The trek was quiet beyond the sounds of the forest and their footfall in the snow. The sliding of well kept plate armor and clothing was an undertone to the harsh crunching against the ice layer beneath the fresh powder. Occasionally there would be muttered words or the sound of sniffing but it was nothing more than the canine monsters as they wandered the border of the mass of people and reported any findings.
There weren't many.
A hand settled on his shoulder and he jumped, looking over at Undyne. Her good eye held concern as she asked softly, "How you holding up?"
"I'm fine, Undyne," he offered with an amused smile.
Her gaze hardened. "Your hands are shaking."
Surprise rushed through him as he looked down. Sure enough his hands were trembling in the gloves he couldn't remember shoving on. He clenched his hands into fists, trying desperately to stave off the tremors. Her grip tightened on his shoulder and he fought the urge to shrug it off. "I can lead from here if you want to head back to the lab."
Alex shook his head. "No. I want to help find them." He met Undyne's gaze again. "If I'm not there helping, I'll just kill myself with worry. Besides," they stepped around a clutch of trees and the ruins of a building were suddenly ahead of them, "it would be pointless to leave now." He turned as the group behind them came to a stop, Asgore the only one approaching. The boss monster's expression was hard but Alex recognized it for the mask that it was. "Here's the main entrance to the building." Asgore stopped before he stepped fully between Alex and Undyne. Alex studied his face. "Does it look familiar?"
After a moment's hesitation, Asgore confessed, "I am not sure. It feels as if I should know this building but I do not know if it is time's affect on the building or myself that makes it unrecognizable."
Alex nodded, stepping back as Asgore moved forward, a pair of canine monsters rushing forward to follow. Undyne stepped up to Alex's side, questioning, "What made you think Asgore would recognize it?"
Alex gave her a side look. "Because he's a boss monster, one that has lived so long to be able to say that he had lived during the times of the Overworld War. On top of that, he and Toriel have been in Snowdin since their children passed away some 77 years ago and then some. If anyone knows the lands, it would be them." He looked back at the building. "Not to mention this building is currently being occupied by one Dr. W.D. Gaster, the original Royal Scientist. If this had been the monster's home or lab, it would have given us a bit better of a chance of knowing the layout. As much as we scientists isolate ourselves, Asgore and Toriel are very personable and would have made house calls to check up on both the progress of the projects and how the scientist is handling the strain, making sure that breaks are taken and proper food is consumed before proper rest is found."
Undyne arched an eye ridge at him. "They do that? As Royals?"
Alex shrugged, watching as the trio returned from their scouting of the building's perimeter. "You and I both know that their old titles have no standing anymore. The Council had offered them places on it, had encouraged it, but after the death of their children and so many others, after so many years of service, they retired. Now they simply run the Snowdin Lab out of something to do and they're good at making sure their scientists tend to themselves properly." He shot Undyne a smile as the canine monsters rushed by back to the group. "Did you never once question why there were actual living quarters in the lab? Why each of us were granted living quarters for loved ones and personal work spaces? The Dreemurrs led the construction and expansion of the Snowdin Lab."
"That had been quite an enjoyable experience as well," Asgore added as he joined them, a pleasant smile on his face. "I am glad the Council allowed Tori and I to retire after everything. So much good has come of it."
Alex hummed in agreement.
Asgore placed a large paw on both Alex's and Undyne's backs guiding them gently back towards the main body of the group. "Come. I want one last word before we enter."
Alex fell into step without another word, though he could feel Undyne's eye on him.
"There was no sign of activity or security from the boundaries," Asgore spoke, his expression serious even as he didn't remove his paw from Alex's back. "The front door looks feeble enough that I am going to send Dogi and Spencer to see if they can get in quietly and carefully." The two canine monsters that had checked the house with Asgore moved towards a human. The human nodded. "Don't forget to check to see if the door is already unlocked but be careful opening the door regardless," Asgore directed to the human specifically before returning his attention to the whole group. "Once they have gained entrance, they will scout ahead as we file in behind them. Alex will take the lead at this point and guide us to the first sublevel. Once there, we fan out in teams of twos and threes looking for Sans and Papyrus and any other survivors. Avoid killing anyone to the best of your ability. Any questions?" There was a number of heads that were shook no but no one actually said anything. "Good. Then let us find the brothers."
The trio dashed ahead and Alex settled back at the edge of the forest. Undyne seemed to be his shadow now as she joined him without a word. A few minutes later, they all watched the front door open and the three dashed in. Alex shifted but offered no words when Undyne glanced his way. There were no words to be spared as they all waited for some sort of signal, good or bad.
Dogamy returned to the door and gestured for them to follow.
Alex raced across the grounds, Undyne easily keeping pace even as he hit the deck's stairs. He was across the threshold first, his footfall unpracticed but as soft as he could make it as he walked carefully into the space. The place looked thoroughly abandoned, not even a piece of furniture remaining to dictate that anyone had once lived there. The trio that had entered first had found the stairs down a side hallway and Alex nodded to them before he started down, Undyne so close that he feared she would trip him up on their descent.
That never happened and his foot touched level ground without an issue. It was unbelievably dark and it was only thanks to the spear Undyne had summoned that he had any light to see by. She passed him the spear as she summoned another one. He stepped away from the stairs, orienting himself with the maps he had looked over enough to have nearly memorized. He briefly noted that a few other monsters had created their own lights through their magic. The brightest light came from Asgore's trident where a flame had nestled among the prongs. Alex caught the boss monster's gaze long enough to receive a nod before he turned and started walking down the hallway he hoped would lead to where he needed it to go.
Thankfully it went unobscured and he was able to continue on to a new hallway some minutes into his search.
The next turn proved how close they had gotten as he found one end of the hallway bathed in low light from the room at the end. He moved towards it but a hand around his bicep stopped him. He looked back to see Undyne and some human Alex didn't know there with him, Undyne's hard gaze on him.
"Don't go wandering off on your own," she growled out, voice barely audible even in the silence.
He pulled his arm from her grip, finding that her hold broke rather easily all things considered. "I had thought you were with me," he answered honestly, his voice just as soft. "Besides, you have to be as eager as I am to find them before Dr. Gaster discovers we're here and does something to them."
She gritted her teeth. He was right and he could see she was not ok with that. Still, she nodded but instead of letting him go on ahead, she took point, giving him a pointed look when he tried to surpass her. As they neared the lit end of the hallway, Undyne directed him and the other human up against the left wall. They stopped at the edge of the space and Alex took in the expansive room beyond.
It was a wreck, tech and equipment everywhere. Wires, cables, and pipes looked corroded and in desperate need of replacement. There was clear signs of electricity being fed through some cables that were dangerously exposed and Alex couldn't help but shudder. Undyne glanced back at him.
"Where to, brainiac?" she asked.
He gave her a flat look. "Let me lead."
She glared at him but he didn't waver. With a soft sigh, she stepped out of his way.
Hunched low, Alex moved forward, gaze going back and forth to take in all the room that he could see during his slow progress through it. He could hear Undyne and the other human behind him, moving with him. It felt like ages till they reached the other side of the room. There was a giant machine of sorts blocking their view but when Alex glanced around it, he saw-
"Sans!" he hissed but the skeleton did not stir. Undyne, however, moved to look around the object as well, pressing a hand into his back to keep either him in place or herself steady. She edged out farther than he had only to come back, hand tangled in his jacket and forcing him to follow her some ways back the way they had come.
"They are both strapped down," Undyne informed them, eye wary but her expression hard, "and it doesn't look like our big bad is anywhere nearby. Let's backtrack and get the others."
Alex grabbed at her wrist, his grip as hard as he could make it around the fabric armor. "We can't just leave them," he ground out. "We leave and we run the risk of him returning and doing the brothers more harm. There are three of us. We go in, grab them, and book it back to the others. No big deal."
Undyne shook her head. "It's too much of a risk. If this Gaster returns-"
"Then we run, right?" the other human supplied, clearly on Alex's side with this. "Meaning no offence, Captain, but the scientist has a point. Not to mention we would be wasting precious time going back to only return here. If we move quickly, this will be a non-issue and we can leave this place completely."
Undyne growled, not appreciating being out numbered, but their logic had worn her down. She gave a sharp nod. "Fine. But let me break their bonds. Grison, you grab Sans. Alex, you'll help me with Papyrus."
The two humans nodded.
Undyne moved back to the edge of the machine and looked around as Alex came up right behind her, waiting. When Undyne dashed forward, Alex was right behind her, the other human on his heels. As much as he wanted to go to Sans first, he passed the stout skeleton slowly coming to at the commotion he was certain they were making. Papyrus made no such reaction.
"Ullux?" Sans slurred from his table, the sound jarring in the silence. "Wuz goen on?"
No one answered him as spears twirled into existence over the lock parts of the bindings and sliced through with such precision that the bindings were cleanly cut while the skeletons were left untouched. Alex caught Papyrus with a grunt, the lanky skeleton's dead weight being far more than he had anticipated. It seemed the other human was far better prepared to catch Sans for when Alex glanced over Sans was draped over the human's back, arms dangling over the human's shoulder and legs being brought up on either side of the human's waist so that the human could hook his arms underneath the skeleton's knees.
"Were u taken us?" Sans slurred some more, this time the words sounding like a demand.
Undyne took Papyrus off of Alex and hefted the skeleton into a fireman's carry. Alex was partially perplexed on why Undyne even had him help in the first place till he remembered she had been the one to break the skeletons' bonds. Knowing Undyne had it from there, he quickly hurried to the other human's side, careful hand pressing against Sans's exposed cheek. "We're getting you home, Sans," Alex whispered, his thumb rubbing against bone he had feared he would never touch again. "Just stay quiet, ok?"
"M'kay," Sans mumbled, what faint pupils had formed vanishing as Sans seemed to fall unconscious again.
Alex looked to Undyne and nodded. "Let's go," he breathed.
She gestured with her head for the human with Sans to go ahead of her but nothing she did got Alex to get ahead of her so she settled with having him keeping close to her side, watching her back. Alex was glad she had because no sooner had they slipped beyond the machine did the room flood with light. Alex tried to clear his eyes of spots as Undyne yelled, "Run!"
Desperation shoved his feet after her and managed to keep pace with the laden fish monster. A voice reverberated through the space in words that made no sense and caused them all to flinch. But even as his ears heard noises that made no sense, Alex's mind was filled with a voice that echoes and reverberated in ways that hurt.
"ANd whERE EXACTly dO yOU THINk yOU aRE gOiNg?"
"Faster!" Alex screamed without glancing back. He had no need to. Whatever Gaster had become was making enough noise for Alex to know that they were losing ground rapidly.
They passed into the hallway they had come from and, for a brief - foolish – moment, he thought they were going to be safe, that they were going to be free.
Then something slammed into his back, tendrils slapping around his torso to grip tightly, and he knew that he had been so very wrong.
Yanked backwards, he let out an involuntary cry at the painful change in directions. Undyne and the other human slowed but he was dragged too quickly back into the large lab space to know if they actually turned around or kept going.
He hoped they kept running.
Whatever was dragging him through the space wasn't overly careful as he bumped and banged into different objects, all hard, all unforgiving. By the time he was flung to the floor, his entire body ached from the mistreatment and he reached up with a shaking hand to fix his glasses.
The room came into better focus and he found the space to be unfamiliar, not that it meant much. Clambering shakily to his feet, he made to get out of there but was slammed into some wall. Whatever had thrown him into the unyielding surface was still pressed against his torso, tendrils oozing slowly around his chest to encompass him in full as the mass that was now Dr. W.D. Gaster came into view.
He jerked against the mass pinning him, hands pressing into the goopy mass only to have it slowly give under his pushing and sucking his arms into the goop still oozing to encompass his torso. He jerked again, this time jerking backwards and hitting his head against the unforgiving wall.
Pain flared through his skull that only intensified with the distorted chuckle that rang through it.
"YOU caN STruggLe aLL you WaNt. ThERe iS nOWheRe fOR you TO gO."
He forced an eye open against the pain, flinching away as a tendril reached towards his face as what passed as Gaster's face moved closer.
A shudder ran down his spine when the tendril rubbed against the bridge of his nose and he opened his eyes to stare up at a hazy Gaster, the tendril dangling his glasses before his face. The goop around his torso was starting to climb his neck.
"piTy You'rE brOKEN."
He had only a moment to gasp at the sensation of some of the slimy goop slipping under his shirt and sliding to his chest before pain erupted from where the sensation stopped. He tried to curl up, tried to get away, but whatever was digging its way into his chest was spreading throughout his body. There was nothing he could do except scream as the pain and whatever was filling him reached through his limbs and started to crawl up through his neck. He squeezed his eyes shut, gave one last futile attempt to break free as his pain filled scream turned fearful.
He knew nothing more when it touched his brain.
Sans wasn't sure what he was seeing was real. There, beside his brother, was Alex. Magic made spears that were oddly familiar were materializing over Papyrus's bindings and, for a moment, he feared the worst.
But then Papyrus was falling from his bindings and Sans suddenly found him chest against someone's back he didn't know. To even summon pupils hurt but even the faint ones he formed cleared his vision enough for him to watch Papyrus being hefted onto Undyne's shoulders from where he laid dead weight on the stranger's back. There was a jostle, like the human was hefting him higher up, and the words spilled out in a slur without his bidding.
"Were u taken us?"
The Alex he could barely make out stepped clearly into view, hand coming up to cup his face. Sans felt a shudder race down his spine at the contact.
"We're getting you home, Sans," Alex whispered, his thumb rubbing against Sans's cheek. "Just stay quiet, ok?"
"M'kay," Sans mumbled, what faint pupils he had formed vanishing as he fully slumped against the stranger holding him. If Alex said they were going home, he trusted him, even with as foolish as that was.
Alex looked to Undyne and nodded. "Let's go," he breathed.
There was sudden jostling and Sans barely registered that the stranger he was draped across had gone first as the blurry world started to dash by. There was a moment, a pause as they made their way back towards some exit and then the room flooded with light. He flinched from the sudden sensory assault as Undyne yelled, "Run!" somewhere behind him.
The stranger carrying him made no attempt to make it a smooth ride and he couldn't blame them in his foggy mind. Especially not when that voice rattled through his head making his hands twitch.
"ANd whERE EXACTly dO yOU THINk yOU aRE gOiNg?"
"Faster!" Alex screamed somewhere behind him. Sans felt his soul quicken at that. How far did they have to go? Would they make it in time?
The lighting changed drastically and it was with faint pupils that he took in a hallway he couldn't remember them entering. He raised his head as best he could and looked back.
Magic condensed rapidly into pinprick pupils as he watched Gaster slam a tendril into Alex's back, a spider web of smaller tendrils slapping around the human's torso, and yanked him back towards the lab they were leaving.
He wasn't sure if it was him or Alex that had screamed.
Probably both.
"Keep moving!" Undyne barked even as the human carrying him seemed to speed up.
"But what about-" the stranger started but Undyne cut him off.
"He'll have to survive until I can get aid."
Chatter drew Sans's attention from the shrinking doorway behind them and he turned to see Asgore and others pouring into the hallway. Undyne moved passed the slowing human carrying Sans and carefully passed Papyrus to the Dogi. The couple was very careful, supporting the unconscious skeleton well.
"Alex was captured," Undyne quickly explained to Asgore. "We have to go back for him."
Asgore nodded, looking to those that gathered. "Wait here. We'll take the most direct route out as soon as we have Alex."
There was a collection of nods as the pair raced back towards the lab. Sans watched them go as screams started to reach them. Sans bit back some noise that had climbed up the back of his throat and pulled at the human's top even as exhaustion begged him to sleep again. "Put me down." The human glanced back at him but he didn't give them a chance to argue as he repeated, "Put me down. Now."
The human complied without a word, setting him on shaking legs. But they stayed under him and he found that he couldn't bring himself to ease the fist tangled in the human's top.
The screams suddenly changed and Sans took a step forward, magic churning inside him so painful that he would have collapsed to the floor had the human not wrapped their arms around his chest.
"Alex," he croaked, pushing against the human's arms even as he was pulled upright.
"They'll rescue him, Sans," the human urged, not letting go. "But they can only do that if you stay here."
The majority of the lights suddenly went out in the lab. What light remained flickered and danced in a way that made Sans uneasy. And just as he was trying to figure out what was going on, the smell of smoke touched his senses.
His pupils shrank. "Fire," he whispered as his right socket throbbed. His entire body started to shake and he gripped at the arms holding him up. "Oh stars."
"Sans?" the human asked but he ignored them, left socket trained on the end of the hallway as he pressed his hand against his right socket trying to ease the sudden pain.
The flames were being fueled by something potent because it wasn't long before the fire was making its way down the hallway. The body of people slowly moved back the way they had come till the fire cut them off. Sans barely noticed that those that had made it down the side hallway were returning looking scared and defeated.
"How do we get out now?" someone asked.
A thought flickered through his mind and he spoke without moving his gaze from the inferno heading their way, "There's an exit at the other end of this hallway. It leads into the surrounding forest."
"We should start heading that way," another said.
Someone else shot back, "Not without Asgore and Undyne."
"I'm not getting burned alive!"
There was movement at the fire filled end of the hallway and suddenly Asgore came bursting through the wall of flames, Undyne right on his tail with spears appearing and firing at something.
And then Gaster appeared and Sans jerked back, nearly throwing himself and the human off balance.
The tar mass that was Gaster was spreading, tendrils slapping against the wall as he was spread out so that the entire other end of the hallway was obscured by his mass. Other tendrils shot out and forward, some getting impaled by Undyne's spears, others dodging but not making any actual progress in grabbing either escaping prey. The hallway was quickly shortening as Gaster came after them.
Asgore was upon them all far too soon, meaning Gaster was not too far behind.
"To the exit!" Asgore barked, and Sans found himself suddenly hefted up onto the human's back before being carried away from the monster chasing them all.
There was a rumble, low but telling, and Sans tore his gaze from Gaster in time to watch the ceiling give out. Somehow the fire had spread to the floor above them because when the ceiling gave between Gaster and the group of fleeing humans and monsters, there was quite a bit of burning material that nearly crushed Undyne in the process of halting Gaster's progress. Undyne raced ahead, no longer burdened with the task of protecting the back of the fleeing group.
But Sans was unable to keep from watching the burning blockade as Gaster screamed in rage. It wasn't till the brisk night air hit him that he realized they had made it outside.
Somewhere in the trees a large fire was ragimg. He wondered if it was the rest of the lab.
"How's Alex?" Undyne asked as those running came to a stop some distance from the exit.
Sans looked over to the boss monster being questioned and found Asgore's arms laden with an unconscious Alex. "I don't know," Asgore confessed, meeting Sans's gaze over Undyne's shoulder. "But we'll get them all home and checked over. There's no need to stay here now that we have Sans and Papyrus back."
There was a collective agreement as the group started for the Snowdin lab. Sans fought the exhaustion as best he could but was unable to keep the darkness at bay. It took over as the lab came into view and he was unconscious before the human carrying him made it to the parking lot.
When he woke again, he found himself in his room staring at a ceiling he hadn't realized he had missed till that moment. He looked over to his bedside and found it empty. It made his soul hurt to not find someone there waiting for him to wake up.
Pushing himself upright was exhausting but he wasn't about to lay about when he knew nothing of his brother's condition nor Alex's. He shuffled his way over to the door and opened it, stepping out into a quiet hallway. He hadn't bothered to glance at the clock and see what the time was. It didn't matter. What mattered was finding out how his brother and Alex were doing.
His soul twisted at the thought of what Gaster could have done to Alex and he quickened his pace as best he could.
He found Papyrus's room first but it was empty, though there were clear signs that it had been used recently. Turning, he started in the direction he had just come from aiming for Alex's room.
It was there he found the others. Papyrus was seated in a chair beside Alex's occupied bed, Toriel and Asgore standing near the door as Undyne was seated in a chair at the foot of Alex's bed, Alphys on the floor leaning back against Undyne's legs with Undyne's arms draped over her shoulders. For some reason there was a potted flower with a face sitting in Papyrus's lap.
"So what's the damage?" Sans asked, his voice coming out gravelly and lower than normal.
Everyone looked at him but he only had eyes for his brother and the unconscious Alex in the bed. Alex looked sickly pale as Papyrus looked exhausted and thin. The last who knew how long had not been kind to either of them and Papyrus's magic was not able to fill out the clothes draped over his bones like it normally would have, making Papyrus look as skinny as his physical form truly was. It was a haunting image.
Sans wondered if he was the only one to see the orange magic churning in Papyrus's sockets, not as tears but as barely restrained magic.
"Gaster did something to Alex but they're not sure what," Papyrus spoke, expression hard. "I've been given the green light to move about but they said that the trait infusion may have done some unforeseen damage to my system."
"T-t-trait infusions like w-what Papyrus went th-through usually h-have some sort of r-repercussions," Alphys supplied meekly from her spot on the floor.
Sans turned his attention back to Papyrus. "How do you feel about it?"
Papyrus shrugged, exhaustion creeping into his hard expression. "Right now, exhausted but not any different. That may be due to the lack of magic from Gaster's last experiment."
Sans nodded, remembering how Gaster had forced Papyrus to expel so much magic that it had left Sans wondering if he would even have a brother when Gaster made him finally stop. It hadn't helped that Gaster had done the same thing to him before turning on Papyrus.
"They found Frisk."
Sans jerked at that, sockets wide as they focused on the potted flower in Papyrus's hands. There, in the center of the petals, was a round face with few details beyond a pair of eyes and a mouth. The expression he was seeing was guarded and wary. "They found Frisk about the same time they found you and Papyrus," the flower continued.
"Flowey's right," Toriel spoke, causing Sans to jump. Her expression was hard to read when he looked over but he was sure that concern and regret was part of it. "Asgore's group found the child in a cell not far from where you and your brother were found."
"Did you find any others?" Sans snapped, not sure if it was fear or anger that had made his words sharp.
"No," Asgore spoke, expression hard as he stepped forward and partially in front of Toriel. Sans lowered his face to show that he hadn't meant anything by it. "Only the one child. Should we have found others?"
Sans shook his head. "The other was a menace, completely controlled by Gaster. If you were only able to find and save one, I'm glad it was Frisk and not Chara."
"Could Chara have made it out?" Papyrus asked.
Sans looked over. He couldn't read Papyrus's expression and wasn't sure if he really wanted to. "It wouldn't surprise me but I'm not sure where they would have gone."
"Could we save Chara, too?"
Sans focused on Flowey. "Why would you want to rescue them?"
"Because they aren't truly mindless." Sans arched an eye ridge at the flower. He doubted that and Flowey seemed to understand that for he explained, "Chara was made long before Frisk and behaved very similarly in the beginning. They had been kind, caring, and did as Gaster asked, up to a point. It wasn't till the other experiments started to fail and Gaster started making Chara destroy them that they changed. When Frisk had been created, they had tried to help Chara but, at that point, Chara was beyond whatever help Frisk could offer."
Silence met his words and Sans, for the first time since all this started, felt sympathy for the child with the same name as the villain in his dream.
"When Frisk awakes, we will ask them if they know where this Chara may have gone if they had survived," Toriel spoke up. Sans caught sight of her expression and was unsurprised to see her moved and determined. He smiled weakly. Toriel had always been rather fond of children, especially since her own had passed so long ago.
Flowey nodded, leaning into Papyrus's soft touch as the skeleton stroked the flower's petals.
"So how long till he wakes up?" Sans asked, turning his gaze once more to Alex.
The response - surprisingly - came from Undyne this time. "We don't know. Could be a few hours, could be a couple of days. Until we know what Gaster did to him, we don't have any answers."
Sans shifted his gaze to his brother to find Papyrus studying him. Sans, for his part, merely held his brother's gaze. He knew deep in his soul that neither he nor Papyrus were going to just up and abandon Alex. The human could be in a coma for years or wake up not remembering them at all and they would still stick around and make sure Alex was safe, healthy, and well taken care of till they turned to dust.
He prayed to whatever deity was listening that Alex actually woke up.
He wasn't sure Papyrus would make it through losing Alex after all this.
He certainly wouldn't survive that sick twist of fate, that's for sure.