#sentry gaster

[13thdoodle]

[ Choos n Gasters doodle]

akjsdnka i sketched them a few days ago for the undertake 9th anniv (man time really flies huh) but idk anymore if I can actually clean them up so doodles~

but yea i have many (3) chara and gaster dynamics lmao

FontTale chara and gaster (AU with @zrllosyn) Sentry Gaster (my OC) and chara (technically underswap au?) Fell!Sentry and chara (tbh idk how chara different here but I do like the idea of still stabby happy chara dealing with depression man lol)

[yourloveaton]

Round Five Anon

RUFFLE CUFFS RUFFLE CUFFS!!!! They’re so cute and he looks so silly in them!!!!

And I loooove the silly sinister jester mask!!!!

Uhhhh do I have any questions rn��

OH

So (if it’s not a spoiler) do you have any ideas as to why Sans quit the Trickster-ing? When Gaster got oofed to the next dimension? Or did he grow out of it?

And why did he decide to rejoin the Royal Guard as a sentry? Could he have taken over his old position and just *not* gone off to do Trickster hours?

Hahaha I might need to readjust his royal guard fit to add more things such as ruffle cuffs to make it look better hehe

My friend and I had been brainstorming about all of this just now so my brain is so dead HAHAHA There’s so many possibilities that for now I have NO IDEA why Sans quit Trickster-ing 😭 Could’ve been from an incident, could’ve been from a reason related to his dad, but I’m leaning more to the latter possibility rn eheh

All I can say is, Trickster disappeared from the public months before Gaster disappeared. (He still might’ve been active around the underground even if he had been gone from public eye (?))(im still not sure)(Sans already quit the royal guards by then I think)(Not that anyone really knew Sans became a royal guard except for a few people)

The main reason why he rejoined the royal guard as a sentry was Papyrus pushed him to it. (It’s basically the same as og undertale, you could see a dialogue where sans said Papyrus had pushed him to become a sentry or smth like that)

I didn’t understand the last question well I’m sorry!! From what I understood to answer, his Trickster-ing days have been over for a while and he doesn’t ever want to get back to it again hahaha It’s not the “same” as it used to be it seems..

[toffeebrews]

Okay, I've been in the dark about Color for waaaay too long, and I know you're the resident Color Sans enthusiast so if you have the time could you give me a summary of his au/what it's about?

I know the basic stuff like how he's absorbed the six human souls but that's literally it, I see him everywhere and I know next to nothing about him!! ; ;

Enlighten me? /silly/nf ofc

Alrighty, I think I can help here! I'll try my best to keep it briefish.

Color!sans originates from the AT (yes, alternate TIMELINE not AU) Othertale which was a series of animations that became a comic and then went on indefinite hiatus. I always use the wrong terminology 😞 but technically AU is incorrect here.

The directory for all of the animations and the start of the comics here

there's also this trailer which? I couldn't find on her channel for some reason. Not sure why it was deleted.

The animation "experiment" sorta is a prequel animation? taking place before the events of Othertale.

In the Judgment Hall frisk lands their final blow, EXCEPT Sans absorbs the 6 human souls tp prevent himself from dusting. With this new found power Sans (Color) he kills Frisk but a TRUE RESET is triggered which inadvertently sends Color to the void. In similar fashion to Gaster, Sans is wiped completely from the timeline and it starts over without him.

Undyne replaces Sans and she takes the place of Papyrus' sibling. They live their lives and grow up completely without him, effectively making them strangers now.

So Color is locked in with Gaster for a good chunk of time (at least a decade). It's unclear whether or not if Color would even recognize or know who Gaster is because the events of Othertale: before the hack take place after some time has already passed. We dunno LMAO. He's also got the name "Color" instead of Sans now. I don't think we ever learn what the name change came from either.

So, in Othertale: Before the Hack a new genocide run begins and based off a "feeling" Gaster gets he knows it's started. Gaster suggests they get out via Undyne by jogging her memory using the sentry stations as entry points to lead her to the void (but they can't be used as exits only entries). This process will be slow though, not a one and done deal. Uhh, also they needed to activate her "eye" which Color does via punching Undyne IN THE FACE. Funniest thing of all time.

Interesting things to note here: Color mentions here he can OPEN PORTALS out the void but apparently this would use so much of his power it could risk his life to do it. It's why Gaster suggests the other idea. It's also implied Color did something in the past that put his life at risk to get out of the void. Gaster says something along the lines of "You'd shatter and leave me to pick up the pieces. The last time I managed to salvage what was left of you. "

Also here's my favorite snapshot of Color ever v

Now here's the part everyone knows about. Color getting out the void isn't canon to Color, but has been entertained by Youmna. Drawing art of him, Killer, The Abyss Team and the Epic Sanses interacting.

I skipped alot of stuff, but that's the gist. Sorry I rambled but this always happens......

[howlsofbloodhounds]

So was rewatching Othertale: Before the Hack (part 1) a few days ago and posting about it, which you can find here, and i was taking notes as i did.

You can also find the link to my analysis of the [caring] animation here, and my analysis of the [experiment] animation here and here.

And happy 9th birthday to both Othertale, and Color Sans!

“Undyne, or Ivory, comes from an AU called Othertale. She can play piano and has a nice sense of music, but can’t sing. She’s much weaker than her Undertale counterpart.

In this AU, Sans never existed (aside from a mysterious sock in the house that Undyne and Papyrus eventually move in to.)

And instead, Undyne—an orphaned street kid blind in one eye with her red hair in a braid—starts looking after an even younger orphaned kid named Papyrus from bullies and thieves. Before eventually, the two decide to stick together as siblings.

Due to being more focused on looking after and raising Papyrus, Undyne does not have any goals to join the Royal Guard or free the Underground or capture any humans.

She cares more about her little brother than anything, and even uses piano skills to eventually become something of a celebrity for the Underground while Papyrus goes on to become a math teacher.

Othertale Undyne grows up in a universe where Sans doesn’t exist, Papyrus is her younger adoptive brother, and she had to work to keep herself and her brother alive.

Using her skills in piano playing to perform concerts, she earns enough to get herself and her brother off the streets.

She seems to take this very seriously, such as being nervous and not sleeping, staying up all night practicing. Especially since she’s become so well know that even King Asgore and Gerson Head of the Royal Guard would be there.

Neither she nor Papyrus have plans to join the Royal Guard, so Gerson is still the captain of the Royal Guard.

Neither Papyrus nor Undyne have any official training, although Undyne and the Royal Scientist Alphys are still love interests—with Alpyhs being Papyrus’ Undernet friend, and appearing to have a celebrity crush on Undyne—even giving her a gift for her big concert.

Because the six human souls also don’t exist in Othertale, breaking the barrier isn’t possible. Mettaton operates more like a living weapon than a star, and the amalgamates don’t exist either. Although Flowey still does.

In the present day of Othertale, many monsters have mysteriously been going missing; with the King himself having to speak on the issue.

It is unclear if Undyne is any concerned about this, given how she readily goes on walks alone with Alphys and was eager to explore an abandoned sentry station that showed up out of nowhere when she heard someone calling her name from it.

One day, however, Undyne is lured into the Void through a sentry station; she hears someone calling her name but no one else can hear it. She decides to immediately go exploring because she wants to have fun. She is rather pushy when Alphys is too scared to go in and explore, but ultimately doesn’t force the other woman to go in.

But inside she is confronted by Gaster and Sans/Color!Sans. She doesn’t understand what’s going on, but is knocked out by a magic fueled punch by Color that transfers some of Color’s “soul power” into her, which opened Undyne’s “blind eye.”

Ivory is not afraid to defend herself; not hesitant at all to summon one of her spears and point it at Gaster when he advances on her, warning him to stay back or else she will hurt him. Although she only does this when he attempts to make a move towards her.

She seems very very nervous about her concert, and she doesn’t seem to have been ready for the level of attention and popularity her skills brought her.

Due to her magic eye that Color unlocked, she seems able to immediately tell if there’s danger nearby; like a warning, perhaps from Color himself. She seems to trust her instincts a lot, immediately ditching her big concert and audience to follow her gut and run straight into danger.

When she finds Alphys injured, she’s furious and fiercely protective; demanding to know who did it in a low growling tone.

Once making sure Alphys is okay, her immediate concern after is her brother and his safety. But rather than immediately running off and abandoning Alphys, she expresses this to her—and after getting reassurance that the other woman is okay and understands, she gives Alphys a tight hug before running off after Papyrus.

As soon as she finds and protects Papyrus, she orders her brother to run and get help while she fights off against the other monster attacking him on her own.

She’s able to shortcut a lot like Sans is able to now. Her eye glows like Sans’ did, only yellow this time. Her fish ears/gills pin back when she’s scared.

When she gains her second form, her hair is chopped off to what appears to be about ear length. Her spears are stronger and longer, and she has her own Gaster Blasters.

She dresses like an Underfell Undyne in this form—and she wears a heart shaped golden necklace with the letter “f” on it.

We don’t know where she got it, what it means, who it came from—but it was said to be a gift from someone.”

^ the images I am referring to. (All art by superyoumna.)

This part is in reference to the [experiment] short, and the brother & sister comic.

Before Gaster jumped into the Core and Sans was forgotten in the Void to create Othertale, back when the universe was still Undertale—this universe seems to subscribe to the idea that both Sans and Undyne’s magical eyes were due to experiments by Dr. Gaster.

Sans says that Dr. Gaster made a mistake when giving him his eye, that it made Sans’ body extremely unstable and fragile—and possibly more, although Sans doesn’t seem to hold it against Gaster even when Gaster holds it against himself.

Sans reassures Undyne that Gaster won’t make that same mistake with her, but when the experiment finally works and Undyne is able to see from her fake eye, Gaster immediately tells Sans to remove the soul energy or it would damage Undyne’s body.

Undyne during this flashback seems to be around 5, while Papyrus is at most 1-2, and Sans seems to be in his late teens to early 20s. When Sans is pulled into the Void and the world is rewritten to forget Sans and make Othertale, Ivory’s eye is blind again and later needs to be reactivated by Color transferring his soul energy back to her.

All a part of Color and Shade’s plan to empower Ivory with knowledge and power so she can fight against the impending threat, since Color and Shade cannot leave the Void without the risk of dying.

Despite how Ivory and Shade’s meeting in Othertale’s Void is confronting and wary, in the past, child Undyne seemed to find comfort in Gaster and trusted him a lot—such as wanting him to share in her happiness, being worried about him when he leaves in frustration, and saying that the lab is spooky without him around.

As a child after Sans is forgotten, however, it appears little Ivory met little Sage sometime after an event just referred to as “the explosion.” And ever since then, Sage only ever sought Ivory out whenever the other children would steal from and bully him—and Ivory would beat up the bullies for him and get his stuff back.

One day, while searching for a rubix cube in the garbage dumps, a frantic and crying Sage runs up to Ivory to tell her that the others kids stole his toy car.

Ivory notes that he only ever comes to her when he needs protection. Sage immediately apologizes for this, but Ivory quickly corrects herself as that wasn’t what she meant—this is the moment where Ivory proposes that Sage stick with her instead of surviving on his own.

Sage is reluctant to accept because even though they are friends, they are still strangers. In answer to this, Ivory gives Sage her rubix cube and loudly states that they are neither friends nor strangers—instead they are siblings.

Sage immediately gets excited by this idea, and the two proudly and loudly declare that they are siblings—and Sage promises to always look up to her and support her as his big sister and as the “great Papyrus!”

[sabianandocs]

10/10 Gaster lore! We definitely do wanna hear about the skelebros too! (Especially Papyrus!... or maybe that's just me lol)

Okay okay here I go (sorry this took forever)

Sort of chronological story stuff?

When Sans and Papyrus were first displaced by Gaster's dissolution into the fiber of the universe, Papyrus was only 11. He'd been homeschooled by his now unknown father, so he had a solid understanding of all the concepts he should have by that age- with a lot of oddly in depth science knowledge and a distinct lack of social knowledge (Something the whole family seems to share)

When the brothers moved to Snowdin, Sans got Papyrus set up with school and then spent most of his time working to provide for them both. He wasn't a neglectful older brother though, by any means, and even though he spent most of his waking hours earning a living for them, he still managed to support Papyrus in everything he wanted to do. Science fair project? He helped Pap set it up. School play? You bet your ass he was in the front row. Wants to do warrior training? Well, Sans isn't much help with that, but he'll sure try to weasel his way into making connections for it.

Papyrus was always super into puzzles. When he wasn't in school, he followed Sans to work, berated him for not putting enough effort into his puzzles, and then made them himself. (At some point, Sans noticed how happy it made Papyrus to have something to work on and started deliberately making awful and/or low effort puzzles so that Papyrus could fix them)

Papyrus learned about Undyne & the Royal Guard while in school, and obviously decided that the best possible future for himself was joining the royal guard- because everyone was talking about Undyne and nobody was talking to or about him so surely the problem here was just that he needed to be in the Guard so people would know how cool he was.

He waited outside Undyne's house all night to ask to join the guard, and while she appreciated his tenacity, he was still just a kid, and she wasn't going to let a kid join the guard. She did offer to train him in combat, though, and then later how to cook (because he'd get 'ripped into little smiling shreds' if he actually had to enter serious combat). He was insistent on being a part of the guard, though, so to try to mediate that desire she told him that he had to be a Royal Sentry, first, which was a very important and serious role and only the coolest people get to be sentries. Papyrus believes this wholeheartedly because, well, his brother is a sentry, and he's pretty cool.

So Papyrus made it his goal to sort of 'climb the ladder' of Royal Guard positions until he could become an official member. Sans and Undyne are both secretly hoping they can find some way to divert his passion to something else before he starts getting suspicious of their plans to keep him out of serious combat.

Papyrus Headcanons!

Papyrus has bad vision- I've seen this HC go around a lot, and I have to agree. Specifically, I think he has a lot of trouble seeing things far away and focusing on small text. He doesn't realize that this isn't normal, though- as far as he's concerned, that's just what the world looks like. (He wonders how and why people like reading so much, when one of the side effects is always a headache)

I also HC him as Asexual and Panromantic (I HC all the skeletons as some variant of ace, personally)

He's a huge optimist, and actively chooses to find the best in people even when there isn't really much to find. He's not naive or stupid, even though that can be how it comes across to some people, he just really believes that there's potential in everyone for good and maybe, just maybe if he shows that he believes that, he can bring it out in people.

--

This is all pretty loose and vague, cuz as far as my lore goes, Papyrus spends most of the 'backstory' sort of period being a kid in school and such. By the time he's old enough to be doing anything, most of it is hinted at within the game, and I like to stick pretty close to canon lore with anything that's actually established. I just fill in the gaps between that stuff!

[lawlia-art]

UTBST Sans and Papyrus - 17 year ago 🤍 Here Sans is 18 years old and Papyrus is 3 years old. Their father disappeared two year ago. Sans was only 16 years old when it happened. All the Monsters (except Sans) had forgotten the existence of Gaster and that Sans and Papyrus are half-monsters created by him. Sans didn't want to be helped and took care of his little brother alone. Luckily he still had his father's money. At 18, he started working as a part-time sentry and is also the assistant to the new royal scientist. Papyrus is 3 years old and now goes to school. Sans never told him about his father and his origins despite his many questions. When Sans turned 20, he became the judge. Only Asgore and Alphys know his status, the other monsters think he's just a sentinel.

For more information about this timeline, check out the link :3 !!

Undertale Black Soul Timeline Gallery

Credits: Undertale: Black Soul Timeline (c) LawliaArt, Undertale (c) Toby Fox

[crystal-va]

Pyro's story

"In an AU full of violence and hatred... Sadness and despiration... Many have tried to... 'fix' these issues, but all have ended in failure."

The undergrounds Royal Scientist, Dr. Gaster, left many unfinished experiments and blueprints behind after disappearing. The new Royal Scientist, Dr. Alphys, was ordered to finish the experiments that were left behind. But, there was a massive issue... she couldn't read it. All the papers were written in a language that it seemed no one could understand. Some had a vague sense of familiarity, but still couldn't understand it.

After many of the assistants and researchers were executed for being unable to decipher the text, Sans, the Royal Judge, stepped forward with a simple offer, "I can decipher it, if ya pay me." Sans, was paid handsomely, and he deciphered the papers perfectly. From that day on he often worked with Alphys on Gaster's old experiments.

One day, Sans was called from his sentry station in Hotland to the lab. When he arrived he was met with Asgore and Alphys beckoning him to follow them. Sans followed and found himself in the secret lab where Gaster's old papers had been found. He hesitantly followed Asgore to an old testing chamber that looked like it had recently been on fire. It was completely covered in ash.

"I-I'm sorry, Sans..." Alphys mumbled as Sans was knocked out cold by Asgore. Sans woke up only a few moments later. He was tied down today a table, he quickly realized what was going on when he saw Alphys holding a syringe filled with a mixture of royal fire magic and stabilized DT he had helped her create a few days ago, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" Sans exclaimed as the needle was lowered towards his left eye, "We're making you stronger," Asgore coldly responded.

Sans awoke the next day behind Asgore's throne. "What the fuck..." Sans sighed as he looked at his hands, his bones were gray, as if charred, and it hurt. As Sans became more and more conscious, that pain got worse, almost completely unbearable after only a few minutes. "Ah, Your awake... good," Sans looked up to see Asgore looming over him.

Sans was forced to move into a home in Hotland near the lab. For many years Sans was held on a tight leash and personally trained by Asgore daily. He wasn't able to spend much time with Papyrus, growing more distant than ever. The only positive for him was the special clothes he got to channel his mass amounts of fire magic so he wouldn't burn himself to ash. But it would be great if he didn't need them at all...

Sans took up a side-job with Mettaton as a pyrotechnician, working backstage during Mettaton's shows to give it a bit of a... spark. He actually kinda enjoyed that job, but... it wasn't good enough to make up for all the shit he had to deal with outside of it. Sans swore that he would break himself free and punish Asgore for not only what he did to him, but for absolutely everything Asgore had fucked up in the underground. Sans would do what many other rebel groups had tried, but he'd make sure to finish it.

One day, about 4 years after the injection thing, Sans was writing down his plan on how to kill Asgore.

"Quite ambitious, aren't we?" An unfamiliar voice said from behind.

"Who are you?" Sans said without turning around.

"Heh, someone willing to help ya... How about that?" The unknown person said with sincerity.

Sans finally turned around to see who the hell broke into his house. His eyes were met with an incredibly tall skeleton monster with odd multicolored eye lights and an uncanny resemblance to him. "The fuck...?" Sans quietly questioned.

After some questioning from Sans, and some... dodgy answers from the unknown skeleton, the two discussed Asgore's assassination in great detail.

"Training with him almost every day will make this fairly easy, heh." The unknown skeleton remarked.

"Yeah, you'd think, but he's just too strong, I gotta go for something more traditional. If I try to get him during the training, I'll just end up dead instead." Sans said, disappointed at the fact.

"Of course! That's why I'm here... I can make you so much stronger than you could ever imagine!" The unknown skeleton said with conviction.

"How the hell do ya plan to do that?" Sans questioned.

"Simple, you just take my hand, give me your soul, and I guarantee you power!" The unknown skeleton chuckled.

"My soul? The hell are you talking about?" Sans just kept questioning.

"It's true! Your soul in exchange for the power to give freedom to everyone else in the underground! Or... are you too selfish? Too cowardly?" The unknown skeleton said grimly, piercing Sans's mind with thoughts of failure. Why have such simple insults dug so deep at his soul? Why did these words... convince him? Why did he want to listen?

Despite his better judgement, Sans shook the unknown skeleton's hand. Purple fog enshrouded the two as the unknown skeleton began laughing manically. Sans felt a sense of raw power and an unstoppable sense of destruction flowing through his body.

"Now... go." The skeleton commanded as his eyes began quickly swirling and cycling through the red, purple, and yellow of his eyes.

Sans was given a new name before going to Asgore's castle, Pyro.

Pyro could've never imagined he'd end up like this, he knew he was impulsive and idiotic at times, but this... deal, seemed excessive...

The battle between Pyro and Asgore was... underwhelming. Asgore was completely outmatched with Pyro's new power.

Freedom was truly given to everyone in the underground with Asgore now dead at Pyro's hands. Everyone except for Pyro himself... He was now owned by the unknown skeleton, now known to be named 'Dealmaker', an extremely straightforward name...

Pyro wasn't alone though, he had a fellow Sans to relate too under Deal, his name was Disturbed. They get along mildly well, not always seeing eye to eye on everything, but always being good friends.

~END~

It's got issues, it's simple, but I like it, kinda...

I might turn this into a slightly more fleshed out comic sometime in the future, maybe.

Hope ya enjoyed Pyro's updated story!

[winters-on-the-wing]

the biggest similarity that all three skeletons in handplates share is that they tend to turn their emotions off like a faucet.

all three of them in different ways. gaster as the cold doctor who's only in it for the information. sans as the sarcastic sentry who stays under the radar for protection. papyrus as the popular know-it-all who doesn't have any insecurities. they're all afraid and they all have the same coping mechanism.

god i love these guys so much.

[enigma020]

If you have time can you pls draw asriel x fuko fire or papyrus x red from noveltale

I GOTCHU bud! :D

Okay, Exhibit No. 1:

NOVEL!Papyrus X NOVEL!Red/Lara!

By far, one of the COOLEST concept designs I’ve ever made for NOVEL!Papyrus, by the way. One of my favorite designs for a character since it’s a combined mix of both Pre-Noveltale Papyrus’ sentry armor and Noveltale Papyrus’ Royal Guard armor. I mean, JUST LOOK AT THAT BLASTER HELM AIN’T THAT COOL? :D NOVEL!Red/Lara’s design, on the other hand, was inspired by Epictale’s Red/Lara and the original Undertale Red.

Their ship dynamic was simple. Back in either 2018 or 2019, when I first saw and watched Undertale Red, I had this thought. What if Red/Lara, a Royal Guard, trained Papyrus, a sentry, in secret and developed during training? And at the time, Zachary still had the role of the second fallen human adopted by Gaster and was a member of the Bone Brothers. Given the opportunity to do so, I chose to let Zachary help arrange some stuff so that the two could actually form a really close connection, eventually giving better character growth between the two. Now, those thoughts alone were a stupid reason to ship the two still, I know- But a few months, if not an entire year later, I came across a BUNCH of fanart of the two in the internet, making me realize that the thought might actually not matter at all since a lot of people were shipping em too-

And then 2020 came, I finally, FINALLY got myself a Tumblr account and found Yugo’s Tumblr, I continued to read their Epictale comics, specifically the remake and oh boy I GOT REAL HOOKED AGAIN LIKE HOW I FIRST DID WHEN I SAW THE OLD ONE IN LIKE GOOGLE BACK WHEN I WAS A FIRST YEAR HIGHSCHOOL BOY :D- and then I continued working on how to improve on character growth for the two. And just right before I cancelled the AU, I did plan to make it so that Papyrus was a Royal Trainee and Red/Lara was a Royal Guard, trained by Undyne and gets along with the Royal Hounds (The dogs) like in the original Undertale Red lore.

The final idea was that she would assist him through both Snowdin and Waterfall Patrols, often helping her with hers as well. And then they develop through time and then- y’all get the point-

Anyway, ONTO EXHIBIT 2, also known as the last exhibit for today:

NOVEL!Asriel Dreemurr X NOVEL!Fuku Fire!

Their concept was simple. It all came from three crucial thoughts. (There were more, but let’s focus on just the three crucial ones-)

“What if Asriel and Chara lived?” “How would Asriel’s childhood life had gone if he had survived with Chara.” “What would’ve Asriel’s relationship be with Fuku if they had met?” Now of course, I made headcanons for that-

Basically, two childhood best friends who developed while growing up, bonus that they both have the same magic, fire magic. Chara would’ve been there to witness it all happen, being the first person to see the two develop a very deep friendship, and eventually develop feelings for one another and they would’ve also been there to help Asriel in finally getting him to tell her that he likes her and to make him realize that she likes him too.

In the earlier version of Pre-Noveltale, AKA Histale, Zachary would’ve been the second human ally for the Royal family. He would’ve been one of Asriel’s best friends too who’d try to find Asriel a girlfriend while growing up together in the underground.

Not gonna lie, I bet the kid would be real happy if he knew that, even though I cancelled it in the end, Asriel finally got one after 8 years of the AU’s development 🥹

[o-sunny-day]

FORGETTABLE AU SONG????? MASSIVE W??????

I really really like this song, just recently heard it from this new album When Death Was Mine, I highly recommend this song + the entire album + the artists whole work!! its all really good :3

But this song, I feel, works REALLY well for Sans’ POV of what we all know is gonna happen with Wingdings…

FIRST BIT!

How could this happen to us? The push and tug of your trust: are my favorite lines when attaching it to this AU. The perspective being Sans before the incident. We don’t know if Sans had been there during it, or if they’d had some sort of fight before it, or even something else; But I imagine GENERALLY something horrible and dramatic happened before. For the purposes of this im going with them having a big confrontation days before shit goes down. And this line would take place after that confrontation.

The curtains closed, the doors been shut: Wingdings being SILLY! and shutting everything and everyone out to do Gaster shenanigans!!! YAY!

Kicking up dust. Im playing the FOOL again: that dust ofc not being any USUAL dust, no no *finger wag* theres a really cool visual in my head of it being like a transition of Sans going outside to walk it off, going into Snowdin and kicking the snow, before that turning into dust being blown off from HOLES BEIN PUT INTO HANDS!!! for whatever reason why does he do that/why does that happen 😭 i’m excited to find out. Oh yeah and the fool part refers to how currently Sans feels foolish for trusting Wingdings that everything was totally A-Okay/he could handle it himself and Sans didn’t need to push.

SECOND BIT!

Am I gullible enough to take a walk in your shoes? The way you strut with a bluff, the way you act so aloof: More saltiness on Sans’ half. I love Wingdings’ style of lying, he just doesn’t say enough to actually lie 😭😭 I hate him sm.

As if the neckties a noose: this was UNNECESSARY

You’d dance on air for a bet: ok yes I can totally see this as WD just being a risk taker n shit. BUT ALSO PAPYRUS CAN WALK ON AIR SO ITS FUNNYHSDHSDHDSH seriously why does this song work so well

I’m used to balancing acts up to my neck: I really like this with Sans’ character not even just within this AU. He’s doing a LOT a lot of the time, while also making himself look lazy which is just another balancing act in itself. BUT for this AU specifically id imagine its more about Wingdings specifically than just his life in general-

LAST BIT!!!

The truth is that as the older you get, they’re more indifferent to you. The less they’ll act all impressed: This one would be more from Wingdings’ perspective cause yeah Sans is currently pretty frustrated I DON’T THINK HE’D BE THIS RUDE- I think this works better with the context of this being WDs own doubts, he was trying to figure out how to FREE THE UNDERGROUND- now he’s tryna free the godamn universe like MAN 😭 he’s gotta stop putting so much pressure on himself. Though I really REALLY like the idea of him not really caring about making relationships, but still needing to be loved by the wider public in a way. Like relationships? booo. Reputation? YAAAASSS

They’ll find all sorts of new ways to get inside your head: same premise as the last lines but I wanna highlight it cause it also works really well with Wingdings again, spiraling down the madness pit. He’s finding all sorts of new ways to get inside his OWN HEAD overthinking, smh…

Might die before ive said my peace: Wingdings might (will) die before Sans can say his peace to him….

Between you and me, if it’s alright, i’m not staying: Sans, in fact, does not stay at the lab! Those days are over, now it’s time to talk to mysterious door ladies and do nothing at sentry stands and purposefully annoy your brother.

The song as a whole gets a tad more aggressive and energetic than I feel Sans would be like, but the visuals of this happening inside of his head while he’s just kinda going 😶 irl is really fun :3

I haven’t heard the whole album yet cause I need to digest songs one by one especially if they’re such hard hitters- SO MAYBE ILL BE BACK WITH MORE WHEN DEATH WAS MINE FORGETTABLE AU SONGS!!!

oh yeah also the album title and cover is like ALSO REALLY GOOD FOR THIS AU WHY IS MY LIFE LIKE THIS WHY IS EVERYTHING CONNECTED 😭😭 I gotta redraw the cover with Wingdings wait omg hold on

ok quick sketch

LISTEN TO THE ALBUM GANG ITS SO FUN!!

[ichiwashername-o]

What Are Friends For Ch. 27

An Undertale fanfiction

Written by ichiwashername-o

Summary: The human returns, determined to set everything right.

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

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

Chapter 1

Previous

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AO3

--

I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS FUCKING FANFIC EVEN IF IT KILLS ME AAAAAAAAAAH--

Mount Ebott was, to say the least, an enigma.

It was an unassuming peak within a modest mountain range, but that unassuming peak hid within its deep cavernous walls a great secret.

For deep under the earth, behind layers of rock and stone and a barrier of magic, monsterkind lived. 

And it was on any other normal, mundane day that a skeleton woke from a deep yet fitful slumber.

Sans snapped awake, eyes wide as he shot upright in bed. There was a brief second of panic before he got his bearings. He was in his room, though had managed to find himself on the floor instead of on his bed, all tangled up in his ratty old blanket. He shimmied himself out, brushed himself off, and gathered himself.

He had a horrific headache. And his dream–had it been a dream?--had been . . . unsettling, to say the least.

He closed his eyes, sighing as he rubbed his temples. Ugh, it was another RESET. Had to have been. But it must have been one doozy of a RESET because his head was absolutely killing him.

He didn’t expect to remember much of anything from the time before, and he doesn’t, but it was  . . . odd, to say the least. His memories of RESETS were like static–lots of noise and maybe a flicker of an image here and there. But today? Today it was more like watching two movies playing at the same time overlapping each other–and still being consumed by static.

Sans didn’t know what to make of that, but he exited his room where he could hear someone moving about downstairs. That had to be Papyrus. Sans descended the stairs and made his way to the kitchen, where his brother was making breakfast. Though Papyrus seemed horribly distracted as well.

“Morning, Paps,” Sans greeted nonchalantly, and to his surprise, Papyrus jumped. Huh, did he not hear him?

“Oh! Morning, Sans! I didn’t hear you wake up!” he replied.

Apparently not. 

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” Sans said.

“Ah, not to worry, dear brother! I just find myself a bit out of sorts this morning!” he waved away. “Rough night of sleep, is all.”

This gave Sans pause. Did Papyrus remember the RESET, too? That was . . . extremely unusual.

“Bad dreams?” Sans hazarded.

Papyrus made an uncommitted noise and waved his hand in a so-so manner. “Kind of? More confusing than anything. Like I was seeing double.”

Ok. That was definitely very weird.  

But Papyrus just shrugged it off and went about his day, serving up Sans some very greasy eggs and sausage with a copious amount of ketchup and himself his signature bowl of oatmeal. Papyrus ate his meal with great gusto and finished in no time flat, while Sans was still busy drowning his sausage links in ketchup. Papyrus then whipped his scarf over his shoulder and struck a dashing, heroic pose.

“Now I must be off, brother! I have training with Undyne this morning!” Papyrus stated triumphantly.

“Oh, right, Royal Guard training,” Sans mused.

Papyrus quirked an eyebrow ridge. “What? No! Cooking lessons!” he said with an indignant scoff. “And after I’ve proven mastery over the culinary arts, then Undyne shall finally make me a member of the Royal Guard!”

Sans stopped, staring at his brother. He was wearing his more typical battle body costume, but Sans could have sworn–

“I shall return home later! And don’t forget about your sentry duties this afternoon!” Papyrus said as he made for the door. “Farewell, brother!” And he slammed the door behind him in his typical dramatic fashion.

Sans sat at the table, his head still reeling. He frowned. But he thought his brother was already a Royal Guard . . . ? Unless it didn’t happen yet, not in this timeline at least.

Jeeze, what day was it even?

All these RESETS were really screwing with his perception of time. He finished his breakfast, levitated the dishes over to the sink, and then made his way down into the basement. Here he kept his journal detailing what he did remember of the RESETS. The last entry confirmed his suspicions; in the previous timeline, Papyrus had indeed been made into a Royal Guard. So the kid must have gone way back for this RESET.

Something dark and foreboding nagged at the back of his mind. Did something bad happen–?

Sans supposed it didn’t matter much. 

After all, it never actually happened.

–

“SANS!”

Sans jumped from his stool down in the basement. Even all the way down here, Papyrus’s bombastic voice could be heard clear as day. Sans teleported back up to the main floor where Papyrus was standing, absolutely beaming.

“Hey, bro,” he greeted, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Back from Undyne’s? How was it?”

“IT WAS GREAT!” Papyrus bellowed, scooping up Sans into a hug and giving him a spin. Sans let out a surprised huff of breath. “My training is progressing! We have moved on to counter-stealth training!”

Sans wheezed as he squirmed from his brother’s death grip. “Wait, what, really?” 

“Yes! It’s only a matter of time before–!” Papyrus suddenly stopped, a brief look of confusion flashing across his face. “Huh, well now, that’s odd . . .”

“What is?”

“I just had the strangest sense of déjà vu,” Papyrus muttered, drawing a hand to his chin. He wasn’t the only one, though, as Sans himself was getting that exact same feeling of hearing and seeing this exact scene before. 

Papyrus quickly shook himself out of it. “Ah, it’s probably nothing! Just some excitement, I’m sure! I must be CONSTANTLY VIGILANT! She could strike at any moment! Good thing she HATES the snow! She’d never attack me here!”

“You sure about that?” Sans snarked.

Papyrus gave him a scowl. “Hm, you may have a point. So, extra-constant vigilance it is! Now I must attend to my puzzles. And don’t forget about your sentry duties! Don’t be late, you lazy-bones!”

“I’ll be there,” Sans promised.

Papyrus once again all but ran out of the house, slamming the door behind him. But Sans didn’t go anywhere, or even begin to prepare for his job (not that he normally did anyway). Because if his guess was correct . . .

Yes, it was starting to come back to him. Just a little, and it wasn’t exactly memories, more like . . . premonitions. Just a feeling of what was going to happen. 

Sans checked his watch. He wondered how quickly Papyrus would come running back through that door.

Well, nothing to do but wait. He sat on the couch, turning on the TV, and began watching Mettaton’s current show without really watching it.

It was strange. Sans was . . . very oddly calm about all this. He didn’t know why, but he wasn’t filled with the typical worry or anxiety that came after a RESET. And neither was he filled with that empty void of apathy. It wasn’t nothing he felt, Sans was well acquainted with that feeling, it was just . . . calm.

And that in itself was such a strange and novel feeling.

It was about ten or fifteen minutes later when the door all but exploded inwards.

“SANS!” came Papyrus’s frantic and desperate voice. 

It still made Sans jump, even though he knew it was coming. He sprang off the couch nevertheless, spinning around to face his brother. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s Undyne!” Papyrus cried out.  He grabbed Sans by the arms, lifting him to eye-level with the taller skeleton, and began to shake him.

“OHMYGODSANSYOUHAVETOHELPMEIT’SUNDYNESHEFOUNDMESANSOHGOODLORDWHATAREWEGOINGTODOSHETHREATENEDTOKICKMETOTHEMOONICAN’TGOTOTHEMOON-”

Papyrus stopped dead yet again. That same flash of confusion crossed his face. 

“Drat it all, there it is again!” he yelled in frustration, thankfully letting Sans go. Sans dropped to the ground and landed rather ungracefully on his feet.

“Déjà vu?” Sans guessed.

“Yes! Exactly that!” Papyrus said, still panicking. He waved his arms wildly in the air. “Ack! But we can’t be worrying about that right now! Undyne! She saw me!” 

“She saw you,” Sans repeated carefully. Papyrus’s anxiety was starting to seep into him, and he was feeling a sense of panic and fear, but not nearly as much as he should. Especially because Papyrus surely only meant one thing. “She saw you turn into a Blaster?”

“I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know she was there!” Papyrus lamented desperately. “What are we going to do?!”

Sans shrugged. “Just tell her the truth, I suppose.”

Papyrus froze, his entire body and face going slack with shock. He stood there, dumbstruck, for several seconds.

“What?!” Papyrus finally wheezed. “Just–just like that?!”

Sans shrugged.

“But–but–you said we should never tell anyone!”

“I think we spent enough time hiding behind lies and half-truths, don’t you think?” Sans said. “And besides, it’s Undyne. She’s not stupid. And she’s even more stubborn than I am. I doubt anything we say or do will make her forget what she saw. Best we just come clean, yeah?”

Papyrus blinked. He was struck silent in shock. He had been prepared for an argument, or even for Sans to run away from the problem, like he typically did.

“And besides all that,” Sans continued in a softer tone. “She’s your best friend. You trust her, right?”

Slowly, Papyrus nodded. “Of course.”

“So then we can trust her to keep this between us, right?”

Again, another nod. But then he shook his head, recovering from his stupor. “I–Sans, I apologize, I just wasn’t expecting you to be so understanding and . . . cooperative.”

Sans gave another one of his casual half-shrugs. “Eh, maybe I’m tired of running and slacking off.”

“You? Tired of slacking off?” Papyrus laughed. “What is this world coming to!”

Just then, the door was violently kicked in with a thunderous crack.

“SANS HOLY FUCK!”

“Language,” Sans scolded with a smile and a wink.

Undyne stood there, absolutely fuming as she locked her single golden slitted eye on Papyrus. He cowed under her glare.

Sans preemptively activated his Blue magic, rooting Undyne to the spot before she could tackle his poor brother. Undyne let out an indignant shout.

“HEY!”

“We promise to tell you what you wanna know,” Sans said calmly. “You just gotta promise not to suplex my bro off the second story banister. Again.”

Undyne’s eye narrowed. Sans could practically feel her vibrate under his magical grasp. But she relented.

“Fine,” she spat, and Sans let her go.

All three of them awkwardly stood there for a bit.

“I’ll go make some tea,” Papyrus said sheepishly and absconded to the kitchen.

–

One very long and emotionally charged story later, two skeleton brothers and one Undyne sat at the kitchen table, all reeling from recounting their traumatic experience. Even though Sans thought himself prepared to tell them what he knew, it still wasn’t easy. It was . . . a lot, but Undyne proved to be an incredibly gracious listener and supported Papyrus through the entire ordeal.

“That’s . . . shit, dude, I had no idea,” she breathed. “That sucks. That fucking sucks.”

Another shrug from Sans. He did that a lot, he realized. “I know. But it happened, it’s in the past, and for what it’s worth, we’re here, and we’re ok. It’s just something we don’t like to bring up or talk about.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Undyne said. “If I had any clue what happened to you guys–”

“We get it,” Sans said. “We just ask you keep this between us.”

“You have my vow as Captain of the Royal Guards, I will not breathe a word of this to anyone else,” Undyne swore, pantomiming a zipping motion over her mouth.

“Thank you, Undyne,” Papyrus said graciously. “And thank you, Sans for . . . finally answering a few questions of my own.”

“I’ve kept you in the dark for long enough,” Sans said. “You deserve to know the truth. All of it.”

They sat in an uneasy silence for a while. The air around them was still so heavy, but there was relief and reconciliation. The burden of keeping all this to himself was now a weight thrown off Sans’s shoulders, and he knew Undyne would keep her word.

Undyne left a few minutes later, allowing the brothers some space. She also needed her own to just process all she had heard. 

It shook her to her core to know that a monster was capable of such untold cruelty; imprisoning and torturing the brothers like that. Turning them into those beasts. But if Sans’s word was true, and she had no reason to doubt him, then the bastard responsible was dead and gone and best of all, forgotten.

It was for the best that he was forgotten, Undyne knew, but still! It just didn’t seem fair to Undyne that he got off so damn easy. It was far too merciful for the sins he committed. He should be remembered, if only for all of monsterkind to spit his name.

There was no way every trace of Dr. Gaster’s existence was erased! Something had to have survived!

So Undyne vowed to visit the Labs tomorrow. She’d tear that place upside down if she had to, she’d find something that belonged to that evil bastard!

The very next day, beneath a mountain of ashes, she found the medal of a general.

A horrible chilling sense of déjà vu crept up her spine.

–

“Hey, Paps, I’ve been thinking.”

Two monsters were sprawled on the rocky cavernous floor of Waterfall. Stalactites hung from the ceiling above them, sparkling with water and glowing rocks. Papyrus rolled onto his side, his draconic face turning to look at her. He let out a low questioning growl.

She grinned.  Yeah, it didn’t matter how many times she saw Papyrus transform, it was so damn cool every time.

“You know what?  I think you are ready to become a Royal Guard!”

Papyrus jerked back, his eyes going wide.  His jaw dropped open.

“You heard me, you bonehead!” Undyne laughed.  “I am making you an official Royal Guard!”

Immediately he jumped to his feet, tail wagging at a hundred miles an hour.  A string of barks and whines streamed from his mouth, his tone frenzied.  He raced back and forth, spinning in excited circles.

Undyne laughed.  “Alright, calm down before you make yourself puke!”

Papyrus roared loudly.

“CALM DOWN?!” he exclaimed, shifting to his skeleton form in a burst of magic.  “UNDYNE!! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!! HOW CAN I BE CALM?!?!”

He raced up to her, scooping her up into a massive hug and spinning her around. Undyne let out a loud laugh, letting Papyrus be his typical doofy self.

“Are you serious?! Do you really mean it?!” Papyrus asked breathlessly, finally stopping and setting her down.

“As serious as a heart attack!” Undyne assured. “You are ready to be a guard!”

Papyrus let out a loud whoop of celebration, pumping his fist in the air and practically tap dancing with joy. Undyne couldn’t stop smiling, seeing his pure elation.

But she couldn’t help that stupid nagging feeling in her mind that she had seen this before. Ugh! There it was again, that stupid sense of déjà vu! But she shook it off. 

She wasn’t going to let anything ruin this moment!

–

A grand celebration was held in the king’s palace to commemorate Papyrus’s initiation into the Royal Guard. So many familiar faces were there, like all the dogs of Snowdin and the sentries that patrolled Hotlands and the castle. Papyrus was radiating pure joy and delight, and the crowd that had gathered shared his joy and cheer.

Sans was there, of course. He wouldn’t miss this for anything. And he was so very proud of his little brother. Papyrus deserved to be happy and live out his dreams. Though Sans was initially put off by the idea of Papyrus joining the guard, he began to realize there wasn’t much of a reason why Papyrus shouldn’t. Why shouldn’t he live out his heart’s desire while they still could?

Before the human came through and either released them from the mountain . . . or burned everything down in a blaze of violence.

Somehow, Sans had an unusually strong conviction that maybe, just maybe, when the human showed up, things would be better.

He had no idea what gave him that hope. Just a gut feeling, he decided. But it was so pure and so thorough that Sans felt the most confident he had felt since . . . he couldn’t remember when.

Just what exactly happened in that prior RESET to make him feel this way?

It didn’t matter, Sans decided. Because right now King Asgor was cutting up a celebratory cake in the shape of Papyrus’s face and dang if that cake didn’t look delicious.

–

Several days later, the doors to the Ruins opened for the first time in years. Emerging from those ancient doors, stiff from rust and frost, was a human child.

And right there to greet them was Sans.

He lurked in the shadows of the surrounding forests, keeping a careful eye on them. The human had only a stick in their hands, their striped shirt bereft of any dust or wear. They walked down the path towards Snowdin, towards Sans’s sentry station.

Sans appeared behind the kid. He approached.

“Human,” he said. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”

The human froze, turning slowly to face the skeleton. Their eyes were wide and wet with disbelief. They looked . . . shocked and sad but oh so heartbreakingly relieved.

Sans felt his grin tighten.

That was not an expression he had been expecting-

The kid rushed towards him, throwing their arms around his chest and squeezing him tightly in a hug. Sans went rigid, his smile stiff.

“Uh . . .” Sans muttered unsurely. He tentatively reached up and patted the kid on the back. This was a new one.

Was–was the kid crying?

“You’re ok,” the kid whispered.

“Come again?” Sans said stupidly.

“You’re alright!” The human pulled away, finally looking up at Sans and wiping at their eyes. “I–I wasn’t sure, things got so confusing last time, and I wasn’t sure this RESET would work–but you’re here and you’re ok!”

Wow. Ok. A lot to unpack there.

“Yeah, of course I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” Sans grinned. “We’re right back where everything is supposed to be.”

The human let out a small chuckle, which was unfortunately mixed with a choking hiccup. They brushed at their nose with their sleeve. “Good. That’s good. And Papyrus–your brother . . .”

“What about him?” Sans asked, feeling himself reflexively tense.

“Is he ok, too?” The human’s voice was so soft and timid and afraid. And Sans could only stare and wonder just what happened to get such a reaction out of this poor kid.

“Of course he is. And if you don’t believe me, you can come with me and see for yourself,” Sans winked. 

He led them further down the road, where Sans directed them to hide behind a conveniently shaped lamp. The human was already halfway over before Sans could finish his sentence.

Right on cue, Papyrus came strutting down the trail, greeting Sans in his usual bombastic manner and striking a heroic pose, made doubly epic by his brand new shining Royal Guard armor. Sans swore he could see the kid’s eyes sparkle with delight behind the lamp.

Luckily, Papyrus was oblivious to the kid. 

They bantered for a bit, Papyrus berating Sans’s laziness before he strode off to attend to his puzzles. Once gone, the kid emerged from their hiding space, absolutely elated.

“He’s still a guard! I did it right!” they said under their breath, but just barely loud enough for Sans to catch. He pretended he didn’t hear, just for their sake.

“Isn’t my brother the coolest?” Sans said casually, and the kid eagerly nodded in agreement. There was such an enthusiastic innocence to them that Sans couldn’t help but let his guard down ever so slightly around them. “But you know what? He’s never seen a human before, and if you meet him and go say hi, I know that’d really make his day. And don’t be intimidated by all that shiny armor. He may look big and scary, but my brother’s totally harmless. Would you do that for me?”

“Of course,” the kid said without hesitation.

Sans smiled, and for once, it didn’t feel forced. “Thanks a million. I’ll be up ahead.”

The human went on their way, breezing through all the traps and puzzles of Snowdin. All the residents they encountered, they treated with kindness and mercy. They gave all the dogs all the pets they could ever want (honestly going way overboard with Lesser Dog but who was Sans to judge) and they humored Papyrus’s endless dramatics at his numerous puzzles.

Sans was feeling strangely proud of the kid. They were going way above and beyond this run, they could tell. What inspired such compassion in them this go-around?

In time they reached the heart of Snowdin, making sure to talk with every and all residents they could. They chatted up the innkeeper, they knocked on all the doors they could, they said hi to the wolf at the river hucking great ice blocks into the water, and last but not least, they stopped by Grillby’s bar for one last talk with all the sentries they’ve bested. Grillby was there, silently working away, only giving a nod to the kid before they went on their way.

It wasn’t long before they confronted Papyrus. They approached the foggy misty stretch between Snowdin and Waterfall, where Papyrus waited.

He had prepared a speech just for this occasion. A magnificent speech that he would capture this human in the name of the Royal Guards and bring them to the king, as was his royal duty! But the skeleton was consumed with doubt, torn between his responsibilities and the fond kinship he felt with the human. 

In the end, though Papyrus did do battle (and did his very best, despite the human constantly distracting him with their flirting!) Papyrus knew in his soul what the right thing to do was, and gave the human mercy.

The human gladly accepted, and they went on a date. Where Papyrus realized they would be much better off as friends.

The human accepted this as well with hardly a hint of disappointment, giving Papyrus a great big hug, which he happily returned.

The human then went on their way, entering Waterfall. Sans had another station there, where he was currently sitting and waiting for the human to arrive. They spotted him and waved before approaching.

Sans gave the kid a wink. “What, never seen a guy with two jobs before? Fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally required breaks. I’m going to Grillby’s. Wanna come?”

The kid eagerly nodded.

“Well, if you insist,” Sans chuckled. “I’ll pry myself away from my work.” He stood up from his post and circled around it, motioning for the kid to follow. “Over here, I know a shortcut.”

The kid was right on his heels, following right behind him.

In no time at all, they were back at Grillby’s, and Sans made his rounds to everyone to say hi. Everyone knew Sans, of course, and now everyone knew the kid, and they were greeted with a wave of hello’s and casual banter. They made their way to the bar, clambering up to sit on some stools. The kid took a seat–

Only for a wet fart to sound from under their seat. The kid balked. They forgot about that silly whoopee cushion!

Sans let out a peal of laughter. “Whoops, watch where you sit down!” he said with a coy grin.

The kid threw them a dirty look but even they were smiling. They laughed it off before peeling the whoopee cushion from under their seat and flinging it back in Sans’s face.

They ordered some food, the human opting for some fries and Sans making it a double. Grillby whisked away back into the kitchen to prepare their food, leaving the two alone to talk.

“So, what do you think of my brother?” Sans asked.

“He’s really cool!” the human said. “And it’s good to see him doing well.”

Sans paused. There was a lot the kid wasn’t saying, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

“Of course he’s doing well. Being a Royal Guard, getting to wear that armor, you’d be cool too if that were you,” Sans said. “He’d only take it off if he absolutely had to. Oh well, at least he washes it. And by that I mean he wears it in the shower.”

The human giggled. “Wouldn’t that make all that metal rust?”

“Not if you dry and polish it right away. Which he does all day long. When he’s not busy on guard duty, that is,” Sans winked. “Sometimes I think he takes better care of his armor than of himself!”

The kid laughed again, but this one seemed more forced. And to be fair, it wasn’t one of Sans’s better ones; it came off more mean-spirited than he intended. He didn’t mean to imply Papyrus treated himself badly, it was just supposed to be an over-exaggeration how obsessed he was about being a guard–

Oh well.

Their food came out and the kid, with a resigned sigh, took the ketchup bottle, knowing full well the cap was loose and spilled ketchup all over their plate. Sans was merciful enough to give them his own plate, remarking that he wasn’t hungry.

“Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree Papyrus tries real hard. Like how every day he tries real hard to be the best Royal Guard there is. Think the joke is that he's trying to get promoted to Captain, though our current captain, Undyne, has absolutely no plans on stepping down any time soon. But it’s hilarious to see them duke it out. All in good fun, promise. They’re best pals, and Undyne’s been working him extra-hard to make sure he’s prepared for when a human falls down here.”

Sans gave a wide grin to the human and winked at them.

“But seeing you here, it’s clear I’m a terrible influence as a brother because he’s not very good at his job, now, is he?”

Another giggle from the kid.

“Oh, yeah, one last thing, I wanted to ask you something.”

The kid tensed slightly, detecting the faintest of edges to Sans’s voice.

“Have you ever heard of a talking flower?”

“Flowey, you mean?” the human clarified.

Sans actually intended to talk about the echo flowers, but there was a pain in the kid’s voice that caught Sans off guard. There was something important the kid wanted to say, and going against his better judgment, Sans let the kid go on.

“It was Flowey that gave me the idea for the last RESET,” the kid admitted, speaking so lowly and quietly Sans could barely hear them. “It was him who told me–” they stopped, shaking their head. “No, I can’t blame him. It’s my fault. It’s my fault I listened to him. I should have never gone along with their plan, I shouldn’t have done it–!”

“Hey, hey, none of that,” Sans assured, mostly because he did not want to deal with a small child breaking down on him. He wasn’t good at things like that. “Whatever you did, it didn’t happen, right? Best not fret about it or you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

“But I did something really awful,” the human said mournfully. 

“What, worse than killing everyone in the Underground?” Sans said with a sarcastic and bitter edge.

The kid looked at them. And that expression–

It made Sans’s bones shiver.

His eyes went dark. What did the kid do to warrant such an expression?!

“I–” the kid began, but Sans quickly cut them off.

“Look,” Sans said. “I don’t know what you did. And I don’t care to know what you did. And maybe it’s for the best if no one does. Because it didn’t happen. You get me?”

The human slowly nodded. “I just hope you and Papyrus can forgive me–”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Sans said. “Not yet, at least.” There was a warning there. “But if you wanna make up for whatever happened in your last run . . . then maybe this time you’ll do what’s right.”

The kid’s expression hardened into one of pure determination. “I plan to.”

“Atta kid,” Sans said, clapping them on the shoulder. “Welp, that was a long break. I can’t believe I let you pull me away from work for that long. Grillby! Put the bill on my tab!”

Then he got off his stool, and sauntered out the door. 

The human followed after them out of the bar, filled with determination to do right. Not just for the skeleton brothers’ sake, but for the sake of everyone in the Underground.

They’ve made up their mind.

It was time to finally, finally let everyone free.

–

They breezed through the rest of their journey through the Underground, but they took great care and diligence to still be thorough. They knew every trick and every secret the caves had to offer and they explored them all. From the echo flower marsh to the Temmie Shop to the abandoned quiche hidden under a bench, they left no stone unturned, and no monster unbefriended. They shared their umbrella with MK and they deftly evaded the ever-persistent Captain Undyne. And when their journey through Waterfall finally culminated into an epic battle between the captain and their faithful skeleton-dragon sidekick, the human pacified the two with ease and went on to visit Undyne and befriend her, with the help of Papyrus, of course.

They were elated that they managed to get everything right with this timeline, ensuring Papyrus was still a Royal Guard and his secret shape-shifting form revealed. They had a feeling it would be important for the ultimate happy ending they planned to give everyone.

Their journey continued onto Hotland, with Alphys and Mettaton, and after a spectacular dance battle with the exuberant robot, they reached the final stretch. It was just through the CORE and up to the king’s castle, and there . . . 

Finally. Finally. It would all be over.

There was a certain excited thrum of anticipation and resolution. They were doing everything they promised to do. They were on the right path. The straight and narrow, as Papyrus put it. The human assumed the skeleton had no true idea of what those words meant to them now. It was because of him they were even here, after all.

Even still, with everything so close, with the ending just mere moments away, something nagged at them.

Something left them deeply unsatisfied.

It wasn’t until they doubled-back to Waterfall to grab an errant item or two that they remembered.

All the monsters would go free.

Except one.

Gaster.

He was still down here, trapped. And he would never know freedom or peace. 

The human would not stand for that.

But what could they possibly do? They thought about it long and hard for a while, but as knowledgeable as they were about the Underground and its residents, they still didn’t know exactly how to get Gaster out of whatever strange in-between place he found himself in. They would need someone much smarter than themselves to help with this endeavor.

And who better to ask than the monster in question? After all, they knew what to do to see him.

Just a few minor changes to their SAVE here and there, a simple tweak of the numbers, and when they revisited Waterfall, going down a lone and secluded path, they saw it.

The silver door.

They reached for the handle, and opened it.

Inside was a plain white room, devoid of anything remarkable on those blank walls. But in the center of the room a figure stood. A figure heaving with labored breaths, their form corrupted and twisting like static. Their body was an incomprehensible shape that defied all logic and physics, their skeletal white face twisted in what the human could assume was pain. Their eye sockets were dark and their empty grin twisted in agony.

They scarcely took a step forward before the figure spoke to them.

W̪̰h͍at ͚d͇o ̫͉͚yo̭̯̤u̼̝͎ hop͙̦e͙̹ͅ ͕͓to ach̘̱͓iev̰͍̯e̙̳̰, v͍is̱̪͔i̺̹t̳ing͖̗̘ ̯͇m̼e̹̗ ̹͙͖hḛ͉͕re̖̳ and ̙̳͎n̬̝ow?̤̭

The human swallowed, straightening their back with resolve.

“I’m going to help you. I’m going to get you out of here, so you can finally be free,” the human said.

Gaster let out a choking laugh, shaking his head. Yo͍̰u̦̰ w̖̤̪as̼̭te͍ y̯̹̳our͓͇͚ ͈̱̜ef͔f͚̻͇or̫̖̙t̥̜͉s.̯͎̪ Th͓e͎re̬ͅ ̯͇̠is͓ ̯no͇͈ ͙̣sa̭vi̦̼n͉͓ͅg̤̯ m̫̩e.̺͍͖ ̣̭I̦̭f͙ͅ you͔̠̙ trul̺͉y̳̲̘ ̭wi̹s̞͈͕h f̼̻ͅo͎͓r me͎͖ to̙̜̩ ̭ḅe fre̤̲e͎,̥ t̠̹͕h̥̙͖e̲̰ṇ̪ f̰r̟͖̥e͔̺e̱̲̩ ̳̟̱the ̩̩Unde̤͓̮r̳͎g̦̹r͔͙̱o̦̘̩un̹̬̳d. ̗An̘̩̤d ͉̤̫I can̼ ̪̗g̫̮͍o ̲̲i̝ͅn ̰pea͍c̦̯e.

“But–you deserve to live, too,” the human protested. “If I can be given a second chance and forgiven of my mistakes, then so can you.”

I do̪̥ ̲͉not ẉant͍̳ it̮̫̖, Gaster said fiercely. I͎̫̟ d̺̳̜o̬̦̬ ̮͕̪noṭ̜ DESE̟R̹̰V̹̤̭E̦ it̮͇.̭͚

“You don’t get to decide that.”

I̭̘ ̥̬ca̺͓͔n͉.̬̙̩ S̤tu͈b͉̭̪bo͕̤̠rṇ͇͍ ̠̺b͉̟̪r͕at͇.̰

The kid balked at that. Seriously? They hadn’t expected such a childish insult from the scientist. 

The scientist grinned at them, and once again shook his head. I ̘̠ha͇ve̩͎ l͚͈̙iv̫ͅe͚d͙͚̙ ͙͉m͙y ͍l͎if͈͕͚e̫̲̭. ̬̱̦I ḥ̼ad ̼͓my̥͈͈ ̲̦c͖̱h̭̯a̞̜n̠c̪e͕̪s, ̳̤a͇̙n̬d̙ ̰̗s̘̪͍q͕̱u̦̬a̖̟̬nder̦̯e͍̫d̼̩ ̙t͓ͅhe̜m. Ṋ̯͓o͉w ͚a̼̜͔ll I͈̫ w͚i̜̟s̰͍h̲̬̮ t͈̠o̭̲͓ ͔̹do is s̺e̲̤̘e ̤̰m̫̤y ̝kind͎ ̺̝̞g̯̙͈o̹ fr̥͇ee̫͓̫ a̪nd̟̤̝ ̲̞ḅas̖k ̦̠i̘̗n the̹̫ sun. ̤͉I͍ a̩̦̖m h̜̹̫ol̳̤di͙̪̻n̪͖g̗̠͚ oͅn͉̰ for͓ tha̠͍̗t ͎r̠͙̬eaṣo̥n alo͚̺ne.̱̬ ̭You ̝͍̩w̤̦͈i̪̪̘s̤h̻̭ t̼̜o ̲͖̲d̺o ri̝̤gh͖̰ͅt by͙̮ th͕e͉ ̘̦m̘i̼̳ͅst͈͓ͅạ͔ͅk̝̞̲es͎̰ o̠f̘ͅ yo͍͖̘u͈r ͖̹̺p̼a̝s̩t?̜̳ ͖̣͇You wi̤s̖h to gr͖͙a̬n̫̞t̪̠ ̠̙̲me͔̮ ̫peace̘͇?̲̠̦ ͖Th̦͈e̞n ͉̱l̜̙̖et ̻m̙e̘̳ͅ go ̖in̠ m̬̤͎y o̦w̬̮ṉ̬͕ ͓wa̺̲͉y̦͖.̟̟ Le͓t m̥ͅͅe p͚͚̬a̦sͅs̫ ͉k̙n̫ͅo̟win̰g ̩̝̼my ̲̱k̲͖͍in̥̞d̮̙̥ ̻s͕̼̰ee fr͓eͅedom̰̪͕.̻t̞ext ḥ͔͓ere

The human clenched their fist. “It’s not enough.”

Not ͇̮̫e͕v̺̣ery̳̲̪thin͎g ̭ͅcan ̤eṇd ̗̻̹p̬͓erfḙ̭c͚̤t̪ly̜̣.͔̣͉ ̬̠͔

The human looked at them, but their conviction did not falter. If Gaster wouldn’t help them–

I ̻̮͍k̬no̠͎w͎ ̠tḥat e͕̭xpre̤̭̼s̭̘si͙̙͕on͙ͅ,̘͓ Gaster spoke up. Y̝ou ̥͓w̲i̹ll ͓̣͎no̝t̹̦ be̱̲͔ ̥͓m͚͈͓o̺ved̲.

“I’m stubborn like that,” they said.

Gaster stood there for a moment, their eyes growing dark as the distorted remains of their hand came to their chin as he thought long and deep. He stood there for a very long time, so long that the human wondered if Gaster even forgot they were there.

I͔ ̳̘.̻̫ ̩. . ma͓y͎̦̜ h͙͉a͔v͉̲̦e ̗̲ͅa ̫̮p̼̲̼la̬̗̲n,̭͚ he said slowly. I c͎̬an͎̮̞n̬̤o̦t saͅy̰͙ ͎̣̮o̦r do̺͇̝ a͎n̟y͎tͅhi̻̗ͅng to c̺on��̟̪v͙̰iṇ̲ce̜ yo̲̠̘u to̪ gi̯ͅv̯̙e up̯̦̖.͔ S͎̟t̯ub̥͙̟b͓̼͙o̯̺r͉̼n b͔͎̼r̠̻̮at̮͔͓.

The human couldn’t help but smile at that. 

So ͖.̮̫ ̤̮.̦͔͍ ̻ͅ.̲ ver̟y we͍̮ll.̥̯̪ ̩̯͚L̜et̥̻ u͚̦s̰͈ put ̞̩th̘at ̙͙͔de̮̳͚tḛ̼rmi̟na͚͔̲t̗ḭon̙ ̣̥̦t̼͖̹o͈ ̘̺̩w͖̳o̟̠r̥̪k.͈̥̼ ͇̖Sͅend fo͎̺̩r͔̝̬ S̱̩a̜ns a̹͙̫nd͈ P̞͈̼ap͇̞yrus̱̦̠. ̣̯Tell ̖t͕̼̳he̱̤͇m to̫͓͈ ̪̝c̺̯̩o̪̲m̜̜e her̤e̹.̦͉̣ ̮I̲ ̩̦wil͓͔ͅl̝̱ be̤̫̬ ̣̩wa̱̖iți͙n͔̘g.̜ I̭ wil͚̱ͅl̞ ͖̱̯spe̼a̪͙k ̣̣to ͙them͈.̖̖̳ ̦͇W̞̱e̩̘̩ ͓̦̣w̱͉ͅi̥̰ll make a̼ pl͔̩̖an̮͕.͕͓ͅ

The human nodded. “Thank you.”

Nͅo͔͙͓w̪ g͖̰o͍. Y͎͖̦o̮̜u’v̬̺e͕͓͉ ̮̫s͓̜͇t̰̜̻al̦̭̪led f̼̖̰o͈r̮͎̫ ͖lo̳n̬͔g eno͓̫̰u͈͔̮gh.̙̠̰

The human nodded, and left. They closed the door behind them, and when they stepped back into Waterfall, the door was still there. Curiously, they tried the handle.

Locked.

Hm, seems they wouldn’t be getting back in. Not without Papyrus and Sans.

It was easy enough to find them. After befriending Papyrus, the two brothers could typically be found hanging out at their house, accompanied by Undyne who was now crashing at their place after she and the human accidentally burned her house down. They greeted Papyrus with a wave as they walked over and Papyrus returned with an over-exuberant wave of his own.

“Greetings, human! What brings you back to our lovely abode?” Papyrus asked.

“I actually need to talk to you and Sans,” they said. “It’s kind of important.”

“Oh?” Papyrus said curiously. “I shall fetch him!” 

He led them inside, and right on cue, Sans emerged from a back room. The human had no idea if they were always there or just somehow knew to pop up here and now. They supposed it didn’t matter. 

“Sans! The human has something they wish to speak to us about!” Papyrus said.

“Is that so?” Sans said. “What’s up?”

“Well . . .” the human said, gripping the hem of their shirt uneasily. “It’s about Gaster.”

Sans’s expression flickered only minutely. But the human knew him better than that; they saw that grin tighten, they saw the very subtle shift in their posture, they saw the way the skeleton’s eye sockets twitched ever so slightly.

“What’s a Gaster?” he tried to shrug off, but the human crossed their arms over their chest and frowned sternly at him.

“Come on, I know everything, don’t act like I don’t know who he is,” the human said impatiently. 

“Well, then, what about him?” Sans challenged. He wasn’t even hiding the disdain and anger in his voice now.

This was going to be harder than the human anticipated. “Ok, I know he’s done some really bad things–”

Sans barked out laughing, that grin tightening further into a scowl. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“--but he’s the only reason I’m here right now. He saved my life, and he saved the whole timeline,” the human went on without pause.

“Bullshit.”

Papyrus gaped, and so did the human.

“Sans!” Papyrus gasped scandalously. “Language!”

Sans only narrowed their eyes on the human, glaring daggers at them. “I don’t believe for even a second that monster is capable of helping anyone other than himself.”

The human sighed. They really didn’t know what they could say so that he’d believe them, other than the truth.

So they took a deep breath, straightened their back. And told them everything.

“Flowey told me the truth about the Gaster Blasters,” they said firmly. They turned to Papyrus. “He told me how to make you turn. He told me how to fight you at your full potential.”

Papyrus stood there, his expression blank. He didn’t understand. “But–you’ve already fought me here in Snowdin, and again in Waterfall–”

“That wasn’t your full strength.” They turned back to Sans, a knowing look in their eye. And Sans’s expression was completely blank,their eye sockets hollow and empty. Because Sans knew what the human meant.

“How–?” Sans began.

“It doesn’t matter,” the human said, lowering their head in shame. “But I realized, if I fought you, it would–it would break my soul.” They paused. “I mean that literally. It would destroy it. And–and I wouldn’t be able to RESET anymore, and you would all be trapped down here for even longer, maybe even forever.” They stepped forward. “But then Gaster came! I admit, I really don’t know what exactly happened or how, but Gaster stopped me, and he made sure I RESET everything so I wouldn’t be destroyed.”

The skeleton brothers stared on. Neither of them had any clue what to even say to that. For Sans, all of the pieces were starting to make sense–the human’s sorrow and regret and determination to do right, this had to be why.

“But it wasn’t just Gaster,” the human said, once again turning up to look at Papyrus with a smile on their face. “You saved me, too. You–” The human stopped, just because they didn’t know how much they should say. Sans’s warning burned in their mind. 

Maybe it was best if no one remembered.

And they didn’t want Papyrus to remember anything of that terrible timeline.

“You stopped me from doing something really horrible that I would regret,” they finally settled. “And the worst part is you were hurting, too, and despite all that . . . you were still so kind. And I will never forget that.”

Papyrus didn’t know what to say. He didn’t remember the RESETs, not like Sans did, but in some inexplicable way, he understood and felt the sincerity of the human’s every word. And Papyrus’s face softened into a smile.

“Of course. We’re best friends. And best friends are always there for each other when they’re in need.”

The human nodded in agreement, smiling wide and wiping some moisture from their eyes. “So that’s why I really need you to trust me when I say that Gaster regrets everything he’s done, and he’s trying to do good. And if I’m worth saving, then he is, too.”

Sans wasn’t so quick to trust the kid. It was still a very difficult ask for him, to confront the one that inflicted so much pain and abuse on him. And now the kid wanted them to just kiss and make up?!

The human could see Sans’s conflict. “If you want, you can talk to him yourself. He’s in Waterfall. Behind a silver door.”

“Brother, perhaps . . . perhaps we shall see what he has to say for himself?” Papyrus offered carefully. 

Sans stood there, fuming. He didn’t want to hear a damn thing the doc had to say, but with a bit more insistence from both the kid and Papyrus, he agreed to at least just go and hear what he had to say.

“You don’t have to even say anything, or agree to anything,” the kid was saying. “Just–just hear him out. Please?”

Sans supposed he could do that. But if he suspected anything fishy, he was gone.

The human showed them the way back to the door, where it still stood, ominous and foreboding. And once again, the human reached for it.

It was still locked.

They began to panic, furiously jerking at the handle. “No, no! He’s right here! He’s right behind this door, I promise!”

“Here, let me try,” Papyrus said. He gently scooted the human to the side and tried the handle, finding that it opened with ease at his touch. He blinked.

“Now what on earth–”

“I think . . . maybe the doc means for just the two of us to talk to him,” Sans said. He turned to the kid. “Sorry, but I think you’re gonna have to wait outside.”

The human let out a breath, nodding. It made sense. Surely the conversation between the skeletons was going to be a very emotional and personal one. Gaster would want their privacy.

“I’ll be waiting right here for you guys,” they promised.

Sans nodded, and with a shaky breath, he gathered his nerve and stepped inside, Papyrus following right behind him.

The door snapped closed behind them.

The human took a step back, leaning against the far cavern wall, their eyes never leaving the door. They had no idea how long the brothers would be in there–

Not five seconds later, the skeletons emerged. Their expressions were haunted and hollow, their gaze a million miles away. The human jumped.

“You’re out already?!” they exclaimed. “Did you even talk to Gaster?!”

The two skeletons stared at them.

“Human, we must have been in there for hours,” Papyrus said slowly. “We did nothing but talk!”

“And maybe a little bit of shouting,” Sans said grimly.

“I think there was certainly more than a little bit,” Papyrus said thinly. He turned back to the human. “But, yes, we were in there for quite some time.”

The human blinked. “But I just saw you walk in,” they said dumbly.

Sans shrugged. “Well. Time works weird in . . . whatever place we were in. Maybe not much time passed in the real world while we were away.”

“I guess that makes sense,” the human said. “But what did you guys talk about? What did he say?” they asked eagerly. 

The skeletons exchanged a look that the human couldn’t read. Papyrus turned back to them.

“We’re going to help Gaster with one final task,” Papyrus said.

The human grinned ear to ear. They threw their fist up in the air. “Yes! I knew it!”

“But,” Sans said sharply, cutting the human off right then and there. “You need to do exactly what we tell you to do.”

The human grew serious. “Of course.”

“Then go to the end of the Golden Hall. Meet with King Asgore. You’re going to have to fight him. And once Asgore is defeated . . . you’ll then need to face Asriel.”

The human blinked. “You mean Flowey?”

“No,” Sans said firmly. “It must be Asriel.”

 The human’s eyes widened with realization.

“And once you meet Asriel . . . take him to our house. Go into the basement. Activate the time machine.”

“What?! I don’t–you have a time machine?!” the human sputtered. 

“Flowey–Asriel will know what to do,” Sans assured. “It’s the only way.”

“I don’t understand,” the human said.

“You will, but now it’s time for you to trust us,” Papyrus said gently. “We’ll take care of everything. Just make sure to do everything Sans asked you to do, alright?”

The human nodded. “Ok. I trust you guys.”

“Then you better get going. Asgore’s waiting,” Sans said.

The human nodded, once again their face hardening with determination. They turned and headed back the way they came, fulfilling the last leg of their journey.

Papyrus and Sans stood there, watching the human go. Papyrus let out a sad and defeated sigh.

“I don’t like lying,” he said regretfully. “Especially not to them.”

“It’s for the best,” Sans said. “The kid would never agree if they knew the truth. Now come on, there’s a lot of work we gotta do.”

–

The hearts of all monsterkind beat as one.

In perfect unison, the combined heart and soul of every monster cried out, shouting together, beating as one with one goal in mind:

To defeat the terrifying and nightmarish abomination that Flowey had become.

Undyne and her friends stood together as one cohesive unit, their souls thrumming in harmony, their magic radiating and cascading into a magnificent display of power and unity.

Together, they were united.

Together, they were unstoppable.

And then

Flowey laughed.

“I can’t believe how STUPID you all are!!!”

The world erupted into blinding light as all their souls were pulled forward, towards the nightmare amalgamation.

“ALL OF YOUR SOULS BELONG TO ME!”

The world went black, leaving the human alone in a void.

One other figure stood in front of them. Their back was to them. They were so small, only a child.

A sad, restrained laugh of disbelief choked out from them.

“I was so tired . . . of being a flower . . .”

The figure turned around.

“. . . Chara . . . ? Are you there?”

It was a young goat-monster, barely older than the human themselves. He spun, locking eyes with the human, tears in his wide, dark eyes.

“It’s me. Your best friend.”

The long-thought dead prince of monsters.

“Asriel.”

And the battle began anew.

–

“You know, I can’t remember everything that happens in the RESETs,” Asriel admitted.

The two found themselves resting in the black and empty space they were in, catching their breaths and regaining their senses after their battle. The human was battered and exhausted, and Asriel . . .

Asriel was filled with a much deeper and more profound sense of exhaustion than the human could ever know.

“I only know that they happened. Sometimes I remember little pieces, or how I felt. Whether they were happy . . . or not.”

The human looked away.

“Frisk . . . I know why you keep coming back. I can feel the souls of everyone inside me. And they all care so much about you. You don’t want that to ever stop. I suppose I can’t blame you.”

“But maybe it’s time to let this chapter end,” Frisk said quietly.

Asriel turned to them, a look of shock on his face. Though he shouldn’t be, he knows.

“I think . . . I think I’m finally ready to end this adventure,” Frisk admitted. “But before I do, I need your help with one last thing.”

“Anything,” Asriel said eagerly. Was this really happening? Was Frisk truly ready to set them all free once and for all?

“There’s one last monster that needs to be saved,” Frisk said. “And I can’t reach them without your help.” Frisk stood, extending their hand. “Will you help me save Dr. Gaster?”

[yourloveaton]

Just scroll through everything I have missed. The fuck you mean Trickster doesn't sleep ?!?? What. Did I get it wrong? Am I not understanding something?

Plus, about my last ask about Undyne. Or if to be more concreting about the Asgore's "maybe ask Trickster to train Undyne a bit" part of the answer. I personally really can't see him doing this. Because Trickster is kinda...not..really... in the guard??? Like you get it? Yes, Sans started doing this while he was part of the guards, WE knew that. And yes, he might be associated with them in the eyes of other monsters. But realistically, how can someone who's identity you don't know be officially a part of the government structure? So that means you can't really say this person what to do. You can ask nicely and hope that this will work, but ehh idk about that

Of course, there is another explanation for this possibility. Trickster simply was given a job offer as part of a guards at some point from Asgore. And now he gets paid twice. As Sans and as Trickster. LMAO, just think about it XDD Which actually made me think, does Sans get paid at his job at the laboratory??? Or Gaster just taked him as an unpaid intern. Ahahahah, that would be cruel

OKAY I’m slowly getting back to the inbox IM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT AGAIN 😭🙏🙏 It’s been so busy I couldn’t have the time to seriously sit down and write earnestly…

HAHAHA WHERE DID U GET TRICKSTER’S SLEEP HABITS FROM He does get sleep, but I guess it’s so little enough that nobody has seen him sleep or anything related to it rlly !!! Who knows 🤷

Yeahhh I get your reasoning !!! Let me try to brainstorm and explain what I’ve thought for Trickster’s position in royal guards and anything related to it

Asgore and Sans know each other, through Gaster since in this au Gaster and Asgore were friends that worked together, Gaster introduced the skelebros to Asgore long time ago

I in all honesty haven’t thought throughly about the Trickster’s royal guard role and its details yet cuz I’ve been working on his other parts of his lore, which took more priority as of now AHAHA

But as I was saying, Trickster’s existing connection with Asgore and how his silly reputation with the underground would have reached to Asgore’s ears eventually and and and UGHH MY BRAIN IS NOT WORKING SORRY Gaster could’ve told Asgore too actually AHAHHAAHA many possibilities happening here

but what I wanted to say is that, Asgore would know Trickster eventually and THAT IS WHY he could’ve asked Trickster to do little training session for Undyne since Asgore would’ve wanted her to learn and experience new things from someone different than himself, also it’s his close friend’s son like he’s sure he got some tricks up to his sleeve that could help undyne’s growth or WHATEVER I THINK THATS WHAT I THOUGHT AT THE TIME?? I genuinely don’t remember anymore….

Yeah sorry… I lowkey forgot most of it let me think again… The royal position he’s gotten could either be a sentry or u know, replacing someone’s role for a time because of reasons? Cuz one of the ideas I had was that Gaster heard Asgore’s talk about maybe royalty guards and role replacement or whatever was talked about so Gaster might’ve put Trickster to handle it??? IDEK IF I EXPLAINED IT PROPERLY IM SO SORRY I’m in brainstorm mode rn I’m not good with writing 😭😭😭

But errr errr yeahh something along the way, could be worked more on it later on..

Trickster was an unpaid intern for a while actually AHAHAHA but he did eventually start getting paid for it, not that it matters much cuz… yeah… they’re lowkey rich…. Trickster is a nepo baby 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

anyway, thank you so much for your asks again, I appreciate them SO SO MUCH you’ve got no idea !!! Makes me enjoy developing Trickster’s lore even more too ehehehee 💖💖💖 Let me know if u didn’t get any of these or just have another question heh

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters....

Sans vs Noelle Holiday!

Conditions:

Noelle as of Chapter 2 of the Weird Route.

Scenario:

The Player mods the game to put Noelle into Undertale to recreate the Weird Route. Sans stands in her way.

Analysis: Sans

The man. The myth. The legend. It's the King of Tumblr Sexymen himself: Sans.

For everyone who's been living under a rock since 2015, let me give you a quick rundown. Sans is a Skeleton Monster who lives underground in the town of Snowdin. He works as a Sentry with his brother Papyrus on the look out for humans, though Sans puts considerably less effort into it than his younger brother. He appears to be nothing more than a lazy bag of bones who simply can't be bothered to try to capture Frisk.

In truth though, he's much more than meets the eye. Sans had some kind of relationship with the Underground's previous royal scientist Dr. Gaster and is strongly implied to be an accomplished scientist himself. He's aware of the effects of DETERMINATION and knows that Frisk can reset time at will. Knowing that all of his decisions can be reset by some alien entity at a moment's notice has turned Sans into an apathetic nihilist who can't bring himself to do the bare minimum of his job anymore.

As such, Sans instead acts as the Judge, watching the human from the shadows and observing their actions. Sans remembers every friend they make and sees every life they take, and he will hold them accountable for each. Though, it's only when the human makes it clear that they're a threat to absolutely everything and everyone, everywhere, that Sans steps into the ring himself.

Sans is the weakest enemy in the game. 1 attack. 1 defense. Maybe even 1 hp. And despite all of that, he's still more than capable of kicking your ass. Firstly, his attacks directly hit both body and soul, to the point of completely destroying the soul in seconds as he ignores your physical durability. Secondly, his attacks come from nearly every direction simultaneously, putting the Player through hell as they have do dodge attacks that spring out of the ground beneath them, alongside lasers that spin all around them from his summonable Gaster Blasters. And third, Sans is remarkably fond of abusing his teleportation. Not to dodge mind you, as he's fast enough to side step everything Frisk throws at him, but to attack. He doesn't need to touch his foe to teleport them around the battlefield, even into his other attacks if need be.

It helps that he is easily the fastest monster in the Underground, capable of dodging attacks from a Sea Tea amplified Frisk even in his sleep, who can dodge lightning.

But the most damning ability in his arsenal is his KR. KARMA is a soul poison that infests the target's soul as soon as they make contact with any of Sans' attacks. The common theory is that it does more damage to the opponent depending on how many people they've killed, as implied by the name and the text when you get hit by it "You can feel your sins crawling down your back".

Sans also has Blue Mode, where he increases gravity on the target's body and soul to pin them down and make them easier to hit. Sans uses these in conjunction his blue attacks, attacks that only do damage if the target is moving when they get hit, do disorient and rapidly obliterate his foe before they can think. Overwhelming assaults are the name of Sans' game and he'll pull any trick he needs to in order to win. Including things that are.... hard to quantify.

See, Sans is somehow capable of attacking you... even when it isn't his turn. He completely ignore the rules of the RPG world he lives in to attack you on the menu screen. Which, as you can imagine, is a hard thing to translate to a non-rpg fight. Do I just assume all encounters monsters follow rpg-rules? There's genuinely an argument that can be made for it, I suppose. One thing I am willing to give him however is his ability to pause the battle by just... not taking his turn. Even when all his other tricks fail, Sans can force a deadlock by just doing nothing until you give up and go away... unless, of course, his opponent is capable of doing the same kind of meta bullshit that he is. When Frisk also breaks the rules by attacking twice in one turn, Sans is caught out by it and dies. Which leads me into Sans biggest weaknesses...

He's still the weakest monster in the game. Monster Kid is stronger than he is. For all his memetic qualities, he's physically the weakest fighter to appear on FTF thus far. Not to mention, his own apathy keeps him from fighting unless he absolutely has to and his laziness completely tanks his stamina.

Even with those factors though, Sans has earned his memetic reputation as a ballbustingly hard boss. When you hear those first few notes, you know you're fucked.

Analysis: Noelle

Noelle Holiday does not have a happy life, to put it mildly. While this cozy little hometown, lovingly called.... Hometown, may feel serene on the surface, but there's a tragic undercurrent that the entire town is dancing around the topic of. Noelle and the Holiday family is right in the center of it.

Noelle's sibling went missing some time ago. Disappeared without a trace. Leaving behind an empty hole in Noelle's family that looms over the entire town. This has only gotten worse in the modern day, with her dad Rudy bedridden in the hospital. For as much as he puts on a happy face, it's clear he's not getting better any time soon.

All of these issues are brought to the surface when Noelle and her friend Berdly are dragged into a Dark World within the local library, a magical realm formed by a Dark Fountain where all the inanimate objects within are brought to life. The library computer became the Queen of this Cyber City took Noelle and Berdly in to be her minions. Well.... mostly just Noelle. Berdly's just kinda there.

Queen took a motherly role over Noelle. An overbearing mother with incredibly high expectations. Genuinely loving but smothering all the same. Queen sees the well of potential in Noelle's proficiency with ice magic and wants to nurture it to cover the Light World in darkness.

How this plot is supposed to resolve is Noelle finally being forced to put her foot down and stand up to Queen, taking back just a little bit of control over her life when it had otherwise been completely out of her hands. But.... you always have the option to break the game instead.

Enter the Weird Route. A route that should not exist. Noelle's ice powers in the main path are already devastating, but in the Weird Route, the Player, through Kris as their Avatar, is able to mold her into a weapon to use them to their full lethal potential.

Heal Prayer and Sleep Mist are powerful support abilities that allow Noelle to heal herself and allies or put her foes to sleep if they're weaken or tired, but they're not out focus. IceShook is what allows things to start going off the rails. This ability alone is the only one in the game that kills enemies outright, freezing them solid and leaving a lifeless ice statue in their place.

The Player would have Noelle use this ability to systematically kill every enemy in Cyber City, regardless of Noelle's discomfort. Noelle's dear friend Kris is made to pressure her in more and more threatening ways, from breaking puzzles to murdering salesmen to get their items. Emotionally abusing and breaking Noelle into a weapon that gets stronger and kills their enemies without hesitation or remorse.

Noelle is forced to wear the Thorn Ring, a torture device that causes Noelle agonizing pain to make her stronger. Finally allowing her to cast Snowgrave.

Snowgrave is a massive blast of ice that creates a snowstorm. Fatally freezing anyone caught in its wake. Even Noelle's friend Berdly.

Creating a snowstorm that covers an entire city like that would require energy equivalent to 15 Megatons of TNT.

This coming from someone who is fast enough to dodge electricity directly from a wire at near point blank range. A speed feat requiring reactions near 99% light speed, as that's how fast electricity moves through a wire.

Even when awakening from the Dark World, Noelle's actions follow her into a waking nightmare. Berdly doesn't wake up with her and when Kris confirms that everything wasn't just a dream, they don't speak with their own voice. They speak with ours.

How this will effect the overall story of Deltarune in the long run is difficult to say. But one thing is clear. You took Noelle at one of the most vulnerable points of her life and turned her into your subservient weapon. You fucking monster.

Throwdown Breakdown:

This fight is fairly complicated, but in a different way than Sans's usual matchups. The fact that Deltarune and Undertale both play by meta self aware RPG rules means that the usual complexity of translating Sans's abilities to a matchup is negated, but there are still some issues that need to be addressed.

Firstly, Sans should be capable of dodging Noelle's regular attacks just fine. For as fast as Noelle is, Frisk can dodge similar electricity and light based attacks, and Sans can literally dodge them in his sleep if he needs to. Noelle, meanwhile, would be having a lot more trouble.

Noelle is the same girl who needed to have the Dark World's RPG mechanics patiently explained to her the first time she got inti a battle. Sans' cheating bullshit is not something that she would be able to adapt to quickly. Not only are Sans' attack patterns a lot more aggressive and complex than any enemy Noelle has engaged with in Deltarune (Spamton NEO is an exception but he's killed before he even gets a chance to attack her), but she's never dealt with anything equivalent to Blue Mode either. Combine that with the teleport spam and attacking during turns and Noelle runs a risk of getting overwhelmed before she can break out her biggest trump card.

But, said trump card is also this fight's biggest question. Can Sans dodge Snowgrave?

It is important to note that Snowgrave is not Noelle's usual opening move. Even when the Player's control over her is nearly complete, she still pushes back a lot before finally using it. It's entirely possible that Mr "Why Don't People Use Their Strongest Attack First" could overwhelm her before she breaks it out. This is especially true when she's made to fight people she knows and Sans is (an alternate version of) someone who lives in her hometown. She won't be as forced as she was against Berdly, Deltarune Sans has only just moved in and is not someone she's particularly close to, but that resistance will definitely be present.

Would Sans be able to realize that she's being coerced because of this? Maybe if she starts arguing with the Player openly about it, but otherwise doubtful. He'd just find something weird about her facial expression. For as much as he knows about timelines and as smart as he is, Sans does not definitively know he's in a video game and doesn't know that Chara or The Player are even a thing in the Genocide Route. He thinks the anomaly is Frisk. He lacks the frame of reference to fully get what's happening here. Not that it'd really change his approach here.

But to stop dodging the point, a do think it's entirely possible for Sans to dodge Snowgrave. While Snowgrave creates a massive snowstorm, the actual danger zone of the attack is a big wall of ice moving in a straight like. Do think Sans has both the reaction speed and the means to dodge it.

Does he dodge it every time? No. If he's caught off guard by it, he's fucked and he'd have to teleport to avoid it. But I do think he potentially can.

When all of the above is taken in one package, I think Sans wins more often than not. Noelle can absolutely obliterate Sans if she gets her killshot off, but there's too much working against her character wise to get that consistently.

Tl:dr, Noelle gets beaten up by a grocery store clerk.

This Throwdown's Winner is....

Sans!

[duskfel]

More Entropy lore, perchance?

Entropy lore, you say? Sure, why not.

Have I mentioned yet what happened to his timeline’s Frisk? The butterfly effect hits them some of the hardest out of anyone.

I’ve talked a bit about how Entropy originally comes from an alternate Undertale timeline with only a few notable differences, but it’s those differences that “butterfly” into huge changes. (For simplicities sake, I refer to Entropy as Sans in this post because he’s still Sans then)

One of these changes is Gaster never falls into the core.

I’ve always headcanoned that Gaster falling into the core is what causes Sans and Papyrus to move to Snowdin in canon. Therefore, in this timeline, they never move to Snowdin, and Sans never gets a job as a sentry as he stays working in the lab.

When Frisk falls into the underground, this subtle difference wildly changes how the story goes. Papyrus does end up a sentry, but not in Snowdin, so there’s no puzzles, no one to “watch over them”, nothing. Just the struggle of the loyal dog guards who don’t show any of the mercy Papyrus does. Think about how different it would be without those two: no hotdog healing items, no interactions at Grillby’s, no Papyrus influence in Frisk’s interactions with Undyne, so on.

(Continues under cut)

This leads to many resets. Sans and Gaster are very aware of the (essentially) time travel Frisk is doing, and they’re studying it behind the scenes. Sans has more of an awareness of the resets than most monsters (the leading theory they had on why is because Sans’s “teleporting” ability is nearly time travel itself—I will spare you my science rant on why that is for now—but it allows him to keep time-altered memories better than others.)

As it turns out, time loops are miserable; who knew? There’s a particular existential dread built upon the idea of a cycle, especially one that is so out of your control, and always inevitable. To have predestination is to have a lack of influence or meaning in both what you do, and what happens to you. It’s no surprise the knowledge of eternal repetition leads to nihilism and the feeling nothing will ever matter. After all, for Sans, it’s true: nothing he does matters. The resets keep happening. They keep researching, and they learn new things, but never how to stop it.

Sans goes to work every day because it’s inertia at this point: to get up and go to the lab, tracking where in the timeline they are in that moment. It would take more energy to stop than to just do it. He’d have to figure out what to tell his boss, Gaster, who refuses to give up and desperately confides in Sans, the only one who understands. He doesn’t even begin to know what he’d say to Papyrus.

So he doesn’t. Sans flows through life and gets thrown around and bashed against the walls of the river of relentless time. He fights Frisk once (or is it twice? Three times? How long has it been now? Sans doesn’t know) during genocide runs, because Sans is still the judge.

Sometimes they even get to the surface.

It doesn’t matter, because they always end up back underground.

Until one day, Frisk dies somewhere early on in a run, and never resets.

Sans waits for them to return. He’s gotten good at waiting. That’s all he’s good at these days. But Frisk doesn’t come back. They died somewhere silently where no one could get their soul.

They are underground, and they continue to be underground.

Sans has been bit by daring to hope far too many times to count. So he lives out his days expecting each morning to be a reset. He lives assuming nothing still matters.

One month, no reset. Okay, been there done that.

Two months.

Six.

A year.

They’re not coming back this time. It takes longer than it should to realize (he doesn’t know what day it is half the time anyway).

Time is going to continue. For real this time.

What are they supposed to do now?

And I’ll leave it at that for now. (Boy I really can’t write anything short, can I? I even skipped a lot of stuff here. This is theoretically only a portion of the “prologue” to his story. The main story and what I’d consider writing/drawing/doing-whatever-with happens a while later.)

[sabianandocs]

im so invested in your ut lore can you share more of the skelebros part of the doc pls 🙏🙏

Yes yes of course!! Sorry for the delay, life got ahead of me but here you go!

Copy-pasting directly from where I left off (which ended up kind of being a TLDR for the rest of the post, because I expand on it below)

'So they moved to Snowdin.  Sans was 17, Papyrus was 11.  Sans got his shit together for Papyrus’ sake and got a job as a sentry and sent Papyrus to school.

When Papyrus turned 16 he wanted to follow in Sans’ footsteps and be a sentry too, and so he applied.  He did not get the job because he was still a kid (Sans got the job because of extenuating circumstances…) and so he kept going to school but also set his sights further- he wanted to become part of the royal guard!!!  Which you.  Need to be a sentry first to get to do.  At least according to Sans & Undyne. '

^ That's all I had written in the direct continuation from the Gaster stuff, but it pretty much just vaguely covers the space between the last post and the 'current day' that the game takes place in. Like, super vaguely, so..

---

To expand on that a bit, since it's kind of sparse:

After Gaster's disappearance from their lives, Sans and Papyrus had basically nothing to work with. No knowledge of any details of their past, no connections anywhere, and the only cash they had was what was laying around the house that they & Gaster had lived in in the capital. Which was. Probably not a lot because Gaster was smart about money and had it in a bank or something probably. (Which all records of would likely have been erased alongside him)

Luckily for them, while the Underground does have a technical economy in 'g', they also function a lot on a help-people-first mentality, so the skelebros weren't going to end up completely screwed over. They couldn't stay in the capital- it's not really an ideal environment for a couple of (essentially) orphan kids, plus even with the generosity of folks it's expensive- so they looked around and Snowdin was the best choice- small, away from the big city, and with a decent amount of empty houses, since most monsters had wanted to move to the capital once it was established. Small town vibes! Relatively cheap!

The only sort of downside to moving into Snowdin was that everyone knew everyone, so everyone noticed when two random skeletons showed up one day and 'asserted themselves'.

Sans is really good at getting along with people though, so he pretty quickly made buddies with everyone and was accepted into the community. Papyrus, a little less so, but he was also just a kid so he got away with it. Also Sans would totally give you a death glare if you were mean to Papyrus so. Everyone was nice to him too.

Sans picked up odd jobs as soon as they moved to Snowdin, including the multiple sentry jobs he works in the game, in order to financially take care of himself and Papyrus. He made sure that Papyrus could focus on school and not have to worry about their situation.

Speaking of their situation.

Both of them have a hard time thinking about it. Not just like, metaphorically/emotionally, but literally. If they try to think too hard about their past, or to muster up any details of it, their minds completely give up on them. Sometimes it's headaches, sometimes it's sudden exhaustion, and, in Sans' case, because he refused to give up on trying to think about it & figure it out, sometimes blacking out entirely.

This sparked Sans' desire to figure out what exactly was going on with their lives. It was clear they weren't like everyone else, and something weird was going on with their past, but what?

In between working his jobs, helping Papyrus with homework, and mingling with the local community so they wouldn't see him & Papyrus as complete weirdo outcasts, Sans started studying what science books he could find. (A lot of it felt... oddly familiar)... He dug up material at the library, or the dump, and after a while started crafting his own theories too.

After years of studying, and teaching himself, -and even making friends with the royal scientist- etc etc, he managed to make his science machine. That weird thing in the room behind his house. And he discovered timelines. (I'm gonna say this is probably when he's around 28, Papyrus around 21. Ish. Subject to change)

His discovery sent him into a spiral. He'd never been an optimist or anything, but these findings are what really drove him to nihilism. He'd already had depression, but this certainly did not help. Papyrus noticed, obviously, and after a while Sans finally- reluctantly- showed him his findings.

Papyrus didn't take it super well either, at first. I don't think anyone would!! But he took a different approach to it than Sans did, and ended up sort of balancing it out-

Sans, as I said, took it extremely poorly and went full nihilist; 'nothing matters', 'everything is just going to be reset, what's the point?' etc.

Papyrus, on the other hand, came out of it with this conclusion: 'We're living in it anyway, there's nothing we can do to change it, so why dwell on it? Let's just live every day as best as we can. There's no point in dreading it.'

While Sans doesn't entirely buy in to Papyrus' system of thinking about it, having someone else who knew helped, and Papyrus was always there to encourage him to just be the happiest he can be and distract him from thinking about it too hard.

Since Sans is a scientist at heart and literally cannot just ignore and pretend it doesn't exist, he continues to study timelines and suchlike. Papyrus knows, and is there to drag him out when it gets to be too much mentally for Sans to handle. He listens when Sans needs to talk about it, but he avoids actively pursuing the knowledge himself. He deliberately chooses to be uninvolved, because as far as he's concerned, the only thing that's really being gained from this knowledge is distress.

Here's another chunk from my google doc in the section where I'm just rambling that kind of says the same thing I just did but I still want to include it:

"Sans and Papyrus both have awareness of resets.  Not in-depth memory or knowledge, and they can’t remember details, but they get deja vu and occasionally visions or flashbacks.  Sans has figured out how to project timelines and view the current one via his science machine thing, so he knows knows how many times they’ve been reset and etc.  Papyrus knows, but he chooses not to get involved in the science and prediction because he wants to enjoy life whatever way the timeline is going- some would call it blissful ignorance.  Sans is too anxious to leave it, and it sends him spiralling more than he’d like to admit.  

Papyrus is an optimist- some would call him naive, but he’s not as ignorant as he seems.  He just chooses to view the world in a more positive way and deliberately ignores the deeper complexities; he chooses peace of mind.

Sans is a pessimist and nihilist.  He’s too scientifically-minded to not research the anomalies in the timeline once he discovered them, and unfortunately that takes a toll on his mental health.  He was never a super optimistic person or anything, he always had a twinge of mental illness, but his findings exacerbated it.  Papyrus keeps him from falling too deep into it.  

Sans & Papyrus are very codependent.  Obviously they are capable of existing apart from each other, but they are, in a way, literally two halves of a whole.  Sans is good at seeing the worst in people, Papyrus is good at seeing the best in people.  Sans is super low energy, Papyrus is super high energy.  Sans is a pessimist, Papyrus is an optimist.  They kind of need each other to even each other out.  "

You could dig into how perhaps the means of their creation led to their extreme opposing ways of seeing the world, but..

I'm gonna stop myself there because this is already getting really long! I have another ask sitting in my inbox right now asking for more about Papyrus so my next long rambly post will be going a little more in depth on what he was up to while Sans was melting his brain with science stuff.

I hope you enjoyed!

None of this is like, set in stone or anything, I might still change stuff around, but this gives an idea of the sort of ideas I'm coming from/building off of with the rest of my stuff.

[mysteriousbp]

Your family tree post has sent me back down a rabbit hole because I was like "Why isn't Grandpa Semi there? Oh yeah, not much is known about him, despite him being one of the most interesting cut characters".

It ended up reminding me while trying to figure out the unused horse stable things, the video I watched mentioned that the stuff around Grandpa Semi was in waterfall, but I can't fully remember.

It then reminded me of this unused text I saw during a text randomizer of Undertale saying "That skeleton over there just told me how to dodge "orange attacks.""

Is there a chance "that skeleton" was Grandpa Semi, or was it the more likely thing of it being a scrapped Sans line

anyways how was your day

My day is going well. But I also went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out who this "Grandpa Semi" is.

And let me tell you. It took me a while. Because Grandpa Semi doesn't have a wiki article in the Undertale wiki. And he isn't on the cut NPCs page.

Or the cut enemies page.

He's under the Unused Music Tracks page.

Thanks, Undertale Wiki... You failed again by putting a cut character within the music and not the other cut characters. This is why so few people know of this guy.

Anyway. For my research, this guy barely has any information. He isn't confirmed to be Papyrus and Sans's grandpa, but his name may refer to a type of font like the skeleton bros and Gaster. So there may be a connection there.

But all I could find for Grandpa Semi was that in a demo version of Undertale, his name was on the contact list in the game files.

For all I know, there is nothing relating Grandpa Semi to Waterfall.

The orange attack dialogue is related to another scrap NPC that would explain orange attacks. Who would probably be at the start of Waterfall next to Sans's sentry station. Because the dialogue talks about the skeleton explaining the attacks by using traffic lights to explain the attack, like how Sans explains blue attacks with a blue stop sign.

I can say that this wasn't a waste of my time. I learn something new about this game.

I think I will probably add Grandpa Semi to my AU, but only has a character that gets mentioned in dialogue. Because Grandpa Semi would probably be really old by now. And probably wouldn't be around anymore.