While Papyrus was on his way to the Capitol to get groceries, Sans ambled over towards Grillby's for breakfast. As much as he loved his brother and wanted to encourage his interests, eating the blended form of Papyrus' spaghetti was effectively a death sentence. Even the Annoying Dog wouldn't eat the stuff, although Sans had noticed the dishes were beginning to actually smell. The fact that it hadn't before was deeply concerning.

He hadn't even made it off the front porch when a familiar (although not in this timeline yet) vine wrapped around his right leg. Sans stopped moving. He liked his leg a lot, thank you very much.

"Where are you going, Sansy?"

The skeleton shrugged. Flowey's vine around his leg tightened so much it hurt. He yelped and pulled his foot out of the suddenly loosened hold.

On closer examination, his bones only had two microfractures, one each on his tibia and fibula. It would hurt, but he didn't need to see a healer right away.

"I didn't mean to do that," Sans couldn't place the odd tone of the other's voice.

When Sans looked around to try and see the flower's face, the only sign that there had ever been anyone there was the green stain around his ankle and a hole in the snow.

Chara hated walking because it hurt their feet. Toriel said that it would feel better once their skin began to toughen up again. They weren't sure if they believed it. They'd had to walk so far when…

(not going to think about it not going to think about it)

Moving on. Literally - Asgore had finally finished talking to the elderly spider-monster, so they could leave and not be stared at. Being stared at was another of Chara's least favorite activities. It was better now. Monsters didn't feel like they were always judging, and that meant the human child didn't feel like they'd somehow failed. Failure wasn't… They didn't want to fail ever again.

Asriel said monsters weren't like that, but they weren't sure they believed him. No one could be that nice, right? Well, Asriel could, but he was different. He was still a kid; he hadn't learned better. The same went for Papyrus. Sans wasn't old enough to tell yet. Mom and Dad were under consideration.

Chara couldn't help but worry about the fact that they were heading towards a monster who was very much unknown. Yeah, he'd figured out how to make chocolate grow. That was nice. Mom said he was really clumsy and eager to please. But Dad said he'd been on the Surface during the War. He might not be happy to see a human.

Maybe he'd just decided not to see them? Mom had been knocking on the white doors for a long time. Chara had tried to hide, too, back then. It hadn't worked.

Speaking of hiding, Chara noticed that Papyrus had shuffled up to their back. Through the hissing of steam from the magma below they could just hear his bones rattling under the fleecy blanket. That wasn't a good sign. Why was their little brother scared? No one should be allowed to scare their little brother!

They unhooked their hands from behind their back and held one out to Papyrus. A few seconds later, he latched onto it.

"THANKTH, CHARA. UNCLE GATHTER ITH NITHE, ITH JUTHT...HE TALKTH WEIRD. IT HURTH MY EARTH."

Oh. That made sense. They'd seen some of the Whimsalots flinch when Dad and Pap spoke, and they hated when Mom would use her mortar and pestle. Noises could just feel wrong sometimes. Papyrus must really love his baby brother if he was willing to go see someone whose voice hurt him to hear.

Speaking of which, the door to the lab finally cracked. The sound its hinges made as they fought the tough terrain to open would have hurt anyone's ears. They had proof! All three boss monsters pulled their ear flaps flat against their heads, Papyrus flinched, Chara slapped their palms over their ears, and Sans whimpered. Inside the barely-open doors, a very weird voice swore. Toriel shot it a glare.

Sorry about that. The cave-in did quite a number on the door frames. I can't believe I forgot this one. People have probably…

The door finally opened enough for a slim skull to poke through and gape. Chara's pupils widened. They'd been expecting someone scary, dark, and, well, evil. Instead, they got a pathetically blushing skeleton. He had kitty bandaids leading haphazardly up from his left eye and doggy ones going down from his half-closed right. He had what was probably coffee stains dripping down from his mouth. There was also a sticky note stuck to his forehead. It said 'I owe my team a new hamsterball'. He was about as far from scary as you could get.

Yorick made me eat a muffin this morning!

Asgore doubled over in a coughing fit. Gaster tore his eyes away from Toriel's amused glare to give the king a worried look.

Are you sick? Are you okay? Do you need a drink? I think I have coffee somewhere. Should I-

"Wingdings."

The panic stopped. Chara felt Papyrus' death grip on their hand lessen. They still couldn't move it, but at least they weren't worried about getting a bruise.

Yes?

"Please move out of the way so I can destroy the door."

Gaster's skull jumped about two feet up in the air before vanishing back behind the door. Mom's fireball (they'd never get bored of watching her do that) obliterated the door.

Standing several feet behind the now smoking hole was Gaster. His clothes actually fit what Chara was expecting out of a scientist better than his face did. Admittedly the left sleeve of his lab coat was slightly greener than the rest and his feet were clad in mismatched slippers, but still. Black slacks, black turtleneck sweater, white lab coat - it was like the recipe for a classic evil scientist! Not that classic evil scientists would turn their back to an explosion, hunch down, and cover their ears.

Papyrus, being the cheery doormat that he was, broke his grip on their hand to walk over to the shivering scientist and glomp onto him. Gaster's reaction was...weird. He made some kind of weird noise, and then his arms were somehow behind him, and then Papyrus was inside the huddle and sneezing? Also Gaster was sneezing. Why was everyone sneezing? When a draft of air sucked some of the powdered door out of the laboratory and into their nostrils, Chara had their answer.

Mom ignored both the sneezing and the bone huddle. She walked through the wreckage of a doorway she'd just created; every other step she'd bend over to pick up some sharpened and superheated shred of metal to be discarded later. Chara hoped Papyrus hadn't gotten any pieces stuck in his shoes. At least Asriel wouldn't get any in his paws. Thanks, Mom.

Dad followed her, carefully putting his paws in the same spaces she had. He wobbled a bit, but despite that he didn't drop the sleeping bundle in his arms. Was Sans sleeping? It was hard to tell. He seemed a lot less noisy than human babies. Thank the gods.

Asriel copied him. He probably thought it was a game. He looked like he thought it was a game. Chara just shuffled their boots so that nothing could go under them.

Mom led her trail of ducklings obliviously over to some boxes. There were maybe ten of them in maybe three dozen colors. Some were stacked and others were open. Three had some ragged couch cushions on top. They hung over the edges a bit, but they were probably safe. Probably.

Mom seemed to have more confidence than they did. She settled onto one half of the largest of the boxes, one of those double long ones. There was enough room for her and Dad up there, but Asriel insisted on taking Chara's hand and leading the human over to the shortest of the makeshift furnitures. Dad took his seat next to Mom with the minimum of fussing.

Papyrus and Gaster had finally run out of sneeze to give, it seemed. Papyrus had his hand laced with the much larger skeleton's and was dragging him over to the crates. Gaster was bent in two and then some in order for Papy to do this, but the scientist didn't seem to mind. He was staring Mom while also trying not to meet her eyes. Green beads were beginning to form on his forehead.

"It is alright, Doctor. I am not here to lecture you on your eating habits this time. It is someone else's eating habits which are the problem. Sans', in fact."

Gaster's face became even more worried and much more serious. He turned his sockets from the blank walls to the bundle in Asgore's hands. How can I help?

Toriel pulled the answer out of her inventory. She had insisted on stopping at the dump first. Chara had been the one to spot the blender. Unfortunately it looked like someone had taken out their anger with a hammer. The pitcher was cracked and gaping in two places. The electronics were pulled out and shredded. One of the buttons was missing entirely.

"Sans' jaw seems to be causing him a great deal of pain. He will not open it even to eat. Chara informed us that this device," Toriel brandished the wreckage, "Can chop up solid foods so finely that they become liquid. Then-"

Really? Chara swung their feet and avoided Gaster's gaze. I just- a way to make food liquid...I suppose the inherent fluids would help...I should have- no. I won't...but Sans has the defect, so now...

He reached out one hand. Chara noticed the bandages around it. They were sparkly. Then his hand lit up with lime-green fire. Well, not exactly fire. It was like someone had outlined a drawing or picture of fire, then erased the fire until only the outlines remained. The same not-fire encased the broken blender. It floated freely out of Toriel's hand and wobbled over to hover in front of the scientist. He immediately began prodding it, examining the cracking, inspecting the wiring, and just generally trying to figure the thing out.

Suddenly, Gaster turned on his heel, the blender rotating with him, and muttered his way over to a table shoved up against the wall. He set it down amidst more bits of machinery and electronics than Chara had ever seen before. Then he started digging through the heap without any regard for the oil slick that was staining his injured hand. He seemed to have forgotten that their family was there.

Mom stood up. Her face told Chara that this was far from the first time Mom had the Royal Scientist completely forget she existed. She helped Asriel and Chara down from their box. Asgore stood up, Sans still beaming up at him. Papyrus was reluctantly convinced to stand up. Then the whole family went home, sure in the knowledge that Gaster would fix the blender eventually. Probably. Well, Mom was certain. Chara would just have to trust that she was right.