Core Issues: Season Five
By Nicolle
Episode 7: Delta Gray
(No narrator, Straight Man Sans timeline)
My name is Charles Larkin and I have done something terrible. The worst part? Not remembering what I did. I only have vague recollections of my life above ground.
I remember some things distinctly: Playing with my brother, Jarod, as a kid. My grandfather nicknaming me Chara. Mom and Dad at my college graduation. Proposing to my long time girlfriend, Emily. Taking the job with… I don't remember the company. I just remember that Emily really wanted me to pass on the job. But it was a huge amount of money just out of college and I remember thinking that it was what I had wanted to do with my life.
But what the actual job was? I don't even remember that. You'd think that, it being something I wanted to do with my life that it would be enough to remember, right? I just remember being handed a research project and, somewhere in the process of working on it, I ended up here.
I'm not even sure where here is. I assume I'm underground by the obvious cavern overhead, but some part of this place has light. Real light. Like morning, day, and evening. You see a sun. You see a moon. And you see stars. This despite the obvious stalactites above.
I don't know.
I remember standing at a window to observe something. A bright flash blinded me for a few moments and when I could see again, I stood in the middle of a street in what is now called Old Home. It's decrepit now, as I write this. But when I stood there, it was an intensely beautiful, and terrifying, place. Tall buildings reached into the ever night of the cavern with space for a million or more people and not the scraggly lot of ten thousand that live there now.
The people of Old Home are…
Okay, listen. If you're reading this, it means you're stuck here too, so you know that when I say this it doesn't even come close to describing the things that live down here:
The people of Old Home are fucking terrifying.
In fact, all of the things in this God forsaken cavern are fucking terrifying. ALL OF THEM.
So this right here? My journal? Use it as a guide. I figured out a lot about this place in my time here, but I never figured out how to escape.
Maybe, just maybe, something I've written in here will let you put some mysterious two and two together and get you out.
If not, well, you can make a life down here. It won't be all champagne and roses, but carnations and lemonade aren't bad either.
Alphys stared at the old, leather bound journal in her hands. She had serious doubts that the leather came from a cow, but that wasn't important. What was important was that she'd found, not just a record of her world having a Chara, but that he'd left a written testimony behind. Something he'd written with the intent of helping anyone who found it.
Alphys had to force my hands to stop trembling before attempting to turn the pages. They were brittle at best. One nearly broken off in her hand and she cringed. Sighing, she shut the book gently before a delirious hope appeared to seize her. She turned and ran for the library's front desk and held out the book to the librarian sitting there.
"Do you have another copy of this book?"
The librarian, a white skinned, potato shaped thing with a bloated belly and head, and tiny stick like arms and legs, took the book in its long, multi-jointed, black tipped, fingers. It pulled out a pair of colorful reading glasses from nowhere to set on it's almost nonexistent nose; large, completely black eyes staring at the cover. It made an interested humming sound before setting the book down and typing away on the keyboard attached to a computer that glowed green with custom water cooling lines.
The interested hum continued. "Ah yes. The Larkin journal. We do have another copy. It appears that when the original started to fall apart, another was produced." It looked up at Alphys. "Unfortunately, what you hold is the newer copy."
Alphys sighed and then another thought hit her. "May I see the original?"
The librarian nodded slowly. "Special collections is in the east wing."
"Thank you."
"You are very welcome."
The librarian handed her the book as it stood, and it's toothless mouth opened wide. Alphys dashed backward out of the creature's reach, and thanked it again even as she escaped being its next meal. Rushing through the library, she checked the time on her phone, the special Seraph one she'd been given when she'd figured out how to call Fase from her regular one. Two in the afternoon. That meant lots of time before the library closed and the most dangerous monsters would begin their most active period.
Alphys skidded to a halt outside the door for special collections and quickly checked herself in the glass. Her yellow hair was still in a tight bun. She wasn't sure how she got a head of Crayola, Sunshine Yellow hair since neither of her parents were blonde. At least, she didn't remember them being blonde. Her lab coat, worn over regular work attire, was unstained. Her big, round glasses made her look cute but not overly so. Deciding that she looked professional enough, she pushed on the door…
And realized that the sign read 'Pull.'
The outer area of the special collections was a one room museum that touched on various pieces of the underground's past. Portraits of the many, demonic looking, rulers who'd come before King Asgore graced the walls. Display cases filled with photos and objects of import lined the middle of the room. Alphys carefully walked past it all to the ornate, glass doors at the very back of the room, only to stop dead.
Alphys turned and saw a full sprouting of glittering, crystal flowers out of the carpet. Since those flowers only grew naturally in a very specific part of the underground, it was a sign that Flowey had been there and very recently. The fuller the grouping, the more recent the appearance. The flowers faded and disappeared after an hour. Alphys turned away and opened the doors.
An automaton made of brass gears, resembling a praying mantis sat at a desk with a very delicate book in front of it. The automaton was in the process of very carefully repairing a damaged piece of 35mm film, referring back to the book now and again. A red eye, one of several, rolled around to look at Alphys.
"Yes?"
She shivered at the thing's ethereal voice. "I was wondering if I could see the original of this journal."
The automaton stood up, towering over her. One pincer like appendage snatched the book from her hands while the red eyes that covered the robot's head all blinked in unison. "The Larkin journal. Yes. Yes. It has been a while since we've made a new copy."
"Do you know when the original was written?"
"Mr. Larkin was alive during the reign of Her Majesty, Queen Friva. This would have been during the time that the ruined city of Elarin in the forests beneath Snowdin was the capital."
Alphys breath hitched. The cursed city was a serious mystery. To have the words of someone who lived while it was functioning as the capital would be a significant find. Alphys took a deep breath to calm herself. "Can you repair the book? Or, at least, de-acidify the pages?"
The automaton shook its head slowly back and forth. "Unfortunately, no. But the original is preserved and another copy would be easy to produce." It pointed to a box of surgical masks and gloves on the counter before turning away from the desk. "Put on a mask and a pair of gloves, then follow me."
The many, sharply pointed legs of the shiny, brass robot skittered across the tile floor. Monsters of all sorts, each wearing a surgical mask and gloves, would look up as they passed, curious, but otherwise unwilling to move from their work, even for the easy meal that Alphys might represent. Heading deeper into the preservation area revealed an open vault, it's thick black door propped open with several large boxes. The vault interior housed row after row of shelving over a matte black floor.
The automaton cleared its throat, which was a strange thing to hear since Alphys was sure that he didn't have a windpipe. Or a throat.
A small, matte black goop monster with big, rainbow pastel eyes rose up from the floor. And it was legitimately adorable. As it did, it revealed a pristine white tile underneath it. "Yes, Doctor?"
"Two copies of the Larkin journal. Please."
Other small, matte black goop monsters jumped up from their spots, revealing more white tile as they rushed around the interior of the vault. After five solid minutes of activity, the goops returned to their tiles, deflating across them and returning the floor to matte black. The first goop returned with two books. Again, Alphys refused to think about just what kind of leather they were bound in.
The automaton took them. "Thank you." He turned to Alphys. "You may purchase one of these copies for 500 gold."
Alphys gasped, smile wide. "Sold!"
She followed the automaton back to the front of Special Collections. Back at the desk, she dug through her bag, pulling out the required money. When she reached for the book, the automaton paused, staring at it for a moment. One pincer gently, almost lovingly, ran down the front. With what seemed like a long sigh, he handed the book over.
"Are you familiar with Sans the Skeleton?"
Alphys nodded.
"I haven't seen him in a while. Do you know where he is?"
"He and his girlfriend are visiting friends really far away. I don't expect them to be back for a while. Something about the travel arrangements being messed up."
All the eyes on the automaton blinked at the same time. The hair on the back of her neck rose, and Alphys prepared to run. The geared praying mantis sat back down and continued working on film. Breathing a sigh of relief, Alphys hurried out the door with her copy of the journal. She checked her watch. Four in the afternoon. Enough time to get something to eat and get home before the earliest part of the really active period.
Stepping out onto the streets of New Home was always a strange experience. Each city and town in the underground had its own unique flavor. There was the Victorian-esque feel of Old Home, which is now falling apart. There was the industrial decay of Snowdin. There was the ancient city of Elarin and its very likely to come to life and kill you statues. Waterfall's towns were rusting away, falling apart; their mutated residents trying to make the best of living in irradiated waters. Hotland was a steaming jungle filled with what appeared to be abandoned towns, overgrown by nature, until you got too close. The Core was a science fiction nightmare.
And then you had New Home, the royal seat. By day, the city was a wash of gray on gray; a blank architectural slab of nothing. Buildings that should have held some visual interest came off as boring at best. Even the trees were dull. At night, the city changed, decaying rapidly into a twisted world of pipes, broken glass, and shattered hopes. And if you were smart, you stayed away from the amusement park.
Right now, everything was gray and normal, relatively speaking. Monsters that didn't have set active phases wandered here and there between jobs that actually kept the city running. Alphys rushed down the library steps to the cobblestone street. Picking a path between monsters who sat on the steps reading or chatting.
Looking around, she spotted the little, hole in the wall cafe that'd become her favorite spot to eat when she was in New Home. It was always quiet and the food didn't make her wonder too much where it had come from. The monster behind the counter, a tall, tiger woman with overly stretched out limbs, prepared Alphys usual: a bowl of ramen soup piled high with vegetables and a glass of lemonade.
After paying for her dinner, Alphys found a seat that put her back to a wall and gave her a view of the rest of the cafe. Because you could never be too careful. Slurping down some noodles, she opened the journal again.
The first important piece of information I can impart to you is that, whatever you did that landed you here, you belong here. Learn to live with that.
Alphys frowned. She didn't remember what she'd done to get herself stuck in this never ending nightmare of a life, but she did remember that she wasn't exactly a nice person when she'd arrived either. At that point in her life, she wasn't sure why she'd sought out Sans as a friend, and she wasn't sure why he'd cared enough to stick around. After a stint in Ember Realm's mirror maze, the part of her that believed in scientific study at all cost was split from her completely. Along with it had gone a chunk of her memories since arriving in the underground. The result was seeing, with clear, perfect horror, what she had been doing. She certainly belonged here.
The second important piece of information I can impart is that not everyone is out to get you. Some of them are just hungry and you look like an easy meal. Don't take it personally. Some monster may be in the process of helping you with something or other and their mouth will open wide to take a bite. Just take a few steps back and keep doing your thing. They won't pursue and often return to helping you.
She'd figured that one out pretty quick. She also noticed that monsters that were seriously trying to kill you at one time of day, would suddenly be good company during another time. There were schedules and working with them meant getting around in relative safety.
The third important piece of information is that there are safe places you can stay or hide. I marked all of them with a gray Delta Rune.
Alphys almost dropped the book. She'd seen the gray Delta Rune on the various safe houses in the underground, but that someone had gone out of their way to mark them? And that person had been a Chara? This went against everything she really knew about how this sort of thing was supposed to work. And sometimes the rune just appeared on a place, like it had been freshly marked. She hadn't heard heads or tails of anyone named Chara in the underground, and the original journal was easily a hundreds of years old. None of humans she knew down here had claimed descendancy. They ended up here the same way she had. So was someone else marking it now?
Wait… now that she thought about it, she'd seen a cat monster touching up the painted runes from time to time. He dressed in the manner of the Old Home nobility in a long, dark, gold edged coat. Maybe marking it had been passed to him? She'd have to ask the next time she saw him.
If you claim a place as your home, it will automatically become your personal safe space. If you can afford it, I suggest renting rooms or apartments from the various landlords in the underground. Even when the landlords are in their 'active,' or full on monster phase, they will not attack you. Some may even protect you. The dolls in Snowdin are a good example. If you rent from them, they treat you as if you are one of them.
Good to know. And it explained why they were always friendly with Sans, even if he found the majority of them incredibly creepy.
If you can make it to the cabin in the clearing in Snowdin's forest, that's my home. It's a safe place. You are welcome to stay there as long as you like.
Okay. She'd been to the cabin before. It's where the little girl Frisk- Princess? And her ghostly Chara had hidden. The place was empty of people, but otherwise furnished and in good repair, like someone still took care of it from time to time. She'd seen children here, the offspring of monsters, but not any other humans, so she doubted Chara had progeny.
Or maybe a human and a monster could breed?
Moving on...
I'm sure you've noticed that things cost money down here. I don't understand the mechanism behind it, but whatever you earned in the job you had above ground, it translates to a wage that is deposited in the New Home bank every month. It makes me wonder if there's some facsimile of me topside, living the life I didn't deserve.
If you need extra money, you can get a job, do favors for the others down here, or rough them up for cash. Just be careful you who pick on if you go the third route. The little guys have a tendency to be the most dangerous.
Alphys had somehow known she'd have an account when she first walked into the New Home bank. She still wasn't sure why. It made no sense to assume something so outlandish.
Wait. Had she been trying to get into the underground? She was obsessed with studying the entire place. Had she… Had she planned this for herself?
She set the journal down, rubbing her face with her hands as if to clear the thought away. She sighed, hands dropping and looked out the cafe's front window. It was getting dark out. The tiger monster stood at the window, a broom in her hands, watching the 'sun' set, the yellow green of her large eyes filling with a rusty red. The cafe lights flickered as paint peeled from the wall. The uneaten portion of her meal rotted, rapidly growing mold. Awful stains streaked the table and floors.
Alphys clapped a hand over her mouth to keep silent and slid down the chair until she was under the table. She carefully put the book in her bag and peeked out at the tiger woman. She'd returned to sweeping a floor now strewn with debris. Taking a few moments to map out a few paths to the door, she watched the tiger woman.
Having been stuck here a few times before at 'sundown,' she knew there was a routine. The woman would finish sweeping and return to the counter. If she spotted anyone in the cafe, she would attack them, but once she was behind the counter, she would continue cleaning, and the noise of banging pans would cover her escape.
She just had to wait.
The tiger woman put the broom in the corner and turned, scenting the air.
Alphys froze. That wasn't a part of the routine.
The monsters stretched out arms touched the floor, sharp claws clicking off the stained tile. Alphys breath stuck in her chest. She stilled completely as the super elongated limbs paced back and forth between the tables and booths.
"I smell you. Where are you?"
Alphys hand went back over her mouth to cover the sound of her breathing.
"I know what you want, you little thief."
The hair on the back of her neck went straight, goose bumps covering her arms and legs. There was something else in the cafe, something very dangerous, and the owner was looking to kill it. Alphys had to escape. Being caught in the middle of a monster fight was asking for death. But making a run for it was suicide. The tiger woman was lightning quick. And she didn't know what the other monster might be.
Something tapped her shoulder, and she would have screamed had she not had her hand over her mouth. She twisted around slowly and saw a thin, glittering trail of green, crystal grass, leading to a hole in the wall behind her. It was an obvious trap and the part of her that wasn't completely terrified, sighed at it.
A table went flying, crashing into the chairs next to her, and she dove for the hole in the wall. Crawling through, she came out on the street next to the cafe and dove behind a nearby set of trash cans. Checking to be sure she still had her bag, she breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. The street appeared to be empty.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remember the location of the nearest safe house.
"The hostel…" she breathed, relaxing a little, only to clap her hand over her mouth again as she sat up straight. Looking around, the street still appeared empty, nothing different from the moment before. She closed her eyes again, mapping out the route to the hostel in her head. Once inside, she could get a clean bed, hot shower, and be able to sleep the night in safety.
She opened her eyes and saw a grouping of crystal flowers, one with a single, large eye in the middle of the petals. The eyed flower disappeared, diving into the ground. Alphys took that as a cue and ran for it.
Darkness crept along the sides of the buildings. Paint peeled away from signs. Benches rusted over; the wood slats rotting and breaking. The pavement cracked under Alphys feet as she pounded the pavement. A tree fell over in front of her and she skidded to a halt to go around it, knowing the folly of attempting to jump over it.
She cleared the fallen tree only to have a branch catch her lab coat. Alphys crashed to the pavement and she struggled to disentangle herself tearing her lab coat to get away. She heard something behind her, huffing as it chased after her. She rounded the corner to see the white flag with the gray rune denoting the hostel, flapping cleanly in the wind; untouched by the decay around it. Alphys poured on the speed, grabbing the lamp post right in front of the door, and swinging herself around toward it. Alphys fell into the brightly lit, yellow living room-esque area that made up the hostel lobby. The door slammed shut behind her.
"Close one, huh?"
Alphys looked up at the window in the middle of the 'O' in the word 'HOSTEL' painted in blue on the wall. Instead of the normal lizard monster, a male human with short, black hair and dark brown skin looked out on her. She sighed and stood, brushing herself off.
"Please tell me there's an open bed."
He nodded. "Several." He suddenly smiled brightly when she got up to the window. "Hey! You're a legit human! I thought I was the only one."
Alphys shook her head. "There are a few of us down here." She pulled out her notebook. "Name."
He frowned at her sudden, clinical tone. "James Foster."
"Do you remember what you were doing before you ended up down here?"
"Of course! I was…" James trailed off. "I was…"
Alphys smiled. "It's okay. You're not ever going to remember."
"No! I was at work! It was something involving…" He trailed off. "Why can't I remember?"
Alphys shook her head. "None of us do. I ask everyone, hoping that someone does."
"Do you know what happened? How I ended up in this hell hole?"
Alphys frowned. "We did something. Every human down here. We did something we don't remember, but whatever it was, we deserved this as punishment."
James shook his head. "I refuse to believe that."
Alphys shrugged and opened her bag, pulling out some gold. "Standard rate for the night?"
"Yeah…"
She handed him fifty gold. "Second floor?"
He nodded, still unsettled. "Fourth room. Rooms one through three have a group in them."
Alphys went over to the door that was painted over by the 'L.' Opening it revealed a set of stairs. The first landing let off on the floor for males only. The second floor was for females only. The third landing was for genderless monsters and families. Alphys got off on the second landing, walking down a hallway with the most awful carpeting in existence. She opened the door to the fourth room, which held four sets of bunk beds along either wall. The window appeared to bricked over but she knew that to be an illusion. Once 'day' came, the light would come through and she'd see the street below. The room was empty but for her, so she chose the top bunk on the bed closest to the door on the right.
After a quick shower in the bathroom down the hall, she hopped into bed and pulled out the journal. The first section seemed to have left off with several empty pages, like Larkin intended to add more to the beginning and never had a chance too. After the empty pages, dated entries appeared.
I've never kept a journal before. Her Majesty, Queen Friva, suggested 's a weird thing to say; to at once acknowledge there is a queen and that she'd also saw fit to speak with me. She said keeping a journal of my thoughts would help me make sense of everything. That years ago, it had been a boon to her.
Had she once been human? All the official documents listed her as a descendent of the last king, though that's easy enough to fake if you have enough power.
I'm pretty sure that several of the monsters down here used to be a human at some point. I'm sure I'll turn into one of them eventually. I just don't know when. There are other humans here. We all tend to congregate together, even if we don't actually interact. Safety in numbers?
This place. What is this place? Toriel says it's a place of punishment and I am inclined to agree. She said it was always best to stay inside after dark.
Toriel? That was a name Sans had once said was significant. That other worlds had one.
The sky turns light and dark, even though we're in a cave. I've never found source for the light. And that's all it is. Light. No sun. Just light. A sunrise and a sunset without an actual sun. The Queen said it was her power that made this happen. I don't believe she's lying.
Alphys tapped her chin. No one ever saw King Asgore. It was simply acknowledged that he was the king. There was a portrait of him in the library, a horned goat demon of immense size, but no actual sightings. Another thing to research later.
I miss Emily. I hope that she found someone else. A good man who actually listened to her and not the kind of shitty asshole who would get himself stuck in a place like this. I don't know why she loved me and I hope against hope that she isn't looking for me. I don't want her trapped here. As much as I'd give anything to see her, I'd gladly die in the most painful way this hellish place could devise if it meant her never stepping foot here.
Alphys frowned. Everything Sans had told her about Charas had indicated that they weren't exactly the self sacrificing kind. But then, she'd met Fell Chara and that seemed to be the best description of him, self sacrificing. She lifted the journal and continued reading.
Her phone beeped loudly, and Alphys sat up, yawning. She'd fallen asleep in the middle of a description of Old Home when it was bustling with life. The first light of morning streamed through the window. Frowning, Alphys dug the phone out of her bag and checked it. The program that tracked anomalies on her timeline had activated. It'd activated earlier when she was in the cafe, but she hadn't noticed. Her phone was programed to go silent at 'sundown' for safety.
Something was going on. She dialed Fase.
A voice of cheery doom fell from the phone's speaker. "Hello, Dr. Alphys! I'd love to assist you right now, but we have a bit of a crisis going on…"
"My anomaly tracker went off. I just want confirmation."
Techno cut in. "Dragoon has landed on your timeline! Listen, Alph. Just don't go near him. He's dangerous and the wounds caused by his weapons heal the slow way."
Alphys frowned. "But isn't he trapped here? Based on what my Sans said, everyone is stuck on the timelines they land on from the void."
"Dragoon found a way around it."
Alphys swallowed. "You can't exactly send someone to help and that just leaves me. If he's trying to steal some item, I won't stop him. But if it's a kidnapping, I'll see if I can get in his way."
"He'll hurt you, Alph. He'll hurt you bad enough that any monster on your timeline will make short work of you."
She looked at the light streaming through the window. "It's daylight now. So I'll be able to find help before that if worse comes to worst. I'll check in once I know what he's after."
Fase took over. "Just be careful."
"I will."
Alphys hung up and climbed down from the bunk. Smoothing out her clothing, she packed away the journal and checked her phone. The anomaly was walking through the Core, toward the Lab. She frowned and hurried out of the room, and down the stairs. Quickly checking out with the lizard monster behind the window in the living room-esque lobby, she went out into the quiet, gray, New Home morning. The decay of the night before had disappeared with the 'sunrise,' leaving a monotonous world in its wake.
A line of crystal flowers glittered against the gray of the concrete sidewalk. Alphys frowned and turned away.
Hanging a left at the end of the street, she found the tree that had fallen the night before was still on it's side. A bird monster with a chainsaw was busy cutting it into logs. She frowned at it. It was rare that something happened over night that wasn't returned to normal the next day. But the routine in the cafe had also changed. She huffed and headed back to the cafe for a look. The tiger woman with her elongated arms was sitting on clean tile floor, frowning as she attempted to piece a broken table back together. Two of the booths were a mess, the tables shattered.
Taking a risk, Alphys pushed open the cafe's glass door and poked her head in. "Did you find the thief last night?"
The tiger woman glanced up at Alphys and sighed. Putting down the broken table, she jumped to her feet with in a swift and fluid movement. "Do you want some breakfast? I'm not open yet, but you're a regular so I don't mind."
Alphys dropped her questions. "I need to get back to the Lab, but I'll take a piece of any bread you might have on hand."
The tiger woman nodded and went behind the counter, pulling out a loaf of crusty bread. She pulled off a piece and held it out. Alphys reached into her bag for some gold, only to have the tiger monster wave it off.
"Just take it. I have to finish cleaning up."
Alphys nodded, taking the bread. "Thank you."
The long fingers of the tiger's right hand curled around Alphys wrist for a moment. "Be careful, Doctor. The thief wasn't looking to take something from me."
Alphys saw a bandage wrapped around the arm that held her, covering a cut that should have healed with no prompting once the sun had risen. Alphys nodded and the tiger woman let go of her.
Heading out of the cafe, she went for the elevator that would take her down to the Lab, shortcutting the need to travel through the Core, which wasn't something you wanted to do, even during the day. As the doors to the elevator closed, she checked the anomaly tracker on her phone. Dragoon was still traveling through the Core. Hopefully the things inside would slow him down. If she could get to the Lab first, she could activate its defenses.
The elevator stopped and the door opened. Alphys looked out on a metal corridor corroded away by green and orange fungi. Quickly bringing up her shirt to cover her mouth and nose, she hit the button to close the elevator door and continue taking her down. The door refused to close. Growling a little, she pulled a surgical mask out of her bag and put it on. Switching away from the anomaly tracker, she loaded the map for the Core. Locating herself in relation to the Lab, she crept forward carefully, unwilling to step on any of the fungi.
The fungi let up at the end of the corridor, the green and orange not having made it all the way to the end and the room beyond. Stopping at the end, she knelt carefully, having a look around before entering. She was greeted with a room full of computers that'd been slashed up pretty heavily, a misty fog moving along the floor. She took a moment to look at the damage and frowned. It was recent, and looked like several monsters were involved. There were no bodies to be seen.
"Something's roaming…" Alphys breathed. Taking a deep breath, she refused to panic. Panic meant a quick death. She put her cell phone away to free both hands.
Holding her breath for a moment, she closed her eyes and listened. The sound of electronics humming and wires sparking met her ears. She didn't hear any breathing. Opening her eyes, she crept forward, carefully stepping around debris. She stopped half way through the room and held her breath again, listening for breathing as the mist rose.
Robots don't breathe.
She was listening for the wrong thing.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she turned to see a tall, skeletal horse standing over her. She gasped and stepped back against the dead data server to her left. A skeleton in a black, military coat stepped out of the mist next to the horse. Alphys moved away from them, inching along the bank of servers.
Alphys' eyes narrowed. "What are you here for, thief?"
Dragoon held out one skeletal hand. "Come along quietly, Dr. Alphys."
A sound that wasn't the humm of the computers or the sparking of wires caught her ear. She took another step away. "Whatever you're here for, you can't have it."
"I'm here for you."
Alphys swallowed, hard. She took another step away, toward the strange noise. "No."
"Don't you want to see sunlight? Real sunlight? You don't have to live in this darkness."
The noise behind her was stronger. Dragoon's skull lifted, left eye glowing brightly as he raised his hand. Alphys couldn't see what it was, but dove toward it, moving along the wall of servers. She rolled passed a robot that jerked and sputtered; a security machine. It ignored her, lifting the arm that doubled as a cannon and pointed it at Dragoon.
She scrambled to her feet and ran, not looking back as the sound of repeated plasma blasts filled the air. The bank of servers ended and a corridor appeared in the wall. Something crashed behind her, running her down. She flew down the corridor, hoping to see the stairs. Instead, she found an elevator, the door opening for her. Biting down on the urge to scream, she ran full force into the waiting trap.
The doors closed behind her only to be stopped by Dragoon using his arm from elbow to hand to brace it open. His eyes glowed brightly. "You have no place here! Why are you so reluctant to leave? Come with me and you'll see the sun again!"
"And leave my research? Go to hell!" Alphys swung her bag, knocking Dragoon's arm out of place.
The door closed and lights went out as the elevator fell.
She woke up in a medical bay in the Core; a large, open room surrounded by windows to allow staff to look in on patients. Everything shined and the air smelled heavily of disinfectant. Monsters of all kinds in ultra clean, blue nursing scrubs moved between patients. A pale monster with the body of a humanoid lion but the face of a deer noticed she was awake and came over.
"That was a rather nasty fall, Dr. Alphys. You are very lucky to be alive, let alone unharmed."
Alphys blinked and slowly sat up. "Unharmed?"
"Flowey caught the elevator and alerted us to your need."
Alphys swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "I need to leave. The monster that attacked me is here specifically for me."
The nurse placed strong, black claws on Alphys shoulders, gently pushing her to lay back down."It would be better if you stayed and rested."
"I'm endangering everyone by being…" She trailed off at the nurse's raised eyebrow. "And yes, it does sound absolutely ridiculous now that I've said it."
The nurse smiled. "For a moment, Doctor, I thought you were going to need treatment for a brain injury as well. You have been unconscious for several hours. It is very close to nightfall."
"Oh no." Alphys looked around, desperate to see a gray Delta Rune.
There wasn't one. Instead, there was a clock on the wall. It was seconds to sunset.
"I have to go!"
The nurse held her tightly, yellow eyes glowing. "You will be safe here, Dr. Alphys."
"No, I won't!" Alphys pushed against the nurse.
The nurse held her in place. The light in the medical bay changed, dimming. The patients in the beds calmed down, falling to sleep. Alphys blinked against the influence, trying to shake off the sudden weight of sleep. Her head lolled to one side and she slowly lay back. Her hand came up, trying to muster some strength only to fall to her side.
"You are safe here, Dr. Alphys. Go to sleep."
Alphys woke up to screaming. She looked over at the other beds in the medical bay, her head turning slowly, sleep still clawing at her. They were empty. She looked over at the windows and saw Dragoon fighting with several of the nurses. Slapping her hand around, she found her bag still on her shoulder. She rolled over and fell off the bed, hitting the floor with a crack. Groaning, she used the bed to pull herself to her feet.
A nurse who would have looked human had she not had four eyes and two mouths, ran into the room. She pulled Alphys' left arm around her shoulders before putting an arm around her waist, helping Alphys to an exit away from Dragoon. She glanced back to see the skeleton still engaged with nursing staff and security robots. The nurse half dragged her into the hall, punching the button for the staff elevator. It opened and she helped Alphys inside, sitting her down on the floor.
The nurse's four eyes looked at something to Alphys right. "You've got her from here." She stepped out of the elevator and the door shut.
Alphys head lolled to the side to see Flowey. "What's going... on?" she slurred. "Why are all the... monsters acting... so strange?"
Flowey's single eye blinked. Up close, she could see that he didn't have a mouth, so she wasn't sure how he spoke. "A thief is trying to steal you."
Alphys rubbed her forehead, blinking back the sleep. She forced the next sentence. "So the monsters are simply trying to keep me in hell?" Alphys groaned and pushed herself so she sat up. "You're following me." She rubbed at her head. "Why?"
Flowey dodged, "Why are you reading the Larkin journal?"
Alphys looked at him, feeling far more alert. "It's a journal about a time when things weren't so nightmarish as they are now. Someone familiar with the history." A light went off in her head. "Did you know him?"
The flower turned away. "No."
Alphys went out on a limb. "You're looking for him."
Silence greeted her.
She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "The journal is hundreds of years old, Flowey. No one lives that long. Not down here."
The flower looked at her with it's single, large eye.
"You're hundreds of years old, aren't you?"
"Maybe."
Alphys took a deep breath, finally feeling a bit more awake. "I really don't have time for this right now. Dragoon will find me and when he does, I have no idea what he'll do with me. I know that, if I can find a way to drive him off, make him think that I'm unattainable, he'll leave. So with the time crunch in mind, let's skip to the answer portion of the quiz show. Trying this again: Did you know Chara Larkin?"
Flowey sighed. "Yes."
"Why are you looking for him?"
Flowey leaned back against the wall of the elevator. "I used to be human. He may know how to change me back."
Alphys frowned. "How do you know he's not dead?"
The flower shook its head. "He's too smart to have gotten caught by something."
Alphys found her feet. "Humans don't live for hundreds of years, and if he's still here, wouldn't he be like you? The journal mentioned that he was suspicious that some of the monsters had been human at one point."
"He's right about that. The monsters that don't have set patterns? They were human once. I know that Chara's become one too. I just don't know which one is him. When I turned into this damnable flower, I had no idea what had happened to me."
The elevator stopped moving and opened to the path down to the Lab.
Flowey disappeared from the elevator and reappeared on the ground outside. "We should go somewhere other than the Lab. He'll know to find you there."
"I'm human and it's still dark, Flowey. There's no other place that's safe for me that I can get too. And I really need to eat. The Lab is my home." She went for the door, opening it.
Dragoon stepped out of the open door and grabbed ahold of her lab coat, pulling her up, and off her feet. She swung at him wildly and only managed to bruise her fists. Thick crystal vines erupted from the ground around them, attempting to force Dragoon away. The world around Alphys seemed to fall apart, like glass shattering, only to come back together in the open, snowy field in the forest below Snowdin.
Dragoon growled, "What the hell is wrong with teleporting here?!"
A loud hiss filled the air and a cat monster dressed in the gold edged coat of the Old Home nobility rushed from the porch of the cabin, running on all fours for Dragoon. "Thief!"
It leapt, sharp, black claws extended. Dragoon let go of Alphys in order to bring his sword up. But instead of hitting the cat, it cut through a thick, black ink, that hit snow with a slosh. The ink rushed along the ground behind Dragoon, forming a puddle. The cat monster leapt out of that darkness, pushing Dragoon to the ground. The cat hissed, black claws and purple-gray fur flying as it ripped at the skeleton's uniform. The cat's claws began to drip with the black ink and it slashed at Dragoon's exposed ribs and spine. The skeleton screamed and threw the cat.
Alphys tried to catch him and they both ended up in a pile. The cat dissolved into thick, black ink, covering Alphys. She didn't have a chance to scream before it washed over her face. A moment later, she standing on the porch of the cabin in the clearing, blinking rapidly. The cat monster stood next to her. Dragoon rushed toward them as the cat pulled a whistle out of his coat pocket and blew into it.
No sound came from the whistle. But a great, metallic howling sounded from the woods as a pack of metal wolves flowed from the forest edge, heading for Dragoon. The skeleton disappeared before the wolves got to him. They sniffed the ground he'd stood on for a few moments before running off together in the direction of the ancient city.
The cat monster snorted, brushing itself off. "Well, that was interesting." He turned to the living room window, picking up a tube of sealant to continue where he'd left off.
Alphys sat down in a heap. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Doctor."
Alphys looked up at him. "What's going on? Why is everyone protecting me?"
The cat shrugged. "That skeleton is a thief. Why should we let it steal from us?"
Alphys shook her head. "Am I important?"
The cat continued to work on sealing the window. "We're all important, Dr. Alphys. I haven't met anyone who wasn't."
She smiled a little. "What are you doing?"
"Fixing the seal on the window. I want my cabin to stay nice and cozy, and this isn't New Home, so it isn't going to fix itself."
Alphys froze and looked closely at the cat. The purple-gray fur was accented green around the bright yellow eyes, long whiskers, and the tufted end of his long tail. Under the gold edged coat was a green shirt and loose yellow pants. Several gold rings pierced his left ear in a line half way up to the tip. Gold rings wrapped his tail and a thick, gold collar with green enameled Delta Rune shined on his neck.
"Are you Charles Larkin?"
The cat smiled. "Yes." He blinked and then laughed. "I'm sorry! I so used to people just knowing who I am that I neglected to introduce myself." He held out one paw, his claws tucked in. "Charles Larkin. Though most people just call me Chara."
She smiled and stood to shake his hand. "You dress like the Old Home nobility. Do you just like the look?"
He chuckled a little, pulling on the coat. "Oh no. You only get to wear this if you are a member of the nobility."
"But you were a human."
He nodded. "Indeed. But descendancy is not a requirement. The requirement is that you continue to do the job you were assigned as a noble." He tapped the gray Delta Rune painted on the house with one claw. "I've been very meticulous about mine."
"You're tasked with marking the safe houses." Alphys took a deep breath. "So how long will it take?"
His left ear twitched and he eyed her. "How long will what take?"
"How long before I become a monster too? I've been here for three years now. I don't know how long after you finished your journal that-"
"My journal? It still survives?" He tapped his chin. "Fascinating. You'd think it's fallen to dust by now."
Alphys pulled out her copy. "The library in New Home keeps it preserved and makes copies from it."
He took the journal, looking it over. "How interesting!"
"The clockwork praying mantis sold me a copy of it."
Chara looked up at her. "Clockwork praying mantis? I guess Dr. Gaster is still kicking around then."
Alphys quickly pulled her joy under wraps, pulling the conversation back around. "So how long before I become a monster too? I just want to know when to expect the change."
The cat shook his head. "When I wrote the journal, I had the wrong impression about the change. It's not about a length of time. It's when you begin to think of this place as your home."
"But… this is my home."
Chara smiled sadly, shoulders falling a little. "Oh, Alphys."
She blinked up at him. "What…?"
Something wet hit her hand and she reached up to her face, touching the tears that streamed from her eyes. She rubbed at her face and felt parts of her skin pull away, layers sloughing off. Her hair pushed out of her carefully arranged bun, and a mass of thick, sunshine yellow, octopus-like tentacles fell around her face and shoulders. She held up her hands, looking at short claws on the ends of delicate, scaly fingers.
Chara put a warm arm around her shoulders. "Why don't you come inside? You're going to be very hungry soon, and I'm sure you have a lot more things you'd like to ask me. I have plenty of food and several comfortable chairs to sit in.
She nodded, letting him lead her inside. "Thank you."
Chara helped into a chair that would allow her new, and rather long, lay comfortably without squishing. "There is a question you might be able to help me with."
Alphys looked up at him. "I'll try. What is it?"
"Who is Star? And why is imperative that I be of assistance to her at all cost?"