Chapter Text
Alphys clicked a button on her tape recorder to let the tape begin to roll. She preferred to record these things on tape recorders, since she believed it made them more permanent.
“A-ahem... Yesterday evening marked my f-first discussion about Frisk’s n-nightmares. I-I hope that it’s not true, but they s-seem to have significant signs of disorder since Sans and Papyrus d-disappeared. T-they’ve always had a vivid imagination, but i-it’s gotten more um... severe? T-they said this one phrase that’s become k-kind of an earworm.” Alphys monologued, setting the tape back to her conversation with Frisk.
“*He was right in front of me, breathing hard. That’s what sticks with me. The gross smell. Like… hm. Like when meat goes bad.” Frisk had said.
“Scent while dreaming... It’s v-very rare and a sign of something c-called sensory transcendence. T-there are some other things that I probably missed in their retelling. I’ll h-have to listen to it all again. Sleep is important, b-but finding our friends and taking care of Frisk is even more i-important.”
— — —
“T-this is Alphys. F-Frisk has been having nightmares ever since Sans and Papyrus vanished. I-I hope that they aren’t dealing with parasomnia. I k-know that they are really concerned for those two and I think they’re afraid of them not returning. I h-have suspected for a while that they are afraid of being alone. I hope that... that they will open up and w-we can figure out what’s going on.” Alphys explained before the tape cut off and resumed when Frisk entered.
“Y-you can take the big chair. How a-are you?“ Alphys asked, sitting down on one of the armchairs she put upstairs for these sessions.
“*I’m good.” Frisk replied simply.
“Is something o-on your mind?” Alphys asked.
“*I’m just thinking about Sans and Papyrus. They’ve been missing for too long. Sans can shortcut, but he wouldn’t just leave like that. Especially not with Papyrus.” Frisk answered, frowning.
“I-I’m trying to find them, I promise. Neither of t-them would leave like that...” Alphys agreed.
They sat in silence for a moment before Alphys spoke again.
“How h-have you been sleeping?” Alphys questioned.
“*In the middle of the night, I keep waking up. I feel all sweaty and my heart beats really quickly.” Frisk explained.
“Sorry but... Did your nightmares start at the same time that Sans and Papyrus disappeared?” Alphys asked.
“*No, only after.” Frisk replied.
“D-do you remember your nightmares?” Alphys interrogated.
“*I remember it all.” Frisk said.
“C-can you tell me about them?” Alphys asked.
“*Yeah… I still remember the one from last night.” Frisk responded, eyeing a painting.
“O-oh, that’s a painting that was here before I became the royal scientist and when Sans a-and I were working together. It’s called The Zahir’s Gaze.” Alphys explained.
“*Is it supposed to be that blurry?” Frisk asked, turning the tables so that they were asking the questions.
“It’s a hidden i-image. You’re supposed t-to unfocus your eyes. I-if you think it would help, n-not that I would know but you know...er... but you can k-keep your eyes on the p-painting and just talk about your nightmare...” Alphys said, her face flushing in embarrassment.
“*It started when I woke up in a place I didn’t belong in.” Frisk began.
“C-can you describe it for me, i-if it’s not too much trouble!” Alphys stuttered out.
“*It was all white. Snow was falling, like in Snowdin. Looking from a place so high up made it feel like I was one with the cold. It calmed me.” Frisk explained.
“W-wait, you felt the cold?” Alphys asked, slight shock in her nervous voice.
“*No, not like in Snowdin. Snow was falling, sure, but like watching someone who was chilled, I guess. Around me but not in me.” Frisk replied, shrugging.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Frisk’s eyes were trained on the painting but Alphys looked deep in thought.
“*I turned away from the window. It was really only like a hole in the stone wall of the long hallway. It reminded me of walking to Asgore’s home. I felt like something wanted me to get up, but the ceiling was too low. A little bit of light stopped me from falling into a passageway in the floor. I heard clinking, similar to the sound of Undyne tapping her spear on her armor. I felt like I was lost inside of a giant. Made out of stone. The feeling told me that I had to keep going through ‘the veins.’” Frisk described.
They took a moment to breathe before continuing.
“*I went down into the hole and began to slide. It felt like I was sliding along the ice in Snowdin. I was worried it wouldn’t end until it did and I fell.” Frisk explained, feeling determined to get the story out.
“D-did it hurt when you fell?” Alphys questioned, receiving a snort from Frisk before they answered seriously.
“*Not like when you actually fall. The painting looks like a tiger and two moons.” Frisk said suddenly, switching gears.
“U-um... Not exactly.”
“*I’ve never seen a tiger. Maybe we can find a zoo and go to it when we get Sans and Papyrus back.” Frisk mumbled.
“R-remember to unfocus. Go ahead and continue.” Alphys reminded.
“Right. A candle was glowing bright orange, but the light didn’t reach the corners. A small hole was in the side of the wall. I looked through, expecting to see more snow, but I saw a room full of jars. Someone walked through the door. The man was huge. He had a long coat and a fishing hat. I thought he was a monster, but he looked like a human. No humans are that large though. His face started dripping as he watched me. I-I can’t remember if he disappeared or what happened to him. It’s the only thing I can’t remember.” Frisk explained, sighing.
“Was it someone y-you knew?” Alphys interrogated.
“*No. He didn’t belong to our world.” Frisk said quickly, their eyebrows furrowing.
“W-what do you mean?” Alphys questioned, confused.
“*I don’t know. He just gave me that feeling, I guess.” Frisk replied.
“You k-keep talking about this feeling, can you describe it?” Alphys asked.
“No, you’d have to be there to understand.” Frisk snapped, feeling overwhelmed.
“I-it’s okay, we can stop talking about him. A-are you okay?” Alphys questioned.
“*Yeah, sorry. Anyway, when I looked away from the hole, I saw an exit on the far wall. It’s where I heard the clinking from. I started to walk toward it when a shadow ran out from the corner. Another kid, my age maybe. I shouted at him, asking where we were. But he ignored me and climbed through the exit. I followed.
“The room was bigger and the other kid was gone. The walls and the floor had even more passages that felt like they were pulsing. There were a bunch of springs, oil cans, and weird tools. Then, I heard footsteps approaching. The steps matched the clinking. I hid behind a wooden box.
“I saw other small shadows coming into the room when I looked around the side. Most of them went through other doors but two of them stayed to look through the springs. They weren’t other kids. They were still shadows, even in the light. It’s like they were forgotten or like they didn’t want to be seen. They were holding nasty tools and their faces showed that they weren’t bright. They both stood and jumped down the passageway at the same time.
“I did the same thing and climbed down to a platform. I finally realized what was making all of that noise. There were golden gears, big, small, skinny, large. They went down so far like the abyss in Waterfall. I couldn’t see the bottom. The gears clicked on and on like in a song. There were tons of other shadows working to keep the mechanisms going.
“I felt like if they weren’t there, the gears would just…stop and the giant would break apart stone by stone. As I leaned over the edge, my foot hit a wrench and the shadows stared up as a few began to climb toward me. They moved separately but it felt like they also moved as one. I panicked and squeezed through a set of levers. In the space, my sweater got caught on the tooth. The massive gear picked me up and pulled me around until my sweater tore and I fell onto a pipe and lost my grip, falling onto another platform.
“The shadows stopped chasing me and continued to work again, trying to yank out the piece of my sweater that got caught. It slowed all of the other gears. I escaped while they were focused. The wall in front of me went down forever along with the mechanisms. I slid down a pipe and heard the gears creak as they went back to their normal speed.
“I saw the ripped part of my sweater float down in front of me when I noticed it passed in front of a crack in the stone. I heard someone crying through it. They sounded like they were in pain. I felt like I shouldn’t have wanted to know what was on the other side, but I did. It was a small room with chains on the floor and three identical nun dresses that seemed freshly pressed hanging by a bed. The chains jangled loudly. There was a body slumped against the wall with a chain around its neck. He was right in front of me, breathing hard. That’s what sticks with me. The gross smell. Like… hm. Like when meat goes bad.” Frisk explained.
“Wait, y-you smelled his breath?” Alphys asked in disbelief.
“*Not his breath. Him. I feel like I can still smell it. Anyway, when I looked through the crack, I realized something. I was inside the walls. On the other side was a giant other world like the underground, but I felt like everything would get worse from there. I kept climbing down until I got so deep that there was nothing but steam and darkness. The ticking was louder. I kept going and listening when a small shape came from inside the wall below. I was worried that it was another worker, but I saw their eyes. They were another kid. They had goop covering their hair so I didn’t know if they were a boy or a girl.
“I climbed down quicker and looked at the kid for another minute. The black liquid in their hair moved like smoke. I tried to ask what was in their hair but they put a hand over my mouth. They pointed at a crack in the wall to another chamber. It was a workshop filled with half-made projects. Wood and metal. A collection of masks was on the shelf with screws and spikes, positioned to fit into a mouth. A tall lady bent over a new project, wearing a familiar dress. Heavy chains came out from underneath. She sounded like she was enjoying it and I felt like she’d been working for hours. I knew she was the keeper of the stone giant. Of the world beyond the walls.
“When she turned to a pile of scraps, I could see her face. Equally old and young, and her skin stretched back so tight that only her eyes seemed human. I wanted to know what she was building but I also wanted to flee. Before I could choose, the other kid pulled me away and pointed up. A worker saw us and looked like it was studying us. Before we could go, the worker dropped beside me and was reaching out at me with its wrench. The other kid pushed me, letting some light from the workshop shine onto the shadow. It retreated.” Frisk described.
“F-Frisk? Why did y-you stop?” Alphys asked when Frisk didn’t speak for a few moments.
“*It’s hard to describe. The nightmare shifted. Hm. Steam flew around us and we came to a stop at the bottom of the gears between the walls. A long pendulum whooshed back and forth. My friend grabbed it when it swung by. I let it go three more times before I followed. We climbed it as it swung back and forth, making me feel dizzy. My friend reached out a hand to pull me up. We were at the center of the clock. The room was round with a spiral staircase and the machine made of metallic…fingers. They tapped and tapped violently. The ceiling was a clock face, but the numbers were wrong. We ran up the stairs and stepped out into a courtyard at the top.
“I-I heard screaming. Pained screaming. I just stared at the circular walls that I had just left. There were tons of rooms like the second one I looked into all the way up with people reaching out of the bars. I felt like a prisoner too. I shouted for my friend to wait. But they were across the courtyard. I heard jingling before the tall woman jumped down from above and thundered over to my friend. A chain leapt out from her dress like a snake. It caught their leg and they were dragged through the snow. They yelled for help and the woman spotted me. She started to walk over to me, slow but horrifying. I couldn’t move. I kept wondering who brought me there and why I was made to know all of that. Her mouth opened slightly to show blackened teeth inside. She was hungry for something in me. Not my determination, but something else. But then I woke up.” Frisk ended, shaking slightly.
“O-oh, Asgore. She s-sounds...unpleasant...” Alphys murmured.
“It was the workers that scared me the most. They were hidden. Nobody knew that they existed. After Sans and Papyrus disappeared, I started feeling that way sometimes. It feels like things are in my body. But instead of making me tick, they’re killing me! Agh, I feel like they’re in my head.” Frisk groaned, clutching their head.
Alphys stood up and ran to get some water before handing it to them.
“I-it’s okay! There’s nothing b-bad inside of you, okay?” Alphys reassured.
“*Yeah, sorry.” Frisk said, nodding.
“I just h-have one more question. Have you ever h-heard of mutual dreaming?” Alphys asked.
“*No. What’s that?” Frisk questioned.
“It’s l-like sharing a dream with someone else.” Alphys explained.
“*How could a dream in my head be in someone else’s too? Who would I share it with?” Frisk asked in return.
“I-I don’t know myself, but you smelling and feeling temperature while dreaming could be an i-indicator.” Alphys responded.
“*I see the painting. A map of stars and two circles around it.” Frisk described.
“Yeah, it’s c-called an astrolabe. It’s a-an ancient device used to locate positions in time and s-space. Sans was always interested in that stuff when we worked t-together.” Alphys explained.
A knock sounded at the door of the lab. Alphys pressed a button, and Toriel walked inside.
“Hello, Doctor Alphys! Hello, my child! How are you both?” Toriel asked.
“O-oh, hi, er, hello, your majesty! Oh...so stupid... A-anyway, I-I’m doing well. Thank y-you.” Alphys stuttered out, flushing.
Frisk nodded and smiled. They stood up and gave a wave before leaving. Alphys sighed and shut the tape off.