Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Toriel had come to realize that while forgiveness was a bit far, she still loved Asgore. Frisk had forgiven him, and if they could both raise a child together… and so, after a few months, she began allowing people to refer to her as a queen again. The first year was difficult, as they got to know each other again after so many years apart. Frisk helped every day. And together, they built the embassy, a safe base of operations for running monster business and working towards a safe and equal monster-human integration. Things had been hard, harder that she had hoped, but Toriel found herself enjoying many of the press conferences and social galas. She certainly handled the public’s attention better than Asgore did. The situation was improving.

But then the Swap clan had come out of the mountain.

These new monsters were uncannily similar to themselves, yet different. Sans had explained about multiple universe theories, and Toriel was surprised at his knowledge. But they welcomed these new monsters. The embassy became crowded, but they merely sped up housing plans.

Toriel did not like this other version of herself.

This new boss monster was wishy washy, yet a fighter rather than a healer. She condoned the loss of innocent lives, and reminded Toriel of all the things that had made her leave Asgore all those years ago. The press conferences became a shared affair, and they were not always a united front. The social galas became more tense.

And then the Fell clan had come out of the mountain.

They did not adjust well.

And this new version of a queen was rough and seemed alternately callous and overly emotional. Toriel and her Swap Clan counterpart found common ground in their distrust of her. But this new woman proved a powerful ally. An intimidating presence to match any monster when composed, she easily took charge of her clan. And her emotional outbursts calmed with the presence of children, and were few and far between as she adjusted to surface life.

But with three clans in the embassy, the building could no longer house many families other than the kings and queens of the clans. And so toriel found herself interacting with the other queens more than she liked, especially after the children’s ideas of a monthly barbecue together.

The embassy garden was pleasant. The Asgores of Tale and Fell clan were commenting on how well the flowers were coming along, and which plants they might like to add. Toriel narrowed her eyes as the queen of Swap Clan came over and suggested planting certain teas, which the men readily agreed to. Toriel was setting the tables as the Swap King approached with a tray of cookies.

“Ah, um, where should i put these?” he asked.

Toriel indicated a space on the table, and he placed the treats before joining the conversation with the other men. That swap woman had gone off somewhere. Toriel turned to grab more items to place on the table but yipped in surprise as she came face to face with the queen of Fell Clan. how had she snuck up on her?

The Fell Queen smiled menacingly. “I brought the snail pie,” she said as she reached around Toriel to place the slightly burnt pie on the table.

“It was my turn to bake the snail pie,” Toriel said cooly, standing to her full height.

The Fell queen twitched. “Are you quite sure, Tori?”

“I am. But no matter. It seems the Swap King has brought more than enough desert, even if you forgot to make the butterscotch-cinnamon pie.” she waved it off graciously. “Be a dear and set the table while I retrieve the children?”

“I will fetch the children,” she hissed between clenched teeth, growling through her muzzle. She spun on her heel and marched back into the embassy.

The Toriel of Swap glared at the Fell queen as she bumped into her when their paths crossed. But the Swap version continued to the grill, starting the hot dogs and burgers. She let one of the Asgores take over so that she could begin arranging the plates from which the food would be served, preparing the buns and laying out the cheeses. The Tale queen kept interrupting by moving the plates around in a quite inefficient manner.

“Tori, be a dear and stop moving the plates around, would you?” Swap Toriel said through a smile that was all teeth and didn’t reach her eyes.

“Ah, but why must you insist on placing the burgers on the far end of the table? Would it not be more polite to have the food as central as possible, Riel?” Tori responded in kind, baring her teeth.

“Well you see, that is where the Frisks sit, and it would be difficult for their small arms to reach the burgers were they in the center of the table,” the Swap woman growled out.

“Ah, here come the children now!” Tale Asgore cried out, gently placing a hand on the shoulder of each woman in an attempt to diffuse tension. “Let us get all this wonderful food portioned out now, shall we?”

The Fell queen had indeed returned with the three human children, one of which carried a flower on their shoulder. With a glance at the situation, all the children seemed to sign together, ‘here we go again’. Flowey sighed. They all sat down at the table together, each queen with her king, and the children gathered together at one end. The Frisk of Fell was given an extra plate and special utensils for Flowey. The children chatted happily in a mixture of words and sign language as the food was served. The young ones were given their food first, but tensions arose as the adults ate.

“Ah, Tori, would you please pass the snail pie?” Asgore of Swap requested.

The queen of Tale smiled sweetly at him, but looked to her Fell counterpart. “Which one would you like, this, or the burnt one?”

The monarchs of Fell growled dangerously as the poor king floundered. “They both look equally delicious! Whichever is closest is fine!”

And so it began.

“Frisk my child, please finish what is on your plate before requesting more.”

“Maybe they simply do not wish to eat one of the burgers you burned.”

“Chara, I thought you normally preferred the hot dogs?”

“Frisk do NOT put food on your head!”

“Must you tell my Frisk what they can and cannot do?”

“Maybe if some of us actually disciplined their children…”

“Husband, would you pass the tea?”

“I saw that! You cannot simply pour salt on someone’s snail pie!”

“Oh I am truly sorry dear, it must have slipped! You know how clumsy we can be.”

“Then do try not to drop it as you pass me the good pie for another slice?”

The children sighed as one. Tale Frisk, who had managed to retain two of their head-dogs, tilted their head forward to let the food fall on their plate. They squirted ketchup all over one and passed it to their Fell counterpart. Flowey seemed upset that his Frisk would so easily eat something that had just been on someone’s head, and made a face.

‘Is it too late to reset to before we suggested these family gatherings?’ Fell Frisk signed to Tale as the other child bit down on a hot dog slathered in mustard.

‘Yes. but they have to get along eventually, right?’ they signed back. The other children shot hopeless looks at them.

Chara slammed their small hands on the table. “It’s time to bring out the big guns,” they vocalized, and the others nodded conspiratorially, before Chara shouted out, “MOMS! WHERE DO BABIES COME FROM?”

The kings floundered, and the queens practically tripped over themselves to answer.

“Well, that topic is a bit-”

“Maybe when you’re older-”

“Ah, you should hurry so that you can eat the wonderful cookies Asgore made, yes?”

“Indeed my children, and hurry so that we can play together. You wanted to try the lawn bowling game, did you not?”

“I believe Sans left a puzzle for you as well.”

“Ah, whose Sans?”

“My Sans.”

“Oh, then it’s sure to be some clever step-switch puzzle.”

“The one from last week was quite clever to include the thought of multiple children working together to solve it.”

Flowey let out a sigh of relief and the Frisks high-fived, with Chara giving a thumbs up. For now, mission accomplished.

Chapter Text

When the Swap clan had come out of the mountain and learned that there were already monsters from a different universe living there, Undyne- no, she was Sakura now, her surface name! Sakura had been so excited! All her research, all her theories! She could finally test them and see what was accurate and how everything really worked! And, once she learned about it, one of the things she was most excited for was meeting the other version of herself. Was she always nervous? Did she study a different branch of science? Could they compare findings? … could they be friends?

She was shocked when they learned the differences between their universes, and the earned title of ‘Swap Clan’.

This ‘Undyne’ was nothing like her.

This woman was strong, tough, and a fighter. She had muscles, and could easily keep up with Alphys- no, her new name was Tsuki. She was missing an eye, just like Sakura’s girlfriend, but it didn’t seem to affect her energy at all. This new Undyne trained with Tsuki and Blue every day. Tsuki and Undyne sparred regularly, and it usually ended in a tie. And Sakura watched from the sidelines.

Sakura had just finished working in the labs; the two clans were comparing their COREs in order to try and make their energy usage more efficient. Tsuki had already gone back to her room. Tomorrow was date night. Sakura wandered through the embassy, until she found Blue playing chess with Sans.

“U-um, B-b-blue, can I t-talk to you after your g-g-game?” She sheepishly looked at her feet, running her hands through her long hair.

“OF COURSE! THE MAGNIFICENT SANS ALWAYS HAS TIME FOR HIS FRIENDS!” Blue posed and Sakura smiled a bit.

“go ahead pal, i was due for a nap anyway,” Sans insisted.

“RIDICULOUS! YOU WERE NAPPING WHEN I FOUND YOU HALF AN HOUR AGO!”

“Zzz…”

Blue shook his head, but then turned to the fish lady. “WHAT IS IT YOU WISHED TO DISCUSS, SAKURA?”

“W-w-well, I wanted to know h-how y-you m-m-made your attacks a-and if you c-could… m-maybe… teach me how t-to m-make s-s-spears?” her voice drifted off, getting quieter and more unsure with each word. This was stupid! He was going to think she was stupid and weak a-and, and jealous, and there was no way-

“WE CAN CERTAINLY TRY! TO THE TRAINING GROUNDS!” he began marching confidently in that direction, and Sakura rushed to keep up. “YOUR MAGIC MAY DECIDE ON ANOTHER SHAPE, BUT I DON’T SEE WHY YOU CAN’T LEARN TO ATTACK! BUT WHAT BROUGHT THIS ON?”

“W-well, the s-surface is s-so m-much more v-v-violent than w-we expected s-so I thought…” Liar. She was jealous. Why would Tsuki like her when the other Undyne was so strong and confident and capable and-

“BUT WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE OUR MAGIC IN PUBLIC!”

“I-it’ll j-just be f-for emergencies!”

Blue tried to teach her, but it didn’t work. She couldn’t make her magic form a spear. The closest she got was some stick-like object, not even a foot long. Blue said they could try again tomorrow. He was sweet. Sakura went back to her room and cried.

Tsuki did not understand why date night was going so badly! She had brought her frankly gorgeous girlfriend to some swanky restaurant that Tori had recommended, and she hadn’t even broken anything. So why did Sakura look so sad? GAAAAH. She could keep up this refined stuff!

“S-so, ‘Dyne, do you… like the food?” Tsuki’s smile was stressed. She was sweating. Dammit.

“Y-yeah… non-instant ramen is p-pretty different…” Sakura could tell Tsuki was uncomfortable. Probably embarrassed to be seen in public with such a wimpy girlfriend.

Dinner passed with ridiculous tension. They went home to watch anime.

It was two episodes into Flip Flappers that Tsuki couldn’t take it anymore.

“DAMMIT!” She jumped up, yellow tail thrashing in response to her frustration. She whirled to point at Sakura. “WHY ARE YOU SAD?!” Sakura seemed taken aback by the sudden outburst. “I tried to pick a restaurant that you would like, but if you didn’t want to go it’s okay to tell me! You’ve been down all week! We got to the surface! We’re able to have stupid sappy picnics with our friends under the sun! Shit, is the sun too hot?! If it’s too hot i will FIGHT THE SUN FOR YOU BABE! NGAAAAAH! OR-Or… do you not like this?”

Sakura burst out of her stupor as Tsuki shuffled around nervously, her tail coming to rest in one scaly paw. That was a nervous tic they had both thought she had left behind long ago.

“If… if we’re going too fast, or if anything’s changed because we’re on the surface…” Tsuki dropped her tail and looked at Sakura with nothing but honesty in her eyes. “I want to respect your boundaries! Even though I wanna go on dates with you, and smooch you, and other dumb romance stuff! If this is going too fast or something, i want you to tell me!”

Sakura shot to her feet. “N-no! That’s not it at all! I w-wanna smooch and stuff too! It’s just! Just…” she seemed to deflate, falling back onto the bed they had been sitting on. “I was w-worried that… t-that y-you wouldn’t l-like m-me anymore.”

“WHAT! WHY?”

“B-BECAUSE! The other Undyne is big and strong and can fight really good and has self confidence and isn’tsomenerdthatstayedupfor48hourswhentheygottothesurfacejusttomarathontheanimesproducedbythesamedirectorsasmewmewkissycutiesandforgottoeatanythingbutdryinstantramenandandand-!”

She was cut off by Tsuki sweeping her up and spinning her around in a crushing hug. “You big dumb nerd! You were JEALOUS! NYAHAHAHA! I was so worried i’d messed everything up somehow!” she was crying in relief, wiping her eyes roughly. “But, Sakura, I-I don’t want to date someone with big muscles and a cool eyepatch. I wanna date someone who gets so into their work that they forget what day it is. Who can write full essays on the difference between a subbed and dubbed anime. Who stays up for days just to catch up on surface pop culture!”

“I-I’m sorry! I know it’s s-stupid a-a-and…” Sakura was crying now, and her dragon girlfriend set her down and gently wiped away the tears.

“Babe, it’s okay. And it’s not stupid. You think when we came here that I wasn’t jealous of the wimpy Alphys when you guys would go to anime stores alone?”

“Y-you w-were?”

“Totally! So one day i cornered her and told her to back off and that you were mine!”

“O-oh no! She’s j-just really nice a-and-!”

“It’s okay babe. Once she stopped crying, she explained that she was already married. Probably the only reason i can stand to see you guys still hanging out!” She let out a booming laugh.

“R-really? I didn’t even notice that she was married…”

There was a mischievous glint in Tsuki’s eye. “Wanna know who her mate is?”

“Who?”

“THE OTHER UNDYNE!”

“W-W-W-W-W-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!” Undyne’s face flushed teal. She had been jealous and worried for nothing! She felt so stupid and embarrassed that she just buried her face in her hands and flopped over on the bed, groaning.

Tsuki lay down next to her fish lady, wrapping her tail gently over her. “Hey, but isn’t that kind of cool? Even though they’re completely different versions of us, from another universe or whatever, they still fell in love and got married? That’d make a badass romance anime, right?”

“Y-yeah, it would.” Sakura was giggling through her tears. “I l-love y-you…”

“I love you too babe. Just the way you are.” She smooched the top of Sakura’s head.

They lay like that until they fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Sooo many documents. Soooooo many books. Soooooo bored. Chara let his forehead smack into their desk, groaning in complaint. They were supposed to be doing homework, but it was so hard! So they tried to be productive by looking at some of the stuff Riel had suggested they do as the Swap Clan human ambassador, but that was too complicated!

However, he had made a deal with their dad that Chara couldn’t play video games until the homework was done, and all the human ambassadors were gonna play mario party tonight!

Well, if he couldn’t understand his homework, maybe the older Frisk would. They were two grades ahead, after all. So he opened a drawer, clipped a ‘he/him pronouns’ button to his sweater, and stuck his head out of his office door and yelled down the hall. “Hey! Frisk!”

From the rooms on either side, two heads with bobbed brown hair poked out.

Chara sighed and turned to the red and black clad younger Frisk. “Sorry, not you.” they responded with a thumbs up and popped back into their office. Chara turned to the one in blue and pink. “Do you think you can help me with math?”

With a thumbs up and a smile, they joined Chara in the Swap office. Frisk really was a huge help, and almost all of the homework was done save a few really complicated word problems that Chara just wasn’t getting. After failing his second try, Chara just collapsed dramatically on the desk.

“It’s too haaaaard. Why can’t i study magic with the monster kids insteeeaad?” He whined.

‘They have to study math too you know,’ Frisk signed in amusement. They didn’t really need to use their hands, since all the ambassadors had the ability to use Soul-speak, but they always did anyways.

“But these problems are stupid anyway! Who buys that many watermelons?”

‘Undyne, probaby.’

“Heh, yours or the other Frisks? You know what! That’s what’s not a stupid problem!” Chara climbed onto the desk and posed with all their eight-year-old grace. “The Fell Clan needs nicknames!” he loudly proclaimed.

Fell Frisk must have heard, because they dramatically burst through the door. ‘YES!’ they eagerly signed.

“And I have an idea for one for their human ambassador!”

‘Really?’ both Frisks signed in tandem, then giggled when they noticed.

Chara just rolled his eyes. “Really. How about Risky? It’s close to Frisk, but it also fits because your underground was ‘specially scary, so Risky!”

‘What! That sounds so cool!’ Tale Frisk signed, ‘They can use Frisk, I wanna be Risky!’

‘Nuh-uh, I like it!’ Fell Frisk signed back.

Chara grinned. They had just thought of the perfect cure for boredom. “How about we settle this with a competition? At Marioparty!”

‘You’re not allowed to play until your homework is done,’ Tale signed.

‘And I don’t know if we can wait that many years,’ Fell giggled.

At Chara’s huff and whining, Tale frisk piped up. ‘But I have a better idea!’ the other kids were watching them intently now, and Frisk let a huge grin spread over their face. ‘The monster way! With puzzles!’

“THAT SOUNDS STUPID AND I WON’T DO IT.” Edge huffed.

‘Pleeeaaase, oh great and terrible Edge?’ the younger Frisk pleaded. ‘The other Papyrus and Blue already agreed!”

“AND WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THAT?”

‘We have to properly represent Fell Clan in this competition!’ they huffed. They didn’t mention that with Edge and his tendency to use traps rather than puzzles, they would have an advantage. They escaped plenty of his traps before. The older Frisk had it easy with silly switches and word searches in their adventure. ‘And I know your traps will be way cooler than their puzzles!’

“HM. I SUPPOSE YOU ARE RIGHT, HUMAN. WITHOUT MY EXPERT HELP, THIS COMPETITION MIGHT BE BOGGED DOWN BY THEIR BORING BABYBONES PUZZLES. FINE. I’LL HELP YOU WIN YOUR NEW TITLE.”

‘Nickname.’

“WHATEVER.”

As edge went to join the skeleton version of a party planning committee, the humans gathered in the corner of the training grounds. Flowey had joined them, but had refused any offers of being carried around by anyone other than his Frisk. As he was not allowed to participate in the competition, he merely popped up from the turf wherever his Frisk went.

“The rules are simple!” Chara announced. “You just have to get through the puzzles as fast as possible! The first to reach the end will earn the nickname Risky!” they made noises in an attempt to mimic a cheering crowd, and the frisks clapped politely.

“I-it’s gonna be safe, right?” Flowey piped up, “No one’s gonna get hurt?”

“It’ll be fine, Flowey,” Chara reassured him, but the flower still seemed a bit nervous. “Papyrus and Blue are keeping an eye on Edge, so if that’s what you’re worried about, I’m sure nothing will happen.”

When the skeletons finally announced the course complete, the two Frisks headed for the starting line. The area was blocked off by high walls, so the contestants had no idea what they would face. The spectators could climb up a platform set to watch the race. Except for Edge, the skeletons, Chara, and flowey began to cheer them on. The two shook hands. Chara began the countdown.

3…
2…
1…
GO!

They took off for the first puzzle, made by Papyrus of tale Clan! At each of their starting places for the puzzle was a thick piece of string, tangled among a million other pieces of string! On the wall that kept them from progressing in each of their sections were a series of toggles. They had to find which toggle their string attached to in order to progress!

Too easy, thought Frisk of Fell. they picked up the string and gave it a harsh tug. However, it became tangled in the other strings. One of the switches flipped down, but before Frisk could get excited, a small jolt of electricity went through them, causing them to stumble… in shock.

“Nyeh heh heh! Pulling the wrong switch will zap you!” Papyrus proclaimed from the stand. At Flowey’s terrified face, Papyrus quickly added, “don’t worry, it’s not harmful. Mostly distracting!”

It was true. Fell Frisk was not hurt, and quickly got up, this time trying to figure out where the string went without pulling anything. Their Tale counterpart, however, had already found the switch and proceeded to the next challenge. Fell Frisk was filled with Determination. The string was tangled in a mess now, and they knew trying to get the giant knot undone would take too much time. So they dashed across the room and flipped ALL the switches. Papyrus and Flowey gasped as that Frisk received a series of shocks, one for each wrong switch, but toughed through it to get the door open and run into the next challenge.

“NYEH HEH HEH! THAT’S MY HUMAN!” Edge cheered proudly, while Flowey tried to say something about being more careful and Papyrus looked a bit deflated.

The next puzzle was done by Blue of Swap Clan! He happily explained that his puzzle was a floor switch puzzle, having to switch Xs into Os, in the shape of a taco. The children wandered around the obstacles to step on the Xs in the right order, and had little trouble opening the doors to the next section. But Frisk of Tale still had a headstart!

Or, they did, until they saw the next section and stopped. It was the gauntlet of deadly terror. There was a thin wooden bridge, but to get across you had to pass by giant swinging weapons, including an axe and a morningstar, and a cannon that shot balls at a regular frequency.

At their pause Blue shouted out, “don’t worry, they’re made of foam! But they’ll knock you off and you’ll have to start over!”

Edge mumbled something about weakling breakable humans, but frisk was reassured and moved forward. However, their hesitance had cost them. Even before Blue had spoken, Frisk of fell was unafraid of the gauntlet, and had already dove in, halfway across before their opponent could even realize! The older child desperately tried to catch up, but merely succeeded in getting hit by the giant swinging spiked ball, knocking them off the bridge.

Frisk of Fell Clan expertly dodged the flailing morningstar, the canon, the axe, and the flames (which caused an argument to break out where Edge proclaimed that a little fire wasn’t going to kill anyone), and made it to the end of the gauntlet far before Frisk.

They jumped up and down in excitement and the spectators stopped arguing long enough to cheer. When they finally got through, a little singed, Frisk congratulated Risky on their new name.

‘Thanks!’ Risky said as everyone came down from the viewing platform. Flowey climbed onto them, pleased to resume his position at their shoulder. ‘Especially you, Chara, this was a really fun idea!’

‘Hey, I’m the one that thought of doing puzzles!’ Frisk interjected, but they smiled.

“And we made the puzzles!” Blue said.

‘You’re all amazing,’ Risky said diplomatically.

It was then that Riel, the Queen of Swap Clan, came out and found their little group. “Ah, children, Royal guardsmen,” she greeted, before addressing her human. “Chara, we will be having dinner soon. Your father wanted to make sure you did your homework, so he knows whether or not you can join the others for the video games tonight.”

“Oh yeah… homework…” Chara gave a nervous smile, and Frisk came to the rescue.

‘If we hurry maybe you’ll finish in time?’ they suggested.

“Yeah, let’s go!” Chara took their hand and ran back into the embassy, followed by Riel.

‘You could say doing all this instead of doing their homework was…’ the remaining human began, ‘Risky.’

They ran back inside as the skeletons began yelling.

Chapter Text

“RISKY!” kicking doors open was Chara’s favorite pastime. Risky was sure he was preparing for the day when he got older and he could knock a door off its hinges like Sahme. “IT’S AN EMERGENCY!”

“W-what is it?” Flowey peeked out from under Risky’s hair.

“CATEGORY FIVE EMERGENCY!” Chara dropped to the ground and rolled to the desk before shooting up again. “YOUR MOM AND MY DAD ARE GOING ON A DATE!”

Risky let out a soundless gasp, clapping hands to their mouth dramatically. “What do we do?!” They signed. They desperately hoped their parents would get back together, but with the right universes! Not like this!

“We have to sabotage the date. I managed to figure out where they’re going, and got us some help. So grab Flowey and let’s go!”

“W-wait, why do i have to come? Risky, I really don’t think-” Flowey was interrupted as Risky gently cupped the face between his petals.

“Flowey,” they slowly signed his name, “don’t think. This is a time for action!” with that, they gently tugged their plant friend out of his pot and ran out the door after Chara, Flowey desperately wrapping around their arm as he resigned himself to his fate.

There were some barks of greeting from royal guards as the two children exited the building and were greeted at the front door by a bright red and gold limousine. The pounding of the music could be heard even before the door popped open to reveal the superstar of Fell Clan, Mettaton himself.

“Risky, darling, it’s been too long!”

Risky dove into the car, Chara close behind, and the vehicle took off. “Mettaton! How are you?! I didn’t know you were back from your trip with Tale Mettaton! How was it all?!” Risky fired off questions rapidly.

“It was a lovely trip, darling. Although really, i think i might have to take up a new stage name to keep myself separated from that other… flamboyant version of myself. I appreciate his sense of style and drama, but it's just not me, you know? I’m less glitter, more chrome, if you know what i mean.” he flipped his hair back, giving the children a brief view of all four of his eyes.

“You went down to two arms,” Risky noted.

“Well, with things being made for two armed beings, they sometimes get in the way. Tale Alphys has been an absolute doll, making it so that i can take them on and off when i like.” as if to showcase, he pulled an arm out of nowhere and attached it to one shoulder. “Ta-da! Three arms!”

“Less social, more planning!” Chara vocally demanded. “Dad and mom have a reservation at MTT resort- the first step is to try and cancel it! Mettaton, we have to dress you in pink and you can-”

“Sorry dear, but no. oh, what about the name Happstaton?” Mettaton had pulled out a tablet and was apparently broadcasting his new name on social media and letting his managerial team know.

“Met-Hapstaton, focus! Why can’t we do this plan? It’s so easy!” Chara pouted.

“Too easy dear. Not even fair to your parents. I am not going to follow your lead, but i will make sure you little rapscallions stay out of too much trouble.”

“Fine. we’ll do it ourselves.”

As they pulled up to the resort, Chara did a roll out of the car as the hooded driver refused to hand over the keys and Happstaton assured the valet that it was fine. They dove into the lobby and looked around at the surprisingly tasteful decor. The tall ceiling must have stretched at least twenty feet, and while the tables near the bar were still shaped like Mettaton’s old form, the tables in the dining area were tastefully covered in white sheets. There was a small stage where a live band played for numerous monster and human guests. It was definitely nicer than the version Risky remembered from their universe.

“Master Mettaton!” the foreman, a green fish-type monster, perked up immediately on seeing Happstaton, and moved to greet him.

While the robot corrected the man on his new name, Chara let Risky climb onto his shoulders to check the reservation list.

“Risky, you see it?” Chara whispered, and Risky nodded down to him. “Cool, scratch it out or write cancelled or something! And hurry, you’re heavy!”

Risky searched for the pen that the foreman used, but their keen eye caught that the utensil was in the front pocket of the man himself. Curses. They saw Mettaton flash two fingers behind his back as monsters and humans began to crowd him for autographs. Risky assumed that meant he’d be able to distract the foreman for another two minutes, tops. Desperately searching the podium, Risky could find only a highlighter until-

“Risky, look! We could use the crayons?” Flowey pointed with a vine to a stack of children’s menus, where small boxes of crayons sat nearby.

Risky grabbed a pack and ripped it open with unnecessary force, and used a color-swirled green and blue crayon to scratch over the reservation, and wrote cancelled to the side for good measure. They signalled Chara to let them down, and the two humans and a flower scrambled to hide behind a decorative plant.

Risky realized they were just in time, as Mettaton’s two fingers had apparently been a countdown to the appearance not of the foreman, but of the Swap King and Fell Queen. The two boss monsters walked through the door as Happstaton’s crowd dispersed, and the foreman jumped to take any extraneous robes from their persons. They went to the front podium to check in with their reservation, both goats looking nervous and excited. They were holding hands. Chara made a gagging motion with their hands and Risky nodded in agreement.

“There should be a a table for two under Dreemurr?” Asgore rumbled.

“Ah, of course.” the monster looked over the list, and his gaze stopped on the line covered in crayon. There had clearly been some effort to hide the name of the party, but the waxy substance didn’t quite do it; the foreman also disregarded the word ‘canceled’, because it was written in crayon. He merely grabbed a couple menus with his fins and directed them to a table. “Right this way, your majesties.”

“My, what e-fish-ency,” Asgore punned with a wink to Toriel, who giggled.

“Why didn’t it work?” Chara moaned, carefully weaving between tables to follow their parents. After a quick look around showed that Happstaton had disappeared, Risky and Flowey followed. “We’ll have to try something else,” Chara whispered to their sort-of sibling.

The two humans were situated a few tables away, looking out from under the tablecloth. There was only one froggit sitting at this table, but their legs didn’t reach past the seat of their chair, so there was no interference between the children’s spying and the monster’s dining experience. They could just barely hear their parents exchange a few more restaurant-based puns as their drinks were brought; Toriel had ordered some wine for the both of them.

“Chara,” Risky signed, “their food! When they order!”

Chara grinned. “Got it! Let’s wait until he takes their menus. That means they’ve ordered.” the younger child nodded, and they waited until the moment came. They saw the waitress write down something on a notepad before taking the menus and leaving the table. “Go go go!”

With a small noise of surprise from the Froggit at the table, the kids dashed out after the waitress. She went back into the kitchen, setting the paper with the order on it under a magnet up high above the kitchen counters. Almost as if she was trying to keep the kids from doing what had to be done!

The kitchen had several humans and monsters bustling about, chopping vegetables and searing meats, but somehow none of them glanced twice at the barely-hidden children as they planned their next move. They would obviously have the dodge the constant waves of busy feet, and then climb on the counter to grab the ticket, and then do something to mess it up. What was the least romantic dish? Garlic was supposed to be bad for dates, right? Risky still had the crayon, so they agreed that the best plan of action was to get the ticket and write extra garlic on every item. If nothing else, it would taste strange. They nodded at each other, and jumped into the fray.they wove between servers gathering dishes, ears assaulted by the clanking of pots and the yelling of the head chef as he called out orders. They made it to the table and ducked as far under it as they could. Which honestly wasn’t very far. There was just a slight overhang before they were met with a wall of metal. Chara knew he had to move quickly or they’d be discovered! He gave a boost to Risky, and they made it to the counter. Now they could hear yelling directed at them, but they were so close to the ticket- until the ticket was ripped away just before their tiny fingers could get a hold of it.

The kitchen seemed to go silent.

“Hey, little buddies,” came a voice, slightly raspy, as if the speaker had made the mistake of picking up a smoking habit, “what are you doing in my kitchen?”

Flowey tucked tightly against their sweater, Risky turned to face an unamused orange cat monster, towering over them. “... Burgerpants?”

“Look little buddy,” one of his eyes twitched, “there must’ve been a guy like me in your clan, but my name is Felix. Now, what were you two-three?-trying to do with this ticket?” he waved the slip of paper that contained their parent’s orders.

“Uh, we were trying to help!” Chara spoke up, trying to sound confident. “That’s our parents’ food, and we wanted to make sure they had extra garlic, because they both love garlic so much!”

Felix’s eyes narrowed. “Heh, you really wanna help little buddies?”

“N-no, we can go-”

But Felix had already turned around to yell at one of the waiters. “Hey! Grab a couple stools for the sinks will ya? We have a couple of volunteers!” he turned back to the humans, who seemed frozen to the spot, on the wrong end of several pitying glances. “Ya know, one thing i learned from five years on the surface… you can use all the help you can get. How ‘bout I mentor you kids on what it’s like to be on dish duty for a high end restaurant?”

“While it was a surprise, I can’t say I’m exactly disappointed to help look out for the Frisks,” Asgore said. “They are such sweet children, even if it does bring back… painful memories.”

“Yes, I understand completely! But they all have their individual needs as well, so every day with your Chara I feel less like I am seeing a ghost and more like I am getting to know a new person. I might even look forward a bit to seeing if more human children appear from the mountain. It is… nice to have someone to take care of, especially as Frisk grows older. Oh, but i must sound so strange!” Toriel looked down and to the side. It had been so long since she had been on any kind of date...

“Not at all! Even as there are tensions between the clans, I enjoy the growth of our little family.” he folded his large hands in his lap, hiding his fidgeting. “And perhaps, if we simply opened up to each other more, tensions would not be so high.”

Happstaton didn’t come find them until their hands were pruny and the King and Queen were leaving. “Well, aren’t you two working hard?”

“Happstatoooooooon,” Chara whined, “where were you?! We were trapped here for hours!”

“Only one hour,” Felix commented as he returned from a smoke break. “Hey not-boss. You here to pick up these guys?”

“I am indeed, thank you so much for watching them!” the robot did something between a bow and a curtsy as the cat monster chuckled. They all walked to the front of the building again, and there was the limousine. “I take it all did not go according to plan?” Happstaton questioned as they entered the vehicle.

“No! They left before we could do anything!” Chara complained, with Risky nodding in agreement.

“I actually kinda liked watching the kitchen though…” Flowey timidly interjected, “i learned a lot…”

“Of course you did, nerd,” Risky teased, and Flowey blushed.

“Well, you have one more chance, darlings,” Happstaton looked out the window, taking off the third arm as the children perked up. “The couple are going for a stroll in the royal garden to talk, or so a little birdie told me.” he gave them a wink. “So I’ll drop you off at home and let you little starlets get to it.”

Toriel and Asgore wandered through the darkened flowers, little lanterns lighting up the path every few feet.

“I have to say,” Asgore remarked, “while botany was never my prime interest, i still enjoy time in the garden.”

“Yes,” Toriel agreed, “it is beautiful. And, when empty of certain monsters, quite peaceful.”

Asgore laughed gently at the bitterness in her voice. “Yes, i must say i agree. Even after nearly three years, i cannot appreciate the gardeners nearly as much as i do the garden. You… have not talked much of what happened in your universe. I assume you and your husband had the same falling out as we did?”

“Indeed,” Toriel sighed. “My ex-husband… he took it harder than in the other universes, it seems. While the Tale king and your Riel at least tried to excuse their actions as something for the greater good, my husband let his fury drive him to… enjoy the violence he inflicted. For that, i do not know if i will ever forgive him.”

Asgore took her hand, and she glanced at him with wide yellow and red eyes. His own soft white and brown ones looked down gently. “She is not my Riel anymore.” both boss monsters averted their eyes and blushed, but continued walking down the path. “... Do you ever miss them? The other children who left your care?”

“... Often. I know i did not do right by them, even as i was lost to myself. The things i have done…”

“What do you mean?” they stopped walking.

Toriel found it hard to meet Asgore’s eyes. “I… was not in my right mind, but it was no excuse. I… i hurt the children who tried to leave.”

“As did I.” he admitted quietly.

“No, I…”

“Risky, can you make out what they’re saying?” Chara demanded. The children could only hear so much from where they sat, hidden in the bushes.

Flowey popped up from the ground. “They’re talking about… when you guys tried to leave.”

The humans remained quiet, before Risky signed, “alright, keep us updated.” Flowey nodded and popped back under the earth, presumably surfacing somewhere closer to their parents.

“You… killed children?!”

Toriel was crying now, but had taken on a calm and regal demeanor. “Yes. it was wrong. Lost in my grief, i thought that i could give them a quicker death than they would receive at the hands of my ex-husband. But still… it does not justify what i have done. My LV…”

Asgore was unsure how to proceed. He had thought that here was someone who understood him, who shared his morals, but she… she had killed children. Just like the other kings, just like Riel… “please, walk with me.” Asgore began to once again stroll down the path, and after a moment of hesitation, Toriel followed.

“Chara, i really, really don’t want to,” Flowey protested.

“It’ll be fine,” Risky insisted, “just do it near a patch of mud or something. It will totally kill the mood.”

“At least do it if you think they’re gonna…” Chara shuddered, “kiss.”

“Toriel, the world you came from is vastly different from mine,” Asgore conceded. “And i remember some of what you, and many of your people, went through when you first came to the surface.”

Toriel did not like being seen as weak, by anyone, and was somewhat ashamed of these memories. After coming to the surface, many monsters had to go through forms of rehabilitation and therapy. There was much pain and damage caused by the ‘kill or be killed’ mentality their king had instituted.

“During that time, you were… so strong.” Toriel looked up in surprise at the man’s words. “Admitting that there were problems, and then seeking help to fix them, rather than simply running away from them… because, as much as i dislike it, it seems to be in our nature to run from problems.” Asgore thought back to all the times. Running when Riel declared war on humanity, running from contact with the children once they left the Ruins… “I truly admire you strength.”

Toriel’s tears renewed, and a smile broke out on her muzzle. “... thank you, Asgore.”

“Maybe i can learn from that strength. Maybe instead of running from anyone who i believe has done wrong… i can learn from them. And listen, rather than insisting on my own way.” He turned to the other boss monster, their faces close, the starlight above them as they meandered down the path between the flowers. “If you are amenable, perhaps…” he took her hand, “we can go on another date some-”

As if in slow motion, Asgore tripped, falling onto Toriel as they tumbled to the ground. He landed on top of her, their muzzles now less than an inch apart. They both stared at each other, their faces flushed with magic, until Toriel laughed, deeply and truly.

“Oh my, Asgore, to think you’d fall for me even after all that!” she giggled and covered her mouth with a paw.

He smiled sheepishly. “Well, normally i’m not one to trip over my words, but around you…” they both dissolved into fits of laughter. Eventually, Asgore got up, offering a hand to help the lady to her feet. “Queen of Fell Clan,” he said with a smile, “would you perhaps goat on another date with me sometime?”

She smiled back wholeheartedly. “If you think it isn’t a ba-a-ad, idea, who am I to say no?”

Back in Risky’s office, the two human children laid out on the floor. Flowey watched them from a pot nearby as they simply stared at the ceiling.

“C-come on guys, it’s not that bad! Mom is happy, at least!” Flowey tried. The humans groaned in protest.

Finally, Chara stood. “We should get to bed before our parents check our rooms. Happstaton covered for us missing dinner and stuff, but I doubt he can make something up for us not being in bed this late at night.”

Risky grumbled in agreement, pulling out their phone to check the time. Abruptly, they shot up to a sitting position. “Chara!”

“What?”

“Happstaton was following us the whole time! And live-blogging our mission on snapchat!”

“WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

“Beach.”

“Disneyland.”

“Zoo.”

“A-aquarium…”

“I thought you wanted to go to the zoo?” Risky signed to Flowey.

“I did, but then on the internet i saw how at zoos you could feed some animals, and sometimes the animals were sneaky and stole stuff out of peoples hands… and since they eat plants…” Flowey nervously looked to the ground.

“I’m changing mine to aquarium,” Risky signed to the group.

“I don’t understand why you guys don’t want to go to disneyland! It’s disneyland !” Chara sighed in frustration, her face in her hands.

“It’s expensive, and i’m worried about our moms and dads in such a big crowd of humans,” Frisk explained. “Last time we went to a place like that…” they didn’t have to finish their sentence. The others were aware that this wasn’t Frisk’s first surface run.

“Fine, i wanna go to the beach, then,” Chara said, although the look on their face clearly showed their displeasure.

When their arguing yielded no change after a couple hours, the children went to their parents, where the arguing began anew. Half of them argued that the aquarium doubled as an educational experience, while the rest said they deserved some fun at the beach. In the end, the beach won out, and the planning and packing began. While they were gone, important decisions would be delegated to Papyrus as the primary monster mascot, Dadster as the head of the science committee, and Undyne as the head of the joint Royal Guard, as well as a few more committee heads. Several members of the canine units were chosen to come as guards. Lists were made, snacks were prepared, life jackets purchased, life jackets returned, beach toys were purchased instead, and finally the day arrived.

Frisk bounced excitedly in the backseat of the Tale Clan Van, blowing up floaties and beach balls and inner tubes. While they could speak to their parents directly through their soul, their hands still signed out of habit.

“I’m so excited! I haven’t been to the beach since before the underground! Are you guys excited?” usually Frisk could be very laid back and reserved, but they simply couldn’t bother with all that now that they were going to the beach. Lesser dog seemed excited too, with his head out the window beside Frisk.

Asgore chuckled from the driver’s seat, and Tori cast a fond glance at her human child. “We are quite excited, Frisk. It has been millenia since your mother and I have visited the ocean. Perhaps we could collect shells together, if you would like?” Asgore said hopefully.

“Definitely dad! I wish Undyne was here. Maybe she could have gotten some fish to come play with us or something! That would have been so cool!”

“My child, how have your swimming lessons been? As a human, i do not want you to get out too far and not be able to swim back,” Tori turned around and frowned at Lesser dog when she found him leaning dangerously out of the window. “Lesser Dog, bring yourself back into the car. We can’t have you getting too excited and hurting yourself,” she chided. The guard whined but complied.

Things were a bit more tense in the Fell Clan Van. this Asgore drove in a tense silence with Greater dog next to him. Toriel and Risky sat in the back together, the former giggling on and off at her phone and the latter staring out the window, deep in thought. They had never been to the beach before. They’d probably end up splashing around in the water but mostly gathering shells to make friendship bracelets for everyone. It had been a while since they’d spent much time with anyone outside the royal family, besides the recent adventure with Happstaton. Riyu, Sahme, Red, Edge… they wanted to hang out. Maybe if Risky collected enough shells, they could all have a sleepover where they watched anime and made friendship jewelry for each other. It’d be especially cool if they could find sharks teeth or something…

Flowey was very carefully watching the people in the van. While he had recently been getting used to Toriel and Asgore treating him as a son again, even if they didn’t know his true identity, they had all still killed him. Risky wasn’t even completely guiltless, but flowey trusted them more than anyone since the last reset. But now with the tension in the car, he was getting nervous. He hoped they would arrive soon.

In the Swap Clan Van, Chara was having a blast playing I Spy with Riel. she was using it to point out all kinds of things to her mother, despite Asgore’s occasional chidings not to distract the driver. Doggo sat in the back with his King, gazing lazily out the window and longing to light a dog treat.

“I spy something… blue!”

“Is it the giant crab statue outside the store?”

“Yeah! A lot of beach towns have wacky statues at beach stores!”

Asgore was too distracted to lecture them this time, chuckling at another pun from fell clan’s queen. They hadn’t decided on anything formal, so they were not truly datemates, but there was something there, and they had been spending plenty of time together. It was only at Chara’s insistence that the vans be divided by clan rather than everyone choosing who to ride with. Otherwise he would definitely have tried to be in the same car as Fell Toriel. Goodness, it was a hassle without nicknames. They might have to bring that up at the next clan discussion.

Arriving at last, they did receive some stares from other beach goers. Many of the humans took pictures, and some even approached to request selfies, but it was a surprisingly positive bout of interactions. The children (and, in honesty, the guard dogs) resisted the urge to run ahead, knowing that for now it was best to stay together until they had set up a camp on the beach. But when they made it out of the parking lot and saw the ocean, all the monsters stopped to gaze in awe.

The ocean is, was, and will likely always be impossibly enormous. A vast, stretching bar of turquoise water seemed to sit between the beach and the sky, sparkling in the late morning sun. the beach had many humans, but they had purposefully picked a place that was not especially popular to visit, to reduce any risks.

“Wow…” Flowey couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“It’s… moving,” was Doggo’s first observation.

“It is much as i remember,” Tale Tori choked out through tears.

Finally, Chara let out a yell, startling the others. “Let’s GO ALREADY!”

Then she was dashing to the ocean, the others close behind. They startled several humans as they passed, the group crashing into the water, except for tale Tori and Swap Asgore, who restrained themselves enough to first place all the equipment in a proper camp on the beach before jumping into the waves. Greater dog jumped out of his armor, leaving it at the edge of the water, but lesser dog dove right in, yipping happily and stretching his neck as the ocean ‘pet’ him.

Once everyone calmed down, they sorted out their plans. Doggo would stay near their camp and keep it safe from ill-intentioned humans with Fell Asgore. Greater dog, once he had his fill of the water, was accompanying Risky, Flowey, and Tale Asgore as they collected shells in a bucket. The rest changed into their swimwear and took off into the ocean.

Tori of Tale watched fondly as Frisk and Lesser dog had a short swimming race. It felt good to have her fur damp with saltwater, and diving every so often yielded beautiful shells that had not yet washed ashore, many with small sea creatures within! She had nowhere to carry the shells, so she would end up dropping them back under the waves, inhabited or not. But it was fascinating the see how shorelife had changed from what she remembered! Especially the snails. Coming up from another dive, she checked around on her family. The Fell queen and Swap King were nowhere in sight, but honestly that was unsurprising with the looks they had been giving each other recently. Frisky was lazily drifting on the calm ocean a bit away, but Lesser dog was keeping an eye on them. And Chara… hadn’t moved much from their position in the shallows. Tori swam over to them.

“Is everything alright, my child?” she asked. Compared to their normal enthusiasm and penchant for the dramatic, Chara seemed almost… subdued.

“Yeah. i like the water.” they were wearing a lime green one piece bathing suit in a girls style today, and their fingers toyed at the material. “It’s just… i never really learned how to swim.”

The boss monster looked down at her with open affection. “Would you like to learn? If you do not mind, we could find a calm place to practice floating together. If not, you can always hold onto my fur if you want to play in the deeper water.”

“Mm….” Chara thought about it. “I think i want to hold onto you. Can you maybe teach me later?”

“Of course my child!” Toriel knelt in the shallow water, and chara clambered onto her back. “Hold on tight now, and do not be afraid to tell me if you tire.”

The King of Fell Clan sat on the blankets, opening a bottle of juice to drink from. It was nice to see the ocean again, even if he wasn’t too fond of the beach. He enjoyed the swimming aspect, but he would always find sand in his fur for weeks after if he didn’t brush it thoroughly enough when they got home. At least the humans had provided a place where anyone could rinse off the majority of the beach filth, and perhaps he could comb out at least some of the sand there. Even if it was made for human sizes; he was twice as wide and much taller than the average human. He wished he knew how his Toriel never seemed to get any sand stuck in her fur… but then, she wasn’t really his Toriel right now. She was off cavorting with that pathetic copy of his from Swap Clan. He tore into a hunk of bread,biting half off in one go. She would come around. She would come back to him. She always had, just as he always came back to her. They were just going through a rough patch.

Asgore of Tale enjoyed the feeling of the warm sand on his paw pads. He, Flowey and Risky strolled barefoot through the beach, pausing occasionally to pick shells from the sand. Risky searched for darker colored shells in blacks, red, and oranges, while Asgore tried for large white ones. Eh hoped to make a necklace for Tori. Greater dog clunked along behind them.

“Flowey, i know you can move easily through the earth. Have you yet tried the sand?” Asgore asked. He knew very few plant monsters, and less still about this one that had become family. Only that they had helped risky to survive in the underfell.

“N-not yet…” Flowey glanced down at the sand as if it might attack him. “But i read that ocean water is good for plants… i tried some when we came- with my roots, not my mouth! It felt pretty good.”

“The ocean is really cold,” Risky signs with a frown, causing Asgore to let out a bark of laughter. “It is!” they protest. “I thought it’s be warmer because it’s outside and stuff…”

“Yes, i can understand that, young one. It is an especially sharp contrast to the heat of the sand. Flowey, do you wish to collect shells as well?”

“I think first… i want to try being in the sand.” Risky lowered him, and he carefully slipped his roots into the sand. “It… feels weird.” he popped beneath the earth, reappearing a few feet away. “It’s slippery! Like walking on ice.”

“Weird,” Risky signs, clearly intrigued.

The day goes by too fast, as Fell Toriel reappears panicking about sunscreen, everyone builds sand castles (Chara’s comes out the best), and more humans request pictures, or take them without permission. Doggo ends up only having to chase a few seagulls away from camp, the humans intimidated by the sunbathing King of Fell clan, and they all eat a peaceful lunch, except for Fell Toriel and swap Asgore, who once more disappear.

The re-packing of the vans and the car ride home are filed with complaints of salt and sand, but none too serious. They arrive back just before dinner, agreeing to have someone else make food that night. Sakura and Tsuki end up cooking for everyone, as they have not yet moved out of the Embassy. They all re-tell stories of their beach adventures, and Tale Asgore shows the children the best way to clean their shells.

It was a good day.

It was peaceful.

Chapter Text

Wingdings Gaster of Swap Clan still doesn’t know what to think of his nickname. It had been over two years, even before the appearance of the Fell version of himself necessitated such a construction. When Sans began to jokingly refer to him as Dadster, he really didn’t expect it to stick. But his own sons found it amusing, and stick it did. He didn’t feel like a dad much, anymore. A father certainly, but with his sons so independent of him he didn’t feel like a dad. It was different. They didn’t require him to take care of them anymore, to provide for them, or even his emotional support. True, Blue would still come to him on occasion to spend quality time together, but he had hardly seen his younger son since the argument they had when Stretch left the royal labs. They had technically made up, but it seemed there were still some hard feelings. He sighed. He did miss some parts of being a ‘dad’. But he was happy, all the same, as long as his sons were happy and healthy. And they were. Even appearing to be more social, living with a human, of all things!

While he still lived at the embassy, Dadster preferred to be outside whenever he was not working. The amazingly blue sky, the vibrant greens of nature, and the smell of flowers in Fell park were a lovely break from the monochrome of the labs. He also enjoyed getting to see the other monsters enjoying themselves as well. From his current place in the shade of a tree whose genus he had not yet learn the name of, he could see many families out and about. There was what appeared to be some sort of babysitting service as a monster with a giant hand for a head walked a number of young dogs. In the air a dragon monster and their child played catch with a beach ball, so as not to hurt anyone as it fell. Over on a bench, a Fell rabbit was carrying a brood of small skeletons-

Wait.

Skeletons.

Wait, wait wait now, there weren’t any other skeleton monsters other than the various iterations of Sans, Papyrus, and himself.

So how did this bunny come by a whole group of skeletons no taller than his hand?!

Dadster quickly approached the woman. “Um, excuse me miss, but-”

The small skeletons started screaming and crying.

Oh my. He really had no idea what to do now.

The rabbit’s ears flattened against her head and she hissed at him, before gently cooing at the small ones and offering them the safety of her bag if they wished, which many of them took her up on. Many of them looked like Sans, and were mostly holding back their tears and get into the bag, others looked like Papyrus, who were being consoled and trying to console all at once, while some looked very much like Red, and were bawling their eye sockets out. As the smalls Sans gathered themselves enough to calm the small Reds, the bunny turned ot Dadster. “Mind telling me why these little ones are so terrified of you?” she said in a sickly sweet voice, her eyes flashing dangerously.

“I assure you ma’am, i have no idea. I merely approached you to ask where they came from. I thought i knew, um, all skeleton monsters on the surface.” he tried very much not to appear threatening, which was easy as his social anxiety spiked. He nervously wrung his hands. “You wouldn’t happen to, uh, know Fell’s Wing Ding Gaster, um, personally, would you?”

She snorted, but some of the tension in her muscles eased. “Heh, no, i don’t know the royal scientist personally ,” she purred the last word. “I simply found these little ones rummaging through the trash, half starved and looking ready to dust. You wouldn’t happen to know how that happened, would you?” her voice turned to venom again with the last few words.

“Unfortunately,” Dadster shook with anger, “i might know how that happened indeed.

The royal labs were rather quiet. That is, until Wing Dings Dadster slammed the doors open in a righteous fury. “ GASTER !” he roared.

“Oh, what is it this time?” Fell’s royal scientist rolled his eye lights as he faced his counterpart, hands behind his back and standing tall to look slightly down at the other skeleton.

However, the usually more timid man got close,their faces only a foot apart. “You have been experimenting with artificially produced sentience! Cloning!”

“Haven’t we all?” he replied, grabbing one of Dadster’s flailing arms and putting a finger through the hole in his palm.

Dadster jerked his arm back as if burned. “I am talking of here, on the surface! Or do you deny being responsible for the four-inch skeleton children i saw in the park today?!”

“Ah, they must have gotten out. My apologies. I had already determined that the experiment was going nowhere, and have been disposing of the failed subjects periodically. If you bring them here, i will ensure that this time they are incinerated properly.” He was calm as ever, as if he weren’t speaking of murder.

“STARS ABOVE, MAN, YOU CANNOT SIMPLY KILL CHILDREN!” Dadster roared again, his eye lights flashing orange and blue as his emotions swelled. Stark white hands appeared and swarmed Fell Gaster, holding him exactly in place. He had the sense to appear a bit worried.

“They aren’t truly children, Gaster, calm yourself-”

“ You will bring any of these left to me, and i will see to it that they are properly removed from your clutches, and in return i will not speak of this to the Queens and Kings ,” he hissed.

“Alright, your point has been made. May I fetch the runts, now?”

He was released, and as he swiftly hurried off, Dadster tried to calm himself. They had promised. No more of this, no more treating new life as an experiment. He loved his sons dearly, but he knew that playing with life in this way was wrong. The two of them had vowed not to repeat such mistakes. The action being the mistake, their sons were far too precious to be called something so horrid, no matter how they came about. And if gaster didn’t properly appreciate his children, Dadster would do it for him. Soon, Gaster came back out with a box of numerous skeletons, all small and cowering.

Dadster took the box and returned to visit the rabbit from before.

“Miss Cry, i found more of them, but this should be the last,” he announced as he entered her crafts store.

“More mouths to feed. Ah well, i assume their previous home was less than pleasant?” her question was a loaded one, and while Dadster would never tell her the details, he was confident in sharing this much.

“Their father didn’t want them, and was a terrible bastard to begin with,” he confirmed. “I apologize for bringing them all to you, but I live at the embassy and haven’t the space to take care of so many. I assure you, I will try to stop by periodically and assist in the financial aspect, if no other.”

She merely nodded. “It’s fine, i’m used to big families. And who knows, maybe someone’s looking to adopt.”

“Yes, i suppose that is a possibility.” but now he was distracted by the papers lining the bottom of the box. Copies of gaster’s notes on these skeletons, likes and dislikes, and care instructions. Well then.

They discussed plans for what to do with the ‘bitties’, as Cry called them, and exchanged contact information. Dadster was about to turn and leave, when he heard a voice call out.

“hey, you.”

He turned to see one of the bitties staring at him with intense red eye lights. It was one of the new ones, as it was still in a simple gray gown and had not yet received any new clothes from Cry. it had sharp, shark-like teeth in a frown, and similarly dangerous claws.

“got balls to yell at the other big bastard.”

“Um, thank you?” Dadster isn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

“i mean, um, he really is a terrible guy… and ya… seem less terrible…” he looked at his feet and absently kicked at the table he stood on. “i mean, um, do ya… like mustard?”

Dadster’s face softened. “I like it on my burgers at Grillby’s. I was thinking of getting some food there on my way home in fact.”

“oh, that’s…”

“Would you like to come with me?” the bitty looked up hopefully. “I can’t exactly fit all thirty of you in my room, but it might be nice to have some company there, if you’re interested in it.”

“ya know, that actually sounds… not bad, pops.” The bitty tries, unsuccessfully, to hide his grin and red blushing bones behind his arm. Dadster reaches out to pick him up, but the bitty bites at his grabby hand. “ah! sorry, just, the other guy, he always-”

He seemed worried that Dadster would rescind his offer, but the other man merely held out his hand, palm up. The bitty eyed it, before climbing on. “So, little one, you have a name?”

“ain’t that small,” he mumbled. “my number was thirty-five.”

That was a larger number than he had brought back. Dadster briefly mourned the ones he had not been able to help, before returning his attention to the one here and now, that he had helped. “Well, that’s no name. How about… Malgun?”

The bitty seemed to think on this as they exited the shop and made their way back to the embassy. “yeah. i like it. call me mal for short tho, pops.”

“Alright,” Dadster said with a smile. Well, it looked like he would get to be a dad again. Or a ‘pops’, at least.

Chapter Text

King Asgore of tale Clan looked in the mirror and sighed. He was not ready for this. It would be a long, arduous, and argumentative journey, he was sure, but the children were right.

The Clan Royalty needed nicknames.

Golly, he never thought he’d be thinking a sentence like that seriously. At first it had seemed so unnecessary, especially when there had only been two clans. But now that there were three, it was much harder to tell who was trying to talk about whom. Stars above, he would have postponed this meeting for as long as possible if not for his wife, and also for constantly receiving mail that was meant to go to the other kings. He wished he could unsee the packages meant for the Fell Clan. with a shudder, he exited the bathroom and donned his robes. Toriel was already waiting in the meeting hall, making sure everything was prepared. Sweet, supportive, forgiving Tori. everyday he thanked the stars for her help. Otherwise the clan infrastructure would have fallen apart long ago.

He didn’t deserve her forgiveness, or affection.

But he was glad for it anyway.

The doors swung wide as he entered the meeting room. All the others were here except for the King of Fell Clan. he averted his eyes and tried not to blush when he saw the Fell Queen and Swap King holding hands under the table. The table was a large circular thing, and the meeting room often doubled as a dining room occasionally. Today, upon the table were set various snacks, as well as papers and writing utensils. Everything necessary for a long discussion about names. Asgore let out another sigh, and took a seat next to his wife. Well, queen. Girlfriend-queen. They weren’t completely back to the way things were, but that was fine. Maybe they could be different together. He pulled the talking sticks, one larger and one smaller. They would be used to make sure only one person was speaking at the time, and had aided in the flow of many discussions. It had been Frisk’s idea.

“So, we have all come here to choose… Nick names to go by as long as we are all in this timeline together,” Asgore began. “Even without the King of Fell, I do not see why we cannot go ahead and begin the discussion.” Toriel politely raised her hand, and Asgore passed her the larger talking stick, keeping the second one in front of him. Hopefully it would not be necessary.

“To start with,” Toriel began, all calm and regal airs, “I petition the clans that Asgore and Toriel of tell clan continue to use our original names, as we are the true denizens of this timeline. Discussion?”

The baton was passed to the Fell Queen. “Would this involve a change in papers, as well as official documents, or are you recommending a more unofficial set up to deal with things like the, um, mail issue.” asgore of Tale blushed, and the baton was returned to him.

“I think it is satisfactory to keep it unofficial at this time. Things like-” he stopped as his Queen requested the baton.

“Actually, i believe it would be better in the long term if these became the official names. It would help with the paperwork, signing and keeping track of records and who is assigned to current projects.”

The baton went to the Swap Queen. “This would garner some negative reactions from the people. It could give a hit to morale and divide the clans, in turn making us appear weaker to the humans.”

The Swap King. “Actually, as long as we are careful in our ways of releasing the information and the spin put on it, it could increase morale. Showcase our solidarity while celebrating our differences. There is power in choosing your own name. And, if the humans have taught me anything, it is that their media can have a huge impact on people.” there were murmurs of agreement, even if they were not happy ones.

It was then that the Fell King arrived. “Howdy. I apologize for my lateness, but there were some surprisingly complicated traps around my room this morning. We may begin.”

“We have already begun,” The Fell Queen replied tersely. The Swap King handed her the baton. “Some of us endeavor to be on time. We were discussing the subject of new names and it seems most of us have agreed that we should all choose new names and let the Tale clan keep theirs.”

“And why should they be the ones to keep our names?!”

Thus everyone devolved into argument, and the polite atmosphere of before evaporated. Asgore of Tale tried to keep things somewhat organized, and after half an hour of bickering managed to re-start the use of the talking sticks. The smaller one sat in the middle of the table, to be picked up if you needed to say something short and quick without waiting for the baton. After a couple hours after the Fell king arrived, they finally came full circle back to the original conclusion of Tale Clan keeping their original names. Now they just needed new ones for everyone else.

The Tale queen looked around the table at the papers she had set out, to see if anyone had been thinking of names. To her left, her husband- well, she supposed they were date-mates again now, weren’t they? Even though they had been seeing each other again for a couple years, they had not re-initiated their bond. Well, her date-mate had merely been doodling on his paper, apparently with no thought to helping others pick names. Not that he was much good at such things anyway.

The Swap Queen was apparently taking the thought very seriously, and seemed to be drawing from her love of gardening. Names such as ‘Flower’, ‘Daisy’, ‘Buttercup’, and ‘Lilac’ were written across the page, along with a few doodles of the plants that weren’t half-bad.

The Swap King was not doing so well. On his paper were a number of crossed out… ‘names’. These included ‘Dad’, ‘Notgore’, and ‘Asgore 2’. Then he had apparently tried to draw on how people described him, with names like ‘Lion’, ‘Goatman’, and ‘Big’. all of these were crossed out as well, and the poor man simply held his head in his hands and stared down at the paper as if it were a misbehaving child, one that would provide him a proper name if scolded properly.

The Fell Queen appeared not to be thinking on it too much, and was writing new recipe ideas on her paper, with small notes in the margins that might have been name ideas.

The Fell king, in immaculate, flowing handwriting somehow more impressive than even Toriels, had apparently been writing insults on his paper. However, he also had a list of names, such as ‘King’, ‘Lord’, ‘Ruler’, and ‘Fellgore’.

Satisfied with her look at everyone’s work, Toriel of Tale spoke up again. “It may also be wise to think on potential last names, as well.”

Everyone in the room groaned.

Well, these guys need names and I’m not sure what to name them! But I thought hey, what if we did some reader interaction! Tale clan are keeping their names, but if you have any good ideas, please let me know in the comments below! This list will update as if I see names that sound appropriate. Bonus points if you tell me how you thought of them!

Swap Clan

Toriel- Laurel

Asgore- Cabra

Last Name- Hopemure

Fell Clan

Asgore- Napoleon

Toriel- Dahlia

Last Name- Bloodborne

Chapter Text

The garden was full of blooming flowers around this time of year. Although, as well as it was kept with magic, the garden tended to be full of some sort of blooms at all times of year. Asgore chuckled softly at the game of hide and seek going on as Frisk found Cabra hiding behind one of the benches. Flowey was always last to be found when they played in the gardens, to the frustrations of the other children. Usually any of the larger participants such as the royal guards were found first, although today Chara had been the first one ‘out’. The pale child sat under one of the gardenia trees over in a far part of the path, and he appeared to simply be laying back and staring at the sky. How peaceful.

Risky wandered over to Chara after being found, sitting down next to him while Frisk continued to search for Flowey.

“What are you doing? You have that thinking look,” Risky asked.

“I don’t have a thinking look,” Chara retorted, but he didn’t seem fully focused on his companion.

“Do too. Usually you get it when you’re having trouble with homework. Especially math. You’re soooo bad at math, like, worse than me an i’m younger than you.”

“Yeah, well, you’re short. So there.” but again, he really didn’t seem to be focused on Risky at all. Risky just stared at him for a minute, before he finally turned to face them. “You know how we lost all the time stuff once we came here?”

Risky nodded. “Only one person can have control of any one timeline, and it seems Frisk has the most Determination.”

“Do you think we were mages, when we had that power?”

“Hmm. i never thought about it. That would be cool, though. But sad that we cant have magic in this timeline.”

“... what if we did still have magic? And it was just… different?” Chara stared hard at Risky, crimson eyes boring into their squinted brown ones.

“Did you learn something?”

“Yup. i wasn’t sure, but then today… i think i got the hang of it.”

“Of what?”

Here, Chara smirked in satisfaction. He flicked his eyes up. “Look at that.”

Risky looked. As their eyes rose, they saw the falling leaves of the magnolia tree above them. Except they weren’t falling. They hung, suspended in the air… no. they were suspended in time. Risky just knew they were. Not all the leaves were caught in this time trap, as many still fell, but at least five were held in place by what had to be Chara’s magic. Risky turned to their adopted sibling, who was smiling so wide that even Red would have been impressed.

“Chara. You have to teach me.”

“Hmm… maaaaaaybeeeeeee…”

Risky stumbled back in mock offense. “No! You have to! Come on, you can’t just… just leave me as the only one without magic!”

“You have to do my math homework.”

“No way.”

“Then i won’t teach you.”

“I’ll tell moms on you!”

“Hey, no fair!”

“What’s no fair?” Flowey popped out of the ground in front of them, looking between the two with worry.

“Chara can use time magic besides SAVEs ‘n stuff and won’t teach me.”

“Snitch.”

Risky merely stuck their tongue out. “... but maybe we should tell moms and dads. Maybe they could help! We could be new mages, but good guys this time!”

Chara crossed his arms. “I think we should teach you magic first, to see if you have any. And then we can surprise them!”

“I like Chara’s idea…” Flowey timidly said, but he was a bit excited. It’d be nice if he and Risky could do magic together. He never got any practice outside of school. Risky stared at their flower brother, but nodded.

“Okay! So, you gotta really focus on what you want to stop…”

Frisk eventually bored of learning flower facts with Asgore, and went looking for the other kids. Stopping a couple times to pet one of the guard dogs, Frisk finally came upon the others hidden in the shadows of a magnolia tree.

“...know, right? Just like a movie!” Chara’s voice came, boisterous and excited. Frisk smiled as they moved forward to join whatever it was they were all doing, but then they paused. Floating in the air before the two other humans and Flowey were several of the large soft magnolia seed pods. Another flew through the air, only to pause before it hit the ground, staying like all the others.

Finally, Frisk stepped forward. “What are you doing.”

Risky looked up, smiling brighter than the sun. “we can do new magic! Not just mess with the timeline!”

Frisks thoughts raced. No. impossible. Humans didn’t have magic. This wasn’t the first surface run. Not even the longest. But then, in previous runs, there had never been a convergence of alternate universes. And anyway, it wasn’t like it was just any human. These were Frisk’s siblings. Their counterparts. Other selves. “Teach me too!”

Frisk was much slower at picking up the magic than the other two had been. Flowey tried to give them all advice, as someone who remembered what it was like to use magic as a child. The others were experimenting under Flowey’s guidance, but Frisk still had trouble freezing more than one object in time. They stomped their foot in frustration.

“So i think we should show this to moms and dads tonight!” Chara sugested, Risky nodding along enthusiastically. “We could- we could pretend to start a food fight!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Frisk said, “especially since we’re not all having dinner together tonight. We’re eating with our clans tonight, right? I think Alphys and Undyne are even coming to visit!”

“Oh man, Sahme is gonna be so impressed with my magic!” Risky bubbled giddily.

“Maybe just pretend to spill water instead?” they all agreed that Flowey’s suggestion was probably the best, and resolved to find each other after and tell how it went.

Frisk and Chara were getting nervous. When they first met up in Frisk’s office to discuss the results of showing their parents their new magic, they had happily chatted about how enthusiastic and supportive they were, and how they were excited to start joining the other monster children in magic lessons. But after an hour of waiting for Risky to show, they were nervous. Maybe the Bloodbornes hadn’t taken the news so well.

Chapter Text

Frisk’s office had more books than Risky’s, and fewer pictures. Somehow it was messier, but maybe that was because Frisk had been working here for over four years and Risky had only been here just shy of five months. Flowey glanced up again from his place in the corner with his puzzle books. Frisk had been doing homework since Risky had left the flower in their care, and hadn’t said much besides smiling and asking if they could put on music, and what genres Flowey preferred. He liked folk songs.

Ever since they came to the surface, Flowey had stayed right by Risky. He didn’t feel even remotely safe anywhere else, or with anyone else. Even after all this time, he was only just warming up to his goat-mom. It was weird that there were three of her now. Sans’s explanation about timelines and convergences was a bit too much for him to grasp, but different versions of everyone was enough for him. He glanced up at Frisk again. The child had given up on whatever they had been doing, and they were now stacking textbooks in a precarious paper tower.

“... Frisk?” Flowey’s voice was quiet; uncertain.

“Yeah?” they signed back.

“Did… did your world have a… a Flowey?”

Frisk tensed, then turned away to stack another book. “...yes.”

“What… happened to them?”

A grimace, a flash of fear that turned to regret. Their hands trembled on their lap. “... i don’t know.”

“Oh…” he watched Frisk carefully. There was something in the air that set him on edge, and he resisted the urge to curl up and hide his face behind his petals. “... what was he like?” was there anyone like him? Not human, not monster… someone without a real soul?

“... he was the only one like him.” wait. Was he? Frisk slowly turn to face flowey, their face unreadable. “Until you…?” they jumped out of their chair and kneeled in front of Flowey, startling him and making him drop his pencil. “Flowey, were you always this nice? Were you ever… mean and did bad things?” they signed rapidly.

Flowey cowered. “W-why do you ask?”

“I need to go somewhere!” Frisk picked up Flowey and his things and ran down the hall, unheeding of the plants pleas for them to slow down. “Chara Chara Chara Chara!” Frisk soul-shouted until the other child opened the door.

“Whaaaaaaat?” the other child was wearing a tutu.

Frisk looked down at their button. she/her. “You gotta take Flowey I gotta go do something I’ll be back in a few hours don’t tell moms!” with that they shoved the pot into Chara’s hands and ran off.

Flowey’s things fell to the floor as Chara ‘hmph’d and brought all the things in.

“Um, they weren’t signing so i couldn’t really hear… what’s going on?” flowey timidly asked. “Um… i’d like to be in the corner, please. They’re going somewhere?”

Chara helped him set up his corner. “I guess so? They even said not to tell moms, so they’re having an adventure without us! Totally unfair! Wanna play video games?”

Flowey politely declined and went back to coloring. Being around Chara made him… uncomfortable. She was Chara, but not his Chara… “Hey Chara?”

“Yeah?”

“Did your universe have a flowey?”

“Oh man!” they practically threw the controller they were playing with across the room. “There was a whole village! They were really weird and would buy like, everything I touched!”

Flowey smiled gently. Right. Monsters were swapped in that universe. Those flowers probably weren’t like him. “But then… what were the Temmies like?” There was a pause.

“I have to go to the bathroom!” Chara shot up and announced, dashing out of the room.

Flowey was confused as to why they had to shout it, but he just went back to his puzzle book. Chara didn’t come back for almost an hour, and refused to let the topic return to their underground.

They didn’t see Frisk come back, even when Risky came to pick Flowey up.

…

Frisk didn’t show up for dinner.

Chapter Text

Frisk knew the town well, so they didn’t have any trouble finding their way through the streets even as it got darker. Even if it hadn’t been so familiar after the surface runs from before, they wouldn’t have given up their quest to the mountain. They were going back to the underground.

They were filled with Determination.

Finally. We should have done this ages ago

Frisk rolled their eyes, responding to the voice with thoughts of their own. We did, dummy. Remember how that turned out?

Well, yeah, but that was before all these other timelines started coming out.

Well, you never suggested it before either, so mleh! Frisk stuck out their tongue, quickly dodging between bushes as some adults glanced at them funny, obviously looking for their adult accompaniment. There was none.

Frisk paused for a second. Maybe they should have brought sans. Or even Papyrus. Or any of the royal guard, besides Undyne. Undyne probably would have tried to stop them, and she was pretty determined herself. But it was too late now, since it wasn’t a good enough reason for a LOAD. they could only keep going, as the town slowly faded behind them and the trees grew thicker, until they reached a metal wire fence. There was probably a gate somewhere, but that meant more time walking. And Frisk had already been walking longer than they expected. With a huff, they dug their sneakers into the gaps between the lattice, climbing up and over the barrier.

Someone is following us.

Uh oh.

You focus on getting us underground, i’ll keep listening and tell you if i hear them get closer.

Frisk bit back a retort that they heard the same things. Even if they did, it was true that Chara was better at distinguishing the noises of wildlife versus the steps made by humans. As they walked, guided by their memory and with the setting sun as their compass, they wove through the trees in the direction of the exit, that little overhang where they had all watched the sunrise those endless years ago. Well, maybe they weren’t so endless after all.

That time, Frisk definitely heard the snapping of whoever was following them. Maybe it was just one person. If it was just one, Frisk could probably stop their time long enough to get away. But if there were many…

They were getting close to the mountain. They could see the path now, so no more wandering through the woods, they would go up, and doggo would be there, and they could go find-

Frisk run!

Before they could fully register Chara’s command, hands grabbed at Frisk’s sweater. “Now, what’s the monster ambassador doing out alone so late at night?” Frisk struggled and tried to bite or scratch at their captor, but to no avail. A few more figures came out of the shadows.

“That was way too easy. Who lets their kid go running around at night?”

“They’re monsters man, not real people.”

“When i was a kid i snuck out all the time. Not that it matters, but…”

“Can we just get them back to the car? Anyone have rope?”

This was bad, so, so bad. Frisk’s thoughts flashed back to past timelines where they had been kidnapped, ransomed, tortured, used as bait for their friends… and made a decision.

[LOAD]

The town around them was dark, and several adults glanced down at Frisk, searching for an accompanying adult. Of course, there was none.

Well, that could have gone better.

Yeah. i think we need to go to the ruins entrance instead. And as soon as someone gets close, we gotta freeze them.

Alright. I know what to listen for now.

Frisk absentmindedly rubbed at their chest, where they knew their Soul to be. LOADing was always uncomfortable, even when no one had killed them. It was painful, and felt like dying in the most abstract sense when they used it freely like that. They walked into the woods, and quickly reached the fence where they once more climbed over.

I think i hear footsteps following us.

Frisk nodded and picked up speed, not quite jogging but no longer keeping a leisurely pace.

Next time we do something like this, let’s bring Sans.

He really doesn’t like you though. I can’t tell him about you. Last time…

Well, that’s your fault for blaming the genocide route on me.

Frisk was quiet as they kept going, and even they could hear the following footsteps now. It was probably another mile. Their mind flashed back to gym class, when the teacher had timed them how long it took to run a mile. Although most of the students didn’t run the entire time. Frisk had alternated between jogging and walking during the test, and had made it in about twelve minutes. Would they be fast enough?

Now!

Well, one way to find out. They took off, hearing cursing behind them, as they dashed through the trees and brambles to where they knew the entrance to the underground would be. The fall was dangerous, but they had survived before. And now they would just have to do it again, or LOAD. they really hoped they wouldn’t have to do that. More voices joined the ones following them, and if Frisk hadn’t walked this mountain so many times, in this and past lives, they would have been caught by now. But they knew where to go, and Chara filled in the blanks whenever they needed. Soon they saw the area where the vines around were different, the place where so many before had fallen, where five years of vines had regrown to cover the area, but not enough to disguise it from knowing eyes. The shouts increased in frequency and volume, and before they stepped into the pit they knew would drop them, Frisk let out a loud, scratchy, and uncomfortable yell.

“Flowey!”

Vines caught Frisk almost as soon as they fell, gently lowering them to the ground. On the suface far above, they could still hear voices calling out in frustration or confusion, but they didn’t seem to notice the hole that frisk had fallen down. As their feet landed in a small patch of flowers, the child in question was grinning ecstaticly.

“I knew you would catch me,” they signed.

“Idiot. What if i wasn’t even here, huh?” before them sat a very disgruntled flower. It looked just like the Flowey from Risky’s timeline, but instead of a worried or nervous expression, the petals of this flower framed a frown visage. “What are you even doing here?” he snapped.

“I came to take you home! You know how other clans keep coming out of the mountain?”

“Clans? I heard that strange monsters showed up, but…” his frown faltered for a moment, showing a despair that ripped into Frisk’s Soul. “no one really visits me or anything.”

Frisk felt their sins crawling on their back. “ Well, i’d better tell you what’s happened then.”

“FRISK!” papyrus had tears in his eyes as he swept up the little human. “WE WERE ALL SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU! YOU WERE GONE FOR HOURS AND HOURS AND THE KINGS AND QUEENS SENT OUT SEARCH PARTIES ALL OVER AND-”

Frisk pouted as they were set back on the ground. “I’m fine! Riverperson got me through the underground and Doggo let me borrow his phone when i told him i needed to call you.”

Papyrus nodded in gratitude to the aforementioned dog, who nodded back nervously he got twitchy whenever the two talked without moving. Luckily, frisk was still signing, and Papyrus was just a naturally energetic person. “STILL!! Queen Toriel was especially worried.”

“Well that’s just too bad for her then, isn’t it?” all eyes moved to the source of the voice as Flowey popped up out of the ground. He scoffed at their stares. “I’m going home with Frisk. Got a problem?”

Papyrus, after an uncharacteristic moment of stillness, finally spoke. “...Flowey?”

Chapter Text

Wings Dadster’s apartment on the embassy properties had not been clean in a long time. When his sons, Blue and Stretch, had moved out, he had gotten by with minimal cleaning, much preferring to devoting his energy to research on the interdimensional phenomenon that was causing the timelines to collapse and come out of the mountain in this dimension. He didn't really have a problem with what was happening, mostly he was just extremely fascinated by it, and had a of yet not seen a negative effect of the multiverse. But nowadays the house was even messier because his new son.

Malgun was one destructive individual. Wings did his best to supply proper toys, education, and attention, but being a single father was proving more difficult than he remembered. For one, his new son refused to attend any public education. He insisted on learning only from Wings and by himself, and soon Malgun had to be shown how to order from the library online, as Wings was beginning to tire of visiting the establishment every other day. Another issue was Malguns clinginess. Whether because of some trauma from Gaster or something to do with the stability of his artificial soul, the bitty could not be left alone for extended periods without beginning to feel ill. As a man who was not quite used to others being so reliant on him, Wings had difficulty getting used to it.

“where the hell were you?! I thought you fucking abandoned me or something!” Malgun yelled almost as soon as the door opened. When Wings was late in arriving home from work, the bitty had torn apart stray clothes and chewed on furniture, before making an utter mess of the kitchen in search of food.

Wings looked down at him sternly. “Malgun, I merely stayed late and then stopped by a restaurant for dinner. I brought home stir fry.” what he didn't say was that he got caught up in his work, and after was too exhausted to make dinner and went out to eat, forgetting there was someone at home who was reliant on him to provide food. But still, Malgun may be hungry, but it was only a few hours late. Six at most. It had never been a problem underground with Stretch and Blue. He had been too tired to cook for himself. Thus he had gone out for dinner, completely forgetting there was a small person reliant on his for meals until he had been about to pay the bill. But still, even if Malgun had been a bit hungry that was not an excuse for his actions! “After you eat we shall discuss your punishment.”

Malgun flinched as he was picked up, muttering something Wings couldn’t quite hear as he went about setting up utensils for the bitty to eat dinner. He knew the portion was far too large for the little monster, but was still monitoring how much the bitty tended to eat until a pattern emerged that he could rely on to keep his new charge healthy. When he finished, he placed Malgun on the table with the food.

“I am going to begin cleaning. Let me know if you finish, but i will check on you in approximately half an hour.” with that, he began an overview of the damage. Most of it was in the kitchen, dining room, and two bedrooms, his and Malgun’s. He swept up the remains of several dishes that had been perfectly serviceable and aesthetically pleasing this morning, replaced various items in the fridge, and began to scrub. The wide-open fridge had once held a few vegetables, several sauces and condiments, milk, juice, tupperware containing recent leftovers, and a saran-wrap covered plate containing two tacos, courtesy of his eldest son, Blue. only the latter had been spared. It appears that when he could not open the tupperware, Malgun had simply thrown it out of the fridge. Both the juice and milk had been tipped over, the juice managing to stay shut but the milk leaking onto the lower shelves and the floor. A few vegetables had tiny teeth marks in them, but most remained untouched. The condiment shelf had suffered most of the bottles laying around the floors or counters in large puddles of their contents. The mustard had fared the worst, and was the only one in definite need of replacement.

As he finished the kitchen area and moved to the bedrooms, he contemplated what would be a fitting punishment. His first thought was television, but with how little they both went out television was the best way to learn what social contact would normally provide in terms of culture and social norms. He could, however, set the parental controls to limit it to educational programs. Ah, and he could do the same for library privileges. Hm, maybe for a week? No, two. Wings reached his bedroom to find quite a mess, and frowned. His things were strewn about, and many expensive pieces of equipment had been broken. His own personal tools of measurements, a couple machines, and even his magi-glass beaker set had been strewn about, in some cases in pieces. Definitely two weeks, and if he found more expensive equipment broken in other rooms, he may extend it to a month. He got so caught up in returning his room to a suitable condition that he didn’t realize he had been cleaning for almost an hour, with no word from Malgun. He sighed and returned to the dining room to check on his son.

“Malgun, i apologize, as i was caught up cleaning your mess, but have you not finished eating?” he paused as he entered the room. Malgun was not on the table with his food. The food, in fact, had not been touched. A quick check showed that while Malgun’s room was a disaster, it was also devoid of bitties. “Ah. well. If he wants to have an attitude he can have it to my face,” Wings muttered, sending out his magic to search for nearby Souls. But there were none. He was the only one in the whole apartment.

Malgun was not there.

“... Malgun?” there was only the silence to answer him. In a quieter voice, he tried again, knowing there would be no answer. “Son…?”

Malgun kicked a pebble as he tried to make his way into Fell district. Stupid. In those weeks together he had learned that while Wings gave him a surprising amount of freedom, he didn't show too much interest in Malgun as a person. They didn't spend too much time together, and Wings barely ever picked him up. But he thought it was better than staying with that rabbit and all those other bitties. The food had been great, the place was nice, and he had plenty of toys. Even if he did feel like a pet sometimes. He thought it was better than Gaster’s lab.

Punishment.

“fuck that,” he mumbled to himself, sticking close to the walls as the buildings got dirtier and faces got angrier. “never doing that bullshit again.” His mind briefly flashed to a memory of searing pain, witnessing his soul forcibly pulled out and toyed with. It happening to others. Dust in the air. He shook his skull, pushing those thoughts away and instead focusing on finding his way to that Cry woman's place. It wasn't great, but she had made it very clear that she would take care of them as well as she could. She had a peer good soul, too. He only gave it a glance but her LV was low even though she was a Fell monster. “at least she treats us like people.”

It was dark out, and Malgun was beginning to regret running away before eating. It was the best option, but his non existent stomach was telling him that the possibility of punishment was worth having a full belly. As he stuck close to the walls, trying to remember the way back and vaguely feeling for any other nearby bitty souls, he caught the smell of something good.

“I'm telling you, you're over cooking the buns!”

“More fire just makes it healthier! uwu”

“Vulkin, I'm telling ya, people would buy more if you turned down the heat! Maybe it'd even be better than the old hot dog stand in hot land!”

“Well I'm telling you, I can't just turn down the heat!”

“Look, we're above ground, no one's gonna dust ya if you cool of a little.”

“Pyrope loves my hot dogs. uwu”

Malgun followed the voices to see a vulkin and some drake monster talking at a hot dog stand. The stand itself was a simple table and roof, with a couple charred hot dogs sitting in blackened buns on the counter. The nearby vulkin had several more shiver into its crater, apparently cooking. He could feel his magic forming into a tongue from the smell of the yet unburnt food. Maybe, if he was careful, he could pull one out of the crater without either of them noticing. Moving to a place behind the stand where no one was likely to see him, Malgun focused on the hot dog. The food became surrounded by a red glow as it slowly lifted from the bubbling lava-like magic. Unfortunately, this glow was especially noticeable in the late dark night.

“The hell?” the drake monster stared at the floating hot dog. “Vulkin, you know gravity magic now?”

“I don’t!” the vulkin looked up and was also surprised by the glowing food. It stepped to the side, away from the mysterious event. “It’s not even done cooking!” the monster huffed angrily.

Malgun had to disagree, it seemed, in fact, to be perfectly done. But if he brought it over to him, it would give away his position. But he was so damn hungry. Throwing caution to the wind, he pulled it behind the cart where he hid. It was using a lot of magic, so he started eating immediately, not even caring to do more than flip the bird when the two bigger monsters found him.

Wings had frantically called everyone he knew to look for his new son. He seemed to be in a right panic, and had probably a good fifth of the Swap Clan looking for the bitty. And this was how Stretch found himself wandering the streets of Fell District, on the hunt for a tiny skeleton that looked uncomfortably like one of his roommates. Stretch had seen pictures, but he hadn’t met the bitty yet. Blue had, and had seemed quite excited at the thought of having a new ‘brother’. Stretch, however… he didn’t know what to think. He didn’t have the best relationship with their dad, and hadn’t forgiven him as easily as Blue had. He still loved his dad, and didn’t hate him (it was all too easy to both love and hate someone), and even enjoyed his company. He didn’t like living with him, though, and was reluctant to give any indication that he had forgotten the way Wings had abandoned them. But what was this ‘bitty’ guy? Some sort of replacement? An attempt at redemption?

He was torn from his thoughts by raucous laughter. He turned the corner and found two monsters laughing at something on top of a closed hot dog stand. As he approached, he found that they were laughing at the very bitty he was looking for, who appeared to be telling them some sort of joke.

“-and then he comes in and asks, ‘where’s my book?’ and i don’t know what to tell him, so i just say i ate it!” the tiny skeleton slaps his femur as he falls into a new round of laughter, and the drake next to him collapses in a fit of giggles. The vulkin nearby titters happily, its lava bubbling.

“hey,” the group quiets as Stretch walks up, “you malgun?”

Malgun crosses his arms. “who’s asking?”

Stretch holds out a hand. “name’s stretch. our dad is lookin’ for you. worried sick.”

“Aw man, you’re a kid?” the drake spoke up, “ya gotta wear your stripes when you go out.”

“I’m not a kid! And what do ya mean, our dad?” malgun remembers meeting Blue, the royal guard, but no other ‘family’. Wait, Wings did mention a younger son before… “oh, you’re the younger brother.”

The taller skeleton chuckled. “older than you tho, short stuff. come on, let’s get you home. need a lift?” he turned his outstretched hand so that Malgun could crawl onto his palm.

Instead of joining him, though, Malgun turned away and crossed his arms. “that place ain’t my home anymore.”

Stretch dropped his hand, unsure of what to do now. He glared at the other monsters until they left, and made sure they were out of hearing range before he sat down against the hot dog stand. “why not? i know he’s not the best at being a father, but he seemed to be trying with you.”

“trying? Trying what? To be as bad as gaster?”

A sigh, a clicking, the smell of smoke. “he’s not the best, but he’s nowhere near the level of twisted as that bastard. what’d he do?”

“said he was gonna punish me for wrecking the house.” he plopped down at the edge, away from Stretch, and kicked his legs against the wood.

“what, you hate being grounded that much?”

Malgun wasn’t sure what being grounded meant. Was he going to buried alive as punishment? He shivered. “i’d rather not find out.”

“alright, so where you gonna go instead?”

“with all the others, to Cry. she seemed like she had a good soul, and i’ve seen her a few times when da- uh, wings went to meet with her.”

“you know where it is?” Malgun replied in the affirmative. “cool. i’ll take you there.” he held out his hand again.

Malgun didn’t trust him. “what, just like that?”

“well, sounds like you don’t wanna go anywhere else. i’m not gonna force you somewhere you don’t wanna be.”

Malgun carefully stepped onto the offered hand, and began to lead the way. Besides instructions, there was little talk as they made it to the shop. They woke up Cry, but she agreed to let Malgun stay. Stretch headed home, but not before sending his father a text message.

Wings made himself wait until the next morning before going to see Miss Cry. he rationalized that everyone would have a cooler head after a good rest.

He was also terrified of seeing Malgun.

The worst part was that he was unsure what he had done that had made the bitty run away! He knew he was out of practice with the whole parenting thing, and there hadn’t exactly been many textbooks on that to begin with, but if he’d done something so terrible to make Malgun run away he should be able to identify it, shouldn’t he?! Thus, a large portion of his morning was spent picking over the details of the night before, getting dressed and undressed, trying to look like a good parent and not like a scientist, but what even was the proper attire for parenting? He couldn’t remember, and he knew no one that would be any help. He only calmed down after talking to his eldest, who cheered him on and encouraged him to just calm down and act natural. Not the most helpful of suggestions, but the intent was sincere.

And now he stood before the store, which also seemed to advertise itself as a type of orphanage for small skeletons now. His hands were tucked behind his back, where anyone passing by could see them nervously fiddling, before he finally brought himself to open the door and step inside. It looked much as it had the other times he had visited, although each time the selection of accessories made for small monsters seemed to grow in size. All about the accessory store, the bitties wandered, occasionally explaining products to customers or chatting up potential families. The little skeletons helpfully pointed Wings to the back, where Mama Cry awaited with Malgun. Wings knocked on the employee only door, and a feminine voice bid him enter. He stepped into the darkened room.

Malgun stood, quite dramatically, under a spotlight. Well, it was a lamp, really, but it looked enough like a spotlight to call it such. Wings was a bit intimidated by the set up, and let the door close behind him without stepping forwards any more.

“Ah, um, i…” the royal scientist of Swap Clan found himself at a loss for words. Does he apologize first? Admit he didn’t know what he did wrong? Request forgiveness?

“‘m sorry,” Malgun muttered, surprising Wings. “about wrecking your stuff.”

“Ah. well, there wasn’t really much harm done.” Wings found himself fiddling with his hands again. “I’m sorry too, because i don’t know what i did that made you leave. But if you tell me, we could…” he trailed off, losing steam.

Malgun shifted uncomfortably. “that... was my fault too. i mighta’ overreacted when you mentioned punishments. triggered some bad memories. but after talking with mama cry, she said you probably didn’t mean anything like what the old bastard used to do to us.”

“I was going to ground you from cartoons for a couple weeks…” Malgun’s face fell. “But, it wasn’t all your fault. I neglected you by staying at work. And when i initially went to get dinner… i forgot about you.” Wings’s shoulder dropped in shame. “After talking to my other sons, it has come to my attention that i could be a more… attentive parent. But, if you give me another chance, i will try!”

“kay.”

Wings looked up hopefully. Malgun was smiling at him, an honest smile.

“we can both try, yeah?”

“Yes, i believe we can. And the first step is a family game night! We can go buy a board game on the way home!” Wings stepped forward and offered one of his holed hands for Malgun to hop onto. “It has been a long time since playing with a full set, and i’m sure the surface has invented plenty of different ones for us to choose from. We could even invite your older brothers at some point, if you’re alright with that. Blue regularly comments that he hardly sees you, and we could feel more like a family…”

Wings prattled on in his relief, and Malgun found himself chuckling at the old man. He was a good guy, like Mama Cry said. Even if he kept his soul hidden out of sight, he wore it on his sleeve. Thank stars Malgun had learned what grounding actually meant.

Chapter Text

Frisk liked being a monster ambassador. But they didn’t like being head monster ambassador as much. Sometimes they hoped more monsters would show up with an older version of them, so the older one could be head monster ambassador. Going over complicated paperwork with mom all the time could be exhausting! At least Mettaton helped with the TV stuff, and going out in public events. He was super cool. But still! It was also weird having Chara and Risky look up to them. Risky was like a younger version of them, and Chara… well, Chara wasn’t the Chara Frisk knew. So that was weird.

The phone beeped, letting Frisk know that the front desk wanted to talk. They wondered if the monster that worked there just wanted to talk about his new nail polish. They had time to chat.

“Hey Frisk? There’s a human here that wants to meet with one of the ambassadors. They don’t have an appointment, but they keep crying, so I don’t know what to do. Can you help?”

A human? Not many bothered to come here. Not without being from the media, or to make some kind of government appointment, or to ask questions that the receptionist could answer. They jumped out of their desk chair and took the elevator down and to the left. Sure enough, at the front desk, in one of the comfy new chairs, sat a sobbing human. Frisk pulled out their note book and scribbled a message: “how can i help you?”

The sobbing man looked up, and abruptly stood. “U-uh, c-can we talk somewhere p-private please?” he sniffled. Frisk nodded, and they walked back into their office. Frisk indicated a chair, and jumped up into their own. The man wiped at his face. He definitely looked like an adult. He wore a brown sweater with a pocket and old jeans, and on his hands were… mittens? In spring? He looked up with pleading brown eyes. “U-um, i don’t know how to s-say this, and I figured the human g-government c-couldn’t help but… I… can do magic?”

Frisk merely raised an eyebrow. When that didn’t prompt the man to say more, they drew another message for him: “???”.

“M-my hands-! I- I can’t-” he pulled off one of the mittens, and Frisk just registered that it was dripping wet before his hand caught on fire. “I can’t put it out! It doesn’t hurt b-but I don’t know what to do! I’ve never been stuck like this b-before, e-even though I’ve been able to do this for mo-oo-onths…” he broke into sobs again, careful to keep his fiery hand from touching anything.

He was a mage. He was another mage! “Wait here!” Frisk made sure he saw the message before they went to the person they knew would know how to help: mom. They ran through the building, searching for Toriel, but no one seemed to know where she was. She wasn’t in her queen office. She wasn’t in dad’s king office (dad was there but they were too busy to stay for tea). None of the other moms knew where she was (Laurel was in her office and scary-mom-Dahlia was in the hall). She wasn’t at the training grounds… Dogaressa! Or, one of them, at least. Now equipped with a sniffer, Frisk followed the royal guard through the building. Mom was apparently in the kitchens. With a thank-you pat to Dogaressa, Frisk tackled Toriel.

“MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM!”

“Yes, my child?” Toriel looked at Frisk with amusement. She was almost done baking these cookies.

“You have to come see this!”

“What is it? I am almost done with the last batch. Oh, there it is!” a timer went off, and she began going between the several ovens, pulling out trays and trays of cookies. Frisk bounced impatiently. “Would you like one once they have cooled?”

“Yes mom but you gotta come nooooow! It’s super important human ambassador duty stuff!”

“Alright Frisk, lead the way.” Frisk took her hand and ran back to the- “No running inside, Frisk.” okay, they quickly walked back to the office.

The man still sat there, having replaced his soggy mitten. His face and eyes are red from crying for so long, but for now he merely sniffles.

“Mom, watch this!” since Frisk is using soul speak, the man hears nothing, and has no warning as Frisk yanks his mitten off.

“Ah!” he yells as he shoves his hand as far away as he can so as not to burn himself.

“Mom, isn’t it so cool?!”

Toriel looks on in horror.

The man turns to her. “C-can you please help me?”

Chapter Text

Dahlia, queen of Fell clan, was officially exhausted. And it was all Toriel’s fault. When Doggo had reported a new clan had appeared, there had been a surge of activity as everyone rushed to make available spaces for check ups, rooms in the embassy for any tired travelers, and monsters to help with registration. While a few humans were employed at the embassy, not counting the ambassadors, most clans rarely held a favorable opinion for the species when they were fresh out of the underground. This proved doubly true for the new group of monsters. She looked up at this new version of herself and the child that stood beside her.

“So, do you want her to be your mother or not?” Dahlia cut off the unstable woman’s rant and turned to the child.

“N-no… I'd rather not.” The girl, Aliza, said. “I want to help, but…”

“Nonsense!” Ugh, the crazy one was starting up again. “I am your mother. I'll keep you safe, and finally I can make you good food, and-”

“No,” Dahlia interrupted before turning back to Aliza. “You can stay with the other ambassadors for now, and we'll figure out a place for you to stay soon. Risky will be here in a minute to show you and your flower friend around.” she was still arguing with her alternate when Risky came in and waved with a shy smile. On their other arm, a golden flower had securely attached itself.

“Can you hear me?” Risky asked with soul speech. Aliza paused, but nodded. “Good,” Risky smiled gently, “that will make things easier. I guess that’s your Flowey?” Aliza nodded again. “It’d be easier if he picks a nickname later. Come on, we’ll show you where we live.”

After a few minutes of walking in silence, the Flowey on Risky’s arm spoke up. “So, um, can either of you speak, or…”

“... yeah,” Aliza replied. “We can both talk.” her voice quickly went from timid to downright commanding. “So what exactly is going on here? The surface wasn’t full of monsters when i fell!”

Risky frowned at her. “We’ll explain more in a bit. But this isn’t your world. When the barrier broke, you and the monsters got sent here, to another timeline.”

“Timeline?” the girl whined. “But i didn't die!”

The new, one-eyed Flowey spoke up. “Frisk must have messed something up when they left the underground.”

Risky shook their head. “No, because you guys aren’t the first to come here. This… isn’t our world either. I’m from Fell clan, and we showed up before you. We… don't really know why so many different timelines are coming here. But there are other versions of myself. Other versions of Flowey.” They reached a room, and Risky opened the door to reveal a plain bedroom. “My room is next door, but this is where you can stay until things are figured out.”

Aliza couldn’t contain her smile. A room! With a bed! It felt like forever since she had slept on a proper bed. She wanted to just ignore this complicated talk and sleep, so she made to do so. However, a small hand on her arm stopped her.

“Um, we should all talk before you two can sleep,” Risky’s Flowey said apologetically. “Come with us to Frisk’s room.” Risky let go and led the way back down the hallway, much to Aliza’s frustration.

When Risky opened the door, there were two more children there, and one more flower, this one in a pot. The oldest one, who looked to be closest to Aliza in age, wore pink and blue and introduced themselves as Frisk and their Flowey, the ones native to this timeline. The other was paler than Frisk and Risky, and introduced themselves as Chara. The kids sat on the floor, except for Frisk who sat on the bed. Frisk was the first to speak.

“So, you’re not like us. But i assume you have a red Soul?”

Aliza blinked in confusion. “Um, I don’t really understand. I’m not like you? My soul?”

Aliza’s Flowey spoke up. “Yeah, she’s not Frisk or Chara. Her Soul isn’t red, either.” With that, he pulled her soul out, shining a bright purple glow on the room, ignoring Aliza’s protests. “She’s perseverance. I don’t know how, but she still managed to take control of the timeline.”

The others nodded, but Aliza was fed up. “I hate this! I don’t understand anything! Why does it matter that my soul is different? Why are you all the same but i’m not? Why are we in a different world?!” tears of frustration pooled in her eyes. “I just want to go to sleep!” She stood up to leave, pausing as Flowey slithered off her arm.

“You can sleep. I’ll keep talking to these guys, and catch you up later,” he explained. Aliza paused, pushing down the feeling of betrayal at being made to leave alone, but then stormed off, going back to her new room.

As she collapsed on the bed, she screamed into her pillow. Things were supposed to be better after everyone got out! She was supposed to go home! But who knew if any of her family were even here in this world?! Probably not! Everything was awful, and the other kids were stupid, and the only good thing was that these blankets were very soft, and the other monsters had healed her wounds, and she had a belly full of food, REAL food, and no one was trying to kill her...