Mom? Mom?

That... that was his Mom. Jeff's Mother. Most of his memories were still gone, but he gained back some of them that included his parents.

What was she doing here? With a lab coat, nevertheless?

Jeff's Mom was tall, lean, like a skinny tree on the edge of a road. Thick brown hair stopped at her shoulders, her thin lips pushed into a smile that looked far too unreal for Jeff to believe was anything but a mask. Winkles, old and new, clung to her skin, much like her grey hairs did, scattered about on her head.

"Jeff, honey, hello!" She said, setting down her suitcase next to the door. "It makes logical sense that zombies could learn to talk again, but I didn't anticipate it'd be his quick. It sounds like your infection has mostly died out. If anything you're rather comprehensive, no?"

Jeff gurgled lightly to himself, observing his Mother. He remembered bits and pieces of her. A memory of a birthday party sparkled up one night, another was a day after school where she had asked him to help make dinner. Those were pleasant memories.

Yet, there was some underlying feelings that crept with each memory, tainting what little pieces he knew about his Mother. A sense of distrust, unease, bubbling up across his soul. There was something wrong. A memory he was missing. Gone.

But his soul knew it. Even if he couldn't remember, his body was on alert, untrusting. There was a reason he ran from his family, wasn't there?

She didn't act like someone reuniting with family, either. Jeff saw the way Papyrus acted around Sans, and it seemed that his Mother didn't even care to look at him. Instead, she was straight to business, opening the case she had carried.

"You know, your brother didn't make it," She explained, pulling out some empty containers from her case. "From the fire you set."

Oh, that's right. Jeff could very briefly recall a fire. Not the first one that made him look like this, but the second. The one he set on purpose.

Why couldn't Jeff remember that one?

"And you," His Mom said, turning towards Sans. "I'd recognize a skeleton anywhere. Your Father really did screw us over, didn't he?"

His Father? What did she mean?

Jeff turned towards the other zombie, finding Sans staring at the woman. His teeth curled into a frown, and when he finally spoke, his words were careful. Crap. Sans really meant business.

"You... were the... scientist..." He grumbled.

"Behind the end of the world?" She asked, "Not really. A participant, yes, but there was an entire team behind it. It never would have resulted like this if your Father didn't steal all of our research and take it Underground after we left."

They-

His Mom, his parents, were responsible for the end of the world. They were the scientists that created the first zombie. They were the scientists that experimented on Jane.

They were the people who kidnapped them.

Why? What was the purpose? Sure, Jeff was their kid, but why did they bother to get Sans? And how was the fake human child involved in all of this?

"I'm glad we at least managed to get back one experiment, even if we lost two," His Mom said, drawing out a needle. "It was bothersome when Lui went and died, despite how much void we used on him, at least our other container is alive. And once Jane comes in for Sans, we can extract the void from her."

Container?

It was late. A brief summer night. Jeff was young, no more than a child who passed out after having quite a bit of sugar. He was curled under his bed, blanket thick and heavy.

"... Mom?"

Jeff sat up, soft brown hair passing his shoulders as he looked at the retreating figure. His arm felt oddly sore, and he felt rather groggy. What was his Mom doing in his room?

"Oh, sorry dear," She said, turning to cover something out of view with her body, "I didn't mean to wake you." With her hand on the doorknob, she moved to slowly shut the door. "It's nothing, go back to sleep."

"We'reeeeee... baigh- bait?" Sans asked her.

"You're bait for Jane," She said, pointing to Sans. "Chara was kind enough to reach out to us with a deal. We experiment on them and give them all of the void, as they have the needed soul to have an effect, and they bring us back Jane and Jeff. Sans is just bait, and some revenge for his Father."

"What dough... do you mean aboutttttt his Dad?" Jeff asked.

"His Father worked on our team before monsters went Underground," His Mom explained, "And when he left, he took all of our work on the void. It took several years to even get a restart on everything we had." She pulled out some syringes, laying them onto the ground next to her case. "And now, since it's the end of the world, our abilities to even get our hands on the instruments for the void is lacking. We have to resort to... well, draining our resources."

Before Jeff could reply, Sans scooted in front of him. He growled towards the woman, placing his body, and most importantly his teeth, between her and her child.

One bite. That's all it'd take. They might be coherent, but they were still infectious.

"You do realize that I have several armed guards at my disposal," She said, pulling out a gun from her pocket. "What can one measly monster do against an army of humans?"

"And youuuuu do reals... realize that I'm yough bait?" Sans grumbled, grinning at her. "What would Janeeeee say?"

Oh snap, that was a good defense. Sans was the bait. If he even got a simple paper cut, Jane would probably wreck the entire building. She loved Sans, and if he was hurt, there would be hell to pay. Her anger would only make her stronger, so she'd be unstoppable.

Well played.

"Fine," She spoke, tone sharp and her words snapped as she pushed aside her case. "But once we have Jane in custody and release you, there won't be anyone to protect him. Don't get cocky."

Jeff had been mad. And finally, his anger got the best of him.

Flames built around them, crawling up in size. He could hear the screams of his brother, but he had grown so emotionally distanced from him that it was rather useless. Jeff couldn't feel anything but his burning anger, and his burning hatred. Much like the flames around him.

Except... some weren't normal.

At this point, Jeff wasn't sure if he was ever hallucinating or not. Large, black flames coiled around a wall, creeping into the air further than the other flames. Panicked from the special flame, Jeff took a step back, then another. What was-

The sound of glass exploding, and suddenly more flames were consumed by the black light, growing in size. This was too weird, he didn't plan this.

What was going on?

Without an explanation for the black flames, and simply wanting to get the heck out of there, Jeff made his escape through the window. Ignoring the black flames as they infected the others, growing from his parents bedroom towards the rest of the house.

~~~~~~

Chara hummed, mindlessly kicking back and forth their feet. A large grin hung on their face. This was all going fantastic! Sure, they originally had only two doses, but soon Chara was going to get more. Then they could finally be the most powerful.

"Problem, Frisk?" Chara chuckled, glancing over.

There floated the ghost child, looking over their body and soul. Old body and soul. This was no longer their property, they sold it to Chara to fix their mess.

Chara would make better use of their body, that was for sure.

"We'll stop you, I'll find a way," Frisk said.

"Oh, will you?" Chara asked, taunting them. "You don't have much say in what happens, do you?"

Tears threatened to fall from Frisk, the lonely child looking away. Regret clung to their face, a prominent expression at this point.

"Chara, we can begin the experiments soon," The Doctor said, stepping inside. "Jane has arrived in a surrender."

"Oh, goody!" Chara giggled, clapping their hands together. "Let's get started as soon as possible!"