Poisoned by Spaghetti

"Uh. So." Alphys stared at all six of the children. It was such a big decision. All the kids were wonderful, but it's not like 'mother' ever entered her mind before. It would be nice to have someone though. That big lab, so far away from everyone. That would be a good thing for them too, no one would be able to hurt them. 

One or two. She knew she should probably pick two, too. But who? None of them had names. They all seemed fine. Ohh. Sans wanted her to make a decision though, and four of them would be sent to Queen Toriel. 

The Queen would have room for four. Once again, two. "Oh my." Alphys just waved at them. They all smiled but stood up straight in a row with their hands behind their backs. Like little soldiers. "Which one of you wanted an Aunt Alphys again?" 

They all raised their hands eagerly. 

"Yeah, I thought so." She laughed nervously again. None of these kids had any real family. Any real name. 

"I think the two at the end suit you, Dino Nerd." 

"What?!" Alphys watched as Chara appeared right behind the kids. "Ch-Ch-Ch-" 

"Chara. Formerly Princess Chara. Still technically Princess Chara but whatever. Not like everyone always respected my human butt." Chara smiled at the kids. "Yo! I'm Chara. Spirit, can't hug ya. Sorry. Sup, kids?" 

"Uh?" Alphys cleared her throat. "Aren't you supposed to be . . .?" 

"The barrier reaches everywhere," Chara smiled at her. "Everywhere! Ha, I'm not trapped anywhere. All of the Underground I can roam in now. Don't worry though, I can't touch anything. Not like I have a real body. I'm just a spirit, but, it feels good. I feel really good again. Able to move around." She walked along the floor. "Anywhere I want. Not trapped. Not forced to watch anything. Not forced to eat anything. I can . . . I can just be me. I can even talk to Monsters, how crazy is that? They don't even know I'm not really alive anymore. Really cool trick. So, which two are you getting? You know, I can help babysit. I was really good at that." 

"Wow." One of the boys smiled at her. "You're cool." 

"I know. And 'cause you know that, it makes you cool too." Chara winked at him. "Hey, you speak Monster?" 

"Yes," he said. 

"Monster's not too hard. Best to study more though, really is before you get all out in the Underground. I did that. It took me a good three years before I felt good enough to come over. Yep, no more cheating with other souls anymore," Chara teased him. "So you want a goat for a momma, or you want a dinosaur for an aunt? One's in the Ruins, and ones in a lab. So." She shrugged. 

"Uuhh . . ." 

"Alright, I'll be nice and talk to you in your tongue. I knew you didn't know Monster enough, fibber." Alphys heard Chara talk in a strange tongue. Probably human. The kids started to speak back to her. 

"Um. None of them really want to stay in a lab. They are kind of scared you're going to shove needles in them and stuff. But, they still want family, so they are torn." 

"No! Uh, no. I'm not here for that." Alphys held her hands over her chest. "Safe. Safe here." She looked toward Chara. Maybe it was a good thing she was there after all. There would have been an old translator somewhere, but it would be nicer to talk to another human. Well, human spirit. Monster children would probably scream if someone just confessed they weren't alive like Chara did too, but the children stayed still. Perfectly still. 

Perfect. Little. Soldiers. Alphys felt her heart almost break. They knew they were in a lab, but they still didn't run off. Two of them would be chosen, and none of them left or even blinked. "Queen Toriel can't handle all six. But, I-I don't want them to be scared either." 

Chara talked to them again. This time she got a slightly different response from a couple. "They understand," she said. "I said I'd be around as a bonus over here. Um." This time, Chara was the one acting weird. "I kind of . . . well I. I don't want to see my mom. Not that I hate her. It's just that. I just don't feel right about it." 

Alphys nodded. She looked back toward the children. "Um. Very safe. Really cozy. Comfortable." Alphys tried to keep her words simple. 

One of the kids finally stepped forward. She looked like a little girl, but her hair was cut short. It was hard to tell. "I can . . . I can speak dang good Monster." 

Dang good. Close enough. "You want to stay with me?" Alphys asked her. She nodded. Okay. Good. 

"Come on, you guys," Chara said. "The Dino Nerd needs one more. I bet she'll give big yellow squeezes like Barney or something. Oh wait, that shows probably a couple thousand years old or more. Uh, never mind. You won't get that reference." 

Wait. "A couple?" Alphys looked toward Chara. "It's been about a thousand. Hasn't it?" Did the resets . . . did it really put the world that much behind? "Chara?" 

"Look, I only know what I used to pick up from FRISK," Chara said. "And what I knew from before. I don't know anything else. If you want those specifics, I'm not the one for the job. You need a flower. He knows everything." She did wink at Alphys. "I will say this. Anything I used to know like the actual songs they play? It's ancient. Humans haven't been allowed to make it anymore. Hurts the Balancers ears, so no go." 

"Oh. Well, I . . . I guess I'll figure how far we are really behind later." 

"Yeah, don't be surprised if it's like three or five or ten thousand years though." 

Crumbling. Alphys felt herself crumbling inside. 

"Too rough. Sorry," Chara apologized. "Anyhow, the kid on the end looks like he's been following the whole story real well. Haven't ya, kid?" 

He looked away a second, then turned back and nodded to her. 

"A boy and a girl. Not bad for an Aunt Alphys." 

"Okay." Two children. She did it. "Thank you for helping, Princess Chara." 

"Yeah, it's alright. Although I miss my Itty Bitty, I have to stay away a bit longer. But, one more thing. The barrier." Chara looked above herself. Even though she was far away from the barrier, Alphys could tell. Chara really was part of the barrier. "Keep it up, don't put it down for anything. Not even a second. There is stuff in the air constantly scanning the barrier, already trying to break in." She looked toward the kids. "Don't you worry though. Your Aunt Chara has got a buttload of DETERMINATION and they aren't getting through my barrier no matter what." 

"Oh. Well, um, the technology itself is pretty hijacked," Alphys confessed. "I don't know if we'd ever want to do that. We might not be able to put it back up. We might lose the power. I don't really know. We won't do anything at first until we at least understand it better." 

"Yeah, you Monsters are too kind sometimes. Especially with all these new humans running around. So, I'll say it again, in a better way for you. Alright? Don't. Touch. My barrier. Capisce?" 

Alphys didn't know what the last word meant, but she could tell from the other words. Yeah. Maybe they should have questioned using Chara's DETERMINATION to help power it . . . 

Chara snapped her fingers. "Check it. I decorated the lab entrance for you with my new laser capability. Isn't that cool? This barrier has lasers. I so have plans for this." 

Oh no. Oh no! "W-what'd you put?" 

"Welcome to Aunt Alphys in the dirt with a smiley face. Figured the kids would like it." 

Or . . . maybe not? 

-------------------------- 

If only she wasn't prisoner. Frisky would make all kinds of different things. Make some real food. Although Sans always preferred Grillbys, it was mostly because the alternative was a hot dog and spaghetti. His brother's spaghetti. Which wasn't the easiest thing to eat. 

It was edible. She'd tasted worse having survived in gnarly jungles, but they really didn't have to eat like that. Still, she was a prisoner. Maybe she could perhaps ask a little about the oven. No, no. I know we will be free again soon one day. Last thing I need is for Undyne catching me doing that. Honestly, Grillbys was easier. Hotdogs were easy too. She sat up on the mattress with her spaghetti. 

"I have a new recipe tonight!" Papyrus announced as he gave Chance his share too. "It's sweeter." 

"Different, huh?" Sans said from over by the door. "Could I get in on it?" 

"Sure, it's downstairs. Come, Sans!" 

Please be better. Please be better. Sans kept repeating the mantra in his head. At the very least, it would be different. Something he really craved. Honestly, as long as the new spaghetti was edible though, he wanted it. He was really looking for something that wasn't too bad, because he still had his annoying tongue. He'd eaten his usuals, and even shot for an MTT's Glamburger, but none of them satisfied his tongue. He crept up into the kitchen and saw two different pans of sauce as well as the usual spaghetti. "Two pans, bro?" 

"Yes! I found out one would taste better to the human. It has syrup in it." 

"Syrup." That was strange, but who cared. It was different. 

"Yep, but I made my usual too," Papyrus said proudly. "You can't beat Artisan Spaghetti!" 

After taking a bite, Sans quickly dropped the idea of different. Forget different. "Guess not." Syrup and spaghetti did not mix on a tongue. If only he could get the thing to fade away already. 

"Yes, it is a desert spaghetti. Very sweet, but strange. Then, I have more syrup for on top of the syrup. I suppose they like extremely sweet things." 

"More on top?" Sans scratched his skull. That didn't make much sense at all. Why top syrup with more syrup? 

"Yes, but. Oh, oop." Papyrus sighed. "Shoot, I messed it up. He said only the bigger human would like the extra syrup, and I think I put it on both of theirs. Oh well." 

"He?" Wait. Undyne was the one who was teaching him to cook, and Alphys swore she wouldn't mess with Frisky or Chance. Besides which, Undyne was an upfront fighter. "Papyrus, where'd you get this new recipe?" 

"From Undyne's Royal Guard of course! Yes, Doggo met with me today and said all the humans in Snowdin and Waterfall were to have a special recipe spaghetti, but the adults would get it with extra syrup on top. Strangest thing, isn't it? Why would adults like extra syrup? It would make sense that-Sans? Why are you running upstairs?" 

Sans moved through the door as fast as he could as he watched Chance standing, his eyes closed in front of a vomit-filled floor. Frisky was passed out on the bed. "It's dangerous to take him over by myself, especially with wrong dimensions, but I think we were poisoned." 

Oh. Not Chance. FRISK. 

------------- 

"I-I'm so sorry! I can't believe my spaghetti is killing them!" Papyrus wailed as he waited in Monster Kid's house. "I was following orders. I was just following orders." 

Sans didn't answer. He was sitting on the couch. Monster Kid's mother was a light healer. She didn't have near the strength of Toriel, but she was closer and this was poison. The faster, the better. Meanwhile, Frisky was enduring the pain for Chance. Frisky's body was lying unconscious, getting treatment too since leaving her body probably didn't stop the poison. 

"Mm." Papyrus looked at the floor. "Undyne seemed genuinely sorry about the mixup when I called her. Apparently, there have some very naughty humans in greater numbers, and she was issuing a termination. I . . . I really thought that something new would be nice. I didn't know." 

Sans didn't say anything else on the couch. He just stared ahead, blankly. 

He watched as Monster Kid's mom came out toward them. 

"Uh, hello, Sentries. I'm not used to healing humans. I think they will be okay though." 

"Oh, thank goodness!" Papyrus cried in relief. "That, that would have been a horrible way to go. By spaghetti." 

"Yah." Sans looked over toward Monster Kid's mother. "Can we see them?" 

"Um, no. You can see the mother human, but not the boy." 

"He probably needs more rest. He's so extra small," Papyrus said to Sans." 

"Um. No, not that. He bounced out of bed and out the window. You might want to go find him." 

-------------------------------- 

FRISK: ACT: Joke. "We are wrecking your entire house again and we aren't even making spaghetti this time." FRISK kept his eyes closed as he jumped from another spear. "You don't know how good I got at dodging those things. Why are you doing this?" 

UNDYNE: ACT. Talk. "You are not that boy!" FIGHT. 

FRISK dodged her again, easily. FRISK: ACT: Talk. "Yeah, I am. Do you think a little human child could have ever done what I did?" 

UNDYNE: ACT. Talk. "I know what I've seen recently! I know what Alphys told me about you too. About how you could save or butcher Monsters, and you constantly did both. You should feel lucky that I let you live last time!" FIGHT. 

FRISK: ACT. Talk. "I don't know how you know that, but it doesn't really matter. Listen, Undyne, I can deal with your spears against me. I can deal with you even carving into me as a warning. I know how you feel about me. I'm sure the news was hard to hear." 

UNDYNE: ACT. Talk. "I trusted a human! Do you know what humans have done lately?" 

FRISK: ACT. Talk. "No. I don't pretend to know everything. Just know that the thing inside me that was vicious? It's gone. Most of what I used to be, it's gone. What you see is a shell, but there's someone talking to you from inside this shell. There always has been. And, there's an innocent boy, who is always trapped inside of this shell too. So, please. Stop attacking." 

UNDYNE: ACT. Talk. "I didn't start it, you came after me in my own house, so fight, damn you!" FIGHT. 

FRISK avoided more blows. FRISK: ACT. Talk. "There is nothing evil inside of me anymore, and I will never fight you. Even though you keep trying to hurt me, I will never hurt you. I understand why you try to hurt me." 

UNDYNE: ACT. Talk. "How are you so much more expressive?" Undyne looked at FRISK. "You . . . you barely ever talked. You're . . . you're good at dodging, I'll give you that." She paused. "Fine. If you want me to believe that you really are the goodness and spirit of the human I once befriended, then you better prove it! I don't care what Alphys said, we are finishing this. Start Running." 

FRISK knew that would happen. Talking was always the hardest with Undyne. He took off into the night as quick as possible, avoiding the spears that came up from the ground. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. With seven souls in a perfect conduit, dodging was child's play, but she was only herself inside FRISK. Still, she was feeling weaker and faster than what should have happened. She should have had at least 24 hours inside Chance before feeling weaker. She wouldn't be able to dodge forever, but, eventually she made it all the way to familiar grounds. Too familiar for Undyne to just keep ignoring the ties they shared. 

UNDYNE: ACT: Talk. "You still won't fight. Even after everything, you still refuse to fight. You really are him, aren't you?" 

FRISK: ACT: Talk. "This is still just a shell," FRISK said, "but the shell is real too. A little boy who is being hurt by someone who doesn't understand the value of his life. You know that every Monster's life is precious, but it's not just Monsters. Every life is precious, and I try to remember that, no matter what. So, please? Just let us be, in the name of someone who helped you once?" 

UNDYNE: ACT: Talk. "I didn't do anything to you. Doggo gave it to Papyrus, not me. I pretended to skip it since Alphys said not to mess with you. That was for the other prisoners, by order of King Asgore. But I don't trust humans either. And, how do I know for a fact you won't turn?" 

Undyne wasn't responsible? FRISK: ACT: Talk. "I'm glad to hear that, but, you can't just kill humans off. Please. I'm not demanding you let me go or trust humans. Just don't make them all equal. Talk to King Asgore." She could feel her head starting to sweat, getting too close to the hotter part of the Underground. While Undyne barely felt the heat yet, and she was a fish, she was still a Monster. A human shouldn't be so close. She should have been fine in FRISK but. "I can't . . ." 

UNDYNE: ACT: Talk. "What is wrong?" 

Concern. Almost. FRISK: ACT: Talk. "It's too hot. I . . ." 

UNDYNE: ACT: Talk. "You knew getting this close was dangerous." Undyne looked around, obviously feeling foolish. "Punk. I . . . I'm sorry for not making more sure that you were okay. Seven souls before, but you're the . . . the real part that was the little punk I faced. The part that never fought. The part that never gave up." She approached FRISK and picked her up. "Alright. You're a good human, and . . . you're free. You and your boy. Come on, I'll take you back." 

----------------------- 

Undyne waited patiently inside Monster Kid's house with Sans and Papyrus. Papyrus asked her about the spaghetti, and if the new recipe would still be good without the poison syrup topping. Sans remained quiet. 

Alphys bolted through the door. 

"Undyne!" she yelled. Alphys laughed nervously. "Um. Let's go back to your place for a little while?" 

"Why?" 

"L-let's just go. I-I have something I want to tell you." Alphys looked shakily over at Sans before looking back at Undyne. "Please come with me? Undyne?" 

"Alright, okay." Undyne stood up and headed out the door. "What is it?" 

"I-I told you not to mess with Sans," Alphys said as they started to walk. "I-I know that maybe I said it too softly, um, I-I don't really like to yell out, uh, everything as loud as it should be. So, um, when I said to stay on Sans the Skeleton's good side? I-I think I shouldn't have been like. "Oh by the way, stay on Sans the Skeleton's good side." She fidgeted with her fingers. "I-I think I should have been yelling it through a megaphone. It was really important, and um. I . . . I'm sure he's not happy about what happened." 

Undyne sighed. "Yeah, I get it. I got confused about the kid. When I heard what it could do from you, I-I couldn't believe I trusted that thing! But, that wasn't my fault. I intended to skip them. Doggo probably got mixed up, or he still had hurt feelings about others teasing him about some occurrence in a restaurant. I don't know. King Asgore is tired of innocent little Monsters being murdered by all these humans inside. But, you were right. One soul or seven, it was still him. I guess I should have talked it out more first, but someone come's at you at your front door and says you poisoned them. Come on, I wasn't overreacting, was I?" 

"H-her, actually. She's um, a mom inside her son. You can't forget that," Alphys said. She didn't say much else until they reached Undyne's house. Undyne unlocked her door and went inside. 

Alphys continued the subject now. "I know that you were confused and upset, but Frisky was good. She was confused, and wanted to keep you from hurting her boy." 

"Yeah," Undyne admitted softly. "When I battled Frisk, I could feel a difference in power. A lot weaker, but she kept avoiding me as long as possible. Again. He-she would still die apparently not to kill even one of us. To even fight one of us. It was . . . it was still the same human. Proved to me that some humans are still good." 

"Yes, and um, I-I kind of didn't tell you everything about Sans? Again, you know? Sorry." Alphys scratched her head. "I didn't want to tell you because I'm sure Sans wanted a little more time. But, Sans is. W-well. He lost some people in his own mind." 

"I won't mess with them. I never messed with them. I won't even come for a fight," Undyne promised. "It's still just the same little punk from before. I get it now. I even granted her freedom." 

"Yes, but, um, granting them freedom wasn't what Sans wanted. So, could you ungrant that freedom, so Sans will be happier about it?" 

"Alphys, I still don't get it," Undyne almost scoffed. "Sans is one hit point. One. He's a lazy, no good excuse of a Sentry that I put up with. One spear hit would do him in. Why are you bending me backwards over him?" 

"Well, yes. Technically he is the weakest opponent. But, well, there was a reason he can't gain EXP. And I can't go through it right now, but uh. Well, I shouldn't reveal secrets, so, just stay on his good side?" 

"You said that he fought FRISK and lost at the end of any of the bad timelines," Undyne reminded her. "Lost. So. Why should I be afraid of him? Because he was the last one to make a stand?" Undyne covered her face. "Alphys, just relax." 

"Okay. Just, maybe not visit Frisky or her son yet?" Alphys warned her. "And maybe, don't see Sans for awhile?" 

"I get it. I get it." 

"I-I don't think so," Alphys warned her. "I came running this way as fast as possible when I saw what was happening, Undyne. Even though Frisky inside her son looked like she was in danger, she was never in danger of dying. She actually wasn't in most of the good timelines either. There's a . . . there was a force around her. I couldn't see it or understand it so well, until I knew more about things, and had um, some extra data. But, um." She sighed. "Just, please don't mess with Sans." 

"You're beating this subject to death. I get it, I promise. If King Asgore asks for a blanket killing again, then I will doubly go to the house and make sure she and her son is fine. Okay? I even duked it out with the little guy again. Girl. Whatever." Undyne shrugged. Alphys bugged her one more time to be extra careful, and then left. 

"Funny," Undyne said offhand. "Alphys. Really. Just because he knew about timelines doesn't make him all powerful. One hit point." She rolled her eyes and sat down in her kitchen table. "Still, at least the kid's alive. Mm, woman. Geez, what do I even call it?" 

"Frisky." 

"Yeah, I could call it by its name. Huh?" Undyne turned around and saw Sans at the door. "You forgot to knock."