Chapter 3. Lost.

-Papyrus, hey Papyrus- the short skeleton knocked one more time on the door, although it was not totally closed he still respected his brother's right to have his own privacy, yet the fact that he had not waken up planted a seed of worry on his carefree mind, he knocked a little harder- Bro if you're not feelin' all that well just let me know with a groan or somethin', like you're making me worry- As nothing came from the other side he decided to dismiss Papyrus' privacy in favor of knowing what was keeping his hyperactive brother in bed.

With a gentle push the door let him in, the room he had seen so many times was intact, and only one component was missing: Papyrus himself. Sans rushed to the messy bed and tossed the blankets in an idiotic effort of finding his brother, from the looks of it Paps just left without properly putting aside his blanket, hadn't Sans already checked the rest of the house already he'd assume that he just went to the bathroom; a cold feeling invaded his bones for his mind wandered to the memory of finding him buried in a frozen tomb, he quickly ran off to the spot where he had fallen the last time with a negative result, his thoughts started to theorize on all the places Papyrus could've gone to and with each failure an increasing fear grew inside his heart.

Finding no traces of his brother on Snowdin he took off to Undyne's house in Waterfall, perhaps the skeleton decided to ignore Dr. Aplhys' recommendations on overdoing his recommended amount of physical activity and went to his friend's house to have some royal guard training that seemed like a possibility. The panic developing inside him prevented Sans from thinking properly, not once did he thought of simply calling Undyne on the phone or using a shortcut, he could only think of the scene he'd seen a week prior. Once he arrived he called for the brave monster, she hurried out of her house with concern that turned into confusion when she saw Sans outside of her doorway.

-Huh…Where's the fire Sans?-

-Sorry, It's just…ummm…Is Paps here?-

-No, why would he be?-

Sans' hopes were crushed and his paranoia threatened to take over as the air around him became heavier, Undyne took note of this and her attitude shifted to one similar to Sans'.

-Sans! What happened to that doofus? When did you last saw him? - her voice shook a little.-

-Yesterday's night.-

-Alright clam down, why don´t we go talk with Aplhys she said something about having installed some cameras around waterfall, so why not ask her?-

Sans nodded drowning in fear.

Undyne's assumptions were correct, when they reached the lab and asked for Alphys' aid they watched the recordings of Waterfall from her multiple cameras, nothing interesting or useful happened on the first hours, however at midnight the footage showed a zombie-like Papyrus wandering alone trough Waterfall, the tree spectators watched intensely as the skeleton slowly walked through the scenery, their worst nightmares could not compare to the shock they felt when they saw him stop at the bottomless void where waterfalls disappeared into nothingness and gracefully jump in just to be swallowed by darkness, Sans could not take it and fell unconscious with only one thought in mind "How can your entire happiness just disappear like that?".

As he recovered from the shock a swarm of thoughts attacked his injured mind, within that mess the one that always appeared like a whisper was "Why?" followed by a "How?", he knew better than anyone in the underground how easy it was to fake a smile to hide a crushing depression, after all he'd convinced Papyrus and the other monsters of being just a little gloomy from time to time but how could he not see past his own brother someone he claimed to know so well as to read his entire existence like an open book, yet Alphys had just showed him his worst fear come true. What did he do wrong? Did he obsess too much with his nightmares and forgot to take care of the real risks? For how long had Papyrus hid his feelings from him? Was the snow accident a failed attempt? How could he live like this? How could he bear the guilt? Deep down he knew he wouldn't be strong enough to forgive himself, after all the only thing that still tied him to this world had jumped into certain death where his ashes would get lost in space and time, to protect what was destroyed before his own eye sockets he had to forgive himself and that was impossible; there was only one way out this shameful failure, to kill the killer, to follow his brother's steps until the very end.

While Sans was busy dealing with the ever-growing guilt inside him Undyne remained silent with her gaze fixed on the screen as if they could tell her that it wasn´t true, she had been like this for quite some time and Alphys started to worry, she timidly approached her and gently put her hand on the soldier's shoulder and, for a brief second, she swore a tear fell down her cheek but before the scientist could consider the possibility of Undyne grieving for a dear friend she turned to the apparently unconscious Sans.

-Hey punk- she said with a strangely kind and sad voice- I can´t even imagine what must be going through that skull of yours but you can´t leave alone on this, before you do anything stupid we must…-

Before she could finish her threat a flash of light flashed on the screens, it was so bright that the lab was covered in light as well catching the attention of the three monsters, once the blinding light disappeared an image took their hearts and twisted it in a horrific mix of hope and horror, on the middle screen, the one that showed the wildest part of Waterfall, was a bloody red scarf emerging from a patch of tall grass and echo flowers, there were too many similarities with Papyrus' scarf to dismiss it as a coincidence so Undyne and Sans fled the lab followed by a confused Alphys.

They were unsure about what waited for them in Waterfall and nothing could've prepared them for what, or rather who, they found: merely standing was an exact copy of Sans who wore only black and with clothes and possessed a deep blooding wound on his chest, parts of his skull bled or were distorted giving the stranger a shady look and to top all of that was, of course, Papyrus' bloody scarf.

As they tried to comprehend what lied before them something clicked on Sans' mind, the night after the snow accident Papyrus had told him of meeting a strange monster who fit the description of the one he was seeing right now, could this monster who mirrored him have something to do with his brother's suicide? The pain within him, always searching for a guilty one to redirect itself, answered with a yes, a yes that resonated all through his bones, leaving in his soul no room for mercy.

-Undyne! This monster was the one Paps saw when he blacked out, him having his scarf maybe a sign of his involvement in … my bro's … disappearance, prepare to attack!-

-He didn't seem friendly anyway- she said as a spear materialized on her hands.

Then the bloody Sans woke up and found himself in a dire situation, with terror he only grasped a single word.

-No…-

-Is…is this Hotland?-

The little skeleton looked around still confused as to what had happened, the heat definitely belonged to Hotland but there was something missing, as he couldn´t quite put his finger on what that something was he decide it was better to look around and see if everyone was alright. The lab's door was open an odd occurrence for Blue but nothing groundbreaking, inside there were no signs of anyone and the place looked terrible, like someone had to take as much as it could and escape somewhere else, following said thought Blue's gaze searched for the escape route and it found it on the door that had always remained closed but now was open, inviting him to discover what lied past it. The skeleton fell for the mystery of that unknown place.

He entered an elevator and pressed down, waiting for it to finally open it's doors and reveal the secret lab that Undyne had been hiding all this time made him feel nervous, there was also the possibility that his friends fled down here so it was a win-win situation for the little and magnificent Sans. When the doors opened some of his excitement disappeared, the place he had arrived to was run down, poorly illuminated and altogether scary, he began to explore it with a considerable hesitation on his soul, and even though it looked creepy there was nothing to be afraid of, well until it ran into the thing.

Creeping through the corridor a horrible beast approached, it could only be described as if two beings died in an embrace, melted into each other and cursed to exist in unity with their distorted voices crying for help, one of which sounded awfully familiar, putting aside his fright Blue examined the creature and it seemed to be the fusion of Red Pap and a Sans similar to the one described by the former, as he took notice of this the creature charged at full force against him. However, someone quickly intervened.

Protecting him was a tall metallic body which took the hit as if it was but a breeze, the beast backed away confused, it appeared as if one part of him respected the monster and the other felt disgust making it do neither. His hero turned around, it had a metal body mostly in black and greys with pink accents and his face was beautiful and kind, even when it looked a bit puzzled.

-Excuse them dear, they don't get many visitors and this place is quite vile. Now, you would not happen to come from the lab won't you?-

-I…I do, but I don't understand how I ended here or where's any of my friends…-

-On those times no one does little skeleton, it's been rough- it took a look at the little monster with honest empathy- Say, if you help me find my friend I promise to help you, while keeping the amalgamate away, a great offer if you ask me- he said with a playful smile.

-Amal…amalgamate? That's what that is called?-

-They're an amalgamate, I think their name as an individual is yet to be…sorry darling but there's no time for this right now, would you come along or not?-

-I…yes, sure.-

-Alright then, have you seen a yellow monster with a lizard-like appearance wearing a lab coat up there?-

-No, I know someone like that but she'll never wear something like that.-

-Thanks, with that there's just one other place she could be at-

-Where?-

-Deep within this lab, come on we have a lot to cover.-

Blue nodded, this secret lab was certainly dreadful but he'll stay true to his word.

Papyrus had heard of the stars from Sans on those Sunday's evenings spent looking through the telescope in Waterfall, he always knew those shining objects on the cave's ceiling were not the beautiful dots that adorned the surface's night sky but it was a nice thought to hold on to, especially when he felt a little down about reaching the surface the shining duplicates were reminders of what Papyrus' dreams about the common goal of all monsters were: to see the "stars"; and now he was surrounded by nothing more than that, alone on a tiny asteroid and the vastness of space he suddenly felt insignificant, it was as if space itself tried to crush the skeleton with it's absurd size making the first terrified of such a force.

In a moment of pure primal fear of the unknown he tried to cover and kneel down to feel the earthy surface of the asteroid but, thanks to the almost non-existent gravity pull, he ended up doing the opposite of what he desired and instead drifted into space. No matter how much he moved his body he was defenseless against the soft pull of the star filled scenery, he tried for a while fighting against his fear and disbelief, until he collapsed.

Alone and cold on a strange place far from home with no idea on how or why he was there, slowly and aimlessly moving through a beautiful yet terrifying eternity, it sure was not a dream though he wished it was, no, all was real.

"Will I ever see my brother again? What would happen to me? Who will train with Undyne? Who will become a part of the royal guard if not me? Will they miss me?

Will they remember the great and amazing Papyrus?" Thoughts that occurred as he curled up and cried in silence, the silence he seemed to share with this universe who wanted to bury him in his immensity; his tears went on for a long time until another sensation caught his attention.

On his scarf, near the vertebrae of his neck something creeped and disappeared to creep once again, he reached for the strange object and brought it to his face, it was a small spider. Trying to appear normal he cleared his voice and asked.

-Hey little guy how did you ended here?-

The spider moved its legs in a strange fashion which made Papyrus grin.

-Sorry, I am not well versed in spider-

The little arachnid shook as if scared and then put most of its legs on to the stars above them.

-Oh, you're scared because of the stars?-

The spider danced again.

-I'm sorry I don't even know where we are so I could not tell you not to be scared of them, but you can trust that the great and amazing Papyrus will protect you little one-

The invertebrate hopped in joy as Paps returned him to his scarf and moved it so the spider wouldn't fall off, well, drift off. Somehow knowing he was not alone made him feel a little better even if he was near collapsing again he'll try to be strong for his new friend. Even so, some tears still escaped Paps' eye sockets.

-Hey skeleton are you crying?-

Papyrus looked on the voice's direction; there was a spider monster with a beautiful blue and yellow outfit that was looking, with all of her five eyes, at him. In her gaze was a sincere pity that made him feel safe so he answered her question with honesty. The monster took a liking to him and even more so when the little spider crossed from the skeleton to the arachnid lady.

-Oh Milo! We've been searching for you this whole time! - She looked at the stranger- This monster…protected you? Then we must thank him!-

Grabbing his hands she professed her gratitude with an emotional tone on her voice.

-Good skeleton thank you for saving my poor spider please let me help you-

-I…I just want to go home-

-And where is your home?-

-Far, way too far-

She stood in silence for a few seconds before making up her mind.

-I get that you're far from where you want to be and lost, dear skeleton there are too many dangers on these parts of the galaxy please stay on our humble home until we can figure a way to truly help-

-Umm, alright but please stop the skeleton thing my name is Papyrus, you can add the great and amazing if you want but no more skeleton please-

She giggled as if ashamed of her own formality.

-Alright Papyrus, you can call me Muffet-

-Whoa that's a pretty name!-

-You think so?-

The spider danced on Muffet's shoulder; apparently it was something very funny because the monster laughed.

Holding Muffet's hand he was able to move, thanks to her, somewhat freely and that security gave him the opportunity to appreciate the colors of space, from the ever-lasting black to the softs blues of nebulas passing through the red and yellow of the stars and the greys of the floating rocks.

-It's so beautiful-

Muffet smiled, even when she was no stranger to space some places could always amaze her no matter how many times she looked at them. Sadly her home was far from the astounding views, in the darkest part of space a giant hollow planetoid stood out, it looked like it was dead but inside of it were countless spider webs all creating intricate designs from one hole to the next, in the center of it all were some objects used in cooking mixed with miscellaneous things almost as if the spiders just liked to hoard them. On that disaster Papyrus could finally stand on top of the webs as Muffet, accompanied by multiple little spiders, searched for something to offer.

-You must be hungry, I have some donuts around just…-

From a strange oven-like object she took a box filled with food.

Both of them sat on the webs and ate some of the donuts, although odd looking the pastries were quite tasty and the skeleton could not resist complimenting the chef of such culinary marvel time and time again.

-Are they really good though? No one seems interested on buying them.-

-Whatever do you mean? These are amazing, almost as amazing as me!-

She laughed with sadness on her voice which turned into silence as she stared through the holes of her home into the poor lit sky.

-It's quite the rough life for us the spiders, I have no problem traveling from one place to another but my little family often gets carried away and, sometimes, I don't find them and they disappear forever…all because we've got to go out there to sell our goods even if most monsters just walk away or try to negotiate for an even more low price, it's ridiculous-

She sighed moving her head from left to right back and forth.

-Sorry, I've must have bored you with my talk about spiders and all, I don't know why I opened up to you-

-Do not worry about that it's nice to have someone to talk to, somehow having company makes me feel a lot better, maybe the same is true for you-

-I highly doubt it, I think I picked you up because you reminded me of my poor spiders-

-Mmm? How so?-

-You were drifting with no control, powerless and scared on to an unknown place-

-I guess you're right, but even if you did it for that reason that doesn't take away the fact that you rescued me and opened up to me-

-I don't know, you're weird…umm…sorry that wasn't very nice of me what I meant to say is that I'm not usually this kind had you not reminded me of my spiders or rescued one I would've gone somewhere else ignoring you. Most monsters disgust me, they're selfish and always look down on the little defenseless ones as if their strength gave them the right to do so, perhaps my hatred for the cruelty against my family is what drives away potential clients…-

-I think you just have to be positive, but if the monsters from around here are rejecting these donuts after eating them I'll totally understand why you don't like them, though being nice is a great selling point if you ask me-

-Thank you Papyrus, you can't understand how much your words mean to me. Sometimes the pressure of keeping our business alive, for the sake of all spiders, is really demanding especially when you see others thrive where you fail-

-Is there another spider bakery around?-

-No, I…I once had a friend who I shared a lot with, his name was Grillby, we often talked about the future, both of us wanted to sell food to all the monsters and we would've had lots and lots of customers who'll come every day into our stores. Neither of us is near that goal, but at least Grillby doesn't have to fight every day to collect enough money to maintain his family or watch them risk their lives in an effort to make some profit, it was my jealousy what separated us his success is like a wound to my pride that I cannot close.-

-And do you like living like this?-

-Of course not-

-Then go and fix up your friendship, he could even help you sell some of your stuff-

-If it were that easy I'd have already done it-

Papyrus looked at the stars leaving Muffet and her spiders on a complete silence, she thought she had finally frustrated him so when he started talking she listened very carefully.

-You know my brother always told me the stars were something beautiful beyond measure, he often did it to cheer me up as we can't see them from my home but now that I see them they don't look as grand. You know why? Because he is not here. Muffet, I, the great Papyrus, don…don't have many friends, I do not know why most monsters brush me off but the few I have as my friends are my most dear possession! So please go and say hello to Grillby, don't apologize if you don't feel like it, just chat and see if he really is what you think. You're not a bad monster, you care for your family, you try your best to keep them happy and you're kind…you've just met the wrong monsters, I'm sure the spiders want to see you happy as well- The spiders danced in unison-Come on, no one should've to live alone-

-What you say is true except for a little something-

-What?-

-That you have, at least, one more friend- she said with a smile, and he looked at her with the purest happiness.

The lab's doors were opened with tremendous force and from them and angry tall figure appeared, clearly exhausted but with anger so rabid it twisted his whole being.

-At last! That dammed spider was but a mere distraction to stop me, now that I've reached you I demand to see Sans!- he shouted with violence on his voice- And the stranger, do not hide them anymore Undyne!-

who was crying over her friend's wounded body answered in a weak voice.

-They're gone-

Oblivious to the scene, blinded by rage and filled with fear Papyrus threw the scientist's desk while yelling at all his body would let him.

-Then let me follow them! Make me cross dimensions if you will but bring back Sans or I swear I'll tear you…-

Papyrus finally looked at the horrific picture before him, he could not believe what he was seeing, Alphys, the mighty soldier of the underground, was on the floor next to Undyne losing tons of blood while Queen Toriel tried her best to stop said bleeding, Undyne just stood there crying overwhelmed by the situation, to top it all off the Queen's trident was covered in blood.

His rage was replaced by urgency as he moved through the lab in search of something to help Alphys, finally having some help Queen Toriel proceeded to snap Undyne out of it so she could help as well.

-Undyne, Undyne you must aid this young monster cure your friend. If you only cry she'll die and the guilt of letting her go because of your shock will haunt you forever, please it's already too easy for death to claim all that we love don't let it win now-

The scientist looked at her queen with tears on her eyes as she let go of her dear friend, quickly coming into Papyrus' aid. She would save Alphys, then Sans and maybe even the cross-dimensional Papyrus.

-Closed? Who in their right mind closed the path to the back of the lab? Sorry little buddy but it seems we'll have to take another route-

-Alright, I'll follow you-

The robot smiled, the little monster sure was eager to please him or just wanted to see his friends, either way it was nice to see someone with so much optimism for a change. They went through a large corridor that was as dark as the entire facility, Blue could feel as if tons of eyes were watching his every step, he was a brave monster but that did not stopped him from feeling uneasy, deep down he knew that this place had no good in it and that something horrible must've happened, but he was afraid to ask.

At the end of the corridor there was a door that didn't quite match the style of it's surroundings, the robot opened the door and Sans entered what seemed like a little room. There was a door on the opposite side of the room and a dim light hanged from the ceiling, there were two little mattresses and a nightstand for each; however there was no time to lose and his protector only wandered with the intent of finding the key to the other door, while he was doing that Sans accidentally stepped on a slim book he picked it up but as he was going to tell the robot he went through the door into an open room.

A strange sound can be heard, both monsters follow it cautiously before meeting with it's author. As soon as Blue saw him memories of his nightmares came back to him freezing him in place.

He was really similar to Blue in the shape of their bodies but the skeleton was pitch black with streaming blue marks in his skull, an ill yellow covered his eye accents, fingertips and devious smile a vibrant red covered parts of his body with his eye sockets being the dominant trait. He seemed to have bits and pieces missing that were just floating nearby their rightful place, yet the most intriguing thing about the character who stood, who levitated in front of them were the blue strings that emerged from his fingertips and adhered to the ceiling. He looked at the duo with a smile so evil it would sent shivers down the spine of any monster who saw it.

Confused by two similar monsters but weary of the odd aura the robot acquired a defensive stance and asked with caution if the stranger had seen his friend.

He answered in a horrible voice that quickly and abruptly turned deep or high-pitched or normal to deep again.

-Grief and guilt,

Can't be bashed away,

By those who dare,

To quit their stay-

Both stood in silence not comprehending the rhyme the monster had said, he took notice of this and with annoyance answered.

-The old lizard jumped off the dumpster's falls, she's been long dead as this entire universe soon will, don't worry you were never supposed to survive anyway-

The robot was shocked and wasn´t prepared when the stranger pierced his chest leaving him to die slowly on the floor, he starts to laugh singing time after time "You're all doomed" while kicking what's left of the poor monster. Blue tries to escape but is grabbed by his strings which drag him down a portal to a white space.

-You've been a terrible puppet, you left your master alone. There are consequences for such behavioral issues but these will have to wait until I have him in my possession. By the way say goodbye to this dammed universe before I destroy it-

Fighting to stay in the lab Sans could only see one last bit of that universe: the robot who laid almost dead on the floor was approached by the amalgamate who hugged it whimpering loudly with great sadness.