He was mostly awake when Gaster came back.

He was still pretty certain he wasn't Sans, but he had decided that he would be Sans. Having someone there for you to be was convenient, and he wasn't going to let the opportunity go to waste.

Several hours had passed. A nurse had come, changed the IV bag, left, came again later and removed the IV completely. He had fallen asleep, woken up, and fallen asleep again.

He had had plenty of time to think.

"Sans?"

He moaned slightly and opened his eyes, blinking. "mmmhhn?"

Gaster smiled down at him from where he stood beside the bed. "How do you feel?" Gaster's voice was pleasant enough, but there was an underlying anger. It wasn't directed towards him, but he pitied whoever was to be on the receiving end.

"alright." He replied. "still kinda tired, but alright."

"And... do you remember anything?"

"... nothing more than what you told me." At Gaster's crestfallen look, he added, "sorry."

Gaster sighed and shook his head. "...It's not your fault, Sans." After a moment, he switched topics. "... If you're feeling up to it, we can head home."

"...okay."

"Can you walk? Or would you like me to carry you?"

"i... i think i can walk."

Gaster nodded.

Slowly, he slid his bare feet out from under the covers, and swung them over the edge of the bed. After a moment's hesitation, he slid off the side of the bed, his feet landing on the floor. No longer under the thick blankets of the bed, it was colder than he had expected, and he had no more than the thin hospital gown on.

As if reading his mind, Gaster slipped off his black coat and offered it to him. He accepted it gratefully, and pulled it on. As he was so much shorter than Gaster, the lab coat fell nearly to his toes, and his hands were lost within the sleeves. But, it was comfortingly warm, however wrong it might seem.

"thanks."

Gaster just nodded. "Ready?" He offered him his hand for support.

He took it with a small smile. "yeah. let's go."

As they walked, he made an attempt at small talk. "so did you find- ... um..."

"Papyrus?"

"yeah."

Gaster sighed. "No. We probably won't be able to just find him. We did find security footage of him- there were Corrupters, and they- they took-" He noticed how the hand of Gaster's that wasn't holding his rose to the red scarf he was wearing.

"oh." The mention of Corrupters stirred something in his chest, something he struggled to suppress for the time being. "i'm sorry." He felt no real sorrow. He did not know Papyrus, had not connection to him, but he felt a show of sympathy would be the right action in this scenario.

Gaster shook his head again. "No. No, it's not your fault. You have nothing to apologize for."

Still. He saw the small glimmer of appreciation in Gaster's eyes and knew he had chosen right.

They were out in the street now. Monsters murmured and pointed in his direction, but Gaster waved them away. He stayed close to Gaster. The attention made him feel uncomfortable. He wasn't supposed to receive a lot of attention. It was wrong.

Gaster led him down the street. "Come on. Home is in Hotland."

He nodded and followed.

~o0o~

Gaster watched Sans closely as they walked.

Something was wrong. It could have just been because Sans was struggling with his memory loss, but he seemed afraid. He seemed more hesitant, and twitchy, flinching at noises and shying away from everything. Eventually, as more and more people began to notice Sans, navigating the crowded New Home streets became something of a challenge.

So Gaster scooped up his son, and used every inch of his intimidating seven-foot tall frame to move quickly and smoothly through the crowds, Sans holding tightly to his shoulders.

Once they reached a bit of a quieter area between Hotland and New Home, Gaster set Sans back down, lowering him gently to the ground. Sans was a little unsteady on his feet, but he gained his balance quickly.

"... thanks."

Gaster just smiled and shrugged. "Meh. They were getting annoying anyway."

Sans blinked a little, then smiled tentatively.

Gaster held out his hand. "Come on. Let's get home. I've got a strategy meeting to attend to find a way to save Papyrus, and I want to make sure you're settled before I have to go."

Sans took Gaster's hand.

~o0o~

It can easily be said that being sick for a monster is much, much worse than it is for humans.

When a human gets sick to the point of vomiting, it is merely the contents of their stomach that gets ejected, typically whatever food the human recently ate.

But monster food, like monsters to humans themselves, doesn't have as much matter as human food, and upon consumption, is immediately turned to energy. To Magic. Most of the time this is good. Especially for monsters such as skeletons, who don't have physical stomachs.

But when a monster gets sick, it means they end up tossing raw Magic, which is, essentially, their life force.

Alphys thought about this as she gently rocked Papyrus back and forth in her lap. They had been there a long time, a few days, even, if Alphys's guess was right.  Some time ago in their dark imprisonment, Papyrus had muttered something about feeling queasy. And while all monsters, even skeletons, did have some body heat due to the constant burn of Magic, Papyrus felt very hot, especially hot for a skeleton. He was shivering, too.

She stopped rocking him for a second. "P-Papyrus?"

After a moment, he let out a small whimper-moan-squeak-sounding acknowledgement.

"H-how do you f-feel?"

"... C-col-d..."

Alphys let out a small, nervous sigh. After a moment's hesitation, she decided to try something her mom had done for her when she was sick.

She summoned a small bit of Magic to her hands, carefully keeping it to do no damage. The white flickers spanned across her palms, generating a soft heat. She held Papyrus tightly, pressing her hands against his back, willing the heat from her Magic into him.

"I-is this an-ny b-better?"

She felt him nodding just a little against her chest.

"I-its g-going to be a-alright, Papyrus."

He nodded slightly again.

And they sat together, shivering in the darkness, waiting for another day to bring whatever it might.

~o0o~

This is interesting.

They're saying Sans is back. With amnesia.

I wonder where he came from.

... Doesn't really matter where. Has the potential to make things much, much worse for me.

Unless- ...

Oh.

Oh.

Hah. Smart. That's smart. I suppose I should've thought of that.

Heheh.

Well. Getting out of this town may have just gotten a lot easier.

Soon. Soon I'll be back with my army.

~o0o~

Undyne was furious.

It was not the normal, fiery anger, nor the hotheaded short temperament. This was an icy cold rage, stronger than the strongest Snowdin blizzard, that cooled the burn in her Soul and mind into a logical, emotionless processor.

Well, not quite emotionless. The combination of her usual fire plus the cold rage made a sort of neutral-temperature hunger for vengeance.

They had stolen her girlfriend, and she was going to get Alphys back.

Unfortunately, no one in the strategy meeting was able to come up with any idea on how to do that.

The meeting was held in a room deep within the castle, just big enough for the entire group and the large table in the center of the room. In addition to Undyne, seated around the table were King Asgore, Queen Toriel, retired commander and Undyne's hero, Gerson, and Gaster alongside two of his assistants. There was an empty seat, a seat that had been empty for a year, where Sans would've once sat.

Undyne found herself looking at the empty seat, thinking on how perhaps Sans would be there again, sometime soon.

Then she forced herself back into the conversation.

"-is out of the option." Gaster was saying. "My research has shown that they can sense Pure Magic. Any attempts to sneak in would be pointless."

He had told them about that, too. How he had caught a Corrupter, then kept it secret because he had thought it was Sans. Undyne had been somewhat annoyed by that, but when he had explained why he did it, it had made sense.

"But it's far too well guarded for a head-on assault. Our troops would be dusted before they reached Snowdin through Waterfall, and the waterways are too thick with Corruption for the Riverperson to get their boat there." Gerson responded.

"Are the cannons you've been working on ready?" Asgore looked to Gaster, who shook his head.

"No. Half the time, they backfire and/or explode. It's only because the development team is not using lethally powerful Magic with them that no one's died yet. Those aren't an option."

A few more ideas were tossed forward, and just as quickly shot down. Eventually, the group lapsed into a stressed silence.

Queen Toriel broke the silence. "... Doctor."

Gaster looked up at the queen. Undyne thought he looked incredibly tired. "Yes, your majesty?"

"How is Sans?"

The Royal Scientist started to speak, stopped, sighed, then started again. "He-... He doesn't remember anything. Sometimes, it will seem like he's on the verge of a breakthrough, but... He doesn't remember."

Silence reigned again, thick with empathy and sorrow.

"Maybe..." Undyne hesitated. "Maybe you could still ask him. He always was a good strategist, so maybe... he'll still be able to come up with something."

Gaster nodded slowly, as if he already knew that wouldn't work.

"... Could I come see him?"

Gaster looked at Undyne. For a moment, his gaze bored into her. Then he sighed, closing his eyes. "... Yeah. That... that might not be a bad idea. Seeing you might... might remind him."

Undyne nodded.

Silence again.

"I think," Asgore began quietly, "we all need to get a little sleep. Once we are all better rested, we will come back, and create a plan. Agreed?"

Gaster looked like he wanted to argue that his son was still in the Corrupt grip and needed to be rescued now, and Undyne was sure she looked similar.

But they were doing no one any good just standing here. They both agreed, along with everyone else.

"Alright. Tomorrow, then. We will meet again here, at noon. Get some rest, everyone."

They turned to leave. Undyne followed Gaster, going to see her Commander.

~o0o~

"... amnesia, huh?" The voice startled him out of his half-asleep stupor. "i guess that makes a pretty good cover, if ya can pull it off."

He blinked. Sat up slowly. He had fallen asleep on the couch; he had been told that was Sans' favorite place to sleep, and if he was Sans now...

The room was dark, and he was having a hard time seeing, but he could make out a shorter, wider silhouette.

"... who are you?" He asked.

"sans. i'd 'a thought that'd be obvious. though, i guess if you're my replacement, you wouldn't wanna admit that."

"replacement? what are you talking about?"

The figure took a step towards the couch. "ha ha. look, i know they sent you, and i know you're here for espionage or something, so you don' wanna 'blow your cover' or whatever, but i'm not here to expose ya or anything."

"... what then, do you want?"

"two things. first, tell me my brother's safe. second, i know you're gonna have contact back to the delta base, which means you can help me get outta here, get back to hq."

That was it. "help you?! you're a traitor!"

"... what?" The silhouette's voice was not mad, more slightly bemused.

"you. are. a. traitor."

"um. what? why do you say that?"

For a moment, he could just stare at the figure. It was so obvious, he had to be playing stupid. "what's the first thing they teach you to do if you're captured?"

"look, i tried to-"

"tried? tried isn't good enough. tried is unacceptable, and now the pure have information on corrupt magic. on top of that, you are clearly a traitor simply in asking of your brother's safety. he's pure, why do you care if he's-"

He was cut off by the swift, sharp attack that suddenly slammed into him.

§

A/N

Firstly, I want to say thank you everyone for your understanding. Thank you for being patient as I deal with Life.

Thank you!

Then, Yay! Despite life, I'm able to post this chapter!

That said, while I won't be able to post everyday, there's a pretty good chance that I maybe possibly will be able to get out a chapter on most Wednesdays.

... Of course, this is only if life stays slightly cooperative. If it doesn't... well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Anyway, thanks again!