Underearth/Book 2/Chapter 6

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The door was locked. Before, when Frisk would approach the door to Alphys's laboratory, it would open automatically, but now it didn't budge.

*Maybe she's upset that I called her out on her lies.* Frisk thought.

Looking at the door, he found that there was a small space between the door and the floor at the bottom.

*Excellent.* he thought, getting down on his knees and sliding the letter through the space. Just to make sure that Alphys knew she had mail (if she was inside, at least), Frisk pounded on the door.

It wasn't long before Frisk could hear Alphys's voice coming from the other side.

"O-oh n-no, is that another letter...?" he heard her say. "I don't want to open it... C-can't I just slide it back out...?"

Alphys went quiet for a bit.

"N... no..." she finally said. "I can't keep doing this. I'll read this one."

Frisk could then hear the ripping of paper as Alphys opened the letter.

*Perfect.* Frisk thought. *She's reading it. My job here is done.*

Just as Frisk turned around to leave, the door suddenly opened.

"Hey, if this is a joke it's..." Alphys said before looking up to see who was there just as Frisk turned back around.

The two gazed into the other's eyes, completely silent.

"Oh my god?" Alphys then said. "Did *you* write this letter? It wasn't signed, so, I had no idea who could have..." she looked back down at the paper, reading it more. "Oh my god. Oh no. That's adorable..." she looked back up at Frisk. "And I h-had no idea you, um, wrote that way! It's surprising, too... after all the gross stuff I did... I don't really deserve to be forgiven. Much less, um... This?" she gestured to the paper. "And so passionately, too."

Alphys finally shut up for a few seconds, giving Frisk just enough time to start vaguely wrapping his head around what was going on.

"You know what," Alphys started talking again. "okay! I'll do it! It's the least I can do to make it up to you! Y-yeah! Let's go on a date!"

Alphys then ran off back into the darkness of the lab.

*What... the hell!?! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU WRITE IN THAT LETTER, UNDYNE!? AND WHY DIDN'T YOU SIGN IT?!* Frisk thought once Alphys left.

Getting his mind back under control, Frisk looked around for Alphys.

*Alright...* he thought. *I can still salvage this. Just tell her that it was Undyne who wrote it, not me. That should clear everything up.*

Frisk then heard the tromping of Alphys coming back to the door. When Frisk looked back over, he saw Alphys wearing an aqua blue dress with red polka dots.

"H-how do I look?" she asked. "My friend helped me pick out this dress. She's got a great sense of... Um, anyway! Let's do this thing!"

"Uh, Alphys—" Frisk started, but was immediately interrupted by Alphys speaking again.

"H-h-hey, w-w-wait! Actually, we still can't start the date yet!!! Dates start when both people meet at the agreed place. Y-your letter said to meet you at the garbage dump. So, l-lets go."

Alphys then started going toward the river.

*The garbage dump, huh. If Undyne is indeed there, maybe she can explain this crap.* Frisk thought.

The two then went down to the river, boarded the boat, then set off for the Quiet Village of Waterfall Caves. Once arriving, they both went to the garbage dump.

"Here we are!" Alphys said, pushing a rock in the wall which caused the waterfall to split.

The two then walked further in, water lapping at their legs.

"This is where Undyne and I come all the time... We find all sorts of great stuff here." Alphys then turned around to face Frisk. "Heh, she's really..."

Alphys suddenly went quiet, staring off past Frisk like she'd seen a ghost.

"Oh no." she said, pointing at the opening. "That's her over there. I c-can't let her see me on a date with you!"

"Why?" Frisk asked.

"Why...? Because, uh... Well... Oh no, here she comes!!"

Alphys dove behind a pile of garbage as Frisk heard some splashing of water from behind him.

"Hey!! There you are!!" Undyne shouted.

Frisk turned around to face her. Unlike before, when Frisk had visited her at her house, Undyne was now wearing a white shirt, blue pants, and a black leather jacket.

"Oh, hey Undyne, what's up?" Frisk asked, inwardly relieved.

"I, uh, realized, if you deliver that thing... It might be a bad idea."

"Oh, you don't say. It's unfortunate that I've already delivered it, though."

"Ngggaaahhh!!" Undyne let out, wide eyed at him. "Have you at least seen her!?" she then asked.

"Yeah. I have." Frisk said as he pointed to the pile of trash Alphys had leapt behind.

Undyne looked over and saw the quivering back of Alphys. "Yes? So, she's somewhere around here..." Undyne put on a smirk, then turned back to face Frisk. "Thanks. I'll keep looking."

"Wha..." Frisk said as Undyne ran off.

*Wow, thanks. Big help.*

Alphys came back out from behind the pile.

"Oh my god..." she said. "W... well, I guess it's obvious, huh? I... uh... I really like her. I mean, more than I like other people!"

"Then why don't you go talk to her?" Frisk asked. "She's right over there."

"Because... she's way out of my league. She's so confident... and strong... and funny... and I'm just a nobody."

"Bullcrap. You're the Royal Scientist. Builder of the star, Mettaton."

"I'm a fraud." she blurted out. "I am the Royal Scientist, but... All I've ever done is hurt people. I've told her so many lies, she thinks I'm... she thinks I'm a lot cooler than I actually am. If she gets close to me, she'll... she'll find out the truth about me. What should I do?"

"Tell her the truth." Frisk said.

"The truth...? But if I tell her that, she'll hate me. Isn't it better this way? To live a lie where both people are happy..."

"You don't sound very happy."

Alphys went silent.

"They say 'be yourself'." she then said, "But I don't really like who 'myself' is. I'd rather just be whatever makes people like me."

"Sounds lonely."

Alphys looked down at her own muddied reflection in the water.

"No, you're right." she said. "Every day I'm scared... scared what will happen if people learn the truth on their own. They'll all get hurt because of me... But how can I tell Undyne the tr... truth? I d-don't have the confidence..."

"Then get the confidence." Frisk asserted.

"I'm going to mess it up! How can I practice!?"

"That's for you to figure out. Now if you don't mind," Frisk turned around to where Undyne had run off. "UNDYNE!!" he shouted.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing!?" Alphys asked, panicking.

"What does it look like, I'm calling Undyne over." he replied.

As Undyne came near, Alphys started to hide again, but Frisk grabbed hold of her so she wouldn't escape.

"You called me?" Undyne asked.

"Yeah, I found your dinosaur friend." Frisk replied.

"H... hi U-Undyne..." Alphys said, still trying to hide.

"Hey, whoa, wait a second! Your outfit's really cute! What's the occasion?" Undyne asked, smirking.

"Oh... uh..." Alphys looked over at Frisk for some help.

"Alphys thought I wrote the letter. As such, she dragged me down here. But now that you're here, you two have fun. I'm leaving."

Frisk turned around and headed for the exit, leaving Undyne and Alphys to talk everything out.

Walking up the ramp back to the Quiet Village, Frisk saw Papyrus suddenly run past him.

"Whoa, hey Papyrus, what's the rush?" he asked.

"UNDYNE HAS ASKED FOR MY ASSISTENCE IN TRAINING ALPHYS TO BECOME HAPPY WITH WHO SHE IS."

"Ah, sounds like fun. Good luck." Frisk said. *You're gonna need it.*

With all that behind, Frisk began making his way back to Mount Hot.