"...NICE OUT HERE, ISN'T IT? SO QUIET AND PEACEFUL."
"Yeah...Feels like we're the only ones out here."
"DOESN'T GYFTROT LIVE AROUND THESE PARTS?"
"I think so. We don't have to worry about that guy, though; he minds his own business."
"INDEED. BESIDES, IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE GOING TO DECORATE HIM LIKE THOSE AWFUL TEENAGERS DID THAT TIME!"
"Hmm...But what if we did?"
Papyrus gasped at what she was insinuating.
"YOU WOULDN'T...!"
"N'ah, I'm just pullin' your leg."
"NYEH. I HOPE SO...OOH, THIS LOOKS LIKE A NICE SPOT!"
He pointed out the area on the path ahead, and Undyne raised a curious eyebrow at the sight of it.
"...Huh. How convenient. Did you put that table there ahead of time?"
"ERM...YES AND NO. IT'S BEEN HERE FOR A WHILE. EVER SINCE THE HUMAN CAME THROUGH THESE PARTS. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A DISTRACTION, WHICH WOULD ALLOW ME MORE TIME TO SET UP MORE MIND-BENDING PUZZLES ON THE PATH AHEAD! UNFORTUNATELY, THE SPAGHETTI ON THE TABLE SAT FOR TOO LONG AND ENDED UP FREEZING SOLID BEFORE THE HUMAN GOT THE CHANCE TO EAT IT...IN FACT, I THINK THE PLATE IS STUCK TO THE TABLE, TOO. I REMEMBER TRYING TO RETRIEVE IT ONLY TO FIND I COULDN'T REMOVE IT. I FORGOT ABOUT THAT...DEAR ME."
"Hey, don't worry. I'll take care of it."
"YOU WILL?"
"Observe."
She put a foot on the table and got a good grip on the frozen plate, then after a few seconds of pulling, the frozen spaghetti dish popped right off the table.
"Ha! See, it takes more than frozen pasta to pose a challenge to me!" she proclaimed as she stuck the rock-solid plate atop the unplugged microwave just to her left.
"WOWIE...IMPRESSIVE, UNDYNE!" Papyrus remarked as he laid out the checkered cover from the basket across the table. "I THINK I TRIED AT LEAST TEN TIMES TO PULL THAT OFF THE TABLE, AND I HAD NO LUCK! YOU MADE IT LOOK SO EASY! HEH...THEN AGAIN, YOU'RE THE ONE WITH MUSCLES HERE."
"That might have something to do with it...Not to say you aren't strong, though. Because you are," the fish woman assured, watching him pull a set of folded chairs out of the picnic basket, his eye sockets going wide in surprise.
"How the heck did you fit that in there...!?" she rasped, her own eye almost bulging out of its socket. "What is that thing, bottomless!?"
"SANS IS ACTUALLY THE ONE WHO PACKED THIS FOR ME...YOU'D HAVE TO ASK HIM, I SUPPOSE."
"Oh...That explains it."
"I WON'T EVER KNOW HOW MY BROTHER DOES SOME OF THE THINGS HE DOES. I SWEAR, HE CAN DISAPPEAR AND REAPPEAR IN DIFFERENT PLACES SO QUICKLY, IT'S ALMOST LIKE HE CAN TELEPORT!"
"Yeah, I know...It's impressive, but it kinda freaks you out, am I right?"
"YOU AND I ARE ON THE SAME PAGE CONCERNING THAT...OH, ONE MORE THING, BEFORE I SET OUT THE DISH!"
"What's that?"
"I, ERM...I GOT YOU THESE."
He set out the centerpiece on the table, and as she registered what they were, the biggest smile formed across Undyne's face.
"Hah...Golden Flowers...Wow, and they're huge, that's amazing."
"DO YOU LIKE THEM?"
"Are you kidding me? I love them...Thanks so much, Papyrus."
"NY'OH, IT WAS NOTHING, REALLY," he blushed, waving a dismissive hand as he set the two chairs up beside one another. "JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA...BUT NOW THAT ALL THE SMALL STUFF IS OUT OF THE WAY, IT'S TIME FOR THE REAL KICKER. BEHOLD!"
In the blink of an eye, he whipped out the platter, opened up the spaghetti container and dumped all of its contents out onto the plate. To his delight, even after sitting in the picnic basket for half an hour, it was still steaming, and the aroma could be detected from a mile away.
"Whoa...That smells incredible. What'd you put in it?"
"OH, YOU KNOW, GARLIC, PEPPERS, PARSELY, A TINY BIT OF AN EXTRA KICK...I KNOW YOU LIKE SPICY STUFF, SO I FIGURED THIS WOULD BE THE PERFECT TIME TO GIVE MY PERFECTLY PICANTE SPAGHETTI PEPERONCINO RECIPE A GO. THOUGHTS?"
"Hot dang...This is gonna be good."
"I SHOULD HOPE," he agreed, courteously pulling out one of the chairs. "DO HAVE A SEAT, M'LADY."
"D'aw...You're such a gentleman," the fish monster snickered as she took a seat. "...Almost hard to believe you're the same guy who goes over to my old house with me all the time and dishes out a ton of crazy magic attacks."
"WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU GET THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS IN ONE DASHINGLY DEBONAIR PACKAGE?"
"That sums it up pretty well...A'ight. Lemme give your latest culinary masterpiece the ol' taste test."
Undyne rubbed her hands together in preparation, then grabbed a fork, twirled a good amount of noodles onto it and shoved them into her waiting mouth, Papyrus watching on with excited, albeit slightly nervous anticipation, his gaze shifting from the spaghetti, then to his date, then to her fork and back to the spaghetti again.
But his unwarranted nervousness wore off right away when he saw her close her eye, breathe in and crack a very satisfied grin, and he swore that when her eye opened, it was filled to the brim with the sparkling stones from the Wishing Room
"Sweet mother of all things edible," she gushed. "This is the single best thing I EVER put in my mouth...Once again, you've failed to let me down."
"REALLY? THE BEST EVER? YOU REALLY LIKE IT THAT MUCH?" Papyrus smiled as he took a seat beside her.
"More than that, even. Just...Wow. Mind blown."
"I WAS HOPING YOU'D LIKE IT, BUT IT SEEMS I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHOSE EXPECTATIONS WERE FAR SURPASSED," he snickered. "...I BETTER START EATING MYSELF, THOUGH, OR YOU MIGHT END UP NOT LEAVING ENOUGH FOR ME, IF YOU LOVE IT THAT MUCH!"
"Aw, don't worry. I'll make sure I save plenty for the master chef."
"NYEH HEH...'MASTER CHEF,'" he echoed, turning noticeably pink. "WELL, I MEAN...I DID APPLY TO WORK AT THE RESORT RESTAURANT, AND THAT REQUIRES A LOT OF SKILL."
"Skill that the other chefs there are gonna wish they had half of."
"...YOU'RE QUITE SURE OF THAT?" the skeleton asked, taking a bite of his creation, following up with a nod and a smile.
"OOH, THIS IS MIND-BLOWING! I DO SEE YOUR POINT, UNDYNE. AND IT'S NOT THAT I THINK MY COOKING IS SUBPAR, NO, NOT AT ALL. IT'S JUST THAT...I SUPPOSE I'M A TAD NERVOUS THAT DESPITE MY SKILL, IT WON'T BE QUITE UP-TO-SNUFF COMPARED TO THE OTHER CHEFS THERE, AND I'D HAVE TO CATCH UP TO THEM IN ORDER TO MEET THE STANDARDS IMPOSED."
"Hm...Guess that's a valid concern," Undyne nodded, pausing for a moment to slurp up a particularly long spaghetti noodle. "But even if you do have to up your game, I don't see you having to do much. Besides, the ones who've been there for a while already are just gonna know how to do stuff better because of experience. Everyone in the business is the new guy at one point in their career. You won't only catch up to them, but I'd go as far to say you'd be even BETTER than all the other chefs in good time."
"BETTER THAN THE REST? WOWIE...YOU REALLY KNOW HOW TO LIFT ME UP WHEN I'M IN DOUBT."
"It's the least I can do after everything you did for me," she smiled. "...I was a wreck back when everything went down in September, wasn't I?"
"OH, YES, I REMEMBER. YOU SEEMED SO HOPELESS," Papyrus replied through a mouthful of the pasta. "...I DON'T HOLD THAT AGAINST YOU, THOUGH, OF COURSE NOT. YOU WENT THROUGH A TERRIBLE ORDEAL, AND IT WAS COMPLETELY NORMAL FOR YOU TO HAVE BEEN SO UPSET FOR SO LONG."
"Yeah. I was in a pretty big slum...But I'm standin' taller now than I have in a long time. Even when I was in the Royal Guard, I think...Thanks again for never givin' up on me."
"YOU'RE A THOUSAND TIMES WELCOME, UNDYNE. BESIDES, LOOK AT WHERE IT ALL LEAD TO!"
"I know, right...? You and me. Together. Sittin' in the forest. A plate of your best-ever spaghetti laid out before us...Honestly, I couldn't have asked for anything else."
"NY'OH, UNDYNE...I FEEL LIKE I'M THE LUCKIEST MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND TO KNOW I HAVE YOU."
"I feel the same way," she answered, flashing him one of her signature toothy grins. "And if anyone tries to change that, I'm gonna...Well...I'll spare you the details, but in a nutshell, their booty is grooty."
"OH, DEAR ME..." Papyrus remarked, taking in another mouthful of spaghetti. "IN THAT CASE, I HOPE THAT THEY WOULD BE SMART ENOUGH NOT TO TUSSLE WITH US IN THE FIRST PLACE, BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO ME THEY'D BE PRETTY SORRY IF THEY DID!"
"Hey...Good news is you could probably convince anyone to call off an attack with food like this," Undyne nodded, slurping up yet another noodle. She sucked it up off the plate so quickly that the end of it flicked up against where her nose would be if she had one once it reached her mouth.
"Heh...I've got the best table manners out of anyone, don't I?" she teased herself.
"NOT A BAD SPAGHETTI SLURP, UNDYNE! BET I COULD DO JUST AS WELL, THOUGH..."
"Oh, really? Let's see what you got, then."
"CERTAINLY. OBSERVE."
He twirled a number of noodles onto his fork, and then proceeded to stick one end of them between his teeth and slurped them off his utensil effortlessly(albeit also very noisily.) It was gone before either of them even realized it, and once they did, Undyne's eye went fairly big.
"Whoa...How do you even do that without any lips!?"
"TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST, UNDYNE, I DON'T KNOW. MAYBE IT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT I SUCKED UP MORE THAN ONE AT A TIME."
"Yeah, maybe...Still impressive, though," she complimented, slurping up yet another notably lengthy string of pasta, the other end of it still hidden among the rest. "Almost as impressive as the spaghetti here itself."
"I'M STARTING TO THINK I WAS JUST BORN TO MASTER THE CULINARY ARTS," Papyrus remarked, doing the same with the end of a seemingly different, but also conspicuously long noodle, letting his vision wander a bit. "OF COURSE, I'VE YOU TO THANK FOR INTRODUCING ME TO THE WONDERFUL ART OF COOKING IN THE FIRST PLACE. EVEN IF WE WERE BOTH A BIT RUDDY AT FIRST."
"Yeah, well I'm still ruddy," Undyne murmured, her eye closing contently as the noodle quickly diminished. "If you can pull this off, then I'd be surprised if-"
She was cut off by the unmistakable feeling of something making contact with her face, and her eye popped back open in an instant to see what it was.
And frankly, Papyrus looked just as shocked as she did.
...It turned out that they'd actually been eating the same noodle from opposite ends.
Which resulted in both sides being surprised by an unforseen kiss.
Time seemed to stand still, and the two monsters stayed like that for several long moments, at a complete loss for words and for clear thoughts.
...Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the former captain made a spur-of-the-moment move. She brought her hands up to Papyrus' cheekbones, pulled him closer and just smooched harder. It was the first idea that'd come to her otherwise blank mind, and she wasn't about to bail on the opportunity.
It turned out to be the best idea she'd had all day. Before they even realized what was going on, the two of them stood up from where they sat to face each other, each finding themselves locked in a tender embrace by the other. The world around them faded from view. There were no worries. No sorrows. Not a care in the world.
It was just the two of them. And it was nothing more than pure bliss.
It seemed like a much longer time had passed than just one minute, but that was when Undyne finally loosened her hold on the skeleton and looked him in the eye, a smile still on her face. The first thing to come out of her mouth was an amused snort.
"...You taste like spaghetti."
"REALLY? I COULDN'T POSSIBLY IMAGINE WHY," he teased.
"You didn't do that on purpose, did you? Just stick a ridiculously long noodle in there hoping somethin' like that'd happen?"
"THE IDEA NEVER CAME TO ME...UNTIL NOW."
"Oh, ho, so I can expect more o' that in the future, is that what you're saying?"
"PERHAPS. IF YOU DON'T MIND, OF COURSE."
"I doubt I ever would."
"NY'OH, UNDYNE..."
He gently drew her back to him, and they touched foreheads with one another.
"...WE SHOULD PROBABLY FINISH THE SPAGHETTI, NOW, THOUGH. DON'T WANT IT TO GET TOO COLD."
"Yeah...Guess so. We'll have more time for bein' all close and junk after we eat, right?"
"THAT YOU CAN COUNT ON," Papyrus assured as they sat back down. "OH, AND DON'T FORGET, SANS PACKED US THAT PIE."
"Oh, yeah, he did," she remembered, twirling some more spaghetti onto her fork. "Say, how 'bout we save that for when we stop at the door to the Ruins? A lil' exercise before dessert never hurt anyone, right? Besides, it'll get my appetite roarin' back so I can enjoy it at a hundred percent!"
"I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK."
...
"Got any idea what that lamp is doin' out here?"
"OH, I REMEMBER THAT LAMP. I THINK MY BROTHER HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT. YOU REMEMBER THE LAST HUMAN TO COME DOWN HERE, RIGHT?"
"How could I not...?" she sneered.
"THAT VERY DAY, I CAME TO CHECK ON HIM TO MAKE SURE HE WAS DOING EVERYTHING THE WAY HE SHOULD(WHICH HE WASN'T) AND HE KEPT TRYING TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT OF MY COMPLAINTS TO THAT ODDLY-SHAPED LAMP. I MEAN...WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT? ASIDE FROM THE FACT THAT IT'S...STRANGELY HUMAN-SHAPED. BUT STILL. SANS IS QUITE AN ODDITY, ISN'T HE?"
"Can't disagree," Undyne nodded. "But hey, you gotta give him props, you know? I mean, I can't think of anyone else who could fit two folding chairs into a picnic basket."
"YES, NEITHER CAN I...BESIDES, HE'S GOTTEN BETTER ABOUT THINGS IN RECENT DAYS, HASN'T HE? IF HE KEEPS IT UP, HE MIGHT EVEN GET DOWN TO VISITING GRILLBY'S ONLY ONCE EVERY OTHER DAY! PERHAPS ONLY GOING ON THE DAYS YOU PERFORM THERE!"
"Yeah...He does a good job at carryin' the piano bench for me, anyways, so I don't have anything to complain about."
"AND NEITHER DO I, KNOWING THAT YOU BRING SO MUCH LIFE INTO EVERYONE'S LIFE WITH YOUR FABULOUS PIANO SKILLS. ESPECIALLY MINE...YOU KNOW, IF, IN A CASE OF BAD LUCK, WE DO END UP TRAPPED DOWN HERE FOREVER, I DON'T THINK I WOULD EVER NEED TO SEE THE SUN."
"Why's that?"
"...BECAUSE YOU BRIGHTEN UP MY DAY SO MUCH MORE THAN ANY STAR COULD. DAY OR NIGHT, THERE ARE NO GREY SKIES I NEED TO WORRY ABOUT WHEN I'M WITH YOU."
She stopped in her tracks, not even realizing that they'd reached their destination, and turned to face him, her eye a bit wider than usual. Papyrus was quick to notice this, and wasn't really sure if it was a good or bad thing.
"OH...I'M SORRY. TOO MUCH?"
"N-no, it's not, it...It's just that..."
A smile began to inch across her face, but the skeleton's main concern was how moist her eye had become.
"ARE YOU ALRIGHT, UNDYNE?"
"Nobody's ever said anything like that to me. H-hearing something like that from you, it just...It gets me right in here," she told him, motioning a hand over her heart. "You ask me if I'm alright, Papyrus. I...Really, I don't think I've ever been better in my entire life. Y-you just..."
She didn't finish her sentence. Instead, the fish woman pulled him into another hug, tighter than ever before.
"...You're the sunshine in my life, too," she rasped, burying herself further into him. "Y-you always make me so happy, and...Don't ever change, okay?"
"I WON'T EVER STOP BEING THE PERSON YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH," he promised. "...I LOVE YOU, UNDYNE."
She cupped his cheekbones again and planted another peck on his smile.
"I love you, too."
"NYEH HEH..." he giggled. "...COME ON. LET'S SIT DOWN HERE."
She looked up, and only now noticed that they'd reached the door to the Ruins, cracked and faded with age and sealed shut from the inside. Undyne nodded, promptly parking herself right up against the stone door. Papyrus followed soon afterward, snuggling up right beside the former Royal Guard captain as she put an arm around him and pulled him up close to her, making doubly sure they were cozy enough.
"...THIS IS A PRETTY INTRIGUING PLACE, WOULDN'T YOU SAY?" he asked, looking to strike up a conversation.
"I sure would...It's crazy to think that this is where the queen was hidden away all those years, huh? Like, you would think that people would've looked here for her, right?"
"I THINK THE ISSUE IS THAT THE DOOR IS LOCKED FROM THE INSIDE."
"What about digging under the ground, or breaking through the walls? I'd have done that if I knew what was goin' on in there, for sure!"
"HM...DIGGING UNDERNEATH MIGHT HAVE WORKED, BUT THE RUINS ARE TOO SPECIAL TO JUST BE BROKEN THROUGH. IT WAS THE FIRST CITY WE EVER BUILT, AFTER ALL."
"True...That brings up another question, though. How did the queen get back in here if the door only opens from the inside?"
"THERE WERE OTHER MONSTERS LIVING IN THE RUINS WITH HER. MAYBE SOMEONE LET HER IN!"
"Yeah, that's also true...Shame this place is locked up and empty, now, isn't it?"
"YES, IT IS...I WONDER WHY IT WAS SHUT BACK UP, THOUGH, IF NOBODY ELSE IS IN THERE?"
"Weird, ain't it? I mean, what is there to hide? Think we should take a pair of shovels and dig under to see for ourselves what's behind the door here?"
"WHAT A CHEEKILY SPLENDID IDEA! AND THEN ONCE WE'RE IN, WE CAN OPEN UP THE DOORS FROM THE INSIDE SO THAT EVERYONE CAN-"
"Ah, that's not necessary, you two, it's really not!"
The third voice came from just to their left, right in front of them. All they had to do was look down, and were met with the image of a Golden Flower sprouting up from the snowy ground, sporting a white face and a set of twinkling hazel eyes. Papyrus immediately recognized the visitor, and smiled wide at the sight of him.
"FLOWEY! YOU'RE HERE!"
"Yep. I-I'm not late, am I?"
"OH, NO, NO, YOU'RE RIGHT ON TIME! THIS IS EXCELLENT! UNDYNE, THIS IS FLOWEY! I THINK I TOLD YOU ABOUT HIM ONCE, DIDN'T I?"
The fish monster's eye widened in shock at the sight of the sentient flower.
Flowey... she remembered. ...He's REAL?
Not long before the last human showed up, Papyrus had told her about a Golden Flower that would pop up out of the ground every so often and talk to him. He never seemed to be able to get his name straight; one day it was 'Flowery,' the next it was 'Florey,' and sometimes, like today, it'd just be 'Flowey.' She always thought the strange flower he spoke of was just some sort of imaginary friend, as there was no known monster kin that bore any striking resemblance to Golden Flowers. But here she was, staring down at Flowery, or Flowey, or whatever his name was, in the leafy green and yellow flesh.
Well now I feel stupid, she said to herself. Brain, can you remind me why the hell didn't I believe him about this in the first place?
"...So you're Flowey, huh?" she grinned, the initial shock of the revelation finally wearing off. "Wow...Well, it's a pleasure to actually meet you. Pap here's told me about you a few times already, y'know?"
"Same here. How's it been going for you guys so far today?"
"OOH, SPLENDIDLY! LUNCH WAS A HIT!"
"Yeah. It was a hit alright...I still can't what happened off my mind," she grinned, putting a hand to her head and turning a bit purple.
"What happened?"
"OH. WE WERE EATING THE SPAGHETTI I MADE, AND WE BOTH JUST SO HAPPENED TO SLURP UP THE SAME NOODLE AT OPPOSITE ENDS."
"Oh, no...I think I know where this is leading to."
"TAKE A WILD GUESS."
"Did you two...kiss?"
"Yeah, he's got it down."
All three of them burst into a fit of giggles. Truth be told, Asriel had witnessed his parents do the exact same thing once at the dinner table, roughly a year and a half before he found Chara and brought her home after she fell into the Underground. He fondly remembered cringing at the sight of it, and looking back, he wasn't really sure they did that by accident or if it was completely intentional.
...Looking back, those had been the best days of his life. And it was crazy to imagine that for the longest time, he thought they would be gone forever...But for the first time in a long time, he was finally starting to have hope that he could fix all of the hearts that'd been broken at least to some extent, despite what seemed at first to be impossible.
The best might be yet to come, he reminded himself, a glimmer of joyful hope entering his eyes.
"Hah...Heh heh...So, lil' dude. I'm kinda curious. Where you from?" Undyne asked him as she recovered from her bought of laughter. "I've studied up on the different monster groups down here before, since I was in the Royal Guard and all, and had to know stuff like that...I don't really remember reading anything about Golden Flower monsters down here, so it got me wonderin'."
"Oh, uh...I'm from New Home. And, uh, no. I'm not a ghost. I'm somethin' a little different. But, uh...It's hard to explain, and I'd rather not, y-you know, bore everyone with some history lesson, am I right?"
Please don't ask about it anymore, please don't... the flower silently plead.
"Yeah, guess you're right...You know I might've paid more attention in history class if our history was told the way the humans told theirs."
"VIA THE MEANS OF COOL ANIMATIONS, AS YOU SO SAY?"
"Heck yeah! I probably would've ACED the class if we did that down here! All we have are those boring plaques in Waterfall. I mean, there's nothing wrong with them, but when you compare them to the competition? Man...We gotta step up our game down here! And in more ways than one if we ever wanna stand a chance on the surface."
"Yeah...I know we do. They're dangerous if you don't deal with them right."
"No joke. It's...ah..."
Her expression hardened a bit as she took a closer look at the flower's face.
"...Can I ask you somethin' else, just on a whim?"
"Um...Sure?"
"Any reason you look so much like a Boss Monster?"
Asriel tensed.
"Urm...It's-"
"More specifically, why do you look so much like the late prince?"
"Uh...W-well, you see, I'm...er..."
"OH, I CAN GIVE YOU THE ANSWER!" Papyrus chimed in cheerfully. "FLOWEY HERE DOES IMPERSONATIONS!"
"Impersonations?" Undyne echoed.
"THAT'S RIGHT! HE HAS THE INCREDIBLE ABILITY TO MORPH HIS FACE INTO THAT OF ANY MONSTER, AND HE CAN EVEN DO THEIR VOICES SPOT ON!"
"Really?" she asked, her curiosity now piqued. "...Izzat true, little guy?"
"Uh...Yeah! It is!" he confirmed, silently thanking Papyrus for intervening so he wouldn't have to concoct his own explanation.
"AS A MATTER OF FACT, WHEN I SAW HIM IN WATERFALL THE OTHER DAY, HE SHOWED ME A FLAWLESS IMPRESSION OF YOU!"
"Me? You serious?"
"Yeah, yeah, just watch!" the flower said to her, turning his face away as he changed the look of it from soft and furry to hard-faced and tough-looking. Once the transformation was complete, he turned back around to face them again, sporting the same perfect look that the skeleton had seen on him the other day.
"What's up, nerds!? Up for a bit of a sparring competition? Ngaaahhhh!"
"Ho-LEE crap...!" the fish monster beamed. "Ha! You're spot on!"
"Hold on, hold on! Lemme see if I can do him!"
"ME?"
"Yeah, check this out!"
He turned again, and when he faced them the second time, he now bore an uncanny resemblance to the skeleton.
"NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! WHO WANTS TO TRY MY SPAGHETTI!?"
"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE A FLORAL PRODIGY!"
"You could make a livin' doing that!" Undyne exclaimed.
"Yeah...Papyrus said something about that the last time we met. Now hearing it from you, I...erm..."
"SOMETHING THE MATTER?"
"No, nothing, it's just...I don't know if I'll be able to."
"Why not, bud?"
"I...um..."
Oh, no...I didn't think about that before.
He'd been more on board with the idea of performing when Papyrus first presented it to him, but upon considering what might be happening soon, he wasn't so sure if making himself known to the rest of the Underground was the best idea.
"...See, I have...plans for the near future, and...I dunno. I just don't want to make a spectacle of myself doing that."
"What kinda plans you got?" Undyne asked him.
"Oh, I guess you could say I'm...planning a sort of trip somewhere."
"WHERE TO? BACK TO NEW HOME, PERHAPS?"
"No, not New Home. I've actually been there pretty recently, really. Um...I'm planning it with a few people I've been staying with, and...Maybe my Dad? I'm honestly not sure where the road's gonna take us...I just know it's not gonna be New Home."
"OH, IT'S TOP SECRET, THEN?" Papyrus nodded. "CARE TO BRING US A SOUVENIR?"
"A souvenir, huh? I think I can manage that," he nodded. "Um...So...I had a question for you guys."
"Ask away."
"So, I don't mean to intrude on anything personal, but...How exactly did you two get together?"
The two monsters hovering over him exchanged quick glances.
"I-I mean, like I said, if you don't wanna...elaborate, then-"
"N'aw, lil' dude, it's fine. 'Elaborate' we shall."
"Oh. You will?"
"CERTAINLY SO! UNDYNE, HOW ABOUT YOU START US OFF?"
"Sure thing...So...I think what happened the day before Gyftmas was what really got the ball rolling. I was sick as a dog that day, but even though I knew it was unhealthy as all heck, I was out and about doing last-minute gift searching. And, ah...I was at my old house lookin' for stuff, and...Well, I started wonderin' why Alphys straight-up left me hangin' when I needed her the most...Left me hangin' for good. Guess after looking at myself some, I started to think it was because I wasn't good enough. For her...for anyone."
"SHE CAME HOME A RIGHT MESS. BOTH PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY. I WAS REALLY WORRIED ABOUT HER...WORDS CAN'T DESCRIBE HOW GLAD I WAS TO SEE HER CONDITION IMPROVE WITHIN MERE HOURS. ONCE SHE WAS A BIT MORE UP TO IT, WE HAD OURSELVES ANOTHER CONVERSATION...SHE SEEMED SO CONVINCED THAT SHE WAS NOTHING BUT A BURDEN ON US, BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT AGAIN AND AGAIN, SHE'S SURPASSED EVERYBODY'S EXPECTATIONS...MY EXPECTATIONS. I WOULD'VE NEVER LEFT HER THEN, FOR ANY REASON, AND THAT HAS YET TO CHANGE...SHE'S THE MOST AMAZING THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO ME. THE BEST INSTRUCTOR, THE BEST FRIEND...AND NOW THE MOST WONDERFUL GIRLFRIEND I EVER COULD'VE ASKED FOR. EVER. WITHOUT A DOUBT."
Undyne was already puce, but the purple hue intensified even more when Papyrus squeezed her even closer.
"Heh...Well...You're the best, too, y'know that?"
"I SUPPOSE, THEN, THAT MAKES US ALL THE MORE PERFECT FOR ONE ANOTHER."
"It sure seems that way, don't it?"
"Wow..." Asriel remarked. "So, you two are really happy with each other, huh?"
"WITHOUT QUESTION."
"...So which one of you said anything first?"
They all chortled again.
"Oh, that'd have been me," Undyne answered him. "I started to realize I felt a lil' different about him on Gyftmas, actually. After we got done training in Waterfall, I think it was? Yeah, that's about right...Took me long enough to finally come out and tell him everything. Now I was never one to pull out of something dangerous, but to be honest, I was just TERRIFIED that EVERYTHING that could possibly go wrong was GONNA GO WRONG. You ever feel that way about something?"
"Um...One time I did, yeah."
And everything did go wrong, he said to himself, trying not to shudder at the memory of his own death.
"NYES, I CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT MUST'VE BEEN GOING THROUGH YOUR HEAD DURING ALL THAT, UNDYNE...LITTLE DID SHE KNOW UP UNTIL THEN THAT I HAD ACTUALLY BEEN THINKING OF HER THE SAME WAY. ALWAYS THERE TO PROTECT ME, TO GUIDE ME, TO PUT A SMILE ON MY FACE...ISN'T IT STRANGE? BOTH OF US HAD BEGUN TO FEEL THE SAME WAY, BUT NEITHER OF US HAD THE COURAGE TO ADMIT TO THE OTHER BECAUSE WE DIDN'T THINK IT'D EVER BE MUTUAL...OF COURSE UNDYNE WAS THE ONE TO FIX THAT, WHICH WAS A GOOD THING. BUT ISN'T A SITUATION LIKE THAT SOMEWHAT...TRAGIC?"
"Yeah, it is pretty sad, somethin' like that..." the flower nodded. "...But, hey. It worked out for you two in the end, didn't it?"
"That it did...Say, Flowey. You ever wonder what's in these Ruins?"
"Oh. Uh..."
"YES, WE WERE JUST DISCUSSING THAT WHEN YOU SHOWED UP!" Papyrus chimed in. "IN FACT, DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING REGARDING OUR PLAN TO TAKE A PAIR OF SHOVELS AND DIG UNDER THE GROUND TO GET IN THERE?"
"Y-yeah, uh, I said you didn't have to do that. It's...not really the best idea."
"Oh...Why not?" Undyne asked him.
"Well...See, I've..." he answered. "I've...actually been in there before."
"IN THE RUINS?"
"Yep!"
"Like...Recently?"
"Uh-huh. In fact, I was there today."
The two monsters beamed, eyes going big.
"That's awesome! What's in there, huh?"
"Well...There's..." he answered, choosing his next words carefully. "...Honestly, you're not missing much. Just picture New Home, but sorta faded purple instead of grey. And some places smell kinda musty, since it's so old, like this one place where there's a pool of water...No matter how much someone cleans it, the smell of mildew never goes away. It's not really that special. I just go there to...collect my thoughts. There's nobody else there now that all the other monsters have moved out into the rest of the Underground...It's pretty much bee completely abandoned except for me. But that's cool. It's so quiet, and peaceful."
"OH...SO, YOU'D RATHER NOT HAVE OUR COMPANY IN THERE?"
"Well, not to say I don't like being with you, but...I dunno. It's special to me, and I just don't want anyone coming in and...um...changing that."
"Oh...I see. You know, I know of a couple spots in Waterfall like that. Almost nobody knows about 'em, so nobody ever comes in and bothers you. Yeah...I gotcha. Respect."
"Thank you, Undyne...Besides, it's...not exactly...structurally sound in a few places. Especially here by the door. I mean, look at the walls around it."
"HM...YES, I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN."
There were countless cracks in the ancient walls of the Ruins, and the knowledge that it'd stood there for nearly a thousand years also came with the lingering notion that even a slight shift in the foundation could wreak havoc on the purple stone.
"Yeah, if someone were to dig under, the door might decide to cave in on itself, or something," Asriel worried.
"Eesh...Well, guess I've changed my mind about that."
"SAME HERE...OH! UNDYNE, I JUST REMEMBERED. THE PIE!"
"Oh, heck yeah, you're right. Go on and get the stuff out."
"Pie?" the flower echoed.
"OH, YES, FLOWEY OLD FRIEND! A MIXED NUT PIE, TO BE EXACT!" he replied as he pulled out the two individually-wrapped platters from the picnic basket. "SANS MADE IT FROM SCRATCH WITH HIS OWN TWO HANDS, AND I'M SO PROUD OF HIM!"
The flower sniffed the air, his keen Boss Monster nose picking up an eerily familiar scent.
"What's in that pie...?" he wondered aloud, taking in another whiff of it, eyes slowly widening as he realized what he was smelling. "Is...Is that...butterscotch?"
"IT CERTAINLY IS! AND CINNAMON! MY BROTHER TWEAKED THE RECIPE A BIT AND ADDED THOSE IN. SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE LADY IN THE RUINS HE USED TO TALK TO WHO TURNED OUT TO BE THE QUEEN TOLD HIM ABOUT SOME OF HER OWN COOKING, AND HE TOOK SOME INTEREST IN IT...SMELLS DELICOUS, DOESN'T IT?"
"Uh-huh. Yeah, it...It does..." he sniffed, eyes growing wet.
"ARE YOU ALRIGHT, FLOWEY?"
"Yeah...You look like you're gonna-"
"I-I'm okay..." he assured them, wiping his eyes on his leaves. "It's just...It brings back a lot of memories a-about way back when..."
He sighed and cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure.
"Okay...I'm good now, I think."
"...WOULD YOU PERHAPS LIKE TO JOIN US?"
"Uh...Join you?"
"OF COURSE, FLOWEY! YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND TRY SOME OF MINE! AND MAYBE UNDYNE'S, IN CASE SHE DOESN'T LIKE IT, SINCE SHE HASN'T TRIED THIS KIND OF THING BEFORE...YOU WOULDN'T MIND THAT, WOULD YOU, UNDYNE?"
"N'aw, that's fine! Hey, besides, there's more at the house in case we want anymore, right?"
"YES, THERE IS! IT'S SETTLED, THEN! LET ME JUST GET THE EMPTY SPAGHETTI PLATE FROM EARLIER...HOW MUCH WOULD YOU LIKE, FLOWEY?"
"Oh, uh...Just a bit, I guess. I'm not all that big, so I don't need a whole lot."
"NOTED! HERE, LET ME JUST SORT OF...CUT OFF THE TIP OF MINE AND SLIDE IT ONTO YOUR PLATE...UNDYNE, DID SANS PACK ANY EXTRA FORKS OR THE LIKE?"
"Found a spork," she answered, doing the same to her own piece of the nut pie as Papyrus was as she handed Flowey the plastic utensil.
"THAT WORKS, DOESN'T IT?"
"Oh, yeah, that'll do fine. Here, lemme see..."
He grew a vine up from the ground and used it to grab the spork. As much as he wanted to try his leaves out for the occasion, they still weren't all that dexterous, so he figured his vines were the better option in the mean time(the last thing he wanted was to drop his pie in the snow, of course.) Once he had hold of it, he stabbed the spork into one of the pieces and brought it to his mouth, thanking the heavens that he could somehow still eat solid food as a creature without a stomach of any sort.
"SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK, FLOWEY? I'LL PASS YOUR RATING ONTO SANS!"
His stem wobbled, and a smile spread across the flower's face as he sunk to the ground, looking very, VERY pleased.
"Wow...This..." he gushed. "...It's been SO LONG since I've tasted ANYTHING like this. It could just be my nostalgia, but I give this a good 9.5 outta 10."
"WOWIE...! IT'S REALLY THAT GOOD!"
"Let's see 'bout that, then."
Undyne beat him to it, shoving the bite into her mouth and carefully analyzing it. Ultimately, it seemed like Flowey was right.
"Hmm! This ain't half bad! The filling's kinda sweet for me, but the nuts and the cinnamon balance it out real well. Yeah, Sans did pretty good on this! If I forget, remind me to thank him for makin' that stuff, okay, Papy?"
"SURE THING! I-"
He stopped short all of a sudden.
"WAIT A MINUTE..." he started back up, a noticeable rosy tint coming to his cheekbones. "...WH-WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?
"Uh...'Papy'?"
"OH, MY GOODNESS..."
He turned even redder as he brought his hands up to his face, having become pretty flustered.
"Ah, sorry, Papyrus, I...I just thought it was cute, so...Too much too soon?"
"NYEH...N-NO, THAT'S NOT IT, IT'S..." he assured her, pausing for a moment to clear his throat. "IT'S NOT A PROBLEM, NOT AT ALL. IT'S...WELL...SANS USED TO CALL ME THAT WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER, IS WHAT IT IS."
"Really?"
"YES, YES! IT'S...BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I'VE HEARD THAT. I'D HONESTLY FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT UNTIL NOW...KIND OF CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD. NYEH HEH...A-AND HEARING THAT FROM YOU, IT JUST...YOU ALREADY MAKE ME FEEL ALL WARM AND FUZZY INSIDE, AND THAT JUST MAKES IT EVEN MORE WARM AND FUZZY AND I LOVE YOU TO BITS AND I KNOWING YOU FEEL THE SAME IS JUST SO WONDERFUL AND...OH I NEEDN'T SAY MORE!"
Right after he finished saying everything, he flung his arms around her from the side and pulled her close, a few happy tears glistening in his eye sockets. Undyne was quick to do the same to him, planting another tender smooch up against his smile as she nuzzled up right into him.
"YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE THE LUCKIEST MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND, UNDYNE. EVEN WHEN YOU'RE NOT EVEN TRYING...THAT'S HOW AMAZING YOU ARE."
"...So I can call you Papy?"
"WHENEVER YOU SO WISH...EXCEPT AROUND SANS. HE MIGHT GET JEALOUS. NYEH HEH HEH...!" he snickered, although it wasn't exactly a joke.
"I can do that."
"Well...I don't wanna get in the way of anything," Asriel said to them, sticking the spork on the empty plate and making his vine retreat back into the ground. "I've got places to be myself, so I guess I better go. Thanks for havin' me, though. I-I had fun! And the pie...Wow. If Sans knows I like it, he's SURE to be happy."
"I SHOULD THINK! HAVE A NICE TRIP, WHEREVER YOU DECIDE TO GO, FLOWEY!"
"Yeah. See you 'round, little dude!"
"Bye, guys."
With a wave of one of his leaves, he darted back into the snowy ground and disappeared from view.
"...SO WHAT DO YOU THINK OF FLOWEY?"
"He's pretty neat, not gonna lie...I think it's kinda weird that no Golden Flower monsters have ever been recorded, though...And that he makes himself look like Prince Asriel. I mean, yeah, it's not an ugly face, so that's a plus, but...It's kinda creepy when you remember what happened to him you know?"
"WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED TO PRINCE ASRIEL AGAIN? I MEAN, I GET THE IDEA THAT HE DIED, BUT...HOW?"
"Well...The whole thing was kinda complicated, so it'd take me forever to explain. Long story short, he tried to free us all, and...he ended up getting hurt by the humans...Really hurt. Died almost the minute he shambled into the Throne Room...So they say, the king and queen watched him turn to dust right in front of them."
"THAT'S TERRIBLE...HOW OLD WAS HE WHEN THIS HAPPENED?"
"Not any older than Frisk was, I don't think."
"DEAR, DEAR ME...THE POOR SOUL."
"I know...That's what made Asgore declare our War on humans, you know? To avenge him in a way...And Toriel was so pissed at him for doin' that, she up and left without tryin' to intervene. If Asgore were still alive, she'd probably still be locked away here in these Ruins."
"YES, LIKELY SO...IT'S ALMOST HARD TO IMAGINE THEY'RE COMPLETELY EMPTY, NOW, ISN'T IT?"
"I guess so...Honestly, I don't really like her. Sometimes wish she'd just stayed in here and kept hiding. Sure, I'm doing okay now, but if she hadn't decided to come along and set up all those new pro-human policies after Asgore died, I'd probably still have my job in the Royal Guard...Heck, if I'd stepped up to the plate before she did, I might even be ruling the Underground myself right now!"
"HUH...QUEEN UNDYNE, RULER OF THE UNDERGROUND, KEEPING THE CITIZENS SAFE AND HAPPY...I PROBABLY WOULD'VE LOVED TO SEE YOU DO THAT!"
"Queen? Nah, that sounds weak...How 'bout somethin' like EMPRESS instead? Sounds a HECK of a lot more powerful!"
"EMPRESS UNDYNE...OH, WOW. YOU JUST MADE IT A HUNDRED TIMES COOLER!"
"Ha! Yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about! Ah...Shame it's never gonna happen."
"PERHAPS, IN ANOTHER TIMELINE, YOU DID USURP QUEEN TORIEL'S RULE. EVER THINK ABOUT THAT?"
"Hm...It's nice to think. ain't it?"
"IF YOU WERE THE EMPRESS, WOULD I BE THE KING?"
"...To be honest, I think that if I'd ended up the empress..." she realized. "We wouldn't be together. I'd probably would've been so busy runnin' the kingdom that I wouldn't have had the time to realize just...how much you mean to me."
"OH...WELL...I SUPPOSE I CAN BE THANKFUL FOR THAT NOT ACTUALLY HAPPENING."
"Agreed. Besides...You're worth more to me than any power, or revenge or whatever that I ever could've wanted."
"REALLY?"
She nodded, pulling him as close as she could.
"...You always will."
That was all the conformation that he needed.
A cold wind began to whistle through the bare pine trees around the path, and a light flurry of snow began to flutter down from the magically-created clouds above. All the while, the two of them stayed that way, each of them endlessly glad that things had turned out the way they did.
Power or no power, freedom or no freedom, they knew deep down that everything had still turned out alright.
.
...
...
...
Ugh...What...
Can you hear me?
...Hello?
I'm here...Can you hear me alright?
Yes...Is...that you? What is this place? How did I get here...?
It's me, yeah...I, um...absorbed you. But don't worry, I can let you go, and I will! Um...So, you're...probably wondering what all of this is about. I guess now we can finally
talk to each other about it.
I know some already; I'm dead, you need my SOUL and six others to break the magical barrier keeping all you monsters trapped underground, and you were able to bring the dead prince of the Underground back to life. Am I on the right track here?
Oh, yeah. For sure. Um...So, I'm not doing it right this minute, but with your SOUL and mine combined, we're...able to cross the Barrier so we can collect six more SOULs. Uh, I don't plan on killing anybody, though. Asriel says he and Chara made the same mistake back in the day.
Chara...isn't that the kid who ran off and disappeared into the mountain ten years ago? Everybody says that she's the one who's body was brought into the center of the village by the White Beast...I was a witness to that; was only five. That thing was fierce; wielded some sort of glowing saber-type thing.
...A body shared by both a human and a monster SOUL is said to have shared control over the two entities...According to the information I found in the castle, I pieced together that the first fallen human had a resentment towards her own kind, and wanted to take advantage of the situation. As revenge, to put it straight. The prince was young, and naïve, and loved his human sibling...I doubt it was his idea to attack the way it did. Did Chara ever have anything to dislike about her kind?
Well, the kid was an orphan, and kept getting bounced between homes, so...That might have somethin' to do with it.
That's enough information for me.
...So...What exactly is this place we're in?
I guess it's our...shared subconscious? Not much in here...
Can you get us into the real world?
...I'll see. Just be warned; I don't know what kind of physical changes my body's undergone because of this, and we'll both have half of the control over it, so...Be prepared to wake up as something nonhuman. You ready?
As I'll ever be...Um...What's your name again?
I'd...rather not say, to be honest.
...I get it.
Alright. Let's see here...
...
"Whoa...Balance check. Wonky legs."
"That's, uh...digitigrade."
The creature walked around the room, both entities that guided it getting used to the new sensations and trying to find some sort of balance between them.
"So..." the human SOUL wondered aloud. "If one of us just goes limp, or something, would the other have full control?"
"Possibly...?"
"Here, you have a mirror anywhere around?"
"On the, um...south corner of the bedroom here."
"Mind if I give the legs a spin?"
"No, go ahead. Um...J-just be careful not to crash, or something...I'll give the arms a try. Teamwork is everything here."
"Noted."
The monster strode across the room to see its reflection in the mirror.
"...My arms feel bigger than I remember," the monster SOUL said to itself as it came to see what it looked like.
"...Whoa."
"Wait, so, this is us? We look like THAT?"
"Yep."
"Holy moly...We look amazing."
The two SOULs stared into the mirror with their shared black eyes, which sported a glowing white pupil among each dark sclera, and equally dark stripes cut across the cheeks, and the immense feathered wings that the arms had lengthened into could easily carry it across the sky, all while still sporting a convenient set of hands.
"...I-I didn't expect to be able to fly," the monster marveled.
"Wanna give 'em a shot?"
"Uh, not right now, not in here, we might crash. In fact, I...Okay, I know what to expect now, so, um...Before I put you back, can I ask you a few questions?"
"No better time than now."
"So...When I extracted the traits I needed from you...It didn't hurt, did it?"
"Uh...Some, actually. I think I'm fine, now, though."
"Oh, no, I'm...I'm sorry. I already have everything I need, though, so I don't think you'll be going through that again."
"I can tell you're tryin' to pull of something really big here, you know?"
"Yeah...It's the least I can do to make it up to everybody."
"What exactly did you do?"
"I...I can't even say it. Um...Do you...have a name?"
"Heh...So you want to know my name, but you won't tell me mine?"
"Um...Well-"
"I'm just messin' with ya. You make up for it by turning us into this...bird dragon thing, okay? It's actually pretty neat."
"Ah...Well, I'm gonna have to put you back in a bit. I don't want Asriel seeing me like this...Not yet."
"Gives me something to look forward to...Name's Eric. Might as well mention that I happen to know Frisk. She came back to the village and told some of us some of the things she went through down here...You know her? Small, brunette, likes to wear striped clothes?"
"Uh...Yeah. I know her..."
"What's the matter? Don't like her for some reason?"
"I'd rather not say anything about that, either...I mean...She never meant to do anything, so..."
"...I get it. So anyways, she was talking about how she survived the fall by landing on a bed of Golden Flowers and how the queen returned. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help down there, maybe find out a few things for myself, but I, uh...failed to look before I leapt, and I...well, you saw what I looked like, right?"
"Yeah...We don't sit like that when we die, we just turn to dust...It wasn't pretty. I don't know if you wanted anything in particular done with your body, or anything, but if you really want, I could dig it-"
"Ah, no, no, just leave it where it is...I won't need it anymore, that's for sure."
"You were so young, though. Surely, there's something I can do?"
"You've done enough for me. And don't call me Shirley...I wanted to learn about monsters, and I learned about monsters from you. Even if I made the dumb mistake of not bringing any protective gear with me...I tip my hat to you."
"Well...Thanks."
"...I guess you can put me back, now. We can talk later, alright? Tell me if everything goes okay, and we can head on back up there, see what we can do. "
"Yeah...I'll let you know. And...We'll fix this. All of this."
"I'm with you on this."
"...I'm glad of that."
With that, the two SOULs split apart from each other, and the towering creature shrank back down to half its original size, then returned the blue SOUL back to its vessel.
tHiIiIiIs Is ThE nIiIiIgHt
It'S a BeAuTiFuL nIiIgHt
AnD tHeY cAlL iT bEeEeElA nOtTeEeEeEeE
...Oh. You're here. Sorry, was I too busy enamoring you with my insurmountably incredible singing? XD
Also, sorry this took so long. Haven't been writing as much as I'd like in recent days, and I got stuck a few times on this chapter. But, hey, it's here now, so that's good! Oh, but...you're done reading it and now you're probably wondering when I'm gonna post the next one, so...um...yeah. :/
Ah, don't worry. I'll get the creative gears pumpin' again somehow! See you next time! :D