It was an average day on Airship 72. Couples in extravagant suits and lacy dresses strolled through the indoor gardens, parasols raised in the air to protect them from the artificial sun. Children skipped stones in the pond and chased the ducks. Families sat on their mansion porches playing games or reading. The false grass blew in the fake wind. These people were content.
They didn't even know everything was an illusion. The citizens had no idea that the grass beneath them was plastic, that the "sun" was just a giant, magic-powered lightbulb. Most didn't even know that everything was being maintained by the "heathens" they feared and hated so much. Airshippers were too detached with real society to get any of it. War was brewing beneath their feet. People died every day. But, these pretentious humans thought that they were safe high in the sky, away from it all.
Boy, how wrong they were.
A thick, thorny vine lacerated the side of the ship, revealing the sky beyond. The pond began spilling out, sending children toppling over the edge. More vines shot from the ground, tearing even more holes. The emergency lights went on, and a voice chimed through speakers.
"We are under emergency lockdown. Remain calm and-"
Whatever the voice had to say was drowned out by part of the ceiling caving in. There were many unfortunate people who were either crushed or had large pieces of shrapnel flying through their body. Guttural screams rang out as more and more died. Large bombs and sharp, white pellets ripped and impaled bodies. Vines tangled around the ship like tentacles.
There could be no survivors.
To Flowey, this was all just a game. These were his pawns. This was only the first step to a war where he would emerge victorious. Flowey could become a god that surpasses all gods. He was going to destroy this puny universe, and then move on to the rest.
"This is it?" He laughed through the speakers, his voice booming. "All these humans, all this power! Chara was right, you measly creatures have gone soft!"
He could feel the ship falling to its demise. He smirked to himself. He wondered where they would land? He had always liked New York.
The endless screaming of people, however, he did not like. He actually found it incredibly annoying. "Shut up! Idiots!" he screamed at the panicked people. They wouldn't listen. He sighed. "Whatever. At least make your last moments enjoyable."
Thump! They hit the ground just as Flowey said that, and all went silent as the dust settled. The flower returned to his normal appearance and size to explore his handiwork. People were impaled on the metal that had been shredded by his vines. Others had been torn apart by bombs or had "friendliness pellets". They stuck out of eyes and hearts and left gaping holes in the corpses. That's all Flowey could see: corpses.
He considered taking all of the souls, but thought better of it. This was a symbolic gesture, nothing more. After this, there would be plenty of souls for the taking. He had to pace himself.
A cough from nearby interrupted his thoughts. Flowey turned his head, where he saw a blond teenager hanging off a stalagmite of metal that had pierced through his stomach. The kid was still alive.
"Are you… going to kill… me now?" the kid asked, looking Flowey in the eyes.
Flowey smiled. "The offer is tempting, but I'll have to pass. I've had enough fun today."
The boy raised his eyebrows. "You killed… everyone. Why… not me?" He hacked up a little blood.
Flowey shrugged, at least as best as he could. "You'll die soon anyway. Most people don't survive long after being impaled. Actually, it works out nicely!"
"How so?" the boy narrowed his eyes.
Flowey's face morphed into something insane. His eyes grew wide and dark and a sharp-toothed smile stretched across his face. "I need to deliver you to deliver a message."
Somehow, even more color drained out of the kid's face. "What is… this message?"
Flowey's grin grew even wider. "Tell the next human to come here that this was all the doing of the monsters."
This was all merely the first step of many.
Undyne threw a punch at their human trainee, who blocked it and used the opportunity to sweep their legs under Undyne's. She, however, anticipated this and grabbed their leg. She launched Frisk in the air who blocked Undyne's volley of spears before hitting the ground with a thump. They jabbed at Undyne, throwing off her guard and finally kicked her to the mat.
"Wow, punk!" she panted, standing to grab water. "You're getting good at this! Best part, you didn't slice my stomach this time!"
"Will you ever let that go?" Frisk asked, but they still smirked.
"Probably not," Undyne shrugged. "So…" she started. "How are you and Sans?"
"Terrible. Why?"
"Just wondering. You know, both of you will have to get over whatever's happening at some point," Undyne remarked.
"Or," Frisk stated, rolling their eyes. "We could just avoid the situation and hope it all blows over like it always does?"
"Frisk," Undyne said, completely serious. "We're your new family. Like it or not, family always has each other's backs."
Her voice darkened. "At least, they should."
"I didn't even do anything!" Frisk shouted, throwing a punch at a training dummy, who grumbled (somehow) in response. "He was fine, and suddenly he doesn't trust me? I'm not a demon, I didn't do anything wrong! Why is he so suspicious of me?"
Frisk kept punching the bag, unaware of the fact that their voice was picking up. They finally kicked it over in rage.
"He treats me like I'm Chara."
Frisk looked up at Undyne, waiting for an answer. Instead she was staring off into space, mild horror in her eye.
"Undyne? You okay?"
Before she could answer, there was a loud rapping on the door.
"Frisk? Undyne? We have a situation," Sans called from the other side.
Undyne snapped out of her trance. "What is it? Did Papyrus light the kitchen on fire?"
"Fortunately, no," Sans said, pushing the door open. "But how familiar are you with Airship 72?"
"Oh my God," Frisk panted, gazing at the macabre sight before them.
Bodies hung from spiked chandeliers of shrapnel, long-dried blood puddles on the soiled astroturf beneath them. A huge hunk of ceiling had caved in, revealing the garishly blue sky. People had been torn apart or riddled with holes. Small fires had erupted due to bombs colliding with gunpowder and magic.
"Who would do such a thing?" Papyrus asked, leaning down to pick up a small, white seedpod.
"Flowey," Frisk hissed, clenching their fists. "I'll kill that little weed who tried to kill me."
They blanched. "I mean Chara." What?
Luckily it seemed as if no one had heard this. Frisk almost let out a sigh of relief until they saw a certain skeleton staring them down with narrowed eyes.
Yep. He's gonna kill me the second he gets a chance.
Why? Frisk knew that they and Sans weren't exactly best buddies at the moment, but it was a bit of a stretch to say he was going to kill them.
Frisk sighed. "I need more sleep," they mumbled.
A cough from the left pulled them out of their musings. "Who's there?" Undyne called, summoning a cyan spear. She and Sans shared a look.
"A survivor."
All four of them sprinted in the direction of the cough. The voice would give meek hints of where they were until they came to a screeching halt.
Frisk paled. They would recognise those features anywhere. The mop of blonde hair, the sea green eyes, the bloodied yet still fashion-forward suit.
"Wesley!" Frisk cried, coming to a halt next to the boy.
"You," Wesley breathed, hacking up blood onto Frisk's shirt. "Why are you here? Is it… to taunt me?"
"Shh, it'll waste your energy," Frisk coaxed. "Sans, help me lift him!"
"Save it," Wesley laughed dryly. "Not like I'll live anyway."
"Frisk, he's right," Sans said. "He got impaled through the stomach, it's surprising he's still alive at all. We have to leave him. He won't make it and it'll be a hindrance to drag him around anyway."
"That's what I thought you'd say," Frisk sneered without even looking at Sans.
The skeleton's eye lit up. "I'm sorry kid. I don't think I heard you right."
"Do you ever even try? I thought your job was to save lives, not abandon them!" Frisk snarled, meeting the eyes of Sans.
"I try more than you'll ever know!" Sans shouted. "Maybe if you stepped out your dream land for a second, you'd see that!"
"Dream land?!"
"Yeah!" Sans retorted. "Ever since I met you, all you've done is put us up on these pedestals! Say how we have these dream lives and you wanna be a part of it! Well, buddy, people die! Maybe, if you just woke up and smelled the roses, you'd see that Protectors don't even exist! We're only here to brainwash the public into thinking someone actually cares is they live or die! When in reality, no one's cared since the Royal Guard got massacred!"
"Sans!" Undyne shouted. But he wasn't done yet.
He laughed bitterly. "Maybe I should have let Muffet take you back."
Something inside Frisk snapped. "Say that again," they spat, "and this world will have one less 'Protector' to care about."
They whirled around to begin assessing Wesley's injuries.
"Hey," he said, staring down at the dagger in Frisk's belt. "What… have you got there?"
"A dagger," Frisk growled. "What does it look like?"
"Can it… borrow it?"
"For what?" Frisk asked.
"I'm hurting," Wesley smiled sadly. "Please just give it to me."
"Hang on," Frisk said. "I might need it to free you."
"Are you stupid?" Wesley tried to manage a snap. "Your demon friend is right. Even if you get me off this hunk of metal, I'll bleed out anyway. Freeing me is pointless."
"Then what do you plan to do with the knife?" Frisk asked. Then realization hit them. "Oh."
"Please," Wesley cried. "It hurts so bad, just make it stop."
"Frisk," Papyrus said sadly. "I know it hurts, but he wants to stop hurting."
"I know," Frisk finally said. They handed Wesley the knife.
"And one more… thing," Wesley said, pressing the knife to his throat. "The flower… he wants war."
Frisk could only bury their head in Papyrus' warm embrace as they heard that awful spurt if blood.
And then there was silence. Only silence. And more blood on their hands.
Frisk turned around, eyes closed, as they pulled the dagger from Wesley's still warm hands.
"Keep investigating," Frisk choked. "Make sure that we've found any potential survivors."
As they turned away, Frisk could barely see a seaweed green soul fading away forever.
"Was that him?" Undyne asked. "Was that the boy who hired that spider monster?"
"Yeah," Frisk sighed, pushing past a pile of rubble. "The one and only."
They looked up. "What's up with you?"
"Huh?"
Frisk frowned. "You've been distant since our training session."
Undyne chuckled bitterly. "It's in the past."
Frisk frowned. "Can't you tell me?"
Undyne looked down at her trainee. "Did anyone ever tell you what happened to the Royal Guard?" Frisk shook their head.
"It was ten years ago, and I, Undyne…"
"And I, Undyne, will be a part of the Royal Guard in no time!" the tiny monster exclaimed, puffing her chest out like a hero.
"Maybe if you help out in this mission," the coyote monster returned, "I'll appoint you as a Cadet."
Undyne's eyes lit up. "Thanks, Shiriki!" she skipped away from the Captain to her friends.
"Guys, guys, guys! Guess what?"
A bird monster looked up from the rock she was kicking. "What?"
Undyne beamed. "Shiriki might let me into the Royal Guard!"
The monster sighed. "Undyne, you're too young. Shiriki might let you join in a few years, but being in the Guard at age twelve is suicide."
"But!" Undyne cried hopefully. "I'm a prodigy! I learned from the best!"
"Listen, Undyne," the bird coaxed. "Your time will come, okay?"
Undyne just huffed. She just wanted her time now!
"Alright!" Shiriki called. "This is the place."
Undyne couldn't believe her eyes. Smokestacks towered in the air, releasing fumes into the twilight. Barbed wire fence surrounded the perimeter. Lights and cameras scoured the area, although most had stopped working.
"What is this place?" Undyne asked incredulously.
"A lab from before, y'know, everything," a guard spoke up. "They used to experiment on monsters here. This is the place where they came up with that crazy LOVE theory."
"LOVE theory?"
"It's not important, Undyne." Shiriki answered. "What's important is that someone reactivated and we don't know who or why."
"I know." a voice from behind the group said.
"Who's there?" Shiriki asked, whipping around.
A tan girl with a slim stature crept from the shadows, a gun raised in her shaky hands. Her eyes were obscured by a large, brown cowboy hat. Her skin looked dry and her hair was greasy.
"I'll take you, but only if you promise to get rid of them so I can have my home back," she said, lowering her gun.
Shiriki frowned. "You live there? What's your name, girl?"
"Adla, and yes. Come on," the girl took off without waiting for an answer."
The bird frowned. "Can we trust her?"
Shiriki sighed. "We don't have a choice. Come on."
The Royal Guard followed the girl to the Lab entrance. "Do you know where the person is?" Undyne asked Adla.
"No," Adla replied bluntly. "The lab is huge, and they could be anywhere."
"Dammit. We'll have to split up," Shiriki hissed.
"You said you would take us to her!" the bird monster snapped at Adla.
"Yeah, well they have a pair of legs!" Adla retorted. "They could be anywhere!"
"Daya, calm down," Shiriki said. "We'll just split up and whoever finds this mystery person can deal with them.
"Fine," Daya muttered. "What's the worst that can happen?
"Woahhh!" Adla whisper-shouted. "You were trained by the King?"
"The one and only!" Undyne's voice swelled with joy.
Adla giggled. "I wanna be good at fighting so I can take down all the bad people!"
"Girls, keep it down," Shiriki hummed, peering down every corridor.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
"What was that?" Undyne asked cautiously.
"Good question," Shiriki returned. "Let's pick up the pace."
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
It was closer now.
"Girls, come on!" the coyote hissed, pushing Undyne and Adla along.
"HELP!" a voice shrieked from across the lab.
"Daya!" Undyne called.
"Help m-" Silence.
Thunk. Thump. Thunk.
Only three rooms away.
"Run!" Shiriki yelled, shoving the girls out of the way so he could face the threat.
"Come on!" Undyne grabbed Adla and sprinted to the door. She pulled the handle. It was locked.
"What?" Undyne screamed. "Let us out!"
The far door swung open as a figure entered.
"I have to say, fifteen monsters all in one lab makes for great target practice," the figure mused. They stopped when they saw Shiriki, Adla and Undyne. A smile crept over their shadowed features. "Greetings."
"Who are you?" Undyne asked, facing the person.
"You don't need to know that."
Undyne sneered. "Yeah, why not?"
The smile grew even wider. "What does it matter when all of you will die anyway!"
They lunged at Undyne, striking her in the wrist and knocking her to the floor. She cried in pain as she went down. The figure raised the knife over her head.
"Undyne!" Shiriki yelled, knocking the human off of the fish monster. Their knife skidded across the room.
"I don't much like people interrupting my business," the being chuckled. "Tie him up."
Thick vines wrapped around the coyote, dragging him to the ground. "Those who get in my way must be punished."
Shiriki's amber gaze defiantly met the human's crimson eyes. "What will you do to me?"
They paused for a moment. "You have lovely eyes, you know?"
They let out a blood-curdling laugh as they stuck two fingers in Shiriki's eyes, causing him to scream and writhe in pain. The human moved their fingers about in his eyesockets as he twitched.
"Do you know what they used to do to monsters here?" The being whispered in his ear. "They'd do things just like this to monsters, see just what they could go through until they dusted. Doesn't that sound interesting?"
"Stop!" Shiriki begged.
They ripped their fingers out of his eyes. "It's amusing," they grinned. "Seeing the Captain of the Royal Guard grovel at my mercy."
"No matter. You're not what I'm here for, anyways," they turned to Adla. "Poor little Yellow. You long for justice in this world, yet here I am, bringing it crashing to the ground."
"Stop!" Adla yelled, aiming her gun at the human's head. She shot. Nothing happened.
"Next time," the human warned, shoving their knife into Adla's gut, "Keep a more watchful eye on your ammunition."
"NO!" Undyne screamed. "STOP KILLING PEOPLE!"
They kneeled down to pick up Adla's tiny, yellow soul. "And what will you do about it?"
"I! I…" Undyne faltered. What would she do? She had nothing. No weapons. No backup. She was paralyzed. Undyne was going to die.
A thought came to her, like a solo star in the dark. Could this be her time?
"If I'm going to die, then so be it!" Undyne yelled. "But I'm at least going to die making a fighting stand!"
She ran at the human, a volley of blue spears behind her that Undyne had never seen. The human tried to dodge them, but they were rooted to the spot, enveloped in green light. Spears came from all directions, offering no mercy. They cried in sharp pain.
Eventually, their soul returned to normal and they could run again, but spears were coming in all directions. The human was hit again and again. But they stood, sending slash after slash after Undyne. It was the ultimate standoff, determined soul versus determined body. Knife collided on spear, trading off with expert skill.
Undyne exhaled. What was this feeling? She felt so incredibly alive! Every blow was met with precision. Every dodge was executed perfectly. Undyne could do anything!
Sweat pooled down her cheek. She wiped it away, but stopped suddenly upon seeing it. It wasn't sweat. It was melting scales.
For that matter, why couldn't she see out of her left eye? How had she not noticed that she was blind?
The human chuckled through panting. "So, you finally noticed that determination."
"What?"
"I'd kill you now, but this seems like a much better fate," the human laughed. Undyne tried to stop them, but they were already gone.
Undyne had been left alone with the dust of Shiriki and the corpse of Adla. Not to mention she was melting.
She did the one thing she could think of. Undyne grabbed a handkerchief from Adla's satchel and tied it around the melting side of her face. It was uncomfortable not being able to see out of her eye, but she would have to make do.
This was her life now.
Asgore strummed his hands on the table. "I do wonder where Shiriki is. He was supposed to be back from his mission by now."
Toriel frowned. "It's not like him to be late."
Gaster sighed. "He probably forgot and took a nap."
"Whatever it may be, we cannot start the meeting until he arrives," Toriel commented.
Asgore chuckled nervously. "Perhaps I should call hi-"
The doors to the room were pushed open to reveal a small fish monster with a yellow cloth tied around her face. Tears streamed down her visible eye.
Asgore's eyes widened. "Undyne? Where is Shiriki?"
Undyne gripped Asgore in a hug. "Asgore!" she sobbed into his chest. "He died! They all did!"
Toriel gasped. "What?"
"He..! A human!" Undyne spoke through the sobs that wracked her body.
"A human killed him?" Gaster shot up. Undyne nodded.
Asgore kneeled next to Undyne. "Child, you're hurt," he chided. "Why not come with me to get that fixed up and figure this all out over some tea?"
"No!" Undyne pushed him away. "We need to fix this now! Please, stop treating me like a child, Your Majesty."
Asgore raised his hands in surrender. "Please, child. You will only agitate yourself. Please at least allow Gaster to examine your wound."
Hesitantly, Undyne untied the handkerchief, revealing the injury. Three gasps of shock rang through the room.
Undyne's eyesocket was completely hollow and uneven. Her rough scales had melded together, hardening into a sloppy, drippy-looking mess. Some of her cheekbone was still slick with her melting face and it was dripping down onto her neck.
"Oh my…" Asgore gasped.
Gaster sighed in relief. "At least it's not showing signs of getting worse. She'll live."
"What's curious, though," he pondered. "Is how a monster can have enough natural determination in their body to even melt a little."
"Now is not the time, Wingdings," Asgore chided. "Undyne, you need rest. My offer on the tea has still not changed, if you want."
Undyne wanted so badly to protest, but she couldn't. Her body and eyelid drooped as Asgore picked her up to find a bed.
But her battle was not over yet. That was a promise.
Undyne finished her story for Frisk, who stared at her with wide eyes. "Undyne…" they breathed.
She smiled nervously. "And the rest is history. Did some busywork for Asgore, met Alphys, watched as she became the Royal Scientist, found Gaster's sons living on the streets, you know how it goes."
Frisk twiddled their thumbs. "Y'know, Undyne? You're a cool person. You almost beat Chara."
Undyne frowned. "Only when I was exposed to mass amounts of determination. And even then, it was a draw, at best. Kid, determination is weird. It's a good thing. But it can be pretty dangerous stuff. You can be determined to do bad stuff, after all. It can give us the power to love, but also the power to hate. So be careful, okay?"
"I will be."
Undyne smiled. Maybe we aren't so different after all.
WHO NEEDS TIME TO WRITE WHEN YOU HAVE COFFEE