Where should I send my little Runaway to next?

-----

"Oh dear... Oh dear... Oh dear... Alphys is not going to be happy about this..."

Cross slowly opened their eyesockets, to see a floating pile of rocks, floating back and forth. They seemed to be worried about something...

They groaned as they sat up, nearly sinking back into the pile of cushions that they had been sleeping on.

Their movement got the attention of the floating rock pile, and they quickly floated over to them. Cross could now see that there was a faint energy field, that was holding everything together. "You're awake?!"

"I'm sitting up, and talking to you, so yeah, I'm awake." Cross growled, they weren't happy, and their ankle had chosen this exact moment to remind them, that it existed. They hissed, and they clutched at their wounded ankle, trying to figure out what was wrong with it.

A quick scan of it, revealed that the talus bone had a crack in it, and Cross froze, because unless they found someone that could heal it, or they found an external source of Magic that could speed up the time that it would take for it to heal, they could be unable to walk for months, or years, if it didn't heal properly...

Cross sniffed, and then, surprising everyone, even themselves, they burst into tears, sobbing, and brawling, like a newborn Babybones.

The rock pile gasped, and they gently picked Cross up, awkwardly rubbing their back, as Cross sobbed into their shoulder, doing their best to comfort them.

It took them half an hour, for their tears to dry up. Cross had been so exhausted, mentally, from everything that they had been through. This breakdown had been in the making, for a long time...

Cross had never been able to sit down, long enough, to process everything that they had been through, even after the Multiversal Reset... And now, all of that suppressed grief, rage, and sorrow, was falling coming out.

The rock pile looked at them, once they were done. "Do you feel better?" They awkwardly asked them.

Cross nodded their head, and the rock pile slumped. "That's good, I'm not used to being a comforter." They dramatically swooned, making the Babybones giggle.

The pile of rocks chuckled, when they heard the Babybones giggle, and they gave them a piggyback ride. The child was the right size for them to comfortably sit on one of their shoulders.

"How about you be my hands, while I'll be your legs?" They waved one of their club like hands. "I can't grab the books when I'm like this."

"Books? This place is a library?" Cross asked, looking around, and staring at the endless rows of bookcases.

"It's going to be one." The rock pile hummed. "My friend and I just moved in, we're going to rebuild our lives here..."

"I know that feeling." Cross gently patted the rock pile's head. "I'm trying to rebuild mine too."

------

Alphys sighed. It had been a long day.

Filling in the paperwork to officially open this place, as a library, hadn't been that hard. It was a pleasant walk in the park, when it was compared to the permits that had to be filed, just to be legally allowed to buy the metal, that she needed to create Mettaton's preferred body.

She then had to take the long way back, mainly to not lead any unwanted visitors to her new home... She just had to open her mouth...

To be fair, she did say what a lot of them had been thinking...

That one human, being the Soulmate to so many Skeletons, didn't make sense.

It could be possible, but at the same time, it could be impossible.

There wasn't enough evidence to prove, that it was true, but at the same time, there wasn't enough evidence to prove that it was false.

Alphys did like the idea of a happy ending, for Sans, like she had seen in so many animes, and mangas, but some of them had deconstructed the 'harem' idea, pointing out the issues that came with being part of one, and what could happen if things fell apart, or the 'harem' got so big, that all of the expenses, and the negatives of being part of a 'harem', outweighed the positive aspects...

Alphys had been torn... Did she keep her mouth shut, and just be happy for a friend, even through something felt off about what he had become a part of? Or should she speak up? To explain to her friend that while she was happy about the fact that he had found a home, and someone to love, she had some concerns about his current path in life, that she wanted to talk about, to find a way to make her overthinking mind stop distracting her, from sharing his joy, and to help her accept that this was his new normal...

Sans had not taken that well... And while he never spoke to her again, after she had asked those questions, his new human lover had wasted no time in making Alphys look like the 'bad guy'.

Ironically, all that had done, was cause problems in the 'harem'...

Doubts grew in the human's claim that all of the Skeletons were their Soulmates.

Logically, Alphys knew that it was impossible. The lack of evidence wasn't her first doubt, when it came to this claim.

It was Magic that was her first doubt.

Bonds were built on Magic, and while humans could no longer use it, they still had remnants of it, in their Souls.

But, there was a limit to just how much Magic that a Soul could handle, before it tore itself apart, killing it's owner.

Human Souls had a lower Magic Limit than Monster Souls... In the past, those limits had been equal, due to humanity knowing how to train, use, and live with, Magic, but when that knowledge had been forgotten, the ability to increase their Magic Limit had been lost.

It would take several generations for that to come back. Magic had been released, back into the world, when the Barrier had been broken, and it should have taken longer than this, for side effects to show up, in the humans. Ergo, unless Human Mages had found a way to live on, after the war, which Alphys doubted, because of them not showing up, when they did, someone was lying...

And Fated Soulmates weren't real.

Just like it had become a fairy tail, and a fantasy trope, for humans, it was one for Monsters too.

And if it was real, why, when the other versions of Sans, and a few Papyrus, appeared, why hadn't their Fated Mates appeared too?

It made much more sense for all of them to have their own Fated Mate, if that was real, because of the fact that a human could only support one Mate bond.

Just one... And not the armada of Skeletons that now lived with the human.

And despite the claim, not all of them believed it.

Some of them had turned the human down, outright denying the claim of them being Soulmates, because they were already married, or seeing someone. Some of them had families of their own now, with babybones, and they weren't 'interested in being a human's toy', while others just either didn't feel anything, in the realm of romance, or the human just wasn't their type.

(That was another doubt for Alphys, if this Soulmate thing was true, shouldn't the human be their type? It was impossible for a human Soul to have that many traits!)

Others had simply run for the hills, when the human's back was turned, and had not comeback.

Opening the front door, Alphys blinked at the sight of Mettaton, with a Babybones, that was helping him to fill up the bookcases, with books.

Seeing the Babybones there, reminded Alphys of the first Sanses that had fled from this mess.

It had been a group of four, and one of them had asked what would happen if younger Sanses, or Skeletons with different genders, was brought here by the machine that had brought them here?

The human, slightly drunk, had just laughed, and said that any Skeleton that came here, was their Soulmate, and that gender would not be an problem, since they would be changed, to fit with the limits of the bond that they would share.

Those comments had to have been the last straw for those four, because they disappeared, shortly after it was made... Alphys had been disgusted by the human's words.

Because they didn't make sense.

It was like the human didn't understand their culture, and was just throwing labels at them, to see what would stick to them.

Relationships were a two way street, one half couldn't do everything in it... The human was just taking from them, and wasn't giving anything back... Just false, and hollow, words that were like chains...

And that group was right, because so far, the affected Skeletons had been in the human's age range, but eventually, younger Skeletons would be drawn into this mess, and Alphys knew that humans had laws, when it came to the ages of those in a relationship, laws that could not be ignored, even if the relationship only had one human in it.

Someday, Alphys knew that someone would tell Sans, 'I told you so', when the human got them in trouble, with human laws, or monster laws, or someone did something that caused the whole thing to fall apart.

On paper, it was a good idea, to have relationships with humans, and to have bond with them, but in reality, it wasn't a good idea...

Or they were using the wrong humans, and Monsters, for it...

And there was the issue of space.

The human insisted that they all lived in the same house, but this was one of the few things that Sans disagreed with.

He pointed out that, until they managed to turn the machine off, to cut down on the amount of alternative Skeletons that ended up here, it was pointless to have a permanent place to live. With each new Skeleton that appeared, rooms had to be shuffled around, schedules had to be adjusted, paperwork had to be filled out... It was too much hassle to keep everyone in the same house, when spreading them out, over several houses, was much more cost effective, and it made schedules easier to follow.

Plus, if anyone did not want to be part of the relationship, it wasn't fair to force them to stay here, when they could move out, and free up room for anyone that wanted to be a part of it.

In the end, they comprised.

Those in the relationship would live in one house, the newly arrived would live in the second house, the one with the machine that kept on bringing them here, while they adjusted to being in their world, or in some cases, being freed from the Underground, while they decided if they wanted to be part of the relationship.

The third house would be the home of those not in the relationship, but wanted to stay here, and rebuild their lives in their world. They would stay in the third house, or they would stay there, until they had enough to buy their own house, or apartment.

There was even a cabin in the forest nearby, where those that didn't want to stay, could recover their energy, before they left this world, to get away from the human.

The human seemed to think that just because they used to be the same Skeleton, they could have a bond with all of them...

Magic did not work like that!

Alphys walked into the future library, watching as Mettaton either handed a book over to the Babybones, who placed it on a bookshelf, or he would do something overdramatic, to make them laugh.

She chuckled, getting their attention, and the little one squeaked, trying to hide, using Mettaton's head as cover. This made Alphys frown, and she walked over to Mettaton. "Hello Metta, who's your new friend?"

"Hello Alphys, darling!" Mettaton smiled. "I found this little one in our storeroom, after you left, and they just woke up. They're been helping me with the books, since I don't have hands anymore..."

"I know..." Alphys sighed, it was her fault that Mettaton now had the body of a Golem... His body had been destroyed, protecting her from Sans, when the Skeleton had reached his breaking point, when it came to her doubting his human lover.

Alphys had shared her worries with Papyrus, who had similar worries, and did not feel comfortable around the human. He could accept that his brother was happy, and that he was happy that he had found someone to love, but he did have doubts about the relationship.

And he wasn't the only one.

The whole honeymoon phrase was starting to wear off, for friends, and those in the relationship. This was normal, now that they had settled into the relationship, and cracks were starting to show... The dynamics of the whole thing also started to change, as the misplaced Skeletons started to build friendships, with each other, and finding out that they had more in common, with each other, than what they had with the human, which led to them getting together.

Unlike what they shared with the human, these relationships looked more natural to Alphys... They felt right...

She shook her head, and she walked over to a cart full of books that needed to be sorted, pushing it over to Mettaton.

Mettaton understood what she was saying, and he went back to work, passing the books to the Babybones, who placed them on the bookshelves, while Alphys pushed the cart. It was a routine that would allow the small Skeleton to get used to Alphys's presence, and it would help them to catch up with their backlog.

Mettaton was good at lifting things in bulk, but when it came to smaller items, until he got his body back, it would cause books to fly everywhere...

Making the small Skeleton's appearance a blessing for them.

----

Cross started to fidget, once all of the books had been put away, they felt uncomfortable around Alphys...

In their AU, she had been his father's assistant, and compliant in what he had done to them. Mettaton had already built an opening, to prove to them, that he wasn't the robot from their AU, but this Alphys hadn't... She had given him space, and she had not pushed for answers, while the books had put away, but now, they couldn't use them as shields...

She didn't look like the Alphys from their AU, she was much more colorful, and she wasn't wearing a labcoat. She was wearing a simple sweater, and a long skirt...

Cross almost squeaked, when Mettaton suddenly placed them in the pile of cushions that they had been sleeping on, and they froze, when they saw the First Aid kit that Alphys was holding.

"Mettaton told me that your talus bone has a crack in it. Are you comfortable with me taking a look at it?"

Cross walked to say "No", they wanted to scream at her, and tell her to "Go away!", but that stopped when they saw this Alphys's eyes... They were full of life.

Their Alphys had puppet eyes, they had been dull and empty, with no sign of life in them. They had been an extra pair of hands, and eyes, for their father, but this Alphys...

She had eyes that were full of life, and they burned.

They burned with the same fire that they never saw, in the eyelights of the so called 'Judges', that worked with Ink, and his side of the whole Creation, and Destruction, war in their old Multiverse...

This was the fire that they had seen in the eyelights of Red, and the neutral 'Judges', the ones that actually did their jobs, and tried to listened to both sides of the fight.

Somehow, the Alphys here had become the 'Judge', which meant that the Sans of this AU, must have done something wrong, and they had lost the ability to use the Magic of the Royal Judge. How had that happened?

Confused, but seeing that the Alphys here, might not be like the Alphys from their AU, Cross nodded their head.

They were going to give her a chance...

----

Okay, so this Chapter is actually my longest chapter, so far, taking up fifteen pages of the Notebook that I wrote it in, and a lot has happened.

Originally, I wanted it to be the first non Interlude Collabish Chapter. I wanted my little Runaway to have their first crossover, but as I continued writing, it didn't click, and work out, so I ended up placing them in another Multiverse that I had to create, quickly.

And I don't know how it happened, maybe it was due to the Undertale stories that I read, when I took breaks from writing this Chapter, but I thought about the story idea of 'One human x many AU Sans/Papyrus'. An idea that I have so many gripes with, due to their flaws, logic holes, culture, and I just don't vibe with them, because of how uncomfortable they make me feel.

Don't take this as me hating the idea, I think that it could be a good story, and I did like the ending of one that I read, a while back, but it's not my sort of thing. If you like the idea, then that's fine with me, but please respect the fact that I don't like them, and that they make me feel uncomfortable.

It's more fun to poke holes in them, there's so many ways that it won't work out, that's in the story itself, before you bring in outside elements... Like Humans not being as Magical as they used to be, each Sans and Papyrus being different from each other, and having different preferences and sexual orientations. They could even be different genders. Sans is canonically male, but since these stories establish that the Multiverse exists, the method of introducing new Skeletons into the story, has a chance of pulling a Skeleton with different gender, or a kid version, into this mess... They could even be from any point in the timeline, before, or after, the events of Undertale.

Then, we have the logistics.

The expenses, space, dynamics, the positive, and the negative aspects...How expensive will it be to set up everything that a new Skeleton needs? The day to day expenses that will increase with each new member of the relationship... Where will you live? Do you have to build a custom house just to fit everyone into it? Or do you have multiple houses? What happens to those that don't want to be part of the relationship, but want to stay here? What about those that want to go home? How much time do they get with the human? What happens when they start to pair up with each other, and leave the larger relationship? Or become rivals? Is there enough positive aspects to outweigh the negative aspects? What's the human's backstory? Are they hiding something?

One of the reasons that I liked the story that I mentioned earlier, is that they developed the human characters. The main human of the 'harem' turned out to be a gold digger character. I think that it had something to do with the exchange rate of Monster Gold and human currency, being in favour towards Monster Gold, and was only in it for the money, while the other character was more busy with fixing the machine that brought the Skeletons here, ended up helping some of them return home, and free themselves from the Underground. I also saw the other Skeletons getting character development, and I saw the first human facing the consequences of their actions, when their plans started to fall apart, and the hookwinked Skeletons had to move on, and learn to live with what had been done to them.

I don't have a problem with poly relationships, and I honestly like them more than the harem pairing, but there's a point where it becomes too big, and it causes more problems than it fixes...

A friend of mine calls these 'harem' stories, 'trap storylines', and I have to agree with them.

I like the polys, because they're more realistic, actually shows character development, and sometimes, are basically just characters sharing a bed, for stress release, comfort, and to burn off excess energy. They also don't allow strangers into them, and if they do, is after they have earned a place in it, and have moved onto the 'not a stranger' stage.

The trap storylines just don't agree with me, and I often drop them, after a few Chapters, or a few paragraphs, and I move onto another story. I'm more of a fan of stories that tear them apart, but if you remove the romance, and the human, it would make a great found family story.

You also need to think about the 'Royal Judge' Magic, the others lose most of it, after they're brought into the AU that the story takes place in, but what happens to the Sans of that AU? They're destroying their impartiality, and develop biases, by being a part of a relationship like this... Where does the Magic go, when it's Chosen User, becomes corrupted?

If that happens, who becomes the next 'Royal Judge', and inherits that Magic?