Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale.

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Iterations

Cold Formality

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Sans dozed, taking the opportunity to sleep and expedite his recovery as much as he could. Though he could not afford to sleep deeply, he was desperate to accumulate any amount of magic, no matter how measly. He swore to himself that he would have actual rest as soon as the situation with Alphys was under control. Undyne had gone on ahead, citing that she would rather meet the scientist one-on-one, having been close friends with her for so long. He figured she would be better able to reason with her as he shared no such tie to the scientist. And he owed it to Undyne to let her try to hash out such personal affairs without an audience. But with so many monsters agitated by the lack of answers coming from the Guard, it was better that he did not leave her alone for long. He only agreed to let her off on her own until his brother returned from delivering the amalgamates to the New Guard.

–

The two skeletons walked right in to the middle of a heated argument, voices low but fervent. Undyne distractedly nodded in acknowledgment of their entrance, though her attention remained focused on Alphys. Papyrus, attempting to be polite, immediately turned back around, murmuring some excuse and stating that he would be close enough should any of them call for him. He looked distinctly uncomfortable. Sans, on the other hand, felt better now that they were close enough to be monitored and allowed himself to slip back into slumber.

But he found himself waking minutes later as the volume spiked in their argument. He was immediately wide awake and paying close attention.

"Even without a warning, you're the best fighter there is! I knew you would be fine!" Alphys retorted defensively.

A beat. Silence.

Surprise flickered across Undyne's face and then her face turned stony. Suddenly, she was looking right through her. "Royal Scientist, you have violated protocol. The kingdom has never been in a crisis so severe. As such, you are under oath to lead research to remedy the problem. Your place is in your lab. Return to it immediately."

"W-what–"

"Return to your station. Refusal is treason. I will not ask again."

"Tr-treason? I–"

"Due to the circumstances, should you choose to comply, you will not be charged for your attempt to abandon your duties. You will resume your research. A member of the Guard will be assigned to accompany you at all times. You will be responsible for reporting to this officer. Refuse and you will be charged accordingly for any deaths facilitated by the influence of your experimental remedies and holding monsters prisoner against their will. Do you understand?"

"Undyne–"

Finally, Undyne met her gaze. Her eyes were expressionless. "It is appropriate to address me by either my rank as the Head of the Royal Guard or my position on the royal cabinet, Royal Scientist."

Alphys looked at her with agonized disbelief.

"Will you take the offer to continue your research?"

The smaller monster seemed to curl in on herself as she responded in a sad whisper. "Yes, Defense Minister."

Undyne turned away and barked, "Papyrus!"

In mere moments, they could hear his boots crunching rapidly on the floor as he ran back at her call. "YES, UNDYNE?"

"I offered to induct you into the Royal Guard once. You declined in favor of becoming part of the volunteer scavenging unit headed by your brother. Correct?"

He blinked in surprise at her formality. "UM... SANS WAS THE ONLY MEMBER BEFORE... I GUESS THAT WOULD MAKE HIM HEAD BY DEFAULT... YES, THAT'S RIGHT."

"In recognition for the exemplary work all the members of your unit have demonstrated recently, I'm making the unit official. Your primary responsibility will remain the same: acquiring supplies. Your unit will also now have the option of recruiting members of the New Guard into your supply runs and stocking inventory. As an official unit under the department of defense, you answer to me."

Sans stepped into the conversation, giving her a searching look. "heh, shouldn't you be informing the so-called head of this 'new unit?'"

"Consider yourself informed," she replied curtly before turning back towards Papyrus. "Your first assignment is to escort the Royal Scientist back to the lab and guard her. You will not allow her out of your sight. She has proven to be a flight risk."

Alphys trembled with silent sobs.

Papyrus looked between the two worriedly. "UNDYNE, ARE YOU BEING MEAN? ALPHYS IS CRYING. WHATEVER IT IS YOU ARE DOING, I DON'T THINK–"

"Papyrus," she stated firmly. "You are the only one here I can rely on right now. Nobody else in the Guard is here. I need you to do this for me... I'm ordering you to do this for me."

"I...," he hesitated, conflicted. "I DO NOT LIKE THIS."

"I know you don't. I'll switch you out for a member of the New Guard as soon as I can, but we can't let her be alone."

"IT SOUNDS LIKE SHE WOULD BE A PRISONER."

Sans was observing the scene unfold carefully. He was the only one who noticed Undyne swallow hard, her voice wavering just slightly as she said, "She is."

"BUT UNDYNE–"

"She is a danger to not only herself, but all of us. She needs to be monitored." The strength had returned to her voice.

Papyrus frowned but nodded. "I UNDERSTAND."

He placed a bony hand on Alphys' back and led her away. He kept looking from the distraught scientist to the stoic warrior and back again. Undyne did not watch them leave, but Sans did, watching them disappear around the corner. They listened as the footsteps finally faded into silence. Tension was palpable in the air. He watched Undyne carefully. She had not moved since she had issued Papyrus his first official order. Just as Sans began to consider speaking, the warrior let out an angry scream, suplexing a boulder in pebbles. A wave of her arm and spears appeared, raining down on its remains. Her magic dissipated, spears disappearing to show nothing but dust falling to coat everything.

And suddenly she was tearing at her shirt, clawing at her arms, gasping for breath as she scrambled to rub away the dust that had settled all over her. As nails dug deep and began ripping scales off her arms, Sans intervened. He cursed his short stature as he attempted to jump high enough to restrain her arms. Finally, he was able to wrap his arms around hers from behind, preventing her from doing any more damage to herself. The warrior slumped to the floor, spent. Sans was glad to have his feet on the ground again. She crawled up to the cave wall, turning to sit against it. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head atop them. Sans took a seat beside her, remaining silent as he waited for her to speak.

"You know I've been staying with Alphys. I thought that maybe we..." She looked wistfully into the distance. "We got really close."

He blinked. "so you two were together?"

"It felt like we were sometimes." She let out a sharp mirthless laugh. "Whenever someone questioned her ability or methods, I defended her. Even before all of this, I told her how awesome I thought she was. I tried to bolster her confidence. Her values, her hobbies, I made them mine. I protected her... but she didn't even think to protect me."

He had never really been close to either of the two women, even when he had worked in the labs with Alphys. He had never realized they had been that close.

"I wanted to protect our people since the day I became old enough to understand that we were suffering down here. She's known me forever. She knows me. That oath I took when I joined the Royal Guard as the lowest ranked soldier, that I swore to uphold when I took office as the Defense Minister. That oath is everything that I am." She held out a shaking hand and looked at the grey residue still on it. "And still she... she was ready to let me go without warning because she was scared to tell the truth. Because she knew that I could easily stop almost any other monster. She was ready to force me into a situation where I would have to... Oh, god. I killed monsters. I killed more thanone of our own, Sans."

Sans was not a touchy-feely kind of person, but Undyne was and she needed reassurance now. He reached out and placed a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "you did... but you saved one of our own too."

"Yeah..."

"hey, buddy. look at me, okay?" He waited until she returned eye contact. "as someone who loves papyrus very much, i will always be grateful. you had a hard choice to make and i think you made the right one."

She looked skyward, blinking rapidly to dispel the tears that had accumulated. Her voice was weak but sincere. "Thanks Sans. That helps."

Finally, she stood, not as tall as usual but as determined as ever. "I can't protect her anymore. Not over everyone. Not over our people."

The anguish in her eyes told him she would like nothing more than for someone to justify Alphys' actions.

He was not the right person for that.

–

A/N: Oh my goodness, I feel so bad! I had this uploaded to ao3 yesterday super late and, in my sleep-deprived state, forgot to upload a copy here. I'm so sorry! Forgive me?

Yikes, just sunk one of my own ships here. Ouch. But there are some things that a relationship can't mend. Swear that I'm getting them together in a happy ending one day. This iteration though? Unfortunately, not happening.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time friendlies,

Dfsemina