It is done...

"Lady Toriel! What're we gonna do!? The school walls won't hold forever and when they get through we'll-"

"Please, I know the circumstances are dire but for the sake of the children I urge you not to panic"

"Not to panic!? Do you know what those things do to you? What they'll do to our kids? Panicking seems like the only right thing to do! I'm about to explode!"

"I only ask that you in this time of crisis make a good example for the children. When the crisis is over and you return home you can-"

"Make a good example!? Return home!? Have you taken even a look outside!? This is the end! We're all doomed!"

Toriel sighed as the crowd of monsters seeking refugee inside her school once again descended into panicked and fearful gibbering. She didn't blame them, considering what might happen if the school walls, reinforced with protective magic to keep the void spirits out for a time, fell.

But her heart bled the most for the children gathered in a corner of the PE hall, huddled in blankets and most of them in tears, not understanding why all the adults and their parents were being so hysteric. With what the void spirit did to one once they got hold of you she understood why many might find it difficult to face such an end with any kind of dignity, but for the sake of not scaring the children any further, she still urged them not to despair.

She raised her voice again, trying to bring some measure of order over the shrieking crowd but to no avail, some members of the crowd even telling her to shut up.

With a grunt of frustration, she stepped out of the crowd, pondering what to do. She needed a break, to clear her head, but the kids also needed reassurance. They might still have a few hours until the protective magic faltered and if she could provide just some measure of comfort in their final hours then it might just be worthwhile.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an island of calm in the panicking adults, a pair of dark-yellow-colored reptilian monsters, male and female, both armless that unlike the other adults were completely calm… albeit still fixing her with disdainful glares.

Something bade her approach them. If there were any animosity between her and someone else she wanted to settle it while she still had the chance, and there was something familiar about the pair. As she drew near the monsters straightened up and squared their shoulders, as if preparing to take a Final Froggit head-on. As they did Toriel finally realized why they seemed so familiar and at once she understood why they might have animosity with her, or at least, the Dreemurr name.

They were Monster Kid's parents.

"Hello, Toriel" The female one said coldly.

"Greetings" she replied "It is good to see that you made it to safety. The announcement was sent out with regrettably little notice"

"Oh, I don't know why we even bothered, not like we got much left to lose" the male one said with a bitter chuckle, looking the hall over "Last time I was here was quite a few years ago, watching my son participate in the annual Summer Run. Was a good memory. Looks like it's gonna die here with the rest of us"

Toriel's face fell "Sir, we all regret what happened to your son… but I assure you, he gave his life to save us all. He is a hero and I promise you he will never be forgotten"

"I don't want my son to be a hero, I want him to be alive!" The female one suddenly burst with a snarl. Toriel didn't flinch but still felt her heart break as the anger on the female one's face quietly turned into sorrow and water pooled in her eyes.

She understood the unimaginable sorrow of losing a child, after all, and for a moment a splinter of that old pain tore into her soul.

The male one leaned against his wife, wrapping his tail around her. His voice was still calm and quiet but carried a rumble that betrayed the anguish he bore.

"Please understand, we don't blame you, Toriel, not wholly, at least" he quietly added "But were it not for your son dragging ours along on such a dangerous trip, his Crownquest no less, our son would've never..." he grimaced and looked away, taking a deep breath to compose himself.

"Your son has cost us dearly, Toriel. Not just me and my wife but all of monsterkind if this rumor that he might be involved in these void spirits breaking loose are true"

She nodded quietly. The urge to defend her son and deny the rumor rose to her mind, but she wouldn't lie, not now, in the end.

"If it is any consolation, he, along with my daughter, are risking life and soul right now to try and stop all of this" she explained.

"Even if they succeed can you even begin to imagine the damaged that has been done already!? The lives lost and families ruined by the void spirits!?" the female one snarled "All because of your damned kids! Because they felt like they had something to prove!"

"That is not-" Toriel began but the dinosaur gave her no leeway.

"Your son, our 'king'" she spat "is a murderer and a coward. He dragged my boy with him because he couldn't face his Crownquest alone and now he might very well have finished the rest of us off. Some 'Dragon of Ebott' he turned out to be"

"Please, this isn't-"

"We'd be better off if we had stayed Underground… if your Asriel had never returned" she said coldly before turning her back and walking away.

Toriel felt a coldness running through her body. As much as it had hurt hearing such a denunciation of her son she was at least grateful he hadn't been there to hear it in person. After his Crownquest he had fully committed himself to being a protector of their people, helped along by Undyne's training. It was his duty and penance, he had explained, for all the horror and suffering he had unleashed upon the as a flower. He had done well the past many years but still, being called a murderer was one of the best ways to trigger his past traumas. If he had heard that there were still people that considered him such, it would have broken him.

She only hoped that him meeting Chara, one so deeply involved with his greatest regrets wouldn't do even worse to him.

"I can't believe this, least of all from you, Frisk. I throw you into a world in which your world is turned upside down and you barely flinch. I throw you into one where everything is sunshine and farting out rainbows and you go and stab another kid just to spite me. Well, mission accomplished! What the fuck!?" Chara snarled, their speech somewhat slurred by the mass of chocolate cookies they were chewing on.

"We told you, this isn't our world, regardless of how awesome it is" Frisk shot back.

"Please Chara, just stop this. We need your help sealing the Void Spirits away. If you can't do that then at least send us back" Asriel backed her up.

Chara turned towards him fully, wiping some chocolate chip residue from her chin "And you! You little traitor! I remember a time where you could barely watch someone step on a friggin' daisy without bawling your eyes out, yet here you are, throwing fireballs at people like it was going out of style and breaking poor dad's heart, again, just to spite me"

"Chara, we-"

"Where was this resoluteness when we first went to the surface together, huh!? As far as I remember you were too chicken to even defend yourself while those yokels cut you up like a piece of meat! If you had had even the slightest bit of gumption then as you'd shown here imagine how much better things would have turned out!"

"And as far as I remember it was your idea that got yourself, then me, killed! I'm sorry I didn't agree to your genocidal plan all the way, but I just figured that, hey, maybe restarting the war that got us all trapped Underground wasn't the smartest move!" Asriel snarled back, stomping down to get his point across.

Chara actually seemed surprised at his retort for a moment, and it occurred to him that this moment was his first-ever raising his voice in anger at his sibling.

The First Child suddenly narrowed their eyes direly, a glint in them hinting that a thought had occurred to them.

"Oh, I see, so that's how it is…" they said quietly "The reason for all of this, the reason you can't just let me hand you over a happy ending… is that you still carry a grudge"

"What!? No! That's not-"

"Oh, I get it. If I had gotten eternally horizontal due to someone else's bad planning I'd be mighty pissed off too. But that's not the case here. I handed you god-like powers on a silver-platter, Azzy, and all you had to do was flex your fingers at some no-name nobodies. Hell, I even screamed at you to do it in the moment! I did my part of the deal, Brother, you DO NOT get to pin this on me"

"Th-that's not what I meant, Chara"

"Funny… this all reminds me of a little story. When I was still living on the surface, my dad once drunkenly asked me to get him a case of beers, and like a good little demon I huddled down to the store, bearing all the insults and threats thrown at me. When I got back home with the beer, a few scrapes, and bruises richer, my dad immediately got furious because he chipped a friggin' tooth on one of the beers because he forgot to remove the cap first… Guess who got blamed for that, and a hundred other similar accidents"

Chara shook their head with a bitter chuckle. "And here you are, doing the very same. I trusted you, you know. I thought you, all of you monsters, were better than humans. That you didn't lie and conspire and held petty grudges. Boy, did you pull the wool over my eyes"

Chara looked away while a mad smile slowly crept onto their face. They threw their arms around as to gesture to the whole world around them.

"Is this really it? No matter what I do, no matter where I go people will always lie, cheat and point their grubby little fingers" they muttered with a defeated tone. Asriel wanted to step in but stopped as he noted how the floor, walls and even the very air around Chara grew dark as if the First Child were sucking out all the light around them.

"Godammit, I thought dying would at least put an end to all this bullcrap, but no, even as a spook people still keep deceiving" All around them shapes were appearing from the darkness, bearing attires from past and present and bearing looks of eternal hunger. Void Spirits.

Frisk didn't seem to notice as she took an angry step towards the First Child. "That's not fair and you know it! You lied to mom and dad, you lied to Asriel and look where it got you! If anyone is pointing fingers it's you!"

Chara slowly craned their head towards Frisk with sad, empty eyes "Then what's the point of it all? If all we ever do, if all we all are at heart is nothing but liars and cheats then what's the point? The whole world is a farce, this one, the one you want to return to, every one, it's all a miserable pile of secrets and lies"

"Our love for you was never a lie, Chara. If you can't see that then the only one who is lying here is you" Asriel said resolutely.

Chara turned her head to him with a curious look and maybe, just maybe, a hint of the trust they once shared a long time ago.

Before They could respond the first of Void Spirits fully materialized, darting from the darkness and towards the Dreemurr Kids, one of them bowling the First Child over.

"Oh Crap! Did I do that!? I didn't mean to-" They shouted.

Brightness filled the room as a fireball from Asriel dissipated a Void Spirit, then another, but for each one banished another 3 sprung into life around Chara.

"Run! Up the stairs!" Frisk shouted, tugging on the Prince as he attempted to retreat while simultaneously trying to keep the maddened souls at bay. Chara was half-heartedly beseeching them to stop but in their state couldn't muster up the will to calm them.

They reached the stairs. Asriel leaving a barrage of fireballs in their wake, courtesy of Undyne's training. Usually, he'd have been able to keep it up for hours, but with his smaller body and a smaller amount of magic in it he could already feel the weariness settling in.

One of the spirits leaped off a table towards Frisk, arms outstretched to tear the soul right out of her, but all it found was a faceful of fire.

Another trio jumped on the opportunity, rushing in unison at them. Asriel spun into a reverse-roundhouse, sending a wave of fire out from the arc of his leg. The firewall dispersed the trio and sent the rest scattering, but the move had taken so much from him he collapsed on his leg as he landed. Eager hands pulling him up didn't allow him to stay down for long, however. "We gotta scoot!" Frisk barked, practically carrying him up the stairs.

The firewall dissipated as they reached the top and the spirits roared after them with renewed hunger.

"Come on, goat-butt, we just gotta get to our room!" Frisk ordered the staggering monster who half-stumbled, half-dragged after her.

Frisk's hand clamped down on the door handle the second the first of the void spirits reached the top of the stairs and sprinted down after them. Asriel meekly raised a paw but all he managed was a puff of smoke and sparks.

With one hand throwing the door open and the other throwing Asriel in, Frisk got them both inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

Asriel did his best to get to his feet and ready to fend off the spirits when they got in. He had seen how they had phased through walls back when they first broke into the world at the conference center and he doubted a wooden door would fare any better.

Which was why he almost jumped in surprise when instead of snarling ghosts coming through the door, it instead rocked and shook as they pounded on it from outside.

"What the…" he quietly mused before noticing a small necklace hanging on the door.

"Your… your Heart Locket?" he said out loud before his legs gave out and he collapsed on his behind.

"Yeah, it was a bit of a gamble, but honestly, our lockets have been through so much I'd be surprised if they weren't just the tiniest bit magical by now. I'm just happy it was of the protective kind" Frisk explained, awkwardly scratching the back of her head.

Asriel meekly reached into his shirt to grasp his own locket. He hadn't even considered it but maybe it made sense, he thought, remembering how his mother once told him how Friendship was a ward against many fears of the world, he just never expected it to be so literal, but Frisk was a known cause of surprises after all.

"Well, looks like we're safe for the time being at least" Frisk said, punctuated by a dull thud as Asriel splayed out on the floor in weariness, just now realizing how winded he was.

"Stars… this used… to be a lot easier… when I was older" he said in-between labored breaths.

"It's all those lard-slugs you've been eating, tend to stick to the sides" Frisk huffed and plumped down on the bed.

For a few moments, the only noise in the room was the muffled pounding and snarling of the Void Spirits right outside their door, none of them seemed to notice as their minds raced to figure out what to do now. At least this timeline's versions of their friends and families seemed safe from the Void Spirits as time was frozen, as they had ignored them in their escape.

"So… what now?" Asriel posed after a while, sitting back up "We have to get to Chara. They're the only one who can stop all this and-"

"Then we need to go outside" Frisk cut in.

"Huh? Outside?" Asriel wondered. Frisk nodded towards the window in their room overlooking the street and as he sauntered over he saw, true enough, Chara, on the other side of the street looking up at them, surrounded by wandering void spirits.

"What are they doing?" Frisk asked out loud.

"... I'm not sure they know themselves" Asriel shot back "But we somehow have to get to them. I can get through to them, I know it"

He could almost hear how Frisk's lips curled into a worried sneer like she always did when she got a dangerous but usually effective plan. Asriel tried to shut it out for a moment, focusing on the 2 two red pinpricks that constituted Chara's eyes, still clearly visible from so far away. He could only imagine what was going on just behind them, what thoughts they were having. Just as they fled the living room they actually looked somewhat moved by his words. They were still in there somewhere.

"So… I might have an idea" Frisk sighed after a while.

"Does it involve me dressing up as someone else and you putting me in chains again?"

"Why do you always bring that up? That was one time and don't tell me you didn't like it at least a little bit!"

"I would have liked it better if you hadn't marched me into an underground slave pit"

"What if I had marched you into our bedroom"

"Uhh, no comment"

"Yeah… well, in any case, you're going to like this even less I think" Frisk plumped down in the bed again, taking a deep breath.

"So… long story short; we need to get you to Chara. There's a lot of Void Spirits in the way. I can't do magic so I can't fend them off. You can, but not for as long as we need" Frisk surmised.

"All true"

"Which means we need to get you some extra juice"

"And where would we get that?"

"You're looking at it"

"Looking at it? What do you-" The moment the Knife of Realization sunk into Asriel he felt his paw curl into a fist, almost ready to lash out at Frisk for even daring to suggest what she was suggesting.

"No, no, no, no. Frisk, you can't- you can't do that to me. You can't ask that of me!"

"It'll be fine"

"Chara said the exact same thing when they told me this kind of plan! You wanna know how that ended!? Hope you got a while because, golly, it's a story continuing well into today!" Asriel snarled.

"The difference is you had a choice back then! And forgive me for not bringing my vanity specs but I don't see that we have any now!"

Asriel staggered back, pulling on his stubby horns in a rising panic.

"Bu-but what about you!? If I take your soul you'll-"

"Flowey was kept alive through pure Determination, right? Well, I HAVE been called Determined a few times in my life"

"But you'll be just like Flowey, then!"

"Then maybe I can understand what all the fuss is about. And hey, it's not like its indefinite. If I give you my soul you gotta give me a pinky promise you'll hand it back"

"... How can you be so casual about all of this?"

Frisk offered a wry smile and quick shrug "It's easy enough if there's only one thing we can do. No reason to worry over alternatives that aren't there"

Asriel couldn't quite suppress a dumbfounded chuckle at her logic. It made sense… he supposed.

"Child of peace, indeed" he thought.

"I just… I got a very bad feeling about this plan, Frisk. It's the same kind of plan that ruined my life, several timelines too"

"I know" Frisk nodded somberly "But this time you're out to save people, this time you'll be using your powers for good, not just as a pawn for someone wanting to get one last petty lash out at humanity"

Asriel was quiet, his face low and his paws clenched at his side. The event of the first time played out in his head; Chara slowly succumbing to the poison, him taking their soul, the humans that kept hitting him, his death. Every particle of dust in his being screamed out "NO!"

But in the end, he trusted Frisk more than himself.

"Well, this is a right mess. You jokers weren't even supposed to be here" Chara spoke to a pair of void spirits, one of which clutched its stomach in pained hunger and the other glaring holes in the room the Dreemurr Kids were inside across the street.

"I'm not mad, though. I guess I did kinda leave the door open. Doesn't mean I'm running an open-door policy or anything, but it's whatever. Whaddya think they're doing up there?" They put to the spirits. The first one responded with a pained wail and collapsed on the street while the other turned it's piercing gaze towards Chara.

"You don't know either? I suppose it was a stupid question. I thought I knew that little fuzzball, but it looks like little goody-two-shoes Frisky has been a good influence on him… maybe a little too good" Chara added with distaste.

"This whole ride has been one giant emotional rollercoaster. I die believing I've been hoodwinked and that there are only liars in the world. I rake and claw my way out of the Void to get some payback and now that I'm finally here I'm getting doubts because the Prince of Fuzz has grown into his horns and my replacement human has a soul as clean as a baby's butt. Just couldn't just be simple, could it?"

The void spirit looked down at Chara's feet. Sniffling and slowly shaking its head.

"Oh, c'mon! Don't you start too! I can't just send them back to their timeline and seal all your suckers back in the Void! I mean, I can, but that would mean everything I've done goes down the toilet! It would mean I would lose! It would mean…"

Chara's face fell, casting a shadow over it, full of frustration and gritted teeth "It would mean… I would never… see them again…"

The Void spirit suddenly snapped its attention back to the window across the street. The air was building with an overwhelming magically charged atmosphere. Chara could practically feel their hairs stand on end despite not having a body. All around, the sprits were doing the same; stopping what they were doing and turning to regard whatever was going on.

"What in the world-" Chara managed before the whole side of the Dreemurr Residence was suddenly blown out, exposing the living room, the kitchen, Asriel and Frisk's room.

As well as something Chara had never thought they would see again. The long, black robes, the dark lines on its face.

The God of Hyperdeath. Eyes closed and hovering just above the ground.

They took a step back in stunned disbelief "You absolute mad lad… Didn't see that one coming" they whispered out loud.

The absolutely phenomenal amount of power radiating from the god caused an uproar amongst the Void spirits. Screaming and shouting they charged at him but as they got close bolts of fiery lightning shot out, banishing them.

The God of Hyperdeath hovered down to the street as softly as if he was riding a cloud, the claws on his feet just a few centimeters shorts of touching the pavement.

His eyes opened up, one alight with a red flame and the other with a white one.

"Chara" he said out loud with a voice echoing with power, but also a tint of resoluteness Chara swore wasn't there the last time they had seen him.

"Well, well, never thought my own plan would ever come back to bite me in the butt" Chara huffed "I'm guessing Frisk put you up to this?"

The God of Hyperdeath nodded "Without her having to die"

"Figures"

"... you knew it was possible? Giving a soul without having to die?"

"You would have have been better off without a demon, or, worse, a human like me around anyway. Asriel, c'mon, you almost sound like I didn't spend at least an hour a day talking about much I wanted to just... go away"

The God Of Hyperdeath's paws clenched at his side and around him, small patches of grass burst into flames.

"Out deaths were what lead to all of this, Chara! It's about high time it ended!"

"Then just accept the happy ending I got planned for all of you"

"I don't want a 'happy ending', I want My ending! One where everything me and my friends have gone through actually means something! I'm done having my destiny handed to me… even if it's by you" he added direly.

"Heh, gotta say, as goddamn annoying it is, I can't help but like this fierce side of you, Azzy. The old you would have folded like a wet cardboard box by now" Chara spread their hands out and closed them into fists. All around them the air shimmered as they prepared to tear the veil between worlds apart again.

"But I got one last trick up my sleeve. I haven't exactly been ignorant of all your shenanigans, even just after we died, and as much as I wanted to get my hands on you after what you did, well… Let's just say I'm not the only one" Chara finished with a dark slasher grin before pulling their hands to themselves. Around them, 4 dimensional holes opened up.

Asriel steeled himself, prepared for whatever might come out. With Frisk's human soul he doubted there was any opponent he couldn't overcome, even the likes of Caderas, Valantis or even Omega Flowey.

He saw a figure appear in one of the holes, and took a deep breath as he prepared for whatever might come out. He almost choked on the air as the figure turned out not to be a fiend of the past. It was somehow much worse.

Out of the dimensional rift a haggard and disheveled Toriel staggered out, leaking dust and blood from a myriad of cuts and wounds. One eye was an empty crater while the other almost glowed with madness and regret as it settled on the God of Hyperdeath. Despite her nightmarish appearance, Asriel found her voice, raspy and deathly as it was the scariest, as it still carried a remnant of her maternal affection.

"A-Asriel… is that you…?" she hissed "What… why have you done this? To us? To… yourself? First a flower, now this?"

Asriel was so stunned he hadn't even realized another figure had stepped out of the second portal before he heard the tell-tale baritone of his dad's voice, as raspy and decayed as Toriel's.

"Asriel? You- why would you do all this? To your family? That flower… it was you? I would have never… thought…"

A small figure clad in purple and blue stepped out of the 3rd rift, not as bruised or battered as his tortured forms of Toriel and Asgore, but still damaged. Frisk, but with dull eyes, empty frown and somewhat grayish skin that told Asriel that this was a soulless vessel; a Frisk without any of her Determination or characteristics.

"H-hey, give it back. My soul" she whimpered in a way that almost reminded him of Alphys in her most scared moments "I don't like it like this. I-I really don't. I can't feel anything"

Asriel felt a cold run down his back, knowing his own Frisk was going through the same. He was all too well the all-encompassing hole of emptiness one's entire life became once one's soul was gone.

A similar-sized and shaped figure emerged from the final portal. Another Chara, seemingly more confused than anything, looking wild-eyed back and forth at everyone.

"Well, well, well! Look who's come to visit! Sad remnants from abandoned and destitute timelines" The ghostly Chara declared with arms spread wide. They walked up to the tormented Toriel.

"Chara? My child… alive? How can this be" she muttered.

"Wow, you really did a number on this one. I've heard about certain flowers being spicy, me having scarfed down some myself, as you might recall, but this Flowey persona of yours seemed to have been as spicy as an acid bath!" Chara said with an appreciative whistle, completely deaf to the shell-shocked monster.

Asriel closed his eyes and nodded "I remember. The 54th run. Flowey convinced mom to become a school teacher… then killed her whole class in front of her, saving her for last" he said.

"Woah, and this is the same Asriel that thought filming me with the cap on the camera was a real knee-slapper of a prank. Guess dyings' a good a reason as any to turn heel, huh?" Chara said with a grin, traipsing over to the just as mangled Asgore.

"And here we have-"

"33rd run. Flowey beat, bound and gagged dad, then forced him to watch a theatrical re-enactment of our deaths over and over again" Asriel cut in.

Chara regarded the floating God of Hyperdeath with a look of curiosity at his neutral tone of voice. Asriel didn't see it but he knew, he knew what Chara's plan had been, what their aim of bringing in the remnants of timelines Flowey had destroyed was; a final caustic reminder that would, at last, convince him to give up on his own timeline, so filled with lost hope and crushed dreams as it may be.

But, in seeing the remnants, all he had been reminded of was what had come before, all that had to be sacrificed for his and Frisk's world to come to be. He might as well tear out his own soul if he turned his back on it all.

The only thing, the best thing he could do for these sad remnants were for them to never be forgotten, to not let the future their demise had brought about be left behind. All of it, from when he had died with his sibling to this very moment had led to this.

And as Frisk had once shown pity on a small boy who thought he could not be saved, so would he do it to all the souls left behind in Timelines he had ruined.

He approached the mangled Toriel and reached a paw out. She flinched for a moment, taking a step back, turning her remaining eye from the outstretched paw to his face and back again.

"I'm sorry, mom. I know what you have gone through. You and everyone. None of it would have happened if I had been stronger"

The hesitation vanished from Toriel's features as if hearing his voice had reawakened a long-dormant maternal instinct. She stepped forward, reaching out for his paw.

To their side, the tormented Asgore approached as well, though it was hard to read his face beneath all the dried dust and wounds.

"You as well, dad. You taught me everything about being a worthy king, yet I spend so long being the exact opposite. But not anymore"

He brought Toriel into a hug, and as Asgore got close he too joined in. A white light slowly began emanating from the center of their bodies, bright without being blinding.

"You won't be forgotten. Not ever. All you've gone through, all you've suffered, it won't be in vain. I swear, I will always remember you for as long as I live. I love you, mom… dad."

The light grew in intensity until it completely obscured the 3 Dreemurrs. The ghostly Chara raised a hand to shield her eyes but found they didn't need to, their hand being translucent notwithstanding.

The light began dimming, revealing a single figure left standing; the God of Hyperdeath.

"Wh-who-wh-what just happened?" Chara muttered, stunned.

"I gave them peace. Just like I made peace with my past" the quiet, calm voice of the God replied. He turned his head to Chara "And just like it's time for you to make with yours"

"Well, I-" The ghostly Chara began.

"What in the world are you doing!?" The corporeal Chara one suddenly burst in, stomping up to the ghostly Chara.

"Can't say I can figure out neither head nor hair of what's going on here, but it sure seems like you're trying to pull some sick bullcrap on our brother here, and you know what? That ain't level with me, nor you and you know it!"

"I… I…"

"I'm… pretty sure I would agree" the soulless Frisk chimed in "I just wanted everyone to be happy, but you can't do that if you force them to live how You want it, instead of letting them chose how to live their own lives. The freedom to create your own path is essential if you ever want to be truly content with who you are"

"Gghh, god, even without a soul you're still a halo away from being an angel"

"And so could you be, if you would just do the right thing" Asriel kneeled down to the ghostly Chara "I want my own timeline, but I also want you in it, Chara. You have the power to save it all, to seal the Void Spirits back and save everyone! To save the monsters! Wasn't that what you always wanted?"

"I think that's what I would have wanted you to do" the Soulless Frisk chimed in.

"It would be a crime, not to fix time, you snotty sack of slime" The live Chara rhymed, looking mighty pleased with themselves.

The ghostly Chara looked at each of the people around them, ghostly, shaking fists at their side. Their teeth gritted as they tried to summon up one last retort.

But none of them, not even the soulless Frisk, nor the God of Hyperdeath, not even their own self from another timeline seemed to be even in the slightest bit of doubt.

"...fine…"

"Chara! You'll- you'll do it?" Asriel gasped.

"I just wanted to give you a happily ever after, but if you all really want to go back to your own timeline… then I guess I've messed with your life enough already" they drew a deep breath and reached their hands into the air "Hold onto your butts, I've never really done anything like this before, and I imagine it'll be about as pleasant as a Pyrope and Ice Hat marriage"

Before Asriel could as much as thank his long lost sibling, the effect of their tampering with time itself became evident. At once, it felt like he was pulled apart and compressed. Lifted up and mashed down into the ground. The world around him shimmered and shifted as if in a haze. Everything became unclear.

Then he began falling. Up, down, left, right, back and forth, neither and all directions at once. Scenes and images from countless timelines flashed before him. Each created from the minutest difference in a choice made by him or those close to him, each creating an array of hundreds of new futures.

But there was only one for him.

He could feel it without really knowing how. Something primal within him simply told him that his timeline was closing in. He tried to look down, or up, or whatever direction it is he was falling, but just as he did he hit something and crashed through.

He tensed up, expecting pain from the crash, but as he released all he could feel was sun on his far, a summer breeze, and the soft footfalls of someone approaching.

All clashing with an unnerving feeling of something being not quite right.

"Frisk, Asriel… Welcome Home"

First of all, allow me to say, if you think the ending felt rushed, maybe even anti-climactic then I can only agree. When I first set out to write this story I figured it would end in a confrontation between Frisk, Asriel and Chara, although I wasn't really sure how it would pan out at the time, I figured it would come to me as I went on... that wasn't quite the case, at least, not as well as I had hoped.

Instead, I figured it was time to put the story to pasture, even if it meant rushing the ending while still leaving the possibility of a continuation. And yes, I know it sounds silly saying anything about this was rushed, seeing as it still took months, but, ehhhm, well, you see... boy, is it getting warm in here?

That aside, I might continue the story at another point, but for now, there's a new one I got in the works! (Cue shocked gasps). An AU of UT. I won't say too much yet, BUT! In order to ensure you won't have to wait for months on end for each chapter, I'm planning to write about half the story before I begin posting any of it.

I think you'll like it.

But for now, thank you all for reading the story. You've been great and I hope to see you all around :D