ColonyTale
by Nicolle

Disclaimer: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. ColonyTale is my AU. Story copyright to me.

Chapter 2

Frisk leaned in toward the terminal screen, eyes shifting colors softly. "Hello? Are you there?"

"And who might you be talking too?"

"You. The ship's A.I."

A bright yellow star appeared in front of her, floating in front of the screen. "You would be, in two thousand years, the second person to figure out that I was conscious. How did you guess that I was?"

Frisk shrugged. "You're a two thousand year old A.I. To have attained that age without entering rampancy, you must have been conscious." Frisk smiled. "Who was the first to figure it out?"

"A certain engineer."

"Cagey, huh? Do you have a name?"

"I do not."

Frisk frowned, pupils dilating and constricting against swirling red blue irises. "Your programmer didn't give you a name?"

The star pulsed. "No."

"I'll call you Delta."

"You are naming me after the ship?" The voice sounded very amused.

"No. After my favorite character from an old web series back on Earth. Delta was the logic fragment of another A.I."

"Interesting. I should like to know more about this Delta." The star pulsed. "Sans will be here very soon. When you need me, simply talk, and I will hear you. Touch my avatar."

"How am I supposed to touch a hologram?" She reached forward and a tingling sensation greeted her hand. The star flashed and disappeared.

"Should you have a need to, you can return to this moment. Summon me and you can replace this time with another."

Frisk pushed herself up, leaning heavily on the wall next to the terminal. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Delta."

The star reappeared. "I am a two thousand year old A.I. constructed from both science and magic. I have the ability to manipulate time in small amounts. For naming me, I am giving you access to that gift."

Frisk pulled away from the terminal, legs unsteady, and she gritted her teeth in frustration.

"If I may offer you a piece of advice, when you speak to His Majesty, call him by his name."

That caught her attention. "Call him by his name?"

The star pulsed before disappearing. "If he asks you why, tell him it is because it is his name."

Frisk limped back over to the bed, leaning heavily on the crutches. She sat down just as Sans came in the room, bare boney feet clacking against the floor.

"*ready for today's field trip?"

"Where are we going today?" Frisk asked as she pulled on her shoes.

"*waterfall. the blooks said they wanted you to see their ancestral home. have you been enjoying the field trips?"

She nodded.

"*do any of the places really feel like being on earth?"

"The great forests in the plates. When we go to them, it feels like I'm back on Earth." She frowned, eyes green brown. "Everything else is off, just a little. The beach doesn't have the same heat, the waves lack the full force of the ocean. Snowdin lacks the bitter winds of winter. New Home is an amazing city, but it's too clean. There's no edge. No grime." She smiled at Sans. "I'm not complaining. Just, reminiscing."

He patted her shoulder. "*i can't give you the earth. but maybe i can give you something that will make you feel like the delta is your home."

Frisk grabbed her crutches and followed Sans out of the Lab. Alphys gave them a wave as they headed off into the Robinson Corridor. Several school children from Snowdin bunched up around them on the moving walkway, each one trying to get a close look at the human they'd met by chance months ago.

"Careful! You'll knock me over!"

The children started laughing, each working to get Frisk's attention until Sans helped her off the walkway and into the Waterfall Biome. She stepped into the glowing, aqua blue night of the biome and froze, staring in wonder at the beauty. Luminous water fell from tall cliffs and small hills alike, creating sparkling waterways filled with lush reed fields and gleaming blue flowers. Lightning bugs that gave off the same aqua glow of the waters floated through the air.

"Oh."

Sans smiled, hands stuffed in his pockets. His bare boney feet clacked lightly on the gravel path. He walked a bit before realizing that Frisk wasn't following. She stood there, transfixed. Sans walked up to her.

"*like what you see?"

"I... I don't have words."

"waterfall is something else. it's first of the aquifer biomes. water on the ship is recycled continuously and pumped through the aquifer biomes. they condense, filter, and purify water for the entire ship. though this one has the distinction of being in an eternal night."

Frisk's eyes reflected the aqua gleam. "How do the plants grow?"

"the plants that live here photosynthesize off the glow."

"Wow..."

"*come on, kid. the blooks are waiting."

Frisk followed slowly, trying, with all her might to see every detail, every rushing waterfall, every whispering flower. "I am older than you," she muttered.

"*only technically."

They stopped in front of a pair of oddly shaped houses, four ghosts, one dummy, and a very flamboyant robot.

"She's here!"

"This is so exciting. The first living human on the ship!"

"Stay calm."

"I'll show you staying calm!"

"Oh..."

Mettaton, in all his black and violet humanoid beauty, immediately took over formal introductions. "Welcome to Waterfall and the Blook family residences, darling! I'm Mettaton!"

Frisk shook his hend, leaning heavily on the opposite crutch. "It's nice to meet you. I like watching your cooking show."

His eyes glowed brightly. "You do?! The second most famous person on the Delta is a fan?" He lifted her up. "Oh but of course you are! Come! Today we will show you around the most lovely of the all the biomes." He whisked her off, placing her on his shoulder to travel the biome, and completely dominating the conversation. "You must see the flowers here, darling!"

"They're beautiful."

Mettaton smiled. "Oh there's more." He whisked her onto the grounds of the Blook family farm. "These are Echo Flowers and will repeat everything said to them until someone else speaks something to them instead." He knelt so Frisk could hear the passing conversation.

"This the first time you've talked about anything besides the ship. You're yappin' up quite a storm there, boy!"

"Am I really?"

Frisk looked at the Blooks. "Who's speaking?"

Sans shrugged. "Who knows? Lots of people come here to walk and the flowers do not preserve the original voice exactly. That said, it does sound like Old Gerson is talking to someone."

"Gerson?"

"An old turtle monster," another of the Blooks offered. "He's retired now and runs a little shop here in the biome."

After a tour of Waterfall, they visited each Blook home. Skyblook showed of the small medical clinic in his home. Mad Dummy showed off Undyne's home and introduced the bemused Captain of the Guard to Frisk. Sageblook showed off his cafe. Goldblook took them on a tour of the police station. They finished the tour by laying on the floor of Napstablook's living room, pretending to be garbage, and becoming one with the universe. When Frisk sat up, she caught her hair under her elbow.

"Ow!" She held out a lock of hair. "I need a hair cut."

"Don't you dare!" Mettaton hissed. "You are entirely too adorable with long hair, darling." He paused for a moment, finger tapping his bottom lip. "I suppose you could use a different color." He waved Sans along. "To my home!"

Sans leaned over to look at Frisk. She shrugged. He shrugged as well and helped her to Mettaton's house. Sitting her down in a chair, the robot fussed about her hair before lining up an array of chemicals on the table.

"I'm so sorry about my cousin," Napstablook tittered. "When he wants to do something, he just does it."

Mettaton shooed his cousin aside. "First, let's bleach out this brown." Two robot arms worked her head, heat treating while evenly spreading the bleach. A third arm and then a fourth appeared, picking up two different bottles and mixing dyes. "For you, I think a gold with touches of red." He rinsed out the bleach, leaving pale yellow hair behind.

"That's the fastest acting bleach I've ever seen," Frisk mused.

"Well, hair products have seen developments in the last... How long has it been for you?"

"Twelve hundred years."

"In the last twelve hundred years." The robot applied the dye quickly and evenly, combing it through as he heated it, before rinsing it completely. A conditioning and drying later, Mettaton held up a mirror. "What do you think, darling?"

Frisk blinked, eyes a rainbow wash. She pulled at a lock to look at the red gold. "It's marvelous!" She smiled up at him. "I love it!"

"Of course you do!"

Sans eye glowed a bright blue. "*we're being summoned."

"Summoned?"

"*king asgore and queen toriel wish to meet you."

"The King and Queen wish an audience?" Mettaton helped Frisk from the chair. "Then you cannot keep them waiting!"

Sans handed Frisk the crutches. "*this'll be a good chance to show you the first biome, but we'll need to take a short cut if we're going to get all the way over there in anything like a decent amount of time."

"Thank you for inviting me to visit." Frisk smiled. "I've had a wonderful time."

Napstarblook flew up to her. "Do you really like it here?"

"I do. It's beautiful in ways I can't describe."

He moved back and forth as if he were nervously hopping on non-existent feet. "Will you come live here? When you're cleared from the Lab? I have a spare room on the second floor. It's not much, but it's quiet and you can see the garden from the window and..."

"Yes."

There was a stunned silence from the rest of the Blooks as they stared at their cousin.

"Really?"

Frisk nodded. "Really."

Napstablook nervously tittered before smiling, almost excited. "Oh. Good!"

Sans chuckled. "*this isn't exactly what i meant by finding you a home, but it works!" He winked and put an arm around Frisk.

"Thank you, Blooky. And thank you all again for inviting me here."

After a few happy waves from the Blooks, Sans took a few steps before teleporting her into a new biome filled with the remains of old residences.

She looked up at the door to a very standard looking brick house. "Are we at the right place?"

"*yep. the dreemurr family has never been an extravagant bunch. his majesty doesn't even keep a separate home. he lives in his offices in new home."

"I have a question about that."

"*about what?"

"You call Asriel 'His Majesty,' an honorific reserved for a king, but his title is prince."

"*welp. that comes from the interesting situation the ruling family finds themselves in. king asgore and queen toriel retired a good two hundred years ago, leaving prince asriel in charge. as per tradition, he won't take the title of king until he chooses a queen to ascend the throne with him. but he is the delta's ruler and so receives the honor of majesty over highness."

"Two hundred years? Why hasn't he chosen a wife?"

Sans looked away. "*his majesty is... well... he's always been a bit hard and rather sharp. his responsibilities weigh on him and he's been forced into making a few decisions that have raised his level quite a few times over the years. he just doesn't have anyone to share that load with. guess he's just waiting for his 'second in command' to appear."

"Raised his level?"

Sans cocked his skull to the side. "*i'm sure you've heard alphys talk about LOVE. it's an acronym. it stands for Level Of ViolencE. when you kill someone, your level raises. i'm sure you understand what that means for his majesty."

Frisk frowned. "Is that why some of the news programs talk about me with fear? My level?"

Sans sighed. "it's not exactly encouraging. you wanna tell me what you did to earn yours?"

Frisk looked ahead, eyes a sudden, flat red. "I was a soldier during a time of war."

"*humans do that kind of thing, huh?" He waved his phalanges in front of her face. "*hey, kid. wakey wakey."

She looked at him with a wry smile, eyes green blue. "I'm older than you, Sans."

"*only technically." He knocked on the door.

A large, white goat woman opened the door. "Come in! Come in! Thank you for joining us!"

"Thank you for inviting me, Your Majesty." Frisk hobbled up the steps on the crutches.

Toriel moved aside to let her in, directing her to the table in the living room. "I've made tea and some sandwiches for us. I hope that's all right."

"I'm flattered that you thought of my comfort." Frisk settled into a chair as a large goat monster entered the room. Frisk tried to stand and fell back into the chair.

Asgore frowned. "Don't worry about getting up. You're still recovering from your long sleep." He poured a cup of tea and put it in front of her.

Sans came in, slipping his data pad into his pocket as he sat next to Frisk. "*hello, your majesty. hey, tori."

"Hello Sans! How has watching over Frisk been for you."

"*welp, since the kid needs help getting around, she's taken up my whole left side." He winked. "*but i'm all right now!"

Toriel laughed.

Asgore rolled his eyes. "I apologize in advance. My wife and Sans have long been a pair of jokesters. One day, my love will be a famous momedian."

Sans' skull hit the table. "*oh i'm stealing that one!"

Frisk turned her head at the sound of the front door opening, but looked away as Toriel handed her a plate.

"What is the Earth like? Is it like being in the biomes at all?"

Frisk blinked, looking at Asgore. "The great forests in the plates are the most like Earth."

"We were very surprised when you asked to go into the forests. We have long left them to minimal management so as to keep the oxygen they provide in steady supply," Toriel said. She stirred her tea. "Have you thought of what you will do once you leave the Lab?"

Frisk shook her head and caught sight of a black boot, just visible outside the door to the entryway; someone leaning against the wall in the hall. "Not really. In an unexpected but welcome turn of events, I have a home lined up in Waterfall. But I am worried about my legs working. It's been a year and I still need crutches."

Asgore and Toriel exchanged glances.

"But I'm not skill-less. I wouldn't have been put on the Osiris if I wasn't useful."

Sans looked over. "*osiris? is that the name of the ship you were on?"

Frisk raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure Alphys noted that when she interviewed me and every news program out there calls me Osiris, so you can't have missed it."

Sans waved a boney hand at her. "*that's only because we haven't released your name."

"What was your ship's mission and your part in it?" Asgore asked.

Frisk smiled. "The Osiris was a Faster Than Light or FTL ship. It was traveling to a habitable planet in the Tau Ceti system to colonize it. I was part of the initial security detail, though later my engineering skills would be put to use once we were ready to start work on the planet."

"That's an interesting combination," Toriel remarked.

Frisk shook her head. "It's common, or at least was common, in my home country to serve in the military, so most people had the necessary training to handle combat."

Sans elbowed her. "*so what kind of engineer are you? weapon or target?"

Frisk put her head in her hand. "Oh my God. Even monsters know that joke?" She sighed. "Mechanical."

Asgore poured her another cup of tea. "And what part of the military were you in?"

Frisk stared into her tea, face blank. "Special Operations." She blinked and looked up at the myriad of family photos on the wall, gazing at them for a moment before gulping the cup of tea down. "I apologize. I'm feeling homesick is all."

Toriel smiled. "Do not worry, child. You've been out all day, haven't you? We'll let you head back to the Lab. Thank you very much for visiting with us."

Frisk forced a smile. "Thank you for having me."

Sans helped her stand and handed her the crutches. She looked at the doorway, but whoever stood there seemed to be gone. Sans helped her down the steps to the front yard and the leaves piled in front of a leafless tree.

"Does my pod still exist or have you scrapped it?"

Sans eyed her. "*the pod is in storage. the museum in new home wants it. why?"

"On the right hand interior side is a compartment with a case inside. The case has a few things of mine and I'd like to have them." She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "The face of the compartment doesn't really look like it, but it's a keypad lacking the numbers. The code is 2156."

"*it's been a year, kiddo. why ya akin' for it now?"

She sighed heavily, eyes closed.

"*ah man. it was all the family photos in there, wasn't it?"

"I thought, if I didn't look, I could pretend that I didn't have a past at all." She sniffed. "Will you get the case for me?"

Sans looked over his shoulder for a moment and Asriel nodded from where he stood in the door. "*sure, kid. i'll drop you at the lab and be there with the case."

When he appeared in the Lab with her case, Asriel waited outside the door to the room. "*interviewing her now, huh?"

Asriel indicated the case in his hand. "Seems like a good time to do so."

Sans nodded and knocked.

"The door's open."

Sans opened the door to find Frisk sitting on the bed, using a tissue to wipe her eyes. "*i brought your case and prince charming."

Asriel snorted.

Sans smiled and handed Frisk the case. "*here ya go, kiddo!"

Frisk sniffed. "Thank you." She opened it carefully, revealing a camera and an old tablet. "We weren't allowed to take much with us on the Osiris. Just whatever fit in the case. So I took my camera and a tablet filled with memories." She sighed. "I hope it still works."

Sans eye glowed blue. "*papyrus says scans have picked up the microbe in the sholan biome."

Asriel frowned. "Go help him with quarantine."

Sans nodded and disappeared.

"Microbe?"

Asriel sighed. "We picked up a microbe from one of the planets the Delta mined for resources. It's been steadily infecting the inhabitants of the ship." He sat down next to her.

Frisk looked at the tablet in her hand. "You don't have to stay."

He shook his head. "I'm not required for the procedure. Let's see if your data survived."

She nodded and pulled out the tablet's charging cable, connecting it to the outlet in the wall. A light glowed, but the screen refused to turn on. Frisk's shoulders drooped.

"Here." Asriel held out a hand and she handed him the tablet. Pulling a tool from his vest, he gently lifted the screen from the circuitry, revealing a tangle of wires. He carefully sorted through them before identifying the ones that needed replacing. He pulled matching wire from another pocket on his vest, gently putting the tablet back in order. Letting the screen slide back into place, he turned it on and the screen lit up.

She smiled at him, instantly delighted. "Thank you, Asriel!"

The goat prince paused before smiling. "You're welcome." He leaned in to get a better look at the screen.

Frisk opened a file, bringing up a myriad of pictures. She pointed to one of a tall man and a very petite woman sitting at a campfire. "This is my mom and dad." Another photo of a cabin in the woods atop a hill looking out over a lake. "This was our vacation home. The cabin was four seasons so we were there whenever mom and dad didn't have work."

Another picture appeared: Two identical Frisks, cheek to cheek with the same red eyes, laughing at the camera. Frisk swallowed.

"A twin sister?"

She nodded. "Chara."

Asriel pointed to the picture. "This one is you."

A smile tugged at her lips. "Not bad. There were times our parents had trouble telling us apart." She gently set the tablet on the bed and covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry. I just..." She trembled. "Chara was on the Osiris too." The trembling became tears.

Asriel wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap. Frisk buried her face against his chest, holding onto him tightly. When her tears subsided, she felt his hand gently petting her hair.

Frisk pulled back, pushing her hair away from her face. "Do you mind if we continue looking tomorrow?"

Asriel shook his head. "Not at all. Will you be all right?"

"I just need a little bit."

He stood, careful not to jostle her or the bed. "Call me when you need me."

Frisk nodded. "Thank you." She reached out and took his hand for a moment before letting go. "Good night, Asriel."

"Good night, Frisk."

She laid back, staring at the ceiling as he closed the door. Alphys waited outside the room.

"Status?"

Alphys frowned. "I don't know if she'll ever walk properly again without full restoration of her HP. I'm going to talk to her about implants for her legs tomorrow."

"Wait on that."

Alphys blinked. "Why?"

Asriel ignored the question. "You've been studying her interactions with monsters. What are your findings?"

Alphys frowned, but moved on. "I don't know if it's a human trait or something specific to her, but Frisk pack-bonds. It's like an instinct and she spreads it everywhere. She feels responsible to and for monsters she's interacted with and they feel the same bond with her. Even more than that, monsters who have interacted with her display closer bonds to each other. It's like a branching matrix that links back on itself at every available point. The school group she and Sans happened on back in Snowdin have become as tightly knit as the dog families on the ship."

He looked back through the glass at Frisk, laying on her back, staring at the picture of her sister and herself.

A young courier with the royal insignia on his sleeve came in the Lab with a package. "This is for, uh..." He looked at the tag. "Frisk Provost?"

Asriel nodded. "Give the box to Dr. Alphys. She'll see that it gets to Frisk."

Alphys took the box. "It's from the Asgore and Toriel!"

Asriel followed the courier to the door. "Have a good night, Alphys."

"Uh... Yeah! Thanks!" She knocked on Frisk's door.

"Yes?"

Alphys came in. "You have a package from the king and queen!" She practically hopped over to the bed.

Frisk opened it an looked at a piece of pie. "What's this?"

Alphys stared with her jaw hanging open. "A big deal," she squeaked. "It's butterscotch-cinnamon pie. It has special healing properties and only members of the royal family learn how to make it." Alphys picked up the card and read it aloud. "'To speed your recovery.'"