From my Undertale Tickle Prompts on my Deviantart page. Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. I own nothing.
A/N: This prompt is a tribute to our brave soldiers who have sacrificed so much and to the soldiers still sacrificing so much to defend our freedom and values. Without those brave men and women, we wouldn't have the freedom we do today.
Prompt 32: Alike
(Undyne and Male Soldier; platonic pairing)
Undyne was sitting in a chair at the auditorium of a local college, listening to a group of soldiers who had come by to speak to the college student studying medicine and other subjects related to becoming doctors, therapists, and such. Most of the students were aiming to help the soldiers who were coming home from either wars or from being in other countries and were trying to adapt back to their lives prior to going into the army.
As she listened to the soldiers, she was quite stunned to realize that the soldiers were not different from herself. Warriors who believe in a better cause and defended the values of their homeland and the struggles that were part of it. She was on the edge of her seat, listening very closely as she didn't want to miss one word of it.
After the soldiers spoke, a few of the wives came up and told the audience about the struggles their spouses either had gone through or still were and the fish woman felt a few tears fall down her face as she heard one woman say that her husband had lost both legs in the war and how it was hard for him and how he was doing his best to adapt to his new prosthetic legs, but it was taking time to do so and to strengthen the muscles again after surgery.
Undyne began to think about if she had ever been injured that badly. What would she have done? What would Alphys have had to go through if she had to help her best friend try to recover from such an injury? What would the others have gone through? It would have been very hard, no doubt.
She felt more tears sting her eyes when young children stood up and told their stories about how hard it was to see their family members in that kind of pain. A little girl hoping her daddy would be able to teach her to ride a horse and a little boy hoping his mom could go roller skating with him on his birthday. A young woman who was engaged stood up and said she was putting off her wedding date until her father finished therapy so that he could walk her down the aisle on her special day and a young man told his story of how he was working on a car that his mom could drive while she was going to therapy for her left arm.
The fish woman hung onto every word, awed at how brave the soldiers were and about while they had good days and bad days, they didn't give up. They were heroes. True heroes.
After the conference, everyone was treated to a buffet potluck the students, teachers, and staff of the college had put together and as Undyne got her plate and found a place to sit down, she was deep in thought and watched as a young father, who had a prosthetic leg and was using a cane to help him walk, picked up his five-year-old daughter and held her in one arm and the little girl held the plate of food in her hands for him. The fish woman had to smile at that, wiping away a few tears from her eyes.
"Excuse me?" A male voice said to her left and she glanced up to see a young man in air force uniform standing with a plate in his hands, half of his right arm being a prosthetic limb. "Is it alright if I join you?"
"Of course," she said instantly, watching as he sat down, keeping hold of his plate of food as he got comfortable and she remembered he was going through therapy and his hope was to one day hold his new daughter in his arms as his wife was almost nine months along and was expecting a baby girl. "Congratulations to you and your wife, by the way."
"Thank you," he said gratefully before glancing down at his arm. "My therapy's going good and I really hope to be there and hold my little girl when she's born."
Undyne smiled. "I have no doubt you will," she said kindly before growing solemn. "Everyone's stories made me think of the war I had fought in, but…it was prejudiced people I fought against. It wasn't easy at all."
"War never is," the male soldier said gently. "I lost a couple good friends of mine in the war."
"I'm sorry," the fish woman said sincerely. "I can't imagine how hard that was, but I do know it would be hard on me if I lost any of my dearest friends."
He nodded. "War gave me a new perspective on life," he said softly. "I don't regret serving my country though."
"And you never should regret that," Undyne said, conviction in her voice. "You decided to be a hero and sacrificed a lot to be a hero. My niece once said that heroes like you keep our freedom free and without heroes like you, we wouldn't have that freedom today."
The soldier smiled gratefully and modestly. "Well, I was just doing my job of fighting for my country," he said.
She smiled, noticing the purple heart badge on his uniform. "And you fought valiantly," she said with a smile.
"I think I know your niece," he said. "Isn't it Frisk, the young girl who freed you all?"
"Yes," Undyne said in surprise.
"She's one of my older sister's math students," he smiled. "She's a good kid, from what I hear."
"She's the best," the fish woman said with conviction. "I wouldn't have become a better warrior if it wasn't for her."
He nodded. "Sounds like you and I are alike," he said. "We're both soldiers and we both fought for others."
She nodded. "Yeah, you're right," she said softly.
A gentle poke to her side caused her to jump a little and she just managed to muffle a squeak, but she felt a few more pokes and she managed to keep her laughter mostly down, but some giggles did escape as she playfully glared at the soldier who was using his prosthetic hand to playfully poke and tickle her side, the light touches making it hard to Undyne to not give out an embarrassing squeak, but she was smiling and the soldier nodded before standing up and taking his empty plate to throw it out. "Thanks for spending time with a soldier," he said, giving her a salute.
She returned the salute. "Thank you for your service to our country," she said respectfully and watched him walk back over to his wife and smiled. "Thank you," she said more softly before she got up to throw away her empty plate and head for home.
As she was walking home, she took her time to think about what she had heard that day and vowed to help the soldiers returning home any way she could. They had sacrificed a lot to serve their country and she would always be grateful to them for that.
To all our soldiers: Thank you for your service to our country.
GoldGuardian2418