Once Upon A Handplate is an Undertale/Once Upon a Time crossover fic created by J-Farraday on Fanfiction.net. It was published on July 22nd, 2019, and completed on February 3rd, 2020.
It can be read here
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Similar to how Regina used the Dark Curse to put the fairy tale universe into ours, Gaster(specifically Handplates Gaster), did something similar, creating something called the De-Code where the characters from the Undertale universe were sent to our world as humans with no memories of their past selves, though most relationships were maintained. Gaster did this not out of revenge, but guilt, wanting to escape his sins and gain his old relationships back. There was only one person who could stop the De-Code, then three year old Noelle Dreemurr, daughter of Frisk and Papyrus. To prevent her from getting caught in the world as a three year old forever and with no memories, her uncle Sans and the Annoying Dog brought her to the other world just as the De-Code was starting, against the wishes of her parents. Noelle grew up in the other world in the foster care system, thinking her parents had abandoned her. She ended up having twins as a teenager and putting them up for adoption. Gaster, lonely and feeling unfullfilled in his new world, ended up adopting them at the advice of his friend Alicia(Alphys).
Noelle's children, Sam and Piper, end up finding out what their adoptive father did through a comic book Alicia gave them, and in a way similar to Henry, went to find their mother. They found the now twenty five year old Noelle Doe and Noelle brought them back home, though of course not believing their story. With Noelle's return, fate and prophecy come to fruition and with her actions, family is reunited. A story of family, love, hope, and redemption.
Once Upon A Handplate contains examples of:
- Achey Scars: The scars on Gaster's hands ache whenever he dies something bad. It happened when he used to torture Sans and Papyrus, and when he told Mettaton to gossip about Noelle, leaving Noelle an outcast.
- Action Girl: Noelle learns bone attacks from her father Papyrus and Uncle Sans, and uses them to save the world from Chara in the third arc. She even nearly kills Chara when Chara is in a godlike state.
- Agent Scully: Noelle understandably doesn't believe Sam and Piper at first when they tell her Undertown is the Undertale world and that the humans there are transformed monsters trapped in time until Piper poisons herself with mistletoe berries to force Noelle to use her magic to save her in an effort to convince her of the truth.
- Almost Kiss: After Francesca(Frisk) and Paxton(Papyrus) go on a date, they both reveal they feel a connection to one another, unknowingly remembering the love they had shared before the De-Code wiped their memories. However, Gaster had played on Francesca's insecurities before the date, telling her that Asgore could make Paxton lose his job as a police officer if their romance goes sour. Fearing she'd hurt him, Francesca pulled away before they could kiss and friendzoned him.
- Alternate Universe: In a ruined alternate universe, Frisk started killing monsters out of fear. This caused Chara's spirit to awaken and eventually take her over. Already angry and vengeful, Chara completed the genocide and destroyed her universe. Due to her power, Chara was able to observe the main universe, where Frisk had only ever chosen Pacifist, and was extremely jealous of Frisk for having a happy ending when she herself couldn't. Due to the De-Code having weakened the walls of space and time, Chara was able to break through in the third arc of Once Upon A Handplate, determined to get her revenge.
- Anachronic Order: While the main story is in order, the flashbacks to before the De-Code are not, instead being relevant to what happens in the main chapter.
- And I Must Scream: Frisk is trapped in the Void as Chara uses her powers to take her shape, unable to do much as Chara interacts with her family in her form. Still, she hangs onto hope, and uses her happy memories to create dreams to sustain herself.
- Anti-Hero: Gaster, who tries desperately to do good after the De-Code is broken, and has also done heroic actions beforehand, like saving three year old Noelle from Flowey.
- The Atoner: Gaster, who works his butt off to save Noelle after her soul is taken by Flowey/Asriel to make up for everything he's done.
- Berserk Button: When Chara reveals she's kidnapped Frisk when Papyrus catches her at being an imposter and Sans and Noelle come to help him, Noelle understandably goes beserk and nearly beats her to death with bone attacks, but thankfully snaps herself out of it before she ends up killing her.
- Blatant Lies:
- Gaster telling Francesca (Frisk) that Paxton could be fired or get in trouble at his job if their relationship goes south, making her hesitate at getting into a romantic relationship with him.
- Chara telling Frisk in the third arc that Papyrus had slept with her to make Frisk despair.
- Break the Cutie: Chara uses her powers to trap Frisk in the Void, making threats and saying that she’ll hurt her family.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Sam does this often before the De-Code is broken, reminding Gaster of what he did.
- Cannot Spit It Out: After nearly being killed by Florian, a severely hurt Frisk remembers Papyrus’s name and tries to tell him, but falls unconscious before she can.
- Central Theme: Anyone can be redeemed if they try.
- The Chooser of the One: Sam and Piper, Noelle’s children, deliver her Call to Adventure.
- The Chosen One: Noelle, with her hybrid human-monster soul, is the only one who can break the De-Code.
- Color Motif: Noelle always wears a gray shirt with pink stripes.
- Composite Character: Piper has traits that are just like her grandfather Papyrus, while Sam is very much like his great uncle Sans.
- Cool Sword: The Annoying Dog gives Noelle a sword that can transform into a shield to defeat Chara.
- De Aging: At the end of Once Upon A Handplate, after Chara mortally wounds Noelle, Noelle's soul reacts by letting out an outburst of magic that de-ages Chara to her more innocent thirteen year old self to remove the threat she posed while giving her a second chance to do better.
- Driven by Envy: In the third arc, Chara, the primary villain, is driven by envy that Frisk got a happy ending while she could not.
- Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: In the third arc, Gaster meets a very sweet cat monster named Patty. Her cheerfulness and persistence win the grumpy, amnesiac skeleton over.
- Happily Married: Frisk and Papyrus are a very close and loving married couple both before the events of Once Upon A Handplate and after the De-Code was broken. They only were not that when they didn't remember each other. Also, Asgore and Toriel reconciled before the events of the fic and are also happily married.
- Healing Hands: Gaster, Noelle, Toriel, and Papyrus can all use healing magic through their hands.
- Insecure Love Interest: In some of the fics set after Once Upon A Handplate, Gaster feels insecure and wonders how Patty could love him. Patty quickly eases his concerns.
- Irony: Despite once hating humans, Gaster ended up adopting Sam and Piper as babies and of course grew to love them. Also ironically, they were the biological children of the only person who could break his De-Code.
- Lightem Up: Noelle's hybrid soul does this when she merges with the Legendary Artefact to break the De-Code. Her soul also does this when she redeems Chara by causing her to lose memories of the genocide timeline and reverting her back to her thirteen year old body.
- Meaningful Appearance: As a thirteen year old, Chara had/has hair that completely covers her eyes, which July wrote to symbolize her neutrality as a character, that she could become anything depending on her choices.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Flowey, after taking Noelle's soul becomes Asriel and is forced to face the horrible things he did.
- Never My Fault: Chara blames everyone but herself for her bad actions and feels everyone but her deserves punishment for her not getting a happy ending.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: In the third arc, after being nearly killed by Chara, Gaster loses the last ten years of his memories, and does not remember having adopted Sam and Piper. While he remembers planning the De-Code, he does not remember enacting it. While in the hospital recovering and trying to get back his memories, he meets a very kind and sweet cat monster named Patty, who has schizopherenia. She helps him begin to warm up to people again.
- Would Hurt a Child: Desperate for LV, Chara nearly killed ten year old Sam and Piper, and would have if Patty hadn't overheard, causing Gaster to rush to the rescue, his love for his children breaking through his amnesia.
