Undyne woke slowly.

Everything hurt, and whatever was being forced into her lungs through the mask over her face only made her head more foggy, which didn't help.

When she opened her eyes, she was first blinded by the light overhead. Gradually, her eyes adjusted, and she saw a shadow. From there, the shadow resolved itself into Gaster, who was leaning over her, doing... something.

Whatever he was doing, it hurt.

A sharp jab of more painful pain tore through her, and she reflexively jerked away, which only made it hurt worse.

Distantly, she heard the doctor snarl something that was probably not something she wanted translated.

Stay still, Undyne!

She struggled, trying to pull away from the pain.

For the love of Annoying Dog, Commander! You're only making this more painful for yourself and much more irritating for me! Stay! Still!

She moaned, tried to get away, tried to pull the mask off her face.

I'm trying to save your life, you💧❄️✝️🚩✋👎 👉✋💧👇✏️ 👍✌️️☹️💣✏️✏️ 👎🏴✝️☠️✏️✏️

Hands grabbed her shoulders and wrists and pinned her down. She felt the air inside the mask get thicker, and slowly, she sank back into unconsciousness.

~o0o~

Gaster blew out a long breath.

It wasn't that it was something he couldn't do, he not only had a bit of experience in patching up Souls, but also had experience in doing it to himself.

No, that was not why Undyne was giving him so much trouble.

It was, surprisingly, because she was stronger than he had anticipated.

He had put an IV into her arm with the intent of only feeding enough Magic into her to keep her stable, but instead, even still with a Soul leaking Magic, it had begun to revive her.

And sewing up a Soul was hard enough to begin with, but to have her moving around, too.

Well. If he went too much higher on the anesthetic dosage on her, it might be considered lethal.

Luckily, she didn't give him too much trouble after that.

He finished up quickly, settling her Soul in her chest and pulling as much of her dusty flesh back over her ribs, before wrapping the whole mess up in a bandage.

It was a shame that healing Magic didn't affect the physical Soul. Asgore had only been knocked unconscious, and had quickly been healed by Toriel. He and Gerson were now on their way to check again on the defenses around Hotland.

Meanwhile, Toriel sat on the cot in the once-again broken cell, cradling the still-unconscious Undyne in her lap.

Gaster would have preferred to keep Undyne on the operating table, but he had needed it for Sans, who was currently strapped down, and beginning to wake from the sedative.

He groaned and struggled weakly against the restraints. Gaster gestured for Papyrus to stay where he was for the moment, sitting at Gaster's desk, and moved to stand by the table.

Sans moaned a bit more, then let out a wail. It sounded almost like he was trying to talk, but could only whimper and moan, writhing weakly in pain.

Gaster set his hand on Sans' chest. "Calm down."

Sans stopped struggling, but was still trembling. Slowly, he cracked open his eyes, and looked up at Gaster.

"d-dad-..."

Gaster said nothing, just cocked his head slightly.

"s-sor-ry--" Sans sobbed, "i- t-tr-ied n-not to-- b-bec-ause- y-you'n p-pap-- you d-did-n't w-want--" Sans broke off, taking a few strangled gasps of air. "b-but i was so hungry! it hurt, dad! it hurt so much! i- i had to! i had to eat, it h-hurt so bad! i- n-needed t-to stop it-- d-didn't w-an-na h-hurt p-apy-rus--" he broke off, choking on his own sobs.

Gaster blew out a sigh, and nodded to Papyrus. Papyrus, in turn, leaped out of his seat and climbed up onto the table, hugging Sans as much as he could.

It was strange. Sans' body convulsed at the contact, and he let out a pained howl, sobbing all the more. But when Papyrus started to pull away, he only cried louder and shook harder.

It was painful to watch, all the more so because it was his own son who was suffering.

Gaster never thought that having a Pure Soul would, or even could cause so much agony.

~o0o~

Undyne shook off the effects of the drugs slowly.

She groaned and blinked, shifting a little in what she realized were the Queen's arms.

"Oh!" The queen spoke. "Dr. Gaster! She is awake!"

Undyne heard a distant, muffled response.

Toriel looked down at her, smiling and gently stroking her hair. "How do you feel?"

Undyne just grunted, settling comfortably into Toriel's motherly embrace. "Tired. Sore. Wha' happened?"

Gaster came over and slowly helped her sit up. "My son tried to eat your Soul."

"'S that why my chest hurts so much?"

Gaster shook his head, tugging lightly at the bandages around Undyne's chest. "No. By now, your Soul should have more or less gone numb. But he did have to tear you apart to reach your Soul, meaning your skin and scales were pretty well shredded, and you have a couple broken ribs. Thank you, by the way, for not killing Sans."

Undyne realized the sounds she thought had just been in her head were actually not, and, in fact, were moans and choked sobs. "... You're welcome, I guess. So I assume you're not going let me go out to check on my army?"

Gaster chuckled as he pulled away. "Technically, you and I are equally ranked when it comes to the Royal hierarchy and you can disregard all my advice if you so wish to. But yes, I highly advise not moving for a while."

Undyne looked around and saw Sans was strapped down to the operating table. It looked like he was in a lot of pain. Papyrus sat on the edge of the table, one hand resting on Sans' sternum, the other holding Sans' hand.

"But, Commander," Toriel began, "as your queen, if I order you to do something, you must obey. And I am ordering you to listen to Dr. Gaster's advice, and rest."

Undyne nodded and looked to Gaster. "Do you have anything that can make it hurt less, at least?"

Gaster nodded and walked to one of the cabinets lining the wall of the lab.

Undyne looked again to Sans. "...What happened?"

Papyrus glanced up from his brother and looked at Undyne. "He-... he was awake for a few minutes, and he said... he said that the one Soul he ate was enough to satisfy the Corruption enough that it wasn't so much in control, but it's still really strong. He also said... um... he wasn't sorry, really, about killing that monster. And, he-... he said he had only not wanted to do it because Dad and I didn't want him to do it. But he was happy to finally- ... um. Eat."

Undyne remembered Sans, hunched over the dying monster, half-eaten Soul in his hands...

She shuddered.

Then Gaster walked back over to her, and handed her a paper cup full of... something.

"This'll make you a bit drowsy," he said, "but it should more or less take away all the pain."

She sniffed at the liquid, cringed at the smell, then shrugged and knocked it back.

Then she doubled over, struggling to keep it down as her gag reflex kicked in at the taste.

But she managed to successfully swallow it. Gaster took the empty cup from her, and walked away.

Undyne's vision started to blur, and she felt dizzy. When she tried to talk, her tongue felt thick and fuzzy. "Thizzis more'n" she slurred, "a biit druzzy- nnnngh..."

She fell asleep.

~o0o~

What Sans had said was true.

He really didn't regret killing that monster, nor eating it's Soul.

In fact, he would have done that a lot sooner if it wasn't for the fact that Papyrus and Gaster didn't want him to.

But he was still mostly Corrupt, and his desire to make his family happy had been overpowered by his hunger, and had survived instead only as a compromise to not hurt them, and instead go for one of the Pure of the masses.

It had been pretty good. And if the Soul he had eaten hadn't satisfied his Corrupt hunger as much as it had, enough for the Pure side of him to fight it again, he would have been so strong. After all, he had just consumed an entire lifeforce of energy, and had it at his disposal.

But, instead, the ravenous Corruption had been sated and placated to some degree, and Sans was prone and vulnerable as he fought his hunger with Papyrus.

It hurt.

Both the hunger and the battle, tearing at his bones, twisting his Magic into upheaval.

He would need to eat again, eventually.

Eventually, his appetite would grow, starving him, and he would need to eat again.

For the time being, though, he could subdue it.

Somewhat.

It was still there, gnawing at him, begging for just one more Soul... and he could focus on nothing else, nothing but the hunger, nothing but keeping it down.

But, at least like this, he wasn't killing anyone.

Although killing people wasn't the problem. Eating their Souls wasn't the issue.

He liked doing that. Even when he wasn't in this Corrupt feeding frenzy.

No, it was just that Papyrus didn't want him to do that.

So Sans would try his hardest to keep from doing that.

But.

Eventually.

He would need to eat again.

...

...

But.

N̛͟͜o̢͡t҉̴̢̡͞ ̶̡Ṕ͏͜à͢p̵͟͢y̶̧̕͝r̷͡ú̶̧s̢̧.͏̶͘̕̕ ͏̷̀

~o0o~

Sans' pulse was wild and erratic. Papyrus could feel it through Sans' ribs. There was no pattern to the beat, no evenly spaced intervals.

Briefly, Papyrus wondered what it must feel like to have a war being fought in your Soul. He quickly banished the thought, though, when another spasm ran through Sans' body.

It was, quite obviously, bad.

Papyrus sighed sympathetically as Sans groaned. "Hey Dad?"

Gaster looked over from where he was sitting at his desk. "Yeah?"

"I don't have to go anywhere, right? I can stay here, with Sans?"

Gaster gave him a small, sad smile as he stood and joined Papyrus beside Sans. "Of course. I wouldn't expect anything less."

He wrapped his hand around Sans' and Papyrus's already clasped hands. Sans calmed down just a bit.

Sans opened his eyes just a little, his face slipping into what could have been a smile or a grimace as he peered up at his family. He started to try to say something, but another spasm tore through him, replacing his words with a sharp cry.

And then he was back in the throes of his internal war, fighting off the Corruption that so desperately clawed at his being.

"He's trying so hard." Papyrus whispered. "He's doing his best. Isn't there anything we can do to help?"

"I-..." Gaster set a hand on Papyrus's shoulder. "I wish. But-... I don't even know what's causing this. What's making his Corruption so strong."

Papyrus looked up at Gaster, desperation in his eyes. "But you're a scientist! Can't we figure it out?"

Gaster looked at Papyrus, then at Sans. "I... Yes. I... there are some... tests I could run... but... he's already in so much pain. I don't want to hurt him more."

Papyrus reached up to Gaster's arm and gripped it tightly. "Do it anyway! Please, Dad! We hafta help him! Please!"

Gaster looked back at Papyrus, and Papyrus saw his father was just as desperate as he was. Quietly, he said, "Okay. Okay, let's do it."

§

A/N

So. Thanksgiving is over. I was listening to Christmas music while I wrote this.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Remember, votes and comments are not only always welcome, but always appreciated, too!