Chapter 13 – Premonitions

A/N: Hey everyone, I'm finally back with a new chapter. Sorry for not updating in a while, but I've been feeling down for the last few weeks. Since I'm feeling a little better now, I decided to start writing again!

XXXXXXXXX

Frisk and Asgore made their way out of the cave. The king noticed her glancing behind her every now and then, probably expecting the warrior to show up at any second, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

Asgore then saw an empty station nearby and flew over towards it in confusion. "Isn't this supposed to be one of Sans'? I wonder where he could have gone..."

Frisk huffed from behind him and Asgore winced, remembering their encounter with the skeleton back in Waterfall.

"Let's just go," She said passing by the station without giving it a glance and headed over to the bridge. She filled a cup from the water cooler and drank it before continuing on until a large structure came into view.

The Lab.

Frisk frowned thoughtfully and then an idea hit her. "Dr. Alphys….of course!" She exclaimed, turning to Asgore who blinked at her.

"Huh?"

"She's the royal scientist, isn't she? She must know of a way to get your soul out of my body!" She explained. Dr. Alphys was really smart. There had to be something in her lab that could help them in their predicament.

Asgore hesitated, unsure of what to say. Despite the lingering doubt at the back of his mind, he wanted to believe that Frisk might be right, that there was a way for him to get his body back. Then everything could go back to the way it used to be. He never admitted it to Frisk, but he missed eating food, drinking tea in his garden and talking to his subjects instead of being an unseen observer all the time.

"Alright," He muttered with a nod, floating after her into the dark building.

"Hello?" She called out. For a while there was nothing, but the sound of the child's footsteps. Her eyes searched the dark room for any sign of the scientist. She had to be here somewhere.

Suddenly, someone flipped the switch and light burst all around them. Frisk blinked and then relaxed at the sight of the lizard monster. She looked startled to see Frisk.

"O-Oh, you're here! I…I didn't expect you to get here so soon! I haven't cleaned this place yet or showered and…and…." She gulped and tried calming herself down before giving the child a nervous smile. "H-Hello, I'm Dr. Alphys. Asgore's royal scientist."

"I'm Frisk," She said and then frowned when she noticed how nervous the scientist was, well, more than usual. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, don't worry!" Alphys answered, but the quiver in her voice was not lost on Frisk and was she….sweating? Something was wrong here. The doctor didn't act like this when they first met. She had been so excited to meet a human for the first time back then, but now she seemed almost uneasy for some reason.

Alphys cleared her throat. "Anyway, I-I'm know that you're heading to Asgore's castle and I w-would like to help you out. I can guide you through Hotland and get you there safe and unharmed!" She said and then winced. "But….there just one teensy problem."

Asgore raised an eyebrow, wondering what it could be. When the doctor explained to them about the murderous robot running loose, he was instantly filled with dread. He recalled Alphys mentioning a while go about a project she was working on, but he hadn't been expecting anything like that!

"F-Frisk, we need to get out of here-" Asgore began, but was cut off by a loud bang. He jumped and glanced around in confusion. Where did that come from?

"Oh no," Alphys murmured.

Asgore then saw cracks forming on the wall as more bangs followed. It wasn't long until the wall finally crumbled and out of the dust clouds, Mettaton stepped out with his mike.

"Oh, yes!" He exclaimed.

Asgore gasped and brought both hands forward, readying his magic for the moment the robot will attack them, but then bright lights suddenly flashed in the room and confetti began falling around them.

"Huh?" He glanced around in puzzlement and heard a sigh coming from Frisk.

"Welcome, beauties, to today's quiz show!" Mettaton muttered dramatically, pressing a button on his front and pre-recorded applause sounded from within him. "Oh boy, I can already tell it's going to be a great show!"

Asgore lowered his hands at a loss of what's going on. Was this supposed to be the "human killing machine" the doctor just told them about?

Frisk groaned and went to stand on the spotlight, knowing that she can't escape this now.

"Alright, let's begin!" Mettaton said, unfazed by her lack of enthusiasm. "What's the prize for answering correctly?"

The questions proceeded like before. Frisk managed to answer most of the questions with ease and occasionally got help from Alphys when she couldn't remember the answer to certain ones.

"You seemed to be getting all the correct answers easily, a little too easily." Mettaton noted and turned to the doctor. "Alphys, Alphys, Alphys. You aren't helping our contestant out, are you?" He asked waging a finger in the air.

Alphys flinched and stuttered nervously.

"Oh you should have told me! Well, here is a question you'll be sure to know the answer to!" He stated, a little too eagerly. "Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?" He asked and Alphys' eyes widen. She began waving wildly at Frisk.

Remembering her random guess back in the first timeline, Frisk quickly answered without thinking. "King Asgore," She said and immediately regret that when she remembered that Asgore was standing right next to her!

"Let me present you with a question. Why would Dr. Alphys outfit an amusement robot such as I…..with brutal anti-human capabilities?" Mettaton asked.

Oh no.

"Simple! To impress Mr. Asgore Dreemurr, of course! Or as Alphys calls him…..Mr. Dreamy."

"What!?" Asgore blinked in surprise while Alphys' face turned several shades of red and she buried it into her hands.

While Mettaton continued with his teasing, Frisk wanted to disappear right then and there. What have I done!?

"But now with Dr. Alphys helping you…..there is no dramatic tension!" The robot huffed. "But! This was just the pilot episode. Next up, more drama! More romance! More bloodshed!"

He then turned to them. "Until next time, Darlings. Toodles!" He muttered and was gone immediately.

The two stood in awkward silence for a moment before turning to each other. "Well, that was something." Alphys said flustered, adjusting her glasses. "The last question…he wasn't supposed that ask that one..."

"Sorry about….you know." Frisk said awkwardly, meaning it in more ways than one. She glanced over briefly to Asgore who still seemed to be trying to process what just transpired.

"Oh, it's fine. D-don't worry!" She replied.

Now that they were alone again, Frisk decided it was time to finally ask her. "Hey, Alphys. Can I ask you something?"

Alphys seemed taken aback by this. "S-sure, what is it?"

"It's about souls. I read somewhere that when a monster absorbs a human soul they become really strong, but what will happen when a human absorbs a monster's? I really wanna know." She tried to keep her tone as casual as possible so the doctor won't become suspicious of her. After all, she was a human asking about the possibilities that come from absorbing monster souls.

Alphys blinked and bit her lips anxiously, looking unsure of how to answer. "W-well, the human will likely gain some of the monster's powers, but I'm not sure to what extent or what changes could happen to them. I doubt it will be the s-same result though since human souls are much more powerful than ours and can last a lot longer on their own without a host," She answered.

"Oh really? Well, what if you don't want to keep the soul anymore? What would you do then?" Frisk pressed on.

Alphys frowned and seemed to ponder over this. "I can't really say. I-I haven't met a monster who absorbed a soul before, but I think there is a way to release it," She stated and Frisk gave the monster her full attention. "I heard that it's possible to take power from another monster's soul to sustain your own, but you should careful with how much you take from them."

Alphys' voice grew more uneasy. "T-this method could work if you tried using it to extract a second soul from inside someone, b-but it's not really…safe."

"What do you mean?" Frisk asked.

"If it isn't done r-right and something goes wrong, it could fracture the host's soul or worse. Y-you could…..die."

Frisk's eyes widen and blood drained from her face. She could lose her life? What about the Save Points? Wouldn't they help her?

Would she die permanently?

She could see Asgore's horrified expression at the corner of her eye. He shook his head frantically at her, clearly not wanting to go through with that, especially if it put her own life on line.

"I could do s-some more research about it. I might find something else in the books I have if you still want to learn more," Alphys said.

"Thanks Alphys…." Frisk replied, trying to regain her composure.

"Now, how about I give you m-my phone number? Then if you need my help….I…" Her eyes widen the child took out her phone. "Wait, where did you get this! It's ancient!" Alphys cried out as she held it in her hands. "It doesn't even have texting! Wait a second, please!"

"Hey, um, Alphys?" Frisk called out, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Hmm?"

"Would it be okay if I rest here for a while?" She asked.

"Oh, of course. I don't m-mind," She said hastily before hurrying into another room.

Frisk raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior and then headed to the upper floor. Seeing no couches or chairs nearby, she sat down on the floor and sighed tiredly. Running through Waterfall had really worn her out.

Her mind then drifted back to what Alphys said. She had been hoping the scientist would have the solution to their problem, but now they were back to square one. Even though she had promised her that she would search more on the matter, Frisk didn't put much hope that she would find something.

And then there was the problem with her magic. It's been a while since they found out about it and she had yet to get it to do what she wants!

She now knew better than to expect everything to go exactly like it did in her first journey to the castle. There was a new danger thrown at her in every turn and she had no idea what awaited her ahead. She couldn't go back out there when she can't literally use magic to save her life. She's going to need all help she could get if she wanted to make it there again.

It was then a new thought entered her mind and it got her thinking.

"Hey, Asgore?" She called out and he appeared next to her.

"What is it, Frisk?"

"I need you to help me control my magic," Frisk said.

Asgore blinked, confused. "But how am I going to do that?"

"I want you to take over my body again," She explained, placing a hand over chest.

Asgore gaped at her. "Wait, I thought you hated that!"

Oh, she did. The idea of someone else using her body still made her shudder, but it had to be done. "You know how to use magic better than I do so you might help me out by using it in my body."

Asgore could see the logic behind her idea. Since he had more experience with magic, he might be able to get her body to adjust to it and get it under control. Still, he couldn't help hesitating about doing this again.

"Are you sure?"

Frisk slowly nodded. "C'mon, do it."

Grimacing slightly, Asgore moved closer to the child and disappeared into her. Frisk then felt her mind shut down immediately and her body fell limp on the floor.

Moments later, Asgore grunted and pulled himself up. Shaking the grogginess away, he looked down at himself to see he was back in the child's body. He flexed his fingers briefly for a moment before sighing ad deciding to get this over with quickly.

Holding his hand out, he tried commanding the flames into his palm. For a while nothing happened and he could feel a lot of resistance in his soul.

Face scrunching up, he grabbed a hold of his right arm and focused as hard as he could on summoning the flames. Finally, a small ball of red flames appeared over his hand. It wasn't the size he wanted, but it was a start.

Smiling a little, he dismissed the ball of fire and repeated this process several times, feeling some of the resistance slowly disappear. Asgore found himself thinking about what the scientist told and frowned grimly.

Even if there was a small chance for him to get his body back, he wouldn't accept Frisk risking her own life for his, never.

He stared at the fireball forming in his hand and sighed before dismissing it.

XXXXXXXX

"Frisk, wake up!"

Frisk groaned and slowly opened her eyes to see Asgore staring down at her.

"I did what you asked me to. I think it went quite well," He said as she sat up. Doing this a few more times should get the child's body to fully adjust to magic.

"Thanks," She replied. Whatever the king had done, it left her feeling really drained. She will have to eat something before heading out again.

"Frisk?" The two heard Alphys call out.

Frisk quickly got up and hurried with the king to the lower floor.

"Over here!" Alphys muttered in front the exit, holding the child's phone in her hands.

Frisk made her way over the monster, but then stopped when she noticed something in the giant screen and turned to stare at it.

Her hair had turned entirely white. There were no traces of brown anymore.

She didn't know why that unsettled her and made a shiver go down her spine, but something about it just did. She quickly tore her eyes away from the screen and hurried over to the doctor.

XXXXXXXXXX

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Frisk is going to need magic for what's going to come in future chapters.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!