Branches On A Tree

A Golden Flower

Not many words were exchanged as Papyrus, Alphys and Undyne walked back to the lab. Undyne was carefully scanning the surroundings, once more insisting on carrying Alphys on her back, despite the fish monster's posture slouching, which was not like her at all.

Papyrus tried to follow her careful example, to make sure they didn't encounter his dad, but it was hard to concentrate. His mind was clouded with thoughts, and all he wanted to do now was get back to his brother. Hopefully, Sans was doing better now than when Frisk had called... Papyrus desperately needed answers and he needed to talk to Sans about what he had learned, he had so many things he needed to say.

He caught himself falling behind and quickly ran up to Undyne and Alphys. Undyne suddenly stopped. Her shoulders went up and down heavily with winded breaths and her skin was matted and her movement seemed forced.

"P-Please Undyne, let me down... I can walk on m-my own I promise..." Alphys worried eyes looked down at Undyne, and Papyrus was getting worried too. This was definitely not like her. He walked up to them, nervously fidgeting with his own gloves. "WHAT'S WRONG?"

"Psh! I'm fine!!" Undyne exclaimed and took a wavering stepped forward.

"No, you're n-not!" Alphys insisted and shuffled about on Undyne's back, so the stronger monster yielded and put her down. Before falling down on her knees. Both Alphys and Papyrus called her name in unison.

Alphys placed her scaly hands onto Undyne's shoulders. The yellow lizard's eyes were wide with concern and she didn't seem to even care that her glasses almost fell off.

"It's nothing," Undyne's hoarse voice replied. Her breath was still winded and had the bag under her eye always been there? "I think I just need some water. We're getting close to Hotland after all... that must be it."

"THEN WE MUST HURRY!" Papyrus exclaimed. "THE MTT RESORT IS NEARBY AND WE CAN GET YOU A SODA FROM A VENDING MACHINE OR SOMETHING!" He tapped his fingers against each other and spoke way faster than he usually did. He could not afford to have his best friend hurt too. Not after all of this!

"A soda isn't the same as water," Undyne remarked with a wrinkled nose and mockingly retched with disgust.

"But it contains water," Alphys added, her index finger pointing towards the roof of the cave, using her other hand to adjust her glasses. "and you should drink at least something?"

Undyne grunted and got back on her feet. "Nerds..." she mumbled under her breath as she kept walking with wobbly steps. Papyrus stayed close, just in case and Alphys fought valiantly to keep up the pace. In the end, Papyrus picked her up and put her on his shoulders. Thankfully, there was not a sign of anyone, no other monsters, no other skeletons.

The feeling of refreshment left Gaster much calmer. It no longer felt like he was falling apart, and he didn't even need to sit down anymore. He opened and closed his hands a few times, carefully inspecting them.

The disfigured one seemed completely normal now, like nothing was never even wrong with it, to begin with. The yellow light in the palm on his mechanical hand fluttered with various intensity, but was silent for now, the faint shadows dancing on the wall which he had been leaning on.

One of the other ones, the one he had used on the captain, glowed with intense green light in the middle of the palm. The yellow light was right. He could drain energy from her soul and there was still a connection between them. The hand he used on Sans had a spark of light in it too, but the light was blue, just like the magic he favored to use. However, considering what happened, and the fact that he could still use Sans' blaster form, he didn't dare to drain any magic from him. If the captain went down, it wouldn't be such a bad loss. His son on the other hand... he had put in too much time and effort into that project and his HP was too low to gamble with.