Writer's Note: Some important notes for this chapter. Near the end, I introduce another OC, but he's not mine. He's the creation of PhalinRed, who has been helping me with much of this fic, as well as writing a semi-sequel to this (which is fucking amazing and made me so happy I cried) that takes place during the events of this one. Once it's up, I will have it linked here (in these brackets) so that you can read it and get more on his story - and how they both connect.

Again, I must thank PhalinRed for the awesome support and amazing kindness shown towards me. It's far more than I deserve, but damn, am I honoured for getting it. Thank you so much!

Nine: When All That's Left Is Hurt

When questioned, sans told the truth: he was enraged by the near-murder of his close friend and lost control of his temper - and his magic. There was no use in denying it, and the only shame he felt was when he thought of how Frisk would react when she found out.

By the time they'd isolated him for questioning, the entire building was surrounded by press. He regretted that, too, but there was little he could do about it and still toe the line like he promised. He already knew what they'd say, anyway.

The officers questioning him - one human and one monster for fairness - were actually rather unsympathetic, which surprised him, especially coming from the monster officer; he'd thought there would be at least some empathy there. But then, perhaps that's why he could never be an officer himself. For sans, everything tended to be rather monochrome, when in order to be a true law enforcer, the world needed to be full colour.

sans knew he was in trouble. He also knew that, if he wanted, he could vanish from that trouble without looking back. But he intended to keep his word to Alphys and would see it all through, and even when he was met with stony glares and led back to his cell, he still vowed to keep it - even though he was rather irritated by then.

Papyrus was waiting for him when he returned with another cup of ketchup, this time with a swirl of mustard in it. He smiled, so grateful for his brother, despite knowing that he was likely due for another lecture or two. But Papyrus surprised him; once sans was locked back up and Papyrus was told he had a half-hour, he kept quiet, his eyes staring into sans's, completely unreadable.

"you okay, bro?" sans asked, feeling genuine concern. Papyrus's face was drawn. "has there been another attack, more bad news?"

"NO," Papyrus answered finally. "I'M WORRIED ABOUT YOU."

sans stared at him in surprise. "why? everything's gonna be fine, even if they sentence me or whatever. i'm not gonna run. i promised, remember?"

"I THINK YOU SHOULD."

Now sans was the one speechless.

"I THINK YOU SHOULD RUN AS SOON AS YOU CAN, AND HIDE," Papyrus elaborated, his voice eerily calm. "I'M FEARFUL THAT IF YOU ARE KEPT HERE, THE HUMANS WILL KILL YOU."

"like that would be an easy thing to do," sans replied. "and besides, i doubt after what i did, they'd put me with humans, anyway."

"I DON'T THINK THAT WOULD STOP THEM, SANS. I CAN'T THINK OF ANY OTHER SOLUTION TO THIS OTHER THAN FOR YOU TO RUN AWAY."

"except that i'm staying, papyrus," sans answered firmly. "i don't break my promises, and didn't i promise to see this through, to own up to my mistakes?"

"YES, AND WHY DID YOU?" Papyrus wondered.

"so that i can make sure i'm not the only one who does."

Alphys was just walking into the hospital when she got a text: "Where are you, Alphysy?" She smiled and answered it, and soon, after a short wait, Mettaton turned a corner and found her, his face drawn in deep worry. He'd had a show tour that had spanned several days and hadn't been able to get away until that day, no matter how hard he tried.

He went right up to Alphys and hugged her tight, so hard she shut her eyes and hugged back as tight as she could. She knew how much Mettaton loved Frisk, despite their shaky start, but she also knew that he was here to primarily see her and Undyne. Though they constantly bickered, over time, they'd actually become good friends. When Alphys had called him to tell him the bad news, he went quiet for so long she'd thought they'd been disconnected.

"It's okay," she said to him now, gently. "Both Frisk and Undyne are going to be okay. Asgore is with Undyne right now, but I'm sure she won't mind seeing you, too." Mettaton said nothing, just hugged her tighter. "Really, it's okay-,"

"Alphys," he interrupted sharply. "Cry. Now."

"Huh?"

He pulled away to put a hand to her cheek. "Cry, darling. I know you haven't, not in the way you truly need. We're alone, so now you can."

Alphys's mouth went dry. "Th-that's not true!" she protested, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "I-I've cried enough over the past few days t-to fill a pond! I-I don't n-need to-,"

"Oh, stop lying, Alphys!" he cut her off, frustrated. "I know you! Stop lying, right now!" His hand moved from her cheek to her shoulder, rubbing gently. "Before we go in there, you need to cry for real. You're burning yourself out, and if you do, you won't be able to help anyone, least of all your crazy wife."

"Mettaton, I don't want to cry anymore," she answered, trying to pull away, but he was much stronger than her, and held her in place. "Once I see this whole thing through, maybe then I'll have a good cry, o-okay?" She tried again, but again he kept her still.

"Alphys," he said gently, "your wife almost died."

She glared at him. "Stop," she answered. "Don't try to manipulate me. Don't try to make me break down. I-I can't anyway. Undyne needs me to be s-strong, okay?" She swallowed hard. "S-she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't br-break down. I-I need to be strong for her."

"Crying isn't weak, Alphys!"

"It is to me!"

"Alphys, stop lying!" he insisted. Angry now, she tried to pull away yet again, but only succeeded in making him tighten his hold on her. She tried to swat his hands away with her tail, but he didn't even blink.

"Let me go," she growled out, her voice low. "She needs me. I need to go to her." She clenched her fists. "Let go, Mettaton!"

"No," he answered sadly. "Not until you let yourself go first, Alphysy."

She took a breath to start yelling at him, to tell him to let go or she'd use magic, to tell him to go to hell, even, but instead, she ended up saying exactly what she didn't want to. "I-I'm trash, Mettaton! I f-failed her! I was r-right there, r-right beside her, and-and..." To her horror, she sobbed, her hands going to her chest. They were the tears she hated the most, the kind that wrenched the breath from one's lungs and almost made one retch from them. They were full of hatred, but only for herself. "She... she almost... i-if she had..." Her hands suddenly lashed out, striking Mettaton on his chest, trying to pull away again. "Mettaton, l-let me g-go!" she shut her eyes and felt something break, deep in her chest, and she sobbed out, "Pl-please let me go!"

Then she keened out, a drawn-out sound of helplessness, of sorrow. It was full of such pain that Mettaton closed his eyes, feeling pain of his own from it. Her head lowered to his shoulder, her fists still striking him, only weakly now, as she blurted out, her voice broken, "My wife... my Undyne... wh-why did they... Undyne..." She grated the name out, and Mettaton held her close. When she dissolved into those tears she had hidden for days, he kept her on her feet and comforted her the best he could. He had been right, but he hated it.

When forced to, Alphys had to face the horror that Undyne could be taken from her in the blink of an eye, at any time, and it terrified her. The thought of Undyne being stolen from her so cruelly had been threatening to burn her out - just like he had thought.

If it hadn't been for him, it would have.

Asriel, Frisk and Toriel were watching TV (not the news, but a show called "The Twilight Zone" that fascinated Asriel and Toriel with its cleverness) when a monster nurse came in and gestured to Toriel to follow him. Bemused, she did so, and they went to the hallway to speak quietly. Toriel stepped back and put a hand to her chest, before saying, quite sharply, "Take me to him now." Then, she and the nurse were down the hallway and gone.

Both of her children stared. "What the hell was that about?" Asriel wondered. Frisk looked nervous, but Asriel looked back to her and added, "Whatever it was, if it had been about you, I'm sure we'd both know."

"Do you think she's okay?"

Asriel hesitated. "She sounded upset, but I'm sure she'll tell us when she gets back." Gently, he leaned over and put his arms around her, pulling her close. She curled up against him, and they resumed watching TV again, though both were still distracted.

Asgore was also called away in a similar fashion, which gave both Alphys and Mettaton the chance to visit Undyne together.

"Alphy!" Undyne grabbed her the moment she was in reach, holding her so tight it made Alphys dizzy, but she didn't mind. She practically collapsed into it, hugging back as tight as she could without hurting Undyne, and she knew she still shook a little from before - and that Undyne could tell. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" she whispered, giving Mettaton a small wave in greeting as she did.

"N-nothing," Alphys lied. "I'm just glad to see you." That, at least, was true. She reluctantly pulled away, avoiding Undyne's gaze. Undyne's eye narrowed, always able to tell when Alphys lied to her, but she was unwilling to bring it up in front of Mettaton at the moment.

"Hello, diva," Undyne said instead when he stood beside Alphys with a smile. She punched his shoulder, and he staggered dramatically, crying out, "Gah! What injury are you supposed to have?! You're stronger, if anything! Are they giving you steroids?!"

"Don't be a puke," Undyne replied with a grin, though she flexed her arm at him anyway.

Alphys smiled a little, which helped Undyne relax - but only a little, as small as that smile.

"Undyne, my dear, this place is wretched," Mettaton complained, looking around the room with a sour expression. "If you let me, I can spruce it up in no time."

"It's a hospital room, you dumb sparkplug," she shot back. "It's not supposed to be pretty."

"But it could be!"

And that's when they hugged, laughing together at last. It had taken them years, but in their own way, they were truly friends, at first just for Alphys, but soon for each other. It was always nice to see, especially for Alphys. She stood a bit away, a hand to her cheek, always loving their banter but still feeling far too emotionally fragile to join in just yet, though she wanted to.

"Now, diva, if you don't mind, it seems my wife and I need to have a little chat," Undyne was saying, startling Alphys out of her reverie at once.

Mettaton pouted. "I do mind! I just got here!"

"And you can come back - with drinks." Undyne's eye narrowed and her smile widened, and he sighed, held up his hands, and muttered something about green tea and lattes, before he dejectedly left the room.

Undyne looked over at Alphys, who was now looking at her feet, embarrassed. "Alphy..." Undyne said it gently, but with obvious confusion, too. It was one word, one name, but it seemed to break Alphys open all at once.

"Undyne..." she said softly. "Y-you say you failed, that you sc-screwed up be-because of what happened, but you didn't. I-I did. And I-I can... barely stand it.'

Undyne stared at her for a moment, before saying, "C'mere, Alphy." She held her arms out, her confusion and irritation fading at once. When Alphys hesitated, she added, "Or I'll get up and go to you."

Alphys sighed, then did so, and Undyne hugged her close, though she just stood there, unable to hug back or even look at Undyne, even when she said, "I completely understand, Alphy." When Alphys said nothing, Undyne added, "It's how I feel, remember? I'm just glad you're not hurt, because..." Biting her lip, she held Alphys closer, shutting her eye tight. "That would kill me, not some asshole's bullet."

Again, Alphys seemed to break open, unable to help it. She clung to Undyne, then, stammering, "no," over and over, her tears returning despite how hard she fought them. Undyne held her close, comforting her, and Alphys finally found herself able to let some of that guilt go at last.

"A student, Tori?" Asgore demanded, his eyes blazing. They stood just outside of another room, Toriel drying her tears on her sleeve, her face awash in grief.

"Yes," she agreed. "One of the older students. You know him: Iggy."

Asgore started in shock. "Iggy?!" he echoed, the name conjuring up a sweet monster youth from Toriel's school, one smart but also kind. An avian monster, he was sharp of wit and had a keen sense of humour, and he always seemed to have something nice to say, despite being almost painfully shy - especially about humans. "Iggy Reden?!"

Toriel nodded, her hand to her mouth, now, her eyes on the figure in the room, lying prone in the hospital bed - badly beaten.

"But why?"

Toriel looked back at him. "Because he loved a human girl."