"Did Undyne threaten you previously?"

His chest hurt. A burning pain had spread through each and every rib, crawling through his bones and jabbing at him with each movement. A tube traveled underneath his plain white shirt and connected with his soul, keeping a steady flow of magic within his body at every possible opportunity. The machine beeped every so often, keeping track of his stats.

Sans trailed his gaze along the pale hospital walls to the questioning monster before he answered. "No."

It made sense that he was being questioned. When you were head of the Royal Guard, that position came with the protection of the people. One slip up, and it could be so easily ripped from your hands.

Though, Sans couldn't really think about it. His head was a little fuzzy from all of the magic being pumped into his soul to keep his healing on track, and his chest constantly ached.

He was stabbed by Undyne. The last person he had expected to be attacked by. Whenever his parents went near a knife, he would tense, and keep his distance. Yet here he was, in the hospital. Not because of them, but because of Undyne.

"Can you describe what happened if you recall?" The monster asked, clicking their pen.

"Like I said earlier, I don't think she tried to target me or anything," Sans said, bunching the blanket into his small hands. "I just walked into the room then I was being stabbed. I think I just walked into it."

The monster nodded, writing down some words onto their clipboard. Thick, dragon wings picked up and rested behind them. Sans held the side of his skull, blinking a few times to try and clear the fog gathering. The extra dose of magic, along with the pain, was really throwing him for a loop.

"Well, I'm glad you're doing better," The dragon monster said, putting aside the pen. "We're launching a full investigation into this incident, so it's good that you weren't injured past recovery."

"A full investigation?" Sans asked, "It was just an accident."

"That's what we're not sure about." The man crossed his hands together as he spoke. "You see, Undyne was threatening your entire family, and had summoned the spear to try and hurt someone. This wasn't a training accident, it was an attack."

"It wasn't training, sure, but I don't think she purposefully targeted me," Sans said, trying to help Undyne's case. "I just walked in then I was down for the count. Really don't think it was her intentions to get me right then and 'ere."

"Maybe not, but she still summoned a weapon and was threatening a defenseless woman with it, and has shown violence towards her in the past leading up to this moment," He said.

Crap.

Sans looked away, scratching the side of his face as he tried to clear his mind and rationalize how to help Undyne through this mess she created. He really knew it was a genuine mistake that she hurt him, that she hadn't noticed that he walked in, but would anyone else believe that? Sans couldn't explain why she hated his parents so much, he couldn't tell anyone the truth. Undyne had trapped herself inside of an image so bad that it would ruin her reputation. Even if Sans wanted to, even if he did explain, everyone would wave him off.

They were trapped, both of them. But it was Undyne who was taking the social fall, and Sans who took the physical one. And, as a result for their poor communication and rushed actions, Sans was in the hospital with a private investigator, being questioned for something he wished never happened.

"She's not going to go to jail, is she?" Sans asked.

"No, it wasn't planned, she's not going to jail for that with everyone's testimonies," He said, "But like I said, I'm launching a full investigation to see her actions as head of the Royal Guard. I know for sure she'll be losing her job, and restraining orders will be issued to keep Undyne away from you and your family."

"A restraining order?" Sans asked.

"She's shown past behavior of threatening your family, and might have even staged her car accident to try and jail your parents. She won't be allowed near you anymore in case she loses control, and we'll be issuing anger management. If she fails to abide by either of these, though, she will be arrested."

The door opened before Sans could try to save any shred of Undyne's image left, another dragon entered the room, a thick doctors coat hanging from her shoulders. She approached, the badge reading out 'Doctor Lyra' flashing under the intense fluorescent lights.

"Oh, Sans, you're awake!" She said happily, "Hello Jay."

"Fancy meeting you here dear," The detective said.

"You two know each other?" Sans asked, pointing between them.

Doctor Lyra paused, before nodding happily. "Yes, he's my husband."

"Over fifty wonderful years," Jay said, leaning against his hand.

"Oh, that's nice," Sans said.

The Doctor moved forward on with a smile, checking his soul and the magic tube connected to it. She asked him a few questions, mostly relating to his health and pain. Sans answered them as honestly as he could, eager to get out of the hospital as soon as possible.

"Where's Paps? Is he okay?" Sans asked her and Jay, not caring which one it was directed to, just wanting the knowledge.

"I think he's more than okay," Lyra chuckled lightly.

"Your family is all in the lobby, I've asked them to hold off on their visit until I'm done questioning you," Jay explained, "But I do believe Lyra is right -" Jay adjusted his wings behind him, spreading them out slightly, as if proud to announce the news. "Papyrus defended you after Undyne hurt you."

"He did?" Sans couldn't help but straighten at the news; he defended him?

"From what the others told me, Papyrus was the first one who took care of you. He reached your body first and he even used his scarf to wrap around the ribs so they could be properly set and healed. Not to mention how he attacked Undyne."

"He - What?" Sans asked.

"From what I heard, after Papyrus made sure you were in a stable condition, Undyne tried to get close and pull the spear out of you. Which, as you know, isn't a good idea medically," Lyra explained, "You're supposed to keep the weapon in to avoid heavy bleeding, and Undyne must have panicked and tried to fix her mistake, which was trying to remove the weapon. I'm sure Papyrus must have been scared about your health, and her getting too close to you was what made him defend you. It was a good thing he did, if you lost too much blood we might have lost you."

Papyrus attacked Undyne?

As if it wasn't hard enough to process the fact that Undyne came close to killing Sans, the world decided to add another twist onto this crazy situation. Papyrus had actually punched Undyne? It was an image Sans never expected to imagine. He never anticipated to hear of Papyrus attacking someone else unprovoked.

Then again, he was provoked, and had a good reason to attack her. He was scared, no doubt terrified that Sans might dust in front of him, and Undyne went to go make him bleed more. If it was Papyrus that was stabbed, Sans probably would have had the same reaction. Though, Undyne wouldn't have gotten away with just one punch.

It sucked. Undyne was the only one who knew the truth of his parents wearing masks, and she was so quickly shot down that Sans barely had time to make any plans with her. He couldn't tell her the truth, but he could have warned her more. Used her position to get her to investigate his parents. Something! And he knew he had someone that was on his side, someone to look out for him. Someone who didn't buy his parents lies.

Yet, here he was, once again having no defense from their words, much less their attacks anymore. He was in the hospital, he couldn't run with a tube connected to his soul.

They won. Again.

"I believe I've asked all of my questions, thank you for your time Sans," Jay said, standing up. "We're rooting for you, sport."

Sans opened his mouth to ask what he meant, but the detective was already walking outside of the door, passing by Papyrus, who was just entering. Sans didn't bother to ponder over it anymore, quickly stretching out his arms to embrace his brother.

~~~~~~

"I thought you both would wait in the lobby," Jay replied, leaning against the wall next to the closed door.

"Papyrus got very antsy and started to pace, your questioning took awhile," Gaster said, "And nice coat."

Jay chuckled, pulling at the thick brown coat sitting heavily on his shoulders. "Thanks, I figured it went with the whole detective vibe I was doing."

"Did you get his story?" Jandle asked.

"Well, I got his adjusted story," Jay said, handing the clipboard to the skeleton couple. "It's enough to get a good restraining order, not to mention practically ruin any chance Undyne has of getting a political job again. Or any job with her qualifications again. She'd be lucky to even get a job flipping burgers. No sane monster would employ a woman like her now."

"Yes, these answers will do." Gaster flipped through each page carefully, absorbing the information Jay had written down. "I'm still very frustrated that Undyne didn't attack Jandle. She thinks she can almost murder my son and get away with it? Please."

"It almost sounds like you want to get rid of me, dear," Jandle joked, leaning an elbow on Gaster's shoulder.

"If only. You take up too much of the bed."

Jandle snorted, lightly pinching his cheekbone as retaliation. She soon joined him in reading the statements, that were... reworded, per say, by Jay. They couldn't throw Undyne in jail, she wouldn't serve as much time as they'd like. Not to mention how much difficult it would be to stage her death in jail.

No, she wouldn't die for her actions, not unless they had no other choice. Death was an escape. The easy way out. It'd be much more effective if they kept her alive to ruin her life.

"It was a surprise that Undyne almost killed Sans," Jay said, "How dare she attack one of the prized gems from our family?"

"Undyne may be strong, but it's that who holds their emotions that claims a victory," Jandle said, "It doesn't matter how strong you can swing, or how powerful your magic is, if you miss your target or have a poorly placed attack each turn, you'll lose every battle. Pitiful that she couldn't even get the basic principle of that down in her years of service. She made the outcome far worse than we had been planning, if she simply attacked me like we intended her life wouldn't be so terrible."

"And we have yet to even attack Alphys." Gaster finished looking through the papers. "But the investigation will no doubt lead to Alphys' mistakes, and we'll continue as planned."

"Should I get started on Toriel, dear?" Jandle asked.

"I do believe so, yes," Gaster said.

Lyra, with outstretched wings and a soft smile, stepped out of the room, closing the door on Papyrus' and Sans' conversation. It pleased Jandle to see them further bonding, the poor brothers haven't had much alone time anymore. How were they supposed to fall madly in love with each other if they lived with an old hag and drooling child?

If anything, while Jandle had been full of seething rage for Undyne hurting their precious child, she didn't lay a finger on her. After all, that'd be a waste of her anger. No, she'd hold it, channel it to something far more productive. She was angry, and wanted to hurt Undyne. Physically would be too easy.

As long as Sans and Papyrus were safely away from the brainless fish, Jandle would be pleased with her work. Sans would heal, but most of all...

Undyne would suffer. But not by death. That'd be too easy. They weren't done with her yet, they were going to make sure she regretted ever existing.

~~~~~~

It was such a simple request for a friend of hers, so why would Toriel deny it? Jandle had hoped that she could go to Sans' room and grab some of his hoodies so he'd feel more comfortable in the hospital, and it made sense. Sans, as much as he tried to hide it with his natural charm with words, was shy.

"Ah, here they are."

Toriel carefully dragged open his drawer of hoodies, pulling out a few of the most worn ones for Sans. It was a good thing to hear he was in stable condition, Toriel could never forgive herself if her best friend was killed.

It was a shock, but she understood that Undyne could no longer be considered a friend. If she had the choice, she would have Alphys and Undyne break up, as poor little Alphys didn't deserve to be dating someone so dangerous. But, in the end, it wasn't her choice. Hopefully Alphys would just be safe.

Undyne wouldn't be allowed in their friend group again, and Toriel would no longer have her near Frisk, much less Sans. Maybe after sometime has passed, but she could tell Undyne wasn't mentally sound right now. Why would she think possibly Jandle was out to get her?

"Oh?"

Now, Toriel wasn't one to snoop. She understood Sans' and Papyrus' finances were a little bit rocky, so she tried to stay outside of their rooms as much as possible, and they stayed out of hers. She didn't mean to see the folder, neatly hidden below his hoodies, but she did. Now, Toriel normally wouldn't have reached for it, but the resemblance to the folder Sans had been reading before he confronted her of her past actions had Toriel grasping the papers and dragging them out.

What was this?

Slowly, she flipped it open, skimming down the glossary. How organized. No doubt Sans wasn't the one who created this, he would never be so... so...

Kingdom funding? Why was this a section?

Toriel flipped to the located page, looking down at the numbers for taxes upon the monster population. Her eyes, starting to narrow with her pressed jaw, trailed down each and every line until she reached the bottom. Her sharp, trimmed claws dug into the folder as she angrily flipped the page.

She and Asgore were going to have a talk soon.