**"Bold text in quotation marks signifies words spoken aloud." 'Italicized text enclosed with apostrophes signifies a character's thoughts.'**

Undyne finds Alphys and the two finally lay it all out on the table.

Chapter Fourteen: Confessions

Undyne found Alphys at the place where they had first met; the garbage dump. Like that day, back some fifteen years ago, the little yellow lizard monster was staring out into the abyss beyond the river. The head of the guard approached, making sure to be loud with her steps so she wouldn't startle Alphys. The royal scientist was a bit too close to the edge for Undyne's liking.

Alphys didn't even look up at Undyne's approach. The fish monster hesitated a moment before placing her hand on the shorter female's shoulder. "Hey."

"H-hi, Undyne."

Undyne glanced between the abyss and Alphys several times in the long silence, the feelings that had overcome her while writing the letter welling up inside again. She cared so much for Alphys. Besides Kel, she was her oldest friend. Beyond that, she'd had a crush on the nerd since their school days. But she'd waited so long to say anything… was it too late now? Could Alphys really feel the same way for Undyne? Was it fair to expect her to, knowing all the awful things Undyne had done in the name of her duty?

"Alphys, I…"

"Undyne, there's something…"

Both had started talking at the same time, and both paused to chuckle awkwardly at that fact.

"Y-you first, Undyne."

"Alphys. I want to know the real reason you thought I wouldn't like you. I… didn't want to say anything in front of the kid, but… you know me better than most. You know I don't care what you use seaweed for, or that you watch anime, or that you read comics or any of that stuff you said. I've known about that for years. I guess what I'm trying to say is… there's nothing that could make me not like you, Alphys. Whatever you think you've done, it can't be bad enough to change how I feel."

Beneath Undyne's hand, Alphys had started tensing, her shoulder trembling. Alphys was crying.

"Undyne… y-you c-c-can't understand… Wh-what I've done, there's n-no way to forgive…"

Undyne could feel that Alphys was going to run. She was going to push Undyne away again… going to put up her walls and keep everyone that wanted to help her, out. Undyne gently turned the other monster to face her, drawing her back a few steps from the abyss.

"Okay, I'll go first. Alphys… I've killed human children. I'm sure you knew about at least one of them. Asgore had the royal guard collect those six human souls to help break the barrier. Gerson got three, I got three." This was the first time Undyne had ever spoken about this. Her voice shook a little, but Alphys looked steadier, having been distracted from her own guilt for a moment.

"B-but it was self d-defense, right? I mean, they attacked y-you first?"

"No. I attacked them. The first one… her name was Annie. She was the sweetest little kid, Alphys, you could tell right away by looking at her. Tiny little thing, even shorter than the kid we know. She was cute, with dorky glasses and a thick sweater and a big notebook she scribbled stuff in. Sure, she killed one monster, but it was a total accident. And I… I… she…"

After so many years of holding it in, Undyne was horrified to hear all the guilty feelings and thoughts she'd had over the children come pouring out of her. Kel had been right; it hadn't been healthy to keep it all inside, and now the dam had burst.

"I killed her, Alphys, in cold blood… she didn't fight. She didn't hurt me. She begged me not to kill her, and I… Then there was Vickie, that dancer girl, she made so many monster friends in Snowdin… She played the piano like a dream, so much better than me, Alphys. Vickie was strong, and brave, and such a fighter! But in the end she was a scared kid trying to fight her way home from a strange world. Even that other kid, the one with the gun… I never heard his name, but he was just afraid, he didn't… he was defending himself when he shot Kel and me, I know that, he had to have been frightened…"

Undyne didn't know it, was too far gone to be aware of it, but tears were falling fast from her good eye. Alphys was silent, but the stubby fingers of both her hands enveloped Undyne's larger one, trying to give the other monster any sign that she wasn't alone, that it was okay to keep going.

The fish monster drew in a shuddering breath, releasing it in a wild half-laugh, half-sob. "Don't you see, Alphys? No matter what you've done… you could never be as horrible as me! I'm a murderer, a child-killer, do you see now? If one of us doesn't deserve the other… I don't deserveyou."

That was it. Now Alphys finally knew the truth about Undyne. If she were to run now, the fish monster wouldn't be able to fault her in the slightest. Who could want to be with a killer like her?

Seeing Undyne come unglued like this seemed to awaken something new in Alphys, something she almost never had; confidence. Reassurance that everything would be okay, and the desire to make Undyne understand that she could be forgiven.

Quietly, the lizard monster led Undyne over to one of the platforms in the trash river, sitting on it with her to begin her tale. She explained all of it, all of her lies. Her lies to Asgore, about Mettaton being a robot with a soul rather than just a ghost in a heart core, about being competent enough to research and understand the nature of souls.

Undyne's quiet sobs slowly subsided as Alphys continued. The smaller monster revealed her experiments on golden flowers, her horrible failures with Determination, and her lies to the grieving families of those who had fallen down.

"I ah… actually had j-just finished t-taking those monsters back to their f-families before I came here. I um… I also lied to our human f-friend, for a l-long time before their b-big fight with M-M-Mettaton. I wanted them t-to think I w-was smart and important, so I m-made up puzzles and d-dangerous situations so they would th-think I was helping. Just so I could feel better about myself… That's why I think y-you wouldn't like m-me, Undyne. Under all the d-deceit, I'm n-not a good person."

"You're wrong." Undyne's hand twitched within Alphys's, and the lizard monster let go at once. A little squeak of surprise left Alphys's lips when Undyne embraced her. "You are a good person, Alphys. You're not perfect, sure. You don't have much confidence and you lie to try and make people like you, to avoid hurting people. But you're nice and considerate and so damn smart."

Alphys shook her head, and Undyne pulled back to look the other monster squarely in the face.

"Don't do that. It's true. Why do you think I've liked you for so long, Alphys? You're a brilliant engineer, look at the body you built Mettaton! Look at the kickass sword you made me when we were barely more than kids! Your ice cream machine, those puzzle games in Hotland, you can't seriously sit there and tell me you don't have a gift. And I meant what I said before. You're passionate about what you do, no matter what it is! That look you get when you're thinking about something you care for… I could…"

Undyne stopped talking when she realized that she'd been about to say something incredibly sappy. She looked away from Alphys at last, giving a small and awkward laugh. The fish monster was surprised when Alphys reached up and turned her head to make Undyne face her again.

"I l-like you a lot t-too, Undyne. F-for a long time I've liked you. You're always smiling, even wh-when you don't feel like it. Y-You're so energetic and d-determined to do y-your best." Undyne felt a little twist in her stomach when she saw that Alphys was blushing. "A-and you were n-nice to me, when I d-didn't have many other friends… even though I'm j-just a nerdy loser, y-you always made m-me feel special."

"You are, Alphys…"

"Undyne, wh-when we get out of h-here… Would you w-want to g-go…"

"Hey, wait, no, I wanted to ask you on a date! Not fair! I wanted to ask first, dammit, I demand a rematch!"

The two of them dissolved into laughter, breaking the tension that had built. They were both smiling and feeling like a huge burden had been swept away. No matter what, each of them now had someone who knew it all, all their darkest secrets, someone who saw their entire being. And both were safe in the knowledge that in spite of everything, that person would never abandon them.

Undyne snagged Alphys's hand and grinned down at the other monster. "So. Where would you want to go on that date, hmm?"

"I d-don't care where w-we go. Anywhere is p-perfect when I'm with you."

Damn, how did she do that?! To just take Undyne's breath away like that, it wasn't fair.

"Ha… um… okay. I'd kinda like to visit the beach."

"That s-sounds great."

Undyne's phone rang suddenly, making both monsters jump. As tempting as it was to throw the damn thing into the abyss, Undyne glanced at the screen and saw Papyrus's name. "Ugh. Sorry, Alphys, gotta take this."

"Of c-course."

She put the phone on speaker. "Sup, Papyrus?"

"UNDYNE, YOU MUST GO TO ASGORE RIGHT AWAY! HE'S GOING TO FIGHT THE HUMAN, WE HAVE TO STOP HIM BEFORE ANYONE GETS HURT! TOGETHER I KNOW WE CAN TALK HIM OUT OF IT, PLEASE MEET ME THERE!"

Undyne and Alphys exchanged a worried look.

"On my way."

((Thanks so much for reading, guys! I might do one more chapter concluding with everyone making it to the surface, but... I kind of like where this leaves off, since everyone who plays True Pacifist knows what happens anyway. We'll see how it shakes out. Thanks again for sticking with my silly little story, I hope it did Undyne some justice!))