Amalgamation
Frisk got to their feet and walked out of the small room. They got to the yellow sparkle at the bottom of the room. However, upon approaching it, it changed. It melted into a white color and expanded into a humanoid shape.
Frisk's soul appeared before them. The smell of sweet lemons permeated the vicinity. The creature before them looked a bit like Shyren. It had her body. However, a thick muscled arm was folded behind its back. Three large, black bubbles formed on its melting chest. Its black, smooth head often morphed. Bubbles formed sharp, long teeth that shook. Sometimes, its head morphed so that it spiked upward and showed large, sharp eyes.
It looked like Shyren… Frisk hummed a familiar, sad tune they sang with Shyren. Lemon Bread's teeth shook. "Welcome to my special hell." A collection of so many voices spoke all around them at the exact same time. High voices, low voices, loud and soft- there was no telling them apart. The creature's mouth opened wide and it lunged. Frisk was hardly able to dodge. The only reason they could was due to the fact that one if its teeth was missing. Each time the creature bit at them, a good three times in total, the place of the missing tooth changed.
Bubbles that formed on them looked like Moldbygg… Frisk held up their hands and took a step back. Lemon Bread's teeth shake. "But nobody came." This time, candy-corn shaped teeth floated around Frisk. Orbs of red and orange shot at them. Yet they were together so it may as well have been white. That would have made it easier for them to dodge. Flowey's vines wrapped around Frisk's feet and guided them back away from the attacks. Finally, the creature stopped attacking.
It had Aaron's arm… Frisk flexed one of their arms. Lemon Bread's eyes narrow as it hesitated its attack. "I've felt this before…" Lemon bread snapped at them again. Again, they dodged. Yet it didn't seem that Lemon Bread's heart was in it. Frisk waved goodbye. Lemon Bread melted away.
"That was odd… poor thing…" Frisk muttered. They nearly left when a sign glowed beside the skull-tube machine.
Flowey looked up as they approached it. "'DT EXTRACTION MACHINE. STATUS: INACTIVE'."
"DT… is that determination?" Frisk prompted. "That sounds like it would be. If so, then… this is an odd way of getting it." The room at the end in which they attempted to enter was full of fog. They couldn't see past their own nose! So, they turned and walked back to the yellow glimmer in the bed room. Chara didn't comment. Frisk stepped back into the hallway and went to the right. The door there yielded a foggy room. However, the fog was not impenetrable. There was a giant wall of fans there. A screen glowed near the fans.
Flowey looked it over. "'Entry Number 11: now that mettaton's made it big, he never talks to me anymore. …except to ask when i'm going to finish his body. but i'm afraid if i finish his body, he won't need me anymore… then we'll never be friends ever again.'"
"If this is from Dr. Alphys, then… were they friends? They didn't act like it when they were being snarky."
"Everyone's snarky here," Flowey pointed out.
"That's true." At the end of the room, the fans stopped. There was a switch. Once it was pressed, the fog was blown away. White particles that floated about the air merged together. More and more particles joined into the growing ball until finally it dropped. When it hit the ground, it turned into a giant, six-legged dog. Its face was missing and, like all the others, seemed to be melting and shifted constantly. Black shapes under it seemed to be made of dogs, too.
Frisk hesitated and beckoned it. "Here, doggy!" The creature bounded forward, flecking a strange liquid from an orifice. It's attack as simple. It jumped into the air and barked.
Once the amalgamate stopped barking its attack, Frisk petted it. Its sticky, white pelt clung to their hand. Excited, it convulsed and then calmed. It rested its giant, melting head on their lap and began to fall asleep. Suddenly, it shot away and began climbing wildly on the walls. It barked at them again, shooting the strange attack at the cornered kid.
Once it was over, the amalgamate began to strike the wall with its claws. Frisk chucked their knife across the room. The amalgamate caught it before it hit the ground and raced back. It dropped the weapon in their hands. Its chest puffed out and melting tail wagged. They repeated this process a few times. Each time it was thrown, both party got a bit more tired. By the fourth-time Frisk received their dagger, the amalgamate stopped them from throwing it. It flopped down and leaned its dripping, amorphous body on them. Frisk petted it. The dog-creature's tail thumped the ground. It sounded like a wet mop striking the floor. They petted decisively. Suddenly, the dog calmed. Endogeny was contented. It got up and vanished.
Frisk put away their knife and shook themselves off. The white liquid that had gotten onto them vanished as well. "Aw. Poor dog. Maybe we can enter that fogged room, now!"
"I really don't want to," Flowey groaned. "But there's probably another color-lock in there."
Frisk walked carefully down the halls and around the DT extraction machine. The room that was once very foggy was clear. A line of refrigerators lined up in the room. On the wall behind them, boards began to flash.
Flowey read aloud each one in turn, "'Entry Number 19: the families keep asking me when everyone is coming home. what am i supposed to say? i don't even answer the phone anymore.' … 'Entry Number 20: King ASGORE left me five messages today. four about everyone being angry, one about this cute teacup he found that looked like me. thanks king asgore.' … 'Entry Number 21: i spend all my time at the garbage dump now. it's my element.' That's it."
Frisk looked about at the refrigerators. There was a door at the end of the room. However, they couldn't leave just yet. They walked around and attempted to open the closest fridge. It was empty. Frisk turned and nearly walked away. However, they found that they couldn't. Their soul beat before their chest. They whipped around. Standing before them was a creature like Snow Drake. She moved her dripping wings and opened her beak. Two faces on either side of her face opened and closed their mouths, too. They didn't make a sound. A depression fell over them so tangible that it made the room cold. She was so sad.
"Um… why couldn't the two monsters cross the ravine? There was snow way they could!" Frisk offered with a small chuckle.
Her expression started to shift. "Haha… I… remem… ber…" The ice somewhere in the corner manifested into a useless attack. It didn't even drift toward them. The poor attack melted away.
"So, I guess you think my puns are ice?" Frisk tried.
Her expression changed more. They could see her beak beginning to turn up into a smile. "Haha… thank… you…" Snowflakes drifted around them for a few moments before melting.
"Hehe. I'm snow glad I could help."
She was completely calm, now. The amalgamate mother of snow drake fluttered and vanished. In her wake was a small blue key.
Frisk picked it up and traveled into the last room. It was simply a small room with a key-machine in it. This one was green. It didn't take them that long to return to the bed room. When they did, they found another hallway. This one led into a long room. One side of the room was covered almost completely by mirrors. The pattern was broken in places to allow room for the message boards. The other side was a very long table full of potted yellow flowers. Flowey vanished into the backpack. Frisk stopped and looked back. "Flowey? Hey, Flowey? Are you okay? Is something wrong here?"
They started to take off their backpack but yelped in pain as a barbed vine smacked their hand away.
"N-NO! NO! No. Please don't… just, please don't let go."
Frisk let their hand fall by their side. "Okay. I won't let anything hurt you, Flowey. I hope you know that." Flowey didn't respond.
Chara walked to their other side and piped up, "'Entry Number 7: We'll need a vessel to house the monster SOULs when the time comes. After all, a monster cannot absorb the SOULs of other monsters. Just as a human cannot absorb a human SOUL… So then… what about something that's neither human nor monster?' … 'Entry Number 10: experiments on the vessels are a failure. it doesn't seem to be any different than the control cases. whatever. they're a hassle to work with anyway. the seeds just stick to you and won't let go'"
A door was at the end of the hallway. A long wall of mirrors was between it and the screen. The table full of flowers ended just about there. Frisk continued through the hall. They gasped in shock as their soul pattered and appeared before them. Melting in from above came a giant, bird-like creature. Its body and wings were small with long legs. But its neck was extremely long and held a large head. Occasionally, it's beak would switch sides of its head. When it blinked, it had teeth instead of eye lashes.
Its wings… those wings were shaped like Whimsalot. Frisk knelt before it and held their hands together. "Please, Bird. Don't hurt us!"
The bird relaxed a bit. It opened its beak to speak. A flurry of different garbles voices saying a plethora of different, garbled words spoke to them. Another form, rounded with a large belly and round, black eyes, appeared beside it. Yet it didn't attack. A swarm of moths attacked its head. Soundlessly, the large creature fell to its knees and attempted to wave away the moths. It failed miserably. Eventually, it disappeared.
Its head was spikey, like Final Froggit's… Frisk held their hands together to form rings. One ring was inside the other. They held their hands behind their head and then showed them. Their hands were separate. The bird cocked its head in surprise and wonder. It tried to speak again, but it turned out as many garbled voices saying many garbled things. The moth-headed creature appeared. It took a few steps toward them. Moths flew away from the creature to attack Frisk. Without Flowey to aid them, it was significantly harder. A few cracks formed in their soul.
Its eye had teeth and eyelashes were like eyes as well… Frisk puffed up their chest. "Why are you picking on us, pigeon?"
Reaper Bird straightened up and stared at them. A look of recognition returned to its gaze. "Someone finally gets it." "Ribbit, Ribbit." "Courage…" Reaper Bird vanished.
Frisk walked away. The small room held only a key-machine. This one was blue. Click! The blue key fit perfectly.
Frisk retraced their steps. At the very beginning, the door with the four colored circles now glowed. It opened to allow them passage. It led to an elevator but with two entrances. Frisk decided to walk through the other one. Although two electric signs hung on the wall, none of them glowed. Power had been cut to them. The hall eventually led to a large room. At the end was a power generator. Cords and cables and beams filled the area behind it and even leaked into the walls around it. Frisk activated it. Machines began to whirr as electricity raced through the rest of the building. They turned to leave. Four amalgamates blocked their path. All four of the white blobs crept toward them, shifting eyes staring straight at Frisk. They gasped and backed up. Unfortunately, since their back touched the power machine, they were cornered. They could only watch as the four creatures crept closer and closer and closer until –
"Hey! Stop!" A quiet bark sounded from the entrance to the room. Dr. Alphys, a clean lab coat donned, appeared at the entrance to the room. She shuffled forward. They parted a path to Frisk and Flowey. "I got food for you guys, okay?" The four amalgamates rushed away. Dr. Alphys stared after them before turning back to Frisk. "I'm sorry. They get irritated when they don't get dinner on time. I guess they smelled food on you. Anyway! The power went off so I was trying to turn it back on. I guess you beat me to it. This was probably just a big inconvenience for you. But thank you for trying to help me. I think I owe you an explanation."
Frisk nodded. "Yes, please."
Dr. Alphys took a deep breath. "As you know, King Asgore asked me to study the nature of souls. During my research, I isolated a power called 'determination'. I injected it into monsters so that their souls would persist after death… but it failed. You see, unlike human bodies, monster bodies aren't able to handle determination. We just don't have the physical power that humans do. So, their bodies melted and lost what physicality they had. Soon enough, all the patients had melted into each other. Seeing them like this, I knew I couldn't tell their families. I was too afraid to do anymore work. Everything I've done is a failure. But now I've changed my mind. I have failed and everyone has paid the price. I won't hide it any longer. Thank you for believing in me when I couldn't even believe in myself." She turned and shuffled out of the room.
Flowey peeked out from behind Frisk's shoulder. "She's… gone? She's taking everyone away?"
"It sounds like it!" Frisk purred. "That's so good to hear. I'm sure that it won't be fun seeing their families all merged together. But at least they'll know that their families are still there. Or, at least, that they still have families at all." Frisk, Chara, and Flowey left the room. The two panels beside them glowed.
Chara piped up, "'Entry Number 8: I've chosen a candidate. I haven't told King Asgore yet, because I want to surprise him with it… In the center of his garden, there's something special. The first golden flower that grew before all the others. The flower from the outside world. It appeared just before the queen left. I wonder… what happens when something without a SOUL gains the will to live?' … 'Entry Number 18: the flower's gone.'"
Frisk stopped. "Flowey?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Were you created here?"
"Huh?" Flowey turned around to look at Frisk.
They looked back. "Is that why you're so scared of this place? Of Dr. Alphys? Because she created you here?"
Flowey looked away. "Er, it's a long story. We have to get going."
"Flowey, it's okay," Frisk soothed. "It's okay. Whatever happened… I need to know what happened."
"Why?" Flowey prompted. "Why do you have to know?"
"Because I care for you, Flowey. This whole thing… it's got some mysteries in it. You… you don't have a soul, do you?"
"No. I'm a flower, Frisk. Flowers don't have souls," Flowey pointed out.
"You mentioned Chara a few times. You mistook me for them. You knew Toriel's house. You said you helped your father after he got poisoned. You even talked during that tape! When Toriel asked about her favorite vegetable! Flowey, is there something about you that I don't know?" Frisk prompted.
"Yes. A lot of things," Flowey agreed. "But it's complicated."
"I'm your friend, Flowey. You can trust me," Frisk urged.
"I… I know. Frisk, you've been an amazing friend. But I just… don't want to talk right now. Later, okay? Give me a little bit of time, please," Flowey begged.
"Okay." Frisk turned and walked down the corridor. They entered the elevator.
"W-wait. Frisk." Flowey stopped them.
"Yeah?" Frisk prompted.
One of Flowey's vines whipped out and pressed a button. The elevator doors slammed closed. "Hold on." Frisk hardly put their hands on the nearest railing before the elevator shot up. Frisk yelled in fright and shut tight their eyes. Flowey's vines wrapped around their arms and the railing. They couldn't move their arms if they tried. They couldn't fall if they tried.