► "Once Upon A Time"
Sometimes, human storybooks ended up in the Underground.
Not that they were important. They were trifles, really. Products of imagination with no real usefulness. Men had long forgotten about monsters, and those who had seen them were long dead. These stories usually taught about the lost illusion of magic, about otherworldly gifts and artifacts that were dropped by the beasts, about the monsters roaming the earth, dominant and powerful.
Well, the monsters were not just fairy tales. Oh, no. They were on the surface once, but not as celestial beings, but as strange magic creatures with the feelings of men. And yes, they did have magic once, and still had it, but it wasn't a lost illusion. In fact, it was still used in their everyday lives; from battle, to cooking, to just playing games. But how could the humans had known that? To them, the only remains of monsters were the whispered fables and legends, and the solemn Mount Ebbot made famous by these so-called "jests". And, sadly, the monsters never did have cool artifacts. They were just simple feats of mana mixed with machinery. The only dropped treasures that the monsters knew of were the human trinkets and knick-knacks that fell down from the Surface. They flowed down the currents and under the mountain, and ended up in Waterfall to be collected, reverse-engineered, and used. Some of these things, like computers, bicycles (not to be confused with the frozen kind), and weapon prototypes, were very useful. Other things were trifles, like clothes, rusted bits of unidentifiable thingies, old boxes, and human storybooks.
► "Premonition"
Right now, Alphys wasn't treasure, or trifle. She was trash. She deserved to be picked up by the current and washed away into the abyss below her, never to be discovered again.
She rubbed her eyes with a yellow paw. God, what was she doing? Everyone's hopes and dreams...all the people counting on her—no, DEPENDING on her to make it work...she had let them down. She couldn't tell the truth, couldn't make it right...just lie, and lie, and lie. Never show, never tell…
She watched an abandoned wrapper float around the island of wood she was on, and sighed as it fell into the darkness below. Maybe that trash had a point. Nobody would want an old wrapper, so it didn't try and stop its fate. It simply fell. Maybe that single, old, sopping candy wrapper was the solution to all her problems.
She closed her eyes. It would be so easy…
"Where do you think it goes?"
► "Ruins"
Alphys almost jumped out of her scales. She spun and saw a tall, fish-like monster towering over her. She had an eyepatch over her left eye (which made her look totally wicked, but that was irrelevant), green scales, and flowing red hair in a high ponytail. She was wet from wading in the murky water, and her yellow eye gleamed in the dim light.
Alphys felt her face burn up. How long had she been watching how long had she been there oh gosh. "W-what?" She stuttered stupidly.
"I asked you where you think it goes. What're you doing out here all alone?"
"Uh-" She scrambled for any answer other than the real one. "-j-just thinking. Erm...I suppose..." She put her glasses back on and looked down in the deep darkness below. "I mean, there's only so much Underground to flow to, r-right? There's probably just a, a larger dump full of t-trash down there, j-just like this one."
"Never thought of it like that. I thought it all just vanished."
Alphys put her glasses back on and laughed nervously. "That's n-not possible unless it flowed to H-Hotland. Which, uh, I guess is a possibility, actually."
"If there WAS a dump down there, maybe other monsters go down and get stuff from-" The fish paused. "WAIT IF THEY'RE DOWN THERE THEY GET ALL THE COOL STUFF! THAT's why I couldn't find any swords lately! They probably just flowed down there and were taken!"
"Uh, I-i don't think that's it, but t-there's probably is a l-lot of stuff down there."
"We should go down there and get stuff sometime!"
"'We'?"
"Heck yeah."
"Er, I'm n-not the adventurous type." She got an idea. "But if, uh, if you can't find any c-cool swords, I could help you make some. Like a katana!"
Her fin ears perked. "Really? Wait, "Katana"? What the heck is that?"
"It's, uh, a human weapon. I learned about it from A-anime."
"Who's Anime?"
"No, no, Anime is-" Another idea popped into her head, one that would make Undyne think she was smart. "I-i-it's, uh, like human h-history, kinda."
Success. Undyne looked impressed. "Oooooooh. Pfft, that was dumb."
If there was one thing Alphys had learned from her failure, it was this; sometimes a lie was sweeter that truth.
"Hey, what's your name, glasses?"
"Alphys," she stuttered. "You?"
"Oh, my name is Mew Mew Kissy Cutie!"
► "Tem Shop"
Alphys started. "What?"
"Mew Mew Kissy Cutie!"
"Erm...okay, I-I'm, uh, n-not sure w-where to-"
And then she started to flipping sing.
"I believed I'd become a changed me if I tied a ribbon and tried to smile. A bit of courage becomes…"
"...naru anata ni aumade wasureteta, onnanoko wa minna muteki ni nareru tokubetsu-"
Alphys groaned and slapped her Mew Mew Kissy Cutie alarm clock with her claws. It shut up.
► "Alphys"
She groped for her glasses, sat up, and yawned. She wasn't at the dump, but in her room. It was thin and long, with books, dirty labcoats, MMKC trinkets, and assorted junk littering the area. Her workshop, with tools and blueprints sprawled over it, was coated in a layer of dust, and a strange machine spurted pink ice cream made from seagrass next to it. A box of unopened letters sat next to her clock, which read 8:30.
Alphys sighed. She had vowed to clean up her room later. But she had taken that vow a week ago.
She pushed off the covers and stood up, stretching and unknotting her tail. Time for another day. She changed into a labcoat, and pushed a button on the side of her bed. Against all laws of physics, it transformed into an easy to draw cube.
Alphy's day usually had three parts to it. The first one was to check incoming video feed from the monitor in her lab. The scientist before her had installed cameras all over the Underground, although most of them were in the small town of Snowdin, far to the west, where humans were most likely to show up. The computer recorded, analysed, and archived all data coming in through the cameras. Since Alphys didn't get out much, she enjoyed watching what was going on through the giant screen. If King Asgore (or, as Alphys called him, "Mr. Dreamy") or any member of the Guard needed a playback of any given moment, Alphys could send it to them.
The second part of her day was working. But she didn't really have any big projects at the time; only a robotic upgrade for a friend of hers, Mettaton. But he only came in every so often, when he got away from all his fans. Other that, it was basicly doo-dads and tiny projects that weren't that important.
And the third part...Alphys had some patients with…"special needs" down under the lab. They ate a lot of dog food, needed lots of attention, and basically made a mess wherever they went. They needed to be taken care of. (aka bringing them food and watching anime with them every so often.) That part usually took up most of her time.
She pressed a couple of the many buttons on the monitor. It lit up with a mechanical hum. Images of snowy forests, rocky cliffs, peaceful rivers, and miniscule houses flashed on the screen, each one showing a different place at the same time. Pretty as it was, it was nothing new. Just different monsters going to different places with different intentions. Plain and simple.
She sat there, leaning on her elbows, for the longest time, watching things go to and fro, without any real desire to move. Monsters were weird. Tell them one thing, they'll think another. Tell the truth, they'll see you differently. Tell them a lie, they'll know you as someone else.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the dog until it licked her foot.
► "Dating Tense!"
"EEP!" She squealed, stumbling backwards and readying electric bullets. She backed into her desk, then relaxed when she saw what it was. "H-hey. How'd you get in here little guy?"
The fluffy white canine yapped at her playfully. It had pointy ears and a shiny black nose, and its floofy tail whapped the tile. At its feet, there was a blue hoodie with fur lining on the hood. Alphys hadn't seen that before, and the dog looked too small to have dragged it in. And it almost looked like...the dog was offering it to her…?
"I-is that for me?"
More yaps. Guess that was a yes. She cautiously reached out a claw to grab it.
She got tackled by a skeleton.
It bowled both of them over, smacking Alphys into the desk and sending papers in all directions. Alphys shrieked as the world spun, then stopped, with them both on the floor and covered in documents.
"Ow," a low voice muttered.
A yap was heard, then the pitter patter of paws against tile, and then nothing.
The pile of scales and bones separated. Alphys was practically in shock. Her glasses had been knocked off her face, and everything was a blur of color. She groped around on the floor.
"Whelp. Sorry, ma'am," the voice continued. "Probably shouldn't've- Oh, ya looking for these?"
► "Small Shock"
Her glasses were pressed into her hands. She pushed them onto her muzzle. Thank god they weren't broken. She blinked a couple times while her vision adjusted, and focused on the skeleton. He was small, a little shorter than her, and had dark sockets that shone with tiny white pupils. His teeth were clenched in worry, or maybe anticipation? He wore a white v-neck t-shirt, black pants with white stripes down the sides, and simple grey sneakers.
He looked strangely familiar…
The skeleton looked at the mess. "Jeez, wow. Sorry, lemmie help…"
He scooped up a bunch of the papers. She joined in. "No, it's fine, it's fine, t-they weren't THAT important." She looked him over again. "S-sorry but, uh...do I know you?"
He stopped and stared. "Mmmmm...maybe. What's your name?"
"A-alphys. I'm Asgore's Royal Scientist."
He jerked. "Oh, wow. Sorry again." He held out his left hand, which was covered by a grip glove. "I'm Sans. Comic Sans."
► "Snowy"
She shook it. "Oh, like the font?"
"Yeah, something of that TYPE." Wow. Déjà vu. And hilarious. He snatched up a couple of the documents, then stuck out his free hand again. Alphys shook it, bone meeting scales. Sans grabbed the last of the papers and straightened them, then stood, pulling her up with her. The room started tilting, and Alphys wobbled.
"Woah, you okay?" Sans asked. She noticed that even when he talked, his jaw was closed tightly. Must be a skeleton thing.
"Y-yeah, j-j-just dizzy." She grabbed the desk for support.
"You sure? I wouldn't ig-WANNA you to fall again."
Alphys snorted. "Oh wow. Y-yeah. I, uh, might've hit my head a little, I-i'll be fine."
"Alright." Sans glanced at the floor. "Hey!" He walked over and picked up the abandoned hoodie. He examined it thoughtfully.
"I-is that yours?" Alphys asked, although she already knew the answer.
"Yup. Got snatched by a dog. Don't ask how." He slipped it on, despite the fact that they were in Hotland. "That mutt's gonna have a BAD TIME the next time I see him."
The room finally stopped spinning. Alphys let go of the desk. She had been grasping it so hard that there were brand new claw marks in it. She sighed and and brushed off her now dirtier labcoat. She couldn't shake the feeling of nostalgia as she joined Sans, who was staring at the monitor.
"What's this?" he asked. "Cameras?"
"Y-yeah." She suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. "A m-monitoring system for Mr. Dre- I mean King Asgore and the R-royal Guard."
"Huh. So that's why I felt like I was being watched," he joked.
"Eheheheh...yeah…" Awkward. Silence. Alphys shuffled from paw to paw. "Wait. How'd you-"
"Get in here? Shortcut."
"'Shortcut'?"
"Shortcut."
"What's a 'shortcut'?"
"Exactly what you think it is."
"Saaaans."
"Okay, fine. It was the psychokinesial transfer of matter and energy from point A to point B using space-effective relocation of mana without traversing the physical space between them. Happy?"
"Say what."
"ALPHYS, DARLING!"
► "It's Showtime!"
Alphys and Sans jumped. The monitor had switched to a call from Mettaton. "H-hey M-mettaton."
Sans looked confused. "'Mettaton'? Like,-"
"ALPHYS, DARLING," Mettaton's voice buzzed. "THE DIRECTORS HAVE GIVEN THE ME THE OKAY. IF IT'S ALRIGHT I'LL COME OVER SO YOU CAN CONTINUE- WHO'S THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO?"
"Oh, that's Sa-" Alphys looked to see that the skeleton was gone. The heck? "Sans? Erm...okay then. Yes, M-mettaton, I'm open. C-come whenever you'd like."
"THANK YOU, DARLING. SEE YOU IN TEN!"
► "Mysterious Place"
Click. The monitor switched back to Snowdin.
Alphys sighed and shuffled over to her desk. The pile of documents sat lonesomely over random diagrams and printed-off Mew Mew fanart. She sat down and fired up her computer. Fourteen new emails went into the trash. Blarg. Maybe she should just delete the account? It would save her thirty seconds of her day…
She face-planted into her keyboard.
Her thoughts drifted to Sans. Sans was odd. She most definitely knew him from somewhere. He seemed science-efficient (not to mention "space efficient"), and had taken comfortably to her company, as she did to him. She found herself strangely wanting to talk with him more, and resented his sudden, erm, "shortcut-ing" away...was it teleportation? How did he do that? And how did the dog get in? Could the dog teleport, too?
She slowly lifted her muzzle. She couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't. Either someone would find out, or the guilt would cause HER to fall down, too. She had accepted that she was a screwup a long time ago, and yet...everyone thought she was this great, cool person. What a magical spell a lie could weave. Which was ironic, since monsters were technically made of magic...and Alphys was composed of magic AND lies...
Cue second face-to-keyboard slam. Ugh. It didn't offer any words of encouragement.
When she got back up, she saw a new note on her desk. That...wasn't there before. Besides, it was ON TOP of the documents, which had just been scattered everywhere and re-shuffled.
Alphys picked it up. It was a piece of yellow legal pad, folded sloppily. Frowning, she unfolded it.
A phone number?
It smelled like possibilities.