Blue knocked on the door to the Lab and waited impatiently for Alphys to open it. He needed to talk with her, and he couldn't do that until she opened this stupid door, because she had set up a stupid teleport block in the Lab, which meant he had to walk in, which meant he had to bring Papyrus. His brother was practically glued to him now, and while it was nice to see him again, being constantly surrounded by him was starting to get old. Blue wondered how it would feel after more than the day he had been back had passed.

The door to the Lab rescued him from his thoughts by sliding open. Alphys was standing there in all her awkward glory. Her lab coat was buttoned wrong, the buttons off by one hole. The circles under her eyes said that she hadn't gotten a whole lot of sleep lately. Blue felt guilty for about a minute before he remembered that Alphys always looked like that. Her claws were fidgeting nervously and she looked ready to bolt.

"Sans, what- wait, sorry. Um, it's Blue now, right? I read your Undernet post, I did! I have a few questions, though."

Blue smiled at her and said, "i figured you would. i have a few for you, too. like, how did you bring me back here, and can it be reverse engineered to do something else? i need to get my soulmate back, but i don't want to lose you guys. i've got a plan, but i need your help to make it work. please?"

Alphys stood up straighter. He knew she would. She really needed the confidence that came from being able to help someone with something only she could do. He hoped this would help her. He missed his lab buddy and anime friend.

"I-I-I can do that. First, though, I've got a few questions for you. Like, why is your chest covered in bandages? I know what that looks like, so don't try to lie," Alphys said with narrowed eyes.

Blue winced. He had really hoped that no one would notice that. Now Alphys and Papyrus were both staring at him like he was on the witness block. He chuckled nervously and said, "um… it's kind of a long story? the former queen there did a lot of bad things, including carving a spell into my soulmate's chest that bound him to her? then she got mad when he didn't want to tell her about me and tortured him. we busted him out, but we needed to deal with that seal or else it would have killed him. the only way to do that was to bind him to someone else, so i volunteered, but i didn't want it to be one way, so they carved the same seal into my chest to bind me to him? but i volunteered for it!"

Alphys looked shocked. Blue knew she could fill in the details. She knew a lot more about that kind of sealing magic than Papyrus did… at least, Blue hoped she did. Papyrus' angry expression indicated that he knew more than Blue had thought.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS SOONER, SA- BLUE? I'M SURE WE SHOULD HAVE CHANGED THE BANDAGES ON IT!"

Blue gulped and said, honestly, "i didn't want to worry you, bro."

"That's not really fair to him, Blue. He's been worried sick about you for weeks! You've been gone ever since the human came through, and-" Alphys admonished him, but he interrupted her.

"a human? there was a human who came through here? no one said anything about a human!"

Both Papyrus and Alphys winced. Papyrus said, "I KNOW YOU SAID THAT THE HUMAN WHO CAME THROUGH BEFORE KILLED PEOPLE, BUT THIS ONE WAS NICE! THEY EVEN MADE FRIENDS WITH UNDYNE! THEY SAID THEY WOULD SEARCH THE FOREST FOR YOU! NO ONE HAS SEEN THEM SINCE THEN."

Blue shivered, thinking of what had happened to his brother last time around. "tell me if you see them again, okay? just because they were nice before doesn't mean they always would be."

Papyrus nodded. "I WILL, BROTHER. NOW, PLEASE, ANSWER ALPHYS' QUESTIONS."

Blue turned to her, and she gulped. "Um… how long were you there for? Was it the same amount of time that you were gone from here?"

"dunno," Blue said with a shrug, his body still tense with the worry he had for the human, "i was unconscious for some of it, and i didn't really keep count of how long i was there. it felt like a while, though. definitely in the range of weeks. how long was i gone here?"

"3 MONTHS, 2 WEEKS, 4 DAYS, 7 HOURS, AND 15 MINUTES. I WAS TOLD I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO KEEP TRACK OF THE SECONDS, BUT IT WAS 13."

Blue felt his mouth drop open in shock. That was nearly four months! "that's… that's a lot, bro. no wonder you were so worried. i thought when you said weeks that it was, like, two, maybe three max. i didn't realize it was months."

"DON'T FORGET THE 13 SECONDS!" Papyrus chastised him.

Blue smiled. That was Papyrus, alright. His brother had an amazing memory for and attention to details, he just didn't always want to show it. "i won't, bro. i won't." Then he turned to Alphys. "do you have anymore questions, alph?"

Alphys nodded and pulled out her phone. When he saw that, Blue winced. Alphys only wrote stuff down when she had a lot. "Okay, um-"

"why don't you just text me the list, alphys? it's not in your handwriting, right? then-" He asked.

She glared at him. "-you should be able to read it? very funny, Sa- Blue. I'll have you know I've been working on that."

Blue grinned. "aww, you're making it worse? how thoughtful of you, alph. your handwriting has been horrible for as long as i have known you. heck, it was even horrible in the other universe! of course, her hands were scarred, so she had an excuse."

"WOWIE, THAT WAS REMARKABLY RUDE, EVEN FOR YOU, BROTH- WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING, DR. ALPHYS?" Papyrus asked suspiciously.

"It's an inside joke, Papyrus, from when we were younger," Alphys explained, "One I had almost forgotten about. It's not really as mean as it sounds. Why don't you get Blue to explain it to you back at your house? I'll, um, text him about my questions. His jokes work better written down anyway."

"aww, i'm touched!" Blue said with a snigger, "you're finally coming around to liking them."

"I didn't say they were good, I just said they worked better. -11 and -10 are both still negative numbers, but one is closer to being positive than the other."

Papyrus nodded and picked Blue up very carefully. "ON THAT, AT LEAST, WE CAN AGREE. COME, BROTHER! LET US STOP INFLICTING YOUR HORRIBLE JOKES ON DR. ALPHYS AND GET YOU HOME! DON'T THINK YOU'VE GOTTEN OUT OF ME SEEING WHAT YOUR CHEST LOOKS LIKE. I'M SURE WE SHOULD HAVE CHANGED YOUR BANDAGES AT LEAST ONCE!"

Blue waved at Alphys as he was carried out the door. "see you later, alph! looking forward to reading your texts!"

With that, the door to the labs slid shut behind them and they made their shaky way home.

Razz was more than happy to kiss his soulmate for the first time. They had truly grown close, and, more than that, Razz wanted him. He wanted to know what his lips felt like. He wanted to know what Blue tasted like. He wanted to know so many things, and this kiss was the first step towards all of them. That didn't mean it wasn't a big step. So, when Blue didn't immediately kiss him, Razz charitably gave him more time. It sounded like this would be Blue's first kiss, and that was a big, scary thing. He could understand a little hesitation.

A little turned into a lot, but Razz was patient. He would stay here and wait for his soulmate to kiss him as long as it took.

What broke Razz out of his waiting was the flare of panic from his bond. He opened his eyes, reassuring words on his lips for the monster who… wasn't there? Razz felt his own panic enter the mix as he searched the area. The only footprints in the snow were theirs from when they came in. No footprints led out, so Blue hadn't walked out of here. Razz summoned his magic loosely in the clearing and concentrated. The lingering traces of magic that filled the clearing were incredibly powerful. They swirled unhappily like a pig screams, a vortex of evil he hoped he would never hear again. The other thing about the magic, the thing that really worried him, was that it didn't belong. It felt alien and unwelcome… and yet, familiar. It had a taste to it that reminded him of Blue.

Razz had a suspicion about that, but he wasn't going to act on it without more information. In order to get that information he needed help. He whipped out his phone and texted his brother urgently.

Anger swept through him, but it wasn't his. It belonged to Blue, and Razz was surprised at how strong it felt. It didn't last long, though. It was quickly swept aside by shock, longing, and growing excitement. Razz smiled. At least, wherever he was, Blue wasn't sad. That combination of emotions felt like what Razz often felt when he unexpectedly met someone he liked after a long time apart. Maybe… no. He wasn't going to speculate until he knew more.

"what's wrong, razz? i thought you and blue were going for a walk. where is he?"

Razz turned to his brother with growing worry in his eye sockets. Slim had teleported behind a tree, and he was looking around in confusion.

"THAT, BROTHER, IS THE PROBLEM. BLUE IS GONE. SOMETHING TOOK HIM JUST AS WE WERE ABOUT TO KISS, AND HE HAS BEEN PANICKED AND CONFUSED, AS HAVE I. THERE IS A STRANGE MAGIC IN THE AIR HERE AND I NEED YOUR HELP TO TRACE IT."

Slim stood up straighter and his magic filtered into the clearing like smoke from a fog machine. He whistled. "damn, that's powerful. i'll need to get some equipment. be right back."

Slim disappeared for only a few seconds. He came back with some kind of a machine in his hands. Razz couldn't even begin to fathom its purpose, but that was alright. Understanding weird machines was one of the things his brother was best at. This machine lit up with a series of seven different colours before finally settling on a light blue. Slim frowned at it, shook it a little, then turned to Razz with an expression of pity on his face. Razz already hated it. It had the air of something that wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

"razz… he's gone."

He glared at Slim. "YES, I KNOW THAT. I NEED YOU TO TELL ME WHERE HE IS."

Slim gulped. That was never a good sign, especially with the way he was edging his way closer to Razz with every second. "no, razz, i mean… he's gone, gone. like, there's no way i should be getting the kinds of readings i am with him still alive."

The glare that Razz directed at Slim was scorching. "HE'S ALIVE. I WOULD KNOW IF HE WERE DEAD. BESIDES, DEAD PEOPLE DON'T EMOTE. RIGHT NOW HE IS ECSTATIC."

Slim stopped inching forward and sighed. "fine, razz. don't believe the equipment. what do you want me to do, get the entire underground out to search for him? because they won't find him. he's not here."

"OF COURSE HE'S NOT HERE!" Razz almost shouted at his brother, "I THINK HE GOT KIDNAPPED BACK TO HIS HOME UNIVERSE! HE WAS SO STARTLED AND HAPPY, LIKE HE GOT TO SEE SOMEONE HE'S BEEN MISSING FOR A LONG TIME. I THINK HE GOT TO SEE HIS BROTHER AGAIN."

Slim blinked at him, then examined the data on his machine again. "that would explain some of these readings… actually, that makes more sense than him suddenly being dead."

Razz rolled his eyes. "OBVIOUSLY. NOW, CAN YOU WORK OUT A WAY FOR US TO GET HIM BACK? OR IS THERE ANY WAY FOR US TO CONTACT HIM OR SEE HIM? THEN WE COULD GET HIM TO WORK ON THIS, TOO."

Consideration crossed Slim's face. He stared at his machine, then nodded. "i think i could hack into his phone from here. would that work?"

Razz smiled. "THAT WOULD BE EXCELLENT."