A1IC3.

That was her name. Every time she was asked her name, it was always "A1IC3". Why? Because she was not a normal monster girl. A1IC3 was an experiment.

She woke up earlier than usual. Her arm was hurting again. She looked down at it to find that it had swollen up a little from the last test. She must be allergic to whatever Dr Gaster was giving her.

She got out of her small bed, walked to her small dresser and grabbed a button-up shirt and a long pair of pants from a small drawer. The clothes were always big, but she was small for a sixteen year old skeleton. She changed, opened her door and walked through the big, empty hallway.

A1IC3 wished she could be different. She wanted to be like other monster girls. The other two skeletons that lived here escaped, and now she was alone. The only skeleton there. She didn't mind sometimes. She didn't feel lonely too much. Sometimes Dr Gaster would talk to A1IC3 while he tested some theories. They talked about everything.

The hallways were a bit dark, but there was a little light shining through the windows. A1IC3 jumped up, grabbed the windowsill, and pulled herself up so she could at least get a glimpse of the sunrise before her weak, thin, bony arms gave out.

"Good morning," said a voice from behind her. A1IC3 dropped from the window and turned to find Dr Gaster standing there with a small smile on his face. Dr Gaster wore his usual white lab coat and glasses today. His face looked like it had been cracked or something, with one black line going down to his left eye, and the other going down to his chin from the right side of his lip.

"Good morning," A1IC3 replied with a smile. "You're up early, Doctor."

"As are you." Dr Gaster's voice was gentle and warm, but it was shaky, like bad computer programming. He lifted his hand and motioned for her to follow him. Both hands had holes in the palms.

"Couldn't sleep. Had another nightmare." They walked to his office for her daily checkup.

"Oh dear, not again." He gave her a sympathetic look.

"It wasn't as bad this time," she lied, sitting up on the table. It was always bad. Every time, she would watch as monsters all around her turned suddenly to dust, and she would be left facing a black, shadowy figure.

"I wanted to try something new today," Dr Gaster told her as he checked her wounded arm. "The king has allowed me to continue my experiments with human souls. I'm going to try and see if I can make your power better than 5AN5's power. Stronger."

Human souls...5AN5...She knew 5AN5. She called him "Sans" because sometimes a 5 can look like an S. He and the baby, which 5AN5 called "Papyrus" were brothers. 5AN5 was an experiment. Just like A1IC3. But they escaped before Papyrus could be an experiment too. She didn't. She was too scared.

But she also knew what Dr Gaster did to 5AN5.

"Yes sir," she said, a little fearful.

"What's the matter, A1IC3?" Dr Gaster gave her a warm smile. "You have nothing to be afraid of."

"It's just...well..." She stopped and looked away.

"Alice..." Dr Gaster calls her that sometimes. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I heard 5AN5 scream when you did tests on him. I..."

"You're afraid I'll do the same to you." Dr Gaster's smile faded.

A1IC3 nodded and stared at her bare feet.

Dr Gaster lifted her chin with his hand and looked into her sockets. "I promise I'll do my very best to make this as painless as possible," he said. "Now, let's wrap up that arm."

She went down to have breakfast with the other "patients". Some of them weren't there today. Maybe they were sick.

Or dead, said the little voice in the back of her mind. She put that voice away and shoveled another forkful of chocolate chip pancakes into her mouth. A normal skeleton wouldn't be able to eat it, but since she was created from magic, she could eat anything. "Almost like a real human," Dr Gaster would say.

After breakfast, she headed back to Dr Gaster's office to start the tests. She sat up on the table again while Dr Gaster filled a syringe with a strange, glowing green liquid.

"The KINDNESS soul," Dr Gaster explained. "One of the six human souls. This one has the 'kindness' trait more than all the other souls do. We name them all based on their color and overpowering trait. Patience, justice, kindness, etcetera."

"What's that?" A1IC3 asked, her sockets somehow widening.

"This is a small piece from the soul. I managed to find a way to extract a piece of a human soul without damaging the souls of both the human it's taken from and the monster it's given to."

A1IC3 forced herself not to cry.

"Lie down, Alice," Dr Gaster said gently, setting the syringe down on the desk.

She obeyed, and he strapped her limbs to the table. A1IC3 let out a small whimper as Dr Gaster picked the syringe up again.

"I know I promised to make this as painless as possible," Dr Gaster muttered, his face now grave and sad. "But I don't think I can. You just have to bear with me."

She started to cry. She hadn't cried out of fear before. But she could feel the tears slide down her skull, and she felt so afraid.

Dr Gaster laid a hand on her head, stroked her hair gently, brought the syringe down, and whispered sadly, "I'm so sorry."

Then he pressed the syringe into A1IC3's right eye.

The pain was unbelievable. She screamed and tried to squirm away from it, but Dr Gaster held firm as he pushed the trigger on the syringe, releasing the glowing green stuff into her bloodstream.

The pain from the syringe was bad, but the white hot agony from what was in it was way worse. Her body felt like it was on fire. A1IC3 kicked and screamed and thrashed, trying to escape from this torture, this absolute hell.

It got worse when she felt the syringe being pressed into her other eye. Her screams changed their volume and pitch, her body seized and she thrashed uncontrollably. She could hear Dr Gaster muttering, "I'm sorry...Alice, I'm so sorry...Forgive me, Alice."

It was only several minutes before the burning ceased to a dull ache, but it felt like ages. Her bones hurt, and her breathing was shaky. She felt tired.

"Dr...Gaster?" A1IC3 looked around as he unstrapped her. "I can't s-see."

"You won't be able to for a little bit. But if this works right, and I hope it does, you'll be able to fully see out of both eyes in less than twenty-four hours. You must be feeling tired already."

"I feel sick too."

"I know, darling..." Now he really sounded sad. "I'm sorry." He pulled her into his arms and embraced her tight.

She smiled a little. "I'll be okay. I just...wanna...sleep now..."

And A1IC3's sockets slowly shut as she fell asleep.

When she awoke, she could see a little better. She could make out the silhouette of her dresser and mirror. Her long blond hair was messy from tossing and turning in her sleep.

A1IC3 slowly got out of bed. Dr Gaster must have carried her back to her room while she slept. She walked carefully to the door, opened it, and clumsily made her way to Dr Gaster's office.

"Alice?" Dr Gaster turned when she walked in. "Oh, my dear. I'm terribly sorry I had to do that."

A1IC3 only nodded.

He sighed, walked to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Please understand that I had to."

"I understand," she said weakly.

He gently hugged her, then helped her to the table. "Your eyes feel okay?" he asked.

"They stopped hurting, but I still can't see too well."

"You'll see soon. I promise. A good night's rest and your eyes will be back to perfection."

She nodded.

"I need to take a few blood tests."

A1IC3 rolled up her sleeve, still finding it amusing that she was a skeleton that could bleed. Almost like a real human.

Once Dr Gaster had finished, he told her to go eat. She went downstairs, Dr Gaster at her elbow to make sure she wouldn't fall, and smiled when she smelled ginger snaps. Sometimes the cook would sneak her a few after lunch, while the others had to wait until dinner.

She sat down and Dr Gaster looked at her. "I'm going to put some bandages over your sockets after you eat. So you won't strain your vision. This will help the recovery further."

"Okay," A1IC3 said, and Dr Gaster left her.

The cook walked over and set a plate of sandwiches in front of her. "Morning, sweetie. How're you feeling?"

"Tired," she said with a sigh. "And my eye sockets hurt. This test was really painful."

The cook frowned. "Aww baby," she whispered, giving A1IC3 a big hug. "I'm sorry."

A1IC3 gave the cook a big smile. "I'll be okay."

The cook smiled a little. "Well, eat up. You need your strength." Then she leaned in and whispered, "I have a small plate of ginger snaps calling for you."

A1IC3 grinned.

After she ate her ginger snaps, A1IC3 walked upstairs to Dr Gaster's office. She knocked, but there was no answer. She walked in and found a note on his desk.

"Alice,

I'm out at the Core right now. I wanted to test out a new theory there, and send my findings to the King. Please wait here. I'll be back in an hour.

Dr. W.D. Gaster"

All of this was written in the WingDings font, of course. Dr Gaster had taught her the language.

So A1IC3 waited.

And waited...and waited.

It had been over three hours now. Her vision had almost completely cleared, save for occasional moments of dizziness and temporary blindness. She was getting a little scared. Where was Dr Gaster? He should have come back.

The door opened suddenly. It was the cook. "A1IC3, the Royal Guard is here."

"What? Why?"

"It's Dr Gaster, sweetie. He's..." She trailed off.

"What?" A1IC3 was now really scared.

"He fell into the Core. He...he's gone now, dear."

A1IC3 felt sick. No more tests. No more experiments. This was good. But...no more "Alice". No more friendly doctor. That was sad.

"Come on, honey. The Royal Guard wants to take you to an orphanage so you can get a real home."

Dr...Gaster...gone?

"Let me get some clothes..." A1IC3's voice was hollow as she stepped down from the table and walked to her bedroom. It felt more like she was escaping from a cell now. She felt free, but she also felt dead. Almost like she was losing her father. A father that created her, raised her, kept her safe. A father that experimented on her like she was nothing more than a glorified lab rat.

A1IC3 walked into her room, grabbed some clothes, shoved them into a bag, and walked back out, greeting the two Royal Guard members at the door with a somber "hello".

They escorted her to the front door, and she stopped. One of the Guards looked down at her.

"What is it?" they asked.

She didn't respond. Just dropped her bag and ran.

"Hey, stop!" The Guards chased her, but she kept running. She didn't stop. She technically didn't have lungs, so it would be a long time before she stopped running.

She ran and ran, into the forest and far away. The Hotlands heat would wear out some of the Royal Guard, but the others would come after her. She had to keep going, because she didn't want to get caught. She wanted to get away from everyone.

So she kept running until her legs started to hurt. When she could no longer run without almost falling down, she climbed a tree high enough to be out of sight. She watched the false stars twinkle in the sky until she couldn't stay awake any longer.

Before she fell asleep, she thought to herself, What do I do now?