Chapter 8
Never before in her life had Frisk felt so threatened over tea and cookies. While Papyrus appeared oblivious as he excitedly stacked his plate with a pile of cookies a mile high, Frisk tried with little success to breathe steadily as her heartrate skyrocketed with every passing minute. It was as if Undyne watched every one of Frisk's moves and calculated the best time to attack with compliments and pleasantries.
"That is such a pretty dress. Wherever did you get it?"
"Of all the parts of the forest you visited, which is your favorite? I like Waterfall Marsh for its humidity."
"Don't be shy. Help yourself to more cookies!"
What should have been typical dialogue during tea and cookies felt like aggressive politeness coming from Undyne. Frisk didn't know if Undyne was intentionally being passive-aggressive or if this was simply how she was. Either way, the nicer Undyne tried to be, the less safe Frisk felt.
Once everyone's plates were full of Undyne's homemade cookies and their teacups were filled to the brim with golden flower tea, the three of them broke off to eat in peace. Papyrus, much to Frisk's dismay, claimed the private eating room for himself. This resulted in Frisk and Undyne having to settle for the divider on the table in the main room so both could remove their masks and eat in privacy.
"So, how are the tea and cookies?" Undyne chirped from her side of the table.
Taking a cautious bite, Frisk chewed and swallowed before saying, "These are really good."
"Thank you! Secret family recipe!" Undyne chuckled. "And by that, I mean cookie mix in a box!"
Frisk laughed in response, but only in forced politeness instead of humor.
For a minute or two, Frisk and Undyne ate and drank in silence. Then, Undyne said, "You know, I used to be a pretty brash kid.
"I wanted to be everyone's hero. Do you think, at some point in our lives as we grow up, every one of us wants to be special? We want to be so special from everyone, that sometimes we want to do what nobody else can do. For me, that was being the hero.
"Don't ask me what that looked like. Pft, I had no idea. But I knew I wanted to be tough. If I saw one kid bullying another at school, I would run to the rescue by bullying the bully. Like that makes any sense, but I learn how to swing a punch and take a hit that way.
"When I was about thirteen, I meet King Asgore. I was such a selfish little snot, I barely had spoken two words to the man before I demand that he fight me. Of course, he knocked me on my butt in a matter of seconds. Not wanting to be outdone, I immediately demanded he fight me again. Same thing happened. Before I could demand a third fight, he asked me if I would rather be trained instead. Naturally, I said yes."
Mesmerized by the tale, Frisk forgot about her tea and cookies. Elbows resting on the table, Frisk leaned forward as if to not miss anything Undyne would say. Even Chara leaned closer to the divider as if it was not separating them from Undyne.
"I had a rough homelife, so when King Asgore offered to train me, it wasn't really questioned that I would live in the palace with him. Now don't misunderstand, my parents were not bad people. However, they were never in the position to raise a family, and I was . . . unplanned, to say the least.
"It wasn't until after I began living in the palace that I remembered the king's sons had died a year before then. I was such a little jerk for the way I treated King Asgore when we first met, and the guilt ate me alive. He was such a nice guy though. He often told me that I shouldn't dwell on the past, but I always knew those words were for himself and not really for me.
"I was never adopted by the king, just groomed to become a soldier. However, King Asgore still became like a surrogate father to me. He taught me more than just how to fight or how two hone my magic. He taught me things like how to cook and play the piano. I found myself trying to work harder to become better so he could be proud of me."
Remembering that this was Chara's father of whom Undyne spoke, Frisk slid her gaze towards the boy. Of course, his mask displayed no emotion other than the painted smile. However, he remained still as if he didn't want to miss a single word of Undyne's tale.
"One time we were training," Undyne continued, "and I knocked him flat on his butt. The shock on his face was evident, and I felt terrible. Yet Asgore started to laugh, and he patted me on the shoulder as he told me good job. I have never seen anyone so proud to lose a fight.
"This was before . . . No, this was during when the humans began to arrive. Well, the humans after the one who died. . . . It's with a heavy heart that Asgore has been collecting the faces, but . . . it's like there's another layer to the curse we didn't know about. The souls of those who lost their faces . . . They torment Asgore. With each new face, he has fallen deeper into madness. Now that we only need one more . . . On the one hand, I'm excited that we are so close to being freed from this curse I was born into, but on the other, I'm terrified what one more human face added to his collection would do to him. That's why I was so determined to be the one to take your face, but then you had to go and show me kindness. How could I kill you after you stopped to be so nice to me after everything?
"Oh, I've been going on for such a long time! My tea has even gotten cold. How's your tea?"
"It's fine," Frisk said even though her tea was also cold.
It was silent for a moment, then Undyne began to shout. "No it's not! I have spent all this time blabbing when we should be becoming friends! I know: I'm going to have you take Papyrus's training lesson tonight!"
Undyne slammed her fist onto the table, and it sounded as if she stood up so quickly her chair fell over. Panicked, Frisk snatched her mask off the table and threw it over her face. It was a good thing she did, because Undyne didn't stop to ask Frisk if she was again wearing her mask before forcing the slider down.
"Nothing has strengthened Papyrus's and my bond like our training!" Undyne roared. "So, bestie, you and I are going to do tonight's lesson instead of him!"
"But I don't want to fight!" Frisk pleaded, second guessing if she should trust Undyne would not harm her after revealing what she did.
Undyne waved a hand in the air. "Please! We're not going to fight. Even back when Papyrus being accepted into the Royal Guard had a fraction of a possibility, I knew I could never send him into battle. He's not weak – the truth is, he's incredibly tough! But he's too nice. I mean, I told him to capture you, and instead he befriends you then tries to get me to befriend you! Um, no offense."
"None taken?" Before Frisk could think of a response, Undyne began to explain.
"No, Papyrus's lessons are simply cooking lessons, and spaghetti is on the menu for tonight! Now, gather your strength, and let's get cooking!"
Frisk barely had chance to protest before Undyne grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her to the kitchen counter. Quick as a whip, Undyne began pulling pots and pans from the cupboards and ingredients from the pantry and fridge. Undyne's motions were so quick her bright red ponytail appeared to be on fire.
For the next ten minutes, Undyne aggressively instructed Frisk in crushing the tomatoes, dicing the garlic and onions, and dumping the store-bought noodles into the boiling water. Undyne shouted at Frisk to stir harder and faster. Although Undyne was barking like a drill sergeant, Frisk was shocked to find she was having fun with Undyne's encouragement to be tough and to let the fire of passion ignite.
"Frisk! Frisk! FRISK!"
It took Chara shouting louder than Frisk had ever heard him shout to realize that he was calling her attention. Without thinking about Undyne noticing, her head snapped in Chara's direction. Yet she didn't have to wait for Chara to explain why he was trying so desperately to get her attention.
The pot with the spaghetti sauce, which had been neglected while Undyne was ordering Frisk to stir the spaghetti noodles, was on fire. Flames reached high into the air. The smell of burnt tomatoes and onions began to fill the house.
Undyne must have looked to where Frisk was staring, because Frisk heard Undyne swear, say something about her grandmother's recipes in the cabinet above, and run to the burner to grab the pot. Then Undyne stood there, holding a flaming pot of overcooked spaghetti sauce. Unsure what to do, Undyne looked around the kitchen before finally running out the door.
Not knowing what else to do, Frisk followed. She watched as Undyne threw the pot onto the ground and picked it back up again. Undyne kept doing this until the flames went out, resulting in her throwing sauce all over her front yard in the process. When the fire finally went out, Undyne placed her hands on her hips and stood over the burned kitchen appliance.
"That was part of a matching set," Undyne muttered. "Looks like I need to ask for a new one for my birthday."
It was just then Papyrus, who had spent this whole time hiding in that other room to enjoy his tea and cookies, stepped outside. "What are you cooking, Undyne?"
"Go away, Papyrus," Undyne replied, but she didn't sound too malicious.
Wanting to do something, anything to attempt to help, Frisk offered, "Since we already got noodles on boil, I can make no cook pesto sauce."