The Time Before (Undertale)

49 ~ My Son

Things were going pretty slowly.

Sans was still having nightmares, but Gaster had started giving him something nightly to help him sleep. Nothing so strong as that first time, as the sedative alone wouldn't make Sans fall asleep, but just something to calm him down, keep him from getting worked up. Papyrus was there, too, on the couple occasions that Sans still did wake up. He had become exceptional in using healing Magic, and was always ready to help his brother.

After nearly a month and a half of entirely neglecting his job as Royal Scientist in favor of taking an unannounced vacation with his family, Gaster decided it was time to pick the Folding project back up. Sans was reluctant to go back, but the nightmares really had begun to taper off. On top of that, the project wasn't officially reactivated, and it was only Sans, Gaster, and Jeff who were working on it. This meant that, in those moments where Sans started to panic, Gaster and Jeff could drop whatever they were doing and immediately come to Sans' aid.

Several months passed, and the incidents dropped in frequency, down to only just one or two in four or five weeks. Sans still had nightmares, but he rarely woke up screaming anymore.

Right around then, Alphys was invited back into the now-unofficial project.

She had only been back for a few days when Sans had another episode. Alphys had been nothing but sympathetic-- she had suffered from frequent anxiety attacks as a child, and still did on the rare occasion. She was only just surprised at how caring Gaster was with Sans, although, she guessed it wasn't actually that surprising-- Sans had played thousands of pranks on Gaster by now, and normally if anyone so much as tried to play one prank on Gaster, they were immediately removed from the lab. So there was clearly some close relationship between the two.

Sans, meanwhile, found that he enjoyed talking to Alphys. She had this sort of bearing about her that, in her own awkward way, actually relieved a lot of Sans' stress. She talked a lot about anime, which, to be honest, Sans hadn't even known existed until Alphys told him about it, and so he contributed little to the conversation. But when he got her talking about other things, such as robotic chassis that could potentially house a monster Soul...

She was absolutely brilliant.

With only the four of them working on the machine, progress was a lot slower. A few months turned quickly into a year, and that became two. Alphys finally went from being an intern to officially being one of Gaster's assistants. Sans stopped having the daytime episodes entirely, and the nightmares became a rare occasional thing.

As time went on, Sans found that he and Alphys had gotten to be great friends. He still trusted Jeff, of course, and although he still called Gaster "Dings," their father-son bond only became stronger.

And then there was Papyrus.

Nearly a whole foot taller than his older brother, not to mention still growing, Papyrus loved his brother with an unwavering dedication, a sentiment which Sans equally returned. They were always there for each other, ready to support each other however support was needed. To watch them was to see the very epitome of brotherly love. Sure they annoyed each other sometimes, and got into the rare argument, but everything was always quickly forgiven and then forgotten. They were brothers, plain and simple, and they relied each other as such.

~o0o~

Eventually, the small quartet of scientists finished the time-folding part of the machine. All of the safety checks were completed, and it was time to test it.

With much persuasion from Alphys and Jeff, Gaster was convinced to allow the rest of the Fold team to come witness it. They had, after all, worked a considerable amount on the project.