Now that he knew Alphys' presence was a deterrent to Undyne's, Papyrus thought he wouldn't mind her coming over in person as much. He was, however, getting more and more nervous at the amount of people he was taking into his confidence about this whole affair.

Not only had Sans explained the entire thing to Alphys - who had groaned and wrung her hands, saying that she had business with the other world as well - but that morning Papyrus walked downstairs and found Frisk sitting on the couch while Sans and Alphys talked in front of them, the child munching on an Iscream with their usual stony expression.

He tried to retain his cool, for the sake of the fragile friendship that he and Frisk had developed thus far. But he wanted more than anything to scream at the top of his lungs when Sans' words crossed his not-ears, "...before her majesty sees, don't want her to know that the machine's fixed yet..."

Instead, as he stomped down to the ground floor, he snarled at a slightly lower volume, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

At his voice, Frisk raised their eyes in his direction and smirked. "Eating."

"NOT YOU," he snapped, as Frisk bit off a chunk of the treat. "SANS AND- AND- ALPHYS! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING DISCUSSING THIS MATTER IN FRONT OF-" Frisk was watching, "OF- DISCUSSING IT OPENLY!"

"what, you think the kid's gonna care about a stupid thing like this?" Sans said, jerking a thumb in Frisk's direction. "they don't care. you don't care, do you frisk?"

"I care a little bit."

"see? they don't care."

"BE THAT AS IT MAY," Papyrus began, planting his hands on both hips. "I TOLD YOU TO KEEP THIS QUIET AND I EXPECT YOU TO KEEP IT QUIET. I MADE AN EXCEPTION FOR ALPHYS BECAUSE UNDYNE CLEARLY HATES BEING AROUND HER," as he spoke, he heard Alphys make a whining sound; with a grimace of disgust, he plowed right through it, "BUT FRISK DRAWS UNDYNE LIKE A BRIGHT LIGHT! AND, PRETEND THAT UNDYNE IS A MOTH."

Sinking deeper into the couch, Frisk muttered, "She certainly wrecked my sweater like one." Although it had been newly repaired by the efforts of that Blue Toriel and the spiders in her timeline, Undyne had managed to stretch and tear Frisk's orange and black striped sweater back into the beaten state it was when they all lived underground. She had never been satisfied with the way that her "duel" with the child left off, and was always trying to repeat it for a better outcome than she'd received. But if it were a better outcome she wanted, wouldn't that mean Frisk would die...?

Thinking of that wasn't great for Papyrus' anxiety about the current situation, come to think of it. He couldn't resist scowling at Frisk a little, and Frisk dutifully scowled back. "Why can't you just tell Undyne to fuck off and leave the blue timeline alone?" they said.

"I CAN'T DO THAT," Papyrus said, aghast. "SHE'S MY IMMEDIATE SUPERIOR."

"Well tell Asgore, then. Isn't he her superior?"

"to be honest kid," Sans piped up, cutting Papyrus off as he drew in another breath to shout, "no one really wants to involve his majesty asgore in anything that we don't have to. no offense to him."

"Lots of offense to him."

Papyrus groaned, pacing the floor. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO FIX THAT MACHINE UP ANYWAY?"

As he asked, Alphys made a squeak from where she had inched away almost opposite him in the room. Then in a raspy voice, she said, "I-i-it's me, I'm using the m-machine, I need to go to that other world."

"OH YOU DO, DO YOU?"

"Ss-shush!" She snapped, her irritated red eyes flashing. "I was planning to do this way be-before you had this n-non-problem with Undyne!"

At that, Frisk chomped off a lingering chunk of Iscream. "Planning to do what?"

Alphys shot Frisk a dirty look. "N-none of your business." Papyrus could swear that Frisk was mouthing the word "bitch" as they shoved the rest of their snack into their mouth, and Alphys was looking hard at the ground. There was a flush on her scales he didn't understand.

"BUT I DON'T THINK EVEN YOU SHOULD BE GOING OUT THERE? YOU SHOULDN'T BE GOING OUT THERE?" If Alphys up and left, his Undyne-repellent plan was out the window. "YOUR LITTLE PLAN CAN'T POSSIBLY BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY PROBLEMS?"

"Friendly reminder, you're not the only p-person with p-p-problems!"

As Papyrus' eyesockets flared, Frisk cut in with the usual sneer, "Oh, wait. Is this about trying to get more relationship advice from the other Alphys?"

"NO! Yes!" Alphys trembled. "M-m-maybe it is! The advice she g-gave me last time isn't working! 'Be yourself,' 'talk to her,' 'show her your DVD collection,' all that, that, that crap! none of it's worked, I,"

As Alphys huffed and puffed that little sneer on Frisk's face turned into something nastier, as it sometimes did. It seemed that the child had the same opinion as Papyrus when it came to Alphys' so-called "problems" that she prioritized so much higher than his own. "Are you stupid? Her advice didn't work that time but you still wanna go ask her for more?"

"Who-who-who else am I supposed to go to for help? You?" Alphys shot Frisk a hateful look, and they responded with a scowl. Papyrus' not-stomach was coiling in knots just watching them.

Luckily, it was Sans who spoke up first an cut in-between them, flicking Frisk on the forehead as he spoke. "this is kind of just alphys' business. look, she'll be in and out before you even know it, she got first dibs, and my other self already promised she could use both machines whenever she wanted. just let her go, boss, we can worry about undyne back here."

Papyrus slammed a fist against his palm, in lieu of a hard surface in his immediate reach. "NO! I WAS NOT TOLD SHE HAD FIRST DIBS, SO THE DIBS DO NOT COUNT!"

"do so."

"DO NOT!"

Sans uttered a frustrated sigh, and with some gall said, "it's not your machine, bro." Which immediately rankled Papyrus. But Papyrus was also aware, with Frisk suddenly watching him closely, that he couldn't just go back to how it was underground. He couldn't cow Sans with a threat or a beating, couldn't bully his way to the end of an argument.

Frisk had threatened him once that for every hit, he'd get a hit back. They made good on it.

Papyrus prioritized not being hit with that stupid burnt frying pan. He was probably already going to get more crap from Undyne later. "...FINE, THEN."

"Glad you f-f-f-finally stopped being so-" Alphys sputtered for a moment, and then turned and slunk to the door. "A-anyway, be back soon, um."

By the time the door to the outside slammed and she was gone, Sans had vanished too- with or without the use of doors. It was just Papyrus and Frisk for this brief moment. He folded his arms, biting down on bewildered resentment and frustration he couldn't verbalize.

With a far more neutral face, Frisk wiped their hands on their pants and stood up. "So, what do you think Undyne's gonna do when she's over there? Kill someone?"

Papyrus folded his arms, shifting uncomfortably. "THERE'S THINGS I WORRY ABOUT HAPPENING. WHEN SHE GETS LIKE THAT, 'DUELING' PEOPLE. SHE'S..."

"Didn't you tell me before that she knows restraint and professionalism?"

"I WAS TRYING TO PUT YOU AT EASE!"

"Well we all know what a bang up fucking job you do with that," the child said.

His teeth clacking, Papyrus stomped his foot. "OKAY, LET ME EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO YOU! I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT UNDYNE PUTTING THAT OTHER UNDYNE DOWN A PEG IN A FAIR FIGHT, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT! IT'S THAT- UNDYNE IS A VERY GOOD FIGHTER. BUT I DON'T THINK SHE'S THE BEST. OBVIOUSLY!" He straightened up, placing a red-gloved hand on his own chest. "I'M THE BEST. BUT ANYWAY, WITH THAT IN MIND, I'M WORRIED ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF SHE STARTS TO-" He glanced to the windows, and the door, as if to make absolute sure that Undyne wasn't going to come bursting in at this very inopportune moment. "-LOSE."

"Oh." Frisk shoved their hands in their pockets. "Wow. You think she's not gonna win against herself?"

"WELL THINK ABOUT IT! MY BROTHER IS A CRAVEN COWARD AND A WEAKLING, BUT THAT OTHER VERSION OF HIM WAS ABLE TO FIGHT HIS MAJESTY KING ASGORE TO A STANDSTILL! I DON'T KNOW HOW STRONG THE OTHER UNDYNE IS COMPARED TO OUR UNDYNE."

"How do you know she's strong at all?"

"I DON'T! HONESTLY, TRY TO KEEP UP."

They looked ready to reply to that, probably with another couple of curses peppered in somewhere, before stopping and chewing on a finger. Papyrus' eyebrows raised; maybe for once he actually managed to get through to them about something.

In the end, they said, "Well, I know you don't want her to get over to the blue world at all, but if she does end up finding out the machine works and heads over there, you should call me. We can go after her together."

"...FOR ONCE I'M NOT HAVING SOMEONE TELL ME I'M FUCKING OVERREACTING. THANK YOU," Papyrus said. Although, he only hoped that Frisk meant it in a supportive way, and not... that they wanted to come over with him just to see Undyne get beat up.

He wasn't a reader of faces like Sans, so the smile Frisk wore right now was beyond him.

Things seemed a little weird during the movies at Alphys' place, so after Papyrus left Undyne did too- albeit not for forever, just for half an hour. Just to jog. Undyne always felt better after exercising.

Today, it was the weirdest thing, though. After speeding through New New Home for the next ten minutes, she broke out in a sweat a lot faster than she usually did. And not long after that, she found herself running out of breath way sooner than normal too. It came to a point where she put an end to the jog about a third of the way through her route.

Tired... even though, aside from that training with Alphys, she hadn't done anything to warrant that.

Holy crap that was annoying.

Oh, well. As it had come loose while outside and kept getting in her face, Undyne swept her hair back up in an easier-maintained bun. Then she jogged (at least a little bit more) back to that familiar little lab that she was SO glad wasn't located in Hotland anymore.

When she got inside, the door sliding down shut behind her, Alphys was already talking to someone on the second floor. Undyne quieted a moment, slowing down as she tilted her head; it seemed like a conversation that she was having with herself, if she also happened to, occasionally, have a sore throat.

"...e if you tell me more about her? I-I-I could think of something that w-would work better for her, l-like if not the anime thing, then..."

"M-m-maybe it's just impossible, I should have known better than to, to, to try getting her attention with-"

Having a conversation with herself seemed indeed to be what was going on. There was two of them standing in front of the worktable. One was the Alphys she knew, still in the t-shirt and sweatpants she put on for the movie; the other was an Alphys she'd never actually seen before, dressed in a splotchy labcoat, dark dress, and crooked foggy glasses.

"...ou, you know... you d-don't actually have to go on a date with her first thing, if you barely even talk to her. Um... B-before, I was assuming you-that you guys talked," said the real Alphys.

Quoth the weird Alphys, "W-well, you don't! Have to! Invalidate my-"

Still processing, Undyne had almost summoned a spear- before she thought better of it, as the two simply talked. She could probably lift both of them up, one on each arm, and they could form a freaking reverse pyramid or something.

"Hey, Alphy?" When Undyne called out, the Alphys she was familiar with jumped and the one she wasn't familiar with cringed. Undyne looked up at them both from the lower floor, hand on her hip, and she snorted. "Uh, Alphyses."

"Whatdoyouwant," said the discolored raspy Alphys- Frisk called the weird ones Reds, right? Red Alphys. "You you you you- Undyne,"

Undyne flashed a bright smile their way. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Um."

Alphys looked to Red Alphys, who fidgeted with her oil-stained labcoat, and then shook her head as she took up the silence with a murmur, "I-it was, um, just a surprise visit, so uh... not reallyabigdealoranythinglikethat..."

"Oh, sure. Hey!" Undyne snapped her fingers, smiling wider, "I think I heard from Frisk that you guys just recently got out from your underground, right? Fucking, congrats dude! How's that feel?"

Red Alphys' cheeks changed color. "It's been, it's been weather. I mean- fffine. Can can can you stop shouting."

"Sure, just come down here so I don't have to shout at you then."

Although the suggestion hadn't been directed at her specifically, it was the normal Alphys who came down first, as the Red one sucked in her cheeks and seemed to need a second to consider it. Undyne suppressed a frown at it, and only grinned down at Alphys as she rejoined her on the ground floor. "Kind of weird talking to someone who looks just like you, huh?" she said, and proving she actually could talk in a low voice when she did.

"Y-yeah..." Alphys rubbed the back of her head. "L-listen, um, again, uh, sorry..."

"Hey no sweat, it's your house anyway, you can host surprise visits any time you wanna?"

She shook her head, gave a teensy frown. "N-no, I mean for before."

But Undyne's expression stayed the same, albeit with a puzzled twinge. "Huh?" It seemed that only Alphys' probing look brought the memory of any of that training session back up. Undyne snorted. "Man, you don't have anything to apologize about. I already forgot about it. Don't worry."

"I-I-I see," Alphys replied with a quiet push on her glasses. "S-errr, okay... guess I've been uh. I've been uh worrying about it for nothing. Then."

"Sure have."

And then, outside of either of them, there came, "That's enough!"

This time Undyne jumped as well as the regular Alphys; when the hell had Red Alphys gotten downstairs? But anyway, she had stepped closer to them and clawed at her own labcoat for a moment, looking between the couple.

Eventually her gaze settled on Undyne. "You... I I I want to ask you too. How to get her, her her attention, how to... get her to understand. She, she, ignores me. I thought we were... but. But she." She took a deep breath and shook her head, struggling with each sentence.

But in the next moment it seemed to come to her, and she spat with more confidence- a little bit more, "You're already with this-! This Alphys in your world, and that's p-proof enough for me! That we're meant to be together! Me and my Undyne. How did it happen? Was it something she said? Something she did? I asked, I-I even tried confessing, I tried giving her gifts, I I tried, but..."

Red Alphys hung her head a little, her hands clasped. Undyne's smile fell, and for a moment she didn't reply. Alphys, the normal one, was fidgeting off to the side; when their eyes met, Alphys' expression turned into a desperate plea.

Message received; Undyne looked Red Alphys on square in the glasses and said, "Well, I don't know what to tell you. If she's not interested, she's not interested."

Alphys placed a hand over her mouth, and Red Alphys didn't move a muscle. Undyne shrugged. Should she say it louder? She materialized a spear in her hand and slung it over her shoulders. For the aesthetic. "I mean, if she's just waiting for you to make a move or something? That's different. But if she's not wanting to be in a relationship, if she's not liking the gifts and the confession, you just gotta accept that and move on."

"M-m-m-move on?"

It was impossible to discern Red Alphys' true mood with those foggy glasses that obscured her eyes. Undyne tried again, "There's plenty of other fish in the Kingdom of Monsters, you know? I get that it's hard, but, just because me and Alphy are together doesn't? mean? that you guys have to be? You're not exactly clones of us, y'know?"

Silence.

Alphys was by her side, slipping one scaly hand around Undyne's arm. "Besides, m-maybe what she really wants is space. A-and when you give her some, sh-she'll come around?"

Silence.

"Dude, did you hear us?" Undyne waved a hand in front of Red Alphys' face. "It's not on you anymore, it's on her."

"I-" Red Alphys' head jerked back up, and then seemed to have frozen again. "I thought you'd know. But... maybe you're right..." Her glasses slid just a little on her face; the eyes that peered at them from behind the lenses were bloodshot and strange. "Maybe our worlds were too different."

She took a step back; her muttering seemed to be more to herself, although she kept glancing their way as if for approval. "So so so maybe, instead of doing whatever y-you did, I ought to... mmm," she wrung her hands. O...kay?

But it seemed to work out, because a second later Red Alphys said, to them, "Th-thank you. For what you said."

"Hey, no problem-"

"Oh, uh, by the way," she cut in. "M-m-maybe instead of leaving I should stick around. B-b-b-because I think you-you'll get to see her again soon. She she's coming here."

Alphys' grip on Undyne's arm tightened. "Uh, why?"

"Oh, you know." Red Alphys smiled. And as she smiled, her sharp teeth glinting a pale yellow, she motioned towards Undyne. "To fight you. She's crazy about it. She she's not interested in me at all but she's really eager to take you on.

"Sounds fun, right?"

Author's Note: I wish that these characters had meta-knowledge so that they would internally refer to Underfell Alphys as Fellphys.

I wanna just finish this fic too

Next Chapter: Have a Good Time