#Static!Alphys

[topazshadowwolf]

Time has passed, and the gang has healed. The keywords are "Tuna," "Pink," "Clothing," and more, which you will learn soon enough.

[sbtorms]

[orbital-inclination]

Moltendreams - Error Sans Alias - Static Pronouns: he/him, they/them Personality: Petty, holds a mean grudge, Big Tsundere, Complete Shut-in, Quick Tempered and Moody, fanatic with his interests, externally aggressive when in actuality he is quite shy. An absolute troll. His favorite passtime is messing with others. Paradoxically touch starved and suffers from haphephobia. Reckless with his own well being.

This variant of Error is capable of both love and compassion, he just hides it under a grumpy exterior and several layers of denial and self-destructive dogma. Other Notes:

Reluctant to harm Papyrus directly, though Static can't articulate why, and will generally avoid encounters Papyrus in any given AU.

Had a good relationship with his dad/W.D Gaster, actually.

Relates to "pest" pets; rats, mice, snakes, spiders, beetles, he loves them all.

Would have a pet rat of his own if he wasn't afraid of it shocking itself by chewing on his wires.

His favorite kind of chocolate is mixed with a hazelnut filling.

Views Frisk as a younger sibling.

Into Parkour.

-More Info undercut! -

Abilities: Static uses wire instead of string. Wire and summoned attacks can and do hold an electric charge. His presence alone messes with electronic devices. Residents of a particular AU may get a few minutes or seconds of warning as sweaters get staticy, computer screens glitch out, and anything with a battery spontaneously dies or gets super charged. By creating a circle of alternating RED and CYAN bones, Static creates a sort of reverse faraday cage. While Static can produce electricity, he can't directly control the voltage. He can only hope to direct it. The voltage of a charge is directly influenced by his emotional state. If you touch him, you will find his clothes zappy with static. Do NOT attempt to fight him in humid or watery environments for, hopefully, obvious reasons.

About: Static originates from a pre-Pacifist timeline that was followed by a looping Genocide Route. Through repetitive iterations, and an escalating instability in the timeline, the monsters of the underground began to recall events they didn't witness and memories they shouldn't recall.

Working together, Static, at that point still Sans, and Alphys were able to pin point the root cause of their timeline's instability. They made a plan to save the underground and separate Frisk from the Anomaly but when it came time to execute their plan something went catastrophically wrong. As a result Sans was torn from reality, and caught in the space in-between. Eventually, he escaped but not unscathed. Static has vague conflicting memories of his past, and to this day, questions if any of it was real. He can't find his original AU and secretly fears it may have been the first world he destroyed. He is still looking for it.

Outcode Politics: Static views all outcodes the same way he views every iteration of the original timeline that even slightly deviates: as glitches to be terminated. Bugs in the code he needs to hammer out before it all goes to hell. Static believes that by destroying deviating timelines and AUs, he is preserving the stability of the original. He is “saving’’ it from corruption by trimming the branches back. Despite his position as the self proclaimed Destroyer, Static is not above biases and making exceptions. 

Static includes himself on his long list of glitches in the code to be terminated. Static has a different view on the Spirits of Creation that Fable/Ink does. (Spirits of Creation are the in-universe term and stand-in for the creator of an AU). He calls them eldritch parasites. Abominations that should be avoided at all costs. And absolutely should not be encouraged or interacted with. Though he won't admit it out loud, Static is terrified of them. OG Error @.LoverofPiggies/CrayonQueen) Moltendreams @.me Edit: he has been named! Edit 2: revised his profile a bit

[ceruleasea]

so I was thinking about alphys with electric powers

static electricity whoops

[dr-vintura-o-serif]

What Do You Think The Human Souls Sound & Taste Like?

Ok so hear me out.

This is in reference to my take to Dusttale, or more accurately, the aftermath/sequel to Dusttale.

I’ve posted about this “revamp” of this AU in a previous post, but as a refresher:

This AU of an AU takes place after the events of Dusttale with some minor alterations. The story will mainly revolve around the survivors (heavily NPC based, with some main characters & my OC Vani). However, a few of the survivors try to bring back the dead by using a DT injections (much like in the game, except in this version: Alphys used Artificial Determination while the survivors use Determination collected from the human souls), also these new DT injections are mixed with the 7 human soul traits. This does work, but with some minor complications, which will be explained more in the notes.

Now to explain the question:

Basically the author of the notes is writing down their research & findings of each human souls; things like how common each trait are within humans, what injection they are used in, side effects of said injections, rpg style stats, etc. However there are 2 items of information that I might need some help on: What sound/pitch each soul trait makes &, for a hint of humor because “Undertale”, what each soul traits tastes like.

That’s where I looking to you all for assistance/headcanons for this.

*Side Note: When I say sound/pitch, I’m referring to the amount of Hertz (which I think is the measurement of sound wave frequency or pitch)*

*Side Side Note: In this AU, the red human soul trait is not Determination (since all humans have it) but instead is Willpower (I’ve seen a few saying it could be Love since its in red, but I think Willpower makes more sense)*

I already have the frequency picked for each soul, now I’m just trying to figure out what specific sound/noise they make.

Here’s what I have so far:

DETERMINATION

Color: Gold

Injection: DT-pDT PT v1.0

DETERMINATION Category: Pure DETERMINATION Injection Prototype version 1.0

Fallen Humans: All

Frequency: 0-20k+Hz

Sound Description:

Like a choir with every living thing singing

Sounds like screaming in an auditorium when distressed

Taste Description:

Similar to water that is both freezing & boiling

WILLPOWER

Color: Red

Injection: DT-WP PT v1.7

DETERMINATION Category: WILLPOWER Injection Prototype version 1.7

Fallen Humans:

Chara

Frisk

Frequency: 9.9k-10.6kHz

Sound Description:

Sizzles of an orchestra of cymbals constantly increasing & decreasing in volume

Taste Description:

Hot & salty copper

Metal sitting out in the heat

BRAVERY

Color: Orange

Injection: DT-BV PT v1.2

DETERMINATION Category: BRAVERY Injection Prototype version 1.2

Fallen Humans:

Hiro

Isaac

Frequency: 18.9k-19.6kHz

Sound Description:

Hoard of mosquitoes quickly approaching

Taste Description:

Fresh cold sweat with a hint of cinnamon & pumpkin pie

JUSTICE

Color: Yellow

Injection: DT-JT PT v1.6

DETERMINATION Category: JUSTICE Injection Prototype version 1.6

Fallen Humans:

Clover

Otis

Frequency: 15.9k-16.6kHz

Sound Description:

Hiss of a firework with anticipation of when said firework will explode

Taste Description:

Overly sweet & carbonated TV static flavored drink mixed with gunpowder

KINDNESS

Color: Green

Injection: DT-KN PT v1.5

DETERMINATION Category: KINDNESS Injection Prototype version 1.5

Fallen Humans: Sam

Frequency: 6.9k-7.6kHz

Sound Description:

Taste Description:

PATIENCE

Color: Cyan

Injection: DT-PE PT v1.1

DETERMINATION Category: PATIENCE Injection Prototype version 1.1

Fallen Humans:

Gena

Lily

Frequency: 999-1.6kHz

Sound Description:

Taste Description:

INTEGRITY

Color: Blue

Injection: DT-IG PT v1.3

DETERMINATION Category: INTEGRITY Injection Prototype version 1.3

Fallen Humans:

Dawn

Otto

Frequency: 12.9k-13.6kHz

Sound Description:

Taste Description:

PERSEVERANCE

Color: Purple

Injection: DT-PR PT v1.4

DETERMINATION Category: PERSEVERANCE Injection Prototype version 1.4

Fallen Humans: Yu

Frequency: 3.9k-4.6kHz

Sound Description:

Taste Description:

[ichiwashername-o]

What Are Friends For Ch. 26

An Undertale fanfiction.

Written by ichiwashername-o

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

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

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

Chapter 1

Previous

Next

AO3

Chapter 26: Final Gambit

There was no time to think.

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

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

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

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

Time travel is BULLSHIT! she thought.

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Asr͙ỉ̫e͑̏l͍̯͚, Gaster hissed. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

Was herself!

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

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

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

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

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

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If she didn’t get to Papyrus soon–

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

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

“Oh no you don’t, you BRAT!”

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Was Papyrus.

Him. His past self.

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

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

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

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

The exception was Undyne, of course.

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

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

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

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

“What are they doing?” Papyrus whispered.

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

Papyrus’s head snapped in his direction.

“They’re waiting for you to change.”

–

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She blocked out the sound. 

All that mattered was getting to Papyrus.

She needed to save him.

–

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

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

“You are such a filthy CHEATER!” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

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

Undyne blinked. “What?!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

No one was going to ruin this.

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

–

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

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

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

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

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

–

“Something’s wrong.”

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

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

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

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

“No!” Papyrus protested in a hoarse whisper. 

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

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

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

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

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

The human stopped. They squinted suspiciously.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

–

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

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

What was HAPPENING to him?!

“What have you DONE?!”

That was her voice. Did she say that?!

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

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

It was harrowing.

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

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

“THAT’S NOT PAPYRUS ANYMORE!!!”

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

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

Undyne felt her blood freeze.

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

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

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

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

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

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

So now she was very angry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sans gripped both Undyne’s hands and teleported away.

–

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

L̥̣EŤ͆͆ ͔̀TḪ̤͌̀̊ͅE̮̼ͮ̓M ̟̰G̭̻͌̓O̠̎!̲̪͒̽!!

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

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

Papyrus gaped. “Gaster–!”

Ḡ̰Oͮ̽ͣͫ͋!̦̬̰͕̾̎̆̚!̓! ̼͔̜͔͙͍̄̆͑͑͗̓N̹͒Ô̳͖͕̖͉̦ͬͪ̓̎͌W!̗͍͕̮!̟͔̭̲̓̏̍̓!͉͙̼̱͎̼ͦ͋͛͗̉ͤ

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

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

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

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

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

And the dragon saw them.

It let out a furious roar, ready to pounce.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And for that reason, the human was left unsatisfied.

“Don’t help me!” the human shouted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why are you helping me?!”

“Because you can die!”

“I don’t care.”

“Die for GOOD!!!”

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

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

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

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

“Fine. We’ll fight it together.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Papyrus gasped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Papyrus rushed forward, screaming.

”STOP!!!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everything hurt. 

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

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

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

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

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

Behind him, Undyne winced with guilt.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Familiarity. Recognition. Pain and hurt.

“It’s ok.”

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

“It’s ok. It’s over. It’s all over.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

They all were ok.

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

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

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

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

“Why?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gaster.

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

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

D͚̖͓on't̙̘̗ wor͉r̘͙̜y ̩̳a̼̯boṷ̘t m̗̹e.̭ I͉ṭ͎̳ ͓̥is ̙o̝v̘̝ͅe͍͖̳r.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Papyrus laughed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Their soul filled with DETERMINATION.

And they RESET.

[osleeplessflowero]

Sans doesn't know how many minutes he'd spent in a sealed off room of the lab, keeping the door shut, staring at it with trembling eyelights and hands. When Alphys told him the recent project had..gone awry, he hadn't expected things to turn out this bad.

Raising a shaky hand, he pushes his glasses up further onto his face so they don't fall. He'd already been scolded once by his younger brother for breaking the last pair by accident.. don't need a repeat of that.

Experimenting with souls had been a common theme the last few months to see how well they'd do under different conditions, but..this attempt? It's..

He hears banging on the door, likely someone's hands along with the sounds of something slithering across the floor. Wet, goopy noises can also be heard accompanied by strange, out-of-sync breathing. ..It knows where he is. He doesn't know what it wants to do with him, and frankly, he's scared to find out.

A walkie talkie beeps on his belt. He quickly grabs it out of instinct, almost dropping it in the process as he holds it up to where he can hear from.

"alphys, i hope you are responding to tell me you are going to lure it away from me." He speaks in a hushed tone, knowing it's still listening outside.

"I-I'm making my way down there now, Sans. I.. I don't know what happened, they're.. it's just like the Determination projects-" Alphys fidgets around as she scurries through her lab, picking up this and that and dropping anything unimportant in the moment.

"I-I don't.. kn-know what their Intent is. If you end up exposed, PLEASE be careful. One bad hit and you're dust!" She stresses her words despite her stuttering, opening the door to the elevator and heading down.

"don't gotta tell me twice. i'm staying in here." He'd considered shortcutting, but..he's still gotta help her study this entity, even if he doesn't really want to get near it. No calling it quits now. ..He's still going to keep a door as a barrier though, just to be safe.

Several different pitches of giggles are heard through the door as the entity lightly hits it in the same spots, until it manages to make a dent. Letting out a breath, Sans walks over to the monitors in the room to look outside through the cameras. Empty rooms are scattered about on each one, able to be viewed from different angles.

He looks over to see this strange mass outside via the door camera.

A large, white mess of a form wriggles and writhes, its upper half constantly changing between various physical forms and species types. Two arms rest on the door gently, while two more above them seem to be the ones hitting it. Its eyes are black hollow voids with every form change, the one thing that remains consistent. Upon zooming in a little more, Sans can see a little melty smile on its face.

He can't help but wonder what it could possibly be thinking..or what it's trying to do. Turning to the door, he contemplates. He could Check them.. there's not that much of a distance. Might as well, right?

He focuses on the door, his eyelights flickering out before one returns with a bright, brilliant shade of blue. His focus is brought to its soul, a bright, vibrant mess of colors and static, constantly shifting forms. There are some different colored strings coming out of it in different directions. Guess this is what happens when you try experimenting on something distorted..

Okay..that part's kinda obvious. But why do they want to see him?

Another sound is heard from his walkie talkie, so he holds it up.

"how close are you?" "Very, I-I should be able to get down there in a few more minutes. C-Can you hold off until then?" "yeah, just please hurry up."

Alphys stops responding, so he turns back to the cameras, only to see the mass looking up at it with a widened grin. He jolts, only to see a bigger dent be formed in the door from the impact of its hits..

"they're gonna break it down at this rate-"

Some white, goopy hands begin to pull on the bottom of the door to try and lift it. He quickly rushes over, trying to pull it back down. "shit shit shit shit-" "Sans, I'm almost there! Oh my stars, why is it?-"

It pulls open the door with all of its strength, launching itself into the room. Sans braces himself for impact, his eyes squeezing shut. ..But..he doesn't take a hit? What's going on?

He opens his eyes, looking both up and down as the figure rapidly changes shapes, hugging him tightly. Clinging to him, like if they were to let go they'd be lost.

"uh..hey there." He chuckles nervously, confused by this whole scenario. One bizarre thing after another.. "so..is this what you wanted the whole time?"

It nuzzles its heads against him, its smile content.

"taking that as a yes. well, uh..i guess this is okay. have i melted your heart? hearts? same thing."

Various giggles come out of "You", as Alphys enters the room abruptly.

"Sans! Are you-" She halts, seeing how the mass is reacting to him so...affectionately? How peculiar. "..Are you okay?"

"well, i think so. they haven't lashed out at me or anything, just..done this. feels kinda weird, very cold."

"Well, at l-least they don't have a Hostile intent..this..this could prove useful! Tests could go by a lot easier if it trusts you. And it seems to really like you already, s-so.."

"how would you feel about me stickin' around?" He asks, "You" perk up instantly at that. "you like the sound of that?"

He's suddenly squeezed much tighter as those voids on your face shift to be shaped like hearts. "i guess i have my answer."

"Have you Checked them at all?" "huh? oh, yeah, i did earlier." "What does their soul look like in the current state?" "well, it's a flashing mess of colors and distortion. also had some weird looking strings coming out of it." "..Strings?" "yeah. different colors as well." "Did you see where they were leading?" She walks over, putting a hand on "Your" shoulder before recoiling once you let out a sound of warning.

"well, a few were leading to me, but a few were spreading off in different directions, too." "..Oh my stars." "what? what's wrong?" "I think I might need to look over your soul." "why?" "Just..trust me, okay?"

[moonknightproductions]

(Image i.d.: a pencil sketch of Mettaton EX resting his shoulders on a tv and nonchalantly playing with an antenna with a hand and a smug look on his face. Static onomatopoeia is written next to him. The prompt, date, and username are written on the tv box. End i.d.)

He’s interrupting Mew Mew Kissy Cutie time and Alphys is not happy about it but he doesn’t care

[capricioussun]

What's the concept?? 👀

Idek how exactly to explain it? But basically utmv main three (UT, UF, US) except they're based off of...colour? Mostly. I fully intend to sketch the concepts I've gotten for everyone once I'm done w/ these comms but here's what I've got so far (possibly subject to change since I wrote this down in an unexpected flashbang of inspiration)

The color verse

Tale Flowey - based on coloring books

Tale Toriel - based on watercolor

Tale Sans - based on paint by numbers

Tale Papyrus - based on rainbow etch boards

Tale Grillby - based on felt work

Tale Undyne - based on tiedye

Tale Alphys - based on dry erase boards

Tale Mettaton - based on paper craft

Tale Asgore - based on etch-a-sketch

Fell Flowey - based on bubbles

Fell Toriel - based on fire opal

Fell Sans - based on geodes/turgite

Fell Papyrus - based on mood rings

Fell Grillby - based on oil iridescence

Fell Undyne - based on rose-veiled fairy wrasse

Fell Alphys - based on chameleons

Fell Mettaton - based on neochrome/bismuth

Fell Asgore - based on projections/reflections

Swap Temmie - based on light up plush

Swap Asgore - based on snow crystals

Swap Papyrus - based on lava lamps

Swap Sans - based on nightlights

Swap Alphys - based on static

Swap Undyne - based on infrared

Swap Napstabot - based on light boards

Swap Grillby - based on aurora borealis

Swap Toriel - based on disco balls

But like, please understand when I say I don't have the skill to do these justice it is not self deprecating, the visuals I got for some of these guys were just astounding, and I struggle so hard w/ colour and rendering hajfjfjskjdjs

This, of course, will not stop me from trying lol

[the-dark-adam]

While everyone is out, Dark Adam leaves poorly crafted paper mistletoes in everyone's doorways.

@fel-rush / @chylander / @rave-hound / @sir-bosco

@justiceiswrath

@fatass-adam

@dreamerlucifer

@static-overlord

@suniside-crossing (charlie, vox, lucifer, satan) / @the-al-pals (cal, sef, alphy)

@siempreminta

"hehehe go get some holiday kisses!"

[vermanaward]

dawntrail msq, 90-91

on its own i quite dig the jazz theme in tuliyolal but like. jazz? rly?

also. the only other place in this game with jazz is. amnesis anyder. just saying.

'so the north continent was dad's, and the south one was mom's, and the gap between is when mom slammed dad through the floor during a spat' 'hey that sounds like OUR mom and dad' man. you know what in this sort of fantasy work i would like Just Once for the protagonist to Not hail from not just the one culture/geographical region where the not-actually-gods came from but the subset of people who are Annoying At Every Possible Juncture about how They Know The Real Version Of This Story granted that wouldn't improve it any (imagine going to a remote country and they were like. 'oh yeah your mom and dad sound a lot like ours. so here's what Really happened'.) but it'd at least be a change of pace

anyway im calling it now. first promise was grown in a tube or something. where is this kid's mother anyway, huh.

(actually i'm getting. z-nos parallels from him. heir to a foreign throne, possibly grown in a tube, hankering for violence, conspicuously absent mother. pls let this be some standard issue appo overthinking)

hanu

if there's not an obscure sidequest at some point where i can do the moonlift dance for the hanu i'm going to be. unsurprised but also sad

oh. their fertility deity is an amaurotine Creation. (is it supposed to be calling back to quetzacoatl?? iirc neither the irl one nor the ff version have ever been associated much with fertility, but.) cool cool

oh cool we're teaching them about their own traditions cool cool

wuk lamat is getting hard carried by alphinaud's braincell and that's just sad

we're going to solve all our problems by having a party. and somehow it worked. okay.png

"nightworld silver piece" wasn't tha.t aren't those from norvrandt? huh???

pelupelu

oh, okay. so even disregarding what i know from plls: the golden city is up the tallest mountain, and valigarmanda is what's waiting for us behind the seal that lamat's dad put in place. that's where this is going right?

everyone pointedly looking at alphinaud when the warnings about canny traders comes up. never gets old

even erenville gets in on it and surely nobody told him that story. after all, people never talk off camera. he just Knows alphy is that Oblivious Rich Kid

why is it though that every time we run into 'traders' that aren't actively hostile the game contorts itself to be all like yeah they're Honest And Shit they're just Really Enthusiastic About Profit

i mean i know why but

erenville for dawn servant. tbh

..hm. you know it's. very {hmm} that like. of the four candidates, the two of them who are mamool ja are both 1. dicks 2. who choose the path of violence. meanwhile the catboy chooses the path of being a weird nerd, and the catgirl chooses the power of friendship.

back to tuliyolal

why are we suddenly problem solving for- oh its the deliery questlines okay. time to ignore those until i unlock the 100 scrip vendor

oh okay we're speedrunning this idiot's character arc. thank god

'do you ever feel bad compared to your peers' [looks at parses] [says nothing]

ah fuck this means we infected tural with the house of splendors. pack it up kids

koana really did come down to the docks just for some drama. i bet urianger put him up to this

dungeon 1: ihuykatumu

wait hold up can i force alphinaud to tank please say yes

oh never mind he only has dps or green dps options. boooo

3/4 casual static (2x flex,pct) lf @/tank @/healer @/dps for river journey that will definitely just be a chill float down the water

oh god they're using This Gimmick again it sucked in akademi anyder it still sucks now pls Stop

drowsie is cute. even if its a reskinned goobue

...okay the gear is reskinned pag. i guess? let me dye it already >:(

the colour scheme is nice at least

also the dungeon itself is gorgeous. i have to hand it to the art team

this is just thancred getting back at me for all that time i spend bullying him while levelling trusts huh

[canvas-madness-txc]

Keeping Secrets

"Don't forget." The words swirled around him hauntingly, and Papyrus couldn't shake it as he slowly put the drawing away.

Running his hand over the desk, he caught on something cube-shaped. Picking it up, loud static burst through what he realized was a radio. The radio he was looking for. Fumbling through the buttons, he managed to turn it on.

"IS IT RECORDING? IT IS? ALRIGHT," a raspy voice said through the speaker.

If he had hair, it would have stood on its end. A shiver went up his spine, and a lump formed in his throat. It was them.

The first bit of the message remained garbled no matter how hard he tried to fix it. From what Papyrus could get from some of the understandable bits was it was an introduction.

A shrill cry echoed in the mist.

Papyrus nearly jumped, and from the sounds of it, so had the person recording.

"ALPHYS. IT'S FINE. IT'S FINE. IT WAS ACCIDENTAL, SO THERE'S NO USE IN WORRYING," the stranger continued. The recording went on as the unknown person lamented on projects being worked on by the royal scientists. New assignments. The current state of the underground. Many of which Papyrus remembered from Sans's experiences in the lab. He made note that the stranger was an old colleague of Alphys's. Maybe that meant they were also one of Sans's? There was a tear in his consciousness when he thought of asking Sans of this situation.

Shutting off the radio, he slipped it into an old bag near the chair. Slinging it on his shoulder, he made his way to the exit. Thinking of leaving the room took some weight off his mind. His foot caught something on the floor, and he slipped.

Regaining himself as he slipped, he noticed that the whole lab floor was coated in a lair of dust. The crunch that echoed from underneath him as he walked to the door grated his nonexistant ears.

His footsteps slowly creaked on every step of the stairs. The lab door handle turned slowly. Death lurked in every doorway with hell at one dark window.

Icy fingers gripped his hand in the darkness.

Whipping around, he and Undyne ran into each other.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" He had been alone— or at least he thought he was...

"You tell me!"

"I ALREADY ASKED YOU!"

The two of them, both huffy and unnerved, stood in silence.

"I HAD TO GET SOMETHING. IT DOES NOT MATTER, I AM LEAVING ANYWAYS," he said while turning around, leaving his lie vague and crumbling. As he walked away from her, he could hear Undyne walking behind him. Catching up with him, the two began to talk again.

"I'll go with you."

"WHY?"

"Because I can," she said with a sly grin. Papyrus knew that arguing with her was not going to lead anywhere.

The two left the castle, and the underground passed by them. His mind whirled around him, like racing winds.

A sharp punch flew into his shoulder, throbbing in agony. Papyrus barely caught himself as he stumbled.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

"It's not my fault you weren't responding!" Her face went from accusitory to concern. "You look awful. What happened?" Regaining himself, Papyrus tried to find the words to reply.

"NOTHING," he said at last. It was not a novel response, and the look Undyne gave him confirmed that. That was not going to satisfy her. Of course it wouldn't.

Luckily, she didn't bring it up. For a little while, the two of them walked in silence, letting his mind roam around in peace.

"Stop being grumpy. It's lame." He perked up at the comment. She shoved him playfully, but it felt almost the opposite. It had been a while since something of this sort happened.

"I could punch you right now."

"I'M AWARE BUT THAT HAS NEVER PROVEN TO END WELL BETWEEN US," Papyrus replied.

Not another word was passed between them. His mind felt like a carrousel. Loud. Bright. Dizzying. Without the cotton candy or childhood innocence that sparked enjoyment. There was a hint of unease creeping into his mind like a two-way mirror. He felt watched, and there was no light to shed on who or what was looking.

But now was not the time to get cold feet. Even if his suspiscions were as scalding as coffee. Rain pounded on the two of them as they made their way through Waterfall and entered Snowdin.

At his house, the two of them stopped at the front door, and Papyrus faced Undyne.

"DO YOU WANT TO COME IN?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Undyne replied, shaking her head. "I should probably get back to the lab."

"RIGHT."

Undyne vanished back towards Hotland, leaving Papyrus to his own twisted contemplations.

[ketsukanekid]

// ill drop some info here and update this later once more is finalized i guess.

// kanako is roughly 9-10, accounting for the two years in alphys' lab. // doesn't know any humans! atleast, not yet.

// this blog will exclusively have kanako in asks! // amalgamate form had metal bits, is still ocassionally affected with static-y sounding voice when re-melting // typically re-melts under HEAVY STRESS. (read: i need to get new talksprites made ;3;)

[ievaxol]

3, 17, and/or 28 for the ao3 asks 👀

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? + 28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

steady is the hand hands down (hehe) if we're only counting 2023!!! i haven't published nearly as much of it as i expected to by now (to be fair, all my work has suffered this year due to *vague gestures*) but it's such a passion project that has grown dearer to me than i expected.

i truly feel like with steady is the hand i've tackled a writing project above my current skillset, and in writing it i'm building muscle with every paragraph if that makes sense? like, i know there are rough patches and things i could have done better, smoother, more lyrical -- but somehow it's a joy to see all those mistakes. or, i'm learning to make it a joy.

i also knew going in that an introspective fic from alphinaud pov featuring a very specific wol and little romance and lots of teen angst wouldn't exactly be an ao3 hit, and i'm proud of myself for sticking true to it regardless.

there's a lot of nuance here (here being writing for appeal versus oneself, i'm not trying to make a case for either one) but i think every writer has that little fear of writing something that no one will want to read, and going forward and doing it anyway is something i'm proud of! : D

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

ALPHIE SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP these excerpts from the latest chapter was something i was really proud of putting together ---

Where Alphinaud dances in the nuance of politics and finery, Seike sticks to steel and earth. Where he looks ahead, she looks in front. She has traveled by his side for so long and yet, upon looking back, he wonders if they ever spoke the same language at all.

---

“Come keep watch with me, for a start.”

Oh —

Alphinaud takes the space next to Seike and the vertigo is so strong he has to brace himself against the railing, because from here Seike has a clear view of both the Aetheryte and the gate facing the Shroud.

Where he looks ahead, she looks in front.

She’s been —" ---

getting in his head and exploring seike through him has been such an incredible treat. wheres that tweet thats like alphinaud is 6. hes 16. he has a private army. you know that one. ALSO ALSO honorary mention to a character that isn't ffxiv but tokyorevs chifuyu has had some GOOD passages in my scrivener this year, like this one:

"Static fills Chifuyu’s head. He is struck by the urge to press a hand against Takemichi’s cheek, to comfort him. The strength of the impulse knocks him off balance and he has to turn his face away, swallowing the discomfort as best he can.

“Looks like they got a happy ending,” Takemichi says.

Occasionally Chifuyu remembers, in this order; a back, a grief. A grave. Where the happy ending fits into that, he doesn’t know."

[m92-fmp]

Illusions in video games

Illusions in video games can appear in many ways, shapes and forms and here are some examples of just that...

Celeste

Badeline is a manifestation of Madeline's negative emotions brought to life via the magic of Celeste mountain whilst she was looking at a mirror. The ladder half of Chapter 5 consists of the Mirror Temple being twisted by the negative thoughts of Madeline and Theo and turning them into reality.

Katana Zero

Chronos gives Zero the ability to preplan the outcomes of combat, slow his perception of time and rewind it to a certain point. However this comes with risks and side effects like vivid hallucinations and the possibility of withdrawal in which case the user will die and be stuck in an eternal loop of agony where they relive their death again and again in their minds. However the predictions he makes aren't always 100% correct as he has been caught off guard before in the game.

OneShot

We are under the illusion the world machine is trying to guide us to get the best possible ending but in reality that's not entirely true. The game is inside a game where the player plays the game through another program that acts like a game.

FNAF 3

In FNAF 3 all the animatronics besides Springtrap are phantoms meaning they aren't real and only hallucinations. Despite this they have a real effect on the player character and the environment as they can cause system issues when jump scaring you.

Splatoon 3

In Splatoon 3 one of the newest specials in the game is the Splatercolor Screen which made the player see the game in black and white along side static sound effects for a short period of time. Now the black and white effect is lowered and the screen is also darkened.

Mad Father

In Mad Father many of the characters you encounter are the corpses of your victims of Alfred's experiments who are brought to life via a curse. After helping them out they seem to fade into the air and disappear as if they were only a hallucination despite having an effect on the real world.

Minecraft Dungeons

The Illusioner is a miniboss in Minecraft Dungeons that shoots the player with a firework bow. The Illusioner also attacks by creating copies of themselves that shoot at you simultaneously. Despite the illusion being fake and disappearing when you hit them the fireworks they shoot still manage to hurt you.

Just shapes and beats

In just Shapes & Beats during the story mode at the end of Annihilate the final boss eats you and you're presented with a game over screen where if you attempt to retry the boss comes in the screen and kills you again and again before you can respawn until you wait for it to go away at which point your friends help put you back together and start the true final boss.

Kirby's return to Dreamland

Magolor is introduced as a character in need of Kirby's help to get his ship running again so he can go home. In reality Magolor simply wanted power to rule the entire universe. we were under an illusion the he was our ally but in reality he was the true enemy.

Undertale

Alphys is a character who struggles to accept herself and throughout Hotland she makes herself look like a reliable side kid to you as you traverse puzzles and traps she set herself to create an illusion of an adventure that didn't need to happen.

All the examples mentioned here are many examples of illusion or illusion like things displayed in may ways such as characters, visual effects, storytelling, narrative, gameplay mechanics and art style. I will attempt to take in things from these examples and more when making my game concepts.

[underswitch-official]

Ch3 Part1

I make my way to the next room.

There’s a grey door...

I open it and see two people. One wearing a black, fluffy jacket, and the other is wearing a white robe.

“Hello? Who’s there?” I ask as I approach them. I realize that Asriel hasn’t followed me into this strange room.

The two people seem to be holding a conversation. The first one says something about not needing an ally.

The one in the white robe sees me and says, “A̶̱͈̥͐̃͛̍́͒̏̒H̵̖̫̰͕̤̅̓́̀̒͘̚͠,̶̩̭̄̌̽̋̉̋̚ ̶̢̦̟̣̱̙͓͒F̷̟̥̤͔͇̼̆̂͑͑̃̂͛̚Ȑ̶̮̗͐Ī̶̩̭̘̻̮͗S̷͈̠̝̗͌̀̒́͘͜K̵̭̥̰̺̺͔̬͕̀̇ ̶̡̪͈̏̌͜͜H̸̰͍̅͑̇̾́̓Â̴̛͇̐̑̐̇͛͝S̷͓̉̏̊̔̄̚ ̴̻̹̠̫͊́A̷̞͖̩̝̭̪͚͕̽̊́̚R̶̢̖̟̘̋̎̆͋̚͘͠R̶͈̊̓̓̒͗̄͝I̷̢̧̫͚̮̘͎̫͊͑̍̌͌̆̎̕V̷̜͑̈́̇̚E̴̡͉̎̉̆Ḏ̷̨̺͕͈̟̰̿ͅ.̷̦͇̦͔̫̓̈́ ̴̧͇̳̱̼͗̑P̴̢̛̰̱͑͊̄̈́͘͝E̶̘͝͠R̷̼̠̦̀H̴̘̉̏͆͜Ả̷̙̤̍̊ͅṔ̷̱̺̊̃̊Ṣ̷̡͕̺͓͓̽͋͆́́̔̉͜ͅ.̴̱̹͗̓͒͌̇͠ͅͅ.̴̢̼̺̦̖̀̒͋.̵̨̡̧̹̭͙̇ͅͅ ̷͇̦̏̕N̸̢̩̖̣̫͖̐̄͛̒Ö̵͖͉̩͇͠,̵̡̔͛ ̷̧̧̗̜͙̣̬̦͑̈́̋̈́̈͐S̸͙̋̾H̸̦̰̼̱͖̳͌̇̀̌̕̚ͅḜ̶͙̖̫̬̫̥̠͐͐ ̷̫̱͍͎͔͒̄̌̋͑̄͠C̷̜̣̙̎̅̓̎̽̇͝Á̷̮̣̫̦̜͔͉̤N̴̜̆͋̈̒̔̚͜'̵̨͈̺̻̃͂͆̿̇͛̋̕͜͜T̴̥̃͑̐̀͐͘̚͝.̵̛͔̄͆̈́̆̀͝ͅ”

I’m confused at what he is saying, and I come closer.

The one in the black jacket is wearing a purple mask. It looks cool.

“Nice mask. I’m Frisk. What’s yours?”

They stay silent for a moment before saying, “...Fallen. My name is Fallen.”

I smile and say, “That’s a cool name.” I then turn to the one in the white robe. Before I can say anything, he says, “F̶̧̹̏̔R̴͔̾I̷̛͇̖̤͠S̵̡̞͙̈͆K̷̨̛͆̈,̵͓̉̿͗ ̵͉̘̠̄̒̑I̶̢̭̖͌̂̊ ̴̯̈̏A̶̘͚̥͒͝͠Ḿ̶̲̟ ̸̥̲̔D̸̡̛̖̼͊R̷̭̉̕͝ͅ.̶͚͂̕ ̴̡̣̻̓̉Ȓ̵̪̎̽.̴̻̜̩̐P̴̨͎̉.̴͓͍̠́ ̷͖̈́G̴̡͗̈́Ù̴͙͝E̵̹͌Š̴̨̯ͅṮ̴̕O̷̧͔̚̕R̶̢̒.̷͕̦͒̈́̔ I̸̢͎͓͗̕ ̷̛̳̠̦W̴̧̡̹͊͐A̶͓̳̚͜͝S̷͖͓͉̈̀̀ ̸̳͉͑̚S̴͎͉̍̕ͅḨ̶̜̲̋̑A̵͇͚̔̇̊T̵̗̋̐T̷̝̝̯̽̈́̚Ḙ̶̳̺̇͆̈Ŗ̴̡̽́͘E̷̹̣̱͌D̷͙̏̀ ̷̡̛̓͋A̴̟͖͛C̴̱̰̅R̴͍̠̖̿̀O̷̱͍̽͜S̵͕̭̎S̷̟͐ ̸͉͝S̶̝̯̽̀͝P̴̫̫̙̄͂͋A̴͕̜̾C̵͔̱͗E̵̛̹̅ ̷̧̠̰̄̓͋A̵̺͐͜N̴̘̬͌͘D̵̦̑̑̚ ̸̠̇̽͆T̶̜̈́̐̆I̶̟͎̅̌̈M̵̩͇͘E̵͈̪̻͑͘.̸̱̝̈́̕ F̶̡͓͎͊Ì̷͙͈̆̆N̴̯̳̩͋̀͠Ḓ̸̎͛͘͜ ̵̺̭̯͒Ṁ̵̧̕͝Y̵̨̹̓ ̷̫̣̹̈́F̷̻̉̑Ơ̶͚L̷͕̪͙̓̆̍L̷̹͓͔̔͆̕Ọ̷͉̞̊W̷͈̭͑E̶̼̘̓̌R̶̡̝̆̒S̵̼̝͛͘ ̷̰̓͠Ǐ̷̗̭Ǹ̴͚̞̼̓ ̸̬̾͠H̵̡̕͝O̴̤͛̇Ť̷̡̙̩̍͂L̸̩͈͈͋͐́A̸͕̻͗N̴̺͒͗͐Ḓ̵̓̒,̵͈̏̑̓ ̷͕̫̫͊̇Ā̷͙̼Ň̵̘͇̆Ď̵̺͝ ̵͙̜̑͠I̸̪̋̕F̵̢̯͛̀̎ ̸̧̯̟͗̚T̸͙̠͑̄H̷̓ͅẸ̸̺́ ̷̱̓̓̎P̷̛̤͓L̸̘̋Ǎ̴̡̹̥͗Y̸̯̟̳̎͝E̴͖͒͊Ȑ̵̰̾̓C̸̙͊͛̾A̵͉͓͓͝N̷̟̹̳͠ ̶̡̃M̶̞̏̈́A̶̖͆̎ͅN̶̼͑A̴̘͍͌͜Ǵ̴̘͙̈ͅẼ̸̼̖̪̍ ̸̘͌T̵̗̈̈Ó̵̝̫,̵̱̈̇̂ ̵͚̠̄͜F̴͕͌̾͝I̶̲̺̜͛̽̋N̶̺̉̓̈Ḑ̴̦̊ ̸͙̣̬̓̀͝T̴͉͉͕̐͑͒H̶̞̿È̷̞̾͗ ̵͎̤̹̚R̷͖̀̔̇E̸̡̧͖̽D̴̞̋̐̀͜À̴̡͚͠C̶̺͐̌͐T̶̟͍̂̀͗E̶̖͋͌D̴̹̣̼͋̐ ̶̉͝ͅR̵̨͔͚͂͂̈́O̸̤̘̓̓Ȍ̵̼̥̦́M̷͖̊.̸̡̨̙͋̐̚ Ṫ̴̰̼H̷͖̻̓͐̒Ė̸̯̜̺N̸͉͖̑͛,̴̼̾̄ ̵͍̇͝L̴̬̈́͝͝Ò̴̪͙͓̐́C̵̤̕A̶͙̖͐͊̾͜T̵͎̋̎Ḙ̵̂̌ ̸̲̎͜͝Ḡ̵̗O̴̧̺̮̽͝Ņ̴͙͖̎̚Ĕ̴͔R̴͉͓̼̃ ̷̛̩͚̟̐K̸͔̜̋͊͐İ̸̦̃͘D̵̡̗͐.̸̖͂͑”

I just stare at the man in confusion. Then, he disappears. I shrug, turn around, and bid Fallen farewell before leaving the grey room. Asriel is waiting for me there.

“*What was that about?”

“I just met someone named Fallen and one other guy I couldn’t understand. He was wearing a white robe.”

“*Dr. Guestor?”

“You know him?”

“*I know of him. He was the Head Royal Scientist after Chara and I swapped SOULs. Did you understand anything he said, or was it all incomprehensible?”

“I could make out ‘Hotland,’ ‘Player,’ ‘Redacted Room,’ and ‘Goner Kid.’ Everything else was basically static.”

“*Interesting.”

We reach the next section. Papyrus is sitting behind a sentry station, MK is standing by the edge, staring out into the murky water, and there’s a glowing flower standing next to a teal shirt.

I walk up to the flower and listen to it.

*Ah, the Echo Flower. Truly one of the most mysterious plants in Waterfall.

*Hold on. What’s that orange one doing–GAH!

*Bvv

*Pshhhwa

*HeeheeHAHAHAHA heeheeHAHAHA. You idiot! You think you can–

The flower falls silent.

Asriel is horrified, and I seem concerned.

“*What did Flowey do?” Asriel asks

MK hears the flower and turns around.

“Yo! We meet again! I’d stay away from that flower if I were you. It’s got a lot of nasty secrets that not even Captain Alphys is brave enough to look into.”

“*I was right to be scared of that thing.”

I swallow hard and nod. “Um, well, nice seeing you again. I gotta get going now.”

MK nods in understanding and says, “Later dude.”