Chapter 9 – Calm Before the Storm


The monitor in the background let out a steady beeping with the magic readings of Mettaton's soul as I made the final adjustments. Tossing the tool in my hand on a nearby desk, I swapped it for a screwdriver; closing the cover and tightening it in place. "O-Okay… I'm going to t-turn it on." With a gulp, I carefully reached out and flipped the switch installed on the outside of the battery. It came on with a gentle humming as it interfaced with Mettaton's magic, the beeping on the monitor remaining steady. It was done, and this time I hadn't screwed up. "Oooh! That feels… F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!" Mettaton exclaimed excitedly, completely unaware of the danger he had been in for installation. When I told him it was urgent, he hadn't wanted to hear any more: He just wanted it done. It was heartening that despite knowing how badly I had screwed up in the past he still trusted me implicitly.

Tears of relief formed in my eyes as I closed Mettaton's back, stepping back to give him some space. "Y-You can… um, get up n-now." I sniffed, wiping my eyes on the arm of my lab coat. Since when had I become such a crybaby? "OHHH YEAH!" There was a bright flash as his form changed, no longer a rectangular robot: Mettaton EX in its glory stood before me; albeit still covered in energy probes. My heart skipped a beat when the machine alarmed for a brief second in transition, only to steady out into a normal rhythm. It really had worked, I noted, fresh tears escaping down my cheeks with joy at my success.

"Alphys, darling! Are you… crying?" Mettaton cooed, crouching before me with concern. "I-I'm… just so happy." I admitted, pulling a handkerchief from my lab pocket and blowing my nose. When I'd learned that I had to install Mettaton's new battery and finalize Mettaton NEO from my letter… I was terrified. There would be no coming back from a mistake in installation from how intimately involved the battery would be with his soul. But… he trusted me; and I wasn't in the practice of letting my friends down.

"D-don't worry about m-me. H-How are you f-feeling?" I stuttered, making my way to the monitors and changing the display to a graph of the readings as the tears finally stopped. "Why, I've never felt better! I feel like I could dance for days in my fabulous new body! Oh my gosh the fans with LOVE this!" He made an experimental twirl, followed by a few steps from his newest routine that I recognized. Mettaton had told me that he planned to reveal it at his next concert with the debut of his new body, a few days from now. With his previous battery, he probably wouldn't have been able to last in EX form much longer than the show, but now he would be able to do much, much more. "H-How about… NEO?" I prompted nervously, eager to witness my creation in its glory for the first time.

"So you're eager for the debut of my ultimate hero form? Oh, I don't blame you darling." He winked, making striking a pose. "When my loyal fans call my name!" There was a bright light as a grid of magic formed underneath his feet, travelling up his body as his form began to shift from EX to NEO. Suddenly, a cloud of pink sparkles burst forth from his form in transition, becoming blinding as the light reflected off of them. "Ah!" He exclaimed euphorically, twirling as his wings clicked into place; jagged rainbow light emitting from them. "Mettaton NEO, I fight for my fans!" He shouted, lifting his arms above his head and taking a bow.

I fell to my knees, nerdy tears of joy cascading down my face. "I-It's PERFECT!" I shouted, clapping. Clearly we had watched too many episodes of anime. But nonetheless, I was beyond pleased to see Mettaton NEO, bristling with armament and stable energy levels standing before me. Maybe… just maybe this would work after all. "Come, Alphys! We have the Underground to save!" Mettaton shouted, dashing forward and scooping me up before flying straight upwards, tearing off the energy sensors and leaving a hole in both the true lab and the lab building as he ascended into Hotlands with coordinates locked on Asgore's Castle. While I knew I would have to pay for that, I was too happy in the moment to care.


With the old lady taken care of, I turned to head back to Snowdin… only for an immense pain to press on my skull. I fell to my knees panting; sweat pouring down my skull as visions passed through my head. I saw myself in Asgore's Castle where we'd be heading to next; but I was fighting the human. Every single vision ended in myself dying, a searing pain as their blade sliced through the sensitive ribs in my torso. I collapsed to the ground, arms protectively around the area as the visions continued. No matter what I did they always seemed to know my every movement, I always died. Sometimes they would outlast me. Sometimes I would make a mistake. Sometimes they would trick me. Sometimes Papyrus was there. And the last time… they killed me in cold blood while I offered them mercy. I remembered the resets, and how they happened related to the human's determination. Finally they had stopped, and I took deep breaths of the cool air to steady myself.

It didn't make sense to me why I was seeing this or what had triggered it, but I felt that I had more insight into what was going on as disturbing as it was. The determination syringes… though I didn't know what exactly I had planned, I felt that I understood it slightly better. "BROTHER? ARE YOU OKAY?" I heard footsteps and finally a familiar face appeared above me. "hey, paps." I waved before returning both arms behind my head, as if I were only resting. The last thing I wanted to do was worry Papyrus more than I apparently already had. "ARE YOU…NAPPING? SANS! NOW ISN'T THE TIME FOR THIS!" Papyrus fumed, stomping on the ground with disgust. "i was overcome, i just had to have FINAL REST." I winked, only enhancing Papyrus' frustration as he shouted in exasperation. "don't put me under ARREST!" I grinned, eyes sparkling as he made 'the face' at my pun. "SANS! UGH." He shook his head before facing away, deeming me unworthy of being in his sight.

Even when he was mad, he looked so cool… literally, a frigid wind was causing his scarf to flutter in the wind as he crossed his arms. "SNOWDIN AND THE SURROUNDING AREA IS EVACUATED. UNDYNE STOPPED BY AND TOOK SOME OF THE ROYAL GUARD WITH HER TO WATERFALL BUT LEFT GAMY AND RESSA TO HELP WITH SNOWDIN. ALPHYS CONTACTED ASGORE AND MTT. EVACUATION ORDERS ARE BEING BROADCASTED ON TV AND TO THE CORE." He elaborated, striking a proud pose at his accomplishment. "the ruins is good. guess we have to get to asgore's." I told him simply, standing up. Though it was the last place I wanted to go after those visions, it needed to be done. "SO BE IT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE VICTORIOUS! MAYBE EVEN ENOUGH FOR UNDYNE TO LET ME INTO THE ROYAL GUARD! NYEH HEH HEH!" I couldn't help the smile that widened across my face at the words; and taking his hand, I sent us through a shortcut to Asgore's Castle. If there was any motivation in the world that would make me work, it was definitely Papyrus' safety and happiness. For some reason, I felt like I had said those words at some point.


I was getting increasingly more frustrated as I sent Woshua along the road to Hotlands as it whined about how it would be 'dirty', insisting that it clean the path before each step. Fortunately, when my patience wore thin a good lecture about DYING set it straight. I let out a sigh as I headed in the other direction, only to see a crowd lead by Ressa and Gamy. "That the Snowdin crew?" I asked, clearing the distance. "Yes, ma'am! Ourselves and Papyrus got everybody together… but it was mostly my love, Gamy!" Ressa piped up, throwing her arms around her lover who seemed equally as overjoyed. "But darling, you were so admirable helping those people! You definitely deserve a greater share of credit, sweetheart." Gamy nuzzled her as I fought back the urge to vomit. "Just keep it going. We're on a time limit here! The human could be here at any second!" I exclaimed to which they gave a quick: 'Yes, ma'am!' rejoining the crowd.

Whipping out my cell phone, I quickly dialed a number. "RG-01? How is the evacuation going? I SWEAR if you are AT THE NICE CREAM STAND I am going to KILL YOU! What do you mean, 'it's hot'? THE PLACE IS CALLED HOTLANDS! You get those people to safety RIGHT NOW! I swear! Papyrus would do a better job! AND HE'S NOT IN THE ROYAL GUARD. URRAAAAAUGH!" I shouted; resisting the urge to crush the phone in my fist just narrowly as the outer casing creaked in protest. Though I hadn't expected evacuating the entire population of the Underground to be easy, I definitely hadn't anticipated having this many challenges. And I had to deal with them all myself; I was the monster that everybody was looking to for solutions and I had to be the role model for everybody to follow. It was much harder than I expected, but it came with the job of Head of the Royal Guard. Fortunately, we were nearing the end as people were on the move with what little they could carry on their backs. Soon, it would all be over.

It was about time for me to head to Asgore's to meet up with the others. I turned, seeing a flash of orange at the last second as I narrowly missed stepping directly on starry-eyed monster kid. "Woooow! It's Undyne!" He gasped, a smile rivaling even my best on his face as he looked at me with awe. I was so NOT in the mood for dealing with this. "What are you doing here, kid? Your family just left. You're going to get left behind." I crouched before him, resigning myself to the inevitable. This kid had been a thorn in my side for as long as I could remember after a certain incident. He idolized me way more than any monster should and it led him into trouble constantly to the dismay of his family.

"But I want to help you, Undyne! I want to see the hero save the day!" His eyes widening to saucers with childlike innocence. "You know, you can help me! How about you go and protect your family for me and make sure that they make it to the city!" I exclaimed with false enthusiasm, a grin across my face. "Really? No way! I'm going to help Undyne!" He hopped up and down enthusiastically in front of my eyes, and I let out a sigh of relief that he'd bought it. Fortunately this one would make my job easier. "How about before I have to go I walk you back to your family?" I didn't even give him a chance to respond as I grabbed him by the head, stuffing him under one arm as I booked it full speed down the road in the direction of the Snowdin crowd who would no doubt be worried sick about the little guy.


When we arrived, the hallway was as empty as it had been in my visions save ourselves. "guess we got here first." I had said, when out of nowhere one of the windows shattered; glass flying anywhere and my magic reaching out reflexively. I could feel two souls in its snare, quickly falling as gravity took them and when I finally realized what I had done I recoiled in surprise. Alphys and a very ornate looking Mettaton NEO lay in a heap on the floor. "SANS!" Papyrus shouted, shooting me a stern look as I shrugged innocently. "That is NO way to greet a star!" Mettaton scoffed, picking himself off the floor and helping Alphys up in a gentlemanly fashion. At the same time, Papyrus looked on Mettaton with awe, excitement visibly boiling up at the appearance of his greatest star in his ultimate form.

I resisted the urge to facepalm, as clearly my other self hadn't considered this in his 'plan'. Papyrus admired Mettaton in an almost unhealthy way and it was better to keep them apart as I knew there was no way it could end well were they ever to meet. I kept my magic ready with a hand behind my back just in case as I approached the pair. "hey, rainbow road. i think we should have a talk." I explained as I walked down the hall with my hand in a fist as my magic latched onto Mettaton's soul, dragging him along. In his absence, Alphys slumped to the ground: seemingly too stunned to be steady just yet. "W-Woah! What are you-" I cut him off with an increased pressure on his soul. Clearly whatever adjustments Alphys had made to Mettaton weren't built to withstand magic in the slightest, to my benefit.

"What's the big idea, you bag of bones?" Mettaton grimaced, dusting himself off when I had released him at a sufficient distance. Putting on my best overprotective brother stance, I readied myself with a cold glare. "here's the deal: you are to stay a minimum of ten feet from my brother at all times. you must limit all conversations to a maximum of five minutes. and when we are to get to the surface, you are to NEVER approach him again. capiche?" He looked beyond offended and was about to say something he would probably regret when I raised a hand, blue magic cloaking his soul again. "Whatever. I'd rather not see you again, anyway." He explained sassily, turning on his heel and walking back towards Alphys, who seemingly had finally gained her bearings and was sheepishly chatting with Undyne who had just arrived.

Taking a shortcut, I arrived ahead of Mettaton to greet the group. "hey, guys. ready to get this going?" I appeared right beside Papyrus, leaning against the wall casually as if I'd always been there. This elicited a surprised yelp from a nearby Alphys which then caused Undyne to summon a spear which ended up imbedded in the wall right above my head. Papyrus, on the other hand didn't seem bothered in the slightest. "When did you..!" Undyne stepped back guiltily at the near miss as I attempted to look as nonplussed as possible when truly I was thankful I didn't have a heart to beat as she just nearly ruined the 'plan'. "SANS HAS THE GREATEST SHORTCUTS! AS EXPECTED OF THE BROTHER OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" Papyrus boasted proudly and I couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed, erasing my earlier shock. "Um.. I-I'm ready. Asgore said he would come by when he finished watering the f-flowers…" Alphys announced meekly, breaking up the chaos that would likely ensue if she hadn't.

"cool. so here's the plan: when the kid comes and it's time to attack, i'm going to call out a number. when i do, pick a random attack. just do whatever feels right at the time." I shrugged, that was it. Everybody gathered seemed skeptical as they shared glances. That really was the plan. "All in favour of ousting this numbskull from the position of battle planner?" Undyne raised a hand with a spear in it. Though I wasn't surprised at her reaction, I was surprised that nobody else supported her in this. "UNDYNE! YOU CAN'T DOUBT YOUR FRIENDS!" Papyrus looked appalled, gloved hands raised to his mouth in an expression of shock. "B-But… Sans knows more about this than us…" Alphys affirmed, shuffling anxiously as she put herself in a tough place by supporting me. "Sounds good to me, honey! It has drama, action… and perhaps a touch of comedy?" Mettaton winked and I flinched internally in disgust. Honestly, I was touched by the support of the boss monsters though I had as hard of a time believing myself as they did.

"guess that's that. so, pap. how about i teach you a couple of tricks?" I turned to my brother, who seemed genuinely surprised at the offer. For some reason, I vaguely remembered telling him I would do so in another timeline. At least I would be able to come through on this as a BONEIFIED bone magic teacher. "WHAT?! You can't teach Papyrus! He's my student! I taught him first!" Undyne growled, pointing her spear at me with a renewed vigor that I had once again tested her non-existent patience. I knew Undyne had the best intentions with her 'teaching' but it was very lacking in actual combat training which we were going to need. But yet… somewhere dark in the back of my mind, I didn't trust her in the slightest with Papyrus' training. "woah, woah. i'm more of a substitute here; teaching paps full time would be a BRO-ther and we all know how much i hate work. but i just happen to be an expert on bone magic which you can't teach him." I grinned at her, refusing to flinch from her mask of fury. This caused a standoff to ensue, my apathy to her rage. If I cared enough, I could probably end it easily but I had a feeling it would be more interesting to play it out.

Meanwhile, Papyrus looked extremely uncomfortable that his brother and his best friend were in this situation to begin with. "WOWIE! YOU TWO DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT OVER ME. THERE IS ENOUGH OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO GO AROUND! NYEH HEH HEH." Papyrus stepped in between us as he posed dramatically, flexing. This seemed to be the last straw for Undyne, who let out an exasperated 'NYUUAAAAAGH!' before the spear in her hand along with three others ended up in the wall. Meanwhile I masked chuckles, one arm over my ever present grin as my brother stood before us, basking in the attention. "Just do what you want! Alphys and I will… go do something else until the human shows up!" She spat, walking over to an unaware Alphys performing checks on Mettaton's weapons and dragging her by the arm to the far end of the hallway. "W-What..?" Alphys' hardly had a chance to react to Undyne's rampage. "guess she was a small fish in a big pond." I winked. Mettaton spared a glance to roll his eyes before he followed them.


…as it turned out, Papyrus had no aptitude for a lot of the tricks I used myself to fight. He wasn't as fast as I was to dodge; his size hindering him in the quick movements I could make. He couldn't form shortcuts; his best attempt gave no result. He already had his own style of fighting so my advice was limited in the way he formed his own bone magic. Though I was able to give him some pointers and clean up his technique, it would still be better for him to use his own attacks. Though similar, his blue magic didn't have as many uses as mine due to how much weaker his magic was. It was becoming obvious to me that I had something that Papyrus didn't and most of my tricks wouldn't work with him.

It left me with only one technique I could possibly give him. I was most hesitant to teach him of the blasters, but for some reason I KNEW he could do it. In my mind's eye I could see Papyrus stomping down this very hall with blasters of his own, pain and rage in his features much like the kind I employed to create my own. The thought that he had done so at all disgusted and horrified me as there were few things which could trigger Papyrus in such a way. But at the same time… Maybe… just maybe I could teach him to do it. After all, he would benefit greatly from their use when the human arrived.

"hey, pap? i have an idea." I paced, a finger thoughtfully placed on my chin bone as I considered what approach I would take. "AS LONG AS I DON'T HAVE TO WAVE MY HANDS IN THE AIR AGAIN!" Papyrus responded, reminded of that embarrassing incident: myself tricking him into doing a silly dance as 'dodging training' while the others snickered at the other end of the room. Maybe I had a little bit of fun in teaching him, he was just too naïve. But still, my brother was the coolest just the way he was.

"i think you might be able to do this, but it's not a fun magic to use… it's very strong." I explained, blasters appearing for me with hardly the slightest effort as they hovered just above my shoulders. "WHAT ARE THOSE?" He seemed confused until one of them charged, a beam of magic shooting down the hallway and striking the wall near the door where the human would appear; a large scorched mark left in its wake. "…WOWIE!" Papyrus seemed both shocked and delighted as he stared down the hallway, sparkles in his eyes. If he knew exactly how we would be creating these gaster blasters, he wouldn't have been so delighted. Unfortunately, he was about to find out.

"you can do it too. here, let's give it a try. with a target in mind… let's use the wall for this… think of the worst thing that's ever happened to you." I prompted, carefully observing Papyrus as he stepped back from me, clearly disturbed by this idea. "W-WHAT?" He stuttered in shock. I guess I inadvertently let my secret slip, which in hindsight would probably only have worried Papyrus more. He'd understand when he did it. "that's how it works, bro." I shrugged apathetically, moving back to the other wall clear of the firing zone. "UMM… HOW ABOUT THE TIME UNDYNE REFUSED TO LET ME INTO THE ROYAL GUARD?" Papyrus played along hesitantly, though his magic failed in producing a blaster. "anything worse than that?" Though I already knew, Papyrus tended to lead a happy life free of the suffering of the kinds I endured on a regular basis. Maybe he wouldn't be able to do it. But I had one more idea.

"let's give this a different approach. think about how you would feel if i died." I told him seriously, my grin dropping slightly with the thought. I could feel a familiar pressure on my skull with the thought: Papyrus' tearful face hovering over me… red everywhere… he had seen me die before. "S-SANS?" He seemed reluctant, but this had to work. Shaking off the remainder of the vision, I stepped forward. "papyrus, a human just walked down this hallway and cut me down with a knife because they could. what are you going to do?" I made a slicing motion in a very familiar pattern with my index finger, his eyes widening at the motion. "i'm dead. turned to dust in front of you. you'll never see me again." With my words, Papyrus let out an anguished shout; his magic emerging as an orange radiance from his hands.

The blaster emerged in a bright flash of orange light; shockwaves causing the building to shake as the creature charged and shot a bright orange beam of light down the hall. He shook, tears forming in his eyesockets and making their way down his cheekbones. The blaster hovered at his side as he took uneasy breaths. If this was what I had and Papyrus lacked… well, I guess it made sense. But I still felt like there was something missing. "What the HELL was that? What are you boneheads DOING?" I heard Undyne shout angrily from her spot down the hallway. Maybe I'd gone too far. "it's okay, pap. you did it." Rushing forward, Papyrus crouched to meet me as I wrapped my arms around him comfortingly. The creature disappeared at the gesture as I managed to soothe him.

I wished I didn't have to show this to Papyrus but I couldn't take any chances on our one chance to save the Underground. Heh. Even if I didn't remember anything, something I knew with certainty is that if I had anything it was wishes. Hopes for how the world would be after all of this was over. While there was no way I could fulfill all of them, I knew I'd give everything I had to make as many of them as I could come true. As long as I still lived, I'd keep fighting for Papyrus' happy ending. Though I felt like with every reset that passed, I'd lost sight of what exactly that was. But as long as he was out of danger… that would be enough for me to be happy with the outcome.

"I DID THIS BEFORE, DIDN'T I?" He asked sadly. Though he didn't remember the timelines he was unfortunately quite perceptive when it came to me. "i think so." I didn't have all of my memories, but it seemed too real to be just a dream. It was what he said next that made me feel all the worse. "I'M SORRY, SANS. YOU MUST BE VERY SAD." I was definitely sadder than when I woke up this morning, which was for certain. I knew that someone had to be the one to remember and that the only monster that could was me. But with the kinds of things I was seeing… I almost wished… I wouldn't remember at all.