Writer's Notes: So this takes place about seven years since the barrier broke. When it comes to things like this, if I do continued universe stories, I try to stay as true to reality as well as to the source material. I have hinted the troubles that our lovely monsters have had to face just to live where they want and be who they are, but never have I actually shown it, nor the consequences. Well, this is a story in which I show it. To be blunt, this was hard to write, but for whatever reason, I had to write it. It's like one of those things you need to scratch at even if it's unpleasant. So I totally understand if I get flak for this. However, I've chosen to share it for the reasons above, but also because, well, stuff like this happens every day, and we're all humans. I think that's the most important thing to remember. Please keep in mind the following trigger warnings: violence (non-graphic), PTSD, and homophobia, as well as talk of past suicide attempts and the like. Thanks for taking the time to read this, if not the story.
Chapter One
"There are a lot of Floweys out there," Frisk said once, their eyes dark, sounding as if they were quoting someone else. But the honesty and sadness found in their face meant that they, personally, knew it to be true.
And soon, so did Alphys and Undyne.
They had been walking home as usual, after enjoying a wonderful night on the town. They'd seen a silly human movie with Papyrus, already forgetting the title the moment they'd left, and the three had been laughing at the parts with the "monsters"; just humans in bad make-up.
"I wonder if it was a propaganda film," Alphys said, nibbling on a claw thoughtfully.
Papyrus shook his head. "OF COURSE NOT. IT WAS OLD. CLEARLY THEY JUST WANTED TO SCARE EVERYONE."
Undyne laughed happily at this. "How do they expect to get scared from each other?! That makes no sense to me."
"Well," Alphys had to admit. "The make-up was quite good."
"Please," Undyne snorted.
"I MUST SIDE WITH UNDYNE," Papyrus said rather predictably. "THOSE SKELETONS? ABSOLUTELY INSULTING. ALL THEY DID WAS PAINT THE BONES ON BLACK CLOTHES! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MUST NOW BECOME AN ACTOR AND SHOW THEM HOW IT'S DONE! NYEH-HEH-HEH-HEH!"
Undyne punched him, and he pretended to fall over in agony, despite laughing. "Wanna come over for a bit, dear thespian?" she wondered, as he got back to his feet.
Alphys nodded in agreement. "Yes, you can show me how you're doing with today's Jumble."
Papyrus sighed. "ALAS, IT IS ONCE AGAIN MY BETTER."
"Even with the tricks I showed you?"
"SADLY. NYO-HOO-HOO..."
"Hey!"
The three turned abruptly, blinking through the dim light of evening, and saw a group of humans coming towards them. Thinking them to be neighbours, Alphys waved with a smile, but was not greeted back, which puzzled her and made that smile waver.
Undyne felt adrenaline fill her all of a sudden. She eyed the group and saw nothing but trouble. "Alphy," she said softly. Alphys was standing right in front of her, refusing to move.
"It's okay," her wife replied, waving again as the group came closer. "They're probably just from around here. Hello!"
"Alphy," Undyne growled, panic making her angry. She could see how they looked at them, see the intent in their eyes, and felt danger, something she hadn't felt in a long time since leaving the Underground. Papyrus stood behind Undyne, just to her left. She could feel him already summoning up his power, his bony body rigid with concentration. Even he knew something was off.
When the two groups met, Alphys smiled warmly, waving again and holding out her hand. "Hello! E-er, we live... j-just down a few b-blocks..." She stammered, noticing that, while her smile was returned, the versions she received were not kind. "I-I'm A-Alphys..."
The lead human of the group of five reached forward and slapped her hand away. Before Undyne or Papyrus could even react, they then slapped Alphys. Or perhaps 'punched' is a better word. The hit knocked her to the ground, hard, and they heard a sickening crack, like bone hitting rock.
Hot rage consumed Undyne then, so hot it was physical. At once, she had a spear in each hand, the blue glow almost blinding her.
Alphys lay on the ground, her hand to her cheek, in shock, tasting blood. Her whole body shook, but still she stayed there, eyes wide and confused, her smile long gone and replaced with trembling lips.
"We know who you are," said the human leader. "What you are. You, the two dykes married despite no one wanting you to! And that bony bastard behind you, your beard. You monsters..." And they spat, right at Alphys, though thankfully they missed. "Taking over. Taking homes, jobs, everything-,"
A blue spear landed at the leader's feet, causing the entire group to jump back. Undyne raced to her wife's side at once, kneeling beside her and helping her sit up. Alphys was crying, but she didn't know it. She looked up at Undyne and whispered, bewildered, "I-I'm s-sorry... g-go, Un-Undyne... r-run..."
"Get help," Undyne snarled at Papyrus. "I think she hit her head."
Papyrus hesitated. There was a rare expression there, one full of anger and the need for revenge, for his best friends, for his people, for their right to be there. He held up a long, glowing blue bone, but Undyne snapped out, "NOW, Papyrus! Get help!" He looked at her, unwilling to still disobey orders from his former leader, but he turned and ran, his cell phone out already.
"Alphy?" Undyne shook her gently. Her eyes were weird, like they kept rolling upwards a bit, before closing. "No!" Undyne tapped her cheek, and the eyes opened. She had trained enough guards to know a concussion when she saw one. That human must have hit hard.
When the spear vanished in her distraction, the humans came forward again. Undyne glared at them, baring her teeth and holding out a hand, another spear flashing to life. "Get the fuck back," she warned. "Or I will not hesitate. You think me a monster?" She laughed, part-hysterical, part-enraged. "I'll give you one. Just take one more step forward."
They did. But before Undyne could attack, they attacked Alphys instead, somehow catching Undyne off guard and landing a kick swift enough to not only rip her from Undyne's arms with a cry, but enough to land her hard on the ground.
Where she went still.
Undyne lost her mind, then. There was no other way to describe it. There was no other way to explain it. Seeing her wife, on the ground, not moving, she feared the worst. She knew Alphys was strong, yes, but not as a warrior, not against these kinds of attacks. With a scream, Undyne lunged forward, seeing nothing but the red of her rage and the blue of her spears.
She didn't know how long she had been fighting them, but she came back to herself the moment she felt Asgore's strong arms pull hers back behind her. She screamed again, her left eyepatch almost igniting, and she kicked, trying to get free, though now she didn't remember why – only that Alphys was... She knew it was Asgore, because he was the only one capable of holding her back.
"Undyne!" he was shouting her name, over and over, but by now she was scream-crying, trying so hard to get to the human who may have killed her wife, in order to flay them, to destroy them, to devour them, their pathetic souls, not even worthy of them...
"UNDYNE!" That was Papyrus. "UNDYNE, STOP! STOP!" And she felt his hands on her, too, gentle but also firm, so like him. She screamed again, this time Alphys's name, and she stopped fighting, letting her sobs take over.
Toriel was, during this, kneeling beside Alphys, who was paler than she had ever seen her. When she tried to heal her, her magic kept slipping off, so she knew this wasn't something she could help with. She had been studying the kinds of medical tools that humans used, and with them, she checked Alphys's eyes - bloodshot and rolled up - her pulse - fast, too fast, and struggling - and her complexion - bloodless. When she tried to wake her up, Alphys groaned, but didn't open her eyes.
"She needs a hospital, Gorey," Toriel said calmly. "Now."
Undyne sobbed, going to the ground and crumpling, still fearing the worst. By now, at the sight of Asgore, the humans had run, knowing him and his past. Undyne had managed to hurt a few of them, but not the way they had hurt her wife.
Asgore went to Toriel's side, and Papyrus to Undyne. She lunged for him, hugging him so hard he cracked a bit (nothing Toriel couldn't repair at least), sobbing her grief out to him.
"UNDYNE," Papyrus tried to tell her. "UNDYNE, SHE'S OKAY. SHE'S OKAY."
Asgore stood up, holding Alphys in his arms. "This seems familiar," he tried to joke. "And to think, I never thought I'd do this again."
"Cut the cuteness," Toriel snapped. "We need to go, now!"
"Al-Alphy...?" Undyne finally looked up and saw her wife cradled gently in Asgore's arms. She got to her feet at once and was at his side, even as he walked quickly. When he somehow outpaced her, Toriel close beside him, she dropped again, unable to help it. Papyrus helped her to her feet.
"COME ON. WE CAN MEET THEM THERE." He held her hand, and she was so grateful to him.
There were only a few hospitals that served just monsters, instead of a mix that was the norm after almost seven years of integration. Toriel insisted rather fiercely that they go to one of the monster-exclusive ones, and no one disagreed, despite the extra time it took.
None of them wanted to trust a human right now.
Once there, waiting to be taken in for tests, Alphys was coming to, with help, looking confused and pale, murmured, "I d-don't... g-get it..."
Undyne was at her side, holding her hand between both of hers, trying not to cry. She knew Alphys needed her to be strong. "You, not get anything? You must be really hurt!" she teased, though her heart wasn't in it.
"W-why did t-they..." Her eyes slid to the side and closed, and instantly Toriel was tapping her cheek to get her awake again, which worked. "...h-hurt me? J-just..." Her eyes filled with tears, prismed by her broken lenses. "...wanted... to… friends... save…"
"YOU HAVE FRIENDS!" Papyrus broke in. "YOU HAVE US! YOU ALWAYS WILL!"
When Alphys closed her eyes again, it took longer to wake her. "S-stop," she begged weakly, her hand limp between Undyne's. "Wanna... s-sleep..."
"No," Undyne snapped, hoping her tone would be enough. "Stay awake, or I will kill you."
The tears ran down Alphys's cheeks, now. "Sh-should h-have... r-run, U-Undyne. G-giving you t-time to run away... safe..."
Undyne opened her mouth in shock, trying to think of how to reply, when they were interrupted. It was time for Alphys's tests.
"What did she mean by that?"
Papyrus, Toriel and Asgore turned to Undyne, who was hunched over in her chair, her face covered by her hands, when she said this.
"Mean by what, my dear?" Toriel asked, placing a hand on her shoulder gently.
"Giving me time to run away," Undyne answered, raising her head.
Asgore looked away, but Undyne saw it, and she glared at him, demanding an answer. He coughed, then said, "It should be obvious, Undyne."
She went cold.
Papyrus placed a hand on her other shoulder gently. "I THINK KING GROUNDSKEEPER IS READING TOO MUCH INTO IT. I THINK SHE WAS JUST CONFUSED."
Asgore turned to him and shot him a rare look, one that spoke of battles one and reasons not to cross him. "No," he answered sharply. "I've known Alphys longer than both of you combined. She wanted you to run, Undyne."
Undyne stared at him. "But she acted like she had no idea what was happening, why they didn't want to be friendly."
"Which I imagine is true," he replied. "But the moment she knew she was in trouble... I know she wanted to save you more."
Toriel nodded slowly, her eyes bright. "This is the same monster who kept years of research to herself, shouldered the burden of that all alone."
"BUT YOU HEARD WHAT SHE SAID!" Papyrus disagreed. "SHE SAID SHE THOUGHT THEY WANTED TO BE FRIENDS."
Asgore and Toriel exchanged worried looks. "You need to have a long talk with Alphys, Undyne," Toriel said softly. "This kind of thing is something we've seen before, and... it doesn't end well."
Undyne covered her face again and wept. She knew exactly what they meant.
Alphys spent a week in the hospital. She hated it. It reminded her too much of that day at the abyss, when she had almost killed herself and had to spend time in the castle infirmary with a fever. Added to that, they wouldn't let her sleep for an entire day; they kept giving her adrenaline magic, which made her heart race and her whole body sweat. Even during the tests she was angry, she was tired, and she wanted nothing more than to go home and forget this whole thing happened.
Because she knew it was her fault. She had done it to herself. She had answered them back, and when she knew they were trouble, she let them hurt her anyway. And for nothing; Undyne hadn't run, hadn't gone for safety. She had stayed with her. And Alphys hated herself for it. Undyne could have gotten hurt, could have gotten killed…
She didn't remember too much after they had kicked her, though. She just remembered screams - her wife's, and the humans - buried beneath a haze of grey and confusion. Her side and head had hurt so much, and she knew she was weeping, but she couldn't stay awake too long, though she knew she should. Tests showed what she already knew: mild concussion and cracked ribs.
Once they finally let her sleep, she slept like the dead, for a day and a half, getting paler and paler as her friends – family, really – watched. Undyne stayed at her side, not moving save to use the washroom or pace. Once or twice, Alphys muttered in her drug-induced sleep, and Undyne could only hear the words, "run away," and "please, not you, too." She didn't understand any of it, which only angered her more.
Undyne wanted to kill those humans. She hadn't felt that emotion in a long, long time, the bloodlust for humans, the need to hurt them, to spear them, to laugh as they bled before her and begged for mercy. She was so sure she had buried it deep within the Underground, once she had left it for good, but now... but now...
On the third day, Alphys woke up to see golden flowers, and she felt a chill of foreboding for a moment, as if thrown back in time. She stared at them, vision hazy from lack of glasses (Undyne had grabbed them and sent them to be repaired as she slept, then brought her spare pair to the hospital for her), but knowing what they were without a doubt. She tried to move, but found her body was made of lead, and she shut her eyes again, trying to will feeling back into them. No such luck. Well, at least she was on her side, which meant no choking.
A hand touched her forehead, and she opened her eyes again, recognising that touch. "T-Tori...el," she rasped out weakly, her voice sounding like gravel raked over more gravel. As a sort of reward, she felt a straw go to her lips, and she drank; it was a sickly sweet liquid, one that almost made her gag at first, except that her body seemed to love it. Carefully, so she wouldn't puke on her boss, she sipped it, Toriel keeping her hand on her forehead as she did so. It was oddly soothing, vague memories of a mother long gone echoing within her, and she let herself take it all in, closing her eyes but still drinking.
When it was empty, Toriel took it away, but not her hand. Alphys opened her eyes slowly, trying to focus, only remembering again that her glasses were broken - again - and she couldn't focus. "Un...dyne...?" she whispered, and Toriel's face was kind. She looked behind her, and curled up in one of the chairs was her wife, sleeping fitfully, looking exhausted even sleeping - a drugged sleep. Alphys started to weep, and Toriel gently wiped the tears away. "S-safe?" she added, her whisper choked.
"Thanks to you, dear," Toriel replied.
Alphys closed her eyes and sobbed, wishing she could move, wondering why she couldn't, save her hands and arms, but even they felt numb. Toriel gently stroked her forehead as she cried, her face gentle and her words soothing. Toriel was a true mother, and an even greater friend.
She ended up crying herself back to sleep, and Toriel spoke to the doctor supervising her, reporting that she had drank the entire cup of electrolyte juice, which earned her a smile. When she reported that Alphys was still semi-paralysed, she was assured it wasn't permanent, just a side-effect of the medication and the injuries. With a promise to watch over Undyne as well, the doctor told Toriel to get something to eat, which she did.
Asgore and Frisk were waiting for her. "Mama?" Frisk asked gently, and Toriel smiled.
"She drank it," she reported. "She'll be okay."
Frisk hugged her at once, and Asgore did the same, hugging them both. Frisk reached Toriel's chin now, so she placed her cheek upon the human's head and sighed deeply, letting her tears fall. She knew not all humans were like this, had seen it over the course of many years, but to suddenly come face-to-face with the deepest fear they all carried - and have it happen to their weakest family member - hurt, a great deal.
(Papyrus had gone home to "tell sans", which they all knew meant cry for a while. That was fine, and understandable, really, though when sans did find out, his eyes were dark pits for hours, comforting his brother with thoughts far, far away.)
"Hey, sweetie..."
Alphys slowly opened her eyes to this, the words the only indication that she was awake again. Sitting beside her on her scratchy hospital cot was Undyne, who looked exhausted but otherwise safe. Alphys stared at her, her lips quivering, and wordlessly, Undyne leaned down and gave her as gentle a hug as she could. Alphys was shocked by the pain such a small gesture gave her, and had to bite her lip to keep from making a noise, though she did inhale sharply. Carefully, she reached up with her lead-like arms and hugged Undyne back, wondering how many tears a monster could make before they dried right up.
For a long time, they sat like that, weeping softly, shaking, not wanting to voice the fears they both felt so deeply: Undyne's murderous revenge fantasies, Alphys's terror at having to watch Undyne die helplessly. They didn't have to voice them because they both already knew.
"U-Undyne," Alphys choked out. when she received a kiss atop her head, she went on. "I-I want to learn."
"Learn what, Alphy?"
"T-to fight."
Undyne went rigid in her arms, but she didn't let go. To be honest, she was shocked, but not for the reasons Alphys at first thought. "You do?"
"Y-yes. I-I never want to p-put you in danger, e-ever again..."
Undyne gritted her teeth, swallowing back a sob that would have been an echo of this sentiment. Instead, she said, echoing words she had been told years ago, "Enough to look that danger in the eye, and laugh? Enough to know that you may also never need to use the skills given to you?"
Alphys was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking. Then, she looked up at Undyne with wet but blazing eyes, eyes that spoke of love and need, of anger but also of survival, the need to defend those she loved most. "Yes," she said clearly, with no hesitation or stammering.
"Then I'll teach you," Undyne said slowly, her heart racing at seeing this side of Alphys. She was seeing something she had never seen in her before: a warrior. "When you're healed, I'll teach you. We'll find you a good weapon—,"
"Hammer or staff.."
Undyne blinked. "Hammer? Staff?"
Alphys nodded. "I don't want to kill, just get people away. Hammers and staffs can kill, but not as easily as spears or swords."
Undyne stared at her, then gently kissed her lips. "You've had this on your mind for a while, haven't you?"
Alphys's eyes went dark. "As soon as they kicked me."