The rain that clustered thickly around Mt. Ebott subsided for the afternoon, leaving only the dark clouds behind. A calm day, a quiet day. Humans in the city were hoping for a few rays of sunlight today or even more tomorrow. In Neo New Home, monsters swept up the branches and leaves that the blustery winds had thrown into their streets last night. Papyrus, too, wasn't spared; his house, built in the shadow of three big trees, got a branch through the window.

That wasn't even his biggest problem today.

Because on that day she sauntered inside, a big and sharp smile upon her face, dressed in a grey combat jacket, cargo pants and black heeled boots. Not her armor, but not her normal casual clothes. As she crossed over the threshold into his house, he stepped back, his bony eyebrows rising and then quickly falling.

His sharp teeth gritting together. "TO WHAT DO I OWE THIS VISIT, GUARD CAPTAIN?"

She gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's not as guard captain."

Papyrus' head twitched, just an inch, in the direction of Sans' bedroom. He huffed, crossing his arms. "TO WHAT DO I OWE THIS VISIT, UNDYNE?" Although by this point, he already knew. Her big yellow eyes zeroed-in on his face, and her mouth quirked. She knew that he knew, too.

"It's time," she said.

"huh. guess we should have moved to snowdout after all."

Papyrus had clutched at the back of his head with his bare bony fingers, growling as he paced the length of the floor. "SOMEHOW I DON'T THINK THAT WOULD HAVE HELPED."

Sans chuckled, hands dug deep into his pockets as always. "i like to think that people get deterred by long distances."

"NO SANS, THAT'S JUST YOU," Papyrus snarled back, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his hand. The headache was already developing while monsters bustled back and forth on main street outside. Take some deep breaths, relax. It's no good getting worked up over nothing. Even if he was certain it wasn't "nothing" at all. "NOW THINK OF SOMETHING ACTUALLY HELPFUL TO SAY."

His brother shrugged. "well i could just power the machine off and tell undyne that it ain't workin' right now. 'course, that would only buy us time until either one of the frisks gets it in their head to visit their buddy again."

"MMN... YES! DO THAT! I CAN LIVE WITH MORE TIME!"

Sans shrugged again, pulling out his cellphone, and he started tapping and texting with it as he spoke. "when is our lovely guard captain gonna come over asking about this anyway?"

"I DON'T KNOW!?" Papyrus stopped in front of the kitchen, bitterly turning over in his head the possibility of heating something disgusting up (like one of Alphys' TV-dinners that Sans has been going so crazy for) just to take his mind off things. "I JUST KNOW THAT IT'S GOING TO BE SOON!"

From the minute he heard that the final touches had been added to Asgore's palace, he knew that it wouldn't be long. Almost everyone else had been happy with their accomplishments over the past few weeks. Neo New Home was glorious in its completion, with traditional grey, Romanesque buildings that were almost identical to the New Home below ground-albeit, the buildings had to be built at about half the height, or risk some eagle-eyed human spotting them above the trees. Asgore's castle had taken the most work. But Papyrus couldn't be proud of himself, his subordinates, or any of the monsters he liked to consider his subordinates. He had too much fretting to do.

"what's the big deal, anyway? so she goes and throws a few punches over there; they're pretty forgiving people," Sans was saying, snacking on an off-white mayonnaise packet. "mind you, i know that from experience." Although his cheesy little wink broke off in a small wheeze at the furious glare that Papyrus had whipped at him. They didn't need to talk about all the trouble that he caused in that other timeline back before Frisk broke their barrier.

But by the next second, Papyrus had already moved on and Sans could relax. "IF SHE WAS JUST GOING TO DO THAT, IT WOULD NOT BE MY PROBLEM! BUT YOU WITH YOUR TINY LITTLE MIND, YOU DON'T GRASP THE-"

Right then, that was when it happened. They both heard a knock on the door.

And that was when he'd opened it up to find her there, illuminated by the grey light of the overcast surface sky.

And so when she made that announcement, he'd faltered and pressed his clawlike hands together. "TIME FOR... WHAT," he said, a bead of sweat on his skull.

"Don't play dumb Papyrus," she said, thumping his chest with a webbed hand. Then right into the living room she went, hands on her hips. "Where's your brother? I need to talk to him."

"SANS? HE'S RIGHT-" Papyrus turned his head; Sans was gone from the couch, mayonnaise packet and all. He uttered a low growl and folded his arms. "...I'LL GO GET HIM."

Sure enough, when he entered Sans' room he found him there, texting away. Papyrus scowled, and he looked up with his usual smile. "yo, boss." His claws clicked across a few more buttons, and then abruptly Sans closed the phone and shoved it in his pocket. "and sent."

Papyrus tapped the heel of his boot against the floorboards, arms folded across his chest. Boy would he have been happy to be able to give Sans a beating right now. "WHAT WERE YOU JUST DOING?"

"savin' your ungrateful ass," Sans said, although keeping his eyes on his brother's face the whole time - knowing he was an inch away from stepping over the line. Papyrus only raised an eyebrow, and he continued, "you'll get it later. or you won't, maybe. anyway i'm guessin' that Undyne's down there waiting to make good on her little self-imposed challenge, right?"

Papyrus half-turned in the direction of the living room. "NNYEH, THAT IS CORRECT."

"guess we gotta go have a talk then." Sans put his hands in his pockets with a nod. "got it."

Undyne had gone well into impatient while waiting for them, greeting the sight of both brothers with her hands on her hips as she stood in the middle of the floor. "'Sup Sans, it's been a while," she said, her lips twisting into a pointy-toothed sneer.

What Sans was feeling that particular moment, Papyrus couldn't guess; obviously, to a large extent that was because he smiled no matter what he was feeling, but even his eyes had gone flat as he mirrored Undyne's expression. "'sup."

Papyrus kept moving his head, trying to keep his gaze on them both as Sans approached. He didn't need a fight breaking out in his house.

"I was hoping to ask you for a little favor," said Undyne, tilting her head. "The other day, someone saw that you finished installing that machine of yours in your workshop. You brought out the Frisk from the other world with it."

Sans twitched. "you saw that, huh?"

"Saw it, or heard it down the grapevine." She smiled bigger, if that was possible. "So uh, since it is working again I was wondering if you'd let me take it out for a spin, go visit that nicer other place."

Much faster than anyone would credit his little form capable of, Sans was already down on the bottom step of the staircase and he rocked on his heels with a sharply intaken laugh. "c'mon, i know it's about you wantin' a piece out of your blue double."

Undyne's head whipped towards Papyrus, "You told him?"

Papyrus' spine went stuff; what, was that not allowed? "OF COURSE NOT?!"

"just heard it," Sans said, taking her attention back on him, "down the grapevine." He sniggered, as always too proud of himself, and Undyne rolled her eyes. In the next moment, he had calmed a little, and he only added, "hey, i'm just saying. you wanna go take yourself on. i can respect that."

She folded her hands behind her back. "If that's the case, then show me your machine."

"uh," here, Sans closed one eyesocket, scratching at the area around his nose-cavity. "i'm not so sure i can help you today, though. i'm kind of expectin' company."

Now her smile became a frown. Not a very friendly one. "Aside from Frisk, what dope would you visit you?"

Papyrus jumped when, in the midst of the growing tension, a knock sounded against the door. While he scrambled to answer it, Sans shrugged and remained on the bottom step. "a specific dope."

From behind the door, eyes flitting nervously back and forth behind swirled spectacles, Papyrus found himself face to face with Dr. Alphys. He recoiled, just a little, with a look of disgust. Only after she'd begun to stammer - and who even knew what she was saying, Papyrus didn't bother to listen - did he have a glimpse of understanding, and Papyrus stepped back to allow her entry. Still flabbergasted, he could only helplessly speak over her stammers, "COME IN, ALPHYS."

"-Oh," Alphys said, her first attempt at coherency. It turned into a squeak; now her eyes had lit on Undyne.

And Undyne, likewise, whirled around.

The sudden silence fell thick and fast like a net over everyone in the house. Papyrus tried to break it by slamming the door shut after the good(?) doctor but, after Alphys uttered another squeak and jumped, it just seemed to settle again. As she stared Undyne's expression had turned blank, unfathomable, while Sans was grinning from one end of his face to the other.

Suddenly, Undyne put a hand behind her head and looked away, voice flat. "Hello Alphys."

Much like the slamming door, it didn't tear the net completely away. Alphys wrung her hands and pulled on the ends of her lab coat, readjusting the ill-fitting garment over her back and dress. "H-h-h-hell... lll..."

Watching the two, Sans' smile had started to spread, and Papyrus knew it would be only a matter of time before he started snorting at all the discomfort in the room. He stared, his eyesockets burning holes in his brother until it got his attention, and then he drew a bony finger across his own neck. Message received; Sans' smile dropped to its normal size and he coughed.

"asked alph' over to help me with some of my old projects," he said, and the two ladies stared at him. "started thinkin' lately that i should give them another shot, y'know?"

"Oh," Alphys said.

And Undyne turned from Alphys to Sans, and then from Sans to Alphys, her expression twisting after he'd spoken. She opened her mouth, but when her gaze had flickered back to Alphys no words could come out. Papyrus blinked; every time he'd seen Alphys and Undyne together like this, Undyne would become this strange conflicted person he couldn't make sense of. Especially today, it was as if her entire course was thrown off; had Sans known that this would happen?

Lately Sans seemed to know way too much stuff that he didn't know.

"Yeah bye." Alphys had just opened her mouth again when Undyne said this, her voice still completely dry of affect. She turned right around and walked to the door, taking a deep breath and not even glancing Alphys' way as she walked past. Without turning around, she said, "I'll come back when you're not busy, Sans and Papyrus."

Papyrus jerked up with his hands behind his back, nodding respectfully her way. "LOOKING FORWARD TO IT, GUARD CAPTAIN!"

Undyne opened the door, slammed it shut behind her, and then from the sound of it leaped out over the steps and onto the street. Papyrus twitched as he relaxed. "WHAT THE HELL?" He said, as under his breath as his kind of speech could be, and returned his eyes to Sans and Alphys for an explanation. Alphys had turned back towards the door and only stared, while Sans stood still and winked at his brother.

He coughed again. "sorry, all of that projects stuff was just bullshit, but, uh... you sure came over quick," he said with a snort, and only by doing so did he take Alphys' eyes away from where Undyne's back had disappeared.

She lowered her head, shoving up her glasses as they slid down her snout. "Well... I-I wanted to-to-to-to talk to you about something too, also, anyway. I di-didn't realize I was int-t-t-terrupting something immportant."

"ehh, not that important, just the boss getting 'rattled' over something," said Sans, and as Papyrus fumed behind Alphys he added quickly, "let's go to the shed. i'll tell you about it. fill you in. give you the scoop."

"SANS-"

"throw you a bone."

Even as Alphys and Sans disappeared in that weird, startling way, some of the tension practically dripped out of Papyrus' bones. He didn't know what just happened, but he understood one thing at least.

With Alphys here, his superior would not have a chance to go into the blue timeline. With Alphys here, there would be no fighting an innocent - or at least undeserving - blue monster. With Alphys here, there wouldn't be any stirring up trouble.

Clearly she was some kind of Undyne repellent.

Author's Note: Still slowly chugging along, making plans and trying to keep them.

Next Chapter: A Moment of Ugh