Finally you returned home once the days' events were done with. Giving Joaquin a quick wave goodbye, you shut the door behind you with a click. The wind whips from the outside of the door. It was nearing December, and there still wasn't any snow on the ground. The temperature outside suggested that it all must be hiding somewhere. The wind cut through you and took your breath away when you took a step outside. Neighbours started putting out their holiday decorations and lights around their homes. Hats and mittens began appearing everywhere like loose change scattered around a house.

"Mom, dad, I'm home!" you bellowed to the bedroom.

As you were taking off your winter equips, Toriel emerged from the bedroom.

"Hello, dear. We were trying to wait up for you, but Gorey couldn't make it. Did everything go all right tonight?" she paused. "Did you guys find him?"

You frowned naturally. "No, unfortunately not."

"Oh, that is too bad. Well, do not be afraid, my child. The officers will apprehend him in time."

"I know, mom, I know." You smiled to her in comfort. "I'm sorry for keeping you up, but I'm in now and I'm exhausted. I'm going to go to bed."

"All right, dear. Love you!"

You slinked upstairs after a quick "Love you too, mom" to Tori and retreated to your room. You slid your book bag down by the desk and made a straight shot for the bed. You not so gracefully belly flopped onto the mattress. Grabbing a pillow and squeezed it against yourself, you buried your head into it.

What a wearing day it had been.

You spent the morning and most of the afternoon at the police station with Sans and Tristian. That was followed up with an exhausting day at school. Attack or no attack, your presentation was due in history. Even though you had a note from the police captain, your teacher gave you no slack. You're sure if you fought it and went to the principal you could get an extension, but.. it couldn't be helped. Mr. Bartok was immune to any discussion regarding your work as ambassador. If you were talking to your classmates and giving them updates, he would silence you immediately. He would purposefully call on you and isolate you from the class. He used to grade you pretty unfairly until he was given a talking to by the principal. You had told Tristian what was going on and he decided to have a talk with the appropriate parties. It was one of the first instances where you understood that Tristian was actually listening to you.

You were already drained though. If you took on something else, you weren't sure if you could remain a functioning human being. Besides, the police captain had enough on his damn plate.

You actually didn't do terrible with the presentation. It was a good thing that you weren't much of a procrastinator. If you hadn't done all of the prepwork beforehand, it would have been a disaster.

School was then immediately followed by an evening of patrolling around the town looking for Andrew.

You had split up into search parties. Undyne, excitement for being back on a human hunt after six years, knew no bounds as she raced away from the gathering place, Alphys hanging off her hand and holding on for what looked like dear life. Toriel and Asgore had come up with a heavily detailed map blocked off in sections of the town, and they said they were looking row by row until he was found. Of course Tori was the brains of the operation. It came with being a teacher. Planning a search party was the same as coming up with a teaching plan for the day in her mind. Enough work and research, and you can get anything done. However, they had turned in early

Mettaton was doing his best to get the information out to the monsters that the humans might be at a heightened state of security. It happened for the last five as well, regardless of whether or not it was ever connected to a monster. There seemed to be more incidents and more attacks from the humans, and it wasn't going to be long until it escalated. Some of the newer rules that were being proposed to a vote included an amendment on monster employment, and it looked as if the approved roles amounted to that of only minimum-wage service jobs. Mettaton definitely wouldn't be able to keep his talk show if it went through. You worried about the same fate for Toriel.

It was one of the driving reasons why you couldn't stop fighting. If Toriel wasn't allowed to be a teacher, she wouldn't be happy. It would take away one of the reasons she was here. Not everyone is born to be a teacher, but you were sure Toriel was the best example of the latter. The thought of her being aimlessly lost and despondent terrified you.

Sans would run into trouble as well. Not so much with the new law, since selling hotdogs and other things from his sentry station was considered a service job. More with the encouragement of humans to keep isolating monsters. He didn't have a hard time keeping his cool. Usually you'd see him laugh it off or make a joke when verbal vomit was spewed in his direction. But you knew it couldn't last forever, especially if it only continued to get worse.

Mettaton was also meant to be on the screen. It was easy to get that across to humans that happened to watch his show. His outlandish and quirky hosting style had set himself apart from other television personalities. It garnered him a following, but of course with that line of work there's bound to be some hate as well. He dealt with it in his own way, but you could tell if someone had gotten to him just by looking at him. You could recall one instance where you might have heard one sentence from him for an entire night of hanging out with the group.

He had his own MTT-style of getting information to the people though, and you had faith that he'd get the message across somehow tonight.

That left Papyrus and yourself, alongside one of the police officers from the station. You had asked if Joaquin or Tristian could come out, but no such luck. Instead, you were sent an officer who seemed extraordinarily hesitant to be in Papyrus's area. That is, if his area was a Grillby's-sized building around him. How could people honestly listen to Pap for more than five minutes and still be frightened or agitated? It was a mystery you would never be able to solve.

The search had come up fruitless, but you did have a pretty good conversation with Papyrus while the officer was keeping eyes on you in the distance. You talked about Sans of course, and how you two were going to surprise him at the house with a spaghetting-outta-jail dinner. You had planned a sort of 'grats on being sprung' pie gag too, but realized that neither of you had the capabilities to pull off a smaller pie being catapulted from a regular sized pie. You made sure to joke with him a little more than usual to make up for his brother's absence. He really did lose a bit of that spring in his step.

It was a little bit chilly in the bedroom, so you grabbed some extra blankets, brought your blankets closer to you and spun them around yourself tightly. You gave your backpack a glance, thinking about trying to get some work done, but it was already too late. Besides, your eyes were so heavy, it'd be an exercise in futility to get up now.

You closed your eyes and allowed your mind to wander aimlessly until you fell into sleep.

You sat up groggily and were hit with a blast of cold. You could feel a light wind in your room, cutting into your cheeks. You turned slightly to your alarm clock in confusion. Only two in the morning? Why would you be-

It was at that moment that you felt a squeeze around your neck.

W-what?!

You felt your eyes widen in shock. The air escaped your lungs quickly and you were gasping frantically after a few moments.

What the hell was going on?!

You tried to yell out to Toriel for help. Someone. Anyone. As soon as your mouth opened to scream, you felt a tightening around your neck. It was in that moment that the thought crossed your mind. You're going to die here.

You're going to die and you didn't get to save the monsters. You didn't get to see peace between the monsters and the humans. The integration of two societies. Monster and human integrated schools. Toriel teaching without worrying every night she came home that it would be coming to an end soon. Mettaton getting his own channel and having not only the monsters but humans in his audience. He could've been reaching so much more people with his positivity. You wouldn't get to see Alpyhs and Undyne get engaged, or married for that matter. You would never see Papyrus again.. or get to see Sans again..

Tears began streaming down and soaking into the blankets. The last wisp of air in your lungs left you being accompanied by an involuntary gargle.

Was that going to be your last exchange with him? Really? About dumb captain jokes? You couldn't say what you wanted the other night. You didn't even get to express how much you loved him.. how you honestly felt when you got to see him. How much you appreciated him looking after you and protecting you. How he ensured that no matter what terrible thoughts were in your head, that you were going to pull through. How happy he made you..

Darkness poured into your vision before you could act, and the world went black.