It's been a few days since your little outing with Asriel and ever since then, you felt as if your relationship has shifted ever so slightly. Asriel was still the same as always, caring but sometimes a bit impetuous and to top it all off, he wasn't shy at all whenever he was around you. Seriously, sometimes you can't help but think he leaves the bathroom door unlocked on purpose. But despite the glimpse of safety you felt when you were around him, anxiousness still took over whenever you were outside of your dorm. And it often persisted even after you were finally within the comfort of your shared room.

Right now, you were tip-toeing through the hallways on your way back from yet another alternate history class. The day after your little trip to the 'district of lights', as you've decided to call it, Asriel called the royal scientist, keeping the promise he made earlier. That was about a week ago and you were eagerly expecting the results, which hopefully would put your mind at ease.

As you continued to sneak through the maze like hallways, you picked up the sound of a second pair of steps coming from yet another branching path roughly fifty paces ahead of you. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a problem but despite Asriel's best efforts to help you calm down, you remained on high alert most of the time. So you remained in attack mode as you carefully approached the intersection of hallways.

"Relax, it's just me," Lonnie, out of all people, walked out off the hallways, his hand raised as to signify he's no threat.

"Yeah, it's 'just' you. Not sure if that's any better," you responded in a sarcastic, almost cynical way. But maybe this could turn out to be the moment you've waited for, you did want to ask Lonnie a few questions.

"Anyways. Seeing that we already ran into each other here, mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Go ahead," Lonnie didn't really sound like a cared at all.

"Do you know anything about past timelines?" you directly confronted him about the matter that kept burning in the back of your mind.

"Come again?" he seemed a little confused at first.

"Don't play dumb with me, you clearly know something. Those weird dreams or visions or whatever you want to call it, they only started appearing after I've met you and they kept bothering me ever since," you tone shifted to something a little more insisting. "Besides, Asriel told me about the entire reset thing."

"Well, if you put it like that. Yes, I do know something. What do you want to know?" Lonnie presented himself as surprisingly cooperative. Maybe he does want to help you.

"Anything, really. Like what happened to past me? Why is Asriel so adamant about not telling me what happened to my past self?" you continued your rather direct way of confronting him as it seems to be working so far.

"Ah that, yes. Tragic story really. I'm sure Asriel mentioned Frisk at some point or another, right? Well, they have a small problem. Nothing major, they just sold their soul to a demon at some point. Every once in a blue moon they loose control and the demon within them takes over," Lonnie sounded like he didn't care at all about what happened and why would he? You're not really the best of friends. "Everything happened about five years after you met Asriel. You were in your early twenties, freshly graduated college and ready to take on the world together."

Lonnie paused for a moment, though you couldn't tell whether it was to recollect his thoughts or to mock you. After another moment of silence, he continued. "You two were in the mansions backyard, lying on the grass as you were stargazing on a balmy, starry summer night. Things were rather peaceful, that was until Frisk, or rather Chara, charged at you with a knife in their hand. Asriel could only watch in horror as they assaulted you, at least until he had knife jammed between his eyes. Pretty sad end for you. If it wasn't for the fact they caught you off guard you'd have survived, probably."

You fell quiet for a moment as you tried to process what you've been told. If what Lonnie told you is true, you've been murdered by your former boyfriend's sibling. But something about the way Lonnie talked bothered you. He sounded so indifferent, as if nothing about it really fazed him. It made him sound as if he was just making all of it up.

"Does that answer your questions?" he looked at you like a had much better things to do right now, which is probably true.

"Yeah, it does. Most of them. Thanks," you sighed and continued on your way back to your dorm.

"Really? You're just going to believe me all of a sudden? Who's saying that I'm telling you the truth? Who's saying that I didn't just make all of this up? You didn't really give me a reason to tell you the truth," his cold words caused you to freeze right where you stood.

"Well, even if what you told me is just a bunch of lies, they'll still help me get a little closer to the truth. So, tough luck if you though you could screw me over," you waved him off with a dismissive hand gesture.

You finally had another clue at hand and it didn't matter whether it held any merit or not. While directly confronting Asriel with it would be unwise, you could use it to get information out of someone who might have some of the answers you seek. This Sans guy should be the next big lead you should follow up on.

Once you arrived at your dorm you spotted Asriel sitting by his desk, flipping through some folder. The moment he realized you were back, he beckoned you over.

"Hey ____, Alphys came by earlier and dropped of the results of her little investigation. I've started to dig through it but I'm not sure about the dates," Asriel handed you the folder once you were within his reach "Here, take a look."

You began to skim over the various pages. They listed pretty much everything there was to know about the new professor. How many times he was married, where he lived, his education including what he studied and of course, his occupation. Turns out that, during the time the experiments took place, he used to work as a professor back in his home country. That safely rules out any possibility of him being involved in the experiments in any way.

"Nothing, he was living in an entirely different country when the experiments took place," a relieved sigh left your throat as you put down the folder.

Knowing that the new professor was unrelated to the incidents that happened a few years back helped you calm your nerves immensely though it didn't took your fears entirely. But you were probably blowing everything out of proportion, von Kaiser could actually be dead for all you know. At least you can try to focus on what's really important now. Your studies, the drama club, your little investigation into your past and then there's this weird thing between you and Asriel. Were you still pretending or did you actually start do develop feelings for him? You don't feel like you did but that doesn't mean anything.

"Something on your mind?" you didn't even realize that Asriel had put his arm around you shoulder, either that or you didn't care.

"No, not really," you responded in much more calm way, looking at Asriel from the corner of your eye, causing him to take his arm off you. "Well, yes. There is something actually. Who's this Sans guy you mentioned some time ago? You said he's working here as a professor."

"Yeah, he does and I really wish he wouldn't. He has this annoying tendency to make terrible puns, he's so lazy he makes sloths look like athletes and is overall just a pain to deal with. Seriously, he can't be bothered to lift a finger unless the world is on fire and people are dying left and right, or if someone is mean to his brother and by being mean I mean something as little as being honest," Asriel didn't sound all that excited, talking about someone he didn't like all that much. "He probably hates you already, considering what happened back at the restaurant. Seriously, you put the rant back in restaurant. You gave his brother so much flak he'd have been ripped to shreds if he was an aircraft."

While Asriel didn't really give you the answer you wanted, you still got enough information to find out on your own. A skeleton monster that works as a professor, that's who you were looking for. Shouldn't be all that difficult. In fact, you vaguely remember a skeleton you passed by on your first few days of college. Small, wearing a blue hoodie and pink slippers, reeks of ketchup. You'd probably recognize him once you see him, if you see him. Unless you're actively looking for him he'd probably slip under your radar thanks to his size.

"Why are you asking, if you don't mind me asking?" Asriel kept his eyes on you, wearing a slightly concerned expression. "Are you still trying to find out more about what happened in the previous timeline?

"I wouldn't have to waste time investigating if you just told me," you replied, shifting your tone to something that was more likely to appeal to his emotions.

"I still don't understand why you want to know so badly," Asriel simply shrugged in response.

"And I don't understand why you won't just tell me," you kept a worry-free expression. "But I'll find out sooner or later."

Asriel let out a long sigh, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure you will."

"Anyways, it's time for drama practice. It's the final act, after that we'll practice to pull off the entire thing in one go," you stated as you walked over to the door. Asriel following close behind, groaning.

A short walk later, and you arrived at the familiar scene of the bustling drama club. As always, the scenery was already set up and this time it looked extremely complex. Numerous new props were present, some of them looking almost as if they would come alive at any moment. In addition to that, the entire drama club had a role to play in the final act, though most of them were only minor.

"Alright guys, this is the final act so give it your all," Elena seemed as motivated as always. "And before I forget, we have someone here to help us with the special effects. Don't freak out if everything goes up in flames all of a sudden, that's part of the show."

If it wasn't for the fact you knew the script by heart now, you'd be freaked out. Though maybe you should be freaked out, blockbuster special effects usually have no place in stage plays.

"But what if it isn't part of the show?" a club member asked with concern.

"In that case we run," Elena blatantly responded. "And before I forget. ____, Asriel. This is the scene where you're supposed to kiss. Now, you don't need to actually press you lips against each other, you just need to make it look real."

You chuckled slightly, starting to feel slightly nervous. Elena was right, the script did say that you and Asriel were supposed to kiss. Hopefully he has himself under control, otherwise this might turn awkward.

With that out of the way, everyone got dressed in their costumes and took their place.

The city of stars was within sight, the heavenly tower resting at it's very heart. Heaven's tear, the grand structure that split heaven apart, housed all the secrets the city held within. It was also the choirs base of operations. But soon nothing but dust and rubble would remain. With the united forces of you and your allies, there would soon be only six kingdoms left.

You turned around to face the army rallied behind you. What you were going to do today would go down in history as one of the greatest atrocities ever committed but you had no other choice.

"THIS will be the day the city of stars will cease. TODAY we will eradicate them and the threat their actions pose. Too long did they try to summon forces they can not control, forces no one can control. A force that is sure to wipe out all life as we know it. This is not a war for power, land or resources. This is a war to protect us and every innocent citizen from a threat they do not know about," you paused and took in a deep breath in preparation for what you were about to say. "The city's entire population has been corrupted by their leaders. If we only take out their leaders, someone else will continue their work. Kill EVERYONE regardless of who they are, don't leave anyone alive. And DO NOT spare deserters. Everyone that dares betray their home has their right to life forfeit."

You once more turned towards the city that lied ahead of you. The picturesque structures illuminated from behind by the slowly setting sun. The city was truly a beautiful sight to behold and it was a shame that soon, nothing but rubble would remain. You reached towards your weapon, ready to lead the army behind you into a merciless massacre, but turned around when you herd the pitter-patter of someone running up to you, the same someone that gifted you your weapon not too long ago.

Just as you turned around to face Asriel, a pair of fuzzy arms began wrapping around you. "No one knows what will await you once you storm the city. This might be the last time I'll see you so, there's one thing it need to tell you," he started but quickly began to stand on his tiptoes, moving his head closer to yours. From the viewers perspective it'd look like your lips actually connected, even though truth looked a lot different.

"I love you," with those possibly last words, he quickly retreated again.

You simply stood there, baffled by what exactly just happened. One more reason to put an end to this and come back alive.

With bolstered resolve and a clear goal in mind you unsheathed your weapon and pointed it towards the city. "EVERYONE, CHARGE!"

With you leading, the army behind you began to charge towards the city. Magicians and sorcerers launched volley after volley towards the city's wall, weakening it more and more. But such an attack wouldn't go unnoticed and fire was quickly returned. Spheres of flames began to hail from the sky and unholy, ungodly chanting began to permeate the air. The choir once more called for the celestial children's aid and heaven began to open, unleashing Armageddon on those below. You retaliated, channeling your magic and unleashing a powerful blast obliterated the city's walls, reducing everyone that stood on them to nothing but ash. With a gaping hole in their defenses your army began to flood into the city and the murdering began while you moved onward to the heaven's tear.

As you approached the towering structure the choir's foreboding chants grew louder and louder and with it, the sky above seemed to become more and more alive. Clouds seemingly vanished and the heaven, devoid of life, seemed to breath. You quickly averted your eyes, having read of the consequences that would follow if you failed to do so. Once the sky starts breathing, the coming of a celestial child is imminent. You had to put an end to this, now or never.

The spire's doors came into view and you were met with another barrage of magical attacks, though it was nothing you couldn't deal with. You pushed forward, raising an arm in the air, unleashing a powerful magical blast that simply tore through the opposing forces, leaving not a single soul behind. With another threat out of the way, you pushed through the door and scaled the stairs that let further up. With each ascended flight, the world below grew ever smaller. Soon the city's countless houses were nothing but tiny dots. The choir was only a few more floors above you but your path was blocked the arch-bishop himself, accompanied by his elite of fanatics.

"Kill this heretic and make sure he serves as an example to those that dare defy the celestial children," he pointed his wrinkled hand at you, speaking an enraged, loathing voice.

They all fell before they could even reach their weapon, severely underestimating the power you held. Your weapon, your jewelry and even the clothes your wear, all were brimming with power that rivaled the celestial children. And so you moved on, soon reaching the dome where the earthly spire kissed the untouched heaven.

The choir didn't hear you approaching, lost in their wicked melodies, nor did they see you, for they were blind. In the middle of their circle lied the god they summoned. A grotesque creature of incomprehensible shape, bound to the command of deprived chants. The creature spotted you and even though it had no facial features, you could swear it was smiling at you, grinning even. You held no sympathy for this unholy creation in front of you and quickly dispatched of the choir, breaking their influence on the celestial child.

Soon the creature began to emerge, moving the incoherent mass that was it's body, only to lunge towards you at inhumane speed. You jumped to the side and retaliated by scraping your weapons blade over the floor sending twisting, twirling flames towards the abomination. While the beast was stunned by the blazing inferno, you quickly bridged the distanced between you, unleashing one strike after the other, driving it back as emitted a series of agonizing screeches.

Seemingly enraged by your assault, numerous tendril like appendages began to sprout from the monsters back and began attacking you, slashing and stabbing in your direction. But you did not falter, cutting and tearing through the grievous assault. What you failed to notice were the tendrils the creature raised towards the ceiling, their tips glowing in a deep purple hue. Only seconds after, the creature released a barrage of beams, matching the glow of its tendrils. You never stopped moving, dancing through the continuous attack of beams, focusing on your defense for the time being.

Even after the initial attack calmed down, the beast continued to fire beams of vile magic. As the creature continued to blindly throw it's attacks, you noticed on detail. A faint, purplish glow underneath it's hide. You continued to focus on evasive maneuvers, channeling a magical attack that would hopefully destroy the beast for good. As soon as you saw an opening you unleashed concentrated shot of condensed magic, piercing through the monster ahead of you, shattering the glass dome above you. An ear-piercing screech caused the air around you to shiver violently and the celestial began to flail violently before dissipating in a blinding flash, leaving behind a small gem that pulsed with immeasurable power. You placed the gem in one of the various sockets of your weapon and descended the tower.

By the time the assault was over, the sky was painted in dark blue colors, the sun no longer willing to bear witness to the crimes that were committed today. The army you led into battle returned with only few losses and the city of stars seemed devoid of life. You looked over the city from a distance for one last time, your weapon raised skywards and called upon the power that lied dormant in your new jewel. Within the fraction of a second the sky above tore open and a beam of fatal magic crashed down on the lifeless remains of a once grand city, reducing it to nothing but a ginormous crater. Trees shivered under the force of the impact and the shock-wave could be felt on the hill you were standing on, even knocking over a few unaware soldiers. Anyone that survived the attack or somehow managed to escape the city would surely be dead now. It was over. The city of stars was no longer.

"And that's another successful practice, great job everyone," Elena seemed to be fairly pleased with the results of today's practice.

"Are you sure a simple stage play is supposed to have this many special effects? I mean, this felt like we were shooting some sort of blockbuster action movie. I mean, fire I understand. Lasers? Sure, who doesn't like a good light show. But an orbital strike? That's a bit much don't you think so?," Asriel seemed mildly concerned and rightfully so. The amount of explosions, laser effects and the likes of it was staggering.

"It's all in the script. I don't know why it is, but it is," Elena seemed clueless whether the special effects were over exaggerated or still within reason. "Besides, those weren't mere explosions. They were art."

"If you say so," Asriel casually shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright then. Now, from here on practice will be over the weekend. We'll be practicing the entire play and see if we can pull it off in one go. Next practice will be Saturday next week. Come early," Elena sounded like she had a positive outlook as he concluded today's practice.

You left the drama club, going over what exactly happened during drama practice. For a moment you felt as if you were drawn into some sort of fantasy/action movie. A huge, animated monster, tons of magic and explosions. A normal stage play doesn't usually utilize this many effects. How did they even manage to create them? Elena did say someone would help them with the effects but how did they do it? Magic, probably. While the entire play was nothing but a big fantasy setting, two things did bother you a little. The fact that you and Asriel were supposed to kiss, which was mainly because you didn't really know just how you felt for Asriel, and the fact that the character your playing wipes out a kingdom and it's entire population.

As you continued walking down the empty halls, you and Asriel were talking about what happened during practice and whether wiping an entire nation of the map was justifiable or not. While your conversation moved along, you noticed that the hallway your were about to walk through was closed due to repairs. Seeing that no one was there it was either quite late or it was one of those mysterious sites where workers are only a myth whispered about in the darkest corners of the college. You vaguely remember hearing about a country where roadworks were a dime a dozen and yet there were no workers present anyhwere. Maybe this is a similar case.

"Well, looks like we have to walk a different way," Asriel stated the obvious.

"I guess so, though I don't know what they're repairing or how it broke in the first place. We've walked through that hallway on our way to practice," you were slightly confused by the lack of visible damage. Was this just a prank?

Not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, you decided to evade Schrödinger's site by moving to the upper floor. Once there you quickly realized that this was where the professors had their offices, one sticking out in particular.

"There's something I need to take care of, you just go ahead," you said in a hasty voice as you turned towards Asriel.

"I'm not quite sure what you're up to but, alright. See you later," Asriel was seemingly oblivious and moved on.

There it was, the office of Professor Sans. Does that guy have a surname? Whether he does or not, maybe he has answers or at he very least clues to your questions. So you knocked on the door in hopes for a response, which you got shortly after. You opened the door and were met with the boney smile of a small skeleton.

"Heya kid," he greeted you at first but soon gave you a rather questioning look, at least you think he does. "You're not one of my students."

"No, I'm not but I still have a few questions I'd like to ask you. If you don't mind," you replied, sounding as if you wouldn't take no for an answer.

Something about this so called professor bothered you. He didn't look like he was working here. The hoodie paired with the slippers made him look more like a dad who has given up on his son after finding his special pillow.

He motioned towards the empty chair in front of his desk. "Take a seat,"

Just as you were about to sit down, you spotted something on the chair and picked it up, giving the 'professor' a disapproving look. "Is this a whoopee cushion?"

The skeleton chuckled and took the joke gadget out of your hand. "Sharp eyes kid, some weirdos leave them wherever they go."

You simply sighed in response, seeing straight through his obvious lie and sat down.

"Anyway, you're Asriel's boyfriend, right?" the skeletal figure looked at you with an expressionless face.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that," you somewhat confirmed his statement.

"Tell you what, leave him. It's for your own good. That guy is more trouble than he's worth," he spoke in a condescending voice.

"I'm not here to ask you for relationship advice," you looked at him with a flat expression. "I'll get straight to the point. What happened to my past self? Who was I before this timeline?"

Sans seemed almost shocked by what you mentioned. "That's some dangerous information you're asking for. How do you know about it the first place?"

"Asriel told me about the resets," you plainly answered. "So, do you know something?"

"All I know is that you should cut him out of your life as quick as possible. He's a walking bad luck magnet," Sans kept insisting that you'd abandon Asriel while avoiding any possible answers to your questions.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I do NOT care about your relationship advise. I DO care about what happened in the past timeline," you were already loosing patience with him, probably because of his constant grin. "Just answer my question and I'll be out of here before you know it."

A blue glow began to emerge in his left eye and he began to flail his left arm, then again, then faster. Does he think you're threatening him? Is that why he's flailing his arms like that?

"Could you stop flailing your arm like that, you might hurt yourself if you keep going like that," you mocked him and his attempt at doing... something, whatever it might be.

"Just what are you?" for once the rather useless professor sounded scared, terrified almost.

"I'd love to know that myself," you responded, leaning back into the chair. "So, you're going to answer my question now?"

"You were killed, by the demon that comes when you call their name," he gave you an answer, a vague one but an answer.

Maybe Lonnie did tell you the truth. It should be very unlikely that Sans is telling you the almost exact same lie, if it actually is a lie, Lonnie told you, unless they're working together. Maybe they are but they're both telling the truth. Either way, you'd find out. One way or another.

"Chara, perhaps?" you mentioned the first name that came to your mind, which only caused Sans to grow even more worried.

"How do you know that name?" Sans returned to a more cold voice that would have caused a shiver to run down your spine, if it wasn't for the fact that Sans wasn't intimidating at all, at least not to you. "Nevermind, just make sure you never use that name again. Bad things happen when people use that name."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason," You got up from your chair and moved towards the door, turning around once your hand touched the handle. "Thanks for the answer."

A short five minute trip down the various hallways later and you were finally back at your dorm where Asriel was waiting for you and he didn't look happy at all.

"Did something happen?" you asked him in a concerned voice.

"Mom called. Frisk will visit in a few days. They're joining this college next year and mom wants me to show them around," Asriel answered in an irritated way. "Anyways, what were you up to?"

"Nothing special, I just remembered that I wanted to pick up a book from the library," you lied, delivering your answer in a casual tone.

"Where's the book then?" Asriel was suspicious of you.

"They didn't have the book I was looking for," you shrugged and sat down on your bed, reflecting on what happened today.

Everything was slowly coming together and the fact that Frisk was visiting soon matched the timing perfectly. If what Lonnie told you was even remotely true, then Frisk was somehow involved in your untimely demise. You were sure that they could give you the answers you were looking for. On the other hand, one thing did concern you slightly. IF Frisk was involved in your potential death, then there would be no telling whether something similar might happen again. Though according to what Lonnie said and Sans's reaction to the name Chara you might have an entirely different problem at your hands. A kid that's possessed by a murderous demon called Chara. Asriel did talk about them some time back and it made them sound absolutely abhorrent.