Crumbs flew across the table as Undyne ravenously devoured the entire container of cookies Alphys had brought her.
"Holy crap, you made these?" she didn't speak between bites, rather during them. She melted slowly over the table into a near puddle, humming with bliss. "You gotta show me how sometime!"
"Oh, they're not that impressive." Alphys blushed under the praise. "They're just chocolate chip cookies, they're not that hard to make."
"Yeah, but you made them without a recipe!" Undyne licked the last few crumbs out of the container. "Whenever I toss random stuff into a pot it usually just combusts. Not that it doesn't turn out awesome nonetheless!"
"You know, we should cook together again. I had a lot of fun last time. It's been a while."
Undyne stopped short at Alphys's suggestion. Alphys recognized the hesitation. Undyne bore the same expression she had had during their garbage dump conversation about a week ago. Loss of confidence, it was so weird and mildly disturbing to see on Undyne. In fact, Alphys had noticed Undyne twitching into this expression more often as the weeks progressed. Something was bothering her, increasingly so.
Undyne placed the plastic tub down with a clack. "That's a great Idea! Especially since we're dating now!" her face shifted into a smile. "Nothing brings people closer than cooking!"
She slid across the table and wrapped an arm around Alphys' neck, rubbing her fist into the top of Alphys' head. Alphys tried in vain to tug away from the noogie, but she could feel herself grinning.
"But first, I think you know what time it is!"
"Is… is it training time?" Alphys asked meekly.
"It's training time!"
Alphys stood nose to nose with the dummy, as per usual. Undyne had slowly been moving her closer and closer, so that her first magic attack was guaranteed to connect.
Alphys tugged on her emotions. Desperation. Want. Hope.
Nothing.
Alphys stifled a sigh. Her training over the past few weeks at least hadn't proven fruitless. She could feel her magic now. A warm, sizzling pool somewhere between her heart and her stomach. She could feel it churning, she could swirl it around and feel it spin.
But she couldn't draw anything out.
It felt strangely... stuck. As if something was wedged deep inside her body, blocking it off. Whenever she and Undyne trained, it grew more agitated, like shaking a soda bottle, but none of her best efforts could get it to form into anything. No attacks, no shields, no healing spells. Nothing.
She grumbled, lightly punching the dummy nose pressed into her face. Its head teetered slightly, then wobbled back into place.
"I got nothing." Alphys backed off, her hands raised in the air.
"Ah, come on, at least punch it harder than that." Undyne was lounged out nearby, her legs and hands merged into a puddle of boredom.
Alphys drew back her hand and gave the dummy the hardest punch she could throw. It landed on it's back with a slight clunk.
"There you go, you're getting it!" Undyne yelled, straightening herself up so her hands were visible. She lazily summoned a jagged spear that crashed into the dummy's chest, piercing it.
Undyne suddenly looked unsettled. The light in her melted eye flickered brightly, causing a tiny blue spear to shine out before it dissipated. Her teeth were clenched tightly as she launched another spear at the dummy, her body pulled up to its full height.
Alphys stared. She remembered a scene like this. A body, lying on its back, pierced with a spear; the tall figure of Undyne looming over it, ready for the next move.
Alphys stood on the tips of her toes and reached up, gripping Undyne's shoulder tightly, panicking as her hand sank several inches into her armor. She watched as the shiny liquid metal flowed closed over her yellow scales. Her fingers began to go numb, as if her hand being sealed within Undyne's waxy shoulder was cutting off blood circulation. Alphys was afraid that if she didn't pull away soon, she might never be able to. Still, she could feel the tenseness in Undyne's melted form. Her very heartbeat seemed to reverberate through her body and into Alphys' arm, as if Undyne's heart was also pushing blood through Alphys' veins.
Despite her better judgement, Alphys wrapped her other arm around Undyne's waist. She held her tight, lightly shushing her and telling her everything was alright.
"But they killed him!" Undyne was howling, her voice stirred up like waves, like wind, like a hurricane. "Him and everyone else. None of them did anything to deserve it! What did they ever do to them? What did he ever do to them? He was kind, he was welcoming, he believed in them, Alphys, believed in them! He deserves vengeance, they all deserve vengeance!"
"You've already avenged them." Alphys was whispering, yet her voice seemed to cut through the storms Undyne was shouting.
"Then why?" Undyne was melting again, her rekindled determination going out like a match in the wind. "Why do I feel this way? Why do I feel so empty?" Her head sank into Alphys arms, and Alphys kissed her forehead.
"Because you can't bring them back. I know, Undyne, I know! Sometimes we want nothing more in life then to go back, knowing what we know now, and warn ourselves before we make mistakes, or fix them ourselves before they happen. I can't tell you how often I've wanted to build a time machine and warn myself about my mistakes, but I can't!" tears were forming in Alphys' eyes. She had spent too long living in the past, and now that she was finally learning to face the future, she didn't want others to get left behind. "You can't turn back time, you just have to learn to move forward."
Undyne's body solidified and ejected the parts of Alphys that had melted into it. The two of them sat there, Undyne half melted and trying unsuccessfully to be stone faced, and Alphys, crying but feeling her tears run low. She had cried so much in her life, more times than she cared to recall. Wasted tears with no witnesses. Alphys knew it wouldn't be easy. Undyne, Sans, the other monsters, herself, everyone was grieving in private. Alphys didn't want it to be this way anymore. She didn't want anyone else to have to cry with no one to console them. She didn't want anyone to feel alone like she had.
Alphys clung to Undyne. Enough was enough.
"I'm so happy I have you." Undyne whispered, her face resting on Alphys' shoulder. Alphys didn't let go of her for a long time.
By the time Alphys headed for home, Undyne was back to her bubbly, confident self. Perhaps even more bubbly and confident than before. Her tears and grieving had seemed to take a weight off her chest. She wasn't completely better, of course. Alphys knew that she couldn't heal that fast, no one could, but getting her feelings out was a start.
That's what they all needed.
Alphys felt a burning desire to finally put some thought into planning the funeral. She realized that even she had been putting it off, trying to dig up other problems instead.
She was most of the way there anyway. All she had to do was call Mettaton and book a time to use his concert hall in New Home. After that came the more time-consuming part. She didn't want to just send a mass text to tell people, this required something more personal. She wanted to send letters.
She laced her fingers together in anticipation. This needed to be done. She could feel her magic bubbling again, the slightest bit of determination stirring it. She wanted, no, needed to do this. She wasn't going to stall any longer. It was time.
She took long, striding steps, trying to get to the river boat as fast as possible. Suddenly her foot got caught on something protruding from the ground. She fell forward, her hands separating and flailing. Her nose smacked into the stone floor before she could catch herself. She rolled over, rubbing her nose, blood staining her hand. She reached around on the floor, trying to find what she had tripped over. Her hand ran over the offending object. It felt like a tree root.
"There aren't any trees in Waterfall…"
It was the last thing she thought before a vine struck her across the face, and everything went dark.
Author's Note:
Every Writing Teacher I've Had Ever: You can't add a new character in the third act!
Me, Writing This Fic, Apparently: 🎵how bout i do anyway?🎵