Chapter Text
“Grillby, dear brother, have I ever told you how much I love you?” Catherine said, sitting at the bar next to her son. Sans chuckled silently. Grillby turned to look at his sister in disbelief and placed the cloth he was wiping the glasses with over his shoulder.
“What do you need?”
“The runes are kicking my ass. Help.”
When they got home that afternoon, Catherine opened the rune diagrams she had made, stared at them for half an hour hoping for a miracle, and then ran out to the bar to ask for help. Grillby gestured to her, and the woman gave him the notebook.
“It hurts just looking at it,” the elemental admitted. “What’s the goal?”
“Counter-spell.”
“Okay, but it’s going to take a while. And I’m going to have to kidnap your husband to do it.”
“I can stay at the bar if you need me,” the woman offered.
“It would be helpful if I want to solve this. You can ask Papyrus to help you. I’d recommend Sans, but he’s not allowed behind the bar after the flaming skull incident.”
“Worth it.”
“Okay, then head over to my house before WingDings gets sick, and tell Papyrus to come over. He should be in his room,” Catherine said, taking the apron her brother was taking off and going behind the bar. “Sans, go help your uncle.”
“I don’t know anything about runes,” the skeleton protested weakly, staring distractedly into his glass.
“Consider it a private lesson,” his mother replied. “Or would you prefer Papyrus find you sitting here when he arrives?”
“I’ll wait for you at home,” she said instantly to Grillby, and teleported away.
“It never fails,” the elemental said. “Don’t set fire to the building while I’m gone.”
“That’s your job,” the woman replied, watching her brother walk out the door. Five minutes later, Papyrus walked through the door, and the woman went into the kitchen to start preparing dinner, leaving her youngest son at the counter.
———
After filling a book with all the rune explanations he could remember, Grillby got to work. The first and easiest step was to translate the runes for the barrier spell. A month and a half and a several kilos of paperwork later, the three men formulated the first attempt at a counterspell they were satisfied with.
On the other hand, Papyrus had requested voluntary leave from his duty as a guard so he could help his mother in the bar. Undyne had been suspiciously happy to grant him the request, and Catherine decided to question her about it. The captain confessed that she wished Papyrus would use this opportunity to become passionate about cooking and not return to the guard, not for lack of ability, but because Undyne believed Papyrus's personality would put him in danger in the event of a serious matter, such as a battle. This comment made Catherine realize they needed a plan for when they managed to destroy the barrier, and she went to the Dremurr children to formulate it. Now that trial and error was not an option, Frisk, Chara and Asriel decided to pool their knowledge of other timelines to prepare the best possible option.
So, the Lionwitch-Gaster family, with all its members, gathered in front of the barrier. Sans, Wingdings, and Grillby focused on preparing the runes on the inside while Catherine and Papyrus provided support.
“Being able to use only half of the spell area makes things really complicated,” the elemental commented as he carved the stone.
“Yeah, it’s not like we could just take a stick and carve the outside,” Catherine joked. Everyone stared at her in silence.
“No, we can’t,” her husband concluded 10 minutes later, dismantling the improvised contraption. “It’s neither strong enough nor precise enough.”
“And what’s the alternative?” Papyrus asked curiously.
“The runes we have save us half the journey, but we will have to use brute force for the rest,” Gaster replied.
“We need the souls,” Sans summarized. “And let's pray that the runes allow us to break the barrier with only six souls instead of the original seven.”
“Is Asgore still offering to absorb the souls?” Catherine asked.
“Yes, why?” Her son replied. “Dad, why the face?”
“I might have an alternative plan. One that's proven to work in other timelines.”
Grillbys raised an eyebrow. “Asriel?”
“Dad, that's dangerous!” Papyrus said alarmed.
“I've looked at the data,” the skeleton reassured them. “It's completely safe, and it may even benefit him in the long run.”
“And what do his parents think about this?” Catherine asked, to which her husband remained silent. The family stared at each other for a moment, and the woman sighed. “If Toriel catches us, I won’t defend you.”
————
“I can't believe you convinced me to do this,” Asriel said, looking at the six human souls waiting in front of him.
“And I can't believe Mom didn't smell it a mile away,” Chara added, floating behind their brother.
“You can do it!” Frisk encouraged him.
“Yeh, yeah,” Asriel said, extending his vines toward the soul containers. “This would be a lot easier if one of us remembered how we did it last time.” The prince opened the containers one by one, and the souls flew toward him. “I guess we have to improvise.”
A blinding light flooded Asriel's body, and his vines grew in size, twisting into nightmarish shapes around the human souls. For a moment, Frisk had flashes of unpleasant memories, but the moment passed quickly as Asriel's body continued to transform. The vines gave way to white hair, and the petals fell off, replaced by two enormous horns. Asriel Dreemur, in all his goat glory, appeared before those present.
"I think I'm starting to remember things," the God of Hyperdeath said with a smile on his face. "Stand aside," he ordered, joining his arms and summoning a massive beam attack. Asriel aimed at the barrier, and in a single movement, all the monsters' hopes and dreams struck the spell. The souls separated from Asriel's body to activate the runes one by one and the colors blue, turquoise, orange, yellow, violet and green bathed those present before merging into the intense white that the barrier gave off.
A crack echoed throughout the Underground, so powerful that it even shook the floor of the Ruins. Toriel and Asgore, who were in a meeting, turned toward the throne room and ran. Behind them, all the nearby monsters also ran toward the barrier. By the time they arrived, the souls had already vanished, as had the barrier. The few pieces that were still fading from the spell lay at the feet of a small monster dressed in a green and yellow striped sweater.
Asriel bleated happily. “I did it!” he said with tears in his eyes.