Chapter Text
The snow is as white and undisturbed as ever, silent and cold. The only footprints are the light indentations of skeletal feet, but those will be covered soon by whatever magic allows snow to fall from the ceiling of the cavern. A breeze rattles through looming trees. Enormous doors tower above the path, as solid and impenetrable as they have been for decades.
If someone were to press their ear to those doors, they might hear the sounds of fire magic and a fight. Perhaps if they waited long enough, they would have to hear a mother begging a child to fight or run away, or the child responding with pleas for mercy.
But only one person ever comes to these doors, and he’s probably asleep at his sentry station by now.
The fight rages on, unnoticed.
Far, far away from the doors, someone is supposed to be watching them.
But she’s not, because she’s watching a new show. In Alphys’ defense, she’s been watching that monitor for ages, and absolutely nothing has happened.
There’s always that tantalizing hope that someone might come through, but if they do, a whole new can of worms'll be opened. Namely, what to do about the human? Alphys has no idea.
And sure, she told Undyne that she would call the second she saw a human, but… well, Undyne has made very clear what she plans to do with any humans that come here, and Alphys doesn’t necessarily agree with that plan.
No one can pretend humans are all good, especially after previous fallen humans became infamous for their violent journeys to Asgore. But look at everything humans have done and made! Anime and TV shows, art and music. Hell, even modern monster technology is based off of fallen human tech. Her first toolkit was a fallen human one! How can a species so creative and inspired be all bad?
If a human walks through those doors, Alphys is going to watch them, and she’s going to alert Undyne if they begin to become violent. And if it seems like they’re peaceful, she’s going to maybe watch over them? She hasn’t planned that far yet. All she knows is that she did all those horrible experiments to try and find a peaceful way out of the Underground, and she’ll be damned before she assists in the murder of a human who doesn’t deserve it.
Wow. She hadn’t realized how much she cared about that. Damn, Alphys. Maybe she can channel some of that energy into just turning off the show and actually watching for humans.
Eh. One more episode can’t hurt.
Sometimes, when there's nothing else going on, Alphys wonders how she would have reacted to all of this two years ago. Not the stuff with the amalgamates- past-Alphys would have hated herself for that just as much as present-Alphys does- but the stuff with the monitors.
How would the weeb so invested in human culture that she joined a Human Fan Club accept the responsibility of defending against a human?
"She's s-so beautiful."
"I know, right! Absolutely gorgeous." It's rare that Alphys likes one of her friend's musicals (she humors his tastes just like he humors hers), so hearing any measure of praise for the dancers and actors gets him hyped.
"I wonder if they look like this in r-real life."
"Well, of course there's some stage makeup involved, darling. Even humans have imperfections!" If a ghost could look exasperated, he would. She's lucky his voice is so expressive, it's the only way to tell what he's thinking.
"Even s-so... she doesn't seem violent. If she c-came down here, do you think Asgore would s-spare her?"
"He's killed innocent humans before, darling, and he'll do it again. It's the only way to escape, after all."
"I f-feel like it's wrong, though. Should we really be h-hurting all of them?"
"I hate it just as much as you do, but... I don't think we have a choice."
Silence.
"But don't worry, darling! Maybe a human will come through, and we can meet them before they go. We can be the only monsters not trying to kill them!"
"Y-yeah, I guess. I just wish there was another w-way."
It’s nearly midnight. Alphys’ eyes are blurry, even with her glasses. She’s never blown through a new show as fast as she blew through that one, and it’s left her exhausted.
A yawn stretches her mouth, and she leans back in her chair, closes her eyes for a blink, and struggles to reopen them. Definitely time for bed.
The world swims in front of her, the doors of the Ruins warping and bending and almost seeming to open. Alphys chuckles. I wish.
She looks again, just as the doors stop moving and the human slips out into the snow.
It’s like her system has been doused in caffeine.
There’s a human. A real, live human has just walked into the Underground.
She launches from her seat and gets as close to the monitor as she can. Newly alert eyes scan over every detail of the creature before her.
If they weren’t a human, they would be pretty underwhelming. They’re a kid, no older than probably ten or eleven, but… they’re not adorable and kawaii like the kids in her anime or cute and doll-like like the blonde blue-eyed kids in Mettaton’s musicals. They’re actually kinda chubby, and their skin has an almost yellow pallor. Their haircut is messy and jagged, and their bangs are less cute and flattering than wild and unbrushed. There’s a bandaid barely sticking to their face, and they brandish a twig before them like a sword. Their onesie is baggy, and covered in what look like burn marks(?). They shiver in the cold.
Alphys should be thoroughly unimpressed, but she’s really fascinated. This isn't a human on a screen or poster. Their face isn't covered in makeup or photoshopped to perfection. They're a weird, lumpy bag of flesh and power, and they're transfixing.
This is a human child. She’s practically vibrating with the possibilities.
And she can see that Sans has also noticed them (which makes sense, since his sentry station is just a little ways down the path).
Sans is… well, she’s watched him enough on the cameras that he doesn’t creep her out quite as much as he used to. He spends most of his time sleeping, so of course he’s not exactly terrifying.
But something about the way he sometimes seems to pop into thin air in one place and then pop out in another sends a chill down her spine. Sometimes, she watches him take a 'shortcut' into nothingness and gets sudden flashbacks to strange symbols and old blueprints.
And he’s certainly pulling all the stops to intimidate this human. A branch snaps behind them and they whirl, shaking. He pointedly crunches a few of his footsteps, and they raise their twig higher.
For someone who claims to give almost no shits about anything except his brother, he’s really hamming it up.
But he’s handling this, even if she doesn’t like how he’s handling it. As long as he’s taking care of the immediate problem, she can think about her next steps.
Of course, her Asgore-appointed duty is to report the human. Raise the alarm, ready the defenses, etc. Undyne is also under the impression that she's going to get a warning. But. Alphys has already made her justification for not telling Undyne yet. And hell, if Sans has found the human, his brother probably won't be far behind. Papyrus is many things, but lax in his duties to Undyne is not one of them. He'll tell her.
The system will work around her. The human's journey will be a dangerous one, that's for sure. That tiny, lumpy child... imagining them trying to fight Undyne would be comical if it weren't so depressing. She pushes those thoughts out of her mind before she can get too sad thinking about this kid's probable fate.
For now, there's a motherfricking human in the Underground and Alphys just wants to watch them.