Hello! This is just a short oneshot for me to get used to the characters while I work on a larger project. Enjoy! :)

Word count: 1,015

Disclaimer: Toby Fox owns Undertale.

Undyne was barely able to make it back to her house. She was forced to use her spear as a crutch, limping through Waterfall. Her skin was dry and her armor was hot and her spear kept flickering in and out of existence, which made her trip. If she hadn't been so exhausted, she would've jumped in the river to cool down. Unfortunately, if she did that now, she would probably never get back out of the river.

It took her eight tries to get into her house, because she kept missing the lock and jabbing the key into the doorknob instead. As soon as she got the door open, she collapsed into the house, falling with a crash onto the floor. Her spear dissipated with a flash of blue light now that she was no longer focused on keeping it there. With a groan, Undyne kicked the door shut and then just lay there, shivering.

She felt awful.

She'd not only failed to kill a murderer, but had been forced to rely on said murderer's mercy. Damn Hotland and damn armor and damn being cold-blooded.

Undyne opened her eyes and sighed. Even her mouth was dry. Painfully, she dragged herself into a sitting position. She was shaking. Undyne let out a low snort. She hadn't felt this bad in a long time.

With trembling fingers, she fumbled at the straps of her armor, but touching the hot metal made her feel ill. It took a very long time for her to pull one gauntlet off, and she immediately pressed her hand to the cool walls of her house. She sighed and turned her head, resting her forehead on it as well.

She swallowed hard. Damn it. She needed water and she needed to get out of this stupid armor and she needed to sleep for five hundred years. Her fingers were shaking even worse than her legs, and that made it hard to take off her other gauntlet. Still, she managed, cursing vehemently and taking breaks periodically. She'd gotten around to unbuckling half of her cuirass when she heard a knock on the door.

Undyne spent several seconds staring, disbelievingly, at the door. What the hell was she supposed to do about that?! She couldn't even take off her armor. The knock came again, louder and more insistent.

Using the remnants of her energy to summon another spear, Undyne pressed the butt of the spear to the ground and used it to push herself upwards. Her head spun and it suddenly became hard to breathe. Undyne grimaced. She was so freakin' hot.

She turned the doorknob and swung it open. Unfortunately, her spear chose that moment to vanish, and her legs gave way, sending her pitching to the ground with an angry, "Ngah!"

Hands caught her and she heard a startled, "Undyne?!"

"Mmph," Undyne mumbled, opening her eye to glare at whoever had caught her. To her surprise, it was Papyrus. He was looking at her, concern evident in his face. She groaned, "Let go of me, punk." Although she tried to inject her normal bite into her words, she only able to muster up as much anger as Napstablook could. Still, Papyrus let her go. Leaning heavily on the door frame, Undyne demanded, "What do you want?" As much as she loved Papyrus, she didn't feel like dealing with him right now.

Truth be told, she didn't much feel like dealing with anybody.

Papyrus' face lit up and he said eagerly, voice just as loud as ever, "I was hoping me and the human could hang out at your house!" Disbelief flashed across her face, but he merely smiled. "We'd have an awesome time!"

Coldly, Undyne snapped, "I won't 'hang out' with a murderer."

Papyrus blinked, confused. "A murderer?" he asked, puzzled.

"Also, if I see them again, I will murder them," she added hotly, although the effect was lost given that she could barely stand.

Papyrus looked at her with a pleading expression. "I think you guys would really get along! Especially in the great Papyrus' company!"

Undyne opened her mouth and then closed it again, closing her eye briefly. There wasn't anything to say anymore. Still, Papyrus looked so hopeful. . . . "No," she said shortly, shutting the door with as much slam as she could.

She just barely managed to not crumple to the ground again, instead dragging herself across her house to her kitchen sink, promptly sticking her head under the faucet and running the water. For a couple seconds, the water felt good against her scales, refreshingly cool and moist. But then her body made the mistake of trying to breathe through her nose and gills at the same time and she fell to the floor, coughing and spluttering. But her hair was wet now and it felt amazing.

Wanting nothing more than to just lie on the floor and fall asleep, Undyne dragged herself over to her table and sat down in the nearest chair. She just sat there for a while, fighting to keep her eyes open, feeling water trickle down her scalp and into her armor.

It wouldn't rust. She'd made it, after all, and she was a fish.

Undyne opened her eyes and held her hands up. They still shook and her arms still felt like jelly, but they seemed to be a little steadier than they had been earlier. She attacked her armor with renewed vigor, untying knots and pulling off straps with more thought and effort than it had taken the first time she'd taken the damn thing off.

By the time she finally got it off, she felt ready to sleep for a thousand years. Running her hand under the faucet, which she'd accidentally left on, Undyne splashed the water across her face and arms.

After she'd turned the faucet off, she dragged herself to her feet and limped to her bedroom, collapsing into her bed and falling asleep almost immediately.

She still felt horrible.

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