It was something that I had been pondering over for a while. (LiKe mE pOnDeRiNg ThIs ChApTeR—)

Thanks to Error, I knew that each universe was different—not based off choice, but by design.

Would the creators purposefully create universes in which their characters are miserable?

Based on the actions and personalities I had gotten so far out of the skeletons, it seemed so.

Dust was secretive, but I had garnered during our first get-to-know-you session that his universe was pretty dark. He had to do something very...bad...over and over again, and he couldn't stop doing it because of an outside source that was 'making him' do it.

Horror was forced to be cannibalistic because of low food resources—he made sure to fill up here. It was pretty obvious through his constant need to eat.

I'm not sure about what Fell was going through, but he said himself that his AU 'isn't fun,' or something like that. Pretty nonspecific, but he had that scar over his eye-socket for a reason.

Those were the main ones I worried about, in terms of violent pasts.

Lilac and Error were two very different stories, but I think my concern was primarily on them.

Lilac was quite clearly in a state of depression and no one seemed to care, while Error was ostracized and excluded because he was perceived by literally everyone as the villain.

Both of them seemed to have pretty high and thick walls to penetrate.

Despite the constant pit in my stomach, letting me feel anxious about even talking to them because they might hate me and never speak to me again (even though Lilac and I were friendly and Error was distant, but not too cold), I wanted to tear down those walls.

Spontaneously, I came up with a likely-to-end-in-disaster-and-misery Plan of Ultimate Gloriousness That Totally Won't Fail and/or Screw You Over in the End—or a PUGTTWFSYOE. I was quite famous for them, actually—or, rather, their failures. (It was pronounced pugged-twuh-fiss-ee-oh, but who needs to know that?)

So it was in the living room—me on one of the couches, and him on his now usual loveseat—that I popped my question (which was NOT THAT QUESTION).

"Hey, Lilac?"

Said skeleton stopped playing with his hoodie strings—a habit I noticed he seemed to have brought over from his AU—and looked over at me nervously. "yes?"

His tone was quiet, hardly noticeable unless you took the time to listen.

"Can I spend some time with you today?"

Lilac cracked one of his rare smiles. "sure, i'll clear my schedule."

He was one of the few that genuinely seemed to like you—the other two would be Blue and Ink. You had nothing against Classic or Error, the two you felt the most in between about relationship-wise. The other three were quite distant, likely because of their pasts.

I laughed. "Yes, your extremely full schedule of sitting on the couch."

"exactly. what were you planning on?"

My face turned blank. "I'm going to quote Kung Fu Panda 2 on this and say: 'Honestly, I wasn't expecting to make it this far.'"

I jerked my head. "Well, I also wanted to invite Error. I-I mean," I stammered quickly, holding my hands out in expectance of accusation, "if you were okay with it!"

I only barely caught the flash of a strained smile and disappointment—why was that there?—before it turned genuine again. "of course. if he doesn't..."

Lilac shifted in his seat, pulling in on himself. "...if he doesn't object to me being there. you saw how they reacted to me."

"Lilac..."

Hesitantly, I came and sat next to him, reaching over and clutching his hand.

He looked surprised, his color settling over his cheekbones. Like he wasn't used to physical affection. Or even physical contact at all.

Maybe he and Error were more similar than they thought.

I let my anxiety and worry melt off my face and made it form into a smile, tightening my grip ever so slightly. "I'm pretty sure Error likes you more than most of the other guys. At the very least, I'm pretty sure he won't judge you for your past. He doesn't seem like that type of guy. Er, skeleton."

Once again, that flash of disappointment crossed his face, before it was replaced by his smile once again. "if you say so, i guess."

"And hey, if he's mean to you, I can uninvite him. I'm not one to tolerate someone being mean to another person who doesn't deserve it."

Lilac glanced over at me. "what if it's you that's getting bullied?"

My mouth clamped shut, gaze down.

What a hypocrite I am.

"How does a movie, just the three of us, sound?"

He blinked at the change in subject, before letting his beautiful smile out again. "yeah, sure. if you can convince him."

[Fifteen Minutes Later...]

Lilac looked like a deer in the headlights the moment Error shuffled downstairs with you. You were grinning your face off and Lilac would never admit to anybody but himself that he envied that gorgeous, shining smile that seemed so careless and free.

"you...actually did it. i mean, you succeeded."

Error glanced at him unfeelingly, sitting on one of the couches. "your surprise makes me think that you thought she wouldn't."

Lilac nearly answered before shutting his mouth, deciding that whatever he said would not be able to accomplish anything. He would not make an enemy out of a possible...

Well...

He bunched up his hoodie in his hands. Like anyone wanted to be his friend.

Then he gazed over at you, messing with the DVD player and staring intently at the plastic covers for the disks, trying to determine what movie was best suited for them to watch.

He smiled to himself. Except for you.

[Fifteen More Minutes Later...]

"what's 'descendants?' i've never heard of it."

You turned to Lilac as you picked up the remote, sitting on the floor in between the loveseat and Error's couch. "Oh, it's a movie about the kids of these Disney heroes and villains. The son of the heroes' king, Ben, decides to invite four Villain Kids to go to school in the heroes' land, Auradon. You can watch the movie and figure the rest of it out, I think."

Lilac pulled a blanket from off the back of the loveseat, tossing it to you. "disney? sounds familiar."

You nodded, waving a hand around and making sure to put on subtitles. You could hardly watch a movie without them. "You'd have to be dead before, like, the 1930s before you'd not recognize it. Disney practically owns half the world by now. My prediction is that they and Amazon are fighting for the other half."

"i've never really paid much attention to aus on the surface. when you've already reached the surface, there's not really much else to go off, unless you start adding idiotic things to the plot."

You turn around, surprised that Error was finally joining the conversation. "I do remember you saying something about the Underground. Is that where most the AUs are, then?"

"yep."

Then the movie started, and any further questions were cut off.

During the introduction, you realized something, and quickly butted in, "Also, um, I've watched this movie so many times that I know the soundtrack by heart, and I might start..." You gulped, twirling your pointer fingers in circles, "...singing. Be prepared for pitiful cat yowling coming from my voice box."

"I'm sure you're not that bad," Lilac tried to comfort, then Ben came on screen and they all got enraptured by the movie once more.

[An Hour Later...]

Blue had been trying to figure out the complexities of your washing machine when he heard laughter from...somewhere. It was a mixture of different laughs, from a range of highs and lows.

Curious, Blue wandered around the maze you called a home, searching for the source of it.

Then he finally stumbled upon the living room, where he saw an amazing sight.

You, Error, and Lilac were all laughing at a movie you all were watching.

Lilac had a pretty sharp laugh—naturally, since his voice was on the higher range out of the Sanses.

Error's was weird. He was a glitchy guy, so his voice jumped from medium to low to high to low to medium, constantly.

Yours stayed right in the middle, almost melodic.

He smiled slyly, secretly, before backing away. Despite the common consensus, he knew when to back off or when he was not needed. He knew the three of you were happy on your own, without him impeding. Without him there.

That smile of his twinged to sadness for a moment, before he covered it up, like he always did.

(Hey, I suck.

'Sup, guys. Lunar here.

Ehhhh...I feel so trash...I want to work on that other book I'm working on, but I don't want to abandon THIS book because I know you guys came to me for Undertale and because I genuinely like the premise. I'm already stretching it with all this time between chapters.

Well, if you can still tolerate me and my procrastination, thank you for your patience. I might consider putting this book on temporary hiatus until I finish that other book {not permanent, of course, I love you guys too much for that}, but that's to be determined.

In any case, I love you guys, and I'll see you on the other side.

Ciao, Lunarlings.

Lunar, signing off.)