Alphys heard the soft click behind her as the door closed and squinted her eyes shut. There's no going back, she can face them. She's thought her words over carefully, the only hard part would be getting them to listen.
* "H-hey guys! I've got more food and... a-and a bit more of an explanation? I-if you'll let me...?" She opened her eyes to see the Amalgamates all shambling towards her. They waited expectantly. Alphys set the food on the floor.
* "I-I want to start this off by s-saying, you guys will definitely be going home in the future!" The Amalgamates seemed to lean forward, all were quiet with complete undivided focus on Alphys, as if silently begging her to let them free now. Alphys gulped and continued.
* "This is e-entirely a problem I-I have to f-face, I-I can't force the blame on to a-anyone else. A-and I know it isn't fair to you guys! I know that, I just... I h-haven't got the courage yet." Alphys brought her hands to her face and shuddered.
* "S-so this is me promising you! I-I'll do whatever it takes to work up the courage to f-free you guys. T-there's even something I have in mind a-already..." She looked up to see the Amalgamates seemingly returning to normal. Suddenly the hyper-focus had disappeared, leaving the divided minds back in place. She let out a sigh, her promise seemed to have calmed them down, even if only slightly. Alphys knew she still wasn't forgiven.
She didn't really see that happening anyway.
The remainder of her night was spent in restlessness and covers being thrown off the bed, then pulled back on, then thrown off again. Alphys couldn't get comfortable.
* "It's just the heat getting to me is all," she mumbled. That was a lie. The heat hadn't caused the sinking feeling or the guilt swirling around in her head. She messed up big with the Amalgamates and made a promise she was nearly dreading to keep, she missed the deadline for seeing Riverperson again earlier, which probably made her image drop in their eyes.
When she did manage to get to sleep it was easily disturbed. Noises that she usually paid no mind to were causing her to wake up only after a few minutes of sleep. Eventually, exhausted and angry, partly at herself, Alphys decided she would get up and walk down to the river anyway.
No one would be there at this hour, I'm almost certain of it.
She sat at the end of her bed contemplating for a moment, absentmindedly tracing a pattern in the cloth of her blanket.
Out of all the monsters she had met, the Riverperson seemed the strangest. Giving little to no information about themselves, but they seemed to have plenty about practically everything else. Things that... don't seem like common knowledge. Things that sometimes feel like they shouldn't be shared. They couldn't possibly know about...?
Alphys shook her head to clear her thoughts. She stood up, and started the short journey to the edge of the river.
That being said... they seemed like a good person to be able to just... talk to. Maybe that's what she really needs right now. Someone that will let her vent.
Alphys was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't realized that Riverperson was waiting for her.
* "O-Oh! I'm s-so sorry I-I didn't know you were h-here? I-I thought I would be a-alone and I d-didn't even look up..." Riverperson just shook their head, and asked her if she wanted a ride, like always. Alphys reluctantly agreed, and only sat down without a word. The boat began to move regardless.
The silence between the two was long, but not quite awkward, much to Alphys' delight. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
* "You have something on your mind." They stated. Alphys nodded and bit her lip.
* "U-uh yeah I s-suppose..." She blurted after she realized they couldn't see her nod. Before Alphys could explain, she was greeted by another observation.
* "It's very late. Or very early. Either way, it doesn't matter how you say it." Alphys cringed.
* "Why are y-you up at this time t-then?" She hoped they weren't mad for her being there, every monster needs to sleep at some point... right?
The boat slowed to a stop, they weren't anywhere important. Just in a narrow water way. The Riverperson slowly turned around and sat next to Alphys, who was looking over the side of the boat into the water. It glittered as the gem lights reflected onto it.
* "I'm here because you wanted me to be." The heat rose up her neck, but then spread throughout her entire body. She was the reason Riverperson wasn't in bed at home somewhere, even when she wasn't trying to do anything she was bothering people. Alphys whispered a shaky apology into her hands. She could feel tears forming, the built up of the previous days events, and the guilt, and the embarrassment was starting to be a bit too much to handle.
* "Alphys." She paled. The use of her name was enough to shock her out of her downwards spiral and instead she looked up at Riverperson, who was now returning her gaze.
* "I'm only here because I want to be." The tears were falling freely now, and though the guilt hadn't completely disappeared, it did lessen considerably. Alphys scooted a bit closer, and after a moment she leaned against Riverperson.
* "Ok..." she managed to choke out. She couldn't really be sure, but she thought Riverperson was smiling. Something about the mood shift, or the energy from their soul or something. Alphys couldn't pinpoint it, but frankly she didn't care.
Riverperson began to hum.
((HEY FRIENDS LONG TIME NO SEE!!!!! Sorry if this is bad I didn't proofread it at all lololol. I'll probs come back and read it later and edit things a bit (like i did with previous chapters to make em better) but HEY I UPDATED ISNT THAT EXCITING! I told you i wasn't going to abandon it! I do have plans, and the summer is only beginning! Im gonna be a tad busy u kno but ill definitely have more time AND motivation to do some stuff!! Stay tuned! Thanks to all who continued to stick with this story so far haha!))
