Sans made an indistinct grunt, straining to hear the distant sobbing. It echoed here and there, it was difficult to pinpoint but it sound as though it was coming from upstream. He could pick up the words, but just barely.
"I couldn't… I couldn't even save h-her… or him! And Sans… oh my GOD! They're all DEAD!" the voice screamed hysterically, as if the owner was losing their mind and finally breaking. They heaved and hitched their breath each getting more laborious. A splash was heard, heavy sounding, as if they fell down.

Sans struggled to remember.

...Alphys!

He tried moving, but yet again his body would not obey. He then did the next best thing he could think of.
"AAAAAAAAHHH!" his own voice hoarsely shrieked. It pierced at his head. "AH oh my GOD WHAT-!" More splashing. A hiccough. Then, a blur of dull yellow and white danced in his vision. "Oh my god, Sans…" Her voice broke, a million emotions concealed in the phrase.
"waszzz… sup doc…" He could barely make out the sentence. He then felt himself being gently dragged onto shore, although no matter what, each movement stabbed at his head.
"Y-you're… bleeding? How even… Oh My God You're Not Dead?" Alphys could barely contain her shock, everyone close to the skeleton (can skeletons even bleed…? Alphys thought to herself) knew how frail he was, how with even one misplaced hit could send him to the wind.
"an astute observvv...vation, phd. i kinda… need help now, though…" he coughed up blood.
"Oh god um… well let's see…" Sans couldn't really see her, but imagined her thinking hard, where her scales scrunch up and her glasses threaten to fall off. "Oh! I think this might work, um-! It might feel very weird at first, but you have to accept it okay?"
Sans couldn't protest even if he wanted to, so he made another grunt. Alphys hesitated before initiating whatever he agreed to.
An inviting but shivering Feeling washed over him, and it felt as though It was trying to touch his Soul. At first he protested, as it was normal to be guarded with one's Soul, but the Feeling radiated benevolence, so eventually he accepted and let It in. His chest pain was dramatically dulled, yet a throbbing heat still remained. He sensed Alphys shudder as he grew more conscious. He could now open his eyes, and he strained his neck trying to look at her. She was on her hand and knees, a fist clutching at her chest, at which a glowing white monster Soul penetrated. Her face was a contorted painful grimace. He looked towards his chest, it was scabbed still, so he looked back to the reptilian doctor.

"al…?"

"It's okay," she tried a smile, but it turned into a unhappy grin. "I'm… I'm okay. It's just… I've never shared my Soul before, and so this might be more than I can chew, but…" She grew silent, taken in a deep breath. Her gaze went serious, although a pain overlayed it. "Let's try to get out of here," She shakily stood up, supporting herself with an adjacent rock. "I'm assuming from this pain…" she coughed, "You can't really move?"
Sans twitched, forcing his limbs to obey. His extremities moved first, then his joints, then finally, he commanded his spine to obey, and he sat upright. With every movement came a dull stabbing fuzziness in his skull, but he chose to ignore it as much as he could. Alphys offered a clawed hand, and he took it, boosting himself up. A wave of vertigo swam over him, and he took hold of Alphys' shoulder for stability. It hurt like hell, but he managed to put one shaky tibia in front of the other. "Progress," Alphys smiled.

"w-where… where to, doc?"

"I… didn't think I would…" her voice broke, tears welling from her cheeks. {make it this far…} her voice rang clearly in his head, although her lips did not move. it must be the bond, Sans thought. Alphys jumped. "You- You didn't hear-"
"it's okay alphys. i would've been hopeless too." He frowned sadly. "but we're here now, and i'm not dead, so we must've made someone very happy up there. let's not disappoint them. so, where to, old friend?"
Alphys' eyes regained an old spark. "If he's still there, maybe old Gerson can help us."
"ok, mr. old gerson it is," he concentrated on what he thought was long depleted - his supply of magic. A trickle just remained. If he could just grasp it…
"Woah hey, what are you doing?" Alphys felt a tremble in Sans' connection.
"um…" not very many monsters knew of his magic capabilities, and if they did, they were only those he trusted. He supposed he could trust Alphys, but… He shook his head, if they were going to work together, anything that could be an advantage must be shared. "i… i can teleport," he finally blustered. "Oh, wow! That's uh, quite impressive! Never heard of that ability before!" Her enthusiasm subdued, though. "But it may be quite straining for you to do that, it might just be better to walk… unless you can hover too. Then you're just using your internal magic well… Oh, you're probably low on that, try tapping into mine." She realised just then she was rambling, and felt that she needed to get to the point. Sans did just that, and although there wasn't nearly enough for teleportation, there was for telekinesis, so he did just that, allowing his sneakers to just brush the dirt. He could see his own Soul shimmer a bright blue. It was… disrupting, to see it on something other than-

"The human." Alphys finished in a trance. She suddenly turned red, realising she was staring directly at his Soul. "Oh god I'm sorry, that was so inconsiderate of me, ahhhh-"
"it's fine, i guess. let's just get to gerson. this is kind of exhausting, even with your magic."
"Oh! Right, here we are then." She seemed to look for something, but then realised she obviously came with nothing. She never expected Sans here, much less alive… she decided not to think of that right now.

The skeleton hovered alongside the lone doctor, neither wanting to speak, but both wanting to ask questions.

What are you, really?

what were you doing here?

Why aren't you dead?

do you really want to know who i am?

How do you know the human?

how do you know the human?

Both realised they had questions; they could hear each other's thoughts if they wanted to, but neither had the strength nor patience to do it. Answers could come later. Right now, they had to focus on getting to maybe-dead-but-maybe-not ancient monster that could help them progress further.

an: ah. so. almost a year later, i'm continuing this! ahahaha.

there's one thing i need to confess however, and it kinda relates to this but it's somewhat personal. please understand that this is like cutting open my chest and sharing my secrets with any of you reading, so please bear with me.

during the beginning of this story, when it was being constructed in my fresh, plastic brain, i was depressed. like, super depressed. 2016 was not a good year for me. in fact, you could say it was the pinnacle of my downfall, right before you strike the ground and shatter into millions of pieces. i won't go into many details because it's not worth it, but yeah. now bring in 2017. 2017 was a good year. it's where i learned so much, how to love, how to care, how people loved me and how i already loved them. it's also how i learned that people are selfish in their own desires, and that no matter how good natured a person claims to be, they're always going to be thinking of themselves. it was the harshest truth i have had to learn. but it built me up. it made me stronger as a person. now i'm sure you didn't click a silly undertale fanfiction to read a messy essay of an author's note, so i will end it here.

pertaining to the actual fanfiction, i'm hoping, with zarla's permssion, to adopt some headcanons of hers relating to skeleton physiology and... magicology? she's the astute individual behind the webcomic Handplates, which if your into horror, paranoia and anxiety but with a touch of bittersweet mixed in, the comic's definitely for you! i definitely recommend it as good read, although it is certainly not a quick one.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter, and remember to say hi to your mom. she does love you, you know.