Recursion Chapter 6: Taking Action, an undertale fanfic

I do not own Undertale. Toby Fox does.

Thanks to R. Moonstalker for editing.

Chapter published 12/27/16.

Frisk

Frisk blinked owlishly. "Did that really just happen?" he wondered.

Chara just sputtered uselessly in his mind.

"Alright," he whispered, getting back up and nervously eying the door to Snowdin Forest. "Let's try that again." He crept forward, tip-toeing as though whatever monster had just shredded him was waiting in the shadows. Frisk leaned up against the door and pushed against it. Right away, bitter cold began streaming in, nipping and biting at his nose.

'How are we going to do this, Frisk?' Chara asked nervously.

'I jump, then dodge?' he thought. 'Gonna be tough though, did you SEE how fast those bones were?!'

'I concur. I've never seen any magical attack move quite so fast. Asriel notwithstanding, of course.'

By then, Frisk had opened the door and slipped out into Snowdin. He scanned left and right, searching for any shadows in the trees. He found nothing, so he crept forward slowly and carefully. The road was still laden with snowbanks, and Frisk almost made it to the first one when his soul appeared. He jerked in place, reacting to nothing a split second before his heart was, once again, turned blue and thrown to the ground, his body following suit.

He caught himself on his hands, but even so the impact sent a shock up his arms. For a split second Frisk felt the ground tremble, and the weight on his soul lifted. He jumped as high as he could as an ocean of bones tore forth from the snow. He jumped early, but not early enough because the bones still caught up to him and shredded his hands. Frisk screamed as his hands began to bleed, a strange sickness pouring through his body and sapping his strength with alarming speed.

Then normal gravity took hold. The bones vanished and Frisk fell. He remembered what came next and scrambled to stand as a forest of bones flew at him from the side. He bobbed and weaved, ducked and jumped, but a couple femurs brained him across the head - filling him with more of the illness - and a few more tore bloody strips across his legs and chest. Then it ended and he collapsed, breathing heavily.

It wasn't over yet.

A cage of bones appeared around him, locking him into a square area. Four... things appeared out of thin air, rotating rapidly and sliding into place with a harsh, building noise. They looked like... dragon skulls, each the size of a small house. They glared forward with icy eyes, one of them staring straight at Frisk.

'Wait, are those - ' Chara began.

Then as one, they opened their jaws with a the sound of cannonfire and Frisk's world was consumed with light. Everything was white, and when he closed his eyes out of pain everything was still white. The light consumed him, cold and cruel in its nauseating intensity as it washed over him like a tidal wave...

Snap, went his soul.

FILE LOADED

Frisk reappeared in the grassy patch within the Ruins, blinking his eyes. He felt there should've been white spots in his vision, but there was nothing.

'You know, I actually have an idea who might be attacking us,' Chara said. 'Back when I was alive, there was the position of Royal Scientist. It was occupied by a skeleton monster called W.D. Gaster. He could summon bones, and one of the spellforms he had created were those blasters you saw. And while their souls don't persist after death, skeleton monsters are one of the few types of monsters that are negligibly senescent, so he may yet live. It's anyone's guess what he's doing in Snowdin, though.'

'That's great, so what do I do?'

'I am not sure. However, I do remember a few things about his blasters. You already know they take time to charge up. The beam they unleash travels instantaneously, but is confined to a straight line defined by the width of the blaster's jaws. The larger the blaster, the wider the beam. The beam only lasts a few moments, and it widens and contracts during this time before fading away. Simply avoid being in front of the blaster when it fires, and you will be unharmed.'

'Got it. Third time's the charm!' he thought confidently. He could do this. Asriel had to keep him alive. With enough attempts, he could do this.

Once again, he entered Snowdin Forest, plodding forward cautiously. He knew that whoever was going to attack him would appear behind him, but until the onslaught of attacks ceased he couldn't just turn around and see them. First he had -

Blue.

Frisk crumpled to the cold dirt and shot up as fast as he could. His feet barely cleared the bones - which now that he thought about it, were really only a few feet high - without a scratch. He landed on solid, boneless ground just in time for the flurry of more bones to fall upon him.

"Ghuh!" he grunted, throwing himself away from one, only to have another tear a gash along his side.

"Whoa!" he gasped, ducking below one that came within a hair's width of crashing into his head.

"Ah!" he shrieked, a bone sailing past like a cannonball and carving a deep, bloody wound down his arm.

At last the flurry ended and Frisk collapsed, his head swimming and soul shriveling as whatever strange magic was in the bones worked on him. But he didn't even have time to take a gasp for breath before the four blasters appeared.

Like a maniac he threw himself out of the way of the only one aimed at him, just in time for the cottage-sized skulls to fire. A wall of light appeared all around Frisk, bathing the world in energy. He, however, was untouched. The intensity of the four beams was blinding, but even through the glare he could see the blasters' eyes flickering back and forth violently as they flew backwards, propelled backwards by their beams as though they were rockets. After a moment the blasters were out of sight, and the beams vanished.

There was still an enormous glare in Frisk's vision, a spot of red and green clinging to the world. But he found that his attempt to escape the blasters left him facing back to the closed door, and there was the monster who attacked him. A skeleton like Chara said, wearing a blue jacket, smeared with something red like blood, over its ribcage so that Frisk could barely see the sternum past the zipper. The skeleton wore pink fuzzy slippers on its bony feet, and it stared at him with empty, hollow sockets.

'Wait, that's not - '

Then another four blasters appeared, these ones all aimed for Frisk, and he didn't have the strength left to pull himself to safety as they engulfed him.

FILE LOADED

Frisk frowned and sat. "I deserve this, don't I?" he muttered. "I'm a murderer."

'No you're not. Asriel is. Come now Frisk, what happened to that 'I won't let this destroy me' speech?'

He narrowed his eyes and stood, marching for the door. 'Right. You're right. I'm getting better each time. Determination!'

'Also, that wasn't Gaster. I've never seen that skeleton before, how did he get a hold of Gaster's blasters?'

'Beats me.'

Walk through the snow. Almost get to the first snowbank. Forced down by blue. Turn red, jump. Dodge around the storm of bones, only getting hit once by a glancing blow to his left leg. First set of blasters, middle. Second set, away from the middle.

The second set of blasters, sure enough, fired in an 'X' formation, bathing the forest in flickering shadows. As they fired Frisk kept a hand on his bleeding leg, breathing quickly and shallowly as his strength seemed to crawl down his spine and out the gash.

Then a third set of blasters appeared, and his eyes flew open in terror. Frisk guessed where they aimed, and he guessed correctly, throwing himself forward into the eye of the storm. He was a touch too slow though, and the blazing laser engulfed his legs. He screamed, tears in his eyes and clawed at the ground before the light ended. Then he threw up, weakly raising his head to look at the skeleton.

Two more blasters appeared on either side of Frisk, each the size of a house. A proper house too, not just a cottage. Then they opened their jaws, and Frisk was finished.

FILE LOADED

He brought his hands up to his face. "Oh my God does it ever end?!"

'I admit I do not know. But keep going Frisk, eventually you will get through.'

With a resolute nod, he ventured back into the snowy woods. He trudged forward, jumping at the slightest shadow, until he felt the familiar weight of his soul turning blue. He leaped above the first set of bones, flawlessly dodged the storm, and tried to dodge the first set of blasters. Then the impossible happened.

He tripped.

The world lit up with light and he dropped to the ground. Frisk was sure he was screaming; his mouth was open and his throat trembled, after all. But over the roar of the blasters he couldn't hear anything.

The light ended, but he was still fairly blinded. He heard the next set of blasters arrive and blast the place where he wasn't, but could have gone to escape. Then the next four materialized.

Come on Frisk, he thought to himself. Move!

He barely dragged himself out of the way of the third set of blasters, and then backpedaled to avoid the next gargantuan two. Even so, he was clipped by the edge of the pulsating beams of light and fell to his side, groaning in pain.

Frisk stared back at the skeleton when the two colossal beams faded, still blinking spots from his eyes. His ears rang with tinitus. The skeleton gazed back at him, mouth set into a permanent smile. He noticed the empty sockets weren't empty any longer; two glowing orbs of light bounced around within the sockets like pupils, staring straight at Frisk. "Huh," the monster grunted in a deep, jovial voice. "Odd. That expression..." The skeleton glanced to the side cheekily. "That's the expression of someone who was expecting this to happen." Frisk's eyes widened. "Heh, I'm right aren't I?"

"Ugggghhhh," he groaned as the skeleton walked closer.

He scratched the back of his skull. "Well uh, as much as I'd like to get some answers, you're kinda not in a good shape. Hey, try getting this far in better health and we'll chat, 'kay kid?"

Then eight sets of four bones converged on Frisk from all directions, finishing him off.

FILE LOADED

"He knows," Frisk whispered once he was back. "How does he know?"

'I wish I knew, Frisk. I suspect you can get some answers from him if you get through, though. You're almost there.'

'Right,' he thought, entering Snowdin once more.

Frisk got through the barrage alive again. Down, jump. Dodge. Middle, side, middle, side. While he was too slow and got hit with a few vibrating, sickening bones, and got briefly scalded by walking into a beam before it faded entirely, he was still standing.

"Huh," the skeleton said, his eyes lighting up. "That's the expression of someone who was expecting this to happen."

"It is," Frisk said. "Last time I was too beat up to say anything, so you told me to come back and do better so we can talk. So, let's talk," he said, showing his palms and tossing his plastic knife into the snow.

"Sure, sure," the skeleton said. "Lemme introduce myself. Err, I haven't yet, have I?" Frisk shook his head. "Cool, so it's your first time in the Underground. Name's Sans. Sorry about the whole, ya'know, trying-to-kill-you thing, but hey." He shrugged. "War's war."

"I'm Frisk. Don't worry about it, I've already died... quite a lot regardless. So, you know about the whole... time thing?"

"Sure we do! Got some instruments, been tracking it for a while. So uh... can I ask you a favor?" Sans said. While his smile remained rigid, his skull... molded to make it look like his eyes were happy.

"... sure?" Frisk asked.

Sans turned to him, eyes blank. "Cut it out," he growled in a cold voice. Then his pupil-lights returned and his voice turned bubbly again. "I mean, if you don't mind. Kinda suuuu - bad, kinda bad knowing that anything I do doesn't matter, since you'll just erase it all the next time you get bored. Makes it get pretty hard to be motivated for anything."

Frisk blinked. "Wait, you think... wait no, I'm not the one doing the time travel, but I know who is!"

Sans narrowed his eyes. "Huh, really? Doesn't everyone's memory get wiped whenever a reset rolls around?"

He shook his head. "I don't know how, but he can choose to let me remember it if he wants me to. Apparently I did something to him in a past life, so now he's making me..." he trailed off.

Sans didn't press the issue, but rather just nodded. "Cool, cool, so who actually is the anomaly? Anyone I know?"

"The old prince," Frisk said, and Sans jerked in surprise. "I don't know how, but he came back to life and he's REALLY mean. It's Asriel Dree - "

FILE LOADED

" - murr," he told the patch of grass. "Damn it!" he shouted, stomping his feet.

'Of course,' Chara muttered. 'Of course he would do that. Have to kill everyone, right? Can't get anyone's help.'

Frisk tightened his fist around the toy knife as tears poked at his eyes, but forced it back. No. No moping. He could do this. 'At least I still have you, Chara.'

'I... thank you, Frisk. Happy to help.'

Alright, how was he going to do this? Sans appeared behind him - somehow - to unleash his magic attacks. He looked at his knife and pondered what to do, then when he had a good idea, he nodded and opened the door.

Snowdin was the same as ever, but somewhere in the woods was Sans. The monster who'd already killed Frisk five times in quick succession. Who knew about the time travel powers.

His soul came out. Frisk would only have moments before it turned blue and sent him to the ground, so he spun around as fast as he could. He found the vague shadow that was Sans, standing outside the Ruins's door, and hurled his toy knife at the skeleton before he could do anything else.

Sans's empty eyes refilled with their pupils, which constricted in shock. He stepped to the side so the knife would harmlessly hit the door, but Frisk was already charging. He drew back a fist and swung at the skeleton, only for Sans to duck below, to the side, and thrust his left arm towards the door.

Frisk's entire world turned to the side, as did his blue soul. He crashed to the door and tried to stand, only to find not only was gravity entirely turned on its side, but his blue soul was still weighing him down so that he could do little more than crawl and hop.

Then another field of bones burst from the door, followed by a blaster catching him in the back.

FILE LOADED

'Chara, I think this is gonna REALLY suck.'

'You don't say?'

Frisk made another attempt. This time he didn't try to sucker-punch Sans, but rather allowed the skeleton to unleash his full salvo. Frisk actually managed to avoid most of it. Sure the final set of blasters clipped him with their nauseatingly intense magic, but he was fine.

Sans's pupil-lights appeared. "Huh, that expression. That's the expression of someone who's seen this quite a few times."

"Sans listen, I don't have much time," he babbled. "I'm being used by the person with the time powers, do you know anything that could help me against them?"

Sans narrowed his eyes. "Actually I think I might just have something." He reached a bony hand into the folds of his jacket and found a key. "Come on," he said, waving Frisk over. "I know a shortcu - "

FILE LOADED

This time, when Frisk reappeared in the grassy patch, Asriel was there.

"Don't even think about it," the adult-formed monster said. "You're here to kill, not make friends. Not like Smiley Trashbag could help you anyway. Trust me, I know what he's talking about. Won't work." Then Asriel vanished.

'That arrogant, pompous - ' Chara sputtered.

"Lemme try to sucker-punch him again," Frisk said aloud while heading to the door.

'I suppose you can attempt that path a few times before trying something else, if it fails.' Frisk stepped out into the cold. 'It's strange, Frisk. I can see his power with my own eyes but for some reason I can't help but feel Sans is... unimpressive. Minuscule in strength.'

'Well, his strength sure doesn't feel minuscule when it's killing me in two seconds flat,' he groused, pushing forward.

His soul emerged. Frisk spun like a top, but he was a second too slow so, while he got to turn around to face Sans, that was all he could do before his essence went blue and dragged him to the ground. From this new angle he saw how Sans's empty left socket burned with blue and gold fury, his left hand coming up and slamming downwards as if the monster were physically throwing Frisk.

He didn't exactly have the time to piece together a complete thought, but what went through his head in that split second mostly amounted to 'I can salvage this!'.

It turned out no, no he couldn't.

Snap!

FILE LOADED

"Alright," he said aloud. "Messed up then, I can do it this time though."

He walked out, the repetitive motions wearing on his nerves. Soul out. Turn around, throw the knife and charge.

Sure enough, Sans dodged to the right, just like he had last time. Frisk readied his right fist and, just like before, swung. Just like Frisk remembered, Sans ducked down and to the side, right to where his left fist was coming as a follow-up.

He heard Sans take in a startled breath through his teeth, and then everything went black like a candle snuffed out. When the world returned to being, Sans was down the road, staring at Frisk with an unreadable expression.

Then a series of bones shot out from the ground, stabbing clean through Frisk's wrists, stomach, heart, and lastly soul.

Snap!

FILE LOADED

'I've almost got him,' Frisk said to Chara as he reappeared, already heading for the exit. 'He doesn't know Asriel's resetting me until he sees me fight, I can take him off guard.'

'... and then what?'

'Then... I don't know. We'll just have to see how much Snowdin's changed.'

'I suppose. It also helps that Sans evidently doesn't see you for much of a threat.'

He entered Snowdin Forest and started walking. 'Yeah, but what do you think that key he was talking about is for? Asriel said it won't help, which is just what someone who's scared of it would - WHOA!' While talking to Chara, Frisk had stopped paying attention and was promptly shredded by Sans's volley of magic.

FILE LOADED

''Okay, okay that was careless.'

This time, he was careful. He crept forward, giving no indication he knew what was happening but still stiff as a board, his backpack's straps ever so slightly loosened. Then, just as it had before, his soul slid out from his chest. Not a moment later Frisk spun around and tossed his knife at Sans.

Dodge.

Charge.

Swing with right.

Dodge.

Swing with left.

Like before the world went dark. Frisk couldn't move or feel his body in the blackness, but he still braced himself. This was where he'd gotten before.

The world came back, and if he was correct soon he'd be impaled with bones. But he didn't wait that long. Frisk slung his pack off, whipping it around the long way before tossing it at Sans with his right arm. The skeleton backpedaled, leaving the pack to drop into the snow at his slippers, but Frisk was charging. He scooped up a snowball, ready to toss it -

Sans flicked his left phalanges and a single bone shot up from the ground beneath Frisk, right up and into him. Ow.

FILE LOADED

Soul out. Spin around, throw the knife. Charge. Swing right, dodged. Swing left, world goes dark. World comes back. Throw your stuff, charge after it. He dodges the pack, pick up a snowball. Dodge around the bone from the ground. Throw snowball while running. Dodged. Punch -

- dodged, obliterated by a blaster.

FILE LOADED

And again.

FILE LOADED

And again.

FILE LOADED

And again.

FILE LOADED

And again.

FILE LOADED

And again.

FILE LOADED

And again.

FILE LOADED

And again!

FILE LOADED

"Okay, for real this time," Frisk growled, phantom pains from injuries that never happened aching all over. "Let me try something new."

He walked forward and, just before his soul was about to appear, he froze. "I know you're out there!" he called. "Can we just talk?"

"Well I guess," said Sans's voice behind him, prompting Frisk to whirl around. Sure enough, there was the skeleton, hands in his pockets. "So, you're the anomaly huh? Can't think of many other reasons for you to call out here." He winked. "Unless you're just paranoid. Can't imagine why though, it's just a huge dark cave filled with monsters." He chuckled.

Frisk smiled shyly and approached. "So, you know about me huh? I didn't think anyone did." He looked down and clenched his fists. "Everyone else always forgets."

"Hey kid, don't get me wrong," Sans said, approaching and putting a hand around Frisk's shoulders. "It's not like I remember anything, I just know it's somethin' goin' on. So uh, if you don't mind?" Frisk turned his head to look at Sans's. Strangely enough, they were eye-level. "Could you maybe, I dunno, cut it - "

Frisk elbowed Sans in the ribs as hard as he could. The bones collapsed inward like cheap cardboard.

" - ooouuuuuu," Sans gasped, stumbling back.

"I'm sorry," Frisk whimpered, leaping away. "I'm not the time traveler, but I know who is. He's making it so I can remember and he's forcing me to kill everyone here I am so sorry, Sans, please don't hate me!" he pleaded. But a small, selfish part of him was just glad he'd gotten past him. Thank God Sans wasn't taking him seriously whenever he first emerged. Frisk didn't want to imagine how this would've gone if Sans had given it his all.

The skeleton collapsed, falling onto his rear. Something sticky and red, smelling like tomatoes, started seeping through his jacket where Frisk had struck. He closed his eyes and laughed quietly. "Heh, being forced by the anomaly huh? This just gets more and more messed up. Hey listen kid, I won't judge ya. Can't do much against a time traveler. But if you've been in contact with him..." Sans opened his eyes back up, looking tiredly at Frisk. He reached into his jacket and tossed something at Frisk, which he caught. "Take that key. Back of my house, okay? Maybe you can... let the future actually come." Sans sighed. "Sorry Pap... Sun's gonna have to wait a bit longer."

Then the skeleton crumpled to dust, leaving only a ketchup-stained set of clothes.

'Oooohhhhh,' Chara moaned in a rather... flustering voice. 'So many... fifty thousand execution points in him alone. Oh wow...'

Frisk's eyes bulged. 'Fifty THOUSAND?!' he asked.

'Definitely,' Chara whispered, getting her voice back under control. 'He must have been the royal judge I was talking about. I can think of no other reason for him to be worth so much EXP, lest he somehow be the actual current king, which we know is not true.'

Frisk inspected the key, and tossed it in his pack. No crying. He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't going to imagine how terrified and scared Sans had been, how he might have had any family who'd miss him. He'd get through this and make it so that this death never existed. He had to stay determined. He already had a possible avenue of victory, after all.

'Well, let's head out then,' he thought to Chara. 'Gonna have to start killing here too, I suppose.'

'Probably. Children and teens always enjoyed sneaking into the woods from Snowdin Town.' Chara hummed. 'Frisk, I think I can feel... yes. Something's definitely changing,' she said morosely.

'Feel what?' he asked.

'I feel sixteen left,' Chara intoned like a death knell.

Alphys

"No," she whispered, cup of noodles falling from her claws. She brought her hands up to her eyes, cupping them over her glasses so she wouldn't have to see, wouldn't have to know, wouldn't have to act. "No, no no no no no..." she babbled, laying her head on the screen's console.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. After everything else that had gone wrong for Alphys, now this?!

She knew she should warn someone. Tell Undyne there was a human in Snowdin. But then Undyne would kill the human, and Asgore would kill all the humans, and that wasn't exactly something she was on board with.

Alphys clenched her claws tightly, trembling. She pulled her head away from the console, eyes still low, and huddled into a ball on her swivel chair. Her tail came around for her to grab and stroke, running her claws along the yellow scales. This couldn't be happening. No, no no...

So absorbed in self-pity was she, that she didn't notice the door to her lab open, or the thrumming of a single wheel rolling on the floor. "Alphys, darling, a little birdie told me I should stop by so I figured hey, I haven't seen Alphys in a while and - oh, oh no, what's wrong?" came Mettaton's voice. The door closed.

Alphys looked up as Mettaton rolled over to her, his hands clasped worriedly while his screen displayed an exclamation mark. "He's dead," she whimpered. "Sans is dead."

"What? Dead? Dead how? Where - " Mettaton looked up at her screen, which showed a dusty blue jacket, pants, and slipper resting in the snow. " - oh, Snowdin. But... how?"

"It was a human. I don't know what they were saying, my cameras there are visual feed only, but he talked Sans down and... and when Sans got close he just... he just... " Alphys curled back up as a fresh wave of sobs wracked her.

"Hey, Alphys! Darling!" Mettaton rolled closer and grabbed her arms, unraveling her from her ball with his mechanical strength. "Chin up, Alph!" he encouraged, screen changing to blank yellow. "So here's what we're going to do!" He picked her up and she yelped. Mettaton started carrying her up the moving escalator to the second floor. "We're gonna get some real food in you, sit down, and discuss a plan, alright gorgeous?" She flushed, her scales turning orange. Mettaton called everyone that, and she had no interest in him, but it was still embarrassing.

Mettaton finally brought her over to her bed and knocked on its cubical surface, prompting it to open up into a proper bed that Mettaton set her down into. She scurried against its edge and leaned against the wall, tail out in front of her.

"Here you go darling!" Mettaton said, an arm reaching into a hole in space to access one of his many dimensional boxes. He retracted the arm, holding a fancy glass that held a rainbow fluid. "Starfait, on me!" he said, handing it to her.

She nodded sadly and held the drink to her mouth. With one smooth motion she bent her head back and chugged the sweet drink, the star-shaped sugar crystals crunching against her fangs. "Thanks," she muttered, lowering the glass and placing it on the bed. "We have to tell someone," Alphys whispered. "He just killed Sans out of nowhere. What if he's killing more people? What if he gets to Undyne's friend, um, Papyrus I think his name was?"

"How old was this human?"

"Just a kid," Alphys said. "Well, early teens I guess. But you know that doesn't matter!"

Mettaton hummed, one of his hands stroking the dials beneath her screen. "You're absolutely correct, so here's what we'll do! We're going to pick up the phone and start evacuating people, sound good? Call up that marvelous Undyne, have her start evacuating Snowdin. I'll handle Waterfall, you start on Hotland, sound good?"

"But... but if we tell everyone, then they'll kill the human, won't they?" Who knows? Maybe he struck out of self defense?

Heh, yeah right, she thought. She knew Sans, they'd been friends ever since... well she didn't remember, but she knew him well. He'd never hurt a fly.

Mettaton sagged, his body leaning over and arms extending so they could drag on the ground. "Yeah... but I have a plan, Alphys darling! What if, instead of Asgore getting the soul, we get the soul? Hmm? Asgore doesn't get the seven, but we do! I could put on a big spiel about how now that I have the one soul, I need all the other six as well and then I'll break the barrier, but, BUT! Once I have the seven I'll demand the war ends!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You started saying 'I' instead of 'we' very quickly. And besides, wouldn't it be better to just... help the human escape? Get them where he won't be killed and where he won't kill us?"

"Alphys Alphys Alphys, you know perfectly well that for that to happen, why, he'd have to murder our beloved king!" Mettaton posed with an arm dramatically above his screen. "And even then, what about the human who falls after that? There are only so many boss monsters in existence, we'd just be putting the problem off for future generations to deal with, letting them deal with our troubles sooo selfishly - "

"Rrrr!" she growled, clenching her fangs. "Alright alright, I'll do it!" Her anger faded in a moment, replaced by the horrible, familiar soul-sucking sensation in her chest. Oh, Sans... did anyone even know yet? "Just get me my phone."

"Marvelous!" he shouted, screen lighting up with a crimson letter M. "I'll head on over to Waterfall, why don't you say hello to Undyne for me, okay? Toodles, darling!" Mettaton cheered, rolling over to the other escalator and descending from her sight.

"Didn't get me my phone," she complained.

Alphys bowed her head and reached into her lab coat, pulling out her phone. She brought up Undyne's speed dial and... and... oh God her claws were shaking her soul was pounding and there was sweat on her crest could she do anything right?!

Without thinking, she punched in the speed dial. Oh no, no no no, she hadn't rehearsed her lines, there were so many details she needed to work out with Mettaton and she was going to screw this all up and Undyne was going to hate her and she'd find herself going back to Waterfall and staring into that abyss and, and, and...

"Hey Alphys!" came Undyne's cheery tone. "What's up?"

"Undyne, listen to me. I-It's Sans." Alphys stood and walked down her escalator, coming to a seat before her console again. She pressed a button and changed the camera a few times until she found where the human was now. She found him a little further on, looking through the trees diligently with a plastic knife in hand.

He was looking for victims. Oh God, what kind of person was this?!

"What? You mean Papyrus's brother right?" Undyne's voice muffled for a moment, as though she'd pulled away from the phone to grumble. "Way to go Undyne, how many Sanses do you know?" Her voice returned. "What about him?"

"He's d-d-dead," Alphys whimpered. "I saw it with my cameras. A... a human came out of the Ruins and killed him, Undyne."

"WHAT?!" Undyne roared. "WHERE?! SNOWDIN RIGHT?! I'M GONNA MARCH OVER THERE AND - "

"Wait, Undyne! We can't just rush into this. What about all the civilians in Snowdin?"

"Damn it, right! We gotta get'em out of there, and THEN I'll kill that punk!"

"I already talked with Mettaton, he found me just after Sans died. The plan is I'm going to evacuate Hotland, Mettaton's going to handle Waterfall, and we were thinking you could handle Snowdin." She gripped the phone in both hands, tearing her eyes away from the screen as the human found what appeared to be Mrs. Drake's son. The human raised the knife, and the bird monster's eyes widened in terror as it came down and dusted him. He'd... he'd never know what happened. He'd never know how badly Alphys failed. He'd never know the truth...

"Undyne listen to me," she shouted into the phone. "Do not fight the human! You know how powerful they are and I... if you... I already lost Sans, if I lost you too I don't know what I'd do." That was another lie. Alphys knew precisely what she would do if she lost Undyne. "Just get everyone to safety, then we can all figure out a way to trap and kill the human safely without letting him get anywhere near us."

"Alright, alright. I'm in my armor, heading over to Snowdin now! Alphys, stay safe!"

"You too Undyne," she gasped, before hitting the blurry End Call button. Alphys wiped the tears from her eyes. Evacuation. Right. She was the Royal Scientist. Nobody knew what a fraud and failure she was. They'd listen to her. Warn them about the murderous human tearing a path through Snowdin, get them some place safe. But where? Think Alphys, think. She didn't have a lot of time before the human could come to Hotland. The Underground was pretty cramped, it'd take minutes at a light jog.

Her eyes wandered east, to the door that lead to the 'bathroom', and gulped. No. She couldn't. She had to find another place. But she had to do it fast. While the human was certainly going to be slowed down by his... business, evacuations took time. Time she was wasting already like the pathetic piece of garbage she was! No, no, she had to focus. People's lives were at stake here! The monsters were in danger and, if the wrong person got the human's soul, all of the innocent humans above too! She had work to do!

Alphys dialed another number.

Please do leave a review, let me know what you think.