Chapter Seven: Bells
The conversation that Asriel had mentioned, between Frisk and Alphys, happened earlier on, on their way to the Ruins.
"Can a human soul live after being subjected to DT extraction?" Frisk asked as they walked. They hadn't been in a hurry quite yet.
"Of course. We had six and kept using them, and they were fine."
Frisk paused, then hurriedly blurted out the rest. "Can a soul be transferred? Could you use my soul that way, to give Asriel back his real form?"
"No, not exactly," said Alphys at once. "Not and be able to give it back to you after. He's still a monster; though healthy, even just DT injection has the risk of damaging his body as it is now permanently."
"I'm not saying use my soul's DT, Alphys," Frisk broke in. "I'm saying use my soul. Can you give Asriel my soul in order to give him back his true form? Can that be done?"
Alphys's eyes had gone to hers at this, looking apprehensive, now. "In theory, yes. That's what all monsters can do, after all. "But, Frisk, that would-,"
But that's when they were met with a wall of spikes - and the sudden need to hurry.
Now, as Alphys's claws flew over the control panel to the DT machine, she found herself marvelling at Frisk's cleverness. Even guessing, she'd been right: giving Asriel her soul had given him back his form.
The only problem was still the same one: How could they give it back without reversing it? Was it even possible to give a human back their soul?
Heh... Alphys thought sadly. In theory, everything can work, but in reality, I don't think I can... I've never done this kind of thing before. Is Frisk even still alive, even outside of her body? Within Asriel? It was confusing, to say the least - with the potential to be far worse.
Asriel stood in front of the machine, still holding Frisk in his arms close, as though tied to her. He stared up at the machine's terrifying visage, and felt deep fear, though he couldn't recall why. Just that the sight of it shook him deeply, and he couldn't even look away, even though he trembled from he sight of it and desperately wanted to.
However, also felt deep within, was Frisk. "You're not alone," she said gently. And he felt her comfort, her gentle insistence that he was safe, and he managed to cling to that rather than the fear.
When a metal gurney rose up from beneath the depths of the machine, Asriel started with surprise, but Alphys said, rather sharply, "Lay her there, and be gentle, and do not let go of her hand, no matter what. Understand?"
Asriel nodded and obeyed, his eyes now on Frisk's face, noticing how blank it looked, how marred it was by blood, the pallour the kind only found with...
No, don't think that way, he told himself. He instead picked up Frisk's cold left hand, and held onto it tight, twining her fingers with his, a secure hold, no matter what.
"Okay," Alphys said, sounding nervous. "Here we go. Don't let go." She pressed a few buttons, and the machine roared to life, both magic and electricity surging through it and igniting it from deep within.
And Asriel held on tight.
Even when Toriel's hands burned hot enough to singe his clothes, sans stayed still, not even blinking. Instead, oddly, he closed his sockets and didn't say anything else. He didn't have to; Undyne was already yelling, and he could feel the sting of a spear-tip at his neck.
When Asgore met them all at the door, extracted sans, and brought him into the house, everyone was in the room now. It was only when Papyrus arrived, however, that he looked up - and past the others - to meet his gaze. Undyne kept her spear close, as per Asgore's instruction, and Toriel was shaking, barely containing herself. Papyrus was clearly surprised to see sans in the state he was - and the amount of chaos that came with him.
When their eyes met, Papyrus stopped, looking shocked. sans tried to speak, hating the hurt and dismay in his brother's eyes, but ever since he had spoken to Toriel, he fell mute, unable to say a word, even to defend himself.
"Your brother has some talking to do," Undyne snarled at Papyrus. "But he won't talk. Maybe you can convince him to tell us why he reeks of Frisk's blood and looks like he wants to die? Because we sure as fuck can't."
Papyrus started at that, not at the sharp language, but at what she actually said. "PLEASE TELL ME THAT I'VE MISUNDERSTOOD, BROTHER," he said slowly. His voice was so calm it was eerie; no one, not even Undyne, had heard that tone from him. "THAT IT'S NOT BLOOD, BUT KETCHUP, AND THE SMELL IS A COINCIDENCE."
Asgore answered Papyrus; sans was having trouble looking at anyone, but Asgore was one of the worst; he looked strangely small, his eyes hollow and dim. When he spoke, his voice was so soft it was almost a whisper. "Where is my daughter, sans? Please, we need to know. If she needs help, we can get it for her. But we need to know what happened, first."
Toriel looked up at Asgore, then back at sans, barely able to stand at this point, leaning against Asgore's side for support - something he was clearly also doing with her. She had smelt the blood, known it as Frisk's, and suddenly felt ancient, cold and bereft. But her eyes... they were scorching.
"Say something!" Undyne shouted. "Where's Frisk?! Where's Alphys?!"
"SANS." Papyrus was at his side, and placed a gloved hand on sans's shoulder. From that, finally found his strength, and was finally able to reply.
It wasn't a good event for anyone. Alphys had to watch, feeling sick, as the machine's power coursed through Frisk's body, and there was a moment in which it was so powerful she almost looked alive, her body reacting to the force of the charge. Asriel also felt that power, and he couldn't help but cry out from it. It hurt, and he felt a tugging, a pull from deep within his heart, maybe even his own soul - but he never let go of Frisk's hand, not even once.
Slowly, beside Alphys, the empty vial she had prepped began to fill, the colour a bright, gleaming red; not blood, but not anything like a liquid, either. Alphys had never been able to describe DT, despite how often she used it - and tried. It seemed to defy logic, leaning more in the realm of magic, and though she was proficient in magical knowledge and theory, it still didn't help her find a way to apply that to describing it. She probably never could.
The moment it was full, her claws flew over the panel and the machine was shut off. Asriel at once relaxed, his head lowering and his eyes closing tight. He had to catch his breath, and focussed inwards to do so, even as Alphys moved about the room quickly to finish the work.
"Well, that was unpleasant," Frisk said dryly. He could feel her exhaustion, her voice so faint it startled him. "Are you alright, Asriel?"
"Yeah," he agreed, though he felt shaky and strange. There was no doubt that the machine had successfully withdrawn DT from Frisk, as Alphys was now holding the vial up to fill a syringe. But he suddenly had an odd thought, and he burst out, "Wait, hold on!"
Alphys froze, her eyes dark with concentration when they met his. "Hurry, we don't have much time," she said tersely.
"That..." He pointed to the now-full syringe in her claws. "That's DT? Frisk's?" He eyed the red colour closely, seeing its brilliance, and oddly felt strange - nervous. He had a terrible thought.
"Yes," said Alphys. "You know that."
Asriel was staring, now, his hold on Frisk's cold hand tightening. He suddenly realised that the thought had the potential to destroy everything, but if he didn't voice it, he knew the consequences would be even worse...
"Right," Frisk suddenly said, having picked up on his though. "If you're right, we can't go on, and I'll have to die, for good."
"hotland," said sans, his voice monotone. "they're both in hotland, in alphys's lab - the real one."
Toriel immediately started for the door, but Asgore stopped her, putting both hands on her shoulders and pulling her back. She felt anger surge through her, and she tried to pull away, but he held her firm. When she glared back at him, he was already looking at her closely, his eyes still hollow. "Wait, love," he said softly. She gritted her teeth and managed to say, "Our daughter needs us, Asgore." But he did not let go. Instead, he turned back to sans.
"Why are they at the True Laboratory?" he asked slowly. "And again, please, what has happened? Why... why do you...?" He couldn't say it, but it was obvious he was asking about the blood.
sans winced, even though it was only an observation, an inquiry deserving of an answer, but it was one he didn't want to give. He knew he was a coward for this, but he simple had no courage left for this - especially when his actions had backfired and destroyed everything.
sans hated been wrong, always. He had a kind of pride in his actions, knowing that everything he could do now, despite his physical limitations, had been from his own hands. But when he made mistakes - and he had made many - it felt like he was a fraud, a posturing, overblown, over-hyped fool. Now, faced with his biggest mistake of all of his lives, he found that cowardice to be a kind of shield, and he used it, unable to face the truth: that despite everything, he had just ruined it all, and all because he had miscalculated one factor far too late.
"It's probably too long a story to get into," he said.
Undyne's spear went closer, even when Papyrus protested and tried to knock it back. That hurt sans, too: the fact that his brother was, despite it all, still on his side. It should have comforted him, but all it did was remind him what a fraud he was, so clearly that he had even Papyrus fooled.
Oddly, it was that thought that brought the words to him, especially when he could see concern in Papyrus's eyes. He shut his own, unable to bear it.
"okay," he said slowly. His hands twitched, but he kept his eyes closed. In his other voice, he continued, finding the strength alone from it. "I will tell you, and then after, you may be the judges of me."
"I have determination," Asriel said, his voice small. "But it's not mine - it never was. It was... it was Chara's."
Alphys froze, her whole body going cold with those words. Her hands now shook, and she said, very carefully, "B-but you've now had it longer than she was alive, and the source of the DT injected, it can influence the host, b-but, we d-don't-,"
"But what if it does, and it's Chara's?" he broke in, pointing to the glowing material. "Would it hurt Frisk? Would it change her, influence her?"
"It... i-it..." Alphys swallowed hard. "It might. But I don't-don't know for sure-,"
"We can't do it, then," Frisk said suddenly, though her voice was low, almost monotone. "We can't risk Chara being able to influence me. We both know how determined she was, Asriel. It's possible she was moreso than I am."
He shut his eyes, baring his teeth at this. "But I'm fine. I'm fine!"
"It trapped you in that shape the moment it gave you life. You can't forget that."
"But you're a human! Just like her! I'm a monster! And the DT that was used to make me Flowey wasn't from her, and again, I'm fine!"
"I know, Asriel, but she still is part of you. It could still be contaminated now."
"Don't say it like that! There's still a chance! Why are you giving up so easi-,"
Frisk suddenly snapped out, her mental voice so sharp he winced physically from it: "Because I don't want to become her! I don't want to wake up and be her, or worse, at her mercy, forced under her control, like you were! Asriel, I'm afraid, okay? I'm not strong enough for this!"
"So, what then?! We just let you go?" Asriel demanded. "I live on, as if nothing happened, with your soul but with you gone?! That's what you want me to do?!"
When Frisk answered, her voice was so small, it was almost more felt than heard, though he wish, once he did, that he never had. "Yes, Asriel. That was my plan all along."
If Papyrus hadn't stepped in, Sans knew he would be dead. He had told everything except anything revolving Asriel, though why he left that out, he wasn't sure. Instead, he stated that Frisk had had an idea about Flowey, a monster who was thought to be soulless, but who ended up apparently having the soul of another monster. When she wouldn't let him kill Flowey, he had to attack her. And yet even that altered version of the story had everyone enraged. The moment he finished, each of his friends - even Mettaton - were ready to attack him, to varying degrees of their shared grief - and now hatred.
Only Papyrus, who looked heartbroken, refused to turn on him, instead standing in front of his brother and simply saying, his voice sounding tired, "DON'T. PLEASE."
Those two words stopped them all in mid-attack, each armed in some way - even Asgore, who hadn't used it in years, was now armed with his trident. It was Papyrus's tone, Sans knew, that stopped them, as he sounded completely and utterly calm - pained, but calm. It even mystified Sans to the point that when he opened his eyes, they were normal again.
When he saw he had their attention, Papyrus went on. "I UNDERSTAND," he said, and they knew he did - he likely felt the same way. "BUT TO KILL MY BROTHER...? EVEN FRISK, AFTER WHAT HE HAS DONE, WOULDN'T KILL HIM. WE HAVE TO THINK OF FRISK, AND NOT SANS. IF FLOWEY HAS HER SOUL, WE NEED TO FIND A WAY TO GET IT BACK, TO STOP HIM, BEFORE HE DOES ANY DAMAGE WITH - OR TO - IT. YOU ALL KNOW THAT, FRIENDS. AND WE DO NEED MY BROTHER'S HELP." When no one said anything, he added, a trace dryly, "IN CASE YOU FORGOT."
"Do we?" Undyne sneered at her friend, though she wasn't angry at him. "Do we need him? He's done his part, hasn't he? Haven't you, prickless bag of bones?"
Toriel was despondent, her face drawn in grief, but her anger was stronger. Her hands burned, longing to grab sans - someone she loved, considered her brother, her dearest friend - and engulf him in those fires she barely kept banked. Asgore beside her was also weeping, but louder, the tears of someone who does not see tears as a weakness, but as strength. He was holding his trident loosely, but Toriel could feel the heat coming from him, and knew he was in the very same state as she - eager to consume him, to make him feel that same pain they now felt together.
Only Papyrus was keeping them both from exactly their judgement on his brother.
If they knew the entire story, sans knew he would be dead. Even Papyrus wouldn't be able to stop them from killing him - if they knew the full truth about Flowey, too.
"What?!" Asriel shouted it, both mentally and vocally, his eyes going wide and his free hand going hot with rage. "What did you just say?!"
Alphys was so startled that she almost dropped the syringe. She stared at Asriel, feeling a strange, visceral fear at the sight of him. He was, after all, a monster in possession of a human soul, and thus his power was unmatched by any other monster, especially herself. She stayed still, but saw that he wasn't yelling at her, but at Frisk, actually staring at her prone form on the gurney as he yelled. However, when his eyes suddenly filled with tears, that fear died down, just a bit.
"Asriel, don't cry," Frisk was saying gently. "I'm sorry I never told you the whole truth, but I knew that if I did, you wouldn't have cooperated. When Sans attacked me, I was confused, but..." She paused. "It helped, didn't it? You're back, now. You can go home, live your life as your own, and... and take care of our parents, for both of us."
"No," he snarled back, his free hand punching a bare part of the gurney as he said it. "No, Frisk."
"A-Asriel," Alphys stammered, keeping her distance but also trying to seem calmer than she was, in hopes of helping him calm down. "What's wrong? What is she saying? Like I said, there's still a chance-,"
"She lied to us," Asriel interjected sharply, still glaring at Frisk. "She said just now that she knew there was a chance this would happen, and she didn't care, she had panned it, that if I came back, somehow, magically, if she didn't also, everything would be peachy. The idiot!" In his anger, his sarcasm shone through, sharp and bitter.
"I didn't say that!" protested Frisk. "I just-I'm not saying I'm not important, Asriel! I'm just saying, if you weighed us side-by-side, it seems more worth it for you to go on. It's okay."
"It's not okay!" he shouted, just as Alphys was about to say something. "You don't get it, do you? Do you honestly think that I would go along with this? Don't you know me at all?!"
"Yes," said Frisk sadly. "I do. It's why I'd hoped it wouldn't happen this way, but Sans..."
"I'll kill that bastard. I will kill him."
"I'll help, Alphys muttered, guessing correctly to whom he was referring.
"Then you're wasting my sacrifice, dummy," Frisk snapped. "I'd hoped that this would have happened much later." Her voice broke at that. "So that Mama and Papa wouldn't have to bury me. But... I don't get to choose, do I? So if I have to die, can't something good come from it?" She paused, her voice growing more and more choked, the sound so painful to hear for Asriel. "I'd wanted us to be friends for so much longer, but... it's okay. I'm glad we had what we had, Asriel."
"Stop talking like that!"
"Asriel!" Alphys had to shout it, trying to get his attention. He finally turned to her, visibly crying, now, though it was also clear that he was enraged. "Listen to me? Pl-please?"
He bit down on his lip, hard, and nodded. Frisk had gone quiet, too, though he knew she was still there; he would still sense her there.
"If it's... If it's true what she says..." Alphys covered her mouth suddenly and shut her eyes, trying to swallow down a sob, but it came out anyway, muffled but clear enough to hear. When she managed to continue, her voice had grown much softer. "If she planned this, and she intends to die, well... well..." She looked helpless for a moment, before something seemed to clear from her face. With a glint in her eye, she stood up straighter and met Asriel's gaze without flinching. "Well, too damned bad."
Asriel started at that. From Alphys, he'd expected - as had Frisk - that she would honour Frisk's decision to die and help her through it the best she could. That was her way; if someone needed help, she offered them her full support, regardless. It was how she was, very aware and cautious of other people's desires, and always ensuring that she did the best she could. This was,after all, the same monster who had offered Asriel his own death due to her past actions.
But when Asriel met her gaze fully, she glared, her eyes full of tears still, yes, but her face was stubborn, set and... determined, really, to defy Frisk this one request.
"It's okay, Alphys..." Frisk was saying. "Asriel! Tell her it's okay! There's nothing we can do about it, so let's just finish this up and move on. Tell her it's okay, Asriel!"
"No," growled Asriel, his eyes flicking briefly to Frisk's body as he said it.
"She's still protesting, is she?" Alphys said, noticing.. "Too bad, Frisk. It's just too damned bad. You're not dying today - no one is, not under my control. This is my call, and if I screw it up, I will fix it. But dying, killing you off? That's not on my list, Frisk." She smiled, her deadly smile. "You're going to be free, and fine, both of you!" Her eyes were like twin stars, they shone so bright, her smile just a trace maniacal. "Or I will wreck this ship I built."
Frisk was silent, clearly stunned, as was Asriel. But suddenly, deep within, he felt something he never thought he could ever feel: forgiveness, for the doctor who ruined his death - and his life after it. Even if she failed, Asriel would always hold onto that forgiveness.
"Now," she said, her voice no longer thick with tears, but strong with defiance. "Asriel, you keep holding her hand, and let's get this done."
With a racing heart, Asriel nodded.
