No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

15 ~ Finding Doors

"so, uh, i don't wanna be a drag here," Sans speaks up as you lead him through the Underground, Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus trailing behind, "but can i just ask why you kidnapped me from my break, and where exactly you're taking me?"

Before Papyrus can complain about the pun, you answer Sans. "We're going to Waterfall!"

"waterfall?"

"Yeah! There's someone who wants to see you."

"who?"

You pause a moment, then shrug and keep going. "I dunno. I didn't get their name. Funny, really, since they were asking me to remember their name."

Strangely enough, Sans falls silent after that. You continue on to Waterfall.

But when you get there, the hallway, and the room with its occupant, are gone.

"But--" Undyne stammers, "but how?! There was a hallway there!! How could it just disappear?!"

Sans, meanwhile, steps forward, passing you, running his hand along the cavern wall. "there's no hallway here." His voice, you think, is carefully emotionless. Like he's keeping whatever emotion he's feeling out of his voice.

"But there was a hallway." You say. "Really, Sans, there was. And a door, with the person who wanted to see you inside. They asked us to bring you here. But as soon as we left to get you, it all disappeared."

Sans looks at you. His face is totally blank. Just... empty. Devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

"I know it sounds fake, Sans, but it's true! There was a door and the hallway and it-"

"just tell me what happened. all the way, from the beginning."

You take a breath. "Okay." You say. "Okay. Yeah. Undyne and Alphys and I were going to Undyne's house to get an anime DVD, and I... felt something. Calling me. So we went to go look, and we found the hallway. And in the middle of it was this... grey door. So I opened it and we went in, and there was this person, and their voice was like... staticky. They started to disappear, but I asked them to stop, and said I wanted to help them. And... then they told me to bring you here, and then it all disappeared! And I know it seems crazy, but you gotta believe it, Sans! It really happened, and-"

Sans cuts you off again. "can you describe the person?"

You nod a little. "Yeah... they were tall, taller than Papyrus, but not as tall as Asgore, I think. And they were wearing... a black robe, or something? And their head was really pale, and it had these scars-- or cracks? Yeah, they had cracks up and down their face. And... their hands were funny, too. I think there were holes in them."

You pause, looking at Sans. He's still completely blank-faced. "It happened, Sans. It really did."

"i believe you."

You stop, gaping. Yes, you were trying to convince him that it was real, but you didn't expect him to just believe you, not so quickly, and not without proof.

Then you look at where he's standing, where his hand is resting on the cave wall. It's right about where the two rooms should split, with a hallway between them. Right about where the door should be.

... You never told him where exactly it was. Yet he knows. He knows about the door.

"Have... Have you seen it before?"

Sans is silent for a long time. Then he lowers his head and nods. "... yeah. i... i've been in there. i mean, not since-- back when it was-- before--..." He sighs, then starts over. "we were working in there before the room stopped existing."

You frown a little. "Stopped... existing?"

Sans gestures a little. "it doesn't exist now, does it?"

"I guess not... 'we'?"

"'we'?" Sans repeats your question.

"Yeah. You said 'we' were working. Who's 'we'?"

Sans just blinks a little. He's getting that pained expression again. "... i- ...kid..." He sighs again, and hangs his head in defeat. "the royal scientist. the last one. before alphys. we-... we were working on something to maybe get by the barrier, but instead... the room, along with him and everything in it, got erased from existence."

"Except you?"

"... he-..." Sans' voice is barely audible. "he pushed me out..."

You hear Alphys let out a small gasp. "A-and then I found y-you here!" She's talking about, you realize, how she found Sans unconscious... right around here, it must have been.

Without looking up, Sans just gives a single short nod to confirm.

"So..." you say slowly. "The person in there is the last Royal Scientist?"

Another small nod.

"... And he wanted us to bring you here because...?"

When Sans looks up at you, there's a look of desperation on his face. "i don't know! i don't know, frisk. i can't bring him back. i can't get him out of the void. he-... he's gone. i-..." Sans looks down again. "if-... if that's all you wanted to ask me, i-... i have to go do--... something." And he shoves his hands in his jacket pocket and turns to walk away.

"Sans!" Papyrus calls out, hurrying after him. "Sans, wait! Sans, Sans, don't-"

But Papyrus is too late. Sans slips around a corner, and you know he's probably gone, taking one of his strange shortcuts away.

Papyrus stops running. A sort of crestfallen look on his face. He turns back to the rest of you, but doesn't really actually look at any of you.

And then, suddenly, Alphys lets out a little gasp of realization. You all look at her.

She has a strangely determined expression on her face.

"What?!" Undyne says excitedly. "What is it?!"

Alphys takes only a moment to respond. "Sans s-said he c-couldn't get him out of the Void! I- I think I remember reading a p-project report on the True L-lab computer that said s-something about the Void!" Alphys looks at each of you, Undyne, Papyrus, and you, in turn. She's grinning excitedly. "M-maybe it'll have something in it about the Royal Scientist!"

And, you can practically hear her unspoken words, a way to get him back.

You return her enthusiastic grin, and strike a dramatic pose, pointing in the direction of Hotland. "To the True Lab!"

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A/N

That moment when you really wish you had something cool or funny to say for an awesome author's note but just can't think of anything.

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