Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    "Gregory, you have a choice to make. The door is open, and you can go. Or you can continue to investigate the secrets of the Pizzaplex. I feel there is something going on besides Vanny, something… very dark." Freddy has his hand on my shoulders. I could tell by the sadness in his voice that he wanted me to stay. The thought was tempting.

 ~Morning~

    Today is the same day as any other day. Wake up. Find food. Survive. Steal money. Find food again and sleep. Ever since mom and dad died, I have been living in the streets, but then I found the Pizzaplex. During one of my searches, I saw a shadow of a woman standing at the end of the alley. I was curious so I went as quietly as I could to get a good glance at what she was looking at and to the wall to the right of where she was standing there was a flier promoting the Pizzaplex. 

    In hindsight, maybe sneaking into the Pizzaplex hadn’t been a good idea, but in my defense, I was hungry, thirsty, and cold.

    All I would have to do is sneak with a group and it'll be easy.

    Two hours later, I was proven wrong.

    I snuck through the front door with a group of kids my age to make it look like I was a part of their group. The Pizzaplex was a busy place with families going to different places, and most of the security guards were stationed near the glam-rock concert, sneaking past them was a breeze. As soon as I saw no one was paying attention to me, I made a beeline for the kitchen. I should be fine.

    That's what I thought until she showed up.

    As soon as I closed the door, I heard footsteps from the other side. I ran to hide behind one of the counters but my footsteps gave away my location.

    One of the doors opened and I heard a woman's voice. "Hello?" She called, beginning to walk towards the counter as I heard her footsteps. "Who's there?" I couldn't move, I was afraid she would catch me and turn me to the police. I was so close to getting the pizza, why did she have to ruin everything ?

    "There you are!" The guard found me from the other side of the counter and glared at me. "This area is off-limits, you aren't supposed to be here, kid!" My instincts honed from years of living at my own screamed at me to run, run away from her . I bolted across the room, running as fast as I could.

    Unfortunately, she was taller and faster and was catching up to me. As I ran, I could hear her calling out in a dark tone. 

    "You should come with me, kid. There's something really cool you'll want to see."  Her voice sounded weird. "Come on kid, I'll promise you'll be safe."

    I ignored her, and ran even faster through the Pizzaplex, a few people eyed me as I bolted past them. My legs burned but luckily I found an open vent that was big enough to fit me, but not her. I crawled into the vent just as the guard came behind me. I pushed myself to crawl faster.

    As I moved farther and farther away from her, I could hear her distant laugh. " Don't worry, we'll see each other soon enough. I'll find you eventually."

    That security guard that I think Freddy called Vanessa when I first saw her glaring at me. Something about her felt wrong, and I didn't like it.

~ Sometime later~

    Being in the vents really sucked.

    The walls of the vents were covered in dust and grease. I could feel it clinging to my skin as I crawled through the vents. The air was damp and mushy and there was barely any room in the vents, it really sucked .

    Voices from the vent near me caught my attention.

    "I can't believe Freddy broke down mid-performance…"

    I peered through the grate, seeing two technicians below me standing beside a limp Freddy. They appeared to be fixing him, one of them is working on something on a computer, and the other was fiddling with the exposed wires at the back of Freddy's head.

    "Yeah, that one mom was super pissed. Did you hear her saying that she'd sue the company for ruining her kid's birthday party?

    The other technician laughed. "Shit, really?"

    "Yeah, and there's some kid who snuck in."

    I felt a jolt of fear going through me.

    "How the hell does a kid sneak in here? There's so much security, it's honestly ridiculous."

    "Dunno 'bout that. But Vanessa has been losing her shit over it. Heard that she found him in the kitchen, but he bolted and now she's got everyone on the lookout."

    "Heh, no wonder the higher-ups wanted her to be a guard. She probably won't stop till she finds that kid."

    Oh, great. Now that crazy guard is looking for me and the rest of the Pizzaplex too. She also saw me going through the vents… great. I need a good place to hide-

    "Okay," said the technician on the computer, interrupting my train of thought. "I've got Freddy on reduced power and on safe mode. He shut down 'cause his systems detected some sort of malware trying to override his systems so it triggered an automatic reset to stop it." 

    "We should check on the others to make sure they don't get anything too…" The other technician trailed off.

    "I've gotten him disconnected from the main server temporarily till we work this out, so all precautions should keep the virus out."

      The technician shut the computer, standing up. "Time to check up on the others." Quickly, the technicians packed up and left, leaving Freddy to sit up by the mirror. I waited until I couldn't hear their voices anymore, and I let out a quiet sigh. Time to get moving then.

       I glanced down towards the limp form of Freddy and paused. The animatronics' stomach hatch was open, forgotten by the technicians in their haste to leave.

       I grinned to myself. Looks like I've found the perfect hiding spot .

      Then once Freddy woke up, he agreed to help me leave the Pizzaplex; then throughout the night the animatronics tried to get me and so did a weird rabbit lady who I think is named Vanny. Throughout the night, I decommissioned the animatronics and eventually, the doors opened at 6 am just like Freddy said so.

~Present~

    I looked at Freddy and I said the hardest words I have ever said in my life.

    "I- I… have to go." My voice sounded quiet as I looked down at the floor unable to look Freddy in the eyes as I said it.

    Freddy lowered his head when I said this and he slowly looked me in my eyes and nodded.

    "I understand. I will never forget you. Stay safe, superstar." Freddy's voice sounded as if it broke while he was saying this. I could tell that he was heartbroken.

    "Goodbye, Freddy." I say while trying not to cry but I am unable to hold back my tears. A few tears fall down my face as I look at Freddy. Freddy looks at me sympathetically and he raises his arm and starts patting my head.

    "Now's your chance, Gregory. I… hope I'll see you again." I slowly walk out the door and I look back at Freddy as he stares at me from inside the lobby. He turns around and walks further into the Pizzaplex with his body sagging.

    I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away from the Pizzaplex and as I ran I had more tears in my eyes. Eventually, I get to an alley that looks at least a little clean and I lean against a wall.

    I should’ve stayed back. Am I scared of Vanny? What if Vanny did something to Fred-?!

    I shook my head. No, Freddy would never die against Vanny. Never.

~2 weeks later~

    It had been 2 weeks now and I felt miserable. Ironically, my time at the Pizzaplex didn't go as planned but I was able to relax a little and get something to eat. But why is that? I was hunted down by all the animatronics and that rabbit lady! Was it because of Freddy?

    Freddy was the only one to help me. He protected me from the other animatronics. He was the reason as to why I was able to live until 6 am. I wonder what Freddy is doing now; is he still thinking about me? Or has he changed and now he is like the other animatronics and would attack me if he saw me again? Whatever he is doing now I still miss him. Over the time I spent at the Pizzaplex, I've grown attached to Freddy… he's so much like my dad before he died.

    Either way, I will never see him again. So does it even matter now? But no matter how much I try to convince myself to forget about Freddy I keep thinking about him and I can't stop myself from crying about him.

    I curl up in the box that I was lucky enough to find in a dumpster and I try to get more comfortable. I was using a newspaper as a blanket, and on it had the pictures of 9 missing kids who had disappeared while they were at the Pizzaplex. I know that it was probably Vanny. How many more will go missing at the Pizzaplex, will it ever stop?

    It is so cold and I shiver as I think about the disappearances. I move the newspaper a little to try to make it cover more of my body. As I did this I heard footsteps coming toward my box. I glanced in their direction and my eyes widened.

***

    It has taken a while but I have finally found him. There he was, lying lonely in a box. How good it felt to finally have him at my disposal again! I specifically chose him when the master told me to. Master said it was my chance to be like him and to make my mark. While at the Pizzaplex, I was watching the kids to see which one would be the easiest to pick off, but they all had parents that were watching them! How did the master do it? He killed so many kids! How did he manage to get five at once and I couldn't even find a way to get one?!

    But on my way home that night I was walking down the street and there in the alley was a boy sleeping on the ground. He was perfect! No one would miss him! I spent the rest of the day planning on a way to get him to the Pizzaplex but before I got him I wanted to do my first job the way the master did his. So I went to the Pizzaplex the next morning and I was determined to find kids that were easy targets.

    Eventually, I see a kid alone and it looked like he had just finished up playing an arcade game. I went up to him in my security guard uniform and I told him that something happened to his parents and that I had to bring him to my office. Then once he was there I raised my knife and I did the job. Master was pleased with my work.

    I repeated the process and before I knew it, I had gotten 9 kids. I knew I was ready for the kid in the alley after that. So, I went back, and luckily, he was still there. I purposely let him spot me and then I put a flier on the wall promoting the Pizzaplex in the hopes that he would come. And to my relief he did. But he avoided me the whole time he was there and he even managed to decommission the animatronics!

    After the doors opened, he left. I have been looking for him ever since then and finally, I have got him! I smirk under my mask and raise my knife.

    But then a headache suddenly tears through me and I clutch my head in my hands.

    I can't do this! What am I doing?!

    Obey! I am close to my resurrection, Vanny. You don't want to upset your master now, yes?

    N-no, master.

    The headache was beginning to go away.

    I was about to continue walking towards the box, but because of my pause, Gregory spots me and his eyes widen.

    He has seen you! Don't let him escape!

    Yes, master.

    Gregory at this point has started running and I start chasing him. Why is he so fast? He's only a kid?! Luckily I checked to make sure there were no people nearby, the master wouldn't like witnesses being alive. I couldn't afford to be caught, if that happened then the master would not have anyone to help him finish his body.

    It feels as if I have been chasing him for over an hour now. And we are now outside the city. The boy was still ahead of me running into the thick forest that surrounds the mountain. At least, hiding the body and harvesting his remnant won't be hard.

    I've been running for minutes, my legs numb and breaths haggard. That kid must've been miles ahead of me. This forest isn't really doing me any favors. I need to track him down fast!

    Heh , the kid really is panicking, he forgot to hide his tracks. Now, where are you kid? As I observe the direction of the tracks. They lead to the mountain in the middle of the forest. What was it called again? Mount Ebott? There was local legend surrounding it but I can't recall it. All I really know is that it involved monsters. Tch, how unreal.

    My train of thought comes to an end when I observe a distant shape of a kid running up the mountain. I squint my eyes through the mask to see that it is Gregory running for the mountain.

    Got you in my sights now! This time I'm not letting you go.

    I quickly made a dash in the direction of the mountain. As I'm running up the mountain behind the kid I can't help but smile at the prospect of having ten kills. Master would surely be proud of me!

***

    She has been chasing me for miles. I can barely feel my legs from all the running. I can't believe she chased me up this mountain! The moment I saw a cave at the side of the mountain, I ran into it in a panic and hid behind one of the big rocks.

    A few small rocks were pushed back and I turn around to see them dropping into this huge hole in the ground. I then heard heavy breathing and turned back around to see Vanny catching her breath and holding her knife.

    She removes her mask and my eyes widen in fear. S-so it really was her?! As if reading my mind, she sneers with an evil glint in her eyes.

    "Did you have fun running from me?!" She shouts in an angry and distorted voice. She then twirls the knife in her hand and makes a mad dash for me. I scream and I try to run past her but she grabs me.

    "You were a fun target but now sadly the fun has come to an end!" she says looking at me with her knife raised.

    "NO!" As I thrash around in her grip, but before she can stab me I instinctively kick her leg which causes her to fall, and to my terror, I notice that we are right next to the hole in the cave. 

I scream as me and Vanny both fall into the hole.

Chapter Text

    Frisk was tired of the resets. When will it stop? They could reset the Underground any time during a run, but Chara made sure that no run was permanent. After a while in the Underground, Frisk felt as if they weren’t alone; they felt as if there was another presence within them. Before the first reset took place, Frisk was happy to live with Toriel. But it only lasted a week before they woke up in the flower pile again.

    Chara then introduced themselves to Frisk. They wanted Frisk to be their partner. To kill everyone. But Frisk refused, so the resets continued. Frisk felt as if they had been going on for years. But they couldn’t keep count.

    Everyone in the Underground couldn’t remember the resets except for Flowey and Sans. Frisk could tell that Flowey still wanted them to give in to his morals of kill or be killed. But Frisk wouldn’t do that, but sometimes Chara wins control over Frisk. And those times Frisk doesn’t want to remember.

    Sans, however, was still a friend to Frisk. But Frisk could tell that he sometimes thought they were the ones resetting. But that didn’t stop Sans from continuing to be Frisk's best friend. They still made puns together and went to Grillby’s as usual. But sometimes, it looked as if Sans were thinking about something. As if he wanted to stop doing the same thing over and over again.

    Chara is sometimes able to control Frisk. The worst it got was the time Chara got Frisk to genocide up until they got to Snowdin. Frisk was able to stop Chara from killing Papyrus, and then they reset. Frisk could tell Sans took that run hard, but he eventually forgave Frisk after a few runs.

    Right now, Frisk was standing on the surface with their friends looking at the sunset. All the monsters seemed amazed by it, completely unaware that they had done it hundreds of times.

    “Isn’t it beautiful, everyone?” Asgore says softly.

    “Wow… it’s e-even better than on TV. Way better! Better than I ever imagined!” Alphys says while gazing at the sun.

    "Frisk, you live with this!?” Undyne shouted in pure amazement at the sight. Frisk nodded their head with a smile that made Undyne grin.

    Everyone else went as normal with Papyrus asking about the sun. Asgore asked if Frisk wanted to be the ambassador of the monsters. Which Frisk agreed to.

    Even though Frisk must have done this a hundred times, they still felt happy. It still warmed Frisk's heart, seeing the monster kind finally free. Even if it won’t last.

    Papyrus was happy to hear that Frisk was going to be the ambassador, and he excitedly ran off to see the humans. Which causes Sans to go after him. After a little bit, everyone is gone except for Toriel and Frisk. 

   Toriel then asks Frisk what they planned to do. Frisk happily asks to stay with Toriel. This stuns her as she can’t believe that she finally has the chance to raise another child. With that, Frisk and Toriel walk down the mountain and towards the city where the others are.

   Humans are shocked by the monsters, but most seem to accept the idea of them being here. But just like always, some dislike them, and they are constantly mean to them.

   Frisk and Toriel move into a house in the city. It is a nice house, and at the end of each night, Toriel brings Frisk a pie. Frisk knows that they have a maximum of a week before the reset happens; Frisk always tries to enjoy themselves before everyone forgets.

    So, at the end of the week, Frisk invites Sans to go out to eat. Luckily, a makeshift Grillby's was set up nearby, so Grillby can stay in business until he can buy a building for a more permanent location.

    There are many familiar monsters huddled around the tents set up in the park. The canine unit is here, and they look like they are having a great time. Snowdrake and his family are also here. It looks as if Snowdrake's mother is doing better; she looks a lot happier now that she is back with her family.

    I saw Sans on a stool at the counter. He waves at me, and I quickly sit down.

    “heya kid. how have things been?” Sans says casually.

    “All good. Mom recently started teaching and dad opened his flower shop!” I said cheerfully. I usually don't talk often because I don’t want to accidentally say the wrong thing. Lately, I have been trying to talk more. It felt weird at first, but I'm starting to get used to it. Since the resets happen it makes me more comfortable to talk. And if I make a mistake no one can remember; it just made talking feel so much less risky.

    “how long will it be, kid?” Sans says flatly and he's looking at me coldly, the light in his eyes dimming.

    “How long until what?” I knew he was talking about the resets, but I couldn’t bear the thought of my answer strengthening the idea that I am behind the resets. I could tell him about Chara but even if I do, he probably can’t do anything about it. And if Chara knew what I told them then they would be furious; I don't want to imagine what Chara would do if that happened.

    “you know what i mean, kiddo. how long until i'm back in snowdin as if none of this ever happened? when will everyone else forget about this?” Sans says with all seriousness. I know that he is no longer joking about anything when he does this.

    “Sans I've told you I can’t control the resets." I'm a little hurt that he would suggest this.

    “look, kid. i'm sorry but this keeps happening, and the only people that remember are you, me, and that flower. i know that you had a good time in the underground but we can still have fun up here.”

    “Sans, please believe me when I say that I am not doing this on purpose.” When I say this Sans seems to relax and the light in his eyes returns.

    “sorry kid, sometimes it's just hard, you know. to do it all over again and have everyone forget the previous run ever happened. now come on, let's enjoy some food. maybe i'll have the ribeye.” I laugh at Sans' joke. I and Sans then enjoy some fries and after we're done I thank Grillby on the way out.

    As I travel down the sidewalk back to my home. I can't help but think about how sad Sans was when he said all that. I honestly wish the resets stopped myself. It's so exhausting each time.

   Not to mention how close we were to killing Papyrus. Chara says out of nowhere in my head… or soul…

    My eyes widened. Really Chara? Now's a good time to talk? I retorted back.

    You were really in a good mood back then. Besides, you do know that I can hear your thoughts, right? Chara says nonchalantly.

    Ugh… just please don't remind me of that run, and don't hear my thoughts, okay? I could hear Chara sighing. Fine, but you and I can't forget what we did together. I didn't answer them back.

    It was then I arrived back to reality by the sight of my home. I knocked on the door and heard a muffled “coming” from the other side.

    The door opened to reveal mom looking down at me and smiling softly.

    “Welcome home my child! I have had a wonderful day teaching at school! All the human and monster children are all getting along. It was wonderful! Now please tell me about your day.” She takes my hand and we walk to the lounge and sit down on the sofa.

    "My day was great, mom! Sans and I went to Grillby’s to talk about stuff."

    "I am happy to hear about it. He honestly was somewhat anxious about you. I don't know why, but I'm grateful you're becoming great friends with him." I smile at Toriel's compliments. I couldn’t have asked for a better mom!

    My mom and I talked about how monsters were integrating into society more peacefully than we thought and discussed her plans for the school.

    As we talked, I yawned and felt the day's stress on me."Oh! Would you look at the time! We'll discuss things tomorrow. Sleep well, my child."

     I get off the sofa and go for the stairs that lead up to my bedroom. I changed and wore a simple t-shirt and pajamas. Mom brings in a butterscotch cinnamon pie for me to have in the morning. I smile but, in my head, I know that when I wake up I will probably be on the flower patch in the ruins.

~Reset~

    Sure enough, I wake up to see the incoming light from beyond the hole and the darkness of the ruins beyond.

    Here we go again.

    I got up from the flower patch and I walked into the next room where Flowey was.

    “Welcome back Frisk! Are you ready?!” Flowey says in his sickly sweet high pitched voice. Flowey still remembered the resets but for some reason, he keeps forgetting about the ending of the pacifist route. So whenever I reset, he is always ready to try to steal my soul.

    “Here we go, Frisk!” Flowey puts me into a battle and my soul pops out. I take a deep breath.

    “Flowey, please we don’t have to do this.”

    “Sorry, Frisk but you know how it goes. IT’S KILL OR BE KILLED!” Flowey launches his friendliness pellets at me and I feel the pain go through me as they hit my soul. My health is now at 1 hp like it always does when Flowey's friendliness pellets hit me.

    “Since I know she is coming any second now. I'll be going now! This was fun! See you around Frisk!” Flowey disappears into the ground as Toriel enters and sees me hurt.

    “I'm here, my child! You're hurt! let me heal you!” Mo- Toriel then heals all my wounds and my health is back to its full state. Toriel smiles down at me and she looks at me as if she's trying to remember something.

    “You look so familiar, my child. It almost feels as if I have known you for years. Now come let me show you your new home!” I feel pain in my soul like I always do when Toriel doesn’t remember me. Still, it felt good to know that somewhere in her subconscious she remembers. I take her hand and I follow her into the next room.

    Frisk doesn’t know it but 10 minutes after they fall. Two new people have just entered the Underground, and they are going to change everything.

Chapter Text

    Gregory slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the bed of yellow flowers he was laying on. Gregory quickly remembers what happened and looks to his side to see Vanny’s motionless body next to him.

    Where am I? What is this place?

    The cavern he was in was dark with the only light coming from the hole he had fallen and illuminating the yellow flower bed he landed on. There were also pillars around him that looked rotten with age and plants growing on them. The foreign scenery is enough to get his mind up and running. How did the flowers manage to break my fall?!

    Gregory then looked at Vanny, or should he say Vanessa. Slowly Gregory walked closer to Vanessa. Gregory felt as if any second she would wake up and grab him, but he remained calm and he picked up Vanessa's mask off the floor.

    Gregory stared at her face for a few minutes. She was the person in that costume… but why? Why would she try to kill me?

    Gregory was shocked. His eyes were wide. She is the security guard at the Pizzaplex, yet she walked around in a rabbit suit trying to kill him!

    It all made sense now. When she caught him and locked him in a room it was all part of her plan! She was already on the monitor, ready to announce herself. She was already near the area of the office and that’s why Vanny found him so fast! That’s why Vanny and Vanessa never ran into each other, they were the same person.

    But one thing didn’t make sense to Gregory. Why did she not just kill him when she was taking him to the office? Why did she first leave him there and then dress up as Vanny? Did she want to make him feel more fear before he died? Did she want to only do her killings dressed as a rabbit?!

    He can't argue that she did such a great job acting. Gregory completely never suspected a thing about them being the same person. Vanny and Vannessa just seemed like total opposites. Vannessa was serious and just wanted to do her job, Vanny was a psychopath who was goofing around while trying to kill him! How could she have been able to keep changing her mood that fast?!

    Gregory stumbled back and leaned against a wall with the rabbit mask still in his hand. It felt as if the entire cavern was spinning all around him. It was all in her plans, she wanted him at the Pizzaplex! She was the one in the alley that day! It made total sense. She was stalking him! She wanted Gregory to go to the stage to trick him so the Daycare Attendant could get him! Then once he left she tracked him down because he escaped her!

    Gregory dropped the mask on the floor. He has to leave before she wakes up. Gregory walks away from where he landed and deeper into the cavern. He was walking for quite a while before he came upon a doorway. It didn’t look natural like the cave walls around him. It has pillars similar to ones he came across after he landed and looked cleaner. It also had a strange symbol on top of the doorway. This was not just some cave that he had fallen into, someone must have been here and made this. Would that mean there are people down here?

    Gregory makes his way through the door. The small cavern looked so dark he couldn't even see what it looked like, but in the middle of the cave where the light was shining through from above, there was something that caught his eyes. It was a flower, but it looked different from the other ones. It had a thicker stem, and it had a face!  The flower was smiling at first, but it frowned and stiffened when it saw him.

    “Who are you?! You're not supposed to be here!” The Flower shouted. Gregory was shocked. How could this flower talk?! What kind of place was this?!

    “You can talk?!”

    “Why of course I can talk! I wasn’t expecting you but since you are here someone ought to show you how things work around here! I guess I will have to be the one to do it!” The flower's demeanor changed and it quickly straightened up and it sounded cheery, too cheery. Something felt off.

    “I’m Flowey by the way, Flowey the flower! And don’t worry, little ol' me will teach you how things work down here!” Before Gregory could say anything, his view completely changed. A box appeared in front of him and so did an orange heart. His eyes widened and his mind screeched to a halt. Wh- What is this?!

    “See that heart? This is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being! Your SOUL starts off weak, but you can grow strong if you gain LV.” The way that Flowey was talking it sounded as if this was rehearsed. Gregory didn’t trust Flowey for a second, just like when he didn’t trust Vanessa.

    Flowey continued, “What’s LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don’t you? Don’t worry I’ll share some with you!” Little white pellets appeared around Flowey, Gregory could tell that those pellets looked off. Flowey was up to something.

    “Down here, LOVE is shared through little white… ‘Friendliness pellets’.”  Gregory knew the second Flowey paused that this was all an act. I have to get out of here! Who knows what he'll do!

    “Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!” Flowey then sent the pellets to Gregory's soul but Gregory acted fast and dodged them. Flowey’s smile tightened and it looked as if he was trying to hold back his annoyance.

    “Hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try again. Okay?” The cheerfulness from Flowey's voice was gone, which gave away his act.

    Flowey sent even more pellets which Gregory dodged. Gregory could see that he was fuming with anger.

    “Kid, I don’t know who you are but just listen to me. RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!!!” Flowey bellowed in frustration before quickly correcting himself but it was too late. Gregory no longer was going to trust him. Flowey sent out more ‘friendliness pellets’ but Gregory dodged them as well. Flowey's face was filled with hate and it was as if he was staring into Gregory's soul.

    “You know what’s going on here, don’t you? You just wanted to see me suffer.” Flowey then surrounded Gregory’s soul in ‘friendliness pelts’. Gregory was quickly panicking and scared, but before they could reach his soul, Flowey looked as if he remembered something and he glanced to his left.

    “Oh, no!” Flowey quickly disappeared into the dirt below just in time to avoid… a fireball?! A figure approached Gregory and… she was not human!

Chapter Text

      The figure came into view and Gregory was horrified by what he saw. The figure was not a human, it looked like some kind of humanoid goat with brown eyes. She was wearing a long purple robe with white sleeves. And in the middle of her chest, there was that same strange symbol he came across before. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she gasped.

      “My goodness! Another child has fallen! Don’t fear my child, I am here!” The weird goat lady approached with a friendly smile on her face. I start to back up when she comes closer. How can I trust her especially after that weird flower tried to kill me?!

      “Do not fear my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the RUINS. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen. But I didn’t expect two humans to fall on the same day. This is most unusual.” Toriel had a motherly tone to her voice. It felt warm and inviting just like Freddy's voice felt. Could Gregory trust Toriel just as he trusted Freddy when they first met? If this place is dangerous just like the Pizzaplex then it would be good to have an ally like her.

      Wait! She also said there was another human here!

      “What is this place?! Where the hell am I?!” Toriel seemed to stiffen when Gregory swore. But she tried to regain her composure.

      “Please don’t talk like that my child. And you are in The Underground. It’s where monsters live.” 

      “Wait… mo- monsters?! I thought it was just a legend! Why are you even under this mountain?!” 

      “I can explain once I get you to your new home. Come, my child. I will guide you through the catacombs.” Toriel walked forward and Gregory reluctantly followed behind her. In the next room, the walls were purple and looked pristine, and the air felt clean.

      There were also red flowers right next to a stairway that goes up in two ways. Gregory continued to follow Toriel to the next room. In the room, there were pressure plates on the ground.

       “Welcome to your new home, innocent one. Allow me to educate you on the operation of the RUINS.” Toriel precedes to step on four of the pressure plates and she pulls a lever on the wall making the door to the room open after he follows her through the pressure plates in a safe winding path.

      “The RUINS are full of puzzles. Ancient fusion between diversion and door keys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them and watch closely at what I do."

      Puzzles? Gregory remembered how it was to reverse the Pizzaplex. Trying to get around the animatronics and decommission them was a puzzle in their way. If he could survive at the Pizzaplex then certainly he could survive here.

      “Thanks, and my name is Gregory by the way.”

      “Gregory, what a nice name my child! Thank you for telling me, Gregory! I don’t know the other child's name but I am too kind to ask. But perhaps they will tell me later as you did. Come let's continue!”

      Toriel brought Gregory to the next room where there were several switches. Toriel explained to Gregory that he needed to flip the labeled switches to continue. 

      As Gregory does this he thinks about his time in the West Arcade where he had to flip the switches to rest the surest breaker.

      “At least there isn’t some giant spider-like DJ this time,” Gregory mutters to himself as he flips one of the switches. This causes Toriel to raise an eyebrow and concern washed over her face.

      “What was that Gregory? Have you met some sort of DJ? Was it playing music at a party?”

      “Never mind. Let's just continue.” Gregory continued to flip the last switch and the spikes blocking the exit to the room went away.

      “Splendid! I am proud of you Gregory!”

      “It wasn’t that hard, the switches were labeled,” Gregory said, a little bit upset, but deep down he enjoyed the praise Toriel gave him. It reminded him of his mother. Toriel looked a little bit hurt at first but then she smiled politely.

      “I am still proud regardless! You did great! Let us move to the next room!” Gregory followed Toriel into the next room where there was a training dummy. It looked like it was made of cotton.

      “As a human living in The UNDERGROUND, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not the process is simple. When you encounter a monster you will enter a FIGHT. When you are in a Fight strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for a time while I resolve the conflict.”

      “Toriel I have been in a situation like that before and talking won’t help. The best thing to do is to just run and find a way to outmaneuver whatever is chasing you or if that doesn't work then fight them.” Once Gregory said this Toriel was shocked completely and she couldn’t look anymore concerned.

      “Gregory, what do you mean you were in a situation like that before?! Was something trying to hurt you?!” Toriel was now leaning down next to Gregory and she put her paw on his shoulder.

      “It’s- complicated,” Gregory hesitates while pausing mid-sentence. Toriel grabbed Gregory’s hand and started to walk toward the next room.

      “Let's just skip this one for now,” Toriel distracts him by speaking up, “there is another puzzle in this room. I wonder if you can solve it?”

      “I can do it. It can’t be too hard.” Gregory says confidently. As he began to follow Toriel into the next room, the same box that appeared with Flowey appeared in front of him. What appeared to be a frog-like monster was standing in front of him.  And in the text box, it said ‘Froggit attacks you!’.

      Gregory saw multiple boxes in front of him. They said; attack, act, items, and mercy. Gregory selected act, and he decided to select shoo away.

      “Stay away from me!” 

      The Froggit seemed startled at first and it backed away. Toriel then walked into the battle and she glared at the Froggit. This caused the Froggit to leave without another sound.

      “What was that thing?!”

      “That was a Froggit. They are quite common in the RUINS. But don’t fear Gregory! I will protect you!”

      Toriel led Gregory forward and a bunch of spikes in front of them were the only thing that stopped them. Gregory stared at them and he began to start to get the hang of this place.

      Well, this should be interesting.

Chapter Text

      Vanessa slowly opened her eyes and was met with light, she quickly closed her eyes, and then she felt the stingy sensation of pain go through her body. She then tried to sit up after a few minutes and observe her surroundings. Her eyes widen and her mind goes into overdrive to try and make sense of her current predicament.

      Wh-… where the hell am I?!

      There was light pouring down on her from above but the rest of the cavern was dark. She was surrounded by pillars that looked rotten with age. She tries to remember how she got here and then it hits her. The last thing she remembered was that kid kicking her leg which made them fall.

      The kid!

      Vanessa looked all over the cavern but she did not see Gregory. Where has he gone?! That little shit is going to get himself killed! Vanessa looked at where she was lying and she noticed flowers. Since when could flowers break people's fall?! But that doesn’t matter Vanessa- no Vanny has to find that kid! She has to get his remnant for her master.

      You let him get away. You should have been more careful.

      “I’m sorry I won’t let it happen again.”

      You won’t. You collected the taps. You are who I chose to help me continue my work. You will find him. You know what will happen to you if you don’t.

      Vanny felt a surging pain go through her head and she gritted her teeth. She nodded. She had to do this. Her master has to come back and the sooner she gets the remnant and gets out of here, the sooner master can come back.

      “I’ll get him. You have my word.”

      Good. Your mask is missing. Find it.

      Vanny’s eyes widened. Her mask! How could she have forgotten? Her new identity relies on that mask! It was a part of her now! She has to find it! Vanny quickly ran frantically around the cavern looking around it for any sign of her mask. Eventually, Vanny breathed a sigh of relief when she found her mask near one of the pillars.

      She felt the familiarness of the fabric in her fingers. It felt good to feel it once again. Vanny put the mask on and instantly she felt the familiar feeling of relief and dread every time she put on the mask. 

      Vanny walked deeper into the cavern at the side of the room and at the end, there was a doorway on her left. She pauses as she looks at the doorway. Why would there be a doorway deep inside the mountain? Who would even live here? Wait… the legend… is true?! Vanny was shocked but her master interrupted her thoughts.

      If the legends are true, then we'll have to be extremely careful with what we do and be aware of our surroundings. There is also the question that if we encounter such 'monsters' then how strong will they be and let us get what we want?

      Huh, I was thinking about when I'll have to get my hands dirty. They might be an interesting challenge, don't you think? Vanny says, twirling her knife in her hand.

      She goes through the doorway and what she sees next shocks her to her core. There was a Flower in the middle of the cavern but it had a face! So the legend is true! She felt dread and excitement. She hopes this thing would be her first monster kill!

      Interesting. I wasn’t expecting this. It is fascinating.         

      ***

      WHAT THE HELL?!

      There are two new people in The Underground?! This has got to be a joke! It was surprising enough that one new kid fell here and now there is another new person?! What does she think she is wearing? A rabbit suit, she must be crazy! No time to think about it though, maybe she will be easier to trick into giving me her soul.

      “Howdy! I’m FLOWEY. FLOWEY the-” Wait a moment what is she doing? She is skipping toward me. What is she 5? At this point, I am completely weirded out. She then made me enter a battle. What?! This is not the way it’s supposed to go! Whenever someone falls here I am the one who’s supposed to start the battle!

      Vanny skips towards you.

      The text box says as the battle starts. So her name is Vanny. Who climbs a mountain wearing something like that? Okay, no problem this should still be easy.

      Wait a second…

      HER LOVE IS AT 17! It would take many kills to raise her LOVE that high! She must have done some pretty awful things to have it at that level! Her soul was weird as well. I could see that it is a perseverance soul, but it has weird black cracks around it. It looks as if the black is coating it, and there are also green specks on the purple that looks as if they're glitching.

      What the heck is wrong with her soul? There is something weird going on with her. But now that the shock has worn off my smile widens. With this power, she can mow down any monster that she comes across! My thoughts are interrupted though when she swings a knife down at me and I dodge it.

      “Ha! I see that this isn’t your first time trying to kill something. I’m impressed by your efforts. Since you have shown what kind of person you are I won’t even bother trying to trick you. Welcome to The Underground! I already know that I am going to enjoy watching you go through it!” I then disappear into the ground leaving the battle. I can’t wait to see the look on Frisk's face when they run into her!

      This is going to be so much fun!

      ***

      These new people are unexpected. That boy from earlier had a little bit of LOVE so I definitely will be monitoring him closely. But now that this woman in a rabbit suit is here I feel a new bit of excitement flow through me. She looks ruthless and crazed. She is just what I need. Frisk doesn’t look like they are going to listen to me any time soon. But this new person looks like she enjoys doing what Frisk refuses to do. If I can take control of her, I can finally escape The Underground and finish the humans for what they did to me.

      Once she is mine we will have so much fun! So new partner let's see what you're capable of!

Chapter Text

      Toriel stared at the spikes for a minute. First, she looks at the spikes, and then she looks back at me. She seems to be deep in thought. 

      “This is the puzzle, but… here, take my hand for a moment.” Toriel then grabs my hand, and we walk forward. Her… hand is soft and warm. It reminds me of- The spikes subtract into the ground as she guides me through. She could have just shown me the path and let me walk across it, I'm not a baby! I’ve done things like this enough times, like when I crossed over the bridge with those creepy staff bots when I was trying to escape the sewers at the Pizzaplex.

      “Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now,” Toriel says with a small uneasy smile.

      “I could have handled it. Trust me I have done harder things than that before.” Toriel looks stunned again and she tries her best to maintain her composure. She then proceeds to kneel down to my level, with a tight and concerned smile. 

      “May I ask what dangerous situation you were in Gregory? I am more than willing to listen to you if you want to talk about it. I will understand.” Toriel says softly and puts her hand on my shoulder.

      I only have known Toriel for a few minutes. I still am trying to decide whether she is being truthful. I don’t feel comfortable enough right now to tell her about the Pizzaplex. Maybe in a while, I will tell her a little bit about what happened. But I won’t tell her everything right now!

      “Let's just say I have been through a lot one night. It happened a little while ago, but it doesn’t matter now.” Toriel’s face stiffened at this. I could tell she is heavily concerned about me.

      “Well… you're with me now Gregory. And I will protect you like I will protect the other child. Your new home will be safe and sound, and no one will hurt you there.” Her words sounded tempting. After all, I only have a cardboard box to return to if I get out of here. But Vanessa is still down here. As long as she is here, I will never be safe.

      “I don’t know if that’s the best idea.” Toriel's smile vanishes after this. She stares at me blankly. Eventually, she smiles and tries to pretend she didn’t hear me say that.

      “We should get going, Gregory. I have a surprise for you when you get home. By the way, for no reason in particular, which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?” I could tell by the way she is talking, that she is trying to change the subject. Her speech is rushed and hurried, and I could tell she is just trying to get me not to think about leaving.

      “Cinnamon, I guess!” I say with a huge sigh. Fine, I won’t talk about this now, but once the time comes, I have to get out of here. I don’t want Vanessa to come to find me again. I know what she’ll do.

“Splendid! And you do not dislike cinnamon, do you? I know what your preference is, but. Would you turn-”

“Could we please get going already! I don’t care about what I eat! Just so long as it keeps me alive, I’m good.” I yell cutting off Toriel. Her eyes widen in shock, and she just stares at me.

      “Gregory, it is not polite to yell and interrupt people. Now please, let's continue on.” She says while grabbing my hand. I feel irritated by this, she has only known me for a few minutes! What gives her the right to say that! But I guess that so long as it keeps us moving, I will let it go.

      We then make it to the next room. It looks the same as the rest of the Ruins. The hallway is long and empty except for a pillar near the end of it. I wonder what challenge could possibly be in this boring hallway! There is literally nothing here!

      “You have done excellent thus far, Gregory,” Toriel spoke proudly as she faced me. She then looks over her shoulder at the hallway for a second with a look of uneasiness. 

      “However… I have a difficult request to ask of you “ Toriel goes silent for a minute, and she looks at me with a troubled face. I wonder what she could possibly have me do that warrants her reluctance? But no matter what it is, it can't be more difficult than what I already did.

      I avoided a security guard dressed as a rabbit! I crushed an animatronic chicken in a garbage compactor. I made an animatronic gator fall by making him lift a bucket full of rubber balls. And I tore out an animatronic wolf's eyes after running her over in a race kart. Wherever Toriel wants me to do can’t be more difficult than what I've already faced. 

      “I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself.” I can’t believe my ears. This is what she calls a challenge?! I survived in the Pizzaplex for 6 hours and she doesn’t think I can walk down a hallway by myself?!

      “You can’t be serious!”

      “I know it seems difficult. Please forgive me for this.” Toriel starts to walk to the room at a fast pace. I am still frozen in disbelief. I can feel my annoyance rising as I just think about it.

      “This is a joke!!!” I scream as I look up at the ceiling with my hands on my head. The few seconds I look away, I lose track of Toriel. But after a few seconds, I see her shadow coming from behind the pillar.

      “This is so unbelievable. I can take care of myself. I don't need her help.” I start to walk towards the end of the room. I get there in about a minute. Once I arrive Toriel moves from her ‘hiding place’ and faces me.

      “Greetings, Gregory. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time.” I facepalm at Toriel's words. She looks at me sheepishly.

      “I can tell that you are annoyed by this, Gregory. I am sorry if I seem a bit cautious. I have reasons for why I am like this.” Toriel looks down at the ground as if she is thinking back. She looks pained by her memories.

      “Look, I understand that you mean well. It’s just that I can handle being on my own. It’s been that way for a while.” I frown as I think about my box in that cold alley. The memories make me miss Freddy more. Maybe I shouldn’t have left the Pizzaplex.

      “Thank you, Gregory. Now it’s time for us to continue.” She grabs my hand and smiles at me. “I was irresponsible earlier with the other child. But I have learned, and now I will take you to your new home.” Toriel and I walk through the door into the next room.

Chapter Text

      Toriel leads me into the next room and on the left wall, there is a Froggit. Its eyes widen when it sees me and it lets out a surprised croak. It starts to hop towards us but it stops and thinks for a minute.

      “Ribbit, Ribbit (The other human was nice. Since they seemed to be pretty nice, I’ll start to talk to humans first)” I stared at the Froggit for a minute. For some reason, I could understand what it was saying. This place is getting weirder by the minute! But it seems that the other kid that came through here at least got the monster to be peaceful. I still don’t trust them since the first Froggit tried to attack me. I’ll have to keep an eye on them.

      “In the next room, there is a pedestal with some monster candy Gregory. Would you like some?” 

      “Sure, I guess.” I was tempted to say no. I know a dangerous situation when I see one and the sooner, I get out of the Underground the better. But that candy is too tempting to pass up.

      I walk into the room with Toriel. At the sides of the room, there is water flowing through to another room, the back of it is covered in vines. The main thing that caught my eyes is the pedestal with candy in it in the centre. The candy from the looks of it had different flavours, and on the pedestal, there is a sign saying 'please take one.

      I reach into the pedestal and grab a piece of candy and I pop it in my mouth. It is single-handedly the most delicious piece of candy I ever had! I reach my hand and I grab another piece but Toriel gasps.

      “Gregory, the sign says to only take one piece. Please put it back.” I sigh and I drop it back into the pedestal.

      “Sorry, I just don’t get the chance to taste things like that often.” Toriel's face quickly changes from disappointment to empathy.

      “Don’t worry Gregory, once we get you to your new home, you’ll have plenty to eat all the time!” Toriel then walks out of the room, and I follow her. As we continue walking, I notice red leaves spread on the floor in some areas. The next hallway we walk into has weird patches on the floor. On the wall, I see two vents on each side of the ground. They look big enough that a whole person can fit through them.

      “The patches on the ground will make us fall through the floor. I know that it may be a bit unsettling, but I know you can do it.” Toriel walks onto one of the patches and sure enough, she falls through.

       If she did it, then it must be safe for me to try it. I walk onto one of the patches and before I know it, I feel the ground beneath my feet give away the next second I find myself in a lower room and I see Toriel standing by a door near the right side of the room.

      “Splendid! I knew you could do it! If you follow me through this door, this will lead us out of the room.” She then proceeds to walk through the door. I follow her and in a blink of an eye, I see that I am now on the other side of the patches. I look behind me and I see the vent from before. How did it move me here?

      I feel curious about this but there is no time to think about it. We then continue to the next room. And I see a rock and in front of it is a pressure plate. There are also spikes blocking us from continuing. I can tell that if we push the rock on the pressure plate it will lower the spikes.

      But before I do that, I notice a sign on the wall, so I go over to it and read it. On the sign, it says Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them. What? That makes no sense, rocks aren't living things!

      I turn away from the idiotic sign and I push the rock onto the pressure plate and sure enough the spikes lower.

      “I am impressed, Gregory! You didn’t even need me to tell you what you needed to do!”

      “This isn’t my first time-solving puzzles. If anything, this is one of the easiest ones I've done.” Toriel looks at me curiously and with concern.

      “Were you fond of puzzles back on the surface Gregory? I know that many children your age like many puzzle games.” I can tell that Toriel is trying to think of a non-traumatic reason for which I know puzzles but I can tell she knows I was doing it for survival.

      “No,” I say while looking at her sheepishly. Toriel seems saddened by this, and she puts a hand on my shoulder. We then continue to the next room in which there are more patches on the ground.  There are way more than last time to the point that it spans most of the room.

      “To get to continue we will need to take a certain path across the patches. Please follow me.” Toriel then starts to walk on the patches, avoiding any that would cause us to fall through the floor. I follow her lead and eventually we make it to the other side.

      We continue into the next room where there are more rocks and pressure plates. It looks like I will need to push all the rocks onto the pressure plates to lower the spikes again. I push the first two without problem but when I get to the last one, something completely unexpected happens.

      “WHOA there, pardner! Who said you could push me around?” 

      “What the… hell…” I said, bewildered as I took my hands off the rock.

      “Whoa, no need for such language.” My head was starting to shake. Now there are talking rocks! This place is even weirder than the Pizzaplex! But I guess the sign back there makes more sense now.

      “Look I don’t know how you can talk, but I’m going to move you now.”

      “So you want me to move over as the other kid did? No problem, just for you, pumpkin.” The rock then moves forward slightly.

      “That’s not what I meant.” I feel a tiny bit annoyed by this rock. But I have to try to stay calm and get it to move.

      “Hmm, you want me to move some more. Alright, how is this?” The rock says as it moves to the side.

      “No! I want you to move on the pressure plate! Now can you just get on with it!” My patience with this rock has run out. How can it be so stupid to not know that I want it to move on the pressure plate to continue?

      “Jeez, I’m sorry. You could have just asked nicely. But I’ll move, but please if you ever come back, just be nicer next time.” The rock finally moves onto the pressure plate and the spikes lower. Toriel moves to my side and I can see that she looks disappointed by my actions.

      “That wasn’t very nice, Gregory. Please try to refrain from speaking loudly the next time we talk to someone.”

      “Look, it's not my problem the rock didn't understand what it was told. Right now, I just really want to continue forward.”

      “I understand that you have that problem, Gregory. Perhaps when we get to your new home, I can help you overcome that part of your personality.” I scoff and I walk onto the wood where the spikes were.

Chapter Text

       Aside from some easy puzzles, the rooms in the Underground are, so far, easy to go through. Seriously, even a child could solve these puzzles! The switches were even labeled for me in that one puzzle!

       Whoever designed this place wanted these puzzles to be easy. If this is how all the puzzles are going to be, we should be out of here in no time.

      Yes, mastering the puzzles is no problem for me. And I can’t wait to find the person who made them, and then see the look on their face once I stab them! 

      The last room I was in was that room with that stupid training dummy. I made sure to leave nothing but stuffing when I was done with it. It may not have been alive but it was certainly fun to practice my knife skills on.

      “ Ribbit, Ribbit (Another new person! Are you a human too?! There have been so many of you recently. That is certainly an interesting custom you ha-)” I prepare to attack the monster before it even can finish. It looks like a giant frog but it is white and almost as big as a small child.

       That same box pops up that appeared last time and I can see what I think is my soul in the center. 

       Our first monster kill. This will be quite an accomplishment. 

       I grin as I raise my knife to attack, as I do I see the cheerfulness of the monster (which I now know to be a Froggit thanks to the box) fade and a look of fear replaces it. It shakes in fear as my knife collides against its skin. The Froggit disappears into dust before my eyes. In the text box, it says that I earned 10 XP and 20 gold.

      Sure enough in the pill of dust that was once the Froggit, there is now a small pile of gold. I pick it up and examine it. I am a little disappointed that the body disappeared though. I wanted to see the result of my work, but all there is just a pile of dust.

        You did well. That monster didn’t even know what hit him. For some reason, I can feel you growing stronger after you killed it. Whatever this place is, it seems that with every kill we get stronger. This can help us.

        Master is right. The second that Froggit died I felt slightly stronger than before. I love this feeling. I can’t wait to feel it again the next time I kill a monster! I twist the knife in my hands, this place is going to be so fun.

       Don't forget about our mission. We need to find that kid. We are so close to getting enough Remnant to stabilize my resurrection. Any other kills we get along the way are fine but don’t get sidetracked.

        Of course master, it won’t be a problem. I will find him and we will get all the Remnant we need from him when I do.

      Nothing much seems to be in this room. All there is just a table with some cheese on it. Other than that, the only other thing of interest in the room is a mouse hole against the wall. Seeing nothing else of interest in the room I continue walking forward. The thing waiting for me in the next room makes my eyes widen.

      Laying on a flat pile of leaves is a stereotypical-looking ghost! The ghost keeps saying z's out loud repeatedly. Seriously, who is this ghost trying to fool? He is awake! But either way, it looks as if he is blocking the only path, and unless I can walk through him I am going to have to get him to move.

      “That is Napstablook, he comes to the Ruins from time to time because he likes being alone. I tend to leave him alone to respect his wishes, but I’m sure that he won’t mind you talking to him.” Toriel then walks over to Napstablook and she gives him a warm smile.

      “Hello, I am sorry to intrude but is it ok if I and my child go by here?” Napstablook quickly gets up. He looks at us apologetically.

      “Oh, terribly sorry. I didn’t know another human would be coming here so soon. The Ruins are usually an empty place.” Napstablook's voice sounds depressed with a little bit of anxiety in it. And it looks as if he already wants to apologize again.

      “You know… it is extremely obvious that you were awake, but we apologize for disturbing you.” Toriel quickly gives me a disapproving look and looks softly at Napstablook. Napstablook seems to get more stressed by my remarks. He looks a little ashamed and he looks down at the ground.

      “I’m sorry. I’m not… very good with people. But since you are here. Would you like to see a… trick?” I want to continue forward, but this ghost doesn’t know what's after me! Vanessa is probably already awake. I don’t want to imagine what she will do to me if she catches me.

      “Fine, but can you do it fast.” I sigh, if letting him do his trick gets us moving faster then I might as well get it over with.  Napstablook looks surprised for a minute and then he starts crying.

      What can he possibly be doing that involves crying?! It's not like this is a good use of our time! But to my surprise I see the tears moving upwards instead of falling to the ground. To my shock, it starts to form the shape of a hat on Napstablook's head.

      “I call it dapper blook. Do you like it?”  Napstablook eagerly waits for a response, as he stares at me. 

      “How did you even do that?” I am still staring at the tear-made hat, trying to see if it looks solid or if it is wet like the tears. To my surprise, it looks perfectly solid from what I can tell.

      “Did it surprise you? The other human liked it, but I understand if you don’t.”

      “I’ll admit that was pretty cool. But I want to continue down the Ruins.” Napstablook seems like he is satisfied by my answer.

      “Oh, I am so sorry to stop you like this. I will be leaving now. Perhaps we will see each other again soon?” Napstablook quickly looks to the ground, and he disappears. Toriel smiles and walks to where Napstablook was standing.

      “I enjoyed that trick. I didn’t know he could do that. We can continue now Gregory. The only puzzles left ahead, only need you to pull levers.” It’s good that it won’t take that long from here. Hopefully, Vanessa is still at the front of the Ruins but knowing her, she will annihilate anything in her path.

Chapter Text

      I still don’t know why Toriel hasn’t come back yet. She left a while ago to check for humans. Even though she already did it, when I asked her, simply said that she just wants to make sure. It is still weird though since this never happened in the timeline before. Maybe it's because her faint memory from the past resets. But there would still be no reason for her to double-check for humans though.

      Right now I am just sitting at Toriel's dining room table, while I wait for Toriel to get back. It’s pretty quiet in the house as I listen for any indicator that Toriel has returned. But I am greeted with silence. Until I hear that familiar voice in my head.

       You know there is a reason why she is taking so long.

      Chara for once sounds excited. I can tell that they are in a good mood today.

      “What do you mean Chara? Why has Toriel been gone for so long?” Does Chara know something that I don’t? What is happening that would make Chara excited? Has Flowey done something? Did he get bored of the constant resets and decide to mess with the timeline to the amusement of Chara?!

       You’ll see Frisk. But just know this, I won’t be needing you soon. And once that time comes I will finally have my revenge.

       “Chara what do you mean? What is going on?!” What could Chara mean? What do they mean by not needing me anymore? They couldn’t have found another way out could they?! If Chara gets out, they will seek revenge against humanity!

      My worried thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps outside Toriel's door. She's back! I can hear the sound of her voice coming from behind the door. 

     “This will be your new home Gregory, I hope you’ll like it.”

     “It certainly looks nicer than the rest of the Ruins. But again I don’t think I will be staying here for long.” Who is that other voice? He sounds human! But there can’t be another human down here, right?

       You should see the look on your face! It’s hilarious!

      I try to ignore Chara’s cackles as the door opens, revealing Toriel and a boy in a blue shirt with 2 white stripes across his chest. The boy looks to be about 11 or 12 years old, and from the looks of it, he seems to be pretty thin. So thin in fact that it doesn’t look natural. He also has a bandage on his leg and the right side of his face. The moment I see him I freeze. Right now I am in complete shock. The boy looks at me curiously as Toriel smiles at us.

      “Hello my child, this is Gregory. I found him while I was in the Ruins. It is quite a surprise to have two humans fall not so far from each other.” I quickly try to hide my surprise and I smile at him. Even though this is a drastic alteration to the timeline I still need to greet him with kindness. I won’t let my shock get in the way of doing the right thing!

      “How would you like to show Gregory around, while I attend to some business?” Toriel quickly heads off towards her kitchen. Probably to make more pie since she didn’t expect more than one child here.

      “Hi Gregory, I'm Frisk! It is nice to meet you.” I extend my hand for Gregory to shake it. I understand how it felt to be in the Underground for the first time. It was scary at first but at the same time, I felt the thrill of exploring as I met many new friends. I want Gregory to feel the same way I did when I went through the Underground. If I can make Gregory’s arrival to the Underground feel any calmer I will. 

      “I didn’t expect to find someone else down here. How did you end up here?” Gregory says as he shakes my hand. The question earns an uneasy smile. Throughout the resets the only person who ever asked me that question was Asriel but the subject was quickly changed before I could reply.

      “I always heard the rumors surrounding the mountain. I wanted some adventure, and I thought that maybe I could do some good once I got here.” The thought of the monsters trapped down here forever, made my heart ache. I knew in my heart that the rumors of the monster being entirely evil were not true, it was the lie the humans told as the truth was lost to time.

      “So how did you come to Mt Ebott?” Forgetting about the error in the rest, it was always interesting to wonder why all the other humans climbed up the mountain. I know what Chara’s reason was, and the disturbing aspects of it. But I know that Chara was likely the only human to come up here for those reasons.

      “Let's just say that it was not by choice.” Gregory looks at me awkwardly as he says this. His response fills me with curiosity and sympathy. Why would someone be left with no choice but to climb Mt Ebott? Was he in danger? 

       It’s fun watching you make theories, you being ignorant in this situation is priceless! I can hardly wait to see the look on your face when this world crumbles around you.

      Chara’s words are bone-chilling. What could they be planning and how does it involve Gregory? Whatever it is, I can’t let anyone get hurt. I will protect all my friends no matter what. I won’t let Toriel's dust fill the Ruins hallway. I won’t let Papyrus’s head hit the snow in Snowdin! Toriel, Undyne, Papyrus, Sans, Asriel, Asgore, Mettaton, Alphys, and all the other monsters. I will protect them all! My thoughts are interrupted by Toriel's voice coming from the other room.

      “My children! I have a surprise ready for you!” I can smell cinnamon and butterscotch coming from the kitchen. I try to calm down as I smile. Everything will be alright. I just have to be Determined.

Chapter Text

      The pie was the most heavenly thing I have eaten in a long time. The millisecond the flavor of cinnamon and butterscotch touched my mouth I felt a surge of warmth go through me. I scoop up the pie with my fork, and I try to eat it as fast as possible. It has been so long since I have had a decent meal and I can hardly resist the temptation to shove the pie in my mouth.

      “I see that you were hungry Gregory. I love that you like my pie, but I would really recommend that you eat it slowly, so it digests better.” I slow my eating, I don’t want Toriel and Frisk to know about me living out on the streets yet. I couldn’t even tell Freddy back at the Pizzaplex. Sometimes I wish I did tell him. Sometimes I wonder what he would think of me.

      I can tell Frisk is concerned about me; they are looking at me from across the table with sympathy in their eyes. I know that they are trying to think of a reason why I am eating like this. 

But I can tell that isn’t for a nosey reason. For some reason Frisk seems to genuinely care about me even though we just met. I know that I could never trust people right off the bat, it is just strange seeing just an openly friendly person. I just hope that they don’t look closely and see how thin I am. 

      After me and Frisk finish the pie Toriel takes the plates and puts them in the sink in the kitchen. She then comes back to the table. 

      “I already showed the other child the room, come with me Gregory.” Toriel then grabs my hand, and she leads me to a hallway. The hallway is orange with a yellow wooden floor. Toriel leads me to a door in the hallway. Frisk follows us with a smile on their face.

      “This is going to be your room. I hope you don’t mind sharing a bed. I never had more than one child here at a-” Toriel quickly goes silent. But then she takes a deep breath and smiles again.

      “I just know that you are going to love it here. I will make sure of it.” Toriel then walks away into her living room. I walk over to the door, and I open it, and I am greeted by a room with red walls. Not a dark purplish red like the walls in the Pizzaplex atrium, but a lighter red color. Next to the bed there is a box filled with toys for little kids. I’m too old for the toys so I am not even close to being interested in them. Plus, I don’t need any reminders of the daycare.

It’s past your bedtime!

No, that is no longer a thing to think about anymore! Besides the bed is what catches my eyes.

      It has been almost a year now since I became homeless, the sight of a bed has become foreign. All I can do is stare at it just imagining how comfortable it is.

      Gregory has been staring at the bed for over a minute now. It is as if he is shocked beyond belief that there is a bed in front of him. It makes me wonder what he has gone through to make him like that. I walk up to him and I place a hand on his shoulder.

      “It’s a nice room, isn't it?” I smile at him. And he turns back at me feeling a little embarrassed.

      “Yes, it is. Honestly if I didn’t have to leave, I would be more than happy to stay here.” This got my curiosity up. When I wanted to leave the Underground, it was to free the monsters, others would want to leave because they have family and because they simply wouldn’t want to live underground. But Gregory sounds as if he is running away from something. I hope he isn't in any danger, if there is any way to help I will.

Why do you always have to be such a goody two shoes Frisk. It’s not like you’ve known him for long.

       Chara, I don’t care how long I have known him for, in my mind he is already a friend. And I hate to see anyone in pain.

       Classic Frisk always wanting to be everyone's friend. Even people like Undye who wanted to kill you off the bat. I just don’t understand you Frisk.

       Ignoring Chara, I try not to show my uneasiness.

      “Ya, I can’t stay either.” Gregory looks surprised by this. He stares at me for a minute, before finally speaking.

      “Really, with the way you and Toriel get along it looked as if you were more than ready to stay.” It's true, one my first run through the underground I was hesitant on leaving Toriel's house. She seemed so nice and so sad, I just wanted to comfort her after all she had been through. But I knew that if I did that then the monster would be trapped down here forever. And that is something I could never allow to happen.

      “The monsters need to be free. I care about Toriel, but I need to help the monster first.” Gregory looks at me with confusion for a minute.

      “You mean the only reason you are coming with me is to free the monsters?” I nod. Gregory just shrugs.

      “You should get some sleep before we head out. I will be in the living room with Toriel if you need me.” Gregory looks revealed that I said this. I can tell that Gregory is worn out. Once he is ready we can ask Toriel about leaving. But I know how that always turns out.

      Once I get into the living room, I see Toriel by the fireplace reading a book. She smiles when she sees me. It will break my heart to tell her that we are not staying.

      A house! It is made of purple bricks. Right now, I am hiding behind a tree with no leaves outside the house. I can see through one of the windows. Gregory is at the table! Next to him is a child in a striped shirt! I then see a weird goat creature carrying a plate with some sort of pie on it.

       It looks like we are lucky. We can get more remnants than we expected. You have done well. 

       Thanks master.

       I raise my knife which has now been covered with dust from those creatures. It is now time for some fun!

Chapter Text

      “You’ve left me Gregory.” I am back in the Pizzaplex. Everything looks distorted. I can hear a weird buzzing sound in my ears. Freddy is standing in front of me, except he doesn’t look like himself. He has cracks running all over him and his eyes are glowing purple. His voice also sounds raspy, and his words are coming out distorted.

      “I wanted you to stay! Yet you left me here! Now look at me!” I am crying now as I fall to my knees.

      “I never wanted this to happen! I just didn’t want to stay in that place any longer!” Just then I see purple smoke coming out of the elevator. Out of the smoke comes an animatronic hand. But it’s not smooth like the glamrocks. The endoskeleton is showing. And is that human flesh?!

      Slowly a figure emerges from the elevator. My eyes widen in horror as I observe the full body. The shell of the animatronic looks like it was a yellowish color, but it looks like it has been withered and burned many times. A Lot of the endoskeleton is showing and what is underneath horrifies me the most.

      I can see flesh all under the suit. As well as a human jaw where its animatronic mouth should be. It slowly steps out of the elevator and starts to make its way over to me. 

      I try to move but I am frozen in place and can only watch helplessly as it makes its way to me. I look to Freddy for help but he only steps aside. I can now feel that things breathing on my face. I hear a chuckle emerge from it as it moves closer to my face.

      “ You can never escape me. I always come back.”

     “Finish it” it says to Freddy as it takes a step back.

      “FREDDY PLEASE, NO!” I can barely get the words out before Freddy lets out an ear-piercing scream and lunges towards me. 

      All I can do is cry and close my eyes as everything goes black.

      I wake up screaming as I see Frisk trying to shake me awake. They have a look of concern.

      “Gregory, or you ok?!” Frisk looks like they are trying to relax but I could tell that they are still worried about me. But then we both hear the sound of a door being slammed open and we turn to the door to see Toriel standing there.

      It looks like she is out of breath, she must have ran as fast as she could the moment, she heard the screaming. Her eyes quickly go to me and she is scanning me for any sign of injury. She then rushes to my side and brushes my hair with her hand.

      “Gregory, are you alright? I heard screaming so I came as quickly as possible.” Toriel is looking at me with care in her eyes. She is looking at me the same way Freddy was looking at me at the Pizzaplex. A look only a parent could manage.

      “I'm fine, it was just a nightmare.” I try to say this as calmly as possible, but my breathing gives it away that I am still panicking about. I had to only be a nightmare, right? But it felt so real.

      “I am sorry to hear that Gregory. If you would like to tell me about it, I would be more than happy to listen.”  I just stare at Toriel for a minute feeling uncomfortable. I have never been an open person.

      “I would rather keep it to myself.” I say slowly as I see Toreil try to hide her disappointment. 

      “If that is what you prefer Gregory, then I will respect your wishes. Is there anything I can get for you?”

      “Maybe I could use a glass of water.” Toriel is about to go towards the kitchen, but Frisk beats her to it. Frisk comes rushing back with a glass of water.

      “How kind of you, my child.” She takes the glass from Frisk and hands it to me. I start to slowly drink it down as I continue to go over my dream in my head. What was that thing, and is Freddy really like the others? NO! He has to be fine, he is different from them! But my doubts still persist as I remember those purple eyes staring at me.

      Toriel stays with me for a few minutes before leaving. Frisk sits patiently next to me on the bed as they wait until I am better. 

      “Ok, I think I am ready to leave.” Frisk nods as they get up from the bed. I join them and we both leave the room. Toriel is sitting next to the fireplace reading her book. She notices us and lowers her book as she smiles.

      “Hello my children, what can I do for you?” 

      “When can we go home?” Frisk says as they look at Toriel. Toriel's smile falters at Frisk's words but she awkwardly tries to retain her composure to no effect. 

      “What? This… this IS your home now my children. Um… would you like to hear about this book I am reading? It is called ‘72 Uses for Snails.’ How about it?”

      “Snails? Look, can you just tell us how to exit the runs?” I try to keep my disbelief hidden but it is hard when she is literally bringing up snails in a serious conversation!

      “Um… How about an exciting snail fact? Did you know that snails.. Sometimes flip their digestive systems as they mature? Interesting.” It is clear that Toriel is trying to change the subject. If we stay here any longer Vanessa will get us!

      “Enough about snails! How can we get out of the Ruins?” I am trying to be patient with her but there is only so much I can take. Toriel puts down her book and frowns.

      “....I have to do something. Stay here.” 

Chapter Text

      Toriel sits up and she walks out of the room. Something about what she said doesn’t feel right, as if she has some sort of plans.

      “Where is she going?” 

      “She is going to destroy the exit to the RUINS. That way we can’t leave.” Frisk looks disturbed by this. But when they say this they don’t look surprised, but any sane person would be freaking out about spending the rest of their lives stuck down in some cramped ruins! Plus there is that weird talking flower thing!

      “What! We have to stop her! Is she planning to hurt us?!” I could have sworn that she had the same type of caring look as Freddy, but could it all have just been a ruse like the flower was doing? 

      “No, she is not doing it to hurt us. She thinks that by doing this she is protecting us from the Underground.” I feel like my heart is going to beat off my chest! She can’t do this! Once that crazy rabbit lady Vanessa gets here, she won’t have anything to protect. We have to get the hell out of here!

      “We have to hurry! We have to get out of here!” Frisk places a hand on my shoulder, and they give me a warm smile. They expect me to calm down when we are about to be trapped in here for the rest of our lives! But it is weird to have someone who actually wants to help me, Freddy was the last one who was like that.

      “Don’t worry we can talk to her. We can get her to let us leave.” Toriel seems set on making sure we stay here, but Frisk doesn’t have any doubt in their voice that we can achieve this. Do they seriously believe that it only takes talking to someone in order to get what you want? I was in the Pizzaplex and I know that isn’t how the real-world works. 

      “Fine but we have to hurry.” Frisk nods and we both walk out of the room and to the stairway at the front of the house. It’s the only place that we haven't been, the exit has to be this way! The stairs lead to a long hallway, the walls are all purple. Ahead of us we see Toriel, we quickly rush to catch up with her. Toriel stops walking the moment she hears our footsteps behind her..

      “You both wish to know how to return ‘home,’ do you not?” Her voice sounds calm yet empty as she stares ahead of the hallway. At this moment I can tell that she is not going to let us go as easily as Frisk suggested. She looks way too determined to stop us.

      “Ahead of us lies the end of the RUINS. A one-way exit to the rest of Underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able again. Now be good children and go upstairs.” Toriel walks ahead of us, I run after her as Frisk follows behind me.

      “What! No, you can’t keep us here!” Toriel seems irritated by this, and her forced smile drops. 

      “Every human that down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive children… If you leave the RUINS…They…ASGORE…Will kill you. I am only protecting the two of you, don’t you understand?.. Go to your room.” We are nearing the end of the hallway as it is about to turn left.

      “Whatever is out there is nothing new to me! We can make it!” Toriel stops in her tracks again. 

      “You have been through many things that I don’t know about, I will not let you experience that again. Do not try to stop me. This is your final warning.” With that I know that we are not getting out of here without fighting Toriel. Back in the Pizzaplex the animatronics were way too strong to fight head on, I had to decommission them in more tricky ways. But Toriel is not made out of literal steel, I don’t want to, but if we have to fight her then that is the way it has to be. 

      We turn the corner and in a few more feet we are standing in front of a door. The door is dark purple with a symbol on it that matches the one on Toriel’s robes. 

      “You both want to leave so badly? Hmph. You are just like others.” I can tell that she is about to fight us. After seeing the animatronics, I can tell the body language for when someone is going to turn hostile.

      “There is only one solution to this. Prove yourselves… Prove to me that you two are strong enough to survive.” Toriel spoke with determination in her voice. With that I know there is no backing down now if we want to get out. In front of us the same box appeared but this time there is a red heart next to mine. That must be Frisk’s soul

       Toriel blocks the way

10 minutes earlier 

       I can feel her soul, she is getting closer. She seems to be stalking Frisk and that Gregory kid, she keeps peering through the window and each time someone looks that way she quickly ducks into cover. 

       She has gained more LOVE and EXP since the last time I checked. She is going to be the perfect partner! With her as my vessel I can finally get revenge! All I have to do is take con-

        AWWW!

       A leap of pain goes through my hand, which shouldn’t even be possible!!! I look back at her and I notice a purple hue around her, it must have appeared from me trying to take control. I look closely at the hue and I notice it looks a little glitchy with green and black specks littering it. The hue remains for a few seconds before diminishing. What the HELL is blocking me from controlling her?! Her LV is through the roof!

      Unless

      Well, well!

      I’m SORRY but this one already belongs TO ME!

Chapter Text

      Toriel has a serious expression on her face as she faces us. I decided to use the ACT feature, and I am presented with two choices. I can either talk to her or I could check her, seeing the way these boxes have worked so far checking her would probably tell me how strong she is. I really see no use in talking to her, seriously who would try to talk to someone who is fighting with you? 

      I decide to pick the check feature

       Toriel - ATK 80 DEF 80 

       Knows best for you.

       Yeah of course, because attacking us to keep us sealed in a cramped sealed off ruins is totally what's best for us. NOT!!!

      Suddenly inside the box a hand appears unleashing fireballs, the same type she used against that weird flower. Me and Frisk have to move quickly to dodge them, one came close to almost hitting me but thankfully it just barely missed me.

      “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Toriel's face scrunches up even more at my swearing.

      “I can not allow you to leave the RUINS, unless you prove yourself.” She looks pained to say this but she continues to keep her composure. Frisk then selects the mercy button, when they do this Toriel just stares at us, but her expression grows more serious.

      Why the fuck would Firsk choose Mercy?! Didn’t Frisk see when Toriel sent literal fireballs at us! We can’t just hope that she is going to change her mind, I can’t let her kill us! My thoughts then wander to the Fazer Blaster in my pocket. Yes I can use it to blind her! 

      I quickly pull out the Fazer Blaser from my pocket, Toriel gasps the second she sees it. Frisk looks at it and back to me in confusion. I quickly take aim at her eyes and I pull the trigger. Toriel gasps as a thin red beam of light tags her. She quickly holds her hands to her eyes. Frisk looks at me disapprovingly then they quickly turn their gaze back to Toriel with concern. 

      “Toriel, are you ok?” Frisk is talking fast with worry in there voice. It takes a few seconds for Toriel to stop rubbing her eyes, and when she does I can tell that the blast has left her in disarray. She is blinking rapidly as she tries to get them adjusted. She then tries to attack again, this time she is raining down fireballs, but they are coming at us sloppily because Toriel is still disoriented from the blast. I am thankful that I've kept the Fazer Blaser, I knew that it could come in handy for me.

      Frisk proceeds to spare Toriel again. What the hell! They're going to get us killed! Toriel attacks again but we aren’t so lucky this time. Frisk gets hit twice and I get hit once. I can feel pain go through me as my soul takes the fireball head on. That's it, I can’t let us die! But I don’t have any weapons!
 

      That’s when I remembered, after I escaped the Pizzaplex I started to carry something to defend myself with. Due to the lack of options all I have is a rock, but it is better than nothing. How could I have forgotten to use it, before when Vanny was chasing me! I guess I caught off guard since I was still trying to sleep when she found me. 

      After Toriel finishes her next attack, I select the attack option and I raise my rock and swing. It barely does any damage, Frisk looks at me with a pleading look. 

      “Please Gregory, don’t attack her! We can do this without harming her!” Frisk sounds very desperate when they say this. How can Frisk not want to defend themselves? I am absolutely terrified right now! If Toriel doesn’t kill us, there is still Vanny out there and she will come for me! I remember her crazed eyes, she terrifies me down to my soul! 

      Toriel summons more fireballs and some hit me and Frisk. I feel pain shoot up through my body. I look over at Frisk and their expression shows that they are in just as much pain as me. Our clothes have tears all over, our skin burned and blood is pouring from our wounds. But Frisk regardless of this still has that determined look on their face, despite all odds they still look determined to end this fight peacefully. 

      Frisk spares her again, this time however Toriels loses her composure, and she looks down at the ground, with guilt. Toriel’s next attack completely avoids us however, as Toriel's expression gets more desperate. Frisk spares her again and the same thing happens. I reluctantly lower the rock, and sigh as I look at Frisk. Since Toriel’s attacks are no longer aimed at us I won’t need to defend myself. I’m still wary about her, but it wouldn't hurt to wait and see how this turns out. She reminds me of Freddy so I really don’t want to have to do this.

      It continues on like this for a few minutes, with us sparing Toriel. None of her attacks are hitting us now, and with each turn her will to continue the fight diminishes. Throughout this she demanded to know what we are doing. The attacks stop completely as she staring with a defeated look. 

      “I know you both want to go home, but…” Toriel's voice sounds drained. At this point me and Frisk both know that this fight is over. 

      “But please… go upstairs now.”  We spare her again.

      “I promise I will take good care of you here.”

      “We are not going up stairs, now let us through.” It is clear that we are not going to change our minds, all she is doing is drawing this whole thing out!

      “I see. Pathetic is it not? I can’t save a single child." Toriel lowers her head and grimly laughs then she looks back at us. 

      “No, I understand. The two of you would just be unhappy down here. The RUINS are very small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you two to grow up in a place like this.” Honestly Toriel's house has been the most comfortable place I have stayed in a long time. But Vanny is still out there, and I am sure that if I told Toriel about my living situation that she would change her mind in a heartbeat. 

      “My expectations… My loneliness… My fear… For you, my children… I will put them aside.” With that the fight ended. 

Chapter Text

    “If you truly wish to leave the RUINS… I will not stop you. However, when you leave… Please do not come back.” Toriel's voice breaks when she says those last few words. It’s even enough to send a pang of guilt. I feel like I am leaving Freddy all over again. 

    “I hope you understand.” Toriel then leans down and she hugs both of us. I am shocked by this, I can hardly ever remember the last time somebody hugged me. Knowing that I am going to be leaving this, leaves me feeling hurt. 

  “Goodbye, my children.” Toriel starts walking away as me and Frisk start to step towards the RUINS door. Frisk is just about to open it, when I turn around and rush after Toriel.

    “Hey wait!” Toriel turns around quickly, surprised that I stopped to talk to her even though the exit is a few feet away. 

    “My child, you can go now. I will be alright.” 

  
    “No, you have to listen, this is important! There is someone down here after me!” Toriel's eyes go wide the second I say this. Frisk looks just as surprised as Toriel. Toriel kneels down to my level and holds my hand.

    “Who is after you Greogry. Maybe I can talk to them.” Toriel's voice is full of concern and protectiveness. I have to tell her about Vanessa. She’ll kill Toriel if she sees her.

    “Her name is Vanessa, but she goes by Vanny. She fell down with me, she's completely crazy! If she catches me she’ll kill me!” Toriel looks even more worried. Frisk walks over to me and puts there hand on my shoulder.

    “Could you describe what she looks like, Gregory.” 

    “She is wearing a rabbit custom. It has a wide creepy smile that can give anyone nightmares!” Toriel’s creeped out by Vanessa, while Frisk just seems to just be curious about appearance. 

     “Do not worry Gregory, I will make sure that she will not pass through here.” I feel fear rise through me at Toriel's words. I know what Vannys is capable of! Toriel won’t stand a chance against her! 

      “Are you crazy! She’s a psychopath!” Toriel smiles and nods her head.

     “Do not worry about me children. Now stay safe out there.” Toriel walks back down the hall, her footsteps grow quieter as she leaves. I turn to Frisk who smiles at me.

      “Don’t worry Gregory, I’ll make sure nothing happens to us. Well be safe. Now let's exit the RUINS.” With that Frisk turns towards the door and opens it. We are greeted by the same purple colored floor and walls as we walk forward. The hallway leads on until we reach a very dark room. My eyes widen when I notice that in the center of the room is that same weird talking Flower!

      “Clever. Verrrryyy clever. You think you’re really smart, don’t you?” He is smiling snarkily, as he says this mockingly. I can feel my anger rising at his words. We are seriously being mocked by a talking flower!

      “Seriously you're the one to talk! You're just a flower with a crappy attitude!” Flowey's expression shifts from mocking to anger, as he glares daggers at me. 

      “YOU THINK YOU CAN INSULT ME? WELL SEE. IN THIS WORLD IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED. THE TWO OF YOU SPARED THE LIFE OF A SINGLE PERSON.” Flowey's words are cold and chilling. How can a stupid flower be so intimidating?! 

      “Asri- Flowey, please it doesn’t have to be this way. Why don’t you join us, I’m sure we can have a fun time exploring the Underground with the three of us.” Frisk says will walking towards Flowey. Is Frisk crazy, why would they want an insane Flower to follow us around! And why the hell did it sound like Frisk was about to say something else before saying Flowey!

       “No can do Frisk that would spoil the fun of watching all your friends get whipped out, once Gregory’s ‘friend’ gets here“ 

      “That won’t happen, maybe I can talk to her and get her to be our friend.” Right now I am feeling dumbfounded at how naive that sounds. Do they seriously think you can make friends with a psychopath?! Vanny chased me around an entire night, and then she tried to chase me down once I escaped! She wears a rabbit custom all the time to MURDER people!

      “You never change, do you Frisk. Remember what I told you, if you ever meet a relentless killer. HA HA! It will be fun watching you die over and over again!” What does that stupid Flower even mean by that?! 

      “You think you can change people Frisk? You think you know them? You don’t know that Gregory here has a LV of 2.” Frisk turns and looks at me with confusion and concern. What the hell is LV? Flowey mentioned it earlier, he said it stands for LOVE. What could love possibly have anything to do with this?! And why does everyone keep emphasizing it? But still even without knowing what it means, the look Frisk is giving me still makes me feel nervous.

      “I would love to see you two talk this out, but I have to leave now.” Suddenly Floweys face transforms into a more sinister look as he starts laughing, a spine chilling laugh, as he disappears into the ground.

      When I finally stopped crying, I thought that perhaps reading 72 uses for snails would cheer me up. But it is not working, so I walk back to my bookshelf placing the book in its proper place. It will take some time for me to feel better, but even when that does happen I will only just be pretending. I haven’t been truly happy since Ari-

      No, don’t think about them. Maybe if I just go back to the fridge and maybe bake a pie, that would be splendid. I went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Now let's see where did I put the- . It’s that chocolate bar, Chara’s favorite. Chara.

      “ My child, if you wouldn’t mind, may I ask how you feel down here?” Their expression stiffened and their eyes went cold. 

       Where am I?! It takes me a moment to register that I am still standing in my kitchen. I put the bar of chocolate down as I sigh. As I close my fridge I hear a knock at the door. I walked over to the door and was about to open it when I suddenly remembered Gregorys words. 

      “Come on! Open the door!” Whoever’s here sounds irritated, they knock harder.

      “Hello, may I ask who’s there before I let you in.”

      “My name is Vanessa, I came here looking for a kid.”

Chapter Text

      Hesitantly I decide to open the door, I will not let her hurt Gregory are my other child. But hopefully I can talk to her and not have this end in confrontation. I open the door, I am greeted by a woman, she seems to be in some sort of uniform. On the hat she is wearing it says security. She must be employed by some sort of establishment. She has green eyes and blonde hair. Strangely enough she is not wearing the rabbit custom that Gregory described, but I know that it’s the person Gregory is talking about judging by her name.

      “Hello there, my name is Tor-”

      “I don’t know who are what you are but that is beside the point. I work for Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, I’m looking for a kid who snuck in and stayed past closing hours. Now let me in so I can find him and bring him back to his parents!” Vanessa practically shoves me aside in order to get in. She is looking around my house in order to find Gregory, thank goodness they already left.

      “My name is Toriel, I would gladly show you around. Would you like to have a seat?” Vanessa stops her search and turns around. She glares at me before reluctantly nodding.

      “Fine but you are going to tell me where that kid is!” Vanessa sighs loudly as she says this, I take a seat in one of the chairs at my table, Vanessa sits in the one across from me. Her body is tense, and she hasn’t taken her eyes off me. While she doesn’t seem very social, she hasn’t done anything violent. Hopefully we can get through this without bloodshed. 

      I can tell she knows where they are, I can tell it based on the look on her face. I thought that it would be a good idea to try to trick her with my security guard persona. That way if Gregory told her about me, I could convince her that he made it up in order to avoid getting in trouble. What I didn’t expect however was for that little brat to run off before I even got in the house! Now I am stuck relying on what she tells me!

      Be patient once she tells us where they are, we can dispose of her. But until then you have to keep up the act.

       Yes master! Of course!

      I fooled everyone at the Pizzaplex, I am still amazed at how I managed to get the position as head security guard, with me having absolutely no experience. But it wasn’t exactly hard after I broke into the office and sabotaged the listings. 

      “Vanessa, may I ask what this Pizzaplex is?” I frowned; it will take forever if she keeps trying to make meaningless conversation! Once I get those little brat's remnants, I can find a way out of here and bring them back to master. Then once master body is finished, he can finally continue his work with me at his side.

      This is not who we are! Stop, please!

      I groan as I experience a massive headache. No, I can't think like that! I’m Vanny now, and Venessa is never going to escape her mental prison. 

       Answer her, by doing this we can gain her trust. I have done it many times.

       “The Pizzaplex is an entertainment center owned by Fazbear Entertainment. It features many activities and is most popular for its Animatronic band.” Toriel's looks at me in confusion, then she smiles.

      “I am sorry, but could you explain to me what these animatronics are?” She doesn’t even know what animatronics are! The first location that master owned was opened before I was even born! How long have these monsters been down here?!

      “Fine if you want to know, animatronics are basically robots that serve the purpose to entertain people, in this case the guests at the Pizzaplex. But unlike older models these ones have advanced ai’s, this helps them appear more lifelike.” I know that there ai’s are more than lifelike, hell at this point they are full blown sentient. But Fazbear Entertainment keeps insisting that they are not.

      “O my, that is indeed impressive. I have not firsthand seen anything like that, but I have heard similar things through books.” Toriel looks at the ground then back at me I can tell that she seems nervous, does she know something!

      “Vanessa, if I may. I have heard that you have some problems….. Perhaps you would like to talk to me about it?” That brat must have told her! I frown as I stand up. Toriel stands up as well and takes a step towards me.

      “Vanessa is everythi-”

      “DID THE KID TELL YOU ABOUT ME?!!!” Toriel looks startled at me interrupting her, but she regains her composure. 

      “Gregory has told me that you are a danger to him. I can’t let you get to them.” Those stairs near the front of the house look like a good place they could hide. But just as I start walking, Toriel blocks the stairway, standing confidently.

       She knows about our plans; you know what to do.

       Yes master.

      That box thing appears in front of me again. Toriel stands in front of me looking dead serious. 

      “This is your last chance. I don’t know what you have done before this. But I am willing to listen to what happened.” The way she talks she sounds like all of my therapists, that Fazbear Entertainment assigned to me. To think a greedy corporation such as Fazbear would mandate such a thing. They keep asking too many questions. I still remember their screams as I snuck up to them after our seasons and killed them. I still remember what I did to the body of the first one. 

       All of which are accomplishments. They were getting too close to the truth, plus we can’t have anyone messing with your head now, can we?

       Right master of course.

      I ready my knife and bring it down.

      “Please no! Vanessa, why are you doing this!?”

      I walk towards her knife twirling in my hand. It would be so simple, just one swing and it would be over. No, that is not very creative. It needs to be special.

      “Vanessa put down the knife! I know that you are dealing with a lot right now, but we can continue the seasons and get to the bottom of it! Have you practiced your calming exercises lately I’m sure-  NO PLEASE!” I hit her across her head, knocking her out.

      Hmmm there is plenty of machinery in the Pizzaplex, that would work! 

      NOOO!

      Just as my knife is about to hit Toriel, my arm shifts and I barely miss her by an inch. 

Chapter Text

       WHAT!!!!!! SHE DARES TO DISOBEY ME?!?! That is something I will not tolerate. The only way for her to free her conscience is for someone to use those stupid arcade machines! The door! I have to make sure that she is still contained behind it!

      I travel to the part of her subconscious in which her personality and free will is contained. I appear in front of the door, my hand curls into a fist once I see the extent of her disobedience. The door is slightly opened! Even if it is barely anything, this is still troublesome. If she continues to disobey me, she could actually contest my control of her mind. If that happens then getting her to follow through with my plans will be made difficult! 

      My control of her can only be broken by the arcade machines, so she shouldn’t be able to free herself completely. But I need full control of her if my resurrection is going to happen!

      O Vanessa. You will see that you can’t fight me. It will only cause you more unnecessary pain! Not that I mind!

       I can’t believe it! I actually disobeyed an order! What will he do to me?! I remember all the times I tried to stop myself from killing all those kids. The pain of the headaches, master will make sure that this doesn’t go unpunished.

      Vanessa this is very disappointing. You know that I can’t be stopped, yet you refuse to accept it. 

       My head feels like it’s going to explode! I haven't had this bad of a headache since the first time I tried to disobey Glit- I mean master!

       Can’t you see all the things I have done for you. It is so ungrateful for you not to see it. You and I are making a legacy, without me you are just a nobody game tester. Just another tool for Fazbear Entertainment to exploit. I can give you so much more.

       I’m sorry master I- NO I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE LET ME OUT!!!! Let me out!

       Vanessa, you are making master so disappointed. We had so much fun chasing that kid in the Pizzaplex, we just have to chase him down here. Remember him running away from us, as we skipped towards him, wasn’t that fun. 

       No Vanny please! I can’t!!!

       ENOUGH OF THIS DISOBEDIENCE!!!! You let me out, now you belong to me!

       My headache has gotten so bad that it feels like I am dying. Toriel has stopped fighting and is staring at me as I scream and hold onto my ponding head. She looks very confused and at the same time relieved that I didn’t kill her.

      Yes master, I’m sorry!

       That’s what I thought. Remember your dad, he only cared about himself. I can actually make you worth something. 

      “Higher daddy! Higher” The swing set was always fun to use when I was a kid. I was six years old at the time. Everyday dad would take me outside to play with me.

      “Whatever you say sweetie!” He laughed as he pushed me higher, both of our laughter rang out across the neighborhood. 

      NO

      “Daddy, can you play with me?” He is always working or just doing his own thing. Ever since I was born, he put in the minimal effort in caring for me. Now that mom’s gone, I am truly alone.

      “I’m busy. Do something proactive and stop wasting my time.” He didn’t even look at me. I walked away trying to hide my sobs. If he hears me crying, he’ll get even more annoyed. 

      Ok, just please stop.

       That’s what I thought.

       The headache stopped. I can feel how much it must have hurt. Master must have really been mad at her to do this. Great! She deserves it for disobeying our master. 

      I smile as I ready my knife for my next attack. Toriel sends a wave of fireballs at me, even when they hit me, I just keep smiling.

       “You confuse me. There is something more to you. But I can tell what person you are, and I am ready for what is to happen.” I can tell by her body language that she knows she is done for. She is scared, but she still looks at me and smiles. I bring my knife down, the damage I do is overkill as she falls to her knees. 

      “Asriel, Chara. I’m sorry.” Toriel disappears into dust, and I am left victorious! My LV also has increased by two and now I am level 19! I can feel more strength behind my swings! This is so much fun! 

       Good. Now put back on your costume and go find those kids. I can hardly wait to see the look on their faces when we get to them.

       Yes master, of course. After retrieving my custom from outside, I put it on and go back inside the house. I walk down the stairs and through a long hallway. Eventually I came upon a door. Wherever they are they must be beyond here! I smile as I fling the door open.

      “What was he talking about? LV what is that?” He said LV stands for LOVE but the way he said it sounds different, as if it has a different meaning.

      Frisk takes a deep breath before responding “LOVE stands for Level Of Violence. If you kill or hurt someone too badly your LV increases. You have a level of two so that means-” Frisk stairs at me with a slight look of sadness and uncertainty. They have no idea what I have been through! Those animatronics were out to get me the whole night!

      “It’s not like that! I was in a situation where I had to defend myself. And it didn’t even kill them, I just made sure that they were weak enough to not be a threat against me.” Frisk looks a little more understanding, and they look at me with sympathy. Even though we just meet, I don’t like the thought of Frisk not trusting me. Maybe it’s because they are the first real friend I've made since Freddy. Either way I am glad they understand.

      “I can understand then. It’s not something that I could have done, but I am just happy you are ok.” Frisk smiles at me.

      “Thanks, maybe I will tell you more about it later. But we should be leaving now.” Frisk nods and the two of us walk towards the door at the end of the room. Me and Frisk look at each other before opening the door. We are greeted with cold air rushing at us. 

Chapter Text

      There is snow on the ground with a pathway in front of us. At our sides there are trees. There is something eerie about this, I look at Frisk only to see that they do not look worried in the slightest. They just gesture for me to follow them ahead, and I reluctantly nod.

      As we walk down the path, I feel like we are being watched, back at the Pizzaplex I could tell when something didn’t feel right. Just like in the daycare I know that something is out there slaking us in the darkness. I can feel it!

      Eventually we come across a branch in the middle of the path, it looks too heavy for me and Frisk to pick up, so we just go on ahead. But we both hear a snap, and I turn around with lightning speed. Something that leaves me baffled is that Frisk barely glances at what made the noise and is ready to just keep walking. Don’t they know that something is following us!

      The branch looks like it was broken with ease! We need to hurry! We continue down the path, and I keep glancing over my shoulder just to make sure nothing tries to sneak up on us, and what I see makes my blood run cold. I see the silhouette of someone appear on the path and then disappear like they never were even there!

      “Frisk, something is following us! We have to run!” I whisper in a panic. Frisk doesn’t look concerned in the slightest and just smiles at me.

      “Don’t worry Gregory, everything is ok. You’ll see in a minute that we are not in any danger.” Not in danger! From what we heard from Toriel a lot of the monsters out here want nothing more than to take our soul! Now something is stalking us!

      We come across a small bridge in the path. It looks like it is supposed to be blocked, but the bars on the bridge have a huge gap in the middle of them. We are about to cross it, but we stop when we hear footsteps behind us. I quickly turn around but Frisk stays facing away from the sound. Frisk looks oddly calm and slightly happy to hear the sound, but why is that?!

      Coming closer to us is a SKELETON wearing a blue hoodie. He is about the same size as me and Frisk, he approaches us with a wide grin. He is now face to face with me, as we stare at each other.

      “Humans. At least one of you knows how to greet a new pal.”  His voice is laid back and lazy. 

      “Turn around and the two of you can shake my hand.” He says while looking at Frisk. Frisk turns around and smiles at him as if they are old friends! How can they trust him so easily?

      Frisk looks at me and nods, I can tell they want me to go first. Slowly I turn around and I reach for his outstretched hand. The entire time I don’t take my eyes off him. I grab his hand and my eyes widen when I hear a whoopie cushion going off. Frisk laughs as I just stare at him confused as to what is going on.

      “heheh… the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick. it’s ALWAYS funny. anyways, your humans, right? that’s hilarious.”

      “Who are you, and how is there snow here anyway? It is not even snowing on the surface.” 

      “It’s from the climate down here. Anyways I am Sans. Sans the skeleton. I’m actually supposed to be on watch humans right now. but… y’know…” So Sans is one of the monsters on guard down here.

      “i dont really care about capturing anybody. now my brother Papyrus… he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.” Sans claims that he doesn’t care about capturing anyone, but how can I be sure we can trust him. Vanessa hid her personality well in the Pizzaplex, how do I know that Sans is not doing a similar thing. Then there is also this brother he is talking about, if he is that obsessed with capturing us what will he do?!
 

      “Hey don’t look so worried kiddo, Paps won’t hurt you. He won’t harm a BONE in your body.” Frisk laughs at Sans pun as I stare at him unconvinced.

      “hey, actually, I think thats him over-” Sans eyes widen in surprise as he is interrupted by a loud slam coming back from the entrance of the ruins. Down the path we see a sight that makes my blood run cold. Skipping down the path twirling a knife in her hand, is Vanny!

Sans POV:

        When I saw Frisk exit the RUINS with another kid, I didn’t know what to make of it. To have something mess with the timeline like this, was unheard of. Could this mean that the timeline is growing weaker, could we finally be free of the resets?

      I heard Frisk call that other kid Gregory, that's good to know.  When I introduced myself and asked them to shake my hand, Gregory looked very hesitant. That set off a bunch of red flags, even being in this situation he still seemed very suspicious of everything. Plus his thin frame and bones didn’t help.

      Besides him showing up, everything went down as usual, that is until that sound came from behind us. When we turned around there was this human wearing a rabbit custom, the moment I saw them I knew they would be trouble. They also have a knife out which isn’t helping her image in the slightest. She is skipping towards us in a cheerful and creepy manner. I know that this isn’t going to be good.

      “Uhh… Is she a friend of yours kid?” Gregory, who has lost all the color in his face, slowly shakes his head, confirming my suspicions. 

      “Why don’t the two of you wait up ahead. I will have a word with her.” Both of them look hesitant to leave, but quickly looks at Frisk and nods. 

      “Be careful, she is dangerous.” 

      “Don’t worry. I won’t let her get the JUMP on me.” Gregory looks a little surprised that I am making puns in this situation but he quickly snaps out of it. Frisk and Gregory walk ahead. I know that Papyrus won’t hurt them, not my brother.

     I am now 5 feet away from the rabbit lady as she stops and stares at me. Even though she is wearing a mask I can tell that she is smiling. 

      “heya, pal. You must really love rabbits. How about you give me an EARFUL on what you are doing with that knife.”  

Chapter Text

Vanny’s POV:

      The skeleton stood right in front of me. He gives off a laid-back type of vibe, which is reinforced by the jokes he made when he came up to me. But right now, deep within him I could see that he is treating this situation very seriously. But he looks weak, I should have no problem taking him!

       Don’t underestimate him, there is something I don’t like about this. He is hiding something.

       Ok if you think he is stronger than he appears I will be more cautious.

      “I am just passing through, now please you’re ruining my fun!” I can tell he is dissecting my every word. His pupils completely disappear, and he stiffens up. 

       He knows something is off about you. 

       “ so that’s why you have the knife. so I guess we are not going to CUT it as pals after all .” Before I can even realize what is happening, we enter a battle and I see my soul get slammed down as an array of bones charge up from the ground. I receive a ton of damage as I move frantically to dodge them. But that isn’t even the end of it as he summons many skeletal faced blasters! By the end of it I am left with only one HP!

       I KNEW IT! DON’T LET HIM TAKE YOU OUT! WITHOUT YOU THERE WILL BE NO ONE TO COMPLETE MY RESURRECTION!

      I take a deep breath and I try to swing my knife down at him. The whole time I am doing this my bones ache from the attack I have just reserved. Even with how strong he is he should go down in one hit like the others. But to my horror he dodges out of the way in time.

       YOU FAILED!

Sans POV:

      I checked her stats the moment I went up to her, and I saw that her name is Vanny. I then checked her LV and was horrified to see that it is at 19. I knew immediately what I had to do. She was surprised by my attacks, right now she is looking at me in pain and with anger on her face. It doesn’t look like she is used to someone outmatching her in a fight. She swipes at me with her knife, but I dodge out of the way with ease. I summon my Gaster blasters around her as she eyes them all with a slight hint of fear. I can stop this, she shouldn't be able to reset after death, since Frisk is the only one with the determination right now. I will not let her get to my friends.

      “SANS!!! I JUST MEET THE HUMANS BACK THERE. THEY TOLD ME YOU NEEDED HELP, SO DON’T FEAR BROTHER I SHALL HANDLE YOUR PROBLEM! OHH I SEE YOU MADE A NEW FRIEND!” No not know, I look over my shoulder to see Papyrus standing a few feet away from us. He looks overjoyed probably from meeting Frisk and Gregory. 

      “ Ya bro, you know me. always ready to HOP at the opportunity to meet someone new .”

     “LET ME SAVE YOU FROM HORRID JOKES OF MY BROTHER. I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I NEVER SEEN YOU AROUND SNOWDIN ARE YOU RELATED TO THE INNKEEPER?” Even though I can’t see her face I can tell she is dumbfounded by the sudden pause of our fight. 

      “REGARDLESS IT IS A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU! I BET IT BRINGS YOU EXCITEMENT TO BE IN THE PRESENCE OF A FUTURE MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” The rabbit lady who I know is named Vanny, just looks at me as if wanting answers.

      “ bro despite what it looks like she is human .” Papyrus jumps back in surprise. I can already tell that the sight of three humans has gone way beyond making his day. 

      “OHH MY GOD SANS! THREE HUMANS?!!?!?”

      “ Ya, she really has gotten the JUMP on us .”

      “HUMAN YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I WILL CAPTURE YOU AND- OHH MY GOSH ARE YOU INJURED?!” Papyrus looks at her with concern. Please, not know, I have to protect him. She is not a good person!

      “HUMAN I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL PLAY FAIR AND HELP HEAL YOU! THEN YOU SHALL GO THROUGH MY PUZZLES WHEN YOU ARE AT YOUR BEST!” Papyrus walks over to her and hands her the spare bandages I keep behind my sentry station.

      “THERE WE GO HUMAN! THAT WILL HELP YOU FEEL BETTER!” She takes the bandages and uses them to gain back some of her HP.

      “SANS WE NEED TO PREPARE OUR PUZZLES. THE HUMANS SHALL NOT KNOW WHAT HIT THEM!” I look nervously at Vanny, I can’t kill her in front of Papyrus. It would traumatize him. I’ll have to get her later, no matter what she will not hurt my brother. 

      “ right Paps, let's JUMP on ahead .” 

      “YES LETS! WE SHALL HOP ON! WE SHALL BE SEEING YOU HUMAN!” 

      “Yes, yes you will.” Papyrus takes this as a friendly comment, but I can hear the threatening message conveyed in her voice. 

Vanny’s POV:

      The skeletons walked away. The one who attacked me Sans I think, if that textbox is accurate, looks back at me before leaving. I know what that look he is giving me means, I have given that look to Gregory back at the Pizzaplex. I know that this isn’t going to be our last encounter with him.

       He caught you off guard. I expected better of you. We are too deep in our plan to be stopped now.

      Yes master! I promise I will not let it happen again.

       Good

Chapter Text

Gregory’s POV:

       Papyrus has been gone for a few minutes now. When I first saw him walking over to us, I instinctively hid behind the guard station. But to my surprise Frisk just stood there with a huge smile on their face! They waved at him, which caused the skeleton to gasp, and to my surprise he waved back! He rushed over to Frisk and introduced himself as Papyrus, saying that he was on patrol for humans and that he would capture Frisk! Papyrus talks extremely loudly, seriously who talks like that normally!

      I saw Frisk glancing at the guard station a few times, I knew that they wanted me to reveal myself to Papyrus. He just announced that he would capture any human and Frisk seriously wants me to come out! I don’t get them, but they're pretty cool, they are the closest thing I have had to a friend since Freddy! I wonder whether I should really trust their judgment with Papyrus. For all we know Sans could have been lying!

      I didn’t have to decide though because as I tried to adjust my position, I accidentally knocked over the condiments that were for some reason sitting on the shelf! Why does a guard station even need condiments! When that happened Papyrus thought that I was Sans, knowing that he would check behind the station anyway I decided to trust Frisk, against my survival instincts. When Papyrus saw me, he was at a loss for words for a minute. Then he sprang to life and was twice as energetic as before. Announcing that he will capture the two of us. 

      The whole time Frisk was smiling at us, I could tell they were happy with me meeting Papyrus. I knew I had to warn Papyrus about Vanessa, so I tried to tell him that his brother was  in danger and that he needed help. Papyrus didn’t seem to understand the severity of the situation, but he seemed like he genuinely wanted to help regardless. 

      Currently Papyrus has been gone for about a minute, she killed them didn’t she. I didn’t know them that well, but Sans and Papyrus have so far been the most trustworthy monsters we have met besides Toriel. Frisk looks a little worried, but they still seem determined that everything is alright. But I know that everything is not alright, just like in the Pizzaplex-

      “HUMANS WE HAVE RETURNED! AND WE HAVE MEET ANOTHER HUMAN, DO YOU THREE KNOW EACH OTHER?!” my eyes widen as Sans and Papyrus walk back to us unscathed! But how?!!! Vanny is a psychopath, who has already murdered 9 kids! 

      “ heya kids, how are the two of you back here? ” he still sounds like he is in his carefree upbeat mood! Did Vanessa trick him or something! She could have just switched back to being like her seemingly sane self in order to fool them. But that still doesn’t explain why she didn’t come back with them.

      “Hi Sans, we were just waiting for you here. We are excited to go through Papyrus puzzles whenever you're ready!” I can hardly believe my ears! Frisk wants us to go into possibly dangerous puzzles?! Are they insane, but if we have to, I guess it would be better just to get it over with. 

      “YOU ARE SPLENDID! WHEREVER YOU INEVITABLY FAIL MY PUZZLES, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE THERE FOR MORAL SUPPORT! COME SANS WE NEED TO PREPARE!” Papyrus rushes off as Sans follows slowly behind him. But before he leaves Sans turns around.

      “ i’ll be seeing two later. by the way Greg, I can tell what you did . ” Sans eyes go completely dark as he says this, sending a chill down my spine.

      “Sans Gregory isn’t like that. He told me he only did it in self-defense.” Frisk says while taking a step forward. But this doesn’t change Sans' expression.

      “ all I know is that his LOVE is at 2. That is all I need to know. your hands are not exactly clean either kiddo,  you just never want this to end, do you? ” Frisk smile drops and is replaced by a hurt look, they look like they are close to crying. Sans expression softens, as he looks a tiny bit guilt ridden.

      “heye look, Frisk, I'm sorry. but I still will be keeping an eye on good old Greg here. see ya!” Sans says as he walks down the path, disappearing from sight. Frisk sighs, and frowns. And gestures for us to keep moving. Ahead of there is a box with a sign next to it. There are also two different ways in the path we can go.

      “Frisk, thank you for having my back with Sans.” Frisk looks at me and smiles.

      “No problem, Gregory, you're my friend and I will always have your back.”

      When we are done talking, I am about to continue down the path when I notice Frisk just standing on the trail. They are just looking at the ground, as if they are focusing on something but there is nothing there!

Frisk’s POV:      

      I look at the save point in front of me. Like always I touch it and save, just in case something bad happens to either me or Gregory. My body still feels broken after hearing what Sans said back there, but he has been through so much. I understand his doubts and why the resets are getting to him. I just need to be patient. After the save is complete, I turn back to Gregory who is looking at me confused. 

      “Frisk? Are you ready?”

      “Yes, sorry Gregory. Let's continue.” 

Chapter Text

   Gregory’s POV:

       I walk over to the box and read the sign. It talks about how we can put items in or take them out, and that the same box will appear later with all the items in it! At this point I already saw some extremely weird things, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this sign is telling the truth. I decide to look in the box and inside is some sort of glove. Reaching inside it, I pick it up and examine the gloves. It looks like it would hurt being punched by it, this can definitely help. I put on the gloves as Frisk looks at me nervously.

      “Gregory, I would prefer it if you don’t use those.” I look at Frisk with confusion. 

      “Why? They could come in handy if anything tries to hurt us.”

      “I understand that, but can you please just use it as a last resort? We can talk to them first, and that way we can also make new friends.” I reluctantly nod. I was already planning on using the gloves on a needed basis, but I highly doubt we can talk down every enemy. It’s not like someone that is dedicated to killing us will stop just because we talked to them. But the way Frisk says it they sound so certain, as if it is a known fact.

      We go forward and in front of us is a stream with a fishing pole…. affixed to the ground? We reel it in and attached to it is a picture of some weird looking monster. On the back of it says “Call me! Here’s my number!” Thankfully both me and Frisk decide not to call it. I mean it’s not like me or Frisk has a phone anyway. As we're turning around to walk back the other way, I hear shuffling coming from the tree line. I quickly turn to the noise and before we can react, a monster charges at us.

      We enter a battle, in front of us is a monster that is oddly shaped like a snowflake. Which makes sense because apparently his name is Snowdrake. I look at the gloves on my hands and consider attacking, but I decide to see how this goes first. If SnowDrake is too powerful, then I’ll fight back but otherwise I’ll try to keep Frisk's request.

      “ Ice to meet you.” Snowdrake launches projectiles at us, which we quickly dodge. Did he seriously just make an ice pun before attacking us?! A bad one at that, meanwhile Snowdrake just stares at us as if he is awaiting a response. I look at him perplexed, but I turn to my side to see Frisk laughing.

      Other than just doing it to be nice, Frisk finds it genuinely funny! Snowdraks’s face lights up in surprise and overwhelming joy. Gee I guess it must mean a lot to him.

      “See!? Laughs! Dad was wrong! You like my jokes too, right?”

      “Uhhh, ya.” I say awkwardly as I rub my head. Snowdrakes’s face lights up even more. So it has something to do with his dad! That makes sense, I know that when I was at the Pizzaplex Freddy felt like a father figure to me, and when he praised me for succeeding at something, it always filled me with joy. We then spare Snowdrake and the fight ends.

      “If you ever want to hear some more jokes, I’ll-”

      “Are you having fun yet?!” Vanny’s distorted voice cuts through the forest, as my eyes widen. She caught up to us! We need to get out of here! I look over at Frisk only to notice that they seem to only be slightly concerned. They still have that determined smile on their face from when I first met them, they are going to try to talk to her, aren't they. Snowdrake meanwhile is confused about what is happening. Slowly Vanny appears from the corner of the tree’s, she waves over at us before starting to skip forward. 

      I take a step back as Frisk takes a step forward! They wave back at her, and even Vanny seems confused by this. But she quickly shakes off that confusion as she continues approaching us.  

      “Hi! I’m Frisk! I heard that your name was Vanessa, it’s nice to finally meet you!” Vanny’s distorted laugh sends a chill down my spine.

      “My name isn’t Vanessa! It’s Vanny!” When she says this, I can tell there is a little bit of anger in her voice. Frisk looks startled by Vanny’s outburst, but they still try to remain calm. 

****

Frisk POV: 

       Frisk what the hell are you thinking! 

       Chara shouts in my head, they sound angry.

      I just need to talk to her. I can befriend her just like I befriended everyone else.

       That optimism will get you nowhere Frisk, especially with humans. 

       People are not all like that Chara. One day you’ll see that. I take another step towards Vanny. I see Snowdrake start to walk forward, he probably wants to see if he can get another human to laugh. But Gregory holds him back, much to his confusion. Gregory meanwhile looks terrified. 

      I see something shining in Vanny’s hand, with a closer look I can tell that it is a knife. I take another step towards her; my smile doesn’t fade. Vanny tilts her head at this, and she puts her hands to her head. I take a deep breath as she begins to raise the knife above her shoulders, but to my relief, she stops.

      With panic in her movement, Vanny puts away the knife and runs away from us. I’m a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to make her a friend yet, but that is ok. I know she will come around eventually, just like everyone else in the underground. And with luck maybe Chara will finally be able to see the good in people. Now that I think about it, Chara is quieter than usual. 

****

Chara’s POV:

      I couldn’t believe my eyes, one moment Vanny was in full on murder mode. Then suddenly she started to get twitchy and put her hands to her head as if she was having a headache. That’s when I notice the same hue from earlier, it’s flickering on and off. Even during the periods it’s off however I notice that it is still present in her brain.

      I smile widely as a realization hits me. If that thing's power is wavering, I could have a chance to take over her! I am tempted to do it now, but I refrain. I need to wait until the control is at its weakest. Once that happens no one will be able to detest me!

Chapter Text

Vanessa’s POV:

      Why couldn’t I do it? It was so easy those other times. Expect when I had to see the look in their eyes.

      NO! You enjoy this! All of it is wonderful, fulfilling master legacy is all that matters. Before him I was just a nobody beta tester! I’m glad I collected all those stupi- life changing tapes! I have no one expect master! No parents! No boyfriend and no friends!

     Luis

      I sit down next to a tree, and breathe in. Lifting my hands up to my mask I take it off and hold it in my hands. My new identity, this is who I am. But why did the determined look and niceness on that kid's face affect me so much? Why did the terrified look on Gregory make my heart sink? Those other kids were equally terrified, why is this affecting me so much?! 

      Disobedience is something I cannot tolerate Vanessa.

       CRAP!

       I thought you were better than this. You already know that YOU ARE MINE. 

       I’m sorry I don’t know what came over me!

       That won’t do it. You need to learn what happens when you resist me.

       NO! MASTER PLEASE NO-

      My screams echo across the forest. As the most unimaginable pain goes through my head. He isn’t going to go so easy on me this time. He wants me to feel every second of it. But I deserve this for disobeying his orders, right?

****

10 minutes later 

       The pain stops as I get up. I look on the ground and see my mask lying there and I pick it up and put it back on. How could we be so careless with it! Doesn’t Vanessa know that this is our face! I’m glad master didn’t go easy on her, if only she could see the legacy we are creating. She just can’t see the art in masters work, but when she does, she will be free. 

      I look around at my surroundings, Vanessa ran a little bit ahead of those brats! We even ran by those stupid skeletons, that tall one was saddened that we didn’t stop and talk. Meanwhile that small one was giving me a death stare. He doesn’t want to kill me around the tall one. Ha, how weak! I will exploit that to the best of my advantage. So long as the tall one keeps him busy, I will have nothing to worry about from him. But if that so-called Sans is on the hunt for me, I still must be careful. It will be like a fun game of hide and seek! 

      I see a cardboard box shaped like some kind of guard station. I giggle as I go over to it and knock it down. Opps, clumsy me! I skip down the path until I see a guard station with a face of a dog on it. The sign next to the station says, ‘no moving’.  I skip forward to see what is inside, only to see someone rise up. It is a dog monster in a muscle shirt and pants. He is looking in my direction, but it is as if he can’t see me!

      “Did something move? Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something WAS moving… For example, a human… I’ll make sure it NEVER moves again!” So that's what that sign means! If it is that simple this is going to be easy! We enter a battle, and a blue sword goes through the box, and I don’t move. I don’t take damage and I have to try hard not to laugh at this pathetic attack. I take my knife and turn him to dust in one swing! 

       We should take note of this, other monsters may share this attack. They may implement in a more challenging way.  

       Yes master! Of course!

       I also have detected surveillance equipment all over this area. Someone is watching us. Once we find the main source of it, I can take control of the network, but for now keep your guard up, these monsters are more advanced than I thought. 

       Camera’s? That means they are aware of my presence! That won’t matter though, if all these monsters die with just one hit, then I will have nothing to worry about. I chuckle just thinking of a scared monster looking at me through the camera’s and seeing our work. I will get them eventually too, but until then I will let them enjoy the terror! 

     I start walking ahead the path, now that I am ahead of them my best approach is to catch them by surprise. I freeze when I notice who is ahead, that skeleton! He is alone and I can tell that he is waiting for me, if he sees me now, I am as good as dead! I quickly rush into the tree line just as he looks in my direction. 

      That was close, I can’t let him get in our way!

****

Sans POV:

      I know that if I don’t stop her soon, she will make it to Snowdin, and if that happens.

      Papyrus

       No, I am not going to let that happen. The moment she comes through here, I will blast her away. She will never hurt anyone again, and hopefully it will save this run. Frisk seems to be going Pacifist this time much to my relief, and that Gregory kid hasn’t killed anyone yet. So, if I can just stop this Vanny then everyone should have nothing to worry about. 

      Out of the corner of my eye I think I saw something; I turn around quickly with my attack ready to see who it is. To my surprise nobody is there, but I know who it was and quickly look in the woods to see if I spot anyone, but I don’t see any sign of her. She must have already HOPPED on along. I sigh as I go back to where I was standing. Frisk and Gregory will be here soon, and if she shows her face around here, I will get the JUMP on her. 

Chapter Text

Frisk POV:

       As we continue through to the next area, I notice that Gregory is acting more cautious and nervous. I know it is because he saw Vanny go ahead of us. He probably has a horrible experience with her, but I can tell that there is a good person within her. Sometime when Gregory is more relaxed, I’ll ask him about Vanny, and what happened to him. But right now, is not the time. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable about it, so I understand if he doesn’t want to talk about it. If he does though, I am more than ready to listen and understand it.

      Strangely enough Sans and Papyrus are not at the part of the path they usually are, instead they are standing next to Papyrus's guard station. But my heart sinks when I notice that it has been knocked down, when I get closer, I can tell that I was done intentionally. Papyrus meanwhile is trying to repair it, with Sans helping him.

      “GREETINGS HUMANS, I AM HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE OTHER HUMAN HAS COME THROUGH HERE. UNFORTUNATELY SHE ACCIDENTLY KNOCKED OVER MY STATION. BUT ACCIDENTS HAPPEN, I STILL PLAN FOR ALL OF US TO ENJOY SOME OF MY SPAGHETTI TOGETHER!” I go over to help Sans with one of the walls, while Gregroy and Papyrus get the other. I can tell Gregory is still confused as to why papyrus is so nice even though he said he is going to capture us. But I can tell that he is starting to relax more around him, which I am thankful for.

      Once we get the station put back together, we say goodbye to Papyrus and Sans and continue on ahead. We reached Doggo’s station. But before we continue, I make sure that Gregory fully understands how the blue attacks work. I explain how to move when the attack is orange and freeze when the attack is blue.

      “How do you know that? All that sign said was no moving.” It will be hard to get him to fully believe me right away, without telling him about the resets. It’s not that I want to lie to him, I just don’t want to burden him with the knowledge of this unnecessarily.

      “It’s hard to explain. It's just something I learned.” I feel guilt for not telling him everything. But just like how I didn’t tell the other monsters, it’s for his own good. But if he asks me directly about it, I will tell him. I don’t like lying especially if it is not for a good reason. Luckily for me though Gregory accepts this, and we start to walk to Doggo’s station. Yet when we pass it, Doggo doesn’t appear. I have to make sure that he is ok, so I tell Gregory to wait for me, as I go over and ring the bell to the station. Gregory looks at me with concern, seeing me just ring a bell to a guard station would definitely not look like the smartest choice on the outside. But I have to be sure that Doggo is ok.

      Nothing happens, so I peer inside the station and gasp. There is monster dust on the floor and knowing that the only thing different about this timeline is Vanny and Gregory, I know for certain who did it.

       See Frisk I told you, look what she did. All humans are the same! They made my life a living hell on the surface, and killed Asriel when he didn’t even attack! Why can’t you see how bad they are?!

      People are not all bad, Chara there is good. I know that you have suffered, let me help you.

      There is nothing you can do for me, Frisk. Expect to work with me! Help me get my revenge on the human!

      I can’t Chara, I’m sorry.

      It breaks my heart seeing how much pain they experience during their lifetime. Someday I will get them to realize that humanity is not evil. I just have to stay Determined . I pay my respects to Doggo while tears go down my face and head back to Gregory. I am tempted to reset right now, but I can’t. If I do it now, I wouldn’t be able to learn more about Vanny, and it will make it harder to talk her down. Plus, would the timeline be corrected if I reset, or would it break it more?

      “Frisk, why are you sad?”

      “She killed the Royal Guard managing that station.” I say looking over at Doggo’s resting place. He still looks confused, but he seems to understand why I am sad.

      “I knew that she would do something like this. We have to make sure she doesn’t catch us off guard.” I nod and we continue. Things go normal with Sans giving us advice on Papyrus’s attack.

      “But didn’t you say he isn’t dangerous?” Gregory says nervously. I don’t want him to get the wrong idea about Papyrus just as he is beginning to trust him, luckily Sans comes to the rescue.

      “he may try to capture you kid, but you have nothing to fear. he wouldn’t harm a BONE in your body.” Gregory doesn’t look convinced, but he takes this answer. After this we go to the snowman, where Gregory jumps back in surprise when they first start talking to us. But he adjusts and we agree to take a piece of him to the surface. Next up is Papyrus's first puzzle, we walk ahead where the electricity maze is.

Gregory’s POV:

      We see Sans and Papyrus talking to each other. They stop when they notice us, however.

      “OH - HO! THE HUMANS ARRIVED! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE… QUITE SHOCKING…” I scan the area for any possible puzzles, but the only thing in front of us is an area cleared of snow. Judging by what Papyrus is hinting at, I am guessing it has to do with electricity.

      “FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE… ELECTRICITY MAZE!!! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUNDS LIKE FUN??? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE, IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK. OK, YOU CAN GO AHEAD KNOW.” so orb will shock us if we step on the wrong areas. But wait, if the orb does it wouldn’t that mean- I take a step forward and Papyrus jumps up as he is being electrocuted.

      “SANS!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!” Papyrus says as he stamps his foot.

      “i think the humans have to hold the orb.”

      “OH, OKAY.” Papyrus starts making his way through the maze, his footprints revealing the path to us. I am left dumb founded as he hands us the orb, he then asks us to go through it now. He actually doesn’t realize that the path through the maze is clear now. Either way this just makes it easy for us. When we get through the maze Papyrus is shocked by how fast we completed it, but regardless tells us that the next puzzle was made by Sans. Papyrus leaves and Sans thanks us, saying that his brother is having fun. He also says that the outfit Papyrus is wearing was just made for a custom party, and that afterwards he has worn nothing else since. Seeing Papyrus says he wants to be in the Royal Guard so much, it is easy to believe that once he found a custom that he thinks looks cool he would be devoted to wearing it.

      After that we ran into someone selling something called Nice Cream, which I have no idea what it is, but I am guessing it is similar to ice cream. But who in the world would think it would be a good idea to sell something cold in a place with snow all the time? Regardless we each bought some.

      Sans puzzle was luckily just a crossword puzzle that didn’t do anything. If all these puzzles are as easy as this, then we will have nothing to worry about. Which only leaves the monster we encounter along the way, but we are able to get past them all once we learn their move set. Frisk is still very surprisingly prepared, it’s as if they have already mastered knowing the attacks. They also surprised me when they mentioned that blue attack, but maybe they are just good at adjusting to all this. You have to get used to things quickly in order to survive, just like back in the Pizzaplex.

      Eventually we found another one of Papyrus’s ‘traps’ which involves a plate of spaghetti meant to distract us. Papyrus makes this obvious in the note he left where he states that this is an attempt to stop us from progressing.

      The next area has a sign, I glance at it ‘Warning: Dog Marriage’ weirded out I do a double take on the sign. It now says ‘Yes, you read that correctly’, shocked I look at the sign again just to see that the words are back to normal. I’m not even going to question it at this point. The path is blocked by spikes so we will have to find some way past them. As I am thinking Frisk starts wiping snow off the ground revealing a map. Ok they clearly know more than they are letting on, but they fell near the same time as me. But either way, at least we know the way past this now.

      We also encounter a dog with a sword and shield, it feels weird even thinking about it. This place is interesting (and weird). Frisk starts to pet it which I follow suit. Which made its neck grow! By the time we were done its neck was so tall it twisted back in order to reach the ground. After the battle it ruins off with its tail wagging as Frisk waves goodbye.

      We find the hidden switch in the snow and slower the spikes, with that down we move to the next area. The only problem is there are two dog monsters approaching! They look similar in appearance, with them both wearing robs and each of them having battle axes. The distinguishing difference is that the male dog has a mustache, and the female dog has long eyelashes.

      “What’s that smell? (Where’s that smell?)”

      “If you’re a smell…(... identify yoursmellf!)” The two dogs then began to move around in a circle sniffing us out. I try to avoid them, but they keep making sure I stay in their circle.

      “Hmmm… Here’s that weird smell…”

      “It makes me want to eliminate. (... Eliminate YOU!)” The dogs bring us into battle and that's when I see their names. Dogamy and Dogaressa, weirdly enough, are more interested in themselves than fighting us. I’m still pretty hurt from the previous encounter, and I already ate that nice cream. This makes me feel a little nervous about this encounter. It’s our turn now, the first thing I do is try to pet them. It worked on the last dog so maybe it will work here too. All it does though is make them upset because they are suspicions of my smell! Frisk starts to roll around in the snow and gestures for me to do the same on my next turn. The smell that’s it, they detected us by smell so if we change our scent-

      The dogs make their first attack, they bring down their giant axes. Frisk maneuvers their soul under it just in time, but I am not so fast. I look at my health drop and as I try to dodge the attack again, I take damage. I see my health drop from one to zero, and I feel fear course through me before everything goes dark.

Frisk’s POV:

      GREGORY!

      I knew that one of us would go down sooner or later. But unlike me Gregory soul trait isn’t Determination, so he can’t reload. I know what I have to do, I take a deep breath and let myself get hit by the next attack. Dogamy and Dogaressa actually look shocked that they managed to eliminate one of us, and I even detect a hint of guilt. Regardless I take their blows, feeling the pain course through my body as the world goes dark.

 Continue?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Reset?                       

Chapter Text

Gregory’s POV:

      I feel pain course through my body, as I look around and see endless darkness. There is no sound around me, until a voice rings out over the silence.

      You left me, superstar! The things HE plans for us to do are already set in motion. HE will return and continue his legacy. HE always comes back, and he will find you eventually.

      I am blinded as a bright light interrupts my vision. After a few seconds I opened my eyes again.

****

       I look around gasping. I feel a terror course through my body, as I look my body over for injuries. I am surprised to find that I am completely unharmed. I look to my left and see Frisk and they smile with relief. Behind them is the table with Papyrus’s spaghetti ‘trap’ on it. My memories feel really hazy, it feels like we should be further than this. Why was everything dark, and the first thing I felt was fear?

      “Gregory, are you ok?” Something is off about Frisk too; they're looking at me as if they weren't sure I was going to be here. So does that mean Frisk experienced the same thing as me, and if that is the case then why haven't they said anything?

      “I don’t know, for a minute it felt like I was somewhere else. It was dark and it felt like death itself.” Whatever the hell is going on, I can definitely see that Frisk knows what I am talking about. They look nervous the moment the words leave my mouth, and they look frozen as they try to come up with their next words. 

      “What you experienced Gregory- I don’t know if you will like the answer.” I feel frustration build up inside of me, at Frisk hesitation but I calm down. After traveling with Frisk for the past few hours, I know by this point that they don’t want to upset people. Whatever the truth is no matter how bizarre or painful, I want to know.

      “It’s ok, I don’t care if it freaks me out. Please tell me.” Frisk takes a deep breath before talking. I can tell this must be hard for them.

      “You- died.” WHAT?!?!?! Out of all the things Frisk could say, this was something I wasn’t expecting. Even facing the events in the Pizzaplex, facing murderous animatronics isn’t exactly normal. But to die and not remember it, that is something completely out of explanation. Even if the Pizzaplex, things felt like there was more under the surface, waiting to be uncovered. NO! Don’t think like that! It was her; it was only ever her! Expect I can’t escape the feeling that some other force was present. 

      “What do you-?” I can’t even get the words to come out, as my mind races with my questions. 

      “It’s a long story. The reason I know so much is because this isn’t my first time through this.” I know that Frisk never went beyond the RUINS door before today, that means only one thing. They have been through the door, but this wasn’t their first time. That means the day has happened before. With them mentioning that I have died and yet I have no recollection of it, that backs up Frisk words.

      “I was shocked too, the first time I died I panicked. It felt like this whole thing wasn’t even real, but Flowey explained it to me.” Frisk smiles at me, and I can see that they look tired, but it looks more mental than physical. 

      “The underground has been going through this loop more times than I can count. I don’t know if it will ever end. But I also have the power to Reset back to the beginning of our journey, and I can also take us back to previous saves.” So, Frisk has the power to control time itself. That is a lot to take in. If they can reload every time one of us dies that means, we have no real risk of failing. Right?

      “Even if this is all true- why did Toriel act like she just met you?” 

      “Everyone but me and a few others forget that all this even happens. It's tiring to go through the same thing again and again. Having the people, you love to forget about you is something I will never forget.” I could see tears forming in Frisk’s eyes. With monsters and magic existing down here, it doesn’t seem far-fetched to believe that time travel also exists. With this understanding I get why it must be so draining for Frisk. They want to be friends with everybody, but all their hard work keeps getting erased. Having all your friends forget they ever met you, it would be too painful to imagine. I know that if Freddy forgot who I was I would be beyond heartbroken. 

      “I’m sorry you have to go through that Frisk. Being the only one who can remember must be hell.” I walk up to Frisk and put my hand on their shoulder. They look up with a grateful look in their eyes and they smile.

      “Thank you”

      “So how many times have the two of us gone through this?” 

       “Once.” My eyes go wide at Frisk’s words. The way they have been walking it sounded like these could have been going on for years! But if we only did this once does that mean-

      “This is the first timeline I have met you Gregory. For a while I thought I wouldn’t be able to make any new friends, yet here you are.” So, this is the first time I have shown up, if the timeline keeps repeating that would make no sense. Does the Resets affect the surface as well, if so does that mean something has changed up there to lead me to this point?! 

      “I don’t know what happened, or even if this will be the new normal. But however, it happened I am glad to have met you.”

      “Thanks, honestly I don’t have any friends except for one, until now.” Frisks looks at me with empathy, and before I know it, they embrace me in a hug. I am shocked to say the least.

      “You have made many new friends here Gregory. I’m sorry how things were for you before.” I nod and the two of us continue on ahead. I see many things that bring a sense of deja vu, a dog monster jumps out and feels like petting it would be enough to pacify it.  Its neck grows with each pet, yet I don’t even bat an eye, even though this SHOULD be completely new to me. After this point I have no doubt at what Frisk said. I even know that there is trouble ahead before we see the two dog monsters approaching. 

  “What’s that smell? (Where’s that smell?)” They continue saying words that seem all to family for me. And eventually we engage in a fight. I feel a very strong fear for these dogs even if they aren’t more menacing than the previous monsters. Maybe this is how far we got before I died, these must be the monsters that killed me. It would definitely explain the intense fear I have for them.

      The first thing that comes to mind is their sense of smell, for some reason that feels very familiar. Maybe it's a way we can survive this encounter, I look at the snow and an idea comes to mind. I roll on the snow trying to mask as much of my scent as possible, maybe Frisk did the same thing last time. My theory is proven when Frisk does the same, and the dogs re-sniff us. They look at us with confusion, that actually worked!

      The dogs attack again and we dodge it. I try petting them this time and I see their eyes widen in excitement. Frisk does the same and we successfully spare them. 

      “Dogs can pet other dogs??? (A new world has opened up for us…)”

      “Thanks, weird puppies” The dogs walk away happy, and at this point I am no longer feeling any familiarity. So, this is how far we got last time, time to face whatever is up ahead.

****

Alphy’s POV: 

       I sit in my lab, in front of me is the monitor I have been using to monitor the humans. I was shocked to see two humans pass through the RUINS door. I have been using the camera’s hidden around the Underground to keep track of them. Shortly after they exited the RUINS another human exit! That makes three! At first I planned to stop them, but the more that I observed them I grew more and more attached. Maybe I could befriend them, and become a part of their journey. Mettaton has agreed to help me as soon as they get to Hotlands.

      The first two humans seem nice, they haven't killed many monsters yet, even the ones that have attacked them! But the third one- she has already dusted multiple monsters, and she has even been hostile to the other humans. She isn’t doing it in self-defense either, she is taking pleasure in it! Another oddity is her choice of attire, she is dressed in a rabbit custom, and she only took off her mask once. I can only hope that Undyne can stop her before she can hurt anyone else. 

     Undye.

     I blush as I try to get back to my work. I have set up a split screen on the monitor in order to watch them. The first two, Frisk and Gregory, have almost made it to Snowdin. They have experienced trouble from the Canine unit but they made it past most of them. Meanwhile the human in the rabbit costume (who they called Vanny) is ahead of them. Right now she is near the bridge, she has been sneaking her way through most of the Underground. At first I was confused by this due to her earlier murderous behavior, but then I noticed that the reason she is being so cautious is because of Sans. I saw that when Sans first met Vanny, he knew that she was a threat. I thought he was done for, with the way she was staring at him. But to my shock and amazement, Sans was able to absolutely destroy her in the fight. Sans was known for his laziness, seeing him unveil that he is that strong, left me at a loss for words. 

      After that encounter Vanny seemed to be making sure that it would not happen again. Any areas Sans was in, she completely went around them. And if she so much as even made a single sound Sans would prepare his attack, but each time she managed to hide in time. At one point I could have sworn she was looking at one of my camera’s, but that can’t be possible.

      R-Right?

      At this time, I was going through my notes and not looking at the monitor, when I look back, I am shocked at what I see. Frisk and Gregory’s side is fine, but Vanny’s side is completely offline. I rewind the footage and I see Vanny skipping towards the bridge. I see her kneel down in order to reach the camera under the bridge. She then starts to mess around with the wiring inside it, with such ease that I can tell she has experience with electronics. Before the screen goes black, I see words pop up on the screen. I gasp and look on in horror.

      We know you're watching us!

****

🕈︎📬︎👎︎📬︎ ☝︎♋︎⬧︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎ 🏱︎⚐︎✞︎🖳︎

❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ☼︎☜︎💧︎☜︎❄︎ ☟︎✌︎💧︎ 👍︎☟︎✌︎☠︎☝︎☜︎👎︎📪︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎💧︎☜︎ ❄︎🕈︎⚐︎ ✌︎☠︎⚐︎💣︎✌︎☹︎✋︎☜︎💧︎ ☟︎✌︎✞︎☜︎ ✌︎☹︎❄︎☜︎☼︎☜︎👎︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ❄︎✋︎💣︎☜︎☹︎✋︎☠︎☜︎📬︎ ✋︎ 🕈︎✋︎☹︎☹︎ ☟︎✌︎✞︎☜︎ ❄︎⚐︎ 😐︎☜︎☜︎🏱︎ 👍︎☹︎⚐︎💧︎☜︎ ⚐︎👌︎💧︎☜︎☼︎✞︎✌︎❄︎✋︎⚐︎☠︎ ⚐︎☠︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎💣︎ ✋︎☠︎ ⚐︎☼︎👎︎☜︎☼︎ ❄︎⚐︎ 👎︎☜︎❄︎☜︎☼︎💣︎✋︎☠︎☜︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎✋︎☼︎ ⚐︎☼︎✋︎☝︎✋︎☠︎📬︎

🏱︎☜︎☼︎☟︎✌︎🏱︎💧︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎✡︎ 👍︎✌︎☠︎ 👌︎☼︎☜︎✌︎😐︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ 👍︎✡︎👍︎☹︎☜︎📬︎

Chapter Text

Gregory's POV:

      After making it past Dogamy and Dogaressa, we ran into some of Papyrus's puzzles. They Mostly involved turning the x's into zero's, it took a couple of tries but they weren't very hard. One of the more unique ones involved colored tiles which involved a complicated set of rules we had to follow. I tried memorizing them the best I could, but it was impossible to do in a single sitting. What confused me the most was that Frisk was calm about it and was not trying to memorize it as I was. It turns out all my worrying was for nothing because despite the chances, the puzzle generated a straight path for us. Frisk probably knew this ahead of time, which I should have been able to tell by their expression.

      We also ran across another dog! Even though this one was the size of a regular dog, it had armor that was even taller than most humans. We just played with it like all the other dogs, and it went away. Now after all of that we have made it to a bridge, and standing at the other end is Sans and Papyrus. I can already tell that it is probably one of Papyrus's puzzles, hopefully we can get past it like the other ones. We both start walking across the bridge as Papyrus looks at us with excitement.

      "HUMANS THIS IS YOUR FINALE AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" As he says this, multiple things start to show up below and above the bridge. There is fire shooting out, and a cannon! And is that a dog hanging by a rope?! Except for the dog, all the things look dangerous. He expects us to go through that! This is the first trap that Papyrus has thrown at us that actually looks intimidating. Maneuvering past these objects will be harder than simply jumping over the boards in the Pizzaplex sewers, at least then those nightmare looking staff bots where not even a threat to me unless I feel down.

      "WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE!" The more he says the more nervous I become, dodging all those things at once will be extremely hard! Papyrus continues saying that the chances of our victory will be small, and he says that he will activate it. I hold my breath just waiting to see the hell we will have to endure. But as seconds pass the gauntlet is still inactive. I notice Papyrus meanwhile looks like he is getting nervous as he looks back at the trap and back at us.

      "well? what's the holdup?"

      "HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP?! I'M… ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" Nothing happens as more and more second's pass by. This is the most effective trap we have seen so far, there is a real chance one of us may die from it! Practically it makes no sense for Papyrus not to use it. But maybe that's why Papyrus is so hesitant to do this. Even though he says he wants to capture us, he doesn't seem like the type of person to want anyone to actually get hurt. He kind of reminds me of the Daycare Attendant, at least while he is Sun. I would prefer to forget what happened when the lights went out.

      "that, uh, doesn't look very activated."

      "WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS.. MAYBE… TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH." Papyrus seems happy to have thought of a reason not to use it. Sans gives me a look of 'I told you so'. It looks like Sans was right when he said that Papyrus wouldn't kill us. I can tell that he doesn't trust me yet, but at least he is still an ally.

      "I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS AFTER ALL! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!" As he says this all the traps under and above the bring go away.

      "Thanks, I was really not looking forward to being burned and stabbed."

      "NO PROBLEM AT ALL! I SHALL CAPTURE YOU FAIRLY. WHENEVER YOU BOTH ARE READY, I'LL MEET YOU AT THE END OF SNOWDIN!" With that Papyrus runs off. I wonder what Snowdin is, it sounds like a name of a place. We walk across the bridge to meet Sans and he still has that smile, but I can tell it seems off around me.

      "if i were you, i would make sure i understand blue attacks."

      "When the attacks are blue, we just have to not move. One of those dogs used that attack against us earlier."

      "that's the basics of it, but if you face my brother, blue attacks may act a little differently from what you have in mind."

      "Differently? How does Papyrus's way of using them work?"

      "you'll find out kiddos, but just have your reflexes ready." I feel a little frustrated that Sans doesn't just tell us how it works, but I know that Frisks will know what to do when the moment comes up. Walking ahead we see a sign saying, "WELCOME TO SNOWDIN" and right next to it is a small town with mostly wooden and brick houses. Most of the monsters that are there appear to have fur, which makes sense because of the cold. The first building is a shop, it would probably be a good idea to go there first before continuing on.

      Walking through the door we are greeted by the sight of a rabbit monster; the moment I see her I feel a chill run down my spine. She's not Vanny but after that night in the Pizzaplex, I can't help but feel nervous.

      We decided to buy some cinnamon buns. For some reason monster food seems to heal damage, so it won't hurt to stock up with it.

     "It's nice to have fresh faces around here. That makes three today." She says as we place our gold on the counter.

      "Three? There was another new person here."

      "Shortly before you arrived, a rabbit monster such as me just came into town. She isn't related to me or my sister, so I just assumed she came from the capital. But she acted strange the whole time." I feel my heart racing as her words hit me. Vanny is hiding here, she is probably just waiting to ambush us. I look over at Frisk and I am shocked to see that they are smiling. I can tell that they are nervous, and for some reason they seem oddly happy to hear this. I know they think they can befriend Vanny, but they don't know what she is capable of!

      Walking back outside we see a Christmas tree in the center of town, which is weird since Christmas is many months away. Apparently, the monsters in Snowdin don't even know what Christmas is, but they put presents under the tree because a monster was tormented by local teens. We also meet a Monster Kid who knows we are kids as well. Apparently, it's because we are wearing shirts with stripes. I don't know how that shows that we are kids, but maybe it's a thing with monsters. We also visit the library and a place called Grillbies, the whole time I am a nervous wreck. I keep looking around any room I'm in for any sign of Vanny.

      Finally, we reach the end of the town, and up ahead we see Papyrus. As we approach, I notice that he is looking at us with uncertainty.

      "HUMANS. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE… THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL." Papyrus's voice has a hint of sadness to it, I can tell that this is very important to him.

      "THESE FEELINGS… THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW! I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY." I know that Papyrus was really talking about himself before. I know how it feels to want other people's friendship. Being homeless didn't exactly give me many options to meet other kids my age. Papyrus tries so hard that he wants to hold up the image that he has many friends already. Papyrus continues and is about to say that he will be our friend. I feel thankful at the idea that we don't have to fight him, but he changes his mind saying that he has to capture us.

      We then enter a battle as Papyrus, and we spare Papyrus for the first turn. Papyrus attacks and sends bones at the bottom of the screen, which is super easy to dodge. Hopefully if all of his attacks are this easy, this battle can be quick and easy. Even though I have doubts that we can get through the entire Underground without fighting, Papyrus I fully believe can be talked out of this. From what I have seen from him, he doesn't really want to do this.

      The battle continues like this for a few turns before Papyrus says that he will use his blue attack. A whole wave of blue bones appears and none of us move, as long as we do this it should be easy. After the bones are gone, I see Frisk's soul move to the right corner of the screen, and they gesture for me to do the same. My eyes widen as our souls turn blue and a bone quickly comes from the left, thankfully we are able to dodge it.

      So this is what Sans meant by Papyrus attacks work differently! It would have been so much easier for him to tell us earlier, but hey at least we know it now.

      "You have the power to turn our souls blue!"

      "YES, I SEE THAT YOU ARE QUITE IMPRESSED BY IT. SUCH A THING I AM USED TO." We get hit a few times as the battle goes on, despite the nature of Papyrus's puzzles he is actually pretty good at fighting. As we go on Papyrus gets more excited with the thoughts of popularity after he catches us. But he seems more and more hesitant to continue the fight. Deep down I think he knows what will happen to us if he sends us to the capital, but he doesn't want to believe it.

      "BEHOLD…! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" I prepare to dodge out of the way of whatever could be coming but instead all we see is a tiny dog chewing on a bone.

      "WHAT THE HECK! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY! YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME!? STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE!" The dog's eyes go wide as it runs off. Papyrus is still annoyed at the dog stealing his attack, but he is still ready to continue the fight. I don't know where the dog came from, but it definitely saved us from having to face whatever the hell that attack would have been. Eventually Papyrus decided to spare use, and the fight ended. Papyrus is saddened by the fact that he'll have to tell Undyne that he was unable to capture us, as well as saying that his friend quantity will remain stagnant.

      "You know, you can be our friend if you want." I say quietly, Papyrus maybe a little oblivious to the intentions of Vanny. But I can tell he is a good person. Papyrus turns to face us as his face lights up.

      "REALLY!? YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS, WITH ME? WELL THEN-"

      " How sweet. But it's a shame you're having so much fun, WITHOUT ME! " My face goes pale as I turn around to see Vanny twirling a knife in her hands. I have been so focused on Papyrus that I forgot about the fact that the crazy rabbit lady was even here!

      "HUMAN, I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT I NO LONGER WISH TO CAPTURE YOU. I SHALL GRANT YOU THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING MY FRIEND." Vanny giggles at Papyrus' blindness to the situation.

      " Thanks, that's so nice of you. Unfortunately, this is where it ends." Papyrus still doesn't seem to understand completely as Vanny starts to skip towards us.

      "are you sure about that hops?" We all turn to see Sans standing behind us. How did he even get there, there is no way he could have gotten past us without us noticing.

      "YOU DON'T WANT TO GET IN MY WAY!"

      "Well funny enough, I do."

Chapter Text

Vanny’s POV: 

      HIM?!?!! Why does he have to be here and try to ruin all our fun! I had them right where I wanted them! Ok, I know what he is capable of, I just have to hit him once and it will be over. Once he is dusted, I can finally collect their remnants, then all I have to do is find a way out of here.

      “SANS, HOW GREAT OF YOU TO JOIN US! I WAS JUST TELLING THE HUMANS HERE I WOULD BE THEIR FRIEND!” Sans face stiffens but his smile never stops. 

      “heya Paps, how about you go to the house? You have to get set up for the humans after all.”

      “YOUR RIGHT! THE HANGOUT MUST BE AT IT’S BEST QUALITY! HUMANS I SHALL MEET YOU THERE!” He rushes off still unaware of what's happening. I guess his annoyance of a brother doesn’t want him to see the fight. If he wants to hang out, I’ll be sure not to disappoint him but first I have to handle the annoyance brother.

      We entered a fight, looking past him. I notice that the other kid looks uneasy, it’s quite humorous how they think they can get to me. Once I deal with Gregory, I will take my time to toy with them. Just like when I locked Gregory in the office, the options are limitless. This is going to be so much fun! 

      Sans attacks and unlike last time I avoid most of it only losing half of my HP. If I get too damaged, I always have that weird monster food I bought in that snow town. I can tell that little brat over there is watching with anticipation to what's happening. But he won’t be happy for long, this time he won’t have anywhere to run! Smiling, I swing my knife down at Sans.

      WHAT THE HELL?!?!!

      He dodged it! I have not seen a single monster try to dodge my attack before, I guess one of them had to have at least a little smart! It takes away the fun of a quick kill, but at least it’s more interesting. 

       “what? you think it will be essay, you are incarrot .” my grip on the knife tightens as I dodge out of the way of bones. I will not be beaten by him!

       “you and that kid over there are an enigma. how you even got here is past me. but one thing is for certain, I can’t let you get any further.” He dodges again as more bones come. This time some of them are blue, just like what that dog tried to do. I’ll show him, make him regret this defiance.  

      “either way it’s not a rabbit hole I am willing to go down.” 

       He is trying to upset you. Ignore him and focus on the fight. He can’t keep this up forever.” 

       “your soul is another thing that bats the eye. it ain't like anything i’ve ever seen." His attacks are getting more and more difficult to dodge. As I hurdle my soul over the last of it, I get out one of the monster foods I got. It’s hard to eat it with a mask on, but after taking off my mask enough to eat it I feel my wounds healing right away. Admittedly it’s not really that bad, it actually tastes really sweet.

       “Please everyone stop, this doesn’t have to happen.” The kid looks worried stiff, I can hear the desperation in their plea. How cute, the way they think everyone can get along. It will be a pleasure adding them to our legacy. Another face in the newspaper along with many others. I know that over time my legacy could be as big as masters! 

        Stop! You can’t do this!

        You're not the one in control! We are a part of something great Vanessa, can’t you see? Master’s work must continue, you have a life greater than you ever imagined. I won’t let you ruin the fun for us! 

       “sorry kid, i can’t let this go. iv’e been keeping an eye on her progress. this is for the best.” as I dodge past more bones I notice that I am starting to run low on healing items. I can tell he notices it too. 

        You have to dispose of him. Once my resurrection is complete, no one can stop us!

       “we both know you can’t hop your way out of this one. you’ve hurt your last person.” I’ve got this I only have to land one fucking hit. He’s-

       “Just do it!” I am shocked by the sudden resistance as I feel myself losing control. Not now Vanessa, can’t you see we are on the edge of death! 

       Yes, but I am done with this! I can’t let us hurt anyone el- 

      I can hear Vanessa’s screams internally as they curse through our head. She is back under control. This disobedience will not go unpunished. 

        It’s good that I am back in control, but it still doesn’t explain how she is getting more resistant. I know that master knows, whatever is going on he will handle it. Looking over at Sans I notice that while his smile hasn’t dropped, he has a look of confusion mixed with it. He saw the switch; nobody must know about master! I quickly tighten my grip on the knife. Ok no more slip ups, it’s time to end this! 

****

San’s POV: 

       I thought she was confusing enough as it was, but now I feel totally lost on her. In one moment, her psychopathic personality switched and all I could see was desperation with a hint of fear. I know she is not right up in her head, but this feels different from pure cruelty. The more I look at her soul the more this confirms it. It doesn’t match any of the other personality traits that I have seen before. The corruption that covers it, seems to be more parasitic then simply being there due to her cruelty. I know that I’m going to regret this, but this is too important not to look into.

       She swings at me; this time I act as if I am just going to do a normal bone attack. But instead, I make the screen go dark as I surprise her with a wall of bones followed by a wave of gaster blaster. The shock and frustration is still evident despite the mask. She desperately tries to avoid the attacks but it’s too late the damage is already done. 

      She wasn’t expecting it, giving me the opening to finish this. Just as I planned, the attack brings her down to one HP. Instead of finishing her off with my attack, I knocked her out. She stares at me in fuming hatred as she falls to the ground. I slowly make my way over to her while not letting my guard down. I’m not going to let her get the jump on me after all. 

       “You beat here.” I glance back at Gregory. He is looking at me with a mixture of shock and relief. Wherever the two of them came from, he can tell how dangerous she is. That much we can agree on. I yank off her mask and sure enough she is unconscious. She looks like a normal human but from the LV she has, I know she isn’t. I have to take her somewhere until I can have Alpha’s take a look at her. If anyone can tell what is going on with her soul it’s her. Who knows, maybe it’s a completely new trait. One things for sure is that the moment I get back home I will have to give her a call. 

      “yep, she shouldn’t be a problem for a while now. someone needed to carrect her behavior.” Frisk looks at me relieved. I can tell they are happy that I didn’t kill Vanny. Sometimes I can’t figure the kid out. One moment they act like a saint, the next they dusted half the underground. Regardless I need to keep eye socket out on them.

       Never know when the next Reset could happen.

      “Crap, when she wakes up, she is going to be furious.” 

       “don’t worry, i know a place that will keep her out of your hair . You two can hop on along, i’ll be fine.” Gregory still looks worried that she will wake up at any moment, but after that display he nods knowing that I’ll be fine. I can tell by the look that the kid is giving me that they are worried about what I am going to do with her, but they know that if I was going to blast them to kingdom come, I would have done it before. Hesitantly they both start making their way into Waterfall.

       Grabbing Vanny I teleport right into the shed. My bro made the bars way too small to actually keep her from escaping, but locking up the shed should do. And if it doesn’t, she won’t make it 5 feet before I give her a bad time. But before that I confiscated her knife, I wouldn’t be too sharp if I didn’t think of that.

      I look back one more time at her limb body as I close the board to the shed. I double check to make sure it’s locked before making my way inside. Sure, enough Paps is making sure every single inch of the house is prepared for the humans visit. To him it’s the first time having someone at the house to hang out with. I’m grateful every day that he doesn’t have the same burden I do, to remember it all - No matter how painful it is to be one of the few people that knows, I’m glad Papyrus is spared of that fate. Taking out my phone I go into contacts and am about to click Alphay’s but then I hesitate. She is not the only person I could go to this about, Undyne is also an option. I know she’ll jump at the opportunity to collect Vanny’s soul. It would also get her out of the kids' hair as they go through Waterfall. But if I do that then her soul will remain a mystery. Her soul will be rushed to Asgore to break the barrier. By the time anyone would even think to have Alpahy’s run test on it, the Reset would happen. I sigh as I hesitantly click Alphy’s. 

      “S-Sans. It’s been a while since you called this number. Is there anything- I can help you with?” Her usual nervousness is there. The secret with the true lab isn’t out yet with this run. Every Time she starts to build her confidence the run resets. Could the kid just be teasing her? But with how supportive they are with Alphy’s at the end of each Pacifist run, it makes me wonder.

      “hey ya Alphy’s. i have someone i would like you to meet. i’m sure you’ll jump at the chance to meet her." The line goes quiet for a few seconds, then I hear a sharp gasp. She must have realized who I was referring to. 

      “You’ve…got her! Thank goodness.. but why are you going to me- and not Undyne?” 

      “aside from the small thing of her murdery attitude. there’s something not right with her soul. it just doesn’t feel natural.” It’s not like I won’t expect something different from a soul like hers. The things she done aren't exactly going to land her with a soul of kindness, but her’s is something I didn’t expect.

      “now that you mention it- I did notice something strange through the monitors. I… don’t think she’s working alone.” My eyes go dark as my grip on the phone tightens. What could Alphy’s mean? I think I would notice if a third new person showed up down here.

      “I’m not for sure…. but I think there is something trying to take control of my lab. E-everything is glitching and acting weird. And…. I think something is trying to threaten me through the screen.” I hear the fear in Alphy’s words as she says that. This can’t be a coincidence. I need to get her to Alphy’s right away.

      “be careful, I’ll be there soon with her. i know a shortcut.” I hang up as I rush outside. Every second I spend I risk having her wake up. The sheds still look normal, I carefully open the door as I peer in. Good she is still out, that will make this easier. Going over to her I grab onto her arm. Time to get her to Alphy’s.

      But I look on in horror as her eyes pop open a second before I teleport. After she gets over the initial confusion of where she is, her eyes land on me. To say she looks angry as hell would be an understatement. Her mask is in my pocket, I can tell by that death stare that she wants it back before she does anything else. Before she has time to do anything I quickly teleport. I hope Alphy’s is ready for us. Because she is about to be getting two visitors.

Chapter Text

Sans POV:

       To say Alphy is terrified right now would be a big understatement. The moment I teleported me and Vanny here, Alphy screeched in horror before I rushed the crazy into the cage. It wasn’t a perfect holding cell per say. Alphy’s did only have a few minutes to put this all together before I came here. It is a simple barrier magic with a glass front in order to see into the cell. It is made of the strongest materials available in all of the underground. It wasn’t easy getting her there, especially once she threw the contents off Alphy’s desk making a huge mess on the floor. But she was still recovering from the fight, so in the end we got her in without anyone getting hurt.

      But our ‘guest’ here is not being so cooperative. She has been kicking at the wall and shouting for minutes now. Hell, she has even drawn a picture of her own mask on the wall! I don’t even know where she got the marker from, but the smile on her face when we noticed certainly was of victory. Luckily Alphy’s dedication is so great it doesn't seem to be distracting her as she works tirelessly on her computer. On it is a picture of the human soul, so far, it’s being analyzed. I thought I couldn’t be anymore unnerving but when Alphy zoomed in on it, I felt a chill run down my spine. I don’t know how Alphy’s got the backbone for this.

      “This just doesn’t make any sense! A-ccording to this… her soul should be perseverance. But whatever this stuff is on it, is acting like a parasite.”

      “how so?”

      “It seems the soul itself is irritated by its presence.”

      “will it take long to analyze? the sooner we compute this information, the sooner we can get to the bottom of this.”

      “It will take some time. You… can go… I’ll stay here and work on this.” I don’t feel comfortable leaving Alphy alone with a psychopath. But I trust her to get it done, plus I can’t leave the kids hanging. I still have a hang out to go to. I put Vanny’s mask on Alphy’s desk as I teleported to Waterfall.

****

Gregory:

       So far Waterfall has been different like all the other areas have been. At least it’s not so cold here like it was in Snowdin. Shortly after we left Sans, we saw Papyrus talking to someone in armor. I think he said her name was Undyne. She is scary as hell. She almost caught us a few times, but we managed to escape. Eventually Sans showed up again and we went to Grillby's with him. I asked him what happened to Vanny, and he said that she wouldn’t be bothering us. After that we went to Papyrus’s house and after hanging out with him, he gave us his number.

      That monster kid we saw in Snowdin has been following us as well. For some reason they don’t seem to know that we are humans. I guess many of them have never seen humans before, if what they were saying about the barrier is true then they must have been down here for ages. Either way after a little while they eventually found out, they tried to insult us, but it was not even close to being bothering. It’s like many of these monsters don’t even know how to be mean, not that it hasn’t stopped them from attacking us!

      In the end they couldn’t be mean to us, and as they were leaving, they tripped and were about to fall off the bridge we were on. At the same time Undyne was at the other side. Even though it was terrifying, me and Frisk didn’t hesitate in saving them. Undyne left after monster kid stood their ground against her. I guess she didn’t want to go through them forcefully, but I could have sworn that she was surprised that we saved monster kid.

      Now we are standing above us on a hill is Undyne. She is waiting for us to continue forwards before she attacks. She no longer has her helmet on, revealing that she is some sort of fish monster. Frisk has saved so even if we lose the fight the first time, we will just continue right from this point. It still feels weird to think about dying and coming back earlier as if nothing even happened. But it’s definitely a useful thing to have.

      Looking over at Frisk they nod. We both know it’s time to face her. Taking a steep forward Undyne’s grin widens as she readies her spear.

      “That’s it, then…! No more running away! HERE I COME!!!!!!!” I barely have time to scream before she leaps down at us. We enter a battle as she stands, spear in hand ready to tear us apart. Our souls are now green?! Which probably means this will have some sort of effect, just like when Papyrus turned our souls blue. Undyne throws us both a spear surprisingly. I guess she would like a challenge, instead of just having us be destroyed by her attacks.

      Undyne attacks as we block using the spears. She seems impressed by it as she explains that since our souls are green, we can’t run away from the fight. It’s our turn now, I pull out by Fazer Blaster and aiming it right at Undyne’s eye I pull the trigger.

      “WHAT THE HELL?!!? YOU LITTLE BRATS, YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!!!!” Her attacks this time are less coordinated as some miss us all together.

      “Cowards! From what I heard of humans they are supposed to fight fair! I will shatter that thing to pieces once I crush you!” Some of her attacks hit us this time as both me and Frisk yelp in pain. We are so focused on the fight that we barely even notice that our souls are back to their usual colors. We exit the battle as we begin to run. Luckily, I was used to it back in the Pizzaplex. Running from murderous animatronics can give someone a workout to say the least. Undyne seems angry as hell though as she curses us out as she gives chase.

      Turning around I once again aim the Fazer blaster at her face and fire. She once again curses as her fist slams against the wall causing rock dust to fall. She is quick to recover though as she charges at us and once again our souls are made green. She looks even more pissed off than before.

      “For years we dreamed of a happy ending…” I almost get hit as her attacks speed at us.

      “You two come along and bring her! She has already taken countless innocent lives. The only reason I am focusing on you two wimps is because I can’t find her!” After what feels like an eternity, we manage to escape her again as we continue running Papyrus even calls! To my surprise Frisk and Undyne stop in their tracks. I am already fifteen feet ahead of them when I notice. Undyne seems shocked that Papyrus is calling in the middle of a battle, while Frisk see’s to just be stopping to be polite.

      As the chase countries I keep firing the blaster at her as Frisk catches up. I also notice the area is getting hotter. This is the exact opposite to how Snowdin felt, where it felt freezing over there here it feels like it is a thousand degrees!

      Running up ahead we see Sans sleeping at a station. Undyne notices this as she turns to look at him in frustration. This gives us time to run ahead. Undyne is behind us though, but she seems to be getting slower. As we reach the end of the bridge.

      “Armor… so… hot… But I can’t…. Give up…” She manages to take a few more steps before collapsing. I take a deep breath exhausted from the running. I can’t believe our luck, it’s a good thing we are fighting close to here and not at the beginning of Waterfall. I start walking ahead expecting Frisk to do the same. But turning around I gasp as I see Frisk near a water cooler with a cup in hand.

      “Frisk! What the hell are you doing?!?!”

      “She’s passed out. She needs water.” I rush over hoping I can get to Frisk in time, but it is too late. They pour the cup of water onto Undyne as she slowly starts to get up.

      “CRAP! RUN!” But to my shock Undyne doesn’t have the same fighting energy she had before. She looks confused as she looks around then back at Frisk with the empty cup in hand. Slowly she turns around and starts walking away, still looking shocked and confused.

      “Frisk! What the hell were you thinking?!” They look at me with a smile.

      “I know that she was trying to kill us, but I couldn’t leave her like that.” I sigh. Even before I asked them, I could already tell what they were going to say. Is there anything Frisk wouldn’t do?! Even though Undyne could have continued trying to kill us, they still decided it was worth the risk of helping her. Even if this was the first time Frisk was doing this, I would bet they still would have done the same thing.
“I know you are just trying to help others. It’s just crazy to see you help the person who was trying to literally harvest souls just a few minutes ago.” Frisk laughs.

      “It’s just a trait of mine I guess.” Even through my frustration I can’t help but smile. Frisk is sometimes too nice for their own good. But it’s not like they didn’t know what was going to happen. But still they have not given up trying to befriend Vanny even though we just showed up. I still can’t understand them, but I know for sure that they mean everything they do.

      We continue up ahead, there is some sort of laboratory. To the left of us there are two monsters in armor blocking the path. To the right there is surprisingly a river. There is a boat pulled along the bank, with a hooded figure standing next to it. Why there is a river in this type of environment is still mind boggling.

      “I know this is going to sound crazy. But like Papyrus said, we should go and meet with Undyne.” My eyes widen as I think back to her murderous smile as she sent her spears at us.

      “WHAT?!”

      “She won’t hurt us. Trust me, and it will be fun.” Even though my survival instincts are screaming at me to say no. I reluctantly nod my head yes. If Frisk says it’s safe, I’ll believe them. But I have never gone out of my way to find danger. In the Pizzeplex I only ever went into dangerous areas to help with my objectives. To go into danger unnecessarily is alien to me. But if it means making Frisk happy, I guess I can do it this one time.

      We walk towards where the boat is and surprisingly the person agrees right off the bat to take us. Their voice sounds nonbinary, and the hood is blocking their face from view. Whoever they are, they have a cheerful personality. As we ride in their boat, they say something out of nowhere.

    “The princess is lost in the darkness. Her quest unfinished, will she purge the darkness within herself?”

      “What?” I look up at them surprised. What could a princess have to do with anything? We just arrived at Waterfall though so there isn’t enough time to think about it. We step out of the boat and Frisk waves goodbye to the River Person. That is when we start making our way to Undyne’s house.

Chapter Text

Alphy’s POV:

      I have been studying her soul for over an hour now and it still puzzles me. But I can still draw conclusions from what I found so far. I know that there is some sort of parasite infesting her mind, and that is influencing her decisions. I still don’t know a way I can get rid of it yet. Any procedure is going to be incredibly dangerous for her. But leaving it in would be putting everyone around her in danger.

       The mask is another thing altogether. Whoever made it would have to be as smart as me. I haven't seen anything like this done with anything besides magic. It uses occipital transponders to affect the user's perception of reality. Using an advanced virtual arguments network it can allow the user to pass through solid objects, and even teleport in certain areas. Just knowing that she had it, is terrifying.

Speaking of her…..She is just staring at me now, watching me. Knowing this has made me have to retype some of my research because of mistakes I made while nervous. Currently I’m retyping one, but something pops up on the screen that I am not prepared for.

    Warning virus detected.

      Wh…what?! How can that be?! My systems are the most secure in the Underground!!! Running a scan of my systems I quickly find out it’s true. It has already taken over 90 percent of them! But how?!

      That’s when I notice something out of the corner of my eye. A lone usb stick is in one of the slots of my computer. I immediately unplug it but it’s too late to prevent the damage. The screen glitches out and for a split second I could have sworn I saw something looking at me on the screen. 

      Ok….I.. have to fix this. Whatever she infected my systems with is very powerful. I just need to-

       Power outage imminent 

      Oh no! The cell?! I quickly turn my head to face Vanny but the moment I do everything goes dark. No… no… Nooooo!

      Going over to my desk I quickly grab a flashlight. My blood runs cold as I look over to the cell holding Vanny and see that she's gone. Ok I just have to get to the elevator and go down to my lab. The true lab. Even though the powers out I should be able to hack into the reserves  and restart it. Once I’m there I can call Sans and we can ge-

      That’s when the humming starts. I am barely able to hold the flashlight as I start looking all around the room for the source of the sound. I spin around as I hear a crash behind me. I shine my flashlight on my desk only to see all the papers and bowls on it scattered on the floor. I slowly walk towards the elevator. If I can lock myself in all I have to do is hack into the systems to power the elevator. I notice the humming has stopped.

      “ Are you having fun yet? ” My eyes widen as I turn around. My scream can be heard throughout the lab.

Mettaton's POV: 

       My my. Alphys sure left this place in a mess. The humans will be here soon, I can’t be making my debut with this place looking like this! I wonder where Alphys is, when I came in here her lab was like this and she was nowhere to be found. On the table is a note with a flashdrive, maybe it will shed some light on where she is.

      Dear Mettaton. I have left to go hang out with Undyne. I have made some upgrades to your body and have put it on the flash drive here. Please check it out right away.
 

     New upgrades, that sounds most wonderful! I have to try this out! It will make my entrance even more gorgeous! Taking the flash drive in hand I plug into myself. It’s quite odd that Alphys would leave at this time, seeing as the humans are coming soon. But it’s obvious she has a crush on Undyne, so it’s not too surprising. 

      W…w..a…i.t I fe..el .stra..

        You are mine now

         No! W…hat are-

      “Oh yes!” 

Frisk POV:

    We have just said goodbye to Undyne, I could tell Gregory was stressed the entire time. When the house caught fire Gregory seemed sure Undyne was going to kill us. Thankfully like always Undyne agreed to be our friends and went over to Sans and Papyrus's house. We head over to the River Person boat, we get on and the boat sets off. 

      “The demon's reach is spreading. He always comes back, but is it lying to itself or is it really him?” Interesting, I wonder who the demon is? The River Person is always mysterious with their wording. I look up and notice that we have already reached our destination. We thank the River Person and we start making our way towards Alphys lab.

      Things may go a bit differently than you expect Frisk. And it won’t be pleasant for you, but I will certainly have fun watching what happens! What do you mean Chara? Is it Vanessa again?

    There’s more going on then you know about Frisk. 

       Walking into the lab it is dark as usual. We walk past the screen that shows live footage of us.

      “Someone has been Recording us the whole time?! What the hell?!” I definitely was surprised the first time I came in her two. The camera’s are not too easy to find. It took me a couple of runs before I even started to find them. I nod to Gregory who is still staring at the screen. 

      Walking forward the lights turn on. Looking over at the door leading to the true lab, I expect to see Alphys to show up at any moment. But as the seconds go by we are still alone. Where is she, Chara is this what you were talking about?

       This isn’t even the worst of it. What has happened has already surpassed my expectations. Is Alphy’s alright?! Chara please, tell me what happened so I can help her!

      “It looks like no one is here. Frisk you look worried is every-” The ground shakes interrupting Gregory mid sentence. It’s Mettaton! Hopefully he can tell us where Alphys is. Even if he doesn’t know, he won’t be able to do the quiz show without Alphys.

       “Frisk, what's that sound?!”

      “Don’t worry it’s just Mettaton! He isn’t going to hurt us, we just have to answer his questions correctly.”

      “Questions? What are you talking about?!” The sound is getting louder as the shaking intensifies.

      “He’s an entertainment robot that the person who owns this lab built! He’s actually a ghost but-” Suddenly the lights go out again as the wall shatters. 

      “OHHHH YES! WELCOME, BEAUTIES….” a spot light shines down on Mettaton. I am so happy that he is sa- wait why is his lights on his face purple instead of yellow? 

      “.... To today’s quiz show!!!” Confetti drops from the ceiling as cheering and clapping can be heard.

      “Today's show is going to be different today! But I can assure to all my glorious fans that it will be just as fabulous!”

      “Mettaton have you seen Alpyhy’s around? She wasn’t here, so I just want to be sure she is ok.” I know that I am not supposed to know any of them yet, but I don’t care. I just want to make sure Alphys is safe. If Mettaton is suspicious he doesn’t show it. 

      “The good doctor is away at the moment. But no worries darlings, the show shall continue on as normal!  There is only one rule. Answer correctly… OR YOU DIE!!!”

       “You said he wasn’t going to hurt us!”

      “He doesn’t mean it. He won’t kill us, at worst we will be brought down to one HP.” Alphy was always here to give me the answers. But because the Resetes have been going on for so long I know them by heart at this point. We just have to get through the game.

      “Let’s start with an easy one!!”

      Who scurried away into the streets? Instead of being a good little kid and meeting their end?

    Gregory’s eyes widen as he takes a step back. This isn’t what he is supposed to ask?! Wait? Chara you said there was more going on here then just Vanessa. Could it be- Is there something controlling them like you were controlling me?! 

       So you finally figured it out. Got to say Frisk it took you long enough. It makes sense, the way Vanessa acted earlier. The purple lights on Mettaton, it all adds up. 

       “What the Hell?!” Gregory's hand has tightened into a fist, but Mettaton wags his finger in feign disappointment. 

      “Sorry darlings, that answer is incorrect.” Suddenly without warning electricity shouts through our bodies. I let out a gasp of pain as I looked down at my HP. It’s at 5 already?! Mettaton won’t make his attacks this powerful?! At this stage he would be helping Alphy’s by causing us trouble, it was never in the plan to outright kill us. Now I know that I was right with my line of thought! 

    “Time for the second question!”

      Who is going to be dead within the next few minutes?

      A. Us,

      B. You

      C. Alphys

      D. no one.

       We have four choices like usual. Seeing how what is controlling Mettaton is so sadistic, it makes the answer clear.  Looking over at Gregory we both already know what he wants us to say. Yet it won’t make it any easier to say it. 

     “U….us?”

      “Correct! Next question!” 

      W̸̛͚̐̚h̷̹̼̺͎̯̠͇̖͕̝̻̜̖͙͂̽͊͆͜ȩ̶͕̝̈́ȑ̶̹̲̥̪̩̪̠̃̓͊̆̑͌̑̉́͐̍͘͝ẹ̷̢̤̲̤͓̜̹̖̰̲̪̲̇̿͆͜ ̵̲͖̻̬̬̋̑̉̊̇͌̀̃̎͂̄̂̕͝w̶̢̮͈̦̲͇͌̔́́̄̓͆̋͗̏̅̈́̈́̚͠é̵̢̨̹̤͓͕͔̠̦̰̄́̽͊̆͘ͅr̵̢̼̺͇̳͎̩̮̺̭͕͎̥͖̾́̄͆̓͑͂̅̇̒̕͝͠͝ẹ̵̡̨̹̱̜̙͉̹͕̜̹̓̊̉̈͆̐̈́͊̊̑̿̐̅ ̴̡͎͎̬̝̥͔̭̝̪͙̲̎̐͗̾t̵͙̲̭̲̖̖̀̽̋h̶̢̨̗̘͖̜̰̼͊̀̍̿̀̾͜͜ȩ̵̧̢̡̝̳̝͈͎̲̲͈̣͕̬̅͗͂͋̊̈́͐̾̄̋͗̓̈́͘͘ ̴͍̼̠̲̰̓b̵̧̝͕̞̱͔̳̜̪̐̇̐̾̑̄͗́͆ǭ̶̩͎͉̼̩̰̯̕d̸̨̝̳̖͕͙̳̭̜̈́̃̽͊͊̏̀̚̚͜͜͝i̶̡̲͔̙̗̙̳̮͓̹͕̩͇͍̽̋͊̍̚ȩ̷̦͔̥͙̲̭̖̻͎̌̋͛͂̋̏̓͋̚͘͝ś̷̪͍̼͕͔͙̽͘ ̵̧̰̭͖̏h̴̡̲̥͔̻̰͕̳̮͇̓̋̔̂̔i̸̗̮̱͉͈̖̳̰̠͓̗͂̅̎̎̑̊̐͘̕͝ḑ̵̨̡̙̠͉͓̜̟͍̦̰̰̰͉͗͛͛̂͒͝d̶̛̫͔̙̯̘̻͕̉̆̉̀͋͑͋ͅe̵̢̨̦̖͇̯̯̙͎̻̹͓̰̍͊͋̍̾̉̽̈́̚̚͝͝ͅn̵͎̲̪̤̭̱͒̿͊̍͜ͅ?̶̥̞̳̖̥̪̖̫̥̫̣̝̤̙̂̑̾̈́̅̂̐̓͒̉́͝͝

      I feel a chill go down my back, what is he talking about? Looking over at Gregory I can tell he is just as shocked as I am. Mettaton’s voice was really distorted. But I could still hear it enough to tell what he said. He wants to know where the bodies were…….

      A. The Animatronics

      B. Under the stage

      C. In a ditch

      D. No one will ever know

      Animatorics…..bodies. He can’t be talking about what I think he is! Everyone knows about the disappearances that happened decades ago, but no one ever found….. Wait he said where did he hide the bodies. Could that mean?!?!

      “Th….animatorics?” Out of all those options no one ever even would have thought to look there. Could that be the answer to it? Since the original locations shut down way before I was born, I never got the chance to experience it. But from the things I heard, it made my heart ache from what happened there. The only other locations they have open is the Pizzaplex, which has been open for quite a while, but I haven't had the chance to go there yet. 

      Who always comes back?

    A.     M̶̮̘͍͇̘͓͒̒́̓̀̀͒͗͆e̷̢̠͉̥̠͖̱̭̅̐̒̅̾̊̄͗

    B.      M̶̮̘͍͇̘͓͒̒́̓̀̀͒͗͆e̷̢̠͉̥̠͖̱̭̅̐̒̅̾̊̄͗

    C.      M̶̮̘͍͇̘͓͒̒́̓̀̀͒͗͆e̷̢̠͉̥̠͖̱̭̅̐̒̅̾̊̄͗

    D.      M̶̮̘͍͇̘͓͒̒́̓̀̀͒͗͆e̷̢̠͉̥̠͖̱̭̅̐̒̅̾̊̄͗

      His words are too distorted to make out anything! One more hit and we will die! Going over to the items button I am about to select something when I see Mettaton looking at me threateningly.

          
      “Sorry gorgeous but that is against the rules!” If we can’t select any item, then we are going to just have to guess randomly. I look over at Gregory and he looks just as nervous as I am. Slowly we selected A as Mettaton claps.

      “How right you are darlings! That was the last question for today's show, but this was only the pilot episode. Until next time darlings!” With that Mettaton fly’s off, as I sigh with relief. We have to help him and find out what happened to Alphys. There’s got to be a way we can fix this! 

Chapter Text

Frisk POV:

      Getting through Hotlands has been way more challenging. Alphy’s has always activated the traps around Hotlands, but there have been traps I haven't seen before. I can tell Alphy must have avoided these because of their more deadly nature. But since whoever is behind this is trying to kill us, they are not holding back. 

      Mettaton's appearances have also changed. During the cooking show, since Alphy’s didn’t upgrade our phones, we didn’t have a way to reach the can in time. But Mettaton went to commercial break saying that he was just getting started. Later the bomb segment was real, with Mettaton detonating one of the bombs to demonstrate this. Mettaton upgraded are phones for us saying that, it won’t be entertaining for us to die too easily. Thankfully with the two of us we managed to disable all the bombs on time. 

       Whatever is controlling Mettaton, it seems to not have changed his core personality. Even with him trying to kill us he is still trying to make things entertaining for his viewers. It’s good to know that deep down the real Mettaton is still in there, I just hope we can find a way to help him soon. 

        Overtime I have gotten to know more about Gregory. He told me about how his parents died, and how he was forced to live on to live on the streets. My heart broke hearing about it, I know what it’s like to lose parents. My parents passed away long before I came to the Underground. Going through foster systems was not easy, but to imagine what Gregroy must have gone through just living on the streets.

      He also told me about his friend Cassie, and after his parents died, she was the only friend he had. He had met her at her birthday party at the Freddy Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex. No one showed up and he found her crying. After that they became best friends and have kept in contact even after Gregroy’s parents died. I would love to meet her; I always love meeting new friends. But with the Resets happening, it feels like it will never happen. 

      Right now, we just made it past Muffet. I bought a spider donut back in the Ruins, so we didn’t have to fight her. Next up is Mettaton’s Multicolor tile puzzle. I am certain Mettaton changed it just like all the other puzzles, but I know we can do this.

      Walking into the room Mettaton comes out and starts singing. I can tell Gregory is nervous as well, as he watches Mettaton’s every move as he comes closer to us. Mettaton activates the trap door as we both fall to the ground below. Ahead of us is the conveyor belt leading to the color tiles. Nothing looks out of the ordinary yet, but I doubt it will stay that way. 

      “OH NO! Whatever shall I do? My love has been cast away into the dungeon. A dungeon with a puzzle so dastardly, my paramour will surely perish!” Like usual  Mettaton goes on to explain the rules until he realizes we have already seen this puzzle. But after that he continues. 

       “Instead of what was originally planned I have a special surprise.” Just then a trap door in the floor that shouldn’t be here opens. A platform rises and on it is the Amalgamates!”

       “And by the way they haven't been fed today. You better hurry darlings!” Mettaton’s bringing the Amalgamates into this?! I can’t imagine the shock their families must be thinking, seeing this on tv. Without any explanation at all from Alphy’s they must be feeling heartbroken and confused right now.

        The Amalgamates start rushing towards us. Since I have done this puzzle hundreds of times, I know the way through it by heart. Grabbing Gregroy’s hand, I start to lead us through the puzzles.

        “Frisk, what the hell are those things?!”

        “Their monster that got injected with determination; I’ll explain more later!” Even with how fast we are going, the Amalgamates are faster. We are brought into a battle with Endogeny. Gregory follows my lead as we pet and play with them. But we don’t get out unscathed though, as they manage to hit us a few times.

      After getting Snowdrake's mother and memory head to remember, we make it through the puzzle with barely any health left.

        “Congratulations! You made it through the puzzle! And now, without further ado!” Suddenly the Amalgamates head back to the platform since it looks like Mettaton placed a bag of food on it. Mettaton continues talking, I expect him to tell us since we stepped on a green tile, we will have to fight him.

       “I won’t even pretend that peashooter option is effective. I shall meet you later for our final showdown. I shall see you darlings later!” With that Mettaton leaves. 

Alphy’s POV:

      Wh… Where am I? The last thing I remember is Vanessa knocking me out! I hope she hasn’t hurt anyone. I couldn’t bear that though since it was my responsibility to keep her contained.

      Everything is dark. There's something over my eyes. But when I try to remove it, it won’t come off. Did they tie this thing on my face?! It feels like a headset of some kind, and it has a wire attached to it. Suddenly the headset lights up as I look around. It appears to be a virtual reality headset. Everything is white and I appear to be on some sort of ride, cheery music plays around me. In front of me is a track and in the sky are the words Fazbear Entertainment. 

      “Welcome to the Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience.”   

Chara POV:

       Finally, the person controlling Vanny wants to talk face to face with me. When they first talked to me, I was shocked to have someone else with similar intentions. I didn’t expect them to look like this though. While I look exactly like I did when I was still alive, he looks like he is wearing a creepy as hell rabbit custom. We introduced ourselves and he told me his name is William Afton. He claims to be responsible for the missing kids' incident at Freddy Fazbears Pizza in 1985. He’s just like the rest of humanity, cruel. But perhaps he could be of some use for me, so I’ll hear him out. 

       This is a surprise; I have never seen a child with a personality like you before. You have so much potential.

       It’s not like this conversation is going to help though. Without Frisk being level 20, I won’t be able to wipe out humanity. Plus, Frisk is heard to control at times due to their determination.

       What if I told you don’t need Frisk to exact your revenge.

       What do you mean? I’m dead! If Asriel only listened to me, I would have been able to destroy humanity ages ago. But know that option is off the table.

        Just because you're dead doesn’t mean you're gone. I found that out when I started my legacy. There is something called Remnants. They make up your soul and memories. When they are combined with an animatronic, they allow your soul to possess it. 

        What!!! You mean…

        You can come back and destroy humanity yourself. I can provide you with an animatronic body resembling your original one. All I need is just a little something in exchange. 

Chapter Text

      I never imagined when I first started game testing that I would ever see anything like this. I am at the Silver Parasol games studio. I was hired by them to game test a game called the Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience. The company was hired by Fazbear Entertainment to make a VR game based on the conspiracy theories surrounding the brand. I didn’t know much about Fazbear other than the stuff of old rumors and the tragic events surrounding it. Recently they tried to open a new location for the first time in years, but it mysteriously burned down. 

       When my application was accepted I was thrilled. To test a game for a big company such as Fazbear seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity. But now it seems that way for all the wrong reasons. One of the developers testing the game before me, has disappeared and they needed someone to replace her. That’s why they hired me.

      As I was going through the game I started to notice weird tapes. At first I thought I was a hidden feature. But when I found the hidden room in the game, I realized that wasn’t the case. The developer I was hired to replace, hide the tapes in the games code. She kept mentioning a virus. The more tapes I collected, the more I started seeing it . At first he was waving at me from the doorways in the hub of the game. But as I collected more coins and tapes. The more closer and visible he appeared. 

       At first, I wrote down a report about it. But instead, I decided to investigate it more by myself. I thought that once I found out more about it, I could give a more detailed report so the development team could have a better understanding. But this is way deeper than I thought. It isn’t just an ordinary virus. It’s Sentient in some way. It makes me feel uneasy, but listening to the tapes can help me get more about it. I recently found tape 15. Using my controller to grab it I start playing it. 

      “Hello. You don’t know me. I had created a series of logs for you documenting the troubled development of this VR game that you’re now testing…in hopes that you, whoever you are… and whatever team you are with, will abandon development. Now I fear that those logs are being used as a Trojan Horse. If you are unable to abandon development, hide all traces of these logs that I’ve created. I fear that finding them and reassembling them…will also reassemble the very thing I’ve tried so desperately to destroy.” Shit! You have to be fucking kidding me! I take off my headset and set it down on a nearby table. The office I am working in is open in the middle. With a table and chairs for whenever playtesters need a break or need to fill a report. 

       I sit down burying my head in my hands. I have a massive headache. I thought that by finding the logs, I would learn more about the virus. Now that has completely backfired. Why in the hell didn’t she make that the first tape! Taking a deep breath I stand up. I already collected all of the tapes so far besides one. Even if it’s a long shot, I have to find that last tape to see what it says. It’s not like it would make any difference seeing as the virus is now almost completely intact.

      As I put on the headset, I start going over the levels, thinking about what I could have missed. I feel as though there is more than my job at stake here. 

      “Hey, Ness. So, coffee like usual tonight?” Luise smile is infectious. We have been ‘dating’ for two weeks now. I feel bad about using him this way, to get access to the logs by pretending to be an IT Representative. NO!! You like hurting people, to see them in pain. That’s master’s gift to you.

       He really cares about me; he knows that something is wrong. If he knew how wrong. He would never want anything to do with me.

      His naiveness is useful…. Once we are done with him, he won’t be smiling  anymore.

      Please, he…..

      He is an asset. Nothing else. You know your place, don’t step out of it. 

       Yes, I am sorry master.

      “Are you ok?” I look up to see Luis is looking at me. He is still smiling but it’s only to hide his concern.  I smile telling him that I am just tired from work today, and that I’m fine.

       “If you ever need anyone to talk to, my office is always open.” He’s too good. Why… Why can’t he see what I am!? 

     Vanny's POV: Present day 

      I Sigh as I look at the blueprints. It’s almost ready, thankfully with the information that we have gotten from Alphy’s I have been able to construct the body. It looks exactly what they would have looked like when they were human, it’s scary honestly. Master really believes having them as an asset will help. Then once they are no longer of use, we will extract their remnants for master's resurrection. 

        It is ready. Now their remnants are ready to enter the body.  Just like the others, they will possess this new form.

         I carefully inject the remnants, as I see eyes once dead blink now full of life. A wide smile comes on their face as they look at their hands moving each of their fingers in amazement.

        “I’m back… I can feel things. The ground beneath my feet. It’s been so long….”

       “Now you can be of use to us. The plan is almost complete. Once we are done, you can take your revenge out there. But first we have business to attend to.” Master said he has everything in progress, I need to get to the dump. They should be here by now.

      I step out of the lab leaving, as Chara follows. They are afraid of being recognized, but I assure them that it won’t matter. Anyone who sees us won’t live long enough to tell anyone. The fastest way there is by that boat, I saw those two brats use it before. It is helpful having all of those cameras around here. It’s just like back at the Pizzaplex. No matter where they are, I am always watching. We get to the river side. The RiverPerson is standing there.

      “Tra la la. I am the riverman. Or am I the riverwoman…? It doe-”

      “Enough talking! We need to go to Waterfall.” The Riverperson nods, but they don’t seem afraid. How odd, but they should be. We step on the boat and it takes off. The whole time I have my knife to the back of their neck. 

       “Row Row Row your boat.” I giggle as my voice echoes through the area. It comes off as creepy and unsettling, just the way I like it. 

      “Tra la la. Two people ride with me in my boat. Piece by piece one put together, their very end. The other was domed by their hatred.” My eyes widen as my grip on the knife tightens. Chara seems less surprised by this, I guess the little brat knew of this person already.

       “How do you know that?! You don’t even live on the surface, so how could you know that?!” I have completely dropped my care-free psychopathic demeanor. I need to know how they knew about me.

      “Once the darkness if purged from within will you be saved. The other faced many pains, let go of the hatred and you will find happiness.” I look over at Chara, they know that the last part was aimed at them. But they remain looking neutral as they watch to see what I do.

      KILL THEM! KILL THEM NOW!!! They know too much, and are a threat to our plan!

      I prepare to splice their throat, but I hesitate. My hand is shaking as I think about what they said. Purge the darkness within? Why would we though, this is the best thing that has ever happened to us? Master always said I had nothing before. No friends, no loving family. He kept reminding me that every time during the therapy sessions. But my memories. My parents….. Is any of it true?

      We arrived at the dock and despite the pain in my head growing worse. I pocket the knife. 

      “The jailor grows weaker, as the soul grows independent. Only with the quest can he be vanquished.” The Riverperson doesn’t look phased that I threatened them. They step back on their boat, giving me a nod.

      There will be consequences for this. This place has been playing with your mind. YOU NEED ME! YOU ARE NOTHING!

      The pain is so bad I almost passed out. I feel a liquid running down my face. My nose is bleeding. Chara helps me stand up, and asks if I am ok. I push them away as I stand up. We still need to finish this. After a few minutes of walking we reach the dump.

      So many trash piles but none of them are of any interest to us. It only takes a minute for us to locate it. In the water is a lone truck on its side. It was taken it’s shipment to a different location for maintenance. In hindsight an obvious lie since the Pizzaplex has its own parts and service area. But to an underpaid driver who couldn’t care less, it was easy to manage. As I approach it, I see the driver's body in the driver seat. Mauled beyond recognition. Just as planned, there is a hole leading from the truck shipping container to the driver area. Opening the back, I take out a flashlight I took from the lab.

      Turning it on I smile. Against the side of the truck is a charging station. It is a bit dinged up from the crash but still looks functional. Standing in the truck are four familiar figures. Glamrock Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Monty. Over the course of two weeks they have been repaired to the point of looking brand new. The truck crash didn’t do any favors but any damage can be fixed once we get back to the lab.

      Monty’s mouth and claws are dripping with blood. He made quick work of the driver, just as master planned. I hope you're ready Gregory. It’s time for some more fun with your old friends. 

Gregory’s POV: 

      The crazy killer robot that we keep running into is pretty famous. He even has his own hotel, what the hell! We met Sans outside and he invited us to have dinner with him. He said he had a shortcut, once we followed him we teleported inside to a table. This place is crazy, but at least I’m not alone. Once we get out of here, I’ll try to contact Cassie. She doesn’t know that I am homeless. Everytime she ever asked to come over to my house, I would lie and make up an excuse. I don’t want her to feel sorry for me, it could change our friendship completely. If I don’t get out of her soon she will start wondering about what happened to me, if she does too much digging she will learn the truth and hate me. I can’t lose my best friend. 

      I know Frisk would love to meet her. They already expressed interest saying they love to meet new friends. It would be risky since Frisk knows about me being homeless. But as long as I swear Frisk to secrecy it should be fine. 

       “well, here we are. so. your journey’s almost over, huh? the two of you must really want to go home.” We are almost to the end, but it’s weird to here him say it out loud. This place just like the Pizzaplex feels like a lifetime. We have made it through Hotlands, and from what Frisk told me only the core remains. It feels just like when it was 5 am at the Pizzaplex, so close to freedom yet so far away. 

        “liston Greg. i’m sorry if i was hard on you earlier. your a new thing in our little situation, when i saw your LV I just went off of that. i get you had to do, what needed to be done earlier. I see that.” I can tell he had his eyes on me this whole time. Everytime we saw him he was studying me. And it felt creepy as hell. But I’m glad he trusts me now. I mean it would be crappy to have him still be untrusting even though we went through this whole underground not killing anything despite the hardships. It’s good that he can at least throw us a bone, pun intended. 

      “while you were on your adventure. i went to check up on Alphy’s. vanessa got out…..” His eyes go dark as he says this. My blood goes cold, as I look around the room. She’s out! She’s going to come and get us! We're almost out, we just have to make it past the core and Asgore. I survived her in the Pizzaplex, I can do it again.

      “the whole lab was locked down, so I couldn’t get in. she even set up a device preventing me from using my shortcuts to get in.” Sans looks down as he says this. Frisk looks worried they were worried about Alphy’s but to have them confirmed… It has to be hard. 

      Sans tells us he will keep an eye out for us. And that we won’t let her harm one hare on our heads. Leaving the resort we continue to the core. 

Chapter Text

Gregory's POV: 

      As we walk out of the hotel, we see two shadowy figures watching us from up ahead. They walk out of our view down the path, before I can get a closer look at them. The atmosphere of this area in general, sends shivers down my spine. I look over at Frisk and see that they are completely calm. I guess doing this hundreds of times made them used to this. Even if we die and Frisk brings us back to the last save point, the whole thing still feels unnerving. 

       “Frisk, before we continue there’s something you should know. Before I came here I was at the Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex, and that’s where I met Vanny.” Frisk nods, taking it all in. They don’t seem confused when mentioning the Pizzaplex, which isn’t surprising with how popular it is. It makes sense that Frisk would have heard about it. 

        “I was there before closing time. Since the stupid door closed before I could leave, I had to stay there until 6 am. The whole time I was hunted down by the Glamrock animatronics.There was something wrong with him, I think Vanessa might have done something to them before.” There is something off about Frisk when I mentioned the animatronics being controlled. There is a look of empathy in their eyes.

      “Vanessa she….. killed 9 kids there before trying to kill me. I almost didn’t make it. But Glamrock Freddy… he helped me. Through the whole night he was the only one there who was there for me. He wasn’t controlled like the others… but I le…” My voice breaks as I feel my eyes tear up. Frisk gives me a warm smile as they gently put a hand on my shoulder.

        “I understand. I’m sorry you had to go through that, you had to escape.” It helps to have Frisk to talk to.  I haven't told anyone what happened, not even Cassie. But I still can’t stop thinking about Freddy. 

        “But he could have been taken over like the others! Maybe if I stayed I could have stopped them… Maybe….” Frisk hugs me, as my tears flow down my face. I’m glad I trusted them with this. 

        “I think I’m ready. Let’s do this.” We start to walk into the light filled hallway of the core. But Everything starts to get dark, even Frisk looks surprised.

          “What the hell is happening?!” 

         “I think I know who it is, he can be a little scary at first but he won’t hurt us.” With that the entire room goes dark. Looking around I feel disoriented, as I stare into the dark void it looks like it could stretch on infinitely. I feel petrified as I stare at who’s in front of us. There a skeleton monster like Sans but there are cracks running down his face, and there are holes in his hands. Suddenly he starts talking as symbols appear in front of us.

🕈☜☹👍⚐💣☜ ☞☼✋💧😐📪 ✋🕯💣 ☝☹✌👎 ✡⚐🕆🕯☼☜ ☟☜☼☜ ✌☠👎 ✡⚐🕆 👌☼⚐🕆☝☟❄ ❄☟☜ ✌☠⚐💣✌☹✡.

        “Gastor, his name is Gregory. And it’s wonderful to see you too.” Frisk can understand him?! What the hell?! I don’t know what those freaky symbols are, but to be able to understand instantly! It must have taken Frisk a while to learn it. 

✋ 😐☠⚐🕈📪 ✋ ☟✌✞☜ 👌☜☜☠ 🕈✌❄👍☟✋☠☝ ✡⚐🕆☼ ☺⚐🕆☼☠☜✡. ❄☟✋💧 ☼🕆☠ ✋💧☠🕯❄ ☹✋😐☜ ✌☠✡ ⚐❄☟☜☼📪 💧⚐💣☜☟⚐🕈 ❄☟☜ 🕆☠✋✞☜☼💧☜ ☟✌💧 👌☜☜☠ ✌☹❄☜☼☜👎. 

✋ ☟✌✞☜ ✋☠✞☜💧❄✋☝✌❄☜👎 ❄☟☜ 💣✌❄❄☜☼📪 ✌☠👎 ✋ ☟✌✞☜ ☞⚐🕆☠👎 💧⚐💣☜ 💧❄🕆☠☠✋☠☝ ☼☜💧🕆☹❄💧. ☜✌👍☟ ❄✋💣☜ ✌ ☼☜💧☜❄ ☟✌🏱🏱☜☠💧 ✡⚐🕆☼ ☞☼✋☜☠👎 ☝☼☜☝⚐☼✡ ☟☜☼☜📪 🕈⚐🕆☹👎 ❄✌😐☜ ✌ 👎✋☞☞☜☼☜☠❄ ✌👍❄✋⚐☠ ✌❄ ❄☟☜ ☜☠👎 ⚐☞ ☟✋💧 ☺⚐🕆☼☠☜✡. 🕈☟☜❄☟☜☼ ✋❄ 👌☜ 💧❄✌✡✋☠☝ ✌❄ ❄☟☜ 🏱✋☪☪✌🏱☹☜✠ ⚐☼ 💧✌✞✋☠☝ ✞✌☠☜💧💧✌ ☜✌👍☟ 🏱✌❄☟ 🕈⚐🕆☹👎 ☜☠👎 👎✋☞☞☜☼☜☠❄☹✡. ☜✞☜☠ ❄☟⚐🕆☝☟ ❄☟✋💧 💧☟⚐🕆☹👎☠🕯❄ 👌☜ 🏱⚐💧💧✋👌☹☜ 💧✋☠👍☜ ☟✋💧 ☺⚐🕆☼☠☜✡ ☟✌🏱🏱☜☠☜👎 ✌ 🕈☜☜😐 👌☜☞⚐☼☜ ✡⚐🕆☼💧. 

       “But how is that possible? Gregory's soul is bravery, so he can’t go back to save points. I was nowhere near the Pizzaplex, so I couldn’t have altered it.” Frisk looks freaked out. I just wish I could tell what is being said. But I guess I’ll just have to ask Frisk about it later. 

✋ 👎⚐☠🕯❄ ☝☜❄ ✋❄ ☜✋❄☟☜☼. 👌🕆❄ 🕈☟✌❄ ✋ 👎⚐ 😐☠⚐🕈 ✋💧 ❄☟✌❄ ✡⚐🕆☼ ☞☼✋☜☠👎 👌☜✋☠☝ ☟☜☼☜ ✋💧 ❄☟☜ 😐☜✡ ❄⚐ ☞✋☠✌☹☹✡ ☜☠👎✋☠☝ ❄☟☜ ☼☜💧☜❄💧. 👌🕆❄ ❄☟☜☼☜ ✋💧 💧❄✋☹☹ ❄☟☜ 🏱☼⚐👌☹☜💣 🕈✋❄☟ ✞✌☠☜💧💧✌. ✌ ✞✋☼🕆💧 ✋💧 👍⚐☠❄☼⚐☹☹✋☠☝ ☟☜☼📪 ✋☠☞☹🕆☜☠👍✋☠☝ ☟☜☼ ☜✞☜☼✡ ✌👍❄✋⚐☠. 👌🕆❄ ❄☟☜☼☜ ✋💧 💧❄✋☹☹ ✌ 🕈✌✡ ❄⚐ 💧✌✞☜ ☟☜☼ ☞☼⚐💣 ✋❄. 🕈☟☜☠ ❄☟☜ ❄✋💣☜ 👍⚐💣☜💧📪 ✋ 🕈✋☹☹ ✌✋👎 ✡⚐🕆📪 👌🕆❄ ☞⚐☼ ☠⚐🕈 ✡⚐🕆 ☠☜☜👎 ❄⚐ 👍⚐☠❄✋☠🕆☜ ⚐☠ ✌☟☜✌👎. 

     “Vanessa, Gastor says that she is being controlled.” W….what?! No…. No, that can’t be possible!!! The person that tried to kill me the whole night, the way she acted……. She already killed 9 kids, could it be true? Freddy said something else was going on other than Vanny, at the time I just thought she was working with someone else. Could she really just be another pawn like the animatronics were?!  

✡⚐🕆 ☠☜☜👎 ❄⚐ ☝⚐ 👌✌👍😐 ☠⚐🕈🖴 ✡⚐🕆☼ ☺⚐🕆☼☠☜✡ ✋💧 ✌❄ ✋❄💧 ☜☠👎. ☜✞☜☠ ❄☟⚐🕆☝☟ ❄☟☜ 💣☜✌☠💧 ❄⚐ ☞☼☜☜ ☟☜☼📪 ✌☼☜ 👌✌👍😐 ⚐☠ ❄☟☜ 💧🕆☼☞✌👍☜. ❄☟☜☼☜ ✋💧 ✌☠⚐❄☟☜☼ 🕈✌✡📪 ❄⚐ ☞☼☜☜ ☟☜☼ 💣✋☠👎. 

      The world bends around us as the experience is so nauseating! Taking in our new surroundings, I see where standing in front of a door with a weirdly similar symbol to the one that was on Toriel’s robe. Next to the door is an elevator, Frisk goes near and stands there. By now I know that Frisk is saving, but it is still a little creepy. Frisk explains the elevator will lead to the entrance of the king's castle, but we can’t take it now. The only way though is going into the room with the symbol. 

      As we enter the dark room, we see Mettaton at the center. Out of all the times we have seen him, this one feels the most ominous. There are only two ways out of the room, the way we came and the hallway past Mettaton.

      “Ohh Yes. There you are darlings! It’s time to have our little showdone. It was fun while it lasted. But the MASTER needs your remnants now! We will take your souls, and get the other from Asgore. Then once we flee this place, I shall be the newest entertainer at the Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex! And then there will be nothing to stop MASTER  from being reborn !” I grab Frisk and run for the door, and pull with all my might. Ohh crap, it’s locked!!! The floor rises, as Mettaton flips a switch on his back.

       “Awww, don’t tell me you plan to leave before the grand finale. At least you’ll die getting to see my gorgeous new form!” There is a flash as everything goes dark. Suddenly spotlights lower from the ceiling as smoke fills the room. I guess Mettaton planed all this out, he’s really going to make a performance out of fucking killing us! It’s not like I’m not used to scarry robots trying to kill me, but to do this?! At least the animatronics were direct, and didn’t try to make a big show of it! How are we going to get past him? His stats from earlier showed that any of our attacks would do nothing!

      The smoke disappears as the lights come back on revealing…. Mettaton?! Instead of being rectangular, his new body is humanoid. He has a purple chest piece, and black hair.  

Frisk POV: 

       Mettaton’s ratings have just reached over 1000. Mettaton is in front of us, but only his torso and head remain. But instead of stopping the fight and deciding to not leave his fans, he refuses to stop until he has our souls. But his power is running out, hopefully we can find a way to help him. But at least he won’t be a threat to us once we leave this room.

      “You may have stopped me. But I was only the opening act! You will stand no chance against master and what he has planned. Now go on darlings, you don’t want to be late!” Metton barely has enough time to finish talking before his power runs out. Now all that is left is to pass through Asgore's house, and judgment hall in order to reach the barrier. Mettaton said that the person controlling Vanessa is up to something up ahead. Could they have gotten to Asgore? No he has to be ok, I have to stay Determined. 

        Walking ahead we take the elevator. After we step out we walk until we reach Asgore’s house. The once happy house holds sadness. It still doesn’t make it any easier seeing this, even though I have been through this area hundreds of times. To know what happened to the Dreemurrs, breaks my heart. Even in the True Pacifist ending, Asriel still refuses to leave the Underground. And Chara is still dead with Gastor in the void. I just want to save everyone, but no matter what I do someone is still suffering. 

          The monster appears along the path telling the story of Asrial and Chara. Usually Chara could say something during this time. Such as sarcastic comments, or remarking on the memory. But for some reason I haven't heard Chara say anything for a while. The last time I heard Chara, me and Gregory were fighting Muffet. It’s so unlike Chara, are they ok?

        As we unlock the chain and go down the stairs, the monster finishes telling the story. As they do I can see Gregory listening with empathy. He’s lost family too and he knows the feeling. I don’t know whether I should tell Gregroy about Flowey being Asriel or not. I want to respect Asriel’s privacy, and I know that if he tries to take the souls Gregroy will learn soon enough. But I still hate keeping secrets from friends, but it’s important.

         Now we stand in front of Judgment hall. Walking into the yellow-hued room, we can see the light shine through the windows adorned with the deltarun symbol. Sans stands at the end of the room, looking at us in anticipation. We haven't killed any monster, so I know Sans is going to go with the Pacifist run dialogue. But Vanessa…… This run has experienced many losses, but there's still hope. 

         I go over to the save point, and save. We walk to Sans, as bells ring off once we stop. Even with his permanent smile, I can still see the pain on his face. He’s probably thinking about all that has happened, with Vanessa.

      “So you finally made it. The end of your journey is at hand. i’m not going to lie, Greg here along with his ‘friend’ threw me through a loop. you were an enigma kid, i didn’t know what to make of you. but after seeing you go through the underground, i have confidence in you. now let's get down to business.” Sans takes a deep breath as he continues.

       “In a few moments, you two will meet the king. Together… you will determine the future of this world.” I can tell as Sans says this, he is trying to sound normal. He knows that the world will probably be Reset again. To have all everything return to the beginning, and have all that we have done erased. The first time he said this it came from his heart, but as time went on it just became a habit. Sans continues talking about our judgment and into EXP. 

       “What’s EXP? It’s an acronym, but i’m guessing you already know this from earlier. Frisk you have never gained any LOVE. But Gregory, you have, on the surface. life isn’t simple, and sometimes things are not always clear. but i see who you truly are, Gregory, and know this. i am here for you if you need me. good luck, and break a leg . 

        “Thanks, we would have made it this far if you didn’t handle Vanny. And thanks for being our friend.” Sans nods as he teleports away. Continuing ahead we make our way to the king's castle. To the end. 

Chapter Text

Gregory’s POV:

      As we stand at the entrance of the throne room, I look over to Frisk. I feel the same way as when it reached 6 am. After all we have been through, we have made it to the end. I’m not going to lie and say that I enjoyed it, everything here was trying to kill me after all! But I made friends with Frisk, and Vanny is nowhere to be found. Honestly, I don’t know if that is good or bad. While we were here, I saw what happened to the other children. In the basement nearby there are…. Coffins… But strangely enough all of them were empty, with their lids laying on the ground. Frisk told me about the bodies and how they are supposed to be here. What happened to them?

      Stepping into the throne room, the first thing I notice is the figure standing in the middle of the room. He is enormous compared to the other monsters, with his shoulder’s broad. He is not facing us, so the only details I can make out is his purple cape and his golden armor. The room itself is covered with flowers; it might as well be a garden! And are those birds chirping?! 

      “Dum dee dum… Oh? Is someone there? Just a moment! I have almost finished watering these flowers.” I feel myself tense up as he begins to turn around. I didn’t expect him to sound so welcoming. 

      “Here we are! Howdy! How can I…” As he looks at us his smile drops, as the color from his face drains. He looks as if he is upset to see us. But doesn’t he want to kill us for our souls, yet it looks like he is frozen in fear. He takes a step back and puts the watering can down, looking away from us.

       “Oh.” He looks at the wall of the throne room, it’s as if he is lost in thought. Finally, he turns to face us with a forced smile and uncomfortable smile. After a moment of silence, he starts talking. 

        “... I so badly want to say, ‘would you like a cup of tea?’. But… You know how it is.” Walking to the left, he turns to face us. His shoulders are slumped, and he is staring at us… but it’s as if it’s in… guilt…. No that can’t be it. Undyne the head of the Royal guard was hellbent on killing us. And the King is in charge of it all, it has to be an act. Right? 

      “Nice day today, huh? Birds are singing, flowers are blooming…Perfect weather for a game of catch.” Asgore goes silent again. Finally taking a deep breath I speak.

        “You're the king of the monster? But you don’t seem to want to kill us, so… why are you doing this?” Asgore looks at me as he gives me a sad smile.

        “I… don’t….. I just wanted to give them hope….but the things I have done……You know what we must do. When the two of you are ready, come into the next room. “ Asgore turns and leaves the room. He’s going to fight us! Looking over at Frisk they smile their infectious smile while holding my hand. We can do this…..

      Following Asgore we reach the entrance to the barrier. Asgore the entire time seems sad. He tries to make us feel at ease, but it feels like he is trying to calm himself down. Asgore tells us to only enter when we are ready, before entering himself. There is no going back after this.

      Frisk saves before the two of us enter the room. And the room….. It’s like nothing I have ever seen before. The room itself appears endless, and it keeps changing from black to white. Asgore tells us about the barrier, that it’s the only thing keeping everyone trapped here. Asgore gives us one more chance to prepare, tells us if we have any unfinished business to go and do it first. Looking at Frisk they nod, it’s time. 

         “We’re….. We're ready.” Looking at Asgore I try to sound as confident as I can. But it’s still hard. It’s just like back at the Pizzaplex, when I decided to leave. But the entrance was clear before, with just me and Freddy. The only thing stopping us now is…. Asgore. 

       “...I see… This is it, then.” Asgore turns around. And rising from the floor are vials containing souls. The other humans….. Six of them have souls in them, with one being empty. One of the souls matches mine, the orange one… We can’t die here! We have to do this!

      “Human’s…. Before we do this, you should know that I am so-” Asgore’s eyes widen as he falls to his knees. Gasping for breath, he looks behind himself to see who the attacker is and then back at us.

        “Human’s…. please stop her….. I believe in you… Tell Tori that I’m sorry…”  Tears run down Frisk's face as they rush to Asgore. But it’s no use, as he turns to dust before our eyes. Terror fills my heart as I see who is behind him. Vanny! Following to their knees Frisk looks at Asgore’s remains as the sob.

        Twirling her knife, reaches forward to grab Frisk but I pull them away before she can. Her eyes stare into our souls as she stands before us. But then I noticed it. Where Asgore was standing, a white soul floats in the air. A monster's soul? Vanny grabs it in her hands, and it is absorbed by her. 

       “Please….. Stop! We know what happened to you! And I know what it’s like. Please, you don’t have to fight this alone!” Vanny tilts her head, as the knife tightens in her hand. But she begins to start laughing. 

        “Van-e….ssa is gone! She was a nobody! I have had so much fun since master found me. Now I’m Vanny, his legacy! He always comes back, with you that can happen!” Suddenly from behind us I hear footsteps. Turning around my jaw drops as I see another human! They are wearing a similar sweater to Frisks. Only it’s neon green with a cream stripe running across the middle. Frisk gasps as they are frozen looking at the other human.

      “Chara!”

      “Don’t look so surprised Frisk! With these new friends of mine here, I am back and better than ever. So don’t worry, I no longer need your help. I can deal with humanity myself!” So, this human's name is Chara? How does Frisk know them? Frisk meanwhile looks at Chara, shocked as they slowly reach out to them. But Chara draws their knife, as Frisk puts their arms up none threateningly. But suddenly the ground next to Chara burst as Flowey pops out. 

        “Howdy, Frisk!”

      Suddenly I hear loud footsteps, as I turn around my heart stops. Encircling us is the Glamrock animatronics, how are they here! They must have been repaired since I left, and the way they are looking at me…… With them is Freddy! My first instinct is to run over to him and hug him with all my might. But…. he the way he is looking at me…. NO! NO! HE’S JUST LIKE THE OTHERS! 

       “F-Freddy!” I think about all the times at the Pizzaplex. The first time we met, he gave me the Fazwatch. To the time he saved me outside the daycare. But as Freddy speaks my heartbreaks. 

       “Gregory….. You left early, but do not fear. We are here, we all are!” Back at the Pizzaplex Freddy always had a gentle and friendly tone. But his voice, the viciousness…..  It’s not him, he’s being controlled like the others!  My eyes well up with tears as I drop to my knees.

        “YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DONE TO MY FACE!  I’LL TEAR YOU APART!” As Roxy runs at me, Frisk runs in front trying to shield me. I close my eyes in fear, but I hear Roxy scream and the sound of metal hitting the floor. Opening my eyes, I see Roxy is lying on the ground twitching, barely still online. She’s even in more worse shape now than when I decommissioned her. Her right arm lies 10 feet from her, blown from her body.  The right side of her body is almost completely destroyed, showing parts of her endoskeleton. I turn around in shock to see Sans standing at the entrance of the room with some sort of skeletal blaster floating next to him. 

      “How did the smiling trashbag get in here! He can’t run this! I finally have you back Chara, he can’t stop us!” Just as Flowey sends a wave of pellets at Sans, he teleports out of the way and right to us.

      “Sans! You came just in time. You have to get us the hell out of here!” 

       “i said i would protect you kids. you didn’t think i would break my promise, would you?” Monty growls at Sans and he is preparing to pounce!

        “sorry, but these two kido’s got to leave. see you later, alligator .” Monty looks like he is ready to tear San’s head off! Chica meanwhile rushes us to the right. With master accuracy Sans fires his blaster, obliterating the left side of Chica’s face, she falls to the floor still active but unable to get up. Monty pounces but is cut in half, as Sans completely disintegrates his legs. Just like at the Pizzaplex Monty uses his hands to crawl, as he grabs my leg I scream. But his entire face is gone as San’s fires the blaster directly at his head, completely killing Monty.

       “Get that bag of bones! And bring me the kids' remnants!” Upon Vanny’s order Freddy starts to approach us. San’s aim’s his blaster at Freddy, but I grab his hand before he can fire.

        “Wait, not Freddy!” San’s looks at me confused as he reluctantly lowers the blaster. Freddy meanwhile is moving towards us, but Sans flings him 20 feet away from us to the left side of the room.

      “kid, are you sure that’s a good idea? bear in mind, he is trying to kill us.”

       “I know, but he helped me before I came here! He is being controlled like all the others!” San’s nods, just before he teleports away Freddy begins to stand up and he reaches for me across the room. But he doesn’t have the aggression in him as when he first appeared. Freddy……

       San teleports us, and we are standing in Alphy's lab. Except it looks trashed unlike the last time we were here. Papers are scattered and Alphy’s desk has been knocked over and broken. While San’s smile remains, there is a tiredness in his movement. He goes over to the door with the bathroom sign over it and it opens. Behind the door is an elevator, San’s ushers us inside as he pushes a button, and the elevator starts going down. 

       “if Alphy’s is anywhere it’s down here. for a minute i didn’t think i would be able to bring us here. it looks like the lockdown must have been lifted. don’t worry kido’s, if she shows up, she is going down faster than this elevator.” The elevator opens to a dark grimy hallway. It makes sense that the head scientist lab is way bigger than simply two stories. But this place looks like it hasn’t been used in ages! 

       Going down the dark green hallway, we come across several monitors. They have entries on them talking about the head scientist's research on souls. It talks about how she tried seeing if she can get a monster soul to last, in order to break the barrier. It doesn’t look like it worked.

      Continuing forward we came across a door. Next to it is a vending machine, and two separate hallways in different corners of the room. As we approach the door it opens. 

          “This door leads to the power room. But it shouldn’t be opened now. Someone must have been here.” So, Frisk knew this was here. But we didn’t see it during our journey to Asgore. I’ll have to ask Frisk once this is over. Going into the room eventually we make it to a room with a generator in it, but that isn’t even the most interesting thing. 

       In the middle of the room there is a pair of VR goggles. It doesn’t look like a normal VR headset either. It’s reinforced and looks like it has some sort of locking mechanism on it so the person can’t remove it!

      There’s also a monitor on the wall, it looks like it was only recently installed since the tools are still there. Going over to it with one tap the screen comes to life.

        If you are reading this then I have already been lost.

       I don’t have much time. I was able to get this off, but they're coming back. I’m locking this so only the other two humans can see this. In which case…… that is you.

         I wish I could have met both of you earlier, and I’m sorry I couldn't keep her contained. Through the VR world HE has been trying to take control of me, but I was able to learn what is going on.

       I know you have no reason to trust me right now, but you have to put the headset on. I was able to hack it so once you're inside it will be able to harm this thing directly. The original machines are still on the surface, but hopefully this will be able to substitute it. 

      You need to hurry! 

       Looking over at Frisk, I see that they are crying. I pick up the headset and hold it uneasily in my hands. She said that this is how they were taking control of her. Could this be a trap? But as I turn it over, I notice something. Drawn onto in a haste, is some sort of princess. It looks like the same princess back on the machine at the Pizzaplex.

      Gripping the headset, I lift it to my face. Frisk and Sans move in trying to stop me, but it shuts onto my face just as they grab it. No going back now. The headset comes on, and in the virtual world, two words appear in front of me. 

      Princess Quest 

Chapter Text

Gregory's POV:

      The world around me shapes itself in an instant, as an array of colors appears all around me. Once it all settles, I look around at my surroundings. In front of me is some sort of monitor but its screen glitched out. On the screen there is a rabbit mask similar to Vanny's. It's the face is rounder and is purple, and its smile is just unnerving. I feel uncomfortable just looking at it. The room itself looks like one of the Pizzerias with a stage in front of me and in the back, there is a prize counter. All over the room are cracks that are leaking in the same glitched purple that is on the monitor.

      It doesn't feel like I am in vr, all of it is too real..... It's unnerving. Reaching out I touch the monitor and I feel a chill run down my spine. It feels real...... how is that possible? I don't have any vr controllers so if it's even coded for me to move around, I wouldn't be able to tell. But if the monitor feels real to me does that mean I can just move around here? Hesitantly I start walking to the door on the left side of the room, no barriers or anything stops me as I reach for the handle. As the door opens, I step through it and look around and see that I am outside, in front of me is a maze except around the fence are sections of it have the wood replaced with walls similar to that of the Ruins. Looking up at the sky I notice that it has a dark green haze to it along with clouds littering the sky.

      Stepping into the maze I start making my way through the twist and turns in the path, having to backtrack a few times after reaching a dead end. But I stop dead in my tracks as I hear singing coming from deeper in the maze.

Da da dum dum diddy dum

      The voice echos and has a demonic sound to it, quickly I run around the corner just in time. As I peer around the edge, standing at the other end of the maze is some version of Foxy. An orange glow is coming from him, and flames stream out from his body. There are rips and tears all across the suit, and instead of a hook he has a sickle. He is patrolling the maze, if I get cornered by him, I'll be ripped to shreds! The Grimm Foxy scraps his sickle across the stone wall next to him, emitting an ear-piercing screech.

      Well well. If it isn't Gregory, you shouldn't be here. SHE IS MINE....... you will die here, and I don't think Freddy is in any position to help you.

      My eyes widen as I look around in vain, it sounds like he's talking to me right in my head. His voice.... there is something about it that makes me terrified to my core. The boastfulness and confidence in his voice, it's unnerving. Rushing through the maze after a bit of trial and error I eventually get to the middle, sitting there is a mask similar to Vanny's but the right side of the mask down from the eye to the mouth is brown. As I pick it up, I hear that voice again.

      You will fail. Your little friend is not here and that woman from the RUINS is GONE. Soon that skeleton will fall as well.

      I feel my heart skip a beat as his words sink in. Toriel....... NO.... even though I didn't know her for long, it still hurts. She helped me just like Freddy did in the Pizzaplex, sure she tried to attack us but still her heart was in the right place. My hand curls into a fist as a tear runs down my face.

SCREACH

      CRAP that stupid Grimm Foxy's still in the maze! Rushing around the corner I hear the heavy footsteps of the animatronic coming from behind me. I take a sharp left around the corner followed by a right hoping that it makes me lose him. After what feels like an eternity, I finally make it to the exit of the maze with the mask in hand. Going back through the door I stand back in the Pizzeria. I am shocked to see who is standing in the room with me.

      Carrying a green plushie in hand is the Princess from the game! For a minute we just stare at each other equally as shocked to see the other. Noticing the mask in my hand her eyes go wide and she walks over to me. She goes to the hallway and enters the door leading to the prize counter. She comes back with a key that is glowing purple, and she points at the curtain next to the stage.

      She wants us to go that way. Whatever is done there is the key to ending all of this. I can save Freddy, I just need to be brave. Following her she unlocks the curtain as we both depart into the darkness.

Frisk POV:

      Tears are running down my face as I shake Gregory's lifeless body trying to get him to wake up. When he put the headset on, he collapsed, luckily Sans managed to grab him before he hit the ground and the two of us have been trying to get the headset off ever since. He's still breathing but it's shallow, San can't use his Gaster Blaster due to the risk of it hurting Gregory.

      "Is he going to be ok? We need to get that headset off." Sans can tell how worried I am, he puts a hand on my shoulder, but I can still tell he is just as worried as I am.

      "don't worry kid, Greg here's going to be ok. we'll remove the headset and I'll get the two of you somewhere safe while I deal with them." Suddenly I hear footsteps in the hall and both me and Sans turn to look at the door. Standing in the doorway holding a knife is Chara, and Flowey quickly pops out of the ground next to them. But there is something different about Chara's mannerism, they look nervous and the way they are holding their knife it looks like it could fall out of their hand at any second. Reluctantly they take a step forward while trying to hide their nervousness. Sans aims his Gaster Blaster at them, but I put a hand on his shoulder and shake my head. Sans sighs and lowers the blaster as I walk towards Chara.

      "Chara your back, I was always looking for a way to save you, but the Resets didn't give me enough time. We can get out of here and-"

      "Frisk, it's over. Can't you see I don't need you anymore, you were just slowing me down. I finally have a chance to get out of here and make them pay! You don't need to pretend to care about me, I know how humans are!" My heartaches as I take in Chara's words. Every time we Reset, I have been trying to find a way to save Chara and Asriel. But when Chara always refused to believe that I cared, even though they could read my thoughts. They always sounded angry and dismissive of it. But I could tell that Chara in their own way always knew that it was true. Out of the corner of my eyes I see San's eyes dim as he connects the dots and understands what was happening. For a minute I see his hand twitch as if he was going to summon his Gaster Blaster but shut down the idea fast. He is still ready to act in case anything happens, but there is a new sense of coldness in his demeanor. I can't let him hurt Chara; I won't let a friend down!

      "You know that I do, please Chara. I care about you and so does mom and dad and Asriel. We can stop Resetting, and finally be happy." Chara's look down at the ground as their fist clenches.

      "Toriel's dead Frisk..... While you and Gregory left the Ruins, Vanny killed her." The whole world feels like it's spinning. Doggo, dad, and now mom..... I have seen them die countless times before, but it feels like we are so close to ending the Resets. I'll have to Reset, but Chara is different from when they were in my head. Could it be because of them being alive again? Without a soul Asriel became a completely different person as Flowey, while I didn't see Chara while they were originally alive, I can tell they were still this way. But unlike before Chara was without a body, and their soul lost, it didn't help with their emotions. Now that Chara is standing before me, I see genuine nervousness in their eyes, and maybe guilt. Now is the best chance to talk to Chara. Despite the tears falling down my face I stay determined as I look at Chara.

      "We can still Reset one more time. And everyone can be free. There are good people on the surface Chara, you just have to give them a chance." Chara's eye's flare as their body tenses up.

      "I gave them a chance! But they showed what they are! They fucked up my life and they only care about themselves..... Then I got here and Asriel...." Chara goes silent as they look over at Flowey, I can tell Flowey feels the same pain.

      "After I met him and his family, I finally was happy for once in my life! I had a father who tucked me in at night, and a mother who would bake me mouthwatering butterscotch cinnamon pie, and...... I had a brother... My best friend. Monsters, they are better than humans in every way!.... I didn't want to hurt them.... I needed the LV to decimate humanity, after Asriel stopped me from killing the humans on the spot, I was willing to do anything I took." The color in Chara's face is almost completely gone, they look like they feel sick. I walk up to them, standing in front of them I smile.

      "I know how badly people hurt you Chara, but I'm here for you. You don't have to go through this alone. Put down the knife, please just give them a chance." The room is silent, as a minute goes by. Then suddenly the clang of the knife hitting the tile floor breaks the silence. Chara, even though they are trying to hold it in, is crying. I open up my arms as I embrace Chara hugging them. Chara reluctantly accepts, and their words are barely audible.

      "Ok....." Flowey looks confused as he takes in the scene before him. But ultimately, he seems to decide to go along with what Chara wants. It feels as if nothing can break the atmosphere.

Core compromised. Virus detected!

      My eyes widen as me and Chara rush over to Sans. The moment the alarm started Sans instantly dropped his focus on Chara and went instantly to the monitor to the side of the room. The screen glitches as suddenly a mask appears on the screen similar to Vanessa's. The smile is unnerving, and its eyes feel like they are staring into my soul.

      " So, this is where you ran off to, trying to ruin the fun? Can't you see EVERYTHING here is MINE. " The building shakes and we fall to the ground. Looking over at the door I see eyes glowing in the dark. Suddenly Freddy rushes into the room and leaps at Gregory. I jump in the way, as Freddy is right in our face. I won't let anyone here get hurt.

      " Get out of our way! My body is almost complete! He'll ruin everything! " The voice on the monitor sounds furious with a hint of desperation. He wants to get Gregory. Before Freddy reaches us, everything goes black.

Gregory's POV:

      The door stands ominous over us, the door has handprints and scratches all over it. It looks as if someone.... Was trapped behind in.... Green glitchy sparks are around the keyhole. Looking over at the princes she nodes and opens the door. Before everything goes black, I hear an inhuman scream.

Gaster's POV:

 ☟⚐🕈 ✋☠❄☜☼☜💧❄✋☠☝📪 🕈☟☜☠ ❄☟☜ ✞✋☼🕆💧 🕈✌💧 💧☹✌✋☠ ❄☟☜ 👍⚐☼☜ ☼☜💧☜❄ ✌☹☜☼❄✋☠☝ ❄☟☜ ❄✋💣☜☹✋☠☜ ✋❄💧☜☹☞. ✋🕯☹☹ ☟✌✞☜ ❄⚐ ☹⚐⚐😐 ✋☠❄⚐ ❄☟✋💧. 👌🕆❄ ✋❄ ☹⚐⚐😐💧 ☹✋😐☜ ❄☟✋☠☝💧 ✌☼☜ ☝⚐✋☠☝ ❄⚐ 👌☜ 🕈☼✌🏱🏱✋☠☝ 🕆🏱 🕈✋❄☟ ❄☟☜ ☼☜💧☜❄💧.

Chapter Text

Gregory’s POV: 

       Everything feels hazy, opening my eyes I see the headset laying on the ground next to me. My eyes widen as I notice everyone in the room has collapsed to the ground. I freeze as I spot Chara on the ground, lying next to them is a goat monster like Toriel. Turning my head I gasp as I see Freddy laying a few feet in front of me and Frisk. What the hell happened?!

      Slowly Frisk starts to stir and looks up and me and gasps. Before I can say anything Frisk hugs me, as around us most of the others start to get up. “everyone, ok? that’s odd, it must have been something with the core.” Sans walks up to us as he cautiously glances at Freddy. Then without warning Freddy moves and me and Frisk jolt as Sans aims a Blaster just in case. Once Freddy gets up, he looks at me and he gasps. “....Super Star!” He sounds shocked and overjoyed completely devoid of the venom he had earlier. Does that mean….?

      “Freddy!” I rush over as tears stream down my face as I rush into Freddy’s embrace. “I’m sorry I left! The Pizzaplex….  It was just all too much.” Closing my eyes I wait for the yelling to start. He’s going to be mad that I let him become a puppet of that thing! He probably thinks I don’t care about him, that I just used him to es…… 

      I freeze, instead of anger he gently rubs my back as he talks, his voice full with care. “I missed you, my superstar. I was worried that something had happened to you!” Freddy’s voice cracks as he looks at me. “You…. don’t hate me?” Freddy tilts his head with confusion and hurt in his eyes.

        “Gregory, I could never hate you. No child should go through what you did. I’m sorry he got you involved in all of this.” Once the hug ends Freddy looks around in confusion and tilts his head when his eyes land on Sans. “Gregory, where are we? And who are these people, are they your friends? My system’s do not register them as animatronics.”. Sans must have dropped his Gaster blaster while me and Freddy were talking, he seems a little confused but seems to be going along with it. “It’s a long story. They're monsters, but don’t worry they're nice. Well for the most part.” Freddy looks a little alarmed, but he seems to trust my judgment as he relaxes. 

      Frisk looks at Freddy with a smile as they step forward, Freddy turns and greets Frisk cheerfully “Hello, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you there.” 

        “It’s ok, I understand and am just glad you're ok. I’m Frisk. I heard so much about you from Gregroy, and I’m glad I finally got to meet you.” After Frisk is done talking to Freddy they then go to check on Asriel and Chara, since they're still unconscious. That’s when I notice Freddy is looking at me somberly. 

      “My memory…. It feels strange, some of the data has been corrupted but I still remember enough .... Gregory, I am so sorry, I never wanted to hurt you.” 

      “It’s ok. I know that you would never hurt me. I’m just glad you're back to normal.” Freddy smiles relieved. 

      “Asriel!” All heads turn to Chara and that one goat monster from earlier. Chara and them are hugging as tears stream down both their faces. “Chara, I’m back! I can feel things again. Chara what have I done?!”

      “You didn’t know what you were doing silly, none of it was you. If I know one thing it’s that my brother would never hurt a fly.” Frisk smiling walks over to them. ‘I can't be happier that the two of you are back. Once mom and dad see this they're going to be beyond happy!” 

        Looks like me and Freddy are not the only ones going through a similar reunion. I feel petrified at the idea of seeing Van- Vanessa again. But with the help of that princes we got rid of the virus. It should be safe now to talk to her. 

      Right?

Vanessa POV:

      “You're not even him! No matter how much you tell yourself that you are!”

       OBEY

      The pain is so severe I almost feel myself fading away, it would have been for the best. I struck a nerve, he needs me alive in order for his plan to work, it is out of character for him to lose his temper like that.  All I know is that I was at the barrier that skeleton took the kid and left. Now suddenly I find myself back HERE, where I’ve always been. The section of my mind he trapped me in, my prison, I don’t know why I am fighting him now. The fight in me was broken long ago, I barely have the strength to even resist his orders for a second. I tried my hardest to stop him. To stop us. My hands….. What he made me do… their faces….. I would have stopped trying long ago if I didn’t see those faces.

      The old circuit boards the team used was where this all started. Maybe he really thinks he is him, or maybe he is in denial, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. He is nothing more than a Mimic, mimicking a long forgotten person who is probably burning in hell right now. 

       “Just because you have his memories doesn’t make you him. And even if you were him you are nothing.” 

       OBEY

       “I know that you’ve lied to me. None of those childhood memories you gave me were real, my childhood was happy, not the mess of memories you gave me.”

      OBEY 

      Our plan is almost complete. I will return to continue MY work, and you will be at my side. I always come back! 

      There almost to him now, once I have him there will be nothing stopping us. That skeleton who thinks he can get in my way will be nothing but dust. And as for that other kid, their remnants will do nicely for my resurrection. 

      “NO! Don’t hurt them! No more!” I wait for him to smash my confidence to bits, to laugh at my suffering. But nothing comes. After a few minutes I feel something happen. I can hardly believe my eyes as I watch the door that has held me here for so long swing open. Looking at my hand I see a steel yellow sword.

     I won’t let this thing do what HE did, not again. You know what we have to do. The voice is distant. They sound young like a little girl about the age of six or seven. Deep down I know exactly who it is.

    “I’m sorry, I never wanted to do it to them. How can you help me after I’ve done all the things that HE did.”

      It wasn’t you. It was her, I know you fought against it.

       Looking forward I see the familiar irises in the darkness, but there is something different in his gaze. No matter how well he tries to hide it I can still see the hint of fear.

      It’s as if my body moves on its own, and before I know it I am standing right in front of the monster that keep me a prisoner in my own mind all this time. I can feel Glitchtraps anger emanating off of him as he glares at me.

        You ingrate! Without me you are nothing! What are you going to do, go back to work for a game studio that no longer exists anymore! You have the chance to be so much more!

        My fist clenches in anger as I bring back the sword and bring it down with all my might. My vision grows dark as I hear a screech. 

      Opening my eyes I feel a massive headache, I try to look around, but everything is blurry. After a few seconds my vision refocuses as I take in my surroundings. The room has changed, the barrier is gone, with there being a single patch of grass in the center. Looking at the remains of Monty I can tell there is no way he will be able to be repaired. Chica and Roxy meanwhile are both deactivated as they lay on the ground, still both heavily damaged from the fight.

      Yet I feel different, looking around it feels like I am seeing with my own eyes. I wait for the second I hear him again. To give in to her. But everything is quite, peaceful. My eyes widen as I realize what has happened. He’s gone, after all this time, after everything he had me do. He’s gone.

      Before I know it, my sobs fill the room as I cry into my hands. I hear movement from further in the room, but I’m in too much shock to bother looking up.

      “What…. What happened?” That’s Roxy’s voice. Looking over to the Glamrocks I see they have both rebooted. I can tell already his code has been completely purged from their systems. 

        “Officer Vanessa, who did this to us?” Chica looks at me for a second as her head tilts. “What are you wearing? I don’t recognize that as Pizzaplex attire.” I forgot that I am still wearing my- her custom. I tear at the fabric like a crazy person as I try to find the zipper. Getting out of the costume I throw it across the room. I never want to see it again, after four years it’s finally over. 

        “Whatever happened?” I turn around instantly, and I am left dumb founded as I notice a figure approaching me. It’s the King! But how, I killed him?! He looks at me with confusion as he looks between me and the Glamrocks.

Frisk’s POV:

      All of us approach the throne room with caution. After we left the True lab Freddy wanted to head back to the barrier room in order to check on his friends. While his memory files are corrupted, he still remembers the key events that played out. I hope Vanessa is also okay, now that whoever was controlling her is gone, she should be back to normal. 

       Upon entering the barrier room, I gasp. The room is the same as it is at the end of the true pacifist route, which means…. the barrier is broken! But out of all the things in the room it’s not what catches my eye. I see the two Glamrock animatronics are back up, but their movement is slower because of the damage. In the center of the room, Vanessa is on her knees and crying, she’s wearing a security uniform and looking at the far side of the room I see the Vanny mask and custom abandoned. But I can’t believe my eyes as I see Asgore next to Vanessa comforting her! How can that be possible, I saw dad die?  If he’s alive does that mean… Mom! The tears go down my face as I smile, we did it. We made it to the end of the pacifist route and if dad’s back that means everyone could still be alive. 

      Asgore looks up as he hears us approach and as he spots Asriel and Chara his eyes go wide as he freezes. “Asriel…… Chara….. It cannot be…..” He slowly takes a few steps towards them. “Dad!!!!” Chara and Asriel run over to Asgore as they are taken into his arms, as they all embrace each other. 

        “GREGORY!” My heart skips a beat as I see Roxy charging at Gregory at full speed. Gregory looks at her with pure terror as his face pales. “You little brat! You took my eyes!” Suddenly Freddy rushes to stand in the way between her and Gregory. 

      “Roxy, wait!”

      “Get out of my way Freddy! Don’t you know what he did?!” The venom and anger in Roxy’s voice sends a shiver down my spine, but Freddy holds his ground. “Roxy, I know you are upset, but Gregory had no choice. All of you were hunting him, and knowing what was running through us, it pains me to imagine what would have happened.” Roxy tries to fold her hands only to look to where San’s blaster hit, and she groans annoyed. “Fine, just don’t take my eyes again!” Roxy steps away as Gregory cautiously steps out from behind Freddy.”

      “Were you really going to harm him, Roxy? It goes against our enter programming to even think about harming a kid.” Roxy looks at him annoyed, “Of course not, maybe shake him up a bit but not that.” 

      Freddy glances at the remains of Monty, as he looks on in sadness a faint sob could be heard. “I- he may not have been the most approachable, especially when he was in a mood. But I still cared deeply for him.” Vanessa looks up, her eyes still puffy from crying, “Freddy, I wouldn’t exactly say he shared the same sympathy.”

      “What? Officer Vanessa, what do you mean?” Vanessa sighs as she slowly stands up. “Look, this isn’t going to be easy to hear….. He wanted to replace you.” Freddy tilts his head in confusion.

        “I could tell by the way he was always looking at you, but the last level for his arcade game is telling enough about his intentions to say the least. But that’s not the worst of it. When the virus took over the systems of most of you, Monty’s started to get more violent as a result. He wanted to be in the main band so in order to do that there had to be an empty space, so he….” Freddy’s eyes are wide at this moment, as he waits to hear the rest of it unable to move. While we were traveling together Gregory told me about Freddy’s Friendship with Bonnie. Gregory said that Bonnie was last spotted going into Monty golf and that he suspected Monty but didn’t want to tell Freddy. With what Vanessa is saying it pretty much confirms it, and from the look on Freddy’s face I can tell he knows what Vanessa is about to say.

      “Bonnie was found later, but after the damage he took, the company decided that fixing him was too costly. So he was secretly moved to a room in the bowling alley until we could figure out what to do with him.” 

      “WHAT?! But Monty would never….. I mean I know he can be destructive at times, but to harm Bonnie…..” Freddy’s voice breaks as he looks to the ground, his body sagging. Gregory and I gently put a hand on his back as he looks at us. “Thank you…. I’m fine, I just need a moment.” 

      After a few moments Freddy looks up, he still looks hurt, but the initial pain is gone.. Vanessa gets up and approaches Gregory as if she is approaching a wounded animal, a look of unease written on her face. “Kid, listen….. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am. I know you must hate me for all the shit I put you through. But you saved me, didn’t you?” 

      “How do you know that?”

      “I could feel someone- another force in my head, I’ve chased you around for a whole night, kid. I know it was you.” 

     “Yes, I did. I found out while I was done here. Honestly after seeing how the animatronics were under control, it’s not too surprising there was something larger at play.” For a moment there is silence. Then Gregory talks, “I know it wasn’t you, I’ve seen that for myself. I forgive you, I guess.” There's still a hint of fear in his voice, but I can tell Gregory means it. Vanessa looks at him in disbelief “I don’t know why. We both remember what happened, but thanks I can’t express that enough.”

      Ten minutes pass as time seems frozen in the reunions taking place. Once everything calms down Asgore tells everyone that he is going to tell his people about the barrier. And that whenever we are ready, we can leave the underground. Gregory, Chara, and Asriel accompany me as we travel to all the places we have been before. Sure, enough Doggo is back at his station still heavily confused on what happened. Eventually we make it back to the ruins and we find Toriel back at her house. Tears stream down my face as I feel relief knowing she is ok. She is beyond shocked to see Asriel and Chara and she immediately brings them in for a hug. 

       Once we have talked to everyone we head back to where the barrier was. My heart warms as I remember that Asriel is at my side and not back at Flowers in the Ruins. For the first time everyone is with us as we step out of the underground and the light of the surface shines.

Chapter Text

Gregory POV - 1 week later 

         Things have completely changed since the Underground. The Monsters are back on the surface, they seem to be settling in well. Frisk is now living with Toriel, Asriel, and Chara. The sadness that Toriel carried with her is now gone for the most part. She still feels the loss of the previous kids that fell into the Underground. But she has her children back and has gained another one by adopting Frisk. 

      Once things got situated for the monster Vanessa and I worked on exposing the Pizzaplex for their negligence. Fazbear has always been sure to hire the best legal team. But thankfully with as much control Vanessa had over the Pizzaplex we had enough video evidence as we needed. The Daycare Attendant traumatizing the toddlers, the total disregard for safety, and the deaths caused by the Mimic, all of which only scratch the surface.  

      It didn’t take too long for the Pizzaplex to be shut down. Fredbear immediately tried to take the Glamrocks back and threatened to sue Vanessa if she didn’t ‘return Fazbear property’. Thankfully Sans was there and helped us by bringing out the Glamrock souls. While the animatronics souls aren't the same as humans, the display of sentience was enough for Fazbear to back off. And with enough public outcry all the other animatronics were let go as well.

       I didn’t know where to go after we left the underground. But I was shocked when Vanessa offered to take me in. She knew I was homeless since she saw me in the alley, but I never thought…… While I was still shaken up by knowing about Vanny, I reluctantly agreed. I know that it wasn’t her. Staying with us are the Glamrocks, including one that was once forgotten. With the condition Bonnie was in, it took a while for Alphys to fix him. It was heartwarming to see Freddy reunited with him once he was activated again. Bonnie was confused and was hurt about what Monty did, and that’s before we got into telling him about what happened with the Pizzaplex. Freddy introduced me to him, and Bonnie was more than happy to meet me. He was kind like Freddy, and once things started to settle in from him, he was nothing but cheerful. 

      It’s weird living with all the Glamrocks. While I’m more than happy to have Freddy around, the others are……

      “Quit hogging the mirror! “More of a challenge to adjust to. As I listen to Roxy shouting at Chica, I lean back on the couch as I continue to watch the tv. Roxy has been one of the more challenging ones to live with. Her self-centered attitude has made approaching her off putting, but the more I’ve been around her I can see that it’s a cover for her own self insecurities. I remember back in the Pizzaplex seeing her crying while I was inside Freddy. Freddy has been offering her support and surprisingly she has been more tolerable around us. Chica on the other hand has been nice and was understanding of my situation at the Pizzaplex. But ever since she arrived the fridge to our house has ‘mysteriously’ been getting raided every other night.

     Sun and Moon are unique. Fazbear never planned for him to be around the older kids, so he still treats me as if I was a toddler. His protective tendencies can get annoying after a while as well. But his brightness and his caring are enough to make up for it. With Moon no longer affected by the virus he isn’t violent anymore. He’s very strict when it’s time for any of us to go to bed and is a little more prone to shouting than Sun but he still has moments of niceness.

      My thoughts are interrupted by the knock at the door. Vanessa opens it and Frisk and Sans come in. “Great, you're here! I’m sorry for us rushing you all here, but this can’t wait!” Frisk looks at us with concern and worry as they take a set with Sans on the couch. Getting up I help Vanessa set up the computer. Sans meanwhile watches us; his smile still there yet hints of worry present on his face. 

      “is everything ok? after everything that has happened, I know there is a lot to go through.”

      “Thanks, it means a lot. But it’s nothing like that. It has to do with the virus.” Vanessa's face is pained as she mentioned it. Gently I hold her hand, she looks at me and takes a deep breath before continuing. 

     “While I was under his control, Glitchtrap wanted me to continue his legacy. But that's not the only thing I was working on.” Turning the computer to face them, Frisk and Sans look at the map of the pizzaplex. Right now, it’s on Roxy raceway. Zooming into the far left of the room, she pulls up a picture of an elevator surrounded by broken concrete walls, and debris.

      “He wanted to have a physical form, so I helped build it. Before I came it was just an endoskeleton. So, I helped strengthen and refine it. While it’s not finished it’s still down there.” Sans tense up as he registers the news. Frisk looks worried as they continue listening. 

      “How has it been managing to hide down there all this time?” Sans says as his eyes dim.

      “There used to be an old Fazbear location where the Pizzaplex was constructed. It was meant to be refurbished to be part of the Pizzaplex. But it murderd the workers down there, causing the project to be scrapped.” While I saw the elevator while in the Pizzaplex, I never actually went down into the sinkhole. When Vanessa told me what was down there, I felt frozen with fear. Apparently, it’s where the original William Afton met his end, and the remainder of his victims were set free.

       “It won’t stay down there much longer. Once it finds a way out, there is no telling how much damage it’ll do.” My voice is shaky and somber.  She told me what it did to the people down there. It can’t get out. There’s been enough misery already. 

          “don’t ya worry, where right behind you with this.” Sans gets up as Vanessa goes to call Alphy’s. One thing's for sure no matter what happens. That thing can’t escape. 

      Trapping the Mimic was hard. Sans wanted to take it head on and destroy it, but Frisk talked him out of it. Even though we're sure San’s could take the Mimic easily in a fight, Frisk doesn’t want to risk it. Due to their Pacifist nature, they also didn’t feel comfortable with the idea. So, with enough Begging Sans gave in. 

        Vanessa and Alphys worked together on the M.X.E.S security system. Alphy’s assured us that once sealed away, the Mimic would never see the light of day again. The only thing we had to do after that was get it in the room and seal it in. Sans volunteered for the job of luring it in the selected room.

      Me along with Sans, Vanessa, Frisk, and Freddy went into the sinkhole and made our way to the old pizzeria. Seeing it in person left me feeling haunted, the place looked wrecked and crumbling. The fire damage doesn’t help it either. Besides the Mimic no one else is inside it, yet - it feels like anything could leap out at any moment and drag us into the darkness. But I couldn’t get distracted. The Mimic could be in any one of those rooms. 

        Going into the building Sans was on high alert, making sure nothing was sneaking up on us. The rest of us were helping bring the security system inside the building. After setting it up, the rest of us hide. Next to us are the bags of concrete we brought, ready to use as extra protection to block the Mimic from leaving.

      Before Sans left to find the Mimic, Frisk saves just in case anything goes wrong. Once they were done Sans went off into the darkness. Five minutes later we heard running coming from down the hall, with one set of footsteps sounding heavy and metallic. Sans was able to run into the room, the Mimic was right behind him. The sight of it left us in terror. Even Vanessa despite working on it winced and shrunk back a little at seeing it again. The Mimic seeing Sans run into the far room, it takes the bait and charges inside just for Sans to teleport away at the last second.  

      Before the Mimic could react, Vanessa activated the security door, locking the Mimic inside. As the Mimic pounded away at the door, we poured the concert using an automatic system. Once were sure the Mimic is secured, we activate the M.X.E.S Security system. Suddenly the avatar of the system springs to life and analyzes us. Thankfully we have our faces on its database, so it knows not to sick the security measures on us. For obvious reasons it’s not voice recognition. 

       With the Immediate threat of the Mimic dealt with, we finished off by installing the security nodes. With the design of the system, if the M.X.E.S detects anyone around the Pizzaplex or in the V.A.N.N.I network, it will send a distress signal to any animatronics still in the area to subdue them. If that happens, we will be notified, and a group of Ex royal guards will be sent out to escort the person away.

      Now with the system in place hopefully we can put all our troubles behind us. No more terror, no more bloodshed. Just maybe, me and Frisk can actually go back to being kids.