Achelois opened her eyes to a familiar seen of blackness. It was the void. She looked around, and saw the same skeleton from before.

"HeLlO", the skeleton says with a smile. She smiled in response.

"Hello", she murmured quietly. "Why am I here, and not the afterlife?"

"I Do nOt KnOW" the skeleton says. "ThOuGh iT hAs bEEn a LoNg TImE siNcE I SaW yOu LaSt."

Achelois chuckled. "Definitely. However, my only question is... can I know your name now?"

The skeleton laughed, the laugh still terrifying. However, this time she was expecting it, and so it wasn't as scary as the first time she heard it. He nodded. "YoU mAy InDeED. My NaMe iS Dr. W.D. GaStEr BuT yOu MaY CaLl ME GaStEr."

"Gaster", Achelois tried out. "I like it. It suits you." Gaster smiled, before looking down and sighing.

"I mUst TelL yOu SomEtHiNg Of ThE VoId. YoU aRe AblE to loOk InTo thE ReAl WorLd And SEe alL ThOsE yOu leFt BeHiNd."

Achelois breath caught in her throat. She stared at him in shock, and couldn't help but wonder how she could do that.

"AlL YoU haVe To Do iS ThiNk of A lOved OnE aNd tHey WilL ApPear. ThAt is ThE bEst Way I cAn DesCriBe It."

Achelois nodded, closed her eyes and thought of Ratchet. She thought of how she left him, and how she hoped Smokescreen passed along her message. She opened her eyes when she heard a familiar sound of the ground bridge. She watched as the entire team came in dejectedly. Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen, all end familiar pods, and each one opened it to let the human inside it out. All except for Smokescreen who held the pod close, and stared at the red splatters on the inside. Ratchet saw the red and stumbled back a few steps.

"Achelois?" he whispered. She winced at the pain in his voice. "What happened?"

Arcee was the one to speak, though she sounded tired, and sad. "Achelois... sacrificed herself... to save our planet..."

"It was all in vain!" Smokescreen snapped, setting the pod down gently and staring at it. "We weren't even able to save Cybertron, due to the fact that we weren't able to get the keys back from Megatron!"

"And Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock", Bulkhead added.

Achelois felt dread sink into the darkest pit of her being. She... died in vain? 

"What?" Ratchet asked, shock sinking into him as he realized that Achelois was dead, and that they were unable to go back to Cybertron. "You did-"

Optimus cut him off. "What was necessary. There was no time for another prolonged battle, not with Earth in imminent danger."

"So you destroyed the only device capable of restoring our home?" Ratchet sounded like he was about to cry. "Not to mention, the human I fell in love with is dead? Optimus... we needed that... and... I need her..."

Achelois felt tears fall from her eyes to her face and then to her feet, and maybe past that. She cried as she realized what had happened. Ratchet had lost all his hope because they were unable to restore their homeworld... and he lost her... 

"Ratchet", she cried, tears still spilling from her eyes. "I'm here... I'm right next to you...  please... Ratchet... I love you... please don't let my death be in vain..."

"You weren't there, Doc", Smokescreen said, pointing at Ratchet. "And it's not your place to second guess a battle field decision."

"It most certainly is!" Ratchet yelled. "There had to be another way!" He stared at the pod containing Achelois' assumed to be dead body.

"I-it wasn't that simple, Ratchet", Jack spoke up.

"Megatron was using the Omega Lock to cyberform Earth", Raf added.

"Optimus saved our planet!" Miko exclaimed.

"What about our planet?!" Ratchet nearly screamed. "All of our struggles and Energon spilled and countless sacrifices for nothing?!"

"Right decision, or wrong, what's done is done", Arcee said, hand on her hip. "And we have another problem here, on this world. The cons just changed the rules when they put Jack, Miko, Raf, and Achelois in danger into play."

Ratchet suddenly scanned the pod Achelois was in. Achelois watched as his optics widened before he opened the pod and gently scooped her limp body out. He placed her on a hospital bed, before transforming and activating his holoform. He immediately began to move her clothes so he could get to the wound easier. He washed off the blood, and sanitized the area before doing something. Achelois didn't understand medical stuff, but she could see that Ratchet was trying his best.

"Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked. "What are you doing? She's dead."

"She's not dead!" Ratchet shouted, continuing on with his work. "She is just barely clinging on to life. I need to stabilize her until I can get her to the hospital."

 Before anyone can respond to him, Agent Fowler spoke up from the screens. "Prime! The Pentagon's preparing to go Defcon 1. I need to know what we're dealing with!"

"To what do you refer, Agent Fowler?" Optimus asked.

"Perhaps you should step outside and see for yourself", Agent Fowler said. Optimus and the others walked to the elevator while Ratchet stayed working on Achelois' body. Achelois decided to follow the bots to see what was going on. However, when they all got outside, Achelois' eyes widened in shock at what she saw. There was a large metal tower that she knew was not there before.

"Megatron has managed to complete the first phase of his cyber-forming of Earth", Optimus murmured gravely. "The construction of his fortress."

"In Jasper, Nevada?" Agent Fowler asked. "I don't get it. I've already had the town evacuated. Why here?" Achelois' eyes widened as she realized what happened. The 'cons knew the location of their base. If she wasn't dead now, then she was going to be soon. She watched a Bumblebee pointed out that the Decepticon warship was by the fortress now, and she saw Optimus' optics narrow.

"Because the Decepticons have discovered the location of our base", Optimus said. It was after that, that Achelois' vision of what was happening blurred, and then everything disappeared, and she could only see the blackness of the void. Tears started falling, and she knew that there was almost no chance of survival for the others. She fell to her knees and started to sob loudly. Gaster held back, not sure on what to do.

"YoU ArE iN A StRaNGe WoRlD", was the only thing that he said. Achelois nodded.

"Definitely", she laughed, though no amusement was in it. It was a dry chuckle, one filled with pain and sadness. "My world is very strange, but it is the only thing I know. I have gotten used to the strangeness of my life though, and have come to embrace it."

Gaster smiled softly, but didn't say anything more, instead closing his eyes, and thinking of his loved ones. Achelois looked up when she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"What are you doing here?" the voice growled. It was another skeleton, and he was looking straight at Gaster. They were in a very messy room, and Achelois saw a self-sustaining tornado in the corner of the room.

Gaster spoke. "I CaMe TO InTroDuCE YoU To SoMEoNe."

Achelois froze when she heard those words. She realized that the new skeleton could actually see them. Her eyes met with his white pinpricks, and she watched as they narrowed.

"A human?" the skeleton growled. "Why would I want to meet a human? All they do is ruin everything down here."

Achelois tilted her head, unsure of what he was talking about. "I'm Fa- Achelois, who are you?" She was curious about him, about what he dealt with in his world.

"If you're with him, it's none of your business", the skeleton snapped. Achelois rolled her eyes, before kneeling in front of the skeleton, who was sitting on the bed.

"Don't use anger to fight your sadness", she whispered, looking into his eyes. "It only makes things worse."

The skeleton looked shocked, but quickly hid it. "Who says I'm sad? I'm perfectly happy."

Achelois shook her head. "No, you're not. I can see it in your eyes. I know what I'm looking at because I have been the same way for the past several months. So what happened to you? Did it have anything to do with Gaster?"

The skeleton froze before shaking his head. "You're way perceptive. Much more perceptive than my own brother. The name's Sans. Sans the Skeleton."

Achelois smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Sans. Care to tell me what's going on?"

Sans hesitated, looking at Gaster before taking a deep breath. "Ever since we were locked into the underground, there are these things called timelines. A human named Frisk always falls down, and she never remembers what happens. It's really difficult because she either goes completely homicidal, and kills everyone she sees, or... she's really nice. It's really hard for me to trust her, and that makes me sad because I remember all the times that she was nice, and how she's not a bad person, she just... makes bad decisions... The worst part is knowing that when she follows the genocide route, I have to just sit, and wait, and watch for her to kill everyone I've come to care for and love. It's so hard not being able to save my brother each and every time she does genocide. I hate having to repeat over and over and over again. I wish... I wish she would just let us stay on the surface, instead of resetting everything back to how it was."

Achelois looked at him shocked. "Wow... your world is even crazier than mine..."

Sans smiled softly and nods. He starts to fade, so Achelois spoke quickly. "Never give up, Sans. Fight your way to getting out, and don't let her reset again. Tell her how you feel, and everything you know. Maybe we'll see each other again one day."

Sans smiles again, and speaks. "See ya later, alligator. I'll have a skeleton of puns ready for you next time."

Achelois laughs. "In a while, crocodile. I'll be sure to keep my pun limit to a minimum until then."

Sans grins and that was the last thing Achelois saw before being back in the void. She smiled at Gaster, who was looking at her in amazement.

"YOu ArE InCREdIBle. SaNS HAs NoT bEeN ThAt HapPy FoR A LoNg TiMe", Gaster says. "In FaCt I CAnNoT REmEMbeR A TiME WHeN He WaS HaPpY."

"How long have you known him for?" Achelois tilted her head in curiousity.

"AlL oF HiS LiFe", Gaster mutters, looking down. "YoU SeE... I Am HiS FatHer."

"Woah", Achelois exclaims, surprise filling every fiber of her being. "Plot twist."