Chapter 15

"You should have run when you had the chance, Stripes," Chara said, not that Frisk needed him to tell her that.

The fish monster nearly smiled at the sight of Papyrus but caught herself in time. Instead she growled, "Where the hell where you?!"

"Great to see you too, Undyne!" Papyrus's ever perky self replied. He indicated Frisk. "I captured this human for you!"

The monster, Undyne, stared at Frisk. The more she understood, the more Undyne's face dropped. "You brought this human here?"

"Exactly!" Papyrus sounded proud of himself.

A wicked grin then grew across Undyne's face. Frisk felt uneasy. "Perfect."

Before either Frisk or Papyrus could respond, the ground below Frisk glowed. Having learned her lesson already from Papyrus, Frisk knew to jump back before the spear could pierce through her. When Frisk looked at Undyne again, the monster had a large, blue spear in hand.

It was at this moment Frisk was grateful that Papyrus had untied both her wrists and ankles. With full mobility, nothing held Frisk back as she dodged the spear Undyne hurled at her and ran out of the path of the ones shooting from out of the ground. Frisk had jumped off the front porch and stood in the middle of the yard, but there was still the rest of Ice Capital to flee.

Yet this freedom came to a crashing end. When Frisk found herself unable to move her feet, she looked at her arms to see them glowing green. It took a second to figure out what was happening. Whereas Papyrus's special attack was manipulating gravity, Undyne's was preventing her opponents from fleeing.

"You're not getting away that easily, punk," Undyne snarled, slowly approaching Frisk, spear in hand, as if she savored the fear Frisk poured out as she waited for Undyne to stand right in front of her. "I'm going to make sure your death is a painful, dragged out one." The way she said that made it seem as if Undyne spoke of simmering spaghetti sauce.

"Undyne," Papyrus began, "what are you doing? Don't you think this is a bit extreme?"

A laugh shot out of Undyne. Frisk couldn't tell if the laugh was humorless or not.

"I don't think so," Undyne replied. "Not for someone who murdered two of my finest soldiers."

Frisk's heart leapt to her throat. She knows. Now I'm going to get exactly what I deserve.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding," Papyrus argued. "I fought this human, and the human didn't fight back. I don't think Frisk could kill anyone."

"Frisk?!" Undyne snarled. "Don't tell me you actually named the human. Papyrus, you know if you name things you're only going to end up getting attached."

"Why isn't he helping?" Chara asked, dragging Frisk's attention away from the scary monster and Papyrus.

Looking where Chara did, Frisk saw Sans standing in the doorway. While everyone else moved to the front lawn, Sans was technically still in the house. He watched the scene intently, but he made no move to interfere.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Frisk called out. Sans went rigid. Papyrus and Undyne stopped arguing.

"Sans," Frisk tried desperately, "I need your help right now. Why are you not doing anything?"

"So it knows him," Undyne thought aloud. She narrowed her eye and glared at Sans. "A human and a human sympathizer. My, my, King Asgore is going to be so pleased when I bring him both the soul of a human and the head of a traitor."

"Undyne," Papyrus, either the only calm one in the situation or oblivious to it altogether, said, "I don't know what this is all about. Maybe if we talked this out-"

"There's nothing to talk out!" Undyne snapped before she cringed, as if she didn't like yelling at Papyrus.

Taking a deep breath, she quickly explained, "This human killed Dogamy and Dogaressa. Now I'm going to kill it and take its soul to the capital. And then," she shot Sans a look, "I'm having your brother imprisoned for treason."

"This is all a misunderstanding," Papyrus insisted. "We're all friends here."

"That human is no friend."

"The human is my friend."

Papyrus's words had Undyne at a loss for her own. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. With a grunt, Undyne turned to Frisk.

"I don't know what mind games you're playing," she said, "but I will put an end to them soon enough."

Then she turned to Sans, "Last chance, bonehead!" she shouted. "Prove to me you're not a traitor. Kill the human!"

"I thought you wanted the honors," Sans replied, speaking for the first time since Papyrus knocked on the door.

"I'm willing to give them to you in exchange for assurance you are no criminal to the crown." Undyne pointed at Frisk. "Finish it."

"Undyne, not everything has to be solved with viole-" Papyrus was cut off when spears emerged from the ground and trapped him in a makeshift cell.

"Stay out of this," Undyne said. "I've been worried sick for you. Let me handle this, and then we can talk. Okay, Papyrus?"

"I would prefer we talk after you decide not to kill my friend," Papyrus said, gripping the spears like bars.

"That human is no friend of yours," Undyne said. To Sans, "What are you waiting for? Kill it so I can leave this frozen over hell of a city!"

At first Frisk thought Sans would do something to help her. Distract Undyne, insists on another plan, take her and run – but as he grew closer, Frisk knew Sans had no such intentions. Sans really was going to kill her.

"Sorry, kid," Sans said loud enough for only Frisk to hear once he had gotten close enough, "but you put me in a tight situation. You should have stayed in Snowdin Two." Sans shook his head. "No hard feelings?"

"I knew he couldn't be trusted," Chara said. He stood beside Frisk, as he had done since Frisk lost her mobility. Although Frisk had spent the past few days pretending that Chara wasn't there, she looked at him now. It didn't matter anymore if the monsters notice her seeing something they couldn't.

As usual, Chara didn't show much emotion. He could have been either concerned or amused that Frisk was about to be killed by the only person she trusted in the whole Underground, and Frisk wouldn't know the difference. Yet despite his obvious hatred for her, Chara had truly been giving Frisk good survival advice that, had Frisk listened, would have kept her from this situation. He most probably gave the advice knowing Frisk would do the exact opposite, but it didn't change what Frisk now knew: Chara did look out for her in his own way despite being untrustworthy, but Sans would throw away the trust he earned from Frisk to save his own bones.

When a giant skull shaped something like a ram appeared in front of Frisk and began charging a kind of ball of light in front of her, Frisk knew Sans wasn't putting on a show as some sort of trick on Undyne. He really would kill her. Whatever motived him to keep her safe before didn't matter now.

"I'll keep an eye socket out for ya, but I won't promise to lend a hand if you get yourself into big trouble."

Sans had said that to her the day they met. Even at the beginning, she was running on borrowed mercy. Now Frisk knew why the people of Snowdin Two were so wary of Sans – there was no reason to believe Sans had any loyalties besides whatever served his best interest. Because Frisk wanted to believe someone cared about her, she wholeheartedly trusted Sans. So much so that she dismissed everything Chara said when she should have at least considered the possibility Chara had spoken some sense.

"Chara, you were right. I should have listened to you," Frisk said, trusting but not caring the other monsters couldn't hear her above the charging skull. She looked at the human as she talked to him, so she saw the surprise that lit up his usually stoic face.

"I didn't think you would ever say I was right about anything," Chara snorted after he had recovered. When he grinned, it lacked some of his usual maliciousness. "Well, at least you get to have a redo, huh, Stripes?"

There was no time to respond. The cannon blasted, and Frisk braced herself for yet another death.

Except none came.

Papyrus, who must have escaped from Undyne's prison while Frisk wasn't paying attention, stood before her and used a flat bone to shield Frisk and himself from the blast. When the attack ended, Papyrus used the opportunity to use his blue attack to send Sans hurling across the yard, into the house, and crashing into the wall. Undyne shouted at Papyrus and looked as if she wanted to attack, but he didn't give her a chance. Papyrus flipped gravity on Undyne as he did with Frisk. Undyne suffered from being suddenly tossed upside down, and the trick caused her to lose focus, freeing Frisk from the green attack.

Wasting no time, Papyrus grabbed Frisk by the arm, and the scene vanished. In the blink of an eye, the world reappeared. The wooden cottages and smell of smoke were achingly familiar.

"How . . . ?" Frisk began, unsure how to finish the question. She stumbled, unbalanced on her feet.

"Teleportation," Papyrus replied, knowing what Frisk meant, as he reached out to hold her upright.

"Wait," Frisk began when she recovered her footing, "you could teleport this whole time, yet instead of teleporting me to Undyne, you had us walk?"

"Teleportation is for lazy people, like my brother. Only the really dedicated walk everywhere. Well, uh, except in the case of emergencies, like now."

"I sort of agree with that logic," Chara said, "but at the same time, I don't."

Frisk shook her head, trying to organize and make sense of her buzzing, whirling thoughts. "Never mind that. You saved me from Undyne. You'll be labeled as a traitor now. The Reds are going to come after you. Why did you do that?"

"That's just what friends do." Papyrus shrugged. "Even if I did rejoin the royal guard and had many admirers, how many of them would be puzzle lovers who like me as genuinely as you do?"

For the first time since Toriel, Frisk felt her heart melt under the warmth inside her chest. Before she knew what she was doing, Frisk threw herself at Papyrus and wrapped her arms around his neck. Tears, hot and overflowing, streamed down her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said over the thick lump in her throat.

"Now, now, human," Papyrus said, awkwardly hugging her back, "no need to get all sappy. Though I suppose one can't help but cry with joy at being friends with the Great Papyrus."

Laughing, Frisk pulled away. She wiped her eyes. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Ah, well, I . . . uh." Papyrus scratched the back of his head. "I didn't, um, plan that far."

Frisk slowly turned to look at the town behind her. Papyrus already knew about Snowdin Two, and there was nothing she could do to make him unknow it. There was no way to expect how accepting the villagers would be of Papyrus if they barely stood Sans, but after risking everything he had to save Frisk, Papyrus was no doubt worthy of some small chance.

"Want to meet my other friends?" Frisk tried. "I'm sure they will want to be your friends, too."