Chapter Text
Frisk was beginning to run out of steam, and I couldn't blame them. It hadn't been but a week or three since they had reclaimed use of their legs, yet here they were on a wild goose chase for their brother. A charming young lad to be certain, even if the, ahem, baggage wasn't so desirable, but I would have a great many words for him if his reason wasn't something spectacular.
'How are you holding up?'
'Fine, Gas, more worried than anything.' It simply wasn't like Asriel to disappear as such, his pattern firmly set for a while now. It was rare to find him too far from either Asgore or Toriel's home without supervision. 'Think he's really at the lab?'
'Well, Bun said she had seen him going that way, so it is the correct path if not the destination.' As loathe as I was to think of his second half being near my daughter, I had to admit their track record was agreeable. Several months without laying a hand on anyone. Chara had truly changed, though whether it was through virtue of morals or patience was yet to be seen.
If they had not been linked to Asriel, a core component keeping him together, I would have done away with them ages back. But, on top of that necessity, I wouldn't want to upset my own host. Had Frisk not brought my mask into their plane, as well as taken a step beyond by allowing me residence within their own body, I would still be drifting in that gastly dark. I would stay my hand, for the time at least.
The door to Alphys's home slid open at once, the camera knowing Frisk was to be trusted. The main room served several purposes at once. The wide chamber held her personal computer, a greatly expanded kitchen (no doubt thanks to Undyne's need for a diet more substantial than ramen, as tasty and conveniant as it could be), and, on both sides, escalators to and from the loft style second floor. Frisk's attention was drawn to the back wall, a series of odd, indecipherable noises echoing from the elevator shaft leading into the laboratory proper.
'Alph must be working on something. If he was here, she'd know.' Frisk was among the few Alphys trusted to be amongst her more delicate projects unattended, not to mention what my constant supervision counted for, and, as such, their hand print was of the handful that would be accepted by her elevator's securitry scanner. One quick press saw us zooming down into the depths of her research.
The sounds became more distinct as the halls opened before us. Lightning struck, metal clashed, and some form of drink was being consumed in large quantities, but it all had a slight shift in the frequencies, enough for me to pin down its nature.
'If I were a gambling man, I would bet she is testing her mind to video device.' Ever since I added my touch to the design, she had been setting aside at least a small portion of research time to study its effects. She was all too happy to enhance her animation viewing experience by inserting herself into her favorite worlds. Last I had seen, she had been fiddling with improving the feedback to the user's nervous system, allowing them to feel the sensations their avatar experienced in whatever video space they chose to enter.
'Hope we're not bothering her by letting ourselves in.'
'Worry not, Frisk, she should be more than understanding once she knows our motives.' Doors passed by, Frisk rushing along as to minimize how much of Alphys's time they would need. The hall was on the dark side, making the one lit room all the more noticeable. We crossed the threshold into it, only to be met with an odd, though welcome, sight.
As it turned out, we did not need to ask Alphys where Asriel was. He was laying right in front of us, on a well padded slab. Well, it was more a low end bed than anything else, ensuring his comfort as he was preoccupied by the helmet latched around his head. Viewing goggles sat over his eyes, ear phones over his ears, as they would be, and even some additional portion of machinery placed over his nostrils.
The wires fed back into the one part of my gamble that would have payed off, the mind to video device. It was mostly unaltered, save one fine detail. The input device had changed, the markings suggesting that the disc reading port was open to a wider array of content.
On screen was something that most certainly was not an anime. The extra displays laying over the main view, a green and red bar, boxes showing a line up of items, a counter full of numbers, told me it was a video game. Possibilities ran through my mind like school children after the final bell in spring.
They would have to hold for a while, Frisk taking care of the business they had been on all day. A quick text to Toriel assuring his safety and we were, officially speaking, off the clock. Responsibilities answered, Frisk became as absorbed as I, but not by the technology.
'Dark Souls?' I wasn't one to follow games, most of my interest on the machines behind the visuals, so I would have to trust their word on this one's title. The one thing I knew for certain, Asriel was having a rather rough go. A pair of health bars constituted the bottom edge of the screen, neither of which had been depleted any sizeable amount. Asriel's was in a constant state of flux, falling and rising as he was struck and drank what seemed to be the resident health potion.
Also of note was his close resemblence to a pinball at the time. Two warriors, bound by golden armor, were crushing him beneath their heels. More accurately, a hammer the size of a mini van and a spear that crackled with electricity. His red and blue, metalic shield did little to help, his body thrown about the oddly familiar cathedral with little resistance.
It was only a matter of time before he ran out of health potions, but he had another trick up his sleeve. From off screen, another player entity came swooping in. This one was clad in little more than black leather and cloth, contrasting with Asriel's own silver set, and bore only a dagger. In most cases, I would have called it woefully defficient compared to Asriel's simple, but classic short sword, but the other player's name told me their talent with their weapon of choice.
It was plain as day who it was with a name like Charamander. Just take off the last two syllables.
"Hey Chunky, back here!" Their work was swift, hacking away at the rotund knight's heels. It took a decent portion of the health bar labeled Executioner Smough, and pulled his attention from the increasingly wounded Asriel. Chara's lighter armor gave them an advantage over Asriel, allowing them to duck and roll around the slower Smough's hammer. Asriel took his chance, reaching for his last orange flask.
What Chara's strategy didn't account for was the opposing knight, presumably Dragonslayer Ornstein, if the health bar was correct. Asriel was halfway through the healing animation when he was run through on the knight's spear. The red bar indicating his life ran dry, his body fading out of the arena.
"Asriel!" Chara became distracted. They were only still for a moment, enough to cry out their brother's name, but that was all it took. Smough charged through, launching them skyward in a mostly vertical arc. I stomped down the karmic satisfaction of seeing them dominated, their body vanishing just like Asriel's before them.
The screen darkened, the phrase 'You Died' taking up the bulk of the view with a whispery sound. It sent shivers down my phantasmal spine, a good indicator of how much the player messed up. The game cut to a loading screen, and Asriel stirred. He pulled the connecting head gear off, pinching his temple with a slight growl.
"What was that, the twelth time?" Now I could see exactly what Frisk and I speaking was like to others. Whenever Asriel spoke aloud to Chara, it was like being privy to only half a functional conversation. Of course, he tended not to do so often, knowing that Chara's presence was unknown by most, and that it was better that way. He thought he was alone now though, hence the looseness. "Let's take a breather, then go again. Thirteen's a lucky number to humans, right?"
"Actually, it's three." Asriel nearly leaped out of his fur, but calmed down when he saw it was just Frisk. He gripped his chest, trying to calm the sudden shock. "Thirteen's really unlucky. Number of death. Something about a traitor in old times I think."
"Frisk, why do you all jump me like that?" If I were Sans, I would have replied with 'returning the favor.' But I wasn't Sans, much to Frisk's relief.
"Mom was wondering where you were. Dark out." Asriel's eyes shrank, and he gulped down what was left of his courage.
"Oh man, she's probably so mad! I'm sorry, it's just that Alphys wanted someone to help her test this thing, and I got so absorbed in it I kind of...!"
"Az, it's fine. Told Mom you were here. We know how these tests go. Not gonna be mad." They thought about it for a moment. "Well, not too mad anyway." Their eyes were drawn back to the screen, where Asriel's character had risen from death. They were alone in a smaller room, lit only by a bonfire lined by bones, a small sword sticking up from the center. "Having problems?"
"Ugh, yeah. This is a tough game, I'm telling you. It was manageable up until now..." Then he paused. "Right, except Blightown." Frisk openly shivered, their understanding coming from an apparent empathy. "Then we got here, took forever to get passed those archers, got eaten by a treasure chest, I mean really, WHAT WAS THAT!?"
"Mimics. Worst thing since ever. If the chain's more straight than usual, don't open it."
"Now someone tells me. Had to point out the obvious fake wall, not the root of evil behind it. Anyway, we went back to beat it, did it, found our way back to the main hall, and have been getting slapped around by those two for the last few hours."
"Ornstein and Smough, the Super Londo Bros. Trust me, you're not alone. Got caught on them for a month first time through." They rubbed a hand on Asriel's tense back.
"Thanks, but that won't help me now." Frisk turned back to the machine, thinking. I couldn't not get intrigued by the calculations they conjured up. They were certainly not from the machine's blueprints. How deep was their understanding of this Dark Souls game?
"Can Alphys hook me up at the same time?" Asriel blinked, surprised.
"You think you could help me?" They put on their most supportive smile.
"'Course I can. Know all their tricks. Just need to find my old memory card." They glanced at their watch. "Tomorrow. Bed time's close." Asriel quickly wrapped Frisk in a bone compressing hug. This little family had an inclination for physical support.
'Pretty touching, right?'
'It's downright embracing, I'd say.'
-
The time grew closer. Alphys was at work running the last few checks before we were allowed to enter the virtual reality. If she was certain things were perfect now, our entry into a digital space would be in guaranteed safety, while allowing enough realism to make the illusion inseperable from reality, barring the shift in underlying design.
"Frisk, you said you had a character to transfer in?" Thankfully, at least one of the scientists in the room was somewhat knowledgeable in gaming. Not as strictly useful as, say, perpetual energy or the study of increasing monster tolerance to human based damage, but a bit of entertainment is needed to loosen the nerves working such projects. Besides, it made Frisk happy, and that was more than enough for me to encourage such pursuits. What can I say? I've a soft spot for children like them.
They passed a small memory drive to Alphys, who was swift to find the appropriate port in her expansive computer network. She typed and clicked away, a few short moments seeing the task done.
"Okay, it's in. At least, I think it is. Th-This is the right character, r-right?" Frisk smoothed over her worries with a happy nod and thumbs up.
"Thanks, Alphys! Owe you one."
"Yeah, this is gonna be sweet!" Asriel was just as eager to get back into the frey. Alphys was left blushing.
"Actually, I owe you guys. I've been meaning to test this function out myself, but I have so many projects that there hasn't been any time." She walked a circle around the machine in question, its polished casing showing the effort that had gone into what may have become a temporary paper weight. "If we can get this thing working just right, and work in some simplification on the controls on my end, just imagine what this would mean to the world." Of course, access to a virtual space would be invaluable to many fields, not to mention the goodwill it would generate for the monsters who developed it.
"All you have to do is write down your experiences when you're done and you can use it whenever you want. Deal?" The hands she had been gesturing with were taken by both Frisk and Asriel, who could not physically agree fast enough. "O-okay, I take that as a yes. There are some pens and paper on the desk over there, and some snacks in the fridge down the hall. Help yourselves, but, uh... the ice cream is, uh..."
"Date night?" Frisk's intuition was spot on, a full body blush blooming.
'Those two are simply adorable together. Glad I won't have to actually carry out my threats to Undyne about hurting her.'
'Same. Remember, my body. Undyne suplex, not fun. Very not fun.'