They walked for a bit, chatting casually, when Riley gasped and pushed Papyrus into a patch of tall grass, kneeling and looking up at the ledge above them, where an armored figure stood facing away from them, partially obscured by shadows.
Papyrus looked at Riley, who grinned at him, putting the tip of their tail to their snout in a shushing gesture.
The sound of footsteps and metal on metal brought their attention back to the ledge, where another figure joined the first. Papyrus' eyes widened, shadows covered her face, but he recognized the long red hair.
"Hey, Asgore!" Undyne said with a grin. "I'm here with my report!" The figure- Asgore nodded slightly for her to continue. "That human I called about? Well-"
"Did you fight them?" Asgore asked, his voice so deep Papyrus could feel it in his chest.
"Tch! Of course I did!" Undyne scoffed. "Chased him all through Snowdin! Speedy little punk!"
"Did you capture them?"
"Well..." Undyne grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "No. I tried!" She said firmly. "I tried pretty damn hard, buuuut..."
"Then they are in Waterfall." Asgore rumbled. "I will find them."
"Wait, Asgore, you don't have to-!" Undyne stopped as Asgore turned fully to face her, his helmet hid his face, but Undyne seemed to see something anyways, with the way her shoulders dropped as she sighed in frustration and reluctantly said. "Ugh, fiiine! I'll help you!"
Asgore nodded. "Thank you, Undyne, you may go. Have a good afternoon. Say hello to Alphys for me."
She waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah, you too, I will. See ya later, Asgore!" With that, she sped off.
Asgore sighed and turned away from them, however as he was about to leave, Riley's tail, which they'd been trying to stop from wagging in excitement, finally escaped their efforts. The rustle caused Asgore to whirl around and stomp to the edge, Papyrus barely bit back a gasp as he kneeled on the ledge and summoned a large red trident, aiming it towards them.
Quickly, but quietly, Papyrus held Riley's tail down, biting his lip and trying to breathe softly even as his heart raced. He watched as the horned Monster inspected the grass, continued watching as he straightened and called off the trident, backing away from the ledge until he disappeared into the shadows.
He stayed still for a while, before Riley's enthusiasm could no longer be contained and he warily followed as they sprung from the grass.
He watched, panic ebbing away and amusement taking place, as they jumped from foot-to-foot, tail wagging in glee. "Yo... did you see the way he was staring at you!?" They exclaimed, apparently oblivious to the danger. "That... was AWESOME! I'm so jealous! What'd you do to get his attention?" They asked, but didn't wait for a response. "Haha! C'mon, let's go watch him beat up bad guys!" They rushed forward, tripped and face-planted, then popped back up and raced off, disappearing.
"That was intense." Frisk said.
"Yeah," he agreed, lingering at the conveniently placed Save Star. "But, it was pretty cool! Wish I could be as intimidating as him."
"Please, the world couldn't handle that coupled with the coolness you already possess." They teased.
He sighed, fighting a smile. "I suppose you're right, The Great Papyrus can't be too great. That just wouldn't be fair!" They shared a brief laugh, the lingering tension fading away, and they continued on.
They were accosted by a horse-eel Monster named Aaron at the bridge seed puzzles, Papyrus was happy when he flexed himself out of the room, he kept winking creepily. The puzzles themselves were pretty fun, and Papyrus ended up finding a hidden room with an Echo Flower that repeated a whispered "I don't know if I can handle the responsibility.." Under the bench was some kind of impression in the dirt, and a few crumbs. Papyrus hoped that whoever left the message in the Echo Flower was able to solve their problem.
They continued on. However, before they could go into the next room after completing the last bridge seed puzzle, Papyrus' phone rang.
He and Frisk shared confused glances as he answered. "Papyrus here."
"Hey, punk!" Undyne greeted. "So, uh, Asgore said he thought he'd spotted you, asked me to confirm what you looked like. I, uh, told him, so, you better get a good disguise, punk!"
Click
Frisk huffed. "Well, at least she's honest?"
Papyrus grinned, stuffing the phone back into his pocket. "That's a good thing! You should always try and be honest, I wouldn't want to get her in trouble by lying to her boss!"
"Yeah," Frisk agreed, "But, this is a matter of life and death. Asgore's job is to catch you and bring you to Regent Gaster to be killed for your Soul, which is the last one needed to break the barrier. Gaster will then lead the Monsters to slaughter when he declares war on humanity."
"Ah, well, yes, but she knows how great I am! She believes that I can get pass this, so I have to believe in her as well!" He said.
Frisk sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry, I guess I... I have a little trouble having faith in... in adults.."
"A lot of kids at the orphanage felt the same." Papyrus said. "Bad things happened to them that made them that way. But don't worry, I'll help you!"
Frisk smiled. "Thanks Papyrus."
They were walking along a dark pier. Papyrus, distracted by the unsettling plaques he'd come across, didn't notice the red glow of magic until Frisk flew in front of him with a shout of "STOP!"
He froze just as a large red trident pierced the boards in front of him, the pole just inches from his face.
"There!" Frisk pointed. Asgore emerged from the shadows, red magic coalescing into more tridents, pointed directly at the human. "Run!"
Papyrus didn't hesitate and booked it down the pier, Asgore hot on his heels. He could feel the magic tridents thunk against the wood behind him, could feel the sharp snap of magic through his boots and short tugs at his cape as the tridents caught the edges, but he just barely kept ahead of th-
SHH-LUNK!
His vision darkened. His SOUL shattered.
...
...
...
...frisk... chara...
.. i miss you..
please.. stay determined...
...
He didn't take any chance this time and started running as soon as he got to the pier. He heard Asgore pursue and felt the tridents impacting with the pier, but didn't hesitate or look back.
At the end of the pier was a patch of tall grass, which Papyrus dove into as soon as his feet left the wood. He curled up on the ground and he and Frisk watched anxiously as Asgore appeared above him. Papyrus couldn't see his eyes, but he could feel the heaviness of his gaze, and he hoped Asgore's magic didn't include laser vision.
He tensed as Asgore's head snapped towards him and through his arms over his head as an armored clad arm descended. Nothing happened, however, and instead he heard Frisk let out a relieved and partially exasperated noise. He peeked out from under his arms and stifled his amusement as he saw none other than Riley hanging in Asgore's grasp. The Monster kid was practically vibrating in excitement.
A deep sigh hissed through Asgore's mouth guard, full of fond exasperation. He gently set Riley back down in the grass, cast another searching look around the grass and surrounding area, before turning and stomping away.
He waited until the clanking faded into the distance before crawling out of the grass, heart pounding and skin twitching from adrenaline. Riley bounded of the grass behind him, bouncing and jittering, and Papyrus had to smile, because yes, it was terrifying, but he also had to agree with Riley in that Asgore was awesome!
"Oh my Stars! That was so cool!" Riley exclaimed. "Did you see him with those tridents? I can't wait til my magic manifests, I want it to be just as awesome as his!"
Papyrus grinned. "I bet it'll be even cooler!"
Riley bounced excitedly in place for another moment before racing off, they tripped, but Papyrus was only slightly concerned. He'd already concluded that this was a normal Riley thing.
Papyrus and Frisk continued on to the next room. To their surprise, they were met with Alphys, who was crouched against the wall with a pair of binoculars, some paper and pens, and a camera.
"Alphys!" The lizard Monster jumped at her name being called, blinking behind her glasses and then smiling.
"P-Papyrus! Hello!" She greeted.
"What are you doing?" He asked, looking curiously at the papers.
"O-oh, I'm mapping out the crystals." Papyrus followed where she was pointing and gasped. Millions of glittering crystals dotted the cavern ceiling, giving the appearance of a night sky.
Alphys smiled at his awed expression. "I-it's pretty, huh? W-well, unfortunately, a friend of m-mine can't see it. S-so I'm drawing him a map and taking pictures."
"That's very nice of you! I'm sure he'd appreciate it a lot!" Alphys blushed at the praise, stuttered out a thank you, and then went back to taking pictures. Papyrus gazed at the crystals for a little more before getting up.
There was a little room where he found Nick the Nice Cream vendor and Felix the Crabbycino vendor. They greeted him, Nick with enthusiasm and Felix with boredom. Their carts were closer to each other than back in Snowdin, and Felix was no longer glaring, so it seemed the 'rivalry' was now, at least, an acquaintanceship.
Papyrus left them, 50g short, pockets 1 Hate Chocolate and 1 Nice Cream heavier, and more wise than before.
"They like each other." He told Frisk.
"What?" They looked back at the vendors and frowned thoughtfully. "Wow, how'd I miss that?"
He met a strange Monster named Onionsan, and encountered a shy, but nice Monster named Shyren who he hummed with. There were two more plaques, this time telling of a species of Monster who's SOULS could persist for a short time after death. It brought up bad memories, so he left those quickly.
He grabbed an umbrella to block the 'rain' trickling from the ceiling and continued on, jumping in puddles along the way.
"Yo!" Papyrus stopped, spotting Riley huddled in a dry corner.
"Riley! Come on, you can share my umbrella!" Papyrus held the umbrella out slightly, making room.
"Thanks dude!" The Monster jumped under the cover, shaking some of the water off.
They resumed walking, occasionally challenging each other to see who could make the biggest splash in a puddle.
"Dude, isn't Asgore soooo cool?" Riley asked at random. "He's, like, the strongest Monster EVER, and beats up all the bad guys and never loses!"
Papyrus laughed. "Yes, he is pretty great!"
"I know right!? He's huge, he can see over everything! And he's the only one I've ever seen with red colored magic! It's not Determination magic, but red is a super rare color to have!" Riley gushed. "And you wanna know the best part? My moms know him! My mom is in the Guard with him and my mama's work let's her meet him a lot!"
"Wow!" Papyrus gasped. "Have you met him before?"
"Yeah, a couple of times when I was little. But I got really sick for a while, so I wasn't able to go with them to see him, and I was too out of it to notice if he visited. I only got better recently."
"Oh, no! Well I hope you're good as new and don't get sick again!"
"Nah! If I do get sick again, Imma kick it in the butt!" Riley kicked and swung his tail around, pretending to fight an imaginary opponent. Papyrus laughed and joined him.
Papyrus and Frisk were once again alone as Riley ran off to find another path. There was something about the room they were in that filled them with trepidation. It was dark, the ceiling was taller than other rooms, so the crystals' glow didn't reach as well, and below the second walkway was a black abyss.
"We can't exactly turn back." Frisk stated, casting wary glances at the darkness below them.
Papyrus sighed and drew himself up. "No, we have to believe that we'll be okay! We'll get through whatever is thrown at us!"
Frisk huffed fondly, giving him a clap. "Very inspirational, Papyrus. 10/10."
He beamed. "Thanks! I've been practicing!" They giggled, the tension fading slightly as they finally moved onward.
However, luck was not on their side. A red glow only a couple steps away was their only warning before a red trident was thrust up from the boards.
They gasped and looked down, staring up at them from the gaps in the wood was Asgore, one arm pulling back as he readied another attack.
This time Frisk didn't have to tell him to run, he was already sprinting across the walkway, yelping and dodging here and there as more tridents rose up.
"Go, go, go! The end is right there!" Frisk urged, flying close to his back as if trying to push him faster. In a feet of sudden agility he didn't know he was capable of, Papyrus threw himself into a forward roll to escape a large group of tridents, coming up from the roll already running.
He stopped, however, when he found that the walkway ended suddenly, nothing but darkness could be seen beyond the edge.
The heavy thunks of an armor clad Monster caused him to spin around, gasping as his eyes met Asgore's hidden ones.
"Please, Mr. Asgore, I don't want to fight, I don't want to hurt anyone, I just want to be friends!" He pleaded. The Guard Captain was silent.
"I'm sorry." He rumbled, before bringing his hand down. With a flash of red, multiple spears broke through the walkway, sending Papyrus careening into the abyss below.
..
...
what's that sound? it came from over here...
woah! man, that must've been a pretty bad fall. hope you had a nice trip, at least?
jeez, sorry, here i'll help ya up.
frisk and chara? nice.
the na m e ' s.. . .
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Holy crap, I did it! Wow, this chapter was annoying to write, nothing wanted to cooperate. Hopefully the next one's better and comes easier.
But anyways, Asgore's here! There's also some backstory hints for a couple characters.