn’t use cell phones to call anyone outside the barrier, but it looks like a direct line could be set up between here and some similar place within the Barrier.

She’s sure some big nerd like Berdly would probably be more interested in the tech stuff going on here, but she instead just tries to focus on her surroundings so she doesn’t have to take a half hour car ride the next time she has to do this. Stepping out of the car, she follows after the Mayor as she remains on her phone. Strangely enough, she has a second phone on her which she’s texting on as she speaks through the other one against her ear.

“Yes, I’m out! I’ve told you this three times! Meet me at the west border!” She barks into her phone, before pulling it away from herself for a moment to hang up and dial someone else, all while still texting on the other one. Catti couldn’t help but watch in awe as she continued to make calls. She thought it was impressive that she could text one handed while in the middle of a conversation, but the Mayor was setting up meetings and yelling at several people at once. It was a level of multitasking that seemed almost magical, but of course, they were outside the Barrier so that couldn’t be the case.

“Whew…” The Mayor flicks both phones shut, storing them away before taking a deep breath. “I forgot how it felt to actually call the shots out here. I missed this.”

“That was kinda cool.” Catti admits. “So do you have everything under control here? Can I go home now?”

“Not yet.” The Mayor shakes her head. “We will still have to discuss how to reliably leave the Barrier, preferably without solely depending on you. I can keep paying you in the short term for your assistance, but I’m sure you’re a busy young woman.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if this is gonna work.” Catti sighs. “The shortcuts themselves aren’t hard to make, but there’s a lot of really weird stuff you gotta know about and do to make it work. There’s only two other people in town I know who can do this and I don’t see either of them helping out. There’s this other girl I know who could probably do it, but I’d rather not train her in, and while Ralsei could probably do it within the Barrier, he can’t leave or else he’ll die… I think.”

She lets out a grumble as she realizes she’s probably the only person in town who can do this. That’s simultaneously cool and further proves that she’s the most powerful witch in Hometown, but still, now she has a bunch of extra responsibilities she has to deal with. Vess followed her out and managed to teleport back in from the Void, which shouldn’t even be possible without Dark World magic, but she’s been asleep for days. Styx could probably just manually boat people out of the Barrier, making a quick jump to a different world and then back in outside just like they had done with her, but again, they weren’t always around to make trips. Unless she wanted to risk breaking peoples minds and drag others along on Styx’s boat rides, she was the only way out of town.

“I’ll keep all of that in mind while speaking with the board.” The Mayor assures her. “Speaking of whom, they’re pulling up now. I understand if you want no part in this, but as your ability to leave the Barrier is the main subject of this meeting, feel free to voice any concerns or objections you have.”

“Alright.” Catti nods. She was actually kinda surprised with how thoughtful she was being around her. Not even her parents were like this, if there was some big family get together, her presence there was mandatory whether she liked it or not. The Mayor was aware of how little she wanted to be here and was trying to find a way to be less imposing. Catti was surprised she was thinking this, but Mrs. Holiday was actually pretty cool.

Watching as cars started crossing the borders one by one, dozens of old dudes in suits started funneling out and making their way towards one of the few buildings next to the Barrier. Most of them looked pretty cross at being dragged out into the cold on such short notice, but a few of them looked genuinely shocked to see Mrs. Holiday outside. Stepping forward, the Mayor moves to join them and Catti follows along, slightly curious to hear how a bunch of old suits talk about the magic Barrier.

Inside the visitation center, Catti confirms that there are several landlines that must have a direct line through the Barrier to safely talk with people on the other side. There are also several monitors for what she can only assume are for video calls, as well as a few posters on the wall detailing how the Barrier works and why it should be avoided. It wasn’t the most spacious place, it had to have only been built a few months ago, but everyone gathers inside to get out of the cold and to start asking the Mayor questions.

“Did you find a way to break the Barrier?”
“Can people finally get out?”
“How long until we can start receiving taxes again?”
“When can you return to the main offices?”
“Can we cut the care budgets now that you’re free?”

“Shut up.” The Mayor suddenly blurts out, silencing all the other suits. “I know this is an extraordinary event, but that doesn’t mean you can all throw professionalism out the door. I called this meeting, let me speak.” Everyone shuts up, and Catti can see that subtle smirk again. “Thank you.” She sighs. “The Barrier is still a problem, but after speaking with a few of my associates inside, I was told that this young woman here possessed a unique ability that could let her step outside of it. From what I can understand, she’s the only one who can do this, and it only works one way.”

“How?” One of the old dudes scrutinizes Catti, clearly not impressed with the edgy looking teenager he was looking down on.

“Magic.” Catti simply replies.

“Don’t play with me, lass.” He obviously doesn’t like that answer.

“I’m out, aren’t I?” Catti shrugs, not backing down under his scrutiny. “I could drag you through the Barrier myself if you’re insistent on seeing proof.”

“Whether you believe her or not, she got me out.” The Mayor backs her up. “Though of course, one young woman alone isn’t enough to fix all of our problems. With her help, however, it should be possible now to let approved people in through the Barrier and return them outside after their work is done. You’ve all made your frustrations over your inability to see for yourself what’s happened to town clear, but Catti now gives you the chance to see that everything I’ve told you is true.”

“Do they not believe you?” Catti asks. “There’s a magical bubble of pure darkness right outside. All you gotta do is step through and you’ll see the castles in the distance.”

“But you can understand why we can’t just do tha-”

“Wait a moment.” The same old dude from earlier is suddenly interrupted as another suit steps forward. “I mean, of course we can’t go in there, but there have been plenty of people who wanted to see what’s going on past that Barrier. Perhaps we can bring one of them in on this now that we have a sure fire way to get them back out.”

“If you must pick someone, I suggest a humanitarian expert.” The Mayor tells the man. “I’ve told you time and time again that the care packages are still necessary to help sustain the sudden boom in population that the Barrier brought with it. Send someone who’s good with people, someone who will actually understand the situation we’re in and what we’re trying to do. I called in a request for farming equipment but none of you have approved it.”

“We cannot just drive heavy duty agricultural vehicles into the Barrier.” The shitty old dude argues. “Unless this little lass can bring that back here too.”

“I don’t know, maybe.” Catti shrugs. “If you keep calling me that though, I’m not gonna do it.”

“We will send an expert in then.” Another suit, one who had to be pushing close to a hundred, speaks up. “This is a unique opportunity to get eyes on the inside and make more informed decisions on how to handle this. I already have a few in mind.”

The conversation turns to less interesting stuff like taxes and census forms and Catti starts to zone everything out. This was not her place at all. She couldn’t care less about these old dudes and their positions, but she got dragged into this and she can’t just back out now that everyone knew. She supposes there’s some pride in knowing she has all of these bureaucrats under her thumb and entirely dependent on her magic. She probably can’t rule the world with this power, but she had to start somewhere.

“Very well then.” Catti returns her attention to the conversation just as it starts to wrap up. “If that is the plan, then I believe we should postpone Saturday’s meeting till later in the evening, giving our expert time to check on the state of the town before joining you in the meeting.”

“I’ll inform my associates and plan accordingly.” The Mayor nods. “When can I expect them?”

“I should be able to have someone stepping in from this border sometime close to noon.” The old suit tells her. “Have a ride waiting for them by eleven in the morning at the latest and you shouldn’t miss them.”

“Excellent.” The Mayor nods. “I believe I’m done here then. Catti.” Now fully back to attention, Catti clears her head and starts to move for the door.

“Finally.” She sighs. “I was about to fall asleep for a minute there. I got my taste of the real world, I’m bored now.”

Leaving the rest of the crummy old suits behind, Catti steps outside and is followed by the Mayor before both turn to face the massive black wall filling their entire vision. Catti walks towards it without hesitation, but when she notices the sound of the Mayor’s footsteps falling behind, she turns around to find she’s anxious to get close to it and the suits were watching from further back, looking almost shocked that anyone was willingly getting this close.

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” Catti says. “It’s like dunking your head in water, once you’re through, we’ll be at the fair.”

Casting a glance at all the old suits behind her, the Mayor steels herself and marches forward at a slightly faster pace, keeping her head forward even though she still looks anxious. Satisfied that she’ll push through once she makes it to the Barrier, Catti steps through herself, feeling the darkness wash over her body and its magic take effect. Emerging on the other side, she adjusts the witches hat on her head now that it was back in place, flexing her fingers and feeling her magical essence flow through them just waiting to be unleashed from her fingertips.

“Oh wow…” The Mayor steps through only a few seconds later, clearly unnerved by the feeling of the darkness washing over her, but quickly getting over it once she realized she was wearing her icy dress again. She clears her throat, shaking off whatever uncomfort she felt as she tried to regain her composure. “Well then.” She says, turning to face Catti. “Will you take me back to Castle Town? I believe our work here is finished.”

“Yeah, come here. I’d rather not walk aga…” Catti reaches her hand out for the Mayor’s, but a thought comes to her, causing her to instead raise her hand up into the air. “On second thought, I know another way to get back.” Catti says with a smirk. “You don’t mind if we take the scenic route, do you? It sounds like you don’t have to worry too much until tomorrow, right?”

“I’m not one for wasting time, but I could use a breather after a meeting like that.” The Mayor tells her, staring at her raised hand. “What are you doing?”

“Just give it a minute.” Catti says. “I left it back at Castle Town, it’s gotta get here first.” She keeps her arm raised for a while, watching as the Mayor gets progressively more confused and impatient. Just before she could open her mouth to change her mind or ask for Catti to elaborate, her broomstick cuts through the air like a missile, coming to a dead stop the moment it touches her hand. “There we go.” Throwing the broom down, it stops mid air at waist level. Leaning over and sitting down on the broomstick, Catti scoots forward to leave plenty of room in the back. “You coming?”

“Absolutely not.” The Mayor shakes her head.

“Why not?” Catti whines. “Are you afraid of heights or something?” The Mayor doesn’t give her an answer and instead crosses her arms, staring her down. “Come on, I let Temmie ride around with me all the time. She’s barely even able to keep a grip on this thing, but I’ve never let her fall. Well, ok, she falls quite a bit, but I never let her hit the ground.”

“No.” The Mayor repeats herself.

“Not even if I go slow?” Catti offers. “I won’t go any higher than it is now. It’ll be like riding a bike. Come on.” The Mayor still refuses to budge. “Come on, that meeting was the most boring thing I’ve ever had to sit through. If you wanna take your mind off it, this is how you’re gonna do it. All those old geezers would probably croak if they ever saw me flying around, let alone getting on the broom themselves.”

The Mayor still looks incredibly reluctant, but with Catti being insistent and with a long walk ahead of them if she refuses, she eventually steps forward, looking down on the broomstick and sweeping a leg beneath it to see if it will fall. She eventually settles her weight onto it and it’s only when she realizes she isn’t causing it to sink lower to the ground that she gets settled.

“Do I hold onto anything?” She asks, trying to look stoic but failing to hide how anxious she was.

“The broomstick.” Catti shrugs. “I have full control over this thing. As long as you can sit up straight, you shouldn’t fall off.” The Mayor tries to relax as Catti kicks off the ground, moving the broom forward slowly as it hovered just over the road. The Mayor relaxed quite a bit as they drifted at a snail's pace, but it would take them all day at this rate. Pushing her luck, Catti starts to pick up speed. The Mayor doesn’t look too pleased as they start to speed down the road, but it’s about just as fast as a bike would be if she was pedaling as fast as she could.

The moment Catti tried to get some altitude, The Mayor took notice immediately. “If you take me above the trees, I’m docking your pay.”

“Alright, geez.” Catti lowers herself back down. “Just trying to have some fun. Lighten up.”

“I have lightened up.” She argues. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to let a child half my age drag me a hundred feet into the air.”

“But you’ll let me displace you from reality using arcane magic that would shatter your world view if you ever figured out how it worked?” Catti challenges. The Mayor does not offer her a retort and instead just glares at her while holding on tightly to the broomstick. “Can I at least go a little faster?” Catti asks. “We’ll stay at this altitude, I promise.”

“I’ll allow it.” The Mayor concedes, and Catti picks up her speed a little more, speeding down the long lonely road between the fair and the rest of town. The icy glare the Mayor shoots at her still gives Catti the chills, but ironically enough, she thinks she's starting to warm up to her. Basically everyone in town was at least a little intimidated by Mrs. Holiday, but it was actually kinda fun to see what all went down while she worked and even more fun to see her stoic and aloof attitude crack as she witnessed her magical abilities.

Maybe this arrangement won’t be as boring as she thought.

“Are you gonna be alright in there?”

“Don’t see why not.” You say, trying to get yourself ready for the long night ahead of you as you call your friends and let them know what’s going on. “Admittedly, I have really bad luck and I’m always caught by surprise with something whenever I show up, but things should be smooth sailing from here on out.”

“Well don’t go and jinx yourself now.” Zach warns you, and almost immediately, you feel like punching yourself. Kris warned you all the damn time to not say stupid stuff like that or else you’d be tempting fate, and with how often things have taken sudden turns for the worst, you’d probably do yourself a favor if you just stopped talking all together.

“Maybe I just jinxed myself out here?” You say in the vain hope that you don’t carry it over.

“You’re gonna have a crick in your neck when you wake up.” Lizzy deduces, already predicting how things will go wrong for you. “I’m sure you can handle whatever happens once you’re in if you did jinx yourself though. You haven’t told us everything, but it sounds like you’re no stranger to crazy stuff going down.”

“I’ll roll with the punches.” You nod in agreement. Even if the world starts ending again, you’ll find a way to fix it. Besides, you have a couple extra people watching your back who can help you out if things go south.

“How long will you be out?” Miles quietly speaks up after remaining silent in the call for the most part.

“I dunno, eight hours if I can help it.” You answer. “I accidentally slept in pretty late last time, but I also don’t know the exact time I ended up going under. I plan on going in really soon, so even if I do sleep in, I shouldn’t be sleeping past noon.”

“Well I hope so, I wanted to head back to the mall tomorrow.” Zach says. “Have you even tried all the stuff we got yesterday for you yet?”

“Yeah…” You look back beside your bed where tossed aside bags and ripped off price tags litter the floor. Your new clothes were all folded away as you prepared to go under, but the moment you got home with your new stuff, you must have spent hours just going through the various blouses, shirts, leggings, skirts, and makeup products Lizzy helped you pick out. She admitted that she wasn’t the best at picking stuff like that out either as she typically lounged around in her room in baggy sweatpants and oversized shirts while she worked on commissions, but you loved everything she picked for you. It made you feel so much better about how you looked out here. There was still a lot you wanted changed, but when you saw yourself in the mirror wearing your new clothes, trying to follow the instructions Lizzy was giving you for how to paint your nails, you felt none of the disappointment you usually felt whenever you saw your reflection these days.

You actually thought you looked pretty.

“Will we get to see what it looks like on you when we pick you up tomorrow?” Lizzy asks.

“I don’t… know.” You admit. The only other person who’s ever seen you dressed up was Ralsei, but even then, it felt overwhelming. You were fully clothed and not showing anything off, but it felt weirdly revealing to be seen wearing girl clothes. It isn’t something you normally wear, and some part of your brain is convincing you that being seen in something different feels wrong. You didn’t think any of your friends would hate it, but you felt anxious anyways. You felt anxious about coming out and telling everyone about the Void too, and you managed to overcome those obstacles. This was just another weird mental block you had to overcome. “I’ll probably feel more comfortable about it by the time I wake up tomorrow.” You tell everyone. Ralsei bought you that dress, and you intended to wear it again some time during your stay.

“Don’t sweat it ma- girl- Don’t sweat it, Vess.” Zach tells you, catching himself, failing to course correct, and eventually starting over. You chuckle a little in response. He’s called you his main man for years, it’s a habit that will probably take a while to shake. “I’m really bad at this.” He sighs.

“You’ll get used to it.” You assure him. “I’m still getting used to things myself, don’t worry about it. I need to call up the others before I jump in though, so I’m hopping off the call now.”

“Good luck and sleep well!” Lizzy tells you, and before you can move to hang up the call, Miles speaks up again.

“Can’t wait to hear how your trip was when you get back.” He mumbles out.

“I’ll tell you all about it.” You promise before hanging up. With all of them informed, you move over to the dev group chat, typing up a message for Toby and Temmie. “I’m going to be heading in now.” You tell them. “Are we still sticking with the plan we set up?”

It doesn’t take long before Toby replies. “We’ll be going in ourselves not long from now. You should have plenty of time to get settled before we come to see you.”

With everyone spoken to and your evening cleared up, there was only one thing left to do. You’ve been eagerly waiting for this day, forcing yourself to wait out the week to make sure you didn’t postpone the important things you needed to do on this end. There was nothing left you needed to do right now though, and with Temmie and Toby preparing to meet you on the other side a few days after you jump in, there was no reason to wait anymore.

You lean back in your chair, swiping a pillow and your sheets from your bed and trying your best to get comfortable as you lean back. Unless you wanted to create a program to launch Deltarune for you while you were in bed, this was the only way you were going to be comfortable doing this. You get as snug as you possibly can in your chair, and once you’re ready, you reach an arm out for your mouse and launch the game.

Going under almost immediately, your mind clouds as you make the transfer over to your vessel. It’s as easy and sudden as your short trip to set up the call with your friends, and after a few moments of dizziness and confusion, you find yourself tucked into bed.

Slowly forcing yourself up, you try to stretch out and get your bearings. You had an eventual meeting you had to prepare for, but Toby was giving you a couple days to get settled before he came looking for you and you all started going in deep on Void research. You didn’t have to come out to anyone, you didn’t have anything serious planned that needed work done right now, you were completely free for at least a couple days.

You knew exactly how you wanted to spend your free time.

After dressing yourself in your armor again, you step outside of your room. You aren’t sure what time it is now that you’re here, but the castle isn’t as quiet as it was the last time you showed up. Not only that, but you didn’t smell anything coming from the cauldron downstairs. Venturing down to the main hall, you’re disappointed to find that Ralsei wasn’t there, but you catch someone else by surprise instead.

“Vess?!” Kris was waiting near the front gates and was now looking at you in wide eyed shock. “Shit, is it the weekend already, or are you here on another errand run?”

“I got stuff planned for later in the week, but I’m sticking around.” You tell them. “I’ve actually got a lot of really interesting stuff to talk about. I came out to all my other friends, I learned a little more about what’s going on with the other worlds. What are you doing here, by the way? Where are the others?”

“Susie’s at Berdly’s place trying to practice.” Kris says, earning a raised eyebrow out of you. “She wants to set up more stuff for all of us and Berdly won’t stop suggesting a gaming competition. I’m sitting here waiting for Ralsei to get ready for some kind of special meeting he has planned for today. He says it shouldn’t be as boring as his other jobs and I got nothing better to do today. We’re also waiting on Catti and the Mayor too.”

“What’s going on?” You ask, joining them by the door.

“Well one, Catti’s apparently been dragged into doing government work too.” Kris tells you. She’s the only one who can use shortcuts to leave, so Mrs. Holiday has her going back and forth to help her and Ralsei with stuff. People outside the barrier have found out about it and they’re going to be sending someone in to take a look around for the day before Catti sends them back. Once again, you picked the perfect time to show up. This random guy they’re sending over to see the town will get to meet the Angel herself. You should probably get yourself cleaned up a little, your hair is all over the place. The static from the call we had a few days ago messed it up and sleeping on it hasn’t helped you.”

“Do you have a brush?” You start running your fingers through your hair, happy to have it so long again, but you wince in pain as your fingers snag on twisted hairs as you try to comb through it. Kris does what they can to help out while you wait for the others to arrive, but you’ll definitely need to tie it back or braid it again to make it manageable. Before Ralsei has a chance to make it down to greet you, the front gates open and the two other women you were waiting on arrive first.

“Oh!” Catti’s a little startled to see you again. “You’re up. I think the last time I saw you, you got lost in the Void and went crazy talking about how you met God. Kris said you’ve been unconscious for the past week. You all better now?”

“Better than ever once I’m finished waking up.” You nod.

“Will you both be joining us at the border?” Mrs. Holiday asks you and Kris. She seems intrigued by you, likely due to the stuff Catti just said, but you nod your head.

“Ralsei’s gonna be there, isn’t he?”

“Kris?!” The moment you bring him up, you hear your Prince calling down the stairs. “Vess’ door is open and I didn’t see her in her bed. Do you know where-” Hurrying down the stairs in a bit of a panic, he comes to a full stop once his eyes lock on you. “Oh!”

“Good m… Is it still morning?” You turn to Kris and they give you a nod. “Good morning! Sorry for leaving so soon a few days ago, but I’m here to stay this time.” As you say this, Ralsei is already running to close the distance between you. You brace yourself and throw your arms wide, catching him as he leaps into your embrace.

“You don’t have anything to take time away from us?” He asks, hugging you tight.

“I’ll have to talk with the devs again this week, but that shouldn’t take long.” You assure him. “It seems like you’re the busy one today though.” That causes Ralsei to pull away from you as he remembers you two aren’t the only ones in the room.

“Oh, right!” He says with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry if I’m running a little late.”

“We still have plenty of time.” Mrs. Holiday tells him with a bemused hum. “Besides, we can arrive at the border within seconds, we’re in no rush.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing?” Kris asks Catti. “Are you just the Mayor’s taxi now?”

“I also get to freak out a bunch of old politicians and influence their decision making.” Catti says. “...By being a glorified taxi, yes. Pay’s pretty good though, I’m also getting so good at the shortcuts that I sometimes take them by accident.”

“How the hell do you take a shortcut by accident?!” Kris asks.

“I dunno, I managed to do it.” You shrug. “I think. I’m still not sure if I actually took a shortcut or if maybe I came back here through other means. I guess I’ll figure it out whenever Toby comes around to check on me.”

“Well cool, that’ll be an extra person to bother so I don’t have to do everything myself.” Catti says with a smirk before turning her attention to Kris. “Hey, do you wanna see what it looks like outside the Barrier?”

“Is this so I can know how to get out too so you can shove this on me?” They ask. “Teach Susie how to do it, she’s always looking to help out with stuff like that and she’s been bugging me constantly about wanting to learn.”

“I’d also really like to learn!” Ralsei speaks up. “It just seems so convenient to be able to go wherever you want.”

“All of you can do this?” Mrs. Holiday asks with some surprise. “Catti told me this was supposed to be something normal people couldn’t do.”

“None of us are normal.” Kris is quick to reply. “We could spend all day trying to explain everything to you, and trust me, your entire worldview will go right down the shitter if you try to comprehend everything.”

“You kids seem fine.” Mrs. Holiday says, glancing over everyone, lingering on Ralsei who out of all of you still remains an unwavering beacon of positivity.

“It’s a lot.” He insists with a sigh. “It took me a while to get used to it, and while I’m sure we’d be able to get much more done if you could take shortcuts too, there’s a lot of scary stuff you need to take in before you can even start learning.”

“I’m no stranger to scary stuff,” Mrs. Holiday argues, “But if you’re all willing to assist me, I suppose I’ll take your word for it and leave this stuff alone. Now, if we’re all ready, shall we get to the fair?”

“Yeah, gather up everyone.” Catti orders, reaching for Mrs. Holiday’s and Kris’ hands. You all circle together, hand in hand, and the moment you’re all together, the interior of the castle vanishes and you all find yourself out in the cold. Looking around, you find the ferris wheel not too far off from where you were standing.

“Gosh, that’s so cool!” Ralsei says as everyone breaks away, though he still holds onto your hand.

“I still get a little creeped out doing it, but having Catti here makes it a bit easier.” Kris says. “The more of you who can do it, the better.”

“Now, we have a bit of time before our contact is supposed to arrive.” Mrs. Holiday states, looking towards the Barrier. “We’ll want to meet them on their end first before letting them inside, but I know that Ralsei is unable to leave. Will any of you be joining me outside?”

“I’ll stay here with Ralsei.” You say, already conscious of Ralsei’s worries about being left behind. “Are you heading over, Kris?”

“While I’d rather not leave the magical fantasy land and be forced to take part in jumps in and out of the Barrier, I am a little curious to see what it looks like out there. I haven’t seen the real world in over a year at this point.” After a moment, Kris flashes a wicked grin and you brace yourself as it’s clear they’re about to say something dumb. “Besides, you two haven’t had a chance to really be together for a week. I’d rather be out of earshot if you two decide to start making out the moment everyone else leaves.”

“Alright, come on.” Catti reaches out for Kris’ hand. “I’m not sitting through this.” In the blink of an eye, Catti, Kris, and Mrs. Holiday all vanish, leaving you alone at the edge of the fair with Ralsei. Despite their teasing, the moment Kris and everyone else was gone, Ralsei leans over and gives you a kiss on your cheek before resting his head against your shoulder.

“You would not believe how long the past three days have been waiting for you to come back.” He hums.

“I had to force myself to stay away long enough to actually get work done on my end.” You admit, leaning over yourself and feeling Ralsei’s soft fur on your cheek. “I got a lot done too. I came out to my friends and family the day I got back and while the whole process was nerve wracking, It feels so good to have people call me Vess in both worlds now.”

“Did your friends like us?” Ralsei asks. “We didn’t get much time to talk, but they seemed nice.”

“They were mostly freaked out over the fact they were talking to you at all, but once they got over that and I talked a little more about you guys, they wanted to meet with you all again.” You tell him. “Zach isn’t that much of a gamer, but I already talked about you guys plenty when I first started playing this ’game’. Everyone else already had at least some knowledge of who you guys were thanks to that too.”

“Will we ever get to meet your friends in person?” Ralsei asks.

“I think that’s a long way off if it happens at all.” You tell him. “It’s something I’m gonna talk about with Toby and Temmie, but from what little they’ve told me already, they wanna figure out what I’ve done to the Void as a whole before they start trying to find ways to let other people in.”

Ralsei lets out a disappointed hum after hearing that, but after a moment, he gets a weird look on his face, one you’ve only ever seen on Kris’ face before. “Do any of them know about us?” He asks with a shy smile. From the blush forming on his cheeks alone, you could tell what he was implying.

“I haven’t told them that much yet.” You shake your head. “I guess I’ll have to bring it up eventually though. That’s… Hmm…”

“Are you worried that they’ll think it’s weird because I’m not-”

“No.” You quickly shake your head before Ralsei can finish that thought. “You’re real. If they ever get a chance to see you in person, they’d totally get it. I’m just wondering if Zach would call me a furry or not for liking you.”

“But…” Ralsei seems confused by your words. “You’re not furry though, I am.”

“That’s…” Your words fizzle out into laughter once what he said finally hits you. “That’s not what I meant, but it’s nothing to worry about. He can make fun of me all he wants, I have the fluffiest guy on the planet as my boyfriend.” You turn to hug your Prince tight, giving him a quick kiss and running your thumbs across his cheeks as you hold him in place. God, you missed him, and feeling his smile on your lips, you know he’s just as excited to have you back as you are to be with him.

Eventually, he pulls away and casts a glance at the Barrier. “I suppose we should probably prepare to meet this expert that’s going to be coming through instead of kissing.” He says bashfully. “No doubt Kris would probably make some joke at our expense for doing exactly what they said we would do once no one was looking.”

“You call that making out?” You chuckle.

“My point is we should probably try to act professionally while on government business.” Ralsei says. “Speaking of, we really do need to brush that hair of yours.”

“Kris said the same thing.” You say, reaching up to comb your fingers through it again. “You wouldn’t happen to have a brush on you, would you?”

“I do, actually!” He announces, reaching into his sleeve and producing a hair brush. “I’ve been holding onto this since you left and everyone said you’d need to redo your hair when you woke up. You didn’t stick around long enough last time for me to bring it up, but we should have plenty of time to get your hair done before everyone else comes back.”

You’re the luckiest girl in the world, you swear.

Finding a place to sit down and wait for the others to arrive, Ralsei helped brush your hair straight before trying to tie it all in a braid again. He didn’t get that much practice since you left, but he came prepared. During your little accessorizing spree after he got you your dress, one of the things he had you try was a crinkly white hair ribbon, the very first piece of armor you ever found while exploring the Dark Worlds with Ralsei all that time ago. Tying it around the base of your braid, your long hair is neatly tied into a braided ponytail. You don’t have a mirror on you, but Ralsei’s word was enough to know you looked pretty with it on.

“Are you two still making out back here, or am I safe to check in on you two?” You and Ralsei snap back to attention as Kris suddenly calls out. Was everyone back already?

“We’re over here!” Ralsei calls to them, and after a couple seconds, Kris finds you. “And no, we were not making out.”

“Sure you weren’t.” Kris says with a cruel smirk.

“Where are the others?” You ask.

“Talking to the agent.” Kris says. “I just wanted to get back in here to calm down a little. Standing right next to a giant pitch black wall of darkness strangely enough doesn’t help my anxiety.”

“Oh no!” Ralsei immediately moves to comfort them. “Do you need-”

“It’s fine.” Kris assures him. “Seriously. Catti had to help me actually step through the Barrier, but I just need a minute or two and I’ll be alright.”

“You’re safe and sound right here.” Ralsei says, giving them a hug to better ground them despite their assurance that they were fine. Kris looked pretty tense, but all of that tension bled out of them once Ralsei hugged them. Ralsei said on your last visit that Kris was opening up a little more about their trauma, and it already looks like that decision was making things a million times easier on them.

“I guess I’m also just a little bit worried about the agent that’ll be coming in soon, but for a really stupid reason.” Kris admits, still making the effort to voice all their concerns. “I’m mostly excited though. It’s another human!”

“Why would…” You start to speak, but you answer your own question in your head before you get it out. “I guess the two other humans you’ve met so far are me and Chara, so…”

“Yeah.” Kris nods. “It’s stupid, I seriously doubt they’re going to cause any serious problems, but who knows. Maybe humans are just trouble magnets.”

“I’m sure it will be fine.” Ralsei assures Kris once more, squeezing them a little tighter in his embrace. “Do you feel better now?”

“Much better.” Kris nods, reaching up to ruffle his hair. Ralsei eventually pulls away, giving them space to breathe. “But yeah, the expert they sent over is another human. They don’t look nearly as old and bitter as the other guys in suits that were waiting by the visitation center they have outside. They should be passing through in only a few minutes.”

“Well it will be interesting to see how they react to this place.” You say. “They’re some government official, right? They’ll probably lose their shit when they see the castles and magic powers.”

“Oh I’m so excited to show them around!” Ralsei says. “This is technically work, but this is going to be way more fun than signing a bunch of papers all day.”

Returning to the edge of the Barrier, you all wait for the rest of your friends to pass through. You were just as excited as Ralsei was for this because while this was work, this was also a perfect excuse to explore town further. There was still a lot of this place you haven’t seen yet.

Stepping through the darkness of the Barrier, Catti returns to the Dark World, readjusting her hat before making way for the others. Mrs. Holiday steps through next, shuddering a little after the cross, and shortly after she’s settled, someone new steps through the Barrier.

The Dark World takes some time to affect them since it’s their first time stepping in. You watch as their gray suit and red tie shift around their body, morphing into thick robes colored a light blue, similar to Kris’ skin color but with splashes of pink thrown in as well. Speaking of, you watch as the human's tan skin tone changes hue, becoming a bright yellow. Once the transformation is finished, they stare down at themself in awe, taking in their new appearance.

You…

You know this person!

“What just happened?!” They ask with some shock.

“The Dark World changes everyone who’s affected by its magic.” Catti explains at their side. “I don’t know if there’s any meaning behind it, but Ralsei probably does.” At the mention of his name, Ralsei steps forward to greet the visitor, dragging you with him. You’re too shocked to pull back.

“Hello!” He immediately greets the new guest of the Dark World, letting you go to reach that hand out for them to shake. “It’s exciting to meet someone new and introduce how things work around here. My name is Ralsei! If you have any questions, you can speak to me!”

“Hello Ralsei.” The human agent nods, still baffled by what’s going on but reaching for Ralsei’s hand regardless. “Is… Is that Kris? I barely recognize them anymore.”

“Don’t ask why we changed color so drastically.” They say with a shrug. “There was one other human who came through a long time ago who turned red for whatever reason. You’re yellow now, so maybe it’s just a human thing for us to completely change color. Vess doesn’t though, she’s gray in and out of the Barrier.”

“Is that who this is?” They ask, turning to face you and holding their hand out once they finish shaking Ralsei’s. “Hello, my name is-”

“Frisk…” You mumble out in shock. Everyone around you stares at you in confusion.

“Yes?” They nod. “Have you heard of me? A lot of my work is recorded in academic papers, but I wouldn’t think you’d recognize me from looks alone.” Frisk reaches for your hand and shakes it. You try to follow through with the motion, but you’re left horribly confused. Everyone is looking at you funny, wondering how you knew their name, everyone except Kris.

“So Ralsei,” They say as they start to march towards you, “Why don’t you give Frisk a rundown on how stuff works here, I gotta talk with Vess for a second.”

“Uh, alright.” Ralsei nods along. “Oh, I think I have some note cards stashed away somewhere to make sure I don’t miss anything, one second.” As Ralsei pulls his scarf forward to reach into his tunic, Kris takes your hand and starts dragging you away from the group. You’re left so rattled by seeing another familiar face that you don’t even question why Kris is dragging you away until you’re out of earshot from everyone else.

“Vess.” They slap you slightly to force your attention on them. “Is this the same Frisk you told me about? The one from the last world?”

“Ye…” You try to speak up, but after getting a little bit of sense slapped into you, you’re able to reel your thoughts in enough to come up with a better answer. “No.” You say. “Different instances of the same person, just like how there were two Chara’s.”

“But this is the same Frisk you talked about right?” Kris asks again. “The person you ’played as’ in the other world?”

“I think so.” You nod.

“Is there any possibility that they’ll turn into a psycho murderer if given the chance?” Kris asks, their earlier worries now amplified by your familiarity with the new human in Hometown.

“No.” You tell them, though in reality, you aren’t sure. Frisk was what, ten when you played through Undertale? You didn’t really get a good idea of what their personality is like because unlike Kris, they never acted out against your control. Chara had a defined personality and a tragic backstory to fuel their destructive ways, but what reason would Frisk have to go on a rampage? Considering what field of work they’re in, you think it’s pretty safe to assume they mean no harm.

“Alright…” Kris takes a deep breath to ground themself. “Try not to be too weird around them then.” They order. “They probably won’t cause problems, but if you start blabbering about how you possessed them in an alternate dimension, things will get weirder than they need to be.”

With that little aside finished, you and Kris return to the others as Ralsei gives Frisk a brief explanation of how the Barrier was formed and what’s all changed inside of it. “...ier around the entirety of town and the Dark Worlds merged with it. A lot of work has been done to rebuild infrastructure and regain access to other necessary utilities. Carol and I have been talking to the board to discuss finding more permanent solutions for different supply and resource problems in town. Carol says you’re here to help us with that?”

“That’s right.” Frisk nods. “I’m not as experienced as other civil servants and humanitarian experts, but there weren’t that many people who were willing to risk everything to step inside the Barrier. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for an excuse, and the moment word got out that there was a way out of the Barrier, I was the first person they phoned. How did you manage to escape by the way?”

“Void magic.” Catti answers nonchalantly. “Had this talk with Mrs. Holiday earlier. Don’t bother asking exactly how it works, the arcane knowledge required to do it would melt a normal person’s mind. Kris can do it too, but it causes problems for them and Vess…” Catti notices you’ve rejoined the group. “Vess is weird. She hasn't tried again since, but she managed to take a shortcut without the Dark World’s magic. Kris also said they talked to God a week ago? She’s weird.”

“Sorry for acting out earlier.” You apologize now that you’re back in the group. “Most of my friends have gotten over my quirks.”

“It’s no problem.” Frisk assures you. “I’ve met all sorts of people in my line of work, an awkward first greeting isn’t anything to get worked up over. Besides, we can always try again. I’m Frisk. It’s good to meet you, Vess.” Holding out their hand again, you reach out and shake it properly this time. The beaming smile they give you washes away every thought that they could be as dangerous as the alternate Chara was. They radiated the same optimism and positivity that Ralsei did.

“Now that introductions are out of the way,” Mrs. Holiday speaks up, glancing down at her watch, “What is our first course of action? I have a meeting scheduled at six today, you’ll likely need to have a decent report built up before you join me for that.”

“Yes, of course.” Frisk clears their throat, standing up straight and taking a look around the place. “I suppose we should make our way to the town. Do you have a ride waiting for us?”

“Nope. Give me your hand.” Catti orders, already reaching out for Mrs. Holiday’s. “Now that we’re all inside the Barrier, I’m gonna show you the trick I used to get out. If you thought the wardrobe change just for stepping inside is cool, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

Despite being on government business, the next few hours are surprisingly fun.

You and Kris were more than a little anxious with Frisk suddenly entering into your lives, but almost all of that worry was gone now. It was strange that all of these familiar faces kept finding their way into town, but you suppose it makes sense. Undertale and Deltarune run parallel with each other, there was an Undyne and Alphys, Asogore and Toriel, and a Frisk and Chara. If you’re responsible for making this world and the people in it like Toby says, you probably subconsciously included everyone in here since so many old characters were already present in this game.

Thankfully, the Frisk of this world seems to be as altruistic and kind as the pacifist you played as in Undertale during your first playthrough. Ralsei immediately became close friends with them and all of Kris’ anxieties melted away too. They were here on government business and were trying to get things done in a timely manner to assist the people trapped in town, but they were just as eager to get to know all the people who called this place home and hear their stories.

Frisk themself shared some stories of their own as they explored the town with everyone, stopping occasionally to ask important questions about housing and how everyone gets their necessities. From an early age, Frisk has always been a kind soul, barely having any enemies in school and killing what few troublemakers who did bother them with kindness. Everyone had their issues, they were well aware of that as they grew up in a poorer neighborhood, and they couldn’t hold a grudge or blame people for being frustrated and lashing out due to circumstances out of their control. They wanted to come to an understanding, to make things better for everyone, and that eventually led them into civil service work. Since then, they’ve dealt with small social issues surrounding domestic disputes all the way up to disaster relief efforts after storms and wildfires.

“Is this what the robes are supposed to be for?” They ask. “Does the Dark World think I’m a saint? Does the Dark World know enough about me to do that?”

“I think those look closer to monk robes.” Ralsei deduces. “Would you consider yourself a pacifist?”

“I’ve never thrown a punch in my life.” Frisk nods. “I’ve taken a few punches in the past, but I never let that cloud my judgment or deter me from working towards a peaceful resolution.”

“I’d like to think I’m the same, but…” Ralsei lets out a dejected sigh. “I’ve been unfortunate enough to meet some people who refused to listen to reason and were dead set on their violent ways. I’ve since settled some differences with a couple bad eggs, but there’s still one I never got through to and wouldn’t bother trying to if they ever came back.”

“Is that a problem around these parts?” Frisk asks, glancing around at the kingdoms surrounding them.

“Things have settled down a lot now that things are established again.” Kris speaks up. “I got caught up in a lot of trouble in the first few weeks when everything was busted up and everyone was still freaked out, but all the creeps who caused those problems are gone now.”

Work continues after that as you all venture out from Castle Town and begin exploring the other neighboring kingdoms. Your friends show them cyber city, where a lot of the technological advances in town originate from. You show them Fort Holiday which once was the hospital, though medical facilities aren’t needed for much other than extreme operations and specialized medicines thanks to the introduction of healing magic.

That reminds you, you should probably try to sit down and learn some magic yourself. You don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to learn. You’re a little different from everyone else, but the Dark World affects you just as much as them. That could be a fun evening with Ralsei, sitting around and trying to learn magic with him.

“What’s this place?” Frisk asks, drawing you back to the present to find them staring at Sans’ shop. “Did this shop not get affected by the Dark World?”

“Oh, uh…” Kris and Ralsei both suddenly become anxious before turning to you.

“Do you think he’d be freaked out to see Frisk?” Ralsei asks. “Either way, we should probably introduce them, he’d want to know.”

“Is there a problem?” Frisk asks. “Does the store owner not like humans?”

“No, it’s…” You shake your head. “It’s way more complicated than that. You know how I already knew your name? I can’t really go into details, but I’m sort of familiar with you and he is too. He might be a bit freaked out, but once he gets to know you a bit, he’ll probably warm up to you.”

“You know, I’m going to want to hear more about your story eventually.” Frisk says with a smile. “I’ve met a lot of strange people, but from what your friends have already said, you’re quickly becoming the strangest.”

“Oh trust me, she’ll fly over that bar in an instant and no one will ever come close to how much of a fucking weirdo she is.” Kris says. “Ralsei, don’t look at me like that, you can’t deny it just because she’s your girlfriend.”

“Speaking of, I’m gonna have to ask more questions myself eventually.” Catti says. “I especially want to know more about this meeting with Toby you had. Kris only gave me a quick rundown and I can’t tell how much of that was them screwing with me and what was actually real. Like, are there really two Temmies now, or was Kris just messing with me?”

“No, there’s two Temmies.” You nod. “I plan on talking to them both again later this week, maybe you can come along.”

“Well, the sooner I get my work done, the sooner I can sit down and hear what you’ve been up to.” Frisk says. Moving towards the small convenience store, the rest of your gang follows after them. You’re always anxious whenever you come around to visit Sans, but you hope that things go over relatively smoothly this time. He’s probably not going to be pleased to see yet another familiar face.

Opening the door, a bell rings overhead, signaling your arrival. “One minute.” Sans calls out from the back as your group spreads out inside the store. Sans eventually comes out from the back and mans the counter. “Just finishing some stocking in the back, what can I…” His eyes first linger on you, his mood souring immediately, but a shocked gasp draws his attention to the new human who just entered his store. You see the recognition in his eyes, but looking over at Frisk, you’re shocked to find that they seem to recognize him as well. “Do I-”

“Sans?!” Frisk blurts out in shock.

Chapter Text

Ralsei is left stunned by the sudden silence that fills the store. Vess did something similar only a few hours ago, she seemed to already know who Frisk was. Somehow, despite this being their first time in town, Frisk already knew Sans, who Ralsei knows comes from another universe. Glancing at Kris and Vess, both of them looked like they were thinking the same thing he was.

Was this Frisk another interdimensional traveler?

“What are you doing here?!” Frisk demands, sounding more confused than shocked. “When did you get here?!”

“I uh… live here?” Sans says, looking extremely uncomfortable himself. “Do I know you? I mean, I think I do, but-”

“You should know me.” Frisk insists. “We’ve known each other for years.”

“Years?” Vess speaks up, sounding skeptical of that answer. Frisk stares at her in confusion, not having any clue why she should know. Maybe they got this wrong, but then how do they know Sans?

“Who am I to you?” Sans asks, clearly thinking the same thing.

“My brother in law?” Frisk says, not sounding sure of themself anymore. Their answer seems to kill the belief that this Frisk was one Vess and Sans already knew, but it also raises more questions. “What’s going on?” They ask. “Is this a Dark World thing? Are you not actually Sans?”

“Well shit, Vess, I guess you’re gonna have to explain this after all.” Kris says.

“I’m a bit lost here as well.” Carol says, intrigued by what’s going on but not following along at all. “The most I’ve heard is that you aren’t exactly from around here, but why is Frisk familiar with you?”

“Oh shit,” Catti speaks up, “Is this the same thing that led to two Chara’s running around?”

“Alright, calm down.” Sans says, trying to keep everyone quiet. “I’ve experienced this same exact feeling like a dozen times living here. I’m technically the same Sans you know, but I come from an alternate dimension.”

“That…” Frisk stares at him in disbelief. “Is this another one of your pranks?”

“Buddy, this entire neighborhood basically exploded half a year ago and it’s now trapped inside an inescapable bubble of pure darkness.” Sans points out. “Is it really hard to believe that I come from an alternate dimension? When’s the last time you saw ’me’?”

“You were at the Christmas party I went to a few months back.” Frisk says.

“Nope.” Sans shakes his head. “I’ve been right here. Before Christmas though, I was way out of the way, but these kids here dragged me back to take care of some pretty big problems hurting the town.”

“It’s true.” Catti nods behind Frisk. “His house just kinda showed up one day along with this store.”

“Huh…” Frisk seems kinda lost for a while, scratching their head. “What was I like in this parallel universe?” They ask, still sounding skeptical.

“Eh, I’d rather not get into that.” Sans is quick to dismiss the question. “I guess I’m more interested in what you called me. You said I’m your brother in law?” Vess lets out a gasp at that. Ralsei tries to wrack his brain, thinking back on all the stories she shared with him, but Frisk lays it out plainly for everyone themself.

“Yes. Your brother Papyrus is my husband.”

“Oh…” Kris lets out a pained hiss, and looking at Vess, she looks incredibly anxious to hear that name. Returning his focus to Sans, Ralsei finds that he looks… conflicted. It’s as if he’s unsure if he should feel happy, sad, or furious. Vess did bad things in the past, everyone close to her knew that, and while Sans hasn’t and likely never will forgive her for the things she’s done, it had to be equal parts comforting and heartbreaking to know that somewhere out there is another copy of his brother who’s married to someone as delightful as Frisk.

“Is something wrong?” Frisk asks, taking notice of his somber mood shift almost immediately.

“I’m still trying to decide on that.” Sans mumbles out. He rests his chin on his hand as he stares off into a corner, his expression looking lost as he simmers in his thoughts. Ralsei doesn’t want to pry, but he doesn’t like seeing anyone look this miserable. He takes a step closer and tries to get a good look at him, peering into his soul to feel out what’s got him so down.

He’s trying to decide if it would be a good idea to try and see this other Papyrus. Just trying to get a peek at what was weighing on his soul filled Ralsei with a sense of grief and loneliness he couldn’t seem to shake. He wanted to see Papyrus so bad, but would it be the same person? It’s not like he can just replace the other Sans and get his brother back, would a single visit just to see him be enough? He’s tried to accept that he’s been gone for a while now, was it worth opening up old wounds just to see him?

“Would you like me to tell him I saw you at work today?” Frisk offers, earning Sans’ attention. “The Sans I know gets up to all kinds of mischief himself, I’m sure the confusion would leave both of them arguing for a while trying to make sense of things.”

The offer earns a short chuckle out of Sans. “He’d probably be more surprised that I run a whole shop in here over the fact that I’m here at all.” Stepping back and looking away, Ralsei finds a smile on Sans’ face again. There’s still sadness in there, but he seems almost relieved to be able to talk about his brother in such a light hearted manner. “Are you gonna be sticking around long?”

“Unless other people become brave enough to step into the Barrier themselves, I’ll probably make a couple return trips inside on official business.” Frisk tells him. “And with how much is going on in town so far, I doubt that I could see everything in this place even after spending a week here. Speaking of, this has been a… strange interaction, but I should get back to work. I’ll let you get back to your break.”

“How’d you know I was on break?” Sans asks.

“You always are.” Frisk is quick to point out, earning another genuine smile out of Sans. Despite just meeting this version of Sans, the version they’re familiar with must be very similar. “It was nice to meet you again, Sans.” Frisk says with a warm smile.

“Same here.” Sans nods. “Paps sure knows how to pick ‘em.” Frisk turns to head out the store, but before anyone can leave, Sans says one more thing before getting up to disappear behind the counter again. “Take good care of him for me.”

“I’ve heard that plenty of times.” Frisk laughs. “Even an alternate version of you is still overprotective. Don’t worry, your little brother is in good hands.”

With their business finished, they leave the store and everyone else follows along. Ralsei lingers behind, letting everyone else out first as he focuses on Sans. Vess also lingers by his side, looking a little shaken by the whole meeting. Sans stares them down, but once again, he looked conflicted, like he didn’t know if he should be grateful to know his brother was still around in a way, or bitter that she reminded him of what he lost. With a tired sigh, he steps away from the counter, leaving Ralsei to follow everyone else out, bringing Vess with him.

“Today is just full of surprises…” Frisk says a little breathlessly once everyone’s outside. “So Vess,” They turn to address the Angel, startling her and earning her attention, “Does that mean you’re from another dimension too? Is there another Vess running around town?”

“Oh, uh, no.” She shakes her head. “Not… I’m a more complicated case. I’ve been to the world Sans comes from, but I don’t originate from that world either. It’s a lot to get into.”

“Like I said earlier. She’s beyond weird.” Kris tells Frisk. The conversation starts to drift back to work after that, but Vess still looks upset after the meeting. Ralsei already knows why and gives his princess’ hand a squeeze.

“You didn’t know.” He reminds her. “We can talk about it after work if you still feel guilty about what happened.” Vess nods along, picking up her pace to try and match the others, but as Frisk and Carol start talking more about the town, Kris falls back to join the couple.

“You doing alright back here?” They ask Vess. “I can only imagine that was a really awkward conversation to be a part of.”

“Yeah.” She nods. “I get it's not my fault, but still. I can’t help but feel at least a little responsible for all of this.”

“If it makes you feel better, as painful as this conversation was, I think Sans was relieved to know that his brother is safe and happy here.” Ralsei tells her, trying his best to cheer her up.

“I think we were better off letting him know than ignoring him completely.” Kris adds on. “Don’t beat yourself up too bad about it.”

“Thanks.” Vess nods with a soft smile. “I’ll try.”

“That’s good to hear, Princess.” Kris says with a smirk.

“Don’t call me that.” Vess blurts out, earning a chortle out of Kris as they run up to talk to Catti.

“I can still call you that, right?” Ralsei asks.

“Well of course you can.” Vess assures him leaning against him slightly. “You're my Prince, I’m your Princess. I’m just not a fan of Kris calling me that considering how they found out about that little pet name.”

“Yeah, that’s…” Ralsei feels a blush form on his cheeks. “That’s fair.”

“Speaking of, has Kris been giving you too much trouble while I’ve been gone?” Vess asks.

“I’ve been getting better at handling their crude jokes.” Ralsei nods. “They’re also claiming responsibility for my comebacks, saying that all the teasing was intentional to try and get me to stand up for myself. I know for a fact that isn’t true because they’re actually disappointed that they can’t fluster me by making dumb innuendos anymore. I think Susie’s keeping score for us too, tracking whenever one of us catches each other off guard.”

“Who’s winning?” Vess asks, her smile growing wider and her mood improving.

“I think Kris might still have a lead on me.” Ralsei sighs. “I don’t know if they’ve always told jokes this inappropriate or if it’s something they learned from Dess while they were lost.”

“They’re probably doing it more because you look cute when you’re flustered.” Vess points out, and Ralsei can’t help but blush. Kris had to dig deep to find something evocative enough to fluster him these days, but Vess didn’t even have to try or stoop to that level to make him a red faced mess.

“You go easy on me though.” Ralsei points out as much, only for him to become an even bigger mess when Vess asks.

”You want me to play rough from now on?”

“Th-that’s uh… That’s not…” Ralsei stutters, feeling his whole body flash with heat. Oh gosh, is this what she could do to him if she actually tried to mess with him?! That’s all that was, right? Is she just messing with him by making a crude joke with a double meaning?

“Ralsei!” Ralsei snaps to attention as Carol calls back to him from the front of the group. “We’re in need of your expertise here.”

“Oh, uh, one moment!” Ralsei sputters out a response, turning to address Vess before he goes. “I’m… not opposed to you saying things like that, but save it for later if you must.”

“Whatever you wish, my Prince.” She says with a smile and Ralsei has to drag his feet to give himself enough time to compose himself before returning to his work. As he tries to make it to the front of the group to talk with Carol, Kris speaks up as he walks past.

“What did she just tell you?” Kris asks with a grin. “What did she say to make you that red?”

“Something I’ll need to talk to her about in private.” Ralsei answers somewhat honestly. That honesty catches Kris a little off guard, and while he was embarrassed to share even that much, he mentally adds another tally for himself in this weird game he was playing with them for the quick comeback.

Once he gets back to work, he’s able to clear his mind and focus on the big picture. For the next several hours, he helps tour Frisk around the rest of the Dark World, showing off the old residential areas which were hit the hardest during and after the Roaring, the ruins of the old church and the memorial that was built in its place for everyone who was confirmed dead after the disaster, and with Kris’ help, they took a shortcut out to the titans footprint which had been completely cleared out and was now ready to be plowed once they get the tools and vehicles necessary to sew seeds.

By the time six o-clock rolled around, Ralsei felt confident that he had shown Frisk enough of the town and its people for them to get the support they needed in the meeting he was about to take part in.

Returning everyone back to the fair, Ralsei, Frisk, and Carol all entered the communications center and fired up their direct line of connection to the outside world to hold their online meeting while Catti, Kris, and Vess spent time wandering the fair waiting for their work to be done.

This meeting was a little different from the ones he was used to. In the past, Carol had to fight to be heard and to have her worries taken seriously, but having Frisk back up all her claims after they sent them here to investigate on their behalf made the whole process a million times easier on them. It was also fun to see their reactions to Frisk’s new appearance.

Once they got serious though, Frisk was able to lay out all the major issues the town faced that they observed from their short tour. Healing magic could get everyone out of a pinch, but the complete lack of more specialized care and proper facilities to give that care was a major concern that would need to be fixed. A less dire but still important problem was the lack of any schooling going on in town. It still wasn’t clear if a permanent solution to the Barrier could be found or made, but completely neglecting everyone’s education wouldn’t help any of them in their efforts to make escape or acceptance of the Barrier easy.

The board was still worried about costs and whether or not it was worth it to keep supplying the town when nothing came out in return, but Frisk was able to put things pretty plainly for them.

“It is your job to govern and care for your constituents. There are no immediate returns in this business unless you’re taking money under the table. This line of work is all about investments, and I promise you, this is something you want to support. There are amazing things in this town and amazing people who live in it. Not only would your support guarantee you keep your seats thanks to the very grateful citizens you helped keep safe, but the returns once we do figure out how to deal with this will be world changing.”

They were speaking the board's language, and after only a little bit of smooth talking, they were able to help Ralsei and Carol negotiate for a better supply deal. Their budget was still limited, they’ve already had a bunch of money thrown at them, but they were no longer being threatened with being cut off completely. The next care package wouldn’t have much in terms of food and other necessities, but it will contain the seeds and equipment they requested to help them solve that issue themselves. Once they were stable and could take care of themselves without too much outside input, they could focus entirely on finding a way to let people out of the Barrier to make this investment worth it.

It still frustrated Ralsei to no end that he had to essentially bribe these people into helping, but Frisk proved to be incredibly helpful in their negotiation efforts. Ralsei could tell that they didn’t really like it either, but despite lacking the magic and mystery of the Dark World, the Light World was far more complicated than he thought and simply doing the right thing didn’t always work. Having one of their own experts talk so highly of the town got the board intrigued however, and for now, they were in a far more helpful mood.

The meeting is adjourned, and after stepping back outside for fresh air and to reunite with the others, Frisk announces their departure.

“In my relatively short time working on the field, I’ve met a lot of amazing people and seen a lot of extraordinary places, but I’m genuinely afraid nothing will compare to this place or you guys.” They say with a mile wide smile. “This definitely won’t be the last time you see me.” They promise. “For the moment, I’m the only outside set of eyes they can convince to step in here and get back out. I’m not sure when I’ll be back, but hopefully when I do, I can stay a while longer.”

“Thank you so much for your help.” Carol tells them, letting her professionalism slip a little bit to be genuine with them. “I cannot even begin to explain how much harder this job has been on me since this incident and it’s so nice to have someone on the outside actually work with me for once.”

“And it’s always a pleasure to meet a new friendly face!” Ralsei says. “I do hope you’ll visit again soon. Unfortunately, Darkners like me can’t leave the Barrier at all and I’d hate for this to be the last time we see each other.”

“I’d hate for this to be the last time I see you too, Prince Ralsei.” Frisk nods, reaching a hand out to him. Ralsei takes their hand and shakes it, and despite their assurance that they’d be back, he can’t help but feel sad. He’s not sure if he’s ever going to get over this. There were so many amazing people in the world, but unless they were right here in town, he wouldn’t get to meet any of them.

He wanted to step outside just once, to feel unfiltered sunlight on his skin, to get a clear look at the Light World, but he couldn’t. He wanted to see what was so special about the “real world” that people wanted to leave the Barrier for it.

“Ready to head out?” Catti asks. “Just one more shortcut and you’re free.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Frisk nods. “Oh I’m going to love sharing what I saw here back home. Goodbye everyone.” Frisk waves as they reach their other hand out to Catti. “I hope to see you again soon!”

Both Frisk and Catti pop out of existence, appearing somewhere outside the Barrier. Catti passes back through less than a minute later, but once again, Ralsei feels a wave of sadness wash over him knowing that he might not get to see Frisk again. Maybe he should take up Susie’s offer to just hang out and vent about this kind of stuff. He’s sure Vess would hear him out, but she’s also sort of the biggest contributor to this fear of his. He spent so much time all alone, he just can’t stand to watch people leave after he gets to know them.

Work was over now and he was free for the night, maybe he’ll bring it up later tonight.

With one more shortcut back to Castle Town, Catti immediately ditches everyone once her work is over and she’s no longer obligated to stick around. Carol informs Ralsei of a few things he’ll have to do through the week, but until the next care package comes in, work is going to be slow, meaning he’ll have plenty of free time to spend with his Princess.

Ralsei takes the time to make everyone dinner, drawing Susie back to Castle Town to reveal that Vess was back and to share the adventure they had with Frisk. His worries had almost completely left him by the time everyone had finished and he started making his way up to his bedroom. It’s been so long since he shared the room again that he was actually startled to find Vess following after him and didn’t notice until he was at the door.

“You don’t plan on sleeping alone, do you?” Vess asks, and Ralsei’s heart stutters. The past week has felt extra lonely without someone to hold in bed anymore. Knowing that he would be cuddled and held tightly by his Princess let him know he’d sleep soundly tonight.

“Come on in.” Ralsei invites her in, shutting the door behind her. “Do you want to pick up where we left off in the book we were reading?” Ralsei offers. “We didn’t get the chance to read much during our last night together.”

“Maybe we’ll have time.” Vess says, reaching behind her back to try and unfasten her armor. “I was hoping we could try something else first.”

“O-oh?!” Ralsei balked, feeling flustered but stepping forward to help Vess remove her armor anyways. “What did you have in mind?”

“I really wanna try to learn magic.” She says.

“Oh!” Ralsei deflates a little bit as he realizes his mind was wandering, only to be filled with excitement again at the prospect of teaching someone else magic. “Yes, I’d love to teach you! It was a blast teaching Susie how to use healing magic and I know you’ll have just as much fun!”

Helping Vess out of their armor so she can get a bit more comfortable, Ralsei sits down on the ground and motions for her to do the same.

“Now, from my experience as a Darkner at least, everyone possesses some level of magical ability, but not everyone is proficient in it or knows how to properly manifest it.” Ralsei begins to explain. “Susie needed a lot of help to get started, especially since Lighteners aren’t born with the innate ability to use magic, but she caught on really quickly and with plenty of practice, she’s healing like a pro.”

“How’s it work then?” Vess asks, visibly excited. “Is there a special hand technique I need to learn? An incantation to memorize?”

“Nope, though there’s nothing stopping you from adding flashy moves to your cast.” Ralsei tells her. “In fact, it can sometimes help! Magic is all about willpower and desire, wishing for a change in the world around you and manifesting it through your own magical ability. That’s why healing magic comes so naturally to me, I hate to see people hurt and I want to make them feel better. That desire manifests as healing magic.”

“So what about more offensive magic?” Vess asks. “Is Toriel secretly a pyromaniac who wants to set things on fire?”

“A lot of magic abilities are subconsciously manifested to represent their users.” Ralsei explains. “Ms. Dreemurr has a fiery temper, as we saw when we first explored the studio. Her desire to protect her children and her fierce temperament combined and gave her the ability to cast fire from her hands to defend herself and her family. Even Susie’s Rude Buster was similar, but since she wasn’t very proficient in magic herself, she needed a little help from Kris to get it going.”

“It sounds like this should just come naturally to me, but I don’t think I’ve ever shown any magical ability.” Vess says, looking down at her hands. “Then again, it’s not like I’ve had many reasons to try and shoot fireballs at people or anything.”

“There’s no need to be ashamed of your lack of ability.” Ralsei assures. “Like I said, even Darkners who are born from magic don’t know how to master their abilities and need to practice. Now…” Cupping his hands in front of him, Ralsei generates healing magic in his palms, illuminating the room slightly with its green hue. “I've been using healing magic for years, allowing me to cast it whenever I want, but when I was first teaching Susie, she needed something to drive her, to fuel her desire to want to heal people. We got into a lot of trouble on our own in the cyber world, but that gave us plenty of opportunities to give her real injuries to try and heal. You probably won’t need as much of a push, but I think I know a way to help you along.”

As Vess continues to look down at her own hands, trying fruitlessly to make them glow with magic power like her Prince could, Ralsei stands up and walks over to his bookshelf, grabbing a book at random before returning to his Princess’ side.

“Healing comes second nature to me, and after all the fights we took part in during our adventures, Susie eventually grew powerful enough to manifest healing magic as well to make me feel better and heal the bruises I got.” Opening up his book, Ralsei takes a single page and presses his pointer finger along its edge. Straightening the page out, he quickly brings his finger along the edge, hissing in pain as the thin paper cuts into his skin.

“Woah! Hey!” Vess reacts immediately to him giving himself a papercut. “There’s no need to do that just to teach me!” She grabs his hand, holding it close to her as she tries to figure out how to fix it. She gently presses her thumb against it as the barest bit of red starts to come from the cut.

“There’s no need to worry.” Ralsei tries to assure her. “I’ve had worse, and us Darkners are a lot sturdier than we look.”

“So?!” Vess counters. “There’s still no need to do that just to get me to heal you.”

“But it’s already better.” Ralsei says back, trying to calm her down. That gives her pause, and when she looks down at his hand in her grip, she moves her thumb and finds that the little cut on his finger was suddenly gone.

“Did you do that, or…” Vess pulls her hand away to look down at it.

“I knew it wouldn’t hurt for very long.” Ralsei tells her. “It was only a tiny cut and I knew you’d want to make it better immediately. Maybe this was a bit extreme, but the most powerful spells only come out in tense situations like this. Susie would have eventually learned how to use healing magic on her own, but the fights we got into and the injuries we sustained fueled her desire and her abilities. That tension is what I was trying to build, and look how it turned out. You didn’t even realize you fixed it, it was all better in a second.”

“Well don’t do that again, please.” Vess begs. “I guess it’s nice to know that if something happens to you, I’ll be able to fix it, but there’s no need to start giving me practical examples to try and fix.”

“I won’t, I promise.” Ralsei nods. “This was just a small demonstration. Finding practical uses for magic is the best way to bring up your skill level though. We thankfully don’t get into any fights anymore, but unless people are getting hurt, it’s going to be a while before you can get good at healing magic.”

“There’s gotta be a better way than that.” Vess whines. “How did you manage to get so good at it before we even showed up?”

“The same way I just demonstrated.” Ralsei says. “Papercuts from all the books I read, splinters and sore thumbs from building up this castle, a couple burns while learning how to cook. I’ve been here for a long time and had plenty of practice. It doesn’t have to be a serious injury for healing magic to work. Light bumps, little scrapes, you could simply sleep funny and get sore and healing magic can help with that.”

“I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind the next time I come back here.” Vess says. “It feels like my bones are made out of creaky wood whenever I wake up here after being asleep for so long.”

“A perfect example!” Ralsei says. “Just give yourself a big hug and try to fix yourself up. Now that you know you can do it and how, it’s all about practice until you can start fully manifesting it like Susie and I can. Now that you’re familiar with how magic works and that you can cast it, if you’re ever put in a dangerous spot, just know that you have that latent ability within you, and when the tension of the moment gets too hard to handle, maybe you’ll find you’ll be able to cast something to ease that tension and give you some breathing room.”

“So does that mean our little magic training session is over then?” Vess asks. “It sounds like magic is something I can only do in response to certain situations right now. I don’t really see any of us getting hurt or getting into a high stress situation.”

“Well, you know what Kris says.” Ralsei shrugs. “You’re constantly getting yourself into trouble, but hopefully with what I helped teach you today, you’ll be able to get out of trouble a little more efficiently.” Vess nods along, looking down at her hands again in awe. Ralsei was actually really surprised himself. It took a whole lot of tension and effort from Susie to muster up healing magic, but Vess healed him so effortlessly that she didn’t even realize she was doing it. She has a lot of latent potential, she just needs to learn how to use it.

“Well we wrapped this up faster than I thought we would.” Vess says, pushing up from the floor to make her way to the bed. “Like you said, it’s been a while since we last read from your book. Do you want to give me a refresher before we continue?”

“I’m surprised you still want to read considering your comments from earlier today.” Ralsei says, unsure of where the courage to do so came from. “Something about playing rough.”

“I was mostly just saying that to see how you reacted.” Vess says with a smirk. “Maybe you’re used to Kris’ bullshit, but you aren’t immune to teasing. Besides, I don’t think I’m physically capable of doing anything more than gently petting you.” Lying down on the bed, Vess rolls over to make room for him. “Now come on, at the rate we’ve been doing things, we’re never gonna finish this book, and I’m curious about what other stories you have stashed away in that shelf there.” Ralsei steps forward to join her when she adds on, “Like that dragon book Kris kept bothering you about.”

“No one’s ever gonna let that one go, huh?” Ralsei sighs, crawling into bed and grabbing the book he’s been reading, thumbing through the dog eared pages until he finds where he left off. “Maybe if you don't bother me as much about it, I'll read it with you.”

“Then we can start the book club!” Vess cheers, and Ralsei can’t help but grumble and cover his face. Kris truly did curse him by bringing that book into the light. He couldn’t stay mad though. The moment he opened up the current book they were reading through, Vess cuddled up next to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her chin on his shoulder so she could read too.

Honestly, he could spend hours just reading the phonebook if it meant Vess would be this close to him. It felt so nice to be held like this, to have someone running their fingers through his fur all night. He was sharing a bed, he was sharing his favorite story, this was bliss.

“Let’s try and get you up to speed then.” Ralsei says, quickly skimming the chapter they left off on so he could give her a brief synopsis on what happened before then. “We can’t start that book club you’re so excited about until we actually finish some books.”

The devs would probably drop in at any moment now.

You’ve been here for a couple of days which should be more than enough time to get settled in. You’ve already warned everyone in advance that the gods of this world were set to visit soon to potentially whisk you away, but aside from Ralsei being disappointed that he’d be losing you for a day, no one was too worked up about your upcoming meeting except for Catti. She swung by yesterday and wanted to interrogate you about the secrets of the universe that you learned from Toby and when you told her you were going to meet them again, she insisted on being a part of it.

”This is my kind of thing, there’s no way I’m letting this slip by me.”

Since today was the day they’d likely show up, people made plans without you, though they had something fun planned for when you got back. Just like they suggested last week, they’ve all been meaning to get makeovers of some sort as spring quickly approaches. You weren’t sure how long you’d be out, but Susie planned on taking everyone with her to try something new to surprise you when you got back. You already had something waiting upstairs in Ralsei’s room, something you’ve been desperate to slip back into but too nervous to actually go through with. If everyone else gets the ball rolling first, maybe then you’ll find the courage to show them your new look too.

Not only that, but on Wednesday, Berdly was holding a smash contest at his house and you were expected to be there. It’s been a while since you played smash, even longer since you played melee, but you’re confident that you’ll do well. Out of your other friends, you were probably second best. You doubt even ’pro gamers’ like Kris and Berdly would stand a chance against Miles though. From what Ralsei describes, trash talkers like Kris are the kind of people Miles takes personal enjoyment out of destroying in competitive games simply because he doesn’t have to do much to rile them up. Sitting in silence and letting insults wash over him was his specialty.

You had a lot to look forward to, and you’re so caught up in what you planned on doing throughout the rest of the week that you don’t even notice that your contacts arrive until a quick bark draws you back to attention.

“Huh?!” You shake your head and try to focus, only to find the two small devs not far from where you’re standing in the Castle Courtyard. Toby barks at you again now that you’re looking at him.

“Hiya Vess!” Temmie greets you next to him. “Good to see you in person again!”

“I forgot how small you two were.” You admit. “During our discord calls, I still kind of saw you two as larger than life creators, but here you’re both like two feet tall.”

“Hey, I saw the opportunity to make myself into a real life cartoon character, I took it.” Temmie says in her defense. “There’s nothing wrong with your vessel right now, but you could have gone super crazy with it if you wanted to.”

“Oh, I’m not swapping this out any time soon.” You shake your head. “So, you guys wanted to show me around your places to show me how things work on your end?” Toby gives you an affirmative bark. You discussed this over text a few days ago (well, days relative to this place, in real time, it was probably six hours ago or something.) There wasn’t too much to show off here other than maybe Styx, but that could all wait until after your trip was done. They were eager to show you their version of this world, meet up with some extra members of their team, and get you up to speed with all the different techniques and abilities they’ve learned to navigate the Void.

“Anything you need to do before we head out?” Temmie asks. “Any goodbyes to say?”

“Yes actually.” You nod. “I should let my friends know I’m heading out. Also, are you guys opposed to me bringing someone with me?” You ask. “Catti’s been going all in on this Void stuff and was the first person to find a way out into a different world entirely. She heard that I met you guys and wants to be a part of this too.”

Temmie looks at Toby for a moment, looking for his guidance. After a short moment to think it over, Toby eventually gives you a nod. Catti was alright to bring along. With that, you leave the courtyard, bringing the two devs with you as you search for your friends. Ralsei was making a quick run to the Mayor’s office, so you probably wouldn’t get to say goodbye to him in person, but you find Susie in the main hall of the castle standing by the cauldron and stirring it around with the stirring spoon.

“Oh! Did Ralsei get around to teaching you how to use this?” You ask, stepping forward to look inside the cauldron.

“Shh!” Susie immediately shushes you. “This is really hard, I’m trying to focus.”

“Sorry about that, but I’m heading out now.” You tell her. “Toby and Temmie are here.” Mentioning that, Susie stops her stirring and whips around, looking down to find the two devs staring back up at her.

“Oh shit!” She sets the spoon aside. “Uh… hello.”

“Hi Susie!” Temmie says as Toby barks out a greeting as well. “We’re going to be showing Vess around and teaching her what we know. You don’t mind if we borrow her for a while, do you?”

“Not at all.” Susie shakes her head. “She told us you guys were coming. I guess I’ll pick this up later, I gotta go find the others to tell them you’re out. How long are you taking her for?”

“A few hours at least.” Temmie says. “There’s a lot of stuff we have to go over.”

“Alright, cool.” Susie nods. “That should be plenty of time. See you later, Vess.” Susie says, giving you a light punch on the arm. “I’ll let Ralsei know you’ll be back soon. The next time you see us, we should look fresh as hell, and when you get back, you gotta show us this secret Ralsei says you’ve been keeping from us.”

“Yeah… I plan to.” You mumble out. You were equal parts anxious and eager to show them how you looked in the dress. You were banking that this trip was going to blow your mind enough to make something this simple seem dumb to worry about.

“Alright I’m off then. See you in a bit!” Putting the stirring spoon away, Susie jogs towards the front gates and lets herself out, running through town square to start searching for the others.

“Well, that’s my friends informed.” You say. “Now it’s time to go find Catti.”

“Lead the way.” Temmie says. “Despite us making most of this, we aren’t exactly familiar with the changes and differences your version of this world might hold. I hope you don’t mind if I ask questions as we go.”

“I’ve done nothing but bother you two with questions for a week, the least I could do is answer some questions for you guys too.” You assure them, following Susie’s lead out the front gates and into town square. “There’s plenty to see on the way there, so speak up if something catches your eye.”

Walking through town square, they take in the sights as you pass by the various shops and businesses in town. Most people pass you buy, completely unaware that the two little critters following behind you were actually their makers. Leaving the confines of Castle Town, you start making your way west, but before you could make it to Cyber City, Toby actually speaks up for once.

“Wait…” You jolt slightly when you heard his voice, not expecting him to properly speak in this form. “How far does the Dark World go?”

“The Dark World takes up the whole town now.” You tell him. “After the fountains overflowed and the Roaring started, we sealed everything up as fast as we could, but that darkness couldn’t just disappear. The whole town’s trapped in a self contained bubble now, a magical Barrier just like the one surrounding Mt. Ebbot in your first game.”

“The whole town?!” Temmie balks. “So everything’s here all at once?”

“Yep.” You nod, pointing out Cyber City as you pass it by. “It was actually really bad here for the first few weeks. All of this stuff popped up at once and tried to share the same space. The school that used to hold the supply closet Castle Town sits in just completely blew up. It was a disaster.” Looking back at the devs, they seem shocked to hear all of this. “I’m guessing the Roaring problem was handled on your end?”

“Well…” Temmie gives you a little shrug. “It was still pretty scary. Things got out of hand and the Titans came around, but the Delta Warriors were able to step up and save the world before things became truly terrible. Balance was restored, leaving the Light World safe and the Grand Fountain flowing. Castle Town is the only Dark World, but it expanded thanks to everyone the gang recruited and brought back, creating a bustling kingdom with Ralsei as its benevolent and no longer lonely prince.”

“Man…” You sigh. “Hearing your guys’ story makes me feel like I did a really bad job here and ended up getting some crappy neutral ending.”

“Things don’t seem that bad here.” Temmie says, trying to cheer you up.

“Not anymore.” You shrug. “Still, learning that I technically made all of this means that I’m somewhat responsible for all the bad stuff that happened, right?”

Toby lets out a low growl at that, startling you somewhat. It’s clear he doesn’t want you to think that way.

“Like I said before, once everything’s made, it’s kind of out of your hands.” Temmie says. “If there were bad guys you had to deal with, that isn’t really your fault. They’re their own people with their own crappy decisions.”

“Yeah, but didn’t I sort of make them predisposed to make bad decisions?” You try to argue.

“You made an entire city of people, and just like in our world, not everyone is perfect.” Toby speaks up again, laying things clear for you. “There are likely bullies, bigots, and all other kinds of bad people in town, but again, that’s not your fault. That’s just how people are, even if you ’made’ them.”

“Huh…” That makes you feel a tiny bit better. You simply made the world subconsciously and probably filled the blanks with things you were familiar with from your own experiences. You knew plenty of shitheads in school, you’ve met a few weirdos at the mall, this world was just as real as yours, and just like yours it was full of regular people and assholes, even though there are a few perfect exceptions like Ralsei in it. “I wonder if this is how God feels, looking down and seeing all the dumb shit humanity gets up to.”

“That’s free will for you.” Temmie says. “It’s a real double edged sword, huh?”

The rest of the walk is uneventful as the two devs marvel at the city wide Dark World everyone lives in, only asking the occasional question about certain locations and how things work around here. After a short hike, you make it to Catti’s tower, only to be left confused. How were you supposed to get her attention from up there?

“Catti!” With no bell to ring, no door to knock, and no phone to call with, you just resort to shouting to try and be heard. “You said you wanted to meet Toby, right?! He’s here!” You wait for a response, looking up at the tower to see if she’ll peek out a window or open the door to step down. Instead, you hear a slight gasp from behind you and turn around to find Catti’s already on the ground staring at the two devs in shock.

“Here I am, staring at divinity, and they barely go past my knees…” She says in awe. “Hold on one second, I gotta fetch someone.” In the blink of an eye, she’s gone, earning a surprised yip out of Toby.

“Wait, she can use shortcuts?!” Temmie blurts out in surprise. “Did you teach her that?”

“No.” You shake your head. “She started doing this while I was gone. She’s arguably more informed about this stuff than I am. I don’t even know how to properly do shortcuts, I think I’ve only ever made one by accident.” Actually, thinking about it now and from what Ralsei taught you about magic, you might have had some kind of magical breakthrough back then. You desired to return to his side and you were certainly in a tense enough situation to fuel that desire, but you were outside the Dark World, so how did you manage to use magic to get out? Maybe you were drawing on some other power instead?

Before you could ask Temmie or Toby for a possible explanation, Catti returns with her own Temmie in tow. She doesn’t say anything and instead just sets her Temmie down in front of Temmie prime to see what happens. Both of them just stare at each other in surprise and confusion for a while, unsure of how to react.

“Hiya!” The native Temmie eventually greets. “I’m Temmie!”

“Hiya!” Temmie prime replies. “I’m also Temmie!”

“Tem always knew Tem was special.” The native Temmie says before slipping into one of her more serious tones. “I always knew there was a greater purpose in place for me.”

“Well, you were made in my image, but I’m sorry to say, you weren’t exactly made to carry out my will or anything.” The dev Temmie tells her doppelganger.

“Aw…” The native Temmie whines. “Tem not demigoddess?”

“Don’t get too worked up over it, Temmie.” Catti consoles her. “You’re still ten times more powerful than anyone else in town with your dark magic.” That puts a mischievous smile back on Temmie’s face. “Now, I’m going to be heading out again to see what this other Temmie is up to. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“You bring more snacks for Tem?” The native Temmie asks.

“Sure thing, I’m sure this one will know exactly what you want as a souvenir when I get back.” Catti nods. Now jittery with excitement and anticipation, the native Temmie runs off to do her own thing, leaving you and Catti with the two devs. “So…” Catti addresses the two small creators. “I’m guessing you two are already well aware of me? You know, considering you're both gods?”

“We’re not necessarily gods, but we do know you!” The remaining Temmie prime nods. “It’s nice to meet you, Catti. I’m Temmie, and this is my friend Toby. Even though Vess is technically the one who willed you into existence, Toby and I are the ones who made you you.”

“So my crippling social anxiety in middle school was your guys’ fault?” Catti asks. In response, Toby lets out a low whine. It sounds like he might be responsible for that. “It’s fine.” Catti says, scratching her head. “I got over it in my own unique way I guess.” She falls silent for a moment, seemingly falling back into that social anxiety as she stares down what she believes to be gods. “So um…” She mumbles “What are you guys doing here? You here to fix the Barrier? To make sure we don’t get any more crazy people crawling out of the Void for us?”

“We’re here to share what we know about Void travel with our new friend Vess.” Temmie announces. “She’s the first person we’ve found in the sprawling infinity of the Void and she’s already made some big changes without even knowing, so we’re hoping to find what’s all changed and work together to make sure this place stays safe for all of us.”

“Wait, so you guys are just like Vess?” Catti asks.

“Yep!” Temmie nods. “Like we told her friends, we’re just artists and writers. We aren’t omnipotent beings of pure power, we’re just regular people.”

“Regular people who created a fictional story and somehow made it manifest before physically inhabiting it.” Catti says, earning an affirmative bark from Toby. “I don’t know if that makes this easier on me or harder.” She grumbles out. “If you two made everything, did you maybe make some all powerful dark gods that do rule over the world?” Toby lets out a weird snort noise which your mind interprets as a no. “Damn…” Catti must have done so too because she sounds very disappointed to hear there are no dark gods to swear loyalty to.

“Hey, there are other worlds out there and I know for a fact there are some terrifying all powerful eldritch abominations in at least one of those worlds.” You assure her. “Terrifying monsters that have at one point granted someone unlimited power. Maybe one day you can become a grimdark emissary of the horror terrors.”

“That’d be nice.” Catti sighs longingly. “You two are cool if I come along with you then, right?” She asks the devs. “This seems to be some kind of meeting of the gods or whatever, but I’m basically responsible for teaching Vess most of this stuff.”

“I don’t think there should be any issues bringing you along.” Temmie nods. “I guess we haven’t told that many people about the true nature of things in our world, so I’m a little surprised to see so many people seem to be in on it here.”

“There’s like six or seven people in town who know.” Catti says. “Vess and her friends, me, Sans, and Temmie, though I don’t think she’s fully wrapped her head around everything I told her. Besides Sans who showed up already knowing this stuff, I’m the first person to really start digging into the Void. So what are you guys doing first? You guys just gonna run around town investigating stuff, or are you doing something interesting?”

“We were going to show Vess our version of this world.” Temmie says. “From the sound of it, you’ve already done some exploring yourself.

“Not a lot, but I’ve been around.” Catti nods. “Met some weird little guys on my trip too. I’m not sure how crazy it would be to see another copy of our world, though it might be cool to meet another me. Hell, I might even be able to get back here if there’s still a Dark World there to help me take a shortcut.”

“Well if Vess doesn’t have any more business they need to wrap up here, we can go visit our world right now.” Temmie offers. “Are both of you familiar with shortcuts?”

“You just saw me use them, but I need Dark World magic to use them.” Catti says. “I ended up getting stranded for a little while before Vess managed to find me and bring me back.”

“I’ve only ever done it once.” You explain. “I had Styx boat me out to that Void I found Toby in and didn’t really know how to get back after you left. Catti told me about the shortcuts and I’m reasonably sure I used one to get back, but Catti insisted that I should be able to without magic.”

“Your Determination alone should be all you need.” Temmie tells you. “It’s how you made all of this, it’s how you travel to this plane of reality and make it back home. We’d be pretty limited in where we could go without it. Of course, you still need to know where you’re going if you aren’t just jumping around blind, so come close and rest your hand on mine.”

So your Determination as well as your desire and high tension helped you teleport back to Castle Town without magic. You suppose this bizarre trait of yours has more going for it than you thought if it could be used as a source of magic powers outside of the Dark World. You keep that in mind as you kneel down to Temmie’s level as she holds her hand out in front of her. Toby steps forward and raises a paw to rest on top of her hand, leaving you and Catti to follow suit.

The moment all of you’re together, the air around you suddenly shifts and grows warm as you are ripped from one world and placed into another one. The dim overcast sky is suddenly replaced with a bright blue sunny one and rather than a fantastical Dark World filled with castles, cities, and magic, you instead find yourself in Hometown as you remembered it from your very first days visiting this world. Though, this isn’t the same world you’re familiar with anymore.

“I almost forgot what this place used to look like.” Catti comments as she looks around the neighborhood. The sun beats down on you pretty harshly, especially now that you were wearing a thick gray sweater instead of your maroon tunic and armor. Just when you were getting used to the cold again…

“Welcome to our little place in the endless Void.” Temmie announces, looking around the place. “Admittedly, it probably doesn’t look nearly as cool as yours does, but this is where I’ve spent a majority of my time. Toby likes to run off and work on other projects, but we can show you those later.”

“This is still a completely different world than what we’re used to.” You tell her. “Sure there aren’t as many castles, but this is still amazing.”

“Your world must be really boring if you’re this worked up over being in a random suburb.” Catti says with a smirk. “So, how many people know about you here? I’m guessing Kris and their friends are in on this?”

“They’re familiar with the Void and the fact that we aren’t from here, but we’ve tried to keep details light.” Temmie says. “We weren’t sure how much information would be helpful or harmful to them, so we’ve kept a few secrets.”

“Yeah, I was worried sick about telling everyone the truth.” You admit. “Though, I had no clue what was actually going on, so I ended up telling everyone they were in a video game and couldn’t give any solid answers for the questions they had after telling them that.” Toby lets out a whimper at that.

“Yeah, that’s why we kept our true identities secret.” Temmie says in Toby’s place.

“Things have been cleared up a lot more now that we got to meet you, but it’s safe to say all of us still have questions.” You continue. “Can we meet this other gang? You were talking about how different my friends were compared to yours.” Toby lets out a couple barks in quick succession, jumping in place. It’s pretty obvious that’s a yes. With a pep in his step, he starts moving down the street, looking back at you to make sure you follow after him. You follow along, taking in the relatively normal sights of the town as it used to be as you go.

“So how much can we share while talking to this alternate Kris and crew?” Catti asks. “I’m guessing there’s another me out here somewhere, should I pretend I’m from here, or can I be open with the fact I’m from a different universe?”

“We’ve been open about the existence of other worlds and even the fact that we’ve talked to other people outside of this place.” Temmie says. “We even told them about you, Vess, and how you have your own crew just like them. As for you Catti, you should be fine admitting to where you’re from, but keep the finer details down for now.”

Cutting through town, Toby eventually leads you to the school, scratching at the door for you to let everyone in. Opening the door, he bolts down the hall, making a beeline straight for the supply closet. As you move, one thing you notice immediately is that the door is already wide open for you. Once you’re at the door, you’re able to make out posters surrounding the door warning you to watch your step, tape on the floor to mark the place off, and even what looks like a railing built into the doors.

“So the Dark World hasn’t flooded into reality here, but does everyone know about this place?” You ask. “It kinda looks like it’s just being left open for whoever happens to pass by.”

“It couldn't be kept under wraps forever.” Temmie says. “Especially after everyone banded together to stop the Roaring.” Before she could continue, Toby jumped into the darkness of the supply closet, disappearing into the bottomless pit just past the door frame. Not wanting to get left behind, Temmie picks up her pace and hurls herself down after him, leaving you and Catti to stare down the bottomless pit of blackness.

“Is this how everyone came down here before the Dark World was just everywhere?” Catti asks.

“Yep.” You nod. “You just kinda chuck yourself down there and hope you land on your feet.” Saying that, you’re anxious to start jumping into holes in the earth considering what happened to your last vessel. Taking a deep breath, you try to push through that fear and take a couple steps back to get a running start.

Bolting forward as fast as you can, you leap off the floor and fall into the dark, watching lights flash past you as you pass the threshold between Light and Dark. Your thick colorless sweater fills out with color again as your tunic and armor return to you and the moment you’re back to your usual self, you see the ground rapidly approaching. You brace yourself, and moments before you hit the ground, your momentum slows down dramatically, allowing you to touch down without breaking your legs.

Toby lets out an excited bark after you land, and after clearing the way, Catti eventually follows you down, dressed in her usual witches gown. With you all now in the Dark World, Toby continues to lead you, and it isn’t long until Castle Town comes into View.

You basically live at Castle Town in your version of this world, but looking at it here, you were left breathless.

Your Castle Town was a pretty busy place with plenty of shops in town square to visit and people coming in and out of the castle itself all day. This place… It couldn’t really be called a town anymore. It was a Castle City. There were at least a dozen more shops filling out the town square, rows and rows of houses bordering the place in a variety of styles not too different from the various worlds you visited, and as far as you could see, there were only more houses and shops on the horizon. The Castle itself wasn’t as large or complex as yours since Ralsei likely didn’t have to make too many expansions to it, but flooding out of the castle’s courtyard was the Grand Fountain, spewing pitch black darkness into the sky above the castle.

“I’m not gonna lie,” You speak up, “It’s kinda scary to see a fountain again after they almost ended the world.”

“Don’t worry.” Temmie assures you. “The Grand Fountain has been stable for a while now and no other Fountains have cropped up to threaten the balance. No one’s making any more now that they know this one exists and what can happen if they disrupt the balance. Now, are you two ready to meet your friends again?”

Moving through town square, you spot a bunch of familiar faces. Lancer is hanging out near the bakery, the cafe looks way busier than you’re used to, and tucked away near a shop you don’t recognize, you think you see Biz out and about interviewing someone in front of a large camera crew which is following him around.

Stepping through the front gates of the castle, you find your three friends huddled around the cauldron in a very familiar scene, but almost immediately, things feel off.

“Woah hey!” Susie is the first to lift her head and take notice of you. “Temmie’s back guys!” The others lift their heads, first looking at Temmie before settling on you. Everyone steps away from the cauldron to get a closer look, and once they’re close, you’re able to get a better look at everyone yourself.

Susie and Kris no longer had their scars. The one running down Susie’s face in your world was hard to miss, but with how much time you spent with them, it was hard to ignore all the little cuts that covered both of them. Kris, while they still looked like a mischievous little ass, also looked like they had way more energy to spare. They didn’t look nearly as tired or vigilant as they usually did. And Ralsei…

“Are you the friend Temmie’s been talking about from another world?” Ralsei asks in awe as he looks up at you before holding out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you! My name is Ralsei!”

He didn’t recognize you.

Of course he wouldn’t, this wasn’t the same person, but you couldn’t help but feel disturbed. You know how Ralsei looks at you, you know how he acts around you, and while this one was just as friendly and fluffy, he felt like a stranger. Regardless, you reach out and shake his hand. He wasn’t your Prince, but even with how uncanny this all was, you couldn’t keep a smile off your face when you were around him.

“I’m Vess.” You introduce yourself. “I’m actually already pretty familiar with all you guys. The world I come from isn’t too different from this one.”

“Why’s Catti here, by the way?” Kris asks, their excitement at seeing an interdimensional visitor apparently not strong enough to hold their attention. “I guess you wanted to see what Temmie was talking about with friends from another plane of-”

“No, I came with her.” Catti shakes her head. “I’m an interdimensional alien from another plane of reality.”

“O-oh.” Kris falls silent for a moment. “Ok, so when she said her world isn’t too different from ours, does she mean it’s the same?”

“I just got back from there.” Temmie says. “There’s quite a few big changes, but fundamentally, it’s mostly the same.”

“Were we there?!” Susie asks in surprise. “Holy shit, what’s other me like?!” You open your mouth to tell them, but Catti beats you to it and ends up painting a not so flattering picture of your world.

“Let’s see, half your face is missing,” Catti says pointing at Susie, “Kris i’m pretty sure is narcoleptic and depressed.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t go that far, but…” Kris shrugs but Catti continues.

“And Ralsei…” Catti pauses. “I don’t think there's anything noticeably different about you right now, but you work for the government in my world.”

“Huh?” Ralsei boggles at that, and Kris lets out a repressed snort behind him.

“What?!” They blurt out. “Wait a minute, what kind of weird bizarro world do you live in?”

“Also, what do you mean I’m missing half my face?!” Susie asks with a bit of alarm. “What does that mean?!”

“Ok, let me explain it.” You turn to Catti. “I’m a bit more familiar with what’s going on.”

“I live there.” Catti reminds you. “You were basically dead for months before you decided to come back a few weeks ago. I think I know more about what’s going on in my own hometown than you do.”

“Ok, fine, but I mean I know more about what’s going on with these guys than you do.” You elaborate. “I basically hang out with them twenty four seven.”

“Yeah, I guess you got me beat there.” Catti shrugs.

“Ok, so…” You turn to address your friends, or at least the alternate versions of your friends. “Susie, you still have a face, you just have a really bad scar going across it.”

“Does it look cool?” She asks, sounding relieved that it doesn’t sound as bad as Catti put it.

“Other you sure thinks it is.” You assure her. “Noelle’s got one too, almost in the same place and from the same source.” You realize you might be leading the conversation towards some unpleasant topics and quickly turn to Kris. “You… don’t really like me all that much, I’ll be honest.”

“Did you give me a good reason not to like you?” Kris asks. “You don’t seem all that bad right now.”

“Ehh…” Once again, you’re realizing the conversation isn’t going where you want it to. “Let’s just say we’re kind of back and forth. We’re cool, we hang out sometimes, but I may have ruined your life in multiple different ways and you constantly try and find ways to get back at me for it. It’s nothing you need to worry about though. It was a lot of stuff out of my control and I usually did a pretty good job at fixing things and making it up to you.”

“That all sounds really ominous.” Kris deduces. “Sounds like a lot more stuff is going on in your world than ours. What’d you say about Ralsei working for the government?”

“He works with the Mayor.” You explain, earning some surprised looks from everyone. “Our situation is a little weirder than your guys’, as I’ve probably already let on. Things seem to be going really smoothly here, but Ralsei of course is doing everything he can to make everything on our end better, even under the strange circumstances.”

“Of course the little furball’s just as much of a saint in another universe.” Susie snorts, gently ruffling Ralsei’s hair. “Still, Noelle’s mom scares the hell out of me, it’s weird to even think of him being in the same room as her.”

“Do I know you personally in this other world?” Ralsei asks you. “You seemed weirdly upset when I introduced myself.” Oh shit. You forgot that Ralsei had a weird sixth sense for stuff like that and this one’s probably no different.

“We’re… A little more than friends.” You say, electing not to share anything more. “I just spend a lot of time with him and while you’re the same person, it’s just freaky to have you act like a stranger around me. The same goes for all of you.” You say, looking up at the other two. “You two would either be cracking jokes or making fun of me or inviting me to join you guys in some sort of event you had planned around town, but…”

“Yeah, this is weird.” Catti mumbles. “No offense to you guys or anything, it’s not like you’re fundamentally different or anything, but all of this just feels… off.”

“Well shit, that means a lot coming from you.” Kris says. “You’re like the one person I can rely on to not be creeped out by stuff… We gotta go find the other Catti and introduce you to see what happens!”

“Nah, I’m good.” Catti shakes her head. “As much as teaming up with the only person I could trust with the dark secrets I’ve learned sounds nice, I wasn’t really expecting meeting copies of you guys would be this weird.”

“Aw! We didn’t mean to upset you!” Ralsei seems almost hurt by your words. “You seem super nice, but… Well… How would we even fix this?”

“I’m not sure we can.” You let him down easy, hating to see him look so disappointed, even if this isn’t the same Prince you’re familiar with. “As cool as it would be to know two Ralsei’s, it’s not like I can stay here anyways. Temmie had some things she wanted to show me and she and Toby wanted to introduce us, but…” Toby lets out a high pitched, stressed whimper. “This turned out to be a lot more awkward than we thought.”

“Are things usually this awkward between us in your world?” Kris asks.

“Weirdly enough, kinda.” You nod. “Like I said, things are more complicated in my world and our friendship specifically is kinda back and forth. I guess this will be an interesting story to tell all of them.”

“Oh I wish I could meet your version of Ralsei.” The Ralsei in front of you says.

“I’m pretty sure that would cause some kind of cute nerd singularity or something.” Susie snorts. “You’re too good for us, there’s no way the world would be able to handle two of you at once.”

“You’d both try to hug each other and the amount of positive energy generated would blow up the planet.” Kris agrees. “That’d be one hell of a way to go out though.” It was so goddamn weird seeing them like this. They’re so familiar but so… off. They both still like to tease Ralsei, they both have a similar sense of humor, but your friends have gone through so much more than these guys. You think you’re just mostly weirded out by how little you seem to matter to these versions of your friends, how little you’ve affected their lives for better and for worse.

“Well, as awkward as this meeting was, it’s still really exciting to finally let you guys meet our newest friends.” Temmie says to the crew. “They’ve already taught me and Toby a bunch of cool stuff and we plan on doing the same for them! Maybe I can go into more detail about it later on, but we should probably get going to keep showing them around.”

“Aw come on!” Kris whines. “We gotta have the two Cattis meet at least!”

“Dude, that would cause the opposite problem two Ralsei’s would cause.” Susie shakes her head. “Even if interacting with each other didn’t blow up the world, both of them would definitely try to take over the world or something.”

“Well hey, now you’re giving me ideas.” Catti says with a smirk. “Maybe this Susie is smarter than the one back home.”

“I’d tell you to go to hell, but you’d probably say something like ‘see you there’ if I did.” Susie grumbles.

“Oh yes, way smarter.” Catti chuckles cruelly. “You aren’t walking right into obvious comebacks. Maybe that’s what happens when you actually have the chance to hang out with Kris long enough to deal with their usual bullshit.”

“Alright, settle down you two.” Temmie breaks things up. “We gotta get going now, so if you’re going to say bye, do it now.”

“Yeah, we don’t need two of anyone here.” Susie says. “It’d only cause problems. You seem cool at least, Vess.”

“As curious as I am to hear how you apparently ruin my life, that’s probably information that’s best left buried.” Kris shrugs. “If you ever swing by again for whatever reason, I am going to pick your brain to get some answers out of you though.”

“It was very nice to meet you, Vess.” Ralsei says, giving you a warm smile. “Your Ralsei must be very lucky to have a whole extra friend to hang out with.”

“Aren’t you dating Ralsei or something?” Catti asks, her curiosity getting the better of her. In an instant, everyone in the crew goes wide eyed and stares at you with some shock, Ralsei being no exception.

“Alright, it was nice to introduce you all, bye bye!” Temmie thankfully jumps to the rescue, leaping up to grab your hand before taking you on a shortcut and pulling you away from the very awkward situation. In an instant, the alternate Delta Warriors vanish, leaving you in darkness as far as you can see.

“Thank you for that.” You sigh with relief. Things were already weird enough with them all being unfamiliar with you. Letting the other Ralsei know that you’re dating him in an alternate timeline would make things almost painfully awkward.

“No problem, but is that true?” She asks, causing you to flush with embarrassment anyways. “Or was Catti just misreading something and made the whole conversation weird?”

“No, we’re…” God, it’s so weird talking about this to Temmie of all people considering she helped make him. “We’re dating.” You admit. Desperate to talk about anything else, you look around for something to distract her, only to find that there’s nothing around you. You’re in an empty Void. “Where are we? Where’s Catti and Toby?”

“I was going to take us all here anyways, but that seemed like a conversation you wanted out of quickly.” Temmie says and you nod along in response. “They’re both probably dealing with the aftermath of that. You’ll be fine here on your own while I go fetch them, right?”

“I guess so.” You shrug. “You know how to find me out here?”

“Oh yeah, I come here all the time.” Temmie says. “I should be back in only a minute or two. I’ll be right back!”

Temmie pops out of existence, leaving you all alone to try and recompose yourself again. Well, that didn’t go well at all. Things were already weird and uncanny enough, but meeting up with the other Ralsei would probably be very uncomfortable now. No doubt Kris and maybe Susie would probably tease Ralsei about this too if they’re anything like yours. You guess that’s another fun story to share once you get back, but maybe you should keep your distance from this world. Like Kris says, you’re bad news whenever you show up, and while thankfully no one got hurt this time around, you can’t exactly say this meeting didn’t have problems.

You sit down on the featureless ground, crossing your arms as you wait for the others to get back, picking at your returned gray sweater. Not only did you have some interesting things to share when you get home, but you also had the makeover everyone was going to be going through to look forward to. Looking down at your plain clothes, you wonder if changing in the Dark World would make you change outside of its magic too. What would you be wearing now if you left with your dress on? Would you have a similar if less complex dress, or would you still be wearing this sweater? If you bought a dress outside the Dark World and stepped back in, would your armor change to match? Kris lended you one of their sweaters back when Chara first attacked you and cut up your shirt and your tunic felt a little thicker as a result. Maybe…

“Hello…”

You freeze solid as another voice suddenly joins you in the dark. You knew that voice. You’ve tried to forget it for months now, but it still haunts you. You could feel a presence in the dark with you now. Slowly turning around, feeling your heart pound in your chest, you confirm what you feared most.

Looking up, you find Doctor Gaster looking down at you.

Chapter Text

“Hello Vess…” You sit petrified as you stare up at the doctor, your mind racing a mile a minute. Every instinct was demanding that you ran away, that you fought back, that you did anything other than sit here, but you don’t move. You don’t need to move. You could easily take a shortcut at this point, you’ve done it before in way less tense situations and more than anything you wanted to go back home to get away from Gaster. A few things keep you rooted in place though.

One, you don’t want to leave Catti behind. Two, Gaster isn’t a stranger to these parts and a small part of you is scared that if you took a shortcut back home, he’d have some way to track you back there. And three, the most important of the three, you’re ninety percent sure this isn’t the same Gaster. There’s still that remaining ten percent of uncertainty that has you in a panic, but the longer you stare up at this Gaster, that percentage starts to dwindle.

Him seemingly knowing your name was more than concerning, but Temmie told you that she’s still in contact with the doctor. She said she meant to bring you here after the conversation with the alternate Delta Warriors, so she probably already told Gaster that she was bringing visitors and told him about you. Who could you be other than the new friend Temmie was talking about?

Not only that, but just like your alternate friends, this Gaster seemed off. He was already creepy as hell and off putting to begin with, but strangely enough, this one somehow felt more approachable than the one you were familiar with. He was just as tall, he had the same build, he had the same crack in his skull, but the way he held himself seemed more relaxed and casual. He didn’t glare at you with contempt or disgust, there was excitement in his eyes as he wore a smile. His excitement to see you could clearly be taken the wrong way, no doubt he tried to appear friendly while making deals with your friends, but with Temmie’s word that he wasn’t a threat, you could only assume that his smile was genuine and not an act.

Realizing that you two have just been staring at each other for the past minute, you stutter out a response. “H-hi.”

“Oh, you must forgive me if I startled you.” Gaster picks up on your discomfort and takes a step back. “I do not get many visitors out here, I can only imagine how intimidating I must look out here.”

“Yeah…” You nod, finding the nerve to slowly push yourself back up to your feet. You’re still wary of this new Gaster, but your racing mind offers you a piece of information that helps you compose yourself. He can’t touch you. Kris and Dess were incorporeal after being let out of the Void thanks to their prolonged exposure and broken souls. Gaster was no different, he couldn’t hurt you even if he wanted to.

“You must also forgive me if I assumed incorrectly.” Gaster says. “You are this Vess that Temmie spoke of, yes?”

“Yes.” You nod. “And you’re W. D. Gaster.”

“Doctor W. D. Gaster.” He corrects you, but otherwise remains polite. “Is it true that you are a creator, just like Toby?”

“A fairly new one, but yes.” You nod and Gaster takes a step closer.

“Fascinating! Truly fascinating!” He says, cupping his segmented hands together. “What worlds have you created? Is it true you’ve made your own versions of Toby’s work? How have your own interpretations altered them?” With each question, he takes another step forward. As he begins to get uncomfortably close, you find yourself on the backpedal, your heartrate picking back up as he continues to approach you. “How did you make your way around the Void? If your worlds are similar to this one, am I also there? Your soul… I can already see how brilliant your soul is, but yo-”

“What the fuck?!” New voices join you in the Void as Temmie returns with Toby and Catti, but unlike you, Catti clearly didn’t get the same briefing about Gaster that you did. Seeing the doctor who terrorized her friends and drove Kris to the Void, she immediately throws both of her hands forward, attempting to cast some kind of spell on him. She was no longer in the Dark World, however, cutting her off from her magic. Once she realizes this, she rears one of her hands back to try and punch the doctor instead, but a couple panicked barks from Toby stops things from escalating any further.

“Hey hey hey!” Temmie quickly raises her voice and tries to break things up. “This is not the same Gaster, there’s no need for that!” Once Catti lowers her fists, Temmie turns around to address you and Gaster. “Sorry for taking so long, Vess. I didn’t want to interrupt the conversation that everyone was having and I didn’t think Gaster would find you so quickly. Things didn’t get too weird between you two, did they?”

“He caught me by surprise, but no.” You shake your head, shaking off some of the shudders the doctor gave you as well. “We’re fine.” This Doctor Gaster was just as creepy, but you don’t think he’s as malicious. To be fair to him, he at least greeted you before chasing after you with a million questions. You didn’t give Toby that kindness when you first saw him in the Void.

“Ok, so this is a different Gaster?” Catti asks, still on edge and stanced up for a fight. “I don’t know if I trust that easy. That second Chara we met seemed alright right up until they had a shot at ultimate power. Everyone has mixed feelings about them, but I’d rather not take the risk of dealing with a second Gaster.”

“I’m beginning to think we made a terrible mistake bringing you both here.” Temmie says with a disappointed sigh. “Come on, give him a chance.” she begs. “I don’t know what all your Gaster did, but I can assure you that this one is nice. You have Toby and I to vouch for him and he was so excited to meet some new people out here.”

“So very sorry if I upset you.” Gaster apologizes again. “I’m sure you can understand how exciting this is, meeting not just someone from another plane of reality, but one just as powerful as the man who created me.”

“This is worse than the Angel thing.” You whine. “I’m not that special, I’m just a normal person, really.”

“You’re just as humble as the others.” Gaster gives you a light chuckle, a jovial sound that still sends a shiver down your spine. “Trust me, every extraordinary person in history once thought they were an average person. I never imagined I would be responsible for solving the energy crisis of the Underground or getting the opportunity to meet my makers. I used to be a young man pushing papers, but everyone refers to me now as one of the greatest minds in the world. Or at least, they used to…”

The Doctor lets out a sad hum at that. Once again, you’re left feeling incredibly weirded out by how uncannily kind this doctor is in comparison to the one you know. You thankfully didn’t have to deal with Gaster directly all that much, early on you even considered him an ally, but this one didn’t have the same air of menace around him that you remember. He wasn’t trying to get something out of you, anything other than information anyways.

“Who is this young lady?” Gaster turns to address Catti who’s still stanced up. “Is this yet another creator?”

“No.” She shakes her head, still ready to swing but willing to talk. “Just a witch who took an interest in the unknowable magic of the Void.”

“Ah! So you’re like me then!” Gaster says with a crooked smile. “Though, I suppose I stared into the Void through a scientific perspective over a magical one. Your findings must have borne fruit if you’re joining us here.”

“Yeah…” Catti finally lowers her arms. “With some help I was able to find people in the Void and travel to different worlds before she even could.” She says gesturing to you. “How far did the scientific method get you?”

“In our efforts to understand the empty space surrounding our reality, my team and I were able to discover a method of fast travel through the use of special anchors which could allow us to create doors and shortcuts throughout the underground by displacing space and time.”

“Oh! You must be the one who taught Sans how to do shortcuts then!” Catti says with some genuine surprise. “I don’t think he ever talked about you though.”

“I imagine it would be very hard considering no one remembered me after my accident.” Gaster says. “It’s quite fascinating to hear someone learn so much while looking at all of this through a different lens.” Catti chuckles a little after that, probably thinking about the actual lens you helped her use to find Kris out in the Void.

“See, this isn’t so bad.” Temmie says with some relief. “I told you our Gaster was cool.”

“So I was correct?” Gaster lights up after hearing that, looking towards you. “There’s another Doctor Gaster out there somewhere?”

Almost immediately, all of you fall into an uncomfortable silence.

“Yeah, I learned my lesson a few minutes ago, I’m not letting anything slip this time.” Catti says, taking a step back. “You’re on your own here.” You look to the devs for help, but none of them offer any guidance either.

“Is something the matter?” Gaster asks, clearly worried about this stretch of silence after his last question. Not wanting to leave him in the dark, you answer him.

“The Gaster I’m familiar with… wasn’t the nicest person.” You say, giving Gaster the biggest understatement in the universe. “I’ve met a couple different copies of people though, and from what I’ve experienced, even almost identical copies of people can be different in surprising ways. I can already tell, you act completely differently from the one I know.”

Admittedly, you’ve only been around this Gaster for a few minutes, but standing next to him doesn’t make you feel itchy and on edge anymore. Also, your alternate friends you met just moments ago were almost identical to yours save for the lack of trauma, but Catti brought up Chara earlier and they were a completely different case. Sort of, anyways, they were both complete nutjobs, but Deltarune’s Chara was weirdly nice and thoughtful about it. Their end goal was always getting Kris back home safe and sound, even if their means to do that were completely insane and harmful.

Gaster as a character was so shrouded in mystery. During the Undertale days, everyone had a million different theories about who he was, and what happened to him. Some thought he was evil, some thought he was a neutral observer, and a few even thought he was a secret force of good. Your friends are the main characters of this game, of course your mental image of them and Toby’s wouldn’t deviate too much, but with how little everyone knows about Gaster, you probably made him very differently compared to how Toby pictured him.

“That’s rather upsetting to hear.” Gaster says with a somber tone of voice. “I suppose that explains you and your friend’s reaction upon seeing me. Is there anything I could do to maybe make myself more distinct from this less than pleasant version of myself?”

“The fact that you’re upset about it puts you leagues above the one from my world.” Catti is quick to assure him. “The one I heard about isn’t that considerate at all.”

“Strangely enough, I think I’m actually more comfortable around you than the main crew in the world we’re next to.” You say. “Seeing copies of my friends who didn’t know me was really weird, but meeting another you who’s actually excited to see me is actually kinda nice.”

“That is a relief to hear.” Gaster says with a smile. “Not many people remember I exist, it would be a shame if the few memories that lingered were bad ones.”

“Yay! We’re all friends!” Temmie cheers, grateful that this meeting didn’t completely backfire like the last one did. Toby wags his tail beside her, equally happy to see this go well.

“By the way, before we start getting into the Voidy stuff, what happened up there after you pulled me out?” You ask, morbid curiosity getting the better of you. Toby lets out a little snort in response.

“Ok, so…” Catti speaks up. “Kris immediately started being a little asshole just like the one we all know and love, teasing the hell out of Ralsei and asking if he thought you were pretty. Susie punched them and Ralsei just kinda went catatonic for a while, too stunned to really do anything. I ended up mentioning that Kris didn’t really have any ground to stand on considering they were dating Berdly, but apparently that hasn’t happened yet or was never even a possibility in this world and I ended up making things ten times worse. Temmie came back pretty quickly and got me and Toby out of there just for me to get jump scared by Doctor Gaster here.”

“Again, terribly sorry about that.” Gaster apologizes once more.

“No problem, man.” Catti assures him before turning to the devs. “So, I’m guessing you two wanted to bring us here to talk about Void stuff?” She stops to take a look around, taking in the endless sea of black on all sides. “Yeah, I can see why Kris went a little crazy staying out here so long. How far out does this go?”

“Basically forever.” Toby drops his act for a moment, likely to get into the finer details now that you were tackling the Void, but the moment actual words come out of his mouth, Catti flinches. “Yeah, I always catch people by surprise when I speak up.” Toby says with a bemused hum. “But back on topic, I wouldn’t recommend wandering off out here. I’ve heard Gaster’s stories and did some investigating myself. You’d have to go very far before things even remotely change out here. It took years of walking in a straight line before Gaster found this place.”

“Wait.” That was something you never understood. How did Gaster and Chara even make it to Deltarune? “I thought the Void was completely empty and devoid of anything, but it sounds like you can actually travel from place to place, even if it takes a while.”

“You can, but again, I wouldn’t recommend it.” Toby repeats. “Even though the Void is completely empty for the most part, there are two distinct states it can be in. It can appear completely black like it does now, or a pure blinding white. It all depends on your proximity to an actual world residing in the Void.”

“I actually know what you’re talking about.” You nod. “I’ve actually seen this white Void before. I’m guessing those are WAY out of the way then?”

“Yep!” Temmie nods. “The reason it’s so dark here is because we’re essentially in the shadow of the Deltarune world we just visited. We’re close enough to an actual physical space that it affects the Void holding it.”

“So theoretically, you could just start walking in one direction and eventually you’ll leave the shadow of this world and potentially find the shadow of another?”

“I walked for what must have been years if not decades.” Gaster nods beside you. “It is not very easy to walk in a straight line with no landmarks to guide you. I only had the encroaching darkness as my guide towards this world.”

“So it gradually gets darker?” Catti asks, looking very invested in the conversation. She was getting answers from a scientist who not only studied the Void, but experienced life within it. He was the best source she could ever ask for. “Is there anything you can do once you’re close enough? How did you find Toby?”

“When this close to reality, I am given a few more options.” Gaster nods. “For one, there’s just enough physicality here for me to make shortcuts, though it’s pretty difficult to pick any specific location to go here when there’s no way to tell where you are.”

“Wait, you can make shortcuts without magic too?” Catti asks in surprise. Gaster gives her a curious look.

“No, some level of magic ability is still required, but that shouldn’t be a problem for us monsters, should it? We are magical beings after all.”

“Things were pretty boring and mundane until the Dark Worlds showed up in my world.” Catti shakes her head.

“It’s a fundamental difference between the two worlds you originate from.” Toby explains for them. “Catti is more grounded and physical, while Gaster is composed of magic. He doesn’t need to rely on outside sources of magic like you do, he is magical.”

“Lucky bastard…” Catti grumbles to herself, jealous of Gaster’s innate magical ability.

“I unfortunately cannot enter into the world from here.” Gaster says, continuing his speech. “But there are some places where I can catch glimpses of the world. If you would follow me.”

Gaster suddenly vanishes, leaving you alone out in the Void. Quickly marching up to you, Toby rests a paw on your shoe as Temmie makes her way to Catti. There isn’t really much of a shift as Toby teleports you through the Void, but Gaster returns to your sight and shortly after Toby steps away from you, Catti and Temmie suddenly appear as well. Almost nothing has changed in your surroundings, but Gaster suddenly reaches out, and to your surprise, there’s a sudden reflection of light in the inky black abyss.

“What was that?” You step forward to try and get a closer look, only for Gaster to hold a hand out for you to keep your distance. With a light flash in Gaster’s eyes, Gaster closes his hand and slowly pulls it back. You see the strange reflection in the dark again, and after trying to focus on it, you realize you know what he’s just found.

“That’s a shadow crystal!” Catti blurts out, catching Toby and Temmie by surprise.

“My my, you really are well versed in the Void if you discovered these.” Gaster says with a smile, slowly and cautiously using some kind of magic to draw the crystal close to him. “I myself don’t fully understand what these are, but according to Toby, they sometimes linger in these Dark Voids of especially expansive worlds.” Gaster approaches you with the crystal, reaching his enclosed fist out towards you and pushing the crystal in your direction. You hold your hand out and he deposits the small crystal into your hand. “My current hypothesis is this is a small fragment of information or reality that did not make it into the final product, so to speak. A cut idea, an unfinished thought. You’re all creators, but not every project is finished.”

You bring the small crystal up to your eye. There isn’t really that much for the translucent crystal to show you in this empty Void, but turning around and looking at your friends, you find that the crystal changes them. Catti is wearing her witch’s gown again through the crystal, but turning to look at Temmie and Toby, you find their real bodies instead of their small vessels.

“The crystals themselves don’t do much though.” Catti says, snatching the crystal out of your hand before you can spend too long staring through it. “They’re fun to look at, but they don’t actually do anything productive, we need more.”

“How much have you been looking into the Void exactly?” Temmie asks with some shock. “You’re practically already an expert!” Catti can’t help but wear a smug grin after that.

“Well, to be fair, I sat on the crystals I had for months before I even figured out how to make anything useful out of them.” She says. “I also couldn’t get the lens I made to work without Vess’ help. That’s what you do with these, right?” She turns to Gaster. “You’re trying to make a lens?”

“Precisely!” Gaster nods. “A looking glass into the world created by the forgotten fragments of it! Be a dear and hold onto that for me, I left a few more shards nearby.” Gaster starts to walk through the Void, cautiously holding his hand out to try and find more fragments in the dark. You follow after him at a slow pace, and while you do, the devs speak up.

“It sounds like you already knew quite a bit about this place before we even started talking.” Toby says. “I can’t even think of many other things to show you that you might not already know about.”

“I don’t know much at all.” You say. “Catti’s been researching this stuff for a while now and started exploring other worlds before I could even get a new vessel in here. Kris probably has a year of experience here too, but I don’t think it’d be a good idea to bring all that back up. That actually reminds me of something. Is time weird for you guys between these worlds? Have you ever been gone for a week or two only to find that months have passed in the world you were trying to visit?”

“Only early on and never a gap that drastic.” Temmie shakes her head. “Maybe your connection to the world was still taking time to form so time wasn’t working correctly. Is there anything else that you can think of that could have messed with your connection or warped your sense of time?”

“Maybe…” You mumble. Maybe this was another problem the resets caused. With people constantly resetting the clock over and over and over again while you were outside of its range, it had to have had some kind of effect on your connection with the world and the normal flow of time. You haven’t had a single problem since Chara took the resets with them, so maybe that was the problem. You’re about to offer your theory to the devs when Gaster finds the remaining pieces he needs to assemble a lens.

The process is very similar to the one you witnessed in Catti’s tower, though Gaster has a lot more difficulty combining the pieces himself with his weakened magic and incorporeal body. With your help, you combine the crystal fragments and momentarily fill the Void with light once they combine. The result is a small clear lens just like the one Catti created, though unlike the last one that needed the light of your soul to actually peer through the dark of the Void, you didn’t need that light to look out.

“-No, shut up! I need to think!” Almost immediately voices come through the lens, allowing all of you to eavesdrop on the conversation you just bailed out of. “Berdly?! Catti was definitely screwing with me then, right?”

“I don’t know, Catti’s blunt as a brick. I don’t think it’s even possible for her to laugh or make jokes.” Susie replies to Kris, earning a scoff out of Catti. “I mean… I think I can see it.”

“What?!” Kris blurts. “How?!”

“Berdly seems nice.” Ralsei speaks up, trying to get a word in. “He certainly seems to care quite a bit about what you think about him.”

“Because he can’t handle that I’m smarter than him!” Kris tries to argue. “God, what wacko world did those two come from? Vess seemed cool I guess, but Ralsei works for the government, I’m apparently romantically interested in Berdly, and I bet Susie’s dating someone weird too, like… I don’t know, Jockington?”

“Ew, what?!” Susie recoils. “Why Jockington?”

“Why Berdly?!”

“As much as I’d like to watch these three bicker, is it possible to change the channel?” Catti asks. “What else can you see through this? Our Gaster was probably using these to keep eyes all over town.”

“I’m afraid I am only limited to the Dark World.” Gaster informs. “If I focus hard enough, I can even speak to those in the Dark Worlds too, but my magic isn’t what it used to be after my soul was shattered. Without the magic of the Dark World, I’m unable to do anything outside of it, and what little I can do here isn’t much.” Gaster flips the lens in his fingers, and the three bickering friends around the cauldron vanish and the lens now focuses on Lancer, happily eating one of his signature lancer cookies. Flipping it again, the image changes to the interior of Seam’s seap. Strangely enough, Seam’s ears twitch once you’re all observing them, causing them to sit up and peer around the seap with their one eye. With another flip, the scene changes once more, but all of it is limited to Castle Town.

“I’m guessing this is how you found out about Toby?” You ask. Gaster nods.

“I found these shards in my original world as well and tried to search for them when I found this one.” He explains. “There wasn’t much to see, but due to a lack of focus points, the lens continued to show me this strange little dog who seemed to be everywhere. I tried to reach out to him, and I was more than surprised when he managed to find me out here.”

“Did you freak out when he started talking too?” You ask. “I was already familiar with him, but he still startles me whenever he starts talking while looking like he does now.”

“If my soul wasn’t shattered already, the scare he gave me alone would have probably done me in.” Gaster chuckles. “I was not familiar with him, but he was with me, and the things he told me opened my mind to all sorts of new possibilities within this Void. He showed me everything, we studied the Void and discovered so much together, and it’s his belief that he might be able to bring me into the world one day.”

“We probably can.” Catti nods. “We got Kris and Dess out of the Void before, same with the other you.” Gaster and the devs turn to face her in shock.

“We can?!” Temmie freaks out. “We can’t touch him so we can’t shortcut him back. Did you find some way to open a portal or something? This could be big! How do you do it?!” Gaster can’t even say anything, his mouth is left agape at the mere thought of being able to return to the physical world.

“Sans was the one behind all of the important sciency stuff behind it, but I’m pretty sure how he managed to do it was by bringing a physical place here.” You try to explain. “He couldn’t make shortcuts out here so he had his whole house rigged up to a machine in his shed to transport it around the Void. He actually lived out there for a while, using warp doors to let us come and go. When Kris got stuck out there, we went to him for help and he made a bunch of stuff to try and track them down and get the house over to them. Things got a lot more complicated and we brought along some people we didn’t want on the trip there and back, but once everyone was inside, they were able to be brought back.”

“Is it…” Toby tilts his head. “Is it really that easy?”

“Maybe Sans had some other stuff going on with his house.” Catti shrugs. “But it can’t hurt to try, right? Find a way to bring something physical here to put Gaster inside, and then move that thing back. Can we actually move stuff around with shortcuts? The mayor’s been asking me about that so we can find out if I can move stuff like cars or something.”

“He said that staying out in the nothingness of the Void can physically mess with you, but as long as you remain somewhere physical, you should be fine.” You continue, thinking back on the few visits you gave the skeleton. “Just bringing everyone back with the house was enough to fix them up a little, but…”

“They were like ghosts, weren’t they?” Catti asks. “We couldn’t touch them, they were barely there.”

“They were too broken to be fully put back together.” You nod. “There wasn’t enough of their soul left to become physical again until I gave them a piece of my own.”

“Until you what?!” Toby asks with some alarm.

“I…” You rest your hand on your chest. “I guess I don’t know if it’s safe to demonstrate here, but I’m not working with a full soul anymore. I had a small piece of it stolen from me a while ago, but I gave a piece of myself to my friends to make them whole again, to share some of my Determination with them so they could live a normal life.”

“That…” Toby is left momentarily speechless. “That doesn’t sound healthy at all.”

“How the hell do you give people pieces of your soul?!” Temmie asks in pure shock. “Why did this never come up in our talks, this sounds like a pretty big deal!”

“She just… kinda pulls it out I think.” Catti says. “Kris can do it too for some reason. I don’t know if they can do it now since they don’t really have much to work with anymore, but they can just rip the essence of their being out of their body and walk around like that for a while before they pass out. I’m guessing your Kris can’t do that?”

“Well…” Toby thinks for a while before vehemently shaking his head no. “There are some who can magically project their souls to use as a medium for their powers, but I’ve never heard of someone physically removing their soul from their body. Kris could be seen as an exception, but that wasn’t necessarily their own soul, it was a representation of the player.”

“Um…” You awkwardly scratch your head “Maybe this is another weird quirk of my world due to some weird interpretation of how I thought souls worked in your games?”

“Can we do that?” Temmie looks between you and Toby. “I know there’s some pretty big differences between our worlds, but can we just write in completely different rules for how those realities even work?”

“Fascinating…” Gaster speaks up for the first time in a while, finally finding the strength to speak. “You’re all truly fascinating! Offering pieces of yourself to give others a second chance. Rewriting fundamental laws of reality without even trying! I could study all of you for an eternity trying to find out how this all works. You really believe you can get me out of here? When? How soon can it happen?!”

“Hey, we’re all just as excited, but I think this will take time.” Temmie tells Gaster. “We certainly have plenty of things to try now, but for all we know, everything that worked for Vess might not work for you in this world if the rules really can change that much.”

“We’ll make getting you out of here this week's big project!” Toby promises. “Honestly, we’re learning more from Vess than she’s learning from us. For all we know, by the end of the day, we might have a surefire way of getting you out of here!”

“I have no doubt in my mind you’ll get me out of here.” Gaster nods, letting the lens in his hands fall and shatter into shards again. “I’ve always held on to the hope that you’d be my ticket out, but my chest stirs with anticipation for what I know now is certain.”

“The friends we’ve talked to in the physical world will be just as excited to hear that they’ll be able to meet you in person!” Temmie nods. “We still have some things we’d like to share with Vess, but once we’re finished, we’ll do everything in our power to help you out!”

“I won’t keep you then.” Gaster says, folding his hands behind his back. “Finish your business, I will remain here until you return.” With a smile on his face, Gaster watches as Toby approaches you, lifting up a paw and resting it on your shoe, and without warning, Gaster vanishes as you’re taken someplace new.

The new location you are taken to is no longer the Void, yet it feels oddly familiar and empty. The other two join you just as you take notice of something that helps you identify this place; a river is flowing nearby.

“Is this where I found you?” You ask as you spin around and take in the sights. The river was the first thing you noticed, but instead of infinite blackness surrounding the dark waters, the place was a lot more filled out, though it was still clearly unfinished. The sky still remained completely dark, but beneath your feet, there was actually solid ground. Rough looking patches of dirt stretch on for a while in every direction, but things only seem to grow in the immediate area next to the river. A large patch of grass and a single tree rests at the riverside, functioning as the only landmark other than the dirt and the river.

“It’s still a work in progress.” Toby nods, scampering towards the tree next to the river. “I put a lot more work into this over the past week than I thought I would, but after you managed to find me after I just started, I became a lot more interested in finishing it.”

“Wait, can you purposefully make things in real time?” You ask with some shock. “I made all my stuff by accident, you mean I can actually sit down and make something from scratch?”

“It takes a lot of time and practice to get right.” Toby tells you before finding a spot next to the tree and slumping over, resting on his side. “Go ahead and sit down.” You move to sit down by the tree, when Toby suddenly sets himself upright again. “Actually, I know the perfect addition to put here. It should only take a minute.” You watch as he steps away from the tree and places himself a few steps away from the river. He sits back down again and lowers his head. You watch him for a while before Catti and Temmie step up beside you next to the tree.

“So what’s this place supposed to be?” Catti asks. “If this place is the same River we found Toby at, I can’t imagine this place being turned into an entire world with a history if this is all that’s been done since I last saw it.”

“Trust me, Toby’s the closest thing I know to an expert on this kind of stuff, and there’s no way he’d be able to make something that complex in person. He gets all his real work done when he’s at a desk doodling and writing.” Temmie informs you. “Doing stuff in person like this is way harder, but it’s nice to have that sense of control and a small scale to work with. Oh, look!”

Looking up from Temmie, you return your attention to Toby to find that something new occupies the space right in front of him. While you were looking away, a bench suddenly materialized in the Void with you. It doesn’t look particularly comfortable, it’s blocky looking with no round edges and it appears to be made of solid, unlacquered wood, but from the satisfied look on Toby’s face, you can tell that he somehow made that bench out of literally nothing.

“Come on, have a seat!” He offers you and Catti, clearly proud of his work. “It’s not the greatest, but it’s the best I can make on a short notice. It’ll probably be way nicer the next time you visit, along with everything else here.” Sitting down on the grass beside the bench, he watches as you and Catti move to sit down. It wasn’t great, but it was better than sitting on the ground. You settle into your seat as Temmie and Toby look out into the river waters.

“So what is this place?” You repeat Catti’s earlier question. “Is this just a place to chill out?”

“More or less.” Toby says, leaning over and flopping onto his side, sprawling out in the grass. “Peace and quiet, as well as a good place to practice making things.”

“It should also be a perfect place to listen in on the song of the sea whenever it kicks in.” Temmie adds, earning a nod from Catti.

“The what?” You ask. You’ve heard Catti mention that before on your last boat ride, but she never went into detail about it.

“You can hear people out in the Void in a few really quiet places by the water.” Catti explains before the devs get a chance to, once again catching them by surprise as they’re caught off guard by how knowledgeable she is. “I’ve only caught it a couple times though, and the first time was when I was with Styx. Dess used to sing a bunch while she was stuck in the Void and they were a big fan.”

“That sounds really creepy.” You say.

“It kind of is.” Temmie nods. “But it’s also really soothing to hear too. It’s hard to explain, you just gotta hear it for yourself. We might get to hear it here if we’re lucky, but we aren’t a hundred percent sure why it happens in the first place, so maybe it won’t happen at all here.”

“The Void was able to lead Styx here, so there must be some sort of connection in place.” Catti deduces. “I’ve gone out of my way to listen to it again and only managed to hear it one more time. It must be a pretty rare occurrence.”

“I’ve only heard it once.” Temmie nods. “Toby says he’s heard it a handful of times, but it’s been months since he heard it again.”

“I aim to fix that with this place.” Toby explains. “I haven’t been going out of my way to listen out for it, but if I’m ever in need of some place quiet to unwind, I’ll do it in my own handmade paradise here, listening to the rushing waters to see if I can catch something else in there.”

You all sit in silence for a little while, listening to the water rush down the stream. Without any other sounds, it’s equal parts relaxing and eerie. There’s no birds chirping, no wind blowing, only the sounds of the river and your quiet breathing. Several minutes pass in silence before Catti lets out a disappointed hum. You guess you aren’t going to get to hear it this time. It’s got you curious now. What does it sound like? How many people are there in the Void to hear? Would you be able to hear Chara in there somewhere? Maybe you could spend some time with Ralsei by the river to try and listen in. Catti certainly learned a lot just by hanging out by the river back at Hometown.

“So I have a question.” Catti speaks up after it becomes clear you aren’t going to hear anything from the river. “I’ve not only been keeping up with all of this, but I seem to be slightly more knowledgeable about all this stuff than you guys are. If people within these worlds are able to travel between them, reach out to your reality, and use different powers thanks to their Determination, is it possible I could be like one of you?”

Temmie and Toby don’t give her an immediate answer as they mull over the question. “I feel like we’d see a lot more activity out here if our own creations could create things themselves.” Toby eventually says.

“What if there’s layers to this?” Catti suggests. “What if we’re capable of making things in our own smaller Void that you can’t get into? What if you guys are part of a slightly higher plane than mine and someone even higher made you?”

“We’re parallel to each other.” Temmie insists. “Neither of us are higher or lower than each other.”

“So can we affect your world like you can ours?” Catti presses. “If there are multiple worlds in the Void on our end, are there multiple worlds on your end too? If we’re truly parallel like you say, we should be able to make new worlds on your end and explore them.”

“Uh…” Temmie starts to get overwhelmed by the surge of questions being thrown her way. Her and Toby have been doing this way longer than you have, but they were still learning just like you.

“Maybe we’re not parallel, but the stuff that goes on here definitely does affect what goes on back home.” You say, leaning in on your own experiences. “Kris has reached out to me a couple times and Toby’s done the same thing to talk to Temmie while he was in here. The pieces of my soul I gave away affected me in my world too, and after leaving the world for the first time, I would sometimes have strange dreams or sense that something was going on near my vessel while I was away. My experiences aren’t just limited to when I’m here, it follows me back home in little ways.”

“Yeah, Kris talks about having weird dreams all the time too and they say it’s your fault.” Catti nods.

“Oh don’t get me started on the dreams.” You shake your head. “It feels like every other night I have some weird ass fever dream from multiple perspectives. I think by sharing my soul, I’m catching glimpses of their life, but it’s so garbled that I can’t make sense of what’s going on ninety percent of the time.”

“I used to have weird dreams too, but your weird soul stuff is new to me.” Toby says. “Hearing that you can alter the rules of how this works opens up all sorts of possibilities.”

“Too many, really.” Temmie says. “Can we even fully understand this if we can change the rules for how it works?”

“You two have been taking advantage of it despite not knowing how it works.” You point out. “The more we learn, the more we can do with it, even if it’s impossible to get the full picture.”

“As long as we continue to stare into the abyss that is the Void, we will continue to learn more of its arcane secrets.” Catti says with a smile. “You three are out here creating entire realities by accident, yet I know more about all of this than you do. I look forward to learning even more about this place, as I fully intend on surpassing my makers in knowledge and power.”

“You know…” You speak up. “You kind of scare me sometimes.”

“Hey, you all made me this way.” Catti shrugs. “Besides, you don’t gotta worry about me pulling any fast ones on you. Not only are you still an all powerful god-like being that I shouldn’t mess with, but you’re cool. Also, I’ve been hanging out near Ralsei more often since the Mayor keeps calling me and I’m starting to grow on him. I don’t want to make him sad.”

“Good to know.” You nod. Most of those sounded like vague threats and you were tempted to throw one back, something along the lines of you don’t want to see him sad either so you don’t plan on letting anything happen to you. It’s clear that she’s just messing with you though. You haven’t had much time to really get to know her or… well… anyone else in town. Dess was running around with a piece of your own immortal soul and you’ve maybe talked to her twice since coming back.

You really gotta branch out more and talk to some of these guys. Hanging out with Ralsei was the main reason you came here, but there were plenty of other friends to hang out with and new ones to make. Ralsei’s probably familiar with all of them himself, so maybe he can help you break the ice.

“Anything else you two wanted to show me?” You ask the devs, shifting uncomfortably on the bench as you do so.

“Nothing crazy like we’ve shown you so far.” Temmie says. “We showed you our version of Deltarune, we introduced you to Gaster, and we came here to wind down a bit. Catti already knew most of everything we were gonna show off and you gave us more things to think about than we did for you. We don’t really have anything else planned, but wow, this was crazy! It’s like we’re exploring a brand new frontier, deeper than the ocean and more boundless than space! Even the laws of reality are things we have to relearn and try to understand.”

“Too much work.” Toby groans, stretching out in the grass. “This is really cool and all, but we could spend forever here just trying to make sense of things. I just wanna see the cool worlds and hang out with all my favorite characters.”

“Think, Toby!” Temmie turns to her friend. “We’re all essentially gods who created multiverses by accident! This entire plane of reality is ours to mold, we could do so much more than making this place into a glorified nap room!”

“Yeah, tell him Temmie!” Catti cheers her on.

“Hey, I know what I want.” Toby dismisses their arguments. “I want to take a nap underneath the shade of a tall tree, free of all responsibility and happy as a dog. Who cares about the infinite possibilities of the Void, this right here is all I need.”

“Living the life.” You nod your head. As vast and intriguing as the Void is and as much as you want to keep exploring and learning how to manipulate it to your benefit, you also just wanna go back to Castle Town, to hang out with your friends and forget about all this crazy nonsense. Besides, you already let a handful of crazies loose into the Void, you don’t really want to go making more. You just wanna learn what you can to get your other friends in on this and spend time with your Prince.

“Well you two can bum around and ignore your reality creating powers.” Catti crosses her arms. “I’m not gonna sit around while divinity is within my grasp.”

“What exactly do you plan to do with that kind of power?” Temmie asks.

“What do you plan to do?” Catti challenges.

“I want to make all of my OCs real people!” Temmie says. “I’ve been drawing for years. Do you know how cool it would be to actually get to meet all of my creations?”

“That’s too small scale for what we’re dealing with here.” Catti shakes her head. “I want to watch over a planet as life itself grows from nothing. I want to push it along, build it up, and work miracles for them. I want to become God to them.”

“I think you need to reel talk like that back a little.” You suggest. “You’re starting to sound just as crazy as the people we kicked out.”

“I plan to be a benevolent god, don’t worry.” Catti says with a smirk, trying to lean back on the bench but finding she’s unable to with how crudely it’s been built. “So as quiet as this place is, any chance we can explore a little bit more? You two must get around, right? Do you know any place cool like that planet made out of sugar and tea?”

“Oh, Vess.” Toby eventually pushes himself back to his feet. “You said you’re still learning how to use shortcuts yourself, right? Maybe we can get you some practice before we send you back.”

“Oh yeah! There’s so many cool places to show off!” Temmie nods. “Once you master how to take shortcuts, you shouldn’t have to rely on us anymore to get around. You could pop in and visit whenever you have questions or want to take the time to learn more. We might have to coordinate a little on the other side to make sure we’re all in here, but one of us should always be free to explore the Void some more!”

“Sounds like a plan.” You nod, feeling a smile creep across your face. “I’m leaning more on Toby’s side of things of wanting to chill out in the world I made, but I’ll definitely be coming around again to see what else is out here.”

“That’s great to hear!” Toby says, wagging his tail. “Now, let’s find someplace a little more filled out to help teach you how to master your shortcuts. It really isn’t all that hard once you learn how it works, you’ll be an expert in no time!”

Standing up from the incredibly uncomfortable bench, you watch as Toby marches up to you, ready to take you someplace new. Temmie and Catti gather up next to you as well, eager to show you around and learn about this incredible place. Honestly, things were starting to get overwhelming at this point. There were so many things you still wanted to do back in Hometown, but now you had entire multiverses to explore and the infinite Void to research. Unfortunately for you, the two were sort of incompatible. Ralsei physically couldn’t follow you to most of these places except maybe the Dark World in the alternate Deltarune, and Kris probably can’t follow you anywhere out here thanks to their Void related trauma. Your attention was being split, but there was only one place where Ralsei was. Your Ralsei, anyways.

Once you’re all gathered up and holding hands, Toby takes you somewhere new, ready to train you in on some of your innate abilities as this Determined, all powerful creator within the Void.

“I’m not saying I don’t like the look, it’s very striking, but… why did you start walking around like this?” Ralsei asks Kris, who after their short trip to the studio to talk to the crew bots, has returned looking straight out of a dark fantasy movie.

“I tried to sneak into the studio to find a disguise while people were convinced I was the Lightbringer and Biz caught me the moment I walked in.” Kris explains, tugging at their faded, torn cape and brushing aside their bangs to reveal their dark eyeshadow which brought out the red in their eyes. “He of course put on a show and the crew bots were told to try and make me look as evil as possible to be the antagonist in his performance, but they did a really good job. It didn’t help me blend in at all after I left, it arguably drew even more attention to myself, but Berdly got real worked up over seeing me like this and I wanna see how he reacts when I show up to his house tomorrow.” Turning their eyes on Ralsei, Kris flashes their trademark evil grin which looks even more sinister with their new appearance. “I bet Vess will be all over you too when you show up looking like that.”

“I think so too.” Ralsei is quick to say, knowing Kris is trying to fluster him. Vess was all over him regardless of what he looked like, but looking at himself in the mirror, he wonders if she’ll be able to compose herself around him at all.

He didn’t have a whole wardrobe and makeup crew to help him out, but Ralsei knew a thing or two thanks to his expansive library. His old green robes were handmade, and ever since the idea came up to get everyone a makeover, he’s been stitching something new together. He and Kris were waiting in the main hall for Susie to arrive, and as he waited, he couldn’t help but look down at his newly made dress.

He briefly considered swapping colors, knitting together a green scarf to go with mostly pink, but he was far too attached to his current look to deviate too much from it. Despite that, he made many changes to his attire. Forgoing his thick and warm green robes, he made a much lighter dress out of the same shade of green, the skirt reaching past his knees and progressively growing darker the lower it went in a really striking green to black gradient. His black sleeves were gone now, and in their place were a pair of black fingerless gloves that went most of the way up his arm. He thought it looked a little strange, especially since it didn’t fully cover his arm and the space above his elbow and below his shoulders was uncovered, but Kris assured him that it looked cool. They were all trying new things, it was fine to experiment a little with their looks. Finally, he now donned his hat again, through this time it no longer had its dark magic hiding his true form anymore. He was so shy when he first met his friends that he hid himself but there was no need to hide. He spent a lot of time making the hat too, and with spring fast approaching, it was going to get brighter and warmer outside so he could use the shade.

Finally, once the dress was finished, he embroidered a spade on the front of it, similar to the one on his old robes, but with one new addition. Right in the center of the black spade was a smaller, bright red heart. He hopes that Vess will give him the chance to embroider a little green heart on her dress too so they can match.

“Woah!” Turning around, Kris and Ralsei find Susie stepping through the front gates and she immediately takes notice of their new looks. “Holy shit Ralsei, you look adorable!”

“Th-thank you.” Ralsei says with a blush. He couldn’t wait for Vess to see it when she got back.

“And Kris, you…” Susie starts, but trails off before she can finish.

“Yes?” Kris leans forward, waiting for a response.

“This isn’t exactly what I expected, but you look sick as hell!” Susie nods. “I was gonna say you look great, but it looks like you intentionally went and made yourself look all beat up. It’s super cool though. Is there a story behind this, or did you just want to look edgy?”

“Both, but I’ll get into it when Vess shows up.” Kris nods. “That’s a sweet jacket, by the way.”

“Yeah, it… it kinda looks dangerous.” Ralsei comments with some concern.

“Took you two long enough to notice!” Susie beams, throwing her arms wide to show it off. She hasn’t changed much except for her vest which she has completely replaced. She now wore an incredibly long, sleeveless tailcoat with spiked shoulder pads, spiked collar, spiked… everything. The back of her coat also had what looked like hotrod flames running up her back. It looked a little goofy, but it also looked really cool. Ralsei supposes that fits Susie to a tee; the coolest goober he’s ever known. Sure that’s what she calls him, but it takes one to know one.

“How am I supposed to give you a hug with all the spiky bits on you now?” Ralsei asks.

“Eh, don’t worry.” Susie dismisses his concerns. “You’re both too short to stab yourselves on me.”

“What about Noelle?” Kris brings up a valid concern.

“She won’t mind them.” Susie assures. “She makes out with a face full of these every day,” Susie flashes them both her jaw of razor sharp teeth, “she’s used to it by now. So… Is Vess back yet? She’s already got something picked out, right?”

“Yes!” Ralsei nods excitedly. “I picked something out on her last night here before she left a week ago. She looks super pretty but she was shy about showing it off. She’s gonna look amazing though, trust me!”

“Hey, no doubts from me.” Kris says. “Though, she could probably run around wearing a trashbag and you’d still think she was the most beautiful person in the world.”

“Because she is!” Ralsei insists. “I just wish she’d hurry up and come home.”

As if immediately summoned by his wishes, Vess, Catti, and the two small devs suddenly materialize within the main hall of the castle.

“Speak of the devil.” Kris chuckles.

“Hey guys, I’m ba-” Vess turns to greet them, but the moment she and everyone else she brought with her takes notice of their new looks, they all suddenly find themselves speechless.

“God, how did they get even cooler since we left?!” Temmie boggles.

“Hey Kris.” Catti gives an approving nod to Kris, clearly into their new look. “If we’re done here, I gotta go check in on my Temmie. Vess, swing by my place whenever you plan on going on another trip like this. Later.” Catti makes a quick exit, vanishing before anyone else can say anything. Ralsei turns his attention to Vess only to find that she can’t stop staring at him. He tips the brim of his hat downard to try and hide the blush forming on his face, but that action only seems to draw more attention to himself.

“I think she likes it!” Susie gives him a little nudge. “You just gonna stare at each other or are you gonna say something?”

“H-hi Vess.” Ralsei greets her, finding himself nervous again with how shamelessly she was staring at him. “Do you like my new look?”

“I didn’t think you could get any cuter…” She mumbles out, still stunned by his looks.

“Aw come on, that’s an easy bar to pass for him.” Kris shakes their head.

“So where’s your new fit?” Susie asks Vess. “Ralsei said he picked something out for you a while ago and you’ve been keeping it from us.”

“Oh, uh…” That seems to snap Vess out of her trance, bringing her back to the present. “Right, that’s in Ralsei’s room, um…” Looking around, she remembers that the devs are here. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting him to surprise me like this, I gotta…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Temmie assures her. “We have some important business to get to ourselves. We’ll see you again soon, Vess. You know where to find us if you have any more questions.” The devs vanish, leaving Vess by herself along with Ralsei and his friends.

“So if you’re done staring and drooling over your boyfriend’s new outfit, we’re still waiting on you to get changed too.” Kris reminds her.

“Give me a minute, alright.” She says, brushing her hair aside. “I just spent the past few hours jumping from universe to universe just to come home to find Ralsei looking like the most adorable thing on the planet. I need a second to compose myself.”

“You really think I look that cute?” Ralsei asks, finding himself unable to stop blushing.

“I didn’t even notice anyone else changed until just now.” Vess nods. “I see Kris looks like they came straight out of Berserk again for some reason.”

“Because it looks hot.” Kris states, not elaborating further.

“And Susie’s got a new jacket.” Vess observes. “That’s a lot of spikes.”

“Thank you.” Susie nods in appreciation. “Anything special to say about your Prince’s new outfit?”

“It speaks for itself, doesn’t it?” Vess says. “The dress, the little heart he sewed onto it, the return of the hat. He looks amazing!”

“Not as amazing as you do.” Ralsei tries to deflect, melting under the praise Vess keeps showering him in.

“Well we haven’t seen her in her new outfit yet.” Kris reminds him. “If you’re saying it’s better than yours, then hurry up! I wanna see it!”

“Right, right.” Peeking up from under his hat, Ralsei finds that Vess is blushing now too. Is she still nervous about wearing the dress?

“Would you like my help getting changed?” Ralsei asks. She looked so pretty in that dress, he really doesn’t understand why she’d be so anxious about being seen in it, but if his presence made it easier for her, he wanted to help.

“She can dress herself, you know?” Kris says with a bemused grin. “Are you just jumping at every opportunity to strip her down?”

“I’d appreciate it.” Vess says before Ralsei has to dignify Kris with an answer. “Come here and take my hand, I have something else to show you too.” Ralsei steps forward, reaching out as Vess holds her hand out to him. The moment they touch, he turns to move for the stairs to take her to his room, but before he could take a single step, he suddenly found he was already there.

“Huh?!” He looks around in shock before turning to face Vess in surprise. “Did you just-”

“Shortcut.” Vess says with a smile, laughing slightly at his reaction. “I had a really interesting trip. I can tell you all about it once we’re back downstairs with the others. I even got to see another you out there while on my trip.”

“You did?!” Ralsei gasps. “What was he like? Was he just like me?”

“He was just as sweet and kind, but nowhere near as cute as you are now.” Vess tells him, leaning down and lifting his hat up to give him a quick kiss. “I almost wanna keep you up here for the rest of the day, you look so good.”

“Vess, please.” Ralsei felt like his whole body was on fire with how much he was blushing. “Kris was already making jokes, if we stay up here too long, they’re going to think we’re up to something. You’re going to look even cuter in your own dress anyways. I really want everyone to see you in it.”

“R-right.” Vess says, still sounding nervous about it. Despite that, she starts moving towards the wardrobe where she’s stashed it and Ralsei follows behind her, reaching out to undo the clasps holding her armor in place.

“Are you still shy about being seen in it?” Ralsei asks, trying to ease her worries. “Everyone’s going to love it, I promise.”

“I don’t doubt it, it’s just…” Vess reaches out and grabs hold of her dress from Ralsei’s wardrobe, staring down at it for a brief moment before she continues. “I don’t know, this all still feels new to me. After coming out to my friends, they helped me buy some new clothes. It was nothing nearly as fancy or girly as this, but I still feel weirdly anxious about wearing that in public too. I’ve lived my entire life dressing and looking like a boy, so the sudden change almost seems wrong. It feels great, I look great, but I’m kind of scared to see what other people will think once they see me like this for the first time. People back home have a certain mental image of me, but what I am now is so completely different from the old me that I wonder if people won’t like it.”

“Change is scary.” Ralsei nods understandingly, helping Vess slide her chestplate off. “I can’t say I relate fully to your problem, once I found out what I liked, I made the change without a second thought, but I didn’t have anyone else to share it with or criticize me for it. I just did what made me happy and that’s all that mattered at the time. I know stuff outside of the Dark World is a bit more complicated than it is inside, but you should be completely safe here. Everyone here will support you, no matter what. Besides, if someone didn’t like how you looked in this dress, does their opinion really matter? They obviously must be blind because you’re the most beautiful Princess in the world.”

“Alright alright.” Vess nods her head with a widening smile. “Let’s just hurry this along. The sooner everyone sees it, the sooner I can stop worrying about it.”

Quickly helping Vess out of her armor and tunic, he gets her fitted into her new dress. He’s already seen her in the dress, but he’s still left breathless once she’s wearing it again. She just looked so pretty. He must have stood there staring at her for a minute straight before he realized she was staring at him and his new outfit again too.

“We should probably get back downstairs now.” Ralsei speaks up, snapping Vess out of her trance.

“Right.” Vess nods, holding out her hand for Ralsei to come with her on her shortcut. Taking her hand, Ralsei can feel how anxious Vess is and leans up to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. She’d be alright. She was beautiful and anyone who thought otherwise was clearly in the wrong.

With a quick jump, they’re back in the main hall where their friends have been impatiently waiting.

“Finally!” Kris exclaims once they arrive. “What were you two doing up there that took you… so…” Their words fizzle out once they get a good look at Vess, their mouth held agape.

“Dude…” Susie’s left in a similar awestruck state. “Holy shit, you look amazing! You look straight out of a Disney movie or something, oh my god!”

“Well it’s obvious who got the biggest glow up now.” Kris nods. “How long have you been sitting on this? I’m surprised you didn’t break this out the moment you got it! Where did you even get a dress like that, I want one now!”

“I told you they’d like it.” Ralsei tells Vess, only to look up and find she’s on the verge of tears. “Woah! What’s wrong?!”

“Nothing, it’s…” She sniffles, trying to take a deep breath. “I’m just not used to so many people saying things like that.”

“I think you’re gonna have to get used to it because anyone who sees you wearing that is gonna say the same exact thing.” Susie insists.

“Is this the first time you’re dressing up after coming out?” Kris asks, clearly caught off guard by Vess’ emotional state.

“It’s the first time anyone other than Ralsei’s seen me wearing something like this.” Vess nods, trying her best to remain composed. Ralsei’s more than relieved to find that those were tears of joy threatening to spill, but still, he had no idea just how much this meant to her. Kris seems pretty knowledgeable, maybe he should speak with them some time to learn more and see what he could do to help Vess along.

“Well you look great.” Kris says. “Better than great, actually. I’d keep laying on praise, but it isn’t as fun if you’re going to cry instead of flustering like Ralsei does. I almost felt the same way the first time people stopped immediately assuming I was a boy. I didn’t start crying and snotting all over myself, but it felt amazing. It also doesn’t get old for a while, so I really hope you aren’t going to be teary eyed every single time someone says you look nice in a dress.”

“Ok, I get it.” Vess laughs through the tears. “It’s just a big moment for me, alright. Lay off. But, thank you. There’s so much going on these days that I barely have time to really get to know myself. I don’t want to rush things, but… it feels so nice to be seen like this.”

“You’d probably look a little overdressed for Berdly’s smash tournament tomorrow, but you and Ralsei will easily be the best looking out of all of us when we get there.” Susie nods, giving her a wide smile. “You are coming for that, right?”

“I should be free for the rest of the week, yeah.” Vess nods. “I’m still kinda anxious about wearing this everywhere I go though. Maybe for special occasions?”

“No, come on!” Ralsei whines. “You look so pretty! Everyone loves it! Why keep it in the closet?”

“Yeah, you just spent all this time getting out of there, bring your clothes with you.” Kris comments.

“Susie just said I’ll look overdressed for a game night.” Vess argues.

“Yeah, and Kris looks like they’re about to take over the entire kingdom.” Susie argues back. “Besides, the Dark World has everyone wearing weird stuff. Dess is still running around in that poofy looking Bard outfit, you arguably look better and more put together than most people in town at this point.”

“Alright, alright.” Vess relents. “You convinced me. It’s staying on. I might be getting back into my armor whenever I head out again though, just in case.”

“The makeover is complete.” Kris nods, satisfied by everyone’s new appearance and Vess’ acceptance of her new wardrobe.

“Now, can we hear about what you did?” Ralsei asks. “You said you saw another me out there, right? Did you see the others too?”

“Wait, you saw another Ralsei?!” Susie practically jumps. “Wait a minute, what did you do while you were gone?!”

Over the next hour, the four of them gathered around to hear Vess’ story as she detailed the differences between the two versions of this world she visited, the various abilities of the devs, and Catti’s already expansive knowledge on all of the Void nonsense. As she told the story, Susie got to work trying to make something for them all in the cauldron. Ralsei had given her free reign to practice with it earlier in the day, but Vess’ departure and their plan to get dressed up must have interrupted her cooking.

As Vess shared, Ralsei could see she was acting less reserved about her appearance. By the time the stories had wrapped up and they all left to visit the cafe to share a slice of the pie Susie made with Lancer, she didn’t even hesitate to step outside in her new dress. Even last week, she was debating on whether she wanted to be called a girl or not, but once she started she instantly loved it. How many other small things was she holding back? What else was she scared to show the world?

None of that nervousness was here now and she looked happier than ever. The solution was so simple, just do what made you happy, but evidently something was holding her back, some fear of being ostracized or looked down on kept her from fully embracing herself. It’s probably just another ”real world” thing, some dumb social standard that doesn’t really apply in this fantasy world they occupy now. Evidently the fantasy novels and school textbooks in his library don’t go into too much detail about societal taboos or current events or anything of that nature. His world view was probably extremely narrow and naïve, but was that a bad thing? He was certainly a happier and more accepting person because of it.

He wanted Vess to feel happy about who she was, both here and back in her world. She was beautiful, and anyone who says otherwise didn’t know what they were talking about.

Chapter Text

Everything was ready.

Berdly has been planning this for a while now and has spent the past few days tirelessly preparing his home for the upcoming smash tournament. He fluffed the bean bag chairs, he cleaned the tv screen, he assembled a snack bar with his last reserves of junk food and mountain dew, and of course he baked a fresh gamers delight for the occasion with his recently learned baking skills.

Berdly always dreamed of participating in a tournament like this, but he never thought he’d be the one hosting it at his place. He used to be so happy whenever Noelle or Kris agreed to play with him back in the day, but now all of his friends were getting together to virtually beat the snot out of each other. It’s also the first big get-together they’ve had since the camping trip, so there was a lot of hype to try and live up to. He’s positive that the all night gaming session he had planned would be better than sleeping out in the cold.

He still had some time before his friends would head out though, so as he waited, he began to pace the room, double checking everything and finding new things to try and maintain. All of the controllers were fully functional, no sticky buttons or tangled wires. None of the game discs were scratched and every game he planned to play through the night was in its proper case. What else could he do?

Maybe he should freshen himself up a bit more? People keep saying he smells like cheetos and it’s starting to get to him, no matter how many times Kris assures him they like it. It’s extra concerning because he ran out of cheetos a month ago, why is the smell still li-

“Sup bird brain.”

“GAH!” Berdly jumps in place, his whole body contorting to try and kick and flail out and whoever just intruded into his home, only to find Susie cackling maniacally at his reaction. “Susie?! Oh no, don’t tell me you can teleport too!”

“Aw man, that was awesome!” Susie gasps for breath once her giggle fit passes. “Just dropped in to give you a heads up and make sure you were ready.” Susie eventually explains herself once she’s caught her breath. “Also yes, I know how to take shortcuts too. We’re all gonna be dropping by in like five minutes.”

“How are you all doing that?!” Berdly demands. “Kris at least has the decency to keep shortcuts to a minimum, but I know for a fact you’ll use it for evil!”

“Eh…” Susie gives him a shrug. “You’re gonna have to bother Vess about it. She and Catti have the most practice with this, but Vess herself is the one dealing with all the weird Void stuff behind this. It’s up to her if she wants to share it. Anyways, see you in a bit!”

Just as suddenly as she appeared, Susie vanished, leaving Berdly more than a little ruffled and now twice as anxious about everyone coming over. There wasn’t going to be a knock on the door or anything to give him some last minute time to spruce up, they were just going to be in his room the moment they were ready. Thinking fast, he leaves the gamer room for just a moment to head to the bathroom to make sure all his feathers were smoothed over and to try and mask whatever the cheeto smell everyone keeps talking about is. Digging around long enough, he finds a can of axe body spray that Jockington lent to him for gym class years ago. He isn’t sure if smelling like some sweaty dude bro would be better than he was now, but he gives himself the smallest spray anyways just to be safe. This was his first big event, he had to be at his absolute best.

It takes everyone longer than five minutes to show up, and in that time, Berdly starts to pace again. He’s not missing anything, is he? The games are all accounted for, there’s plenty of room and controllers to go around… If they were all going to be here for hours at a time, should he maybe lay out more than a bunch of chips and a pie? Maybe he should have ordered a few pizza’s too just to be safe. He might still have time to call some in before Kri-

“I’m back.” Despite knowing they were coming, Berdly still jolts slightly when Susie announces her presence again. Hopefully what he has will last, can’t call anything in now.

“Welcome, everyone!” Pushing through his disappointment, he turns to greet his guests. “Gamers, gamer girls, and of course my partner who…” Berdly’s words start to fizzle out as he sees that it looks like everyone dressed their best for the event, but they die completely in his throat the moment he lays eyes on Kris. Everyone else was dressed in something nice to change up their usual look, but Kris… They looked so… Familiar? No, that’s not it, but it’s hard to pull his eyes away from them.

“It’s certainly making Berdly harder with how often he keeps staring at you.”

An old memory suddenly hits him out of nowhere, pulled from the deepest recesses of his overwritten past. Kris has worn this before, and just like back then, he found himself incredibly attracted to the new, edgier look. He doesn’t remember the context of why they’re wearing this, or even who made that comment, but Kris must have shown up wearing this to fish for this exact reaction.

“Greetings, my dear consort.” Kris greets him, slipping into their knightly tone of voice that they sometimes use, usually to mock him when he does it. “What festivities do you have planned for us this evening?”

“Y-you know…” Berdly forces out, trying to compose himself in front of the rest of his friends. “I got all the games ready and… stuff…”

“This pleases me greatly, my loyal knight.” Kris coos, still playing up their new dark and mysterious appearance.

“Are you gonna talk like that all day?” Vess speaks up, drawing Berdly’s attention away from Kris long enough to pay attention to everyone else.

“You and Ralsei were insufferably into each other for a week straight, let me have this.” Kris breaks kayfabe for exactly one sentence before slipping back into the dark knight voice. “Come now, Berdly, my beloved, show us a good time.”

“W-well of course my…” Berdly nervously tries to play along, but hesitates as he’s unsure how to continue. “What should I call you now?” He asks. “You keep calling me your beloved consort, what should I call you while you’re doing this?”

“Lord, Master, Tyrant, whichever you please.” Kris informs him.

“Larping dorks.” Vess mocks.

“Kiss my ass, Princess.” Kris snaps back.

“Whatever you wish, your highness.” Berdly eventually settles on a title, bowing his head slightly. “You aren’t going to keep that crown on your head by the end of the day, however. I’m not going to go easy on any of you for this tournament.”

“Does that mean I’ll become queen if I beat both of you?” Noelle challenges.

“Is there an actual crown we get for winning?” Susie adds on. “Tournaments usually have a prize pool, right?”

“Of course, Susie.” Berdly nods. “It has nothing to do with a royal title though, don’t let Kris’ ramblings fool you. You of course get bragging rights and the title of pro gamer, but you will also receive exclusive rights to use the wavebird gamecube controller until the next tournament and fifty dollars I found in the couch cushions.”

“Only the winner gets to use the wireless controller?!” Ralsei gasps. “That’s quite the prize. The only way to play while lying on the couch is with that one, the wires are too short on all the other controllers.”

“I’m sorry, dear Prince.” Kris lowers their head. “With everyone contending for the same prize, I’m afraid you will have to reduce yourself to using a wired controller from this point on. I do not plan on going down easy.”

“Well maybe today I’ll work a miracle.” Ralsei insists, not backing down from Kris’ assurances that he’d lose.

“I don’t know, Ralsei.” Noelle tries to let him down gently. “I’ve seen these two go at it. If there’s fifty bucks on the table, none of them are going to go easy on us.”

“He’s got me fighting for him though.” Vess chimes in, wrapping an arm around Ralsei’s shoulder. “The controller’s all yours if I win.”

“Odds still aren’t in your favor.” Susie challenges. “I’ve been swinging by here for a while now getting better. You’ve been too busy making out with Ralsei to get any real practice in.”

“I’ve played smash bros before, and while I’m probably not the best, I know what I’m doing.” Vess says. “Miles could probably wipe the floor with every single one of us, so I’m not scared of Kris or Berdly.”

“We will make you reconsider, won’t we, my dearest consort?” Kris warns, turning to face Berdly.

“Yes we will.” Berdly nods, finally settling into this weird roleplay thing Kris is doing. “Our rule over this land will not be challenged, your majesty.”

“I really hope they don’t keep this up the whole time.” Noelle groans.

“Kris’ll get sick of it like five minutes from now.” Susie assures. “I doubt they’ll be able to keep the act up when we start kicking their ass.”

“Or it could get ten times worse if they start beating us.” Vess warns.

“That’s just more motivation to kick their butt!” Ralsei rallies everyone together. “Berdly! Get the game ready! We’re gonna take you down!”

Berdly can’t help but break into a smug grin as he leads everyone to the couch and bean bags. Everyone was already heavily invested in this. No matter how the tournament itself goes, he’s assured that everyone will have a fun evening. He shows everyone their seats, rolls out the snack table, and boots up melee, but most importantly, he lays out the rules and tournament structure.

“Now, there are only six of us with varying levels of skill, so it was difficult to come up with an actual bracket that would be fair.” Berdly announces as he moves to the corner of the room. Resting against the wall is a whiteboard with a sheet hung over it. Wheeling it out next to the couch, he continues explaining how the tournament will go. “To prevent any fixed fights and to ensure everyone gets a fair shot, I have decided we are going to use a stock system for elimination.”

Pulling the sheets off in dramatic fashion, Berdly reveals something he spent all of last night working on. Drawn onto the white board were little portraits of himself and his friends drawn in dry erase marker, as well as three hearts beneath each picture. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to give himself hand cramps the night before the big tournament, but the reaction he gets makes the effort worth it.

“Woah! Did you draw all those yourself?” Ralsei asks with some wonder. “You did a really good job!”

“Well thank you!” Berdly beams. “My artistic ability isn’t comparable to my intellect or gaming skill, but I tried my best. Anyways, the rules…” Clearing his throat, he points out the three stocks. “Fights will be set up according to a dice roll, each number representing one of you in sequential order on the board here. Once two combatants are chosen, they will play under standard competitive rules. Three stocks, final destination, no items. Whoever loses the fight will lose a stock on the board and we’ll roll again. The first two who are picked will be exempt from the next roll, leaving the remaining four to be randomly paired up, the second pair will go, then the remaining two will go last. Once everyone’s had a go, everyone will be put back into the pool to be paired up again. This should give everyone time to rest up between each fight and to prevent someone from being rolled three times in a row. Once people are fully eliminated, all remaining fights will be completely random as we won’t be able to pair everyone equally anymore, but by then, you should be fully warmed up.” With his long winded explanation finished, he turns to his friends. “Any questions?”

“I think I got it.” Vess nods. “Let’s get this rolling then. It looks like we’re gonna be at this for a while.”

“Right.” Berdly nods, picking up the d6 lying on the marker stand of the whiteboard. “Let’s see who’s up first!” Rolling the die twice and consulting the whiteboard, the first two combatants are himself and Susie.

“Alright!” Susie cheers. “Kris, you ready to see me smash your boyfriend?”

“Phrasing, Susie.” Ralsei comments. “Though I feel like you said that on purpose.”

“The Prince is learning.” Kris gives him a slow clap.

“I’m not sure where this confidence is coming from.” Berdly shakes his head. “You’re going up against a pro gamer, we might as well already wipe a stock off.”

“Cut the bullshit, bird boy!” Susie declares. “Pick up a controller and take the beating that’s coming to you!”

With a scoff, Berdly steps forward and picks up his controller, sitting down on the closest bean bag chair to the tv. Despite his bravado, he knows this won’t be a cakewalk. Susie’s been swinging by for weeks now, always practicing and getting better. Everyone here has some level of skill, he wasn’t so up his own ass that he couldn’t see that, but he was confident enough in his own skills to know that he could easily win this competition as long as he played cautiously. Noelle wasn’t that big on fighting games, but she was just as much of a gamer as he was. Susie’s been getting better and better and Kris was always pushing him to his limits.

Ralsei and Vess were wild cards. Unlike the rest of his friends, Ralsei was just straight up not good at video games. He didn’t have the reflexes or the game sense that Berdly has honed over several years of practice, but he’s an incredibly fast learner. Even though he doesn’t always remember what all the buttons on his controller do, he knows exactly what he wants to do in game to dodge, counter, and punish any slip ups Berdly makes. His inexperience makes him unpredictable, but he has lulled him into a false sense of security before to secure a stock or two on him before fumbling.

Vess was a complete mystery to him. She’s come over once or twice to play, but never long enough for him to get a proper read on her. She’s obviously familiar with this game and plays competently enough, but just how good is she? Was she a pro gamer just like him, or was she of average skill level like the other girls? It’s a good thing he’s going first, he’ll have a chance to see her in action before he has to potentially play against her.

Sitting down in his seat, he picks up his controller and sets up the game. Once the rules are set, both he and Susie immediately move to select their mains; Falco and Captain Falcon.

“Huh.” Vess hums behind him from the couch. “I would’ve figured Susie was a Bowser type of person.”

“I’m not like the two dweebs in this room who pick the characters they look like.” Susie shakes her head. “Besides, Bowser can’t punch people so hard they explode. Also, Noelle’s got dibs on Bowser.”

With the rules set and their fighters chosen, Berdly and Susie face off. In an instant, all conversations are replaced with the sound of battle. The plastic buttons and sticks of his and Susie’s controllers sound like sword strikes in his mind. His battles with Kris could get pretty heated, but he had a reputation to uphold and fifty bucks on the line.

He was more than competent and he was playing a top tier fighter, but he plays it safe for the most part, wearing Susie down with long range laser fire. Captain Falcon was a powerhouse, and Susie seemed to have a penchant for spamming the falcon punch whenever she thought it was safe to do so. His speed gave him plenty of opportunities to clear out from the long wind up of the punch though, allowing him to punish her severely and secure two of her three stocks with barely effort at all.

That’s when she gets dangerous.

Once she realizes that blindly trying to punch him isn’t going to work, she starts to purposefully hang back, dodging his lasers and running away whenever he tries to rush her down. There was no timer to run out, she was simply panicking and trying to find an opening, but there wouldn’t be one. He was simply too fast and skilled to let her pull victory from the jaws of defeat. He had three whole stocks and she was already struggling on her last. She was panicking now, throwing out random jabs to try and get him to flinch long enough to get away again, but she wasn’t keeping the pressure up. He throws caution to the wind, wanting to put an end to her desperate flailing.

She makes one last desperate attempt at a falcon punch as he approaches, but he quickly dodges behind her to land a finishing blow. It’s only after he finishes the dodge that he realizes Susie started the punch facing the wrong way and he just accidentally walked right into range. Her fist collides with his face and he’s off the screen before his brain can even catch up with what just happened.

“YEAH!” Susie leaps out of her beanbag, throwing both arms into the air in victory. “EAT SHIT, BIRD BOY! WOO!”

Susie celebrates far too early. Berdly still has two stocks and he simply drops back in and annihilates Susie in a single smash attack while she’s too busy cheering to fight back. The game ends with her as the clear loser.

“Did you forget we had three stocks?” He asks. “Maybe I just destroyed yours so quickly you didn’t realize you were on your last one.”

“Nah, I knew I wasn’t gonna beat a sweat lord like you, I just wanted to land one good falcon punch on you and I got what I wanted.” Susie shakes her head, still relishing in her small victory over him.

“Gloat all you want, I’m still the victor, which means you’ve lost a stock.” Berdly huffs, standing up from his chair and walking to the board to erase one of Susie’s hearts. Susie returns to the couch with Ralsei congratulating her and Noelle laughing as she continues to boast about her monumental accomplishment. Berdly decides to take it as a compliment. His skill level was simply so high that knocking out a single stock was considered a grand achievement.

Rolling the die a few more times, he pairs up the remaining four fighters. “Up next; Vess vs Noelle!” He announces. The girls give each other a glance before rising to take their seats and controllers, but after they leave the couch, Berdly notices the horrified look on Ralsei’s face.

“Oh no…” He mumbles out, and Kris lets out an ominous laugh at his expense when they realize what he’s so afraid of.

“I’m sorry, Prince.” Kris says with the cruelest smile Berdly’s ever seen on them. They were way too good at playing an evil dark knight. “I might go easy on you, but only to give you some semblance of hope before I smash your dreams to dust.”

“Ok, Ralsei.” Noelle speaks up before she sits down to play. “You have to beat them when you two fight. Not only will it be the funniest thing ever after all this pompous sounding knight talk, but it might actually shut them up for the rest of the day. We’re all counting on you.”

“I’ll try.” Ralsei promises, but Kris continues to laugh at his futile hopes of victory and everyone’s annoyance at their dark knight act. With the next two fighters sitting down and selecting their characters, Berdly sits down on the couch and immediately Kris leans over against him.

“How do you fare, my dear consort?” They ask, staring at him with eyes that look redder than usual. “Do you like my new appearance?”

“Alarmingly so.” Berdly nods, finding his heart crawling up into his throat to have them this close to him looking like this. “Not that I’m complaining about it or questioning your decision to wear this, but why are you wearing this? I’m almost positive you’ve worn this before and there was an actual reason for it other than looking incredibly attractive.”

“This weathered look was bestowed upon me by the costume crew within the film studio.” Kris explains, still keeping up the act. “Back in a now forgotten time, the Lightbringer prophecy was raised against me, and the boisterous showrunner insisted I look the part. I was innocent of course and looking like this made it difficult to convince people otherwise, but how could I take it off when I look this good?”

“I won’t argue with that.” Berdly nods, looking over Kris one more time. The dented, rough looking metal chestplate, the tattered cape, the eyeliner, he could barely concentrate while looking at… “Wait a minute. Did you dress up like this as a distraction tactic to win this tournament?!”

“I would never!” Kris gasps in what could be feigned shock, but it could be genuine. “Do you really think I’d go through all this effort over fifty dollars?”

“And the wavebird controller, but yes.” Berdly nods. “You are one hundred percent the type of person to completely change your appearance just to mess with me. Literally all of our friends are here, you’d never pass up the opportunity to make me look like a fool in front of all of them.”

“I don’t need to look like a villain to do that.” Kris shakes their head. “You make a fool out of yourself more times than not. I don’t even need to do anything.”

“It’s not gonna happen.” Berdly crosses his arms. “I’m on my A-game today, you won’t beat me, not in the game, nor our ongoing battle of wits.”

“No! Come on, I was so close!” Noelle suddenly shouts from the front seats. Berdly was so invested in Kris that he wasn’t even paying attention to the fight! He tries to focus, but the sound of Ralsei clearing his throat keeps his attention on the couch.

“Susie.” He gives Susie a slight nudge. “Don’t you have something of Berdly’s that you should return?” Berdly looks up at Susie, wondering what she could have to return.

“Come on, do I have to?” Susie whines.

“Yes Susie, Kris confirmed that it’s not yours and the right thing to do would be to return it.” Ralsei insists. “He’s right here, there’s no excuse.”

“I have a perfect excuse, I want to keep it.” Susie argues, but Ralsei gives her a disappointed stare and pouts at her until she eventually folds. “Alright, fine.” Susie grumbles, reaching into her jacket before tossing something towards Berdly. He reaches out for it, snatching it out of the air, but once he realizes what it was, he nearly drops it out of shock.

“Is… Is this my old gameboy?!” The blue translucent case, the scratches on the screen, flipping it over and pulling the cartridge out, it even has his copy of dragon blazers still in it. “Where did you find this?! It’s been years!”

“I stole it off of Drake a long time ago.” Susie says, looking pretty broken up to have parted with the handheld. “Scared him off while he was playing and he never came back for it, probably because it wasn’t his to begin with. I’ve probably played Dragon Blazers all the way through like four times, but Kris let it slip to little goody two shoes here that it was yours and he insisted that I give it back.”

“T-thank you…” Berdly was at a loss for words. He practically grieved when he lost this and accepted that he’d never see it again, but here it was now in his hands.

“See?” Ralsei turns to Susie. “Doesn’t it feel good to do the right thing?”

“I guess…” Susie shrugs. “I was starting to get sick of the game anyways, it’s not like I had anything else to do on it anymore. That’s my good deed for the day.” She still looks really bummed to not have the gameboy anymore, but she does look a little happy to see the look on Berdly’s face.

She looks even happier when Berdly hands it back.

“You can keep it.” He says, earning a shocked gasp out of Susie. “I replaced it with a gameboy advance a year after it was gone. I can still play all my old stuff so I don’t need this one anymore. In fact, as long as I can get Dragon Blazers back, you can browse my collection for something else to play.”

“Are you serious?!” Susie asks. “You’re not mad that I stole your gameboy?”

“Drake stole it.” Kris reminds her. “He’s responsible for all the tears Berdly shed for his beloved gameboy son, not you.”

“It’s all yours.” Berdly nods.

“You’re the fucking coolest!” Susie cheers with genuine joy in her eyes. “I mean, you’re still the biggest dweeb out of everyone in this room, but still, you’re awesome! Thank you!”

“See?” Ralsei tells her. “What comes around goes around. Kindness is often repaid in kind.” Susie continues to smile happily at the gameboy she gets to keep right up until Noelle sits down on the couch with a huff, crossing her arms. With some shock, Berdly looks back at the screen to find the fight has already been finished and Vess has come out victorious. He didn’t get the chance to see her play! Berdly gets up to clear a stock off of Noelle on the board, but as he works, he hears Kris let out another cruel chuckle as they rise from the couch.

“Are you ready, Ralsei?” They ask, so sure that they were going to stomp the Prince into the ground.

“You got this Ralsei!” Vess cheers him on.

“They’re so up their own ass, you only need to take off one stock to bruise their ego! You got this!” Susie roots for him as well.

“You might not win the fight, but you’ll win our hearts!” Noelle adds on, joining everyone in ganging up against Kris. Ralsei looks a bit shy under all the praise, but he marches over to his seat with confidence, taking up a controller and shooting a challenging glare up at Kris. Kris is not at all impressed by the power of friendship backing Ralsei up and takes their seat, eager to smash everyone’s dreams.

Berdly wonders if he should be concerned by how much this extra antagonistic Kris is doing things for him.

With the two new fighters making their selections, Berdly returns to the couch and tries to focus on the fight this time, ignoring the conversation the girls are having beside him. Kris was the ultimate challenge he’d have to look out for, he needed to study their game plan. They make their selection quickly, quickly moving through the fighters and selecting Marth with practiced efficiency. Ralsei takes his time, looking over all of the characters. He hasn’t settled on a main yet and bounced back and forth between a lot of characters, but after some debate, he decides to select Jigglypuff, taking time to switch to the crown alt costume before locking his choice in. Perhaps he’s finally learned that Kirby isn’t the best pick and went for a higher tier fighter. That, or maybe he just picked Jigglypuff for their cute appearance alone.

The battle begins, and Kris shows no mercy.

Just like Susie, they play hyper aggressive and close in the distance fast to put on pressure, but unlike Susie, Kris actually has the skill to pull it off. Ralsei was mashing buttons to try and save himself, only landing an occasional jab and a single smash attack, but Kris was pulling out all the stops. They were even performing those accursed wavedashes, the clicking of their controller becoming deafening as they relentlessly destroyed Ralsei, forcing everyone to watch as Ralsei’s first stock is deleted not even fifteen seconds into the match.

Despite the virtual brutality, Ralsei wore a determined expression as he dropped in with his second stock. Susie and Noelle’s cheers had died down considerably after seeing just how vast the skill difference between Ralsei and Kris was, but Vess continued to cheer him on.

“Come on!” She shouts. “The Prince of Darkness isn’t going to lose to this wannabe edgelord, is he? You got this!”

Her cheerleading seemed to double Ralsei’s resolve, but it still wasn’t looking good. Kris was lounging back in their bean bag chair, looking completely relaxed despite their dexterous hands flying back and forth across the controller. They’ve become an absolute monster at this game since they got back home, dedicating entire days of the week to practice. If his own fuzzy memories are to be believed, Berdly actually managed to beat Kris a few times. Not wanting to be one upped in anything they’ve gotten stupidly good at this game to try and kick him down a peg, and now everyone else was going to suffer for it. Berdly himself wasn’t even a hundred percent sure he could stop this tyrant from completely-

“WHAT?!”

Once again, Berdly finds himself focused on Kris over the fight, but quickly looking up at the screen, he sees an impossible sight. Kris was down a stock, and Jigglypuff was just waking up from a rest. Did Ralsei just land a down-b?!

“Oh my god! He’s doing it!” Noelle gasps. “You got this Ralsei!”

“Yeah! Kick their ass!” Susie shouts alongside her.

“You can take out another stock, I know you can!” Vess’ confidence in her Prince bolsters Ralsei even further as he’s immediately put on the defensive as Kris suddenly sits up straight and the smug evil grin on their face vanishes. Just as Susie said, losing just one stock to arguably the worst player amongst them was enough to break the act and make them take him seriously. That was arguably a bad thing considering how quickly they destroyed him while playing ’casually’, but even if Ralsei is annihilated in the next ten seconds, he’d still hold that one little victory over Kris.

He doesn’t get annihilated though, at least, not as fast as Berdly expected him to. Kris was playing defensively now, not wanting to accidentally run into a rest that Ralsei apparently knows how to use, and while Ralsei isn’t really pressing the attack, he’s doing something that catches Berdly even more off guard. He was trying to bait Kris. He was standing still, couching down in a corner, practically begging Kris to run him down and walk into a trap. He was playing mind games! Where did he learn to do that?!

The rest of the fight is probably one of the most fascinating brawls he’s ever witnessed. Ralsei was still clearly struggling. He was apparently a tactical genius, but there’s only so much he can do when he doesn’t fully understand how the block and dodge functions work. Kris, the much more skilled and practiced player, seemed genuinely scared of him, missing out on punish opportunities out of fear of getting caught in another down-b. All of the girls were still cheering, surprised that Ralsei was surviving this long, but Berdly doesn’t think any of them can appreciate the mental war going on between the two fighters.

Unfortunately, Ralsei slips up, trying to catch Kris in another down-b and whiffing, leaving him motionless as Jigglypuff snoozes completely defenseless for several seconds. Kris capitalizes on the opportunity and takes out Ralsei’s second stock, much to the anger of the girls behind him. Vess still holds out hope that Ralsei could win. Kris certainly didn’t ease up, they were at 70% on their second stock as Ralsei came in with their last fresh one. A comeback was still possible, no matter how unlikely.

It seemed even more likely when Ralsei somehow manages to land a fully charged smash attack seconds after he lands, taking Kris down to one stock too while remaining mostly unharmed himself. The girls beside Berdly all let out shocked gasps, but then fell silent. They stop their cheers, holding their breath as they realize that Ralsei actually has a shot at winning this. Ralsei had so many people cheering him on, Berdly almost wondered if he should do the same for his partner, even though they were clearly playing the heel here. He elects not to. This was the role they wanted to play, and if it backfired, that was on them.

Despite Ralsei’s surprising skill, he is unfortunately bested by Kris. One deflected smash attack was all it took to finish him off, and the moment he was defeated, everyone cried out in sorrow. Only now does Kris sink back into their chair, but their smirk is gone. Though they were the victor, Ralsei was the one who received all the praise.

“Dude! That was crazy!”
“I didn’t even know Jigglypuff could do that!”
“I told you that you had it in you! You showed them!”

Deciding that Kris had plenty of detractors, Berdly, as their dear consort, consoles his partner. Standing up, he marches over to the bean bag chair and holds his hand out to help Kris up. “An excellent victory, your majesty.” He says, taking their hand. Despite wanting to be on their side, he couldn’t help but add on, “Perhaps the Prince was not as much of a pushover as you thought.”

“I went easy on him.” Kris is quick to reply. “I told him as much, he had no chance of winning. He may think he has the upper hand now, but once he’s on his last stock and the prize starts to slip from his grasp, that’s when the dread will truly set in.”

“Ah, you’re playing the long con.” Berdly nods understandingly. “Let him relish his partial victory for now just to break him down when he least expects it. A truly devious ploy.” Kris breaks into a genuine smile at that, not an evil looking one, one that actually contrasts with their dark and brooding appearance. They really like that he’s playing along. Kris pulls themself up from the chair, but before they break off for the couch, they lean in real close, causing Berdly’s heart to stutter in his chest.

“I couldn’t help but notice a lack of cheering coming from you.” They say, their tone disapproving. “Does my dear consort want me to lose? Is he conspiring against me?”

“I-I…” Berdly stutters, unsure of what to do in this situation until he manages to come up with a valid excuse. “I was scouting.” He tries to explain. “I was focused on the fight, learning the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents. I knew you would win the fight, so you didn’t need me adding on to the noise.”

“A reasonable enough excuse.” Kris hums in his ear. “But the next time I fight, I better hear some cheering from you.” With a quick kiss on the cheek, they leave him to update the whiteboard. He needs to take a few seconds before he can do anything though. Kris is WAY too good at playing the villain. This dumb act they’re playing is threatening to undermine his lead in their ongoing rivalry. How could he possibly stand a chance against them when he can hardly think while looking at them?

Shaking off the shivers Kris left him with, he moves to the board to erase Ralsei’s first stock and takes up the die again to select the next pair. He’s up once again, but his opponent is the second to last person he wanted to go up against: Vess. He still hasn’t got a proper read on her, now he’s going to have to fight her blind.

“Got anything to say before we start?” She asks as she settles into her bean bag chair. “You gonna go easy on me or threaten to destroy me in an instant like Kris?”

“I am going to remain silent so I don’t make a fool of myself.” Berdly tells her as he sits down.

“Smart move.” Vess nods and Berdly can’t help but smile at that.

“Of course it is, smart moves are the only moves I make.”

Berdly quickly locks in on Falco, but watches intently for Vess’ choice. Quickly moving through the roster, she settles on Samus, a decently high tiered fighter, but the lowest ranking amongst the fighters that have already been chosen, save for Bowser. Still, the tournament’s just begun and it’s already been full of surprises, he was not going to underestimate her or anyone in this tournament.

The battle begins, the sound of clicking buttons and sticks fills the air again, and while Berdly is on edge, the match goes by without too many surprises. That isn’t to say it was easy, just that it wasn’t some major event that got people screaming. Vess was more than competent, she’s clearly had some practice herself playing Samus, but she wasn’t as skilled as he was. Berdly’s been preparing for this tournament for weeks, Vess likely played this game casually with her friends back home, but not enough to play competitively.

It isn’t a particularly close match, Berdly was still far more skilled and practiced, but Vess put up a decent fight. She manages to take out a stock on him and nearly takes a second, but Berdly’s able to secure a win before she can get him down to his last. While everyone on the couch was shouting and cheering on their preferred fighters, Vess remains focused throughout the fight, but once it’s done, she offers to shake his hand in a show of good sportsmanship. Berdly shook that hand with a smile. This was someone who knew the proper etiquette of competitive smash, she has earned his respect as a true gamer.

All the players were accounted for in his head now, he knew what to expect and who to be afraid of. Getting up to update the board and set the next fights, he takes some time to look back at his friends now that he wasn’t entirely focused on gauging their skill levels and strategies. All of them were having fun, congratulating each other, or hurling insults and their opponents. They were all having a good time, even Ralsei who before now was slowly becoming convinced that he wasn’t a fan of games. All it took was one really good fight to get him invested.

Tonight was already going better than he expected. Maybe it wasn’t as romantically charged as the camping trip they all went on, but this was definitely way more fun than sitting in the cold and eating marshmallows.

Berdly lets himself relax and spends more time talking with everyone, but he still focuses on the matches, not only to continue getting reads on them, but also to officiate the tournament. He was the one keeping score, he needed to pay attention.

The next battle was nowhere near as quiet or respectful as his fight with Vess. Kris and Susie were up next, and while Kris was able to keep their cool and their act up, Susie was trash talking the whole time, trying to get them to break. Ralsei was absolutely appalled by the things that left Susie’s mouth. Kris could only laugh as they destroyed her. Losing the match three to nothing, Susie returns to the couch completely defeated which isn’t helped at all when Ralsei scolds her for her abhorrent language.

Ralsei is then pitted against Noelle. Their fight is also very interesting to watch as Ralsei seemed to have a much harder time against Noelle than he did with Kris. Noelle was harder to read due to her lack of skill and Ralsei nearly lost because of her slower character causing him to misjudge his timings. He does manage to get a win, just barely, and while Noelle was disappointed to lose both of her matches, she couldn’t stay mad with how ecstatic Ralsei was to have his first official victory.

The dice are rolled again and the tournament continues. The next three fights pit all of the couples against each other, with Susie and Noelle up first. Both were on their last legs, and whoever lost this fight would be eliminated from the tournament. Susie preemptively apologizes for beating Noelle out of the competition, Noelle counters by promising her a kiss if she lets her win. They go back and forth for a little while but once the fight starts, both give it their all to stay in the game. Susie comes out on top, eliminating Noelle from the board. Noelle is not pleased at all to be the first to go, but she and Susie huddle up on the couch and Susie tries to cheer her up after the loss. It’s sweet.

Vess and Ralsei are even sweeter when they’re paired up to fight, almost sickeningly so. Ralsei doesn’t want to fight his Princess and Vess doesn’t want to do the same to her Prince either. They weren’t even on their last stocks, they could afford a loss and keep going, but still, they were reluctant to fight. That changes when Vess suggests that she just crosses off Ralsei’s life so they don’t have to.

“What makes you so sure that you’d win?” Ralsei asks.

“Come on, of course I’d win.” Vess tries to argue, but Ralsei shakes his head.

“I almost beat Kris!” Ralsei insists. “You lost to their boyfriend. I don’t think you’re as good as you think you are.”

“You wanna bet?” Almost in an instant, Ralsei went from reluctant to competitive. Sitting down, both take up their controllers and prepare for battle. Once again, Ralsei proves to be a wildcard, securing a victory from what Berdly was sure was going to be a clean sweep. It was the closest match by far for Ralsei, just barely clinging onto his last stock, but he’s only getting better the more practice he gets. He doesn’t gloat though. After the fight, he apologizes to his Princess for being rough with her (a comment that earns a snort out of Kris), but he was determined to win.

Finally, the fight that Berdly has been mentally preparing himself for, a true test of his skills and an opportunity to show everyone what a real battle between pro gamers looks like. Without a word, Berdly marches forward and takes up his controller as Kris does the same beside him. Neither of them have taken a loss yet, but one of their streaks was about to end.

It’s a ferocious battle, one of the hardest he’s fought in ages. Not even his battle against the infamous Lightbringer was as… Ok, no, it wasn’t that serious. He literally almost died during that battle, but still, this was intense. Two pro gamers at their peak, duking it out in a high stakes tournament. Berdly with his superior intellect and battle tactics vs Kris’ speed and their cheating, wavedashing exploits.

Not a word is spoken between them. Berdly doesn’t even look in Kris’ direction, keeping his focus entirely on the screen. He knows Kris is doing the same. Everyone on the couch behind him is quiet too, likely too awestruck to even commentate on the fight.

Berdly loses one stock, only to immediately take one of Kris’ moments after. Both of them take insane amounts of punishment before they get knocked off, their percentages resting well over one hundred. Berdly tries his hardest, he breaks out all the stops, he even resorts to trash talking when things get dire.

“You wavedashing sweat lord! Do you really have to cheat just to beat me?!” His words fall on apathetic ears as Kris can only chuckle when victory becomes all but certain for them. With one unfortunate miscalculation, Berdly ends up getting countered by Marth’s down-b, and is sent flying to his doom. His winning streak is over, leaving Kris with a clear lead over everyone in the tournament.

“Bow!” They demand. “Bow to your supreme ruler of smash!”

“I shall never bow to a tyrant such as you!” Ralsei calls back, standing defiantly though still playing into Kris’ act. “The Tournament isn’t over, your victory isn’t certain!”

“Dude, don’t say stuff like that, you’re just going to make them even more insufferable!” Susie begs.

“I’m surprised they’ve kept this up for so long.” Noelle sighs by her side. “I thought you said the knight voice was insufferable.”

“Because it makes the lowly mortals beneath me squirm with discontent.” Kris tells them. “Now I shall repeat my demands. Bow before me now, and your time in the dungeons after I defeat you all may be less harrowing.”

“Berdly,” Noelle calls out, “You have to make them stop. I can’t take this anymore.” Everyone turns to him, desperate for him to reign their partner back and make them stop the dark knight act.

“I don’t want to.” Berdly tells them, earning shocked gasps out of the crowd and widening Kris’ evil grin.

“Oh god, you’re into this, aren’t you?” Vess observes.

“He is a slave to my will.” Kris nods, speaking in Berdly’s stead. “He already did whatever I asked of him, but like this, it is impossible for him to resist me.” They turn to face him. “Isn’t that right, my dear consort?”

“Y-yes, my lord.” Berdly nods. He definitely had a problem, and everyone on the couch makes that clear.

“God, you’re worse than Ralsei and Vess.” Susie groans. “Save the roleplaying for when you two get a room, jeez!”

“You know what, I’m adding to the pot.” Noelle announces. “Twenty bucks to whoever can beat Kris at least once.”

“Another twenty bucks to my name when I smite you all.” Kris barks out an evil laugh, something they had to have practiced for this event. “Berdly.” Kris calls their consort’s name, causing him to jolt slightly. “Roll the dice of fate, select the next fighters.”

“At once, my lord!” Berdly nods, rising from his seat and forcing more groans out of everyone on the couch as it becomes increasingly clear how much he likes this. He was seriously ruining whatever lead he had in their ongoing rivalry, but he didn’t care right now. Besides, he was smart, he’d come up with something to get back at Kris and have them do whatever he said for a day. This was a strategic setback, a cost he was willing to pay to have Kris not tell him to shut up for doing his knight voice.

The battles continue, the dice now choosing from everyone completely randomly now that Noelle has been eliminated and people can’t be paired equally anymore. The next battle is Susie and Vess, another elimination match which threatens to take one of the girls off the board entirely. Both of their respective partners cheered them on, but when all is said and done, Vess comes out victorious, eliminating Susie from the tournament.

“Whatever,” She grumbles, “I should have known you nerds would have gone all out once money was on the table. Guess I’m just too cool to be good at video games. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to cuddle up on the couch with my girlfriend like the loser I am.”

“Yes, enjoy what time you can with your loved ones befor-”

“We’re both gonna ditch this place if you keep that up.” Susie threatens. “I can literally teleport in the blink of an eye if I wanted to.”

“I need you to cheer for me though.” Ralsei says. “Trust me, Kris isn’t going to win.”

Berdly was already updating the board and rolling the dice to determine the next fighters. “Oh…” He looks down at the result. “I guess we’re about to find out.” He announces, turning to Kris and Ralsei. “You two are up again.” The look of sadistic glee on Kris’ face nearly sent a shiver down Berdly’s spine as they turn their attention back to Ralsei.

“Their cheering won’t be enough to save you again.” Kris says. “You won’t be as lucky as you were last time.”

“I have only grown even more determined to defeat you.” Ralsei spats back. “Determination has driven all of us to impossible heights, so I wouldn’t write me off just yet!”

“Oh no, he’s doing it too!” Noelle says with horror once she realizes what’s going on. “Vess, stop him!”

“You can do it, my Prince!” Instead of keeping Ralsei from role playing along with Kris, she starts to do it too. “The fate of the kingdom rests in your hands!”

“No!” Noelle cries. “Susie, bail us out of here!” Susie glances over at everyone else for a moment before returning her attention to Noelle. Berdly watches as a smile creeps onto her face.

“But Noelle, my uh… Queen?” Susie scratches her head as she tries to find a better word, but Noelle has already sunken into the couch in disappointment. “But your highness,” Susie eventually declares, “We must show our support for prince Ralsei in the ongoing war.”

“Send your support, it won’t matter.” Kris declares, marching off to take up their controller and ignoring Noelle’s groans of agony as everyone fully embraces the dumb game Kris is playing. “Come, Prince Ralsei, come receive your punishment for defying me!”

“Show him no quarter, my liege.” Berdly says, remaining by the board and making sure to support his dark master. The two take their seats and controllers, making the same selections they did before; Marth vs Jigglypuff.

Once again, Berdly was fascinated by the fight that broke out.

Kris did not forget the beating Ralsei gave them and is not as cocky or relaxed as they were last time. They gave him their all, working to destroy Ralsei as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Despite Kris’ onslaught, Ralsei actually manages to survive longer than he did in his first bout. He’s been learning, adapting, growing stronger and more knowledgeable with each fight! He was already doing surprisingly well even with his lack of skill, but now that he’s been warmed up, he’s actually quite scary.

Once again, he was playing mind games with Kris, trying to lure them into his devastating rest move, only to use a neutral-b instead and catch them off guard. He still struggles to dodge here and there, and his first stock is lost when he ends up blocking when he means to dodge, breaking his guard and leaving him open to punishment. He lets out a groan of frustration as he goes in for round two, but to Berdly’s surprise, Kris doesn’t gloat. They’re left at 70%, they weren’t going to get out of this unscathed.

Sure enough, Ralsei manages to knock Kris out, causing everyone on the couch to erupt in cheers, including Noelle who up until this point was questioning why she hung out with all of them. Kris remains stoic. Ralsei was still behind and took a lot of damage to knock out that stock. Who knows if he’d be able to remove a second stock from Kris to beat their record from last time.

The battle drags on, each fighter playing so cautiously that it feels like every punch is ten seconds apart. Once again, both reach critical levels of damage on their second stocks, and one more fumble is all it takes for Kris to finish Ralsei off and take him down to his last.

“Dang it!” Ralsei barks, raising his voice slightly which draws Kris’ eyes away from the tv just long enough for Ralsei to fly in and take them down to their last as well. Everyone erupts into shouts, cheers, and name calling as it appears that Ralsei might actually have a chance at winning. Berdly can see sweat start to bead on Kris’ forehead. They were getting nervous.

The tension was palpable. Both fighters were dead silent as everyone else in the room began to lose their minds. Each fighter’s percentages grow higher and higher until they’re both resting near a hundred. All it will take is one solid hit to finish either of them off. Each fighter tries to force the other into an opening, charging in only to fall back the moment they’re in range to try and force each other to swing, baiting each other with taunts or charged attacks to try and draw each other into going for the kill. One mistake and it’s all over.

Unfortunately for everyone, despite how quickly Ralsei has been learning, he’s been mistake prone the whole tournament. Leaping in, he manages to get a couple lucky hits and instead of playing it safe, he goes for the down-b again, and misses.

“Ha ha! I told yo-”

”FUCK!”

The cheers stop, the room goes dead silent as Ralsei’s single word exclamation rings in everyone’s ears. Everyone stared at him in shock, Kris included, their controller being held slack in their hands while Ralsei…

“Kris!” Berdly calls out. “He’s waking up! He’s-” Kris tries to get a proper grip on their controller, but it slips out of their hands. Staring up at the screen in shock as they fumble for it, Ralsei was already awake and charging a smash attack as Kris stood still.

It all ended in a second, and Kris’ undisputed reign of terror finally crumbled as Ralsei secured a win. There are no cheers however, even Ralsei looked stunned by what just happened.

Eventually, everyone turns to face Vess.

“What are you all looking at me for?!” She asks. “It’s not like I taught him that! Look at Susie!”

“I mean, I tried a long time ago, but he wouldn’t budge.” Susie says in her defense. “I wanted to hear him swear just once but he said there was no reason to use language like that, but I think we found his breaking point.”

“I’m sorry!” Ralsei quickly apologizes. “I don’t even know where that came from! I just got so… frustrated that it just forced its way out. I don’t say things like that, I’m sorry if…” Ralsei’s apology is cut short as Kris starts to laugh.

“So this is your true potential.” They say ominously. “I have pushed you to your limits and have drawn a trash talking, sweaty palmed gamer out of you. Only by relying on this terrible power were you able to best me.”

“No!” Ralsei shakes his head. “No, this isn’t a bit, don’t make this outburst part of my character!”

“It’s too late.” Kris shakes their head. “You know you wouldn’t have won unless you drew on this power. You’re just like me now. You may have won this battle, but the war is far from over. How much will you let this terrible power corrupt you to win?”

“I’m not gonna do that again!” Ralsei insists, marching back to the couch with his head down. Everyone turns to look at him once he’s seated. “You guys aren’t ashamed of me, are you?”

“No?” Susie boggles. “That was funny as hell! Here you are acting all goody two shoes saying swearing is bad and unnecessary, just for you to drop your first f-bomb in a smash tournament.”

“A classic heated gamer moment.” Berdly nods. “It happens to the best of us.”

“You’re still my adorable little Prince if you’re worried that outburst tarnished your image.” Vess assures him. “I wonder what else we can get you to say.”

“I’m not making it a habit.” Ralsei quickly crosses his arms.

“The hyper competitive spirit within you will be drawn out again as the tournament continues.” Kris says, still keeping the act up even after their devastating loss. “The tournament is nearing its end, all of us have suffered losses, but only one of us will walk away with the prize.”

“Oh! Right, hold on.” Noelle speaks up for a moment before fishing around and finding a twenty dollar bill to pass to Ralsei.

Updating the board, Berdly, Kris, and Ralsei all had two stocks left, with Vess just barely hanging on with her last. Rolling the dice, things don’t look good for Vess as she ends up getting paired with Kris.

“Finally…” Kris lets out an evil chuckle. “An opportunity to extract vengeance for everything you’ve done over the years. Ralsei, are you ready to watch your Princess get crushed beneath my boot?”

“She won’t go down without a fight!” He insists. “I’m proof enough that you aren’t invincible!”

It’s a one sided stomp.

Either through skill, desperation to not lose again, or maybe frustration over the possession thing, Kris absolutely destroys Vess in a little over a minute. Vess is eliminated, and Kris has replaced themselves at the top of the food chain with their show of power. All the girls were off the board, leaving three fighters left with two stocks each. The girls were cheering for Ralsei, praying for Kris' downfall, and Berdly was just kinda there. He didn’t really mind though, everyone was having fun and he was thankfully being left out of the name calling everyone was doing.

The dice roll, and he’s pitted against Ralsei.

It’s genuinely insane to Berdly how quickly Ralsei was getting the hang of this. His moves were becoming more focused and precise, his strategies were more complex, and he was finally taking advantage of every move in Jigglypuff’s kit. He had genuine talent and could easily match or even surpass him and Kris with enough practice, but one thing kept holding him back. He appeared to be discovering some up until now unknown competitive aspect of himself and he didn’t seem to like it.

“Oh Sh… shoot!” Berdly’s pretty sure he’s only ever seen Ralsei look this angry once in his life, and it was while he was fighting against the Lightbringer. He had heard everyone tell him stories about how Ralsei almost single handedly saved everyone after the Lightbringer managed to incapacitate everyone else, he wondered if this was maybe tapping into that same headspace. No one was getting hurt, this was just a fun game, he was actively being encouraged by everyone to get a little aggressive. Everyone was starting to see what Ralsei looks like when he isn’t playing nice.

It was equal parts funny and intimidating.

“Jeez, you don’t gonna try so hard against me. I didn’t even do anything to you yet.” Berdly says as he’s knocked down to his last stock. Ralsei’s already on his last too so he isn’t panicking yet, but still, Ralsei’s been kicking his ass.

“I’m sorry, Berdly.” Ralsei tells him, sounding almost genuinely apologetic. “I want to get back at Kris for being such a bi… butt to me all day. They can’t win, and while I’m sure you’re really good at this game and could probably beat them yourself, I also really want to use the wireless controller. I’m not losing.”

“Well I can’t let you tarnish my reputation as a pro gamer either!” Berdly tries to argue, but he really should have shut up and focused on the game. Ralsei manages to catch him by surprise, taking him out of the game and bringing him down to one more stock on the board. For the first time since he hosted this tournament, Berdly realized he might not win this.

That fear only doubled when he rolled the dice and found he was going to fight Kris next.

“My dear consort…” Kris speaks up behind him after he makes the announcement. “You have disappointed me thus far. You have failed to give me adequate praise, you’ve failed to beat the Prince in battle. You must be punished.”

“P-punished?” Berdly stutters.

“Get a room!” Susie blurts out.

“You are in my way, you must be eliminated from this tournament.” Kris threatens. “I will, however, give you a fighting chance if you bow before me this instant.” Kris takes a step back, giving him plenty of space to act. They sounded like they were being serious.

“Berdly…” Noelle speaks from the couch. “If you have even an ounce of self respect or dignity, you’re going to turn around, pick up that controller, and kick their ass.”

“You do not have to bow to this tyrant.” Ralsei adds on, still playing into his role but voicing the same sentiment. “Go down fighting, just as everyone else did. Show them you’re no one’s servant.”

“I think the whole point is he wants to be their servant, Ralsei.” Vess mumbles at his side, but the point still stands. Berdly’s been letting Kris walk all over him all day, what better way to get back at them and crawl out of the hole he dug himself into than by defying them in their own game?

Turning his back on Kris, he marches towards his seat. “A pro gamer never admits defeat.” He announces, earning actual cheers for him for the first time from the couch. “The crown does not belong to a tyrant as cruel as you. I am done standing by as you continue your reign of terror. It ends here, Kris.”

Kris lets out a bemused chuckle as they glare at him. “A nice speech, bird boy.” They say. “Except I got two stocks and you have one. Even if you beat me, you’d still have to get through another stock. My rule will not end here, but your disobedient ways will.”

“No they won’t! Kick their ass!” Susie demands. “Don’t let this larping turbo nerd win!”

“Like Berdly isn’t one himself.” Noelle shakes her head. “Kick their ass anyways!” She cheers for him despite her clear disdain for him playing into all of this, bolstering his resolve even more. He can’t remember the last time everyone was in his corner, the last time he had people cheering him on.

He wouldn’t lose, he couldn’t lose, not now that he has so many people cheering for him. This was what all his gaming has been building up to. This was his moment to shine! He was going to-

I think I might have gone a little overboard.

I thought the beatdown I gave Vess was bad, but I don’t even think I went above fifty percent before I beat Berdly three to nothing. After that big speech, after everyone started cheering him on, he was so ready to stand up to me once and for all, but he choked, hard. He stared up at the screen in complete disbelief, looking emotionally broken by the loss.

I almost wanted to drop the act to make sure he was doing alright, but for all I knew, that was part of his plan. Maybe he lost on purpose and was acting up to try and get me to break character. No, that couldn’t be it, I can tell exactly how much he likes this dumb knight talk. The only reason I was still keeping up with it was because I know he’s eating it up. I think he might have actually sucked that bad and he’s in a state of shock from how badly he fumbled the game.

Wanting to comfort him, but not wanting to break character, I decide to do the next best thing.

“Worry not, my dear consort.” I tell him, brushing his cheek feathers gently. “Your little uprising was actually quite amusing. I know you were just trying to earn the praise of the weaklings behind me, perhaps I haven’t been doing enough to keep my favorite subject loyal and subservient. Your dark lord will treat you right, I promise.”

“Do I have to repeat myself?” Susie asks behind me. “Get. A. Room!”

“Of course, I will have to attend to you later.” I tell Berdly, gently nudging him to get him off the chair. “I still have one more thing to deal with.”

“Alright…” Berdly nods dejectedly, finally picking himself up and moving towards the board to wipe himself off of it. There was no need to roll the dice anymore, there was only one person standing. The one person I never would have expected to make it this far.

“Step forward, Prince Ralsei.” I command, forcing Ralsei to rise from the couch. The girls reach out to him, praying for his victory and pleading with him to finally put an end to my conquest. He stands defiantly and stares me down with grim determination. I knew he’d be cool and join in on the act I had going on, but his sudden competitiveness wasn’t an act. I had joked about his little outburst being some dumb super powered transformation, but he genuinely acted differently now that the stakes were so high.

“I have a proposition for you, Dark Lord Kris.” He announces, staring me down eye to eye. “Unless you’re too cowardly to accept it.”

“Oh really?” I chuckle, trying to sound like a cocky asshole but I’m genuinely curious to hear what he has to say.

“Wipe the board clean. We don’t need two stocks for this.” He says. “You don’t need two lives, do you? A best two out of three wouldn’t be nearly as climactic. Let’s make this the last bout, all or nothing.”

I laugh. It isn’t an act, I’m actually surprised by his request. As much as I’d like to draw this out to see if I can make him angry again, I can’t deny his request. He said I’d be cowardly if I refused, he’d think that I’d need the extra stock in case I lost. I had to accept.

“You wish to spare your Princess the sight of me destroying you in front of her twice?” I ask him, trying to turn his proposition against him.

“No.” He shakes his head. “I’m going to spare everyone from having to deal with your antics once and for all!” More cheers from behind him.

“Yes! Shut them up for good!” Noelle pleads.

“Pay them back for all the teasing they put you through!” Vess encourages her Prince. Ralsei continues to glare at me, daring me to take up his proposal.

I can’t refuse, but I’m genuinely scared I might lose. I completely stomped Berdly in my second match with him and no one else stood a chance against me, but Ralsei not only managed to nearly take me out in his first match, but he’s only gotten better since then.

“Very well then.” I tell him, accepting his proposal. “It will be a battle for the ages. One last stand before the doors of the royal vault where the king’s treasury, the legendary wavebird controller, and of course the crown reside.”

“The king’s treasury only has fifty bucks in it?” Susie asks, trying to poke holes in the story, but Ralsei keeps it going.

“Take up your sword, Kris.” He demands. “Let’s end this.”

We both move to our chairs, sitting down and taking up our controllers. The tension was through the roof. With the stakes so high, there’s no way in hell Ralsei isn’t going to say something unfortunate again, especially after he made me almost drop my controller the last time he did it. I’d be ready for him this time though, it was going to take more than an f-bomb to disrupt me.

The fighters are selected, the match starts, and the greatest (fictional) battle of my life begins.

Trying to keep the momentum going from my last fight, I move in fast, aiming to destroy Ralsei as thoroughly as I did to Berdly. Wavedashing towards him and getting a smash attack going as I slide, I’m about to land a solid first hit when the unthinkable happens. Ralsei’s first move is rest, and I walk right into it. He was anticipating my hyper aggressive opener.

The match only just started so it wasn’t enough to kill, leaving me plenty of time to get back to him to punish before he could fully wake up, but still, taking forty percent only seconds after the match started is bad. If I tried to end this fight quickly, I’m the one who’s going to be destroyed. Rest was such a stupid move.

I start to play a bit more cautiously from that point on, no longer committing to anything too hard. I have a range advantage anyways, as long as I play it safe and don’t run into him like an idiot, I should be fine. Ralsei himself couldn’t get too aggressive with me either since I have a counter. Both of us were drawing this out, only getting a couple hits in before backing off. I needed to do something to turn the tide.

I charge in again, making it appear as if I was going to blindly wavedash right into another rest like last time, but I back out at the last second. Ralsei doesn’t fall for it, but he doesn’t have any solid counter play when I start quickly jabbing him after that. I start to juggle him, pushing him closer and closer to the edge of the platform, knocking him up into the air to try and spike him off the edge. Once again, I pull back at the last second, purposefully dropping my combo as Ralsei tries to land a rest on me.

“SHIT!” Ralsei realizes he’s been played and curses as I finish him off in his sleep.

“Yes!” I laugh. “Give into your anger! Show me just how colorful your voca-”

“Shut up!” Ralsei barks, forcing me to do just that. “I won’t hear it! Just play!” I keep quiet and don’t press him farther. I don’t risk a look backwards to see how everyone else is reacting, but judging from the cheers coming from behind me, they were still rooting for him.

I try not to make any more plays like that again as Ralsei comes in with a fresh stock. I have a solid lead on him now and he’s desperate to even things out. Forcing him to keep his distance was a lot easier than trying to close it. Despite my efforts to keep him at bay, however, once he manages to land a couple hits, I can’t escape the combo he gets me into and he spikes me off the edge once I’m off the platform.

“Have anything to say about that?” Ralsei challenges, trying to rile me up. If I wasn’t trying to stay in character, I’d tell him I was proud that all my teasing had actually gotten him to start clapping back, but instead, I throw his earlier words back at him.

“Shut up, just play.” He shoots me a menacing glare at that. Well, as menacing as his cute little face can muster. Things even out a little once more, both of us now playing cautiously. My hands were starting to ache though. After so many games in a row, I haven’t had the chance to relax between matches. I couldn’t let this keep going for long, it needed to end sooner than later.

I decide to start getting stupid with my moves. Real stupid. Standing in place, I just start mashing attack. Ralsei’s actually strategizing and trying to play mind games, so it was time for me to play a few myself. What’s he going to do against this? I can’t run into his stupid down-b, he can’t make any kind of safe move without getting hit. He has no choice but to put himself in an unsafe situation for the fight to continue.

In response, Ralsei sits and waits at the other side of the platform, doing nothing.

“Aw come on! Do something!” Susie whines, clearly frustrated that our climactic final battle has devolved to this. Despite the jeering from the crowd, neither of us break. I continue to spam jabs, daring Ralsei to walk into it, and he remains at the other end of the platform, pressing buttons and trying to familiarize himself with the controls a tiny bit more. Is he trying to find a way to get past my defense? None of his specials will work, if he tries to go above or around me, I have my counter ready, there’s no way he’s getting past this without trading blows. He could sit there taunting, putting up his shields to try and bait me, dodging around like an idiot, I wouldn’t mo…

Wait…

No no no, he isn’t just dodging around to practice or kill time, he’s… Is he… Is he trying to wavedash?! Ralsei has been learning stupidly fast during this tournament. Hell, a month ago, I was teaching him how to hold the controller properly but here he was now trying to perform one of the most physically demanding techniques in the game! He was like an AI reaching singularity, learning so fast that he was about to surpass his masters.

I needed to stop him, I couldn’t let him learn this technique. Only I could master the wavedash! I charge in, using the same cursed technique that Ralsei was trying to replicate, but he must have known I’d try to stop him. The exact second I start moving, he charges a smash attack, and I’m forced to guard instead of attack as I slide towards him.

The smash attack breaks my guard, leaving me stunned and completely defenseless. Everyone loses their shit and erupts in cheers behind me while I lose my shit in a less fun manner. Ralsei confirms the kill, taking me down to my last stock while wearing a look I’ve never seen on his face before.

I was the bad guy, but I think I might have made a monster out of the innocent Prince.

“Yeah! Eat sh…” Ralsei catches himself from cursing this time, looking somewhat ashamed that he nearly let himself slip again, but Susie barks out in laughter once she realizes what just happened.

“You turned my cute little Prince into a trash talking gamer!” Vess cries out in clearly feigned horror. “I’ll never forgive you!”

“I’m sorry!” Ralsei cries back, sounding actually genuine with his disappointment in himself. “I’m so close though! Just one more! One more and I can finally put an end to all of Kris’ stupid antics!”

“Are you really going to let yourself be corrupted just to beat me?” I ask, deciding to change tactics. Egging him on to see what happens has backfired horribly, I need to make him fall back. He catches on to the fact that I was backpedaling though and only doubles down.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?!” He asks. “You did this to me, and now you’re going to face the consequences!” I wasn’t really sure if he was still playing it up or if he was being serious. Either way, things didn’t look good for me.

I could barely hear my own thoughts anymore as everyone started going apeshit behind me. Ralsei had a stock lead on me and he was sitting at a respectable fifty four percent. I essentially had to knock out a stock and a half without getting killed myself. Ralsei could read me like a book, and every attempt I’ve made to try and mix him up has backfired.

I decide to ditch strategy and cognitive thought altogether. I start mashing buttons, I start making completely nonsensical plays, all in a last ditch effort to snatch victory out of the maws of defeat. If I become completely unpredictable, he can’t form a solid plan of attack. It’s foolproof…

For all of ten seconds…

Turns out, playing like an idiot doesn’t get me very far when Ralsei is trying his absolute best. All I’ve accomplished is making myself look even more idiotic than Berdly did in his last match as Ralsei quickly swoops in, combos me mid air, and ends it on a rest, killing me instantly and giving him the win with two stocks remaining.

“YES!” He drops his controller and shoots out of his seat, throwing his arms up into the air in victory. “I DID IT! I DID IT GUYS!”

“Yeah you did!” Susie cheers. “Come here you little furball!” Susie marches forward and lifts Ralsei off the floor, crushing him with one of her trademarked spine snapping hugs, slapping the hat off his head to give him a noogie while she’s at it. I decide to count myself lucky that I didn’t earn so much painful affection from Susie. Turning around, Susie eventually deposits Ralsei into Vess’ waiting arms, where he’s immediately showered with kisses.

“Congratulations, my sweet, adorable little gamer.” She says, hugging him close while wearing a mischievous grin.

“No!” Ralsei immediately rejects his new title. “I’m your Prince! I don’t want to be a gamer!”

“That’s what you fought so hard to achieve, is it not?” I ask, rising from my chair. “This was all to be crowned pro gamer and to get the wavebird controller. You have earned the title of gamer, it is your right and duty to be called as such.”

“Ok, please stop with that!” Noelle pleads with me once more. “The tournament’s over, you lost, stop talking like that.”

“You know, complaining about it constantly only makes me want to do it more.” I tell her. “I am gonna stop now though. I don’t think I’ve ever done it that long and I’m scared I’m gonna get stuck talking like that if I do it anymore.”

“Aw…” Berdly whines behind me, and for just a little while longer, I slip back into character.

“Don’t worry my dear consort. Your dark lord will sti-” Before I can finish, Susie bonks me on the top of the head. “Ok, shit, sorry. Like you aren’t going to be completely insufferable whenever we show up for movie night.”

“Gamer Prince Ralsei.” Berdly speaks up as he steps forward with a chest in his hands. Ralsei still clearly does not like his new title, but he moves towards Berdly regardless, stopping to replace his hat onto his head. “For your incredible victory in this tournament, not only did you earn the title of pro gamer, but the riches within this chest. They are now yours.”

Opening the chest, the wavebird gamecube controller rests on a velvety cushion, surrounded by several loose dollar bills equaling out to fifty bucks. Ralsei bows his head slightly and graciously lifts the controller from the chest. This was the grand prize he fought so hard to attain, the one he forsook his innocence for.

“So are we ever gonna hear you drop an f-bomb again?” I ask Ralsei.

“No!” Ralsei quickly shakes his head. “To be honest, I really don’t want to play a competitive game like that again today. I don’t like getting that angry and frustrated.”

“But it was funny!” Susie cries.

“No!” Ralsei repeats. “Foul language like that has no place in a fun competition between friends. We’re going to play something more wholesome now.” He seems dead set on playing something that doesn’t involve beating the shit out of each other.

“Well I have plenty of games available in my collection, but I’m sure you’ll want to stick to gamecube to use your well earned prize.” Berdly says.

“Any suggestions?” Ralsei asks. Berdly starts to list off several games that he could play cooperatively, but I wanted to see Ralsei break. I got to see what his competitive side looked like, and I want to see it again.

“How about Mario Party?” I suggest, trying my hardest to hide my smile. Vess’ eyes immediately go wide and I can hear a shocked gasp come from Berdly. They knew what I was trying to do.

“Oh! That sounds fun! How do we play?”

Chapter Text

You were down to your last couple days within Deltarune, though it’s already felt like you’ve spent a full week here. Aside from your trip through the Void with the devs, the week has been pretty uneventful, which is actually a first for you. No people disappearing in the river, no time shenanigans, no evil scientists. You just got to spend the week hanging out with your Prince, playing games with your friends, it felt good to not have to worry about anything big looming over your head.

You had something to plan for now though…

Ralsei loved the time you’ve spent together so far, but he was already anxious about you leaving on the weekend. You aren’t sure if you’re going to make another surprise visit like you did last week, so he wants to do something more before you go. He wants to take you out on Friday night, he wants to make your last night here before you go special.

He told you he’d handle it, that he didn’t want you to start pushing yourself again to make sure everything was perfect, but you couldn’t help yourself. He was off making plans and doing a bit of work at the Mayor’s place, leaving you with not much to do. You’ve been meaning to keep exploring town a bit more and actually talk with some people you’ve neglected so far, (you’ve barely even spoken to Dess after saving her life) but there was one small thing you wanted to have ready for Ralsei when date night came around.

Stepping inside of Asgore’s flower shop, you look for a gift to give your Prince.

“Howdy!” Immediately upon entering, Buddy greets you at the front counter. You’re also greeted by the extremely humid air that takes a bit of getting used to after stepping in from the cold. “Say, you’re Vess, aren't cha?” Buddy asks. “Kris told me you looked different now. It’s nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to see you too… Buddy?” You’re reasonably sure he’s Buddy again, but the last time you spoke to him, he introduced himself as Azazel since Kris wasn’t around to name him.

“That’s right!” Buddy nods. “Did you come to say hi, or is there something else you’d like?”

“I’m looking for flowers.” You tell him.

“Well congratulations, you found some!” Buddy tells you, giving you a dumb little grin. “Now if you’re looking to buy flowers, I can help with that. Are you looking for something to spruce up the house? Maybe something to pretty up your garden? Or maybe you want to give some flowers to someone else.”

“I need some flowers for my boyfriend.” You say a bit bashfully. “I wanna give him something nice.”

“You’ve come to the perfect place.” Buddy tells you as you watch some of the vines hanging around the shop begin to slither. “One bouquet of roses, coming right up!” You watch in a mix of awe and a little bit of terror as you realize a lot of the roots and vines running through the store seem to be a part of Buddy himself. He still looked like a regular old flower, but he’s clearly grown quite a bit in the time you’ve been gone. Several vines make their way towards a rose bush growing not far from the counter, reaching in through the thorns to pluck a dozen or so roses, dragging them all back to the counter where Buddy waits with a sheet of paper to wrap them up into a bouquet.

“How big have you gotten since everyone first picked you up?” You ask. You’ve gotten over Buddy’s resemblance to Flowey a long time ago, but seeing all these vines snaking around the store and thinking back on how Buddy managed to trap everyone in Sans’ house before it jumped is bringing back some unpleasant memories.

“Asgore’s been taking very good care of me since I grew out of my pot.” Buddy explains. “Just take a look around. He’s got the greenest thumb in town.” Using his vines to bundle the flowers together, Buddy wraps up the bouquet and rests it on the counter. You pat yourself down to find your cash to pay for it, when a couple people wander into view from the overgrowth within the store. Funnily enough, they’re two people you were really hoping to talk to today while you still had the chance.

“Oh shit! Hey Vess!” Making their way out of the store, Dess and Asriel meet you at the counter just as you finish paying. “Haven’t seen you in a while!”

“I was actually hoping to fix that today.” You tell Dess, picking up your flowers. “Are you two busy? I wouldn’t be interrupting anything if I spent some time talking to you two, right?”

“Not really.” Asriel assures you. “We were just catching up a little.”

“I haven’t talked to my second favorite guy in town for years.” Dess nods. “I don’t mind getting a chance to talk to you too.”

“Second favorite?” Asriel asks behind her.

“Sorry,” Dess shrugs, “Ralsei’s got you beat. I love that little guy. Speaking of…” Dess eyes the flowers in your hand. Seemingly from nowhere, you think you hear a saxophone playing somewhere nearby. “Are those for your fluffy little Prince?”

“Yes.” You tell her straight, trying to play it cool. You told Ralsei that you planned on talking to other people around town and he specifically warned you about Dess. Kris could get bad enough with their teasing, but Dess was on a whole other level. She was going to get personal, but you’re reasonably sure you’ll be able to handle it.

“He’s a lucky guy, I can tell you that much.” Dess nods, not pressing you any further. “See ya later, little flower guy.”

“Bye Dess!” Waving the leaves on his stem, Buddy waves goodbye as you, Dess, and Asriel step back outside. The temperature was starting to rise and the snow was finally starting to melt. You’re really hoping that the next time you show up, spring will be in full swing.

“So what were you two up to before you found me?” You ask, eager to spend a little time with these two. Catti turned out to be full of surprises, so you’re hoping you can find some equally interesting people around town.

“Shootin’ the shit.” Asriel shrugs. “Just catching up with my best friend for the first time in years.”

“We were just leaving to find a baseball or something to toss around.” Dess nods. “I haven’t even held a ball in almost a decade, so you’re gonna have to be patient with me.”

“I’m sure you’ll learn quick.” Asriel assures her.

“How have you been holding up?” You ask Dess, curious about what else she could be relearning. “You were gone for a while, are you readjusting to everything alright?”

“Aw, you sound like Ralsei, trying to look out for me.” Dess gives you a slight punch on the arm. “It’s… been rough. I got the really basic stuff down again, mostly because if I didn’t I’d probably be dead. My breathing’s fine now, I’m trying to eat a healthy amount of food now instead of scarfing down whatever I can when offered, and I have some semblance of a sleeping schedule again.”

“What was wrong with your breathing?” Asriel asks with some worry. “Did you catch something while you were in the Void?”

“No, I forgot how to breathe.” Both you and Asriel share a look as Dess continues to walk as if she didn’t just say one of the creepiest things you’ve ever heard. “I’m mostly just trying to get used to having people around again.” Dess continues the conversation, not lingering on the previous topic. “Noelle says that I don’t have a filter anymore and I say stupid shit all the time. Which reminds me…” Dess turns to look at you. “I know ahead of time that this is going to be an inappropriate question to ask, but I need to get it out there.”

Taking in a deep breath to try and brace yourself, you nod. “Shoot.”

“You possessed Ralsei after we all got back to Castle Town for the first time, right?” She asks and you nod again in confirmation. “Then I need to know, which felt better, being inside Ralsei, or having him inside you?”

You feel your heart lurch in your chest and your face go ablaze with embarrassment. Ralsei had warned you, but you didn’t think she’d ask something like that right out the gate. You didn’t even really know each other but she thought it was a good idea to start asking questions about your relationship like that?

“Do you just ask everyone stuff like that?!” Asriel asks behind you, thankfully drawing attention away from you as you try to compose yourself. “Literally the first thing you asked me after saying hi was if our dads were sleeping together. What the hell is going on in your head?!”

“Would you believe me if I said I got lonely out in the Void?” Dess says in her defense. “Also, I had to deal with Catty all through high school keeping me one hundred percent up to date with all the relationship drama going on. I talked to her again a while back and she literally sat me down and went into detail about all the hookups and breakups that happened over the course of eight years. I got a million dumb ass thoughts in my head and I lost my filter years ago.”

“Clearly.” You nod. Ralsei told you that he’s had to deal with some of her more out there questions, but never went into detail about them. You know for a fact that if Dess asked him the same question she just asked you, he’d probably have a heart attack on the spot.

“Still want an answer though.” Dess says, catching you off guard again. “Come on, this is science. You have the ability to possess people and you’ve got enough experience here to answer an interesting question. Which do you prefer?” She was going to keep pestering you until you gave her what she wanted. With a reluctant sigh, you decide to play along. If she’s like this with everyone, you aren’t going to be the only one scared away by her lack of social skills.

“Possessing people isn’t exactly the most pleasant experience.” You tell her, trying to answer her question without going into too much detail. “Maybe I’m just cautious about it because of how badly it messed up Kris, but it feels way too invasive. Ralsei didn’t mind having me so close, but I didn’t feel comfortable having the ability to take away his agency.” Dess leans forward, looking intrigued but not quite satisfied by your answer. “As nice as it felt to be fluffy while possessing him, petting myself doesn’t really beat petting him with my own two hands.”

“Fair enough.” Dess nods, finally able to move on from the question only for her to raise an eyebrow. “You said Ralsei didn’t mind being possessed?” You nod and immediately regret doing so when Dess breaks out into a smirk. “So what you’re saying is I need to ask him the same question.”

“I think you’ll kill him if you do.” You say, already picturing how flustered Ralsei would be.

“Aw come on, give him some credit.” Dess says. “He’s toughened up against my bullshit, he can handle it. He probably wouldn't even be as dumbstruck as you were.” Well that has you curious now. What kind of questions has she been asking him and what has he been telling her? “Are you doing anything special with him?”

“In what way?” You ask, wondering if she was trying to pry even deeper into your personal affairs.

“What’s the occasion for the flowers?” She elaborates. “You taking him out tonight?”

“Oh!” You look down at the roses in your hands. “Not tonight, no. He’s actually taking me out tomorrow night. I’m leaving again in a couple days and he wants to make my last night special. I wanted to get him something special too.”

“Aw, what a sweetheart.” Dess coos. “Both of you.”

“Makes sense that the nicest guy I know would be dating the Angel.” Asriel comments, earning a groan out of you.

“You don’t have to keep calling me the Angel.” You insist once more. “I’m not that cool and the whole prophecy about the Angel’s Heaven was written by Gaster. Having people call me Angel makes me feel like an ass.”

“Alright, Princess.” Dess replies, forcing a tired sigh out of you.

“I’m gonna kill Kris if they started spreading that around.” You swear.

“Kris? No, I got that from Ralsei.” Dess corrects you. “He calls you that all the time. Already got pet names for each other, huh?”

“Also, you totally are cool enough to have a title like Angel.” Asriel argues. “I don’t even know everything about you, but what little I have is insane. You’re running around possessing people, giving people pieces of your soul, traveling between dimensions. You deserve a title cooler than Angel to be honest. Archangel?”

“I’m just Vess.” You tell him. “I don’t really want to be some all powerful super being. I just wanna be your guys’ friend, nothing more.” You understand that you aren’t normal, you’ve done a lot of incredible things and as far as you know, there’s only a couple other people who can visit this alternate dimension and alter it. That’s kind of hard to ignore, but you aren’t these guys’ god or ruler or guardian angel. You just wanna hang out with your friends and your Prince.

“Alright.” Asriel nods, agreeing to stop with the divine titles. “So are you gonna want to swing by Castle Town to drop those off?” He asks, gesturing to the flowers in your hand. “You’re gonna be carrying them around all day if we don’t make a detour.”

“Oh, I can drop these off really quickly.” You tell him. “Where were you two headed?”

“My house to dig around the closet and find an old baseball and gloves.” Dess answers you.

“Cool, I’ll meet you there then.” You tell them. Tightening your grip on your flowers, you picture your room back in Castle Town and without even slowing down, you march right into your room from the middle of the road. You completely understand why Kris would be anxious about shortcuts, but the convenience just can’t be beat. Shivering off the last of the cold clinging to you, you look around your room to find a place to hide your flowers. No one ever really comes into this room anymore since you spend every night in Ralsei’s room now, but Ralsei does sometimes sneak in here to read whenever he’s taking a break. You need to put these somewhere where he won’t immediately see them if he comes in here.

Wanting to get back to the others, you decide to lift up your pillow and hide the bouquet beneath it, gently resting the pillow back on top of it. Ralsei might come around and fluff up your pillow before you settle in for your long nap as you leave, so the flowers will be a nice little surprise for him as thanks for being so thoughtful. Satisfied that the flowers will either be undisturbed until your date or be a pleasant surprise, you take a shortcut to the Holiday’s house, finding yourself outside in the cold again, waiting for Asriel and Dess to make their way home.

It takes them a little while, but once they spot you loitering outside the house, they pick up their pace to meet up with you again.

“How the hell do people keep doing that?!” Dess demands the moment you’re in ear shot. “First Catti’s materializing out of nowhere, and then Susie’s disappearing after dropping Noelle off at home. Where the hell did you go?! How are you doing that?!”

“I took a shortcut.” You tell her.

“That’s the same exact non answer that Kris gave me when I asked them.” Asriel shakes his head. “Give us actual details.”

“It’s Void related.” I warn. “And to properly use it, you gotta learn about a lot of the inner workings of how the world works and it’s not always pleasant.”

“Girl, I lived in the Void for what feels like most of my life.” Dess insists. “I’d give up my left foot if it let me teleport away from Gaster whenever he tried to bother me out there. Tell me how to do it!”

“I guess it wouldn’t be too much of a burden on you to know…” You mumble. She’s been stuck outside of reality for years and met someone from another dimension. She doesn’t know that this was all a game, but you could probably get away with leaving that out and just explain that this is just one world of many in a multiverse. “Can we do that some other time?” You ask. “I wanted to get to know you two a bit more, not sit down and share the secrets of the Void again.”

“Fine…” Dess grumbles. “I guess I went looking for Azzy to take my mind off of that stuff too.” She’s about to step into her house to start her search for a ball and some mitts when she stops and turns to ask. “Is it weird that I kinda miss the Void?”

“Huh?!” Asriel boggles at the question and you can’t help but feel a bit taken aback as well.

“I know that sounds really weird, but…” Dess sighs, leaning against the front door. “I don’t know, maybe it’s stockholm syndrome or something. I am so goddamn happy to be back home, to play guitar again, to see my family, but sometimes it feels like too much. Even when I’m trying to fall asleep in the middle of the night, there’s always some kind of background noise, some small amount of light. I kinda miss the complete sensory deprivation. I got used to it and now it feels weird to not have it.”

“That does sound kinda weird, but…” You shrug. “I guess Toby has his own spot in the Void to zone out and relax, so I guess it’s not entirely weird to think like that.”

“Toby?” Asriel asks.

“Ok, before we start getting into weird rabbit holes, let me find my stuff first.” Dess insists, opening the front door and stepping inside before the conversation can continue. You and Asriel wait outside, not wanting to disturb any business that might be going on up in Carol’s office.

“So who’s Toby?” Asriel asks again.

“Don’t worry about it.” You tell him. It’s a big can of worms you don’t really want to get into.

“Every single time Kris tells me that, I only worry more.” He says. “Is there some other guy in the Void we need to worry about?”

“No, Toby’s cool.” You assure him. “He even visited Castle Town to see all my friends. Maybe you two can meet one day. If things go well, I plan on bringing more friends over one day.”

“I am cautiously excited for that day.” Asriel says. “A lot of Kris’ pessimism and anxiety might have rubbed off on me, but I’m reasonably sure I’ll be able to make friends with otherworldly strangers. I was best friends with Chara and they turned out to be a bit of a power hungry maniac, so as long as your friends aren’t worse than that, I’ll manage.”

“You have my word that they’ll behave.” You tell him. “Are you still caught up on the Chara thing?” You ask now that he’s reminded you of that backstabbing outlaw.

“Kinda…” Asriel sighs. “They were my best friend and literally flew over several state lines multiple times just to come here and try to rescue Kris. They’re a good person with good intentions, but… clearly they had a few screws loose. Even though they tried to kill you, even though they actually did kill a bunch of my other friends multiple times, all of it was done to try and get Kris home. Sometimes I wish we could have grabbed them at the last second and worked something out. I got Dess back and I’ve had a blast catching up with her, but I didn’t want to trade my newest best friend for my old one. I wanna see them again.”

“Not a sentiment I share…” You shake your head. Chara always gave you the creeps, and unlike with Buddy, you had every reason to be creeped out. You still sometimes think about how casual they were when they locked you in their room and tried to calm you down before trying to kill you. No one was particularly sound of mind after abusing the resets for so long, but everyone else at least knew how awful it was, Chara reveled in it.

“Alright, I found it!” Dess returns outside, carrying an arm load of random baseball equipment. “With the amount of dust and cobwebs these are covered in, I’m convinced I was the last person to touch them until just now.” Passing around a ball and a few catcher's mitts, Dess hangs on to a wooden baseball bat, trying to spin it around in her hand only to immediately drop it. She curses to herself as she picks it back up, keeping a firm grip on it. “I doubt I’m gonna be hitting any home runs any time soon, but we should probably find some place that’s open enough to play. As fun as breaking windows is, I don’t want to send a ball flying into some angry king’s castle.”

“There isn’t a lot of open space in town anymore.” Asriel grumbles. “There’s the lot where Sans’ house used to be, but that’s all I can think of. Maybe we’ll just leave the bat then.”

“I think I know a good spot.” You offer, earning everyone’s attention. “Have you two ever taken a shortcut before?”

“Kris has explained how it works, but no.” Asriel shakes his head.

“Oh! Are we gonna teleport?!” Dess nearly drops the bat again in excitement. “What do we do?”

“We just need everyone to hold on to each other.” You tell them. “I’ll do the actual teleporting and you’ll all come with me.” Slipping on the catcher’s mitts, you all form a circle standing hand in hand, each of you carrying something in your shared grasps to bring everything along. With everyone connected, you effortlessly drag everyone out to the titan’s footprint. You think about the night you spent here constantly, there’s no way you’d ever forget this place.

Upon arriving, it looks a lot different now than when you last saw it. Obviously there weren’t any tents or a fire anymore, but the whole place has been transformed. A lot of the snow and dead wood has been cleared out, leaving a large field of scarred, dead earth. Unused construction and farming equipment is parked by the treeline, as well as caution tape to keep trespassers out.

“Holy SHIT!” Dess bellows out once the initial shock of the shortcut wears off. “That was so god damn cool! Where else can you go with that?! Can you just teleport wherever the hell you want?!”

“Kris says you can only go to places you’ve already been.” Asriel says, taking a look around. “I’m not exactly sure what this place is though.”

“This is that farm that Mom’s trying to get going.” Dess deduces. “Why do you know this place?”

“This is where our camping trip was a few weeks back.” You explain. “Ralsei knew about this place thanks to his work and wanted to take us on a trip here before it was gone for good.”

“Ooh…” Dess nods, and you start to hear those saxophones again. “Oh I bet you’re real familiar with this place then.” Not wanting to have a repeat of the mortifying conversation you had with Kris and Susie about what you did on the camping trip, you toss the baseball that was still resting in your hand at her. Dess drops her bat and desperately fumbles to try and catch the ball, the romantic backing track emanating from her playing discordantly as she struggles. She manages to drop everything, glove included somehow. “Alright, I deserve that one.”

“Maybe we’ll stick with catch for now.” Asriel chuckles. “Help get your muscle memory back.”

“Screw you, I got this.” Dess insists, leaning down to pick the ball up and toss it at Asriel. Asriel readies his glove, but Dess ends up tossing the ball low and ends up pelting him in the thigh with it. “Whoops!”

“Come on, there’s no way you didn’t aim that low on purpose!” He says, rubbing his leg with his free hand.

“I’m serious, that was a complete accident!” Dess insists. “Here, give me the ball, let’s take a couple steps back.” Taking the time to get her glove on, you all space yourselves out to toss the ball around. Dess has a bit more trouble than she thought she’d have. “Damn it! Come on! I used to be good at this!” Clearly her stagnation in the Void has erased any coordination she had, leaving her to fumble almost every catch. She’s quickly getting back into it, but she’s visibly frustrated with how much she’s forgotten.

“You play many sports, Vess?” Asriel asks you, tossing the ball your way.

“Not really.” You say, catching the ball before giving it an underhand toss towards Dess. She manages to catch this one without too much issue. “I played baseball back in middle school, but don’t really do much anymore. I’m one of the nerdy losers who hangs out on a computer most of the time, though I got some friends who force me out into the sun.”

“I’d call you a nerd, but I can’t blame you.” Dess says, trying to toss the ball back to you but sending it soaring over your head. She’s got catching mostly down again, but she still needs to work on her pitching. “Video games look way cooler now than they did back in my day.”

“Yeah, now I get to watch Kris beat my ass in even greater detail.” Asriel groans.

“You’re lucky you didn’t get invited to the tournament last night.” You chuckle as you return with the ball, passing it to Asriel. “It got heated. Even Ralsei started cursing out Kris.”

“What?!” Dess is too shocked to even attempt to catch the ball going her way. “Holy shit, I wish I was there for that! What did he say?!”

“Well he started cursing during the smash tournament, but his profanity wasn’t targeted until the mario party game immediately afterwards.” You can’t help but laugh to yourself. Ralsei was so apologetic after game night ended. He genuinely felt bad for all the things he said and swore to never play a video game again, but everyone was able to talk him down. It was all in good fun, and not to mention probably cathartic for him. He’s the sweetest guy in the universe, but even he has little pet peeves and frustrations that build up.

“God, that’s so funny.” Dess says, probably giggling to herself over the mere thought of Ralsei saying fuck.

“So I know you guys probably have a whole bunch of questions for me.” You say as Dess chucks the ball at you and you manage to catch it.

“More than a bunch.” Asriel nods.

“I wanna teleport.” Dess demands.

“Later.” You tell Dess. “I wanna hear more about you two first. I feel like I’ve known Kris, Susie, and Ralsei for years, but I don’t really know you two at all. I feel like I should considering you’re Kris’ brother and you have a literal piece of my soul inside of you.”

“Thanks for that, by the way.” Dess tells you. “I still want to try and pay you back for that, but I don’t know what the hell I could do.”

“You don’t have to.” You assure her.

“You broke a piece of your own soul off for me to keep which let me hug my Dad for the first time in a decade.” Dess reminds you. “That’s like the most heroic, selfless thing a person could probably ever do.”

“You’re not going to shake off the Angel thing if you keep acting like one.” Asriel comments.

“You still want that song written about you?” Dess asks. “I’ve been working on a couple of different melodies and Ralsei’s suggestion of making a ballad for you is even cuter now that I know you two are dating. Maybe I could pay for both your dinners tomorrow night to hear your stories from the source?”

“Tomorrow’s supposed to be a private thing for just us.” You shake your head. “Also, no offense, you’d probably make our evening pretty weird with the type of questions you keep asking.” You toss the ball to her and after a moment, you shrug. “I’ll let Ralsei know you’re offering. Free food sounds good and I know Ralsei would love to hear that song.”

“I’ll try my best to keep my stupider questions to myself.” Dess tosses the ball back to you. It’s a little low, but you manage to catch it before it hits the ground. She’s already learning fast. “I could also just get a bunch out of the way right now so it doesn’t happen tomorrow.”

“Well it sounds like you already got questions loaded up.” Asriel notes. “It’s probably best to get them out now while we’re ready for them.” You brace yourself again, holding on to the ball tight as you prepare for whatever potentially promiscuous question Dess has in store.

“You’re basically a reset time travel expert, right?” Dess asks. You give her a slight nod. You wouldn’t say you’re an expert, but you’re very familiar with it. “Would I still be a virgin if I undid my first time with a reset?”

For the next hour or so, you spend your time tossing the ball around and getting to know these two a lot more, all while answering Dess’ absurd questions. Not all of her questions were weird, sometimes she just wanted to know what it was like where you come from, only to throw you a curveball out of nowhere (sometimes literally as she was still struggling to pitch in a straight line). You get used to it pretty quickly though as you get more familiar with her. The reason her first question hit you so hard was not only was it a pretty personal thing to ask, but you two were barely acquaintances.

During your long game of catch, Asriel talks about how he used to play in little league and explains what a bunch of the trophies in his room are for. He tells you and Dess about what he was trying to major in at college before he ended up getting stuck in the Barrier the day the Roaring started. Dess starts asking more about his time in college, specifically if he had any partners during his stay, which eventually leads into a story about how his first fight went when he found out the girl he was dating at the time had a boyfriend.

“Fuck you, you’re lying.” Dess outright refused to believe it. “Dude, you cry over everything. You seriously expect me to believe you won an actual fist fight?!”

“I never said I didn’t cry.” Asriel says. “Chara had to sit through the aftermath and made fun of me constantly for how much I was snotting everywhere while they were patching me up. I was bawling my eyes out all day.”

“He also stood up to the Lightbringer while we were rescuing you.” You tell Dess, helping back up Asriel. “I think he even broke their arm.”

“Ugh…” Asriel shudders involuntarily. “Please don’t remind me.”

“I’m gonna be honest, the moment I was back home, I kinda dissociated for a good ten minutes.” Dess says. “I was losing my mind for the whole day. I don’t think you guys get just how empty the Void is. Just standing out in the snow and seeing people moving around was enough to overload my senses.”

“I guess I’ve never stayed there long, but I’ve been to the Void a couple times now.” You say, earning the attention of both your new friends.

“Right, everyone was freaking out because you somehow managed to get lost in there only for you to suddenly come running back into the castle five minutes later.” Dess nods. “I didn’t stick around because you started talking about God or something and I was starting to freak out, but how the hell did you get out of there?! Was it the shortcut thing?”

“Yep.” You nod. “I was so scared of being left alone in there that I managed to push myself hard enough to take my first shortcut after hearing about it from Catti. You need magic to use shortcuts, but…” You sigh, knowing this is only going to fuel Asriel’s belief that you’re an angel. “Turns out, I’m naturally gifted with magic so I don’t need the Dark World to teleport like Catti does. I’ve also gotten a lot of practice jumping around without the magic here to rely on my own natural stuff.”

“So wait… Can you get out the Barrier?” Asriel asks with some shock.

“I can pop up next to a river outside of town since that’s the only place I’ve personally been, but Catti and Kris can get out too.” You explain. “Catti and I found a back way out that involved some weird Void stuff, but Catti’s been making more trips outside and she can take whoever comes with her out. Only problem is she can’t teleport back without magic so she has to walk all the way back. Your mom’s been working with her a bunch to do business outside of town.”

“Huh…” Dess hums, fascinated by your ability to teleport around. She takes a moment to ponder something, tossing the ball she had between her hands before she asks a question. “I understand if this is maybe something you’d rather not do, but… Is it possible for you to go back to the Void?” Before you can even properly react to that question, she tries to defend herself. “Look, I can’t get it out of my head, ok? It’s just this weird, nagging feeling I can’t shake. I’m thinking maybe if I go back there for a little bit, I’ll remember how awful it is and I’ll stay away from it.”

“I’m not entirely sure that’s a good idea.” Asriel scratches his head. “Maybe I’m just being over protective though. Kris gets shaky whenever they think about the Void. I’m not sure going there again would be the best idea.”

“But can you go to the Void?” Dess asks. “If you can get out as quickly as you can get in, it can just be a quick back and forth. Maybe I’ll hate it and want to leave, maybe I’ll get a taste of the peace and quiet again and be satisfied.” You don’t really like the idea of dragging her back to the Void either, but if her older questions and hypotheticals are anything to go by, she’s going to keep bringing this up until she’s satisfied. Kris very vocally despises the Void, but maybe Dess sees it differently. Maybe this is some kind of coping mechanism. You aren’t sure if you’d be helping or hurting her by complying, but you decide to answer her question.

“I’m not sure if I can bring us to a true empty Void since I actually need to know specifically where I want to go, but I do know the next best thing.” You tell her. “It’s the same place I got lost in before I made a couple new interesting friends. It’s not completely empty, but it’s the closest thing I can get to it while also staying relatively safe.”

“Can you take us there?” Dess asks.

“Us?!” Asriel balks. “Hey wait a minute, I don’t know if I want to be a part of this.”

“Come on.” Dess pressures him. “Are you telling me you’re not at least a little bit curious to see what it’s like?”

“I’ve heard stories from Kris, I’d rather not.” Asriel shakes his head.

“This isn’t pure Void though.” You repeat. “And there shouldn’t be anything bad in there with us. I have a couple of other friends who know about the place, but I can promise you they’re nothing like Gaster or the Lightbringer. We’ll be fine.” Asriel still looks apprehensive, but he seems to be considering it.

“Come on! Don’t be a pussy!” Dess eggs him on. “You’re not gonna baby your way out of this, are you?”

“I think I’m perfectly justified in babying my way out of this.” Asriel argues. “But… As long as you promise you can get us back, maybe I’ll take a peek. Just know that Kris will probably strangle you if anything happens to me out there.”

“Nothing will happen.” You promise him. “It’s specifically made to be a hangout spot, we’ll be fine.” Holding your hands out, you gesture for Asriel and Dess to step forward. “I’ll bring us all back home the moment either of you ask.” Dess hurries over to you, eager to scratch her itch and get a glimpse at the Void again. With a bit of reluctance, Asriel steps forward too, stopping to grab the baseball bat you’ve all neglected.

Both of them brace for the worst as they take your hand, but you don’t share their same anxiety. You haven’t visited this place since your trip with the devs, but you’re positive things will be alright. Picturing the quiet spot underneath the tree by the river, you bring Asriel and Dess along into Toby’s handmade sanctuary.

The chill in the air vanishes, everything goes dark and quiet. You’ve made it back to the hangout, but Asriel and Dess keep their eyes squeezed closed, only opening them after you let them go. The darkness surrounding you and the river are not the first things anyone takes notice of, however.

“Aw what the hell?!” Dess complains loudly. “What happened to your robes and the makeup?!” She asks Asriel who was currently wearing a baggy sweatshirt. “You don’t look like a sexy sorcerer anymore!”

“And you don’t look like you walked out of a renaissance faire.” Asriel retorts, causing Dess to look down at herself with disappointment.

“Oh god damn it!” She whines. “What happened?! Wait…” Dess drums her fingers in the air, likely trying to perform some sort of magical ability, only to grow even more frustrated when nothing happens.

“We’re outside the Dark World.” You explain to them. “You don’t have magic or the transformations the Dark World gave you.”

“This sucks!” Dess pouts. “You lost your dress too.” You jolt slightly upon hearing that and look down at yourself. The beautiful dress Ralsei had bought you was gone, and in its place was a very simple looking dark gray blouse and red skirt. You didn’t have a mirror, but it’s nice that you’re still wearing something that looks reasonably pretty. Maybe you should get something like this back home.

“Where are we…” Asriel has been quiet while Dess complained, but once he speaks up, Dess finally takes notice of her surroundings.

“This…” You watch her shiver slightly, causing her to hug herself as she looks around. Her eyes linger on the tree and what looks like a new, much more comfortable bench resting by the river. “This isn’t the Void. There’s stuff here.”

“I need some kind of landmark to actually get here.” You remind her. “I can’t just jump to literally nowhere. Though… Shit, I guess Toby could… Whatever, this is nicer anyways.”

“It’s…” Dess spins around, getting a good lay of the land. She digs her feet into the rough earth beneath her, she stares off into the darkness surrounding their little stretch of land, she listens to the quiet gurgle of the river flowing nearby. “This isn’t that bad.” She says. “It’s not fully scratching that itch, but… This is kinda nice.”

Asriel lets out a light whimper as he stares off into the blackness. “Is there anything else out here? Is it just darkness for miles all around us?”

“Yep!” Dess nods. “Though all this stuff shouldn’t be out here in the Void though. Where did all of this come from? How’d you find this place?”

“This is a hangout spot Toby made to relax when he isn’t working.” You explain. “It doesn’t look like he’s here right now, but I was told I could come by here and check in if I wanted to.”

“He made this?!” Asriel asks. “Alright, I’ll probably regret asking again, but who the hell is Toby? You gotta tell me.”

“Maybe I misheard something during all the chaos when you got back, but didn’t you say Toby was a little dog?” Dess scratches her head.

“It’s a lot to get into.” You sigh. “He’s someone from my world, someone who’s created a vessel to explore the realities found within the Void. Let’s just leave it at that.” That alone was a lot to drop on them and you didn’t even scratch the surface, but it’s enough to satisfy Dess’ curiosity which is good enough for you.

“Well he’s got a pretty nice spot picked out here.” Dess nods. “It’d also be impossible to lose the ball out here. We’d be able to see it from a mile away. You holding up all right over there, Azzy?” Dess turns her attention to Asriel who’s still casting cautious glances out into the dark. “Relax dude, there’s literally no one out here except us.”

“That’s what’s got me so freaked out.” He explains. “We’re completely alone. No one has any idea where we are. If anything happened to us, we’d be trapped here forever.”

“Ok, see?” Dess says. “That’s how I felt when I first got here, but this place isn’t nearly as bad. We got rushing water, a bench, we got a ball to play catch with. There’s plenty to do here. Also, we got Vess to take us home whenever and apparently a little dog who will eventually show up to bail us out if Vess can’t for whatever reason. Think of this like a haunted house or something.”

“I hate haunted houses.” Asriel whines, causing Dess to groan.

“Come on,” She says, “As scary as this place is, having someone to talk to helps. Having Kris out here with me probably saved me from going completely batshit insane, you’ll be fine with us.” Asriel’s slowly coming around on the idea, but he still doesn’t like this place. “How about we try smacking some stuff with that bat, that’ll make you feel better, right?” Dess says, readying her mitt.

“If you want out, just say the word.” You tell Asriel, not pushing him like Dess is. That gets him to calm down a lot more and after a few seconds, he slides his glove off and readies the bat.

“You gotta tell me more about this Toby guy and what the hell you’ve been up to out here.” He says. “I sat out most of the crazy stuff going on with the resets, and while I’m thankful for that, the more I know about this stuff, the more I might be able to help Kris out. You also seem really chill about this place and if I can know why, maybe I’ll stop freaking out.”

You do just that.

The Void turns out to be a much nicer playing field than the cleared out footprint, and as a bonus, you’re no longer trespassing while you play. You and Dess take turns pitching the ball to Asriel as he bats, sending the ball flying off into the dark behind you. Just as Dess said, it’s impossible to lose the ball since it stands out so clearly out here in the black. Asriel refuses to pass the bat off to anyone though. To fetch the ball, you and Dess have to run out into the darkness and leave the patch of dirt everything was resting on behind and he refused to leave solid ground.

As you all played, you tried to explain some of the things you’ve been up to, starting with your introduction to Styx and the travels you went on with them. From there, you were eventually able to find Toby and Temmie, who you spend a good while explaining was a different Temmie from the one they knew. You don’t go into too much detail about the devs connections to your friends, not wanting to give them the same existential crisis all your other friends went through, but that still left you with plenty to talk about.

“Jeez, you’ve been busy out here, huh?” Asriel says once you wrap up everything.

“How the hell do you find the time to hang out with Ralsei?” Dess asks.

“Oh, all that stuff about exploring the multiverse with those guys happened in like a day. We did most of our talking back in our world.” You tell them. “Aside from my trip here, I’ve been trying to have a normal week.”

“I’ve been trying to have a normal week for months.” Asriel sighs, lowering his bat. “I guess I’ve been hoping to go back to what I’m familiar with too. This place is the furthest thing from normal, but what I’m doing right now, playing baseball with my best friend, this is what I’ve missed. All this talk about magic, other dimensions and all that, I could do without.”

“Are you going though a midlife crisis or something?” Dess asks.

“I don’t think I’m midway through my life.” Asriel shakes his head. “I’m just homesick I guess, homesick for the way things used to be before the Roaring, before college even.”

“Fuck dude, I know that feeling.” Dess grumbles. “I mean, I didn’t really lose a second of my life, I was put on pause for almost a decade, but the rest of the world moved on without me. Everyone I was friends with is now some old fart, some of them even have families now. My baby sister is now slightly older than me. I get to see my dad again, but it’s hard to ignore how much he’s aged and I can’t help but think I missed out on several years with my dad that I’ll never get back.”

Both of them fall silent for a while, leaving you to awkwardly stand around with the ball, unsure of what to do. Eventually, Dess shakes her head.

“I think this place is getting to my head again.” She says. “Let’s get a couple more pitches in and get out of here. You two wanna get a pizza or something when we get back?”

“Pizza sounds good.” You nod.

“Ice-E’s Pezza might be a dungeon now, but the pizza’s just as good as it’s always been.” Asriel says. “I’m also starting to miss my robes. I don’t look good in this hoodie.”

“I miss the robes too.” Dess nods. “We gotta get the hot warlock Asriel back. Pitch the ball already Vess.” You ready yourself to pitch, but Asriel doesn’t get ready to swing just yet.

“Do I really look that good in the robes, or are you just messing with me?”

“You look good in anything, dude.” Dess tells him. “I remember taking you to prom and oh my fucking god you look good in a suit.”

“You took me to prom?!” Asriel boggles. “When did that happen?!”

“My second reset.” Dess says nonchalantly. “I got a second chance at life and I didn’t want to waste it like my first try so I got over my nervousness and asked you out. It didn’t really last though thanks to the resets screwing everything up for us. You were my first and only real relationship, but even if I was in the right mind to start dating again, things would be weird between us for obvious reasons.”

“Huh…” Asriel doesn’t look like he’s sure how to process the information he’s been given, so he readies his bat for you to pitch to him so he can get out of this Void before continuing further. You’re about to pitch when his eyes go wide as something occurs to him. “Wait a minute, if I’m the only person you dated, does that mean when you asked if resets undi…”

Before he can finish that thought, all three of you freeze.

“What’s that?” Asriel asks in a hushed whisper, readying his bat not to hit the ball but to defend himself.

“I don’t know…” You mumble out.

Something was coming. You don’t know how to explain it, but it felt like something was getting closer, though looking all around you, there is absolutely nothing in the distance. Something was approaching, something big, but you had no idea what. Maybe it’s one of the devs? You’ve always come along with them here, maybe this is just what it feels like when one of them tries to visit.

“Vess, we gotta go!” Dess suddenly blurts out, rushing towards you in a panic. “I’ve felt this before! I felt this when-”

Suddenly, the feeling is gone and everything goes quiet again. What the hell was that?! Was there something moving around in the Void or something? You feel that Toby or Temmie would have given you a heads up if there was some kind of giant Void monster moving around.

“There!” Dess suddenly tugs your arm, directing your attention across the river. What you see leaves you startled and confused for a few brief seconds before your heart nearly stops from pure dread.

Sitting on the borderline where loose soil meets black Void is Sans’ old house.

“Vess!” Dess nudges you, lowering her voice but still sounding urgent. “Vess! Get us out! Azzy! Get over here!” You’re left stunned by disbelief and horror, but at the mention of Asriel’s name, you turn to find he’s also frozen on the spot. He looks scared, but more than that, he looks almost hopeful.

He takes a step closer to the river.

“Azzy, what the fuck?!” Dess hisses, not wanting to be heard by anyone who might be inside the house. “What are you doing?!” Asriel looks back, clearly conflicted and terrified, but if this is what you all think it is, this is his only chance to see an old friend of his again. Dess shoves you forward, moving along with you so you could grab Asriel and get out while you still could, but you freeze again the moment you hear a new voice in the dark.

“Oh hey! We found a dark Void! That’s good, right?” That slightly southern drawl was impossible to miss. “That means we’re actually close to someplace! Is there anything we can look for out here, or…”

Stepping around the side of the house, a familiar face walks into view only to stop dead as they stare out in shock at you and your friends. No one makes a move. You and Dess sit petrified, her grip on your hand was tight enough to cut off blood flow to your fingers. Asriel was also still frozen in place, the bat in his hands still primed to swing. It would only take a few seconds to close the gap, grab him, and whisk you all back to Castle Town. The flowing river between you and the backstabber should give you plenty of time to reach Asriel before they do.

“Azzy?”

“H-hi, Chara…” Asriel stutters, not moving an inch from his position. There’s another stretch of disbelieving silence. How the hell did you two end up meeting again?! Have they been trying to get back to you? Have they been following you?! From the look on their face, you’re pretty sure they’re just as surprised to see you again as you are.

“So uh…” Chara mumbles out. “You doing alright, Azzy?” Asriel gives them a slight nod. “That’s good.” Chara nods back, looking over at you and Dess. You think they recognize Dess, but they linger on you, squinting their eyes a little as they scrutinize you. “Do I know you?”

“Vess.” You tell them. “The one you tried to throw under the bus.”

“Oh!” Chara actually gasps once they recognize you. “You look so different now, I didn’t even realize. I’m uh… guessing you’re still mad at me for-”

“Yes.” You tell them outright.

“Fair enough.” Chara nods. Looking back at the house, they turn to face you again. “I don’t know what you guys are doing here or where this place is, but I reckon you’ll probably want to clear out as fast as you can. As much as I’d love to stay and chat, I don’t think the other’s wou-”

The front door of the house is suddenly ripped open. Without a word or warning, that terrible little devil comes sprinting out of the house, their eyes locked on you.

At the sight of the Lightbringer, Asriel lets out a horrified yelp and turns to run in your direction. Resisting the urge to run away, Dess shoves you forward again, desperate to close the gap between you and Asriel so you could get everyone out. As you run, you watch as the Lightbringer leaps over the river you thought would deter Chara from trying to reach you and scream in panic. Before they can reach you, however, you manage to get to Asriel first and the millisecond you had your friends close you get out of there, dragging everyone into the main hall of Castle Town where all three of you collapse.

The three of you lie on the floor, gasping for breath and trying to make sense of what just happened. After a good ten seconds, Asriel starts to sob.

“Oh my god!” His breath hitches in his chest. “Oh my god we almost died! They were this close to getting us! We almost-”

“Hey! Calm down!” Dess tells him, pushing off the ground to join his side. “Vess got us out of there just like she said she would. We’re safe here…” After a few moments, she turns her head towards you. “Right? They can’t follow us here, can they?”

You don’t know what to say. You really hope not, but the fact they found you at all is terrifying. Did they find a way to move the house like Sans could? If that’s the case, could they find their way back here? That didn’t seem planned or coordinated, they found you by accident, but what are the chances they could accidentally find their way back to you? The odds of you coincidentally bumping into each other again feels absolutely impossible, they had to have been tracking you.

“I think they’re stuck out there for now.” You tell Dess, easing her worries somewhat. Your assurances keep Asriel from outright crying, though he still remains on the verge of tears with how scared he is.

“Well, I don’t want to go to the Void anymore.” Dess sighs, lifting a hand to rest on her head only to be caught off guard when she realizes her bard hat is back. “Come on Azzy, cheer up. You got to see Chara again, that was cool, right?” Asriel nods. As wary as you are of Chara, they at least took some time to talk and catch up before their doppelganger tried to murder you. “This blows.” Dess grumbles. “That place was cool. Guess it’s their hangout now.”

Your heart rate is just starting to fall back down to a reasonable level when your pulse spikes again as you realize something horrible. Toby and Temmie probably have no idea that their sanctuary was compromised. They could march right in there and get caught off guard. The Lightbringer did not hesitate to try and kill you again, but if they find out that Toby and Temmie have souls just as powerful as yours…

“I gotta go!” You push up off the floor, trying to formulate a plan to try and warn the devs. If they’re awake and back in your world, you can just message them when you wake up to avoid the place, but if they’re still in here, you have to try and find them in person to warn them. Where would they be though? You have an entire Void full of worlds to search. God, how the hell did those creeps find you?!

“Go?!” Dess gets up. “Go where?! You’re not going back out there, are you?!”

“Someone could get hurt with them hiding out there.” You tell her. “I gotta warn Toby and Temmie at least so they avoid the place. Hopefully if no one shows up, Chara and their friends will just leave.”

“They can teleport just like you can, can’t they?” Dess tries to argue. “They’ll see a bunch of creepy bastards and pop out of there just as quickly as you did. They’re literally in a different dimension entirely, if we leave them alone, we should be fine.”

“I need to at least try to warn them.” You shake your head. “It’s my fault they’re out there in the first place.”

“What’s going on?” Everyone goes quiet as Ralsei steps through the front gates. Seeing Asriel still terrified on the floor and the panic in yours and Dess’ eyes, he doesn’t like the scene being painted for him. “Did something happen? Is everyone ok?!”

“Barely…” Asriel whines, trying to push himself off the floor.

“We got out alright, we just had a really bad scare.” Dess assures your Prince. “I asked Vess to take us out to some crazy place and they showed us this weird stretch of the Void that their weird friends hang out in. We were just playing baseball out there and a house just suddenly showed up and that little demon shit was in it but Vess is trying to go back out there!”

Ralsei wears an expression that makes it look like he’s been punched in the gut several times with the amount of horrible news that was just dumped on him. It’s that last sentence of Dess’ that has him worried the most though.

“I’m going to come back.” You promise him before he can even say anything. “Toby and Temmie could get hurt out there if I don’t at least try to warn them. I’ll try my very best to come right back once I know they’ll be alright.”

“Do you have too…” Ralsei asks, giving you some pause. The look of pure worry in his eyes almost turns your legs to lead.

“That’s what I was trying to tell her.” Dess insists. “Just chill out for a second, alright. You said Toby’s a god or whatever, he can take care of himself, can’t he?”

“She wouldn’t just leave him to fend for himself though.” Ralsei argues on your behalf, but he still doesn’t like what’s happening. “I’d do the same if there was even a small chance of someone getting hurt, but… I can’t because…” Ralsei goes quiet, looking almost sick with dread. That forces you to move, marching up to hold him tight. Once he’s in your arms, he returns your embrace. “I can’t help you if you leave me here.”

This was Ralsei’s worst nightmare fully realized. All of the danger you were trying to run into was way outside of his reach. Not just his reach, everyone’s. He already felt anxious watching people leave the Barrier, but if anything wrong happened out in the Light World, someone could just cross over and grab them, there were plenty of people in town who were capable of leaving at this point. You’re the only person who can leave this world and make it back. If anything happens to you, he’ll never know, and he’ll have absolutely no way to get you back home.

“Ralsei, how many times have we been through this?” You try to console him. “I’ve been through hell and back multiple times, I’ll be fine. If I can help it, this will just be a quick warning to the devs and I’ll be right back in less than an hour. I won’t let you go for the rest of the night when I get back.”

“But what if you don’t?” Ralsei asks. You’re about to insist that you will, but he continues before you get the chance. “Dess said that horrible monster was out there again. This isn’t just another sudden trip you’re going on, that thing can really hurt you. I can’t even bear the thought of them hurting you again with no one to help. I wish you could have someone, anyone out there to help you, but I don’t want any of them to get hurt either. I don’t want you to go at all!”

You hated to disappoint him. You wanted to stay here too. You wanted to forget any of this ever happened and prepare yourself for your date with him tomorrow, but you can’t. You made these monsters, you helped set them loose on the world, and you can’t just sit here when there’s a very real potential that your friends could get hurt. You’ve made some pretty horrible mistakes by accident, but if you don’t at least try to warn someone, if anyone got killed, there would be no excusing yourself for it.

“I’ll tell you what.” You lean in close, holding your Prince tight. “You don’t have to worry about me unless I’m not back for the date tomorrow.”

“Vess…” Ralsei whines.

“Even then, I’ll be back, but if it’s longer than expected, I promise, you can have me for the entire week on my next visit. We can binge read all your books, go out to see a show, whatever you want to make up for making you worry.”

Ralsei still looks reluctant to let go. He knows you need to go, he’s just like you, he wants to help people in any way he can, but you can’t blame him for wanting to be selfish just this once. You feel like an ass for doing this to him so much. He was terrified when you got on the boat with Styx, he begged you to stay for just a little longer each time you tried to leave. On the camping trip, when both your emotions were running wild, he was terrified of all of this, but you promised him that you’d be there for him, that he had no reason to worry. You both rushed into a lot of things that night without thinking much, but you intend to hold true to your promise. You’re going to make it back.

“There’s just one thing I need to know to let you go.” Ralsei finally concedes, offering to let you go with one condition. “What can I do if you’re late? I need something, anything at all that I could do to try and help you if you’re in trouble.”

“I won’t be late.” You try to tell him, but Ralsei only holds you tighter in response. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. He wanted a contingency plan, he wanted you to have a lifeline. “But on the off chance that I am… Go back to Queen’s Manor and try to talk to me again.”

“Hmm?” Ralsei looks up at you.

“Catti could also probably get you closer to me with a shortcut, maybe the both of you can reach the devs in their Deltarune, but in the absolute worst case scenario, if something bad happens to me, use the computer in Queen’s Manor to try and get help. My friends know about this place and were already worried about the dangers. If I don’t reply to them, someone’s gonna check up on me, and if you can talk to one of them, they should be able to get the devs attention if they’re still alright.”

It takes a moment, but now that Ralsei has some way to try and help you if things go wrong, he eventually lets you go, though he still clings to your hand. “Ok…” He sighs, his head hung low. “Should I tell the others?” He asks.

“I don’t know if Kris will take any of this news well.” Asriel has long since recomposed himself, but his thoughts immediately jump to his sibling and how terrifying this would be to them.

“We don’t gotta tell them any of this.” Dess says. “Vess is going to come right back and we’re all just gonna wait for those creeps to get bored and leave.” She turns to glare at you. “At least you fucking better. If you make your adorable ass Prince cry, I’ll punch you on his behalf.”

“To do that, I’d have to be here to punch, which means either way, Ralsei will get his Princess back.” You counter. No matter what they’re worrying about or what might happen, you’re going to come back. You’re Determined to see your Prince happy, and if entire realities can be created on a whim through that one power, If this one trait you had in abundance was enough to control time itself and rival the power of gods, it should be more than enough to get you back home.

“Can I have one more kiss before you go?” Ralsei asks, trying to put on a brave face to show he believed in you. You lean forward and kiss him on the lips, letting him hold on for as long as he wants. Once he pulls away, you leave him with one more promise before pulling away.

“You’ll get another one when I get back.” You tell him. “And I promise you, you’ll get more than enough of me if I take my time getting back.” That puts a blush and a smile on Ralsei’s face. You think you’re finally getting through to him.

“I should have just kept quiet about the whole Void thing.” Dess sighs. “If I didn’t pressure you into it, we wouldn’t have seen those creeps again and none of this would be happening.”

“But thanks to you, I’ll be able to save others from getting ambushed.” You tell her. “It’s probably best that they found us first. I’m not sure if Chara would have been as hospitable to a stranger.”

“I’ll be praying for you.” Asriel tells you.

“I’m not an angel.” You repeat.

“You’ve answered all of my prayers…” Ralsei mumbles at your side. “Every time I wished you were here, every time the wait became unbearable, you always come. Every time I need you to, you come.”

Dess lets out a barely audible squeak of repressed laughter, causing everyone in the room to turn and face her. She freezes up, terrified that she might have ruined the moment, but surprising everyone, Ralsei actually starts to giggle.

“Come on…” He tries to sound disappointed, but he can’t stop himself from laughing. “Is it really that easy to make you laugh?”

“I have the humor of an immature twelve year old, I can’t help it.” Dess says with a smile. “And hey, you’re laughing too! I got you to laugh at a sex joke!”

“It wasn’t a sex joke! I said ‘come’ and you laughed!” Ralsei says. “How are you more immature than all of my other friends combined?!”

“Because my brain is mush and full of horny thoughts because I never grew them out like Noelle did.” Dess says. That was an actual joke and it’s enough to get Asriel to bark out a laugh despite how tense and dire the situation was. You can’t help but laugh too. It helped clear your mind. You were gonna get back to these goofballs and get back to laughing it up in no time. Wanting to keep the good mood going, you lean forward and give Ralsei another quick kiss on the cheek, ruffling his hair before taking a step back before he can retaliate.

“I’ll be right back.” You promise once more. “In the meantime, help cheer Asriel up and suffer through whatever dumb stuff Dess throws at you. I’ll warn you though, she threw one question at me that nearly took me out. Hopefully she’ll save it for when I’m around to see your reaction.”

“Oh, now you’re giving me permission to drop the question on him?” Dess asks. “When I suggested it, you said he’d probably die of embarrassment.”

“Is it that bad?” Ralsei asks you.

“I don’t know.” You shrug. “I don’t know what she’s already asked you, maybe you’ll be fine. Just save it for when I get back.” You take a couple steps back and a deep breath to brace yourself and clear your head. You had a pretty good idea where to start. Before you go, everyone gives you a tentative wave. Ralsei still wears a smile, but there's a deep worry on his face that won’t go away. You intend to make sure he doesn’t worry long. The feeling of joy and relief he’ll feel when you come home just as promised will make all of this worth suffering through. “Love you.”

“I love you too.” Ralsei nods.

Eager to get back to him, you take a shortcut, leaving this reality behind completely and venturing to a new one.

Chapter Text

Vess hasn’t been replying to any messages or answering any calls. She was probably just sleeping in, all this crazy dimension stuff had to be tiring, but Zach couldn’t help but worry. Besides, he really wanted to go to the mall and Vess assured him she’d be up for it.

She couldn’t be mad at him for showing up at her house at nine in the morning after telling him all her crazy stories about time traveling, dimension hopping, and soul snatching mad scientists. How could he not be at least a little worried for her?

Biking across town, he makes a beeline for her house, trying to enjoy how relatively clear the roads are this early on a lazy summer day. Miles and Lizzy could probably get there much faster than he could, but all of them were convinced that there was nothing to worry about and that Vess would wake up before noon to be ready for the mall. Also, Miles was still asleep and would be right up until Lizzy came to pick him up.

If Vess wakes up or is already awake when he gets there, they’ll have a laugh, maybe hang out a little bit, and then head out to the mall. If not… Zach isn’t exactly sure what to do if she isn’t up. Could he just shake her awake? It’d probably be a jerk thing to do to suddenly wake her up from whatever adventure she was on, but until he knew exactly how this all worked, he was only ever going to imagine the worst.

It’s a long ride, but thanks to the lack of traffic, he gets to Vess’ neighborhood in only twenty minutes and ditches his bike on the front lawn. The driveway is clear again, her parents are already out for work. He feels a little self conscious about barging into her house uninvited, but again, there was some potential crazy shit going down, she’d probably forgive him for just marching into her house at nine in the morning. Walking up to the front door, he finds it’s unlocked and he lets himself in. As he walks through the house to get to Vess' room, he wonders if her parents have any idea what’s going on with her. She said they knew about her new name and gender stuff, but did they have any idea that she had run off Narnia style into some magical world without them knowing? Probably not. They don’t stick around all that much, but he seriously doubts they’d be ok with their kid running off into potential danger like that.

Making it to Vess' room, he’s about to barge in, but basic decency wins over his growing worry and he instead gently knocks on the door. “Vess?” He speaks through the door. “Vess, can I come in? I just wanted to check in with you to make sure you were doing alright.” He gets no response. He knocks on the door a little louder and for much longer, hoping to annoy Vess into waking up, but after a good ten seconds straight of knocking enough to make his knuckles sore, Vess still doesn’t respond.

With his worry now becoming too much to smother, he opens the door and peeks inside.

Vess was at her desk, but she wasn’t awake. Her chair was leaning all the way back as she slept on it, a pillow resting beneath her head and sheets draped over her. One hand dangles over the side of her chair. Zach cautiously steps inside and in the silence of her room he can hear a very faint breathing coming from Vess, but otherwise, she was completely motionless and silent. Looking at the computer monitor next to her, he can see almost thirty discord notifications. Zach and his friends sent a few messages trying to get her attention, but not that many. Was someone else trying to get her attention too?

Zach looks between the computer and Vess, unsure of what to do but desperate to do something to make sure Vess was alright. Would it be safe to try and wake her up? What if the other notifications were her trying to communicate through the computer again?

Knowing that Vess sometimes speaks with the devs, he opens up her discord knowing that he is definitely stepping over a boundary he shouldn’t, but he needs to make sure everything’s alright. Sure enough, the group chat they’re all a part of is contributing to the notifications, but there are a lot more coming from a second group chat, one that Vess showed him on his last visit here when she first introduced them to all this. She was getting messages from the devs. She showed him what the group chat looked like, so there shouldn’t be anything to hide on there. Clicking it, he feels his heart sink as he starts reading through the messages.

“Vess, are you awake?”
“Did you find Toby?”
“He isn’t waking up.”
“You didn’t go back there to look for him, did you?”
“Vess?!”
*missed call*
“Vess please, I don’t know what to do!”
*missed call*
“You said you’d be back in a few minutes, I don’t want to try looking for you in there, I’m scared.”
*missed call*
“Come on! Just pick up!”

Zach feels his guts twisting up into knots. He looks back to Vess to confirm that she’s still breathing. He presses his fingers against her neck to feel a pulse. She’s still alive, but she isn’t waking up. He had every reason to worry, something happened, something bad. He felt almost paralyzed, he had no idea what he could do that wouldn’t hurt his friend. He didn’t know how any of this works, but Temmie might.

“Hello?” He types out a message to the dev group chat, praying that Temmie might be able to help him help Vess. Almost immediately, Temmie starts a voice call. Zach answers without hesitation.

“VESS!” Temmie shouts the moment the connection is made. “Oh my god, are you alright?! What took you so long?! Is Toby gonna be alright?”

“Um… You’re Temmie, right?” Zach tries to speak, but his chest feels heavy with dread, making it difficult to get words out. Temmie falls silent almost immediately once she realizes she isn’t talking to who she thought she was. “Vess isn’t waking up. She’s still breathing and everything, but I don’t know what to do. Do you know what happened to her? Is something going on?!”

“Something bad.” Temmie tells him. “Something very bad. Who is this?”

“Zach, one of Vess’ friends.” He tells her. “Is she going to be ok?”

“I don’t know.” Temmie says, sounding just as broken up and scared as Zach felt. “Nothing like this has happened before. I’m still relatively new to this, Toby’s the one with more experience, but he’s not responsive either. Vess tried to warn us but she missed Toby by only a few minutes and she went looking for him. I’m too scared to go looking for them myself. I don’t have as much power as they do and if they can’t get out themselves, then I’ll only get stuck too if I try to help.”

“What exactly happened to them?” Zach demands, starting to feel sick and cold. “Are they stuck somewhere, are they lost? Are they hurt?”

“Vess said there were some bad people who found their way into one of our hangout spots.” Temmie finally elaborates, though the news doesn’t ease Zach’s worries at all. “Vess managed to get out of there when she found them, but she came looking for me and Toby to warn us to stay away. We were just about to wake up, but Toby wanted to go to the hangout to get some more rest before waking up and I haven’t heard from him since. I think Vess left to try and look for him and I haven’t heard from her either. You said she’s still breathing though, right?”

“Yeah…” Zach nods, though he’s finding it harder and harder to breathe himself. “As far as I can tell, she’s alive.”

“I just hope that means that they’re both alright, wherever they are.” Temmie says, sounding almost grief stricken. “I want to go back in and help, but I don’t know what to do. Now I’m just sitting around like an idiot hoping one of them will wake up and solve the problem themselves. I’m the only other person who can get in there, but-”

Midway through Temmie’s speech, a window pops up over the discord page, drawing a startled gasp out of Zach that shuts Temmie up. It’s the same black command box that showed up the last time he came into this room, and just like last time, text starts to crawl across the box.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Zach leans forward to read what’s forming on the box. “I think someone’s trying to reach out, it might be Vess!” Temmie remains silent, waiting for Zach to relay good news, but as he reads the message coming through, it’s clear it isn’t who he thinks it is.

“Hello? Please, I need help!” The words come out slowly, each letter taking some time to form. Zach’s seen this before, this wasn’t Vess, this was the Prince. “Please, if anyone is there, answer my prayers!”

“I think people inside have realized something’s wrong with Vess.” Zach tells Temmie. “Someone’s trying to get our help.”

“Oh no…” Temmie sounds even more guilty. “I want to, but what can I do?” Zach feels just as helpless, but he was getting pissed with how useless he felt. He had a direct line to people asking him for help. He’s always been in Vess’ corner, and she needed him now more than ever. Resting his hands on the keyboard, he’s determined to find some way to do just that. He didn’t have much hope if Temmie couldn’t think of any way to help, but he’d find some way to brute force a solution.

“This is Zach.” He types out, replying to the Prince’ distress call. “You’re looking for Vess, aren’t you?”

“YES!” After a short pause, a new stream of messages comes through. The Prince is typing faster now, ditching proper grammar to get as much information out as possible. “Vess is missing! She met some really bad people outside of town and tried to warn her friends to stay away but she hasn’t come home since. She told me that if anything happened I could try and call you again to try and get help or to make sure you were ok. Is she with you now? Is she alright?”

Vess told the Prince to reach out to him. She was counting on her best friend to get her out of a jam. He still wasn’t sure what all was going on or who exactly these bad people were that everyone keeps talking about, but he was more determined than ever to help his best friend.

“She’s alive.” He immediately tells the Prince, sharing what little good news he had first. “She isn’t waking up though. To be fair, I haven’t tried to wake her up, but I’ve been talking with Temmie in the same room and she hasn’t stirred at all. Temmie thinks she’s stuck. Toby’s out of commission too. None of us really know what that means for them, but the fact that they’re still breathing on our end has us hopeful that wherever they are they’re still fine.”

“Can you help her?” The Prince asks immediately, desperate for a solution.

“I don’t think there’s anything I can do on my end.” Zach types out, wishing there was. “I can maybe make sure Vess is hydrated or something out here so she isn’t just wasting away while she’s stuck, but I can’t do anything to help her out here.”

“There has to be.” The Prince tells Zach. “She said you’d be able to help, you have to come here and help her!” Maybe he was just interpreting the text wrong, but the Prince seemed to be getting more than desperate, he seemed angry. Zach was Vess’ best friend, she specifically told the Prince to try and reach out to him for help, but he wasn’t doing anything. Hell, Zach was getting angry at himself too. What the hell could he do though?

“How.” He simply types back while voicing the question aloud for Temmie to hear too.

“Huh?” Temmie asks, having fallen into a quiet spell while he spoke to the Prince.

“How can I get in there to try and help Vess?” Zach elaborates. “I know she said it could be dangerous for other people to go in, and yeah, it sure as shit sounds like it, but how can I get in there and help out.”

Before Temmie can speak, the Prince sends another message. “I don’t know exactly how she gets here, but if you can manage, I know people who might be able to get you to her. Better yet, if you can get Temmie’s attention, she could help too.”

“I’m talking with her right now.” Zach types out just as Temmie speaks up.

“None of us are fully aware of how this stuff works.” Temmie informs Zach. “Toby was the first to find all of this and it took a lot of effort to try and get me in. You need a vessel, you need some way in. Toby needed a lot of help from within the Void to actually drag me in and give me proper access to all of this. I don’t know if I can do the same for you.”

“Well where can I start? Give me something I can work with.” Zach demands, looking back at his unresponsive friend who he now knows for sure is in grave danger. Reaching over, he tries to feel for a pulse again, terrified that at any second, her sleeping, still body could suddenly become a corpse.

“Please find your way here. Please.” The Prince pleads with Zach over text. “I’m so scared for her and this is all I can do to try and help. I can’t call for long, but I don’t know what else to do.” Fuck! Everyone was running around blind, were they?

“I’ll figure something out. Just hang tight.” Zach replies while waiting for Temmie to give him something to work with, only for him to get a discord ping. Someone in the friend group chat was trying to get Vess’ attention.

“Oh hey, you’re active!” Lizzy must have noticed Vess’ discord wasn’t idle anymore.

“Zach’s looking for you.” A surprisingly awake Miles tries to inform her of Zach’s worry, but he breaks the news that he’s already there.

“Vess isn’t waking up.” He types out. “I just got here and she’s out cold. I’m in a call with Temmie and something bad is going down. Like, people might actually die bad.” Messages start flooding in, but Zach can’t focus on any of them as Temmie finally speaks up.”

“I don’t know if it will help at all, but if you plan on going in there, you need a vessel of some kind.” She explains. “You don’t have the ability to make anything yourself, so you’re going to need something from out here to bring in with you.”

“Hold on, I’m trying to split my attention between three different conversations here.” Zach grumbles, trying to make sense of all of this. He needs a vessel? What the hell does that mean? What could he use and how the hell would… He pauses. Clicking off the group chat which was now overflowing with concerns from his friends, he finds Vess’ dm’s with Lizzy and finds the sprite sheet. “Would a drawing be enough?” Zach asks Temmie.

“That should work, yes.” Temmie confirms for him. “We’re in a rush, but maybe-”

“No, I think I got an idea.” Zach says, clicking back on the group chat, but taking some time to update the Prince so he isn’t completely hopeless. “I think I’m making progress here. If I stop responding, it’s because it worked.”

“Please hurry.” He pleads. “I’m running out of time to keep this call up.” With the Prince updated, Zach hurries back to the group chat, ignoring the sea of questions and concerns his friends have flooded it with to ask a question of his own.

“Lizzy, how fast can you draw me?” He asks, quickly elaborating so Lizzy doesn’t waste time asking why. “Temmie says I need a vessel to get in and try and get Vess out.”

“Will you be ok?” Miles asks him. Quickly glancing up at the other messages, Zach’s surprised to find most of the messages are coming from him.

“I don’t really know, but Vess won’t be if I don’t try.” Zach tells him. “Maybe you should come over here to help keep an eye on her. I don’t know what I’m doing, but if I get there, I won’t be able to make sure she’s alright out here. Can you do that for me?” Miles doesn’t respond. Lizzy is still typing something, but Miles has gone dark. Zach rests a little easier. He’s probably already running over here as fast as he could.

“Ok so I might actually have something for you.” Lizzy finally gets back to Zach. “Ever since I found out that the commission I helped Vess with was her actual body inside the game or whatever, I tried making more for the rest of us. None of them are really done, it’s just dumb sprite art of all of us, but maybe it will work?”

“Send it.” Zach orders. “All of this is bullshit magic anyways, it should be enough.” As he waits for Lizzy to send the drawings, he presses Temmie for the next step. “Ok, I have someone sending me a vessel. What do I do with it? Where does it go?”

“No clue.” Temmie tells him. “Getting something to use as a vessel is the easy part, but this is where things get all weird. There aren’t really set instructions for how this works, but my best guess is that if Vess interacted with the Void through a game, then that’s probably where you want to start looking.”

“Alright.” Zach cracks his fingers as Lizzy comes through with the drawing. Before he can get anything done, one more desperate message comes in from the Prince.

“I’m being told to shut this machine down.” He says. “Please tell me you’re on your way.”

“I’m making progress buddy, don’t worry.” Zach assures him. “I sure as hell am not gonna stop trying to get in there. You should see me in person soon enough, I’ll brute force this shit if I have to.”

“Please do.” The Prince replies. “Please. I have no one else to turn to. You’re my only hope.”

”Please…”

The window vanishes, cutting his only connection to the other world. He gets to work with a burning determination in his chest that keeps him going through the debilitating waves of stress induced nausea threatening to break him. Vess wasn’t the only one counting on him. He needed to make this work.

Downloading the sprite sheet Lizzy sends him, he takes only a couple seconds to look it over. Lizzy has drawn a flat colored sketch of him on one half of the page while the other half has what’s supposed to be his sprite. He looked a little weird in Lizzy’s style, but it was clearly identifiable as him. He was even wearing his favorite shirt. Only half of the sprites are finished, but he hopes what’s there is good enough. Even if he gets in and he’s missing a limb or something since the drawings aren’t fully done, as long as it doesn’t kill him, he’ll do what he can. Once the drawing is downloaded, he drags it onto the desktop, and with nothing but Temmie’s suggestion to go off of, he double clicks on Deltarune.

Nothing happens. At least, nothing to him. Instead of being sucked into the computer or whatever’s supposed to happen, a text box appears on the center of the screen.

“Oh shit!” Zach gasps. “Oh shit, I think I’m actually doing something!”

“Wait, it’s actually working?!” Temmie sounds shocked that her suggestion actually bore fruit. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you in yet?”

“It uh… It says I need to put assets somewhere, I’m uh…” Zach curses to himself slightly. “I’m not as much of a nerd as Vess is, I have no idea what the hell it’s telling me to do.”

“What does it say?” Temmie asks. “This is basically magic we’re working with here, maybe it’s some kind of puzzle or ritual we need to complete or something.”

“It says to put something in a directory and then there’s just a bunch of stuff strung together. Something about program files.” Zach scratches his head.

“Oh, that doesn’t sound too difficult.” Temmie says. “Try opening up the game’s directory, maybe there’s something in there.”

“How?” Zach asks, having no idea what that meant. He only uses his own computer for two things, Google and Netflix. He doesn’t know what a directory is or how to search for it. He thinks he can hear Temmie let out a distressed groan as she realizes he’s completely computer illiterate, but a different noise catches Zach’s attention.

Someone just came in through the front door.

“VESS?!” Sprinting through the house and yelling in a volume Zach has never heard come out of him, Miles barges into the room. His eyes settle on Zach for only a couple moments before turning to look at Vess. He hurries over to her side, gently trying to slap her awake while feeling for a pulse.

“She’s alive, but you’re not gonna wake her up.” Zach tells him. “I was thinking she might need water, but I don’t know if she’d be able to drink or if we’d just waterboard her.”

“Who’s that?” Temmie asks, catching Miles off guard.

“Someone who might actually know what the hell this means.” Zach answers. “Miles, hop on the computer. I’m basically useless here, I need you to figure out what it wants.” Miles nods and slips past Zach, leaning over the desk to work his magic. Zach gives him some space and stops by Vess. Getting a look at him, Zach realizes that Miles must have just woken up and didn’t even bother getting ready for the run here. He was wearing an oversized t-shirt and seemingly nothing else. He ran all the way out here barefoot?!

Desperate for something to do now that Miles is actually carrying this operation, he tries to lift Vess out of her chair and get her into bed. He doubts she’d care or that she’d notice, but she should probably be comfortable through whatever horrible bullshit she’s going through. She’s pretty heavy, but unlike everyone else in his friend group, he actually works out. Heaving her out of her chair and gently setting her down into bed, replacing her pillow and sheets, he slides the now vacant chair over to Miles so he can actually sit down.

“You really needed my help with this?” He asks once Zach joins him by the computer. He seems to be doing something else in the background with the picture Zach downloaded, but he has no idea what.

“I go outside.” Zach says. “Thank god I know a few good code monkeys though, huh? LIke what the hell is all that there?”

“Changing the file extension.” Miles says. “Why’d you save it as a jpg?”

“I don’t know what that is.” Miles shakes his head in disappointment. “Whatever, screw you. Temmie. What do I do once this is in?”

“Try to launch again?” Temmie says, sounding unsure but hopeful. “It seems like the game was already waiting for you if it’s already got a place in the directory to put a vessel. Maybe… Maybe Vess made an opening for you? It took Toby forever to figure out how to get me in, but if they’re both stuck together, maybe they found a way to manipulate the program to let you help.”

“How the hell does that work?” Zach asks.

“We’re all still learning.” Temmie gives a half assed answer.

“That’s dumb.” Miles makes his opinion clear.

“Are you really gonna complain when it’s offering us a way to help our friends?” Temmie asks.

“I’m not.” Zach shakes his head. He watches as Miles drags the newly converted drawing into the asset folder. The moment it was in there, a new box pops up.

“Hell yeah!” Zach cheers. “Holy shit, we’re doing it! There’s a loading bar and everything!”

“Ok…” Temmie takes a deep breath. “I’m going to be going in myself in a little bit. This is going to be your first time. It’s gonna be a whole lot to take in at once, especially with how much of a rush we’re in and how dangerous things could be, but try to get your bearings when you wake up. I’m going to try and come find you in Vess’ Deltarune. Try to make your way to-”

“Uh, hurry it up.” Zach interrupts. “The bar is going pretty fast, it’s already…”

Zach feels his whole body go numb and his mind clouds up with fog. He tries to throw his arms out to steady himself, but his legs are already giving out beneath him. He thinks Miles notices and tries to stop him from hitting his head on something, but his brain can barely process the information. He doesn’t even have the energy to be scared of what’s happening to him. He just falls, dazed and confused as everything around him goes black.

“Hello? Are you alright?!” Thoughts slowly start to form again as the fog clears out. Zach groans, reaching up to cradle his head as he tries to figure out what the hell just happened to him.

“Was there just a homeless guy sleeping in here the whole time?!” There were people in the room with him, people he didn’t recognize. His head still hurts, but he tries to force himself to think back on what happened. Miles had just finished doing what he needed to launch the game and Temmie was trying to give him instructions when he passed out. Maybe the stress was getting to be too much for him, maybe…

“Do you need medical help?” Zach tries to force his eyes open and finds two strangers kneeling over him. One looked to be an older business person of some sort and the other was the most stressed out looking teenager he’s ever seen in his entire life. He’s reasonably sure the older of the two is the one who just spoke to him, but he isn’t quite sure yet. None of them look like doctors and this place doesn’t look like a hospital.

“Where am I?” He asks, his head finally clear enough to form coherent thoughts. “What happened? Where’s Vess?”

“I’m not quite sure how neither of us noticed you here, but you’re in Hometown’s visitation center.” The older person informs. “Were you sleeping here? Are you having troub-”

“You know Vess?!” The stressed out kid with eyeliner suddenly blurts out.

“She’s…” The look of urgency on their face jumpstarts his brain. They know her. “Something happened to her and she isn’t waking up. A bunch of people started calling me and they convinced me to come… here? Is this place what I think it is? Are you the Prince?”

“Holy shit…” They step back with shock. “Holy shit, you’re one of Vess’ friends from the other side!”

“I’m…” The older of the two scratches their head. “I’m not sure what’s going on here. Where exactly did this boy come from? Why is this a big deal?”

“Frisk, thank you a lot for taking some time to talk with me, but I need to go right the fuck now.” The younger one says, hurrying over to Zach to help him off the floor.

“Are you sure you don’t want to discuss this some more, Kris?” Frisk asks. “If you believe you really need help, I can-”

“We’ll talk about it later, but this guy might be the answer to a whole bunch of serious shit going on right now and I need to get him to Ralsei asap.” Kris says, trying to hurry Zach out of the building. “Also, tell the Mayor I’m sorry, but I’m probably gonna have to ditch you two to walk all the way to town. Come on, move it!”

“Hey, hold on!” Zach tries to pull away from Kris for a second. “Give me a minute, I literally just woke up. I wanna help Vess too, but I still don’t even know what’s exactly going on.”

“We’ll give you the rundown once you’ve met Ralsei.” Kris insists. “He needs to see you, he needs to know that someone came to help.” Zach decides to go along with that. If Prince Ralsei is the same Prince he spoke to a few minutes ago, he sounded pretty desperate to get help.

“Please stay safe!” Frisk calls out as they gather their stuff from the visitation center. “I’ll be in town all night if you need my help.”

“I’m sorry for how sudden this is, but it’s a genuine emergency.” Kris calls back. “I don’t have time to get into it, but it’s a bunch of weird shit that wouldn’t make sense anyways.” Without another word, Kris pulls the door leading into the visitation center open and pulls Zach through with them.

The moment he’s outside, he feels his breath catch in his chest and he almost trips when he sees the massive wall of black right beside the building he was just in.

“Yeah, yeah, it looks crazy.” Kris rambles. “No time to sit and stare, we gotta get in there.”

“Woah, woah, wait!” Zach tries to drag his feet. “What the hell is that?! Is that where Vess is?!”

“No, but you’re not gonna be able to help her unless you get in there.” Kris says. “I know it looks scary, just close your eyes and you’ll be through before you know it.” Zach knew that if and when he got in here he was going to have a wild time, Temmie warned him as much, but he had no idea where he was, who exactly these people were, or what the hell was happening. Zach closes his eyes as he’s instructed, trying to take some deep breaths to ground himself and clear his thoughts.

Kris knew who Vess was and knows he’s here to help. All of this was absolutely crazy and he’ll have plenty of time to gawk like an idiot later. For now, he just has to try and focus on rescuing his best friend. Once she’s awake and safe, he can freak out on his own time. Even as he feels something wash over him, he keeps his eyes closed, trusting that Kris will lead him to where he needs to go. Once the feeling passes, he suddenly feels much heavier.

“Holy shit, you look tankier than Dad does now…” Kris says, causing Zach to open his eyes.

“What the hell does that mea…” Zach isn’t even able to finish his sentence before he’s left in another stunned silence. Kris had completely changed in the few seconds he had his eyes closed, from their clothing all the way down to their skin color. Their sweater was now a suit of beat up armor. A torn cape hung over their right shoulder, and their eyes burned red beneath their bangs.

Prying his eyes away from Kris, he looks down at his hand in theirs and finds that he’s changed too. He was wearing what looked like armor plated gloves and looking down at the rest of himself, he gets what Kris was saying when they said he looked tanky. Strapped to his chest, shoulders, and legs were heavy plates polished steel with what looked like gold along the edges. Unlike Kris’ armor which was rough and beaten up, Zach’s shined in the light with an almost mirror finish. He has no idea what he looks like right now, but he felt like he was in the Lord of the Rings or something. With all of this armor on, maybe he doesn’t need to be as scared as he was.

“Whatever, we’re going to Castle Town now, brace yourself.” Kris tells Zach, tightening their grip on his hand and squeezing their eyes shut as if they were bracing themself to get hit.

“Brace for wha-” Once again, Zach is unable to finish even a single sentence as he suddenly finds he’s somewhere else entirely. No amount of warnings could have prepared him for this, he felt like he was living through a fever dream. He has no fucking clue what was going on and he was desperate to either get a small break to let his brain catch up or to be thrown at Vess so he can at least do something helpful while he lost his mind.

“Kris?” Trying to get a lay of the new land he’s found himself in, Zach’s attention is drawn to two people standing in the room with him. Were they people? They weren’t human, that much he was able to gather. He was too stunned by everything going on to really care anymore. One of the two was a large woman slightly taller than he was with pink skin and a gnarly looking scar across her snout, splitting her lip and revealing razor sharp teeth beneath it. She seems to have been trying to comfort the person next to her, someone covered head to toe in fluffy white fur and wearing a green and black dress. Looking up from beneath their large green hat, they were staring right at Zach.

“Are you Zach…” They ask, their voice broken and sore sounding. Zach could see that the fur around their cheeks was damp. Was this the Prince?

“I’m here to look for Vess.” He nods. These all had to be Vess’ friends. Kris, Susie and Ralsei. He’s already talked with these people, he knows that Vess trusts them all. Despite how strange and freaky this all was, despite their non-human appearances, he knew he was safe here.

Without warning, Ralsei suddenly rushes up to him and wraps his arms around him, breaking out into tears. “Thank you!” He sobs against his chestplate. “Thank you for coming! I’ve been so worried about her, I’m so happy you’re here to help!”

“Come on Ralsei, give him some space.” Susie steps forward, prying Ralsei off of him. “He looks like he’s freaking out a bit, give him some time to calm down.”

“Yes, please.” Zach nods, kneeling down to take a seat on the floor. “I got here not even five minutes ago and I got dragged into some wall of darkness, got all this armor from out of nowhere, and then I… teleported? I can barely even think right now, I need a minute.”

“Well, we were kinda in a rush.” Kris says in their defense. “Vess has been gone for a couple days now and we can only assume the worst. Was she alright on your end?”

“She’s alive.” Zach nods. “She’s breathing, she still has a pulse, but she’s completely unresponsive. I talked with Temmie and she says that Toby’s out too. I think she’s going to be coming here to look for me so we can try and figure something out.”

“How long will that take?” Ralsei asks, lifting his glasses to wipe his eyes. Everyone else looked stressed and worried, but this guy was absolutely devastated.

“I don’t know. She was still trying to lay out plans when I passed out and woke up here.” Zach scratches his head, wondering how Miles is doing back home dealing with two of his friends out cold. “She should be showing up soon though. She didn’t sound like she knew much of what was going on, but she knows more than I do which is jack shit.” Ralsei grumbles in response to that, earning a hand on his shoulder by Susie.

“Be patient dude.” Susie tells him. “Help’s on the way, we’ll get her back.” Ralsei sniffles, raising a hand to wipe his eyes again. “Sucks that this is how we meet for the first time.” Susie sighs, looking down at Zach. “This should have been this crazy event where we get to see all Vess’ friends and show them all the crazy shit in town, but instead we get this.”

“Yeah…” Zach nods dumbly, still trying to get a grip on everything that was going on. “Can you give me the rundown on what happened?” He asks. “All I know is Vess wanted to warn someone about some bad people and she hasn’t come back. Who are these people? Where did she go?”

“She was showing Asriel and Dess a hangout spot in the Void that Toby made.” Ralsei sniffles, trying to share as much as he could to help. “It’s a place none of us can physically go to except for Vess, the devs, and Catti, though she doesn’t have a way back out if she goes there.”

“Can I get there?” Zach asks. He isn’t exactly sure why this place was so seclusive or where the Void was, but that seems to be where he needs to get to.

“You gotta get there first in order to take a shortcut back to it.” Kris informs him. “As for whether or not you can take shortcuts at all, probably. Vess did it by accident and Temmie can apparently do it just fine, so maybe everyone from your world can just do that without issue.”

“What’s a shortcut and why can’t you do it?” Zach asks.

“Oh, I can do it, it’s how I got you here so fast.” Kris says. “Not to get off track, but people who are in on this whole Void stuff can learn how to teleport. I don’t know where this hangout is so I can’t go there, and I’d sooner gnaw my own arms off than go anywhere near the Void to go looking for it.”

“Ok…” Zach tries to process that information. He guesses it isn’t that much of a leap in logic to assume magic exists when he was talking to a goat man and a dinosaur woman in an alternate dimension, but learning that he can apparently learn how to teleport and that he might be naturally predisposed to doing it has thrown him for a bit of a loop. “Who are the bad guys then?” He tries to get back on topic, focusing on information that could actually help.

“Three of the creepiest mother fuckers to ever exist.” Susie explains. “First off is Chara Tor, Asriel’s college friend who came to visit town who turned out to be a serial killer in the making. Chara Dreemur, a little kid version of Chara from an alternate dimension who was already a full blown psycho the moment they showed up. And arguably worst of all, Gaster, some smart ass manipulator who’d probably crumple into dust the moment you laid a hand on him, but according to Kris, his spectral ass can’t be punched.”

“Asriel said Chara Tor didn’t immediately try to hurt anyone.” Ralsei informs, his voice now much more steady now that Zach’s here. “Gaster probably can’t do anything to Vess physically, but Chara Dreemurr, The Lightbringer, I pray they didn’t hurt her.”

“If I…” Zach was getting a lot of information here, but if he was the one everyone was relying on, he needed to ask a question. “What do I do if I find these people? Should I fight them, or…”

Zach’s gotten into fights. He likes to think of himself as a nice guy, and while most people don’t usually talk shit to a guy as big as he is, they mess with his friends all the time. Some bloody knuckles and bruises are usually enough to make people leave him and his friends alone, but these aren’t bullies that these people are warning him of. These are killers, manipulators, full blown psychopaths. Susie was almost as big as he was and it was impossible to not see her sharp teeth beneath the horrible scar splitting her face open. Everyone here was scared of these guys and they were terrified that they might have hurt or even killed Vess. What the hell was he supposed to do against that?!

“We just want Vess back.” Kris assures him. “None of those creeps showed up here yet so I don’t think they can follow anyone out of that Void.”

“And if they do try to mess with you…” Susie grumbles, thinking of the worst possible scenario. “Gaster shouldn’t be a problem to you right away. He might try to fuck with you or come up with some kind of threat against us, but he should be powerless out there. Chara’s a lot more scary, but outside of a Dark World, they should be just a regular ass flesh and blood human. You look like you can throw your weight around, you could probably take them. It’s the little bastard you gotta watch out for.”

“Do whatever you need to against them…” Ralsei mumbles. “Gaster has selfish goals behind his abhorrent actions and Chara is horribly misguided, but the Lightbringer is not worth trying to reason with. I’m not suggesting or even hoping that things turn to violence, but that seems to be the only language they know. They will try to hurt you and Vess. It sounds horrible, but if you’re left with no other choice, do whatever you need to make sure they never hurt anyone again.”

The concerned look the others give Ralsei clues Zach in that this isn’t something Ralsei would normally condone. From what Vess has told him about Ralsei, he’s probably the closest thing to pure of heart a person could be. If this Lightbringer is as bad as everyone says, he prays he doesn’t end up running into them. He could throw a punch, and if his friends’ lives are on the line, he could probably push himself, but for this sweet little guy to essentially say they want them dead makes him shudder wondering what the hell this person did.

“So wait for Temmie to bring me to this hangout place, and get Vess out by any means necessary.” Zach lists off. “Is there anything else I need to know? Any other intel that might help?”

“That’s all we know…” Ralsei tells him, sounding frustrated over how clueless he was over what to do. Everyone was in the dark, all they could do was charge in blindly and find out the hard way what’s going on. “I really wish we could have done something sooner, that we didn’t have to send just you to fight this battle on your own, but Vess is so far beyond our reach. I don’t want to risk anyone going out there, let alone one of her best friends, but you’re her only hope now.”

“Well you got the right guy for the job.” Zach says, trying to cheer the poor guy up as well as hype himself up so he doesn’t lose his nerve. “She always comes to me whenever she needs help. I’m probably the most dependable guy she knows. I’m still not a hundred percent sure how I managed to get here, but Temmie said that Vess might have somehow given me an opening to come looking for her.”

“She told me to call you if she didn’t come back.” Ralsei nods. “She really trusts you. If you’re even half as brilliant as she is, I know you’ll bring her home safe.” Zach feels his heart surge in his chest. What did that box say before he got in here? The Champion requires a vessel? Is that what he is to these people now? Their Champion? He felt like a knight in shining armor ready to take up a sword and slay dragons and shit! He looked the part anyways, he was scared out of his mind, but he’s always been in Vess’ corner and he wasn’t going to back out now.

“So…” Pushing himself up to his feet (a difficult task with all the armor weighing him down now), he looks over all these strange characters. “I guess we still got some time before Temmie shows up. Vess told me a lot about you guys, but it’s still kinda freaky to be standing right in front of you all.”

“I don’t bite if that’s what you’re worried about.” Susie chuckles, purposefully flashing her mouthful of shark-like teeth.

“Unless you’re Noelle and you say please.” Kris quips.

“Or you’re an annoying little shit who can’t keep their mouth shut.” Susie growls, literally.

“Behave, you two!” Ralsei raises his voice, silencing both of his friends. They silently mouth insults back and forth to each other, but Ralsei doesn’t pay them any mind. “I’m guessing you and Vess will be leaving us once you get her back to safety? I know she’ll probably need rest, but it’d be a shame to see both of you go so soon after we got the chance to finally meet one of her friends.”

“She’s been out cold for twelve hours and I’m probably out now too since I’m in here.” Zach explains. “My first priority is making sure she’s safe at home. She and the other guys were saying that me being here is potentially dangerous, but I guess that cat’s out the bag now. This isn’t even the first time something crazy like this has happened, right? We’ll both be back. Maybe the whole gang can come along if nothing like this happens again.”

“I hope so.” Ralsei nods his head, reaching up to tug on his scarf. “I’m just desperate to see Vess again. She’ll obviously need time to recover, but I was going to treat her last night before she had to go. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait a whole week before I can see my Princess again after all of this.”

“Y… your what?” Zach asks, but before he can get an explanation, someone suddenly joins them in the room.

“Are you Zach?” He recognizes that voice and turns to look for the developer he spoke to over Discord. No one is behind him, however. “Down here.” Following the voice, he looks down and is left baffled by the extremely tiny cat person thing staring up at him. “Are you ready to go?”

“Why do you…” Zach asks what is clearly Temmie, but he’s confused. This was who he was talking to over Discord?

“Why not?” She asks. “I’m a regular human in the real world, why not try something new out here? We got more important stuff to worry about now.”

“Right.” Zach nods, taking a grounding deep breath. He guesses Vess has a unique body here, but he didn’t think vessels could be that unique. “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s get Vess out of here.”

“Do you know what we’re about to get into?” She asks. “Do you know what a shortcut is?”

“I took him here and we’ve filled him in on what we know.” Kris tells her. “Just don’t get yourself trapped in there too. If all of you get lost, I don’t think there’s anything more we can do.”

“They won’t.” Ralsei says. “They’ll make it back.” He sounded so sure of himself, so much so that even though Zach was going into a potential life threatening situation, he felt assured that he’d somehow make it out. Rolling his shoulders and knocking on his metal chestplate, Zach readies himself for anything.

“Let’s do this.” He tells Temmie, who steps forward and rests a tiny hand against his metal boots.

“Good luck.” Ralsei waves them off. “Please stay safe.”

In an instant, the castle and everyone in it vanishes, leaving Zach in pitch blackness. Temmie leaps away from him, ducking down and bracing herself to move. Zach braces himself too, not sure what to expect, but the moment he does, he notices how light he’s suddenly become. He looks down at himself and finds his armor is gone. Without all that shiny armor to hide behind, he suddenly feels a lot more vulnerable.

“Over there!” Temmie tries to get his attention with a hushed whisper. Turning to follow her gaze, he’s once again left very confused by the strange sight before him. Surrounding them was an endless horizon of pitch black, but resting in the middle of the nothingness was a small field with a river flowing through it, and on the other side of the river was a beat up looking house. There was literally nothing else out here, so that house was the only place to look.

Stepping forward, Zach tries to creep slowly towards the house.

“What do we do if there are bad guys in there?” Zach asks, balling his hands into fists. “Maybe you can bite at their ankles?”

“I guess I know someplace where I could get you actual equipment to defend yourself.” Temmie suggests in a low voice. “I’d rather not hurt anyone if I can help it though. If we can, we should see if we can get our hands on Vess and Toby and pull them out. I’ll try to stay right behind you so I can pull you through a shortcut as soon as we need one.”

“If they’re that easy to do, why wouldn’t they just get out themselves?” Zach asks. “Something’s gotta be holding them back, right?”

“I don’t want to think about what could be stopping them.” Temmie says, clearly imagining the worst. They don’t have to worry about that though, Vess is alive, whatever’s keeping her down can be recovered from.

As they creep forward, they pass by a single tree growing out here in the middle of literal nowhere and a lonely bench overlooking the river cutting the land in two and keeping them from marching straight to the house. It’s pretty wide and looks pretty deep, but the current doesn’t look that strong. He wouldn’t be able to wade across it, but if he stripped down, he might be able to swim. He looks over at Temmie, hoping that maybe she’d have a better plan, when both of them hear the front door of the house open up.

Quickly looking back at the house, Zach finds a stranger a few years older than him peeking out through the door.

“How many neighbors do we got out here?!” They say in surprise, pulling the door open all the way. “I thought this place was supposed to be empty, but new weirdos keep dropping in.” Temmie hurries to Zach’s side and rests a hand against his shoe to teleport if needed as Zach puts up his fists, making it very clear what he’d do if the stranger got any closer. “Woah, woah.” They put their hands up in surrender. “We’re nowhere near civilization, but we can still act civilized, can’t we?”

“I want my friend back!” Zach shouts back. This obviously wasn’t the Lightbringer that Ralsei warned him about and they didn’t look as fragile or spectral as Gaster was described. This was Chara Tor. They were described as a serial killer in the making, so Zach is really grateful to have this river keeping them apart. “Where’s Vess!”

Zach’s heart was pounding in his chest. He could feel a sheen of cold sweat drenching his whole body. He was terrified of this person, but if he found out they did anything to Vess, he won’t hesitate to-

“Zach?!” Someone shouts through the house, nearly stopping Zach’s heart. Chara steps aside as someone else hurries to the front door.

Zach didn’t immediately recognize the girl who steps outside, but who else could this be? The girl stares at him in shock, her red eyes wide. He saw the sprites Lizzy made, Vess told him herself that she had a different body within this world, but to actually see her like this…

“Vess?!” He gasps. “Holy shit, you’re… Wait, you’re alright?”

“What’s going on here?” Temmie asks, still resting against Zach’s leg to bail him out at a moment's notice. “Are you ok? Why haven’t you left yet?”

“They can’t…” Someone new steps outside, someone that Zach is immediately able to identify. Though they looked to be half Chara’s age, they looked far more wicked and malicious. They even wore the same sweater, though theirs is much filthier and one of their sleeves was tied off. Just looking at them, Zach could understand why Ralsei wanted this thing dead. It looked human, but it clearly wasn’t.

“Why not?” Zach demands. “If any of you assholes did something to her, I’ll fight you myself!” The Lightbringer looks up at their older counterpart, only for them to shake their head.

“As much as we’d like to see you try, I think your Angel friend would get upset if they had to see you get torn apart.” Chara says with a cruelty that betrays their up till now pretty pleasant tone of voice. “We’re trying things my way, and I suppose a little bit of Gaster’s way. We’re trying to come to a deal where everyone leaves happy, and until then… You want to show them?”

Breaking into a horrible smile that sent shivers running through Zach’s whole body, the Lightrbinger takes their remaining arm and plunges it into their chest with a horrible crunch. Zach feels his guts churn as they root around in there before pulling something free and holding it out for him to see. Resting in their hand was a fist sized fragment of glowing red light, cracked and broken.

“Your Angel cannot leave without their soul.” The monster announces. “At least not without slowly withering away into nothing as their life slips away from them. Until we come to a happy arrangement, they’re stuck here with me.”

Zach felt sick. Was that really Vess’ soul? Vess didn’t look hurt, but she sure as hell didn’t look happy to be here. She was trapped, whatever the Lightbringer had, she needed it back or else she’d die. Zach wanted to punch something, these bastards were holding her here against her will and he wanted to kick all their teeth in. He doesn’t care if that little bastard could apparently rip people’s souls out, they got one arm and they’re half his size, he could stomp the little demon into mush if it meant Vess could come home.

“Why don’t y'all come inside?” Chara offers, catching Zach and Vess by surprise. “Maybe you can convince Vess here to come up with something so we can all go our separate ways. You people keep popping up out of nowhere, you can get over the river, right? Let me get something going for you.”

Chara turns to leave, heading back inside and leaving them alone. The Lightbringer shoves the stolen piece of Vess’ soul back into their chest, shooting one last nasty glare at all of them before retreating inside as well, leaving Vess alone outside with them. The moment they were both back inside, Temmie suddenly pulled Zach and herself through a very brief shortcut to cross the river, putting them in reach of Vess. Once they were close, Zach and Vess hurry forward to close the distance, wrapping each other in a hug once they met.

“Thank fucking god you’re ok.” Zach almost breaks down once he has Vess in his arms. “I was convincing myself that I was overreacting when you didn’t answer any of my messages, but thank god I went to check on you. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Vess assures him. “Things could have been much worse for me, but they’re playing nice for now. Is everyone at Hometown alright? Is Ralsei doing ok?”

“Ralsei’s fine, you’re the one who’s stuck here.” Zach shakes his head. “We’re gonna get you out of here, alright?”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Temmie asks, looking up at Vess. “What about Toby, is he here too?” Zach feels Vess jolt in his arms and lets her go.

“No?” She says, looking down at Temmie. “I was scared that he might have already come here and got caught, but I’m the only one here. I figured he got back to you and both of you were going to try and find a way to help me.” Everyone looks at each other with growing horror. Toby was still out of commission, but if he wasn’t here, then where the hell could he be?!

“Let’s focus on one problem at a time.” Zach tries to calm everyone down. “Vess is alive, he probably is too. Once we figure out what the hell is going on here, we can all look for Toby. Vess would probably help you more than I could.”

“We’re not gonna go inside, are we?” Temmie asks, now sounding even more terrified.

“It’s me they want, not you.” Vess tries to assure them. “I don’t want to drag you two into potential danger, but I really don’t want to be alone with all of them.”

“I’m sure as hell not leaving you here to fend for yourself. Come on.” The look of pure relief on Vess' face smothers the rising terror trying to well up in Zach as he takes the lead and starts walking towards the house. “Also, not really sure if this is the time, but you look really nice like this.”

“Thank you.” Vess forces a smile. “I wish you could have seen the real me under better circumstances.”

“All your other buddies said the same thing.” Zach says. “We’ll get our chance, you can count on it.” With renewed determination, the three of them walk towards the house, all terrified of what their nefarious hosts might have in store for them. Inside, Zach finds that the house is a complete mess with not just loose papers scattered all over the place, but entire chunks of the wall missing too. There’s a massive, scorched hole in the back of what he assumes to be a kitchen leading out back into a blown out shed. Chara was currently in that kitchen, the Lightbringer was glaring at them as they slouched on the couch against the wall right next to the door, but there was a third person in the house, the last one Susie warned Zach about.

“You let them inside?!” Staring down at them from the banister of the second floor was an incredibly tall man with a face of cracked bone. Despite his smooth, literally skeletal features, there’s a deep seeded hatred and age in his face. With the Chara’s accounted for, this had to be the creepiest of the three; Gaster.

“This isn’t your house.” Chara snaps at him. “This is our house and these are our new guests. Don’t know who the hell raised you, but where I’m from, we treat guests with hospitality and respect. I know those are foreign concepts to you, but mini-me is managing just fine, so you can too.”

“Just smile, old man.” The Lightbringer says, wearing a smile of their own. Zach wishes that they didn’t smile at all, they looked terrifying.

Zach and Temmie hang by the door, trying to keep watch on all three of the very dangerous individuals, but Vess marches into the house and sits down on the couch next to the Lightbringer, crossing her arms and keeping her eyes to the floor. The Lightbringer does not sit up to make space for her, and instead stretches out even further to kick at her slightly, trying to get her to move over to the other end of the couch. Vess doesn’t budge.

“Well, I’m sorry to say, I’d normally offer you something to eat or drink, but we got tap water and some questionable foodstuffs that may or may not be burnt or flash fried inside the cans they’re in.” Chara announces from the kitchen. “Will water be alright?”

“Did you do anything to it?” Zach asks cautiously. He’s incredibly confused. He was convinced that Vess was being held prisoner or actively being tortured, but everyone here seems to be incredibly casual, if openly antagonistic and tense. He came here ready to throw hands, but instead he’s being treated as a house guest.

“I suppose I’m not entirely sure where the water is coming from since the house was probably cut off from water lines ages ago, but we’ve been drinking it just fine.” Chara shrugs. “If you don’t trust it, there’s a river outside.”

“I’ll be fine.” Zach says, leaning against the door frame. Temmie remains by his side, ready to move at a moment's notice. “What the hell do you want? Why are you keeping Vess here?”

“They are remaining here until we conclude our negotiations.” Gaster speaks. “They are lucky to be alive at all, as are you.” Zach can feel Temmie shudder next to him. Looking down, Gaster seems to frighten her the most, though Zach was assured that the old man couldn’t actually do anything to him.

“Now now, there’s no need for threats.” Chara scolds Gaster, clearing room off a nearby table and sitting down on it. “The man asked a question, he’ll get his answers, but before we start, I’d like to get to know you two. “We’ve seen a whole heap of nothing for a while now, but this place seems to be pretty popular, at least compared to the rest of the stretches of nothing we’ve visited. You two friends of Vess?”

“Yeah…” Zach really doesn’t want to talk to these people, he just wants to grab Vess and go home, but as long as they got her soul, he needs to play along and find a way to get it back. “Vess and I go way back.”

“And who’s the little critter?” Chara asks. “She kinda looks like Temmie back in town.”

“I am Temmie.” She introduces herself. “Probably not the one you remember.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Chara nods. “I’m Chara Tor, the lopsided one on the couch is Chara Dreemur, though they’ve grown attached to the title Lightbringer. You can call them Light for short. And the tall fella there is Doctor W. D. Gaster. Make sure you don’t forget the Doctor part, he will correct you. Now… anyone else wanna explain what’s going on here? Vess? You’ve been awful quiet, I’m sure you know by now that the silent treatment hasn’t done you many favors.”

“They’re trying to extort us.” Vess grumbles. “I guess they all took a page out of Gaster’s book. They didn’t kill me outright, but I’m starting to wish they did.”

“I’ve tried my best to get these two to mellow out,” Chara sighs, “We don’t get much company out here though, so forgive us if we’re a bit rude.”

“What do you want from us then?” Zach asks. “Were you waiting for us to show up?”

“Vess seemed pretty positive that someone would show.” Chara shrugs. “The moment she showed up again, these two had some grudges to work out. She couldn’t bail out as easily as she did before thanks to a little something of mine, but Gaster and I figured it’d be better to let her live. I wanted to hear what’s been going on back in town and what her new look was about, but Gaster, being the ever brilliant super doctor genius that he is, knew we could get much more out of her alive than dead. Chara lite was really itching to get that soul, so Gaster helped set up our current situation. They now share it. Light’s more than happy with what they have now, but your girl Vess probably won’t last long without it, not unless she wants to bring them home with her.”

“So what do you want to get her back?” Temmie asks, desperate to find a solution to this so they could begin searching for her friend.

“I’ll be honest, a whole lot.” Chara informs her. “The Lightbringer seems to enjoy having a soul, even if it’s just a stolen half.”

“It feels great.” The Lightbringer giggles to themself, kicking Vess slightly again. “It feels nice to have a beating heart again.”

“Her soul already looked a little worse for wear, so I doubt you want her losing more of it, but unless you have a spare soul lying around, they’re hanging on to what they got.” Zach has no idea what they mean by Vess’ soul being worse for wear, or how she’s alive at all with only half of a soul, but evidently she’s only being kept around thanks to her proximity to the Lightbringer and her other half. “As for the doctor, he obviously wants out. He’s been stuck in the Void for longer than he can remember and hasn’t had a physical body in all that time.”

“If you fools managed to break in and out of the Void so flippantly, then surely you can find a way to undo my nonexistence.” Gaster grumbles, still keeping his distance on the second floor. “Especially if my old volunteer is telling the truth about there being other people like them… In fact…” He seems to take special interest in Temmie, who starts to shrink away behind Zach’s leg.

“Back off!” Zach steps forward, putting himself between Temmie and Gaster who was still a good distance away. “You aren’t going anywhere near her.”

“You want your friend back, don’t you?” Gaster asks him as he starts moving for the stairs. “Or would you rather they stay here with me?” Zach felt his hairs stand on end. Susie was right, Gaster was creepier than everyone else.

“Look, I don’t like the guy that much, but no one’s getting left out in this deal.” Chara says. “Everyone’s gotta come to an agreement, which means Gaster has to get out of here if you want Vess out of here too. If Temmie really is an Angel or whatever Vess really is, then you’re gonna have to work with him.” Temmie takes another step back, not wanting to get anywhere near Gaster.

“What do you want then?” Zach asks Chara. No doubt they want to get something out of this deal too.

“I dunno. Something to do I guess.” They shrug. “I’m not after anyone’s soul or anything, but there isn’t really much to do out here. Gaster’s been futsin’ around in the shed to get us moving again, but this is the first place we’ve actually managed to find and it’s not much different from what we’re used to. I wanna meet new people, I wanna actually try out my resets, eating actual food would be nice too instead of the weird shit Sans had in his cupboards.”

“That sounds… reasonable.” Zach says.

“It’s not.” Vess assures him. “Letting them out of the Void would mean subjecting whatever world they got dumped on to timeline manipulation and whatever horrible thing they want to do free of consequences.”

“None of them will remember it though, they’ll be fine.” Chara insists.

“Didn’t stop you from trying to kill all of us when we obviously remembered what was happening and were suffering because of it.” Vess argues.

“Hey, that was Gaster’s fault, not mine.” Chara argues back. “We were forced to take part in all of that. Susie was the first one to start it, so you can’t blame me.”

“You liked it though!” Vess shouts.

“Are you saying you don’t want to punch me right now?” Chara asks. “We’re trying to have a civil discussion, but if you want to duke it out, get up off that couch. Get it out of your system we’ll continue where we left off, your friends here won’t even realize what happened.”

Vess glares at Chara, but doesn’t move from the couch. After a few moments, she leans back and stares at the floor.

“Coward…” The Lightbringer taunts beside her.

“It’s great stress relief, you know?” Chara offers one last time. “Light and I must have beaten each other bloody countless times and we’re all sunshine and rainbows after it’s done. It’s a lot easier to talk out your problems after you’ve worked out all that animosity in your system.”

“Just shut up…” Vess sighs.

“Is that all then?” Zach asks. “If we find a way to get you out of the Void, fix Gaster, and find the Lightbringer a soul, you’ll give Vess back?”

“I’d like to say hi to Azzy again, but maybe that’s asking too much.” Chara nods. “You can take Vess back, go home, and we’ll never bother you again. We’ll be someone else's problem entirely.”

“But what about Toby?!” Temmie asks. “Where’s he?”

“Who?” Chara tilts their head.

“No one else has ventured out here into the Void.” Gaster informs her coldly. “We do not know of this Toby.”

“I’ve checked everywhere in this house, he isn’t here.” Vess shakes her head.

“We’re gonna find him, alright.” Zach assures. “Maybe we should try and find him first. These are pretty tall orders and I’m not sure how the hell I’d do any of this.

“Please no…” Vess whines on the couch. “Don’t leave me with these people. I wanna go home! I wanna see Ralsei again!”

“I’d like to see that little bastard again too.” The Lightbringer says with a chuckle. Zach watches as Vess’ entire body goes stiff with rage. “Why don’t we go visit him together?”

“We already agreed, we aren’t going back there.” Chara raises their voice. “I don’t want anyone there to get hurt and none of us have any reason to go there specifically. Though…” Chara turns to look at Zach and Temmie. “We really should get some fresh air.”

“What are you suggesting?” Temmie asks with some worry.

“This deal of ours is pretty one sided, so how about we sweeten the pot a little for you.” Chara gets off the table and stands up straight. “In exchange for a soul, a body, and a purpose, we’ll not only give you Vess, but we’ll help you find your missing friend. That makes things a bit more fair, right?”

Temmie looks up at Zach, over at Vess, and finally back to Chara. “How can I trust that you won’t try to hurt us or pull a fast one on us?”

“Vess, you can vouch for me, right?” Chara asks. “I’m just looking out for everyone’s best interests.” Vess lets out a forced chuff, indicating that she thought they were full of shit. “And the Doctor is a very honest man who’s never told a lie in his life.” That actually gets a bark of laughter out of the Lightbringer. “Come on, you’re not helping sell this idea.”

“Then allow me.” Gaster steps forward. “You don’t have a choice. My volunteer will remain here until our demands are met. Whether you accept our assistance or not, they will not leave our side, so if you want their help, you must take us with you.”

“I got Light on a short leash if you’re worried about them acting out.” Chara assures. “If they manage to wriggle away and cause trouble, I’ll fix up any problems they cause. You two probably won’t even notice.” This was an awful spot to be in, both of their choices sucked, but if they didn’t get out of here to go looking for Toby, no one was going to get any help.

“Vess?” Zach looks over at his friend. “What do we do?” With a slow sigh, she pushes to her feet.

“Chara won’t leave any lasting physical harm with their reset.” She says. “I want to go home, but I can’t bring these people with me. We’ll all look for Toby, then give these assholes what they want.” With Vess’ opinion weighed, there’s only one choice to make.

“Fine.” Zach concedes. “We’ll take you with us.”

“Yes!” Chara cheers. “Finally! You won’t believe how stir crazy we’ve been getting in here!”

“But Gaster can’t come with.” Temmie announces, and the glare that Gaster sends their way makes Zach wish she didn’t say anything.

“Why not.” He leans forward, staring daggers at the tiny dev, forcing each word out with as much venom as he can muster. Zach shrinks back, breaking out in a cold sweat under the doctor, but Temmie stands up for herself, refusing to back away.

“I physically can’t.” She says. “I’ve met people like you, entities lost to the Void. You don’t have a physical body to take with me. I’ve tried with people I actually liked and I can’t help them. Until we find a solution to make you physical again, you’re trapped here.” Gaster continues to glower at her, his large bony hands becoming clenched with rage.

“Well, sorry doc.” Chara shrugs. “Guess you’re house sitting while we run some errands.”

“Are you-!”

“What? You don’t want to get rid of us?” Chara asks. “Did we finally start to grow on you? Are you gonna miss us while we’re out?” Gaster silently fumes and for the first time since they got to the house, Zach sees the barest hint of a smile forming on Vess’ face. “You’ll get the peace and quiet you’ve been begging for.” Chara tells the doctor. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back for you. You’re still part of the team after all and I know you’d probably try to hunt my ass down if I ditched you.” Chara starts moving for the door. “Come on, mini me, let’s go for a walk.”

Backing up and leaving the house, Zach and Temmie make way for Chara, Vess, and the Lightbringer as Gaster remains in the house. Chara immediately stretches out once they’re outside in exaggerated motions, trying to play up how eager they are to get out of the house. The Lightbringer holds onto one of Vess’ hands giving everyone in the group a smile. Zach can barely stand to look at them. Something about their smile is just wrong. He couldn’t describe it..

“So.” Chara finishes their stretches. “Who’s Toby, what’s he look like, and where do we find him?”

“That’s actually something I really want to know too.” Vess speaks up. “Where else could he get lost? There’s a reason I’m trapped here, but none of these guys got a hold of him, so what’s keeping him from coming home? Where would we even start looking?”

“How big is this place?” Zach asks. “You said that a lot of dangerous stuff happens here, what if someone attacked him.”

“He’d wake up then.” Temmie assures. “If his vessel was destroyed, his soul would break free and return to his original body. It’s happened before, but Vess’ soul is being held hostage.”

“Know any other soulless husks like me?” The Lightbringer asks, tilting their head as they speak to Temmie. “I know my brother would have killed to feel whole again, he’s done it before.” Zach shudders even more. This thing has a brother?!

“He said he was going to come here to rest before he woke up.” Temmie shakes her head. “Five minutes after he left, Vess showed up to warn us that you were here, but if he didn’t come right here, where could he have gone?”

“Where the hell is here anyways.” Chara asks. “Vess and all her friends just vanished into thin air only for her to show up out of nowhere again not long after. Where the hell did you two come from?”

Everyone’s throwing around questions, trying to figure out where to start, and Zach feels useless. He has no idea where he is, no idea who these people are, and no suggestions to offer. Absolutely nothing made sense, he wasn’t just tossed into a pool and told to swim, he’s been dragged down into the goddamn Mariana Trench and was expected to swim back to the surface. People were fucking teleporting, he spoke to a god damn dinosaur a few minutes ago, his best friend literally got her soul ripped in half. What the hell was he doing here? What good was he actually doing other than being a big guy to give Temmie a little more courage to try and deal with these creeps? He supposes that’s what he’s best at, he’s the big guy, but that doesn’t do shit for anyone right now. Everyone’s talking about things that are going way over his head and…

“What’s that?” Zach turns around, looking off towards the river. The conversation around him quiets down and in the silence, the sound he heard becomes much more prominent. There was a melodic humming somewhere close by, like someone was singing a tune.

“Are there more people out here?” Chara asks. “Shit, maybe we don’t gotta move at all, this place is surprisingly popular.”

“No, that’s…” For the first time since Zach’s met her, Temmie sounded pleasantly surprised. “That’s the song! The river works!”

“The river… works?” Another first, Chara sounded as lost and confused as Zach felt.

“Is this what everyone’s been talking about?” Vess asks, walking towards the river. The two Chara’s had no clue what this was, but Zach’s friends did. He hopes that means this is a good thing.

Keeping quiet and approaching the rushing waters, they all listen as voices seem to rise from the water. Zach can’t make out any words, but the voices don’t seem to be directed at them at all. He hears humming, whistles, mumbled words to some silent beat he can’t hear. From the sounds of it, all of the voices coming from the river were singing, or at least making up some kind of melody.

All but one.

Through the chorus of voices, one stuck out. Cutting through the haunting melody that was forming was a pained whimper, hitched breathing, and a barely audible plea for help. It was enough to give Zach goosebumps, but evidently, Vess and Temmie recognized that voice.

It didn’t take long for Zach to put two and two together.

Chapter Text

“Is that…” Zach sounded like he was at his wits end. You were more than relieved to have him here and to know that Ralsei got a hold of him, but you hate scaring him this much. You hate all of this.

“Yeah…” Temmie sounds almost breathless by your side. “That’s him.”

“What is this that I’m feeling?” The Lightbringer lets go of your hand, cutting you off from relief. You look over at them and find that they actually looked unnerved. “So this is what Asriel felt in his last moments.” There was a barely noticeable shake in the Lightbringer’s hand. Were they actually afraid?

“Do any of you wanna explain what the hell we’re hearing?” Chara asks, sounding frightened themselves. “This is some siren song bullshit right here. What is this?”

“This is the song of the sea.” You explain. You’ve never heard it before, but Catti’s told you about it and you can’t think of anything else this could be.

“The what?!” Zach boggles behind you.

“Weird Void stuff.” You try to explain. “Catti knows more about this than I do. Toby put this river here in hopes that he’d be able to hear it, but if we can hear him…”

“He’s out in the Void somewhere!” Temmie deduces.

“Then he’s as good as dead.” The Lightbringer says. Temmie turns to look at them in horror. “If he’s lost out in the Void, there’s no finding him. Best case scenario, he’s stuck out there forever just like the doctor. From the sounds of it though, he’s hurting bad.”

“Wait…” A thought occurs to you, one you desperately want to be wrong. “Wait wait wait. Temmie?”

“It couldn’t be him.” Temmie immediately shakes her head. She was already thinking the same thing you were, but she refuses to accept it as a possibility.

“You and Toby were able to shortcut out there though!” You insist. “Can you go anywhere else in the Void? What if Toby went to check on him before trying to make it to the hangout?!”

“He’s our best friend! He wouldn’t do that!” Temmie continues to argue. “He’s not like this Gaster!”

“Wait…” Zach mumbles. “Are you saying there’s two Gasters?!”

“God, I hope not.” Chara groans. “Ours makes for a lousy housemate. The only reason we’re even keeping him around is because of how smart he is.”

“He’s different!” Temmie insists. “I’ve talked with him for countless hours, I’ve heard his whole life story, I know him. That imposter in that house is absolutely nothing like Gaster, he’s a monster!”

“There’s no harm in checking, right?” You tell her. “Can you think of any other place in the Void he might be? He’s hurt, and I already got him hurt by taking too long to warn you guys. We have to stop wasting time and check!” You want to get out of here as fast as possible. You made a promise to come home and you broke it. You wasted too much time and Toby got hurt. You’ve been out long enough for your other friends to start checking in on you and now Zach is losing his mind. You need to get out of here right now!

“Ok, ok…” Temmie reluctantly agrees. “Everyone, gather around. We need to hold hands and make a connection.”

The Lightbringer tightens their grip around your hand, squeezing hard enough to make it hurt. You can hear them hiss out in pain as well. Stealing your soul has made you their hostage, but now that you were sharing the same soul, whatever they did to you, they did to themselves too. Their pain tolerance was much larger than yours though, so they endured it, suffering through what little they had to in order to get a reaction out of you. Chara’s been trying to get them to behave and treat you like a guest, but once they saw that the Lightbringer got phantom pains in their missing arm whenever they punched you in yours, they let it slide for science.

You reach out for Zach and he takes your hand immediately. He came here to protect you and be your lifeline, but from the look on his face, he might need more protection than you. He’s completely lost. You’ve been planning for the eventual day you brought your friends along and you planned on very slowly introducing them to things to help them keep pace. You’re not sure how long he’s been here, but he obviously isn’t taking all of this well.

Everyone gathers up, though your friends are hesitant to get close to the two Chara’s. Chara offers a hand to Zach, waiting patiently for him to take it before kneeling down to reach out for Temmie. Temmie tries to approach the Lightbringer to touch their shoe, but they stare down at her the whole time, giving her their horrible smile. It takes longer than necessary for her to muster the courage to even touch them. Once everyone was together though, she wasted no time making the jump. In the blink of an eye, the grass beneath your feet is gone, the song of the sea is silenced, and darkness surrounds you on all sides.

One sound remains from the song, however. Following the noise, all five of you turn and confirm your worst fears.

“Oh what the fuck!” Zach gasps when he sees a small white dog slumped over on the ground, whimpering in pain. Without hesitation, he runs forward. Zach absolutely loves dogs, seeing one hurt, even if Toby wasn’t necessarily a real dog, probably just cut through most of his confusion and replaced all his terror with one simple goal of making sure the dog was alright.

“TOBY!” Temmie quickly scampers over to Toby’s side, sounding absolutely horrified. You try to get over there too, but Chara hurries past you as well.

“You didn’t tell me he was a cute little dog!” They sound genuinely distraught. “Is he alright?!” Chara had absolutely no problem hurting other people to get what they wanted, but cute animals seem to be where they draw the line. The only one who wasn’t in a rush to check on Toby was the Lightbringer. You were forced to drag them with you as they still clung to your hand, keeping you from degrading but filling you with disgust over the constant contact with the monster.

You don’t care about them at all once you get a good look at Toby.

You have no idea how long he’s been out here, but Zach was having trouble trying to pick him up. He could touch him, he could brush his fur, but he couldn’t be lifted without Zach’s hands phasing right through him. Toby was aware they were all there, his tail tried to wag in response to their presence, but he struggled to do much else. He was weak and whimpering, barely able to move and barely physical at all.

“He’s looking as hollow as you did when I tore into you.” The Lightbringer comments, still not at all disturbed by the injured dog. “Maybe the doctor really did get to him.”

They weren’t saying this just to be cruel, you were thinking the same thing. When the Lightbringer plunged their hand into your chest, Chara only just barely managed to save your life, but what followed afterwards was so painful you wished you could have gotten a quick end. Handing over your stolen soul, Gaster snapped it in two, nearly killing you and forcing you to have constant contact with the Lightbringer to feel whole and functional again. The way Toby was struggling to even breathe or move, you don’t want to try reaching in there in case it will hurt him, but it’s obvious what’s happened. Part of his soul has been stolen.

“Why would Gaster do this?” Temmie looks completely stricken with grief and betrayal, still in denial that the man who helped her into this world nearly took Toby out of it.

“What a stupid question.” The Lightbringer scoffs. Despite how terrifying they were, Zach actually glares at them as their complete apathy towards the dying dog he’s trying to care for becomes too much to handle. “I saw the greedy look in Gaster’s eye when he was breaking my old partner apart. The only reason he didn’t take it for himself was because he knew I’d be able to kill him once he was physical. Your doctor probably took what he wanted because he’s convinced you idiots that he’s your friend and he knew you wouldn’t come looking.”

“I hate how much I’m agreeing with you.” You grumble. You got bad vibes from the other Gaster despite everyone’s insistence that he was a good guy. He wasn’t as openly hostile and creepy, but his weird, almost obsessive fascination with you once he realized you were like Toby and Temmie… he wasn’t trying to steal from you thinking the others wouldn’t notice, was he?

“Just cause you don’t like them doesn’t mean you can’t agree with them.” Chara says. “They’re smart, they’re basically me and I got half a degree in accounting.”

“Everyone shut up!” Zach demands. “How do we help him?! Is he gonna die?!”

“If you can’t pick him up, he’s probably fading out for staying out here too long.” Chara says, getting right to business. “The only reason we’re still physical is because we had the house. He’ll fill out again and probably feel slightly better if we can get him somewhere physical, but we’d have to do that fast. I don’t know how the hell you guys are teleporting, but if contact is needed to take us all, we need to move him right now unless you got a shack out here we can try and walk him into.”

“Vess?” Zach looks up to you. “Do you think your friends back at-”

“We’re not bringing these two back home.” You immediately shake your head. There were a million things wrong with that idea. Not only did you not want to see Ralsei just to drop more problems on his lap and disappear again to solve this, but you cannot drag everything everyone was so desperate to get rid of back. You can’t do that to Kris, you can’t do that to Susie, you can’t do that to Noelle. These bastards need to stay as far away from your friends as possible.

“We’ll take him to my Deltarune.” Temmie suggests. “Everyone there should be able to help keep Toby safe and it’s the only place Gaster could be if he’s not out here in the Void.”

You don’t really want to subject alternate versions of all your friends to this shit either, but Toby was running out of time. Chara at least was invested in trying to help this poor dog, but you’re terrified of what the Lightbringer would do if they saw Kris or Ralsei. You don’t have much of a choice though.

“We’re getting you help, Toby.” You tell the barely conscious dev. He tries to give you a bark in response, but all he manages is a pained groan. “Gather up everyone. I just hope there’s enough of him to take with us.” Everyone gathers up again, no longer too bothered by the Chara’s as their concern for Toby takes precedence. Zach and Temmie rest their hands on Toby’s soft fur, praying it will be enough to bring him with.

In an instant, the darkness is gone and Dark World magic forms around your body again. You look down to find you’re back in your dress again, but you turn your focus on Zach. For just a little while, his concern over the injured dog is smothered by surprise and joy to see he’s wearing armor. A lot of armor. Toby has come with you, meaning you thankfully won’t have to leave him in the dark to figure out your next plan of attack. You stand up to take a look around and hear the spin of spurs the moment you start looking.

“Hell yeah! I missed this getup!” Chara is back in their outlaw clothes and kicks their heels with glee, spinning the spurs on their boots. “Now I thought you said you didn’t want to bring us back. This sure looks like Castle Town.”

“Hello?” Slowly walking down the stairs into the main hall, Kris, or at least this world’s Kris, stops when they see you all. “Temmie? What’s going on here? Who are all these-”

“Kris!” Temmie breaks off from the group towards them. “Kris, you have to get Ralsei over here quick! Toby is hurt and he needs your help!” Without another word, Kris scrambles back up the stairs, not bothering to ask questions and rushing to get the help they need. Temmie returns to the rest of the group to check on Toby, but several people in your group look confused by what just happened.

“Are you sure that was Kris?” Zach asks. “That didn’t…”

“That isn’t them.” The Lightbringer says with absolute certainty. “I know the face of my killer, that wasn’t them.”

“This is a different Castle Town, isn’t it?” Chara asks with some excitement. “I knew there were alternate worlds, but this is the first time I’ve actually gotten to see one! All those months of darkness just to show up in a world almost identical to the one I left. What are the chances?” What are the chances? With one more spin of their spurs, they kneel down beside Zach. “How’s Toby doing?”

“I think I can hold him now.” Zach says, trying to focus on helping the dog instead of making sense of the fact he’s in an alternate version of the dimension he visited not long ago. Sure enough, he’s able to get his hands beneath Toby and lift him up now that he’s physical again, but he still doesn’t look good. He cradles the dog in his arms, petting him slightly in the hopes that it would make things better for him.

“Is everything alright?!” Kris returns down the stairs with the Prince in tow. Ralsei is startled at first to see so many strangers, and for a moment his eyes widen when he sees you. You don’t even have it in you to feel awkward about the weird turn your last conversation with this Ralsei went because just looking at him made your heart ache for your Ralsei. You desperately wanted to see your Prince, but until you got rid of these creeps, you had to stay far away from him.

“Can you help him?” Zach steps forward, holding Toby out to Ralsei.

“Toby?!” Ralsei gasps and immediately takes Toby from Zach, his hands already glowing with healing magic before he even gets a hold of him. You can see immediate relief on Toby’s face once he’s in Ralsei’s arms, but he still looks weak and fragile. “What happened to him?! He isn’t getting better!”

“Working theory right now is that someone stole a piece of his soul.” Chara informs. “You didn’t happen to see a creepy tall skeleton man with a crack running up the right side of his skull creeping around here, did you?”

“Gaster?” Kris asks. “I thought Gaster was cool, you were saying you wanted to find a way to bring him here.” Hearing Kris talk so casually about Gaster is so jarring to you that you’re actually left reeling a little bit. Even Zach and Chara seemed a bit shocked to hear that from Kris.

“He is a thief and a manipulator.” The Lightbringer speaks. “He’s played you all for fools and took his prize. No doubt he’s going to make a grab for more power now that he has a soul of his own.” Everyone falls silent as The Lightbringer offers up the worst but unfortunately most likely possibility of what Gaster might be up to.

“Um… I’m terribly sorry for ignoring most of you but, who are all of you?” Ralsei asks, still trying his best to heal Toby even though it wasn’t having an effect any more. “I’ve met Vess before, but the rest of you are new. Are you friends with Temmie and Toby?”

“No…” Temmie mumbles, but Chara steps forward to introduce themself.

“Chara Tor.” They greet him, tipping an imaginary hat. “You don’t know me, but I’m plenty familiar with you, Prince Ralsei. We used to be close friends back where I come from, same with you, Kris.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Chara.” Ralsei nods, happy to make a new friend. “And who’s this? Are they a sibling of yours?”

“We’re closer than that. We are one and the same.” The Lightbringer replies, staring Ralsei down. “I am also very familiar with the two of you.” Ralsei is a little concerned by their tone, but the longer they hold eye contact, he starts to back away. Your Ralsei told you that all it took was one glimpse into their hollow body to know that there was nothing good left in them. You wonder if he can see that they’ve stolen from you.

“I’m Zach.” Zach introduces himself, drawing Ralsei’s attention away from the Lightbringer. “I’m not really with these two. We’re just trying to help Toby so we can work something out with them.”

“I’m really sorry for dropping in out of nowhere with a bunch of strangers, but this is an emergency.” Temmie apologizes. “We’ve tried our best to avoid bringing trouble here, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to search around Castle Town.”

“I was just settling in for bed, but I can help you if you need it.” Ralsei assures her. “Though I’m not sure what exactly I can do to help at this point. Healing magic isn’t working anymore.”

“We’re looking for Doctor Gaster.” You tell him. “Tall skeleton wearing a black turtleneck and coat. He wasn’t out in the Void, so he has to be out here somewhere. I don’t know if he’d be outside the Dark World or not though.”

“Then I’ll get Susie and we’ll start looking.” Kris nods. “What do we do if we find him?”

“Gather everyone up and confront him as a group.” Chara instructs. “He was a slippery bastard without being corporeal. If he actually has the means to fight back now… Well actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think I’d mind picking a fight with him.”

“You’ll hurt Toby if you do.” I warn. Chara looks confused for a moment, before glancing over at their double and realizing the problem. They’re both sharing a soul, if one gets hurt, that damage will transfer, and Toby’s already struggling. The Lightbringer didn’t need yours, but you wonder if Gaster is any different.

“Fine then.” Chara submits. “Spread out, look for the creepy bastard, and get everyone together if you find him. I don’t know if he’ll be willing to talk things out, but for the puppy’s sake, we’ll take the diplomatic approach.”

“Alright.” Handing Toby back over to Zach for safe keeping, Ralsei turns to begin searching the depths of his castle. “Also, maybe this isn’t an appropriate time to bring it up, but…” Ralsei looks over at you. “That’s a really pretty dress, Vess.”

“Oh…” You feel another wave of mixed pleasure and awkwardness as the unfamiliar Ralsei compliments you. “Thank you.”

“She’s taken, dude.” Kris nudges Ralsei slightly, wearing their usual mischievous smirk, though it doesn’t look quite right on this Kris’ face.

“It’s just a compliment!” Ralsei insists before hastily retreating. “I’ll tell you if I find anything!” As he leaves, Chara turns and flashes you a look.

“What was that about?” They ask. The smile forming on their face was all too familiar to you, and you do not like it. “Wait a minute, are you-”

“What are we waiting for?!” Temmie demands. “Start looking! Toby’s losing precious seconds!”

Everyone scatters to cover as much ground as they can. Zach follows along after Kris and Ralsei, bringing Toby with him and exploring the main castle grounds. Chara turns to look towards the dungeon, heading downstairs to see if the doctor was hiding out in the dark below.

You try to leave through the main gates to see if he’s hiding in the sprawling streets of Castle Town Square, but before you can wander off, the Lightbringer grabs onto your hand again. You try to pull away, but they cling on tight.

“What’s the rush, partner?” They ask, looking up at you with a smile. “You’re gonna wanna stay close if you don’t want to wither like that mutt. Let’s work together, just like old times.”

They weren’t going to leave you alone and you couldn’t try to force them off of you. You’d only hurt yourself in the process and the time you waste could be time Toby needs to pull through. Opening the gates and stepping outside, the demonic child follows right beside you, their hand in yours gripping tightly to make sure you can’t slip away. You try to focus on your mission, peering down the alleys and looking through the windows of all the shops that were still open, but after a minute or two of quiet, the Lightbringer speaks up.

“Is the new look supposed to help you distance yourself from what you did?” They ask out of the blue.

“It has nothing to do with that.” You hiss, trying to pull away again but they still hold on tight. “This is who I am. The new vessel, the new look, this is what I want to be. All the things I did back then are behind me now. I accepted that I messed up, my friends all know and still care for me despite my mistakes. Bringing it up isn’t going to hurt me as much as you want it to.”

“I was simply asking a question.” The Lightbringer replies, their smile unwavering. “Is it truly behind you? Is it really possible to sweep the countless lives you snuffed out under the rug?” You don’t bother answering them. You didn’t know. Had you been as informed as you are now, you’d never hurt a single soul, but it was just a game. You can’t blame yourself for it. “I ask because I’m searching for advice.”

“Advice?!” You turn to them in surprise. They had to be messing with you. They’re trying to force you to think abou-

“I have regrets.” The Lightbringer says, and for just a moment, you think you see their smile fall a little. “I’ve had what felt like an eternity to stew in my hatred, constantly cursing my brother for his cowardice, swearing to get you to pay me back after everything I did to help you, but I’ve had time to clear my head since I’ve met my double.”

“Are you trying to convince me you’ve changed since I last saw you?!” You boggle. This had to be some bizarre attempt to mess with your head, but you don’t think it’s working in the way they intended. “You’re an awful liar if you expect me to believe that.”

“I have someone looking out for me now.” They insist, not at all offended by your disbelief. “I was convinced that I couldn’t trust anyone but myself, and look who I found. Someone who I could trust, someone who shares my same mindset, someone I know won’t stab me in the back. For once in my long, poor excuse of a life, I’ve had someone to talk to, and the little shred of a soul you left me with helped me feel…” You think they meant to continue that sentence, but they leave it at that. Your soul helped them feel.

“So what, you regret trying to kill me and had a change of heart?” You scoff, still not fully convinced they were being genuine.

“You’re still a killer and a promise breaker.” The Lightbringer glares at you. “You still owed me, and every one of your bastard friends who got in my way deserved whatever they got.” Alright, they’re still a heartless bastard, glad that’s cleared up. “I regret trying to drag Asriel into everything.”

That gets your attention. Looking at the Lightbringer now, their smile has faded. They look hurt, their eyes staring off into the distance. “I’ve had nothing but time to curse him, to hate him for dragging us down when everyone needed him most just for him to turn into the murderer he became. Speaking to the other me, hearing about their relationship with their own Asriel and their constant berating of me for expecting Asriel of all people to hurt someone, they forced me to think about an Asriel I all but forgot about. For the first time since I died, before I became as soulless and merciless as he did, I… I missed my baby brother.”

You freeze. The Lightbringer pulls their hand away to wipe at their face, and with almost horrified shock, you see that they’re crying. In that one moment, the terrifying, soul stealing, world destroying monster actually looked and acted like the small child they appeared as.

“This stupid soul of yours is just making it worse.” They force out, trying to sound as menacing as they usually did through the lump in their throat. “For once, I feel like I’m something close to a real person again. I’ve tried to focus on how good it feels, how I can actually feel safe and trusted by my double, how I feel pride in myself for finally managing to get what I’ve wanted for so long, to just feel at all, but there’s so much bad that comes with it. I miss Mom and Dad, but hate the people they became after I died. I’m glad I put the thing Asriel turned into out of its misery, but I regret not looking for a way to get the old him back. I was angry, I couldn’t feel anything else and thought everything would be better off dead and forgotten, but this stupid soul in my chest has me wishing I could go back, wishing that things could have been different, wishing I had never forced Asriel into the mess that started all of this.”

Looking up at you with teary eyes and no smile at all, Chara Dreemurr begs you for genuine advice. “How can you just move on from what you did? Tell me how to make this feeling go away!”

You don’t know how to respond. A part of you was still convinced that this was some sort of trap, that they were intentionally trying to get you to lower your guard around them, but what you’re seeing completely counters that argument. They’re desperately trying to hold back tears, they don’t want to be seen like this but they can’t stop. You know that if you had done things differently, if you never gave in to your curiosity, Chara never would have turned out like this. Everyone would have gotten their happy ending and they would have been able to rest knowing that everyone made it to the surface just as they originally planned.

“You weren’t in the right state of mind.” You try to tell them, baffled that you were giving the monster who ripped your soul out genuine advice to deal with the guilt they’re feeling. “If you were soulless like Flowey, you weren’t emotionally present for any of your actions. All you had was your frustration against your family and my own horrible actions to witness. If you went back as you are now, with all the new knowledge you’ve learned and with a soul in your chest, would you go down the same path you did, or would you do better?”

“I can’t just put the past behind me and pretend it doesn’t matter!” They try to argue, but you elaborate your point.

“I’m not saying I didn’t kill those people, I’m not saying I don’t feel remorse for it. I’m saying I can’t vilify myself for something I wasn’t fully informed about. They weren’t people to me, they were ones and zeroes, lines of dialogue, just like Flowey said. I still feel horrible, I still deal with the consequences of my actions, but my friends and I know that I didn’t do it maliciously, and if I could go back, I would never do it again. You said so yourself, you wish you never killed Asriel, you wished you could have found a way to save him. You can feel empathy again, and now that you’re whole, you would have never gone through with what you did.”

“I don’t… I feel like I’d…” The young Dreemurr tries to gasp for breath, but it hitches in their chest as a sob escapes them. Walking off to the nearest shop, they slump against the wall and fall to the ground, trying to hide their face with their one arm as they fail to hide the surge of emotions spilling out of them now that they’re capable of emoting at all. You want to keep searching for Gaster, you want to leave this little monster behind now that they’re in no condition to chase you, but you can’t. You struggle to see the Lightbringer any more. All you can see is a little kid lashing out because they don’t know what else to do, finally coming to terms with what they did, just like you.

This was your fault too, wasn’t it? You’re the one who did this to them. You’re the one who fed into their hate, who supplied them with the Determination to finish the job themself. Chara was yet another casualty of your ignorance, and you wanted to fix it.

Walking over and kneeling down in front of them, you try your best to comfort them. “Chara… I-” For your efforts, they pull their leg back and kick you in the face, sending you falling backwards onto the pavement as you clutch at your now bleeding nose. Chara cries out as well, realizing only after they lashed out that they’d feel the same pain too. They latch onto that pain though, the anger it makes them feel. Through the tears, they tell you off.

“Don’t you dare try to coddle me!” They hiss. “We’re not friends and we never will be. You’re a monster just like me, and even if you’ve fooled yourself and all your friends that you aren’t, you’re still a cheapskate and a coward!” They struggle to push themselves back up the wall as they use their one hand to wipe away the tears and blood on their face. “I just want you gone, one way or another. We’re going to kill that doctor, save your dumb dog, you’re going to pay me what you owe, and then I pray I never see you again for the rest of my life.”

“The feeling’s mutual, you little shit!” You bark back, pushing yourself off the ground and clutching at your bleeding nose. Anger was blinding you now, but you still just saw an angry kid now. They were trying to force their old smile again, but you could tell now that it was a mask. This is what they’ve been like for years, this is the only way they felt they were in control. As long as they could convince themselves and everyone else that they were an irredeemable monster, they didn’t have to confront what they did. That soul was turning out to be more than they bargained for.

“The sooner we find the doctor, the sooner I can get rid of you.” They growl, leaving a mess on their sleeve as they wipe away the last of their tears. “Let’s get this over with, partner.”

“Lets.” You nod. You still hated this little monster. Regardless of whether or not they were a dumb kid who inadvertently hurt people like you were, the very personal beef they had with you, your friends, and Ralsei especially made any chance of an actual friendship between you two impossible. You wanted this little shit gone, but even with your grievances, you still wanted to try to help them. Maybe you’re too nice for your own good. Maybe you really are still stuck on what you did in Undertale if you’re trying to help the Lightbringer of all people to feel better about yourself.

No matter how you felt, they were no longer pestering you and were now working diligently to search for Gaster. For once since they’ve started calling you by their preferred nickname, you two actually felt like partners as you worked together to find the doctor. You hope that the rest of the time you’re forced to be stuck with this creepy asshole won’t be nearly as awful from here on out.

Your search turns up nothing. Castle Town Square is much bigger here than it is back home, but there’s still only so much to search through. Returning to the Castle, you find everyone else has already regrouped and they’re all empty handed.

“Toby’s not looking so good.” Zach says with rising worry, still cradling Toby in his arms who looks even worse than he did when you last saw him. “Vess? Are you alright?”

“Oh goodness! Did you get hurt?!” Ralsei rushes over to you without hesitation, placing his hands on your face to heal the damage. You try your best to suppress the blush that wants to form from having his hands on your face. You’ll see your Ralsei soon. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Ralsei asks you, looking over at the Lightbringer who was receiving the same healing treatment through your shared soul.

“We simply took some time to talk to one another.” The Lightbringer says, flashing Ralsei a smile, their upper lip still crusted over with blood. “We settled on agreeable terms, didn’t we?”

“Sure, we’ll go with that.” You say.

“Glad to hear you two are warming up to each other!” Chara shoots you both a thumbs up. They’re probably just pleased that their extra psychotic double didn’t murder you while everyone was searching town. “Still don’t know where the doc is though.”

“Maybe we need to look again, do another round?” Temmie suggests, sounding desperate. “He has to be somewhere close by, right? He was only ever able to see into the Dark Worlds, he wouldn’t know where else to go. He has to be in town.”

“I just got up, but I think there’s one place you guys haven’t tried yet…” This world’s Susie speaks up. Kris and Ralsei must have fetched her to help with the search efforts. “All the stuff below town is still technically a Dark World, right? What if your guy’s down there?”

“Oh god, not the bunker…” You shudder.

“Well shit, why didn’t I think of that?!” Chara smacks themself on the head. “The creepy bastard was always hiding out down there. Good thinking Susie!”

“Thanks…” Susie nods dumbly, rubbing her eyes. “Who are you?”

“Temmie, do that shortcut thing again or whatever and take us to the caves below town.” Chara orders. “The little doggy looks like he’s running out of time.”

“I, uh…” Temmie falters. “I don’t think I’ve ever been down there before.” She says. “The Roaring was already dealt with before I started visiting, I’ve had no reason to go down there until now.”

“Then we’ll have to run through town to get to the bunker.” You say. “I know the way from here.”

“Just give me a minute and I’ll be ready to go.” Susie says, trying to hype and wake herself up, but Temmie interjects.

“None of you have to come with.” She argues. “I’m sorry for waking you all up and dropping this on you out of nowhere, but I appreciate the help you’ve given me.”

“Are you sure you won’t need our help?” Ralsei asks, not wanting to leave you all to do this alone.

“We’ll handle this just fine on our own…” The Lightbringer tells him, getting Ralsei and the others to back off a little with their smile.

“Thank you guys for helping.” Zach tells them, ending things on a positive note. “I’m kinda just as clueless as you guys, but this seems to be a personal thing between everyone else here. We’ll handle things and your dog will get back home safe, you don’t gotta risk getting hurt for our sake.”

“But…” You can see just how uncomfortable Ralsei is to be leaving you to do this by yourself. He must share the same insecurities that yours does, he doesn’t want you all to run off and get hurt where he can’t help.

“Come on!” Kris argues in Ralsei’s stead. “You came to us for help for a reason. We saved the world, we’re not gonna let you take this guy on by yourselves. I am not a fan of that bunker, but things have been way too quiet up here. Susie, are you with me here?”

“Hell yeah, dude.” Susie nods. “No one hurts our friends and gets away with it! We’re coming with you!” It still messes you up to see how similar and different these guys are to your friends. Your Kris and Susie would also insist on wanting to help, but you can’t see Kris willingly agreeing to go back down into the bunker to do it. They haven’t been beaten down and scarred by the same traumatic stuff your old friends have, and you pray that whatever happens down in the bunker now doesn’t do the same to these guys.

“Come on…” Temmie tries one last time to keep them out of this. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“And I don’t want you to get hurt either.” Ralsei tells her. “You and Toby are our friends, we have to stick together. Please, let us help.”

“The little guy makes a pretty good point.” Chara nods. “I’d trust Kris and Susie to watch my back. I only see one real problem with this team up.” Looking over at their double, they speak to the Lightbringer. “Are you going to play nice?”

“These aren’t the same fools who did this to me.” They nod. “I’ll play nice.”

“Let’s just get going then.” Zach urges. “I hate seeing this little guy so hurt.”

“Right!” Temmie nods, turning to leave Castle Town. “Vess, lead the way! We can’t waste too much time!”

Heading out the main gates, you lead what is now a small army through town and towards the exit of the Dark World. Making it to the beam of light waiting to take you back to the Light World, you question how Ralsei is going to join you. You start to head up one by one, with Zach and Chara staring confused as they’ve never actually left a Dark World before. Eventually, you all make your way up to the school, and while Ralsei is gone, you find Kris wearing a small red devil horn headband.

Leading everyone outside the school, you find it’s very late in the evening with only the tiniest amount of dusk light illuminating town. You try to pick up your pace to make it to the bunker before it becomes too dark. As you run, you hear complaints about the loss of Dark World transformations, you hear Zach comment on how weirdly normal town looks compared to everything else he’s experienced, and Chara wishing they could explore what the town looked like before the Roaring.

You don’t slow down for a second. You need to find Gaster, you need to save Toby, you need to go home. The sooner this was over, the better.

Just as the dark becomes too difficult to navigate through, you find yourself deep in the woods staring at the metal doors leading down into the bunker. The last time you remember being down there was during one of Kris’ resets where you woke up and learned that they had been killed in Castle Town without anyone realizing. You didn’t have nearly as many bad memories of this place as Kris did, but you still broke out in goosebumps being this close to it. Stepping forward, Susie takes the lead and pulls the doors open, cringing as the rusted hinges squeal.

Without hesitation, you start to descend down the long stairway into the pitch black darkness below.

“Everyone, stick together.” Temmie instructs. “Susie, can you carry me? Someone’s going to step on me if we try to head down the stairs all at once.” Susie effortlessly lifts Temmie up by her sweatshirt and rests her on her shoulder. “Everyone should try to sound off as we go down. It looks dark down there, we don’t want to lose anyone.”

One by one, people start to funnel in after you, with the Lightbringer being the first to keep close to you so you don’t start to wither. As you descend, everyone announces where they are and in what order you’re all descending in. They try to get some conversations going too, both to give people something to follow as you all lose yourself in the dark, and to distract themselves from that same darkness.

“Hey, kid with one arm.” Kris speaks up from somewhere behind you. “Sorry, I never got a name.”

“Refer to me as the Lightbringer.” They grumble, trying to make it clear that they don’t want to talk. You hope they don’t start anything while you’re all bumbling around in the dark.

“Are you from Vess’ world too? You seem to be pretty familiar with us.” Kris asks. “I’m guessing we’re not cool in your world?”

“You killed me.” The Lightbinger tells them outright. You hear a bit of a commotion as people bump into each other on the stairs. You imagine Kris must have stumbled slightly upon hearing that. “Out of all your friends, you were the only one who had the guts to spill mine.”

“Then how am I talking to you?” Kris asks. They sound unsettled, but they aren’t taking the Lightbringer at face value. “You look fine, aside from the arm thing… Did I do that?”

“Your brother broke it, my new partner cut off the dead weight.”

“A…” Kris stutters. “Asriel would never do that.”

“I know…” The Lightbringer hums, losing the edge in their voice for just a moment. Not wanting to linger on those words, they snap back. “You didn’t deny that you’d kill anyone though.”

“I wouldn’t.” Kris immediately defends themself.

“I felt you twist the knife, you have it in you.” The Lightbringer hums, enjoying the confusion and horror in Kris’ voice.

“How could I have killed you if I’m still talking to you?” Kris demands.

“I got better.” The Lightbringer simply replies.

“You’re fucking with me.” Kris finally deduces.

“I still have the scars.” The Lightbringer insists. “If you peeled away the flesh, you’d still be able to see where your knife carved across my ribs.”

“Can you please talk about something else.” You beg. You were in the process of crawling down into the same hole they died in. You’d rather not think back on one of the most violent brawls you’ve ever been in when you could be walking into another one.

You continue your descent, falling deeper and deeper into the bunker. Just like your world's version, the Grand Fountain was affecting this place, stretching it out into a massive sprawling cave system instead of the old bunker it used to be. Surely something has been done to this place to keep it from overflowing, but you don’t have time for questions now. You need to act. Eventually, you find yourself in your dress again and the pitch black darkness around you starts to fade, revealing the cave system below town.

“Excuse me.” Turning around, you find Ralsei has suddenly joined you again, having been carried here by Kris through the headband. His sudden reintroduction to the group has slowed the descent down slightly as people try to make room for him in the cramped stairway. That gives you some ideas, but once again, you try to focus on the main issue at hand. Looking further back in the group, Zach was still carrying Toby who was looking worse than ever. You needed to get him close to Gaster to buy him some time, even if it means tackling the doctor to the ground and setting Toby on top of him.

You all make it to the bottom of the stairway, finding yourself in a large open cavern within the underground cave system the bunker has become. You can see clearly now thanks to Dark World magic, but the oil slicks and sheer drops all around you still leave you incredibly anxious.

“Now let me get this out there before anyone makes an ass of themself suggesting otherwise, we’re sticking together.” Chara calls out. “No splitting up, no running ahead. Enough bad shit happens down here in my world, I don’t want any of you cracking your skulls open in some dark hidey hole somewhere we can’t find you. Besides, we already have a pretty good idea where the doc’s gonna be, don’t we Vess?”

“Yeah…” You grumble. You’d wish you were wrong, but if Gaster wasn’t at the Grand Fountain, where else would he be? You know the route to the Grand Fountain, though this is the first time in a while that you’re walking towards it instead of back home from it. As you walk, you get plenty of time to think about how this was going to play out, as well as other unimportant things like how the layouts of these Dark Worlds were the same even though they’re technically made by two separate people. So far everything has been really similar. You don’t know whether to chalk that up to Toby’s writing leaving you to picture his characters exactly as he did, or if maybe there was something else at play. Were these similarities just a coincidence, or…

The caves become more treacherous, the paths you travel becoming more steep and narrow. Everyone stays close, holding hands and making sure no one falls. Even the Lightbringer holds on tight to the skirt of your dress to stay steady, and to your surprise, you think you see anxiety etched onto their normally smiling face. You don’t think you like the idea of the Lightbringer slowly becoming an actual person again. It was much easier to think of them as a heartless monster. That’s how Ralsei saw them, as a force of nature that needed to be smothered so people won’t get hurt. There’s actual emotion in there now, remorse, fear.

The cave starts to open up and everyone slows their pace as the earth starts to rumble. You can feel the power of the Grand Fountain washing over you. Sliding down one more steep slope, you turn the corner around a crumbling cave wall and see it. The Grand Fountain dominates your sight as it rises through the impossibly large chasm it’s held in. Looking back, Zach stands frozen as he looks up at it. You’re pretty sure you got as far as explaining what the Dark Fountains were to him, but to actually see one with his own eyes left him stunned. He’s going to have one hell of a time trying to explain all of this to the rest of your friends when you both wake up.

Standing before the Fountain, his silhouette visible against the pure blackness rising in front of him, Doctor Gaster stares in awe at it, seemingly unaware of your presence. As you get closer, you realize you’ve never rearmed yourself since you got this new vessel. Your crossbow has been long forgotten, you didn’t even bother trying to fit into armor before you left. As pretty as this dress was, you don’t know if it’ll help you in a fight.

Gaster looked… off as you approached. He looked fuller and more put together than he did back in the Void, but he also looked like he was starting to fall apart. This wasn’t a barely held together projection, this was his physical body, but it wasn’t stable. Monsters from Undertale aren’t like humans or any of the monsters here, his form likely can’t handle the Determination he stole along with Toby’s soul, but he’s somehow managing to keep himself upright and mostly put together.

You manage to get pretty close, leaving thirty or so feet between you when Toby suddenly acts up in Zach’s arms. Looking back, he seems present now, he knows the rest of his soul is close by. Looking back towards Gaster, you find he’s taken notice too.

“Oh…” He mumbles as he turns to face you and everyone you’ve brought along with you. He looks nervous and guilty, he knows what he did and what you’re all here for.

“Gaster!” Temmie calls out from atop Susie’s shoulder. “Why did you do this?! I thought we were friends!”

“Ms. Chang, this is all a big misunderstanding. I swear.” Gaster immediately tries to talk his way out of this, but no one is buying it.

“We know your MO, doc. You aren’t going to trick us.” Chara tells him.

“Your lies fall on deaf ears.” The Lightbringer. “You’re a coward and a backstabber, two things I hate the most. Just admit to your theft.”

“You left this poor guy to die!” Zach bellows, not having much of a personal stake in this battle, but the one crime he bore witness to was enough to instantly make him hate the doctor. Gaster remains silent, not having any counter or excuse for his actions.

“Why?!” Temmie pleads. “We wanted to help you. Vess gave us ideas, we literally have the same house that brought her Gaster into the physical world! Why would you throw all of that away and hurt the one person who was helping you?!”

“I…” Gaster desperately searches for something to say. You can see how desperate he looks. “I cannot begin to tell you how long I’ve been out there.” He eventually starts to spout. “I have been left wandering for what felt like lifetimes feeling hollow and lost with only my mind reminding me of my life of mistakes to keep me company. You cannot understand how agonizing it is to sit around waiting after being promised freedom. Every minute feels like years out there, yet your brief visits feel like seconds.”

“So what, you just got impatient?!” You ask. “They would have happily helped you out, I even gave them the means to do it!”

“Yes, but you gave me ideas too…” Gaster says, and you feel your blood turn to ice. No… No, god damn it! You aren’t responsible for this too, are you?! “You and Toby are impossibly powerful beings, yet you have no grasp at all of the powers you possess. I have studied the nature of souls, and one of my greatest works was a machine that could extract pure Determination from one’s very being. The moment I saw you, I knew you were far more powerful than even Toby, but more importantly, I knew you had enough to spare.”

“God fucking damn it…” You whine in a low whisper.

“I could see how brilliant your soul was, but I saw that it was missing pieces.” Gaster nods, confirming your worst fears. “You are able to persist without your full soul, and if the stories Ms. Chang and Mr. Fox shared are true, those you rescued from the Void required something to be made whole again. You made them whole, you offered pieces of yourself and gave them the strength to carry on.”

“She offered them!” Temmie shouts. “You stole from Toby! You stole so much that he’s dying!”

“I left him with no less than what Vess has now.” Gaster says in his defense. “She’s still here.”

“They will wither and die without their other half.” The Lightbringer informs him. “I still have use for them though, so for the moment, I’m giving them the power they need to persist. If you don’t return what you stole or stand down and let the mutt heal, I will tear that soul out of your chest and watch you fade back into the Void.”

“Listen to the kid, doc.” Chara says from the back of the group. “Even with that soul, you’re barely put together at all.”

“On the contrary, I’ve never felt more put together.” Gaster says, rolling his shoulders. The movement causes a piece of him to drip onto the ground, splattering against the stone. “I’ve seen what my predecessors' Determination experiments have wrought, but this soul is holding me together. That, and the brilliance of the Dark World’s magic. I feel great! Better than I ever have. I just need time to settle, even with only half a soul, the Dark Worlds should be able to sustain me. I just need to make more.”

“What?!” The Delta Warriors have remained mostly silent throughout this as they don’t really know Gaster or what’s going on, but at the mention of creating more Dark Worlds, Ralsei immediately steps forward in alarm. “We barely contained the Roaring! The balance is already fragile enough as is, if you open up even one more Fountain, the world could overflow!”

“We did not bust our asses and risk our lives just to have you go and screw everything up!” Susie barks, baring her sharp teeth.

“But Vess' world has already overflowed.” Gaster disputes. “The whole town is covered in the same darkness that gives your Prince form and me the magical power I need. We only seek to benefit from letting the Fountain overflow.”

“Fuck you!” Kris blurts out. “No offense to you guys, I’m sure it’s not as bad as I’m picturing, but these guys live in some nightmare bizarro world where nothing makes sense. I’m not gonna let you hurt my friends and screw over everything we worked hard to avoid. We’ve already taken care of the Knight, we’ll take care of you too!”

Gaster was just digging himself a deeper and deeper grave. There was no explaining his way out of this and he had eight very pissed off people ready to fight to get Toby’s soul back. Hell, he wasn’t even trying to excuse himself anymore. He hasn’t admitted to it outright, but it’s clear that he saw you and heard the stories about what you did and decided that instead of waiting for his friends to help him, he’d be better off stealing from Toby and escaping himself.

Your Gaster was a control freak, and unfortunately for everyone here, so was this one. You want to believe there’s a better person in there, that there was still a way to fix this, but he wasn’t making it easy. This wasn’t just a way to escape the Void, this was his opportunity to become just as powerful as the gods who created this world, to master the Void and shape the world with his own hands instead of passively guiding it through the devs. All of this started when he met you, when he saw your incomplete soul, when he saw just how inexperienced you were and what you managed to do blind and without a goal in mind.

This was your fault, and you had to fix it.

Stepping forward, you make your demands very clear. “Give back what you stole.” You tell him. “Return Toby’s soul, and we’ll drop all of this. This is all just a big misunderstanding that can be fixed. We’re already working with another Gaster to make him whole, we can do the same for you. We can still help.” You hold your hands out as you take another step, showing him you mean no harm. “Come on, let’s work something out.”

“No…” Gaster tells you, stopping your forward momentum. “I will not be confined in the Void again, I refuse to become hollow after finally feeling warmth in my chest for the first time in what felt like centuries.”

“I understand the feeling.” The Lightbringer steps forward now. “I forgot what it’s like to feel alive and whole like this, but you don’t have a choice. You either give it up willingly, or I tear you open to grab it myself.”

“Toby is going to die if you don’t give his soul back.” Temmie pleads. “Please, just give it back and we can still be friends. Are you really going to let Toby die just to have a taste of freedom when we were already working on saving you?”

The Lightbringer and Temmie were sending mixed messages with the pleading and threats, but they both wanted the same thing. All he had to do was return the soul and everything would be alright.

Gaster takes a step backwards towards the Fountain. He wasn’t giving it up. You tried the diplomatic approach, you had to turn to more drastic measures now. Stepping closer to you, the Lightbringer suddenly grabs your hand, reforming the connection of your soul and giving you both a refreshing boost. You could see the sadistic smile on their face, they were hoping he said no.

“Try not to hurt him too much.” You remind them. “Toby’s on his last legs already, we don’t want to push him over the edge.”

“He’s gonna hurt no matter what if we want that soul out.” They growl. “He’ll live, but he’ll be less of a hassle if we take out those legs of his.” You don’t want to go that far, but before you can try to reign them in, they suddenly break away from you and charge towards the doctor. Their action gets everyone else to move too, causing them to spread out and step forward, ready to support or attack in response to whatever Gaster has in store.

Gaster takes another step back, his eyes wide with worry as the Lightbringer charges at him with killing intent. The only thing that stops you from charging ahead yourself is the sudden flash of blue you see in those eyes. The Lightbringer is only a few feet away from Gaster, ready to lunge at him, when a giant visage of bone forms in front of the doctor. The Lightbringer tries to halt their forward momentum as the bone construct opens up its maw and a blinding ball of energy forms in its mouth.

“MOVE!” You shout to everyone still behind you, just as the gaster blaster fires.

The sound when the energy finally explodes outward nearly deafens you as it bounces within the echoey cave system. The Lightbringer just barely manages to avoid getting blown apart in a point blank shot, but you were more worried about your friends who were still in its line of sight. Most of them get the memo, but Zach was the only one who was too confused to fully understand your order. Rather than leap away, he hunkers down, curling up and trying to shield Toby from the energy beam flying right for him.

If Kris didn’t jump in to take the hit, you could have lost both Zach and Toby. Flying in out of nowhere with their shield held in front of them, Kris takes the full brunt of the blast, flying into Zach and tumbling backwards as the energy dissipates. All three look hurt, and from the loud cursing coming from Kris, the impact against their shield had to have hurt a lot.

Gaster almost just killed your best friend.

“When the fuck could he do that?!” Chara shouts in a panic as everyone else scatters.

“Kris!” Ralsei retreats to heal his friend and Temmie hops off Susie’s shoulder to check on Toby. You’d do the same for Zach, but you can already hear another blast charging. Returning your attention back to Gaster, you find the blaster aimed directly at you.

Leaping to the side, you just barely manage to get out of the way before it fires, blasting the ground you were standing on just moments ago and digging grooves into the stone floor. You land on your feet, already moving to avoid any further attacks. It’s been a long time since you’ve moved around this much, but you’re relieved to find you’re still as quick on your feet as you used to be. Feeling your skirt trail behind you as you run, you try to desperately form a plan of attack.

You aren’t sure if Gaster was thinking this all the way through. Desperation or fear had to be guiding him instead of actual planning because if Kris didn’t jump in to intercept that first blast, Gaster could have killed himself when he hit Toby. Then again, if you saw the Lightbringer charging full speed at you, you’d probably shoot first too. This Gaster was a lot more dangerous than the one you dealt with before. Now that he had an actual soul and a physical body, his magic has returned to its fullest potential. He’s obviously got Gaster Blasters, but what else does he have up his sleeve? If he’s anything like Sans, your odds aren’t looking good here.

“Everyone! Back up! Back up!” Chara tries to get everyone else out of the cave and to safety. You were glad so many people came to try and back you up, but someone’s going to get killed with Gaster firing wildly to get everyone to leave him alone. That leaves only you and the Lightbringer to try and do something about Gaster unless someone comes back to help you. You aren’t necessarily glad that the Lightbringer is the only help you have, but out of everyone in your group, they’re likely the one who will help you finish this quickly.

Speaking of, they were attempting to charge Gaster again, a mile wide grin on their face as they brace for whatever he had to retaliate with. They weren’t at their best since they were permanently off balance due to their missing arm, but even then they were terrifyingly fast. Gaster kept charging up blasters to fire at them, but every single shot just barely passed them by. After taking so many beatings and falling for so many cheap tricks, the Lightbringer wasn’t going to go down easy this time.

Just when the distance between the two becomes far too close for comfort, you take notice of cracks forming in the stone floor right in front of Gaster and shout out a warning. The Lightbringer casts a glance your way, and a second later, several spikes of broken, jagged bone shoot up out of the ground. Light only barely manages to avoid getting skewered, but they don’t get away unscathed. One of the bone spikes grazes their side, tearing a deep bloody gash across their torso.

You can’t stop yourself from crying out as you feel your own flesh split as the injury transfers. You double over, forcing yourself to keep moving as you feel blood start to stain your dress. Keeping your focus on the fight, you watch as Gaster quickly turns your way to see what you were yelling about and his eyes go wide. He had no idea about the soul link and was probably now piecing together what he almost did to himself. Your pained cries serve as a pretty good distraction as the Lightbringer reaches up and breaks a piece of the bone that hurt them in half, lunging towards Gaster with it.

Gaster stumbles back, trying to get out of the way, and you watch as the bloodied tip of the bone sinks into Gaster’s thigh before he suddenly vanishes. The Lightbringer bounces off the floor, looking enraged as they try to track the doctor down. You hear a pained hiss somewhere behind you and turn to find the doctor clutching at his leg while pointing his hand at you.

From the base of his palm, another blaster forms, and you find your legs locking up on you from the pain. You throw your arms up and brace for impact, convinced that this might be the end, when suddenly someone comes barreling in like a human freight train.

Hitting him with enough force to completely throw him off his feet, Zach slams his shoulder into the doctor, throwing all his weight into his spindly frame. The blaster that was forming right in front of you falls apart as the energy within dissipates. The doctor vanishes before he can hit the ground, but you hear a wet plop somewhere further away from you as Gaster hits the ground, his unstable body losing some of its form and causing him to dribble onto the stone he was trying to push himself up from. Zach quickly gets back to his feet and rushes to your aid.

“Vess!” He gasps, winded after using his whole body as a projectile. “Did you get hit? Are you alright?!”

“I’m fine.” You whine. You aren’t sure if you were healing your own injuries as you clutched at your side or if the adrenaline that just flooded your system after your near death experience has numbed you to the pain. “Just keep moving. Don’t stay in one place too long!” You get Zach moving, shoving him along as you see a new blaster forming from Gaster’s current position. Zach was a much slower target to focus on, you stay close by him in hopes that you’ll be able to move him if you need to.

Gaster looked hurt, and while that meant he wouldn’t be able to fight as effectively, you’re terrified for Toby and praying that he doesn’t get too hurt in this skirmish. Gaster now had two targets to worry about, the Lightbringer was the most obvious and dangerous threat, but you and Zach couldn’t be ignored either. You really don’t want to test it, but the armor plating Zach is wearing might be enough to actually protect him from a hit or two before he took any serious damage, and while he didn’t have any weapons on him, simply football tackling people while wearing that much metal was as good as any sword.

You all had to keep moving. Everyone else has thankfully cleared the way so there shouldn’t be any collateral, but Gaster had noticed too and has become much more indiscriminate with his magic to make sure you all kept your distance. The blasters weren’t even being aimed at you and were firing off in every direction, forcing you to remain constantly vigilant of your surroundings. You also had to keep your eyes on the ground too as more stakes of jagged bone punched through the earth to try and impale you.

You and Zach were getting dangerously close to getting caught up in these attacks, and the Lightbringer wasn’t able to close the distance as Gaster kept teleporting away or focusing his attacks on them to force them to retreat. Your best bet was to maybe tire Gaster out just like you did with Sans. Undertale monsters weren’t that tough, Gaster looked like he could barely stand after he got hit by Zach, you just needed him to slip up and then you could get close and take him down.

Thankfully, someone else joins you in your fight, someone Gaster couldn’t have seen coming.

Out of nowhere, one of Gaster’s legs give out beneath him and his head is pulled back. Right behind him, Chara pulls down their bandana, dropping their magic cloak and revealing themself to him. Gaster tries to teleport away, but with Chara holding onto him, they move with him. Chara’s got him in a headlock, and as Gaster desperately tries to bat them off with his flailing arms, Chara manages to grab those and lock them behind his back too. Bone spikes shoot up around Gaster in an attempt to try and stab Chara without hurting himself, and while he gets a couple lucky cuts in, he isn’t able to do anything serious without putting himself at risk.

“Need some help here!” Chara calls out to the rest of you still on the battlefield. “He’s a literal slippery bastard! He’s gonna slink away if I let go of him for even a second! Get over here and grab him!”

Zach breaks away from you, running off to one of Gaster’s flanks to give you and the Lightbringer space to do what you need to. Gaster’s spells were slowing down as Chara applied pressure to their hold, the pain causing Gaster to lose focus. The Lightbringer sprints towards him, cackling like a maniac as their prey is finally pinned down, but just when they get close enough to grab him, both he and Chara teleport again, jumping closer to Zach to get away from the Lightbringer.

“You want another go?!” Zach bangs his chest, his gauntlets panging against his chestplate as he charges towards the doctor again. Gaster doesn’t let Zach get nearly as close as the Lightbringer did before he teleports again, popping up somewhere right behind you.

With his fading strength, he tries to form another blaster, but you don’t freeze up this time. Throwing yourself to the side, you strain yourself and agitate your cut but manage to avoid the blast, feeling its heat rush past you as you stumble forward to reach out at him. Extending your arm and aiming to thrust your hand into his chest to grab Toby’s soul, you watch as Chara tightens their grip, forcing Gaster to stay in place instead of run.

You’re within arms reach of him when you suddenly see a smile cross Gaster’s face.

Everything slows down. Seeing that pained smile causes your whole body to enter a state of shock as you’re terrified that you must have run into some kind of trap. Gaster should be too hurt to do anything, but… No… The small cut that should have been left on his leg from when the Lightbringer stabbed him earlier was gone. He was healing, someone was healing him. You don’t dare turn your head to look, you know they’re all in cover, but you fear that Ralsei might be healing Toby to try and save him from his injuries, not realizing he was also powering up Gaster.

He was playing you, he still had plenty of energy left in him, he let you get this close to him and you’re terrified to find out why.

“VESS!” You hear Zach cry out, but it's too late to change course. You hear a crack, flick your eyes downward, and spot death approaching you a millisecond before it takes you.

Puncturing you in four different places, stopping your forward momentum and pinning you in the air, several spikes of bone rip through your body. For just one second, your existence is pure agony. Your ears ring, your vision blurs, your whole body burns as if it were on fire, only to quickly go cold as blood spills from your body and your punctured organs begin to fail. You cannot even muster the energy required to scream. For just one second, you felt yourself dying.

The next second, you were dead.

The next second, everything is dark. You’re cold and alone, gasping for breath as the shock and pain take time to wear down. Gaster, the bone stakes that impaled you, the friends you were fighting beside, they’re all gone. You can feel what’s left of your soul threatening to fall apart, cracking and getting ready to shatter to pieces, leaving you to disappear forever.

You clutch at your chest and close your eyes, feeling tears well up as you feel yourself break. Was this it? Was this death? Was this the end for you? The physical pain only lasted for a moment, one horrible, agonizing second before everything went numb, but in place of that burning pain was a grief that threatened to swallow you whole and crush what remained of your soul.

You weren’t going to get to say goodbye to Ralsei…

God, no. No no no… You don’t want to leave him, you promised you’d be back for him, you promised! You shouldn’t have left. You shouldn’t have come here at all. You screwed everything up, Chara and the Lightbringer had nothing to do with this, Gaster did and you’re the reason he’s done all this! Everything was your fault, and now you were dead and you’d never get to see-

“Are you giving up?!”

You open your eyes again and find you aren’t alone in death. The Lightbringer has joined you, perishing the same moment you did, but they were not stricken with grief or remorse or horror, only disgust in you.

You don't want to spend your last moments with them and close your eyes again, waiting for yourself to break to escape the grief welling up inside you.

“You really have become soft, haven’t you.” They growl. “You should have more to fight for than ever, and you’re just going to lie down and die?!” Marching up to you and grabbing a fistful of your hair, they yank you upright, forcing you to open your eyes. “What happened to that resolve, that fighting spirit, that Determination to see things through to the end? Do you really hate me that much that you’d let this slimy doctor win just to take me down with you?”

“I don’t want to die.” You tell them, not quite sure what they were getting at. It’s already happened, hasn’t it? You were stabbed, everything went dark, you were dead.

“Why not?” The Lightbringer presses you. “Why were you lying here instead of pushing back to your feet?! I know you got something keeping you together, why don’t you want to die?!”

“I wanna see Ralsei again.” You say, the tears that have been welling up the moment you found yourself here finally breaking free. “I love him so much and he begged me to stay. He didn’t want me to go somewhere he couldn’t help me and now he’ll never see me again. I promised him I’d come back. I don’t… I don’t wanna…”

You could feel your core threaten to shatter, but it still held together. Even through the pain, even through the darkness, even with your soul already broken and torn…

It refused to give out.

“That’s it.” The Lightbringer breaks into a wide smile. “That’s the Determined look I remember. You may be a disgusting hypocrite who cries more than my brother, but you still have that fire in your soul! I can feel it too, though I don’t need your soul to come back from a loss like this. Your Determination alone was enough to reanimate my broken body several times over, all from you slaughtering the underground in a dumb test of skill because you thought you could get away with it. If you really do care about that disgusting copycat, then you aren’t going to die here.”

Your chest still hurts, you could still feel your core ache and crack, but it would not break. Looking at the Lightbringer, you could see that they were breathing heavily and hunched over in a similar pain as you, but they still stood tall. With them standing so close to you, you could feel the other half of your soul, and it too was still solid. Both of you should be dead, your soul should have shattered to pieces…

...but it refused…

“Now stop crying and get up!”

With one more yank on your hair to pull you to your feet, you suddenly find yourself in horrible agony once more as reality comes rushing back to you. You couldn’t think, you couldn’t scream, you couldn’t do anything except struggle to breathe, but you were alive. You try to look down at yourself and you see the bones holding you in place, stained red by the alarming amount of blood leaving your body.

Despite how much it hurts, despite the fact that you should be dead, you refused to give up. You were Determined to get back to your Prince in one piece.

You can still hear a fight going on around you, blasts and shouts that are barely audible through the ringing in your ears, but raising your head, you find that things have gotten worse since you went out. Chara was sprawled out on the floor, hurt pretty bad themselves but their injuries are nowhere near as fatal as yours. They hiss out in pain and reach to their chest for their reset, but their eyes lock on you and go wide with shock.

You’d actually really appreciate not having these extra bones in your body, but you understand why Chara lowers their hands and holds off on the reset. Gaster was standing right next to you with his back turned. He was convinced you were dead. His focus was directed on other fighters who have rushed your aid. Kris and Susie were out of cover, trying to protect Ralsei as he makes a beeline straight for you with a look you think will haunt you forever. This Ralsei barely even knew you, but the look of grief and horror on his face nearly drove you to tears.

It only fueled your resolve. You refused to die, you don’t want to break your Prince’ heart.

You couldn’t get out from the bones, you were pinned and suspended in the air, your strength fading fast despite your refusal to let it kill you. Your right arm was dangling free, not far from where Gaster was standing as he continued to blast at your friends to keep them away. Struggling to lift your arm, your fingertips are only a couple inches away from the back of his coat.

Your hands are cold, but you can feel the warmth of Toby’s soul inside him. It was right within reach, you just needed Gaster to step back a little.

Your little movement is enough to earn the attention of all your terrified friends, but not one of them says a word. They see your reaching arm and piece together what you want them to do. You watch in pained silence as all of them start to act, keeping Gaster’s attention locked firmly onto them so you remain unnoticed behind him.

Chara scrambled up to their feet and ran back towards the others, putting them in Gaster’s line of sight so he had no reason to look around for people sneaking up on him. The Lightbringer lay motionless on the ground nearby in a growing pool of blood. It was no wonder Gaster went for you first, you were an easier target and your death would take out the most problematic fighter. Despite how they looked, the Lightbringer was still alive, waiting for their opportunity to strike, but for the moment, they were leaving you to act on your own plan first.

“Come on, you bastard!” Zach was leading the charge, making himself impossible to ignore. “You better kill me next because I’m never gonna stop gunning for you after what you did to her!” Gaster obliges, lifting his hand in his direction and directing a blaster to fire at him. Zach does not change course to try and avoid it and instead charges right at it, raising an arm over his face.

Slid over that arm and held tight in his grip is Kris’ shield.

Zach tanks the blast, stopping his forward progress, but remaining firmly planted on his feet as the shield takes a brunt of the damage. Running out from around Zach, Kris leaves the cover he provided them and they hurl their sword in Gaster’s direction. Their incredibly stupid plan doesn’t work as effectively as it did in your world, but it gets something done. Flying through the air at high speeds, their wooden sword cracks against Gaster’s skull, causing him to stumble backwards and hold a hand to his head.

You pull your arm back before he could touch you. He still isn’t close enough. You need him to be real close so you can reach deep enough to get a good grip on the soul inside of him.

“Take this you fucking creep!” The assault doesn’t end. With her axe fully ablaze in red flame, Susie swings her weapon, sending a burning wave of fire in Gaster’s direction. Still reeling from the blow to the head, Gaster flicks his hand upwards and a wall of bone appears before him, stopping Susie’s rude buster, but some of its heat wafts towards Gaster, causing him to lean back. He was probably close enough now, but he was agitated and wary. If you moved now, you were afraid that he might take notice of you. You just needed someone to draw his attention, then you’d be able to go for it.

You get far more than a distraction.

Gaster summons another blaster to fire back at Kris and Susie for tossing things at him, but charging past all of them with tears in his eyes, Ralsei runs right at the blaster to everyone’s horror. He was crying, but he wasn’t running in blind. You’ve seen Ralsei look like that before.

The Gaster blaster prepares to fire, but before it can, a blaster manifests in Ralsei’s hands, charging up with multicolored light. Both blasters fire, and the resulting explosion shakes the whole cave system. You throw your hand out, knowing that Gaster would have no chance of anticipating your move.

You plunge your hand into his back, his melting body feeling like warm mud over your hands as you desperately fish around for the soul within him. The doctor screams, arching backwards to reach for you, but as long as you can rip the soul out, you can-

Without Gaster trying to fight back against Ralsei’s attack, his blaster vanishes, leaving Ralsei’s blast to hit Gaster uncontested, as well as you. Gaster’s whole body is thrown against yours as both of you are suddenly consumed by burning, crackling energy. It hits you with enough force to break the bones holding you in place, sending you flying before crashing down onto the stone, feeling something within you break.

You lie on the ground, curled up in a ball as you desperately try to cling to life once more. You wouldn’t die, you refused to. Some of the stakes have either broken off or slid out of you, but one still remains lodged firmly in your chest. You are bleeding, burnt, and bruised all over…

…But you got what you wanted.

Warming up your cold, almost completely numb hands, Toby’s soul rests safely in your grasp.

“You!” Somehow, Gaster is still conscious. You turn your head to look at him, only for your neck to crack horribly as something inside of you becomes strained. You can’t move, you can’t do anything as the doctor crawls towards you with a desperate look in his eyes. “Give that back!” He screams, not in rage, but in fear. “Give that to me now!”

He scrambles towards you on his hands and knees, reaching out to try and grab you. Despite how much pain you were in, you force yourself to try and crawl backwards. Each movement sends fresh spikes of pain running through your whole body, and unfortunately, it doesn’t get you any further from the doctor. He grabs a hold of your ankle and tries to pull you towards him. His hand feels wet, and when he exerts himself to pull you closer, you watch as his arms actually come apart and begin spilling onto the floor.

He was still Determined, but he no longer had the soul to sustain his fragile body. What was left of him was starting to fall apart. He could no longer form words as he desperately grasped for the soul still in your hands. You wanted to kick him away, to crawl to safety, but you were too hurt to do much of anything except play keep away as he dripped all over you.

Even though you were too hurt to move, the Lightbringer had a much higher tolerance for pain than you did.

Stumbling over from behind you, the Lightbringer throws their weight forward and kicks the doctor in the face, throwing him backwards and off of you. You try to crawl away, wanting to get your legs out of the goopy puddle that was forming by your legs, but the Lightbringer turns to hiss at you before pressing the attack.

“Stop… moving!” They tell you through clenched teeth. All the pain you felt trying to move around was transferred to them. You were making things worse. You fall back and try to relax, unable to find any comfortable position to lie in as the Lightbringer marches towards Gaster.

The doctor was even goopier than yours looked at his worst moments, and after that kick, there was an almost perfect imprint of the Lightbringer’s shoe pressed into his face. He was trying to push himself up, but his arms were practically melting off his torso, dribbling down into the black and white puddle that was forming beneath him. He was still trying to crawl towards you, still trying to get the soul in your hand to be whole again.

With another kick from the Lightbringer, Gaster doesn’t even look like a person anymore. A powerful blow to his torso breaks what’s left of him in half, with both halves still moving and trying to get at you. He wasn’t stopping, his body couldn’t handle the Determination, but he couldn’t die because of it, and unlike the amalgams Alphys created, he has no other monster to merge with to form a body strong enough to handle it.

In an effort to completely take Gaster out, the Lightbringer jumps up and lands on top of what remained of the doctor, splattering him across the ground and continuing to jump like a kid splashing around in a rain puddle. Each jump broke Gaster down more and more, but every time they landed, you could feel your guts churn as each landing agitated the Lightbringer’s wounds. You could see it was hurting them too, and after one more jump, their feet slip out from beneath them and they fall flat on their back.

Their impact onto the stone floor sends a spike of pain through you, one that is too much to bear.

Unable to remain conscious through the pain, you slip away into the dark again.

Chapter Text

“Come on! Please! Wake up!”

“Ralsei, you said she’s breathing, right?”

“Mini-me’s still kicking, she is too, just keep healing her.”

You’re pretty sure you’re still alive, but you sure as hell don’t feel like it. Everything hurts, your head, your chest, your legs, everything. You don’t think you’ve hurt this much in your entire life. Even breathing was difficult, any time you tried to get a deep breath, you felt something sharp jab you in the chest.

You suppose things could be worse, you could be dead.

“Vess?!” Someone is shouting at you, but your head hurts too much to discern who it is. “Vess please, give me a sign that you’re alright. Anything at all.” You let out an agonized groan with what little air you could store in your chest before cautiously taking in another breath. “Oh thank god…” That little groan was proof enough that you were still alive and listening.

“If I heal this kid, they’ll both heal faster, right?” You’re still struggling to determine who’s who, but you think you can feel hands on you. The pain in your chest is slowly fading, and the relief it gives you is enough to make you cry. You try to ignore the conversation going on around you and focus instead on feeling out where you were and what was going on.

Someone’s hand was in yours, and if you had to guess, it was the Lightbringer’s to make sure your soul was connected. The hands resting against your chest were hovering around the places you’re pretty sure you were stabbed in, but the pain was fading with their touch. That had to be Ralsei’s healing hands. You felt comforted knowing he was here to help, but also a longing to go back to your Ralsei. You try to push that thought out and continue focusing on your surroundings.

Your other free hand was being held in someone else’s grip. Judging from the cold metal around their gloves, it had to have been Zach. You give his hand a little squeeze to show him you’re still holding on. You could feel that your hair was undone, the ribbon keeping your braid must have gotten loose or even burned in the blast you were caught in. You can feel something wet clinging to your hair. Everyone was gathered around you, but while it was comforting to know your friends were right by your side, you couldn’t help but notice you were missing something.

“T- Tob…” You try to force a word out, but you’re too short of breath to manage it right now.

“Toby?” You think that was Temmie, the fog in your head is starting to clear up. “Toby’s alright now. He has what he needs. He got hurt really badly, but he’s already doing much better than you.” Somewhere close by, you hear a weak, but joyful sounding bark. Another wave of relief washes over you, enough to have you break into a smile and relax as you continue to heal.

“God… look at that.” That southern drawl, that had to be Chara. “It looks like there’s a hole punched clean through her. You can see the ground through it.” That isn’t really something you want to hear, so you try to push it out of your head completely. You were being healed and you were going home, you don’t have to worry abou-

All of a sudden, just above your waist, you feel a pain so unbearable that you can’t help but bolt upward in shock.

“FUCK!” You bellow out, pulling your hands away from everyone else to clutch at the wounded spot.

“Why the hell would you stick your finger in there?!” No matter how much you didn’t want to be, you were now wide awake and fully alert and were now watching as half of your friends were shouting at Chara.

“I was trying to touch the ground, I didn’t mean to nick anything.” Chara says in their defense, their right pointer finger now stained red.

“She’s been stabbed multiple times, this isn’t a game of operation!” Temmie shouts. “Unless you can heal her, keep your hands to yourself.”

“Touch either of us again and I’ll bite your fingers off!” Looking to your side, you find the Lightbringer is now as unwillingly conscious as you are. Even with their higher pain tolerance, they refuse to move and instead lie back down, reaching for your hand again to restore your connection. “I’m going to get back at you for that one.”

“Alright, shit, sorry.” Chara stuffs their hands in their pockets and takes a step back, leaving you to focus on everyone else. Zach was trying to prop you up now while Ralsei gently rested his hands on your chest to heal your wounds. Looking down at yourself, your dress was torn, burnt in places, and soaked almost all the way through with blood. Was all of this yours? Still feeling twinges of pain with every beat of your heart, you look to where Chara must have touched you and see an almost fist sized hole in you, yet you were still alright.

“What the hell…” You break out into a cold sweat. You don’t have the adrenaline or the immediate danger to distract you anymore. You could see just how much damage you took and the condition you’re in and you have no idea how you’re alive. Judging by the horrified looks on everyone else’s faces, they’re probably asking the same thing.

“Are you alright?” Kris was leaning in close, their blue skin turning slightly green at the sight of all the blood. “Everyone thought you died.”

“I’m… I’m pretty sure I did.” You mumble, unable to look away from your own injuries. There was all consuming pain, followed by cold and darkness. For just a few seconds at least, you actually died.

“They’ve been through worse.” The Lightbringer chuckles, still lying on the ground as Susie tries to heal them. “We got him first try too, wasn’t expecting that.”

“I was this close to pulling a reset before I saw her squirmin’ around.” Chara nods. “I was honestly worried that the doc might be resistant and we’d have a harder time dealing with him, but shit, you are a resilient one.”

“I don’t understand.” Ralsei shakes his head as he moves to try and heal the wound that was bothering you the most. “I’ve never seen someone get up from wounds this severe this quickly. I’m not even sure if my magic is enough to fix everything. I take pride in my healing skills, but you should be dead. How…”

“Determination.” The Lightbringer simply states, leaving you to try and elaborate.

“I didn’t want to die.” You try to make sense of things yourself. “I could feel myself breaking apart, but I had so many promises that I’d break if I died, so many goodbyes left unsaid, so many people left in harm's way. I was Determined to hold on to life, and… I just refused to die.”

“That’s…” Temmie pauses for a moment before looking over at Toby who was curled up close by Zach. “That’s not a thing we can do, is it? Determination doesn’t also make us immortal, right?”

“She should have just been kicked out, but without a full soul, I’m not sure…” Toby says weakly, still trying to rebuild his energy. You feel Zach tense up in shock beside you as he turns to stare down at Toby.

“Wait…”

“Now hold on a minute…” Chara seems just as shocked to hear him speak as Zach was.

“Is this your first time hearing him?” Kris chuckles slightly. “He still catches us off guard sometimes because he doesn’t do it often, but yeah, he talks.”

“Wait wait wait.” Zach shakes his head. “So have I been carrying and petting a full grown man this whole time?”

“He does look very fluffy.” Chara notes. “The guy was also too out of it to speak until now. And hey, it got you charging in like a goddamn warrior trying to save the poor little doggy.”

“Are you alright, Zach?” You turn to ask him. You saw him take that blast head on. Even with the shield, that had to have hurt.

“Vess, you just told us all you fucking died!” Zach shakes his head. “I’ve probably got some really bad bruises, but who cares about that right now. Are you sure you’re alright? You aren’t going to give out on us anytime soon, are you?”

“Everything hurts really bad and I'm really cold, but I don’t think I’m gonna die.” You assure him, as well as yourself. The fact that you were awake and talking despite having several holes in you and was proof enough that your will to live was stronger than the injuries you sustained, but all this talk of Determination has you worried now. Looking past all your friends, you were still in the caves next to the Grand Fountain. “Where’s Gaster?!” You suddenly ask in alarm. If he had enough Determination to break his body down, he could still be alive.

“Still by the Fountain.” Chara tells you. Straining yourself to try and get a good look, you spot a red trail where you must have been dragged to safety, and following that trail, you find what remains of Gaster. Mixed in with the pool of blood you left behind is a thick, viscous blob of white and black, bubbling slightly as it slowly seeps into the stone. You can see it still moving, and if you listen close enough, you think you can hear it making a noise as if it were still trying to speak.

“I don’t know what to do about him…” Temmie sounds genuinely haunted by what happened to the doctor. “Is there a way we can save him from this?”

“Leave him…” The Lightbringer insists. “His stolen Determination will keep him going for a while, but his will to fight on won’t last as he is now. Give him enough time and he’ll expire for good.”

“We can’t just-”

“Shut up.” The Lightbringer quickly blurts when Ralsei tries to speak. You can’t help but instinctively feel defensive for him, but you’re in no condition to argue. “Chara’s told me all about you, how much you push for peaceful solutions and finding common ground. Bleeding hearts like you make me sick, wanting to keep your hands clean and make friends with killers, but I know you’re not completely naïve. The other Ralsei showed me no mercy, and when you saw just how far Gaster was willing to go, you fought back in equal measure. Don’t feel sympathy for him now that he can’t hurt anyone anymore. If he still had the chance, he would not hesitate to kill us.”

“We’re just… leaving him here?” Susie doesn’t feel comfortable leaving Gaster as a bubbling puddle still clinging to life, but you gave him the chance to work something out, to return everything to square one and pretend none of this happened, but he fought to keep what he stole, he killed to keep Toby’s soul. You wish it didn’t have to come to this or that you didn’t have to drag these people here to witness it, but they saved not just your life, but Toby’s too.

“Let’s get out of here.” Toby says, struggling to push up to his feet and stepping close to you and gently resting a paw on your leg. “I wanna go home.”

“I do too…” You say, feeling your eyes water. You’ve gone through so much hell, you just want to be safe and sound in your bed and for everything to stop hurting. Everyone gathers up, making sure everyone has some sort of connection with each other before Toby leads you all through a shortcut and you find yourselves up on the surface inside Castle Town’s courtyard, the Grand Fountain still flowing beside you. The soft grass beneath you is much more pleasant than the cold stone, and as horrifying as it was to think about, Gaster was now abandoned in the caves, unable to do anything except exist and linger on what his greed has earned him until eventually his will to keep going dies along with him.

“Thank you guys so much.” Temmie addresses the Delta Warriors. “I’m so sorry to drag you into all of this horrible stuff, but you saved my friends lives. I don’t know how I’d ever repay you.”

“You don’t have to.” Ralsei assures her as he checks you over one more time for injuries. “You and Toby are our friends, of course we’d help you. You owe us nothing. Just please stay out of trouble and update me on how Toby’s doing. It’s good to see him upright, but I’m scared I might have hurt him really bad when I hit Gaster.”

“I’ll be alright.” Toby assures him. “I just need a cat nap and the aches should go away.”

“Don’t you mean dog nap?” Ralsei offers, trying to lighten the mood, but his friends focus on another detail.

“What the hell did you even do to him by the way?!” Susie asks. “You shot him with a goddamn laser cannon! Where was that when the Titans were marching towards town?!”

“Or any fight at all really.” Kris adds on. “Just whipping that thing out would probably be enough to get anyone to back down. How long have you been sitting on that?”

“I would like to know as well.” The Lightbringer growls. “This is the third time I’ve been shot by that damn thing. What reason does a pacifist have for a shoulder mounted death cannon.”

You try to blot out the conversation going on around you to rest up more. It isn’t long before Ralsei manages to seal your wounds, but you still hurt. You’re probably not in immediate danger of dying anymore, but you’ve still lost a lot of blood and you know that healing magic can only go so far. Right now, all you needed was rest, but you couldn’t go home yet. You still had Chara and the Lightbringer to deal with.

You just want to see your Prince again…

“So…” Chara speaks up. “This has been fun and all and it was nice to see the old gang again, but we came looking for Toby for a reason.”

“Can it wait?” Temmie turns to them with a mean look in her eyes. Her friends were hurt, no one was in any condition to deal with them.

“That’s kinda what I wanted to discuss.” Chara nods. “We came out here looking for Toby, but it doesn’t look like he’s in a good spot to help us right now, so maybe we can work something else out.”

“I’m not-”

“You’ll still get what you want, calm down.” Chara shushes their double. “What do you say we all head back to our place and go over the terms of our deal again. The poor gal wants to go home, I think we can work something out to get us out of her hair.”

Temmie turns to you, looking for your advice to see if this was a good idea. You didn’t want to go back out into the Void, you really didn’t want to see the other Gaster again, but you wanted to go home. You don’t know what Chara’s demands are or what they plan on changing, but if it gets you back to your Prince, you need to try.

“Do you think you can get up?” Zach asks, still trying to support you.

“I’m scared to try.” You tell him. You haven’t even attempted to move your legs. Trying now, you don’t feel too much pain, but you struggle to move them much.

“Here, let me help you up.” Ralsei offers his hand to you, his white fur now stained red. You take his hand and he helps pull you up so you’re sitting upright. What catches you off guard is when he suddenly leans down and wraps his arms around you, holding you in a tight hug. The pressure he applies hurts quite a bit, even with how gentle he’s trying to be, but having him this close to you gets your heart beating hard in your chest.

“Ralsei?!”

“I can tell how much you miss him.” Ralsei tells you. “I know I probably don’t compare, this… this is probably really weird for you actually, but… I thought maybe this would make you feel better about being away from him for so long, even if-”

You wrap your arms around him and hug him back, tears welling up in your eyes. “You’re the sweetest guy in the world.” You tell him. “You, my Ralsei, probably every single one in existence. I’m so lucky to have a sweetheart like you. I’m surprised no one’s tried to make you their Prince here.”

Through your teary eyes, you think you can see Kris elbow Susie. Susie slaps at them, rubbing her arm and looking off to the side.

“Save the flattery for your Prince.” Ralsei says, pulling away from you with a blush. “I hope you get home safe and sound. This other me sounds like he’s very lucky to have you.”

“Let's go.” The Lightbringer grumbles, clearly not a fan of what’s happening right next to them. Chara hurries over to their side to help them up, leaving you to be lifted up to your feet by Zach. He keeps an arm around you as you try to put all your weight on your legs, but you can’t stay upright. Your legs wobble beneath you and you know that even trying to take a step will send you falling to the floor. Just being upright sends all sorts of horrible pains and sensations running up and down your body as the pressure of gravity shifts your injured insides.

“Can you walk?” Zach asks beside you, still trying to keep you steady. You shake your head no, and in response, he kneels down and sweeps an arm beneath your weak legs, lifting you up off the ground and into his arms. You’re left a little stunned, and while Zach looks like he’s struggling somewhat to hold you and the armor on his back, he flashes you a smile. “Told you I was good at picking up chicks.”

“Didn’t really doubt you.” You tell him. “I guess I didn’t think you meant literally.”

“Being strong enough to pick them up is usually what draws them to me.” He smiles. “I feel like a knight carrying a Princess in my arms.”

“This Princess is taken.” You tell him.

“I’ve actually been meaning to ask about that.” He says. “I think the other Ralsei might have said something about it before I left, but-”

“Save it for later.” You tell him. “I don’t have the energy to get into it. I just want to go home.”

“I think we all do.” Temmie nods. “Toby, can you take them while I bring the Chara’s?”

“Where are we going?” Toby asks. He’s probably got a lot of catching up to do after being out for so long.

“The hangout.” You tell him. “I guess we’ll continue the conversation there.” All of you start to gather up to make your way back to the hangout, but before you go, the Delta Warriors all say their goodbyes.

“This was probably the scariest shit I’ve ever been a part of, but it was cool to meet other people from out of town.” Kris says. “It’d be nice to see you all again as long as you don’t bring trouble with you.”

“I’m just even more curious about what the hell is going on in your world.” Susie says. “Maybe Temmie can bring us over someday?”

“I’d really like to meet the other me.” Ralsei nods in agreement with Susie. “Maybe you can bring him with you on your next visit?”

“I think he’d like that.” You nod. “See you guys.”

With one more wave, all three of your old/new friends vanish, leaving you in the dark as you’re returned to the hangout. Toby seems shocked to see the house which was now placed next to the river and Temmie starts giving him a brief rundown on what’s been going on. You try to mentally brace yourself as well to see the other doctor, but as you try to prepare, Zach shifts your weight around in his arms to better support you. Without his Dark World armor, he’s having an easier time holding you up, and glancing down, you find that your dress was replaced with your more casual attire, though it was also stained through with blood and torn.

“We’re gonna get back home, alright.” He assures you. “We’re both gonna share the craziest fucking story Miles and Lizzy have ever heard. We gotta get them in here at some point.”

“Maybe…” You nod. “I figured all of this would have scared you off.”

“This was just a freak, one off occurrence, right?” Zach says. “I barely even got to see your friends back at Castle Town, I wanna know the guys you’ve gotten so familiar with here. Especially Ralsei. Is what you were saying back there true?”

“Yeah…” You nod. “He’s my Prince.” You couldn’t wait to see him again. You’d gladly go through whatever hell you needed to in order to get back to him.

“Furry.” Zach chuckles cruelly.

“Fuck you, you can’t talk shit until you’ve felt how soft his fur is.” You say, trying to slap at him, but the movement pulls something inside of you, causing you to wince and pull your arm back. “You’re just jealous that he’s cuter than any of the girls you’ve dated.”

“He’s a goat.” Zach argues.

“He’s adorable.” You argue back. “He’s the biggest sweetheart in the multiverse. I will not hear you slander my Prince’s name.”

“Hurry on inside now.” Chara calls out from up ahead. “The sooner we get this over with, the better.” Picking up his pace, Zach carries you the rest of the way to the house where the Chara’s and devs were already waiting.

“It’s about time you made it back.” Before you can even make it through the door, you can already hear the Gaster you’re familiar with complaining. “I’m surprised you actually stuck to your word considering… What the hell happened to them?!” Zach takes you through the door and Gaster’s words trail off as he takes notice of you. “I already objected to letting you bring guests, I will not house a corpse!”

“I’m still breathing.” You speak up, genuinely surprising Gaster. You wanna revel in the fact that you scared him a little, but you’re more worried about the fact he was one hundred percent convinced you were dead before you spoke up. Do you really look that bad?

“Finding Toby turned out to be a taller order than anticipated.” Chara explains from the kitchen. “Vess is gonna need some fluids, but does anyone else want some water?”

“Please.” Toby nods, stepping forward. “It’s been days.”

“Good thing you were out in the Void then.” Chara says, searching the cupboards before finding a bowl for him. “You won’t starve or dehydrate out there, but without your other half, I’m not sure you would have made it without our help.”

“Thank you.” Toby bows his head in gratitude as Chara fills a bowl from the tap and lays it down for him. Toby approaches it, but he keeps casting wary glances at the other Gaster who has come down the stairs to investigate. “Who are you people?” He asks. “Friends of Vess?”

“The opposite.” The Lightbringer says from the couch, trying to get comfortable and not caring about staining the couch. Struggling to hold your weight, Zach carries you over and deposits you on the couch next to them. The moment you’re sat down, the Lightbringer strains themselves to rest their feet against you again. You put up with it for the relief that your connected soul offers you.

“I’d like to say this little trip has cleared things up between us, but I doubt she’d call us friends.” Chara shakes their head, coming towards you with a glass of water. You gratefully take it, eager to wash out the taste of blood in your mouth.

“These are the people Vess talked about, the troublemakers.” Temmie fills Toby in. “They haven’t been as much trouble as we expected though.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Chara is flattered to hear Temmie’s opinion on them has changed. “We all make mistakes, and I’ve made some pretty bad ones, but I try my best.” Turning their attention towards you, Chara waits for you to finish your drink before speaking. “Now that everyone’s here and we can discuss our little trade, I was thinking we could maybe postpone it and send y’all home.”

“WHAT?!” Gaster barks out in anger and surprise, causing you and your friends to flinch. “What the hell is going on in that imbecilic brain of yours?! We have the leverage we need to-”

“Quiet down, doctor.” The Lightbringer interjects from the couch. “If you knew what we just did, you’d keep your mouth shut.” Despite threatening Gaster and demanding he shut up, the Lightbringer immediately shifts their attention to Chara and starts complaining themself. “I really hope this isn’t you having a change of heart. I still want what I’m owed.”

“And you’ll get it.” Chara promises. “We’ll get all that we want, but these poor people are tired. Vess here put her life on the line. Right now, all they want is to go home, and I say that obliging them should be more than enough to make this a fair and even trade.”

“And what reason would they have to follow through on the deal if we let them go?” Gaster demands, fuming at the mere thought of letting you slip away.

“Y’all seem to be the honorable type.” Chara shrugs. “We did you a favor and saved Toby’s life, surely you’d pay us back. We’re also essentially squatting in your backyard and it’s a real nice place you got out here. I’m sure you want this eyesore of a house out of the way.”

“What do you want?” Toby asks. There was a lot less tension now. Chara had your back, the Lightbringer showed some restraint around your friends and actually saved your life. These aren’t good people, they’re still holding you for ransom, but after all they did to help you and Chara’s little additions to make this a fair trade instead of a hostage trade off, you were all on much more agreeable terms with them.

“A soul for Mini-me over on the couch so they don’t have to leech off Vess like your old friend was leeching off you. A physical body for the doctor behind me so he isn’t trapped in the Void forever, and someplace cool for me to hang out in so I’m not trapped in this house all day.” Chara lists off. “In exchange, Vess gets her soul back and we get off your lawn. I know it’s probably a lot to ask, but from the sounds of it, Temmie here was convinced that you might be able to help us with all of that.”

“I…” Toby takes a moment to think, lapping up some more water as he does. “I think I can manage that, but it’s going to take time.”

“Time that I’m willing to give you all.” Chara nods. “Temmie looks worried sick, you and Vess have been put through the wringer, and Zach… He looks more like a lost puppy than you do. You all need some time to rest, so we’re going to let you go so you can give us what we want when you’re able. The house has been crowded here with Vess anyways and the hostility between us has only made things worse.”

“I can’t leave without my soul though.” You say. “Are you really going to give it back?”

“Light…” Chara looks at the Lightbringer sitting beside you. “I know you’ve been growing attached to it, but you’ll get one all to yourself very soon. Will you give Vess her-”

Before Chara can finish, the Lightbringer punches themself in the chest, hard enough to hurt the both of you as they rummage around for your soul. They eventually pull it free, holding it out in their hand. You try to reach for it, but they kick you away, leaning back so you can’t get it.

“The little piece I managed to get before you cheaped out on me all those years ago fused with this once I tore off your other half.” They say before holding your soul close to themself and pinching their fingers near the bottom tip. “You survived just fine without it and already have pieces missing in your other half. You won’t need this.”

Applying pressure, the Lightbringer snaps a little chunk of your soul off the rest of their half, sending a fresh new burning wave of pain through your core. Stuffing their broken shard back into their chest, they toss the rest of your soul back to you and you waste no time taking it back into yourself, shuddering with relief as you feel it begin to mend inside your chest.

“Consider this my insurance.” The Lightbringer says, giving you a hearty kick now that it can no longer hurt them. “When the little mutt gives me a replacement, you can come get it back. All of it. The connection I have with you will be fully severed and we’ll never see each other again.”

“Kicking you out here was supposed to insure I never see you again, but here we are.” You grumble, trying to take a deep breath and really appreciate being mostly whole again. “I’m surprised you didn’t take a bigger piece. This is actually pretty generous for you.”

“Consider it a show of respect.” The Lightbringer tells you, catching you off guard. “Maybe this soul is clouding my judgment, but you haven’t gone as soft as I thought. You still have the same drive and undying will that brought me back from the grave, you’ve just found an actual noble goal to focus on. I’d like to think I would have been the same had my original plan worked out. Just make sure you pay your end of the bargain, or I’ll come and get the rest of my payment by force.”

Once again, you’re unnerved by how much Chara Dreemurr is acting like an actual person over the feral animal you remember first meeting. They’re still an absolute monster, but they’re someone who can be negotiated with, someone with actual feelings.

“You’ll get what you’re owed, partner.” You assure them, and they break into a wide smile, pulling their leg off you.

“I’ll believe it when you finally pay up, Vess.” They tell you. You’re pretty sure that’s the first time they’ve said your actual name.

“So wait, do you have what you need?” Zach asks. “Can we go home?!” You nod in response. Having another piece broken off of you was going to leave you hurting for a while, but you’re already in the dumps, you’ll get over it.

“We’ll be waiting right here for whenever you’re ready to pay out.” Chara says. “‘Course, if you take too long, we might start trying to find a way to seek you guys to hurry you along. I’m sure it won’t come to that though, right?”

“I’ll need a couple days to get the rest I need, but I should be able to start working on a solution for your guys’ problems once I’ve got my bearings again.” Toby informs them.

“Glad to hear it.” Chara nods, giving you all a genuine smile. “Go ahead and let yourselves out then. Oh and Vess, tell Azzy to write. It’s probably not a good idea for me to come back into town, but I’ve been dying to hear back from him.”

“I’ll try to remember.” You assure them as Zach steps forward to lift you off the couch. You were finally getting out of this awful house, you were finally going to go home, you were finally going to see your Prince again.

“I’m going to be bringing Toby somewhere safe for him to rest up.” Temmie says, walking over to Toby’s side. “Can you make it back home yourself, Vess?”

“I have nothing keeping me trapped here.” You nod. “Stay safe. I’ll talk to you when I wake up.” Toby and Temmie vanish, disappearing to safety. Adjusting your weight in his arms, Zach braces himself for you to take a shortcut, and after wishing to go home so many times over the past few days, you finally allow yourself to be taken there. You close your eyes, and will yourself into your Prince’s castle, desperate to be reunited with him.

You feel Dark World magic envelop you once more. Zach's grip on you nearly slips as he’s suddenly weighed down by his armor, forcing him to take a knee to keep you both from falling. Maybe only a second after you arrive back in Castle Town, someone takes notice of you.

“Vess?” You open your eyes, finding that they’re already welling up with tears. He sounded so scared. “VESS?!” Turning your head, you spot Ralsei running right at you before trying to wrap his arms around you in Zach’s grip. You still don’t want to move around too much, but you risk whatever pain you’ll possibly endure in order to reach an arm out and hold him. As he holds you tight, running a hand through your hair, you can feel his fluffy cheeks brush against yours, damp with tears.

“Holy shit! Is she ok?!” Ralsei wasn’t the only one in the room. Susie and Kris were here, but Susie’s voice is filled with more concern than relief. “Shit! Ralsei, she’s bleeding! I think she needs help!”

“She’s alright.” Zach assures everyone as he tries to set you down. “You might want to give her space though, she’s still pretty hurt.” Ralsei backs off a little, placing his arms beneath you as Zach sets you down onto the floor. Ralsei kneels beside you, resting your head on his lap as he looks over what’s happened to you. You see his eyes go wide in horror, but you quickly reach up and focus his attention on you.

“I told you I’d make it back.” You tell him. “I promised. I’m just sorry I couldn’t make it back as soon as I wanted to.”

“What…” Turning your head, you find Kris slowly approaching you, looking pale at the sight of all the blood. “What happened to you?”

“I died.” You tell them straight. You know you look bad, there was no beating around the bush.

“Then how am I talking to you?” Kris mumbles.

“I got better.” You tell them.

“Do you need anything?” Susie asks, desperate to help. She’s sitting next to you now, hands ready to heal.

“I think I just need rest now.” You tell her. “I’m as healed up as I can be, I just need time to do the rest myself.”

“I don’t know how long we’ve been here, but Vess needs to wake up.” Zach says beside you. “Her friends are worried for her and if she’s out for too long, her parents are gonna worry too.”

“But she just got back…” You can hear just how heartbroken Ralsei is to hear that you already need to leave. You hug him tighter, trying to lean forward to give him a kiss. You’re unable to exert yourself enough to reach him, but Ralsei closes the distance for you. He doesn’t want to pull away once your lips touch. When it starts to hurt to sit up to kiss him, you lean back away from him.

“I told you if I was late, I’d make it up to you.” You remind him. “You can take me out like you wanted to on Friday, we can finish all your favorite books, I’ll be all yours when I come back.”

“But I want you now.” Ralsei whines. You can see he’s crying fresh tears now. “I was so worried for you, I don’t want you to go again after being gone for so long.”

“I don’t either.” You admit. You want to tell him you’ll stay just to make him stop crying, but you can’t. You’re too hurt to do anything, you need the rest, you need to go back home.

“Is everything alright now?” Kris asks, still looking incredibly anxious. “Are the devs safe?”

“Toby made it back home.” You slowly nod your head. “There’s still some stuff we need to take care of, but we aren’t in danger anymore.”

“What about Chara? The Lightbringer? Gaster?” Susie demands. She must have heard about who you saw out there from Asriel or Dess.

“Still there, but not a problem, like I said.” You assure her. “Hopefully they’ll be gone by next week. And I guess while it’s still fresh in my mind, Kris.” Kris jolts slightly, still jumpy over everything that’s going on. “Chara wants your brother to write a letter or two while they’re still within reach so they can hear how he’s doing.”

“Ok…?” Kris nods, slightly confused to hear that the people they all probably thought were torturing you were requesting something so innocent.

“So um…” Zach speaks up again. “How do we get out of here, Vess? I’d love to stick around a little more to get to know your friends, but Miles is probably losing his mind over us. We should get going.”

“You just gotta want to go home and fall asleep.” You tell him. “There’s got to be a spare room somewhere in the castle, right?”

“Kris.” Ralsei speaks up, trying to keep his voice steady. “Can you show Zach to Chara’s old room? I’ve been meaning to do something about it but for now it can be used as a guest room.”

“Yeah.” Kris nods, grateful to have something to do to take their mind off of things. Zach gets up to leave you, but before either of them can leave up the stairs, Kris turns to you. “It’s good to know you’re alright.” They say. “But I swear to fucking god, if you keep causing trouble like this, you’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“I’ll try my best.” You groan. “I sure as hell never want to go through something like this again if I can help it.” With that, Kris and Zach retreat up the stairs to find a place for him to stay the night.

“Susie? Can you help me take Vess up the stairs to her room?” Ralsei asks, sounding reluctant to let you go.

“Careful, I’m pretty sure there’s still something broken in me.” You warn as Susie tries to get her arms under you. She very gently lifts you off the floor with Ralsei’s help, asking if you’re alright with almost every step as she starts carrying you up the stairs. As she does, Ralsei hovers right next to you, holding onto your hand as you’re led to your room. Once the door to your room is in sight, he speaks up.

“I think I can take her the rest of the way and make sure she’s comfortable.” He tells Susie once you’re there, opening the door to your room before turning around and holding out his arms for you.

“You sure?” Susie asks. “I know you’d love to carry your Princess to bed, but I’m not sure a little pipsqueak like you can manage.”

“He’s actually surprisingly strong.” You tell Susie. “He did build this whole castle by himself, he’s got more muscle than you think.” Gently lowering you down, she hands you off to Ralsei, and while he’s visibly struggling, he manages to hold you up. “See? He’s got this.”

“Alright then.” Susie nods with a bit of a smile, though it doesn’t last long. “Please come back as soon as you’re ready.” She pleads. “We were all worried to death for you. You’re the only person who can really cheer Ralsei up.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.” You promise. “I’ll tell you all what happened and how I got back, but I gotta go.”

“Right…” Susie sighs, disappointed to see you go too. “Get well soon, Vess. It looks like you’re gonna have a pretty crazy story to tell us when you get back.”

“Already priming the story in my head for Miles and Lizzy.” You nod. Susie leaves down the hall to check on Kris, leaving you and Ralsei alone to head into your room. Nudging the door closed behind him, Ralsei tries to carry you to your bed, struggling to hold your weight. “I’m really sorry about leaving so soon.” You apologize to him as he gets ready to set you down. “I’m a terrible girlfriend, aren’t I?”

“What?!” Ralsei nearly drops you out of shock, but he manages to hold on.

“It feels like every single week I end up making you cry.” You tell him. “No matter how hard I try, I keep getting myself into trouble and you get worried sick. I’m awful.”

“No you’re not.” Ralsei tells you outright.

“You’re just saying that to be nice.” You say.

“No I’m…” Setting you down on the bed, Ralsei sits down next to you. “I won’t lie, I’m beyond frustrated that this keeps happening.” He tells you honestly. “I hate seeing you go. I know you’re doing it to help people, if I could I would come with you in a heartbeat, but… This isn’t really your fault, I can’t hold it against you.”

“But I promised you wouldn’t regret dating me though.” You try to argue. “You were scared about people leaving the Barrier and leaving you alone. I promised I wouldn’t leave you only for me to disappear multiple times a week, not just outside the Barrier, but outside of reality all together.”

“But you always come back.” Ralsei says, holding your hand tight and looking you in the eye to make sure you’re listening. “I know just how much you love me, I see how much it hurts you to upset me. You try to take responsibility for a lot of the bad things that happen around you, but this isn’t something you should hate yourself for. This is something out of both our control. You’re the only person who can leave this place freely to help other people in other worlds and I can’t follow you because of what I am. It’s frustrating, I want nothing more than for you to stay, but you’re doing what you can to make me happy despite the obstacles in our way. You’re not awful.”

“It still sucks.” You whine. Ralsei does not dispute that fact. You try to roll over in bed and feel a sharp stabbing pain somewhere in your ribs, causing you to flinch and suck a gasp in through your teeth.

“Are you alright?!” Ralsei’s hands are immediately on you, providing you with relief.

“Yeah.” You croak, taking a couple deep breaths. “I can’t move around too much, there’s still something messed up in here.”

“Then please just lie down.” Ralsei instructs. “I’ll help get you ready for bed.” You do as he says, lying perpendicularly on your bed with your legs dangling over the edge as Ralsei undoes your boots. You try to focus on your breathing and the sensations going through your body.

You were still very cold. You’ve been carried around for a while so you’ve been sharing body heat, but as Ralsei pulls your boots off, you can’t help but shiver. You lost a lot of blood, but thankfully, your heart is still pumping, just barely. There isn’t much of a pulse, but you hope that will sort itself out by the time you come back. You’re still forced to take somewhat shallow breaths to avoid agitating what had to be a broken rib, though knowing where you were stabbed, you’re questioning how you’re breathing at all. There’s no way you didn’t have a lung punctured and you aren’t sure if the healing magic you received is advanced enough to repair damaged organs.

Your slow breathing picks up quite a bit when you feel Ralsei pull your dress up to get the blood soaked rags off of you, but he stops himself, staring down at your body. Looking down, you can now clearly see the work the alternate Ralsei and Susie did to heal you, and while there were no open wounds, the scars that were left behind aren’t pretty. Four fist sized masses of scarred flesh all along your torso, with one being right in the center of your chest. Ralsei’s hands hover near the one on your waist, not daring to touch it and risk hurting you.

“I didn’t realize how bad it looked.” You shudder. Seeing where the scars were and knowing that you probably had similar scars on your back and that everything in between them was completely destroyed. You looked pale, you were covered in dried up blood that itches on your cold skin, but you couldn’t scratch it.

“You’re still beautiful, even with the scars.” Ralsei assures you, pulling the rest of your dress off over your head. Once it’s off, he looks down at the punctured, stained, burned remains of the dress he bought you. He looks at you and must see the sadness in your eyes. “I’ll make sure you have something new to wear when you get back.” He promises. “Maybe I’ll make something myself. In the meantime…” Beside your bed was most of your old getup. Kneeling down, he picks up your old maroon tunic and tries to help you into it so you actually had something to wear to keep what little body heat you generated contained. With you dressed again, he gently holds you, offering you more warmth and comfort than any blanket ever could.

“I guess I already told one version of you, but you’re the biggest sweetheart in the universe, you know that?” You tell him, resting your chin on top of his head, letting his fur tickle your neck and cheeks. “I don’t deserve someone as sweet as you.”

“Enough of that.” Ralsei silences you. “You’re my Princess. I won’t hear you say mean things like that to yourself. You’re perfect and beautiful and I’m the happiest boy in the world to have you. A Princess like you deserves the whole world.” You don’t have the strength to argue, so you don’t. You instead allow Ralsei to shower you with praise and kisses as he takes your covers and wraps you up in them.

Gently resting a hand beneath your head, Ralsei tries to carefully turn you around so you could lie down properly. He lowers your head onto your pillow, but the moment you try to settle into it, both of you notice something is stuck underneath it. Raising you back up, Ralsei moves your pillow aside and gasps with shock. Keeping you held up with one arm, he leans forward and grabs hold of the bouquet of roses you bought for him before you left. You meant to put them in some water when you got back from hanging out with Dess and Asriel and in the time you’ve been gone they’ve wilted pretty bad, but Ralsei still stares at them in awe.

“I know you wanted to plan our Friday night by yourself, but I couldn’t stop myself from buying you something.” You tell him. “I was going to surprise you with them to cheer you up when I got back, but…” There probably wasn’t any saving those roses, but despite that, Ralsei buries his snout in the bouquet and takes a deep sniff.

“How could you call yourself awful after buying me flowers?” He asks, not at all bothered by their condition. He sets the flowers aside and fluffs up your pillow before lowering you back onto it. “You wanna know the funny thing?” He asks. “I was going to get you flowers too. A bouquet of roses as red and beautiful as your eyes.”

“I wish I could have made it then.” You sigh with a smile. “The moment we both revealed our gifts would have been almost as adorable as you.”

“I’ll have you all to myself when you get back to give you something better.” Ralsei says, tucking you into bed. As he does, you can’t help but notice his mood shift. “There’s nothing else that could get in the way of us, is there?” He looks worried, he was bracing himself for the worst.

“Toby and Temmie should handle most of it, but I still have at least one more trip I need to make.” You tell him, watching his mood sink. “I’ll be getting something out of it though, and if things work out, maybe you will too. I met the other Ralsei again and he gave me some ideas. You want to travel, right? See the world outside the Barrier?”

“Can we do that?!” Ralsei asks with some shock.

“Maybe not in the way you’re hoping, but it’ll be something I’ll try to figure out while I’m gone.” You promise him. “At the very least, I could introduce you to the other Ralsei. His Kris is convinced that if you two ever meet there will be so much positivity in the world that it will explode.” That gets a giggle out of Ralsei, and after all the worry and fright, it feels good to make him smile again.

It sadly doesn’t last. You were tucked into bed and could do nothing more than rest. Ralsei takes your ruined dress and wilted flowers, but he wants more. He wants you to stay, he wants to make you feel better, but you have to leave.

“Hurry back.” He pleads, not wanting to keep you from the rest you desperately need.

“I won’t be long.” You promise him. “I told you once and got a pretty grim reminder today, not even death can keep me from coming back to you, my Prince.”

“Then I’ll try to be patient and wait, my Princess.” Ralsei nods before leaning forward to leave you with one last kiss before you go. “Don’t come back until you’re good and ready.” He tells you. “If I get to have you all to myself when you get back, I want you to be ready for anything.”

“Sounds like I’ll be in for a wild ride when I get back.” You say, feeling your weak heart beat a little faster in anticipation. Opening up the door, Ralsei kills the lights in your room and steps outside. Before he can close the door, you tell him something you’ve told him countless times by now, but still mean it just as much. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Vess.” He says as he slowly closes the door behind him. “Good night.”

Zach struggled to actually fall asleep after all of the chaos and confusion he went through, but as his body ached from all the beatings he dished out, he eventually managed to settle into bed and fall into a fitful sleep. He wasn’t exactly sure how to get back home, but he deserved some rest too after getting shot by a giant skeleton laser. His head still hurt from having Kris thrown at him after they saved his life, but…

No, it actually hurts a lot more now.

Letting out a pained groan, he reaches up to hold his head, only to be startled by someone’s shocked gasp.

“Zach?!” Before he could even open his eyes, someone was holding him and pulling him upright. “Zach, are you alright?!”

“Wha?!” Zach struggles to open his eyes, his head pounding as he tries to make sense of where he was. When he finally manages to get a clear look at where he was, he finds he’s not in the same room he fell asleep in and Lizzy was lightly slapping him in the face.

“Zach, are you ok? Are you back with us?” Lizzy was holding his face, trying to jostle him awake. Zach reaches up to bat her hands away, groaning in pain as his head still drums with pain.

“I’m up, I’m up…” He whines, resting his head in his hands. “Miles? Did I hit my head on the way down?”

“I tried to catch you.” Zach wasn’t even sure Miles was in the room, but he gets a response. “What happened?”

“Did you see the other side? Was Vess there? Is she going to be ok?” Lizzy fires off several questions and once again Zach has to try and quiet her down.

“Give me a minute.” He says. “I have gone through so much shit over the past few hours, I need to wake up.”

“You’ve only been out for half an hour.” Miles explains. That throws Zach for a loop. There was no way in hell he did all that in only half an hour.

“What about Vess?” Lizzy asks, still abuzz with questions. “Is she gonna wake up?” Hearing that Vess was still asleep helps Zach wake up a little more so he could regain his focus. Why wasn’t she waking up yet?

Sitting upright, he finds he’s back in Vess’ room with Miles still sitting at the computer desk and Lizzy knelt down beside him. Looking down, he’s disappointed to find the t-shirt and shorts he usually wore instead of his sick ass suit of armor, but he puts those worries aside to look up at the gu- girl sleeping on the bed.

His mind almost slipped up, the person on the bed didn’t look a thing like the girl he just saved, but there was no way he was going to mix things up again after seeing her for what she really was inside the game. She was a literal Princess, he’d have to be pretty damn stupid to think she was a guy, even out here.

She was still asleep on the bed though, looking a lot paler than she did before he went in after her. She must have gone to sleep at the same time he did, right? She didn’t get kidnapped at the last second or something, did she?

“Vess?” Reaching forward, Zach pokes her in the face. She lets out a strange, agitated sound after touching her. That was more than she did before he went in to rescue her. He pokes her in the face again. “Vess. Vess… Princess.”

“Don…” Half of a word escapes from Vess’ lips, forcing relieved sighs out of everyone in the room. “Don… call… Ergh…” She’s awake, but she doesn’t sound very good. “Wah…” She cries out. “Wahder…” Without another word, Miles jumps out of his chair to rush to the kitchen. He quickly returns with a glass of water, slowly bringing it to her mouth for her to drink from. She struggles to lift her head to drink it, but with a little help from Lizzy, she manages.

“Are you feeling any better now that you’re awake, or are you still hurting?” Zach asks her. He isn’t sure if maybe the damage transferred to her real body or if this was something else.

“Still hurts…” She says with a huff after taking several gulps of water. “Not as much, but it still hurts.” She finally flutters her eyes open, turning her head to look at everyone surrounding her bed. “Hey guys.” She greets lazily. “I guess I overslept.”

“What happened?” Lizzy asks, still desperate for answers. “Why weren’t you waking up? Was Zach in there with you? Did the sprite I made for him work? What happened?!”

“A whole lot.” Vess says, closing her eyes again and resting her head. “I got kidnapped, Zach came to my rescue, and I got stabbed four times and died.”

“Huh?!” Lizzy boggles.

“I got better.” Vess says, trying to stretch out only to suck in a sudden gasp of pain.

“Are you sure you aren’t still hurt?” Zach asks again. “Why are you flinching so much?”

“Probably just my brain convincing me I’m still hurt.” She says, reaching down to pat herself down for wounds. “That, and that little devil broke my soul to pieces and left me with less than what I showed up with. That’s probably a major contributing factor.”

“Zach?” Miles turns to look up at his friend. “What happened?”

“I mean, she gave a pretty good explanation of what happened.” Zach says. “I don’t even know what all happened while I was there. Everything was moving so fast, I didn’t have time to make sense of anything. The moment I showed up, everyone started telling me I had to go save Vess from these bad guys and then I show up and they’re all just kinda hanging out in this house, and then I fought this guy's clone who shot a giant laser at me.”

“Zach…” Miles raises his voice. “That is a completely different set of bullshit from what Vess told us.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m serious.” Zach insists. “So much happened so fast, I was being taken from place to place, I was bracing myself to fight a bunch of guys only for the people who took Vess away to be weirdly chill. I think I’m gonna need Vess’ help to even make sense of what happened.”

“It’s a lot of information to take in at once.” Vess nods in understanding, slowly trying to roll over in bed to face everyone. “Thank you for coming, Zach. You saved my life.”

“I barely even did anything.” Zach shakes his head. “I was just kinda there.”

“You gave Temmie the courage to come searching for me, you took the doctor down before he shot me, you gave everyone cover while they were trying to save me.” Vess lists off. “You did plenty. Thank you.” Zach’s heart swelled in his chest. He was mostly acting out of pure panic, but apparently that was enough to be considered a hero. He supposes he did rescue a Princess and save the world. He can’t really get much more heroic than that.

“Are you gonna be ok?” Miles asks Vess. Zach’s never seen him so active before, he must have been really worried for her.

“I hope so.” Vess grunts, trying to stretch out. “I’m not bleeding all over the place so I don’t think I got hurt out here, but my entire body feels like a bruise.”

“What exactly happened to you?” Lizzy asks. “Give us a straight answer, please. Something that makes sense.”

“Well…” Vess gulps. “There are three major things that happened to me which are causing me so much pain. First, I got impaled. That just straight up killed me.”

“It obviously didn’t because you’re still here though.” Lizzy shakes her head, sounding a bit frustrated that Vess keeps saying that.

“It’s true though.” Zach backs her up. “She was running after the guy one second and then she was completely still the next. I was convinced she was dead, but… I still don’t know how you survived that.”

“Sheer force of will and Determination.” Vess answers. “Also, the Lightbringer told me to suck it up and keep fighting. They were just as Determined to make it through the fight and they weren’t going to let me drag them down.”

“That was just one of the things that happened to you?!” Lizzy asks, her voice now filled with worry.

“After getting impaled in four different places, Ralsei shot Gaster and I got caught in the crossfire. That hurt really bad, but surprisingly not as bad as getting stabbed. After that, everyone gathered around to patch me up, but the Lightbringer wasn’t going to let me go without some kind of payment and broke a piece of my soul off for themselves. I know from experience that I’m going to be feeling that all week.” Everyone stares at her in shock, horrified to hear what all happened to her, but grateful that she’s awake and with them now.

“Do you think you can get up?” Lizzy asks her.

“If I try hard enough, maybe.” Vess says, trying to stretch out in bed. “Really don’t wanna try though. I think I’d rather stay in bed.”

“You’ve been asleep for twelve hours.” Lizzy points out.

“So?” Vess shrugs slightly. “Miles sleeps for fourteen hours a day sometimes and he doesn’t even have to almost die to do that.”

“That’s not really a good thing.” Miles admits.

“Just give me a couple more hours at least.” Vess begs. “I’m hurt, I need the rest. I have a lot of fun stories from my week-long stay before I got kidnapped, I can tell you those while I lie here.”

“I got to spend a little bit of time getting to know your friends before all that shit went down.” Zach nods. “Why didn’t anyone tell me Susie was a goddamn dinosaur?”

“Did you even look at the game before?” Lizzy asks. “There’s like one human character in the entire game.”

“Not really.” Zach shakes his head. “Vess told me damn near everything about the game when it first came out, I didn’t really see any reason to look into it myself. Maybe she’s just used to it since she’s been there for so long, but it was really weird to be talking to skeletons and dogs and stuff. Also, Vess kissed a goat before I woke up.”

“Huh?” Miles raises his head.

“That’s how you’re going to break the news?” Vess whines. “First you call me a furry and now you spoil the surprise for everyone? I was gonna tell the whole story about how he confessed to me and the night we had our first kiss, but you just went and blew it!”

“Wait wait, what’s this about?!” Lizzy tries to calm her down, most of her worry now replaced with curiosity. “Who are you kissing? What’s going on?” Vess pouts at Zach, visibly pissed that he spoiled everything, but even if he said it in a more respectable way, it was going to be brought up at some point after seeing her get all lovey dovey with the Prince.

“I have a boyfriend.” Vess admits, closing her eyes and turning her head to avoid whatever reaction this news might draw out. “Prince Ralsei had a crush on me for a really long time and we’ve officially been dating for a few weeks now, though I guess on this end, it’s just been one week.” There’s a brief stretch of silence as the news settles in. “Maybe you guys think it’s weird because he’s a character and not a real person, but-”

“We talked to him.” Miles counters. “He’s real.” Those six words seem to do wonders for Vess as a ton of tension bleeds out of her.

“You used to talk about how he was your favorite character all the time.” Lizzy says with awe. “You mean you’re not just friends with him, but you’re his girlfriend?! Is he as cute as his sprite work looks?”

“He’s even cuter in person.” Vess nods, turning back to look at everyone. “You saw him, didn’t you, Zach?” She turns to look at Zach. “Call me a furry all you want, but you can’t deny he’s adorable, isn’t he?”

“He’s a goat.” Zach says, still weirded out to have talked to a barn animal on two legs. “He… did seem really sweet though.” He admits, thinking back on what the other Ralsei did for her before they left. He probably just needs more time to get to know everyone so their bizarre appearances aren’t as bothersome. “When can I get back in there?”

“Later.” Vess groans. “I still gotta help Toby seal the deal with Chara, but after that, I’ve got promises to keep with someone when I get back. It’s probably gonna be a couple weeks before you get the chance to go back in. After what you did for us though, I don’t think the devs will mind having a couple extra hands and eyes keeping a look out for trouble. We’ll definitely be planning a welcome party for you.”

“We’re not gonna die if we visit, are we?” Miles asks, still concerned for his friend’s health.

“You should be fine.” Vess assures him. “Nothing serious has happened for months. Weird stuff happens all the time, but no one’s died until today, but that didn’t stick. Even if shit goes down again, I can handle it. Zach probably could too, he took to playing the role of a knight in shining armor pretty quickly.”

“It’s hard to feel scared when I’m wearing thirty pounds of metal.” Zach nods. “It took me like twenty minutes just to get it all off so I could try and sleep.”

“The sprite sheet I made for you didn’t have armor.” Lizzy scratches her head. Vess tilts her head to face her, probably wanting to know about the sprites, but Lizzy ignores her for a moment to ask Zach a question. “The sprites worked, right? Did you appear as yourself?”

“He looked exactly like he does now.” Vess confirms. “He actually kinda looks out of place in comparison to the rest of us who can go into the Dark World. I look completely different and Temmie and Toby aren’t even human there.”

“They’re not?” That seems to get Miles’ attention.

“Still kinda weirded out that the dog I was taking care of the whole time was actually Toby.” Zach says, picturing himself carrying around a full grown man in his arms and patting his head. He'd probably carry him to safety anyways since he was still hurt and needed help, but it was still weird. “They just choose to look like that?”

“Those are their vessels.” Vess nods. “Lizzy helped make mine match what I really am, they decided to embrace something a little different. Where’d you even get a sprite of Zach from? Have you been working on it?”

“I’ve been working on some for all of us after learning that the commission I made for you was what you used as a vessel.” Lizzy confirms. “The one I got for Zach wasn’t even fully finished, but it was the only one even halfway completed.”

“Is there still time to change mine?” Miles asks.

“I’ve barely even started ours.” Lizzy nods. “Why? Do you have something specific in mind?” After a moment, Miles nods yes. Lizzy takes some time to think too before turning to Vess. “How crazy can we get with the vessels?”

“Toby’s a literal dog and Temmie is a two foot tall little anime person.” Zach says. “I’m gonna look real dumb if you guys show up looking crazy when I’m just regular old me.”

“You look dumb anyways.” Vess jeers from her bed. “The Dark World already changed you up a bunch, you won’t look too out of place. It sounds like you two are cooking something up though. What are you guys planning?”

“It’s a secret.” Miles says. “We’ll surprise you when we meet.”

“Speaking of surprises, I know Zach spoiled it, but I wanna hear more about your boyfriend.” Lizzy says, leaning against the bed. “How the hell are you still keeping secrets from us? It feels like every day we talk to you, you drop some new crazy piece of information on us. What else did you do overnight?!”

“I was in a smash tournament.” Vess says with a smile.

“Melee?” Miles asks. Vess nods. “Did you win?”

“God no.” She shakes her head. “Kris knows how to wavedash.”

As Vess talks with Miles and Lizzy sharing some of her stories, Zach takes a seat on the chair by her computer desk to unwind. He got into a life or death fist fight, watched his best friend die only for her to come back to life through what he can only assume is magic, and he rescued a princess. He did all of that in what felt like a handful of hours but what was really only thirty or so minutes. Even if he does get to go back there, he isn’t sure how much he’d actually be able to see. Hell, from how the devs talked, it didn’t even seem like they knew what was going on in there either.

“Zach?” Lizzy speaks up, taking notice of him zoning out.

“Sorry. Just freaking out all over again.” He says, taking a deep breath. “As much as I wanna get back in there, I’m scared of what all of this could even mean. I just got pulled into a video game or whatever the hell this is supposed to be, that’s basically just magic, right?”

“We’re still learning.” Vess says. “The devs and I are still figuring things out, still looking to see if there are other people out there. You remember that song, right? The one that helped us find Toby? There are a lot of people out there in the Void, and for all we know, some of those could be people like us. All this is really scary, and I wouldn’t blame any of you for wanting to stay out after what happened to me, but I was able to find myself there, found out who I really wanted to be, and met the sweetest guy in the entire world there.”

“Then why not stay?” Miles asks. The question seems to catch Vess by surprise, though after all the positive things she’s said all week and how eager she always is to go back, Zach isn’t sure why.

“That’s the big question, isn’t it?” Vess sighs, turning her head away again to look out the window beside her bed. “Everyone on the other side asks the same thing. I know Ralsei wants me to stay more than anything, but… It’s actually something I brought up with the devs. They’ve been doing this a lot longer than I have and visit way more frequently. I’d love to stay. I’d miss you guys, but hopefully in a couple weeks or so, I can fix that problem, but Toby’s already had this problem himself and found that it isn’t really possible. You guys just experienced what makes it impossible to stay there.”

“You get kidnapped?” Zach asks, scratching his head.

“You all checked in on me because I wasn’t waking up.” Vess elaborates for him. “Time works differently out there, but it doesn’t stop. I could maybe spend a couple weeks in there at most before I’d start to get dehydrated or something. Toby kinda learned that the hard way after years of doing this. He said that after a while, he just started feeling like shit for whole days while he was exploring and the reason why was because he was neglecting his actual body out here. Plus, you know, we can’t actually just give up on real life to live in a fantasy. I have responsibilities out here to worry about, even if it's something small like remembering to eat.”

“Yeah…” Miles nods his head slightly. Zach remembers when he first met him and how he would constantly lock himself away in his room, skipping school and sleeping in for hours. Outside of this little group, he didn’t really have that many friends or reasons to want to leave his house. He didn’t have an entire magical dimension to live in over real life, but the same principles applied, he didn’t like it out here and decided to live in whatever fantasy he built up for himself in his room. Zach helped him out though, introduced him to weirdos just like him, and here he was now, better and happier than ever.

“Besides, as cool as Kris, Susie, and Ralsei are, I wouldn’t get to hang out with you guys if I just ditched this place for good. Which… I guess that reminds me, I don’t think I’m gonna make it to the mall today.”

“Don’t worry about it.” LIzzy assures her. “There’s always next time. Don’t try to push yourself to go if you still need time to rest.”

“Yeah…” Vess sighs. “I wanna wear out the new clothes you got me though.” She says. “Zach’s the only one who got to see what I really look like.”

“You looked amazing, prettier than any girl I’ve dated.” Zach says before realizing how weird it felt to say that. “I’m not trying to hit on you or anything by the way, it’s just… Um…” Vess face blushes considerably.

“I don’t look nearly as nice in the stuff Lizzy got for me, but I hope you guys will like that too.” She says.

“I’m sure you’ll look gorgeous.” Lizzy assures her. “But take your time, you need the rest. In the meantime, stop beating around the bush and tell us about your boyfriend. You already told us about your adventures in the Dark Worlds, I want you to tell me the good stuff. When did you know he had feelings for you? When did he act on them? Come on!”

Vess blushes even deeper, and while Zach is kinda excited to hear about his best friend's first date, he’s more so relieved that things have somehow gone back to normal. When he saw her get hit, when he saw the blood, he was scared he would never get to talk to her ever again, but to see her laughing here, her pain almost completely forgotten, it made him realize just how much he cared for the batch of nerds he befriended.

He couldn’t wait to get back in there, to see her at her happiest and most comfortable. He couldn’t wait to get a proper introduction to her other friends and the little guy she loves so much.

And he’s so glad that she cares about him and the others enough to want to share this joy with them.

Chapter Text

Chara stared down into the river out on their new front lawn, their reflection staring back from the cold dark waters. As lively as this place was compared to the endless stretches of Void they’ve found themselves in for the past few months, there still wasn’t much to do out here. As bad as they feel about scaring Azzy off when they first arrived, they kinda wished they scared everyone a little more in hopes that maybe they’d drop the ball they were tossing around so they’d have something to do. The doc wasn’t pleasant to talk to and Light’s been acting out a little more than usual recently and was currently in one of their stranger moods. With nothing else to do, Chara just stared at their reflection and started getting introspective.

How’d they get to this point?

A year ago, they were at college with their best buddy Azzy, working on a business degree to make it into some cushy accounting job in the cities. Now they’re here, an all powerful being who could manipulate time, trapped in the dark couch cushions of the multiverse which nothing could escape and negotiating with gods. It’s funny where life can take someone. They can’t help but miss some of the comforts of home and wonder where they’d be now if they finished college and lived a normal life.

Chara dips the tip of their shoe into the water, disrupting the stream and watching how it warps their reflection. This whole plan of theirs really didn’t pan out as well as they wanted it to, but their new plan was going to work out, they know it will. Gaster gave them an unbelievable amount of shit for letting their one bargaining chip go, but Vess and her friends will be back. They left a pretty bad impression on her before they left for good, but they think she might have come around to their way of thinking.

This is starting to get dull. They’re trying to be patient, but it’s really hard to kill time when there’s nothing to do and no way to measure the passing of said time. Staring down at the water rushing by, Chara decides to try something stupid. Reaching out behind them, they save their position in time. Rewinding a few minutes won’t kill them, and the potential entertainment would probably carry them for another half an hour or so.

With their progress saved, Chara leans forward and lets themselves fall into the river.

The cold shock sends a rush through their system as they fight to hold their breath until they float back to the surface. Once their face makes it above water, they gasp for breath and revel in the thrill the shock leaves them with. They kick their legs and try to steady themselves as the river drags them down stream. The water wasn’t that bad, but after so long of feeling not much of anything, any new sensation was a breath of fresh air at this point.

They’ve had plenty of time since striking the deal to think about where they want to go once they’re out of this place. They first thought they wanted to go to some big fancy city like they had originally planned, someplace urban and dense with lots of people. After a while though, they started missing how quiet and peaceful things could be back on the farm they grew up on and considered how nice it’d be to live off the land out in nature.

Why settle for that though? There were infinite possibilities out here, why not go somewhere truly unique? They were already screwing with time, why not fling themself into the far future or the distant past? Why not experience something alien and dangerous? They got this reset for a reason, they wanted thrills, they wanted to push themselves to the breaking point and bounce back from it. They also desperately wanted anyone else to talk to.

They got that letter they asked for! They aren’t sure when someone swung by to drop it off, but last night (at least they think so, there’s no sun or clocks out here), they found a letter sitting in front of the door written by Azzy. They must have read it forwards and backwards ten times over, not just because it was the only thing worth reading in the house, but they missed that adorable little doofus and it was a joy to hear from him again.

Even if it was obvious they were still absolutely terrified of him.

”Hi again, Chara.” It read, the letter’s contents still imprinted in Chara’s mind as they drifted down the river. ”I never really got a proper explanation for what happened after I saw you again, but according to Kris, Vess and Zach said you helped them out. I got to talk to some other friends of theirs who met you and they all said the same thing. It’s been a while and the last moments we spent together weren’t great, but it’s good to hear that you’re still the loyal and dependable helping hand I was best friends with in college even after everything that happened. I missed you, and while meeting in person might not be the best idea, it’s nice to get a chance to talk to you again through this letter. Maybe we can become pen pals or something? I’m not well versed in this Void stuff at all, but if you can get this letter, maybe you can send one back and we can stay connected that way. I hope you’re doing alright wherever you are, despite everything that happened, you’re still my friend and I hope I can hear back from you.”

”Your best friend: Asriel.”

Maybe when they were done soaking in the river, they should write a letter back. They had at least until Vess came back to get the rest of her soul to hand her a return letter. They’ve already asked a lot from Vess and her tiny little friends, but maybe one of them would be willing to play courier to pass letters back and forth across space and time? It was worth asking.

With the house now a distant speck in the distance after drifting down the current long enough, Chara gets their fill of swimming and calls on their reset, appearing beside the river dry and warm in the blink of an eye. That was another thing to be excited for once they actually find someplace to explore. The reset was convenient enough here and gave them plenty to do when the boredom became too much to bear, but once they get more to interact with, the possibilities of the reset will be truly endless! For now, they needed to keep themselves from using it too much. They aren’t entirely sure if resets out here affect anyone outside the little bubble they were in, but if each reset delays the deal, they’re gonna be waiting for a while.

With nothing else to do outside, Chara ventures back towards the house. There had to be a blank sheet of paper somewhere inside. Sans took a lot of notes, they’d find something to write on.

Stepping through the front door, they find their housemates are nearby. Gaster is back in the shed and Chara watches as he tinkers with the Void jumping machine through the hole in the kitchen wall. As much of an ass hat as the doctor was, Chara couldn’t deny that he was a goddamn genius to somehow repair this machine with scrap metal, spare parts, and whatever garbage they could jury rig out of old lighting fixtures and smoke detectors. Without him, Chara would still be bumming around this house with no hope of ever escaping. He still wasn’t pleased with them letting Vess go and he was probably in there dialing up new coordinates to try and jump them all somewhere new if no one showed up, but they’ll get to him eventually. He’s stuck around this long, they’ll find a way to mellow him out.

As for the little Lightbringer, they were lying on the couch, picking at the loose threads of their bloodstained sweater with a melancholic look on their face. Over the past few months, the young Chara Dreemurr had plenty of things to talk about to their new partner now that they had time to think and someone to trust, but ever since they got their hands on Vess and stole her soul, they’ve been acting out more than ever. Chara’s tried to talk to them about it and how they’re feeling, but they’ve become a lot more defensive and more reserved all of a sudden. Chara’s been giving them space. The Lightbringer still had a mean streak even after the gradual change in personality, and they’ve learned the hard way that if they bother the Lightbringer too much they’re going to be falling back on their last reset as they lash out.

Upon seeing Chara step through the door, however, the Lightbringer pulls their legs closer to themself, making room on the couch for them to sit down. They aren’t usually that courteous, especially if Chara never even asked for them to move. Seeing the act as an invitation to finally talk about how they’re doing, Chara decides to wait on the letter and takes a seat next to their double, who they’ve long since started seeing as a little sibling.

“Doin’ alright?” They ask Light, settling into the cushions. “You’ve been awfully quiet for a while now.”

“Hmm.” The Lightbringer just hums at them, still unraveling the threads of their sweater out of boredom.

“Is it something you want to talk about, or are you gonna let it bounce around in your noggin for a while longer?” Chara pushes them, hoping to get a reaction. “If you’d rather keep it to yourself, I’m gonna go write a letter to Azzy for Vess to take back with her.” That seems to get Light’s attention, though Chara isn’t sure which name draws them out of their bubble.

“Do you feel bad about what you did to them?” They ask. “Asriel was your best friend, wasn’t he? What reason did you have to hurt him?”

“I only ever hurt him once to get Gaster off his back.” Chara quickly says. “He became Determined enough to save Kris to become resistant to the resets and Gaster wanted him to be part of his tests. He hates fighting though, so I took him out quickly to spare him the drawn out struggle. Gaster wasn’t really pleased, but he left Asriel out of his games after that.”

“How’d you feel when you killed him?” Light presses. Chara sighs, they were feeling guilty again, weren’t they?

“Not great.” Chara admits. “I think I took him out so fast he didn’t even know what happened, and the resets meant that I didn’t do any actual harm, but it still wasn’t pleasant to kill my best friend.”

“No problems with the others?” Light asks.

“Not at the start, no.” Chara shakes their head. “Susie was the one who started it and even though I lost that fight, it was a rush I don’t think can ever be beat. Even though each fight got reset, I grew more experienced each time. I got faster, the fights ended quicker, we were all getting stronger and I was trying to make the best out of a bad situation, but no one else took to it like I did. I felt pretty shitty when Noelle finally laid it out for me and pointed out how awful everything was for her. I could play the blame game and pin everything on Gaster, but still, as fun as the fights were, it didn’t feel great to have everyone turn against me like that.”

“It sounds like you have your priorities mixed up.” The Lightbringer comments. “No hesitation to kill scarface over and over, but the moment she starts yelling at you, you get sad? What made Azzy so special that you refused to fight him again even though the others didn’t want to fight either?”

“I’m a little screwy in the head, we both know that.” Chara says in their defense. “I was having fun at other people’s expense because I thought the resets would fix everything.”

“You sound just as bad as my old partner.” The Lightbringer grumbles. “She was truly clueless though, you at least have a functioning brain.”

“Barely.” Chara chortles. “You said so yourself, I’m not right upstairs. Why you bringing this up again anyways?”

“I’m thinking about what I did…” The Lightbringer says, pulling their legs closer and wrapping their arm around them. “Thinking about what I could have done differently now that I have a soul. Wondering if Vess had just paid up like she was supposed to if I could have given Asriel half of a soul to make him whole too.”

“That soul’s doing a real number on you, isn’t it?” Chara observes and the Lightbringer curls up a little tighter in response. “You having bad feelings about what you did?” Light nods.

“I’m starting to think this stupid thing is more trouble than it's worth.” They grumble. “Everything was so simple before you started talking to me and I started getting second thoughts. I was halfway to becoming a real person again and all it did was make me feel bad.”

“That’s kinda what being a real person is like though.” Chara tells them. “There’s a million things going on in everyone’s head. Regrets, things we feel guilty for, things we wished we could have done. There’s also pride in our accomplishments, admiration of the people we care about, the sense of comradery we share.” Chara gives their double a little nudge. “Admittedly, the only people you have to emotionally ground yourself are an egotistical mad scientist and your megalomaniacal doppelganger. This probably isn’t the best environment for you if you’re suddenly feeling empathy for the first time and need people to talk to in order to understand your new feelings. As your newest partner and best friend, I’ll try my best regardless. Sorry if you turn out more twisted than you already were by the end of this.”

“At least I have someone trying to look out for me.” The Lightbringer nods, shifting around on the couch a little. “I missed that feeling. I missed having people who actually cared about me. It’s why I loved Asriel so much.”

“Because the Dreemurr’s were the first people who actually cared for you.” Chara nods, remembering the story they shared about when they first fell into the Underground.

“It just doesn’t seem fair to me that Vess gets to have a clean slate and have so many friends after what she did.” Light hisses. “She killed everyone without any care in the world or thought of the consequences and turned me into a soulless husk just like my brother only to run away before I had the chance to save myself from that fate. Now they’re acting like a saint, not wanting to hurt anyone and wanting to make friends with the same monsters they wouldn’t even hesitate to kill back in the Underground. Why couldn’t she have done that for me? Why couldn’t she have found a way to save my brother or my parents? Why didn’t she save me?”

“From what I remember hearing, she did.” Chara tells them, pulling Light out of the spiral they were falling into. “Maybe Kris was right about the resets being bad news, but Vess didn’t keep what she did in your world a secret. She didn’t run in there just to mindlessly slaughter everyone, she was curious and had an undo button, just like me. She grew to trust me pretty quickly, so who’s to say she didn’t help a version of you out there?”

“So I’m just unlucky then?” The Lightbringer whines. “I’m the version they decided to torture out of boredom thanks to the resets? There’s a happier Chara out there who got their little brother back?”

“Probably sucks to hear you got dealt a bad hand, but we’re dealing with multiverses here.” Chara nods. “There’s probably a world where you never committed to your plan and lived a full life in the Underground with the Dreemurr’s. There’s probably even a world where things somehow ended up worse than what you got. We’re completely out of bounds now though, fate has no grasp on us, we can do whatever we want, be whoever we want. Vess got a clean slate and changed for the better, we can too.”

The Lightbringer falls silent again, thinking over what they’ve been told. “We’ve both made some pretty big mistakes, stuff that we can’t ever take back.” Chara continues, hoping this is helping. “As handy as the resets are, we can’t go back far enough to fix them, but there’s nothing stopping us from making changes now. Even after all my mistakes, I was able to work something out with Vess and even got a letter from Azzy.”

“Anyone can be a good person if they just try…” The Lightbringer mumbles quietly to themself. Maybe someone else already tried to have this talk with them? “If it worked for that cheapskate, it should work for me.”

“Are you turning over a new leaf?” Chara asks. “Sick of the fighting and want to change for the-”

“I’m far beyond that point.” The Lightbringer scoffs. “I’m not fooling anyone that I’m good in any sense of the word. I just want to do something that actually makes me feel good. Something to be proud of, something Asriel would want me to do. I want to seal this deal with my old partner and cut ties for good, and then find an actual purpose to direct my rage at. Even that contemptible goat Ralsei can be pushed to actually fight if enough people get hurt without being weighed down by guilt.”

“That’s what friends are for, and you got me.” Chara assures. “I know if anyone tried to take out my mini-me, I’d break whatever limb they were trying to use to strike you.”

“That sounds easy enough.” Light nods. “I got you and that’s all I need. Anyone who tries to take you from me, hero of villain, won’t live to regret their mistake.”

“Nothing wrong with looking out for yourself and your friends.” Chara says with a smile. “Hope you don’t mind if I try to play good guy though. After getting to rock those cowboy boots again, I’ve been thinking about how cool it’d be to be a sheriff or something. Calling the shots, being the center of attention, shooting and hanging bandits and thieves to keep order. Though maybe it’d be better to play for the other side just so I can call you my one armed bandit.”

“With the resets, we can just switch sides whenever.” The Lightbringer reminds their double. “Better yet, nothing’s stopping us from playing both at the same time. You trying to keep the peace against the chaos I reign.”

“High stakes cops and robbers!” Chara breaks out into a wide smile. “Now you’re cooking with fire! Either as partners or rivals, I can’t wait till we’re out of this dump!” The Lightbringer flashes them a smile too, but it’s not like the one they usually wear. Their smiles are usually cold and intense, but the smile they were wearing right now made them look like an excited little kid happy to have someone to play with. It was no wonder the kid hated Vess so much, without that soul, even just a tiny piece of it, they were missing out on all of this.

Maybe the kid will turn out better than they’re giving themself credit for once they’re working with a full deck.

“Anyways,” Chara sits up from the couch, “I got a letter to write. You know where I can find a pen?”

“Doc’s got one somewhere in the shed.” The Lightbringer informs. “Have fun dealing with him.” Chara lets out a groan and braces themself for an annoying conversation. They were looking for distractions to kill time, but getting belittled by the doctor wasn’t how they wanted to spend their time. They’d rather go outside and eat dirt. They got a letter to write, so without hesitation, Chara marches into the kitchen to hop through the hole in the wall to see the doctor.

“Hey doc.” They greet Gaster as he tries very carefully to turn one of the jury rigged dials on the machine with a wrench. At Chara’s interruption, his concentration breaks and the wrench falls through his barely physical hands, clattering against the metal machine. Gaster glares up at Chara, not bothering to hide his contempt. “Do you got a pen or pencil or something in here?”

“Go away.” Gaster growls, trying fruitlessly to pick up the wrench again. They’ve played this same song and dance over and over, but the doctor refuses to learn that being an ass isn’t going to make Chara leave.

“I will if you can find me something to write with.” Chara offers. “I’ll turn whatever doohickey you’re messing with while you help me.”

With a grumble, Gaster stands up and steps away from the machine. “Turn the dial until the marker is at 145 degrees.”

“Do you have a protractor?” Chara asks. “That’s kind of a hard thing to dial in by sight.” Gaster just glares at them some more instead of offering a solution. “Alright, I’ll try and figure it out.” Chara shrugs, stepping into the remains of the shed and picking up the wrench to force the busted dial into its intended place. “What are you even messing with this thing for anyways?” Chara asks as they start turning the wrench. “We’re probably gonna ditch this thing and the house the first chance we get.”

“If we get the chance.” Gaster says. “My volunteer and their colleagues have no reason to come back. You had no qualms about capturing them and holding them hostage, so why the hell would you let them go after we had what we wanted within reach?!”

“Did I not explain this to you like ten times already?” Chara groans in exhaustion. If he didn’t complain so much, Chara would have assumed he was deaf. “None of them were in a position to actually help us. Light and I already did them a favor finding their other lost friend and they’re more likely to give us a good deal if we’re on good terms with them. Believe it or not, you can actually get what you want from other people without threatening them or holding their friends hostage.”

“We’ve already broken their trust.” Gaster counters. “We’ve already ruined any chance of a working relationship with anyone from your world.”

“Maybe you did.” Chara shrugs. “Is this close enough to 145 degrees?”

“How long has it been?” Gaster continues to pressure them. “How long have we been sitting here in the dark because you let our only bargaining chip go?”

“You know I don’t know.” Chara says. “Time doesn’t exist out here, but they did deliver the letter I was waiting on so I know they’re at least considerate enough to help me out with that.”

“What?” Gaster asks, a lot of the venom in his voice being replaced with confusion.

“Yeah,” Chara nods, turning to face the doctor, “I got a letter from Azzy, one of those little guys must have left it for me. It’s still sitting next to the couch, I spent like all day reading it. Did you really not notice? I figured you’d at least investigate to see why I wasn’t bothering you.”