"Uh, Mister, what is that?"

"This," I rapped my knuckles lightly against the wooden police box, "is my ship, the TARDIS. Stands for 'Time And Relative Dimensions In Space': TARDIS."

"It doesn't look like a ship to me," Frisk said.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to judge a book by its cover?" I gently teased."Would you like to have a look inside?"

Sans, who had been silent the whole walk to the TARDIS, gave me a "sounds good, doc."

I plunged my hand into my pocket, then drew forth the key and unlocked the door. It swung open with a loud creak.

If Sans was surprised, he didn't show it, but Frisk's eyes grew huge at the sight of the console room. Her eyes darted around, taking in every inch of the room: the coral beams, the various screens, buttons and levers, the many doorways leading to countless other rooms.

"I-it's... so huge!" she finally gasped.

I grinned, and nodded. "I'll take that."

After taking off my coat and slinging it over a piece of coral, I stepped over to the monitors and began typing some things in. Reaching into a pocket, I pulled out my "professional" glasses and squinted at the screen. "Let's see what I can find here..."

"Good luck with that, Mister."

The same childlike voice I had heard in my dreams sounded behind me. I whipped off my glasses and spun around, frowning. "Oh no you don't. No, no... how'd you get past the barriers?"

"I have my ways." The rosy-cheeked child beamed at me. His dark tousled hair hung in clumps over his gleaming eyes.

"Oh no."Frisk shrank back against the coral, eyes wide, and hands shaking.

"Frisk... You must be so proud of yourself," Chara said, turning to Frisk. "You finally managed not to kill anyone. After, what? Only six times of brutally murdering everything in your path?"

"Please," Frisk whispered, her voice very small. "Stop."

I put on my glasses again, studying the child with the green and yellow shirt. Sans was glaring daggers, but did not move.

"Poor, orphaned, angry Frisk. Went up to Mount Ebott, fell into the underground and found just the thing upon which to vent her rage. Monsters. Froggits, Toriel, Muffet, Undyne, even that stupid, naive skeleton Papyrus. No monster was safe from you. Your wrath was enough to wake the dead. Literally."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, S-sans," Frisk whispered, sinking down into a crouch. "I-I'm s-s-sorry."

Chara's voice grew louder; he clenched his fists. "We were going to wipe out the underground, together! But then... you couldn't do it. You met a monster, and you spared it." Chara spat out the word. "I made you start over, this time I would make you kill everyone. But no. This time you had to show even more mercy. You reset over and over again until you spared everyone.

"But, Frisk, what you don't know is that with every monster killed, every reset, I grew stronger. Those resets gave me determination. And now I'm going to make you, everyone, pay."

"Chara... it's not too late to stop," I said quietly.

Sans gave a small snort, but Frisk lifted a tear-stained face to look at me, hope glimmering in her eyes.

"Give it up, it's not worth it."

Chara turned to sneer at me. "Why should I? I've worked too hard to give up now."

"Then I'm going to have to stop you," I breathed a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry, Chara."

Chara's mouth suddenly dropped open. "W-what?"

I touched my foot to the strange machine lying on the TARDIS floor. "Dr. Alphys told me about the humans in this world, how their souls have this 'determination'. She lent me her machine, her 'determination extractor'. I've been using it on you ever since you came in."

The child shook his head dumbly. "No..."

"I'm sorry."

He continued to stare at me, and I turned away. A second later the heat from Sans' Gaster Blaster skull whooshed past me. I heard the crack of the human's soul, the dusty powder filling the air.

I turned to see Frisk sitting on the metal grate floor of the TARDIS, hugging her knees. "I... I really hoped he would take your offer."

"Me too," I sighed, my shoulders dropping. "Me too."

"kid..."

Frisk glanced up at Sans, then buried her head in her arms. "Sans... I'm so sorry."

"kid, i..."

"I killed him!" Frisk wailed. "I killed your only brother over, and over again! I'm so sorry, I w-was just so a-a-angry a-and then C-ch..."

"frisk!" Sans grabbed the child's shoulders. Frisk looked up at the skeleton, her eyes swimming with tears. "frisk... i'm proud of you. you kept trying until every monster was spared. papyrus... he's alive because you never gave up." He pulled Frisk into his arms, and after a moment's hesitation, Frisk returned the hug.

I watched, and felt a smile pull at the corners of my mouth, some of the weariness drifting away. These were the moments I lived for.

"Are you sure all the monsters are on?" I asked the blue-skinned fish lady, standing in front of the open doors of the TARDIS. "No one left behind or anything? No pet rock you'd like to take with you?"

Undyne's eye twitched, her long red ponytail quivered. "That's the fourth time you've asked me."

"All right, just making sure!" I said raising my hands in surrender, while struggling to hold back a laugh.

Her fingers tightened around her spear. "Ask me that again, and you'll wish I hadn't dragged your bleeding body out of that hall."

Suddenly, Undyne's expression softened as she glanced inside the crowded consul room, the various monsters inside cheering or hugging. "You'll really be able to cross the barrier with this thing? To get to the surface?"

"Yes ma'am," I grinned. Undyne stepped into the TARDIS, and I stepped in after her, taking one last glance around at the underground.

After all these years, the monsters were finally going to the surface. No more resets. Finally they could enjoy the freedom they had been denied for all those years.