A soft humming could be heard throughout the building Flowey and Papyrus sat in, the lights shining bright and illuminating the entire area. It was almost too much for Papyrus to truly register, his mind stalling the moment Flowey had announced the power's return.

"How?" Papyrus questioned, bewildered and thrown back into shock. He squinted his eye sockets open slightly, taking the newly brightened room in.

"I don't know! This shouldn't be possible with the Core down!" Flowey answered, attempting to get his voice's pitch under control.

"Did the humans do something?" the skeleton continued, uttering his confusion. Panic was beginning to grip his soul, the very thought of the humans actually being able to reach them terrifying him.

"They couldn't have!" Flowey nearly shouted, whipping his head around as he gaped at the lights located on the ceiling and walls.

Finally finding himself able to completely open his eye sockets and properly look around the room, Papyrus noticed the increasingly angry look growing on the flower's face. He appeared to be expressing a good amount of anger, irritation, and fear once Papyrus considered him further. He himself was feeling a good amount of terror (which he vaguely wondered if Flowey was capable of feeling with his fragment of soul, but he pushed that thought aside), and knew for certain that the power suddenly turning on couldn't possibly be a good thing.

"Could someone be in the Core?" he asked, moving to stand from the bed as he clutched Flowey tightly to himself with both arms.

Flowey shook his head before perking up, turning to stare at him. "Why? Someone would have had to come down from the Barrier to get into the Core. Most monsters and no humans can possibly make it through Hotland right now, so that's the only way!" A look of realization struck his face. "Does anyone besides those four humans know that you're down here? Did they leave anyone on the Surface to come get them?"

"No, I never told them where the Underground's entrance was! They only know about Mt. Ebott! And I don't think there were more than four, anyways!" Papyrus exclaimed hurriedly, cautiously walking outside of the hotel room and glancing both ways down the hall.

Flowey groaned. "It was a stupid thought anyways. The humans couldn't possibly figure out how to work the Core. It runs on magic anyways, doesn't it? Only a monster would be able to start it up."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Sans told me a bit about the Core a long time ago. He didn't mention it often, though," he informed Flowey as he slowly walked to the end of the hall.

"Wait, stop!" Flowey hissed, throwing a vine around Papyrus' left arm.

The skeleton stopped in his tracks a few meters before the hallway led into the main lobby. He held his breath without even thinking about it, realizing why Flowey had made him stop. The elevator in the main lobby was running; he could hear it clearly. Someone was coming, and they would be there soon. He felt his panic swell up, finding it difficult to breath properly all of a sudden, even as he stopped holding it in.

"What do we do?" he whispered, shoving himself against the wall, hoping he wouldn't be immediately visible to whoever left the elevator once it arrived.

"You'll have to use force if they seem threatening. I know you won't fight, so just use your blue magic to shove them aside and then make a break for the Core. You can run fast, so I doubt they can keep up with you," Flowey suggested, whispering even quieter than Papyrus had. "You got away from those humans just fine back in Snowdin, so I know you can lose whoever's on their way here now."

Had he not felt so panicked, he knew he would have found himself beaming over Flowey's offhanded praise, unused to hearing something so genuine from his friend, but it was not the time to think about things like that. He had to be prepared for whoever ended up leaving that elevator, on the (very likely) chance that they weren't some kind monster looking for a quick chat with a depressed skeleton and a semi-soulless flower.

A soft ding signaled the arrival of the elevator, and a rattling whoosh sounded as the doors opened. Papyrus tried to hold back his panic, already feeling the sweat drip down from his brow. Flowey sat on edge, his small vine still wrapped tightly around Papyrus' arm. Voices were heard, as what appeared to be two people having a conversation.

"Listen, let's just hurry and find those pricks so I can kick their asses!" the first voice exclaimed, anger and impatience lacing through it.

The voice brought Papyrus' racing thoughts to a halt. He knew that voice. Before either his common sense or Flowey could chime in and stop him, he whipped around the corner of the hallway, seeing the tall fish monster leaving the open elevator, a large, box-like robot following just behind her.

"Undyne!" he exclaimed, his fear having been completely replaced by excitement.

Both the fish warrior and robot jumped at Papyrus' sudden entrance, Undyne instinctively summoning a spear and readying it. Before she could attack with the weapon, her eyes widened, properly taking in the sight of the skeleton. The spear had just barely disappeared as Papyrus tackled her into a hard, one armed hug. She tensed as the boney arm wrapped around her torso, but she soon recovered as Papyrus continued babbling about how excited he was that she was there.

"Oh my god, Undyne!" he spouted out, burying his face into her shoulder. He was mindful of the flowerpot in his other arm, trying not to crush Flowey in his excitement. "You're here!"

"Pap?" she blurted out, before it seemed to finally hit her.

She suddenly wrapped both of her arms around the skeleton, gripping him hard enough that he knew he'd have bruises later. Not that he particularly cared at the moment, as Undyne lifted him up and proceeded to shout at him in equal amounts excitement.

"God, you dork! Do you know how worried I was about you?" she exclaimed, setting Papyrus back down to the ground. She still clung to him, refusing to lessen her grip. "Are those pricks that kidnapped you anywhere around?"

"No! We got away from them! They're probably in Waterfall right now!" he replied, pulling back as far as he could to look up at her (which wasn't very far, considering how tightly she had her arms wrapped around him).

"Damn!" she spat, stomping her foot once. Anger further laced through her voice as she continued. "I was hoping I'd get to kick their asses for hurting you!"

"How did you know I was in the Underground?" he questioned, glancing behind Undyne's shoulder to look at Mettaton, who was watching the scene with an air of boredom about him.

Undyne finally loosened her grip and let the skeleton go, but kept her hands on his shoulders in order to properly look him over. She was about to open her mouth, presumably to answer his question, but stopped short, spotting the flower held in Papyrus' arm. The relieved look on her face soured instantly as she glared down at Flowey.

"Pap, what the hell are you doing with that?" she gritted out through clenched teeth, looking ready to tear the flowerpot out of Papyrus' hands and toss it to the ground.

Mettaton peeked over in slight curiosity at Undyne's sudden shift in tone, but said nothing as Papyrus began stumbling over his words in an attempt to explain himself.

"H-He saved me from the humans!"

"Oh, did he now?" the fish warrior spat, hardening her grip on Papyrus' shoulders.

"Yes! He's my friend! We've been helping each other out!" he spoke loudly in comparison to Undyne's voice, which had gone tight in her struggle not to immediately lash out.

Just when he didn't think he'd be able to handle to ever increasing grip on his shoulders, Undyne let him go, stepping back slightly. The "grin" on her face was strained, a look that Papyrus knew from experience meant that she was fuming.

"You do know that weed tried to kill all of us, right?" she hissed out.

"Yes, but he has a soul now! He's changing, and he feels really bad for everything he did!" Papyrus defended his friend. Flowey, for his part, was unconsciously huddled against Papyrus' scarf, staring straight at Undyne's increasingly unhinged grin.

"He's tricked you before. How do you know he's not just tricking you now? Trying to get to the Surface so that he can finish us all off? Why else would he have saved you from those bastards?" she ground out, her right hand clenching at her side.

"He didn't want to leave the Underground." Papyrus hugged Flowey closer to himself, using both arms. "I made him," he mumbled, unable to look up at the enraged fish warrior any longer. His gaze was glued to Flowey, who had yet to lose his own nerves and look away from Undyne.

"But why, Pap?" she stressed.

"Because everyone deserves another chance! Can we please just drop this?" he begged.

"No! It's that attitude that's going to get you killed one of these days, Papyrus!" she stepped forward, startling Papyrus into taking a few steps back. "You can't just make friends with everyone like that; it doesn't work that way! That thing's just using you and is going to hurt you later! You have to realize that! So just let me stomp the damn thing so we can get out of here!"

She raised her arm, about to ready a strike, but Mettaton finally chose that moment to act. The robot grabbed her arm, pulling it back.

"Don't you dare try to stop me, you bucket of bolts!" Undyne shouted, her grin having long dissolved into a furious scowl. She smacked Mettaton's arm aside, aiming to sock the robot straight in his boxy body before said robot wheeled back abruptly.

"How about you just calm down, darling?" he suggested, sounding beyond irritated. "You're not helping anything with this."

"You weren't there when that weed," she spat, pointing at the flower in question, "attacked us and stole all of our souls! It tried to kill everyone in the Underground! And you want me to let it up to the Surface?"

"Honestly, darling, I don't particularly care. I'm only down here because Alphys begged me to help you guys. We found your friend, so as far as I'm concerned we should be leaving right now."

"You selfish bastard!" she shoved him back harshly. "Do you care about anything besides yourself?"

"Of course I do!" The panels on the robot's body lit up in what Papyrus assumed might have been indignation. "And if your friend here wants to give the flower another chance, then I say let it happen."

"You mean, if Papyrus wants to get himself killed, then let it happen?" she corrected.

"No," Mettaton retorted, hands to what constituted as his hips. "We're supposed to be preaching friendship here, aren't we? Isn't that what Frisk, Toriel, and Asgore are always going on about?" While the tone Mettaton used was the slightest bit condescending, Papyrus still had to appreciate his idol's attempts at standing up for him and Flowey.

He was torn between fear, anxiety, and awe, afraid of how Undyne was reacting, yet amazed that the robot whom he practically worshipped was there sticking up for him. Flowey on the other hand looked a fearful mix of angry and confused, having further buried his head into Papyrus' scarf as the two before them continued their argument.

"Forget them! They're all a bunch of soft-hearted weenies!" Undyne shouted, to which Papyrus heard Flowey attempting to hide a snort of amusement.

Mettaton gave a haughty, practiced laugh. "Isn't that the reason we all made it to the Surface in the first place?"

Undyne opened her mouth, only to shut it shortly thereafter to clench her teeth in anger. She threw her glower back at the flower in Papyrus' arms. Her posture remained tense, her body shaking in obvious fury. Taking a moment to alieve at least a portion of her rage, she turned away from everyone, punching the wall in anger. A deafening ngahhh! was let loose as the wall cracked under her fist. Papyrus and Flowey both jumped, startled, though Mettaton remained unimpressed.

After a few tense moments, the fish warrior turned back to the monsters before her, wiping the sweat from her brow. By no means did she look happy, although her fury appeared to have been schooled somewhat, much to Papyrus' relief. He jumped and shuffled back a bit as she stomped forwards, though she stopped just in front of him, casting a glare down at Flowey.

"You make one wrong move or say anything I don't like, and you're getting a spear straight to the head. You got that?"

Flowey nodded, returning her glare. It must have been good enough for Undyne, as she whipped back around and headed straight for the elevator she and Mettaton had come from. She pressed the button to open it, turning to glower at everyone else as the doors dinged open.

"Well, are you coming or what? Let's get Alphie and Sans and get out of here!"

Papyrus perked up at the mention of his brother, realizing that he still had no idea how anyone had known to search for him down in the Underground. Still, instead of voicing his confusion, he obeyed Undyne's order and entered the elevator with Mettaton right behind him. The ride up to the end of the Core was quiet and tense, Papyrus too afraid to say anything lest he unleash Undyne's wrath. He hugged Flowey tighter to himself, shaking ever so slightly over the whole ordeal. How would everyone else react about Flowey?

The doors dinged open and everyone stepped out. Papyrus gazed down the long bridge leading into the Core, noting how he had never even seen pictures of the machine's inside before. It certainly was not what he had been expecting. The dark abyss just beneath the bridge unnerved him to no end, though he tried his best to ignore it. There were more pressing matters at hand, after all.

"Hello Alphys, darling!" Mettaton suddenly spoke from behind him, startling him.

When he whipped around to see what was going on, he saw Mettaton facing away from the group, a hand up to the side his body. He must have contacted Alphys with some sort of technology built inside of him; Papyrus could think of no other conclusion.

Undyne leaned against the wall beside the elevator, actively avoiding looking at any of the monsters she was with. While he still desperately wanted to know how they had found him, he was still too afraid to speak with her while she was so obviously upset. Alphys and Sans would be around in no time, at least if he was understanding Mettaton's side of the phone conversation properly. Once they showed up, he could ask them. This was under the assumption that they too wouldn't react similarly to Undyne of course, but he couldn't see that happening with how the two monsters' temperaments were.

As a soft click came from Mettaton, likely indicating that he had finished his call, the four monsters sat back in a continuation of their strained silence from the elevator. Papyrus continued glancing between both Undyne and Mettaton, uncertain of how to proceed with either of them, and opted to instead sit down against a wall and fiddle with the hem of his scarf. Flowey, who had had himself buried in the garment since the whole incident started, pulled his head back and gazed up at the skeleton.

The flower gave his friend an irritated look, quickly glancing back at Undyne before returning his gaze. Papyrus shrugged, giving the flower a sad smile. In response, Flowey stuck out his tongue in disgust, causing the skeleton to let loose a small giggle. Undyne threw a questioning look the duo's way before turning aside with a huff.

Papyrus felt a pang of sadness hit with her dismissal, wondering if perhaps the entire situation would be enough to kill off their friendship for good. Undyne had already been so distant before everything, and her rage over seeing Flowey was not something he felt he could cope with at the moment. In the past, she had reacted the same way after he had first befriended Frisk, which gave him some amount of hope. After all, Frisk and Undyne had eventually grown quite close to each other, despite the fish warrior's original ironclad resolution to kill them.

An irritated sigh brought him from his musings over to Flowey, who kept tossing discreet glares Undyne's way. There was the minute concern that one of those times Undyne would catch the flower making faces at her, but he doubted anything too terrible would arise from it. If push came to shove, Papyrus hoped that Mettaton would interject himself into the situation again and stop any would-be arguments.

Speaking of the robot, the panels on his body lit up, and he brought his hand back up to answer a call.

"Alphys? Did you get Sans?" he paused as the scientist began talking, followed by: "Oh, he—"

"Papyrus!" called out a new voice, interrupting Mettaton from his phone call.

"Never mind, darling. He's here already," the robot deadpanned, ending his call and giving an overdramatic sigh.

Sure enough, there was Sans, standing at the end of the bridge closest to the group. The tired appearance he had lost after living so long on the Surface had returned, which could only mean that he hadn't been sleeping properly. Was it an effect from Papyrus' kidnapping, or was something going on between he, Frisk, and Toriel at their home? Papyrus suspected the latter, since after all, Sans had long distanced himself from his little brother.

He frowned, wanting to smack himself for such a thought. Even if Sans had been so distant and wanted nothing to do with him, he obviously still worried about him. Unless he had been faking it all of those years before the Barrier broke, he cared deeply for his little brother. Even if he stopped putting up with him and ignored him so often, his affection for his brother couldn't have been completely erased. Sans just wasn't like that, and it wasn't fair of him to project such things onto him.

He looked up at Sans from where he sat, prepared to put a smile on his face and pretend that everything was okay, just as he had done before being kidnapped. Except, something caught his eye before he could even throw his façade up. Papyrus froze as Sans stood before the group, eye sockets dark as the stocky skeleton stared directly at Flowey. He knew that look well coming from his older brother, and it never bode well for whoever it was directed at. As much as Sans had always tried to hide it from him, he always managed to catch glimpses of it. Unconsciously, he hugged Flowey closer to himself, bringing his knees up to curl around him.

"S-Sans," he mumbled, "don't."

The look was gone in an instant, his brother's pupils returning. Sans' expression remained unreadable, though the ever-present grin on his face was clearly strained. The shorter skeleton took a few cautious steps towards his brother curled up against the wall.

Flowey's glare transferred itself from Undyne to Sans, his face shifting into one of its hellish forms.

"You do anything else to upset him and I will kill you," the flower hissed.

Sans stopped in his tracks, his face falling into confusion. Undyne, meanwhile, had shifted from her spot standing near the elevator. While initially she had been poised to strike Flowey, she halted after registering just what the flower had said. Her face held an odd mix of disbelief, intrigue, and irritancy.

"I'm just trying to comfort my bro, okay?" Sans's posture slouched over as his expression became defeated.

Flowey's face reverted back to normal, a scowl still planted on his face. Deep down, Papyrus had known that this meeting would be difficult for both his friend and brother, seeing as Flowey made it plainly clear that he despised the stocky skeleton. While Sans himself had never spoken about the flower to him, his immediate reaction upon seeing Flowey suggested some form of dislike towards him. It appeared that Sans was able to put grudges behind him much more easily than Flowey though, seeing as he had dropped his threatening stance long before the flower.

Shifting from his spot, Papyrus gazed warily up at his brother, putting an uncertain smile on his face. Sans got down to his knees, wrapping his arms carefully around the other skeleton, mindful of Flowey. Papyrus shuffled the flower out of the way so that he could reciprocate his brother's hug, setting the flowerpot on the ground beside him and wrapping both arms around Sans. His feelings over the whole ordeal were conflicted. He was confused over everyone's reactions to Flowey; upset over having everyone whom he had believed to have given up on him there. Yet there Sans was, hugging him and murmuring over and over again about how sorry he was. For what exactly, Papyrus was not certain, though he neglected to voice his concerns.

Oddly enough, he wasn't crying or even tearing up, even though he thought that he would have during a moment such as that. Perhaps his entire experience since being kidnapped had thoroughly drained him. He wasn't sure. Either way, he silently rubbed Sans' back as the other skeleton continued to cling to his sweater, still apologizing profusely. Sans gave one final squeeze before pulling away, not meeting his brother's eyes. Sensing the present tenseness radiating off of everyone in the area, Papyrus gently put a hand to Sans' shoulder.

"Um, thanks, Sans," he mumbled as his older brother finally looked up at him.

His brother merely nodded at him, his grin beginning to look more natural.

A soft pattering of feet interrupted the ensuing silence as a small, yellow lizard made her way across the bridge leading from the Core. Her heavy breathing indicated that she had likely rushed the entire way there. She stopped before the group of monsters in front of the elevator, wiping sweat from her brow and adjusting her glasses.

"U-Um, hi there, guys! I-I uh, I made it back!" she stuttered through her greetings, skittering to stand besides Undyne.

The fish warrior visibly relaxed upon finding her girlfriend safe beside her, putting a hand to her shoulder and giving her a tense smile. It was then that Alphys really took the scenery in, finding Sans and Papyrus sitting on the ground besides Flowey. Her eyes widened in shock as she took the flower in.

"O-Oh!" she exclaimed. "I-I didn't kn-know you were still down here!" More sweat began to form along her brow as a strained, anxious smile appeared on her face.

"Yeah, and the weed's coming with us, apparently," Undyne muttered, rolling her eyes.

Alphys for the most part appeared unfazed by the comment, shuffling towards the trio on the floor. She glanced at Mettaton as she passed him, though as thoroughly disinterested in the situation as the robot was, he continued to ignore everything going on around him.

"A-Are you guys okay?" she asked, the question directed at both Papyrus and Flowey.

"Yeah, of course," Papyrus responded, not quite certain if he was even telling the truth. Still, he threw a smile on his face, elaborating on his answer. "Flowey helped me get through most of the Underground! If it wasn't for him, those humans would have caught me again! And he was the one who saved me, too!"

Faintly, he could hear Flowey grumbling beside him. Sans was staring warily at the flower, although Papyrus wasn't quite able to tell what was going through his head at the time. Meanwhile, Alphys held a look of nervous intrigue, wringing her hands together as the smile wavered from her face.

"Oh, w-well, that's interesting," she replied, looking back at Undyne, who merely scoffed and gave her a shrug. She turned back, glancing between the two skeletons and flower still sitting in front of her. "B-But…" She looked away, staring pointedly at the floor. "I-I hate t-to bring this up, b-but wh-what if he tries h-hurting someone again?"

Papyrus dropped his gaze just as Alphys had, his heart dropping at her doubt. Of course it was natural for everyone to be cautious of the flower, but it was disheartening to see no one willing to trust him. He had Mettaton on his side for whatever reason, but he was certain that the robot was only agreeing with him so that they could get back to the Surface sooner. Then again, he had sounded so sure of himself as he defended Flowey alongside him. Sighing, Papyrus picked Flowey back up and hugged the flower to himself. Mettaton had his reasons, Papyrus was sure, and it wasn't his business to go prying around.

This time it was Sans putting a hand to his shoulder, causing Papyrus to stare back at him. His brother's grin was resigned as he turned to Alphys.

"If my brother trusts him, then we mine as well let him come with us. Frisk would do the same, wouldn't they?" he suggested.

Flowey gave a quiet groan and threw Papyrus a look that practically screamed can you believe this guy? His friend clearly wasn't buying what Sans had to say, not that Papyrus blamed him. While he knew Sans thought him to be too naïve to see through his acts, Papyrus knew that there were many things his brother put up with just to keep the taller skeleton happy. He would preach about allowing Flowey onto the Surface, but there were would be restrictions. Flowey would likely be watched like a hawk in case he tried to pull something.

"W-Well yes, I-I suppose," Alphys mumbled in response to Sans.

Papyrus could hear Undyne muttering in the background, a scowl planted on her face. While he couldn't quite make out what she was saying, it clearly wasn't something nice about Flowey.

Alphys turned back to Papyrus, attempting to keep the ever straining smile on her face. "I-I'm glad you're alright, Papyrus. E-Everyone w-was really worried about you."

"Thank you," he mumbled, staring down at Flowey. Sans put his arm around his brother's shoulder and Papyrus gave him a quick smile. As he hugged Flowey closer to himself, he figured that it was time to get some answers from everyone. "So, how did you guys find me?"

Sans' face hardened at his brother's question, his eye sockets darkening ever so slightly. "Tori and I took Frisk over to your house so we could congratulate you on getting the new job, but the place was completely wrecked."

As he finished the beginning of his explanation, Papyrus noticed Flowey perking up, curiosity filling his face.

"After we couldn't find you, we called Undyne and the human police."

"Yeah, but the humans were completely useless!" Undyne interjected. "They tried to tell us that you just wandered off on your own!" she emphasized, moving forward to stand beside Alphys once more, hands clenched at her sides. "I mean, what? Do they think we're all a bunch of idiots or something? Your house was trashed, and I know you would never do something like that! You're way too neat!"

After having seen her so livid and upset over the whole Flowey ordeal, Papyrus was honestly surprised over the fish warrior's current outburst. Perhaps she wasn't quite as angry with the skeleton as he had initially believed?

"So, what did you guys do?" he questioned, growing more comfortable as the group's anger shifted from Flowey over towards something else.

"We looked into it ourselves, obviously!" Undyne responded, confident grin growing on her face. "We had Alphie here to do all of the nerd stuff!" she exclaimed, clapping a hand on her girlfriend's back.

Alphys jumped at the sudden attention, gasping as her face began to turn bright red.

"W-W-Well, I-I-I—" her stutter intensified, causing Sans to continue for her.

"You know how she brought most of her lab supplies up to the Surface and everything. We were able to use some of it to help us out with finding those humans who took you."

Undyne, getting increasingly into their recounting of the story, gestured wildly at the small, yellow lizard.

"Alphie did an amazing job tracking those bastards down! Screw those police on the Surface! We found those guys in record time thanks to her!"

"Noooo…" Alphys moaned. She covered her face, the embarrassment too much for her.

Despite everything, Papyrus felt a smile slowly forming on his face. Even after two years, his friends acted almost exactly the same as they had back when they still lived in the Underground. He wasn't sure if it was always this way or if it was just because they had found him, but it was comforting to see some familiarity back in his life. His smile slipped ever so slightly as he remembered that everyone would likely continue avoiding him once more once they got him back to the Surface. Flowey glanced up at him as he let loose a quiet sigh, curiosity and intrigue showing on his face.

Sans and Undyne continued their butchered retelling of how they had ended up finding him in the Underground. He was only half paying attention as his mind began to wander into one of his ever familiar depressive fits, though he got the gist of their story. After Alphys had pinpointed the humans' hideout (it had been a warehouse in the same large city, the one where he would have worked had the job he gotten been an actual job and not some trap), Undyne and Sans had gone to the place to find that both their missing friend and the humans had already left for Mt. Ebott.

"We found some files talking about their plans to get into the Underground," Sans drawled, likely having noticed Papyrus' lack of attention, "and we kind of figured that you guys would be coming in through New Home."

"Those idiots don't even know about New Home," Flowey muttered under his breath, drawing an angered glare from Undyne.

"U-Um, yeah," Papyrus cut in, attempting to draw the attention away from his friend, "I only told them about the entrance at Mt. Ebott. They didn't listen to me long enough to hear about where the Barrier was."

There was a long pause in the conversation as everyone seemed to become lost in their own thoughts. Papyrus could feel himself begin to shake, though he didn't necessarily understand quite why he was becoming so anxious. He suspected that it had something to do with their current conversation about the humans. After all, it had been difficult enough to talk about them with Flowey. Why would sharing anything about them be any easier with his other friends?

"Those bastards didn't hurt you too bad, did they?" Undyne asked softly. Her intent had likely been to comfort, though Papyrus could hear the restrained rage behind her voice.

"Oh, uh, no they didn't. I was fine, really! They didn't do anything too bad, so you don't need to worry about me at all!" he spluttered out in a rush, his shaking only intensifying.

"Real convincing, Paps," Flowey deadpanned in response, just loud enough for only Papyrus to hear.

"I'm great!" he exclaimed a little too loudly, covering up the latter half of Flowey's remark.

He jumped and clutched hard at Flowey's flowerpot as a hand started rubbing his back. Sans' eyes were blank as he instinctively tried to comfort his brother, leaving Papyrus feeling more unnerved than anything. Reaching a trembling arm outwards, Papyrus pulled the shorter skeleton into a one-armed hug, Sans reciprocating silently.

Undyne never even responded to Papyrus' panicked rambling, simply flinging herself around to take out her fury on the wall behind her. If there was anything to be learned from the situation at hand, it was that Papyrus really needed to work harder on his lying skills. Having his friends worry about him all of the time had surely been one of the reasons why they had all left him before, making him an even bigger burden to them.

"I'm fine…" he trailed off, only trying to convince himself at that point.

There were a few more moments of silence as Undyne's anger continued to wane, Alphys aiding her in calming down. Sans continued to hold his brother in their awkward, one-armed hug, Flowey stuck off to side in Papyrus' free arm.

A robotic huff came from the far end of the area, followed by the sound of something wheeling itself over. Mettaton finally joined the group, standing just barely between the skeleton brothers and the girlfriends, hands on what constituted as his hips.

"Really, you're just going to stop right there? I'd like to get out of here and get back to my life, you know," he scolded, his tone condescending. Undyne and Flowey both gave the robot scathing, annoyed looks, though he appeared to be immune to the both of them. "So, after everyone found out the humans brought you to the Underground, they called me, knowing that they would need my fabulous assistance in finding you."

"You're only moving on with this because it's finally about you, you ass," Undyne spat as Alphys' face began to heat up in embarrassment once more.

"Well, really darling, the story's not all that interesting without me in it," he retorted, dramatically throwing a hand out to the side.

"You haven't done anything, you prick!" This time Undyne practically snarled, Alphys lightly patting her arm and holding her hand to keep her at bay.

Papyrus could hear Flowey quietly giggling to himself, clearly amused with the entire scenario. Had it not been for Undyne's unique way of conversing with people and letting off steam, he figured that the flower would have actually been thoroughly annoyed with the situation. The overbearing fish warrior appeared to amuse him, even if he tried to hide it.

"Anyways," Mettaton stressed, "Alphys came to me, begging that I help her with finding you. The humans would have been difficult foes for Undyne and Sans to have apprehended on their own, after all. Who better to ask for assistance than me?"

It was at that point that Undyne broke free from the meek hold of her girlfriend to shove the robot aside. Having known Undyne for many years, it was obvious to Papyrus that there was no real harm meant in the action; that was simply just how Undyne dealt with annoyances.

"We went down an elevator and back up it immediately!" Undyne stated, exasperated. "Why do you need to make everything so damn dramatic all the time?"

"I could say the same to you," Mettaton muttered in response, folding his arms and turning away from the argument.

Undyne merely shoved him once more, causing the robot to almost lose his balance. "Oh my god, you're such a child! You can't just end an argument like that!" she shouted.

The two continued their feud, the others in the group watching on in uncertainty. Alphys had long ago hid her face in her hands, the red on her cheeks apparent nonetheless. Flowey had stopped his giggling, slight annoyance finally filtering into his expression. The shenanigans of the situation had finally gotten the best of the flower. Papyrus glanced down at his brother, who simply shrugged at the younger skeleton's questioning look.

"Well, uh," the shorter skeleton started, doing his best to be heard over the increasingly loud voices of Undyne and Mettaton. "The four of us came down here to find you. Alphys and I got the Core back up and running so that we could get down through Hotland, but it's not going to keep running for long without anyone to manage it." He shrugged once more. "It's not like we need any power to get back to New Home from here."

Papyrus nodded quietly as his brother finished the group's explanation. He gazed across the bridge leading into the Core, taking earlier worries into consideration.

"Do you think the Core will run long enough for the humans to get out of here?" he asked. His question earned him an instant glare from Flowey, which went mostly ignored.

"I guess it depends on how quickly they get here. If they're in Hotland right now, then I'd say they have a chance. If they're still stuck in Snowdin or Waterfall, then who knows."

"Golly, I already told you not to worry about this," Flowey hissed.

"I know, I know!" Papyrus responded before Sans could say anything. "I know they can get back out through Mt. Ebott, but I can't help it."

Flowey scoffed, turning away to glare at the wall.

Relative silence settled between the two, only broken by a disgruntled sigh from Sans. The shorter skeleton began to stand up, holding a hand out to help his brother up as he did so. Papyrus accepted the hand and lifted himself to stand beside the other skeleton. With that, Sans walked over to the two monsters still having a heated discussion with one another, breaking it apart with his blue magic. Undyne threw him a quick scowl as she was gently pushed away from Mettaton, but dropped it in resignation as her soul was released and she was left standing closer to Alphys.

"What do you say we all get going?" he suggested.

Mettaton of course perked up instantly, having been eager to leave the Underground since he and Undyne had first found Papyrus. Meanwhile, he felt Flowey tense up in his arms. He gripped the flowerpot tighter, hoping to give his friend some amount of reassurance, though he knew it wouldn't do much. His friend hadn't been on the Surface in what he believed to be many, many years, after all. While Mettaton was certainly thrilled to be heading back up to the Surface, it was obvious that Flowey still had his reservations.

The robot celebrity was already throwing himself into the hall leading to the capital, the rest of the group following a short ways behind him. Papyrus and Flowey were at the back of the group, Sans walking beside them at a leisurely pace.

"The Surface is really great, Flowey," Papyrus mentioned down to his friend, hoping to ease his worries somewhat. "You won't regret coming back with me, I promise!"

"I regretted it the first time; why would this time be any different?" his friend muttered, clearly displeased with being so close to their destination.

Sans gave the flower an odd look after the casual statement, and it took Papyrus a moment to remember that his brother did in fact know about the resets just like Flowey. Did he know that the flower had previously been to the Surface, though? And what about Papyrus' own newfound knowledge of the resets? While he had promised his friend that he wouldn't drop the bombshell about him being Prince Asriel to anyone, was he allowed to let Sans know that Flowey had told him about their screwed up timelines?

He gave himself a mental shrug. What did it matter? Would Sans even care if his younger brother found out about the resets? Flowey had mentioned that a true reset would soon wipe all of their memories completely, and he figured that Sans already knew that. He would probably shrug the information off and continue on his lazy way if Papyrus ever revealed his newfound knowledge. It upset him a bit knowing that that would be how his brother would react. Actually having his older brother open up and talking with him about his problems was something Papyrus had always wanted, hating how his brother was so closed off to the world about his life.

The group strolled on into the outskirts of New Home, the castle just before them. They would be out of the Underground soon enough, and everyone would go back to their lives and distance themselves from him as they had done before. Perhaps they would take some time to watch over the skeleton that they had rescued, but he knew they would go back to ignoring him eventually. Still, a small smile lifted his expression. He had Flowey now, even if his friend was a bit angry and bitter about life in general. Having one friend to stick with him was better than nothing, and Flowey had already made it clear that he planned to spend the rest of the current timeline with him.

Who knew? Perhaps everything would finally begin to get better for him from then on out. Having always been quite the optimist, he took this idea and ran with it. Things truly would be great once they made it back to the Surface. He would integrate both himself and Flowey back into his friends' lives, and then everyone would spend the rest of the timeline content and happy before the upcoming true reset occurred. His smile grew into an all-out grin with his continuing thoughts. He would make the best out of what time he and his friends had left on the Surface; he just had to.


A/N: So I might have completely forgotten that I was uploading this here, hence how late this chapter is.