Why? Because I wanted to, that's why! Also, well, there needs to be more love for Papyrus. Everyone's on about Sans, and I can definitely understand. It's not like I'm not in the same boat. But Papyrus needs some attention too. I've had a soft spot for him since day one. So anyways, I really hope you guys like this story! This takes place right after the Pacifist Ending and goes on from there... so, as is polite, I will say "Spoilers!" It's got some upsetting themes and topics, warning you all now, but I don't want to make this a downer. So let's get this started!
Callie had been climbing for a while now. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, but... if the legends were true, she'd find out soon enough. Hopefully very soon. Before too long, someone would come looking for her. Someone might already have been. It all depended on when Sara got back to the dorm room and found that Callie wasn't there.
She sighed. This wasn't a nice thing to do. Not her parents, not to Sara, not even the school. But she couldn't keep on going the way she was. Therapy didn't help, because it couldn't change the situation. It couldn't change people. High School had been bad in those regards, but somehow college was infinitely worse. Gritting her teeth through it all wasn't helping anymore. The depression was steadily getting more severe, and Callie could barely stand to look in the mirror anymore. Something had to give.
So here she was, climbing Mt. Ebott, looking for... well... whatever caused people to disappear. While that didn't explicitly mean 'death', it was certainly heavily implied, and that was good enough for her. Callie liked the idea of disappearing over any other method. She wouldn't want someone to have to see her blood-soaked, or blue, or hanging. That was a horrible thing to put another person through. This was just... cleaner. Besides, with this, there was more mystery to it. Any other way was just reaching the same end by different means. At least by doing this, she'd know what happened to the others, even if it was only herself that would know.
The sun was setting. Things were getting darker by the minute. Callie was surprisingly indifferent to this fact. Perhaps since she no longer cared about her own life, the old fear of the dark and all it contained had no more baring on her.
How far up was she? Did it matter? Oh well, this wasn't really a time to wonder about that. She was really just getting impatient with this, as she'd set out about four hours ago and her legs were screaming at her.
With a sigh, Callie sat down on a moss-covered rock. She figured even if people were looking for her, it was going to be a while before the deduced her location, let alone come climbing up after her. So for now, inevitable death or disappearance or whatever could wait a few minutes.
"Ah, thank God." She said, breathing out.
Callie glanced at the sky. Blue had been replaced by rich orange and pink, with just a pinch of evening purple seeping in. It was a beautiful sunset.
"My last sunset." Callie whispered. "Glad I wore my contacts for it."
A solemn smile spread on her face. The scenery around her got blurry at the edges as tears began to well in her eyes. All at once Callie buried her face in her hands and began to sob.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She began to say to the forest. "Mama... Dad... Sara... God... I'm really, really sorry. Forgive me, please. Please... please..."
Her words dissolved into wails and gasps. Callie wanted nothing more than see them again and apologize before she died. It wasn't their fault and they had done all they could for her. But no make-up, no colored contacts, nothing, could make her into something she wasn't. Eventually anyone she got close to would have to see the real her, and that hardly ever worked out.
The sobbing got more quiet after a while, until they were nothing more than soft moans and gasping intakes of air. Callie was sure she was going to have to keep moving soon, lest she lose her courage and return to her dorm with a half-assed explanation and a need for a shower. But just as she was about to stand, Callie heard footsteps, which were accompanied by a male voice.
"Oh I can't wait to introduce myself! There are so many opportunities for new friends!"
She stood up. The footsteps were getting louder, and coming in Callie's direction. Someone... someone was coming down from the mountain. Down. That meant they had climbed up the mountain and... survived. But how was that possible? Were the legends wrong? Was-
But she was cut off by the source of the noise stepping through the trees. The two of them locked... she couldn't even call it locking eyes. It had no eyes. It had no skin. It had no organs or muscles or anything. It was the bare bones of a human being, literally. It was just... a skeleton. A skeleton that was standing there. Standing. There. And if that wasn't strange enough on its own, it was also wearing clothing. High red boots, a pair of shorts with a gold belt, a strange white top that puffed out like... like some kind of bizarre knight's armor, a red cape, and gloves. And Callie thought she looked freaky.
Callie was caught between horror and confusion, and had no idea what the next move should be. Luckily, the skeleton was the on to make the next move.
"Greetings! Wowie, you're the first human I've seen on the surface! It's a pleasure to meet you. I am The Great Papyrus, former member of the Royal Guard. I assume we won't be needing it anymore, anyway."
The skeleton... The Great Papyrus as he called himself... offered a gloved hand towards Callie. Not wanting to somehow make him angry, she took it. The glove was very soft, and she could feel the bones beneath it. It frightened her. He shook her hand with vigor.
"Oh forgive me! I haven't asked your name. I suppose it would be confusing to just call you "human" if there are so many of you up here! So, what is your name?"
"I... I'm... C-Callie."
"You speak like Dr. Alphys! Perhaps I should introduce you two."
Who could that be? Were they a skeleton like this... she supposed she could it a guy, though surely there was nothing that would validate that... or were they something else, something even more bizarre? Then again, what could be weirder than a sentient skeleton?
"PAPYRUS, WAIT!" A woman screamed. Her voice was somewhat gritty, and very out of breath.
Out of the trees, another strange being emerged. This one looked aquatic in nature, with greenish skin and membranous ears. A cascade of red hair fell around her face, covering one of her eyes.
"Undyne!" The skeleton said, excited. "I'm so glad you could join us! I've met our first surface human, Callie! Callie, this is Undyne!"
The fish lady took a few heaving breaths before walking up to Callie. Though only one eye was visible, it studied her with a piercing, critical gaze. Callie stood very still and tried to look neutral. She may have wanted to die, but being murdered by a fish was not how she wanted to go out.
After a few minutes, Undyne's face soften and she gave Callie a wide smile.
"Nice to meet ya! Name's Undyne, but Pap here already gave that away."
"H-hi."
"Timid, are ya? That makes sense. I'm sure you're not used to seeing monsters."
Well, she wasn't wrong.
"No."
"Sorry if we scared ya, Callie."
"It's... it's okay."
Fear was dissolving more into awe at this point, anyway.
Papyrus spoke again. "So where do you come from, Callie? Are there other humans around here? What are you doing on this mountain?"
Callie didn't know how the answer that. She didn't want to admit what she was here for, especially not to these monsters, but it was a question that needed answering. She floundered for a minute, eyes darting around as she thought of an explanation. The skeleton waited expectantly for her response. But after a couple minutes of silence, he seemed to notice something. Maybe it was body language, maybe it was the fact that Callie looked like a mess from crying, face red and clumps of white hair stuck to her face, but Papyrus realized, probably for the first time, that something was troubling her.
"Well... if you do not want to tell us, that is fine too! But would you mind directing us to the nearest town? Us monsters would love to reintroduce ourselves to your kind!"
"Y-yeah... just go straight down, and there will be a road there. Follow it, and uh... you'll find the town. But I mean... I can't say how they'll react."
Callie feared she might be leading these creatures to their death.
"Yeah, we know. That's why we have an ambassador. They're still up on the mountain, I think." Undyne said.
"O-oh... okay."
"So must we wait for Frisk?"
"Yep. 'Fraid so, Papyrus. Why do you think I ran after you? I couldn't let you barge into a human village without our ambassador!"
"Even though I'm the mascot?"
"Well yeah! Uh... we couldn't have the ambassador go without the mascot either, right?"
Papyrus paused. "You're right!"
"Yeah! So let's just wait here for Frisk and everyone. Okay?"
"Right! And then we can introduce them to our new friend here!" Papyrus exclaimed. He turned back to Callie. "Right?"
Callie thought about it. He wanted her to stay. Papyrus had, in some way, an idea that she was upset about something. How much he had deduced from that, she had no idea. Probably not too much, but enough. If she said "no thanks" and went on to do what she was going to do, either him or Undyne was bound to follow her.
Not only that, but this discovery of a whole other... well... race of beings, kind of killed her dedication to suicide, at least for now. She had a very strong feeling that they were the reason, in whatever way, for the disappearances. Perhaps any remaining ideas about disappearing up here were dashed by their very presence on the surface, anyways. Maybe people... maybe they fell into their world? That seemed probable. So even if she fell, they would know where she was.
"Yeah. Yeah... I'll meet everyone." Callie said.
Papyrus, by some stretch of physical laws, smiled brightly at her. Callie took a moment to process that. That smiling skeleton and his fishy friend saved her life. Huh.
This was not how she thought this day would end.
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I hope this was good. Please tell me how I did and what I can do to improve. :)
