The static of the video ending was abrupt and Alex found himself staring at the empty screen not sure how to feel. He hadn't realized Papyrus had filmed that and now he wasn't even sure why the skeleton had done so. As much as it was nice to be reminded of the effort the brothers put forth to make sure he felt like family after that, he didn't like the reminder of where he had been at that point in his life.

The next video started and it was a cacophony of sound. The camera was being passed around at the larger birthday celebration that had occurred later the same evening. People were giving well wishes and talking about Alex but Alex stopped the video, the frozen image on the screen of Alex and Sans. Sans had an arm slung around Alex's neck, the hold looking a bit tight but they were both laughing. Sans had one socket closed but the eye light of the other socket was trained on Alex who was grinning. The glasses on Alex's face had hid the fact that Alex was close to tears even while grinning like that. It vanished when he pressed the eject button. Taking the tape out, he quickly stowed it away before he turned to face Toriel. Determination was written across his face, the last image he had seen burned into his mind. He wasn't sure what to make of Sans's expression but it was nice to know that even as he had been fighting to keep a light mood, Sans had been there to help him. "So. How do we get the others to wake up? As much as it was luck that I found this, I doubt that I'll get as lucky with the others."

Toriel stood up, her expression set. "Leave it to me. I have a few ideas." She frowned. "What of the flower?"

Alex shook his head. "I'm fairly certain there is a camera attached to the stem. There's not much we can do about it till I figure out a way to either disrupt the feed or remove it."

"The plant is alive, Alex." He looked to Toriel, expression blank. Her gaze was hard. "Whether it is a monster or not is left to be determined but somehow, someway, that flower is alive."

"I know." Alex watched surprise color Toriel's expression. "I also know the camera is there to keep tabs on me, for whatever reason. Thus why I left the flower upstairs and isolated you."

Toriel conceded. "You have a plan, then?"

Alex nodded. "Hopefully the little guy can give us a lead on where to go. I've been scouring maps to find some hint of where to even begin but the last 30 years worth of maps have given me nothing."

"Do you want me to help?"

He shook his head. "No. Get the others to wake up. None of this will matter if we can't get everyone's help in this. Someone is clearly trying to cover up the brothers' disappearance and going through a lot of effort to do so."

Toriel shifted her weight but did not move from where she stood. "You have an idea of who it is."

He nodded again, not surprised that she had picked up on that. "I just can't prove it till I get the flower to talk."

She nodded in turn. She looked to the door before looking to him once more. "Will you be leaving the others to me, then?"

"You know them far more intimately than I do," he offered, shrugging. "It was just luck that I could even just wake you before resorting to getting the flower to talk. Hopefully you'll have just as much luck as I had waking you in walking the others."

She offered him an encouraging smile. "I'm sure I will." The smile fell. "Keep me informed on what you discover from that flower."

"Of course."

He stood alone in the room after Toriel left, not sure how he felt. Exhaustion was certainly winning but he couldn't sleep yet. Rubbing at his face under his glasses, he gathered the camera and tape and headed back to Papyrus's room.

The hallway was empty when he finally arrived at the door so he was able to slip in without anyone seeing him. Camera and tape returned to their rightful places, Alex headed for a different part of the lab.

He knocked on the frame of the open door causing those in the room to look at him. "Alex!" the only monster in the room happily chimed, bounding over. "What's the occasion?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow that device again." He gave an embarrassed smile as he rubbed the back of his neck as another monster stepped around him into the room. "Not sure why the darn thing's name won't stick with me."

One of the humans walked over with the square device in hand as the monster before him asked teasingly, "You remember how to work it, at least?"

Alex laughed as he took the device, offering, "If not, I'll be back."

There was a spattering of chuckles at that and he waved goodbye as he left with a word of thanks. Tucking the device under his arm, he returned to his lab. The potted flower was still by the door but it was drooping. He affectionately rubbed a petal as he set the device down beside the flower's pot. He flicked it open and turned the thing on. There was a brief, high pitched soft sound as the thing started working.

He thought he caught the flower twitching out of the corner of his eye.

"You don't have to keep quiet now," he explained, feeling a tad foolish talking to a flower regardless of whether it was a living thing or not. "That device is meant to disrupt any audio or video feed, be it microwaves, radio waves, or any other sort of wave within a small radius."

"You shouldn't have done that."

He jumped in surprise, not expecting such a quick response. He reached out and rubbed a petal again but the flower pulled away, officially giving itself away as it hissed, "Stop that."

Alex let his hand hang between them as he asked, "Why?"

A pair of red eyes looked up beyond the yellow petals. "Because it's pointless, that's why. The gesture is lost on me with no soul."

Alex frowned, his hand returning to his side. "You're soulless or without a soul?"

The face of the flower turned to him fully, yellow petals revealing a confused expression. "What's the difference?" the flower challenged and Alex watched as the flower's mouth moved. It was certainly a good thing he had grown up in a world of monsters because otherwise he probably would not be as calm as he was now faced with a flower that could speak.

"Soulless as in you don't care about your actions and how they affect others." Alex shrugged. "As for the other, humans and monsters all have souls and through magic we can observe them. Are you something without such a soul or are you soulless?"

The flower's face twisted up in annoyance and frustration. "Both, I guess? I don't know!" The face morphed and Alex let his surprise show. He had yet to come across a monster that could do that. "I just woke up like this, ok? With this creepy guy leaning over me, too."

The flower quaked in what Alex assumed was the equivalent of a shudder. Alex tipped his head to the side, thoughtful. "Do you have memories prior to this form?"

The flower flinched as if Alex had swung at him. Alex perked up at that. "No," the flower ground out, almost spitting.

"Liar."

Alex wasn't completely certain that it had even been a lie but the flower's reaction after his word had been confirmation enough. The face changed back into the softer, first one as the petals drooped and the flower curled towards the pot. "So what if I am?" the flower challenged but what heat the flower put behind those words only made it seem far sadder than it needed to be.

"If you are, that means that you remember what it's like to have a soul," he replied plainly. "If you do have memories, then that means that whoever made you did it for a reason, good or bad."

The flower looked up at him and through the petals he saw a face that seemed to resemble Toriel's, except softer, rounder, and far more like a child's. And suddenly the name was beyond his lips as the realization dawned on him.

"Asriel."

The flower cringed.

Everyone knew the tragic tale of the King and Queen of Monsters and their lost children. While the monarchy didn't rule like they once did, there was still a natural urge by all to treat the pair like royalty, especially in monsters. Sans had explained it once as a ranking system of sorts based around one's magic level and ability to create with it, boss monster versus the common monster and sorts, but Alex had never really engrained the information. He stared at the flower, memories of learning about that historic event clear in his mind, which only brought other historic facts to mind.

"Too new," he spoke in astonishment. He turned and shoved at the whiteboards to get to his maps. "It would be older than that. Probably far older than that."

"What are you talking about?" Asriel demanded from his pot.

"Dr. Gaster's hideout," Alex informed him, digging through the maps he had. He had to have one that was old enough. "I've been trying to find where he took the brothers."

"How do you know he took them?"

The question put his fears to word and he stuttered to a halt. He took a steadying breath, reminding himself that there was indeed another there. "Because everyone forgot."

There was silence but Alex turned anyways. He focused on Asriel, the flower's face no longer that of a child's but the first face he had shown Alex. "Dr. Gaster specialized in the manipulation of people's mental states, including the manipulation of memory and the perception of time. If this isn't his work, then I have no idea who took Sans and Papyrus with not even a clue as to why. At least with Dr. Gaster there's history between him and the brothers, whatever that history may be."

Asriel stared at him but Alex didn't break eye contact. Eventually, the flower looked away, turning towards the wall.

"Flowey."

Alex blinked, confusion and curiosity coloring his expression. The flower shifted, exaggerating his eye roll. "My name. It's Flowey now." The fed up expression softened into something sadder. "I don't want my-" Asriel bit back the words. "I don't want them knowing who I was. I'm not that monster anymore."

"Alright," Alex replied, gaining a shocked expression from Flowey. "Flowey it is, then." He turned back to the maps. "Can you move out of the pot or do I need to carry you over here?"

"Why do you need me over there?"

Alex looked over and took in Flowey's incredulous look. "Because I'm hoping that you will show me where Dr. Gaster has taken Sans and Papyrus."

Flowey sneered, shaking the pot but going no further against the restraints. Alex stepped away from the maps. "And what if I said I didn't know where his rabbit hole was?"

Alex unclipped the pot. "Then a good idea would be just fine, seeing as I have a general direction but nothing more." He tucked the pot under his arm, rubbing a petal affectionately when he had a free hand. "It would be easier than scouring all of Snowdin for a single rabbit hole, at least."

Flowey made a noise of disbelief but said no more as Alex placed the pot on the table. For a moment there was no response from Flowey, no sign that the flower was going to give anything up, but then several leafy vines curled out from the soil of the pot. Only one reached across the maps. The leaf free tip pressed against the map. "You'll find the entrance he used here," Flowey offered. The vine tip moved a margin away from the point. "There's a less heavily guarded entrance here that you should have an easier time accessing and entering through."

Alex beamed at Flowey as he ran his hand over a number of petals. "Thank you," he spoke, his words heavy and met with a stunned expression on Flowey's face. "Thank you so much."

He quickly marked both spots.

"But what good is that going to do you?" Flowey asked. The question wasn't quite a challenge to Alex's idea, too colored by confusion.

"Toriel is working on waking everyone else," Alex informed the potted flower, picking the pot up gently. "And I'm going to stay out of the way till she has succeeded."

He picked up the jamming device and adjusted the radius before tucking it into Flowey's pot.

"You do realize that if you don't do it in the right order, then people are just going to lose their memories again, right?"

Alex shrugged as the lab doors slid closed and locked behind them. "I'm sure Toriel will figure that out. After all, you are just a flower. It is very unlikely you are the one continuously drugging everyone."

Flowey scrutinized him. "You seem certain that it's something that has to be regularly administered."

"It was an assumption after I had woken up when I had seen Alphys prepping a syringe with some strange liquid. I figured the only reason I hadn't gotten dosed then was because I had covered up enough for them to believe I was still under the influence. The theory only grew stronger the more and more Alphys tried to corner me to try and give me a shot, a pill, something to drink or eat, same with any of the others."

An impressed look crossed Flowey's face. "So you locked yourself up in your lab."

Alex hummed a confirmation. "As well as keeping my room locked." Said room was empty and dark when he opened the door and he flicked the light on. "But, yes, I mostly kept to the lab for prosperity affects."

He locked the door before crossing to the nightstand and setting Flowey's pot down gently.

"But what are you going to do about the camera?" Flowey asked. "You know you can't keep it jammed forever. There's no telling when he'll check again, let alone what he'll do when he can't see anything."

Alex sat on the edge of his bed with a sigh. "I know." He rubbed at his shoulder mindlessly. "Can you tell when he's activated the camera?"

Flowey shook his head. "And I doubt it's consistent on when and for how long. That monster is not stable."

Alex reached over and picked up the device. He kept it active as he rolled it about in his hands. "You do realize that we will be unable to talk with this thing off and the camera clear to transmit a feed at his beck and call, right?"

The petals drooped and Alex's hand twitched as he restrained himself from reaching over and rubbing one.

"I know but what other choice do we have?" Flowey met his gaze. "I'd like to be free of that monster as much as the rest of you as soon as possible too. So what are a few more weeks of inanimate behavior."

Alex gave in and reached over, cupping the side of Flowey's head and rubbing what petals his thumb could reach. "I'll get you free as soon as I can. I promise."

The expression on Flowey's face was hard to read but the flower gave a sharp nod. "Just make it quick."

That quick turned into a week and a half. Alex kept to the rough routine he had set when he had been trying to find the brothers on his own but now he added an hour here and there in his lab to turn on the jamming device so that Flowey had a moment of normalcy in all the waiting. Even though there was no way the flower could properly convey such thoughts, Alex felt sure that Flowey was grateful for the moments of reprieve even while being a snarky little plant. Alex quickly found that Flowey was an excellent chess player once the flower figured out the rules and got the hang of moving things with his vines so the hour here and there was mostly spent playing chess.

It was during one of their little matches that the news came.

There was a knock on his lab door. Alex looked up, the space a wreck now that he was actually trying to work on actual work. Getting up from the center of the paper strewn floor where he and Flowey had set up – said flower was still contemplating his next move and completely disregarded the knocking – Alex crossed to the door. There was the sound of the door unlocking before it hissed open.

Toriel was on the other side beaming, Undyne behind her left shoulder and Alphys at her other side. "Everyone is awake," Toriel announced happily. "Asgore is gathering a few others but he told us to go ahead and settle in the dining room and make a plan while we wait."

Alex nodded, determination settling over his expression. "Let me gather a few things and Flowey and we can head that way."

"F-Flowey?" Alphys asked, frowning behind her large glasses.

"Flowey the Flower," Alex supplied, picking up said flower. He carefully stepped around their game as Flowey quietly cursed him for interrupting his plotting. "He's the reason we even know where to look for the brothers."

"Can we trust it?"

He stilled, hand over the map they needed. Flowey's vines snaked out, rolled the map up for him, and gingerly wrapped around the tube of paper as the flower's face turned to look up at him. Alex didn't look at him, instead turning to look at Undyne. He couldn't fault her for her question. Papyrus was her best friend and part of her unit.

"Whether we should or shouldn't, I do," Alex informed her calmly. "And right now I'm willing to take what information he has given us – the only lead I have of where our friends-our family has gone – and seeing where it ends because right now it's all we've got."

There was a breath, a moment where the others waited to see what would happen, before Undyne nodded, giving him that. "Alright," she said, determination filling her own expression. "Then where do we start?"

"With this."

The map was pushed out on the dining table, pinned down by objects on every corner. Flowey got placed over the lab. The last week and a half had allowed Alex to find a better, larger map of the area that had the best terrain detailing he could find. The lab took up a hardy chuck of the southeastern corner on which Flowey seemed quite pleased to be sitting. Alex got briefly distracted, wondering what sort of mini adventure Flowey was dreaming of.

"I have no idea how this building managed to go undocumented for three centuries, regardless of inhabitance or not, but I managed to find it on maps printed within the first two hundred years of the Underground. Unfortunately, very few of those maps still exist and it wouldn't be wise to trust the outdated terrain on them anyways. The blueprints were a whole lot harder to find and while I'm not confident on the accuracy of what I did find, Flowey assured me they were close enough. Still, though, we'll probably be going in partially blind if there is any major changes since the blueprints were created or any significant structural damage." Alex pressed his finger to the first entrance Flowey had shown him. "This is roughly where the entrance Dr. Gaster mainly uses is located. It opens to the first sublevel of an old lab. This entrance over here," he pressed his finger to the second mark northwest of the first one, "is in through the original building itself."

Undyne leaned forward, hands splayed on the table's surface. "Do you have a blueprint on you?"

One of Flowey's vines picked up the pieces of parchment from the floor. Alex affectionately rubbed a petal in thanks as the blueprints were passed to Undyne. "Those two are the only ones that I could find that were intact enough to read. I have no way of knowing if they were made for this structure specifically or if there was another made like it but Flowey was certain they were close enough to be of use."

She pressed out the two blueprints, the one far more faded than the other clearly being the more detailed one. The newer one more closely resembled an emergency exit map than actual blueprints. She pressed a finger to a part of the section labeled 'Sublevel 1'. "This the entrance you were talking about."

Alex nodded, reaching across and pointing out the entrance they would be using on the section labeled 'Floor 1'. "This will be where we will start at. If we can't gain access from here, our best bet is to check out the rest of the upper building before trying our hands on the one we know that works. I'd rather avoid facing Gaster till the last possible minute if I can help it."

"Wh-what does he l-look like now?" Alphys asked from where she stood apart from him, Undyne, and Toriel.

He looked to her, offering with a weak smile but it was Flowey who answered her question.

"Nothing like the skeleton he had been."

"Skeleton?" Toriel asked, frowning.

Flowey shrugged, pulling it off with the two leaves situated on the stem that supported the flower's bud behaving as arms. "I don't know much about Gaster personally but I have heard his mutterings from time to time. He was not always the goopy, inky mass he is now."

"Goopy?" Undyne asked as Alphys inquired at the same time, "Inky?"

Again, Flowey shrugged but the glare he sent them was new. "I don't know how to explain what he looks like, ok? You'll just have to see it for yourself."

Alex reached over and rubbed a petal. Flowey relaxed a bit. "Regardless, we're going to attempt to not run into Dr. Gaster if we can help it."

"You can't be sure he's grown complacent," Flowey pointed out.

Alex rubbed a new petal. "True, but I can at least hope. Our main goal is to find the brothers and get them out. Trying to pick a fight will only delay us."

"Teams then?"Undyne asked.

Alex shrugged. "It may not come to that but I am not opposed to it."

Toriel spoke up. "Why do you think it won't come to that."

Alex reached over to the blueprint of the building, touching a massive room on Sublevel 1. "Flowey said the main door Dr. Gaster uses leads into Sublevel 1. That led me to believe that he was utilizing a space on that level to work, which would make sense. There would be no indication of life if all the activity is happening beneath ground level. And if the structure is sound enough, he would most likely have taken up residence in the largest room. Most experiments need quite a bit of space, especially ones that require a lot of equipment. If nothing else, it's something to aim for."

"That is quite a bit of speculation," Toriel pointed out, looking to him. "Are you sure?"

Alex shrugged, taking a step back. "I am not a fighter, nor a strategist. I'm a scientist, which means I can make hypotheses about where Sans and Papyrus may be but I can't guarantee anything."

"That is why I will take it over from here."

All eyes turned to the door as Asgore stepped in followed by a few canine monsters that were in the Royal Guard as well as a few human guards.

Alex nodded and picked Flowey up, holding the pot close to his chest. He settled in the background, gaze on the map, ear open to the conversations, but not actually engaging.

He blinked, looking up as Toriel touched him arm. She offered him an encouraging smile. "They will be leaving in a few minutes. It would be best if you went and got ready as well."

Alex gave a muted nod, pushing off the wall he had been leaning on. He and Toriel went separate ways barely halfway to his room and he was grateful. He pressed his face partially into the back of a few of Flowey's petals, lost in thought.

"Why are you doing that?" Flowey drawled.

"Sorry," he offered weakly, removing his face.

Flowey gave him a scrutinizing look. "That doesn't answer my question."

Alex didn't meet Flowey's gaze as he opened his door. "I guess I was just looking for comfort. This whole situation is freaking me out and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to weather through it."

Flowey frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know of my condition?" Alex asked casually, placing Flowey on the nightstand.

"What condition," Flowey demanded. Alex missed whatever expression had been present on the flower's face at that as he started to change clothes.

"Left Ventricular Non-Compaction Cardiomyopathy," Alex spoke in rote. "A heart condition that makes things, ah...interesting."

"I don't understand."

Alex pulled out a jacket and slung it on over the shirt and long sleeve undershirt he had changed into. "Basically, it's a complicated name for simply not having a fully developed left ventricle. My heart can't handle stress very well." He looked to Flowey, certain his exhaustion was written all over his face. "On top of that, my lungs are damaged and not just from my smoking habit. If I make it out of this alive, I'll be impressed. I've been pushing my life expectancy since I turned six, so, there's that."

Flowey was still frowning at him when he picked the potted flower up. "Aren't there drugs and things to help with that?" He gained a flat look from the flower. "Like not smoking."

He chuckled. "If my condition was more common, sure, but there have not been enough of us born with it in this Underground or any of the ones we used to be in contact with to actually have anything of sustenance to study and work with. As much as it would be nice to have a normal life, I'm honestly ok with the death date hanging over my head."

Flowey actually looked startled at that and Alex laughed, gaining a few passing glances. "Don't worry, I'm not suicidal. Just tired." He gave a tired smile. "And, honestly, I couldn't see a greater thing to die from than working to save the brothers."

Flowey turned, looking ahead of them as he crossed the two leaves acting as arm mimics. "Well, just don't go getting yourself killed. It certainly wouldn't be doing anyone any favors after all this."

Alex shifted the weight of the pot into one hand as he chuckled. He rubbed at a few petals with his free hand with a fond smile. "I'll do what I can but I'm not making any promises."

He wondered if Flowey pressing into his touch was his imagination from him walking.

Undyne found him before he could wander very far. She didn't say anything as she turned and gestured for him to follow. He fell into step dutifully, Flowey quiet in his arms.

The others were already at the main entrance of the lab when they arrived and Alex was surprised to see a few extra people there, particularly Toriel and Alphys. Last he had heard, they weren't coming with.

"We'll be seeing you off," Toriel informed him as she approached him, keeping him briefly separate from the rest of the group. He passed her Flowey, ghosting a hand over the top of his petals in a quick gesture.

"Don't mind his sharp words while I'm gone," Alex offered as a weak conversation piece. The smile on his lips felt just as weak. "And make sure he has something he can engage in. Boredom will only make his words sharper."

A vine smacked at his hand as the flower glared at him. His weak smile turned into a weak grin as Toriel smiled. "I will keep that in mind." She placed a large paw on his shoulder. "You will take care, will you not?"

Alex nodded, any pretense of amusement falling from his face. He wondered if he looked more tired like that. "As best I can. Our main objective is get in, get the brothers, and get out with no confrontation if we can help it."

"I-I-I will be e-expecting to see you afterwards, A-alex," Alphys spoke up, her gaze sharp behind those large glasses resting on her snout. "I-I-I want to be c-certain you are f-fine after this."

Alex nodded, not looking to counter her decision as Asgore straightened, gaining everyone's attention as he looked over the crowd and asked, "Is everyone present?" When there was no word against the question, he nodded. "Then let us head out." His gaze fell on Alex and Undyne. "Lead the way."

Alex nodded and stepped forward, Undyne falling into step behind his right shoulder. He could hear the plates of her armor moving against each other in a soft, smooth sound. Though it didn't get used very often, she clearly still took care of her armor. It was obvious by all – even Asgore – that despite his words, they were anticipating a fight with how everyone was dressed in some form of armor. Alex was clearly the only civilian going and he suddenly felt like he was in the way as he took the first step into the fresh snow just beyond the lab's parking lot, footfall sure as he led the way into Snowdin's forest.