Wow, I have barely been able to access my computer at all for a long time... I'm really sorry for the delay!

I think I'll upload the next chapter tomorrow, to make up for the many days where I haven't uploaded. My original plan was to update every 5 days, and I'll do my best to uphold it from now on. I don't know if you've noticed, but I name the chapters after the canon characters which the chapter is about. Mainly at least.

Check out my blog if you're interested in knowing what happens once monsters are released. :)

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Byakuran gets even more curious the further he walks. This is a place he has never seen before, never attempted to see to honor Alphys privacy. And now he knows why it was so important for her to keep it a secret. This is somewhat similar to what happened in the Estraneo family, only without wanting to create a weapon to use. At least Alphys had good intentions with her experiments, she wanted to revive the monsters and break the barrier.

Byakuran has to quickly move to the side when he senses an attack coming, looking behind him to see what kind of thing is attacking him this time. It's a wide blob standing on tentacle legs, the spaces between the legs somewhat shaped like animals. The things 'head' doesn't have any facial features but only one large hole that's opening and closing in a steady rhythm. He frowns at the sad state of the thing and like he thought would happen, a battle is called up by a mix of a yaul and growl coming from the creature. In response to the yaul, Byakurans soul exits from his body to hover a decimeter in front of his chest.

Looking at the orange heart for a quick moment, he observes once again that his heart is burning with his sky flames compared to how Frisk soul is.

If that kid is still Frisk that is…

Byakuran is brought out from his inner musings by another rocket attack from the creature and he quickly has to dodge. Although his flame creates a defense for him, the defense won't last forever if he gets enough hits on his soul. A fake smile forms on Byakurans face as he thinks about his situation. He doesn't know how to please these creatures, but when he read that these things were once normal monsters he doesn't want to kill them. Of course, he is able to kill and wouldn't regret it, but imagining Yuni's expression if she finds out that Byakuran has killed innocents… It makes his heart squeeze painfully.

So instead of killing the creature, Byakuran does his best to get closer to it and uses his Dying will flames to only hurt them. He tried to use only physical attacks, but with their melting bodies it was almost impossible to hurt them that way. He almost got stuck in that thing living inside the sink. It takes some time but Byakuran is able to hurt it enough to make it weary and back off. But he doesn't relax until the creature has disappeared from his sight, sighing in relief as he lightly grabs onto his bleeding shoulder. His soul returns to his body and Byakuran continues walking, still holding onto his shoulder to stop the bleeding. It's frustrating to no end to fight this way, but Byakuran knows it's worth seeing Yuni smile instead of her tears. The only thing Byakuran has to do is not kill them. It's not easy, but not challenging either. He gets hurt, that is inevitable, but he's far from any danger of dying.

If Frisk was here, they would know how to make those things stop fighting without hurting them…

Byakuran ventures forth, walking deeper into the lab to unravel it's secrets. He doesn't know if the lab is connected to the time machine or the time loop but it's worth inspecting at least. The pressure is a lot heavier in here so that must be a sign that he's close. Byakuran doesn't know where the time machine is and he isn't certain if he saw it in any other timeline. He hasn't watched the other timelines in detail this time but just knew that he had to break Alphys rule and 'visit' the lab. It was a little hard to crack the lock, but after an hour he got in. Byakuran can't remember every detail every single timeline, his power will need at least one day to recuperate afterwards so it's not wise to do that all the time. Just when he feels that it's needed.

There are a lot of things here that are very interesting to Byakuran since he is a scientist himself. The thought of extracting Dying will flames from physical souls is very fascinating. Byakuran has never heard of the prospect of their will being able to keep a physical form after death, much less have a physical form at all. If anyone had told him this before coming here, he would have laughed in their face at such a ridiculous assumption. Perhaps the souls gaining a physical form is something entirely unique to Underground. This place does hold a strange and foreign feeling to it, something the monsters call magic. But if the history books are correct that monsters and humans once lived together, then this magic might just be a more self conscious version of Dying will flames. That is a very interesting concept. He might discuss it with Alphys one day, but not now. She is too depressed to be thinking clearly this timeline anyway.

Byakurans eyes widen in surprise when he steps into a room with a large machine hanging from the roof in the middle of it. It's shaped like an elk skull, four tubes forming half circles around the head. He walks closer, inspecting the script written on the tablet in front of it. It is written in English, like everything else is, and Byakuran looks back up at the machine with a new curious light in his eyes. That is the machine Alphys used to extract the dying will flames from the souls. How could the flames within those souls have lasted so long in the first place? They must be in special containers to make sure no extra flames escape from the souls, to preserve as much flames as possible.

Byakuran smiles slightly at the machine before he continues deeper into the lab, looking through every nook and cranny for some kind of clue on the time machine or the time machine's creator. It might have been only future Shouichi who built a time machine, but his future self did partake in researching how it would be possible. If Byakuran can find the blueprints, find the machine and inspect on what went wrong, he might be able to fix it. Maybe that time machine is the source to this strange version of Dying will flames. So if Byakuran fixes the source, this loop might stop. Might being the keyword, none of his theories about this world might even be right. And that is frustrating.

While Byakuran brushes his hand against the wall, he can feel… something there. Also that the pressure increases, like it's trying to move him towards the wall. So he stops, staring intently at the wall tile as he tries to place what this feeling is while ignoring the pressure around him. It is somewhat similar to mist flames, an illusion, but doesn't feel exactly like most flames. This strange feeling from this 'magic' is included in it. Invisibility magic?

Focusing on the tile, Byakuran summons his flames on his hand to dispel the illusion, lighting up the dark 'refrigerator room' in an orange light. It's a lot harder to remove than normal mist flames as Byakuran has to force it away with more flames than the illusion itself uses. And since he has no experience with dispelling this kind of illusion, Byakuran ends up using more flames than he would have liked to remove the fake tile and reveal the handle underneath. Panting slightly at the strain, Byakuran takes a deep calming breath before pulling the handle. In response, a mechanism is activated within the wall with a few 'clicks' and soon the wall next to him lifts up from the floor to reveal a new room.

Feeling a little dizzy from his wounds and using so much flames in one day, Byakuran takes out a cinnamon bun to munch on as he steps inside. The food here in Underground is strangely enough filled with some kind of sun flame that will heal anyone who eats it. The 'magic' is inserted into the food as it's made by the monsters. The same doesn't apply to when Byakuran cooks any food. Perhaps it is because he isn't 'in sync' with the world. He silently wonders if Frisk is in sync with the world since they can use this magic to RESET the timeline and SAVE. He needs to find that out sometime. Or maybe he's already found it out, but doesn't remember clearly.

The room is dark, like any other room he's entered, and he searches on the wall for some kind of switch for a lamp. When he doesn't find anything, Byakuran sighs tiredly and holds up a flame in his hand. This is the reason he's used so much flames, Byakuran really should have brought a lamp…

Once he has a source of light, the human enters this new room, sweeping his flame around so he can take a better look at it. It looks like an office, a very large office. Even more doors are in here, he never thought the lab could be this large with the vast amount of different technology they have in Underground. He hasn't seen any dynamite or cars, but they have elevators, energy fields and a construction which can withstand the heat of Lava. Their computers aren't as advanced as those on the surface, but the Internet has improved with his help. Byakuran could easily hack into every computer and machine in Underground because they don't know that much about firewalls, but he doesn't feel the need to do that. After all, there's no information he wants that he doesn't already know. Or that he wants to find the information himself, not just hack in a computer and find it the easy way. That wouldn't be any fun.

When he strokes his finger on a desk, a thick layer of dust comes with it. This room hasn't been cleaned in a long time. But some question arises, if this office was here, why wasn't anyone working in it? And why would it be this hidden in the first place? The person who hid this room even put an illusion over the handle so it wouldn't be found unless someone was actively looking for it like Byakuran was doing. Just what could be so important in this room?

The pressure around him seems to lessen as he walks further into the room. He opens one of the drawers to the largest desk in the middle of the room, holding his breath as dust swirls around him. Making sure that his flame won't touch anything, Byakuran picks up the first paper in the drawer and bring it up into the light. This only brings up more questions for the man. It seems like this world's history and mysteries are a lot complicated than he first thought. He hasn't ever heard about this name before. Perhaps that's why this office was so hidden.

'Project Core. W.D. Gaster'

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If anyone is confused as to why Byakuran didn't invade Alphys privacy to satisfy his curiosity; he tries to be a better person. Yuni showed that she cares about him, Yuni is his beacon of light and to make her happy with him, Byakuran tries his best to put aside his own curiosity to not offend another person. Like stated in the last chapter, Byakuran starts to feel really bad about offending or hurting other people who he knows and that includes Alphys once he found out about her hidden door to the True lab.

Thank you AnonymousIsSleepy for reviewing again! And telling me that the last chapter felt rushed, I really appreciate your criticism. :)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. And I'll be back with a new chapter tomorrow, I promise. Things are starting to wrap up now. :3 I really hope you won't be disappointed in me once we reach the end, but I do have a reason for everything in this fanfic.

See ya soon~.