PATCHWORK SOUL - NEW MEDIUM gee there's not as much sun here--, an undertale fanfic

gee there's not quite as much sun here as i expected chapter 37

Fields upon fields of sunflowers blossomed all around the bustling city of Anthelion beneath the impossibly large, mountain castle. The place seemed to be rather obsessed with them, in fact. Symbols of the bright yellow flowers decorated signs and murals, as well as seeming to have inspired much of the skyward-facing architecture of larger structures. One of the main buildings on the campus of the university evoked a giant sunflower more directly with a massive, domed skylight and overhanging triangles of metal resembling the petals. Even their mascot was a large, plush, green, brown, and yellow flower creature with a cute face and pompoms that looked like— to the shock of absolutely no one— sunflowers.

Even though the grounds were crawling with students that paid them no mind, Undyne was on high alert under her biker gear and helmet. There were more humans on this campus than there were monsters on the entire planet. Calling it unnerving was an understatement in her case.

The group had split up so as not to draw any extra eyes, since together they looked like they might be planning a robbery— which they were. Undyne hovered around Sans as she'd promised, though he was unconcerned and easygoing where he sat on a bench outside that big flower building. Mettaton was not far off, strutting casually around the campus, looking a lot like a grunge-fashion model. In reality, he was testing signals in the air with his fingers, looking for a place to hook directly into the internet.

Papyrus had been designated protector of Ellie, just in case. She was wearing his pink hat and some cool shades, and had her hair in a ponytail. They looked like they'd just come in on a motorcycle, and her presence made Papyrus's seem a lot less intimidating. Boyd was understandably reluctant to let his daughter out of his sight, but he lurked on the building's steps, waiting for a go-ahead. June had already gone inside to check things out. The group had all set up their phones on a multimonster call earlier so they could serve like walkie-talkies.

When June came back, she headed to Boyd first, and then brought him to join Sans on the bench. She pushed up close to the skeleton and kept her voice casually low.

"Okay, so there is an exhibit that's open to the public," she said. "It's supposed to be, um, a permanent one on monster history. The things in there change every couple of months."

"So what d'you need me for? The archives, yeah?" Boyd said. He reached for his wallet and pulled out the U.A. alumni pass card inside. "I was never a history student, though, you sure this'll work?"

"Can't see why it wouldn't," Sans said. He took a photo of the card— both sides— and sent it to Mettaton. "We just gotta change your record. Just say you're writin' a paper on somethin' and you're lookin' for old monster books or whatever."

"Nobody better quiz me on anything," he grumbled as he stashed his wallet again.

"You're positive you can?" June asked.

"I know the system," Sans said.

She looked uncertain, but she nodded nonetheless.

"Yo, Mettaton, you good?" Sans asked quietly.

"I've gone inside," he answered. "I just asked some lovely humans where is the best place to connect to their "Internet" thing and they pointed me to a library, I think. So, I'm on my way!"

Sans hefted himself off the bench. "Meet ya there." He adjusted his sunglasses and shot Undyne a look. "You're gonna draw eyes in there. Maybe, uh, stick to the exhibit with Paps?"

The big monster growled quietly, but she dipped her head. "Yeah. Hey, metalhead, watch out for this guy, yeah? He's sick."

"I wiiiilll," Mettaton said.

xXxXx

Magic from an outsider's perspective was an interesting thing. Underground, there had once been a young human who had made her home in Waterfall, whose curiosity had guided her unique research and cataloguing of monster souls and any other magic she found. She had gone by the name Minerva, and her notes were still used to this day in schools and by Alphys in the lab, as well. She was the first to jot down that humans unattuned to monster magic would see their souls as white rather than their true colour, since she herself had observed both. When she died, her soul, shining purple, had been a gift to Gerson, to do with as he wished.

The exhibit of ancient artefacts from before the great war on display inside the university carried a similar energy to Minerva's writings: humans trying to muddle through discrepancies in what they'd been taught and what they'd discovered. Ancient artwork by humans often depicted monsters as vicious and twisted, while the humans were shining under the light of the sun. Blessed was the word the placards used, explaining that the humans and monsters both worshipped the sun, though the humans at the time had refused to see the similarities. There were old drawings of something resembling the Delta Rune, minus the wings. It was supposed to be a sun symbol, way back then. It appeared on most of the art that was made by monsters, often alongside a small but stoic-looking dog.

Papyrus bounced around the large, windowless room with Ellie, eagerly reading everything, as Undyne kept a polite distance but an eye on them as well. She stopped at a wall displaying two tapestries: one made by monsters, the other by humans. They were not the same event, but they contained a few of the same characters. The monster version was a depiction of a town, with all manner of creatures doing a variety of crafting jobs, even including a few humans into the mix. The human's art, again, showed their fear, depicting a surreal landscape with twisted monsters overflowing the walls of a fortress. Even a human man with a strange, five-lined scar on his face (who, on the monster's side, was shown fishing with a goblin child) was depicted in the human art as some kind of mad beast.

Undyne felt a deep, hot anger riling in her. She looked at the stone statues carved by a monster's will, defunct, crystal-powered gizmos behind cool glass; weapons crafted from metal and magic stored away. What right did these people have to this stuff? Humans had taken everything, and there was no recourse to be had. These pictures were full of hatred. A human could kill any of them with enough fear or rage and a well placed whack with just about anything. Why on earth would a human help them now? Guilt? Pity? Disgusting.

She had to stop herself— took a long, deep breath. She was slipping again. But, she did wonder about Sans's sister. A human, he'd said. She loved them, he said. But how could she have let this time mess happen? She shook her head. Not on purpose. Wasn't on purpose.

She shot a look at Papyrus and the little human, who he was now carrying, as they peered together into the cases. He was reading one of the placards to her. That took the edge off.

Prowling around, she checked the other side of the room. A few students passed through, paying her no mind, but behind them was a man who was a little bit older than them; more alert. He had dark skin, short, black hair, and a sharp, inquisitive face. He had glasses, and wore a muted grey sweater and a name tag on a lanyard. He looked like a nerd. Probably worked there. He gave Undyne a once-over, smiled agreeably, and moved past her with a deliberately measured stride.

"You okay, Cap?" Sans's voice came through near her ear.

"Fine," she said.

"Oh. Okay. Just heard you growlin' again and thought maybe somethin' wasn't agrrrrreein' with ya."

"Sans, that was bad!" Papyrus whispered.

Undyne snorted, grinning despite herself. "I'm okay."

She caught a glimpse of some books, but none matched the description she'd been given. There were a few old maps in that section too, some oddly ornate sticks, and a wooden box with a polished lens— some sort of old, rudimentary camera powered by crystals. The weathered photos found within were laid out beside it: some landscapes, a town, some bits and pieces of what was probably a skeleton, a blurred, small human, and cooking cauldrons.

"You guys doin' alright?" she asked.

"We're looking for an admin desk," June answered.

"Check near the place they sell coffee. And the ID card should say our guy is a history nerd in about five minutes," Sans said.

"And I found the film department's database!" Mettaton said gleefully. "Eeeeexciting!"

At the other end of the room, Ellie had taken note of a large display board with a rainbow of souls on it. There were brief explanations of each colour, along with a single, defining trait as a title. Red was at the top, with a note explaining that this was the one that could, once upon a time, allow humans to use magic. Beside those, there was a single, white soul, simply explained to be that of a monster, describing them as white with some records of a faint iridescent sheen. There was also a small tablet set on a tiny rack with a soul colour personality quiz on display on its touch screen.

"It's pretty," she said. "Like the rainbow, right? These are souls?"

"Looks like they're missing a few, in fact," Papyrus said. "And their red is wrong."

"What do they say?" Ellie asked. "They're big words."

"Oh! Easy, little friend." He traced along each colour from the bottom up. "Purple is perseverance, indigo is integrity, this lighter blue is patience, green is kindness, yellow is justice, orange is bravery and red… well, theirs says power, but really, the real one is determination."

"Which ones are gone?" she asked.

"Oh! Well. There should be two greens. A darker one is fortitude. Then, there's also a bluer purple, which is strength. Pink is inspiration and then there's a very very light silvery one that's empathy."

Ellie smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I don't know what too many of those mean. Do you know what yours is?"

"Well… There's many more colours in ours, but mine is riiiight around here." He pointed squarely in the middle of yellow and orange. "There's really a whole entire gradient, as far as I know. At least in monsters."

"Oh. Do you know what mine is?" she asked.

"No, unfortunately," he said. "Though! I did see June's, which was about here, actually." He plunked his finger onto the green. "A bit lighter, though."

"Wow…" Her eyes lit right up. She pointed at the tablet. "Can I do the test?"

"I don't see why not."

He lifted the tablet up for her and she giddily began to tap through the questions. She smiled proudly upon receiving orange at the end of it. She offered it to him.

"I already know the answer," he said.

"But it's fun!" she insisted. "I'll hold it for you!"

"Alright, alright," he said. He blazed through the questions, only to receive indigo at the end. "Bah! This isn't correct at all!"

Ellie snickered. "Maybe it's just for humans!"

"Shhh, I am completely a human, remember?" he said quickly.

"Oh, right! Shhhh!" she agreed.

"What are you dorks doin'?" Undyne asked, sliding up behind them.

"Soul personality quiz?" Papyrus said, offering it to her.

"Uh. Nah." She put it back in its spot. She focussed on that nerdy man near the door of the exhibit who had been watching them, and he scurried away quickly. "I'm good, thanks. See any books?"

"None like the one specific one, no," the skeleton said. "Also, good choice, it said I was indigo, can you believe that?!"

Undyne laughed and patted him on the shoulder as she moved on. "I'll keep looking."

There was just a little more to cover, including a wall of speculation from humans who'd never even heard a spell. Beside that was a section of Past and Future. As Ellie, getting a little bored, scampered off to trail Undyne, Papyrus took a close look at an old picture of seven red-souled humans surrounding a mountain. The date was marked over a thousand years ago. Another, more modern image beside it showed a circle of both monsters and humans gathered together under massive storm clouds.

"Got it," Sans said in his earhole.

"Okay, we're ready," June said. "It's a blue book, right? It's not in the exhibit?"

"Nah, not here," Undyne answered.

"Humans might think of it as, uh, a music book," Sans said. "Just so you know."

"Right, I understand," she said.

Papyrus nodded to himself and returned his attention to the wall, curiously taking in the information on display.

At the end of the war, seven wizards drained the magic in their red souls to seal Mount Ebott inside a barrier, impenetrable from within. The only way to break such a spell is speculated to be a similar combination of seven red souls. However, shortly after this event, the human race lost any connection to magic, and the ability to even see the colours of our own souls. Tragically, the crimes of the past cannot be very easily undone, and to this day, we are not even sure if monsters still live beneath the mountain.

Many worry still about a future without monsters. From the ages before the war, there are a few remaining records of global catastrophes that were halted by monsters and humans working together. However, despite more modern records being shockingly scarce, at least two such occurrences are thought to have happened since the banishment of monsters, where significant populations disappeared and areas of Earth were irreparably damaged. How and why are a mystery, as are why little to no preparations were made, but many worry about the global repercussions another event such as these could have in a future with no way to combat them.

Papyrus tilted his head. Oddly scarce records of something so large as that? He wondered if humans maybe had their own version of CORE events up on the surface. He peered at a given map laid out of what he had to assume was the whole planet. The way the contents were aligned sort of reminded him two abstract dogs. There was a crater-like mark pointed out with a dim point of light on the bulk of each section, with a note underneath:

According to records, these two locations were thought to be epicentres, but difficult or uninhabitable terrain has made this exceedingly difficult to research.

"Friends, I don't mean to alarm you, but is the planet blowing up?" Papyrus asked.

"What?!" Undyne asked, loudly enough that he heard her through both his earphone and in real life.

"No, why would it be?" June asked.

"It's… Nyeh, never mind." He took out his phone to quickly snap pictures of the text and the map. "I'm sure this is definitely not ominous foreshadowing or anything. Not. At. All."

"Want me to take a look, bro?" Sans asked.

"Later," he said.

Undyne scooped up the kid and was leaning over his shoulder in an instant. "What?" she said again.

He pointed to the words on the wall and then hurried off with his phone camera pointed out. "I think maybe dad needs to see this stuff."

xXxXx

There was a line of students slowly dwindling at an admin desk that had space for four behind it, but only one person actually there to help. It was inside a room that looked more like a shop in a mall from the outside, with big windows that looked back into a wide, indoor plaza that was half made up of chain coffee places and fast food counters, with doors to lecture halls snuck in here and there and art displays smattered here and there. Boyd wasn't outwardly too impatient but for the tapping of his foot and an occasional glance back over his shoulder.

June lurked across the hall, keeping an eye out and feeling exceedingly suspicious, though no student gave her a second look. She hovered near the coffee shop, clutching her phone tight in her pocket, absently shifting her gaze from the window to the skylights above and back so as not to appear too fixated. She caught sight of a figure in a hoodie she was pretty sure was Sans, but was too nervous to greet him until he slid up beside her.

"So, only got asked if I had the flu twice," he said. "Not too bad. How's it goin'?"

She pointed at Boyd's back. "He's been in there since you said… It is going to work, right?"

"Looked legit on our end."

June nodded. She folded her arms. "I don't know why; I've got a bad feeling about this."

"You're doin' good," he said.

"I feel like I'm going to have to run at any minute, and I haven't run since high school," she said under her breath.

The skeleton shrugged. He folded his arms and leaned on the wall. She looked him over with a worried frown crossing her face.

"Would you like me to get you a coffee or something?"

"Nah. Couldn't drink it without makin' a mess anyway."

"Ah! Right. Sorry. I forgot," she said.

He shrugged again. The skylights gloomed over, a heavy quilt of cloud pulled across. A few more indoor lights flickered on in response.

When Boyd came out of that closed-off room, he was flustered and walking at speed. He held out his card and a second, dark green one. The skeleton took and pocketed them.

"I asked for the blue book with music in it. They said it's in their catalogue; we can look at it and take pictures, but it's gotta go back."

"Sure," Sans said.

"You'll have to find it yourself, though, it's just… Uh. It's all marked on that green card." His eyes shifted back and forth over the plaza. "So, we done? I'd like to get back to my daughter."

Sans nodded. "Just be ready to, uh, book it."

"I'll go with you," June told him.

Boyd cracked a smile. He put a hand on June's shoulder and squeezed before rushing off the way they'd come.

Sans vaguely knew where the storage archives were, but he'd never been there. Never occurred to him that they might hold a bunch of monster relics either, back when he'd taught a few classes here.

He remembered walking this place with his kid sister, laughing about whatever, dragging a bag full of notes and lunch around over his shoulder. Eyes lingered on him, but it didn't bother him one bit. That little kid had made him feel so safe. Invincible, even. Not a care in the world.

The patter of rain on the glass above drew their attention. June sighed and checked her phone.

"Another system's moving in," she said. "Hope we can beat it out of here."

"We'll figure it out," Sans said.

"You know where you're going?"

"Yup."

"Good thing one of us does," she said quietly.

They had to head to a large stairwell at one of the exits back onto the grounds, but then go downwards into a basement level. There was a sign on the wall that directed towards the archives. Easy.

It was pretty empty down there, and oddly gloomy. The halls were still dim despite the overhead lights. Thunder rumbled loud enough to sound like a growl from above.

There was a computerized lock outside the door they had to enter. Sans plunked in Boyd's card and the green pass as well. The lock beeped and clicked heavily, and they could open the door.

Down yet more stairs, into a temperature-controlled room, there were a couple of simple tables and chairs in a small, open area that then gave way to shelves upon shelves, stacked to the ceiling with big, square cardboard boxes marked with numbered labels. Sans checked the green card. It had a section number on it, but it was a little vague.

"Guessin' there's surveillance in here, huh?" he said.

"Probably," June said.

"Wanna help me find a ladder?"

"Yeah. You go ahead and start," she said, hurrying off to peer down the rows.

After a short wander around, Sans found the row that matched the one noted on the green card, though he winced at the incursion of light fragments in his vision. He pressed a button on the phone in his pocket. "Gettin' a little low," he said.

"Do you have snacks?!" Papyrus demanded.

"Uh." He did have a candy in his pocket. "Yeah." He shook his head and squinted. Might as well get work done while he could.

"Well, are you eating it?!" Papyrus asked.

"Cameras, bro."

"Hurry up, then!"

The boxes Sans could reach were full of stuff, stored away carefully, but not much of note. June found a ladder at the other end of the chamber and lugged it over. She checked a row at her height while the skeleton went a little higher. Some may have been monster artefacts, but it was hard to be sure. Sans found a small black book marked with a sun, moon, and stars that had a few lines of skeleton script in the inner cover. That was coming home with him— he was pretty sure he had a way to keep something small out of time, but even if he didn't, he recorded what box it was in, which wouldn't be hard for him to remember anyway.

"Is this it?" June handed him a tattered, blue book.

He flipped through it. It was an ancient monster story book.

"Nope."

"Oh. Do you want me to put it back?"

"Nope."

Halfway through, with a small pile of the wrong books and a little dog figurine someone might appreciate, there was a shudder in the walls and the lights went out. June yelped.

"Not again!"

"Actually, this is perfect." Sans gladly took the opportunity to stash their findings in his phone, trading a couple curative items out into his shoulder bag instead.

June reached up and grabbed his arm. "Monsters don't happen to have good eyes in the dark, do they?"

"Welp." Sans took off his tinted glasses and let his eye flare blue, shining bright enough to light a little bit around them. "Might have one good eye for it."

"A-Ah!" She gently let him go, then pulled out her own phone and activated its flashlight. "That's useful. Okay."

"Did the power go out for you guys, too?" Undyne asked.

"Yeah." Sans lugged out another box and pulled off the cover— nothing but normal documents in there, albeit a lot of them. "Still lookin'."

"Hurry up. If you can," she said.

Sans dearly wanted to because, to be honest, he didn't need much of the extra light. About a third of his vision was in alternating rectangles from much different times of day, most of which he could see through clearly. Just had to ignore the phantoms of humans who weren't there.

They had almost cleared their section when they heard a strange clunking sound. Then, hinges. June drew in a sharp gasp and quickly dimmed the light on her phone. Sans, however, found he couldn't dim his eye. He winced and quickly closed it and covered it with his hand.

"I-I can still see blue," June said in hushed tones.

"Iris's causin' problems, huh?" He quickly unravelled his scarf and then rewrapped it, covering his left eye, too, before pulling his hood up. "Better?"

"Mhm." She went stiff against the shelf as the sound of footsteps was clear on the stairs. "We have to go."

"Still need that b…" He almost swooned. He put a hand to his head. "That book."

"I know! I know," she said quickly, voice low. "But we have to hide."

"Hello?" A male voice called. "Is anyone still in here?"

Sans could have sworn he recognized it. Didn't matter much, though, because his vision dazed him and he toppled, clattering down the ladder. June yelped before she could help herself and caught him in her arms, pulling him away from the metal.

"Are you okay?!" she demanded.

"Mhm." His voice was soft and hardly conscious.

"Can you stand?!"

He was limp. He tried, but failed. June caught him again and carefully guided him to the floor.

"Hello? Is something wrong?"

A light beamed down their row and June froze, wide-eyed, as it glinted off disembodied glasses in the dark. Her heart was a beating drumroll.

"Oh, god, what happened?" A concerned man in a grey sweater and lanyard hurried closer to them, lifting his phone a bit not to shine right in their eyes. However, he froze, a tremble in his fingers.

June looked down at Sans. His scarf had shifted when she moved him. The blue was still visible under the bone lid of his closed eye. The woman's mouth dropped open as she dried to find some words. Sans grabbed her arm with weak fingers.

"Sorry," he said. His eye shifted up to the man and he cracked a smile. "Oh. Hey. G-Good luck for once. He's… uh… He's safe."

"He is?! You know this guy?!" she asked as a swift whisper.

"History prof. He… He had the…" He raised a hand to greet the man, but it dropped down limply as his eyes darkened.

June gulped. She hesitantly looked back at the man. He was gawking and silent. She grabbed the skeleton up in her arms. He was pretty light, all things considering.

"I-I need to get him to his brother," she said.

The man nodded stiffly. "Is he a…?"

She stood up and he hurriedly straightened as well. He beckoned for her to follow.

"It's dark the whole way until you get to the next floor," he said.

She grimaced, but she cautiously followed him back up and out.

It was almost just as dark in the hallway. The man walked a little ahead for a moment before doubling back. He offered his hand and then retracted it when he recalled June was a bit preoccupied.

"I'm Adi. Uh. Professor Adi Shan, I teach… history." His eyes darted over Sans cautiously. "What is he?"

"I-I think that's for him to say," she said quietly.

"Right, of course, it's just… I'm sorry, I…!" He frowned. "I just thought… His voice was sort of familiar."

June frowned thoughtfully. She wondered if, perhaps, something else odd and time related was happening. The short skeleton might have known this man. Before she could ask any questions, though, Sans stirred and quickly shot up, iris blazing blue.

She yelped— so did he— and the two toppled onto the floor in a heap. The skeleton's eyes spun and he put a hand against his head with a sharp intake of breath.

"Oof. Sorry." He sat back on the floor, only to notice the professor. He stuck his hand up. "Hey, Teach."

The man almost swooned. Sans caught his soul for just long enough to stop him from faceplanting on the tile. He sat on his knees and took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm not dreaming, right?"

"Might be better if you were," Sans joked.

"Y-You'e a monster?!" Adi demanded in a hushed voice. "What are you…?! How did you get here?!"

"Long story. Long drive, too," Sans said.

"This has to be a dream," the man decided, nodding to himself. He stood up slowly, rubbing a hand through his hair. "It makes no sense."

June awkwardly stood up and offered Sans her hand. He let her pull him to his feet.

"We should get to Papyrus," she whispered.

Sans tilted his head thoughtfully. He looked up at the professor. "Yo. Can I ask you somethin'?"

"What? Me?" the man asked shrilly.

"Yeah. See. Kinda lookin' for a book," Sans said. "Dark blue. No title. B—"

"Bone runes in the border?" The man looked like he's seen a ghost.

Sans grinned. "You pulled it a while ago, huh?"

"I… I was trying to translate it," he said.

"There's something wrong with the world. W-With time. He needs it to save his little siblings," June said quickly. "Please."

Adi looked between them with wide eyes. He nodded and beckoned to them. "Follow me."

Professor Adi Shan's office was in another building, up two storeys, so the group were soaked by the time they got there. He'd been working on things from the monster war era for years, he explained— and was easily evidenced by the amount of books and models overtaking his small study.

"I had this dream," he said as he pulled through the mess of documents and books on his desk, "that my family and I went to the monster's mountain."

Sans curiously peered over an antique globe in the corner of the room. "You go to a bar run by a guy made of fire?"

The man froze and his eyes shot up to look at the monster incredulously. "How did you…?"

"It's a real place," he said with a shrug. Humans who'd been to the mountain had a lot of bleed. Interesting. Then again, this guy had met his sister too, hadn't he?

"I'm probably still dreaming, right?" Adi asked quietly. He winced at the rumble of thunder. "Could have sworn I drove to work today." He whirled on Sans again. "Can I ask you something?"

Sans shrugged.

"Can I…? Can I see your face?"

June put her hand on his shoulder. He dipped his head as he took off his glasses.

"Sure, s'nothin' special, though." He pulled his scarf down around his neck and shrugged.

Adi froze again. His eyebrows just about shot off his head and the whites of his eyes seemed to shine. He instantly scrambled through his junk and, with shaking hands, pulled up a notebook and thumbed through it. He hopped his desk, knocking over a tin of pencils. He shoved the book towards Sans, held open to a page.

The skeleton took it and looked it over curiously: it was covered in roughly drawn pencil sketches of monsters. One looked a lot like him, and one looked like Asgore— a big, friendly goatish man with a large smile and dark eyes. There was a horned monster with one giant eye and some bunnies, and, down in the corner, a small human child in a winter hat talking to an equally small, light goat monster and an even smaller, slightly ambiguous, darker possibly-a-goat monster. Sans recognized the shape of the hair. He returned the book carefully.

"Dream, huh?"

Adi nodded. He doubled back, almost tripping on pencils. Sans caught him again. The man went back to digging through his desk. He shoved aside a laptop and found, finally, a thick, protective envelope. He checked inside, took a deep breath, and then offered it to the skeleton with a tremor in his fingers.

"This is the one, right?"

One look at the cover inside told Sans that it was, but he took it out and flipped it open, just to be sure. The book of Dirges, pulled from time, never delivered to Asgore, still existed perfectly, right here in his hands. He cracked a smile.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll get you a translation when we're done with it."

"Wh…?! That…! That would be amazing," Adi said. "Thank—!" His phone went off and he checked it reflexively. "Sorry, that's…"

June's did as well. She paled and checked it quickly, only to put a hand to her mouth.

"What?" Sans asked.

"MOKP Alert," she breathed. She showed him her screen.

It was a Missing or Kidnapped Persons Alert. The name listed was for Elizabeth Aiza. Last seen in Arrow Valley, in Boyd's grey car. The photos accompanying it were a rough picture of Boyd's face and an old picture of Ellie. Sans flinched. He quickly put the book away in his bag and then grabbed Adi's hand to trade him some thick, gold coins.

"Wh—?" The man's dark cheeks flushed slightly. "You don't have to—"

"I know. Thanks." He covered his face again and nodded towards the door. "We gotta go."

His earphone and mic were all askew after the fall. He texted everyone on his way down the stairs: leave ASAP. June put her hand on his shoulder again.

"You're feeling okay?" she asked.

"Okay enough," he said. "Thanks for the catch, by the way."

"Not a problem," she said.

His phone rang. Papyrus. He answered. The sound was muffled by the pounding of rain

"What do you mean leave ASAP?!" Papyrus demanded. "I mean, I'm already almost out but—"

"People are lookin' for Ellie," he said.

"Oh. OH! Okay. Okaaay, okay. Bad people?"

"Nah, just not people we wanna deal with."

"Right! Right right. Are you okay, by the way? I thought I felt you going wonky."

"Ah. Yeah. Had an episode, I'm okay. Just, uh, make sure the kid's safe, yeah? And go to June's car."

"Got it, brother! Meet you there!"

They ran into Boyd as they were coming out of the building. He was soaked and haggard looking. He held up his phone incredulously and shoved it towards June, tapping the screen with an insistent finger.

"Did you see this?!" he asked.

"Yes, we did. Don't panic. We're leaving," she said.

He hurriedly took his coat off and put it around her shoulders, pulling the hood up for her. "What the hell is this Elizabeth Aiza crap?! None of that is her name."

"Okay, okay." She grabbed his hand. "Come on."

Puddles were already starting to flood the sidewalks between university buildings. The sunflower dome more so resembled some glinting, grey fortress looming overhead. June was getting soaked down to her socks. They had to leave campus to get to her car, and Boyd was about to leave them and head his own way when she dragged him back by his arm.

"I gotta go the other way," he said.

"No, come with us," she said.

"But my car—"

"Ditch it," Sans said. "It doesn't matter."

"…Shit. Alright."

Papyrus was waiting for them at June's car. He stuck his hand up to wave and beckoned them in while, to their surprise, hopping into the driver's seat. When they got close, the back door opened and Undyne dragged both humans in, shoving Ellie into her father's arms before shutting them in.

"Wh-What's going on?!" June asked. "Can you drive?!"

"Yes, I absolutely can!" Papyrus said brightly. "Sans, get in, we're going!"

"Where's Mettaton?" he asked as he flopped onto his seat.

"What, he's not with you?" Undyne said as she yanked her helmet off and pushed her hair out of her face. "Ugh, figures."

"Seen any cops?" Sans asked.

"I don't actually know what they look like," Papyrus said apologetically.

"I'm calling him," Undyne grumbled, jabbing her phone's screen too harshly and shoving it against her ear.

"What's going on?" Ellie asked in a small voice,

"Nothin', sweetheart, just trying to figure some stuff out," Boyd said quietly. "Don't worry."

"Hey, buckethead!" Undyne said into her phone. "Where are you?! We gotta go! …What part of ASAP do you not under…?! What? I don't, uhh…" She looked at Sans. "You got the book?"

"Yeah," he said.

Papyrus beamed, eyes glittering as he thumped his brother on the shoulder. Undyne cracked a relieved smile.

"Yeah," she said into the phone. Her expression quickly fell to one of frustration and incredulousness. "…NO, dude, you do not need all twenty three Cyberhaunting movies! Get out here! Yes, that's an order!" She hung up and growled. "I swear, that guy…"

"It's okay!" Papyrus's voice jumped up an octave. "I'm sure it's fine! We can wait! But probably not too long, actually!"

"Why, what's wrong?" June asked worriedly.

"Well I mean! It's just…" He gently readjusted the rearview mirror. "There's some people outside pointing at the car and considering that it's raining so hard, and that man there is coming towards us—"

"Go," Sans said.

"But Mettaton—!"

"GO!" shouted just about everyone.

Papyrus saluted and pumped on the gas and the car shot ahead down the road, clobbering a puddle and rounding a corner sharply. The kid in the back squeaked and her father held her tight.

"Careful!" he barked.

"I am! We can't leave him behind, though, right?!" Papyrus insisted.

"Just keep goin'," Sans said. He was gripping tightly to his seat. "Round the block. That's closest."

"Phew, okay!"

"J-Just don't crash my car, okay?" June said.

"I promise, I am in fact quite a good driver!" He sped up and pressed a button to pop the trunk. "Because if I'm not mistaken…" He leaned his head forward as if to point with his chin. "And I rarely am! That is him running out of that building there with a whole computer."

"WHAT?!" Undyne was basically in the front seat now, leaning forward between the brothers and glaring out through the windshield.

As usual, Papyrus was entirely correct. Mettaton was sprinting from one of the large school buildings with a computer wrapped in his arms, a couple of humans slipping in the rain as they gave chase. He clunked one of his heels against the ground and his boots grew in inches as wheels shot out from the soles and pink flames spurted from the back, shooting him forward with tremendous speed.

Sans clunked a hand against his skull. Undyne's glare could flatten the entire campus. They blew past the robot and he twirled, following them closely until he could grab the top of the trunk. He flashed a peace sign over his shoulder before toppling into the back with his prize and slamming the door on himself. Undyne sighed and dropped back in her seat.

"That idiot," she grumbled.

"I heeeeard that, darling!" Mettaton's voice came out through the car's radio.

Ellie squeaked in alarm.

"Ah! Don't be afraid! It's just me!" he said.

"Why the hell did you take a computer?" Sans asked dryly.

"I needed what was inside, obviously. Ooh. Papyrus, keep driving, I think they might start chasing us soon."

"Oh great," June said shrilly, her voice cracking.

Papyrus took a deep, steadying breath, readjusted his grip on the wheel, and then sped up, zooming around the next corner and away down the road. Buildings and their wet, shiny windows blurred into one as they rushed past. The humans clung to each other, Undyne growled, and Sans clutched even tighter to the seat.

"Which way?!" Papyrus asked.

"East. Eaaast. Southeast." Sans hurried to readjust the map back towards the mountain, and their red line pointed them homewards. "Gotta say, dude, really wish you had not stolen that thing, 'cause, uh, we got like a four hour drive and I'm hopin' we don't gotta be outrunnin' cops for most of that."

"What?!" Mettaton yelped. "Over one silly computer? I steal Alphys's computers all the time!"

"You're surprised people are touchy about their stuff?" June said shrilly.

"This is crazy," Boyd grumbled. "Hey, mate, don't crash, alright?!"

"I won't! Like I said!" Papyrus sped through a red light and nimbly dodged around a rain-filled pothole in the increasingly waterswamped road. "I'm a very good driver, actually!"

Sirens began from behind them, far in the distance but jarring nonetheless. June covered her ears and mumbled something to the floor.

"Okay. On the run. Fine," Sans said. "Paps, don't stop."

"I will not!" he assured them. "Time for crimes for a good cause!"

They blazed down the road as the rain poured and thunder rumbled over the sound of the engine. The sirens were wailing louder, and the flicker of red and blue lights shot through the downpour. Headlights beamed like glowing eyes, glaring at their rear.

"Just so you know, darlings," Mettaton said, "there's some interfering signal that keeps hitting us to tell the car's A.I. to pull us off to the side."

"Oh no, oh no no," June muttered.

"I'm overriding it, obviously," he continued. "But just so you know."

Boyd grimaced and pulled his daughter closer.

"Daddy?" she asked cautiously.

"I…" He held her to his chest, covering her ear at once. "Should I bail? You guys'd keep her safe, yeah?"

"D-Don't even think about it!" June snapped. "Not after all this!" She took a deep breath and her shoulders relaxed. "We'll keep going. It's going to be fine."

"But would she be safer?!" he insisted.

"Daddy, what are you talking about?" Ellie asked.

"Forget it," Undyne growled. She turned in her seat, glaring through the rain at the cop cars encroaching on their space as the tall buildings on Anthelion started to shrink in the distance. "Isn't there anything we could do?! Hey, Sans, what about your book?!"

"Uh…" Sans pulled the ancient tome from his bag and quickly flipped through it. "Yeah, there's no way I can cast any of this."

"Give it," she insisted, holding out her hand.

He passed it over and she instantly delved into it. "Nngaah! What language is this?! Can you read this?!"

"Yeah."

She threw it back at him. "Then find me something!"

Sans thumbed through the pages again, skimming the titles. Crushing Meteor, Palace Ascension, Starsurge; Submergence— all read like powerful attacks. World Tear sounded beyond dangerous, but somehow was marked down to work in a separate ink. He wasn't sure that even Undyne was strong enough to cast any of these. The sirens were getting louder. Bright, shining colours caught his eye and he tore himself away from the pages. Those same flashing lights trailing them were lurking ahead behind white, bright beams— glaring, hulking cats hunched and ready to pounce. He shot a look at Papyrus, whose brow was fixed in a concentrated furrow.

"Guess they caught on 'bout the kid, huh?" Sans said.

"I was about to say, surely this wasn't allll about the computer!" Mettaton said.

"It didn't help," Undyne growled. "Sans, hurry up, will ya?"

"Yeah, I'm tryin'," he grumbled.

The engine growled as Papyrus pushed hard on the gas again.

"Aah! What are you doing, darling?!" Mettaton demanded. "Don't you see the blockade?!"

"Of course I do!"

"This car can't bust through that," Boyd said swiftly. "I swear, mate, if you get us killed—"

"I won't!" His eyes began to glow. "I have a great idea, this'll definitely lift your spirits!" He took a deep breath; his soul's song burst and a deep blue aura shimmered over the car.

"Paps?!" Undyne barked.

"Hang on to your seats!" He gripped tight to the steering wheel and, with a grunt, his gravity magic hurled the car straight into the air.

The humans shrieked. Undyne grabbed all three and squashed them close.

They vaulted the cars in their path like a horse over a hurdle and clunked back into the sloshing road. Sans bounced and had to cling to his spot with one hand again while protecting the the book with the other.

"HAH! Okay, that was cool!" Undyne whooped.

"Nyeh heh! Knew it would work," Papyrus said brightly.

Boyd's face was pale and he was starting to sweat. "How did you…?"

"They're turning to follow, just so you know," Mettaton said.

Ellie covered her ears and bit her lip. "This is scary."

"It's going to be fine." June took her hand and squeezed it. "Guys, what exactly do you plan on doing?"

"Keep going, of course." Papyrus sped up and they could feel the tires gliding under them. He let out another gravity pulse that grounded the car as one one of the ones giving chase spun out. "Ah! I hope they're alright!"

"You okay to keep that up?" Undyne asked.

"Oh, yes, for a while," he assured her.

"Sans, anything?"

Sans was getting dizzy again. Nonetheless, he went back to the book. "You ever even cast a spell like this before?"

"No, you?"

"Nope."

Undyne growled quietly, muttering darkly under her breath. The skeleton hurriedly flipped pages. The simplest one he could find was a minor weather spell. There was also a general power-buff that didn't seem like too strange a melody, either. He passed them back again.

"Maybe you can do somethin' with these."

Undyne skimmed the pages quickly. "Hm. Yeah. Seems not too bad."

She took a deep breath and brought out her soul's glow. The bright cyan dyed the back seat and Ellie let out an awed coo. Undyne held the book in one hand and read the weather-change melody a few times until she could hear it in her head. She hummed softly and her soul matched her. June scooted as far from the monster as she could, which was just a measly few centimetres. However, the spell flickered out before it got started and Undyne was left sweating already.

"Ah, damn," she grumbled.

"What was that?!" Boyd demanded.

"I'm trying."

"You gotta be careful, right?" the man barked, holding his daughter a little tighter. "You don't know what you're doin'? You guys are magic, yeah, how've you never cast a spell before?!"

"Didn't have much of a chance to learn since you humans stole all our stuff," she snapped.

"We just helped you get your stuff," he retorted.

"What, you want a medal?! You owed us."

"Hey, I didn't—!"

"Guys, please!" June grabbed Boyd's arm with one hand and Undyne's with the other. "This is not the time. Deep breaths. We all need to get out of this. Papyrus, hun, you're doing a great job up there."

"I know! Thank you!" he said.

"And Undyne." She held the monster's big, blue hand in both of hers. "I know it must be frustrating. But I think you can do this." She nodded. "We're counting on you, but please, try to relax."

Undyne blinked blankly at the human. Her gaze shifted to the small girl behind her, whose bright eyes were watering. Ellie's jaw was clenched, but even so, she stuck a stubby thumb up with one hand as she gripped, white knuckled, to her tiger with the other.

"Y-You can do it, Undyme," she said in a tiny voice.

Undyne cracked a reluctant smile. "Right."

"Welp. That was excitin'. Try the buff first," Sans suggested.

"And hurry up, please," Mettaton said.

Undyne flipped the page and began again, a different melody that emerged more smoothly. Her soul followed along on the first try, and when the spell burst, a shimmer of her bright colour crackled like electric sparks over every monster in the car. Sans shot up like he'd been shocked by static and the glow in Papyrus's eye flickered with cyan.

"Nyeeehhh! That's weird!" he said.

"Feels pretty good to me," Undyne said, flexing her arms. "Okay. Again." She crossed a leg and propped the book up. Her magic began to swell as she forced her soul along the melody. She took a long, deep breath and closed her eye, and when she let it out, the air from her mouth was chilly mist.

Spirals of frost crept up the windows outside and a blue sheen tinted the rain. With a melody reminiscent of Undyne's own, the outer world was shrouded in a puff of mist so thick they could see nothing behind them any longer. Sans wilted in his seat and Papyrus cawed loudly.

"Holy cannoli!" he yelped.

"That was fantastic!" Mettaton cheered. "I knew you could do it, beautiful!"

Undyne stomped on the floor of the car.

"Ouch."

"Th-That's amazing," June said. She turned around as much as she could and squinted through the white wall behind them. "But their A.I.'ll get them going again in a minute."

"Road's ice," Sans said. "But, uh." He shot a look at the map: they'd hardly got going themselves and there wasn't a turn-off in any direction they needed for miles. "We could head back towards Gullport then maybe, uh… I dunno, what's the terrain like, can the car handle it?"

"Oh, no, probably not," June said.

"Let's just try to make some tracks, darling," Mettaton said. "Let me just…" His magenta soul flickered overtop of the map screen. "Oooh yes. Let's hit it!"

His hum, in a bombastic upbeat song, burst from the radio as he seized the car and jettisoned it forward with a propulsion of pink, glittery flame from the back.

"Do w-we have enough gas for this?!" June shouted over the noise.

"We're cyberpowered, baby, we don't need gas!" Mettaton sounded like he was beaming.

"This is the coolest!" Ellie whooped, even as her father pushed back in his seat and prayed under his breath.

Cars were not supposed to move this fast. It was a good thing the storm had kept everyone else off the road in front of them. Rain that hit the ground behind them froze slick. Whatever lights pursued them were lost. The metal frame of June's car was rattling and it sounded like something cracked. The tires carved grooves into the highway. Then, a loud, percussive bang. The car began to skid but Papyrus quickly put his hands on the wheel.

"I got it!" His indigo magic flashed and lifted them, but instead of a stabilizing force, it flung the car high into the air.

The panic was loud and Papyrus's apologies were louder. Sans grabbed his arm, took a breath, and touched the side of the car, using the stabilizing blue himself even though it made his head spin. They stopped, hovering in disorienting rain and grey.

"M-Maybe that boost was a bit much, huh?" Undyne said, grabbing the humans again as she laughed awkwardly. "Whew."

"Nyooo, sorry!" Papyrus said. "I wasn't trying to send us… Where are we?!"

Undyne rolled down the window and peeked out, then immediately retreated, eye wide. She was already soaked.

"Well?" Boyd asked.

"I, uh… can't see the ground good?" she said.

"What?!"

"Oh my god," June squeaked.

"Are we flying?!" Ellie asked excitedly.

Lightning flashed, slicing the sky, and the thunder that followed shook them. Papyrus gripped back onto his brother.

"I think I sent us too high?"

"Lofty ambitions, huh?" Sans said.

"Ugh."

June rubbed her arms, then froze. Her face paled. "W-We… We need to get down."

"Get down where, though, I can't see the ground?" Papyrus said.

"It doesn't matter, just…" She squished against Undyne and leaned forward to look at the map through its veneer of pink. "Can we head east?"

"I can't really move much, to be honest," Mettaton said.

"W-We can do that, I think," Papyrus said. His eyes flickered with deep blue and the car shot off sideways through the air at breakneck speeds. "Nyyeeeehhh, I'm sorry! I usually have infinitely better control than this!"

"Don't worry 'bout it!" Undyne shouted. Her soul swelled bright, shifting everyone but Mettaton to a safely rooted green. "Just keep it up!"

"Why are we glowing?!" Boyd demanded.

"It's for your own good!"

Something in the corner of Sans's eye sparkled. A chill rattled him and a dark, forbidding sense loomed in the back of his mind. The feeling was too strong— he might have reflexively warped if he knew where he was. He hurriedly reached into his bag and pulled out the barrier orb Toriel had given him. He sparked it and crushed it against the ceiling.

A shimmering violet bubble enveloped them instantly, just in time for lightning to crash against it, setting the world ablaze for an instant, followed by a deafening boom. It dissolved and they instantly began to fall. The humans were yelling. Papyrus sounded like an upset crow. Sans gulped heavily and, though a headache pressed in, he used his magic to toss them at an ascending angle. If the map was right, they were covering a lot of ground.

They broke the mist and could suddenly see trees and road stretched out despite the heavy rain. More lightning arced around them.

"Should I throw us again?!" Papyrus yelled.

"Once more, but not up!" June said.

"Oookay! Just don't be sick!" His blue magic set them sailing through the air even farther, but very quickly, the indigo vanished from his eye and they began to fall. "Um. I don't mean to alarm you all but I believe the buff spell is wearing off."

"It definitely is," Mettaton said. "And I'm going definitely going to be sick."

"Last thing we need's a fuel ejector," Sans said.

"Just get us down!" Boyd said.

"D-Daddy, it's okay, it's just like the water slide," Ellie said, though she sounded nervous anyway.

They were still dropping. Papyrus tried to heave them back up, but the effort was straining him. Sans sighed, flinched, and tried to help despite himself. Instead, he swooned and collapsed in his seat.

"Sans!" Papyrus reached for him, and the car fell farther.

Undyne sighed. She kicked open the door beside her, letting in a cacophony of wind, and looked down. Ellie squealed.

"What are you doing?!" June yelled.

"You're nuts!" Boyd barked, holding the girl tight.

Undyne jumped. She plummeted straight down, aiming for the road far below. She crashed heavily into it, breaking the asphalt and then straightened up and held her arms out, squinting up through rain. The navy car glimmering with a faint indigo hue bore down on her like a comet. She braced herself, roared, and caught the thing as it it crashed.

Green souls faded and Undyne dropped to one knee, grunting. The car began to fall apart in her hands. Mettaton leapt from the trunk and ripped a door off the back. He yanked the humans out as Papyrus stumbled from the front seat, lugging a barely conscious Sans with him. The car wheezed miserably and the metal split. Undyne bellowed and heaved the thing off the side of the road, where it crashed in a splash of soggy grass and mud. Mettaton yelped and rushed back to the trunk. The rest of them were left, standing soaked in the road in the middle of the woods.

"Everyone alright?! Undyne barked.

"Y… Yeah." June shivered and hurried to Ellie and Boyd, and held the little girl's hands. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, but it's okay if I maybe puke, right?" she asked sheepishly.

"Of course that's okay," Boyd said gently.

June nodded quickly and looked over at Undyne and then her car. "…Well… Guess I'm n-not getting home that way."

"You ain't getting home any way," the big monster said. She put her hands on her hips and looked up at the silhouette of the mountain in the distance. She shot Papyrus a look. "He okay?"

Sans limply stuck a thumb up.

"You did a great job, Captain," Papyus said; even he looked worn out.

She nodded and started off down the road.

"Wait, where are you going?" Boyd asked.

"Mountain," she grunted. "Come on."

"Wha…? What do you mean? What are we supposed to do?!"

"Well, you're on the run, right?" she asked. "Like I said." She tilted her head towards the mountain.

"…Are we going t-to the Monster Kingdom?" Ellie asked under her breath,

"Oh! I see!" Papyrus beckoned for them to follow. "Yes, you are! Come on! It'll be safe there!"

"And it's a long walk in this awful cold rain!" Mettaton said, lugging his stolen computer up out of the ditch. All his human-like make up was smearing off. He offered June his empty hand. "Come on, Junebug, it's quite a trek."

"Hurry up!" Undyne called. She slid down a ditch and into the woods, waving for them to follow. "And keep close!"