Chapter seven:

Papyrus and Sans are in hot lands as Papyrus walks Sans to work.

Sans is very appreciative of his brother risking being late for work. Just so he can feel safer walking to work. He could teleport however he actually prefers being with Papyrus. No way will he say no to his brothers offer to walk him there.

"Are you excited for your first day?" Papyrus asks his brother giving him a smile.

"A little. I'm also a little nervous." Sans admits then Papyrus places a hand on his shoulder. He's glad that his brother sees him do so to not scare him.

"You'll do great. I know you will." Papyrus tells him in encouragement. "You're very smart. You and Alphys can do great things together."

Sans can't help but smile at hearing his brother say this. "Heh. Thanks Bro."

"You know it's true brother." Papyrus smiles back at his brother.

They arrive and the two stand just outside of the lab.

"Well... We're here..." Sans mentions looking at his brother. A part of him doesn't want to part ways even though he'll see him again. He shifts feeling his soul twist with even more nerves since they're here.

Papyrus crouches and hugs his brother who returns the hug. "It'll be okay Sans. You can do this. You'll have Alphys with you. If something happens she can call me."

Sans takes a breath then nods his head. He and his brother pull apart. "I'll see you after work. Unless you really need me. Don't forget that you can call me whenever you need."

"I won't forget." Sans promises sharing a smile with the other. "I'll see you later today." He heads to the entrance of the lab. He knocks on the door which opens a few moments later. He heads inside casting a look back to his brother before the door closes. He does spot him smiling in the time he can see him and he smiles like his brother. He heads fully into the lab glancing around in the dim lighting. "Alphys?" He slightly jumps as the lights suddenly turn on.

Alphys comes hurrying over from a door. "S-So sorry. I w-was just cleaning a-a little." She glances away slightly before turning her attention back to Sans. "L-Lets get s-started then."

Sans nods in agreement so the two head away. He is lead to a room where a lot of work happens. He can see blueprints, parts, projects, and a work table.

Everything is a bit scattered here and there looking more like organized chaos.

"I a-am just used to a s-system in here." Alphys explains shifting on her feet.

"It's fine. Trust me I understand the everything has it's place." Sans mentions and notices Alphys relax at hearing this. "Where would you like me to start working on anything? Building something? Cleaning?"

"A-Actually there is a p-project I happen to be doing f-for Asgore." Alphys admits making Sans blink his eye that works in curiosity. She pulls out some blueprints laying them across the table.

Sans moves closer and takes a look at the blueprints in front of him. "Is this really a laser that can use a power source to create a magical beam?"

"Y-Yes." Alphys confirms fiddling with her hands. "You s-see. Asgore feels s-sorry for the human s-souls that have died h-here. Since most w-we're accidents." She doesn't need to mention those that were actually killed by monsters. "So h-he wants me t-to see if he can u-use the souls w-without absorbing them."

"I guess he does have a lot of time to think. He's usually just in his castle." Sans mentions looking over the blueprints a bit closely.

"I-I suppose so. P-Plus he has a g-good heart. Just a b-bit of a fuzzy head a-at times of g-great emotion." Alphys lets Sans examine the blueprints knowing that the other agrees on that. "So h-he's hoping I c-can have this done b-before the l-last human, w-we need the s-soul of, comes into t-the underground."

"Well the blueprints look fine." Sans mentions and glances to Alphys. "But how would we even be able to test this? Make sure that it won't harm the human souls Asgore plans to use it on?" He notices Alphys shift and look away from him. He also spots her hands clenching.

"W-Well... Truth b-be told..." Alphys pauses then sighs her shoulders dropping. "I was g-gonna test it o-on myself."

"What!?" Sans's eye widens as he can't believe he just heard that. "Alphys that's insane!"

"S-Sans." Alphys sighs heavily. "I've d-done a lot of t-things that h-have hurt many o-others. So it won't e-even matter if I-I end up hurt o-or dead from the t-test. It'll be a-a punishment I've b-been trying to avoid for a-a long time."

"No Alphys." Sans tells her sternly making her blink at him. "You've got it all wrong. No one would ever want you to be hurt or dead. I refuse to let you do that to yourself. We are not resting it on you. You have monsters that care about you."

Alphys refuses to look at Sans. "You d-don't know w-what I've done." She tells him a little softly though the skeleton still heard her. "H-How about we p-put that project o-off for now? U-Until we come to a d-decision about it. M-Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay." Sans agrees. He is about to check what else they can do when Alphys speaks again.

"J-Just don't t-tell anyone." Alphys pleads with him finally looking at the other. "K-Keep it b-between us. We h-haven't decided on anything f-for sure yet. I d-don't want others t-to freak out since y-you did."

Sans contemplates if he should agree to it or not. He is worried about Alphys though it does sound like she is agreeing to discuss it. So he still has a chance to stop her, however he'll need to keep her trust. "Okay." He agrees offering a small smile to her. "Tomorrow we'll discuss it. For now I won't tell anyone."

Alphys sighs in relief her shoulders relaxing. "T-Thank you."

"What should we work on today?" Sans brings up the question and glances around. He hops them distracting themselves will help clear the tension from what just happened.

Alphys starts looking around with a hum of thought. "I-I guess we c-can work on t-the update f-for the cameras. I-I was gonna t-think of t-things to a-add to m-maybe help in emergencies. S-So it might h-help while others h-haven't gotten to that spot t-to help."

"Sounds good to me." Sans agrees to that so the two head to do that..

Both happy to drop the tense subject for the rest of today.

After work Papyrus arrives to the lab and knocks on the door. He waits for a few moments then it opens letting him inside. He heads into it and glances around before spotting his brother heading towards him.

"Paps!" Sans hugs his brother who is quick to hug him back.

"Good to see you looking happy."

"Always happy to see you." Sans smiles up at his brother who returns the smile. "How was your day?"

"Well I got to show the monster that is going to work at your old post around." Papyrus admits in which Sans nods understanding the need for someone to be there. "I spent the rest of the day as usual. Checking my puzzles and patrolling. No signs of trouble at all though." He shrugs it off then smiles more at his brother. "What about you? How did today go?"

"Actually pretty good." Sans admits as his brother now listens to what he has to say. He can feel Alphys looking at him as if hoping he'll keep his word. He doesn't plan to say anything yet. He did promise after all. "We got a lot of work done. We worked on a few projects. So if one got too boring or we got too stuck we moved to another one."

"That's great! I'm glad it was a great day at work." Papyrus nods his head then glances to Alphys then back to Sans. "Your shift is done right? I can hang around if you still have work today."

"A-Actually it's o-okay." Alphys speaks up so the brothers look to her. "I think w-we got plenty of w-work done today. H-He can go home."

"Thank you Alphys!" Papyrus nods and picks up his brother holding him close. "Ready brother?" He gets a nod from Sans then the two turn back to Alphys.

"See you tomorrow Alphys." Sans mentions.

"See you Alphys." Papyrus adds.

Alphys offers a small smile and gives a small wave. "S-See you t-two."

With that the brothers take off and head off on their way home.

"Brother?" Papyrus begins and looks to Sans so he meets his brothers eye. "Would you like to stop by Grillbys? If you don't think you can handle it yet that's okay."

Sans knows what Papyrus means by if he can't handle it yet.

The dog monsters might be there right now.

"You don't like Grillbys." Sans points out and Papyrus smiles as if caught.

"Okay. Yeah I don't. But I was wondering if you wanted to go to at least celebrate your good work." Papyrus tells him in which Sans glances down thoughtfully.

Does he think he can handle Grillbys just yet? Maybe itd be good for him, a setting where they are inside and if the dogs are there they can sit away from them. If needed.

"Let's try it." Sans tells his brother. "I think it might be a nice time."

Papyrus nods and once they get back to Snowdin he gets them to the entrance. "Ready?"

Sans nods softly so Papyrus carries him inside. He glances around once inside needing to turn his head to do so.

There's only Lesser dog here at the time, alongside some other usual monsters like the drunk bunny.

Lesser dog appears to wrapped up in a card game on his own to even notice them.

Though some other monsters give friendly greetings the brothers return. They are clearly glad to see the shorter back in this setting.

Papyrus brings the two of them to the bar counter. He picks seats by the juke box that's on the opposite side of Lesser dog. He places Sans down on a seat then seats himself between Sans and the dog. He clearly just wants to make sure that his brother feels safe and comfortable.

Sans tries to focus on his brother and Grillby to try to help. His mind trying to run memories of the attack, though it helps if he tries to block out Lesser dog. He does feel some guilt about doing so however it's what he needs.

"It's so good to see you both." Grillby mentions with a smile of greeting as he approaches the two. "As a sort of welcome back gift today is on the house for you two."

"What? But Grillby you've been so kind already. You don't have to do this." Sans tries to protest remembering that his tab debt has been cleared. He feels like they are now just taking advantage of Grillby.

"Don't worry Sans." Grillby informs the shorter skeleton giving him a smile. "It's just great to see you here again. Don't be shy. What would you two like today?"

After a brief moment Sans gives in knowing that he can't change Grillbys mind. "Usual for me." He glances to his brother as Grillby gives a nod. He wonders what Papyrus will get.

"I guess I'll do the fries and a milkshake." Papyrus remembers the milkshake as being the best part of this place. He just figured he should also get something to eat... Even if it's not really his favorite he should eat.

"Coming right up." Grillby agrees then heads to prepare the order.

Papyrus turns to Sans as his brothers eye meets his own. "What shall we talk about brother?"

Sans takes a moment to think. "Well how about you tell me more about work?" He quietly wonders if he should tell his joke buddy in the ruins. He bets she wonders where he has gone. Though the thought of going near the area leaves him almost shaking. He pushes the thoughts away and listens to what his brother has to say. Now isn't the time to think about it.

"If that's what you want." Papyrus agrees. "The new monster that has your station now is actually the bunnies cousin. He said he moved here from the big city to be closer to family. He started at the inn for work but wanted something a little different. So he ended up applying for the sentry job. Which he actually managed to get."

"Huh." Sans blinks at this. "That makes sense. Sentry is definitely different than working at some place like the inn."

"Indeed it is." Papyrus agrees and the brothers thank Grillby who brings them their order.

Grillby nods. "Enjoy." He then heads to help some other customers.

Sans takes a drink from his alcohol that he got as Papyrus eats a fry. He puts the glass down once done with that drink from his chosen drink. "What did he think of puzzles?" He asks his brother tilting his head slightly.

"Oh, he actually has some new ideas that he's going to put in. We talked about some ideas of what he could put in the space he has for them. He was excited that he got some creative freedom with it. Of course I'll be watching him to make sure he doesn't make it deadly, or anything like that."

"I see." Sans nods knowing that his brother would definitely be the one to do that.

The two eat their food, Papyrus his fries and Sans the burger, for a few moments quietly. They pause halfway through to talk when they don't have food in their mouths.

"Did you do anything exciting in the lab today?" Papyrus brings up curiously.

"Me and Alphys worked on some projects that she has to finish. We made some good progress id say. I think some of the projects were working on might help the underground greatly."

"That's wonderful to hear!" Papyrus is truly happy to hear this. "I knew you two can do great things together."

Sans smiles more at hearing this. He finds himself forgetting everyone else around them as he truly focuses on his brother. It makes him so relaxed.

The two enjoy their meal and giving a thanks to Grillby the two head off once done. They head home to have some relaxing time.

Elsewhere...

I settle down in bed deciding to get some rest for tonight. I close my eyes my dreams haunted with images that I'd rather not see. Though I am fearing that they might be true.