Important: I'm going to be updating once every one to two weeks instead of definitely once a week. Still same time/day. Thank you for understanding.

"Alphys?"

Alphys could feel her breath hitch, but refused to open her eyes. The heat from the purple heart was just so warm and welcoming that her palm didn't lose contact with the SOUL. It couldn't. If what she'd hoped for came true, there was no telling what awaited her, and if it hadn't...she didn't want the hallucination to wear off so soon.

When it didn't receive a reply, the voice continued. "What are you doing?"

To this, she had to open her eyes. What was she doing? Alphys wasn't sure. Was she still grasping the same thing she had been when they had originally made contact? Or had the monsters gotten to her? There was no way to know without observing.

What she was met with was a scene more startling than anything. Her robot companion was seated in front of her, one leg dangling over the other, notebook propped up against them. His pencil hovered above it, as if just finished scribbling down all thoughts moments before and now was frozen while its owner's eyes settled upon the glowing purple heart beside his chest, of which Alphys's hand was currently wrapped around.

"Um…" She quickly retracted the yellow, clawed hand and eyed her surroundings. Shiny stone reflecting light, small wooden table, temmie flakes…

Her eyes widened.

Temmie flakes!

The ghost sprung forward to wrap both arms around her metal partner. There was so much to take in. Was this a dream? Had she finally shattered, and this was the afterlife? The ghost wasn't sure how to feel if she had to spend the rest of eternity reliving her memories.

"Alphys, what has gotten into you?"

"I can touch you!" Alphys exclaimed, leaping back and drawing her hands to her mouth.

Mettaton blinked. "Yes, and?"

"I…" Her expression dropped from one of shock to subtle confusion, eyes narrowing and shoulders dropping. "...w-we couldn't do that before…"

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

"I-I mean...you tried touching me, a-and you went through...through my chest, and nose…"

The robot stood, slowly, taking note of the way his partner seemed to step back. How strange. She'd been acting fine- or at least, as fine as far as he could tell- until now. What could have gotten into her, he wondered? What was it in the way he sat down that made Alphys lean forward and trigger the same battle sequence he'd been through too many times to care, only to grab hold of his SOUL and refuse to let go? They were such strange things to ask, and he certainly never thought he'd be finding himself questioning such an odd thought. Perhaps it would be best to pretend this had never happened…

"Right…" he remarked, and decided to begin pacing off further down the pathway. Hopefully he wasn't supposed to eat those temmie flakes. That would surely bode poorly for whatever passed as a digestive system in this body.

When she saw him begin to walk away, Alphys's expression then morphed into one of worry and she proceeded to take several steps forward before letting out a sharp cry of, "Wait!" while tossing her hands in the air in front of her.

Ah, what was it now? Alphys would want to put this behind her too, he hoped, and merely ended up tilting his head to the side, body angled at some degree partly towards her and also partly towards the path as indication of being torn between the direction he wished to go. "Yes?"

"What…" She rubbed her hands together a bit- hands that would be clammy by now, had the ghost girl still been alive, though she might had rather been stuck with that fate than having to exist in this state between life and death, unsure at any moment if she would finally crumble to dust… "What...h-happened?"

Mettaton shook his head, letting it fall for a moment as he turned back to face the path in front of him, then proceeded to wave at Alphys to get her to follow. "You know what happened. You were just there."

She glanced over her shoulder. This...this was by the temmie flakes…? And…and the woods were back there...with...with Frisk...and they...but she...but the bunnies…!

"B-but.." she stuttered, turning her attention again to Mettaton. "...y-you were just with…"

"Frisk," he finished for her. He then began to walk forward again, this time continuing when Alphys didn't immediately follow. She would catch up, thankfully, but it would take a moment to recollect herself.

The two finally rejoined around a small wooden sign. Mettaton had almost missed it as his eyes were trained ahead, however the brown wood standing out against the white of the snow was enough to make his sensors a bit quicker in picking up on it, concealed beneath the tree as it was. As his eyes scanned over it, a look of confusion washed over him, one Alphys was quick to detect.

*Warning: Bunny Love, she read, taking a small step forward.

"Bunny...what?"

*(Yes, y-you read that right.)

The robot shook his head, straightened his back, and gave a quick turn on his heel. Left or north, left or north? Where could that sign be referring to?

"What do you think?" he asked and glanced down over his ghostly narrator, who cocked her head to the side, arms closed against her chest.

"W...what…?"

"Which way should we go?" Mettaton repeated, though already began to move straight ahead.

Alphys frowned and reached out for his bag. She retracted her hand for a brief moment as memories of him being mutilated by the scythe flashed in her mind, causing her to step backward with mouth agape, but she dried her eyes and moved to the side.

"Um...w-why not this way?"

"Hm?"

He turned to face her, at which point she nodded, forcing a smile on her face.

"Y-yeah! Uh...there's...a switch you have to push this way. And...I think you should go there!"

She paused, however, when Mettaton's eyes moved on her once more and all attempts at her fake smile fell as she flung her hands out in front of her. "Or...or maybe we could just go forward…" The switch might've stayed in place, right…?

"Nonsense, darling. What's the switch for?"

"Well, it…" Alphys darted her eyes toward the floor. "...it fixes the spikes that way, s-so you can get through, but, um...maybe there's a better route-"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," was all he said in response. Understandable, really. Alphys seemed much more jittery than she had been merely minutes before, and Mettaton didn't want to handle that. Whatever had gotten into her would most likely pass, and he simply had to carry on until it did. No point in stopping for a few nerves, now was there?

Unsurprisingly to the both of them, the switch was there, untouched save for the blanket of snow that was lying on top of it. Once flicked, a clicking sound could be heard, followed by Alphys jumping an inch off the ground. Mettaton had turned without a second thought and began to head down the way he was originally going to go, until his partner spoke.

"Wait!"

"What is it now?"

The dinosaur rubbed the back of her neck roughly while gazing down at the cold, fluffy substance beneath her feet. "Um...there's...some bunnies down there and they…"

Alphys hesitated, and Mettaton could feel his eyes roll as he dropped his hand from his hip with a huff. "Alphys, spit it out already. What could possibly have gotten into you? You were fine earlier and now you're acting like you saw the devil. If there's something I need to know, then tell me. Otherwise, I'm moving ahead."

The ghost let out a small gasp when she watched her partner begin to walk away and hadn't thought for a second before screaming, "THE BUNNIES ARE GONNA KILL YOU!"

Mettaton froze, eyebrows furrowing together and eyes moving upward to process the information. "...What?"

"I-I-I mean, u-um…" How many times could she do this? How many times could she have him die without something happening? They lucked out this time- she still held disbelief in how- but what about again? Could her SOUL hold intact for it? I-it was best to just avoid those situations all together…especially if Mettaton refused to gain any LV to fight back. He wouldn't be able to protect her, and she...she…

"Well?"

"Th-there's some rabbits up ahead...l-like the temmie from earlier. They're...not human bunnies. They're monster bunnies, and part of the Royal G-Guard. They w-want to kill you, o-or at least...one of them does. They'll take your SOUL to A-Asriel-"

"So how do we get past them?"

The ghost blinked. Past...yeah! What was it the one said? That Mettaton sounded human? Something about a slur in the voice? So, in theory, if he didn't speak, they wouldn't be able to tell a difference…

For once, Alphys found herself smiling brightly. Of course! If Mettaton kept quiet, they wouldn't be able to use the hearing rating to tell the difference! It was brilliant! "Just...don't talk. They rely on, um, hearing, and...they can tell from your voice. So…"

"So keep quiet," he finished for her, turning back to the road with a curt nod and back straight, shoulders high. "Sounds easy enough. Let me know when they're out of earshot."

"Right." She mimicked his nod in reply and reflexively straightened her back a small bit as well, feet moving forward more firmly and leaving behind a very faint print in the snow behind her.

There wasn't much time before two rabbits could be spotted off in the distance. One, a taller, slightly more muscular-looking one, appeared to be leaning against a tree with her arms crossed and head tilted downward slightly, while the other stood in front of her, weight shifted to one foot and arms moving about exuberantly.

Alphys winced when Mettaton became close enough that the two noticed him. She didn't know him all that well, but she still had a general idea of his character, and she was fairly certain that his mouth would open within a minute of being around the two. Perhaps they could make it past in time, though judging from the way they each reached for their scythe and swung the blades down across each other to block his path...it seemed unlikely.

"Halt," Rabbiressa said, her free hand propped up against her side and looking the robot up and down. "I haven't seen you around. You must be new here."

Mettaton opened his mouth, at which point he heard Alphys gasp, and then promptly shut it, nodding.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" she continued. Her attention shifted to her sister for but a moment so they could lock eyes before returning to the newbie, who once more nodded.

After another moment of analyzing, the rabbit nodded. "You don't seem to be a troublemaker… I suppose we could let you pass."

"But Rabbi, what if they're a human?"

The larger rabbit shrugged, neither seeming to notice the figure in front of them tensing slightly. It was only slightly, after all. He still held a bright smile on his face. "They can't be human. They're too quiet."

"But what about Boss's kid?" Bunamy interjected. "They didn't talk for a while after falling down here."

She waved her free hand out toward the figure with a slight scoff. "Yeah, but Boss's kid didn't look like that. C'mon. That's obviously one of Papyrus's toys or something. Y'know he likes to visit here sometimes."

Bunamy let out a small sigh, shaking her head and lowering her eyes. "Yeah, I guess you're right… Okay."

Her sister removed the weapon quite readily, however Bunamy let her own droop down slightly before removing it from the robot's path. Said robot would nod, a smile on his face, and then continue onward.

Alphys, however, was still on edge, even after the two had left their sight. Mettaton was waiting for the signal that he could speak, which she was holding out on for quite some time, and even when they had reached what appeared to be the next puzzle, she hadn't said a word, instead simply holding her breath.

It wasn't until Mettaton gave her a semi-death glare that she nodded. The rabbits...were probably far enough away. She didn't want to risk it, but she didn't want to risk her companion's wrath either, especially if she was anything like Undyne…

With a small sigh, Alphys nodded. "Okay, y-you can talk now."

Haha, I'm feeling really pressured to do this. I think it's making the chapters turn out really crappy. That's why I changed the schedule.

Reviews

Ck: That's a lot of questions, and I'm not entirely sure they'll all be answered, so I'll give a little bit here.

1) I don't think every human would have the ability to reset the timeline. That'd just be messy. The cyan SOUL's trait is patience. Blue is integrity. Purple is perseverance and, while not very far removed from Frisk and Chara's trait- DETERMINATION- is not close enough. Though, the purple SOUL, at least in my headcannon, would have the second highest chance of being able to RESET, since the two are practically synonyms. In other words, every human has different capabilities with timelines, and for the purple SOUL to be able to RESET, they need a little...push.

Which is where Alphys comes in at.

2) I mean, she had to die at some point in time. Everything didn't just happen all at once and then poof! game starts :3

3) Oh, that really wasn't important.

He was actually saying, "That isn't helping."

If you think it's important only because I put it in the title...don't.

Tatzebea: While I don't think "happy" is the best word to go there (maybe it is...I dunno your feelings bruh), you don't know how happy that made me to read your comment. I want my stuff to help people...I want my creations to...to influence others positively...I think I'm starting to tear up a little bit typing this. Seriously, that just...thank you...

NoItsBecky: "Undyne has something to do with Asriel"

I mean...if you're referring to the fact that Undyne is in Asriel's spot, then, well...it's kind of obvious, heh. If you mean interaction wise...I guess they would've interacted a little bit before she died. It'd be difficult for her not to if she was captain of the Royal Guard when he took over the throne.

So ye.

As for Chara...hey, I won't kill you. Can't guarantee they won't. But, if you mean, "How are they a mother?" then don't worry, they're not. At least, not that I know of. I hope they haven't been getting Frisky at all, if you know what I mean.

Let's keep those knock-knock jokes rated T for Teen 'till both of you are out of 'em ;3