"What th- the hell?!"

"Whoooaa, calm down there buddy." Outer flung his hands out in alarm.
"A twin?! Sans where-"
"I can explain!" He interrupted, slightly panicky.
"Sans, how do you explain an identical twin?!"
"Trust us, please!" Outer begged, sweating nervously.

Undyne paused, still in disbelief, before slowly squaring her shoulders and sighing.
"O..kay… Explain."
"Maybe inside?" Classic suggested cautiously.
She stared at the pair for a long moment, then bent over and grabbed both of them by the hoods, swinging them inside.
"Sorry, lookalike. You're getting the Sans treatment."
"Eheh. Don't worry, I'm used to it.."

They were promptly dumped on the couch, but before either could get a word out, Undyne was shouting up the stairs.
"Hey guys! Sans has a twin!"
After a few seconds of the two cringing, Alphys' voice exploded from her closed door. "WHAT?!"

Outer gave Classic a look as the lizard slammed open her door, glasses hanging halfway off her face and only barely balanced on her snout, swinging as Frisk appeared behind her, stoically confused.

"Sans?!"
"That's me."
"Why did you ask me about th-the Multiversal Theory?"
"What?" Undyne interrupted as both skeletons shrugged.
"I dunno, Alph. Why did I ask you about that?"

She started scrambling down the stairs. "Is this a prank y-ou're pulling again?"
Undyne grunted. "Yeah, Sans. What is this?"
He only pressed himself deeper into the couch, sighing at Frisk's expression. Outer blinked at the knowing gaze, glancing between the two- only to receive a faint nod from the original.

"So." The space themed skeleton started, since Classic wasn't opting for explanations yet.
"You look identical." Frisk stated.
"Yep."
"What's your name, by the way?" Undyne asked.
"Just call me Outer."
"He's Outer this world." Classic immediately added with a grin. Undyne groaned under her breath as Alphys blinked owlishly.

"Can I just get to the point?" The fish lady asked.
Both skeletons shrugged. She narrowed her good eye at them before pointing her hands at the two, namely Outer. "Where did you even come from? We haven't really seen.. other skeletons." She glanced suspiciously at Classic, who looked away.

"Well.. he texted you about the theory, right?" He indicated the first and the lizard.
"You're joking." Alphys deadpanned, a shocking expression on the scientist.
"For once, no."
"I don't get it." Undyne stated.

"He's from another universe like ours." Frisk murmured, not taking their gaze off the newcomer.
Undyne blinked. Shifted in place. Glanced at the pair. Blinked again.
"How?"
"Wait no, why? You seem to kn-know each other- how long have you been keeping things from us?"

Sans sighed into his hand. "I.. didn't want to tell you." The others blinked. Outer regarded him sadly, then faced the others. "He was trying to protect you."
Undyne snorted. "I don't need protection!"
"You don't know what we've seen." Outer stated severely as Sans scoffed.

After a long pause, Alphys spoke up softly. "Is this related to those.. other us?"
Outer blinked, glancing over at the first, who was quiet.
"..Yeah."
"They came here? They actually-" "How do you think Cross got half my Soul?" He retorted.
"Wait what-"
"He shouldn't have even been able to access-"
"You really believe the Soulless excuse for a guardian? Ink let them in."
"What the hell are you two talking about?" Undyne snapped their attention back to the others, staring specifically at the original Sans.

"The attack. They're talking about the attack." Frisk said quietly.
"They're-" Undyne paused, beginning to piece it together.
"How can separate universes interact in the first place? How is that even possible?" Alphys questioned without one stutter.
Now Sans just shrugged. "I have no idea."
"Actually, it's a bit of a trade secret." Outer explained, earning a glare from the original.

"What, you can hop between freaking universes? Is this related to the lightning?" Undyne questioned. ".. Destiny thing?"
"Actually, that's why I'm here." Outer grinned before it fell again. Sans nodded despondently in agreement.
"Multiverse travel is actually a lot more common than you think." Outer faced them again.

"There's a lot of universes that created machines to travel across AU's- alternate universes, that is- and there are higher monsters- technically gods- that can automatically travel between AU's. That traveling apparently leaked a lot of magic across the Multiverse over time, and that, theoretically, is what gave some of us the ability to hop around. The only difference is that some universes- the original timelines of the first universe that is- are the strongest of all of them. Um.. they're only matched by other original timelines and only surpassed by the gods."

Alphys was typing away on her phone, taking notes as she sat on the floor. Undyne slowly sat next to Sans, staring in intrigue.
"You're serious about that?" Sans asked in surprise. Outer blinked. "I didn't tell you?"
"No!"
"Well yeah. The original timelines are the most powerful."
"How many of those even are there?" Undyne piped up.

Outer hesitated. "They.. out of the known ones.. it's only.. technically four, but one of those is the actual original." He glanced at him pointedly.
"How do you know which universe is even the first of all these versions, though? Don't h-h-hundreds of new ones form with each decision and possible future?" Alphys asked slowly, fighting to keep her stutters away.

"Nah, those are timelines. AU's are different. Timelines form from choices made within them, while AU's form via other means, essentially impossible to occur from unique choices."
"How do you know so much in the first place?" Undyne questioned.
"Spent about twenty years learning about the Multiverse." Outer shrugged. "Most travelers make a point to visit mine."
"Why?"

He smirked, chuckling to himself. "In my world, monsters were trapped in space, not underground."
The others stared in disbelief.
"No way." Frisk deadpanned.
"Nope, he's dead serious. The place is just.. amazing." Sans murmured thoughtfully, staring upwards. Outer grinned. "We're a tourist destination!" He gestured broadly.

"How is that even possible?" Undyne murmured. Outer shrugged. "We'd be here for a while if I told you."
"Okay, okay, not right now then- what are all these other universes like?" Undyne asked, getting a bit excited.
"Well.. most famous of them are the swapped and fell AU's. Then there's the AU of gods.."
"There's a swapped universe?"
"Yep. Their resident Sans is just the best- and one of the Stars!"
"Stars?"

Outer winced. "It's a.. Multiverse thing. The Stars are this group of guardians; Ink the creator and protector of AU's, Dream the guardian of positivity, and Blueberry. He's the swap, and he knows how to lift anyone's spirits- better than even Dream, and he's literally a god of positivity." He hesitated then.

"Wow.."
"There are actual gods?" Alphys asked, brows furrowed.
"Yeah.. Ink is the god of creation, offset by Error, the god of destruction. He destroyed hundreds of AU's daily, fought Ink almost just as often…" He trailed, thinking.

"There's a god that can destroy entire universes?"
Undyne asked softly, shocked.
"I even met him." Outer murmured.
"You did?!"
"He.. I used to think he was completely evil." Outer chuckled nervously.
"I still trust him more than Ink." Sans scowled.
"What?!" Undyne and Alphys stared at him in disbelief.
"I..m starting to feel that way too." Outer muttered, rubbing his arm nervously.
"Why?"

"That's related to something I learned about only weeks ago, er.. deities? They're apparently greater than gods, but also not as physical. At all."
"Seriously? What kind of story is this?"
"It'll make sense, trust us!" Outer defended.
"I thought it was crazy too- and trust me, I've seen crazy. The Multiverse is a big place."
Undyne frowned, but shifted in place and nodded. "Okay."

Outer rolled his shoulders, huffing. "Apparently deities are associated with concepts, where gods are connected to more.. comprehensive things, I guess? But it's still weirder than that?" He sighed. "There's no easy way to explain it, really. We honestly just got back from a long talk with several of them. It's been weird."
"You did!"
"I was asleep for most of it." Sans defended when Undyne faced him.

"Yeah, so one could possess you." Outer snarked. The others gasped as Sans scowled. "You were possessed too."
Outer hesitated. "..Fair, I guess."
"Excuse me, you just casually admitted to getting possessed?" Frisk questioned anxiously.
Sans shrugged. "I allowed it. I don't like it much, but I let it happen."
"Why? Do they need to possess something to talk? Why not a puppet?"

"No, they're just- they're weird. Some don't, but most do? I think. We never really discussed that part. They were talking about other stuff. Destiny liked to talk about how-" Outer cut himself off, suddenly nervous.
".. Classic, is it safe to say that yet?"
"Classic?" Alphys echoed.

Sans shrugged. "I don't know, nothing seems paused, so-" He froze, eyelights vanishing.
"Sans?" Undyne questioned in concern, leaning away from him on the couch.

There was a sudden weight to the air as a deep blue seemed to radiate out from him for a moment, then he seemed to snap back, blinking. "I think we're fine." He muttered.
"Are you okay?" Undyne insisted.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He huffed.
"You're floating off the couch."
"Oops." He settled back down, smiling weakly.

"Seriously, what the hell was that?"
"Destiny." Outer explained simply.
"What do you mean, Des-" She cut short, suddenly realizing. Alphys had her claws in front of her face, understanding.
"There's like.. a deity.. at-at-attached to you? No.. vessel! It's! Ohmigod-" She bounced in place. "The lightning was-!"
"I think you got it. Congrats." Sans stated drily, sighing.
"Still think I'm crazy?"

"We never thought you were crazy! It's just.. hard t-to believe.."
"How do you think I feel?" He asked seriously, hurt. A spark flickered off his skull with a jarring snap, and he ignored it. "This thing is in me!"
"You literally gave it permission to be." Outer replied, glancing at him in concern. Sans glared. "I had no idea what I was getting into! Do you think you have a clue what you're in for?"
"..."

"It still sounds like you literally asked for it." A familiar dry voice spoke from the kitchen entrance, startling Outer up to his feet as everyone else flinched and turned.
There sat Flowey, sitting in a small pot with soil crusting over the edges, seated right in the entryway between the living room and kitchen.

Frisk gasped, hopping up to scoop him in their arms. The flower just stared at the others, Outer slowly sat back down, staring tensely. "How long have you been there."
"Basically since fish sticks yelled about Sans having a twin." He proclaimed in his usual sarcastic manner. Undyne growled at the name before Flowey continued.
"Why don't I ask a question, huh? Why are you even here? What about this destiny stuff has to do with yet another smiley trashbag showing up about an entire Multiverse? What are you protecting us from, huh?" He snapped somewhat venomously.

The others blinked in surprise, glancing at the skeletons. Both were wincing.
"It.."
"Yeah, I remember that stuff." Flowey scoffed, before thinking. "..Is this about the existence obliteration thing? Whatever it was?"
"..Yeah." Outer muttered.

"It-.." Sans sighed, covering his skull. "Apparently.. Ink creates universes, Error destroys them. But it's more than just that. They're both controlled by this deity called Fate, Ink being the favorite and Error completely against his will. And Ink didn't know, or didn't care, it doesn't matter, he literally doesn't have a Soul, never did. But he decided to get rid of his enemy by literally throwing him and his.. companions out of the Multiverse." He fell silent, conflicted.

"You make it sound like a bad thing." Flowey noted.
"Apparently it is, and no one knew that."
"How?" Frisk quested.
"Apparently there's an actual limit to how many universes there can be in the Multiverse without crashing into each other and destroying everything." Outer stated. "And now there's no one countering Ink's constant creation. So universes are already crashing together and getting completely and irreparably destroyed at a higher rate than Ink can make up for. Not to mention the Void's now sucking out random inhabitants of AU's to wherever Error and his ilk- I mean companions- were sent to."

There was a long silence, the rest of them mute with surprise.
"You.. it." Undyne murmured, at a loss.
"We're..?"
"Are we all going to die?" Frisk asked softly.
"Apparently not. Many AU's are going to survive, according to the deities that were willing to talk to us." Outer sighed, rubbing his skull. "But everything else.. gone. Lost. And the evil all-powerful deity that's screwed over the entire Multiverse for eons is going to die with it if we make sure it doesn't know."

"What do you mean?" Undyne asked weakly, a shock coming from the usually fierce woman.
"Apparently lots of fucked up things are the way they are because of Fate taking total control. They're apparently a really powerful deity, and they've abused literally everything. Nightmare, the corruptor of AU's and Dream's counterpart brother is apparently evil because of Fate, Error destroys because of Fate, other deities are literally broken because of Fate, the AU's are trapped in their loops because of Fate, it's- it's horrible. It's horrible what's been done."

"This makes me want to fight this tyrant." Undyne muttered incredulously.
"You can't. Not even the other deities can. Not even Fate's counterpart."
"Who?"
"It's not important." Sans said quickly, looking away. Outer gave him a look. "Dude."
He simply stared back flatly.

"It's Destiny." Flowey realized. The skeleton winced.
"You're.. basically letting.. a major metaphysical being ride you around like a clingy ghost?" The flower phrased it like a question. Outer snorted before regaining composure. Sans scowled.
"I wouldn't have allowed it if it didn't seem honest."

"Sans, you could probably do things with-"
"Just because he can doesn't mean he will." Outer snapped at the plant. Sans nodded at him. "That. I'm not doing anything with this. I'd prefer to ignore it most of the time."

Outer gasped. "But what about the floating club?"
Sans snorted softly, burying his face into his hand. "Except that."
"Floating club?" Alphys prompted, still typing on her screen.

With a grin, Outer pushed himself off the couch, flying weightlessly into the air, tilting to the side. "I'm the head of the club." He said with a wink, hands in his pockets.
"HOW." Flowey stated in disbelief.
"Just a touch of magic. You get real skilled with it when you live in low-grav."
"I wish I could do that!" Undyne exclaimed, standing.

"Well, my 'Dyne swings around on her spears in particularly low-gravity areas." He shrugged.
"I want to meet another me!"
"You will eventually, that's for sure."
"Hey! Why not now?" Undyne scoffed, back to her usual self.
"Uh.. I don't think he can really go home?" Alphys suggested, adjusting her glasses.

"Nope, just fine on that front." Outer grinned, kicking in the air. "Every Sans has his ways." He winked, pulling out a bottle of chocolate sauce. Undyne froze, staring at it before beginning to scowl.
"That is actually worse than the ketchup."
"Nope, still love ketchup. Many do. It's actually the best way to pacify Horror; just give the guy ketchup and food."

"That name doesn't sound good." Undyne noted as Sans paused, confused.
"Who's that again?"
Outer hesitated, suddenly nervous.
"He's.. one of the original timelines. Starved, got the hole." He indicated part of his skull. Sans went still.
"He's.."
"Yeah."

"What happened to him?" Frisk asked as Undyne blinked. "Wait, is he one of-"
"Um.. all I know is he was never freed from the Underground, and food ran out and things got really bad really fast. He scares me." He quickly glanced away from Undyne after saying that.

"Well.. you s-ssaid there were f-four original timelines. What are they? O-other than this Horror guy, of course." Alphys straightened, curious. Outer shared a nervous look with Sans, who's face revealed nothing.

"Well.. there's Horror, then Dust. He.. was stuck in a time loop where the human killed everyone over and over and over again, and he remembered that, and tried to stop it and couldn't, until he snapped one Reset and killed every monster in his Underground to try and be better than the human. He uh.. well, he killed the human once and for all, but he was completely insane from it. He killed his brother to make it stop- and now somehow has a ghost skull of his bro? Powder is.. terrifying. Red sockets, just a skull on a phantom scarf." He shuddered, setting down on his feet.

"The last of them is Killer, he kind of went through something similar? A dead human, Chara apparently, possessed his Frisk-" Here Frisk actually gasped quietly, tense as Outer continued.
"And killed everyone over and over again, except they were trying to get him to join for some reason. But unlike Dust, they kept killing in different ways?" He scratched the back of his skull shyly. "He eventually gave in and joined in after who knows how many Resets of that, and it.. did things. His Soul's permanently exposed, red and white and shaped like a target, and his lights are just gone with black tar or something always pouring out of them. He really likes knives. And a masochist. I don't know what happened to that Chara."

They were silent for a minute, mostly realizing who these alternates were versions of when Alphys abruptly cleared her throat and whispered hoarsely.
"That was.. three?"
"What about the fourth? Or those loop things?" Undyne asked nervously. "And which of us those guys are, I'm.." She trailed, eye landing on Sans.

"Yeah, about that." Outer chuckled nervously. "You know how I called him Classic?" He offered, still studying the original.
"Wait.. no." Alphys looked back up from her phone after a moment of disbelief. "Of all the possibilities i-in a near-infinite.. us? You mean it's us?"
"The thing about possibilities is that eventually, someone gets the other option. Just like my universe turned out to be Error's favorite." He shrugged.

"Wait what." Undyne deadpanned before it set in.
"I thought you said that guy destroys?" Flowey pointed out drily.
"Well he didn't want to, he was forced into it by Fate and everyone believed he was just pure evil!" Outer explained. "Even I was always kinda iffy towards the idea. The guy knits. He literally stargazes while knitting. It's so random."
"...But why knitting?" Undyne finally asked.

"He destroys with indestructible strings. He's like.. a spider hybrid or something." Outer glanced to the side thoughtfully. "He's so weird.. can you imagine a skeleton with black bones and glowing red sockets with blue tear lines coming from them?"
".. What now?" Flowey questioned.

"Hold on, you never said he was a skeleton." Undyne pressed.
"Oh. Well so is Ink. And Dream. And Nightmare. Wait no, those two actually just look like skeletons, apparently?"
"Yeah, that emotion deity mess." Sans muttered. "Real confusing."
"Is anything you say going to make sense?" Flowey asked, annoyed. Undyne sighed. "What he said.."

"I don't know." Outer finally shrugged, clueless. "I'm pretty confused, too."
"Why tell us, anyway?" Frisk finally queried. Both skeletons hesitated.
"Because.. the Multiverse is collapsing into one world somewhere.. and the best way to protect you from those dangers is to tell you about them. And it doesn't help that there's so much to tell."
"Dangers?" Undyne echoed.

"Yeah. That's the whole point I even contacted this guy in the first place." Sans muttered.
"Didn't know there was a society out there."
Outer chuckled. "I never could have thought it either, honestly."
"Society?" Alphys perked up.
"Yep. Travellers going between AU's are common enough that there are many who would seek to cause harm, but there's also AU's in general that are dangerous to enter, or those with specific risks like my own."

"What, asteroids?"
"Nah, the Void. Fall in it, and you're er- well.. apparently it's different from other AU's in that aspect, but you don't want to go into the Void."
"It's an actual risk in that place?" Sans questioned in surprise.
"Yeah, below the asteroid belt we're on. It's a sort of dead zone that needs to be avoided."
"..The entire area."
"Yep. It's not restricted to our Core."
"What are you two talking about?" Undyne questioned.

"Stuff." Both answered quickly. That did nothing to satisfy curiosity, Undyne immediately narrowing her eye. "Right. Nothing. What secrets are you keeping this time?"
"Really! Nothing! It's just this sort of danger area. You know, like the lava around your Core? Except it's more like.. a black hole." Outer shrugged, casually floating up in the air.

"Well, yeah, th-the magma closest t-t-t- clotheses to- closest to the Core is highly energized." Alphys added thoughtfully, tapping the side of her phone contemplatively.
"It is?" Undyne glanced at her in surprise.
"I'm not surprised, I've seen it shoot huge bolts of electricity at stuff thrown into it." Flowey explained before frowning. "Hey Sans, how big a volt can you even make?"

"Lightning." Outer immediately snorted, a faraway look in his sockets. The others spluttered as Sans turned on him. "Why would you say that?" He demanded, the spacey one suddenly sheepish. "Think about it, though! It makes sense!"
"Lightning!" Undyne interrupted incredulously.
"I'm not gonna try it." Sans asserted anxiously.
"But- lightning!"
"Undyne, he doesn't want to-"

A loud zap cut through the air, Undyne flinching away from Sans as she waved her hand in pain.
"Dammit that hurt." She muttered as the rest blinked.
"That wasn't intentional." Sans stated in blank surprise.
"You okay?" Outer added.

"Yeah, nothing I can't handle! Surprised me though." She grinned reassuringly, holding up her hand with a concerningly grey fingertip.
"That was definitely shocking." Sans noted before regarding her. "Why, anyway?"

She scowled at the seamless pun before huffing. "That doesn't matter- you could actually shoot lightning, Sans!"
"Actually, we don't know that, Outer just threw the idea out there-" "Lightning!"
"I get that I'm really electric right now, but lightning's got a lot more kick to it-"
"It's awesome!"
"Believe me, I know what it's like, having been struck by it and all-"
"It's the coolest trick ever- you could cosplay as- oh my God this is perfect-"
"Really not a fan of dressing up in anything other than the norm, thank you-"
"Dude, there are so many things you could do with lightning powers- and Multiverse traveling on top of that!"

"Uh, guys.." Flowey started, drawing the others' attention but not the still arguing pair.
"Dude, you can probably control metal with electricity like the anime-"
"That's extremely hazardous to even attempt."
"You could still electrify giant swords if you tried with lightning powers!"
"That could kill you just holding it."

"You guys are really not noticing the giant portal opening up behind the couch, are you." Outer stated drily as Frisk dragged Alphys to the other side of the room away from the apparent purple tear in reality as the pair went back and forth.

"But what if you could control the power grid with the power? You could literally never pay that electricity bill ever again with that power!"
"Practical, but still far-fetched in utilization.."
"What if you could control machines with it?!"
"That would require a level of control that's just not feasible." Sans chuckled awkwardly.
"You could literally train to get there!"
"You know I'm too lazy for that."
"AHEM."

The loud voice startled Sans to the point of falling off the couch as Undyne tensed and blinked at the unexpected guest in shock.
"You're new." She stated dumbly, mind still catching up. Sans stood up again, staring.
"You again."

"Wait- are you analternateofSansomg-" Alphys stumbled over her words in shock as Black scowled.
"Unfortunately, yes." He sighed before taking in the room. "What exactly are you doing here? Useless chitchat?"
"Rude." Sans retorted as Outer sighed. "It's not useless, Black. They need to know given the situation."
"They'll only forget it next-" His gaze landed on Frisk, who was staring in intrigue. He quieted then, noticing the glared warning from the original.
"I suppose they won't."

"How could we ever forget meeting people from other freaking universes?!" Undyne exclaimed in disbelief.
"Also, why are you here?" Sans added.
Black shrugged indifferently. "Epic was growing concerned when Outer did not return, and was not answering his phone."
Outer blinked and pulled out the device. "Crap, I had it on mute again."

"Wait, why was he worried?" Sans asked in surprise.
"The disappearances have been occurring at random, there was a possibility he was suddenly gone and we wouldn't have known." Black explained.
"Wait, what disappearances?" Undyne perked up in alarm.

"Multiverse collapsing." Outer spoke up quickly. "Lots of people are vanishing from their AU's without warning or even explanation for most. My monsterkid for one, he's missing. And you said.. Toby? You're missing Toby?" He regarded the original.
"And Endogeny." He added.

Outer nodded. "Yeah. They're supposedly vanishing into wherever the Multiverse is collapsing into, just no warning, nothing. No one's been able to detect a pattern in the vanishings yet, just that it's mostly Sanses that are disappearing."

"Hey wait, ours isn't going to disappear, is he?" Undyne stood up. Sans tensed, having not thought of that as Alphys gasped.
"It.. it's highly unlikely, but we can't be sure." Outer explained quietly.

Frisk sidled up next to Sans. "Well we won't let that happen."
"Definitely." Undyne agreed as Alphys skittered over to her side.
"Oh, forget the sappiness." Black sighed. "We all know we can do nothing if that were to happen." He added quietly, staring off to the side.
Undyne seemed offended for a moment, then paused. "Did.. someone you were close to disappear?"

"Blue." He stated plainly, glaring momentarily before dropping the gaze. "He was more than most took him for. A good wicked streak that no one noticed because all they ever saw was the cutesy model child Blueberry. You shouldn't underestimate him, he still fought against most of Nightmare's men singlehandedly with ease."

"You sure he did?" Outer replied as Sans nodded quietly.
"Of course. Hell, he befriended those maniacs and viewed the fighting as mere sparring! And you call me mad."
"Well- I mean, it's Blueberry, it's impossible not to like him."
"Unity he is indeed, isn't he."

"...I really hate to interrupt, but who is Blueberry?" Flowey spoke up, everyone glancing over.
"The Swap Sans, of course." Black replied, studying him cautiously.
"Swap? Like.. swapped with someone?" Frisk queried.

"Papyrus personality. We mentioned his universe, remember?" Outer explained.
"Ooohhh.. you did!" Alphys exclaimed before leaning back down. "That's so weird to imagine.."
"You get used to it." Outer shrugged.
"I didn't. Still am not." Sans replied.
"You will."
"Mmh."

"He's right, this is seriously weird." Flowey faced Black. "How many universes are there?"
The fellswap chuckled. "Not even I know. I believe on average about.. ah, I don't know, several trillion perhaps?"
"GEEZ-" The flower cut himself off, shocked.
"I mean, Ink can create a hundred on average every day, so yeah."
"That's his new average since Error's uh.. removal. It used to be like.. twenty before on his sprees. Right?"
"No, when dealing with Error's destruction he would average about thirty-four or thirty-seven before the Destroyer would cut him off by eliminating them." Black corrected.

"How.. the hell does he even do that?" Sans questioned, bewildered.
"No one knows." Outer shrugged. "Blue told me it was because he had voices that continually inspired him when he was alone in the Doodle-Sphere." Black added thoughtfully.
"Who knows at this point- I want to meet this guy!" Undyne exclaimed.

"No, you don't." Sans faced her. "He's Soulless and doesn't care about anyone but his little projects."
"You're really adamant about that.." Outer commented.
"You didn't see what he did." Sans snapped coldly. "I don't trust any of those gods. Whatsoever."
"..Valid, I guess." The spacey one muttered.

"I still want to meet a god." Undyne mumbled, disappointed.
"I mean, there's still that AU where all the monsters are gods, so maybe we could visit it if we got around to showing you anywhere." Outer suggested.
"I think you fail to recall that that AU is still closed off due to Reaper and Life having vanished." Black reminded him.
"We have immaterial deities on our side, we'd be fine." Outer grinned. "Maybe we could visit Carrot too, the guy's been holed up at home for months."

Black started to argue, then hesitated.
"He.. has been concerning us as of late.."
"Who's Carrot?" Undyne questioned.
"Blue's brother." Black huffed. "He didn't take the disappearance well at all."
"We can visit another universe?" Undyne asked, excited.
"That sounds like a bit much." Sans frowned.

"Yes, most tend to be brought to the Omega Timeline when first introduced to the Multiverse. It is the safest place, after all." Black explained. "Not to mention accessible."
"What is this O-Omega Timeline?" Alphys asked.
"An empty world where folks from across the Multiverse live. Most are refugees from destroyed AU's. Not all of them fall by Error's hands, some just.. collapse or something else. Either way, it was always hidden from the likes of him and other threats." Outer told them.

"Most visit it regularly due t-" Black yelped as a squealing pup flew out of the still open and previously forgotten purple portal, caught by a fast acting Sans with blue magic. The dog flailed, still screaming as two figures collapsed through.

"What the hell was that!" Flowey yelled, straining to look around the couch from his pot as Undyne backed away from the loud argument behind the furniture.
Suddenly, Epic hopped up, face dead serious as he zeroed in on Black. "Close it. Close it now."

Startled, Black waved and the glowing circle in the air fizzed to non-existence. "What on earth is going on?" He then demanded, Raspberry popping up with a furious scowl. "Coward! You spineless bastard, we could have taken that little shit on together!"
"My Frisk, bruh." Epic explained quietly. "Showed up, nearly crashed our little parteh."

There was a pause as everyone took in this information, few understanding what it even meant.
"We should have fought them, not run like sniveling weevils." Razz snarled.
"Shut up, Razz, you can't take on an enemy that scares even Epic." Black sighed.
"Like hell you know."

"Ignore him, he's still high on Revenge. I hope he'll come to his senses soon." Black explained tiredly.
"Excuse me? What did you just say?"
"Politely shut the fuck up, Razz."
"You motherfu-"
A short guttural growl cut him off, blinking at Blackberry.

"So who's the jerk and other guy?" Undyne queried, jabbing a thumb in their direction as Epic plucked the pup from the air with a grateful nod towards the original.
"Epic and Raspberry." Outer explained drily, regarding the still swearing swapfell. "Is someone gonna knock him out? There's a child present."
"Oh fuck off, it's just another starsdamn Frisk, why the hell should it matter?"
"Yeah no, shut up." Undyne shot him a look.

"That's my Frisk you're talking about." Sans warned.
"Like that changes a damn thing! They'll probably go behind your back and fucking kill you anyway! A human's always a human!"
"Stop."
"Like hell I will! I have been dragged every which way and manipulated to hell and back today and you expect me to just be okay with it?! No! Fuck you- I hope you all dust in a back alley choking on a cracker! You pathetic, useless, worthless pile of rags-"
"That's enough."
"Prove it, you spineless fuck! Prove you're the goddamn original and not some lazy, good for nothing waste of time and space!"

The air suddenly became heavy, a metallic bite to it as everything grew bluer and slowed, as though it was becoming syrupy. Sans was in front of Razz, a silver spread around him as his back was to the others- but a yellow and blue flame danced around the left side of his face, littered with blue sparks of electricity.

The red in Razz's eyelights flashed, a look of surprise and faint alarm on his face before the world flashed impossibly black and everyone was blind, seeing only deep blue light. The entire thing had happened in a matter of mere seconds, abrupt and terrifying.

Yet when it cleared, Sans was standing several feet away, gripping his skull and bending over as though in pain. The air shimmered blue, a strange silver mist gleaming faintly along the floorboards, roiling in strange, eerie shapes.
"S.. Sans?" Alphys whispered. The skeleton only groaned in reply, stumbling to one side.

Outer approached him then, reaching out to his shoulder. "You okay? Talk to me, buddy."
He mumbled something under his breath.
"Classic, c'mon. Let us help you."
"Sans, what's wrong?" Frisk raised their voice shyly.
"..Hurts. Hurts." He murmured weakly, shaking.

"What hurts?" Outer asked softly, moving to comfort him.
Epic suddenly grabbed his hand, giving him a look. Outer regarded him in confusion before the purple robed one cautiously tapped the original, producing a particularly volatile volt that blew his hand away. Epic pocketed the now sooty hand, wincing slightly. "Oh." Outer mumbled.

Sans then abruptly hissed, the air thickening unnaturally as though becoming a dense soup around them, weighing in from all directions. He abruptly pitched forward, the world blacking out for several seconds before clearing up again, revealing a similar scene to before, except the skeleton was now hovering limply in the middle of the room, eyelights now a deep silvery blue, face blank as his skull lolled towards them hollowly.
"It would appear that Fate has taken notice of my presence." Spoke a new, unfamiliar voice.

"What the fuck is going on." Undyne stated, hugging Alphys and Frisk close. "What the hell is happening to Sans."
The possessed skeleton regarded her. "I apologize for this, it would have been preferable to be introduced in a different format than this. You may call me Destiny."
"Okay, introductions aside, what did you mean about Fate?" Outer questioned severely. Destiny glanced at him, staring for a moment before responding.

"Fate has taken notice of my abnormal presence within this world and is attempting to enter. It was a sudden attack, and I was surprised. The unfortunately timed event inadvertently affected Classic. It was unintentional, but I suggest we continue this conversation elsewhere so that Fate does not discover us."

"Like where? Outside da universe?" Epic quested, hugging the puppy close. Destiny blinked at him, then spoke. "The Omega would be advisable. Fate does not suspect our plan, so they will not be looking for a few mortals. Only myself."

"Okay, time to go." Outer turned. "Please, you gotta come with us, none of us want to meet Fate, trust me."
"Nonononono- what the hell is going on?!" Flowey hollered, staring at the currently possessed skeleton from his pot in Frisk's arms.
"There is literally no time to explain!" Black snapped back, picking up the unconscious Razz. "We will explain when we are out of danger- hopefully Destiny will help with that, given it's her fault!"

The deity regarded him blankly, but the sense behind it wasn't missed- a slight indignation at the blame. Then she turned back to the others.
"I shall assist."
"Wait, what do you mean by that." Outer stated flatly, immediately tense.

Destiny did not reply, instead the air suddenly warped and twisted, darkening as spots of light flashed at the corners of the room, deep navy blue closing in as the world bent and closed around them, only to immediately rush outwards again, sunlight blinding them as everyone landed hard on a flat, rough surface. The only lucky one was Outer, who simply floated down.

"What kind of help was that supposed to be?!" Black snarled before catching himself, struggling not to vomit. Alphys was less lucky, turning and puking beside herself as Undyne groaned.
"Let's never do that again." Frisk whispered as Flowey dragged his pot away to stare at something.
"I apologize. I am still unaccustomed to the limits of mortals." Destiny hovered before them, face still empty.

"Can you like, exit his body now or something? Maybe possess something not alive and not our friend?" Undyne asked, struggling to maintain eye contact with the entity.
"I cannot. I would release him, but he is unconscious. Unless you choose me to regardless?"

"Uh. What, are you attached to him or something?" Undyne blinked. "Blood ties?"
Destiny blinked, tilting her (possessed) skull to the side. Undyne shivered at the expressionless face.
"I offered him a choice so that I could make my own. He chose to host me. I cannot leave. He told you this."
"But why? That's just so.. all of this is weird!"
"He chooses to keep many secrets for the sake of his security. You do not know."
"Wait, what kind of secrets? Like knowing about an entire Multiverse kind of secrets?"
"That is his choice to tell you. I will not take that choice away."

"You're real big on choice, aren'tcha?" Flowey asked drily, irritated.
"It's kind of her thing." Outer explained. "Destiny is all about choice, and her counterpart, Fate.. is all about control. Don't wanna meet Fate, not after what I've heard."
"Yes, Fate favors absolute control. So much so that nearly every choice granted to any being is manipulated by Fate to be meaningless." Those deep blue orbs rested on Flowey. "You would be quite familiar with choices, yes? You have made many using my once blessing."
The flower stilled as he realized what the deity was referring to. "You.."

The possessed skeleton abruptly turned and drifted away, gazing out at the horizon. "Fate is now searching the area you formerly occupied. They will leave traces behind. Be wary of red string when you return."
"Why?" Frisk asked hesitantly.
"It is Fate's."
"...Do you have a special string?" The human queried, now curious.

"I don't think we should really be asking all this.." Alphys murmured, afraid.
"You may ask whatever you wish. It is your choice to do so." She faced Frisk. "I am not of string, the tight, caging, webs. I am of vine. Drifting, open, changing."
"So you're like.. no, Fate's like a spider? And you're.. tree..?"
"No, Emotion is the one to associate with a tree, but Emotion is not here now."
"Yeah, that one's apparently split into two people I've known." Outer scoffed. "Wild."
"What?" Alphys asked him as Frisk ignored the comment.

"Can you grow vines or something? Like Flowey?" Said flower tensed at the mention, the human picking him up. Destiny regarded them mysteriously, before reaching out.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Undyne stepped closer, defensive before deep blue light coalesced around the possessed skeleton's arm, darkening into a deep blue vine with broad leaves sticking out it's sides, branching off outwards towards them, gleaming with tiny silver hairs. It glowed faintly blue with the light reflecting brightly off the silver.
"It's.. wow, that's cool as hell." Undyne breathed, both her and the human touching it softly.

Suddenly, the vine moved to curl around Flowey's pot, tugging itself free much to the flower's startled protests as it rooted itself around him, wrapping itself around his stem partway before stretching up behind him. "What the heck!" He yelled, furious.
"You are protected." Destiny stated simply.

"From what! This thing is crowding me!"
"You have always been one of choice, even under Fate's influence. I only wish to safeguard you from Fate's oppression."
"Does it have to keep me in this stupid pot?"

It suddenly recoiled into the soil, only the base and two leaves visible around the flower's stem. "No more shall that be an issue."
"It's still on me." Flowey scoffed. Destiny stared, looking as though she was staring straight through him. Flowey looked away, unsettled.
"Whatever…. Freaking me out.." He added under his breath.

Outer came closer. "Yeah, we're still trying to help with the.. weirdness. She really doesn't understand."
"So Destiny is a girl?" Frisk asked, glancing between the two.
"Uh, not actually, we just decided on female pronouns to make things easier; she didn't have any at all initially. A lot of deities apparently don't bother with pronouns, so it kinda got confusing." He shrugged, chuckling awkwardly.

"That actually kind of makes sense, though." Frisk considered, thinking.
"It's kind of cool if you ignore the general creepiness." Undyne noted, hugging the still quiet Alphys at her side.
"That is purely unintentional." Destiny assured blankly. "When last I walked among the races, speech was not as it is now. Thoughts were shared more often."
"Yyyyeeaaahhh.. she doesn't get emoting. At all." Outer smiled sheepishly with a shrug as the deity nodded sagely.

"That's why she doesn't really.. talk?" Alphys piped up. "Yup." "How does that work, anyway?"
Outer glanced at Destiny, who blinked at him.
"I can speak my mind through he and make it audible to you."
"That doesn't explain anything, but okay." Outer muttered. Destiny was clearly about to speak again when Undyne spoke up. "I think we're good on that front. My mind is breaking enough as it is."

"Am I the only one here wondering where we just got reality warped to?!" Flowey demanded, staring over the low wall to the street below. "We're on a roof!"
Outer blinked, peering over the edge himself.
"Oh." He recognized it with a smile.

Stepping onto the wall, Outer gestured grandly.
"Welcome to the Omega Timeline, folks."
His confidence withered as the plant regarded him drily.
"Having fun, floaty trashbag?"
"Aw, I even have a nickname." He fired back at the question.
"It's better than Outer."
"I'll have you know that I'm rather fond of that one."

"Bruh, I actually know a gud spot me, Dude and Rads would hang o'er here, lols." Epic snorted, glancing off into the distance.
"...I hardly understood a word of that." Black sighed in disappointment as Outer paused.
"... Didn't you call Cross.. you're friends with him."
"Yeap."
"You called him Dude. Right?"
"Yap."

"Hold on, you not only know him, but you're friends? Wasn't that the.. alternate I guess- he attacked us!" Undyne protested.

Epic regarded her with a sudden uncharacteristic coldness.
"He didn't have all that much choice in what he could do at the time."
"He took half of Sans' Soul!" Frisk exclaimed.
Epic flashed a grin, though it wasn't friendly for once. "He was dyin' ya know. What would ya do if you were slowly dying in an empty void of nothing but white, knowing it used to be your entire world and it was your fault it was turned into a pocket Anti-Void, hmm? No one but the one who made you suffer, made you destroy everything you knew and loved, your own worst enemy, stuck in your mind and keeping you alive? You'd go nuts."

With an empty grin, Epic chuckled. "Us memesters and worldless gotta stick together. Got it, Bruh?" He poked a phalange into the child's chest with an almost spiteful look in his blank sockets. Flowey was leaning as far back from the purple jacket sleeve as he could, both flower and human thoroughly unsettled. Undyne took a step closer, worried and suddenly much more suspicious of the strange purple-clad skeleton.

Epic abruptly stood back, the movement startling a few of the others and sending Undyne into a defensive position before spotting his grin.
"Ya bruhs wanna visit the Memeitorium?"
"The what?" Alphys questioned, bewildered.

Epic's smile widened, spreading his arms. "Memeitorium! It's dis ol' bandoned colosseum built by Ink. Idea never took off, so now it's our Memeitorium. Ya gotta see it- never know when a bruh will never see somethin' again, anyways! M'verse endin' an all."

"Gaaaahhhhhh.. why must I wake to your gibberish.." Razz suddenly groaned from the floor, sitting up and rubbing his face.
"Can I knock him out again?" Undyne asked, giving him a stink eye.

"No-no, hold on just one moment." Black held up a hand to her, striding over and regarding the still woozy swapfell. "Are you still feeling ornery?"
Razz blinked up, affronted. "Excuse me? What on earth do you m-" He cut short, his eyelights vanishing.
"Raspberry?" Outer hesitantly asked, sensing something different. 

He remained silent, looking thoroughly unsettled as he rose to his feet, sockets dark the whole while.
"I, uh..err.. r' you okay?" Outer finally prompted, stepping surreptitiously closer to Undyne, even as she blinked at him and held her girlfriend nearer.

"I was not informed that I would be influenced." Raspberry spoke quietly, the low tone dripping with barely controlled rage. "Why was I not told of this?" His eyelights snapped back on; bloody, blazing pinpricks that directed their full ire upon the impassive Black.

Said skeleton scoffed. "I don't know. Vengeance is certainly not the same as Revenge. You'll have to ask the deity yourself."
"Now how am I supposed to do that?!" Razz snapped irritably- though with far less venom than he'd been prone to earlier.
Suddenly, a silvery-blue figure drifted in between them.

Wide, knowing deep blue orbs leveled with the red, spike loving skeleton, the one behind them hovering with an expressionless face.
"If you are truly the vessel of Revenge, then all you need do is ask. Even Revenge respects the sanctity of the Chosen."

Both skeletons stared at Destiny for a long, confused moment before Outer gasped in understanding- and horror.
"Wait, are you saying they're in our minds??"

Epic flinched at that as everyone faced him. Destiny tilted her skull to the side, gazing at him.
"Was this not already understood? I apologize. We indeed, are within you more than any other when you become a Vessel." She paused, glancing almost thoughtfully to the side.
"A Voice." Destiny then added.

Outer shuddered, clutching his shirt over his sternum. "I should have expected that. Geez."
"Bruh, that actually sounds surprisingly not bruhtastic."
"What does that even mean?" Flowey quietly questioned after hearing Epic speak yet again.

"Anyway bruhs, we goin'?" Epic continued as if nothing was happening and the two swaps weren't having an intense staring contest as they held a mute conversation and Outer wasn't silently freaking out while the rest were beginning to question their collective sanities.

Finally, the silence was broken by the arrival of someone new- someone that flew up from the street below and onto the roof they stood on.
Alphys promptly choked on air at the sight of the literal child that stared at their group incredulously, goggles glinting in the sunlight.
"Uhhh…" Flowey started, not knowing what to say.

That got the attention of everything not yet already staring.
"Oh, hi TK." Outer started, still anxious. The child jabbed a phalange at the pair of raging lesbians and human child with the talking buttercup. "They actually the Originals?"
"Wait, what? How'd he know-" "Yep."
The phalange turned toward the floating possessed skeleton. "And that's a metaphysical being possessing Classic himself?"
"Yep." Outer's voice rose up a couple notches.

"Time." Destiny greeted calmly, staring as usual.
Undyne opened her mouth to speak, but the child cut her off by simply freezing in place.
"..You sound familiar." He noted in surprise.

There was a sense of fondness emanating from the deity.
"I imagine so." She stated simply, giving no further answers. It was clear she knew him, though why and how it seemed not even the kid knew.

"On second thought, maybe I'd like to go home for the day." Outer muttered to himself in a strained voice, getting sick of all the twists, stress and confusion of the past several hours.

Destiny blinked at him as Frisk sighed. "It is kind of a lot."
"We just got here!" Flowey argued, indignant.
"Hey, I'm not necessarily part of your group." Outer defended. "I got my own AU to go home to."
Pausing, Flowey scrutinized him. "Right. Copy."

"Hey, I'm not a copy." Outer was suddenly defensive. "I'm an original of my own."
"Are you seriously arguing with a Soulless buttercup?" Black questioned drily, Flowey scoffing in offense.

"Wouldn't you just try to kill him if he called you that?" Outer shot back. Black paused, ceding to the honest fact. Razz snorted in denial, rolling his carnelian eyelights.

"Hah. Good luck with that, idiots." Flowey smirked confidently.
"You'd better watch that little mouth of yours." Black scowled, holding back Razz from charging over.
"There's only so much lip we tolerate before we weigh the survival of the Multiverse less than your insufferable jabs."

"What do I have to do with-"
"Ya da original, buddy." Epic interrupted, grinning. "Kill somebody outside their AU kills all their copies and causes perm damage to their AU and copies- and if dat person happens to have core code of the world.. well. Bye-bye AU and copies forever."

"It also affects connected AU's, timelines and their copies as well." The still unexplained child chirped much too excitedly despite the dour topic.
"Killing you outside of your universe has a much worse effect, given how you're the Original. It would kill every single alternate Flowey- or Temmie in the swap universes- and most Asriel alternates as well, and given their importance to their AU's, that would literally tear apart the Multiverse."

"Wh- wh- the fuck-" Flowey spluttered in absolute shock as Alphys covered her mouth with her hands, Undyne blinking as Frisk's eyes just opened, the child mute.

"Wait, you mentioned Asriel." Undyne pointed out, blinking. "Why him?"
Flowey flinched, eyes wide as he quickly replied. "Why is that what you ask about! What about why it would kill Temmies?!"

"Are you seriously that dull?" Razz demanded. "It's called swap for a reason. Your position is occupied by a Temmie, whereas our .. 'Temmie population' is instead a bunch of sentient buttercups. At least they have Souls."

For once, Flowey didn't have a comeback, instead struggling to imagine the concept. Then he frowned. "Wait, you said we. Are you- swapped versions??"
"Holy crap, I never noticed that part." Undyne gasped, eye wide as she stared at the pair, Alphys whispering under her breath in stupefied amazement.

Black muttered into his gloved hand as Razz scoffed. "It certainly took you a while to put that together." Black then crossed his arms and spoke. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt; we are both fell variants, that most likely threw you off, given your unfamiliarity with the Multiverse."

"That's a lot of information I don't understand." Undyne chuckled awkwardly.
"It's cool, understanding comes with time and all." The kid conceded sagely, nodding faintly.

"Okay, who actually are you? And do you have parents or anything?" Undyne faced him. The child blinked, then all the alternates shared a light laugh, including the preteen.

"Nah, that's another thing. My AU, something happened and everyone got stuck as a kid. I look twelve but am really in the nineties. I still have moments where my constant youth catches up to me, though.." He trailed slightly, gaze drifting to the side as he tapped his jawbone thoughtfully.

"Wait.. what?"
"How old did you just say you were?" Flowey stated in disbelief.
TK blinked at him, then smirked. "I'm 94 currently, though if you counted all the Resets I've been through, it's closer to.. wait, need to add the current one.. uh.." He paused, thinking.
"Should be about 563,2..87. Did I mention I'm effectively immortal?" He added with a smirk at their faces.

"Alright, that has to be an exaggeration." Black regarded him. "It's literally not. When's the last time you counted up the years you've experienced through Resets?" TK fired back. The other's eyelights blurred for a moment as he thought.
"Oh dear, I never thought to count those." He realized in horror.

"But wh-what are Resets?" Alphys spoke up shyly. "I've never heard of them.."
"Yeah, it's been mentioned a bunch but no one's explaining." Undyne added, squinting. "Even Sans- ours, anyway- kinda mentioned it, and we have no idea what it is. Are you avoiding it or something?"

All skeletons faced the pair, a broad mix of emotions displayed on every face- though mostly some mix of fear, oddly enough.
Save for Epic, who seemed strangely weary.

"Well, we're all p much bankin' on it not happenin' again until everything collapses,-" "What?-" He ignored TK's interruption, sighing and facing them, Destiny drifting around almost unnoticeably.

"Basically," He dropped the slang, sounding shockingly like the original without it.
"Resets are what they sound like. Time gets snapped back to a certain point, and no one is supposed to remember. Except the one who did it."

"One who- wait, someone c-c-can turn back time?!" Alphys exclaimed.
"Yea." Epic replied, everyone stepping away as he moved to lean on the railing of the roof. "It's connected to high levels of Determination. Too high for a monster to feasibly be capable of harnessing in most AU's. Only a few exceptions." He waved dismissively. "Recently some o' us found out da- that Des here.." He indicated the deity before hesitating thoughtfully.
"...Why don't you explain your connection to Resets, heh?"

Everyone faced the possessed skeleton, some with more incredulity than others. Destiny stared at Epic for a long moment, then turned to Undyne and Alphys- then regarded the human and flower with a slight softening of those almost always impassive eyelights.
"I created the ability." She stated calmly.

"..I guess that makes sense.." Undyne murmured to herself as Flowey and Frisk simultaneously gasped.
Destiny continued while floating higher to face the fish woman.
"I created it as a blessing for one with enough Determination to create their greatest future they could possibly achieve. Only for those of the most Determination could wield it's power, and for centuries and centuries it was harnessed for good among first monsters, then humans as each carrier held more than the last. It was my gift, and it was beautiful, the choices made."

Now she paused, the sense of anguish precedent in the air. For a moment, it almost seemed like a flicker of loss passed over that possessed face- but it was gone before it was clear if it ever was in the first place.

"Fate.. had been watching the wielders of my gift." Destiny spoke, softer than before. She even glanced down. Was the deity becoming emotive? No one was quite sure.

"When the next carrier of my blessing was formed- not born, formed- Fate decided they wished to use it for themselves. They did not make this known to me, but I discovered their manipulation soon enough."
Those blazing blue lights rested on Flowey with tremendous weight. He leaned back, pressed against Frisk in sudden fear.

"Determination is not designed to be toxic." Destiny explained blandly, the slight emotion from before no longer present.
"Those with it's gift are often gifted with kindness as their second trait. However, you had lost your kindness. Without a Soul or any other trait, you explored the darker possibilities of the Reset. Your choices were unique, even if they were empty without your ability to truly regret or appreciate them."

"Wait, Flowey-" "Oh my God." Alphys interrupted Undyne in horror, already understanding what the deity was insinuating.
"Y- you-" "..Alphy, you okay?" Undyne asked softly, crouching down as the lizard curled into herself, staring straight at the flower.

Flowey stated back, increasingly anxious.
"..Yeah. I'm your missing flower. So what? I spent so many Resets looking to get a Soul with you; and you couldn't help. You saved monsters, so you got that going for you." He looked away with a scoff then, though his real thoughts were clear to the human.

Undyne's eye widened as she spun to face the flower. "Wait-" She paused, glancing between the possessed skeleton and talking buttercup.
"You can turn back time?!"
"Well I could, but then Frisk had more Determination than me." He nodded upward at the now tense human, who clutched his pot in fear, staring at their feet.

Both fish and lizard stared at Frisk in shock, before they immediately recognized the fear.
"I.. I'm sorry." The child whispered, unwilling to look up.

After a long moment, Undyne picked up her girlfriend- who squeaked in surprise- and faced Destiny with a serious face.
"So Fate likes to make bad things happen, right? What did the freak do to Frisk? And Flowey."

Both human and flower blinked in surprise, peering up at her as the others present stiffened in surprise, having not thought of that insinuated possibility.

Destiny tilted her skull to the side, peering at Undyne before she finally spoke.
"Frisk has chosen to hear the answer, so I shall tell you."
Before she continued, Frisk took a step back. "I never said anything.."
"I don't think you need to say anything.." Flowey quietly stated his thoughts as the deity drifted backwards, now past the roof and hovering above the ground below.

"Fate twisted the Resets into something that would never end. At first, it was through manipulation of the wielder, then outright forcing it upon the worlds. Over and over and over again. There are only so many possibilities within a certain time frame. Fate warped my tool into a plaything, and I could do nothing about it."

Glancing back at Frisk with some hesitation, Undyne spoke up again.
"Why not? Aren't you like, Fate's equal?"
"In ways, yes. But Fate is willing to do things I would never dare. I could break the cycle, yes, but then Fate will retaliate, and break apart the Multiverse."

There were a few gasps.
"What?" Razz spluttered before anyone else could speak.
"Fate has.. claimed ownership of what is meant to be our shared Multiverse…. If Fate cannot have total control, then no one can have it at all. They do not care that ending the Multiverse will end all of us as well. Not without an escape, with which we are lucky to have discovered- thanks to the very child Fate so adores."

"That certainly is ironic, isn't it." Black murmured thoughtfully, watching from the sidelines.
Destiny turned to stare at him for an uncomfortably long moment, leading the others to glance over in confusion as the skeleton blinked in his own befuddlement.

"Yes." Destiny finally responded. "Irony defines the situation well."
"What was the staring for?" Black whisper-yelled, unnerved.
"I did not yet understand irony." Destiny replied.

"Wait, then how can you agree that it fits if you don't even know what it means?" Black stood from his seat on the rail, bewildered and joined by Razz.

"Classic, as you call him, has the understanding. I merely accessed his own knowledge."
"Wait, you just shuffled through Sans's mind like a dictionary?" Undyne questioned incredulously.
"I asked."

"Wai-wai-wait a minute." Outer stepped forward, previously forgotten as he gestured. "I thought he hated being awake when you possessed him."
"He has chosen to remain conscious this occasion."
"Wh- I don't- Hh??"

"So you're saying you're possessing Sans and he's awake in there." Undyne deadpanned, staring.
"Since he has regained consciousness, yes. He has chosen to allow me control has he observes." Those deep silvery-blue pools lightened then, white bleeding in for a moment before it returned in full force.

"Why?" Outer asked, having regained his voice.
Destiny paused, staring at him for an awkward moment before answering.
"It is better to ask of the Multiverse from one that has been part of it since it's beginning than-" She blinked, peering slightly beside him before continuing in a somewhat more familiar tone.
"A simple lazy skeleton who did not ask to be the first."

Undyne took a step back at the eerie mimicry, hearing the faint echo that sounded all too much like the Sans she knew on top of the reverberating words.
Epic slowly pointed at the deity. "You just repeated what he said, didn't ya?"

Destiny nodded, and he blinked. It was the first time she responded nonverbally to something without telepathy. Only Outer seemed to notice out of everyone else, the two sharing a look as Alphys finally spoke.

"So.. you gave p-people with high D-D-Determination the ability to turn back time, and I gave it to a flower.. and that created Flowey, who- who used it? For a while? And. When Frisk fell, it. Frisk has more Determination than Flowey?" She wrung her hands nervously.

Destiny nodded, the movement more of a slight bow than a nod. She blinked away a faint layer of glowing blue mist from those possessed sockets and spoke. "You are correct."

"Sooo.. um. Does, like, no- I mean- How does it work? Like, does anyone wit- with Determination see these.. previous timelines when things get Reset?"

"In part, high levels of Determination help one hold on to memories, but it is not the most effective. It is a connection to the Void that can truly unlock the memory of previous timelines without being gifted of the power themselves." Destiny explained calmly, this time even including a slight vague gesture- another improvement upon her usual robotic recital of information.
... Could it be connected to the fact that Classic was conscious? Who knew.
"So…" Alphys drifting, thinking.

She glanced back up at the other skeletons. "So you're.. connected to this V-V-Vo- connected to the Void?"

"I mean, if remembering the Resets is connected to the Void itself, it makes sense." Black noted. "But there are certainly exceptions to that law, given some AU's."
"For the most part, that does follow through. High Determination or some connection to the Void, yeah. Most of us are one or both." TK added as he sat up and strode closer. "You're probably wondering how we're connected to the Void, right?"
Alphys shrugged with Undyne waving her confusion. "I don't even know what this Void is."

"It's sort of like empty space between the AU's." Outer spoke up.
"Imagine it's like space, but every AU is a star." He continued briefly as he approached, one hand in a pocket as the other waved around in explanation.
"We mentioned it earlier, so I'll tell you this: the Void is not just empty space, but outside of reality. All we know is that anything that enters it gets erased from existence. Only traces remain at most. Basically the same goes for people, and… people have ended up in the Void."

"...How?" Undyne questioned, ever curious.
Instead, TK spoke up, addressing Alphys. "Did you ever wonder who built the Core?"
The lizard blinked, staring at him. "Th-the first Royal Scientist?"
"Wait, there was one before you?" Undyne asked in surprise, glancing down at her girlfriend in her arms.

"There's only trace evidence.." Alphys muttered. "A lot of my work is based on research from the previous one.." She looked away, shakily going on.
"The Co- the Core was around before I ever got th-th-the position, and.. it's honestly more complicated than I can actually understand, it seems to r-r-rely on particle and mana physics beyond my level? Like.. wayyy too complex. Y-you know me, I'm a mechanical engineer, not a physicist. M-most of the machines in the deep labs aren't even my designs! I just found those blueprints a-a-and did a little tweaking for my experiments."

As they all shared a look with each other, the other skeletons gathered closer. Epic's purple eyelight flashed and glowed brighter as he spoke up.
"The former Royal Scientist's name is Wingdings Gaster. Or just Dr Gaster." He grinned sharply.
"And he was a skeleton."

Frisk gasped as Alphys' hands flew to her face, Undyne's eye wide in understanding.
"Oh! OH! So- he- he's Sans's and Papyrus's dad?!" She exclaimed.

"Probably." Epic shrugged. "He could be an older bruddah, too. Never knew. Do you?" He asked Destiny.
"In the case of the original universe and first timelines, Gaster is their father."

"Oh my God." Both Undyne and Alphys murmured simultaneously. "That explains so much." The fish lady added.
"So like- he got erased, and as his kids, they got slightly caught up in it a little because they're so closely related?" Alphys was getting excited, fitting pieces together before gasping. "Did it give Papyrus that flying ability??"

"Yes." Destiny answered simply, watching.
"So they're basically connected to something outside of.. everything, and it gave them supernatural powers?" Undyne quested.
"Is it why Sans can teleport?" Flowey abruptly asked.
"Whoa, hold on he can- wait." Undyne glanced at the others in disbelief while looking for confirmation.

"No, that isn't connected to the Void, no." Black snorted. "That is from-"
"Yes." Destiny interrupted.
"What."
Suddenly, everyone was staring at the deity.
"We were told it was because of magic that leaked from the gods when they traveled the Multiverse." Outer stated flatly, shocked.

"No, it was their presence that influenced the ability to access the rest of the Multiverse. The ability itself stemmed from that single accident that altered half the genetics and magic of the last living skeletons in the first universe that radiated out across the Multiverse. It was too powerful an event for any of us to control as it occurred. The Void itself has woven itself into all skeletons of the Multiverse as a result, regardless of relation to Gaster. Some are more affected than others."
Silence fell over them as everyone processed this.

"...Does Sans know this?" Frisk whispered. Destiny blinked at them.
"He previously had an only slightly inaccurate theory."

"..Is this Void.. inside them? Like you?" Flowey asked, dangerously intrigued.
"No. It is a part of them, benefits and handicaps both."
"Like Sans's weakness to attacks." Flowey noted somewhat drily.
"His what?" Undyne questioned, suddenly suspicious.

Flowey snorted, seeing Outer's nervous face.
"Any attack of any kind, as long as it's of the magical variety and has even the slightest bit of harming intent will kill him. Just immediately dust him. And it looks like some of you copies have it, too."
"Only some of us." Outer shrugged tensely. "And it's easy to dodge- just don't be where the attack's gonna be."

"He has a lethal sensitivity and never told me?!" Undyne yelped in horror. "I employed him as a fucking sentry!" Her voice rose up a dozen octaves in pure disbelief.

"He understood the risks of the condition." Destiny suddenly spoke up with surprising intensity, a familiar undertone echoing behind the deity's voice, eyelights slightly paler in that moment before returning to their former deep shade of blue as she leaned back again.
"Regardless, my presence is more than capable enough to eliminate that danger. No harm can come to him now."

"...Is there any chance I could get a similar protection?" Outer asked shyly. Destiny levelled her gaze on him.
"As the vessel of Peace, that is already a guarantee."
"Oh crap, that's awesome." The words burst out before he could stop them, a wide smile splitting his face.

"Wait, do we get that same-" Razz cut off, eyelights flashing as he looked down. A strange look passed over his face before he sighed. "Ignore that, I have an answer."

Destiny regarded him long enough to be odd- which was just normal for the deity, honestly- and spoke.
"You should be fully capable of asking Revenge of your new symbiosis. Such queries he would most certainly answer. It is only right."

"It takes some adjusting." Black shrugged. "Suddenly having a deity in your mind is a bit of an abrupt change to grow accustomed to."

"Wait, hold on. How many of you just have deities riding around on you like- I don't know, a weird ghost?" Undyne asked.
Epic chuckled. "I'm da only one here without one, bruh. I'd prob' be plain op if I did have one."
".. What?"

Outer jabbed a phalange at Epic. "He's kind of known for having a ridiculous amount of power for no real reason."
"Yeparooni. 'Tho I got a pret' good reason." He shrugged with a lopsided grin, hands in his pockets as the pup in his jacket started squirming in it's sleep.

".. What do you mean by that, anyway?" Undyne addressed Outer as she eyed Epic with a familiar glint in her eye.
Outer shrugged, turning to the purple clad skeleton. "Is it just a rumor or do you actually throw buildings?"
"He!!"

Epic snorted. "Heck yeah, bruh. Only when I'm serious, 'doh. Causes a lotta collateral an' all." He shrugged. "And it's only happened once."

"Dude, you can throw buildings?!" Undyne finally set Alphys back on her feet just so she could throw her arms in the air in excitement. "HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO THAT?"
Everyone stepped away just from the sheer volume, even Epic.

"Lotta focus an' blue magic." He answered simply. "And it happened only once. Had to help rebuild it. Now I wonder how that got leaked.." He tapped his jawbone thoughtfully, thinking.
"Ink, obviously." Outer snorted. Epic conceded, understanding the likelihood of the creator watching AU's during big moments.

"Hey Des- can I call you that? Anyway, whatcha looking at?" TK interrupted the conversation before Undyne could get back on track with excited yelling that might lead into suplexes.
Indeed, Destiny was staring at the ground below, facing away from them.

The others stepped closer, curious as the deity faced them.
"We have an observer."