Rachel slowly opened her eyes after a few moments, convinced the flash was her dying. But when she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of the lab. Although it looked a lot different now, all the papers that had been on the desks around them were scattered and burnt around the edges. She lowered her legs from the seat of the chair and stood up on shaky legs. She stepped out of the machine, looking around at the mess around her.

It looked like a bomb had gone off around them, beakers that had been left over exploded, the glass sparkling on the tiled floor under her. The white tile was singed and turned black directly in front of the machine, the pattern sparking out to where Sans had been standing on the outside of the extractor. But there was no sign of Sans.

"Sans?" she called out worriedly. In the silence, she pursed her lips worriedly and tried to call out again, "Sans, are you okay?!"

She sat and listened for a response, a groan, anything. But nothing happened, no sounds. She frowned worriedly and felt tears starting to sting in her eyes. What the hell had just happened to her? And where the hell was Sans?

She needed to find help; this was way over her head. Maybe as co-head researcher Alphys would know about the machine and maybe what went wrong. So, Rachel, now with her plan, started making her way up from the basement.

Her steps were quick and sure of where she needed to go. She bounded up the steps two, sometimes three, at a time. She had to find out if Sans was okay.

Her breath started to come in pants as she rushed up the five flights of stairs, but she didn't dare pause to catch her breath. At the top of the stairs, she started to jog down the hallways, her fellow coworkers greeted her as she passed. "Where's the fire," one of them called out after her, which just made her cringe as she remembered the scorch marks. She ignored them as her pace started to quicken, until she was right outside of Alphys' door.

She knocked, more pounded, on the door twice before she eagerly turned the knob and almost fell into the room. "Alphys, you have to come quick! Sans and I, we went down into the basement to use the DT extractor, but something..."

She trailed off as she took in the room before her, Alphys sitting behind her desk looking at her shocked, along with Mettaton and Papyrus. She had only seen Mettaton a few times, and the whole lab would be in a tizzy for one of his... Inspections. Mettaton had a perfectly manicured brow raised as the robot looked the human over, before he turned to look at the yellow dinosaur, "Well, Alphys another project you haven't informed me about that my money is going to?"

Alphys quickly shook her head, and raised her claws in defense, "N-n-no! I-I don't kn-know anything about what she's t-t-talking about! I-I promise!"

Rachel frowned as she heard the venom practically dripping from the robot's words, and she frowned deeply, "Hey, I don't know who you are, but Alphys doesn't deserve to be spoken to that way."

Mettaton simply chuckled and stood up from his chair in front of the desk. He turned to face the human properly and straightened his tie before he began speaking, "I like your spunk. But Alphys and I here go way, way back. I know things about Alphy here that nobody else does, things that she'd never want to see the light of day." He glanced back at the yellow dinosaur, who simply gulped in response, beads of sweat appearing on the side of her face. "I've been throwing money at this lab for two years now, with nothing to show for it, except a bunch of dead or dying plants. Now you're telling me about some extractor, and it sounds expensive. I'd like to go see this little experiment you're talking about."

Rachel herself gulped as she felt the full weight of Mettaton's gaze, and she felt herself shrink down under the weight. "I-it was something Sans brought up," Rachel started, "I don't really know how it works... But it's supposed to extract determination from humans. Sans thought we could use that for the serum, and we'd be able to make them grow again."

All of the monsters seemed to tense up at the mention of determination, Alphys started to sweat profusely. Mettaton's gaze turned serious, and he nodded once, "Go ahead and show us."

So, Rachel led the trio down the hallways once again, headed towards the Maintenace stairway. She nervously rambled on as they walked, "The machine worked, maybe a little too well. I didn't see the explosion really, but I did see this weird... Monster? He looked like he had melted. Then when it was all said and over with, the room was in shambles and Sans was gone!"

All three monsters glanced at each other as she rambled on, concerned looks on their faces as they seemed to speak to each other silently. Rachel frowned as she saw the exchange, but she decided to ignore it for now, eager to try and find Sans.

They finally reach the final floor, and Rachel starts to run as she makes her way to the Extractor room, the three monsters rushed behind her. They all stop once they see the chaos of the room, and they look over the large machine in the middle of the room almost flustered. She turns to face the monsters and points back at the machine, "See? I told you. I'm not crazy. But now we have to find Sans."

Alphys nervously started to tap her claws together, her gaze down to the ground as she speaks, "R-R-Rachel... I-I don't know how you found out about this r-r-room... But this was s-s-stupid and dangerous! O-o-obviously you barely made it out and n-n-need some time to recover. W-we'll look around and see I-I-if we can find anybody."

Rachel frowned as Alphys speaks, "What do you mean 'anybody'? It's Sans! C'mon, your co-head researcher? You can't tell me you forgot about him?"

All of them met her bewildered gaze with soft, pitiful ones, and it drove her crazy. She huffed out loudly and crossed her arms, her teeth started to grit as she felt her anger and determination to be believed well up in her chest. "I'm not crazy!" she suddenly yelled out, "I'm telling you exactly what happened!"

Papyrus stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, she could feel his bony phalanges through his mitten as he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "I believe you, Rachel. But let us handle it for now... You've been through a lot! Allow me, the Great Papyrus, to take you home!"

Rachel looked around one last time at the monsters around her, and she let out a soft sigh of defeat. Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she realized she wasn't going to get anywhere with them. They were all just going to think she was crazy... She had to find her own proof that Sans even existed apparently.

After a moment of silence, she nodded and let out a soft sigh, "Fine, fine I'll go home. Maybe you're right and I just need some rest..." They all smiled as she seemed to come to reason, and they nodded at her. "Don't worry, we'll leave no stone unturned," Mettaton said, reassuringly. But this only made Rachel scowl for a moment and shake her head, she started out of the room slowly. Papyrus followed after her, while Alphys called out, "T-t-take the next few days off! I-I-I don't think I've s-seen you go home in days! T-t-take some time and r-r-relax. I-I-I'll call you if we find anything, I-I promise."

Rachel just nodded and waved in acknowledgement back to the dinosaur, her brow still furrowed into a frown. Papyrus jogged a few steps to walk in tandem with her, and he started speaking after a moment of silence, "You seem really worried about Sans. But I think he'll be okay." Rachel nodded and let out a soft sigh, "I didn't see any dust, so I think he's okay... But I just don't know where the hell he went."

Papyrus nodded as he listened to her, and continued walking with her up the steps, "I'm sure he's okay! And I'm sure he'll be really glad that you cared so much about him." This made Rachel give a small genuine smile, and she nodded up to the taller skeleton, "Yeah... I really hope we find your brother soon."

This made Papyrus frown, but he ignored it for now, and led her out of the lab once they reached the main floor. He led her to a large white pickup truck, and he stopped to open the passenger side door for the human before he made his way over to the driver's side. They both get into the car, and close their doors, buckling up their seatbelts before Papyrus starts the engine. Rachel gives him her address and a large grin came over his skeletal features, "Wowee! That's not too far from where I live! It's right on the way!"

Rachel couldn't help but smile at the monster's bright attitude, and she shakes her head slightly, "Maybe we'll have to have a sleepover sometime."

This made Papyrus start to beam with happiness, and he bounced excitedly in his seat for a moment. "That would be great! We could stay up watching all of Mettaton's shows! And do each other's hair and nails and...!" He trailed off as he thought over the logistics of doing a skeleton's hair, but he brushed it off quickly.

After about twenty minutes of driving and planning a sleepover, Papyrus pulled into the apartment complex that the human stayed at. She directs him to where he can drop her off, and he pulls up to the designated spot. He turned to look at Rachel, worry came over his features as he looked her over, "Are you going to be okay? I, as a great and wonderful friend, can come up and talk some more! You seem a little shaken up still."

Rachel smiled reassuringly to the skeleton, and shook her head, "No you're okay, Paps. You can head home; I'll text you in the morning and let you know I'm okay." Although he didn't look happy about it, he nodded and reached out a mitted hand towards her, "Okay, Rachel! I'll put my number in your phone so you can easily reach me!" She felt her smile widen at his enthusiastic nature, and she handed over her unlocked phone to him so he could add his contact.

Once he finished, he handed the phone back to the human and grinned widely at her, "I hope you have a better night, Rachel! And if you need anything, especially some pick me up spaghetti, just give me a call!"

Rachel grinned widely at him before she nodded and pocketed her phone, "I will Papyrus. Thank you for believing me, and for taking me home. I'll text you in the morning I promise." And with that, she opened up her car door and hopped out of the truck. She gave a final wave to the skeleton as she closed his car door, before she made her way up to her apartment. She fished her keys out of her pocket and unlocked her door, before she stepped into her apartment.

All she could hear was the soft whirring of the A/C unit, and the soft murmuring of her neighbors. Her apartment smelled somewhat musty, obviously not very well used over the past few months. She felt the tiredness wash over her after all of her fear and worry, and she kicked off her shoes into the corner near her front door. She pulled her hair from its bun, and her auburn hair cascaded down her back.

She tiredly made her way into her bedroom, her hands raised up to her face so she could rub her eyes. As she rubbed her eyes she made her way to her bed, falling onto it without looking. But instead of falling onto her comfy mattress, she fell onto a hard skeleton. She slipped off the body, and fell onto the floor screaming, "Who the fuck? How the fuck? What the fuck?"

Sans groaned as the human fell onto him, and he curled onto his side, cradling his ribcage. "Fuck!" he cried out, his sockets closed in pain. Rachel sat up onto her knees as she heard the familiar voice, her eyes wide, "Sans?"

He let out a weak cough and nodded, opening a socket to look at her, "In the flesh, well... The bones. Fuck, this hurts."

Rachel immediately shot up to her feet and ran into her bathroom, she grabbed the first aid kit from the medicine cabinet. She walked back into the room and sat on her bed next to the injured skeleton. He looked like shit, with a long crack above his right eye, and another underneath his left eye. Black goo trailed from his gashes, flashing in and out of existence as she sat and stared at it. A flash of the melted face came back to her, but she shook it off before she opened the lid to the medical kit. She pulls out some alcohol swabs and smiled apologetically, "This is gonna sting, okay?"

Sans simply nodded and sat up; one arm still cradled across his ribcage. One of his sockets was permanently dark as he looked at her, and the pin prick in his right eye kept flashing away. She pursed her lips and got ready to start bandaging him up, laying out her supplies next to her on the bed. She took the first alcohol swab, and started to clean off his face, focusing on the cracks and other nicks she saw in his bone. He hissed in through his teeth at first, but that was the only sound he made as he continued cleaning off his wounds.

"What the hell happened to you," she asked as she grabbed a patch of medicated gauze. She fit it over the crack over his right eye and started taping it down to his skull.

Sans let out a soft sigh, and he shook his head as much as her touch would allow him to. "I really don't know," he started, "One minute, I'm watching the machine boot up, and the next there's an explosion. I was in this dark void for a long time, kept seeing weird shit." He let out a soft relieved sigh as she fit the first bandage to his wound, which made her smile slightly.

She goes about patching up the crack under his left eye, and she purses her lips in concentration. "You kept seeing things? Like what?" Sans let out another deep sigh, and another shake of his head, "I dunno if I could really explain it. It was like... Other universes. It was all of us, but in different ways."

Rachel frowned as she heard him explain, and she dabbed some numbing ointment on a piece of gauze. She gently dabbed it along the marks on his face, and she watched as his shoulders fell more and more relaxed. She felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips, finally relieved to see Sans was okay. Well, okay in a relative sense.

She pulled away after a moment, satisfied that she got all of the nicks and cracks. She looked down at his arm cradling his ribs, and she gently poked at his radius before she demanded, "Lemme see the damage."

He cringed for a moment at her command, and he paused for a moment. But he let out a heaving sigh and lowered his arm for her, so she could lift up his shirt and see the damage. She gasped as she saw the mess of his ribs, floating ribs were stuck in the same goo she had cleaned up from his face. There were plenty of chunks of ribs missing, but she thought she could see how some of these connected together. She felt her face start to flush as she reached into his ribcage, her eyes trained on his face to watch his reaction. He grunted as she made contact with the first chunk of rib, and she pulled it out of the inky goo. She cleaned it off with a fresh alcohol swab, before she leaned back in and reattached it, it easily snapped into place with a soft 'click'. Sans groaned softly in relief as the bone clicked in place, and Rachel felt her shoulders start to relax.

She set herself on the task of cleaning all the rib pieces, then reattaching them where she thought they should go. They all snapped so easily in place for her, it surprised her, she never expected it to click together like a toy almost. Once she's done, there's beads of sweat on both of their faces, but Sans' features seemed to have smoothed out from the pain. "Hey thanks, Rach," he said appreciatively, his gaze down on the bedspread.

She smiled and shook her head, waving away the sentiment, "Don't even worry about it. You would've done the same for me, right?" Sans nodded and laid back against her pillows, her brows creased showing he had some discomfort, but he seemed to be doing better than before.

Rachel got up from the bed and returned the first aid kit to its rightful place in the bathroom. She made a pit stop in her kitchen, to grab her bottle of cheap whiskey before she walked back into her bedroom. She handed the bottle over to Sans, almost sheepishly, "I uh, I know Tylenol won't work for you. Burns right through monster's systems. But I've got some shitty whiskey if ya want."

Sans chuckled and sat up enough to take the bottle from her outreached hand, he unscrewed the top and took a long swig. He shuddered as he takes the bottle from his teeth, and he let out a soft cough, "Damn, you weren't kidding about it being shitty."

She grinned and jokingly held her hand back out for the bottle, fully expecting him to keep it to himself. Which he did, while saying, "Hey now, I didn't say I didn't want it. I just said its shitty." He let out a chuckle, which turned into a cough, then a groan and a swear. He took another long drink, before he leaned the crown of his crown against her bed, "Fuck, this really sucks."

She nodded and sat down next to him, and reached out to gently pat his knee, "I'm sorry if I made the machine explode..." Sans hummed in confusion, and opened his eyes to look at her, "What? Kid, no. God it's what, fifty or so years old at this point? I don't think it was anything you did. I think it was just bound to happen... I should've known better than to just trust a piece of machinery that's been sitting there for that long."

Rachel bit her bottom lip for a moment and nodded as Sans made some sense. It was a really old machine, and their guess on if it would work was just that; a guess. She reached her hand out again for the bottle, which Sans easily gave her. She took her own long swig of alcohol, feeling the stress of the day weigh on her shoulders. She shuddered as she felt it burn on the way down, the warmth radiating out from her stomach. She handed the bottle back over, where Sans took another long gulp.

Sans was feeling a lot better, now that the alcohol was running through his system. He could feel himself start to sink and relax into the bed underneath him. His gaze lingered on the human in front of him for a moment, and he found the thought of her being cute cross his mind. He shook the thought off quickly though, he was drinking and just went through a near death experience... He wasn't thinking in his right mind.

Rachel stood up from the bed and walked to her dresser and opened a drawer to pull out an outfit for herself. "I'm just gonna go get changed into something comfy, okay?" He nodded and gave his acknowledgment before she disappeared into the bathroom to change.

She returned a few moments later, dressed in a pair of black yoga shorts and a black tank top. She came and sat next to Sans again, who could feel his cheeks start to heat up. Did she always have a figure like that?

Rachel caught him staring at her, and it made her own cheeks start to flush. She cleared her throat softly and began running her fingers through her hair almost nervously. She kept her gaze down for a moment, but she almost squirmed as she felt his gaze linger on her. She hummed out softly, "Are you feeling better?" Desperately trying to change the subject, so she felt less awkward. Sans seemed to snap out of it for a moment and nodded, "Yeah, actually much better thank you. You've got a magic touch."

She giggled and shook her head, "Nah I've just had to patch up siblings enough times its almost second nature. I'm glad you're feeling better though."

Sans nodded and relaxed further into the pillows underneath him, his gaze still lingering on Rachel's curves. Maybe it was the mixture of the alcohol and near-death experience, but he needed to feel close to someone, and goddamn were those curves calling to him. Rachel smirked slightly, although her cheeks stayed red as she caught where his gaze was again, and she teased, "Hey take a picture... It'll last longer."

Sans had the grace to look embarrassed for a moment before his grin seemed to widen, he leaned in slightly and whispered out huskily, "Is that an invitation?"

Her mouth ran dry for a moment, and she felt her cheeks heat up once again. She looked him over, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't find him attractive. She started to lean in herself closer to Sans, and she speaks lower and more breathily, "Only if you promise not to use me as a guinea pig again." If Sans' smile could move, it would be wider.

He slowly reached a bony hand out to rest it on her thigh, his phalanges drawing small circles on her skin right below her shorts. "Well, I actually had an idea for one more experiment," he stated. "I wanna see how many inches a human can handle from a skeleton."