Alphys had never been this nervous in her life.
She was talking to the king. Asgore himself. Not just small talk. They were talking about her work. And he was taking an interest. In something that she had made.
Asgore's face was neutral as he watched Mettaton roll around on her laptop's screen. She had asked him to record a sober, technical video, to demonstrate the mechanical capabilities of his body, but - well, she hadn't expected any different from him. The juggling did show off the quality of his joints, and the eels didn't seem to mind.
When the screen faded to black and the credits rolled he turned to her. "I have to say, that's very impressive. And it's your creation?"
"I, um, I didn't make most of the basic parts, of course, we don't have the tools for that down here. But I designed it. And built it. I guess."
Asgore was fascinated. "You built a person? Did you create an artificial soul?"
Alphys felt dizzy. Built a soul? Does he think that - did I forget to explain - oh no. No no no no no. If that's what he thinks I did, then I'm just wasting his time. She could picture it. His face would drop. He would tell her that sorry, she was not what he was looking for. "I. Oh. Yes. I sure did. Ha ha."
"How?"
Improvising, she babbled. "A soul is like a magical computer. It does a few things a brain can't do because that's a classical computer. I used a QPU from the surface with the magical essence of echo flowers to mimic the real thing." Almost all of that was made up. She hoped Asgore didn't understand it.
"I see." Asgore paused. "I could use someone with your expertise. If you can find a way to break the barrier without another human soul, that would be… preferable."
She quickly nodded, barely able to believe it worked.
She often worried about it, but she didn't bring it up again until much later. She was standing in front of Asgore's door, building up the courage to knock. Any moment now.
The door swung open, and Asgore towered over her. "Alphys! It's good to see you!"
She yelped.
"Should I make tea?"
"A-aren't you going somewhere?"
Asgore made a dismissive gesture. "That can wait. Please, come inside."
She followed him, and climbed on top of one of the two elevated chairs in his living room.
Asgore talked to her from the kitchen, as he heated cups of water with his hands and chopped up golden flowers. "I hope it didn't shake you too much when Tori fired you. It's mostly symbolic, anyway. There won't be a Kingdom of Monsters any more soon, so no Royal Scientist either."
"Don't you mind losing your own job?"
He chuckled. "No, I can live with it. Being a king started to drag after a few centuries. Most of the parts of the position I enjoyed were not about ruling. I can keep doing those."
He put two cups on the table, and sat down. She noticed hers was yellow, with a scale pattern. Asgore had never gotten around to showing it to her before. His own teacup was striped purple and yellow.
"Now, is there something you want to talk about?"
"Y-yeah. I've had to owe up to a few, uh, falsehoods in the past few days. So I made a list of other things I should clear up. Saves trouble in the long run."
Asgore's face only showed friendly concern.
"I told you I made a soul, but I didn't," she blurted out. "I just made a body for my friend. A ghost. I have no idea how to make a soul. I lied."
"Ah." He looked excited for some reason. "Well, that's quite alright. In fact…" He stood up. "Can you follow me?"
She followed Asgore out of his living room, down the stairs, through the hallways. He didn't say anything. He took large steps, and only slowed down once he noticed Alphys couldn't keep up.
Finally, they arrived at the garden in his throne room. Asgore knelt down, put his hand on a bare patch of soil, and pulled.
"There are coffins, and the store near the barrier," he explained. "But it didn't feel right."
From the ground he pulled a large glass jar. Inside the jar floated a strange blob, streaked red and white. It gave off a pink glow. Alphys had never seen one like it before, but she knew immediately.
It was a soul.