Undyne had a lot of opinions about humans and their world, a lot of them being the kind that one would probably not mention in the presence of children. The ration between favorable and unfavorable notions shifted depending on the time of the day and whether Undyne had actually talked to a human recently other than Frisk. Undyne wasn't a middle of the road type of monster, so one had to take her rants with a grain of salt composed of millions of other grains of salt.

Let's just say that "Hate" and "Dislike" were in the same general range.

On the other hand, if Undyne liked something, or someone. You knew it. Once she had decided you were her friend, oh boy, you knew it. She would beat it into you if she had to. Alphys had been the only exception to this rule. Undyne had actually been shy about her feelings towards her. It had been in all honesty, really, really cute. Alphys had come to this conclusion once she had given herself time to sit down and think about her relationship with the former Royal Guard Captain. Every time Undyne blushed and acted meekly around her, she had to muster every ounce of self control to not go into a fit of giggles that no doubt would embarrass both of them. In private however, many a pillow found itself hugged against Alphy's giggling and blushing snout.

It was very weird for Alphys to feel this way. After having spent more of her lifetime filled with self doubt and later on with crippling guilt regarding her decisions in the True Lab, it was hard for her to accept her new situation without looking back and feeling like she simply didn't deserve it. Undyne would have none of it and had enough confidence for the both of them. She had become Alphy's rock and both of them worked hard on helping all monsters to adapt to their new living situation. Especially the Amalgamates, most of them having chosen to stay close to or in the Underground.

Alphys was now working with human scientists over the internet, exchanging notes and tips. She had been shocked to find out that there was such a thing as human magic users, although they were rare and human magic was very limited compared to monster magic.

Undyne had her gym classes and dodge ball tournaments.

Something about having a monster throwing a ball at you at high speeds then having her congratulate you on being such a good survivor, really appealed to monsters and humans alike.

Alphys had made a mental note to write a paper about this phenomenon sometime.

At moment, however, she had a skeleton sobbing on the other end of the line.

"Pap … Papyrus … I can't understand you!" She looked pleadingly towards their bathroom door, the sounds of Undyne taking a shower still going strong. The fish monster really liked long showers. In the Underground, monsters didn't use showers, their magical bodies naturally taking care of any cleansing they needed. Undyne just liked standing under running water for extended periods of time.

Alphy's sighed. She really didn't feel like the right reptile for consoling Papyrus and whatever his dilemma was. Something about Sans, which was even more worrisome, but she couldn't get any more info out of the tall skeleton to work with.

"Take a deep … deep breath" She said trying again. She heard him inhale for an extremely long time then finally exhale, only to continue his sobbing and mumbling with renewed vigor. Ok. That was it. "Hold on for a minute. I'm … I'm getting Undyne"

She walked into the bathroom holding the phone against her chest, the fog from the shower immediately clouding her glasses. Despite this, she could see Undyne's silhouette behind the shower curtain, completely unaware of her entrance to the bathroom. Her mind carelessly wondered into how much this set up resembled many scenes from the animes she and Undyne watched and blushed. She then remembered why she was there and cleared her throat loudly.

"Undyne!" she called startling the fish monster. "Papyrus needs to talk to you!"

The shower curtain flew open causing Alphys to peep.

"What? Why?" Undyne said looking annoyed but still turning off the water. She glared at the phone receiver that Alphys was holding.

The reptile leaned over and whispered "I think he and Sans got into a … a fight … and he's … very upset"

"WHAT?" Undyne grabbed the phone from Alphys hand. "It's like physically impossible for those two nerds to have a serious fight. Papyrus is probably just upset that Sans didn't eat his latest pasta dish or something" She winked at Alphys with a smile and put the receiver to her ear.

Her smile quickly changed into a concerned look when she heard Papyrus crying.

"Papyrus!, PAPYRUS!" she yelled into the receiver making her girlfriend wince. "I CAN'T UNDERTAND A WORD YOU ARE SAYING. STOP CRYING!"

Alphys motioned Undyne to bring it down a notch. She figured that shouting wouldn't help calm down Papyrus.

But it did.

"Ok. Tell me what happened" Undyne said in a softer voice and giving Alphys a thumbs up "Uh uh … uh uh … yeah … yeah I have noticed too, but you know, Sans has always been like that. Ok … ok … yeah well …woah … HE DID WHAT? THAT LITTLE JERK!"

A renewed string of upset sounds started coming from the phone. Only this time, they sounded angry.

"WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING HIM?" exclaimed Undyne at the receiver holding it away from her face. Alphys raised her eyebrows. This certainly sounded waaaayy more serious than she expected. "HOW DARE HE TELL YOU THAT YOU AIN'T HIS BROTHER?!"

Alphys gasped.

The phone went quiet.

Undyne bit her lip and brushed her red fins back. She brought the phone back to her ear. "Papyrus, look, I'm sorry, ok? We're coming over and we'll look for him ok? Paps, you still there?"

A very small "Nyeh" came from the other end.

"We'll be there in few and when we find your stupid brother, I'll kick some sense into him" Undyne tapped the end call button before Papyrus could respond to that last statement. She looked at Alphys who was wriggling her hands in worry.

"Godammit" the fish monster said reaching for a towel.

It had been next to a miracle that Sans hadn't ended up phased into the middle of a tree trunk or a rock after teleporting blindly. Instead, he had landed in the middle of a clearing and had rolled into some berry bushes. He had just stayed there for a few minutes, lying on his back and staring at a cloudy late autumn sky. He got up shakily and trudged into a nearby rock formation. At least in this new place he was somewhat hidden from view.

He rubbed his head. The headache from the previous night was returning full force. He looked around trying to place where he was. He doubted he was too far away. His teleportation had always been limited to short distances. Still, he couldn't recognize any of his surroundings.

He leaned on his right side letting his head rest against a smooth rocky surface. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He couldn't believe how horrible he had just been to Papyrus. He couldn't even be sure that all those memories coming into his skull were even true. Maybe they were just delusions created by … who knows what.

He placed his left hand on his chest and rubbed the area that was said to host a monster's soul. Tears rolled down his cheeks unto his hands.

They were true. He knew they were true.

Memories flooded in of time spent learning how to take care of a baby and eventually a toddler. Despite his initial doubts, Sans soon found himself enjoying his new duties. Papyrus was easy to love, if exhausting to keep up with. He was fairly young himself, he soon found out as Gaster made a comment that maybe 12 was too young to let him take care of his son. Followed by how he simply didn't have to the time to age him longer. Sans didn't quite understand what he meant by that but at least now he had an idea on how old he was supposed to be.

A year went by. Papyrus was growing up fast. The moment he figured out walking, he was running and the as soon as his first words came, he had a lot to tell. Gaster couldn't be prouder. He would parade his son around Snowdin any time he had the chance. Sans would trail behind them quietly and always smiling. He was known among the townspeople as Gaster's ward. An abandoned young skeleton adopted by the brand new Royal Scientist. He often heard about how lucky he was and how generous Dr. Gaster was.

Sans tried not to think about it too hard. He couldn't remember anything before waking up in the room behind their house with Gaster telling him what his name was. Well that wasn't entirely true. Now and then, vague memories of times before the room would pop into his head, and there things he knew how to do, like reading and writing, that he didn't remember learning. He had tried to ask Gaster about these curious things a few times, but every time Gaster had reacted crossly and punished him with extra chores or studies, because if he had time to think about nonsense, he had time to better himself.

Another year went by. Dr. Gaster started to leave Sans and Papyrus by themselves for extended periods of time as he started taking on more complex projects at a new lab just outside New Home. There were talks of a massive construction project starting soon there and that Dr. Gaster was the mastermind behind it.

It was during these absences that Sans and Papyrus truly bonded. Sans enjoyed reading to the younger skeleton, especially books that had not been chosen by Gaster for his son; all of them educational and not particular interesting to Papyrus.

They also played a lot outside and Sans even allowed himself to make friends with one of the local children. A fire elemental a few years older than him called Grillby who would sneak burgers out of his parent's restaurant for them to eat "secretly" next to the river north of the town.

Papyrus, of course, was friends with everybody, even if they didn't know it. Sans considered himself among those friends until one day when they were visiting the local library returning some books a brand new librarian had asked Papyrus what their names were.

"I'M PAPYRUS!" he declared then turned around and pointed to him "HIS NAME IS SANS. HE'S MY BROTHER!"

The librarian gushed and made small friendly conversation with the toddler while Sans stood there stunned. He had no clue where Papyrus had gotten it into his head that they were brothers. Maybe from the books they had been reading recently? One of them did have a couple of characters that were siblings. He opened his mouth to correct him but he didn't have the heart to do it. He liked being called a "brother". It was the best feeling ever.

Maybe he just wouldn't encourage it and Papyrus would eventually forget all about it.

But he didn't. Papyrus took to calling him "BROTHER!" all the time and every time he did it, Sans couldn't help but smile a little broader.

Until the time Papyrus had said it in front of his father. That time Sans didn't smile at all.

"He's not your brother" Gaster had said sitting Papyrus on his knee. He had just gotten back from a weeklong trip to the Capital. He was tired and not in a very good mood.

"YES HE IS!" Papyrus balled up his little hands over his legs

"Sans" said Gaster looking over at the young skeleton with a disapproving look. "What do you know about this?"

"HE READS TO ME! HE PLAYS WITH ME!" yelled Papyrus before Sans could think of anything to say "HE'S ALWAYS WITH ME! I LOVE HIM! HE'S MY BROTHER!"

Papyrus nodded as if he had said the most obvious thing in the world. Both Gaster and Sans stared at him after that outburst. Eventually Gaster returned his gaze towards Sans and all that the short skeleton could manage in way of response was a resigned shrug.

Dr. Gaster considered all of this. It sounded like Papyrus had reached this conclusion on his own rather than being influenced by Sans. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing for them to consider themselves brothers. It would certainly make Sans more loyal and dedicated towards Papyrus. And it was only logical since the townsfolk already thought that Sans was adopted. The Core project shouldn't take more than a couple of years to complete. After that he would have the means for him and Papyrus to move to the Capital. He would still be young enough to make him forget this whole "brothers" business easily.

"Fine, fine." he said dismissively. "Why don't you and your "brother" go get me some tea?" He saw Sans' shoulders relax. Papyrus giggled and jumped off his knee. He ran over to his brother and grabbed his hand as he practically dragged him into the kitchen.

Gaster smiled to himself. All of this was just a necessary evil. After all, Papyrus wasn't really bonding with Sans, but rather with the piece of Gaster's soul that resided in him. He had created Sans because he couldn't trust anyone else with the care of his only offspring. Sans was just a temporary replacement while he worked on getting them to the capital with the status and power his family deserved.

This was just all temporary.