Chapter Thirteen: The Secret Project
Chara and Asriel were on the couch, sleeping. Chara was on top of Asriel, lying face down on him, while he had an arm around her. Chara's arm dangled over the edge of the couch, moving slightly as she snored. Toriel walked in from outside and Sans walked down the stairs, looking at the two of them.
"Oh, how sweet." Toriel said, clasping her hands together. "They're sleeping together just like they used to when they were younger."
"Not if you think of how loud they were earlier." Sans said. "I mean, seriously, who does that so loud?"
"Does what?" Toriel asked.
"No idea." Sans said. "But, Asgore needs to fix their bed. That's why they're sleeping down here."
"Why is their bed broken?" Toriel asked.
"No idea." Sans said, shrugging. "All I know is they woke me up from my nap with a loud crash (I'm assuming the bed) and when I looked in their room, they were rolling around on the floor yelling something about someone cheating and the other sucking. Then they got up and walked down to the couch and crashed on it."
"They were always like that.' Toriel said, sighing. "They'd fight over things and then fall asleep next to each other like nothing happened. Seems they've gotten right back into the swing of things. Chara always used to say Asriel was like her fuzzy pillow."
"Well" Sans said, looking back down at the two best friends as he and Toriel went upstairs. "It looks like they'll have something to take their anger out on."
Undyne was looking down at the two sleeping individuals, sighing. Taking a deep breath of courage, she pulled both Chara and Asriel off the couch and dropped them on the floor.
"Allright, nerds, wake up!" she shouted, Asriel and Chara jolting up with a start.
"Huh, what?!" Chara shouted, looking around. She caught sight of Undyne, realizing what had happened.
"What the f #$, Undyne?!" she shouted, standing up. She crossed her arms and looked at Undyne.
"You losers are hogging the couch!" Undyne said. "I wanna watch TV. Just because you guys broke your bed while you were roughhousing doesn't mean you can just sleep wherever you want."
"Undyne." Frisk said, coming into the room. "I don't think that's a good idea. You know how Chara gets when she's woken up from her sleep early."
"Well, still" Undyne said, crossing her arms. "She and Asriel could still not hog the couch."
"Man." Asriel said, rubbing his head. "Undyne's sure cranky today. I remember her sister, Undella was much more calm and collected."
"Yeah.' Chara said, getting up on the couch. "And she could really cook. My mother was a really good cook if she could make Undella make better food than mom."
"I know." Asriel said, sitting on Chara's right side. "Her pies were the best."
"Yeah.' Undyne said, sighing. "Undella was a great cook. I learned all my cooking skills from her."
"Apparently not when it comes to stoves." Frisk said, laughing and sitting down on Chara's left side. Chara put her arm around Frisk, pulling her close.
"Hardy har har." Undyne said, crossing her arms. "At least I can cook."
"True." Frisk said, snuggling up next to Chara.
"Wait a minute!" Undyne said, looking at them. "You guys stole the couch again. You cheating f #$ers."
"Too slow, Undyne." Chara said, leaning towards Frisk. "Need to be faster."
"Whatever." Undyne said, grabbing the remote and sitting down on the nearby chair. "I'll just sit here."
"You do that." Asriel said, reclining on the couch. "We'll just use this couch. Man, I never did realize how comfortable this couch is when I was a flower.
"Hey, Asriel." Chara said, looking at the goat-like teen. "That reminds me: how did you regain your SOUL?"
"It's an interesting story." Asriel said. "It'll take a minute to tell, though."
"We got time." Chara and Frisk said.
"Oh great!" Undyne said, groaning. "Nerd stories. I'm out. Peace."
"So" Asriel said, continuing. "It was when I was guarding that guy that took Frisk…"
Flashback
The flower watched the unconscious human, wondering what he should do with him. Death was a viable option. Maybe he'd get a SOUL out of it. Nah, a SOUL of a bad human wouldn't give him anything but negativity. He was sick of negativity.
"Asriel." A voice from behind him. He tensed at the use of his previous name. He turned around to see someone he'd thought dead: W.D. Gaster.
"What do YOU want?!" Flowey asked, getting angry. "And how are you not dead?!"
"I wish to give you something." Gaster said, looking the flower in the eyes. "As for how I'm not dead, I was scattered across time and space. You killed only one iteration of myself. This is another."
"So" Flowey asked, silently preparing a magical attack. "What do you wish to give me?"
"A SOUL." Gaster said. Flowey looked at the ghostly scientist skeptically.
"How?" Flowey asked.
"In my days as a scientist" Gaster began to explain. "I learned how to preserve monster SOULS."
"Why didn't Alphys know how?" Flowey asked. "That seems like something she'd have wanted to know."
"I was unable to reanimate dust." Gaster said. "Save one monster, but that's not of importance at this point. I managed to preserve a SOUL similar to yours. You may take it if you wish."
"What's the catch?" Flowey asked.
"Tell Chara" Gaster said. "To tell Alphys to show her the experiment marked 'K.D.001'."
"That sounds simple." Flowey said. "But, why are you giving me a SOUL for that? And what's so important about that experiment anyway?"
"I'm repaying a debt to an old and dear friend." Gaster said. "That is why the experiment is so important. Besides, this SOUL was simply sitting in my lab, doing nothing. You are better with it than without it. You're going to need it to rescue Frisk."
"Uh" Flowey said, confused. "Thanks, I guess?"
Gaster held out his hand, a silvery grey, heart shaped SOUL floating out of it. The SOUL floated to Flowey, merging with his being. A bright light flashed, fading away and leaving Asriel Dreemurr in place of Flowey.
"Woah!" the newly regenerated Asriel said, looking at his hands. "I'm me again."
"You should have all the abilities you had when you had the seven SOULS." Gaster said. "And you can teleport as well. I recommend you find Chara. She's heading for the village where she was born. That is where Frisk is."
"Got it." Asriel said, trying out his power.
"Oh" Gaster said, holding up a finger. "And don't tell either of my sons I'm still alive. I do not wish for them to look for me."
"Right." Asriel said, trying to teleport.
Present time
"Funny." Frisk said. "I thought that would take longer to retell."
"Well" Asriel said. "The rest of the story was me getting to the base, taking out a couple guards, and me and Chara beating the sh!t out of that bitch."
"Cool." Chara said. "Wonder what Alphys knows about this experiment."
"Let's go see." Frisk said.
"Sure." Chara said. They all got up and found Alphys with Undyne watching anime in their room. Chara covered Frisk's eyes when she saw the TV.
"Hey, Alphys." Chara said. "We got something we need you to show us. Can you stop watching your pervy adult anime and help us?"
"Wh-what?!" Alphys said, rapidly switching off her TV. "What do you need, Chara?"
"What's experiment K.D.001?" Chara asked. Alphys' eyes went wide as she recognized the name.
"H-how do you know that number?" Alphys said, her voice higher.
"Your old boss told us." Asriel said. "He said to show it to Chara."
"V-very well, then." Alphys said, sighing. "I guess it's time someone else found out about it."
"Alphy, what's going on?" Undyne asked.
"It's nothing." Alphys said. "Don't concern yourself with it. I'll be back in a couple of hours. Just keep watching without me."
"O-okay." Undyne said, turning back to the TV.
"Chara?" Alphys said. "Can you teleport us back to my lab in the Underground?"
"Sure." Chara said, snapping her fingers. The four of them appeared inside Alphys' lab.
The reptilian scientist went over to the door that housed the 'true lab', opening it. She beckoned the three of them inside, taking them to a section that was walled off. The only thing in it was a vending machine. Alphys pushed a certain button combination and the machine swiveled open, revealing a secret area. Alphys led them through the area, talking about what it was for.
"This was where Gaster preformed his most drastic experiments." Alphys said, waving her arms. "he destroyed most of the notes about them, but I used some of what wasn't destroyed to try my experiments. You saw how those went."
The three of them nodded, remembering the strange Amalgamates. Frisk had actually managed to befriend one of them, rubbing its tummy like a puppy. Chara laughed as she remembered Frisk trying to jump on its head and stroke its ears.
"Well" Alphys said, snapping them out of their memories. "Gaster actually managed to preserve the SOULS of monsters somehow, which is how I assume you were returned, Asriel. His main goal was to reanimate dust and return the SOULS to their bodies, making them whole again, but he never could reanimate dust."
"But" Asriel said. "He said he succeeded once."
"Yes." Alphys said. "Once. But, he said there wasn't a SOUL powerful enough to handle the monster. I'm not even sure who the monster was. All I know was that he really cared for that monster and really wanted to revive them. I asked him if it was a lover of his, but he said it was just a really good friend that didn't deserve to die."
"Huh." Chara said, thinking. "That must be K.D.001. Wonder who it could be."
"He actually tried combining monster SOULS together." Alphys said. "To make one strong enough to revive the monster he was trying to revive, but I'm not sure how that went. All he said was that thing were complicated. He wouldn't even let me see it. He kept saying that if he was to make a mistake, he wanted me to not be present and attempt to fix it."
"This must be one tough monster" Chara said. "If it took more than one SOUL to revive them."
"If he wants to show this experiment" Alphys said. "He must have found his SOUL he needed. Well, here's the experiment."
Alphys stopped in front of a tank that was covered with a large cloth. There was a note on it that seemed recent.
"To those who read this." Alphys read, recognizing Gaster's handwriting. "I have completed my one goal in this experiment: to reanimate the dust. I have finally crafted a powerful enough SOUL to truly revive the monster in this experiment. Whether or not she will be herself is unknown. I truly hope that she will be herself again. I have used as much of the dust as I could find. The rest is sprinkled over what she loved most. I don't need all of it, but I did need most of it. I hope it's a success. I cannot stay to see her revived, but I can tell any who see this to welcome her back to the land of the living. My sincerest regards, W.D. Gaster, former Head Scientist."
"Wonder what monster this is" Chara said, gripping the cloth. "That Gaster would want to show me specifically.
Chara pulled the cloth off, revealing the monster in the tank, submerged in some strange fluid. Chara's eyes widened as she took a step back, shock on her face.
The monster had a human like look to her, though she clearly wasn't. She had paper white skin and wore a sort of grey armor with a long red cape. The armor had a large, upside down green heart on it as did the cape fastener. She had white boots on and brown gloves. Her hair was brown, long and flowing. Two brown, feline looking ears that were outlined in black on the outside emerged from her hair. Though her eyes were closed, Chara already knew what their colors were; the left eye was red and the right eye was grey. A single tooth poked from the left side of her mouth.
Chara took a cautious step closer to the tank, putting her hand on it and looking at the monster woman.
"Th-that's…" Alphys said, gasping. "no, it can't be…"
"It is." Chara said, a tear forming. "It's my mother."
oh my god! She might not be dead after all! Wooh! So, will Khara be alive? And will she know Chara if she is? Find out next chapter.