An UNDERTALE project between two best friends, artists, and fangirl extraordinaires that have been collaborating on trash fandom byproducts with their trash OCs for 11 years.
This month marked the one year anniversary of Undertaken’s release. M and I had spent months planning out the entire story and writing the first few chapters, leading up to that nerve-wracking week when we finally posted it. It took a lot to get to the point where we were mentally prepared to publicly share one of our projects for the first time, but the immediate support we garnered in those beginning days reminded us how worth it this new brainchild was.
Since then, we’ve had more ups and downs than we expected. We planned on releasing a chapter every week, but then the story grew more complex - and so did our lives. We expected only a couple of readers/followers, but then a couple hundred more came along - and miraculously still are. We expected everyone to brush off our original characters, but then we received so many kind messages about how people appreciated them. And, for someone as self-conscious in their writing as I am, those compliments are worth their weight in gold.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making this one of the most rewarding experiences in a fandom I’ve ever had. It’s a slow crawl nowadays, but knowing that someone out there is still reading fills us with the determination to finally complete this.
Take a WIP because I promise I didn’t forget that we passed Undertaken’s one year anniversary last week, I just didn’t anticipate this drawing taking me two weeks to finish. Also on that note, Chapter 16 is coming along nicely as well.
This chapter has actually been completed for quite some time now, but we held onto it hoping to add more. Instead, we've decided we are going to add two additional chapters to the story.
Also, from these sisters to you, Happy National Siblings Day!
Summary: Time is passing, things are becoming normal again. However, there is a certain unease in accepting things as they are.
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Everyone had fallen into a pattern where time became irrelevant. A week had passed. Then another. Then maybe another, but Aly couldn’t be sure of the exact day anymore. What she did know was that, little by little, life was moving forward again. The bruises were lighter, the scars were fading, and her hands had finally stopped shaking.
Mimi had grown complacent, as if she were already forgetting. And Sans was there to replace the trauma with new memories that reminded her what it was like to smile again. Aly could see the two of them growing closer; the way Sans stared at her, or the way Mimi would shyly graze her skin against his bones. Sans was there for her when Aly couldn’t be.
In the days that went by, Papyrus tried to help Aly in the same ways. However, it was impossible to focus on anything but the extra voice echoing across the reverberations of her own words. She dreamt almost every night now. Sometimes they were residual memories, sometimes nightmares. Mimi had even caught Aly’s hands signing in Gaster’s strange language on some nights. However, Aly could tell that there was a reluctance that stopped Mimi from asking about it any further. Regardless of how hard they tried, the tension between them had not completely subsided.
Aly dreamt of his son - sons - and woke up to face them every day; Sans and Papyrus. Why wasn’t that obvious to her before...? Gaster rarely answered her questions about them, so she had learned to stop asking.
She dreamt of parallel universes where everything was the same, but little details weren’t quite right. Sometimes they were nightmares in which Mimi had taken her place.
She dreamt of lives she had never lived - including Gaster’s. The brilliant Royal Scientist that had put science above all else. Eventually he had lost everything to it, too.
...And she was starting to feel bad for him.
Aly watched her dreams as if they were a television show. The more she saw, the more she found herself on his side. She wanted him to succeed. The good intentions were there, but had simply been lost somewhere along the way.
Her soul was almost yearning for these times that she hadn’t actually lived through - a feeling of nostalgia or fleeting deja vu that made her heart ache. Sometimes she would catch glimpses of her parents in these borrowed memories. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to explain these occurrences to Mimi, as much as she longed to share them. So Aly kept them stowed away in the back of her mind, locked tight in her own memories that she was just grateful to now have of them.
Though, these weren’t the only things that plagued her recently.
Aly, seated at the edge of Papyrus’ bed that she had hijacked for herself over the last couple of weeks, flipped through her father’s worn black journal that Gaster had given her. She had read every page multiple times, so much so that the edges of the paper were beginning to fray; the bindings on the book’s spine slowly coming undone.
Part of her still naively hoped that there was an answer within these pages - an answer to anything. But the entries ended just as abruptly as their parents’ existence.
Don’t look for us, the last entry read. It was in her mother’s handwriting, scrawled haphazardly on the same page that detailed their own experiments in soul fusion. Don’t look for W.D. Gaster. You girls will have each other, and that will be enough.
But it was becoming more and more apparent to Aly that it was no longer enough. These pages had been rendered useless now that she had discovered their last message too late.
She unfolded a loose slip of paper tucked in the journal with rough sketches of her parents’ altered extraction machine. She looked at it often, but not too often as to alert Gaster to the fact that she used to wonder if creating another could be used against him. Though he had nothing to worry about now; Aly thought about it less and less with each passing day, surrendering to the impossibility that it would be successful.
Your mother and father were brilliant scientists, Gaster chimed in regardless. I don’t believe any of the Underground would have gotten by in those pivotal years without them.
“Didn’t get them very far,” Aly scoffed.
Perhaps not, but it brought you here. And I am forever grateful for that.
Grateful? That wasn’t a sentiment she knew Gaster to be capable of. It didn’t fit the rest of his disposition, like the wrong piece of a puzzle forced into an incorrect spot.
“I’m glad one of us has benefited from this.”
Gaster was silent for a moment. His responses to Aly’s inherent sarcasm were always the same, so perhaps he was simply trying to find an alternative way to phrase it now.
To Aly’s surprise, he changed the subject completely. Tell me, do you feel any different since that night at the lab?
“What?”
That night, Gaster pressed. Describe to me how it felt when you killed her.
It took a while for Aly’s mind to escape that night. She remembered how the panic felt as her trembling hands texted rapid messages from Alphys’ phone.
Sending Aly your way, she messaged to Sans in Alphys’ stead. Couldn’t find anything of importance during the exam. Everyone is expecting me back soon, so I’ll see you guys when you get back.
She even tried to message Undyne in order to cover all the bases - not that cellular signal to the Surface carried far enough. Regardless, it seemed to have bought her time. Just how much, she couldn’t be sure.
“It… it was unbearable,” Aly’s voice cracked as she answered Gaster. It was a sensation that she had never felt before; something deep in the pit of her soul that knotted her entire chest. “It was almost like suddenly forgetting how to breathe.”
“It gets easier after the first one.” Those were Gaster’s words right after Aly had watched Alphys turn to dust before her eyes. Easier, he said. Easier to watch someone die, or easier to be the hand that killed them?
Turns out... it was both.
The panic lingered through several sleepless nights after Aly had arrived back in Snowdin, reunited with Mimi and the brothers. In the first several hours back, she was determined to somehow gain the control to reset in order to save Alphys from that night, silently running through ideas in her mind about how to take that power from Gaster.
However, it was just as he said. It was getting easier - easier to detach herself. Easier to let Alphys go.
Easier to let herself go.
With Gaster’s guidance on how to deal with the weight of guilt and against what remained of her own moral fiber, Aly had kept herself… busy.
It was harmless at first. Moldsmals in the forest, with no concept of life or death. Aly reminded herself that it was like squashing insects on the surface. However, it began to escalate. Her soul was feeding off of her apathy. Taking the souls of monsters was quelling it; making it feel normal again. Surely there was a scientific explanation behind it that she simply did not understand. But Gaster was confident in it, and it was working. So Aly owed it to Gaster to trust him with at least this much.
My team and I spent a great deal of time researching the adverse effects of Determination in the humans that fell here before their deaths. It was a limited sample size, but there were indeed some patterns worth noting. Most who fell were innocent. However, some of them…
“What are you trying to say…?”
Do you still feel bad about what happened to Alphys? Gaster derailed her once again.
Aly nodded. Of course she still felt guilty. Even though monster deaths were much less jarring than she expected, it was still in her human nature to feel accountable for the choices she made that night.
However, time had begun to heal that wound faster than she could comprehend.
“I do, but… but I feel like I can live with it.” It was as if she could justify it now. After all, she was still here, Mimi was still safe, and they were both stronger for it.
What about killing those creatures in the forest?
“It’s… easier now.” Aly grimaced. Why was she admitting these things?
“Does that make me a bad person…?”
Of course not, my dear.
...How could it not?
This new soul is evolving; finally adapting to its host. And with each soul you take, we, too, become more in sync . How does that feel?
That arbitrary question had been following her for so long. The more Gaster asked it, the more Aly could nearly convince herself that he cared.
It was different now. Aly had time to accept that they were one in the same; her soul was his. His language, his memories, his knowledge had all become hers. And the more she could detach herself from her own emotions, the more she could understand his.
“It feels right.”
Don’t you see what you’ve gained, Aly? It goes beyond sheer strength. You can finally preserve the lost memories of your parents. You’ve given Mimi the happiness of company she’s lacked. Your entire journey up to this point has had purpose.
Purpose. He was right, wasn’t he?
The understanding must have been hard-pressed into her expression. I knew we could make this work. You see the value in our arrangement now too, don’t you?
As much as it pained Aly to admit it, she did. But how was she supposed to submit to this truth when she had spent so much of her energy up to this point fighting it?
“If this is how it’s going to be from now on, then I suppose I never had the choice, did I?”
You still have a choice. Need I remind you that machines can be restored? Aly could feel the tips of her fingertips tingle against her parents’ blueprints from Gaster’s warning. It’s either you, or… someone else.
“No,” Aly said firmly, with a confidence that had been missing before. “We’re passed that, I promise. I choose this.”
I need to know for sure, Gaster crowed. Prove it to me.
***
Mimi set four plates on the kitchen table, evenly spaced and delicately decorated with four sets of silverware. Meanwhile, Papyrus tended to multiple pots and pans simmering on the stove behind her.
“It smells delicious, Paps!” she called out, straightening every piece to obsessive perfection.
“It’s a very special day, right?” Papyrus replied.
Mimi nodded, a smile gently gracing her lips. “To think, we’ve lost track of time so much lately, I nearly forgot about it. I’m sure Aly has.”
“Well, surely a breakfast feast like this will remind her!”
Mimi giggled. “If it doesn’t, I don’t know what will.”
As the duo continued meal preparations in the kitchen, Sans appeared in the doorway, led by the invisible scent trails of food.
“This smells like your best work yet, Paps,” he grinned tiredly, with a hint of enthusiasm. “Must be a special occasion.”
“Good morning, Sans!” Mimi jumped up from her task and immediately greeted him in the doorway with a short, yet affectionate embrace.
Sans wrapped one arm around her, accustomed to this level of physical contact now. “Happy birthday, kid.”
Mimi’s heart fluttered under his touch. Her smile couldn’t help but widen.
“Is Aly still asleep?” she asked.
“Probably. Why don’t you go wake her up?” Sans said as he shuffled towards the pot of coffee sitting on the counter.
Mimi nodded. “Okay, I’ll be right back!”
As Mimi ascended the stairs and approached Papyrus’ bedroom door, the muffled sounds of Aly’s whispering voice grew louder. What started as only being able to hear a few words slowly turned into fuller phrases as Mimi took more steps closer.
“...can’t expect me to do that…”
A pause.
“...going to notice…”
Who is she talking to…?
As Mimi’s hand grazed the door, the conversation on the other side ceased.
Strange.
Mimi tapped her knuckles lightly against the worn wood, but didn’t wait for a response before entering. As she stepped in, she spotted Aly sitting at the edge of the bed, fully dressed in one of Papyrus’ cropped shirts that fell loosely over Aly’s torso, his scarf, and a pair of rolled-up jeans. However, she also noticed that Aly was completely alone in the room.
“Morning, sis,” Mimi cooed quietly.
“Hey,” Aly responded even quieter.
“We… weren’t sure if you were awake yet.”
Aly nodded. “Couldn’t really get to sleep last night.”
Mimi swung around the bed and took a place on the edge of it right next to her sister. “Out of excitement for today, I hope!”
“...What?”
Mimi’s little grin faded with the confusion in Aly’s expression. She really didn’t remember.
“You know… that one day that comes around every year?”
It took Aly a second, but her tired eyes widened when she finally put the pieces together.
“I-It’s our birthday.”
“It’s our birthday!” Mimi parroted with cheerful inflection before scooping Aly into a hug. However, Aly did not reciprocate. Mimi tried to ignore it, only squeezing her tighter.
“I… I can’t believe I forgot.”
“Hey, no worries, sis!” Mimi bounced up from the bed and grabbed Aly’s hands to pull her up as well. “I know it’s hard to keep track of the days down here, but we’ve still got all day to celebrate!”
Aly flashed a hesitant smile from behind the scarf loosely wrapped around her neck. “I don’t know, Mimi--”
“You’re not going to mope around by yourself today,” Mimi exclaimed firmly. “We’re going to get out, go into town, and spend some time together.”
“Everyone in town hates me.”
“That’s not true!” ...Actually, it was a little true. Some of the townsfolk had expressed their concern about previous events. They continued to bring up the times when Mimi was ill, and Aly’s inability to cope with it. Some noted seeing her alone deep within the forest. Others suggested she would… talk to herself.
None of them new Aly like she did, though. Whatever they thought they were observing just wasn’t true - she was sure of that.
...Mostly sure.
“Not everyone can make friends as easily as you do, Mimi.”
“You made friends all the time,” Mimi reminded her.
“It’s different this time.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Aly.” Mimi turned to face her. “You are the most remarkable human being I have ever known. Life right now is… different. But we’re the same.”
Aly grimaced, but remained silent.
Things had been difficult lately. Aly never completely recovered from whatever she had experienced with Gaster - something of which Mimi still had no answers about. Alphys had left them with inconclusive results, and Aly herself insisted that she was fine. But there was a lingering strain between them since Aly returned to Snowdin that first night; a tension that Mimi couldn’t correctly place. However, she made the conscious effort everyday to move forward. After all, she was happy - Aly deserved the same.
“Papyrus made a killer breakfast, you’re going to love it.” Mimi shook off her reservations once again and forced a smile. “Do you remember when we were kids? All you wanted was breakfast for every meal.”
The memory was met with more silence at first, but there was a breakthrough when Aly let out a single, uneasy chuckle. “And you would pretend to want it too so that mom couldn’t refuse to keep making it.”
Mimi laughed. “I realized very quickly that my love for pancakes didn’t stretch as far as yours.”
For the first time in what felt like ages, Aly laughed. It was small, but it was genuine. However, it faded as quickly as it came.
“...Things were so simple back then.”
“They still can be, Aly.” Mimi took one of Aly’s hands in both of her own. It was stiff, reflecting the rest of her sister’s disposition.
“We could stay here… like this. With Sans and Papyrus. We can go back to the Surface with them and--”
Aly pulled her hand away. “This isn’t our life to live, Mimi.”
“But it could be. We’ve found a home, Aly. A place where we’re welcome, and loved and…” Mimi paused. “And safe.”
She thought that maybe there might have been a better word to describe what she was feeling, since much of this journey into the Underground had not been particularly safe for either of them. But Mimi believed, with all of her soul, that things could change.
“You don’t have to keep pushing us away anymore, or going off on your own, or feeling like you’re struggling with anything alone.”
Aly walked through the doorway of the bedroom and stopped at the edge of the railway.
“I’ll try, Mimi. For you.”
“Hey,” Mimi called to Aly. “To the ends of the earth, right…?”
Aly faltered, opening her mouth to elicit an instinctual response to the phrase. However, nothing came out before she shook her head and descended the stairs.
The meal, while cut short by a call for Papyrus’ assistance in Waterfall, managed to still be more memorable than Mimi could have ever hoped for. The past several birthdays had been spent on the road. Different city, different set of temporary acquaintances as she and Aly continued steadfast on the search for their parents. This was the first year the twins got to celebrate it in the comfort of a home, with people they cared about.
Papyrus had surprised them with a cake alongside all of their favorite breakfast items. Cake for breakfast… just like when they were kids. Sans took credit for the idea as his contribution to their modest celebration.
Mimi’s bright smile didn’t leave at any point during the conversation, and even coaxed out a couple more of those genuine little laughs from her sister.
For the first time, it really felt like they were healing.
After Papyrus’ abrupt exit, Mimi rinsed off the dishware one by one in the sink before handing it to Sans to dry. Aly had volunteered to bring cake to their friends in town - a surprising, yet thoughtful gesture. Mimi figured that maybe one good day was all Aly had been needing this entire time.
“Do you think Aly liked everything?” Mimi turned to Sans and handed him a fistful of silverware.
Sans shrugged nonchalantly. “I think her reaction was as good as we're gonna get.”
Mimi nodded, but quickly realized that Sans’ statement didn’t actually make her feel much better. “She hasn’t opened up to me about anything yet…”
“I think it’s safe to say that she doesn’t plan to, kid.”
Mimi shot him a look. “That’s not true! We tell each other everything. It’s always been like that…”
Sans sighed, taking the next plate from Mimi’s hands and setting it down on the kitchen counter without drying it before turning to her.
“Mimi, do you honestly believe that Aly is the same person she was before you two fell down here?”
“Yes,” Mimi answered without a moment’s hesitation. “She’s my sister. My twin sister. We have a connection that no one else can ever understand.” She pressed a soapy finger against her chest. “I feel her, Sans. In my… in my soul. Like she’s a part of me. Things haven’t been the best between us lately, but… but she’s still Aly. And no matter what you or anyone else says, I know she hasn’t changed.”
Sans’ expression furrowed. The bones of his carpels scratched the rim of his eye socket as he rubbed the area in weary contemplation. He clearly did not agree with Mimi’s response. However, before he could say anything else, Mimi asserted herself again.
“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t need your help, Sans…”
Sans let out a surprised scoff. “Trust me kiddo, I’m the last person in this universe and the next that she would take advice from.”
“I know it doesn’t make sense. But you understand what happened to her better than I ever will, Sans. Whatever awful things Gaster put Aly through…” Mimi paused to compose herself. She could barely stand to think about it, let alone coming to the realization that Sans endured much of the same as well. “Her mind is in a place that I can no longer reach. But you can.”
“This is a mistake.” Sans leaned over the counter and buried his face in his hands. “All of this. You girls shouldn’t still be here. Alphys was supposed to take you-- No, you should’ve left a long time ago. We should have taken you back when you were sick.”
Pain hit Mimi’s heart under the weight of Sans’ words. “...And gone where…?”
“Home, Mimi.”
Mimi shuffled over to the kitchen table. She fell into the closest chair, still facing Sans as he stood frozen at the counter. “Do you… do you want to know what I wished for, Sans? For my birthday?”
“I don’t know what you’re--”
“I wished that we could stay here.” Mimi could feel herself fighting back tears now. “With you and Papyrus. And then when you went back to the Surface, I wished that we could stay with you there too. B-Because… Because…”
When she looked up at Sans and saw the flickering lights in his attentive eyes, she couldn’t hold the tears in anymore.
“Don’t you get it? This is home. You are my home.”
Mimi’s sobs were the only thing to fill the deafening silence of the house for much longer than she was comfortable with. No matter how much time she had spent growing closer to Sans, letting her walls come down still left her feeling so vulnerable.
The silence between them lasted an eternity. She needed him to say something. Anything.
“...Alright, kid. I’ll try to talk to Aly tomorrow. For you,” Sans finally replied. “Just… please don’t cry. Don’t let me be the jerk that made a girl cry on her birthday.”
Mimi couldn’t help but hiccup a laugh through her tears. “It’s still one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.”
Sans ambled to the chair where Mimi was seated and rested his hand on her shoulder. “...I guess the only thing that could make it better is your birthday wish coming true, huh?”
“We don’t have anyone else, Sans...” Mimi sniffled with her face cupped in her hands. “No one but you and Papyrus...”
Mimi didn’t have to look up at him to feel the shift happening through his emotional barriers as well. He normally always acted so aloof, but surprised Mimi with how much he actually gave in to her requests.
“...Paps and I both want you here,” Sans admitted. “If only it could be that simple.”
“It can be.” The heightened sense of deja vu pulled at Mimi’s words. Sans and Aly had much more in common than either of them would admit. She wiped the tears from her eyes and rested her own hand on top of his.
“I already told you before, kid. As long as you’ll keep me around, I’m not… I’m not going anywhere.”
The butterflies returned. If only there were words to describe how much hearing that meant to her. And although she knew no amount of reassurance would ever suffice, Mimi wanted to at least try to return it to Sans. “Good, because neither am I.”
Sorry this update didn’t come sooner. Aside from this past month being the busiest it’s ever been, I’ve exhausted all of my excuses as to why writing has been slow.
But! As soon as it goes through edits, Chapter 15 is done! ...It’s actually been done for a long time now, but again, life never fails to get in the way. Expect that within the next couple of days.
Also: as excited as we are to get to the conclusion, M and I realize that our big hopes for the ending will no longer fit into five more chapters. That being said, we are adding two additional chapters to the story.
I’m so tickled by everyone that has patiently been waiting for this new chapter, even after I thought everyone had given up on it. Thank you. -A
Part of M’s birthday present that I drew for her last month - sorry I’m only now uploading them here!
The one year anniversary of Undertaken is fast approaching. And although progress has certainly been MUCH slower than we would have liked, I am thankful for this opportunity to create such an amazing world with my best friend. Now let’s get this thing done.
Creating this story with my best friend for the last year has been an incredible journey full of improvement in both writing and drawing - and we’re not even done yet!
I promise I’ll post the recent drawing on its own tomorrow, I just got too excited to wait.
One year ago today, I was at work when I made a 5-minute doodle for M of what I joked could be our new Undertale personas - aptly named Aly and Mimi. In the weeks that followed, these girls became their own entities. And we prepared for the biggest fandom trash project we had ever collaborated on together.
I’ve been obsessed with playing around on this site called PaintsChainer that instantly colors lineart, so here was a little test with Aly!
Quick update: I HAVE been diligently working on Chapter 15! But in between losing my job, going through several job interviews, and attempting to buy a house (all within the same month), I’m only able to write a few lines every day. Rest assured though, we have not lost steam! -A
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