The Time Before (Undertale)

39 ~ Undying

The day after the fifth human Soul had been taken, Sans came into the lab more or less as happy as usual.

He paused, though, when he saw that Alphys was not there. She was always there before him. He had become rather good friends with the intern, and was a little concerned to see she hadn't arrived yet.

Stepping up beside Gaster, he remarked on this. "hey, where's al?"

Gaster didn't look up from what he was doing. "One of her friends, a trainee for the Royal Guard, got hurt yesterday in the human attack." He paused a second. "... Well, I suppose 'hurt' is a bit of an understatement. Apparently, she was hit in the face. She'll be blind in her left eye... if she pulls through. From what Alphys said when she called to say she wasn't coming, her friend is still unconscious, and it's unlikely she'll wake up."

Sans blinked a little. "... annoying dog, that's... awful."

"... Yes, I suppose so."

Sans looked up, surprised at the lack of sympathy in Gaster's voice. "you sound like you couldn't care less about this."

Gaster looked down at Sans. "You mistake my lack of surprise for apathy. I was in the war, Sans. I have learned through experience that humans and death come hand-in-hand. While it is a pity that some should die, it is no surprise when in war."

"but we're not in war."

"Humans are war. They always have been, and always will be. If not against monsters, then, I have little doubt, against themselves. When a human falls into the Underground, they bring with them their war."

"so we're just going to let her die?"

"What could I do that the doctors in New Home hospital could not?"

Sans paused. That was a good question. "i-... i don't know. you're the royal scientist. there's gotta be something."

Gaster sighed. "Sans, as far as anyone can tell, her body is perfectly fine- well. Except for her eye. But that should't still have her in the state she's in. Her Soul simply doesn't have the will to live. The only thing we could possibly do is give her Determination, but..."

Sans' hand subconsciously went to his unmoving jaw.

Gaster saw. "Yeah. That."

Sans blinked a little. He knew Alphys, knew how shy and introverted she was. She didn't have a lot of friends, Sans knew, and every one of her friends were practically as close as family.

"there's..." Sans glanced around. Gaster and he were the only ones in the lab. The DTW project no matter how done and gone, was still an illegal one, and Sans would rather not have his creator incarcerated. "we could give her the physicality serum, first."

Gaster shook his head. "No. If she doesn't have the Determination to live as is, she'd never survive. You of all people should know how trying those injections are."

"... right..." Sans sighed. "... and... and we couldn't just give her a little? how much dt can a person handle before their body gives out and they melt?"

Gaster shrugged. "It depends on how much physicality their body has. You probably could have withstood one or two injections right from the start without the physicality serum."

"so if we just give her as much as is safe..."

"Still can't guarantee it'll be enough to get her going."

"no harm in trying though, right?"

"Except for the part where people ask questions."

"we say it was an experimental new drug."