<[RĒBØØT]>

[55]

Papyrus and Sans dropped flat on the ground before the shockwave hit them and flattened the trees around them, scattering snow all around.
Once everything calmed down, Sans got up coughing and waving his good arm around to clear the snow bits and see. Jay was standing there in the middle of the blast zone, looking around.
Flowey was nowhere to be found. And nothing left of him.
Nothing except for the churned-up ground and a couple of flames flickering on it and some vine pieces. The cannon on Jay's right hand had sparks of electricity going off of it before it exploded, breaking off from his arm. Now Jay looked at Sans, his body seeing to be damaged greatly. Instead of turning towards Sans, Jay's eyes in his visor slowly turned back to blue...and disappeared as his body toppled forward onto the ground. The smoke cleared more, and it was visible thanks to the damage inflicted that Sans could see what was under the scales.
'Don't tell me...Jay has been a machine all along?' Sans thought as he looked closely at the dragon's body. Yes, he could see the silver gleam of metal that was exposed thanks to the damage that the body suffered as well as some broken wiring. 'No wonder I felt the strange energy coming off from him.' Sans thought as Papyrus walked over to them. When Sans's brother looked down, he gasped. "HE...WHY DOES HE LOOK LIKE THAT?" Papyrus breathed as he kneeled down to reach out to Jay with his good hand, still clutching his broken arm as the visor that covered Jay's face came off and returned to its place back in the neck. Sans immediate placed a hand on his brother's shoulder as if to say "Don't touch him!". "BUT WHY? HE'S HURT! WE HAVE TO HELP HIM!" Papyrus said, looking up to Sans with a pleading face. That was true, although Sans was not sure if Jay was still dangerous.
Right at that time, Dr. Gaster appeared from a distance running towards them in a hurry.
"Are you two alright?" Dr. Gaster said as he stopped once he reached them. Their father looked down at his two sons and gasped when he noticed their injured arms. Then he turned towards Jay, whose body laid on the ground unmoving, and started to pick him up. What shocked Sans was that his father simply picked Jay up immediately, as if he...
'Hold on...don't tell me...' Sans thought with a stark realization. "Wait...you knew about this??" Sans said as Dr. Gaster examined the damage on Jay's body. Dr. Gaster looked at both with a hesitant face. Finally, he said, "I'll explain later. Come on, we have to get him help before anything happens to him. And get your arms healed as well." as he began carrying Jay with one hand while carrying Papyrus with his other hand, and Sans with his floating hands. With that set, they headed towards the Lab.
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While the arms of Sans and Papyrus were bandaged up by Alphys, Dr. Gaster went to see how Jay was doing. The dragon robot had been placed on a bed in the medical room, with small monitors placed all around him. They showed that the energy levels were still high, meaning that Jay was okay. Still, Dr. Gaster couldn't ignore the sight of Jay's damaged body. Scorch marks, peeled scales, and broken arm pieces, were too much for Dr. Gaster to imagine how fiercely Jay fought.
'To protect my two sons from that evil flower, which I failed to protect them from it. He...is more remarkable than we have ever witnessed. An unordinary machine...who has true feelings instead of artificial.' Dr. Gaster thought as he sat down on a chair, continuing to observe closely. While he was doing that, he thought of what might happen if word got out about the explosion and Jay. They would seriously try to destroy him. But...Dr. Gaster couldn't. Jay willingly trusted him and Alphys, along with a few monsters, and helped create the barrier neutralizer. He would not let anything happen to Jay since he gave them a new hope of returning to the surface. Nor he will betray that trust he has given them.
Moments later, a sound was heard from the entrance of the Lab. There was some bit of shouting, which made Dr. Gaster stand up and walk over to the room door to peek outside. It was Undyne of the Royal Guard and Red Slicing Hood who have made their way in. It seemed like there was no hiding the secret now that they were heading towards the room.
"HEY!!! WHY DON'T YOU LET US THROUGH?? WE HAVE TO SEE IF OUR BUDDY JAY IS OKAY OR—!!!" Undyne shouted as she pushed Dr. Gaster aside, only to stop at the sight of Jay's body on the bed. Red also stopped at the door's entrance, looking with utter surprise at the scene before the two.
"This...is him......right?" Undyne said softly.
"Unfortunately, yes. This is him. His true self." Dr. Gaster explained to them.
Undyne reached out with one hand over the chest of Jay's body. Then she began the process of determining if he had a soul or not. Turns out, he had a soul as the representation of it materialized in the air under Undyne's hand. Most shockingly for them, the soul was the red trait. Although it had a blue circle in the middle of it, which probably represented Jay's core. 'My word. Did he knew he had that trait before? Or...he wasn't aware of it?' Dr. Gaster thought.
Undyne started to attempt and try to take the soul, but Dr. Gaster used one of his floating hands to stop her from doing so.
"What are you doing? I am trying to remove it so that I can bring it to King Asgore." Undyne said, turning to face Dr. Gaster.
"Why would you do that? Would you take one's life in order to fulfill everyone's hopes and dreams? Now that we have another effective method?" Dr. Gaster said, looking at Undyne with a serious expression. That seemed to make Undyne realize what she was about to do; take the life away of a friend just to break the barrier.
Somehow both knew that this wouldn't have made Undyne a hero, but rather the deserved title of monster like everyone else in the Underground. So, Undyne retreated her hand and let the soul sink back into Jay's chest.
Jay's broken arm began to glow both green and blue afterwards. The pieces that were broken off started to float up and began piecing themselves back, as if the arm was trying to repair itself. Also, when that process began, the water in the cup that was placed on the table next to the bed started to move strangely. Slowly, the water began floating up and fusing with the metal to replace any metal lost.
'He never ceases to amaze us, huh?.' Dr. Gaster thought as he observed the regeneration process closely.
Another commotion was heard in the hallway, and then two monsters entered the room.
It was Telephone and Radio, the two dutch angel dragons that Jay had contact with.
When the furred dragons noticed Jay laying on the bed, they just stopped and stared at it. A long time passed as the two dutchies processed what they were seeing.
Telephone reached a paw towards Jay's arm that was regenerating, then pulled back as tears began to form on her eyelids.
"No...It can't be..." she whispered before she ran out of the room crying. "Sister! Wait up!" Radio called out before he followed her.
'It's understandable; discovering that a friend was actually a machine. Poor kid.' Dr. Gaster thought as he watched the dutchies exit the Lab building.