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Reaper walks carefully and quietly through the forest, holding the precious bundle of white and red cloth against his chest. The cloth itself isn't the precious thing, rather, it's the small skeleton that's wrapped inside it. 'This wasn't supposed to happen' Reaper thinks to himself, 'How could I have been so careless?' It had just been another visit to the Savescreen, more specifically the Savescreen from the universe Aftertale. That's where Geno was currently located, currently trapped more specifically. There was nothing in that endless black void except for the patch of golden flowers that's iconic to almost every AU, the small gifts and trinkets that Reaper had brought, and occasionally a "screen" that Geno would open and look out of to observe his universe every RESET. It was awfully dreary, but that was to be expected of a place only meant to be a place for the Human to make the decision to CONTINUE or RESET. Reaper had arrived in this universe for one reason, that being his namesake. There were two Souls there that were DETERMINED to not move on. How they had managed to evade detection for so long was beyond the cloaked skeleton's knowledge, and he frankly didn't care enough to ask. He was there to take their Souls to the Underworld and then move on. Reaper had learned his lesson about hesitating a long time ago. Had these Souls died earlier and accepted their fates, then Reaper's brother Grim, the Papyrus of the Reapertale universe, would have been assigned the job. But nooooo! They both just had to be stubborn and put more work onto him! It had been a long day and the last thing Reaper needed was to struggle with two stubborn and DETERMINED Souls, at the same time. Reaper smiled a bit at the memory, he had been so bitter about the possibility of more work, of meeting and reaping those two Souls, when it actually ended up being one of the best experiences of his long life. Had he chosen not to go, or had those Souls fit his request of not being stubborn, he wouldn't have met Geno. Reaper's Soul flutters a bit at the thought of his beloved, and then constricts with concern about his wellbeing. Geno was the Sans from the Aftertale universe, or, well, one of them. He had injected himself with DETERMINATION during the events of a Genocide Run and used that power to try and defeat the Human. It didn't work, and Geno still lost the fight, the proof of which being the nasty slash across his chest and the blood dripping down his white shirt and coat and onto his equally white slippers. The DETERMINATION kept Geno alive, but at a cost. That being the melting of his right eye, now covered by a large buzzing glitch, and his Soul and body both being reduced to only a fraction of its original form. When Reaper entered the Savescreen of Aftertale for the first time, he didn't know what to expect, but a skeleton in white with glitches surrounding his body wasn't one of them and a half melted skull wasn't it. The gash and the scarf were to be expected in a Sans. The most common death for a Sans was during a Genocide Timeline, and many kept the scarves of their Papyri for the sake of respect and remembrance. However, it was odd that this one had somehow managed to end up in a place completely outside the bounds of the Underground. A Grillby's? Sure. The Skeleton Brother's house? Of course. The Last Corridor? Most likely. Literally anywhere INSIDE the bounds of the barrier? Less common, but yes. A Sans with DETERMINATION wasn't uncommon either, Reaper had seen those both melted by it, reshaped by it, or mostly unaffected by it. Never had he seen one who was halfway melted, with access to the Savescreen, who was unable to RESET his way out. The fact this guy hadn't given up and been reaped already was going to be a problem. Reaper decided to wait on that. There was another Soul, a human one. Probably a Frisk that was hopefully easier to deal with. They were, actually. When reaper approached the child, who looked just like any other Frisk minus the white glitches that also covered their body, they were rather happy to accept his offer. It was... Sad, actually. This kid definitely wanted to go a while ago but were unable to due to the nature of their DETERMINATION interacting with that of the Savescreen. Reaper asked about the skeleton in the flower patch, and the Frisk hesitated before answering in a sad, quiet voice, "He won't go. Not until he's finished what he's started. Not until he's freed them." Ah, so he was trying to end the Genocide Runs? Or just the RESETS in general? Probably the latter. This would be problematic, but if push comes to shove Reaper could always just touch him or use his scythe. Using force to reap a soul was never pleasant, but sometimes it was necessary. Reaper finished collecting the Frisk's Soul, and once they were completely gone he felt the air shift and crackle with anger and magical energy. Before he could stop it, his Soul was grasped with blue magic and he was forced still until he fought through it. This Sans was obviously weaker than the God of Death himself, but Soul Manipulation was a bitch to get out of regardless. "who are you, what are you doing here, and what did you just do to frisk?" A voice rang out. It was raspy and hoarse, like this Monster had either been smoking five packs a day for a year, had a very dry and sore throat, or it was just like that from disuse. Reaper assumed it was the last two, despite the first one being the funniest to imagine. Reaper turned around, focusing his magic into loosening the grip on his Soul. It was working, and the blue flickered back into white for a moment before flickering back again, weaker this time. It was the other Sans, of course it had to be, there was no one here. His other eye, the one not covered by a glitch, was shining a dark red and bright cyan. Did he lose his Justice trait? If this Sans was an Alternate Timeline of the original than he should have some yellow in there. It must have been overcome by the DETERMINATION in his system then. Unfortunate, truly. "woah, woah, no need to be so rattled about my sudden appearance here, pal." Reaper said, holding up both his hands and his scythe, the latter being carefully examined by the Sans. "you should have known i'd be coming."