The atmosphere in the laboratory's television area, had a heavy dry silence to it while a human-skeleton girl's hand clasped around a pink phone. She stared blankly into its white beaming lights. On its display, Arial could see an image of a red phone with text 'call end,' blinking back at her. She couldn't believe what she had done. She just hung up on Undyne without a warning. Arial knew the conversation didn't go well, judging by the ringing in her ear affected by angry screams over the phone.
A chill ran down Arial's spine while a drop of sweat drips down the left side of her face. Her knees started to shake as she lost control over her body. "It could have been worse….She could have cursed at me" She joked with fear in her words while falling to her knees, right beside Alphys.
Alphys didn't reply to her comment as she was too busy chewing on the tips of her claws. Her heart was racing at the thought of her crush, coming into the laboratory in rage, to find that all this time she was hiding a huge secret from her. "She's going t-to…hate, me!" she thought as tears of panic, started to form. Alphys' eyes cleared up, as she felt Ariel's arms reach around her neck and pull her massive body into a warm hug. She smiled a bit as she looked down at Arial while placing her arms around girl's small waist carefully not to crush her. They sat there silently until they both calmed down.
"I'm sure it will be alright…" Arial said as she pulled away from the loving tender moment. She tucked a lock of black hair behind her ear, before placing a soft kiss on Alphys' forehead. Her bones rattled as she stood up straight. She looked down at her flesh left hand then at tiny bones that made up her left. "Crying and worry time was over" she thought closing her hands to make two fist. It was time for her to stand tall and face her fears. Sure, Undyne was super strong and a master at spear magic, but Arial was good at magic too. Undyne was known to fight first, ask question later. With Alphys here maybe they could avoid a fight. Hopefully!
"May….be….I should….call…her…back." Alphys spoke in panic voice picking up the phone off of the floor while using the walls to steady herself. She was not a brave monster, but seeing the spark of courage in Arial, gave her a bit of hope. Alphys looked down at the phone. Using her free hand, her finger hovered over the redial button. She just had to call Undyne back and…..
Without warning a loud banging noise echoed through the laboratory halls as the front doors of the building went flying into the air. Alphys screamed as she lost all courage again, and then took cover beside the couch. Down below they could hear scraping noises and guessing it was the doors now sliding across the tile floor.
"ALPHY…ALPHY!" a female voice was booming from down stairs.
By the tone of the voice, Arial guessed it must belong to Undyne. She closed her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath. It was time. She casually walked over to Alphys, placed a skeleton hand near her yellow horns, and pats her on the head. She could hear the older woman mumbled something in a low voice, but couldn't make it out.
"I will go first" Arial smiled as she started walking away from Alphys, but stop as she felt something grab the bottom of her short black dress. Looking down she could see older woman hands grasping the fabric while shaking her head 'no'. Arial was not a child anymore. It was time to face the world and stand on her own two feet. She sighs as she rips her dress out of Alphys' claws. "Don't worry. She's your friend right… When you're ready, you can join us." she spoke in confidence as she pulled a huge black hood over her head. Her human-skeleton face was now complete hidden as she slowly walked down the steps.
She appeared to be calm, but her heart was pounding as fast as hummingbird wings with each step she took. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her throat when she finally spotted the blue water monster. Ariel stood near the bottom of the steps as she watched Undyne looking under computer tables, still calling Alphys' name. "Miss Undyne….Can I help you?"
Undyne snapped her head towards the direction of the voice with a little smile on her face. The happy expression change into anger as she realized that voice was not Alphys, but belong to the hooded thing. Her uncovered eye glared at the girl while bright blue light formed into spear in her hand. "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO ALPHY?"
"I'm Arial…We talked on the phone. Don't worry…" She tried answered the question, but she was cut off as a blue light missed the side of her face. "She…" Another spear went flying this time aimed for her head. Lucky for Arial she moved out of the way in time as she leaped and slammed herself into the tile floor. Was Undyne trying to kill her? The older woman hasn't seen her face yet so what was her problem. Whatever it was, Arial was not going to be someone's punching bag. Purple light glowed from her right hand. She quickly rolled across the floor before jumping to her feet while blue spears showed overhead. The attack was blocked as staff like object appeared in her bony fingers. The spears were sent flying into glass, tiles, wall, and right into the main computer.
"O..boy." Arial gasped for air as she looked at the computer while her right hand was gripping a scythe fused of bones and large crow skull with sharp curved metal shape for the beak. She still had a battle at hand, but she was a bit worried with what Alphys was going do when she discovered giant cracks in her computer. "Um…Miss..Undyne…woo"
Undyne sent another shower of spears at the black hooded girl. While she was distracted she ran in top speed and punches the girl into the stomach. Arial went flying in the air dropping her scythe on the ground. Her body rolled a few times before it came to complete stop. "I hate them all" a tiny angry child voice echoed inside Arial's head. Her mind became fussy as everything around her slowly became hazy. Only thoughts she was left with, was to kill Undyne. She leaned on her elbows looking up at her attacker while blood dripped down the side of her lip. Her purple eye was shining from under her hood. "Want to dance?" she asked waving for Undyne to come at her
Undyne wasn't captain of the guards for nothing. Her strength was unbelieved, but she could tell Arial was not going to give up. An evil smirk spreads across her face. She could hear Undyne laughing hysterically as she walks slowly over to girl with a big grin on her face holding a spear. Arial acted quickly as she reached out and grabbed her scythe. Sparks of blue and purple appeared as the two weapons grind against each other. Another blue spear appeared aiming for Arial's head. Arial leaned down this time as she heard her hood seams being ripped part. Before she could react again, she felt something tugging on her black hair while a boot jabbed her hard in the jawline. The girl screamed while waving her scythe wildly to get Undyne away from her.
Undyne laughed while she dodges the blade, the battle had gone on so long she was starting to forget why she was fighting or where she was, in the first place. Her opponent had an impressive weapon, but she had no combat skills. No matter how many times the scythe blade cut her, it was compared to getting a paper cut to her hard fish scale body. She could see the human…..skeleton…wearing down as her breathing had become heavy. "Wait….What" she yelled as she final noticing her opponent's facial feature.
A fiery purple light beamed from Arial's eye socket as she hit Undyne in the face with the bottom handle of her scythe. She could feel her body shaking for her to stop, but her soul kept her driving forward. Laughing at the water monster's pain.
Undyne grunted a little from the impacted as her blue hand reached out grabbing the girl by her human arm, pulling her off her feet. There was something wrong with her opponent, it was not her features. She could feel a blood lust and anger, resonating from the girl's soul. Sharp finger nails pierced into human flesh causing Arial to yelp in pain. She used her bare feet to push against Undyne's black tank top. In another attempt to get away from her grip, she lifted her scythe up before swinging it down to hit her opponent in the shoulder blade.
Undyne screamed in pain while she grabbed tightly onto the staff part of the girl's weapon before tossing Arial cross the room into a glass cabinet. Undyne took back what she said early about the girl. "She does have some skill, but she's still an amateur. Maybe with a little training….." Wait what she was thinking? She was a hum…on…whatever the girl was she was her enemy….Right?
Arial gasped in pain as shards of glass showered around her as her body smashed into the glass cabinet. She fell hard onto to the tile floor, laying there like lump clay with her eye closed. She slowly opened her eye as purple light fad from her eye socket. Blood dripped down her right side while she noticed a large piece of glass was wedge in her skeletal rib cage. Even if it was just made out of bone, the scraping on her bone caused pain during impacted. All she could do was gasp for air as heavy footsteps walked towards her. She's not sure what happen to Undyne and her mind is still a little fuzzy. She had a bad feeling she was the cause of it. Ariel had no more magic to fight back; she was not going to give up. Painfully reaching into her ribs, she pulled out a large glass shard. Grasping it tightly waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"Is that all you kid?...Weak" Blood dripped from Undyne's shoulder as she slowly walked toward her prey. Now that the girl was out of magic, the scythe disappeared into a puff of purple smoke. A blue light formed in both the warrior's hands as it formed into spears. It was time to finish this. She leaned over Arial's body while using her boot to flip the girl onto her back. Undyne pushed hard into girl's chest to pin her down to the ground while two blue spears pointed at the girl's heart.
"Un…Und…UNDYNE STOP!" a female voice cried from other side of the laboratory.
Undyne snapped her attention away from her prey to face toward the voice. There before them was her beloved yellow reptile friend. "Alphy" both girls called while Undyne's weapons disappeared and Arial lost her grip on the glass shard.
Tears dripped down the side of Alphys face as she quickly made her way to her loved ones. She paid no mind to the broken glass, smashed machines or cracks in the tiles. All she wanted to do was heal their wounds. Seeing them covered in blood and their clothing ripped was crushing her heart. Why didn't she come down sooner, before it got out of hand? She quickly looked at Undyne with disappointed eyes before turning her attention to the one that needed medical treatment the most. She sat down on her knees as she placed her large yellow hand on Arial's head. She looked right into the girl's eyes to see that her purple iris was filled with sadness and kindness as it was looking back at her. "It's all…right…..Mom's here." She spoke in a gentle voice as a green light glowed from her hand.
"ALPHY, what are you doing? Wait did you just call yourself….Mom" Undyne asked in puzzled voice. Not sure why her friend was upset with her. She was a warrior and it was her duty to fight the enemy. Then again she could have been wrong about this situation the whole time. When Undyne looked at the human-monster child, she didn't sense the blood lust anymore. It was like there was a completely different girl in front of her.
Alphys sighed as she looked back at Undyne. She couldn't stay mad at her forever. It was partly her fault too for keeping Arial a secret all those years. She was just scared that someone would take her child away. Alphys smiled a bit as she watched the cuts on Arial; magically close up as if nothing ever happened. "She's…my…adopted daughter….I'm sorry, I didn't tell you sooner. I was scared of….this." her eye lids lowered in shame.
Undyne's head felt like it was on a spin cycle and couldn't comprehend what she was being told. Where would Alphys get a daughter with those looks? Wait she was a scientist, maybe she created her? The only stuff Undyne ever saw Alphys make was mechanical stuff. Was she that smart to create life? "I'm….SORRY." she yelled while placing a hand on her bleeding shoulder. "…So….Why does she look human and skeleton at same time…Did you create her?"
"No" Alphys replied looking down at Arial seeing the girl was about to speak up. The mother figure hushed her while placing her claw lightly on the girl's lip. "Please …don't speak….Save your energy….Dr. Gaster ….he's the one that created her to break the barrier….I'm not sure what happen….This poor child…I found her locked up in the lab alone…I known I should have turned her over to King Dreemurr ….But I just couldn't….She's just a child, Undyne," tears formed under Alphys' eyes, remembering how weak and fragile Arial was when they first meet.
If it was Undyne that found the child, she would have turned her over in a heartbeat. It was her duty as a royal guard, to take humans to the King. Arial definitely had human and lust to kill, where did it go? Maybe it was her imagination the girl was trying to kill her earlier. Dear sweet Alphys on the other hand, had courage to keep the girl safe, even if the King demanded that all human children were to be brought to him. Undyne was a little upset with her best friend for keeping this big secret until now. She could understand why and she couldn't be mad at that cutie forever. "Wow! Alphy! YOU'RE A HERO!" She laughed while placing her hands on her hips and threw her head back. She laughed her head off like mad woman until she couldn't breathe anymore. "You Got Guts! I would have never done that…..I'm sorry kid…It was Arial, right?" she grinned, leaning down to hold her hand out for girl to take.
"It's finally nice to meet you, Ms. Undyne. You're as strong as Alphys said…..I'm sorry about the shoulder." Arial weakly smiled as she took hold the extended hand. She didn't remember attacking Undyne, but she could feel it was her own fault. She wanted to ask them what happen, but her heart was telling her not to question it. Funny how one moment they were battling to death and now it seemed they were becoming friends. Her shy mother had a strange taste in picking friends.
"Don't worry it's just a scratch…I'm Undyne the Undying. Nothing can truly harm me," a smirk appeared across her face which showed off her sharp teeth.
Alphys smiled as she placed a hand over both girls' hands. "It's…your turn, Undyne…." Her face turned a light shade of pink as Undyne let her place her hand on her shoulder. Green light glowed over the wounded shoulder as water monster rub against her Alphys' yellow horns. "Un…Undyne!"
"Sorry" Undyne pulled way with a smile on her face. What was she thinking? She just destroyed Alphys' home and hurt her daughter. She couldn't help it, dino girl smelled so good next to her. "If Dr. Gagster made you…Does that mean Papyrus is….. Wait does you known who, I'm talking about?" she asked trying to distract her mind from the lovely monster shyly touching her fish scales.
"I do" Arial sighed as she carefully stood up and brushed broken glass off her before taking a seat next to the two older women. "My creator…I mean Dr. Gaster, used his DNA and human DNA to create me. I'm not sure where he got human DNA or how he did it….The earliest memory I have is waking up to a sleeping skeleton, holding me like an infant. He was sound asleep in his office chair. When I tried moving, I had no strength in my body or voice to wake him….When he finally woke up and noticed me looking at him…he hugged me. He keeps repeating 'it finally worked,' He never told me why he said that. I guess he thought it was not important…" She smiled a bit as she wrapped her arms around herself as a warm memory of Gaster hugging her washed over her soul. "I was never allowed to leave the lab and there were times he was gone for days. He always promised to come back. I believed him, because he always did…..He helped me learn to walk and talk. He was a bit surprised when I was able to summon magic. So he showed me how to turn magic into a weapon…..One day I had the courage to ask where he went, when he left me alone…That day I learned words like, father and sons. He explained what they meant. When I asked him if he was my father… He said….NO...He was my creator and I was his experiment. Those words hurt, but I didn't understand why at the time….." Arial's head sunk into her knees while tears pour from her eye.
"Arial….y...you can stop, dear…" Alphys said remembering the rest of the story. She placed a hand on the girl's black hair as she tries comforting her. "She was….only a child, w-who loved Dr. Gaster dearly…Calling her a test subject was….just…mean…." she spoke in disappointment and anger.
"Let me guess Arial, you went along with his work because deep down you thought it was the only way to get his attention?" Undyne said remembering when she was a teenager and the awful things she did to try to get her parent's attention.
Arial nodded before continuing her story. "Yes…In the end it never worked….During his last experiment, he disappeared...My memory is a bit fuzzy with what happen. All I know is that I was left alone in a dark lab until Alphy found me….I was finally able to have a family…..I know what you're thinking, But there is a lot of messy details I'm leaving out and I wish to forget….I don't think I could ever be able to meet Sans and Papyrus… ever. Look at me, I'm…I'd rather hide from…my… brothers…than destroy their memory of their father….I wish things were different…" more tears streamed down her face as Undyne placed a hand on Arial's back while rubbing in a comforting motion.
"I promise not to tell…..So….Alphy, how about some anime?" Undyne asked hoping that something light hearted could wash away a little bit of the depressing atmosphere. The anime nerd nodded her head while she stood up and ran as fast as she could, on her short stubby legs. Undyne looked back down at the child, scooped her up, and placed Ariel over her shoulder. "Cheer up kid….If you want a strong dad…I could play the part." She joked in a quiet voice as she jogs up the steps that led to the television area.
"What about the mess?" Arial smiled a bit holding on to the back of Undyne's ripped black tank top.
"THAT'S FUTURE UNDYNE'S PROBLEM…." She laughed taking a seat next to Alphys on the coach while she placed Arial between her legs. "NOW START THE SHOW, ALPHY."
"Alright!" Alphys said, excitedly. She lightly blushed while looking at her two girls next to her. She didn't want to say it out loud, but it felt and looked like they were a family…an odd one, for sure. She turned her face away from the wishful though as she pressed the play button on the DVD player. After that no one said a word for hours as the colorful bright light flashed in their eyes and happy music made them forget their worries.