Dear beloved readers,

First of all, I noticed that I had a few typos and missing words in some of my chapters... Like in the previous chapter, when describing Gaster... I totally missed out a word... I promise to proofread everything properly next time :) I'll do my best to decrease the amount of error in my fanfiction... Thankfully, the ones I noticed till now are very very minor, so, I guess it's okay... hehe...

Also, I don't really know if I would be able to update ASAP after this chapter. Spring break is... sadly... Over... ._. So, it might take me a while to write the next chapter. I apologize in advance if it gets updated very late. :(

Oh and did you notice the Asriel x Frisk in the synopsis? :3 Don't worry, this won't go to a mature level of it, I just really really like them together... (Please don't send tons of messages telling me it's incest. Please.) But I will make a nice relationship out of that. I will. I promise.

Alphys: S-So, uh, d-does that mean Papyrus x Mettaton is also happening?

Sans: do u wanna have a bad time

Papyrus: What does that even mean?

Mettaton: Oh darling... I can teach you that for sure.

Papyrus: *blushes* H-Huh? Y-Yes, the Magnanimous Papyrus requires your guidance.

Mettaton: I'll teach you more than just that, darling. *winks*

Sans: you better diddly not lay a hand on-

Toriel: Sans!

Sans: y-yes tori?!

Toriel: What did the pasta say to the angry tomato?

Sans: i dunno, tori

Toriel: You're getting angry fusilli reasons!

Sans: hahaha good one, tori *blushes and feels his heart pounding*

Asgore: *glares from a distance*

Undyne: There now Asgore, it's okay.

Asriel: Yeah Dad, I'm sure Mom will tagliatelle you jokes too!

Frisk: You just did not

Asriel: What are you gonna do about it?

Frisk: So adorable.

Asriel: Wh-What?!

Please enjoy this chapter as well!

Chapter 19 – Project Determination II

"And that would be it for today, Beauties and Gentlebeauties!" Mettaton spoke as he bowed with a flourish and posed dramatically. He winked and the program started rolling its credits.

On the other side of the screen, Undyne sat on her couch, staring at the blaring television with a bag of Popato Chisps in her hands. With her eyes glued to the screen, she didn't notice the sounds that came from the basement, where Alphys had set up her lab. A week had passed since the two of them had returned from encountering Chara or Clara (as Undyne puts it, "Chalara"), and Alphys had shut herself in the lab, muttering something about black and soul the entire time. Undyne knew exactly what she had to do whenever Alphys did things like that—do whatever she wanted to with no restraints. Even so, she quickly grew tired of basically everything she had done for the past three hours since getting out of bed. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck Undyne.

"ALPHYS!" Undyne yelled as she jumped from the couch and dashed down the stairs to the basement. "ALPHYS, I'M BORED!" She stood before the thick, iron door and had a wide grin on her face. Undyne summoned her energy spear.

"Alphys?" Undyne called, but no one answered her. She started slamming her fists against the door, starting to feel suspicious over the lack of response. Surely nothing bad happened to Alphys?

"ALPHYS! OPEN UP!" Undyne screamed, continuing to punch the door, leaving dent marks all over it. She took a step back and looked at the door wearily. She summoned forth more spears to strike the door.

"Please be safe, please be safe…" Undyne murmured as she threw all her spears at the door, destroying it entirely like it was made out of cardboard. She jumped over the rubble and stepped into the lab. Cold air breezed past Undyne. There was a peculiar scent of disinfectant and instant noodles in the air. A darkened corridor lay before her, with the lights above flickering and rather dim. Undyne had never once stepped foot into Alphys's lab. She spotted a sheet of paper lying on the ground a few meters away from where the door was.

"What on earth…?" Undyne whispered, perusing the paper. Even though Undyne couldn't understand some of the words, she did comprehend snatches of it. Whatever the paper had, she knew it had something to do with whatever Alphys was doing.

"ALPHYS!" Undyne shouted, her words echoing through the deserted lab. She hoped that Alphys hadn't done anything drastic yet. She wouldn't let Alphys go back to how she was back in the Underground, after the whole Amalgamates incident. She couldn't leave her behind again.

"ALPHYS! YOU BETTER BE ALIVE!" Undyne shouted loudly and started running down the corridor, using her energy spears as a lamp to guide her. The paper she held fluttered behind her, softly landing on the ground, flashing the words, "Project Determination II."

Holding a camcorder in her hand, Toriel secretly filmed her sons in the backyard. Asgore was beside her, watching the kids as well. Laughter filled the yard as the kids ran around and called each other names. They were "battling" each other, which mainly consisted of running around and trying to annoy each other.

"Can't catch me, God of Hyperdeath?" Frisk yelled, barely dodging Asriel's hand as he took a sharp turn and ran the other way. Asriel turned quickly and shouted in irritation. His face had already reddened, both from embarrassment and running around for so long.

"Sh-Shut up!" Asriel shouted in reply, "At least my eyes aren't just lines on my face!" He was starting to run out of breath. Frisk glared back at Asriel and stuck out his tongue. Toriel started giggling and snorting a little, which in turn made Asgore laugh.

"Oh no, the Angel of Death is here to take me!" Frisk exclaimed sarcastically, "Whatever shall I do?" He sneered at Asriel and stood there with his hands on his waist, carefully watching Asriel, who trudged close to Frisk.

"Fallen child," Asriel spat, "Get ready to fall again." Asriel roared (which really cracked Toriel and Asgore up) and lunged for Frisk, who couldn't move fast enough to avoid Asriel's attack. The two of them fell on the ground, Frisk landing with a dull thud on the ground with Asriel landing on top of him, eliciting a grunt from Frisk.

"Oof… F-Frisk… Are you okay…?" Asriel asked, lifting his face from Frisk's chest. Frisk groaned as he opened his eyes and tried to get up, only to find a white furry monster on top of him, staring back at him with those bright blue eyes. Frisk felt his face warming and tried to look away quickly.

"G-Get off of me first, will you?" Frisk spoke flusteredly. Asriel flinched and stood up quickly, holding a hand out for Frisk. He wondered if Frisk was feeling hurt or anything because of whatever he'd said or done. Frisk took his hand and stood up as well. He stood there awkwardly, not quite able to face Asriel properly. Asriel, on the other hand, thought that he had done something terribly wrong to Frisk.

"Gorey dear, aren't they just the cutest things ever?" Toriel murmured, squealing at the same time. Asgore nodded enthusiastically, unable to keep his eyes off of his two children. Could their children get any more adorable? (Yes, yes they could.)

"F-Frisk?" Asriel asked cautiously, "Did I… Do something wrong?" He reached out to hold Frisk's hand, making Frisk feel even more flustered and coloring his face a bright red. He shook his head slowly, and Asriel felt relieved, knowing that nothing terrible had happened.

"You know Frisk," Asriel piped up, evidently not knowing that this was a terrible time to say whatever he had in mind. Frisk looked up at Asriel, wondering what his favorite monster in the world had to say.

"When I grow up, I wanna live with you," Asriel declared, "And I… I'll marry you." Frisk felt his mind go numb entirely from that one statement. His mind couldn't process it all. As for Toriel and Asgore, they were doing their best to scream as softly as possible, muffling each other's screams. Neither could believe that they were getting this all on video.

"M-M-Marry?" Frisk stammered out, barely managing to understand what Asriel had just said. His face felt hot and he couldn't control his heart beating so fast.

"Yeah! As long as we love each other, we can get married!" Asriel replied, his cheeks turning slightly pink. With his mind no longer functioning from what just happened, Frisk collapsed into Asriel's arms.

"Frisk?" Asriel asked, innocently staring at Frisk and oblivious as to why Frisk reacted in such a way. As Toriel and Asgore continued to watch their children, someone silently sneaked behind them and tapped their shoulders. Both Toriel and Asgore shrieked and turned to face Sans and Papyrus, who had returned from their grocery shopping.

"What's going on over there?" Papyrus asked, but his voice ceased immediately upon catching sight of Frisk and Asriel. His jaw dropped. Sans's smile froze. Toriel and Asgore could feel their sins crawling on their backs. Toriel quickly handed the camcorder to Sans.

"didn't know they'd swing that way," Sans finally stated after a few moments of watching the recorded video on the camcorder. Papyrus nodded and beamed at Toriel and Asgore. He was feeling proud that Frisk managed to display his amazing dating power finally.

"Mom!" Asriel called out, "Frisk is acting weird!" Toriel leaped up and dashed to the yard, where the children were. Asgore stood up as well and made his way there as well. Still holding the camcorder, Sans smirked at Papyrus, who simply raised a non-existent eyebrow at him.

"Brother…" Papyrus muttered, "You're planning something, aren't you?" Papyrus's eyes narrowed. Sans tried his best to not burst out laughing. He had just watched one of the greatest videos in history. He had to do something.

"stall time for me, pap," Sans stated and made his way upstairs to his room. He was a skeleton with a great task to accomplish. Papyrus shook his head and walked out to the yard to join the Dreemurr family.

The corridor finally opened up to a spacious room lined with cabinets and desks, with the documents and books arranged almost perfectly. The room was slightly eerie, due to the dimness of the lighting and the sheer size of the room. Something was definitely off about it all. Alphys wasn't the type to use such a large room in such a way. The furniture only lined the perimeter of the room, never touching the middle or anything.

"Alphys?!" Undyne shouted, "Are you here somewhere?" She trudged into the room and looked around, searching for anything that might lead to Alphys. She noticed a sheet of paper on the ground. She scanned it quickly.

"Project Determination II – W. D. Gaster," Undyne whispered, "What is this…?" She noticed Alphys's handwriting all over it, scribbled over many of the words. It was pretty clear that Alphys had collaborated with Gaster, even before that monster had died. The paper didn't tell her much, save for the fact that whatever this project was, it had something to do with taking the extracted determination and using it as a tool. A tool for what exact purposes, Undyne couldn't figure.

"Alphys?!" Undyne shouted, "Are you here somewhere?" She shoved the paper into her pocket and walked around the room. She opened the cabinets, knowing that Alphys might hide in such places. Strangely, they contained nothing. She glanced at the desks. The papers were all blank. This wasn't the real lab that Alphys used.

"ALPHYS!" Undyne yelled, "ALPHYS, THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" Undyne started running from desk to desk, throwing all the drawers open and trying to look for anything that Alphys could have left behind besides those weird documents about that project. While running like a madman, Undyne tripped and fell over something.

"What the hell…" Undyne sat up and looked at her foot. It took her a few seconds to actually identify what it was under the dim lights. It was a quite small metal box with dents all over and rust covering every inch of it. Undyne crawled up to it and inspected it. The box was rusted shut. She took her energy spear and slashed at the box, opening it. Within the box was a very old notebook, the pages yellowed and the cover wrinkled and tattered. Undyne grabbed it and flipped it open, finding the first and foremost entry written in various symbols. Fortunately, Undyne knew what those symbols were, since Alphys did teach her how to read those weird letters called "wingdings." They had written to each other in that code-like lettering sometimes, in case they didn't want anyone reading their letters. She flushed at the thought of those scandalous letters but quickly went back to deciphering the entries.

Entry #1

I have captured the second human today. Thankfully they were still alive when I spotted them. It was pretty easy getting the soul out of them. They only required one stab through the heart. Alphys has been a wonderful assistant in finding out more uses for this "determination." I knew I had chosen the right assistant. She and I share many views, and I am sure we can work together to achieve the best results. Unlike those two nephews of mine, Alphys has obeyed every word of mine. I will make sure that this would happen forever.

Entry #2

We found one use for determination—bringing the "dead" back to life. Alphy seemed absolutely overjoyed at it. She was thrilled to use it first on her pet mouse which died this morning. The mouse was revived, miraculously. I told her that I would examine it until tomorrow, just to see the full effects of it. There was a bit of conflict, but she acquiesced nonetheless. As soon as she left, the mouse showed very strange signs. Its cells seemed to somehow lyse and yet retain its contents, fusing with each other and "melting," if I may say so. The mouse was no longer a mouse. The most peculiar part of it all was that other living things fused with this thing even from a slight contact with it. Truly fascinating to watch the other mice trying to help each other but inadvertently dragging one another to melt into one body. Although, I wonder what I should tell Alphys tomorrow.

Entry #3

Alphys keeps asking me about her mouse. I told her that it died overnight, and that the determination serum didn't work properly. She had a strange look on her face. Water droplets seemed to form from her eyes. I do not believe I understand what that means. She still worked as efficiently as usual as my assistant. But something seems a little off about this girl. No matter. I must find another use for this "determination."

Entry #4

I do not understand. There has to be another usage for this determination. I have done everything I could. I've searched the bodies. I've macerated them in aqua fortis and extracted everything I could, collecting samples of every organ and cell in those disgusting humans. Yet, what is this determination, besides helping their souls survive?

Entry #5

Alphys found out the truth about her pet mouse. She screamed at me and threw the books at me. She announced that she would be leaving, as she did not want to be a part of this any longer. I did not answer her. By the afternoon, she had left. I feel a slight pang somewhere in my sternum. There is nothing that would induce any discomfort there, perhaps it is a form of phantom pain. It matters not. I must somehow find the truth behind humans and their souls. This determination has to be the key behind it all.

"So that's what happened…" Undyne murmured, "Huh?" She noticed a small, yellowed sheet of parchment flutter to the ground. She picked it up and noticed that it was another entry, but the number was slightly different. She tried reading it.

Entry #17

DARKER DARKER YET DARKER

THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING

THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER

PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE

THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS

VERY

VERY

INTERESTING

…

WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?

Undyne felt a chill as she finished reading it. She wondered who this "two" meant. She felt something fine and powder-like sticking to her hands. She screamed and threw the parchment, rubbing her hands on the cold floor to get rid of the dust that clung to her hands. She had a chilling thought that it might have been Alphys's.

"ALPHYS!" Undyne shouted once again, she stood up trudged around, searching the floor for any signs of footprints or even dust. She hoped the latter wasn't what she found. Footsteps echoed through the room as her feet tapped the stone-cold surface of the floor. The footsteps continued on, punctuated with a loud squeak. Undyne stopped. She took a step back. Another squeak. She stomped her feet and a hollow sound reverberated through the room. Under the dim lighting of the room, the floor looked the same. But upon a closer inspection with her energy spear, Undyne noticed that particular part of the floor being a bit different in material.

"I swear, Alphys," Undyne muttered, "You're making things such a pain in the ass…" Undyne took a step back and smashed her energy spear into the floor panel. It broke away to reveal a dark hole that didn't seem to have a bottom to it. Undyne gulped and took a deep breath. She had to do whatever it took to find Alphys. Even if it meant doing something that looked just like suicide.

"I'm expecting something better than a kiss, Alphys," Undyne shouted into the hole, her voice echoing through it. She leaped into the hole and wondered if she was finally out of her mind.

On the second floor of the Dreemurr home, past the kids' bedroom, Toriel and Asgore's bedroom, and Papyrus's room, a room exists that might as well be another world—a world where the concept of cleaning and tidying up does not exist—San's room. And in this mysterious room, Sans sat at his desk with the camcorder connected to his laptop. He clicked and typed fervently, trying to make something out of the video. He knew he could make this something majorly viral. Just as the video had uploaded, his laptop switched off suddenly. Sans almost threw the laptop across the room. He quickly tried to switch it on again, but alas, no response came from the poor machine. Sans shut the laptop close and stashed the camcorder away in his drawer, just in the nick of time before Toriel and the children marched right into his room.

"Sans! Something happened!" Toriel shouted, "All the electricity's out for some reason! We might not have light for a while…" She walked over to the windows and drew the curtains open. Sans hissed at the light and looked sheepishly at Toriel. Both Frisk and Asriel were smiling at him and looking at Toriel. Asriel could see through Sans pretty easily when it came to his mom. He grabbed Frisk and whispered something, and the two of them exited, smiling back at Sans and giving him a thumbs-up. Sans felt his face warming with color.

"w-well, i-i guess we're gonna need you a lot then," Sans muttered, and Toriel looked at him with a curious look. Sans tried to avoid her gaze. He twiddled his thumbs and mustered the courage to speak.

"'cuz you certainly do brighten up my world, tori," Sans stated, his cheeks burning up and his face holding a perpetual smile. Toriel snorted and started laughing loudly. She grabbed Sans and held him in her arms. Sans felt his mind turning numb and his senses being overpowered just from Toriel holding him so tightly. He could smell the cinnamon and butterscotch, as well as a hint of that sweet, saccharine flowery scent that Toriel always had.

"Sans, you're so sweet," Toriel murmured. She obviously had no idea that Sans was thinking the same for her. Sans wondered if she would ever—at least once—love him back. Unfortunately, he didn't have any more time to think about those things. The house began to shake with a deep rumble that emanated from the ground. Then everything seemed calm. Toriel released Sans and called for the children, who came rushing in with terror in their eyes.

"Mom!" Frisk shouted, "There's a… A hole in our garden." Asriel nodded quickly, affirming this. Toriel's eyes widened and she glanced at Sans. They trudged over to the window to get a proper look at the garden. There really was a bottomless hole in the middle of the grass. Asgore and Papyrus were standing around it, curious as to what had just occurred. Sans materialized right beside Papyrus and started walking around the hole. Strangely enough, the interior of the hole had a smooth appearance, not a blemish or protrusion on it.

"Sans, this doesn't look very normal," Papyrus stated as he knelt on the ground, examining the ground. Toriel and the children watched from the house, and Asgore was with them, trying to placate Toriel. Sans noticed the look of fear in her eyes.

"i'm gonna try calling alphys," Sans said, rummaging his pockets for his phone. He quickly dialed the scientist and waited. He heard a click as someone picked up the phone. Just as he was about to say something, the other side of the line was filled with crackles and static.

"alphys?" Sans asked, "what's happening?" He heard laugther on the other side of the line. Laughter that definitely didn't belong to Alphys. He could also hear growls and screams in the background.

"My little Sansie..." A raucous voice rasped and giggled. The line died suddenly and Sans dropped his phone. Sans dropped to his knees and stared blankly at the hole in front of him. Papyrus rushed to his brother and grabbed onto his shoulders.

"Sans?!" Papyrus shouted, "What's the matter?!" Sans shivered and his eye sockets turned darker. He knew this had to be Alphys's doing. There was no doubt about it. No one else besides her could do it. Sans motioned for Papyrus to come closer. Papyrus leaned closer to Sans to hear his words.

"Alphys did it," Sans whispered, and Papyrus knew exactly what this meant.

"Woah…" Undyne murmured, "Alphys what on earth did you do here…" In the bottom of the hole, there was a rather large corridor. She spotted an elevator a little away from her, and she guessed Alphys used it to reach this place. The corridor opened up to a room, but Undyne couldn't determine the dimensions of it, due to the lack of light; save for a brightly lit rectangle a few meters in front of her. It was a computer monitor. The whirring sounds of a computer was all she could hear in the room.

"What is this..?" Undyne whispered as she tried to read whatever text was on the screen. She didn't understand it at all. But the word "Determination" seemed to be literally everywhere. She also noticed the word "Soul" appearing quite frequently. It still didn't make much sense.

"Alphys?" Undyne called out, getting the mechanical sounds of a computer back as response. She was just about to explore the room a bit until she heard a rustling sound quite close to her.

"Who's there?!" Undyne shouted, summoning her energy spears. She spread them around her and tried to illuminate the space around her. No one was there. She exhaled slowly and started trudging away from the screen. She felt a cold hand grip her shoulder suddenly. She grasped the arm and heaved it in front of her, bringing the assailant down on the ground.

"How dare you try to attack me, the ex-captain of the Royal Guards," Undyne announced, "Now who the hell are you?" She leaned closer with an energy spear to inspect the face of the attacker. She froze and dropped the spear.

"U-Un… Dyne…" A familiar voice croaked out, "H-Help… Me…" Hands reached out for Undyne's hand, and the room suddenly blazed forth with light. Undyne couldn't believe her eyes. She didn't want to believe what she was seeing. On the ground lay Alphys, her face distorted in an expression of fear and sorrow. She had donned her lab coat, but it was tattered in various places. Undyne felt her stomach churn as she noticed another thing. Alphys's skin seemed to be falling off of her, showing the bones beneath it. She didn't seem to be hurt or anything, but something or someone had changed her.

"G-Gaster …" Alphys whispered, "Back…" Undyne felt tears stinging her eyes, seeing Alphys in such a state. But in that precise moment, Alphys started screaming, her eyes widening, revealing yellow pupils that glowed. Undyne could never forget that particular shade of yellow. She felt anger bubbling within her, knowing exactly what that meant for Alphys. The screams continued, and Undyne backed away from Alphys slowly, trying to think of a way to help her. She looked around, but that was when she noticed the cages and the bloodstains, along with the dust that covered the grounds. Undyne's eyes widened and she tried to keep her stomach down. She glanced at Alphys, who seemed to have lost consciousness. She didn't want to believe all of this. As if on cue, the cages started to scream and screech, creating a cacophonous chorus that expressed one feeling in particular—pain.

"Alphys, what did you do…?" Undyne murmured, watching the grotesque scene before her. The light revealed cages filled with monsters and various Amalgamates, but the monsters didn't look like monsters. There was something disgustingly wrong with their appearances—something strikingly human in their appearances—as if someone had forced humans and monsters to fuse together to form such abominations. In some other cages, bodies of monsters were sliced open, revealing the soul within them.

"I did what I needed to do for the sake of everyone," A deep voice sounded and Undyne turned to look at Alphys. She stood there before her, yellow eyes gloating at her and a sneer pasted on her face. Undyne held her spear in her hand.

"Give Alphys back, you monster," Undyne snarled, "She did nothing to harm you." Alphys laughed shrilly at Undyne, holding out a hand and looking at it.

"She was such a great assistant…" Alphys murmured, "Until she pushed me in there." Undyne glared at Gaster. That wasn't possible. Alphys would never do such a thing. She didn't believe a single word of it.

"It's not really fun, you know, when you get scattered through so many timelines," Gaster's voice rasped from Alphys's mouth. "But that also means that I can come back any time I really want. I will never truly die." Alphys smiled at Undyne.

"Shut the hell up," Undyne growled, "You're going to pay for this. For all of this." Undyne summoned up more of her spears and surrounded Alphys with it. Alphys started laughing uncontrollably and looked at Undyne with tears in her eyes. Undyne didn't falter. She stood her ground and watched Alphys.

"Do you really think that I, Gaster, did this?" Alphys asked haughtily, "Foolish fish. This girl did it all. By. Herself." Gaster's voice started laughing again. Undyne dropped her spear. She didn't understand this. Gaster's words shattered Undyne's very reality, the very picture of Alphys she always carried in her heart. She screamed and lunged for Alphys, who stood there smirking maliciously with those eyes that expressed pure contempt.

Asgore and Toriel had decided to go and take a look at Alphys's house before they did anything. That left the Skelebros and the Dreemurr children in the backyard staring at the giant sinkhole. Papyrus and Sans were trying to figure a way out to get to Alphys's true lab while Asriel and Frisk sat near the hole.

"Did you hear that?" Asriel asked Frisk, who nodded in reply. He could hear the faint screams coming from the depths of the pit. Someone was down there. I guess that means we have to go down there, huh. Asriel thought. Frisk dashed over to Sans and dragged him over to the edge of the hole.

"hm? what is it kiddo?" Sans asked, bewildered. Frisk pointed to the hole and motioned to his ears. "you… want me to listen to the hole…?" Asriel and Frisk both nodded. Sans seemed a little confused. He leaned closer to the hole. Shouts and screams echoed faintly again.

"oh," Sans stated, "that doesn't sound good." He looked into the abyss and looked at the children. He knew Toriel and Asgore wouldn't like this idea, but he had to do it. He had to get rid of Gaster before he did anything.

"pap, kiddo, and bucko," Sans declared, "we're going to pay dr. alphys a visit." He reached out to hold the children's hands and looked at Papyrus with a smirk.

"Sans, I don't think this is a terribly great idea. Maybe we should wait-" Papyrus was cut off from finishing his sentence. Sans had already pulled him into the hole as the four of them fell into it. The abysmal pit was soon filled with a chorus of screams, ranging from Papyrus's deathly howl of fear to Frisk's scream of pure excitement.

I hope nothing bad has happened yet… Asriel silently wished, staring into the darkness.

In the bottom of the pit, a petite figure sat on the floor, holding a knife in her hands. Even in the darkness, she could see perfectly. Her ears twitched as she heard the screams coming from above. Her face broke into a sinister smile, excited to know that she was having visitors soon, along with two of her best friends coming over to play with her and her brother forever.

"They're coming to play with us again, Chara!" A voice cried with delight.

I hope you liked this chapter as well! Feel free to leave a review and comment on the chapter! Thanks for reading :)