Ruins (Sans X Alphys)

Sempiternus

Alphys was toiling wordlessly at the machine, without a clue of what she should really be doing. Sure, she was keeping herself busy. Tightening connections, fixing short-circuits, improving battery life. But those weren't what she was worried about. None of that changed the fact that she was planning on using this machine for something that it was definitely not originally built for, and she had no idea if it was going to work. Perhaps, she figured, it would have been wise to edit the blueprints before she used them to rebuild it, rather than build the machine and then edit it after it was complete, but she was afraid that it wouldn't be complete in time if she did so.

She knew she couldn't expect any help. Her only true ally was a little yellow flower that had proven himself to be a psychopath over and over. And even he was only helping her since he'd been bribed. The fact was, she'd alienated her best living friend, and now she was living through the consequences. But in the day or so since she'd talked to Flowey, she'd found herself much more confident and decisive. Sure, she was alone. But that didn't mean she couldn't succeed without help.

She was going to SAVE the Underground, whether or not it wanted her to. She was going to SAVE the Underground with or without Sans' help. She didn't need him anyway.

"heya, alphie. gettin' nostalgic?"

Alphys suddenly turned on her heels, wide-eyed. She expected anyone but Sans here. And yet there he was, standing there with his hands in his pockets and a goofy grin on his face.

Her eyes were watering before she even spoke.

"S-sans! Y-you're... what... where have you been, Sans?"

She ran closer to him, almost tripping over her own feet more than once.

"eh. just tyin' up a couple of loose ends for ya. your haters can be pretty tough to sway, but i think i did a good enough job."

"W-WHAT!? You're not... upset? I thought you were... I thought I'd l-lost you Sans!"

"hey. i left for like... two or three days, max. that kinda happens a lot with me. and as for being upset... what would i be upset about?"

"Y-your... I... I was s-so angry, and i-insensitive, and I... I didn't r-realize what I was s-saying. I was yelling at you and b-being so c-cruel, and, and, and-"

"calm yourself, alphie. you're hyperventilating. listen. tensions were high, ok? so maybe i was a bit upset when it happened. but i'm just fine now, and you should be too."

"Sans... I know you're trying to write this off, but... I'm so s-so.... so sorry. I k-know I h-hurt you. And I know you'd probably just w-write this off if I didn't say anything, but... I'm s-so sorry."

"it's alright, alphys. i understand. i know i hurt you too. i've found that i'm not really the most comforting type. sometimes is isn't the best to always have a smile. but i've got to smile, because if i don't smile, i cry."

"Sans, I-"

"six hundred and fifty eight thousand, two hundred and eleven."

"W-what? What are you- Oh my god."

"yup. that's how many times they died before they quit. that's how much it took to break their determination. i remembered them all, just little flashes. i remembered everything that worked, and everything that didn't. i remembered what they said, what they tried to use to break me. i remembered easy victories and close calls. i remembered it all. i fought harder every time they almost got me, and after six hundred and fifty thousand deaths, they finally quit. they decided that their genocide wasn't worth dying over and over and over and over, and they gave up. they ran out of determination and left."