Chapter 8: Not As It Seems

Gaster let out a gasp that echoed through the room and Frisk looked shocked. "NO!" She said sharply. "Alphys wouldn't do that! She's my aunt!"

Laura also looked alarmed. "Amber, are you sure you saw her?" She asked her sister.

The young woman nodded. "It was Alphys," she said. "The lights were all on, giving me a clear view of her. She was controlling those blobs."

"But why?" Dylan asked. "Why would Alphys do that?"

Frisk had tears in her eyes. "N-No, Auntie Al-Alphys wouldn't do th-that," she said, not believing that the gentle dinosaur, her beloved aunt, was behind the blobs coming after her and the others and looking for a complete RESET.

"Does Alphys know about the RESET button?" Amber asked.

The child shook her head. "I never went into battle with her, except at the very end before the barrier broke," she said. "But…she wasn't herself then."

Recalling seeing that, Gaster nodded while he continued comforting Frisk, rubbing her back to soothe her. Laura suddenly sat up. "Father, would Alphys remember you like how Sans does?" She asked.

"No," he said. "Only Sans recalls me through the RESETS. Although, Papyrus might recall me a little, but they would be the only two."

"So how does she know you're trapped in the void, or rather, thinks you're trapped here?"

Dylan looked thoughtful and gazed at Frisk. "Frisk, did you tell anyone about Gaster when you saw him in your journey through here a year ago?" He asked her.

"I only told Dunkle Sans, because I hoped he could tell me who it was," the ten-year-old answered. "He told me it was a scientist named Gaster who had disappeared years ago."

"He didn't tell you that Gaster is his older brother?" Amber asked in surprise.

Frisk's eyes widened. "He is?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes," Laura said gently before she stiffened and stood up. "Something's wrong. Hurricane is trying to tell me something."

Gaster opened a portal. "Hurry, my daughter," he said. "I'll be there shortly."

Without a word, the brown-haired dancer leapt through the portal, racing to get to the skeleton brothers' house where her Gaster Blaster was still at, the call he was sending out to her becoming more urgent and making her decide to call up her power if she needed it.

Meanwhile, at the skeleton brothers' house, Sans and Papyrus were in the living room with Alphys, who seemed very agitated. "Where is Frisk?!" She demanded to know.

Sans, who was close to Alphys, knew she wouldn't get upset very easily and the more upset she would get, the more she'd stutter. So far, she wasn't stuttering and kept asking where Frisk was. Something about her behavior had him a bit on edge.

"Alphys, we don't know where Frisk is," he said truthfully. Papyrus nodded to back up his older brother's statement.

"You must know!" Alphys said, now looking ready to really lose it. "I'll fail without Frisk!"

The skeletons looked at each other curiously. "Fail at what?" Papyrus asked gently.

Before the small dinosaur could say, she fell over as a now-familiar figure appeared behind her, having knocked her out with a nerve blow. The dancer gazed up and saw Hurricane coming towards her. "What happened, Hurricane?" She asked.

He gave a couple short growls and a few whimpers. "She was demanding to know where Frisk is?" Laura asked in confusion and then her eyes widened. "She didn't stutter once?"

Kneeling down beside the yellow dinosaur, the dancer noticed something odd and gasped in alarm. A second later, Gaster appeared and he pulled Laura close to him. "It's worse than I feared," he said.

"Father, she was demanding to find out where Frisk is and she didn't stutter, according to Hurricane," she said.

"Does she know?" He asked.

"We didn't tell her because we don't know," Sans said, his voice sounding a bit sharp.

Dylan then appeared and he looked grim. "She's fallen under someone's power," he said. "Like she's hypnotized."

"Is she?" Laura asked worriedly.

"Yes and no," he said. "Someone is controlling her."

Gaster gasped as his eyes went wider. "My boy, you mean that…someone is using Alphys…as a puppet?" He asked.

Dylan nodded. "Exactly," he said.

When Sans heard that, he got angry. "Who?" He asked, his left eye starting to light up.

But no one answered as the young man disappeared into another portal and Gaster nodded to Laura, who nodded and her eyes lit up yellow and purple as she reached her hands out and tendrils of light twisted around each other and wound around Alphys before the dancer reached down and plucked a small device off from behind the dinosaur's ear. "His hold on her will fade soon," she said. "But I don't understand, Father. Someone is going through a lot of trouble to either reach Frisk or you."

"And we must find out soon, my daughter," he said. "Your siblings are ready to move and have already transferred to another safe area."

He now turned to Sans and Papyrus. "Sans. Papyrus, you two need to go to Grillby's," he said urgently. "Stay there until the danger has passed."

Sans stood up, his left eye glowing a bright blue and Papyrus' eyes were starting to light up with an orange glow. "Where is Frisk?" The shorter skeleton demanded to know.

"I don't know," Gaster replied, which was the truth as he had left the girl with Amber and Dylan, who could have taken Frisk to anywhere in the void.

"You do know where she is," Alphys said, showing she had woken up and was trying to get free. "I'll get Frisk and free you, Gaster."

The tall skeleton looked worried. "She must still be under someone's power, Father," Laura said.

"Yes," he said and his eyes now widened. "Another follower."

The dancer blinked. "Father?" She asked in question.

"It's another follower," he clarified. "He no doubt lured Alphys into her lab and attacked her, putting her under his control."

"Which would mean…oh, no," Laura trailed off in horror.

Gaster opened his arms and she ran into them. "Our final battle is sooner than we expected," he said. "Sans. Papyrus, please hurry to Grillby's. Frisk is safe for now, but you two must hurry. The fate of everyone is in the balance."

"What do you mean?" Papyrus asked.

"Father means if we lose this battle…the world ends," Laura said, her voice filled with horror. "A total RESET that Frisk will have no control over."

That was all Sans needed to hear and he nodded, grabbing Papyrus' hand and teleporting away while Gaster looked at his daughter. "Go get your sister and go to Grillby's," he said. "Dylan and I will protect Frisk."

She nodded and leapt into the portal he created, finding Amber and grabbing her hand. "We have to go now," she said urgently. "The true mastermind is about to strike."

Amber nodded and held her sister's hand as the two leapt into another portal that would take them straight to Grillby's. And into a battle with the highest stakes yet.


Another twist, yes? Next chapter: they all face the real monster behind it all. Who is it really? Stay tuned to find out. Also, Laura and Amber realize that Tala was actually right earlier, but will it be enough? That remains to be seen.

For now, please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418