"Papyrus, I have a question for you."

"What is it, brother?"

The skeleton brothers were standing in the intersection that connected Undyne's house, Blook Acres and the path to the Garbage Dump. On the other hand, Undyne was pacing up and down the path leading to her burning house, unwilling to stand around.

Papyrus stared at Sans expectantly for his question as the latter took a deep breath, his face shadowed with uncertainty.

"Why... do you believe in people, even if they did the worst thing?"

The tall skeleton blinked slowly as he registered the questions and thought of the answers silently. Sans began to feel uncomfortable; his brother never took this long to answer.

"Sans... when someone does something wrong, they would feel bad about it and would want to make up for it. I believe in them because if they want to change, they need support." Papyrus' voice was steady and calm, confident about his answer to Sans' question.

Frankly, Sans was speechless. He never expected those words, said so earnestly, from his own bright, energetic brother. His mind went blank, unable to formulate a verbal response, only managing a simple nod.

"Hey!" Undyne's voice snapped him back to attention.

Sans did not have to turn his head to know that Frisk had arrived. He found himself keeping his gaze away from them, their previous conversation seared into his head.

Suddenly, he was having second thoughts about what he said. Unsettled by his own change of heart, he quickly followed Undyne to her neighbour's house.

It was odd. Sans was sure that he meant every word he said at that time, but now... he was uncertain. Something felt wrong.

Too engrossed in trying to figure it out, he paid no attention to the conversation between Undyne and her neighbour. Stifling a yawn, he felt Papyrus ushering him into the house.

Sans sensed his eyelids drooping as exhaustion washed over him, unexpected and abrupt.

"I'm going to take a nap. Do the meeting without me," he announced, yawning.

Succumbing to exhaustion, he plopped onto the floor and dozed off.

Opening his eyes, the skeleton found himself in a dark area, completely void of any light, yet he could still see his own hands perfectly.

Where am I?

His instincts were screaming at him to run, and to get out of there at once, but he couldn't.

It was then Sans heard a voice. A voice he had never heard before.

"Sans." He froze at the mention of his name.

"Sans," the voice repeated. "Remember."

"Remember what?" Sans called out to the emptiness. As soon as he finished his words, a jolt of realisation hit him. Is that voice telling me to remember what Papyrus said to me?

"Something is happening, a scourge that is spreading throughout the Underground. You need to-"

The voice was cut off as Sans felt himself slowly waking up, being pulled away from the dream. Just as light began filling in his eyes, a name was inserted in his mind.

W.D. Gaster.

~~~~

Everyone waited in anticipation for Frisk to continue speaking, especially Undyne. Anxiety had been plaguing her since the morning of Alphys' disappearance, the same feeling when Frisk first appeared in Snowdin yesterday.

"Who is it, Frisk?" Undyne asked impatiently.

"A talking flower. He calls himself Flowey," Frisk revealed.

At the mention of a talking flower, Papyrus sat up, erect. "A flower?"

All heads - except Sans, of course - turned to the skeleton, who was now the centre of attention. Undyne, in particular, was bewildered.

"Wait, Papyrus, you know that flower?"

He nodded. "Remember? I told you about him a lot of times, but you didn't believe me."

Immediately, Undyne felt guilty. It was just... unbelievable that a plant could talk, much less move around doing things. However, with Frisk to confirm it, she had to believe it now.

"I'm sorry," she apologised sheepishly.

"Apology accepted!" Papyrus' cheerful demeanour never ceased to amaze her. Yet, at the same time, she felt a tremor of fear that someone would take advantage of it one day.

Undyne grinned. "All right, let's get back to business. So, Frisk... this Flowey character, what's he like? What's his motive?"

The human child, who seemed to be spacing out, looked up at the sound of her voice.

"I think he wants revenge," they said carefully. "He acted... differently from the previous time I met him, when he tried to take my soul."

A frown creeped up onto Undyne's face. From what Frisk was saying, it seemed that Flowey was becoming unpredictable, which was dangerous.

"I'll tell the Royal Guards to be on the lookout for him," she decided. "Anything else we should know?"

"There's something else. Sans also told me that Asgore has not been going around the Underground for a while now. I... don't know whether it's relevant or not," they spoke with uncertainty in their words.

"Well, that is odd," Undyne commented as she tried to fit the puzzle pieces together. Even after racking her brain for a while, she could not figure it out any logical explanation.

There's no way Asgore would hurt Alphys or something, so that's out. But there's that flower... wait, how could he get into the Throne Room anyway?

"Ngaaaahhhhh!" Undyne yelled, her voice amplified by the fact that it was a small room. Surprisingly, Sans did not even stir.

"Sorry, this kind of stuff is not for me," she sighed, scratching her head.

"We could think about it another time," Papyrus suggested.

Undyne had to agree with him on that one. With the little information they had, there was nothing much else they could do but to keep looking.

"So what do we do now, Undyne?" Papyrus asked, looking at her to give instructions.

It was then her phone rang. She held up a hand for him to give her a moment and picked it up.

"Hello, Undyne here."

"Captain!" The call came from one of the Royal Guards, his voice flustered. "The capital was just attacked."

"What?" She gritted her teeth. Had Flowey already taken action?

"We are handling the situation now, but you need to come and see this."

"Got it."

Undyne turned back to her friends, jumping up from the floor. "There's a situation at New Home. I need to head there immediately."

"What about us?" Papyrus was facing her expectantly.

It could be too dangerous if I bring him along to the capital...

"Papyrus, you could go to Snowdin and look for Alphys there. You know Snowdin better than any of us; if Alphys is there, you can find her in a giffy!" Undyne smiled, making a mental note to choose her words carefully.

"All right!" He returned her smile with an enthusiastic grin. "I, the Great Papyrus, will carry out this task with utmost importance!"

Relieved, she switched her attention to Frisk. This time, she was more hesitant on deciding the best option for them, keeping in mind of the previous day's incident.

"I could go to Hotland," they offered. "That's where Alphys' lab is, am I right?"

"Yeah, but are you s-"

Undyne was cut off as she noticed Sans opening his eyes, awake at last. "What did I miss?" he mumbled sleepily.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes, including the one hidden behind her eyepatch. Did he seriously sleep through their entire discussion?

"Okay, there's a possibly dangerous talking flower on the loose in the Underground and Alphys is still missing," she huffed. "I'm heading to the capital to handle a situation while Papyrus is going to Snowdin and Frisk looks in Hotland."

In a lower, disgrunted tone, she added, "I should have fired you for yesterday's subpar performance."

Sans blinked. "I'll go to Hotland then."

Either the short skeleton pretended not to catch her words or he simply did not hear them. Whatever it was, Undyne was not in the mood to deal with him. "Frisk will update you and whatnot."

Everyone was preparing to go their separate ways. After thanking her neighbour, Undyne found herself feeling calmer, now that a plan was set in mind.

Don't worry, Alphys. We will find you and uncover this mystery once and for all.

------------------------------------------------------------

Fact of the Chapter: Gaster is not Sans' and Papyrus' father. As much as I like the Dadster theory, it's overused.

Also, I drew something (sorry if you think it looks bad lol). If you figure out what it means, it's a spoiler.

Yes, that's how Gaster roughly looks like. He's going to make an appearance in the story eventually, as you can probably tell by the tags.

As always, votes and comments are appreciated.