ColonyTale
by Nicolle

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

Chapter Six

"*it's been three weeks, alph. what's the good word?"

Alphys moved so Sans could look in the microscope, mask covering her face. "She's producing antibodies against the microbe. In incubation, the process is even faster."

Asriel watched Frisk sleep through the observation window. "And the last scan?"

"She's clean. The microbe is completely clear of her body." Alphys pulled her mask down and handed Asriel her data pad. "We haven't been able to make a vaccine because monsters who survive infection do not produce antibodies against it. Our genetic make up doesn't fight infection in that manner. Humans have a completely different physical make up from monsters. Frisk produces antibodies in abundance and they are easily reproduced in the Lab. I already have several candidate vaccines ready for testing. It will take a few months, but..." Alphys looked at Frisk. "She's saved us."

"In more ways than one," Asriel began. "Since replacing the secondary coolant system, infection rates have dropped to five percent. I can live with that until a vaccine is ready."

Alphys grabbed her sovereign's sleeve. "But that's not all!" She tapped the data pad in his hand. "You know how we have monsters who survive the microbe and those who fall down? I've been studying the survivors. They all have a very specific set of genetic markers. Every single one." She ran a claw gently across the data pad's screen. She pointed to the information. "Because I didn't have a point of comparison, I didn't know what I was looking at. I assumed that it was a mutation from generations of being on the ship. But now that I've studied Frisk, I know what I'm looking at. Those monsters have human DNA! Your Majesty! There were humans on the ship! Frisk can't have been the first!"

Asriel frowned and handed the data pad back to Alphys. "You will speak to no one of this. Is that understood?"

Alphys blinked and nodded.

"That goes for you too, Sans."

"*my non-existent lips are sealed."

"Good."

He handed her the data pad. "You do have permission to study the subject further on your own."

Alphys smiled, happy at the good turn. "I'll need test subjects for the vaccine."

Sans chuckled. "*thank goodness she asked you not to harm the monsters who did this to her or they'd be the first in line." He looked over at Frisk. She was sleeping deeply on the bed in a quarantine room. "*on the other hand, we have another infected biome and i'm sure they'll line up for a chance at a cure."

Alphys walked over to the window, looking in on Frisk. "What were they after? I mean, why would you want to kill someone you'd never even met?"

"*good questions. hopefully they'll have some equally good answers."

The door to the lab opened and Gerson walked in.

"How's Osiris doin'?"

Sans snorted. "*oh man, gerson! you too?"

"It suits her just right! Wah ha ha ha!"

"She's got a bit of fever. It's a sign that she's kicking it out of her system. She'll be fine in another twelve hours."

Asriel couldn't hide the smile tugging at his lips. "Is it safe to go in her room?"

Alphys nodded.

Gerson and Sans followed Asriel into the quarantine room. Frisk didn't stir, chest rising and falling evenly. The broken tablet was still clutched against her chest.

"Three weeks and she still hasn't let it go." Asriel sighed. "The tablet's smashed and I doubt I'd be able to salvage it. It uses a type of file formatting that no one on board is familiar with."

Gerson gathered up the tablet, gently pulling it from Frisk's arms. "Let me go talk to my old lady about this." The old turtle wandered out of the lab.

Sans watched him go. "*have you ever met his wife?"

Asriel shook his head. "Nope. It is yet another thing that he mentions and never actually talks about."

"*anything out of the two monsters?"

"Derete Card appears to have a long standing infatuation with me. On learning that Frisk was a human, it was enough to spur her into convincing her friend Ahron Aldiss that Frisk was a danger to monsters using the tablet. Aldiss was suspicious that his friend was lying to him, but overhearing a conversation about Frisk flooring Undyne convinced him that it was better to act than press for more information. He was very surprised that Frisk stopped to help him, despite the tablet being close enough to grab. He's asked to see Frisk when she comes out of quarantine."

"*really?"

"He wants to apologize."

"*so what's on the tablet that would convince a reasonable person that frisk wants to kill all monsters?"

"Card described films that showed humans killing monsters. She specifically spoke of one with a human destroying monsters with a variety of unusual weapons."

"*interesting."

Asriel nodded. "I wonder if the film's any good?"

Sans snorted. "*i guess we'll have to wait and see if gerson's better half can fix the tablet to find out. so what are you going to do with the two?"

Asriel frowned. "Frisk begged me not to hurt them, so I won't throw them out an air lock." He sighed. "I've decided to let the legal system haggle it out. Doing it that way means I can get a good idea how far fears of the 'dangerous human' are actually spread."

"*not a bad idea."

They fell silent watching Frisk's chest rise and fall. She rolled to her side and woke up immediately, grabbing for a tablet that wasn't there. Asriel caught her hand and held it. She looked at him, eyes purple yellow, and calmed, smiling at him.

"Your hand is really warm."

"I have a fever. Alphys says it's okay though." She pulled Asriel to her, and sat up to hug him. "Thank you."

He pulled back a bit to look at her face. "For what?"

"Staying with me at the biome."

He smiled and took her face between his hands, rubbing his nose against hers.

The door to the lab opened and Gerson waddled back into Frisk's room. "Well. The old bat can't fix the tablet. But she was able to transfer the contents onto a new one for ya. Wah ha ha ha!" He handed Frisk a data pad.

Frisk jumped out of the bed to hug the old turtle. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"*i hear you've got some films of humans hunting monsters on there."

Frisk looked at Sans. "The old horror flicks?" She looked at the three of them, confused. "You don't have horror films?"

Asriel adjusted to sit more firmly on the bed. "Oh now I'm really interested. What's a horror film?"

Frisk sat on the bed and turned on the data pad, opening the film file. "You know that feeling you get when you're on a roller coaster? That thrill mixed with fear? A lot of humans enjoy that feeling, especially when it's mixed with something horrific. And there was an entire industry that produced films and games that catered to evoking those feelings. The films themselves though, weren't ever really about monsters as you know them. They were all metaphors for problems that humans dealt with in daily life: mental disorders, body horror, powerlessness in the face of overwhelming odds. Some of them are actually about historical events and how humans coped with them."

"When the monsters who stole your tablet were looking through it, they mentioned a human male destroying monsters with variety of strange weapons. Does that one ring a bell?" Asriel asked.

"Van Helsing?" She popped open one of the films. "That one isn't a horror film. It's an adventure with heavy doses of comedy. It's like they got a bunch of great actors together and told them to just ham it up for camera." She held up the tablet. "I never imagined someone would want to do me in over Hugh Jackman."

Asriel took the tablet. Backing out of the films, he opened the family photos, stopping at the one of Frisk in her dress uniform. "I believe we left off here." He handed her the tablet.

Frisk smiled. "Yeah. We did."

Gerson patted Sans on the shoulder. "I believe that's our cue to leave. You kids have fun." He pointed at Asriel. "At least until Alphys kicks you out! Wah ha ha ha!"

Author's Note: This is it! The end! I hope you enjoyed it. Send me a review to let me know what you thought. Made some fan art? Let me know so I can see it! I don't know if I'll do more for this AU right away. I really like it, so I might, but now that this is finished I'll submit it to the AU Masterlist and call it done. Thank you for reading.