When Peter found his footing again, he stood outside the entrance to the Barrier.

"Hmm... I wonder what Flowey meant about Alphys." Peter said.

"Assuming he said what he meant and meant what he said." Chara noted, sticking out her tongue. "You look like you could use a bit of rest before we figure this stuff out."

Peter nodded. "And I think I know just where to go..."

He walked back through the throne room, the Judgement hall, and the colorless city, and took the elevator back to the CORE. All the while, his thoughts swirled around him. Flowey clearly kept his memory, even when Peter jumped around the timeline. Maybe Sans could give him more info on that. The guy clearly knew more than he let on.

As he passed the exit from the CORE, he paused as he stood by the spot he had last seen Alphys. "The monster who holds the key to my escape is the same one who betrayed me. How am I supposed to become her friend?"

Chara frowned. "Good question. But... I supposed its like you taught me. There's more than one way around a problem, and more than one side to every story."

Peter passed the spot where Mettaton had fallen. He was no longer there. "True. I'm sure there's a reason for her behavior. Though I doubt it's a good one."

As Peter passed through MTT resort, several monsters waved and gave him thumbs up. He was grateful to still have his mask. Whatever bumps and bruises his body had sustained, his outfit showed none of it.

Continuing through Hotland, he chatted with Chara as they neared the Riverman. After agreeing to a ride, they sped off in the direction of Snowdin.

"Tra la la... Beware of the man who speaks in hands." The Riverman said.

Peter looked at Chara. She shrugged.

"Come again sometime!" The Riverman cheerfully hummed as they landed in Snowdin. "Tra la la."

Peter trudged through the snow, soon arriving at the house of the Skelebros. He found Papyrus and Undyne chatting away outside of the house.

"Papyrus! Undyne! It is so good to see you!" He exclaimed. He considered hugging one of them, then thought better of it.

"HELLO HUMAN!" Papyrus said excitedly. "AND I MUST SAY, I LOVE YOUR OUTFIT!"

"You saw it last night on the TV, Paps." Undyne chuckled.

"WELL, THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEEING IT IN PERSON!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"I was actually wondering... could I talk to Sans?" Peter asked. "Not that I'd say no to lunch."

"I'LL MAKE YOU MY FINEST SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus cheered. "THOUGH TO BE FRANK, I HAVE NO CLUE WHERE MY LAZYBONES BROTHER IS."

"You can be Frank." Undyne guffawed, punching him in the shoulder and sending him sprawling, "But I'd prefer to stay Undyne!"

Papyrus groaned, face filled with snow. "... I'D TRY HIS ROOM. IT'S USUALLY LOCKED, THOUGH."

Peter thanked him, helping get snow out of his eye sockets, and headed into the house. "It's so odd, seeing them normal and happy. What would happen if I fought Asgore now? Would things go on as they did?"

Chara shrugged. "It is odd, isn't it? To think that even though the world could go on without you... It would bring so many changes." Her eyes seemed to glisten for a moment, but she swiftly brushed her sweater-clad arm over them.

Peter nodded. "But now that I know that my actions did that to my friends... I've got to make sure that it doesn't happen again."

He made his way to Sans' door and tried the handle. To his surprise, it turned, and a note fell out. In terrible handwriting and worse grammar, it read:

peter, if u r reading ths, that means u have a important question 4 me. come in too my room and ill show u the truth
sans

The light was off inside, so Peter stepped carefully inside. His spider-sense was silent, but his common sense told him that there was something wrong. Not to mention, he had been walking for about a minute, and hadn't reached the end of the room. Suddenly, the lights flared on-

To reveal Papyrus standing inside the nearby doorway.

"SANS, HAVE YOU SEEN MY-" He saw Peter and gasped. "HUMAN? WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY ARE YOU ON A TREADMILL?"

Sure enough, Peter looked down to see he had been walking on a treadmill. Attached to it was a note:

u want to know the truth? the truth is that u just got owned, u nerd.
sans

"IS HE PRANKING YOU ACROSS TIME AND SPACE AGAIN!?" Papyrus asked. "I HATE WHEN HE DOES THAT. ANYTWAYS, HAVE YOU SEEN MY ACTION FIGURES? WAIT! I REMEMBER WHERE THEY ARE! IN MY COLLECTION!" He laughed. "I AM SO SMART SOMETIMES ALL OF THE TIME!"

Peter blinked a few times.

"Man, Papyrus isn't kidding, this room is a mess." Chara noted. "He has socks all over the floor. Scandalous."

Peter turned to see a self sustained tornado made out of what looked like trash. "I somehow have more questions than answers. And I think Papyrus may be able to answer some."

...

"I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT YOU SAY SANS WAS GOING ON ABOUT!" Papyrus exclaimed. "AND I ALSO HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT SMALL YELLOW FLOWERS WHO TALK WITHOUT BEING TALKED TO AND ARE KINDA CREEPY BUT ALSO WILLING TO TALK TO ME LIKE I'M NOT A MORON OR AN IDIOT!"

"Hmm..." Peter thought for a moment. "So you don't know anything that would cause Alphys to be hiding something?"

Papyrus laughed. "OF... OF COURSE NOT! AND IF I DID, UNDYNE WOULDN'T KNOW EITHER, I'M SURE!"

Undyne elbowed him. "Don't you bring me into this!" Her face took on a thoughtful look. "Though, now that you mention it... she has been acting strangely, ever since... the incident."

Peter's head perked up. "Incident?"

Undyne nodded. "I don't know the details, but she's been hiding out in her lab more and more! I've been having to literally move boulders to get her to talk to us!"

"YOU WOULD MOVE THE BOULDERS REGARDLESS, THOUGH?" Papyrus propositioned.

"Fair, but still." Undyne shrugged. "If there's something up, it'll be at her lab. Thing is, we dropped by earlier and didn't see her." A metaphorical lightbulb popped up above her head. "Hey! How about you go to her lab to look for her, while we look around Snowdin and Waterfall! She can't have gone far, and if it's as bad as you say, we must kill her with kindness!"

Papyrus wrung his hands. "YES. THAT. WE WILL SEE YOU AT THE LAB, HUMAN!"

One trip with the Ferryman later...

"Geez, is no one telling me everything?" Peter asked. "Papyrus definitely knows about Flowey. He's told Sans so himself. I'm unsure as to what's going on."

Chara thought for a moment. "Hopefully, Alphys will have the answers."

The lab was in its usual state of disarray, but it looked as though someone had been there recently. Peter decided to take a look around, and noticed a small note in the trash.

"Huh, listen to this." He motioned Chara over. "Hey, I'm so sorry for what happened. Gosh, I may have just doomed you to death! Pleasant thought. But I hope not. I want to make up for my mistakes, and to do that... I need to go. Your support and the support of my friends means a lot to me, but... I don't think that I deserve that. What I did to you, to Mettaton, to everyone... I have to make things right. You guys alone can't make my problems magically vanish. I want to be a better person, and I need to do that on my own."

"Oh no." Chara whispered. "What else does it say?"

"If you want to know what I did, and if I don't make it back and you want to know what happened to me... enter the elevator marked as a bathroom." Peter swallowed hard. "If there's more to be read, I can't make it out."

Chara scanned the note. "Nope, that's all she wrote. Looks like it's definitely Alphys though. What's your plan?"

Peter put on his mask. "I'm going after her. You coming?"

"Do I have a choice?" Chara chuckled. "Of course I'm coming."

They entered the elevator. Peter had barely tapped the down button before alarms began flaring.

"The elevator is losing power!" Chara yelled, floating higher than normal beside him.

"No duh!" He yelled. Peter kicked the upper panel and shot a web at the broken tether. "Hang on!"

"To what!? I'm incorporeal!" She yelled.

The web caught, and the elevator snapped to a halt just outside the bottom floor.

"Glad that wasn't someone's neck." Peter noted. "Whatever is down here, though... What could require a secret elevator? All I know is... I don't wanna know."

"But I guess we're bound to find out." Chara replied.

Peter nodded, turning on the night-vision mode on his suit. "Well then, let's find out what the doc is hiding down here."