Chapter Text
10:31 pm. Beginning shutdown procedures for the lab. Vessels are unchanged. i shouldnt have done any of this.
Clawed feet tap against the tile, flicking off lightswitches as she passes. With each corridor, the secret lab falls deeper into dormancy. The familiar hum of fluorescent lights fade into silence which remains unbroken save for the occasional shuffling of half-liquid half-solid lab residents. She pauses to take stock of the supplies. There’s a half-empty bag of pellets in the closet. The mop is clogged with dog residue for the fourth time this week. She sighs and makes another note on her phone.
10:32 pm. need to pick up more food tomorrow. theyre getting antsy.
She had already filled the bowls for today, at least. So, if things had all gone as they were supposed to, she should be able to leave with no problem, right? If only it was that simple. At one of the last hallways before the exit, she finds the greenhouse (well, less of a greenhouse and more of a room full of potted golden flowers) door open. Strange, she shut it before she came in here. The culprit, of course, makes itself known with perfect timing. A single black droplet hits the floor in front of her, accompanied by a shadow dwarfing her entire body. God, again? Alphys turns around to face the vaguely dog-shaped amalgamation, who, for some odd reason, had pilfered one of the flowers from the room behind her.
“H-hey- Hey, put that down, r-right- right now!” She yelps, waving her hands up at the creature. It lets out a low whine, backing away as it does;
“Aaa-lphyyyysssssss…..” the amalgamation lowers down to nudge its head at her, leaving her hardly a few seconds to dodge the well-meaning headbutt.
“Hey n-now, I-I gave you e- enough- food, didn’t I?” Alphys huffs, reaching again for the pot. Guilt gnaws at the back of her mind. She’s speaking as if she’s talking to a pet. She’s speaking to a person- no, people, that she RUINED like she’d speak to a misbehaving dog. (They were dogs, but that’s beside the point.) In spite of what Alphys would label as patronizing, Endogeny seems to be pleased with the attention. It unhands the flower pot and gives another loving headbutt. Alphys quickly wipes the slime from her face, shaking the dirtied hand on the floor. The best she can offer the tortured creature is the kindness in her voice;
“Th-thank you. Go- uh- go back with- with the others, o-okay? Please.” Thankfully, Endogeny takes the command on the chin and leaves, wagging tail leaving a trail of splatters on the floor and wall as it departs. As much as the amalgam seems to crave it, Alphys can’t help but be reluctant at the idea of petting it. She has no idea how the DT will react after so long. It’s keeping the amalgams relatively stable, but how would it react to an unaffected monster? For all she knows, if she’s not cautious enough, she could get sucked into the mess and just vanish.
Which doesn’t actually sound that bad. To not have to face everything that’s happened, or to risk hurting anyone again…
No, no. She can’t. The amalgams still need her, even if she wishes she could hide from this. They’re her responsibility. The kingdom is her responsibility. Asgore still cares about her! And, less importantly, she needs to put this flower back, and make sure the rest of the doors are actually still shut like they’re supposed to be.
Back into the maw of her own sins it is, then. The pot feels cold in her claws, as if it’s sucking the very life from her body. With the food deployed, the labs have fallen eerily quiet. It makes each echoing footstep ring all the more painfully in her ears.
At least, by this point, she had the lab’s hallways memorized well enough to sleepwalk her door-checking route. Besides the flower room, the rest of the doors are still shut. Weird. The amalgams have never shown interest in the flowers before. Why now?
10:35 pm. do the amalgams have some ability to detect DT? i dont even know if theres any left in the flowers. dont want to test it anyways. need to get a lock for the flower room to be safe.
Finally, she returns to the makeshift greenhouse. God. Ugh. It feels as if all the faceless flowers are staring directly into her soul. Unseen eyes bore into her head like bullets. She places the displaced flower back with the rest of her unseeing audience and straightens it back into place. There. All the flowers are back in place, and entirely unbothered.
Well, all of the flowers except for one. Odd. It remains drooped, petals falling to cover the center. Did she miss watering it? She shouldn’t have, she had checked them all this morning. Her memory must be failing her. Thankfully, the watering can has kept its vigilant guard by the door, with enough water to take care of the neglected plant.
10:37 pm. make a better watering schedule AND lock the room better.
Alphys sets her phone to the side and approaches the pot, letting out a weary sigh;
“D-didn’t mean to- uh- m-miss you- God, am I t-talking to a plant? I n-need to sleep.” Alphys drags a claw down her face, then tilts the watering can into the pot.
When the first drop of water hits the stem, the plant shoots up as if it had been struck. Two voices scream in a unison of utter alarm. Alphys drops the watering can, grabbing her tail as she stumbles backwards. She counts backwards from ten, and a realization hits her:
“H-hey- wh- did- did you scream!?” Faster than she had fallen, Alphys scoots towards the pot and turns the flower inside to face her. Hope flickers in her chest, a candle just returned to life. Perhaps, after all, something could go right. Even if she’d done so much to hurt those families, maybe… just maybe… she could bring some sort of hope back to the kingdom.
“You poured water on me!! Why wouldn’t I!?” The flower yelps in return, wriggling indignantly within its confines. It could speak, after all. It’s alive, it’s actually ALIVE- she’d saved Prince Asriel from death itself- she did it!
“How- how long have you b-been awa-awake for!?” Questions race in her mind. With reverent, yet ecstatic speed, Alphys sets the prince on the same table as the rest of the flowers. With much more haste she shuts the door that leads to the rest of the lab, and flicks on the lights in the room. She turns back to the flower expectantly, who still seems to be adjusting to the light. He coughs, mimicking the clearing of a throat he doesn’t have:
“Well, I was sleeping until you woke me up. That’s not very nice of you!” Without any sort of arms to cross, the flower can only make a pouty expression and turn away from Alphys.
“N-no- I mean- like- uh– how many- many days have you b-been in here?” Alphys clarifies, doing her best to smother her sheer enthusiasm. A new entry for this discovery has yet to enter her mind. Entries? Who cares!? The prince is alive again!
“Uh….” The flower frowns, looking around the makeshift greenhouse in vain for some sort of way to tell time, “I don’t really know! All I remember is waking up here, and hearing some clinky noises, and… something- uh… moving? It really scared me.”
What. No- no, that’s not right. Does he-
“Y-your- your f-family-,” Alphys blurts, hardly giving herself time to clarify; “d-don’t you rem-remember any of them?”
“The other flowers?” The response hangs in the air, dashing any hope that had begun to form in her mind. Of course it hadn’t worked. What was she thinking? That she could actually defy death? Life doesn’t work like that. Stupid. Stupid, stupid Alphys.
“Y-yeah- you know- uh- the other flowers- did- did any of them- uh… wa-wake up?” The lie comes out as easily as breathing. God. She really is garbage. Lying again. But what else is she supposed to do, really? Look this flower in the eyes and say “Hey, by the way, you actually died a super totally tragic death and now don’t remember any of your past life! Surprise! I trapped you into the body of a flower on top of the whole garbage sundae!” Someone come and hit her with an oncoming bus, please. Maybe she’d get lucky and wake up in some dumb anime.
“No, I don’t think so. Were they supposed to? I don’t wanna be here all by myself!” The flower sways, almost mimicking the exact head tilt that Endogeny does when Alphys won’t give it a second dinner. The similarity sends a sharp chill down her spine. Yet another reminder of her mistakes, and one that she can’t just satisfy with food and leave in the lab. She fumbles;
“Nnnnyes- w-well- uh- they- were supp-supposed to, but I th-think you’re the only- only one that did. But th-that’s okay! Please don’t- uh- don’t cry!” She waves her hands placatingly before picking up the pot with one hand, carefully tucking it under her arm, “I’ll- uh- just.. Take you with me! Yeah! You can- can uh… stay- stay upstairs! With me, heh.” Her anxious grin wavers, teeth gritting against each other like sandpaper blocks. The flower twists in his pot and turns to stare up at her, blank eyes widening.
“Oh, golly! Really? Thank you!” Alphys didn’t ever think something as simple as a flower grinning could leave her feeling unsettled to her very core. This is going to ruin everything, all of her plans, her- God, what is she going to tell Asgore? She can’t really let him know she desecrated his son’s dust, especially since the flower doesn’t even have an IDEA who he even was!!! She needs coffee. And a nap. Maybe not at the same time.
She makes her way out of the lab, purposefully avoiding any of the areas the amalgams tend to frequent. Breathe in, breathe out. Once she’s tapping in the code for the elevator, everything feels a bit more manageable. Nobody has to know who the flower was. It’s fine! It’ll be okay! She’s already the WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, what’s one more lie to that list? The elevator seems to hum in agreement, biting into the silence of her rising terror. Just as soon as she’d stepped in, she’s released back into the main floor.
Back in the comfort of the more “public” area of her lab, Alphys sets the flower on her work table before starting on the utter mountain of an entry she’s about to have to write. The flower at her side remains quiet, seeming to just take in the environment around him. Thank God. Silence is what she needs right now. The soft clacking of her keyboard fills the room, and she almost forgets the flower that the very entry is about is sitting beside her. That is, until he pipes up:
“Do- uh… I have a name?” his question feels more like a spoken thought than anything else. Alphys fumbles, pushing her keyboard away. What kind of answer is he expecting? Sure, she had a code for each of the vessels, but now that he’s- well- alive, she can’t just call him flower 21. And she’s pretty sure he wouldn’t want to be named after someone from Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, as much as Alphys wishes she was.
“U-uh- I- well.” She clears her throat, attempting some air of sophistication:
“What d-do you think you- your name should be?” Alphys asks. Don’t make her make up a name please please pl-
“Oh- Oh golly, I don’t know. Hm. Flower…y…… flow…flowey? Like a flower!” the face of the flower splits in a cheery grin, which in spite of its childish innocence, leaves Alphys feeling sick to her stomach yet again. Maybe skipping on the coffee was for the best. She returns the smile, simply replying with a:
“That- uh- it’s– lovely! Great choice, F-flowey.”
And with that question answered, the conversation dies back out until Alphys finishes her entry. She saves the document, and opens up the Undernet. Maybe a bit of blogging will cool her nerves.
Much to her dismay, the pot begins to shift closer to her screen.
“Wooooah. What’s that? It looks super sciencey.” The flowe- Flowey chirps, leaning to sit his “head” on Alphy’s shoulder. She starts, fighting against the instinct to shove the plant away.
“I-it’s– uh- the- the Undernet! It’s really c-cool, and you can talk- to uh- monsters all- all over the underground!” Alphys waves a clawed hand at the screen and continues; “sometimes- uh- monsters like Sh-shyren will post some of- uh- their own music and stuff- it helps everyone stay c-connected, even if we’re all k-kinda spread out here.” As she speaks, she notices Flowey’s head bobbing on his stem like a child bouncing on their feet. An emotion like tar bubbles at her throat.
“Woah! That is SO COOL! Have you ever met a monster like me, or oh!! Maybe there’s a whole TREE monster, or a monster that’s!! Like uh- a whole BUNCH of flowers! Or- Or uh!” He pauses, looking around the lab. His enthusiasm seems to drain, as if the reality of the conversation from earlier had only now begun to settle in his mind;
”Are there any monsters like me?” He asks, softer this time.
Alphys fiddles with her computer mouse, unable to bring her eyes to meet the dark ones staring up at her. She can almost taste the anxiety in his voice. She’d either have to break his heart, or lie again. Awful, awful Alphys. Only someone as garbage as her could manage to get stuck in this kind of situation! No. No, she needs to be able to think clearly. Even if this flower isn’t the missing prince she thought he was, he’s still a kid.
“Well- uh– no, but you- you’re special! Like a b-boss monster! You’re just super rare, so that means everyone w-will uh, think y-y-you’re super cool!” She offers a halfhearted thumbs up, forcing her smile to stand still for once. The flower’s eyes light up (in spite of the seemingly endless void within,) at this idea. His excited bounce returns in full as he exclaims:
“Woah, really!? Are you super special too? Can you do super cool things? Well, I bet you can since you are a whole scientist!! Golly! You must be super duper cool.”
Honestly? Alphys is unsure if the compliment would hurt more or less if it wasn’t so utterly genuine. She can only awkwardly pat the pot and say:
“W-well- uh- thanks? You’re- uh- you’re a good kid.” She does her best to keep the confused tilt out of her reply. Is Flowey even still classified as a child? He speaks like one, for sure. She glances back up at the computer and- oh god, it’s eleven already? She needs to sleep, she’ll have so many readjustments to start tomorrow! Alphys hops out of her chair, and starts to head upstairs before she’s stopped by that childish voice:
“Where are you going?” Alphys cringes. She can’t just leave him there. She can’t take him back to the lab. Can’t have someone watch him! The stupid idea of plopping him on her nightstand crosses her mind. Well, it seems like the best solution for now. He did say he was sleeping before Alphys found him, after all. Would he want a pillow? Maybe, hopefully, he can just sleep for the rest of the night.
“I- I uh- just have t-to go to the little lizard’s room! I’ll b-be right- uh- right back!” She darts to the room in question and changes into her much less professional pink polka-spotted pajamas. Well… she can’t live the rest of her life in lab clothing. Hopefully the flower doesn’t care.
Upon returning, she’s more than a bit relieved to see that Flowey hasn’t moved from his spot. At the moment, his movement does seem to be at least a bit limited by the flower pot. She’ll likely need to work out something a bit easier for him, but for now, it’s best if he stays where she can see him.
“Y-you uh- you said you c-can sleep, right? Well, it’s l-late, so I’m g-gonna do that, too. Can you, uh, go b-back to sleep for a bit?” She asks. The flower tilts again, bobbing in place for a moment.
“I’m not super tired, but okay! I can try. Sleep makes you super strong, right?”
“Y-yeah. Strong, heheh.” Alphys nods and picks up the pot before ascending the staircase to her above-lab room. She places the pot on her nightstand, and flicks off the light. Hopefully she can sleep without terrible nightmares of melting bodies, please?
“Goodnight, miss uh- what’s your name?” Alphys hesitates, before she replies;
“A-alphys.”
“Okay! Goodnight, Miss Alphys!”
“Goodnight, Flowey.”