"Are you sure Alphys? I had already gone and asked all of the families personally, there is no need to fear any backlash."

The doctor nervously tapped her fingers against the tiny cup of tea Asgore had poured. "O-Of course I'm sure! I-I mean, I wouldn't be af-afraid of anything like that, would I?"

"Now, now, doctor there is no need to be concerned about yourself. I myself was far moreso just yesterday, and I do not think this is helping." The king gave a rather small frown to her. "To have the Royal Scientist suddenly disappear along with a sentry and then on return will to cancel her efforts, you do understand, do you not?"

"I-I… I um… s-sorry!"

"Please, that's the fifth time in the last ten minutes. I will not hurt you, there is nothing to apologize for." The doctor was sure there was plenty to be remiss over.

"You are safe now, and while your actions now to bother me it is very good that the two of you returned. That being said, are you sure you can not inform me of what changed your mind?

"Well uh… I kind of ran into some, concerning e-evidence against what was w-working on…" The doctor still felt rather guilty about both the project and even more so how she had evaded the endgame, which is supposedly understandable.

"Oh, is that so?" Asgore seemed to sense that he shouldn't try to press the topic further. He held eye-contact a moment longer, seeing as Alphys didn't pick up on the que he spoke again. "So the other project you mentioned. 'Time travel' was it?"

"U-Um… y-yeah…" The doctor swung her tail around the leg of her chair. "Time travel…"

"Actually, the concept seemed to have been brought to me a long time ago, though I can't quite remember when. Your presence has brought that out in me recently, for whatever reason. Regardless, maybe that is why I am so willing to accept it."

"R-Really?!"

"I would like to think that was clearly stated." The king smiled at the doctor, his fangs were clearly visible. "Please, do not put yourself in any needless peril though. I can send the royal guard to help you, if you'd like."

"Y-You really don't have to-" The doctor's tail swung like a pendulum against the floor. "I m-mean, I guess we could just arrange for a meeting. Y-You know, I could get in contact with the head and um… I could maybe arrange to call h- whoever it is, i-if I feel like it's needed of course."

"You met with Undyne while you were gone, did you not?"

"Uh… m-maybe?"

"Oh, I see." The king was very clearly chuckling internally as he ran a hand through his beard, though he did seem to be trying to suppress his facial expression. "I will get that arranged for you then. For now why don't I visit your lab, I would like to see those two brothers again. It was awfully odd to see the smaller of the two lodged up in your lab… oh, what was his name again?"
"P-Papyrus, sir…"

"Yes, let us go and make sure Papyrus and his brother are getting along well."

"Oh my! Here's Asgore himself! Taking his daily stroll around the underground I suppose! OH, but what's this! Yes! Why, it's just so surprising and fortunate my cameramen happened to be stationed here, for he is alongside the elusive Doctor Alphys! That's right, though there have been rumours, she is indeed back! Of course, I would be the first to report on this occurrence, don't be surprised darlings! The skeleton Sans, I can inform you, has also been located but he is a terribly boring subject. As can be clearly seen here the two of them are-"

"Mettaton, if you would please, you are impeding our progress."

The robot's screen briefly flashed red. "Did you hear that, underground? The king himself has addressed me! He has informed us that the two of them are making progress."

The two eventually, and miraculously, somehow got out of Mettaton range and into the laboratory, where the two brother where.

"HELLO SCIENCE ALPHYS! HELLO KING FLUFFYBOY!" Papyrus had eagerly bolted to the door as soon as he'd heard it open.

"Fluffyboy? Oh my, I believe you have the wrong nickname Papyrus."

"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! HAVE YOU NOT HEARD IT? PEOPLE CALL YOU FLUFFYBOY ALL THE TIME."

The doctor picked up on a faux anime girl voice from behind Papyrus, it was horribly exaggerated and growing in volume.

"huh, that's weird. i was sure that that valentine-senpai was meeting me around here somewhere. unless… oh no! did he forget about everything from last night because of my powers- i can't- i can't believe-" Sans cut off the dialogue with a chuckle.

"S-Sans! Stop! Y-You're gonna get the bad ending if you keep going on that route." Alphys apparently didn't question how the skeleton had found her stash of videogames and overwritten the cameras with yet another device, the monitor was hardly used as intended now. "And she dosen't sound like that! Mew Mew is a far more complex character than your typical anime girl!"

"oh okay, i guess you can just play the whole game now."

"Well I see the two of you are doing rather well." Asgore glanced over at the screen the skeleton had rigged up, looking rather confused.

"heyo, kingo." The skeleton made an okay symbol with his hand, Alphys was rather annoyed he was ignoring the textbox that had just showed. "i'm back 'n all the jazz."

"Well that is good to hear…" The king awkwardly glanced around the room. Papyrus waved at him. "I suppose I will be leaving now, seeing as you are both recovering."

"alright, we'll be 'traveling' again in a week or so. gotta figure a thing or two out first."

"So soon?" Based on Alphys' expression one could safely guess she wasn't aware of this agreement.

"yeah, we need to get to work. 'sides, the sooner we get on track here the better. i'm sure someone will figure out a way to explain away our absence. leave it to mettaton or someone."

"Well if our royal scientist has agreed with it I suppose there is no problem. You all take care of yourselves, and have a nice night."