Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Flowey made his way through the ruins. If he could really feel any true emotions it would likely have been the same thing he felt now regardless, he mused to himself.

Apathy.

Unending Apathy.

He’d been following Toriel around as she inspected the Ruins, watching her from a distance as he stewed over the familiar emptiness that filled him, hoping to feel something different for once as he watched her in her pathetic self-imposed exile.

What a joke.

What was the point in even resetting or reloading at this point?

There wasn’t one.

He had exhausted every attempt at finding something to entertain himself with, and with getting to the six souls being a long lost cause at this point, he had finally just decided to let things play out.

Just let things start happening again.

At least for a while.

Maybe something interesting would happen in these ‘new’ days.

This run had been pretty peaceful this far. Sure he had to reload a few saves every now and again when he’d gotten particularly frustrated, but no harm no foul.

Watching Toriel comfort a crying Wimsum she’d come across, Flowey sneered to himself at the pitiful display and dove back underground.

He made his way further into the Ruins, passing everything to reach the edge of the cavern.

He tried not to think of... them often (lies) but if he was feeling particularly bitter, he felt drawn to this place. The place he’d first met them.

The place where the golden flowers now grew.

Coming back to the cave’s surface Flowey brushed the dirt off his petals. He was still a room away from the golden flowers. Having come this far, he didn't know if he wanted to go all the way to the spot.

A shadow of true melancholy bit at him in a way he was loath to acknowledge, but even shadow emotions couldn't be dismissed when he felt so little. He leaned into the feeling, trying to grip the fleeting, ephemeral emotion. 

It vanished.

He rolled his eyes.

Whatever.

He took a moment to feel the pale light on his leaves, the impossible to escape through cracks in the cavern ceiling above giving an illusion of freedom through the barrier that caged the Underground. It must have been late afternoon outside by now, the light filtering through was golden and red. The last rays of sun piercing the mountain.

Uhggg… Who needed it anyway?

Freedom was a lie, and it was pathetic how so many still clung to that hope after all this time.

He knew better.

Something would always rip it away.

Freedom.

Happiness.

What a load of rubbish.

The shuffling sound of someone walking echoed through the cave ahead jerked Flowey from his brooding. He looked around in surprise, he hadn't expected anyone to be down this end of the cavern.

The only monster living in the Ruins that ever came here was M- Toriel.

As the footsteps reached the entrance to the room Flowey sat waiting in, a confused face with a head of messy brown hair appeared around the corner.

For a moment Flowey felt frozen, the face he saw triggering something deep inside him.

Cha-

No!

That wasn’t them!

After that first moment of shock passed, he started to see the differences.

The hair was darker. Messier than they would ever allow.

Skin less rosy, face rounder.

This wasn’t them.

But he knew what it was.

A human.

Not just any human.

The seventh human soul needed.

It was all he could do to keep his face immediately twisting into a manic grin.

Well well well…

Looks like things could get interesting again after all.

Chapter Text

Flowey was still fuming slightly as he exited the Ruins into the Woods of Snowdin.

After Toriel had gone and spoilt his fun - he hadn’t even planned on permanently killing the human! That wouldn’t have been any fun anyway - he had tried to return to his last save point in order to try again, only to find out he couldn’t!

Trailing after the human as they made their way through the Ruins he’d soon realised why.

The idiot human had frozen up when faced with the monsters living in the Ruins by themselves and had walked into the path of bullets so many times until, well the inevitable happened.

Only for Flowey to feel the world stutter back. It was strange, he mused, being on the outside of that feeling. It had taken him a bit to realise what had happened, only once the human re-entered the same combat as before and Flowey felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu did he finally click to what had happened.

After that, it became much easier to keep track of when it happened again.

And again.

They were so weak.

Well.

They had still shown that idiot Froggit who was boss in the end when they finally lashed out.

It had been so annoying listening to them crying over it.

Really! If they cared so much why didn’t they just reload - it was as if they didn’t even realise that was an option! Even after the times that they had died.

Did they not realise they could reload without needing to die first?

Idiot.

He’d left them after the human had finally made their way to Toriel’s house in Home.

Seeing her fuss over the child and heal their injuries had filled him with annoyance at the gross display, and he decided he'd rather not stick around.

He’d head back in a few hours, but it was getting late and it was clear the human was going to rest at her house for a while.

But they would leave eventually.

That gave him some time to think.

Papyrus puffed slightly as he slowed his pace. His usual early morning - very early - run nearing its end. His bones aching from the strain.

“Gosh Papyrus! Fancy seeing you out this morning!”

Looking down towards the sound, Papyrus gave a tired but vibrant smile to his best friend.

“Good morning Flowey!” he said brightly, as he always did, not letting a past that never happened influence his tone. That wouldn't help anything.

And Flowey needed him to believe in him after all. Because Papyrus would always believe in him, no matter what he saw in his nightmares.

Still, today was… today.

A new day.

A curious feeling bubbled in his ribcage at the thought. He didn’t know what had changed. And honestly, he didn’t know how to feel about that.

He brushed that thought away, He wouldn’t pry though, he respected his friend’s privacy. Flowey would tell him if he wanted to.

And Flowey often did.

“Wow Papyrus, you ran really far today!” Flowey gushed up at him, “Your endurance is really great. You must be the fastest as well as the strongest monster in Snowdin by now with all the work you do!”

Papyrus puffed up slightly with the compliment. Flowey said such nice things to him. It really was nice to feel appreciated. And at the very least, Flowey was always a good friend when it came to that.

They spoke about many things when they hung out together, admittedly not always pleasant, but Flowey was always quick to give him encouragement and advice.

It was nice.

“Well of course!" he grinned back, "There's a reason the Great Papyrus will very soon become a member of the Royal Guard!”

Papyrus felt his soul sink slightly at his own words. But quickly pushed that feeling down. He could make it into the Guard, he was sure of it - Today was a new day!

It could happen for real this time!

He was so tired.

But! He would never give up!

“Why don’t you take a break from your training for a bit and hang out with me for a while?” Flowey said with a smile and tilt of his head.

Papyrus gave a nod and shifted over to the nearest tree, sitting with his back to it, as Flowey dove underground and popped up closer, next to him.

Still.

Times like this were nice.

Having a friend.

Talking about things.

It was best to try and enjoy these moments when they happened.

“You know they're lying to you?” Flowey said conversationally as they exhausted the previous topic of conversation.

They had both leaned back in the snow, gazing up as they watched the dim light start to filter through the tiny fractures in the ceiling high above, catching the starry crystals scattered throughout and giving a tinge of true daylight to the gloomy glow of the Underground.

Once the core-powered lighting infrastructure came on in an hour or so, this faint real glow would be swallowed up by the brighter artificial daylight.

Papyrus blinked at the conversation change. He looked over at Flowey’s pensive expression trained nonchalantly just to the side of Papyrus.

“What are you talking about?” he asked curiously.

“Your brother and your boss,” Flowey elaborated with a roll of his eyes.

Papyrus didn't answer immediately. His brother didn't talk to him about anything, he hadn't for what felt like a long time.

He couldn’t even remember when it had started anymore. It felt both forever ago and much more recent at the same time - He quickly cut off that train of thought and refocused.

There were many things it seemed like Sans was hiding from him, but when it came down to it, Papyrus respected his privacy the way he respected his own.

He wouldn’t pry unless Sans chose to talk to him about whatever it was he was hiding. Trying to get him to open up in the past hadn’t worked, and forcing the topic without further information wouldn’t help anything.

And Undyne…

Undyne was his boss, and while they spent a lot of time together Papyrus wouldn't dare presume them to be friends without her permission! As much as he would like that.

Maybe one day soon...

But still, she didn't owe him honesty about… whatever it was Flowey though she was lying about.

He trusted that she would be honest to him if it really mattered or if it concerned his work. As his boss, he knew he could rely on her for that at least!

Curiosity itched at him though. Flowey had had conversations with him similar to this in the past. Most were fuzzy and half-remembered remnants from the dreams that Never Happened though.

He pushed down the niggling voice that seemed to rise at the thought of what they were lying about.

It wasn’t his business!

But… If their lies concerned him, did he have a right to know?

“You know it don’t you?” Flowey asked him, breaking through his thoughts, tone curious, “The two of them. They tell you lies to try and keep you weak. You’re the strongest monster in Snowdin, and they treat you like a child. Hiding things that they don’t think you’d be able to handle.”

Oh.

That.

His smile dropped slightly.

That wasn’t anything new. Not really.

A sudden ball of emotion behind his jaw threatened to make words difficult. So instead he gave a brief nod.

“I really don’t understand them!” Flowey complained, pulling a face, “You’re the only monster I know who would never give up trying and who would keep going no matter what they told you! I know you don’t like speaking badly of anyone, but I really don’t understand why you put up with it either!”

Finding himself able to speak again Papyrus pulled his smile back to 100% and replied, “Sans is my older brother, you know what older siblings are like, they’ll always treat you like a kid, no matter what your age!”

Flowey scowled, “Urrh, tell me about it! My sibling wasn’t even that much older than me, but they still used it as an excuse to get their way all the time.

“I would never do that to you though, that's why I'm telling you this. Because you can always trust me to be honest with you, even if it hurts,” he said with a smile.

“Still,” Flowey said, “I think I have a plan to change how they think about you for real. A chance for you to finally prove yourself to those two!”

Papyrus sat up straighter and waited for Flowey to continue.

“You’ll never believe what I saw in the Ruins earlier…”

Chapter Text

After his talk with Papyrus, Flowey made his way back to the Ruins in time to see Toriel’s clingy desperation backfire on her spectacularly.

Golly, he hadn’t laughed like that in forever.

Seeing the human kill her, and then stand there numb with shock as her dust poisoned the air around them and clung to their hair and skin had been so satisfying after his earlier failed confrontation.  

That’s what they both deserved for spoiling his fun.

After the human stood there for a while, breathing growing increasingly ragged, Flowey was just starting to get bored enough to go and intervene.

Speed things along a bit.

Rub it in the human's face a bit maybe.

But that was when the human finally seemed to break through whatever it was holding them in place.

Taking a step back, away from the spot Toriel had stood, their face hardened into a look of pure determination.

The world stuttered.

After parting ways with Flowey, Papyrus had been filled with complete focus, he’d returned home to dress in his Battle Body, and was about to head out to make sure his puzzles were in top shape, when he was hit with an idea.

Alphys was online as usual, and he quickly sent her a message asking if she had any brilliant puzzles he could borrow. Not that he lacked faith in his own puzzles! (His final puzzle, at the border of the town, was something of a doozie - if he said so himself).

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have something unexpected up his sleeve.

Something to give him an edge.

Alphys was quick to respond, as usual. And said she had something that could work. Saying she’d ship it over ASAP. Alphys really was brilliant!

Once he got her message that it had been sent, he grabbed his barrow from behind the house and raced to the ferry landing.

River was just docking as he arrived, and was kind enough to help Papyrus unload the stacks of tiles, bundles of cables and large boxy control panel.

The control panel looked very Mettaton shaped, Papyrus noted immediately.

But Papyrus reminded himself before he got overly excited, Alphys was the one who built Mettaton after all, so maybe that made sense that she’d reuse the design? She was the mechanical genius, after all, he was just good at mechanics.

Speaking of which! He only had three and a half hours before his shift started, he had to get this puzzle set up before then so that he still had time to check his other puzzles as well! It would probably take him a few trips to get everything from the landing to the location he had in mind.

Looking over Alphys’s construction and operation notes that she’d sent with the equipment, he felt a headache start to build as he squinted at the barely legible chicken-scratch script.

With a sigh, he quickly realised he’d have to figure most of it out on his own as he set it up.

It ended up taking him much longer than he’d wanted, having to figure out everything from (chicken) scratch, and then he’d realised midway that he still had to get Sans moving for the day as well!

So only about halfway done with the setup, he had to run back home again, waking Sans and reheating leftover spaghetti for his brother’s breakfast while he was busy getting dressed.

Spaghetti!

Blinking away the exhaustion he swaying slightly as he froze in place in the middle of the kitchen.

A thought had hit him.

He sprung back into action as his brother shuffled into the room, half asleep still, cutting through Papyrus’s own blind haze borne of lack of sleep and forcing him right back into high energy mode.

He’d just had an idea for a trap!

Grabbing his own untouched plate with one hand and ripping the microwave plug out the wall with the other, before shoving it under his arm he started dashing out again.

“hey… bro? what’re you doing?” Sans asked, watching the whole thing unfold.

“I just had an idea for something!” Papyrus yelled as he tried to open the front door with both hands full.

“I’m going to be out early today! I got a new puzzle from Alphys that I need to finish setting up as well! Don’t be late for work, we’ve got to be prepared if a human comes through! And make sure you recalibrate your own puzzles! And please try to come up with something new! I’ll come to check on you when I’m done setting up!”

The last bit was said as Papyrus finally got the door open, and barreled out, the door swinging shut behind him.

“huh.” Sans said, still staring at the door as the whirlwind of energy that was Papyrus dissipated away, leaving silence in its wake.

The kettle started to whistle, shattering the silence and forcing Sans to move over to the stove to turn it off before filling his mug with tea.

“sure thing bro.” he muttered into the thin air as he sat down at the living room table, idly giving the pet rock a pat. Papyrus had already fed it, it looked like. He pulled the Snowdin paper that Papyrus had placed on the table next to the plate of spaghetti over to himself. He opened it to the (vast) puzzle section.

“time to find a new puzzle i guess…”

Papyrus had finished prepared all the puzzles, before going to check on his brother’s work.

He hadn’t recalibrated them.

He hadn’t done anything!

Sure Sans hadn’t recalebrated his puzzles the last week either, despite Papyrus’s insistent asking, but today was important!

Papyrus had difficulty biting down his frustration. He had told his brother that a human could come through at any time, and that they had to be prepared, but he had clearly spent the morning slacking off at his station, ignoring what Papyrus had asked of him!

Again!

He hadn’t been able to push his frustration down in the end. Not today.

He’d gone to confront him about it, only for Sans to turn everything into a joke! It was not the time for jokes! A human could show up at any moment! In the end though, Sans had managed to shift Papyrus’s annoyance into a more light-hearted exasperation.

Of course.

Papyrus sighed, he couldn’t stay mad at Sans.

He did leave him fairly quickly though. Maybe he had enough time to check Sans’s puzzles himself before the human showed up.

Sans took a shortcut over to him a short while later, while he was still walking towards the puzzles, to offer a more heartfelt apology. Which Papyrus instantly accepted. Sans had been curious about Papyrus’s drive this morning, causing Papyrus to roll his eyes a bit. Sans knew he had to impress Undyne so he could get into the Royal Guard! This was hardly something new!

He wondered for a moment if Sans was referring to something else, but that seemed unlikely?

“As I was saying about Undyne -” He started to reiterate.

And then he’d seen the human.

They were tiny.

Not even as tall as Sans.

He hadn’t really focused on that at the time. Instead, introducing himself loudly and announcing what the human would be in for when they proceeded. Rushing ahead afterwards to make sure every puzzle would be ready for them.

And the human had loved them. He wasn’t sure if he’d really expected that.

When he’d accidentally shocked himself with his electricity maze in his sleep-deprived and maybe slightly over excited state the human had looked so concerned until he’d show himself to be fine. That small, surprisingly concerned face had made him start to question what he was doing, but he quickly pushed it back down at the time.

(He absolutely did not decide to give the human a hint with the puzzle by walking through it himself rather than just “jumping” over it to give them the orb. And even if he did, it wouldn’t do if they got caught by the very first puzzle after all! Where would the fun be in that??)

After Sans’s “puzzle” (Sans why?) and the human’s agreement with him over the dullness of crosswords and comparable difficulty of jumbles, he raced ahead again as they closed in on his new spaghetti trap and the start of the spike puzzles.

As they made it past the first ones, he had asked the human how they got past his spaghetti trap. Which reminded him that he hadn’t eaten yet today, prompting him to inquire if they’d left any for him.

Not quite looking at him, the human told him they’d eaten it.

Papyrus’s hunger was quickly drowned out by the joy of someone actually enjoying his cooking!

“Noone’s ever enjoyed my cooking before!” Papyrus gushed.

Why was the human so nice?

Why did they have to be so nice?

They had solved his puzzles with a look of determination on their face, and had laughed and smiled, looking over at Papyrus with joy at each solution.

It was very Papyrus of them!

All the while he waited with them just in case they needed help with figuring out a solution. Scooting over a bit closer to them, to make sure they weren’t having trouble.

Then there had been Alphys’s puzzle. The human had been baffled by his explanation, so he’d pulled out Alphys’s notes and tried to decipher her writing again, only to realise he’d misread her handwriting!

(Maybe?)

He tried reading it out again.

Wait.

That didn’t sound right?

The poor human had been even more confused by that point and honestly so was he. In the end, he gave up trying to read the notes as his headache grew and his eye sockets started to cross. Putting the papers down he told the human they could figure it out themselves, frustrated at his own inability to read Alphys’s notes, before walking ahead of them to clear the squiggles from his head.

By the time they reached the edge of town he realised he couldn’t unleash his final gauntlet on the human.

They were too nice.

Once he’d deactivated it and brushed it off to the two observing him as another victory for himself, he saw a small shape at the far side of the rock formation bridge in the middle of his victory laugh.

“... Heh???”

Flowey gave him a look back as Papyrus caught his eye, before vanishing back underground. With just a moment's hesitation, he turned around and away from the human and his brother and walked back into town.

The puzzles had reached an end, and seeing Flowey had reminded him of his goal.

Of the plan.

He had to fight the human. Capturing the human was a sure way into the Royal Guard, and Flowey had gone to the effort of telling him about this chance, giving him every opportunity to prepare.

He tried to brush off what would happen afterwards.

What would happen to the small, messy, puzzle-loving human.

“I guess I’ll accept my failure.” Papyrus said, before turning away from the human.

After capturing the human once, and carefully making sure they were okay before dropping them off in the Capture Zone, he ran inside to grab a few more things for them once he realised how cold the shed was.

Only for the human to have vanished while he was inside.

Only for him to have to try and recapture them again.

This time their face had been set with determination as they managed to avoid most of his attacks.

About halfway through his attacks he no longer wanted to fight any more.

That didn’t mean he stopped!

Not yet.

But he may have maybe started helping the human a bit more.

Maybe.

That was one advantage to having turned the human blue. He could manipulate their gravity to help them over his attacks without giving away that he was doing so.

He couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t hurt them again.

He couldn’t let them die for his dream. Would his dream even be worth it if it came at the cost of someone else's life?

The last bone of his Normal attack faded away.

He stopped attacking.

“I couldn’t kill them.”

“You were never going to, that was never part of the plan to begin with.” Came the slightly exasperated response.

“Handing them over to Undyne, letting them be taken to the Capital - in the end does it really matter if it’s me or someone else that does it? I’d still be the one responsible for it happening.”

“Your EXP level would beg to differ.” Was the snarked response, “Still… I suppose there’s no helping it. I have a new idea.”

“Oh?”

“First things first, we’ve still got to make sure the human reaches the Capital, it would have been easiest with them captured, but I guess we’ll just have to work around that.”

“I met with Undyne, she’s not going to let the human get through Waterfall without a fight.”

“That’s our first problem then.”

“I think I have an idea of how to fix that though! I came up with it while I was hanging out with the human earlier. If Undyne realises how nice the human is, I’m sure she wouldn’t be able to kill them. If I can get the two of them to be friends, Undyne will call off the Guard and the human will be able to reach the Capital easily!”

“...” There was a pause, “Wow, if you can actually pull that off it would be super impressive. It’s not going to be easy to get the Shouty Fish to change her mind.”

“I know, but the Great Papyrus can do it!”

“What about your goal? Your side of the plan? Have you given up on the Royal Guard?”

“Of course not! Undyne may be really disappointed in me for not capturing the human, but if she ends up befriending them as well I’m sure she’ll realise I made the right decision. Being a guard is about protecting the Underground from threats, and since the human isn’t a threat, I’m sure she’ll recognise that I did the right thing once they're also friends!”

There was a ringing sound.

Fishing his phone out of his chest plate and answering it within the first two rings, the two heard a loud angry voice on the other side.

It seemed Undyne had found the human.

Chapter Text

Papyrus’s plan had failed.

Well. Not the whole plan.

Undyne had walked away from the human in the end, and was no longer trying to kill them. Which was good, and helped further Flowey’s plans at least. But when Papyrus showed up at her house to try and get her to become both his and the human's friend for real, she refused to even consider hanging out with the human.

She had called them a murderer.

Papyrus had been shocked to his core, there had been no deaths reported in Snowdin or Waterfall, but Undyne had spat out that she’d found out the truth from her neighbour. Apparently the human had killed someone in the Ruins.

Papyrus refused to believe that! The human was a good person!

And even if they did…

That meant they needed an ethically upstanding friend like Undyne to set them on the straight and narrow more than ever!

But with Undyne unwilling to help, it was up to him!

When the human had shown up, after Undyne had shut the door in his face, he’d explained the situation to the human.

He made sure to show his faith in them and pretended Undyne’s comment had been directed at him, not the human. So as not to hurt the child’s feelings.

The human had such a pained expression on their face throughout his words though, and averted their gaze away from him as he spoke. They left fairly quickly after that.

It seemed like everything started to go into a spiral after that.

Everything started to fall apart from that point onwards.

Papyrus had eventually gone home himself, after a few quick words with Flowey, before the two split up in opposite directions.

Once he’d gotten home, he’d checked the Undernet to see the explosion of posts from Alphys. After he’d caught up on her posts and made a few himself, trying to win her friendship with the tried and true methods Undyne had taught him last time he had asked, he went downstairs to the TV to see if he could follow what was happening in Hotland on MTT TV.

As amazing as Mettaton was, Papyrus was NOT setting foot in Hotland if he had any say in the matter. Otherwise he might have decided to go with the human on their trip to the Capital. Both to keep an eye on them, and to maybe have the chance to meet his hero!

At least Flowey had continued following them in person. He knew Papyrus hated the place.

He suppressed the shiver that tried to travel up his spine.

Sans was nowhere to be found in Snowdin this afternoon. Papyrus hoped this meant he was actually working all his shifts today. Papyrus didn’t know why Sans had less of a problem with Hotland than he did. He didn’t know how he was willing to work there.

...

It wasn’t something they spoke about. He had tried to bring it up once, but they had both steered the conversation away after things got a bit too heated. Papyrus had decided not to push further, even though he would have liked to talk to his brother about it properly. But they had both decided not to.

It would have been nice to know if what he’d remembered over time was real. If any of the splintered memories of the past he had were shared by his brother.

He didn't think so after that argument. His brother didn’t get heated easily, but he’d gotten quite upset by what Papyrus had said. They seemed to remember the past very differently. But maybe he was the one remembering wrong. Maybe he just didn't have the right context?

Fragments of a larger memory...

Papyrus brushed that line of thought away.

Nope!

He was not going to ruin this day anymore by thinking about the past!

That argument had been a long time ago. Why bother dwelling on the negative anyway? All that mattered was making sure the future was good!

Making sure people liked him.

Making sure he was useful.

He didn’t feel very useful right now. Waiting here in Snowdin, while Flowey followed the human through Hotland.

Sans was working in Hotland this afternoon... Maybe he should ask his brother to keep an eye on the human as well?

No.

He didn’t want to drag Sans into his and Flowey’s plans, and it just wouldn’t do to distract him from his work as well!

It wasn’t as though his brother really believed him about Flowey’s existence anyway. Same as Undyne. Neither of them had been interested in joining the Flowey Fan club he’d made either. He wondered if the human would believe them? They seemed like they might. Maybe they would want to join the Flowey Fan club as well?

He knew Dr Alphys would believe him at least.

He really needed to become friends with her. She would probably be able to help with a lot of things actually.

If only she didn't live… There.

Of all places.

It was well past lunchtime, when Papyrus finally clicked to the fact that he still hadn’t eaten yet today. Well, he realised it when Mettaton’s cooking show came on and reminded him.

Going to the kitchen to reheat some leftovers from his food museum, he stopped in the middle of the kitchen. He faced the empty cabinet top with a groan as he remembered he’d run off with the microwave this morning.

Looks like he was eating cold pasta.

Stabbing some of the cold linguine with his fork as he leaned back against the fridge, he wondered mournfully if Undyne would still want to continue having cooking lessons with him after today. Maybe he’d messed that up as well.

With that awful thought in mind, he trudged back to the couch to continue watching the human appear in each of Mettaton’s shows. That cheered him up at least.

It was great!

Watching two of his favourite people interact on TV.

Until it wasn’t.

Until it really really wasn’t.

Frisk was scared. Honestly, they had been scared a lot since they had fallen down. Then again, they had been scared often even before that. But this had all been a new kind of scary.

But in between the scary had been so much excitement and good things as well, right?

But the stress and ups and downs of the day had started to get to them. They just wanted to get out of here. They were standing a room away from where Mettaton waited once more, they looked down at the phone Toriel had given them.

You should call mom.

They dialed her once more. No answer.

Same as every other time.

They wondered if they should call Papyrus. He had given them his number after all. And he had called them several times already today, so he probably wouldn’t mind.

Maybe talking to Papyrus would be a good idea.

But after that conversation with Sans before, those veiled threats and hollow eyes...

Yeah, that guy was kinda creepy. I wonder what his problem is? Papyrus is alright though.

Yes. He’d been loud and kinda scary when they first saw him, but he’d been nothing but kind since! But when they’d last met up with Papyrus, and they’d had that conversation at Undyne’s house…

They didn’t want to hear his quick and complete trust in them. They didn’t deserve such hospitality.

There was a pause in their thoughts.

Okay, it’s your decision in the end.

They decided not to call.

Taking a deep breath, they went to face Mettaton again.

Maybe fighting back was okay this time? Mettaton was a robot, so it wasn’t like he couldn’t just be repaired. They set their face with determination. They could do it!

If you think it’s the right thing, they thought back.

.

.

.

Mettaton was breaking apart, smoke billowing out of the ports where his limbs had connected earlier. Frisk stared in mute horror at what they had done.

Mettaton looked at them, and smiled a brilliant and comforting smile upon seeing the look on Frisk's face, “I was wrong…” He said to Frisk, still smiling.

Encouraging.

“You really are strong enough to get past Asgore. Well then. It’s time for you to go. Don’t worry about me. I might seem like I’m dying now, but… Dr. Alphys can always repair me.”

It was okay? Alphys could fix this? Frisk nodded, clinging to those words like a lifeline. They hadn’t made the wrong choice in fighting back then?

The door behind Mettaton whirred open just as the lights in his eyes died completely, and he collapsed into a stationary heap.

“Oh my god! Mettaton!” Alphys cried, running over to the robot, ignoring Frisk, “Mettaton are you…”

Frisk couldn’t see her expression as she halted her words. Their heart was pounding. Everything was okay, wasn’t it?

Don’t ask me.

Alphys stood back up and turned away from Mettaton.

“H-hey… D-don’t worry about it..” Alphys said, not quite facing Frisk either, “I can always… I can always build a different robot!”

If Frisk doubted Alphys’s words, or if they noticed what the phrasing implied, they didn’t show any sign of it, they noted as they looked between the two.

Mettaton was just a robot, right? They comforted Frisk quietly. Not knowing what else to do.

They didn’t know if Frisk could tell when it was them 'talking' or not, it didn’t seem like the other child had really realised they were there with them. But that wasn’t anything new, none of the others had realised it. They doubted Frisk would be any different.

As far as Frisk knew they were just the occasional thought process that happened when they had to make a choice to do something.

Oh well.

It will be okay. They told the scruffy kid. They were determined to keep Frisk moving forward.

Maybe they could make it further than the others.

Papyrus stared at the TV in silence. It had cut to black right after Mettaton had…

Had…

Papyrus felt his world tilt. It felt as if the ground had been ripped out from under him.

The human had -

This was his fault. If he’d gone with the human, if he had been there to keep them on the straight and narrow like he’d promised himself he would outside Undyne’s house this wouldn’t have happened.

This had been him failing as a friend.

Mettaton would still be…

He hadn’t realised he was crying until he felt the couch next to him compress as someone sat down next to him, causing him to jerk his eyes away from the TV, forcing him back into awareness of his surroundings.

He tried to brush the tears away with his glove quickly.

Sans put his arm on his shoulder, his face was filled with concern. That made Papyrus feel even worse, he didn’t want Sans to be worried about him.

“hey bro…” he said quietly, “i heard the news while at work. i took a shortcut back. how’re... you holding up?”

Papyrus took a deep shuddering breath, trying to answer. Trying to tell Sans it was fine. He was fine. Instead, he broke down further, crying heavily.

“oh, crap.” Sans whispered to himself as he tried to pull the larger skeleton into a comforting hug. It was a poor attempt, but he was trying his best, “hey, it’ll be okay?”

No it wouldn’t be. His hero was dead, and it was his fault.

Chapter Text

Sans had vanished soon after Papyrus had managed to pull himself together. Papyrus had insisted he return to work as soon as possible. It was important for Sans to keep his momentum going, and Papyrus always tried to encourage his brother to keep him doing so.

Sans worried too much about him sometimes, but it seemed to keep him going some days. So Papyrus would usually let it slide.

But for once Papyrus really just wanted to be alone.

Once Sans was finally gone however, he just felt crushingly alone and useless.

He had to do something.

He logged onto the Undernet. Mettaton had been his hero, but Doctor Alphys had built him. He was sure she would be even more upset.

He sent her a message.

She always replied within five minutes.

She didn’t this time.

Well, she’d just had a friend die. She probably had better things to do than to talk to someone she’d never even met in person.

Papyrus didn’t know what else to do.

He started cleaning the house.

It was evening when the news broke across the Underground. Asgore was gone, and Queen Toriel had returned shortly after. No one seemed to know what had happened, just that a human may have been involved and that they had vanished through the barrier.

After he had cleaned the house from top to bottom, he had decided to walk to the shop and pick up a few things. People had been gossiping in the streets and were quick to tell him the news.

...And to talk about what had happened to Mettaton. It seemed like everyone had watched it happen.

There was a rumour the Souls were gone as well.

Papyrus felt his soul jerk slightly at the news. Did that mean Flowey had succeeded in his plan at least? Did that mean Flowey had a soul now?

Flowey had said he would be the one to meet back up with Papyrus when he was done. But he hadn't seen him.

He didn’t even know where to begin looking for his friend at this point. He could be anywhere.

Papyrus hoped he was okay.

Sans was nowhere to be found in town Papyrus noticed as he made his way back, not even at Grillby’s, which Papyrus found odd. His last shift had ended a while ago. But with everything happening it was possible Sans may have been finding out more about what was happening while he was close to the Capital.

That wouldn’t be surprising with the rumours he’d heard. Papyrus noticed he was shaking slightly. He took a breath and tried to force away the tendrils of dread that seemed to inch deeper into him.

He hoped Sans was okay too.

Papyrus was frazzled and exhausted, but the thought of sleep still filled him with too much unease for that to be a restful idea. He couldn’t rest until Sans got home anyway. So after putting away his purchases, Papyrus went upstairs to change into his running gear. He stared at the MTT brand clothing in silence for a moment before hollowly pulling them on.

He checked the Undernet to see if Doctor Alphys had replied yet.

She hadn’t.

He pushed down another small wave of nauseous dread that rose in his ribcage.

He took the tunnel to avoid the crowds still out, despite the growing lateness, and made his way to the western woods.

Once there, he started to run.

He ran until his bones ached and exhaustion consumed his every breath. And then he kept on running. Pushing himself further and further until all his emotions and stresses faded out under the increasing pressure on his body. His vision started to fade out.

He blinked away the black spots and kept going.

He was deep in the woods at this point. He hadn’t seen anyone in ages, not even the teens came out this far - there were not even distant campfires this deep in the woods.

Gasping slightly as he slowed down, he pushed his arms against his femurs and tried to catch his breath without lungs. Having stopped, his body started sending him all the pain signals he had blocked out while running.

He came to notice blood and dust dripping and flaking out from around his patellae, the friction from him running so forcefully for so long had caused the joints to scrape and bang together to the point of injury. Tiny cracks snaked over the bones.

Papyrus sighed. Or at least tried to, still trying to catch his breath. It would likely be the same around the rest of his joints.

This wasn’t the first time he’d run to the point of injury, but he couldn’t recall previous times looking quite this bad.

Well, it wasn’t like he could just stop here in the middle of the woods! He still had to get all the way back home!

Hands still shaking from exertion, Papyrus got to work healing the joints. He noticed a sharp pain flaring in his foot as he started to cool down while he worked, and pulled off his boot. He’d managed to crack a tarsal all the way through.

Sometimes, he thought, it would be really nice to have muscles, fat, tendons and the like. Things that could help cushion some of the direct impact on his bones. Oh well, it was easy enough to heal.

He was low on energy, but he still had enough to patch himself up until he got home and could eat something.

After a while, the bleeding ebed, and dust stopped flaking off the bones. He wiped away what he could with his glove (he’d have to wash it when he got home, it was kinda gross), and stood back up straight.

The bones still ached and the joins felt tender, but that was fine.

It was fine.

Everything was fine.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it.

It was very late.

There were no messages from Sans, so if he’d gotten home he must have found Papyrus’s note telling him he was out running and not to worry.

Putting his phone away again, Papyrus turned around and started running once more, following his footprints in the snow back.

About halfway back he couldn’t run anymore, no matter how much he forced himself. The tender, newly healed areas around his joints had started to crack and flake again, and this time he could feel the first drop of blood when it started running down his fibula. Slowing down, he stopped to heal them again, before proceeding to walk back stiffly.

His slower movements made the pain feel much more acute as he cooled again. At least it was distracting from his thoughts.

But, he admitted to himself, it was times like this that he wished he could just let himself take a shortcut. Oh well, it looked like he’d just have to take the pressure off his joints on the way home another way.

It was easier to do when he was happy or excited - or just feeling strong emotions in general really, but walking through the air would take some of the pressure away.

So he did.

When he finally got home, shaking from both physical and magical exertion, it was well past midnight. Almost the time he would usually be waking up by in fact!

He found Sans asleep on the couch. Papyrus wrapped a blanket around his sleeping brother with his shaking hands, who mumbled something in his sleep before falling silent again. Or well, slightly more silent. His snoring picked up fairly quickly.

After showering and changing, Papyrus didn’t have the heart to wake Sans up just to ask for a bedtime story. So instead, after double-checking on his brother and slipping an extra pillow under his skull, Papyrus grabbed one of the cinnamon bunnies he’d picked up while shopping earlier (it looked as if Sans had already helped himself to a few, which made Papyrus feel guilty that he hadn’t been home to make Sans dinner earlier), before he climbed up the stairs and entered his room. Moving towards his bed, he first stopped next to his bedside table and shifted his two Mettaton action figures to the very front.

If he had been less tired he may have had to blink back tears. As it was, it made him realise he had to check again before he went to bed. He walked over to his computer.

Still nothing from Doctor Alphys.

Shutting his computer back down, Papyrus stared at his reflection in the black screen for a minute before averting his gaze.

He climbed into bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Every part of him was tired.

Mind, body and soul.

He waited for sleep to claim him.

Papyrus woke up with a soft gasp, a feeling like ice water in his bones. He blinked rapidly to force the images away. His eyes darted to his action figures the moment his vision cleared.

The Mettaton figures were still at the front. Another new day.

He looked at the time on his phone.

What?!

How could that be?

Six whole hours gone!

He shot straight up and clambered out of his bed. It was past eight in the morning! How could he have wasted so much time? Standing on both feet a wave of pain flooded him.

Ooooh… He may have overdone it yesterday a bit.

But that wasn’t important.

Ignoring the pain he started getting dressed quickly while his computer booted up, he was able to log onto the Undernet once he was done. His feed was flooded with the rumours and news of the Queen’s return. As well as memorials for Mettaton.

There were no new posts from Doctor Alphys, and she still hadn’t replied to his message.

He was starting to get very worried. This wasn’t like her.

But he wasn’t a real friend to her yet, she could just not want to talk to him.

He fidgeted for a moment, debating to himself, before pulling out his phone and dialling Undyne.

“Hello?” Came a distracted voice after the fifth ring.

“Undyne, hi! Sorry to bother you, are you busy right now?” Papyrus said.

“Papyrus?” Undyne said sounding surprised, “I have a meeting with the Queen in a few minutes. Things are insane here. Why did you call?”

“I was just wondering if you’ve heard from Doctor Alphys since yesterday? I know you don’t check online often, but I was wondering if you might know anything?” Papyrus said quickly.

There was a pause.

“...I sent her a text message yesterday after what happened with Mettaton, and she told me not to worry. Why do you ask?” Undyne spoke.

“It’s just, she is yet to post anything online since... it happened. And she hasn’t replied to any of my messages since.” Papyrus said, hoping he wasn’t sounding too overbearing.

Undyne was quiet again.

“...Shit.” She muttered. The way she said it made ice flood his bones, “Okay, look - I’m sure everything’s fine. I’ll stop by her place on the way back after I’ve finished dealing with whatever it is the Queen wants to talk to me about.”

“Thank you!” Papyrus said, relieved.

“Look, I’ve got to go,” Undyne said distractedly, “But, oh yeah, I wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have been so harsh on you. That human fooled almost everyone until what happened to Mettaton. It’s not your fault, okay?”

Undyne had hung up before Papyrus could say another word.

He took a shuddering breath. Undyne was a good person, trying to say it wasn’t his fault. He knew better, but he appreciated the thought.

But Undyne wasn’t mad at him anymore so that was something.

He went downstairs. Sans was still on the couch, although now he was awake - or at least upright - and had a cup of tea in his hands.

“hey bro. good sleep?” Sans asked, yawning slightly, “what time did you get in last night?”

“Pretty late. I didn’t want to wake you.” Papyrus admitted, “What about you? Where were you after your shift ended yesterday?”

“oh man, what a day. i met the queen you know? the capital is going crazy with asgore uh... gone. queen toriel is planning on making a lot of changes it looks like.”

“Wowie! You got to meet the queen??” Papyrus exclaimed, he hadn’t expected that! “What was she like?”

“she’s nice. she has a royal mess ahead of her though.” Sans said, his grin growing a sly edge.

“Sans! Not the time!” Papyrus groaned.

People were dead.

“yeah, you’re right. my puns should get me throne out.”

“I’m going to get breakfast started!” Papyrus said loudly while turning on his heel and walking away. Before reluctantly adding, “But I’m sure the Queen will have many crowning achievements ahead of her.”

Papyrus felt warmth flood him as he was rewarded with the sound of his brother laughing from the couch.

After a slow breakfast with his brother, they had just been about to head out when there was a knock on the door. The two brothers looked at each other in surprise.

Opening the door, Sans came face to snout with Doggo.

Papyrus started bouncing slightly on his feet and waved at his fellow sentry from behind Sans.

“doggo, hey. what’s up?” Sans asked.

Doggo’s gaze had focused on the lightly moving Papyrus, seemingly ignoring Sans, “Undyne asked me to get all the guards and sentries together. She has some kind of announcement to make. Everyone’s meeting at the Eastern edge of town. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t sound good.”

“Oh? We’ll be right there!” Papyrus spoke immediately.

He wondered what was going on. He looked at Sans, his brother didn’t look too surprised by Doggo’s statement, but he rarely looked surprised by anything.

Following Doggo out, the three walked towards the warmer breeze coming from Waterfall together. They were quickly joined by the Royal Guard dogs, who were walking around talking quietly to each other. The fog was light today, and they all fell into formation when they noticed Undyne standing ahead of them, her helmet held under one arm. Her face was obscured by the mist somewhat, making it difficult to see her expression.

“I have an unfortunate announcement to make,” Undyne spoke to the assembled guards and sentries. Something was wrong. Papyrus could tell immediately from her voice. It was as if all her passion and determination had been sucked out.

She cleared her throat, “Queen Toriel has made a decision in regards to the Royal Guard, to be implemented immediately. I have already made this announcement once today in Hotland, so some of you may have already heard the news.”

The gathered dogs and skeletons looked at each other in confusion. Well, one of the skeletons did. The other didn’t do much of anything. It didn’t seem like anyone had heard what the announcement could have been yet.

“As of today, the Royal Guard is no more.” Undyne said, her voice drained of any emotion, “We have been officially disbanded. There will be a severance package made available shortly according to the queen. I would still recommend searching for new employment as soon as possible, however.”

There was silence from those gathered, before voices and whining filled the area.

Undyne turned away from them, “Dismissed.”

Papyrus was devastated. Now he’d never get into the Royal Guard, he would never be able to follow his dream!

He would never become popular.

Make lots of friends...

He had always told himself he would never give up, but the thing he refused to give up working towards no longer existed.

He felt hollow.

Undyne must feel even worse.

Undyne!

How could he be so selfish as to think of himself at this point? He had just lost a dream, she had lost her entire livelihood!

As the crowd started to disperse, Papyrus made his way over to Undyne.

“Undyne are you-”  Papyrus started to ask.

“She’s gone.”

Papyrus froze.

“I went to her lab after I spoke to the troops in Hotland. I found a note. She’s not coming back.”

“Wh- are you sure? Maybe we can still find her?” Papyrus spoke quickly, “Do you have any idea where she might have gone?!”

“Papyrus. Stop.” Undyne said emptily, “She’s not coming back.”

She turned away from him, dropping her helmet in the sludgy snow with no force. No anger in the motion, just gravity dragging the helmet down. She left it on the ground as she started to walk away.

“I’m going home.”

She trudged off, leaving Papyrus alone in the rolling fog.

A few minutes later, he heard footsteps behind him.

“hey, everything okay?” Sans asked in concern.

Papyrus felt tired.

He felt lost.

He felt useless.

He turned to face his brother, “Let’s go home.”

They didn’t spend much time at the house together before Sans decided to head out to Grillby’s. Apparently the dogs were all planning on heading there in mourning of their former employment and Sans had been invited along.

Sans had asked Papyrus if he wanted to join them, but after some thought Papyrus declined.

“don’t worry about things too much bro. you’re allowed to get pissed about losing your job and your dream. but you don’t need to wallow in it by yourself, come wallow in it with the rest of us.” Sans said, giving Papyrus a pat on the back.

“I’m not going to wallow!” Papyrus denied, “I’ve got something to do first.”

Hesitantly, he added, “If I get it done quickly I’ll come and join you.”

“okay bro. i’ll hold you to that.” Sans said with a grin, “i’ll give you a call later.”

Once Sans had left, Papyrus changed out of his Battle Body. It didn’t feel right wearing it now. Dressed more casually, he left the house. He walked slowly, his bones still aching, but he had something to do.

He had to try and find Flowey.

After a few hours of wandering around Snowdin and Waterfall, checking all the places he usually hung out with Flowey and finding nothing, Papyrus started getting anxious. He had been just about to stop looking for the day when he found Flowey near some echo flowers in a dark corner of Waterfall.

He was staring into a shallow pool of water, facing away from Papyrus.

“Flowey!” He called as he approached.

Flowey looked up at Papyrus in surprise, before vanishing underground without a word.

“Wait!” Papyrus called after him, running to the spot Flowey had vanished from.

“I needed to speak to you.” He said.

The echo flowers started to repeat it back to him.

“...I needed...”

“...To you...”

“...Flowey…”

“...Speak to..”

“...Wait..!”

“..Wait.. speak to… I needed…”

As they started to repeat themselves as well and distort his words, Papyrus shivered slightly before leaving quickly. At least Flowey was okay. He knew that now at least. He’d try to find him again later.

As he walked back through Waterfall, he realised he was near Undyne’s house. He decided to check up on her.

He would forever be glad he decided to when he felt a wave of heat hit him when he was a cavern away. Running towards it he was faced with a raging inferno engulfing the house.

Oh no!

Fires weren’t unusual at Undyne’s, he’d been around for more than a few of them. But nothing like this. He looked around for Undyne, hoping to spot her somewhere close. He couldn’t see her.

He pulled out his phone and tried to call her. She didn’t pick up, but he could just make out the distant sound of ringing over the roar of the fire.

It came from inside the house.

Oh no!

Keep calm, that didn’t mean she was still inside. She may have just left her phone.

He couldn’t take that risk.

Steeling himself, he tossed his still ringing phone on the floor before he ran back to the previous cavern and dove into the water there, making sure he was soaked through before running back.

Without stopping he climbed through one of the broken windows, rather than opening the door and letting more oxygen in. The inferno didn’t need any more feeding.

His eye sockets watered as they filled with smoke. Crouching down low, he made his way towards the ringing. It was coming from Undyne’s room.

He pressed his hand against the door when he reached it. It wasn’t hot. He opened it.

The room was filled with smoke, but no fire.

Undyne was lying on her bed, she wasn’t moving. Her phone was ringing uselessly on the bedside table.

“UNDYNE!” He yelled.

She didn’t react.

Papyrus moved.

Racing over to her, he ignored the smoke burning his eye sockets and filling his skull as he pulled off his still wet scarf and wrapped it around her face and hair. He had to get her out as fast as possible! Wrapping her up in her blanket to give her a barrier against the flames he lifted her up with some difficulty, she was really heavy, and his bones still ached with every movement.

He did it anyway.

Bracing himself he ran back through the living room, Undyne wrapped up in his arms. He needed to get her out as fast as possible, that meant the front door. He kicked it open, the fire roared at the new source of fuel, and Papyrus felt the flames scorching his back.

He raced to the pools, gently unwrapping Undyne from the smoking blanket. He threw it in the water while he unwrapped his scarf from around her face.

She wasn’t breathing.

Pressing his head against her chest he felt a shudder of relief when he heard a faint heartbeat.

With shaking hands he started trying to heal her. He didn’t know much about fleshy anatomy, but he knew he needed to fix her lungs, get them restarted. He didn’t know how long it took, but when Undyne took a gasping breath and started coughing horrible choking coughs it was a relief.

She was alive.

Thank goodness!

The blanket was thick but lacked the density to sink fully, still half floating in the pool when he went to re-wet the scarf.  He wrapped it around her head to try and cool her down.

She still felt very hot, and her scales looked horribly dry, so he dragged the wet blanket out and covered her in the most heavily waterlogged part, still monitoring her breathing.

He needed to call for help, but his phone was still on the ground near her house. He couldn't leave her alone until he was sure she would keep breathing.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled off one of his gloves and put his hand over her lungs and focused on fixing the damage again.

He didn’t stop, even when Undyne finally opened her eyes.

“...yrus?” She croaked, throat sounding painfully raw.

“Undyne!” Papyrus said, “Are you able to talk? Do you hurt anywhere?”

“‘M fine.” she said blearily, trying to wave an arm and failing when it caught in the heavy blanket.

“No you’re not!” Papyrus shuddered, “You almost died! What happened?”

“...think I left the fridge open?” Undyne mumbled before fading out again.

Papyrus kept healing her until her breathing evened out and she no longer gurgled with each breath.

With a sigh of relief, he pulled his glove back on quickly and stood shakily. He walked back to the fire, which was still burning steadily. Picking up his phone, he walked back to Undyne.

The phone had disconnected from its earlier call.

There were several missed calls from Sans.

Reaching Undyne, he sat back down next to her and phoned Sans back. He picked up on the first ring.

“papyrus! are you okay? why weren’t you answering your phone?” Sans spoke immediately.

“I’m fine, I’m near Undyne’s house.” Papyrus said.

“i tried calling undyne when i couldn’t reach you, what’s going on?”

“Undyne is hurt. I think I’ve got it under control, but I don’t know, I’m not an expert at healing!”

The next few hours passed in a blur for Papyrus, although he remembered Sans scolding him for reckless behaviour and insisting that he get the burns covering his bones, especially on his back looked at.

Papyrus hadn’t even realised he had them.

He’d protested at first, but relented despite his discomfort in the face of his brother’s concern.

The healer at the clinic they went to had fixed him up quickly though. He had also fixed up the joint pain when he noticed the lingering microfractures around the joints. Papyrus was grateful the healer waited until Sans was out of the room before sternly giving him a talking to about taking better care of himself.

He was gladder still when he was no longer the centre of the healer's focus.

The brothers got back to Snowdin soon after they had finished at the clinic. Undyne had to stay overnight for observation, but the healer had said Papyrus had done excellent emergency work and had saved Undyne’s life with his quick treatment, and that she would have died if he’d been any slower.

Papyrus didn’t sleep that night, for a number of reasons.

The moment the clinic was open the next day, he was back through the front door to Undyne’s side in an instant.

She was staring at the ceiling, eyes hollow.

“How are you feeling?” Papyrus whispered.

She didn’t face him, still staring up.

“Like hell.” She rasped.

He winced at the sound. The healer had said it would take time for the rawness to go away.

Papyrus fidgeted, trying to think of something to say. Undyne broke the silence first.

“Thanks for saving me Papyrus,” she croaked, “You’re a good friend.”

Friend.

She had called him her friend.

The warmth he felt was quickly overtaken by the cold fact that Undyne had lost Doctor Alphys and King Asgore. She had lost almost everyone she had considered a friend before.

He was a poor replacement, but he would do his best to live up to the title!

“Sans is fixing up the couch for you back in Snowdin, you’ll be staying with us for a while - if you want to of course!” Papyrus said.

“Thanks, Papyrus. I appreciate that.”

After he got Undyne back to Snowdin and made her comfortable things didn’t change much for the next few weeks.

Undyne rarely left the couch, and only showered or ate when Papyrus pressured her to do so. Most of his time was spent trying to bring some life back into her eyes. It was a process he was sadly very familiar with already, and it didn’t really take much time for him to adjust to it.

Thankfully it seemed like Sans was doing somewhat okay lately, Papyrus didn’t know what he would do if he had to keep both of them going at the same time.

Sans was working really hard, as the only one of the three with a job now, he spent most of his time at his illegal hotdog stand while Papyrus tried to help Undyne recover from her depression.

Nothing seemed to get through to her, not even Papyrus’s desperate plan to inspire Undyne with the thought of revenge on the human. She didn’t care.

“It won’t bring them back.” She said hollowly.

Papyrus refused to give up hope. But if that was what she needed… if she needed them back alive in order to live again… He’d do his best! No matter the odds!

Once Sans offered Undyne a job at his hotdog stand, both to take some of the constant workload off himself, and to force Undyne to leave the house more (Sans admitted he got the idea from when Papyrus did the same thing to him, pressuring him to get his old sentry job to give him something to do and force him back into some kind of stability), he finally had the time.

With Undyne out of the house more, Papyrus could finally work on trying to get Undyne’s friends back!

Every moment Undyne was at the hotdog stand, Papyrus spent his time looking for Flowey. He made sure to always be back before she got back, so he could keep an eye on her.

Eventually, he found him.

This time Flowey didn’t run away.

“What do you want?” the flower asked, sounding lost and confused.

“Are you okay?” Papyrus asked, frowning.

“Peachy,” Flowey said scowling.

“I haven’t seen you since...” Papyrus trailed off.

“Yeah, well. With both our plans up in flames I didn’t really see the point.”

“So you didn’t get a soul? I heard they went missing?” Papyrus asked.

Flowey grimaced, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh, okay.”

“... Seriously, what do you want?”

Papyrus was quiet for a bit.

“I was wondering, if you could maybe… reset?”

There was a deathly silence.

“What.”

“I know it’s none of my business, and I wouldn’t ask if it was for me, but it’s the only way I can think to fix things and-”

“You know. You knew.”

Papyrus blinked in surprise, “Of course I know - you told me… Oh, wait, that didn’t happen during this latest run, did it? Sorry, it’s so hard to keep track sometimes!”

“You remember.”

“So could you do it, please?” Papyrus pushed, “Please reset?”

Flowey laughed brokenly.

“Sorry Papyrus, I’ve tried.” Flowey kept laughing, “The human took control of the resets, and even with them gone I still can’t do anything anymore.”

Flowey stopped laughing.

“I’m useless now.”

There was silence for a long time.

“Well!” Papyrus finally spoke, “Then I’ll just have to find a way to ask the human!”

Flowey snorted, "Yeah, good luck with that."

He vanished away again.

Papyrus didn't give up, and when he got home early that same day, not expecting Undyne back for a few hours still, he had his chance.

Entering the house he paused when he saw Sans on the phone…

"Sans! Who are you talking to?"

.

.

.

.

.

.

RESET.