Back to the Lab . . .

"What are you doing?" Frisk tried to shrug them off. "I don't feel comfortable just being knocked unconscious around you two. What do you . . . this isn't, I don't like."

"Sans and Papyrus are very good doctors," Alphys said to her. "Much better than me."

" . . . uuh?" Frisk grabbed at her head.

"Down already." Sans moved her forcefully into the seat again.

"If you want to live, then you need to listen and listen well!" Papyrus scolded her too. "This is not a game! You did more than escape death, you created a life! That brings a very high responsibility on you. You must take care of it, and it is not going to be the simplest task. If you don't, you will both die."

"Actually, if you reach the point where you're naturally going to die and we can't help, then Asgore is going to put you out of your misery before your soul disappears," Sans added to Papyrus' statement. "and the way you're going now, you aren't far off. Now, open that mouth again."

Frisk just glanced at each of them. That wasn't a very good idea. "Huh?"

"This might blow your simplistic mind," Sans told her as she actually heard the tapping of his slipper, "but if you don't stop rebelling, we'll chain you up and treat you." He moved over and grabbed a strange instrument. "What part of 'you need rest' did you not get?"

"I'm supposed to-"

"Rest!" Papyrus finished for her, grabbing his own tool.

"Look. This isn't personal, this is business. I'm your doctor, human," Sans warned her. "Get used to it." He spread her mouth open wider, almost making it hurt. "You now hold the key to opening the barrier and that comes first before anything else."

Frisk couldn't take it. Forcing her mouth open like that when she was trying to keep in control. She moved him away and leaned to the side, throwing up.

"Vomiting red crystals again," Sans asked as he peered over. "Nope, blue and green. Great, fantastic colors. Not really, you're on the verge of death." He tried to open her mouth a little more gently this time. "Gotta vomit, then say it. Politeness is out the window, GP. Now you good?"

Frisk nodded. The way he was responding to her. Him and Papyrus, they truly were her doctors, and they were trying to save her life.

"Good." Sans opened her mouth wider.

"Salvation is within you," Papyrus agreed with Sans as he looked toward her, "and if you die, every monster's hope to ever see the sky will die with you."

"I-I trust them," Alphys said next to her, patting her head softly. "They are much more than you think. Asgore isn't trusting you to amateurs, o-or I'd be doing this," she tried to joke.

Alphys held Frisk's arm out, and Papyrus injected her with something to knock her out again. "It's not really her fault. You weren't there when Asgore and her had it happen," she said. "For holding his child, he sounded very uncaring."

"Like saying she lived or died on her own? Something close to maybe 'if you can't survive on your own, then you won't survive at all.'?" Sans questioned. "Yeah. We've talked to him. It's a weird situation." He stopped talking and peered inside Frisk's mouth. He wiggled a tooth lightly and it fell out. "Yeah." He used his rejuvenation tool and pressed it in her mouth, trying to save her teeth. The more she didn't fall apart, the better the chances.

Papyrus was using a second rejuvenation tool on her nails. "Alphys? Can we get some assist?"

Alphys backed away from Frisk. "What is it?"

"Water. Lots of it. Lots," Papyrus said. "Humans are mostly water, and the magic is drying her out. Her skin is losing hydration and no doubt the rest of her too. Do you have a bath? We need a huge bathtub."

"Oh?! Uh? I-I'll fetch some buckets of water instead," Alphys said as she hurried off and returned.

Odd. Still, Sans and Papyrus had other things on their mind then her weird action.

Papyrus dunked Frisk's fingers in a bucket of water and went to grab another tool. It looked more like a sprayer nozzle. "Good thing she's out." He pulled one of the fingernails back gently and sprayed it with water. It was starting to bleed. He used the rejuvenation tool as it did.

Sans finished up in her mouth and grabbed a separate bucket of water, working on her toenails the same way Papyrus was doing. "Alphys, can you check the soul balance again?"

Alphys nodded and hooked Frisk up like she first did. "They look fine."

"Good."

"Is she going to make it?" Alphys asked. Neither Papyrus nor Sans answered. After they were done with her teeth, toenails, and fingernails, it was time for step two. Sans grabbed a few more tools, and Papyrus picked Frisk up.

"Alphys, bath," Sans said. He watched her get jittery again. "Come on, Yellow Pal, I know you got one down in the back of the lab."

"I-it's not ready right now! Um, it's dirty I think," Alphys answered.

"Then we'll clean it. Life and death kinda thing, that should inspire some cleaning," Sans joked lightly, trying to take the edge off.

"Oh . . . o-okay. Follow me," Alphys finally relented, taking all three of them to the bathtub in the back. Turns out, it wasn't dirty at all. Alphys had a glitched memory.

Sans and Papyrus poured lots of water all over her form. Alphys looked nervous and kept watch for some reason. Sans would definitely get to the bottom of whatever she was nervous about later.

Sans had given a tool to Papyrus. "Check her eyes. I'll check her ears." Sans placed his tool inside Frisk's ear. "I'd be surprised if she's not hearing static in there. How are her eyes?"

"Tired. Dry. But Papyrus never gives up!" He insisted. He poured some water over her eyes.

"I understand the excess of water for a human," Alphys said, "but this is going to throw off the balance of the souls you guys. She needs magic to reign over her two."

"Not on the outside, and only around the little monster," Papyrus said. "Not her too."

"Oh. Is that up to me?" Alphys asked. "That's a tender issue."

"Gotta do it just right. Too much could kill and too little won't do anything. We can handle it," Sans insisted.

"Yeah, but, um? I-I'm not so sure if the human will be comfortable with you two? Doing that?" Alphys warned them, still taking another look behind her.

"Well, she is just going to have to suck it up," Papyrus said. "Besides, it's not like a kiss or anything. It's a magic insertion tool to get magic to the monster soul inside of her too."

"To help her two?"

"Yes, of course to help too."

"Alright, let's get her out of here and into some bedding," Sans said to Papyrus. "You got her?"

Papyrus lifted her out of the water. Frisk was drenched. They walked a short ways to a crowd of beds and laid her down, covering her up.

Sans dug around in his pocket for the other tool he brought down, the temperature reactor. He placed it in her ear. "Cold. She needs it dead cold." He looked at it. Funny, a heat monster should be opposite. Maybe this was more of the human side reacting. "Alphys, get the temp to about 50. Forty if you can."

"Got it." Alphys took off a second. Sans and Papyrus waited 'til they felt a blast of cold air. She came back. "Did that help? Are we done now?"

"Hopefully." Sans checked her ear with the temperature reactor tool again after a few minutes. "Yeah, think we're done." He put the tool away.

"That's all we can do for now," Papyrus said to Alphys. "She must rest before anything else. Sans?"

"Oh yeah. Right." Sans took the temperature reactor tool out of his pocket and handed it to Alphys. "Check on her every hour. Whatever the readout says, get the temperature to there right away. It's the best way to even her out."

"If she starts to vomit any color of crystals, get us right away," Papyrus insisted.

"So? Is she gonna be fine now?" Alphys asked again.

"She's okay, for now," Papyrus said. He looked toward Sans. "Last step?"

"Yep. Let's go . . ." Sans was trying to keep her cool. Frisk was unable to move right now. How did the covers go over her? "In a bit, we'll check out her place."

"In a bit?" Alphys looked at Frisk covered up. "Oh! Oh, you probably don't want that." She uncovered her again. "Silly me. It just kind of happened."

"But you never looked away during the conversation." Papyrus looked toward Sans, then back toward her. "What's going on?"

"Hm?" Alphys tried to pretend like she didn't understand. Until she heard sounds approaching. "Uh- Oh! You sh-sh-should probably leave now! Let her get rest!"

No way. Sans and Papyrus turned around and saw strangely shaped monsters. Even one that seemed like several dogs together, and another that looked like Snowdrake's mother, but tired. Depressed. With something else . . . " . . . kaaaay?"

Sans and Papyrus were both staring at her.

"It's because of the determination!" Alphys broke down. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! E-everything was fine, the fallen were brought back to life with extra determination, but they started to . . . and I didn't . . ."

"That's why the Underground can never have our papers," Papyrus said to no one in particular.

"Experimentation with determination." Sans shook his head. "Asgore's breaking unbreakable rules. How long have you been hiding this?" Alphys just covered up her face. "Alphys. Hey, it's not your fault. Asgore asked for it. You've got to fess up the truth."

"Sans is right," Papyrus said. "As dreadful as this situation has become, you can't just hide this down here. Asgore can't even blame you, he is the one making the orders."

"But you can't keep them down here. They deserve to go back to wherever they came from," Sans said.

"B-but, b-but, it's an unbreakable!" Alphys cried out, scared. "Unbreakable. I'm so scared. I-I regret it, but that doesn't matter. I broke an unbreakable. My life is just going to be a miserable death."

"Your life has been miserable because you've been hiding it," Sans warned her. "You can end your torture by setting it right. Right now."

"Help the families understand and accept what happened," Papyrus added. "Do your part, Alphys. No more hiding this. It's not healthy."

"I . . . I was hoping that Frisk and her baby and the barrier situation, it would be fixed and I would be looked at well before I dropped this on them. So that way-"

"You can't keep them bottled up another nine months, and even believing a hundred percent that Frisk and that baby are gonna survive?" Sans stopped. "Chances are still pretty high Frisk is in danger. I'd say more than a 70% chance in about a month we'll have to call Asgore to kill her anyway, to get her soul before she dies for good."

"You had better just expose it," Papyrus had to agree. "If Frisk's situation ends badly, it's just going to make the emotional trauma that much worse on you."

Alphys looked at her hands and covered her face.

"It's you or us," Sans warned her. "You've got to trust monsters will understand, Alphys. You were scared to tell them, they'll get that. But not for another nine months, that isn't going to work."

"Right. Now, is there anything else you did in that time?" Papyrus asked. "If there is, you should expose that too."

"Not really," Alphys said. "I had a flower I gave determination, but it ran away. I-I doubt it can do much though. Are you guys really going to . . ."

"Tattle? Yep," Sans said. "Family deserves family." Him and Papyrus knew that better than a lot of other monsters out there. "Come on, Papyrus. Time to see where Beautiful lives."

MTT's . . .

"Welcome to MTT, wait is ten minutes, sorry!" Burgerpants exclaimed to Sans and Papyrus.

Sans looked out at the crowd. The line was out the door now. Probably restless too since they couldn't actually meet the human, just get the facts. "Hey there? Take a load off. We've gotta see where Frisk is supposed to be staying."

"Mettaton doesn't allow unscheduled breaks, sorry!" Burgerpants said with a hyper flare. "And I'm not getting any special favors from my coworker being pregnant with the king's kid."

"Her doctor's orders," Papyrus said. "King Asgore is above all, and we have permission for this. Now show us where she is staying."

"No one watching the place?" Burgerpants asked. "It'll be pandemonium!"

"Yo, hey everybody!" Sans held his hands up to them all. "So, you all want to know about the big secret, right? Well, no real big secret. The human's having King Asgore's baby and it'll break the barrier in nine months if she survives. If. Kind of a big if. So, that's it. Nothing more than that. If you still want to stick around, give it a good ten minute break okay?" He turned back around to Burgerpants. "Now? Where does she live?"

Burgerpants took them through a door, through another door, through a less than stellar smelling hallway, and at the end pointed at it. "There it is. My little place of solitude." He opened the door. "No lock. Go on in."

Uh? "Sure you have a great place," Sans said, "but we want to see her place."

"We share now," Burgerpants said.

Sans had a bad feeling about it. He walked straight in. One room. One, total. No kitchen, couldn't fix food. There was a huge bed, and a lamp with no light switch. Just a quote that said stars make their own light. There was a weird, huge bottle of perfume on the other side. Then there was a long end table, on the right side next to the perfume. It had a small refrigerator, freezer, and microwave on it. No windows. Not the best smelling environment.

"No way, no way, no way!" Papyrus wasn't even in it that long. "It's staggeringly hot!"

Sans looked at the thermostats. "Where's the air?"

"It doesn't work," Burgerpants said. "Neither does the heat, but who needs that?"

"Frisk will." Papyrus looked toward the bed. "That is it? The bed takes more room than the room!"

"I got upgraded to a double bed. Yeah for me." Burgerpants didn't look so thrilled. "It's not the best place."

"Hey, it's a great place," Sans said to him. "Great bachelor pad. I mean, refrigerator's next to the the bed, and it's all one room. Kitchen, bedroom, living room, just one big room. Simple. Perfect. Just the way I like it."

"Just not for her," Papyrus said, "yet. We can start with getting a great heater and ac in here."

"I won't stop you!" Burgerpants said, "but you want heat too?"

"Oh yeah. She might need it like 200 degrees higher in here. Goat monster is gonna want heat, heat, heat."

" . . . I hope the pay raise is worth it."

"I doubt it," Sans said honestly. "Oh. One more thing." He looked at the bed. "Huge double, huh?"

"Yes."

"You . . . haven't been trying to help her with magic insertion, have you?" Sans waved his finger at him. "That's a big no-no with the human. Okay?"

"Not yet," Burgerpants revealed. "It's only been two weeks though. Things could change."

Sans scratched the back of his skull. "I don't really want to get into fantasies here?"

"Not a fantasy. She was desperate for some attention the first time we met," Burgerpants said.

"It's . . . been a rough road," Sans said. "She feels more used than a tire now, so don't make tracks on her."

"She is having King Asgore's little monster," Papyrus pointed out. "She might even be a future queen. She is not out as a choice."

"Not saying I'm trying to put a ring on her finger," Burgerpants corrected himself. "MTT Resorts is just a stressful job." He wiggled his paws.

"Hang on." Sans stared at Burgerpants. "Human's going through some heavy stuff. Anvil I don't need to keep my eye on you, do I?"

"Sans!" Papyrus scolded him. "Ugh. Let's just get to work? Then we can shop around for a heater and AC. And clearly another end table to put them on."

"And the king can pick up the tab." Still, Sans looked toward Burgerpants.

Burgerpants just looked back at him, excited. "Look, you weirdo! I'm not gonna do anything with her and her kids already!"

Huh. "Kid," Sans corrected him.

"Kids." Burgerpants said, "she just came back and said one was two."

"Hang on, hang on." Sans gestured back to Burgerpants, trying to get on his good side again. "Hey, Pal? Who told her she has two now?"

"Her doctor. Her other doctor," Burgerpants said.

"Ouch. Twins." Sans shook his head. "Twice the trouble for us."

"Yes. If that's the case, we shouldn't dawdle, we need to begin magic insertion now for her best chance of survival."

To the lab . . .

Frisk was still out like a light. Good. Alphys helped Sans and Papyrus get her to an actual birthing table. Alphys helped get her ready in a robe and her legs into stirrups. "Are you really sure about this?"

"We understand what to do. You doing it out of modesty is just gonna get her killed," Papyrus reminded her. "Go. We'll handle it."

Alphys left and Sans held the magical insertion. Collecting magic was easy, Asgore just zapped the container like it was an enemy. They had plenty now. "Okay. So?" Sans looked to Papyrus. "Paper, Rock, Scissors."

"Oh don't worry, Sans." Papyrus patted him on the back. "I believe in you."

Sans started to hear Frisk groan. Well yay, that's gonna make it fun. Frisk was coming back around. Better get it over with. He held the magical insertion and bent down toward her robe.

"Easy, Sans."

"I know, I know," he said. Sans fixed the percentage of speed on his device, trying to keep his skull focused on the task at hand. He was helping to save Frisk who was holding the child that would get them out of the Underground. Yeah. As long as he just remembered that, piece of cake.

He heard Frisk groan again. "Wuzzzup?"

He would have chuckled if he wasn't in such a predicament.

"Hey? Hey, hey, what the-"

"Hold her down," Sans said, knowing that was coming. Still she was really moving. "Hold her down magically, Pap, and numb her the best you can. This might hurt."

"What's going on?!" Frisk demanded. "What are you doing down by my hoo-hoo?!"

"Easy," Papyrus said again. "We are inserting magic inside of your, um, 'hoo-hoo'. You are having twins, Frisk. You need to be even more precautious. The magic power will match the offspring, and they will settle down more. The more they settle and accept their environment? The, um, less chance you'll be ripped to pieces."

Sans brought his head out from her robe and looked at her. "No problem." Yeah, her eyes didn't say that. After all, he was in a very sensitive area. To humans, to monsters, or pretty much any female out there.

"There you go. That must be feeling better," Papyrus said as he patted her head.

Instead Frisk was starting to arch her back up like it was suddenly in pain.

"Whoah, whoah!" Sans quickly took the device out. "I did the right percentages, Papyrus!" He watched as Papyrus handed him a magic checking indicator. He took it and shoved it back where the magical insert had been.

"Quit!" Frisk was arching again.

Sans pulled it back out again and checked . . .

1,634 difference. Sans cursed and looked toward Papyrus. "Magic's not right, it's not right. It's off by over a thousand."

"How can that be?!" Papyrus shouted back. "It's Asgore's child. Did you take into account the twins in the math?"

"Yah, of course." Of course he did that, and Sans did not mess up simple math. It was like a grown man forgetting what came after B in the alphabet. It didn't happen. That only left one solution. Asgore was not the father. Alphys messed up somehow. "Papyrus, I'll be right back." Sans left immediately with the insert, teleporting to the Ruins, grabbing a whimsun, and initiating combat. Once the whimsun struck, he directed the power to the magical insert.

He came back again and stuck the insert back into Frisk. "Easy, easy. You okay so far?"

"Doctor Sans, my back is on fire!" Frisk yelled at him. "What's going on?!"

Heh. Doctor Sans. Cool. "Killer puzzle. Literally." He moved more magic through her, and then took the detector to check her again. "1,224. Getting down again." He placed the insert back in and increased its speed. "It's okay, Frisk," he admitted. "But, Asgore's not the dad. Math doesn't lie."

"We are going to have to play some math games I'm afraid," Papyrus admitted to Frisk. "If we don't, you'll be killed within an hour. Understood?"

Frisk shook her head. Whatever shyness she had about Sans shoving instruments in her hoo-hoo was disappearing quick. Her life and her unborn children's lives were in his and Papyrus' hands. She watched as they both did their part. Sans would go somewhere, Papyrus would hold something in her, Sans would return with another tool full of some kind of magic and insert it. At the same time, they were both muttering science terms and math equations that she couldn't even catch. These two were definitely closer to doctors than puzzle makers.

"Slow it down by another .05, and we need an Icecap," Papyrus said.

"This is tricky, now," Sans said to Papyrus. "Her numbers are almost compatible, but almost don't cut it. She's got 50 overhead flowing through."

"We don't have a froggit, with the speed and accuracy, that would have worked," Papyrus complained.

"Yeah, well. She was going through a phase."

"Overshoot it and come back down with the whimsun again?"

"Yeah, yeah."

None of it made sense, all Frisk knew was that she finally felt right again when she hit what they called 'balance.' She breathed a deep sigh of relief and felt Sans' bony hand on her forehead.

"You okay, GP?" Sans teased her. "Your balance is evened out now. You'll be fine."

"Except that Asgore is clearly not the father," Papyrus said in a huff. "Shoving unspecified magic amounts inside of you was so risky, we never would have balanced you out if we knew." Papyrus was already on the phone with the 'brillant Alphys'.

He wasn't treating her so brilliant.

"1,634." Sans grabbed Frisk's hand. "Alphys made a big mistake."

"Thank you, Doctor Sans," Frisk thanked him, trying to stand up now. She was feeling better.

"Alphys says she swears it's a boss monster," Papyrus said back to Sans. "It grew the correct color red and everything. She did admit there was a mouse, some cheese, and a slight mix-up."

Frisk smiled. "Did a mouse finally get the cheese?"

" . . . but everything turned out fine. Frisk Carlisle, you should rest," Papyrus answered.

"Yeah, rest." Sans looked toward her. "Don't go far. Don't do much. That isn't a stable balance, just for right now. We are going to have to do the same rough procedure again if we don't figure out who the dad is real soon."

Frisk nodded, and her body made her want to lay back down. Work was the farthest thing from her mind. Even if she needed to. "I'll go home and leave work in just . . ."

"Sleep, human." Sans watched her drop back to sleep quickly. He touched her hair on the top. "Human. Boss monster. Unknown father. She's so lucky she's still alive."

Sans bent over Frisk again. Having given her a dose of Asgore's magic, they had to restore it to where it once was and let it balance a little while until they could fix it.

"Undyne is too hard on her. I know that she did terrible wrongs, but Frisk is living with that for the rest of her life." Papyrus touched her cheeks which were turning blue. "Nothing has been unaffected on her for what she did, even her cheeks. She needs a real friend more than ever. Somehow, I don't trust the kitty is the best friend to confide in, and certainly not Bratty and Catty. Maybe we should ask Alphys if she can stay at the lab with her?"

" . . . do you remember how I used to tell you stories about the purple door at the edge of the Ruins?" Sans asked simply. "Welp. That old lady don't answer my knocks no more. You know why." He placed his hands in his lab coat pockets. "Not to mention I've got a constant reminder whenever I see Snowdrake's father every day about what Frisk did. But."

"Everybody can be a better person."

"Yeah." Sans nodded toward Papyrus. "I believe that now. Beautiful's definitely a good person, she's just turned backward and inside out." Oops. "I mean, Frisk."

"I can't blame her. I have read too much literature on LOVE." Papyrus touched her cheeks, checking on the blue tint. "This is worrisome."

"Might be. Might not be. There's gotta be an old boss monster out there," Sans said. "Let's pop over to Waterfall. I know a guy with a hammer of justice we should talk to."

Waterfall . . .

"It's all real good. All for sale," Gerson said to Sans. "Oh come on, who doesn't want some cloudy glasses and a torn notebook?"

"You were here during the monster-human war," Sans started. "Were there more boss monsters down here?"

"You mean more than Ol' Fluffybuns?" Gerson asked.

"Yeah," Sans chuckled. He'd heard that story before. "Before Ol' Fluffybunns."

"There'd be his son. Oh, and his wife. Boy, were those two just sickening together," Gerson complained. "Kissing and snuggles and blah."

"Any more?" Papyrus asked.

"There was a suspect," Gerson said, "but he died too young, never had a chance to reach the age where he stopped growing and needed a child. Died in his twenties. Tragic death."

"Who was that?" Papyrus asked.

"The old infamous myth that nobody remembers, but his remnants have been here for years," Gerson said.

"Gaster?" He was their relation though. He couldn't be that close to being a boss monster. Sans and Papyrus weren't boss monsters. Which meant . . .

But more than that, it also meant . . .

Papyrus and Sans didn't speak out loud near Gerson again, both choosing to walk away from the area.

To Frisk's Bedside . . .

"Are you sure about this?"

"Not right to put this on Alphys. Her mind has enough stuff to deal with. I'm the oldest. I'll do it."

Frisk turned in bed. She couldn't make out the figures talking at first. Her whole body ached from head to toe. It was like she had a terrible flu mixed with a high fever at the same time.

"Okay. She's coming round. Let's do this." She felt a strangely, very gentle hand on your forehead. "Hey there, Beautiful. Good morning. How are you?"

Frisk blinked to make Sans out better. "Uuuh . . . kay?"

Sans patted her head. No, he was rubbing it. In a comforting way? Which provided the opposite of what she wanted. "So, let's start this off with something. Um. Don't blame you. You saw a possible way out, and you took it. It happens."

Frisk felt too ill to really make out what he was saying. He seemed to understand that.

"You can't carry those kiddos to term," Sans revealed to her. Yet, she just couldn't understand. Already too far gone, too delirious. "Sorry. You're never gonna experience the awkwardness of having a human-monster duo. It would have been rad too. But, the truth is? Alphys got it wrong. You aren't having Asgore's kid. You're having Gaster's twins."

Yep. No recognition in her eyes she even understood.

"Yeah, and . . . no manner of help me or my bro could give you would save you." He sighed and patted her hand gently. "Gaster's dead. If you were monster, even that would be hard to accomplish, making it through a successful birth. Took momma nearly thirty years."

Nothing still.

"You have to die. You're carrying what's technically my little brothers, Frisk, but you're no monster. Without the real daddy's help, they won't even last a month." Sans moved over toward her other side. "Papyrus is going to get Asgore. I'm here to make this as easy as possible. Let's get your legs propped up, human."

Frisk moaned, rolling her head around.

"I know what King Asgore needs to ask, and I want to do it as delicately as possible. He needs your soul, which means you've got to be taken right next to the barrier so he can retrieve it as soon as possible with the other six souls," Sans said. "But, he's not going to want to do that while the little ones are inside of you. Killing a human is nothing to most monsters. Even to me. I could polish some off," he confessed. "But, he wouldn't want to kill his own kids. So. I'm gonna kill the life that's inside you right now before you die. Especially right now, while you can't understand anything. This is the best time."

Sans helped prop her feet up again. She put them back down to get more comfortable. "You did good. We're still getting out. Heck, we're getting out today." Yet, Sans couldn't expand on it. "This won't hurt. It's going to numb your entire body." He held a magic insert and he zapped it with his power. "You'd normally be knocked out for three hours, but Asgore's going to take your soul while you are out, so this is technically it for you too. Wish I could have said goodbye better."

No amount of anything was ever going to help him recover from this one. Doomed. Doomed from the start. He propped her legs back up, them once again moving away. Beautiful was squinting her eyes. She acted brave, but it was just a façade. She was clearly in pain already. Delaying this was just leaving her in more pain.

Sans moved back toward her. "Felt it since day one this wasn't the right way to go." Words weren't going to help, but he went ahead and wiped away a tear that was on her face. She was startled at first. Subconsciously, probably didn't expect someone to care enough to do that.

She got enough grief over what happened. More than enough. Sans went back down, and grabbed the insert. He placed it inside Frisk and slowly released the power he had stored up in it.

Non-matching power, slowly inserted would be easier to endure than the sharp pain from before. After it was all inside of her, he removed it. "Bye, Beautiful." He pocketed the insert and looked up toward her, surprised she was still conscious. Delirious, but conscious.

He said nothing and just stood there, motionless, as another minute passed. She shifted slightly, and then her whole body just seemed to relax little by little.

Then? Her delirious state seemed to fade away . . . "Sans?"

Talking. She was talking? "Any numbing?" He should have already said his last words. She should have been unconscious by the time he was even finished. Instead she was getting better?

"No," she admitted. "What are you doing? Can I put my legs back down?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Sans helped her feet back down. She arched her back, but not in pain. In a stretch, like she was ready to go to sleep.

Frisk's breathing leveled out. Sans checked her heart beat. It had slowed down, but to a better rate. He checked her pulse. All her human vitals.

In fact, she just slowly closed her eyes.

Sans just stood there.

Watching.

Waiting.

He inserted the wrong power. He wasn't trying to change the power level quickly like before, she was all evened out. Without that lack of constant imbalance, she should have been done. She should be unconscious and his relation should be dead. But.

Frisk?

Looked better than ever. The human's color in her face was returning. Her body was so relaxed, there was no fear inside of it. Not in acceptance of death either, it was just . . . tired.

"Mm." Frisk muttered slightly. "I feel better, but I'm so tired."

That's. Not. Normal. Sans moved her slightly, opening her mouth. He wiggled one of her teeth. Solid. "This. Uh?" Sans scratched the back of his neckbone.

Sans picked her up out of bed, and teleported her back to the original examination bed. He pulled the soul monitor over that Alphys used to check on the souls, and checked on them again.

They were there. High resonance. Two. Not hurt at all. In fact? Thriving. Thriving better than ever.

"I-I-I'm. Screwed!"

There was only one scientific reason that could happen. His power didn't kill them, or even hurt them. It was strengthing the little souls, protecting them. Ergo.

Gaster wasn't the dad.

He was.

Sans covered his skull, trying to deal with what he was seeing. Not brothers. Sons.

To that day in Underground, samples were still taken to raise new generations, but it was more to the end of a life, just like going through the process of having children to save a species. Like their mother did. That way no monster really had to wonder if they had a kid out there. It wouldn't happen until they at least passed on.

Except in the case of almost extinct monsters. It was taken much earlier, just in case something happened, but the intention was still not to use it too early. Then again? Mouse. Cheese.

Sans gripped the side of Frisk's bed. "Okay. Okay." First step. He had to tell Papyrus. Second step? Get a hold of his own DNA to see if the next generation down really was close enough to be boss or not. Alphys grabbed it because it was a bright red. It was probably the brightest reddish pink right before red then. Easy to confuse.

At least, Sans hoped so because if the kids weren't boss, then Asgore would still want to kill Frisk. She had the soul they needed.

Yeah. He couldn't spill the truth until he knew that for sure, or Frisk was still in deep trouble.

So.

First step.

Papyrus.