Chapter six: Unintentional revelations

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Undyne: Time's up

Papyrus: WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

Sans: i think undyne is done waiting

Papyrus: YES THANK YOU SANS

Papyrus: BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT

Sans: i think undyne wants to ask frisk whats wrong

Undyne: Sounds about right

Alphys: R u sure this is a good idea?

Papyrus: WHAT IF THIS DOES NOT CONCERN US?

Undyne: It does concern us

Undyne: We're her friends

Alphys: What if she doesn't talk?

Undyne: We'll ask Asgore

Sans:or toriel

Sans: though i doubt she'll talk

Papyrus: I AM WORRIED TOO

Papyrus: BUT WE SHOULD BE PATIENT

Undyne: I've been patient

Sans: asriel says it's just the amnesia that bothers frisk

Papyrus:THEN THEY WOULDN'T BE SO SECRETIVE ABOUT IT, WOULD THEY?

Sans: good point

Alphys: There's something more 2 it

Undyne: Alright where do we meet?

Papyrus: WAIT A SECOND

Papyrus: NOW?

Undyne: I'm out of patience

Sans: entrance of asgores house

Sans: new home

Sans: right now

Undyne: Alright

Papyrus: VERY WELL THEN

Alphys: K

New Home, not long after

Sans was leaning against a wall in New Home, the same wall that held the entrance to the king's residence. He was aware that the inside looked almost like an exact copy of Home – the place where Toriel lived – with the main differences being the color and the basement. He wasn't sure what else was different; he had never been in the Ruins himself. It was Frisk who told him how similar the two homes were.

Frisk… She was the reason why the skelebros were here. It wouldn't be long before Undyne and Alphys arrived, after which the four of them were going to waltz into the castle and demand answers. Sans really hoped that he and the others were merely overreacting, and that the problem wasn't as bad as they suspected. He also hoped that Undyne was going to stay calm during the…interrogation.

He looked up at Papyrus, who was pacing in the pile of leaves with a troubled look in his eyes. He seemed nervous and regretful at the same time, causing Sans' brother instincts to be activated.

"paps?"

The taller skeleton stopped walking, his gaze turning Sans' way. "YES?"

"are you alright?"

"YES, OF COURSE! WHY WOULD THE GREAT PAPYRUS NOT BE ALRIGHT?"

Sans' back parted with the wall. He looked at Papyrus with a worried expression. "we're about to demand answers from some of our closest friends, paps," he gently said. "not to mention, our ghost has come back, and he seems more aggressive than ever. he was able to make me – one of the laziest people in the history of the underground – walk all the way to the waterfalls."

His younger brother momentarily froze before dropping his shoulders and looking at the ground, completely removing the already weakened aura of confidence he carried.

"it's alright to be worried, paps," Sans softly said. "i'm worried too. about both things. i'm worried about frisk, but also about what will happen when we do this. i'm worried about what this ghost is going to do."

Papyrus closed his eyes and sighed. "I… YOU'RE RIGHT, SANS. I AM WORRIED. I'M WORRIED ABOUT THOSE EXACT THINGS. I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS. AND YES, I'M SCARED OF HIM. OUR GHOST." He reopened his eyes and looked at his brother. "BUT SANS… WHAT IF THIS REALLY DOESN'T CONCERN US? WHAT IF THIS IS BETWEEN FRISK AND THEM? WE CAN'T EXPECT THEM TO TELL US EVERYTHING, CAN WE?"

The shorter skeleton sighed as well and let his head hang. "no, you're right. we can't." He paused before looking up again. "paps…no one would think less of you if you backed out of this one. you don't have to do this. you're free to go home. i can handle this, and i promise i won't let the others go too far – or myself, for that matter."

Those words made the younger one hesitate for a while. He pensively looked at the leaves that found themselves underneath his feet, thinking about what he should do. It didn't take long for him to make a decision, however, and he looked Sans in the eye sockets when he did.

"THANK YOU, SANS… BUT NO. I WON'T LEAVE. DESPITE MY NERVOUSNESS, A PART OF ME WANTS TO BE HERE. I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT, BUT…WELL…IT'S HERE."

Despite the situation, Papyrus' response allowed Sans to feel a little more positive. He gave his brother a nod.

"So, you two are already here," Undyne's voice rung out. The skelebros looked over to see the Royal Guard leader approach them. Alphys was walking next to her with an uncertain expression – a contrast to the decisive glow in Undyne's eye.

"'sup," Sans greeted, having regained his usual aura that radiated laziness.

Undyne gave him a nod before looking at Papyrus, who was also able to hide his conflicts behind his usual demeanor. He stood upright and saluted.

"UNDYNE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS REPORTING FOR DUTY!"

"how're we gonna do this?" Sans asked. "i mean, maybe we should knock before we storm the castle."

"Whatever you say," the Royal Guard leader said. She strode over to the doorway and gave a few strong knocks on the wall next to it, causing a few cracks to appear.

The group of four spent the next thirty seconds silently standing in front of the doorway, waiting for Asgore, Asriel or Frisk to answer it. But it remained completely quiet in the house, with nothing to indicate that the knocks had been acknowledged. After half a minute had passed, Undyne turned to the others.

"I-I guess they're…in the garden?" Alphys suggested.

Undyne nodded before entering the house. "You're probably right. Come on, let's go."

Alphys followed. The skelebros shared a glance before doing the same.

They all remained silent on their way to the garden. With the knowledge of Frisk and Asgore being near the Barrier, they were reminded of that day. That fateful day that happened nine years ago, when Frisk disappeared and ended up on the Surface. When Asriel returned as himself, telling the Underground about the evil acts committed by his Soulless counterpart. When the hunt for Humans truly came to a halt.

The hunt for Humans was the main reason for the majority of their regrets. Even Papyrus, who would never harm anyone in his life – regardless of whether they were Human or Monster – still felt the weight of his actions. After all, he had been prepared to deliver a Human to Asgore without even trying to find out what the king was going to do to them.

It was when they reached the throne room that the familiar voices of Asgore and Asriel could be heard. They weren't in the throne room itself, though; they seemed to be in the small area behind it, just before the Barrier – the area in which they all woke up after Frisk's battle with Asriel.

The voices sounded…alarmed?

"Frisk!" the prince called as he kneeled down next to Frisk's unconscious body. The Human's vocal cords were disturbingly inactive compared to a few moments ago.

"Asriel," Asgore said with an alarmed but somewhat controlled tone. "Stay calm. She is still breathing."

"We-we have to get help!" Asriel exclaimed, not taking his eyes off the Human.

"We must get her to Dr. Alphys," the king said. "She will know what to do."

"I-I'm here!" a third voice said.

The two Dreemurrs looked over to see four familiar figures standing in the doorway that lead to the small area they were currently in.

Upon seeing the Human lying on the ground, Alphys' eyes widened and she clasped her hands over her mouth. Sans and Undyne both quickly made their way into the room – both with shocked expressions – followed by a momentarily frozen Papyrus.

"What happened!" Alphys blurted out.

"not now," Sans said. "alphys, do you have anything at your lab that might help?"

"Uh… Y-yeah, p-probably. B-but how do we get there in time?"

"leave that to me."

And with that, the entire group was no longer in New Home.

Alphys' lab, fifteen minutes later

"She's physically alright as far as I can tell," Alphys softly said, breaking the silence that had been hanging in the air for the past ten minutes. "Mentally…" She looked at the ground. "S-she seems to be in a deep sleep. One that I can't get her out of. I-I think it's some kind of coma or something. Until she wakes up, I-I can't tell how badly her mind is damaged."

Asriel sighed despondently before standing up from his seat and walking over to the stretcher Frisk was lying on, his back turned to the others. He felt his eyes starting to sting when he looked at her, but managed to hold back the tears.

Asgore remained seated and let his head hang, his eyes closed. The skelebros looked at the ground.

"Asgore."

The king looked up when he heard the unexpectedly calm – but nonetheless stern – voice. It was Undyne, who looked at him with a determined expression.

She remained silent, but Asgore knew what she wanted. With a sigh, he stood up.

"Ever since Frisk returned, she has been suffering under the weight of returning memories. Most of these memories are…well…not pleasant, and some of them seem to trigger panic attacks and – in some cases – hallucinations." He looked over to where Frisk was lying. Asriel still stood there. "Today, she had the worst attack yet. It ended mere seconds before you arrived, with Frisk losing consciousness.

"Asriel, Toriel and I have made several attempts to convince her to share this with you. We believed that you may have been able to help her. But she refused, stating that it was her problem. She even admitted that she never intended for us to discover it."

He sighed again. "She told us to remain silent about this. We obeyed… And now, Frisk has to pay the price for our foolishness."

"Yeah," Undyne said. "Look, I'm not trying to rub salt in the wound here or anything, but I agree: you should've told us. I mean, we care about her – we're her friends. Don't you think we're entitled to know about this sort of stuff?"

"You're right," Asriel voiced. His back was still turned to them, so the others couldn't see his face, but his voice revealed the lump that had appeared in his throat. "We should've told you. But we didn't. We messed up. And now…" He fell silent.

"alright, look," Sans cut in. "i suppose we've all learned from this. let's keep it at that."

Before anyone could say anything to that, the double sliding door that separated the lab from the outside opened, revealing a wide-eyed Toriel.