Yes, it’s time for a new DOFP part! Back in the present, where Undyne tries to help Alphys deal with the fallout of what’s happened.

–Dogs of Future Past–

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Undyne made her way to the kitchen table, where she dropped off a tote bag full of papers from Toriel. When the former queen had requested her help at the school, somehow she hadn’t imagined that ‘helping grade quizzes’ was part of that. Geeez, how boring! She just wasn’t cut out for this kind of paperwork, even if it was for kids. But Toriel did need the help now, so…she’d just have to put up with it.



A quick glance outside the window told her where Toriel was at the moment…out in the backyard, talking to Asgore. The king had practically set up a second home in Toriel’s backyard, he was over so often, nonstop doting on that empty flower. Apparently giving Asgore some kind of project to do that involved helping something live had done wonders for him, even if he was just as devastated about Frisk and Flowey as everyone else. At least it seemed to be paying off…Flowey’s body hadn’t wilted yet. If anything, it seemed to be growing bigger and brighter than ever with Asgore putting all of his efforts into its health. He’d moved it to a much larger pot with better soil and everything.

But there was someone else’s wellbeing that Undyne was more concerned about right now. She wound through the kitchen to the laundry and storage hall, with the door that led to the now-barricaded garage. And sitting in front of the door was Alphys…wearing a days-old shirt, surrounded by barely-touched cans of soda and TV dinners, plus a comforter and pillow without the case. She stared blankly at a small tablet computer in her claws, which was currently blaring something in Japanese, almost loud enough to drown out sounds of snarling and howling in the garage.

Undyne swallowed. This was the worst she’d seen her girlfriend in a long time…and she just didn’t know if she was going to get better soon. She knelt down to Alphys’ face level.

“Hey, Alphys. I’m heading home here…you wanna come with tonight?”

Alphys gave a noncommittal shrug, not looking up from the tablet. “Nnnhmm.”

“What’re you watching, anyway?”

“Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2,” Alphys mumbled.

Undyne’s eye widened, and she looked about ready to knock the tablet out of Alphys’ claws as if it were a bomb. She sputtered a bit before nearly yelling, “Wh-WHY would you subject yourself to that?! That anime’s total trash, you said so yourself!”

“Because I deserve trash anime,” Alphys replied.

And this was what Undyne was afraid of. She sat herself down next to Alphys, and slapped a hand down over the tablet screen, forcing Alphys to look up at her. “Alphys, LISTEN! You have to stop beating yourself up about this! It’s not your fault!”

“How is it NOT, Undyne?! I was there, and I d-didn’t stop it!”

Undyne knew this conversation was going to be painful, but they’d been putting it off for too long already. “It wasn’t your idea! Come on, you know how Frisk is! Once they set their mind on something, they do it no matter how dangerous…and you couldn’t have known it’d turn out this way!”

“I know, b-but…they’re still just a kid, a-and I’M the adult! I should’ve j-just told them no!”

“You told us, you were just trying to help–”

“A-and that’s the problem!” Alphys almost shouted back, hugging the tablet back to her chest. “I should’ve known that whenever I try to help people, I just screw it up for everyone!”

Undyne remained silent for a moment, and Alphys just took the silence to continue, choking up a bit on her words. “Toriel won’t even talk to me. Endogeny is a mess and now they can’t even see their families. Everything I t-try to do to help, I just mess up!” She hiccuped a little on the last thought. “S-sometimes I wonder why y-you’re sticking around at all…”

Undyne drew in closer, desperate to get Alphys to understand just what she was seeing. “Nnnnggg…Alphys, that’s not true! You’re the one who got Mettaton to where he is now, helped him realize his dream! You guided Frisk through Hotland and the Core when everyone else was trying to stop them! You wouldn’t even have gotten your old job as royal scientist if you weren’t so good at building things in the first place! And you succeeded at the toughest things of all…owning up to all that went wrong! And I…I know I wouldn’t have been able to get through half of the battles I went through without thinking of you!”

This was enough to get Alphys to look up and face Undyne, although her eyes still remained a bit teary.

Undyne continued, getting more fired up now. “You’re not the only one who’s made some big mistakes! Your problem is that you see the good in everyone else, but you won’t see it in yourself! And well, if you find that too hard…then I’m gonna have to see that good in you for you!”

Alphys snuffled, and wiped at her eyes, looking a little bit embarrassed. “U-Undyne…”

“I know things don’t look good now, but I also know they’re gonna get better, and you’re gonna help with that, just like you did before!” While Undyne tried to stay enthused, a bit of a worried crack seeped into her voice. “So…you gotta stay tough for me, all right?”

Alphys managed to pull a very small smile…the first time she’d done so in awhile. She didn’t lift herself off the floor, though. “I’ll…I’ll t-try my best, Undyne.” Her smile dropped back down again as another particularly long and loud howl came from the garage behind her. “…B-but I don’t think I’m ready to come home tonight.”

Undyne didn’t respond, but just seemed to think to herself, and then marched back out of the room. Alphys sighed, and curled up tighter in on herself. She sat in silence for a minute, staring blankly at the now-paused anime. A sudden loud THUMP right beside her startled her out of silence, making her jump. She adjusted her glasses, and saw that Undyne had dropped the big stack of student quizzes next to her. She looked up to see Undyne standing over her, certain as ever.

“OKAY. Then here’s the deal! I’m gonna get into that kitchen and make you the best damn dinner you’ve had all month! Then I’m gonna sit down right here and grade these stupid and boring quizzes! But what I need you to do is find us some anime that isn’t trash for us both to have on! If you can’t leave, then I’ll just stay here and we’ll have a sleepover in the laundry room like the weird adults we are! SOUND GOOD?!”

After a moment of wide-eyed staring, Alphys nodded. It honestly did sound really good. “Y…yeah. That sounds great, Undyne.”

Undyne shot her a huge sharp-toothed grin, and headed back out into the kitchen. It was impossible to miss her continued boisterous yelling down the hall: “PAPYRUS! Go let Sans have his turn on watch duty, and get out here to help me cook! WE’RE MAKIN’ LASAGNA!”

There really wasn’t much else Alphys could do but smile at that. She still didn’t feel like she was in a good place yet, but…still, she was better. She looked back down at the tablet, closed Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2, and began to scroll through her folder of favorite series.