"Opening up is really, really hard. But it's something Frisk will have to do. Eventually." -Francine I. Kane, 201X-

Chapter 7: I'm All Ears

The late afternoon sun shone upon the forest near the monster's camp. It felt warm on Alphys' scales as she followed the path carved out by someone. Fallen trees with jagged stumps lined the path, some with magic spears still stuck in them.

Everyone needed material to build new houses with, but this was taking things a bit far…

She finally found the end of the path. A great big tree dominated the middle of a clearing, and Undyne was punching it with her bare fists. Patches of bark were breaking off, but it was proving to be a worthy opponent as it otherwise withstood blow after blow. Alphys hung back, watching as Undyne relieved her stress on the tree and thinking.

She fully intended to go back to the Lab. She still had to review all the pre-war research on humans that was somehow saved during the retreat. She and Sans still needed to figure out what happened to Frisk. But for now, something else was just as important. Someone else, to be more precise.

Alphys guessed how today's events would affect Undyne. Not being able to save those monsters who were dusted, arriving late to a fight only to find her friend upon death's door, and missing out on the chance to tear Frisk's uncle to shreds, herself? It had to be eating at her. It clearly WAS eating at her. Seeing Undyne venting her frustration this way only confirmed her hypothesis. The problem was that Alphys didn't have any real idea of where to begin helping to alleviate it…

Even so, she felt compelled to do something, anything, to keep her magnificent mermaid from doing something regrettable. Something which would probably force Asgore to take away her position as head of the Royal Guard.

Alphys approached, moving to Undyne's right side so she wasn't in a blind spot. She cleared her throat, then tried to say her… more-than-just-a-friend's name, but she was so nervous! She always felt so jittery and fluttery and oh-so-very warm inside whenever she tried to talk to Undyne! It was hard, but she managed.

"U-u-uh… Un-d-dyne?" After one last roar, and a punch that vibrated the whole tree, Undyne turned to Alphys, making the alchemist's breath catch in her chest and setting her face on fire with a blush.

Long, red hair pulled into a tail atop her head… scale-covered muscles glistening in the sun… her tall, firm figure covered in practical clothing which still sent Alphys' imagination to places it REALLY shouldn't be going right now…! Even as she gave her love a nervous smile and a wave hello, all she wanted to do was crawl under a rock, or hide in a trash can, or SOMETHING. That or wrap herself around Undyne's leg and never let go. The two urges were at war in her head, and she could only hope her feelings weren't putting a stupid expression on her face.

Undyne, thankfully, didn't seem to notice. "Hey, Alphys! What's up?"

Alphys' smile was plastered onto her face. "Oh, n-not much… I j-just wanted t-to check in on you… I-I mean, not that you need me to! But I was just… w-worried… about you…"

Realizing what she just said could sound like she thought Undyne was weak, Alphys waved her hands through the air, trying to wipe her words from it. "N-n-not that I think you need someone to worry about you! I-I mean, you're UNDYNE! Head of the Royal Guard! You're unbeatable! B-but I still…"

She faltered. Undyne had to think she was being stupid… But if she did, she said nothing. Undyne knelt down to her level, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. "I've been worried about you, too," she said. "It couldn't have been easy, watching those people die." Alphys went stiff, but she still nodded.

It hadn't been easy. Sitting there, feeling helpless, watching as their dust floated away in the breeze. Seeing the horrible smile on that man's face as he followed his dogs to the hole above the Ruins. Watching his dogs trip him, making him fall practically on top of the princess' head. Knowing what he'd do to her if he…!

Alphys sniffled, burying her face in her hands, her tail wrapping around her feet. She shivered as she tried to put those thoughts out of her mind, but they almost lost Frisk! If the princess hadn't started using magic when she did, they WOULD have! She would have lost one of the few true friends she had…

No. She would have lost TWO friends. Papyrus would have died right alongside her. God only knew what that would've done to Sans… The thought made Alphys shudder.

"Thought so," said the guard. Undyne turned her face away from Alphys, her lips working as though she wanted to spit on the ground. As if she didn't have enough reasons to hate that bastard's guts! She understood the order to haul the piece of trash to the Prison in one piece. She understood that things needed to be done "by the book" because they weren't at war, anymore. But just because she understood didn't mean she liked it. Thank goodness Frisk had proven herself to be stronger than him…

Undyne realized something and muttered to herself. "I owe Frisk an apology." Alphys heard her, making a soft sound of confusion as she looked up. Undyne sat on the ground with a groan.

"I can't believe I need to apologize to the punk, but I have to!" she shouted to the sky. Seeing that Alphys was still confused, she elaborated.

"I called her a coward once, because all she did was run from me. But now… I know that's not true. She's proven what she's made of, now that she has people to protect. That probably means she was never a coward, no matter what it looked like back then." She lowered her head into her hands. "NGAHH! I HATE being wrong!"

"I-I… think I can relate…" Alphys said as she sat beside Undyne. "Just when you think you have her figured out, Frisk proves there's so much more to learn about her. But one thing is for sure." She looked into Undyne's eye and said, "She's a good person, even if she did… go a little overboard today."

Undyne smiled and laughed. "Fuhuhu! I think it's no less than what that animal deserved! But you're right, she IS a good kid… for a little punk."

They sat together, smiling at one another, before Undyne became thoughtful. Alphys tilted her head a little to the side, wondering what could have brought on the change in her expression. Suddenly, a little blush crossed her cheeks, and Alphys learned what she'd been thinking about…

"Hey, Alphys… Are we dating?"

*Ohmygod did she just-! Alphys gasped, her entire body flushing as she stammered. "Wh-wh-WHAAA!? Y-y-you? A-a-and m-me? But I'm not-! And you're-!" Alphys shut her mouth before she said something that could be construed as a negative. She tried to get a hold of herself, her soul pounding as she grabbed her coherency with both hands and forced her mouth to work properly. "Wh… wh-why do y-you ask?"

Undyne was blushing, too, as she said, "Well, it's just that… We've held hands, and smooched on the cheek a couple times since coming to the surface, but we haven't really SAID we're dating. So… are we?"

Alphys said nothing, her body blushing even brighter. Her mind was at war with itself, again. Half of her wanted to scream "YES!" at the top of her lungs, then throw herself into Undyne's arms. The other half wanted the planet's crust to open up and swallow her whole, because she didn't deserve to date someone as outstanding and magnificent and strong as Undyne. Being more-than-friends was amazing enough! To take that next step into official dating, though…

"Alphys? You okay?" Undyne had come closer, pressing a hand to her forehead to feel her temperature. "You're burning up! Do you wanna move out of the sun?"

Alphys couldn't take any more. It was all too much. She let out a little "eep!" before covering her face with her hands, falling backward to lay on the ground. She curled her body into the smallest ball she could manage and lay there, blushing.

Undyne didn't know what to make of things for a second, then laughed. She lay on her belly next to Alphys, propping herself up on an elbow as she looked down at the cute little lizard that had nerded her way into her heart. She smiled and said, "Y'know what? We're totally dating, okay?"

After a minute Alphys finally said, in a tiny voice, "…ok-k-kay."

Undyne's grinned, then smooched the top of Alphys' head as she pulled her c-phone out of her pocket.

Frisk lay in contemplative silence after listening to how Flowey came to be, and how he discovered his ability to repeat time again and again. But there was one thing bothering her…

Whenever he spoke the name of the first human to fall into the Underground, their name was covered up with hers. She made Flowey say it, again and again. She asked him to spell it out and still the name kept being "Frisk," even though that wasn't it.

Flowey, too, was baffled. "I don't get how this is happening," he said. "I'm saying and spelling it right. How can you not hear it?"

The princess shrugged, still laying on the bed with her eyes covered. "It's like someone's mimicking you as you say it, overriding what you say," she said. "It's as though there's an especially loud echo flower in my head. The thing is, this has already happened several times. Long before I ever met him, I heard Father encouraging me to stay determined whenever I died."

"That's… weird," said Flowey. "I never heard anybody whenever I died. I just… reached for the star and came back."

Frisk hummed thoughtfully, leaving her friend to his thoughts as he left her with hers. They both jumped a little bit when Frisk's phone chimed. It was the notification of an update on Alphys' Undernet page…

"Oops… I think I was supposed to turn that off when I came here." She rose from the bed, removing the cloth from her eyes and marveling at how quickly her vision had recovered. Things were still rather blurry around the edges, but at least she could see Flowey's face, now.

She checked her phone, and laughed. Undyne posted a picture of her and Alphys on the alchemist's page. She was hugging Alphys to her chest as they lay on the forest floor, smiling hugely. Poor Alphys was blushing all over, looking immensely pleased and horribly embarrassed at the same time. Unfortunately, she still couldn't read the caption below the picture. Still,Frisk guessed the purpose and congratulated them on making their relationship official. She just turned her phone off when…

Knock knock

"Who's there?"

"dijon miss"

"Dijon miss who?"

"me, of course!"

Frisk had to think about that one. *Dijon…di-jon…did-jyan… Did John miss who? Or maybe he meant 'did ya'…? Either way- "I think you stretched that one a little far, Sans."

"they can't all be gems, kid. so, can i come in?" She told him he could, and Sans strolled on in. She could just barely see Papyrus with his face to the sky, jaw clenched tight as the door closed…

Frisk was sympathetic. "Papyrus didn't like that one, did he?"

Sans was unrepentant as he said, "not one little bit. it's how i know he's okay." He sobered a bit before saying, "speakin' of which, how're you feelin'?"

"Better," Frisk said with a smile. "I can actually see faces, now. If you had come any earlier, I wouldn't have been able to tell your head apart from the wall. Your coat would've been floating in mid-air..." She stifled a giggle, remembering when her parents first arrived in the room.

Sans chuckled, too. "that's good to hear! but, uh… that's not all i was askin'." He looked around, then pulled a chair closer to the bed, sitting on Frisk's left side as his expression became more serious. "i'm also asking how are you feeling?"

Frisk's smile faded, wondering how many times that same question was going to be asked, today. Still, she figured there was no point in lying to Sans, either, so she said, "I feel like I'm still cleaning up a mess, I suppose? I'm still a bit jumbled up, inside… though not as much as when my parents were here, earlier." She sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it, again. Could we please change the subject?"

Sans shrugged. "talkin' it out can be good for you, y'know. but we can change the subject, for now." Frisk hid a sigh of relief, just before he said, "d'you mind if i check somethin'?"

Softly, Frisk said, "…you mean you want to Check my hidden numbers."

He winked. "heh, paps was right. you ARE a smart cookie. so, what d'you say?"

Frisk was pouting. "We both know it's likely to have risen, after what I did. Is it really necessary?"

"kinda, yeah. the hidden values can be… tricky." He looked serious as he continued. "hidden LV doesn't always rise proportionately to the actions taken. it's based almost purely on how much intent you're directing toward your target. so, even if you don't do a whole lot of damage, the values can still rise more than you'd think. that can lead to… more bad times, if it's not handled right."

Frisk thought for a moment, before saying, "…if you must."

Sans straightened in his chair. He said, "here we go," before letting his eye glow as he reached for Frisk's inner self.

He could still feel her reluctance to let people in, but the wall he ran into before was patchier, now. He could actually see all the way through, despite her desire to hide. Her feelings and her numbers were much clearer than they'd been during her judgement. What he found surprised him.

He stopped glowing, stunned. He covered it up with a smile as he said, "it hasn't risen as much as i thought it would. that's great, kiddo!" But though he was glad, he was equally confused. As much as she wanted to hurt her uncle, he figured Frisk's hidden LV would've gone up much more. The base value for her DEF had fallen a little, but since her inner wall was crumbling that wasn't so surprising. Still, one question plagued him.

Where did all that intent go? He could feel it, somewhere in there, but it wasn't in the very core of her being, nor was it being reflected in Frisk's numbers. Any of them. That was unusual, to say the least. It made him think to himself, *our little princess is just full of surprises, isn't she? Especially since he'd seen how small and helpless she felt, deep down.

His smile became rigid and mask-like. Frisk had been through too much in her short life, even before falling down here. And he let Asgore kill her twice, before going wherever the hell she went to die even more. No wonder she looked so tired when she finally rewound time and came back…

"Sans?"

Sans rattled as he jolted his thoughts back to the present. Frisk looked worried as she tentatively reached for him, looking unsure if she should, or not. She started to retract her hand, but Sans caught it. He squeezed it gently and said, "you're fine, so i'm fine, kiddo."

Frisk wasn't entirely convinced. But she squeezed his hand in return and said, "I haven't said this yet, but thank you. Thank you for stopping me when you did. I… I might have killed my uncle, if you hadn't."

"think nothing of it!" He winked as he added, "of course, if you feel like you owe me, you could always treat me to grillby's…"

Frisk smiled. "I'd like to, but I'm not sure I can afford it."

"heh heheh! you're catchin' on!" He let go of Frisk's hand and sobered. "seriously, though. take it easy, okay? focus on recovering from whatever-it-was that happened."

The princess frowned, asking, "Why did using magic do that to me? Nobody's told me anything, yet. Do you know, Sans?"

He shook his head. "we've got some theories, but nothin' concrete, yet. me and alphys are helpin' talia figure it out by goin' through some old research tucked away in the lab. really old stuff, from before we got trapped down here." He shrugged with shoulders and hands as he said, "i dunno how much it'll tell us, but it's all we've got to work off of."

Frisk started toying with her locket, thinking. "I… I've read a lot of books, but it's really hard to find information on magicians. It's as though they all just… disappeared, after the monsters were sealed away. I've never heard of any human using real magic. It's always been the stuff of fairytales, to me. If… if you find anything out, would you please tell me?"

"of course!" Sans raised a brow ridge at her. "what, you thought we'd keep you outta the loop?"

"Well…" Frisk blushed sheepishly. "After what I did to my uncle, I'm not really sure if I should know anything about using magic. But… I would at least like to know why I'm able to use it, all of a sudden."

Sans was serious, again. "so… you've never, ever used magic before today? not even once in your whole, entire life?"

Frisk shook her head. "Not that I can recall, no."

"what if you were really little when you used it? you could've just forgot."

Frisk stopped toying with her locket to press that hand to her chest. "Possibly? I don't know… Can anyone really forget that kind of feeling?"

"it might've felt different, back then," Sans said gently. "magic isn't always about attacking and takin' people out. you can use it for fun things, too."

"I… I didn't have a lot of fun, growing up," Frisk admitted. "I spent most of my time studying." She'd had to, before her parents decided to kick her out for being too much of a disappointment, or some other excuse. "The most 'fun' thing I did was making the sorts of sketch journals you've seen. Although with more scientific notations."

Which her human mother hadn't approved of, at all. Such things weren't what she gave Frisk her first journal for. She could still remember the look of disgust on the woman's face when she proudly presented her first sketch of a Narcissus pseudonarcissus… Or rather, one of the daffodils from the garden.

Sans brought her back to the present with a question. "then how'd you get so good at puns?"

Frisk actually laughed, a little. "Oh, that? Mr. Case, one of my tutors, introduced me to them, and wordplay in general. Mr. Justin Case." She paused long enough to let Sans chuckle at the name. She was grinning, too, but her expression quickly fell. "He… wasn't my tutor for very long. He made me laugh too much, even though he taught me so many things. Mr. Kane didn't like that."

Sans' eyes narrowed slightly. "…you call your dad mr. kane?" Frisk clamped her mouth shut, because she hadn't meant to talk about that, at all. Seeing that Sans asked, "what's wrong, kiddo?"

Frisk sighed. "I… wasn't supposed to talk about my home life, growing up. I wasn't supposed to talk like this with anyone. I don't know why it's so easy with you, even if you are 'all ears'." Frisk paused for a moment, then grinned before adding, "Although your questions make you seem a little nosey."

He grinned back, buffing non-existent fingernails on his coat before admiring them. "what can i say? i just get under people's skin."

"Mainly when you're ribbing them, I bet."

"at least i'm not pulling their legs!"

"Maybe so, but you toe the line."

"only when they kneed a laugh." He finally managed to get a little chuckle out of Frisk with that last one, but it seemed like that was all he was getting, for the moment. She became serious again, amber eyes open and worried.

"Sans? What's going to happen with my uncle? Is he going to stay in prison, or will he be released until whatever trial you're going to give him?"

"we're NOT letting him go, if that's what you're worried about," he said firmly. Definitely not if he had any say in the matter…

"But you can't keep him forever," Frisk pointed out. "I don't think you can just… 'disappear' him. Even with Mount Ebott's reputation, it's not going to hold any water if I show up all of a sudden after being here, and he doesn't. That might have a negative impact on any future monster/human relations."

"thinkin' like an ambassador already, kiddo?" Sans patted Frisk's head as he said, "you raise a good point, but let me and dante figure out what to do with your uncle. asgore, too." He moved his hand to her shoulder. "no matter what, we'll never let that animal touch you again. we'll all look out for you, so don't worry, okay?"

"…okay." Frisk's worries hadn't been magically dispelled, but they'd been lightened enough that she could dredge up a smile for Sans, which he returned. Then he stood, stretching as he spoke again.

"weeeelp, that old research ain't gonna go through itself. i swear i'm gonna sleep for a week, after all this."

"I don't think Papyrus or Lady Pristina would like that."

Sans winked. "i've got lots of hidey holes they don't know about, kiddo. places that're great for nappin' undisturbed. they'll never find me.

"anyway, there's just one last thing i wanna ask before i go." He jabbed a thumb toward Flowey. "what's with the weed in the vase?"

Flowey, who'd been hiding his face since the knock-knock joke, struggled to keep it that way. The smiley trashbag was ALWAYS calling him a weed! No matter how many timelines, no matter how many times he reset, Sans never missed an opportunity to put him down. It was just one more mark in the "yes, he remembers me" column, but the fact that Sans never killed him on sight for everything he'd done to his family was a mark in the "no, he doesn't" column.

Was it all in his subconscious, or something? Flowey didn't know. All he knew was that he did NOT want Sans to fully remember everything. That was a surefire way to "have a bad time", as the idiot always liked to say. And since Flowey could no longer reach his star, it would be the last one he ever had…

While those thoughts were running through her friend's head, Frisk scolded Sans. "Flowey is NOT a weed! He's special! He can do a trick, just watch." Frisk pulled the vase into her arms, then held it in front of her face as she said, "Howdy!" Flowey mimicked her, even harder than he mimicked Papyrus. If there was one person besides his parents that Flowey ever wanted to fool, it was Sans… who raised a brow ridge at them.

"a golden echo flower?" he asked dubiously. "this is the 'friend' you and paps went all the way to the ruins for?"

Frisk nodded, lowering the vase to her lap as she smiled brightly. "Isn't he cute? I heard him talking, one day, out of the blue! Now that everyone can live on the surface, I thought the sun and fresh air would do him good."

Sans was dumbfounded. "…he? him?"

Frisk pouted. "Doesn't your pet rock have a gender?"

Sans looked mildly offended (though Frisk suspected it was an act, for humor's sake). "of course rockwell has a gender! she's a girl."

Frisk's expression and voice were neutral as she said, "…you named your female pet Rockwell."

With a nod, Sans said, "yep! named her after my granddad, after he passed away. rockwell nova. she got me and paps through some hard times…"

"Let me guess. She was your 'rock'."

"heheh, yep! she's been a solid presence in our lives ever since."

Frisk giggled. She just couldn't help it! She only brought up Sans' pet rock as a way of distracting him from Flowey. She hadn't expected to learn anything like that! Flowey being forced to mimic her laughter wasn't helping.

Sans couldn't help but smile at the sound. If a weirdo echo flower was what it took to make her happy… Frisk eventually calmed herself down, and he said, "y'know what? forget i asked. it's not important. anyway, i'd better go get started on that research stuff before i go see dante. see ya 'round, kiddo!" With one last wave goodbye, he blinked away.

Flowey kept his face hidden for a minute, as though he was scared Sans would come back for some reason. Then, he started ranting.

"Oh. My. GOD! Could that trashbag BE any more annoying!? And YOU! You almost outed me! After everything I told you! I can't beli- OW!"

The former prince's tirade was stopped by a pinch to his cheek. "It's mean to insult people, Flowey," said Frisk, stretching his face just a little.

Flowey exclaimed as he wrenched his face away from the princess' hand. "I don't care! Dammit, Frisk, you lied to Sans just now. When he finds out, he's going to hate your guts."

"I didn't lie." She elaborated upon seeing his confusion. "I believe my exact words were, 'I heard him talking, one day, out of the blue!' and 'now that everyone can live on the surface, I thought the sun and fresh air would do him good'.

"You DID start talking to me one day, out of the blue. Yours was the first voice I ever heard when I fell into the Underground. I'd never met a talking flower before, so you were something I never would've expected. Hence 'out of the blue.'

"As for you needing sun and fresh air, I honestly believe that. I don't think you deserve to stay down here any longer and, you being a flower, some real sunlight should be good for you. So I didn't lie, at all." She innocently smiled at him, despite how deviously she just worded everything. Flowey couldn't help but stare.

He shook his head a little, saying, "I still don't get you, Frisk…"

"I'm sure you'll understand, someday, Flowey." She put his vase back on the table, then laid back down on the bed to rest. As she put the cool cloth back over her eyes, Flowey couldn't help but wonder. It was something they didn't have a chance to talk about, because of that weird thing with her not being able to hear his best friend's name properly and Sans barging in.

Why had Chara's voice come out of Frisk's throat, during the fight? They were mimicking her, but Flowey could tell it was them. They were always really good at impressions. They had taught him how to do it, after all! Were they the one messing with Frisk's head? WHY were they doing that?

And if Chara was somehow still alive… why hadn't they said anything to him? Were they still mad at him for not killing those humans, back then? Were they using Frisk now, the way they had used him?

Flowey didn't know. He didn't even know how it could be possible. Humans couldn't take other human souls. Besides, his and Chara's combined soul had shattered, soon after his body had turned to dust. He felt it. So there was no soul for Frisk to take, even if she'd been inclined to do so (which Flowey highly doubted).

Just what was going on?

Author's Note: If you haven't read Underfantasy, and you're wondering when and how Sans learned about Frisk dying repeatedly, go to that story and skip to Chapter Thirteen: Here We Are. It's at the beginning. I would provide a link, but the url isn't showing up properly when I upload the document. XP

If you're wondering about how Sans monitors anomalies, that's about midway through Chapter Six: Quiet Water. Or you could wait until the next chapter. It's all the same to me. :p