The secret lab is dark. Alphys reaches out for a light switch, but when she flips it, the lights sputter and flicker and go out all the way down the hall. There must've been a power surge or something. God, good thing the three of them came down when they did; just imagine if that happened while they were in the elevator.
"C'mon," she murmurs to Undyne and the human. "I'll have to fix the power, but that's not too hard. I'll explain along the way."
"Weird place," Undyne remarks, looking around. "So is this, like, a second lab or something?"
"Or something," Alphys agrees weakly. God, she'd love to run away... but no. She has to have the strength to tell the truth, or... or she'll have to accept that she never really deserved Undyne in the first place. The memory of all their kisses gives her strength, and she even manages to stand up a little straighter. "This way."
The human's been quiet ever since they came down here. They stay quiet as Alphys starts to explain about how King Asgore had given her free reign on her research after appointing her Royal Scientist, and how she'd tried to think of a way to use monster SOULs instead of relying on human SOULs to break the barrier, which led to her research on human SOULs, determination, and DT extraction and injections, which took the form of a thick red liquid. The back-up power lights up the log screens, so she lets them read the entries as they come up, too.
"Hey, didn't you have like a beaker full of some kinda red goo on your work table ages ago? You know, the vitamin drink?" Undyne wonders. "Remember I thought it was, like, a more intense version of the pink goo, and I drank it all in one go?"
Alphys cringes. She'd freaked out hard at the time. After meeting Undyne at the dump and being inspired by her... her-ness, she'd thought maybe she should take another look at her DT research, see if she couldn't try to reverse-engineer a way to separate the monsters who'd melted together. Stupid, careless Alphys had left a DT sample on her desk when Undyne dropped by unannounced, and she'd heard Undyne say "Hey, thanks for the drink!" before turning around and seeing her gulp it all down.
She'd screamed in horror and run immediate tests on her, and thank god, it seemed like there was no effect. Eventually, she'd concluded that it just hadn't been enough - it'd taken loads of injections before the other monsters had even opened their eyes - or else that it just wasn't effective on healthy monsters. That, though, was also the final, conclusive end of her attempt to do any more research. She'd told Undyne it was an experimental vitamin mix and she hadn't worked out the negative side-effects yet and that's why she'd panicked, and thank god again, Undyne had believed her. Thank god even more that Undyne hadn't melted. If anything had happened to her, she would've...
"Y-yeah," she squeaks. "That's... that's one of the things I lied to you about. Actually, that was DT. I n-never meant for anyone to drink it... I-it's kind of like a vitamin, but... well, theoretically, it should've made your SOUL stronger. As strong as a human's, in fact."
"Oh." Undyne considers this as they approach the main hall, where the color door is locked. "Well, nothing bad happened, right? No harm, no foul!"
"Determination is what lets human SOULs persist after death, right?" says the human. Alphys turns to them in surprise, but nods. "Then wouldn't you only see results if Undyne died?"
She opens her mouth, shuts it. "Th-that's a really logical conclusion," she admits. "T-to be honest, I didn't want to think about it at all after that. I was just glad that n-nothing bad happened to her."
"Hey, whatever!" Undyne says cheerfully, smacking her on the back. "Like I said, no harm, no foul! I told you back then too, I shouldn't have just drunk it without asking!" She sobers. "It's a shame it didn't work, though. If we monsters could just punch through that stupid barrier with the power of our OWN SOULs... that'd REALLY show those stupid humans! Uh, no offense, kiddo."
"None taken."
"N-no, I, um... I haven't told you the rest yet," Alphys breathes. She goes on to explain that monster bodies, which have much less physical matter than human bodies, just aren't equipped to handle high levels of determination... that when injected with it, they eventually start to melt. She busies herself with the door while she speaks, but it's no good; the controls just won't work without power. She's going to have to get the keycards and do a manual override.
"Melt?" the human echoes.
"Wait, seriously?!" Undyne shouts.
Alphys nods. "Th-thank god it didn't happen to you, but, um... everyone else..." She looks away as she shuffles towards the first keycard room. "...Undyne, y-you remember back when I asked for all those monsters who'd fallen down...?"
"Wait. Alphys. Are you trying to say...?"
She smiles self-deprecatingly. "They're all... still here." She picks up the keycard and turns towards her companion. "...You'll see them soon."
Undyne and the human exchange a glance.
"But if a monster who already had a determined personality - say, like Undyne, who NEVER gives up - drank DT extract," the human says slowly, "she'd be able to handle a higher concentration of the stuff, wouldn't she? Enough to come back to life? Enough to be able to take out even a human with intent to kill?"
"W-well, theoretically, yes," Alphys utters, startled. "I-I mean, I never thought about murdering humans - my research was for SOULs that could persist after death. B-but, um, yes. Maybe. There's no way to prove it, n-not without threatening her life, and I couldn't..."
"Hey, don't worry! Like anybody could take me out!" she reassures her, smiling wide. "Except the human, I guess. But it's not like they killed me."
The human purses their lips and glances away.
"But, uh..." Undyne continues, smile fading. "About those other monsters..."
Alphys forces a weak smile. "Come on. I'll show you."
This place is freaking weird, not to mention super-creepy. Not that Undyne's scared, but there's something in the air that rubs her scales the wrong way. She keeps that to herself. Undyne's generally not one to silence her own opinions, but she doesn't want to hurt Alphys. At the very least, she ought to hear her out to the end before saying anything.
Still, when Alphys directs her to turn on the faucets and one of them starts gushing monster goo instead of water, she hollers and hurls a magic spear at it. It breaks apart into several monsters, all gibbering away in some garbled speak she can't understand. When she attacks, they get even stronger? Alphys shouts at her to stop, but this freak isn't exactly friendly, either! It's not until the human uses their phone that they can all actually communicate. Good thing, too; Undyne doesn't say so, but she's not sure she could've actually beaten something that doesn't die when you kill it.
After Alphys talks down the weirdo monster clusters (Memoryheads, she calls them) and they leave, Undyne finds a key card in the sink. She turns the faucets off again, then walks into the next room with the others, where Alphys sets the red keycard into the slot on the wall.
"Those were monsters who melted together, weren't they?" the human murmurs, not looking at either of them, on the way out. "Because you injected them with DT."
"Right," Alphys admits quietly. "They're like that because... because of what I did to them."
"That's..." Undyne pauses. That's pretty screwed up, is her honest opinion, but she's not gonna just say that. "Is there any way you can undo it? You're smart, right?"
"If she could undo what she'd done, she'd have done that by now," the human comments, watching Alphys. "Right?"
She nods meekly. "All of this was completely experimental. Though at least they're managing okay... Their minds and bodies have melted together, but they're healthy, you know? I mean, for as much as abominations of science can be... heh... heheh..."
Undyne doesn't know what to say, so she says nothing.
"For the record, Asgore doesn't know what I did," she adds. "He helped me gather monsters for the experiment, but... I haven't... told him... about all this."
They eventually reach and pass through a room full of beds. A couple of them are undone. Alphys heads over to one, then points Undyne towards an empty dog food bowl. The human walks up to the northeast corner, between a pair of doors, and peeks through both of them in turn.
"Can those guys die at all now?" Undyne wonders as she picks up the bowl.
"I don't know... I haven't tried anything like that. I've been secretly taking care of them all down here." Alphys nods towards the dog bowl, then takes a keycard from under one of the bed's sheets. "It's a bit past when I'm supposed to feed them, so they get pretty cranky. They're harmless, really. They don't want to hurt anyone. They're just..." She trails off.
"So we just gotta feed 'em and that's that?"
"Is... is it really just 'that's that' to you?"
"Huh?" Undyne stares at Alphys. "Well, you didn't kill anybody, did you?"
"But... but..."
"Listen." Undyne walks over to Alphys. "What's going on down here is freaky as heck. I won't lie about that. But you didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"It doesn't really matter if I meant for this to happen or not, does it?" Alphys murmurs, averting her eyes. From their corner, the human turns to watch her. "I still... everyone I tried to help... I hurt instead. And then I lied about it, because I was too ashamed and scared to admit what I'd done." She hangs her head. "I'm awful."
"NGAAAAHHH! What's with this damn pity party!?" Undyne roars. She hefts Alphys up with both arms. "LISTEN! You think I'd be here if you really were awful?! I KNOW you, Alphys. Even if you've been hiding and lying about a lot of stuff, there's one thing you can't mask: your PASSION! You care about what you do! And that includes your mistakes! You care about these poor monsters, and that's why you're working your tail off to take care of 'em!"
"B-but I feel awful..."
"So what?! Just because you FEEL awful doesn't mean you ARE awful!"
"U-Undyne..."
"So hey..." Her eyes soften, and she draws Alphys into a hug, one arm under her tail to support her. "Don't beat yourself up so hard, okay? We're here with you. I'm here. We'll help you figure all this out. You don't have to suffer alone anymore."
Alphys's eyes water, and she flings her arms around Undyne's neck with a little sob. Undyne smiles and holds her back a little tighter.
"All right! So let's feed your buddies, read the rest of those logs, and you'll explain whatever we don't understand, and then...!" Undyne declares, setting her girlfriend down. "...We can figure the rest out later!"
"Y-yeah." Alphys smiles up at her, eyes crinkling. "If I have you with me... I think I can have the courage to tell everyone the truth. Thank you." She pauses, then looks over at the human. "And thank you, too. If it hadn't been for you... this wouldn't be happening now."
"What? No," they murmur, shuffling backwards and folding their arms behind their back. "I didn't do anything..."
"Hey! Who's the punk who kept yelling at us to smooch, huh!?" Undyne demands, shaking a fist at them as she grins. "You better admit you helped out or I'll have to hug the pity party outta you too!"
They smile at that, cheeks reddening. "You really think I helped?"
"DUH! What d'you think I've been saying?!" She scoops up Alphys under one arm, charges at the human, scoops them up in her other arm, then squeezes the three of them together. "NOW C'MON! GROUP HUG TIME FOR ME, MY GIRLFRIEND AND MY BESTIE! NGAAAAAHHH!"
Alphys squawks and the human yelps, but then the human starts to laugh and Alphys follows suit. Both of them slip their arms up and around her and each other's shoulders - Undyne kneels to let the both of these shorties touch the ground - and the three of them grin together as they hug in a circle.
"Feeling better?" Undyne asks, looking from Alphys to the human.
"Yeah. A lot better, actually," Alphys says, smiling in that adorable way she does where her entire face crinkles up. Undyne loves that smile.
"Yeah... Me too," says the human. "You really are the coolest, Undyne."
"Heck yeah I am!" Undyne crows. OH MAN, the human TOTALLY likes her best! She's gonna totally brag about this to...
To...
Whose face was she gonna rub this into again?
"There's three key cards left, and they each need to be put in the correct colored slot," Alphys says. "That will unlock the door to the power room, and once I fix the power and finish showing you guys everything, we can head back upstairs with everyone. One's right in this room, and there's a slot in the room at the end of that hall." She points to one of the doors. "The other two keys and slots are that way." She points to the other door. "We'll have to do some backtracking, though."
"Should we split up?" the human suggests. "It might make this go faster."
"Are you sure? These guys... well, they aren't dangerous, but they don't know you two," Alphys says, blinking.
"Pssh, that's no big deal! I'll just throw dog food at 'em!" Undyne declares. Whatever; whoever it was, it couldn't have been that important. "Why don't you take the human with you? If these guys know you, they'll be safer with you than with me."
It's super-gratifying when the human looks disappointed at that. Actually, Alphys looks disappointed too. Not that Undyne cares about popularity, but it sure does feel nice to be liked so much.
"Hey, don't gimme those looks!" she adds, jabbing a finger at both of them. "Alphys, I'm trusting you with my bestie! And human, I'm trusting you with my girlfriend! Make sure you protect each other, got it?!"
They glance at each other, smile, and nod to her. At Alphys's direction, they first pick up the yellow keycard from under the sheets of one of the beds and the green keycard from a tub in a room to the north ("don't mind them, they just like to wave," Alphys reassures the other two). From there, they part ways, Undyne to the west with the yellow card, Alphys and the human to the southeast with the green.
Alphys still doesn't know what she thinks or how she feels about the human who, by now, she's 98% sure isn't the same human she's been watching travel through the ruins despite having the same body. That being said, she's pretty sure she doesn't dislike them or anything. No, actually, she thinks she likes them? It's hard to say since she barely knows them at all, but they ask thoughtful questions, they seem to like Mew Mew so far, and they ship her with Undyne hardcore. All laudable traits! It's because of that that she decided to tell the truth to both of them. And when Undyne told them they'd helped, they seemed genuinely happy. But... she doesn't know. She'd really like to ask them who they are, but she doesn't know how to breach the subject. Maybe, after she's finished telling the truth about herself, she can figure that out.
When they walk together through the mirrored hallway, the human stares at the potted flowers, slows and stops. Alphys stops several steps ahead of them, in the middle of a quiet explanation of her DT experiments and how she discovered that a human's determination is potent enough to fuel them for ages even on the brink of death. She blinks back at them.
"Is something the matter?" she wonders.
Slowly, they pick up one of the potted flowers. So does their reflection in the mirror behind them. "These flowers look familiar," they remark in an oddly neutral tone of voice.
"Um... Y-yes? You've probably seen them before," Alphys replies. She wonders why she feels so nervous all of a sudden. It's probably just her anxiety flaring up again, but... "Um. In... in Asgore's garden? But, um... they're also... originally from the surface."
The human says nothing. Their hair hangs over their face, obscuring their expression, but they pull the potted plant in a little closer as if to whisper a secret to it. "Why do you have so many of them here?"
"Oh, well," Alphys starts, and wonders if she should really go into this. It's not really relevant, even if it's part of the DT experiments, and... oh, who is she kidding? She's just scared. And why? They're just flowers. She takes a deep breath. She's committed herself to telling the truth. She has to say.
"I-it's all in these logs," she continues, gesturing at the screens on the wall. "I thought, to use the SOULs, we'd need a vessel, right? And I thought - what if you injected DT into something that doesn't have a SOUL? S-so, um... I thought... well, Asgore likes flowers, and... and, well, these became the part of the experiment," she concludes valiantly, or what passes for valiantly when it comes to her. She gestures at the long table, filled with golden flowers. "They're the, the, um, control cases. They don't d-do anything? They're just, um, normal flowers."
The human rubs their thumb along the rim of the pot as she speaks. When she finishes, they turn toward her, hugging the pot to their chest. "Dr. Alphys. Is there something you're not telling me...?"
Her throat goes dry, and she crosses her feet and hands, and her eyes dart away. Something about the way the human asked that... makes her really uncomfortable, and her nerves are screaming at her to run away, just run, the amalgamates will block the way if you really need them to - but no. She made the decision to tell the truth. She has to see it through. Undyne believes in her. She can't let that go to waste.
So she clutches her face and makes herself look up and forces a smile that threatens to crack her face in half. "Y-yeah," she rasps. "These flowers are normal, b-but... there was one. The f-first one, from the surface, that bloomed in Asgore's g-garden... a-after..." She lowers her eyes. "I-I didn't tell him I picked it to make into the vessel. I-I wanted it to be a surprise. B-but then..."
The human is staring down at the flowerpot in their arms. Their hair is still masking their expression. Their fingers are pale and tense.
"...the flower disappeared," she concludes.
BAM. Alphys flinches as the human slams a fist against the mirror next to them. Their other arm clutches the flowerpot, and they glare up at her with eyes full of murderous intent.
"It was you?" they rasp. "YOU did this to Asriel...?"
"H-huh?" Alphys squeaks.
They don't answer for a long moment. When it passes, they breathe out a long sigh and carefully let their hand slide away from the mirror.
"Sorry. Never mind," they murmur, no longer meeting her eyes. "I almost overreacted about something."
Alphys doesn't trust herself to speak. Claws clack together nervously on her hands and feet. At length, the human presses their hand to their miserably frowning face. Then they step over to the table and gently set the flowerpot back in place.
"Sorry," they repeat. "I'm really sorry about that." They turn back to her and hug their arms to their chest. "Let's get going, okay?"
"...O-okay," Alphys agrees. When they walk up next to her, they give her plenty of space, and she's glad for it.
The Reaper Bird is ahead. Alphys feeds them and pats their head and tells them she's sorry, same as every feeding. They warble sorrowfully and turn their astigmatic head towards the human, who stares back at them, but the Reaper Bird leaves them alone in favor of dinner.
While they're mid-feeding, the human creeps up next to her to stare at them up close. The look on their face is indescribable. Alphys wonders if they can pick out the individual monsters that make up the Reaper Bird, or if they've melted together too much for identification. But the human says nothing, and together they walk to the room at the end of the hall. It turns out that Alphys misremembered which color the slot was, though - it's blue, rather than green - and they have to backtrack. The Reaper Bird is gone by the time they leave.
Alphys clears her throat noisily as they head back. It sounds as awkward as it feels. "C-can I ask you something?"
The human makes a small sound. She's not sure if it means yes or no, but it at least shows they're listening. She thinks.
"Um... have you... have you ever done something that... that, um, you thought was the right thing at the time... b-but ended up hurting people instead?"
The human looks away from her to the row of potted flowers. "Sometimes I think the only thing I'm capable of, right or wrong, is hurting people."
Awwwkwaaarrrd. That 98% has just risen to 100%. She wonders if the human or whoever or whatever they are (though she has a solid hunch on that now) meant for her to catch on. She looks down, drums her claws on her chest, and shakily offers, "Y-you... didn't hurt me."
It takes her a few steps to realize they've stopped. She stops too and turns around to see them staring at her. Another few seconds pass before it occurs to her that she should maybe explain herself.
"I-I mean, y-you wanted to, didn't you? Just... just a minute ago. B-but you didn't."
Their eyes widen. Then they jerk their head away. "...You're surprisingly brave."
"H-huh? Me?"
"You really thought I wanted to hurt you, but you didn't run away. You just kept on like normal. You could've sicced the Reaper Bird on me, or sent me ahead and run away to get Undyne, but you didn't. You... trusted me."
Alphys glances to one side. "Was I... n-not supposed to?"
"No, that's not what I -" They cut themselves off, then look over at their reflection. Fingertips brush each other, real and image, and they lean their forehead on the mirror. "...Sorry. I've been saying a lot of weird stuff, haven't I. I-I think I'm just kind of... freaked out."
"I-it's okay," Alphys says, although she understands immediately that they're feeding her an excuse to make her think, or at least allow her to pretend, they're the human she knows. "But, um... if you've got anything you want to talk about... I-I mean! I don't want this to be a one-way friendship, y-you know?" She pauses at her own choice of words; then she plunges on: "You're trying your hardest to support me, so... if you're hurting... I can at least lend an ear. Okay?"
They smile. There's something profoundly sad about it. "Thanks. That's really nice of you." They shut their eyes; then they stand up straight, shoulders square, and look her in the eye. "But I'm fine. I'm here to help you out."
She still doesn't really understand why they're here or what they want, but... that convinces her. This must be why Sans thought it was okay to bring them to her in the first place. "Thanks. Um... D-don't worry about before. I-I was a little scared, but... but that's what happens when you tell the truth! You run the risk of people hating you... and... if you hated me enough for what I've done to want to kill me..." She lowers her eyes. "I'd understand."
"...You really are brave."
"N-no, not at all! I mean... if you and Undyne hadn't come with me, I might've... done something cowardly," she admits, shuffling her feet. "But I'm glad you came to back me up. That means a lot to me, no matter how angry you got."
At this, they avert their eyes and hug themselves. "Haha... Well, what do you expect? I'm only human."
Alphys stares at them for a moment. Then she offers a timid but sincere smile. "C'mon. Undyne's probably waiting for us already."
They wobble in place, then stumble a couple steps forward before regaining their balance and falling in line with her.
"Are you okay?" she asks as they walk together back to the bed hall.
"Yeah, my legs just went numb. It's too cold down here for me."
Is it that cold? Alphys wonders. But then, everybody has their different tolerances for temperature. And it is a bit chilly.
When Chara and Alphys enter the hallway to the north, they spot Undyne approaching from the east. The moment she sees them, she rushes over and spins Alphys into a bear hug. Alphys squeaks but doesn't protest. Chara smiles a little to watch it, shifting their weight as they keep their hands stuffed in their pockets.
"Oh man, I was so worried about you guys!" She sets Alphys down and looks between her and Chara. "I saw a couple more of those melty-monsters, and, uh... I saw a few I recognized in the crowd. Shyren's sister... The Dog Squadron's parents and cousins..." She frowns. "I have to admit... it was real sobering to realize, wow, these were people I know. No wonder you thought you had to keep it a secret all this time."
Alphys nods, eyes down but shoulders up. "But that's all over today. Um... Did you get the last keycard?"
"No, but I found the yellow slot," she replies. "I got to the end of the hall but it was full of fog, so I backtracked and found this video room with a slot, so yeah, that's taken care of. Then I went the other way and found a room full of fans, and when I turned 'em on, I, uh, got jumped by Greater Dog's extended family."
"Good thing you had dog food on you," Chara remarks.
"Actually, I was out by then, but it turns out that when you melt a bunch of dogs together, they're still basically... a dog?" Undyne replies. "So I just had to, like, throw a spear for them to fetch, give 'em a belly rub, tell 'em what good boys and girls they were, and that was fine."
"That's awfully peaceful of you," Chara remarks. "Let me guess: you intended to attack, but your spear missed and they fetched it for you?"
"Hrk!" She bares a toothy, twitchy grin. "Good... guess, punk!"
"Undyne, you know they won't hurt you," Alphys says, frowning.
"Hey, I wasn't trying to hurt them, I was just trying to get them to back off!" Undyne protests. "And it all worked out in the end, right? So anyway, I haven't found that last keycard yet. I was just about to look again for it." She jabs a thumb down the hall. "By the way, what's on those tapes? There's a bunch piled up next to the TV."
"Oh, those," Alphys says, resting a hand on her cheek. "Um, did you read the vid-note?"
"No, 'cuz I'm not a nerd!"
She sighs, but with a rueful half-smile. "Well, I found them while I was, uh... snooping around the castle? Doing research on humans, I mean. But, um... well, I don't think King Asgore has seen these tapes, and I don't think he should..."
"Why not?" Chara asks.
"It's sort of... difficult to explain. And, um, pretty disturbing. It's not really relevant to why we're down here, though... Since Undyne already finished up business in that room, we can just ignore them if you guys want."
Chara looks from Alphys to Undyne. "I'm curious."
Undyne folds her arms. "I'm kinda curious, too. All right, let's have a look."
Chara grins. There's nothing quite like having someone you respect have the same opinion as you. The three of them head to the video room, and when they arrive, Alphys puts the first tape into the VCR and presses play.