Alphys shook her head, coming back into the present with her thoughts. She stood abruptly, clenching the updated cell phone, giving it a test ring. "Hello?" Undyne asked.
The lizard peered over the edge into the lab area below, feeling queasy when she saw them a little too close to the elevator. "I—it works!" she called down.
The fish monster glanced up with a wide smile. "Ha! Knew you could do it, ya nerd!"
Alphys sheepishly ducked away, and then came downstairs a moment later. "Uh—h—here…" she managed, handing it over to the fish monster.
"You don't want to come give it to him yourself?"
The lizard jerked her hands up, waving them frantically. "No! I'm good! You two s—surprise him, all right?"
"You sure?"
"Y—yeah, I still have a lot of stuff to do, so—so, be—best we do it that way."
"Well," Undyne replied as she scooped Frisk up. "If you say so, but you have to come with us sometime, got that?"
"R—right, understood," the lizard stammered.
"All right, see you later, Nerd!"
"Bye!" she practically squeaked as the two left. The reptile heaved a sigh of relief, and then looked nervously to the elevator. "I r—really need to block that off…"
Looking around, she locked down the lab, and then went below. She gulped as the doors slid open, revealing the darkened lab. The reptile hated coming down here…but she honestly didn't have a choice in the matter.
She poked her head around every corner, ready to dive back the way she came, if need be. In theory, they shouldn't bother her—they hadn't yet after the initial…the initial… She shuddered at the recollection.
Alphys didn't see anything of danger though, and so she went about, tending to empty food and water bowls. She could hear them thumping about in other areas, but she opted to ignore it. She could feed them and then dive into a research room and see if she couldn't figure out something…
After feeding them, she went to where the flowers were kept. She looked at them all, drawing a hand over her face. What was she even doing? She was an inventor…a mechanical genius, but this…this was out of her league, in all honesty.
The patients…the only good thing that had theoretically come of this, was that they were still alive—though that term was being used rather loosely. "Sans…" she murmured, clutching her head. "Why did you leave…I need your help—and—and this isn't what I wanted when I said that…I don't know him. He isn't you…"
The Sans she had known would have been with her every step of the way on this project, and probably could have helped her avoid this mess all together. This other Sans…she knew he had been through a lot, so she couldn't judge, but…he was serious, devoid of the humor she had grown to love with her own.
They were supposed to be the same Sans, and yet, there were such clear differences. Mainly, the current Sans was one devoid of hope.
She sighed…then again; he had his reasons, from what she gathered. His own timeline didn't treat him kindly.
"It's interesting, isn't it?" a new voice asked.
Alphys shrieked in alarm, jumping with a whirl. Amongst the flowers, one of them was smiling in amusement. "Y—you!" she stammered.
Flowey laughed softly. "Yes, little old me." He hopped forth, and then dug his roots into an empty pot.
"Wh—why did you come back?" Alphys stammered, her fingers twitching nervously.
"Now what kind of question is that?" The flower extended his form so that he could press close, backing her into the mirrored wall. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd be upset with my presence."
Alphys gave a nervous squeak as he drew back, satisfied. "We know I keep an ear to the ground. When I heard there was a 'Sans' around, I wanted to see if he was really like you used to tell me back when we worked together."
"Before you went crazy!"
"Oh, you're mistaken," the flower replied. "I didn't go crazy. I was just doing my own thing, and I happened to end up working with you to see what could be done."
"What do you even want!?" Alphys demanded.
Flowey smirked. "Sorry. That's my little secret. But you're clever, Alphys. I'm sure you'll eventually put it together.
"And what do you want NOW!?"
"Your reaction," Flowey practically purred.
"Why!?"
"Because Sans is here—of course, not the one you knew, if what I've heard is anything to go by."
Alphys clenched her hands tight, a rare bout of anger rising in her as the flower ribbed at her.
"He's not at all what you told me. Sounds like he had so much fun in his timeline. He's just a broken watered down version of the one you knew. Though, it sounds like he and you had nothing going on in that timeline. Such a shame. It could have been seamless, really, if the timelines were a little closer."
"Did you cause him to be like this!?" she demanded.
"Me? My, you sure like to pin the blame on me."
"You killed everyone down here before!"
"Right, right, you remember the resets. I was bored, and besides, I was stopped."
"Luckily for you, you couldn't find a way to beat Papyrus. I'm just glad you reset so no one remembers."
Flowery snickered at that, amused by how unaware the two monsters were of one another's abilities. "But no, I didn't do anything to him," Flowey assured. "In fact, he blames that little human for his predicament. Interesting, don't you think?"
Alphys frowned in confusion. "Why? F—Frisk is…"
"A sweet little human?" The flower cackled lowly. "You forget that other timelines have many different rules. His human destroyed everything." The flower sighed. "I admit that would spice things up…"
"Don't you even dare think about it!" Alphys exclaimed.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm letting the human do this on their own. I'm not intervening…for now."
"So how long until you get bored again?" Alphys demanded.
"Well, at least you know that it'll happen," the flower replied.
"I'm not letting you go on a murderous rampage again because you're bored!"
"Oh really? Then stop me." Alphys jerked. "Oh, that's right. You can't. You even tried once, and we saw how that went. I must admit, I was caught off guard with what you did to Undyne. Shame, I thought you had liked her. And there she was melting away—"
Alphys gave a blood-curdling shriek and sent a blast of magic at Flowey. He dodged it expertly, and then sent out vines that coiled around the reptile and slammed her against the wall as he extended his form so that they were face to face once he knew she was immobilized.
"Tsk, tsk," he chided. "You should be careful where you're flinging your magic."
"What's it matter to you?" she managed, her limbs twitching as she tried to discover some amount of freedom. "Even if I killed you, you'd just come back!"
"Such a pity too, hm?"
"What fascination do you even have with the human?" Alphys demanded. "Don't think I haven't noticed what's been going on!"
"And pray tell, what might that be?" Flowey demanded.
"You're resetting when they die!"
Flowey paused, looking surprised, which caught her off guard. However, it was quickly replaced with a smile. He chuckled…and then he laughed, howling his amusement. "Oh, you're something, Alphys!" She felt so horribly small in that moment.
"Oh, you all know so much…but in the end, none of you monsters know anything at all." Flowey rammed a vine into the mirror beside her head. "You don't understand the motives…or the power…or who is who. Really, you might have a better grasp on the world if you could find the other."
"The other?"
"But it won't be any fun if I told you anything."
He suddenly dropped her, letting her hit the floor roughly. "Get back to the drawing board, Alphys. The resets are not happening the way you think they are. I'm biding my time, so you better find out just what I'm up to."
"Why are you just causing grief!?"
The flower snickered as he drew back. "Why…?" He tilted his head, an eerie smile on his face. "How about just for the giggles?
"Anyways, Alphys, it's been fun talking to you. This Sans has really spiced up the timeline, so I'm going to enjoy myself…but I'd be careful. The fun for me won't end anytime soon, after all. So you should figure out where everything stands, before it gets out of hand."
Alphys snarled a little. "Damn you! I wish I had never injected that damn Determination into you!"
"You wished you never injected it into anything," the flower replied with a snide tone. "Anyways, it's been fun, Alphys. I'll see you around." Just like that, without warning, he was gone, leaving her alone in the lab.
Sans entered the house, glancing to the couch to see Frisk snuggled up in Papyrus's lap. He sighed, and couldn't help a genuine smile. Okay, that was kind of adorable…and he was starting to let his guard down around them.
Papyrus looked up. "There you are, Sans! How did it go?"
"Smoothly. There weren't even emergency calls on your cell," Sans replied as he handed Papyrus's phone back. He raised a brow as Frisk stifled a giggle, and used Papyrus's scarf to hide their face. "…okay?"
Papyrus chuckled. "Good to hear, Sans!"
"Any sign of my cell phone?" The two shrugged innocently, causing the small skeleton to heave a heavy sigh. "Figures…anyways, I'll make dinner."
The two waited for him to enter the kitchen, before Papyrus gave a wry smirk, and glanced to Frisk. They covered their mouth to cover their excited squeal as he drew his phone back out, dialing a number.
Sans blinked in surprise as he heard a phone ring, but he didn't pay no mind with it until he heard it's third ring. "Huh?" He poked his head out. "Pap, is that your phone?"
"No," Papyrus assured. "It isn't Frisk's either!" he said as the child held theirs up for proof.
"Then what in the…? Can't be mine…" he muttered as he started searching around for the source. Maybe Undyne dropped hers in the commotion—he wouldn't be surprised.
After a couple more rings, he found it under the television set. Knowing it would soon go to the answering machine, he swiftly answered it. "Hello?"
"Glad you found it."
Sans jumped in surprise, whipping around to look at Papyrus holding his cell phone. Sans blinked, and then looked down, realizing some of what was going on. "It's…mine? Why…this thing can't connect here…"
At that point, Frisk couldn't help themselves. They burst into laughter, falling off Papyrus's lap. The smaller skeleton swiftly started putting things together. "…I've been played for the whole day, haven't I?"
"I wouldn't put it like that," Papyrus replied. "But yes, your phone was never lost. Frisk snatched it in secret to take it to Alphys so that it could connect to our network. This way, you can be in contact with any and all friends that you make—and most importantly—you can now reach the Great Papyrus, should the need ever arise!"
Sans looked down at his cell phone. "Geeze, Pap, Kid…come on, you didn't have to do that…"
"On the contrary—after getting my scarf mended—and by an expert, no less—we had to return the favor!"
"Guess I can't be upset over that," Sans murmured, looking down at the cellphone as he ended the call, and checked some things, then smiled. "Heh…you have all the same numbers. I don't have to change a thing in my contact list." He paused. "Wait—you didn't go through any of this, did you?"
"Of course not!" Papyrus assured with pride. "It would be most inappropriate if I looked at anything in your phone. All we did was made sure it connected. We didn't check old messages—or even peer at your contact list."
"Thanks Br—Papyrus," he replied, swiftly saving himself. "Uh…anyways…I think I'll go finish dinner…and it looks like I'll have someone to thank later."
Frisk nodded with an energetic hum. "Indeed, Alphys was of great help!" Papyrus exclaimed.
Sans chuckled softly, and went to finish dinner. Once they had all eaten, he headed upstairs. "Gonna be on the balcony if anyone needs me."
"Understood!"
He smiled, though as he stepped outside, it faded away. Alone, he sat down, leaning against the railing, going through his phone. There were voice messages he wanted to listen to…but he didn't want to risk it when those two could bust in on him—or with monsters below overhearing it.
Instead, he went to his text messages, his eyes drooping as he did so. During the last days of his timeline, so many people tried to get into contact with him. Alphys, Undyne, various other guardsman…even Grillby…and of course, Papyrus.
'Sans? You disappeared on me—I left you some voice messages in case you didn't see them. I…brother, the human, I'm going to talk to them. Maybe they're just scared, and don't understand that what they're doing is wrong.'
There were various updates from him, but most of the important stuff had been in the voice messages. The dying echoes of those he had known, stored away on this phone. At the time, it had been another genocide route…Sans had muted the phone, knowing what would happen. Instead, he just waited, alone in the hall, knowing they'd come eventually.
The child did not get through the Underground in one fluid try. No, there were odd resets that would happen in the middle of the runs, except, when they came again, they hadn't slowed their slaughter in the slightest.
There had been another time where they had reached the golden hall, but Sans had managed to continuously kill them, until they had reset again. Sans thought that would be what would happen…but in the end, they kept at it…and won.
The only hope he ever had for his world, was to get back there, and force a reset—but he had no idea how to go about any of that. It seemed impossible…the best he could do was make do with this. At least in this world…everyone was still alive. The fact that he was a stranger…that was the price to pay.
Papyrus was alive and well, Undyne still stood strong…and the human was a harmless little thing. "Bro…" Sans murmured. "…If I accept this…if I…start to like this world…would you be mad?" He sighed. "Heh…probably not…you've only ever been mad at my laziness and puns."
"Still…it feels like I'm betraying you if I start to accept this world…to enjoy it. To…be able to enjoy being with this Papyrus. How am I supposed to handle that? …you're gone, but he isn't, and it feels like I'm simply replacing you if I try to move on with my life here…"
"…I…I wished I had picked up the bloody phone," he muttered, clenching it tight. "I thought things would reset, and it wouldn't matter, but…it did matter…I should have done it like I did the first time…and said the things I wanted to say…the things you needed to hear. I'm sorry, Bro…
"You have no idea how much I miss you…"