Unfortunately, Alphys had to wake up. Endogeny's many legs flailed in time to her alarm as it beeped obnoxiously, startling them both awake. Alphys hit snooze, but didn't fall back asleep, instead staring up at the gentle orange light coming through a nearby skylight. Her mind swirled with groggy morning thoughts. Breakfast plans mixed with her plans to meet with Asgore later that day. "I'll tell him the blueberry muffins," she thought groggily as her eyes began to drift closed. "Er, no, waffles the souls."

Her alarm shocked her awake again as her five minutes of snooze ran out. Endogeny jumped up to their feet, growling and bristling at the offending sound. Alphys was knocked out from under her blankets, the cold floor hitting her back and knocking the wind out of her. "Blackberry pancakes!" She wheezed.

Before long Sans woke up as well, mostly because of the smell of pancakes fresh from the pan. Alphys was still in her sleeping clothes, which consisted of pink pajama bottoms covered in anime style kittens (one of her favorite human garbage treasures, she had cut a hole for her tail.), and a shirt that said Worlds Best Royal Scientist (It actually said Worlds Best Grandma, but grandma had been crossed out and replaced using a black marker). The shirt had been a gift from Asgore that she had received early in her career. She waved at Sans wearily. "Pancakes?" she asked.

"Absolutely." he replied.

Alphys did her best to lose herself in the tasty breakfast and casual conversation, but time pressed onward as always. All too soon she was dressed, had washed a few dishes (but not all of them, just enough to waste some time. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to clean them all.), and had rehearsed what she was going to say to Asgore nearly a hundred times. She waved goodbye to Sans, instructing him he would have to make his own lunch and reminding him to feed the dogs. He waved back and the dogs barked their goodbyes.

It was a long and uneventful walk to Asgore's castle, save for when she waited for the elevator in MTT resort. She yelled to Mettaton quickly when she saw him, telling him that they needed to plan soon. He shot her a thumbs up just as she entered the elevator.

Her walk through New Home brought back memories. She had grown up here, on these drab, cramped streets. Monsterkind had almost gone extinct during the war with the humans, and early life in the underground had been rough to adjust to at first. But increasing comfort and survivability had in turn lead to an increase in the monster population. There was a lot of concern for the diminishing space in the caverns. New Home was the safest place to inhabit, but also the most densely populated. Some monsters who could adapt to harsher climates lived in other areas. Fluffy, hot, or ice monsters in Snowdin, aquatic monsters in waterfall, fiery or cold-blooded monsters like herself in Hotland, etc. It was never enough to make New Home feel any less jammed in, though. It was possible that monsters who could survive in other areas would eventually be forced to move.

A few monsters in striped shirts ran by, chasing a ball. Children. They narrowly avoided getting hit by a bus, and the driver yelled some obscenities in an old monster dialect that sounded a lot like grunts. The kids apologised, but were called away by their parents anyway, forced to abandon the ball. Alphys left it on a doorstep in the hopes that it wouldn't get stolen and they would get it back. It was a familiar feeling for Alphys, wanting to play but never having the space. All the recreation areas and buildings had been plowed over or gutted to be filled with new houses long before she had hatched. There just wasn't enough room for everyone to be happy. That's why MTT resort was so inviting to vacation in, because there was space and fun things to do, and monsters of all kinds could survive there so long as they didn't go into Hotland itself. Mettaton's open air concert hall was also the only surviving entertainment facility in New Home, as he had bought it before it was demolished, paying more than the owner could sell it for development.

These streets only looked greyer now that she was grown up. When she was little, she had imagined them being made of silver, but the sparkle she had seen in her childhood had long since vanished.

The castle was no less drab, a fortress that she heard had once housed a family. Now it mostly took up too much space. Most monsters didn't know they were free to visit if they pleased. Alphys thought she should have told those kids. There was lots of room to play, and Asgore loved kids.

Even those he had to…

Alphys cut off that thought. She was at the castle now, anyway.

Two royal guards stood sturdy at the door. They waved in polite welcome before opening the door to let her in. Asgore was there to greet her, smiling wide. He was dressed in a simple royal robe, and Alphys was glad that her own jeans and t-shirt weren't too informal in comparison.

Asgore escorted her to the garden without saying anything. Once she was seated amongst the flowers he started fiddling around with a teapot.

"What kind?" he asked. Alphys shrugged, and Asgore chose his favorite tea for the both of them.

Alphys had some time to think while Asgore was busy preparing the tea. She shifted around in the flowers. The old king was not one to drink tea at a table if he had the opportunity to sit in the grass, but today Alphys wished he was. The golden flower bed, despite it's almost unnatural softness, was making her uncomfortable, especially the notable empty patch. She tried instead to focus on the natural sunlight that filtered through the barrier into the castle. A rare commodity, the light had been discovered at the end of the caverns by the weary monsters who had set out to discover the entirety of the caves. The monsters had decided to give the light to the ones who brought them hope. The only other places in the underground with sunlight were the waterfalls and, supposedly though no one knew for sure anymore, the ruins.

Asgore gave Alphys a steaming teacup and, with surprising grace, sat his bulky form gently on the ground beside her without spilling a drop of his own tea.

"So," he began. "What did you have in mind?"

Alphys quickly explained her reasoning for wanting a funeral. Asgore nodded solemnly, already understanding her feelings from watching his own subjects. Then she got into the details.

"Mettaton said we can use his concert hall." She held up her fingers like she was counting them. "And, well, I don't know anything about decorating a funeral, but I don't doubt he knows something, or knows someone who knows." She rambled on, Asgore still nodding. "Also, not everyone can make it to the hall, so we should have a procession afterword. I was thinking that we could see if we could take it all the way to Snowdin. I know not all monsters can go that far, but most should be able to. And then, well." She lowered her fingers. "The dust was… lost. So, I thought, well… I saw this thing on a show once where humans honor their dead by sending their possessions on a burning boat. I thought that, maybe, if monsters want to, they can bring a possession of their loved one to... you know. Since they can't spread the dust on them."

Asgore looked solemn for just a little longer, before smiling in a bright, sad eyed way. "That sounds like a great idea, Alphys. You are very clever to come up with it. Just the observation and planning I would expect from my royal scientist."

Alphys smiled and sipped her tea, bashfully enjoying the praise and sunshine before the tiniest current of air caused a flower petal to brush her hand, sparking her memory. She only had a few hours left. The room around her seemed to become darker just from the thought of it, but she swallowed her tea and proceeded to ask her next question.

"A-a-asgore," she was stuttering again. "Asgore, I was thinking, um, well," she hated being so hesitant. Lives where at stake here. "I kind of want to restart some of my experiments, to… to help us break the barrier. I want to take the souls and... try again?" The upward pitch in her voice made it sound like a question.

Asgore wasn't smiling anymore. He looked deep in thought.

"He's on to me!" Alphys thought. She was about ready to get up and bolt before he rained down some unholy terror in retribution for her lies.

Asgore smiled wide. "I'm so glad!" he said, his eyes literally sparkling from a magical manifestation of joy. "I was afraid that you had given up! Oh, but if you wanted to do something else with your time that would have been fine too, I was just afraid that you might stay locked in that lab forever and, uh," Asgore backpedaled. "What I'm trying to say is that I'm glad you've gotten your spark back. You said you needed the souls? I can get them to you by-"

"Today?" Alphys interrupted. Asgore looked surprised. "What I mean is, I've been, er, working hard on something and all I need is the souls to test it and I kinda want to do it soon, please?" Alphys continued.

"Yes, yes! Of course! I can have the souls to you in about three hours. Does that work?"

"Cutting it close." Alphys thought.

"Yes." she said.