I left the room making sure to close the door behind me. Before I'd left I assured Sans I was still there and that I'd be back. He resisted, but whatever Gaster put in the IV had him pass right out. I made sure not to let go of his hand till I knew he was asleep. I sat outside the room deep in thought. Gaster seemed sure of himself that he could fix it, but the urgency he'd had when I told him what happened was what scared me.

It felt like a minute went by and I could feel eyes on me. I looked up only to see that other scientist was peeking at me from over the top of a computer across the room. That entire section of the lab was… off. The table itself was the same as the others, but it was covered in frilly looking decor: figures of color characters and cute stuffed animals. The casing on the computer was pink with hearts on it. The entire desk was just… flashy.

It was better and sitting here waiting. I got up and she squealed and hid behind her computer with an audible BANG. She was gonna be a fun one to crack. "Hey," I offered nicely as I came over. "I love your… desk."

She stared up at me with wide eyes behind her glasses.

"Alphys, was it? I'm Grillby." I offered my hand to her. When she didn't take it or say anything, I added, "I'm not going to burn you, promise."

Her eyes lit up in some way and she tentatively took my hand. Feeling my flames she perked up. "Oooh? I-I've never actually t-t-touched an elemental before. Hehehe!" She pushed up her glasses. "S-Sorry! I- Uh- I'm just…" She stopped talking, pulled her hand away, and sat there flushed.

I knew Nabstablook had social anxiety, but this was a whole other kind of level. "You're good. So, uh, you work with Mr. Gaster?"

"Yes!" She hopped off her chair and scurried over to another computer. "M-Mostly a-a lot of soul st-tudy. I'm j-just an assistant." Then she peeked over at the closed door. "Th… That's Dr. G-Gaster son. H-He took one o-o-of the… He t-took one of the pills?"

I nodded, not sure how to answer. I still hadn't seen these pills he'd told me about. "Why were you making them?"

"You know the colors of m-monster souls?" Alphys's speech was clearing up the more she talked.

"Yeah: orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple."

She wagged a finger at me. "Ah, only half co-correct! You missed light and dark blue, b-but there is one missing!" Alphys hopped into a chair, scooting to a computer and scrolled around for something. "Behold!" She pressed one final key and pointed to the big monitor on the wall.

Nothing happened.

"U-Uh wait- Wait a- Um…!" A few more clicks on the keyboard and finally a red soul popped up on the screen. "B-BEHOLD!" she stammered, falling off the chair she'd climbed in.

I stared at it. "It's red." I looked back at her. "What about it?"

She had clambered to her feet and pointed to the monitor again with her whole body. "It's red!" she exclaimed. "M-Monsters don't have red souls!"

Of course monsters didn't have red souls. It only made sense. But then again… "What does this have to do with that pill?"

Alphys flailed her arms at the monitor more before huffing and giving up. "What do the c-colors of souls rep-p-represent?"

I wracked my brain. They'd mentioned two of them earlier, "Patience… Justice…?"

She was edging me on, motioning with her arms for more.

I felt put on the spot, like it was school all over again. Problem there was I wasn't in soul studies. "U-Um… Ha…Happiness?"

Alphys slapped herself. "Bravery, Justice, Kindness, Patience, Integrity, Perseverance, and-" she again flailed at the screen again "-Determination!"

I still wasn't following.

She groaned. "Okay, s-so, Dr. Gaster and I - hehe - are w-working on breaking the barrier. W-We need all types of soul p-p-power to do that. Monsters d-don't n-naturally have red souls so…" It was like she wanting me to figure it out without her actually telling me, as she stopped talking and again motioned for me to finish her thoughts.

I had by this point. "You wanted to try changing monsters' souls red? With that pill?"

"Bingo!" She crossed her arms looking very proud of her explanation.

"But no one wants to test it?"

Alphys opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. "W-well… Not exactly…?" She nervously scratched her head. "One… uh… One monster d-did… test it out."

"And?" I needed to know. If Gaster knew how to fix this then whatever test results- I had to know. "What happened?"

Thinking a moment, Alphys got back to typing on the computer and pulled up another soul. The soul was white. A perfectly balanced soul. What the books called: A Boss Monster's soul.

"I don't understand." I stared at the computer screen, the white soul pure and vibrant. "A Boss Monster's soul?"

Alphys was still typing and another picture pulled up beside the white soul: a purple one. "Th-This was before. The white soul… is after."

Purple. I too quickly looked back at Alphys, my flames feeling uncomfortable. "Gaster?" The yellow and blue eyes hadn't been his original soul color. That purple glow- his magic was still purple.

"After he t-took the pill, we were able to… persuade… his soul to accept other soul types. He i-insisted we try combining a-a-all of the types- before the effects wore off-! I mean… it worked…?" She shrugged. After some more typing she hesitated before bringing up a new soul. It was light blue, but very faded with the smallest hints of yellow edging it. Before she said it, I knew, "D-Dr. Gaster's son's soul… is unstable." She studied it for a moment. "Seems without the d-direct influence of soul reminisce… his soul was affected by emotions." Waiting for his dad to notice. Patience. "With how dim it is… I'd s-say he had a lot of negative emotions." Obviously he was upset with his dad for working so much.

I sat on the floor staring at the ground. Had I helped him at all? He seemed so happy when we hung out. How close had he been to going critical? Could it have happened at any time, or had I helped him in any kind of emotional way by being there for him…?

A hand on my shoulder had me look up to Alphys who'd come to sit beside me, her tail wrapped around her feet. "H-Hey now. Dr. Gaster is the one monster I-I know will make it all good… again." She offered a crooked smile. "I-I'm sure he'll be o-okay."

We sat in silence a while. No sounds came from the other room. My patience was already wearing thin. I needed to do something that wasn't sitting here. "Alphys?"

She jumped. "YES?"

I smiled fondly. "Got anything we can do to pass the time?"

Her eyes filled with stars. "Oh- Oooooh- Do you like anime?"

"Like… what?"

She giggled like a crazy monster. "It's animated human history- Oh. My. GOD! You have got to see Mew Mew Kissy Cutie- It's the best-! Humans have such interesting events! I can't b-believe they would go into such detail- COME ON!" Alphys grabbed my hand and dragged me over to her desk.

Yoooo 5ive again

I know this story isn't very widely followed, but for anyone now reading through it or anyone from before, I'm still open to suggesting on the direction for this story ^^

I don't plan my stories, I write them and the characters write events themselves. The main parts of what I planned have passed and anything else coming forth are just sprue of the moment ideas.

The story will either be stopping soon, or if anyone has ideas for future events then I can easily work them into possibly coming around :D

Don't forget to leave a review! They fuel my creativity ^^