Who told them about the hypnosis eyes? Chapter 22
The amount of computers lined up in the study Sans brought the kid to seemed a bit excessive. She counted at least eight. They were connected to each other with thick, transparent cables with sparkling white magic flowing between all of them and out into a large, clear pillar in a corner of the room.
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Sans lazily flopped into a chair in front of the closest computer and booted it up. He let out a sigh and slumped low on the desk and kneaded his brows with his fingertips.
"Are you okay?" Frisk asked quietly.
"Nah." He chuckled. "What a day."
"I'm sorry," she said.
He shook his head. "Not your fault."
"It kinda is, though," she said quietly. "None of this would be happening if we didn't come."
He shot her an amused smile. "Sure, but it's not you I'm mad at. You and your brother are fine. Really interestin', actually. Wish we'd all met under less stupid circumstances."
"Think it'd always have to be stupid," she said with a sardonic smile. "But, um, I'm glad we didn't spook you too bad. Especially me. Because, um, you know."
He laughed. His eyes darted back to the screen as a log-in box appeared over the background image of some pink-haired anime girl. He rolled his fist over the keyboard. For some reason, that worked.
"Welp. My brother wasn't wrong about you," he said. "I'm grateful, actually." He winked. "Thanks for the rundown the barrier thing, at least."
"Oh! You're welcome," she said. "I hope it helps."
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The computer's anime background was replaced by a black screen. White text cascaded downwards too quickly to read. The computer began to complain. Sans drummed his fingers on the desk.
"Might take a minute to recalibrate," he said.
Frisk snuck over to his other side and sat down herself. She yawned. The skeleton's eyes started to get heavy. He rested his cheek on his fist. Frisk put her head down on the desk. Sans smiled sympathetically. She sighed and folded her arms, pouting as she watched the data on the screen zoom by.
"Sorry. It's all just… a lot."
"Hm." He nodded. "A lot o' crap."
She laughed tiredly and rubbed her arm gently. He looked her up and down.
"Alright?" he asked.
"Oh, ah… I'll be fine," she said. "I, uh…" She winced. "I dunno, I guess… I didn't super like the way Gaster was looking at me."
"Yeah, uh… like I said. Don't trust him," he said.
"I don't." She pouted. It made her chest ache.
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Sans's brow furrowed, but he turned to the screen and went back to work. "So what exactly you thinkin' needs to be done here?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Well, I guess I'd like to see his data. I have some, like, recordings of stuff from our end and I guess I wanna know if it's what I did the other day that made him find us."
Sans shot her a questioning look.
"My dad warned me that the others of him out here, they were maybe not so good, so I think he didn't want them to find us, but I guess what I did made it so that this Gaster did. There was a rip that I closed," she said. "I reset a timeline for another Sans that got kinda stranded, I guess, and then sorta fixed the tear. He told me it was messing up there because he was stuck in a loop too long."
"Jeez," Sans said, eyes wide. "…There a lot of me? …Uh, us?"
Frisk shrugged again. "I guess? I mean. How many timelines are there that are kinda like this? Probably a lot, right? It just kinda splits forever."
"Kinda overwhelming," he admitted.
"I know," she said. "Sorry. I try not to think about it for too long. Anyway, the rip through here was the one that had its energy going right into my brother's head, so I wanna turn the thing off, I think. The weird energy flow made it so I couldn't close the big rip from our side without it feeling really dangerous, for some reason. It's like, umm…? I dunno, a waterfall, I guess?"
"Ah. Okay. Gotcha." He straightened up slightly and huffed. "Figures."
Frisk shot him a sympathetic look. "Sorry. If it's really important, I'm sure you can boot it up again later. Just maybe slower, because this seemed kinda like an explosion."
He shook his head. "Can't see any good in it." He leaned back and drummed his fingers on the hard desktop. With lethargic movements, he clicked around the screen. "Explosion, huh?"
"Yeah, from the outside it almost looks like, um… a broken window. Like maybe it blasted out or something." Frisk sighed and rubbed her head. "Anything I can do?"
"You any good at math?"
"Yeah kinda."
"Mkay." Sans pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of the drawer. After double-checking a small section of numbers on the screen, he scrawled them and a formula down, then shoved it over to her as the computer resumed its processing, buzzing loudly and with great strain. "Give that a go, would ya? Find me the average?"
"Average," she repeated, staring at the numbers.
"Sum divided by the count," he said.
"Oh! Yeah. I can do that." She nodded. "Sure."
The skeleton smiled a little. He rested his chin on his fist and closed his eyes.
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Frisk spent a few minutes with the numbers as the skeleton dozed off. Once she was done, she gently nudged him with her elbow and slid the paper up to him. He looked at it with groggy eyes.
"Huh. What d'ya know."
"Is it right?" she asked.
"Yeah." He sat up and fed the paper into a slot on the top of the monitor. "Good job, kid. Thanks. Saved some time. This thing's a bit of a clunker— can't really interrupt it."
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The computer struggled and made a sound like a wheezing old man. Then, it dinged, as if it were about to shoot out some toast. The screen went black, then blinked, and then began to run lines of text in the old skeleton script. Sans let out a heavy sigh. He typed in some stuff slowly; once he confirmed it, let the text run on so quickly that even if the kid had been able to read the font properly, she wouldn't have been able to catch a single word. Her arm and shoulder started to ache again with the way she was leaning on them. She puffed out a sigh and tried to readjust herself.
"So, um, what's all this doing?" she asked.
"Short or long?" he said.
"Short."
Sans grinned. "Can't just shut the thing off. Gotta ramp it down, make sure the anchor points are good, divert excess magic, that kinda crap. Gonna take a little bit. Plus, goin' through this thing, we can get you the most, uh, recent readings, I guess. Soon. Just needs a few more minutes for that, at least."
Frisk didn't really understand much of how this worked, but she nodded anyway. The symbols were dizzying.
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All of a sudden, it stopped. The sounds eased up and a black screen was replaced by a big thumbs-up. Sans sat up, moderately alert, but before he'd even brushed the keyboard, the screen flickered and the computer shut off with a digital sigh.
"Oh for f…" Sans smacked the monitor.
This time, the lights flickered and a jolt of magic set them both on edge.
"Wh-What the heck?" Frisk yelped.
The door slammed closed. Sans rolled his eyes.
"Great."
"What's going on, is th-that the security thingy again?" the kid squeaked.
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The skeleton sighed, got up from his seat, and trudged towards the door. The lights flickered and the room went dark along with the thrum of magic and a rumble through the floor. Frisk yelped and gripped tight to the chair. A bright blue circle lit up right in front of her and boney hands grabbed her shoulders.
"Alright?" Sans asked.
She nodded quickly. "Can w-we get out of here?"
"Door's fake," he said.
"W… What? Door's…?" She put her hand to her brow. "Jeez." She bit her lip and looked around with her phone as a light— there wasn't another door anywhere in the room. "Um. Willing to try that teleport thing?"
"Uh…" He snorted out a laugh. "Welp. Nothin' to lose."
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The world blurred into darkness and stars. Frisk's stomach dropped. She clung to him and scrunched her eyes shut. It didn't feel right. It felt like they were spiralling. She grimaced and just wished to get back to Asriel.
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As quickly as it had started, the dark was blotted out with light. The kid and the skeleton tumbled haphazardly onto cool, white tile, grey under dimmed, flickering florescent-like lights overhead. Sans winced and sat up, holding the back of his skull. He looked at Frisk from one eye. She got up in a hurry and grabbed his hand to haul him to his feet, and then spun around to get her bearings.
"K-Kinda off?" she asked worriedly.
"Not much," he grunted. He pointed down the hall. "Go left. I'll catch up."
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Frisk took off, slipping on the sleek floor for a second before sprinting down the hall and around the corner. She didn't recognize anything until she realized a grey elevator door was looming at the end of the hallway. She skidded to a halt, but the door opened before her with bright light and she tripped over the threshold and thumped to the ground.
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She shoved herself up and rushed for the buttons, but the door closed behind her. The light above went out, leaving her in bleak darkness.
"Aw crap," she muttered. Running her hands over the buttons, she hoped to maybe feel her way across them, but it wasn't helpful in the least. She was sure the grooves mostly had to be numbers, but some of them definitely weren't.
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She hurriedly fished out her phone and used its flashlight to illuminate the buttons. One of them said "MAIN". She hit it. The wall behind her split open. A different set of doors. The kid stared blankly, feeling a little foolish for a second.
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Through one more door, and the main floor of the lab opened up before her, but the lights were flickering here, too. She couldn't see anyone, but the centre was sealed up by a huge, metal box.
"What the heck is this?" she breathed. She jogged up to it and put her palm against it. Her handprint lit up red on the smooth, cool surface. "Jeez, what's going on. Asriel?! Can you hear me?! Are you in there?" She knocked hard on it; the hollow, metal sound bounced around the room.
Something like a fist slammed into the wall from the other side. Though she jumped and her heart beat hard, the kid was relieved.
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With a wooshing sound, a black monitor descended on a mechanical arm, pushing itself between the kid and the wall, forcing her to recoil. A digital face vaguely resembling a skeleton appeared on it. It looked like it was floating in darkness as the lights gave out.
"Hello. The emergency lockdown protocols have been activated," it said in a digital voice, mouth flapping up and down unevenly, barely matching the words. "Please leave the vicinity if you are a villain. Thank you for you cooperation."
"I just gotta get to my brother," Frisk said. "Can I turn it off?"
"Are you Doctor Alphys or Doctor W. D. Gaster?" it asked.
"N-No, but…! I think Alphys is stuck inside?" she said. "…Maybe there's a password or something?"
"Do you wish to access the security questions to enable options?" it asked.
"Oh! Y-Yeah! Yes. Please," Frisk said.
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The face disappeared from the screen. The number one appeared, and then text reading, "the best show EVER and be specific!" and some smiley cat text faces.
"Mew Mew Kissy Cutie," Frisk answered swiftly. "The first season and the OVA, not the second season, it's trash."
The screen shifted, showed another question. "Mother's Name". Frisk tilted her head. Alphys had never really mentioned any family aside from a cousin or two. She didn't know. But, then again, what about scientist number two?
"A… Avenir?" she asked.
Again, the screen shifted. She didn't know if that meant she'd guessed right, or if it just wasn't going to tell her. The last question, though, chilled her. It wasn't written in plain text, but in the old skeleton script. She couldn't read it.
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She grimaced and got closer to the screen. Her eyes skimmed the symbols carefully. Now that she saw up close, she did recognize a few of them. The water droplet shaped ones were an S. Skull and crossbones was an N, and a hand making a victory sign was an A. In fact, she picked out all those symbols in there, and in a very familiar order. Sans. Her eyes lit up. What about Sans?
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It looked like there was another S after that. Sans's. Sans's what? Nine letters. She could see another A was in the third to last place. She folded her arms to her chest and tapped her foot.
"Sans's… what? Ummm…"
"Incorrect, two more attempts," the screen said.
"Oh! No, that wasn't— "
"Incorrect, one more attempt."
Frisk pouted. She paced back and forth. Gaster had probably set it up. She wished she could remember more of that font. She stared at the screen again. She gulped. The previous questions had been so basic. Maybe this one was, too? What was a really common password question? Then, she remembered the cipher. Her heart jumped and pulled out the crumpled paper and flattened it in her hands, glancing quickly between the screen and the decoded symbols. That second word… B-I-R-T-H-D…
"…December twenty-first?" she asked tentatively.
"Option access granted," the screen chirped.
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Frisk let out a deep, relieved sigh and bent forward, holding her legs. Sans's birthdate. Good thing it was the same in this timeline as back home. She was so glad that she brought that cipher. Though she had her brother's memories, that skeleton language didn't transfer well. Through his eyes and with the distortion from Gaster being missing, the lettering hadn't looked much different from normal but written with an unusual hand. As she straightened up, shoving her cipher back into her pocket, she was met with the digital skeleton face again.
"What option would you like?" it asked.
"Shut off the lockdown protocols. Please," she said.
"What option would you like? Please select a number."
Frisk sighed with exasperation. "Who designed you?!"
"Doctor W. D. Gaster. He is a superior genius," the monitor answered.
"I bet," Frisk grumbled. She sighed. "Okay. Can you show me the options?"
The face disappeared, instead replaced by a list of numbers and options. Thankfully, it wasn't more complicated than that.
"Number three," she said.
"Are you sure you wish to—"
"YES. Number three. Please."
"Lockdown aborted." The monitor began to retract back up into the ceiling and the lights flickered back on. "Have a nice day."
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The metal wall folded down like origami. Inside was a now fully alert Undyne, grasping a radiant, cyan spear in both hands. She stood protectively before Alphys and Asriel. The latter was pitched forward, clutching his arm tight as red magic wrapped around it like vines from a spot he hid beneath his hand as the little lizard held him. Frisk's heart beat heavy. Though Undyne bared her fangs, Asriel stumbled upright, paws crunching glass, and shoved past her, straight to Frisk. He wrapped her in a hug.
"You okay?!" he demanded.
"Yeah, what happened?!" she asked.
"Guy caught me off guard," he growled. "I'm… I'm okay."
"I'm so sorry," she said. She raised a hand and lit it with red. "Let me?"
He drew back just enough for her to put her hand on his shoulder.
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"H-How'd you g-get through the lockdown?!" Alphys asked, wide-eyed. "I thought there was n-no way until Gaster got back!"
"Your security questions were really easy," Frisk said with a shrug. She was dizzy peering back through the last few minutes of Asriel's arm at in a super-condensed form. She let it go and it snapped back to normal, his white fur clean and unmarred by clinging determination. "B-Better?"
He nodded. "We need to go, right now, he—"
"Were they r-really that…? Wait, what th-the heck d-did you just do?!" Alphys yelped.
"Healing," Frisk said quickly. "Whatever, we don't have time, where did Gaster go and what the heck happened?"
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"Who is this kid?" Undyne demanded loudly. She was bristling, ear-fins pressed close to her head. "What is this kid?!"
"Amnesia," Asriel whispered. "She came outta the daze a few minutes ago. But we don't have time, we gotta—"
"Um… L-L-Lieutenant," Alphys said, cautiously stepping between the big blue monster and the kid. "R-Remember, I told you th-that there was an… um… an accident here? This little kid s-saved you. She, um, p-pulled you out and healed you."
"Pulled me…? Pffff! A squirt like that?!" she asked.
"It wasn't easy," Frisk said sheepishly. "Um. But are you feeling okay?"
"Uh. Yeah. Of course." She sneered. "Who d'you think I am?"
"Undyne," Frisk said.
"Well, yeah, duh, I mean I… Uhh…" She frowned slightly. "What are you again and do I know you?"
"Does it matter?" Sans was sitting on the desk behind them rather abruptly. "What'd the bonehead break? Hopefully an arm or somethin' along the way? And where's…?" The skeleton's eyes went wide. "Oh. Shit."
"I'm sorry," Asriel said, his ears drooping. "I tried to stop him but he chugged some potion or something and shot me down before I could go after him and we got shut in."
"Where?" Sans asked. His voice was low and chilly, and his eyes were pitch black.
"Not in the lab," Asriel said.
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"Oh my god," Frisk squeaked, eyes wide. Her heart thunked into ice and her blood ran frosty. "He w-wouldn't…?! We gotta go. Where do we go?!"
"I'm fast, I can go. Whichever direction you think, Sans," Asriel said.
"Hey! I'll take another," Undyne said. "You don't think the doctor could be hurting that little guy, do you?!"
Sans didn't answer. He vanished. Alphys yelped and Undyne recoiled, and then leaned in closer to where he was sitting.
"What the hell?!" she demanded.
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Frisk grimaced. She felt like she could throw up. She shot Asriel a worried look. "Any hints? Did he say anything at all?" Her eyes went wide. "Did he touch anything when he attacked you? Did anyone notice?"
"Um! I… I think… When he attacked, um… s-sorry, I don't know your name. But, you p-pushed him back, I thought." Alphys pointed at the computer desk behind them.
There were papers disturbed, and a mug knocked to the floor. Frisk rushed over there, laying her hands against the wood.
"NGAAAH! How will this help?!" Undyne demanded. She rushed for the door, spear in hand. "I'm gonna go look."
"Good! Please," Frisk said urgently.
The monster stared at her. She squinted, but then dipped her head and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
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"Frisk, what're you doing?" Asriel asked.
"It's just… maybe I can feel…" She bit her lip and concentrated. Was that a hint of magic? She focussed and grasped to it, hoping it would show her.
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Her vision flashed away to a disoriented view of the lab as she staggered backwards, fire bursting near her eyes. It reflected strangely through glasses. She raised a skeleton's hand and whipped bones at the fingertips, racing away and grabbing little Papyrus by the arm. An explosion of voices started yelling, but there was no time to pay attention. The walls started to drop and she got out just in time for the others to be sealed away and the emergency panel to descend. The vision faded.
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Frisk was sweating. The others stared at her intently. Her eyes were hot— the irises red with the subtle sparkle of magic. She rubbed them quickly and then hurriedly backtracked to where that strange defending computer screen had been. "Hey!" she called up at the ceiling. "Lockdown panel thing? Come down here again, I need to use you!"
On that same long, metal arm, down came the panel again. Frisk waved Alphys over.
"I'm sure he used this. Can you see if there's, like, time logs or something?"
"Oh! Y-Yeah, of course." Alphys stumbled over her own feet as she hurried over. "This is Doctor Alphys. My password is… My, um… p-password…" She blushed.
"Oh for…" Asriel rolled his eyes and plugged his ears.
"Alphys, we don't have time," Frisk insisted. "We don't care about your password."
"A-Alright. Alright. M-My password is xoxo alph x mewmew 4 life." She almost choked on it. Her scales flushing bright in her cheeks, she leaned forward. "Give me the access logs. Entire lab."
The monitor drew up a set of times and locations. Alphys traced her finger down the line.
"Oh… H-He was setting this up while… while I w-wasn't looking, I guess. I'm s-so sorry," she said. "Let's see. This. Then the terminal, and then… Oh! The, um…" She pointed all the way to the eastern-most wall, near the door. "The hand lock. S-See it?"
"And I bet you gotta use magic for that," Frisk said. She waved at Asriel to join her.
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Though she needed a boost, Frisk soon had her hand up against the unassuming panel. Asriel leaned in close and frowned.
"Anything?"
"One sec." The magic wasn't as strong here, yet she could feel it through her fingertips. "It wouldda been better if he was attacking."
"I d-don't understand," Alphys said quietly.
"Hang on." She grimaced and tried to follow the melody.
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It felt like someone struck her in the temple, and she saw skeleton hands again. One against the panel, one holding onto Papyrus's arm. The little boy was tearful and obstinate.
"Stop! I want to stay with them, I don't want to go with you!" he said.
"Quiet," Gaster snapped.
"No!" He tried to pull away. "Sans said if you told me to be quiet I should be LOUDER SO—"
"Listen, you little fool. It's not safe here," Gaster insisted. He picked the kid up off his feet. "We will go to the King. And you will stay there. I will figure this out."
"But I want to be with Sans!" he said.
"Your brother is alone in a room with a human. I doubt he will return."
Papyrus frowned, but his eyes welled up and he clenched his jaw. "But she's nice! I know she's nice and—"
"They are never nice. And you should be glad it did not decide to make you a target already, you tiny, stupid thing." The older skeleton took a glimpse at the panel, ignoring the little boy. "You would be an easy gain of power for a beast like that." A magic palm print he left was starting to fade. So, too, did the vision.
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Frisk put a hand to her forehead, grimacing. "Asgore," she said.
"Ah shit." Asriel's expression was one of resigned worry. "Okay. We'll go." He shot a questioning glance at the lizard. "Alphys?"
"I… I'll stay here," she said. "In case Sans c-comes back."
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As Asriel and Frisk booked it towards New Home, Frisk pulled out Gaster's phone again and called Sans. It rang for a while. Clicked. Someone had picked up— she could hear the white noise and the sound of a breeze— but nobody said a word.
"Sans? Are you there? It's Frisk," she said. "Gaster took Paps to the King. He still thinks I'm really dangerous. I'm so sorry."
Nobody answered, but she could hear wind blowing for a few seconds longer before the line went dead. She sighed and clutched the phone close, her heart aching. She looked up at Asriel worriedly. He held her a little tighter.
"He was probably so scared," Frisk muttered. "Oh man, I bet he hates me."
"It'll be okay," Asriel said. "So what do we do?"
She shot him a puzzled look. He smiled sideways.
"Uh. You're a human. I'm his kid but tall," he said. "…Maybe just deal with it. Paps is more important."
"Yeah," she said.
xXxXx
Asgore's home in this world was identical to how it used to look in theirs. Still monochrome grey. The door was slightly ajar. Inside, Asriel let Frisk down onto the ground. They could hear footsteps down the hall. A shellshocked Sans rounded the corner, the area around his eye sockets dark.
"Not here," he said.
"We didn't see anyone on the way," Asriel said.
Sans's bones rattled faintly. He put his head in his hands.
"Sans, I'm so sorry," Frisk said. "If I hadn't—"
"Don't." He raised a hand. "Blame's for the guy that took him." The skeleton grimaced nonetheless. His eyes were dark and he looked at the floor.
Frisk grabbed his sleeve and headed for the stairs, pulling him along gently. "There's more places. Pretty sure I know where Asgore might take a scared kid."
"And if he's not there, I bet there's candy store in New Home," Asriel volunteered.
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They hurried down the long, dark path beneath the house and across to a golden hall, shimmering cooly before them. Frisk froze. She gulped. The others were already ahead of her and she could only feel stuck. Her soul flickered. She grimaced and bit back her oldest brother's name.
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Sans seemed to realize where they were heading as soon as they hit the grey of corridor. He picked up the pace.
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Just off the hallway was a garden, bright with green leaves and golden flowers. In the middle of the field of petals sat a great, crowned goat monster in a royal purple cloak, cradling a little skeleton in his lap. Sans had probably never moved so fast as he did as he rushed inside. The others hung back a little. Papyrus jerked to look at him. His little face lit right up and he scrambled to his feet. He sprinted over and gladly fell into his brother's arms.
"I knew it! I knew he was wrong!"
"Jeez, kiddo." The skeleton plopped down to the ground and hid his face against the kid's head. "…Scared me, you goof."
"I didn't want to go, I promise," he said.
"I know. I know."
"I told him not to… I tried to get loud when he told me to be quiet, even! I'm sorry I couldn't listen to you, but he—!"
"No, no, Papy. It's fine. Forget it. S'not your fault." He held the kid's face and grinned, brushing a stray tear away with his thumb. "Don't cry, kid. You didn't do anything wrong."
"Oh, thank goodness." The great King had gotten up as well. He came closer with a relieved smile on his face. "After what Gaster said, I was so worried." He bent and hugged both skeletons. "I thought we might lose you."
"What? Why? What did he say?" Sans asked.
The King drew back slightly, a heavy furrow on his brow and a sad shimmer in his eyes. He settled in the grass and gently held Papyrus's shoulder. "He said something about how at least one skeleton must survive. He… He mentioned… a human."
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Sans frowned. He snorted and shook his head. "Just great."
"I told him she was good, though!" Papyrus said shrilly. "She's good. I knew she wouldn't hurt you! I don't think she'd even hurt him even though he was so mean to her!" He looked up at the King, wide-eyed. "Mister King Asgore, she's good, I promise!"
Sans winced. He rubbed his skull. Worry painted itself all over Asgore's face.
"How on earth did you escape?" he asked.
"Didn't," Sans said. His eye darted into his peripherals. He caught sight of Frisk back in the pathway leading towards them; saw her stick her thumb up. He couldn't help a weak smile. "Didn't have to. She's, uh… Somethin' else. Not from here. Not dangerous, either."
Asgore's jaw hung open. Sans got to his feet and brushed himself off.
"Have to say, though. Her soul's… It's gotta be off limits," he said.
"Sans. You know that I must—"
"She came here to save her brother," he said. "And. To be honest. When I say not from here, I mean not from this universe. So it'd be better to leave her be."
"R-Right, she came from really far away, through a weird time hole!" Papyrus said, clutching to Asgore's pant leg. "And she has to go back to help her Sans. It's really important!"
"Her... Sans?" Asgore repeated, eyes wide.
"Maybe best to let her explain," Sans said. He tilted his head towards the door and beckoned to the kids waiting there.
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Frisk snuck forward, waving hesitantly. Asgore's jaw dropped. He sunk back and tried to form words, but could not. As Asriel followed the kid, however, the King stumbled to his paws as if dragged by a rope and put his hands to his snout. Papyrus, on the other hand, lit right up again and ran over to hug Asriel's legs, and then wrapped his arms around Frisk and squished her tight.
"I'm glad you both are okay!" he said.
Frisk eagerly hugged him close. "I'm really glad he didn't hurt you. He didn't pull your arm too hard, did he?"
"No, he… Nyeh! How'd you know about that? GASP!" He squished her cheeks. "And why are your eyes red?!"
"Magic," Frisk said with a bashful smile.
"Well! Okay! I was worried Gaster would find you first! I'm glad he didn't!"
"Sorry he grabbed you. Won't catch me off guard again," Asriel assured him.
"No no no, it's just fine!" Papyrus assured him.
.
"Who…? Who are you two?" Asgore croaked. His eyes were wide and glossy.
Frisk gulped. "Um! H-Hi, Asgore. I'm, um, Frisk, and this is my brother—"
"A-Asriel," the King croaked.
The kids looked at each other worriedly. Asriel flinched. He gulped heavily and then stared Asgore in the eyes. "Y… Yeah. Asriel. I'm sorry."
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Asgore let out a low, rough wheeze and he lurched forward and grabbed the younger monster into his arms. Asriel winced, his eyes welling up despite himself. He held the King gently and thumped him on the back.
"I know. I know. It's… It's a lot. I'm sorry," he said.
"H-How? How?!" Asgore pulled back, tears streaming down his face, teeth bared in a pained grimaced. With a trembling hand, he cupped the boy's cheek. "My son… I…"
"I know," Asriel said quietly.
"You're all grown up," he said. "How is this possible?"
"Like Sans said," he said gently. "I'm from another world."
"One…? One where you did not…?"
"No. I did," he said. He tilted his head towards Frisk. "Got brought back."
Asgore's jaw dropped and he looked back and forth between Asriel and Frisk.
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Papyrus gawked, putting his hands to his cheeks. "Whaaaaat?! Az is the Prince?! No way!"
Asgore froze. His eyes rolled up and he began to tumble backwards. Asriel caught him.
"Shit."
"Oh god, is he okay?" Frisk asked shrilly.
"Poor guy. Fainted," the young monster said. He shot a concerned look at Sans. "Uh. Can we take a minute to deal with this?"
"Gotta," Sans said. "Hopefully the numbskull ain't gettin' into trouble."
"Oh, right," Frisk said, backing up a little as Asriel positioned himself to carry Asgore slumped on his shoulder. "Paps, did Gaster say where he was going?"
"Nnnooo, he just seemed like he was in a big hurry," he said apologetically.
Sans rubbed his brow. "Welp. One thing at a time," he said.
xXxXx
Sans got the kettle going as Asriel lowered the King gently into his own bed back at the house. He tucked him in and sighed, staring down at him with a furrowed brow. Frisk reached up for his hand.
"Sorry," she said.
He shook his head. Huffing, he sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed his temples. "Hey. Uh. Question. Maybe… Maybe a bad one?"
"What's up?" she asked.
"Can you…? Uh… Can you erase his memory?" he asked.
"E-Erase his—?!"
"I know, it's… bad. Y'know? It's just…" He shot a forlorn glance at Asgore. "That's bad, too. So… I mean. I was just wondering…?"
"Az, I… I can't."
"…It would be easier. Better for everyone," he said quietly. His eyes were cold; adrift. Staring at something that wasn't there. "I get you got, uh, principles but this… This might be… I mean. There's no way it's not better to just forget this ever happened. Right?" He looked up at her. "Please."
"Az, I… I mean… I m-mean, I literally don't know how," she stammered.
"You… never did it to us?" he asked.
"N-No, I just… reset. I never meant to… I mean, if I could've kept everyone's memories where they were the whole time, I would have," she said quietly. "I never even tried to erase anything."
Asriel smiled sideways. "No. You never did that yourself, did you?" He shook his head. "Sorry. That wasn't you. I just… Hah… I just let some of them go with the reset, you didn't do a thing. But… You wouldn't try? You… really don't know?"
"I'm sorry," she said. "Az, for real, I have no idea." She offered her soul's glow in her hand. "I promise."
.
He stared at the red light. His fingers inched towards her, but then he withdrew. She was obviously puzzled, but he shook his head.
"No. It's alright. Don't have to show me. I trust you." He got up again and groaned as he rubbed his face. "What a mess."
"Yeah…" She folded her arms. "I'm… I'm really sorry."
"Would you even have done it?" he wondered.
Frisk bit her lip. Her stomach knotted. "If… I-If I could be sure… that it was only us he lost. Just that couple minutes… I… I think I could… maybe live with it."
"Pfff. No you couldn't," he laughed. "…I appreciate it."
"Well. I mean… You're my brother," she said quietly.
His eyes went wide. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards and his ears drooped. Her cheeks flushed.
"A-Anyway, um... You saw more than me. Did you have any idea what Gaster's up to?"
"Probably something shady as hell," he said. "Didn't hear any plans specifically, though. Hey. You should call Alphys. Make sure he's not messing with her."
"You're right. You gonna be in here?"
"For a bit, yeah."
.
Frisk slipped out, but almost the instant she'd set foot in the living room, Papyrus grabbed her and hugged her.
"Everything's going to be just fine," he assured her.
"Th-Thanks," she said.
He grinned and held her shoulders. "Your eyes look pretty like that."
"D-Do they…?" She smiled sheepishly. "Um. Thanks?"
"They look pretty the other way, too," Papyrus continued, "buuuut I can hear you better when they're red."
"Hear me…? Oh! My hum?" she said. "That makes sense."
He grinned and nodded.
"Water's almost boiled," Sans said from the kitchen. "Any plans?"
"Calling Alphys," Frisk said.
"Leave that to me," Sans said. "What're we lookin' for?"
"Gaster. I mean. Just to make sure he's not… You know."
"Gotcha."
.
Frisk sighed. She plopped down onto the floor and put her face in her hands, groaning loudly. With a faint clatter of bones, Papyrus sat with her. He reached out for her hands and held them tight.
"It's going to be okay," he assured her.
"Are you okay, though?" Frisk asked.
"Me? Oh! Yes, of course," he assured her.
"But he dragged you all over and told you Sans might be…"
"But he was fine so everything was fine," he assured her. "Of course he was fine! He was with you! He wasn't in any danger at all, so I wasn't worried, I just… I didn't like that Gaster was being mean."
"I'm really sorry all this is happening," she said quietly. "We didn't mean to bring all this dumb drama and stuff into your lives."
"Aww, nooo, don't worry about that!" Papyrus said. "That's okay! It's been really nice to meet you and Az! Whooo I can't believe is the Prince! I thought he was killed like a million years ago."
"I-It's a long story." Frisk couldn't help cast a glance back at the hallway. "Ah, jeez. What a mess."
"I'm sorry it's so stressful for you," he said. "But! If it helps. Which I'm sure it will. I'm really happy to have met you." He offered her a hug.
She gladly took him up on it. He was warm and he clung tight. A lump caught in the kid's throat; she sighed quietly.
.
"What's wrong, new friend?" Papyrus asked as he drew back. He tilted his head inquisitively. "You don't look so good."
"Oh, no?" She took a moment to rub her eyes. "Guess it's, um, kinda been a long few days."
"Do you do this time stuff a lot?" he wondered.
"No. Not this stuff," she said. "This is the first time we ever did anything like this, it's kinda nuts."
"So what else did you do the last few days, then?" he asked.
"Oof. Um." She counted on her fingers. "Had to deal with some humans who thought I might be a missing kid, had to stop a premonition of monsters getting dusted from happening, read a human guy's memories and hopefully helped him start tracking down his own missing kid, met my dad, went to a weird old castle with some weird powers I didn't know I had, my brother got really sick, came here…"
"Wowie, that is a lot," Papyrus said, wide-eyed. "But… Nyeh! Met your dad? Like… your Gaster, you just met him?"
"It's complicated," she said. "I knew him for a long time. Kinda? He was a weird out-of-time slime ghost. I just didn't know he was my dad."
"Wowie. So who did you think was your dad before?"
"Nobody. I didn't think I had an actual dad," Frisk said.
"Aw. I guess I know what that's like," Papyrus said. "But I have Sans and I think he's the best."
"He is," Frisk said with a sheepish smile.
"Your Sans is also like that? He takes care of you and everything? And makes hotdogs, maybe? And doesn't clean up after himself even though he knows how to do it?"
Frisk laughed quietly despite heartache hitting her hard enough that her chest hurt. "Yeah, he is like that, for sure." She wished he were with her — he would have found this all pretty funny, she bet. "He's so… nice. I know he doesn't see himself like that, but he really is. And he tells really good jokes."
"Ah! See, that last bit was really different from here because my brother only tells the worst jokes ever," he said.
.
Frisk laughed. She cast a glance back at the bedroom hallway. She grimaced; caught the little skeleton looking at her questioningly from the corner of her eye. "I'm kinda worried about the King."
"Do you know King Fluffyman very well?" he asked.
Frisk grinned, holding back a snicker. "Pretty well."
"But the Prince… Oh… Ooooooh. I understand." Papyrus said. "Oh jeez that's a big deal, isn't it?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Are you a Princess, then?!"
"No," she laughed.
.
Frisk got up, rubbed her hair, though was paused midstep on her way to see Asriel as he emerged from the bedroom with a hollow look on his face. His eyes caught on hers and he smiled.
"When he faints, he doesn't play around," he said.
"He okay?" Frisk said.
"Oh, yeah, he's done this before. He's always fine," he said. He laughed to himself. "When I brought Chara home, he dropped like a rock."
"Aw, he's a big sensitive fluffy man," Papyrus said.
"Accurate." Asriel folded his arms. "Hope this doesn't complicate things too much." He leaned on the wall and rubbed his forehead. "And now we gotta worry about that guy just runnin' around out there. Great, huh?"
.
"Oh right. I was gonna ask. What was the potion thing you mentioned?" Frisk asked. "Like a power boost or something?"
"Must've been," Asriel said, shrugging.
"I've never seen him use a potion," Papyrus said, brows raised. "What did it look like?"
"Dunno, test tube with red in it," Asriel said.
"Nyeh! That's not a potion, silly," the skeleton said. "That's the same stuff he used to pull out of Sans's bones."
Asriel's eyes went wide and round. "Wait, you're tellin' me…"
"He just DRANK determination?!" Frisk yelped.
"Oh. Shit. That's bad." Asriel put a hand to his head. "Frisk. We gotta stop him. If he keeps that up, he's gonna just straight up melt, right?"
"Y-Yeah, wow, that's… Yeah. W-We'll warn him."
.
Behind them, the bedroom door opened again and Sans walked out, pocketing his phone. He raised his hand to greet them. "Nothin' interestin' on Alphys's end. Plans?"
"Does she have a camera thing around the underground yet?" Frisk asked.
"Uh. No."
"Papyrus, did he say anything else about where he was going?" Asriel said.
"Just about solving this, whatever that means," he said with a shrug.
"As long as he doesn't mess around with our stuff, I think that's okay," Frisk said.
"And what are the chances of that?" Asriel grumbled. "Hey. Don't go off on your own, okay? Don't trust what his interpretation of solving might be."
"Agreed," Sans said.
Frisk's face flushed. Her eyes slowly flickered down to their normal chestnut brown. She grimaced. "So… So do you think we should stay until Asgore wakes up or—?"
"No. He'll be okay. Left him a note," Sans said. "Let's get you that info you wanted."
xXxXx
Returning to the cool lab in the glow of Hotland's magma, they were greeted by a thunderhead of a blue monster storming loudly across the room to grab little Papyrus into her arms.
"KID! Oh man, little bone guy, glad you're okay!" Undyne boomed.
"Oh! Yes, I'm fine!" he said.
"And, you guys…?!"
Asriel stepped in front of Frisk when the fish monster's glowering gaze focussed intently on her. Even so, she leaned around him and squinted suspiciously. Frisk clutched to Sans's sleeve as nerves stung her. Some recognition flashed in Undyne's eyes.
"Pupper," she said with a questioning tone. "You're not… Huh."
Asriel glared at her, but she didn't even give him a second look. She stared down at Frisk, her ear-fins perking up slightly.
"I-Is the human there?" Alphys called from across the lab.
"What?! No!" Undyne said, whirling, shoulders back. "No human."
.
Asriel's posture sagged and Sans patted the kid on the shoulder. She smiled.
"It's okay. She knows," she said.
"Oh! Well. Good?" Undyne smiled sideways. "Sorry. I, like… forgot, for a bit? That you pulled me out? I was pretty out of it."
"I'm just glad you're okay," she said.
The big monster looked surprised, but then barked out a loud, boisterous laugh. She beamed when Papyrus hugged onto her tight and she snuggled him. "Aaah, I dig this cute little guy! Kid, how'd you get so good at healing?"
"I'm really good at all the things!" Papyrus said with a grin.
"I bet!" Undyne grinned. "So. Uh." Her eyes ran over the other monsters cautiously. "What exactly is going on and, like…? Human? Can you show me where you got in? Maybe you're not bad, but humans can't just be comin' in here and running around like they own the place, y'know?"
Frisk and Asriel shared a cautious look. She shrugged. He returned the gesture.
"It's kinda complicated, but, yeah, come on," Frisk said.
xXxXx
The starlight in the basement was still sparkling just as before, and was much easier to find now that the security maze had reversed itself completely. It sent Alphys into a stuttering, stammering mess as she circled it, adjusting her glasses and gripping tight to the metal frame around it. Though Papyrus was unaffected, even Sans seemed taken aback. Frisk was just glad that Gaster hadn't messed with it yet— they still needed a way back home.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Undyne demanded.
"I-It's… It's a l-link through… time a-and space," Alphys stammered.
"What does that mean?!" The fish monster looked around, baffled.
"It's pretty," Papyrus said.
"Careful, little buddy, not too close," Undyne said, scooping the skeleton up under his arms. "It's weird and I don't trust it."
"I knooow, but I'm still glad it brought Frisk and Az for a visit," he said.
.
Closer to the computers, Sans folded his arms, brow furrowed. He shook his head and grumbled under his breath.
"You okay?" Frisk asked.
He gestured to the tear and rubbed the back of his skull. Asriel snorted.
"Weren't on board, huh?" he asked.
"Didn't know he'd gotten this far," he admitted. He grimaced. "Shouldn't have. Idiot."
"Is this real bad or something?" Undyne asked. "Also, like…? Shouldn't I arrest that scientist guy?"
"What?! Uhhhh… Oh jeez…" Alphys said, sweating. She wiped her brow. "I… I guess this is really s-serious…"
"Double kidnapping," Sans said, sticking his thumb up.
"Aaaah, the King's gonna be pissed," Undyne said, rubbing her fingers through her long, red hair.
"When he wakes up," Asriel grumbled.
"Huh? What? He napping this early?" she asked.
"Uhhh. No. He saw me and kinda… fainted," Asriel admitted. "We put him in his bed, but I dunno how long he might have to sleep it off."
"Whaaaat? Why? Ugh. Whatever." She sighed. "This shit is weird, I don't get it."
"Sorry," Frisk said.
.
With the squeaking of wheels, Sans pushed the desk chair back and plopped himself into it. He smacked the computer awake and, with a few clicks, the program they'd been working on in the other room popped up. It still seemed to be running smoothly, but the computer began to wheeze quietly.
"Kid." He beckoned to Frisk. "Back to it?"
She hurried over and he picked her up to sit her on the desk. Asriel followed curiously, leaning over the two of them. Sans sighed and rested his cheek on his fist. He tapped his opposite fingers on the keyboard slowly and the white text on black began to scrawl.
"Gotta restart," he said.
"Oh great," Asriel huffed.
Though Sans closed his eyes and didn't seem bothered, Frisk slumped, disappointed. She looked across the room at the rip into the void of time. She felt a nauseous knot in her stomach. She held out her phone, hoping— despite how illogical she knew it was— that she might catch a signal back home. She didn't.
.
"S-Sans?" Alphys crept closer. She pointed at the tear in time. "Really, you didn't know about this?"
"Nah," he said.
"Oooh, what do I do, what do I dooo?" she moaned, holding her head. "Sans. S-Sans. What d-do I do?! I should ch-change all the passwords, right? Should I grab his notes?! I'll need a t-translator and… What about all our projects together?! Wh-What about our s-soul work?!"
"Hey, science girl, relax and breathe a bit," Undyne said. "I'll take care of this." She looked around curiously. "Hey, where my armour at?"
Alphys groaned. "Why d-did this have to h-happen?"
"I'm sorry," Frisk said.
"We didn't exactly choose for this to become such a big thing," Asriel said defensively.
"I know…" Alphys grumbled.
"Welp. I'll leave you guys to whine and do science or whatever." Undyne dropped Papyrus down on the table with Frisk. "I'll be in touch. And, uh, if anyone sees my armour, lemme know." She saluted and stormed off as the little skeleton waved.
.
"She's nice, I like her," Papyrus said.
Sans shot him a fond smile. Alphys sighed and moped, melting halfway onto the desk. She put her cheek on the table and moaned.
"Saaaans, do you think he'll still be allowed t-to work from the dungeons?" she asked.
"What dungeon?" Asriel asked.
"I d-don't know b-but we'll have to build one, right? Ughhhhh." She slumped down onto the floor and laid on her back, rubbing her eyes under her glasses. "I sh-should have known. D-Don't participate in experiments with Dark in the title, it's j-just bad e-energy!"
.
The computer's relentless wheezing began to subside and Sans sat up slightly. He smacked the side of it and then tapped on the keyboard. He leaned forward and squinted at the screen, and it flashed a thumbs up just as it had before.
"Think that's your data, kid," he said.
"Ooh." Frisk leaned over to look at the numbers and Papyrus held onto her arm as if to support her. She pulled up her phone and scrolled through her texts. As she'd asked, her dad had sent her copies of what he'd been looking at with the bursts back home. She held it up to check for a match and her heart skipped a beat when she saw one, perfect down to the decimal points.
.
"There," she said, resting her fingertip gently on the screen. "That's it."
"Oh. Interestin'," Sans said. He clicked on it and more data came up in a table. He nodded. "Ah. Yeah. Tracked an energy signature. I see."
"Oooh, c-can I…?" Alphys got up surprisingly quickly and snuck in to stare at the numbers. "Oh! So… So that's… O-Okay." She looked at Frisk. "Why did you want to s-see this of all things?"
"I guess I just wanted to know what made Gaster break into our place to begin with," she said, though she winced. "I think it was probably me, so… I guess I wanna know what I have to not do."
"Uh… W-Well. Okay. I'm not s-sure exactly how, um, he would have done that or h-how you'd be able to tell… Ummm… Oh!" Her eyes lit up. "D-Did you want to listen to it?"
"Can I?" she asked, eyes wide.
Alphys nodded quickly. She pulled some earphones from seemingly nowhere and plugged them into the computer before plunking them over the kid's ears. "I-In all our experiments, energy b-bursts seemed to have, um, a sound to them? The computer g-generates them based on the, um, numerical readings. S-Sometimes it's pretty unique? M-Maybe that would mean something t-to you?"
"Perfect," Frisk said. "Alphys, thank you so much."
"Oh!" She blushed. "Y-You're welcome."
.
She slipped the mouse away from Sans and clicked on a music note beside one of the equations. Frisk held the earphones tight to her head to listen. Though it started as white noise at first, a digital note of music began to swell quietly behind it, slowly transitioning into a second. Her heart sunk. That did sound like her. However, right before her third note hit, the sound swelled into a discordant cacophony so loud she had to hold the earphones back from her head. She heard something she recognized, though, and after a few seconds, the sharp sounds switched off entirely.
.
"That was… uh…. something," Asriel said, holding his ears.
"Was it?! Wh-What was it?!" Papyrus asked loudly, hands clasped over the sides of his head.
"Oh, g-god, I'm sorry, it must've malfunctioned," Alphys said as she took the earphones back. "Let me j-just—"
"No. That was right," Frisk said.
"Uh. Sounded kinda like death, kiddo," Sans joked.
She shook her head. "That's my dad's soul."
"No way, that sounds like the worst thing ever!" Papyrus cawed.
Frisk laughed and rubbed her head. "Yeah, it's not great."
"But that means this Gaster, he wasn't tracking you, he was tracking… himself?" Asriel said, brows raised.
"What a narcissist," Sans said with a sideways grin. "Does that help?"
"Y-Yeah. Yeah! I think so," she said. She drummed her fingers on the tabletop. "So… So, if I'm getting this right, this Gaster finds my dad's soul out there, but… I guess whatever he did, it was out of order for us, right?"
"You think?" Asriel asked.
"Yeah, kinda. Because this opening he did here happened months ago in our time, back when Sans started getting kinda low a month or whatever ago. But the big thing of energy this guy found technically only happened a few days ago in our time, too."
"Time's whack," Sans said.
.
Frisk put a hand to her soul spot. "Oh man. That… That must've been when dad pulled me out, huh?"
"I bet," Asriel said. "Sheesh."
"P-Pulled you…?" The lizard stared blankly. "It was a b-big burst?"
"Yeah, really big as far as I know," Frisk said.
"Th-That makes sense…" Alphys said quietly.
"Does it?" she asked.
"S-Souls are… Well… We've experimented with simulated s-souls before, and I've, um… seen almost m-magnetic behaviour before, so…"
"Ah. Yeah. They're always kinda attracted to each other," Sans said. "Ours aren't twins, but Papy and I kinda have that."
Frisk rubbed her face with her palms. "We gotta tell dad that, that's really important."
"And this Gaster should know, too," Asriel said, frowning. "If he busted a hole out, that'll be his energy all over that even if he channeled through the CORE or something. If there's another out there looking at the right spot, he might get found himself and the next set of weirdos who jump onboard might not be, y'know… mostly pacifists?"
"Uhhhh… Th-That sounds… bad," Alphys said, eyes wide.
.
Frisk sighed. "What did we get ourselves into, dude?" she muttered.
"Infinity Gasters," Asriel said. "But, I mean… I'm sure it'll be fine once we fix this place, right? I mean, what are the chances of running into two alternate copies of your dad in one trip?"
"Hopefully none?" she said. "Ugh, why he gotta be mean, though?"
"H-He's not always mean…" Alphys said quietly. "He's… Well… Okay, m-maybe mostly he's mean, but he's so smart and—"
"He was super rude to literally everyone here though," Frisk said, pouting. "He wasted Sans's time for years and he called Papyrus stupid, and I hate that. Being smart doesn't mean he can just do whatever he wants."
.
Though Alphys looked a little uncomfortable, she nodded. She sighed and leaned up beside Sans. "S-So… You're shutting it down, huh?"
"Gotta," he said. He jerked his thumb back over his shoulder. "The energy flow is what's messin' stuff up, apparently."
"And that w-won't… close this, though?" she asked worriedly as she gestured to the rip.
"No, they're really strong," Frisk said. "They usually don't close unless someone from the outside does something."
"Right," she said. She massaged her temples. "R-Right. Okay." She slumped off, shoulders drooped. "I'll go change th-those passwords…"
.
Frisk bit her lip worriedly. Papyrus shared a similar look, and he bounced across the room to give the little lizard a hug. Her movements lightened and she patted him gently on the head. Sans had taken notice as well. He set the computer working on something, got to his feet, and stretched.
"Welp. Not much to do here," he said. "Food?'
Asriel shrugged. "Sure."
"Not Grillby's pleeeease," Papyrus said shrilly.
"I, um, know some places," Alphys said. "J-Just let me finish up." She shot Frisk a look and smiled awkwardly. "Ummm… m-maybe takeout."
xXxXx
With the lab thoroughly locked down and the shutdown preparations still running, the small and wary group headed into New Home, Alphys leading the way. Frisk kept her hood up and huddled close to Asriel. He was large and drew any monster's wayward gaze long before she did. Alphys seemed a little preoccupied with her, though tried to hide it. Once again, the kid didn't get too close. She knew it still had to be unnerving, even though the other monsters weren't worried. Papyrus even held her hand as they went. She was grateful.
.
Alphys took them to a cozy little restaurant that did soup and sandwiches down a side street of New Home, nestled in between two vacant shops and some viney plants. She looked it up and down and then stood on her toes near the window. There was a menu taped up on the other side. As Alphys moved to point it out, Papyrus ran straight for the door, beckoning to the others.
"Oooh, this looks nice, come on!" he said loudly.
"I should wait," Frisk said.
"Okay, I'll get you something really good!" he assured her, dashing inside.
Sans smiled, shrugged, and followed him in. Asriel laughed.
"It's weirdly nice that he's so… the same," he said. "You pick something?" He pointed out the menu, and then looked at Alphys. "And you?"
"M-M-Me?!" she asked shrilly.
"Yeah. Someone needs to stay out here with Frisk," he said. "And I'm not lettin' that bonehead pay for us. Plus, you look about ready to pass out."
Alphys's face flushed. "J-Just, um, a cup soup and crunchy sandwich, I guess." She reached for her pocket but the big monster shook his head.
"I got it," he said. "Frisk?"
"Whatever you're getting," she said.
He stuck his thumb up and followed the skeletons inside.
.
Frisk stuffed her hands in her pockets and leaned her back up against the wall and window. Light beamed out brightly around her, pooling on the ground and casting a long shadow for her. Alphys looked her up and down and she folded her arms tight, creasing her white lab coat.
"What a m-mess," she grumbled quietly.
"I'm really sorry about all this," Frisk said.
Alphys perked up, looking at her with wide eyes. She couldn't help a snort of laughter and she shook her head. "G-Gaster was the one who went too far. I n-never expected him to bring one of you right to us like th-that."
"I just didn't mean to like… ruin everything?" She smiled ruefully. "Guess I'm good at that."
"Oh! N-No, don't s-say that!" she protested. Her scales flushed. "Unless, umm… W-Well. No! I mean. I'm s-sure that's not… true."
Frisk shrugged.
"It's… about what you s-said before, right?" she said. "…Your, um… older brother, right?"
"…Yeah."
"But y-your brother here said th-that was because of what G-Gaster did."
"Yeah. I think it is," she said.
Alphys looked puzzled. "S-So…?"
"It's… It's complicated," Frisk said. "I'm this weird… time thing. And part of why I even exist just wrecked a lot of the world and stuff, even… especially my brother's life. And now it really hurt him and he doesn't deserve any of this."
"Y-You can't help that you exist," Alphys said gently. "And… A-And… it seems like… I mean, Sans trusts you. I was… r-really surprised by that. B-Because h-he doesn't trust anyone. So y-you can't be that bad!"
Frisk couldn't help a weak smile. "Thanks."
.
Alphys looked pleased. Her cheek scales flushed slightly. "Y-You know, I… I didn't expect a you-know-what to be m-much like you at all."
"I know, kinda lame, right?" she said.
"N-No, that's not…" The little lizard's eyes went wide. "I mean, you're… I m-mean, you're a lot smaller th-than I thought."
"I'm a kid," she said.
"Are you?! Well… Th-That makes sense. I guess y-you're pretty young? And n-not as… a-aggressive as I thought?" She smiled awkwardly. "Y-You're about as confident as I th-thought you'd be, though. Since you-know-whats are s-so strong, y'know?"
Frisk wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but the little sparkle in Alphys's eyes made her think that she'd meant it as a positive.
"Even though I, um, have to a-admit, I was… a b-bit, um, scared at f-first. I actually find you pretty easy to… T-To talk to. That r-reminds me a little of Sans, to be honest," the lizard continued, smiling slightly. "It's s-sort of, um, weird but when you t-talk to everyone like you know them, it's… kind of comfortable."
Frisk's cheeks flushed. "Well, um, we do have a version of you back home, too," she said.
Alphys's eyes bugged out. Her jaw dropped and she pointed at her chest. "M-M-Me?! Wh…? Wha…? Oh w-wow. So… n-no wonder…" She shook her head. "And we… I mean, you and h-her? You know each other?"
"Yeah. She's like family," Frisk said.
"Oh…" Alphys blushed. "I… Oh w-wow." She took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. She shot Frisk a tentative smile. "…Tell me about her?"
"You sure?" Frisk asked.
"Y-Yeah. I mean… Yes. Please," she said.
The kid nodded. There was a lot to go over.
xXxXx
It was bustling and jovially loud inside the restaurant, with monsters crowded into red booths and waiters rushing between tables along checkered floors. Some faint music played from somewhere near the register, even though it was mostly drowned out by conversation and a TV hung on the wall, playing what seemed to be nonsense public programming.
.
The takeout line was pretty long. They'd put in the orders, but there were a lot of monsters ahead of them. Asriel kept checking back through the window over his shoulder. He hoped this was worth it. Maybe it was for the break alone.
"Relax, will ya?" Sans said. He looked tired, but didn't seem overly concerned.
"Yeah, I feel like Frisk secretly has a ton of super magic powers so you probably shouldn't worry too much!" Papyrus said, grinning up at him.
Asriel snorted out a quiet laugh. "You're not wrong. Just seems like she attracts a lot of crazy stuff, y'know? Can't seem to let our guard down."
"Hopefully you guys can take some time off when you get home," Sans said.
"As long as Sans is up, we're gonna be just fine," he said.
.
The line started to shrink. It was almost their turn. Asriel waited lazily against the counter as a cook who looked like a carved tree stump with leafy ears began to pack away their food in a crinkly bag. Very suddenly, sound of a weird, elongated beeping coming from the television across the restaurant paused the whole place.
.
The hubbub died down as monsters checked their phones. They were beeping, too.
"What is that?" Papyrus asked, staring at his phone screen: it was black, blinking with the image of a bright white heart with a black exclamation point in its centre.
"Ah shit," Sans grumbled.
"Sans, no swears!" the little skeleton protested.
.
With one final beep, each screen flashed over to reveal Gaster in a room of blue and silver metal. For some reason, he was wearing Undyne's armour, sans helmet. Asriel glowered at it indignantly.
"Attention all monsters. This is the emergency broadcast system. This is not a drill. This is very real," Gaster announced calmly. "There is a dangerous human in the underground."
Shrill, alarmed murmurs rushed through the restaurant. Sans and Asriel shared a worried look.
"I am Gaster. Royal Scientist and de-facto in charge of the Kingdom, as King Asgore is incapacitated, but safe," he said. "Please be on full alert. The human is small, but incredibly dangerous, and could be hiding in plain sight. It also appears to have powers of mind manipulation. Two ex-scientists, Alphys and Sans, a large, white, horned monster, and Lieutenant Undyne of Waterfall are all compromised. Please safely detain them if you can— it is not their fault. As for the human, fight if you must. If you can capture it alive, bring it to me, but otherwise avoid it at all costs. Regardless, I officially send out a challenge, as a boss monster, for it to come face me in the upper levels of the CORE. If it is not a coward. Be safe, everyone."
.
The screens went dark. The shop shuddered in frightened silence. Asriel stared at the screen incredulously.
"I can't believe he just did that," he growled.
Sans nudged him in the ribs. He became starkly aware of the eyes resting on him. He gulped, grabbed the bag, slammed down some coins, and then beelined back out of the restaurant with the skeletons on his tail.
.
Frisk met them as soon as they got out the door. She pointed to the phone, wide-eyed. "Did you see—?!"
"Yeah," Asriel said. "We gotta go."
Alphys looked pale and sweaty. "D-Did he just f-fire me over the emergency system?!" she asked shrilly.
Eyes peered at them through the windows and Asriel gulped hard.
"Now, guys?!" He looked at Sans. "Take Frisk?"
.
Sans froze. His eyes darted to Papyrus. The little skeleton clenched his fists and nodded, a determined frown on his face.
"If you can, you should!" he said. "I'll be okay! He didn't even say me in the dumb alarm thing!"
"Papyrus, it's okay, I—" Frisk protested.
"No it's not, you're the one he wants, so you gotta not get caught! You can't go to the CORE," he said. He looked up at Sans with big eyes. "Pleeeeaase?"
"You sure?" he said.
"She's from another world but she's family," he said steadily. "Big brother, you have to help."
Frisk's face flushed. Sans smiled slightly. He held the kid's shoulder and looked Asriel in the eye.
"Trustin' you with everything," he said.
The boy froze, but then dipped his head and scooped up the little skeleton in his other arm. "Lab?"
Sans nodded. Frisk was about to ask him if he was sure, but they were already back in the white-tiled room.
.
"I can't shift with him," Sans said before she said a word.
"He's gonna be safe," Frisk said quickly.
"Yeah, better be," he said.
"What was Gaster thinking?" Frisk grumbled.
"Somethin' stupid."
"But, like, couldn't he get you guys really hurt or something?" she said incredulously.
He smiled at her with a sort of fondness and pity. "He doesn't care. There's something he wants."
"But…" Frisk flinched. "That's me, though… What should I do?"
He shrugged. "You guys do the middle finger thing in your universe?"
"Um. I dunno," she said. "What's that?"
"Eh. Tell you when you're older." His cheeks went faintly blue. "Er. Your brother will. Probably." He shoved his hands into his pockets and paced the floor. "Look. Don't do anything crazy. And definitely don't give him what he wants."
Frisk's face flushed. Though her heart thumped heavy in her chest, she nodded. "He wants to fight me, though? I mean… it's pretty obvious it's a trap, but what do you think I should do?"
.
Sans looked thoughtful, but didn't answer right away. Instead, he strode over to Alphys's computer and dredged up the analytics from before. He nodded to himself. "Nothin'."
"Nothing?" she repeated.
"You'll be gone soon and I'll just go throw the guy off a walkway. Asgore'll straighten this out and that'll be it." He plopped down on a chair and kicked his feet up on the desk. "Just chill out."
Frisk didn't like the sound of that, but he was probably right. She anxiously paced the floor. She edged over him to peek at the computer, but it was essentially gibberish to her. She sighed and moped. Sans scoffed and patted her on the head. She shot him a questioning look but he pretended not to see.
"Will you tell him not to drink any more determination?" she asked. "It's not gonna do what he thinks it will."
"Doubt he'll listen," Sans said.
.
She watched curiously as he opened up some incomprehensible screen that looked like a combination of pipe schematics and sheet music. He navigated it without hesitation, pulling glowing lines of red from their places and shifting them elsewhere. Changing the flow, and then the notes around them using complex strings of numbers that vanished shortly after he typed them.
"Is this the thing?" Frisk asked.
"Mhm." He confirmed the set-up and the computer told him that it was priming.
"What't that mean?" she said.
"This junk's still kinda slow," he said. "I just told it where I wanna put the energy. It's gotta prepare. Then we hit like three buttons, and then we wait, and then we hit one more button, and then we wait, and then you're, uh, good to go. I think."
"And that'll stop the energy going so strong through?" she asked, perking up.
"Should do, yeah." He drummed his fingers on the desk. "To be honest, uh… I've… never done this before, so…"
"Well, yeah, I know, Gaster did everything behind everyone's back," she said.
"I'm pretty confident it'll work, but there's always a chance it won't," he said.
"I trust you," she said.
He chuckled. "It's not a matter of…" He shook his head. "Welp. Do my best."
xXxXx
The streets of New Home were closing in, buildings craning forward, gawking. Monsters with two eyes, ten eyes; one giant eyeball peered through their windows as Asriel blazed down the cobblestone roads, clutching Papyrus tight. Alphys clung to his shoulders, mumbling against his fur— praying, maybe.
.
"S'gonna be fine," he said. "It's gonna be…" He stalled in his tracks as a rabble of creatures tumbled out of an alleyway like a cartoon dust cloud. He bared his fangs. "Fine."
"Aaah! Why?!" Alphys whined.
As Asriel took a step back, more monsters in makeshift armour made from pots and pans crept up the next street, though there was significantly less of them.
"Oh for…" Asriel put a hand to his face. "Okay." He pointed at the newest arrivals and glared. "You nerds get outta my way or I'm knockin' you over."
"I-It's okay, we're here to help!" said a green cat, putting her paws up despite holding a frying pan like a weapon. "We're h-here to get you guys away from that weird hypnosis human thing!"
Papyrus looked worried. "Wait, but she's not—!"
Asriel gently but swiftly covered the little skeleton's mouth for just long enough to send the message, and then held both him and Alphys up before placing them on the ground. "Do either of these look like humans to you guys?!"
The crowds rumbled with a confused, negative sentiment.
.
"Maaan, that's just what they want you to think," shouted a monster that looked like a weird alien bell. He pointed a finger accusingly at Asriel. "It's a conspiracy, dude. I bet you're a human in a disguise! And you, too!" He pointed at Alphys.
"Uhhh. N… N-No?" Alphys stammered. She put a hand to her chest and gently clung to Papyrus, pulling him closer protectively. "G-Guys! Come on! S-Some of you know me, I used to live around here! On Omelette Street! Doctor Gaster's just… I don't know why he's acting like this!"
"HMM, yeah right!" the same monster said.
"I dunno, I don't think a human in disguise as Alphys would know about where she used to live," said an alligator with blonde hair: Bratty, wearing a pink colander like a helmet. "We like, totally used to be neighbours soooo…"
The monsters muttered agreeably— certainly, that had to make sense. The weird bell-shaped guy sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes hard.
"Uuuuhhhh, fine, but what about this guy? I never seen him before ever and we all know that the big King man is the last one of whatever they are. Sooooo I bet HE'S the human! In disguise!"
The monsters muttered agreeably— certainly, that had to make sense.
.
Asriel huffed. He rolled his shoulders and squared his stance. "Alright. Even if I was. What're you gonna do about it, dweeb?!"
The monsters began to look uncomfortable. It seemed to strike them that Asriel was taller than most and he certainly didn't look weak. The instigator looked a little sweaty. Asriel's magic flared around him, gently buffeting his ears like a breeze and a crackle of embers seeped from the fur of his knuckles. Alphys gulped and grabbed Papyrus, pulling him aside and into a doorway. There was a monster's eyestalks poking out through a mail slot there, and they quickly retracted. The small metal door clinked shut.
"Listen," Asriel said, his fur bristling; fangs gleaming. "I don't really wanna fight any of you dorks. But, I ain't a human. And that skeleton guy's got the wrong idea. I know you trust him, but he's wrong about what's going on, and wrong about the King, too. Everything will be fine. But. I need you all to get out of my way." He cast his eyes around and his brow furrowed. "Don't make me move you."
.
The courage of most of them failed in an instant and the main group scuttled backwards, leaving the weird bell-shaped creature on his own, still looking sweaty and increasingly slimy. Asriel raised his brows. He checked quickly over his shoulder to see those monsters giving way as well, several blushing with embarrassment. The green cat snuck up to Alphys.
"I'm awful sorry," she said quietly.
"Oh! N-No, it's okay, umm… It's… Doctor Gaster's fault for lying to e-everyone," she said.
"Uuuggh, this is so lame," the weird monster whined. "I could, like, definitely stop you or whatever. There's way more of us." He raised his tiny fists on noodle arms. "It's totally a conspiracy, you guys."
Asriel rolled his eyes and walked up the street, flames leaking from his pawpads. The sweaty monster only got sweatier. The boy pushed in close, snorted flame in his face, and pushed him away casually with his foot. Though harmless, the fire left the monster toasty, steaming, and rolling on the cobblestones with an exaggerated sigh.
"Oookay, I guess humans can't breathe fire or whatever," he grumbled.
"No shit. C'mon, nerds, let's go," Asriel said, waving to the others as the monsters cleared the way. "Paps. C'mon, hold my hand."
"Nyeeeh, okay, coming!" he said. He smiled sheepishly at the crowd as he bounded through. "Sorry, everyone, I'm gonna stop my mean not-dad from tricking everyone again!" He grabbed Asriel's paw to the coos of the crowd.
Alphys followed in a hurry, apologizing profusely to everyone on her way.