A/N: Happy Easter, if you celebrate the holiday. Hope everyone has a great day!

CHAPTER TWENTY

"Will there be any damage?" Frisk asked as she used the small plunger-looking device to suck the contact out of her left eye.

"No, y-you should be completely f-fine," Alphys replied. She took the contact and put it back in the box. She flicked the switch to the 'off' position and closed it.

Frisk nodded and looked down at the box in Alphys' claws. She recalled how she first thought it looked like a ring box. Sans' words suddenly made sense.

"Oh, my gods," she whispered.

"What's wrong?"

"I think…oh, no." She turned to leave the bathroom, but stopped abruptly and turned back to her friend. "Thank you for everything, Alphys. I have to go apologize to Sans."

"Apologize for what?" Sans asked, standing outside the bathroom.

Frisk looked at him and smiled. She took the box back from Alphys. "This isn't what it looks like." She opened it and explained how everything worked. "But I think we still need to talk."

Sans nodded. He felt a hundred times better knowing that she hadn't run away from a proposal. He kissed her and pulled her into a hug.

Alphys smiled knowingly and stepped around the couple. She tried not to grin too hard as she walked up to Undyne.

"Why do you look like you just discovered Narnia was real?" Undyne asked loudly.

Alphys giggled. "Because I know something." She fidgeted with her claws for a moment, not sure if she should tell her girlfriend what was going on, but also not sure she could keep this secret for very long.

"Well, spit it out!"

"Undyne, it's a secret! I don't know if they want me to tell anyone. I don't even know if they know I know."

"Huh?" Undyne scratched her head, raising one side of her lip at Alphys. "Speak English, please?"

"That was English, my love." She snuggled into Undyne.

Undyne wrapped her arms around Alphys and picked her up in a tight hug. "I'll squeaky-toy it out of ya!"

Alphys laughed harder. "No!"

"Then tickle?"

"If you tickle me, I'll never tell you."

Undyne set Alphys down and scowled. "Party pooper."

Alphys held up the box. "What does this look like to you?"

"I dunno. A container?"

"If you were seeing this for the first time, what do you think it would have in it?" Alphys wished so hard that her friends would decide to tie the knot. She totally shipped them together and wanted to see her own fanfictions come true.

"A recording device, of course. You told me that's what it was."

Alphys sighed. Of course Undyne wouldn't think anything romantic about a box. That's not how she did romance. "A ring, Undyne."

"Why a ring?" Undyne really just wanted to know what secret her girlfriend knew. She knew Alphys was trying to give her hints, but she didn't do hints. Hints were annoying little bastards.

"Because it's usually how they come after you buy them. Sans found it in her pocket and thought she was going to propose to him!" She only knew that Sans had found it because Frisk had told her. She guessed at the other part, but it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"Oh," Undyne said, dragging out the word. "So they're gettin' hitched! That's…weirdly awesome."

Alphys giggled. "No, babe! Frisk wasn't actually proposing. They have to talk, but what do you want to bet they decide to do it?"

Undyne laughed. "They sure as heck will! Sans loves that girl, and she just saved his damn life so she obviously loves him too."

Alphys sighed deeply. It was so romantic. As she turned to stand on her toes and ask for a kiss, the whole room was filled with the most awful scream.

~LM~

Gaster and Papyrus looked at the furry monster on the lab table for a moment. They had set up Papyrus' room as a temporary room for the monster until Gaster could get something else worked out. He didn't dare try to take him to the lab; it was probably already under surveillance.

"I can't believe this is real," Papyrus said softly.

"I know," Gaster sighed.

They weren't sure what to do. They only knew that they had done the right thing in taking the monster out of the facility, but now everything was going to change. It was up to them to figure out how to let that change happen.

If they let him go when he woke up—if, Gaster reminded himself; if he woke up—then there would be chaos on everyone's hands. If they tried to keep him in the house, would he fight back? It was likely that he hadn't seen another monster in centuries. Would he be scared? Angry? Would he lash out?

Gaster looked up when the door opened. Frisk and Sans walked in.

"Sans, what are you doing up?"

Sans shrugged. "I'm feeling a lot better after I got the rest of my magic back." He smiled at Frisk.

Frisk took his arm.

"I can even kind of use my magic." He held up his left hand and it burst into flame. He winced. It still hurt a little.

"Sans, you really should be more careful," Gaster chided. "You've only started healing."

The flame disappeared. "I know. I couldn't really believe what you guys were saying earlier about this other monster so I had to come see for myself. I remembered seeing him there, but I kind of thought I was making him up so I wouldn't feel so alone."

Frisk's heart hurt. She kissed his shoulder and leaned her head against him.

Sans smiled and kissed her head. "It's okay, Frisk. I wasn't there long, thanks to all of you."

"Regardless, you should still be resting," Gaster said. He walked over to them, arms spread, as he gently urged them to leave.

"Can I at least have a look at him?" Sans said. "I mean, if this really is—"

"Don't," Gaster snapped. "Don't say the name."

As far as he'd come trusting Frisk, he couldn't bear the thought of her finding out who was on the table in the room. There were too many possibilities if she knew; too many people she could tell.

Sans' brow bones furrowed. "Why?"

Gaster's eye lights snapped to Frisk. "Because I don't want word getting out that he's here."

Sans' bones stiffened. "You still don't trust her, even after she helped you save my life?"

"Do you really blame me, Sans?" Gaster tried again to shoo them out of the room. "I'm trying; I am. This is too big, my son."

Sans could understand that. He wanted Frisk to know that he trusted her implicitly, but he also knew where his dad was coming from. It didn't mean he thought his dad was right, though.

As they turned to leave, they heard an unfamiliar grunt.

Gaster turned around quickly to see the furry monster's hand raise up to his face. He grunted again.

"My gods…" Gaster breathed. Decisions they hadn't made yet swirled around in his head. They were out of time!

Gaster hurried over to Papyrus to grab his arm and lead him out of the room. Before they could make it a few feet, the monster sat up and shook his head.

"Where the hell…"

Frisk's soul shivered at the sound of his voice. It was low, calm, smooth…soothing.

"You're okay," Gaster said hesitantly.

The monster looked up slowly and froze when he saw Gaster. "Who the hell are you?"

Gaster tried to push Papyrus toward the door while still keeping the monster's attention on himself. He reached out a hand toward the table. "My name is Gaster. I'm a friend. You're safe here."

"Safe?" the monster replied. "I don't understand?"

His eyes followed the skeleton in the red sweater as he walked slowly toward the door. There was another skeleton and a…a human?

Sudden images invaded his brain. Humans were not nice. Humans hurt him. Humans took him from his parents and told him they were dead. Humans needed to die.

He roared as he shot up off the table. In an instant, a flash of light descended on Frisk. She felt hot for a second, then blinding light and electricity. She screamed.

But nothing happened. She opened her eyes to see a wall of bones and blue light around her. They disappeared, and Sans was standing in front of her. He raised his left arm, his hand engulfed in flame.

As soon as the threat was gone, Sans collapsed. He sat up on his knees. "I'm fine," he said. "I'm really fine."

He looked up at Frisk with a wide smile.

"Don't give me that look," she said unhappily. "You could have…I don't know."

She helped him stand up. Gaster was at his side as well.

Sans shot an angry look at the new monster. "Try anything against her again, Prince, and I'll fucking kill you," he growled.

"I'd like to see you try," the prince snarled.

Before he could aim an attack, two-tone bones and spears alike were aimed at him.

"This is enough," Gaster said uneasily. "Let's talk about this. Sans, please take Frisk somewhere else. You really need to rest. Papyrus and Undyne, please stop threatening our guest."

Sans nodded and took Frisk's hand. She tried not to help him as they walked back to the bedroom. They laid down together, and Sans sighed.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He put his left hand over his sternum. "It hurts here," he confessed. "Pretty bad, actually."

Frisk nodded. "Gaster said it would take a while for your bones to heal." She lightly placed her hand over his.

"Yeah, but it's more than that. It's like it hurts in my soul; like I used too much energy."

She didn't like that. She leaned in and kissed his cheekbone. "Please don't do that again, then."

His browbones furrowed. "I sure as hell will if he threatens you like that again. Dad can heal me, he can't heal you."

Her lips pursed together tightly. "I don't know what the answer is, Sans. When he was healing you, he said something about you not having as much strength or stamina as before. I don't want you to get hurt, especially if it's because of me." She nuzzled against him, being sure not to hurt him.

Sans pulled her in closer and kissed her. "I don't know the answer, either. I think maybe Dad just needs to get that fucking prince out of here."

She looked at him. "Why do you call him a prince?"

He smiled. "Dad doesn't want you to know, but I say fuck that. He's literally a prince. THE prince, to be exact. He's Asriel."

Her eyes widened. The son of the king and queen? The only living Boss Monster left on their miserable planet?

"Asriel."