Royal Blue

A Hollow Clock Ticks On (Chapter Twenty Four)

"E-Entry Log One..." Alphys's voice was soft and shaky as she spoke into the familiar recorder.

She let out a soft laugh.

"I never thought I'd be making one of these again, but here we are."

She looked out, dimly at the night sky. The window pane was cold under the faint touch of her claw.

The faint ticking of the clock on the wall made the silence only ever so slightly more bearable.

"A-After the collapse of the lab... Zero's armor was found at the core b-by Royal Guardsman Papyrus, and R-Royal Guard L-Leader... Undyne." Alphys said quickly, doing her best to emotionally detach herself from the situation.

"Along with t-the h-hoodie of... Of t-the Ex-Royal Scientist. S-Sans Serif."

Her torn lab coat felt heavy around her shoulders, and an all too familiar ache pulsed in her chest.

Apprehension. Fear.
Guilt.

She set down the recorder at the window-sill and began to pace around the room; decked out in royal colors. Purple and gold, white walls and dark oak woods. It was one of many such guest rooms among the Castle. Well decorated and maintained.

It should have been beautiful.

But it just felt disgusting.

She shouldn't be here.

The clock on the wall ticked softly in the silence.

She shouldn't be ruining the dark oak tables with piles of damp, damaged, ashen books.

She shouldn't be ruining the shelves with what was left of the technical parts; what little they could salvage from the destruction of her lab. Her home.

She should have seen the signs.

She could have prevented the Core's malfunction.

Sans had even called her that morning.

He had known the Core was falling apart, without even being near it.

He had known, and he wasn't even the Royal Scientist anymore.

He had known, and if he had still been there, he would have done something.

Instead of doing what Alphys had always done. By just- Just...

Distracting herself.

Distracting everyone.
Finding a new problem to focus on; one smaller and more manageable. Some.... Shadowy figures that scared a few people.
Shadows, tricks of the light that could easily be explained by some... toxin in the air.
Or even some sort of stress-related anomaly.

And she'd focused on that instead of what was right in front of her; the Core.
Because the Core was real.
Because the Core was falling apart, and she had no idea what to do about it. Where to even begin.

Because even over all these years, she never tried to look into the past.
She'd settled on lying, because though failure tasted bitter, the whole of the unknown was like a kick to the teeth.

But she couldn't avoid this anymore.
Alphys shook her head.

 She wouldn't avoid this. She wouldn't wallow in self-pity and fail again.
Fail everyone.

Everyone was already constantly cleaning up her messes. Her problems. Her... failures.

Not now.
Not again.