:):
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I know that last part was pretty stressful, but this is officially the last chapter of the Waterfall Arc~
This is also chapter 50, can you believe it?
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Recovery
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"Is she going to be okay?" The monster kid asked worriedly as he stared up at his friend. The little wet and bedraggled girl was slumped over in Undyne's metal grasp. Holding her left shoulder as tenderly as she could, the child's whimpering sobs seemed unquellable. "Yo... I think she needs to see a doctor." The boy stressed as he eyed the limp appendage. "That looks kinda bad, y'know?"
"It'll be fine." Undyne answered resolutely as she tried to reclaim her cool composure. Sure, she knew the human was hurt, but taking it to Dr. Alphys for medical treatment was something she just couldn't bring herself to do. That would be like asking her to fix something she herself had broken. Her pride wouldn't allow it. Not only that, but... she also feared what Alphys might think of her... Best to avoid the whole situation! "I'm taking it directly to Asgore. He will decide what to do with the human."
"D- Do you have to?" The monster kid protested as he followed after the Head of the Royal Guard. He knew the law and he'd heard the rumors of what happened to the humans that were captured. Truthfully, that hadn't bothered him a bit before. He actually thought it was kinda cool. Humans were the bad guys, right? Of course, up until today, he'd never even met one. Now, the law just seemed... unfair. "She's not a bad human! Can't you just let me take her back to Snowdin? She won't cause anyone any trouble, I promise!"
"Go home, kid." Undyne ordered as she tried to outpace the annoying boy. She felt encumbered. Her heavy armor was still leaking water and it was making her movements slower than she would have liked. Why was this kid being such a pest? "This no longer concerns you."
"But she-!"
*Bark!*
Turning, both Undyne and the monster kid were surprised to see a little white dog running over to them, barking excitedly as it did.
"Poff?" The lizard boy acknowledged in slight confusion at seeing the familiar ball of fluff. It had been following after the human since they left Snowdin, so he'd been wondering where it went.
"Poff...?" Fearia sniffled when she spotted her furry friend. It really was him and he was okay! "Poff!" The little girl exclaimed as she tried to get down. She desperately wanted to embrace the small dog right now. She needed to! But...
Slowing to a stop at Undyne's feet, the small dog started to growl as threateningly as it could when an armored hand reached over to restrain the struggling child. It was a complete bluff, of course, and everyone knew it. Poff was powerless against such an intimidating enemy, but he wasn't about to back down. Besides... he was doing everything he needed to do.
"Put me down!" Fearia cried as she began to flail in the fish lady's arms. The steely grip that held her, however, was inescapable. Regardless of this fact, she still tried. Thrashing and kicking, she made it as unpleasant as she could for her captor. She didn't want to be taken to the King! She just wanted to go home! "Put me down, NOW!" She emphasized her demand with a well placed kick to the warrior's dark chest plate. To the child's surprise, that actually appeared to bother the seemingly stoic Captain.
"Ya brat!" The fish lady hissed in pain as she brought an armored hand to her chest. Shocked that she had actually taken a little damage from that weak ass kick, Undyne was reminded the hard way that she was, in fact, holding a human. Growling, the angry woman reached over and latched onto the child's broken shoulder in an attempt to put an end to any further acts of violence. It was very effective. Crying out in pain, the little girl ceased her assault immediately in favor of trying to free her injured arm. "Don't you dare do that again, or I'll-"
Undyne's threat was silenced mid sentence when something suddenly struck her. Stumbling back in shock, she looked to her shoulder where it felt as if someone had just punched her with enough force to rival that of a snow wolf. It was only when she saw the two large bony protrusions jutting out of her armor, did the pain finally sink in. Arm falling to her side uselessly, Undyne turned to glare daggers at her offender. Who would dare?
"let the kid go."
"Sans!" Fearia was beyond relieved to see her dear friend. He had really come! He was here to save her! Overcome with a sudden wave of emotion that she couldn't quite explain, the little girl gave an involuntary hiccup before simply dissolving into tears.
Bewildered, Undyne's eye widened as she stared at the Royal Judge. Blocking the exit to the area, the skeleton had his hand held out while a volley of sharp looking bones hung in the air awaiting his orders. She had never in her life seen the lazy bonehead look as serious as he did at this very moment. What was this all about? "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Undyne voiced her confusion aloud angrily.
"Whoa..." The monster kid said quietly as he discreetly backed away. He had always wanted to see Undyne fight, but this looked like it was about to get real ugly. Looking away from his former idol, his eyes became figuratively glued to the angry skeleton. Was he actually secretly strong or something? How strong was he? Also... he looked pissed!
"buddy, i don't like to repeat myself." Sans stated flatly, his left eye glowing with cold fury. "if you don't wanna have a bad time, i'd suggest putting her down nice and gentle."
Feeling the cool trickle of magic seeping from her shoulder, Undyne understood her current disadvantage. She had always wondered why Asgore had chosen this apathetic loser as his Royal Judge; the last line of his defense. It hadn't made any sense to her at the time, but now... she could literally feel how strong his resolve was. He was deadly serious about this.
"You're making a big mistake." Undyne growled as she begrudgingly complied to his demand. Kneeling down, she carefully released the tiny human. Once her bare feet touched the damp cavern floor, the little girl quickly ran away from her and towards her skeletal savior, the small white dog following close behind.
Bending over, Sans gently scooped the injured child up with one arm and brought her to his sternum. "i'll be the judge of that." he replied coolly. After sending the Captain of the Royal Guard a subtle warning glare, he finally lowered his hand in order to collect the small dog monster. Then, without another word, the three of them had vanished in a burst of blue flames, the volley of bones dematerializing a moment later.
A minute past by in silence before the monster kid looked nervously up to the furious fish lady. "I- I think she lives with them." he offered awkwardly. "We were gone a reeeal long time... Maybe they just got worried?"
Narrowing her eye at the spot the traitorous skeleton had just been, Undyne reached up and pressed a hand to her wounded shoulder. With her heavy armor, the gesture was useless but she was too preoccupied to care. "Is that so..." She replied quietly. How long have those two boneheads been hiding a human? And why? Whatever the reason was, Asgore would definitely be hearing about this.
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Papyrus had been back at the house for a while now, trying to distract himself with tidying up the kitchen. After searching Waterfall for a full two hours, the tall skeleton had returned to wait for the human instead. What if she came back on her own and nobody was here? Though, now with a spotless kitchen, the Royal Guard wannabe was just about ready to head back to the watery cave system to look again. He knew his big brother was looking for her as well, but weren't two skulls better than one?
Finally making up his mind to go back, the taller skeleton nearly dropped a pan when the familiar sound of barking came from the living room. How did that annoying dog get inside the house again? Leaving the kitchen to investigate, Papyrus discovered his brother leaning over the couch.
"Sans, Did You Find Miss Fearia?" The worried skeleton answered his own question when he spotted the small unconscious human. She looked soaked to the bone and filthy. Bits of swamp reeds were tangled in her hair and her clothes were stained with algae and mud. She was a real mess! "Oh My God, What Happened?!" Papyrus gasped as he rushed over to the tiny human.
"the kid ran into a bit of trouble, but i think she'll be okay." Sans tried to reassure his brother. It was a big understatement, but Papyrus didn't need to know the ugly details. Scanning the child for visible injuries, Sans released a tired sigh. He knew her arm was hurt in some way, but other than that he couldn't see anything really bad besides a few cuts and scrapes.
On a different note, it looks like he was right about teleporting a human. The trans-spatial travel had been too much for her. If he were to guess, it was probably the burst of his magic combined with the disorientation of being ripped from existence temporarily. He needed to remember not to do that again if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Though, this time, the risk had definitely been warranted. Getting the kid back home as quickly as he could had been his top priority.
"We Need To Take Her To One Of Her Healing Stars, Brother." Papyrus stated with displeasure as he viewed all of the little girl's new injuries. Reaching over, he began to carefully unbutton the child's filthy sweater. "But First, She Needs To Be Out Of These Wet Clothes. She Could Catch Another Human Cold If We Aren't Careful!"
Shrugging slightly, Sans finally allowed himself to smile a little at his brother's fussing. "i'm pretty sure the star would fix that too, bro."
"Stop Being Lazy And Go Fetch A Towel!" Papyrus commanded as he shooed his brother off.
"way ahead of ya, buddy." Sans chuckled as he walked out of the room.
Towel now in hand, the shorter skeleton returned quickly. He'd forgotten to warn Papyrus to be gentle with the kid's arm. "hey, pap, try not to move her arm too much, i think she..." Sans fell silent as he came to a stop next to his brother. The child's clothing had been hiding a plethora of angry looking bruises. Her entire left side, from her hip to her chest, was discolored. It was as if she had fallen from some high place and landed on something hard. The worst part, however, was her left arm. A visible handprint was bruised into her flesh and her shoulder looked... wrong.
"Sans... I Think Someone Attacked Her." Papyrus was beside himself as he tried to understand such cruelty. "Who Would Do This? Who Would Attack A Small Child...?"
"maybe someone who didn't see her as a child." Sans replied darkly. "let's get her to a star, paps."
Wrapping the damp unclothed child in a warm towel, the two skeletons stepped out into the snow. It was dark now. The Core had long since dimmed to artificially emulate nighttime and all of Snowdin's citizens were in their homes, sound asleep. It was hard to believe that the kid had been missing for so long.
Stuffing his bony hands into his pockets, Sans led the way to the Snowdin Shop and Inn. Once they were there, he discreetly shot the hidden camera a look before putting it out of commission permanently. Alphys didn't need to see this. She already knew about the human, but she wasn't going to witness the kid's star in action. Call it spite for adding to the day's drama.
Coming to the spot they had both memorized, Papyrus carefully held out the tiny human. A bright flash of light burst into existence before getting to work. From the looks of it, the magic healing star was about to have a field day as its tendrils of light reached out to heal the damage.
Drawn to the worst injury, the light concentrated around the child's shoulder before a loud pop could be heard, startling both skeletons. Arching her back, the little girl wailed out in agony as the sudden pain shocked her back to wakefulness. The gloved hands that held her began to shake as another bony hand came to rest on her head in sympathy.
"you're okay, kid." Sans said quietly as he tried to hush the crying child.
"W- What Was That Sound?" The taller skeleton looked decidedly unnerved as he watched the majority of the light begin to migrate down the child's body only to converge on a dark bruise near her middle. Two more audible pops could be heard, making the little girl squirm in discomfort as she continued to whimper miserably.
Sans didn't have an answer for his brother. Not one that made sense anyway. The sound was strangely familiar but he wasn't about to speculate right now. Letting his hand be captured by much smaller human hands, the skeleton found himself wincing in pain right along with her. It was difficult to listen to.
Finally, after what seemed like forever but was probably only a few minutes, the tiny human was restored back to perfect health. However, despite that fact, her tears hadn't stopped. For all the miracles the star could preform, curing mental trauma simply wasn't one of them.
"m'sorry..." The weak apology was soft and muffled by small hands as Fearia tried to hide face. She felt so ashamed right now. Ashamed and guilty and stupid. "Pappy, I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have left the house. You told me to stay and I didn't! It's all my fault, please don't hate me!"
"Miss Fearia..." Papyrus felt his nonexistent heart break at the sight. "I Could Never Hate You!" Lifting the child into the air so that she was eye level with him, he attempted to give her a stern look. "And You're Wrong. None Of This Was Your Fault. This... This Was All My Fault!"
A small gasp escaped the human as she witnessed one of the strangest sights she'd ever seen. From the skeleton's eye sockets, unexplainable streams of glowing liquid flowed, leaving trails of orange in their wake. Was he...? "Don't cry, Pappy! I'm sorry!" Fearia cried as she reached her small hands out to his skull.
"No, I'm Sorry." Papyrus rejected the apology outright. "I Shouldn't Have Left You Alone. How Irresponsible... I'm A Horrible Host!"
"You're the best host, Pappy!"
Sans stared silently at the bizarre sight for a few seconds before a small humored grin appeared on his skull. After everything that had happened today, all the pain and trauma, the kid's ability to spring back from it unbroken was truly remarkable. Maybe it was a human thing. Though, he was inclined to doubt that. None of the other humans had been this resilient.
It was just her.
Bending over, the lazy skeleton collected the abandoned and now damp towel from the snow; it was useless now. He had plenty of questions to ask the kid, but for now they could wait. Grinning, he released a quiet chuckle as the two continued to argue about who was more at fault. As amusing as it was, they should probably head home. "paps, i'm pretty sure humans aren't supposed to be naked in public. let's get her back where it's warm before she gets chilled to the bone."
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The Waterfall Arc is now over.
Up next is the Sanctuary Arc! :)
Who's ready to meet King Fluffybuns?
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In the next chapter, Sans and Papyrus both want some answers.
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Thanks for reading!
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Sheii Bae~
