Unlike when you arrived at the Lab earlier, the doors slide open as soon as you come close. You peak in, trying to spot Alphys before you just wander into her home, but you can't catch sight of her.
"Alphys?" You call out, hesitantly stepping inside. The doors snap shut behind you. Frisk rushes ahead while you take your time to look around. Though nothing looks out of the ordinary, it definitely feels different than when you were trying on dresses.
"Mn." Frisks picks something up from the floor and then brandishes it towards. You take a couple of looks around before hurrying over.
"Is that a letter?"
"Alphys signed it." Frisk signs. Instead of reading it themselves they hand it to you. It's hard to make out because of her handwriting, but you try your best.
" "Hey. Thanks for your help back there. You guys… Your support really means a lot to me. But… As difficult as it is to say this… You guys alone can't magically make my own problems go away. I want to be a better person. I don't want to be afraid anymore. And for that to happen, I have to be able to face my own mistakes. I'm going to start doing that now. I want to be clear. This isn't anyone else's problem but mine. But if you don't ever hear from me again… If you want to know 'the truth'. Enter the door north of this note. You all at least deserve to know what I did." " You scan the letter over a second time before looking up to face the open doorway mentioned. It's pitch black compared to her lit up space. You notice it's the door you originally thought was a bathroom.
"Is Alphys okay?" Frisk asks. For some reason it's only then that you realize their modifying the sign for scientist to make Alphys's personalized name.
"I don't know." You answer honestly. You tuck the note into your bag. "Whatever's going on… It's starts in there." You feel Frisk hug your side, knotting their hands in the skirt of your dress. Their reaction leaves a bad taste in your mouth. "Are you sure you want to come with me?" You ask gently, hugging them to your hip. "I can drop you off at Paps and Sans's and I can go alone."
"No I…" They shake their head. "I'm worried about Alphys. And I have you so it'll be okay."
"Alright kid." You ruffle their hair and then push forward.
The doorway leads to a small elevator, like the ones you'd used around the rest of Hotland. There's a down-arrow button, nothing else. However, you don't get a chance to even press it, as the doors shut immediately and the elevator starts moving. That was… weird and unsettling.
The lights start to flicker and you swallow nervously.
There's a bump and you feel the elevator violently shift. Frisk whimpers and practically crawls into your arms.
The normal tremor of the elevator escalates to a metal grinding shake.
The lights go out, then they start flashing red.
"Warning! Warning!" The robotic voice nearly screams at you, shrill and echoing in the small space. "Elevator losing power!"
Frisk buries their face in your hair.
"Em tether stability lost! Altitude dropping!"
You feel the pit of your stomach rise up into you chest, as if you were on a roller coaster sheer drop. You slide down to the floor as you feel weightlessness.
All you can think about is holding Frisk.
You black out.
When you gain consciousness you go for about a minute or two trying to muster up enough strength to peel your eyes open, but eventually realize they are open, it's just pitch black. Your head throbs with pain and a crash-induced headache. You numbly reach around you, the first real thought being to find your sibling.
The doors of the elevator open with a soft chime directly in front of your sideways form. You're laying in the middle of the elevator. A silhouette is in the middle of the dim light spilling in. You know it's Frisk, you'd recognize their shadow anywhere. However, there's…. Something wrong.
They look over their shoulder.
Who is that?
They slowly raise their hand into the light, the shadow cascading across your face. You see the glint of their red eye.
"Are you okay?"
You blink.
Frisk turns fully around and kneels at your side. You hum in acknowledgement, slowly pulling yourself up. You do a brief injury check, glad you can only find forming bruises instead of broken bones.
"Are you okay?" You ask, finally finding your voice. They nod, but you can see the pursed frown on their face. You can tell they were scared. You pull them close, kissing their forehead. You clamber to your feet. "Stay close." You insist. Frisk nods, but then moves to the side of the elevator and grabs… Your bag? It must've come off you in the fall. You re-equip your bag.
Stepping out of the elevator sends a chill of fear through you.
It appears to be set at the end of a very dark hallway. None of the lights are on, but your eyes seemed to have adjusted to it. There's a smell of something unmistakably old, like mildew or chipped plaster. That, and the dust seemed to have been reawakened by the crash of the elevator, as it was a cloud in the air, making it harder to breathe.
Your boots click on the tiles of the hall.
The silence is nearly unbearable.
There was always some kind of background white noise wherever you went, but down here there was nothing. There was such a void of noise that the lack of it was almost tangibly enclosing on you. Though the hall was wide, you start to feel a sense of claustrophobia creeping into your chest.
You don't notice the panel on the wall until it makes a noise and scares the shit out of you. It lights up, the green text casting an unnerving glow across your face. The words glitch about, flickering in and out of focus. You read it out loud for the kid.
" "Entry number one. This is it… Time to do what the King has asked me to do. I will create the power to free us all. I will unleash the power of the soul." " As soon as you finish, you jump as a panel a few feet down the wall pops alive. You slowly creep towards it.
" "Entry number two. The barrier is locked by soul power… Unfortunately, this power cannot be recreated artificially. Soul power can only be derived from what was once living. So, to create more, we will have to use what we have now… The souls of monsters." "
Your heart drops. A bad feels crawls across your skin in the form of goosebumps. Another panel comes alive next to you.
" "Entry number three. But extracting a soul from a living monster would require incredible power… Besides being impractical, doing so would instantly destroy the soul's host. And, unlike the persistent souls of humans… The souls of most monsters disappear immediately upon death. If only I could make a monsters soul last-" "
Something cracks down the hall and you jump, pushing Frisk behind you. You hold your breath, straining your ears to listen out for whatever you just heard. You count to ten before you shakily let out your breath and slowly move to the next panel.
You felt eyes on your back as you read.
" "Entry number five. I've done it. Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from the human souls. I believe this is what gives their souls the strength to persist after death… The will to keep living… The resolve to change fate. Let's call this power "determination"." "
The screen buzzes and then pops. Its shuts down and you blink a couple times to readjust your eyes to the darkness.
You feel sick.
The corridor takes a sharp turn then, becoming so tiny that you have to walk with Frisk directly behind you instead of at your side. They refuse to let go of your skirt and you can't blame them. This place is terrifying.
You come to an open room. It's bathed partly in a soft dim yellow light. Seeing the star in the midst of the scary, perhaps abandoned part of the lab, is an act of Kindness.
Another panel comes to life across the room. You make a face at it and instead move to the vending machine, peering inside. It looks to only be stockpiled with a single type of chip. You wonder how long it's been sitting here.
There's a large door in the middle of the room, but it looks as broken down and unpowered as just about everything else you've seen. The panel is smaller than the ones you were reading earlier. It's more of a name plate, reading "Power Room", referring to the large bulky doors.
You suddenly step on something crinkly. Looking down, you realize it's a note that you would've completely missed. You bring it up to the green glow of the panel, but because of the handwriting and the darkness you can only make out a few words. "Elevator", "lost power", and "enter the center door".
Frisk taps your leg to get your attention.
"The right side is closed off. There's no power in the door." You nod, looking around.
"I guess it's to the left."
It's at this point that the suffocating silence dies into a soft white noise. You're not sure where it's coming from, or why you couldn't hear it earlier. It's a thrum of something. Machine, maybe. It echoes down the new hallway that you can only see a couple of feet down before the darkness becomes too much.
Frisk stops at another panel and patiently waits for you to read.
" "Entry number six. Asgore asked everyone outside the city for the monsters that had "fallen down." Their bodies came in today. They're still comatose… and soon, they'll all turn into dust. But what happens if I inject "determination" into them? If their souls persist after they perish, then… Freedom might be closer than we all thought." " You back up from the panel and swallow.
What the hell did Alphys do?
You push through the darkness, feeling the temperature suddenly take a drastic drop. You wished you were in something less revealing. You didn't mind dresses too much but being in such unnerving place… At least Frisk had your sweater on top of their onesie.
The next room now is just as dark, but there's a type of… fog? Smoke? You're not exactly sure what it is, but it creates movement in the dark as you walk. It almost stops you from noticing the metal beds.
Almost.
They look more like operating tables, set up in the room too close together. The room has a metallic scent that you can practically taste on your tongue.
Frisk nudges you towards the wall, following the glowing light of another screen. You follow but your eyes don't stop flickering around you.
" "Number nine." " You say.
"We must've missed some." Frisk signs. You had to get them to sign it twice, as you could barely see their hands.
"That, or they're not all hanging up in order." You pull Frisk close. " "Things aren't going well. None of the bodies have turned into dust, so I can't get the souls. I told the families that I would give them the dust back for the funerals. People are starting to ask me what's happening. What do I do?" "
"I don't like this place." Frisk says before they press their face against your hip. You nod. You look around again and take a shaky breath.
You felt like someone was watching you. You couldn't shake the feeling. Now with the smoke tricking you into thinking there was something moving-
You needed to find Alphys and get the hell out of this place.
At the end of the room are a row of sinks, along with two large bookcases, and the way forward. However, you're drawn to the files.
You trace your fingers over the few book spines and over the pages of the tightly packed away files. Your hand comes back coated in dust and you make a face. None of the books you pull out have titles and when you open them they're written in a language you don't know. You try to slide some of the files out, but they've been packed together for so long you think the paper has glued itself together.
You turn to the sinks, deciding to wash your hands. With the smell of mildew lingering in the air, you didn't want to write off the idea of mold. OR worse magic mold.
The first two faucets turn, but nothing comes out. When you try the third the faucet it shudders.
Frisk hugs you tighter and your brows knit.
"Frisk what's-"
The faucet shudders again but this time, something does come out. It's not water, though. It falls out like a string of white, thickly clotted honey. Once the string hits the sink it suddenly expands. You quickly back away. The… thing slowly pulls itself onto the rim of the sink and then pulls itself out.
And your soul is ripped from your chest.
You feel physically sick at the… thing you're looking at.
What is it?
It's a ball of a withering mass that beats like a weak heart. The multiple mouths on it open and close in silent screams.
Maybe it is screaming.
Frisk whimpers, hiding behind you. You snap out of your horror to numbly reach for your bat. When you pull it out, it knocks against one of your other pockets and your phone comes tumbling.
The screen lights up the room and blinds you. For a moment you think you accidentally attacked your phone and it called for help, because you can hear someone talking, but the more you listen… It's a mass of voices through the receiver.
Frisk swipes the phone, hugging it closely to them as they move back behind you.
"Come join the fun."
It spoke.
The wheezing form on the ground, that was gasping for multiple breaths all at the same time from it's many mouths, spoke.
"No." You say. It's a pathetic answer. Your mind was racing and you couldn't think of anything else. Nothing else would come out.
Your green soul shook.
You wanted to help this creature. But you were too terrified and rooted in spot to move near it.
"Oh well." It's a different voice, a different mouth that speaks to you.
Then it fades with the thick fog in the room.
Your soul returns uneasily.
Frisk tentatively moves around you, glances back and forth, and then reaches into the sink the… monster(?) came from. They present a small red key to you.
"There's a keyhole over there." Frisk looks you over, makes a face, and then turns the phone on to use as a flashlight. They light up the small room to show you and you nod numbly.
You let them do it.
There's a noise of something activating. Having done a number of puzzles in the Underground you assume the right side has been powered up and is now unlocked. When Frisk returns to you they scoop up your hand and squeeze it gently.
You take a deep breath.
This first thing you find down the right side are more digital notes. You think it's an odd way to keep track of such a horrible sounding experiment by mounting the evidence on walls.
" "Entry twelve. Nothing is happening I don't know what to do. I'll just keep injecting everything with "determination". I want this to work." "
Frisk lights up the end of the hallway with the phone light. You hadn't pulled it out earlier since your eyes had adjusted, letting you see more things around you than with a light that cut through everything. However, Frisk looked to feel calmer with it in their hands.
" "Entry thirteen. One of the bodies opened its eyes." "
The next room is just… beds. Maybe twenty beds all spread out. Bed sheets tucked in and pillows fluffed as if someone was about to walk in and use them.
The absence of life is nearly palpable.
Seeing the empty beds fills you with sorrow.
Frisk walks ahead of you. You watch them visit every bed, either searching for something or… thinking about what happened.
Or maybe that was just you.
You couldn't look at the beds for much longer. Ideas of victims of this "Falling Down" reminded you of when you'd read about victims of great sicknesses, like plagues. You thought about what horrors those monsters must've faced, being laid out in these beds. Perhaps they were in a comatose, but that didn't mean they couldn't still feel. You'd heard of coma patients being sentient but unable to move or work their bodies. Laying there as a scientist, one they'd probably known, heard about, injected them with some kind of… you don't know what "determination" could mean. You knew the word, but not in any relevance to an actual substance. Whatever it is, this all was, it went wrong.
Something bad happened.
But you guess that part was obvious.
" "Entry number fourteen. Everyone that had fallen down… Has woken up. They're all walking around and talking like nothing is wrong. I thought they were goners…?" "
You wonder if you should be reading these out loud anymore.
You wonder if Frisk has gone through this place before, all by themselves.
You wonder where Frisk is.
"Frisk?" You call when you realize they haven't returned back to your side. You turn around, expecting to see the light of the phone…
But there's only darkness.
"Frisk!" You yell out, fear immediately choking off your voice.
You go to run, but stop when you see there's two different ways they could've gone. Since you don't recall seeing them enter the door closer to you out of the corner of your eye while reading, you dart towards the one farther away.
It's a greenhouse. Or, really just a room with tables and tables of plants.
More specifically buttercups.
"Frisk?"
The flowers line the wall, tightly clustered together, multiple outgrowing their pots. It's more of a mass of plant life than just simple flowers, as the roots have joined together in some places and they've practically grown on top one another.
You wonder how they've surveyed in the dark for so long.
Something moves out of the corner of your eye and when you turn your head you scream at the sight of a person close enough to touch you.
You reflexively swing your bat and flinch when glass explodes out at impact.
It had been a mirror.
You saw your own reflection.
It wasn't a mirror now, just a rough concrete wall with jagged piece of glass hanging around. You were covered in fine mirror shards, along with the floor.
You heave an uneven breath, barely able to suck oxygen into your lungs.
You're shaking.
The next panel on the wall you come to, you don't read out loud.
Entry number seven. We'll need a vessel to wield the monster souls when the time comes. After all, a monster cannot absorb the souls of other monsters. Just as a human cannot absorb a human soul… So then… What about something that's neither human nor monster?
You decidedly hate the mirrors. For some reason they're peppered along the wall, spaced out oddly from one another. You avoid looking into them, knowing your eyes will play a trick on you and make you see something that isn't there.
For instance, you keep thinking you see one of the golden flowers behind you, instead of on the tables.
Entry number ten. Experiments on the vessel are a failure. It doesn't seem to be any different from the control cases. Whatever. They're a hassle to work with anyway. The seeds just stick to you and won't let go…
"Frisk!" You call again.
Your starting to get the feeling you've gone the wrong way.
When you come up to a row of the large mirrors, covering up a large section of the wall, you see another doorway. Maybe the kid went through there?
You can't help but look into the mirror. It's practically impossible not too. It's only a glance, but you freeze up when you see something. You look again to see that, yes,
there really is something behind you.
You spin around, your soul flying out mid turn. You brandish your bat towards the large bird monster(?).
It's a tall, thin creature. It looms over you, single large, bulging eye staring through you, neck bent at a broken angle as it's spine pushes against the high ceiling.
When it opens it's beak an unnatural, blood curdling scream bursts out. You cover your ears.
Voice's layered on voice's wail.
Fear.
Confusion.
Pain.
Your soul is bombarded with emotions that aren't yours, vague feelings of sense memories you don't have.
The monster doesn't stop screaming, but you hear it talking to you. A voice that isn't coming through in your ears but… into your soul.
You hear it's "inside" voice.
"Why?"
"I wanna go home!"
"Help me."
Tears that aren't yours fill your eyes.
Maybe they are yours.
Your green soul starts trembling.
"I'm sorry." It spills from your lips. "I'm so sorry. I can't help you."
Tears fall. Your soul starts glowing, the green reflecting in the mirrors and lighting up the entire room.
"I'm so sorry." You repeat, unable to say anything else. The bird doesn't attack you, just like the other monster you encountered. Instead it shuts it's beak, it's screams ceasing. It stares and then slowly leans closer. When it blinks it's eyelashes touch your nose.
"It's warm."
"Someone understands."
"This feels nice."
When it leans away your shaking soul returns to your chest. When the room goes dark and your eye readjust, the creature is gone.
You can still feel your soul, as if it's just on the surface. Usually when it returned it'd just… become apart of you again. Now, you were hyper aware of the feel of it. It pulsed with a nervous energy. Something was wrong.
But you guess that part was obvious.
After checking the last room, a tiny place with a tiny keyhole for a blue key, you race back to the room of beds and take the only path left. It's split from there. You go right.
Almost immediately you hit a dead end.
There's a large wall of churning fans, all on high speed. They seem to be exhaust fans, sucking in as much of the fog you'd seen earlier into them. The only thing in there is another panel.
Entry number eleven. Now that Mettaton's made it big, he never talks to me anymore… Except to ask when I'm going to finish his body. But I'm afraid if I finish his body, he won't need me anymore… Then we'll never be friends ever again. … Not to mention, every time I try to work on it, I just get really sweaty…
At least that solidified that Alphys was the one writing all of these notes. Not like you had anyone else in mind that could.
You leave and head down the other hallway.
Entry number fifteen. Seems like this research was a dead end… But at least we got a happy ending out of it…? I sent the souls and the vessel back to Asgore and I called all of the families and told them everyone's alive. I'll send everyone back tomorrow. :)
"Frisk! Where'd you run off kid!?"
Entry number Sixteen. no No NO NO NO NO NO.
There's another room that branches off, but all you can make out at the end of it is a single bathtub with it's curtain pushed to the side. You ignore it.
The next room you come across is absolutely humongous. Some sort of… oversized piece of machine hangs in the middle over a chasm. It looks like giant shears with industrial tubing holding it up. The room's dark, though, darker than the other ones so far probably because of just how big the space was. Instead of trying to navigate around the hole, you go to a door on your right.
"Frisk!"
A wave of relief washes over you, for a moment it even washes away your fears of the secret lab.
Frisk is sitting in front of a large boxy TV. It's bright light fills the entire room and Frisk's shadow stretches across the floor. There are shelves of VHS tapes on either side, and another one of those panels and keyholes. You ignore both to get closer.
"Frisk." You try again, but they don't respond or even seem to hear you. You look to see what they're watching.
The TV shows a hand recorded video. Someone's shakily filming a patch of yellow flowers. When they finally pull the camera up, you're shown a small human child sitting on a bench with more potted flowers. They're staring off into space, zoning out.
"Howdy, Chara!" The kid jumps, making a noise of surprise. He looks to be maybe eleven, with big red eyes and red cheeks. He frowns at whoever is filming, tucking a strand of his chestnut brown hair behind his ear. It goes to about his shoulders in a slightly disheveled mess.
"Asriel, what're you doing?" he asks.
"Smile for the camera!" The boy makes a confused look and then gives a small smile.
"Ha, this time I got you!" Asriel says. "I left the cap on… on purpose! Now you're smiling for noooo reason!" Chara stares for a moment before curling in on himself as he laughs. "H-Hey, what's so funny?"
"The caps not even on." Chara says. Asriel turns the camera around, checking for himself. You see a small goat child, who looks almost exactly like Toriel. They frown at the camera.
"Oh. Darn it." The camera lowers and all you can see is the under of a furry chin. He looks at where Chara was. "I almost got you…"
"Hey, As, do you remember the time Dad got sick?" Chara asks. Asirel cocks his head to the side, but eventually nods.
"Yeah, I remember. When we tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right? The recipe asked for two cups of butter… But we accidentally put in buttercups instead. Those flowers got him really sick." He frowns and looks down at the camera. "I felt so bad. We made Mom really upset. I should have laughed it off, like you did…"
You hear something gritty being grinded off screen and then the pat of two feet hitting the ground. Asriel looks back up to Chara. He makes a confused face.
"Um, Chara? Where are you going with that? Why'd you ask about-"
"Hey, turn of the camera As."
"What? Oh…" He looks back down and then, with a smile, the screen goes black.
You stand in silence as the tape pops out of the VHS.
"Frisk…" You say quietly. Finally they turn around. They have tears running down their face, but they have no expression. They pull themselves up to their feet and then slowly walk over to you, burying their face into your gut and hugging you as tightly as they can. Not knowing what you just watched or why the video sits so badly with you, you kneel down so you can give them a proper big sister hug.
"Sis." They mumble, barely audible. They pull back, scrubbing their small fists against their eyes. They then sign, "Don't worry, it's not my tears."
As they sign, you hear a small voice saying what their signing.
"Whose are they?' You find yourself asking. Frisk looks at their feet for a long time.
"Chara's." They spell out.
Chara, the one from the tape you two just watched? You had a feeling… they didn't just mean that they were simply being empathetic. Unless… something happened to that little boy that Frisk knew about?
"Can you keep going?" You ask gently, softly cupping their cheek and wiping any remaining tears away. They nod, sniffling. "Please don't leave my side."
"Sorry. I…" Their brow furrows. "I didn't realize I ran off." They looked more confused at their confession.
You take their hand in your free one, preferring to keep your bat at the ready just in case any of the monsters did decide to attack you. You check the screen on the wall before you leave.
Entry number four. I've been researching humans to see if I can find any info about their souls. I ended up snooping around the castle… And found these weird tapes. I don't feel like Asgore's watched them… I don't think he should after the incident involving his kids.
You leave the TV room and pick up Frisk as you take the small walkway around the shear-machine. On the other side has a small name plate. Apparently the large contraption was called a "DT Extraction Machine". It was just as inactive as pretty much everything else.
A cold breeze blows at your dress. You set down Frisk as you turn towards the way it's coming from.
It's like walking through a wall of ice. You miss your jeans even more as you step into a room full of freezers. It's as if you were in Snowdin. The rest of the lab was pretty warm considering it was in Hotland. You guess this was why you were seeing fog earlier.
Entry number nineteen. The families keep calling me to ask when everyone is coming home. What am I supposed to say? I don't even answer the phone anymore.
You watch Frisk out of the corner of your eye as you check Alphys's entries. They're opening the freezers and checking out whatever is inside of them. They pull out things they think are interesting and show you before going for something else. Most of the items so far look like samples of whatever research Alphys was doing. Vials of black, grey, and white goo. One or two of them were red.
Entry number twenty. Asgore left me five messages today. Four about everyone being angry. One about this cute teacup he found that looks like me. Thanks Asgore.
You swear you see one of the fridges shake. When you mention it to Frisk, they open it and tell you it's empty before moving onto the next one. It unnerves you.
Entry number twenty-one. I spend all of my time at the garbage dump now. It's my element.
"Find anything?" Frisk asks and you shake your head as the entry blinks off.
"All the entries are just about…" You slowly turn around. "Just about what Alphys used to do."
"...Wait, can you hear me now?" They ask and you smile.
"The whole "inside" voice or whatever is nice." You comment.
You really did need to ask Alphys later what the actual cause was for being able to hear the not-so real voices. Though, Frisk calling them "inside" voices was cute. You're glad that whatever this whole thing was, was something you were now apart of. Frisk being able to "talk" to you, even with it being dark like it was now, or when they were not in your line of sight, was extremely nice. Probably made them feel a lot better too, especially while you two were down here.
Frisk goes to last fridge as you pass them, peeking into another doorway. You decidedly didn't like that there weren't any doors. Just open passages that anyone could wander through while your back was turned.
"The door's stuck…"
"Huh?" You turn, watching the kid put all their weight into tugging at the handle. You start to laugh but it fades when you notice something strange…
Was the fridge… melting?
"Frisk, get back!" You grab the back of their sweater, hauling them to your side and even further away.
The fridge condenses to form another one of those monsters, your green soul and Frisk's red soul coming out to great them.
"Your soul." Frisk signs, looking to the quivering mess of your heart. You'd look too, but you can't take your eyes away from the monster before you.
"It's so cold." She whispers. You think she whispers it, but her voice cracks and sounds like multiple tones on top of one another. And though it's a quiet sentence, you hear her right in your ears as if the monster was a lot closer than she really was.
She was melting. Not like she was a monster made of some kind of slime no she-...
You recognized this monster.
A... A Snowdrake, you think. You had met one outside of Snowdin.
That Snowdrake didn't ooze.
This one… God you think she's melting. Her herself, her very body falling apart, unable to hold itself together. She whines at you, but doesn't move, as if entranced by your soul.
"Small…" She says. Streams of her own snowy flesh dripping from her eyes like streams of tears.
"Sis?" Frisk nudges you but, once again, you're frozen in place.
Scared.
Grief.
Hopelessness.
Loss.
Failure.
Her emotions hit you, pushing through you and washing you with sorrow. Once again a sadness that isn't yours brings fat tears to your eyes and your vision blurs. You have enough sense to put your bat in front of Frisk, guarding them with what coherent fragments of you are left, but the rest of you is gone.
Your green soul starts glowing, slowly floating closer to the melting Snowdrake.
"He's okay." The words tumble out of you. You're not sure what you're saying. They're not entirely yours. "They're okay. They remember."
The Snowdrake shivers, part of her body sliding off and splatting on the ground.
"Snowy…." She whispers. The half melted smile that tugs at her beak placates your upset soul. The green light blankets her. "Thank...You…" She laughs. "...It's so warm…"
As soon as she disappears you turn and puke.
Your knees give out and crack against the tiles as you fall. Your arms bracing yourself over your mess. Even in the cold room a wave of heat washes through you in the worst way, sending you through another round of vomiting.
"I've never-" Frisk starts, but goes silent. Instead they scoop something off of the floor where the Snowdrake had been. They leave your line of vision, too, but before you can call for them you puke again.
You feel like curling up and never moving again.
You get up though, thinking of Frisk.
For Frisk
Frisk comes back to you, palpable worry coating their face.
"Are you sick?" They ask, reaching up, waving for you to lean closer. You entertain them and do so, letting them put the back of their small hand to your sweaty forehead, checking for a fever.
"No. I'm not." You wonder if your soul is, though, since the kid doesn't seem to be having the same reaction to the monsters as you are.
"We're almost there. I just have to put this blue key away." They say, taking your hand and leading you forward. It seems they're fear has been replaced with worry for your well being.
Frisk meets you back at the first main door you had come upon. They had refused to have you walking with them to the blue keyhole. Apparently you looked a lot worse than you felt.
You did feel pretty damn bad. At first it was just emotionally, but as you stood there, waiting for the kid, the mental turmoil turned physical.
Thankfully you were about to go see a doctor who'd probably know what the hell was wrong with you.
Inside is another elevator. You assume this is the one Alphys took. It appears to have lost power like yours, but this one hadn't fallen. There's a second door to the thing, however, leading off into a long hallway.
All the panels hanging up that hold Alphys's entries are powered off.
Frisk is adamant about holding your hand and leading, as if they're worried you're going to pass out on them.
At this point you might.
The hall opens up to a large looming room, a brightly lit console at the end of it with pipes and wires from the ceiling leading down to it. Like a big arrow. It seems like a main power hub, as it has labels for various rooms you encountered while wandering. You lean over it, scanning the words for "elevator". Frisk makes a noise, grabbing your eyes, pointing to one of the switches. You flip it for them.
You glance around. You don't hear any powering-up noises, but you guess that doesn't always happen.
"Maybe… there's another level that Alphys went to?" You say, rubbing your neck. You didn't see any other doors you hadn't checked on this floor. Alphys had to be somewhere down here…
There's groaning behind you.
Whipping around you curse at the pulsing forms of the monsters. You recognized some, they must've followed you after your fight. They drag themselves across the tiles, tumbling over themselves to pull their massive forms out of the small doorway. They clot the exit, slowly filling up the room.
There were so many… Luckily, your soul hadn't left you yet and you hold your chest as if you can keep it in. So far every fight has let you feel what they feel. You couldn't barely handle one at a time. If all of them tried to fight you at once-
You're scared.
"Hey! Stop!" The sea of gooey monsters part, all turning around towards Alphys. She looks absolutely tiny compared to the hulking, quivering forms.
"I got you guys some food, okay!?" Alphys throws bags in her arms to the ground behind her. As fast as they can so with their cumbersome bodies, they all start dragging themselves back.
walks past them as they eat at the back of the room.
"Sorry about that…" Alphys says, scratching her cheek as she faces you again. "They get kind of sassy when they don't get fed on time. I think they smelled the food you had in your bag, and…" She waves her hands. "Anyway! The power went out, and I've been trying to turn it back on! But it seems like you two were one step ahead of me. This… Was probably just a big inconvenience for you…"
You stare at her for a long time and then sit yourself down. Her and Frisk give you looks. You wave for her to go on. You don't want to interrupt, but you definitely were going to pass out if you stayed standing any longer. Alphys nervously taps her claws together.
"B-but I appreciate that you came here to back me up! As I said, I was afraid I might...Not come back… But that's not because of these guys or anything! I was just worried I would be too afraid… To tell the truth… That I might run away, or do something… Cowardly."
"Alphys, I'm just glad you're okay." You say, leaning back against the console. "That note really worried us."
"Are you okay?" Frisk asks.
"I-I'm fine!" She blurts. "Really!"
"Then…" You chew at your lip, glancing at Frisk out of the corner of your eye. "Alphys what… happened? Down here? To those monsters?"
"...I.. Uh.. I suppose I owe you guys an explanation." She purses her lips. "I haven't.. Told the truth in a long time…"
"Pretend it's like… Roleplay." She snorts, her frown wavering into a small smile. She takes a breath.
"As you probably know, Asgore asked me to study the nature of souls. During my research, I isolated a power I called "determination." I injected it into dying monsters so their souls would last after death. But the experiment failed. You see, unlike humans', monsters' bodies don't have enough physical matter to take those concentrations of "determination." Their bodies started to melt, and lost what physicality they had. Pretty soon, all of the test subjects had melted together into… Those. Seeing them like this, I knew… I couldn't tell their families about it. I couldn't tell anyone about it. No matter how much everyone was asking me. And I was too afraid to do any more work, knowing… everything I'd done so far had been such a horrific failure …"
She looks you in the eyes and gives a sad smile.
"But now, I've changed my mind about all this. I'm going to tell everyone what I've done… It's going to be hard, being honest… Believing in myself… I'm sure there will be times where I'll struggle. I'm sure there will be times where I screw up again. But knowing, deep down, that I have friends to fall back on, I know it'll be a lot easier to stand on my own. Thank you."
The monsters, finished with their meals, slink closer to Alphys's back. She turns towards them with open arms.
"Come on, guys. It's time for everyone to go home." The monsters slowly drag themselves away, but Alphys stops. "Hey, can you guys help me? I don't think they'll all fit at a time. I'll n-need you guys to watch them as I…" She trails off.
"Yeah sure. Hold on." You brace an arm on the console and, with Frisk's help, you get yourself to your feet. Your body feels heavy, like lead.
You were so tired.
Alphys calls you name.
"Yeah?" You look up. She stares at you.
You glance around.
"Alphys? Whats-"
"Oh my god!" Her hands fly to her cheeks. "Y-Y-You shouldn't be down her with them! O-Oh my god I-I totally forgot!"
"You're confusing me even more now…"
"Your soul! It's green!" She blurts. She runs up to you and, like the last time she was worried about your health, she dances around you in a frantic panic.
"Y-Yeah… Um…" You swallow "Does that have anything to do with why I could… feel their emotions or anything?"
"Really?" Frisk asks, looking a little too excited.
"Oh my god." Alphys looks ready to pass out. "This is so unprofessional of me.. You must be feeling horrible! I-I'll heal you and explain everything o-once we're back in my lab. F-First I need your help Frisk to get everyone to my lab." Frisk takes a couple glances between you and Alphys before nodding. They pass you the phone. The two run off, leaving you in the empty console room.
Great. Another thing going wrong because of something specific to you.
Once again, you're not that surprised.
You stand around for a couple minutes, more like ten-ish you think, before deciding to start heading back down the hallway. You seemed unaffected as long as the monster didn't fight you. Plus they'd had a meal so, per Alphys, they should be fine.
There's a chime and you look up to see the panels along the hallway have been turned back on. Maybe… they were apart of the elevator power line?
Entry number eight. I've chosen a candidate. I haven't told Asgore yet, because I want to surprise him with it… in the center of his garden, there's something special. The first golden flower, that grew before all the others. The flower from the outside world. It appeared just before the queen left. I wonder… What happens when something without a soul gains the will to live?
A golden flower? It seems the only flowers ever talked about or seen by you are the golden ones.
Like the room full of golden flowers, where you thought you saw one behind you.
Or that VHS tape that talked about Asgore getting sick off of buttercup, i.e, a golden flower.
Or the multiple times Sans brought up a yellow flower that would appear, talking or listening.
Or the yellow flowers that keep breaking your fall from perilous heights.
…
Entry number eighteen. The flower's gone.
A giggle.
You spin around, eyes darting around the back end of the hall.
You swore you just heard a kid laugh.
...Maybe it was Frisk in the elevator…?
You feel someone watching you as you approach the last flickering screen.
Entry number seventeen. ?￢ﾜﾌ ? ﾟﾓﾪ?￢ﾜﾌ ?￢ﾘﾜ ?￢ﾜﾡ ❄ ?￢ﾜﾌ ?￢ﾘﾜ . ❄ ?￢ﾜﾌ ?￢ﾘﾠ ? ﾟﾒﾧ ?￢ﾘﾜ ? ﾟﾒﾧ ?￢ﾜﾋ . ❄ ?￢ﾘﾟ✌?￢ﾚﾐ? ﾟﾒﾧ ? ﾟﾕﾆ❄❄✋ ?￢ﾘﾜ ?￢ﾘﾜ . ?￢ﾘﾟ ❄ ✌?￢ﾜﾋ ? ✌❄✋✞ . ❄ ✋? ✠❄ ✠?￢ﾘﾜ ✋?￢ﾘﾜ ❄ ?￢ﾘﾜ ? ﾟﾒﾧ... ✞ ✡? ✞ ✡? ✋ ❄ ?￢ﾝﾄ✋ . ... ?￢ﾘﾟ✌❄ ?￢ﾚﾐ ✡ ? ❄?￢ﾚﾐ ❄ ✋ ?￢ﾜﾍ
You make a face. Why would Alphys use… is this even a real font? Maybe it's a code? You're not sure. However, seeing the little faces and hands calms your nerves. You take a deep breath and move on to the elevator.
The doors play a ditty as they open for you. You look around. You guess Frisk and Alphys got everyone up already.
Your phone rings and you jump. You quickly pull it from where you stashed it away after Frisk returned it. You assume it's them or Alphys.
"Hello-"
"Chara... Are you there?"
It's a voice you've never heard before- wait… actually… for some reason you recognize it.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it? But you've done well. Thanks to you, everything has fallen into place. Chara… see you soon."
"Wait who-"
The elevator doors slam closed and you stumble as it starts quickly moving. You check the phone, seeing whoever that was has hung up.
That voice…
Wasn't it… That kid from that VHS you caught Frisk watching? What was his name again?
Oh...
Asriel.