Xandre
Flowey disappeared back into the shadowy crevice he had come from, and Xandre retraced his steps back out to the elevator room.
"Are you r-ready?"
Xandre froze. The voice was coming from somewhere ahead of him, followed by two sets of footsteps. His soul marks flared to life, Wingdings symbols manifesting around him, and he suppressed them. He could not let them catch him, now that he had what he wanted. He clutched the jar of DT tighter in his hand.
{They're in the other corridor. Quick, get into the elevator.}
The footsteps grew closer. "I don't want to s-scare you away, but I've w-w-wanted to show you for a long t-time, and… this is the only way I can face my t-truth."
[The doors will make a sound-]
"It's all right, Alphys," Undyne responded, a new tenderness in her voice. "I am with you. I promise."
{Who cares, Xandre? They're coming! Go!}
"Alphys, I meant it when I said I loved y–"
Xandre dashed to the elevator button. The doors slid open with a dinging sound that, through the stillness, pierced Xandre's eardrums. His heart leaped into his throat.
"Hey! Who's there?" The Head of the Royal Guard bellowed into the darkness, her tender moment interrupted. Alphys let out a sharp gasp, and Xandre imagined her being pulled tightly into Undyne's arms.
{Go!}
Xandre gave up all attempts at stealth and slapped the close button as many times as he could before, agonizingly slowly, the doors began grinding shut. Through the shrinking crack between them, Xandre caught a glimpse of Alphys clinging tight to Undyne's hand as the two of them pelted out to investigate. He pressed his body as tight against the elevator walls as possible, only letting out his breath when the doors closed completely.
"W-wait! The Amalgamates... Oh my god!"
Right before Xandre began his ascent, he heard Alphys let out a piercing scream.
Nyssa
"This looks like a set Mettaton would use," Adrian commented. They were on what seemed like an enormous stage, complete with a faux moon and stars hung from the ceiling and a stone brick tower. It rang with the desolateness of an abandoned theater, actors and audience long gone–or maybe never there in the first place.
"No one's been here in a while."
"It's weird, really. We haven't seen Mettaton at all. With all that talk about blood thirst and human-hunting, you'd think he would show up at least once by now."
"Maybe he's heard about Xandre."
Right on cue, their cell phone rang.
"Hello?"
"H-hey. It's Alphys. U-uh… someone was in my l-l-lab," the Royal Scientist managed. Nyssa gave a start at the tremble in her voice–she sounded even more rattled than before, as if she had seen a ghost.
"In your lab? What do you mean?"
"S-s-someone's overturned my… stuff. Y-yeah… m-m-my, uh, stuff. Whoever it is, they've been p-poking around a l-lot and… uh… b-breaking stuff. They left a huge mess. And they… they escaped on the e-elevator. I h-h-heard it. Oh god, that really happened, oh g-god..."
On the other end of the line, Alphys started to hyperventilate, her remaining words lost.
"Hey, Alphys," Nyssa called out. "Hey. Breathe. You're okay now." Even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. She exchanged a glance with Adrian. Has Xandre reached the Lab already? That can't be good. "Talk to us, Alphys. You're all right."
"I'm s-sorry, I'm j-j-just… oh god, god, god, s-sorry… I…!"
"You're doing good, Alphys. What else happened?"
"O-okay." The frantic stuttering calmed down slightly, although Nyssa could still hear her trying to take deep breaths. "Okay. Okay. Uh, r-rumors have been going around about a third h-human, and he's not friendly… m-monsters are evacuating left and r-r-right. That's what U-undyne told me. She told me I should help with the evacuations. I didn't think much of it at first, but now it's starting to s-s-scare me. Apparently monsters have d-died already, and there are Royal G-guards posted outside. Even with all th-that, someone's gotten inside my lab… and well…" Alphys took in a shaky breath. "I'm t-t-terrified."
"Have you told Undyne?"
"She was th-there when we heard the elevator close. Whoever it was, they were g-gone by the time we got there. She's w-waiting for me in my r-r-room right now. I'm just… in the b-bathroom to calm down."
"Be careful, Alphys."
"I know."
"Where has Mettaton been lately? He might be able to help you keep an eye on things around the Lab."
"U-uh. I actually, uh, d-don't know? You haven't seen him around, uh, trying to k-kill you or anything?"
"We passed a few of his sets. He wasn't there when we were, at least."
"That's, uh, f-f-funny…? Well, I, uh, I'm sure h-he's okay! He'll just t-turn up sooner or l-later, won't he? W-w-won't he…?" Alphys's thin voice trailed away.
Nyssa thought back to their first and only encounter with Mettaton when he had trapped them in his quiz show.
"It's only publicity you care about now, anyways…"
He had been loud and obnoxious, sure, but she could tell he meant something to Alphys. She had made him herself, after all.
"And h-hey. I have something to t-t-tell you."
"What is it, Alphys?"
The Royal Scientist gulped. "J-just… if I die soon…"
"Don't talk like that…!"
"If I d-d-die soon, there are some things I w-want you to know, okay? If he… you know… if he k-kills me."
Soft static crackled at Alphys's end of the line, and her voice faded away for a moment.
"I'm s-s-sorry."
Adrian, silent until now, gave the phone a look. "Why?"
"I'm a t-t-terrible person. I'm so s-sorry. Oh god, I shouldn't even exist. Why am I h-here? Oh god, I'm–"
"Alphys, hold on. Shhh. What were you saying? Don't beat yourself up, keep going, we're listening."
"N-no! You don't understand!" Alphys burst out. "I… I've done some h-horrible things."
"What happened?"
"I-" Alphys paused and sucked in a breath. "I-I… I experimented. With D-d-determination." Her words tumbled out one after the other, as if she were pushing them out as fast as possible, getting them over with. "I injected m-monsters with it. I thought it'd help preserve their s-s-souls. That I'd help Asgore break the Barrier and s-save everyone. But it… it f-failed. Terribly. They're all… melted t-t-together. They're l-like animals. All they w-w-want is food, and they've forgotten their f-f-families... oh god. I did that to them. They c-can't even pass away in p-peace now. I was so stupid. I thought I could h-help, I thought I could m-make their lives better but I've… r-ruined them. I t-t-told Undyne about all of it, when she was h-here. She said-" her voice hitched in her throat. "She said she still l-loved me. No m-matter what. B-but I still feel… like… I should have k-killed myself when I had the chance," she whispered.
Silence, thick and heavy, settled over the two humans. Alphys's words had gone by so fast that Nyssa barely had time to process them, but now they began to fall into place, making perfect, horrible sense.
So that's what had been attacking her that last time they called. An amalgamation of monsters who had lost their identity, lost everything they used to be.
"Th-the human h-hurt them." Alphys continued shakily. "They were all sliced into p-pieces. I think he h-harvested their DT. God knows what he's going to d-do with it, oh god. This is all my f-fault. And I was t-terrible to you, t-t-too," Alphys continued.
"I w-wanted to be your f-friend. I wanted to s-set all those traps, those p-puzzles, so you'd come to r-rely on me to save you. So you'd think I was a h-h-hero… but you knew t-too much about the Underground already, so I had to c-call it all off. Oh god. Please, I understand if you don't f-f-forgive me but I had to t-tell you, please, no, I'm sorry…"
After all that had been said, all she had learned, Nyssa could not think of a response. The part of her that had once been Alphys's father ached even more than the rest of her, urging her to say something. She had to say something.
Adrian stepped in for her. Taking the phone, he said to Alphys simply, "I forgive you."
"So do I," Nyssa added. "I forgive you, Alphys."
Alphys let out a trembling sigh. "Th-thank you. A-and… I owe someone else an apology, too."
She stopped, mustering her courage.
"Dr. Gaster."
Her tone quivered as she began speaking again to the humans yet not quite addressing them.
"I th-thought of him so often. Through all of this. I was the d-daughter of the most brilliant scientist our k-k-kingdom has ever seen, but we're n-nothing alike. Because look at me," she said forcefully. "I'm no R-royal Scientist! I'm a fraud. Nothing but a f-f-fraud living in a fancy lab for p-people like him. Accomplished people. People who actually c-contributed something instead of s-sitting around being a disgusting w-w-waste of space. Sometimes I feel like th-things would have turned out better if he'd just l-left me to die in the Garbage D-dump in the first place. I don't know why he k-kept me around. Maybe… m-maybe it's even a good thing that he's g-gone, so he doesn't have to see how much of a d-d-disappointment I've become. I've h-hurt so many people, I don't know how to m-make everything right again… I know I m-might not have that l-long. When the h-human broke into my lab, I just realized just how much d-d-danger I'm in. But as l-long as I'm still standing, I want to t-try becoming a better person."
The presence that hung in the air between Nyssa and Adrian seemed almost to let out a long breath.
"Alphys, I want to tell you how strong I think you are for saying that. You really don't know that about yourself, do you? And I think," Nyssa added, "he would have forgiven you, too."
Xandre
The doors of the elevator slid open to a much brighter and livelier world. After adjusting to the darkness of the True Lab, Xandre's eyes ached taking in the brilliant scene of the city laid out before him. It looked to him eerily like the Ruins but infused with life, bell towers clanging and conversation drifting up towards where he stood. Although the city was grand, every brick and shingle was a shade of pale gray, as if a layer of dust had settled over it long ago.
The elevator had taken him to a terrace overlooking a bustling square, monsters of all shapes and sizes milling up and down the streets. Some wore colorful scarves and carried baskets, rolls of cloth, or loaves of bread; others walked in pairs, holding the hands of a tiny child in between them.
Despite himself, Xandre took a moment to pause, watching them in awe. Never before had he seen so many monsters, so much life, gathered in one place. The Underground's capital was a far cry from the isolation of his home village or the abandoned Snowdin Town, a place of culture and festivity. Knowing he would tear it all down, Xandre felt something that might almost be called remorse creep into the back of his mind and whisper to him. Maybe, if he were alone like in the very beginning, he would consider giving up. Going back. But he was not alone anymore, and that was the crucial difference.
Stopping would be an insult to her. A betrayal. How could he do anything but keep going, when she had poured her heart and her soul into their plan? When he and Chara were more than just a team?
{I remember this place, Xandre. But there's no time to look around.}
Xandre swallowed his guilt, fixing in his mind the image of Chara. He imagined holding her in his arms, becoming the rulers of their own universe together.
They would be gods.
[Where's the CORE elevator?]
{Around the bend, over there.}
Forcing himself to peel his eyes away from the bustling city, Xandre turned into a narrow passageway. Sure enough, at the end of it was another elevator.
The elevator to the CORE.
Stepping inside, he was transported back down into the far depths of the earth. The frail metal shell hummed and trembled around him, and the tug at his soul grew stronger, irresistible, until the elevator ground to a stop.
Xandre took a moment to take in the hallway stretching out before him. The CORE was a tangle of metal and machinery, impossibly complex. He had never been here before, but as he had come to expect with the Underground, nothing was a surprise–especially not this building. He realized that this was the first time any part of Wing's soul had been here since the day it shattered.
I've made it.
Nothing more stood in his way–not the other two humans, not the Royal Guard. He thought of Chara once again. He would walk back out of this building with her by his side, flesh and blood.
Our future together is just beginning, my love.
Because today, Chara Dreemurr, you will finally be mine.
To all of my readers: I am so sorry for the long months in which I did not update this story.
That's right, I'm not dead!
Swept up in the transition to a new country and a new school, I often became too overwhelmed to work on the things I left off, including this fan fiction. Unfortunately I even missed my own second anniversary on November 22, 2018, but that's right... this story has been around for two years now. (That feels like a long time.) Of course, I thank you all–readers, followers, reviewers–for this journey, and I'm excited to see where it'll continue take me.
Rest assured that despite the delay I am still intent on persisting until the end. Even better, the release of Deltarune (go play it!) has given me new hope for the renewal of the Undertale fandom, and I'm already looking forward to the chapters ahead and the mysteries that may (or may not...) be solved.
Don't forget - I'm with you in the dark.
