((I know this has taken me quite literally forever, and by now you all know that I have a bad habit of allowing everything in life to get in the way of things I enjoy. However, I swore I was going to finish this, and I also really want to.... That said, here is the long overdue continuation to NovaTale's story.

The song for this chapter is something I thought very fitting, and works a lot better than I could've dreamed possible.

Song: Where's My Love

Artists: SYML

Link: (Best if played on repeat.)

I love you guys all very much, and I truly hope you enjoy. <3))

"Let Love be the gentle breeze.....

.......that drifts inside the windows to your soul." ~ Captain Backfire (My own Nova Frans Quote)

It was late. Sans and Strife had decided on calling it a night, choosing instead to visit Dusty's in the morning when Sans could hopefully think with a clearer head. They'd taken rooms at the nearby Inn, and after lying in bed, unable to sleep for what felt like hours, Sans decided to go for a walk to clear his head. Now, he found himself alone, drifting for hours through endless rows of dark trees; silently contemplating the day's events while crickets composed their graceful nightly symphonies. She'd been there, standing in that very spot where he'd found that box.... a box that held a ring he hadn't had the courage to look at since.

"Dammit!" he muttered, kicking a nearby tree and regretting it instantly. From the corner of his eye, several leaves were spotted; floating to the ground around him like the discarded feathers of some rare and exotic bird. This caused Sans to finally look up and around himself, actually giving his surroundings a bit more attention than he had before . Exactly how long had he been walking? Had the forest always been so large? Pausing, he peered around to see if anything within the vicinity looked familiar, and quickly discovering that it might be safe to say that he was wholly and irrevocably lost. No tree looked any different from the ones beside it, heightening the growing unease he was beginning to feel throughout his bones. Strangely, all the flora in the area looked much different now than it had when he'd started walking. Willow trees heavily populated this area; their long threadlike vines hanging down like floral shrouds. Come to think of it, he'd never seen a willow in the Underground before, and he'd lived here quite a long time... Delicate blossoms adjoined the tiny leaves which populated each vine, their colors mimicking his fondest memories of a sunset. Their blooms perfumed the air, causing Sans' chest to grow tight; fighting back a sudden rush of sadness and guilt at allowing something to happen to the woman he'd loved. All those memories that'd been locked away were so vivid now, he could almost reach out and touch them, and yet...... It almost felt as though they'd been from another life.

In a sense, he supposed they had.

Stumbling on a rock, which served him right for not paying attention and watching where he was walking, weary bones went sprawling into the soft and dewy grass. Muttering a curse, he placed his hands down and hoisted himself up and onto his knees, now looking around stupidly while trying to remember which was the way he'd come from. "Strife is gonna kill my ass..." he thought, and then with a smirk, there came another. "Damn tree rat. She could find a blade of grass in a leaf pile." The smirk soon faded, and with a heavy sigh and a shake of his head, Sans resigned himself to the possibility of aimlessly wandering for the rest of the night and took up his previous pace.

After about a mile or so, a faint glow could be seen delicately piercing the darkness ahead. It was as if the forest drew up one leaf riddled hand, spread it's gnarled fingers and placed a flashlight to one side for a giant game of shadow puppets. He felt drawn to it, steps unwittingly increasing their speed until he'd just barely crossed the threshold. His body cast a gaunt, willowy eclipse in the shape of a man behind him while something odd came to his attention. How long ago had it been that he'd last heard the crickets chirping? A foot? Or a mile? Maybe two? Nervous, he tried desperately to recall, but couldn't. The silence was deafening, making something so soft as the shuffle of a foot across the ground seem more like a thunderclap. Tense, he edged forward; brushing aside a thin curtain of flowered vines that veiled what lay ahead only to be brought up short with a gasp at what he saw. Stretched out in all directions, save the way he'd come, was a body of water. For the moment, it lay completely still. So much so, he may as well have been looking at the largest sheet of glass ever seen. It fully reflected it's surroundings while still allowing a perfectly clear view all the way down into it's depths.

Crystals, nearly identical to those in the Cavern Of Dreams, riddled every nearby surface; also being strewn about in small clusters all over everything beneath the peaceful waters. Sans wondered if anyone else had ever seen this place. It appeared untouched; within the world, but somehow not a part of it....

Many of the trees themselves were arboreal giants; some standing a good 10 feet in their own right with vines far too high to touch. Others were smaller, with some that sporadically crouched over the water; trunks curved or twisted as though bending over to retrieve a drink and having their vines like hair that shrouded their face with the effort. The ceiling, if there was one, was far too high to see. When Sans looked up, nothing but inky darkness filled the spaces where a ceiling would be.... That wasn't even the odd thing about it though. Seemingly dangling from nothing, tiny glowing orbs hung like disconcerting fireflies suspended in time and space from tiny vines; acting as stars in a makeshift sky.. Farther in the distance, hanging above a small island sitting within the middle of the lake, a much larger version of the luminous balls shone fervently; acting it's part and presiding over the rest of this masquerading sky as it's moon. It truly was a spectacle. One he couldn't help marveling over. Especially the way the crystals that were scattered over every surface, including those which lay beneath the water, were reflecting the light. They glittered like diamonds of every hue, and those that resided beneath the crystalline waters were especially lovely, giving off the illusion of lights within it's depths.

Moments later however, that was no longer what held his complete attention in stunned fascination and wonder. Every now and then, several bubbles would travel from somewhere deep down, protruding from the water's pristine surface and sending ripples out in all directions. Then, the water grew still, beginning the cycle once again in another area. After the bubbles floated a short while, they would suddenly pop; emitting a cloud of the phosphorescent mist that'd been inside. Sans guessed it could be some sort of natural gasses, but there was really no way to be certain. He'd never witnessed anything like this within his entire lifetime. This place was as much a mystery to him as was Frisk's current location....

....."Frisk" he thought with a sigh. "She would love this place...." As the thoughts trickled through the cracks in his composure, Sans' eyes remained fixed on a set of bubbles the small lake had spit from somewhere down below. When they finally burst, he trained his gaze upon the mist that billowed out and hovered in the air. As it traveled, the glow emitted from the orbs above as well as the glittering lights that bounced from crystal to crystal also then reflected off of the particles in the air and shimmered with dancing colors. Because these bubbles surfaced so frequently, there was a constant stream of blues, purples, faint pinks and greens, as though this grotto had captured the Aurora Borealis (better known as The Northern Lights), and placed it on a constant display. Peering up with his head cocked to one side in puzzled amazement, the skeleton found himself staring into what looked so much like a night sky; the kind of scene only viewed within fantasy images of ethereal evening landscapes.

This place was impossible....

....... wasn't it?

Sans drew closer to the edge of the water, walking along where the lake kissed the grass lining the break between it and the lake until he sat down beneath a large willow. Just as his rear met the ground, a small whirlpool began in front of him. It grew until it was large enough to swallow a basketball, and what somehow slowly rose up through it jarred him so much, he'd jumped to his feet. Raising a hand quickly, he readied himself to use his blasters should the need arise, but lowered it back down to his side when the water that had swirled up around it lowered back down to the lake; revealing a small figure about the size of his arm from shoulder to wrist.

"I am the Lady of Lake Avahlee.

Tell me what, dear Sans, would you ask of me?"

Her voice was like music. Each word strung together in soothing notes that instantly calmed his rattled bones. "I... uh..." Sans managed to stammer before the tiny woman smiled. She was made almost entirely of water, which was somehow tinted a lovely shade of cerulean. Her eyes were like two shimmering sapphires lined with thick cerulean lashes that were much darker than that which tinged her otherwise clear body. Her hair was also a much darker shade, akin to her lashes, and fell down her back in thick but lovely ringlets. She wore a gauzy white dress that flowed from the thin straps at her shoulders and ended at her feet. No shoes though.... And delicate, gossamer wings that sprouted from her back; speckled with droplets of water that made them shimmer with every graceful flutter. They were shaped much like those on a butterfly, but they too were an angelic white. Her ethereal features were beautiful, and when she smiled at him, Sans unwittingly sighed before quickly clapping a hand over his mouth as he dragged his gaze down and away from hers; a faint orange hue slowly crawling over his cheek bones.....

.....and to his horror, she giggled.

"Dearest Sans, be not ashamed.

There have been many who've done the same."

She smiled at him again, and this time, Sans returned it in kind. He still felt like a total idiot, but she seemed to brush it off, so why couldn't he? Now past his stupidity..... sort of, there was curiosity.... lots and lots of it. "So.... I'm uh... kinda confused about all this. You said somethin' about askin' what I wanted from you but... I don't even know where the hell I am right now, and I definitely didn't know I'd be meeting a....." he trailed off, not really knowing what she was, so he settled on the name she'd given him. "... Lady of Lake Avahlee. That was it, wasn't it?"

The translucent woman continued to smile, inclining her head in a slight nod.

"I am a Water Spirit, the last of my kind...

I was drawn from below by the longing you hide.

When a pure heart cries out while it's aching with need,

that is when they can find me, and I help them indeed.

But a warning I give you, there are rules to obey.

I cannot give you riches, grant love that is fake.

No immortal life, nor ultimate power.

I can only give answers, guide you toward what you long for.

You now know the guidelines, and what is required.

So carefully tell me what your heart desires."

Sans was utterly taken aback. Tongue tied at first, he only stared at her while trying to process all that she'd said. From what he'd gathered, if he asked the right question, she would give him an answer that would lead him in the right direction toward finding Frisk. But was merely finding her what he really wanted? No.... He wanted to know how to keep her here with him, safely in the Underground where he could wake up to the smell of her hair as he bent to kiss her forehead. To sit in the grass, staring at the waterfalls either in companionable silence, or talking until the wee hours of the morning as they had so many times before. "I...." he began, and immediately trailed off; wondering if her warning to carefully tell, or ask, her about that which his heart yearned for wasn't merely a turn of phrase. No... he had to think about what he was going to say before blurting out something, only to find out that it received an answer with nothing he didn't already know because of his own impatience and stupidity.

So he thought. Time seemed to slow, nearly grinding to a halt as thoughts flowed in and out of his mind like a breeze through a windmill. The water spirit didn't seem to mind, and he probably wouldn't have cared if she had. Finally, when he felt he was ready, Sans straightened and faced her fully. He wore a grin that didn't meet his eyes and felt a bead of sweat begin to trickle down the back of his skull to the nape of his neck. "Okay..." he took a deep breath, exhaling exaggeratedly and marshaled himself completely. "I wanna know how I can make it so that Frisk is here physically, not just in dreams, and how I can keep her here with me." Good. Yes. That summed it up, didn't it? The spirit closed her glittering eyes, and when they reopened, the once sapphire iris' were now a stark white. The two milky pools fixed on him, and the voice that had not long ago sounded like music now carried three different tones that spoke in unison.

"There's another like you, no flesh, only bone.

He was gone for so long, but his guilt brought him home.

Only he knows the truth. He can show you the way.

To help bring her back, to allow her to stay."

With that, the spirit's eyes closed once more, again reopening to the star-like sapphires he'd been used to. She bowed her head in a silent farewell, and when her hands extended to send out tendrils of sparkling blue magic, before the world went black, there was only one word that rested on his tongue. One word that clicked it all into place, and made a great many things make sense where they hadn't before.....

Gaster.