Water.
Water all around me, suffocating me. Undyne was right. This river is full of soot and ash to no end. I'll be dead in a matter of minutes if I don't get out very soon. In an oxygen-deprived frenzy, my arms thrash around, desperately searching for something, anything that I could grab hold to. My right hand finds a thick, sturdy brach, and before this possible lifeline slips away, I grab it with all of my strength. I pull myself out of a watery hell and taste the sweetest air of my life.
I scale the branch, which is actually a stray tree root, up to the riverbank, pulling myself up as far as I can to avoid losing consciousness and slipping back in. My lungs burn with the new task of supplying my body with the seemingly endless amount of air it demands. My right hand really hurts, that root was really rough and sharp. I'll have Alphys look at it after I clean myself up.
It's dark, and really cold in Waterfall. I need to get home and change now. The trip through Snowdin is agonizing, and by the time I get to my house just outside of Snowdin Town, I can't feel any of my extremities. I burst through the door and collapse onto the couch. Being inside alone makes me feel a lot better and I want to law there forever, but I go upstairs to my room, peel off my now frozen hoodie and clothes underneath. Thank God none of them stuck to my skin. I put on some pajamas and head back downstairs. I see my phone on the coffee table. It was the best goddamn move of my life to leave it at home. I take it and put it in my room.
I put a kettle of water on the stove and get the peppermint tea out from the hutch in the kitchen. I sit down for a moment, thinking about nothing in particular. I'm about to go get some food when the kettle starts whistling. I hastily take it off the stove and pour some water into a cup with a tea bag in it. I don't want to wake Safire up and worry her. She has enough on her plate already.
I sit at the table and down one, two, three cups of tea before deciding I should probably go to bed. As I scale the stairs up and head towards my room, I hear Safire stir from her room. I freeze and try to look as casual as possible. When she doesn't come out after about 30 seconds, I continue into my room and silently shut the door behind me.
It takes me about ten seconds to realize there's no way in hell that I'm going to get any sleep. I grab my sketchbook from my desk, with a pencil marking the nearest clean page. I open it up and start to draw. I decide on drawing an eye, manga-style, big, blue, and bold, I form the outer eye shape, eyelashes, and a dark, striking eyebrow to match. Eventually I realize that the eye has a glint of fear, and even some instinct in it, as if a danger has just come before it and it's deciding whether to flee or hold their own. I can't figure out the exact expression, and it's hurting my already-muddled head. I put the sketchbook down and decide to just lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling. My vision blurs, and suddenly my mind is blank. I don't need to worry or think about anything.
I'd guess it was about ten minutes, but it feels like I've been in that state for hours when my phone's ringtone goes off and snaps me out of it.
SIT DOWN JOHN, YOU FAT MOTH-
I quickly answer the phone before it wakes up Saf. "Hello?" I say, still half in a daze.
"Juni, Where the hell are you? It's been almost two hours since you left!"
It's Undyne. I vaguely remember saying I would come back in 15 minutes. Shit. I must have worried her half to death.
"Sorry, I forgot. I'm fine. I'll be over in a minute."
"You better be, or I'm coming over there and dragging you here!" The words are barely across the line when she hangs up.
I force myself out of my room, I grab my phone with my right hand and am reminded painfully that it's injured. I look down at it and instantly wish I hadn't. My palm is covered in cuts, many of which are bleeding. I pocket my phone, grab some gauze from the hall closet and unprofessionally wrap it around my hand. It doesn't seem to be infected at all, but I can't take any chances.
"Juni? What are you doing?"
I jump. Safire's head peeks out of her doorway. Her hair is loose and slightly frizzed. Her eyes are sleepy.
"O-oh, nothing. Just woke up is all. Go back to sleep, Saf."
Safire squints her eyes at me, obviously suspicious. She decides it's not worth her time to argue with me and slips back into her room soundlessly, staring at me the whole time.
Once I am sure she is back in bed, I finish wrapping my hand and grab my coat. At the last minute. I remember the frosting I was supposed to get. I grab it from the fridge last-minute. I put on my boots absent-mindedly and slip out of the front door, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Once I'm a fair distance from my house, I relax a little, knowing that Safire is either asleep, or isn't going to pursue me for whatever reason. As I approach Waterfall, my fuzzy head starts to recall the past events of the day.
At around noon, Undyne called me over to help her bake cupcakes. I was less than thrilled to be subject to a hurricane of a kitchen, but not wanting to be rude, I agreed. When I got there, she and Papyrus had already started, and it started to get completely out of hand when Undyne turned on the mixer and sent batter everywhere. After that I shooed them both out of the kitchen and prepared the cupcakes and put them in the oven. I figured that they could handle taking the cupcakes out of the oven and put them in a cooling rack. I left, saying I would only take 15 minutes to get frosting from my house that I had made earlier. Still, how did this lead me into falling into the river?
I recall walking past the river, minding my own business, when a flash of silver caught my eye. It looked like there was jewelry of some sort that had fallen into the river. I only saw it for a split second before it was gone, so I leaned in closer to see it again. That's when I slipped onto the mud and fell in.
I snap out of my thinking daze when I realize I'm approaching Undyne's house. When I knock on the door, she immediately answers. She looks pissed to no end. But instead of yelling at me, she just looks and me apprehensively and says, "Your hair is wet."
I do some quick ad-libbing. "Yeah, something splashed up from behind me. Had to go home and clean up. Lost track of time, I guess."
Undyne doesn't seem to notice my hand, which is good, because I have no idea how to talk myself out of that one.
"I put the cupcakes on the cooling rack, like you said." Undyne rolls her eyes and lets me in.
I peek in the kitchen, which is thankfully still intact. The cupcakes are untidily placed on the rack, but otherwise OK. I set the container full of icing next to the rack and sit on the counter. I cannot believe that I, a pitiful human, have survived something that nearly took out Undyne herself.
Undyne thunders into the kitchen. "Hey Juni, I forgot to ask you when you came in, what's up with your hand?"
