You took your sister for a stroll in the Ruins. The first stop, Mom’s old home. Rather, what’s left of it. Most of the furniture was imported to the Surface.

Time had started to take its toll here. Non-lethal dust piled up on anywhere it could land. Soon, it’ll turn into a self-made carpet of neglect.

The strange tree continued to produce only red autumn leaves. Without Mom to keep the place clean, they scattered in a haphazard circle around its roots.

In the places where water gathered, algae and mold had started to creep along the edges. You wonder how the place looked like when the monsters first moved in for the Sealing. It must have been a huge mess.

Then, there’s that cool view of the old city. It’s dead silent.

You asked Cenna if the place spooked her.

“Nawh,” she answered. “It’s empty, but it ain’t haunted. Pretty peaceful if you ask me.”

No bad spirits?

“Yeah.”

Even if children were buried nearby?

She widened her eyes in surprise.

You explained to her what happened to the Six Children who fell before you. After extracting their SOULS, Dad had them mummified and stored in their respective colour-coded coffins.

After the Barrier broke, Mom buried them in the place where they all first fell in.

Isn’t that creepy?

“A corpse is just a shell waiting to become plant food. As long their spirits ain’t lingering, there’s no problem.”

You asked Cenna if she could check just to make sure.

“Sure, Frisky. Take me to their resting place.”

You took her to the infamous bed of golden flowers. Or rather, it should be. Right now, it’s just a patch of untouched snow. With the Barrier gone, that chamber followed the patterns of the world above.

That’s Chara’s grave. Right in the middle. You then showed her the locations of the six other gravesites too.

You expected her to take out a bell or some other strange instrument for a thorough examination. But, she just walked one circle before handing out her verdict.

“The place’s clean, Frisky. All the non-Chara kids moved on just fine. Breaking the Barrier satisfied them, I guess.”

She could tell?

“Yup. I’m already sharp by default, and my training made me a walking spirit-detection machine.”

How does it feel like? To sense a DEMON?

“It feels like there's someone in the room, staring at ya. Yeah, I totally felt Chara. That’s why I had to play the mystery game you know. Keep everyone in the dark so psycho kid don’t know I’m a Vanquisher.”

“With that said, this room is about as empty as it gets. Ain’t got no ghost.”

Phew, that’s good. Here you thought that their SOULS moved on without their spirit.

Pointing upwards, you showed her the legendary hole. That’s where it all started.

Cenna tilted her head so far back, you’re afraid that she’s going to pull a nerve.

“Daaaayum, that’s a long drop. I’m a thousand percent sure that nobody’s gonna survive that fall if it ain’t for the Barrier.”

Oh? You mean the Ebott Goldenflowers didn’t save you?

“Nope. Not at all. Think of the Barrier as a floating lake. You don’t feel it, but it slowed ya down.”

“If a bed of flowers is enough, I wouldn’t have had to once use the Trap Harvester to save Mez’s hind.”

The magic watch? When?

“It was my first real timey-wimey mission with him. Some major crime stuff. Long story short, he fell off the building in a struggle. I had to catch Mez in a time-freeze bubble long enough to lasso him to safety like some cowgirl.”

You giggled. Does he know?

“Hell yeah! Boy, he hated it sooooo much. Complained that it’s a constant state of near suffocation. About as unpleasant as it sounds.”

Cenna gripped her watch tight.

Her voice darkened. “Hey Frisky, originally… I wanted ya to threaten Mezil with this thing. If you show the Trap Harvester, he’ll do anything to avoid it. That ‘anything’ includes listening to your plea on the case. You’re real good with talking things out.”

“But life ain’t that simple, yeah? A big reset happened. Bet you’ve seen all the signs. Heard the stories too. Now, we’re gonna try to get the Cinnamon Roll to uncover a whole lotta truths. That’s a huge gamechanger.”

Had the tsundere Judge told her anything yet?

Cenna shook her head. “He’s been silent to me. That’s when I know that we’re in deep, deep trouble.”

“ …As much as I wanna hand over Mama’s memento to her child, I can’t. Not until I’m sure I don’t need it. The Trap Harvester is my only clue and weapon against any time-shenanigans. Without this trinket, I won’t notice a thing. That could put me in a really bad spot.”

Agreed. You told her that you understand.

She returned a weak smirk at you. “Thanks Frisky.”

It looks like something’s bothering her. You asked if there’s anything else she wanted to say.

“I’m honestly worried for Papyrus,” she replied.

Papyrus?

Why?

“Monsters… are supposed to be super in-tune with their emotions, right? Heard from the bunny-inn lady that strong killing intent weakens them.”

That’s true. Their emotions reflect the strength of their SOUL. Happy monsters are healthy monsters.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Thought so. See, being a Chrongrapher means going to places where no one should. My friend had to analyze stuff that could make a human sick, let alone a monster.”

“She perseveres until the case’s over. Then, depending on the crap, she could end up in bed for days. If not over a week.”

Papyrus almost couldn’t walk after the last attempt. Is this going to affect him in the long term?

“Eh…” Cenna scrunched her brows, thinking. “I wouldn’t worry about that. He’s a ton more robust. Still, even athletes need proper rest. What you saw earlier? That’s overextension right there.”

“Call this a police gut feeling, Frisky. In my personal opinion, Cinnamon Roll can’t see everything even if he has the biggest vision range. There’s just some stuff he’s not gonna brain.”

“It’ll be like, uh…” More thinking. She crossed her arms and tapped her fingers. “Trying to do an internet search with Safe Mode on.”

Oh! You get it! Papyrus would subconsciously filter out things that he doesn’t want to see.

“Bingo,” Cenna replied. “So, if that happens… I don’t want ya to force him. We can hold his hand if he’s really, really, reeeeally prepared to follow through. But if he breaks down? That’s the ultimate nay. Got that?”

You gave her a huge thumbs up. Leave the Papyrus protection squad to you!

“Atta Frisky!” Here comes the head-rub. Goodbye neatness. “Le assassino and the skeleparents will thank ya lots.”

Assassino?

Is it from that game franchise with the cool hoodies?

“Yup!”

You never told Sans about it, but you noticed the resemblance ever since you first met him. Parkour fans hung out near your foster home once. At least one of them would sport that kind of fashion.

“Glad to know I ain’t the only one who thought of that!”

Both of you laughed together. A cool nerd for a sister. Awesome equals to maximum.

Your gladness didn’t last long. There’s something you’ve been meaning to ask, but you didn’t want to do it in front of everyone else. It’s supposed to be top secret after all.

Since you’re alone under the mountain, you took the opportunity:

What is this big mission in Spring?

Cenna stared at you in shock for a few seconds. Then, she tipped her hat down and smirked. “Mez told ya about that, huh? Guess you deserve to know.”

She leaned on one leg. Tried to be cool and casual. Maybe it’s to soothe her own nerves.

“Don’t ya think it’s unfair that monsters get all the finger-pointing? Goat Dad. Doctor Goop. ‘Sif they’re the only ones capable of all that mad science.”

You nodded.

“Well, we’re in luck. Humans screwed something up major. With a big M. An M so big, it’s monstrous!”

Is this going into anime territory again?

Cenna laughed. Instead of cocking her head upwards for a confident, almost suicidal cackle… she kept her sights on the ground. Away from you.

“Fiction’s gotta be inspired from somewhere. C’mon, you’re living in a town of magical monsters and you think it’s bizarre to have anime shenanigans elsewhere?”

It’s still a hard fact to swallow sometimes.

So… How does this big issue tie in to her?

“Ever wondered why I didn’t come strutting to town on the first opportunity? It’s because Mez and I did a whole lot of negotiating nonsense first. Lotsa plane-hopping and all.”

“Mez has a ton of connections. The number of friends he has can be counted with fingers. But, that doesn't mean he got no influence. He saved and helped a ton of people. Many of them in positions of power today.”

You thought politicians can’t be trusted.

“Lesser of two evils, Frisky. Hey, hey, you’re gonna be part of the politics in the future. Does that mean you can’t be trusted?”

Maybe. But you’re determined not to lose yourself.

“Heh, it does help that you can rewind time once you realise you got conned. That’s what Mez did anyway: cheating the cheaters. Kicked out the bullshit folk while putting in the ones on his side.”

What if they betrayed him or fall short?

“Good luck surviving the death of your career.”

Okay. He’s merciless. So chilling.

Basically, he manipulated politics for the Magi’s gain. Why does he need to do that?

“To squash out Gungnir influence, gain legal authority, preventing the big fuck-up that’s threatening to eat the world, and a bunch of other stuff.”

Wait what?

A screw up that’s threatening to what?!

“Yeah. That’s what I’m getting at. You see, the War of the Red Victory was at the tail end of a whole lotta bad stuff. A train wreck at its most wrecked.”

“Corrupt people in power initiated a heretical experiment. Since they had authority, they either bought over or oppressed anyone who tried to get the truth. You can imagine that there were plenty of ‘accidents’ during that time.”

The thriller genre at its finest. Dang.

“The mighty Supreme Judge before Mez was on the case. Even so, it’s hard for him to make any headway because of deep corruption. Nothing’s gonna move if nobody wanna cooperate, you know.”

“Then he got murdered. When a Supreme Judge dies without a successor, it becomes total anarchy. Everyone corrupts each other’s SAVES. And that means whatever shit went down during that period stays permanent.”

“Long story short, the heretical experiment backfired, a city got destroyed, and now we have a world-ending calamity that nobody could rewind because of the war. It’s sealed under the ocean, but the lid’s on the verge of falling apart. Yay.”

That’s the most sarcastic ‘yay’ ever to come out from her. You got the point.

“So,” said Cenna, “Mez and I made a wager with the big wigs. Presidents, monarchy, world leaders, everyone. It’s time to repay the favour.”

“If the Magus Association can solve their massive mistake, the nations will grant us an absolute wish in return. Mez made sure nobody tried anything funny. No backpedalling. No schemy loopholes. No weird bullshit. Own up, or face the consequences.”

And that’s the big Springtime mission?

“Bingo.”

Does it involve DEMONS?

Cenna fanned her hand across her face. “Nay. Ya think that’s the only force in the universe? Kinda wish that’s the case though…”

You scratched your head. A DEMONless world-threatening threat? Had this been tackled in any of the other timelines before?

She shook her head.

That’s a no.

Is this why the tsundere Judge is so anxious to get your Trial done and over with?

You finally received a nod.

“It’s a critical mission as you can imagine. He needs to make sure he has the full right to his SAVES. Or handled by a successor he can trust. Also, he needs to make sure Gungnir don’t flip their shit and sabotage everything in the meantime.”

Cenna shifted her weight to the other leg. Remained silent as she continued to avoid eye contact.

“We’re thinking of asking for the Ebott folk’s help. It’s good PR, you know. If everyone knew that the monsters here played a huge role in saving the world… that’ll solve a lot of issues.”

“All we need is permission from King Asgore and Queen Toriel to lend us their best. That includes Doctor Gaster. All parties involved in the attempted war effort will have a chance to redeem themselves.”

You frowned. It doesn’t seem right that they have to do so much to fix a problem they never started.

“Eh, it ain’t a matter of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. It’s all about public perception. I know it sucks, but that’s a part of life.”

The sunrays dimmed into a deep, orange hue as the sun set over the horizon. It marked the end of the day shift. It won’t be long before the real vision dive.

It’s time to head back. On the way, you tried to put the serious topics aside and chat about the nerdy things in life.

Cenna livened up, but you could tell that she’s troubled. Her fake face doesn’t match up to Sans’. If you could see through him, you can see through her.

When you returned, you arrived at a snowy picnic your parents had set up.

Table? Checked.

Benches? Checked.

Flasks of tea? Checked.

Food for dogs and non-dogs? Checked and double checked. Endogeny already started their meal way ahead of everyone else.

You half-expected something like this to happen. With Dad and Undyne combining their physical prowess, there’s nothing that they can’t transport.

Everyone thought that it would be best to have an early dinner. There’s Mom and her famous butterscotch-cinnamon pie for dessert, of course.

It gave ample time to rest, recover, and prepare for the unknown ahead. You had a feeling that no one would have an appetite after the experiment.

Another peaceful day had passed according to Undyne. Spotted a bunch of suspicious vehicles in the distance at most. Nobody dared to make an issue in broad daylight, more so with the strongest fish lady herself leading the charge.

The evening and night shift patrols will have to be vigilant. Intel sources suggest that smarter groups might try to use the cover of night to infiltrate.

A long nap did wonders for Papyrus. Though he didn’t shine or sparkle, he’s well enough to yell at Sans over his bad puns.

You’d be worried if he didn’t respond. As the internet says, ‘OOC Is Serious Business’. A silent Papyrus would either mean there’s something terrible looming ahead, or he’s too sick to respond. They’re both bad omens.

After the group dinner, everyone sat in a circle on the floor.

You.

Sans.

Cenna.

Gaster.

Dad Asgore.

Mom Toriel.

Alphys

Undyne.

With Papyrus in the middle.

Nine people in total. It’s as though everyone’s joining in on a big movie night. Except, it’s going to be an unedited live documentary.

Alphys ran through some final checkups before giving a thumbs-up. Papyrus put on his visor with great pride and purpose, as if he’s going to pilot a fighter plane to the sky.

“FRISK, WHERE SHOULD WE START?”

Seems that while you took your stroll, everyone agreed you should be the main director.

It’s a task you’ll accept without hesitation. That was your intention from the start.

You told Papyrus to seek for the Legendary Hero, the one who initiated the war against the Dreemurr Nation and killed Mezil of Berendin.

…Come to think of it, they really don't deserve to be called a ‘Hero’. They're more of an assassin, like Sans but worse. From now on, you’ll call them by a more appropriate title:

‘Genocider’.