Snowy sat resting on the ledge of an open window overlooking Snowdin's main street. Sallie and Ryan's house had never been the most ideal for a Snowdrake, but he was able to make it work for himself. He had grown more accustom to higher temperatures overtime but they still made him feel somewhat sluggish and uncomfortable if he stayed in them too long. Having his own room helped, but he hardly wanted to stay cooped up in there all day.
The young drake stared out in the direction of the entrance to Waterfall, waiting for Ryan to return for the evening. It was usually all he did on the days Sallie had to work. Much of the town no longer wanted anything to do with the group of them. They all just caused trouble, according to them. Well, they were not wrong, and plus, he didn't need them. They'd come around eventually anyway; he'd put money on that.
A silhouette in the distance caused his hopes to rise. As it came closer to town, though, it resolved itself into the familiar shape of Papyrus and he settled himself back onto the windowsill. Then his eye caught another figure with the skeleton. The other shadow was barely up to the monster's knee and Snowy squinted against the dimness to try to make out more. By the time the two were at the town's edge he knew exactly who the other monster was and it made his feathers want to stand on end.
It was that lizard kid from a few weeks back. What was he doing with Papyrus? Had the skeleton caught the creep spying on his friends too? Snowy could just hear the two talking as they approached Papyrus's house but not enough to make anything out. His confusion only grew as he watched them enter through the front door and the town was silent once again.
Spreading his wings, Snowy floated down from the window and across the street to where the Skelebro house stood. He stepped underneath one of the ground story windows and tried to listen to what was going on inside.
"The shed is only one room really, so I don't think Undyne will actually let you stay with her; however we do have a couch." He heard Papyrus say.
"He's staying here?" Snowy whispered to himself in disbelief as he stepped back from the window. "How did he talk them into that?"
"Talk who into what?" came Ryan's voice from above him which made Snowy jump. Both he and Undyne were standing in the street behind him, looking down at him curiously. He had not heard either come near.
After his surprise passed, the monster's agitation returned. He looked up at Ryan and said, "that kid from before is back and he's in Papyrus's house. The one who was trying to spy on you guys."
Undyne rolled her eyes while Ryan had a sudden look of understanding. "Oh," he said. "I was wondering when he was gonna get here."
The drake looked at him sideways. "You were?"
"Yeah, I was the one who set it all up because someone," he looked to Undyne, "proved incapable and nearly scared his parents half to death."
"You what?" Snowy exclaimed, his ire rising as the man spoke.
Ryan looked back to the drake, his confusion now mirroring that of the monster's. "I figured you'd be happy about this." He said. "You seemed to get along great the last time he was here."
Snowy gaped up at Ryan in incredulity. "Are you kidding me?"
"Undyne!" another voice exclaimed before the two could say anything further. Snowy turned to it. MK stood in the now open doorway of Papyrus's house, a mixture of triumph and excitement coating his expression. As soon as he saw the monster, he leapt straight at the guardswoman head first. Snowy watched as Undyne caught the monster by the neck of his shirt with little difficulty and swung him up so he was eye level with her. She glared at him with her one eye while MK looked back nervously as he dangled from her grip. "Y-yo… what's up?" he stammered.
The larger monster simply continued to glare at him for his words. Then a second later Undyne's face split into a smile. "I like your spunk after all, kid. You could give Ryan here a lesson about enthusiasm."
MK's eyes glossed over in euphoric glee. "Cool," he squealed.
"Come on, kid, let's see what else you've got." Undyne swung the half-pint monster over her shoulder like he was a gym bag and the two entered the house. MK stuck his tongue out at Snowy before the door slammed shut behind him.
"I knew she'd come around." Ryan said proudly.
"Is he really staying here?" Snowy asked him.
Ryan looked down at the monster. "Yeah, why?" he asked, but the drake merely groaned in response.
The door opened once more and Papyrus stepped out into the evening from a cacophony of things being broken behind him. "They seem to be going at it already." Ryan commented.
"Ah, yes. I remember my first day of training." The skeleton said nostalgically. He actually sounded like he was looking forward to the days to come. Snowy could not understand it. "Undyne's methods have only grown more precise over time; plus, he has me to train him as well. Fear not, Ryan. The boy is in the best of hands." The monster gave the two of them a thumbs up.
"You have my complete trust, Papyrus." Ryan told the skeleton as he slapped him on the shoulder.
Papyrus nodded and opened the door again. Snowy thought he could see smoke coming from inside that time and could feel his hope for the future dimming by the second. The door closed behind the skeleton and it was silent once more.
"I don't envy him." Ryan said.
"Which one?" Snowy shot back.
"Both of them." The two turned away that den of bad decisions and began their way back to their own home. "Be glad you ended up with me and not her. I don't think I could even put up with that." Ryan added casually as they crossed down the street.
"Oh, believe me; I am." Snowy said. He paused for a moment. "Hey, Ryan?"
Ryan stopped as well and turned to the monster, one hand in the pocket of his jeans and the other on the hilt of his sword. "Yeah?"
"What are you going to do, when we get out of here?" Snowy asked nervously, remembering the last time he had brought something like this up.
Ryan gave a chuckle and shook his head. "I haven't really given it much thought." He admitted.
Snowy swallowed and asked, "Can I still live with you when we do?"
Ryan blinked at the request and then gave it some thought. "If that's still something you want to do then, sure. I don't see why not."
"Sallie too?" the drake went on.
That time Ryan laughed fully. "I don't know. She may be a bit harder to convince." He joked.
Snowy laughed as well. "You may be more right than you think. I heard she didn't have the best of mornings."
.
What had started off as a good day for Sallie was effectively ruined by the sight of green fire standing outside of Grillby's as she returned from her aunt's. The rabbit monster nearly groaned in response to the sight. She had been hoping this day would never come. All thought of trying to avoid the other monster was ruined as she turned to her almost as soon as Sallie saw her, like she had been able to sense her presence.
Sallie quickly realized that was not the case. The young fire monster was looking up and down the street almost desperately. It was a wonder she was even outside at all. Grillby almost never left the restaurant except to open or close, and she suspected that no amount of layering would help one who had born and raised in Hotland.
When she locked eyes with Sallie, however, the monster seemed to straighten out almost instantly, dismissing her discomfort as if it never existed to her. As she walked up to Sallie, that composure did not diminish.
"So you came after all?" Sallie asked. It was not at all welcoming.
"I told you I would." Ruby said in response. Sallie was impressed that her voice did not shake at all. The monster tried to make herself look taller than she was, but she still had to look up at Sallie. The effect was also largely diminished by the multiple coats and pants she wore. Steam seeped out of any space it could find between the layer and it made Sallie think of a roast fresh out of the oven. "So, where is the human today?" She asked next, cutting right to the heart of the matter, likely in an attempt to stand there as little as possible.
Sallie stared at her for a moment before answering, hoping to crack the other monster's composure. "He has a name you know." She said in response.
"Ryan, right," Ruby said, beginning to show a measure of impatience, but it was gone by her next words. "Is he around at all?"
Sallie shifted the basket she carried between her hands, taking a deliberate moment to look the other monster over again. "Shouldn't you be inside?" she asked instead of answering. "This cold must be killing you."
Ruby actually managed a smile. "I'm quite fine, actually."
Sallie tried to put on her best concerned expression. "Are you sure? Maybe you should wait in your father's restaurant. I think I remember him saying something about what this kind of weather does to him. I don't remember what it was specifically, but it made me understand why he almost never leaves the place at least. And if he's lived here longer than I've been alive I can only imagine how much worse it must be for someone like you who just got here."
"I said I'm fine!" Ruby snapped as her composure shattered. Sallie was certain that if the monster had teeth she would have been grinding them. "Do you know where he is or don't you?"
Sallie almost smirked, almost. "And why do you want to know so badly?"
"Like I explained when I was here last time, I have some questions for him, is all." Ruby said, regaining a measure of her patience. "Is there any particular reason why you're trying to keep him away from me?"
"Because I don't like you," Sallie said frankly, hands to her hips. "The last time you were here you only looked at him like a kid with a new toy they couldn't wait to smash to pieces. I don't you anywhere near Ryan."
The fire monster was shaking now. Whether from the cold or from anger, Sallie could not tell, but it made her happy either way. It was gone just as quickly as the first time, however, and the monster was once more all contented smiles. "I understand that you are in some sort of relationship with the human, is that right?"
Sallie almost snorted. "Yeah, you could say that." She said condescendingly.
Ruby walked up until she stood just beneath the other monster. "Then let me remind you that, while you may think you have some measure of control over what he does or who he does it with, it really isn't up to you." The last part was whispered, and then the fire monster smiled up at her once more. "See you around!" She said as she turned and walked back towards her father's restaurant. It was a brisk walk, but she still walked.
Sallie stood in the street staring at the monster's back trying her best not to grind her own teeth before stomping off down the street as well. She wanted be home, where she could be angry without giving that girl the satisfaction.
.
"There you are!" Sallie exclaimed as she practically leapt into Ryan's arms as he appeared at the top of the stairs. Snowy had to flap his wings to keep himself from tumbling off of Ryan's shoulder.
"Hi, it's good to see you too." Ryan said, slightly confused. "Was there another rumor going around that I was dead today or something?"
Sallie pulled her head up off of Ryan's chest and looked up at him disappointed. "What?" she asked. "Is it wrong for me to be excited that my boyfriend is home?"
"No, but this is a bit…" Ryan trailed off.
"Much?" Snowy tried.
"Unexpected," Ryan finished. "Especially since I'd heard you weren't having the best day."
Sallie's brow lowered in perplexment. "Who told you that?" Sallie inquired.
Snowy raised a wing and the other monster shot him a look. "You seemed pretty angry at something when you came back this morning," he defended. "How was I supposed to know it was a secret?"
"Well I'm fine," she told them as well as silently informing them that that was the end of the matter. The rabbit monster turned to go sit down at the table and Ryan followed. Snowy jumped off Ryan's shoulder to sit on the table while Ryan took the chair next to Sallie. Ryan leaned back in an attempt to get comfortable and Sallie scooted closer to lean against him "So how was your day?" she asked him.
"Exciting," he told her. "That room Alphys main is definitely something."
"So you've been saying." She chuckled.
"Still haven't destroyed it?" Snowy asked him jokingly.
"I am pretty convinced now that it is impossible to destroy that thing," professed Ryan, "at least with magic."
"Well that's good." Sallie commented. "Maybe now the town will finally get less angry at you two."
"Yeah well, knowing them, they'd just find another reason to be mad." Ryan looked off for a second before standing up from the table. "Enough about that. Are we going to Grillby's again tonight?"
"No," Sallie said a little too quickly and then added. "I think just the three of us should do something tonight." There was no way she was going to that bar tonight. Perhaps not ever again!
That time it was Ryan's turn to look disappointed. "Oh, but MK just got here today."
His words made Snowy perk up. "I am suddenly more okay with the idea of staying here tonight." He told them "What did you have in mind, Sallie?"
Sallie smiled. Having the drake on her side would make this much easier. "We still haven't tried that board game I found at my aunt's." The rabbit suggested.
"It's missing pieces," Ryan reminded them, still clearly not liking the idea of staying in. The two monsters looked at him, however and Sallie knew he could tell that he was outnumbered in this. With a sigh, he went to get the game from the closet.
That's one night down, Sallie thought, now to figure out what to do for the rest of them.
.
Ryan went to the bar later that night on his own. A part of him hoped that perhaps Undyne and the other two would still be there, but they were not. The place was empty aside from Grillby himself. Seeing as he was already there, he decided to sit and have a drink regardless. The fire monster had a glass on the bar before he even sat down which he filled with an amber liquid Ryan would have said tasted like a good tequila, but the monster claimed he had no idea what that even was.
Thanking the monster, he sat down and took a sip before staring into the glass. The past few weeks had brought new questions to his mind. He felt like something was going on just outside of his reach and Sallie's behavior earlier didn't help that suspicion, but he had too little information to start putting the pieces together yet. Frankly, it was likely none of his business, but thinking about it like that did not help matters.
He downed the rest of his drink in one go and placed his glass back down on the bar for Grillby to give him another but it was someone else that filled the glass. Looking up, Ryan found a different fire monster standing behind the bar with Grillby nowhere to be found. He had not even noticed the two switch. Ruby set the bottle down on the bar and smiled down at him. The green fire had on white knitted sweater even in the heat of the restaurant. Small tendrils of energy leaked out of the loose weave. "You're here late." She said playfully.
"I could say the same for you." Ryan shot back just as playfully as he took the drink.
"I don't sleep much." She told him.
"Me either." Ryan took another sip and placed the glass back on the bar before asking, "Did you just get here today?"
"Yup, just finished unpacking and all ready for break." The monster snatched his drink from in front of him and raised it in a toast. "Hopefully it will feel like a long one." She took a sip and looked like nearly choked. She put the glass back on the bar as she doubled over and tried to hack up what she just drank. "How do you like that?" she asked between fits of coughing.
"I don't," he admitted, dragging the glass back to him.
The monster looked at him incredulously while she regained herself. "Then why are you drinking it?" she questioned.
"For precisely that reason." He said as he fished it off. "More importantly, you have an entire bar's worth of alcohol behind you. Why did you feel the need to take my drink?" He challenged jestingly. For that matter, aren't you a little young to be drinking?"
"This is my dad's bar," she reminded him.
"Fair enough," Ryan leaned against the bar and studied the monster. He had already decided she was nothing like her father; even the way she held herself was completely different. Grillby was a man you knew not to mess with just by looking at him and he did not have to do anything to remind you of that fact. Ruby looked ready to show her fangs at a moment's notice just in case you might have forgotten she had them. "So what brings you out to greet me so late?" He inquired before he remembered the answer to his own question. "You had said something about questions for me last time, right?"
The fire monster nodded. "I did. Is this a good time to start?"
"I got nothing else to do tonight." He said with a shrug.
The girl's smiled widened. "Excellent. I'll be right back." The monster disappeared through the door behind the bar and then Ryan was alone. Seeing as the bottle had been kindly left on the bar, Ryan poured himself another drink while he waited. He did not have to wait long as the monster returned with a notebook tucked under one of her arms. She pulled up the pass through and joined him on the other side of the bar, jumping up onto the stool next to him.
"So are these questions about me or humans in general?" Ryan asked while the monster set herself up and tried to find a blank page in her notebook. "Because the answers to one of those categories are pretty dull I'm afraid."
"I highly doubt that, but let's just stick to humans in general for now." Ruby clarified. "There's surprisingly very little information on humans left down here and I've read every scrap at least a dozen times. They don't really say much though, so having an opportunity like this is kind of unreal."
The fire monster definitely looked excited, and Ryan smiled. "Alright then, ask away," he told her.
Ruby tapped her pen against the bar as she thought of a place to start. "What's the red liquid humans are filled with called?" She asked finally. Ryan took on a puzzled look for a moment and the monster expanded. "Very few images exist from the war, but whenever they depict an injured human, they have pools of red around them."
"You mean blood?" Ryan probed.
"Is that what it's called?" Ruby asked back, jotting something down in her notebook.
"Yeah," Ryan affirmed. "You didn't know that?"
"Like I said, very little information." The monster repeated, looking slightly embarrassed.
Ryan was certain he had met monsters who knew at least that much. Then again the only names that were coming to mind were Alphys and Undyne and it didn't surprise him that that information was closeted with them. "I didn't mean to make that sound like it should be obvious." Ryan said in way of apology. "It's easy to forget just how different humans and monsters are once you live with them for a while."
Ruby made another note in her book before looking up at him again. "That's alright. The only thing texts ever say about humans' bodies is that they simply have more physical matter to them than monsters, but they never go into detail beyond that, so I mainly did my best try to fill in the gaps with a lot of conjecture. Although, 'blood' is the last thing I would have expected humans to be filled with."
"Well, there's more than that to us." Ryan informed her. "A lot more."
That perked the monster's interest again. "Really like what?"
"Bones, organs, muscles, and a lot of smaller, more intricate things."
Ruby wrote that down as well and then asked. "Why is that?"
"Do you want a scientific answer as to why, or do you just want to know why I think we have all of that while monsters don't?"
"The latter, I guess." She said after a moment's thought.
"It's everything we need to exist without magic." He explained.
The monster did not write anything down that time. "What do you mean?"
Ryan put down his glass before elaborating. "I should explain something first. Magic doesn't exist on the surface and there's no evidence it ever has. But even if it does, at the very least no human has ever been able to interact with it. So, unlike monsters, our bodies don't function off of it all."
"How does that even work?" questioned the fire monster.
"In a way that is incredibly complex that I didn't pay enough attention to in school to completely learn." He expressed with a measure of displeasure.
"I'd be willing to take anything you can give me." She reminded him.
That made him chuckle. "If you say so." Ryan gave the monster the best answers to her questions as he could while hoping he did not accidentally give her any misinformation along the way. Ruby seemed to eat up every scrap, filling several pages in her notebook over the course of their little interview.
One thing Ryan noticed over the course of time was that the monster seemed to settle down somewhat, going from trying too hard to fit in with those older than her and more like she was just sitting and talking to a friend. He was thankful for that. He had enough monsters hold him above or beyond them in some way as it was.
The topic then moved to other things and before he knew it, several hours had passed. He looked at the time on his phone almost in disbelief.
"I should get going." He told Ruby in one of the moments of pause. "We'll have to continue some other time. Undyne's gonna be looking for me in a little while."
"Undyne?" The monster questioned as Ryan got up from the bar and left the money for the drinks.
"Yup, for training." He said in answer to her unasked question.
"Training what?" she asked instead.
"The one thing I've been lacking my whole life: magic."
.
Undyne's spear shattered against his spellwoven shield inches from his face. He spun through the mist of the summoned weapon to cut his sword at the monster while fire sprung to his free hand. As the monster jumped back, Ryan let out a jet of flame, but it was blocked as a wall of spears rose from the ground. With a thought, the flame solidified into ice around the monster's defense. Ryan used the ice to vault over the obstacle, but Undyne was nowhere to be found. Suddenly spears shot down at him from all directions. Ryan saw them coming and was well out of their range by the time they hit the ground. There was no sound of impact, no scattered debris; the weapons merely vanished as they touched the floor.
Ryan searched the white void for the monster, wondering where in the room she could have possibly found a place to hide. "You've gotten pretty good at that." Her voice came from above him. She stood atop the bar of ice as it slowly sunk into the floor as well.
"Thanks," Ryan said before slicing his arm through the air at the monster. Razor sharp wind arced towards her, but the monster dodged it just as easily as he had her spears. Undyne was before him a second later and he brought up his sword to defend her attack. As he did so, fire hit the monster from both sides and she broke away.
Ryan had learned quite well that beating Undyne was not just a matter of keeping out of her reach; she was tough to crack at both short and long range. Holding on to his determination, he hardly felt like he had been fighting for an entire morning. He knew that with his power, he could beat out the monster in terms of stamina if nothing else, and frankly that was all he was willing to attempt at that point. After almost killing her in the forest, he hardly wanted to see what going all out a second time would do.
"Stop!" Undyne called suddenly. In response to her command the room powered down. The white walls turning to a pale gray overlaid with large panels of glass held away from the surfaces by large spools of wire capped with a black disk. He had no idea how Alphys made any of it work in the end, but it certainly did. With the light left the feeling of standing in a void revealing that the room itself was not actually all that large, merely a fifty foot box across all dimensions. It was much smaller than the clearing, but they made it work.
"What?" Ryan questioned as he lowered his sword.
The monster looked at him sternly, like she was tired of giving the same lecture over and over again. "You're holding back again." She said.
"I am not," Ryan shot back defensively.
"You are and you know it." She said unyieldingly.
Ryan threw his head back in exasperation as he sheathed his weapon. "Alright so I am. So what? Yes, I could kill you with electricity the second I blocked your spear, yes I could fill half of this room with fire in a second, but what's the point? I thought this training was to make it so I could survive a fight with Asgore long enough that he's too tired to not listen to me. If I don't even have to fight at my full strength isn't that a good thing?"
In lieu of an answer, the monster stepped up to him and looked down at him angrily. "What was the first thing I taught you?" she asked.
"That you're insane, and that I should never let my guard down."
"Good. What else?"
"That just because I'm human doesn't mean I have the advantage. But I really don't-"
Undyne cut him off by raising her hand. "And the third part?"
"Magic is influenced by thought and emotion." He finished.
"Emotion more so," Undyne reaffirmed. "Because of that fact, magic can have a mind of its own in the wrong hands. Even if you don't intend to use all of your strength, circumstances may find you using it without meaning to, just like in the woods." Ryan grimaced at being reminded of that. He hardly needed her to do that. "The way to prevent that," she went on, "is to practice fighting at your full strength." Her words were accented by her poking him in the chest. "That way when emotion comes into play it will have less of an effect on your control in any situation."
"How?" Ryan asked. "Anything I could do would just kill you instantly."
"That's because all you use is simple magic. So, figure out how to do something more involved. And I expect something good by tomorrow."
"Are we done already?" Ryan asked.
The monster nodded. "I have two of you to look after, remember?"
"You're not going to stay for more anime?" he tried.
"Not today," she told him simply, already making her way towards the door that was now visible with the room powered down.
"It's been weeks since you stayed now." Ryan reminded her.
"Maybe tomorrow" was all she said.
The door swung shut behind her and Ryan was left in silence. "Wait, did she say I had a day?" he asked himself.
Ryan left the room to see Alphys staring in the direction Undyne had presumably gone and decided to forego arguing the warrior the ridiculousness of trying to learn a whole new magic in a single day. "How goes it, doc?" he Alphys instead.
The monster did not respond to him immediately, and when she did she went back to her computer, looking like she was trying to forget something. "What? Oh, hi Ryan. Is the room still working? No nausea or anything like that?"
"Nothing to report," he told her, letting his unanswered question lie. "Do you know if anything is wrong with Undyne?"
The doctor took a deep breath before answering. "She's just fine, I'm sure."
For some reason, Ryan did not entirely believe that, "It's just she hasn't been staying to hang out in a while now…"
"Perhaps that's for the best." Alphys said as she started to walk away, leaving him even more confused.
"Are we gonna watch anything?" he tried again as he chased after her.
"I think I should actually get some work done today." She told him before leaving him alone in the hallway.
.
Ryan closed the door behind him and breathed deeply the warm air of Sallie's home. Though the temperature no longer really got to him thanks to magic, he still felt it. And even after so long, he still enjoyed being able to return to a warm home after spending all day in the winter-locked forest or the volcanic dry of Hotland. He expected to see Sallie's mother downstairs as he entered, but the shop was dark and empty. He shrugged it off as he tried to think about what he was going to do with the rest of his day.
He could go see Ruby again, he supposed. The two of them had been meeting up the last few nights now and the monster hardly seemed short on questions yet. For some reason when Sallie found out about his nightly trips to the bar, she became very upset with him. Did she really think Ruby was lying about the questions just to rat him out? The idea seemed absurd to him. He had tried to get the monster to come with him more than once to see that Ruby truly meant no harm but that was met with fierce resistance and little explanation. Eventually he just dropped it.
Maybe, then, he should not spend the afternoon with the fire monster. Maybe Sallie won't be busy and they could have an afternoon together in the first time in what already felt like forever. However, it was not Sallie that met him as he made his way upstairs.
It was Ruby and Sallie's mother that sat at the kitchen table, laughing about something he had not heard. "You really are quite the charming girl." Sallie's mother said after they had calmed down. "I had no idea her circle of friends extended all the way to the capital now. It's good to see she's finally been able to get around more." Seeing Ryan standing in the doorway, she turned her attention to him. "Hello dear, Sallie's still out and about at the moment." The rabbit crossed her arms and made a humph sound. "She was supposed to help me with the store this evening, but that seems to have slipped her mind. Instead I had the fortune of running into your friend Ruby here. How come she's never been by before?"
Ryan shrugged. "I don't know. Sallie always seems to find one reason or another."
Her mother gave him a smile that told him she knew something he did not. "Well, my daughter's assistance or not," she began, standing up from the table, "I have work to get done before the day is through." The old rabbit walked up to Ryan and put a hand to his chest. "Do try to refrain from doing anything that causes my daughter to tear the house down on our heads. Not that I think you're the sort who would do anything like that," she glanced behind her for a moment. "Just thought I should warn you regardless."
Ryan did not quite get what the monster was on about, but he nodded to the monster anyway and she went downstairs with a wink and a smile. He would never understand that woman's thought process, and he would not try to that time. Instead, he turned his attention to Ruby. The fire monster still sat at the table, left leg crossed over the right, the edges of her form flickering as bits of flame flew off the parts of her that were uncovered which was little more than her head at the moment. "So, what brings you here?" He asked her warmly. "More questions?"
The fire monster uncrossed her legs and stood up from the chair. "Yes, but they can wait." She told him. "I feel like you and I have yet to have an actual conversation, plus I don't think I ever properly thanked you for rescuing me in Hotland that day."
"Really? I could have sworn you said 'thank you' more than once at this point." Ryan said as he walked behind the kitchen counter and began pulling pans hanging from a wrack over his head. He stopped for a moment as he realized what he was doing. "You don't mind if I cook do you?"
Ruby shook her head. "By all means."
"You want to stay for dinner?" he offered casually. "I usually end up making more than enough for the four of us."
"Thank you, but I'll have to pass." She said and sounded like she genuinely regretted it.
"Are you sure? Your dad taught me most of what I know about cooking down here." He coerced.
"I already ate earlier." The fire monster clarified.
Ryan shrugged as he filled a pot in the sink with water. "Fair enough."
"Do humans really eat three times a day regardless of how active they are?" Ruby asked as she walked over to stand on the other side of the counter.
Ryan smirked at her. "I thought you wanted to save the question for later."
The fire monster rested her head in her hand and the two seemed to fuse. "I did, but you piqued my interest." She told him.
With a chuckle, he answered, "Short version: yes, that's what almost all of our doctors say we should shoot for to stay healthy. Slightly longer version: it varies. Most eat more, some eat less. For example, I used to get away with one or two most days before ending up here."
"Why would humans do that, eat more or less than they should if it's unhealthy for them?"
"A lot of reasons," Ryan explained. "Psychological, religious; I'm not really an expert on this, sorry."
The monster shrugged. "That's alright. I also heard from my father that you could eat as much as the whole town put together for just one of those meals. Any truth to that?"
Ryan nodded, turning away a moment to light the stove with fire magic. "There is. As it turns out, food made with magic is not very filling for humans."
"Probably because of how your body works."
"That seems to be the going theory."
"But apparently you you've stopped" She went on. "My dad told me how you barely eat at all now. He worried about you."
Ryan chuckled again. "I told him not to be. I'm perfectly fine."
"Can you blame him though? To go from eating a warehouse of food a day to nothing is quite the change." Ryan could tell that she was worried about him as well.
"Well, I was sick of eating your father out of house and home, so I found a way to stop it and I did." He explained.
"How?"
"Magic." Ryan said simply. Ruby gave him an unamused look. "What?"
"Is that all you're going to give me?" she asked, sounding unamused as well.
"That's all I have to give." He told her as he began pulling things out of the pantry behind him. "I don't really get it much myself." He thought for a second. "Monsters can survive without eating, right? Technically they can just draw energy from the air."
"Yes, but we wouldn't be able to do much." The fire monster clarified. "Little more than sit in bed, I'd guess."
"Well, something about my power allows me to do something similar to that, only magnitudes stronger, and it keeps at one hundred percent near constantly. My body just somehow learned how to use that energy to keep every part of me fueled and healthy."
"Are you doing that right now?" Ruby asked. Ryan picked up a new note of worry in her voice.
"Yup," he told her. "Can't even tell, can you? A couple weeks ago I would have been glowing red all over. I figured out how to control that, at least."
When he turned around again, the monster was standing right in front of him. Concern was writ on her face. "Doesn't that hurt you?"
"Um…" Ryan wrapped his knuckles against his forehead. "No, not really."
Without warning, the monster grabbed him by the head and pulled him down so he was eye level with her. She held his eyes open to look into them before putting a hand to his neck and then pressing her fingers into various places in his chest. "Fascinating…" she breathed once she was done and let him go.
"What's fascinating?" He said rubbing his neck and taking a step back from the monster. She followed him as if he were a magnet, her eyes full of reverence.
"That you can stay like that for so long without any damage. If a monster tried to do that, they would…"
"Kill themselves." Ryan finished. "Alphys told me; at least, she gave me the short version."
"Right… I guess the human body really is a lot stronger than monsters'."
Just then, the door opened. Sallie walked in, humming to herself as she listened to the music in her ears, and stopped in the doorway as she saw who was already in the kitchen. Her jaw dropped as she pulled the headphones from her ears. "Hey, Sallie." Ryan greeted awkwardly. The rabbit monster looked at him with a mixture of shock and anger. It was then that he realized the position he was in. In his effort to escape the other monster's grip, he found himself leaning back against the counter. Ruby was practically leaning over him.
In a flash, he was on the other side of the kitchen grabbing something from the fridge. "Dinner should be ready soon." He told her. "Where's Snowy?"
He turned back to the monster who was still glaring at him. "Why is she here?" She asked coldly.
"She was here before I got here." Ryan explained, hoping she would believe him. "Your mom invited her."
"Really?" Sallie said doubtfully.
"Yes?" He said slowly, suddenly doubting himself.
"We were just talking." Ruby said, making her way back to the other side of the counter. She sounded all too happy. "He was explaining to me just how powerful he is."
"Was he now?" Sallie's eyes did not leave him for a second. "I suppose you're staying to eat?"
"No, I was just getting ready to leave actually. I can see you two are busy." Ruby stepped past the two of them and out of the still open door to the lower floor. "It's been fun, Ryan. Talk to you tomorrow?"
"He might." Sallie answered for him and Ruby went down the stairs after another moment.
"I should probably see her out." Ryan said. A hand kept him back.
"I'll do it." Sallie told him.
"I don't really think-" A finger under his nose silenced him.
"Sit." She said gesturing to the table. He did as commanded.
"We really were just talking." He tried to assure her.
She merely glared back at him before descending the stairs herself.
Ruby was waiting by the door. "I must admit, you're a lot better at hiding your ugly side around him." She told the rabbit monster.
"You have some nerve, girl." She said back to her. "Coming into my house walking around like you own not only it but Ryan too.
"I was invited, like he said." Ruby stated calmly. "Why would I refuse? I've grown to quite like spending time with Ryan."
"You better watch where you're going with this," Sallie warned. "I thought your questions were just for some school project."
"They were, but I've since realized that he is definitely my type." The monster grinned but venom filled her eyes.
Sallie's anger was about to boil over now. "Get out." She demanded. "And don't let me ever catch you anywhere near Ryan again."
"Sorry, but you made this into a war." Ruby said, not making a single move towards the door. "When I'm done, we'll see if he really loves you, or if he simply settled because there was simply no one else in this frozen wasteland of a town."
Unable to hold back her anger any longer, Sallie swung at the monster. Her hand went straight her fluid form and Sallie pulled her hand back as in began to sting. She looked at her fingers to see the fur that covered them slightly singed.
"Be seeing you." Ruby said before casually walking out the door.
Sallie clenched her fist as she watched the door close behind the monster. She had just gone from being a nuisance to a scourge and one she was ready to kick all the way back to Hotland herself. How dare she?
Ascending the stairs once more, Sallie found Ryan had not moved from where she had told him to sit. If he had, she may very well have ended him. "Explain." She demanded.
"I got out of training early and everyone was busy so I came back." He said quickly. "When I got here your mom was talking with Ruby and then she left. I didn't want to be rude; she was just here for more questions." Seeing that the monster was not yet satisfied, he went on. "She was asking me about my power. She seemed shocked that I wasn't dead from it is all." The last words trailed off as he ran out of words to say.
Sallie still stood by the doorway, hands on hips and glaring down at Ryan. She then stepped up to him and leaned forward, looking him in the eyes, before going off to their room. Ryan followed after a moment. "You believe me, right?"
"Of course," she answered simply, not turning to look at him.
"Is something else wrong then?"
That time she did turn to him, and she hoped the look she gave him told him that everything was alright. "No," she said simply again. She wanted to tell him about what had just transpired downstairs, but she knew him well enough to know that he had enough on his mind to need this piled on top of all of it. She reached out and put her hands around his neck and he wrapped his around her waist.
"If you say so," he said sound in only half convinced, which was half better than she had hoped for. This was a problem she would deal with herself, she decided, even if that meant not letting him out of her sight from now on.
.
The next day, Snowy sat on the windowsill once more, looking intently at the Skeleton's house from his vantage point. He had sat there practically since he had heard Ryan leave that morning. He watched to see if that lizard tried to sneak off after them at all just as he had every morning since the monster's arrival. The monster had yet to try anything so far, but Snowy was not about to let his guard down so soon. At least he had not seen him leave with them, so at least it had not gotten that bad yet, but he felt that was only a matter of time if things were allowed to progress on their own. He would have to take it upon himself to make sure the lizard did not interfere. Snowy still did not completely trust the monster and it would take a lot of convincing to change that view.
A short time later, the front door opened and the kid stepped out into the snow. Snowy almost flew down then and there before Papyrus stepped out right behind him. The two spoke briefly before heading in the direction of the part of the forest behind the town.
At least he had a chaperone, the drake thought, but it was Papyrus. Snowy decided it was better to be safe than sorry and he floated down to follow after the pair, keeping a good distance between them.
The two made it to the stream behind town and stopped. Snowy hid in the tree tops and tried to get close enough to hear what they were saying. "I don't think Undyne has much faith in me after all…" He heard the kid say.
"Nonsense!" Papyrus assured him. "Undyne is tough on everyone, believe me. To her, 'you call that a kick?' is like anyone else saying 'great job! I couldn't have done better myself."
"I don't know… maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all." He was already having second thoughts? That boded well. Perhaps this problem would resolve itself without him needing to interfere.
"You shouldn't give up so quickly." The skeleton told him. "It takes much more than a few nights to turn a monster into a guardsman."
"Stop encouraging him." Snowy whispered pleadingly. "Let him give up!"
"Yeah, but when I have you and Ryan to compare myself to, I don't feel like I'll get anywhere…" MK went on and Snowy breathed a little easier.
"And it was through hard work and dedication that we were able to make it this far. But more than anything it took time. Give it another week or two; you'll realize you're getting better. Come on; let's practice some while she's gone."
The two moved off a bit and out of Snowy's sight. The drake shifted himself on the branch to try to get a better look, but had not realized he had gone out too far and the branch snapped. He tumbled down to the snow spinning end over end. He was able to spread his wings and catch himself at the last second but he still hit the snow relatively hard. When he managed to get back to his feet, Papyrus and MK were both standing over him, looking confused.
"Oh, what time is it? I must have dozed off." Snowy said, quickly thinking up some excuse as to why he was there. "Well, I should get back. Sallie's probably worried about me by now."
He had hardly finished before MK tackled him back to the ground. The two monsters flipped over one another a few times before coming to a stop with MK pinning Snowy to the ground. Snowy struggled beneath the monster's feet. "Get off of me!" he yelled.
"Sucks, doesn't it?" MK said with little sympathy.
A gust of wind spun around the two monsters. After it picked up speed, it rushed inward towards MK and lifted him off of Snowy. The gust died as Snowy picked himself back up to his feet, dropping MK face first into the snow. "Not as much as it does for you." The drake told him.
"What are you doing here anyway?" MK asked still struggling to pull himself up.
Snowy stepped up to the other monster as he made it back to his feet. "Making sure you don't try anything funny, like spying on Ryan again."
"Look at who was just spying on who!" MK pointed out.
"This is different!" Snowy defended.
"No it's not!" The two monsters practically had their head pressed together now as they glared at each other.
"Children!" Papyrus interrupted. "This is no way for friends to be behaving."
They both rounded on the skeleton. "We are not friends!" they shouted simultaneously.
"Why don't you just get off my back already?" MK went on, turning back to Snowy.
"Why don't you just go home?" The drake countered.
"I can be here if I want to be here!"
"Well, then so can I!"
A wall of bones shot up between the two monsters. Splitting, the wall pushed them back and away from each other before retreating into the snow. "Now, I know that I know nothing about this," Papyrus began, sounding nervous but doing his best to hide it, "but perhaps if you explained I could help you two work this out."
The two younger monsters began talking over one another so quickly that Papyrus picked up almost none of it. After they were finished they immediately went back to arguing and the skeleton pushed them away from each other once more. "I… see," he said, confusion ripe in his voice. "Well, perhaps we should take a page out of Undyne's book to settle your problems then."
"You're right!" MK agreed. "Let's fight!" He sprung at Snowy once more, but a cage of bone appeared around the monster, making him pull up short.
"No, not fighting. I was thinking tea." Papyrus clarified.
"Tea?" the two monsters questioned simultaneously again.
"Yes, tea." The skeleton repeated.
"Okay, and then we fight!" MK said, excitedly.
"No, just tea." Papyrus maintained.
The young monster frowned. "This doesn't sound like Undyne."
Papyrus let out a short bout of laughter. "Oh, you'd be surprised."
.
Sallie found herself staring at the various machines filling the room. Many contained screens that flashed through lines of text faster than she could read them and she wondered what the point of that was. Many of the things in the lab confused her and she was beginning to question why she had even come in the first place.
She knew why she came, she reminded herself. During one of the rare moments when Sallie actually managed to wake up at the same time as Ryan he had ask if she wanted to come with him and she had said yes if only for the reason of still making sure Ruby stayed away from him.
They had met up with Undyne at Waterfall's entrance and made the journey in awkward silence. It had been a few days since Sallie had seen the monster, but she looked really worse for wear. She wondered if Ryan noticed.
When they had gotten to the lab, she had been introduced to Alphys. Sallie had always been curious about the Royal Scientist and she would be lying if she did not say the monster fell short of her expectations. She seemed nice enough though, if incredibly nervous.
Ryan and Undyne had locked themselves in the room adjacent to them and the silence that came from it was mildly unsettling. "How long to they usually go at it for?" Sallie asked the doctor who was sitting at another one of the machines on the other side of the room. She did not fully expect an answer; the monster seemed to be ignoring her existence for the most part.
Though, after a moment, the doctor looked up from the screen and said, "Usually awhile, but it's been getting less and less lately. I think they might be hitting a wall. Oh, and I think somebody just hit a wall…"
"Are you sure they're even doing anything in there? For two of the strongest magic users in the Underground going at it, it's awfully quiet…" She stared at the closed door, almost straining for some sign of life within, but the whir of the machines around her was all she could make out. "You couldn't have put a camera in there or something?"
"I tried." The doctor told her, spinning her chair around to face her. "That lasted about all of five minutes. Trust me though; they are definitely fighting. I can see it all right here." Alphys spun back to the screen she had been looking at and Sallie went over to see what the monster was talking about. The screen she was looking at showed six squares in two rows along the top, splotches of rainbow color that shifted constantly filled most of each of them. More text scrolled along the bottom half and Sallie could not read a word of it.
"How does this tell you what's going on?" she asked.
Alphys typed something into the keyboard below the screen and the text stopped. "See this?" she asked, pointing to one of the lines. It was a number, but it meant nothing to her. "This is one of the sensor readings that quantifies the magical output of the room. And it tells me that they are definitely doing something amazing in there, or at least one of them is."
"What do you mean?"
"I designed that room to be a closed system." She explained. "Hence the lack of sound from it. Basically put, it was so I could know exactly how much energy was in there when they started and I should be able to measure how much is being burned by Ryan's power."
Sallie did not exactly understand what that all meant, but she thought he had the gist of it. "You said should," the rabbit monster managed to pick out. "Is something wrong?"
"Wrong? I don't know how it could be right. The density hasn't changed at all. It almost never does. I don't know where he's getting his strength from but it's not from that room. It's fascinating. Oh, I think they've stopped."
The door behind them opened a moment later, admitting a Ryan and an Undyne who looked no different than when they had entered. "I told you," Undyne was saying, "either figure out something new or start fighting at full strength or we're done."
"It takes more than a couple of days to learn a new magic form, even for me." Ryan argued.
The monster rounded on him. "That's hardly stopped you before. No excuses!" The monster turned away from him. She looked to Sallie and then to Alphys and all of the anger seemed to drain out of her. "We'll try again tomorrow." She said and then left without another word.
Ryan let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm beginning to think she's looking for any excuse just to run out of here."
Alphys cave a wry chuckle that made Sallie question what was really going on here. "So is that it, you're done for the day?"
Ryan tossed his head to the side as if he did not want to admit to that. "Unless you want to stay and watch shows."
"Oh, I don't want to keep you for that." Alphys chimed in before Sallie could question what he meant.
"Why not, are you busy again today, Alphys?" Ryan asked and the doctor looked away.
"Well, no not really… It's just I didn't think Sallie would be very into it."
It clicked in her head that they were talking about those human shows that Ryan had been staying to watch some days. "Actually I would love to watch a few." Sallie told them. "I've been curious about this for a while now."
Alphys looked more than a little taken aback. "R-really?"
She nodded. "Sure."
The doctor smiled brightly. "Then I'll go find something."
.
Next thing Snowy knew, he found himself in the skeleton's living room sitting across from MK at a table that had been pulled away from the wall. One side of it looked like it had a crack that had been haphazardly repaired. In fact much of the house looked as if it had been broken and glued back together.
Snowy took a deep breath as he waited patiently for the skeleton to return from the kitchen. The whole house smelled like burnt pasta and it only added to his discomfort. The other monster remained as quiet as him, glaring at anything but the other end of the table. That was fine by Snowy.
"Here you are." Papyrus said as entered the room holding a tray with three mismatched cups on it. He placed one in front of each of them before sitting down between them. "So, I will admit, I've only seen Undyne do this once," he began, "but I'll try my best. I believe she started by asking, 'why are you here?'"
The two looked at the skeleton confused. "Um, didn't you invite us?" Snowy asked.
The monster's eyes widened like the thought just occurred to him. "Right, right." Papyrus looked off, trying to figure out what to do next. "So, um… how's the tea?" he tried. The two other monsters looked at the cups in front of them awkwardly. "Go ahead, try it." The skeleton urged.
"I can't." MK said.
"Me either." Snowy added. "Wings aren't the best things for grabbing."
Papyrus flinched as he realized his blunder. "Oh, of course. My apologies." The skeleton stood back up and disappeared into the kitchen once more. There was a crash and what sounded like a dog barking before Papyrus returned with straws that he stuck in both of their cups. "There you go." He said as he sat back down.
The two took a tentative sip and immediately cringed back from the cups as they tried not to cough up everything they had eaten that week. "What kind of tea is this?" Snowy asked, failing to hide his disgust.
Papyrus's chest puffed out before saying, "Why it's my patented Spaghetti Tea of course. What do you think?"
"I don't think I want either of those things ever again now." MK said frankly, trying to speak without starting to cough again.
Papyrus's eyes turned to the monster. They lit up with an excitement that confused Snowy. "You mean you think it's so good that anything else pales in comparison?" The skeleton asked.
"I don't think that's what he meant at all…"Snowy clarified.
Papyrus looked dumbfounded. "What? Even higher praise than that? Is such a thing even possible?" He shook his head as if to clear it and grabbed the edge of the table. "No, compliments given so openly should never be looked down upon. I accept your most gracious critique! But, I am left with a dilemma. It is the single greatest critique I have ever received on any of my cooking, even greater than anything Ryan has said, and he thought more highly of my culinary prowess than anyone! But my passion has always been spaghetti in its pure form. Yet this, a hybrid pasta dish, is this the best I have to offer the world? Should I shift my focus, or hone my original craft further?" He looked to both the younger monsters for an answer.
"I definitely thing you should reevaluate some life choices." MK told him.
The skeleton slammed his hands down on the table as he stood up once more, unfortunately it did not spill the tea. "You're right!" he exclaimed. "A whole new avenue has been opened up for me! You both have my thanks. Forgive me; I must explore this new avenue at once!"
Papyrus disappeared into the kitchen once more.
For the first time since their arrival, Snowy and MK looked at each other and they both cracked up in laughter.
.
"Well, that was certainly… interesting." Sallie said as she fell into one of the chairs after they made it back from the lab. She and Ryan had barely said a word to each other on the way through Waterfall.
The man sat down next to her and looked off into space as he had since they left. "Yeah, sorry about that. That's the nature of anime though; you have your good, your bad, and your downright weird and messed up." Inappropriate would have been the word she chose. She hardly even wanted to think about it. "Not really what anyone would chose as an introduction to the medium, for sure," Ryan went on. "I guess that's what we get for picking one at random."
"It's fine," she told him. "I get the feeling the doctor didn't really like me very much anyway."
Ryan gave her a sideways glace. "What makes you say that?"
"She barely said a word to me while I was there unless I asked a question." Sallie explained. "In fact she mainly pretended like I didn't exist."
Ryan shrugged and went over to the fridge, coming back with a drink for both of them. "That's just how Alphys is," he explained. "Likely she was thinking that doing anything more than that would inconvenience or annoy you to the point where you hated her."
Sallie chuckled. "That's absurd."
"It's true though, trust me, I was the same way for a long time. I still am occasionally."
Sallie found it no less ridiculous regardless of whether he wanted her to believe it. "Alright, if that's the case, then that's hardly a way to go through life."
"I agree, which is part of the reason why I've been staying there so often." Ryan walked over to the window in their room and looked out into the street. Below he saw Snowy stepping out of Papyrus's house and he smiled to himself. "One of the best ways I've found of getting over that problem is to be with friends," he went on. "Unfortunately she lacks a few of those. And with Undyne being… well, Undyne – I just want to make sure she doesn't end up a recluse.
Sallie smiled to herself as well. As if she needed more proof that he cared about them. "Then how can I help?" she asked as she went over to join him.
"That may actually be difficult for you." he admitted as he took a sip of the soda he had grabbed from the fridge. "I don't think your personalities mesh very well."
"How so?"
Ryan took a second to piece together his words as he stared out the window. "To put it simply, Alphys is what we humans would call a weeb, and weebs have a few personality traits that some find slightly off-putting."
"And you think we won't be able to get along because of that?" Sallie scoffed. "Need I remind you, monsters are a bit more tolerant than humans."
"Well, let's test this: have you ever fallen in love or been obsessed with a fictional character?"
Sallie wondered if he was joking for a moment. "Um, no?"
"Welp, you're already failing."
Sallie smacked him on the arm. "I seriously doubt that's important."
"It is though," Ryan maintained. "More than anything, Alphys wants people to tell her that the things that she likes aren't weird."
"Well, I think I can manage that." she paused for a second. "How come you know all of this?"
The question made Ryan laugh. "I'll give you one guess."
.
"Do you think Snowy will be alright on his own?" Sallie asked as she and Ryan made their way to the lab the next day.
Ryan shrugged. "He was fine long before us." He reminded her. "Plus, he has MK now. Those two seem to be inseparable now."
"I guess you're right." Sallie admitted.
They came upon Undyne just before the end of the caves. The monster's eye looked to Sallie disapprovingly. "She's coming again? This isn't going to become a regular thing, is it?"
"And if it does?" Ryan challenged. "We fight in a hermetically sealed chamber, so don't even try to say she'll be a distraction."
The monster tsked and started away from them. "I'm just warning you, that's all."
"She's gotten more ornery lately, right? I'm not the only one seeing this?" Ryan asked when the monster was out of earshot.
"If such a thing is even possible," Sallie agreed.
.
Sallie wandered through the halls of the lab while Ryan trained. Something had called the doctor away all of the sudden and she had told her to feel free to explore so she used the opportunity to try to gather information. Ryan had said Alphys wanted to know that people thought what she liked was not weird, but he had neglected to give any information as to what she actually liked. Science and technology obviously, otherwise why would she surround herself with it constantly, but why would she think any of that was weird? It had to be something else.
She thought back to the show they had watched for a brief minute before none of them could stand it anymore. That had to have something to do with it, she decided. If so, she was beginning to see what he meant.
Most of the doors she passed were locked, a loud buzz sounding before she could even reach for the handle. Eventually she found her way back to the main room. The doctor's desk was empty. Well, empty of her at least – the thing was covered with just as much trash as she recalled seeing yesterday. Her curiosity made her take a closer look and a spot of pink caught her eye amidst the wrappers and empty packages. She picked it up and looked it over. It was a little plastic figurine depicting a human though it had huge eyes and cat ears poking out of her pink hair. The figurine winked at her as it posed like it might dance off of its base at any moment. "That's pretty cute, I guess." She put the figurine back down on the desk and something behind it caught her eye. A staircase, slightly hidden within the wall, but as she looked at it, it moved up on its own.
She stepped up to it cautiously and tried to see where it led, but it was obscured by shadows before it reached the top. Nothing barred her way, so she stepped onto the moving metal staircase and let it take her to the top.
Lights snapped on as she reached the end, revealing a room unlike any other she had been in so far. This room actually looked like a home. She supposed it must be Alphys's. On the side of the room where the stairs had let her off, the walls were covered with shelves filled with all matter of colorful books, boxes, and figures like the one on the desk downstairs. The sheer amount of them overwhelmed her. There had to be hundreds!
A sound behind her made her turn and she saw the doctor standing awkwardly behind her. She looked ready to apologize for Sallie walking into her own room, so Sallie made sure to say it first. "Sorry, I didn't know this was your room. Everything else made it pretty clear if I wasn't allowed to go there."
"No, no that's fine." Alphys assured her. "There's nothing up here, really, just my stupid knick knacks." She laughed awkwardly and Sallie turned back to the shelves.
"You've got quite the collection here." Sallie told her.
"Yeah, it sort of just built up over the years, but it's nothing special."
"I wouldn't say that," Sallie picked out of the figures off the shelf that did not look fragile. It was an orange haired man dressed in black robes wielding a massive sword. Somehow, the expression it wore reminded her of Ryan. "This is all from the surface, right? Where did you find all of it?"
"The dump in Waterfall mainly." The doctor said, sounding more than a little embarrassed to admit that.
Sallie's eyes widened. "You found all of this in Waterfall?"
"Well, a lot of it. The rest I bought from vendors in the city but they all pretty much get it from the same place too. I know it's all just useless junk, but I can't get enough of them."
"I can see why," Sallie told her. "A lot of these are pretty cool."
That perked the monster up a bit. "Do you really think so?"
Yeah," Sallie assured her. "Are they all from those shows?"
"Some of them, others are from the manga, I mean books here. A few of them I haven't been able to place yet." The monster froze mid step towards one of the shelves and turned back to her. "Sorry about that incident yesterday, by the way. I had not idea that show was about that."
"Don't worry about," Sallie assured her. "At the very least it made me curious as to what some of the other ones are about."
"Really?"
"Yeah I'm sure something that comes with a recommendation will be worlds better. So, which is your favorite?"
The monster suddenly looked embarrassed again. "Uh, actually I think you might like this one better." She pulled a case from one of the shelves and handed it to her. Sallie read the front. The words Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood were written across the top, a picture of a boy sitting in front of a suit of armor with a dour look on his face was below the name. "It's usually a good starting point for people, or so I've been told." Alphys finished.
"Can we watch it later?" Sallie asked, handing the box back to her.
"If there's time, sure. I don't think either Ryan or I will mind rewatching it."
"Ryan's seen it?"
As Alphys turned back to her, she was smiling. It was the first time Sallie could remember seeing the monster doing so. "You'd be surprised by how many of these he's seen." She said.
"Less surprised than you think, honestly." And they both laughed.
.
When Ryan and Undyne emerged from the training room, Alphys and Sallie were back in the lab next to it, still laughing at some joke they had missed. "I'm still not seeing significant progress." Undyne was saying as she walked out. "I'm beginning to become disappoint-" she cut herself off as she saw the other two monster's in the room. For some reason the warrior looked caught off guard.
Sallie turned to them and addressed them. "Done already?" She asked. "That's a shame, I was hoping for more time to talk." The last was for Alphys, but then she turned back to Ryan again. "Were staying to try another show, right? Alphys has been telling me about one that sounds much more interesting."
"You should join us, Undyne." The doctor tried. "It's one of your favorites."
The monster said nothing, just continued to stand there. After a moment, she clenched her fists and rounded on Ryan. "You have three days to come up with something." She told him. "If you can't come up with anything by then, we're done, and I'll be the first one there to stop you on the way to Asgore if you still try to fight him." Without anything else she stormed off. Leaving the three to exchange confused looks.
"I'm really starting to worry about her." Ryan admitted.
"She's fine." Alphys told him, sounding like she more frustrated with the monster now than anything. "Undyne can work out her own problems. She'll probably be back to normal before we know it."
Sallie and Ryan shrugged at each other, trusting the monster's judgment, but Sallie would soon find her to be wrong.
.
The rabbit monster drummed her fingers against the table she and the rest of her little group had taken up in Grillby's. Despite her protests, she realized that she could not keep objecting to going every night or else it would start to look suspicious. Only she sat with Undyne, Papyrus, Snowy and MK. Ryan had been chased off by Undyne shortly after their arrival, getting lectured that he needed to keep practicing whatever it was she had him doing now. Luckily Little Miss Hothead was nowhere to be found. However, having Undyne was little better that night. The monster's mood had only gotten worse overtime, and she had been shooting angry looks at her every chance she got ever since that day in the lab and she just did not understand what her problem was. She was not about to ask though, better just to put up with it.
Letting out a breath, she got up and walked over to the bar, trying her best to ignore Snowy and MK's bickering. As she ordered her drink, the captain of the Royal Guard came up behind her. The monster was clearly more than one deeper than she was. "So, you've been going to the lab an awful lot lately." She said as if it were not obvious.
"Yes, and?" Sallie asked, wondering where she was going with this. She did not expect the monster to actually start something, otherwise she would have done so days ago, so she was not scared. At least she tried to tell herself that.
"I also noticed you've been getting pretty chummy with Alphys." Undyne went on. The monster leaned back against the bar and looked at their table before nodding. "That's good," she said. "I just hope you aren't stringing her along or anything is all."
Sallie did not look at her; she simply stared at Grillby's back as he made her drink. "And what's that supposed to mean?" She asked anyway.
Undyne turned to face her again, still leaning against the bar heavily. "I mean, that when the time comes when Ryan no longer needs to go there every day, I hope you don't just suddenly drop all contact with her, because that would be unfortunate."
The implied threat was obvious, and Sallie rounded on the monster. "Are you really one to talk?" she countered. "You storm out of there every day with hardly a word to her. Yet now you're going to pretend to be her friend?"
The monster glared at her with her one eye and it very nearly made all of the fire rush out of Sallie. "Don't pretend like you know what's going on." She said fiercely. Then her glare turned to one of curiosity. "You know, from day one I've felt like you have something against me."
Sallie mustered up all her courage to keep going with this. "Can you really blame me, with how you treat Ryan almost every day?"
"What do you mean how I treat him? I'm doing exactly what he asked me to do. Are you trying to tell me that he comes home and whines to you about it every night?"
"Hardly, and that's what I hate mare than anything. You're more a slave driver than a trainer and I'm sick of it!"
The monster smirked. "Oh yeah? Maybe tomorrow I'll push him a little harder just because you pissed me off."
Sallie snapped, she swung her hand at the monster and was on the floor before she even knew what happened. Pain shot up and down her back and her vision went in and out. Undyne was standing over her a moment later, looking much more sober than she had a moment ago. "In case you've forgotten, sweetie, your boyfriend and I are trying to set monsters free while you're being too selfish to see past your own nose."
Papyrus was between them a second later. The skeleton pushed Undyne back. "That's enough," he said with more power behind his voice than she would have thought the monster capable. Undyne glared at her for another moment before pushing Papyrus out of her way and storming out of the bar.
Sallie was still too stunned to realize the skeleton was holding out his hand to help her up. When she took it she stared at the door. Everyone in the bar was looking at her, she realized, and she wanted to shrink into herself.
"I'm sorry about that." Papyrus said, drawing her away from the eyes. "I don't know what that was about, but it was uncalled for."
Sallie shook her head. "No, it was my fault. She forgot her coat." She added, looking back to the black jacket that still hung from the peg by the door.
"I'll bring it back to her later." Papyrus told her.
"No, I'll do it now." Sallie said.
The skeleton caught her arm. "I don't think that's the best idea."
"It's fine." She told him. To her surprise, the monster let go. Sallie grabbed the coat and went outside. The street was empty, most already home for the night, and Sallie walked to the shed by Papyrus's house where the guardswoman had taken up residence. She knocked, but there was no answer. She was about to go back to the bar when she heard a splash coming from the river behind the house.
Walking into the woods, she found the monster throwing chunks of ice at the slow moving water. Undyne turned as she approached and Sallie froze. "What do you want?" The monster asked.
"You left this." Sallie said, holding the jacket out to her.
Undyne snatched it from her hands after a moment of puzzlement. "Thanks, I guess." She said as if she did not care, though she threw the jacket on fast enough to make her believe otherwise.
"I'm sorry," Sallie said, though the words were difficult. "I didn't mean to make you angry in there." The monster shrugged but said nothing, still looking out over the water. Sallie noticed she had her drink in her hand and she tried to bite back a frown. "You're right, I am being selfish, but can you really blame me? I love him."
The monster actually cracked a smile. "No, I guess I can't. But there's something you need to understand." She took a breath and looked over her shoulder as if to make sure no one was listening to them.
"Ryan is strong," she began, "crazy strong." Undyne looked somberly into to her glass. "Far stronger than me," she admitted quietly. "That's why I keep putting him down, why I keep pushing him so hard. Otherwise he'll realize how strong he is and he'll go off before he's ready and get him or someone else killed." She took a sip before going on. "In that way, I'm thankful for you Sallie. You give him another reason to stay here another day, another week; and yes, I'm actually happy about that. But you need to realize that life can't stay like this forever. Everyone's hearts are set on getting out of this mountain. Even Ryan's or so he claims. Frankly, I don't understand how anyone in their right minds could ever want to stay down here."
"Because Ryan helped me realize how amazing this place really is, and I'll be the first to admit that it would probably be better if we stayed here."
"Why? Because of all of that stuff he says about the surface?" Sallie nodded. "But we can change that." Undyne claimed.
"Could we though?" Sallie countered. "If humanity is really like what he says, do we really have a chance for a peaceful life on the surface?"
Undyne nodded. "We'll never know unless we try, and I think most monsters would be willing to take the jump, even knowing the risks."
Sallie gave a sour laugh. "They're all inflated with the idea that the barrier falling means that Asgore will be a God able to defend them from anything."
Undyne was quiet for a moment as she looked out over the water. "When the barrier falls, we will have a God." She said before turning and adding. "It just might not be the King." She walked away, leaving Sallie to puzzle out the monsters words. "Oh, and sorry for knocking you down. You're alright, Sallie."
.
Ryan just barely managed to block the strike that came at him, and doing so almost made his arms go numb. Undyne had decided on a change of tactics, he was barred from using any of the magic he had used up to that point to fight until he showed that he had learned something new. The monster had not gone too crazy in the beginning, but she was quickly ramping it up and Ryan struggled not to get swept away.
Undyne pulled away and seemed to disappear before his eyes and he scanned the room frantically for her. He had yet to come up with any sort of new magic that would satisfy the monster, but telling her that would not help him in any way. He either had to survive long enough for her to admit it, or come up with something quickly before his panic could build to the point where he lost control. His mind flashed back to that day in the forest and he shook it away. He would not let that happen again.
In that moment, just as his concentration slipped, Undyne was before him again. Instinctively, Ryan brought up his sword, but he did not have time to brace. The sword flew from Ryan's hand, and embedded itself in the wall behind him. Undyne did not let up, flowing straight into her next attack. It was just like before, when Ryan had almost destroyed the forest a second time; the monster was already in his reach, he could not dodge without leaving himself open and he had nothing to strike back with. And he was not about to try that again. Suddenly an idea struck him; something clicked in his head that he was suddenly sure would work.
The edge of the monster's spear grew closer to his shoulder, and it rung out as it abruptly struck steel. Ryan watched Undyne's eye widen as she saw that another sword had materialized in his hand. "So that's how you do that." Ryan said with a smirk.
The monster smirked as well. "Good." She said in response. Then a kick to his mid sent him flying backwards. Ryan slid to the ground next to the other sword still stuck in the wall. "Now you can give me mine back." Undyne finished.
Ryan stood up and let his power fill him. Pulling the sword from the wall, he held both it and the one he had created at his sides. "You want it?" A soft crack rang out as half a dozen more swords appeared to float behind Ryan's head. In unison they turned to point at Undyne. Not surprisingly, the monster hardly looked discouraged. "Come get it." He teased.
So some of you might be aware of this, but this coming Wednesday is a pretty big deal for me. It will mark one year since I sat my butt down and started writing this, and that fact seems so unrealistic to me that I haven't even really processed it yet. But, to mark the occasion, I've decided I'm going to stream some video games over at twitch dot tv, and that will happen on November 9th at around 7pm EST. If anyone wants to come and hang out, I'll be making a fool of myself probably all night. So, yeah. Just thought I'd mention that. Link to the channel is on my profile since I can't put any form of one here, and hopefully I'll see you then. If not, then I'll see you Friday.
Either way, until then, have a good one folks.
And yes, the chapter is named after the Fall Out Boy song, which I should mention is Sallie's favorite band.