Chapter eleven:

While Sans and Alphys are working Papyrus decides that he should speak to Frisk.

Frisk is sitting on the living room floor watching some TV with her brothers soul.

Papyrus heads past them and sees Frisk glance to him. He gestures to the kitchen then heads there. He hears her tell her brother she'll be right back to drink something. He waits as she walks calmly over into the kitchen. "Sans told me what happened." Papyrus explains noticing Frisk tense upon hearing this. "As much as there isn't hard feelings about what happened. You didn't need to push him. He could have gotten seriously hurt... Or worse..." He tries to not think about that possibility.

"I'm sorry. It was a blind emotional moment." Frisk explains shifting her feet. "He pushed me a bit too far. Even though he was trying to help. I just lashed out because I was upset." She looks up at feeling a hand on her shoulder.

"Please try to be more careful with him. Okay? I know you must be going through a lot of emotions right now. Having your own struggles. We are here to talk to if you need us. He just has lower HP than we do. So please be careful with him." Papyrus reminds Frisk feeling like he needs to be gentle with her. "I really understand. I almost lost my brother. But now he may not be completely the same, but I still have him here. I do wish things didn't happen the way they did. However I just take happiness that he's still here. Yes he isn't just a soul though I feel like I can understand you a little." He adds quickly knowing it might sound a little silly. "Your brother is still here with you. At least be happy for that. Then help him through any impact the experience caused on him. We will get him a robot body he can use. I know Sans and Alphys will get those done for the souls. Then you'll be able to truly hug him again. I won't make too many promises. Just one I know for sure will happen." He offers Frisk a smile. "So keep going. Keep hanging in there. Your brother is still here with you. We can't change the past. But we can impact their present and future. By being the best siblings we can for them. There will be days where it can be rough. However they need us and I just know that they'll also be there when we need them. So just keep doing your best. I know you can do it."

Frisk is silent as she stares at Papyrus her mouth slightly open. She isn't sure what to say to all of that. She closes her mouth and shifts trying to find words. "Oh... Um... Yeah thanks..." She shifts once more. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

Papyrus nods to this and offers her a juice box. He lets her take it and head back to the living room with it. He knows that she'll be careful. He decides to do some cleaning that he can do quietly, so the two can watch the tv without interruption.

Later...

Frisk has fallen asleep on the couch and Papyrus drapes a blanket over her.

Papyrus places her brothers soul in a safe spot by the couch. He checks the time. "I need to go pick up Sans." He gets up from his crouch to move the soul, and heads off. He goes all the way to the lab sharing greetings with Snowdin residents he passes. He makes it to the lab and knocks on the door. He is soon allowed inside.

"Hey Paps." Sans greets his brother as said skeleton approaches them. "You made it just in time. We have great news."

Papyrus tilts his head a little in curiosity. "What happened?" He inquires to the other then is brought to a machine. He notices something red inside two containers; one attached to the machine and one that isn't. He notices the fake monster and quickly realizes what this all is. "This is the device to help Asgore destroy the barrier." He says it out loud to secretly get confirmation that he is correct.

"Yeah." Sans nods his head and turns to be able to see the machine, as he was facing his brother for his reaction. Meaning his blind spot is facing the machine. "We ran a test and it works really well. We are going to tell Asgore."

"Why not wait for tomorrow?" Papyrus suggests causing Sans to turn back to him. He meets his eyes. "I mean it is pretty late. I know you want to help out everyone soon. I just wonder if it'd be better tomorrow."

"Papyrus. To be honest with you. I think telling the king now would be the best. Everyone is going for supper and to get ready for rest." Sans points out. "We could destroy the barrier then as a smaller group meet up with the humans. To be less intimidating to them. We can figure out peace before all the monsters know that the barrier is broken."

Papyrus stares at his brother for a moment, before nodding at seeing the logic. "Okay. I'll come with you two to tell Asgore." He moves to let them pass not sure that Sans has enough magic to teleport them all.

Alphys knows that she had started an elevator, connecting the lab to a spot by Asgores castle in secret. She just doesn't have it ready. She takes the lead as the three of them head to get to Asgores castle. She hopes that all of this will go by well, though she has a feeling that Asgore will agree that peace will be better than war. She still can't help but be nervous though. She can hear Sans and Papyrus slightly talking casually to each other. She stays quiet not wanting to worry them.

They make it to the castle and pause at its entrance. They all glance at each other for a moment before Sans moves forward.

Sans opens the door and takes the lead into the castle. He takes them to the judgement room and his pace slightly slows. He remembers how his last secret post was here. He knows the new monster at his Snowdin post will only reside there. He used to teleport the sentry post around, then he would have to come here like a last line of defense. He was chosen for this job due to how good of a fighter he is... Was... He actually doubts his fighting will be as good as before. He doesn't want to be unrealistic since he knows that the attack has left him terribly afraid, less likely to fight back. He knows he would still try if he really had to, he'd just have to not think of the attack that left him so badly damaged. He turns to where they are going after briefly meeting the eyes of Papyrus. He feels a little confidence in him so his pace returns to normal.

Asgore hums softly as he waters the flowers in the throne room.

Sans can't help being reminded of the talking flower at seeing these ones. His eye glances around looking for that specific flower.

Alphys nervously gets closer to Asgore, unable to hide her shaking hands as they hold each other. "Y-Your majesty." She speaks causing Asgore to pause and turn to them. She doesn't see Sans stop looking due to not finding the specific flower. "We h-have some n-news. About t-the project." Her nervous handles fiddle with each other. Her eyes having trouble looking right at him. She knows how big this whole thing is to monster kind. She takes a slightly shaky breath before she continues. She has to tell him. She has to. "It is c-completed. W-We did a-a small test with e-energy to represent a s-soul. It was s-successful."

"That is good to hear." Asgore nods his head. "Are you able to bring it here? So we can use it against the barrier?"

"W-With enough s-strong arms. It s-should be possible." Alphys confirms with a nod added as well. She can feel the nervousness within herself about what will happen here. "I-It's not too h-heavy just slightly bigger t-than planned."

"Okay. I'll get Undyne and another guard to meet us at the lab." Asgore agrees to this pleased to hear it. He turns his attention to look to Sans and Papyrus. "Can you two go get Frisk? We will need her for this. You can come with us to hotlands since it's on the way."

"Of course." Papyrus responds as the brothers bow.

They let Asgore, who put down his watering can, take the lead back to the lab. They stand just outside of it and turn to each other.

"Bring Frisk right to the castle." Asgore gives a request to the two who listen to what the king has to say. He is about to continue when Undyne comes running up.

"Oh hey." Undyne greets slightly panting. "Sorry if I am interrupting something." She has shoulder length hair tied back in a loose ponytail, she sometimes uses a tighter ponytail though she does so when in Royal guard mode, her loose ponytail allows herself to look like she has a head of hair, unlike her tight ponytail that just shows the ponytail. She has on her black eyepatch over her right eye, her left red oval eye with a background of yellow is still seen, a black tank top, dark blue pants, and blue runners. Her ear fins are raised as though possibly happy or excited. "I was actually coming to see if Alphys wanted to go out for a bit." Her words cause Alphys to blush at them. She notices Papyrus giving her an encouraging look then nodding to Alphys. She glances to the king who gives her an okay nod.

This shouldn't take long, and delaying it just a little longer shouldn't really make a difference.

Undyne turns her attention to look to Alphys who shifts with shyness. "Alphys. I wanted to tell you something." She rubs the back of her neck blushing herself. She hesitates as Alphys blinks at her. She swallows back the words to back out of this when Papyrus gives a thumbs up behind Alphys. "Alphys I love you!" Her words tumble out of her mouth rather quickly. She feels her hands start to shake, her face turning more red from her blush, and she almost swears her soul is trying to pound its way out of her body.

Alphys's face also gains more blush on it, turning it a more bright red. She finds her lips growing into a smile. "I-I..." She begins clearly nervous about getting it out. "I-I l-l-love you t-to." She manages to stammer out and Undyne grins showing white sharp teeth. She squeals as the fish monster happily picks her up. She shares a smile with her now girlfriend.

Asgore turns to look to the brothers letting the two female monsters have their moment. "I'll let you two go to retrieve Frisk. If you arrive sooner than us at the castle wait in the throne room. Do check for us where the barrier is, if you don't see us. If we're not there you're early."

Sans and Paoyrus nod then glance to the other two.

"Congratulations." Papyrus mentions and Sans adds his own.

The two turn to the brothers, Alphys somehow blushing even more remembering they saw it all, and Undyne just keeps grinning as wide as she can.

"Thanks! I'm so glad I told her." Undyne tells the brothers.

"It is about time this happened." Papyrus adds with a chuckle. Though he then remembers what they need to be doing. "We're going to get Frisk. We should probably head on our way."

"The human?" Undyne brings up remembering the texts Papyrus sent her. "What are you guys planning to do?" She then slightly glances to Asgore. She clearly is now wondering what in the world is actually going on here.

"Sans and Alphys finished the machine that will help to break the barrier." Asgore informs Undyne gaining attention to him, along with the others.

"Oh. I see." Undyne glances to the yellow monster as she holds her close. "Well I bet that they made an amazing job. They're pretty smart after all."

Sans and Alphys cant help some soft smiles at the compliment.

"We'll see you at the castle." Papyrus promises then he heads off with his brother. He keeps his attention forward as they walk, until they are out of sight of the others. He turns to look to his brother who just keeps his eye forward; since Papyrus is on the side of Sans that still has a working eye. If he had a lip he'd be bitting it right now. He would love to be on the surface, and to live a life free from the mountain with Sans. He just knows that it is going to be a big change.

Sans has been making great progress with his recovery.

Papyrus hopes that a sudden big change like this won't stop Sans from healing. He wants his brother to get better, so he can be so much more confident again. He wants his brother to feel comfortable being himself wherever he is. He'll just have to make sure that Sanss healing isn't put aside or anything. He turns to face the direction that they are heading in.

Sans is the one to speak first breaking the silence between them. "Hey Paps?"

"Yes brother?" Papyrus blinks turning his eyes back to his brother who isn't looking his way. He wonders what this could be about.

Sans almost hesitates as he begins questioning if he should say something. He supposes that it can't hurt, since this is his brother. He can talk to him about things after all. He also believes that there is no point in just not saying anything. "If this actually breaks the barrier, like we are pretty sure it will, what kind of life do you think that we'll have?"

Papyrus hums a little thoughtfully at this. "Well I wouldn't think that much would change." He admits to his brother. "Though I do believe that no matter what we will find our way in the world. Even on the surface."

The brothers share a small smile to this. They get to their home and head inside to look for Frisk.

"Frisk?" Papyrus calls out glancing around. He goes to check the bedrooms while Sans does the living room and kitchen.

Sans peers into the kitchen and spots Frisk making something. He also notices that her brothers soul appears to be watching her do so. He steps in and at first Frisk doesn't seem to notice him. "Hey, Frisk?"

Frisk pauses and turns to look at him. "Oh. You two are home. I thought I'd make dinner if that's okay." She adds realizing she hadn't asked if she could use their stuff in the kitchen.

"That's fine. There's just something we need you to come do. Your brother needs to come along too." Sans explains with a smile. "Are you able to step away from what you're doing? You can resume after if you want."

Frisk stares at Sans holding the bowl in one hand, and the whisk she was using to mix in her other hand. She gains a rather serious look on her face. "This is about breaking the barrier... Isn't it?" She sees Sans nod so she puts the bowl, the whisk inside, on the counter. "I can step away. This was the sauce for the meat in the fridge. Since the meat is in the fridge it'll be fine."

"I'm sure when you're done you'll have made a nice supper." Sans tells her and lets her grab her brothers soul container. He leads her out of the kitchen just in time, as Papyrus comes over to see if Sans found her.

"Great! Shall we head off?" Papyrus inquires and with the nods of the other two they set out. He notices how nervous Frisk appears to be as they walk.

Frisk is holding her brothers soul container a little tightly, though holding back scared of breaking it, she is admittedly nervous about the whole thing. She doesn't know how well they were able to test this machine, or even if they did at all. She worries that something could go wrong. She feels temptation to try to escape with just her and her brother.

Not letting monsters possibly cause more deaths. Be able to warn others to not go there because it's all true. Not have to face possible pain just to free a kingdom of monsters.

Her brothers soul senses the trouble she's having and glows softly in a comfort attempt... Though it doesn't really help much.

Sans glances back and Frisk looks to him.

Frisks eyes are drawn to his scarred eye.

Are monsters really all that different from humans? Monsters clearly can hurt each other. Humans have killed others in so many different ways. In a way they're the same. So do they really deserve the same freedom that people have on the surface?

Sans slows his pace to walk with Frisk. "Me and Alphys found a way to test it. You'll be fine." He tries to assure her offering a small smile.

Frisk sighs causing her shoulders to lift then fall. She glances away. "It's just such a big thing. This involves actual souls. Our actual existence. One slip and..." She finds herself trailing off unable to finish that thought. She feels a hand rest upon her shoulder.

"We are going to be as carful as possible. The souls being human doesn't mean we are going to be slacking on things. All the souls will be treated as if they are monster souls. We will do our very best to keep bad things from happening. Okay?"

Frisk softly nods hearing the honesty in Sanss words. She pauses and turns as Sans pauses. She follows his gaze to a small dog running holding a cellphone. She is about to make sure Sans will be okay, when they get distracted by another figure.

Toriel is chasing after the dog. She has on a dark blue almost black long sleeved dress, her bare feet are exposed, lighter dark sleeveless robe on top, the white monster symbol on the middle of the robe, and a necklace like ring of gold around her head. "Come back here! Give me back my phone!" She calls out clearly too absorbed in the chase to notice where she is.

Sans blinks his eye at hearing her voice realizing she's the woman at the ruins door.

Papyrus tries to place where he knows her from though he can't quite remember.

Frisk looks surprised at seeing her all the way out here.

Her brothers soul wiggles joyfully at the sight of Toriel.

Toriel manages to catch the dog who lets her have her phone. She then glances around realizing where she is. She turns and looks over the group present. She isn't sure what to say then she notices Frisk. "Frisk!" She lets the dog go and hurries over to the human. She glances sadly at the soul. "I'm sorry about your brother."

Frisk lowers her head and looks at the soul in the container she's holding. She is silent for a few moments then looks back to Toriel. "Well while you're here we are heading to use a machine to break the barrier." She sees Toriel blink confused. So she informs the former queen on what has happened.

"Oh. I see." Toriel nods. "Well I suppose I might as well come. Seeing how far I was brought here." She sighs softly, her shoulders slumping and her eyes falling half closed. She clearly is not looking forward to something. "I guess I had to face Asgore someday. Today might as well be the day."

"You're the lady from the ruins." Sanss words bring the attention to him. He sees Toriel perk up also knowing his voice.

"It's so nice to finally meet you." Toriel admits. "I'm Toriel. I'm sorry I never said my name. I didn't want monsters to know where I was."

"Sans. And it's alright." Sans assures her then flinches, as the annoying dog brushes against his leg.

Papyrus moves closer but Frisk moves in-between them.

Frisk turns to Sans and gives him the look that he has to do this himself. She won't allow Papyrus to try to help.

Sans turns to the annoying dog who stares up at him calmly. He gives another glance to Papyrus and Frisk; secretly hoping that Frisk would take pity on him. He quickly realizes that this won't happen. He turns back to the annoying dog and slowly crouches. His hands trembling and his soul pounds in his rib cage. He starts to reach for the small dog only to flinch back. He takes a deep breath and goes for it rather quickly to get it done. He sighs that its over though when he looks to Frisk he finds it isn't.

"Pick him up."

Papyrus is about to protest to Frisk about this however she continues.

"There are many many dogs of all sizes on the surface. If you're going to live on the surface you need to move past this. So, pick him up."

Sans stares at Frisk a little horrified that she suggest he be pushed this far.

"Frisk. Maybe we should-" Papyrus begins however Frisk interrupts him while staring at Sans.

"He has to do this Papyrus. He has to learn to relax around dogs. He cant hold on to the fear from the attack forever." Frisks eyes slightly turn to him, her head moving slightly to allow this. "You won't be there all the time. You really shouldn't baby him on this subject." She turns back to Sans as Papyrus also worriedly watches.

Sans turns to the annoying dog feeling like his body has been turned to stone. He takes a few minutes before he is able to move his arms. He shifts them to either side of a well behaved annoying dog. He takes a few moments before finally lifting the dog up. He finds the other to be a light furry thing. He starts to think this isn't so bad.

Annoying dog takes the sudden rush towards Sanss face.

Sans lets out a terrified yelp and his arms attempt to toss the dog away.

Annoying dog craftily dodges Sanss attempts using his arms to climb closer. He reaches Sanss face just as Papyrus started trying to get past Frisk. He licks the smaller skeletons cheek once then twice giving the other pause. He slips neatly partially on his shoulder partially on his chest.

Sans cracks his eye open that he didn't realize he had closed. He turns to the annoying dog who happily pants with a wagging tail.

Watching this Papyrus stops his attempts of getting past Frisk; without her getting hurt.

The annoying dog barks making Sans flinch only to softly whine and nuzzle him. Appearing to be apologetic to him for scaring him.

Sans lets out a breath and without thinking reaches over. He uses one finger to scratch the dog behind one of its ears. He smiles softly to himself as he watches the dog lean into it.

"You did it Sans!" Papyrus informs his brother rather cheerful.

Sans pauses and blinks realizing the big step he had just taken. He looks to his brother with a smile. "Yeah. I did."

"Well that's good enough for me." Frisk mentions letting Papyrus go to his brother. "Though if we're going to destroy that barrier we should get going."

The others nod and the annoying dog hops off Sans then runs away.

Papyrus helps his brother stand who is a little shaky, for coming down from fear adrenaline he had experienced.

Toriel and Frisk walk along with them as they head for the castle.