"Toriel?" I called, knocking on the door to the ruins. Sans was standing next to me and he looked nervous for some reason. Was he scared of her?

"Toriel? Are you there?" I knocked again, taking a step back and staring at the door in hope. Still no answer. I sighed and started to walk away. "She's probably--" "My child?" A soft voice called uncertainly, footsteps starting to pound down the hallway behind the door. Sans looked ready to faint.

"Toriel!" I yelled running back to the door and peering through the small crack that the vines hadn't been able to conceal. "My child! Oh I'm so happy to see you!" Toriel cried happily, reaching a hand through the crack to brush a few strands of hair away from my face. "What has brought you here, my child?" She asked, pulling her hand back through the crack and to her side.

"Me and Sans have a favor to ask of you." There was silence. "Sans?" Toriel's soft voice said. "Is he here with you?" I nodded and looked over at Sans who was sweating bullets. "What's wrong?" I asked him, concerned for my skeleton friend. "um, i've never . . . this wasn't . . ." "Please my dear friend," Toriel called from behind the door. "I've been wanting to meet you like this for so long."

I was so confused.

Sans took a deep breath and nodded -- not like Toriel could see -- then stepped in front of the door so that Toriel's pale green eyes could see him. Sans cracked a shaky smile as he looked at Toriel's surprised face. "ta-da." He said weakly, holding out his arms a bit. Toriel chuckled and smiled.

"Oh it's so good to finally see you!" She exclaimed, reaching her hand through the crack to shake Sans' skeletal one. He shook it nervously, probably a bit shocked at meeting someone he apparently knew for so long. "you too." He said awkwardly, coughing a bit before letting go of Toriel's hand.

"Anyways," I started, getting everyone to focus back on me. "We came here for a reason." Toriel smiled at me. "And what reason would that be, my child?" Toriel seemed a lot nicer than last time, acting more like how she had when I had bid her goodbye a few days ago. Maybe my promise had a lot more hope than I thought it did.

"We need you to help the monsters in The Ruins have enough hope so that when I break the barrier they won't run out and start killing everyone." Toriel nodded and glanced behind her. "I can do that, when are you planning to break the barrier?" "The end of the week." She nodded again and flashed Sans and I a smile. "It's so nice seeing you two, good luck with the other regions!"

I smiled back at her and waved a bit as Sans and I started walking off. "We will Mo-- Toriel!" My face heated up at my slip-up, turning away from the door to stare at my moving feet. "so," Sans started, pretending like he didn't also notice my slip-up. "where to next?" I thought back over the regions Sans had mentioned and decided on which one sounded the best.

"Hotland."

• • •

"Holy hell this place is smoking!" I yelled, looking down off a cliff to where a giant lake of lava was. "yup, asgore isn't very good at naming things so the only thing he could think of were names that described exactly how each region looked." He waved his hand around. "exhibit a." I snickered at his words and turned towards a huge white building with the word 'LAB' written on it in huge letters.

"Should we go there first?" I asked, pointing towards the large white building. Sans looked over and a flash of worry crossed his face before he shrugged. "sure, if you want." I hesitated before walking towards it, worry starting to form in my mind. Why had Sans looked worried for a second? Should I be worried too? Sans knocked on the huge lab door since the motion sensor didn't look like it was working. "Come in!" A shrill voice yelled from inside the building, a keypad to the left beeping green three times before the doors slammed open.

I took a tentative step in with Sans beside me, my eyes wide and darting around the dark room. Silhouettes scattered the area because of a small desk lamp lit up in a corner. A figure was moving around next to a desk and I could see a white lab coat with blood splatters across the front of it. The figure seemed hunched over as it scurried over to us, the lights on the ceiling slowly starting to flicker on.

"Why Sans! What a surprise to see you here! And who's--" The figure stopped short as a huge red eye peered at me from underneath a bloody white bandage covering its other eye. It looked like the figure was crying blood as it dribbled off its face and onto the floor. "A HUMAN!" It shrieked, the lights finally turning on to reveal the rest of the figure.

It looked to be female and wore a tattered bloody white lab coat with missing buttons. She had yellow scales on her body and sharp claws with dried blood on them. A bandage that served more as a blindfold covered her eyes. The bandage was lifted a bit to reveal her left eye which was a dark red. Blood was pouring from her eyes and coated her cheeks, her long yellow snout holding several sharp teeth. She was terrifying.

"alphys, wait just a--" His words ended in a shout as Alphys tackled me and tried to tear into my skin with her claws. "ALPHYS!" Sans shouted, a blue/red aura engulfing her as she was thrown back and onto the ground. Sans held her there with his magic while I panted on the ground holding my stomach where her claws had scraped me. She hadn't done any serious damage but the claw marks on my stomach stung. My shirt was torn up and was starting to soak in my blood.

"oh god," Sans whispered shakily, rushing over to my side and helping me up. "y/n, are you--" "I'm fine, Sans. Just scratched up." I reassured him, lifting my shirt to see shallow claw marks on my skin. "See? I'll live." Alphys was hollering out inaudible words as she thrashed on the ground, trying to break from Sans' magic to rip me to shreds. "Sans! You idiot! Don't you see that she's a human!" Alphys screeched, venom in her words.

Sans stepped towards her and glared her down. "that's our savior you're talking to." He snapped, his left eye glowing brighter. Alphys stopped moving and stared at Sans before her gaze drifted to me. "Savior?" She whispered, awe in her voice. I nodded and smiled shakily. "Yeah, I'm going to save all of you from the Underground. I've already helped Snowdin and The Ruins is being helped with right now. You're all going to be free at the end of the week."

Guilt covered her face. "Oh m-my! I'm s-s-so sorry! I didn't k-know that y-you were . . . p-please forgive m-me." She cried, real tears starting to form in her eyes. Sans let out a relived breath and released Alphys from his magic. He would only have done that if she was acting like she used to. Alphys must be a very nervous and anxious monster.

"It's okay," I reassured, stepping towards her. "N-No, it's not." She said, starting to cry. "I almost k-killed our s-savior! I would've c-c-crushed everyone's h-hopes and--" I wrapped my arms around her in a hug causing her to flinch. She soon wrapped her arms around me and cried into my shoulder while I rubbed her back and told her that it was okay.

When Alphys had stopped crying, I let her go as she tried to collect herself. "At least l-let me p-patch you up." She said, turning and rushing off to her desk where she grabbed several different things. I glanced over at Sans who gave me a gesture that told me it was okay. I walked over to Alphys and did as she said while she fixed the wound she had made.

"There." She said, stepping back from wrapping a clean bandage around my stomach. "That should d-do it." "Thank you, Alphys." She smiled but it soon turned into a frown. "You s-shouldn't thank m-me, I'm t-the one w-who--" "It's okay. I won't judge you for it." I interrupted, giving her a smile to reassure her. She looked me in the eyes then smiled. "Y-You're so k-kind."

Sans coughed a bit to get our attention then pointed to the lab door. "we should get going, we have the rest of hotland to save." Alphys nodded. "Alright, I w-won't hold y-you here all d-day. Good l-luck!" She called, waving at us as we headed towards the door.

Suddenly, the wall to the right of Alphys exploded.

I shrieked and dropped to the ground, shielding my body from the flying debris. Sans was hunched down next to me and lifted his skull slowly after the dust had cleared. Alphys was on the ground staring at the figure standing in the center of the hole that the explosion had made.

It was a robot, and he was staring right at me with an insane grin in his face.

Hey guys! Quick question, which cover is better?