Undertale 3: Redemption

The sun began to rise over Mount Ebott.
Alex laid outside, not far from the camp in a hammock that he had set up between two trees. Underneath a thin canopy of branches and trees he looked to his right to see the sunrise. Tired and sweaty from his workout, he was quite comfortable.
That's when he noticed something that fascinated him:
The branches of the two trees he'd tied his hammock to were stretching over him. One tree had green leaves on its branches; the other tree had red leaves. Even though the trees had grown far apart, their branches stretched over him, linking to each other and creating a canopy of different colored leaves.
"Come on, prince! You can rest when your workout's over!" Undyne's voice broke the air. Alex lifted his head to look over, and he couldn't help but chuckle at what he saw.
Just off in the distance, there was Undyne with Asriel, Papyrus, and Alphys following her. They were all jogging in place as they came to a stop by where he was. Asriel looked sweaty, Alphys looked ready to quit, and Papyrus seemed to be keeping up with her alright.
"Little late for a workout, don't you think, Undyne? You getting lazy?" Alex teased her a bit.
"Shut your mouth or I will roll you up in that little hammock and throw you off the edge." Undyne threatened, pointing at him.
"You seem a little jealous of the hammock." Alex said with a chuckle.
"Maybe you should jump in there, Undyne." Asriel continued off of Alex's joke.
"I'll throw you after him." Undyne muttered.
"I ship it!" Papyrus exclaimed.
"No, Papyrus... Just no." Alphys stopped him.
"Mind if I borrow Asriel for a minute?" Alex asked, getting out of his hammock and fixing his shirt. Undyne nodded.
"Ugh, fine, but make it quick. We still got 6 miles."
"What?!" Everyone exclaimed.
"Now who's being teased?" Undyne smirked, leading the others off again.
"What's up?" Asriel asked, walking over to Alex.
"Today's the big monster moving day. I scoped out some land not far from where I live. I wanted to let you know so you can start packing. Soon we'll all be on our way to the site for New Monster City; Asgore came up with the name." Alex informed him.
"Oh! I hadn't heard about that yet. We'll be seeing you around a lot when we're there, right?"
"For sure." Alex nodded. Asriel nodded with a smile, but it quickly grew cold as his expression hardened some.
"So...uh, about our conversation last night."
"What about it?" Alex asked
"Well, I gave it some thought, and I determined that I'm not gonna stop you. I do have one condition though." Asriel lifted a finger.
"Name it."
"Don't go alone." Asriel stipulated before giving him a quick bro-hug and rushing back to join the others again.
***
"What? He wants to go back into the Underground to look for Flowey?!" Jasmine blurted out in surprise. Asriel nodded.
"That's what he told me last night." Asriel admitted. Jasmine folded her arms and sighed.
"He never told me that." She muttered.
"I don't know how recently he made the decision to actually go." Asriel said, trying to muster up at least some defense for him.
"I'll talk to him." Jasmine said, walking away from his tent and towards the cabin. She snaked her way through the crowds, occasionally bumping into monsters and having to apologize for doing so.
"Hey, have you seen Alex? No? Okay thanks." She asked around as she walked, but everyone she asked simply shook their heads and answered no.
"Hey. Lookin' for someone?" Sans voice broke the air. Jasmine jumped aside in shock to see him walking right alongside her.
"You startled me man. Don't do that." She exhaled, pressing her hand over her heart.
"Sorry." Sans chuckled a bit. Jasmine rolled her eyes and began to relax.
"Have you seen Alex?" She asked.
"Huh? Oh, Alex? The guy with the hair and the skin?" Sans asked.
"...yes." Jasmine nodded slowly.
"He said he was headed to the cabin basement. Something about teaching Mettaton some moves." Sans explained.
"Alright. I'll check there, thanks."
"I'm guessing he told you about lookin' for Flowey?" Sans presumed.
"Actually, he didn't. I just heard." She said.
"Gotcha. Didja hear that he asked me to go with him?"
"He did?" Jasmine asked in surprise.
"Yeah. Said he trusted me the most in case something goes wrong."
***
"That's a good start. Just one foot back, other foot back. It's easier to do than to explain. Just keep practicing and you'll get it," Alex said. Mettaton nodded, looking down at his feet and pausing. He rolled his ankle around a little bit, lost in thought.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just...had a thought." Mettaton responded quietly.
"About?"
"Well...about Napstablook."
"Oh yeah. What's the deal there?"
"Well...so a long time ago, we were besties. Then when Alphys gave me a body and I got my shot at stardom, I...left him behind," He admitted. Jasmine entered at that moment.
"Jasmine. Hi." Mettaton greeted her.
Alex turned and smiled towards her. She smiled politely, gesturing with her head for Alex to follow her upstairs. He waved goodbye to Mettaton before they went up to the master bedroom. She closed the door behind her.
"What's up, Jazzy?" He asked her. She turned towards him.
"Don't you 'Jazzy' me, mister. I was talking to Asriel earlier today. You know what he told me?" She started right away. Alex nodded slowly, squinting a bit. "When were you planning on telling me?" She demanded, quiet but clearly unhappy.
"Tonight, once all the arrangements were made." He answered.
"So you're really going after Flowey."
"Yeah." Alex confirmed with a nod.
"And what're you gonna do when you find him?" Jasmine inquired.
"Ask him a question and offer him a choice." Alex took his time to answer her.
"Do you want to bring him to the surface?" Jasmine asked with a raised eyebrow.
Alex nodded in response.
"You owe that monster absolutely nothing. Why are you insisting on this?"
"Because it's the right thing to do." Alex answered simply.
"You know full well what Flowey's capable of." Jasmine pointed out.
"I'm bringing Sans." Alex reminded her.
"Why take the chance?"
"Because I just wanna make peace," Alex said with a sigh. "I'm not gonna get any of this out of my head unless I take the steps to move forward." He said. Jasmine sighed. They were silent for a bit.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Deal." Alex agreed, hugging her. She hugged him back tightly.
***
"Look what's become of you. Your worthless pity is wasted on me, idiot. You think that I'd ever go with you anywhere? Do you take me for a fool? Nothing would make me happier than to kill you. I wouldn't even give you a second thought."
~~~
Alex woke up suddenly. He was in a cold sweat again. Somehow, he'd managed to fall asleep on the balcony. He rubbed his forehead as he tried to calm down. The door to the balcony opened, and Sans walked out to see him.
"Thought I saw you out here," Sans said as he sat down by him. "It's pretty late. Sure you should still be up?" He asked Alex, leaning back in his chair.
"I wasn't. I just woke up. Nightmare." Alex answered quickly.
"I gotcha. You know what I've learned from Papyrus after so many bedtime stories?" Sans asked.
"Do tell." Alex said, sitting up a little bit.
"That nightmares only come from two places: when you're afraid of somethin', or you got somethin' on your mind," Sans listed. "What's on your mind?" He proceeded to ask him.
"Uh... Ever since my battle with Flowey, I've had nightmares about it. It's been really messing with my head." Alex explained.
"Oh..." Sans exhaled.
"Yeah. Just caught me off guard is all." Alex said, trying to deflect the thought.
"All that, and you still wanna help him?" Sans asked.
"I prefer not to hold grudges. I'd rather make peace." Alex responded with a nod. Sans shook his head, sitting up with his hands on his knees.
"You're better than me in that regard," Sans said, standing up. "Just don't be surprised when it all goes south." He said before going back inside.