Flower Finder Arc Chapter 29:


Frisk found an old door completely flush with the wall right where Sans had thought it was. She pushed it open slowly and a small burst of dust caught her in the face. She coughed, wiped her eyes, and then took a look around inside. What opened before her was a wide room filled with bookshelves, aligned like a maze and covered in binders, notebooks, and scientific reference materials. There were a few desks in there, too. The closest one was covered in loose, stacked papers and had two mugs on it and an old ashtray filled with paperclips.

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She curiously peeked around, and though she was excited to find so many old books, they weren't her concern right this second. There were two other doors at the back of the room. There was also one more near them, but on the west wall. She scooted around all the bookshelves and took a quick peek. That door on her left— it was just barely ajar. Hurriedly, Frisk went down there, and found that it was a long hallway. At the end, though, there was a door with a small window in the upper portion. She could see a faint glimmer of light through it. She grinned and ran for it, and then tried to push it open. It was heavy, but it opened slowly.

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There he was, in the only ray of light, just like he had shown her. Someone had hung a warm flashlight from the ceiling. Asriel was under a clear, shiny box with a few air holes in the top, sitting in a small flowerpot. His captor had been nice enough to leave him with a bowl of water, some chips, and what looked like an MTT magazine.

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"Asriel!" she said brightly.

He looked up quickly with surprise and an expression of relief washed over his face. "Y-You…?!" He straightened up and moved closer to the glass. "How did you find me?!"

"Hang on," she said. She checked the box for a lid, or a door, but found nothing. She grimaced and tried to grab the corners. It hurt her hands.

"Uh, hello?" Asriel said.

"Oh, um… The dream, right?" Frisk said, smiling a bit. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were connected to us, too."

"What the hell are you…?" His eyes went wide. "No no no, wait, you can't be serious, right?! That was real?!"

"Yeah." She pushed up on the corners. It was way heavier than it looked. She grimaced and tried again. It was sharp; they were cutting into her hands. She winced, then pulled back and used her sleeves to protect her palms. She tried once, pushing up. She could only manage a little crack but she couldn't hold it and it slammed down again.

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"Dang it," she said. "D-Don't worry! I'll get you out!"

"Why bother?" he asked. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"What?! No, of course not," she said.

He tilted his head. He grinned. "You're so stupid. And now I can get into your head, huh?"

"Actually, that's probably nothing new," she said. "Sans mostly controls them sub… um… subconsciously? I think that's the right word."

"Oh." He looked disappointed.

Frisk snickered. She paced, brow furrowed, thinking hard. "Oh! I know. Hang on, okay?"

"Not like I have a choice."

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Frisk scampered from the room and jogged back down the hall until her way was blocked rather unceremoniously by a lurching, pale frame.

"Oh!" She drew back and looked up in the one-eyed, birdlike face of an amalgamate blinking down at her. "Hi there! You okay?"

They didn't answer, but lowered their long, somewhat graceful neck and the huge eye stared back into her. She remembered the chips in her pocket and smiled and took out the bag and popped it open.

"Here," she said, offering it, "take it, have a snack and relax, huh?"

The limbs that somewhat resembled wings slowly took the bag away from her and delicately ate one of the chips. "Thaaaank…" they replied. They moved off slowly on small, tip-toeing talons, and disappeared into one of the other empty rooms beyond the book cases.

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Frisk hurried on her way, peeking through doors until she saw Papyrus. He was in the room where Frisk remembered there being a large TV and shelves of old tapes, but for the moment, there were also some bookshelves and a table in there. The amalgam of dogs was leaning on him and he was absently patting their neck as he looked through some of the books on a table.

"Paps!" she called. "Can you help?"

"Oh! Sure thing, what's the problem?" He turned quickly to look at her. "Oh my god, did you find him?"

She nodded and he gave a final pat to the mass of dogs and hurried to her side.

"Lead the way!"

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Frisk took him in a hurry to the room where Asriel was stuck and, as soon as he saw, Papyrus got the point. He made straight for the box.

"Not to worry, this won't be a—" He grabbed it and pushed it up. "Whoa jeez that's way heavier than it looks, who did this?"

"How should I know? They put me in a bag," Asriel grumbled.

"Just wait one second," he said. He took a step back, cracked his knuckles, and then grabbed the awkward box in a bear hug and lifted it straight up.

Frisk rushed to grab Asriel's pot and hurried him away as Papyrus tossed the box onto the ground and it cracked tile and stuck downwards into the earth.

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They all looked at it with shock.

"…I thought that it was glass," Frisk said in awe.

"Nope. No, definitely not," Papyrus said with a laugh. He knelt down to look at Frisk and Asriel with a grin. "You're alright now, little guy. Getting into trouble, huh?"

"…I guess you could say that," Asriel grumbled.

"Are you okay?" Frisk asked.

"Fine," he said. "Now what are you going to do with me?"

"Well, first," Papyrus said, gently taking the flowerpot from Frisk and putting him back up on the table, "let's take a look at those bruises."

Asriel looked surprised, and he recoiled when Papyrus's eyes and fingertips glowed with magic.

"What are you—?!" His words fell short when the tall skeleton gently touched the side of his head, where there were some discolouration and bent petals. "…Oh."

"Nothing to worry about!" Papyrus assured him. "I, the great Papyrus, am here to help! Trust me."

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Asriel seemed to lose his bite for a few moments, going a little limp in Papyrus's glow. Frisk watched with fascination as the bruising vanished and his damaged petals returned to normal. Frisk smiled up at Papyrus, and he drew back from Asirel, his magic dimming.

"There you go, better?" he asked.

Asriel looked up at him in silence for a few moments. He glowered and his eyes seemed to flicker red. "You just made a mistake. If you really knew about me, then—"

"Oh! I know all about you," Papyrus assured him with a smile.

Asriel frowned. He tilted his head; looked like the cogs were turning in his mind but not quite connecting, like he was still missing a piece. "But… you're still helping me," he said blankly.

"Yes, of course!" Papyrus said.

Asriel looked between him and Frisk, his frown deepening. "I… I can't understand."

Frisk smiled sympathetically and stood on her toes to pull him back down, putting her arms tight around the flowerpot.

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"Things are gonna be just fine," she assured him.

"You. Are. An. Idiot," he said.

Frisk laughed and carried him over to that crack in the ground. "Hey, bro, could you break this floor up just a bit?"

"What are you doing?" Asriel asked.

Papyrus leaned over curiously and squinted down at the tiny bit of the mountain through the tiles. He gently pushed the kid aside and then his magic casually smashed up the tiles with oversized femurs. Frisk stuck her thumb up and then knelt down. She held out the flower to let him have a good look.

"What do you think, can you get out of here?" she asked Asriel.

"…What?" he asked.

"Is this enough ground?" she asked.

"What, you're letting me go?!" he demanded.

Frisk nodded and Papyrus knelt down to gently pat him on the head.

"Of course we are!" Papyrus assured him. "We came here to let you out. Obviously."

Asriel stared. He frowned. He grimaced. Frisk tried not to laugh and she reached into the earth around him. It stung. She forgot about those cuts on her hands. She ignored them and lifted Asriel out of the pot— felt his roots cling to her reflexively, and she put him on the ground.

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"Is that okay?" she asked.

"You're gonna regret this," he said.

"Oh, I'm sure," she said with a smile. "See you later."

He looked confused, but he didn't ask any more. He ducked back underground and vanished completely.

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"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the flowerbed today," Papyrus said.

Frisk snickered. "Nice one."

"…I am spending too much time with Sans," he said.

"Nah, just enough," she said "I'm glad we found him." She got up and brushed her hands off on her pants, wincing.

Papyrus gently lifted one of her hands in his. He tsked quietly. "Oh, Frisky-wisky," he said gently. There was something weird about his voice.

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For a moment, his expression was strange— calm, smiling, but with a sort of reservation that didn't suit his face at all. His eyes didn't look right. Black— not as they normally were, but so black it was like looking into that abyss of an obsidian lake. It only lasted a fraction of a second, though, because he looked normal again before Frisk could even properly process it.

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"Just as I suspected! Bleeding again!" he said with a frown. "Frisk, you should really be more careful. If you need to lift weird pointy things, come to me first, okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she agreed.

"Now, I think I saw… Ah!" He lifted her up with a grin and bounded down the hallway.

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He brought her to the room with a few sinks and examination tables in it and she washed her hands of dirt, but there was more blood along with it than she had expected.

"Aw man," she grumbled.

"Not to worry." He carried her over to the tables and sat on the closest one with her, taking her hands in his and starting to heal her wounds. "It must be so frustrating to have skin on your hands. It's so easily damaged."

"Tell me about it," she said. She watched the cuts close up— it was very quick, almost exponentially so.

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"Yo." Sans was leaning against the doorframe. "Mission accomplished, huh?"

"Yup! Back on track," Frisk said with a smile.

"I like how lettin' him win is back on track," Sans said.

"Hah. Yep," she said. "Also, Papyrus is amazing."

"What else is new?" Sans asked with a grin.

"Look!" She held up her hands. "I goofed up my hands again. How long was that? Like, two minutes?"

"Well, I wasn't counting, but I do think I'm getting pretty adept!" he said proudly.

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Sans beamed. He sauntered over to take a look and checked her palms. "No scars."

"Not even one!" She grinned. "So, you find anything?"

"Nothin' relevant," he said. "Comin'?"

"Yup!" Frisk said. "There's like, a million books in that hidden room."

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As they were about to leave, Big Dog and several other amalgamate monsters blocked the way.

"Hi, guys!" Frisk said brightly.

"Where's the contest?" Lemons demanded.

Big Dog nuzzled up to Frisk quickly, but then circled their body snugly around Papyrus. He laughed.

"Oh. Well. You know what? Maybe I'll just hang out with these guys a little?" Papyrus said. "You know. Keep them. Here. Instead of. There? And we will, um, deal with the whole light thing soon. Behind that big door, right?"

"Yep!" Frisk said.

He grinned and patted Big Dog on the head. "I bet you all would love to hear some fantastic stories about, me, the great Papyrus, and my many adventures! And we can have some snacks, and YES, Lemons, we will flex, it will be good." Papyrus grinned. "Let's go to that room with all the beds, right? You guys would like that, I think! Follow me!"

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He walked out confidently and all of the other monsters followed him out like ducklings after their mother. Sans laughed.

"And Alphys was worried about it," Frisk said with a smile.

"Hilarious," Sans agreed. "Let's go, I guess."

Frisk nodded and she followed him out of the room. "So that one's name is Lemons?"

"Dunno."

"Then why'd he call them Lemons?" Frisk asked with a laugh.

"I called them Lemons, 'cause they sorta smell like that lemon loaf cake thing," he said. "Gotta call 'em something, right?"

"Oooh… Hey, you're right, actually," she said.

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They went through that room of beds, passing Papyrus doing what looked to be a flex-off with Lemons. He seemed to have attracted close to every amalgamate monster that lived in the place. Sans grinned rather proudly.

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He and Frisk continued back into that room she had opened up. Sans seemed pleased to see it there. Then, he noticed the number of books. His posture drooped. Frisk snickered.

"Tired already?"

"Tired since we got here," he said.

Frisk smiled sympathetically and gave him a hug. He snickered.

"Careful, kid, I'm just gonna clock out." He patted her head. "Thanks."

"Mhm!" She gave him a squeeze and then turned to look at the shelves with a combination of wonder and apprehension. "Sure are a lot, huh? Does…? Does it matter if I can't actually read it?"

"Nah. Just pile up anything with writing in it," he said.

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They went to work, skimming through book after book— notebooks, binders, sheets of paper left scattered. Some were covered in math, written by a shaky hand. Alphys maybe. Frisk found some notes that were also clearly in Sans's handwriting, but they also weren't what they were looking for. Some of them were just notes for coffee runs. Strange. Like the place had been disrupted midday or something. She made a pile anyway.

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"Hey," she said. "Wanna know something kinda great?"

"Sure," Sans said.

"So… So we found Az, right? And he's being, um…"

"Abrasive?"

"Huh?"

"A jerk," Sans said.

"Oh! Yeah, you know, super grump," Frisk said. "And… And you know what Papyrus says?"

"What?"

"He says, guess he woke up on the wrong side of the flowerbed."

"Pffft!" Sans started to laugh. "Oh shit. Sorry I missed it."

"Yeah, thought you'd like that," Frisk said with a grin.

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She used a chair to reach some of the higher shelves. One of the binders she pulled down had a few loose printed emails in it. One of them was math. A long chain of numbers, and equations. At the bottom, "what do you two think?" Into the pile it went.

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Another email sheet looked like a conversation between two people:

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"Hey, so I know you went home for the night, but I stayed a little late and I reviewed your diagrams. The simulation is still running, so I know it's early, but I'm counting at least thirty now that end in just nothing? Is that normal? It looks pretty bad, honestly. I know you said it would. If time really splits like that, isn't there anything we can do?"

"thanks for checkin. i don't know yet. workin on it. did you see the looping ones?"

"I did! What the heck does all that mean? I'm worried this stuff might be a bit too complicated for me tbh."

"nah you're doin good. its when time bends around the anomaly. i don't know how yet. getting a bit concerned. i've only found one so far that doesn't do any crazy crap. we'll see."

"No thoughts on a cause yet?"

"magic prbably, still unclear. going to bed, thx for looking"

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Under all that printed text was Sans's handwriting. "she saw it too"

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Between him and Alphys, Frisk guessed. She added it to the pile. There was a sudden, heavy thunking sound in the walls. Frisk jumped. Emergency lights lining the ceiling turned on with a fizzing sound, and so too did one of the computers, lighting up the room with a pale white glow. The hall lights just outside the room had come on all the way, giving them a little extra to see by as well.

"About time," Sans said.

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Frisk grinned and went back to the papers. A few more pages of nothing. Equations she couldn't understand. She found a page on light grey that had messages again. Three people this time. Sans and Alphys, and someone else.

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"Dark darker yet darker the darkness keeps growing the shadow cutting deeper photon readings negative this next experiment seems very interesting… what do you two think?"

"i think you need to find a thesaurus lol"

"Are you okay? Jeez you sound totally exhausted? No offence but your message didn't make a lot of sense. Are you still in the lab, do you want me to bring you something? coffee?"

"i think he's asleep he hasn't replied in like 3 hours"

"Oh my god should I go back and check?"

"nah. get some rest. he does this a lot lol"

"Okay, if you're sure, then I'm going to bed too, good night! See you guys at work tomorrow."

"Oh my god, sorry, yes, that was unclear. I believe I started the sentence a few times and forgot to delete. The photon readings were, in fact, negative though. It seems like this outcome might be multiplying. Any input would be great!"

"lol good job. yeah it's a lot like i thought. this might get bad."

"Don't worry so much, I'm sure there's a way to break through it. Don't forget about the red line, after all. It's important. Can I count on you two to give me a hand in a few hours?"

"it's 3am go to bed, i don't want more creepy dark darker darkness dark dark emails lol"

"Ha! You're right, of course. I appreciate you looking out for me. I'll leave soon."

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The email chain ended. Frisk put it in the pile. She looked at them with confusion. Sans didn't remember writing much of those emails. But then again, they probably didn't make a huge impression. That was like asking her to remember every text she'd ever sent, wasn't it?

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She felt a hand affectionately ruffle her hair. She turned, expecting to see Sans, but no one was there. She could see him at the other end of the room, fiddling with a dusty old computer. A chill crept across her skin. She hurriedly scampered over to him.

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"Sans?" she asked. "You're not foolin' around, are you?"

"Hm?" He gave her a look of genuine confusion. "What's that, kiddo?"

"Oh. N… Nothing," she said. "Sorry."

"No, seriously," he said.

"I… think there's a ghost or something in here maybe?" she said. "Someone just rubbed my head and nobody was there, though."

"Oh. Well. Just stick close, then?" he said with a shrug. "I mean, there could be. Who knows? Find anything?"

"Old work emails between you and Alphys," she said. "That's about it."

"Oh. Right. You know, back in the day, our servers actually really sucked," he said. "Crashed all the time. Lost everything. Had to get in the habit of printin' the emails for whatever project we were doin'. So you'll probably find a lot around."

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She stuck close to him as he browsed through a computer that was, pretty clearly, Alphys's at some point. He fished a little portable drive from his pocket and plugged it in, and started moving things off.

"Hey. You mind?" he asked, gesturing to the computer. "I'll keep at it with the books."

"Oh. Um. Okay. N-No problem."

He stared at her for a few seconds, then gently patted her head, a little tingle of blue through his fingers reassuring her. "Spooked, huh? Don't worry. I'm like, three feet away."

"Right. Right right," she said. She folded her arms.

Sans tried not to laugh. He gave her a hug. She slumped.

"Th-Thanks."

"Mhm."

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He moved away and patted her shoulder, and then went to some of the books. He seemed to be mostly pulling reference material rather than any notebooks. She checked one of the ones Sans had tossed onto the desk. It was blank. She headed for the computer and started dragging folders onto the drive. It was slow and boring.

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After a few minutes, she accidentally clicked on one. Saw in there a folder just labeled "FF". Suspecting what it might be, Frisk paused for a moment. She considered her options and then clicked on it.

"She… She wrote fanfiction on her work computer?" she asked.

"What else are you gonna do when you gotta wait like four hours for test results?" Sans joked. "Doesn't surprise me a bit."

"Yeah, but… there's a lot in here," Frisk said. "King of My Heart. Part one and two? Ooh. Dances in Crystal Lights. Askenseeon? Love Beyond the Barrier. The Fish Queen? Goo-ardian of Waterfalls? His Blue Soul!? Hey, I bet that one's about you."

Sans slid back over to peek over her shoulder. "Ascension. Second one was guardian. Don't, uh… Don't open those, they're probably not, uh, age appropriate."

"Just a peek?" she asked. She looked back over her shoulder.

His face was a little flushed, but he looked curious. She hovered the mouse over the document and grinned.

"Ehhh?"

"…Okay, okay. Do it."

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She opened it. It started with a synopsis, which she read aloud dramatically. "Two scientists thrust together in a lab of emoty… oh! emotions. One, a shy but somewhat brilliant mecha… Meck-a… what the heck is that word?"

"Mechanist."

"Thanks. MECHANIST. The other, a-band-oned from birth, trying to make the world right. With time travel. What tragic irony that such a sad soul would have a face stuck in a grin. If only there were someone out there who could soothe HIS BLUE SOUL. In all caps."

"Oh come on," Sans laughed. "I'm not mopey enough that I crossed over into tragic irony, am I?"

"I dunno, what's irony mean?" she asked.

"It's kind of like sarcasm," he said. "When something is the opposite of what it seems."

She looked at him thoughtfully and put her chin on her hand. "Maybe a few months ago," she said. "Not so much now. Or back then, I guess."

"Knew it," he said with a laugh. "Guess we should give these back to her."

"…I kinda want to read it," she said.

"No you don't," he said; she gave him a confused look. "I'll explain when you're older."

"Aw."

"Trust me."

"Okay okay." She closed the document, backed out of the folder and then copied it to the USB drive. "I think this is almost done, at least."

"Cool. I got nothin'. Just some of Alphys's old junk. Not super relevant."

"Dang it," Frisk said. "Keep going?"

"Unfortunately."

She snickered and he patted her head and slipped off.

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When she finished up at the computer, she ran to the next one. There were four in the room, but the next closest one wouldn't boot up. Neither would the next one. The one at a desk farthest from them did, though. There wasn't much on it, but Frisk took it anyway.

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As she was waiting for the files to move, she took note of a small, grey notebook on the desk. It wasn't as dusty as some of the other stuff, and the fact that it was out made her think maybe someone else had looked at it recently. She picked it up. Inside it looked somewhat like a journal. She began to read it. Looked like some of the words were kind of tough, but she was pretty sure she could get the gist of it.

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Entry 001 — I'm recording this mostly for posterity. Don't want to make the same mistakes twice, right? I suppose it might also be useful to see where my head was at if this fails. Full logs with technicals over in F-11820. Research has been making leaps since the last acquisition of a human soul. I'm feeling a bit more confident about this. Used as much of the human substance,"determination", as I felt comfortable with. It makes my bones feel shaky. Strange, isn't it? The humans are made of the stuff, and yet if I have miscalculated, I will no longer be able to sustain my form. To be honest, I am nervous, but at this point, I have little to lose. If I fail, someone else may continue my research in another fashion, but if I succeed, we may be free, no more human souls required. Either way, if this prevents more fighting, I'll be happy, at least.

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Entry 002 — It's been a week since the injections. No negative side effects apparent. My "determination" has levelled out so far, so I'm proceeding as planned. I've separated a piece of myself. Hoping it does what we theorized. It's a bit odd to be my own guinea pig in this, but I wouldn't dare risk anyone else's safety. But, aside from that, this is much quicker than trying to find someone else compatible with these levels. Waiting for results is a tad annoying, but excuses to have tea with Asgore are always welcome. The new subtraction will take a little getting used to. However, I'm sure there are several uses for it that could be humer humorous.

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Entry 003 — It reformed. Shape is holding nicely. I'm elated. Honestly, I wasn't sure we'd ever even get as far as this. Injected it until it turned blue, but then the colour reverted to white. Not sure what that means. Absorption, maybe? Still waiting and testing. Entering new territory here. So far all my calculations have been correct, but still, something unexpected could happen. Such is the nature of new sciences, after all. Readings occasionally fluctuate, but all together, it seems to be going smoothly. Hoping for good things!

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Entry 004 — I realized when I nearly dropped a mug today that there may have, in fact, been a few side effects. I saw it (or maybe felt it is more accurate?) and then prevented it. Very interesting. I've asked one of the interns to start surprising me while I'm

The intern has surprised me. Though I was still startled, I was able to predict the surprise tennis ball from the second intern. Fascinating. Though, I am noting a slight headache now. I will continue to test myself and see if this is simply a coincidence or not.

REMINDER — Treat the interns to something eventually

also learn the interns' names you numbskull

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The next entry was started a few times, then scribbled out. One of them, Frisk could almost make out the words "I made a" but then there was too much black ink to peer through. She found the real next entry on the following page.

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Entry 005 — Things have changed. Initial experiment was a complete failure. Cannot replicate a human soul in this manner. I'll need to adjust my formulas to account for this. However, a secondary experiment has come to light in a very interesting way. I never expected The replica soul shattered its container and has formed, instead, into an infant. Found it on the floor in the glass. It cracked its head, but the damage was easily repaired, for the most part. Maybe it's foolish, but I'm already a little attached. However, with such high levels of "determination" inside it, it pains me to say that I doubt it will survive for very long. I will do my best to make it comfortable.

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The next entry wasn't marked with numbers. It was in a different pen, smudged in places, too. Just a few words, then crossed out with heavy scribbles. Below that was a big arrow drawn to it in red. Beside it was scrawled: HA! good job panicking, you idiot.

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Entry 006 — Human soul replication on hold. Possibly permanently. Okay with me, to be honest. Research is now focussed on the child. Sweet little thing, not showing any negative side effects from the injections. Strange readings, though. The injury he sustained when he was born hatched? created born doesn't seem to have any lasting consequences other than cosmetically, which is a huge relief, but I'll have to keep monitoring his condition. His hum, his sound, the shape of it was very clear to me the moment he started making noise, so, naturally, I named him accordingly. Check proper log S-11419 for reference and sketch of the full waveform. Asgore seems completely sidetracked. Does't seem to care about the failure. Just wants to play with the child. Lucky me. He is a good babysitter. It's always come natural to him. I, on the other hand, still have much to learn. After all this, I feel like I could sleep for a year. And yet, my dreams are strange. Increasingly so. We'll see. Not sure how much time I'll have for paying attention to that now, though.

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Entry 007 — Just realized I have no idea what my son can do. He's only a few weeks old and he's already using magic. It's really quite amazing. His control is precise and strong enough to hold small objects. Might have to delay further, rigorous tests until he's older, though. He's physically very fragile despite his magical aptitude. I've continued to try to repair the right eye, but I've been unsuccessful despite my best efforts. I may try once or twice more, but I suspect the damage is done. However, as long as he's not in pain and his vision is not impaired, I suppose it's not all that significant. Still, I'm impressed. I'll have to wait and see where this goes. I am a little concerned though, as it seems like he may be prone to headaches. I wonder if he sees Side note, Asgore made him a sweater. It's very cute. These are really not very good notes, are they? I'll discontinue these entries, new ones of more merit (hopefully) will be back in F-11820 and S-11419. I doubt I'll have much time for a journal anyway.

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Frisk stared blankly at the notebook. She flipped a couple pages. It was empty except for a nonsense doodle in the margins on a random back page. She turned to look at Sans and his illuminated left eye, feeling a strange, sinking feeling inside her.

.

"Sans?" she asked. "Why doesn't your right eye light up?"

"Dunno, never has," he said. "Why?"

"This, um… This book I found? It's a bit complicated but… I think it talks about a… a… kid? Came out of a soul or something? And a right eye that got messed up?"

Sans turned and gave her a confused look. She held out the grey notebook. He opened it, flipped through quickly, and then looked at her like she was nuts.

"It's blank," he said.

"What? No it's not, gimme that." She snatched it back to show him the right page, but, to her shock, it really was completely blank. "What?! Oh no no no, ghost book! GHOST BOOK! What the heck?!"

"Kiddo, you okay?" he asked.

"No, no no no, that's weird. Okay. Okay." She took a deep breath. "I'm not nuts, I swear."

"Relax," Sans said, trying not to laugh. "Weird magic stuff happens sometimes. What did it say?"

"Um… Um… Oh, I'm forgetting. Why am I forgetting?" she said. "Gimme a pen!"

He had one in his pocket and she quickly flipped through the book. She found that weird doodle again and she began to write as quickly as she could.

"Um… Umm… Soul vessel. Human souls. Trying to… Trying to what? Make one? Took a piece of… themselves? Became a soul? Lots of determination. Erm… Kid came out of it instead. Cute sweater."

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She felt a headache come on hard and fast, and she had to turn away, rubbing her temples. She was breathing hard and shaking. Sans held her gently and put a hand on her head. His magic was comforting— stilled her nerves, but the headache still throbbed.

"I don't remember what I read at all," she said quietly. "Oh man, that's weird… That is super weird and I don't like it."

"Huh." Sans went to the book. His eyes skimmed it quickly. "Then maybe you shouldn't look at this."

"Why?"

"Well…" He smiled sideways.

She turned around as he tore the page out and handed it to her. It was all written in symbols, but it was definitely her hand writing. The doodle in the corner looked, now, like a cartoony Gaster Blaster.

"I'm gonna throw up," she said.

"Gross," Sans said. "Looks like… Nope. You just wrote what you said. Somethin' about someone trying to make another soul out of a piece of themselves. Interesting in theory, I guess? Too bad your ghost book is written in invisible ink."

Frisk just stared back at him, shaking. His expression turned sympathetic.

"You… You really can't remember what you read?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"That's okay. I can't remember where I got that page," he said.

Frisk stared at it blankly and he folded it roughly to put it in his pocket. "…Me neither. I just… I just know I feel… weird. Ugh. Maybe we could get out of here for a bit?"

"Yeah. Let's get Papyrus," he said.

xXxXx

"So then, my brother tells me, no, I used rigatoni, and it was supposed to be ravioli, no wonder trying to stuff them was a nightmare! So then, here I am, left with a pile of rigatonis stuffed with whatever nonsense I had, and let me tell you, it was foul. I mean, really awful! And I felt terrible! And you know what my brother does? He eats the whole thing and pretends he liked it! And that's the last time I made stuffed pasta."

.

Papyrus's story seemed to have all the amalgamate monsters calmed and attentive when Sans and Frisk returned. The huge, congealed mass of dogs lay across his legs on one of the beds as he talked and Mrs. Snowdrake sat closest, letting out a slow, but fond, laugh.

"Nice… story…" she said quietly.

"I thought so, too," Papyrus said with a laugh. "Hey, look at all of you, you're looking better already."

"Not too bad. Not too bad," Lemons admitted.

.

"Hey, guys!" Frisk said. She received some pleased, if not garbled responses, and the giant dog-like beast bounded over to her and put the whole weight of their neck on her shoulder as she started to pet them.

"Hello, siblings!" Papyrus said brightly. "How goes? Any progress?"

"Frisk found a weird magic something that erases memories," Sans said with a shrug.

"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus rushed over and lifted her up to look her in the face. "Do you remember who you are?! DO YOU REMEMBER WHO I AM?!"

"Papyrus, not like that!" she said with a laugh. "It didn't steal any memories."

"Ooooh thank god," he sighed.

"It was just… I can't really explain it," she said. "I… I just don't want to be in that room right now."

.

"Oh… O-Oh, I'm sorry." Alphys awkwardly waved at them as she and Undyne drew closer from up the east hallway. "I-Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all, Doctor!" Papyrus said.

"Good job, punks," Undyne said.

Sans gave Alphys their small pile of stuff when she got close. Then, also, the note from his pocket.

"Oh. Um. I c-can't read th-that," she said. "That's… Th-That's an old skeleton sc-script, right?"

"It's a what?!" Frisk asked shrilly.

"Don't worry," Sans said. "Paps or I can translate."

"Sans, why am I writing like an old skeleton?!" Frisk demanded.

"I dunno."

"Oh my god." She put her hands on her head. "I need a nap."

"I hear that," he said.

"Wait, what's going on now?" Undyne asked.

"Tell you later," Sans said. "Doc, pretty sure we've covered most of it."

"D-Did, um…? D-Did you go a-all the way down?" she asked.

"What, is there much more?" Papyrus asked.

.

Alphys looked nervous. She tented her fingers. "N-No, you know what, i-it's okay. W-We… We can do this l-later. D-Did you… end up finding Asriel?"

"Oh! Yep! Let him out," Frisk said. "He said he didn't know who caught him though."

Alphys's face paled a little. Undyne patted her shoulder.

"It's not your fault," she said.

"Of course it's not her fault!" Papyrus said. "It's not like SHE kidnapped him and put him under a weird giant heavy crystal box thing that cuts hands and—"

"W-Wait, what?!" Alphys demanded. "Where was he?!"

"Um, the room on the right of that big hidden room full of books and stuff," Frisk said.

Alphys frowned a little. She rubbed her forehead. Sans met her eyes and her cheeks flushed.

.

"So, what were you sayin', Doc?" he said.

"Oh! O-Oh, nothing, i-it can wait," she said.

"Really? I'd maybe like to get it out of the way," Frisk said.

"Oh! O-Oh. Well… It's just… um…" She hesitated, and Undyne nudged her with her elbow. "Okay, okay. It's just th-that, when I was thinking about it, I r-remembered there was an, um… a-another elevator. T-To down below. It's… It's old though. N-Nobody's used it in forever. In fact, I d-don't think I ever used it. A-And it might be a little broken, but… b-but if there's any stuff that's untouched, i-it'd be down there. I think."

"So you want us to go," Sans said.

"W-We could all g-go if you w-want, but—"

"I have a much better idea!" Papyrus announced. "These pale pals have expressed to me that they are feeling a bit hungry, actually! So! How about! Doctor Alphys, perhaps you could start preparing food for everyone annnnnnd Undyne and I will make sure Sans and Frisk reach the basement safely and then join them to cover the most ground. If this elevator really is that old, the two of them— aside from you, Doctor— are the smallest, so it will be easiest to help them out if something goes wrong. What do you think?"

"Well… A-Actually… I w-wouldn't mind that," Alphys said.

"I'm okay with that," Frisk said.

Sans nodded. Undyne shrugged.

"Guess so," she agreed. "So, uh, where the heck is this?"

"It's actually, just, um…" Alphys wandered across the room to the east side and pushed along the walls until a small section budged. "H-Here."

.

Undyne walked up and pushed it. It was a little stuck. She rammed it with her shoulder and the place gave way to a small hallway. It was still dark except emergency lights, pulsing faintly red along the ceiling.

"Ooh, spooky," Frisk said.

"Scared?" Sans said.

Frisk smiled, nerves clear despite the glitter in her eyes. "W-Well… Actually. It's kind of exciting to see a thing like this, right?"

"Welp. Hope so," Sans said.

"K-Keep your phones on, okay?" Alphys asked.

"Absolutely we will," Papyrus assured her.

.

Papyrus waved goodbye to his new amalgamate friends and Frisk latched onto the starlight in the corner of the room just before they went down the hallway. It was much longer than any of them expected, and when they reached the elevator at the back, it did look quite old. Like an outdated model or something of that sort.

"Okay," Undyne said. "You two shorties first?"

"Guess so," Sans said, "if this junk even works."

"Well, there's a little light on," Papyrus pointed out. He pressed on the only button beside the door and they parted, revealing a normal level of light that was so bright it hurt their eyes.

The inside, other than that, was a little decrepit. Not entirely naturally. More like someone had smashed it up a little at some point. Or had spilled corrosive chemicals.

.

Frisk scampered inside. Sans hesitated and she ran back, grabbed his hand, and pulled him in.

"Okay! Guess we'll see if this goofs up," Frisk said. "See you soon!"

"Be careful," Papyrus said.

She stuck her thumbs up. Sans waved. She pushed the button and the doors clunked shut.

.

The old elevator creaked and complained, but began to move slowly downward, building speed a little as it went. Frisk covered her ears. It sounded like a train rocketing right by her ears.

.

The elevator came to an abrupt and jarring halt, the lights fizzling to nothing as the two inside toppled around. Sans found himself on his back somewhere.

"Owww!" Frisk whined from somewhere else in the dark. "You okay?"

"Yeah." He sat up. "Can't see a thing. Oh wait." He lit up his eye and saw Frisk stumbling out of the corner.

She looked dazed and put a hand against her head.

"Sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Think I cut myself," she said. She checked her forearm and made a face. "Whoops."

"You alright?" he asked as he stood.

She nodded, but quickly pulled her sleeve down. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her to check. There was a gash almost all the way from her elbow to her wrist. A little deep, and it was bleeding.

"Hurts?" he asked.

"Not much," she said. "Don't touch it, it'll just get everywhere."

"Too late." He raised his hand and showed her darker blotches that marred his bones. "Oops."

"Gross," she laughed.

"It's coming out of you," he said.

"Gross!" she said again.

"We should probably pause, huh?" he said. "That's looks real bad."

"Nah, it's okay, it doesn't hurt," she said. "I'll be fine. Besides. We're already down here, right?"

.

She looked up and around the small container. She patted the walls until she found where the doors met and stuck her fingers into it. She tugged, but nothing moved at all. Her brow furrowed and she looked back at Sans. "So are we stuck?" she asked.

Sans shrugged. He looked around and found an emergency button near the floor numbers and kicked it. There was a heavy groaning sound and the doors parted maybe an inch.

"Great." He cut his eyes at Frisk. "What d'you think, just blast it?"

Her face lit up. "Yeah!" she cheered.

.

He grabbed her and pulled her against the back wall, and from nowhere, a huge monstrous skull appeared in front of them, maw already agape. He counted down from three on his fingers as energy built up in the back of its head, lighting the whole room like a spotlight for just an instant before it released on his cue, a bassy sound and the pulse of energy rocking the elevator. The skull vanished; a hole had appeared in the door. It let in just enough light that he could afford to blink his magic out. He grinned, wiping a little sweat from his brow, and he took a deep breath.

"So cool!" Frisk squeaked. She raced over to the doorway and got on her hands and knees to peek over the edge.

.

Before them was a long hallway where a trail of wavering, ancient emergency lights barely lit the ceiling, leading down a hallway just slightly to the right of them. Frisk peered down to find the ground. There was a small drop. Sans moved her aside and then carefully went down— it was about five feet to the floor, just a hair higher than his head.

"Ooh, that's not so bad," Frisk said. She scooted to the edge and he helped her to the ground.

.

"So where the heck are we?" she asked.

Sans shrugged. There was a thumping from above them and Frisk latched quickly onto her brother's arm.

"ARE YOU OKAY DOWN THERE?!" Papyrus shouted down the elevator shaft.

Frisk sighed with relief. "We're fine!" she called back. "We're just gonna take a quick look around, okay?"

"We'll get this fixed, okay?!" Undyne shouted. "And we'll join you soon!"

"Nah, don't bother," Sans said.

"WE MUST! ALPHYS SAID THESE AMALGAM CREATURES MAY TRY TO GET TO SANS IF HE TELEPORTS, WE DON'T WANT ANYONE TO FALL!" Papyrus shouted.

"I-I'm s-s-so sorry guys!" Alphys said shrilly.

"It's cool, we'll just wait it out in the spooky basement!" Frisk said with a laugh. "No worries! We're just going down the hallway!"

"BE CAREFUL, YOU TWO! DON'T DO ANYTHING I WOULDN'T DO!" Papyrus yelled.

"Okay, mom," Sans said.

"SANS!"

.

The hall was t-shaped from where they stood, the elevator on one arm and an old, empty vending machine on the end of the other. Down the length of the hall, there was a single door. They headed for it and tried it. It was locked, but the knob was wobbly and loose. Sans dealt with it with a swift, magic blow, and the door creaked open with a sound specifically crafted to send chills up spines.

.

Frisk didn't mind much, though— she went in first. A long room opened up before them that was actually split about two thirds in by a small incline downwards. The place was littered with whiteboards, words faded and illegible, and there was a large, messy desk before the incline and papers covered in maths scattered along the floors. A few mugs and an old thermos. Desk seemed the most logical place to look. It smelled, very faintly, of coffee.

.

Some of the books were reference material. Quantum physics. Thick, heavy books with very small font on the inside. Sans picked one up and dusted it off before flipping it open. It looked relatively modern; like it was from the human world.

"Hey, you think Alphys'd mind if I kept this?" he wondered. "This is some advanced stuff."

"I guess this stuff probably wasn't even hers, I don't think anyone's been down here in forever," Frisk said. "It's like a spooky museum." She hopped up on one of the chairs and tried to take a look through one of the notebooks. Blank, like the others. "Seriously, who keeps this many empty notebooks around?"

Sans shrugged. "Maybe they're ghostbooks," he suggested. "Stare at 'em real hard."

Frisk sighed and flipped through the whole thing. She didn't see a word. She picked up another one. Still nothing.

.

She turned to shoot Sans a curious look. He was still buried in that book.

"Think it's a bust?" she asked.

"Not sure," he said. "Someone here was working on some stuff that I was, too."

"Oh yeah?" she asked curiously. "You think so?"

"Well, yeah. All these books, same stuff. Whoever worked here dog-eared some pages, looking at multiple universes, fluctuations, all that fun stuff." He held up the book to show her. "Must've been smart to get all this. This crap takes years to even start to understand it."

"Ooh. So, not soul work down here, then, time work," she said as he slipped the book up under his shirt. "I wonder why…?"

.

She lost her train of thought abruptly when the temperature of the room sank just as suddenly as if they had walked into a freezer. The air was pulled towards the back end of the room and something in the space before them split. It was like someone ripping paper, revealing a chilly blue-white light behind. It shone in four points, glimmering like the golden tears Frisk could use to stick in time.

.

She gawked. Sans stared blankly. He put a hand on her shoulder reflexively.

"Hang on," he said. "Hang on, hang on. Just. Chill."

She nodded and very slowly slid out of the seat. She looked back at him. He could do little more than shrug.

"Should we go over there?" she asked quietly.

"Why are you whispering?" he asked.

"I dunno! This is super weird?" she said. "B-But… But it looks like… a time tear or something, you know?" She edged a little closer.

Sans grimaced and went with her, but as she got within a few feet, he seized her soul tightly.

"What?" she asked with a laugh.

"Paranoid," he said.

She stopped in place and turned to give him a smile. "Okay, no problem, I won't go a step farther. This sure is weird, though, huh?"

He nodded, was about to answer with a joke, but was caught off guard when the light let out a sudden pulse and flashed brightly, blinding him. He heard Frisk yelp. The second he could see again, she was gone.