A Pure One Underground: A Semi-Novelization

by Ginger the Barn Owl

Sometimes, those who FIGHT must cast aside their battleclaws. Follow the story of Undertale through the eyes of Ginger Wingren, a young Barn Owl who ends up trapped within a human's pelt beneath Mount Ebott. As she adapts to her featherless form and new environment, she learns about monster history, interacts with the locals, and most of all, uncovers the hidden strengths of MERCY.

36. Chapter 34: Fallen Kingdom

A.N: Brace yourselves, everyone. This is the longest chapter yet!

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"did i ever mention she has armor?"

"Armor? Where ever did she manage to get ahold of that?"

"she did a favor for someone and got paid back...you don't happen to remember the temmies, do you?"

"Temmies...Those the little cat-dogs that live in Waterfall? I never saw them that much, but whenever I did, they always seemed like...very entertaining little things, I might say. You mean to say that...one of them made her a suit of armor?"

"a while ago. before the last time we spoke, really. just thought i'd let you know, she's well prepared for pretty much anything down here...even the king."

"The king..." she sighed. "Please...When they meet each other, spare me the details."

"oh, they already met each other."

"They WHAT!?"

"went well, i heard. heck, the kid had teatime with him."

"I...I am not sure I am hearing this right..." the woman in the Ruins replied. "It sounds like you said that the human...had 'teatime' with King Asgore."

"nope. you heard that right. they sat down, chatted, and he let her go...for now, at least. she said something about 'unfinished business'. but knowing her, she still might convince him to let her off the hook for good. dunno how, but i got a feelin'."

"I...Well, this is certainly...unexpected news, to say the least. I...I hate to cut this short, young man, but I think I need to leave now."

"yeah, i understand. well...see ya soon."

"Goodbye, my friend."

She heard the sound of the mystery-monster's feet crunching farther and farther away through the snow outside until they disappeared. Once she knew she was alone, Toriel let herself slide down against the door and sit on the stony ground, head in her pawed hands. King Asgore was a brute; he'd killed six human children for their SOULs, likely in a bloodthirsty rage, and vowed to destroy every human on the face of the earth once the first seven had been collected.

What happened to the man she used to know? The kind, caring, lovable goofball she'd fallen in love with all those centuries ago? That monster, who'd once formally escorted a housefly back outside instead of reaching for the swatter, now had the blood of six innocent human children on his hands. How did he sleep at night? He couldn't possibly still be the same kind of person anymore, there was no way...was there?

"Teatime, indeed..." she swiftly denied. "I would not be surprised if it's just a ruse to catch her off-"

She was interrupted by a noise from outside. A...strangely familiar noise.

It sounded like it was coming from the foot of the door, and she bent down to listen; it was the frantic, desperate chirping of a bird.

It can't be...In that weather? How...

Slowly, quietly, and very hesitantly, she opened the door leading to the outside, just by a few inches...

But those few inches were enough space for the visitor to enter through, and a little yellow blur zipped in through the gap, hopping and flitting about victoriously as soon as it realized it was back in the Ruins, emitting happy chirps.

It slowed down some, and Toriel got a better look at the figure. It was actually...

"Why...It IS you!"

The bird chirped out a welcome, and the Boss Monster bent down and cupped her hands to let it hop into them.

"I never thought I would see you again, it has been so long!" she gasped. "What are you doing here, little one? Is it not freezing out there?"

It ruffled its feathers, releasing some of the cold snow from its plumage, then chirped again, tapping on something it was holding with one of its claws.

Toriel only now realized that its thin little talons were wrapped securely around a tightly rolled-up piece of paper.

"What have you there?"

The bird fluttered down to the ground, leaving the note in her paws.

"Is this...supposed to be for me?"

She didn't know who it might be from...Oh, if only she still had her phone, she might have been able to get ahold of them, but that accursed dog had ran off with it nearly the minute Ginger left the Ruins, and she hadn't seen either since.

The monster untied the loose knot in the paper strip keeping the paper furled, unrolled it until it was opened all the way, then began to read aloud.

She was not prepared for what she was about to behold.

"Dear Queen Toriel,

If you're reading this, it means that my little feathered messenger got to the Ruins safely. I, as well, am safe, at least for the time being,
and seeing that you've exiled yourself to the Ruins for so long, I thought I might give you a synopsis of what I have learned throughout
my travels, as well as a few reasons you might decide to come join us.

First off, there is a Royal Guard established in order to protect the king. Said guard also did away with most of the six humans that came
before me, and I have heard, through oral sources, that Asgore himself only has the blood of the first victim on his own paws. In fact, you
may not believe this, but I am quite sure that I myself have taken more lives in my time than him. I mentioned my group above during
my stay with you; we're a military organization, and I was often required to kill in order to defend us. And unlike Asgore, I do not mourn
the blood I have shed with my own hands. My LOVE is far higher than it should be for someone my age, and as such with high LOVE, I
had distanced myself, and grew hardy through the gruesome art of war.

Second, I discovered the tragic past of the Underground while I traversed New Home, while on my way to meet his Majesty for the first
time. I know everything about what happened; the first human, your son, your former status, the declaration of war on humanity, and
how the tragedy shattered the monarchy. I am deeply sorry for the loss you and the king endured, and I highly praise and honor the late
prince for his bravery that day, along with the first human who accepted you all as the wonderful people you are, as I have. However, I
must point out that your desertion of the king and kingdom during their greatest time of need was disastrous; looking back upon history,
you were one of the only ones with the potential to stop the massacre before it could start. As much as it pains me to admit this, and no
matter what you might have done to keep those humans safe within in the Ruins, you appear to be at least partially responsible for the
terrible events that followed. I do not fully condone Asgore for his own brash decisions, but as a warrior AND a diplomat, I tend to look at
both sides of the spectrum, and each side seems, at an extent, to be at err. Now having said this, I will not reprimand anyone any more
than need be; you were both dealing with a sudden and horrible loss, and I doubt either of you were completely in your right minds that
day. And even so, despite it having to be made plain, I myself am in no place to say any of this; as stated earlier, I have done far more
and far worse things than either of you combined.

As for the third thing, this entirely concerns your former spouse, King Asgore. I'll have you know I met him in person; I found him in the
Throne Room, tending to his(impressively massive) flower garden, and when he discovered the human standing there, it was more than
obvious that the last thing he wanted was to have me killed. He does not want power. He does not want to harm anyone or anybody. All
he wants is for the people down here to have hope. His past deeds haunt him, and the burden he carries for having called on the grim task
of freeing us threatens to crush him at any moment. I can see it in his eyes. And I'm not sure how much this matters to you at this point,
but I feel I should tell you regardless; the king still pines for you. He regrets everything he has ever done to hurt you, and he was not even
aware of your residence in the Ruins, and the fact that you tried to protect the six humans(perhaps until I hinted at it towards the end of
my visit.) If it improves the situation, when I return to his castle, I might just be able to convince him to call it off. I'll be going back to New
Home as soon as I finish my business with incumbent Royal Scientist, Dr. Alphys(a close and personal friend of mine.) Should you decide
to meet me there, I only have one request. Asgore will be there, and if you can't accept his silent pleas for you to return to him, then I ask
that you at least forgive him. You don't remember what I did, yet you still forgave me. My goal is no longer to escape the Underground. I
only wish to make peace with the king, as almost all of his citizens are already on my side.

Depending on how long I stay at the Hotland Laboratory, I should be arriving at the castle sometime before midnight tonight. Without the
sun and moon to tell me when to call it a day, I find myself sleeping a lot less. And despite having the time on my phone, I almost never
bother to check it, so I don't keep track of time as well as I once did. Isn't that something?

That is all I have to say. At least consider what I've written here before deciding your next move. I'll see you again, maybe soon.

Best regards,

Ginger Wingren."

"This...What...?"

She was in utter disbelief as to what she'd just read, her paws beginning to clench into fists and wrinkle the paper. How did Ginger know all of this? How dare she bring it up!? How dare she criticize her for fleeing the monarchy for the safety of the Ruins after the king's horrible declaration of war!? If she'd stayed there, she would have had to assist in the horrible series of murders, and then she would have REALLY given Asgore what he deserved...

And...she would have found a way to stop him, and...none of this...would have...

"Mother of God..."

The human was right. She WAS partly to blame here.

But what about Asgore? The last time she saw him, he'd just gotten done screaming out against humanity, vowing to the monster citizens to slaughter every one on the face of the earth. Something in him had snapped that day; his blue eyes flashed with a flame she never thought she'd see in him, burning with hatred. It was horrible; she didn't think that newfound fire would ever die...But according to the young human, it had gone out long, long ago. Only ONE human at his own hands? The first to fall since his proclamation? And what about the Royal Guard Ginger spoke of here? How many of the other five had THEY killed? And when she was on the surface...her LOVE. She'd done WORSE than Asgore? THIS was a hard pill to swallow; what sorts of vile acts had the young human, whom she'd guided through the Ruins and even tried to keep with her, carried out up there? True, none of it affected her directly, as what Asgore had done, but for someone like Ginger to claim that she had more blood on her hands that the king who vowed to destroy all humans? It was almost infathomable. What had she brought into her home? What was the Ginger from the surface really like?

...What was ASGORE really like?

Something Ginger said while she was still in the Ruins with her resurfaced from somewhere in her mind.

"I can't just stay here in the Ruins. They need me back up there, and if I just ignore that, then...well...That's not just lazy and irresponsible, it's...disloyal."

Disloyal. In a way, she'd betrayed Asgore as much as he had her.

She read the last part of the letter again; she would be in New Home again before midnight. She HAD to get there in time. What if the human COULDN'T change his mind? He would kill her, or have someone else do it for him, like he did the five; he was only one SOUL away from fulfilling his horrible swear to the people. There was a slim chance, if any, that he could deny them freedom when they were so close.

As for Asgore having longed for her all this time...well...that discussion would have to wait, should she be able to keep one with him without giving into the urge to conjure a fireball and send it flying right at him, the pathetic whelp. If he really wanted to free the citizens, then instead of just meekly waiting down here, hoping another human never came while everyone suffered, he could have just taken one SOUL, used it to cross the Barrier and acquire the other six needed to free everyone WITHOUT the bloodshed...

...But someone had tried that before.

And it had cost him his life. The life of a poor, innocent youth...dead at the hands of humans.

A surge of anger swept over her. This...THIS was what Asgore felt that day. It might not excuse him from killing them, but she at least knew what he felt now.

And if the king died trying what their fallen son had, then the Underground would have nothing left to look up to except...

At least she knew that both Ginger and Asgore still alive, now. And now that she knew, she intended to keep it that way. And if Asgore called for a fight between them...if the young human didn't fall in defeat, then...

HE would.

No. It wasn't right to allow her to do that. Hadn't this been what she wanted to prevent the whole time?

What a job she'd done of it...

"...Little bird," she said to the messenger. "You have done your job well."

Joss puffed out the sunny yellow feathers on his chest.

"I am leaving this place. Come with me through Snowdin; I'll keep you warm until we get to Waterfall. And there you may go where you please...I have a war to stop."

The finch nodded, perching on Toriel's shoulder and watching her roll the letter back up to tuck into the pocket of her robes. Then, for the first time in a decade, she reached out and fully opened the doors to the Ruins. A blast of cold smacked her in the face; her fur was strong against it, but she hadn't been outside the Ruins in so long that she'd gotten too used to the stuffy, temperate climate. She stepped out onto the snow and looked around; there wasn't much of anything different since the last time she was out here...save for a bush that'd grown just outside the doors.

But she didn't have time to admire her surroundings. Her gait brisk, she marched out of the Ruins, Joss still on her shoulder, leaving the great stone doors wide open. Toriel didn't care if she never returned. All she cared about was the fate of the world. The former queen knew now that she'd been sitting there idle for too long. It was about time she put a stop to this, confront King Asgore and knock some sense into him.

Before it was too late.

---

...

---

"Well...It's about time to head on over there."

Ginger had the time displayed on her phone; October 25th, 8:28 p.m., nearly an hour after they'd last met...The Saves, Loads and Resets really messed with her sense of passing time. Seemingly only several hours earlier, she was walking around Ebbot Village looking at all of the Christmas decorations put out. In this timeline, December still had yet to arrive, and there was no snow coating the ground on the surface.

But none of that was her main concern right now. She was about to see just what Alphys' big secret was. It couldn't be anything good, that was for sure.

Finally, the human made it back to Hotland. She got two more generous swigs of water at the cooler to wet her throat before approaching the metal sliding doors. She looked down at the time again; 8:31 p.m.

I guess I should go in there, now, she decided.

The doors to the lab were unlocked this time, welcoming her inside. Nothing much had changed since the last time she'd been in there, except...

The Huntress spied a piece of paper on the floor, right outside the door to the room Alphys had emerged from the first time they met face-to-face. There was a bathroom sign next to it, but this turned out to be misleading; when she drew near the door to inspect the paper, it slid open, instead revealing the inside of an elevator.

"Hm...That's a tad queer."

She wondered why Alphys had decided to disguise the room as a restroom of all things; monsters had no use for those...except for maybe to clean themselves in, but then wouldn't it instead be called a "washroom"? Actually, now that she thought about it, it was really a genius idea. Since monsters didn't use the bathroom, they would have no reason to go in there, and with it being locked most of the time, they wouldn't try to.

But now it was open, and the elevator sat there waiting for her. Before she went in, Ginger scooped the note up off the ground and scanned over the text. The handwriting was messy, and looked as though to have been written very slowly. The lines making up the letters were all squiggly, as though the hand that'd written them had been badly shaking the whole time. She could still read it, at least.

"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 to the north of this note. You
all at least deserve to know what I did."

That was all she wrote. The human sighed deeply as she picked the note up, folded it to fit in her pocket, then boarded the elevator. What awaited her beyond the short ride?

This elevator only had two selections.

-Lower Lab
-New Home

The elevator went to New Home, too? She remembered something Alphys said the first time they met.

"I just so happen to know a way r-right to Asgore's castle from here!"

"Yeah...You sure did," she mused. But all of that was in the past, and she was actually somewhat glad of it; if she'd known Alphys was playing her from the start, she never would have bothered with her, and she never would have found out how deeply she was in need of help. Besides, she was a good friend, really. And that was all Alphys had really wanted in the first place; some support and comfort from someone she could trust.

And Ginger was about to find out just WHY she needed it in the first place.

She selected the option for the lower floor of the lab, and the elevator began to descend.

...And then, as suddenly as it started up, it stopped.

"What the...There's no way we could be-"

Lights flashed.

Alarms blared.

The elevator was going down again. But there was nothing holding it up. It was falling. Plummeting. The automated system screamed as though it were panicking itself.

"WARNING! WARNING!"

"ELEVATOR LOSING POWER!"

"EM TETHER STABILITY LOST!"

"ALTITUDE DROPPING!"

Ginger was on the floor by now, frozen in panic. She was going to crash! How would she survive the fall!? How long was it even!? In desperation, she slid her bag off and put it in between herself and the floor, assumed the fetal position and braced herself, fearing the worst.

The sound of the elevator colliding with the ground rang in her ears, and at that moment, all of the lights went out, bathing everything in darkness.

...

...

"...Am I dead yet?"

The human opened her eyes, and was met with nothing but darkness. Oh, no...She wasn't in the void again, was she?

And come to think of it...When was the last time she SAVED?

"Oh, no...No, no, no, am I going to have to go through Waterfall all over again!? How am I-"

She stopped panicking when she heard the sound of sliding doors open, and some light finally made itself present.

Ginger looked around; she was still in the elevator, and it'd even opened up for her, revealing the basement floor of the lab. She felt around herself, checking for injuries; she was a might bruised in some places, and her right leg felt just a bit battered, but when she stood up, it proved able to support her...albeit with a bit of a limp. Huh...She had definitely expected a bit worse than this, considering the circumstances, so she figured she could get along just fine.

The dim light lead to a dark room, and the Huntress exited the elevator, planting her feet firmly on the teal-tiled floor. She turned to her left, as that was the only direction the path would go in, and walked along the dark hallway. The place didn't look to be in top condition. Faded paint, musty smell, cracks along the walls...She wasn't sure what sold it, but the lower lab's state of ruin gave off a very unsettling aura.

Ginger came across what looked like a plaque on the wall, but instead of just being a sheet of text, it was on a monitor, and it lit up as she passed it by. Ginger noticed this, and, curiosity piqued, read what was displayed there.

*ENTRY NUMBER 1

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.

That was all it said. But this was labelled 'Entry Number 1." Maybe there were others?

It turned out, the whole hallway was lined with these automatically-displayed log entries. It looked like she would have to read them in numerical order. Ginger kept going, and drew near the second one to read it.

*ENTRY NUMBER 2

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.

She kept at it down the path and read the third.

*ENTRY NUMBER 3

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 monster's SOUL last...

There was one more entry along the wall before it turned a corner north.

*ENTRY NUMBER 5

Wait...Number 5? One, two, three...five. What happened to Entry Number 4?

Maybe these entries weren't organized correctly? She didn't know how it worked...but she read it regardless.

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."

...So, DETERMINATION wasn't just a trait, was it? It was something every human SOUL possessed...though some had more than others.

The path turned north, and she followed the thin stretch of hallway up into the next room. There wasn't much in there; just a vending machine, another paper on the floor, a larger door leading into another section of the lab, and a fifth monitor on the wall that displayed the words "POWER ROOM". There was a Save Point to her left, just in front of a potted plant sitting in the corner.

*True Laboratory

*File Saved

The note on the floor caught her attention; it looked like Alphys' handwriting, with the squiggly lines indicating her nervousness. But this writing was even sloppier. She was surprised that she could make it all out...then again, she'd gotten the ability to read horrible handwriting from herself when SHE was learning to write. However, it did take a bit to dissect all of the letters.

"The elevator lost power. In
order to get it working, you'll
have to enter the center door
to access the control room."

Alphys must have had the same problem with the elevators when she came down here. But where was Alphys? Maybe off tending to something down here? Well, before she went off to look for her, she decided to see if she could get the elevator working again, so she went for the door...

Only to find that it was locked.

It did have colored lights on it, coded red, yellow, green and blue; maybe the door keys and key slots were somewhere around the lab...?

Well, there was only one way to find out, and it certainly beat sitting around doing nothing like a nincompoop. Ginger looked for another place to go, and found that there was another stretch of hallway to the left of the room, leading somewhere else. Not having anything better to do, she went up that way, passing another monitor that displayed a log entry.

*ENTRY NUMBER 6

Asgore asked everyone outside the city for 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.

How long ago had these all been written? Nobody was free yet, so she couldn't imagine whatever had been done succeeded in that department.

The next room had a few operating tables lined up along the walls, as well as yet another monitor with an entry.

*ENTRY NUMBER 9

These entries were skipping numbers again.

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?

This was all very interesting so far; from what she could piece together, Alphys had been able to extract DETERMINATION from the already harvested human SOULs, having the intent to give the SOULs of monsters the same ability to live on after death...It was actually a bit disturbing to think about; if their SOULs were destroyed instantly upon death, instead of remaining to finish business or moving on to an afterlife, did that mean that every monster that'd ever died...just didn't exist anymore? She'd pondered the relations between the SOUL and consciousness before, but the two seemed to be intertwined with one another. There was no monster heaven, nor was there a monster hell. The dead of monsterkind were just...gone. Knowing this, it was really no wonder why Alphys, or ANYONE wouldn't want them to be destroyed upon the body's death. It was... scary, not having anywhere to go beyond oblivion.

Past the beds where the fallen once laid, there was another doorway leading to another room, and a few sets of sink cabinets sat beside it. Ginger checked the smaller room for anything else first; all she found was a slot on the wall and another sloppily-written note on the ground.

"The key fell into the drain;
I dropped it. You'll have to
turn the sink on to see if
it comes out."

The sink...which sink?

The human went up to the row of faucets; there were three. Which one would she have to turn on?

"...Forget it. I'll just turn on all three."

So she did just that. The first faucet ran water, then the second one did, and then she turned on the third. The water didn't flow out immediately upon turning in on, though...

In fact, no water came out of it at all. Instead there came...

A white, slimy substance, and instead of going down the drain, it just...accumulated in the sink, piling up and getting bigger and bigger until...

Ginger froze.

Was she looking at a...face of some sort?

And then, the single mass separated into three, and those three piles of dripping, white goop assembled themselves into...

"...What. The actual. Sprink...!?" she rasped.

What WERE these things! They looked like a collection of contorted, melting faces all stuck atop a single stalk! She'd thought Flowey's giant demigod form was disturbing, but THESE THINGS?! The worst part was that they had no explanation! They were just...here!

Her SOUL flashed for a moment. They were engaging a battle.

The sound of static caught her attention, and she pulled out her phone. Through the interference, she could hear voices coming from the receiver.

"Come and join the fun."

The figures before seemed to swell, an uncannily intelligent glimmer entering their misshapen eyes. And then, across the battleground they'd made of the room, small white bullets appeared, scattered across in an unorganized fashion. What was this supposed to be?

Ginger found out right then and there. The white dots ballooned out into freakish, malformed faces!

They were quick to expand, and they were all over the place, disappearing after they deflated, only to regenerate as new dots. Even the evasive Huntress wasn't fast enough to avoid all of them, and three of the awful bullets struck her when they expanded.

Finally, the attack ceased, and Ginger listened in through her cell phone's receiver again.

"It's a real get together. Won't you become one of us?"

"I don't think so," she refused the creatures. "Where did you even come from? What are you?"

"That is to remain a mystery," one of the voices answered, and one of the three figures rose its head. That was the one speaking. "All we are is the stuff of memories. Even the doctor knows not of us...But there is yet more for you to discover down here."

"So, that's a no, then?" another voice chimed in as another of the beings rose its head to speak through the phone. "Well, that's a shame...Oh, well. I don't believe we care much anymore. Good luck to you. We'll be finding our own peace, now."

Just as suddenly as they'd materialized before her, the beings disappeared into thin air.

They said that Dr. Alphys didn't know about them...But if this didn't concern her, then what DID?

Something in the sink caught her attention. Something that shimmered a metallic red. It was a key in place of the strange monstrosities.

"Ah, here we go!" she realized, grabbing it and rushing into the smaller room with the slot in the wall to fit it into. It slid into the opening perfectly.

"That's one down...What else is around here, now?"

The Huntress backtracked to the Power Room, then followed the path to the right. It lead up to another door, which opened upon her having reached it. Two more monitors displaying log entries written on them lined the walls.

*ENTRY NUMBER 12

Nothing is happening. I don't know what to do. I'll just
keep injecting everything with "determination." I want
this to work.

Ginger approached the next one.

*ENTRY NUMBER 13

One of the bodies opened its eyes.

A body opened its eyes? Did that mean the DETERMINATION...revived the fallen monster? Had this happened to the other bodies?

The next room looked...oddly homey. The beds around the room weren't autopsy beds, rather actual beds, covered with faded pink comforters, all of them slightly dusty, and there was an empty dog bowl sitting just inside the door. She wandered inside and looked around. She spied a Save Point in the north right corner of the room, and passed a few of the beds to get to it...

And while she looked about, she noticed that one of the beds' covers looked like it'd been messed with. And something was jutting up a bit from under the covers.

Curiously, she lifted the blankets up. There sat a small yellow key.

"Well, well, well," Ginger said to herself. "How'd you get here, huh?"

She grabbed the key and stuck it on her phone's keychain, then drew near the Save Point.

*True Lab-Bedroom

*File Saved

The path lead into another room, and along the walls, across from the mirrors and monitors lining it, were rows of potted Golden Flowers. Odd...Maybe the log entries on the walls would provide some further insight.

*ENTRY NUMBER 7

Ah, so THIS was where Number 7 went! These entries sure were jumbled up with each other.

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?

There was another entry past the next mirror on the wall.

*ENTRY NUMBER 10

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...

"Hmm...Wonder what she tried to do with those things..."

She continued down the hallway, looking at her reflection in the mirrors along the wall as she went by.

"Man...What's with all the mirrors in here? It's kinda given me the-"

She halted in her tracks when she spied something foreign in the mirror behind her. It looked like a pair of...long, white, slender legs. Almost like those of a heron.

An odd noise came from behind, and, afraid of what she might see, Ginger slowly turned around to face whatever creature stood behind her.

Towering above the human was a tall, avian creature, with a long neck and mottled whites and greys. It head looked vaguely like...Were those the bodies of two Astigmatism fused together? Joining at the legs to form the pointed mandibles of a beak...!? And why did it look so...drippy and wet!?

"...What is this thing..." she whispered, both in horror and in awe.

The sound it emitted vaguely resembled...garbled voices, speaking overtop of each other. But it was so low and distorted that she couldn't understand it. Thoroughly spooked by this entity, she backed away. Its long legs strode after her, and the glint in its eyes was...very oddly curious.

In self defense, Ginger drew her bow and an arrow from her pack. The avian abomination drew its long neck back at the sight of it, seemingly threatened.

"What are you...?" she asked it. "What HAPPENED in here!?"

It answered again. Its speech was distorted, but she could just barely make out a couple of its words.

"...surface...pick...courage..."

All the rest was incomprehensible.

That was when the creature fired up an attack; a swarm of butterflies, grouped around the being's head and slowly fluttering out toward her...Butterflies. Normally, the flying creatures would pose no harm unless eaten, but there was something about these bullets that made the insects look so much more...disturbing. It wasn't right. In fact, this entire place seemed to have a feeling of 'not right' about it. Something had happened down here. Something bad.

And Dr. Alphys knew exactly what it was.

She carefully evaded the butterflies as they swarmed about her, only dissipating when it seemed like they would all home in around her. She held tight onto her arrow, then, perhaps to try and confuse the creature, deployed the same trick she had in the fight against Mettaton, shooting the arrow into the air and catching it as it came falling down. Another voice came from inside the strange...amalgamation of different monster parts, and it bent its long neck in an impressed nod.

"...impressed...have at...croooooak..."

Did...this bird just croak? Like a frog? Or more precisely...a Froggit?

It summoned another attack, conjuring up an odd, bird-like body, its rounded heads detaching and regenerating, acting as bullets heading towards her once they came off.

She ducked beneath the hellishly deranged attacks. There was something cursed about this place, it seemed. Only Glaux could save her from his hagsmire.

The assault stopped, but even during the calm, Ginger was on her knees, bent over, begging anyone-Glaux, Lupus, Hordox, the Highest One, ANYONE.

Save me... she begged to whatever deity might be listening. Deliver me from this hell and guide me to safety...

"Finally, someone gets it..."

She rose her head. The being spoke. And it had spoken clearly, of all the things it could have emitted. And the voice sounded like an Astigmatism, coming from the head.

"Carry on," another voice told her, now coming from its center. "Freedom...may not be far."

"Rrrrribbit..." a third came from each of its wings.

This thing didn't just look like a bunch of different monsters...It WAS a bunch of different monsters. Astigmatism, Whimsalot...and Final Froggit. All jumbled up and smooshed together to form this...this plague doctor of a creature. It almost looked like a SOUL reaper of some sort...

"Eesh..." she mumbled. "I think I'm gonna call you 'Reaper Bird,' or something like that."

"How dare you..."

"Befitting..."

"Robbit..."

"Turn back...You need to know the rest before you return."

"Yeah...What he said."

"Croak..."

Reaper Bird nodded again, bowing its graceful neck, then backed into the shadows, almost seeming to fade away completely as it did so. Ginger obeyed the creature, turning back around down the hallway, passing the row of flowers on the counter again and back into the bedroom. There was another doorway leading up into yet another part of the True Lab, and beside it was yet another monitor, log entry displayed on it.

*ENTRY NUMBER 14

Everyone that had fallen down...has woken up. They're all
walking around and talking like nothing is wrong. I thought
they were goners...?

So the DETERMINATION did help the fallen! Well, that was definitely good...But what the heck happened to the monsters composing Reaper Bird?

The path beyond the bedroom branched into two directions; left and right. Ginger spotted the monitors to her left, and decided to head that way first.

*ENTRY NUMBER 15

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. :)

Aw...That was great. The fallen monsters were given the second chance they all deserved, all thanks to Dr. Alphys and the sheer power of...

*ENTRY NUMBER 16

no No NO NO NO NO NO

"...Um...That doesn't sound happy."

She'd already gotten the idea through the encounter with Reaper Bird that something horrible had happened down here, and things were slowly coming together...but exactly WHAT the big, horrible event was, she still had yet to snap into one big picture. The only thing she could do was keep going and unravel more information.

There was a door along the hallway wall, leading into what looked like a washroom. The only thing in there was a bathtub at its opposite end, concealed by a purple curtain...

And there was something moving behind it, wagging like the tail of a dog.

With all the caution of someone approaching a sleeping bear, Ginger crept toward the curtain, bow and arrow ready to fire. The speed at which the figure shook increased as she drew closer, and then, when she was upon the curtain, she grabbed it, flung it open and pointed her weapon.

...Only to find there was nothing there. Nothing except...

"Um...Alphys? How'd this end up here?"

There was a key in the bottom of the tub, glimmering green. Maybe she left a note somewhere about that one, too, like she had the red one.

The human exited the room and continued down the hallway, and what was in the next section of the lab made her nearly jump clean out of her skin. There, attached to the wall, was a giant red, skull-like structure, wired with tubes and other devices. The dull image of a Save Point made itself visible along the path.

"I don't even want to know what that thing's for," she said to herself as she brushed a foot across the star.

...Odd. Normally, her foot would just go right through it, not tap it like it was a physical object. And why did it look like some of it...

...Stuck...right to her...foot, like...like...

A giant, growing pile of melting flesh and gnashing teeth!?

She was speechless; the creature was as tall as her, and stared right at her with peering eyes.

"I don't like the way you stare," it told her. It sounded like many voices were saying the exact same thing at the exact same time, unlike the unsynchronized speech that the entities composing Reaper Bird communicated with.

"Looks like I should teach you a lesson."

The monster's teeth began to glow, and its mouth opened wide as it advanced toward her, the bottom of its almost gelatinous form sloshing as it tried to move.

"Welcome to my special hell."

The Huntress was taken aback by this creature's gaping jaws and fangs, as well as its incredible speed for something with a body so slug-like. The tip of a tooth managed to graze her arm, letting the telltale shooting sensation course through it. When the monster stopped the attack, it looked at her again. It was weird, but...the gooey, pulsating flesh of the being seemed to emit a smell reminiscent of...lemons? Sweet lemons, to be exact, like someone had put them in their bread to bake. This wasn't exactly what she expected something like this to smell like...but Ginger supposed that she shouldn't complain about this.

This creature seemed to be a bit more organized than Reaper Bird, seeming able to communicate just fine.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" it asked her, leaning closer. Another thing she didn't expect out of it.

"Erm...Well, you at least smell okay," she dodged, backing up a bit to let the monster be. "Smells like lemon bread in here, or something like that."

"That's what they all say..."

"You make it out to be a bad thing."

Ginger sighed.

"You mind telling me about what happened down here?"

"It's a long story...and I'd rather not get into it. Except for the fact that we'd all like to..."

The creature flexed one of its arms. It was odd, but it looked vaguely like...Aaron's arm?

"Ugh...Go see our families again," it continued. "Please, ignore the arm; the other parts of me are not looking forward to seeing Aaron."

"He thinks he's all that, doesn't he?"

"I remember once he tried to flirt with me," it continued. "My sister gave him what for; berated him with her terrible singing...I hate to admit that last part. The last I saw of her looked like she was finally starting to improve...So, you look to be a human, right? What are you doing down here?"

"Dr. Alphys called me down here. I already met the king; after I leave, I'm gonna try to negotiate a peace deal, or something with him, erm...What do I call you?"

"I've grown used to people saying 'Lemon Bread' when they talk about me...Anyway, though, your idea sounds like a good one. I'll let you be, then. Dr. Alphys will be able to tell you more than I can. And in a better way."

Lemon Bread began to slosh away.

"You didn't happen to see her around here, did you?"

"About half an hour ago...I think. She was by all the refrigerators...She looked upset about something. But she often does. At least when she sees us."

"Fridges. Got it. I gotta keep lookin' around for the keys to the Power Room. If you see her anymore, let her know I saw you."

"Will do."

With that, Lemon Bread was gone in the direction the human had come from. Ginger looked around again, just to make sure there was nothing else suspicious in the area. No other monsters made themselves present here, but she DID spy, off the path going around the giant skull structure, yet another room, towards the north. Cautiously, she turned around and went up through the doorway. There was a T.V. in the room, sat atop the entertainment center, and it was hooked up to a hybrid VHS/DVD player. There were several shelves of other VHS tapes and DVDs on either side of it, but the ones that really stuck out were the ones sticking out just beside the tape player, labelled in a specific order with the numbers 1 through 5. There was a monitor on the wall to the left, and she decided to inspect that before taking a closer look at the cassettes.

*ENTRY NUMBER 4

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.

Hmm...Interesting. Maybe she would discover something from these.

She took the first tape out of its box, then slid it through the slot. The television turned on automatically, and the tape began to play. She wondered what she might behold.

There was no video feed, but there was audio. And the sounds she heard were two familiar voices.

"Pssst. Gorey...Wake up."

"Mmm? What is it, dear? Er...And why do you have that video camera?"

"Shush! I want to get your reaction!"

"Is...Is that...Toriel...? And Asgore?" she realized.

"Gorey, dearest...What is my favorite vegetable?"

"Hmmm...Carrots, right?"

"No, no, no! My FAVORITE vegetable is...Eda-MOM-e...*snort* Get it?"

"...Go back to bed, dear."

"No no! Not yet! Hee hee hee...Now, If I were a dog, what breed of dog would I be?"

"Hmmm... I don't know, honey. What kind of dog would you be?"

"I would be...A MOMeranian."

"Hohoho!" Asgore chortled. "You sure are excited to have this child. You know, if you keep making jokes like this...One day, you could be a famous...MOMedian."

"...Well, I am going to bed."

"Hey! Come on, Tori, that one was funny!"

Toriel giggled in response.

"Oh, I know. I am just teasing you...Goodnight, dear."

"Goodnight, honey..."

"...Oh, dear...Perhaps it is too dark in here for the camera to come out."

This little slice of the past was definitely an eye-opener to the Huntress. Toriel and Asgore were more than just married back then; they'd practically been SOULMATES. And at this time, the queen had apparently been expecting Asriel...Neither of them had known of the horrors the future would bring.

It was...depressing, to say the least, hearing just how close they'd been back then, only to know how shattered it all was now.

But Ginger was still curious about the other tapes; she removed the first one and inserted the one labelled as number 2. The voices on this tape belonged to neither Toriel or Asgore, but rather different, albeit still familiar voices.

"Okay, Chara! Are ya ready? Do your creepy face!"

"Alright, Azzy. You asked for it...!"

"AHHHHH! Hee hee hee...! Oh, wait! I had the lens cap on..."

"Aw, come on. I'm not doin' it again just now."

"What!? You're not gonna do it again-GYAHH!"

"Ha! Gotcha, didn't I?"

"Come on, quit tricking me! Haha!"

The laughter was cut off as the tape ended. There was no doubt as to who these two were...It was Asriel. And Chara, the first fallen human. They both sounded so young, the prince especially...How long before the tragedy of their deaths was this taken?

She swapped the second cassette out for the third.

"Howdy, Chara! Smile for the camera!"

"Hm? Uh...Asriel? It still-"

"Ha! This time I got YOU! I left the cap on...ON PURPOSE! Now you're smiling for nooo reason! Hee hee hee..."

Chara sighed despondently.

"...What?"

"Azzy...I've been thinking about something. You remember that little...cooking mix-up we had about a month ago, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember. When we tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right? The recipe asked for cups of butter...But we accidentally put in buttercups instead. Yeah... Those flowers got him really sick. I felt so bad...We made Mom really upset. I should have laughed it off, like you did..."

"Uh-huh. Laughed it off...like it was nothing."

"Um, anyway, where are you going with this?"

"You mind turnin' that thing off?"

"Huh? Turn off the camera...? Okay."

The tape ended there. Ginger found the sudden mood shift of the first human to be a bit...unsettling. Where was she going with the buttercups? Now just as curious as ever, she took cassette 3 out and put in number 4. It started off with Chara talking to her adoptive brother. They both sounded about the same in each of the cassettes so far; not much time must have passed in between each one.

"...And everyone will be happy, and YOU'LL be a hero. It's foolproof, Az'."

"I...I don't like this idea, Chara."

"Oh, no...You're not gonna cry again, are you?"

"Wh...What?"

"Come on, Asriel; is there anything you WOULDN'T cry over?"

"N-no, I'm not...big kids don't cry."

"You cried over Dad's basil plant wilting two weeks ago, Az'. You gotta toughen up, pull yourself together, you know?"

"Yeah...You're right."

"Come on. You don't honestly think I'd ever try to hurt you, right?"

"No! I'd never doubt you, Chara, never!"

"So, you're in with me on this?"

"Y...yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everybody!"

"Great. Then...You know what we'll need in order to do this, right?"

"...I'll go get the flowers."

Something one of the voices said during her first trek through New Home came back to her.

"Then, one day...the human became very ill."

Now she knew the reason behind it. It wasn't just some unexpected ailment...Chara had poisoned herself, likely having had the intention of giving Asriel her SOUL from the beginning so he could cross the Barrier and...free everyone.

She put the last tape into the player. Toriel's voice came first, and it sounded choked up.

"...Chara...Can you hear me...? We want you to wake up..."

"You have to stay determined...!" Asgore demanded, but his order came out as more of a plea, begging for the dying human to stay with them. "You can't give up...! You are the future of humans and monsters..."

"...Psst...Chara...Please...Wake up...I don't like this plan anymore." Asriel whispered, also on the very verge of weeping. "I...I...No. I said...I said I'd never doubt you...Six, right? We just have to get six...And we'll do it together, right?"

The tape ended. That was all there was. And she knew what the result of their journey to the surface had been.

...Horrible, she said to herself, shaking her head in sympathy for the broken family...

If Toriel decided to meet her in New Home as she requested, she might be able to do...something about it. Even without Asriel, she might at least be able to remind them of what once was, and sort out some reason among the two estranged monarchs.

She noted, just before she left, that the slot for the yellow key was on the opposite side of the wall from Entry Number 4, and she stuck the key in there. Two down, only two left to go. And she already had the green key; now all she needed to find was the corresponding slot and a blue key to match the blue code on the door to the Power Room.

There was another note on the ground from Alphys, too, referring to where the yellow key had been.

"There's one under the
sheets...I left it there
after I got back up to
continue maintenance."

Well, she'd already found that one, and now it was in its proper place. Now that all of that was sorted out, Ginger headed back out of the television room and back along the path going by the giant deer skull, or whatever it was supposed to be. The monitor on the other side of the structure answered this question, though.

DT EXTRACTION MACHINE

STATUS: INACTIVE

So THIS was what Alphys had used to get the DETERMINATION out of the human SOULs? She didn't know why it had to look so...skeletal, but whatever.

The next room was shrouded in clouded dust and fog; she couldn't see a thing in there. So, for the time being, she turned tail, and went back to the fork in the path that'd lead her this way, now taking the right hall to a new section of the lab. The wall ahead was covered in fans...Fans that could blow away any dust or fog that obscured her vision. The mist in here wasn't as thick as it was in the last room, so she could see a monitor on the wall before the fans.

*ENTRY NUMBER 11

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...

That Mettaton...At least the last time we met, he finally started to turn that around.

She approached the end of the hallway. There was a switch on the wall there, presumably to turn the fans on, and she flipped it without hesitation.

"Ha ha!"

Ginger beamed. It was the switch that turned on the fans! And the fans blew that cool breeze loudly and proudly...

...Perhaps a bit TOO loudly.

A deep, almost growlish sound came from above, and something crawled down the walls and onto the floor, just a mere ten yards away from the human. She was looking up at a giant, hulking beast with a long, white coat, and a single, round hole in its head served as its face. It had...six legs? And she could have sworn she saw the silhouettes of other creatures within the shadows its giant body formed. The monster's poofy tail started wagging, and the orifice it had for a face started dripping...something.

Was this a...dog?

The monster seemed to sniff...

And then the orifice started pouring out bullets!

The human tried to evade the sudden close combat, but a good number of the backward-facing arrows ended up hitting their target. She was too close to the source to dodge them properly, and the seemingly unfair circumstances ended up irking her.

"Bad dog!" she scolded, hoping it might do something. "Don't...Don't do that..."

The creature let out a strange noise...It almost sounded like a garbled whine.

"Erm...sit?"

It pointed ears perked, and its back set of legs bent...She guessed it knew what she meant?

"Uh..."

She remembered that Lesser Dog knew how to fetch...Why not try it here?

Ginger pulled out her dagger from her pack, and the creature cocked its huge head, intrigued.

"See, uh..." she faltered, still somewhat disturbed by this...thing. "See the knife?"

It began to emit a bubbly grey froth from its orifice, keeping its direction glued onto the weapon.

"I don't have a stick, so...Be careful grabbing it, alright?"

It nodded its head.

"Okay, then...Go get it!"

She slid the knife across the tile floor, and it went right underneath the monster, passing in between its legs. The dog monster turned around to retrieve it, bowing its head down and closing its orifice around the handle of the dagger before going back and dropping it before the Huntress. It tilted its faceless head again, seeking praise.

"Erm...Good, I guess..."

She hesitantly reached out towards the dog's head. The closer her hand got, the faster its tail wagged. Finally, the two made contact. The white fur was thick and downy, and the skin underneath it was a might...soft and squishy. Like a slug, almost. The creature emitted a happy-sounding noise, almost like a distorted yip, and...

The faces of other dog monsters making up this creature appeared within the black portions between the creature's legs. They all smiled, completely content.

The creature folded its legs and let Ginger scratch the fur around its orifice.

"Ha...Hey. You ain't so bad after all."

It barked in agreement, then...let something black and amorphous come out of the hole and run up along the side of her face.

...Was that supposed to be its tongue?

Ugh...Dog kisses...

Finally, the monster, endogenous of all things canine, climbed back up the walls and up onto the top of the row of fans...She was alone again.

Seeing that the fans were all on now, Ginger decided to go back to the room that'd been shrouded in mist to see if this had fixed the issue at all. Sure, it turned on the fans in here, but who was to say there wasn't a different switch controlling the ones in the other room? Well...There WAS only one way to find out, so she retraced her steps past the television room, past the DETERMINATION EXTRACTOR and back into the room that'd been obscured by the clouds of dust and fog. To her pleasent surprise, the switch in the other room had also activated the ones in here, and everything had cleared up. It was revealed that the room held a row of...

Refrigerators, just like Lemon Bread had spoken of. According to the monster, this had been the last place Alphys had been seen by anyone. The human wondered if she'd get lucky and find her in here somewhere...But if not, then she might as well keep at what she was doing.

There were monitors on the walls in some of the spaces between the fridges, and Ginger kept reading them. She noted, as she went, that this room seemed oddly chilly, even considering all of the fans circulating and cooling the air above...Just the breeze made by them shouldn't be that cold.

*ENTRY NUMBER 19

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.

Out of sheer suspicion, she checked the fridges as she went along. Some were empty, and others looked like they contained samples of some sort. But she didn't want to take anymore chances; she swore that she saw one of them move, just a bit.

*ENTRY NUMBER 20

Asgore left me five messages today. Four about everyone
being angry...One about this cute teacup he found that looks
like me...Thanks, Asgore.

...She was still kind of wary, but when she looked inside the fridge that looked like it'd moved, it proved to be empty, just like most of the others, so she decided to just leave them be, passing the others by as she approached the entrance into the next room.

*ENTRY NUMBER 21

I spend all my time at the garbage dump now. It's my element.

Besides, odds were that Alphys wouldn't appreciate her snooping around any more of her-

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of a fridge door opening. It was the last fridge in the row, right next to the doorway. She had her back turned towards it now, but she knew it was opening, and not just that...

It sounded like something was coming out from inside of it.

A freezing gust of air spread throughout the room, and in an instant, the atmosphere turned from just chilly to icy.

...Everything was so cold.

"Gosh darn it all," she muttered to herself as she turned to face whatever stood behind her. "And to think I was in the-"

"S...Snowy...?"

"...Clear."

Her eyes widened. She was face-to-face with what looked to be a Snowdrake; its left-hand side dripped with its own melting feathers, so much so that it looked about to melt right off of it, and two droopy-faced Vegetoids were stuck to its face where its eyes should have been.

The eyes of the Vegetoids seemed to peer at her, not sure what they were seeing.

"...Hu...human..." the bird monster acknowledged. Her voice was distinctly female, but slow and labored. She tried to fire up one of the spinning crescents reminiscent of her battle with the one back in Snowdin, but it careened off to the right; her vision was so out-of-wack from the sentient carrots she had for eyes that she couldn't aim right. The Huntress barely even seemed to notice. She was...haunted by this image. And more than anything, more than fear or disgust, she just felt...pity for this monster.

"I can't..." she huffed, her face seeming to shift in disappointment with herself. "I can't...even fight...anymore..."

"Miss...?"

She carefully approached the melting monster, and she shrank back, her good right wing folding over herself in self defense.

"N...no...Please don't..."

"I'm not going to hurt you...It...looks like you've been through enough already, anyway."

"Why..." she asked, slowly rising back up again as best she could. "What...are you doing...down here...?"

"...I assume you know Dr. Alphys?"

"Al...Alphys..." the bird echoed. "Yes, I...do. She...was in...in here...for...a while..."

"What was she doing?" Ginger asked.

"Don't...don't know...was just...sitting...in...the corner...very upset...about something...When...when she...got up...to leave, she...she didn't...look well...pale...shaking..."

One of the Vegetoids on her face looked like it was trying to say something itself.

"Doctor needs to eat more greens..." it drawled, its speech even more slurred than the Snowdrake's.

"I...tried to ask...what was wrong...but...she just...left...in tears..."

"Well..." she hesitated, but the temptation to crack a joke, just like the one in Snowdin Forest had, was too strong to resist. "...That was ICE of you to at least try. Heheh..."

Instead of a laugh, or even an unamused roll of the Vegetoid eyes, her expression began to shift into something else...surprise.

"I...remem...ber...You...Where...where did...you...hear that...?"

"There's...uh...this other Snowdrake that hangs around Snowdin most of the time crackin' ice puns. You know him?"

"S...now...y..."

She smiled, and a hint of recollection flashed in her...eyes.

That was when Ginger remembered something, told to her by the comedian she'd met at the MTT Resort...Snowdrake's father.

"It hasn't even been a year since she, uh...passed on. After we lost her, Snowy couldn't stand livin' at home anymore..."

...Wait just a pellet-pickin' minute.

"Are you...Are you Snowdrake's mother...?" she gasped.

The monster nodded in response.

"Snowy...He's...he's alright...right?"

"He's fine. It's just...I didn't think you'd...I thought you were-"

"Alph...ys...She...brought me back...I got...another...chance to..."

She emitted a breathy laugh, but despite her having lightened up, Ginger was mortified. How would Snowdrake react to this? And what did it even FEEL like, having an entire half of ones body in a near liquid state all of the time, and having other living entities stuck to the face for the rest of one's life?!

"...I'm so sorry this happened."

"It's...not as...bad...as you...might think," she assured. "Besides...I'm still...still here...Ha...ah...My son...He told...told you his...ice puns?"

"...Yeah. He did. And...I think they were really COOL."

"Haha...Ha...Th...thank you...I...I'm just...glad...he's alright...I...I should...go now...you...have...places...to be..."

"I'm glad I could help."

"Ha...I...think it's...silly that...I wander...into...the fridge...sometimes...thinking...I'm in...Snowdin..." she teased herself as she shambled away. "...don't you?"

Ginger was about to answer 'no,' but Snowdrake's mother was already out of earshot. That whole event was...definitely sad, to say the least.

...But something on the floor did catch her attention.

Ah-HA! It was the last key, the blue one! She grabbed it up off the floor, then ventured into the north room she'd aimed for earlier. There was a slot that looked as though to correspond with the green key, and she stuck it where it belonged. It fit in there perfectly, and with that done, Ginger could read the note Alphys left on the ground for her.

"Endogeny ran off with
the green key. I'd check
the shower curtain; they
like to trick me by hiding
stuff...they're good dogs."

"Alphys, Alphys, how did this all happen?"

It...it didn't have anything to do with the DETERMINATION she gave them, did it? Yes, all of these monsters had been down and at death's door at one point, revived by the DETERMINATION Alphys had gotten from the human SOULs, and while the DETERMINATION explained that part, it didn't explain all of these melting...Amalgamates inhabiting the lab, or how it got to that point. There were still a few pieces of the puzzle missing...Only when she found the Royal Scientist and asked her all of this herself would she be able to complete the picture.

There was only one key slot left in the lab, and she tracked back down the hall, past the dormitory and down the path with all of the mirrors along the wall where she'd first encountered Reaper Bird. It wasn't there to greet her, now; all that stood before her was an empty path and the final room. When she turned up into it, there she spied the fourth and final key slot on the wall, along with the note Dr. Alphys had left on the ground for her. The handwriting on this paper was even harder to decipher than the others, but she could still just barely make it all out.

"It's so cold...I need to
get some rest; I haven't
slept right in days, and
getting too cold makes
me feel ill..."

What order had these notes been written in? Alphys had apparently already left the dormitory, as evidenced by where she'd found the yellow key. In fact, where had she been this whole time? She'd been wandering around the True Lab sometime before her, as evidenced by both the notes on the ground and the information she'd gotten from some of the Amalgamates, but Ginger thought that if they were both in here at once, they would have crossed paths at some point...But they hadn't.

Maybe Alphys was waiting around the Power Room for her again. And now that all of the keys to there had been positioned accordingly, she could go see for herself.

The Huntress made her way through the dimly lit halls, past the flowers, through the bedroom again, and back into the room she'd started out in...

And she found that she wasn't the only one who'd decided to come here.

Reaper Bird, Lemon Bread, Endogeny and Mrs. Snowdrake were all gathered outside the now open entrance to the Power Room. Endogeny was pawing at the wall beside the doorway, seemingly nervous about something.

"What's going on?"

"...smells...doctor...woof...wrong..." Reaper Bird chattered.

The collection of dog monsters tried to turn and enter the room, but Lemon Bread blocked them with an arm.

"Not yet...We don't know what's going on," her multiple voices all said simultaneously. "Human, we were waiting for you to return. We feel like you should go in first. Scope things out for us, maybe."

"Endogeny. Is Alphys in there?" she asked them. The faceless head of the giant dog monster nodded in understanding, then continued to whine.

"Do you...suppose...something's...wrong...?" Mrs. Snowdrake wondered aloud, the Vegetoids she had for eyes emitting a series of drawled out 'uh-oh's. "...She did look par... particul...ticular...ly up...upset...today..."

"I'll go in and see if I find anything," the human told them. "She wrote to me about the possibility of her...not coming back. I'm going in there to see if I find her."

"Hope she's alright," Lemon Bread commented.

"If...If I find out that something happened to her," she said to the Amalgamates before going in. "...Rest assured that I'll get you all back home, alright?"

"...S...Snowy?"

"You'll see him again," Ginger promised.

"Good luck," the Whimsalot composing part of Reaper Bird bid her.

She nodded, then went in past the four of them, eyes scanning around for anything concerning. She found that the Power Room lead to another elevator shaft before turning a corner to the left. She went down that way, her gait swift and her vision all over the place. There were monitors along the wall, but it looked like they'd been deactivated, as they didn't flash any text on them. But she could have cared less.

"Alphys?" she rasped. "You in here? Alphys?"

...

*But nobody came.

Now she was getting scared. She knew how insecure and depressed Alphys was, and her absence made her fear the worst.

"I swear to Glaux, Lupus, Hordox and frickin' Asgore, if I find a pile of dust in here instead of a dinosaur..."

She trailed off; she didn't want to believe it...But at the same time, she braced herself when she turned the corner up north, afraid of what she might see.

Up ahead, on the opposite end of the dark room, were the power controls. She slowly entered, still looking around for anything that might prove helpful in her...

She had just reached the dead center of the room when she spied what looked like a dark silhouette hunkered down in the corner, hidden among the shadows, that seemed as though to be shallowly breathing. Was this another Amalgamate? Or was it...

"...Alphys?"

The monster let out a startled, almost gag-like gasp, swiftly turned to face her, then curled further into the corner in fear. A few seconds passed before she actually realized who she was looking up at.

"Oh...H-hi there, Ging'...You decided t-to come, huh?"

It was Alphys...She was okay.

"Couldn't just leave you hangin'," the human told her, expression softening. She heaved out a sigh of relief. "...I was worried for a bit, there."

"Yeah, well, um...H-how'd everything go? In there? W-with everything? While I was..."

She didn't finish, instead curling up tighter and looking away. Ginger broke the silence, sitting down on the floor beside her to match her level.

"...What happened down here? All of those monsters...How'd they end up all...like that?"

The monster winced. It was time to come clean about all of this.

"...Asgore wanted me to study the nature of SOULs," she explained. "I isolated the power of DETERMINATION, and extracted it from the human SOULs he sent me, thinking I could use it to get a monster SOUL to last after the death of the host...I injected it into the bodies of the fallen monsters that were sent to me, t-to see if it would work...but all it did was make them get back up. That was good at the time, but then...j-just a handful of hours after everyone had w-woken back up, they...they all..."

She hid her face in her folded knees and arms and placed a hand on her head.

"Keep goin', Al'."

"...They all started to m-melt. I found this out the hard way; unlike humans', monsters' bodies aren't composed of enough...ph-physical matter needed to take on such high doses of DETERMINATION. Their bodies started to melt. They lost what physicality they had, and soon enough, all of the t-test subjects were m-melted together into-"

"...Amalgamates."

"I'd already told the families I would s-send them all home. I couldn't tell them about this, I couldn't tell ANYONE about it, it was so horrible," she sobbed. "I was too afraid to do anymore work on it knowing e-everything had turned into such a horrific failure, a-a-and I tried to fix them, b-but they're too conjoined w-with e-each other and they'll all b-be s-stuck like that a-s l-long as they live, a-and...and...I couldn't take it anymore. S-seeing them suffer like that, a-and having their families asking m-me when they were coming back, I-I just got worse and worse. Wh-when I got home, I found that someone left me a note. Someone knows about it. I had to let someone know about everything I did if I didn't come back, and I didn't know if I was going to be coming back..."

She grimaced at the thought.

"It-it's not because of them...th-the Amalgamates," she admitted. "I'm s-so s-sorry. I-I couldn't handle knowing that p-people were going t-to find out, s-so...I was afraid I-I might decide t-to...r-run away and n-never come back, o-or...or d-do something...c-cowardly..."

"That's...part of why you were at the dump that day, isn't it?"

"...Yes," she answered, her voice somewhere between a squeak and a wheeze. "Th-this is all my f-fault. I...Oh, I'm a horrible person!"

That did it; the small shred of dignity that the Royal Scientist had left crumbled, and she burst into a plaintive wail. The young Huntress held back her own tears; it was heart-wrenching, what she'd gone through, and what it made her think of herself.

"Oh, Alphys…"

She drew her into her lap and held her there, letting Alphys cry her heart out onto her. To think, she had sympathy for the Amalgamates having been reduced to such a state, but having to live life knowing she was the one responsible for such a horrible accident?

"You're not a bad person..." Ginger rasped. "You're good, okay? You didn't know this was gonna happen, you were trying to help..."

She hugged her tighter, now spilling her own tears.

"O-oh no..." Alphys realized, still in hysterics. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't m-mean to make you cry..."

They both sat in the Power Room, each trying to console the other, continuously wiping the tears from their faces. The human managed to pull herself back together in time, but Alphys still seemed inconsolable. Just her reassurance wasn't enough.

A gurgle of a whine came from behind the two of them. Ginger looked up to face its source while Alphys dried her glasses on her coat. Endogeny hovered above them, not far away, and the pointed ears atop the large head drooped with worry. When they saw the human nod at them, they drew closer, gently nudging the side of the other monster's face with their own. Finally, she managed a smile.

"Th...thanks, Endogeny..." she hiccupped.

"...not...fault...helping..."

"I doubt any of us could have foreseen this."

"Doctor...You'll...be al...alright..."

The other three Amalgamates had gathered around them as well, now, Mrs. Snowdrake putting her good wing on the raptor's head.

"Alphys," Ginger said to her, the two of them still locked in an embrace. "I can't begin to imagine what you've been through with all this. It's terrible, and...I understand why you feel so bad, now. But don't think that you're not good enough for us. You're not alone; I'm here for you. We all are. If you...If you were gone, then..."

She held her friend even closer to her, resisting the urge to weep again.

"Al', don't ever think about yourself like that. We don't wanna lose you, we love you so much..."

"I..."

The monster hesitated a moment, her stream of tears finally beginning to slow.

"...I'm really grateful f-for all of you," she sniveled. "Thank you guys...All of you guys, for having my back. I...I really owe it to you all...I really do..."

A flash of realization shone in her brown eyes.

"...And that's what I'm gonna do. I'm...I'm going to tell everyone about what I've done. They need to know. I've kept this all i-in the dark for too long. It...It's going to be a hard thing to do. T-telling the truth...believing in myself...I-I thought of myself a-as such a big screw-up f-for so long...I'm sure there'll be times where I struggle, and where I screw up again...But...Knowing, deep down that I have some of the best friends in the world to fall back on, I...I feel like it's going to be a lot easier t-to finally stand on my own, from now on...Thank you all, s-so much."

"Any time, Alphy."

Alphys dabbed at her eyes with her lab coat, then stood to her feet, the Amalgamates grouping around her.

"...Come on, everyone," she said to them, switching the power on and turning around out of the Power Room. "It's time for everyone to go home."

"...home...finally...ribbit..."

"I've been hoping this day would come."

"...G-r-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-f-f-f-f !"

"Home...S...now...y..."

"Wait, Al'."

"Huh?"

She turned to see the human stand up from the floor.

"Just in case things...go south, so to speak, why don't you let me tag along to back you up?"

"Y-you'd do that?"

"Aw, 'course I would," Ginger answered, pulling her into another one-armed hug. "What do you guys think?"

"...sounds...wise...croak..."

"I mean, I doubt she's in any danger...but you can never be too careful."

"Good...good thinking..."

Endogeny nodded and wagged their tail, and Alphys gave the signal for them all to follow. Side-by-side, the Royal Scientist and the Huntress trekked back into the elevator, the Amalgamates in tow. The chamber was a bit crowded with all six of them in there at once, but it was a short ride back to the level floor, and the only mishap was on their way out; Endogeny had gotten some of their frothy grey drool on the floor, and they ended up slipping on it as they exited the elevator. But the conjoined dog monster didn't seem bothered by it the least, and soon, they were all stepping out onto the tile floor of the main part of the Lab.

"I've...never seen...this part...of the Lab...before..." Mrs. Snowdrake marveled, her speech seeming slightly more quick; possibly because of how excited she was. "It's...quite
...well-lit...Ah...I...might need to...get...get used to...the light..."

She shielded her eyes with her good wing for a few moments as her Vegetoids tried to blink away the strain. Lemon Bread was scanning the walls and going off to examine some of the things on Alphys' desk, and Endogeny was probing the area with their...orifice. Ginger assumed that the hole in their face served as its eyes, mouth and nose all at once. Reaper Bird stood idly, curiously watching as the Royal Scientist pulled her phone out.

"I never thought I'd be the one to call...But...Here I go; I-I'm gonna call up the families and...tell them to c-come see their family members."

She hovered a shaky claw over the screen, still a bit uncertain about things.

"Erm...Uh...H-hey Ging'? Which one d-do you think I should call first?"

"...How 'bout the Snowdrakes?" she suggested. "Besides, I'd like to see Snowy one more time before I head to New Home."

"Ha...W-well...Okay, then."

While Alphys was busy contacting the MTT Resort comedian, the human took the opportunity to dial up the skeleton brothers one more time.

"YOU'VE REACHED THE GREAT PAPYRUS! MIGHT I ASK WHO IS SPEAKING? "

"Hey, Papyrus, it's the human. How's it been?"

"AH, GREETINGS, HUMAN! STILL NOT IN NEW HOME, IT SEEMS?"

"There was...something that needed to be taken care of first."

"Is that stick-arms? Hey, ask her when Alphys is supposed to get here!" Undyne's voice rang from somewhere in the room.

"Uh...She's on the line with someone else right now. I'll have her call you back when she's done. Papyrus, I hate to cut this short, but could you hand me over to Sans?"

"CERTAINLY! HE'S RIGHT HERE! JUST GOT BACK FROM THE RUINS."

"Ah, really now...?"

"ABSOLUTELY! HERE HE IS NOW...! WHY YES, SANS, IT IS IMPORTANT...JUST TAKE THE PHONE, YOU LAZY NINCOMPOOP! FORGIVE MY LANGUAGE, BUT REALLY!"

"yeah, yeah, alright. 'sup?"

"Sans?"

"oh, hey kid. what's cookin'?"

"You know Snowdrake, right? Figured he was your type o' guy."

"oh, yeah, I know 'em. child prodigy. what about 'em?"

"Sorry if I'm bothering you, but it's kind of important. I need you to find him and tell him to take the river up to Hotland A.S.A.P."

"shouldn't be hard. on it."

"And while you're at it, tell the Canine Unit the same thing!"

"sure, why not? okay...gotta go. see ya."

With a click, he was gone.

"Alphys, I think the Canine Unit is taken care of, now, okay?"

"Uh...You called the Canine Unit?"

"Well...Not exactly. But if Mr. Lazybones does his job, I'd say they should be here soon."

"Oh. Sans. W-well, uh...Thanks for doin' that part for me."

"So...Now what do we do? Wait?"

"Pretty much. Oh, and, uh, Undyne's wondering where you're at. Told her I'd have you call her up when you were done with the families."

That gave Alphys something else to do while they waited. Ginger donned her signature cloak, pulling the frayed, shadowy hood over her head and leaning against the wall in a cool and mysterious manner; nobody would have guessed that she was an emotional mess just minutes earlier.

Besides, the Snowdrakes would be here soon, as well as many other monsters, As a pseudo-celebrity, she thought it wise to at least keep up appearances.

---

...

---

"...How's the boy?"

"Not well," Nyra said to her mate. "He's just...completely shut down ever since he got wind of the news."

"He lost her once," Metal Beak acknowledged. "I doubt he thought he would lose her again so soon."

All four of Ginger's underlings had been upset by the news of her disappearance into Mount Ebott, but Kludd especially had taken a devastating blow. It was very unsettling, seeing the strongest, toughest and brashest of the trainee squadron so despondent. He and Ginger were remarkably close; everyone, including them themselves, sometimes wondered if what the future might hold for the two of them...But if the rumors were true, and if Ginger couldn't find a way to escape her prison and reverse her curse before they had to depart back to the Kingdoms, they would have no choice but to bid General Ginger goodbye.

"...And Uklah?"

The Ablah General shook her head; she wasn't much better off than Kludd. Ginger was like a sister to her, and she'd already lost one in days gone by. Having to lose another, even if not necessarily by the hand of death, was a horrible thing to deal with. The last Nyra had seen of them, the two Tyto Albas were trying to console each other, Kludd as quiet and still as a stone as Uklah wept into the crook of his wing.

"Despite how grim this situation is," the High Tyto continued. "I find something very...odd about it. I don't know why, but...it feels as though so much more time has gone by than what really has. Almost as though a span of many moons has passed by, and...We all missed it, somehow. Do you ever get that feeling."

"I never thought of such a thing...until you mentioned it."

"What do you suppose is really going on beneath that mountain? My gizzard gives the occasional prick of warning that something bad has occurred, and other times it sends a dull warmth throughout me, as though I should be relieved about something...More recently, an uneasy pit has formed in there; I believe whatever happened to young Ginger as of late, it wasn't a pleasent experience...But it must be over, now; the pit just dissipated, mere minutes ago."

"Many moons have passed, and we don't even know it," Nyra echoed, her blue and gold eyes gleaming with deep thought. "...What else do you suppose we don't know?"

---

A.N: Phew! Finally done! Sorry this took so long; I'd have had more of this done earlier, but we had company over the Valentine's Day weekend, so I didn't get the chance to finish all this until more recently.

Next chapter won't be quite so long, but there's going to be a LOT going on throughout it.

Thanks for stickin' around this long; we're nearing the end! Later, peeps! :D