Behind Closed Doors: Chapter 16 - Lo, Undyne Attacks!
A smirk comes across your face as you continue on to the next room. "Wishes.. come on, man." You mutter that to yourself as you continue along the boardwalk. It's oddly dark in here, and eerily quiet. Not even a minute passes and you stop dead in your tracks, swearing that you heard a noise to your left. You look between the support columns to the inky black shadows, not spotting anything immediately. It takes about fifteen or so seconds before you slowly turn towards the boardwalk to start again but the moment you take your second step a glowing blue spear flows past your front, barely missing your torso and hitting the boardwalk. Your pupils narrow to little dots as your fight-or-flight instinct comes instantly, and the moment you see an armor-clad figure walk out from the shadows a horrible chill shocks your spine. That helmet.. It's.. That's Undyne! Run.. RUN! Before you know it you're already sprinting forwards, panting frantically whilst the word 'run' bounces around in your skull. The only thing you can do is continue forwards, dodging the eerie blue spears that zoom past you just barely. One grazes your shoulder pretty good causing a loud scream to escape your lips. You stumble forwards, just getting around the bend in the boardwalk before tumbling downwards into reeds with a grunt. Loud, thunderous footsteps come from behind you and you stay deathly still apart from your trembling. A breath gets sucked in silently from between your teeth and you hold it, before watching a hand slam down next to you, pulling up... That kid?! She sets him down with a grunt and storms off back towards the shadowy boardwalk and you escape out the other side of the reeds after you're sure she's gone.
You slam your back against the wall and slide down to sit, grasping your shoulder and trying your best to groan as quietly as possible. "Fffffffuuuuck... My fucking arm!" The kid tumbles out of the weeds and exclaims. "Did you see that, bro?! She.. touched me! I'm never washing my face-" The kid stops himself after realizing your shoulder-wound, his smile turning quickly. "Whoa, dude...! Are you alright?" He quietly asks that and approaches curiously and you shake your head briskly in frustration. "NO! I.. Just want to go home, man! I just want to go fucking home! I don't want to be attacked day-in and day-out! You let go of the wound briefly and hug your arms to your torso, bringing your knees up and shuddering. Monster kid pauses and you watch as his eyes widen. He takes a few steps back and seems unsure, commenting. "Wait... yo, are... you're the human, aren't you? But.. you're so nice! I thought humans were all jerks!" The kid seems to be in a bit of shock, and you seem to understand where he's coming from. "...Yeah, that's probably what they'd teach you considering what's happened to monsters.. Look, I didn't even know there were monsters down here, and I'm already trying to see if there's a way to help you guys out of here!" As you speak even the kid can tell you're freaking out, glancing over to the reeds and then back to you. "Hey dude, it's alright! I... I just need to think about something, but I'll be back in a minute! Wait here!" The kid runs off in the opposite direction of Undyne and you're left alone with a still-bleeding shoulder. "Wait, kid, KID!" You run over in the same direction only to find an echo flower, a table and one of those stars again. In relief, you walk over to it and hold your hand out, watching the gash on the same arm close slowly but surely. A deep sigh escapes your mouth and you rub your face with your hands.
Once you continue past the star, you spot Sans in a little nook with a telescope, leaning lazily and staring off. Once he notices you he very slightly perks up and offers a lazy wave. "hey buddy, hows, uh.. how'd it go? i heard the commotion from here, but seeing as you made it out i'd say it went pretty well, huh?" Sans winks at you, seeming as if he's offering you a bit of humor after the admittedly horrifying trial that you had been through.. The only thing you can do is smirk and offer an exhausted smile, saying quietly ."Yeah, I guess... I guess you could say that.." He gestures to the telescope next to him with a wider smile. "why not take a step back and relax for a minute? i'm getting into the telescope business and letting people sight-see. it's, uh, usually 50,000G to use the telescope, but since you're a pal of mine, first time's free." Your eyebrow instinctively raises after hearing that and a smirk comes to your face. After folding your arms playfully you glare at Sans, who keeps giving you the most innocent look. "Alright sure, Sans, why not?" You reach out and pinch the base of the telescope with two fingers going to angle it in a direction you want, and as you remove them you spot the red ink on your fingers! A wider smile comes to your face and you laugh softly and retort. "Sans, really?! Come on man, that'd take like half an hour to get off!" A gentle push of the short skeleton's shoulder and he starts chuckling and leaning back against the wall again. "what're you talking about, buddy? i'm just offering a nice view for free." With a roll of your eyes and a shake of your head you wander into the room to the left, finding a vaguely familiar bunny-man. The moment he sees you a smile comes across his face and he waves in excitement! "Hey there, friend!" His funny little ears straighten as well as his back. "I relocated from Snowdin, considering Ice Cream and, well, cold areas..." You're surprised he set up here. He even painted over one of those tablets with his flavors. To be polite you happily wave, coming up to the cart and tilting your head once you start to instinctively decide that iced- ...nice cream is something that would absolutely help your state of mind right now.
A quick purchase-and-snack later and you're off and entering a more-illuminated area, traversing the maze-like boardwalks and muddy rock. The more obvious feature being the illuminated waters you can't help but gaze as you travel, snapping out of your admiration when your phone rings. It's Papyrus again! "Hello? Papyrus?" You flinch, having forgotten to turn down the volume after hearing the booming voice on the other end of the receiver. "HELLO! YES, IT'S ME, PAPYRUS!" His voice gets quieter as you lower the volume a few clicks and you're still able to make out what he's saying through the button-pressing. "REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED YOU ABOUT CLOTHES? BECAUSE, WELL, THE FRIEND WHO WANTED TO KNOW.." He trails off as if to offer an opening and you take it. "Yeah, I got it. What'd you tell her?" The skeleton's voice over the phone sounded a little disappointed as he continued. "BEING A ROYAL GUARD IN TRAINING, LYING IS INCREDIBLY FROWNED UPON SO I HAD TO TELL HER THE TRUTH.. BUT I THINK SANS PACKED A PAIR OF SPARE CLOTHES IN THE BACKPACK!" It was oddly relieving to hear the positive note in his tone again and you can practically hear the change in expression. "Thank him for me, please?" You ask, before continuing. "A-Also, I'm not mad, I promise. I know you have to do what you must. Even if it's unnecessary I forgive you!" The other end is quiet for a moment before he says something. "IT'S NOT UNNECESSARY, AND THANK YOU-" Papyrus seems to pause again, and you hear the phone rhythmically shuffling as he walks. "SOMEONE'S KNOCKING SO I'LL HAVE TO LET YOU GO FOR NOW. TALK SOON!" With an abrupt click your screen turns off and you continue on your journey, encountering a surprisingly interesting bunch of new monsters; A shy singer who you can admittedly relate a little to, a monster who thoroughly seems to enjoy flexing, and a large, awkward but funny octopus. After a while you pass a statue and grab an umbrella, getting a quick phone call again as you continue into the downpour. It's.. Papyrus again, and this time he starts first. "HELLO? MANNY ARE YOU THERE? I HAVE A QUICK QUESTION FOR YOU!" You pause right before an opening in the wall. "Yeah? What's up, Paps?" You can hear an amount of uncertainly in the skeleton's voice, which is unusual.. to you, at least. Usually he seems really sure of himself!
"JUST TO NOTE YOUR PROGRESS, WHERE... WHERE EXACTLY ARE YOU, RIGHT NOW? IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S RAINING!" A quick gaze around and upwards gets your head briefly wet with rain, and with that you quickly pull the umbrella back over yourself before answering truthfully. "I'm, uh... I'm in some rain, I guess? It's really coming down, but it looks like there's an opening up ahead.. I'm going to go check it out." After you answer you hear the cheeriness in his voice again.. maybe he was just worried? "OH, OKAY! YOU'RE RIGHT BEFORE THAT VIEW OF THE CASTLE, THEN!" You couldn't help but start walking again after that. "Really? How's the view?" The path narrows ahead and goes in a different direction before coming to a massive opening while Papyrus talks. "IT'S SURPRISINGLY PEACEFUL, EVEN IN THE RAIN. I SOMETIMES GO THERE TO THINK WHILE I DO MY 10-MILE JOGS!" Your eyes widen and you can't help but ask in absolute bafflement. "Wait, your what? There's no way you're going to convince me that one's true, Papyrus! Come on!" A funny little 'NYEH HEH!' comes from the reciever before he retorts, "..AND THOSE ARE MY LIGHT TRAINING DAYS!" You swear you can hear a quiet voice from the reciever, but it doesn't sound like Papyrus at all. "..BUT, I- JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU WEREN'T STOPPING UNNECESSARILY, THAT'S ALL! I HAVE TO GO FOR A COMPLETELY UNSUSPICIOUS REASON!" He hangs up this time and you raise a brow, pausing for more than a few minutes once you reach the view of an enormous castle. To say the least, the view is breathtaking. Unfortunately you can feel your socks slowly getting drenched despite your shoes being relatively fine, so you decide to hurry along until you place the umbrella into another trash can and climb up a ledge. It takes... 'more' than a few tries, but eventually you hop up and continue on into another dark section. You read the glowing text on the plaques that further describe the story of monsterkind before stopping dead in your tracks before a long, odd, maze-like boardwalk. You notice the ominous but welcoming glowing star next to it and take the moment to reach out to it, letting the energy recharge you.. A sense of nervousness seems to overtake you once the star brings you seemingly back up to speed. The beating of your heart quickens and anxiety flares, but you continue to hold on to your RESOLVE. You've gotten this far so you can't stop now.. not after everyone placed their beliefs with you. For the moment you take a deep, slow breath, hold it, and then exhale through your mouth. You close your eyes and listen to the deathly silence before opening them and sprinting forwards into the next area.
Only the sound of your feet on the wood is heard echoing through the vast chamber, accompanied by your panting. Ten seconds pass.. twenty, thirty, forty, but you continue on despite your lungs and legs screaming for rest. It isn't until just about a minute passes before an abrupt surge of blue light comes from the boardwalk in front of you. Blue spearheads surge from the wood sending splinters through the air.. some getting in your eyes, and some getting in your mouth. Regardless you continue with renewed adrenaline and terror, just barely escaping apparent death from dead ends and narrowly dodging spears from below. Finally you seem to reach a dead end and skid to a stop on the moist, dark wood. You glare down into the inky black abyss with trepidation, turning around and seeing an armor-clad figure slowly walking towards you. They stop seemingly short before raising their arm with a palm extended upwards. You're visibly trembling more than you should, and they say nothing before abruptly clenching their fist. Blue spears appear from below in a horizontal line, cutting the dead end with you on it. You attempt to rush forwards and grab the ledge but slip on the wet wood, clawing and screaming in horror as you rapidly fall again.. "..no no No NO NO, PLEASE, NOOOO..!" Your scream echoes as you plummet, and it gets dark, darker.. yet darker still before you feel another abrupt THWUMP.
*You're unconscious again, it seems.
You see nothing, but you can hear a soft but growing voice. "...it sounds like it came from over here-..Oh.. Oh! You've fallen down! You look really hurt! Mom! Dad!" The voice seems scared, crying out for help. As you open your eyes, you see a blurry white figure, before a flash of light awakens you again.
Well that certainly took a while! I had the story planned, but needed to find the right words to flesh it out. Please let me know what you think of it, or if you believe there are any typos.. 'Or' if you simply want to suggest ideas or give feedback! I've been absolutely your messages so thank you. It means a lot!
-RampantMemory