Alphys knew that Sans was far from punctual. That's why she had told him to arrive fifteen minutes before she actually wanted to meet him. Still, a full half-hour had passed, and the skeleton was a no-show.

Alphys was waiting at the elevator between her normal lab workspace and the true laboratory. Next to her was a makeshift wooden cart. Manual labor was far from her strong suit, but she'd managed to put together a few wooden panels and attach some wheels to them. She needed to return her research materials. It was only respectful to the royal family. King Asgore had donated his human child's body and appointed her Royal Scientist in the same moment. Yet, there was nothing left to be learned from the still corpse inside the coffin.

She was grateful, really. All of her experiments had failed miserably. The only one that showed any promise, the golden flower, had vanished in the night. It was tempting to give up on science completely, but she couldn't just quit such a high-ranking position. Most of her determination experiments were based off of mysterious blueprints; ones she didn't fully understand. At first she'd been adamant on figuring out their meaning and who the original owner was, but now, she just didn't care if the mystery went unsolved.

Sans knew all this. That's why he didn't protest when she told him that she was going to close the basement lab for good.

But where was he? Alphys couldn't very well lock him in the true lab forever.

It took her another thirty minutes before she finally worked the courage to enter the elevator, descending to the basement level, and leaving the coffin momentarily behind. She hated to confront him directly, but she had told him multiple times that this was the day.

Timidly she knocked on his door.

No answer.

She waited a few seconds, but nothing. She knocked again, this time a bit harder. "Sans?" Alphys called out to the impassive steel.

More time passed and she feared what would happen if he didn't answer. What if something had happened? What if he never wanted to leave, and this was his way of refusing?

The door scraped partially open. The skeleton was unharmed, despite Alphys's fears. He blinked blearily at her, one hand rubbing an eye socket. "hey. what's up?" He yawned.

Had he just woken up? Alphys froze. This was bad. Part of her wanted to be angry. Part of her hoped he wouldn't be angry with him.

"U-um... Sans? Are – are you ready to go? I... Today's the day, I mean... I was, er, w-we were going to return the first human a-and close the lab."

"is it that day already? my bad, i've been losing track of time lately," he smiled sheepishly.

"Y-you have a d-different place set for y-you to stay, right?" Fear gripped her at his words. She couldn't just toss him out on the street.

"yeah, don't worry. i've got a place up in snowdin that pap and i can go. but, eh..." He opened the door further. Behind him was the time machine. The thing had been too complicated for Sans and Alphys to figure out – and had likely belonged to the mysterious owner who had left behind so many blueprints. "i need to move this with me, still. i can't just leave it locked up here; not when the owner's still stuck inside. it'd be cruel if he ever came back, you know?"

Alphys fell silent. Sans had been obsessed with the thing when he first started working in the lab, but the more time that passed, the less time he spent with it. From the clues they had gathered in the lab... they had both had another coworker. Somehow he'd 'fallen into' the machine. But moving that thing was going to be a pain and a half...

"here, you go on ahead. just leave me the keys, and i'll lock up for you. i'll leave them on your desk," he offered.

Alphys nodded. That seemed like an acceptable compromise. She wasn't looking forward to her journey alone, but Sans still needed his last minute preparations. "Okay," she dug up the keys, handing them to the skeleton.

His smile softened. "take care, alphs."

This was the last time they'd probably see each other, after all. "You... You too. Th-thanks for helping me."

"heh. we're coworkers, alphs. means we're on the same team, so that's what we do. don't need to thank me for that."

"I'll visit you in Snowdin, sometime. Then you can introduce me to your brother." Now that the day was finally here, she felt bad for not being better friends with Sans. Coworkers, sure. But they'd never been that close. "G-goodbye!"

With the lab taken care of, Alphys began her trip to Home. The cart was a bit rickety, squeaking loudly in a way that made her self-conscious. Even so, she managed to arrive and load it onto the ferry. Then when it finally stopped, she had to trudge through the snow, all the while pulling the contraption behind her. It was hard work, and she did feel slightly bitter about Sans's lack of help, until she managed to reach the road. After taking a few minutes to catch her breath, she continued on.

Home was the simple name that monsters gave to their new town. As they explored further Underground, Home was eventually abandoned. It was more of a memorial of sorts now. As Alphys continued to plod down the road, she could see the Queen waiting for her. The King was supposed to be here too, but...

"Hello," Queen Toriel waved cheerfully, even from a distance.

Alphys couldn't bare to keep the Queen waiting long, and hurried as fast as she could. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't get out any words between her panting. She did manage a shaky bow at least.

"Oh! There is no need to trouble yourself so on my account," Toriel smiled. "Here, I will take this the rest of the way." She grabbed onto the handle, starting to drag it further into the tunnel.

"B-b-but, shouldn't we wait for the King?"

"Hmph. My husband has made every excuse in the world to avoid this date. So no, he will not be joining us. He is too worried about the political backlash of attending a human's funeral, even when it is his own adopted child. This will just be a quiet affair, to grant my child peace."

Alphys bit her lip, but followed after the Queen obediently.

"I appreciate your assistance," Toriel's voice softened. "It is human tradition to bury the dead, so it is only fitting that we do the same for my child. You cannot understand how difficult it was for me to even allow scientists near their body. Yet Chara was a brave soul, always willing to go out of their way to help others. I know this is what they would have wanted."

They passed through the town that had once been called Home. It was the very first place monsters had settled, but they had moved elsewhere after exploring the Underground further. All that was left were tall buildings; remnants of a time now forgotten. The inside was completely silent except for the creaky wheels and the steady rhythm of their feet.

They traveled through the ghost town, eventually reaching the end of the cavern. Faint light managed to filter from above. Looking to the ceiling, Alphys saw a maze of vines and moss. Just one small clear patch remained, shining a pure beam of sunlight down to the dusty earth. Where the sunlight touched, beautiful golden flowers bloomed. In the middle, the earth had been parted like the sea; the perfect depth for the coffin.

Toriel gently removed the protective cloth that had been placed for the sake of privacy. Then she lifted the casket as if it weighed nothing, gently placing it inside the waiting tomb. Toriel stared longingly at the heart-engraved wood, but made no move to open it. Closing her eyes, she folded her hands in silent prayer.

Alphys watched mutely. She had never known the human personally. Working with a dead body, she'd honestly found it pretty creepy. Monsters didn't leave behind shells like humans did. But seeing the Queen like this... seeing the earth ready to accept the body into its fold... it made Alphys realize that this had been a person, once. A real person, who had loved people, and been loved by people.

"Th-they must have been a great person," Alphys blurted, and immediately regretted it. She just didn't know what to say, and the silence had been eating her.

The Queen lifted her eyes from prayer and just smiled. "Yes, they were. I am sure the two of you would have been great friends." She took a handful of dirt from a small pile near the hole, dusting the coffin lightly. Then she picked up the shovel, and began the arduous process of filling it completely. "They were such a quiet, yet willful child. Their presence made us monsters hope that one day, peace between our races could be achieved. I still believe in that dream." The casket disappeared beneath each shovelful of dirt, until it was hidden completely. Toriel leveled the ground, before scattering a pawful of seeds on top. "Every ideal is worth nuturing. No matter how fantastic, time is all it needs to grow."

She turned back to Alphys. "I'm going to stay here a bit longer, so you go on ahead back home. Again, thank you. It might seem a small memorial, but I am glad that at least one other person was here to say goodbye to my child."

"Yeah, no problem," Alphys took that as her cue to leave. The Queen needed some time to grieve alone. "L-let me know if I can do anything else for you, Queen Toriel." She managed a bow, before turning to leave.

She was traveling through a particularly dark corridor when she noticed a strange beam of light, with a little patch of grass. There, a single golden flower bloomed. The flower had a face.

Alphys stopped. It was her determination project that had gone rogue and escaped. But what was it doing here?

"Howdy, Alphys," the flower cheerfully waved a leaf at the scientist.

"F-Flowey...?" Despite the other's beaming gaze, Alphys felt a shiver run down her back.

"Everyone's here to say goodbye, huh. I couldn't help but overhear how wonderful of a person they were. How they inspire Monsters to become better people, and some kind of dream for the future! Golly, it's pretty amazing to me. It's like everyone's forgotten who they really were... well, I guess they have."

"Uh-uhm..."

"They really were a great person, though. Yeah, I've been thinking more and more, about how right they were. In this world, it's kill or be killed. I've had so much more fun after coming to that realization! I don't know why I didn't listen sooner. Oh, but you're probably wondering why I'm here, haha."

She was, actually. Not that she was about to interrupt a flower on a madman's monologue.

"I know what you did," Flowey's smile revealed rows of disproportionately large teeth. "And I know all about those things you keep in that creepy basement. Keep that in mind, the next time I need... a favor."

Before she could answer, the flower ducked its head, burrowing under the ground. Alphys released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. The sooner she got back to her lab, the better.

The trip back home passed peacefully enough, despite her nerves. Everything was right where she left it, a messy pile of anime DVDs and research material. The keys to the true lab were on the computer monitor, where Sans had said he'd leave them.

Alphys sighed. It had certainly been a long, eventful day. The rest of work could wait for tomorrow. For now, she grabbed a pack of instant noodles and began heating them in the microwave. It seemed like a nice night to just watch some anime in pajamas.

She was done with determination experiments. For now, she was just going back to a normal scientist, and a normal life.

You're falling.

Air whistles through your hair, your hands frantically trying to find something that doesn't exist. You crash to the ground, fall broken by a bed of golden flowers. Ceremoniously they have crumpled beneath your weight, bowing as if to accept a new ruler. You sneeze a clod of soil, shakily rising to your feet. Wiping the mud off your hands and on your pants, you look up. There's a faint beam of light streaming fromabove, all the way down to the golden flowers.

It's a miracle that you didn't break anything from such a long distance. You can't quite remember how you fell down or even what you were doing before that. Well, if you can't remember, it probably wasn't very important, anyway.

I don't even remember my own name, you think.

Then it's good that I remember it for you.

Your name is Chara.

You smile at that satirical little voice in your head. For now, you decide to leave the bed of golden flowers. Whatever adventure awaits, you will find your way back home, even if you can't remember it. And I'll be here every step of the way.

Notes:

This is the end! First off, super thanks to my beta reader Nym, who's been helping me out since around chapter 10 or so and for each chapter after.

Second off, thank YOU for reading! I still have the shock of what! Someone wants to click/ check out / read my story? -awe- (Seriously there were a lot of chapters where I doubted what I was writing, but even small encouragement is very helpful for me – I have a bad habit of getting so worried about what I'm doing that I never finish.) Chapter 1 was something I got inspired to write at about 2 am, hard to believe it became a full fledged story after lol.

For future writings... well, I think my multi-chaptered fan fiction days are over, at least for now. I know I wouldn't have the stamina to complete another. But, I have some short stories in mind so I'll likely be writing a few oneshots here and there, before wandering off to work on some other non-fanfiction projects.

Thanks for reading! It's been a fun journey.