Hello!

This is NellB here with the next part of the Arc II - The Judge and The Damned.

If you want to see more of a specific character, tell me so! I know the direction I want this fanfic to take, but adding things wouldn't make that change. It would only make the story a bit longer?

Disclaimer : Undertale belongs to TobyFox, Underfell to the fandom community of Undertale and the cover art is mine XD.

This fanfic isn't Sans centric, even if this arc does revolve around him. Just a heads up. All the main characters I introduced in Arc I - Prologue and then some, will get their time to shine!

With that out of the way, enjoy!

Sans was in a pretty good mood. Even if Hotland was really troublesome and while he didn't enjoy the heat, it wasn't like it bothered him.

Sure, the place was always filled with machines that did one thing or another and the puzzles to get from one place to the next were not very helpful. The monsters in the area were always complaining that they should change them to something more direct, seeing as you had to go around the lava up and down all the time. But without any ground to work on, what were they going to do? Launch people across the rifts?

That didn't sound very safe.

Sans couldn't get full credit for the idea, though. He had seen the blueprints of something similar being thrown around the lab. It seemed interesting for a time but books about engineering were too hard to find for Sans to actually bother with them. The more theoretical aspects, in the other hand?

The Doc had plenty of that kind of stuff in his house in Snowdin and he didn't go back all that much, opting to stay the night at the labs to look over his experiments. Terrible for the Doc's health if anyone asked him, he was loosing on Papyrus' time and attentions.

But Sans couldn't really mind as much as he wanted to. That just meant that his little brother spent more time around big bro Sans. Even if he couldn't really share these happy memories with the Doc? Sans couldn't bring himself to care.

His little brother was so cool. He actually tried to make his first snowman that very same week. It ended as a lump in the snow because it crashed in on itself, but it was awesome nonetheless. Sans ended up destroying his own snowman to make it look like his little brother's. He swears that from now on, all his snowman's are going to be just lumps.

Anyway, he was rambling. It's just that everytime Sans' thoughts went to Papyrus it felt like he could go on with the topic for days. Sans couldn't understand how Gaster could just brush Paps off with an "I'm busy". It was okay at first, maybe. Being a scientist was an all time job, no disconnecting, because even in your free time, a breakthrough could make itself known in your mind. Papyrus was still a bit too young to understand this, or so Sans thought.

Some time ago, Papyrus was still asking after Gaster. Now, he didn't even bother. It didn't sit well with his big brother's instinct until he asked Paps the reason.

He answered that if Sans could help out in the labs because he knew some science stuff and Papyrus wasn't very good at that, he could throw around ideas for puzzles!

Sans was so proud.

It probably wouldn't be needed if Garfield, that feline monster that always seemed to follow Gaster around, figured out how to make the Hotland puzzles work, but he didn't have the heart to tell Papyrus that. He probably would end up saying something like: your puzzles were so cool the folk didn't even know what to do! Great for design, bad for convenience.

Yeah, that may work. He had time to figure it out, though.

Sighing, the skeleton reached for his access card in the front of his labcoat and went to do the puzzles. At least he didn't have to do the ones in Waterfall, those were just time-consuming and he was in a tight schedule as it was. Asking the River Person for a ride was always a good idea if he was around. That boat, though. It was a special attack! Sans was sure, even if the monster didn't say anything on the matter neither confirming or denying it. And a sentient one at that!

So cool! He wanted something like that in his future adult life!

Some unnecessary complex puzzles later and Sans was ready for yet another busy day of being an over-glorified errand boy for the Royal Scientist. He just hoped Gaster wouldn't send him to Snowdin again for something as simple as taking the paperbag of food back to Grillbz. He literally lived there! And Gaster supposedly did too.

But you don't argue with Gaster.

Unless you want to troll him, that is. After all, Gaster was still his (FZZZZZZZ! ERROR! ERROR!) and the arguing seemed pretty tiring. Probably wouldn't have any actual results, either.

"Good morning, Sans. How are you in this fine evening?"

…

Think about the guy too much and he shall appear. Sans shouldn't even be surprised at this point.

The monster was very tall in comparison to Sans' own height, looming like a bad omen with his stern face. If he was anyone else he would be terrified of even talking to him. Well, he was, for a time. He kind of got used to it, the Doc always stern-faced even in the most hilarious of situations. Man, if only he could prank him without feeling bad about it afterwards. It probably wasn't a good idea to do that in the Labs either, maybe he could try a joke or two. Gaster sure needed it.

"S'up, Doc? Grillbz sends his two usuals today, so there's a skeleton of food. But anyway, what was that thing about someone important coming to the Labs?" said Sans, trying to get inside info and all that. He would like to know what was going on in more detail. Usually, if the King wanted to know about sciency stuff, it would be Gaster going over to the castle, not the other way around.

Gaster didn't tell him much nowadays when at first he would ramble on and on for hours. Apparently, he had some new pet project? Garfield said so last time Sans politely asked him. Sans was pretty proud of his creepy face, it was hard to get as good at it as he was now!

"Not much, I am afraid. Even if there is the matter of the King requesting a visit to the Laboratory, the rest of the scientific community in the building has been notified. I assume you already knew that." Sans could only laugh, a bit nervous about overhearing some things. It wasn't like he wanted to hear the hushed conversations of the people in the Lab. Much. Inside info and gossip were parts of what made the place so interesting, after all. "It might be something to do with his own habit of cooking when worrying about some matter."

Okay, that was disappointing. Once again, the Royal scientist used a lot of words to say nothing. If he couldn't get inside information now or gossip, there wasn't much else Sans could do in there until someone requested something. It wasn't too late, though, if he used a different approach it might work. The skeleton monster was almost out of ideas but maybe starting with a jab or two to Gaster's work would do the trick.

Maybe he could try to have some fun while at it?

"So, what are you gonna show to his Kingliness? Garfield's stats of how much the people complain about the weather irregularities in the Underground? Or Kid's drawings on the fridge of his mom in the lab coat?"

Gaster smiled.

"Well, certainly not that. I was thinking about showing him how the development on the Core was going. It was the main reason for his request to visit, after all. But then, my assumptions in the matter have led me to a bit of a situation. I must try to keep my other projects going even if the king doesn't sound convinced. The human research is far too important to let go of at this point in time."

So boring and anticlimactic.

Sans' original idea of messing with the Doc didn't work out as expected, but he was a comedian at heart! Even if he was just imitating Mr. Drake's show routine in the privacy of his room and didn't do that much else. Yet. Still! The show must go on!

"So, you telling me you still go to the Dumps to look for kids cartoons?"

Gaster's face was a poem. Jackpot.

"No, no, no. Sans, that is not it. We must try and understand their culture if we ever hope of attempting to escape this prison the humans have led us to. It is important" said Gaster, his face all stern.

"Yeah, obviously is not because you enjoy the KameHameHa."

Awkward silence. Honestly, Sans loved seeing the Doc struggle sometimes. It was hilarious. And the avoidance of eye contact was pretty obvious. His expression as a whole… Indescribable. Gold, this was pure gold. How he wished he was allowed to have a camera in this place. Or, you know, own one.

"Even in the improbable case of that being true, you must acknowledge the possibilities of developing a laser as powerful as that one would bring for us."

"Oh, yeah. No, I know that. You see, the thing about those cartoons? Not really good with the physical aspects of it. What is the difference between a normal human and a magical human? They believe they come from space or something, their magic being caused by the different blood? Which type would that even be, C? And don't get me started on the physics of that thing, it's so unstable that…" And Sans rambled. And rambled. Honestly, this may have been the longest rant Sans had gone into in a while.

Yet another awkward silence. Gaster was gaping, somehow. Even without lips he managed to pull it off.

"Sans, have you been reading my old research and material?"

Sans almost wanted to swear. Caught red handed.

"Uh… Maybe?"

Awkward silence. Gaster needed to get out more if all his conversations were this way which, Sans knew, they usually were. What a dork.

"It is… Rather difficult on this time and age to find someone interested in science. Let alone someone who actually seems to understand some of the more complex aspects of the theoretical aspects. Monsters nowadays are all about the practice approach…" Sans wasn't sure where the Doc was going with this? "… Sans… Would you like… Maybe… Work with me on my newest project? I'll teach you everything you need to know for it, if you are up to the challenge it will offer."

Oh The Angel.

Sans said yes in a soulbeat.

20XX - Years later/ago.

Papyrus sighed again. Flowey was gone like he was never there in the first place, deep into the ground. He wanted to do that sometimes too nowadays, for the ground to swallow him hole and just disappear, even for a little while. But as the little monster says, he must persevere!

He honestly just wanted to talk to Sans like he used to and didn't want to upset him anymore. But it didn't seem like he knew how to do that nowadays. Papyrus knew it wasn't his own or his brother's fault, not really. He was way too great to be at fault and his brother was always too closed off to say things outright. No need to fight against one's own nature!

If his brother kept going to the Ruins' Door to avoid him, though, he would just have to barge right in!

Except that maybe that wasn't a good idea, the longer he thought about it. Flowey usually gave good advice in relation to his brother and their kind of broken bond of brothers, he guessed. But his flower... acquittance, was rather pushy at times, even without realizing it. It was like he didn't care for his safety or something, like that was someone else's problem. He just pops up with that cheery attitude of his whenever he thinks he can put his own two cents about a situation.

Not every monster dealt well with loud noises, attacking on instinct alone most of the time.

Papyrus couldn't not relate. In this world of theirs, everything was a possible threat. Even if Snowdin was an almost untouched place, the aggressive policy of the rest of the Underground influenced the monster that inhabited it greatly. Not for the first time, the tall and loud skeleton asked himself if there was a reason why this happened, but he was thankful nonetheless. He felt like he could relax, just a bit, while walking confidently into the woods.

The woods were plagued with teenagers that were coming of age, sure, but they were mostly harmless and were out in the open more for their own safety and that of their families. Specially those who couldn't control their special abilities just yet. Snowdin was the perfect place for the kids to develop their own potential with the Canine Unit and the Skeleton brothers themselves making sure they would be as safe as possible, from both a human or another monster looking to improve their stats.

No one was killing children if he had any say in it. He may be a sentry, he may be a monster, but he still had standards.

Papyrus guessed that he should leave Sans to himself, leave him his space. Even if it contradicted Flowey's usual advice, he decided to trust this hunch of his. Sans was his brother, not that flower's. His.

He would try to make something that Sans would eat and was not infested with grease, that would do the trick of making his brother feel better. Maybe spaghetti? It was the only thing he mostly knew how to cook and it was very nutritional.

He would need a bit more of help with his cooking, though. Which reminded him, he should go to meet Undyne. The lady monster was rather harsh but she had earned his respect. She was not going to let her down and maybe this time he could convince her to let him into the Royal Guard as more than a sentry.

Not likely.

Still, he would persevere anyway. There was no way he was going to miss a meeting and not show her what he was made of! He was the Great and Terrific Papyrus, after all, and he would show her what she was missing on by not letting him on a higher position! She would see…

Papyrus would make sure of it!

19XX - Years ago.

Hotland's puzzles were messy and they were so not helping her by being in the way. She wanted to have everything ready to work in the Labs in time for her to meet the Royal family. Her mentor mentioned that they were going to be there soon.

Honestly, she usually worked from her home in New Home as she was not old enough to be allowed into a restrained zone such as the Labs were. Garfield was very accommodating that way, offering her and her two kind of sisters, in everything but type of monster, a new home in the capitol. The feline monster was very kind in his own way and it seemed like her speciality of working with mechanics had caught the Royal Scientist's attention for a special project!

Alphys didn't know where she would be if not for Garfield. Probably still in the Dumps with Catty and Bratty. Those two were a handful but treated each other like family. This sweet new job would allow them the spare material they needed to fix some of the things from the Dumps that came from above, what the humans threw away. But, it also meant that Alphys wouldn't be able to see the other two, even if the economical push would benefit the three greatly. She would need to move to the Labs until the experiment was done or didn't need their attention anymore.

It wasn't like they couldn't see each other or anything. Still, she didn't know how long this experiment would take and it would be the longest the three of them were separated. It was better to not explain the situation fully as to not worry the feline and reptile duo, she would be back soon enough.

From living in the Dumps as a homeless monster to working all day on the Labs with her own position and safe place to stay. It sounded like a dream come true.

If only those puzzles in Hotland were out of the way, the moving out of her personal things and research material to the Labs would be so much faster!

And end of the second chapter of this arc!

Please, tell me what you think about this story. Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome!

NellB out!