2.5K-word chapter, longest I've ever written so far. Maybe to make up for the long period of inactivity. (I actually wrote this in one day.)
Nyssa
Adrian gasped, holding his side, breathing heavily. Nyssa passed him a cinnamon bun she had purchased from the Snowdin store before putting her hands up. "Papyrus, we told you, we don't want to fight you. We just want to be friends."
"F-friends?" Papyrus hesitated. "But I can't be your friend! I can't! I must capture you! Only then will Undyne be able to see how great I am! After that, my dream will come true, and I will finally become a Royal Guardsman! I'll be popular! People will notice me–and people will love me!" He stared sadly at the snow under his boots in a rare quiet moment. "So you see, humans, although I would very much like to be friends with you, I cannot."
Nyssa could almost sense the conflict that must be raging in Papyrus's mind. He was hopelessly torn between a chance at the fulfillment of his lifelong dream and the friendship of the very humans he had been told to capture.
"Hey, Papyrus," Nyssa said quietly, "come on, now. Fighting isn't the way to do this."
Papyrus fell silent again, bracing himself.
And forced himself to send another barrage of attacks towards the humans.
Xandre
"Oh, hello!" Toriel greeted Xandre, looking up at him over the tops of her reading glasses. "Did you want to know about the book I am reading? It is called '72 Uses for Snails'. How about an interesting snail fact?" Before Xandre had a chance to interject, Toriel continued on, almost desperately. "Did you know that snails had a chainsaw-like tongue called a radula?"
"Toriel–"
"Um, I want you to know how happy I am to have someone else here," Toriel said quickly, once again silencing Xandre before he could talk. He could tell she was frantically stalling for time.
She won't be able to keep this up forever.
"There are so many old books I want to share. I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I have also prepared a curriculum for your education. This may come as a surprise to you, but I have always wanted to be a teacher." Toriel looked wistfully into the distance. Into the future she longed to have, maybe, or the distant past she had lived? "Maybe one day. When all this is over. I adore children, and I would love nothing more than to start my own school someday." The former monster queen smiled fondly, and Xandre imagined her visualizing herself in front of a blackboard, gazing at the open, smiling faces of a classroom full of students.
Xandre bit his lip and said nothing.
"Ahh, never mind. The point is, I am glad to have you living here."
He waited. Toriel, finding no other things to say, finally gave a resigned sigh and said, "sorry about that. Did you want something?"
"I'm going to leave the Ruins," Xandre replied. He was careful to make it a statement. Not a question.
"I know I should have done it sooner," Toriel muttered under her breath. Turning back to Xandre, she said sternly, "I have to do something I should have done long ago. Please, wait here, and do not move until I get back." She got up from her chair and walked briskly towards the basement stairs, her movements stiff. It was the first time Xandre had seen this austere side of her.
Naturally, he followed, his heart pounding. This was it. He really was going to do it.
Nyssa
As the short bone came at her, Nyssa jumped, which took an extra effort thanks to the newfound weight in her soul. It was so heavy, it felt as if she had suddenly been transported onto the surface of Jupiter. To her surprise, she floated up much higher than she ever could have naturally, and drifted back down in slow motion, unharmed. Adrian landed on his feet next to her and exhaled slowly, preparing for the next jump.
We're getting the hang of this, Nyssa thought with relief.
"Papyrus," Adrian said in mock disdain, clearly trying a new strategy, "you think you're so great? Wrong! There's about as much skill behind your battle moves as there is flavor in your spaghetti! That's none, by the way. Ha!"
"How selfless!" Papyrus remarked, instead of looking hurt at all. "You want me to feel better about fighting you!" Sadly, he added, "I don't deserve such hospitality from you…"
Another attack came, each bone higher than the last. "How high can you jump?" Papyrus challenged. He seemed to be having a hard time trying to keep it cool. Nyssa just barely cleared the highest obstacle. She felt it graze the soles of her feet, and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in when she landed softly back on the snow.
"Don't make me use my special attack," Papyrus warned.
Nyssa and Adrian met eyes. Special attack?
"I can almost taste my future popularity," he sighed wistfully, rattling his bones as he casually sent another wave of attacks surging towards the humans. The last bone was blue, which caught Nyssa off guard. She was just sighing in relief from managing to stay still long enough to dodge it when another, smaller white bone came out of nowhere, striking both her and Adrian.
"Hey! Not cool!" Adrian yelled out indignantly.
"Papyrus: Head of the Royal Guard!" the skeleton crowed. Although he was present in front of the humans, it was clear his head was way in the clouds, as if he had already attained the popularity he had long dreamed of. "Papyrus: unrivalled… spaghettore!"
"Wait… what?"
"Undyne will be really proud of me!" Papyrus continued. He prepared a non-bone attack, before realizing his mistake and spending a minute fixing it before sending it the humans' way. They dodged it instinctively. "You saw nothing," he muttered conspirationally, trying to direct attention away from the mist of pink spreading across his cheekbones. "The king will trim a hedge in the shape of my smile! My brother… Well… my brother won't change much. I'll have lots of admirers, but..." he hesitated. "How will I tell if people really like me? Someone like you two is really rare…"
His attacks were becoming far harder to dodge now, changing height as they passed. Nyssa dodged them frantically, holding on to the hope that Papyrus would see reason soon.
"I don't think they'll let you go… after you're captured and sent away…" he frowned, seriously considering his options. "Urgh… who cares? Just give up! Give up or face my special attack! Yeah… very soon, I'll use my special attack!"
Knowing his pattern, Nyssa held still as the blue bone approached, before jumping just a little higher than normal to dodge the regular one so that she would land in time for the next blue bone to pass through her. She and Adrian were getting good at this.
Adrian
"This is your last chance," Papyrus warned in an attempt to sound threatening, "before my special attack!"
The attack he sent out was the same as all the previous ones, which made it easy for Adrian to dodge–it was practically muscle memory by now, as deeply ingrained as Wing's sign language. "Nyeh heh heh," Papyrus whispered. As the humans' turn ended, he spread his arms dramatically. "Behold: my special attack!"
Adrian waited, muscles tensed.
Nothing happened… until a tiny white dog appeared out of the swirling snow with a bone in its mouth. It yapped and settled contentedly, a ball of white fluff indistinguishable from the snow underfoot, in a corner of the battle rectangle.
"What the heck!" Papyrus yelled. "That's my Special Attack!"
The dog ignored him, almost smugly. It carried on gnawing on the bone.
"Hey, you stupid dog! Stop munching on that bone!"
Giving Papyrus a final look, the dog scooted backwards out of the rectangle with his special attack firmly clamped between its jaws. Tail twitching, it whirled around and trundled off into the snow.
"What are you doing? Come back here with my special attack!"
The dog wagged its bottom at Papyrus before vanishing. "Oh, well. I'll just use a really cool regular attack!"
White bones came in full force from all directions. Adrian twisted and ducked midair to dodge them and was shocked when he landed unscathed. The words "cool dude" followed, along with a bone wearing sunglasses… on a skateboard? After a while, though, Papyrus's attacks started coming with less vigor than they had before, and his posture sagged.
"Well…! Huff… It's clear you can't… huff! Defeat me! Y-yeah! I can see you shaking in your boots! Therefore I, the great Papyrus, elect to grant you pity! I will spare you, humans. Now is your chance to accept my mercy."
Xandre
Mercy.
The word was almost foreign to Xandre now, an abstract jumble of letters–or Wingdings–that meant next to nothing. Mercy would only hinder him and distract him from his purpose.
Wing's memories told Xandre that Toriel was a boss monster, her essence tied to her children. Since any children Toriel had ever had were clearly long gone, she could have lived indefinitely, remaining ageless and deathless to walk the halls of the Ruins forever. Frozen in amber, until by some miracle she and her race were freed.
No wonder Toriel was so content to stay where she was, at least for now. She literally had all the time in the world.
At least, she thinks she does. For a moment, Xandre wondered if by doing this he was indeed saving Toriel from some worse fate, an infinite sentence to the Ruins. Everlasting house arrest. Deep inside, though, he knew he was just trying to give himself a reasonable explanation for his actions.
He realized that he was about to do something he had never done before: He would bring about the death of an immortal.
This, he reflected, is the power in my hands. You think you have an eternity to live, Toriel. How incredibly wrong you are.
Even while thinking this, Xandre couldn't help but wonder if Toriel knew somehow, just by looking at him, that her life had reached its final chapter. She would never start her own school or watch her beloved students grow up. The things she truly believed she would someday be able to do.
Before Xandre had a chance to change his mind, he strode into the final chamber where Toriel stood, ready to fight in the last battle of her life.
Nyssa
"Nyoo hoo hoo… I can't even stop someone as weak as you… Undyne's going to be disappointed in me. I'll never join the Royal Guard, and my friend quantity will remain stagnant!"
"Hey, Papyrus," Nyssa said gently. "It doesn't have to. Let's be friends."
"Really?" Papyrus gushed, perking up immediately. "You want to be friends with me? Well, then… I guess I can make an allowance for you!" To himself, he added, "wow! I have friends! And who knew that all I needed to make them was to give people awful puzzles and then fight them? You taught me a lot, humans. I thereby grant you permission to pass through! And I'll give you directions to the Surface. Continue forward until you reach the end of the cavern. Then, when you reach the capital, cross the barrier. That's the magical seal trapping us all underground."
Nyssa just stopped herself from saying, we know, and we'll free you from it, just like your father once tried to.
"Anything can enter through it, but nothing can exit except for a being with a powerful soul. Like you! That's why the king wants to acquire a human. He wants to open the barrier with soul power. Then us monsters can finally return to the surface! Oh, I almost forgot to tell you… to reach the exit, you will have to pass through the King's castle. The king of all monsters… well, he's…" Papyrus paused ominously, then said with a laugh, "a big fuzzy pushover! Everybody loves that guy. I'm sure he'll even guide you to the barrier himself. Anyway, that's enough talking. I'll be back at home being a cool friend. Feel free to come by and hang out!"
"Actually… we need to be on our way soon," Adrian told him.
"Well… I suppose I can make an allowance for that too, but never forget that you now owe the great Papyrus a hangout! Nyeh heh heh!"
Xandre
"Prove to me. Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive."
Xandre looked up and locked eyes with Toriel as she sent magical fireballs flying toward him. He dodged on instinct and came up unscathed, surprising even himself. Some part of him had fought powerful, magical enemies before. Some part of him. More specifically, one third.
There was no way Xandre could have stood a chance of beating someone as powerful as Toriel was on his own. But somehow the white part of his soul knew how, and it were almost straining to take control, as if it hungered to release its potential. So he let it. The next time Toriel attacked him, he was ready for it. He dropped and rolled, and as he was coming to his feet, he raised one hand. Wingdings symbols materialized around him. Cyan hearts blazed in the palms of his hands as he summoned the magical powers that had lain dormant within him. Until now.
Before Toriel could dodge, Xandre signed a command. The symbols flew at Toriel and struck her all at the same time. Letting out a gasp of anguish and agony combined, she fell to her knees, and Xandre could see a large patch of red blooming on the front of her dress. It stained the emblem she wore there.
"I… didn't know you hated me that much…" she choked out.
Xandre shoved back the wave of emotion that threatened to swamp him. He'd done it. There was no going back now.
"Now I know who I was protecting when I tried to keep you here," Toriel rasped. "Not you… but them." She glared into Xandre's eyes with such fierce intensity, he almost wanted to flinch. "Ha… ha…"
She tried to say something more, but nothing would come out of her throat.
Before long her body dissolved into dust. Her soul–the same white color as his one third, Xandre noticed–lingered for a moment more before it cracked in half. The pieces fell to the ground and vanished. A powerful feeling started to build inside Xandre, one he'd grown to know well as the gaining of EXP.
Xandre, a mere human, had done it. Toriel was dead. All that remained of the once-powerful monster queen was a fine mist of white powder settling onto her dress like the snow that fell beyond the door of the Ruins, extinguishing her eternal flame forever.