Even though it had only been a few hours since they'd returned home, Asriel felt like he'd been holding Chara's secret in his soul for years. He'd been imagining what exposing it would be like since the day he'd learned his lost sister was still able to exist, somewhere out in the universe.
How many hundreds of years had it been since they'd seen her? How long had the results of his and Chara's scheme poisoned the whole kingdom? How long had their influence destroyed their parents and everyone who cared for them?
And yet...
Asriel had been welcomed back with open arms. Months back, he had told Asgore and Toriel every horrific thing he'd done since he was resurrected, and still, they'd embraced him.
Maybe it was denial; a parent's blind love. Maybe because the repercussions of his actions didn't exist outside a few people and the physical harm was undone, it had been easier to digest. Maybe the fact that he hadn't had a soul when he'd done all those things made it simple enough for them to let the nightmare of it fade away. Maybe someday he'd ask, but for now, he was content not knowing.
All of that might have been enough of a buffer for Chara. He didn't think he'd be so glad that their mother had guessed what the topic had been, but the relief he had felt almost made him jump with excitement. His parents' reactions had been in the same genre as he'd expected, but better than he'd ever hoped for.
Toriel's exhaustion was completely understandable, and with Asgore and Gaster being so receptive to the news, Asriel felt a lot lighter. He almost couldn't believe it himself, but showing the other photos and videos of Chara had brought a joyfulness to the ordeal, in his father especially. The recording he'd made when Frisk and the other Papyrus were playing music with the monsters in Arnbjörn's hall, the one where he asked Chara to sing, lightened the mood significantly as it played. The music certainly helped, too.
As he regaled Asgore and Gaster with more of what they'd done, he caught sight of Papyrus slipping over to Sans, pointing at the TV with a gleam in his eyes and a grin on his face. Sans's thoughtful expression lightened a little, too. When Papyrus embraced his brother, Asriel couldn't help but feel a little better.
In the back of his mind, he'd worried about Sans. Asriel had seen— often times from a front row seat— exactly what Chara and her hosts had done to him. Sans had every right to be cold, or scared, or fuming. However, the skeleton seemed fairly calm. Mostly curious, if Asriel had to describe it. He assumed that Frisk had said something more about the whole thing while she and their brother were upstairs, before all this.
Of all the people in existence to be given a second chance, surely there were better candidates than a pair of world-ruining abominations. But, Asriel thought, as he looked up at his father's face, at least maybe some part of this could fix a little of what they'd broken.
"Asriel." Asgore's voice, still raw from weeping, cut through the kid's thoughts. He sniffled deeply. "It sounds like you three had such fun together."
"Yeah, when we weren't, y'know, doin' all the crazy stuff," Asriel said.
"I'm so glad," he said softly. "You deserve it. And Chara, she... She had such a hard life. She did not deserve what happened to her."
The boy could produce little more but a lukewarm smile, but his father didn't seem to notice. Beside them, Gaster sighed softly and rubbed his eye sockets for the umpteenth time, though there was no wetness left on his face. He looked as if he wanted to speak, but couldn't come up with what to say. Asgore put a reassuring hand on his arm.
"This has been a lot for you as well, hm?"
"Forget about me," Gaster croaked. "This is... Impossible. I..." He gulped and his dark eyes focused intensely on Asriel. "How do we bring her home?"
"Can't," the boy said apologetically.
"There has to be some way—"
"Not yet there isn't," he said. "And, besides. She loves her other family, too, she wouldn't just abandon them."
"I... I understand that, but—"
"We'd need some way to get her through the void without her touchin' it," Asriel said. "...And her family, too." His ears pinned back. "We decided really early, there was no way we could ask her to... I mean, she has a whole life there, now. It's been like three years or something for her."
Gaster looked troubled, but he nodded. "...For the record, I wouldn't mind hosting the rest of them either. Especially those boys, after the nightmare that was their father, presumably."
"Yeah. Pretty glad we didn't meet him on top of all the other crap we were dealing with," Asriel said with a lopsided smile.
"For now, I'm content to hear that she's... Well, that she's even alive, of course," Asgore said. "But that she has a loving group of monsters taking care of her makes me put almost all of my worry aside. I... I'm very, very happy."
Gaster nodded. He clenched his hand into his shirt and took a deep breath as if to brace himself. "Should I...? I mean... Toriel shouldn't be alone right now, should she?"
"Don't worry for even a second, dad," Papyrus said, jumping up as if from nowhere to join them near the couch. "Frisk went up to see her a while ago and they're both still there, so I think it has to be going well!"
Asgore let out a little, fond coo but Gaster looked as if he'd seen an apparition. His gaze shot straight upstairs to the door to the second room.
"Frisk," he said sharply. He leapt right to his feet, but Papyrus intercepted him and held him by the shoulders.
"Relax! Reeeelax! She's perfectly okay! Everything's okay."
"But I...!" He wilted. A hand went to his head. "Oh god." He took a deep breath and gently moved past his son to go to Sans. "And, you—!"
"Eh, I'm fine," Sans said.
Gaster ignored him and crushed him into a hug.
"Ah..." Asgore's ears drooped a little. "Poor man."
"Jeez, he's a wreck," Asriel said under his breath.
"Of course he is." The huge monster rested a hand on his son's back and leaned closer to him, lowering his voice. "I don't think he ever forgave himself for not being able to cure Chara."
"Of course he couldn't, she was eating poison, dad," Asriel said with wide eyes. "He can't blame himself, that's nuts."
"But, not just that. Your mother and I, we were... in pieces. If not for him, I... I'm not sure what we would have done." Asgore's mouth drew into a thin line for a moment as his eyes looked far away. A sad smile spread on his face. "He was the one who treated Chara's..." His voice hitched and he had to try again. "C-Chara's... little body. After you... Ah. After you fell."
Asriel winced. "Crap. I-I didn't know that."
His father gently patted him on the back and took a deep breath. He tilted his head up and his smile turned warm and nostalgic. "I... I must do something special for Frisk, hm?"
"Well, I mean, sure," Asriel said with a puzzled look on his face. "But, uh—?"
"Since she came to us, she's returned such life to our home." He clasped his hands together. "Everything has changed, and... And it's almost beyond belief, isn't it?"
It took Asriel a moment to see the threads, but when he did, it dawned on him how so much of everything had been spooled tight around his father. The boy had been so close, so laser focused on two of those parts, that the whole tapestry hadn't been quite in his field of view. He cracked a smile and nodded.
"Yeah." He tilted his head and his fangy grin widened. "She's just super crazy, huh?"
Asgore chuckled. "I don't know about that, but... I'm so glad everything happened the way it did since she arrived."
Asriel looked back over at Gaster, off in the corner with his sons. He was bent over a little bit now, with Papyrus patting him heartily on the back. Sans wore an expression that was equal parts sympathetic and amused.
The little goat boy couldn't help but feel bad that some sort of panic had triggered in him before. He patted his father on the arm and slid off the couch to stroll over to the frantic old skeleton.
"Hey, Uncle G?" he said.
Gaster jolted up into a more respectable posture right away. "What do you need?"
"I need yooooou to try not to stress so much, okay?" Asriel said. He held out his arms. "C'mere."
"Oh." Gaster knelt down again to the boy that was little more than half his height and gladly gave him a hug. "Asriel, it's alright, it's—"
"Nah. My turn," the kid said. "Look. I know you think this is your fault—"
"It is definitively, a thousand-percent my fault," Gaster said.
"Okay, sure, but who cares?" Asriel insisted. "I don't care. Your kids don't care. Nobody cares. Okay? What happened, happened, and it's all good now, and who knows how long it wouldda taken us to find Chara without that, okay?"
"Kid's got a point," Sans said as Papyrus nodded exuberantly.
Gaster flinched, but he couldn't seem to rebut it. Asriel drew back to look the skeleton in the face and then held him still to gently bonk their foreheads together.
Gaster's unnerved energy finally felt the lull of calm. After a deep breath, a little sturdiness returned to his face. He held the boy's head, gently squishing his fluffy ears.
"We needed you back, Asriel," he said quietly. "...Needed your optimism."
"My...?!" Asriel almost spluttered and he barked out a laugh. "You call that optimism?!"
"It's exactly that," Gaster said. He rubbed Asriel's head between the horns. "And. You've given me a project."
"For next week!" Papyrus cut in.
"Week?" Gaster repeated, wide-eyed.
"MONTH!" The younger skeleton crossed his arms. "SIX MONTHS. NEXT YEAR."
"Listen to your son, he's really smart," Asriel said with a grin. He winked. "Let's just see if the super crystal plan works first and then go from there, okay?"
"Are you sure?" Gaster looked very serious. "Because I'm sure there must be something I can—"
"We should probably just leave the fabric of time and space and universes alone to rest and recuperate for a little bit, don't you think?" Papyrus said. He bent down to thump his father on the back. "Just like yoooou should, and Asrieeeel, and Friiiiisk, and eeeeeveryone, right?"
"And we still technically don't know why it made Sans's head blow up to begin with, do we?" Asriel wondered.
"Wasn't it that green-eyed skeleton with a nasty attitude doing reckless time and space shenanigans?" the skeleton asked.
"No, I mean: why all that time stuff decided to leak out through Sans specifically," Asriel explained.
"Weakest link, I'm guessin'," Sans said with a shrug. "Might not be the last time, if that's the case."
"Oh, it better be!" Papyrus said shrilly.
"S'okay, if it's not," Asriel assured him, "me and Frisk'll just fix you up again, no problem."
The tall skeleton straightened up sharply, his hands on his hips. "You won't need to because this is absolutely the last time!"
Sans grinned. "I'm just sayin'—"
"This is. Absolutely! The LAST time!"
Gaster chuckled, though the sound came out rough and exhausted. He rubbed the back of his skull. Papyrus offered him a hand and he took it, allowing the boy to pull him to his feet. Asgore got up, too. He gently clapped his hands together.
"How about I make us some nice, warm tea before bed?" he said. "It's... not particularly late, but I'm sure everyone would like to get some rest, hm?" His smile turned sheepish. "Especially if we are to go over what happened here tomorrow."
"Rest?! Really?" Papyrus looked around. "I...! Nyeh. I guess you all do look fairly haggard, actually. Maybe you all should take a long, cozy nap."
"You should, too, Papyrus," Asgore said.
"Pff! King Uncle, rest is for people who don't have a deep and gnawing mostly-irrational worry that their cute little siblings will just up and vanish from reality at any moment!" He stuck a finger in the air. "A-And skeletons not named the great Papyrus, of course."
The King smiled fondly. "Of course."
"We're not going anywhere, Paps," Asriel assured him.
"I know! I said that! It's mostly-irrational!" the skeleton said.
Asriel looked around at all the exhausted monsters around him and he suddenly missed the height he'd gained in the other world. He puffed out a sigh and he jabbed a finger at the couch.
"You guys sit, I'll deal with the tea," he said.
"Oh, Asriel, it's alright," Asgore said, "I have no problem—"
"I know, don't care; like Papyrus said, you guys are exhausted," he said. "Sit."
"But—"
"Dad." Asriel frowned sternly.
His father put his hands up and chuckled quietly. "Alright, son, I'll leave it to you."
- - -
Just as promised, Toriel had set up a space for Asgore, down in the basement room of the home. Though they didn't have a full extra bed, she'd prepared a mattress and pillows large enough for the man, along with a few of the many blankets from Sans's inexplicable orb of them.
Another thing that was inexplicable to Asriel was the basement itself. It hadn't been there before in this form— the stairs used to connect to a shortcut straight to Sans's workroom— and it certainly hadn't had a fancy shrine to a dog in it. It wasn't something the boy had the energy to be particularly bothered with, though. The temperature was nice and, despite being a little sparse, it wasn't as if Toriel had left Asgore with nothing homey. She'd also moved down a bookshelf with some things to read and one of the potted cacti she'd kept from her house back in the Ruins. He unpacked a pair of sweaters from his suitcase and that was that.
He didn't say it, but Asriel was surprised when his father told him it was Toriel who had invited him to stay. Maybe she was feeling a little more sentimental in the moment, since everything had been so fraught for a while. Whatever her reasoning, Asriel was glad. It would be nice to have everyone together, at least for a little bit.
After he said goodnight to his father, he headed back up to the main floor. None of the skeletons were there, except for Papyrus, lurking near their mother's door. When he saw Asriel, though, he scurried away to his own bedroom, pretending as if he'd been doing nothing at all. It was hard for Asriel not to laugh. He parked himself on the couch, though, to do almost exactly what Papyrus had been up to.
In the silence, everything felt completely uncanny. Somehow, things felt emptier. He half-expected Chara to come strolling out of a door that they didn't have in this house, or to hear the sound of a lyra playing wistfully in the distance. His ears stung a little, listening to the white noise.
He occupied some time, looking through their photos again. He wondered how those other guys were doing, back in the other world. It must have been just as jarring and odd to see him and Frisk off for them. There was an ache in his soul, thinking of how Chara must've been feeling. Papyrus and Sans, too. He wished there was a way to send a message back instantly to say that they'd made it home and were okay. Maybe that sharp-toothed Sans's abilities had already given them the answer. Asriel sure hoped so.
A little while later, and the far door upstairs creaked. Kneading at her eye, Frisk wandered down to meet him. He held out his arms and she fell into them. They both sunk into the couch comfortably.
"Sorrrrrry, I kinda napped," she said quietly.
"You needed it," he said. "How's mom?"
"She's... good. I think. It was just a lot."
"I mean, fair." He let out a little sigh and pressed his snout against her head. "You did so good, dude."
"I'm just glad they believed all the crazy junk we told them," she said.
"I mean, they're not really allowed to be too surprised at this point, after all the stuff you did before this," Asriel said.
"It wasn't this crazy!"
"...Dude, you can time travel by just thinking about it, it sorta is."
"Oh." Frisk giggled. "Yeah. I guess so."
The kid straightened up a little and shifted to sit beside Asriel on the couch. She yawned and stretched. As she was sleepily smacking her lips, he handed her phone back to her.
"Thanks." She rubbed her eyes. "Hey, uh. Did you see my dad?"
"Think he went up to crash in our room," she said.
"Ooh. That's good." She clasped her hands together. "...This must've been such garbage for him."
"Yeah, that'd be crazy shit to hear. Some other you, doing all that." His ears drooped and his eyes widened. "Oh. You... must know all about how that feels, huh?"
Frisk nodded. Asriel grimaced and he grabbed her hand.
"Things'll be okay," he said. He gave her a little squeeze and then got to his feet. "Up to a walk, or you wanna go to bed?"
Frisk tilted her head. "Where're you goin'?"
"Ruins," he said. "Something I, uh, gotta grab there."
His sister's tired eyes lit up. "Ooh. Yeah! We could check the thing!"
Asriel's ears perked. He nodded.
Of course, with everything that had just happened, there was no way they were going to slip out without telling anyone. Papyrus seemed to be the only one still awake, sitting up in the dark of the bedroom, hunched in a chair like a gargoyle, faint amber shining in his eyes. The kids extended an invite to him, and he was over the moon to accept it.
Snowdin town in the quiet hours of the night was like a dream. Streets empty, but never unwelcoming. Festive lights strung between buildings cast dots of colours into the sparkling snow as if tiny gemstones were scattered throughout.
Breathing in the cool, crisp air woke Frisk up a little. Walking through the snow with no urgency at all was pretty nice, and doing so with two of her three brothers was even nicer. She reached up to hold Papyrus's hand. He tried to play it cool, but he was grinning quite brightly after that.
They chatted as they crossed the cliffs. Papyrus told them a little more about accidentally becoming famous over the course of what had happened, including a mysterious tattoo he couldn't quite explain. Asriel got Frisk caught up on what she'd missed, and she did the same for them. She showed Papyrus the crystal they'd spent so much time on, since she'd be needing it in a little while. She also told them about the high probability of a road trip. The skeleton was absolutely thrilled. Asriel was taken aback that they'd be going out to rescue a human kid, let alone the one of the man that had spooked her so much, but he was all for it.
They didn't have to travel very deep into the Ruins at all before Asriel found the spot he was looking for: the black-barked tree just beyond their mother's front door.
"Here," he said.
"Ooh." Papyrus looked around the area, wide-eyed. "You know, I don't know that I've just stopped around here very often at all!"
"Well, yeah, you wouldn't have much of a reason to," Asriel said, heading for the huge pile of leaves at the base of the tree.
As he disappeared around the other side of the tree's trunk, Frisk yawned and plopped down on the ground for a break. Papyrus knelt down with her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"How are you, little sister? Too tired, too cold, too anything?"
"Just a little tired," she answered with a laugh. "I'm okay."
"You're sure? You'll tell me if you need anything, right? Even if it's a tiny little something?"
She nodded. He grinned; paused, for a moment, and then lightly pressed his forehead against hers. She giggled and leaned into him.
"Boooonk," she said.
He snickered. "Gosh, I missed you."
She smiled and got to her feet to put her arms around his shoulders, and he gladly gave her a hug. He froze after just a moment, though, and pulled back a little.
"Is your phone rumbling?"
Frisk looked puzzled. She patted down her pockets. "I dunno, I—" She wasn't sure that it was her phone, but something was definitely buzzing in there. "Hang on."
Meanwhile, Asriel had found what he'd been looking for. He carefully plucked the music box he'd stashed out from its hiding place beneath the fallen, red leaves. Flipping it open, it was just as he'd left it— Chara's locket gleaming inside, laid on top of a chocolate bar from the human world. He wished, with a wry smile on his face, that he'd known so he could have brought both of them right to her.
"...D'you think it'd be weird to wear Chara's necklace?" he asked.
"What? No, why?" Frisk answered. "But, uh—"
"I mean, I'll... I'll be swapping back with her at some point, right?" he said hopefully.
"Oh! Yeah, totally! But— AAH!"
Asriel poked his head around the tree trunk, his brows shooting upwards. "What?"
Frisk was on her feet, grasping something tight in her hands, eyes wide. Papyrus looked just as startled as she did.
"Az, it moved!" she squeaked.
"What moved?"
"The crystal!"
Asriel almost tripped over the roots of the tree scrambling to reach her. "Already?!"
"Does that mean your sister is calling from another dimension?!" Papyrus blurted.
"I-I dunno!" The goat boy hurried to Frisk and cupped his hands around hers. He could feel the tingle of magic through them. "Let's see."
"I-I just don't wanna drop it," she said.
Papyrus bent and held her shoulders. "Trust me, I will keep you steady!"
Frisk nodded. She gulped and slowly opened her hands. The red crystal she'd held onto was glowing, slowly pulsing with energy as if it had a heartbeat.
"Wait, it...? Does it wanna go here?" Asriel wondered. "Is it gonna lead somewhere, or...?"
"I dunno!" Frisk said.
"Do you still have the instructions?"
"Yeah." She carefully pushed the crystal into his palm and shuffled her hands inside her pockets. "Hang on, hang on."
"Is it like a phone ringing?" Papyrus asked. "Can you answer it somehow?"
Asriel was a little at a loss, but he lifted the crystal and held it up to his ear. The faint hum of magic within sounded mostly like Frisk's familiar melody.
"H-Here!" Frisk managed to find the instructions in her phone and pulled them out to read them. "Uhhh... It says it... needs time in the new place to charge up?"
"Okay. Okay, so it's not getting something in right now, then?" Asriel said.
"It says... Uhh..." Frisk scrunched up her face. The words combined with the fancy penmanship gave her pause. "Uh."
Papyrus leaned around her shoulder. She handed the instructions off to him.
"Ooh, it's written very flowery, isn't it? Who's this from?"
"A really old dog," Frisk said.
"Iiiiinteresting." Papyrus rubbed his chin. "Okay! Well! This seems to say that the crystal might need a bit to time to adjust to the new world! Which I guess means here. Since it's from over there."
"Does it say anything about it buzzing like this?" Asriel asked.
"It sure does! Ahem!" He mock-coughed into his fist and began to read as the kids stared at him. "To function as intended, the crystal is expected to take some time to become acclimatized to your homeland. In order to do this, it will require you to seek a place, the nature of which I cannot say, as every instance should be different. When the crystal begins to hum with energy and glow in a steady rhythm, you have found a place of power compatible with it."
"So that's what's happening now?" Asriel held the crystal up carefully. "...Man, I really thought it'd be all the way at the flowers."
"Same," Frisk said.
"There's still a bit more!" Papyrus asserted. "You must place the crystal where its resonance is strongest for the most punctual of results, however, it might take some time before it is complete."
"Does it say how long?" Asriel asked with a worried frown as Frisk took the crystal from him and began to wander the chamber with it.
"Ummmm..." The skeleton skimmed the instructions swiftly. "The dog guesses it might take between two weeks to a couple months, depending on a ton of variables and... Well. No sun is not going to do it much favours, not at all."
"Not much we can do about that this deep in the mountain," Asriel said with a shake of his head.
"Does she say if there's any way to send a message through to say that we're setting up?" Frisk asked.
"No, nothing like that," Papyrus said, "but she does speculate that both sides will sync up at the same time, so that's something, at least, right?" His eyes widened. "Nyeh! Maybe it sends a signal back on the other end when you start?! That's possible, isn't it?!"
"Man, I hope so," she said quietly. "So, um, I guess I gotta wait to stick it to my soul, right?"
"Yeah, definitely, you're not camping out here for weeks," Asriel teased.
"Stick it to your... Gasp! Like your little dooty-flute?" Papyrus asked.
"Yeah, I think I gotta do that if it works and—" She let out a shrilly, sharp gasp and planted her feet a little ways back from the large tree. "Here! Here here here."
The crystal in Frisk's hand shone with solid red and the faint, slow notes of its magic drifted in the air. The others crowded in around her.
"So, um, what do I do?" she said. "We can't just leave it on the floor, right?"
"Ooh, do you need someone to stand here with it? I can do that!" Papyrus said.
"Dude, you can't even stand still for five minutes, you think you could do it for weeks?" Asriel said with a laugh.
"I absolutely can! And I could! If I put my mind to it! Right, Frisk?!"
"That sounds awful, honestly," Frisk said apologetically. "And we gotta go on a road trip, remember?"
"Hmmmm." The skeleton rubbed his chin. "True."
Asriel looked around. His ears perked. Magic tingled in his fingers and he glanced back at the tree. "Oh, maybe..." He hopped over to the nearest root and rested his hand against it.
There was a touch of warmth there, beneath his fingertips. His magic seeped beneath the bark and deep through the ancient wood. With a little, thoughtful hum, he felt along the stream as it flowed. There was a little, tired spark of life deep inside the tree. He gave it a tug and the roots followed along with his whims, slithering out towards his sister. Papyrus gasped gleefully.
"Asriel, that's amazing!" he cheered.
"Just gimme a miiiinute." The boy carefully guided the winding roots to where Frisk stood. He slipped the crystal from her hand and positioned it where the glow was steadiest. At the same time, he beckoned the roots forward and entwined the gem within its grasp, forming a twisted pedestal before releasing his hold on both.
The roots steadied and dried, looking as if they'd been exactly where they were now for a hundred years. A faint, iridescent glimmer shone in the creases along their surfaces.
"Aaah, that's cool!" Frisk grinned at him. "Man, you got so good at that."
Asriel cracked a crooked smile and shrugged. "Doing that's like one of the easiest parts of it, though."
"Little brother, I'm proud of you!" Papyrus said, giving him a solid pat on the head. "Learning a new magic against the laws of nature is really something else!"
"Heh. Um. Guess so," he said. "Do the instructions say anything else?"
Papyrus quickly checked the sheet. "Quite a bit, actually! But, uh... Well, some of it seems to assume the crystal is bonded to someone's soul."
"Chara said to only do that if it worked," Frisk said. "...Is that wrong, should I find someone to do it?"
"I think she just didn't want you to have a useless chunk of crystal stuck to you if it didn't work out," Asriel said.
"Oh."
"It seems to be the main way to tell when it's done, anyway," Papyrus said.
"That's fine." Asriel waved a hand dismissively. "We can ask Alphys to help us set up a camera or a magic detector or something. No big deal."
Frisk edged up to the crystal and stared into its odd, lightless glow. It was a little strange to think about how this whole thing was guided by her blood. "Man, I hope this works," she said quietly.
"It's gonna," Asriel said.
Frisk wasn't sure— knew he wasn't, either— but she did like hearing him say it, anyway.
"It's sorta weird, though," he continued. "I definitely expected it to be all the way at the flowers."
"Same," Frisk said.
"Oh really? Why?" Papyrus wondered.
"Well, it'd be... I dunno. It's where everything started," Asriel explained. "And... I mean. Chara's... body, it had to have been there at some point, right? Or else those flowers wouldn't even be there."
"I'm, um, noooot sure I follow, little brother," the skeleton said apologetically.
"Well, I mean... The seeds, I guess they were stuck all over us when we came home after getting shot like a hundred times," Asriel said, the smallest of hitches in his throat. "And we know mom took, uh... She took Chara's body, to bury it here, somewhere. The way she talked, though, it did sorta sound like it was here. At the tree." He patted the closest root. "She did really love this tree."
"That's so weird, that she's... here, but she's there," Frisk said quietly.
"Yeah." Asriel's ears pinned back a little and his brows knitted in a thoughtful frown. "I... wonder if... I mean, I guess she wouldn't be able to come back to her body here, ever, right? That would be crazy."
"She'd just be bones, right?" Frisk said.
"Bones?!" Papyrus barked. "Really?!"
"Oh. Right. Yeah, humans become bones after they die," Asriel said.
"I knew they had bones, I didn't know they would become bones!"
"Yeah, all the soft parts, uh, vanish eventually or something, I dunno. Anyway, she might not even be that. How long do bones last?" the goat boy wondered. "It's been, like, hundreds of years."
"I dunno, I think I saw a thing where the humans have, like, animal bones from millions of years ago," Frisk said.
Papyrus gawked. "Million year old bones?!"
"Oh. So. Maybe?" Asriel scratched his head. "I dunno how that'd help."
"Yeeeeah, I dunno either," Frisk said. "You could ask mom."
"I dunno if she'd wanna talk about that. But, uh..." He shrugged. "Maybe, um, since Chara's not... as super dead as before, she might...?"
"Can someone explain the million year old bones thing to me please?!" Papyrus blurted.
"Oh! I can try!" Frisk said.
There didn't seem to be anything else they could do for tonight, so— after Frisk's frail explanation of what little she knew about fossils— they headed back to Snowdin, this time through the starlike rip in time just near their mother's old house. Frisk chose to land on main street instead of straight back in the house, so they wouldn't have to try to sneak through the room Toriel was sleeping in.
Being back home and in their normal bedroom felt so odd to Frisk, now. It was also overwhelmingly cozy. She was far too lazy to get into pyjamas and simply collapsed onto Papyrus's mattress with Asriel after tossing her boots and hoodie aside. Papyrus settled in too, to cuddle up both of the kids. Though he denied being tired, he was quickly refuted by his own, high pitched snores.
Frisk gladly nestled in but, as cozy and as tired as she was, she couldn't sleep. Asriel, on the other hand, collapsed. She was happy for him. She lay in a heap with him for a while, before eventually slipping out of Papyrus's grasp. Rubbing her tired eyes, she headed to the other bed and reached out a hand to carefully check it. She felt nothing.
"Sans?" she whispered. "Brrooooo, where are you?"
Nobody answered. She blinked around in the darkness, but the only light she could see was the faint, ember-glow of Papyrus's soul.
"Mmnnngh, Frrriisssk?" Asriel muttered quietly. "You say somethin'?"
She headed back to the bed, careful not to trip, and grasped onto the car-like frame. "You have good night-eyes, right? Where's Sans at?"
"Uh..." Asriel shifted a little, propping himself up on his elbow. He blinked heavily. "I dunno."
Frisk frowned. She groped around in the dark for her phone and, once she found it, she held it up to use the screen as a light. There was nobody in the room but the three of them.
"Aaaah heck," she muttered. She scooted back over to the car bed and clambered up onto the mattress. Flopping over Asriel, she reached out and gently grabbed Papyrus's bony shoulder. "Paps?" she said softly.
"Nnnyeeeh...?" he muttered.
"Don't get up," she whispered, "but, do you know where dad and Sans went?"
"...Daaaad issss... uhhh..." Though he didn't open his eyes, his brow furrowed a little. "Walking?"
Frisk pouted. Gaster had long legs— he could be anywhere by now.
"And Sans?"
"He was... uuuummm... here when we... went..." He snored.
Frisk couldn't help a fond smile. She patted her brother's head. Knowing him, he might not have slept at all since she and Asriel had been gone.
Frisk slipped back off the bed and sat on the floor with her back against it. She shot a text off to her brother to ask where he was. The mattress squashed and creaked a little behind her and Asriel awkwardly leaned down to look over her shoulder.
"You checkin'?" he asked groggily.
"I guess I... I dunno. Don't want him to be alone too long."
"Maybe he just needs some space to get his head on right. This was stressful," Asriel said.
Frisk shook her head. "He does the bad spirals," she said.
"Huh?" Asriel blinked heavily.
"I was in his head, remember?" Frisk said as she sent a few more texts to the absent skeleton. "He... When he goes quiet like that, he's usually blaming himself for something."
"Huh." Asriel squinted. "...Why?"
"He honestly really thinks he's the worst ever and it kinda drives me nuts."
"Oh." The boy grimaced. "It's not his fault he got sick, that's stupid." He sighed. "Well. You...? What d'you wanna do?"
"I'm gonna grab him," she said. "And... And I'm gonna... Uhh... I dunno, I just don't want him to feel too bad."
Frisk didn't say it, but she couldn't help but think about how Sans had reacted to several things today. He wasn't normally a guy to lose it like he had, and that hurt in his soul was so heavy she'd felt it every time she touched him. But, he never wanted to be a bother in that way— not that he was, but that was how she knew that he saw it. Frisk was sure her brother's instinct to isolate was just going to make him feel much worse.
Asriel frowned into the faint light. He patted her on the shoulder. "Do you want me to do anything?"
Frisk shook her head. "S'okay, go back to bed," she said. "It's fine, I... I dunno, I just wanna check in, give him a hug, you know, the normal stuff."
"Fair." He bumped his snout against her head before he rolled back up onto the bed properly. "Try to get some rest, too, okay?"
"Kay."
Alone, Frisk sat with her phone, staring. She texted her father, too, but she didn't hear anything back. Sans didn't respond to any messages for a little while, either, so Frisk finally scrolled back through the long log of things he'd sent. He hadn't been lying about the amount of technical specs, but amongst them were messages not unlike those she'd left for Papyrus. There were photos, too, of people and places she didn't recognize, and even some audio files sent to her for safekeeping. Reading what he'd left of the twisted, melting timeline made her feel sick to her stomach, and still, she hadn't heard back from him.
Just when Frisk was starting to sweat, her brother replied to her with a blue heart emoji and nothing else. The kid bit her lip. He'd done this kind of thing before. If he were at Grillby's, he would've just said so, so she had a pretty good guess of where to look for him.
Quietly, Frisk slipped back out of the room with her things and headed outside to the nearest save star, using it to jettison her straight to Waterfall. Under the twinkling crystals in the dark caverns, she found her brother just a little ways away from the cave where she'd expected him to be, near Undyne's house. He'd plunked himself into a place where reeds grew like tall grass and the silence of the cave was broken by the soft plunking of water onto stone. The crystals on the cave's ceiling were just as good as mimicking stars here as anywhere else.
Sans caught her eye when she entered the chamber and his tired grin turned borderline embarrassed. "Jeez, kiddo, s'late, huh? Didn't have to come out here."
"Kinda did, though," Frisk said.
"Plannin' on nappin' tomorrow away, huh?" he teased. "Not that I'd blame ya, after this crap."
The kid crossed her arms. He snorted and slowly pushed himself to his feet.
"Uh-oh, what's that face for?"
"You should come home," she said.
"Well. Yeah. Eventually."
"No. Now." She held out her hands as if to draw him to her. "C'mon. You said it, it's super late. And... A-And I know sometimes the quiet isn't so good, right?"
"Ah." Sans chuckled. He pointed off towards a puddle, accumulated from the dripping ceiling. "Guess you noticed that didn't quite cut it." His shoulders sagged a little and he leaned back against the wall behind him. "Eh. Don't worry, huh? I'll, uh... I'll be back by mornin', you go home and get some rest."
Frisk pouted and folded her arms again. Her brother laughed.
"Stubborn, huh?"
"Yep."
"Gonna stand there until I budge?"
"Yep."
"Kid, I'm..." He huffed and smiled sideways. "Well. Look. I've been worse, alright? Don't sweat it."
Frisk's heart hurt. "Do...? D'you wanna talk about it?"
"What's there to talk about?" Sans wondered.
"Come on, you aren't here for no reason, I know you," she insisted.
"You don't gotta worry 'bout me," he said.
"Too late, I already am!" A little exasperation crept into her voice. "It's... I dunno, it's been really hard. And I know it's been really super hard for you. Like, it's been crazy, and you were..." She rubbed a hand through her hair. "I d-didn't mean to make you worry so much, seriously."
"Course ya didn't," Sans said. He tilted his head. "Y'don't think I'm mad, do you?"
"No, no no, not... Not that," she muttered. "I read what you sent."
"Uh oh."
"I know you went through a ton a-and I just..." She sighed and drooped. "I just want everyone to chill, I wanna—"
"Why're you worried 'bout what we went through?" Sans asked. "S'gone, y'know?"
"Saaans, come on," she pushed. "That's dumb this time and you know it."
The skeleton let out a quiet, tired laugh. He rubbed the back of his skull. "...Ain't fair, y'know. Guess it's the nature of bein' bones, but you ain't supposed to be able to see through me that much."
Frisk couldn't help a little snicker. "Sorry."
Sans shook his head and slumped a little as his gaze turned up to the ceiling. He went quiet for a while and Frisk edged closer to him.
"T'be honest," he said reluctantly, "this all scared the hell outta me."
"Well, duh," she said.
"Heh." He pressed the heel of his hand into his forehead. "Just wish it... I dunno. Had gone down different, I guess. Not that I think it couldda, and not that I think you did anythin' wrong, but..." He shrugged. "Hate that you had to put up with all that."
"Um. You didn't expect me to just do nothing, right?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Nah, you, uh... That ain't your style, I know. Heh. Kinda your definin' trait. I get it. But." He winced. "The, uh... The world, when you left, it wasn't... right. And I had enough trouble knowin' you went out there for me, of all things."
"Of course I went out there for you," she said. "You're my brother. You'd do it for me. I know you would."
He scoffed. "Sure, but I'm not the anchor."
"Hey." She grinned, winked, and shot finger guns his way, plunking a little magic star out along with it. "You're my anchor, though."
Sans looked like he'd been slapped in the face. Frisk's smile faded, replaced instead with a quizzical frown.
"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
He was stunned. He pointed at his chest.
"Did I really have to literally say it in those words for you to get it?" she asked shrilly. "Saaaaaans! Come on! You know me. Right?"
"But I'm..." He rubbed his hand over his skull. "Huh."
Frisk burst out laughing. She threw her arms around him and snuggled up close. "You know, for such a smart guy, you sure can be a dope sometimes."
"Who said I was smart?" he said.
"Stoooop, stop stop." She pulled back and reached up to grab shoulders. "Can you do something for me?"
"Who knows?"
"I want you to just try thinking that something nice about yourself is true for like, five seconds a day," she said.
He scoffed, but she looked completely serious. He ruffled her hair. "I'll think about it."
"That sounds like a yes," she said.
He grinned and shrugged. She hugged him tight again, almost knocking him off his feet in the process. He sighed, smiled to himself, and cozied her up in his arms.
"Heh... Missed you, y'little nerd," he said quietly.
"Same."
He snorted.
Frisk rested her ear against his soul spot for a moment. She could still feel that cold, droning ache. She frowned thoughtfully and a risky idea crossed her mind. She recalled what Chara had done when her soul was in a great amount of pain. However, Frisk was no Papyrus. She didn't have the sunshine in her to drag Sans back up, but maybe a bit of determination could help anyway.
She drew back with a cautious smile on her face. "Hey. So, um. You know how... I told you guys, Az and I, we... managed to do a soul thing?"
"Uh." The lights in Sans's eyes shrunk. "Yeeeeah, why?"
Of course, the second she'd mentioned it, he could see where she was headed from a million miles away. Frisk gulped. "Well, uh. I... I can still do that, it's not hard anymore." She extended her hand and, with some focus, her palm glowed with red until a little heart shape appeared, where it shimmered softly with iridescent starlight. "Wanna give it a try?"
"Wh...?" Her brother's soul pulsed against his ribcage like a hammer of ice. "Kid, what?"
"Lemme lend you my soul. If you feel like it," she said.
"Why would that even occur to you?"
"I dunno, it was kinda nice, right?" she said. "I mean, it was kinda a lot, too, but we both felt a lot better after, didn't we? Wasn't so bad being a big dragon thing for a bit."
His grin twitched sideways. "You're serious?"
Frisk nodded certainly. Sans shook his head.
"Kid, I'm a mess."
"Yeah, I know," she said. "That's kinda the whole point."
He rubbed his forehead. Frisk smiled sheepishly.
"Az and I became a big huge goat monster a couple times, it's not like, a big scary thing or whatever for me."
"Uh. Sure, but is it safe?" he asked. "For you, I mean."
She nodded again. "My body stays safe inside it. And... And, it can do the memory share thing, but it doesn't have to. You can block your side, if you want. I'll give you mine. Just the stuff from when we were gone. If you want."
"...You, uh... You actually want me to see that?" he asked.
"Yeah, if you wanna." Her eyes darted to the glow she held. "It's easy, all you gotta do is focus a bit and grab my hand. It's like... Soul-lending? They called it soulbonding; it's weird, but it works really well. No reset or anything, promise."
Sans frowned thoughtfully. He had to admit, he was curious. And, the look in his little sister's eyes was extremely resolute. He reached for her hand. Hesitated; raised his brow.
"You're sure? There's no walkin' that back."
She nodded insistently. "I wouldn'ta offered if I wasn't sure, dude."
"Kid, I..." He sighed. His soul ached in his chest. "Ah, hell, here we go."
He took a deep breath and put his hand in the light she held in her palm. They both lost their vision in a burst of radiant magic that overtook them.
Sans hardly expected it to work this time. Her and Asriel, sure. That kid was powerful. He, on the other hand, was a disaster.
Even so, he felt her energy mesh with his; form an odd duet that he hadn't realized how much he missed. They erupted into a swirling mess of light, burning hot and ice cold, shining through white, red, blue, and purple. A burst of iridescent starlight, and then, they were them. Didn't have to figure themselves out this time. The change was all but immediate.
Their form was the same dragon-like skeleton they'd become months ago, but refined, and larger. Wings hidden, but horns longer and curving into a lyre shape; the right eye in red and the left in blue. His scars and her star-branded mark imprinted on them. Their shirt took their symbol of the heart in the black circle with a ring around it, and their jacket stayed much the same, but fluffier, with the Delta Rune blazed onto the back. Their shorts remained, but shoes were a thing of the past. They hadn't seen themselves but, somehow, they knew anyway.
They plunked into a sitting position, wide-eyed. There was a heaviness in their ribcage, and a warm, red light. It felt very safe. Frisk's memories clicked in her brother's mind instantly. Sans held back his own for just a moment before letting out a sigh and relinquishing them as well. They both had a lot of catching up to do.
Tears bubbled in their eyes as Frisk ran one of their hands across the mark on their ribcage, hidden beneath their shirt. She wrapped their arms around them and cooed quietly. "You didn't have to." Her voice was a lot clearer in the mix this time.
"I know." Sans wiped around their eye sockets gently.
She was sorry. Achingly sorry. So was he. She buckled and he held them and glowed to soothe her as she choked out ragged breaths.
"S'okay," he said quietly. "We're okay."
She nodded, stealing their right hand to wipe their eyes. "I d-didn't mean for...! It was the only way, a-and—"
Sans rubbed their snout and shushed her gently. He knew. It was okay. It was all okay. It was his fault— he was the one who couldn't hold it. She protested; didn't believe that for a second. For her, there was no home without Sans in it. She had no choice. She'd do it again.
"Kid, no," he said quietly. "Not for me, you can't..." He wasn't worthy of that— it leaked from his soul before he could even attempt to conceal it.
Everything that was Frisk went into a tizzy. Her energy, bright and warm, wrapped around him and her thoughts babbled incredulously. The weight of the world was hers; it wasn't his burden, too, even though it'd been forced upon him.
He sighed quietly. He felt the same, but in reverse.
They slumped and cracked a smile. He latched onto her and pulled her into that feeling of warmth, too. They were such a mess. Their minds were set, but he was certain that it was never fair that it was hers alone. She was his kiddo, after all. If she was stuck with him, they could try to carry it together.
Her heart accepted before she had even a moment to fret about it. It was like the breaking of a fever. She needed the help, and they were stronger together. They all were.
They sat in their relief, glowing tears running down their face as they let the dark thoughts go. That titanic weight suddenly wasn't quite so much to carry anymore. They rubbed a hand over their skull and flopped back into the reeds. It was almost as if they were out in a grassy field above ground. They folded their arms behind their head. Frisk let out a quiet giggle. His voice in her cadence. Funny. He chuckled, too.
Existence was comfortable. It was a cool breeze. They chilled out. Didn't need to say a thing for a while. Every detail belonged to both of them, and the reactions were simultaneous. They watched the glittering crystals on the ceiling and rested. They lay their hand over their soul that shone purple and let it sing into the cave for a while, tinted starlight seeping out between their talons. They were a creature made of snugness.
"...You learned a lot," he said quietly.
"Mhm. You too." She sunk. "...I kinda missed this."
Their jaws parted and a deep, satisfied sigh slipped out past their dagger-sharp teeth. Frisk stretched out their big, clawed hands. The left was still missing its ring finger. She carefully held it with the other. It didn't really feel all that bad, after all. She smiled.
"You're brave," she said quietly.
He disagreed, but her sentiment overwhelmed him to the point where verbalizing it seemed wrong, somehow.
The warmth in her magic was like a cozy blanket. Both of them had been running on empty for quite a while. They sunk, skull getting heavy. They faintly wondered if they'd be able to actually stay awake in this form sometime without a job to do. For now, the answer was no. They were okay with that.
- - -
It was long past midnight. The kingdom was still and quiet in most places and was certainly not an incongruent, shifting mess any longer. At least, not in any way Gaster noticed.
The hole Papyrus had shot through to the surface was gone. So were the collapsed tunnels; the spires of crumbling stone. Streets that had been out of place were where they were supposed to be. For all intents and purposes, things were back to normal. Gaster, however, did not feel anywhere near the vicinity of normal.
The old skeleton found himself drifting around the kingdom for some time, lost in his thoughts. He wasn't quite aware until he found himself opening the door to the lab as if on autopilot. The contrast of the heat outside and the cool within snapped him briefly back into focus.
He stepped into the dark, and rubbed his head as he closed the door behind him. He supposed this place was still what the back of his mind considered to be going home. He'd have to fix that.
He stared across the lab, to the door on the other side. He could simply walk across and step through. He could grasp onto one of those starbursts that he himself had sliced and jettison himself back to Snowdin. He did neither of those things.
Instead, Gaster paced. He wandered the lab, looking at old contraptions he'd worked on, or new ones Alphys had built in his absence. He was so tired, and yet, his mother's voice echoed inside his head. She had imagined a future so bright and glowing past the end of the war that hadn't even happened in her time. She had been so proud of him before she'd ever even met him. His finger absently traced one of scars on his face. Would she still be, knowing what he'd done to the world?
He caught sight of his glowing eyes in one of the mirrored walls. He let out a little sigh and tried his best to suppress it.
A clunk of metal drew his attention and he looked off down the hall. It didn't sound quite as if something had fallen somewhere. A door, maybe. He turned back and sure enough, after a little while, he heard a familiar voice calling.
"H-Hello, is there someone d-down here?"
"Just me, Alphys," Gaster replied.
"Ah...!" The little lizard, dressed in a baggy t-shirt with an anime catgirl on it, rounded the corner of the hallway and smiled at him. "G-Good!"
"Good?" he repeated.
She nodded swiftly. "Aah, I was in s-such a rush to head out and I r-realized I forgot to lock the doors, but I figured it w-was late s-so who would really be out? But then I g-got an alert someone c-came in, so I thought I had to come check, and U-Undyne was busy, and I figured I c-could just come super quick, and...!" She laughed quietly. "I'm glad it's j-just you."
Gaster chuckled. "Sorry to drag you out of bed. I was just... wandering, I guess."
Alphys shook her head. "I-It's okay," she said. "I, um... Well, I sort of wanted to, um, check on you, anyway. Did you get m-my texts?"
"Your...?" Gaster's soul stuttered. He reached into his pocket for his phone and pulled it out, but the screen was dark. "I'm sorry, I had it turned off." He pressed on the power button to boot it up and shot her a puzzled look. "Why did you want to check on me?"
Alphys gave him a look as if he'd grown a second head. Gaster blinked. The lizard smiled sympathetically.
"G-Gaster, come on," she said.
"I'm alright," he said.
"Of c-course you're not," she said. "Or else you'd be at home w-with your kids."
The skeleton opened his mouth to protest; realized she was right and changed his mind. He puffed out a little sigh. "I suppose there's been a lot on my mind."
"Well, I don't think anyone c-could, um, really blame you for that, huh?" She beckoned to him. "C-Come on."
Gaster looked a little puzzled, but Alphys merely waved more insistently. The skeleton followed after her.
Their stroll was quiet and comfortable, but Gaster was still waiting for her to speak. She brought him to the room filled up with fridges and freezers and began to search within them. As she did, Gaster checked his phone. He did indeed have quite a few texts from her.He also had several from a number he didn't recognize— Scathkath on a new phone, presumably, judging from the messages, and from Frisk. His bones chilled and his soul ached. It wasn't as if it was a mystery that he'd taken a walk, he told himself. He was never in any danger. Papyrus and Sans had both been there when he stepped out. So, where was this feeling coming from?
Alphys let out a pleased little exclamation that almost made the old skeleton jump. She pulled out a chilly ginger soda for him. He took it with a grateful nod. She grabbed one as well and opened it up. It fizzed loudly and she quickly slurped up the sugary drink from the top before it spilled.
"Whew. S-So. This all was really, um, something else, huh?" she said.
Gaster nodded. "I should really thank you."
"M-Me?" Alphys's eyes widened. "Why?"
"You were absolutely instrumental in a lot of our success," he said. "You... remember that, don't you?"
"Well...! Sort of." She smiled sheepishly. "It's just a little, u-um, weird? T-To, uh, put it all in order, I guess."
"I understand," he said.
Alphys blushed. She took a quick swig of her drink. "So. Did you hear what, um, A-Asgore did earlier?" she asked.
"I'm... not sure I did," he said.
"He asked Undyne if s-she wanted to be a Dreemurr." The lizard glowed with a pride. "Sh-She totally said yes."
Gaster smiled. He popped his can's tab. "Good. I'm surprised he didn't do it sooner."
"Sh-She said that h-he said he was w-waiting for a perfect time, b-but with everything, decided to just, um, go for it." Alphys smiled fondly. "I'm r-really glad, too." She took another fizzy sip. "Undyne a-also got a bus f-for us tomorrow."
"A... bus," he repeated.
"Yeah!"
When Gaster still simply stared, bemused, she laughed quietly.
"Oh. Oops. I g-guess Sans didn't mention? We're going to go help Mister, uh... Oh, what was the family name...?" She scrunched up her snout and then quickly waved a hand. "N-Never mind. Boyd. We're doing, u-um, a road trip to go help him get his daughter back t-tomorrow."
"Are we?" Gaster's eyes widened. "Huh."
"Yup! So, th-there should be room for everyone to go, this t-time." Her dark eyes brightened. "So, wh-what do you think, up for it?" She grinned and continued before he could answer. "Oh! I b-bet it'd be nice for you a-and Frisk to see the outside like that together. You haven't, um, d-done that very much, right?"
Gaster hesitated. He quietly sipped his soda. "I... I'm not sure."
"Uh. Huh?!" Alphys squeaked. "R-Really? Why n-not?!"
"They've probably seen enough of this stupid old mug for a lifetime, hm?"
"That w-wasn't you," she said with a frown.
"I know."
"You sh-should definitely come," Alphys insisted. "I know it's, um, a rescue thing, but I think it'll be fun, too." She cracked an awkward smile. "I didn't r-really get to go last time, so..." She fixed an uncharacteristically serious gaze on him. "Please come."
The old skeleton sighed softly. He accidentally dented the can in his grip a little with his fingertips. Alphys stared at him. She frowned, finished her soda, tossed the can away, and approached him with her arms out. He bent to hug her and she gripped him tightly.
"I-I know it's... t-tough," she said quietly. "I r-really do, okay?"
Gaster grimaced. "I... honestly don't know how to face them," he said quietly.
Alphys pulled back, lightly grasping his arms. "Y-You don't have to worry about that! I know it! Wh-What happened out there i-isn't your fault."
"...It is."
"Gaster!" the lizard squeaked. "C-Come on. You're not...! You know you're n-not responsible f-for...! For some weird multi-dimensional j-jerks out there!"
"I am responsible for them finding us at all," he said. "If I hadn't been so impatient to cure Sans once the dreams started breaking through, I doubt any of this would have happened." He rubbed his face. "If I had just... taken more time. Shored up Sans's bones. Found out more about Frisk's powers before sending her out without any help. I..." He gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I panicked, and I was so incredibly stupid. And now my daughter and my nephew— who have already been through so much— had to take all of that responsibility onto themselves, and Sans had to endure a bloody nightmare, and—"
"C-Comewatchsomethingwithme!" Alphys blurted.
Gaster froze up. He felt a little sick, and he stared down at the little lizard with wide eyes. "Pardon?"
"Sorry," she said quickly, waving her hands. "Sorry s-sorry sorry. I... I j-just...!" She shook her head swiftly as if to scold herself and she took one of his hands in both of hers. "I j-just think, you should...! You should c-come to Undyne's with me! And we could...! We c-could watch some anime!"
"...What, right now?" he said. "It's almost three in the morning."
"Y-Yeah, but... Y-You're still ten years behind on basically e-everything, and if you don't want to go home, y-you shouldn't just stay here in the dark f-feeling bad for yourself!" She smiled bashfully. "T-Trust me. I... I know."
"Alphys..." He appreciated it, more than he could articulate, but... "I wouldn't want to intrude—"
She shook her head. "Y-You wouldn't be. Undyne's still a-awake planning the trip and trying to find S-Suzy, a-and I'm not going to sleep again, I just had a whole soda pop."
Gaster hardly knew what to say. The lizard stared at him intently. He couldn't help but wilt a little. He sipped the ginger soda and cursed himself in his head. He earnestly did need the time to try to figure out what on earth he was going to say to his children. Especially to Frisk. Every aspect of his existence seemed to disrupt hers, specifically.
"...Alright," he said quietly. "Thank you."
Alphys lit right up. She clapped her hands together and beckoned to him to lead him out of the room again. She started to ramble right away, and though Gaster was happy to hear it and tried to keep up, his mind was spinning. He pulled out his phone again and, finally, opened up Frisk's texts.
Predictable messages wondering where he was and if he was alright greeted him and made his soul turn to ice. He considered sending nothing back. It was so late. He didn't want her phone to buzz and wake her up after she'd gone through so much. She was probably beyond exhausted. Then again, maybe anything at all was better than nothing.
He meant to send an okay-hand emoji to, of course, signal that he was okay. His thumb slipped and he hit the goat-horns hand instead. He wasn't sure that an ancient royal salute was going to mean anything to her— or why that was an icon in the list, either— but at least she'd know he wasn't in a heap or in the lake or anything in that vein.
He felt like a fool. A tired, old fool, who couldn't bring himself to properly face a ten year old. He'd have to get over that, and quickly.