dreemtime chapter 36
There was a motel five minutes outside of Arrow Valley, to the north. It took the odd gang half an hour to get there. The sky was so dark it looked like night and the second the group stepped outside, one could be forgiven for thinking they'd just dragged themselves out of a lake. Most of Papyrus's makeup had washed off.
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The place was a long, two storey building with a similar quaint aesthetic to the buildings in town. The mostly empty parking lot was flooded and the power was still out. They managed to procure two of the rooms on the second floor and gladly piled inside one of them.
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The place was mostly brown and white, with two large beds, some cushy chairs, a small fridge, and a bathroom at the rear. Ellie seemed nervous, clinging tight to either June or Papyrus— whoever was closer— but curious, too. As the monsters undisguised themselves, Ellie peeked under the bed and into the bathroom.
"Where's Daddy?" she asked.
"He's on his way, sweetie," June assured her. She hopped over to Sans, who was sat on the edge of a bed with his phone, still rather bundled up. "Did you tell them where we were?" she asked at a whisper.
"Yeah. Just sent the room number. Haven't heard from either of 'em, though," he said. "No alerts from the cops, either."
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"Here, everyone, eat something," Papyrus said. He passed out the citrus and white chocolate cookies he had stored away to each person. "Keep your energy up!"
"Where'd you get these?" June asked, nibbling on the edge of one. Her eyes lit up. "Oh, it's good."
"Doctor Alphys made them! She's a short nerdy lizard," Papyrus said.
"She's real cute," Undyne said quietly.
"Is she yellow, with glasses? I met her, for a second, I think," June said. She froze. "Wait, is this magic?"
"Absolutely it is!" Papyrus said. "Or weeee couldn't eat them."
"Technically we could, it just wouldn't do much except get crumbs everywhere," Sans said, pointing between himself and his brother. He unravelled himself, took off his gloves, and put his hood down. "It's safe."
June looked relieved; even more so when she realized that Ellie had already scarfed down two.
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The little kid ran up to Sans and put her hand on his leg, bouncing up to look him in the face. "Is that your real face?"
"Yeah," he said.
"Why d'you look like that?" she asked.
"Welp." He carefully grabbed her soul in magic— the scar on his right hand glowed blue in tandem— and plunked her up to sit on the bed, which made June's eyes just about bug out of her head. "Me and my bro, we're skeletons."
"Oh? Skeletons? Oh no… What'd you die of?"
"All kinds of stuff," Sans joked.
"Sans! Don't be like that! We aren't dead at all, small human!" Papyrus said. "We! Are two of the three skeletons! A very proud and smart and strong kind of monster!" He grinned and stuck a thumb up. "And also very friendly! Possibly the friendliest!"
"Besides dogs," Sans said.
"Yes, well, besides dogs," Papyrus conceded.
"Two of… You said that before, are there… really so few?" June asked. "What happened?"
"The war," Sans said with a shrug.
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The woman's face paled. Ellie seemed not to notice. She grabbed Sans's hand and looked at it curiously.
"Why do you have this red on you?" she asked.
"He's clumsy," Papyrus said.
"True," he said. "S'fine. Just a scar."
"Are… all skeleton scars so bright?" she asked. She rolled up her sleeve and pointed to a small line of discolouration on her upper arm. "I got this one from a dumb stick! But mine's not bright. And it doesn't glow!"
"Magic glows, kid," Undyne said.
"No, some scars look like…!" Papyrus checked the back of his hand. He frowned, pouted, and then patted himself down. "Brother, do I have any scars?!"
"Small one where you broke your arm."
"Oh! Yes! That one." He rolled up his sleeves and looked at his forearms. "Aaaaand I can't find it. Well. It's quite faint."
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"Hey, if we're showin' scars…" Undyne grinned her big, sharp teeth and whipped off her jacket. Flexing her huge arms in her tank-top showed off a plethora of marks she bore with pride. She almost pointed to her working eye, then quickly corrected. "Got a big one here, too, wanna see?"
Though Ellie was alert, eyes glimmering, June intercepted, a smile straining her face.
"Th-That's not necessary," she said
The kid leaned around June. "What are you, Miss Blue?" she said to Undyne, bouncing on the mattress.
"Uh. A fish, I guess. Like… I think we were called mer like a million years ago, but nobody really uses that anymore," she said. "And I'm Undyne, remember?"
The kid tilted her head and stuck out her tongue. "Un-dime."
"Un. Dyne."
"Okay! Why do none of you looks like goats though?" She held up her book and pointed to the cover.
"Her dad looks like that," Sans said, levelling a finger at the big blue monster.
"Yeah, my…" She faltered, eye wide, but she cracked a smile. "Yeah, he does."
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Ellie looked a little confused, but she nodded. She sat back with her tiger and clutched it tight to her chest. She looked at June. "Can I go to the bathroom?"
"Yes, of course, over here," June said quickly. She ushered the kid back there to the little other room, gave her a phone for light, and closed the door for her.
"Nyeh, but it's so wet outside, why would she want another bath?" Papyrus wondered.
June shook her head. "Oh, no, that's—"
"Humans are kinda weird like that," Sans said.
"I thought it was some weird thing to do with human food or something?" Undyne said.
"Humans are a little confusing, aren't they?" Papyrus said, a puzzled tilt in his brow. "Did I know much more about humans in the other time, or were they just as confusing?"
"Both," Sans said with a grin.
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"I… guess it must be a little bit of culture shock, huh?" June said, plunking herself against the wall. "All of this is, I guess." She sighed and looked at Sans. "Anything?"
"I'll let ya know."
"I'm getting worried," she said.
"Do you think Mettaton's okay?" Papyrus wondered. "…Also why is he a ghost, by the way?"
Sans shrugged.
"Man, this timeline is whack," Undyne grumbled. "That's a big friggin' change."
Sans raised his brows. "Huh-what?"
"I mean, he's the same person, still, right? He acts the same." She frowned deeply and folded her arms. "Man, what's Alphys gonna think?"
Sans frowned to himself, honestly unable to tell if Alphys still had never told her about the robot's true origins or if it was time effecting her strangely. All he could do was shrug again. "Deal with it if it comes up, I guess."
"Guess so," she grumbled.
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The sound of fast-rushing water startled the monsters, and after a moment, the little kid came out of the bathroom and hopped back on the bed.
"Grandma's going to be worried, huh?" She looked a little smug. "She always acts so weird whenever she can't find me, it's sorta funny." She bounced on the mattress. "This is a fun dream."
"It's not a dream, small human!" Papyrus said, bending down to grab her hands. "You really are going to get to see your dad, soon! I think. Ooh! How would you like to do some puzzles while we wait?!"
"P-Puzzles?"
The skeleton grinned and whipped out his bag, pulling out his Rubik's cube and a binder stuffed full of notes. "Would you like to try?"
"Is it like a game?" she asked.
"Wellll… I mean. Yes? I suppose it could be gamelike, in a sense," he said.
"Yes please!" Ellie said.
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He got straight into it, and as Undyne chilled out in one of the chairs and June paced, Sans swiped the human's phone and hid away in the bathroom. Petty, maybe, but seeing his brother doing puzzles with a tiny kid— any heartache he'd put aside kicked him in the ribs.
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He sat on the edge of the bathtub and took a quick breather. His little siblings invaded his thoughts; he tried to recall their faces, but they wouldn't come to him. He sighed to himself and used June's phone to try to call her human friend. He didn't pick up. Sans used his own to try to call home, but Toriel didn't answer either. Alphys, however, did answer, much to his relief.
"Moshi moshi," she said sleepily.
"Hey, Doc," he said. "So, uh, we're out here still."
"O-Oh! Sans! How, um… How's it g-going?! Oh, I'm so sorry I couldn't come. Where are y-you?"
"Some motel outside Arrow Valley," he said.
She let out a small, thoughtful noises, and clicked away at her keyboard. "Where is…?"
"Southwest. Kinda had to detour. Storm's so bad even their weird A.I. cars aren't havin' it."
"So… Wait, don't tell me you're n-not coming back today?!" she yelped.
"Still haven't even been to the city, Alph," he said.
"Oh… A-Are you safe, though?"
"Guess so," he said. "Oh, and, uh, Mettaton tagged along."
"He WHAT?! Ugh, that…! I'm s-sorry," she said. "How did he even know…?"
"Don't worry about it," Sans said with an amused smile. "Just, uh, thought you should know. Y'know, so when the news goes on reruns, that's why."
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Alphys sighed deeply. "So is it… g-going okay, at least?"
"Sure. How 'bout there?"
"Wellll… I k-kicked your dad out of the lab. B-Because he needed a break. And so, o-obviously, he just went down into the CORE to work instead." She laughed tiredly. "Toriel went down with him. I th-think they must've gotten something important done though. Y-You won't believe this, but Tori actually cast a circle!"
"Oh yeah?" Sans perked up. "Damn. Haven't seen one in—"
"I know, right?! Y-Your dad, um, looked really happy. S-So, if my guess is right, that's the NOCTURNE probably done."
Sans wilted with relief. Decent news, for once. "Nice. I'll, uh—" He stalled as the other phone beside him rang. "Sorry, Doc, I gotta go."
"O-Okay! Call back if you need me! Ganbatte!"
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The skeleton switched phones. He could hear heavy breathing.
"June?!" The man's voice was crackly with distortion and the loud wumphs of wind made it hard to hear.
"Sans," he said. "You alright?"
"I got h-hardly any signal and I can't find this damn ghost and where the hell are y—"
"Did you get my text?"
The man went silent. Presumably, he was checking his texts. "Holy shit, you didn't—"
"Sure did."
"I-Is she okay?!" he said.
"Yeah, she's fine, she's playin' some puzzle games with my brother," he said.
"I gotta talk to her," he said.
"Sure." Sans used a bit of blue to open the door and tossed the phone at June. "Got 'im, pass him his kid, huh?"
June scrambled but Sans didn't see the outcome as he closed the door again. He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. Headache was coming on again. He wondered if it'd be a terrible idea to run the bath and just faceplant into the water for a little while. Probably.
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It wasn't long before he heard tearful shrieking. He was happy for the kid, but it did not help his head one bit.
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He closed his eyes and his dreams dragged him, this time, towards that small goat boy. He saw him in a forest, trees swaying with him as he casually waved a hand back and forth like a conductor. The kid turned to him and grinned bashfully.
"Still can't get over how big the sky is." He pointed upwards. The wind buffeted his ears wistfully.
Sans tilted his head back to look. It wasn't right. His memory said it had been a never-ending stretch of clear, cloudless blue. What he saw instead was the void of night, dotted with starlight. He couldn't look away, but he felt a furry paw grasp tight to his arm. The kid said something to him, but the words came out gibberish.
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He was jarred awake and found himself looking at his brother again. Papyrus cracked a smile and nodded his head towards the door.
"Come on, brother. The human's going to be here soon, we figured we should go next door to let them talk in private," he said.
That made sense. He rubbed his eye with his knuckles as he got up.
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June was sitting on one of the beds with her arm around Ellie, quietly comforting her. The kid was puffy-eyed and flushed, and she looked overwhelmed. Undyne waited near the door, and Papyrus gathered their stuff up.
"You'll be alright, right?" he said.
"Y-Yeeeah," Ellie squeaked.
"It's going to be okay," June said quietly.
"Good luck, kid," Sans said.
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They were just on their way out when there was a pounding on the door. Undyne leaned in to peek through the little view-port on the door, only to bang her forehead. She grumbled, but as she readjusted, she saw it was one of the two they'd been waiting for. She opened the door and Boyd blew past the fully unveiled monsters without a second glance, and then froze in his tracks.
"E-Ellie?" he croaked.
The kid's eyes were as round and bright as full moons. She got up cautiously and the man ran to her, dropping to his knees and pulling her into his arms with a pained, choked huff. The monsters slipped out into the rain to give them privacy.
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The room next-door wasn't much different except the lack of weeping humans, though they could still faintly hear them through the walls. Sans made notes of time and place with guilt weighing his soul. He wasn't sure if it would be better or worse if Boyd were to remember this after a reset. Either way, they had to help. With that kind of power at play, it was still the right thing to do. He was sure his sis wouldn't mind.
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"So." Papyrus was the first to break the silence. "That was a job well done, I think."
"Man, this is a lot," Undyne said.
"Yes, it definitely is, but, um. I'm wondering," he said. "What do we do about Mettaton?"
"Did he not come back?" she asked.
"Guy said he couldn't find him." Sans sat on the bed and phoned again, but nobody answered. "I'm assumin' he phased into somethin' and is hidin' out for whatever reason."
"Weird," Undyne said. "So, uh… What do we do?"
"Wait, I guess."
"You should get some sleep, brother," Papyrus said. With a magic grasp on his soul, he shifted Sans backwards to get his head on a pillow. "And not sitting up this time!"
"Eh, you're not wrong."
"Of course I'm not!" He stretched. "Whew! It has actually been a long day, hasn't it? I didn't expect this to take so long. Not that I mind, really! The human world is pretty strange and exciting, right?"
"Was kinda hoping for more giant robots," Undyne admitted. "And it's weird, they don't seem to walk around with weapons or anything. It's like they don't even think they're at war."
"They don't," Sans said, folding his arms behind his head. "Haven't been for a thousand years. At least not with us."
"Pretty arrogant to just dismiss us like that," she growled. There was a righteous glimmer in her eye.
"But I would really rather not be at war with them," Papyrus said, tapping his fingertips together.
"Yeah, but—"
"Yo. Cap. Chill," Sans said. He sat up, a worried frown on his face. "Thought you made your peace with this. Did somethin' change?"
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Undyne froze. Her pupil dilated. She grimaced uncomfortably and huffed. "I… I'm fine."
"You forgot for a sec, huh?" Sans said.
"…Maybe."
"Nyeh! That's worrisome." He bounded over to where she stood and grabbed both her hands, his eyes lighting as he smiled at her sympathetically. "But! It's okay! I know this is all very weird. But if something feels very out of place all of a sudden, just ask Sans about it! I feel like I used to do that quite a bit because of… Some other… weird time nonsense I can't remember right now. And he'll definitely set you straight!" He smiled bashfully. "Just, try not to forget who I am, alright?"
"I don't think it's gonna get that bad!" she assured him. Even so, her eye darted to Sans.
He nodded at her, and then settled back with the phone again. "Guess I'll keep callin'."
"We can take turns," Papyrus said.
xXxXx
Night didn't look much different from day at this point. It was still raining so heavily it was as if there was a leaking ocean above them in place of sky. June came to join the monsters, wanting to give the family their privacy. That made complete sense to them, so they sat, watching human TV and lazing around, until Boyd came and knocked on their door, looking ragged, exhausted, and content, with little Ellie firmly gripping his fingers with one hand and her tiger with the other.
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The man still had Mettaton's metal form in his car; he explained what exactly had happened, and even offered to go back out to search again. However, water levels in the parking lot were still too high to safely leave. Ellie seemed to enjoy the notion of the unnatural pond that was growing deeper and splashed through the drowned parking spaces. Undyne, on the other hand, was bristling. Water obviously didn't bother her and she wanted to get going as soon as possible, but the car's A.I. clearly indicated that its system judged the whole thing to be too dangerous.
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The monsters shared their food, a hodgepodge of sandwiches, cinnamon bunnies, tea, and pasta. After being told it was magic, Ellie took especially well to it despite initial trepidation at the tomato sauce.
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It got late. The little kid had to go to bed. The monsters still couldn't reach Mettaton, and Undyne was starting to get a headache. She went to sleep with her earphones in, buried under the covers of one of the beds. Sans collapsed as usual, leaving just Papyrus awake with June, sitting in the cushy seats with some books and cookies on the nearby table. The rain was finally starting to slow outside, and the noise was somewhat soothing.
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Papyrus was paying close attention, even as he did sudoku puzzles from a big book. Some of them were already filled out, though, in a handwriting he was pretty sure wasn't his own. June was in the other chair. She looked tired; grey around the eyes. She curled up, huddled in her sweater. Her dark eyes kept skimming over him.
"Papyrus?" June asked after a long while of nothing. "Can I see your hand?"
"Absolutely you can," he said, and offered her his left. "Why?"
She held it carefully in both hands and eyed over the bones. She gently flipped it around and examined the back of it. "Sorry if this is weird, but it's sort of interesting to even watch you move."
"Oh? Oh! Right, that whole humans actually have bones too thing," he said. "It's pretty strange but I think it's interesting too!"
She let him go and nodded. "Um. Can I… ask you maybe something strange?"
"Yes, of course," he said.
"Your brother, he… did something. That made Ellie's soul, I think, shine?" she said tentatively. "Do you know what it was?"
"Do I…? Oh! Was it a deep blue?"
She nodded.
"Gravity magic!" he said. "It's for lifting people. And things."
"So her… soul, it's not blue?"
"Well, it could be. Why? You said you don't know your soul's colour, right?"
"R-Right." Her eyes flitted downwards, gaze heavy with shame. "We… lost that knowledge. Because of what we did to you. Your people. So… I don't think I've ever seen a soul glow before."
"Hmmm… Well, unfortunately, I don't really know how to help a human glow their soul except…! OH! I know! A battle!"
"A battle?!" she asked, maybe a little too loudly.
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Papyrus grinned and stood up, grabbing her hands and pulling her to her feet. "Now! Don't worry! I'm very good at this. You will be perfectly safe! But, um…" He looked around. "We just… have to keep our hums down a little."
"Our what?"
"Ah! Don't worry about that either," he said. He took a few steps back and his soul glowed extra brightly in his ribcage. "And here is the battle!"
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His energy engaged with the woman's, a quiet beat drumming in the air, and she gasped, eyes wide. A flicker of light shimmered out from her chest. She hurriedly put her hand over it, but it didn't dim the glow. After just a moment, a light, leaf green soul surged out over her heart. She yelped and clapped both hands over her mouth. Papyrus grinned brightly and stuck his thumb up.
"Nyeh heh heh! Excellent!" he said, trying to keep his voice hushed. "Now just disengage and—"
"Wait, I n-need a picture." She grabbed her phone and fumbled to take a shot of it.
The skeleton smiled. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah. Yes. Thank you so much, uh, how do I…?"
He struck a pose, offering her his hand. "I! The great Papyrus! Offer you mercy!"
She looked confused, but she nodded. "Okay." She took his hand.
The magic faded down. The green of her soul flickered out. She took a deep breath and hurriedly wiped tears from her eyes. She was about to say something, but she choked. She patted him on the shoulder, held up one finger, and then retreated to the bathroom. She closed herself in and sobbed.
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Papyrus was taken aback. He snuck up on the door and listened. "Juuuune? If you need anything, you can just ask me, okaaaay?"
"Thank you," she squeaked quietly.
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It took her a few minutes, but June came out without her glasses on, wiping her face with a damp cloth. Papyrus looked at her expectantly, tilting his head like a puzzled puppy.
"Are you alright now?" he asked. "It didn't hurt, did it?"
"N-No, no, I'm fine." She smiled. "Thank you. Really."
"You're very welcome!" he said. "Green is a good colour for you, I think. But, then again, I don't think anyone has ever really had a bad colour for themselves, that wouldn't make much sense. Except maybe my dad, but it's because of weird time shenanigans, so that's a bit of an outlier."
"R-Right. Um. I… I might need to lie down."
"That's alright." Papyrus looked around. He lifted Sans off his odd, sprawled out position on one of the beds and gently put him on the foot of the other and folded blanket that Undyne wasn't using up around him like a burrito.
"Are… they okay like that?" she asked.
"Hm? Oh, of course, why wouldn't they be?"
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June sat on the edge of the bed. The day was starting to settle on her. "Does…? Does green mean anything?"
"Hmm…" Papyrus tapped his foot. "I think it can mean multiple things? There's, I think…" He counted on his fingers. "Seven main colours? But then green does a split into two and I think there's three others that might only happen in monsters and not in humans, but it's been a long time since I learned much of this stuff in school." Plus, he didn't admit, what small amount of time he'd spent in normal monster school had felt so slow and plodding that he'd often be doing the much more interesting task of puzzlecrafting when he might be expected to be paying attention to something else. "A lighter green like that is supposed to be Kindness, in the monster schools of magic, at least. Oh! And by schools I mean types, not schools as in classrooms."
"K… Kindness?" she repeated uncertainly. She held a hand over her heart and frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "Papyrus? Can I ask? How old are you?"
"Well, I turned nineteen in March, actually!"
She looked surprised. "You're not missing class for this, are you?"
"Oh, no no no, I haven't been to classes in a long time," he said. "Besides, this… This is very important to me."
"Hm…" She let out a small sigh. "This is so much for everyone, I think. I'm sorry about everything with your sister."
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"You remember a little bit about her, right?" he asked, taking a seat at the foot of the bed. "And it was because of Ellie that you came to begin with, right?"
"It was my job, too," she said. "But at the same time, we did want to make sure that girl— your sister, I mean— was being well taken care of. I hope it's not rude to say, but we didn't even know you monsters were still alive until recently, and we definitely didn't know how much you knew about us. And in internal discussions, we talked about being concerned you might just not know how to even take care of a human child. We were prepared to offer help, if you needed it."
"Oh. That's nice. But I don't think we needed help," he said. "Our mom had another human daughter a few hundred years ago, so I'm pretty sure she knew what she was doing." He felt an odd, roiling defensiveness in his chest. He frowned. "A-Anyway. I…"
"It bothers you, hm?" she asked gently.
"Well! I mean! …Sigh. Yes. It does. Very much, in fact." He cast a look back at Sans. "I just… I have trouble understanding. It feels like everyone remembers more than me. But Sans and I are brothers, and I'm much stronger than him, so I thought maybe I should…" He shook his head. "Anyway. There's another kid missing too, you know? You wouldn't happen to remember anything about…? Well. I guess how would you know, right? Nyeh, sorry, that's maybe not a good question."
June tilted her head. She frowned in thought. "Well. Now that you mention it. There's a similar sort of… fog, I guess? Around the Prince. I think?" She squinted as if trying to catch a glimpse of something far afield. "A little… goat monster, I think. Like the King."
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Papyrus's eyes went wide. His mind stumbled. A little goat… He put a hand against the side of his head. For some reason, when he tried to focus, his memory dragged him back to holding a little talking flower in a white mug patterned with a red heart. He frowned to himself. He missed… he wasn't sure, but it was probably them. A deep, worried ache. Troubled amber flickered in his eye sockets and his soul warbled softly.
"I hope we can find that book," he said. "You don't think it's too much of a long-shot, do you?"
"I don't know," she said ruefully.
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The skeleton tapped his fingers against his arm. He got up and cracked the door, peeking out before ducking back in. He grabbed his new jacket and put up the hood, and then pulled the mask up from around his neck where he'd been wearing it like a bandana.
"Are you going out?" she asked.
"Just for a little." He hoped that wouldn't be a lie. "Please get some rest! We still have a lot to do tomorrow!"
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The rain had just slowed enough so that the grates in the parking lot could actually do their jobs. The sky was still filled with distant rumbling, but that didn't bother Papyrus much. He went to their neighbouring room and knocked on the door. Boyd answered it after a moment.
"Uh. Papyrus, right?" he asked, blinking groggily.
"Yes! Sorry to ask. This is probably a weird question. But can I borrow your car?"
xXxXx
Boyd had been very accommodating giving his keys and directions, and once Papyrus was behind the wheel of that old car, he felt like he knew exactly what buttons to press and what pedals to push. Some mysterious part of his mind gave him the phrase muscle memory, and though he didn't have muscles, the concept seemed accurate. It was pretty weird to have Mettaton's empty body napping in the seat beside him, but he guessed it couldn't be helped.
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Roads were slick but not impossible to navigate, and the sound of the rain was kind of nice, now that he thought about it. He could feel the tires sliding and so, with a careful pulse of gravity magic, he sunk the car against the ground, which helped quite a bit. Nobody else was on the roads and it was pretty relaxing to just drive. He put on the human radio to listen to some human music. He liked the ones with rhythmic rhyming and the ones with heavy electric guitars the most so far.
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Following Boyd's map was easy. Despite the dark and rain, after a while, he found the median ditch with big tire tracks leading into it, having carved chunks from the grass in a muddy mess. He pulled off to the side of the road and jumped out, following the trail carefully. The whole thing was flooded, and the rain was starting to fall harder again.
"Mettaton?" he asked as he waded down into the murky water. "Meeetttatttooonnn are you out here? It's me, the great Papyrus, coming to find you!" He cupped a hand to the side of his head as if trying to funnel in the sounds from around him. "Mettatonnnn?"
There might have been a snort. Somewhere. Papyrus had a flash of genius. He pulled out his phone and called the invisible spectre, only for a soft ringtone of Mettaton's MTT theme song to begin to play somewhere. Grinning, the skeleton followed the sound until he found the faintest of shimmering deep in a puddle. He reached down and felt a wispy form.
"Mettaton!" he said loudly. "Get up!" Nothing. Papyrus frowned. "Ah! Your ratings are plummeting very quickly!"
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The ghostly form shimmered pink and revealed himself, only for him to squeak, shoot up out of the water, and flail around in a panicked fashion. "A-Away, ruffian!"
"Nyeh! Mettaton, it's me!" Papyrus quickly pulled his mask down. "The great Papyrus! Relax!"
"Oh! Papyrus, I…" His eyes went wide and he blushed, turning his whole form several shades darker. "Oh, no, I never meant for you to see me like this!"
"I brought your body, don't worry!" he said. "Why wouldn't you answer your phone?! We were worried about you."
"Ah. I do apologize. Um." He yawned widely. "I must've slept straight through. I overexerted myself just a touch." He tilted slightly to the side. "Did you find the small child?"
"We did, and the human reunited with her; they seemed very happy," he said.
Mettaton smiled. "Well! We did a good thing, then!" He yawned again. "God, remind me not to do that again."
"Well, do not do the not answer the phone part of that again."
xXxXx
The scent of flowers drifted through the air. Gentle and familiar. Undyne was confused for a moment. Disoriented. Then, the sharp noise of a ceramic pot shattering cut the silence. She blinked her eye open and sat up, confused as she took in the sight of a cozy bedroom in the dark. A small bed across from her was disturbed. She was sitting in a small bed herself, one that didn't fit her at all. Asgore must've tucked her in.
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Another crack. She got to her feet and stretched. She left the dark of the room. Beyond, she could hear ragged panting. She followed it.
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There was a monster in the living room. A little, white-furred goat boy with short horns and dark stripes creeping up near the back of his neck. He was hunched; feral-looking, with his paw wedged firmly into a pile of dirt.
"Hey," she said.
He whirled on her, pale eyes blazing as the ruined petals of a squashed flower followed him. He looked ragged and exhausted, and the dark stripes that crept up his cheeks and under his eyes were flattened with residual wetness. The frantic look faded. He gulped hard. "O-Oh. Undyne. Um. Howdy."
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She folded her arms. "What're you doin', punk?"
He flinched. He looked down at the dirt on the floor and sighed. "Sorry. I'll clean it up."
"You can't just keep breaking his pots, y'know."
"I know! I know. I just…" He knelt down and began to brush the shards and dirt together with his hands. "I usually don't wake up all the way until the first one."
Undyne nodded. She'd heard two, though. She bent to help him. "Man, you gotta keep it together."
"Believe me, I'm trying," he grumbled.
"You want to call your sis?"
He grimaced. The answer was clearly yes. "No. No, she's been having it rough, too. She needs to sleep."
.
Undyne looked the kid up and down. It was weird, having him here now. Little bro. Felt strange. Kinda nice, too, though. She hadn't really expected to dig the big sister gig as much as she did. This kid was strange, though. The stuff that roiled in his head, she couldn't understand it. Not sure it would help if she could. "You wanna talk about it?"
"It's just the same thing," he said. "I'm… that again, and I'm…" He rolled his fingers. "A mess."
"Wasn't you," she said.
"Oh, no, it was fully me," the kid said grumpily. "Or… I'm fully that. Maybe I wasn't me, but all of it is me, now. Does that… make sense?"
"Kinda?" she said. "You know it's okay, though, right? Nobody's mad. Hell, not even Sans is mad."
"I'm mad." He cracked a smile. "Better than not feeling anything, though."
"That's the spirit." She thumped him on the shoulder. "Look, squirt, you're doin' good, okay? But, y'know, these plants do mean something to your dad, right? So maybe a little less wrecking 'em, huh?" She grinned. "And I know that's gotta sound stupid coming from me, huh?"
The kid snorted. "You're right, though."
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He finished gathering up the mess he'd made and then blew red flame overtop of it. It charred it all into dust. She mussed up the rough fur on his head and he cracked a smile.
"Y-You're not so bad, fishface," he said.
She scoffed. His eyes had welled up again and he blew out a shaking sigh. He leaned into her and she gathered him up in her arms and let him cling with a grip that closely mirrored Asgore's despite his small frame. He coughed and began to cry quietly.
"It's gonna take time," she said quietly.
He nodded. "I know… I-I know."
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Undyne awoke with a jolt, J-pop blaring in her ears, in a foreign place with the smell of rain soothing the night air. There was a weird lump at the foot of the bed. Strangely hard. She leaned forward. It was Sans, fully in a heap. Their human escort was dozing in the other bed. To her surprise, Mettaton was draped dramatically across one of the cushy chairs and Papyrus sat up with a puzzle book in the other. He smiled and waved at her. She raised her hand. For a second she thought she saw dirt on her fingers.
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Grimacing, she got up, grabbed her phone, and stormed off into the bathroom. The whole thing felt like a mess. That kid in her dream, the goat child she'd felt so familial with, she couldn't remember his name. He must've been the second one missing. She wrote down everything she remembered.
.
She took a quick shower and came out to a worried Papyrus waiting for her. He didn't say anything, but he gave her a hug, and his warm, bright magic calmed her nerves. She cursed herself. She'd rather blast herself through a wall than ever forget this kid. Maybe she would have felt the same about the others, too.
xXxXx
Very early the next morning, June and Sans gave Boyd the rundown of their plan. He agreed without hesitation. Sans also told him about the probable time loop, properly this time. It disturbed him greatly, especially the thought of Ellie being whisked back into the same situation she'd been trapped in. It was unavoidable, but Sans's memories would be intact regardless. He'd have the address and what they'd already successfully done. Boyd cautiously accepted everything, which didn't seem so hard looking into the face of a magic skeleton.
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The rain had subsided today, thankfully. The world was soggy and the ditches were still flooded, but the perpetual threat of hydroplaning was gone. As the sun rose, June left them to gather some human food before they set out to the big city. While Mettaton and Papyrus touched up each other's makeup in the bathroom, Undyne was still brooding. She pulled Sans aside to sit on a bed and showed him her notes. He looked thoughtful as he read them.
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"I think that's somethin' real," he said once he was done. "Weird, though. I dreamt about him, too."
"Does that mean something?" she asked quietly.
"Hm… Might just be time bleed." He smiled sideways at her puzzled expression. "S'what I call when memories of stuff that's weird comes back in dreams. It can happen to anyone. But…"
"Both of us on the same day. And I don't have time dreams," she said.
"True." His eyes shifted downwards. "Hey, uh. Sorry. 'Bout all this. I know it's rough on you."
She frowned, but she shook her head. "Whatever. It's fine."
"It might be good," he said tepidly. "Somethin' that clear comin' back, I mean."
"Yeah." She got up and stretched. "I'm ready for this to be done with."
To be honest, so was he. "Did you find his name?"
"Does it matter?" she asked.
"Dunno. Maybe," he said. "…He's Tori and Asgore's kid, hm?"
"Yeah, guess so."
"Somekid Dreemurr," Sans joked. "I wonder what they'd call him."
"Oh, god, wouldn't be surprised if it was just Kid, knowing Asgore," Undyne said.
"Nah, that's the Kid in Snowdin." The skeleton winked. "Welp. Give it some thought."
"Yeah, yeah." She flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She outstretched a hand and then covered where her good eye was supposed to be. She traced her fingers over the foreign scars. Had to be something simple, right? Wouldn't just be Asgore Jr., would it? Nah, Toriel wouldn't be into that. Maybe Torgore? Asgriel? Astori? Goriel? She winced. If what she'd dreamt had been real, she hoped that he'd avoided one of Asgore's typical floral name picks. If that kid was called Buttercup, it was no wonder flowers were a touchy subject.
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"Hey, uh… Don't get me wrong. I think it's good we did this," Undyne said. "But isn't this cutting it a little close?"
"Maybe." He shrugged one shoulder. "S'okay."
"Is it, though?"
The skeleton smiled tiredly. "I kinda figured, if we have that power as somethin' we have a way to access… Feelings kinda stick. Better to do the right thing, when we can. I dunno, maybe I'm full of it." Maybe it was just because any more guilt might crush his bones. Was that selfish? Probably. He shrugged. "Anyway. Maybe we couldda found a way around it, but I mean, I'd be a huge hypocrite, right?"
"Oh. Huh. Yeah, guess so."
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"Saaaans, what kind of eyeshadow colour do you think suits your broooothherr?" Mettaton called. He stuck his head out of the bathroom. "One of us is saying blue and the other is saying pink, but I'm not telling you which because you are obscenely biased."
"And I'm sayin' he's supposed to be wearin' sunglasses in public," Sans said.
"Ah." Mettaton pouted and retracted. "Noted."
"Yo, why are you a ghost?" Undyne called.
"I don't know, doll, why are you a fish?"
"You know what I mean," she said.
"The answer is. This is how I like to be. My, um. Let's say phantom form? Was not very satisfying to me. And Alphys helped me solve my problem," he said.
Undyne frowned thoughtfully. She was still visibly puzzled, but she let out a quiet hmm and then folded her arms behind her head. "Well. Okay."
.
A rapid knocking on the door signalled June's return and she burst in, eyes wide, holding Ellie by the hand.
"We have to leave," she said.
"Oh, Junebug! We're almost ready," Mettaton said.
"Now," she said. "I went back t-to check and the police are all over the neighbourhood we grabbed Ellie from."
"Grandma's gonna be mad," the kid said, sounding surprisingly pleased.
"Any BOLOs?" Sans asked.
"Not yet, but her picture's going to be out there soon," she said. She looked like she couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. "I thought for sure she wouldn't…" She shook her head.
Boyd walked up behind them, arms full of junk from the room. "You sure I shouldn't just turn myself—"
"Doing it the way we did? You're going to be arrested," June said shrilly, though she tried to keep her voice down.
"Daddy," Ellie said worriedly. "But he didn't do anything wrong."
"I know, sweetie, but they don't know that. And it'll take a long time to check, especially with… how we found you," she said. "Oh… I… might be arrested, too, actually."
"We don't have time," Undyne said as she sat up. She picked up Sans under her arm. She grabbed Papyrus's pink baseball cap and tossed it right onto the kid's head. "We'll think of something."
"I could give her a stylish haircut," Mettaton said.
"Whatever you do, do it in the car," Boyd said.
xXxXx
Deep below the massive stones of Mount Ebott, in a field of flowers, a small goat boy awoke. He raised up from the petals, nursing his aching head. He got up stiffly and looked around. Colours were muted and dim, and a silent black stream dripped from a pale light far above. He rubbed his eyes. Bemused, he hefted his sword out of the petals. The blade was heavy in his hand and he couldn't recall why he had it, but he clenched his fingers into the grip and dragged it through the flora.
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His legs were stiff and the stripes on his back and shoulders hurt. His soul glimmered grey in his chest, pulling him somewhere he didn't know. Where were his sisters? His brothers? What was he doing here? He had to get home.
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He lumbered through the mountain halls, exhausted, trudging through the black rivers that snaked across pathways and down the off-tint Ruins. The black tree with its mound of leaves was soaked. The roots flowed out and joined that silent water.
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A house was built into the mountain stone. He pushed his way inside. A flutter of form caught his eye. He tilted his head and peered after it. Nobody was there, though. His eyes started to water, though he wasn't sure why. He wiped pitch black tears away from his face. That was weird for some reason he couldn't put his finger on.
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He couldn't recall leaving the Ruins, but he stood in the snow, blinking in the light. Home was close. He felt so heavy. His black, tarry paw prints were slowing him down.
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Town was quiet, with coloured lights dimmed to white. It was unusually misty. A pale little lizard monster in a poncho scampered by and he turned to look, brows raised. He knew him, right? He looked familiar.
"H-Hey!" A female voice called.
Curiously, he turned to see another lizard, taller this time, with sunny yellow scales and an unusual green and black soul dyeing her cozy jacket. He looked her up and down. She came close to him, and stared him in the face.
"You're the Prince, right?"
Right. The Prince. He was pretty sure that was true. He nodded.
"Man, your Highness, you have to get home," she insisted quickly. "Your parents were looking for you and your sister. They were super worried."
His ears lifted slightly. Home. His sister. Parents. Sounded good. He nodded and cracked a tired smile. He continued on down the road.
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The house loomed like a palace at the end of the street. He stuck his sword into the snow near the door and it flitted away in dim embers.
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Inside wasn't what he expected. Things all over. Collections of clothes and books and games, gathered on couch and table. Unusual. A notebook was sitting open on the table, and when he peeked at it, he saw a strange list of places, dates, and times. Said the couch turned brown. He checked over his shoulder curiously. Looked grey to him.
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He wandered upstairs and peeked into the first bedroom. Hoped for brothers. There were none.
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He checked the next room. Pitch water leaked down from the attic. He followed it. He saw a glimmer of purple light.
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There was a desk up here, scattered with notes and papers, and a great monster was hunched over them. The purple came from her, and the black water flowed around her feet. He perked up.
"Hey," he said.
She didn't move. He tilted his head.
"Hello?" he said.
Again, she was still, except for whatever work she was doing. He didn't understand. He cupped a hand over his soul and let it sing, just for a moment. Her ears lifted at their base, just a little. She got up and turned, brow in a frown, but in an instant, her eyes went wide and her jaw went slack as she honed in on him.
"H-How…?!" Her gaze flitted away, and she looked around frantically. "Hello?!"
He knew her voice. So strong and warm and familiar. Of course. Stupid to have forgotten. Mother.
.
He reached out for her, but she blew past him, searching the room frantically. His eyes began to water. He followed her cautiously as she peered into every shadow. She shook her head, hand to her brow.
"I'm crazy. I'm going crazy," she muttered. She sat on the bed and put her face in her hands, mumbling something.
The boy crossed the river and sat beside her. He carefully wrapped her huge arm in his and curled up next to her. She went stiff and, with an air of disbelief about her, rested her paw on his. She jerked back and then stood again, pulling out a phone and pressing it to her ear.
"Alphys?! Is Gaster in the lab with you?!" she demanded. "I need…! I think I'm seeing a… A vision, I… Okay. Alright. I'll… Alright."
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"A vision?" The boy repeated the word and frowned to himself. Cold sadness was heavy in him. He'd never meant to make his violet-souled mother so upset. Maybe the lab would have an answer instead. Maybe that Gaster would know why things were so strange; where his siblings were.
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Reluctantly, he left home and trudged back out into the snow and mist. He followed the rivers between the frosty town and the cavernous chambers, wandering across black water until he came to a rocky dock illuminated by the light of vertical vents.
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A skeleton was coming down the stairs in a hurry through more obsidian water trickling down. The soul from his chest was black, with just the faintest shimmer of blue and gold on his bones. The boy watched curiously from where he stood on the water and raised his hand to greet him. The skeleton froze. He squinted and took off his glasses for a moment to clean them and then put them back on.
"You…?!" he asked.
"Me," the boy said.
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The skeleton sprinted to him, stumbling into the water up to his chest and pulling the boy down with him. He wrapped him tight in his arms and muttered an ancient language against his ear. He bumped his forehead into the boy's fur, and the little monster finally felt a bit of warmth. A glint of red shimmered in him. He held tight to the skeleton and sighed deeply. This felt safe.
"Oooh, kiddo, you scared us," the skeleton said quietly. "Where were you?!"
"I don't know," he said quietly.
"Where's your sister?"
"S… Sister?" He grimaced and gripped tighter. "Have to… I have to find my sister."
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The skeleton held the boy back enough to look into his face. "You're… not really here, are you?" His expression was one of worry and confusion. "Do you know where you are?"
"…Headed for the lab," he said.
"Do you know who I am?"
"…Family. G… Gaster?"
"Do you know who you are?"
"I'm…" The boy frowned. "I'm… the Prince?"
The skeleton grimaced. He gritted his teeth. He carefully lifted the boy and put him up on solid ground before hefting himself out of the water. The little monster wasn't sure why. They were just in the stream of black now.
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Gaster held his hand and pulled him up the steps, but his paws felt like lead.
"Why am I… confused?" he wondered.
"Something… Something happened to you, a stór," the skeleton said quietly. "You're… grey. In some in between."
The boy blinked. In between. His soul pulsed a beat of red and he stopped in his tracks. Gaster couldn't take him, and so stopped, too.
"Like you," he said. His head hurt. He tried to recall. "You were… shadowman. Right? In the… void, right? Am I…? M… Mom couldn't see me properly."
"Ah! There you go. That sounds a bit more like you." He knelt down and held his face gently. "Do you know what happened to you?"
"Looking for… sister," he said.
"Did you get separated?" he asked worriedly.
"I was behind. I was… I am… Uhhh…" He pressed his palm against his temple. "Where was she?"
"Are you two lost?" He asked it gently, but there was a warble in his voice.
The boy nodded. "Lost." He frowned. "But where…?"
"Your soul is still glowing," Gaster said, stroking his fur reassuringly. "You should be able to feel her, don't you think? Can you find her?"
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The little monster put his hand to his chest. "I…" His soul pulsed. "I…" A chill passed through his fur. He turned, eyes wide, staring at the tear that leaked that dark goo onto the rocks below.
"Take your time," Gaster said. "I'll stay with you."
A hum touched onto the boy's soul. He recognized it. The red pulled on him once more. He let out a deep breath and let it wash him over. The ooze flowed out of the split suspended above the stones.
"Are you alright?" the skeleton asked.
"Y… Yeah. Yeah. I think so, I…" Red seeped into his head. "We were… trying to help. We went… far, but then… Thennnn…" His gaze snapped back into focus, and his mind awoke, albeit groggily. He blinked quickly, pale eyes brightening. "Uncle G?!"
"There you are." The skeleton grinned. "I'm so glad to see you."
"S-Same! Is Sans okay?!"
"Well, he's… been better. But, what happened, a stór? How are you here? Where's your sister?"
"We were about to come home, and then some freak attacked us," he said. "Out there. In the void. She fell, I was following, but then I got…! I got shot by this crazy laser and I got knocked like, outta myself and I…"
There was that goo again, seeping out. That liquid of the void. He saw solid white creeping out of it. His lips pulled back to reveal sharp fang.
"What's wrong?" Gaster asked.
"You see that?" He pointed.
"The tear? Is something wrong with it?"
.
Asriel's fur bristled. His stripes ached and his body roiled. He bared his fangs and his form surged upwards and out. "I'm going."
"Wait, what—?!"
"Can't let him in here," he said. He twisted his form and came out bigger, black in his eyes, shining wings clawing from his back. "I'll take care of it."
"Take care of…?! Kiddo, what's going on?! How can we help you?!"
"Find her," he growled.
.
He launched himself at the tear and found himself floating in blackness, staring up at distant stars, as if he'd just awoken from a long nap. Everything hurt. His soul flickered in his chest as his memories snapped fully back into focus. He forced himself upright to look around, fur bristling. Whatever that shot was, it'd almost knocked him right out of time. He didn't even know if what he'd just seen was real, but if it was, he had to keep that creep as far away from home as he could.
.
He focussed his soul's red energy, trying to feel for its twin. Their melody filled his ears, faint as it was, and he let out a sigh of relief, but a moment too soon. Another hit him with a tune like the mechanical pumping deep in the CORE. Asriel was ready this time, a blade bursting into existence in one hand and a sparking, red flame in the other.
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As if teleporting, a massive, dragon-skull blaster appeared before him and he shoved his sword into it. It shattered and he saw its master's vague shape behind it. Snarling, he launched himself at him, hurling the magic into him. He blocked with a wall of bones, and yet more massive skulls phased in, blasting Asriel hard. He dove through it regardless and headbutted the guy as hard as he could, following it up with a roar of flame, glittering red tinged with a rainbow spectrum at the edges. Something of the villain was caught and he flew away, but the kid wasn't having it. He grasped his sword in both hands, transforming the single-handed blade into a massive claymore.
.
He could see a weapon in the other guy's white hands. Another sort of blaster. It looked a lot like ones Asriel had once used: long, like the maw of a dragon, and filled with white and rainbow magic. That was the one that had sent him reeling. He didn't care about anything else, now, but smashing that thing into dust.