Sans and Chara entered Snowdin Village, or rather what was left of it. The usual liveliness was replaced by a deafening silence, and everyone seemed to have left the premises. Chara walked alongside Sans until they reached the other exit, where monster dust could be mistaken for snow. Bonehead stood there for a minute, and nearly collapsed when he locked eyes with a red scarf.
Papyrus.
Chara watched her archenemy pouring tears into that red clothing and getting bluish rather than blood-red cheeks once he was done. She kind of spectated what happened every time she went on genocide and failed to kill Sans, eventually aborting the route and returning to another long slumber. She had become the demon instead of the one residing in her SOUL, being dehumanized every time she was tasked to possess a human. She never stopped to see how anybody felt about anyone, besides feeling a sting when she ran a knife through her mother's flesh. Even that grew to be a habit of sorts, and she slowly lost all emotions besides her killing frenzy.
Then, she cried as well.
Sans stopped tearing up once he looked at the demon girl in tears, not sure if any of those were genuine. There might be a slight chance of that happening, but shedding tears on something she mercilessly killed over ten times already was a tad hypocritical at first glance.
"dreemurr, pretending is fine t-"
Chara went for a hug, driven mainly by how sad she - and Frisk - were at the guardsman's demise. As much as she hated Sans, witnessing his grief firsthand reminded her of Toriel. Her killing loved ones, be it hers or others', brought up what FRISK could no longer feel.
A modicum of empathy.
Sans was somewhat weak at crying humans, thus returning the hug without putting much effort into it. He remained silent until Chara stopped crying and parted from the hug, speaking in a grinless fashion.
"kid, Grillby's should still be open given how he is. Wait for me there."
Chara assumed Sans wanted some time off and went to Grillby's after she nodded and picked up herself. Bonehead waited for her to be out of sight before he broke into tears, burying himself into the last memory of his late brother. Sans had his brother die time and time again, each one of those being the hardest thing he dealt with. He eventually accepted it as fate, in an attempt to moderate the pain. It never worked out the way it should though, Papyrus was still his annoyingly attaching younger brother.
Why would "nice" monsters like him die horribly?
It had to be the old lady, then Paps, Undyne, Muffet, Mettaton, and Asgore. Every single Genocide had to have those killed, as mere sacrificial pawns. Every time he did, he stopped the kids right before they reached ASGORE. Some took a serious beating before giving up, others quit the first time they couldn't make it through Sans' attacks. Six humans killed his brother, and that girl was their fuel of sorts. Now, she dares cry at Paps' death like she regrets anything she has done so far ...
Truth is, the demon girl may have changed for good.
Chara waited for a while, then wondered if she could order something.
"Frisk, want anything?"
Frisk beamed in his usual fashion, forgetting he could hardly eat a thing.
"Burger and Fries !"
Grillby nodded and went to take the invisible order, which unsettled Chara a bit. Sans was able to see Frisk and all, but why the fiery monster could hear orders was odd, to say the least. Sans walked in and plopped his bony behind two seats away, ordered alcohol then looked at Chara.
"when will you stop acting nice, kid?"
"Not acting here, Frisk rubbed off on me all the nice things he had, just like you said earlier."
"ye sure look all cute and all, but i'm keepin' an eye socket on ya, yer way too different and i'm not buying it yet."
"Yeah, give me time ... and Frisk back, or isn't it that the plan all along?"
Chara slowly ate the burger while Sans took two or three straight shots, getting drunk fairly quickly. She got to see the vulnerable side of the bastard that beaten her over and over, and it was not as exciting as she expected. It was rather unbearable and slightly painful to watch.
"whaddya *hips* think i'm doin', imma givin you time and *hips* watch you suffer as kiddo kills everyone."
Chara gritted her teeth, keeping her anger away from the visibly tipsy skeleton. His bluish-bony face grinned with malice as he chugged another drink, before collapsing on the counter. Grillby sighed and picked Sans, speaking to Frisk in his own way.
"The barman is taking Sans upstairs, he will let him go once he sobers up."
"Right." was all that Chara said before she went to the Snowdin Inn, resting in a strangely familiar room.
Far ahead was a panicked Alphys, squirting around the lab to prepare for evacuation. She tripped a couple of times on random empty noodle pots, piles of reports, or pieces of junk she had accumulated over the last 48 hours. Adjusting her work glasses, she was sweating hard at a blueprint. It had a heart pinned on the corner and a few scribbles about DETERMINATION and SOULs. Alphys nervously checked if all her calculations were correct before something came from the nearby wall.
"HEY !"
Undyne busted the wall in a Mettaton fashion, making the poor lizard jump off her seat.
"Aaaaa - Und-Undyne, you sc-scared me !"
"No worries Alphys, it's just me ready to kill that punk !"
"O-oh, yes ... I was ju-just looking at the plans be-before we start."
Alphys looked at the monster she admired more than anything, then asked quietly.
"Are you su-sure you want t-t-to use this power?"
"Yeah well, 'snot like we can wait any longer, the punk already killed 36 of our own and is progressing fast through Waterfall ..."
Undyne was ready to fight to the death, partly because she itched for a real fight. A human abomination was the perfect adversary for her, and the bastard deserved all the pain they inflicted on Monsterkind.
Alphys wanted to stop her from fighting that ... oddly familiar human. She was in love with the Royal Guard Captain but could not convey her feelings properly. Alphys had secretly shipped herself with Undyne in many a scenario, but anything real would instantly kill her from excitement.
What she did not know, of course, is that Undyne felt the same thing towards her. She just managed to keep her composure, despite her low chances of coming back alive. After all, no guarantee using that "power" will not damage Undyne's body. She still took the risk though, for the one monster she did not want to die.
"Alphys"
Undyne has lost her toothy grin and looked at Alphys with sad eyes, handing in an envelope.
"Wh-what is this, Un-undyne?"
Fishface kind of went all pink before answering, making Alphys blush in confusion. She then regained her smile and spoke
"Stuff I should have told you a while ago, BUT !"
Alphys went from embarrassment to fright in mere seconds, wondering what could be in that envelope to make Undyne that flustered.
"Promise me you won't open it until I come back."
Seeing how seriously her beloved monster stared at her, Alphys nodded and then guided Undyne to a prep room. The True Lab, as it was labeled, was Dr. Alphys' biggest failure. She wanted to repent somehow for all those monsters she deceived or tortured, even with all the goodwill her research had. DETERMINATION was a hardly researched subject in Monster Science, and apart from Alphys and her predecessor, nobody had an idea about how it worked or where it came from. Much like humans, some monsters have the potential to hold DETERMINATION. The problem is that given how different monsters and humans are, the amount and strength of DETERMINATION greatly differ.
In that regard, Undyne had a lot of potential to withhold quite the DETERMINATION.
Alphys made sure Undyne's vital indicators were stable before having her strapped into the contraption Dr. W.D. Aster left. A creepy horned monster face with a seat and a strange system of tubes to process DETERMINATION from in-built supplies to the subject. Alphys fidgeted a bit before she went to the power level, and looked at a smiling Undyne.
The next few seconds were a mix of gasps, screams, and rattles on the crude metal chair.