Please ensure to read the note at the end of the chapter.

I forgot to say in the last chapter, but Vitaking, if you're reading this... your move.

Toby Fox owns Undertale and all associated characters.

Muffet's grip on Grillby slacked as she fully rose, eyes wide. She took a slow step forward, slowly blinking, before she tore off the porch. "CHARA!" she screamed. That wasn't her child-she knew that-but even so...she couldn't lose this one as well!

Toriel, who had been frozen in shock for a moment, quickly followed Muffet's cue, hurling herself towards her daughter.

"No, no please!" she begged, falling next to what remained of Chara and desperately grasping at her form, unmindful of the burning hot metal that seared her hands. "Not again… you can't… not again!"

Grillby gasped, tearing after his wife, while the little Frisk clenched into Rex's shoulders, causing them to wince at the tightness of their grip. Then, they gave a ragged gasp as their legs gave out, and sent them both to the ground. Frisk stared straight ahead at nothing, their mind shutting down in an attempt to block it out.

The older Frisk was swiftly by his mother's side, gazing down at his sister in horror.

"Don't worry, Mom," he babbled, his tone laced with desperation. "Alphys made her this body, she can fix it! She'll be alright, you'll see. She's not… she can't be…" The boy began to break down, falling to his knees beside his mother.

Gerson stumbled to the steps, but at this point, he couldn't get any further as he peered out, going still as he waited. Dogamy rushed toward the fallen robot, and Mettaton looked down in shock and horror from above, the explosion playing over and over again in his mind.

From behind, Kid watched the spectacle, eyes wide. He had taken a single, tentative step forward, but now seemed completely unable to move as his body began to shake.

"Ch… Chara?" His voice was soft, trembling with pain and disbelief. Within himself, the teen felt his soul break at the sight before him.

Muffet slowed to a stop a bit away, a hand reaching out, before falling back to her side as a painful reminder came. That wasn't her Chara-it was not her place to come any closer. That didn't stop her from covering her face as tears escaped...or from dropping to her knees as Grillby finally caught up to her, flames dimming in concern and sorrow as he glanced between her, the body, and those around them.

Asgore started to approach his family where they knelt around Chara, then hesitated. Instead, he walked over to the porch, his face twisted in anguish.

"What… what was that?" the former king asked, looking between Gerson and Dogamy, his voice trembling with emotion. In the background, Alphys was helping Mettaton down from the roof while Toriel had begun emitting a keening wail, gathering up the charred metal in her arms and rocking back and forth on the ground, tears pouring down her face.

Dogamy looked back, confused and concerned, while Gerson stared. "...you don't know?" he asked quietly, staring in alarm as his hand clenched the railing on the porch tightly.

"I have never seen or felt anything like that before," Asgore stated quietly, his gaze falling back to his family.

Gerson looked to the king in confusion. "How...you and Toriel…" He shook his head, and then breathed out. "Those are Beast Monsters. They're former Monsters whose dark emotions have twisted them into feral creatures that react on nothing but primal instincts. They have no recollection of what they are and there is...no way to reverse what becomes of them. They're territorial, and will typically tear each other apart on their own unless they find...others to go after, like in this city."

As Gerson spoke, Asgore looked back to him in shock.

"I have… never heard of such a thing. How could it even happen?"

"We're tied to our emotions, it's like how our will to fight alters our strength in battle...we're connected like that. If a Monster starts to feel too much in things like misery, grief, anguish...those things are the results of such dark emotions piling up over time."

"We are tied far more to our emotions than Humans are," the Boss Monster acknowledged. "But… to transform into something like that…" He shook his head.

Meanwhile, Alphys was running up to where Toriel cradled the remnants of Chara in her arms, stopping in her tracks a few steps away when she realized what had happened. Frisk's tear-stained looked up pleadingly at her.

"Alphys! You… you can fix this, right?"

The reptile removed her helmet, then bit her lip, her gaze shifting from them to Mettaton who had come up from behind. She opened her mouth, but closed it, no words emerging as her eyes began to water.

The battered robot looked down, at the husk, and then jerked his head about, looking wildly around, his sensors going as high as his current state would allow, his magic even seeping out a bit. He started to say something, and then paused, for several long moments. "...everyone…" he stated softly, but drifted off, sorting out his words, unwilling to say what his senses were telling him.

Alphys hesitantly raised her arm, pointing it towards the husk and opening her palm. A soft glow emitted from her hand for a few moments, then faded.

"There's… there's no trace of magic left in the body," she murmured hollowly. "A-and… no sign of her magic signature… or her soul. I… I'm sorry."

"But I disappeared for a while, and I came back!" Frisk protested desperately. "You couldn't find me then, couldn't it be the same?"

"I'm not picking up anything either…" Mettaton stated slowly. "And ghost monsters can sense souls and magic. And if she was a ghost in a physical body, and it got destroyed like this…" He drifted off, not truly wanted to state the rest of what he knew. He had shut down some of his emotions, his tone quiet, but the voice didn't falter.

"You're more closely linked to her than anyone…" Alphys said quietly. "Can you sense anything?"

The only response the boy gave was to bow his head, a fresh wave of tears pouring down his face. He didn't look up as Asgore came up from behind, kneeling with them and pulling the family together, his tears quickly joining the others that threatened to form a small pool at the family's feet.

The others were stunned and quiet, motionless as it played out. Some took a few respective steps away, while back on the porch, the young Frisk buried their face into Rex's sweater, shutting it out, not wanting to see, not wanting to know that yet again, right before them...someone had been lost. Their magic hadn't come back yet… they knew that they couldn't undo this.

"Mettaton," Alphys said quietly, taking a step away from the grieving family and motioning for him to follow, keeping her voice low so that they wouldn't be overheard. "That creature… and the other ones from before, you recognised them… and so did everyone else from your side. You've seen things like this before?"

He gave a nod. "Yes...but never this many all at once-at least, not outside of the Abyss," he stated.

"I scanned them while we were fighting…" Alphys continued after a moment. "Their souls… they're twisted and broken. But at it's core… there was a familiar magical energy… the same type of energy that every Monster we met on your side of the Rift had."

The lights in the robot's eyes faded completely, before he jerked, the lights returning and a look of dread came to him. "...you don't mean…"

"They came from your side, didn't they?" Alphys's voice held no accusation in it's tone, only sadness and resignation. "When the Rift re-opened… it let them through, into our world."

"Oh gods…" Mettaton murmured, burying his face into his hands with a quiet moan. "They came from…" His voice drifted off, and then he shook his head. "But how-we would have already stumbled upon that amount back before the rifts if they could just roam freely…" Then, another sickening thing came to him. "Oh...gods, don't tell me it opened there…" The Abyss...if that was where it opened-!

"I'll find Sans and tell him about that… in case he hasn't figured it out already." Alphys replaced the helmet on her head. "If we can get the Rift under control… then we can stop more of those things from getting out."

"L-let me help, if it opened where I think it did, those creatures will be the least of our problems if we don't seal it."

Alphys hesitated for a split second, then nodded.

"We'll probably need all the help we can get… if they're coming from the Rift, there'll be more of them near there. And Undyne can only handle so many at once." Her boots began to power up. "Let's go… we have to deal with this quickly… before we lose anyone else."

The robot nodded. "I'll follow you from the ground," he assured. She took off, and he raced after her, unable to take flight until he could make repairs.

"-Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult to put the Rift back in its original position once I got to it," Sans explained to the otherworlders in Alphys's basement lab. The power had been knocked out during the battle, but the light from the Rift, now once again at it's former size, was more than sufficient to keep the room from falling into darkness. However, after what they had all experienced in the past few hours, the Rift's light was anything but comforting.

Most were stone silent, with Mettaton taking the reins of the conversation. Muffet was in no condition to talk, softly crying into her hands, while Grillby and Dogamy were beside her, trying to comfort her, though they knew it would do little good. Gerson had Napstablook on his shoulders, as the ghost didn't weigh anything at all. The old turtle was leaning against the wall, looking about ready to drop dead. Both were too tired to offer words.

Rex was beside them, making sure the old turtle didn't fall, while the little Frisk clung to their side, burying their face into the brightly colored sweater. They hadn't made a single sound since they were outside.

The robot nodded to Sans. "If that's the case, it should open up normally for us...we can handle things from here. I'll look into where the Rift opened earlier-I should be able to find a reading, and then I'll see where those things were coming from-see if I can take care of them. We...we'll also block off the rift-just in case. ...we'll make sure that something like this never happens again."

"Yeah, it should still sync up to where it was before," Sans agreed. "Once you guys get through… I'll seal it with magic." He hesitated for a moment. "Sorry none of the others could be here to see you off but…"

"...we understand-with all things considered," the robot murmured quietly. "We'll still build something-we have Humans that are good at poking their noses into things they shouldn't…" He breathed out. "I...think that's everything."

"Works for me," the skeleton replied, his voice slightly strained. "I uh, think I've had enough of... unwanted guests for the time being."

The robot simply nodded, then knelt so that they were at eye level, before muttering quietly. "Sans...if there's one thing I want to ask-is that everyone needs to keep an eye on Alphys." The tone in his voice was completely serious. "Make sure she understands that this is not her fault, and it never will be." Because I can't bear to lose her twice.

Sans inclined his skull slightly at Mettaton's request.

"I'll keep an eyesocket on her," he promised quietly. "We'll make sure she doesn't do anything… stupid."

The robot said nothing else, and then stood, turning to the others. "Everyone...I think it's time we head home." The others turned, aside from Muffet, dipping their heads in quiet murmurs before Grillby and Dogamy led the woman through. Mettaton went over to the turtle, giving him a shoulder to lean on to, but Rex pressed close to his side to help, with the young Frisk trailing just slightly behind.

Just before they entered the Rift however, all colour drained out of the world, and Frisk could feel time stop.

"Hey, buddy," Sans's voice came from behind. "I'd like to talk to you for a minute."

They paused, recognizing the sensation. As they were a red magic user, they had been taught to sense things that altered time around them. They bit their lip, and slowly started to turn. "S-Sans…" Their was voice was strained. "I'm s-" When they looked to him though, the words died away as they stiffened, their eyes slowly widening.

The skeleton was the only thing other than Frisk that still had color. He sighed, his hand deep in his pockets. The tiny dots in his sockets that passed for pupils locked onto Frisk's own eyes.

"So, it was really nice to meet all of you," he said quietly, his voice flat and emotionless. "But uh, could you do me a favor buddy?" He closed his sockets. "Unless there's some way you guys can undo what happened here today…"

His sockets opened, revealing twin voids of darkness so deep that not even the colourful light that played across his skull could penetrate it.

"Don't ever come back."

Frisk jerked, paying no mind to the colors returning to the world, the colors in their eyes fading to the point that they almost couldn't be seen. They took a trembling step back, finding it difficult to escape the penetrating gaze. Then, they whipped around, fleeing back through to their own world.

Sans closed the tear behind them, leaving a shimmering scar suspended in the air. A wound that would never heal… just like the damage done to the happy ending he had fought so hard for. He took in a shaky breath, and then turned, exiting the lab and praying silently that he would never have to return to it. As he left it behind though, another, entirely different rift formed between the two worlds.

Author's note: And on that note, Forging Rifts has reached it's conclusion. Not a happy one, but I suppose they can't all be. However, this is by no means the end of the story. We will be going on a two week break to finish editing and such. Then, the next story in the Entwined File series: Aftermath, will be uploaded on January 23. We will also begin uploading three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I hope you've enjoyed the story so far, and I hope to see you in the next one! Thank you all so much for your support, it really does mean a lot to me.

Edit: Aftermath is now up on the site! Go take a look-see!