Running From Your Mistakes

by mattjdupree

Rather than allow the monsters that had 'fallen down' to turn into the amalgamates, Alphys kills them. Psychological trauma and LOVE abound. Undyne, excited to finally be DOING something as captain of the royal guard, is sent out to find out what happened. What she finds nearly kills her. As Frisk leaves the ruins, a new monster joins the party...

1. Oneshot : Forgiveness

Chapter 1 : Forgiveness

-RFYM-

Spoilers for most of the True Lab.

No, really, one of the other characters literally completes the True Lab challenge from the True Pacifist ending, minus a whole lot of the encounters. Don't read if you don't want spoilers.

-RFYM-

[ENTRY 16:]

no No NO NO NO

. . .

[ENTRY 17:]

I I ccc couldn't I did what i had t

Iii shoulndt' write this down.

[ENTRY 17 DELETED]

-RFYM-

"Hey ASGORE! You said you wanted to see me?" Undyne bounded into the throne room as she shouted, jubilant at getting an assignment direct from on high. Not that she wasn't on high, of course. She was the captain of the royal guard, after all. She was just excited to see things happening at all.

"A moment. These flowers need just a little more water…"

Undyne waited impatiently, bouncing slightly even in the suit of armor she wore. (The one she, of course, had not worn through Hotlands. She was a soldier, not suicidal.)

"There, I… Hmmm…"

Undyne's impatience got the better of her. (Though, she'd never admit anything got the better of her.) "WHAT? What is it?"

"This one spot in the garden. It's strange, like someone turned up the soil in this one spot. I've been puzzling over it for some time now."

Undyne stared blankly. Asgore couldn't seriously be considering asking her to figure out who disturbed one flower in his garden, could he?

"Ah, yes. Sorry. What was it you needed?" He stood, turning to face her.

"... You called me, king. On the phone?"

Asgore blinked. "Ah, yes. Of course. That matter."

Undyne breathed a sigh of relief. The flower thievery wasn't her case.

"Not long ago, my royal scientist had an idea for how to solve the barrier issue."

"Oh?" Undyne was barely listening, still waiting for the actual thing he wanted her to do. She'd pretty much given up on the barrier going down.

"To our knowledge the barrier requires the power of seven human SOULs to break. Her theory was that perhaps the barrier only needed seven SOULs to break down - of any kind."

Undyne tapped her foot impatiently.

"She discovered the substance by which human SOULs persisted after death, and attempted to apply it to the bodies of some monsters who had 'fallen down.'"

Undyne was familiar with the voluntary collection of 'fallen down' monsters a few months before. She wondered when Asgore would ever get to the point.

"The last I heard from her, all the monsters that had fallen had reawoken."

THAT got Undyne's attention. 'Fallen down' was a permanent, comatose state. There wasn't any recovering from that; the only next stage was dust. "What? When? Why didn't I hear about a bunch of monsters getting revived?"

"Well…" Asgore fiddled with the watering pail in his massive, furred hands. "The last time I heard from her was over a month ago."

Undyne exploded. "A MONTH?! You just let your scientist toy around with fallen monsters unchecked for a MONTH?!"

"Alphys is not the kind of scientist to do something untoward regarding the bodies. However, she has often taken long periods of silence to study in the past."

Undyne wanted to throw up her hands in exasperation, but resisted the urge.

"I had just supposed this was one of those… until I received no reply regarding my voicemail about the teacup I found that looked like her. She could never resist fawning over such items…"

"... Did you contact this 'Alphys' AT ALL, apart from THAT voicemail?"

"Oh, of course. I have received calls from the families every week, asking about the state of their relatives in Alphys' care. In turn I have been giving them her number and contacting her myself."

"... And you didn't find ANYTHING wrong with this silence before then?"

"No. I did not."

"So you want me to go to the lab and find out what happened? Is that it?"

Asgore nodded. "I doubt Alphys would have been so completely silent unless something terrible happened."

"So if Alphys is the royal scientist, I assume she'll be in that lab in Hotlands, near the CORE?"

"Yes. And, if you find her and nothing is amiss, do be sure to give her this." Asgore held out a small teacup, shaped like a squat lizard and painted a vibrant yellow.

Undyne stared at the teacup. "Uhh…" Awkwardly, she took it.

Asgore smiled pleasantly. "Have a good day, Undyne."

Undyne left, holding the teacup in the palm of one armored hand.

"Now what could I plant in that bare spot? Hmm… It seems the exact size of one of the golden flowers…"

-RFYM-

"Heh… Heh… HELLO?!"

Undyne let her sack of armor fall to the ground. The Hotlands were - no joke - HOT. Even dragging her armor rather than carrying it… whew!

She banged a fist on the very closed, very HOT metal door to the lab. She could hear her knock echoing inside.

… But nobody came.

"Oh. Oh GREAT!" Undyne looked the door over for some kind of switch. There wasn't one. She looked down at the teacup in her hand.

"... You did this by locking your door, Alphys." Undyne set the teacup down a safe distance from the door, then summoned a spear.

"Hah!"

The spear wedged into the gap between sections of the door, opening it maybe a fingerwidth.

". . ." Undyne stared at the door.

"NGAAAAH!"

-RFYM-

The teacup sat on the rocky ground outside the lab, with only a narrow view through the door. It sat and watched as the fish monster walked back and forth, here and there, everywhere throughout the lab.

The teacup did nothing, even when the fish monster needlessly threw more spears in frustration, despite having released a lot of tension destroying the lab door.

It continued to do nothing as the fish monster pulled out a cell phone.

"Hey Asgore. . . No, it's UNDYNE. . . You don't have phone CONTACTS setup? Even PAPYRUS has. . . Right, YEAH I'm in the lab. . . No, no sign of Alphys. . . No, I mean NO SIGN. It's like nothing in here has been TOUCHED in weeks. . . keep looking?. . . I can't read HALF this nerd crap!. . . FINE! Fine. I get it. . . Yeah, I'll call you if I find anything."

The fish monster hung up. The teacup sat, as the monster approached.

"... Should probably get you inside, eh? No telling what happened to big-you."

The teacup was carried indoors, along with the fish monster's bag of armor. It was set on a table, next to a computer terminal piled high with papers detailing a robot not yet built and plastic models of characters from anime.

It was after setting down the teacup that the fish monster paused, staring at the ground beneath the terminal.

"Oh shit. Dust."

-RFYM-

Undyne followed the dust tracks to where they entered the lab room, at another metal door.

She was about to deal with the door as she had the last, when she realized it was merely an elevator. And there was merely a button next to it. And the button merely didn't work - or refused to.

She dealt with the door.

Beyond was an elevator with two nondescript buttons, and no lights. Undyne pressed the top button. Nothing happened.

Undyne pressed the bottom button and the elevator dropped like a rock.

"Oh SHI- NO NO NO NO!"

At the moment when Undyne was certain she was going to die, mechanical brakes engaged. Previously weightless, she dropped to the floor and lay there, pinned as if lying in pale blue magic.

When the elevator came to a complete stop, it dinged happily and what remained of the door opened. Undyne could see the space beyond because of a very dim glow that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Cautiously, Undyne got to her feet, wary that she had left her armor in the lab above. If this was some kind of trap…

… Why would the king be in on a trap?

Undyne left the elevator, the door slipping shut behind her near silently.

Undyne examined the hallway she was in. It looked… sterile. Tile floor, smooth walls, and everywhere that strange glow.

Painfully aware of her lack of armor, Undyne knelt, finding the trail of dusty footprints again.

-RFYM-

A month earlier...

Alphys landed her tiny fist on the stone door.

She'd been walking for hours, working her way through ridiculously simple puzzles that - now that she thought about it - were probably designed against approach from the other direction.

There had been more than one location where she had needed to rewire spikes in order to continue, finding their usual triggers on the other side. She undid her work as soon as she was past, resetting all the puzzles to their original states.

But now, after passing a sentry station and crossing a bridge, she'd come to a dead end. The door to the Ruins. There was no way through from this side.

But… now… she had no plan. All she had thought was that she had to run - get away from… from…

"Hello? You're early today, Sans. And I thought you preferred to mandible your jokes by word of mouth, rather than knocking literally."

Alphys Eeped, throwing herself into a nearby bush. It rustled loudly.

"... Sans? Are you there?"

Alphys stayed quiet, hoping the stranger would give up and go away. Maybe Alphys could find a way through the door without help. No way was she talking to anybody right now.

"Sans, silence isn't a terribly good joke… You're not Sans, are you?"

Footsteps crunched up the path Alphys had just vacated, stopping at the door. Alphys peeked out and - to her horror - saw a skeleton she recognized. Sans. He sold 'Dogs from a stand in the core.

"uhh, why wouldn't i be sans? also, wow, great prediction. how'd you pull that off?"

"Sans! That wasn't funny at all."

"i wasn't tryin' to be funny. i was honestly curious that you were talkin' to me before i got here. did the other me happen to say anything about a time machine?"

"... Sans, this joke has gone on long enough. Stop it. Come now, let's go back to puns and knock knock jokes."

"gee, fine tori. don't have to be so upset about honest confusion."

Tori? As in Toriel, queen of monsters? Alphys shivered in her bush, glad she hadn't accidentally given herself away to her. The queen had left her husband over his declaration of war on humans. If queen Toriel got wind of what Alphys had done…

Alphys shivered for an entirely different reason than her fear. It was so cold, and she was cold blooded! How thoughtless could she get?! She went through her coat pockets (glad she'd even thought that far ahead back in the lab) but found nothing of use.

"... hold on tori, i hear something."

Alphys froze, in the action sense. She still had maybe fifteen minutes to half an hour before she'd be in any actual danger.

"Sans? What's the punchline?"

"no, i'm serious, i heard something."

"Sans, please, not another confusingly real joke. The last one wasn't funny, and I doubt this one will be either. If you keep going like this, you might find I have a bone or two to pick with you. I'm not sure what it'll take to get through your thick skull but I'd prefer puns."

Alphys remained frozen as the skeleton examined the ground, eventually spotting the trail of disturbed snow Alphys had left to her hiding place in the bush. Suddenly, his left eye flashed, and Alphys found herself standing where a bush had previously been.

"alphys? what are you- i thought you were the royal scientist now. what are you doing out here at the ruins?"

"O- O- Oh!... I- I- I-..." Alphys lapsed into silence.

Sans winced as a clank echoed next to Alphys. Terrified, Alphys glanced at the object. It had been a hidden camera - one of her cameras - but the fall out of the bush now hovering a dozen meters overhead had smashed it.

"oh, right, gotta check on your cameras. sorry about that alphy. i'll just put that bush back now…" The glow in his eye dissipated, and the bush dropped back into the snow around Alphys.

"... Alphys is the royal scientist now?" Toriel asked, her voice small.

"yeah. suppose back in your time it was… uhh… someone else, huh? and alphys was just an egg?"

"... Strange, I cannot even remember who the royal scientist was when I left."

"ehh, we all forget things. every one of us."

Silence reigned for a few moments between them. Alphys realized the cold was seeping into her tail. If she didn't get moving again soon, something bad might happen.

"What are her cameras for, exactly?" Toriel asked.

"well, uh, watching for humans, actually."

"I see." Toriel's voice was colder than the snow around Alphys. "... Is Alphys still here?"

"well, yeah. i think she's working on a camera i might've... accidentally broken."

"... We should talk another time." Footsteps retreated from the door.

Sans stood silently for a moment, then lifted the bush again, giving Alphys a look she couldn't quite describe.

"you haven't touched the camera, alphys. what's wrong?"

Alphys shook her head, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"hey, whatever it is, it's going tibia okay. you know that, right?"

Alphys hunched into herself, ignoring the joke. It was only when she looked back up that she saw Sans' pupils were gone. The bush was resting unhappily in a tree.

"You've gained EXP, Alphys."

Air escaped Alphys' throat without making a sound. She turned and ran, running face-first into a tree. Unceremoniously, she fell into the snow, holding her snout.

-RFYM-

Undyne followed the trail of dust throughout the creepy-as-heck laboratory.

Every dozen meters she'd find a computer screen built into a wall, each one showing another message that pretty much aligned with what the king had told her: getting DETERMINATION and injecting monsters.

After getting out of the first hallway and into the space with the giant, complicated door, she found the first pile of dust.

-RFYM-

"N- No- S- Sans y- you d- don't… Y- You d- didn't see what h- happened d- down t- there!" If Alphys could cry, she'd be in tears.

"Be honest with yourself," the strange shadow of Sans said, "Have you really done the right thing? And, considering what you've done, what will you do now?"

"I- I- I-" Alphys thought hard. This Sans was one she didn't know, couldn't quantify. The Sans she knew wouldn't even stand up from his stand. He was too lazy even to brush the snow off the roof. This Sans… this Sans looked dangerous.

But… she could defend herself. She still had the thing she'd killed… the...

"truthfully, it doesn't really matter what you said. all that matters is that you were honest with yourself."

Alphys collapsed into more whimpering as the old Sans' personality reappeared. How could she have thought that?! How could she have considered hurting Sans?! He just sold hot dogs to the fire monsters!

"alphys, you've got lv 8, just on the cusp of 9. that's… how did that happen?"

Alphys shrank in on herself more, not meeting Sans' eyes. Not looking at Sans' eyes.

"that doesn't just happen, alphys."

"Y- You d- don't know w- what I w- went through!" Alphys put her arms over her head and continued whimpering. She didn't care what Sans did. She'd… Every bit of that LOVE was her fault. All her fault.

A hand touched her shoulder. She jerked, but when she looked up, the snow was gone. Sans was gone. She was sitting in a purple brick hallway, alone.

… how she should be.

-RFYM-

Undyne fumbled with her phone. "Come on, COME ON!"

The phone flashed the same message. [NO SERVICE]

"DAMMIT!" Undyne shoved the phone into a pocket roughly and summoned a spear. She did NOT feel okay about being down here anymore. Since she found the pile of dust in the first room, she'd seen even more almost everywhere she looked. Under things, on top of things, all over the place.

… Like they were running away.

What kind of THING would kill monsters as they were running away? Undyne didn't want to know, and she sure as HELL didn't want to be the next victim. She proceeded onwards, listening for the slightest noise.

-RFYM-

… the amalgamation of the two monsters pulsated disgustingly. Alphys felt nauseated, horrified. She backed up against one of the lab's many, many mirrors, her claws clicking on the glass as she pressed up against it…

… "Alphys, put that down. Nobody's melting; you're seeing things in the dark. Look, just put it-"…

… Alphys saw a flash of color in the dusty mirror shard she held. She froze, eyes seeking out its source. It took her a half minute of searching to realize it was herself…

… Her claws trembled as she typed the entry, mistyping characters all over the place. It didn't matter. She didn't have to explain herself; it was the only way. It WAS the only way. Was it the only way? Alphys' claws tapped out a few more words, then she slammed her fist onto the delete key. What had she done? WHAT HAD SHE DONE?!

Alphys woke up screaming and thrashing, tangling herself in the bed's red comforter. She fell to the floor with a loud thud, then curled up and whimpered, mind blank.

The door to the room banged open, an impossibly large monster standing in the doorway. Alphys squeezed her eyes shut, shuddering.

"Are you alright? I heard you screaming."

Alphys whimpered.

"Do not worry, lizard monster, you are safe here. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I found you unconscious on one of my rounds; at first I thought you had 'fallen down...'"

Alphys flinched at the mention of the medical condition, then buried herself more in the comforter.

"Are you feeling better now that you've rested? What left you in such a state?"

Alphys mumbled something she didn't even bother to remember.

"I'm sorry, I could not hear you."

"I KILLED P- p- people." Alphys began to shout, before her brain caught up with the situation. Toriel. Queen of monsters, who left her husband over a little declaration of war against the humans that trapped them underground. If Alphys told her about… Oh, a little late for that.

Toriel's expression was shocked. Alphys threw the comforter over herself and curled up further. The queen was probably going to set her on fire. She'd deserve that.

… Alphys was surprised a minute later to find she was still alive. When she peeked out from under the comforter, the queen was kneeling beside her. Alphys shrunk back under the comforter.

"You do seem to regret your actions, do you not?"

Alphys shuddered, nodding.

"Then there is still hope for you to lead a life worth living. Come, let us talk over snail pie. It should be done any… actually, do you smell something burning?"

-RFYM-

After passing through the creepiest operating room in the Underground (the tables were dusty) Undyne found one of the key-slots for the big complicated door that, theoretically, would lead to some important information, like a way out. She hoped.

The only problem: it wasn't a switch, it needed a key. She didn't have a key.

Retreating into the previous room with its sticky operating tables and sinks and broken mirrors, Undyne looked around. On a shard of glass lying on the floor, she spotted a post-it note.

"Dropped the red key in the drain. Have to remember to get it later."

Undyne turned on the water faucets in each sink in turn. It wasn't clear which sink the key was in.

… Then the THING started oozing out of one of the faucets.

Undyne threw spears like a madwoman, shattering the mirror further. The thing ignored the spears, occasionally eating them and growing a little bigger. Her phone rang.

She answered, running past the operating tables and nearly dropping it. "ASGORE! HELP! THERE'S-"

"Come join the fun," Undyne's phone whispered.

She hurled the phone at the ground, where it luckily did not break. Thank God she bought the toughest phones.. "STAY AWAY FROM ME! I'LL KILL YOU! DON'T THINK I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH!"

The THING froze, its mouths and eyes focusing momentarily. Then it began sliding back across the room, to the sink.

"Yeah! You better run!" Undyne shuddered as the THING oozed down the drain of the sink, then picked up her phone. A red key floated up out of the drain, resting in the basin of the sink. She snatched it and ran to drop it in the key-slot.

She was getting out of here ASAP, and she would let nothing get in her way.

-RFYM-

The snail pie had been better than Alphys had expected. Perhaps the aversion to snails humans had in anime was specific to humans, or maybe a joke on a specific subculture of humans. Alphys didn't have the context to be sure.

Toriel was remarkably quiet on the subject of Alphys' murders, for which Alphys was thankful. It was odd to have normal conversation about snails and spiders and the Ruins after what she'd done. It helped, even if she didn't do much of the talking.

Alphys did notice that both of them ate only with forks. There were no knives.

Toriel took the plates back into the kitchen once the pie was done. She returned, standing in the doorway. Alphys curled inwards, bracing for a real conversation. "Now, I do need to go fetch some ingredients for tomorrow's pie. Can I trust you to remain here by yourself?"

"No," Alphys thought. She nodded anyway.

Toriel smiled, picking up a bag off her armchair. "I should be back in an hour. In the meantime, try reading one of my books. 72 uses for snails is quite fascinating."

"Th-... Thanks," Alphys mumbled.

Once Toriel left, Alphys stood and explored the house. The kitchen was modest, and entirely without knives. The living room had a pretty hearth that had gone out when Toriel had left. Fire magic, then.

The rest of the house was a hallway with a staircase and three rooms. The staircase led nowhere. The first room was the one Alphys had woken up in. The second was Toriel's. The third was a bathroom, without plumbing.

Alphys considered how hard it would be to upgrade the bathroom to a plumbing system, then dispelled the thought. She couldn't be a drain on queen Toriel for as long as that would take. A week, maybe, if she had tools and pipes. Alphys didn't deserve that long.

Alphys left the bathroom and absently wandered further down the hallway. She saw a flash of yellow moving beside her and froze, looking for it.

… it was herself. She wasn't in her Snowdin jacket anymore; her lab coat was exposed to the world. Her grey lab coat. Grey with dust.

She wondered where her coat was. She wondered where the shard of mirror she'd murdered all those people with was.

Alphys moved back through the house, seeking out her jacket. The mirror had been in the pocket. Find the jacket, find the mirror, do what she deserved. After maybe a half hour's search, she found the coat in her room's wardrobe.

She also found kid's clothes in the wardrobe. And kid's toys in the room. And kid's shoes in a bin. After murdering all those people, she had slept in a kid's room.

Alphys took the coat and ran back to the hallway, her snail pie threatening to come back up. She wasn't a monster. She was a disgusting, vile, EVIL imitation!

… The shard of mirror wasn't in the coat pockets.

Of course Toriel had searched the coat. She couldn't bring a stranger into her home without being sure she was safe! Alphys nearly cried out in frustration. Where was that mirror shard?!

-RFYM-

[ENTRY 13:]

one of the bodies opened its eyes.

Undyne entered the next room, thoroughly unnerved by the last entry in the hallway.

It was some kind of barracks, or morgue. Undyne stabbed each of the beds, then threw off the covers for good measure. Under one of the beds' covers was a yellow key. She pocketed it.

[ENTRY 14:]

Everyone that had fallen down…

… has woken up.

They're all walking around and talking like nothing is wrong.

I thought they were goners...?

Undyne went through the door leading to a T-intersection.

...

At least we got a happy ending out of it?

…

She continued down the hall, suspecting that the next entry was not going to be as calm.

[ENTRY 16:]

no No NO NO NO

Undyne continued onward, holding her spears (plural) even more tightly. No way was she going to be some failed experiment's next victim!

Through a door branching off the hallway, Undyne spotted something moving in a bathtub. Instantly she hurled spears down the hall, smashing the tub and shredding the curtain. A green key tumbled out of the tub.

Wary of anything else that might be there, Undyne retrieved the key.

The sooner she could be out of this place, the better. She wanted to blow it up with a giant bomb. It seemed like the only way to beat these abominations.

And… all that dust everywhere…

-RFYM-

Alphys had found it! It had been simple, really. Toriel would want to keep something as creepy as that away from her. If it was in the house at all, it could be in one of two places: the top of the fridge or the top of the living room bookshelf. Either would be more than tall enough to keep it from Alphys.

As it turned out, it had been the living room bookshelf. Luckily, though, the fireplace had been just small enough for Alphys to climb atop, with the help of the armchair. Alphys fell haphazardly to the ground, shard of mirror in hand, and considered her options.

She didn't want to be in Toriel's way at all. That was the point of this. Alphys deserved a slow, painful death for what she did, but that wasn't what she would get. That wasn't what she was getting. If people insisted on trying to help someone as despicable as her, well, she'd have to get out of their way for them.

Alphys left the house, finding no resistance from the front door. In the yard a large tree with no leaves grew. Alphys looked at it. It was perfect. At most Toriel would have to turn over the ground to hide her dust. She'd be good fertilizer for the tree too.

Alphys stat at the tree's base, gripping the mirror so hard it broke her scales. It would be breaking more than the scales in her palm, soon.

Alphys raised the dusty mirror shard, then brought it down into her own chest.

-RFYM-

[ENTRY 4:]

I've been researching humans to see if I can find any info about their SOULS.

I ended up snooping around the castle...

And found these weird tapes.

I don't feel like ASGORE's watched them...

I don't think he should.

After dropping the yellow key into the slot on the wall and watching it hum to life, Undyne watched the tapes sitting out on the counter.

She didn't agree with the note at all. Asgore HAD to see these. Undyne made a note to retrieve the tapes later.

-RFYM-

Alphys lay on the ground under the tree with no leaves. Even after stabbing herself as hard as she could, somehow, her body was still holding on.

… Had she really gained so much LOVE that her body would refuse to die, even when her mind gave out?

She found the shard lying in the leaves, grasped it, then brought it down again.

-RFYM-

Undyne, finding the next room thick with airborne dust and freezing cold decided to turn back, taking the other direction back at the T-intersection off the barracks.

She found a ventilation control room with a switch. Flipping the switch turned on the ventilation. Simple.

At the end of the hall, the room was no longer choked with dust. It was still darn cold, though, likely due to the four refrigerators.

She ignored the entries on the wall. She'd stopped reading them.

Undyne checked inside each fridge in turn. Each one was empty or contained only labeled lab samples. In the last fridge, she found a blue key sitting on a shelf at her knee height. She pocketed it.

Past the refrigerators was another room, with another key slot. Undyne dropped the green key in, then started walking back.

-RFYM-

Alphys struggled to move, searching for the mirror shard. Somehow, two attacks hadn't been enough. Was she holding back? Was she so pathetic that she couldn't even manage this, either?

How could she still have HP remaining?

"What are you- OH MY GOD!"

Alphys faded out of consciousness.

-RFYM-

Undyne returned to the barracks, then went left into the hallway with golden flowers. Despite being insanely far underground and having little to no light to speak of, the flowers still had green stems and bobbed happily with the breeze Undyne made in passing. It was almost like they REFUSED to admit they couldn't possibly grow here. Undyne complimented them on that.

The first time she saw herself in a mirror there, she jumped in surprise and nearly threw a spear at the mirror. She looked like death warmed over. Walking around the lab had gotten dust onto her feet and pants.

She shuddered, moving onward unmolested.

The end of the hall held a final key slot. The blue key fit perfectly. Undyne ran to go fetch the VHS tapes and get out of there.

Finally.

-RFYM-

Alphys woke up, surprised to be waking up at all. Pathetic. She couldn't even kill herself correctly.

Labored breathing came from beside her. She opened her eyes, seeing the branches of the tree without leaves. Queen Toriel was kneeling beside her, holding out her hand and keeping her eyes closed in concentration.

"W- Why?" Alphys croaked. The queen had just saved her with healing magic. Why would she do that?

Toriel let her arm collapse, taking a moment to breathe deeply. "Your… regret is the sign that you are… not a bad person. You may have gained LOVE, but the regret you feel is the love and kindness of those people you hurt, for whatever reason. Their love and kindness is trying to live on in you. It would be selfish to take that away from them too."

Alphys sucked in a deep breath, then whimpered. She took another, trying to calm down, then outright wailed. She hugged Toriel, crying, while the older monster patted her head.

"Keep living. Do better. For their sakes."

Alphys cried.

-RFYM-

Undyne passed through the complicated-looking door, jogging through the unpowered elevator beyond. There was a hallway leading out another side of the elevator, with several more disabled lab-entry screens.

Undyne ran into the next room. There was a big, complicated looking control board. Some kind of contraption was rigged to hold a big switch in the middle in the "off" position. It looked like it was timed to trigger some time after someone left it.

Undyne smashed the contraption with a spear, flicked the switch, then turned around.

… but it was too late. The THING was back, and it didn't look like it was going to go away this time. Undyne's phone rang.

"G- GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Undyne's phone grew more insistent.

"NO! SCRAM!"

The THING started to approach. Undyne dropped the VHS tapes and summoned a spear.

"YOU ASKED FOR THIS, BLOB!"

-RFYM-

It was several days later. Toriel had refused to leave Alphys alone at any time, even moving her armchair into the child's room. When Alphys refused to set foot in the room again, she moved the chair to her own room and slept in it, forcing Alphys to take her bed.

For food, she'd taken Alphys to buy doughnuts and Spider Cider from a number of spiders living a few puzzles away.

Apparently, though, this situation was finally as untenable for Toriel as it was for Alphys. It seemed they were finally going to have "the talk."

Alphys sat at the dining room table. Toriel sat across from her. Alphys' view of the queen was unobstructed, as the pot of flowers had been pushed a little way to the side.

Toriel held the dusty mirror shard in her paws. Alphys fidgeted, looking at it.

"... Funny. I have saved your life now, and yet I do not even know your name."

Alphys looked at her claws under the table.

"What is, your name?"

"... a-..." Alphys mumbled.

"Sorry?"

"A- Alphys."

"... Ah."

Alphys sat quietly. Maybe now the queen knew that she was the one with the network of cameras setup to catch humans she would let her kill herself. Maybe she'd even kill her herself.

"Who were they?"

"... W- Who?"

In answer, Toriel pointed the reflective side of the mirror at Alphys. The lizard monster flinched.

"... I- innocent m- monsters. W- with f- families…"

Toriel visibly stiffened. "Then… why?"

"B- because I- I m- messed u- up. A- an e- exp- experiment went w- wrong. Th- they..."

"They…?"

Alphys fell silent, horrified by the memories.

"Alphys."

Alphys blinked. "I… They…" She took a deep breath, shuddering. "I w- watched t- two of th- them m- melt. Th- there was nothing I c- could do!"

"What necessitated your... killing… them?"

"I- It w- was th- that or w- watching them a- all m- melt. I c- couldn't… W- With all the DETERMINATION they h- had, who knew what th- the thing they b- became m- might've d- done!"

Toriel's gaze held none of the fire Alphys expected, only confusion. "Why did they… melt? What protected you?"

Alphys broke down, telling her everything she knew about DETERMINATION.

-RFYM-

Undyne stabbed again and again, dodging nimbly away from the flecks of white it threw out that burst into little mounds on the ground.

It was invincible! Its grey, goey surface just solidly ignored her spear, bouncing it right off. The black void in its mouths absorbed her magic, meaning she'd have to re-summon the spearhead. She just couldn't-

Undyne saw it. A white glow within the black void. Not a SOUL, but something vulnerable. She stabbed down at it with her magic spear.

-RFYM-

Toriel remained stoic throughout Alphys' explanations and excuses. When Alphys finally ran out of steam, sitting and gasping and whimpering, the queen picked up the shard of mirror.

Alphys braced. Finally she would get what she deserved. The fireplace dimmed as Toriel focused her fire magic…

The fire resumed its merry crackle. Toriel rolled the new glass-and-lead marble across the table to the gaping Alphys.

"You couldn't have known the DETERMINATION would have the effect it did."

"B- but i- if I h- hadn't been s- so-"

"No. You couldn't have known. Not without losing even one of them. It was just a mistake that you… failed them all, rather than just one."

"S- See? I- I'm just a u- useless-"

"Alphys, please. You're not useless. You thought you had a solution to the barrier. You explored realms of science most monsters can't even dream of."

"I- I k- killed more m- monsters than in anyone's w- worst nightmare. U- Uncountable-" Hardly uncountable. She'd counted herself. She had to be sure she got every single one, didn't she? No DETERMINATION laced monsters could escape.

"Stop it. Stop fixating on that one mistake and think of something new. What could you do now? How can you start to atone for the mistake?"

"I- Is that e- even p- possible?"

"Of course. Now, think."

-RFYM-

Undyne struggled to stand, using a spear as a walking stick and carrying the VHS tapes under one arm.

After she'd hit the weak spot in that thing, it had burst like a balloon. A red, glowing goop spattered all over the place, including on Undyne. It had evaporated from the metal, but it stuck to her and sank into her scales.

… and now her legs felt like jelly. Getting back to the elevator was a nightmare, but Undyne was DETERMINED to do it. She couldn't fail!

And she didn't. She pushed one of the many buttons on the panel, not caring which one. The elevator whisked off as she thought about what she had to do next. Asgore needed to see the tapes.

She was DETERMINED to get them to him.

-RFYM-

Toriel was… in a state. Alphys had decided to help the spiders build the colony they were running the bake sale. In turn, the spiders were watching out for the lizard and getting her food. Alphys had even moved out to help the spiders more, and to more thoroughly explore the ruins.

Now Toriel was alone again, waiting for a human that would inevitably fall.

… and inevitably be killed by ASGORE.

The fireplace flared as she thought about her ex. He'd destroyed Alphys with that stupid experiment. She was literally trying to kill herself for what she'd needed to do to contain the result.

Though if it wasn't Alphys' fault then it shouldn't be Asgore's, Toriel blamed him anyway. What if it had worked? What would the humans think when they saw a species that would murder children for power? That would cannibalize their dead and dying for power?

The monster species would not survive that war. Or, if they did, there would never be peace until either they or the humans were wiped out.

Toriel heard a voice echo down the basement hallway. She ignored it. She couldn't make jokes at a time like this.

Though… she hadn't spoken to Sans for several weeks now. He might stop coming entirely.

"H- Hello." Toriel said halfheartedly, sitting down by the door.

"hey. what's with the long face? something got your goat? it's been ages since i could cheese a response outta ya."

Toriel snickered. "I am sorry about missing you for so many days. I have been dealing with a certain issue that fell into my domain."

"... a human?" Sans was all serious now.

"No. As it turns out, it was Asgore's royal scientist, the one we were talking about before I… stormed off."

"aww, jeez tori, don't tell me you hurt her or somethin'." If Toriel wasn't mistaken, Sans' voice had a hint of… anxiety?

"No, of course not. She… She tried to kill herself, Sans. I barely got to her in time."

"oh."

"She's better now, helping the spiders build up their colony."

"why'd she try to kill herself? she hasn't been seen over here for weeks."

"She ran away from an experiment that went awry." Toriel's voice dropped. "An experiment that should never have been allowed to go forward."

"what are you goin' to do about it? storm back to your ex then storm off again, just to get his goat?"

Toriel snorted with barely contained laughter, even as her fury mounted. "SANS!"

"sorry. 's what i'd use to cheer up my bro."

"... I couldn't do something like that anyway. Even with her helping the spiders, sometimes it seems like seeing me is the only thing holding her together."

"well, you could always give asgore a call."

"A… call?"

"dang tori, i'm surprised alphys didn't lose her mind without even a phone down there."

"She did lose her mind, Sans! That wasn't funny."

"sorry, sorry. here, take one of my cell phones. take two, i have like five from this one weird prank."

"Oh, um…" Toriel pushed open the door slightly, reaching out a paw. A skeletal hand dropped two plastic bricks into her palm. She retreated. "How exactly do I-"

"just ask alphys. i think my bro's coming, and it'd be hard to keep my promise if he setup a puzzle right outside the door."

"Sans-"

But he was gone.

-RFYM-

Undyne stumbled onward, not even questioning that the elevator had brought her directly to New Home. She had a goal and she was going to follow it through.

The judgement hall seemed long with her first step. Her two-hundreth brought her over the far threshold.

When she stumbled into the throne room, Asgore looked up from his flowers, startled. "Undyne? What-"

"They're all DEAD. Every last monster down there, Alphys included. There was dust EVERYWHERE!"

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing! I'm FINE! Look, I found a bunch of tapes that you NEED to watch!"

"Do the tapes have something to do with-"

"Not with the lab, but they're IMPORTANT!"

"If you insist, I have something that could play them."

-RFYM-

"N- No! I- I'd r- rather n- not get t- too involved in t- technology again. N- not after… a- anyway, j- just keep the phones. A- and to call someone, t- type their n- number and press the green b- button. If you m- mistype a k- key, press the red b- button."

"Thank you, Alphys. Now, what is Asgore's number?"

Alphys looked down, mumbling. "W- well if he d- didn't change it a- after m- my m- mistakes…" She gave Toriel the number.

"Thank you."

"O- of c- course."

Toriel nodded to a few of the spiders on her way out of that section of the ruins, then returned home.

-RFYM-

"Ha, this time I got YOU! I left the cap on… ON PURPOSE! Now you're smiling for noooo reason! Hee hee hee!"

Asgore closed his eyes and looked away from the small camera's blank screen. "Undyne, why-"

"SHH! THIS is where it happens!"

"But Undyne," he looked at her. She looked even worse than when she'd limped in. It almost looked like some kind of goop was pooling in her dust-covered boots, "You need help!"

"SHUT UP! Listen!"

The tape continued. "...tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right? The recipe asked for cups of butter but we accidentally put in buttercups instead… Yeah! Those flowers got him really sick. I felt so bad. We made Mom really upset. I should have laughed it off, like you did… Um, anyway, where are you going with this?... Huh? Turn off the camera?... Ok."

The tape ran out. Undyne fumbled with the camera, pressing the button three times before it actually responded. Asgore frowned on as she pulled the previous tape out and shoved the next one in. It began to play.

"I… I don't like this idea, Chara… Wh- What? N- No, I'm not… big kids don't cry. Yeah, you're right… No! I'd never doubt you, Chara. Never! Y- yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everyone. I'll go get the flowers."

Asgore's eyes widened. His face darkened.

"This. This is why… those tapes are important." Undyne blinked, swaying. "That human your kid loved so much… It was their fault Asriel crossed the barrier!"

Asgore's expression was dark, brooding. "Undyne, why did Alphys try to keep this from me?"

Undyne's sway worsened.

"Undy-"

The fish monster collapsed to one side. She tried to summon a spear to catch herself, but the magic effect shattered as soon as she put weight onto it. She hit the ground with a wet splat.

"Undyne!" Asgore summoned his own magic, reaching out and Checking on Undyne.

UNDYNE | LV 3 | HP 002/280

2 HP. Undyne only had two injuries between her current state and death. Even as Asgore watched, the number ticked down to 1.

He ran like a madman for the tea cabinet.

-RFYM-

Toriel waited a day before she finally worked up the courage to call Asgore. She spent the time coming up with exactly the choice words she wanted to send his way. She even had written herself a script.

She sat in her armchair - once again by the fire - holding the script in her lap and one of the cell phones in her paw. Once more she re-read the script, checking that it said everything she meant to say.

She stared at her first line, her introduction. "Dreemurr, I need to talk to you." Her magic flared, a blast of fire setting the paper on fire. How stupid a line was that?! How had she thought that would be a good idea? She shoved the paper into the fireplace, letting it burn itself the rest of the way through.

Toriel sat for a moment, now looking at the phone. She could take the time to write a new script, or she could just call.

…

She pressed the green button.

… Ring… Ring… Ring… Ring… Ring...

"Hello." It was Asgore's voice. He sounded solemn.

"Dreem-"

The voice on the other end cut her off. "You have reached the answering machine for King Asgore. Sadly, I cannot answer the phone at this time. After the loud tone, speak your message and your phone number and I will find time to contact you."

Beeeep!

Toriel blinked for a few moments, trying to process the message. Then she began to talk.

"Dreemurr… this is Toriel. I… I know about the DETERMINATION experiments. I can't BELIEVE you!

"First you declared war on the humans after we lost BOTH of our own offspring, then… then you had those six human CHILDREN... MURDERED!

"And… and now this. You weren't satisfied with just humans, no, you had to do THAT to fallen monsters!

"How many more, Asgore? How many more innocent lives are you willing to put on your conscience in some vain attempt to free us?

"I hope you're happy now. Alphys is devastated. She wouldn't even let me give her a cell phone. The most advanced technology she works with is plumbing.

"She tried to kill herself, Dreemurr. I hope freedom is worth that to you.

"I never want to see you again."

Toriel pressed the red button and dropped the phone before she could lose control and melt it. She took a deep, shuddering breath…

Queen Toriel began to cry.

Unseen to her, a yellow claw slipped off the windowsill. Alphys turned and ran. When a spider had mentioned Toriel was making the call, she just had to listen in.

Now, more than ever, she just wanted to work with the spiders and ignore her life from before.

-RFYM-

Undyne groaned, stretching. "Holy CRAP I feel like sh-" She opened her one eye, observing the grey walls of king Asgore's castle. "Shells. I feel like I got buried in shells, or something."

She sat up, finding the king himself standing beside her. She was in some kind of bed, in what looked like a kid's room. Asgore's face was all seriousness, solemnity, and a little of something else. "Undyne. You very nearly died."

Undyne's cocky grin faded. "DIED? Hah, c'mon, it wasn't nearly that close. I just… got tired!"

Asgore frowned further. "You collapsed. I watched your HP drop from two to one."

Undyne's grin wiped clean off her face. Had it really been that close? And, what was still hurting her in the castle?

A flash of magic washed over her. Asgore proffered a cup of tea. "Here, drink more of this."

Undyne took the proffered cup. It was half empty. "What is this?"

"Golden flower tea."

The cup paused mid-way to her lips. "Yeah, uh, sorry, the only tea I can stand is Sea Tea." She looked around, noticing the two beds in the room. "How long was I out, anyway?"

"Two days."

"TWO DAYS?!" Why had she been out that long? What had happened? Did he declare war on the humans a second time? (Could you declare double war, was that a thing?)

"Undyne, try to calm yourself. I will catch you up on what has happened."

Undyne stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Keeping her patience in check was the hardest battle she had fought to date, excluding that THING in the lab.

"... Toriel called-"

"WHAT?! The queen's still alive?!" The expression on Asgore's face was… pained, to say the very least. Something in that gave Undyne pause, after her outburst.

"... I need your honest opinion on something."

"Of course!"

"Undyne, I need your real opinion. Do not protect me from the truth of this."

Undyne felt cold. What was Asgore getting at? "Uh… OK?"

Asgore clasped his paws, bowing his head. "Am… I… a bad person?"

Undyne was taken aback. "What kind of question is THAT?"

Asgore looked up.

"You're KING ASGORE! You're holding the Underground together!"

The king looked away. "Undyne… I've killed children. I've sent you, others to kill children. And Alphys' experiments…"

Undyne snorted. "HUMAN children. Humans are the fu- freaks that locked us down here! And you couldn't have known what Alphys would let happen to all those fallen monsters!

Asgore was silent.

"What did Toriel say to you, in her call?" Undyne asked.

Asgore stared past Undyne, through the far wall. "Have you ever driven someone to suicide?"

"WHAT! Asgore, you can't-"

"Undyne, please, let me finish-"

"NOPE!" Undyne threw herself out of the bed, wrapping Asgore's cape around him and picking him up.

"What are you doing?"

"THAT conversation is OVER thankyouverymuch." Undyne carried the king out of the room, picking a direction and hoping it led to the castle exit. "As your guard captain, I must protect you at all costs! EVEN FROM YOURSELF!"

Something flared within Undyne's SOUL, a slight burning. She grinned as her fiery passion for her position in the royal guard roared to life.

"Undyne, you can't-"

"OH YES I CAN!" Carrying the king of monsters with one arm, Undyne pulled out her cell phone. Not only was it still intact, it still had power!

If there was one person in the kingdom to help someone with a self-esteem problem, Undyne knew exactly who it was. "HEY! PAPYRUS! I have something IMPORTANT for YOU to do!"

"WOWIE! FOR ME?!"

-RFYM-

Eleven months later…

Alphys ran like the wind through the spider tunnels. More accurately, Alphys ran like someone with a body height of 1.4 meters and a weight of 130 kilograms should run: a lot slower than she'd like.

The spiders had told her (through an interpretative dance) that there was a human in Toriel's basement hallway. That had been all it took to send Alphys running.

Toriel would never let a human down there unless she was letting the human out into the Underground at large.

Alphys came to the spider-cave side of a false wall. Carefully, she pulled it out of the way.

Before her, a young human child stood clutching a toy knife. The human jumped upon seeing Alphys emerge from the wall.

"H- hey! W- wait! I'm not here to h- hurt you!"

The human ever-so-slightly relaxed.

"I- I want to go with you! I w- want to help you!"

The human cocked their head.

"I… I c- can be helpful! I used t- to work out th- there in Hotlands."

The human looked Alphys up and down, noting that she was bundled up in a coat.

"W- well, Snowdin is between here and H- Hotlands… A- Anyway, would that be alright? W- Will you let me go w- with you?"

The human considered this for a moment. They nodded.

"W- Well… L- Let's go!"

Alphys and the human pushed through the ruins door, into the cold air of Snowdin.

The thought that Toriel might not have let the human go never crossed Alphys' mind.

-RFYM-

"WOWIE ASGORE! YOU'RE FASTER TODAY!" Papyrus and Asgore skidded to a stop at the end of the hall, the king setting down the royal enthusiasm guard he'd been carrying up and down the judgement hall.

Undyne smiled at the scene. Under Papyrus' tutelage, Asgore's self-image had improved dramatically. Undyne was only a little worried that a bit of Papyrus' pacifism was bleeding over too. If a human appeared, well, that was her job.

Bringing Asgore to Papyrus that day had probably saved the king's life. He'd seemed so down in the dumps when they'd been talking…

"NOW MR. KING SIR, REMEMBER TO KEEP SMILING!"

Even better, with Papyrus finally "a part of the royal guard" (in a counselling position) his weird brother had enough free time to get himself the position of royal scientist. Apart from cleaning up the under-lab and turning the upper-lab into a trash storm, he hadn't really done that much. Nonetheless, he was doing a better job than Alphys had.

"THAT'S A GOOD SMILE MR. DREEMURR! NOW LET'S TAKE A BREAK FOR SOME SPAGHETTI!"

Sadly, Papyrus' cooking never had improved in his time in his new royal position.

"Papyrus, I'm certain I'll be fine with my tea."

"NONSENSE! A DIET OF PURE SPAGHETTI IS THE ONLY PROPERLY BALANCED DIET FOR PEOPLE AS GREAT AS WE ARE! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Undyne shivered, remembering the spaghetti tea incident. That had not ended well.

Suddenly, Undyne's phone rang. Perplexed as to who would be calling her at this time of day, she answered.

"heya. got some news for ya."

"Sans? What's up?"

"cameras at the ruins picked up a human coming out."

"A HUMAN?!" Undyne's shout halted Papyrus' self-esteem student in his tracks. Under his white fur, Asgore went pale. "Where? I'm on my way-"

"don't blow a bubble out of your gills, undyne. i'm already there. i don't think this human's going to be hurting anyone."

"I don't CARE if they're not going to be hurting anyone!" Undyne shouted, "I'm going to be hurting THEM!"

"look, the old royal scientist is there with 'em. i'm going to go up and say hi."

"SANS DON'T YOU DARE!" The line was already dead.

"UNDYNE? IS SANS MAKING PUNS AGAIN?"

Undyne stood, gripping the phone in her hand and shaking. Hadn't she made it clear that humans couldn't be trusted? That they couldn't be friends with monsters? Asgore had told everyone what that first human had done…

Why the HELL were Alphys and Sans falling for this human's tricks?

"... The last human?" Asgore asked, almost a year of self-esteem and happiness training sloughing off in an instant.

"The LAST human," Undyne corrected.

-RFYM-

A/N:

Thank you for reading Running From Your Mistakes! I hope I managed to capture what the characters would do in this circumstance rather well.

Oh, you're upset that it's over? Well, sorry. I would continue, but that would require defining Frisk. As it is, I barely managed to leave Frisk's actions in the ruins ambiguous. Alphys would run into Frisk here the same way, whether Toriel is dead or not. I also had to make Frisk bring Alphys because of the following Undyne scene.

… And I'm sure Sans is silently freaking out as he tries to figure out how to keep his promise.

In short, it's over and done with here because I want to leave any run as an open possibility.