Undyne had a spear forming in her hands almost instantly. Her eyes narrowed into a glare and her feet spread apart to dash. Papyrus stood still, unsure what to do and unsure if the creature was friend or foe. Alphys stood frozen, shivering as if grasped by an unknown cold. Sans yawned.
The creature in the doorway had large, sharp teeth and even larger eyes. Its body was similar to a slug, except with the sense of a standing slug. Small clawed hands were pressed to its stomach and it bobbed slightly as its body shook and shuddered. Its voice was light and raspy and its eyes narrowed and gleaming.
Undyne glared before letting out a loud battle cry, throwing her spear back. Her arms outstretched she lunged to pierce the creature through its head-
Sans was balancing on the edge of the spear. He was kneeling down, hands still in his pockets, facing toward the creature.
"hey lemon bread." Sans said casually as Undyne stopped her attack. They all stared.
"Hello Sans." It said, waving a hand. It peaked around him and looked at Undyne.
"you startled her." Sans explained. Lemon Bread nodded slowly.
"Sorry."
"Uh…" Undyne blinked. "It's alright….?" She lowered the tip of her spear, allowing Sans to step off before making it disappear entirely. She turned to Alphys, who ducked her head. Undyne shot Lemon Bread a big grin "Sorry for almost killing you."
"It's s'alright." Its voice slurred and half of its face began to drip down the side of its face. Sans nonchalantly pushed it back up into place to which Lemon Bread shot a strange, grateful smile. The amalgamate turned to look at Alphys with its large eyes. "Doctor Alphys-"
"I'm sorry." Alphys said quickly, ducking her head. Lemon Bread tilted its head but didn't respond.
"She didn't mean for this to happen." Undyne said quickly, getting in between them.
"AND FOR THE RECORD, I THINK YOU LOOK AMAZING." Papyrus grinned, putting his hands on his hip(bones). Lemon Bread made a small squeak and looked away, covering its too-large face with its hands.
"oh, Pap." Sans blinked. He gave a wink. "i didn't think you were such a smooth-talker."
"PARDON?" Papyrus seemed incredibly confused. Sans gave a grin and nudged Lemon Bread gently.
"something up? you said the whole hell thing again." He said. The amalgamate made a slight squeak and squished its hands to its face.
"I'm sorry- I'm sorry- That just slips out sometimes." It seemed genuinely distressed as it tried to cover its head with its hands. Sans's smile softened and he patted them on the head.
"it's okay, buddy. no one blames you." he said gently.
Alphys fidgeted and moved to hide behind Undyne. The warrior looked down on her with a slight frown.
"Alphys-"
"P-please don't-" Alphys stammered, suddenly interrupted. A hand was placed on her snout and she looked up to see Lemon Bread. The amalgamate creature forced a pained smile. Slowly, it sloshed its arms around the scientist's shoulders and leaned into a hug. Alphys stared at the wall over its shoulder and felt the familiar tinge of tears. Her vision blurred and she slowly lifted her hands to return the hug.
"Thank you for helping us." They said.
"B-But I didn't- H-help-"
Lemon Bread shook their head. Their face distorted into a smile yet somehow their eyes looked kind. "We're alive because of you." they began to slouched forward "Thank you….." they said as they fell to the ground.
Alphys gasped and reached for them.
"Woah-!" Undyne yelped "Hey-"
"ARE THEY ALRIGHT!?" Papyrus screeched.
"calm down." Sans said, stepping over. "they're just sleeping. moving around so much tires them out."
"O-oh…" Alphys sighed in relief, shooting a smile up to Undyne. "They weren't- Th-they-" Her grin grew wider "They don't hate me."
"What'd I tell ya!" Undyne said with a grin, lightly slapping Alphys on the back "There's no way they can hate ya!" Alphys blinked back tears, quickly wiping them away with her sleeve. She looked over to Sans to share in a grin.
Papyrus walked between them, reach down, and carefully picked Lemon Bread up and cradled them in his arms. "DOCTOR ALPHYS-"
"Pap. volume." Sans said. Papyrus gave a sheepish nod and lowered his voice.
"Doctor Alphys, there are beds down here, correct?" he said quietly. Alphys nodded.
"Y-yes. This way." She walked out of the room and led Papyrus away as well. Undyne followed quickly and Sans began to trudge behind.
They stayed relatively quiet as they traversed the under-the-underground corridors, trying not to disturb Lemon Bread's sleep. Vaguely, the short skeleton noted that his companions were moving on further and further ahead of him. He suddenly stopped, leaning heavily against the wall. The edges of Sans's vision had hazed and he felt…. He felt something. From the center of his being, he felt-
Oh.
Strings.
He saw the glow of his soul as threads reached out slowly, wavering like wisps of flame. Muttering his disdain, he took a deep breath, lit up his left eye, and shoved his soul back into his body.
"not right now, buddy." Sans chuckled to himself. He waited until his vision cleared before walking slightly quicker to catch up with the group. On the way, he passed several mounted logs but paid them no mind. He listened to them too many time than he care to count. So, like, anywhere past ten. They opened up to him as he passed and not a single one diverted him from his path.
Until he caught a smiling face out of the corner of his eye. He turned quickly, beginning to lift his left hand instinctively. But it seemed like maybe, just maybe, his anxiety was beginning to catch up with him. The log was just as it normally was. Sans forced a slow breath, lowering his hand into his pocket and smothering the glow of magic in his eye.
Trembling, he backed to the wall and slid down it. "just a minute." He muttered, putting his head in his hands. He breathed slowly, trying to calm himself. He was true to his word, only waiting a minute before climbing back onto his feet and walking briskly after his friends. He got to the intersection before the room with the beds when he was tackled.
"woah. easy." He said. The large white mass pinned him to the ground, slobbering over his skull and frantically wagging its long dripping tail. It jumped off of him, turned in a semi-circle and crouched playfully, its tail going a hundred miles an hour. Sans chuckled under his breath and materialized a bone long enough for the creature to easily carry in its mouth. "fetch." He said, tossing it lazily. Dogandgy ran after it, picked it up in its strange unseen mouth and scampered back over to Sans, dropping it into his outstretched hand. Sans flicked the slobber off and threw it again. Dogandgy fetched it again. This repeated several more times.
"Oh there you are, Sans." Undyne growled, putting a hand on her hip, standing slightly behind him and to the left. She raised a fish-brow skeptically "Papyrus thought you died again- What are you doing?" Sans just stood there with his hand outstretched, but he turned and gave a wink.
"wait."
"Wait for what-" she muttered before her eyes went suddenly wide. Dogandgy galloped toward them, paying Undyne no mind as it dropped the bone back into Sans's hand.
"can you throw it for a bit? i'm gonna go meet up with Pap." Sans asked, waiting maybe half a second before putting the slobbery bone in her hand and walking away "thanks. play nice." He was barely out of sight when he heard Undyne yell.
"LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN FETCH THIS, MUTT!"
"BARK!"
Followed by loud crashing noises. Sans chuckled to himself but knew not to worry. Dogandgy was a pro at fetch. Probably could catch all the spears in the world in its weird mouth-thing. It wasn't long until he reached the bed-room and saw Papyrus and Alphys looking down the hall he just came from in confusion.
"Is Undyne playing fetch?" Papyrus asked, keeping his voice low as to not disturb the amalgamate sleeping peacefully in the bed. His eye sockets lit up "Can I play too?"
"if you want, i guess." Sans shrugged.
Alphys poked her fingers together "Uh… Dogandgy?" Sans nodded. "Oh. That m-makes sense."
Papyrus looked wistfully down the hall before turning to look down at Sans. "Brother, can we talk?"
Sans would've made a face but the idea of putting that much effort into something exhausted him. "probably."
"Sans."
Sans cringed slightly at the tone of his baby brother's voice. He hated when Papyrus sounded….concerned. He shouldn't be concerned. No one as great as his little brother should ever need to be upset.
"alright." Sans said with a shrug. Papyrus shot a grateful grin and turned to Alphys. She nodded understandingly and went down a hall. After she was gone, Papyrus sat on one of the vacant beds and patted next to him, indicating for Sans to sit beside him. He did, half-jumping, half-climbing onto his designated area.
"So." Papyrus fidgeted. He clearly was having trouble speaking so quietly for so long "Have you ever told me about the RESETs?"
Sans winked "i just did."
Papyrus rolled his eye (sockets) and shook his skull. "I mean, before that. In a different reset-loop-thingy."
Sans shrugged "yeah. once or twice." The truth was more than he could care to count.
"Oh." Papyrus fidgeted. "Did I believe you?"
"yeah." Sans nodded. "you always believed me."
Papyrus grinned at that. "That's good. I'd hate to think I've been causing you more distress than you are already under."
"what? nah, i'm not stressed." Sans grinned.
Papyrus narrowed his eye-sockets, the corner of his grin twisting down. "I'm not stupid, Sans. I mean, I suppose I'm a bit-"
"thick-skulled?" Sans interrupted.
Papyrus groaned in response to the pun "Yes. Thick-Skulled. Anyway." He took a moment to regain his train of thought "I know I'm not smart, like you or Alphys. But I know you." He tilted his head. "I guess for you it seemed longer, but for me it was just a sudden… lack of effort." Sans offered no response. Papyrus sighed. "It scared me. I didn't know what was making you so upset, and I didn't know what I could do to fix it."
Sans's eyes sockets darkened.
"SANS-" Papyrus cleared his skele-throat, turned to see if Lemon Bread was still sleeping, then turned back and continued "Don't give me that look-"
"Pap, you said it was long for me and short for you, right?"
"Er….YES?" Papyrus blinked, thrown off guard and completely and utterly confused by his brother's train of thought.
"How quick was it for you to start being all extra-chipper?" he said.
"Er….FOR ME-" he cut himself off again "…or for you….?"
"For you." Sans said.
"… I dunno, pretty long?"
"But how could you have taken a long time to decide to be happier than usual for my sake when I was suddenly lacking-in-effort suddenly?" he asked. The lights in his eyes blinked back on, sharp and blazing.
Papyrus was stumped. "I-"
"You don't know." Sans's grin widened "Exactly! It was somehow longer for you to become extra-great-Pappy than it was to realize I was slowing down or whatever." He jumped to his feet, turned to Papyrus and his grin grew wider. "Pap, that means you remember something! Even if you don't know it! You remember slowly gaining all that super-Pappy-ness throughout RESETs!"
Papyrus frowned "But I don't remember as much as you-"
"But you remember SOMETHING!" Sans grinned. "It was something vague, sure, but it was SOMETHING!"
"Sans, quiet down, you're going to wake Ms. or Mr. Bread."
"whoops. sorry." Sans said. He climbed back onto the bed and visibly relaxed, his shoulders slumping in a way they haven't in such a long time. He beamed a grin up at Papyrus. "thanks, Pap."
"Er… you're welcome?" Papyrus said. "I don't think I did anything, but you're welcome."
Sans laughed. "you probably don't understand how comforting it is. but it is. i'm not entirely alone in this-" He was pulled into a hug.
"Oh Brother, you were never alone."
"that's sappy, Pappy."
"Sorry."
A/N
Welp! Here's another chapter. Sans and Papyrus had another moment there. I hope I didn't write Papyrus out of character. I mean, this is supposed to be a semi-serious talk but Papyrus is…well, Papyrus. Did you follow the logic I used there? If not, message me and I'll elaborate for you.
Response to Reviews:
toolazyTooLogin- (Patrick voice) WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?
Hagane-inu- Wow. That be a long review. Thanks! Er… Okay. The Possession AU? Like, Chara possessing Frisk or Flowey possessing either of the Skeleton Bros? Personally, I don't really have an opinion on it. My favorite Undertale AU is probably Aftertale, with Underswap being second.
Happycamper- I don't think Pappy is completely innocent of everything ever.
TheGuyWhoWatchesVideos- Whatever are you talking about? I made no such errors. (nervous sweating)
AWESOMENESS- (Pearl Voice) I DO like Sans.
ScarKitTheMadaNeko- I thought of saying "I knew you were in the True Lab and you just died to that. That's why I wrote it. I'm always watching you, seeing what you do. That was it. That was my subtle plea for you to acknowledge me." But then I realized that that is creepy.
Loud Clapping Guest- Do you not like cliffhangers?
Ilovecartoonsgirl- …Oh boy… Er… Was it too quick? I wanted to kind of space it out. I mean,... oh. Sorry then. I guess it could've been more dramatic. …I guess Mettaton could've shown up and sung a song or kill Sans again or something. Haha. Oh… (turns in napstablook) This review kind of made me slow this chapter down a bit. Not pointing fingers! Just you made a good point and this has just kind of gone too quickly. So I'm trying to slow it down a bit.
Guest Number 2- I cannot post faster. If I post faster I can't address as many reviews.
TheDecutionist- I honestly don't know how to respond to this but I've addressed your reviews in every chapter since I started to respond to reviews. So. Hi?
Comickatsu- SPPPOOOOOOOOKKKKYYY
TimeturnerJasmy- …Awkward Tension? Like, bad awkward tension or good awkward tension?
Happycamper- Woo boy. Papyrus is fun to write, but for serious moments he is a PAIN. Like I love him and all but there's such a fine line for what he'd say and what he wouldn't say.
Tra La La, Alphys is having a little chat with a plot plant.