Under the crisp snowfall, Sans was running. He didn't know where, but his throat hurt. He was screaming, screaming for someone, for-

"Papyrus!"

Cold yellow eyes looked back as dust filled the air.

Snapping out of the sudden memory, he looked over at the kid again, pushing his body slowly towards Jane. Jeff was sitting on a stool, kicking his feet back and forth on the table as Alphys processed the results.

They had all decided to get some information on zombies to see if there was a way to restore memories or not, not to mention know if they're at risk for dying from the infection.

"Sans?" Jane asked.

The child, who Alphys had greeted as Frisk, had simple entered the room, and Sans didn't like them. When they stuck out their hand to shake his, even saying "Don't you know how to greet an old pal?". But Sans couldn't help but look uncomfortably at them, continuing to press against Jane.

"I donnnnnnnn't- Ighhhh..." Sans said, ducking behind Jane. "Don'ttttt likegh... kid!"

"Take a few steps back," Jane told Frisk.

The child narrowed their eyes, looking at Sans and Jane before they sighed, turning around to exit the room. Jane reached over to pet Sans' skull, making sure he was okay.

"(Do you remember anything about them?)" Jeff asked, "(What happened?)"

"(I dunno, I just saw them and felt... wrong,)" Sans said.

"(I... I actually felt like that when I first saw Jane, before she even tried to attack me,)" Jeff said, leaning his elbows down onto his knees. "(It was this sudden compulsive fear, like I couldn't go near her no matter what. That's because she's tried to kill me before, and my body remembered even though I didn't.)"

"(And... like my fear of water,)" Ben said from his spot, "(I remember some of it... not all of it, but some. I think it was my Dad, but someone pushed me into a lake once, and I almost drowned. It's why I don't water.)"

"(To sum up, Sans, I don't think we should trust that kid,)" Jeff said, "(If you don't like 'em, there's something that happened.)"

"What are you guys talking about?" Jane asked Sans.

'Don't trust Frisk,' Sans wrote onto his phone, showing Jane. 'Don't trust them at all.'

"Already didn't," Jane said.

"O-Okay," Alphys said, interrupting everyone in the room as she entered with Papyrus. "The results s-should be done by now."

"Hiii Pappghghhrus!" Sans said, waving to him.

"Hello Sans!"

Even though Papyrus was no doubt still reeling from the surprise yesterday, his happiness that Sans was alive probably outweighed the pain. It was evident his face was still strained from crying, but it was almost evident Papyrus was an optimist. Either way, Papyrus was probably happier with this complicated outcome instead of finding out his brother was a mindless zombie who had to be shot. This was definitely the best possible ending that could have happened.

"Is Undyne with you?" Jane asked.

"No, she heard you were here and ran the other way," Papyrus said. "But um... can I hold Sans? Just for a bit?"

Jane narrowed her eyes for a moment. Sans reached out his arms for his newly found brother. Despite not having many memories, it seemed his soul recognized the other, and calmed down in his presence. Sans didn't entirely know him, but he trusted him, and was willing to try and work on a relationship. Not to mention, now that it's connected within Sans' mind that Papyrus was the one he was looking for all of this time, he felt better.

Well, felt better compared to before. So why did he still feel off?

Sans hugged Papyrus once he was settled down onto his lap, leaning his head onto his shoulder. Papyrus was nice. He liked Papyrus.

Alphys, who had been reading the numbers off of the screen about Jeff's blood, adjusted her glasses, finishing her task. "H-he has a heartbeat."

"What?" Everyone asked from surprise,

"It's f-faint, but there," Alphys said, "I-It seems the infection is a s-sort of virus that adjusts the body of the p-person. Sort of like a f-fungus."

'I'm stupid, what does that mean?' Ben wrote, pressing on his phone to read the words.

"I-It means you guys are technically alive," Alphys explained, "The infection i-isn't a virus, it's a fungus, It s-spreads through mouth contact, which i-is why you g-guys have the n-natural urge a-at first to b-bite people, which would spread the fungus and allow it to h-have a new host. And its w-why zombies can only be k-killed by their heads, because that's where the f-fungus grows. Which also e-explains why some zombies w-were able to resist the urge more like Sans and Ben did compared to Sally and Jeff, b-because of the type of bite they r-received."

"Type of bite?" Jane asked for clarification.

"S-Sans is a skeleton, so i-it's far harder to bite through bone," Alphys explained, pushing up her glasses. "Not to mention h-how Sally was only a child. Her b-bite was strong enough to infect him with the f-fungus, but n-not by much. I-It'd turn him, but Sans' natural i-instincts overrode the control o-of the fungus since it wasn't s-strong enough. That's probably w-why you were able to overcome t-the urge to eat, and why some other zombies are willing to risk d-death and bite while others aren't. And it e-explains why zombies don't want to eat people after time p-passes, because t-the fungus dies down. And it's w-why you start to remember more, and you g-get more... 'normal' after you haven't eaten flesh, b-because the fungus hasn't been fed and it's starting to die off."

"Do you mean they might become normal again?" Papyrus asked.

"N-Not likely, Jeff's fungus is mostly dying off," Alphys said, "They'll probably be zombies f-forever, b-but the fungus that's been r-restricting their bodies i-is going to be gone without being fed or spread, s-so they'll start gaining whatever they lost s-soon. Some of their s-senses will be gone forever, m-mainly their pain receptors, as t-those had been genetically altered with the fungus, and t-their speech, which they w-will have to relearn, b-but their memories w-weren't destroyed, just p-pushed back for room of the f-fungus, if that makes sense. Since t-the fungus already has been dying off, y-you guys have been getting bits and p-pieces, right?" Alphys asked.

The zombies confirmed, all grumbling with nods.

"I-I figured," Alphys said, "T-The fungus didn't erase who y-you were, which is why you g-guys still get traces of things y-you liked and did b-before. Which w-would also s-show why Sans l-likes Papyrus' scarf so m-much, he's recovered the memory of his scarf, but he hasn't r-recovered everything about Papyrus yet."

"Actually, I have a question," Jane said, "Sans likes to cook an ungodly amount of pasta. Seriously, he cooks spaghetti so much, and he cooks it so awfully it's burnt and I don't understand. Can you please explain why he does it? Is it the fungus trying to have him recreate a brain or-"

"Oh Toby Fox!" Papyrus said, hugging Sans before he could object.

"Helpppp!" Sans squeaked, caught off guard by the sudden attack of family affection.

"The spaghetti thing i-is something he used to d-do with Papyrus," Alphys said, "He probably did t-that to try and remember b-better, Sans likely had u-unconsciously connected the two. Y-You guys probably did t-things you didn't even realize you were doing t-to try and recover your memories."

"(Or try to avoid them,)" Ben muttered, crossing his arms and looking away.

"I-I think, since the f-fungus is already d-dying inside of you guys, that it's b-best just to wait it out and let y-you guys naturally remember again," Alphys concluded, pulling away from the computer. "I-if we try to artificially make you remember we might j-just overwhelm you, and once the f-fungus fully dies off, you s-should get a lot of your memories back. And y-you guys don't have to worry about changing, y-you'll get your memories b-but you won't become different people."

"How long do you think it will take?" Jane asked.

"I-I'm not sure, it depends o-on the rate of the fungus and it's expiration. I-it might be a slow progress, or you m-might just wake up one day and have a-a lot more memories. Most of your r-recovery from the fungus is already o-over, what's left is your memories."

"That's good, isn't it?" Papyrus asked.

"I-it's just an uncertain amount of t-time, though," Alphys said, "And they might just all come at o-once and be h-hard for them to process. I-it should be fine, though."

~~~~~~

Jane walked into the cafeteria of the school, passing by the food as she went for the knives instead. She did notice Frisk, but didn't pay attention to the child, instead grabbing a few knives and adding them to her collection.

"Are you stealing those?" Frisk asked.

"Define stealing," Jane said, "If it's taking something that I don't own, I'd say I'm just stealing what you guys stole. I doubt you carried all of these weapons from the Underground."

"That's wrong," Frisk said.

"If we define ourselves by only our morality, we're bound to only hurt ourselves in the future," Jane said, picking up the last knife. "Sometimes you need to be selfish, for your own happiness. Morality is only something people invented to justify or dismiss behavior, in the end it's up to the decision maker what they deem right or wrong."

"Have you ever killed someone?" Frisk asked.

"Have you?"

Both humans stared at one another, neither breaking eye contact. A grin, slow and steady, formed on Frisk's face.

"I sold my soul to bring back the universe," Frisk said, drumming their fingers against the table.

"And I sold my soul to get revenge," Jane said, giving a sly grin to Frisk. "Let's cut through the false stuff. You and I both know we both aren't human anymore. Frankly, I never met someone else with hate juice, but we can both sense it."

"Is that what you call it, hate juice?" Frisk asked, tilting their head. "You know, there's a different name for it."

"Oh?" Jane asked, "What name?"

"Well," Frisk giggled, pressing a hand against their cheek. "It's called the void."