NOTES:

Things are going to get somewhat better from here on out, but remember... the fic still contains horror elements.


:-"Memories, Murder, and Premonitions: Part 2"-:

As soon as Frisk sees their SAVE star again, they run.

Bernard yells out after them, "Frisk! Wait! You can't go alone!"

Frisk ignores him, they run as fast as they can, 'I can save them! I have to save them!'

As Frisk makes their way through the village, they keep note of obstacles in case they have to retry.

Someone with a pitchfork dangerously pointed Frisk's way passes in front of them, then a cart carrying parts of a roof, followed by a bunch of people here and there carrying debris… far too much movement for Frisk to keep track of in one try.

Stumbling along the way, they eventually make it to the scene… right as Derrick deals the fatal blow…

* FILE LOADED.

:-:

Once again, Frisk runs off and Bernard yells out after them.

'I have to be faster. I can't mess up even once…'

Along the way, Frisk accidentally runs into the pitch fork that had passed in front of them last time.

Fortunately they die immediately, instead of slowly.

* FILE LOADED.

:-:

'That was not fun, I need to be more careful.'

They try again, running as fast as possible, keeping track of everything they can.

When Frisk makes it to where they died last, they slide under the pitchfork… only to later be knocked onto their side and run over by the cart carrying the roof parts... this time they end up LOADING before they die, since their stomach is what was run over.

* FILE LOADED.

:-:

'I'll never make it at this rate… I need to… magic, I can use magic!'

Frisk uses Blue magic to make themself lighter so they can jump over obstacles easier.

Many of the villagers are taken by surprise when they see Frisk jumping so high.

When Frisk arrives, Derrick is dealing the fatal blow.

'No… No no no! I won't… I won't let you die!'

* FILE LOADED.

:-:

Frisk decides to augment their lighter jumps with Cyan magic to make gusts of wind that push them through the air faster.

They end up flying into several buildings and people, and still don't make it on time to save Drake.

* FILE LOADED.

:-:

'One last time… Please!'

Frisk runs into fewer things and people this time around.

When they make it to the scene Derrick is about to strike Drake.

Without thinking, Frisk continues rushing forward and pushes Drake out of the way.

A sharp stab in their back preludes their demise as they lose feeling in their lower body, and fall into a pool of blood that builds up around them.

* FILE LOADED.

:-:

'Just… one… more… time!'

Faster… More accurate. Frisk manages to avoid all the obstacles this time.

When they arrive, Flowey is holding Derrick's arm…?

In a sweet voice, with his cute face bobbing side to side, Flowey says,
"Howdy, I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

He proceeds to pretend to shake Derrick's hand while tightening his sharp vines around the knife, saying, "golly, aren't you so polite! Holding your hand out like that for me to shake!"

Derrick is in shock. Golden flowers only sprout from where the Wälder Beasts fall… but now there's one with a face… looking at him… talking to him. His face goes pale and the other people with him run off in fear, screaming various alterations of "The monsters are friends with the Wälder Beasts! We're doomed! Run!"

Flowey ignores them, and slowly gets closer to Derrick's face, and begins to speak with a creepy face and voice, "you know, I used to be a lot like you. 'Kill or be killed' … but thanks to Frisk… I realized how stupid I was being."

Flowey wraps more spiked vines around the petrified human's hand, attempting to get him to drop the knife, as he continues speaking, "You don't know it, but… you've actually killed this same little monster four times… Frisk stopped you last time, but you stabbed them. You didn't even hesitate… You saw them push the monster out of the way … then you got angry, and then you stabbed them in the back."

Now within an inch of Derrick's face, with his creepiest face, and deepest voice, Flowey asks,
"WHO'S THE MONSTER NOW?AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Derrick falls back, letting go of his dagger, and crawls backwards as much as he can before standing and trying to run.

But Frisk is in his way, and instead of letting him run… They poke him and turn his SOUL green.

Frisk backs up, and says, "you've committed crimes against Firma and her people, I wont let you get away with what you were going to do."

Panicking, Derrick demands, "w-what did you do to me?! Are you working with that… THING?!"

Frisk leans and looks around Derrick, Flowey is gone, so they loudly say,
"what thing, all I see are four monster children."

Monk runs around, gives Frisk a knowing wink, and says,
"yo, dude! You saved Drake from this crazy guy! Thanks!"

Bernard catches up,
"Frisk! You shouldn't run off like that! It's dangerous outside right now… What's wrong with Derrick?"

Frantically, Derrick pleads with Bernard, "Bernard! Those m-monsters, they're allied with the Wälder Beasts! Some gold flower with a face on it grabbed my arm!"

Derrick lifts his arm to show the scratches on it, but when Frisk turned his SOUL green they also healed him on accident… It works out to their benefit.

Not amused, Bernard says, "I don't see anything Derrick, tell me the truth."

The other monster kids walk up and chime in…

Monk says,
"yo, this guy attacked us! He had this really short sword, it was kinda sad, but also really scary!"

Caprice chips in, "y-yea! We were blown out of the monster camp and got lost. When we found the village, this mean guy and his friends ganged up on us and started hurting us!"

The small slime monster brought the knife over in their slime-y body…

Bernard reaches down and picks up the knife, then briefly examines it before tucking it away.

Drake, still somewhat scared from the encounter, adds,
"H-he… He almost k-k-killed me! It was totally not cool!"

Frisk notices that Drake is still really injured, so they create some green band-aids and send them at Drake. They're healed almost up to max.

Seeing Frisk use magic surprises Bernard, and sends Derrick into a rage, "what are you doing you little shit?! I knew you Addamses weren't completely human, get away from me frea-"

A swift punch to his gut from Bernard shuts him up, and Bernard sternly warns, "don't swear in front of children, and don't name call like a bratty child. You're coming with me, Derrick. I'm going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them."

Still recovering from the punch to his gut, Derrick retorts, "like hell I will."

Looking to the monster children, Bernard says, "you kids, come with me, I'm going to need to talk with you too. Frisk… Never run off like that again. What if you got hurt, or worse? "

Frisk already knows the answer, they would LOAD… but Bernard doesn't know they can do that, yet.

Looking down at their feet, Frisk guiltily says, "sorry…"

Bernard tries to pull Derrick with him, but he can't.

Seeing that, Frisk removes their magic.

The group of monster children, Derrick, Bernard, and Frisk all walk together back to the rest of the guards and head to the town hall.

Sans steps out of the shadows, and follows Bernard and the monster kids; turns out he was following them as well. Frisk wonders how much he saw.

Frisk continues to the meeting room with Toriel, Asgore, and their parents.

'It looks like they redid the doors so that Asgore could fit easier, that's a good sign.'

:-:

Over all, the meeting is fairly boring.

The council members demand to know what monsters are planning, and what the shimmering light in the distance is. Toriel tells them everything. Asgore remains mostly silent, only speaking to back Toriel up. Same with Marceline and Conrad.

It goes on like that for about an hour and a half as the council members interrogate the queen of monsters on every possible detail. Toriel, of course, was prepared for this from the beginning.

Frisk doesn't really pay much attention, it's obvious the adults are ignoring them, but when the council members ask who exactly put the barrier up, the adults come up blank; they forgot what Sans had said earlier.

So Frisk chimes in, "it was a boy that goes by CU-270. Sans calls him a 'Void Born,' he got the Artifact and sealed the creepy blob of humans away."

The mention of a "Void Born sealing something away" instantly silences the councillors who are muttering among themselves in disbelief of Toriel's testimony.

The Elder stands, and asks, "are you absolutely sure he is a 'Void Born?'"

Frisk nods, "yes, I trust Sans."

The councillors begin whispering to each other and the Elder. Frisk can barely make out that they are talking about some prophecy.

One of the council members ask, "and… where did this 'Void Born' come from?"

Frisk thinks for a moment, and replies, "he came from a secret human lab. The monsters there fought against the humans and killed most of the people they experimented on, but instead of killing CU-270 they left him there. I think they felt bad for him, or they couldn't kill him."

The councillors start talking loudly amongst themselves over the possibilities.

After a few minutes, the Elder silences the councillors and speaks again, "two months ago we received a document from the Sanctum, it contains prophecies from the Yellow Sage. They are very old. Many scholars believe they have already been fulfilled, so at first we thought we received it just for memories' sake… but if what you are saying is true… the implications are dire."

The Elder looks to Stacy, who is by her desk at the door, and requests,
"Stacy, please fetch the Sage's letter."

She responds politely, "yes, Elder, pardon me while I fetch them," and leaves.

The room is filled with silence when Stacy leaves.

When she returns she starts to go to the Elder, but he points her to Frisk, and says,
"These prophecies… the only one they can be directed to at this time is Frisk. They are a red SOUL."

Stacy complies, and hands the old piece of folded parchment to Frisk.

Frisk opens it and reads it:

:-:

"To the one born red,

A tale through time has been whispered in my ear, a warning to be harkened:

In darkness deep, through crazed devotion, a boy was born without emotion.
From womb of void, far darker than night, they pulled him out to show him the light.
With twisted SOULs, and in vile delight, to make him kill they forced him to fight.
His heart, his SOUL, though torn to pieces, to love, it seems, he never ceases.
Though far from life, he can never die. Eternal life, the greedy imply.
His curse-ed mark, and his hollow heart, shall cause their plans to shatter apart.
In their hubris, evil humans laze; h arming monsters shall number their days.
A spark of hope shall light a great flame. The monster's lives they all shall reclaim.
When darkness falls, and swallows up light, the boy of void shall seal the Great Blight.
Prepare yourself, gather up your might! When days go red, with you he shall fight!
The boy of void, though he appears frail, over the world his SOUL can prevail."

Frisk hands it to their mom after reading it, and asks, "what does it mean?"

The Elder answers, "it means, Frisk, that you need to leave to the Sanctum, learn how to use human magic, and learn as much as you can about your abilities as a red SOUL. You are the only one that can stand against this threat, Frisk… I'm sorry. I think you will quite like it there, however. With that being said…"

The Elder turns slightly to the councillors and continues, "I believe the monsters. I do not believe they are plotting some devious plan to wipe us out, they could have already done so if they wanted. With that being said, we received some notes from a ' ' earlier today -requesting to allow monsters to assist with farming- and I do not think that is a good idea at this time; unfortunately, the relationship between humans and monsters is too strained for that."

The councillors are not in full agreement, but the Elder silences them and says, "the meeting is over."

Grumbling, the councillors get up and leave.

The Elder stays and waves Frisk over, "come here, child."

Meekly, Frisk gets up and approaches.

From a sleeve, the Elder pulls out a rolled and tied piece of paper. "Keep this with you until you reach the Sanctum, then show it to one of the teachers. They will give you a place to stay, and everything you will need. I advise you bring your mother along with you, I am sure she would appreciate it."

Frisk nods and takes the paper.

The Elder pats them on the head and departs.

Looking back to everyone else, Frisk puts on a subtle face of distress. Aside from going to the Underground, they've never left the village. They can't bring all of their monster friends, either… and they won't be able to play around in their awesome manor…

Marceline holds her hand out for them, and says, "don't worry, my darling child, everything will be fine. And, contrary to what the Elder said, there is no need to invite me; I will be going with you. We'll start preparing when we get home, OK? Come on, we need to go now."

Frisk nods and grabs their mom's hand as the group departs.

It seems Bernard is still "talking" with Derrick, but the monster children are with Sans and some guards waiting to leave.

Sans looks over, "hey kiddo. why the long face?"

As neutrally as they can, Frisk says, "I have to go to the Sanctum, and only my mom can come with me. I wont be able to hang out with you guys anymore."

The two groups join together as they continue talking, and leave the town hall.

Hoping to lighten the mood, Sans says, "ah, froggit about it, i'm sure there'll be plenty of kids you can horse around with. bee-sides, it isn't like you're beaver coming back, right?"

A little happier, though still somewhat disappointed, Frisk says,
"yea, I s'pose you're right. I'll still miss you guys though."

Sans and his group stop at an intersection, and so does Frisk.

After ruffling Frisk's hair, Sans says, "well you always miss because i'm too fast for ya… but i bet we'll be a lot closer than you think. anyhow, i need to take these kids back to the monster camp. see ya later bud."

Frisk, Sans, and the monster children all wave goodbye as the group splits up.

As Frisk's group eventually arrives at the manor, without incident, they take a moment to SAVE at their star outside their manor… Just in case.

* FILE SAVED.
* FRISK FEELS REJUVENATED.

:-:

As they are about to enter the manor, Frisk hears something like a "psst" behind them. Turning to look, they see a suspicious yellow flower. 'Flowey?'

Curious, Frisk says, "mom, I'm gonna play outside for a little bit, OK?"

She responds, with a voice of caution, "alright little angel, just remember to stay safe. Don't leave the yard, OK? And please come in when lunch is ready. I suppose we can pack your things after dinner."

Frisk replies with a playful tone, "OK, mummy."

They wait for the door to close, then approach and whisper, "Flowey? Is that you?"

From behind them, they hear Flowey, "no, you idiot, I'm over here!"

'I really should have noticed the smaller size and lack of face…'

Frisk turns and finds Flowey, he's hidden as much out of sight as possible.

Quietly, Frisk says, "let's go to the back yard, less people will see us talking."

Flowey burrows away without responding, so Frisk takes that as an agreement and walks around to the back yard.

Flowey's waiting for them, "what took ya so long?"

After sticking their tongue out, Frisk says, "I have itty-bitty legs!"

Looking at their legs, Flowey shrugs with his leaves but doesn't say anything else.

So Frisk has to take the initiative, "what'd you wanna talk about? Just letting me know you're here?"

With a sigh, Flowey says, "I wanted to tell you to stop being an idiot. You were trying too hard to save them, and you kept failing, and dying. It was pretty funny to watch, actually, but after the fifth try it was kinda just sad… don't expect me to help again, understand?"

Frisk smiles and nods,
"thanks, Flowey. I won't… but we should hang out more. Everyone needs friends, ya know."

Flowey looks away and seems to consider it for a while, then looks back and replies,
"I'm not sure that's a good idea…"

Frisk looks subtly disappointed, and says,
"I have to leave to the Sanctum, it's really far away, are you sure you wont hang out with me?"

Once again, Flowey looks away, seemingly considering it.

But, instead of saying anything, he burrows away.

Sighing, Frisk goes back inside.

Then a strange thought enters their mind. 'Why haven't the bugs started chirping?'

They decide not to think too much about it, it's probably nothing. 'All the monsters being in the forest are probably the reason they are quite… maybe Flowey got rid of them so they won't eat him?'

Frisk gets another idea, this one for the manor.

They have access to magic, and Alphys is really good at making stuff… so maybe it'll work.

Excitedly, Frisk runs to go talk to Alphys about their idea.

Running through the house at a dangerous speed, Frisk checks the Lab first.

As expected, a yellow lizard is sitting at the work table.

Looks like she's working on something for the Aircraft.

Frisk speaks up, their excitement seeping into their voice,
"hey Alphys! I have an idea I wanna run by you."

Surprised, Alphys jumps a little in her stool, but when she realizes who it is she calms down.
"Sorry Frisk, I'm still a little on edge from earlier... What's your idea?"

Attempting to find words for their idea suddenly fails… So Frisk replies,
"gimmie a moment, I need to get some paper so I can write it down," and runs off to their playroom.

They return a few minutes later with a paper with some drawings on it, "alright! So, I was thinking… what if we put giant robot spider legs onto the Manor? And like… enchant them so they can move it! We could use the generator to power them too! That way, when I go to the Sanctum, everyone can come with! Oh Oh Oh! Or we could make a door that has a little nob to select a destination and go there! We'd have to set up a door in the Sanctum, but after that I could come home every day! OH! What if we did BOTH!?"

They hand the paper to Alphys, it reads, "Frisk's Moving Manor."

Frisk, attempting to ignore the trauma they went through today, is powering through with fanciful ideas of magical moving castles with doors that open up to other doors. Which, quite frankly, is perfect for a magical-anime-warrior-princess.

Not wanting to crush their hopes, but also wanting to make sure they understand that there are limits to what is possible, Alphys says, "s-sure! I can do that! J-just… *sigh* … I… I d-don't actually think I can do that… S-sorry Frisk."

A little disappointed, but glad to see Alphys correct herself from lying, Frisk asks,
"what if we get Sans and Papyrus, and Undyne, and all the engineer monsters to help?"

Alphys sighs, puts what she is working on down, and hops off her stool to put her hand on Frisk's shoulder. "Frisk… I… As impressive as it is that you have Sans' j-jacket, I don't think you'll get him to work, but beyond that… it would t-take a really long time, even if it were possible. You'd probably be back by the time it's all f-finished. Maybe we could do the door idea, but… I don't want to get your hopes up."

Frisk is pretty disappointed, and it's slightly visible on their almost-not-subtly saddened face.
"OK, If you say so. I guess I'll go do my homework now. I'm behind a little."

And so, a sad Frisk leaves the Lab and goes to make tedious marks all over a few sheets of paper… but, to their surprise, Toriel is teaching them today.

It's a really nice lesson and they are cheered up.

After practising math, art, and English, Toriel adds on magic practise.

She has Frisk practise making a small fireball and increasing its size, and then shrinking it back again.

It was a bit scary at times, since the fireball didn't always want to listen, but practise makes perfect…

Fortunately, you can't hurt yourself with your own magic.

Frisk wonders if Sans would be willing to teach them magic again…

After the lessons with Toriel is over, and a small lunch, Frisk wanders the manor for a while.

Papyrus is dealing with an explosion of socks in the hallway where Sans' sock prank is, so they leave him be.

Thing is practising the piano in the ballroom with Marceline…

Frisk snickers as they think, 'Not bad for a beginner. I guess it helps to be… all hands.'

It reminds them about the "Monster Mash" they were going to host, but with all that has been going on it looks like that won't be happening…

Frisk also notices that their mom is sewing two red pieces of cloth together… looks like Papyrus' cape.

They continue walking through the manor, hoping to catch Sans setting up a prank; but they don't find him.

Undyne is in the Living room, doing some stretching exercises… Frisk decides not to bother her.

Seeing Undyne stretch makes Frisk think about their last session of "Anime-Warrior-Princess" training… Bernard hasn't had time for a lesson for a few weeks now, with all the scouting and what-not going on. Now it seems like they won't be able to go to another one for a while… maybe never.

The reality of their situation slowly sets in, and they start to remember everything that has been happening lately… so Frisk decides to sit in their room and talk to Chara's SOUL.

Frisk knows Chara probably can't hear them, but… they really don't think they should burden anyone else with their problems.

Throughout the entirely one-sided conversation, however, it seems like Chara's SOUL moves in reaction to what Frisk is saying. They float lower when it's something sad, and higher when it's happy… Maybe… Maybe Chara can hear them?

Frisk gets an idea… They pull out a piece of paper, and write a bunch of letters all over it and hold it for Chara to float over to the letters they want to use.

It doesn't really help since Chara can't move that much… but they get an idea and decide to go to Alphys with it.

This time though, Frisk is sure she can do it; so they draw a rough design for their idea and head out.

Frisk brings Chara's SOUL with them so they can better demonstrate.

When they arrive, however, it seems that Alphys isn't in the Lab. So they head to the backyard to see if she's there, but she isn't…

They decide to send her a text instead of trying to chase her down.

Frisk's phone reads 2:13P.M. March 29th, 2045|No Messages

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
To: ALPHYS:
Hey, wehre are u?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

From: ALPHYS
I just got back to the lab, why?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

To: ALPHYS:
I had an other idea!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

From: ALPHYS
Oh, Uh… OK. Well, you know
where to find me.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Frisk isn't entirely enthused about how Alphys worded her last message, but they're sure that when she hears their idea she'll be more open to it.

Determined, Frisk walks back to the Lab.

When Frisk enters, Alphys looks over and says,
"s-sorry Frisk… I've been… really stressed out lately. I didn't mean to sound-"

Frisk understands, so they cut in, "it's OK, Alphys."

With a brief sigh of relief, Alphys asks,
"so, what is your idea? And… why do you have Chara's SOUL with you?"

Excitedly, Frisk sets up the demonstration. They set Chara's heart shaped SOUL container down, and place the paper with their design on top of it.

Frisk clears their throat, holds up their pointer finger, and speaks in a pseudo-scientist voice,
"here we have the in-dangered Chara!"

They point to Chara's SOUL container,
"as you can see, they are floating within this nice glass container. But… is that floating aimless?"

A brief pause for dramatic effect, with one arm across their stomach and the other on their chin with their fingers in an L shape to appear thoughtful.

Frisk points into the air as they continue, and makes other gestures while they speak, "I THINK NOT! As I was… conv-… Converz- … As I was speaking out loud, I noticed that Chara would float higher when they heard something happy, and lower when they heard something sad… So… This leads to the question… Can this be used for communes-ication?"

Returning to their exaggerated thoughtful pose, Frisk pauses again for dramatic effect.

Continuing, Frisk points their thumb to themself briefly before putting their hands on their hips, "I THINK SO! While my first design was… not very good, they clearly showed an effort, but they were not able to utilize my make-shift Ouija-board… So I had a thought… 'what if the brilliant Doctor Alphys were to make a gizmo that tracks where Chara is floating, and use that to move a cursor around like in one of those old video games? Then they would be able to speak!"

Chara bobs a little in their container, though Alphys can't see it due to the paper.

Alphys considers the idea… and though it's not likely to work, Frisk is right; it would be pretty easy to make. Alphys is just worried that if she makes it, it will get their hopes up… She has never seen a SOUL react to anything, so it could just be their over-active imagination…

She decides to do it anyway,
"A-alright Frisk, give me a few hours and I sh-should have something ready by dinner. OK?"

Frisk smiles wide and runs up to give Alphys a hug, "thanks Alphys! Oh… maybe you could also put it in a backpack or something? Carrying Chara around in my arms is… not super fun."

Alphys replies, "Mmm! OK, I-I'll see what I can do. I'll send you a text when it's done, OK?"

Nodding, Frisk says, "Alright! I'll leave Chara here so you can test it!"

Internally, Alphys doesn't think it will help, but she nods and mutters, "a-alright… see you later."

:-:

When Frisk leaves, Alphys thinks to herself, 'what have I gotten myself into?! I don't know how I'm going to make this right… maybe I'll just… throw something together? No… No I should make it right, then at least I will have done everything I can to get it to work…'

Alphys picks up the heart-shaped SOUL container with Chara's hollow SOUL within and sets it on the work table. She places Frisk's unusable, but adorable, design attempt aside.

As she works, she continues to think to herself… She'd talk out loud like she used to, but ever since she started working around others she has become more self-conscious.

'First things first… How would I track their movement? And what should each movement do? They don't have a lot of room, so I have to make it all count… It seems they can move in 6 directions: forward-back, up-down, and left-right… OK so… Frisk's idea of using it like a cursor might work, with them moving back to confirm the letter selection and forward to send the message…'

With that idea in her head, Alphys proceeds to make a frame to hold all the parts. She decides that a simple x shaped frame would be enough, with sensors made to detect magic on each corner, and one in the middle… Then when two sensors have a higher input, that is the direction Chara moved. When the single middle sensor receives a high input, it is activated, neutral when Chara is in the middle, and then activates again with a different signal when it has a lower, or no, input…

Making a beta-frame is easy enough, it only takes about half an hour to throw together. She just needs to find where she put her spare magic sensors from her attempts to upgrade the Aircraft.

It doesn't take her long before she finds them… 'I'm going to have to make more of these soon…'

With the rough beta-frame completed, she attempts to test it… but the container is preventing magic from escaping, so, when she places the sensors against the glass, they don't read any input… and she remembers that the center of Chara's SOUL doesn't even have anything there, so that sensor is useless.

Scrapping that idea, she thinks, 'maybe an inverted Y frame would be more efficient? Seems I will need to use cameras… they will have to look for Chara's SOUL differently, but it should be fine. I won't even need a fourth camera. I can triangulate their position using the cameras easily enough for left-right-up-down movement, and for back-fourth movement it can just detect where the edge of Chara's SOUL is in all of the cameras… A camera in the center would be useless, since there isn't anything to see there, so instead… I'll use that space to store power for everything.'

Alphys slowly starts nerding out over all the possible extra features she could add to it, until she remembers that she can't even tell if Chara can see or hear. 'It's unlikely Chara can actually hear anything… more than likely they would be responding to how Frisk looks… but does that mean they can see? And if so… how?'

Alphys decides to do a couple of tests to see if Chara can see.

The first test is simple enough, She writes "move up and then left if you can read this" on a card, and shows it to what she thinks is Chara's front…

After a few moments nothing seems to happen, but then Chara moves.

Alphys begins to get really excited, but she dampens her excitement until she knows without a doubt.

The next test is slightly more difficult, she writes, "Move Up, Right, Left, Right, Down" on another card and shows it to Chara.

Chara responds faster this time, and executes the commands precisely.

Ecstatic, Alphys squeals out, "OMG! THIS IS SO COOOL! !"

She starts happily thinking of all the things she can do to help Chara communicate… until she's filled with horror as sudden realization washes over her.

Her face pales, she starts sweating profusely, and begins hyperventilating…

As she remembers the Six SOULs.

The Six SOULs are still being kept in the barrier chamber, until such a time that monsters can properly apologize.

If Chara can see… then those poor SOULs surely can as well. Chara is hollow, so they may not feel much about their situation other than annoyance… but the Six are not. Are they afraid? Have they lost all hope? Have they gone insane?

Undyne rushes into the room, feeling that something is wrong with her partner, and tries to calm her down.

In a reassuring voice, Undyne says,
"hey babe! What's wrong? You need me to punch a PUNK in the FACE? ?"

Undyne helps Alphys catch her breath, and Alphys begins crying as she tells Undyne what she discovered…

The new information weighs heavily on Undyne's mind as well, but she does her best to maintain her composure, "I-… I'm s-sure it'll be fine babe! I mean… We… we didn't even know! And… And now that we know, we… we can fix it! Right? Besides… you weren't even the royal scientist when all that happened! No one was! I-I bet the old royal scientist had some plan for them before he vanished!"

Even with her restraint, the sheer horror of the situation paints itself clearly on her face.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Alphys and Undyne gather themselves from the shock of the news… Alphys is almost too scared to see if Chara can hear… but she has to know now.

She has to know if the Six could hear everything that has happened the entire time. She has to know if they've been left in complete, maddening silence, this entire time…

Undyne stays with her for support, though Alphys never says what she's doing.

Knowing that Chara can see, Alphys writes on another card with more instructions, "If you can hear me clap my hands, move Up, Down, Left, then Right."

After showing Chara the card, she waits for a few moments before clapping a couple times.

Chara responds as requested.

Horrified by the implications, but softened by the previous discovery, Alphys does her best to remain calm as she concludes what it means. 'So… they can hear after all… That means not only have six humans been killed, but their SOULs have been held hostage and unknowingly tortured with confinement, silence, the sounds of other humans being killed, and solitude for hundreds of years… Those poor humans…'

Alphys does her best to hold back her tears,
"w-we… we have to t-t-tell Asgore… He… He has to k-know…"

Undyne is not so sure about that, however… "Alphys… babe… I-… I don't think that's a good idea. The king… he'd NEVER forgive himself. If we're gonna tell anyone, maybe we should tell Frisk? I bet they'd know what to do. I mean… they got us out of the Underground, after all."

Alphys is hesitant… As good as Frisk is, and even after everything they've done, they're still a child. But, at the same time, they caught on that Chara could hear them… so how long will it take for them to realize that about the other SOULs?

She decides to deal with it later. For now, she's going to continue working on this device so Chara can talk.

Setting up the cameras takes longer, two hours to be exact, due to the programming required, and after she's done she realizes that she doesn't have a screen Chara can read to select letters; and they don't have any working ones on the surface…She's going to have to make a trip to the Underground to get one.

Alphys hasn't been paying much attention to stuff outside but, from what she has heard, going back to the Underground is going to be difficult since humans are suspicious of monsters right now.

A knock at the door startles Alphys. When Undyne answers, Sans walks in.

Alphys and Undyne do their best to keep their composure, for some reason, they don't think they should tell Sans.

In a more cheerful voice than he's been using lately, Sans says, "so i hear you're making a thing so chara can talk to frisk? that's pretty cool. i guess i should've told ya sooner, but, unlike the other six souls, chara's container isn't putting them in stasis… the secret human lab didn't have enough juice to activate that."

Alphys and Undyne look simultaneously relieved and livid.

Continuing in his usual demeanour, Sans winks and says,
"wow, you look… really up set, are you all right? does the good news make you feel down? "

Undyne grabs something and throws it at Sans, "GOD DAMMIT SANS! ! YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US SOONER! ! !"

Sans catches the object and sets it down, replying, "sorry 'bout that, guess i didn't expect frisk to figure it out as fast as they did. heh, it really came out of the left field. anyway, i should get going. apparently i promised frisk i'd teach 'em how to use my special brand of lazy magic, and i'm too lazy to say no… see ya around."

When Sans leaves, Alphys and Undyne let out a deep, relieved, sigh…

Alphys hugs Undyne, still shivering from the, fortunately, now invalid discovery.

Burying her face into her partners abdomen, Alphys mutters, "(thank goodness…)"

The two take a few minutes to relax, then another knock at the door alerts them.

It's Sans again… it looks like he's holding a box of junk.

He speaks before they can say anything, "oh yea, the monsters in the camp gave me this box of stuff for you. something 'bout wanting to help with the aircraft project. looks like they got it from the river leading to the underground."

Sans puts the box down and leaves.

Curious, Alphys checks the box… there are some small screens in it, as well as a bunch of miscellaneous junk. The only useful things in here are the screens, and they look more like they came from the Lab in the Underground than from the river. The aircraft doesn't even need screens…

Alphys doesn't think too hard about it, some of the engineer monsters probably threw a couple spare screens in before the box was taken. One of the screens is small and has a built in speaker… she decides to use that one.

Undyne, seeing her precious nerd passionately working on a project and no longer having the dread of her previous discovery, kisses her on the head and leaves to continue her combat practice with Conrad.

:-:

It takes a couple hours, and Alphys is half an hour late for dinner, but she's finally done. The inverted Y frame has the three cameras that track Chara's movement, a few battery packs for the power they need, and a screen to show Chara what letters they are selecting. Alphys manages to utilize the built-in speakers on the screen so that, instead of just displaying Chara's message, a text-to-voice program will speak for them. They are even able to choose what voice says their messages, though the selection is limited.

They choose a masculine robotic voice for the default voice.

Though the set up looks heavy, it's mostly made of plastic. The screen is also small enough, and has a high enough resolution, that it doesn't need to be far away from Chara's container; making it easier to carry and preventing it from causing Frisk to be off balance. She also put some padding on it, a couple shoulder straps, and a waist strap to keep it all stable. To make it easier for Chara to say things, Alphys added an auto-complete feature so they can select a few letters then select the word they want, a copy/cut/paste feature, and a dictionary in case they can't remember what word they want.

Alphys and Chara test the set up before they go to the dining room.

…It's a bit buggy, but it works.

To demonstrate how flexible and easy the straps are to use, Alphys wears the container on her back.

Chara thinks to themself, 'This is OK, I guess.'

When they arrive in the dining room, Chara remains silent.

When Alphys gets confused looks, she explains, "Frisk found that-…"

Alphys remembers that Asgore and Toriel don't know that the SOUL belongs to Chara…

She gathers herself and continues,
"S-sorry! Uh heh… Frisk found out that this SOUL can hear, and I found out that they can also see…"

She thinks back on her discovery and quickly adds, panicked, "In this c-container that is not f-fully active! And Frisk asked me to make something so that they can communicate…"

Alphys adds on, anxiously and loudly,
"FORTUNATELY THAT IS NOTTHECASEWITHTHESIXHUMANSOULSSODON'TPANIC! !"

Undyne, being in the middle of biting something off of her fork, puts her fork down and says, "babe… Sans explained it to them already… why are you wearing it like that though? It looks like it's upside down."

Alphys is embarrassed… she stares blankly for a few moments as she realizes that she did, in fact, put it on upside down. Chara must have been too shy to say anything about it.

Frisk walks over and helps her take off the SOUL carrier, asking,
"so what did you decide to name this device?"

She hadn't thought of one, so Alphys just shrugs.

After strapping Chara and the holder to the back of their chair, Frisk thinks for a moment…
"All I've got is 'SOUL Communes-ication-'"

Toriel interrupts, "it is pronounced, 'com-mun-i-ca-tion' little one."

Frisk blushes lightly, "I-… I knew that! I was just being silly!… Anyway… The best I've got is 'SOUL Communication Device'… I guess Asgore's bad naming is rubbing off on me."

Asgore smiles sheepishly, scratches the back of his head, and chuckles while saying,
"hey now, that is not fair!"

Sans asks, "how about socdev?"

Frisk thinks for a moment and begins to respond, but Chara's device blurts out "I like that!"

Sans snickers and says,
"watch out, if you leave it laying around paps will never let you hear the end of it."

To which Papyrus simply grunts, and starts eating his food so he doesn't say anything; he's still upset about the sock-explosion that went off when he tried to pick up Sans' single sock.

With a nod, Frisk says, "SOCDev it is!"

As Frisk sits back down at the table, and Alphys joins everyone, Toriel begins speaking, "So, as I was saying, I think it is a wonderful idea to try resurrecting the six human SOULs. Though the world they once knew is very different, they would be welcomed with open arms. I am just not sure how feasible it is, since, from what Marceline has said, it requires a person with a strong green SOUL to perform a proper resurrection; and because magic has not fully returned to the Surface yet. Frisk only has magic now because of the time they spent in the Underground, so once they run out they will have to return there."

Sans adds in, "yea, but the magic field will recover. it's a slow process, but i think that, by the end of april, this little village will get a bit of magic again thanks to its proximity to the underground. by the end of the year the whole world will be covered in a light amount of magic, thanks to magic also being in space."

Confused, Frisk asks, "why will the village get magic first? What's so special about the Underground?"

To which Sans responds, "the underground's located at the end of a major ley line."

Marceline is quite intrigued by this, "I always thought that ley lines were no more than superstition."

Asgore, after swallowing a rather large piece of soup-soaked bread, says, "a ley line to monsters is not the same as it is for humans. For us, a ley line is a crystal formation; not an imaginary line. These crystals form in the asthenosphere, right under the crust of Firma, and spread across Firma's entirety. There are two known locations where these formations are the largest, and they splinter out into "lines" which then connect to smaller clusters. Every creature can innately feel ley lines with their SOUL, and so humans and monsters alike tend to be drawn to, and subsequently build on, ley crystal clusters. In fact, a majority of the crystals in Hotland are composed of ley crystals. Humans have another name for ley crystals, diamonds, I believe."

Sans adds on, "yea, that, but ley crystals only store and release magic, they don't make it. the surface is acting like a vacuum right now, so magic in the ley lines is gonna get pulled out till it's all even."

Frisk, content with the information they've been given, simply replies, "huh," and continues eating.

After dinner is done, Thing ensures Frisk sticks around to help clean up.

When dinner has been cleaned, Marceline has Frisk begin to pack and gives them a list of the things they need to make sure to bring.

Some of the items on the list are suspect…

Curious, concerned, but also amused, Frisk asks,
"mom, why does the end of the list say that I need twelve baby hands?"

Marceline answers in a falsely serious voice with a hint of amusement, "because my dear child, what else am I going to eat on the way there? You are not nearly tender enough."

As Frisk collects the things they need, they check them off the list.

Tooth brush, check.

Sketch pad with Frisk-made paper, check.

Spare clothes, check check check.

Salt to ward off demons, check.

Blanket, check.

The rest of the list follows this pattern, Frisk thinks that their mom put funny things in to make sure they actually read the list.

It isn't until Frisk is done packing and getting ready for bed that Chara says anything.

They ask, "Frisk, are you… are you going to try saving me?"

Frisk raises an eye brow, "why wouldn't I?"

Chara replies, "I am not a very good person…"

Playfully, Frisk pats Chara's container and says, "you're just a kid, you can still change if you want to."

There is silence for a while, but Frisk can see that Chara is going to say something.

Eventually Chara responds, "I guess… also… please do not tap the glass. It makes me feel like a fish. I want to feel more like an astronaut."

Curious, Frisk asks, "want me to set you in the window sill tonight, so you can look at the stars?"

A quick reply, "yes, that would be nice."

Frisk nods and sets them up on the window sill.

Chara says, "thank you, fair maiden."

Making sure to turn their alarm back on, Frisk changes into their pajamas and goes to bed.

From the window sill, Chara says, "good night, Frisk, and… thank you."

Sleepily, Frisk replies, "your welcome, good night, carry you tomorrow."

:-:

The night is so calm, and the barrier is brightly shining…

The bugs are quiet, and the stars all seem to be aligning…

:-:

* The desire to help their friends fills Frisk with Determination.

* FILE SAVED.
* FRISK FEELS REJUVENATED.