It was on the 4th day that Alphys finished the machine. It was a strange looking contraption, hooked onto a tv screen. When the child saw this, they shivered. It reminded them of... something. A memory in the back of their mind was trying to surface, but the child wasn't able to think of anything that related to it. Nonetheless, lying motionless underneath it had an air of danger, and the child was looking forward to being able to move again. Everyone else had gathered around to watch the screen, since the mystery had made them all curious.
"Well, here we go. You're gonna go unconscious for a while, and we'll see what you see in your head. Don't worry, you'll be fine." Alphys said to the child. The child nodded, a stoic expression on their face.
"Alphys assures me that this is safe, my child, but..." Toriel began.
"HEY! Are you saying that this isn't gonna work!?" Undyne cut in.
"Well, no, but..." Toriel started.
"Then leave it! Alphys made the machine, and it's sure as hell gonna work!" Undyne said. With that, Alphys pushed a switch, and the child started to drift away. As it happened, they overheard Alphys whisper something.
"For god's sake, don't be the 1 percent.."
The monsters watched the screen, awaiting the memories. Alphys had said it would take a while, but the memories would be there in full, and sped up for easier viewing. They were just making small talk, all of them trying to avoid wondering how long it would take. Suddenly, the memories were ready, and Alphys was shown them on a small computer to the side, before she could broadcast them. And that was when the monsters knew something was wrong. Alphys turned pale, and her eyes widened. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and her mouth hung agape.
"Alphys, what's up?" asked Undyne, her normally loud voice being lowered, having sensed a problem.
"Oh my god." was all Alphys could say.
"What? What's wrong?!" The monsters were starting to panic, and Undyne moved to look at the screen.
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" yelled Alphys unexpectedly. The monsters were taken aback, and Undyne slowly moved to look at the screen. There, viewed from the child's perspective, was Undyne, but different somehow. She was beaten badly, wounded in numerous places, and was in armour she had never worn before. She watched as she was murdered. And then it was everyone else. Mettaton. Sans. The entire inhabitants of Hotland. Back to the beginning. Toriel. The Ruins. Papyrus. Snowdin. Waterfall. Herself again. Constantly looping, as the child murders everyone, over and over again. Undyne had no response. She had seen the child's memories, and had seen that they had killed everyone. Even if it didn't happen. Which was the strange part. How did the child even imagine things this vivid, never mind places they had never been?
"Undyne, what's going on? Is the child okay?" asked Toriel. There was a long pause, as Undyne thought of what to say.
"You guys are probably not gonna want to see this. If you want to leave, feel free to. Trust me, it might be better. But, I'll show you what the child has seen. And what they've done."
"It CAN'T be real!" said Toriel, for possibly the third time in the conversation. "Maybe it was just nightmares, or something!"
"We can't just deny the truth because it's not what we want to see, Toriel! The child HAS done this! We're lucky that something has happened, because we're here now, but we NEED to find out what's going on!" replied Undyne. It had become a debate between the two since they had finished watching. Sans, Papyrus and Alphys were with the child, trying to find out more.
"Are we just supposed to believe that somehow, the entire monster world came back because, what, we were determined? That's a human trait, and even IF a monster had it, it wouldn't be the entire world. No, the child's mind has obviously been affected. They quite clearly don't want to hurt us, otherwise they would have." Before Undyne could retort, Alphys, Sans, Papyrus and the child entered the room.
"So.. I, er, think I know what's going on. But I... can't tell you guys." Alphys said, after a moment of quiet.
"What?! Why not?" asked Undyne.
"I... promised not to say." said Alphys, embarrassed.
"Well, who did you promise?"
"I.. can't tell you that either."
"Well what CAN you tell us?!" asked Undyne, exasperatedly. Alphys thought for a second.
"I can tell you the child's safe to be around. I can also tell you that they know a lot about my- everyone's personal life." she said finally. The monsters looked at each other.
"So now what? We take them to Asgore, or do we keep them hidden?" Undyne said, asking what everyone was thinking.
"Keep them hidden. I will NOT let Asgore's plan happen, even if I have to fight him myself." said Toriel firmly. Everyone looked at her, surprised.
"Well, I guess if the kid needs a place to stay, they can crash on our couch." said Sans, looking at Papyrus.
"Yeah! And I can cook spaghetti for him every night!" Papyrus agreed.
"Hey, if people are cookin', count me in!" Undyne included, grabbing Papyrus by the neck.
"Please don't noogie the skeleton."
A man woke up in the ruins.
After a few seconds of confusion, he remembered why he was there, and stood up. He walked out of the room he was in almost casually, and didn't notice the entity watching him make his escape. Flowey watched in surprise as the human left the room. Maybe this was what was happening. Maybe it wasn't the first human after all, but this one. A grin spread across the flower's face, and he disappeared into the ground. His plans would have to wait, it would seem.
The human walked through the ruins, observing his surroundings. Basic traps, easily disarmed. He laughed to himself. The monsters clearly didn't have a grasp of how to actually stop a human. The human stopped suddenly, as he saw a monster before him. A froggit, just sat there. The monster stood, waiting for the human to do something. Other monsters showed up, watching intently. The froggit advanced towards the human. Suddenly, an audible crack echoed across the ruins, and the froggit immediately evaporated into dust. The human had produced a weapon from somewhere, and wore a look of evil on his face. The other monsters ran, as they were slowly picked off one by one.
"Remember, we tell the kid nothing." said Sans to Papyrus.
"If you say so. I feel like they should know what's going on here though." replied Papyrus.
"Leave it to me, bro. You just handle the stuff like the food." Sans responded.
"Okay, but I still don't see why Alphys had to know."
"If we didn't tell her that there was an answer, everyone would be wondering what was going on. It's probably better that everyone knows that there is an answer, but not what it is. If they find out about SAVEs... well, I doubt they'd be able to handle it."