Alphys was flipping out. She had run so many tests in the last 18 hours, foregoing sleep, food, and drink in her desperation. But there was simply no way around it. Sans had just come back in from his second visit to Snowdin to try and help Fuku Fire with her packing, and now Alphys was trying to figure out how to explain this predicament.

"S-sans, we've got a problem."

"yeah?"

"W-well, I've d-done a l-lot of tests and a l-lot of experimenting, but... n-no matter what I d-do, there are only t-two ways to g-get Flowey into t-this new v-vessel."

"and they are?"

"W-well the f-first one is to m-make it like a r-robotic suit, a-and j-just put his f-flower body i-inside, but... t-that doesn't a-acomplish anything."

"doesn't it give 'im some limbs and such? ain't that the general idea?"

"N-not really. T-they still wouldn't be his. W-we aren't trying to make the w-world more convenient for h-him. He can a-already do anything s-someone with l-limbs can, other than l-leave the ground. We're t-trying to give him l-limbs he controls himself. To make him f-feel... as much like he did when he was a-alive as p-possible. B-besides, h-he'd still be able to LOAD and RESET in a b-body like that."

"so what's the other option?"

"I was... r-reading some of my p-predecessor's notes. T-they were r-really faded, s-so it was hard to m-make out m-most of it... hell, couldn't even f-figure out w-what the plans I was reading were even for. But I got enough out of it to... f-figure out how to l-legitimately t-transfer a m-monsters mind into a r-robot. But the p-plans were... flawed. This guy knew nothing about ghosts. So w-with a bit of my own research, I managed to f-fix his mistakes."

"sounds pretty perfect, what's the problem?"

"In order for it to work, he has to... d-d-die first."

"uh, oh."

"R-right. In order for F-flowey to transfer his body into this r-robot, he not only has to die, but he has to a-also c-consciously d-decide not to LOAD or RESET. H-he has to a-allow himself to die."

"which is something he'd absolutely never do. besides, if we sprung this little detail on him, he'd obviously assume we were just trying to get rid of him. he's a sociopath, he doesn't understand why we would have good intentions."

"E-exactly. H-he was trying to r-rationalize why I'd want to h-help him and he c-couldn't figure it out. I-if I say we h-have to kill him then..."

"that's his reason. in his mind, it'd explain everything."

"T-that's right. I... I d-don't want to hurt him, S-sans. H-he's... a good person inside. H-he j-just can't see it y-yet. I... I w-want to help him see it."

"you've got good intentions, but flowey would never actually let you-"

"I'll do it."

Alphys and Sans turned suddenly, as Flowey the Flower once again popped out of the ground with no warning.

"flowey? the hell? how long have you been there?"

"The whole time. I've been watching you since you started building the machine, and golly, were you working hard."

"S-seriously?! Y-you've been here the whole time?!"

"I had nothing better to do."

Alphys suddenly realized something.

"I was... w-working hard?"

"Yeah! For the last 30 something hours you've been working your ass off, and I don't get it! But... fuck it, let's get to the point. I don't trust you, Alphys. And I certainly don't trust you, trashbag. But the fact is, I'm out of things to do. I have legitimately run out of endings. The only thing that's never happened is... this. So, to be honest, I don't give a damn if I die. Go ahead and kill me, you're not accomplishing anything. And if you're helping me..."

Flowey cringed.

"is 'thank you' the phrase you're thinking of?"

"L-let him by, Sans. L-let's get this over with."

"You're ready right now?"

"R-ready as I'll ever be."

"let's do this, then."

Alphys clenched her fists and her eye flashed purple for just a moment.

Alphys was filled with PERSEVERANCE.

45 minutes and a whole lot of explanation later, the setup was complete. Alphys had Flowey suspended over the heart-shaped core of what was once Mettaton EX, now refurbished as Mettaton BOSS.

"A-alright. I'm g-going to put you under, and in a few minutes, you'll be... d-dead. A-after that, you should c-come back to life, j-just like b-before. But with l-limbs now."

"Gotcha."

"W-when you d-die, you're gonna have to make the decision not to LOAD. Y-you've just g-got to q-quit."

"Alright."

"ready?"

"Ready."

"kay. here goes."

Sans pressed a few quick buttons on the computer panel he was sitting in front of, slowly pumping herbicide through Flowey's veins. The flower convulsed once before falling unconscious, his petals slowly turning brown.

"S-sans... do you think this is r-really gonna work? If even o-one thing goes w-wrong, he either dies permanently or LOADS, either one of which is equally bad for us."

"i dunno. biology was never my forte, certainly not ghost biology. but if anyone can pull this off, alphie, it's you."

"T-thanks, S-sans. What are his vital signs at?"

"61 of 150 hp. dropping steadily at approximately 2 hp per second."

"Good. We've got to get him into it real fast after he dies. In theory, it should be able to work after any period of time, but... it's not an exact science."

"you've got this, doc. 37 hp."

"Ok. Let's get this thing started."

Alphys strode over to the other side of the Vessel, flipping a few quick switches on the currently uncovered right side of it's face, causing it to begin to hum and glow. She moved quickly back to Flowey as his HP dropped into the 20s.

"hp critical, alphie. we'd better make this quick."

"Alright. Begin lowering."

Sans pressed a few buttons himself, causing the lines that were holding Flowey to slowly extend, lowering him into the chassis. Alphys flipped one more switch and a red light began to glow in the Vessel's open core, dozens of tiny lasers zipping around the inside.

"5 hp. 4. 3. 2. 1. 0. it's now or never!"

"Now!"

Sans pressed one more button and the lines attatched to Flowey were quickly removed, flitting upward at high speeds. The flower itself fell into the chassis and was immediately deconstructed by the lasers, disintegrated at high speeds, leaving nothing but little speckles of white that were absorbed into the body.

"So far so good!"

"phase 2?"

"That's right."

Sans' eye ignited as he thrust his hand toward the vessel, blue magic surging from his body to the tiny bits of SOUL and dust inside it, keeping them from peacefully evaporating.

As Sans struggled to force Flowey's SOUL to stay in existence, Alphys flipped a switch on the table holding Mettaton BOSS, causing it to rise and leave the vessel in a sitting position. Alphys grabbed the vial of DETERMINATION she'd found in her lab, slamming it into the opening into the chassis' back, where it was sucked into the body.

"Ok. If this is going to work, it should in just a few seco-"

Suddenly, and much sooner than Alphys had expected it, a blinding flash of red light exploded from the vessel's core, and the machine began humming at an incredibly high pitch. Sans was fixing to teleport him and Alphys out of the area in fear that the vessel would explode, when the humming and light finally died down.

"W-whoah."

"no kidding."

"D-did it work?"

"don't ask me."

"He's right. You should be asking me."

"OH GOD! You're alive! It w-worked! YES!"

"we actually did it."

"Yep. And I feel better than ever. But I guess I should introduce myself."

Flowey smiled before putting his hands on his hips and stepping forward, showing off his new body. To be honest, it wasn't too much different from Mettaton EX. Less hair, horns, goat ears. A few extra details and a Delta Rune decal in the center. Pretty simple stuff. But it was obvious that Flowey was proud of his new body.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the boss monster! And I am NEVER changing back!"

Alphys and Sans were sitting side-by-side on Alphys' couch, simply basking in their recent successes. Flowey was temporarily satiated, and no longer had any DETERMINATION in a form that would be useful for SAVEing and LOADing. Much of the Underground was rebuilt, and when faced with real results, the monsters' attitude toward Queen Alphys was shifting into a positive light, Alphys and Sans were back on good terms, and everything seemed to be going the right way.

All of a sudden, Sans and Alphys simultaneously sat up, shouting out in unison.

"OH MY GOD!"

They turned to each other, wide-eyed, as they made the exact same revelation at the exact same moment.

They had rather casually brought Flowey back from the dead.

What was to stop them from doing the same with Papyrus, Undyne, or any of the other monsters?

Alphys rushed inside and grabbed the two vials of DETERMINATION that were left over from her earlier experiments, the last two in existence. They were going to just be backups for Flowey, but now they were going to be conscripted into an entirely new purpose. She slammed her fist down on a button on her control panel, ordering the computer to begin building the baisic body of Mettaton BOSS, their successful prototype. They could add on the decals and personality later, but for now they only needed the bare bones minimum.

She rushed back outside to see Sans waiting impatiently for her. He instantly grabbed her hand and disappeared into thin air, reappearing near where Undyne the Undying had fallen, and then flashed out of sight again, heading for Snowdin.

He ran over to where Papyrus had died, using his blue magic to concentrate his brother's scattered dust and essence into one area, before placing it into the nearest available container, an empty flowerpot nearby.

"c'mon, paps. maybe we're not done yet."

He searched around for a lid to the pot for some time, before eventually settling on using blue magic to hold the dust inside it, which unfortunately prevented him from teleporting straight to Alphys. Instead, he opted to walk to her location, moving briskly and cheerfully.

He couldn't even think of what it would be like to have Papyrus back again. He'd completely resigned himself to living without his brother, and he'd never even imagined that he would be able to hear Papyrus' voice calling to him every morning once again. His mood was instantly killed, however, when he caught sight of Alphys.

The little lizard monster was on her knees, bawling like he'd never heard, leaning over Undyne's remains. She was clearly doing her best to stop, but failing miserably.

"a-alphie? are you ok?"

"Damn it, Sans! S-she's gone! H-her SOUL, h-her dust, her essence, it's all gone! W-when she m-melted, everything just... It's nothing but mud! Normal mud! DAMN IT! Undyne... why did it have to be you!"

"d-damn it. alphie, i-"

"I was SO SURE! S-s-so sure! W-when she d-d-died the first t-time, I s-saw it coming. I e-expected it! I k-knew the Human c-could never be killed... but now... now I just..."

Alphys clenched her fists as an expression of pure agony covered her face.

"I was so sure that I could b-bring her back! I was so sure that we could... that we could have a life together. S-she was... she was so much better than me, so s-selfless. So h-heroic."

Alphys' sobbing had died down to a low, slow cry, tears constantly dripping down her snout.

"B-but... I t-thought... that somehow, w-we could... that I could s-somehow s-sway her... t-to make her f-fall as d-deeply in love with m-me as I w-was with h-her. B-but... I g-guess it was always just a f-fantasy."

Sans stepped closer to Alphys, setting down Papyrus' remains with care as he approached her. He slowly knelt down to her.

The dust mingled with her tears as she realized it was all over. It had been days since the Human had killed Undyne, and she still had no way to bring her back.

She had been a fool to believe that she could bring her back. Life wasn't so kind to people. When you lost someone like that, they were never replaced. She let one more tear fall down her cheek before she flinched a bit in surprise at Sans wrapping his arms around her.

"i know this is hard. i know it hurts. but alphys... we aren't a fantasy, are we? i know this is probably the worst time to say this, but... aren't we real?"

"W-what?"

"c'mon, alphys. you can't talk about something like that without realizing it's happening right in front of you, right? hoping that maybe i could make her like me as much as i loved her? that maybe there was a way for us to be together, despite everything? alphys, you've got to realize that without my brother, i was about to kill myself, right? you kept me alive without my brother. and then i found out you were about to give him back to me. alphys, i'm the hero of the underground, but you're my hero. you saved my life. please. let me return the favor."

Alphys was completely wide-eyed, turned away from Sans. How could something like this have passed by her. That everything Sans was doing for her, to her... she was doing for him too? It was like a dream, that had turned out to be a nightmare, which had itself turned out to be a dream.

She absolutely couldn't beleive what was going on.

Everything was so great.

And then it was terrible.

And now it was amazing again.

She now realized she'd been wrong before. Life did give second chances, at least to those who were luckiest. Flowey the Flower had a body once again, Papyrus the Skeleton was soon to be returned from death, and even if Alphys couldn't get her Undyne back, she could have the second best thing.

Or maybe even better. She was right about thinking Undyne was a fantasy. There was no way she could have ever swayed this waifu to love her any more than she could a fictional one. But Sans wasn't a fantasy. He was real, and she now realized that Undyne didn't matter anymore.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when life takes everything, you flick it off and take something else. Alphys was taking something else now, and it was truly wonderful.

She turned to Sans, gripped him in her arms, and did her best to forcefully kiss him. She failed of course, given that he was a skeleton and she was a lizard, so she instead opted to go for the slow, romantic route, both of them standing there among the dust, eyes closed, in something approximating peace.

It was true that she would never forget about Undyne, but maybe she could find someone better. Sans loved her like no one else ever had. She was pretty sure she'd dreamed about this once.

As she and Sans released each other, they gripped each other's hands one more time, and everything faded to white once again.