#and undyne being the captain of the royal guard. no matter what comes she stays determined to eliminate every human that falls | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thelibrarbian · 3 years ago

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Rating: T

Chapter word count: 3249

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Papyrus was well aware that his lessons with Captain Undyne did not include every aspect of the training a future Royal Guardsman should receive. There was, as far as Papyrus was aware, usually more emphasis on fighting humans and less on cooking pasta, for instance. But the chapter on first aid was a section that she had taken him through in detail, and he was very grateful for that right now.

To be quite honest, he was somewhat surprised by his own knowledge of skeletal anatomy and medicine; he was reasonably sure that not all of it came from Undyne's lessons, but he couldn't remember where else he had learned it. He didn't dwell on it, though - he had probably just read a book at some point and then forgotten about it, or it was simply instinct from being a skeleton monster himself - it only meant that he was even better equipped to take care of the unconscious monster on his living room floor, even if he hadn't realized the extent of his own greatness before.

He couldn't say he felt particularly Great, though.

Fell might have been no longer in danger of dusting, but actually healing his wounds proved much more difficult than it should have been. Not only did attacks deal more damage the more harming intent went into them, it also made them harder to heal - and what Papyrus could feel lingering where Fell had been hit was outright murderous. Healing it wasn't impossible, most certainly not impossible for the Great Papyrus, but if he had hoped to fully mend any of the broken bones right there and then, that was very clearly not happening. The most he could do was to ease some of the pain and encourage Fell's natural healing to do its job perhaps a little faster.

Well! That was a minor setback, but no matter! They could still patch Fell up the regular way, and everything would be fine. And while Sans couldn't assist with healing magic, Papyrus was very glad for the extra hands.

It took longer than he would have liked to admit, but eventually they had cleaned all the wounds, set and splinted the breaks, and wrapped what felt like the majority of Fell's body in bandages. Fell never stirred throughout it all, and Papyrus decided to be glad that he was sleeping through what could not be a pleasant experience from his end if he was conscious. The alternative train of thought that his unresponsiveness prompted was not one that Papyrus wanted to follow.

If Papyrus was perfectly honest, it surprised him a little just how eager his brother was to help. Not that he thought Sans would refuse to assist a monster in need, of course not, but... For reasons that Papyrus didn't entirely understand, Sans and Fell… did not usually get along particularly well, to put it lightly. Yet now it was only on Papyrus' insistence that yes, he really was able to handle everything else on his own that Sans eventually left the injured monster's side, taking Red upstairs with him to let him sleep on a proper (albeit ketchup-stained) mattress.

Papyrus would have preferred to move Fell to a bed as well so he could rest better, but the thought of carrying him up the stairs in this state seemed daunting. Of course, it wasn't that he didn't trust his ability to maneuver a badly injured skeleton through the house, who was probably going to dust if Papyrus accidentally dropped him, or knocked his head against a doorframe, or jostled him just a little bit too much… But there was also now an unoccupied, reasonably comfortable couch only two steps away, and lifting Fell onto that did not come with nearly the same potential for highly unlikely fatal accidents.

He was exceedingly careful as he looped his arms under Fell's shoulders and legs and lifted him up, using a bit of blue magic to make the move go more smoothly for his alternate and avoid aggravating his injuries. Once he had double checked and triple checked and quadruple checked that Fell's HP really was stable now and would remain that way even if Papyrus left his side for a moment, he darted around the house, picked up any additional pillows from the other rooms (excluding Sans' room because he was not going to subject Fell to the ketchup stains he would inevitably find on his brother's pillows - and besides, Red was probably using those), and rushed back to the couch. He carefully arranged Fell a little more comfortably, supporting his upper body with pillows, making sure there was no pressure on his injured ribs, and draping a blanket over him. And then another, because Fell's state called for more than one blanket.

Finally, he brought a chair from the kitchen and sat down next to the couch, reaching over to lightly rest his hand on Fell's broken leg and continue to channel a slow, but steady stream of healing magic into him. It may not have been helping much, but Papyrus had enough magic at his disposal to keep this up for the rest of the night. And probably the next morning as well.

It was more disturbing than he wanted to admit, seeing his alternate so still in the pile of pillows and blankets. A few months had passed since their universes had crossed paths for the first time, but they had remained in somewhat regular contact since then - mostly due to Papyrus' own insistence to invite their rougher counterparts to a biweekly cross-universal skeleton game and movie night. And as much as Fell kept grumbling about those meetings and adamantly refused to host one in his own world, neither he nor Red had missed a single one so far.

Still, as much as Papyrus would like to, he didn't think he was allowed to call his alternate a friend yet. Red and Sans got along well, exchanging puns and knock-knock jokes and generally bonding over their terrible sense of humor, much to Papyrus' chagrin.

Fell was a different matter.

His grumbling may have noticeably decreased since their first meeting, but Papyrus suspected that he thought of the get-togethers more as strategic missions for potential cross-universal allyships rather than socializing. While Red, just like Sans, easily kept up a friendly (and pun-filled) conversation without sharing anything consequential, Fell made no pretense of always keeping the two of them at a metaphorical arm's length, always politely, but firmly turning down any of Papyrus’ suggestions to stay for longer than initially agreed. (Which, in turn, had led Sans to certain comments about sticks and pelvic cavities.) The few times Papyrus had seen his counterpart soften, for lack of a better word, was when the topic of conversation turned to either cooking or his cat, and those moments never lasted long before his carefully kept mask slid back into place.

Papyrus didn't take it personally, of course! Their rougher counterparts just weren't the kind of monsters to make friends easily, and with what Papyrus knew about the 'kill or be killed' universe they came from, he couldn’t expect them to be. It was simply going to be a challenge to earn their trust and friendship, and the Great Papyrus wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.

The Great Papyrus also wasn’t one to doubt his chances of success with that particular challenge. He wasn’t one to linger on how long his friend quantity had remained stagnant despite his best efforts, or on the fact that, while he himself had just barely obtained a semi-official job as a sentry, Fell had climbed up through the ranks of his own Royal Guard in record time…

Fell, who was now not only a full member of the Royal Guard, but the second-in-command, outranked only by Captain Undyne and the King himself. Who, if Red was to be believed, was single-handedly responsible for turning the previously lawless town of Snowdin into one of the safest places in his version of the Underground. Whose name was feared and respected from Snowdin all the way to the capital.

Fell… was not supposed to look this small.

He had still shown no sign of movement other than his shallow breathing. His face, the only part of him not covered in blankets, was pale, even for a skull, devoid of the faint glow of magic that was usually the sign of a healthy skeleton monster.

Papyrus swallowed dryly and increased the flow of his healing magic.

He very decisively did not think about what could have happened if Red had been held up, or if Fell had taken any more hits, or if Papyrus' magic hadn't been strong enough to stop the bleeding in time. Worrying too much wasn't helping anything right now. Besides, Red was going to do enough worrying for all of them combined once he woke up, whether he would show it or not, and apparently, there was a good chance that Sans would be joining him. So all the worrying in this house was already more than taken care of, and Papyrus didn't also need to think about things that hadn't happened, or question whether Fell remaining unconscious was to be expected with the severity of his injuries or whether it was a sign that he was- Yes, no, that was exactly what Papyrus was not thinking about.

In the same line of not-thinking, he really hoped that Red was alright.

With a sigh, Papyrus let his healing magic fade out. He needed to refocus. He sat up straight, stretching his arms and back until his spine popped; bending over his alternate like this wasn't the most comfortable position to keep for long periods of time, he realized. Not that it mattered - he would gladly take some minor discomfort if it helped Fell recover.

As quietly as possible, he scooted the chair over so he could better reach his alternate’s ribcage. But before he could even touch him, a faint noise, softer than what he would have expected, came from the end of the couch, and Papyrus' gaze darted over immediately.

Fell's head was turned towards him, his eye sockets were open, and he was staring at Papyrus with an unreadable expression.

Papyrus' shoulders sagged with relief. "Oh, thank the stars you're awake! You had me worried there for a moment - not that I thought that someone as Great and Terrible as yourself could be kept down by anything at all, of course, what a ridiculous idea!" He gave a small and very much not nervous laugh. "But, I am rambling when I should instead be asking: How are you feeling? Do you need anything? Are you comfortable, or should I get more pillows?"

Fell gave no response, which, Papyrus could somewhat understand. That had probably been at least two questions too many for someone who didn't look like he was entirely awake yet.

"How are you feeling?" he repeated, fidgeting slightly with his hands and successfully stopping himself from continuing to ramble this time.

Fell still gave no response, although he stopped staring at Papyrus, his eye lights dim and unfocused as they scanned the room. Then, with a grunt of effort, he pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking as if he was fully intending to get up.

Papyrus gave a noise of alarm and quickly reached out to stop him. "Oh, no, I believe that is not a good idea at this moment! You might hurt yourself - I mean, worse than you already - well…"

Fell let himself be guided back into the cushions without any resistance, and that was somehow more alarming than his attempt to get up in the first place. Papyrus was certain that, in any other instance, his alternate would have snapped at him for the mere suggestion that he should lie back down, and if Papyrus hadn't been concerned before, he certainly was now.

Trying his best not to let his worry show, he lightly patted Fell's shoulder and carefully tugged the blankets back up. "There you go, that's better! You just try to rest, and let us take care of everything else! I can even read you a book to help you relax, that usually works for me - although I do not know if you would enjoy Fluffy Bunny. Maybe 'A History of Puzzles'? Or maybe not, if it's too interesting to fall asleep to, that won't do, either!"

He paused his chatter to give his counterpart a closer look. Despite leaning back into the pillows again, Fell still looked tense, dim eye lights darting back and forth as if looking for something. Or searching the room for possible threats. Or both.

"Sans?" His voice was rougher and quieter than Papyrus remembered, closer to a whisper than anything else, but he supposed that was to be expected given the circumstances. Right now, Papyrus was glad to hear him speak at all.

"Your brother? He's upstairs, sleeping. He was exhausted when he came here, but Sa- Comic said he would be fine, he just needed some rest." Papyrus gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "He brought you here, to mine and Comic's house, in case you were wondering how you got here. Or, er, where you were." He probably should have mentioned that right away, but, well, it couldn't be changed now.

Fell stared at him intensely, and Papyrus couldn't tell whether he was trying to judge the truthfulness of those statements, or if he just needed a while to process the words. Then he blinked a few times, looked over the room again, and something seemed to click in his mind. Some of the tension left his face as he exhaled, sinking back into the pillows.

For a moment, Papyrus considered asking what had happened to leave him in such a state, and he had already opened his mouth to do so when he paused. Fell didn't exactly seem like he was up for any sort of extended conversation at this point, and Papyrus decided to let him rest a bit more before he started needling him with more questions.

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Papyrus cleared his non-existent throat. "Well! I was just going to heal you a bit more before you woke up, so if that's alright with you, I'll just get back to that?" When there were no objections, Papyrus brought his hand over his alternate's blanket-covered ribcage, fingers starting to glow green.

Faster than Papyrus thought his alternate could move, Fell's hand closed around his wrist before he made contact.

Papyrus stopped moving immediately. He wasn't afraid of his alternate, although he knew better than to underestimate him even in this state, if Papyrus' approach had somehow registered as a threat to him. Still, he really didn't want to startle him.

But Fell only stared at Papyrus' hand with a somewhat puzzled expression, slightly tilting his head. "Whadda ya..." He paused, frowning at his own slurred speech. When he continued after a moment, it sounded like it was taking him quite a bit of concentration to enunciate the words clearly. "What. Are you… doing?"

Oh. Right. Healing magic was… not much of a thing in Fell's universe. Not that Fell or Red had ever explicitly spoken about the topic - they very rarely spoke about anything regarding their universe, Red's occasional gushing about his brother's accomplishments notwithstanding - but Papyrus had come to his own conclusions. (Although he had wondered, with him and Fell being essentially the same monster… but that was neither here nor there.)

Papyrus straightened up slightly, as much as he could with his wrist still in Fell's grip. "Like I said, healing you! If you will allow me, that is. Which I very much hope you will, because despite my best efforts I'm afraid that you're still… not quite back to full health yet." And if that wasn't one of the biggest understatements to ever come out of his mouth, Papyrus didn't know what was.

Fell still looked confused, but he slowly released him.

"Thank you!" Papyrus gave a bright smile, which came a bit more easily than before. "Now, I'm just going to reach over there and place my hand on the blanket, alright? It shouldn't hurt, but please do let me know if it becomes uncomfortable at any-"

Another noise interrupted him, but he couldn't make out what Fell was trying to say this time.

"Pardon?"

Fell blinked furiously as if he was fighting hard to stay awake. Papyrus knew better than to tell him to go back to sleep; instead, he waited patiently for him to sort his words. "Why're ya… you… on th' chair?"

Papyrus blinked back. "Because I am planning to stay here for a while longer, and while I could stand the entire time, there wasn't really any need to, so I brought a chair from the kitchen?"

Fell huffed softly, his eye sockets starting to close before he forced them back open. "Not… what I mean… why'ren't ya on th' couch?"

"Because. You are on the couch??"

Fell stared at him - he had been doing a lot of that since he woke up -, then slowly raised his arm and patted the space behind his head. Which was mostly occupied by pillows at the moment.

"You… want me to sit on the couch with you?" Papyrus had to confirm. While they had, of course, shared the couch on movie nights before, Fell wasn't lying down on those occasions… and he didn't exactly strike Papyrus as the cuddly type.

Fell scoffed. "Obv'sly. If you're gonna keep… doin' this…" He vaguely gestured towards Papyrus, the chair he was sitting on, and the hand that Papyrus was still holding awkwardly over his ribs without touching him. "Don' need ta… need ta..." Then he let out a tired huff, clearly frustrated with his apparent struggle to finish the sentence. "Couch. Sit," he commanded, closing his eyes without waiting for a response.

Well. Alright. That was unexpected, but if Fell was this adamant about it, Papyrus couldn't really object, could he? It took a bit of shuffling, but in the end, he managed to arrange himself on the end of the couch next to Fell's head, with his legs under the pillows, and Fell seemed to have no objections to essentially lying in Papyrus' lap - or rather, lying in the pile of pillows that Papyrus had on his lap. In any case, the lack of protest was probably more of a testament to Fell's not-fully-conscious state than anything else, but it was certainly a more comfortable position for Papyrus than sitting on the chair and leaning over his alternate.

"Can I continue healing you now?" Papyrus asked again after a few moments.

He received a vague hum that sounded half like confirmation and half like Fell was falling asleep.

Papyrus took it as a 'yes'. He positioned his hand over the blankets around Fell's ribs, careful not to press on the injury, and focused on keeping his intent warm and soothing, pushing his worries to the back of his mind. Now, with one arm over his alternate, the position felt almost like a hug - another thing that Fell certainly would not have tolerated if he was fully conscious. As things were, though, there was another, even fainter hum as Fell shifted minutely in the pillows, and Papyrus got the strange impression that he was trying to curl closer.

#undertale #undertale fanfiction #papyrus #underfell papyrus #platonic edgepuff #hurt/comfort #my writing #out of action fic

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alch3mic · 4 years ago

Text

in between. (drabble series)

chapter four (stitches.)

captain!sans x gender neutral reader. 3k+ word count.

please be advised for themes of anxiety, ideas of loss, depression, and self esteem.

* finally at the fourth chapter with our dear fellswap sans, captain! he also has no official fic yet but has his own tag here on my tumblr if you’d like to know more about him! thank you and i hope you enjoy!

A project.

That's all this was meant to be.

Something to keep him preoccupied in his free time, now that he seemed to have more time on his hands than he knew what to do with.

Somewhere to put his focus, instead of thinking about things.

Instead of stressing about things.

Instead of.. worrying about.. 'things'.

Like this.. 'thing'.. attached to him.

...

"ya can't just keep pacin' around bro."

Sure he could.

He could pace around as much as he wanted. It was his boat dammit, and he'd walk around it as he pleased, from the bow to the stern, topside and back.

"Shouldn't you be resting?"

No.

How could he? There was work to be done.

All his life he had filled himself with his work. It was all he knew.

Work.

Work

Work.

Work

From his time as a child, working to take care of his younger brother to ensure he was brought up properly to his time in the royal guard working hard every day to support them and make sure they both survived that horrid Underground. Even on the surface he worked and worked and worked, to regain his position as a monster worthy of fear and respect after the humans had stripped them of everything and leaving them to rot like strays on the street.

Every minute of every day he worked.

Most days he even dreamed of it.

Which is exactly why it was so difficult to sit still, even at your request.

"You really should just take it easy, Sans. Didn't Undyne say to not stress yourself out?"

She did, but it didn't matter.

He was in a constant state of being stressed.

Stressed was how he operated.

Stressed was all he knew.

His body could never give him the pleasure of just 'taking it easy', constantly buzzing, constantly wanting to be in motion. At times he envied his brother for being able to let things go and just kick back, but... that was exactly why he worked so hard wasn't it?

So that his brother could relax without a worry in that thick skull of his..?

Of course.. he knew Papyrus went through his own troubles.. it's just...

Gah.

This free time was now filling his head with unnecessary thoughts, even as he tried his best to busy himself by patrolling his own boat.

..Which was only adding to his stress...

"Lets try a hobby. What do you normally do for fun?"

Think of you.

Well..

He didn't have to now that you were here with him.

He could just spend time with you instead of daydreaming about it.

And he did.

You humored him by relaxing together topside with him and Papyrus, enjoying the salty breezes of the ocean and the warm summer rays. The two of you would chat in his bed for hours, laughing and telling stories of the past as you laid close. You'd help him, by offering an arm when he wore himself out or when he needed help doing something that required two hands. Everything from opening jars to preparing dinner or even tying his shoes.

It was..

Ah, dammit it was so humiliating.

..And also made him strangely happy?

He was.. happily humiliated?

..Humbled?

..Stars.

He never had anyone taken care of him before, so his pride was taking a major blow every time you offered to help. A part of him was glad you'd always ask first so he'd at least get to attempt at doing it by himself but.. it was also humiliating to give in. He was too stubborn for his own good, never having anyone extend a hand for him neither below ground or on the Surface.

Still you never seemed bothered.

You never batted an eye when he'd turn to you. Sometimes all it took was a look from him and you just knew, without having any words be spoke. Having that kind of connection was..

Incredible.

It had been something the both of you had obviously over the years, but only now it was showing itself in the mundane parts of your lives now that you were with him. Normally it had been when you locked eyes in a fight in the streets of Ebott, and he could see the whole encounter play out in his mind. How you'd swing, how he'd shoot. How you both would nearly hit each other both on purpose and on accident.

Like a dance with death only the two of you could perform.

And how beautifully you danced for him..

Now.. having that connection manifest positively, in quiet agreements and silent conversations that took only seconds to have, really drove home the fact that times have changed.

That he was no longer the skeleton he was before.

He had you now, which was different.

You were his.

And he was yours.

Though.. in truth you always had a part of soul with you even if you never realized it.

And he always had Papyrus by his side.

That could never change.

But now.. he also had..

That.

The 'thing'.

An arm.

That.. didn't belong to him.

It was attached, sure, but..

It was foreign.

Heavy.

A burden.

It was consequences of his actions taken form of something that use to be, but no longer was. Like a cruel symbol of mockery, forever attached to his own broken body. There was nothing but the tickling of a sensation of pain, like a phantom dancing across his bones, from a limb that was no longer there. The magic in his scapula hummed louder than the rest of his body, always catching his attention as it had been enhanced to support the weight of his new arm. It was irritating and constant, like a buzz he couldn't be rid of no matter how loud his thoughts were or tried to be.

Always there.

Always ringing in his skull.

It was driving him crazy, adding to the mounting stress.

"FOR FUN? EASY. TRAP MAKING. ANALYTICS. READING THE STOCKS AND NEWS."

"Well that's depressing."

"STAYING INFORMED IS IMPORTANT, DARLING."

"And so is your mental health, Sans. Ignoring this won't make it go away you know."

The metallic hand closed on a reflex when he felt your gaze upon it.

He didn't like it, despite how incredible Undyne's work was. She had studied him for weeks while he recovered in her intensive care, all so she could make an exact replica of his now missing arm. It looked just like the real thing only casted in asatollite, a type of metal found in the Underground that could conduct magic. No wires. No heavy plating. Just an arm, moved by his own magic.

An impressive feat really, but he felt no pride in this.

..Only shame.

As someone who had lived their life known for cutting it close time and time again, this was now all the proof someone needed that they could actually lay their hands on him. There was a chance that someone could hit and do some serious damage.

For some, that would be enough to push their determination over the edge.

The proof that he couldn't dodge forever.

And here it was, glinting under the soft afternoon sunlight that filtered into his quarters.

This... was his decline wasn't it?

..He could feel it in his bones.

Here marked the end of his reign of terror as Captain, the scarred skeleton who ruled the docks of Ebott City with an iron fist. Now that once unrelenting grip which strangled the life of rats out of the marine failed to even grasp a pen properly.

It stung in such a strange way that he almost didn't know how to describe it.

It was a unsightly fall from grace, paired with happiness and misery.

He was muddled with complicated feelings that really didn't have proper words, and so instead of spending his days thinking about it while lying in bed, he paced around his ship.

"Is there anything you've ever wanted to learn?"

He only learned what was necessary.

Languages to properly communicate with associates, skills like learning to shoot with a gun so that he could avoid having his magic traced back to him, and cooking so he could make sustainable meals when he and Papyrus had nothing..

They weren't things he did for fun, they were necessary.

What else could he learn that was necessary?

"HOW ABOUT TEACHING ME TO CUT A BULLET LIKE YOU DID BACK IN THE 'SISCO EXCHANGE."

"I'm not teaching you that."

"AND WHY'S THAT?"

"I don't need to make you any more dangerous than you already are you bonehead. I meant something fun! Like.. maybe a sport?"

"I THROW DARTS. I ALSO SHOOT."

"I.. Okay I guess that counts," you said, glancing to the wall of his quarters where the board was set up.

It's true it was a dart board hanging on the wall, but it was littered with photos of thugs and politicians, a dart neatly nailed through their head. It honestly looked like more of an omen of things to come rather than a hobby.

"Anything else?"

...

"I PLAYED THE VIOLIN FOR A SHORT WHILE."

"You did?"

"YES. BACK IN THE UNDERGROUND. I FOUND ONE IN THE DUMP AND TAUGHT MYSELF TO PLAY WHEN I DISCOVERED PAPYRUS LIKED THE WAY IT SOUNDED. IT WOULD HELP PUT HIM TO SLEEP ON SOME OF THE ROUGHER NIGHTS."

"Aww. Maybe you could think about picking it back up. I'd love to hear you play!"

He would, eventually.

For right now.. the task seemed so daunting now that he had..

...That.

"..But maybe not yet."

Another silent conversation, passed by only the glint in his eyesocket. Once again he was glad he didn't have to openly admit he might struggle with learning something like that again but.. a small pass of shame also washed over him. He'd love to play for you, to maybe even create his own music to reflect the feelings you gave him in his soul, but to move this metallic.. 'thing'.. to play would be..

He'd become frustrated, just like with everything else.

"AND WHAT DO YOU DO TO RELAX MY DEAR?"

"Me? I usually sew or knit."

Right. Costumes. That’s why you asked to have your own space in that free room on the ship. You had mentioned it once before, how you use to do costuming back in the day for plays and helped your father who worked as a tailor until...

Hm.

"YOU SELL YOUR PIECES DON'T YOU?"

"Just to a few people. I make dresses for Mr. Rose's granddaughter and Rumpelstiltskin still orders some pieces for his wife. I also send some more elaborate stuff the Prince's way every once in awhile and I even still get requests from Mama Bear even after they disappeared off into the forest. I think they might finally have a Baby Bear on the way because they asked about knitting a little blanket a few days ago."

...

He.. tried to not humor the thought of just sailing away from this city with you, like that lucky bastard did with his spouse when he took off into the woods. Of course he couldn't, he knew Papyrus would stay here with Happy and he'd never want to be far from his brother.

Still...

It was a tempting idea.

"I could always teach you. It's a pretty good skill to just learn how to hand stitch to mend clothing and it really isn't too complicated."

He relented ...of course.

Because he always did to you, with that smile on your face and the hum in your tone.

.....

Learning from you had been everything he hoped for, with you sitting close to him as you taught him how to thread a needle. You were patient with him as he struggled, his hand shaking as he did his best to will his magic to move. You were gentle as you taught him to stitch carefully and slowly, following along side as you guided him every step of the way.

...He'll never forget the way you laughed at his first pass though.

He had been so damn.. angry!

Really, you had the nerve to laugh even when he did his best!

You were the worst, which is why exactly he had to pin you down and tickle you until you couldn't breathe. At least he could use that wretched metal arm to press your hands above your head as you desperately tried to wrestle out of his hold until you were flushed and gasping for breath.

His next attempt was alone late at night, when even the stars on the deck above couldn't quell his thoughts. They ran wild in his head, stampeding and thrashing about.

At his failures.

At his mistakes.

At the humming in his shoulder and the arm that ached despite not being there. So he tried to not think about it as he quietly threaded the needle under the dim yellow lights in his quarters. The quiet creak and groan of the boat was his only accompaniment along your soft breathing from the bed as you peacefully slumbered away.

In and out.

He timed his stitches with your breaths, pushing the needle through the felt and then back again as he sewed the two pieces of scrap fabric together. It was strange how difficult this was, willing his fingers to move while simply pushing and pulling a needle. His jaw would tense as his hand shook at times and failed to grasp the needle, and then he'd hear you let out a sigh and he'd relax again.

In and out.

Until the stitch was done.

Until he hushed the wild thoughts in his head and put his stress to bed.

Until he could no longer deny himself your company and he'd fall back to your side, finally delving into the depths of sleep.

He spent many days and nights like this, a fire ignited in his soul to hear your praise the first time.

"Seems like your stitched are getting tighter. Nice work there, Cap."

That was all he needed.

Your words. Your smile. The exigent that reflected in your beautiful eyes. You were proud of him, and it made him work all the harder as he sat with you in the room you had taken for your sewing. This place had been your sanctuary, something he once avoided entering to at least give you a little room for yourself on the ship, but now he found reassurance in it as well.

The whir of your sewing machine had become a comfort, able to drown out the buzz in his head as he worked beside you. Soft colorful fabrics lined the shelves in the wall and a half finished dress would decorate a mannequin or two. The both of you would drink coffee and chit chat as he tried to get lost in the motions of hand stitching pieces of scrap fabric together.

He didn't want to constantly strain himself to move his arm.

He wanted it to be natural.

He wanted to use his hand without a second thought.

He wanted it to be like..

How it use to be.

But it could.. never really be like it use to be.

And he struggled and struggled and struggled.

In the weeks that had dragged by, both you and Papyrus had picked up small gigs to help patch the hole his injury was leaving.

Sans was... or had been.. the bread maker.

He always prided himself on providing by running the docks, able to keep his rather lavish lifestyle alive by delivering cargo from overseas to sellers like the Fell brothers and the other croons of this city, but the two of you had insisted on him resting, so his businesses and trades had all but halted.

You were still far off from ever putting a dent in his savings, but the two of you worked regardless to ease his stress.

..Because somehow, even having the back up funds prepared for events like this, didn't stop Sans from stressing.

The only part that annoyed him about it was that you had less time to teach him. You focused more on your commissions, so Sans would leave you in peace to your quiet room and stitch in his quarters.

He hadn't really decided what he wanted to work towards from stitching. It had simply become a tool to help train his fingers, so now that he could sew what was he suppose to do with the skill?

...

....

.....

It was a quiet afternoon in his quarters, the low hum of a forgotten radio on his desk as a deep voice rattled off the daily news mixed with a garble of static. Being so far out into the marine meant the reception wasn't good, but he could pick up key terms as the voice drawled on. Another murder on the west side, some more fights in the south and some re-election news. Not like it mattered who was in charge these days. The faces changed but at the end of the day these suits always lined their pockets with bloodied dollar bills. This city was rotted to it's core, just like it's people, and it'd stay that way until it was burned to the ground.

Sans' eyelights drifted down to the book in front of him.

'Stuffed Plushies For Beginners!'

The title almost felt condescending, just like the colorful pictures and simple wording that decorated each page. He still couldn't help but twist his frown deeper at the fact that you bought him a children's book of all things, paired with that sharp little grin of yours and that infectious laugher. It had been too much.. Which is why he snatched the damn thing out of your hands when you gave it to him.

"To help decide what you want to do with your new skill! Maybe you can finally make something instead of just stitching scraps together you dork."

He would never turn down a challenge, especially from you, and he was eager to have your approval again.

"AND WHAT EXATLY SHOULD I SEW?"

"Just pick something you're interested in and sew it. They have a lot of animals in there! You do at least like one kind of animal, don't you?"

Dogs, because they were loyal.

Cats, because they could fend for themselves.

Birds, because of their freedom.

But making something based of them didn't quite appeal to Sans.

'Basic Plushie Pattern.'

...

"hey bro, i wanted to ask- oh my stars."

"AH-!" Sans inhaled, squeezing the doll in his grasp and nearly tearing at it with his claws. "YOU-! WOULD YOU KNOCK!?"

"you actually made a plushie of them. wow," his brother hummed, "and here i thought your obsession couldn't get any wo-"

WHOOMPH.

The pillow made direct contact with Papyrus' face, earning a laugh from the taller skeleton. Sans barked out a few more insults as his brother continued to giggle, admiring what he had finished so far.

It.. looked like crap.

Some of the stitches were lopsided and others weren't uniform, but he wanted to see this through before his frustrations got the better of him. So with some encouragement from Papyrus he kept at it, finishing the body and then attaching the head.

"Pahahaha! Captain!"

"WHAT!?"

"You! Ehehe! You-! Of.. of me!"

"LOOK, JUST TELL ME IT'S TERRIBLE SO I CAN BE RID OF THE ACURSED THING ALRIGHT?"

"No! No. Absolutely not! I'm keeping this forever and you can never take it away from me!"

He gritted his teeth and attempted to wrestle the doll from your grasp but to no avail. You hugged it close and refused to relent, calling it precious and a testament to his efforts.

All of his hard work..

To a doll..

That looked like you.

"Are you going to make one of you?" you asked, letting out a few breaths as he finally gave up trying to grab the doll from your grasp.

"AND WHY WOULD I DO THAT?"

"Well I don't want them to be lonely."

...

How could he... ever argue with that.

So begrudgingly he sewed again, this time now more aware than ever of that 'thing' as it worked meticulously to create a replicate of itself. The doll's left arm, sewn together with a deep gray metallic fabric, now shared the same shame he did.

...

Strangely enough, it suited him.

...

"They look cute together."

"ONE ON THE RIGHT HAS SEEN BETTER DAYS."

"I still think he's pretty cute. He's trying his best, after all."

Well.. he certainly couldn't argue with that either.

#look at that!#we made it!#cap's is a lil' more fluffier than the others so i hope you guys enjoy it!#captain!sans #sans #undertale #fellswap #fellswap sans #undertale fic #yandere sans #long post #fic #fanfiction #drabble #anxiety tw #depression tw #alch!writes #inbetween!fic

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agreementtale · 3 years ago

Text

Chapter 27: The Great

Taking advantage of the fact that both human and skeleton were distracted with greasy breakfast, Flowey disappeared on the ground.

The last thing he wanted was to leave them alone with him, but after a week of nothing but jokes and not lethal pranks, he had to make a choice.

And there wouldn’t be much more time, if the determined hue of their eyes this morning was any indication.

~*~

Since he woke up on the true lab, Flowey had to make a lot of hard choices.

Abandoning his name or being guilty of all the events his previous life triggered.

Not meeting his father or being held expectant to what he used to be.

Never seeing his mother or being swallowed by her madness.

Give up on trying to help people or being merciless murdered.

Kill and live or hide and survive.

And after many and many failed resets, he had learned his lesson.

For a long time he had chosen to sneak around the cities, to help just enough so he wasn’t caught. To live just near enough to meet people and preach a more pacific way of life, but distant enough to flee at the first threat.

~*~

“Are You Ok?” the concerned voice had cut through his fear like the sharpened bone sword would cut his vines at any moment now.

It hadn’t yet, that had been last timeline, before he was captured and sent to the labs, this time he dodged the attacks in time. This time the guard looked at him with an expression he hadn’t seen in years.

“You Aren’t Dusting Are You?” The monster looked frantic, abandoning the fight instance, concern and guilt making him lower his guard “I Didn’t Lower Your HP That Much” not that Flowey could do anything to harm him, his pellets were too weak to harm a guard’s HP.

But if he lowered his guard, maybe a surprise attack now would dust him and allow Flowey to escape. He couldn’t go back to the labs, he would do anything to not go back at the labs! He thought about taking the easy betrayal kill, but he knew sooner or later he would regret the idea, and go back to his last save file.

“Your Soul” Flowey stopped, his body going colder than the snow below him “What Happened?” he looked at the new guard, really looked for the first time.

He was a skeleton, instead of eyes he had two holes on his hollow head, dim white lights trembling inside his skull. It was nothing he had seen before, it wasn’t nostalgic, it wasn’t relatable, it wasn’t recognizable in any way… But looking at those fearful eyes, something inside coiled at the genuine show of feeling, even if Flowey couldn’t feel it, he was compelled to say something to the monster in front of him “I’m fine”

“NO! YOU–/” He stopped himself and looked back to where he came from “YOU ARE NOT FINE, I CAN’T SENSE YOUR SOUL” Flowey never thought that shouting and whispering could go together, but the skeleton just proved him wrong.

“I don’t have one” There was no sense in lying, not when he could experience a reaction so genuine from a new monster, he was tired of the same faces.

“You Don’t…”

There it was, the moment of realization where every monster sported an horrified face, and gave him either pity or disgust, he wondered which one of the two his reaction would be.

“FEAR NOT” but the skeleton got on one knee, getting near his height, chest puffed with pride, like a real knight “THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL FIND A WAY TO FIX THIS” and extending his hands he started to heal him.

A guard that was ordered to find him, dead or alive, actually healed him.

And on his magic he could feel, all the kindness and sincerity of his words, not a speck of malice, nor the lingering residue of disinterest of the paid healers, no, this monster wanted to heal him, not because he agreed on a price, but just because he wanted Flowey to be better!

Flowey was capable of healing, he had learned it from his parents. But being healed was so much better…

The feeling… that someone cared… that someone was there for him…

The new monster’s magic spoke more than he could ever describe with a straight face. He would cry, if he still had the ability.

“THE DOCTOR SHOULD KNOW WHAT TO DO” the sentence drowned all the warmth of his chest, or lack of it.

“No, please!” he tried to retreat, startling the monster before him “Not her, anyone but her!” but he was caught on his grip and couldn’t stop trashing “She will cut me open, please!” but he was trapped again, that’s what he got for dropping his guard “Please, don’t let her experiment on me again”

“AGAIN?”

“It’s her fault! I’m like this because of her!”

The lights in his head went out, he was terrifying like that “She… Took Your Soul?”

He wanted to say yes, but he was scared the skeleton could see through his lies, skeletons were powerful monsters, he remembered the stories his mother would tell before he slept.

“She… didn’t build me one”

The silence was palpable.

Neither of them moved.

He wanted to escape of the other’s grip, but it was useless.

His lights were still out.

He didn’t know what to think, and the environment was too charged for him try to say anything without being prompted.

“Cadet!” Came the strong yell, the monster went stiff, getting up abruptly, and Flowey saw himself free, but more trapped than before “What are you doing standing there?!?”

She approached, and he knew that at this distance, if he so much as tried to move she would see him, if he kept completely still the skeleton’s boot gave him the cover he needed.

“FORGIVE ME CAPTAIN!” yelled, body completely stiff “I WAS LOOKING FOR THE FUGITIVE”

“And did you find him?”

“I” that was the moment they sent him to the doctor “COULDN’T FIND A SOUL, CAPTAIN” was… was he covering for him?

She shouted aggressively, hitting the trees behind with spears “What are you waiting here for?! Move!”

“YES CAPTAIN!” he made a symbol with his finger… ‘up’, Flowey climbed his boot. Hiding inside.

~*~

The first person to try to help without knowing him… The first person to still treat him as a monster once he found out he didn’t have a soul.

This memory had been lost in time, many, many resets ago…

Papyrus didn’t need to remember that. No one need to know that. He escaped the lab before the scientist could know of his existence, made a point to avoid Undyne this timeline, and was sure that this timeline neither Papyrus or Sans had the chance of using the blue magic directly on him, and finding out his secret…

This timeline he did everything right… he tried, he really tried to make a difference… but it always got to the same point…

~*~

“But... Papyrus... You are my only friend...”

The lieutenant sighed, not looking at him “YOU ARE MY FRIEND TOO, FLOWEY, Just Not In Public, Ok?”

“But…” no matter what he did, it always came to this.

“NOT IN PUBLIC! I CAN’T BE SEEN HANGING OUT WITH A FREE-EXP!”

He took a brief moment to think, was there anything he hadn’t tried to say? “... No one is going to hurt you for it” he was sure he hadn’t said that one yet, but it seemed to be the wrong choice either way.

“ARE YOU SUGGESTING I AM SCARED?” He was scared of be seen as weak, of becoming a target, everyone in the underground was, and everyone would kill before admitting that.

“I can protect us!” but Flowey had to try.

“HA! YOU SHOULD GIVE MY BROTHER SOME LESSONS ON HUMOR!”

“It’s true!” He didn’t want to lose his best friend.

“YOU CAN’T.”

“I can! I can tell what is going to happen and–/”

“AND I WILL HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. OR WILL YOU RETHINK YOUR FOOLISH IDEA OF MERCY?” He didn’t understand, Papyrus didn’t understand what he was asking.

“But no one has to die! If monsters can just–/”

“WOULD YOU KILL FOR ME FLOWEY?” He just didn’t understand… He had killed, and then he hadn’t.

“...” He always reseted after killing, it was just wrong, even Papyrus agreed that if something like this could be avoided, it should be.

“WOULD YOU KILL SOMEONE IF I ASKED YOU TO? IF I NEED YOU TO?” But he was insistent.

“I... could avoid us having to kill them...”

He gave an empty laugh, and Flowey knew he had lost him again.

Like all those other timelines.

“It’s Funny, Because Until Now I Would Kill Almost Anyone For You” Papyrus got up from the rock and walked slowly before turning to him “SEE WHO IS A TRUE FRIEND, AND WHO IS A FILTHY LIAR!”

“Wait, Papyrus!” He tried to follow when the skeleton started to walk, but a bone attack materialized in front of him

“IN THIS WORLD IS KILL OR BE KILLED, FLOWEY! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN UNTIL YOU’VE LEARNED THAT, AND IF YOU STILL HAVEN’T, I WILL MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND!” he threw a wave of bones in front of him, uncomfortably close, and disappeared on the snowy path.

So this time instead of resetting a few days and trying again, like he did so many times he could swear an entire year had passed. This time Flowey left his only friend at his own luck, and went to the Ruins, to talk with the flowers.

He knew no one was listening, but it had become a habit.

He was glad he did, because a human fell the next morning.

~*~

“WHAT IS THIS OBSESSION WITH THE HUMAN?” Papyrus always paced when he was conflicted “FIRST THE DAMNED DOGS CLAIM THEY ARE ONE OF THEM” It was a sign that there was still a chance “THEN MY USELESS BROTHER TAKES THEM TO THAT GREASY TRAP EVERY MORNING” The harsh movements and the agitation were scary, but gave him hope at the same time “THEN YOU COME BEFORE ME ASKING ME TO SPARE THEIR LIFE? HAVE YOU LEARN NOTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD FLOWEY?”

Apparently not, since he was standing in front of the Lieutenant of the Royal Guard, trying to convince him to commit treason and let a human reach Waterfalls.

“I WILL TELL THIS ONLY ONCE, DO YOU WANT THEM TO LIVE?”

He nodded profusely, his leaves were trembling, Papyrus last threat still hanging in the air, only now he couldn’t come back to life if he died.

“THEN DON’T LET THEM FACE ME” His right eye light flared red as he stared directly into Flowey “BECAUSE I WILL KILL THEM AND BRING THEIR SOUL TO THE KING”

“Papyrus...” he was so tall standing in front of him.

“OR BE KILLED TRYING, IN NAME OF ALL MONSTERKIND”

“Please...” standing still…

“I ALREADY WARNED YOU, SO CONVINCE THEM TO STAY IN SNOWDIN OR DECIDE WHICH ONE OF US YOU WANT TO SEE DYING”

“There is another way” Floyey pleaded, but he had seen this end too many times to hope.

“MAKE YOUR CHOICE FLOWEY” and with this the skeleton left.

~*~

Flowey couldn’t make a choice…

It was not his choice to make, not anymore…

And somehow he was glad.

One of the two would die… many, many times… until they gave up.

He just hoped they gave up from the fight, and came back to Snowdin.

He just hoped that they weren’t like him…

That when they got stuck in a challenge too big to surpass, that they didn’t got angry… and striked the enemy down.

They were human, and humans could deliver so much damage when they were angry…

He didn’t want to see it…

He didn’t want to see his sibling’s blood… over and over again staining the snow.

He didn’t want to see his – former, he forced himself to think – best friend’s dust… blowing on the wind, just like any other monster… not even a proper burial…

But even if they did kill him in the end, they would certainly be guilty and try again, right?

They wouldn’t go ahead if they killed, right?

They wouldn’t save over a monster’s death…

They couldn’t…

He…

His leaves were still trembling, even without the eminent danger, if he still had emotions he would think he was scared.

But he wasn’t.

He didn’t have emotions.

He didn’t have a soul.

And if he, who didn’t have a soul, still had the hearth to do the right thing, and not save after killing someone. Then they could do the same.

And if they didn’t?

Well…

He just had to make sure to remind them.

The easy or the hard way.

Luckily for him, he learned a thing or two with past resets.

______________________

First

Last

#AgreementTale #undertale #AGF!Flowey #AGF!Papyrus #fanfiction #archieve of our own #long fic

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eevee-haze · 4 years ago

Text

Aight so It's... not news to literally anyone that I like Ink sans a lot as a concept, and his birthday is today, so I figured what better way to celebrate his birthday than to make a brand new AU (or at least post the info for it)! Or I guess three since I'm working on Swap and Fell variants for it as well.

One of my main questions about the Underground was "how do they handle seismic activity" which was how this AU started forming. It's probably not at all scientifically accurate in the least, but oh well. I call it Rifttale. Cause the earthquakes cause literal rifts in the mountain lmao. I'll put the rest under a read more since this'll get long.

The idea of Rifttale is that Mt Ebott is located on a fault line, and all the hollowing out the monsters had to do made the mountain extremely unstable, and that problem only increased the more the underground's population grew. It's pretty dangerous underground in Rifttale what with the constant threat of cave in due to poor structural integrity and the fact that they don't really have much to work with to make their homes and businesses quake resistant. A fair portion of houses get rubble rained down on them and something always needs fixing.

All four sections of the underground remain, but the layout and placement are different. (And probably larger scale) For example, Snowdin is located near the top of the mountain since snow from the peak falls in through the cracks left in the roof of the cavern, and Hotland is at the very bottom of the mountain, where lava has surged up from the seismic activity. Both Waterfall and New Home are around the mid section, but are separated by a thick wall of rubble that followed a quake that happened maybe days before Frisk fell.

Sans

The man of many jobs adds two more responsibilities to the list rather begrudgingly in this AU. As one of the only Monsters capable of gravity manipulation and teleportation in Snowdin, he and his brother are tasked with being emergency responders in case of an earthquake as well as assisting with any initial construction steps in order to make bridges across newly formed gaps. Sans often gets called to other regions for his services too, but he really doesn't appreciate it.

Frankly he's convinced the mountain's going to crush them before they get the final soul they need, which is part of why he agrees to keep Frisk safe so easily. He doubts anything will change about their predicament with or without them. A No-Mercy route in Rifttale would see him saying things like "Couldn't have waited for the mountain to get us?" Or "I think I would have preferred a cave-in."

Something Rift!Sans doesn't really tell people is that he's blind in his right eye. When he and Papyrus were little, he shielded Papyrus from falling rocks during a quake, and one of them got him good just above his right eye. Most of the injury healed but it left a nasty crack in his socket which prevented him from actually being able to see. He can light the socket, and does so strangers don't needlessly worry about him, but it can't light up all the way like his left does.

Papyrus

Ah yes the sunshine boy. Personality wise he's not that different in this AU. He still wants to be in the guard and he's still confident and friendly, but sometimes he gets a little subdued and worried about Sans since Rift!Sans is much more obvious about his emotional/mental struggles. Another notable part is that he's being kept out of the guard mostly because he's more useful in the emergency unit. He's strong and capable enough to be a guard, but he's too soft, so they gave him a job that was helpful while playing to his strengths.... though like a silly he doesn't see the admirers he has and still hopes to become a guardsman one day.

Frisk & Chara

These two are interesting in this AU. Chara was around 13-14 when they died and spent years underground with the Dreemurrs before their death. They have a strong distaste for their own kind for several reasons, among which being the way they were treated (that led them to run away in the first place) and the fact that they forced such nice creatures into what is essentially a death trap.

They're a bit of a gremlin, but they're certainly not all bad like they consider themself to be.

Frisk on the other hand is a quiet child of roughly nine years. Adventurous and curious, but also blind. They hadn't seen the hole when they were exploring and ended up falling down. They rely on Chara to lead them around the more treacherous parts of the underground since they can't see it. (Chara is able to touch Frisk and tends to tug them by the wrist when guiding them.) Chara starts off really unhappy about guiding them, and depending on the route will even refuse to do so, not that it matters in a No-Mercy route. That's because in the No-Mercy route the Player is more of an active component. Frisk physically can't fight back on their own, and Chara would never help them do so. Essentially the Player is just an entity used by us creators to manipulate Frisk into a No-Mercy route since it wouldn't happen otherwise.

Asriel & Flowey

Personality wise the two really aren't all that different. Asriel is the slightest bit more skittish thanks to his timid nature and the uncertainty that comes with the constant tremors, and Flowey is the slightest bit more bearable. He still doesn't have much in the way of emotions, but it's pretty obvious their situation is bleak without him making it worse (As such, while he has tried No-Mercy in the past, most of his runs were seeing what effects smaller changes had. The volatile environment made it interesting regardless).

Though he's notably far more annoyed about losing his save and reload powers in Rifttale because he'd been in the middle of trying something when Frisk fell.

On the more technical side, Flowey doesn't tend to get around much when there aren't bridges over the chasms. While he can cross them himself, its a pain if they're too awfully wide. This means that the severe quakes tended to impede him a lot.

Toriel & Asgore

As a result of the meddling Flowey was doing, Toriel reclaimed her place as Queen and has been talking things over with her husband about everything that happened. Stuck in the ruins she hadn't gotten the news that Asgore amended his statement later on to say that they would only take the souls of humans that fell if they were hostile or after they died of natural causes. None of the children who fell were killed by monsters. (Many died in partial cave-ins or from falling into lava or the like, though so a quick death from a monster likely would have been preferable.)

Toriel still thinks that going out and just collecting the remaining souls they need would be faster, but Asgore argued a few points on that such as doing so likely angering the humans and giving them a further negative bias as well as the fact that whoever went to get the souls may well die like their children did.

They're still working things out but it's better than how it was before.

Toriel still spends a lot of her time in the ruins, but now its more out of a sense of duty since most of the children fell into the ruins first. She actually guides Frisk up until they meet Sans where she passes escorting them to him since he is more capable of ensuring their safety, and she needs to hurry ahead to make preparations for their stay and inform Asgore.

Alphys

Predictably not much different personality wise. She's actually one of the safer monsters since she never leaves her lab and it's reinforced to withstand rockfalls to some degree, not to mention the basement level with the true lab in it (though its hot as heck down there cause of the magma nearby.) Her primary goal is more geared toward keeping the underground as stable as possible so that they can hopefully last until they get the last soul. That's not to say the amalgamates don't exist, they do, but she's at least been looking busy as sort of an excuse why she hasn't answered back any of the letters. No time for mail when she's trying to save people, after all.

Undyne

Captain of the Royal guard, still. The guard does still exist, it's just less numerous and has more focus on recruiting strong members. After all they exist in case a hostile human arrives instead. So naturally Undyne is even more of a badass than normal, and she's ready in the event of a No-Mercy run. Even in a pacifist playthrough she's a bit wary of Frisk, notably not wanting to leave Alphys alone with them in case they were hiding their true intentions. This means she's the one who ends up escorting the human through the first little bit of Hotland after Waterfall, whereupon Mettaton would take over.

Mettaton

Considering a Human-killing robot was no longer needed, he was created with maneuverability in mind. The idea was that he could help others when needed, much like the emergency rescue portion of the guard, but Mettaton much preferred to focus on his career of course. He’s part of the reason Sans keeps being called to help out in other regions which gets him a healthy amount of resentment from the older skeleton.

Gaster

No major story involvement, but he does have plot importance. Gaster was the Skelebro’s father, and while he made them artificially, he did care about them a lot. Not much about him still remains and very few remember any details about him since he was quite a reclusive skeleton. He was close friends with the Riverperson however, so that’s who ended up essentially raising the two skeletons after Gaster fell into the Core. They provided for them despite being gone a lot.

Misc. Details

Children that stayed for an extended period were often called the “New Hope” a term coined when Chara first became a part of the Dreemurr family

Not all children opted to stay with the royal family, hence their belongings being stored in different regions

There were hostile humans that fell as well, but most met their fate in the lava and their souls were burnt up before they could be retrieved.

Frisk had fairly negligent parents. They weren’t outright abusive, but they really didn’t pay much attention to them.

Portions of the Waterfall part of the Underground have large nets bridging the gaps to catch the garbage that falls down that way nothing gets wasted falling into the chasms.

The Delta Rune on Sans’s coat is a reflective sticker. They told him he needed to wear something reflective for visibility’s sake and because he wasn’t willing to mess up his jacket, nor go without it, he cheated the system.

Papyrus wears a battle body just like normal, but he hot-glued some of the reflective material from human clothing that ended up falling down onto it so that he could both look cool and follow rules

Despite being a very neat and cleanly skeleton, Papyrus often ends up dirty as a consequence of his job. Because of that he takes care to meticulously clean both himself and the house before they go to bed.

#undertale #undertale au #reference #new au i guess #rifttale #utmv #happy birthday inky ily #abuse implied #with chara's bg that is #neglect mention #it's a lot of minor changes but i love this au okay

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songfell-ut · 5 years ago

Text

Chapter 13, something luck something

I gave myself the feels, @lostmypotatoes send help

Link here.

“…AND THIS, MY INTREPID YOUNG FRIEND, IS…THE ROYAL GUARD!! NYEHHHHHH!”

They’d stopped at the head of the staircase in the Grand Hall. Her new skeleton friend had thrown his arms wide at a line of monsters standing motionless in shiny black armor, as proud as a child showing a visitor his favorite toys. “NYEHHH,” he added reverently.

The Royal Guard was quite impressive, like gleaming statues that could come to life and kill you, but Frisk wasn’t scared. She could see their ears poking out from their helmets, and some of them looked pretty silly: a couple of dogs, a cat, a rabbit, a bug, something like a lizard or dragon…

But then there was their Captain, who had just removed her helmet. She did not look silly. “UNDYNE!” Papyrus blared at the tall, eyepatched fish-woman. “THIS IS KRIS! SAY HELLO TO HIM! …ER, UNDYNE? HIS NAME IS KRIS, NYEH HEH! …HE IS A HUMAN! …NYEH? UNDYNE?”

No answer. Undyne’s scarred, scowling, evil-toothed countenance did not waver. Her webbed hand was clenched on the shaft of her spear, cerulean scales and mostly-yellow eye glittering in the witchlight. Even her red ponytail looked menacing as it fluttered in the breeze of passing dignitaries.

The human’s path was clear. Her expression went blank with determination. Frisk looked around and saw vases full of fresh flowers against the wall; as the monsters glanced at each other in confusion, the child selected a vase, tossed out the flowers, lugged the vase back to the Royal Guard Captain, and, with one almighty heave, threw the water right into Undyne’s face.

Frisk woke him even earlier than they’d planned, looking as though she hadn’t slept and sounding very businesslike. Sans was too groggy at first to remember last night, and before he could wonder if it had even happened, she was already laying out their plan for the day.

And…it was not what they had discussed yesterday. It was the opposite. “Lemme get this straight,” he said when she was finished. “Ya don’ wanna sneak out anymore. You wanna tell everyone an’ their mom that we’re takin’ the monsters back t’the Underground as a goodwill gesture in exchange for more cool monster stuff.”

“Yes.”

“So we’re goin’ out as a big deal that everyone knows about, on purpose?”

“Yes.”

“We’re gonna let ‘em think you already cleared it with the King ‘n everything’s fine?”

“Yes.”

“That’s…that’s a big fat lie.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes it is.”

“No. It isn’t.”

“Yuh-huh.”

“I’m not an idiot, Sans! If we disappeared without any indication whatsoever of where I’d gone, His Majesty would assume I’d been abducted and send soldiers after me. I just woke him up a few minutes ago and told him where we were going, and why.”

Something about the way she said it made him ask, “And he’s okay with it?”

Frisk smirked. “We’re going.”

Departing with a lot of fanfare actually took less effort than Sans expected. All he had to do was go down to the stables, announce that Her Eminence was leaving immediately on an important diplomatic mission, hand over her written instructions, and then stand back. For once, his scariness was a real advantage: by the time Frisk brought down the group of silent, shivering monsters, the wagons were already in place, the horses hitched up, and the cargo nearly loaded.

The priestess had been busy mobilizing a small army of assistants, which was a lot easier than their original plan to have him teleport everything from her room. Their provisions and gifts for the Underground were brought down and loaded according to the diagrams Frisk had drawn for the monsters: one wagon was for Ice Cap, who would travel with the majority of the food, while the other had Pyrope and Vulkin, who were wrapped in fireproof blankets and seated away from anything flammable. The other monsters would ride with them in order to stay warm—the canvas wagon covers were good for privacy, but didn’t keep out much of the wind.

Sans had made himself scarce while the work was going on, but when everyone and everything was in place, he stepped up to make Frisk get in with the flame monsters instead of riding up front in the lead wagon. She’d been standing in a corner of the freezing yard to supervise the last preparations; in her full High Priestess regalia, she was as impressive as ever, but he’d watched her closely and seen her trying not to cough.

As her personal guard, and her…whatever the hell they were now, it was his duty to not let her get sick again, but his official consideration was for her safety. They were traveling with a cortege of twelve guards, which would deter most attackers and also help clear traffic ahead of them, but there was no point in putting her on display for someone to take potshots.

They wheeled out of the castle gates and onto the main thoroughfare just after sunrise. Sans wasn’t a big fan of walking, or being in the cold, but his slippers and overcoat were mostly adequate. He wished he could poke his head into the wagon to check on Frisk, but she had asked him not to let the other monsters see him yet; besides, he heard her humming at a couple of points and figured she was busy keeping them calm. Pyrope was a twitchy little bastard, and Vulkin had a bad habit of “helping” via lava, so he’d just leave her to it.

The day passed, and to their pleasant surprise, they reached Frisk’s house on the outskirts of the city long before dark. That gave them more time than expected for Frisk to unload the monsters and shepherd them into the house; Sans grabbed enough food for that night and the morning, and the attendants took the wagons and horses to the nearest inn. Two guards took up positions outside the house before they locked the door for the night, and that was that.

None of the monsters had spoken or made eye contact with anyone all day, to Sans’ knowledge. As soon as they were gathered in the dining room, the priestess allowed him to step in and say, “Heya.”

Frisk retreated as the monsters came alive, swarming around the giant skeleton and all babbling at once in frantic relief. He had been somewhat scary to them in the relative peace of the Underground, but seeing him now was the best possible reassurance that the High Priestess had not been lying or playing some kind of sick game with them: they really would be home by the day after tomorrow.

After a few minutes, Frisk came back into the room, bare-headed and wearing a loose white gown, for Sans to re-introduce her as “Kris,” the not-really-a-boy from the human delegation. Six of the eight remembered her, and Pyrope got so excited that he left a couple of smoking holes in the carpet.

When everyone was done eating and talking, Frisk directed Ice Cap to the attic, where they could safely leave the little window open to keep it cold, while Sans built up the kitchen fire and made an asbestos-blanket fort for the flame monsters. The others sprawled out on the beds or any patch of floor they could, safe and well-fed; still, Sans noticed how uneasy they were, and understood what that was like. He just hoped they’d be able to feel safe again.

Once everyone was settled, Frisk was nowhere to be found. Of all the damn places she could’ve slept in, Sans finally found her wrapped up in her cloak in the bathtub. “Frisk,” he said accusingly.

She made a noise explaining that she was fine, a monster could have the remaining bed.

“Nope.” The priestess squeaked as he bent to scoop her up in both hands. “C’mon, kitten. Time ta sleep literally anywhere else.” Before she could object, he walked her into the smallest bedroom, dropped her onto the bed, and threw a comforter over her. “There. G’night.”

Frisk struggled to sit up. “Wait, where—”

Sans lay down on the floor and sighed noisily. “We’re not t’the Underground yet. Let’s just go ta sleep, okay?”

“…Okay. But, Sans—”

The boss monster emitted a loud, sustained fake snore, cut short by her pillow landing on his face.

Either the demon-child was still satisfied from the other night, or they were just too tired to be reachable, because they woke from a dreamless night to another stiff, sore day of travel.

The monsters were more animated today as they loaded into the wagons, which Frisk took as a good omen. Granted, there was a delay when Sans got too close to the draft horses and scared them so badly that the grooms had to unhitch them for a quick jog around the block, but the crowd gathering on the street to watch still cheered and waved as they set off.

It was another bitterly cold day, and as Frisk leaned into Vulkin, she tried not to think too much about spending the night in the no-man’s-land. King Stephin had still been sleepy when they talked yesterday morning, and the best objection he’d come up with on the spot had been the diplomatic ramifications of bringing so many humans so close to the Underground. She’d countered with the proposal that they leave all their attendants at the border and have Sans handle both security and transportation from then on, as he was a monster and knew the area well. The King tried to backpedal, but Frisk had gone on about a smaller group being faster and safer, attracting less attention, needing fewer provisions, etc., until he gave in.

“Very well. I will ask His Holiness to arrange the necessary financial matters for each monster,” the King had said coolly. “I am trusting you, Frisk, to bring back favorable news, and prove that this mission is any better than a child’s tantrum over not getting her way.”

“I wonder that Your Majesty has ever spent enough time with a child to see one,” she shot back, eliminating any chance of leaving him on a polite note.

Unfortunately, Frisk was now so busy thinking of that conversation – and trying to ignore the bruises she was accumulating from riding in a big, jouncing cargo wagon – that she forgot to mention it to Sans until they stopped for a break several miles outside the city. He’d started bemoaning the logistics they had to work out for that evening, trying to get all these guys fed and coordinated and bedded down and what they were going to do with the horses, and she had to cut him off with “They’re not coming.”

The guards and drivers looked up from their roadside sandwiches at a furious, smothered explosion of sound. They glanced at each other as the massive skeleton growled down at the priestess, but she didn’t seem worried, so they resumed eating as Sans carried on snarling and gesticulating.

Frisk could understand why he was upset, but the third time he ended a sentence with “—‘n did I mention I’m not a fuckin’ horse?!” was enough. “Sans,” she said, and he stopped. “Calm down and think about it. This may actually be safer. Have I ever shown you how I can hide something with a barrier?”

“Uh…” The boss monster shrugged crankily. “I know you’ve got a lotta different tricks.” Snort. “Any chance ya have somethin’ that’ll pull the wagons for us?”

“Yes. You.”

Sans blinked, and covered his face with one hand. “God damn it.”

Frisk turned her back to the guards so she could grin at him through the veil. “It takes a lot of strength, but if it’s just the two of us and the wagons, I could keep us completely hidden for short periods,” she said, more somberly. “In your opinion, is it safer to move by night, or camp outside the border till morning and then make as much time as we can?”

The skeleton tapped his dusty slipper on the grass, thinking out loud. “It’s probably better t’go at night. A lot of this place is so flat that you can see fer miles on a clear day. I can get by pretty well in the dark, so yer right. If we don’t have all of these dorks walkin’ with us ‘n makin’ noise, you’d just need ta cover up the wagons. It’s mostly bedrock out here, so with the wind blowin’ the sand around, we shouldn’t hafta worry about tracks.”

“I see. How far should we try to get tonight? I don’t think we can make it all in one push.”

“Not if I’m all we’ve got,” he grumbled. “Let’s get t’the fence and see how we’re doin’.”

Frisk had a word with the drivers; when they started again, they went at a quicker pace, the better to reach their destination and allow the men and horses time to get back to the nearest village before dark.

She grew more and more apprehensive as the hours passed, and finally dug out her satchel of clothing, asking the monsters to close their eyes so she could change into a more practical dress than her High Priestess leg-trap. Not long afterward, the wagon slowed and ground to a halt; they were at the border, a day’s journey from the Underground.

Sans waited till the other humans were almost out of sight to tell the monsters, “Come on out, guys.”

All but the flame monsters piled out to stretch their legs and wings while Sans ran a trace of red magic along the wire fencing. Frisk watched him pluck at a seemingly solid strand, revealing a length of twine holding two cut pieces together. “Humans go in ‘n out this way,” the skeleton informed her. “’s like havin’ a gate. They just untie it and tie it back up behind ‘em.”

Frisk shook her head and hugged herself tighter under her cloak. Sans didn’t have time to admire how the cold air had turned her cheeks red, or be really irritated at how the men had all gawked at her without her veil, but he did it anyway while the monsters got ready to resume their places. “So,” the skeleton said, resigned, “how’re we gonna do this crap?”

Five minutes later, Sans was trudging along in the fast-fading light, his hands shoved in his pockets, the wagon’s shafts wedged between his wrists and his hipbones so he could pull it in lieu of a horse. Frisk sat in the driver’s seat of the second wagon, whistling softly and watching the tufts of red magic keeping its shafts upright. Sans had to admit that the flat terrain and the laws of physics made it easy to keep the wagons going once they’d started…but it still sucked.

“Are you doing all right?” the priestess asked at one point.

“Neigh,” he responded, and she started snrrking so hard that he threatened to stop and make her pull the damn wagon. Then he had to deal with that mental imagery until it got darker and he could focus on maintaining a tiny speck of magic to sharpen his night vision. It was nearly a new moon out, perfect for moving in secrecy.

It happened some time after midnight. The monsters had fallen asleep; the priestess was dozing, and Sans was on the verge of stopping for the night when a shriek rang out from the wagon behind Frisk, who nearly fell off her seat. Sans had to lift her down for her to run back, leap into the wagon, and rouse Vulkin from a nightmare, humming urgently to quiet her.

“Shit,” Sans muttered as a torch flared in the distance. “Hey, kitten?”

She didn’t waste any time: a whistle raised a golden bubble around them, and Sans winced at the sheer power crackling through it. For the first time, he found he was less worried about being trapped inside a barrier than he was about the amount of magic it was costing her.

Minute after minute passed. Strange human voices drew way too close, and Sans could only stand there while Frisk held the spell steady, diverting enough magic to soothe the terrified monsters. The giant skeleton had no idea how she was blocking both sound and light and hiding the barrier’s presence from the other side while she hummed, but she did it, because the poachers soon concluded that it’d been a false alarm and wandered back the way they’d come. “They’re gone, sweetheart. Drop it,” Sans ordered, and he heard a ragged sound as the barrier evaporated.

That was enough. Sans set the wagons’ brakes, grabbed as many rocks as his remaining magic could carry, and formed stacks under the shafts to hold them upright, then stuck most of his head into the back of the wagon. “I’m so sorry,” whimpered Vulkin. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s not yer fault,” he said roughly. In the monster’s glow, he could see the priestess lying on the wagon floor, resting her head on her forearm as she struggled to catch her breath. “Hand ‘er over.”

Later, he would kick himself for dragging Frisk into the cold again, but he had to see for himself that she was okay. Sans bundled her under his coat and sat down against the wheel, folding her into the crook of his arm while he summoned up heat and softness, everything a skeleton usually couldn’t offer.

That was all well and good, but as she turned toward him, trying to reach up around his neck, something weird happened. He allowed her to stand on the ground and rest her weight against him, her arms sliding under his coat and over his bony shoulders; he’d almost gotten used to that amazing, fluttery, possessive thing his SOUL did when she was on him, but this time, it got physically warmer, and he felt like something was…leaving him? What—

Frisk’s whole body jerked. She pulled her head back enough to stare at him. “Sans? What did you do?!”

“I…” Sans had to close his sockets against a rush of dizziness. “I dunno.”

The priestess withdrew her arms and looked down at her hands. She raised one and snapped her fingers, and another barrier roared to life around them. “What the crap, Frisk?” Sans rasped. “Ya don’t have the strength fer that!”

“I do now,” she said blankly. “How…how did you give me magic directly? Is it—”

Just like that, the dizziness had become full-on vertigo. “Sansy needs t’go night-night,” the skeleton mumbled, and the darkness politely stepped up to pull him back down with it.

A band of poachers had made camp near the river. Their sentry glanced up from his breakfast, then leapt to his feet and called out as someone emerged from the morning mist. “Whoa! Easy, pal,” said the stranger, stopping a polite distance away and holding his hands up. “We’re not lookin’ for trouble. I’m just checkin’ somethin’.” He made a strange face, as if he wasn’t entirely sure how faces worked. “Have ya heard who’s s’posed to be out here right now?”

“Maybe,” the sentry admitted. He eyed the interloper’s oddly pale hair, the contrast it made with his black coat and red shirt, and lowered his crossbow. “Depends what you’ve heard.”

“Someone from the High Priestess is passin’ through, doin’ somethin’ with a buncha monsters,” said the newcomer, lowering his arms very slowly. “I was makin’ sure ya weren’t them. We’re pretty new at this, so—”

The sentry gave a bark of laughter. “Dumbass! It’s the High Priestess. She’s out here with nine or ten monsters, all by herself.”

“Really?” The stranger blinked too many times. “Hot damn.” He laughed, too, sort of. “Too bad we can’t get magic outta her, huh?”

The sentry leered at him in male camaraderie. “Ever seen her in person? I know what I’d get out of her!” He slapped his leg, oblivious to the stranger’s twitching eye and clenched fists. “Well, if you’re new to the business, take it from me: keep any humans you find and save ‘em for ransom, ‘specially her.”

Blink. “Ransom?”

“Yeah. Ransom,” the poacher said impatiently. “You know who her dad is, right?”

The pale-haired stranger blinked again. “Duke Whatshisface?”

“Seriously?” The sentry shook his head in disbelieving pity. “Her dad’s the King, dipshit. You never heard about it?” He gestured expansively with the crossbow, enjoying the stranger’s dumbfoundment. “No joke. The old man used to fuck anything that’d hold still long enough. There’s five or six kids left that we know of, and she’s his favorite.” His grin broadened. “You really didn’t know? Man, you’re fuckin’ stupid.” He flapped his hand. “Get out of here. Go on home before you trip ‘n kill yourself.”

In a daze, the stranger put his hands in his pockets and turned around. “Oh, by the way,” he said, and without warning, something erupted from the ground, impaling the sentry’s foot.

His screams brought his comrades running to see him clutching a huge white bone sticking out of the bedrock, and a stranger pointing wildly toward the river. “Holy crap, it came from over there!” he shouted. “It’s that big-ass skeleton thing! It’s definitely over there!”

Only one of the poachers tried to say, “Who’re you?” before another line of projectiles slammed into the ground heading away from them; he ran to follow the rest of the group, leaving the luckless sentry to try to wrestle the bone free. When he looked up to demand the stranger help him, there was no one there.

“Fuckin’ fuckstick,” Sans muttered to himself from a few hundred yards away, jerking a hand to summon more bones and make it seem like they were still under attack. “I oughta fuckin’…” He kicked a rock so hard that it hurt his stupid wimpy human toe.

Fuck-a-duck. He couldn’t go back to camp like this. With the mist covering him and the poachers haring off in the opposite direction, he could think things over for a minute, starting with whether Frisk had ever come out and said who her father was.

…No, she never had. He’d just remembered something about Rosa – who he now knew wasn’t even her mom – working for a duke, and reached a reasonable conclusion that was totally wrong. It was probably such an open secret that she either hadn’t thought to tell him or hadn’t wanted to in case he treated her any differently. She was probably sick of that already…

Sans was too lost in thought to see something moving in the mist, following him away from the poachers’ camp along the riverbank. When he absently turned to stare at the water, it vanished, only to reappear as he turned again.

So, Frisk had pulled this crazy stunt because there was nothing else she could do about the monsters being sold. According to everything Sans had seen, only the Cardinal or the King could go over her head; therefore, while Duke Whatshisass was in charge of doling the monsters out to new owners, it probably wasn’t him who’d actually decided to sell them. The Cardinal hadn’t bothered her since she said she’d be retiring, and she hadn’t mentioned him at all, which just left the King.

Sans had seen for himself how much the old man treated her like a daughter, go figure. Knowing Frisk, she’d probably told His Majesty to his face that she intended to free those monsters, and he’d decided to keep her out of serious legal trouble and also remind her who was boss by ordering them sold right away. No wonder she’d been willing to flip him the bird right back by stealing the monsters and getting public opinion on her side.

Against all logic, Sans felt his poofy lips curling upward. In a weird way, this was the push he needed to be a little less miserable about not deserving her and a bit more smug that she’d picked him over the zillion guys desperate to snag an illegitimate princess. At this point, she transcended the concept of anyone deserving her. He still thought he sucked, but so what? If he hadn’t imagined what she’d said the other night, then…

The mist was beginning to thin out as the sun came up. Sans paused and glanced behind him, but nothing was there. He turned back toward their camp, reaching for his chain. Better not confront her about something she hadn’t really been hiding in the first place, though now he was determined to ask about her m—

Only the hiss of something flying through the air alerted him in time to fling up a wall of bones, barely deflecting a blow aimed at his neck. Before he could even swear aloud, more things came at him, and he instinctively turned to run away from their camp.

“Hey! HEY!” a voice shouted. Sans’ human ears perked up at the sound. “Come back here, meat-wad!”

His aim wavered as he threw a wave of pointed bones behind him, just missing the figure in the mist. It easily caught one and threw it straight back at him, only to see it glance off another wall of bone. “You!” the figure snarled. “How did you get Sans’ magic? Where is he?! Tell me, you damn coward!”

Sans dodged another one. “Hey!” Dodge. “Hey, listen, ya crazy broad! It’s—”

“Sans?” They both froze at the sound of Frisk’s voice. “Sans, where are you?”

The boss monster finally understood that expression about blood running cold. Fighting chills, he turned his head and opened his mouth to tell Frisk to run.

That moment of distraction was all the figure needed: Frisk came up just in time to see a bone spin end over end and smash into the back of his head, nearly knocking him out.

The High Priestess had heard Sans’ attack on the poachers as she was balancing a frying pan on Vulkin, who’d volunteered to help cook breakfast. Frisk just prayed Sans could divert them without killing anyone, or that he would at least try.

Several minutes later, though, he hadn’t returned. She was passing the pancakes around and had retrieved the bucket for more water when she heard shouting. Her stomach lurched at the sound of bones breaking. Sans!

Telling the monsters to stay put, Frisk reflexively grasped the bucket handle and ran out of the warded camp, keeping another barrier ready. “Sans?” She looked around, squinting through the last tendrils of mist. “Sans, where are you?”

She saw him a split-second before someone threw one of his own bones straight back at him. Frisk choked on a scream as he hit the ground, blood darkening the sand. “Sa—"

“Hey. You.”

Frisk gulped as their attacker advanced on her from the edge of the water. “What’d you say about Sans, human? You know where he is?” The tall monster emerged from the mist, removing her helmet as she glared down with one mostly-yellow eye. “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you took out a boss monster! How’d you do it? Cheating?” She almost spat the last word. “Start talking, you—”

“Undyne?” Despite her fear, Frisk smiled. “Undyne, it’s you!”

A spearpoint flashed in the air, stopping the priestess as she tried to step forward. “How’d you get my name? Did you torture it out of someone, human? Huh? Was it Sans?!” The spear poked at Frisk, forcing her backward. “Tell you what,” Undyne snapped, pivoting toward the human-shaped boss monster, who was still struggling to get up. “Let’s assume you care at all about your accomplice here. Either you tell me what I want to know, or…” The spear rose.

“No!” In sheer panic, Frisk threw a barrier between Sans and the other monster.

A moment later, she realized her mistake: Undyne had only been threatening him, but as she looked back at Frisk, her gaze was now murderous. “That’s it! That’s how you did it! You used a frickin’ barrier!” She stomped the ground so hard that Frisk felt the bedrock tremble. “I ought to gut you like a fish, you damn cheater! Do you hear me? A FISH!”

“Wait!” The priestess held up her hands, too distressed to be amused by Undyne’s choice of words. “Undyne, please! I’m—” She bit her lip. That wouldn’t work; Undyne wouldn’t believe that she was Kris. It might make her so angry that she’d try to kill them outright. Frisk racked her brains for some way to prove it—she had never shown Undyne her scars, but…

The Royal Guard Captain scowled deeper, this time in puzzlement, as Frisk stared at the bucket dangling from her forearm. “You’re what, human?” Undyne demanded.

Frisk swallowed hard. “I want to show you something,” she said, and took a deliberate side-step toward the water, ignoring the raised spear. “It’s not a barrier, and it’s not some kind of trick. Just watch, all right? And don’t hurt him!”

Undyne glanced around them in case this was a diversion, and at Sans, now lying still and silent. Frisk saw him, too, and her expression made Undyne lower her spear ever so slightly. “What is it? Make it quick!”

Frisk took a deep breath. To Undyne’s bewilderment, the human’s expression went neutral. She went to the river, dipped up a half bucket of water, carried it back to Undyne, and threw it into her face.

Through the haze of pain and gut-wrenching fear, Sans distantly heard Undyne yelling at Frisk, and he felt the barrier she put up to protect him. He wanted to shake her for thinking of him and not herself, and for showing Undyne she could do it. Then there was a dreadful silence, and he couldn’t get up to—

“NGAHHHHHHH!”

Sans threw himself forward, not quite gaining his feet. Hitting the ground again on all fours, he looked frantically for Undyne and whatever horrible things she was doing to—

Frisk was dangling, not from a spear’s bloody point, but from Undyne’s bear hug as the dripping-wet monster swung the human in time to a joyous bellow of “My little bestiiiiiiiiie!”

What the…no, never mind. With an effort, Sans pulled off his disguise and tried not to collapse as the world lurched sideways. “Ow,” he muttered, just to be part of the moment.

Undyne froze, not quite releasing Frisk. “Sans? What the—where’ve you been?” she demanded.

Sans’ glare would have set a lesser monster ablaze on the spot. “Almost gettin’ murdered by yer crazy ass!”

“Really?” Undyne looked puzzled. Then her face lit up. “Ohh, that was you! Ha!” She gave her giant-toothed grin. “Sorry about that, boss. How’d you do that? And why were you saying all that crap to that human back there?”

“I was tryin’ ta throw him off our trail! We’re the monsters and the High Priestess!” Sans sat up and raised one hand to heal his aching skull, indicating Frisk with the other. “Now let ‘er go before ya squeeze her t’death!”

“Hm? Oh, right.” Undyne set Frisk down, letting the priestess catch her breath. “So you’re Kris, huh?” The Captain planted her hand on one hip, watching Frisk brush herself off. “Did you know she was a girl?” she asked Sans.

“Nope. She had us all fooled.” Sans closed his eyes to focus his magic. Fuckin’ Undyne. If he hadn’t been a boss monster, that would’ve killed him!

“It wasn’t my idea,” Frisk protested as she picked up the bucket. “I was only ten, and they said it’d be safer. Can I help you with that, Sans?”

Undyne waved her spear. “Whatever! You’re here now! Ignore him, he’s being a big baby.” She glanced around. “Let’s move out before any more damn humans show up. No offense.” Frisk inclined her head. “You say you’ve got more people with you?”

If the monsters had been happy to see Sans, they nearly turned to dust when Undyne strolled into camp and announced that she would be escorting them the rest of the way home. Once everyone had calmed down, Sans had to admit the fish-lady knew how to get people moving: they scarfed down the remaining pancakes and some leftover oranges, then loaded right up and took off toward the Underground.

“Man…” Undyne was holding it together better than he had the first time he found himself inside a barrier, only betraying her fear of the dome overhead with a tighter grip and her eye darting back and forth. “I can’t believe it. She really is the High Priestess, huh?”

“Yep.” Sans was very pointedly nonchalant, sauntering along as the barrier crackled and the fish monster twitched. Served her right. “She coulda killed me a zillion times over, but she never did. Hell, I tried ta kill her a few times, an’ she smacked me down without hurtin’ me.”

Undyne shook her head. “It’s just…Kris is back, and he’s a she, and she’s the High Priestess, and she’s crazy strong…but she’s still Kris. It’s a lot to take in, you know?”

“Tell me about it.” Sans adjusted his grip on the shafts. He was pulling one wagon, and Undyne was pulling the other one alongside him; all it’d taken to get her going was a hint that she couldn’t do it. She was puffing a bit, but doing well now that they were moving. “So how’d you suddenly know it was her?” the skeleton asked.

“It was from the first time Papyrus introduced us,” Frisk said from the driver’s seat behind him. “I thought Undyne must’ve been upset because she was thirsty, so I grabbed a flower vase and tried giving her some water. …In her face.”

Sans guffawed, freeing one hand to slap his femur. “How’d that work out? Did the nice fish say ‘thank you’?”

“No, she just looked surprised. I thought she was feeling better, so I went back and—”

“The little punk tried to do it again! It was the stupidest thing I’d ever seen, but the kid wasn’t scared of me at all.” Undyne shook her head. “Then the King ordered us to be friends with the humans, so I figured I’d be the best damn friend Kris ever had.”

“And you were.” Frisk sighed. “When we get there, Undyne, I have something for you. In fact, we brought gifts for everyone. Did Alphys ever read the last two Adventure Lady novels?”

“Nah, and it’s been bugging her for years, the poor—” Undyne’s eye widened. “No. You didn’t!”

Sans let them chatter, profoundly grateful that they weren’t doing that weird thing where women hated each other for no reason. Having Undyne on their side, both physically and for moral support, was worth a dozen other monsters. “Did you get him that outfit?” she asked Frisk, nodding at the boss monster. “He’s been growing nonstop, so after a while, he just quit buying new clothes. It drives Papyrus nuts.”

“He’s my bodyguard, and it pays pretty well,” Frisk explained. “Those were a bonus for helping me shop for everyone.”

“Nice!” Undyne couldn’t reach over and smack him in congratulations, so she contented herself with jerking her head. “Good job, boss. Way to find a nice—what do humans call it? A ‘sugar mama’?”

Frisk burst out laughing and couldn’t stop, Undyne joining in as Sans sputtered. Stupid women, he thought sullenly. Why couldn’t they hate each other instead of giving him shit?

A few hours later, Undyne called a halt. “At this rate, we can get there by nightfall,” she said, offering a hand to the priestess half a second before him. “Er…do you have to, uh, go?”

Frisk looked uncomfortable enough for Undyne to nod hastily and point behind the wagon with her spear. “Not much privacy out here. We’ll just pretend you’re not doing anything, okay? Here, I’ll dig a hole for you.”

If that was awkward – and it was – it was nothing compared to the piscine monster making the others talk to cover the sound of Frisk’s business, then leaning over and whispering to Sans, very matter-of-fact, “Is it just me, or is it weird that Kris turned out to be so damn cute?”

Sans wished the ground wasn’t so flat around here, because then he could find a nice big pit and jump right on in. Luckily, Frisk suddenly said to herself, “Oh, dirt, why now?” and stuck her head beneath the wagon to call, “Undyne? Can you please get the little gray bag out of my satchel for me?”

The Captain obligingly found the only satchel with human clothing in it, rummaged around, and tossed the bag over the wagon and into Frisk’s lap. The young woman mumbled her thanks, but sounded so aggravated that Undyne asked, “What’s up? Are you okay?”

A prolonged sigh. “It’s nothing, just a stupid, ridiculous thing that human females have to put up with.” Frisk came back around a few moments later, stuffing the bag into the satchel. “Now, once we reach the Underground, should we all come in through the Grand Hall, or should Sans and I go through the Ruins into Snowdin?”

Sans exchanged glances with Undyne, who was munching on a roasted potato as if it was an apple. “You’d probably better not go straight to Asgore,” she said reluctantly. “When Snowdrake came back, he was pretty messed up, and the King was…uh…”

“Not happy?” Sans guessed.

Undyne’s eye closed. “Yeah. Not happy.”

“We’ll tell him what happened,” piped up Vulkin from inside the wagon. “We all heard the humans talking. Lady Frisk’s in big trouble for bringing us home, but she’s doing it anyway.”

The monsters made generally affirmative noises, and Frisk managed a smile.

“You are?” Undyne scowled. “Here, we’ve got to get going if we want to make it home before dark. Why don’t you give me the whole story on the way?”

They did, starting with Frisk being brought to the convent after her stint in the Underground and her memories being removed at her father’s request— “Oh, crap, that’s right,” Undyne interrupted. “That scumbag said the King’s your dad. Is that true?”

Frisk looked down at Sans in alarm. “Yeah, that’s what the guy told me,” Sans confirmed, not turning his head. “He was talking about her being worth a lot for ransom.”

The priestess grimaced. “I might not be, after all this.” She swallowed. “I wasn’t sure if you knew. I’m sorry if I—”

Sans made himself shrug. “It’s fine, kit—kiddo. Not like ya ever actually lied about it.”

“I don’t get it,” said Undyne. “If your dad’s the king, why aren’t you a princess?”

“Because I was one of many, many children the king had with women he wasn’t married to,” Frisk replied. “To be a princess, I’d have to have come from his actual wife. The first queen died childless, and his second wife died having the Prince.”

Undyne started. “Wait, so he…with just anyone, and you didn’t even count? What the hell is wrong with humans?”

“There’s the million-g question,” Sans mumbled.

Frisk sighed. “Anyway,” she said, “once I stopped begging to go back to the Underground, I settled down and studied as hard as I could. I was ordained a priestess when I was sixteen—”

The story continued until it was time for Sans to pick up with how he’d been caught by a party of five sorcerers almost a month ago. “I figured I’d hang out in jail until someone came ta get me, then kill ‘em,” he said conversationally, “but guess who came strollin’ downstairs?”

“The Duke asked me for help. There was a huge monster in the cells, and no one could decide who would be suitable to take him,” said Frisk. “I figured he must be a boss monster, and I scared them with stories about how powerful he was and how lucky they were that he hadn’t destroyed half the castle already. Then I said I’d take care of him.”

“And you tried to kill her?” Undyne snapped at Sans.

“Tried to burn ‘er, squish her, and blast her,” the boss monster said, almost proudly. “Nothin’ worked. Next thing I knew, I’d signed up fer a month of bein’ a witch ta learn how to grow better crops.”

“Which turned out to be much closer to three weeks, thanks to His Majesty,” Frisk said sourly. “I had each of these monsters taken from humans who were mistreating them so badly that even the Church wouldn’t allow it anymore, and I brought them out here to keep them from being sold again.” Even over the sound of the wheels crunching on sandy rock, they could hear her teeth grinding. “The King knew what I wanted to do, but he thought I shouldn’t have to worry my pretty little head about it anymore, so here we are.”

Sans considered pointing out that the King probably just wanted to keep her out of trouble, but decided he’d rather not be murdered. Undyne’s sole contribution was “…Damn.”

They rolled along in silence. “In three days or so, we can go back to the village and pick up the grain and other things Sans ordered,” the priestess said. “It won’t feed the entire Underground, but it will help.”

“That reminds me, Undyne—ya know the big farm over that way with the maple trees?” Sans nodded in a direction. “She’s gonna get it fer us.”

The Captain gaped at him. “She what?”

“I shit you not,” said Sans. “The human who owned it croaked, an’ she’s been negotiatin’ ta buy it. Turns out bein’ High Priestess makes ya super rich.”

Undyne muttered something under her breath, taking a fresh grip on the wagon shafts. Then her head swiveled, and without being told, Frisk immediately began whistling again. The air around them, which had been a translucent gold, solidified until it was nearly opaque. “They can’t see or hear us at all?” asked the fish monster, glancing up warily.

Frisk shook her head, and paused long enough to say, “They’d have to literally be touching the barrier to know we’re here.”

“No kidding?” Undyne squinted to watch the far-off group of humans through the barrier. Sure enough, they were moving away. “So,” she said presently, “how long are you gonna stay this time? Another month?”

“’Bout ten days,” Sans answered for her.

Undyne nodded slowly. The whistling stopped, and the human said, “Yes, if all goes well. It depends how long Asgore will let us stay, and what we’ll be allowed to bring back to the castle afterwards.”

“‘We’?” repeated the Captain.

It took Sans a second to realize what Undyne was even asking. He and Frisk had yet to discuss whether he’d be coming back to the castle after her visit, but the possibility of leaving her hadn’t even occurred to him, and she obviously felt the same way. “Yeah, I’ve gotta learn more witchy crap,” he said, hiding his elation. “Plus, the more monster stuff she gets ta show the other humans, the less trouble she’ll get in fer cartin’ these guys off in the first place.”

“And I’m not pulling the wagons back on my own,” Frisk added.

“Got it,” Undyne murmured, and Sans breathed an inward sigh of relief. Another thing they needed to hash out: what to tell the other monsters about…whatever they were now. Everything still depended on him working on himself, didn’t it? It would be easier to learn to control his magic in the proper directions inside the Underground. Who knew? Maybe if he kept thinking happy thoughts and not actively loathing himself, it’d really be possible. Maybe, if he was in good enough shape by the time they straightened things with Asgore, they could really—

The priestess resumed whistling, snapping him out of it. Undyne began bobbing her head along with the melody, and immediately started getting the rhythm wrong, but Sans decided not to say anything; he had a lot more thinking to do before they got home.

Very much against her will, they left Undyne just out of sight of the Underground’s principal entrance. She would announce their arrival, see the monsters to each of their homes, and then report to Asgore; knowing the King would insist on the wagons being inspected before he allowed them inside, they would also remain here.

Undyne checked over the little group of monsters as they climbed out, then paused. “Hey. Sans? Are you…gonna talk to Her Majesty?”

Frisk knew a loaded question when she heard one. Sure enough, Sans took a much longer time to reply than usual. “Yeah, I kinda have to. If she’s asleep already, I’ll leave ‘er a note.”

“Okay.” The Captain picked up her helmet from one of the shafts, pulled it back on, and nodded to them. “I’ll be in Snowdin as soon as His Majesty’s done with me. Good luck, guys.”

“We’ll see you soon,” Frisk replied, giving her a smile and ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. This was it. They were here!

The monsters trotted off, and they very faintly heard Undyne hail the sentries from atop the rise. “Welp,” Sans said. “This way.” Frisk obediently grabbed her satchel, which she’d stuffed with apples and potatoes, and set off after him, trying to be happy and grateful and not on the verge of barfing.

It was another cold, boring day in Snowdin. The monsters were pretty sure they knew what was going to happen today – nothing – and that it was going to keep happening, and it was hard to care much about it anymore. Sure, Papyrus kept nattering about how Sans and a mysterious human had told him they were going to come back to the Underground soon and everything would be all right, but…Papyrus. The denizens of Snowdin carried on with nothing as usual, secure in the knowledge that—

Every monster in town stopped what they weren’t doing and looked around in confusion. Magic was building in the air like smoke from a barely contained fire; there was a hhhwp, and in the empty space in front of the skeleton brothers’ house, there now stood a boss monster in black slippers and a tiny human peeking out from beneath his overcoat. “I told you to wait,” she scolded him, moving the coat aside like a giant curtain.

“What? You were the one whinin’ about how cold it was,” retorted the skeleton.

“Hey!” To their surprise, Undyne sprang up from where she’d been sitting on the step. “Where have you nerds been?” she snapped. “It’s been five frickin’ hours! Were you talking to Her Majesty, or what?”

“Nah, we got lost in the Ruins,” said Sans. “Tori’s asleep, so I left her a note like I said. What’re you doin’ here already? Is everyone okay?”

Undyne looked at them narrowly, then said, “Yeah, it turned out Asgore was already in the Grand Hall, so we didn’t have to waste time finding him.” She had changed into the outfit Frisk remembered: a short jacket, wool shirt, long pants and red boots. “Everyone’s home by now. I left Ice Cap with his family a few minutes ago.”

Frisk nodded gratefully. “What did the King say?” she asked, setting her satchel down.

Undyne hesitated. “Well…he was happy to see everyone, but then they started talking about how the High Priestess was coming in through Snowdin, and he wasn’t happy anymore.”

“How not-happy is he, exactly?” Sans demanded. “Is Frisk in any danger?”

“Nope. The others kept going on about how you saved them from the other humans, and when I told him you were Kris, he got really quiet.” Undyne put her hands in her jacket pockets. “He said you could stay until we ‘know your true intentions.’ I have to babysit you, and he wants to talk to Sans as soon as possible, but that’s it.”

Sans and Frisk breathed sighs of relief. “Good enough,” said the boss monster. He stood on tiptoe, the better to see most of the way across Snowdin. “Where’s Pap?”

Shrug. “I don’t know. No one’s in the house. He must be at the store or something.”

Frisk rubbed her arms unconsciously, turning in circles to look around them, especially at the light-spangled house. “I can’t believe it,” she murmured. “I—” She swiped at her eyes.

The Royal Guard Captain stepped over to the High Priestess and put an arm around her shoulders. “You know what? May I be the first, K—Frisk, to say: welcome back.” She gave the human what was, for her, a gentle squeeze. “C’mon. We’ll introduce you to everyone again. We can take it nice and slow, no pressure to—HEY!” Undyne had spotted a nearby cluster of monsters staring at them. “What are you looking at? Haven’t you ever seen a human before? I know you have!” She pointed at Frisk, who was still tucked beneath her arm. “Remember Kris?”

Frisk quickly forgot her irritation as several monsters hurried over. “Kris! Bro!” One dinosaur-like creature shouldered its way through the crowd, hopping from foot to foot. “Is that really you? Do you remember me? Hi, Undyne!”

Of course she remembered Monster Kid, who was only a little bigger now, still wearing the same armless sweater—twelve years obviously didn’t go as fast for monsters as it did for humans! There was the bunny who ran the store, Gyftrot – stuff still dangling from his horns – a couple of the various dogs she’d petted and thrown sticks for…

Once the first wave of pleasantries had subsided, it was time to tell them the reason for her visit, what Sans had been up to, and why “Kris” had turned out to be a lady. She noticed a few of those who hadn’t greeted her falling back to go spread the news, but saw no signs of Papyrus.

She wasn’t the only one: right in the middle of a very important discussion on someone’s baby sister being ready to hatch soon, Sans let out a growl that shut everyone up at once. “Where’s my brother?” he asked.

Shrugs and mumbles all around. “He was staring at the river again,” volunteered Gyftrot.

Sans waited for more information, then nodded. “Okay, everyone,” he told the little crowd. “We’re gonna head inside for a minute. If anyone sees Pap, don’t tell him I’m back yet, don’t mention Kris, and don’t do anything to freak him out. Got it?”

A chorus of agreement. “Don’t freak out,” someone said helpfully to Papyrus, who had just stepped into view.

Papyrus froze, staring up at Sans. “BROTHER?” he said. Then: “BROTHER! NYEHHH HEH HEHHHHH!” He leaped up and threw his arms around Sans’ massive ribcage, doing a pullup of sheer joy. “YOU’RE HERE! YOU’RE REALLY HERE THIS TIME, LAZYBONES! I THOUGHT…THE GREAT PAPYRUS THOUGHT—”

“Yeah,” Sans mumbled. “Hey, Pap.” He hugged him back for a long moment, then glanced downward. “She said she’d bring me back safe, didn’t she?”

Papyrus looked at Frisk, who was grinning. He looked at Undyne, who was grinning and nodding. The younger skeleton released his brother and launched himself straight at his best friend, tackling her with a wail of “THANK YOU, UNDYYYYNE! NYEHH!” Before the Captain could correct him, Papyrus dropped her and caught Frisk up in a less forceful but similarly enthused hug. “THANK YOU, HUMAAAAN! I—” He stopped, and turned his head to look at her quizzically. “NYEH. WHY AM I THANKING YOU, HUMAN?”

“Ya met ‘er the last time we talked, Pap, in the dream,” Sans reminded him. “An’ you were right. She is Kris.”

Papyrus blinked, still holding on to her. “I SEE,” he said sagely. “NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE THE GREAT PAPYRUS WAS RIGHT! I…I…” His eyes rolled up, and Sans caught Frisk just before she hit the snow along with the fainting skeleton.

“Geez. He probably hasn’t eaten anything or slept in a couple days. No worries, we can fix that!” Undyne punched Sans reassuringly in the ribs, then bent and rummaged in her friend’s “armor,” helping herself to the house key before slinging Papyrus over her shoulder. “Listen up!” she shouted at the assembled monsters. “This is all very exciting, but these guys’ve been traveling for a couple days straight to bring the others back to us. We’ll see everyone in the morning, okay?” She poked Sans as he turned to teleport into the house. “Not you! Asgore’s waiting. Get your bony butt over to Alphys’ place before he comes looking for you.”

Frisk gripped his sleeve, but she made herself say calmly, “It’s fine. We’ll be here when you get back,” as she picked up her satchel.

He stared at her for a moment, then gently removed her hand, and was gone.

Undyne let them into the house, flipping the witchlights on and kicking the door shut as Frisk walked into the living room. It wasn’t the biggest or nicest of dwellings, and it didn’t help that Papyrus had probably been stress-cleaning—it would explain why the couch cushions were still damp from the last time he’d mopped them, and why the pet rock by the kitchen was barely visible under a pile of rock-candy shards. Had Sans set those out for his brother to use, just waiting for the pun to sneak up and hit him out of nowhere?

“Here you go, Pap,” Undyne said briskly, tramping up the stairs while Frisk marveled at how much smaller everything was than she remembered. The priestess heard her deposit Papyrus in his pirate-ship bed, slam the door behind her, and come back down to pull a kitchen chair out for Frisk. “Have a seat. Sorry, but they don’t have anything in the fridge.”

“That’s all right,” Frisk said. She unbuckled the satchel and offered Undyne an apple.

The Captain took it politely, but as Frisk glanced down to dig another one out for herself, the monster chomped the apple nearly in half, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. “So,” she said casually, “what were you and Sans up to in the Ruins? No one’s dumb enough to just get lost in there for that long.”

Frisk felt her face grow stiff and hot. “I had to stop and rest because I used too much magic today,” she answered truthfully, and Undyne nodded. “I…actually, maybe you’d know this—is it possible for someone to directly give someone else some of their magic?”

The Captain paused, her eyebrows rising, a smile growing into a giant grin. “Haven’t you heard of—”

Frisk’s face got even hotter. “Not like that! I just mean, if you were weak and needed a little extra power, could, say, Asgore or Alphys give you a handshake, or a hug, and lend you some magic?”

“Nope. They couldn’t.” When Frisk looked skeptical, Undyne sighed, then made a fist. “Look, pretend this is my SOUL.” Another fist. “This one is…we’ll say Alphys.” Frisk wondered if it was her imagination, or if her friend’s face was turning red, almost purple under the smaller blue scales. “My body’s made of magic, and so is hers. But my SOUL is self-contained, and so is hers. Even if I took a chunk of my magic and handed it to Alphys—” She knocked her fists together. “Nothing would happen. She can heal me, but that’s just repairing damage, not giving me power that I could use to attack someone or do my own spells, assuming I knew any. There’s no way to combine or exchange magic unless you’re trying to have a kid, and that’s a whole different thing. It takes a lot of power and concentration, and…it’s different.” She was definitely purple now. “Why are you even asking?”

The priestess thought about it. She made a fist, and loosened her fingers until she could slide the fingers of her other hand through it. “After you left today, I was tired, and Sans gave me some of his magic again,” she said distantly. “Monsters can absorb a human SOUL, but…” Her fingers wiggled. “I don’t think it works both ways. Humans can’t take a monster’s SOUL, at least not directly into ourselves.”

Undyne suddenly looked very, very uncomfortable. “That’s true,” she commented, “for normal monsters. For Sans, the rules are a little different.”

Frisk was so startled that she dropped her hands. “Are you saying I was able to take some of his SOUL because I’m human and he’s a boss monster?!”

“Hell no!” the Captain snapped. More calmly, she said, “It doesn’t work like that. If you really took something from him that he couldn’t get back, he’d be acting a lot weaker, or he’d be dust already.” She shrugged. “If he did somehow give you magic and you had to wait for him to recover, and he did, then nah, there’s no permanent damage.”

That was something to think about. Frisk remembered last night, when she’d just wanted him to hold her. There was that jolt of energy, and he’d almost immediately passed out… She thought of a few hours back, when she’d gotten anxious and her magical exhaustion had suddenly kicked in, forcing her to sit down. Sans had – somewhat correctly – assumed that she was getting cold feet, gotten impatient, and picked her up, and when she turned to put her arms around him, it’d happened again.

Then, of course, they’d been in a uniquely ridiculous quandary where she was brimming with magic that wouldn’t help them get anywhere, and he couldn’t even stand up. Thank God she’d had something for him to eat in her satchel, or they might have been stuck out there all night waiting for him to recover. When she half-jokingly suggested she try giving his magic back to him, he’d almost bitten her head off.

Wait. Wait a second. If his magic was supposed to be so dark and terrible and evil, etc., how had she not felt anything like that from him, much less been poisoned? Frisk had the sudden, idiotic, schoolgirl-ish urge to giggle—did the good magic come out of the top half of his body, while the evil stuff came out of the other thing?

Undyne was shaking her head in wonder. “You need to tell all this to Alphys. She’d have a better idea of what’s—”

Crack went the window.

Both women whipped around at the sound of shouting outside. Undyne wasted no time, slamming her chair back and throwing the door open to roar, “What the hell is going on?”

A moment of quiet; it might have ended there if Frisk hadn’t peeked around her friend’s shoulder. A group of four or five young monsters stood a few yards away, holding stones, their body language scared but defiant. Their ringleader was a feathery snow monster who looked very familiar. “Chilldrake, isn’t it?” the human asked.

The hoodlums drew back as Undyne’s face darkened. “What do you want, kid?” she snapped. “If you’ve got a good reason for breaking Pap’s window, I’m listening!”

“We want her gone,” the drake said, shifting his feet and glaring at Frisk. “Haven’t you seen Snowdrake? He’s not Snowdrake anymore! How can you let a human in here after what they did to him?!”

“And what if she blows us up?” his friend added.

Undyne grabbed a spear from thin air and thrust it in the monsters’ direction. They shrank back, but stood their ground. “That’s not up to a bunch of kids like you,” the Royal Guard Captain snarled. “His Majesty said she could stay. Are you telling me you know better than Asgore?”

They shuffled back again, but a moment later, Chilldrake drew himself up. “Does he know she’s the humans’ High Priestess?” He raised his voice for the monsters standing nearby to hear: “Does he know she makes barriers?”

That got an anxious murmur going. Frisk felt sick; this was everything she’d been afraid of, no matter what Undyne said, or Sans. She glanced around instinctively, but he wasn’t there.

“He knows way more than you do, punk!” snarled Undyne. She advanced down the steps, leaving Frisk in the doorway. “Now get out of here before I get you out of here!”

“Fine!” Chilldrake shook his ruff, dancing a little in place. “If she’s here, it’s not safe anyway! We should all leave before she traps us and drags us off!”

The murmurs were louder and more upset now. The Royal Guard Captain looked at the other monsters in disbelief. “Guys, you were just telling her how glad you were to see her again! She’s the same damn person she was fifteen minutes ago! Are you going to listen to this little—”

“Is she really the High Priestess?” the shopkeeper asked Undyne.

The piscine monster’s face said it all. Too late, she snapped, “It doesn’t matter! She only uses her magic to—”

Everything happened at once. A stone came sailing over Undyne’s head, straight at Frisk, who did not stop to think that it was better to get a black eye or a bad cut than to confirm their worst fears. Reflex kicked in, and a barrier flared in front of her, pinging the rock away.

Her one piece of luck was that every monster froze in place instead of screaming or running to spread the tale of the human who had snuck Underground to use barriers on them—every monster but Chilldrake. “See?” he screamed, flapping his wings so hard that ice crystals flurried off them. “What did I just tell you?! Get out, human! We don’t want you here, and if I have to go tell His Majesty that you’re using barriers, I’ll—”

Whump.

It wasn’t a rock, or a spear, or a barrier. A ball of pure flame struck the ground in front of Chilldrake, who yelped and hopped backward, crashing into his friends.

The monsters’ heads turned toward the magic’s source, the edge of the field to Frisk’s right; each one immediately dropped to their knees or the equivalent thereof, with the hoodlums dropping the rocks and throwing themselves flat on their faces.

Undyne took one look, shook her hand to dispel the energy spear, and went to one knee as another monster advanced. “Your Majesty,” she said in wonder, then apprehension. Her head ducked. “Majesty, I can fully explain and take responsibility for—”

A gesture silenced her. The monster came to stand in front of the house, her amber eyes coming to rest on the High Priestess, features impassive.

Frisk’s heart constricted. She was suddenly ten years old again, not knowing whether to be afraid, whether she should bow or do something royal. She came down the steps, and to her horror, she found herself breathing harder, eyes prickling, throat tightening. “Lady Toriel,” she whispered.

Toriel folded her arms at the waist. She wore a plain robe, adorned only with the Delta Rune in white—the same thing Asriel had worn the day she fell into the Underground, only purple instead of black. The former Queen regarded Frisk for a long, terrible moment. “Where is the human named Kris?” she asked sternly.

It took all of Frisk’s training, all her experience as an exalted and lonely member of the Church’s highest echelon, to speak up. “The human child you knew was not a boy, and his name was not Kris. He was a girl, and his name was Frisk.” She swallowed. “I am Frisk.” Damn it, her voice wouldn’t stay steady. “I’m back, Lady Toriel. Please—”

Toriel took a step toward her. Another, and another. Her white-furred hand came up to brush Frisk’s hair from her face. The boss monster stared into her eyes…

And she stooped, opening her arms and folding Frisk into a huge, warm, cloud-soft hug.

Everything pent up behind Frisk’s defenses rose in a surge that crumbled the walls like wet paper. She still smelled like cinnamon and golden flowers, Frisk realized, and she wasn’t ashamed to grab hold of the velvet robe and get it soaked with tears again.

“My poor child,” the boss monster murmured, stroking Frisk’s hair as the priestess’ shoulders heaved. “My poor, dear girl. I’ve missed you so much.” She hugged her tighter. “I cannot tell you how very glad I am to see you again.”

Frisk was sobbing without restraint now, not caring what anyone saw or heard or thought of her. Toriel rested her hand on the back of the young woman’s head and looked up for the first time, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Am I to understand that this human is not welcome here?” She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t have to. “Would anyone like to say anything?”

Chilldrake had collapsed in on himself. His beak moved, but all he could muster was “…High Priestess, Majesty.”

Toriel’s hand grew heavier. “Is this true, my child? You’ve become the High Priestess?”

Frisk didn’t have the courage to raise her head. She just nodded.

The boss monster inhaled, and sighed, her diaphragm moving under Frisk’s cheek. “Then we are very fortunate to have you, Frisk.” She glanced up, once. “Wouldn’t you agree, young man?”

Chilldrake did not nod so much as vibrate his head too fast for it to be visible.

“Splendid. We…what, my child?” Toriel listened as Frisk turned her head to mumble more clearly. “They broke Sans and Papyrus’ window? My word.”

Frisk didn’t see who rushed forward, but she heard a scramble to be the first to check the cracked glass and figure out how to fix or replace it or something right now.

Toriel waited for the priestess to get herself under control, then stepped back and took Frisk’s hand. “Captain,” she said, and Undyne was instantly on her feet, fist on her chest. “We have much to discuss. Please accompany us.” And with as much grace and ceremony as if the old house had been a marble palace, the boss monster went inside, allowing Undyne to glare once more at the crowd, then shut the door gently behind them.

#songfell man i love my mom but

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ut-shifted-pieces · 4 years ago

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Shifted Pieces III

The Lonely Prince

The first fully original AU, as voltra only presented the roles for the shifts from here on out. Enjoy!

Buttercup, the Soulless Vessel

A strange red flower that doesn’t seem to like Frisk, or any humans for that matter. It’s certainly unique — the closest flowers to this one are usually yellow.

Sans, the Caretaker of the Ruins

Sans came to the Ruins cause he thought watching for humans would be easier than being the king.

Toriel, the Loner

Toriel visits the Ruins to check on Sans, for his sake. She’s still heartbroken after losing her children, and just wants something to fill that void.

Undyne, the Observer

Undyne used to work for the Royal Science Division, but she was fired after discovering she had abused a chemical discovered in the lab. Now she can’t find a job.

Alphys, the Snowdin Sentry

Eager to find validation in the world, Alphys decided the best course of action was to try to get a position in the Royal Guard... but is this really what she wants?

Napstablook, the Captain of the Royal Guard

As a favor from Papyrus to Mettaton, Napstablook was offered the job of leading the Royal Guard. This way, they can stay close to Mettaton... but they honestly feel a bit overwhelmed with such a huge responsibility.

Mettaton, the Royal Scientist

Popularity can stem from many things; in this universe, Mettaton gained it after he presented an idea for a robot body to Papyrus. Not only was he able to create it for himself (albeit with some... physical assistance), he has become quite the scientific star with other inventions as well. He wants to return the favor to Papyrus — it may relieve him of some stress too.

Asgore, the Hotland Celebrity

Asgore is the host of a Mr. Rogers-type show, being just a pinnacle of wholesomeness and hope. Even so, he is still very depressed on the inside...

Papyrus, the Ruler of the Underground

In theory, being the most well-know figure in the Underground is everything Papyrus ever wanted. But having gained it from Sans’ resignation isn’t quite so fun, and it’s even more distressing trying to keep everyone’s hopes up and stay optimistic for what’s to come.

#undertale #undertale au #role swap au #toriel #asgore #sans #papyrus #undyne #alphys #napstablook #mettaton #asriel #chara

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argentdandelion · 5 years ago

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Undyne’s Prejudice (Part 3)

Undyne’s Prejudice (Part 3): Undyne's Improvement

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"So," the reader may be wondering, "Undyne is prejudiced. But surely she's less prejudiced by the end of the game?" While just the hangout seems to lower her anti-human prejudice, it surely doesn’t remove it completely.

At the beginning, she has a few "cracks" in her persistent, severe prejudice. She has a crush on the human-loving Alphys, and enjoys human "history" (manga and anime). Believing anime is real, she thinks humans are “cool” with their “giant robots and flowery swordswomen”. Yet, evidently this is a theoretical admiration; seeing Frisk, she compares them unfavorably to the humans in Alphys’ media, justifying her hatred. Without the hangout, she fares poorly from the loss of her Royal Guard job and wants revenge on even a pacifist Frisk.

While Frisk’s kindness in reviving her doesn’t make her change her mind, Frisk hanging out with her does. She’s initially hostile, no matter the options chosen. However, Papyrus uses a clever bit of psychology. By framing befriending Frisk as a challenge, he sets Undyne's honor and inability to resist a challenge against her prejudice, tricking her into befriending someone she repeatedly tried to kill.

Bizarrely, if Frisk chooses the "incorrect" options, her desire for (retributive) justice manifests as a desire for revenge. For "the perfect revenge", she considers making Frisk enamored with her in the process of becoming "besties". (Despite the fact she didn't befriend Papyrus out of revenge...)

Yet, whether Undyne's improvement sticks or whether she improves more depends on the ending. In the best Neutral ending, in which Undyne was befriended, the Royal Guard is disbanded. Undyne is no longer captain; in fact, she says she "quit her job" (as compared to the less voluntary-sounding "I have a new job now" or "I lost my job”). She doesn't seem unhappy about this. She talks happily about her new job assisting Alphys and being a gym teacher for Toriel's school, and she’s more sympathetic to Frisk about Asgore's death.1

In a variation of that ending where Frisk killed fewer than ten monsters (with or without befriending Undyne), Undyne fares worse. The royal guard is disbanded, and while Papyrus says he has "no idea what to do with [his] life", he says Undyne's "the one that's got it bad". She lost her job and her house, and he and Sans take care of her in a "sleepover there's no escape from". She works at Sans' illegal hot dog stand, and hates her job. Undyne blames Frisk for Asgore's death, and often talks to Papyrus about an unlikely plan to cross the barrier and get revenge on Frisk by beating them up.

If the protagonist killed at least ten monsters after Undyne (Undyne cannot be befriended if monsters are killed first), Undyne hates Frisk even more. She feels hurt, betrayed, and angry at herself for befriending Frisk, when Frisk killed monsters later. Papyrus cannot understate how much Undyne hates Frisk, to the point of warning Frisk never to come back.

Other endings are, of course, even worse for her. In one ending she becomes empress of the Underground, creating a military dictatorship and being determined to kill off humanity.

It's obvious only a situation where Frisk doesn't kill anyone and befriends Undyne lowers her anti-human prejudice, though it's unclear by just how much.

That Improvement is Relative

While Undyne’s prejudice does lessen over a Family Ending (best Neutral ending) or a Post-Pacifist ending, it’s likely she still has some prejudice.

One should compare her to Toriel, Asgore, and Papyrus. Given Asgore lived and likely ruled through a war that killed off most monsters and sealed the rest underground, one might expect him to be prejudiced against humans. Yet, he raised Chara as he would his own child, as did Toriel. While Undyne is angry at humanity for their crimes, Toriel suffered the same fate, and yet took care of several humans over many years.

Papyrus changes his mind about humans rather quickly compared to Undyne. His plan to gain prestige, power, and popularity by joining the Royal Guard depends on capturing a human. Upon seeing Frisk likes puzzles and pasta, he quickly wants to be their friend. When he notices Frisk's interest in puzzles and pasta, he wants to be their friend. Though he dismisses the idea to fight, during the fight he changes his mind: he apparently figured out his plan depended on killing Frisk, or only then did his plan stop being an abstraction. Though he knows the benefits of killing humans, he wants Frisk to stay alive so they can be friends.

It’s possible he changed his mind so fast because his self-concept is malleable (that is, fragile: he lies to Undyne about loving grease), or his goals are so broad they can be achieved in different ways. He doesn’t have as much of a stake in the belief “humans are evil and should die”. In fact, he does what he can to prevent Undyne from killing Frisk without outright lying to her.

Undyne’s beliefs don’t change just by seeing Frisk is nice and pacifistic. Even later, her beliefs don’t change as much.

At first, she doesn’t predict Asgore will try to kill Frisk, despite being such a “fluffy pushover”, because of the war’s popularity. She doesn’t question the morality of the war with humanity. In fact, she’s willing to wait until a “mean human” falls down, and kill them instead. Even by the end of the hangout, she threatens Frisk: not only can she not figure out that Frisk and Asgore may have good reason to fight, but she also says that if Frisk fights Asgore, she’ll absorb some souls, cross the barrier, and kill Frisk herself.

Part 1 → Part 2 → Part 3 (here)

If the Neutral Run is started a second time, Flowey won't kill Asgore after he's defeated. Instead, he will sacrifice himself in his despair so Frisk can pass through the barrier. Undyne excuses Frisk with "you were just doing what you had to" and "it's not your fault he [died]", but it's unclear whether she meant "go past Asgore to the barrier" or "kill Asgore". Undyne would surely cut Frisk some moral slack if she learned (through Flowey) that Asgore killed himself so Frisk could go home, rather than Frisk murdering him. ↩︎

#Undertale #Undyne #Undertale Meta #Undertale Analysis #Undertale Character Analysis #Undyne's Prejudice

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thatpastaguy · 5 years ago

Text

Warm: An Alphyne Short Story

This is a gift fic as part of the @undertalesecretsanta event that happens every year! This year was my first year participating and I had a lot of great fun working and hanging out with all of the people involved. Anyway, this specific fic is for the wonderful @shedpuns who had the request of me writing an Alphys X Undyne fic. She wasn’t super specific with her request so I decided to do what I always do when I have the chance to write about my OTPs. Write an angsty hurt/comfort fic that has so much emotional pain in it that it makes people wonder if I even like the two characters involved. Now without any more stalling let us begin and I hope all of you reading enjoy and have a Merry Christmas!

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Warm: An Alphyne Short Story

One of the things that Undyne hated most about the surface was that it couldn’t make up its damn mind about the weather.

She was, of course, used to living in the underground, a place that was nice and segmented when it came to its climate. Snowdin was cold, Hotland was well...hot, the capital was temperate, and Waterfall her home was rainy and cool.

But upon the surface, the place was ridiculous. It was sweltering some days but on others, it was freezing. She couldn’t understand how humans or anyone could live like this. In a place where it seemed like a dice roll what type of weather it would be.

And apparently, it was warmer now than it was supposed to because of some dumbass human stuff that she wasn’t even going to try and understand. Something about a bunch of gas trapping in heat or something like that. Which somehow Alphys and monster magic was going to help fix? It was all confusing as hell to her.

The only saving grace to any of this was that as Frisk had told her there were things called seasons. Certain periods in the year where they could most of the time rely on the weather being relatively similar. Winter for cold, spring for cool to warm, summer for hot, and fall for cool to cold. There was at least some sense to it.

However, she still had to wait out the seasons she didn’t like. Summer was a definite challenge with her baking in the sun. But winter was definitely the worst. It was so damn cold all of the time making her feeling as if she’d freeze on the spot.

Undyne hated winter above every other season. It was the one that she always waited through with annoyance, begging for spring to come as fast as it possibly could with the sweet warm rain that it brought.

But even if she did loathe winter there were some upsides to it. She did like the holidays that came around that time along with the general sense of togetherness it brought. It always reaffirmed that she had great family and friends.

She also looked back on the chilly days of winter with fondness because of what happened between her and Alphys the first year they were on the surface. It was one of her most cherished memories and always brought a warm toothy smile to the monster’s face.

Alphys and she had been dating for a couple of months and had grown closer with each other. The two of them were, of course, friends before but now had grown into something much more. Into something deeper with more affection. They were more than just friends, they were now lovers and above all else partners.

However, one aspect that had been slow to progress in their relationship was physical intimacy. The two of them had held hands and kissed but the supposed “next step” in their relationship hadn’t come from them. The closest thing they had done to that was share a bed a few weeks prior and that had only happened after some protest from Alphys.

Undyne didn’t really understand why Alphys was so hesitant. She knew she was shy and awkward and would probably take time to get used to doing romantic stuff with her. However, Undyne also thought that a shut-in nerd like her would jump at the chance to get it on with someone awesome like her.

But Alphys just didn’t want to take that step no matter how much Undyne wanted. That is until one brutally cold night in the middle of January.

The two of them had planned a big date to celebrate the first six months of their relationship. Alphys and she had planned a whole evening out with each other. They were going to go out to an anime and manga shop then afterward would go out to eat at this expensive authentic ramen shop in the city.

Undyne was super pumped for it. She didn’t even care about how cold it was going to be. All she cared about was that she was going to spend an amazing night out with the monster she loved.

The former captain of the royal guard was putting on her outfit for their date. It was composed of a cool blue dress shirt with a black jacket over it. She had long suit pants on with stylish black boots.

Undyne had just one of her arms through one of the armholes of the jacket when she heard a knock at her front door. “One minute!” she shouted from her room.

She put on her jacket and then straightened it out before heading out her bedroom. She quickly headed down the stairs and ran right up to the door. Undyne put her hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

Her eye widened as she saw Alphys on the other side of the door. Undyne opened her mouth to say hi but she stopped herself when she saw the state Alphys was in.

Alphys wasn’t dressed in any sort of way for the date. She wore an expression of somber sorrow on her face. Her eyes were red and there seemed to be tear stains on her cheeks. She had been crying and from the evidence on her face, it had been only a short time ago.

Undyne stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, not sure what to say. “...Alphys, are you alright?” she asked while still in shock.

“C-Can I...c-come in?” she shakily asked.

“Yeah, come on in,” Undyne replied. She then moved slightly to the side to let her in.

Alphys slowly walked inside into Undyne’s living room. She quickly slipped out of her winter coat revealing that she was wearing a rather conservative sweater with long pants. She sat down on Undyne’s couch with her head down.

Undyne stared at her wondering what could’ve caused her to be this way. She knew Alphys was sensitive but she hadn’t seen her face like this in a long time. Not since she first met her staring at that dark endless pit in Waterfall.

She down next to Alphys and place a hand on her back. “Alphys, what’s wrong?” she gently asked. “What happened? Did someone make fun of you or something? Oh I know it’s those damn human brats from the next neighborhood over isn’t! I know it must be them! When I see those little bastards again I’m going to kick their asses so damn fast-”

“I-It’s not t-that.” Alphys meekly answered.

Undyne’s temper quickly cooled as soon as she said that. “What is it then Alphys?”

“I-I...I saw o-one of t-the amalgamates t-today.”

Undyne’s blood ran cold. Alphys hadn’t uttered the words amalgamates in a very long time.

“I-I was out t-today d-doing some errands a-and I saw S-Snowdrake’s mother w-with her family,” Alphys explained. She then paused for a second trying to hold back tears. “...T-They said that she w-was doing well. They told me t-that they weren’t h-having any t-trouble adjusting t-to daily l-life on t-the surface. A-All of them seemed h-happy but I-I could t-tell by l-looking at h-her face that she…”

Tears dripped down Alphys’ face as her emotions overtook her. “She was in so much pain!” Alphys exclaimed with her face falling into her hands. “I-I saw that look o-on her f-face and I could see how m-much suffering a-and pain s-she was still in a-all because o-of me! S-She wouldn’t b-be like this if it wasn’t f-for me. I-If it wasn't for my sick e-experiments with d-determination.”

“Hey Alphys, it’s okay,” Undyne said while placing a hand on her shoulder.

“N-No it’s not,” she said with her voice trembling. “I-I’ve caused s-so much pain and e-everyone is just t-trying to t-treat it like it isn’t a big d-deal b-but it is. I-I’m horrible! I shouldn’t e-even be on the s-surface! I-I shouldn’t be with you o-or with anybody! I-I should just be l-left somewhere to rot.”

“Stop that!” Undyne suddenly shouted.

Alphys head turned up as she recoiled slightly from shock.“S-Stop what?” she asked feeling slightly scared.

“Stop...Stop saying that your worthless or you don’t deserve me.” Undyne explained. “You do deserve me! You do deserve to be here! You’re amazing! You’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met! Or hell most amazing person I’ve ever met!”

The two of them stay silent for a moment. Both of them just stared into the other’s eyes.

Undyne then sighed. “Look I’ve told you that I’ll never stop telling you how much you deserve this. I’ll keep doing that because it’s the truth and always will be.” she warmly told her. A big toothy grin then formed on her face. “And if words won’t convince you I think I know what to do.”

“And what’s that Undyne-” Alphys suddenly stopped talking as she felt Undyne’s warm lips on hers. Everything stopped at that moment. Time itself froze as she felt Undyne start to kiss her deeply.

Alphys didn’t move for a second but soon to her surprise she was kissing her back. Both of their lips were locked firmly on each other. Nothing else mattered anymore, all that mattered was the passion between the two.

Undyne pulled Alphys in closer to her. She then pressed her tongue up against Alphys’ mouth and she was quickly given entrance. The two of their tongues invaded the other’s mouth. Their tongues mingled in their mouths.

The two of them clung to each other just enjoying the sweet sensations of one another. They then pulled apart. Both of them gasping for breath. They both panted, filled with so many different types of emotion and energy.

Undyne looked down at Alphys and knew what they were going to do tonight. She knew what Alphys needed. She needed to be embraced by someone that truly loved her.

“W-Wow Undyne, t-that was incredible,” she said through a few quick breaths.

“We’re not stopping there Alphys,” Undyne told her in a warm smooth voice.

“W-What do you m-mean?” she asked confused.

Undyne smiled. “I want you Alphys. I want to be with you more than anything in the entire damn world.” Undyne explained. She then leaned in closer to her and began to kiss her. Her hands then found their way to the bottom of Alphys’ sweater and began to tug on it.

“W-wait...Undyne, please s-stop.” Alphys suddenly told her.

Undyne quickly pulled away from her. She looked up at Alphys and stared right into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“U-Undyne, s-should we really b-be doing this?” she meekly asked with a blush on her face. “I-I’m not sure if I-I’m ready for this k-kind of stuff.”

“I know it’s a big step and stuff but I know we’re ready Alphys,” Undyne answered while looking straight into her eyes. “Because I know when we're together there’s nothing we can’t do. I know that sounds cheesy as hell but it’s true. When we’re together it’s amazing...”

The two stayed silent for a moment. Undyne could tell Alphys was thinking hard. Trying to figure out what to do next. Questioning if this was even right.

“A-Alright I think I’m r-ready.”

“That’s great!” Undyne excitedly exclaimed.

“B-But can we n-not do it here?” Alphys asked. “I-I mean this c-couch is comfy and a-all but I t-think it’d be better i-if we were in your b-bed.”

“Alright let’s get upstairs then.” She said with a nod.

Suddenly Undyne jumped up. She then scooped Alphys and began to carry her bridal style. This caused Alphys’ cheeks to turn a bright scarlet red which made Undyne smile.

She then quickly walked up the stairs to her room. Undyne opened the door and walked through it into her room.

Undyne gently laid Alphys down onto her bed. She slipped off her jacket and placed both of her hands onto the bottom of her shirt. She then took off her shirt revealing her muscular torso that laid underneath. The only thing covering her chest her black silk bra.

Alphys’ face was now a bright red as stared up at her from the bed. Her eyes quickly darted around noticing her large biceps and her perfectly segmented abdomen.

“Heh like what you see?” Undyne asked with a smile.

“U-Uh...yeah…” Alphys replied, embarrassed.

“Good. Because you’re going to be seeing a lot more of it.” she confidently told her.

Undyne then slid off the shoes she was wearing and unbutton her pants which quickly fell to the floor. She took off the band that was holding her hair up with her red hair falling to her shoulders. She then got onto the bed and stared down at Alphys.

Alphys stared at her feeling a mixture of both excitement and embarrassment. She had seen her like this before but she was still somewhat flustered. Flustered from seeing what she had only dreamt of.

“Now then let’s get you out of this sweater.” Undyne sensually told her as one of her hands got to the bottom of her shirt.

Alphys squirmed slightly as Undyne quickly pulled her shirt off of her. Undyne then quickly pulled off her pants, trying to get her to the same level of undressed as she was.

Undyne stared down at her. She admired her amber yellow scales. Alphys was slightly chubby do to her poor diet from when she was still underground but it was cute.

Alphys, however, looked down at herself and let out a sigh. “Look at me,” she said staring down at herself. “I’m nothing compared to you.”

“What are you talking about?” Undyne suddenly asked. Alphys’ eyes widened. She then looked straight at Undyne. “You’re beautiful.”

Alphys stared up into Undyne’s eyes and realized something. Something that she had realized a long time ago but hadn’t really fully comprehended it until now.

Undyne loved her. She loved her more than anything, even with all of her flaws. She didn’t care about all of the bad things she had done in the past. She loved her for her no matter what.

As soon as she realized that that was when she was ready to give herself completely to her. Her mind, body, and soul all to her.

Alphys suddenly locked lips with Undyne. For once instead of thinking she just gave in to the emotions flowing through her. Letting her experience something more amazing than anything she had ever felt before.

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Undyne and Alphys laid there on the bed wrapped up in its covers. The two of them were tired but also happy. Alphys was snuggling into Undyne’s chest enjoying the warmth coming from her.

Undyne then looked down at her with a small smile on her face. “How do you feel?” she quietly asked Alphys.

“Warm,” Alphys replied.

“Good,” Undyne said to her with a smile. She then laid a gentle kiss on her lips.

The two of them then laid there for a moment, not saying a word. They just enjoyed the warmth of their naked bodies up against each other.

“You know I was so scared about this.” Alphys suddenly spoke up. “B-But now looking back I-I have n-no idea why I t-thought that because t-this was amazing.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Undyne happily told her.

“I-I want to thank y-you Undyne. I-I don’t think I c-could have been able to build u-up the courage if it w-wasn’t for you.” Alphys quietly thanked her.

“No problem Alphys,” Undyne replied. “I just wanted to express how much I loved you and make you feel good.”

“Heh, you s-sure did that,” Alphys told her with a quiet laugh.

“Hell yeah, I did. I kicked your dream version of me ass when it came to screwing you.” Undyne told her with a proud smile on her face.

“I guess y-you can say that,” Alphys said while smiling back at her.

The two of them then began to slowly drift off to sleep. Alphys fell asleep against Undyne’s chest. Undyne sleepily looked down at her with her eyes half-open. She gently caressed the top of her head so happy to be with her like this.

Even though most of Undyne’s memories of winter were of the cold and the dark this one she’d only remember how warm and happy she was.

#fanfic #undertale #alphys x undyne #hurt/comfort #undertalesecretsanta #alphys #undyne #big gay #gift fic #christmas

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venus-is-in-bloom · 7 years ago

Note

quick chuubo's arcs for as many UT characters as you want

oooooh hm

i’m actually not all that good at assigning arcs so this will be pretty simple, but i’ll do my best to explain my reasoning!

Undyne

Undyne is absolutely on a knight arc, and i think not her first. i think she started out on a mundane arc, but graduated to the miraculous level (become somebody) through her extraordinary resolve and force of will—and i feel like she’s fairly new to the miraculous level, probably only on her third arc when we meet her.

on all except the no mercy route, the human represents the challenge of knight quest 3 for her—defying her purpose as defender of monsters against humans; quest 4 represents how she deals with that, if she does at all; becoming queen or going on to live on the surface post-pacifist would fit into quest 5.

in the no mercy route i think she’s actually busting out the arc power unstoppable to temporarily become Undyne the Undying—but apart from that there’s very little sign that she’s bending the things or people around her to her will, so if she does have a high arc rating she’s very conscientious about using her extraordinary powers to uplift others, and is careful to let her friends walk their own paths.

her truth is that she is strong-willed and resolute; her failing is her recklessness; and her role is captain of the royal guard.

Asriel

Asriel is kind of complicated because there’s… so much we know to his life story, but i’m p sure his childhood with Chara would constitute one or more mundane shepherd arcs, with Chara as the new responsibility—a sibling he feels the need to support, love, and care for. this abruptly shifts into a miraculous otherworldly (child of the ash) arc when Chara starts talking about wanting to go back to the surface, and their plan culminates in the kaiju form of a beast of unfathomable power. quests 3-5 of this arc comprise events after absorbing Chara’s SOUL, mostly Asriel grappling with Chara’s frightened, vengeful will, losing to it in quest 4, but ultimately regaining control in quest 5, at the village, where he stops both of them from killing anyone. his realisation that he can’t go through with this plan, no matter what Chara says, is quest 5′s reconciliation, and the reward for it is that they manage to reach home before dying.

i’m unsure about this, but i think Flowey’s time in the underground is largely or completely emptiness arcs. the tone and themes of emptiness (accursed) fit very well i think, but i can’t quite find a suitable world-breaker’s hand or sanctuary in Flowey’s known skillset—i think probably his ability to SAVE, and the garden where Chara is buried, respectively.

regardless, the first emptiness arc would cover Flowey’s first run—he escapes Alphys’ lab and tries to live a normal life with Asgore, but in quest 2 he becomes fixated on his inability to feel anything, quest 4 ends with his discovering the power of determination, and in quest 5 he puts a decisive end to that run and tries something new. further emptiness arcs would probably cover a number of everyday moments, getting fixated on something, exploring it, confirming a “truth” about the world that adds to his cynical worldview, and deciding he’s done.

then i’m 90% sure Flowey’s last arc is a storyteller arc. possibly just a mundane one, although if it’s miraculous then i’d go with creature of fable, primarily for between the boundaries and cut the soul. storyteller quest 1 is about Frisk’s arrival as well as their journey through the underground. Flowey manipulates events subtly until the very end, when he kills Asgore—taking control as per quest 2. in a pacifist run, sparing Flowey initiates his quest 3, as the mystery of who Frisk is intensifies. (in a no mercy run i’m not sure he gets that far, or if a storyteller arc even fits.) quest 4 is then his ascension as the absolute god of hyperdeath (i think both photoshop Flowey and the absolute god of hyperdeath are expressions of kaiju form with some story-specific augments), and quest 5 is his mourning Chara and accepting his reversion to soullessness. after that, who knows?

Alphys

Alphys… hm… is also complicated. i feel like aspect arcs would be a default for her, but becoming royal scientist would have been a knight arc—probably closing out at quest 3 with the challenges of mounting stress, rising expectations, and new responsibilities preparing Alphys for the beginning of her next arc. i initially thought this was mundane, but i actually like the idea of her picking up reality syndrome, with her hack being human-inspired technology (cell phones that can change into jetpacks, living anime robots, &c.). i don’t really know what her shared experience would be in that case, though.

the story of Alphys and the power of determination is a mundane bindings arc. quest 1 is Alphys getting to know the captured human SOULs, quest 2 is Alphys realising she can resuscitate monsters that have fallen down, and quest 3 is Alphys deciding to do that… with the catastrophic results we all know about.

(a very similar arc structure would i think work for our empty hands au!! except the bindings arc would continue past 3.)

the bindings arc then ends, and Alphys falls into a series of emptiness (accursed) miraculous arcs that revolve around her trying to care for the amalgamates and keep them secret. quests 1-3 repeat indefinitely, a cycle of uneasy normality, obsessive catastrophising, and panic attacks, with the occasional inclusion of quest 4 to represent material struggles to stop things from getting worse. her world-breaker’s hand is determination extract, and her sanctuary is the true lab (she could probably get there from any bathroom, because if there are other bathrooms in the underground then they’re probably ones that she installed).

it’s entirely possible that other arcs are interspersed among the emptiness arcs—when Frisk comes along, for example. i feel strongly that that’s a storyteller arc, closing at quest 3 with the realisation that the friend Alphys really needs is Mettaton, not a human child she barely knows.

i think ideally (unless it’s cramming too many arcs into too short a time, which it might be) Alphys’ story in the pacifist run should be bookended—i think there’s a mundane bindings arc where she revisits her relationship with the amalgamates: quest 2 is her pacifying the amalgamates approaching Frisk, and resolving to fix this situation; quest 4 is coming clean to the world about the amalgamates, and quest 5 is exploring how the amalgamates are living now, reunited with their families.

then, conceptually, another knight arc, taking place largely post-game on the surface, in which Alphys resolves to build a new life and purpose for herself, makes mistakes, deals with them, and succeeds.

(the fact that most of Alphys’ arcs are really short in terms of quest length until the very end is… evocative.)

Frisk (& Chara)

Frisk has… kind of a variety of possibilities based on what course you the player allow them, which i think is interesting.

i feel like no mercy is definitely an emptiness (accursed) arc, maybe with the ability to kill anyone being their world-breaker’s hand and their sanctuary being the dark place with wind that is before every RESET. just like Flowey, they follow the simple pattern: be intrigued, investigate, be satisfied, RESET. emptiness quests 1-5.

while this is happening, i think Chara undergoes a miraculous mystic (primordial) transformation. lost and alone, they receive the portent of Frisk’s arrival, and slowly begin to interpret and reinforce Frisk’s actions in light of their new principle—LOVE, on their road to becoming the demon that comes when you call its name, tied to the element of numbers. quest 2 provides some opposition in the form of Undyne the Undying, but quest 3 deals with that being overcome. after that there is only the slowly dawning cold of quest 4. quest 5 has multiple possible applications—it could be the decision to RESET, it could be Chara enforcing consequences despite a RESET, it could be Chara asking politely for another route at the end of a second no mercy…

because of the headcanons i have about the children, i’d consider an aborted no mercy run much closer to a shared otherworldly arc? both of the children struggle with their own anger, fear, and compulsions, are overcome for a time, but eventually resurface as themselves and reconcile with each other. in this case, and in the next, you’d have to gloss determination as a mundane or magical skill rather than a miraculous power, or else infer that one or both children have an existing emptiness (accursed) arc trait.

there’s a variety of neutral runs, but for pacifist and for runs close to pacifist i think Frisk and Chara are both experiencing mystic arcs—Chara’s is similar to the one i just described for no mercy, except it’s a mundane arc because the transformation is not quite so violent, and the principle they are following is love, and their quest 2 foil is Flowey telling them kill or be killed. meanwhile, Frisk follows the principle of determination, the will to continue on—their portent is that they have survived the fall they took, and ended up in a world of monsters. their quest 2 foil is Toriel telling them to stay where they are, because they will die out there. Chara faces quest 3 when Flowey reveals he knows about the SAVE power. Frisk faces quest 3 when they leave the ruins and Toriel abandons them.

although i don’t believe the principles of a pacifist run are betrayed by the Asgore and photoshop Flowey fights, i think they’re suitable for representing the confounding moment of Chara’s quest 4, where they truly doubt that the path of saving everyone is possible, because they’ve reached the end of their journey and this is it. Frisk has their quest 4 trigger around the same time, when Asgore dies and his SOUL is destroyed. in this moment of simultaneous despair, holding on to each other is all the children have—but as it turns out, it’s just enough.

quest 5 for Frisk and Chara is the final stretch of the pacifist run, helping, healing, and holding on despite everything. and after that, who knows?

Toriel

Toriel definitely starts out with a high knight (become somebody) arc trait. i imagine she’s also picked up some of shepherd (a keeper of gardens), since while she’s around she can use superior land-rule to prevent the creatures of her domain from harming Frisk.

taking care of Frisk is also a shepherd arc all on its own—a mundane one, i think, although the idea of Toriel getting shepherd (sentimental) benefits around her children sounds… nice! i like the idea of Frisk living with her a while, making room for quests 1 and 2. wrestling with her conscience and ultimately, perhaps against her better judgement, letting them leave, makes a good quest 3—although i would argue it isn’t really finished until she goes to catch up with them and meet Asgore.

venturing out onto the surface, setting up a new life and new kingdom there, and making it possible to settle into that life would be suitable either as a quest 4 and 5 or as an entirely new shepherd, knight, or aspect arc.

this was… shorter than i thought it would be given how much i have to say about Toriel?

—

anyway, those are all the characters i’m doing for now! thank you for the question! ♥ ♥

#things venus said #Undertale #Chuubo's #cmwge #reflections #angst cw #manycats #i may have... missed the meaning of 'quick' here

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drundertalescum · 7 years ago

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Not much of a question, but I love your take on Underswap Papyrus. I personally don't like Underswap because I think it's kinda boring, just the same characters in different bodies, but you did what I've always wanted to see out of it. Certain aspects get switched, but the core of who the character is stays the same and you can see how they change in response. It's great! Actually, if you're bored, could you give a quick rundown of your ideas of swap characters and what makes them different?

Aaaa thank you! That’s my thing with Swap, too! I was never happy with it so I slowly started coming up with my own version that retained a lot of the canon personalities (or changes them a bit in other directions based on their new roles). I haven’t COMPLETELY fleshed this version out yet and I have a few versions of it (the main difference being what happened to all those human souls with the underground under new management) but for the sake of answering, I’m gonna go with a generic version that doesn’t go in one direction or the other with regards to variant.

PAPYRUS

Swap! Papyrus is the hardest character in the fandom multiverse for me to like (at least besides the Fellswaps/Swapfells or the OP Sanses) so he’s actually the LAST character I worked on for this AU, but he really, really grew on me once I decided to make him a massive dork.

My swap Papyrus went into the sciences instead of Sans. When that whole thing went wrong he ended up in a pretty bad way. Now he’s mostly listless and nervous which he tries to cover up with a “cool casual guy” facade. He’s still very excitable, especially for a chance to work on a project or an opportunity to hang out with someone, but he tries to seem above it all.

He spends a lot of time alone or at Muffet’s. He’s still friends with Undyne but their relationship is fairly stained because of their shared history(/trauma).

Depressed. Loves his bro (though he doesn’t show it very well at all). Wants friends. Desperate for praise and attention. Wants to be cool. Father issues. Dork. Awkward. Dreams of seeing cars and designing skyscrapers.

He doesn’t play with his magic very much anymore, but he tends to float or spin around when he’s excited or happy. He doesn’t have shortcuts.

SANS

Sans has always been the more down-to-earth social butterfly, but never particularly ambitious. He was directionless for most of his early life, never really sure what he wanted to do, so he did a little bit of everything and didn’t put much effort into anything… At least until he almost lost his brother and only the Royal Guard could save him. Since then, Sans has refocused himself to becoming a member of the Royal Guard.

Friendly, manipulative, occasionally arrogant. He tries to be a model citizen and future guard as much as he can, and while lot of that positive attitude is genuine, it’s a bit shakier than most would guess. He tries to force himself to be fair and just and forgiving, but that’s not his natural state.

Loves making people laugh. Somewhat bad/childish sense of humor. Well liked. Master of stealth-spite. Passive aggressive. Likes to believe there’s always another option. Works as many sentry stations as he can to prove to Alphys what an amazingly productive Guard he would be. “Have you met my brother!? He’s really cool!!!” Shortcuts galore. “IT’S NOT LAZY, IT’S EFFICIENT!”

UNDYNE

One day, Undyne woke up as just one of many members of the Science team (if the favored junior member of the team under her parent-figure) and went to bed the sole Royal Scientist when a disaster rewrote everything. The only one left was Papyrus (who was not in any shape to stay on the job).

Undyne feels deeply responsible for the loss of the team, and has redoubled the efforts to break the barrier by any means necessary. It’s gone from a hope to an obsession. No matter how many mistakes she makes, she refuses to give up.

She really wants to reconnect with Papyrus and be best friends again, but thinks she’ll end up dragging him back into things he’s not emotionally equipped to handle, so she keeps him at a distance to protect him (from himself).

Her obsession has made her distant and cold, but underneath she’s still a warm and playful person. It’s just harder to unlock.

Still hates humans. Still loves (and fully believes in) anime. Suplex master. Tough!!! Crush on the Captain. Crush on the Queen. Made her old neighbor an awesome robot body!!! Lonely, self-isolated. Cherishes in secret.

—-

AAAAaand I’m worried about losing these so I’m gonna post and take a breather and get to the others later. They’re all a little more variant-dependant anyway

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theshadowedqueen82 · 7 years ago

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Bereavement, 1.7k words, Gen.

Written for day 2 of @asgoreweekend, during game events. Also on Ao3.

The first one will be the hardest. This is what Asgore tells himself, staring into the eyes of a child. He never expected one to fall so soon, but here they are.

“So, you’re the king,” the child says, and Asgore watches the child step closer. “Everybody told me to stay away; they said that you were going to kill me. But I don’t think that’s true.”

“Oh, child,” Asgore says, noticing how he towers over the small human, with their light blue striped shirt and red bow in their hair. So young. His paws shake as he lifts his trident. “You should have listened.”

It only takes one swing of his trident. The child jerks and goes still, their eyes closing and their body slumping. A thin trail of blood dribbles out of their mouth as they crumple to the ground.

Asgore picks up the too small body and his vision blurs. Their soul is strong, but not strong enough. He will need to do this again, six more times.

He stands, still holding the body, heedless of the red blood staining his paws. That day King Asgore orders for coffins to be built, one for each child he’ll kill.

The second child puts up more of a fight. It is a bit of a surprise, as the first one had fallen so easily. Asgore is stronger though, so much stronger. When he stands over another limp body it does not feel any easier than the first.

After the child is put in a coffin, next to the first child and Chara’s empty coffin, Asgore finds himself in his room, staring at his journal. He has not written in it for a while.

Asgore forces himself to pick up the pen, and it hovers over the page. What would he write? Today I killed another child. I still need to kill five more.

When his hand finally moves, it writes it’s a beautiful day outside. Asgore stares at the sentence for a second, repeating it in his mind. Maybe if he remembers that he will remember his goal, to free his subjects. He can only barely remember seeing the sun; younger monsters would have no memory of the surface.

“It’s a beautiful day outside,” he whispers to himself. “This is for them.”

“Is it true that you killed them?” the child asks, their eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “The other children that fell down. Did you kill all of them? Will you kill me?”

“I’m sorry,” is all that Asgore can say, lifting up his trident for the final blow.

“But why?” asks the child, innocent horror in their voice. “Can’t you just let us go?”

“I am king,” Asgore tells the child. “I want so much to let you go. But as king, I need to protect my people.”

The trident comes down and Asgore feels a strange disconnect with the motion, as if he’s watching himself from a distance. Only when the child jerks and goes limp does he slam back into himself, and then he is standing in front of another dead child.

Alphys finds him much later, still kneeling over the body as the soul hovers in the air beside him.

“They’re so young,” he says, and Alphys says nothing, only putting her hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “We all know the sacrifice that you’re making. If there was any other way…” Asgore is silent, knowing that there is no other way. There is nothing any of them can do but

It’s a beautiful day outside, Asgore reminds himself as he buries the third child, and the words feel grey in his mind.

Upon Undyne’s suggestion the royal guards had been mobilized to capture and kill humans. Asgore isn’t sure why he hadn’t come up with this before. There is, after all, no reason for him to be the only one to collect the souls.

He’s very proud of Undyne. She’s told him about how she wants to be the Captain of the Royal Guard when she’s older, and he thinks that already she’s better than a good number of his guards. Training Undyne has been a welcome distraction, something to keep his hands busy and mind fixed on something other than tiny coffins lined up in the basement.

When he heard the footsteps he expected Undyne to appear in the doorway to the throne room, not the small child with glasses and a purple shirt. The child appeared to be panting heavily, and glared at Asgore.

“Are you such a coward that you wouldn’t bother to come after me by yourself?” the child asked, and Asgore set down the watering can he had been using on the garden and pulled out his trident.

“Perhaps,” he said. “You got past all the guards.”

“Yeah,” said the child. “I don’t give up.”

After the child is dead Asgore thinks that the child is right, but not for the reason he mentioned. Once the body is safely interred in a coffin he summons the royal guard again and changes their orders to capture the humans, to not kill them unless if the human threatens them.

His word may not be heeded in this case; monsters are already starting to forget what it was like when Chara was alive, and a monster-human alliance was a possibility. But it might prevent the less zealous guards from killing the children.

It is better for Asgore to kill them, to bear the stain of their blood alone. It is better for Asgore to be the only murderer, because then his subjects will both be free of the underground and his sins.

The next child is the worst, but every child has been the worst. This one was different, though. They wore green and smiled when they walked into the throne room, escorted by two royal guards. Asgore had excused them, and the child had made no movement to flee or fight once they were alone.

“You’re trying to save your people,” the child says, cocking their head and looking at Asgore. “It must be horrible, being trapped down here. I… I want to help.”

“How could you help?” Asgore asks, only weariness in his voice. Nobody can help, and the only way the monsters will be free is through bloodshed.

“If I offered you my soul, would you take it?” the child asks, and Asgore blinks in surprise.

“It makes no difference,” he says.

“It does to me,” the child says. Asgore looks in their eyes and sees a desire to help, a warmth he has been missing ever since his wife has left him alone in this palace with nothing but grey walls and echoing memories.

Asgore pours them tea and waits until the child finishes drinking it before he kills them. His own tea sits on the table, untouched and cooling. He pours it out in the garden and wonders, looking at the golden flowers.

What kind of king am I, if I grow weary of saving my people? he wonders. What would my people say if they knew that I want the children to stay away, to stop coming? Even if it means our eternal imprisonment, it would be better than this.

He hears reports of the sixth child long before he meets him. This child has gone on a rampage, killing monsters left and right, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. Asgore orders his citizens to withdraw to the Core and goes to meet them himself.

Asgore finds the child in Waterfall. The child wears a red bandana around their neck and has a yellow striped shirt. He shoots a bullet at Asgore before a word is spoken, and Asgore easily deflects it.

“This is for the children you’ve killed,” the child says, and the words almost bring Asgore to his knees. Almost.

This child is angry in a way that none of the others were. He wounds Asgore, grazing one of his arms with a bullet and dealing damage. In the end it hardly matters, and the child dies just like all the others.

They fight. The child loses. Asgore finds it hard to say that he won.

Back at the palace he still gives the child the same burial he has given every other child, and delivers the yellow soul into it’s container. He stands and stares at the containers for a moment, watching the souls pulse and glow with their rainbow of colours. One left, he reminds himself, but it is a cold comfort.

He has given up trying to convince himself that it will get easier. Asgore knows that no matter the child that stands before him, no matter if the child fights or forgives, he will always see Chara standing in their place.

It is a long time until the next child comes.

Alphys has built a robot, a marvelous thing that she promises will be able to kill the last human and save them all. In the meantime the robot entertains the monsters, keeps Asgore’s people happy while they wait.

Asgore enjoys having Alphys in the palace. It’s too large now, too empty. Alphys begins another research project she promises will give them another way out, will allow them to break the barrier without another human soul. It has been a long time since Asgore felt the small stirrings of hope.

When Alphys vanishes for a week he remembers why it’s so dangerous to hope. When she comes back she is far more nervous and doesn’t talk with him as much. Asgore can feel the distance between them and wonders if he’ll lose everybody by the time they’re free.

Perhaps the other humans had been warned away by the last child, the one who had tried to kill them all. Perhaps another child will never fall. Asgore would accept that if it were only him that would pay, but since he does not want his people to be buried as well he still waits.

By the time the last child falls, Asgore’s journal has the same words but they hold a different meaning. He needs to remember that it’s a beautiful day outside, that somewhere the world still holds beauty, that no matter what happens here the horrors cannot infect the entire world.

Asgore smashes the mercy button, because he knows that he has sinned too much to deserve mercy. The world is beautiful somewhere else, and no matter what happens to him he’ll make sure that his people can escape and find it.

#my fic #i accomplished a thing #asgoreweekend #asgoreweekend2017 #undertale #asgore #basically asgore kills the children: the fic #i had fic planned for the rest of the weekend but then my hands died

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dragonasheswrites-blog · 7 years ago

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The Heaven We Didn’t Choose, Chapter 5: In Which the Royal Guard Intervenes

...And Sans winds up with more responsibility than he expected.

First: Chapter 1: In Which a Child Makes a Friend

Previous: Chapter 4: In Which a Diagnosis Is Made

Next: Chapter 6: In Which Everybody Threatens Sans

Click here for the story overview.

Attie was asleep by the time Sans found his way back outside Ebott Medical Pavilion. He wasn’t entirely sure how he’d gotten there; the exit was one he didn’t recognize, and he was half-sure he’d just wandered in circles until the universe converged on itself and spat him out. Still, it was good to see the sky again.

The...night sky.

Well, shit. Boss was going to have his skull. He looked down at the sleeping kid. He couldn’t leave her alone, not after suffering through tears and awkward humans and enough medical jargon to make his head ache. He was starting to feel...responsible for her.

Taking her to his apartment would be the best bet, especially if Tori was still busy; he could start making calls in the morning. Hopefully Boss was still at that meeting thing, and Sans would have enough time to put Attie to bed and think up a good explanation before having to face the music.

Fortunately, teleporting with a sleeping kid was fairly easy, even if that kid was so heavy she felt like she was full of rocks.

Unfortunately, she didn’t stay asleep for as long as he’d hoped.

“SANS, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, AND WHY DO YOU HAVE A HUMAN CHILD WITH YOU??”

“Shut up Boss!” Attie whimpered in Sans’s arms, covering her ears. He lowered his voice; he was too tired to watch his words, regardless of whatever punishments Boss cooked up for him later, but he didn’t want Attie scared of him. “Look what you did! You woke ‘er up!”

“YOU DARE CONTRADICT ME?? WHY WOULD I BE CONCERNED WITH...wait, is that…”

“Boss, meet Atlas Dreemurr. Attie, this is my b...uh, Boss. Attie’s gonna have to crash with us for the night.”

“WHAT? SANS, WHY DO YOU HAVE THE AMBASSADOR’S DAUGHTER?? WHERE IS THE AMBASSADOR?? I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION THIS INSTANT!”

“Well, that’s rough, ‘cuz you’re not gonna get one until she’s back asleep. Guess you shouldn’t have screamed at me, huh.”

Boss narrowed his eye sockets and huffed. That was never a good sign. A yelling Boss was one Sans could deal with; a quiet Boss was plotting something.

Usually something painful.

“Very well, Sans,” he said after a moment, crossing his arms over his chest. “I will give you ten minutes to put the child to bed. In MY room; yours is filthy. The deadly death traps are currently disabled, and I’ve already changed my sheets for the night. Neither of you will touch anything in my room with your filthy claws. You will go in, deposit the child on my bed, ensure that she is asleep, and return here. Ten minutes, Sans.”

“Uh...sure, Boss.”

Well. That was unexpected. Sans didn’t know when Boss had developed a soft spot for kids; he sure hadn’t showed it back in the Underground. Heh, the last kid he’d acted this nice around was…

...Frisk, actually. Well. That made more sense.

Boss’s room was as neat and orderly as always. It gave Sans the creeps. He looked around; the decor was probably not what most humans found...comforting.

“You, uh, gonna be okay in here, kid?” He asked, giving a full-sized skeleton model (dressed in Boss’s spare suit of armor and a pair of sunglasses, of course) a light kick. “We can always punt and go to my room, but it is...uh, pretty messy.”

“‘Tsokay.”

“Alright, your choice. Onto the bed - hup! - and under the covers. Wow. This is pretty soft, huh.”

“Yup!” Attie seemed content, snuggling into Boss’s skull-print pillow. Her eyes were drifting shut already. Not really surprising; it was, according to the alarm clock on the nightstand, nearly 2 AM. Probably well past her bedtime.

“You gonna be okay up here by yourself?”

“Uh-huh. Just...can you see if Mr. Boss can not yell again?”

“He is pretty loud, huh.”

“Yeah. It woke me up. He’s not nice, just like you said.”

“‘Kay, then. I’ll go talk to him. G’night, kid.”

“G’night, Mr. Skeleton.” To Sans’s surprise, she sat up before letting go of his jacket and did...something with her face near his cheekbone. It made a weird almost...smacking sound? He’d heard it before, but…

Oh, right. A human kiss. He could feel his cheekbones getting red.

“Welp, that’s enough from you. Go to sleep, ‘kay? And don’t wake me up b’fore morning.”

Attie muttered something he didn’t catch, her eyes already sliding shut. He watched her for a moment, half-expecting her to sit back up and start babbling, but she was still and quiet. Her breathing got a little slower and more even and she didn’t move.

Back in the living room Boss was sitting on the couch, posed with his arms still crossed in a manner that was supposed to look intimidating. Sans told himself (as he always did) that it was not intimidating, no matter how hard his knees shook when Boss scowled at him like that.

“So,” Boss said, “You have Ambassador Dreemurr’s daughter in my room. I trust there is a good explanation for that, and that you are not using this apartment to continue your little...feud with the ambassador.”

“Y-yeah, I have a good reason, Boss. See, I was walkin’ home from the hot dog stand - like I always do - since I didn’t have a sentry shift t’night, and, uh, I found the kid outside. Said she was locked out. I, uh, helped the kid inside, and she said her mom wasn’t feelin’ well. We took Frisk’s temperature, found out she was runnin’ one hell of a fever. We called up Tori, but Tori didn’t wanna...”

Wait. Tori. Tori had filled in for Frisk at that mysterious meeting...a meeting which the Royal Guard would have been running security for. And Papyrus had been - was still supposed to be - at a very secret meeting.

“...You already know some of this, don’t you.”

Boss snarled. “Just continue. I am losing my patience.”

“‘Kay...so, uh, Tori was busy. The internet said Frisk’s fever was high enough to be dangerous, so we took her to EMP’s emergency room. They said...it was good that we brought her in. Said the infection could’ve spread a lot further if we’d waited; that Frisk...could’ve died. So, uh, we waited until she was out of surgery, then I brought the kid here.”

“I...see. And why, Sans, were you walking past the ambassador’s home?”

“It’s just...on my route, Boss.” Kinda. An alternate route, really. Boss didn’t need to know about the monsters who’d been hassling him on his usual walk home; the punishment for allowing himself to be hassled would be worse than anything the bully-wannabes would dare do to him.

“And why would you - you of all people - help Frisk’s daughter? It is no secret that you and the ambassador have not gotten along for the entire time we have been on the surface. Your petty squabbles have caused more work for the Royal Guard than I care to outline for you at this moment. You expect me to believe that you would help her?"

Sans didn’t really have a good explanation for that himself. Just...he’d felt some kind of empathy for her. It was stupid - he’d always been too soft, even when he still lived Underground - but...that was the best reason he could come up with.

“I wasn’t gonna leave a babybones to watch her mom die, okay? I’m an asshole, but not that big of an asshole.”

Boss considered him for another moment, then relaxed slightly. Sans felt his shoulders droop in relief. “Well, at least that lines up with what we know.”

“What do you know? Sheesh, no need to get all growly. I’m just askin’ ‘cuz I wanna make sure Tori knows what’s goin’ on.”

“Hmph. Queen Toriel updated myself, Captain Undyne and a few other elite guards when it became apparent that the ambassador was going to be...indisposed. We thought it was much less serious than it apparently is.

“Then during a break in discussions, the queen received your voicemail regarding her daughter’s condition, and another from the hospital giving a much more... concise and detailed explanation of the situation. She neglected to inform us that you were watching the ambassador’s daughter, which is a...surprising oversight. Regardless, she tasked some of us with disseminating the news among monsters and beginning the process of trying to control the media. You know this is going to cause a stir once reporters catch wind of this?”

“Uh…”

“You didn’t even think of that, did you. I wish I could be surprised. I’m still in shock that you actually performed an action of your own volition, and something that may very well have saved the life of a member of the royal family besides. It’s so out of character that I’m considering being concerned. As it stands, I’m just trying to figure out what you did wrong. There must be something; this is all too good to be true, otherwise.”

Sans stood very still, remembering one particular detail Boss would be furious about.

“Oh, by the stars; we may as well start damage control. What. Just spit it out. What did you do.” Boss’s control was getting a little terrifying, actually. Usually he started screaming and throwing things at that point in the conversation.

“I, uh...well, y’see, it was the kid’s - Attie’s - idea, but...she kinda...said I was Frisk’s fiancee?”

Boss stared. “You...WHAT? Well...this is going to be a nightmare. If reporters get wind of this, I am dealing with it, do you hear?”

“‘Kay, Boss.”

“I mean it. NO talking to reporters. They will blow the whole thing out of proportion and cause a scandal that will take months, if not years to clean up. Just stay away from them altogether. You will not prank them. You will not make rude hand gestures at them. You will not swap their recording equipment for assorted root vegetables with crude faces carved into them.”

Sans hadn’t realized Boss knew about that...incident.

“You will not distract them and teleport away, ESPECIALLY if there are cameras nearby. You will avoid them as best you can. If you are asked a question, you will say “No comment” and keep on walking. Nothing else. If you are cornered, you will call me. No redirecting them to someone else; they know who the official liaisons are when the ambassador is indisposed, even if they elect to disregard that information. I will not have you risking human-monster relations by running your fat jawbone about something you don’t understand. Is. That. Clear?"

“Uh...crystal clear, Boss.”

Boss thought for a long moment, staring at something over Sans’s shoulder. “Oh, and - against my better judgement - I’m taking you off all sentry shifts and that hot dog stand of yours and assigning you as Atlas’s full-time caretaker until Frisk recovers.”

“What?

But Boss…”

“No buts. She is, by all accounts, a resourceful and independent child. Captain Undyne has been her primary contact within the Guard, and she will likely want to stop by in the morning to...evaluate the situation. She’s very protective of Atlas; I suggest you be on your best behavior.”

“Then why can’t Undyne watch her?”

"Captain Undyne has patrols and administrative tasks, as well as active duty. Originally, we planned to have Queen Toriel and King Asgore take shifts with Atlas should the ambassador ever be out of commission, but both will be busy these next few weeks. There is much more going on right now than you can possibly understand. Atlas needs to have a guardian or the humans will take her.”

“But...but why me?"

“The child seems comfortable enough with you, stars know why. Keeping Atlas here will provide additional security. Everyone else is up to their eye sockets with real work. You barely do anything but sleep, as it is; you may as well contribute for once. This will be a learning experience for you. Take your pick.”

Sans growled again.

“Oh, and if you intimidate the child into requesting another guardian I will make you sleep in the dog park for the rest of the year. Am I understood?"

“Y-yeah, Boss. I’ll keep a good eye socket on the kid, sheesh.”

“You had better." Boss stood. “Now get out of here and go to bed. I must inform Queen Toriel of this development.”

Sans made a tactical retreat back to his room. For one fleeting moment, he really, really wished he’d just ignored the kid from the start.

Oh, well. He collapsed face-first onto his bare mattress and promptly passed out.

.oO0Oo.

BRRRRRRRING!

The sound of his phone alarm going off roused Sans from slumber. It took him a moment to register the numbers on his phone’s screen.

7:01 AM.

Ugh.

He grabbed it and silenced the alarm (titled, “WAKE UP, SANS”), then tried to slide it under his pillow. The movement caught on something...connected to his phone?

Oh. The charger.

He disconnected the phone ( carefully; charging cords were so weirdly fragile) and reluctantly sat up. If his phone was charged and his alarm was set, that meant Boss had ventured into the depths of his room. That meant he was undoubtedly supposed to be doing something.

He blinked a few times, trying to remember. Nothing.

He glanced down at his phone. 131 text messages and 25 voicemails awaited him. Ssssskip.

He was still wearing day clothes. That was probably...not good? Maybe? What had he been doing? He felt so tired. Couldn’t he go back to sleep…?

BRRRRRRRING!

His eye sockets opened again, slower this time. 7:05. Another alarm, this one called, “SANS, DON’T FORGET ATLAS.”

Huh. What did he need an atlas for?

BRRRRRRRING!

7:07. “UNDYNE WILL BE AT THE DOOR IN THREE MINUTES.”

Undyne? Why was Undyne…

Wait. Undyne. Atlas. Attie.

He hauled himself off the mattress, stumbling a little. Sure enough, Boss’s door was clear of the ‘deadly death traps’ he favored when he was out doing Royal Guard things. A quick peek inside proved that Attie was - thankfully - still asleep. Boss’s alarm clock was dark; apparently, he’d unplugged it before heading out.

BRRRRRRRING!

Sans quickly silenced the alarm on his phone without reading it. Attie just rolled over, eyes still closed, apparently not too bothered by the noise.

The sound of a knock came from the front door of the apartment. He reluctantly shuffled over and unlocked it, positioning himself carefully -

“HEY, PUNK!!!” Undyne slammed the door open - narrowly missing his head - and strode into the apartment. As usual, she eyed the slightly shabby living room with barely-disguised disgust, then glared at Sans like it was his fault.

“Hey, Capt’n.”

“That’s Captain Undyne to you, sentry. Now, where’s the kid?”

“Sleepin’. We had a late night.”

“Ha! YOU had a late night? I’ve been awake for TWO DAYS STRAIGHT!”

That explained the manic gleam in her eye. “That sounds...awful.”

“Huh? Oh, this is nothin’.” She wavered a little as she brushed by him. “Is that coffee I smell?”

He breathed in deeply. “I think so. Want a mug?”

Undyne was already in the kitchen. “Nah. Mugs are for LOSERS!” She grabbed the carafe - still piping hot - and poured a generous portion into her mouth. “GAH! Stop staring at me and GO GET THE KID! We have a FULL DAY PLANNED!” She took another gulp.

A little resentful of Undyne for hogging the coffee, he shuffled back towards Boss’s room. Attie was still asleep as he’d left her, curled up on her side.

“Hey, kid?”

No response.

“Kiddo? Buddy, pal, chum?”

Nothing.

“Uh, Attie? Atlas? Wake up?”

The kid’s nose scrunched and her eyes opened just the tiniest amount. She hummed a little under her breath.

“Hey! There ya are. There’s someone here to see ya.”

“Mr. Skeleton…?”

“Uh, well, sure. I’m here, but you’ve already seen me, right?” He waved his hands like Mettaton did when executing a particularly flashy attack. “But there’s someone else here. I didn’t realize you knew the fish-lady.”

“Huh?”

“Y’know, Captain Undyne? Tall, blue, smells like-”

“Undie’s here?”

Sans snorted. “S-sure, kid. Oh-oh gosh. Yeah, sure, “Undie’s” here.”

Attie smiled, then stretched sleepily. She moved about as fast as he did in the morning. By the time they made it back down the hallway, Undyne had finished the entire carafe of coffee. Luckily, she’d been over to their apartment before and knew how to operate the coffee machine; she was watching a small stream of brewed coffee trickle into the carafe like it held the secret to life and happiness.

For someone who’d been awake for 48 hours and counting, it probably did.

“Undie!” Attie said, running straight for the feared Captain of the Royal Guard. Sans tensed, ready to grab the kid and run, but-

“Hey, lil’ nerd!” Undyne swung Attie up over her head, high enough that ankles brushed the low ceiling, then settled the kid on her hip. It looked disturbingly domestic. Or it did, until she turned a formidable glare at Sans, who was snickering in the doorway. “Don’t. You. Dare.”

He snorted. “Why not? The kid-”

“...Is one of my besties. You aren’t. It’d suck to have to babysit without your jaw, now wouldn’t it?"

Point taken.

“Undieeee, you’re being silly! Mr. Skeleton has his jaw!”

"Mr. Skeleton? Sans, you little shit! You make her call you Mr. Skeleton?”

The skeleton in question grumbled under his breath. “Was her idea…”

Undyne cackled. “Kid, you ain’t gotta call him ‘Mr.’ nothin’! This asshole is just ‘Sans.’ Or ‘Shit.’ Either one’s fine.”

Attie giggled like Undyne had just told a joke.

“ANYWAYS! Papyrus took care ‘a ya, see? Oatmeal! Aww, don’t scrunch yer face up like that, punk. See? There’s a bowl here for that asshole, too. Misery loves company, right? And hey, lookit that! Papyrus gave you the little dinosaurs from both packages of oatmeal! You get double dinosaurs today!”

Sans glowered. He didn’t care about dinosaurs in his oatmeal, not really, but it was the principle of the thing.

Attie tilted her head to the side. “Who’s Pa-py-rus?”

“Huh? You met him last night, remember? Loud, tall, wears black. Y’know, the skeleton guy who isn’t a lazy asshole.”

“Oh! You mean Mr. Boss?”

“Mr…” Undyne lost it. “OH MY GOSH, THAT’S THE BEST THING EVER! HAHAHAHA! Bone bag, I blame you for this! Oh...oh gosh…”

“What’s so funny, Undie?”

“N-nothin’, punk! Just...just let me breathe...whoo boy…” She took a few deep breaths, steadying the kid. “Oh! Coffee’s done!”

Attie was promptly dropped to the floor as Undyne turned complete focus towards the one true love of her life. The kid landed on her feet, thankfully, and contented herself with distributing the oatmeal and spoons.

It wasn’t Grillby’s, but it was food all the same. Frowning, Sans poked a funny lump that looked like it had been added after the rest of the oatmeal in the bowl. A tiny little orange dinosaur was inside.

“The orange ones are the best,” Attie whispered over the sounds of Undyne grossly demolishing the coffee. She gave him a grin that he could only describe as conspiratorial.

“Uh, thanks, kid,” he whispered back, eating the evidence of her little kindness.

Breakfast finished up quickly once Undyne ran out of coffee again. “Okay, punks,” she growled, “Here’s what we’re gonna do today. First, we’re gonna TRAIN!”

Attie cheered.

“Then, we’re gonna start on SCHOOLWORK!”

The cheering stopped.

“Aww, c’mon, don’t be like that. You know ya gotta do it. ‘Sides, we’re gonna start with HISTORY, not that nerdy science crap.”

“Hey,” Sans protested, personally offended by that remark.

“Pfh. You’re gonna do the nerdy crap with her, bone bag. I’ve gotta take off after lunch and do eff’n paperwork.”

Attie blew a raspberry. “Eff’n paperwork! Blech!”

“Shuddup!” Undyne put a hand over the kid’s mouth, like she expected Frisk (and all her accompanying maternal wrath) to tear through the apartment at any moment. “Ya can’t say the “eff’n” word until you’re grown up or your mom’ll kill me, ‘kay?”

“‘Kay!”

Sans sighed. “And what about her mom?”

Undyne looked at him with a disturbing intensity. “None of your business, asshole. ‘Sides, you hate Frisk, right?”

He glanced at Attie, who appeared to be memorizing every word of the exchange for future blackmail. “I...uh...well...the kid’ll wanna see her, right? I’m supposed to watch her, ‘s all.”

“What? Why would Attie wanna go see someone in the hospital?”

Attie looked up at Undyne with one of the most pathetic, pleading expressions possible on a human face. “Pleeeeeease, Undie? Can we go see my mommy today? Please?”

“...Huh. Well, squirt, I dunno what good it’ll do ya, but sure. LATER, after schoolwork.” Undyne’s phone buzzed, and her eyes scanned the screen for a long moment. It looked like she was having trouble focusing. “Oh! You’ve gotta get your ass to the hospital, like, now, bone boy. I’ll watch the kid. We’ll have an official liaison in place later to get us updates, but for now you’re one of the few folks on the visitation list. We’ve gotta make sure she’s still alive and stuff.”

“Okay.” Sans, grateful for the escape, shuffled as quickly as he could manage towards the door.

He was thwarted by a blur of blue. “NOPE! Change first!” she ordered, shoving him backwards so hard he fell over. “And take your phone so we can track you. If you DARE slack off or try to escape us, I’m gonna sic the dogs on you. Got it?”

“Fine.” He picked himself up, brushed off his pants, shuffled back towards his room and slammed the door. He could hear Attie whining that she wanted to go instead, and grimaced.

It took three changes of clothing before he found something Undyne deemed ‘acceptable’ to visit the hospital in. He wasn’t sure why she wanted him to wear long pants and his last clean turtleneck (red, naturally), but he wasn’t about to argue with the Captain of the Royal Guard.

Not when Attie was close enough to get caught up in the destruction, anyways.

After he passed inspection, Sans beat a hasty retreat. Attie was distracted by Undyne’s ‘training,’ so he was able to slip out without too much fuss. They appeared to be training Attie’s ability to pose dramatically and scream insults: a vital part of any monster’s childhood. He stopped to snap a photo - to blackmail Undyne in the future, of course; not because it was cute - and slipped out the door.

#Dragonashes writes #Undertale #Underfell #The Heaven We Didn't Choose #Sans #Attie #Papyrus #Undyne #Babysitting #This Papyrus is not a good brother #The root vegetable incident was pretty funny #Someone get this fish a bed #UndyneXcoffee OTP #Sans you are terrible at blackmail #Undyne helped raise this kid #She won't be embarrassed by pictures of her ruthless battle training #Sans lies to himself daily

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fishmum · 8 years ago

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I wrote a “what-if” story about Undyne the Undying defeating the human and delivering the soul to Asgore. I made art too so.. Enjoy <3

Undyne stared at her shaky gloved hand, above it hovered a soul of crimson. She had done it. She defeated that dastardly human which had caused a massacre in the underground. Countless monsters destroyed by their hands, innocent lives taken by a simple slash of a weapon. But it was over now. Undyne had stopped them. She felt a sense of guilt looming within her, what she would give to go back in time and fight the human earlier. When it was weaker. When it had not killed as many monsters as now. She was outraged at herself! Why had she not gone to kill it earlier, when she found out?! She could saved many other lives... She could have saved Papyrus... No, Undyne... Stop it. It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not- A sudden aposiopesis. She felt her eyelids droop, but instantly stopped them from doing so. She could not give up now, the human's soul was in her hand at that very moment. She had to ignore the pain of the wounds the human had scarred her body with, the gaping hole in her stomach was not doing her well. Her whole body felt as if it were to split apart. As if one gust of light wind could instantly make her physical form scatter into a million pieces, to be trapped in oblivion forever. Oh, how she wanted to alleviate the pain. Yet she ignored this too. She now focussed on her main objective. Her aeipathy she carried for her whole life that led to this moment. She had to get the human soul to Asgore. She dared not let out a sound, for she felt if she did, something would go wrong. She traveled through Waterfall in caution, the eerie silence frightened her. She never thought of her home as such a caliginous area. Waterfall had never been quieter. All she could hear was the "clank clank clank!" of her metal armor stepping on to the fairly smooth ground. Even the usual rippling water had stopped, it was strange how such an event could affect the whole atmosphere of the Underground. Though usually she was celeripedean, if she sped up, she was afraid that she'd never move again. To distract herself from the pain, Undyne stared at the soul. She had to confess; it was lovely. The red glow it emitted spread onto her gloves, armor, and face. Anywhere the light could reach. She quite liked effulgent things, another reason she loved Waterfall. A reason she loved Waterfall... That was it! The perfect distraction! She decided to think of her favorite things about Waterfall. She would make a list until she arrived at the castle. The water.. I love the water.. The sounds of the waterfalls... The water rippling... I always hear water dripping from the caverns above... Drip.. Drip... Drip....... The particles.. They're everywhere.. They coruscate.. I love the glow.. The glow.. The glow.... It's everywhere.. The mushrooms, the Echo Flowers, the water, on the walls..... Everywhere I look, they stand. The human watches from above, from below, in the most obscure places. They want me to pity them, because I killed them, I stopped what they had caused. I took them away. I took they're life... I don't feel guilty. She entered Hotland, it was evacuated as well. Minus the two royal guards, RG01 and RG02, that attempted to come to her aid, she simply shook her head and shooed them off. "Go to the....... evacuation point... Help the.. others.." They looked hesitant, but followed their dying captain's orders. It was only fair. She stood still and watched the two leave in a hurry, considering that pause as a rest, she proceeded towards the CORE. The heat of Hotland didn't seem to be doing her form well, one arm had started to melt even more then it had been melting before. Pressing a button on the elevator was suddenly a difficult task, let alone standing. After what felt like an hour, though it was only 20 seconds, Undyne almost stumbled out of the elevator. She caught herself in time and made sure the soul didn't have a single scratch on it. Once she double checked it and made sure it was fine, she proceeded towards the CORE. Her body was hotter than ever, she was not sure if there was sweat pouring down her face, or if it was just melting. The CORE was certainly the worst place for her to be, especially at this very moment. Yet she held on and stayed determined. Which made it worse, in a way. Finally, she arrived at the elevator to the castle. She stepped in and struggled to press the button that said "Castle Floor", once she managed to do so, she leaned on the wall to take a short rest. She dared not to shut her eyes for long, she was afraid that she would never wake up if she did. She carefully walked out of the elevator, she was such a mess. She never wanted Asgore to see her like this. She knew it would hurt him, but she didn't have a choice. She had to deliver the soul. She practically dragged herself to the throne room, every step hurt, every breath hurt, everything hurt. She heard Asgore's familiar humming, he was watering those beautiful clinquant flowers of his. Ah, what a shame, stepping onto the flowers in this form would ruin their glow for sure. She was melting, her now-black armor dripping slightly onto the flower petals and grass. "Is someone there?.." He questioned, he felt a figure standing a number of feet behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to check who it was, what he saw sent him into a panic. "Undyne!-" "I g..got it.. The last soul.." She smiled a triumphant smile. "You can leave now.." Asgore frowned intensely, Undyne always said "we". She had always mentioned how they would do it together, how she would stand by his side at all times. Her loyalty never failed to impress Asgore. His mismatched eyes of blue and orange lowered to take a look at the soul. It emitted a red glimmer, it looked like the others, simply red. "What did they do to you?...." He asked her, ignoring the soul for the time being. But Undyne did not accept his ignorance towards the soul. "The soul.. I have.. The soul.. Take the soul.... Take.... Take it.." She had to pause multiple times when talking, her throat did not do her well. Asgore dropped his watering can and rushed over to the smaller figure, her form worsened. She could barely stand now, luckily, Asgore caught her before she fell over. He held her close, with all his heart. Was he really going to lose another child? "I'm so sorry... What did they do? What did it do to you?.." His voice shook, his body trembled. He was not ready to face a situation like this again. "Just a paper cut..." She joked. Asgore couldn't help but chuckle a bit, a smile replaced his frown for a few seconds. "This isn't funny, Undyne.." "I know...." Undyne choked out, her breath was shaky, while her body slowly deteriorated. "Don't worry about me.. Look.. Y..You have the seventh... Seventh human soul now...." "How could I possibly not worry? I don't care about the soul.. You are worth so much more...." The King answered, his hand caressed the top of her head gently, smoothing down her bright red hair. It made Undyne giggle, it tickled. "I'm sorry A..Asgore... You do-on't d-deserve this....... I could've d..done better.. But I failed you..." She replied in a way of modesty. "No no no... Do not say that... You never failed me. Never. You have done so much for this place, the underground, our people, and me. You are the one that does not deserve this.. You're in horrendous pain.. You're dying... You are the last person to ever deserve such a thing to happen." Undyne shook her head in response. "Hey, d-don't spoil me.. I know that's w..what you're good at, but.... Still..." Asgore did not respond, so Undyne continued speaking. "Don't worry, it doesn’t matter, just forget about me.... Like I never.. E-existed...." The goat shook his head frantically. "No Undyne. Listen to me, you are truly one of the best thing that's ever happened to me. When I need to smile, who knew how to make me do so? You did. Who cared for me when I was emotionally unstable at times and couldn't? You did. Who was willing to sacrifice her life for me and the sake of the underground?... You." He rubbed his thumb on her cheek, he held back tears that were itching to fall. "You don't deserve this.." Undyne slowly set her non-melted hand on Asgore's. "Th..Thanks... Hahah... Good to know someone cares.. In that case... ..Do me a favor...?" "Anything, dear.." "Don't let them for get about me." Asgore seemed rather surprised at that request, but answered anyways. "I would never let anyone forget you, my child.. Who could possibly forget you..?" "Everyone." It was the painful truth, and Asgore knew it. Many people are to be forgotten eventually. Undyne wanted one or the other, either people to forget about her completely, or never forget. If Asgore would not accept the first option, second one it was. Undyne sighed shakily. "Damn it... The.. Room... It's fading.. Heheh.. Th-This is trippy..." Asgore shook his head over and over. "Lord no... Why must this happen?..." "Hey.. Ch..Cheer up.. Aren't you happy? You're going t..to be free..." Her voice and body shook intensely, she struggled to keep this form. Asgore gave her a shake of the head. "Asgore... J....Just because.. I'm not going to be there... D..Doesn't mean.. You're limited to b-being.. Happy.... I want you t..to try... I b..believe in you.." "No, dear.... I can't be happy.. Every time I am, something bad happens.. Something will always happen unless I... Stop it. No one else will have to deal with my pain and whining anymore.." He threatened. His trauma had caused him to develop Cherophobia. "No no no no Asgore.. L-Look- Th..That's not.. Not the answer.. I-It won't do anything i-it's just a permanent solution to a-a t..temporary..... P..problem......" The young woman let a tear escape her eye. "Talk to s..someone.. There are p....people... People l-left... There's A-A-Alphys and S..Sans and... The r-rest of the u-underground.. Some...one.. To talk to... Just someone t-to talk to..." She whimpered and held his arm tightly. She didn't want to let go. Asgore simply shrugged. "That does not matter now.. How do you feel?.." "I feel like.. I'll s-scatter into... A.. A million p..pieces... It hurts..... E-Everything.. Ev...Everywhere.. I c-can't..." "Shhh....." Asgore simply held her close, with tears prickling in the corners of his eyes. "I could've done better-" "Shhh... You did everything just fine.." He reassured her, for this is not what she should be thinking of during her last moments. "I s..swear I tried my best-" "Shh... I know, I know.. Save your strength and stay alive..." Undyne gripped onto his cape, her breathing got worse by the second, while her tears were mixed with the goopy substance she was turning into. "Remember when... When I.. T..tried to fight you..?" She let out a raspy little laugh. "I c-couldn't land.. A single.. Blow on you.... You offered me.. tea... in the middle of the fight.. Hahah... Dork.." Asgore wiped her tears and nodded as he flung his own tears away. "When... When you t..tried to teach me.. Piano.... I.. Heheh... I broke your p..piano keys a few times..." "You did.. Didn't you..?" He answered. Recapping these happy memories during such a moment did not help the waterworks. "After... t....training.. You would.. Bake cookies... S..sometimes..." "That's right.." Her form wavered, her voice began to become distorted. "And wh....whe-en... I m..managed to kn..knock you..... d...down..... You l...laughed... You said y..you were p..proud of m-me...." She managed a toothy grin. "Even though..... You.. Hah... You totally.. Got your butt k...kicked...... Hahah.... Hah..." She sniffed and pointed to the left side of his chest. "I.. I hit you right there.... Remember?.." "Of course I remember.." He moved loose strands of hair out of her face. "Did..... It... H....Hurt..?" "Not that much.. It certainly stung, but it was a perfect hit. And you've gotten even better since then.." "I..I guess....." She shakily choked out. Her vision started blur. This was it, she was going. She was going to die. She started to sit up. "No no no no- I-It's happening- Help me- it's h-happening- I don't want to leave-! I want to stay here with you-!!" Asgore gently forced her to lay in his arms. "Shh, don't struggle..! Calm down.. Stay calm.. Close your eyes...." "I'll never wake up if I―" "Close your eyes." She hesitantly did as ordered, everything went black as she closed them. "Are... Are y...you there?.." She asked into the seemingly dark void. "I'm right here.. Keep your eyes closed.." Asgore answered. He plucked a golden flower from the ground and set it in her hair. "Look at my beautiful girl.... All grown up.." He cooed, his tears got in the way of his vision, but nonetheless, he knew his little Dulcinea was still in one piece. For now. Undyne was happy that his dulciloquy voice would be the last thing she heard. His way of speaking was so reassuring and calm. It was a voice anyone would put trust in. The atmosphere was normally filled with felicity, but today, this moment, there was just malaise. Though, there were birds chirping.. What a beautiful sound, the garden itself was always so euphonious.. She felt herself drift away in the noises of comfort, and the feeling of her father's arms wrapped around her.

#asgore #undyne #undertale #writing #feels #goat dad and fish daughter #traditional

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lesbeansoup · 7 years ago

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Tale of Thrones (Long live the King) [#1]

Tale of Thrones is set in a world where war between humans and monsters is about to break up. Asgore and Toriel are King and queen of a realm in which both races coexist, although some tension can be felt in the air.

The story follows a different Gaster from the shady, quiet character we all know. He’s talkative, outgoing and nice to every single one of the people he meets. He has a talent to be loved, a perk when it comes to talking people into what you want. He’s happily married to a human lady named Lucy and has a son named Brandon, who is nineteen years old and serves the royal army, as every kid of his age.

He’s trusted, he’s loyal and would do anything to stop the war that threatens both races. He may find the way to do so.

(This is chapter one, I’ll write more if I feel like it. Hope you enjoy!)

***

Asgore looked at him severely. Another council, another disappointment. He wouldn’t keep stability in his kingdom if things kept on being like that. Riots, thievery and murder were a common thing in the streets, despites the efforts of the queen to keep in touch with the people and their needs while her husband took care of the royal matters.

Even when Toriel got out of the castle and spoke to the people, offering company and understanding. No matter the race, people was never happy. Like if monsters weren’t as human as those “men”. Some were even more human.

—The council is over. You may go now if you wish.— Gaster stood up from his chair. His robes didn’t annoy him at all: he was used to dressing them and he wasn’t planning on getting rid of them either. He loved those clothes too much.

—Thanks for everything, G. Good job as always.—Gaster shrugged the compliment off and grabbed the folder he always held under his arm, giving him a profesional look, in contrast with his white scarred face.

—Oh, please, As. Don’t even mention it. It’s my job. Now, if you excuse me, I’d like to go home!—He smiled gladly at Asgore. Even when things seemed desperate, they had to stand tall and don’t let go off their hope. A smile could work wonders if you knew when to use it. And Gaster knew when to use it.

G loved his job. As the royal treasurer, he had lots and lots of contacts. Like a huge spider web that covered the whole realm, he had eyes and ears in every corner, and knew every little secret, every little gossip, every little joke that was told even in the smallest of places.

And he loved jokes. He loved knowing everything. Having everything under control, and knowing which area was most problematic, so he would focus investing money in that hospital, in that village, in that mansion, in that square.

He left the room in company of Alphys and Muffet. The royal council. A Trinity of monsters that had always been by the king’s side, and were worthy of his trust, even in times when even that was a hard thing to find.

—E-Er…I-I hope the king’s not too mad about all this, y’know…b-because of the whole “I am responsable for this”, a-and ssstuffff…—Alphys spoke in a trembling, shy voice, that was barely understandable for foreigners, but not for those who knew her well. It was a good thing that her only job was being locked in her lab, brewing all kinds of who-knows-what liquids, and supervising any kind of construction or work in progress that had to do with numbers.

—Aw, Alphy, don’t worry. He’s our King, isn’t he? He will stay determined! I’m sure of it!—Gaster tried to cheer her up. Although he knew it was going to be almost useless: the shy monster was not only nervous and talkative, but stubborn as a mule too.

—Yeah! And also, he’s got Tori by his side, right? Tee-hee!—Cheerful and optimistic, Muffet came to the rescue. Gaster smirked at her with complicity, and her responded by blinking two of his five eyes. Some people assured that she was able to make inventory of everything in the realm with all of them at once.

The three monsters walked together, chatting until they arrived to the main hall of the castle. There, they didn’t wave goodbye at each other. They knew where to find each other if needed. And they were gonna see each other more sooner than later.

G’s thoughts scratched the walls of his mind, trying to get out somehow. He walked down the street, straight as a stick, scanning with his eyes every single thing he saw. He liked to see the little details in everything.

That little spider on the Wall, happily building his trap next to a doorstep. That house was going to be well protected against mosquitos that summer, he though. The small river of water from a human’s house doorstep that was flowing with ease through the dirt, darkening its color.

Some kid was going to be in trouble for breaking that pipe.

It wasn’t until he had been walking for almost half an hour that he heard a voice calling his name. It was low, but hight pitched at the same time, like a two year old dog.

But Gaster knew exactly who did that voice belong to.

He turned around and saw his son walking to him in Company of two skeleton-like monsters, dressed in a beautiful, shiny armor. They were all sweaty: certainly summer was going to be cruel with soldiers this year.

—Dadster! Dadster!—His son happily chanted with his manly voice as he walked to him along with the two skeletons. Gaster laughed and covered his face of laughter.

—Tell your cousins to take those off! They’re going to boil alive!—One of the two skeletons laughed and snapped his fingers, making both his and his brother’s armor dissapear, making Brandon the only one wearing armor.

—SANS! I WAS ABOUT TO LOOK COOL IN FRONT OF THE ROYALTY SO THEY WOULD LET ME IN THE ROYAL GUARD!

—Don’t worry, pal. I’m sure they’ll let you in. Someday. I feel it in my bones.—Said the shortests of the skeletons with a grin in his face.

Papyrus grunted.

—Come on, bro. Don’t be like that. I’m so humerus.

Papyrus started thigtening his mandibles, making his teeth let out an annoying noise.

—Don’t worry, G. We were just showing your kid some shortcuts, and took him to the Philosofer’s rock.

—Oh really? What’s Philosofer’s rock? I’ve never heard of it.—Answered Gaster confused.

—Oh, well. Yeah. You know. I’ve just baptized it. It’s a rock where I created the most meaningful of meaningful puns…—He got his hands of his pockets, like getting ready to run away from something.

—Sans, don’t even…

—TIBIA OR NOT TIBIA, THAT IS THE QUESTION!—Even after he could finish saying that phrase, Paps started running after him with an angry look on his face. Gaster and his son laughed as they saw them get lost in the distance. After they were done laughing, G talked to his son.

—It’s getting late you little monster, wanna go have dinner?

—Don’t call me little monster! I’m not a kid anymore!—He answered, prideful.

—So is that a yes?—He asked with a smile.

—Sorry Dad. I’m afraid I can’t. Captain Undyne called us not long ago for a nightwatch.

Gaster wrinkled his nose, and then let him go. He was a man now, he thought, he had to take care of his duties. He still remembered when he was little, his Little cheeks, and his fighting games with that wooden stick in company of his cousins…

That nostalgia was washed off as son as he entered home. The wooden door opened with a noisy “SCREEEEEK”, and as soon as he layed a foot inside his house, someone hugged him from behind. Someone entered the house at the same time as him. And someone kissed his cheek as he closed the door behind his back.

—Good evening, honey.

Lucy was astonishingly pretty that day. Her wild red hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall of fire and flames, framing an innocent, cheerful face. An uncommon contrast that gave life to her face in an indescriptible manner.

—Good evening, dear. May I cook today?

—Isn’t Bran coming home?—Suddently asked Lucy, slightly worried. Gaster calmed her with an unworried gesture of his hand.

—Not today. He’s a little man with lots of big duties.—Lucy wrinkled her nose like G had done moments ago. Then, she shrugged and headed to the kitchen.

—I said I was cooking toda - - -

—YOU SAID. I didn’t allow you to. — She said with crossed arms and a grin in her face, as she grabbed a cooking pot and a spoon.

—Alright, the I guess we’ll - - - —Lucy spanked her husband in the butt with the wooden spoon, making him smile and allowing himself to express surprise. After some time to regain composture, he and his wife cooked dinner. Even more: they had fun while doing so.

It was not uncommon for Gaster to have fun doing things. But doing them with his family was a different kind of fun. A fun that fueled his soul and his heart to a limit he couldn’t describe by using just words. It gave him strength, determination to stay by Asgore and Toriel’s side in thos hard times. They had happy lives: people in the streets didn’t. But that didn’t matter when him, her and Bran were smiling. Happy. Blooming flowers in a world about to tear itself apart.

He forced those thoughts out of his head before he started becoming pessimistic and enjoyed dinner, note ver letting go of the expression of happyness that had formed in his face. He had a happy life.

As they were doing the dishes, there was a knock on the door.

“Strange.” Thought Gaster. He knew his son always carried with him a full set of keys. He dryed his hands with a towel and walked up to the door. He opened it, expecting anything.

What he found at the other side was a monster. A familiar monster. One tall, White as snow, female goat was at the porch with a face of sadness.

—Tori? What’s wrong?—He then noticed her hands, stretched and crossed in a way that made him feel weird.

—Gaster…I tried to save him… I’m so sorry…

End is importat in all things.

—May I come in?—She asked with a trembling voice. Something was horribly wrong with the queen. It wasn’t uncommon for her to visit random houses, but it seemed like she had something to say.

And like the Jester said to the King…

—It was an accident, G.

There is bad news that I bring.

—Your son is dead.—With a muffled voice, more a silence than a phrase, she let go the deadliest bullet a person possibly could shoot to a father’s heart.

—T̷hi̴s͠.͝.͠.t̵his ͟ḿưst be͘ ́a ̵m͝istake, ̶he͞ ̀ca̧n̡'̶t̶ ̀b̡e͜..̧.—Out of his throat came, in Company of his words, a white noise, comparable to a radio’s static.

—I’m so, so sorry, Gaster. I tried to save him. We all tried. But the injures were too…—Toriel decided to stop speaking as he saw Gaster’s face become shadier and shadier, like he was drowning.

He was drowning. Because a child who loses a parent is an orphan, and a wife who loses her husband is a widow.

But a father who loses his child is a disgrace.

Tears streamed down his face as his wife ran from the kitchen and tried to confort him. They took the conversation to the living room, where Toriel explained what had happened as softly as she could, trying to minimize graphic details, conforting his friend and servant, one of his most loyal companions.

Killed. A trident went through his heart. Asgore’s trident. Rookie’s armor looked a lot like the troublemaker’s and in the middle of a riot, Asgore had confused him with an enemy.

—H̗e̶̠̦̱͙.̭.̶.̯͍̥h̲̝͇ḛ'̪͓s͚͇̖ ̙ḏ̳̣̰̱̦̮ḙ̫̭̤͔̩a̪̖͉d̘ ͓̞͔̰͚L̳̙̪u͉̫̭͔̕cy̸̹͖̭̻͍̥͖.͙̼̘̠̦̱͙͞.̮̣̹.T̨͙͙̦̤̦͎o̩̠̪̪̣͖r̠̞i̡͇̪̭̞̠ę̠̬͖͓͖l͎̲̯̹̀,̙͔̣̤͉ͅ ̭̩w̖̰̗̠̲̯̥e̹̜ ͚͉͕̪̹c̨͓͖̺̜̙̙a̟ṇ̞̪̜͙̜̕ ̵̙̖̯̹f̬̖͍̰̘̮̯i͍̦͉̪̪̟̰͞x͈̹͠ ͕̺͚i̹̫̟͎̲t̳͈̘.̷̫̤͙̹̩̱̘.͖͇͕͍̹̰̗.̗̯̘̮̠͎r̢i̫̻̤̳̼̮͔g̼͍̭͚̩̱̣h̡͔̫͔͈ṯ̴̤͇͇̲͈?͏͚̰̣͍͎—Deep down he knew it couldn’t be fixed. But hope pulled him away from all logic thinking.

Dead. He would never feel his soft, warm cheeks against his skull, hear his laughs or play with his cousins hide and seek. And lose every time in purpose to make Papyrus laugh.

The war took him away. It was an accident.

Gaster and his wife cryed their son’s death for one whole moon cycle. In that time, friends came to visit and give condolences.

War didn’t take him away. The humans did. With their grabby hands, stealing armors and putting them on, they made the King confused and made him stab his kid. The whole war was a slaughter, and no one was doing anything to fix it. Even when they tried their best at their job, nobody could be always happy. Too many people, too many lives to spare.

Asgore had killed his child. That was the only truth. It may had been an accident, but that was it. Violence, and more violence. That was the solution of our beloved King. He thought he was his friend. His beloved friend. He could have called him a brother if someone had asked him to.

Incompetent, naive King. Your battles and your crusades took away his happyness. There had to be a way to stop this madness. A way to make everything end…

There was.

There was a way.

If he sat in the throne next to his wife, wouldn’t monsters and humans be more sympathetic ones with the others, seeing a monster and a human sitting in the throne? Wouldn’t that make things easier for everyone?

So he took his decision. He knew the rules of the game he was about to get into. A game played between four walls, with a throne in the middle. There’s no trust, there’s nobody that would help him. There’s nothing written, and the only winner is whoever is the last one standing.

***

After a month, Gaster finally got up from his bed and opened the curtain. He kissed his wife in the cheek, softly, and left her sleeping. She looked like an angel, he thought. So sweet.

He walked up to the door, grabbed his robes and put them on. They didn’t annoy him at all: he was used to dressing them and he wasn’t planning on getting rid of them either. He loved those clothes too much.

He put his folder under his arm, opened the door and headed to the castle for another day of hard work.

He smiled.

Long live the King.

#undertale #au #taleofthrones #gaster #wd gaster

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