Chapter Text
Papyrus opened his eyes in a panic, frantically looking around.
“Where am I..!?”
He felt different, he no longer felt his limbs, or shoulders. In fact, he felt.. nothing. No bones, no weight.
Just a strange, floating lightness.
“O-oh, you're awake..! I th-thought we'd lost you forever..” He heard a nasally voice stutter. As his vision focused, he saw Alphys hovering over him, her clawed hands fidgeting with the hem of her lab coat. Her eyes were wide behind her thick-rimmed glasses, a mix of nervous hope and guilt plastered across her face.
Papyrus tried to sit up–-except he couldn't. There were no arms to push with. No legs to swing over the side of.. whatever this was. He glanced down.
A soft, blue flower.
That was him. A single golden bloom on a thin dark blue stem, swaying slightly in a small pot on Alphys's cluttered workbench. Soft petals instead of bone, and roots instead of feet.
“W-what is this?!”
Papyrus's voice came out high and echoing, much louder than he expected. It sounded like him, sort of. That was something.
“I was-I was fighting the human and then--nyeh?! Did I.. did I lose?”
Alphys winced, rubbing her arm. “Y-you did. They didn't take your SOUL, b-but they.. they dusted you. I found what was left of you in the Snowdin Forest. Just.. just a little pile. I-I panicked and–”
She gestured weakly at the flower pot. “I had some of your dust. And I had that leftover Determination extract from.. from the other experiments. I thought if I combined them with a vessel that could hold it..”
She trailed off, looking ashamed.
Papyrus stared at her (or rather, angled his flower-head toward her). A long silence stretched between them, broken only by the hum of fluorescent lights and bubbling tunes in the True Lab.
“So.. I'm a flower now?” He asked, voice cracking with disbelief.
“But.. but I'm still ME, right? Great Papyrus! Aspiring member of the Royal Guard! Master of puzzles and spaghetti!”
Alphys gave a tiny, watery smile. “Y-yeah. Your personality came through stronger than I expected. The DT.. it lets you keep your sense of self. But you're.. you're not a monster anymore. Not exactly. You're more like.. a determined flower.”
Papyrus tried to strike a heroic pose. His stem just wiggled pathetically.
“This is unacceptable! How am I supposed to hug my brother like this?! Or make spaghetti?! Or.. or anything?!” His petals flapped with every word, voice booming through the lab.
Then, quietly, almost scared:
“...Does Sans know?”
Alphys shook her head quickly. “N-no one knows. I brought you here right away. I haven't even told Undyne or.. or anyone. I didn’t know if it would even work.”
Papyrus was quiet for a moment, petals drooping. The weight of what happened--what Frisk had done– started to settle on him like cold snow.
“I.. I thought I could save them,” he said softly. “I thought if I showed them kindness, they'd understand. But they..”
He didn't finish.
Alphys reached out hesitantly and gently patted one of his petals with a claw. “I-I’m sorry. I know it's not the same, but… you’re here. You're still alive. We can figure this out. M-maybe I can make you a little pot with wheels or something, or– or find a way to transfer you into something stronger later..”
Papyrus perked up slightly, though his voice still carried a waver.
“Very well! If The Great Papyrus must be a flower for now.. then I shall make the most charismatic, puzzle-making, hope-inspiring flower the Underground has ever seen!” He paused. “But.. Alphys?”
“Yeah..?”
“Please water me. I feel.. thirsty. And also extremely weird about it.”
Alphys let out a nervous laugh, already reaching for a beaker.