//------------------------------//
// Truth, part Final 
// Story: The Moon in the Dark 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	With all four nodes activated, Woona made her way back to the power room where Alphys awaited her.  "G-good job, Woona," Alphys praised as she approached.  "You handeled this p-pretty well...better than I usually do."

Woona smiled happily.  "Thanks," she replied warmly.  "How come you haven't gone in?"  She gestured to the door with the four glowing lights.  "It's open, isn't it?"

"I-it wouldn't let me in, for some reason," Alphys admitted.  She walked up to the door...and it slid open.  "H-huh," Alphys murmured worriedly.  "M-maybe it was just stuck?"

Woona glanced towards Alphys suspiciously.  She couldn't shake the feeling that Alphys was actually just afraid to go in without her, not that she could blame the drake if that were the case.  Still, something about the way Alphys spoke told Woona she wasn't dissembling, so she let it pass.  Shrugging, she went through the doors, only to step into another elevator.  "Huh?" she asked, confused.

"It's the backup elevator," Alphys explained.  "In case the main one loses power and crashes, this one can be taken back up to the Lab...or elsewhere in the Underground.  Course, it needs power, too.  The power room is this way."  Turning, Alphys led the way through the hallway to the left.

Woona happily followed Alphys through the hall, past two data pads that did not turn on as they approached.  "What are those?" Woona asked.  "How come they aren't turning on?"

"T-they draw power directly from the central power core," Alphys explained.  "They don't turn on unless it's on.  It's this way."  Walking past the two screens, she led the way into the final door to the north, Woona following along behind.

The large power room was almost featureless, the only part of it that wasn't blank floors, walls, or ceiling was the power core at the opposite wall and the pipes leading from it into the rest of the lab.  However, none of the trio that had just entered could notice this right off the bat, as all the Amalgamates were there, filling the chamber, and blocking the path to the generator controls.

Alphys swallowed convulsively.  "T-they've never done this before...w-what do we do?"

"I...I think they want something," Woona murmured, stepping forward.

"Woona, no!" Alphys spoke up firmly.  "Don't do anything reckless!"

"And how do I not do that?" Woona asked curiously.  "I've yet to meet anyone down here who abides by that for an example."

Somewhere, Sans just spat ketchup all over the nearest wall, Chara murmured, soft laughter in his silent voice.

Woona smiled, the bit of humor giving her confidence.  "The Determination you injected them with...it tried to turn their magical energy into physical matter, which is what led to them fusing like this, because there wasn't enough magical energy in any one of them to create even a single body of pure physical matter.  So each of their bodies tried to absorb living energy from the world around them to complete their body..."

Alphys gasped in shock.  "That's why they were always so hungry after they woke up?" she murmured in awe.  "They were trying to eat enough to stabilize?"

"But even monster food wasn't enough...which is why they fused," Woona explained.  "If they could have gotten human food, or even pony food, they might have stabilized...but for now, maybe..."  Closing her eyes, she focused her magic, pouring it into the Amalgamates.

The Amalgamates watched her, the magic flooding into their being as their semi-liquid forms started to solidify, gaining more stability.  At first, it seemed whatever Woona was attempting was working, but then the magic she was pouring in started to be pushed back.  Wincing, Woona withdrew her magic, rubbing the base of her horn.

"So much for not being reckless," Chara teased.

"W-what happened?" Alphys asked cautiously.

"I thought...if I drew power from the Soulstone, I could give them enough magic to stabilize them in physical forms," Woona replied.  "And...separate them back into their original selves."

"And it...didn't work?" Alphys murmured sorrowfully.

"It would have," Woona answered.  "I could feel it.  The Soulstone was providing more than enough power.  I...managed to stabilize them, so they're no longer melting all over the place...or leaving bits of themselves behind.  But when I tried to separate them...they fought back.  They...didn't want to be separated."

"What?" Alphys asked, stunned.

Voices began echoing around the chamber, the voices of the Amalgamates, though the voices did not come from any of the mouths.  Some of the voices came out of Woona and Alphys' cell phones.

"We are together."

"We did not choose this."

"We did not understand."

"We were afraid."

"But we are not afraid now."

"We have found understanding."

"We have found strength."

"We have found unity."

"The bonds remain."

"Our families wait for us."

"We wait for them."

"We were angry."

"But now we are not."

"We forgive you, Doctor."

Alphys stared at the Amalgamates for a time, then wiped away the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes, sniffling.  "T...thank you," she whispered softly.  Walking forward, she held out her arms, and was enfolded into a large group hug with all the Amalgamates.  With their physical bodies now stabilized, she wasn't absorbed.  "I guess...I need to face up to what I've done, and bring you all back to your families."

The faces of the Amalgamates were hard to read, but the air in the entire lab seemed to become happier and less oppressive.  The Endogeny activated the generator with its featureless muzzle.

Smiling, Woona led the way back towards the elevator...but paused as she saw what was written on the first screen she came to.



Entry Number 8
I've chosen a candidate.
I haven't told Asgore yet, because I want to surprise him with it...
In the center of his garden, there's something special.
The first golden flower, that grew before all the others.



Woona swallowed as she felt Chara's rage surging again.



The flower from the outside world.
It appeared just before the Queen left.
I wonder...
What happens when something without a SOUL gains the will to live?



As Alphys stepped out of the power room, Chara erupted out of Woona's body, dragging her over as he manifested, knife drawn.  "You!" he roared out angrily, red light and black shadows suffusing his form.  "You did this!"

Alphys flinched back, terrified as she backed against the wall.  "I-I-I d-don't underst-t-tand..."

"Flowey!" Chara roared out.  "You're the one who brought him to life as a soulless husk!"

"I-Is that what he calls hims-"

Chara slammed his spectral fist into the wall, the force of his rage shaking the lab.  "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY BROTHER?"

Alphys' eyes widened as she realized what Chara was saying.  "T-the dust..."

"He suffers every day...trapped...unable to feel...unable to DIE!" Chara roared out.  "Too much Determination inside him to escape, as the resets bowed to him until Woona arrived!  Trapped in a living hell that never ends!"  Blinded by his rage, Chara raised his knife high.  Alphys huddled in the corner, not even trying to defend herself.

Desperately, Woona tried to pull Chara back, but his rage was drawing too much of her magic into him.  Desperately, she tried to pull them both out of the situation with a shortcut...but the wormhole failed when she couldn't put enough magic into it to complete it, and they both fell through the fabric of reality.