Snowflakes coated her thick armor, the frigid ice biting into her scales. The cold seemed cruel today, piercing through any weakness Undyne might have in her defenses. She had no time to bring anything warmer than this when she heard what was happening at Snowdin. Her boots crushed and crunched in the snow as she sprinted towards her destination. Hopefully she wasn't too late.
The warrior's chest heaved and burned, the chill blocking her airways. Every muscle in her body told her to stop and breathe, but she refused to listen. She was just outside the town now. A flurry of snow and ice kicked up all around Undyne, blinding her completely, but she never faltered. As if the storm realized she had reached her destination, it died down, leaving the captain of the royal guard in a miserable silence.
A bright red scarf fluttered in the chill wind. It seemed to be searching desperately for its lost owner. The wind had blown away any remaining dust, but she already knew Papyrus was dead. The scarf had found itself caught on a stray rock, waving frantically, almost reaching for something. Sans stood just outside of its range, hands in his pockets and back turned.
Undyne's blood boiled. She had been too late to protect him. A wild scream left her exhausted lungs as she lost control of herself in a rage. With the murderer nowhere to be found, the berserk captain had no choice but to slam her fist into the dirt beneath her. Torrential thoughts howled through her head to the point of near-torture. She hated herself then for failing to be there, hated herself even more than the one who had murdered her friend.
That's when she realized. His brother was right here. The scarf so desperately called to him, yet he wouldn't even spare it a glance. "Why didn't you protect him?" she yelled.
Silence. He wouldn't face her. The scarf reached again.
Undyne fully lost her self-control. Her fangs grinded till her mouth bled, never noticing. "I know you have those powers! I know how fast you are! Why did you let your brother die?!"
Nothing.
She would not see Papyrus insulted like this! Undyne trudged over to the wailing scarf and the silent skeleton. "You never cared about him, did you!?" she spat the words out like acid.
Sans' shoulders flinched for a brief moment. He still wouldn't speak.
Undyne's nails dug into her own scales as she clenched her fists. "At least look at him!" she roared, grabbing onto his shoulders and roughly forcing the brother to face her and the scarf.
He let it happen. His eye sockets no longer held any light, instead showing only twin voids of darkness. The grin remained plastered on his face, permanent and rigid and forever hollow. That grin. That stupid, revolting grin.
"You pathetic coward!" Undyne moved to strike him and wipe that smile off his face, but a warm touch flittered against her scales. The scarf.
Words came out as a whisper, lighter than the wind. "i know."
Whether he actually spoke, or if she just imagined it, she couldn't be sure. She let go of him then, pushing him away roughly. The end of the scarf kept waving at her arm, gently pulling her away. She knew what was truly important. It wasn't like he was going to take it.
Undyne snatched up the bright red scarf and wrapped it gently around her neck. The cold seemed to lessen its assault on her. No matter how Sans had treated him, Papyrus wouldn't have wanted this. Papyrus would have believed in his brother even if Undyne would not.
She held no sympathy for the shorter skeleton, however. He was still a coward; despite what Papyrus might have thought. Undyne's red hair and Papyrus' scarf flowed through the wind together now. The scarf no longer fluttered as erratically anymore, no longer as desperate.
She looked back at Sans. He was gone already, of course. Undyne growled to herself.
There was no more time for this. The thing that murdered Papyrus and so many other monsters here in Snowdin must have been on the move through Waterfall now. She would find it and kill it all costs. Everyone was depending on her.
The knife bit through her armor like it was nothing.
Black ooze trickled down her breastplate. Eye wide with shock, Undyne gripped the hilt of the dagger lodged in her chest. Her strength failed. Fingers slipped pathetically in an attempt to remove the weapon. Her lungs burned as she gasped for air. She fell to the cavernous dirt of Waterfall on her arms and knees, refusing to die. So quickly too?
Undyne began to drown, coughing and sputtering the same ooze that bled out from her wound. Her shoulders slumped before her knees gave out. The knife dug itself deeper as she struggled to lift herself back up again. Pain washed over her body, but she would not scream. Removing the weapon was useless now. She clawed desperately at her attacker, gauntlets raking the dirt at its feet.
The human - the thing smiled. It did not attack again. It simply watched, lips curved in a twisted grin.
Undyne grabbed hold of its leg finally. Her vision was blurred; her mind was fogged. She squeezed with what was left of her strength, but felt no bones crack, no limbs break. She couldn't hold on anymore. The warrior knew she was dying. It was over.
She would die like Papyrus died before her. Once she was gone, the rest of her friends would be killed as well. All of them. Alphys, Asgore. Everyone. But even through all her pain, she felt the warm touch of his scarf against her cheek.
No.
Undyne accepted her own death, but she would not allow any more to die. A fire burned inside her, it charred her insides and boiled her blood. This fire engulfed the warrior's body, blinding her to her own demise. A strength she had never felt before surged through her veins. Silently, she picked herself up off of the dirt, dagger still throbbing in her chest.
She wasn't giving up.
In an instant, she pulled the weapon from her body. Pain rippled through, but she refused to feel it. The thing's smile seemed to widen. Undyne tossed the dagger back to the hideous creature.
It would need it, after all.
"You're gonna have to try a little harder than that," were the last words it would hear. She stood tall, her grin both wide and sharp. Light flickered from her bad eye, shining sharper then the thing's pathetic dagger. The heroine, red scarf around her neck, stood in its way.
The creature laughed it's sickening laugh and stabbed again, piercing Undyne's armor as easily as before. She bled and felt burning pain once more, but she would not flinch. The thing's smile vanished. It didn't understand. It stepped back, then was held in place by her magic as spears materialized in the air. It blocked each projectile, whacking it away easily at first, until the pattern intensified, speeding up to near impossibility. It couldn't block them all, and it certainly couldn't evade them. Razor sharp tips pierced its arms and legs.
With a snarl, it rushed at Undyne again, its knife swinging in an arc until it slashed against her stomach. Undyne never moved away, never made an attempt to dodge. She took the blow, unflinching, and looked down at the creature with a fierce grin.
She grasped the thing by its skull. It swung the knife again and let out an ear piercing scream, slicing new wounds into her skin, but she merely laughed it away, as if the pain was nothing but a bad joke. Her eye shone, growing brighter with each vicious strike.
Spears materialized around the thing's body, its legs kicking at the air pathetically. Within a flash, the weapons grinded its limbs like a blender. Blood spurted across the stone walls, mixing with her own black ooze.
The corpse, mangled and skewered by her arsenal of spears, finally fell to the floor. A small thing, but its size once held a cruelty that rivaled mountains. Undyne spat at the ground, eyeing the body with disdain. She had won, but like the many wounds that littered her chest, she refused to feel anything. She refused the adrenaline of victory, refused the silence that fell over Waterfall, and she refused the eyes she knew was watching her from afar. She would not give that hooded figure a glance, not even if all she had for them was contempt.
She refused everything except for the scarf she still wore, soft and smelling of familiar bones. She clutched at it, keeping it near. All that was left of her friend.
Thank you for reading. If you're still interested, please read my girlfriend's direct sequel here: s/11915399/1/Refusal-to-Mourn by Darkhymns. Or simply look in reviews and click on her name or just search for the name Refusal to Mourn. Thanks.