The Undying

Memory Modifier

Undyne couldn't help but clutch at the scarf wrapped around her neck. Papyrus was gone. She knew that. She had seen his dust with her own eyes.

And yet there he stood, dressed in black and red and covered in more scars than Papyrus had even been in fights. He was smiling, but it wasn't making it all the way to his eyes. He reached down into the pile of dust at his feet and retrieved the machine Alphys had been carrying. He looked it over for a moment, then suddenly, his voice came out of the machine, causing Undyne to jump back in surprise. "SANS!"

His voice was too deep, too growling. There was an oddly familiar piece of Papyrus in it, yes, but it could never be mistaken for his voice. Once Undyne processed what he had said, however, all of those thoughts were forgotten.

She turned to her companion in confusion, but he looked as surprised as she was. He made eye contact with her for a moment, seeming to weigh his options, then he stepped up beside her to look at the monitor. She regarded him for a moment, ignoring the screen until another voice joined the first.

"Yeah, Boss?" She looked up to find the owner of the voice very suddenly standing next to this murderous version of her friend. He looked like Sans in the same way the other looked like Papyrus. He was covered in scars, and one of his teeth was gold. He was dressed in black shorts much like Sans's, but his shirt was red and he wore a leather, fur-lined jacket in place of a blue hoodie. He was looking at the pile of dust instead of the person he was addressing, and Undyne almost thought she saw a flash of revulsion pass through his face.

"What the hell is this?" Boss asked, shoving the machine into his hands.

The other Sans took it, turning it around and fiddling with the buttons. "Oh!" He said suddenly. "It's a DT Harnesser" His voice was a lot like the Sans standing beside her, if Sans had made a habit out of smoking instead of drinking.

"That doesn't tell me anything" Boss spat, and the other Sans flinched as though he expected to be hit.

"Well, we don't need to talk about it here in the open, Boss. Come on, let's get to camp" he said quickly, pocketing the device and reaching out for the other's arm, stopping slightly short as though waiting for permission to touch. Boss obliged, placing his arm into his reaching hand, and as suddenly as the other Sans had appeared, they were gone.

Undyne stared at the empty spot where they had been for a split second, then cursed and scrabbled at the controls. She panned the camera around the entire area, but they were nowhere to be found.

"What the hell was that?" She screamed at the monitor, resisting the urge to smash something.

Sans hadn't moved since he'd stepped up to look more closely at the monitor. He had his hands shoved forcefully into his pockets as we watched her search fruitlessly.

"You're not going to find them" he finally said, and she turned to face him angrily.

"What, does it not matter if I find them or something? I didn't ask for your input!"

"This other version of me must be able to take shortcuts, too" he said calmly, ignoring her anger.

She looked at him again, grinding her teeth, something that didn't work particularly well when you had fangs. "Fine" she said "I'll bite. What does that mean?"

Instead of answering, he disappeared, much like the other two had. His voice rang out from behind her, and she spun to face him, shocked. "That's what that means" he said, then he was beside her again.

It was like she'd blinked, but she knew she hadn't. He had just...transported. Apparently he was even more skilled than she'd thought.

"Okay. I see. So how can we find them?" she asked, making a conscious decision not to think too hard about what she'd just seen.