jan 6, 2025 - sans pov

"kid...?" I take a step towards her. "are you..." White knuckled, clutching her arms in an attempt to keep Gaster away. And then they relax.

"MUCH SHORTER THAN I'D LIKE, BUT THIS WORKS TOO." Dex... or technically Gaster laughs.

"gaster."

"YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD KEEP ME AWAY?"

"yknow, that sounds like it really hurts your voice... might wanna tone it down." I don't want to freak out just yet. With an entire human soul, added to his own power... Getting on their bad side is not my best option. "just tryin to help, ya know?"

"Get out of m-Y H-ead!" She shakes her arms out. "Sans. Yo-U CAN SE-perate souls, right?"

"i mean yeah, but-"

"Then c-AT-ch! WAIT, N-" I catch the soul. "GIVE IT BA-ck."

"no." I step back, holding it close. Souls are fragile. "not this time."

"RR-r-GH. ALWAY-s g-ETTING IN THE W-a-Y." They growl. "NO MATTER. I'M S-ur-E YOU KNOW THAT TH-is bo-DY IS ONLY A V-esse-L FOR ME. AND I'M S-ure y-OU WOULDN'T WANT YOU-r frien-D TO GET HURT."

"maybe not, but when i separate these souls, i can hurt you more than you can ever imagine." I start to seperate them.

"STOP! LET'S N-eg-OTIA..." The souls are separating into four. With the combined soul ceasing to exist, their form starts to dissipate, but with all the dust around they'll be back soon enough. I don't let go of the souls. Gaster's, Dex's, Liam's... Mine. YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SOUL BACK. YOU CAN BE COMPLETE AGAIN. But... We would have to deal with Liam and Gaster. I can't do that to Dex... I'LL HELP DEFEAT HIM. HIS LIFE FOR MINE. OTHERWISE, YOU'LL BE IN FOR... WHAT DO THEY CALL IT? A BAD TIME. If I seperate the souls, there'll be no magic in Dex. A magical form can't sustain that much pure determination.

But I can be me again. Monsters can help restore the rest of the kid's physical form. Not my soul. And she'll be rid of Liam, too. The entire Liam. But... is this what she wants? She can't fight like this. Wait. Of course it is, she's the one that told me to do it in the first place! I release the souls, all different and alone. My piece is sucked back into me. I feel like me again for the first time in ages. I lean against the wall with a sigh. Stars, I must be close to magical exhaustion. The dust starts to gather into three different forms. I open one eye to watch the spectacle and my soul nearly jumps out of my chest. They're not gathering separately. The souls are going to combine by no fault of their own. I teleport by them and start pushing them apart.

"no! no, no, you reform in this dust over here- no!" I stomp on Liam's soul, shattering it effortlessly, holding the other two apart with magic. "stop it!" Finally, the dust gathers together individually, allowing me to let go. I drop against the wall, legs shaking. get it together, sans.

dex pov

I open my eyes. He did it. Gaster's there. I hold my hands- oh, cool, I have two normal ones - out in front of me and summon some attacks. Nothing happens. I do it again. Nothing happens. I summon out my soul. It works, but not without great difficulty. What's going on? I look up at Sans, then Gaster. Sans looks tired. Gaster and I launch at Sans at the same time. I tackle him and Gaster hits the wall. Haha. Loser.

But still. My magic isn't working, and Sans doesn't look good. I help him out the door and down the hall. "Let's find some popato chisps." I suggest. "They'll help restore your magic."

"but gast-"

"Shut up and save your energy. You can't fight him like this, dummy." I rustle through my pocket for some G and get two bags of chisps. "Here ya go." It crinkles loudly. As I munch on the salty chips, I search the area for a good staff or knife. Hey- My old pocketknife! I pick it up and stick it in my pocket. I look around. The old DT Extractor. Sans must have dropped it the first time I was here.

I pick up a loose PVC pipe off the wall. Of course Alphys would have one of these. I get a feel for it and feel a presence behind me. I smash it into Gaster, then with two hands hold him against the wall. "You don't have enough determination to use the portals, do you? With Liam out of the way, you aren't powerful enough to teleport."

"YOU FORGET I HAVE MAGIC." He grins. "I COULD KILL YOU WITH BARELY THE BLINK OF AN EYE." I retain eye contact.

"Good lucKKkK." Wait. What just happened? It's like my speech glitched. I move my foot. Sticky floor. A bead of thick sweat rolls down my face.

"kid!"

sans pov

She's started melting. Stars oh stars, she's melting already. She must have had an influx of determination when fighting Gaster. Even with the boost, I can't teleport far enough to help. I don't think she knows. Oh stars, oh stars, oh stars, oh stars, oh stars...

Gaster attacks. Attacks from the floor. But there's... no blood. Not even dust. "Nothing hapPPPpened." She says. I think she knows now. Like the Amalgamates. They don't take damage. And now, she doesn't either. She holds him down with one hand on the pvc pipe and pulls a switchblade out of her pocket. That old thing..? I haven't seen it since Rainbows. That was over six years ago.

She stabs him through the soul, again and again and again, holding him down almost effortlessly. The attack disappears. Gaster turns back to dust again. "kid... dex... you're melting."

"I'm aWwWware." The glasses have melted away. Apathetic eyes stare back at me, fear hidden deep inside. There's gotta be some way to fix this.

The DT Extractor. Of course. I drag what's left towards it, sticking the fragile soul in its container. "hold on kid, stay together, please... i'll fix this." I put my soul in the other slot. "stars, i hope this works." I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't. I pull the lever. I have to breathe. Breathe.

My hand is shaking. I can barely stay conscious. But I have to. I have to pull up the lever. But... The machine... the noise... the feeling...

I hear a cry of pain and pull the lever back up automatically. I drop to the ground. "k- kid..." I cough. "please don't be d- dead..." I pull out my soul. It's smaller. I don't feel right. But for some reason, I feel freed of something. Something terrible that weighed inside me. But still, so, so tired.

dex pov

I wake up whole, lying under the DT Extractor. I pull out my soul. Magic. But this time, it's roughly a fifth of a soul. "Sans!" I stumble over towards him. "Sans, are you ok?"

"i'll... be fine..." I pull him up and teleport back to Aresog. Aresog.

"Punk! There ya are! I've been searching for y'all for hours!" Undyne says. "...Why is Sans nearly magically exhausted?"

I sigh. "Once again, Gaster comes back, drama ensues." I start dragging Sans to his room. "Remember, he only has four-fifths of a soul. Let him rest."

"Huh. Well, d'ya want some pi- Hey! Your hand's back!"

"Yep and yep."

"Uhh. Okay!"

Sans rests up, and with no more Gaster or Liam, I'm finally freed again. Another birthday passes- I've lost track. I should be HOLY CRAP, TWENTY-TWO! Uhh? Okay? I don't feel like it. I still feel fifteen, just like when I fell. Maybe it's that monster aging thing?

A summer passes freely. Then a fall, a winter, a spring.

11 june, 2026 - dex pov

I've barely aged at all. Counting Darkworld time, I'm functionally 21. And there's been next to no conflict. The remaining humans are happy. They get it. The world is healing from the mark humans made on it.

I swing on some old playground equipment, half paying attention to a book.

"hey, kid?"

"Mhm?"

"when do you think it's gonna happen?" I check my spot. Page 372.

"When what's going to happen?"

"we've never had this long of peace." I haven't even been thinking about it. "it's been over a year. don't you think something's gonna just... go wrong?"

"Not really." I close the book. "I like to think that this is our happy ending."

"come on. be real. i think we both know there's no such thing as a happy ending." I pause.

"You've been having nightmares, haven't you?" I accuse calmly. "That's why you're bringing this up." A breeze alleviates the heat of the sun.

"gee, how'd ya know?" I sigh.

"How'd I die this time?"

"i don' wanna talk about it."

"Stars, you sound like a five year old having a tantrum."

"pff-" He starts to laugh. "guess i do, huh?" We swing. "and also like when toriel made you eat brussel sprouts."

"Oh, shut up."

"in your defense, those things are disgusting. why do humans still make those? blegh."

"You could say I... Don' wanna talk about it."

"heh... i dunno how ya do it, kid." His swinging slows down. I carefully toss my book to the side, on top of my hoodie. "lighten the mood so casually and easily. make someone forget why they felt bad."

"Learned it from James. He helped me forget all the time back then."

"of course."