"Sans? Sans?"
Sans jolted awake, lifting his head from the papers around him. He looked up, blinking a bit.
"Oh, hey, Alphys. Is Gaster here?"
Alphys shook her head. "Um, no, but...that's the second time you've dozed off today. Did you sleep last night?
Sans rested his cheekbone on his hand. "Barely. I only got ten hours."
Alphys frowned. "That's 'barely'?"
"I'm joking. And anyway, I do my best thinking when I sleep. I'm completely ar-rest-ed with my hypotheses."
For once, Alphys didn't laugh. She merely looked at him for a moment, then returned to her work. Sans stretched before returning to his own equations. After a few minutes, though, she turned back to look at him again.
"Erm, can I...ask you something, Sans?"
"Alphys, I love you, but I'm not doing another Mew Mew Kissy Cutie marathon ever again."
"N-no...I just..." Alphys fiddled with her wrench. "Are you okay?"
Sans looked up in surprise. "What?"
"Are you okay? Like...physically?"
Sans looked at her for a moment, then sat back. Well, no, he wasn't. He'd been dead-tired (ha) since his second reset, but with Judging, training, patrolling, and just thinking, he was getting drained quicker than usual. Not to mention just how much...weaker he was; it was a lucky thing Undyne had started training with Papyrus, there was no doubt his brother would be able to take him out fairly easily at this point.
But he couldn't just say that. So instead he just winked and shrugged.
"All right, I'll be honest. I had a rough patrol last night."
Alphys leaned forward. "Really?"
"Yeah. We saw a rock that kind of looked like a human, so things were pretty exciting in Snowdin."
"Sans, I'm serious. I mean, I get not wanting to talk about problems but..." She sighed, fiddling with her wrench again. "Okay, look, don't tell him I said this, but...Gaster's worried about you."
"What?" Sans laughed in disbelief. "He's definitely not. Whenever he comes over here, he's all about the work."
"Well, he's not going to tell you. He doesn't do that." Alphys huffed. "I've worked with him for a long time, and so I can...kind of?...figure out when he's stressed out. Especially since I'm usually the one that's stressed out. A-and..." She shook her head with a sigh. "I-I know he'd rest a little easier if you got looked over. I-I could do it; we have a bunch of biology equipment in the lower lab from, erm, other experiments. And it won't be anything too bad! I built the machine myself, so I can promise that it's nothing too invasive."
"Heh, I'm not surprised." Sans took a breath, clicking his pen a few times. It probably was a good idea to find out what all was up with his body after the resets. And...it was kind of nice to hear that Gaster was worried about him. Maybe this timeline really was different. He set the pen down.
"All right, I'll come in tomorrow. One condition, though."
"What?"
"You don't get to talk about anime for a week."
Alphys groaned, and Sans laughed. This would be fine. How bad could a quick scan be?
~
Again, Sans had put his curiosity before anything else. After all, the scan would happen in the lower lab, and that was a hell of an incentive for potentially finding out some troubling news. But really, the results couldn't be that bad. Sure, he was tired all the time, and yeah, he couldn't move his mouth. But...that had to be the extent of the damage, right? Right.
There was the familiar hiss of hydraulics as he reached the main lab, but his brow furrowed once he stepped inside. It was...dark. And awfully quiet.
"Alphys?"
No answer. He flicked on the light switch, and the lab was most definitely empty. Maybe he was supposed to meet her downstairs? He felt a little twist of apprehension in his chest, but shook it off. The lower lab seemed off-limits, but it wasn't like anyone had actually said he couldn't go down there; and anyway, even if there was a genuine ban on going to the lab, Alphys had invited him. This would be fine.
He walked over to the elevator and hit the button. Then he waited. And waited. It sure was taking a long time getting up to the main lab. Just how far down was the lower lab? He let out a breath as there was another hiss of hydraulics as the elevator doors opened, but hesitated on actually stepping in. There was something...awfully eerie about this whole thing, and he genuinely worried over whether this had been a bad idea.
But it was Alphys who had told him to come. She was nerdy and more than a little anxious, but she wouldn't do anything bad. He sucked in a breath and stepped inside, pressing the button for the lower floor.
It was a long elevator.
Very long.
Too long.
Just as Sans thought it would keep going forever, it reached the bottom. He practically bolted out of the thing, then looked around. The lower lab actually...wasn't much better than the elevator ride. Strange whispery sounds echoed through the air, bouncing off the metal walls. And it was still so dark.
"Alphys?"
No reply.
"Alphys, seriously."
Still nothing.
"Gaster?"
Only the strange whir of machines greeted him. God, where were they? Sans swallowed hard, regretting this decision. Something was just so...off about this place. But he couldn't back out now. He tensed as he walked into the next room, eyes scanning over the whole area as quickly as he could. He furrowed his brow as he saw it was full of beds.
"Heh...not even I'm tired enough to try you guys out," he joked weakly, not liking the way his voice echoed back at him. But really, why were there beds in a lab? And why so many? He swallowed again and pushed onward.
"Alphys, would it kill you to turn on some lights?" he called out, but still no answer. He stepped into the next room, then came to a dead stop. It was filled with...smoke? Mist? Whatever it was, he could barely see a foot in front of him. He reached his hand out to feel the wall as he walked forward. He stopped as he heard a strange, strangled noise, a chill running down his spine. Was something else here? He looked around, but the mist was too thick. His bones rattled as he continued walking forward. He felt along the wall a little more frantically to find some kind of light switch.
"Ha, got you." Too shaken to even joke to himself, he quickly flicked it on, hoping for any kind of light. Instead, there was a loud whir of...fans? That wasn't what he wanted, but at least it cleared the mist. He turned around to retrace his steps, but jumped back with a loud cry of surprise as a large...thing loomed in front of him. He'd never seen anything like it—there were so many legs...no face, just a gaping, black hole...and the whole thing seemed to be melting. It took a lurching step toward Sans, and he jumped back, eye blazing blue.
"You take one more step and we're gonna have some trouble, buddy."
The thing cocked its head curiously, then wiggled its back half before bounding forward. The whole lab shook with the force of its jump, and Sans fell backward. He held up his hand with a huff.
"I warned you."
"Stop!"
Sans looked up as Alphys ran into the room, panting hard as she threw herself between him and the thing, arms up as if that would shield it more.
"Don't hurt them! They're not dangerous!"
Sans stared at her, then shook his head, eye still glowing. "Not...Alphys, look at it! It could have killed me with one more jump!"
"N-no! I swear it wouldn't!"
Sans jumped up to his feet. "What the hell even is this anyway? What are you and Gaster doing down here?"
Alphys cringed. "It...it's..." She swallowed. "It's...part of an...an experiment."
"And does Asgore know about this? Or are you two just...just mad scientists working on...on horrors like this?" he snapped, gesturing to the thing, which seemed to be cowering a bit from all the shouting.
Alphys cringed. "I-I know this...it looks bad. B-but really...they're still...they're still monsters..."
Sans' sockets widened. "These are monsters? What the fuck have you done to them?" he shouted. Alphys hunched back.
"I...I...l-look, Sans, let me just ex-explain..."
Sans shook his head. "No...no, I'm done. I'm out. I want nothing to do with you or Gaster or...or any kind of science if this is where it leads to." His eye flickered yellow as he focused on teleporting out...but nothing happened. His chest tightened, and he tried again. And again. What was wrong? Was he too far underground? Why couldn't he leave?!
He grimaced, then pushed past Alphys and the thing. One way or another, he had to get out of here. He bolted toward the room with the beds, only to clatter into Gaster. The taller skeleton caught him, staring at him in shock.
"Why on earth are you down here?"
Sans shoved him away and glared up at him. "Does Asgore know about this?" he snapped again, gesturing to the thing, whose massive tail wagged as it saw Gaster. "Because I swear to God, I will go up and tell him right now what's going on down here. You have to be some...some kind of freak to do this to monsters!"
Gaster sighed, holding his head with one hand. "If you will shut off your eye, I will tell you what is happening." He narrowed his sockets at Alphys. "I expected better of you, Alphys."
She cringed again. "I...I was just..."
Gaster shook his head with a frustrated sigh. He summoned a bone, making Sans tense, then tossed it to the thing, which absorbed it into its void, tail wagging even more.
"Alphys, take the amalgamate back to its area."
Alphys nodded meekly. "C-c'mon, let's get you back with the others," she said, then guided the amalgamate out with a few whistles and a "C'mere! There's a good Endogeny!"
Sans glared up at Gaster. "You have one minute to explain what you've done with these monsters."
Gaster shook his head. "Let me find where to begin..."
"How about you begin with the fact that you experimented on innocent mon—"
"They were already dead, Sans!" Gaster snapped. "It was an assignment from Asgore!"
Sans blinked, eye fading. "Wh-what?"
Gaster sighed. "Alphys and I were tasked with trying to find a way to inject monsters with Determination. It...well, Determination...it is..."
"It's a trait found in humans. Keep talking."
Gaster stared at him for a moment, then shook his skull. "We took recently deceased monsters and injected them with Determination, at first to preserve their bodies, then to attempt reviving them. And it was successful. They woke up and began walking around. This was...far more than we had anticipated. Alphys and I began to theorize about how we could use Determination to better monsterkind." He sighed. "But then...it turned out to be too much for their bodies to handle. They began to melt, and formed into...well, what you have just seen." He rubbed his skull. "We are still trying to remedy it, but...if there has been any progress, it is very slow. Asgore does not know the extent of the difficulty we are having, and I implore you not to tell him."
Sans' sockets narrowed. "Give me one good reason."
"His peace of mind," Gaster said firmly, meeting Sans' sockets. "You are not the only one tasked with protecting him, and I have been doing it far longer than you." He looked down, clasping his hands behind his back. "Between you and me, he does not want to hurt any more humans. It is not in his nature to want revenge, even after losing his freedom and his son. So we were tasked with finding a way to give him the Determination he needs to break the barrier." He sighed. "He has been disappointed enough. We all have. A failure like this will kill any hope the Underground has." He took a step toward Sans. "Alphys and I did not create the amalgamates out of any kind of wickedness or selfish desire. We wanted them to live. Surely you can understand that."
Sans swallowed and looked away, staying silent for several minutes.
"Fine." He looked up at Gaster again, expression hard. "But swear you won't do this to any other monsters."
Gaster smiled wryly. "I already have."
A silence stretched between the two. It was uncomfortable, but not enough for Sans to try to run. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to do with himself after finding out what had been happening under his nose, so to speak. Finally, Gaster was the one who broke the silence.
"I cannot help but wonder why you are down here. I had done my best to keep everyone out of the lower lab since our...er, situation occurred."
Sans rubbed his neck. "Uh, well, Alphys told me to. She wants to do, uh, some kind of test on me? To see how I'm doing after the second reset."
Gaster gave a short, hoarse laugh. "Ah. I see I am not good at hiding my concern." He hesitantly set a fluttering hand on Sans' shoulder; Sans allowed it, and Gaster guided him forward. "Come. Let us find her and we will get this scan over as quickly as possible. I am certain you do not want to spend too long down here."
Sans nodded. After a few moments, he glanced up at the other skeleton. "Uh, hey, Gaster?"
"Yes?"
"The, uh, the scan...will it hurt?"
Gaster gave him a small smile. "Certainly not."
~
The scan went without a hitch, and Sans (quite happily, it seemed) left the lab to get some well-deserved rest. As for Gaster and Alphys, well...it was an even longer night than usual. Endogeny had made a right mess of the lab in its excitement, and the clean-up took hours.
At last, Gaster was able to look at Sans' test results. They were worrying, to say the least: his HP was half of what a monster of his power should have, and his defenses were terribly low as well. Something clearly had to be done about that, but Gaster couldn't imagine what. His browbone furrowed as he looked over the data, searching for any other anomalies. His sockets widened as he caught something.
"Alphys! Quickly, come here!"
The dinosaur ran over as quickly as possible, goggles still on and a beaker in her hand.
"What? What is it?"
Gaster pointed at the screen. Alphys narrowed her eyes, then gasped as the beaker fell from her hand.
"My god..." she whispered.
Gaster smiled, still focused on the screen.
"It would appear that one of my hypotheses has been validated."
On the screen, right over Sans' soul, was a little red blip of Determination.