MagiStream

Alphys was maybe going a bit too overboard on the questions about Mira but she really just wanted to know everything about the surface world she could since it seemed so awesome in books and movies.

Of course, by the time she had realized Mira was uncomfortable she stopped though, almost having forgotten that this human was brand new to the underground and wasn’t in the best state to answer her ridiculous questions.

“Oh! I-I’m really sorry, I uhh..know I’m a chatterbox sometimes”, The scientist smiling sheepishly by the time she had gotten around to the whole ‘do humans really carry swords ten times their weight?’ Question, Mira didn’t seem to take any offense as she shook her head.

“It’s ok! I really like answering your stuff, it’s fun~”, Mira just needing a break Is all, she was really, really tired after everything that had occurred today and just...wanted to be able to breath and process everything that had gone on, from falling into the underground to discovering a entire world really lived down here to all this talk of soul power, “I would be happy to come back tomorrow though to answer the rest~”.

Alphys meanwhile getting back on track about the talks of the barrier though, the scientist did know that at least one other thing that could potentially weaken it in time...but, it was a ridiculously tricky substance to use and was rare as well....

“I’m sure you have heard about DT being able to potentially get living beings though the barrier”, Alphys mostly talking to Sans now as Mira just listened and learned, there was one thing the scientist had not told Asgore nor him yet about her experiments with the substance usually only found in living beings.

“W-well what if I told you I managed to extract DT in its physical form?”.


(Hmmm...I’m thinking, what if DT being able to be a physical substance is a new idea in this AU?)

(New like Alphys hasn't experimented with it much yet (outside of Flowey)? Or new like you have another idea for it that's not in canon UT? Just wanna clarify before I misunderstand something )

Sans was relieved when Alphys paused asking Mira questions so she could have a break. Sans figured Mira was probably already overwhelmed by everything else going on; the anime-esque questions should probably wait until she has time to get used to everything. At least Alphys seemed to understand that and didn't seem too upset.

Sans nodded at Alphys' statement about Determination potentially being able to be used to allow someone to cross the barrier. However, her next statement surprised him a lot. "wow, i didn't think that was possible. how did you extract it?" Sans asked curiously, mind already racing with possibilities.

If they could extract Determination, they might be able to create something that, when carried, would allow a monster to pass through the barrier. Of course, that was probably unlikely to actually work. Sans figured there was probably more to it than just physical Determination at play, but it was still worth a shot to try it, right? If it somehow did work, they might not have to worry about breaking the barrier at all!

...Of course, that was probably just wishful thinking. And Sans knew better to bring up the idea right now; Mira had already been disappointed enough for one day. Sans would just suggest the idea to Alphys sometime later on. For now, Sans was curious about what Alphys had done so far.

(It’s new-ish in the way that she hasn’t told Asgore or Sans about it yet

Of course if amalgamates exist in this AU maybe this is a secret between her and Sans when she shows him the DT machine? That she did some experiments and they went terribly wrong?)

Alphys wasn’t exactly planning on telling anyone about the extracted Determination yet seeing as there were still many test runs for it that needed to play out, her experiments so far being...unfortunate and utter failures in every sense of the way with one even ‘disappearing’ entirely after being injected.

“Well, it might sound a little crazy but around the time I became the royal scientist I found these weird old blueprints mapping out how to extract determination from a human soul, and well...”, Alphys seeming to hesitate on explaining just how she managed to acquire extracted determination for a second, she knew that Sans might at least see value in her experiments since he was science minded himself.

“Listen, how about I just show you a bit later?”, The scientist not wanting to potentially upset Mira by showing her the DT extraction machine in her lab basement, the human had the potential to not take kindly to something met to be used against her kind in a sense, “I think you might find it pretty interesting~”.

(Ahhh got it! And whether or not the amalgamates exist can be up to you, I'm fine either way ^^)

Sans was surprised to hear about the blueprints. Did that mean the previous Royal Scientist was working on how to extract determination from a human soul? And if so, why? Not to mention, they didn't even have any human souls. Though Asgore had declared he would take the souls of any humans who fell, he certainly hadn't taken the soul of the one from a few years ago. And the only other human that had fallen down before then... Sans wasn't entirely sure what had happened to their soul, but he knew if it was still around, Asgore would never have let anyone experiment with it.

Had another human fallen at some point and he didn't know about it? Or had Alphys managed to extract the Determination from something other than a human soul? Sans had a lot of questions, but understood Alphys' hesitance in discussing this farther with a human in the room, so he didn't ask them yet. "yeah, i'll take a look at it," Sans agreed, curious about what Alphys had discovered and wanting to learn the answers to the many questions he had based on what she had said so far.

"so," Sans continued, bringing the conversation back to a less delicate subject, "what's your idea for using the extracted determination?" Sans figured she'd probably already thought of most of the ideas he could come up with, so they might as well go straight to the point.

Alphys having a answer to most of what San’s was thinking despite her reluctance to talk about much of it in front of Mira, reducing talks of human souls to that of basically experimental lab rats seemed kind of mean in her opinion even if that was basically what the conversation was hinging on.

‘I-I will show him later, he deserves to know what I did...’

Alphys had done some things she wasn’t too proud of to be honest in her search for a way to use DT correctly and safely, but she knew the pain of telling others about what had happened might open a even greater can of worms she didn’t want to deal with right now....

The scientist perking up unnerved as San’s asked what her idea was to do with the extracted determination though, Alphys glanced at Mira and than back at the skeleton with a small smile, “Right now it’s mostly to see if a monster’s body can accept extracted determination at all since we don’t naturally have any. If a monster can handle DT though maybe, just maybe crossing the barrier w-will be less of a pipe dream”.

‘I’m a failure...that’s never going to happen, not with what happened to ‘them’’

Sans was relieved to see Alphys perk up again; it seemed like whatever experiments she'd done with the determination before hadn't quite been successful. At least he'd gotten her mind off of it for now, but he hoped that when they went to look at everything later on it wouldn't be too depressing for her. Sans could understand things not working out how you wanted them to; Sans had been trying for years to fix a machine himself but so far had had no luck.

Alphys' idea made sense; if monsters could handle the determination being inside them, and that was what allowed humans to cross the barrier, it should allow monsters to cross the barrier too. Of course, something working in theory didn't necessarily translate to it working in practice. Still, if there was a chance it could work...

"good idea! if it does work, we could be a lot closer to freedom than we thought," Sans said encouragingly. Sans knew that Alphys had rather low self-esteem and wanted to encourage her more. If this idea worked, it might be the boost she needed to feel more confident, so Sans was really hoping it would work.

(Is now a good time to bring Asgore back in or did you have more planned first? ^^)

Mira meanwhile feeling awkward as she had zero idea what her friends were talking about, the girl was just casually looking at all the charts and at screens in the lab in the vain hope that maybe she might get some of it.

Of course, she wasn’t a scientist though and the numbers and calculations on so many of them stumped her to a halt. All the talk of souls too was beginning to edge on the girl, her feeling like she was met to be more of a tool if they found use for her soul rather than as the friendly fallen human they knew.

It almost in a way made Mira hope-....no, she couldn’t make herself think like that, she knew these monsters were kind and weren’t just using her, right?

Self doubt creeping into Mira’s heart despite her face remaining assured, maybe she really should have perished back in that forest to make it easier on everyone now so focused on getting her home.

“Well with Mira here too I think she might serve some practicality in terms of new human research”, Alphys knowing that old books couldn’t tell all of what a living human could, having this girl here could give them valuable insight to how determination and souls co-existed, “with her consent o-of course though!”.

(Good idea! )

Sans was a bit concerned by what Alphys said; Mira seemed like the type who would agree to something even if she didn't want to if she thought it would help. "of course, if there's anything you don't want to answer or do, you absolutely do not have to. please don't feel like you have to agree if you don't want to." Sans added quickly after Alphys had spoken. The last thing he wanted was for Mira to feel like she needed to put herself out of her comfort zone. After all, while it would take longer trying to figure everything out from a book, that was by far preferable to making someone uncomfortable.

.....

It had taken a bit of searching to find some books on humans and the history of humans and monsters interacting, but Asgore had finally located them after sorting through the various gardening, cooking, and other books within the castle. Hoping they would be helpful for the research, Asgore began heading back to Alphys' lab.

Asgore managed to avoid running into too many other monsters along the way, which saved time as he figured if he stopped to have too many conversations, by the time he got back to the lab the other three would be wondering what had happened to him.

When he arrived, Asgore carefully balanced the books on one hand while knocking on the door with the other. Then he quickly held the books with both hands again, not wanting them to fall.

“Y-yeah, I know...”, Mira’s voice quiet as she knew she had a right to do as she wanted when it came to having a hand in helping her new friends understand soul power, that didn’t mean the human was so sure of any of this anymore as she seemed to be hesitant despite being reassured she has a choice in it all.

What if this research came down to it and the monsters found a way to get to the surface in a way that put her in danger? They all seemed so kind so far, but she was just one mere human. Surely she didn’t mean much in the scheme of things if it met they could all go free.

‘Stop thinking like that Mira! You know no one is going to hurt you’

Mira’s negative thoughts drifting away at the sound of a knock on the door, she tried to give a reassuring smile to her skelefriend that she really was ok in the meantime as Alphys went to greet Asgore returning with all manners of books on humans.

“T-that’s a lot more than I thought you would be able to find!”, Seeming quite shocked as she had hoped for maybe one or two old history books on perhaps the human’s who had created the barrier in the first place, surely this would be fruitful in finding some new info to research into, “I can’t believe humans would just let so much of their own history wash up down here”.

Mira's reply didn't exactly fill Sans with confidence that she would actually refuse if she didn't feel comfortable with something. Sans struggled to figure out what to say to convince her she didn't need to agree to anything she didn't want to do; before he could come up with anything, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. In spite of Mira's smile, Sans was still worried.

Maybe Sans should ask Alphys to be careful not to try to press for any answers Mira didn't seem comfortable with giving, that might help with some of the problem but what if Alphys didn't recognize when Mira was uncomfortable? When Alphys headed to the door, Sans quietly said, "i'm serious. don't agree to anything you don't want to do. we'll find a way to get you home, you don't have to do anything you don't want to just to possibly speed up the process. your feelings matter. we don't want you to be uncomfortable, so please just say so if something would make you uncomfortable." Sans really hoped his little speech would work, because he had no idea what else to try if it didn't.

.......

Asgore smiled as Alphys answered the door. Feeling glad to have been able to help- and even surpass Alphys' expectations!- Asgore nodded. "It's odd indeed. Though, I do believe some of these might have been around since before monsters were sealed under the mountain. Nonetheless, I hope they will be of assistance."