Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.
Iterations
Done a Runner
He dropped Frisk off at home, tucking her in beside an already asleep Papyrus. Though he wanted nothing more than to join them, he knew he needed to inform Alphys of what he had seen. She would be able to point him towards other members of the New Guard to provide aid. They would take care of the new threat. He was not looking forward to the long walk. The distance between their home and her tent had been a blessing once he had retrieved Frisk, but it also made it unnecessarily difficult to get in contact with her or Undyne in time-sensitive matters such as these. The thick cave walls made phones useless and it was not like they had power to spare anyway. He considered alternate forms for communication until he reached her tent.
"yo, alphys!" he called out. "we need to talk."
There was no response.
His brow bone furrowed. "alphys, you there?"
Nothing.
He entered the tent. The lights were on low. Machines were still whirring and buzzing but she was not there. He walked over to the bulletin board on the wall. As Royal Scientist, when the kingdom went into a state of crisis like it was now, she was required to make her location known at all times. But instead of a note detailing her current location, there was an envelope. Inside was a handwritten letter.
Hey,
I don't think I'm cut out to be Royal Scientist. I just keep messing everything up. It would make things a lot easier if I weren't around. Please don't look for me.
Sorry.
Alphys
"dammit alphys. this really isn't the time."
His gritted his teeth together as he stuffed the note into his pocket. Looking around, she had not even left any contact information for the members of the New Guard. It looked like he would have to inform Undyne himself. He flipped a chair for good measure. He had no magic left to help, but Undyne was indispensable. He wrote a quick note to avoid the tunnel where he had seen the afflicted and taped it to the outside of the tent as a public announcement. Below, he taped another note urging any members of the New Guard to inform the other members and come prepared to fight. As for anyone else who lived too far from the tent to see the announcement, he hoped the fact that it was closely connected to the tunnel that collapsed would be enough incentive to keep them away. He tore through the tunnels towards home, dodging some and shoving others out of the way.
"she knew," he muttered furiously. "she knew and didn't bother to warn anyone."
He yanked the curtain of their home aside and cursed the scientist again as he looked at his sleeping brother. Whenever he saw her next, there would be hell to pay for making him get his brother involved. He wanted to keep him away from trouble, not bring him straight to it. He reached out and shook him.
"papyrus, get up."
Papyrus woke, sitting up groggily. "SANS? WHAT–"
"undyne's in trouble. we have to help."
He was wide awake now. He kicked off the blankets, knocking Frisk out of her hoodie nest in the process. She woke and floated up weakly, confusion spreading throughout the room.
"papyrus, go outside. i'll meet you there in a second."
Papyrus complied.
Frisk was barely floating, slowly sinking downward in exhaustion. Her rescue of Grillby's daughter earlier had taken all of her energy. She was about as tapped out of energy as he was. He shoved a few scraps of cloth into a mug that said "#1 Brother" on it. Wrapping her up in a couple of clean handkerchiefs, he sat her inside it. He hoped it would keep her hidden well enough while they were gone. She pulsed softly in defiance. She wanted to help.
"stop. sleep. at least one of us deserves to get some rest."
The cup shook slightly was she attempted to float out.
He poked her back down with a finger. "no, kid. trust me, you can't help us with this."
A pause, then a feeling of a soft sigh. Resignation. She would listen.
"good. we'll be back soon," he said, placing her with the other cups.
Stepping out of their home, he could see Papyrus wringing his hands with worry. He moved to stand in front of him.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?"
"i need you to teleport us to undyne."
His eye-sockets went wide. "WHAT? I CAN'T DO THAT! YOU SAW WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME."
"and you made it. you can do this."
"CAN'T WE JUST RUN THERE?"
He shook his head. "she needs us now, bro."
Papyrus shifted uncomfortably. "YOU'RE BETTER AT IT. CAN'T YOU DO IT?"
"nope. c'mon, i'll talk you through it."
"BUT–"
He went on, ignoring him. "use your magic and feel around us. it's gonna feel a little weird. there will be a bunch of little, well, they're kind of like rips, in the air around us."
"SANS! I REALLY DON'T THINK I CAN–"
"Just do it, Papyrus."
Papyrus flinched. He had never heard Sans sound like that before.
Sans grimaced. He had not meant to speak to him that way. "sorry. please, pap."
His brother, still shaken, did as he asked. Sans could feel the magic envelope the area. The tunnel took on a soft blue glow from his magic, just a shade darker than his own.
"do you see them?"
He did not respond.
Sans turned to his brother to repeat the question and found that he was staring at him with concern.
"'s wrong?"
His breath hitched. He stepped in close and reached a trembling hand out to him. "SANS... I CAN'T FEEL YOUR MAGIC."
"oh, heh, don't worry 'bout that. i just overextended myself a bit."
"IT'S LIKE YOU AREN'T HERE AT ALL!"
Sans reached up to grab Papyrus' hand and squeezed it firmly. "i'm right here, okay?"
Papyrus' grip on his hand became almost painful. "OKAY."
"now, c'mon. undyne needs us."
A pause as he looked around. "I SEE THEM."
"good. now what you did before, you forced yourself to teleport. it's much easier if you use these little guys."
"YOUR SHORTCUTS," he realized.
"yup. so each one of these little rips lead somewhere. all we need to do is go through the one that takes us closest to undyne."
"THERE'S SO MANY. I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE TO GO THROUGH."
"that's okay, because I do. we'll be going through that one, right there." he told him, pointing.
"IT TOOK A LOT OF POWER LAST TIME..."
"with the shortcuts, it takes much less, i promise. you need to keep a hold of me until we are at least halfway through or you'll leave me behind, alright?"
A nod.
"you felt sick after, right?"
Another nod.
"when we step through, close your eye-sockets, hold your breath, and try to curl up so you're as small as possible. it'll help."
"OKAY," his voice was soft (for him at least) and unsure.
They both turned to face the rip. "let's go."
A/N: Another one up. As you can see, we're obviously still in the same situation. Next chapter is well underway. And friends, this is an important run, but it still remains that it definitely deserves that tally mark in Sans' notebook under "Bad Run."
Was the runner the one you expected when you read the chapter title?
Thanks for reading.
Until next time friendlies,
Dfsemina