Undyne slowly began to get up and onto her feet, using her spear as a walking stick to help herself stand. She slowly began to wobble over to Frisk who was still cradling Asten's unmoving form.
She glared towards the pointed helmed figure, who stared back at her with a piercing look of his own on the other side of the glowing, sharp fence she had created.
They stared at each other for a moment before Hawkwood slowly backed away and back into the tree line he had emerged from, disappearing into the shadows of the barren branches.
It seemed as though his opportunity had been missed and would try at a latter, much more opportune time to take the tin man.
Undyne looked back down towards Frisk, her eyes still swelled with tears and on the unresponsive metal figure.
She thought to herself as she stared down at the two, taking a moment to wrestle with the thoughts that now preoccupied her. She looked back towards the empty tree line and then back down at the two. Finally reaching a decision as to what she wanted to do with the two humans.
In a reluctant voice she spoke as she reached down to grab one of Asten's metal hands.
"Are you going to help me with this, or are you going to just sit there and keep crying?"
Frisk looked up at Undyne, wiping away the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
"What?..."
Undyne rolled her eyes before speaking again.
"I said, are you going to give me a hand with this or are you just going to watch him bleed out on the ground?"
Frisk paused for a moment, confused by the sudden gesture by the same woman who had been stalking them for the better part of two days. She quickly got to her feet, helping Undyne raise Asten off the ground, using herself as a crutch for Undyne's bad leg.
With a heave and a bit of arm work, Undyne managed to pull Asten upward, grabbing his arm like a handbag over her shoulder as Frisk helped support her.
The three began to slowly walk into the mouth of a cave. The interior was lit by a flashing, red neon sign that read, "WELCOME TO HOTLAND!"
As they wobbled through, Undyne mumbled under her breath.
"Dammit… I hate Hotland…"
Frisk looked up at Undyne, hoping to strike up a conversation and ease some of the tension that still hung in the air.
"Hey, Undyne?"
Undyne shot her an unamused look as they continued down the dark path, the light of the neon sign illuminating their faces.
"What?"
"What made you decide to help us? I-mean… you were trying to kill us just a couple of minutes ago…"
Undyne looked straight ahead, looking somewhat annoyed by the question.
"Well, seeing as my leg is as twisted as a liquorish stick, I am not exactly in the mood to be pulverizing you two into a pulp…"
She paused before speaking again.
"Besides… you two don't seem to be the only humans down here…"
Undyne shot Frisk a questioning look.
"Someone who 'goody two shoes' isn't too friendly with for a change… know where he came from?"
Frisk looked back at Undyne.
"No… but Sans said that something came into the underground with Asten… maybe that's whoever that pinhead guy was."
Undyne took a second to think to herself before giving a reply. Noting to herself that the two humans were buddy-buddy with not just Papyrus, but Sans as well. Her thoughts went back to the mystery man who broke her leg.
"Whoever that was, it seemed like he had some business with that tin can friend of yours… and did you see his sword! That thing was JUST like the ones in Alphy's human history documentaries… SO, THEY WERE REAL ALL ALONG! Fufufu! I KNEW IT!"
Undyne became more excited as she finished, leaving Frisk somewhat confused as to the meaning behind who 'Alphys' was or what these 'human documentaries' were.
Frisk spoke again, breaking the excitement Undyne was in after her realization. She looked back down to Frisk as she spoke.
"Who's Alphys?"
Undyne spoke again, attempting to look as non-chalant as possible as she spoke.
"Alphys is…"
She paused.
"… a friend of mine, and probably the only person in the underground who can fix this leg and your metal tin friend here who's REALLY starting to wear on my back…"
Frisk spoke again.
"So you're not going to kill us?..."
Undyne spoke again as she stared ahead at the path before them. A bright light showing at the end of the cavern.
"No… you two clowns don't seem like the type for my quota… and besides… I have a little bone to pick with pinhead when I see him again… his soul is probably more worth taking anyway… and I guess…"
She paused, taking in a deep breath before continuing.
"I guess… you two aren't 'TOO' bad after all…"
Frisk smiled before giving a small reply.
"Thank-you."
Undyne looked shocked by what she had just heard, giving a quick reply.
"Don't mention it… and I mean if you do, I'll just drop tin man right here and you can carry him the rest of the way, after I beat you senseless…"
Frisk motioned with her free hand as to zip her mouth shut.
The two reached the end of the cave as they became encapsulated by blinding light and a wave of hot air.
The three paused to take in their surroundings.
They were on an ashen shore, waves of bright, red magma scorched the beach. In the distance, laid a large metallic structure that seemed to span the horizons. Pipes twisted and turned out of this structure, spouting large clouds of smoke into the air. A loud mechanical drone filled the environment with an ominous tone.
Undyne spoke again in a sarcastic tone, facing the sea of molten magma.
"Welcome to Hotland! The driest place in the Underground!"
She turned back to Frisk.
"Let's just get to Alphy's place before I dry up, okay?"
With this the trio quickened their pace. Undyne wobbling as fast as she could, Frisk trying desperately to keep up, and Asten limply clanging along as the bottom of his helm bobbed against his chest plate with each step they took.
As they walked along the shore, a large white building came into view.
Panting, Undyne spoke again.
"FINALLY! WE'RE ALMOST THERE! FRISK! HURRY UP!"
Sweating and exhausted Frisk continued as she had before, holding up Undyne as she carried Asten across the shore and to the front door of the lab.
The door opened itself as the trio entered the laboratory.
A cold breeze from the automated air conditioner inside rushed out and towards the opening door.
Undyne closed her eyes, enjoying the breeze, thankful to be out off the scorching heat of the outside.
The lab was well lit, florescent lights streamed across the enclosed ceiling, illuminating the freshly polished tile floors below.
Midway across the room laid a large computer, cluttered with a variety of yellow sticky notes and papers. On the desk were a variety of brightly colored anime characters and other memorabilia.
Sitting at the computer, in a swivel chair, was a short yellow monster.
It wore what must have at one time been a white lab coat, stained in a variety of different liquids of all varieties of different colors. A large set of glasses were fixated on the computer screen, reflecting multiple different flashing colors that matched the stains on its lab coat.
As the trio approached, the monster sitting at the computer seemed to be completely unaware of their presence, until Undyne began to shout.
"ALPHYS!"
With this, the creature sprung out of its chair, sending a flurry of yellow sticky notes and papers into the air, as it looked around the room. Seemingly terrified and surprised by the sudden outburst.
Its eyes met with the trio, who were standing a mere few feet away.
Its eyes went wide as it began to speak in a tone that seemed to be rather rushed and nervous.
"Oh. My god."
Its hands grabbed the sides of its head and appeared to be in a state of utter shock in seeing the group. It continued to speak, frantically looking around the room and gesturing as it did so.
"I didn't expect you guys to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, its all messy, and and AND…"
Undyne began to speak.
"Alph its fine, we really need your help right now and…"
Alphys interrupted her mid-sentence, still appearing to be somewhat distraught over their sudden arrival.
"I-I know, I saw everything through the security cameras."
With this, she pointed at the large screen that was placed against the wall. Something that neither Undyne nor Frisk noticed as they walked in. She began to speak again.
"J-just wait right here! I'll be right back."
By the end of her sentence, Alphys ran off into another room, only to emerge again pushing a small hospital gurney.
"Here, just put the big guy on here a-and Frisk, you help Undyne to the room. Follow me."
Undyne proceeded to plop Asten onto the gurney with a loud clink and clang of his armor.
Alphys began to push with all her strength, convulsively sweating at the heaviness of the body.
Frisk and Undyne followed in tow to the room Alphys was leading them to.
In the room were three hospital beds, each connected to a series of wires leading to a computer on the side of the closest bed. A large tv was set up on the opposite side of the beds, with a couch in the center.
"U-Undyne I need your help with this…"
Undyne began to wobble towards the gurney, with Frisk helping her along the way.
She then grabbed Asten by the arm and proceeded to drag him across the gurney and onto the hospital bed closest to the computer, before taking a seat herself on the bed next to it.
Alphys took a long look at Asten before speaking to Frisk.
"Okay… I-I've seen worse before…"
"F-Frisk, I need you to help me get this armor off so I can check his vitals and determination, o-okay?"
Frisk nodded as the two proceeded to take off the assortment of metal plates. Unscrewing and unstrapping each and every silver piece, placing them onto the floor beside the bed.
Frisk took in a moment to look at Asten.
Beneath all of those plates of armor and mail was a ragged and worn clothes. His boots were held together by strips of cloth and leather and looked to have been worn for miles and many years.
She began to feel saddened by this realization, remembering the words Sans had spoken to her just days prior.
'He's not from around here… his world is a much darker and more dangerous place…'
On top of this, she was worried about if Asten would wake-up. He hadn't moved since the fight and seemed to still be completely comatose.
Alphys voice broke her train of thought.
"O-okay… Frisk, I need you to help me take off that helmet. There's no telling how long he's been wearing that thing. So, we're just going to be very, very gentle in getting it off, okay?"
Frisk gave a slight nod before moving towards the head of the bed with Alphys opposite to her.
They began to slowly pull off the helmet, inch by inch.
As they did this, Frisk could not help but wonder as to what Asten's face looked like.
Throughout their journey here, at no point had he taken off the helmet. Who Asten really was behind all of the metal and lead filled pieces of paper had remained a mystery up until this very moment.