Author's notes: Longest chapter so far. Still not long. But I honestly didn't anticipate writing this today. But in my procrastination of other things, it did.
Papyrus stood expectantly in front of Undyne's, excited, anxious, and honestly a bit terrified. The Human and Undyne would be the bestest of friends! He knew it! They were both confident and strong! And also HIS friend! He knew they could! He believed!
His phone rang and excitedly Papyrus brought it out. There was The Human now!
"HELLO! HUMAN-!"
"Where are you?" Papyrus stopped short in surprise at the broken sound of their voice. "Papyrus.. where are you?" He glanced over towards Undyne's house hesitantly. It would not do good to have them hang out while the human was crying.
"I.. I AM AT UNDYNE'S HOUSE. IN WATERFALL. WHAT IS WRONG-?" The line went dead. Papyrus stood anxiously, a bead of inexplicable sweat tracing along the side of his forehead a he wrung the fabric of his gloves along his wrists. The Human appeared only a minute or two later and when their eyes caught sight of him their face broke out desperately, their teeth gritted their eyes wide, as they raced across the lawn, and before he knew it, The Human was lifting their hands up and jumping. He caught them and they buried their face in his scarf. They were shaking.
It was clear that they had not come for Undyne...
"HUMAN? WHAT IS WRONG? ARE YOU HURT?" They shook their head and held his neck tighter. "HUMAN-?"
"I'm sorry. I just... n-need a moment." They said through staggered breaths. They lifted their head and wiped at the bottom of their eyes. "N-Nobody hurt me." They told him. That did nothing to relieve his anxiety over the situation. "I was just.. scared." They admitted. They took another deep breath and closed their eyes, trying to regain themself. It did not seem to be working. They were still scared.
"WELL! WHATEVER IS FRIGHTENING YOU, THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS SURE TO PROTECT YOU FROM IT!" They shook their head again and Papyrus wished that they would at least smile that knowing smile. As if they knew better than him but it was okay, they appreciated his thoughts anyways. But they didn't. They didn't look knowing at all. Or at least, if they did know, that was what was scaring them.
"Can you put me down?" They asked, trying to pull away.
"I THINK NOT." Papyrus informed them. "NO."
"No?" They breathed, seemingly amused even despite whatever else they were feeling, and Papyrus felt slightly better for it.
"NO." He repeated triumphantly. "NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!" Their face fell and they watched him with an unreadable expression. But he could see the thoughts racing through their mind, the hard debate with themself. They wanted to, he realized. They really wanted to tell. To tell anyone.
All that knowing that they knew.
"I can't." They told him, their voice breaking again a bit sadly. "You wouldn't understand."
"AS YOUR FRIEND I COULD TRY TO UNDERSTAND! AND EVEN IF IN THE END, I CAN'T, AT LEAST I CAN STILL BE THERE FOR YOU! LIKE SANS! HE DOES NOT TELL ME A LOT OF THINGS BUT WHEN HE DOES I DO MY BEST TO BE THERE! EVEN IF HE DOESN'T TELL ME.. MUCH OF ANYTHING."
"Sans..." They repeated absently, looking off to the side, into the shadows. They still had their arms wrapped around his neck; their fingers interlaced. After a brief moment of silence, Papyrus adjusted his grip on them and grunted uncomfortably. He wasn't one for long silences.
"IF THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN'T BE THERE FOR HIS FRIENDS WHAT IS THE POINT OF HIM BEING THEIR FRIEND?" They looked up, clearly hurt. He had not meant to hurt them. "I KNOW! LET US GO TO UNDYNE!" He tried. "MAKING A NEW FRIEND IS SURELY THE BEST WAY TO LIFT YOUR SPIRITS! IT DID MINE AFTER MY CRUSHING DEFEAT!"
"We didn't even fight.." The Human remembered with a tiny smile.
"EVEN MORE CRUSHING!" They snorted. "BUT ALSO SUCH A WONDROUS VICTORY! NOW! LET US GO MEET UNDYNE!"
"Papyrus.." They begged and he stopped in the single step he had managed to take. "I don't..." They looked too sheepish. For all that The Human had been confident in making friends with him, they didn't seem so sure with Undyne. "I think she'd rather die than be my friend..." Something in the way they said that was on the verge of devastated.
"NONSENSE!"
"... I think Sans would too..."
"WHAT?!" Papyrus was absolutely bewildered. "MY BROTHER KNOWS AND IS FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE! IT IS QUITE A TALL FEAT FOR SOMEONE SO LAZY!" They gave him another broken, but this time knowing, smile. "AND SO SHORT." He added for good measure. Their smile widen despite themself. But they still look entirely unassured. This was such a drastic contrast to the bright and radiant child who had ensnared him. "COME! LET US TRY UNDYNE! AND THEN YOU WILL SEE!"
"Papyrus..." He stopped after yet another failed step. "... Can you be friends with someone you've killed?"
If Papyrus had blood, it would have run cold. He was frozen, looking ahead at the closed door of Undyne's house. He had heard her earlier. She had been playing piano, rather aggressively, sounding somewhat upset by something. That had been Undyne, hadn't it? What were they... What were they saying?
"Say... Say somebody had the power to... to travel through time? Say she could do the s-same events over and over. The same battles. Fights. Until she got it r-right." Papyrus' mind was reeling as he looked back down at them.
The knowing. The confusion. Just like the daily horoscope.
"B-But say she... ran into what seemed to be a ru.. ruthless killer? She was dying. And dying. And..." Papyrus grip on them tightened. "And what if, to defend herself, she finally... struck her opponent down? Because her opponent wouldn't give up? Wouldn't stop chasing? Wouldn't accept Mercy? No matter how much I... She beat her down. And I..." They reluctantly met his wide gaze. The tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I've killed Undyne, Papyrus. I d-didn't run far enough. I.. I fought back. B-But she w-wouldn't... She'd rather be dead than be my friend! Even after she hit zero HP! She... It was self-defense I reasoned. Self... But I still felt so awful! I cried for forever!"
"B-BUT..." Papyrus' mind was spinning. The Human nodded.
"But I took it back." She said, but that was not exactly what Papyrus was going to say. He wasn't sure what he was going to say. "I made it t-two feet and then you called! Y-You said we could be friends! And I! I didn't want to disappoint you! And if... I had an obligation to try again, right? Since I'm the one in control. So I took it back! I tried again! And I ran a little farther, and I-! It was luck, Papyrus! Luck! I was lucky I could figure out how to replicate it this time around!" The Human kept wiping at her face but she couldn't keep up with the tears. "I was an idiot to come back and think I could change something else on top of it!"
"I... I DO NOT UNDERSTAND." Papyrus admitted, hating that he had to prove her right. He did not understand. She could travel through time? He believed them- her, but... "YOU MISSED ME." He realized.
It had not just been Undyne she had taken back. This was... And then something struck him solid.
"HAVE I... HAVE I KILLED YOU?" He asked, terrified. But The Human was shaking her head quickly, several times.
"No. No, no, no." Papyrus felt a little better but not by much.
"BUT YOU HAVE DIED, TOO?" She didn't respond. He could read the answer yes. "I STILL... DO NOT UNDERSTAND." He admitted. He was a very many things at the moment: confused, sick, dizzy, and everything conflicted.
"Put me down, Papyrus..." They whispered and reluctantly he obeyed. She crouched down onto the ground and he sat down beside her. "I can control time." She explained. She drew a line in the mud. A long single line. "Since I fell down into the Underground. I can Save at certain points." She put slashes along the single line. "So I don't have to go back all the way to the beginning. Or I can do something called Reset which by passes those and takes me back to the beginning. All the way back." She pointed to the farthest end of the line. " And then everyone forgets. But.. I have only done that once."
She had missed him, she had said...
"SO... WE WERE FRIENDS... AND THEN WE WERE NOT." The Human flinched.
"I had to go back... All the way back. I didn't..." She sighed and put a hand against her forehead. "I left. And... you were... right. The King.. he is nice. He was going to let me leave... But he died. Somebody else didn't want me to. Because he had had the power to travel through time before me. He wanted to keep it as a game. And I... No matter what I did, I couldn't save the King! And... And I just! I left. I let it go, I had to. But I've... I've been thinking it over. So many ideas. Things I could do different! And I..."
"YOU CAME BACK."
"I came back." She said with a nod. "But it's all going to be the same!" She cried. "It's all going to end the same. I don't have anything! I can't change anything!"
"... WHO WAS IT THAT STOPPED YOU FROM LEAVING? PERHAPS.. PERHAPS YOU CAN TALK TO HIM! PERHAPS IT IS NOT AS POINTLESS AS YOU THINK! MAYBE.. HE JUST WANTED YOU TO PROMISE TO COME BACK AND VISIT! THAT IS WHAT I WOULD WANT! I ALWAYS SAY GOODBYES ARE NOT ALLOWED, ONLY SEE YOU LATERS! SO PERHAPS-"
"Flowey." Papyrus was smiling. That made sense! Flowey was always just as frustrating as the morning horoscope as well.
"OH! YOU KNOW FLOWEY, TOO? WELL THEN! IT IS CERTAIN YOU CAN GET THROUGH TO HIM! HE IS A FANTASTIC FRIEND!" The Human was shaking her head again.
"Papyrus, Papyrus... You can't trust him! You can't! He thinks it is kill or be killed! He's a liar!
"BUT.. HE IS MY FRIEND!"
"You can't trust him. You trust me, don't you? Listen to me-"
"I WANT TO TRUST BOTH OF YOU!" Papyrus told her. But he was also thinking about Undyne again. He wanted them to be friends too. To get along. And it seemed harder than he had anticipated. But still... He believed! The Human sighed... They didn't seem to have the energy to argue with him. That was... a very familiar gesture. "DOES... DOES SANS KNOW?" The Human's eyes widened and she met his gaze again before looking away...
"I think so..."
"..."
"..."
"I AM GLAD YOU TOLD ME ALL OF THIS. I AM GLAD THAT YOU FELT YOU COULD TRUST ME ENOUGH TO TELL ME."
"I haven't decided if I'm going to let you remember." There was something hurt that fluttered in his ribcage.
"OH."
There was silence as he stared ahead into the darkness.
"Let you..." She whispered. She looked up again, giving him a broken smile. "I guess I'm just as bad as Flowey in the end."
There was another round of downtrodden silence as she lowered her head.
"I DO NOT BELIEVE... THAT IT IS POINTLESS." Papyrus said finally. She didn't look up, her arms tight around her legs. "YOU SAID YOU DID NOT SEE A WAY TO STOP UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END YOU DID. EVEN IF YOU SAY IT WAS LUCK. YOU DID IT. BECAUSE YOU TRIED. SO... IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE, WISH TO CHANGE THIS TOO, I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! JUST LIKE I KNOW YOU CAN BE FRIENDS WITH UNDYNE! YOU JUST HAVE TO TRY!"
"It's not that simple-"
"TRY YOUR HARDEST! THAT IS ALL YOU CAN DO!" He put a hand on her back and when she looked up there were tears again in the back of her eyes. "I JUST HOPE THAT.. YOU WILL LET ME BE THERE FOR YOU WHILE YOU DO!" He told her. Her breath shuddered as she let go of her legs and leaned in so she could hug him. He held her tightly.
"Okay.." She cried softly. "Okay. I'm sorry..."
"NYEH HEH.. THERE IS NOTHING TO FORGIVE!" The Human seemed to want to say something else, but was cut short by the sound of an opening door.
"OH! There you are Papyrus! I was about to go looking for your boney bu-" Undyne also stopped short. The Human and Papyrus had pulled away from each other though their arms still remained wrapped around. Undyne's eye was entirely murderous. "What. Is. This?"
"A HUGGING PARTY! DO YOU CARE TO JOIN?!" Papyrus asked, reaching an arm out for her. If looks could kill... But it wasn't being directed at him anymore. Papyrus felt The Human tense. "AH- MAYBE YOU WOULD CARE TOO LATER." Papyrus looked down at The Human, giving her an encouraging smile. "IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO TRY AGAIN LATER, RIGHT?" The Human hesitated but then nodded for him. Papyrus' Soul soared.
They were all at least going to try. Even Undyne, she just didn't know it yet. Papyrus believed.