Justice Or Vengeance, Part Two
Hey guys! I finally managed to get this new chapter done! I hope you like it! Please comment and let me know what you think!
I'd also like to thank the reviewer who came up with the name for MK that I used later in this chapter, and the amazing Stallionwolf, MNLMFangirl, and TheArchimage for all their help with this fic. You guys are awesome!
...
Both Undyne and Frisk froze in place. Undyne's spears flickered out of existence and the green light around Frisk disappeared, leaving her able to move, though she didn't realize this yet as she and the fish warrior stared at the monster child who had suddenly appeared, who was wearing his usual wide, happy smile and seemed oblivious to the life or death fight he had inadvertantly interrupted.
"Hi Undyne! Hi, other kid!" Monster Kid called out. He got right in between them, making both Frisk and Undyne flinch, thinking the other might hurt him, and grinned to Frisk. "This is so cool! You actually get to SPAR with UNDYNE! How'd you get her attention? I'm so jealous! I've always wanted to spar with her...even though I don't have any hands." Still, he seemed genuinely happy for Frisk that she got to "spar" with his hero, which left both Frisk and Undyne speechless, not sure how exactly to tell him this wasn't a friendly sparring session.
MK then noticed the deep gash on Frisk's side and his smile dropped. "Wait...you're hurt! Do you need some healing items?"
Undyne finally found her voice and grabbed Monster Kid, pulling him away from Frisk. "What the he...heck! are you doing here?! You just jumped right into the middle of a FIGHT! You could have been..." Her eye flickered between Frisk and the now very confused kid she was holding. She sighed. There was no way in hell she was going to kill someone in front of an innocent kid. "We're going to have a talk, kid." She gave Frisk a glare before dragging Monster Kid off.
"Wait...you're not going to tell my parents, right?" Frisk heard Monster Kid protest as Undyne dragged him off.
"Frisk...are you..."a shaken Chara started to ask.
Frisk's legs gave out from under her and she collapsed to the ground, shaking and letting out a sob of pain and terror. She reached to check the gash on her side and her hand came away bloody. Thinking quickly, she pulled the bandages out of her bag with trembling hands and pressed it to the wound, keeping pressure on it as she fumbled for her monster food with her free hand, remembering that it healed injuries. She pulled out one of the containers of Papyrus's spaghetti and managed to open it, then grabbed some noodles with her bare hand and inelegantly shoved them into her mouth.
The taste was...indescribable. But a warm, comforting energy filled her body, taking away the pain. There was a tingling sensation as her skin knitted itself together, stopping the bleeding. She sighed in relief. At least she wasn't going to bleed out in the snow now. Even when Papyrus wasn't there, he was still saving her life with his wonderful healing spaghetti.
Chara was keeping an eye out for Undyne while Frisk treated her wounds. Thankfully, it was a much more welcome sight that she saw coming. "Sans and Papyrus are on their way."
...
"HUMAN!" Papyrus called as he raced up to her, carrying Sans in his arms. "We need to get you out of here! Undyne found out..."
"I know." she said, a little shakily but clearly trying to hide it. Papyrus gasped as he saw her bloodstained shirt and the bloody bandages she was still holding to her side.
Papyrus set Sans down gently and knelt in front of Frisk, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, human! I should have stayed with you!"
She tried to smile reassuringly and gave him a hug. "Hey, you didn't know. Plus, that spaghetti you packed for me saved my butt. I'm okay now."
"What happened here, kid?" Sans asked as Papyrus gently lifted Frisk's shirt and checked the wound to make sure it had healed all the way. It had closed but still looked inflamed, so Papyrus sent more healing magic into it to accelerate the healing and prevent infection.
Frisk thanked Papyrus softly before turning to Sans. "Undyne found me waiting here. I tried to reason with her...but it kind of didn't work out too well. She attacked me, but that little monster kid who really likes Undyne came running up, thinking we were sparring. I want to both thank him for saving my ass and yell at him for almost turning himself into a pincushion. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt. Undyne dragged him off, probably to tell him I'm an evil, awful human that needs to be destroyed." Frisk laughed a little bitterly at this and Papyrus could see the hurt in her eyes.
He hugged her, tears in his own eyes, then helped her to her feet. She was trying to act calm, but Papyrus could feel her shaking. He kept an arm wrapped around her. "Come, human. Let's get you back to Snowdin."
He led her off to Snowdin, Sans walking next to them. They had nearly reached their house when Papyrus spotted Undyne at the other end of town. She was facing a young lizard child, probably the kid the human had mentioned and had her arms crossed as she appeared to be scolding him. After a moment, he saw the child wander off with their head down. Papyrus quickly pushed his human friend behind one of the buildings before Undyne could see.
"Hey!" she protested.
"Stay here. As soon as we're out of sight, go to our house. We'll meet you there as soon as we make Undyne see sense." Papyrus told her quietly, then ran off. He looked for Sans, but Sans wasn't behind him. He quickly looked ahead and saw his brother talking to Undyne.
...
"Hey, 'Dyne." Sans said casually as he walked up to the fish woman. "Whatcha up to?"
Undyne glared up him. "You know what I'm up to."
Sans looked her up and down. "Yeah, I'd say you're up to 5'11." he joked.
"Sans, this isn't the time for your stupid jokes! You know what I need to do!"
"You need to leave the human alone." Sans told her, turning serious. His left eye flashed with bright blue magic. "I've had it up to here with this shit. The kid's innocent and you made my brother CRY. If Chara and Asriel were here, they'd be disappointed in you."
"That is NOT Chara!" Undyne yelled. "Chara wanted monsters free as much as the rest of us! So did Asriel! I know you miss them, but you can't fucking bring Chara back by protecting some human that happens to look like her!"
"This doesn't have anything to do with her looking like Chara! I wouldn't protect someone just because they look like someone I loved!" Sans growled. "This has to do with you trying to MURDER an innocent kid! A kid who happens to be my brother's friend! Do you know how much it's going to destroy him if his friend is murdered by the hands of his own best friend?!" Sans clenched his fists but forced himself to calm down before he sent a bone attack at Undyne. "I'm not letting Paps go through what I did."
Before Undyne could even answer, Papyrus rushed up to them. "Undyne! I need to talk to you!"
"Papyrus, let me do my fucking job!" Undyne yelled at him.
Sans glared at her. "Don't swear at my brother!"
"Sans, I've heard people swear before. I'm not a baby bones! Undyne, you're acting like a crazy person!" Papyrus told them both before turning to Undyne. "The human hasn't done anything wrong. And the Undyne I know would never murder an innocent person! You need to stop this. I know you and the human can be friends if you give her a chance!"
"She and I will NEVER be friends! You two are standing in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams! Now tell me where you're hiding her!"
"I was once told monsters were made of love and compassion." Papyrus said softly. "That we would never hurt others the way humans were said to. So why are you willing to take the life of my friend? I may not be a Judge like Sans, but I know the human holds love in her soul, not levels of violence. She has no dust on her hands. She's been friendly and kind to those she encounters. She doesn't deserve to die! And I'm not letting you kill her!" For just a second, Papyrus's eyes flashed orange.
Undyne glared at him. "Papyrus, move aside."
He held firm. "No."
...
Frisk waited quietly in her hiding spot but was growing more anxious. "What if they get hurt?"
"Undyne's not going to hurt Sans and Papyrus." Chara told her, but Frisk could hear the slight uncertainty in her friend's voice. She knew the fight with Undyne had really shaken the ghost girl's faith in someone who had once been a dear friend.
Frisk cautiously stepped out to take a look. She saw Sans, Undyne, and Papyrus a distance away, too far to really see their expressions, but it looked like they were arguing, which made her more worried.
What if they get arrested for treason or something? she thought, her heart beating rapidly at the thought of her friends in danger. I need to fight my own battles. I can't let Sans and Papyrus get hurt because of me.
"Frisk, you might cause a bigger fight if you just walk up."Chara cautioned her, making her pause as she started to walk towards the confrontation, following the river in Snowdin.
"So what do I do? I can't just stand here and let Sans and Papyrus get in trouble or worse because they're protecting me!"
Before Chara could answer or even think of something, a soft voice interrupted them.
"Yo." Monster Kid shuffled up to them, shuffling his scaly feet as he looked more at the ground than at Frisk. "I'm not supposed to talk to you...but I..I wanna ask you something..."
Frisk's heart sunk, knowing what he was going to ask her even before he spoke.
He finally looked at her as he let out a laugh that sounded sad. "Man...I've never had to ask anyone this before...Umm...Yo...You're human, right?"
Frisk looked down at the snow. "Yes."
"Haha...Man! I knew it! ...Well, I know it now. I mean...Undyne told me, um, "stay away from that human," and well, not to get in the middle of one of her fights... So, like, ummm...I guess that makes us enemies or something. But I kind of stink at that, haha. Yo, say something mean so I can hate you? Please?" He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
"I'm not going to say something mean to you. I...I don't want to be enemies. I want to be friends. Please...just because I'm human, it doesn't mean I'm bad." Frisk said softly.
Monster Kid turned his head away, probably so Frisk wouldn't see the tears in his eyes. "You're being too nice! You're, um, supposed to be my enemy...Yo, so I have to do it? Here goes nothing..." He gave her his best imitation of a glare, which wasn't a very good one. "Yo, I...hate your guts..."
Frisk knew he didn't mean it in the slightest, but it still didn't stop the ache in her soul. She looked at the ground.
He sighed softly. "Man, I...I'm such a turd. I'm-I'm gonna go home now..." He walked away.
Chara tried to place a gentle hand on Frisk's shoulder but it just went through her. "Frisk, he didn't mean that."
"I know." Frisk said softly as she watched MK go. But the young lizard had only gone a few feet before he suddenly tripped.
He screamed as he tumbled down an embankment, falling into the river below with a loud splash.
...
Undyne glared at Papyrus, trying another tactic. "Papyrus, if you don't move out of my way, you won't ever be in the Royal Guard!"
He flinched but didn't move. "I'm doing what a Royal Guard does, Undyne. I'm protecting an innocent person from someone trying to kill them, and trying to keep you from doing something you're going to regret for the rest of your life. I know you want to free everyone and avenge the people Yellow Soul killed, but this isn't the way! This isn't justice, Undyne, it's vengeance! She's not Yellow Soul! She's a good person! And you are too! Just listen to me! If you do this...if you kill her...I'll lose two friends today." Tears filled his sockets. "I know you think I'm naive, and maybe I am, but I'm not stupid. I've read books on the war in the Libarby. I know what LV does. If you take the life of an innocent person, especially knowing she's innocent...It could destroy you." He let out a soft sob. "Undyne...please...don't do this. Don't kill her...I can't lose anyone else..."
Undyne's eye softened at Papyrus's tears. "Papyrus..." she started to say, then was cut off by a distant scream. All three of them rushed towards the sound.
...
Frisk gasped and rushed towards the river. She knew he wouldn't be able to stay afloat long without arms and the current was rapid. He was just a little kid; she couldn't let him die!
"Help!" he screamed as his head broke the surface.
Frisk thought quickly. She couldn't swim, so if she jumped in, they'd both drown. She quickly ran along the riverbank as the current carried him away, looking for something to pull him out with. She spotted a thick branch and grabbed it, racing towards him as he managed to surface again, coughing. "Bite down on this!" she called out to him. "I'll pull you ashore!"
With all his strength, he pushed himself upwards and bit down on the branch. Frisk pulled, also trying to lift it high enough that she could keep his head above water, her arm muscles practically screaming in pain as she dragged him towards shore as quickly as she could, fighting the current. She was quickly growing exhausted, but refused to give up.
She was determined to save him.
A surge of adrenaline filled her as she pulled him towards the bank, where she reached down and grabbed hold of his shirt, pulling him up.
Then the snow under her feet caved in and she started to fall. Somehow, with what remained of her strength, she managed to grab Monster Kid and literally throw him to safety before plunging into the icy cold water. The last thing she heard was Chara screaming.
...
Undyne ran towards the river where she had heard the scream, barely noting that Sans and Papyrus were following her and other monsters who had heard the screams were rushing from their homes. As she expected, the human was there, and running along the river bank, holding out a branch like a weapon.
Damnmit! She knew she shouldn't have believed Papyrus! She started to summon a spear as she rushed forward, then heard the human yelling to someone to bite down on the branch so she could pull them ashore. Undyne's spear immediately vanished as she saw the child being dragged by the current. Thankfully he managed to bite down on the branch.
By the time she reached them, the human had pulled the young monster child to the edge of the river and was lifting him out when the bank gave way beneath them. The human grabbed hold of the child and threw them onto the bank before falling into the river themselves.
Papyrus screamed and was clearly about to dive in but Undyne, her hero instinct taking over, beat him to it.
...
The icy water hit Frisk like a punch to the stomach. She gasped automatically and the freezing water flooded er mouth, choking and burning. She thrashed helplessly, but couldn't reach the surface.
Then someone grabbed her arm roughly and she was yanked out of the water and pulled into her rescuer's arms. She coughed weakly and her rescuer slapped her back hard, causing her to cough up the water she had inhaled. She gasped for air greedily and turned to look at her savior, shivering violently.
It was Undyne.
Undyne...saved me?
"T-Thanks, U-Undyne." Frisk managed to say, her teeth chattering. Undyne looked down at her with an expression that was almost blank. Frisk wanted to curl in on herself, not sure what Undyne was going to do to her now. Would she kill her? Drop her back in the river? Take her to Asgore?
"Y-Yo...U-Undyne...D-Don't h-hurt m-my f-friend! S-She s-saved m-me!" she then heard Monster Kid cry out. She turned to look at him. He was sitting on the bank near Sans, who had taken off his hoodie and wrapped it around the shivering child. Papyrus was there as well, looking at Undyne pleadingly but also gratefully. Other monsters were rushing over to see what was happening, some Frisk recognized from her journey, like Grillby, and some she didn't. She could hear a lot of concerned murmuring, including Chara, who was next to her, asking if she was okay.
Undyne looked at MK and the other surrounding monsters, then looked down at Frisk. Her expression was still unreadable but something in her eye had softened, making her look much more like the Undyne from Chara's memories. "Don't make me regret this, kid." she growled, but without venom and then shoved Frisk into Papyrus's arms before walking away.
Papyrus immediately wrapped his arms around Frisk and she snuggled close, unable to stop shivering. Papyrus held her close, trying to keep her warm and wrapped his scarf around her. Monsters surrounded them and MK, asking concerned questions and trying to help.
She felt a warm heat surrounding her and turned to see Grillby. Fire was coming from his hands, one held out towards her and one towards MK and flames gently surrounded them, steaming the water out of their clothes but somehow not burning them.
"Bring them into the restaurant. I'll fix them some hot soup and hot chocolate." Grillby suggested.
...
A little while later, sipping chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate in Grillby's and sitting comfortably between Papyrus and MK, Frisk finally felt warm. MK had recovered quickly as well and was happily chattering to everyone he saw about the river rescue, causing monsters to look over at Frisk with some even coming over to tell her she did a good job. Frisk was overwhelmed, but she also had to admit it felt good to have people like her and see her as Frisk the hero, not Frisk the juvenile delinquent who was good for nothing and would amount to about the same.
The positive attention made her feel as warm as the hot chocolate and soup did, as did Papyrus's arm being around her. Not that she would ever admit the latter to Chara or risk a lifetime of teasing.
The door to Grillby's slammed open and someone rushed in. It was a yellow lizard monster who looked similar to MK. They looked like a teenager and were wearing a pink tank top, a jean skirt, and had tiny arms that looked like those of a T-rex. Frisk guessed that they were family of Monster Kid.
"I got a call that said you fell into the river! What were you thinking, Xander?!" the older monster scolded him as she rushed up to Monster Kid. Frisk was glad to finally know his name rather than needing to refer to him as Monster Kid or MK in her head, which felt kind of awkward. Then again, most monsters did know her as "Human," as she was somehow interrupted every time she tried to introduce herself...
"I'm sorry, Sis. I tripped." Xander apologized, tucking his tail in sheepishly. "But the h...I mean, my friend saved me!"
The monster girl looked to Frisk. "Thanks for saving him. It's nice to meet you. I'm Emily."
"I'm..." Just then, a bunny who was carrying a burger, fries and drink to her table stumbled drunkenly and fell, dropping her plate and glass to the ground, cutting off Frisk's attempt at introducing herself and causing everyone to turn to her.
"I'm pretty sure my name is cursed." Frisk muttered telepathically to Chara as she excused herself and followed Papyrus, who had quickly jumped up when he heard the crash and was helping Drunk Bunny up and guiding her to a seat. Emily and a few others came to help as well.
"Hey, are you okay?" Emily suddenly asked Frisk as Frisk reached out to pick up a piece of broken plate.
"Huh?" Frisk asked, then realized Emily was looking at The ragged hole and bloodstains on her shirt. "Oh, that? I'm fine. Papyrus fixed it right up." she said with a smile, trying to sound cool and tough.
Emily looked a little worried, but then nodded. "Hey...my family runs a clothing store in Snowdin. Why don't you stop by? I'll hook you up with the Royal Guard discount."
Frisk was grateful and thanked her, knowing her clothes wouldn't hold up much longer in the condition they were in. And she could pick up new clothes for Tina too, and a gift for Sans and Papyrus to thank them for everything they had done. For once, she had money in her pocket and could do things for the people she cared about.
"Hey, no problem. It's the least I can do since you saved my dorky little brother." Emily said, smiling. She gave Frisk the address of the clothing store. "I gotta take Xander home. Mom and Dad are probably worried sick. Feel free to stop by anytime."
"I will. Thanks." Frisk told her. Emily smiled and headed off.
"Bye!" Xander called to Frisk. He hung Sans's hoodie back on Sans' chair before he left.
Frisk grinned and waved goodbye to both of them, then turned back to Papyrus. Grillby was sweeping the pieces of broken glass into a dustpan and gently waved her and Papyrus off when they tried to help.
The two headed back to their seats. Papyrus shook his head lightly when he spotted Sans fast asleep with his head resting on his plate of fries. "THAT LAZYBONES..." he sighed, though his voice was fond. He gently scooped Sans up in one arm. Still sleeping, Sans snuggled up, hanging on like a koala with his arms and legs wrapped around his brother and his head on Papyrus's shoulder. Chara squealed at the cute sight and Frisk smiled widely, wishing she had a camera.
"READY TO GO HOME, HUMAN?" Papyrus asked. Frisk nodded, hiding a yawn. Part of her wanted to keep going, but the caverns were growing dark and she was completely exhausted and she knew Sans and maybe even Papyrus were as well. She felt guilty for making her sister wait another day though.
"Frisk, it's okay to rest. Plus, you don't want to walk off a cliff or something in the dark." Chara reassured her.
Frisk felt a little less guilty at her decision to rest now and gave a mental nod to Chara as she followed Papyrus out of Grillby's. The tall skeleton smiled at her and took her hand in his free one as they headed to his house, making her blush.
Chara giggled at her expression. "Frisk and Papyrus, sitting in a tree..."
"Shut up, Chara." Frisk muttered, but she couldn't help but smile.
Things were looking up. Tomorrow would be a better day and she'd see her sister soon, bearing food, clothing, and if she played her cards right, a new family.
I'd also like to thank the lovely DarkFoxKit for the suggestion of MK and his family having tiny T-rex arms. Thank you so much for all your help and advice with this story! I really appreciate it!