Chapter Text
Alphys
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Alphys anxiously sat in Undyne’s home, Undyne herself impatiently pacing a couple feet away. She checked her phone again, just after she had put it away a second ago. Alphys logged back into her Undernet account to update her status again.
‘dont panic everyone things are going to be ok!’ she typed, but after realizing that was her last update almost word for word, she deleted it to try again. A couple notifications popped up; everyone asking her questions about where they will find space for the Snowdin evacuees and what was going to happen. She had no real answers, nor was she any more equipped to answer them confidently as those who asked, and she can’t ignore them like she used to anymore, not after everything she’d remembered. Another wave of pressure came over her as she realized how many people looked to her for guidance, more than ever before now that she’s briefly been the leader of the Underground. Alphys tried not to feel nauseous at the thought of letting everyone down at a time like this, remembering how she had failed everyone in most of those timelines. She willed herself to be able to pull through, reminding herself that she had friends who cared about her to fall back on. An unwanted memory of one of the happier timelines enters her thoughts, one in which Frisk encouraged her to be honest with everyone, and she winced at the memory. Alphys wondered if they ever really meant anything they had said. She tried typing a response to a question she was sent, but cringed at how fake her answers sounded. She knew she had to respond anyway, given how concerning it would be to have your questions ignored at a time like this. Alphys noticed that Undyne’s pacing had become faster, and had been checking her phone too, most likely for updates from Asgore. Undyne cursed under her breath, a frustrated expression on her face. Asgore had decided to walk all the way from New Home to Undyne’s place in order to calm down panic and talk to monsters along the way. He’d set out earlier that morning and it was nearly noon already. Alphys guessed he was taking the time to listen and console every monster he came across, which of course was a good thing, but he was supposed to be here to discuss the plan a while ago. Alphys watched Undyne pace around the room more, and wondered what she could say to comfort her.
“Undyne?” she spoke.
“Yeah?” Undyne responded, stopping her pacing and turning her attention to Alphys. Alphys failed to fully decide on what she was going to say before saying it, so all that she managed to say was a weak:
“A-are you okay?” Probably the stupidest question she possibly could have asked.
“About as okay as everyone else, but thanks for asking,” answered Undyne, as she dragged a stool next to where Alphys was seated at the table. “Could be doing better, but could be doing a lot worse though. How about you?” she asked.
“W-well I’m… not very good…a bit scared and stressed… but I’ll be okay…” Alphys responded. Undyne put one arm around her and pulled her closer, causing Alphys’ face to heat up.
“Yeah, there’s no shame in that, everyone is scared to a certain degree at least,” Undyne spoke.
“What about you, Undyne? A-are you scared?” Alphys asked, directing the conversation away from herself.
“Well, I’m not scared of some psycho-human, but I guess I’m afraid of them hurting everyone again,” she responded, her confident grin weakening a bit at her last statement. Alphys knew Undyne was trying to put on a brave face for her, and she appreciated that, but she also felt bad for being such a burden to her. Alphys wished that she could support Undyne as much as she supported her…
“But I won’t let that traitor hurt anyone anymore! Not on my watch!” Undyne asserted with a determined expression. “I’ll fight them a million times over if I have to.” Alphys met her assured gaze with a blush, looking up in admiration. It was amazing how Undyne had not been discouraged or disheartened by all that’s happened, instead seemingly even more determined to protect everyone. Alphys herself had barely mustered up the strength to leave her lab after that awful nightmare and the memories that came along with it. She hadn’t wanted to leave her lab anyway at first since she couldn’t monitor the cameras while away, but luckily she’d been able to connect the feed to her phone so she could. Alphys also couldn’t help but fear that Undyne may end up getting herself hurt or worse trying to protect everyone. She knew that there really wasn’t any concrete way to defend against the time-controlling human, and any attempts to kill them permanently would fail. Alphys wanted to stay positive, but she wasn’t sure if there was anything they could do but beg Frisk to see reason. She didn’t want to say this out loud, not when Undyne seemed so motivated. Alphys hated that after she had promised to be honest in some of the earlier timelines, she so quickly returned to her old habits as always.
“You’re really amazing, Undyne,” Alphys uttered, looking away from her. Undyne grinned before leaning down to plant a kiss on Alphy’s lips, causing her to emit a tiny flustered squeak.
“You’re amazing too, you know!” she said. “And I’m not gonna stop reminding you until you believe it too!” Alphys flushed harder and smiled weakly.
“Y-yeah, th-thanks, Undyne,” she stuttered out. In the back of her mind she wasn’t really sure if she’d ever believe that, but she was grateful for Undyne’s support. Alphys leaned into Undyne’s embrace and felt Undyne’s arm tighten around her. At some point, Undyne got tired of sitting, and began pacing while carrying Alphys. It was funny how just before the memories came back Alphys had never thought she’d ever really be with Undyne. She didn’t think she’d ever have the confidence to confess, let alone have her feelings be returned, but now, she remembered she had found the confidence to tell her everything thanks to… well, other than them, everyone else supported her too. If there was anything she could say she was glad for regarding the timeline situation, she was grateful to know that her friends love and support her even after learning about all of the awful things she’s done. And she and Undyne were a couple now. Alphys had been trying to focus on all the good of the situation, but she couldn’t stop herself from wondering if or when the timeline would reset again. She knew that timelines typically lasted until Frisk made their trek through the entire Underground, but what if Frisk decided to reset because everyone remembered. Though Alphys couldn’t begin to understand why Frisk was doing all of this, she doubted that they wanted this to happen. They had already loaded their save file judging by the blip in time a couple hours before, but she wasn’t sure what for. When she had texted Sans to ask what was happening, he had answered vaguely, saying that Toriel had handled it. Which didn’t help her answer questions with any sort of confidence. What he did tell her, however, was that Toriel reported that Frisk was not being overtly dangerous. That they seemed to be choosing pacifism this time around, not reacting violently to discovering that Toriel had her memories back. There was still no telling what they would do in the future, so they couldn’t let their guards down, but it was still quite relieving to know that there wasn’t an extreme emergency. She could at least know that she wasn’t completely lying when she said everything was under control. Speaking of which, Alphys really didn’t want to read any more messages or questions. She wasn’t sure if she could even work up the nerve to even check again. And here she’d thought in those other timelines that she could actually overcome her fears and become a better person, but here she was, falling back onto the same old habits…
A phone chime distracted Alphys from her thoughts, and she almost checked her own phone before remembering that her phone was on silent. She looked up at Undyne, who checked her own phone and swiftly placed Alphys into a chair.
“Is it Asgore?” inquired Alphys, hopeful for a distraction from her troubled thoughts.
“Yeah, he says that he’s almost here,” Undyne spoke. “About time! What, was he out there giving every single monster a hug and serving tea?!” she complained.
“W- well, a lot of monsters out there are f-freaking out because of everything, and Asgore is really helping out there,” Alphys reminded her.
“Yeah, I know, but we really need to talk about what we’re going to do about that damn human sooner than later,” she responded, her eyes burning with determination. Alphys thought again about how the situation could be hopeless, but quickly tried to ignore the thought.
“Right, b- but he’ll be here soon so we can discuss the p- plan,” Alphys replied, trying to sound hopeful. Undyne hummed in acknowledgement before proceeding to pace again. A couple more minutes passed before they heard a knock on the door. Undyne sped over to open it while Alphys remained seated. Asgore entered the house, greeting them both with a tired smile.
“Howdy Undyne, Alphys,” he greeted, and although he wore a smile, one could see the toll stress had taken on him. “I apologize for keeping you two waiting, there were many monsters on the way here in need of reassurance.”
“I-is everything okay out there? You didn’t run into any trouble?” Alphys asked him as he sat down at the table. She herself had done her best to avoid running into anyone else on her way to Undyne’s house, so she wasn’t too sure what was going on out there.
“There were frightened and panicked monsters about, but many others seemed to have stayed inside their homes. There wasn’t any trouble, no, but it was a bit difficult to alleviate their fears.”
“Did you really walk all the way here? You could have used elevators and the ferry,” pointed out Undyne as she got the tea she made earlier from the hot fridge.
“I am aware, but it's better that I do not delay addressing the public at a time like this. I really should make a public address soon…”
“I get that, but we gotta figure out what we’re gonna do first and foremost,” Undyne replied. “Alph do you want tea or soda?” Alphys didn’t think she could stomach anything the moment, being nearly sick with worry.
“Um, neither actually, I’m good,” she said, to which Undyne hummed in acknowledgement.
“That is true, we will discuss our options, but first, how is the evacuation going?” Asgore responded to Undyne’s first statement. He thanked her as she handed him a cup of tea.
“I called Papyrus earlier, and he said he has it handled, but I’m not sure,” she said, standing by the table since there were only two chairs (not that she’d be able to sit still for long anyway). “There isn’t much room here in Waterfall, and Hotland is too hot for a lot of monsters. I know there’s no room in the Capital, so we gotta do something fast.”
“Well, keep in mind that it would be unwise to act rashly when the human has so much power, considering the fact that they cannot be killed,” he said.
“There’s gotta be a way, right? The other humans died no problem!”
“The others were not nearly as determined as Frisk is, and I’m afraid that killing them many times will not work,” he grimly stated.
“F-frisk is powerful enough to survive an incredible amount of death without losing their will to continue, as well as being capable of adapting to attack patterns to become strong enough to defeat any opponent…” added Alphys. Undyne clenched her fists and the hand that held her cup shook slightly. She downed the entire cup before speaking again.
“So if that’s that, what do you think we should do? Imprison them?” she asked.
“We cannot exactly do that if they can simply reset the timeline to when they were free.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?! Ask them nicely to not kill us?”
“I understand how you feel, Undyne, but we can focus more on what to do with the human after we make sure everyone is safe. We need to be on the defensive first and foremost.” Asgore said.
Alphys agreed that they should focus on protecting citizens first, but she also sympathized with Undyne’s desire to search for a long-term solution. She wished she knew of a way to stop Frisk, but she didn’t know where to start… or did she? The main issue was Frisk’s Determination; it was strong enough to bring them back to life if they die and give them control over the timeline, making them virtually invincible. What if they removed this power from the equation? Alphys’ mind jumped to the DT Extraction Machine, which could extract the determination from a soul. She didn’t know if it would work correctly on a living being, but it could be the Underground’s only hope! One issue, however, was how would they get Frisk to the machine? Perhaps they could be lured or maybe trapped? She didn’t want to propose an idea that would fail, though, there being many things that could go wrong. There was no guarantee that they could get Frisk to the machine at all, Frisk could reset before the machine extracted enough Determination, the machine could become backed up from Frisk’s incredible amount of DT, causing it to explode, not to mention- okay maybe she was catastrophizing. She needed to propose her idea at least.
“We have to do something about them! The other humans died permanently after you’d killed them a certain amount of times, right? I can lead the Royal Guard to fight them at once! We have a better chance if we take them together!” Undyne argued.
“The human has already proven they are capable of destroying us all, Undyne. We can’t risk losing the entire guard to them in one go.” Asgore replied.
“We have to try at least! We can retreat if it becomes too risky!” she responded.
“Uhm! I… I have an idea on how to solve this!” Alphys interrupted. Undyne and Asgore turned to her with curious expressions. “S-so, the main issue stems from Frisk’s determination right? If we were to remove that from the equation, there’ll be no problem right? The DT Extraction Machine could do it!”
“The machine you used to extract the determination from the human souls? Do you know if that would work?” Asgore asked.
“W-well, I’m not completely sure… but I bet if we connect the machine directly to the soul it would work for sure! It’s worth a shot, right?” she answered hopefully.
“That’s not a half bad idea! We can just take away their power and get rid of them once and for all!” Undyne said, already getting excited.
“This is a smart idea, Alphys, I think that we should consider this after making sure citizens are safe.”
They began to discuss possible strategies for getting Frisk to the machine, and Alphys would have felt hopeful if it wasn’t for one single thing. A flash of yellow in the corner of her eye.