Sans woke slowly. For one disorienting minute, he
thought he was still in Gaster's lab, strapped down to the operating table. But as he opened his eyes and saw the ceiling above him was most definitely not Gaster's lab, all the memories came flooding back.

How he had gone to rescue Papyrus. Made his way into the Ruins. Found the lab. Thought he could get more energy by allowing himself to be injected with Corrupt Magic.

After all, he already had Corrupt Magic. It wasn't like more would damage him.

But he couldn't help feeling that something had been lost, something that maybe once had been important to him.

Ah well. It hardly mattered now.

Gradually, his senses fully returned, and even longer after that, the same scientists who had strapped him down to the table let him up.

The scientist nodded as Sans sat up. "Ĺoo͘k͟s͞ liḱe҉ th҉at ҉dįd ͠it.̨ ̸"

Sans looked down at his chest, through his ribs to his Soul. Something about it seemed strange. Not wrong, just not the way it normally was.

As he slipped off the table to retrieve his shirt and jacket, pulling them on, he happened to glance over at the cell. Alphys was still watching with a sort of horrified terror, and Papyrus was still limp and silent.

Papyrus. That's what it was. The white streak in his Soul was gone.

And with it, any affection for his brother.

That was for the best, he decided. He was Corrupt, and it wouldn't do to have love for the Pure. It just worked better this way.

The scientist spoke up. "Y̴ou ͏o̵ugh̴ta ̀test̸ ̡yoùr͡ ̨M̀ag̀ić ŗe͝a̴l҉l͟y quick̸l͘y͜ b͞ef̷ore you ̵g̡o.̛ ̕Ju̕st ̷t̷o̧ m̷ake̵ ̶su̸re͡ e͝very̕t͢h͟i͡ng'͠a̸ w͞or͠k͠i̧ng ̶p͘r̢op͢e̵r̵ly̢.҉ "

Sans nodded. After a deep breath, he summoned a couple attacks, holding them momentarily before letting them dissolve. "s͝ęemś ͢t͞o̸ b́e̡ ҉w͟ork͜in͞g ̧f͜in̷e̛."

The scientist made an expression that Sans could only assume was a smile. "Ì ̛gu̡es̶s͘ ̸Į'͏ll ҉be g҉i̕v͘ing y͟óu a̕ ̨cl̛ea͞n ̵bi̡ll̵ of ̕h͠e̕al̵t̵h,̧ th̨e҉n̢. ͏Yo̡u'͏r̀e ̶f́re̛e̵ ̡to͜ ͞go̕, u͏n̛l͏ess t͜h͠e̢r̴e͟ ͜w̡a̸s ̛s̡ome̸t͏h͞ing ̶el͘s̛e ͠yoų ̵wante҉d?̕"

Sans shook his head, and turned to the door.

As he stepped up to the threshold, something happened. It was a quiet sound, barely audible, that Sans almost thought he didn't hear it, like a whisper of a whimper or a moan.

Sans turned around. "a̴ct̴u̴al̨ly̧... ̷the̷r͡e ̷is o͡n̕e͏ t̢hi҉ng..."

The scientist had turned to start work on something else. His head lifted to look at Sans. "Oh?̡ Ẁha͏t̀'̷s ̶that̢?́"

The edges of Sans' grin lifted, and his eyesockets went dark. ".͘.͘.̸ ̴i̢ want͘ t͡h̶e̛ co̕d̵e ̶to ͜t̵hę ce͝l̡l҉ d͠oor̶."

~o0o~

Alphys just... didn't understand.

She didn't understand any of what was going on.

First, Sans of all people had come into the lab, wearing the Corrupt insignia. But, instead of rescuing her and Papyrus, he had allowed himself to be injected with Corrupt Magic, even talking in the Corrupt language, and summoning Corrupt attacks. For all intents and purposes, the formerly dead commander seemed to be Corrupt.

But then, as he was walking out the door, Papyrus had shifted ever so slightly in Alphys's arms, and Sans had turned around and said something. Now, he was beating up the scientist, shouting at him in the Corrupt language.

Sans slammed attack after attack into the Corrupt scientist, who tried to scramble away. Sans didn't let him go, though. He twitched his hand, and the trademark Corrupt tendrils erupted from the ground, twisting around the scientist's feet. He stumbled and fell. In an instant, the nearly black vines of Magic had flipped him onto his back, and pinned his arms and legs down.

Sans, meanwhile, slowly walked towards where the scientist was lying. He laughed, and when he spoke, Alphys was surprised to hear it was in the Common language. "a quick question for ya, pal; do you know just how much i can make you suffer?" Sans was standing beside the downed monster now. Slowly, he lifted one foot, and set it on the monster's chest. "how much i'm going to make you suffer, until you give me what i want?" He leaned forward on his leg, putting pressure on the scientist's chest.

The scientist grimaced, and spat something in the Corrupt language.

Sans' grin widened, and he pressed down a little harder. "are you sure you don' wanna talk?"

The Corrupt scientist snarled.

"okay. suit yourself." Sans shrugged. "i'm still gonna get it, though. the only difference in wether or not you tell me is how much you get hurt." Then he lifted his foot and slammed it down into the scientist's chest. Alphys thought she heard something crack. The scientist howled in pain.

Sans lifted his foot again and stomped down again. This time, Alphys knew for sure something had broken. Sans lifted his foot a third time, and Alphys thought she was going to be sick.

"do you want me to do that again?" Alphys could hear the sadistic glee in his voice. "do you want me to break your ribs more? no? i didn't think so. just tell me, and i'll stop."

The Corrupt monster groaned.

Sans just grinned and slammed his foot down. This time, there was a sickening snap, and his foot sank about half an inch downward. The scientist let out a gurgled, choked sob. Alphys saw a dribble of Magic trailing from his mouth. It looked gritty, like there was dust mixed into it.

And Sans was still grinning widely. "i'd say i could probably do this three or four more times before you can't talk anymore. then maybe another four before your soul just gives out and you die. but that doesn't have to happen. you could just tell me. six numbers, it's not that hard."

The scientist whimpered, but he still somehow sounded defiant.

Alphys looked away, but she still heard the crunch of the impact.

"again?" Sans sounded amused. If she hadn't known better, listening to his voice, she almost could have said he was playing peek-a-boo with a small child. "okay."

Another crunch. Alphys's stomach churned.

Finally, the Corrupt monster let out a choked scream.

"y'see?" Sans said, almost gently. "That wasn't so hard, now, was it?"

Alphys looked up. Pointedly avoiding looking in too great detail at the monster's chest, she saw the Corrupt tendrils sliding away from his limbs, sinking back into the floor, leaving no trace they had ever been there.

Sans walked around to stand next to the Corrupt scientist's head. "now, see, if you had just said that in the first place, we wouldn't have had to go through all that." He sounded like he was scolding a kid for misbehavior. "instead, i coulda just started with this."

Alphys didn't have time to look away before Sans summoned a Corrupt attack to his hands and plunged it downward into the scientist's head. The monster's broken body gave one more shudder, before dissolving into a pile of black dust.

And still, Sans was grinning like he was having the time of his life.

Once the monster had fully dissolved, Sans looked up, and met Alphys's eyes, his cracked eye scaring her all the more. She shivered and flinched. Had there been anywhere to run to, she would have, without looking back.

But there was nowhere. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to escape from this sadistic version of her dead friend, who tortured an ally for information, and enjoyed every second of it.

Nowhere to run as he walked forward, to the door, and punched the combination into the electric lock. As he pulled open the door, filled the doorframe with his body.

No escape as he took a step forward, smiling.

Nearing Alphys, he reached out one hand. She flinched away, trembling, clutching Papyrus tightly. She knew there was literally nothing she could do to stop him if he decided to kill them, but what motherly instinct she'd developed for Papyrus over the past few days forced her back, to get away from this chaotic force that would tear them apart.

Sans frowned, almost sadly, she realized, and shook his head. "you took care of him all this time? i-... thank you. i'm not going to hurt you. thank you..."

He reached out again, and this time, Alphys saw the protective light in his eyes. Still shaking a little, she surrendered the smaller skeleton to Sans.

The instant Papyrus was in Sans' arms, he reached out and clung to Sans' shirt, burying his face against Sans' chest, whimpering softly. Sans held him tightly, speaking softly to him, too quietly for Alphys to hear.

Alphys watched Sans, lost in his own little world, or, maybe more accurately, lost in Papyrus's world. He was solely focused on Papyrus, just on keeping him close. And Papyrus was letting out small relieved sobs, still clinging with all his strength to Sans' shirt.

They stayed like that for maybe three or four minutes.

Finally, Sans looked up at Alphys. "you... were taking care of him...?" He asked again.

Alphys hesitated. "... I- ... As b-best I c-c-could."

Sans closed his eyes for a minute. When he looked again to Alphys, he had a fire in his eyes that reminded her of Undyne.

Slowly, Sans shifted Papyrus's weight to his left arm, and held out his right hand to Alphys. "because of that, and only because of that, i'm willing to help you escape with us."

Alphys wasn't sure what to say, so she just nodded and took Sans' hand.

~o0o~

Sans led Alphys through the Ruins, incredibly grateful that the Magic crystals that lit the Underground were dark. That meant that most of the monsters were asleep. And then the few monsters they did pass in the halls were easily convinced that Sans was escorting the two 'prisoners' somewhere, especially due to the way Sans kept a weapon in one hand, pushing Alphys along with it.

All in all, they were making good time, and would soon be in Snowdin. It was true that he wasn't quite sure how he was going to get by the guards again, but there was still a bit of time until then. He had told Alphys about the dilemma, and she was also considering their options.

All was going well until Sans heard an irritatingly high pitched voice he had desperately hoped he wouldn't. Quickly, he grabbed the collar of Alphys's shirt and hauled her into a shadowy side corridor. He pressed her up against the wall, and stood in front of her, hoping the shadows were dark enough...

Watching down the hall into the main path, he saw a monster walk by. He was more concerned, however, with the quietly talking flower perched on the monster's shoulder, vines wrapped around it's arm.

He stiffened as they walked by, desperately hoping they wouldn't notice him.

Was it just his imagination, or were they slowing down... cocking their heads in the direction of the hall...

They walked on. Sans quietly sighed, letting out a breath.

"What was that?" Alphys whispered as he stepped away from her. "Why were you scared of that one monster?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her. "did you see the flower? that's flowey, commander of the corrupt army."

She seemed to get a little pale. "Oh."

"we should keep moving."

~o0o~

Sans didn't understand why or how, but he was definitely going to take advantage of it.

They managed to successfully sneak through Snowdin, and when they got to the Waterfall tunnel, the guards weren't there.

It was a little suspicious that they weren't there just when Sans needed them to not be, but they moved on into Waterfall, whereupon they abandoned most caution, and started running.

~o0o~

Gaster was just about ready to strangle the life out of Asgore.

The furry bossmonster had happened to be in Hotland, and saw Gaster striding purposefully in the direction of the ferry. Of course, he had made the logical assumption that Gaster was going to do something rash, and told him so. Gaster responded that he was going to save his son, and Asgore responded with "no. Absolutely not." Gaster had tried to get by Asgore.

And now the king was carrying him-- carrying him like a child-- back into Hotland.

If it were possible to gently dump someone onto the ground, Asgore did so, setting the indignant Royal Scientist in front of his house.

"There you go," he said, smiling good naturedly in the face of Gaster's many gestured insults, "safe and sound. My friend, you know it would be a bad idea for you to go to the battlefield. As much as I respect you and your desires to protect your children, I must say that you are a scientist, not a soldier, and you would get yourself killed or captured. And then where would we be, without our greatest scientist? Just let Commander Undyne handle this."

Gaster was about to spew out an angry reply, when a monster wearing combat fatigues with the ranking mark of a messenger on the shoulder ran up.

"Y-Your majesty! Oh, Thank Annoying Dog I didn't have to run all the way to New Home to find you!" Gaster and Asgore both turned to the messenger as he hurried on. "There're a ton of Corrupters in Waterfall! They're not attacking, though! Commander Undyne told me to come get you, and you needed to come to Waterfall immediately!"

Asgore nodded, and started to take a step, then stopped. Looking at the messenger, he said, "Thank you for telling me. Would you mind doing me a favor?"

The messenger nodded, eager to please.

"Will you guard Dr. Gaster here, and make sure he does not go get himself hurt somewhere he shouldn't be?"

Gaster let out a furious splutter, gesturing wildly. "✋ 👎🏴 ☠️🏴❄️ ☠️👈👈👎 ✌️️ 👌👆👌✡️💧✋✝️✝️👈☀️✏️✏️"

But, the messenger had already agreed, and Asgore had already left.

So Gaster resigned himself to two things: first, finding a way to sneak away from the guard, and second, coming up with a devilishly wicked prank to get back at Asgore later.

He did not need a babysitter.

§

A/N

OKAY SO I LIED-- next chapter is gonna be the really epic one!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Remember, comments and votes are not only always welcome, but always appreciated, too!