Given An Unwanted Second Chance

Epilogue

An extra huge thank you to @AddictedCrow for the use of their Undertale AU for the epilogue!

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It was...a very rough few months after Fate restored my memories.

Remembering everything bad...kinda put me in a state of mental regression.  Not that I was the one who noticed.

Gradient did his level best to help me through the pain.  Dream sometimes tried to help, but my wariness of him negated a lot of his helping.

Nightmare and Dream...well, that situation didn't really change.  Not much, anyway.

They still fought because of the balance, although from what I heard from Gradient (who kept an eye on them), it wasn't as hardcore as before.  Hopefully we wouldn't have to worry about another multiversal situation again.

I wasn't quite in a good state of mind to take on my current role.  Fate visited me every once in a while in my sleep, apologizing each time for the pain.  I tried reassuring her that I chose this, but I guess I wasn't doing my best at it.

After those rough months, Gradient came to me in my room.  I was just curled up on my bed, squishing a plushie.

It'd been embarrassing the first time Gradient had seen me clutching one like a lifeline.  I was supposed to be more mature than that...

He had reassured me that nothing was wrong with it, pointing out the mental regression possibility.  He had spent a while looking for a way to help me.

Anyway, he came up to the bed.  I almost hadn't noticed him despite me practically staring at him.  I'd been seriously lost in my thoughts.

"Eclipse?"

I jumped slightly, my eyes focusing on him.  "O-Oh...h-hey, Etha----Gradient."

Gradient smiled with a fondness in his emotions.  "It's okay to call me Ethan, Eclipse."

I sighed heavily, burying my face in the plush toy.  My voice came out muffled, unsurprisingly.  "I know, I know.  I just..."

Gradient sat on the bed, putting a hand on my shoulder.  "I found something.  Or...well, I should say some place."

I glanced up at him.  "What do you mean?"

"So...you know how you've been not wanting to see a therapist?  And don't start feeling guilty, we both know why you won't see one.  No monsters out there are really proper therapists, or, if they are, I suck at finding them.  And your relations with humans is obviously less than stellar.  I understand your hesitancy."

"...so some...place?  Like a monster-based thing?"

"A whole AU, actually.  It popped up a few days ago and is extremely unique.  It doesn't have the ability to make copy AUs, so it's one-of-a-kind."

I pushed myself into a sitting position, still clutching the plushie.  "What is it?"

"I think the name itself is a pun, but the AU is called UnderTherapy.  Cuz anyone who goes there is getting better because they're under therapy."

I let out a weak chuckle.  "Makes sense.  What's the alignment?"

"Neutral.  They want to enable anyone to go to therapy and having a predominantly positive or negative nature would be...well, counterproductive."

I tilted my head.  "Are they...aware of the multiverse?"

"Strangely, yes!  Time in the AU has progressed much faster to a point of stability.  Only a few days in multiversal time have passed, but it's been many years there.  Not sure why...but it's helpful!  Time there has lined up with multiversal time now, so they're equal."