Papyrus wasn't sure what to think as they backtracked to the lab. Frisk explained how Alphys made a deal with Mettaton so that she could help the human advance past each of the 'obstacles' something he had, apparently, gotten in the way of. While he had to admit that it was a strange way of making friends, he still felt terrible that he'd had any part in hurting her feelings, and even worse that she had not known that The Great Papyrus would have happily been her friend, at any time!

He turned to ask Sans how he could have missed something that seemed… sort of obvious, in retrospect, but his brother's eyes were pinched with a worry that concerned him. *kid, the other timelines… have you ever ignored her before?

"Maybe a little? I can't remember. Some of the details blur together. I've never killed her or anything…"

"HUMAN, I THOUGHT WE WERE PAST KEEPING SECRETS?"

Frisk sighed, rubbing their arm, not quite able to meet Sans's eyes. "It's um… it's happened, um… she just sort of… disappeared… and um… no one could find her."

Sans stopped short, his eyes going black. *crap.

It was of course heartbreaking that she was lost, but… oh… oh dear… they had to hurry! "I'M CALLING UNDYNE. SHE MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP!"

*bro, it might be better if we just handled this…

"BUT UNDYNE IS A GOOD FRIEND OF DR. ALPHYS, SANS. SHE INTRODUCED US WHEN I WAS HAVING TROUBLE FIGURING OUT HOW TO MAKE THE PUZZLE THAT ENDED UP BECOMING THE FLOOR PUZZLE. WE WORKED ON IT FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS, BUT, OTHER THAN THAT, I REALLY DON'T KNOW DR. ALPHYS THAT WELL. UNDYNE DOES, THOUGH. SHE'LL BE ABLE TO CHEER HER UP."

Sans nodded, giving up his protest. *ok.

Now that they were back on the same page, he started to dial again… before hesitating as they raced back through the core. "SANS… WHY WAS YOUR IDEA TO NOT CALL UNDYNE? NOT BECAUSE I'M WRONG, BUT… IT WASN'T FAIR OF ME TO NOT LISTEN."

*forget it, bro. i wasn't 'skull'king or anything.

He made certain there was a warning note to his voice. "SANS…"

His brother shrugged, looking away. *i just… if she's feelin' down… she might not want company right this sec, and if we get half the underground bargin' in on her…

"WE WILL CHEER HER UP, AND PROVE TO HER HOW MANY PEOPLE CARE ABOUT HER!"

Sans let out an easy sigh. *you're right, bro. but… maybe we should keep it down to just us four, kay?

He punched the last button, because he knew that expression… once again, his brother had been reminded how right he was! He was thinking of all those days when The Great Papyrus dragged him on patrol when he was only telling puns without a twinkle in his eye, because he was all sad and mopey about that sciencey stuff that probably had something to do with all of time ending...

The phone on the other end finally picked up as they made it through the core, and got into the elevator. "Yeah… I saw your show Papyr…"

"SORRY TO INTERRUPT YOU, UNDYNE, BUT WE NEED YOU TO COME CHEER UP DR. ALPHYS WITH US! WE ACCIDENTALLY HURT HER FEELINGS, AND THE HUMAN IS AFRAID SHE IS VERY DEPRESSED RIGHT NOW."

"What?!" The phone was slammed down with a loud yell. Thankfully, it sounded more like his friend was going going to come help, than a war cry.

They stepped out of the elevator, and found Undyne waiting for them in front of the lab, a little sweaty, but no worse for the wear. He knew better than to assume she knew any of Sans's shortcuts… Undyne was the fastest monster he knew, and he even knew himself!

"So… I'm here… and… the door's locked. That's not normal. She never locks the door."

While she proceeded to try to pound the door down, Frisk raced off down the path a little, and came back quickly with a glass of water. "Here, Undyne."

"Oh… thanks, ya little twerp! I forgot all about it. Good thing I wasn't wearing my armor, huh?" She downed the water in one swig, then turned to pound on the door, but it swung open before she could.

Sans was on the other side.

"How did you…?"

"HE MIGHT EXPLAIN LATER… MAYBE… BUT HE'S SANS, SO I'M NOT SURE OF THAT. THE IMPORTANT THING HERE IS TO FIND DR. ALPHYS QUICKLY!"

Frisk ran straight to the middle of the room, searching the floor for something. "There's no note… but she's gotta be through that door."

Sans's secrets forgotten, Undyne plowed in through the automatic door. "What are we waiting for? Get in, you guys!"

The four of them crammed into the elevator, but it appeared the upset scientist didn't want to be followed. The controls to the elevator had been locked.

Sans punched in a string of numbers that got the elevator moving. He didn't ask how Sans knew the code. Like he'd told Undyne… Sans might explain later, but it wasn't important right now.

The elevator took forever, and they rode it in silence, different degrees of worry on their faces. He and the human weren't trying to hide theirs, but Undyne was too 'tough' to show weakness, and Sans was very good at hiding what he was feeling from most people. Though… why, he wasn't sure… his brother had never cared what anybody thought of him. Still, there was a very worried furrow above his brother's eyes.

Finally, the elevator stopped. And they stepped out into a dark, cold corridor. *we should probably be careful down here, guys. no tellin' what we'll find.

Undyne waved off the warning, bolting ahead. "Oh, please. What do you think Alphys has been doing down here? Mad science or something?"

"UNDYNE! WE SHOULD STICK TOGETHER!"

*yeah, you should. listen, bro… you catch up to her, and the three of you stay in a group, okay?

There was something wrong with that sentence. "SANS… WHERE EXACTLY DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"

Sans shrugged. *sorry, bro. i gotta check something. i'm countin' on you two. He winked his left eye, before just plan vanishing in front of them.

"SANS! WHY DID HE EVEN COME DOWN HERE IF HE WAS JUST GOING TO LEAVE?"

"I don't know, Papyrus, but we'd better find Undyne before she finds the amalgamates."

"THE WHAT?"

"Um… I'll explain later. Come on."

They raced after Undyne, and only caught up to her because the door was locked. Undyne was more of a, beat the obstacles down with her fists kind of person.

"There are keys. I know where they are. You two wait here while I go get them."

"NOT A CHANCE, HUMAN. WE'RE NOT SPLITTING UP ANY MORE THAN WE HAVE ALREADY!"

Undyne glanced down. "Where'd Sans go?"

"… I DON'T KNOW. BUT WE CAN FIND HIM AFTER WE FIND DR. ALPHYS."

Undyne crossed her arms. "He just left? When you two are so certain that Alphys needs our help for reasons you haven't really stated yet?"

"I'M SURE HE WENT TO DO SOMETHING USEFUL…"

A snort of laughed popped out of Undyne, and it was like it had been a cork, holding back laughter. She doubled over, slapping her knee as her laughter intensified. "Papyrus, you and I both know that lazy brother of your's does just barely enough work to keep his job."

He could feel a drop of sweat forming on the side of his skull. "I KNOW THAT IT'S NOT HIS USUAL PASTIME BUT… REALLY… HE CAN BE VERY HELPFUL WHEN HE WANTS TO BE."

"You would say that. Fine. He ditched us. Whatever. We didn't need to drag his lazy butt through this maze anyway. Where are those keys… Punk?" She looked around, bewildered.

He clapped his gloved to the side of his head. "OH NO! FRISK?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Who?"

"THE HUMAN! WE LOST THE HUMAN! NOW WE HAVE TO FIND THE HUMAN, AND DR. ALPHYS, AND THEN SANS!"

"Well let's get going then! One of these doors has to open, or else where did the kid go?"

They raced from room to room, finally discovering Frisk, locked in a fight with some… white blob? What was that? Why did it seem so… sad?

The human was down a few hp, but nothing to worry about. He was about to intervene, when the human spared the creature that looked more like creatures, and it sort of, dissipated. The child turned to smile at them. "I've got a few of the keys."

"What was that thing, Punk?"

"Um… some sort of experiment or something I guess. We should get going. I'm worried about Dr. Alphys."

That took Undyne's mind off of her questions. "Yeah… that little nerd better not have tried anything stupid."

They pressed onward. The human tried to lead them to the other keys, but nothing seemed to be where they thought, and they kept looking around like they expected more sad creatures to come and challenge them. Nothing did.

They finally found the last key, and put it in the right spot, and went back to the door. It was all lit up now, ready to open.

The three of them charged through it.

It took Sans maybe three seconds to find Alphys. Possibly less. But that gave him no satisfaction as he stood there by her desk, watching her sob into her sleeves.

How long had she been feeling like this? How many timelines? Had he noticed? Had he done anything to help?

He let out a sigh. *alph?

She squealed, and startled so hard, she fell right out of her chair. He peered at her over the seat as she fought to stop the tears, shocked, frightened, embarrassed. "…W-what… d-d-do… y-you, w-w-w-w-want?" She stayed where she was on the floor, and buried her face again.

The pent up pain, and self loathing seeped out into the room. Who was he to judge? Why the heck had he come here ahead of the others? He knew that nothing would cheer her up like seeing the other three come rushing in, worried, because they cared about her more than she could possibly know.

But then there was him. Someone who'd worked right along side of her. Someone who probably should have said something ages ago. Couldn't blame the resets for that, right? He felt like he owed it to her, to be here now. Maybe calm her down a little so she wouldn't be so embarrassed. *what's goin' on, huh?

She started to cry harder. Drat. That had sounded sorta accusatory. He hadn't meant it that way. Papyrus was so much better at this… where were they, anyway? The lab wasn't THAT big. Right… locked doors and stuff. He probably had a few more minutes. Might as well make the most of it while he was here.

*what i mean is… are you okay?

"W-why d-does it m-matter?"

What in the underground? *what are you talking about? of course it matters.

He reached into his pocket clicked his phone open to one of his many dimensional boxes, and found some tissues. *here.

She took them, wiping her face and eyes before blowing her nose, long and loud. But she'd been just about cried out when he got there. There weren't a lot of tears left. She rolled up the tissue and threw it at the trash can across the room. It missed, like most of the other wads of tissues, and the empty tissue box.

*heh. rimshot.

Her face squinted up in pain, but being in pain over a bad pun was better than being in pain over whatever she'd been crying about. Probably?

She stayed on the floor, unable to look at him. "S-so… you're here… you must know w-what I d-did."

*just guesses. care to explain?

She shook her head, another tear trailing down her face, indicating that she wasn't ready.

*is there, maybe, some other reason you're hurting?

She wiped the tear away with her sleeve, and he started digging for more tissues. "W-why would I b-be…"

*alphys.

"Okay f-fine. I'm useless? Alright? Y-you already knew that, b-but I thought, m-maybe s-someday I could… not b-be."

*you already aren't, alph. never have been.

"S-sure I h-have. A-and I am!"

*alph… look who you're talkin' to.

She shot him a disgusted look, and the stutter vanished for a moment. "Oh, right. Mister, 'knows more than anyone in the room'. You should have gotten the job. I-it's okay. I know y-you're probably m-mad at me still."

He sat down beside her. *i wasn't ever sore at ya. if ya remember, i wasn't exactly shooting for the position. and so what if mettaton's an actual ghost monster in a fully functioning body instead of a super computer designed to extract human souls?

She gaped at him like he hadn't known all along, instead of just not caring all along. *it was still a brilliant work of craftsmanship. and you helped him become a star. i don't see any reason to hide that.

"Sans… Asgore th-thought I was brilliant."

*you are. like always. It was sort of awkward, trying to praise up someone other than Papyrus. It certainly didn't come as easily, but he meant it all the same. So when she made a self depreciating scoffing noise in the back of her throat, it stung.

They'd never been best buds or anything, and… yeah… he'd always held his ideas and opinions close. But he would have liked to think that they'd at least been friends before they… fine… before he… lost touch. *i'm sorry.

"W-what?"

*i got so caught up in that mess we were studying, all the theories, and implications… we kind of stopped talking about anything else, huh?

She apparently had to to think back pretty far to remember what he was talking about. "Y-yeah. I g-guess so."

There'd been a time when she'd felt completely comfortable talking to him about her human research… to the point where meeting an actual human and seeing what they really looked like was hilarious.

Her voice was reminiscent. "You've a-always been s-so good at l-listening. You'd s-say things like, it w-was just to k-keep from having to w-work, when I a-apologized for blabbering on, and on… but… you really l-listened."

*well, what you had ta say was interestin'.

"R-really?"

*pfft. we both know i woulda fallen asleep if it hadn't been.

She covered her mouth, trying to stifle a giggle, but sobered immediately. "W-what d-does it m-matter? I-if you knew the w-worst of it… you w-wouldn't even be h-here."

*you mean about the missing monsters that fell down?

It had to be what she was talking about, but she still gaped at him anyway. "H-how?"

He shrugged. *it was all anyone was talking about for a while. some sort of cure or something… i'm just guessin', but, i take it somethin' went wrong?

"S-so wr-wrong. N-nobody was ever s-supposed to know."

He had no idea what she needed. If he were dealing with Papyrus, he'd just listen, and that seemed to be what she remembered about him.

Problem was, no matter how long you waited, you couldn't listen to someone who refused to talk. 'Sides. He didn't know how much longer they had. *it was an accident. you were trying ta help, right?

"What I d-did was horrible. D-did you s-see them?"

*no?

"Then, y-you didn't. You'd be s-sure if you d-did."

*c'mon, alph. talk to me?

A/N: 'I guest as much' That's skele-brotato chip. ; ) (just kiddin') Turns out the sadness wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Thanks for reviewing!

'randomness' I'm so glad that you're enjoying the story, and that I was able to make you laugh! Thanks for letting me know!

To everyone else out there, thanks for reading this far! = )