Chapter ten:
Sans and Alphys are working hard in the lab. They are adding what they think will be the final pieces to the machine.
"Hm. W-We seem to b-be a little s-short on these screws. I-I'll see if w-we have any in s-storage." With that Alphys heads away to go find some.
Sans lets her go and turns to check over the machine.
"Hello Sans."
Sans turns his head at the almost sneering sounding voice. He spots a flower on a ledge of an open window.
Though not just any ordinary flower as this one moves and has a face. It has six dark yellow petals, a dark green stalk, dark green roots that act as legs, two slightly dark green leaves with the bottom half being a dark red, a light grey almost white center where the face is, two black oval eyes, and a black line smile with two dips to show fangs.
"Who are you?" Sans questions the flower who moves further into the room.
"My name is Flowey." It responds and grins up at him. "Oh and don't worry about Alphys. I made sure that she'll be a little bit. I did spot she miscalculated the number of screws. So the extra are in a different spot."
"Did you do this just to talk to me?" Sans sees Flowey nod his head in confirmation. "Why? What is it that you want?"
"I wanted to offer up a little deal." Flowey tells Sans who narrows his eye in suspicion. "Oh come now it's not that bad. It's just a little favor." He tries to play it off. "If you help me then I'll help you. I can stop the attack that left you like this."
At that moment Sans freezes as his mind flashes images from the attack. He stares at a smirking Flowey.
"And all I need you to do is retrieve a special power that Frisk accidentally stole. I want my ability back."
"Special power?" Sans questions not really sure if this flower is lying. "What do you mean? And how could she accidentally steal it?"
"Well you see, when she fell something happened. Something that hadn't happened before. A magical surge happened. After she seemed to collide with something invisible. I was nearby and it caused her to unknowingly rip the power from me. I can't get it back on my own. However you are a scientist and you are closer to Frisk than Alphys. If anyone can get my stolen magic back it's you."
"Lets say I believed you." Sans crosses his arms over his chest. "What kind of power did she steal from you?"
"I usually keep it in the dark. And use it only for emergencies. However I do suppose that if you're going to help you should know. She stole my reset ability." Flowey goes further as Sans looks confused. "I can save at certain points and load them. Allowing me to go back in time. With all of my memories from what happened remaining. I can even set things all the way back to the beginning if I want. Resetting things to how they were then." He climbs onto the tool table and stares up at Sans again. "However I can't do that anymore. Not since Frisk took it from me. So now if I die I don't get a chance to go back in time. To load or reset. Remember if you help me with retrieving my power, before she finds out about it and possibly uses it to go back to kill monsters, then I'll make sure that attack on you never happened. You won't even remember this timeline. You won't remember what it was like to suffer through the aftermath of it all."
"Frisk won't kill more monsters. She got some anger out on the Temmie. But she is better now. Past that."
"Are you sure about that?"
Sans glances down his eyelights flicker side to side in thought. He looks back to Flowey after a moment. "This all sounds so ridiculous."
"Well then. Why don't you scan her for magic?" Flowey offers just staring back at Sans. "Prove to yourself that she does have my ability. Oh and let's not tell anyone about any of this. I don't want the wrong monster to hear and try to use my power. We will talk again later. Oh and please don't share this with Alphys. Lets just say I'm not big about her for personal reasons." With that he hurries back out the window.
Sans is left standing in the room staring at the open window.
"S-Sans?"
Sans slightly tenses then relaxes at hearing Alphys's voice.
"Is e-everything alright?"
Sans quickly puts on a calm look then turns to Alphys. "Yeah. Sorry. I was thinking of how we could build robot bodies for the souls. You just slightly surprised me coming back."
"O-Oh." Alphys blinks at this. "Well we m-might be a-able to get t-to that soon. L-Lets focus on t-this machine for now." She moves to the part that needs more screws. "I-I found enough f-for what we need."
"Right." Sans helps with putting the screws in though his mind wanders. He starts to wonder what if that flower is telling the truth, that's a dangerous weapon in the hands of an unstable Frisk. He just can't confirm if that ability really did come from that flower. He has no idea who the flower really is, and if he's trying to take advantage of it. His mind goes back to flower monsters offer. He could end his suffering over the attack. He might be able to help Frisk sooner. He could live a more normal life. He, despite not fully believing this is real, contemplates doing this. He should confirm Frisk has the magic before he makes any moves. He doesn't want to take something from Frisk that isn't there.
"All d-done." Alphys's voice brings Sans out of his thoughts.
The two step away from the completed machine. They look at its center with containers attached by tubes, a screen that's currently off, and finally a series of small wire like tubes to connect to someone. They have made the design so that a single monster alone can use magic from souls.
"Hopefully this will work." Sans moves to the screen turning it on. He is glad to see that it is booting up. He waits letting it load all the needed information.
After a few minutes the system is all set to go.
Sans glances the machine over to look for any noticeable problems. "So far things look to be doing good." He mentions to Alphys who shifts nervously. He spots the movement, as where he is standing his functioning eye is facing her. He turns to look at her with a worried look. He is about to ask if she saw something wrong when she speaks.
"We r-really should t-test it before w-we deploy it. E-Especially if w-we are really going to u-use it on Frisk." Alphys adds the second half a little quickly. "I k-know it's dangerous b-but let me use my s-soul. If s-something happens t-to me then you c-can fix it. E-Even if-" She finds herself cut off by Sans.
"We are not going to test the machine on you! And risk your life just to do a test! Stop trying to throw your valuable life away! As if it means nothing!" Sans pauses and his narrowed eye relaxes, as he realizes his tone may have been a little too harsh. "Alphys. I-"
"I s-suppose you're r-right Sans." Alphys sighs and turns away from him. She can feel that he is glazing at her wanting to apologize. "You d-don't need to s-say you're s-sorry. You a-are just trying t-to look out f-for me." She adjusts her glasses then closes her eyes, her hand still on her glasses. "I am s-sorry that I u-upset you over t-the matter."
Sans feels his soul sink with guilt about what he did. He clearly pushed things past her comfort level. He supposes that he just got too passionate about it, because he knows how easily a life could be taken before they really do much. He just can't ignore the signs that he may have pushed her too hard.
Even as she tries to seem calm about it. Her shoulders are rather tense. She refuses to look Sans in the eye even after opening hers.
Sans feels like he needs to make this right. "Alphys. It's okay. You're struggling with some depression. Some lingering guilt. I really shouldn't have been so harsh with you. I should have known better. Because they are valid feelings to have. I shouldn't have pushed you as hard as I did about it."
"I-I forgive you." Alphys tries to assure her friend. "L-Lets bring o-our focus back on t-the project. A-A lot of monsters are c-counting on this."
"Yeah. You're right." Sans knows that it is best to drop the small moment for now. "We gotta figure out for sure how we can test this machine. Maybe putting some magic in one of the containers?"
"Would it e-even actually pick it u-up like a soul?" Alphys questions unsure.
"It might be worth a shot." Sans mentions in which Alphys nods in agreement. "The only thing is we would need a lot of magic. To represent a soul. Enough that it should think that there's a soul there. We will want to be as accurate as possible. If we supplied it then we'd be too weak to do anything else. It is also too dangerous for that."
"I-I might have s-something. I-I didn't t-think about u-using it h-however since we d-do need s-something.." Alphys mentions then hurries off somewhere, deciding not to finish that part. She knows Sans knows that she means that since her soul is off the table.
Sans watches her go wondering what she could mean.
Not long later Alphys returns carrying a container almost as big as her torso, though a little shorter than her.
Seeing her struggle a little Sans heads over helping her get it to be by the machine. He gets a better look at it too seeing just red inside of it. "What in the world is this?" He questions sensing a strange magical aura from it, unlike any he's felt before.
"It is d-determination." Alphys explains and slightly glances away. "W-When the monsters w-were falling down I h-had to figure out s-something to help. When that first h-human died I w-was allowed to study the soul. I-I found lots of d-determination." She glances down to her feet. "I t-thought it was w-working when I started i-injecting them with it. S-So I gathered more. M-Making sure to n-not harm the souls I-I took from... T-T-Then..." She trails off and a shiver runs through her body. She doesn't turn to her coworker when he places a hand on her shoulder.
"Alphys. You didn't know that was going to happen. You thought you were saving them." Sans tries to comfort her. He sees her nod softly then she looks to the container.
"There should b-be enough Determination f-for us to use t-to replicate a soul. T-The fact that it a-all came from h-human souls will p-probably help." Alphys closes her eyes letting out a heavy sigh. She speaks again this time with her eyes still closed. "I-I never had a-an idea of w-what to do w-with all of this. I-I wanted to g-get rid of it, j-just never found a-a way to do s-so. I w-was scared of l-leaving it in a dump o-or something. T-That more monsters w-would melt and f-fuse." She opens her eyes and offers the other a small smile. "I-I suppose it turned out g-good that I didn't get r-rid of it."
Sans nods his head with this.
So the two get started on getting enough of it to put into a container. With enough power that it'll replicate a soul. They decide to attach a tube to the container, then to the one holding the determination. They pump it into the container with one of them checking the screen.
"We got it." Sans confirms in which Alphys stops the flow. He is glad to see that they were able to get the machine to think the determination is a soul. He also is glad that they do have some determination left just in case. He begins typing to get the machine ready. He moves around though pauses.
What if the machine did absorb it all into whoever is trying to use what's in there? What if it pumps the user full of determination that they melt?
Sans turns to Alphys as she tucks the hose neatly by the original container of determination. "We need to find a way to replicate a monster using it." He informs her. "The fact that this is pure determination means it can't be safely tested by us."
"W-We could make a m-monster replica." Alphys offers to him. "I-I mean we d-do have to attach t-them to the machine. W-We add a l-little magic to replicate a-a monsters body. T-Then watch how things go."
"Ok." Sans agrees to the plan. "Let's do it." He and Alphys quickly begin building a life like figure, a figure with a basic shape made out of metal.
The two of them put pockets to hold some combined magic of theirs. Enough spots to get results without draining them badly. They set the fake monster up attached to the machine. They move back then Sans goes to the screen, since Alphys can see the whole thing better.
"Here goes nothing." Sans lets out a breath and hits the start button so the machine starts working.
Alphys keeps an eye on the combined magic for any changes. She even uses a scanner to scan it. "S-So far so g-good." She tells Sans. "I'll initiate t-the second p-part." She carefully pulls the trigger for the magic to be used. She leaps back as soon as it activates.
The machine starts to make almost a deep groaning sound as it truly begins to do its thing.
Sans watches all that he can on the screen as this is happening. "Determination levels are stable." He reports still keeping his eyes on the screen. "How's the monster?" He asks regarding the fake monster that they had created.
"S-So far stable." Alphys responds then puts a target in front of the monster.
At this point they'll have to hope nothing goes wrong. In order to possibly be able to stop the high amount of determination from breaking free, they have to risk their own lives here.
Sans didn't want to do it. He didn't want their lives to be risked. He however sees no choice, especially if they are to stop an explosion before it is able to release the determination. He did plan to shut it all down at the first sign of any problems.
They just have to hope that things will continue just fine as they have been.
"O-Okay." Alphys takes a deep breath nervously. "L-Lets do t-this." She clicks the buttons then hurries back a little.
Sans has himself ready to shut everything down at any moment.
Alphys keeps watch for anything she might need to signal to Sans for it to be stopped.
The machine roars as it works harder than before. It lets the fake monster and the pretend soul connect. Then it fires a beam hitting the target destroying it.
Sans is quick to turn it off to make sure that they don't have another blast.
Though it should know to only do one blast per push.
Sans just can't take that risk right now. He doesn't want either of them to end up with an issue. "We did it." He smiles and raises a fist into the air. "We're going to let monsters be free!" He lowers his fist that unravels into an open hand at his side. "We must tell the king!" He is about to head out when a knock comes to the lab doors.
The two check the camera and see Papyrus so they let him in.
"Hey Paps." Sans greets his brother as said skeleton approaches them. "You made it just in time. We have great news."
