Sans was always the kind of guy who could roll with any situation thrown his way. That was why, once he found out that he was trapped in Lucida's sadistic time loop, he tried his best to adapt. Twice now he and his friends had been dragged to the Zyzzyva House and twice now had Lucida subjected them to her little game. The same events had happened twice now, including the crazy trip to Las Vegas to "search" for Asgore, who was never really missing in the first place. The only thing missing was Sans' confrontation with Lucida, which Sans wasn't too keen on repeating anyway. That was why he hadn't yet had another confrontation with Lucida about her reset, but he also figured that she didn't need to know about his ability to remember other timelines yet. He had a feeling that she might already know, but he felt more comfortable playing it safe.
Really, Sans had no idea how far Lucida would go to keep this game going or even what this game really entailed. From what Sans could read from Lucida, he knew that there was some kind of puppeteering going on, but he had no grasp on how far Lucida's powers could extend. She definitely seemed to be working off some kind of "script", as she'd called it, but that was something Sans figured he could never know the full details of.
Right now, Sans was making his way down the hall to the lobby, where Papyrus was waiting for him. As he rounded the corner, though, he heard noises coming from Alphys' room. His curiosity piqued, he pushed open the door to find Alphys working on some sort of invention, Undyne watching over her shoulder.
"hey, alphys," Sans greeted, catching the busy scientist's attention, if only momentarily, "what'cha doing?"
"I'm just working on a new invention," Alphys replied distractedly, returning to her work. That was when Sans noticed Lucida sneaking into the room behind him, making her way toward an unaware Undyne.
"What's it do?" Lucida asked once she was directly behind Undyne, startling her and causing her to whirl around to try to smack Lucida across the face. Lucida quickly ducked to avoid the blow, completely unfazed by it, and dodged around Undyne to get a better look at Alphys' creation.
"Shiny..." Lucida muttered in a trance, staring intently at the machine, "So shiny..."
"This is the Mis-Personification Ray!" Alphys declared, raising her now-finished creation into the air. It had the look of a cheap toy laser gun with a metallic finish. Both Sans and Undyne stared at it in bewilderment. Sans couldn't think of a practical purpose for such an invention. Lucida seemed excited by it, though. In fact, she was almost a little too excited by the ray gun, which told Sans that Lucida had a plan for this thing. He wouldn't be surprised if it was Lucida's "script" that caused Alphys to build this thing in the first place.
"Allow me to demonstrate," Alphys continued, aiming the ray gun at Lucida. Lucida took the shot unflinchingly. Immediately afterward, her usual unfading smile fell into a dull expression and she looked incredibly bored.
"Now, Lucida," Alphys asked, "What is your favorite thing ever?"
"Staples," Lucida droned, her voice monotone, "Staples and ball-point pens."
"See?" Alphys said, gesturing toward Lucida, "The once bubbly and random Lucida is now boring!"
Sans' smile widened. He glanced over at Undyne and saw that she looked pleased with this development as well.
"Don't worry," Alphys continued, raising the ray gun toward Lucida once more, "If I zap her again, she'll return to normal."
"do me a favor," Sans said, stepping forward and placing a hand on the ray gun, "don't."
"You know I have to, Sans," Alphys responded, firing another shot at Lucida. Lucida then perked up, staring at the ray gun and once again muttering "shiny" over and over again.
"Well, that fantasy was short-lived," Undyne groaned, "Come on, Alphys."
Alphys hurriedly followed after Undyne as both of them left the room. After that, it was just Sans and Lucida left, staring each other down. Sans noticed that Lucida looked to be just as uneasy being around him as he was around her.
"Well?" Lucida said after an awkward moment of silence, "Aren't you going to leave?"
"after you," Sans replied, gesturing toward the door with an overdramatic flourish. He could already see that Lucida was scheming to get her hands on the ray gun and could only imagine the consequences if he allowed that to happen.
Just then, Lucida lunged across the room for the gun. Before she could so much as lay a finger on it, though, Sans was able to summon a Gaster Blaster to block her path. It was an impulse move, but he was willing to resort to drastic measures to keep Lucida from causing chaos. As Lucida stared the Blaster down, though, Sans wondered if it would be enough.
"Sans, Sans, Sans," Lucida muttered, not turning her gaze from the Blaster, "I thought we were going to do just fine."
Sans tensed up. He was only barely able to keep from firing the Blaster at Lucida right then. He knew that, if he did, she would just reset again, but he thought the mere sight of the Blaster would be enough to keep Lucida at bay.
"I know you remember that night, Sans," Lucida continued, still not turning to face Sans, "You remember our little talk about my script and how, as long as you abide by the rules, everything will be okay. You remember that, no matter how many times I have to reset, I will have my way. I know you do."
Sans froze. He almost lost his hold on the Blaster, but he quickly regained control. He was on a hair trigger now and one more upset could mean another reset. Lucida had already shot down his one trump card.
"well, you remember what i said, right?" Sans pointed out, "that thing about never giving up, no matter how many times you reset? you remember that?"
"I do," Lucida answered, "Then again, I wonder how long you can keep that up. I know you, Sans. You can't keep up the same struggle for long. You'll tire out eventually."
That was it. Sans' control faltered and the Blaster fired. Instead of killing Lucida, though, she skillfully dodged around the blast, snatching the ray gun off the table and pointing it toward Sans.
"I wonder what will happen if I change up the script a little bit on this one," Lucida said, her grin widening as she glared at Sans with a manic look in her eye, "I'll excuse your little moment of rebellion and, instead, I'm going to have as much fun with this thing as I did the first time. That sound all right to you?"
Before Sans could respond, Lucida fired off a blast from the gun. Sans quickly teleported, a kind of subconscious instinct kicking in that he hadn't felt since the last time he'd fought Chara. He ended up just behind Lucida. He readied to strike, but she whirled around to fire off another blast. This one was fired off at a much closer proximity to Sans, but he was still able to dodge, narrowly teleporting away in time. This time, he was on the other side of the room from Lucida, who immediately fired off one more blast. This time, when Sans teleported to dodge it, he decided to leave the room entirely, retreating back to his own room. He slumped back against his closed bedroom door, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"that was a close one..."
He'd left Lucida alone with the gun. At this point, though, he figured he didn't have much of a choice. If he'd stayed for much longer, Lucida probably would have landed a shot on him. He wanted to try to figure out a way to get the gun away from Lucida, but she was much faster that he gave her credit for.
Suddenly, there was a forceful knock on the door behind him, the pounding reverberating through his body. He was almost terrified to open the door, but he decided to do so anyway. As soon as he opened the door, though, he caught a quick glimpse of Lucida's crazed grin before his vision was filled with a flash of blinding light and his thoughts blurred out.
By the time Sans could finally think clearly again, he found a thousand thoughts all running through his head. There were questions about Lucida, her intentions, her origins, and even how exactly the ray gun had affected him. It was as if his mind had decided to dump every train of thought on him and switch them all on at once. Even his favorite jacket began to feel burdensome. He frantically pulled it off and tossed it across the room, watching it as it lazily flopped onto his bed. As he stared at the jacket, he found himself hating it more and more.
He started to pace around the room to try to collect his thoughts, but, after tripping over his own feet, he broke down, kicking his slippers off and picking them up off the floor to chuck them at the wall. He pulled his socks off as well, but they didn't fly through the air as well as the slippers had, so it didn't feel nearly as satisfying to throw them.
He then turned to look at himself in the mirror. His pupils had grown in size and had both turned the same blue as his glowing eye shone in, but they weren't glowing. His eyes certainly hadn't looked like this before. His grin also seemed wider and more sincerely happy, even with how rattled he currently felt.
"Hey. Are you okay?"
Sans jumped in surprise, letting out a yelp. He whirled around to find Chara standing in his doorway, staring at him in shocked bewilderment.
"OF COURSE! I'M FINE! OKAY! NEVER BEEN BETTER!"
Sans replied to Chara's question quickly and nervously. As he spoke, he noticed his voice was now uppercase instead of his normal lowercase, much more like Papyrus'. He'd never spoken in uppercase before, but he didn't have time to care about that now. He knew for a fact that this was the result of the Mis-Personification Ray that Lucida had fired at him. It was making the strange behavior he was showing now feel entirely natural to him.
"Okay then," Chara replied incredulously. They then shut the door behind them, and, before Sans knew it, he was alone in a room with Chara for the first time since the last time they'd tried to kill him.
"Listen," Chara began, "I know we're not exactly on the best terms, but I wanted to talk with you for once. I know you remember resets. Was there a reset that happened here recently, or was that just in my imagination?"
"IT'S LUCIDA," Sans replied, cutting straight to the point, "SHE'S THE ONE RESETTING."
"What?" Chara exclaimed, their brow furrowing in confusion, "She's a monster, though. Monsters can't reset. You need determination to be able to reset."
"WE HAVE TO FIND LUCIDA," Sans muttered, getting antsy, "SHE'S DEFINITELY MESSING WITH THINGS SHE SHOULDN'T BE MESSING WITH."
Sans knew this is was what he should be feeling more than anything else, but he couldn't feel this one specific cause wholeheartedly. His mind was still a messed-up jumble of anything and everything that he still couldn't sort out. He felt restless and hyperactive and it was beginning to grate at his nerves.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Chara asked again, "You're acting really weird."
"THIS IS WEIRD!" Sans replied, "IT'S WEIRD, BUT IT FEELS SO NORMAL! I KNOW THIS ISN'T HOW I ACT, BUT I CAN'T NOT ACT THIS WAY! IT JUST FEELS SO RIGHT!"
Before Chara could say anything more, Sans decided he'd had enough of standing around, so he pushed Chara aside and flung open his bedroom door, tearing out into the hall and racing aimlessly down the seemingly endless hallways of the Zyzzyva House. He felt like he had way too much energy balled up inside of him and he needed to get it out somehow. In the back of his mind, though, he knew he needed to find Lucida and set everything right again.
Finally, Sans had tired himself out. It had been about an hour of charging down the halls at top speed, but he finally felt like he'd expended all his energy. He slumped over, placing his hands on his knees and breathing heavily. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead and his chest heaved significantly with every breath. He then straightened up and threw his head back, which immediately caused him to lose his balance and fall over backward onto the plush carpet below him. He lay there for a moment staring at the ceiling before Chara appeared, looming over Sans angrily.
"Why'd you run off like that?!" Chara growled, "You didn't even explain anything! You just left me in the dark and raced off like your rear end was on fire!"
"IT WAS JUST WHAT I FELT LIKE DOING!" Sans replied, "I'M SORRY I LEFT YOU BEHIND LIKE THAT, THOUGH."
Chara reeled back in bewildered shock.
"Did you just...apologize to me?"
"SURE," Sans replied, "I FEEL BAD ABOUT LEAVING YOU BEHIND, SO I APOLOGIZED."
It may very well have been the first time Sans had ever sincerely apologized to Chara. After all of the horrible things Chara had done, it was only natural for Sans to hate them. Now, though, he didn't feel any kind of hate toward Chara at all. It was as if it had all melted away along with every other trait of his original personality.
"LOOK," Sans began, suddenly remembering what he was supposed to be telling Chara, "LUCIDA HAS THIS THING CALLED A MIS-PERSONIFICATION RAY. SHE FIRED IT AT ME AND THAT'S WHY I'M ACTING LIKE THIS. IF YOU CAN GET IT BACK FROM HER, YOU CAN REVERSE THIS."
"I don't know..." Chara mused, "I kind of like you better when you're not on my case all the time."
If Sans were acting like himself, that would be where he'd come up with some witty retort to try to get on Chara's nerves. With his current personality, though, the remark didn't faze Sans in the slightest. Instead, Sans vaulted himself to his feet, feeling determined.
"COME ON!" Sans shouted, "WE HAVE TO FIND LUCIDA!"
He then marched forward, Chara begrudgingly following behind him.
"So," Chara said, "What does this Mis-Personification Ray do, exactly?"
"FROM WHAT I COULD GATHER," Sans replied, "IT MIXES UP SOMEONE'S PERSONALITY AND MAKES THEM ACT LIKE...NOT THEMSELVES."
"Does it make their minds into soup too?" Chara retorted, "because that's what I've been getting from you."
"I TRIED TO TAKE THE RAY FROM LUCIDA EARLIER," Sans continued, ignoring Chara, "BUT I COULDN'T GET IT. SHE WAS TOO FAST FOR ME."
"That makes two people you're vastly outclassed by," Chara said, still trying to get on Sans' nerves. Their efforts were in vain, though. Sans simply didn't care about Chara's remarks.
"SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO TAKE THE RAY FROM ALPHYS' ROOM IN THE FIRST PLACE," Sans went on, "IF ALPHYS HADN'T LEFT IT THERE UNATTENDED, THEN THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED AND EVERYTHING WOULD BE OKAY."
Chara stayed silent this time, only responding with an annoyed huff.
"THIS IS ALL PART OF HER GAME, I KNOW IT..."
"Game?" Chara repeated, perking up, "What game?"
"LUCIDA'S PLAYING WITH US," Sans replied, "SHE RESET WHEN I STEPPED OUT OF LINE AND CONFRONTED HER. SHE WANTS US ALL TO FOLLOW HER RULES AND DO WHAT SHE WANTS. SHE'S GOT SOME KIND OF SCRIPT SHE WANTS US ALL TO FOLLOW AND SHE'S THREATENED TO RESET OF WE TRY TO BREAK OUT OF IT."
"Are you serious?!" Chara exclaimed angrily, "She's trying to play us like her puppets?!"
"IT'S SO INFURIATING!" Sans responded, getting just as angry as Chara, "IT'S LIKE SHE DOESN'T EVEN CARE ABOUT ANY OF US AND WHAT WE WANT! SHE JUST WANTS TO USE US TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS!"
Normally, Sans would never get this visibly angry. Now, though, he felt like he couldn't hold back. It felt so incredibly wrong to him that Lucida was doing all of this and he couldn't help but express it.
"Hold on," Chara said, stopping Sans' rant short, "What exactly is it that she wants, anyway?"
"I-I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW," Sans replied hesitantly, unable to come up with a suitable answer, "SHE MADE IT CLEAR TO ME THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING SHE WANTED—SOMETHING ABOUT GETTING BACK SOMETHING SHE LOST—BUT SHE NEVER MENTIONED WHAT EXACTLY IT WAS THAT SHE LOST IN THE FIRST PLACE."
"I just don't see how any of what she's doing would give her any sort of gain," Chara mused aloud, "It's all just random nonsense that doesn't really fit together at all."
Sans tapped a finger against his arm, the steady clicking rhythm being the only sound between Sans and Chara for quite a while. Eventually, Sans noticed Papyrus walk by further down the hall, looking to be in a daze. Sans hurriedly stepped around Chara and headed for Papyrus, who eventually noticed his brother approaching him.
"sans?" Papyrus muttered. Sans was awestruck. Papyrus was speaking in lowercase. That was when Sans realized that Lucida must have gotten to Papyrus.
"YOU TOO?" Sans asked. Now it was Papyrus' turn to look awestruck at his brother.
"are you actually speaking in uppercase?" Papyrus said bewilderedly.
"WELL, IT'S NO STRANGER THAN YOU SPEAKING IN LOWERCASE!" Sans pointed out.
"What is all this uppercase and lowercase business anyway?" Chara butted in, having caught up to Sans, "To me, it just seems like one of you is speaking louder than he normally does and one of you is a lot less annoying than usual."
"UPPERCASE AND LOWERCASE ARE THE WAYS A SKELETON SPEAKS," Sans replied, "OUR VOICES ARE OUR FONTS AND OUR TONES ARE OUR CASES."
"That would explain some things..." Chara muttered.
"anyway," Papyrus interrupted, trying to get the conversation back on track, "why are you speaking in uppercase?"
"THE SAME REASON YOU'RE SPEAKING IN LOWERCASE," Sans answered, "THERE'S A PSYCHO WITH A PERSONALITY-CHANGING GUN RUNNING AROUND AND HER NAME IS LUCIDA."
"personality-changing gun?" Papyrus repeated in confusion, "how did lucida get something like that?"
"SHE'S A PSYCHO, PAPYRUS!" Sans shouted, "SHE'S ABSOLUTELY INSANE AND SHE'S RUNNING AROUND CHANGING PEOPLE'S PERSONALITIES AND WE HAVE TO STOP HER!"
Sans started to run off, but Papyrus grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar before he could get anywhere.
"hold on, sans," Papyrus said, "we can't just go confronting her without some sort of plan. We have to think rationally here."
Sans sighed, though, being hurried, it sounded more like a despondent huff. Usually, Sans was the voice of reason to Papyrus' crazy schemes. Now it was the other way around and it made Sans feel uncomfortable.
"Wow," Chara mused aloud, "It's like you two have swapped places. What's next? Alphys suplexing boulders? Toriel killing humans?"
"knock it off, chara," Papyrus scolded, "this is serious."
Chara's eyes widened significantly. They'd just been told off by Papyrus of all people, which, apparently, was enough to get them to shut up for the time being.
"what's causing lucida to do this?" Papyrus asked, turning back to Sans.
"THAT'S KIND OF A LONG STORY," Sans started. He figured he'd tell Papyrus now and deal with the consequences later.
Sans' bony fingers rapped against the back of the wooden chair as he waited anxiously for Chara to return. Between himself, Papyrus, and Chara, the three of them had been able to come up with a plan to try to get the Mis-Personification Ray back from Lucida. The first step involved Chara getting Lucida's attention and luring her into the kitchen, where Sans and Papyrus would be waiting. As Chara hadn't yet had their personality swapped, they were the perfect bait for Lucida.
Beside him, Papyrus chuckled to himself. Sans gave him an incredulous look.
"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING ABOUT?" Sans asked.
"i'm just imagining what chara might be like if lucida zapped them, that's all," Papyrus replied. If Sans were in his right mind, he'd probably be wishing for Chara to get zapped, but he couldn't feel that now.
Sans stared at Papyrus for a while longer. The usual sparkle in his eye sockets was now gone, replaced with a tired look that would usually be Sans' hallmark. He was leaning against another chair, letting it hold most of his weight. His scarf, usually tied neatly, now hung over his shoulders messily and he played with one end of it with his fingers. His gloves were gone too.
"HEY, PAPYRUS?" Sans said hesitantly. Papyrus lazily shifted his gaze to Sans.
"yeah?"
"DO YOU FEEL AS WEIRD AS I DO?" Sans asked. Papyrus looked away for a moment, contemplating the question before finally answering.
"yeah."
Sans waited for Papyrus to continue, the room falling into an awkward silence.
"YOU WANT TO ELABORATE ON THAT?" Sans eventually prodded, circling one hand in the air as a signal for Papyrus to continue. Papyrus shrugged, staring blankly into the den just outside the kitchen.
"you know what it's like," Papyrus replied, "you know you should be acting like you usually do, but something inside of you won't let you. it's like being in a badly-written fanfiction where the author makes up excuses to bend characters however they want to just to achieve some kind of convoluted plot. you know?"
Sans stared at Papyrus, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
"NOW YOU'RE JUST NOT MAKING ANY SENSE, PAPYRUS," Sans said, "WHAT KIND OF TERRIBLE FANFICTION HAS A RAY GUN THAT CHANGES PEOPLE'S PERSONALITIES?"
"a really stupid one, i guess," Papyrus replied with a chuckle. Sans laughed too. Something about the sheer ridiculousness of the conversation was strangely funny to him.
Just then, there was a crash. Sans and Papyrus immediately turned to the entrance to the den to see Chara tear into the kitchen, a look of genuine fear on their face. Lucida followed closely behind, brandishing the Mis-Personification Ray and wearing a disturbing grin on her face. As she ran by Sans and Papyrus, Papyrus lunged for her, grabbing her around her waist and tackling her to the floor. She also lost her grip on the gun, which clattered against the tile as it was thrown across the room.
"game's up, lucida," Papyrus spat, pinning Lucida down. The skeleton girl struggled against her captor, but Papyrus proved too strong for her. Sans then started toward the gun, but, before he could get to it, Chara darted for it, snatching it off the floor. They then used the rest of their momentum to dodge past Sans, ending up on the other side of the kitchen.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Sans shouted.
"I'm taking an opportunity, Sans," Chara said, an evil smirk forming on their face, "With this thing, I can remove every threat from the picture. Then, with Frisk finally on my side, we can erase this pathetic world once and for all!"
Sans froze, his body locking up in shock. He could practically kick himself for ever trusting Chara, but his current personality had made it seem like such a good idea. Was this how Papyrus usually felt around them too?
Chara's first action was to aim the ray gun at Papyrus and fire off a shot. Sans would have tried to take it for him, but he stayed frozen in place, his current emotional state preventing him from even moving. As Papyrus took the hit, he winced before collapsing on top of Lucida. After that, Chara raced out of the room.
Papyrus then pushed himself up, rubbing his hand against the side of his head. Lucida found an opening and wiggled out from under Papyrus before scrambling to her feet and starting after Chara. Before she could leave, though, Sans quickly summoned a Gaster Blaster to block her escape. He was practically trembling. This was something he really didn't want to do, but he knew he had to.
"S-Sans?" Lucida stuttered, turning back toward Sans, "Wh-what are you doing?"
"WE NEED A RESET RIGHT NOW, LUCIDA," Sans replied shakily, "WE HAVE TO PREVENT THIS BEFORE IT HAPPENS."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up!" Lucida shouted, backing away from the blaster nervously. Suddenly, Papyrus barrelled into Sans, causing him to lose control of the blaster. Lucida dove to the floor as the blast tore past just above her.
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS, SANS!" Papyrus shouted, "YOU KNOW YOU DON'T WANT TO KILL LUCIDA, NO MATTER HOW MANY BAD THINGS SHE'S DONE."
"I KNOW THAT, PAPYRUS," Sans replied solemnly, trying not to choke as he forced himself to say what he knew he had to say, "BUT THIS IS ABOUT THE SAFETY OF EVERYONE. WE HAVE TO DO THIS TO STOP CHARA."
"Hold on a second!" Lucida interjected, "You might not want to do that! I have no idea if the effects of the Mis-Personification Ray will persist after a reset or not!"
"WHY WOULD THEY?" Sans asked.
"I don't know," Lucida replied, "but trust me when I tell you that the way that ray works is beyond anything of this world. It very well could transcend the fabric of time and space."
Sans stared wide-eyed at Lucida, trying to comprehend what she'd just told him. After trying and failing to figure it out, he shook his head in frustration.
"SO WHAT DO WE DO, THEN?" Sans asked, growing frantic.
"I've got this." Lucida declared, pushing herself to her feet before racing out of the room.
"HOLD ON! WAIT!" Sans shouted, running after her. Papyrus followed close behind. It definitely seemed like Lucida was trying to follow Chara, but Sans wasn't even sure she knew what she'd do when she finally caught up.
Suddenly, there was a crash that seemed to come from just down the hall.
"That's coming from Undyne's room!" Lucida said, "We've got to hurry!"
They reached Undyne's room in no time at all. Lucida tried to open the door and, upon finding it locked, she slammed herself against the door to try to force it open, but it was no good.
"YOU'RE THE OWNER OF THIS PLACE, AREN'T YOU?!" Sans asked frantically, "DON'T YOU HAVE A MASTER KEY OR SOMETHING?"
"They're downstairs in the lobby!" Lucida groaned, slumping against the door, "I won't be able to reach them in time!"
Sans tensed up, staring at the door. Just then, an idea came to him.
"STAND BACK."
Lucida hurriedly scrambled away from the door as Sans summoned one of his Gaster Blasters. With a powerful blast of energy and a thundering explosion, the door was completely obliterated. Inside the room, Chara stared back at the ruined doorway in shock. In their hand was a knife held precariously over Undyne's neck. The normally fearless warrior was now a quivering mess, seeming helpless against Chara.
Sans brought out another Blaster, aiming it at Chara. Chara scoffed before getting up, dropping the knife and holding their hands in the air. Lucida then gleefully rushed toward the Mis-Personification Ray, which was lying on the floor rather close to Undyne. She ran her hands over the barrel before pressing down on a previously hidden button. Sans felt himself getting lightheaded as he slumped back against Papyrus and the Blaster he was controlling dematerialized when he lost his focus. Both his vision and his thoughts were fuzzy for a moment before they finally cleared up.
"SANS?" Papyrus asked hesitantly, "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?"
Sans was silent for a moment, staring up at Papyrus.
"yeah. i'm fine."
A huge grin spread across Papyrus' face.
"SANS! YOU'RE BACK TO NORMAL AGAIN!" Papyrus cheered, hugging Sans tightly. Sans chuckled, patting Papyrus' arm affectionately. From across the room, he heard Undyne groan before she stood, rubbing her head.
"What the heck happened?" Undyne asked groggily. Lucida sighed in relief.
"Thank pineapples that's over," Lucida said, wiping sweat from her forehead.
"What happened in here?!"
Sans and Papyrus whirled around and everyone stared at Alphys, who was peeking into the doorway worriedly.
"you might not want to know," Sans replied, "let's just say that most of us were a bit out of our minds today."
Papyrus grunted, clenching his fists.
"PLEASE TELL ME THAT WASN'T A PUN, SANS."
"i can't. it was."
Papyrus screeched angrily as the others laughed.
"So," Alphys said once the laughter died down, "Toriel just got back from the store. None of us even knew she left, but she came back with 200 boxes of toaster waffles for some reason. Not even she knows why."
"Yes!" Lucida shouted excitedly, "Thank pineapples at least that turned out right!"
Lucida then raced out of the room, leaving the others to try to figure out what she meant.
"She's so weird," Undyne groaned exasperatedly.
"you have no idea…"