Undyne's bare feet slap on the tile as she races to Sans' side.

A twinging pain in her leg throws her off-balance. She catches herself on the piano stool, and uses it to propel herself the last couple of feet to Sans' side.

He's hunched in a ball, fingers scraping the sides of his skull. Sans is shrieking as if he's being tortured, being pulled apart joint by joint.

"Sans!" Alarmed beyond belief, Undyne grabs at his hands, desperate to get him to stop.

The skeleton nearly wrenches his arms out of their sockets in his attempts to escape her hold. Fearful of what might happen if she stays stubborn, she lets him go. He starts to dig at his skull again, fingers leaving marks in the bone.

"Oh my god, oh my god." Undyne murmurs, frantic. What should she do? How can she get him to stop?

"Sans, calm down, please." She urges him.

She grabs his face, trying to get him to look at her, but his gaze is flickering and vacant. His screams taper off for a moment, his breath coming in quick, shallow pants.

"Sans, it's me, it's Undyne, you're here and you're safe and—"

Sans starts screaming again, and she knows that her words can do nothing to help at this point.

Undyne grabs Sans, wrestles down his flailing limbs, and wraps one arm around Sans' neck. He gasps for air, claws at her arm, but Undyne keeps up the chokehold. Just a little more time, a little more pressure.

"I'm sorry, fuck, I'm sorry." She chants like a mantra, as Sans' struggles gradually grow weaker, weaker, and finally he falls lax in her arms. Of all the ways she could have rendered him unconscious, this was the cleanest and safest. Even if it was, guilt still sits heavy in her gut.

Undyne lets him go instantly, his skull slipping down into her lap. She presses healing magic to his self-inflicted wounds, the pads of her fingers becoming crummy with dust. The scratches are deep, and his intent to harm was too strong. Marks will remain behind despite her immediate aid.

She takes measured breaths, willing her racing heart to slow down. What the hell was that? Is he prone to these fits of madness? Did Papyrus deal with them before? If so, how? Or perhaps, this is something new. Perhaps this is Sans coming to the delayed realization that his brother is actually gone.

She just doesn't know. Papyrus had told her where Sans worked, about their sock feud, lamented his love for Grillby's and grease. But Undyne knows next to nothing about who Sans really is as a person.

Undyne eyes the clock—a little after midnight. Alphys should still be up. She slips off the sofa, legs still shaking with adrenaline. She stares back at Sans for a moment, but he doesn't seem likely to stir.

First, she washes her hands in the kitchen, glad to feel Sans' dust wash off from her hands. Then she returns to her room, tugging her phone free from its charger. Her hand trembles slightly as she dials the Royal Scientist's number.

As expected, Alphys picks up quickly.

"H-Hello?"

"Al, I need your help. Sans just had a major freakout."

"Oh my god. Is he okay?"

"I kind of had to strong-arm him into unconsciousness. Could you bring over something to—I don't know—keep him calm?"

"…I should have something around here that's compatible with his physiology." Alphys' voice is thick with sympathy. "I'll be over as soon as I can."

"Thanks, Al."

"Of course."

She ends the call and returns to Sans' side. He is calm in slumber, expression on his face smoothened out and peaceful. Heaving a sigh, Undyne sits on the one couch cushion not taken up by the sleeping skeleton. Her idea of fixing a problem usually involves punching whoever's responsible. But the human is long gone, and she cannot bring back those lost.

Feeling useless and anxious, Undyne stands again in agitation. She can't just sit here, stewing in her thoughts. She goes over to the kitchen and sets the kettle on. Perhaps a warm drink will settle her nerves. Undyne checks the fridge—there's barely enough soda left for a cup-full.

"Sorry, Alphys." She mutters. Maybe today will be the day Undyne converts her into a tea-drinker. Probably not, though.

The tea kettle starts its shrill whistle, and Undyne hurriedly snatches it off the stove. She steals a glance over her shoulder, and notices with relief that the noise hasn't disturbed Sans.

Undyne pours herself a mug of golden flower tea and parks herself at the kitchen table. She sips at the beverage. It's rather hot, nearly scalding, but she savors the burn as it goes down.

Undyne finishes three mugs before she hears a harried knock at the door. She lets Alphys in, eyeing the plastic case of medical supplies she's clutching in her arms.

"I brought s-some sedatives of varying potencies, for now and in case anything happens again." Alphys backpedals. "N-Not that I mind coming down to help!"

"Easy, Al." Undyne steers her frazzled friend over towards Sans. "Why don't you show me how it works?"

"R-Right." Alphys fumbles open the case, selecting one of the pre-filled needles. "With skeletal and gelatinous monsters, the point of entry for the needle doesn't matter as much, as medicine gets digested by their magic almost instantly. I would suggest the femur, or the ulna—larger bones. Anywhere is fine, though. E-Except for their eye sockets, and um, you know. Private areas."

Despite the situation they're in, Undyne can't help but snort at that. Alphys is awful prudish in person, but her choice in anime is often far from tame.

"You also have to be a bit rough with the injection site. Skeleton bones are much firmer than skin, or even bones that other types of monsters have." She pauses. "Where is he now?"

"Right over here." Undyne gestures for Alphys to follow her into the living room.

Alphys gasps softly as she spies Sans on the couch. She touches the edge of one of the deeper gouges in his skull.

"He did all this?" Alphys asks, hardly believing it.

Undyne nods glumly. "You see why I had to knock him out. I was afraid of what other damage he might do to himself if I let him calm down on his own."

"Oh my," Alphys' tail curls around her leg, a self-comforting gesture. "That's awful."

"I need to find out what happened. But I don't want him to go crazy again as soon as he wakes up."

Alphys sets the case down and clicks it open. The needles inside are neatly arranged, carefully labeled. Despite her predilection for clutter in her own workspace, the lizard monster took great care in packing all this.

"The intensity of the sedatives is labeled on the needles. T-They're also color-coded." Alphys taps the back of the lid, which has a key for the labelling system taped on. "I attached this too, just in case you wanted to double check."

Alphys selects a needle with a light green label.

"This one should only last a few minutes. Just enough to start him out calm."

Alphys flicks the needle, excess fluid spattering onto the floor. Undyne holds Sans' arm steady as Alphys injects the drug into Sans' ulna. His skeletal grin twitches at the sudden sharp pinch of pain.

Alphys finishes dispensing the sedative, and removes the needle just as Sans wakes up.

The lights in his eye sockets track the ceiling, dim, hazy.

"…'pyrus?" He mutters, voice still rough from his earlier screams.

Alphys scoots back some to let Undyne move closer in.

"Are you with us, Sans?"

Sans' gaze shifts to the side. He blinks slowly.

"Where'm I?" He asks drowsily.

Undyne glances at Alphys, who gives her an encouraging nod.

"You're in my house, remember?"

Undyne waits as Sans sluggishly looks around the room, pasting the clues together. His groggy expression twists into grief.

"No," He moans. He tries to push himself upright, but Undyne firmly pushes him back down onto the cushions.

"We're here for you." Undyne's voice is as gentle as it's ever been. "Just talk to us, please."

Sans drags a hand over his face, blinking rapidly. The lights in his eyes seem to sharpen—the sedative is wearing off.

"It should've—It shouldn't—"

"Sans, what are you talking about?" Undyne reaches for him, but Sans bats her hand away with a sudden energy.

There's a whipcord crackle of magic in the air, and Sans is suddenly gone.

Undyne lowers her hand; it presses into the couch. He's gone.

"How in the hell…?"

"H-He shouldn't be using magic like that, not when he's medicated." Alphys clicks her claws together nervously.

"That was his magic?" Undyne grabs her phone. "I need to put a tracking device on him. This is getting ridiculous."

She calls reliable sentries in each district to search for the missing skeleton. Not one of them complain about the hour, for which she's immeasurably grateful.

There's a lull in action as the two friends wait for someone to call back. Undyne's body decides that now it's time to voice its complaints. Her chest wound throbs dully, but her thigh injury is acting up nastily. She hisses at the flaring pain, massaging her leg. Nothing seems to ease the stabbing pangs aside from time.

"Has your leg been bothering you?" Asks Alphys.

"It's been getting better." At Alphys' skeptical look, Undyne adds: "Really. These flare-ups only happen now and then."

Undyne is saved from further questioning when her phone rings. Unsurprisingly, it's Doggo.

"He's in the shed behind their house," The canine sentry reports. "For once, he won't stay still for a moment. Seems to be working on some kind of machine."

"Can you get him back into the house?" She doesn't want him near any type of machinery or equipment after the state he was in earlier.

"I would, but when he saw me comin' he kind of barred the way in. I mean, I could probably cut through—"

"No. Don't antagonize him. I'm heading over there now."

"Did something happen to his face? It looks kind of scratched up—"

"I'm hanging up," Undyne speaks over him. "Let me know if anything changes."

"…Roger, captain."

Undyne can feel Alphys' gaze boring into her back as she calls the other sentries to end their searches. When that's finished, she turns to Alphys.

"What is it?"

"Are you going after him?"

"Damn right I am." But not in pajamas. Undyne limps over to her closet and lays out a simple outfit.

Alphys follows her into the bedroom, stalling Undyne's progress. She doesn't want Alphys to see her gingerly struggle to dress. So she simply stands there, sweater bunched in her fist.

"Why d-don't you let Doggo handle it?"

"Sans is my responsibility now. I can't let—"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You're not r-recovered yet, something's still wrong with your leg—"

"I told you, my leg's getting better—"

"—You shouldn't be running around like you've been."

"Alphys—" Undyne clamps her mouth shut. She doesn't want to argue again. Alphys looks guilty, too. They both thought they made peace. Evidently not.

"If you're going, I'm coming with you." Alphys says, firmly.

Undyne can tell it's either that or they'll be landing in another argument, so she agrees.


As they approach the shed, not much seems to have changed since the phone call. Doggo stands guard, watching attentively. The nub of a smoking dog treat is jammed between his teeth. The door to the shed is flung wide open, but in its place are tall rows of glowing bone attacks. Undyne marches up to the fence of bones, peering through.

Sans is muttering to himself, some jargon she can't make sense of. Papers and tools are scattered haphazardly around the room. The skeleton is half-wedged in a large machine, fiddling with some unscrewed paneling.

"Sans, let me in." Undyne orders.

He doesn't seem to ignore her, so much as not hear her at all, lost in his own world.

Frowning, Undyne turns on her heel. Doggo and Alphys were trading low, uneasy chatter during her unsuccessful bargaining, but trail off at her approach.

"Doggo. Tear that barrier down."

"Yes ma'am."

Doggo summons several swords, which slice cleanly through the wall of bones. Sans' magic tries to hold firm at first, but Doggo keeps up a steady barrage, and the wall scatters and crashes.

Undyne only takes one step forward before Sans erects a second wall, not once turning his gaze from the machine.

"Sans. We can do this the easy way," Undyne cracks her knuckles. "Or my way."

When he fails to respond to her threat, Undyne wraps her hands around two of the bone constructs. The magic hums in her palms, warm but not burning. Gritting her teeth, she squeezes hard. The magic shatters in her firm grip. Sans flicks an annoyed glance her way, and raises up two new bones.

"I can do this all night," Undyne declares, shattering another pair of bone attacks to illustrate her point. "But do you want to keep diverting your attention from your oh-so important machine?"

He doesn't reply, so Undyne grabs onto yet another pair, when the wall of attacks abruptly shatter by their creator's will. Grinning a toothy, victorious smile, Undyne steps inside.

What little she could see through the doorway merely hinted at the mess inside. In one corner, boxes bulging with files are stacked precariously. A small push would topple them over. A long lab table is covered with various tools and blueprints. Curiously out of place, mixed in with the mess is a photo album.

Undyne is about to open it when Sans snaps: "Don't touch anything."

He sounds angry, but lucid.

"And what the hell are you even doing?"

Undyne folds her arms, watching Sans clean a sheet of filthy metal with an equally-filthy rag.

"I thought you promised to not distract me." He grunts. The metal seems to meet his standards now, and Sans slaps it on top of some exposed wiring. As he picks around the room in search of a soldering iron, Undyne rejoins Alphys and Doggo, who remained anxiously by the doorframe.

"Do you know what he's doing?" Undyne asks, gaze never straying from Sans.

"I-I don't know." Alphys shrugs helplessly. "It has a cockpit, so someone's supposed to get inside. It's m-most likely a transportation or alteration d-device. But just from looking at it from the outside, I can't really tell."

"This is the first I'm seeing of anything like this." Mutters Doggo. "Sans always seemed like a simple guy."

"Paps never mentioned anything either," Undyne remarks. Not that that means much—although Papyrus never seemed to lie, she also got the sense he was sometimes omitting the whole truth.

Alphys remains oddly quiet.

Sans pays no mind to his peanut gallery, hell-bent on fixing up the machine. There are streaks across the machine's frame, where Sans has wiped away some of the thick layer of dust to pry off rusted panels and replace them. This thing, whatever it is, evidently hasn't been used in a long, long time.

Sans' face brightens with satisfaction as the machine sputters to life. The motor chugs noisily, lights flickering on. Sans opens a panel to reveal a computer screen and keyboard. There are no words on the screen, but instead a series of bizarre symbols.

Unperturbed by this, Sans types something into the keyboard. Once he submits his entry, the machine labors to obey, motor thumping harder, its frame rattling slightly. It looks frighteningly unstable, which is why when Sans goes to climb in, Undyne finally intervenes, grabbing him by the elbow.

"Okay, no. That thing looks far too dangerous to just go diving into it."

Sans glowers at her, blue magic trailing out from his left eye socket. Undyne is beset by an immense pressure that forces her down. She drops to the floor, cheek pressed into a stack of papers. She wants to push herself up, but she can't even raise her arms up off the floor enough to be able to push. This blue attack is savage—she understands now that Paps had been going easy on her during their sparring sessions.

Doggo rushes forward, but with a flick of Sans' hand, he crashes to the floor as well. However, with Sans' power now split between the two of them, Undyne is given a bit more leeway. Her muscles twitch as she starts her struggles anew against the blue attack.

Undyne can barely see Alphys in her periphery, rocking anxiously on her feet. She wants to help, but she doesn't know how—she's a far cry from a trained guard.

Sans, now unimpeded, climbs in the cockpit, pulling the hatch shut behind him.

With tremendous force, Undyne manages to push her head and torso slightly up off the ground. Slowly, she starts to crawl closer towards the machine.

The low hum of the machine warps into a shrill wine—something's clearly not right.

"It's going to explode!" Alphys gasps out a frantic warning.

Sans' hold on Undyne and Doggo snaps as he desperately tries to regain control of the malfunctioning machine. Undyne staggers upright. She grasps onto the machine with one hand to steady herself, and punches through the hatch. Sans reflexively covers his head as shards of glass rain down on him.

"Stop it!" Sans snaps. "Just get out of here and let me work!"

Undyne grabs Sans by the front of his shirt and drags him from the machine. His limbs swing about as he struggles in her hold. One of his fists connects against her jaw, clicking her teeth together.

"Damn it, Sans!" She grunts, trying to haul him back.

Doggo grabs Sans' other side to help Undyne out. Together, they drag him from the shed.

The machine belches out thick smoke, sparks trickling from its joints.

"No, I can fix it! Let me go!"

Sans strains towards the shed, but Undyne and Doggo hold him tightly. It doesn't dawn on Sans to use his magic, so single-mindedly devoted to trying to wrest himself free.

The machine does not explode in a shower of sparks and flame. Instead, it gives one last death rattle and falls silent. The clouds of smoke begin to ebb, thinning out when they hit the open air of Snowdin.

Undyne and Doggo release Sans once the danger's passed. He immediately returns back inside the shed, running over to the machine. Undyne watches as he pulls up the keyboard again. The computer screen is nonresponsive. Sans types for several minutes, with increasing urgency, but nothing he tries revives the machine. He slams his fist on the keyboard in a bout of anger, snapping it free from the machine, bits of useless plastic scattering across the floor.

He drops to his knees, his shoulders quaking, and Undyne realizes that he's begun to cry. She shoots a look over her shoulder; Alphys and Doggo get the hint, and give the two of them privacy, closing the door to the shed. Undyne can hear their retreating footsteps as they walk away from the shed.

Undyne approaches Sans. She crouches down, and envelops him in an embrace from behind. His small frame shakes with the force of his sobs, and Undyne just holds him. She doesn't offer any words of consolation, feeling they'd ring hollow.

Sans twists around in her hold and buries his face in her shoulder as he takes shuddering breaths. She can feel tears and mucus dampen the fabric, but doesn't care in the least. Sans' hands come up to clutch tightly at the back of Undyne's jacket.

They sit like this for a good hour, drawing comfort from each other's presence. Sans ultimately depletes his well of grief for the moment, leaving him wrung-out and weary. Tear tracks stain his cheek bones.

"Well, that was embarrassing." He mutters, scrubbing at his face. He leans away from her, and Undyne's arms drop from around him.

She stands, limbs buzzing from sitting in one position for so long.

"Let's get out of here." She suggests.

As they leave, she notices that Sans locks the shed with a silver key, which he slips back into his jacket pocket.

"There isn't any chance of that machine going off, is there?"

"No," He says. "It's broken for good, now."

"I'm sorry," She apologizes, though she's still unsure of what he was trying to accomplish.

They reach the front porch of the Skeleton Brothers' house. Undyne goes to open the door, but uses too much force—it flops down to the ground.

"Oh, right." Undyne sheepishly picks it up again. She'd forgotten she'd broken it down a while back.

Alphys is waiting for them inside, as Undyne figured she would be. The living room is suffused with warmth—the scientist must've fiddled with the thermostat while waiting for them.

"I sent D-Doggo home." Alphys says. "And the door was, um. Unlocked. So I let myself in." Her gaze flicks to Sans. "H-Hey, Sans."

A second person seems to make him self-aware, and he tugs the hood up over his skull. It doesn't quite manage to hide all of the scratch marks, but neither Alphys nor Undyne comment on it.

"Hey," He says, quietly.

Sans takes a seat on the couch. Undyne grabs the afghan blanket draped across the back of the couch and swathes it around him before taking a seat beside him.

Alphys turns the television on at a low volume, and plops down on Undyne's other side. The movie is a dramatic romance between Mettaton (as the protagonist) and Mettaton (with a bow taped to the top of his boxy form).

Though Sans doesn't radiate much heat, Alphys provides a comforting warmth, pressed up against Undyne's side. Emotionally and physically drained, Undyne nods off.


She's jolted out of her nap by the blaring theme song of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. Alphys yelps and scrambles to find her phone.

"H-Hello?" Alphys shoots Undyne and Sans an apologetic look as she heaves up off the couch, putting some distance between them to continue her call without bothering them too much. "Yes, this is s-she. What's going on?"

Undyne stretches, joints popping. She glances over; it seems the phone call roused Sans as well. He peeks out from his blanket cocoon, disgruntled, clearly still muzzy with sleep and not ready to fully wake up yet. The morning sun shines in through the windows, glowing orange light sparkling over the snow. If Undyne had to estimate, she'd say it's around ten in the morning. After a night like last night, it's still far too early to be up.

Undyne squints at the television set. Apparently the movie Alphys put on last night was the first in a series. The Mettaton with a bow now swoons in the arms of another monster, to Protagonist Mettaton's chagrin.

Undyne watches the melodrama unfold with disinterest until Alphys returns to them, looking unsure.

"I'm sorry, Undyne, but I just got a call saying the Core's acting up—"

Undyne waves her off. "That's fine. Go do your thing."

Still, Alphys hesitates.

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"Give me a little credit, here."

In all honesty, her and Sans are probably going to drop back off to sleep, and then stumble back to Waterfall when Undyne gets hungry enough.

"O-Okay then. I'll text you l-later." She gives Sans a jerky nod farewell, and steps out into the cold, leaving Sans and Undyne alone again.

Undyne sinks back into the couch. It's not as comfortable as her own; she can feel its springs digging into her back.

She looks over at the skeleton. He's no longer the shambling zombie he was the past few weeks, but his aura feels broken, devastated. It'll take ages for him to recover from the loss of his brother, if he ever does.

"Do the scratches hurt?"

"Nah. I'm guessing you healed them?"

"I couldn't do much. I don't think the marks will go away, Sans."

"Heh." He hunches tighter in on himself, grin feeling especially strained. "Guess there's no way for me to save face now."

"We'll get you something to cover it." Undyne assures him. She shifts on the couch, moving slightly closer to him. "Sans, tell me…what were you trying to do in the shed? What was that machine supposed to do?"

He doesn't respond.

Mettaton challenges the monster that stole Bow Mettaton away to a duel. The monster draws a fencing blade, but Mettaton pulls out a pistol.

Undyne nudges the Sans-blanket-lump with her elbow.

"I know you didn't fall back asleep. Answer me."

"You wouldn't understand." He says, finally.

Undyne throws up her hands. "Then help me understand."

The doorbell chimes. They both look at each other—neither is expecting visitors. Undyne walks over to the door. Perhaps Doggo told the canine unit what happened and they decided to pay Sans a visit.

But to her surprise, when she opens the door, it's to a bear monster she doesn't recall meeting before. She stands a good head taller than Undyne, with muted purple fur, and glasses balanced on a button-shaped nose. She's dressed lightly despite the cold weather; perhaps her fur is a thick enough insulator from the cold.

"Captain Undyne?" She rumbles, sounding relieved.

Undyne tries to place the woman, but continues to draw a blank. "That's me."

The bear holds out her hand. Undyne shakes it, her own hand nearly engulfed in the bear's. Her grip is surprisingly gentle for someone of her size and stature.

"My name is Bearnice. I was your attending physician at New Home Hospital."

"Oh…oh!" Undyne wishes she had a gift basket or something to give her. "Thanks for all your help."

"No need to thank me. I am only sorry I could not come sooner. The hospital has been unbelievably busy since the human came, as I am sure you understand. May I come in?"

"Sure."

Sans glances their way when they enter, but, seeing it has nothing to do with him, only burrows further into the blanket.

Undyne keeps Bearnice by the table with the pet rock on it, not wanting the doctor to see what's happened to the kitchen. They both sit down.

"I'm glad I finally tracked you down. You left before I could fill you in, and I could not seem to reach you on your phone."

"Ah. I had to get a new one."

"The River Person was helpful enough to point me in the right direction this morning. I was about to head to Waterfall when they told me you were here." Bearnice's gaze darts over to Sans. "Are you sure you do not want to go someplace more private?"

"Sans can hear whatever it is, it's fine. Why—is something wrong?"

"When you were brought in to us, you required immediate surgery. The wound to your thigh was far more serious than perhaps you realized." Bearnice gestures to her leg. "The human's weapon was lodged deep inside. To get all of it out, we had to cut deep. Some muscle had to be removed, too."

Bearnice removes her glasses, rubbing the bridge of her nose before replacing them again.

"I'm sure you've been having issues walking, yes? And running, especially."

"What are you getting at?"

"There's no delicate way to put this, I'm afraid." She takes Undyne's hand between her two massive paws. "Captain, this isn't a temporary thing. You won't be physically capable of things you used to be able to do."

"What…?" Undyne croaks.

"You'll need to use a cane. The nurses sent you home with one, I was told, but I do not see it around here." Bearnice glances around the room, frowning with dissatisfaction. "Using the cane will ease the strain on your right leg. And, furthermore…I'm sorry, captain. The loss of the muscle has made your leg off-balanced. You will not be able to run long distances, or perform rigorous exercises with it any longer."

"This is…permanent?" Undyne's mind cannot get unstuck from this thought.

"Don't worry, m'dear." Bearnice's brown eyes are soft with sympathy. "I know this is a lot to take in, but I also know you'll be able to pull through. Someone like you, this won't keep you down."

Bearnice gives Undyne's hand one last comforting squeeze before letting go.

"I'll have someone send over some papers for you to look over that will cover stretches and the like. Does that sound good to you?"

"Sure, that's…great." It's a monumental effort for Undyne to speak at the moment.

Bearnice rises. "Take care of yourself, now."

The doctor sees herself out. Undyne looks down at her leg. Beneath her pants, it's still wrapped in a thick bandage she's been changing at the end of every week. The wound looked like it was healing well, but she didn't realize…

This isn't the first time she's been severely wounded. She has the scars—and doesn't have the eye—to prove it. But she's always been lucky, before. She's been knocked down, but given time, she's been able to stand back up again. She started to take for granted what her body was capable of recovering from.

"Well." Sans calls over from the sofa, low and bitter: "Looks like we're both fucked, aren't we?"

Undyne presses her palm to her eye, not letting tears slip out. She won't cry again.

You can't be captain of the royal guard if you can't so much as jog. Before the human, she was the hero of the Underground. People admired her. She was a beacon of hope. She could do anything. And now what is she?

"What am I supposed to do now?" She asks. "What am I supposed to do?"