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The howling of the void was overwhelming.
Screaming winds tore and swept past and around them as they fell, whirling and twirling madly inot the depths of the abyss. Flowey felt his whole being compressed, crushed beneath the impossible immensity of the void, squeezing the breath and life out of him as they fell, faster and faster and faster.
And just like that, it was over.
Sans stepped calmly up the gravel drive that was nowhere near their home, completely oblivious (or so it seemed) to the yellow flower's apparent distress. Fowey had to fight to catch his breath, taking deep, greedy gulps of air.
"Warn me the next time you do that, fatbag," Flowey scowled hatefully. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"Maybe," Sans shrugged halfheartedly, spare hand giving the metal door before them a couple of swift knocks, completely ignoring the doorbell. "Guess you can call us almost even now."
The 'house' in question was much larger than their own, albeit composed of some strange alloy that reflected the moonlight. Tall scraping iron fingers grasped at the sky, curiously shaped lightning rods littered all over the roof. The front door that the skeleton banged on was made of the same odd material, but a few shades darker. Flowey silently briefly wondered what exactly it could be made of to give it such odd qualities before a shuffling set of footsteps was heard within, several sets of locks being undone to open the door.
It had just begun to sprinkle when Alphys finally opened the door, mouth a little agape at the bizarre sight.
"... Sans?" she rubbed her eye with one hand, staring at them, readjusting her nightgown uncomfortably. "It's, like, two in the morning; did something happen? Is everyone okay? What's wrong?"
"Nah, nah, nothing like that," Sans answered flippantly, shifting the flower pot from one arm to another, which Alphys was staring even harder at. "Just needed to talk to you about a few things."
"Uh... s-sure," she blinked, opening the metal door a little wider and revealing a fish shaped welcome mat. "But what's this all about? Why do you have... him with you? What's going on?"
Sans seemed uncertain about answering for a split second.
"You, uh... maybe we should sit down first."
Alphys reluctantly greeted the odd pair into her home, and Flowey noted that the entryway was lined with rows and rows of saccharine sweet photographs of Alphys and Undyne spending time together.
If he could have vomited, he would have.
"Come on in," Alphys beckoned them further, although her soft voice seemed to disagree with her. "Undyne is still asleep on the couch, we were just, um, watching old movies."
"I could tell," Sans nodded on the way, the low tone of the television in the room adjacent wafting through. "You have popcorn stuck to your shirt."
Alphys didn't reply, but she did awkwardly try to quickly clean said remnants from her shirt.
"Can-can I get you guys anything?" she asked quietly as she rifled through her many, many kitchen cabinets. "We've got coffee, about twelve different types of tea, not-your-monster's-rootbeer..."
"Tea is fine," Flowey said impatiently, earning a shady look from Sans. This gave Alphys pause.
"... Can you even drink tea?"
"Not important," the flower responded swiftly. "Did you know Sans is working on something? How's your project going, by the way?"
Alphys became very, very uneasy under the utterly unblinking gaze of Sans, suddenly noticing that she was just standing there staring back and awkwardly shuffling off to begin making tea.
"So what exactly have you two been up to?" Sans asked in a low tone, placing Flowey on the table and taking a seat before kicking one slippered foot on the table. "Kinda feel hurt, being left out and all."
"A-ah, well, um..." Alphys tapped her talons together, uncertain of where to keep her eyes, settling on looking down at her feet instead. "I-I was going to tell you eventually, it's just that-that I wanted it to be, y'know... a surprise-"
"SHE'S BUILDING ME A NEW BODY," Flowey screamed at the top of his lungs, causing them both to jump and sending one of the teacups smashing into the floor.
They both glowered at him sharply.
"... Sorry," the flower said without a hint of remorse. "I just can't stand watching you two pathetically dancing around the issue. Now there's no problem."
Alphys's face was clearly heated, but Sans didn't even blink.
"Where is it?" Undyne stumbled into the room, glowing magical spear in one hand as she nearly tripped over herself. "What need's killin'?"
"Hi Undyne," Sans gave a little wave. "Just Sansy. Where's your shirt?"
Nobody said anything.
Undyne slowly, slowly retreated, leaving them all in incredibly uncomfortable silence.
"... I think that went well," Flowey grinned.
Alphys was holding her head in her hands, steam nearly coming off of her face.
"Flowey, stay here," Sans stood up just as Alphys remembered the screaming tea kettle. "Say, Al, why don't you show me this fancy new project, eh?"
"Why do you-" she started, but quickly nodded from the strange look he was giving her. "O-oh! Yes, of course; it's in the lab, I'll be glad to show you."
"Why do I have to stay?" Flowey barked after them in irritation as he sat between the untouched cups of tea.
"Somebody's gotta entertain Undyne," Sans flipped his hands without looking back, following the scientist down the hall.
Flowey had several choice words as response, but Sans didn't hear any of them as they walked, traversing slowly from the comfortably carpeted floor into the smooth linoleum of the high ceiling of Alphy's lab.
It was nearly identical to the lab that she had in the underground, and if Sans didn't know any better he'd say that she had the whole thing transferred. However, the place was a bit smaller than her old lab, there was a humongous wide screen emerging from one wall with a number of dvd cases littered around it, and the workbench beside it was covered with a large white tablecloth with little pink daises on the edges, hiding something bulky.
"Nice place," Sans nodded appreciatively as the mechanical door whooshed open. "You guys have been busy."
"Oh, th-this is nothing," Alphys gave a weak laugh, dropping into a swiveling chair before the blank television screen.
"Compared to...?"
Alphys coughed into her hand, looking away again.
"I-I'm guessing you're kinda miffed about not telling you about the, um... 'project'," Alphys twiddled her thumbs, struggling to maintain eye contact.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Sans leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "I'm sure you have a good reason for trusting him, and I'm all ears," he pointed to the side of his head with one fingerbone.
"It's... not exactly, er, conventional..." Alphys began, twirling her fingers. "It's not as simple as making a robot body or something to stick him in."
"So spill," Sans said, one foot tapping against the floor.
"Didn't Flowey say that you were working on something as well?" she blinked, mind racing.
"Explain yours and I'll explain mine."
It wasn't often that she had seen Sans all business, and it was beginning to unnerve her. Alphys took a long, deep breath, steeling herself, before finally standing, walking over to the covered object, and jerking the cloth away.
Underneath was a body.
An actual, flesh and blood monster's body, that looked as if it might have even been Toriel and Asgore's lost child.
Probably because it was.
"... Oh my god."
"I can explain," Alphys held up one hand quickly.
"Al, what were you thinking?" Sans's breath seemed to catch in his chest. "Are you insane? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"
"If-if I can just figure out how to transfer his consciousness," Alphys said breathlessly as Sans stalked around the motionless white body of Asriel. "If I can manage to combine his cognitive being with his soul, I-I can give him a real life again, I-I just..."
"This is not a good plan, Alphys," Sans threw the cloth back over the body, feeling slightly sick.
"I ruined his life," she bit her lower lip. "I made Asriel into what he is. If-if I can just fix this mistake, I-I just..."
She clasped and unclasped her hands uselessly, searching for the right words.
"... I've made so, so many mistakes, Sans..." she said softly. "I have to make things right."
Sans let out a long, slow breath through his teeth, remaining silent for a moment.
"So I'm guessing you're not working on a project of a similar caliber," Alphys gave a weak little chuckle, regaining some of her composure.
Sans didn't answer.
"... What are you working on, exactly?"
Sans's hands somehow found themselves back in his jacket pockets, and he shifted from one position to another.
"... Sans?"
"... Phase distortion generator."
"Oh, goddammit Sans!"
Sans said nothing, but now it was his turn to try to stare a hole in his foot.
"Come on, Sans," Alphys wrung her hands together. "And you say I'm the one performing dangerous experiments – do you want to end up like-like... him?"
"We all have our burdens to bear," Sans said quietly. "You have yours. I have mine."
"Yes, but-but there are some things that just can't be fixed," Alphys said hurriedly. "I don't want you to wind up like him, just-just a bad dream!"
"He isn't gone," Sans snapped angrily. "I know he isn't."
"Gaster is more than gone, Sans..." Alphys frowned. "This isn't just about you or him, that thing could destroy the entire world-"
"So what about the world?" he threw up his arms in exasperation. "You think it's going to stay the same for long? That there just aren't going to be any more resets?"
"... I've run the diagnostics," she replied intently. "There haven't been any events in the timeline since..."
"Since we left the Underground," he finished for her. "That doesn't mean it can't still happen."
"Sans..." Alphys started, but he cut her off.
"I need to fix this," he insisted. "I have to do this, Al. Gaster is the only one who completely knew about stabilizing the timelines. If we could just get him back-"
"I can't condone this." Alphys crossed her arms, tucking her hands into her armpits unhappily as she faced away from him. "But I know that nothing I say is going to stop you, no matter how dangerous it is. So, I guess... good luck."
"... Thanks, Al."
She turned to face him, questioningly, but he was already gone.
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A/N
Sorry it's taken so long for updates! My craptop exploded, so that kinda set me back a bit.